#also. metroidvania games rule

[blacktabbygames]

Cant remember if you answered this already but do you guys have any personal favorite video games in 2024?

We've finished surprisingly few games this year, and I don't love weighing in on games I haven't finished, but here's some favorites we played (not all of them came out this year though!):

The demo for Perfect Tides Station to Station - I was lucky enough to get a sneak peak of the full first season in the sequel. The first Perfect Tides is one of my favorite interactive narratives of all time it really says something that the sequel so far blows the first game out of the water. Aspirationally good. Criminally underrated. League of its own. Thronefall - Great mix of tower defense hack and slash, and resource management.

South Scrimshaw, Part One - Phenomenal and imaginative visual novel styled as a documentary about the life cycle of a whale species on an alien planet.

1000xResist - Wildly complicated narrative that beautifully weaves together an astounding number of themes. What does it mean to yearn for a place that no longer exists? I would recommend going into it blind.

In Stars and Time - We're bad friends and didn't have the chance to finish it until this year. Really thoughtful time loop narrative. Made us cry.

Nine Sols - I'm breaking my "I haven't finished it" rule because I really like what I've played so far. It's also pretty hard so not something I want to pick up when I get tired. Brilliant metroidvania by Red Candle Games, who are one of our favorite developers. Quite a different direction than their previous titles though (Devotion and Detention.)

Thank Goodness You're Here - really funny slapstick adventure :)

Path of Exile 2 - Finally an ARPG with challenging gameplay that's deeper than spamming 4 buttons really fast.

Alan Wake II Welcome to Nightsprings DLC - SO clever and creative. Really loved the text-based adventure in the last one.

On my ever growing backlog: Animal Well, Lorelei and the Laser Eyes (I've heard people have needed physical notebooks for this one though so it might not be my speed), finish Indika, which is so stylish, finish Rise of the Golden Idol (loved the first game!) We've done so many things this year — Pristine Cut, move into a new place, get married, etc, so I've been too tired to engage with a lot of more difficult games.

[bobacupcake]

bobacupcake goty 2024 list

i dont know if all of these came out in 2024 but i played+finished them this year and i really liked them. also most of them are on sale rn

1000xRESIST - probably my goty. never played a narrative game quite like this one and is going to stick for me for a looong while. might be my favorite game since i played outer wilds (for different reasons, so not "if you liked outer wilds you would like this" but just. its very very good. ) 11-15 hours

another crab's treasure - just an incredibly solid soulslike. had a lot of fun playing this, characters and enviroments ruled, and i really cannot emphasize enough how good a soulslike it is. the aggrocrab team nailed this one. 14-22 hours

HalOPE - real sweet rpg. loved the characters loved exploring loved each area. if you like rpgmaker games really cant recommend this one enough really lovely all around experience. 4-ish hours

animal well - loved this one. great as a standalone metroidvania and then lets you go even further than that if you want. and really feels like wherever you decide to stop diving into it is a perfect place to stop. 7-17 hours but maybe more if you want :)

death of a wish - sequel to LUCAH born of a dream but is also playable as a standalone game. action rpg that takes some real cool swings. challenging (in a good soulslikey way), had a lot of fun with it and the characters and world. 7-ish hours (but more if you like cause theres a challenge mode !)

in stars in time - ok technically i finished this game on december 29th 2023 but like. come on. yougotta. you gotta play it. its good. trust me. its good. 20-40 hours

soul of sovereignty - ok wait if im including isat i also have to include soulsov since i also finished it december 2023. i think actually i finished it november 2023 i think. its ok were doing award show rules now. its really good. its really good. visualnovel , just the prelude for now but watch out! 2-3 hours

[maxwellatoms]

What kind of video games do you like to play Mr. Atoms?

So many! Assuming there's time. These days there's generally not, so I've been bingeing Vampire Survivors in half-hour doses.

Above is a gif from Noita, my top game of the pandemic. It's an old-school "Metroidvania", but every pixel is simulated and you're a witch who can manipulate her spells (and thereby the world) in a seemingly infinite number of ways. Here, I've built magical "buzzsaws" around myself, which blinded me to the shadow amoeba. In Noita, almost every death is due to hubris, and I think I love that pendulum swing. If you're lucky and skilled, you can become a walking whirlwind of destruction, but you're always your own worst enemy. Bonus: You can turn your vomit into rats.

I'm currently on a break in the midst of my Baldur's Gate 3 run, with a party consisting of my BG2 character's daughter, Karlatch, Lazelle, and Shadowheart. Ladies' Night!

I'm also playing a bit of Shadows of Doubt. I'm not sure it'll hold up long-term, but it's got a lot of potential.

I don't really limit myself by genre or platform, but I'd say that I primarily play indie PC games. The games in my Steam library that I keep going back to again and again?

Cities: Skylines: A chill City Building Simulator. Lots of fun mods.

Darkest Dungeon: This thing is a classic strategy game IMO.

Death Road to Canada: A light, fast Project Zomboid. Dogs with guns!

Dwarf Fortress: For me, it's the ultimate fantasy sim. I love it so much. Looking forward to Adventure Mode finally appearing on Steam.

Project Zomboid: The ultimate lonely 2D zombie apocalypse survival game. Or non-survival game, I suppose.

Total War: Warhammer: For when I'm in a strategy-y mood. Like a lot of people, I'm a bit soured on the modern DLC scene, so I'm still waiting on #3 even though I'm a Chaos stan.

Not on Steam? I do play some Star Citizen from time to time. I backed it a decade ago. I used to joke that it was the game I was going to retire into, but more and more that's looking less and less like a joke. Still, it's made some good progress in the last couple of years and I'm hopeful that repair and engineering turn out to be fun.

The game I'm looking forward to most would be the next Elder Scrolls. I know it's still a ways off. Ever since my Nereverine landed in Morrowind with the intention of becoming a just and righteous cleric and instead found herself an unwitting villain and colonizer, I fell in love with the Elder Scrolls and it's deep, gray lore. It is (for me) a great way to really get into a character's head. Roleplaying... go figure.

Since Morrowind (and a backtrack into Daggerfall), I only allow myself one canon playthrough. My rule is to "let it ride", so that aside from death, if I screw up or if something unexpected happens I don't save-scum. All of my characters are related, either by quest or bloodline. I already know that my next character will be Aventus Aretino (the kid you catch summoning the Dark Brotherhood). My Skyrim character (above) had adopted him and then left him in the hands of a vampire, so I should be covered even if there's a big time jump. Now I just have to wait six more years for the game. And then maybe two for mods. God I'm so old.

I need to spend more time with Dave the Diver.

Anything current I'm missing out on?

[thelonelyshore-if]

What do you think the ROs favorite games would be?

I love this ask. For the most part I'm going to do video games because I'm a #gamer but I will branch out for some of them! Under the cut because I'm about to be very annoying about this lmao.

Beck- enjoys bar slash backyard games, like darts and beanbags. Would probably be involved in like. A beer kickball league if they weren't staunchly against organized team sports (but they would kick ass at it). As for video games--anything fast-paced and preferably competitive. They'd loooove Smash Bros (my fiance (an expert at smash) suggested Terry, R.O.B., and Falco as their mains lmao.) And other fighting games!! They'd really want to be good at Soulslikes because they'd enjoy bragging about their skills but they don't have the patience for them.

Croft- the only true gamer on the cast. They hate all sports and yard games. In theory they enjoy board games but they're deeply competitive and a sore loser so I wouldn't recommend it. Probably enjoys extremely complex board games where you spend half the time learning the rules. As for video games they love Soulslikes and Metroidvanias. Anything that takes skill and that they can feel smug about being good at. Hollow Knight and Bloodborne are their favorites. They also fucking LOVE Minecraft they have a casual save on their Switch to play with friends and a Very Not Casual save on their PC for their elaborate castle city they've been building for the past 3 years. Also they enjoy tabletop but they haven't played it in a long time because they didn't have any friends.

Jay- has some distant understanding of video games because Cricket is as much of a gamer as you can be in Easthaven. Has a favorite pokemon (Raikou) and everything. If they were to actually play video games they'd enjoy platformers and puzzle games. And anything with a mystery to be solved!! Despite their Real Life, Jay loves a mystery in fiction. Probably would really enjoy those old Nancy Drew computer games lmao. As for non-video games they really enjoy sports and casual party games! They're pretty good at them, too. Enjoys playing cards, but they're less good at cards. Jay's poker face is abysmal.

Perri- ohhhh Perri deserves to be a gamer soooo bad they'd love it so much. Tragic. They would definitely be a Cozy Game fan--400 hours each in Stardew and Animal Crossing no questions asked. I think they'd also probably be the most well-rounded gamer? Anything from RPGs to fighting games to casual games. I think they'd also really like MMOs, if they lived in a world where they could play them! They're also a big board game fan--they have a pretty wide collection--though they rarely feel like they have the time to play. And they hate sports <3

Ravi- the least likely RO to enjoy games of almost any description. He played basketball in high school and liked it but it's Been A Minute. He wouldn't understand video games even if he lived outside of Easthaven and was used to them. Though...I could see him stumbling onto, like, Pathologic one day and becoming deeply obsessed for like 5 days before never touching it again. Also he enjoys playing chess c:

Yasmin- also a cozy game lover, though to a lesser extent than Perri. No, where I think Yasmin would fall in love with games is through single player RPGs. I am bestowing my deep and unending love of Fallout onto her. So many hours in Skyrim. Has played Dragon Age Origins through 30 times. She's a book nerd who loves a story. Also, I think she'd enjoy IFs, to get meta with it lmao. And I think she'd be very good at games, even though they aren't exactly where her interests lie. Croft would be complaining about struggling to beat a boss in a Fromsoft game and she'd just like. Knock it out after a couple of tries and just hand the controller back after. She's fond of board games and keeps trying to get Perri to bring some over, but Perri is too shy busy and it never happens 😔

[bitchfitch]

Tbh this is more me bitching about once again wasting money on a game I probably won't be able to finish due to cripple-itus but we're going to pretend it's a serious discussion on game design.

So to preface: my vision is fucked. Irrevocably. Like get discounts on insurance levels of fucked. But games, even very difficult ones still Often very doable and fun.

One of my favorite genres is "white dot goes on a combat platforming adventure" Ie metroidvania/soulslikes that either Are hollow knight or heavily inspired by hollow knight

And I just want to compare a Good white dot, against an extremely irritating white dot.

This is yi. He is an edgy cat boy. he is a good white dot.

No matter the amount of bullshit on screen or the background color, you can always quickly find the white dot that is Yi or his lil robe.

This Bo. They are a bad white dot. they look like they'd be a Good white dot, what with the really clear silhouette of their ears and strong red markings

This is Bo in the game.

Bo breaks the number 1 rule of being a white dot: they end up the same color as the background because neat light effects which do look Great, were more important than the ability to find you're guy while doing minute long don't touch the ground style parkour sessions.

Like Hollowknight and Nine Sols, Path of the teal lotus uses a lot of forground and back ground layers to create a very nice sense of depth. However the foreground layers frequently completely cover the lower half of Bo's body. often making them a light colored dot on a noisy light colored back ground.

The fact background and play ground elements are often the same color does not help. Nor does the fact the camera is . Bad. it just is. It zooms in and out in the middle of a screen making it extremely difficult to keep track of an already hard to follow character in a setting where. losing track of your guy means getting sent back to the beginning of a tedious boss fight or a prolonged parkour session (which to be clear, would be good if you could track your player character. not the bosses though. They are. bad. they need to attack faster, have more than 2 attacks, or at least have a fraction of the HP they do. so you're not just standing around waiting for them to decide to start up another attack to open a vulnerability window.)

And I'm just going to say it, Someone on the team knew the game had this issue. Because they gave you a fix that doesn't work. You can adjust brightness, contrast, and saturation. None of these fix the issue of Bo disappearing. The game is so blown out that no combination of settings produce a result where bo is consistently visible, and also you can tell whats background and what's something you can stand on.

Anyways Demos are an accessibility feature, and when they're not available don't be lazy like I was and just pirate it. If the devs aren't going to give you a way to check if their shit is busted or not, you'll just have to find one yourself.

Anyways anyways tldr absolutely Gorgeous game, Should've been a silent animated movie instead because it's nearly unplayable and the translators either did a Really bad job, or the writers just didn't get why the jokes they're copying were funny

[ecto-stone]

If you were in charge of a Danny Phantom game, what would it be like?

idk. but something that prob sound good on paper but horrible when executing. But it would be a 2D metroidvania game with many unique area and challenge that forced player to change ghost and human form accordant to trap and obtacle +When it come to Ghost Zone there is unique rule where Human and Ghost form are sorta flip. like Ghost form can not phase through ghost zone obstacle but Human form can. +the Battle are 2D kinda like hmmm best i can descripe are hollow knight inspired. +Halfa have a thing call Ectoplasm energy Lv meter that can saved up to 5 Pod as you upgrade your Power resert stats. It regenerate over time and it is a neccessary resort to tranform and cast ghost power ( human form regen it much faster) But Human form are also not useless either (i can already see people gonna do the Human only any% run with it) There is 3 Seperate Campage all with unique lv ,Power, allies and location.

-Default Charater is Danny: Standard balance in all stats -Second is Danielle Unlock by talking to her in main campage: High Speed low HP. ( her unique mechanic is that he can only regain ecto plasm by hitting enemies or stay in ghost zone) -Third is Dan Secret cheat code unlock by finding the Ghost album with secret letter hidden in every stage in Danny and Danielle campage ( basically Danny on steroid and a Pure ghost Run) Main villain is Pariah Dark or Dan

[beevean]

I decided to play Order of Ecclesia instead (because I couldn't find a suitable emulator to play CoD on) and I'm having a blast so far (been busy doing side quests for the villagers).

I like to believe that in the Wygol village, Daniela (the elderly woman) is Richter's granddaughter considering how fondly she remembered her grandfather being a vampire hunter, or how much of the village inhabitants are presumably related to the Belmonts. Though by itself, this theory could be wrong.

CoD works great on PCSX2! Even my old laptop can run it decently :D

OoE is also a really good game once you learn to play it by its rules. The beginning is very rough, you will have to grind a lot for the best glyphs, the enemies' AI is clever and overwhelming and the bosses have a fine strategy (although every one of them is designed to be beatable without taking a hit), but what the game expects you to do is to find the best glyph for each enemy based on elemental weakness or even movement. It's not really a game of blazing through enemies lol. In that, it might be a good second attempt at fusing the Metroidvania structure with the Classicvania philosophy - although personally I also see a lot of similarities between OoE and CoD, such as the structure in separate levels.

Also, considering the timeframe, it is very likely that Daniela descends from Richter! I really like her :) I really like how warm Wygol Village is, and how Shanoa helping them despite her condition ties with the themes of the story :)

also shanoa girl. she and hector are besties in cats, do not @ me

[yzafre]

Finished Ender Magnolia, some final thoughts:

As I was approaching the half-way point of the game, I had this feeling of "the gameplay feels better in this one, but I don't think they're executing the narrative as well". And, having completed the game… yes, essentially.

It is a far more polished game, but the longer it went on the more I came to the conclusion that I just don't like it as much as Lilies (perhaps, even, because of the polish).

Before I go to far into my critique, I want to be clear: the game was fun. I had a lot of fun. But I also enjoy understanding and articulating why I do or do not enjoy things, and given this is a sequel game it was inviting comparisons.

I watched a retrospective on the original Spyro trilogy recently, comparing the originals and the remake, and there was a comment in there that struck me - that games of that time period had a particular charm due to developers… not fully knowing what they were doing, that is extremely difficult to replicate now-a-days, due to the growing skill of the industry. There weren't the rules and expectations there are now, and beginning developers were more willing to try things out and take risks.

In some ways, that applies to these two games. Magnolia is far more polished - not just from quality of life features, but from the flow of the game. And yet...

For example: let's talk about a core of the MetroidVania genre - movement upgrades and back-tracking.

Both Lilies and Magnolia have Big Movement Upgrades used to progress in new areas - swimming, wall hook, grapple. Standard fare - and this goes much smoother in Magnolia, due to the more detailed maps (which I am a fan of, to be clear).

However, in Magnolia those big upgrades are the only things you need for both progression and backtracking to pick up a small handful of extra collectibles. As I very clearly remember (from having to look it up in guides), Lilies relied on the extra movement affects on the minor abilities to preform some creative platforming to pick up some tricky hidden items. In Magnolia, I can only think of two pick-ups that require you to do that (and because it hadn't been used frequently throughout, I'd forgotten to consider my abilities' movement capabilities by that point, despite being excited to find those kinds of items when I went into the game).

It can be argued that this kind of obscure platforming is a bit janky, a bit of a mess, unapproachable… but it gave Lilies a very distinct flavor that was very memorable.

I do think Magnolia had some untapped potential, though, because it more tightly refined its movement abilities. While the Upper Stratum felt a bit anti-climactic as a final area, I did actually enjoy it. Particularly, I found the side-dash puzzle rooms were very fun to navigate. I feel like if they had more areas that extended your movement abilities into this kind of crafted puzzle, I would have been more affectionate towards the system.

Combat, I'll might give Magnolia props on. While it felt easier, I can't really say if it's because the game is actually easier, I understood it better from having played Lilies, or because parrying is powerful and I learned how to do that in Nine Sols. At minimum, sub attacks are no longer a limited resource which makes combat during traversal SO much nice. So so so much nicer. That trumps any concerns I may have... such as certain builds feeling very unbalanced.

What it comes to is that, objectively, Magnolia is better gameplay-wise. It's polished, it's clean. There was no where near the frustrations I remember from Lilies. It's nice not having to worry about limited attack numbers. Exploration has enough quality of life to keep you from getting frustrated. It's a slick, satisfying experience… but it's not particularly memorable, for exactly that reason.

Magnolia also felt much more linear than the first game, to me. Now, a MetroidVania can be more or less linear, depending on what it wants to do - but I think generally we expect less, unless something about the game's intention or design is served by it becoming more linear. Nine Sols, for example, was a very linear experience - but that was in service to the story it wanted to tell, which was gripping and moving.

Which leads us to my second disappointment with Magnolia. Because the longer it went on… the more its story seemed to spiral out of control. There is… quite a bit going on here, but I do not find it all to be well connected.

It started solid. Your very first point is trying to find Lilia. Good, cool. The next several encounters focus on how Homunculi are treated and thrown away - the question of what does and does not make a human, with a twist on the corruption theme through them going "mutant". The note that connected blighted humans and the creation of homonculi, as well, had some interesting parallels to, say, the immortal knights or the priestesses in the first game.

After that… well, you start meeting more people. And the NPCs are… they're not strong. None of them stuck with me, none of them got me attached. Even with your tuned Homonculi, while I liked the little dialogues at the respites in theory, in practice they were fairly bland.

Another issue with the NPCs is that they pretty quickly become irrelevant after whatever brief encounter you have with them. Where theoretically the NPCs should have made the world feel more vibrant and alive compared to Lilies, in the end they just felt like… bland set dressing.

Levy kept showing up in the WILDEST places, to the extent that I thought there had to be something up with them... nope.

Motley, seeing both Declan and Gilroy in his memory, I thought he'd talk to them when we encounter them as bosses - nope.

The most we get is the group that used to be on the Survey Team together occasionally - but they weren't used in the narrative quite enough for me to really understand their place in the past.

And that's really the issue with including the NPCs at large - they added them in, allowing for "happening now and to you" narrative... but then they didn't use them ENOUGH, clinging to the method of exposing the past used in Lilies, leaving the story in this very bland middle-area.

Anyways, as we go on, more things are added onto the "things the game seems us to want to care about" list:

Finding Lilia

The treatment of the Homunculi (early on, assumed to be a major theme for the game)

Uncovering your/Nola's past

The Blight/Fumes in the kingdom, and how its affecting the

humans and homunculi

Whatever's going on with Gilroy

The Millius/Frost feud

Whatever's going on with Abelia????

And this is where Magnolia fails compared to Lilies.

In Lilies, you get little scraps of information, little vignettes of different character's views of the world, of how everything went down. They had different personal tragedies (which were very poignant), but they also all contributed to the Singular Picture you were trying to put together of how this all happened, while also contributing to the themes of despair, desperation, the balance of selflessness and selfishness in love, and most of all it's question about sacrifice that Lilies was building up.

Magnolia does not satisfactorily bring its various plot threads together.

The biggest sin, I think is that most of them have nothing to do with the choice you make at the beginning of the game. What does people's treatment of Homunculi have to do with whether you move to maintain the Parasol, or destroy it? You'll deal with the blight as well, true, but I never fully understood the impact of it on the land.

The Frosts, and Abelia especially - who have most to do with the Ancients/Priestesses brought over from the first game - honestly contribute nothing by the end. They have little to nothing to do with the actual end-game. And it did genuinely seem like an interesting thread! But when it was never meaningfully looped back into the main narrative and/or theme...

Even Lilia, the very first goal you're introduced to is functionally nothing more than a maguffin. She has no narrative weight.

Even in the final ending - you want to save Lilia from her suffering, but I never fully felt what Lilia's suffering meant, or why it happened. I don't really feel the weight of the choice we're making.

There were so many interesting threads and potential themes, but by leaving them scattered and failing to fully commit to anything, I was just left feeling... unsatisfied.

Not to mention the pacing is off - I didn't realize I was at the endgame till I was stumbling into the Final Boss. The land of Origin - the magical land everyone talks about and contains the things you need to get ending B - is honestly very easy and underwhelming. And what you have to do to get that ending….

Getting ending C in Lilies felt like effort. Like you really had to put in the work, puzzle together all the details of what happened, how we got here, and what need to be done to change it. It felt like you earned it. This game…. kinda just felt like it handed it to you, honestly. It was significantly less satisfying.

((That being said, the true ending final boss was quite fun, even if I did stick with what felt like a slightly cheesy double-pressure+hp while attacking+lots of parrying method.))

To be clear: Ender Magnolia is a good game, it's very solid. Not quite at the level I would put Hollow Knight or Nine Sols on, but it's good. Movement felt good, exploring was fun, and it was absolutely gorgeous.

It's just that it doesn't have all the unique quirks Lilies had to make it memorable to make up for the ways that it's kind of average, and that hurts it in my estimation.

[ijsthee]

Hi friends, here are some lesser known/underrated games I want more people to play, including steam links! (many of these are also on other platforms, steam is just easiest to link)

tldr: heres the list on backloggd with the same comments

Outer Wilds (exploration, puzzle, mystery) - not by any means an underrated or even unknown game, but a game I simply have to recommend to anyone, any time. My favourite game ever. Genuinely imo one of the best games ever made. Anyone will tell you not to look up anything about this game (and theyre right, uncovering every part of this game IS the game) but I recommend if you really get stuck or frustrated, play with a friend or ask someone who has played it for a nudge!

Tunic (zelda-like, souls-like, adventure, puzzle) - an homage to retro gaming that I am slightly too young to fully understand.. and still one of my favourite games! A simple (but charming) zelda-like with souls-like elements on the surface, an intricate mind-breaking puzzle game at its core! Highly recommend if you like games that you have to keep physical notes for

Lorelei and the Laser Eyes (puzzle, mystery) - Puzzles puzzles puzzles! One big mystery puzzle game dripping with atmosphere and intrigue, a non-linear story that will pull you in and puzzles that youll be thinking about for hours after exiting the game. its a crime that this game seems to be slept on for now

In Stars and Time (rpg, story-driven) - the story-driven time-loop RPG that tumblr needs. WILL make you cry. the characters are at the heart and core of this game and they are AMAZING. Extremely trans story also

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (visual novel, mystery, story-driven) - so listen i know Ace Attorney is not niche by any means. But it feel like either people dont really know about this game or havent given it a shot yet. Well I'm here to say if you have any interest in Ace Attorney, these games are some of the best the whole franchise has to offer. The story is intriguing and interconnected in ways the best Ace Attorney stories are, the main cast are charming as hell, the music is amazing, they are by far the best looking 3D Ace Attorney games of the franchise, etc. If youre familiar with ace attorney i dont need to sell you on the whole murder mystery bit, i just need to emphasize that this is some of the best mystery writing in the whole SERIES

Chants of Sennaar (puzzle, language) - puzzle game where you gradually learn the languages of various peoples by context and logic! Not only is the language and puzzle aspect of this game really well done, it also has a really nice theme and beautiful art style

Hypnospace Outlaw (puzzle/investigation, 1990's internet) - play as a moderator on an alternative universe's 90's internet, put your detective skills to use in order to find those pesky users breaking the rules! or spend hours digging through peoples pages to learn wtf ''frostpunk'' is and what happened at ''coolfest'', y'know, like the internet

Nine Sols (metroidvania, souls-like, action/combat) - can be described as a ''sekiro inspired souls-like metroidvania'', if buzzwords do anything for you. If not I will mention that it has a beautiful art style, incredibly satisfying (tough, but fair) parry-focused combat, and intriguing lore and story. Its good!

The Roottrees Are Dead (puzzle/investigation) - a game that takes some inspiration from Obra Dinn & Her Story, and has a similar gameplay loop to Hypnospace, the goal of the game is to uncover one family's family tree by cleverly searching The (fake) Internet

[lazuliquetzal]

Tell me your thoughts about gameplay and story integration in video games :3

(THANKS ILY TOO!)

Video games are a super interesting medium because it's all about leveraging player behavior and choice. A lot of game design fundamentals are about giving the player freedom, or the illusion of freedom. The game maker sets the rules, and the player organically develops behaviors and strategies within those rules. If you want the player to act a certain way, you have to encourage them to act in that way. (Watch one of the bazillion analysis videos on Super Mario Bros. World 1-1 sometime.)

In games there are ways to punish a player (death, losing progress, jumpscares, etc) and there are ways to reward a player (score go up, unlock new thing, get more power, etc). Story can be part of that, and it can go beyond "play well = good end, play poorly = bad end."

I think, if you're going to use a video game to tell your story, you should really take advantage of it, you know? Flex the medium. Leverage the inherent immersion that comes with the player Interacting With The Game. Inscryption and Undertale are So Video Game that you can't adapt it to a different medium without significant rework. They are video games because they have to be video games. That doesn't make them automatically good, but a good storyteller would choose the medium that works best with their story and that confidence just oozes out, in a good way.

You don't even have to get all 4th wall meta with your video game plot. In Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, the main Gimmick is that you have a time-traveling dagger. You can use it to make combat sequences easier, you can use it to solve puzzles, but it's also integral to the entire experience. The time travel sets up the framed narrative, which pays homage to the literature that serves as the game's inspiration. The central conflict is resolved with the time travel mechanic. In gameplay, you make mistakes, experience consequences in battle, learn and do things correctly the next time around, which is the Prince's entire character arc. Even basic game mechanics are part of the story -- when you save, you get "tips and tricks!" in the form of visions that will help you solve puzzles, but some of those visions are plot-relevant. The menu itself has flavor dialogue that is part of the narrative frame and is also hilarious.

Some other examples: Papers, Please! explores bureaucracy as a tool of dehumanization under authoritarian governements, and the gameplay is all fine print and form-filling and menus. In GOW 2018, there are enemies that have elemental weaknesses, so you end up having to switch weapons. (This is a really common thing to do: new area w/ new enemies requires new weapon.) You unlock the Blades of Chaos so that you can enter Helheim. The Blades also have a backstory, and using them means something in Kratos's character arc, it's a whole Thing. In metroidvanias, you unlock new abilities so you can access new parts of the story and find things you missed the first time around -- really good for worldbuilding and creating a sense of depth to a location (the world of Blasphemous comes to mind). Majora's Mask gives you anxiety.

A buddy once asked if I thought a good plot could carry a crappy game, and my answer is no. You can't absorb the story if the primary mode of interacting with the story is unplayable. If the gameplay is detracting from the story, then you should make a movie or write a novel. Video games are experiences: gameplay should serve story, story should serve gameplay. *Tetris: Effect Voice* it's all connected!

I just enjoy it when stories are told in mediums that suit them best. It's satisfying! It's fun! Makes my brain go :D

[queenrizzardnthelizardscissored]

my jedi fallen order quick review:

combat is way more fun than elden ring honestly. i hated the combat in that game and was bad at it so it was a double whammy but here, if i can't dodge a move i can parry it and if i can't parry it i can dodge it or block it and if i can't do either i can interrupt with force push, and if its a small aoe move i dont want to bother parrying i can sidestep and counterattack quickly. contrast this with elden ring where you can basically only have one fun thing at a time - parry OR fun mobility OR block OR cool spell powers attached to your sword. just one! since i suck at timing in video games (every move i dodge, i rely on visual telegraphing and thinking about how fast it goes, not 'feeling' the time, i have zero sense of rhthym) this is really fun and changes it from 'asshole level difficulty' to 'challenging and engaging,' especially because each option of reacting to an attack is situational and depends on how aggressive you want to be and what the attack is. this combat rules

boss and enemy design is quite a bit worse. only ten percent of the guys really juke you and a lot of the visual design of the non-human monster enemies is just kinda lame.

second sister holy shit <3 my gay heart can;t handle ittt

the world design is,.... eh.. i couldn't handle the combat in elden ring but god the world design, the exploration, the 'puzzles', obtuse hints, that shit ruled. not even talking about the open world, just like. inside the actual dungeons with all their alternate routes. jedi fallen order, in contrast, has a kind of soft-linearity - the way i would describe its world design is a linear hallway that has a shortcut from its beginning to it start, and occasional side branches. some of the worlds break this trend and they are The Best Ones, IE Zeffo and parts of Dathomir, but others are just kinda straightforward. there's this section which really really bothers me, it's on kashyyk. like 20 minutes before this, I had explored to the edges of Zeffo, the previous area, in every possible direction, and there were a bunch of doors on the entrance to this crashed ship I couldn't open, so I was stuck. the area looked super damn cool and i couldn't wait to explore it. you get this new upgrade on Kashyyk almost immediately, so the first thing i wanted to do was obviously to turn around to zeffo and explore the cool crashed ship, since it seemed like a really cool place to explore. Instead, the moment the game gives you this ability, it does not let you turn around and return to your ship. it refuses. instead, you have to go through the entire long linear level of Kashyyk, which has that same 'linear design that loops around' thing. at one point, there was what looked like a cool side area, and I could SEE the switch to access it, but it was behind a one-way door, so there must be another way in. this was cool and got me invested - i explored for too long in every direction but the objective marker to find the right way in, and eventually gave up. I continued on the linear path - and it lead BACK to that stupid switch, and from there, back down to what i hoped/thought was an interconnected interesting side area, which, it turns out! was the main area! when i tell you that ALL of my excitement to explore/go to that area VANISHED instantly the moment i knew the game wanted me to do it... well you're probably going to guess i was diagnosed with oppostional defiant disorder in middle school which is true but also. damn. so then i finally do the whole linear level of Kashyyk, and now i'm excited to go b back to the cool crashed ship side area on Zeffo and explore it! it would take some backtracking from the entrance of Zeffo to get to this cool side area, but that's also kinda my fault for fully exploring, like, that's just how metroidvanias work, and im willing to backtrack to go to a cool side area that the game doesn't explicitly signpost to you - i had to go out of my way to find it, and it seems awesome. Then. Then. the objective marker says. the NEXT AREA I HAVE TO GO. IS. THE FUCKING CRASHED SHIP. all of a sudden, my will and interest in it VANISHES. the MOMENT I KNEW that this was an OBJECTIVE MARKER MAIN AREA, the backtracking felt awful, and I didn't want to explore it anymore! contrast this with elden ring, where, without any objective marker, i found this random elevator and then it went down and down and down into this area which the game does not tell you exists at this point. or how in dark souls 1 there are entire massive areas and bosses hidden behind invisible walls, many of which are not required! to beat the game. and BOY does that feel way cooler. also - dishonored 1 and 2! these are games that have the CLOSEST world design to Jedi Fallen Order in terms of linear with side paths. and guess what, there are massive side areas in that game that are totally optional to go into. that game never ever makes me feel bad by telling me i have to go to a place i wanted to, partially because the only objective markers are for some side missions and the actual main target (and even then, you only know their rough location.)

Also while comparing it to dishonored, the actual nitty-gritty environment design sucks. remember how in dishonored, you'd have these vents and pipes that would move logically from place to place? or how in prey, each area would have the right number of beds and the right size of areas and how, if there was, for instance, an air vent, you can go into the air ducts in zero-g and find it? remember how everything is roughly logical? well. the very first area in Jedi Fallen Order has a train going on a track that DOES NOT HAVE ANY SUPPORTS. the track is just levitating! not in a cool star-wars way either, it has no repulsor lifts, no actual reason the track should float. No, the train track is actually just floating. When i tell you i paused in this area for five minutes trying to figure out how the train track connected to the ground, just HANGING off this train flying in the middle of nowhere with dramatic music playing staring at the train track to figure out how it connected. I assumed it HAD to have a logical solution because like. i make environment art all the time. i love making cool areas and i love modelling environments and architecture and composition. and if I were making an area like this, i could not possibly leave the room until it all made sense. this is only the beginning. the game also has floating pipes, weird fucked up overhangs, all sorts of physics-breaking things. and to be clear, i get that its star wars. but why is a pipe like 40 meters long just floating like that without any supports????? it makes no sense and it makes me feel like im going insane. the worst part is that the actual core environmental design is actually pretty damn good! the areas maybe don't feel like real buildings (like they do in Dishonored or whatever) but they have lots of detail and feel lived in (the architecture is sometimes weird and nonsensical but thats standard for Star Wars) so why in gods name do the pipes float??? why do the mining areas rarely have conveyor belts, infrastructure, etc??? why do otherwise normal and good areas have these weird floating things??? god it makes me so mad lol especially since the star wars media i had before this was Andor and my god did those areas feel real in every way. sorry like i think nobody but me cares about this lol.

i fucking hate greez i want to punt that little fucker out the airlock

the graphics.s.. they are very pretty honestly in places they need to be. sure, there are some things/environment art that has an 'objectively lower quality' (less detail, tris, quads, diffuse shaders w/o specular etc) but that's kind of a stupid thing to judge graphics on! they look really good because the actual artists who made the game understood composition and lighting and color and so they look really good even if technically they're not the best. the character models may age, because they're not stylized, but i think the environments are gonna hold up cuz they have a good art style. sorry i know this is all obvious for artists and stuff but lots of gamers:tm: have weird ideas about graphics

the story is pretty good but every time saw gerrera was on screen i was thinking "he would not fucking say that"

[somerunner]

An actual idea that I've had over the last few months/a year, compared to the edutainment Pokemon idea that took a few minutes to think up, is a sort of metroidvania.

The twist is that you have to keep using your abilities to keep them. There's a timer where you lose your abilities over time, and it recharges as you use your abilities. It recharges far more if you use your abilities to actively platform, or defeat an enemy.

I had the idle thought of naming each of the abilities after calculus concepts such as "gradient" or "power rule" and you could probably expand that to be a broad coverage of all topics, such as "history knowledge" or "math shorthands" but in any case, it would be hard to link up real-world concepts to the abilities you're using.

You don't have to link up real concepts to the abilities anyway, since the main theme of the game is "use skills or get slightly worse at them" and you don't have to also tack on real skills to learn at the same time to get that message across. Instead, just add heavy-handed messages throughout that tell the player directly. Maybe some kind of narration like in "The Witness" or "Getting Over It" or something.

I don't know programming, level design, or anything to do with game-making by the way. So I'm likely to never ever make anything resembling this. If you want to though (or someone already has!), please lemme know so I can play it, I am in love with this idea

[forlorn-plushie]

Mediabread: Ender Lilies

This game rules, the art fucks, the upgrades are all fun, almost every weapon seems to have a use case... it's just the sort of "Challenging But Fair" that's perfect. Several bosses I've had to come back to another day, 20-40 attempts, having fun the whole time.

There's multiple endings, one is a fake-out and the third says "go recheck the map" as is metroidvania tradition. The map, in service of this, marks unused exits and incomplete rooms. If you've played normally, you probably have mostly clear rooms, so it's not bad at all to go clean up. This is great even before the ending - if I ever didn't know where to go, I just checked the exits I couldn't remember being impassable.

For people who are Very Good At Games it's probably on the easier side - the dodge is extremely invincible and the parry is very generous. More games do this please and thank you.

Once I've fought a foe a couple times, if I try to parry something, I can usually get it. If I try to dodge and I'm not stuck in an animation, I can pretty much always do it. This is how it should be. The challenge is learning the timings, not executing perfectly.

The music is also stellar, with most of the game having beautiful string arrangements (I don't music. there's definitely a better term.), and then the last area makes me want to crawl out of my skin. On purpose! And it did it without making me want to stop playing. Expertly done!

Gorgeous! Touching story! 9/10, this is up there near Hollow Knight so if you're waiting for Silksong, go play Ender Lilies. There's a sequel in Early Access (Ender Magnolia) that I'm 100% gonna play when it hits full release.

[thecodeveronica]

Well I'm dying to talk about Castlevania or I'll explode so here's my tier list for the "modern" era, regular timeline (non-LoS) games (basically SotN and onward), in honor of me getting the Platinum trophy for Dominus Collection last night :)

Reasons under the cut:

S Tier

Portrait of Ruin - LOOOOOVE this one. It's been my fave since pretty much the very first time I played it back on the DS and still is after my recent replay with the collection. Jonathan and Charlotte are just such fun protagonists and stand out a lot in this series, and I think the story is actually pretty decent in this one. By CV standards lol. Soundtrack is AMAZING, please listen to "Gaze Up at the Darkness" because it RULES. PoR also has very fair boss fights and a fair level EXP gain rate, and good drops from enemies too. The paintings are super neat too, mixes up the usual "well, here's Dracula's castle" of most of the games.

Lament of Innocence - I actually think OoE is an objectively better game overall, but I have a lot of love for Lament and am one of its big defenders so I'll put it one slot above lol. Leon! My favorite Belmont! He goes through the wringer in this game, and it's a very interesting origin story for the Belmont fight against Dracula. The gameplay is fun, kind of DMC-lite but with a whip (and cool elemental versions you can get from some optional fights). The level design is a lot of long hallways, but it has good atmosphere, and the game doesn't overstay its welcome as it is pretty short. Another FANTASTIC soundtrack too btw.

Order of Ecclesia - a game I didn't like at all back on the DS but fell in love with after my Dominus replay. Once the gameplay clicks, it is so satisfying swapping glyph loadouts and hitting weaknesses on enemies. You have to play smarter in this game, and it was fun improving. Hype as hell when you finally get to the castle, too. Shanoa is a very cool protagonist and has some of the best lines in the series, and I'm unabashedly obsessed with Albus. GOD he was so asdjfk;ls sorry, but damn was he perfectly tailored to my tastes. Story was good in this one, actually made me a bit emotional ngl, which is something I don't expect from this series lol. I lose my mind over the songs "Sorrow's Distortion" and "Rituals" just so you know

A Tier

Aria of Sorrow - extremely good game where the handheld ones found their footing fully, with a very cool concept of "what if Dracula was gone, but maybe he isn't ;)" Soma is iconic for good reason, and the Soul System is fun with a lot of options, even if I'm not nuts enough to ever try for 100% soul completion lmao. The castle is a little small in this one and it feels oddly short for the Metroidvania-era games, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I like the almost... soft?... look of the visuals in this one. Graham is also one of the villains I kinda like the most in this series, so that's cool.

Dawn of Sorrow - Pretty much Aria of Sorrow 2 lol. But I think it loses a little without the novelty of AoS's questions about Soma as the Dark Lord and all. Also, the villains in this game are fucking goobers lol, their character designs are godawful. Other than the castle being larger this time around, I think DoS doesn't really do anything different than AoS, and since I'm a freak who values story, I prefer Aria overall. That said, Julius Mode is pretty sick and I think Dawn's soundtrack is a little stronger overall.

B Tier

Symphony of the Night - I feel like it's blasphemy putting SotN this far down, but I honestly think it is a bit overrated. Good certainly and extremely important to the franchise, but also kinda jank to go back and play. I don't like the way equipment or items work in this game, and I'm not... super fond of the castle layout compared to the higher tier games. Inverted castle is also kinda meh, the only time I like that is when PoR did it with the paintings. However, I do love the original PS1 dub of this game. Absolutely iconic. The newer one sucks because it's so safe that it loses the charm. Like, come on. I think a series that has giant Frankenstein's Monster enemies shooting bullets out of its elbows can afford to have some cheesy lines and voice acting.

Harmony of Despair - a really fun multiplayer game! But it could use more maps (that it'll never get since it's long been abandoned 😭), and character balance is a little iffy. But I have a lot of fun with this one, even just with two players! It's functionally co-op Metroidvania, what's not to like? I think this game would do quite well with a revival on modern consoles and cross-play, and I dream of a world where that exists and they add new DLC. why the hell wasn't Albus in this game btw, like wtf he literally was playable in OoE and had sprites available

Harmony of Dissonance - ...this is confusing putting the two games with "Harmony" in their name right next to each other when they're not connected at all lol. Anyway, I like HoD, but it has some definite issues, the most of the games in this tier. The visuals are... hoo boy. The color palette is a bit much. And the music is uh... it's infamous in the series for a reason. The sad thing is that I think the actual compositions are solid, just hamstrung by the shitty Gameboy sound chip or whatever, and I'm someone who usually likes retro game music. Gameplay is solid, though! The A/B castle thing is kind of annoying because this game has some atrocious warp room locations IMO, but it's fun being able to dash and slide with reckless abandon as Juste. Wind+Bible is also a godly subweapon combo

Grimoire of Souls - damn you, Apple Arcade, for having this as an exclusive. I can't speak to the gameplay on this one for that reason, but I watched a whole 3.5 hour playthrough for the story, so I'm judging on that, mostly. A fun little plot that let characters from a lot of different time periods/games interact, which is cool. Lucy and Hermina were good original characters, too. Death in this game was kinda 👀 Lol I kid I kid, I only have eyes for Albus, who was not nearly as important in this game as I'd hoped but had an extremely nice scene with Shanoa, so it was worth. Jonathan and Charlotte were also very entertaining here, as always. I'll be real: those three were the whole reason I watched this tbh

C Tier

Circle of the Moon - this game is SO HARD. Like, I eventually got good in Order of Ecclesia to overcome the difficulty, but that moment of understanding just never hit me in this game. And there are no shops!! Oh my goooooooood, why??? If you could get potions more easily, it might be a little more reasonable, but I don't think the drop rates were even that good to make up for it. The boss fights were so tough, man... If I give this another try, I might have to do the DSS glitch, which I didn't know about at the time.

Curse of Darkness - Real talk, I don't remember this one very well at this point. I mostly just remember not liking the Innocent Devil system or the map design that much and thinking it was disappointing after I loved Lament so much. Maybe I'd like it better if I tried it again now, I dunno. Not much to say here.

D Tier

Judgment - Look, I have some good memories from this game. I used to play it against my sisters. I was super excited for it at the time. But it's just a super jank game. And the story mode is BAD (aside from a few characters). Like, I can handle anime cringe. But this is the BAD kind of anime cringe, the "boob envy"-kind of anime cringe. Maria's story is *gag sounds* Also not a fan of the roster choices here. CV3 in particular gets way too much rep, the GBA-DS era not enough (only Shanoa, and even then they murdered her design???). I can't believe Soma at least didn't make it in, a character with so many moveset options? Good for Cornell being in though, nice seeing the N64 characters actually acknowledged and he had one of the better story modes too. Speaking of characters, who thought it was a good idea to do a game that was functionally a big ol' celebration of the series with character designs that so drastically changed most characters into being unrecognizable? The Death Note expy jokes are played out, but they're so true nonetheless. The worst thing is still Maria's story mode and especially her interaction with Sypha, though. I cannot stress enough how bad it is. It makes me feel embarrassed just thinking about it lmfao

[satoshi-mochida]

Metroidvania game Frontier Hunter: Erza’s Wheel of Fortune launches July 26 for PS5, PC - Gematsu

Metroidvania game Frontier Hunter: Erza’s Wheel of Fortune will leave Early Access and launch for PlayStation 5 and PC via Steam, Epic Games Store, and GOG on July 26, developer IceSitruuna announced.

Frontier Hunter: Erza’s Wheel of Fortune first launched in Early Access for PC on December 15, 2022.

Here is an overview of the game, via IceSitruuna:

About

Frontier Hunter: Erza’s Wheel of Fortune is a genuine Metroidvania game. Compared to our last work, Tower Hunter: Erza’s Trial, Frontier Hunter: Erza’s Wheel of Fortune has fuller stories, content, monsters, more exquisite scenes, smoother actions, and a more diversified, personalized cultivation system. We’ll do our best to make the game construction more thorough and stable. Also, we’ll add more featured experience, gameplay, and content in future updates. Two years ago, Erza obtained the legendary hunter license and became a rising star in the imperial force. Under the rule of the wise and able emperor, the empire grows steadily. As one of the core forces in the expansion, Erza has won many military exploits. In this fantasy world of swords and magic, Erza will lead an exploration team and start an epic adventure. She will fight unknown monsters and solve mysteries of the world. Why would the fiend become a hair clip? You’ll find the answer in the game.

Key Features

Classic side-scrolling levels with steadier, smoother gameplay. Jump and dash can interrupt other actions’ recovery to get smoother responses.

During your exploration in the game world, you may find secret passages between the two main areas or accidentally enter unknown chambers with hidden stories.

Improved cartoon rendering makes the characters more lifelike.

Real beat ’em up combat system. Enemies have more ways to act after hit.

You’ll depend more on tactics when it comes to BOSS fights—learn their routines and act swiftly. Seize the chance to hit while keeping a distance. With the character change and support system, Erza won’t be fighting alone.

2.5D exquisite scenes will surely make an impression on you. The ultimate skills are made in 3D, which enables cool shows that 2D can’t do.

With a more diversified, personalized cultivation system, you can choose your favorite way to raise characters and find more possibilities.

Watch a new trailer below.

Release Date Trailer

[eternalwritess]

Hey, I'm that anon that was matched with Charlie a while back (the one with the soy sauce packets). I was wondering if you could match me with one of the Helluva Boss characters?

It's the same info as before \/

I'm a bisexual aroace (If you've heard of "demiromantic"; that's how I experience romantic attraction). I use he/it/they pronouns.

I'm an INFP, though I have gotten ISTP sometimes. I usually keep to myself around strangers, and my first words to people that I'm not introduced by friends are usually just work-related with a bit of small talk (even in fandom spaces, surprisingly). Once I get comfortable around people, I tend to let my childish nature and antics shine through, and once I consider you a friend, it's hard to ever fully shake me off. My friends sometimes call me an "old grandpa", with the way I know a lot of random psychology and biology facts, and the way I fumble with new technology, slang, and texting acronyms. My love of non-fiction and my adherence to grammar rules certainly doesn't help. Simultaneously, they (lovingly) call a 12-year-old boy, with the way I don't hesitate to pull out a "your mom" or "that's what she said" to the conversation and with the way that I almost exclusively watch animated movies and shows over live action ones. I carry with me 15 packets of soy sauce in fish-shaped sachets in my (several) pockets. Why? Because I think it's funny, and the confusion I bring to those around me with my soy collection gives me a sense of joy. (I do other things of a similar calibre, but I wanted to name an example) Despite all of this, I tend to gravitate towards the "Mom Friend" archetype. I carry with me a lot of people pleasing tendencies (I get a lot of anxiety around not upsetting others), and that translates to making sure that the people around me are happy. I also tend to fill a "Therapist Friend" role because of this fact, my psychology facts, and how intuitive I can be at times. I tend to isolate myself, whether by physically or mentally leaving the room, when I feel upset, and I don't really like talking about negative experiences I have unless those experiences have been resolved.

On a brighter note, I consider myself quite the creative person. I draw a lot, though I usually only draw other characters instead of my own OCs. I have a discord server that I use to jot down either: a) my opinion of a certain media b) images/reactions I find funny/relatable c) infodumps about AUs or crossovers that I've made I don't really write, so I consider "c)" to be the next best thing. I also love music. I listen to mostly indie music, with a couple of generic queer bands thrown in there and a couple of musicals' and video games' OSTs. I play the violin and the trombone, so I may be biased in saying that I love jazz (really doesn't help the "old man" allegations, but who cares). In terms of non-creative hobbies, I love reading. Although I find myself drawn to the odd science non-fiction book, my heart lies in fantasy and mystery novels (this does include webtoons, manga, and webnovels, though I don't read those as much). On the same vein, I love video games (where else would I get those OSTs?). I tend to like story-rich games that are either turn-based (think Undertale) or no combat (think Slime Rancher), though if the mechanics aren't too overwhelming, metroidvanias are nice (think Hollow Knight). The last main hobby is food. If I didn't give you "mad scientist" vibes, let me tell you, I "Victor Frankenstein" my way through every meal, when time permits. I mostly mix and match what I'd think taste good together based on what I was craving at the time. I'd also say that, apart from Quality Time, I show affection best through giving foods that I've made. It works in reverse, too, where I get pleasantly happy when people I know well offer food to me. There was this one time I was bickering with some friends and one of them held a packet of chips to my face, and I tell you, the way I immediately shut up the second I saw it... I was almost embarrassed by how well that worked...

I'm really sensitive to a lot of textures, and the biggest ones are stickers (and anything sticky in that way) and wet things (think water fountains splashing water unexpectedly, fruit juices spraying on my face when I cut them too harshly, even stepping on wet floorboards without socks can set it off). Clothing/carpet with short hairs send literal shivers down my spine, but only when I touch them with my fingers/feet. I don't like kissing (at all.), so I normally stick with nuzzling. Hugs and spooning (both with people I'm comfortable around) are okay, however.

I don't really have any pet peeves, other than just blatant disrespect of basic boundaries as well as these boundaries in particular.

I hope you have a good and well-rested day :)

𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕓𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕞𝕒𝕥𝕔𝕙𝕖𝕕 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙…

𝓜𝓸𝔁𝔁𝓲𝓮!

Honestly the first person that came to mind for you is Moxxie

The way you two met is that he probably say you trying to mediate between an argument with a few others it started getting a little... dicey so he decided to step in before you got hurt

Yeah so those guys are now dead-

He made sure that you were okay immediately afterwards

"Are you okay? Some people in Hell are just so unreasonable,"

After that he offered to walk you somewhere safe (at first he offered to your house but then started stumbling seeing how weird it sounded since you both just met)

He tried getting you talk on the way asking you small questions here and there trying to get to know you more since he found the way you handled the situation between the two guys amazing

"So what do you like to do for fun?"

Once you let your guard down he really fell in love with you

He absolutely adored your more childish nature and it would push him out of his boundaries just a little more

You and him would absolutely bond over not understanding the internet. You would both try to learn it and Blitz (idk how to do the o thing) would try to 'help' you guys (just make fun of you)

He would randomly asking you questions loving your random psychology and biology facts. He admires your will to learn and finds it as one of the most attractive things about you

"Do you know what this is?"

Whenever you pull out a 'your mom' joke he finds it slightly immature and doesn't get it all of the time but Blitz likes it and will encourage you on it

Either way though he finds your sense of humor quite nice compared to Blitz's

He doesn't know why you have the soy sauce packets... its a mystery to him

"May I ask... why?"

You and him probably read series's of books together like honestly I wouldn't doubt it. Its one of the many things you do together

Whenever you get upset and leave the room he gets concerned and will try to give you space but might end up following you and trying to comfort you. But if he sees that you just really want to be alone he'll leave you and apologize

He'll then grab some of your favorite stuff for you and surprise you with it trying to make sure that you're alright

"I know you're having a bad time so... I grabbed a few things for you"

He encourages you to be creative all of the time constantly buying you drawing supplies and praising your work. He hangs it up everywhere... and makes sure that everyone knows that you did it and that its the best artwork in the seven rings

While you and him might not have the same music tastes he loves you anyways and will end up writing songs for you

"I made a little something for you..."

Whenever he hears you play the violin or trombone he swoons and will start hugging you and nuzzling you whenever you're done

Sometimes you both play duets together and afterwards he'll always praise you saying how well you did

Whenever he sees you mix and match food he gets confused and will give you the weirdest little look ever as if he's questioning his life decisions...

But besides that he'll just give you an awkward thumbs up

:Thumps up:

He gets you food... like all of the time. He loves gift giving if you can't tell by now-

Whenever there's a texture that you don't like and it comes into contact with you he'll help you get it off always

He always follows your boundaries no matter what <3

It took him a while to open up to you about his past and he didn't share all of it... but you comforted him through it