#a new game would allow a new character that would be in a different situation for discovering previously unknown lore

[bluestar22x]

Unfortunately Abby never took the time to find out who she was actually hurting and failed to understand if he was in the wrong, so was she.

I could argue Cee had more reason to kill Ezra (seeing as the shoot out was over "loot" and not lives - and even though I see Ezra killing Damon as a mercy kill by that point since he was already dying). But in shocking news everyone's just trying to survive in these scenarios. Joel was trying to save a 14 year old girl for crying out loud. Seeing the bigger picture is bullshit reasoning.

No good parent would not try to save their kid. Selfish or not. Abby's father would have not sacrificed her - I saw that scene where she asked him if he would in game. It's easy to throw people under the bus if you have no connection to them and you are selfish.

Also, there was no reason to believe it would actually work - they only had a theory - the scientists were no better than those who experimented on children and minorities in the past. It's not fine and dandy even if you say the ends justify the means - for the families of those people it absolutely didn't! There is a reason legal adults are the only ones able to volunteer for science nowadays in countries with humane laws - and why we aren't allowed to sacrifice people even during mass epidemics. Doctors have a rule - do no harm - scientists should have a code too - do the least harm possible. That's not taking someone's brain out before even trying anything else. And let's not dive into how real life doctors have said over and over it wouldn't work. The game's creators gave a stupid reason to kill Ellie. So why shouldn't we be upset by it?

I've said this in one form or another over and over but I can't help myself. The reasoning behind killing Ellie for the cure was flimsy and killing Joel was hypocritical and naive and Abby's friends paid for it more than she did. Nobody's innocent in this but those to blame most were already dead (the firefly scientists).

It should've ended there.

TLOU 2's main plot was a disgrace to the first part imo. Would've been much more interesting Joel and Ellie dealing with their different views on his actions (still), and the main plot being a threat to Jackson, their new home where their loved ones are. If Joel needed to die he could've, by non-revenge, something like helping save Jackson, and making things maybe not right, but doing something majorly good in the end (even if it didn't make up for the past). Much more compelling to me than a depressed revenge plot for a scientist who deserved to die, imo.

At least John Wick is fun because he goes after truly bad people in a non-survival situation who killed the last gift he had from his wife, which happened to be an innocent puppy (truly evil) just because he retired and tried to be a better person for his wife. And then they kept going after him. So they asked for it. It's fun when actual villains get what's coming to them.

Ezra and Cee, Acacius and Lucius, they were intelligent characters/dynamics. Cee saw Ezra wasn't evil and protected her, and Lucius saw that Acacius had been just doing his job and the true enemy was the emperors, an enemy they shared. Lucius adjusted and put his anger in the right place.

what casting directors see when they need some guy to kill a character's loved one for plot reasons

[ruvviks]

made the realization my vampire story would work best as a video game and now i can't stop thinking about it

[yugsly]

Hey uhhh. Sorry if this is too spoilery. So that Zine. Mentioning Capochin. THE FULL ON EMO EXCLUSIVE.

Do you think Capochin and [Redacted] improve together? They got a lot of work to do?? Is it okay for them to be together?

I wanna know MORE and I just. People are SCARED for Capochin myself included uhhhh.

PLEASE I NEED ANSWERS

Hey, before I say anything- I know they're mine and Day's characters, but anything I talk about related to "post-game" or context not in-game is still "speculation". Meaning, not necessarily canon unless it was something recorded in dev-text or something I specifically had in mind while creating it, not after. I would never want to snuff out anyone's own ideas for what things "mean". THAT BEING SAID, I have some things to say- DO NOT READ ON UNLESS YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE GAME:

So, It's pretty complicated and I've thought about it a lot during and after making the game. Hector's got to do a LOT of work to even earn Capochin's forgiveness, if he'll even give it to him. (if most anyone will give it to him, really.) It's a silly cartoon game but yes, the situation is pretty grim. I mean, you've seen that cooking video Capo made. You've seen what he said when you faced him at the end of the line. All those implications. Without getting into specifics, yeah, the situation was really, really bad. But it's complex. It's not black and white. Hector and Capo knew eachother for a long long time even before Hector became Inspekta (a nosy person might have noticed the news clippings in Milldread). So they go way back- and I imagine things were pretty great up until, and a good ways into Hector ascending. But you know, there was a certain turning point- leading to where he ended up. Razzma speaks on this a bit, throughout. (Razzma has a lot of interesting background tidbits, explore giving her different phrases!) Him realizing that becoming a god didn't solve his insecurities like he thought they might... and more... I won't elaborate too much, because I want you to imagine it yourself. I only want to spread a few bread crumbs and let you make up your minds, even if I have my own thoughts, you know? Your question: "Is it okay for them to be together?" Well, that's up to you to decide. It's okay to imagine whatever you want. Capo forgives Hector eventually? Great. He never forgives him? Also Great! Do I wish I had more time in-game to elaborate on these things? Sure, I do. There's a handful of things I'd love to have explored. But I also like that it's open ended- you can tell, at the end, even though the day was saved, Hector and Capo feel awful. Sure, Capochin gave him that confidence boost to save the day- nothing he said was a lie- it was just the right thing to do in the moment. But you know, they don't really get a chance to really hash it out. It allows for y'all to really brainstorm, the world is your oyster. Whatever you come up with- be kind to eachother and respect eachother's ideas, okay?

[nthspecialll]

When it comes to Abigail Marston leaving John in 1907, a lot of people throw mean comments at her, say that she was unfair for doing so and a lot of other things, however I think that people fail to consider the time that this game is set. This is not our modern day woman, this is 1907, and it might sound like I am stating the obvious but by the hatred that she gets it I think it needs to be said again.

1907!

Do you know the rights that women had then? Or the lack of. Women were bound to their husbands, they weren't allowed to own close to anything and were only allowed to vote in about 4 different states, some women that is. Women were seen as a servant to her husband.

It was also hard for women to earn money, the average woman over 16 working in a factory (as the majority was) earned 5-6 or 6-7 dollars a week, a week! Eggs on average costed 29 cents by the doz, a pound of round steak cost 15 cents and half a gallon of milk costed 15 cents as well.

What about rent? New Austin, which Blackwater and the surrounding area is in, is based of Texas which in 1904 had a rent per room pr month of 28 dollars.

So why would Abigail ever go through all of that? Because of John, because of Jack. Abigail stuck around John for eight years, practically begging him to fix himself, to become better because she knew that she was pretty much dependant on him, because she needs his support to be able to live and she wants to give her boy a chance at a better life but she can't with John constantly picking fights and literally putting her and her son's lives at risk.

A lot of people make it seem like she just suddenly took that chocie, but she didn't, it was a choice that most likely took her years not just due to the financial burden but also the social burden that comes with being a single mom in a time where pre-material sex was seen as a death sin. She could very well be killed merely for being seen with Jack and without a husband.

And not just that, but it was probably also a hard choice because despite of everything she loves John, she really does, yes she screams at him for going out with Saide but who wouldn't. "She won't allow him freedom," no she is scared he is going to die, for us it is easy to say "he isn't going to" because he is a main character and we can just redo if we die taking on twenty skinner brothers or whatnot, but it isn't like that for her. I want you to imagine that your partner/friend/parent told you they were going to fight a gang of who knows how many, you are going to be scared no matter how skilled that friend is because you don't want to lose them. John himself admits it is dangerous work by saying "we always find a way to almost get killed, dont we?" Which Sadie agees to.

Abigail took the choice to leave, putting herself in a terrible situation, not for herself, but for her son. She gave up her one true love so that her son could have a chance at life, have a chance to be better than her and John. It was not easy and it is not something we should shame her for, if anything we should praise her for putting her son before herself.

I love John, I really do, but I think it shows just how shitty of a father he really was, and that Abigail leaving was exactly the push he needed to get himself together, it was the wake-up call he needed. He knew how shitty women had it, he would have to realize how terrible he must have been for her to prefer that over him.

Now am I saying Abigail did everything right? No, she did not. Although I understand her fustrations with him doing bounties she has to realize she is not in a place to be picky about jobs. She did ask John to take on a huge debt for the farm and John is right in one thing "it is legal work that I can handle," and while the farm is taking some time to get up and running it is the best form of income that they have access to.

Now to talk about her annoyance with John going after Micah, it is understandable as it could trigger a decline to their former life of crime or just lead to straight up death. It is unnecessary, revenge is unnecessary, meaning that John is risking their entire life for "nothing." He argues back with "I am doing it for Arthur" but again, yes Micah killed Arthur but killing Micah wont change that, killinh Micah will not bring Arthur back nor put him in a better situation, it is revenge, it is not nessesary, it doesn’t do any good.

If John had died she would not only have lost her husband but also the farm, as women could not own property. I am not that knowledgable on debt laws in 1907, but I would imagine that in some way or another the massive debt John got would end up with her or Jack either way, putting her in a terrible situation.

@heavenlymorals made a similar post back in may 11th where they also explore and explain Mary Linton and Abigail in 1899, it is really amazing and also puts some other light on it.

Sources:

Rent, page 369: https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/annual-report-commissioner-labor-6306/eighteenth-annual-report-commissioner-labor-608452?start_page=370

Food, page 233: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951000014585x&seq=233

Wages, page 15: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nnc1.cu56779232&seq=15

[dualumina]

After having taken 2 years of game design, it is GUARANTEED that IF a GW3 game would be another MMO, it'll be years and YEARS of time before it reaches public hands. Go check out a dozen YouTube videos about failed games by small studios and you'll see why these things take boatloads of time and so much money to get off the ground.

Game series' like pokemon have given off the impression that game development is a fast process. IT. IS. NOT. It is only fast if you are reusing previous assets (which pokemon has done) and even that isn't so simple as dragging a file into unity and calling it a day.

GW2 has a lot of assets that can be reused. This is true. But a lot of the more up to date assets had to be structured to work with old code. It is not a simple process to update something for modern code. Half the process of coding a video game is figuring out why your code isn't working. It's like following a recipe for cake and you end up with burnt flour, and it turns out there was an extra semicolon that screwed the whole thing up.

Think of all the times mild bugs have happened while using any kind of program. Now consider the fact that GW2 is running 24/7, for thousands or more players. Have you ever had to restart your computer because it was acting weird? Yeah you can't do that so easily if there's like 30 thousand people playing your game, and they're also the ones paying for your salary, and all the equipment used to run a program that's used by hundreds of people at a single time.

Now imagine the shear risk it would take to make something like that completely new. It would take hundreds of hours and so much money just to make it usable, and if people decide that this new game isn't cutting it? All that money is gone. Remember what happened to No Man's Sky? It was a disappointment to so many at first, but with time it got updated and people started actually liking it. Each update cost time and money, and it could have ended with the developers declaring bankruptcy if that gamble to make further updates didn't pay off.

You think most companies are going to risk doing something like that? Toss more money into a sinking ship and hope it floats?

No, not unless they have so much money to burn and know they have a good enough game to fall back on if things go horribly. Or someone in the higher ups is in over their heads.

If anything, GW3 could be a single player campaign, or structured similar to other games like Monster Hunter where you can form a party and take down a big monster in a private instance. This is much, much safer than recreating GW2 but with prettier graphics. And given the fact that GW1 is STILL running to this day, it's very clear Anet values preceding games, and better yet they want your progress in previous games to be carried over to newer games.

GW2 isn't getting abandoned anytime soon.

the gw3 concept hasnt even been greenlit yet calm your horses

[okchijt]

Hey can you do eddsworld the main 4 with a s/o romantic head cannons

Author's Note: Thank you so much Anon for the request! So sorry it took so long in advance, I just finished my finals so I was really excited about this one and had a lot of fun with it! Hope you'll like it and that I didn't portray anyone OOC😅 And lastly, go ahead and check out my masterlist if you like what you just read and if you want to request anything yourself, thank you, and enjoy!❤

Edd

🟢 Edd would be the type of boyfriend that just wants to chill out and hang out with his partner. He's a very casual guy in every sense of the word, and so would be the relationship with him, with some physical contact and romantic gestures sprinkled in occasionally.

🟢 One of the most defining traits of your relationship is humor! You'd share inside jokes together and create made-up words only you two would understand, making the people Tom around you go insane over the nonsense you tell each other while laughing.

"How did the Coca-Cola can feel after being steamrolled?"

"It was soda pressed!"

"I fucking hate both of you"

Basically, Edd would do anything just to make you smile/laugh, no matter how stupid it might be, if he knows you find it amusing he'll say/do anything just to see your expression!

🟢 Edd likes to draw you a lot, you could be sitting, washing the dishes, playing with Ringo, reading, playing a game, etc, whatever you're doing, he will draw it! He just can't help himself, you look adorable to him no matter what you're doing so he just can't resist himself! Most of the time he'll try to be sneaky about it so you wouldn't notice so he can capture you on paper perfectly, smiling the whole time because you're his favorite thing to draw! Sometimes if he feels happy enough with the finished product, he'd present it to you shyly, hoping you'd like it.

🟢 Be grateful, because you're the only one that Edd allows to go anywhere his cola and even drink it! Being with him gives you the privilege of doing so without asking, normally if anyone else would even lay a hand on his favorite drink they'd have a rabid Edd to fight off, but with you, it's like he doesn't even notice! Which by itself says a lot about how much he loves you!

🟢 Edd might not seem like a great listener, which is true, but when it comes to you, it's a different story. Whether you just want to talk about your day or info dump him about your new hyper fixation, he'll listen to it all with a smile on his face, commenting on the things you said or asking questions. When you vent, he makes sure that you know his full attention is on you and you only. He'll listen to everything you have to say while rubbing your shoulder and once you're done, he'll hug you and try to give you some kind of advice or reassurance, even though he isn't the best at this type of stuff, he'll still try his best though. Because he can't stand to see you hurt.

🟢 Edds love language includes quality time and gift giving! He just loves spending time with you no matter what you're doing! If you're working and can't give him any attention, he'll just sit next to you or position himself where he's touching you in some type of way and just occupy himself with drawing while you do your thing. Whenever you're in a situation where you can't spend time with him, just simply letting him sit nearby and do his thing is enough for him to call it "spending time with you", cause honestly just being in the same room as you is enough for him.

🟢 As we established before, Edd likes to draw you. So logically gift giving for him is giving you drawings he made of you, you two together, or things that you like, like a favorite character or animal. He also takes requests from you whenever he doesn't have any idea of what to draw, and whatever you ask him to draw he will. When Edd has enough money, he'll spend it on some kind of gift for you that he knows you'll like. And he'll give it to you without expecting anything in return, all he needs is that excited expression of yours and a kiss on the cheek/lips and he knows spending the money was worth it.

🟢 PDA isn't one of Edd's main love languages, but he still does it to a casual degree. He's not overly clingy, but he's not distant either, he's more casual with the way he expresses his physical love to you. Like when you sit together on the couch he puts his arm around you or when you're walking on the street he holds your hand. Edd prefers to shower you with more bold PDA behind closed doors though, that's when he's the most romantic as well. He'll give you lots of cuddles and kisses, praising you and telling you how much he loves you as well. It's not that Edd is embarrassed to show this side of himself in front of others, he just feels like sharing those moments between the two of you makes it have more meaning behind it.

🟢 Edd is really opportunistic when it comes to kissing, and by that I mean he'll only do it if he feels like the moment is right or is in the mood to do so. Maybe you do something adorable, and he just can't help but kiss you wherever he can reach you first. Edd's kisses are sweet and gentle, he likes to hold you whenever he does so too. Outside of your lips, Edd likes to kiss you on the cheek the most, he finds it comforting and likes to think of it as teasing that instead of kissing you on the lips, he kisses the place closest to it, he likes feeling like a little shit sometimes, what can I say?

🟢 Will cuddle with you a lot, especially if it's a lazy day for him or he's feeling down. Edd likes to be the big and the little spoon when cuddling, it just depends on how he's feeling. As the big spoon, he'll press you to his chest while laying his head on top of yours. But as a little spoon, it's the opposite, he'll bury his head in your chest, giving you easy access to his hair. When I tell you this guy will immediately melt as soon as you start tangling your hands into his hair, you swear you can hear him purr sometimes as you play with it. Edd is honestly the best cuddling option you can get, he's extremely soft and during winter he will warm you up with no problem, and during summer he somehow is still great to cuddle with because his temperature changes with the climate you can say. Cuddling Edd is like hugging a giant soft teddy bear. Best feeling ever, I tell you!

🟢 Edd isn't clingy, but boy does he get jealous of you when he feels threatened by others sometimes! He doesn't really think much of other people interacting with you, if they're just being friendly and don't try to pull any moves on you he might even join in on the conversation or just let you have your fun while vaguely paying attention. But that all changes once he hears the other person starting to flirt with you and being a little bit too touchy for his liking. He'll pay closer attention to both of you as his expression changes from a neutral one to an irritated one, waiting for the right moment to step in as he forces himself to tolerate what's happening until he gets a clear sign from you that he should step in. As soon as he sees a sign of you getting uncomfortable he's already next to you as he puts his hands on your shoulders, squeezing them with reassurance as he gives the person a threatening smile as he says: "My partner and I need to go, goodbye!" And with that, Edd immediately pulls you away from the person and begins to drag you home. The whole way back, Edd would be uncharacteristically very touchy with you, he'd press you against him hard and hold your waist tightly as he grumbles under his breath over what happened. Jealous Edd is a rare sight for you, but when he is jealous he deals with the situation quickly and swiftly to avoid confrontation, his goal only being to get you out of the situation as fast as possible.

🟢 Dates with Edd range from casual to exciting ones! They both really depend on your/his mood, to be honest. He'd take you to a cat cafe and go crazy over the cats with you while drinking and eating delicious desserts. He loves taking you to arcades! It's an excuse for both of you to have fun while calling it a date simultaneously. Edd would just take you to places he knows you'll like or are located in the town you two live in. Though when an occasional theme park comes along, you bet Edd is dragging you there right away no questions asked! If it's a special day of yours or just an anniversary, Edd will try to be a little bit fancier and take you out somewhere nice, like a restaurant or to a movie that is extremely romantic/dramatic that he thinks you'll like or fit the "fancy" category he made up in his head.

🟢 Edd is the most basic type of boyfriend out there I tell ya! All he wants is to be with or near you all day and every day and that's all he needs! He doesn't need to have an especially romantic life with you, but he isn't neglectful either, he's just somewhere in the middle. He'll change on a whim though if you tell him to show one of his sides more often because he just wants to make you happy! He's the type of guy to shower his love on you in private while in public some people aren't even sure if you two are dating or not because of how casual he is. I think Edd in a way is near-perfect boyfriend material for does that find his specific traits attractive, and as one of those people I say he would make a great boyfriend!

Matt

🟣 Matt would be the type of boyfriend that wants to spend every single moment with you and to love you to no end type of guy. He's probably the most romantic out of the four of them, so he'd make sure all the moments you spend together show that.

🟣 It comes to everyone's surprise that someone like Matt would fall in love with someone who isn't him and even love them on the same level as he does, but here we are! To him, you are the most incredible thing in the world, someone he feels can even compete with his handsome face! He makes sure to remind you of that fact every day, because why wouldn't he? Your looks and personality are everything to him, so much so that he forgets about his narcissistic views sometimes.

🟣 In fact, Matt will do anything when it comes to helping you feel better about your appearance! Say you wanna try out a new haircut or wanna change your style, Matt is right there with you through all of it, even participating in the changes himself. He'd do your makeup, nails, hair, even skincare routine, whatever it is, Matt wants to be there and be a part of it, he calls it bonding time!

🟣 Matt doesn't usually care if other people appreciate his beauty like he does, to him only his opinion matters. But once you come into the picture, your opinion means the world to him! Anytime you compliment him, call him your: "Handsome man", or anything of that sort, this man is dying on the floor because of the amount of love and affection he's feeling because of you. No one else's opinion matters about his face or anything related to him, but yours and he makes sure you and everybody around you know that just by his reactions alone.

🟣 Since you two are dating, you are bound to get dragged by Matt to buy or find something to add to his novelty collection. You'd go on your own set of adventures for the sole purpose of expanding his collection. Matt really appreciates you going with him, it just shows to him how much you are willing to put up with for him. For some, his hobby just seems like something that doesn't matter or an inconvenience, but you don't, and he truly loves that about you. Matt 100% has a will written down somewhere that says: "If anything happens to me, give all of my novelty collection to (Y/N)''.

🟣 Matt's love language includes words of affirmation and quality time! Matt's main go-to to showing how much he loves you is showering you with praise any chance he gets! You could be looking like a hobo or a supermodel, but that man will still call you the most attractive person in the universe! Any accomplishment, whether large or small is immediately met with him congratulating you like you just won an Oscar! Not to mention whenever you feel insecure or just down, Matt will make does feelings go away in a matter of seconds because of how innocent his love for you is, he knows every right word to use to show you how much you mean to him. And he'll remind you of that fact every day no matter who you are or what you do.

🟣 You'd think Matt's second love language would be physical touch, but nope! It's quality time, baby! But I think you know that based on the examples above. The point is, anything you wanna do, Matt has to be there doing that thing with you too! No matter if it's work or something boring, he needs to be there with you! If you're busy he'll sit with you in a way where he's basically touching you and as soon as you show any discomfort or mutter that you need something, Matt is on the way to get it! Even if you didn't technically ask him to do so. He's basically like a lost puppy just following you around everywhere without a care in the world.

🟣 Matt loves PDA, he adores it! Both giving and receiving affection are one of his favorite things about being in a relationship with you! The only reason why it's not his main love language is because he finds the other two more intimate, but this easily takes third place! Unlike Edd, Matt isn't afraid to go all the way out with his affection towards you, private or in public he is all over you to some degree. Kisses, hugs, holding hands, cuddles, he will grab any chance he gets to touch you in some way. If he could Matt would glue himself to you so that he can always be with you, that's how clingy he is with his love for you.

🟣 Kisses with Matt are literally the most purest and innocent thing in the world! He holds you against him as you kiss as if you were glass, that's how gentle he is with you! Expect a lot of muffled giggles and pleased sighs whenever you two kiss, he's just so happy to have you in his life like this that he just can't help himself! Outside of your lips, Matt adores giving you kisses on the nose! He just finds it charming and adorable in a way, especially when you give him a reaction in the process, he finds them precious. It may be childish, but he's a childish man so that adds up, plus nose kisses are the best!

🟣 Cuddles with Matt are a must in a relationship with him! No occasion is needed for him to just wrap you in his arms and lay with you comfortably for hours at an end. Matt is both big and little spoon, mostly leaning towards little spoon though. When he's the one holding you, and not squeezing the living daylights out of you. Matt would be laying on his back while you lay on top of him, with your head on his chest as he kisses the top of your head every now and then as his arms are tightly but comfortably wrapped around your upper back. But as a little spoon, Matt crawls himself into a ball as he buries himself into your chest, wanting to make it easier for you to hold him. He basically feels like a giant teddy bear! Though I won't recommend cuddling with Matt during winter without a blanket, man is always cold! But during summer, it's a different story, he's basically a cooler during the warm seasons, so literally perfect!

🟣 As established, Matt is clingy af so there's no surprise that the man will act super threatened as soon as he sees others laying their dirty hands on you in a flirty way. Until Matt senses a disturbance in the force, he'll tolerate the person interacting with you if it's just in a friendly way and if you clearly don't mind them talking with you as well. But as soon as the person enters the danger zone where they start to get flirty with you, Matt will glare daggers at them as a silent threat to get them to back off. Alongside that, he'll tug at your clothes gently and whine to you that you need to go with him as he stares at you with puppy eyes. If all of that fails and the rando will try to put his hands on you, Matt immediately jumps into action! Clinging to your back like a possessive koala as he smacks the person's hand away and screams: "NO! This gem is mine! Go find yours somewhere else!'' And with that, he picks you up by the waist with his arms wrapped around it and shuffles away like an awkward penguin while holding you with a big pout on his face. He'll only put you down once he calms down a bit or you protest hard enough, and once he does you better give him lots of kisses and reassurances as you let him cling to you in any way he can as you two head back home with a still slightly upset Matt.

🟣 Matt takes his dates seriously, that's why he always puts in the effort to make them super romantic! He'd take you to places any partner would on a typical date, movies, dinner, picnic in the park, star gazing, etc. With Matt, there is no such thing as a normal date, only the best of the best for his beloved! He'll dress up super fancy and always have some kind of gift with him to give you every time. Though Matt would be happy to comply with any date idea you have, elegant/traditional dates are always his go-to because of the romantic meaning behind them by society's and his standards.

🟣 Matt is the most loving and clingiest boyfriend out there, your existence alone makes him swoon so he doesn't need much outside of his novelty collection to be happy! He's utterly devoted to you and makes sure to show you that each and every day of your relationship, so much so that everybody around you two already knows you two are together without being told so. Matt would be the perfect boyfriend for those that want to feel loved to the extreme and feel appreciated by someone, and you'd feel all of that every day with him! Top-tier boyfriend material, I tell you! No complaints here!

Tom

🔵 Tom would be the type of boyfriend that isn't really great when it comes to relationships, but for you, he tries his very best to at least be decent. He'd purposefully try to go out of his comfort zone just to prove his love for you, wanting to show you that he actually cares even when he isn't the best at showing so sometimes, but he tries!

🔵 First of all, this mad lad broke up with his bass: Susan for you so that better show just how much he cares and loves you if he picked you over his most beloved bass! Speaking of Susan, Tom often makes up songs that he plays on his bass about/for you. To which you'd always have to beg him to play you some cause he's super embarrassed about them, but with enough reassurance, he'd play you some! And if you reward him with compliments or a kiss, he may just be inclined to show you more, gaining confidence each time.

🔵 And while on the subject of music! You two would always share/recommend each other's music taste! Tom really likes listening to the same music as you whether it's yours or his, he really enjoys the moment because it's just so intimate to him. You'd share headphones, you having one bud in your ear while Tom has the other, forcing each other to stay close, which Tom secretly enjoys very much as he can't help himself but relax each time you two do that.

🔵 We all know Tom's alcohol problem, especially with his favorite: Smirnoff, which he drinks any time he can. But when you two get into a relationship, Tom tries to step back from his alcoholism for your sake. Sure, he'd gladly drink with you if you'd like, but he'd actually pay attention to the amount he's drinking and stop once enough is enough. To be honest, your existence and the relationship make him want to be better for you, and that means acknowledging his problem and overcoming it step by step.

🔵 Whether you are someone that loves Christmas or hates it, depending on which, Tom will try his best to not ruin it for you and match your energy! If you're a Christmas lover, Tom wouldn't exactly act happy about the holiday with you, but you can tell he's really trying to hold back any negative comments about the holiday for your sake. Tom may hate Christmas, but he loves you enough to try his best to not ruin the holiday for you better reward him with affection afterwards cause boy does he need it! But if you're a Christmas hater, then you already know Tom is ruining the holiday with you while calling it a date!

🔵 Tom's love language includes acts of service and physical touch! Out of everything, Tom finds it easiest to express his love for you by doing things for you whether you asked him or not. It's because he can do it without overthinking whether what you're doing is okay or not because doing something for someone else naturally makes that person happy! You could have cooked something for you two and only stepped away for a second, only to come back and see Tom already doing the dishes and insisting that he's got it covered and that you go rest. Maybe you have a pet that needs to be let out or fed and you can't get out of bed to do so, you don't even need to ask and Tom is already on it and doing it for you with no complaints, not even expecting anything in return while doing so.

🔵 One wouldn't expect that one of the main two love languages Tom has is physical touch, but here we are! Tom is actually extremely touch-starved, but won't allow himself to be touched or touch someone else until he feels 100% safe with them. At the beginning of the relationship it took a while for Tom to open himself up to such affections, but the way you took things slow and steady for him really helped and he allowed himself to feel vulnerable with you. Tom loves to give you hugs from behind, you'll be doing something while standing and all of a sudden two arms wrap around you and you can feel his head burry itself in the crock of your neck. At that point he can't live without touching you, you're his rock and he needs you to feel stable and safe. He's always touching you in some way, no matter what you're doing or what position you are in.

🔵 PDA and physical touch are basically the same things, right? Anyways, while out in public Tom is way more reserved with you because he doesn't appreciate strangers staring at the two of you, he'd still be okay with hand-holding or a kiss on his favored spot every now and then, but in private? Tom goes crazy in private, (not as crazy as Matt or Tord but still!) Basically, any opportunity he gets to show you his love for you in a physical manner he takes it. It doesn't matter what you're doing, he is touching you in one way or another. Like I said, you are his rock, his safe haven, and without you near him he'd go crazy, so holding you, kissing, hugs, hand-holding, and everything else in between is what he'll shower you daily with! Please hold him too every once in a while, Lord knows he needs it and may even have a mental breakdown from the affection alone, but he loves it I promise.

🔵 In the beginning Tom was very awkward when it came to kissing, but he eventually got the hang of it and became more comfortable! They were also very unsure and timid at the beginning, forcing you to take the lead, but with each kiss, Tom became more confident, and now he likes to kiss you with slow passion, savoring the intimate closeness with you. Besides your lips, Tom's other favorite spot to kiss you is your forehead. It's just so sweet, gentle, and innocent to him that he sometimes finds it even more intimate than a kiss on the lips. He usually kisses your forehead when you do something that he just really appreciates whether you meant it or not. Maybe you fixed the broken string in his bass for him and he'll just give you the most loving gaze and that gentle smile as he grabs your face and gives you a gentle kiss on the forehead as a thanks. He just finds forehead kisses soothing, what can I say?

🔵 Cuddles=physical touch, so Tom enjoys if not loves them a lot! Tom has a preference for being the big spoon over the little spoon. As the big spoon, it literally feels as if Tom is trying to fuse with you by how hard, he's pressing you against him. You both would be lying at your sides as Tom has his arms wrapped tightly around your lower back and his head buried in your hair as he lets the scent of your shampoo ease him. Though Tom has a stronger preference for being the big spoon, he won't complain if you're the one who wants to hold him, especially if he's feeling vulnerable that day. You'd be lying at your sides again, but he'd have his back turned to you as you hug him from behind and run your hands up and down his arms/hands to soothe him, as he feels too embarrassed to face you when he's in his low state. Again, I'm sorry but just like Matt, Tom is always cold and you'd need a blanket with you whenever you two cuddle, except for summer though, cuddling with Tom during summer feels like heaven!

🔵 As said before, Tom loves physical affection and he views you as his safe heaven basically, so he isn't much of a fan when other people touch you, but if it's a friend or you allow the action yourself, there isn't much he can do but to tolerate it. But if it's someone that's trying to get with you, that's a different story! Tom makes it plainly obvious that he hates the person just by looking at them with that huge grimace and annoyed expression on his face as soon he can tell that they are flirting with you. Unlike Edd, Tom won't wait for a sign from you or anything like that, as soon as his feelings of feeling threatened are made correct by the actions of the person flirting with you he is right by your side, hugging you from behind possessively as he puts his head on your shoulder and says: "Hey babe, is this guy bothering you?" And just from his words and actions alone, the rando gets the hint you're already taken and leaves immediately with an apology. Apology or not, that does not stop Tom from glaring daggers at the person as you drag him away back home, having to soothe him with words of affection as he grumbles under his breath about wanting to choke the person.

🔵 Tom is very awkward with dates and finds them super complicated to arrange, man doesn't have much experience with dating and wants the best for you, so he tries his best to make the dates the best they can be! Tom would never admit it, but he'd be looking up advice online on where to take his partner on a date and go based on that, which means Tom doesn't really have a specific type of date he goes on with you, it's mainly whatever the best thing he can find online, he goes with. You ain't complaining though, cause those dates range from romantic dinners to the aquarium to a musical, to a picnic! No matter what it is or where you go, your boyfriend always makes sure you're having fun.

🔵 Tom is the most awkward boyfriend that doesn't know what he's doing but tries his best anyway just to make the relationship work. He may not always understand what he's supposed to do as a boyfriend or how to do it because he is always internally freaking out if what's he doing actually works, but he'd never once make you feel like he doesn't love you. He'd remind you of that fact every day in any way he can, whether large or small. Your existence keeps him sane and happy, so he'll do anything he can just to keep you at his side, even if he doesn't always know what he's doing.

Tord

🔴 Tord would be the type of boyfriend that thinks he knows what he's doing while being a huge show off while doing so, but in reality, he has no idea how being in love and dating works. Still, he sure acts like he does cause he feels insanely confident in a relationship because he thinks it's easy and he knows what he's doing (it isn't and he doesn't) But he rarely makes you suspect that over how nice a relationship with him is!

🔴 Tord is very open with his love for guns, especially when he pulls one out of nowhere before shooting something. Even though Tord doesn't mind showing you off his shooting skills, in fact, he loves it, but he will not allow you to touch his weapon at all! No amount of reassurance will make him trust you or himself enough to give you such a weapon. He just fears something might go wrong, if there's anyone else's safety he's more worried about it than his, it's yours and he will never put your life in danger willingly no matter what.

🔴 He'd show you his little inventions like the couch one or something like that and gets giddy when you show interest in them and praise him for them. He'd never show you his dangerous inventions though, like his giant robot out of fear of losing you, but if you have an invention request for him, Tord is more than happy to make it come true! Any nondangerous gadget is at your disposal any time you want and is free to use without asking, which means something because very few people have this sort of privilege from him.

🔴 So we all know Tord likes to smoke his cigars, well, similar to Tom with his alcohol problem, he will try to smoke less if not stop entirely at one point just for your sake. Whether you made a comment about his smoking habit or not, he's sure his smoke breath just after he finished his cigar doesn't feel really good when you two kiss. So he'd try his best to lessen doing it, or at least not smoke before he gets to spend time with you just so that he doesn't smell too bad.

🔴 Tord would be the type of boyfriend to lend you his clothes but on purpose! You won't need to ask for his hoodie or anything before he one day walks up to you with his hoodie and gives it to you without a word before walking away. If you comply and wear his clothes, expect to have his eyes always on you with a flirty smirk to match. He just can't help himself but feel oddly satisfied and honored for you to wear his clothes that are always too big for you, he finds it adorable and a way of marking you by having something of him with you, but he'd never tell you that of course.

🔴 Tord's love language is unsurprisingly physical touch and words of affirmation! Out of the main four, it was given that Tord would love physical touch a ton! Tord normally isn't a touchy person at all, he avoids having physical contact with most people like the plague, but with you? It's the opposite! The second you get together he's all over you in any way and every day he can! He saves the special affection for people that mean the most to him, and you just happened to be his entire world so he makes sure you receive the attention you deserve! Sitting on the couch with his arms wrapped around you? Check. Eating together with your knees touching? Check. Driving and sitting next to each other with his hand on your thigh? Check. Just any scenario with him having his hands on you in some way is always possible with Tord. He just feels safe and comfortable being this close to you, he doesn't show it, but Tord deals with a lot of anxiety and paranoia over the things he hides from you and his friends. It can get a lot sometimes, and the only way for him to let it all out is through physical contact with you.

🔴 Tord lives for giving you physical affection, but words of affirmation are exactly on the same level for him! Tord is a natural flirt that can come up with a pick-up line on the fly without trying, that's how good he is! But flirting isn't the only way he'll verbalize his love for you, a simple thought-out compliment or praise is what you'll hear from him a lot as well. Maybe you're working on something and are getting tired of it but you have to push through when you suddenly get interrupted by Tord appearing out of nowhere as he rubs your back reassuringly and tells you how great you're doing and to remember to take breaks etc. Just like with Matt, whatever you do, and no matter what the outcome of it was, or no matter how insecure you are, you will always be met with praise from him as he kisses you all over your face. Overall, just imagine yourself in any scenario just like the one before and Tord will find an excuse to flirt/compliment/praise you.

🔴 PDA and Tord are like best friends, why would he stop showering you with love in public when you clearly deserve all of the attention you can get? He's the same as Matt honestly, there is just no stopping him from kissing, hugging, hand-holding, etc, no matter where you two are. His love for you both in public and in private is the exact same, he just wants the whole world to know who you belong to and just wants to show your relationship off! Plus Tord doesn't feel any need to tone down the affection out in public, why should he? He barely pays attention to the random people on the street anyway because all of his attention is on you, everything else just doesn't matter when he's with you so he acts like it with his affections.

🔴 Kisses with Tord happen literally almost every minute and yet he always manages to find a way to make the next one more amazing than the last. He wants you to love and remember every moment of it as he slowly but sensually moves his lips against yours with that stupid smirk on his face and half-lid eyes that scan you with satisfaction. Tord is always confident when kissing you, so there's no hesitation coming from him before his lips are on yours while holding you so close you can barely move. And all of that is what I just described how kissing with Tord looks and feels like all the time. Outside of the lips though, Tord's other favorite spot to kiss you is to no one's surprise, your neck! It doesn't even need to be sexual, he just loves to kiss you there! The reactions you give him as you stiff at his sudden touch to the neck before you slowly relax and maybe let your voice out once in a while if Tord feels like teasing you a bit with his cheeky kisses. He is a pervert after all, so you can imagine he enjoys the show you give him sometimes immensely.

🔴 Same as with Tom and Matt, Tord lives for cuddles with you! Sorry, to say but Tord is always the big spoon, under no circumstance would he willingly put himself in a vulnerable position that we call the "little spoon". The only way for that to happen is you'd walk in on him in an uncharacteristically vulnerable moment, you both know he won't reveal what made him so upset so the only thing you can think of is to lay down and hug him from behind, pressing yourself against him tightly as you whisper reassuring words into his ear. Tord would never admit it, but he really appreciated the gesture, but you won't catch him asking to be a little spoon after that, it's just not his thing. What his thing is being the big spoon though! He is literally wrapped around you like a koala the whole cuddle session, you'd be pressed against his chest with his arms wrapped around your waist and his legs entangled with yours as he lays his head on top of yours. Unlike the two before him, Tord is always warm, so cuddling during the summer is always a pain, especially because Tord can't go a single day without multiple cuddles. But during winter you cannot be more glad than to have a literal fireplace as a boyfriend!

🔴 Tord feels like everyone is a threat to your relationship with a few exceptions constantly, even if the person in question is just a friend or someone that truly means no harm Tord will always feel like he's competing over you with them. As soon as he realizes the person's intentions with you he'd glare daggers at them with an almost silent animalistic growl coming from him as crossed arms almost rip the fabric of his hoodie from how tightly he's holding the fabric. As soon as the person's hands start to move towards you in an attempt to touch you, in a blink of an eye Tord is right behind you as he grabs your shoulders and possesivly presses your back against his chest. ''Get lost before I make you" If looks could kill the rando would have been already on the floor dead from the terrifying threat and expression Tord had on his face. Before you realize what's happening the person is already bolting in the opposite direction, you only snap out of it once you feel Tord's grip on you loosen as he looks at you with a satisfied smile before grabbing your hand and walking back home. It's almost as if the situation is already forgotten by him altogether, but it isn't, in fact, he'll have that memory of you getting hit on for a while before he gets over it. He just chooses not to show you how much the situation has impacted him for your sake, though he would really appreciate a kiss or two with some reassurance as you two head home, it'll make him feel better faster.

🔴 Tord legit has no idea what he's doing when it comes to dates. Just like Tom, he'd look up advice online on how to make "the perfect date" for you. The dates he'd typically settle on are the ones he knows you'd love to go to, he'd pay special attention in conversations where you mention a specific place you'd love to go to and immediately write it down as one of the places he should take you to. Literally, anything you want he will make it happen, restaurant, theme park, cinema, arcade, etc, just name it and you're going there! Tord already knows you're enjoying yourself because he purposefully took you somewhere you wanted to go, but he'd always try to make the date even more fun with various shenanigans he does to make you laugh, making dates more memorable than they would've originally been.

🔴 Tord is the embodiment of a boyfriend that wants nothing more but to make you the center of his world if not the universe. If someone like him could get with someone like you then it's only right he makes you feel like the most special person in the world! And just like Matt, he's perfect for those that need/want to be reminded of that fact every day, whether you want it or not Tord is basically worshiping you and he'll make sure you don't forget that fact either! Honestly, you're the only reason why he hasn't taken over the world yet, you'll never know that fact personally, but it's true!

[vigilskeep]

avoiding most reviews like crazy for fear of spoilers, however I’m scared that some have said that rook can do no wrong even when picking the most aggressive impolite options, there’s never any social consequences for *choosing* to be rude, or even dismissing others worldviews and beliefs.

i will say a lot about inquisition, but at least it let the player have complicated relationships with the party by not having everyone agree to everything they say as the word of god

us getting to have complicated relationships with the party in dragon age inquisition is, frankly, news to me

personally i’ve seen more of people suggesting you can’t be as rude in the first place, than people saying the game doesn’t react when you are? to which i have to say, yes, interactions with the party are going to be different in veilguard than in previous dragon age games. they’re writing a protagonist who the plot requires to be more of a hero type who chose to join this venture, every party member is essential to the main plot, and they’re openly going for a “found family” dynamic, which (i would strongly argue) they’ve never done before. the group is intended to work as a whole, to be people who all care about each other, rather than simply being tied together by your player character. you’re not going to have a situation like in every other game where companions can get thrown out or betrayed or aggressively belittled by the protagonist, because this party simply would not work if you were doing that to certain members. the story they are telling this time would not make sense

however, i’m yet to see that that means we can’t have complicated relationships with the companions? in fact, we know it allows for main plot choices with lasting, drastic consequences on our relationships with certain companions. we know you can disagree with characters and still progress your relationships with them. there are new opportunities that we never had in previous games for all companions to be closely involved in what’s going on, and thus for all companions to have opinions that matter on all of rook’s decisions. i’ve already seen footage of companion commentary absolutely not holding back on challenging even relatively small choices

i think challenges from this style of companion can be very compelling in their own way. if all these companions are considered equally good-aligned by the narrative and care about each other, and they still sharply disagree, it suggests fewer conflicts with simple right answers. i think that could be a breath of fresh air from previous dragon age games which have often and regularly fallen into the trap of “obvious good answer” and “the answer your slightly evil companions will like”. there’s a reason so many worldstate decisions and quest endings are overwhelmingly popular, right? isn’t it possible it will be just as interesting to engage with a story where you are definitively written as good-aligned, but that means you get real choices between options just as justifiable as each other—or as bad as each other?

it’s a change so it’s by nature not going to be for everyone. you’re not going to be able to play certain kinds of character that you could in previous games and if that’s what you were looking for in another da game, that’s a disappointment. but i don’t think dragon age should necessarily be restricted by that forever? like i don’t think it’s necessarily conducive to good storytelling to always have to input evil/mean options and reactivity just for the sake of it. and i completely understand why it would be detrimental to the game they’ve chosen to make this time. their primary selling point and concept is the complex team dynamics. can you imagine the sheer bulk of writing it would take to have these companions as thoroughly invested in each other’s lives as they seem to be, and let you be horrible to particular ones? for how many players’ benefit? for what story coherency, when building these relationships is the plot of the game? i don’t really see the point

that’s how i feel about it idk. i’m optimistic. i also don’t rlly think jumping to conclusions at this point is worthwhile. the reviews are largely positive. it’s coming out in a day and a half. let’s just wait and see?

[what-would-your-blorbo-do]

New Blorbo Game Blog!! (Please read this before sending in requests)

Hello, we are a new game blog that post polls about random scenarios you sent us; our polls will consist of scenarios as the main questions and the answer choices will be different ways a character may react in regard to these scenarios. All you have to do is vote the choice you think your Blorbo would do if they were in that situation.

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Poll’s question 👇🏻

What would your Blorbo do if they were stuck in an elevator with their archenemy?

The answer choices may be 👇🏻

They’d make out with that enemy

They’d cry and their enemy would comfort them

They and their enemies would try to kill each other

They both would panic

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[mortalityplays]

Does it seem like Infinity Nikki is building on the lore in the previous games, or is it doing its own thing? It's been a few years since I played Love Nikki Dress-up queen, and all of the proper nouns seem to be different than I remember.

Okay let's talk about Nikki lore!!!

if you've come straight from Love Nikki, Infinity Nikki probably feels strikingly different and yet eerily familiar. It presents itself as a clean slate for new players and a straight reboot for returning players, with Nikki and Momo encountering a magical outfit and being pulled into Miraland where they learn a whole new set of terms and mechanics for the dress-up game you're about to play. All the proper nouns have changed - 'styling power' is still the same, but now magic and tech are 'whim' and base currency is 'blings' etc. The story, setting and characters are all a little different too. So it's a total reboot for the new format, right? Makes sense.

TL;DR: for everything I'm about to unpack:

Doylian answer: IN is a clean reboot of the basic isekai premise, allowing them to easily onboard new players and update the core nature of the game.

Watsonian answer: the reboot is itself part of the ongoing canonical lore of the Nikki series!!!

The context you're missing is Shining Nikki. SN actually pulled this move first - it was a total overhaul of LN to move the series from 2D paper doll graphics to full 3D models, and like IN it seemed to begin the isekai type story of LN again from the start. Not too many people in english speaking markets played the first two games in the series (Nikki Up2U and Hello Nikki), but what you need to know about them is that they were both set in Nikki's own earth-like world, where fashion was an ordinary element of everyday life (i.e. the player was asked to dress her appropriately for real-world situations, with the context that she was an aspiring fashion student). They were also direct instalments in an ongoing story.

Here's the timeline up to where you stopped:

NU2U: Fashion student Nikki and her talking pet Momo practise her skills as a stylist in everyday situations. Though it's usually played as a joke, both Nikki and Momo acknowledge that he's a 'cat-like thing' - not really an earth cat.

HN: Nikki and Momo travel their world, finding styling inspiration in different locations / through meeting various characters. Some of the costumes she creates in this game continue to appear through each sequel as lower-level outfits, implying continuity.

LN: The first game that really broke through in english-speaking markets, and the first in the Miraland cycle. Nikki is preparing for graduation, when she finds a mysterious outfit in the attic. Touching it gives her a vision where she glimpses a strange realm brimming with fashion-related power of some sort. When she comes to, she and Momo are in a field of flowers. They've been transported to another world called Miraland, where styling has literal magical power that's used to settle disputes in place of violence. She embarks on a quest to attain a set of uniquely powerful dresses at the centre of a burgeoning magical/political crisis, in order to save Miraland.

^ Big sideways jump, right? The Doylian explanation for all this is very mundane. They have to keep rebuilding this game for newer phones, and updating the graphics/mechanical gameplay as the series goes on. There are only so many times you can ask a player to dress Nikki up to go to a café or whatever, and the isekai genre is massively popular among the target playerbase. BUT they retain the canonical continuity of the series with LN - Nikki frequently refers to her sister Yoyo and their travels around the world throughout LN and SN, and Momo hints that Miraland may be the origin of his clan (or at least tied to their origin somehow). It would have been an easy place to wipe the slate clean, but they didn't.

And then comes Shining Nikki. On starting the game, Nikki speaks to you directly from a meta-realm where you set up your username and get introduced to basic concepts. Nikki has an encounter / vision with a mysterious figure related to this styling meta-realm, and then she wakes up. She and Momo find themselves in a field of flowers, in a world called Miraland - sstop me if you've heard this one before.

SN is where things started to get really interesting, and where I suspect the writers started laying down some intentions for the series going forward. As Nikki travels around Miraland, she runs into a variety of people and places that are reminiscent of, yet different from, the cast and setting of Love Nikki. And little by little, she begins to recover memories of that game.

As it build towards its climax, SN does one of the coolest things I've ever seen from a rinkydink fantasy mobile gacha. Nikki comes up against an opponent she can't beat, and you're asked to style-battle them again and again. She starts to dissociate and refuses to back down, and then- well at this point my phone couldn't handle the 3D effects and it booted me back to the game's home screen.

SN was pretty ambitious with its 3D elements, to the point that the home screen itself featured a 3D nikki you could dress up, who would move around and strike poses, and spit out lighthearted quips when you tapped her ('I wont give up on my friends!', 'If Momo eats any more BBQ he's going to turn into a beach ball...' etc.) So anyway, my game was locked up apart from homescreen Nikki's idle animations. And then she started talking to me, by username, commenting on the defeat she was suffering repeatedly in the story chapters.

At this point, SN introduces the idea that the player is (from Nikki's perspective) a powerful being from another parallel world, who has been influencing her styling choices the whole time. It also introduces a meta-meta-realm where outside observers can access people's memories to subtly alter their world's timeline. When I say this game got high concept...they had a limited-time event at one point where Nikki essentially explores the lingering cognitive dissonances left behind by the inhabitants of Omelas. I'm insane about this series. Anyway.

A LOT went on in SN, but what you need to know is this:

Nikki learns that she found herself in the story of SN because she went back in time 600+ years from the events of LN in a last ditch effort to prevent the apocalypse she failed to avert.

By accessing the Ocean of Memories, she also learns that this is not the first time she's done this. She has been stuck in a time loop for thousands upon thousands of cycles, perpetually failing to save Miraland, going back in time, and creating new causal offshoots that she again fails to save.

Nikki realises that by doing this, she is perpetually rebooting the lives of all the friends she keeps meeting and bonding with and then failing to save, and wrestles with whether this is ethical. Ultimately she decides to persist, determined to save Miraland.

Now here's the million-dollar question: Is Infinity Nikki a straight reboot, wiping the slate clean to simplify the lore and onboard new players? Or is it a continuation of Nikki lore to date, setting her on a new cycle in the same sequence? I would answer: yes and yes.

Every game in Miraland seems to follow a certain pattern with minor changes, and IN is no exception:

Nikki arrives in a tutorial zone themed around cosy rural villages and flower fields.

She meets a friendly girl who introduces her to Styling and its role in Miraland, and who puts her on the path to her first set of competitions (rip Bobo greatest anime betrayal of all time)

Nikki gets drawn into a political crisis centred on Miraland's system of styling contests, inevitably involving mercenaries and corporate espionage at some point.

Reference is made to an ancient fallen monarch who had a personal connection to certain outfits of immense power.

Reference is made to an elusive but powerful spiritual being (a god, a prophet, ???) whose divine power is bound up with the mysterious source of Styling Power.

Nikki encounters a reclusive society of magical beings whose life force depends on that same power source.

She travels to a variety of regions including Fairytale Forest, Gothic Lolita Town, Literally China, Uncomfortable Desert Realm, Big City, and Separatist Tech Freak Island. [in progress]

War breaks out somewhere and Nikki ends up on the run [hasn't happened yet, but I believe]

Vampires/demons get involved [hasn't happened yet, but I believe]

There is a goofy yellow mascot that looks like a fat duckling. [I'm a Gifty truther, what does it all mean.]

So far we're only a few chapters into IN, but I can already see a lot of familiar pattens starting to take shape. Factions are an interesting twist on regional styling competitions, and elements like Eureka and the Mira Crown contest (and the repeated motif of mirrors and fragmented crystals) look a lot like the seeds of more meta-realm content to me. Well, and the actual literal meta-realms accessed via waypoints and whimstars.

If you read all this, well done!!! You are definitely insane enough to enjoy the Nikki series.

[mother--of---dragons]

ROBB STARK FINDS YOU IN THE LIBRARY -- ROBB STARK x READER

words : 1k summary : You and Robb rule over the North, and are busy fulfilling your duties most of the day; although you both still manage to make time for each other. a/n : hello reader! this is my first post on tumblr which is kinda crazy considering i've been writing for like 4 years -- so would love to make some mutuals if your wanting to chat. I am absolutely obsessed with game of thrones and cannot get enough of it so need to write little drabbles to help me cope -- although I may continue working on a fic if people enjoy this. anyway, this contains nothing but innocent fluff and cuteness because robb is the cutest character and I just think he would be so loving and sweet. — divider by @saradika-graphics

Reading was one of the only activities that could allow you to fully focus on one thing at once. So when you felt overwhelmed, sad or anxious, you would simply pick up a book and insert yourself into the pages -- imagining you were a completely different person in a completely different situation. You could be anyone you wanted to be, and yet still be able to return to your life in Winterfell.

Robb had always been fascinated by your love for books, as he didn't understand why they had you so encapsulated. He had read plenty of books before -- although the ones he had indulged in weren't exactly the fairy tales you were accustomed to -- and yet had never found any of them particularly interesting. He loved how cute you looked curled up next to a window, head stuck in the pages as you excitedly scanned the ink markings with your lip between your teeth. In fact, the first time he had met you was in Winterfell's library, and he had been absolutely infatuated with you ever since.

Due to your new-found responsibilities as the King in the North's wife, you hadn't been able to dig up much free time in awhile. Fortunately for you, you had finally managed to escape your duties for a few hours, and immediately decided to head to your favourite place. The library. You had already read most of the works of fiction that resided in the castle, although still somehow managed to stumble upon a brand new story in the depths of one of the shelves. Wiping your hand over the front of the book you had just plucked from the planks of wood to remove the thick layer of dust that had formed, you smiled at the enticing cover. The gold text and wispy font immediately getting you excited. You walked over to a window, sitting down on the pillowed seat below before gently opening the book, the spine crunching as it bent for probably the first time in years. The satisfying noise sent tingles through your body, and with that feeling, you began to read.

Robb had been signing, writing, and reading letters all day, and he was tired. He loved being king, but god could it get boring. He put his head in his hands, scratching his beard in thought as he looked down at the hundreds of pieces of paper before him. He had been sat in his chambers by himself all day, and frankly, he was lonely. He missed you, and couldn't help but let a smile creep to his face as the thought of you flooded his mind. It's time for a break, he thought to himself. Dropping his quill, he got up from his chair and put on some extra fabrics, deciding he would go out and look for his wife. He had a strong theory of where you might be, so he left his chambers and started down the hall, heading straight for the library.

You had gone through around seventy pages now, and the sun was beginning to set. You turned your head to look out the window, hypnotised by the bright orange orb descending beneath you. You always thought sunsets to be magical -- not that they only looked it, but that they genuinely were. It was like watching an angel go to sleep. As the warm glow continued to disappear, you stared, completely mesmerised. You closed your book, sliding a small handkerchief in as a bookmark and opted to gaze outside, hand on your chin to rest your head.

Robb approached you slowly, a coy grin on his face as he stood a few feet away and admired you. Your back was turned to him, as you were staring out the window; but even merely seeing that made him giddy.

In your hypnotic state, you suddenly recognized his figure in the reflection of the window. You spun your head around, eyebrows raised instinctively upon seeing your husband.

"Robb." You said in surprise, fixing your improper posture and placing your book neatly in your lap. Robb smiled lovingly at you, eyes right on yours as he went to sit beside you. You moved further to your right, making space for him.

"What book are you reading now, my lady?" He questioned as he sat himself down beside you. You smiled shyly at him, extending the book in your hands so the two of you could read it’s title.

"Tis called 'The Forest of Secrets,'" You answered in a mysterious tone, almost as if the book itself was a secret. "follows the story of a young man who meets a fairy in a forest, where she shows him everything that is magical. I have not read too much yet."

Although Robb gained little delight reading fantasy novels, he enjoyed hearing you enthuse about them. He loved listening to you talk about your interests and hobbies, no matter if he himself liked them also. "Any good?" He queried, frowning in question.

You nodded vigorously, like an excited child. Adjusting in the seat, you leant back on Robb, resting your head on his chest as he wrapped his arms around you, resting one of his hands on your stomach while the other brushed through your hair.

You grinned bashfully as you felt his chest rise and lower as he breathed beneath your head, a sudden realisation coming to mind as your brows furrowed. "I had thought you were busy today?"

"I took a break." He said as he ran his fingers through your soft locks. "I wanted to see you."

"Do you not have a kingdom to rule?"

"The North can wait. My wife comes first." Robb pressed a soft kiss to your forehead, your cheeks instinctively shifting to a light pink hue as you rolled your eyes sarcastically at him. "Now, shall we read your book?"

You bit your lip back, trying to hide the smile that had creeped onto your face. Robb somehow always managed to make time for you, and his extensive efforts only made you fall more and more in love with him. You couldn't have asked for anyone better; so to respect his wishes, you opened your book and obligingly began to read from the page you had left on, the two of you sitting together happily in the castle that you both ruled over.

[fiery-emblems]

Like a lot of people I sometimes ponder what my favorite characters might look like if they were allowed to grow older. I've been seeing a lot of good designs for older Soren specifically so of course I got to thinkin' about my own take!

Some notes on design process under the cut cause I think we should all share our thought process once in a while:

So, for this I didn't want to just want to go with "Soren, exactly the same but older". My thought was "if I was actually in charge of designing for a fire emblem game, one that takes place in a future Tellius perhaps and featuring this character as a guest (a la Tiki or the Awakening trio, which they should keep doing BTW) how would I go about doing that".

You have to think of course, about what the character is actually doing and what their role is. It seems pretty likely that after RD Soren is either traveling the world with Ike or wandering around (probably the former) so "traveler" was the theme. As far as the overall shape and the outer layer especially it seemed obvious to reference the dragons, who are also travelers:

I don't want to just straight up copy the look of the robes though for a couple of reasons. 1) that's boring and the idea here is for an updated visual style 2) I wanted to combine different elements to evoke a feeling of mixing cultures. I figure if this scenario takes place say, 80 years in the future or something, fashions will have moved forward and perhaps you would see elements of beorc and laguz fashions mixed together. Especially for Soren given what he is. So I went with an inner layer that looks more Victorian puffy sleeves (which you don't actually see a lot of in PoR or RD since the characters favor more stiff looking tunics, but they are there and I figured its the future and maybe Crimea has entered its puffy shirt era) with the outer layer looking more like what the dragons wear. 3) Staying with robes seems kind of stagnant. I imagine that a much older Soren who's lived a good life along side his love has probably chilled out a little bit. A little bit. 4) I think having more leg visible gives a more adult silhouette.

The other consideration is the hairstyle. As much as I love Soren being a carbon copy of Rajaion, it wouldn't be the most interesting design choice if I was the character designer of a game to just copy a past design 1 for 1. So I decided to just lengthen his hair a little bit and give it a look like its been blown around in the wind. Soren is the windy guy and I'm assuming he would be more chill here so why not let it be loose and free? This also helps avoid him just looking like Sephiran cause I see that a lot too lol.

Yes I also changed the shape of his brand. I've always been fascinated by the fact that it changed shape between games. I know it was likely just a design oversight but what if it changed because he isn't an adult yet and it changes more as he ages?

Lastly there's the why. Why would your fav show up as a guest character? What would he even do?? Well I think Soren could be really fun actually if we assume he went with Ike and that Ike kept Ragnell with him. I'm picturing a situation where Ike has lived out his natural life and died, leaving Soren to return to Tellius alone in order to tell Mist's family what happened (cause Ike just left without telling anyone anything lol), and to return Ragnell to them. Instead some conflict breaks out, you know how it is, and the more chilled out Soren is convinced to bestow the sword onto the new starry-eyed lord who reminds him of his beloved.

Oh yeah. I can see it now.

[danmei-confessions]

Hey hey! New here in SVSSS and still looking for new JiuYuan food came to tumblr for JiuYuan but I hope you allow me to defend my ship's other half blorbo. Twisting the story to hate on Shen Yuan or diminish all he has done and what he has become to the other characters is not the way to go. Maybe because I am a JiuYuan Shipper so I will defend both but for now this is mostly about SY.

There are what ifs that we can think that SJ could have done to get a happy ending for him and the world he is in but we don't need what ifs for the good ending that SY already gave SVSSS despite nobody knowing his real name and his own sufferings because the system won't allow him to talk.

SVSSS is a horror story FOR SY's situation at first because he knows what is supposed to happen in PIDW. He died, is brought to another world to be FORCED to do the crimes of someone else and pay for it. The system plays it off as a game and has no care for what SY feels. "Fail to do it and die, succeed to do it and you get years of torture. YAY! Immersion!" Imagine getting transmigrated to the Saw movie before the torture happens and you know if you do this bad thing, it will lead to the torture ending for your character. You would be stupid to do it, not to mention you are not a bad guy so just thinking of doing that bad thing makes you sick. But system is there watching your every move. You decide you would rather die instead because wtf your choices are only die or be tortured. But system gives you hope that with enough points, you don't need to do the bad thing anymore. But then after years the system tells you, actually this one bad thing is canon event so you still need to do it which will lead to the torture ending.

Unless you're a scum, the thought of hurting a puppy and let wolves bully it until it bleeds will torment your mind. Now imagine you are FORCED to do it because it's part of the story. Even though SY thinks that the characters are just fictional, he still cannot do it and would sneakily find ways around the system's rules to save LBH. The moment he is free of the restrictions, he is his own. That's not SJ anymore That's all SY. ALL the peak lords notice that he is not acting as SJ. He has the face of SJ but he is is far from acting like SJ. He is acting as what he thinks a respectable immortal master should be. But as time flows by and as he grows closer to the others, he is acting as SY. Read the extras, he actually loves to gossip with other peak lords. He is playful with LQG. He starts to shed his immortal, aloof façade when he got together with LBH. They're literally playing and flirting inside the bamboo house and outside when no one is looking. Sure SY is a PIDW critic online but how you are online is vastly different from how you are in real life. He is like a person who is first closed off and likes to act cool but starts to unravel the closer you are to them (and actually matches your freak). I would say even the fan gestures are part of his old life. The moment he opened his eyes, he reached for a fan. That is SY.

SY is an unreliable narrator of the people around him because that's what Airplane has written in the book. That's what SY thinks because that's what Airplane wants his readers to know. SY does not know about SJ and YQY's past and even LBH's parents because airplane did not add it on the PIDW. Once he found out what happened to SJ, he understood SJ but he also knows that whatever happened in the past does not allow you to abuse children that you have chosen as your disciple and is supposed to be under your guidance. (My JiuYuan headcannon screams only SY understands him. This is only headcannon do not attack my ship please I promise I will focus on SY here)

SY is also an unreliable narrator about himself because his psychological defense mechanism is compartmentalization. He is literally downplaying all that is happening to him so that he will not break down. He even downplays all the good things he has done. MXTX is so great at this that readers missed the parts where SY actually is suffering because he makes jokes of it. SY doesn't allow himself to dwell on the memories of his loving family and the world he was taken from. SY is showing signs of depression when he pushed LBH into the abyss but in SY's mind he is saying he is not depressed. SY cried when LBH snapped at him in the Holy Mausoleum but his mind played it off as being tears of pain because of his leg. SY said that LBH began to like him because of a single smile but LBH actually only forgave him when he risked his life to save LBH and asked nothing in return. LBH and SY first time in Mai Gu Ridge is so painful and he is going through it alone because LBH is in Xinmo's control and out of his mind but SY still plans to make a joke about it to binghe until SY coughed up blood and did his best to comfort Binghe when the other regrets his actions.

SY keeps saying that he's just doing things to save his life but his actions shows more than that. He became genuine friends with the Peak Lords. He went to CQM when he heard that LBH was attacking. Also he initially saved LQG's life so he can use him to fight LBH and SY can escape in the future, but he compromised his disguise and steps in when LBH and LQG was actually fighting in CQM to stop them. Instead of using the characters as his shield to escape LBH, he uses himself as a shield so others can be saved from LBH even though his greatest fear is being tortured by LBH.

The take that LBH is infatuated/in love with SJ and SQQ body only and will not love SY as he is if there is a reveal is the most weird take I find and undervalues MXTX writing. LBH is not infatuated with SJ and his body. LBH as a child sees him as a teacher but is not in love with him unlike with SY. Like most case of child abuse, LBH is a kid who thinks he has nowhere else to go to and so stays with his family despite being abused. We like to joke that LBH is a shizun fucker but he only became a shizun fucker because he experienced SY's love. Throughout the story, it shows LBH is not in love with just the body. He might think SJ is pretty but he is not in love. This is the same as bingge liking all pretty women but then discarding them to the harem afterwards to be forgotten.

LBH is in love with SY. The love and care he felt is from SY. His kind shizun is SY. The body is just a way for LBH to connect with SY. Afterwards, even without a body, it is SY that he loves. Again, all the peak lords noticed he is not acting as SJ. The desciples has also changed so it can be said that they noticed this change too. This is SY!SQQ that they came to love. The plant body is also proof that SY is loved. LBH preserved SQQ body for years hoping that his shizun will come back. When he pieced together that the plant body (that looks like SY real face and his real voice) is his shizun, he made sure to capture SY first before going after SQQ body at CQM. He even said he went to CQM to “stall you out,” indirectly talking to SY. This also shows how scary binghe is because he knows that SY has arrived and is hiding. Once he got SY, that's the time he went for SQQ body and his reason was that if SY ever tried to escape to the other body (LBH is so smart because this actually happens) then LBH will be lost again. LBH talks about the bodies as if they are only containers for SY's soul.

Luo Binghe spoke first. “Are the meridians of that body working well?”

“That’s good. I preserved the other body for a few days, but it still withered in the end. That doesn’t bode well if anything goes wrong with this one.”

Basically he wants both bodies to ensure that SY is trapped with him no matter what body he tries to use because he doesn't believe SY will not leave him again (He mockingly tells him "Ive believed shizun plenty of times" when SY tells him he wont run away). Again, the body is just a way for LBH to connect with his shizun that he loves and that shizun is SY. When ZZL summons SY soul to SQQ body, LBH also tried his best to save the plant body until it withered.

There is also the factor that LBH and SY are soulmates and this extends to LBG. LBG is not in love with SJ. He is filled with hate and enacted vengeance for being abused since he was a child and then thrown to hell. LBG was even smiling sinisterly when SJ was so broken that YQY died. There is no infatuation or love there. LBG doesn't think anything of SQQ at first until he dived in and saw SY!SQQ memories starting from the skinner demon until the Mai Gu Ridge in one night and all that SY did for his Binghe. It might just be one night, but the events are what happened for years that SY had a headache when he woke up. Afterwards is the only time when LBG thought of SQQ as pretty. Basically LBG is not in love with SJ but rather fell for this other SQQ because of SY and how SY!SQQ loved his Binghe. The type of love that not even his wives can give him. I can explain this but I only want to focus on SY now. If there is a SY reveal, it will be the same, the question will be the same "why did this person get a kind shizun while I got the rotten one", the only difference is there will be no disgust in LBG's side and LBG will probably make an effort and try his best to take SY back to his world since he has no animosity towards SY and because he knows there is no SY in his world.

Also, I'm pretty sure LBH already knows or he has an idea just no way to prove it. He's already giving hints about things that SQQ should not even know. Also look at this line:

"Every time Luo Binghe caught Shen Qingqiu before, he had stared at him like he was trying to stare through him"

Bingge will follow soon after because the sun and dew mushroom body was used by one of his enemies so he knows how that works and that the mushroom body will look like the face of whoever's soul is using it. Looking into SY!SQQ memories and seeing that his face changed when he transferred to the mushroom body is a big clue for LBG to digest and with how smart he is, he WILL know the truth.

Bingmei will love SY if there is a reveal. He will love him even more if that is even possible. LBH: "Shizun actually never hated this disciple and never wanted to push him in the abyss?" LBH: "Shizun loved this disciple before coming to this world?" He will gloat that he won before the battle even begun. Then chug vinegar when he finds out it is bingge who is loved first. There is no reveal because LBH will be more insufferable and so MXTX saved SY from such fate. LQG will not go "You mean it is not SJ who saved me? You are a Traitor!" LQG despite not liking SQQ mellowed out when SY!SQQ saved him. It will make no difference if he finds out it was SY who saved him, has been with him and has saved CQM. The only sad part will be YQY but that is about SJ's side and again for this I will focus on SY.

I have to say SQQ role or body is not important. He can be Ming Fan, NYY, a random disciple, another peak lord, and do all the things he has done and perhaps more effectively without the system hindering him to act as a villain and it will be the same as SVSSS. Save LQG in the caves-> LQG is now his friend. Continue to be a fanatic of LBH and believing in his skills and also trying to save him from abuse-> LBH finds a friend who truly cares and after some time falls in love. There will be somethings that will be different like NYY. Because NYY under SJ is an airhead that gets herself into trouble that bingge needs to save time and time again, compared to NYY that blossomed under SY!SQQ guidance with a strong mind, attitude and love and respect for SQQ that shocked even bingge.

I've read that the disciples are a downgrade under SY because SQH called the disciples students with ADHD. SY is actually a good Shizun. NYY is proof of this. Ming fan is proof of this. SQH the author literally states that the disciples under SJ back then were posers with face full of bitterness and great resentment compared to the disciples that literally flock towards SY!SQQ in excitement whenever he returns to the peak. SQH called them ADHD students because they are lively! The disciples sit around grouped together talking to each other as friends and no one is left out. And there is nothing wrong about ADHD students either, they are wonderful if you just give enough time and patience to understand how their minds work and what best way you can get their attention to learn. The fact that the disciples are happier and better versions than that of PIDW is already proof that SY did make a huge effort and is a good shizun to his students.

In the end, SY played with the cards he is given and although the cards are not good, he still did his best. System tells him "do this or die, but if you also do this thing that I said you get to become a human stick and suffer for years! Ehe (^-^)" and SY instead tells the system to Fk off and saves himself, LBH, and in extent, the women from joining in LBH's harem, and the world from turning into PIDW which is seriously a bad end for everyone even the protagonist. SY saw people as fictional characters at the start because the system is treating the world (and him) as a game. He gets points for doing this, gets deducted points for doing that. But in the end he learns and accepts that everyone is real and that even though the book already closed in PIDW, the story continues for everyone in their world. From a horror story that is PIDW, it is now a hopeful story that is SVSSS.

So yeah. Imagine knowing that Shrek must go to the castle to save Fiona to marry her in the future but Shrek falls for your transmigrated number one shrek fanboy soul in Lord Farquaad's body instead. All this time you are acting kind and caring for Shrek because Shrek is love Shrek is life and also to save your ass. You are blindsided. While acting as his a wingman for your OTP Shriona, Shrek was actually making a move on you. "No way Shrek is gay and into midgets? And loves to play as house wife?! TF?!" But in the end you accept that your feelings has also changed and that the quote Shrek is love Shrek is life is literal not metaphorical. Fans speculating that Lord Farquaad is the first human to actually show Shrek respect by making him one of his knights (because he wants him to go to a dragon guarding castle where countless knights died) so Shrek has always been infatuated with Lord Farquaad and the moment you reveal that you are not a midget, Shrek will have a meltdown and won't care about you anymore. You save the mama bear because you know she dead in the movie but now she acts as your savior from the big bad ogre who they think has grown obsessive of you and the bear's whole family is also indebted to you. The baby bear ships Shrequaad so hard he wrote a fanfic that became popular throughout the lands. Fiona learns she needs no man, defeats and rides the dragon and is now dubbed as "Mother of Dragons" while you scream in your head "Director WTF?! Plagiarism?! Games of thrones?!" You found out Puss n boots is actually the author transmigrated, he is scared of Death because death will kill him someday but because of some changed events Death follows him because he loves him. It's far from the original plot but everyone is happy.

.

[coffeegnomee]

i'd love to hear your thoughts on zam's new dilemma about wanting to use the rollback exploit to revive/help people if you have the time ^_^

Buckle up it's time to talk morality on lifesteal.

ZAM: “But like. If there was a way to theoretically use this for the good of the server, for, you know, something that is upholdedly, no matter what, undeniably, objectively just, right, something objectively righteous, then, i would have no problems with this i feel like.”

This debate over using an exploit to revive players is so interesting to me because, of course, zam takes it as being so tied up with morality. 

We as humans are intrinsically obsessed with morality. Every story revolves around it: heroes vs villains, or anti-heroes and morally grey characters. Everything returns to morality. 

Because in the real world, morality is of vital importance. It is literally life and death. What is good uplifts and allows us to live freely and love deeply. What is evil tears us apart. It ends in death. 

If you look at laws, everything revolves around morality. This is illegal bc it hurts this person, that is illegal bc it hurts that, etc etc. 

So of course in stories everything goes back to morality. It is the way we try out and learn and think about what is good and what is evil. The characters do good and do evil, they have to work through the consequences and learn from them, allowing us a free insight into what we might do ourselves in such a situation, or what we learn we must never do. 

So lifesteal is a story. A story that is populated by real world people, so everything ends up going back to real world morality. 

But it’s not the real world. It is minecraft. And that makes ALL the difference. 

Take murder for example. Murder is an objective evil. Why? In the real world it is the removal of another from this world, irrevocably. They are gone, no do overs, no second chances, gone. Gone because someone else took them away. And that’s evil because you matter. Every person. Nobody should decide if you die before your time.

That’s not what murder is on lifesteal. You JUST steal one permanent heart. The person can still come back, they can still exist in the realm. They can even get the heart back.

So what is analogous to murder? A death ban? 

It’s getting closer. But the revive beacon is an in-server tool to remove even the effects of a death ban. You can get a do over, a second chance. Even death is not permanent.

So murder isn’t the same, which is why we can love how much murder happens on the server, it’s not real, it’s all a game.

So from one perspective, murder on lifesteal is impossible to be an intrinsic evil. 

AND YET, it IS death and killing and in the real world that has weight and so the actions of the characters can be debated on moral lines both within themselves and between each other.  

What this gets to is the exploit. Finally. 

Because we have gotten to a point on lifesteal where some players don’t care about death bans. They don't want to play so instead of quitting silently they go out in a blaze of glory or whimsy. 

The analogous thing here, perhaps, could be like leaving your friend group when you go to college. 

Now, would it be an evil if you dragged your friend back from college and forced them to be around you and would not let them live their life? Yes. Because love is about free will. The freedom to choose to be with a person or not. You cannot love if you don’t have freedom. And love is an objective good. 

Reviving someone on lifesteal is not perfectly analogous to that because they aren’t dragging someone back on with the revive beacon. 

But the extent that we try and force others to play would be getting closer to being evil. You have to allow them to simply not play. Convincing isn’t an evil, it’s a suggestion, a request, letting the other know you want to be around them and enjoy their company. But force would be bad. 

So on one hand you have the potential “analogous to the real world” evil of preventing someone from playing with a death ban. That evil can be objected by the members of the server: in this case it would be a moral good to revive players. 

And on the other you have the moral good of free choice to play or not, and if someone decides to ban themselves that is not objectively evil. Bc they chose it. It would be morally neutral to revive them, and evil to force them back on or smth. 

And then you have this exploit. 

An exploit would be analogous to the real world as breaking a law. And if law breaking is a moral evil bc the laws are set for the moral good of the people (given that the law IS actually for the good of the people. Like, i’m not debating real life laws rn just giving the concept of above that it is logical for society to create laws for our good), then exploits are a moral evil. 

BUT this is lifesteal. As a content creator platform, any action taken for the good of content and for the good of the server wide story is ALWAYS a moral good. You are always morally good if you seek to keep the sever going through conflict and content bc it is for the benefit and uplifting of the other members. So an exploit for content is a moral good. 

Another set of two hands. 

Smash it together and you have Zam using an exploit to bring back members who wanted to be banned. 

This is suddenly analogous to like, breaking into prison to free a friend. By their own actions they landed there and they will get out given enough time served. Give them time and they will return. 

But breaking them out is to go around the perfectly legal system that is in place and will get them back eventually.

Bc using a legit revive beacon is perfectly legal, perfectly morally good. 

But using an illegal revive beacon IS breaking a law. And that is morally evil. Or is it good? Is it for the good of the server? Or is it breaking a morally just law?

Can that ever be justified? 

Can you be morally good when you break a law even when you know the affect you want won't even bring back the people you're trying to rescue? Can you involve yourself with someone who doesn't care about real world morality, only content creator morality and still come out morally good? Can you live with yourself knowing Spoke will mess up the server with this and your own justifications for your involvement might not matter at all bc the members you revive will never log back on?

Who the hell knows!

And THAT is why this arc is so fascinating. Because That is the POINT of the debate of morality. That is the POINT of story. That is the POINT of watching PrinceZam.

He brings the real world morality in AND the content creator morality into every one of his arcs.

And he will have internal struggles at every step of the way, particularly with this arc BECAUSE it folds up both sides of the debate.

His characters always are concerned with the real world morality and either align good, evil, or grey. But he himself will always have a separate debate about the content creator morality and wonder if this is this "good for the server" content or is this "bad for the server" content. And then the answer gets folded back up within his character.

While Mapicc, who I want to talk about after reading this back, Mapicc gets away with murder because for him real world morality doesn't matter at all; this is minecraft, no real world morals can affect me. Admin commands, exploits, murder. all are perfectly fair game.

What does matter to Mapicc is content creator morality. You are morally good or evil in his eyes to the extent that you are doing things that lead to interesting, fun, challenging, or otherwise good, content. You are evil to the extent that you are boring, use overwhelming power, or just don't have respect for the other people on the server.

And that just barely scratches the nuance of morality and decision making on lifesteal and how each member looks at it differently.

[millionmaggots]

RGG Show was Mid, + a Tangent About Goro Majima

Ok, yeah, I'm glad I didnt get my hopes up, bc WOWIE the amazon prime RGG show is Not Good.

I wanted to like it, but in 100% full sincerity, i would recommend that you watch the unhinged 2005 movie over this.

The games beautifully mix genuinely serious story beats / subject matter with completely absurd moments of levity. This contrast allows you to see the silly and charming sides of the characters, making the story especially engaging precisely because those moments of happiness contrast so sharply with the characters' hard lives. Seeing what they could have makes it hit so much harder when they're put through the wringer.

Kiryu will go through the most gut-wrenching tragedy, then immediately after, you'll do a side quest about helping people find their lost items or something. Ultimately, the series is about humanity, and flawed people in horrible situations doing what little good they can.

The 2005 movie is ridiculous and borderline incomprehensible, but it still captures that mix of tragedy and farce. It's weird, it's campy, it's horny, and it makes little to no sense - It's fun.

I can't say the same about the new Prime series. It lacks the charm and silly antics that separate RGG from any other crime drama, and that self-serious nature just sucks all the appeal out of it.

I'm not upset that it isn't totally loyal to game canon - in fact, one of my main hopes was that it would reconcile Majima's super inconsistent characterization in Kiwami 1.

Him kidnapping Haruka just to get to Kiryu, holding a woman at knifepoint, etc., was all written for the original game in 2005 when he was meant to be a wildcard minor antagonist/villain.

The Majima Everywhere mechanic was added in the remake in 2016 after gradually becoming a much more complex and likeable character in 11 years worth of subsequent games after the original game's release.

However, the added content more in line with his later characterization was tacked on to the original iteration of him with little consideration for consistency, making him feel like one of two different people, depending on the scene.

With the show having the benefit of hindsight, I really hoped they would do something interesting with him, and balance out the genuinely detestable things he does with the silly amicable rivalry he has with Kiryu.

The story of the first game is mostly about Kiryu, Nishiki, and Yumi, but the marketing made a point to say it was (however loosely) adapting Kiwami 1. While I understand not wanting to advertise a brand new show with 2005 PS2 era graphics, I feel like that implied that it would reflect the minor narrative/framing changes and increased prominence of Majima, just as it does with Nishiki from the original game to Kiwami.

Essentially, I wasn't too excited about this series, but I had some hope because they had an opportunity to clean up the story and retell it without the limitations of being a remaster of an old game and following an eleven year old script almost word for word.

Instead, they told a gritty and joyless version of the same story without taking advantage of the freedom to rework a flawed but enjoyable story/script, and in doing so, lost its grip on the central theme of the series.

[christiansorrell]

Play-By-Blog #0: Cloud Empress

My first Play-By-Blog (of Luke Gearing's The Isle) just recently wrapped up, and now, we are getting the next one going with Cloud Empress: Land of Cicadas! If you missed our run through The Isle, you can find all of the entries here.

Recently, I ran a poll to see what folks were interested in for this second Play-By-Blog and the voting was an exact tie between Cloud Empress and Mausritter, but since I'm the one doing all the writing, I was the tiebreaker and chose Cloud Empress and its hexcrawl, Land of Cicadas, as a new twist on the Play-By-Blog format and because the game has a set of solo rules in which you create and play as an entire party, not just a single character.

If you aren't familiar with Cloud Empress, here's a quick description straight from the game's product page:

Cloud Empress is an expansive, Nausicaa-inspired fantasy campaign setting for the Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG. Cloud Empress places you in a world ruled by the patterns of giant magical cicadas. Cloud Empress creates a new Earth, thousands of years in the future inspired by Hayao Miyazaki’s Nausicaa in the Valley of the Wind, Frank Herbert’s Dune, and Hiromu Arakawa’s Full Metal Alchemist.

The full rulebook for the game is FREE over at DriveThruRPG.

Land of the Cicadas takes this world and opens it up across a large hexmap, allowing us to explore the Lowland Wastes (Cloud Empress's take on a farflung future American Midwest) during the summer of the Century Brood and 29th Expedition (an ongoing military incursion from the Cloudling cities).

If you missed the last Play-By-Blog, here's an idea of how it works:

I write up the situation, NPCs, and more, just like a DM/GM.

You vote in the poll to help decide the party's next course of action.

I roll the dice, resolve actions, and write them up in the next entry.

So on and so forth for the rest of the adventure!

With all that said, let's get into Party Creation, vote on our first decisions, and get this whole thing started! Thanks for coming along for the ride.

We'll be generating 3 characters for our starting party. For the sake of our first poll and the number of base Jobs available in Cloud Empress, I'll take the top 3 most popular results and roll up a character for each (unless the All Random option wins the entire poll, in which case all characters will then be randomly rolled). So if Sellsword gets 8 votes, Lordling gets 4, Magician gets 3, and Courier gets 2, I'll roll up a Sellsword, a Lordling, and a Magician.

For variety's sake, we won't double up on Jobs (unless All Random is chosen, in which case it would be possible to get doubles of a Job within the party).

In Cloud Empress, there are 4 different Jobs available to characters:

Sellswords can handle themselves in a fight, but long to find a home. The long lost fighters and gritty mercs of the Wastes.

Lordlings are groomed to lead and strike fear into those around them. Strange and privileged, they stand out among the Wastes.

Magicians sacrifice their bodies to cast dangerous spells. Esoteric but powerful. There are no old Magicians.

Couriers are scrappy travelers who’ve witnessed the best and worst of the world. The salt of the chalk-covered Earth.

After we have our characters, we'll get our starting location and our initial job - the focus of our travels across the Land of Cicadas - from the Solo Procedure tables. Then, we'll be off!

[power-chords]

I’m reading a 1985 Joanna Russ essay on Kirk/Spock fanfiction because, you know, midrash paratext etc, and this shit goes so hard:

But that's not all that's in the material. In many ways the K/S world is a great advance over the standard romances. For one thing, there is explicit sexuality instead of the old Romances' one-kiss-in the-moonlight. And I believe Lamb and Veith see rightly when they describe the androgyny of the relationship, the impossibility (despite the coding into the Spock character of so many female traits) of assigning gender roles to either partner, ever—obviously this is very different from the romances, in which a woman's problems in life are solved for her by a dominant male. The K/S insistence that the characters be first-class human beings is inevitably compromised by the social necessity of awarding that V.I.P. status only to men.

To me one important conclusion we can draw from these stories is that sexual fantasy can't be taken at face value. Another is that no sexual cues are morally privileged (though some kinds of sexual behavior certainly are) since sexualizing any kind of behavior drastically changes the meaning of that behavior. Translated into real life, the "hurt-comfort" theme of K/S would simply be pernicious, from the woman who can do sex only under the guise of pity, to the lover who wants to keep her beloved dependent and powerless, in which condition she can then "love" the beloved. What excites in fantasy is both far more exaggerated than real life and not the same as in real life; that is, fantasy isn't just a vicarious substitute for real experience; its meaning as experience becomes changed when it's made into fantasy. Without understanding the rather complicated context of the fantasy, one "reads" it literally—like the woman friend of mine (new to Star Trek) who said in disgust that K/S was about rape and power games. This is simply not true in terms of the genre. In fact, the story that evoked this response is a classic K/S tale in which Spock goes into pon farr again after pages and pages of agonized misunderstandings, thus (thank goodness!) providing a way for the lovers finally to declare themselves and make out like crazy.

What seems to be happening in sexual fantasy is that any condition imposed on or learned with sexuality is capable of becoming sexualized, either as sex or a substitute for sex or as an indispensable condition of it. Such a process is certainly at work in the K/S universe. Yet it's perfectly clear to me that K/S writers and readers don't literally wish to become male any more than they literally want their dear ones to bleed and die in their arms or to die with their lovers. What they do want is sexual intensity, sexual enjoyment, the freedom to choose, a love that is entirely free of the culture's whole discourse of gender and sex roles, and a situation in which it is safe to let go and allow oneself to become emotionally and sexually vulnerable. The literal conditions and cues of the K/S world, far from being impeccably moral, are sexualizations of situations and behavior K/S fans did not choose and quite likely wouldn't want in reality. Moreover they are situations and behavior that are absolutely antithetical to getting sexual and emotional satistaction in the real world, which fact at least some of the K/S readers and writers know perfectly well.