#also yes i started a new playthrough even though im like part way through act 3

[dark-star-exe]

HE IS RIGHT THERE SHADOWHEART!!

[gb-patch]

Ask Answers: March 30th, 2021- Part 1

We’ve been really focused on getting the Step 3 DLC done and keeping up with asks kind of got away from me, aha. Thank you for waiting for a reply! We’re still definitely behind, but here’s a good chunk of responses!

I love Our Life so much but if the release of the step 3 dlc is in April, please don't "release" it on April 1, my poor heart can't take that prank 😭

Don’t worry! I’m horrible at pranks, haha. When we do post something specifically for April Fool’s it’s always to pretend it’s a joke when in reality it’s something we’re actually planning to do. But we don’t have anything like that arranged for this year. Any posts on April 1st will just be like normal.

Omigod, can you end the game in love with Cove but not in a relationship? My character stayed calm at the restaurant and Cove slept over at her home and I think I may have missed it. I'm delirious if I did, may never stop laughing. The children are idiots 

Haha, yes, it is possible to be in love and still not get into an actual relationship. There’s no forced ending where the two are made to confess their feelings and accept, it’s all optional/avoidable.

How can you see the new main character cut-in images? I'm not trying to be rude, but, all of my playthroughs, but I haven't seen them yet. (I know you can go through an entire game without seeing them, but I have went through multiple games.) 

It’s a bit of a spoiler to say here, but you can check out the guide we posted on Steam HERE!

Is it possible to win first place in the library quiz with Lizzy (Step 1 DLC) 

Yep, it is! Someone made a guide for the answers HERE (it’s also on Steam). We probably shouldn’t have required a perfect score to win a children quiz, but oh well, haha.

Hello!

In the future (in step 4) can you marry Cove even if you are friends? I would love to have a platonic wedding with him!

I’m afraid not. As much as he cares for the MC when they’re besties, Cove would only really want an official marriage if it’s based on romance.

Hello! I bumped into Our Life randomly last month, and it is one of the best coincidences I have ever laid on. I love how the choices and little details in the story changes throughout the game, and I'm excited to keep supporting you! I'm absolutely in love with Cove and would like to ask what keeps him to be especially interested in the MC? Other than how you can choose what fondness level you have with him, what ultimately leads him to be in sync with us? Sorry if it's a little much & thank u! 

Cove likes the MC because, regardless of the different personality traits you can give the MC, they meet him on his level, listen to him, understand him (even if you’re indifferent and not really close the MC still gets where he’s coming from), and if you’re fond/crush/love than you’re there for him. He finds the MC someone he can respect, trust, and, if they’re close, feel safe with. I’m glad you enjoyed the game!

hi there! for xoxo droplets i see the that female pronouns are used in the description, in the actual game can you change the pronouns or are they stuck as female? i'm aware the game is free, but i have a bad habit of buying dlc's before playing the game so it would be helpful to know before i spend money on it. if anything i'll save that money for more our life dlcs when they come out :D

XOXO Droplets does have a set MC. It’s the story of a specific person rather than a game about making your own story. All of our games prior to Our Life were about exploring MCs that were fully fleshed out people in their own right, so you can’t get the OL experience from what we did before. But we do plan to do more custom-style MCs going forward from here!

For the our life nsfw dlc, will you have to be in the patron to have it or  will there be another way for people who really support the game but can't pay to get it? 

I’m afraid not. We might put it up for sale somewhere other than Patreon someday (though never on Steam or Itch) since we know not everyone can use that site, but it will still cost money on any other hosting page we use. It’s unfortunately not a piece of content we can give away for free.

Hello! I finally got to play Xoxo Blood Droplets and it mentioned about a DLC coming out soon. Is it already out or are you still planning it?

We are still planning to finish it when we can, we just had to put it on hold because 2020 was a tough year and we needed to put all our focus on Our Life. There’s some of the extra DLC stories available for beta testing on the Patreon.

Is there a link to the soundtrack for Xoxo Blood Droplets? I really like the music in this game! 

That’s not available yet, but we’ll probably put it up for sale once the rest of the stories are done.

Would there be any chance for XOXO Droplets OSTs to be released in the future? (Please take my money-) 

We might! There are some things we wanna do and fix before we really start advertising XOXO Droplets things again, but hopefully it all comes together.

Why does Cove dislike Shiloh so much despite all of Shiloh's efforts to get along? I can understand his dislike for Lizzie, but why Shiloh? 

They met under bad terms (with an arranged play date he had no choice in), Shiloh’s sort of pushy himself when it comes to trying to get along, and Cove thinks he’s just kind of unusual in how he interacts/reacts with people. They don’t click, basically.

Is there a way to have your character be a tsundere? And have Cove toughened up a bit due to that? Sorry if the is a stupid question! ^^;

Maybe? The options in the game aren’t based on those types of personality tropes and I don’t know them well enough to say if you can accurately find a way to make it work with the available options. But it’s not a stupid question, I’m sure plenty of other people have considered something similar c:

do voiced names work only with their exact spelling? cause my mc is called Sophia and one of the voiced names is Soffia so i was wondering but if only works like that it's fine (sorry if i made any mistakes, english isn't my first language) 

“Voice” and “text” are separate! You can pick the “voice” you want and then type in whatever “text” you prefer. And your English is really good.

Will OL:NF be based on a season/break like the first game? Or some other type of setting? 

Our Life: Now & Forever takes place over the full course of Autumn. So, the start of school and then into the fall holiday season type of time period.

Will we ever see a jealous cove😭😭 please im begging u- 

Only in small ways, really. Sadly, I’m just not someone who enjoys jealousy in stories and therefore I don’t know how to implement it in a way that feels enjoyable. Maybe I’ll figure out a angle I can work with in future projects.

Do you have any plans with Our Life once step 4 has been released along with step 3's DLCs? 

After the Step 3 DLCs and Step 4 we’ll be releasing the Cove wedding DLC, the Derek romance DLC, and then the Baxter romance DLC. The project will likely be considered fully complete at that point.

Hello, I just needed to first of all sat how amazed I was when I discovered this game. I thought I would be disappointed by the lack of love interests, but you worked so hard to make sure Cove is the Best Boy for so many different people!! It really has been my comfort game for a while now, and I think all the different choices you allow make it the best romance game I’ve played in my life. The only problem is now my expectations for love are Cove level, and no one can live up to that. You’ve put so much consideration to make this game super inclusive and I think it’s amazing. If I can ask, for the exclusive NSFW Patreon dlc, will it only be available for the month it comes out? Or could I become a patron months later and still be able to download it. I just don’t have a job right now otherwise I would LOVE to subscribe to your Patreon and definitely will once I have the money again!! Thank you so so much for making such a lovely game that’s brought me so much joy.

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Hiya! I'm so sorry for sounding like a complete degenerate for asking, but will the nsfw moment on patreon still be available even if i'm not a patron of the month it comes out? (e.g. i didnt pay/join the necessary tier before the moment is released) Thank you for your hard work on OL, I really connected with Cove in a way I never anticipated.

Thank you very much for such kind words! The Patreon DLC will be up for download on the Patreon indefinitely once it’s done. Just like the normal DLCs, you can pay to get it whenever you like but it won’t be up for sale until it’s finished. So take all the time you need.

Sorry to bother you guys, but there was an earlier ask detailing the OL LI's love languages and I was just wondering- Would that be for them personally, as in what they do, or the love language they enjoy receiving the most? Because I know for some people it's different for both on giving and receiving and was a bit confused, haha. Sorry for the trouble, your games are really nice!

For Cove and Derek it’s what they like to receive and what they give. For Baxter, it’s what he likes to get. What he gives is tailored to his partner. He’s flexible that way~ And it’s no trouble.

asking (and also fanning... fanboying? fangirling? fanpersoning? screw it- from a distance) anonymously because my confidence is nonexistent.

will you be doing a kickstarter for our life: now and forever? i know it's probably been asked and mentioned before, but will you be doing a kickstarter akin to the one done for our life: beginnings and always? if so, will you be doing similar tier rewards? (if you guys do so, i will [politely] throw my money at you).

now, to the fan.. personing? FAN. uhm. to the part where this anonymous agender idiot will begin to act as the fan they are.

THE GAME IS SO. SO NICE. IT'S CUSTOMIZABLE. I'M REALLY HAPPY ABOUT THAT PART. AAAAA I ALSO ENJOY THAT YOU GAVE US THE OPTION TO JUST STAY BEST FRIENDS OR SOMETHING A8DBAIHEW- AND YOU INCLUDED AROS AND ACES IN THAT SEXUALITY CHOOSING PART- aaaAAA AND YOU MADE ELIZABETH FILIPINO- THANK YOU SO SO MUCH FOR CREATING SUCH AN INCLUSIVE GAME!!!

to summarize; will you be doing a kickstarter? and thank you for creating such a nice game. i, and likely the majority if not all of those who have played the game, am thankful.

Aw, thanks <3! I’m so happy it was such a nice experience for you. We are planning on having a Kickstarter for Our Life: Now & Forever. It’ll have similar rewards to the Our Life: O&A Kickstarter, but some changes will have to be made. Like, we’ll definitely need to increase the rate for getting a voiced name. Originally it was $3USD, which was super low for how much work it really took to add in a customized piece of voice acting, aha. Live and learn.

So sorry if you've already answered this, I looked but I couldn't find anything. Is the 18+ DLC coming out alongside the Step 3 DLC, or do they have different development timelines entirely? I'm so excited for all the DLC coming out in the future, and even though the release dates aren't out, I'm already counting down the days. :)

They have different development times and will come out separately. Despite taking place in the same Step period, they’re disconnected pieces of content and making progress on one doesn’t mean the other is closer to being finished. The normal Step 3 DLC is releasing first. It’s great to hear you’re looking forward to them!

Hey!! I'm absolutely LOVING Our Life! I have been pondering on one question though, what's Cove's ethnicity, if there is a set one? Or is it something we can Headcanon? 

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hi hi! i wanted to say first of all that i absolutely adore our life. it's one of my favourite games of 2020, and i think it was just the perfect dose of positivity we all needed, even if you didn't intend to release it during such a hectic year lol! secondly, i wanted to say: if it's alright to ask, what ethnicity is cove? :-0 and what about his parents? i was just curious about it ^^)/ thank you!!

Cove’s mom, Kyra, is white. But his dad’s, Cliff’s, race doesn’t come up and players are able to headcanon it. So Cove is half white and half whatever you prefer Cliff to be! 

hello! there was a post on the patreon where you can run your fingers down cove's chest in errands - how do you get that scene? ♥ 

That was an old mistake on my part- you can only get that scene in the Ending rather Errands. You have to leave the big family dinner at the restaurant to go into the car, be dating Cove for a while, have Cove come see you there, and then mention using your hands when Cove makes a joke about hands.

in baxter’s dlc, is there any point where you can tell him about the previous renters of the condo? 

You can talk to him about that in the normal Step 3 DLC!

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Thank you for all the interest in our games everybody :D

We released a new FAQ! It answers common questions and we’ll keep adding more to it. Please check there before sending an ask. FAQ   Also, if you prefer to just see the main posts without all the asks/reblogs, feel free to follow our side account instead: GB Patch Updates Blog

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Mass Effect: Andromeda Review

Unpopular Opinion Time: I enjoy Mass Effect Andromeda.  Why?

I’m not crazy, in fact I’ve played through the entire Original Mass Effect Trilogy multiple times.  I’ll throw out some estimated numbers for each game:  I’ve played Mass Effect about 5 times through, even though it’s not my favorite in the series it is an excellent beginning to the journey of Commander Shepard.  Mass Effect 2 has gotten the most playtime with a resounding 15+ playthroughs and is my favorite out of the original three.  Mass Effect 3 has the second highest playthrough rate with around 10 complete playthroughs.  Why so many (especially on ME3 which is the worst of the trilogy)?  Well the bottom line is I love Mass Effect and even though the ending of ME3 was less than satisfactory for many players I have to take the whole game into account.  Just because I didn’t like the ending didn’t make it a bad game in whole.  The journey up to the ending had several great all encompassing moments where a multitude of choices led to one singular event like curing the genophage.  

Much like ME3, most people are not looking at Mass Effect Andromeda as a whole, they are only looking at the one thing that is bugging all the pre-teen ‘meme-rs’ who joke about suicide constantly and that is the facial expressions and lip syncing.  Yes, I agree that they need work (a lot of work) but a bad game this does not make.  If you look at the game as a whole most of the facial animations and expressions work, I’d say 75% of the time you don’t really notice anything out of the ordinary.  But let’s say that the facial animations are only 25% of the game in total, you still have 75% of good content left in the game and that’s if ALL of the facial animations suck right?  So, we are actually looking at about 10% of facial animations and lip syncing being down right terrible.  Do you see the big picture?  

Some people will call me an idiot but I don’t like judging a game on one attribute alone because there are a lot of good things in this game that work well.  Let’s quickly talk about one thing that kinda stinks in the game and that is the voice actor they chose for both Ryder twins.  The male version seems to work better (not being sexist) in most conversations but the line delivery with both is extremely poor.  Never-the-less it does not ruin the game for me, sure it makes some parts seem a little odd but for the most part it just kinda sounds ‘eh.’  That being said, the other voice actors for other characters have done an excellent job of expressing  their characters and making them seem real.  Drack is a good example along with Jaarl, Peebee, Liam, and SAM to name a few.  I’ve laughed a few times during the game especially on Liam’s loyalty mission and it wasn’t because I was laughing at some bug.  Jaarl is a very interesting character with some great line deliveries which had me cracking up as well.  All in all, the voice acting is good in this game with a few exceptions.

Let’s talk about the story in Mass Effect Andromeda.  

The start of the game is a little rocky with a very predictable opening prologue.  The things that I thought were going to happen happen and the things I didn’t see coming are still just kinda...eh.  You wake up from Cryo sleep because you’ve been on a 600 year journey to Andromeda on board the Hyperion (which Ironically was the name of one of my metal bands) which is the human ‘ark’ to the new galaxy.  There is one for each of the major species in the Milky Way (asari, Human, Turian, Salarian) and along for the ride were some Krogan.  The quarian did have an ark but things went wrong for various reasons; their ark also had Hanar and Drell on it as well.  As soon as you get into range of Habitat-7, which is the Human’s designated colonizing world you are attacked by what is called the scourge.  A twisting clear-ish space vine that really get’s no backstory or information until the end of the game.  With the Hyperion stuck you and your father, the human pathfinder who is tasked with finding hospitable planets, embark with Cora (a human biotic who was once an Asari Commando) and Liam (a rookie cop and gadget wiz) to the planet’s surface to try and see if they can begin colonizing.  Of course it’s not what they expect on the planet and thus begins your journey with making worlds habitable by using ancient technology called Rem-tech or Remnant Tech.  Interested in the Rem-tech is the first of two alien species you encounter in the game, the Kett.  Rocky looking aliens who are more like drones being commanded by their leader, the archon. Shit hits the fan and habitat-7 is a loss for now.  The hyperion breaks free from the scourge, your father dies, and you make it to the Nexus.  The Nexus is the Citadel on steriods, it’s a large installation that was suppose to be up and running by the time the arks got to the system.  Of course, it is not fully functional and needs the energy from each of the arks to survive.  So, you must find the other arks which have not been heard from.  You are designated Pathfinder by your dying father’s wish and thus begins your journey.  

Like I Said, it is a rocky start but after that the game really picks up with plenty of new planets to explore, life to find, problems to solve, and characters to meet.  

Your squad:  Full of plenty of characters who are better than Ryder.  (this is actually the first game where they mention translators, which I found interesting.  It was in the back of my mind the whole time playing through the original trilogy because people were complaining that everyone spoke English, it makes sense really because who’s really going to learn all those languages?)

Cora:  Not my favorite character, hell she is my least favorite of the group but she holds her own.  Like I mentioned before she was once an Asari Commando so she is pretty badass, I just wish she wasn’t so annoying. 

Liam:  Your best bud from the Milky Way was once a cop and now wants to lead a squad of his own but he is a long way from it.  He is also a wiz with technology.

Peebee:  An asari who you find metaling with Rem-tech instantly becomes an obvious love interest.  She is a little odd and lives in the escape pod on the Tempest (your ship).

Vetra:  A Turian Mercenary who runs supplies with outcasts.  She is the first Female Turian in any mass Effect to have a major role. 

Drack:  A very old Krogan who came to Andromeda to help the Krogan become, well, better.  He is mostly built out of Synthetic parts and only has 1 of 3 hearts remaining but he is one of the best Krogan side Kicks since Wrex (grunt was good too).  

Jaarl:  Jaarl is from the second species you discover, he is a part of the resistance against the kett and is now a bridge between your two species.  He has some excellent dialogue along with some interesting interactions with other members of the squad.   

Each member of the squad and crew have interesting personalities that make the game worth playing through to the end.  

The Co-op in the game is just like ME3 where you fight for a few waves in a wave defender game mode and extract at the end.  Basic yet I really enjoy playing.  Along with the Co-op there are new Strike Team missions where you can recruit squads to do certain missions (which can take up to 5 hrs) and they will earn you rewards while you are away.  The Companion app is very useful and I end up having a ton of loot crates by the time I log on to the game at the end of the day.  

Let’s talk about power usage because it is set up a bit differently than the last game.  Not only can you change class types at will (engineer, Soldier, Vangaurd, Ect) but you can also mix and match any power (biotic, Combat, Tech) at any time and you can also change them at any time.  So, if a fight calls for Incinerate, Pull, and Concussive shot you can have all three at the same time now.  Then, if you get bored with those powers you can change them to what ever you want.  The new powers are nice as well including Flamethrower, Barricade, Flak Cannon, and more.  A nice touch even though it is not like the other games before it.

The open worlds on each of the 6 that you can go on are mostly bare with a few outposts or enemy camps here or there but they do offer what ME2 and 3 did not have and that is a free roam area to explore.  Much like Mass Effect 1, you drive around in a better version of the Mako called the Nomad from point to point until you get everything done.  Missions vary but it’s mostly just trying to get the planet to a livable state, you will earn Vitality points for every mission you do on a planet including fixing the rem-tech that has gone sour. Getting Vitality points allows you to open more Cryo Pods and get a boost in supplies, research points, or resources along with getting better prices at merchants, better research points when scanning, and the like. Even though each planet has their own style a lot of the animals you come across appear multiple times through out the small cluster of solar systems that you can explore in this game.  I feel like they definitely should have added more species of animals to the game.  I am a fan of this new free roaming area even though most of them are pretty basic and small.

All in all, Mass Effect Andromeda is a good start to your adventure in the Andromeda Galaxy, I am interested to see what my choices will end up becoming in the games to come and I am excited to see where they will go with the game moving forward.  Other than some im-perfect facial animations and line delivery the game has plenty of new features to keep you going and a good co-op game mode for fast action.  The new ability to chose your powers to fit your exclusive play style is awesome and not being stuck to one set in particular is good fun as well.   The choices you are presented in the game seem to not matter to much right now but I can see them affecting future games.  The open worlds to explore are beautiful to the eye and each have their own special look.  

All in all I would give Mass Effect Andromeda a 8\10

Fuck the haters