#amazing how if i'd played the game just a bit more all those years ago i would come back to it having no idea how long i actually played it

[zaptap]

took me less time to 100% the remake than i played in my original file not doing that (i had 87/124 tattles, 80/85 badges, 80/100 star pieces, 6/57 recipes, only reached floor 50 of the pit and didn't do swob's trouble presumably because i forgot to talk to him before going there)

[elderscrollsconceptart]

how many tes games have you played, what was your first build/character in each, and why did you pick those skills/traits/etc?

Hi and thank you!

I've played admittedly not a lot of Arena. Its hard to get into due to its age 🧙‍♂️ Love Jeff Perrymans work on the game though!

I've played a good amount of Daggerfall! I played a bit of it ~13(?) years ago but it was the original version so like Arena it was super hard to both play and get into it. I was actually doing a classic "sword and board" play through via Daggerfall Unity just last year and was having fun until my saves got corrupted somehow 🥲

I actually touched Redguard for the first time this year but I'm holding off until I finish my current Morrowind playthrough 🏴‍☠️

Battlespire I've actually never touched despite owning it. Its weird because I've POURED over that games wiki and its actually my favorite old school TES game based purely on aesthetics and its designs. A full play through is on my to do list for this year!

All the old TES mobile games, shadowkey, Oblivion Mobile, etc. I have limited experience with. I've seen them IRL on friends phones back in the day but never got hands on since I actually didn't have a phone until later in Highschool. I think the internet archive has at least a few of them playable? I'd have to check, maybe it's worth checking out!

Morrowind...ahh morrowind :) its my fav TES game in terms of quests. My first play through was not a full one, it was at a friends house on the XBOX version way way back in the day. For my first REAL play through it was on my first gaming PC and I played an athletics focused halberd wielding orc who bonked people on the head 😂

Oblivion..This one PAINS me..I've only actually played though it entirely a single time and it was ages ago on the Xbox 360 and I played a...stealth archer 😵‍💫..It wasn't a meme at the time I swear! I just liked sneaking and archery! When I got it on PC, every time I tried setting it up with or without mods I had technical issues. I've mentioned it before but I absolutely loathe the bad draw distance and pop in that plagues even "ultra" settings on PC. OpenMorrowind on PC is a technical marvel. I wish they'd do something similar for Oblivion or port a stable version of Oblivion to PC. I really want to do a full playthrough again!

Skyrim. Fun fact I calculated it one time and I'm certain I collectively have 3,000+ hours in Skyrim over the past 13 years. Possibly close to 4,000 but thats from my Xbox 360 playthoughs and I don't remember the exact times for that. The base game is long worn out for me but god damn is Skyrim's modding community incredible. Thanks to mods, the game has remained fresh in various ways for the past 13 years and at this rate I'll probably add another 1k hours before TES 6 comes out 😁

ESO. I'm gonna be 100% upfront here. I got the game when it came out and had lots of issues with it. The game had a rocky start and I wasn't ever a big fan of MMOs to begin with. That said! Zenimax has done amazing things over the past 10 years and really kept that game alive with continuous improvement. I haven't kept up with it the past few years ago outside of the lore (and art) stuff but I think after I give the older TES games another go, I'll probably hop back in to ESO.

Legends. I've never played it! TBH don't like card games, Hearthestone, Gwent, etc. Legends doesn't have much going for it besides the art BUT BUT BUT...Legends art is fucking incredible 😍😍😍 Seriously, after Perhaps Skyrim's concept art, the various artists of Legends are my 2nd fav to look at. I can ignore the actual gameplay but I really wish we knew more about who actually has created all the Legends art. We only have hints such as studio names for vast portions of the art, or straight up ZERO sources for who made a lot of the core decks and original release era art. I keep my head on a swivel for that stuff because its so amazing and beautiful!

Lastly, TES Blades. I'm not a huge fan of the game since I don't like touchscreen controls (eg. I play Morrowind on my phone but with a controller). I've played a fair amount but never beat it since the controls are bleh and gameplay doesn't appeal to me a ton. Most of the stuff that interests me about blades is the armor designs and the fact it gives us a super small glimpse into the period between The Great War and Skyrim.

Sorry this went a Lil long but thanks for your ask!

[nerdnag]

Hi Sara! You are wise and cool and I'd appreciate advice if you have any! I am trying to make friends especially with fellow autistic people in real life but it is very very hard and scary also I don't know how to find people who want friends. Do you have any advice? (Please only answer if you want to!)

Thank you Ghostly!! 🙏 You are so valid - it *is* hard and scary to make irl friends!! (... Online friends too, tbh)

I don't know if I have any helpful advice, but I'll try!

I think what's worked best for me is to meet people in contexts that are related to specific, niche interests. I'm not entirely sure I have any IRL friends anymore who are only autistic, I do have a bunch who are both autistic and have ADHD though. And all of them, I've met through various kinds of special interests.

For example, several people in my TTRPG group are neurodiverse. How did I meet them? I happened to sit next to a guy I'd never spoken to before while at a work lunch, and we got to talking fantasy books (... I don't really remember how), which got us into RPG talk, which eventually led to him asking me by the end of the lunch whether I'd like to join the TTRPG group that he and some of his friends were starting up soon. That was 3,5 years ago, and we're still playing together to this day!

Another, I met through Magic: The Gathering - we were going to the same weekend event (not related to MtG) and I saw him post in a thread about looking for people to play some games with, so I replied to him, and we pretty much clicked right away because it turned out we had lots of other similar interests as well.

A third, I got to know through playing social deception games at yet another event, in which we sort of fell into a banter-y jargon while trying to convince everyone else to vote out the other. (We were both the wild cards in every game, because I had a habit of grinning wildly and looking generally untrustworthy regardless of which role I was given, and he had an absolutely straight face regardless and was really hard to read, so we pretty quickly identified each other as friendly rivals.) Then I figured out he lived in the same city as I did, and my train was cancelled, so I used my Charisma™ to hitch a ride with him and his dad back home :D

... So based on my own experiences, it seems I've mostly met other neurodiverse people through various kinds of games, which is one of my great passions in life! Depending on what your interests are, maybe there are events, groups or such that you could be on the lookout for? Sort of like it usually happens on Tumblr I guess, but IRL it's a bit harder since you have to do more work and research to find those places and communities.

The thing is though, it will always be scary. The first time I went to play with the TTRPG group, I was super scared. I barely said anything during the first hour or so, and even after several sessions, it still took some time each time to get back into it and relax. But I always have a lot of fun while playing, and I know they appreciate having me there, so that makes it easier to relax and not worry so much. It was the same thing with the MtG friend - I rewrote that first message sooo many times, and then had a racing heart by the time I went to meet up with him. The trick for me has been to recognise when it's worth pushing through that discomfort, and try to be accepting of the fact that sometimes it won't work out, but sometimes it will; sometimes it will lead to amazing friendships, but sometimes it will fizzle out or face plant before it could even start. And that's fine.

It gets easier with time in my experience, but it never gets easy. I've sort of had to accept that I usually don't make a great first impression. It's not that I make a bad impression, I just don't think I make much of an impression at all - I probably seem more shy than I really am, and sometimes my fears make me behave really awkwardly. But after a couple times, as I start to relax and get more comfortable being myself, I think I can make a really really good impression! And I stress a little less about first impressions when I remind myself of that.

Oh, and one more thing: I've personally found that it's a lot easier to meet new people if they are there by themselves. People who already hang out in groups are much harder to approach. Because of this reason, actually, I tend to avoid going to places together with my friends if my aim is to meet new people. It means I won't have the comfort and safety of my friends with me, but it increases the likelihood that I'll approach people I wouldn't have talked to others - or that they will approach me! (The friend I met through social deception games is the opposite, though. He says the comfort of having friends with him makes him more relaxed and confident, which makes it easier for him to meet new people.)

[le-panda-chocovore]

Hello, can I ask from this ask game :

https://www.tumblr.com/threecheersforinking/677824836625694720/anime-ask-game?source=share

For fandom : Haikyuu, BNHA, ATLA, and Jujutsu Kaisen.

Thanks 🌻

Sorry I took time but lists and ranking are difficult to me lol, and I had 4 different asks about making a TOP 5 so I kinda lost myself into it 😅

Oh my god there's so many fandoms, you're really trying to kill me damn-

Okay okay Imma try not to write to much (<- will probably fail)

HAIKYUU

Favorite Character: (I absolutely HATE that question, why do I have to choose ?!?) I'd say Bokuto Koutarou but I also have 5 others in mind lol

Favorite Arc/Episode/Scene: The Tokyo Stage during S2 is my fave because my favorite characters get many screentime together, we see so many different people interact, and it's so fun to enjoy matches without the stress of the competition. I get to support anyone and not feel guilty about it !! Also there's Tsukki's character development, and there's my favorite scene in the anime (the Oya Oya Oya), and they all learn and work on new techniques and it's so cool !! (<- already rambling too much)

Character I Think is Underrated: Maybe Gosshiki ? He's such a baby I love him. I believe Tendou is very much loved so not underrated. Tanaka too. I know people love him but I think he deserves so much more. That man participated in EVERY MATCH, he NEVER got replaced and he doesn't have an ultra special attack and he's not the ace but he's sooooo reliable and cool. He's a caring sempai and a good player and an amazing friend and the only straight ally in a gay world lmaooo We don't appreciate him enough.

Character I Think is Overrated: When I'm not rewatching Haikyuu I think that Hinata and Atsumu are kinda overrated because yeah they're cool but they're not the bests and their characters (I know they're different) aren't the ones I love the most and also I think they're selfish. Then when I rewatches the episode for fun I4m so invested in everything and I just cannot not love them. So, no one is overrated actually.

Favorite Ship/Pairing: HAHA I won't answer that- Alright I will but keep it short. Let's say any popular ship that involves Tsukki, Kuroo, Bokuto, Akaashi and Kenma. Yes even the polyships. Yes. Any popular ship.

Something I Love About the Show/Movie: Everything. (<- only short answer I4m able to give)

BOKU NO HERO ACADEMIA

Oh it's been a while since I've been in that fandom. I lost my hyperfixation 3 years ago and I don't even read the scans anymore. Let's do it anyway, maybe it'd wake some sparkle in me and I'd be able to finish my fanfictions !

Favorite Character: I used to say Present Mic or Bakugo and I'm not sure now. I think Aizawa-sensei is someone safe to say, he'd never not be in my Top 3.

Favorite Arc/Episode/Scene: It's been so long, I don't really know

Character I Think is Underrated: Hatsune Mei. I love her and I rarely see people talking about her (or maybe I'm not on the good side of the fandom). And Mina (I know she's loved but not enough)

Character I Think is Overrated: All Might, I don't really like him. Mineta of course, he deserves Hell.

Favorite Ship/Pairing: EraserMic. I didn't write 3 fanfics about those dumbass gay teachers to not put them here.

Something I Love About the Show/Movie: The theme is good : how should we build a society where almost everyone has a superpower ? How do you regulate that ? How do you classify people as heroes, vigilantes and villains ? How do childhood trauma and socioeconomic differences, and traditional cultures play on the development of the superpower and the life of a person ?

AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER

This one is easier because I've already did a fan card about it!

Favorite Character: Zuko. Also Toph.

Favorite Arc/Episode/Scene: The Boiling Rock episodes.

Character I Think is Underrated: I don't think there's one ? I just think Avatar Kyoshi is a bit misinterpreted because the fans love exaggerating, but nothing actually bad.

Character I Think is Overrated: Jet maybe. I just feel nothing about him outside the context of him

Favorite Ship/Pairing: Zukka Nation

Something I Love About the Show/Movie : It's just perfect ? Perfect representation of everything ? It shows so many delicate subjects (people -kids- involved in war, sexism, racism, denial, terrorism, propaganda, redemption, trauma) and it's just GOOD. Zuko returns to his abusive family and makes more mistakes. Sokka looks down on women despite living years of his life surrounded by them. Katara steals something because her ego is hurt. Aang hides something to his friends because he has abandonment issues. Toph is.... Toph. And it's so well written and perfect and good.

JUJUTSU KAISEN

I've done this one too but it's still hard to me lmaooo

Favorite Character: Geto Suguru and Gojo Satoru and Choso and Itadori Yuuji and-

Favorite Arc/Episode/Scene: Hidden Inventory Arc. The story should have stopped here. We don't need anything more come on it's fine. Everyone's happy and it's fine (episodes 4 and 5 don't exist)

Character I Think is Underrated: Ino Takuma. Protect him.

Character I Think is Overrated: That fucking Naoya Bitch. I learned his in the TOP 20 popularity poll ??? HOW THE FUCK ??????? I literally cannot see his face, it gives me nausea. I hate him so sincerely, I don't even want to think about him.

Favorite Ship/Pairing: You know, I know, we know. The strongest. The one and only. The curse me a little at the end. They're known by many names. Satosugu, Gego, Sugusato, Goge, SaltSugar, whatever you want.

Something I Love About the Show/Movie: It's literally a story about love. It is not a romance anime, but it is about love. The theme comes back so often. Suguru loved his friends and it doomed him. Satoru loved Suguru and became a teacher. Yuuta loved Rika and cursed her. Geto's family loved him. It's all about love and no one could convince me otherwise.

[nube55]

Hey lovely Nube 💕

Finally, finally, I have the opportunity to jump into your ask box & get to know you better!!! We're both huge fans of fanfiction so this ask game was made for us! As usual, I can't stick to one question only so, if you're ok with that, may I ask you: A8 | B5 | C2 | D8?

Looking forward to reading your reply 👀

Lots of love 💕

<><><><><><>

PS: your comment/reblog of Lucy's post about this stinky comment on her fic was perfect 👏

Hello Val!! 🎊 awwww thanks for stopping by!!! Hahaha don't worry, we'll get to all of them!

(Adding a read more cause this got LONG sorry I'm physically incapable of summarising)

What was your first fandom? Are you still in that fandom now?

My first fandom was Harry Potter. I am not in that fandom still and do not wish to engage in it anymore for a number of reasons, but it was my gateway to reading from an early age and it was an excuse to bond with someone I cherished a lot and who sadly isn't here anymore. I met some awesome friends through it too, friends that put up with me to this day! Hahaha

Which story have you read more than any other? How many times?

You know... come to think of it, I haven't read an entire fic all over! 🤔 (regarding multichapter fics). I do want to highlight the ones I've been going back for certain chapters/scenes that I love! This list shows a variety of writing styles that leave me on the ground swooning (Warning!! no concrete spoilers buuuut references to scenes):

Holy Ground by @lucysarah-c (ongoing): Lucy can pretty much give a masterclass on poetic writing and I'm not exaggerating. I come back to it for my faves: chapter 9 (aka Levi's quiet morning gets interrupted in the funniest of ways - for us readers, not for him lmao), chapter 11 (aka not knowing how to play Scrabble leads to interesting outcomes), chapter 15 (one OF THE BEST LEVI POV I'VE LAID MY EYES ON), and chapter 17 (when you can feel yourself in the scene, it's just that amazing)

North Star by @sixpennydame (ongoing): such SUCH a special story. I love coming back to chapters 6 & 7, the whole Mount Aspe arc is exquisitely written.

Spectrum by @19941117 (finished): I have nothing but praise for this story and the incredible talent of its author. It focuses on an AoT character I've never seen explored before, and has the most breathtaking of endings.

Silver Underground by @amywritesthings (ongoing): this girrrrl leaves Easter eggs everywhere so I had to go back an re-read many parts to come up with theories lmao. I really enjoy the first chapter, the pace in it, the dialogue, the tension. And the whoooole bit on the Underground arc makes my heart become pudding.

Please tell me I didn't f*** up any link hahaha.

What word or expression always makes you cringe when you read it?

Usually I cringe when I see a sustained behaviour that feels excesively out of character to me (in those cases I choose to opt out). I also feel cringe-y in NSFW scenes when intimate parts are refered to overly poetically for my taste. I'd rather have them refered to in a filthy way tbh 😂

Which fandoms do you read fic for?

Currently I'm 99% dedicated to AoT (had a YoI phase a couple years ago!). Buuuut I wouldn't mind reading some Vinland Saga stories 😏 (@atruewarrior I'm looking at you)

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Well I think that's it!! Thanks for the questions Val, have a wonderful week! 🌻🌻

Ask a reader meme

[nnightskiess]

You deserve my support and much more! Lacklustre updating schedule or not, everytime you leave is a very.. compelling and deeply emotional piece of art. I say deeply emotional because when I read it, I feel every emotion that’s written in a very raw and deep way, as if I was actually living it, and so, to be able to even read it and have access to more chapters, is a really big privilege for me.

I think by showing us the present first and then going back to how it all began and showing how y/n and Yen developed their deep bond is pretty amazing, it makes it hurt yes 😂 but also makes it feel real and more intimate bc now we know how truly intricate and deep their feelings are for each other and how much weight their past together has on the events that are occurring in the present and will happen in the future.

I can also tell you love writing for it, idk how to explain it really, but you can see it’s written with passion and love and that every little detail matters. So actually, thank you for creating such an amazing story and I will always look forward to any chapters you put out! 🖤💛 I’m glad my little ask made you feel happy also 😊

(I agree abt Henry… the Witcher is just not the same without him. I have considered replaying the games just so I can maybeeee forget that Henry is not in the show anymore and hopefully ease into Liam a bit better 😂)

oh wow, love, i'm incredibly touched that you feel that way about it!! and that you consider it a piece of art. it's hard to try and see it from your perspective sometimes when i'm so deeply involved with it from a writer's point of view and can't read the chapters with a fresh mind, so hearing you say that actually filled me with joy and motivation.

and thank you so much for saying that! it means i accomplished what i intended to do. i always prefer to write with a heavy layer of emotion clouding my characters. emotions drive us, fuel our fears and define our actions. whether they're morally grey or relatable, it will help reach a level of understanding and hopefully help connect with the story. having to watch the characters battle both inwardly and outwardly before getting whatever their heart desires is just so much more satisfying.

going back to the past felt like a bit of a gamble at first. i was afraid i would confuse or lose some readers who probably desperately wanted to read what would happen at sodden instead, but now that i'm in the middle of writing those early days with yennefer, i realise it was the best decision i could have made. it will explain why they held off on their feelings and so much more. there are many subtle ways i can show their bond slowly forming, or how and why certain beliefs and insecurities will keep resurfacing simply because they were so intricately woven within them. by writing their story from the beginning, i feel like i've started to understand it even better. i don't think i could've properly taken the story forward the same way if i hadn't made that decision.

oh, i absolutely adore writing it. it slithered into my mind years ago during christmas break and it hasn't left me since. i never write anything just for the clicks or interactions, but especially not this one. i just had to write it all down, whether i would later on post it or not. i have notes upon notes everywhere and whenever an idea pops up while i read the books or play the game, i scribble it down. i still don't know how i can find clarity in the chaos (no pun intended). you can always come and talk to me about the story in my dms or asks, please don't hold back. i'd love to hear your thoughts and see if you've caught certain easter eggs, double meanings, symbolisms or foreshadowings (the flower on tissaia's desk is a nod to the bond she'll have with yen and y/n, for example). and as a writer, it's always interesting to see how certain things have landed with readers!

i feel like to a lot of people, me included, henry felt like the essence of the series, the glue holding it together. i get why people are frustrated he's no longer in it, and that the adaption has been absolute shit as well, but i honestly love the world of the witcher too much to not cling to every new bit of media they give us (and i really want to support the other actors). my story is a mix of the series and the book and will at one point stop following canon, since yen doesn't have her arc with geralt or ciri in this. i write yennefer with all of the different versions we've seen of her in mind, so i hope she doesn't feel too ooc for people who've only watched the series, played the game or read the book. but since this story doesn't exist in canon, we also don't have anything to compare her possible actions and reactions to with the things that will happen in everytime you leave, so i think i'll be fine 😊

take care, love! your support means the world to me and i count myself very lucky that you're one of my few readers 🖤

[antylope]

How I became a top 0.1%, made money from it and then started hating it

Hi everyone, this will be a story about how transforming your hobby into a "dream job" does not turn out so good in reality. About 3 years ago, I got insanely good at an infamous game - League of Legends. I managed to earn a living from it but I eventually quit.

Before I start, I just want to state that this is NOT some form of bragging that I managed to do what many teenagers consider their dream. The truth to the story is there were many disadvantages that noone really hears about.

I got introduced to this game at the age of about 10 or 11 by my older brother. It looked fun to me, even though I was horrendous at it. I played it on and off since the age of 11 to the age of 15, not thinking much about it and often taking months, or even years off, when I got bored of it. Totally understandable, normal stuff.

I was 16 when COVID hit. I was stuck in my house, not having to go physically to school, with lots of time on my hands, so I thought to myself I'd give this game one more chance. I still was awful at it, but slowly I became a bit better. I started really liking it. I started thinking what I did wrong in the games I've played, what can I improve, what are my weaknesses. I started looking at guides on the internet, I watched countless hours of coaches talking how to play better. After a few months I hit Diamond (for those who do not know anything about this game - it is about top 5-10% of playerbase).

I knew I still had much room for improvement so I kept going. The better I got at the game the more drawn I was to it. Eventually, it became something I would consider my passion. It was not mindless playing to kill the time, I did EVERYTHING I could to be better at this game. I did not play when I was tired, I made sure to get quality sleep to perform better. I avoided foods that made my brainfog worse. I recorded all of my matches I have had played and reviewed them every day for one hour before going to sleep. I even set my alarm clock and woke up at 6 am, 2 full hours to play a few matches before having to listen to online classes.

I had one thing in mind - to become the best. I was very ambitious, I lived for this game and I LOVED IT. Eventually, at the age of 17 achieved Master rank, which was top 1-0.5%. This still was not enough to make money from it, so I kept going. I knew I could achieve more. I was very emotional about every match I played, I knew I had to put 100% of my effort to perform as best as I could.

Getting to the plot, at the point of my 18th birthday I became so good I was in the top 2000 players in the whole Europe. Out of millions of people who play it everyday, I was one of the best. I was so proud of myself. This was the point in which I thought to myself, "I am ready to make a carrier out of it".

To explain how you can earn money from this game, there are 3 options: 1) Become a professional player, play for a team and conquer the world 2) Be a coach and sell your services to help other people get better 3) Boosting, which in simple terms can be explained by: logging onto someone's account (or playing with them) and winning a lot of games to boost their rank and get paid for it.

I chose the third option, since it paid the most for an average person who tried to earn money from playing this game. I applied to many sites which offered such services, not as a customer but as an "employee". After a few weeks I finally got in. The procedure was complicated and it was insanely difficult to get in, but somehow I have made it.

At first, I loved it. Playing my favourite game and get paid for it? That's amazing! I broke the code to becoming rich! 3 months have passed and this is when the realisation started to hit me. This "job" (if I can even call it such) had many downsides, which were obviousely not talked about. I will try to name as many as I can:

1) You most often had to """work""" (play) a minimum of 12 hours a day to earn any significant money - being on the top of the game and keeping focus and energy throughout all this time is IMMENSELY difficult. Near impossible I'd argue. 2) You often had to wait hours to be able to start playing, because there simple were no customers that wanted the service. 3) The sites that offered such service took a minimum of 40% cut from the work you did, meaning if you'd earn 100€, you would have to give 40€ to the site. 4) Some customers were awful people - they paid as little as it was possible, while simultaneously demanding the highest quality and the quickest service to be provided. Many of them also had weird specific requirements, such as playing only during certain hours, playing certain role, champions, configuration, etc, which was extremely annyoing since you couldn't just do your "job", but instead you'd have to deal with their oddities. 5) You have to play even if you don't want to. You don't like certain changes in the game on the newest update? That's a shame, you still have to perform at your best. You wanted to take a break? Nope, you are obligated to finish your order. There was no such thing as weekend. You wanted to go on holidays? One month of not being active and you'd get kicked from the site. 6) The competition was cutthroat. New orders from customers were picked up by boosters (people doing the "job") in a matter of SECONDS, making you sit in front of the screen sitting there with impatience. 7) Absolutely no time for any other hobbies, cooking healthy, nutritious meals or even school. I would do the bare minimum to pass all the exams just to have more time to grind this game.

As you can see, there was a lot that could, and went wrong with playing this game as a source of income. But most of the time I just clenched my teeth and pushed through it. If you dealth with all of the unconformities your income was pretty nice. In my opinion you could easily make a living out of it, especially in my country. The salary was paid in Euro, which is much more valuable than our local currency, and 500€ of income a month would be enough to keep you going without a real job. Add to that the fact that I lived with my parents, went to school, so this money was amazing for me, especially when I did my "dream job".

This allowed me to live like a king compared to my peers this age. Can you even imagine, still being in highschool and making as much money as an adult with a real job, while you're just sitting in front of a computer and play games? This was something which many of my friends were jealous of, hah, even my parents were. My dad was very supportive of it and my mother said it is "unfair for me to earn as much as she does when she is more than 20 years older than me and she works a REAL JOB". Noone knew the reality, the dark side of it, how it drained you from all of your energy. It was extremely stressful, it drained you emotionally aswell, which caused me to perform worse each month.

Deep down inside of me I knew I needed a break, but I always said to myself: "Come on, THIS is what you wanted all your life! You are playing games for a living! Stop being an entitled, ungrateful kid and appreciate where you got in life!".

Slowly, I started despising this game. I hated every bit of it, I hated the changes, I hated the stress, I hated how much time I have to put in, I hated the customers, my "coworkers", I hated the whole atmosphere. I wanted to escape from it. I wanted to break away from the chains that I have put myself in. This was also about the time where I started to change my life for the better. I lost a bit of weight, I took mental health seriousely. I started going for walks. You have no idea how amazing they felt - I just felt at peace. I felt like I could take a deep breath and finally take some rest.

This made me understand one thing - I don't like this game and it is restraining me from becoming a better person, from improving my life. All of the people who play it are losers like I was, they hate their pathetic lifes and they live without any real social connections. This realisation helped me decide to cut this game out of my life once for good.

When I uninstalled this game, I felt a void in my heart. Previousely, it was all my life. I was what I was thinking about while waking up, when going to sleep, while in school, while on the toilet. I LIVED FOR IT. I just did not know what to do with myself. All of a sudden I had so much free time on my hands. You can compare it to an animal which spent all its' life in a cage. Then people decided to release it to the wild. The animal just sits there, stares at the trees, not knowing he is finally free. It's because he never experienced other life than the one it had in the cage. I felt very similar to this animal. On one hand, I finally did not have to stress. On the other hand, all that I worked for? Destroyed. My passion? Gone.

Right now, about 2 years later, I still am confused what to exactly do with my life. This might sound depressing, but I have no reason to get out of my bed. I have nothing I can put my best efforts in. I don't know what path to choose. I am wasting countless hours doing things which I don't care about, like scrolling social media. Even though I know I made the right choice, my life got better in almost every aspect, I still am lost. My life now is constantly seeking such another thing which will make me trully live again.

The conclusion of this story is that the world on other side of the bridge might look completely different that you'd imagined. You might reconsider seriousely if you really want to transform your hobby into your work, since this is when you start to most often hate it. That is why I also believe your job should not be something you love. It will suck the life out of you.

Thank you for taking your time to read it. As always, if you have any questions, if you want me to explain anything, or even if you want to throw a hate comment out there, go for it. I will be more than happy to read it and respond to you.

[chaoticbooklesbian]

Over the weekend, I went to Boston to see the Savannah Bananas play in Fenway Park (link to watch the game on YouTube), and let me say, first and foremost, it was an absolute BLAST. They brought out all the Banana Ball stops, they even hand-delivered popcorn to my mom because I told them we were celebrating her birthday. I had an amazing time and it's made me even more excited for the three other games I'm going to this year. I say all of this so that the rest of the post doesn't make it seem like I had a bad time.

I was concerned, when I bought the tickets, that the seats in Fenway Park would be narrow. I have huge hips, it's an old ballpark, and narrow seats are an issue I've run into before. I knew it would be worth it to go regardless or I wouldn't have bought the tickets, but I also knew it could be a tight squeeze. I was not prepared for the reality that confronted me when we found our seats: They were so narrow that I didn't fit in them. I could only sit at the edge of my seat, with my knees basically up against the seat in front of me. I couldn't lean back, I couldn't get comfortable, the metal arms of the seat were digging into my hips the entire time, getting up and sitting back down were painful.

The world is not made for fat people, y'all. I'm extremely lucky that this event was fun enough that I didn't care how uncomfortable I was through the whole thing, that I was able to be a blob in the hotel room the whole next day. I shouldn't have to make those calculations just to go do something fun. I should be able to decide to see a show without worrying that the whole thing might be ruined by uncomfortable seating, that an otherwise pretty good show could be rendered awful by whether or not I fit in the seat. I wanted to go see my favorite musical while it was having a limited run on Broadway a year or so ago, so I called the theater to try to find out how big the seats were. No one answered when I called, so I emailed, and got a range of sizes. When I asked which sections had which size seats so I could buy tickets where I'd be more comfortable, no one responded. I didn't go see the show.

If I were just a bit smaller, I wouldn't have to worry about this at all. There are plenty of people bigger than me who can't even consider going to shows because they know for a fact that almost nowhere they could think of to go would be able to accommodate their bodies, and that's so unbelievably fucked up. I want to enjoy life, to go to shows and events and know I'll fit in the seats, to go to restaurants and not have the people with me look at the booth and preemptively ask to be seated at a table with chairs instead before I can even try to sit down. I want that for everyone, regardless of size.

I had a really fucking good time on Saturday night, but that was in spite of and in defiance of a stadium that didn't want someone like me in it. Imagine how much better my night would have been if my seat had been big enough.

[pqrachel]

Our Life Baxter's DLC Thoughts (Step 3 & Step 4) <Spoilers>

So I played through Step 3 with Baxter's story. I did a few of the other Step 3 moments but mostly focused on doing all of the Baxter DLC moments. One thing I noticed about playing through Step 3 without Cove as my boyfriend was that whenever there was a typically sad moment for the player character, Liz and the rest of the family was there for me when Cove normally would have been. It was definitely a different story but I'm glad I got to see it even if I liked Cove's Step 3 better than Baxter's.

And I was going to play through Baxter's epilogue on the same night; but after the heartbreak of him leaving the way he did at the end of Step 3, and then seeing him right after in the opening scene of Step 4 wasn't something I wanted to do. So I took a few days before playing it to think. After all it had been 5 years for the characters I can take a little bit to think. And I think the biggest thing that hurt was the implication that the player character wouldn't have any romantic partner for those 5 years. Like you have to give up Cove to pursue Baxter and then after the summer he just leaves when the player character is most vulnerable once everyone is leaving and everything else is changing, and that's super sucky.

I'm about to play the epilogue and I just hope Baxter's grown up a bit in those 5 years and I have no clue where the story's gonna go but I think I'm now ready to give him a chance.

-

Wow! That was an amazing story! It took me about 4 hours to play through Baxter's epilogue and I'm so glad I did. The beginning was incredibly bittersweet. It was definitely hard seeing Baxter with things were left off, especially with him still ignoring his emotions like he did 5 years ago. And it wasn't easy to get him to open up over the course of the week that the story took place. Getting to spend time with everyone planning a wedding for Randy's brother and his husband was amazing. At first I was mourning the wedding Cove and I didn't get to have from my previous playthrough, but ultimately getting that excuse to see Baxter and show him that he could be loved and that he deserved to be loved was great. And seeing him slowly open up and return to the amazing confident man that I knew he could be was just so worthwhile. The scenes were great and he was truly an amazing character and I'm glad to be a part of his story.

Also I know it wasn't intentional but of course I saw a bunch of parallels with Baxter's epilogue and the original Life is Strange game, particularly with Chloe and Max's relationship. Having to go through life for years missing out on someone important and then being reunited by complete happenstance and rebecoming great friends and ultimately more. It just reminded me of Chloe's story a bunch. And it was so humbling to experience that from Chloe's POV, like yeah it was sucky that Max basically abandoned Chloe for those years, but I thought I'd forgive her so easily. But it was genuinely hard to accept Baxter back into my life after how things ended and I now super sympathize with how sucky Chloe was upon their initial meeting up. There's obviously still love there in both stories, but there's an obvious hurt too. But somehow over the course of the week, Baxter and I reassured each other that this relationship could work out and be an actual thing and not just a summer fling. We were together again and it was incredible. And I just enjoyed it a lot.

I'm obviously not gonna try ranking it compared to Cove's story, because there were pros and cons to both, but it was nice being courted by someone confident especially when he's so flawed as a person. (And yeah I know he's a fictional character... shut up.) And I didn't go to deep into the moments from Step 3, but that's because they weren't that deep themselves.

-

I'm probably gonna wait a while before playing Derek's epilogue to really give this one time to sit, because it meant a lot and was super poignant to me. And I don't want to rush straight into seeing that relationship pan out just yet.

And I know I'm bi and I normally prefer femmes and androgynous peeps, but it's so nice to have an outlet for liking men without the context of having to hide that I'm trans, like the friends to lovers route is what I prefer and this game excels at that in a way that real life hasn't been able to (for me).

[icharchivist]

Hope you don’t mind me asking, but what exactly is a3 ? I’ve been seeing a lot of it on my dash (not just from you lol) and when I looked it up it’s an anime but also a game of sorts? I didn’t really understand but could you explain a bit more? thanks :)

HI NONNY!!!

I absolutely do not mind you asking, talking about a3 is one of my favorite thing to do, so you're in luck!

I'm putting it all under a cut because, while i tried to be vague and short, i, at least, failed on the second part of this attempt, but i sure hope it'll be good to read still!

and if you end up interested in trying a3 in some shape or form do let me know, i'd die for those kids in a heartbeat and if you get to want to meet them or are just curious about some aspects of it, i'm all open to discuss it. I love a3 so damn much.

A3!, or in its full name: A3! Act! Addict! Actors!, is a visual novel gacha mobile game. Its Japanese server opened in 2017 and is still ongoing. In 2019, an English server opened, translating the story from the start, but it unfortunately had to close down in 2021 after running two years of content :(.

in 2020, an anime adaptation of the 4 first main story chapters was released. It's a... pretty uneven adaptation, depends on the arc it adapts, it had to cut a LOT of things, and i'm personally biased because it completely cut down my fav chara's arcs and i'm not fan of some adaptation choices around some other favs, but it can be a pretty good introduction if you want to give yourself an idea about it (starting by the Spring/Summer season, then the Autumn/Winter)

Personally i started keeping up with the A3! English server when it first came out, until the bitter end, and i miss it so dearly. There's translations for the rest of the story on the wikis, but i've been so heartbroken i haven't managed to get around and catch up just yet...

For the record: fans managed to record and save the entire content of the A3!En server in videos, that we keep on an archive available on a google doc. We're trying to keep it as under the radar as possible so it's hush hush, but if ever you are curious enough to want to navigate it, let me know and i'll share it and give you pointers.

EITHER WAY that's for the technicality.

The Visual Novel follows the story of Izumi Tachibana as she is lured into the indebted theater her father used to own before he disappeared years ago. Due to circumstances that involves yakuza because it's a very normal game, Izumi ends up in a situation in which she is tasked with bringing back the Theater to its glory days in less than a few months: mainly, by forming back Four Troupes of 5 Actors, Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, each dedicated to a specific type of plays, and putting on successful shows after successful show in the hope to save the theater.

The core of the story is especially found, of course, with the actors that ended up joining the various troupes and the dynamic those troupes end up having with one another, as each have very clear themes in the way they interreact with one another.

While the story starts about clearing a debt, the story follows specifically the whole idea of encouraging those actors to grow and bloom, both as actors and as individuals, learning to heal from their past and move forward to their future.

The Gimmick is also that each play we end up putting on together, tends to serve to have the characters use introspection in order to understand their roles. So you both end up having Unique New Mini Stories at every play, but also play the game of "and how is that play serving the character arc of the Actor inspiring it".

Here's are our first members, for Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.

After one year of content, each troupe got a 6th member, whom therefore we call the rookies.

A3! shines a lot by its really amazing dialogues and humor, but also the genuineness in which it approaches its emotional moments and the characters arcs of each character. Basically we all agree, if you end up relating to Any Characters, be prepared to cry because they'll be coming for you specifically with arcs made specifically to hurt you. But also to heal you. I've never recovered and it was the best thing that ever happened to me, that coexist.

As you can see, there's 24 main characters who's story ends up very important, so teasing more about presenting each of them would make this post impossibly long (i COULD do it though, because i do love them all so dearly). The story focus mostly on them, but, at least in the VN, Izumi is herself a pretty fun protagonist to follow. I think the anime cut down a lot of her scenes though....

The story is followed through Main Story Chapters AND Event Stories, Main Story at the begining of the "Act" (see bellow) and two event stories each months, and the events bring a lot to the character arcs so it's not exactly bonus content.

Playstyle wise it's nothing really interesting, and we mostly participate to the Gacha or ranking up events because the cards are new arts of the boys and come with bonus stories only unlockable once you own the card, usually linked to the current ongoing event. They're more bonus content but a lot of them are really fun or hint at some angst as well.

The First Year of content was called Act One, and it covered first the 4 First Main Story Chapters following the creation of each troupes, then, 19 event stories. Then, Act Two, which had 4 New Main Story Chapters introducing the Rookies, each separated by one event, before then being only events. When the English server closed we were 19 events into Act 2, and we never got to see Act 3. Act 3 is a little more mushy in term of how the time flow/how the Main Story and Events are organized so i'd only recommand looking into it only if you get into the whole thing.

As I mentioned, the anime only covers therefore the 4 First Main Story Chapters, which means, only the creations of the troupes and their first plays, and it condensed them a lot so yeah...

Another thing about a3 is that it's also really musically based.

Each Troupes have about 3 Troupe songs each that kinda showcase their dynamic (Two for Act 1, One for Act 2), and each character have a Solo song that showcase their characters pretty well. (one at the beginning of their story, and one set in Act 3).

I'm not going to list everything, unless you're curious in which case i can share some of my favorites, but i can at least share one song of each of the troupes, as to drive the point that each troupe have a very different vibe going for them. Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter

Aside from that, each Play the actors pull together have a duet between whoever is the Lead and Co-Lead actor of each play, in character of the play itself. Noteworthy however that each play is made to explore character arcs, so while they represent their play characters, it also represents the actors themselves.

There is also a few songs sang by the Leader of each troupes, as the one i linked above. The song i linked above is the opening song of the game when you open it for the first time!

(since the singing is an appealing part, if you want some "hey, it's the seiyuu of ____" moment, i can provide. If you're a nonny who follows me for gbf for instance i need to tell you about the duet between Vane's and Mordred's VAs because i think about it All The Time)

So, that's basically the outline of what you need to know about A3!.

Any more details about the specific bonds the troupes have, or who the characters are, could be spoilery if you want to get into it, but if you're curious about any of them i'm willing to talk more about them. I swear i could ramble about all of them for hours.

And yeah a3 is hilarious, i'm bringing back those beauty to make a point:

I Rest My Case.

A3! So Good I miss it every single day of my life. Here you should know a little bit more about it.

and as i said, i'm always up to talk more about it. God knows i can't shut up about a3.....

Hope it helped!

Take care :3c

[dreadreverendryan]

I can't believe Akira Toriyama is gone. I know everyone's going to be more upset about Dragon Ball, and I'm sad that Daima will be his last work, but Chrono Trigger means so, SO much more to me. I didn't get it at first: I'd never played a turn based RPG before and didn't understand the menus. I could have read the manual, but I only looked at the character section because the designs were fucking awesome. Hell, the only good memory I have of my great grandfather was him flipping thru the manual and saying Lucca's name. I have no context as to why he was reading it, I was fully capable of reading it myself and he had no interest in video games, but it's something. My best friend, Justin, saw my copy of the game and asked if he could borrow it. I was so annoyed with the menus that I told him he could HAVE the game, but he gave it back after he was done and he'd shown me how the game works. Once I got it back I was HOOKED, but stuck on the first boss, Yakra. We didn't have dial up internet yet, so I just threw myself against that wall so much that when my sister decided to literally sit on her controller and bounce on it to randomly select commands I was all for it (no clue why I didn't just ask Justin). It worked, somehow, but her controller... Well, let's just say that I have *my* original controller and had to replace hers many, many years ago. Luckily we got dial up not too long after that, so if I needed help I could go to GameFAQs, and I found Icybrian's RPG page, which had fanart and fanfics for Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger. The message boards there became my first online community and the older members of the forums mocked my typing so hard that to this day it pains me if I don't type properly. It was still fun, and I was pretty annoying so I don't blame them for it. My other early internet community included a Star Wars RPG forum, the Star Wars Council (SWC for short). Everyone made their own OCs and I really liked Frieza (but just him, I wasn't into the show enough to care about anyone else yet because I had no consistent way to watch it), so Frieza Omega (shut up, I was like 11 or 12 and it was cool back then), leader of the Bounty Hunter's Guild was born. A bit after that I also joined an actual DBZ RPG group with my cousin and his friends as Trunks. That group was less fun because the fights were judged by other people, not co-written like the SWC. All those little interlinking pieces of my life (and other bits I left out) started with Chrono Trigger and I can honestly say I wouldn't be the person I am today without it. And while the music, mechanics, and story were all amazing, the art Toriyama did gave the game so much charm. I honestly don't know if I'd have gotten into DBZ without Chrono Trigger. Even when I saw Super Sayin God for the first time my brain immediately went "that's literally just Crono!" It's kind of funny to imagine the silent protagonist Crono screaming before doing his techs, or Goku losing his voice from all the screaming and becoming a time traveling mute stuck in Super Sayin God. I'm also really surprised that I've got more to say about Akira Toriyama than I did about Kentaro Miura, the author of Berserk. I mean, I have a Berserk tattoo because of how much the story resonated with me, but then again I also have a clock tattoo because of my time obsession that started with Chrono Trigger. It's like... Berserk changed me and has an extremely warm place in my heart, but Chrono Trigger is in my bones, my veins, my DNA, and my soul. Also, I do have one piece of DBZ merch: the Devil card from the Dragonball tarot deck, which has first form Frieza on it. Now I'm thinking about buying a copy of the full deck when I can afford it, but anyway...

Rest easy, Toriyama-san; you will be missed dearly and remembered fondly.

[dany36]

so i finished sonic frontiers today and...wow... just like berseria re-ignited my love for tales of games, frontiers did just that for sonic games (i already bought some used copies to replay generations and finish unleashed :y ). my favorite game before this was sonic generations, but frontiers just blows it out of the water. some more junk thoughts below.

what i loved most about generations was just how much FUN it was to play through the levels. adventure 2 is a classic but the added speed in generations and frontiers make the levels seem slow in comparison. i'm not a big fan of classic 2d sonic, but generations made the modern sonic 2d sections a blast, and frontiers does it just as well. i looked through the frontiers stages and it looks like they remade most of the unleashed, generations, and adventure 2 stages. i hadn't read anything about this game beforehand so i had no idea that all of the stages would be remakes of older ones. i recognized and just completely LOVED all of the adventure 2 stages (metal harbor is the beeeeeest!!!), so for the unleashed/generations ones that i didn't recognize/remember i had a blast playing through them since they were new to me.

i was a bit skeptical about the open world aspect at first because i was like how the hell is that going to work for a sonic game, but to my most pleasant surprise, the worlds are just pure JOY to explore. honestly running around the first world made me think, wow, this is everything i ever wanted when i played through sonic adventure 1 all those years ago. i remember exploring mystic ruins and WISHING the area was bigger and that there'd be more stuff to do in it. filling out the map and doing all of the small little challenges/open levels to collect memory tokens never got old. like, you'd think i'd get tired of grinding on rails, jumping through purple rings, running through loops, doing light speed dashes through rings etc., but no!! each time i'd encounter one of these bite-sized levels was always so awesome to see how smoothly they would flow to a memory token. i never bothered to get all of the korok seeds in breath of the wild because that BS was boring AF, but the tokens? they're actually super fun to collect and will definitely aim to obtain them all.

one of the parts that completely blew me away was the part where you had to climb the towers. like...holy shit i was just in awe at how fucking amazing that part was. the music and the design of the towers was just pure art. there would be similar levels when you'd have to collect an emerald in the open worlds (there was one where there were like giant rotating rings in i believe the second world that was soooo fucking cool), and ugh i just can't stop praising how great the fluidity of the levels were and the satisfaction that i as a player would get when i'd get to the end of them. just a completely stellar job.

the music in sonic games NEVER disappoints and sonic frontiers is no exception. from the beautiful ambient music in kronos island to the brass-filled powerful melodies in chaos island, frontiers manages to perfectly capture the mood of the world you're exploring. and then when the music would change each time you'd collect a chaos emerald? fantastic. so you have all these gorgeous, melancholic melodies while you're out exploring to fit so well with the story, and then when you enter the actual stages it switches the mood completely to various types of edm to go along with the fast-paced levels (stage 1-2 my beloved!!). and do i even have to mention how gorgeous the lofi fishing theme is? that's going into my study playlist automatically. like...the variety in this soundtrack is just astonishing and the fact that it wasn't nominated at the game awards is a joke.

the combat in the game was also surprisingly fun and satisfying. the mini bosses were a blast to fight, and encountering a new one was always a welcomed surprised because it'd be like oh, i wonder what the strategy for this one will be since they were all so unique. fighting giganto for the first time was so cool, i mean that fight was so badass, iconic, and nothing like i had ever seen before in a sonic game. i must admit that the novelty of the titan fights went down each time you'd fight one, but they were all still pretty amazing.

so i mean honestly, i don't have any major complaints about this game. i don't play sonic games for the story and that actually managed to be pretty interesting. loved tails character development, that was unexpected to hear from him!! i wonder how they will follow up with what he said at the end?? and can't wait to see how they'll bring sage back or what role she will play in the future! (not sure i understood 100% her sacrifice at the end but she's still "alive" so whatever!) i guess the only thing was that i thought the S ranks were a bit too easy to obtain (minus the one level that we're all aware of), and i wish that they had included at least one sonic adventure 1 stage. i mean sure, they're not as fun and dynamic as newer sonic stages, but surely they could have made some changes to them like they did with city escape. really the only thing that sonic adventure 2 still holds over it is the chaos garden, but other than that, frontiers is definitely the best sonic game i've ever played. i still have to collect all of the memory tokens and record my personal best records in the Arcade Mode, but for now i'm going to take a small break from the game.

i have no idea how sega is going to top this. i saw on wikipedia that they wanted frontiers to be a model for future sonic games just like how Sonic Adventure was, so that's very exciting to hear because wow, i swear this game never ceased to amaze me at how good it was throughout the 30 hours it took me to finish the story + all of the stages. really hyped to see where they go from here!!

[thegeminisage]

pspsps ms liz, hi, I've been here multiple times (mostly about games) and I saw you have Deathloop, or at least have it installed (sorry if its weird to look at the games you have installed on your desktop, i was curious) and its currently on sale on steam and i love a good timeloop. I played Prey a bit ago (holy shit the ending threw me for a loop WOW) and enjoyed it, I have a friend who raves about Dishonored and they haven't steered me wrong with games so far, so I have good feelings about Arkane games.

I wanted to ask your opinion on Deathloop before i spend $30 on it 💀💀

um anyways, have a good day!!! please also give your kitties pets for me, they're all adorable

HI BESTIE, dw i am petting ALL of the cats and also it's definitely not weird to look at my desktop since im the one who posted pics of it, although there are some games on there i havent played yet (i tend to take the ones im finished with OFF the desktop but deathloop earned it place). rip start again and night in the woods i swear i am going to get to you soon

so yeah AS you guessed the short answer is YES IT IS WORTH IT!!! doubly so if you can get it on steam. the long answer is:

i have played basically All of the games from arkane and deathloop feels more like dishonored than prey, but that isn't a bad thing!! (if you haven't played the dishonored series and you wind up liking deathloop i'd highly recommend it.) gameplaywise everything feels really polished and fun...when i played i was letting my buddy watch me do the story, so i wound up replaying missions i'd already done in my spare time bc i just couldn't keep my hands off of it. i found ways to do levels i didn't think were possible. there's a lot of freedom in it

the abilities in deathloop imho are what make it resemble DH more than prey, but i think the abilities system is more fun than in prey because in prey when you get the alien abilities it makes the enemies more hostile and i didn't care for that. these are simplified but really fun, i always had a hard time choosing which ones to equip because they're all really good (though admittedly i never played with the one that lets you fling stuff everywhere bc i didn't care). the weapons and trinket system you use for your upgrades comes with a bit of a learning curve (the tutorial section was horrifically annoyingly long) but once you learn the ropes it's a very smooth, fun, satisfying way to work. i havent tried the new update they just released for the 1yr anniversary but it looks amazing too!

the aesthetic and music and the characters are wildly funky and extremely, outrageously fun - the banter you get as you proceed through the levels is very entertaining. it feels like much more of an adventure than prey because it doesnt have that sense of isolation and the characters CUSS. the bosses are the perfect combination of challenging and scary and weird without being TOO hard (with the exception of fia, who has the dubious honor of being one of the most stressful controller-against-the-wall challenges i've ever played, taking me almost twenty tries to complete - come back after you do that one and tell me how many years you aged). i played deathloop before the update that added difficulty levels and i'm not a pro gamer by any means, so anyone should be able to complete it. it's really satisfying to go back to a level you once struggled on with better weapons and abilities and breeze right through it!

that said, there are a couple of cons - the biggest one for me was that my PC had a liiiiittle bit of trouble running it without framerate skips and it took me a long time to get those eliminated. the second biggest one is i think it needed another 6 months or so of dev time, especially in regards to the story. VERY minor story spoilers in the form of: my opinion, but!!! like i said, i haven't played the free update - apparently there's a new, secret ending - but the one we got felt a little bewildering and and anticlimactic. i kept waiting for it all to mean something and it kind of...only meant a little, really?? there's one major twist but instead of making me go "oh COOL" it made me go "oh bad :/" and it was definitely kind of a blueballed feeling bc the rest of the game had my expectations SO astronomically high. to finally finishing the thing was a bit of a letdown

THAT SAID, in spite of its flaws it's one of the most fun times i've ever had playing a first person shooter-ish game. i just wish there was more to do. even replaying some of the levels in my downtime i still only racked up slightly less than 50 hours. but i'm sure on replays/if i were to 100% things/if i tried multiplayer (i havent so far bc crossplatform play costs $$$ and i heard it was a bit lacking anyways) i could get more, which i might go back and try someday, because it's SO FUN. trust me if they gave me 200 hours of content in that game i would play all 200 of them

anyway, can't rec it highly enough, the steam price has apparently dropped to like $24 bucks so you will NEVER find it any cheaper. if you truly do hate it you can return it if you've played less than 4 hours so WHY NOT give it a try. i really hope you enjoy it cuz i sure did!!!

[enhypia]

JW ; bestfriends to lovers

bestfriends to lovers answers questions with the choice of drinking instead of answering

pairings: yang jungwon x gn!reader

genre: fluff, angst if you squint

words: roughly 1.1k

masterlist ⸺ series masterlist

~guides and warnings~

italics - reader speaking

bold - jungwon speaking

[enclosed] - interviewer speaking

italicized bold - both reader and jungwon speaking

[enclosed bold or italics] - question (depends on who's speaking)

heavily inspired by: rec.create lie detector games, cut truth or drink

warning: contains and mentions of !!! drinking, swearing

i don't promote underage drinking, save your livers

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

hi i'm jungwon

and i'm (y/n)

and we're bestfriends besties

okay one more time

we're bestfriends to lovers!

*they high-five

[you guys were invited here today as bestfriends turned lovers for a fun little drinking game, you guys aware of that right?]

we were

i had to convince jungwon a little bit because he's a lightweight

i am not

you can just answer the questions instead of drinking anyway

i hope you get hard ones so you get drunk

*(y/n) :P

[okay, for this game, questions will be asked and if you refuse to answer, you drink, it's that simple. should we start?]

*both nod

[how did you guys become bestfriends?]

our parents forced us, we were threatened

*they laugh

no, our parents are friends and they had this little get-together and they brought their children with

yeah, that's why we were forced to interact

it was better than listening to our parents and not relating to anything

and they got so happy seeing us interacting that we were just always brought to their hangouts

[what was your first impression of each other?]

that jungwon wouldn't hesitate to kick my ass

you weren't wrong

i know. his eyes are very expressive, and i thought he hated me the first time we met

i did

sucks to suck then cause you're dating me now

*jungwon sighs deeply

*(y/n) :O

i thought they were shy

I AM ?!@#

uh huh keep telling yourself that honey

*(y/n) !!??!?

[how about we officially start the game now?]

*both nod and played rock paper and scissors to determine who gets to ask first, jungwon wins

*jungwon ohhhs after seeing the question

[was there a point where you wanted to end our friendship?]

why are we starting heavy already? gosh

sooo??

i'm answering. there wasn't?

WHY AREN'T YOU SURE??

becaUSE I HAD FEELINGS FOR YOU??? of course i didn't want just friendship, isn't that technically ending it? but from my understanding is end the friendship like completely cut ties off?

*interviewer nods

then no, there wasn't

*(y/n) quickly picks up the card and immediately laughs after reading the question

what? what is it

oh you better answer this cause even i don't know

[when did you start having feelings for me?]

*jungwon blushes and starts to pour a shot

yah!

i'm still answering! i just need this drink

*(y/n) laughs

i started liking you around prom....

*jungwon refuses to meet (y/n) widened eyes

that was almost 2 years ago?!@!

*jungwon ignores the claim

so you're telling me that we could've been together already two years ago ?!

*jungwon eyes widen and smirks

*(y/n) realizes their mistake

[so you already had a crush on me back then too?]

*(y/n) takes a shot sporting a blush and gives a pointed glare, then smiles innocently

i've liked you way before that darling, you just didn't notice

*jungwon.exe has stopped working

okay! next question

[have you ever been jealous of anyone who hit up on me?]

oh god, you wouldn't believe how much time i wasted constantly reminding myself that i have no right to be jealous

*jungwon laughs

what do they even see in you ugh

*he rolls his eyes

you're literally dating me

and what about it??

*jungwon :P

[have YOU ever been jealous of anyone who hit up on me?]

no why would i be?

damn thought for sure the reason you distanced yourself from me when-

*he clamps his hand on (y/n) mouth

we do not speak their name

*(y/n) laughs and pushes jungwon's hand off their face then picks up a card

[question for both: was it scary falling for your bestfriend]

*both share a look and takes a shot

it was terrifying. because you're risking this once in a lifetime friendship and bond you know? that's why i tried really hard to suppress what i was feeling because i couldn't stand the idea of loosing all those just because i liked the person.

*jungwon takes a shot making (y/n) laugh

it was super scary since we've been beside each other for years and i'd rather deal with the unrequited love?? because not having them by my side would be more painful than that

*(y/n) drinks

*both giggle because they're getting tipsy by drinking even though they still answer the question

[who confessed first? how did you guys get together?]

i confessed first. my parents were thinking of moving and i was panicking because i'd have to leave everything behind and in my head i didn't want to leave without jungwon knowing what i felt for him, so i just went 'fuck it, i wont see him again anytime soon anyway' and confessed.

and then they RAN straight home right after, i couldn't even reply??

I WAS SCARED GIVE ME A BREAK

yeah but they forgot that i literally have a key to their house, so i just went there and confessed as well.

and it turns out, we weren't moving, so tada, here we are

we got together after like a week since the confession

jungwon got jealous of-

*he puts a finger to (y/n) mouth to shush them

no❤️

*(y/n) chuckles

what's important is that i love you, you're mine and i am yours, period.

*(y/n).exe is malfunctioning because of jungwon's boldness and drinks

sorry, he gets more straightforward when intoxicated

im intoxicated, not drunk, so my words are true

*(y/n) can't fight the heavy blush appearing on their face

i swear if you don't shut off i will fight you

no you can't, you love me

*(y/n) deadpans and suddenly stares at jungwon lovingly

*pokemon jungwon is paralyzed!

i do, i love you so much.

*he squeaks and tries to hide the blush on his face

*(y/n) bursts out laughing

[last question, how does it feel being in a relationship with your bestfriend?]

it's amazing and kind of scary actually, jungwon knows me so well, and too well, so i can't escape anything from him. whenever i don't feel the best he just knows already without me saying anything. i'm thankful honestly, because he's always there ever since, the bonus now is just i get unlimited kisses and affection

*jungwon rolls his eyes

it's,,, comfortable ?? it's like the safety and comfort home brings. i just feel so understood and loved, sometimes i wonder if i really deserve all these but like (y/n), i'm just grateful that i have them with me.

*everyone in the room aww'ed making them laugh

*jungwon and (y/n) takes one last shot and waved to the camera

and CUT!

»————-　♡　————-«

bonus: youtube comments

a/n: im so hapi that the series masterlist is getting notes huhu tysm <33 i hope you like this one, ive always imagined jungwon as someone who flusters people but you can easily fluster him back, esp if you're his s/o, i'll try to create the rest of the members' as quickly as i can :>>

[antiquatedplumbobs]

Tag Game for Historical Simblrs!

I haven't seen one of these on historical simblr in a bit, and I feel like there's a bunch of new faces I want to get to know a bit better! And I've always found these to be really fun, so I threw this little tag game together. I figured I'd put my answers in to get it started and then tag some people!

1. What has been your favorite time period to play in or which one are you most excited for?

This is a bit far away, but I'm so excited to play the 1940s, it's one of my favorite decades and I have so many fun ideas for the decade!

2. Do you have a favorite piece of historical cc? (CAS or BB)

I really love the keroseeing lamp by @vampireloreskill, I use it in all my builds and it just makes my builds feel so much more realistic. @linzlu 's two sinks are also really amazing, I love how they transform my kitchens.

3. Who is your favorite sim currently?

Currently my favorite sim might be Freddy, we haven't seen much of him in the story, but I think there's so much potential with him and I'm super excited to explore it all.

4. What is your favorite world?

Brindleton Bay, I'm from New England so it feels like home. 🤷‍♀️

5. Are you more gameplay or story focused?

I feel like I'm a good mix of that, I play the game and let game events influence the story, but I also do steer based on storyline arcs I want to explore.

6. Do you like to play with pets in your historical saves?

I do! I have pets myself and I think they're just an important thing, also they're a good way to get fun and social needs up in early decades.

7. What's your biggest immersion breaking pet peeve with the game?

Probably the constant need for sims to get on their phones, I really dislike that!

8. What's your favorite in-game historical item? (CAS or BB)

The braided rugs, I love putting those all over my builds, they're perfect for historic builds! The new icebox from Cottage Living is also amazing.

9. What would you like to see as a new pack or asset to the game?

I really want to see a new pack that's like generations, and addresses aging and makes that process more natural. I'd also love to see more for teenagers, they honestly aren't super interesting right now.

10. What pack do you think is invaluable as a historical simmer?

Either Get Together or Cottage Living, the build objects and world from Get Together are great, but the gameplay introduced with Cottage Living was pretty game changing.

11. Do you have a favorite mod to enhance historical gameplay?

It's basic but I love the timeless mod by @pandorasimbox, I forget what the world looks like without it at this point.

12. What's your ideal family size for playing?

Oh maybe like five? I like having enough to do different things, but it does get hard to manage with too many.

13. Do you use poses?

I do! I've recently gotten into making them myself, but I'm still not great at it haha.

14. Do you use any overrides in your game?

I use a couple, a fireplace lighter override, the baby onesie override, and a dining dish override, maybe a couple others but I can't remember.

15. Do you, or did you, play off-the-grid during your game?

I've tried it a couple of times, but I never felt realistic for historic gameplay, since it was so limiting.

16. What lifespan do you play on?

Basically normal, I've had to tweak it a bit lately but it's equivalent to that.

17. What inspired you to start playing a historically?

Several years ago I saw a post on Reddit about the decades challenge and it just opened up this completely new way of playing and the whole simblr world. I was very much in a funk prior to historical simming and I didn't use any cc, so it's really impacted how I play!

I'm going to tag @historiasim @cosisim @sinclairesimblr @thesim-tea @pixelnrd @ivyandink and @stargazingsims (edit: just gonna add a few more tags! @sims-half-crazy @hesitantpixels @peebsplays) feel free to ignore, but if you want to play just copy and paste with your own answers and tag whoever you want so they can play too! Also of course please feel free to take part even if you don't get tagged! If you end up doing it give me a tag so I can see your answers!

I geared it towards historical simming, since that's what I do, but please feel free to partake even if you're not a historical simmer and just adapt for regular gameplay or whatever you do!!

I hope you guys enjoy and have fun!

[fancybehaviour]

Daddy Woes

Summary:

Harry is a good husband; so he sends his wife out on a much needed girls day. James Sirius is a naughty boy; so he sends his father down an anxiety spiral.

Notes:

Written for @harryandginuary BINGO!

Prompt I 23: “Why are there zucchini all over our kitchen?” “Do you not like zucchini?”

The sun had sunk low on the horizon, and in a few minutes would dissapear for the night. About dinner time, thought Ginny, as she made her way home after a long enjoyable day, her heels clicking rhythmically against the cobble. As she walked, she rewinded the highlights of her girls day out with Hermione and Luna in her head. Ginny had had an absolute hoot meeting her friends.She was sure she would continue to reminisce until the next time she could have such a day; after all being the mother of a seven month old meant that such trips were a rarity and she cherished them a lot.

Her legs ached from all the walking around she did while she helped Luna shop for her trip and she was looking forward to taking the nice long bath her husband had promised to draw her. She let out a sigh as she thought of sinking her aching legs in a hot bath, her husband perched at the edge of her bathtub as she gave him an exaggerated recount of the day's events peppered with silly nonsensical jokes, him guffawing at them all even though he had already heard them all. He did that a lot these days, laughing. Especially since the birth of their beautiful boy.

She felt a swell of love rise in her as she thought of her family; her seven month old baby son who could scream the house down and her loving husband who tried his best to give her respite from the said infant. 

"Harry?" she called, pushing the front door to close and locking it. "James darling? I'm back home. Did you boys have fun?". She continued heading towards the kitchen where she could hear noises, taking care not to trip over the many toys that were strewn about their living room. Courtesy of their many relatives and friends, James seemed to have an amount of toys that seemed absolutely ridiculous to Ginny who couldn't remember seeing so many toys even at the Burrow, that had been the residence of seven children. Making the matter even more ridiculous was the fact that James's favourite toys were actually the copper pots and pans that he liked to bang about making noise.

It was only when she reached the kitchen and took in the desecration that it was  that she realised that perhaps today, she might be the only one in the Potter household who might have had any semblance of fun.

Eyes darting from her slightly whimpering son in his high chair, to the trail of food spills surrounding him to the multicoloured stains adorning her husband's apron and his miserable face, she decided to address a whole other issue: “Why are there zucchini all over our kitchen?” 

“Do you not like zucchini?”, asked Harry, in a tone that might have been wry if it weren't for the long suffering expression on his face.

"Absolutely not. Can't believe you thought I did, the honor of questionable taste will forever be Hermione's ."

He gave a laugh that seemed more for her benefit (making Ginny wonder if parenthood had done a number on her humour too) and set about cleaning up. Ginny walked into the kitchen and lifted the whimpering toddler into her arms. She pressed a loud smacking kiss on both of his chubby, chubby cheeks, and rocked him gently, seemingly this was all that was needed for his whimpers seemed to slowly subside. She could feel Harry's eyes on them as he continued to clean up the mess; she remained silent, waiting for him to tell her what was weighing on his mind.

Instead he said, "He missed you," so she turns around to see him, looking at them softly with a look on his face that Ginny could only describe as melancholy. It reminded Ginny of her fifth year, when he looked at her like that, like she was everything he wanted but was unattainable.

It seems she was going to have to demand answers after all. Very well.

"Alright Potter, spill. Whatever happened today that has got you relapsing into your teenage angst?"

He laughed, and this time it was a genuine one; BINGO!

Pulling a chair at their kitchen table and settling himself down he said " James kept crying after you left. A lot." 

"Uh-huh. Nothing he hasn't done before. "

"Yeah. Sure. But today I just realised.."

"Yeah?" She asked, settling down into the chair opposite him, shifting James into her lap who seemed very fascinated with playing with her hair.

Harry watched him for a moment and then continued, "I know James crying is nothing new. Yet for some reason, it just bothered me today, you know."

"Uh-huh."

"It made me feel like a bad parent." he confesses, looking a bit surprised himself, perhaps at that he had spoken it out loud, yet continued with "I have been feeling like it a lot these days."

There.The dam had finally broken. Ginny had long since suspected that Harry was having troubles with parenting. She had caught him brooding about with a tea mug in his hands instead of going back to bed after whatever ungodly hour James Sirius had decided to wake them up. 

She tried many times,to get him to talk, but between her own exhaustion, an infant with a strong pair of lungs and Harry's stubborn refusal to burden Ginny with anymore than she was already dealing with nothing had come out of it. But now that he seemed to want to talk, Ginny did not stop him.

"I just… "he paused, and swallowed, something he did when he was overcome with emotion but wanted to bite it down.

"I want to do this right. I have never wanted so badly to do something right in my whole life. Family..it means everything to me and I want to be a good father but I'm afraid I am failing."

"You are an amazing father, Harry."

He shook his head. 

"Am I?"

"Yes" Ginny agreed furiously.

Harry looked into her eyes at that and she hoped he could read her, that he could see himself from her eyes, how she fell in love with him more and more everyday as she saw more and more of dad Harry.

Looking away he continued, "I sure don't feel like it. Today, while you were away, all Jamie wanted was his Mum. I tried everything, feeding him your milk, his favourite toys - yes the pans and pots, we are lucky we have no neighbours- feeding him all sorts of baby food and yet nothing seemed to work for long before he started wailing again. "

Ginny replied, "I don't want to sound like I'm being condescending, but this is the only way I can seem to put it- he's a toddler Harry. No one knows why toddlers do what they do. If he was fussy with you today and missed me I doubt it's because he has decided you were a bad parent."

"I know that - rationally.But the part of me - the same part of me that gets jealous of blokes trying to chat you up or worries that Ron is going to make a new best friend  - that part of me makes me think I have been a bad father."

"Today when Jamie kept crying for you, and I wasn't able to calm him down or feed him any of the amalgamation of baby foods I made- it just felt like I was in over my head, without a clue about what was doing. I might as well have been one of those dads who say they are 'babysitting' their kids and leave them up to their mothers and that's not- I never want to be that."

"I don't just want to do this right, I want be good at this. Like I am at Quidditch or catching dark wizards. I know I can catch a snitch, I know how to find a criminal on the run from law. Just like that, I want to be good at taking care of my son...but today, everything I did kept failing and that made me think.."

"James dented your confidence, didn't he," she said softly.

"He did," Harry agrees looking over at the boy who was happily sucking on his toes, completely ignorant of the spiral he had sent his father through.

Lacing her fingers with his, she said,"My mum told me, with parenting, there's bad days and good days, but you've got to understand that having bad days is not equivalent to being a bad parent."

"I imagine she had a lot of those, with seven of you," replied Harry wryly.

"Two of them Fred and George", Ginny reminded him.

They sat for a moment in silence both lost in thought.

"Gin-"

 "Harry" ,they both started at the same time, and Harry motioned for her to go on.

"I was just thinking - I had help with this. My mum, Fleur, Angelina, my teammates - I had people to talk this with. To reassure me that I wasn't doing things wrong. But you don't have that."

"No. But I've got you."

"You do," she agrees. "But also, maybe you should talk to people too. Maybe my dad or Bill or George"

He snorts at that. "If anyone had told me ten years ago that I'd be talking parenting with George.." he trails off as Ginny gives a light chuckle.

"Seriously though," she says again,       "Give it a try. I'm always here though. To listen. Or if you wanna get competitive over who is the worse parent".

Grinning, he says "I fed him courgettes Gin. He hated it. I'm winning this game." and she smiles at him, simply happy to see him happy.

"Oh and what is it?", she asks, and at his quizzical raise of eyebrows she elaborates, "that you wanted to say? You wanted to say something but you let me go first."

At that he gives her a wide smile and says, 

"Just that I love you."