#and THEN there's this years' Final Fantasy entries but I'm not buying them until I fix my backlog...

[doberbutts]

So I'm 120 hours into Tears of the Kingdom and I gotta say

Initially I was somewhat disappointed because it felt like I'd burned through 2/3s of the story really really quickly and that was one of my complaints with BotW that the actual plot content was quite minimal and the long playtime was mostly busywork and collectibles nonsense.

Anyway I pumped the breaks and started cleaning up my sidequests and checked my hour count and

"Played for 75 hours or more" OH. I was expecting like. 30. Apparently I'd been having so much fun that it felt like less than half the actual time I'd been playing.

I'm almost done with my collected sidequests so I'll progress the plot again once I've finished clearing them out but I do think that's a mark of a good game design, to make someone have so much fun that they don't realize how long they've been playing because it doesn't feel like work. A lot of these open world games fall into that trap so it's nice to see Nintendo trying to pull away from it because BotW definitely was there.

And for me honestly I consider it money well spent if I get at least an hour of playtime for dollar spent. I only spent like 11 on this because I know Gamestop Secrets but the game was 70 USD at release and I would consider any less than 70 hours of fun to be a ripoff at that point. This is also my reasoning for what DLC I do or don't buy- I am not spending 20 USD for 2-4 hours of additional gameplay.

Anyway it's loads of fun and the gameplay loop is fun and enjoyable without getting too repetitive. I'm definitely not planning to 100% it but I do want to finish what I've started because it's engaging. You will never convince me to find 1000 fucking Koroks or whatever I'm not doing that, but also I've got over half of the shrines down and most of the armor sets at this point.

[kpop---scenarios]

Cravings || One

Pairing: Vampire! Hongjoong x Reader

Warning: None Yet

Word Count: 3.1k

A/N: If you would like to be tagged, let me know!

"Babe, hey babe." Your boyfriend, Chad calls out to you, as you're sitting at the kitchen table, running over over bills again and trying to figure out how the fuck you're going to try to pay everything. You worked damn hard, and barely had anything to show for it. Ever since Chad had moved in a few months ago, without an invitation, you were stressed. Everything had gone up and doubled since he hadn't left, and he also hadn't contributed anything financially towards the household. You paid for rent, utilities, groceries and you even paid when the two of you went out for dinner. Chad worked full time, but where his money was going, you had no fucking idea. He constantly went out with his 'boys' , often coming home obliterated, and just expecting you to have your legs spread open for him when he rolled in, apparently that was your duty as his girlfriend, according to him. As if not contributing and acting like a man child was such a turn on. Not to mention the countless hours he spent on your gaming console, yelling and talking to his friends, leaving you no time to play any games that you like, unless you wanted to wake up a few hours before you had to work to sneak on it. But by the time you got home from work, cleaned up the messes he made throughout the day, made yourself dinner, showered and got into your PJ'S, you were too damn tired to do anything. You knew you had to wake up the next day and do it all over again, so any sleep you got was precious. 

A part of you often wondered why you were in this relationship with him. Maybe you were scared to be alone, maybe you didn't think you could do any better than him, but you stuck with him, because for some reason, you loved the guy. 

"What do you want, Chad?" You sigh, walking into the living room where he's sprawled out on the couch, headset on and his match paused. "I'm trying to figure out bills, you know that thing that keeps us warm, and with light and hot water, that you said you'd help pay and haven't." 

"Yeah, babe, can you go to the corner store and get those Takis, you know the ones I like? The not so spicy ones though babe, cause remember I have acid reflux, and a diet coke." He says, turning back to the screen, laughing at something said through his head phones. 

You could feel the rage building up inside of you, awfully quick, and it was seeping out of you even quicker.

"Are you going to pay for said snacks?" You ask, trying to keep your voice calm. 

"What?" He laughs. "Babe, no, come on. I'm broke. I don't get paid again for two weeks. You know this." 

"You just got paid yesterday." You breathe through gritted teeth. "Where the hell did all your money go?" You ask, your hands balled into fists. 

"You know babe, I had the fantasy football league entry, plus I owed Kyle money for the keg bomber last weekend, and I took the boys out for supper yesterday. Shit adds up." He says, never looking at you, only focusing on the game. 

"And that's my problem, why exactly? Why is it always on me just because you're not financially stable. Grow up, you're 35 for christ sakes!" You yell. You stomp to the kitchen, grabbing your purse and slipping on your shoes before heading back into the living room. 

"Yeah, she's got her shoes and purse." He laughs. "She's definitely going to get my stuff." 

"You know what Chad? I'm definitely not going to get your snacks, get your own fucking snacks, Chaaad. I'm going for a drink, with my own goddamn money." You spit, storming out of the house. 

You're wandering down the street, like you had been for the last thirty five minutes, and finally you found somewhere that looked decent enough. You walk in, and the lights are on very low, the place is almost dark, had it not been for the red lights swinging above tables, or the string of red lights wrapping around the ceiling. Your eyes wander the open floor of seating as a soft beat vibrates through the building. Every person in here who was sitting with someone was leaning closely to that person, seemingly having an intense conversation. The vibes felt dark and eerie, but you welcomed it, you enjoyed it instead of being around Chad's fuck boy mentality. You walk towards the bar, sliding onto one of the empty bar stools and setting your purse on your lap. Your eyes were looking down when you felt a presence standing in front of you. You look up and see quite possibly the most beautiful man you have ever seen. 

"What can I get for you?" He asks, his voice is deep, yet so smooth and calming.

"Double vodka and coke please, and for the love of god, keep them coming." You sigh. After your comment you see the slightest hint of a smile appear on his lips, disappearing even quicker than it came. 

"Bad day?" He asks, beginning to pour your drink. 

"Bad relationship." You groan. He nods his head as he slides your drink towards you. 

"Wanna talk about it?" He asks, leaning on the bar with his chin resting on his hands as he waits for you to speak. You look into his eyes, and they're so warm and mesmerizing, you felt safe and secure, like you could tell him anything. Which is exactly what you did.

"What's your name?" You ask. 

"Hongjoong." He replies. "You?" 

"Y/N." 

"Okay Y/N, what's bothering you?" 

"My boyfriend, we've been together for just over a year, and well.. he's something, and not the good something like people usually say. He moved in with me, without even asking me if I wanted to, and I just kind of accepted it. He doesn't pay anything, no bills, rent, groceries, nothing. It's all on me, even though he does work full time. He forgot my birthday, went out and got absolutely plastered with his 'boys'. On Valentine's Day, he took me out for dinner, and can you guess who was there?" You ask. 

"His boys?" He answered. 

"You sir, are correct. I was ignored the entire evening, and then he and his boys left, I ended up paying the bill, and I had to uber home because he had driven us there. Not to mention the fact that he assumes I'm just there for his pleasure, expecting me to be spread eagle for him whenever he decides to show up." You finish, chugging your drink as you try not to gag on the strong taste of vodka. 

"Why are you with him then? He doesn't sound like he contributes to the relationship at all, so why do you stay?" He asks. 

'Honestly, I'm not entirely sure." You answer as he slides another drink in front of you.

"Now that's a bullshit excuse." He replies. "There's a reason that you clearly don't want to admit." 

"Do you ever smile?" You ask him. 

"No." He answers. "Now, why won't you leave him?" 

"Because it's safe, I guess? I don't know if I can do any better than him." You shrug. 

"Y/N, you have no idea how much better you could do." He says. 

** 

From the moment Hongjoong had a whiff of the scent that was coming into his bar, he knew that it was the scent of the one. He intensely watched the door, waiting for the one it belonged too to walk through the door. As soon as you did, it was almost as though his heart could have started beating once again, the ice cold blood that ran through his body could have turned warm just by the sight of you. He isn't sure what it is about you, but he had always been told that he would know when he found the one, and having been alive for over a century, he had just assumed that it wasn't in the cards for him, and now he knows why. Because all his life he had been waiting for you. The person that he would do anything for, the person that he would be anything for had finally walked into his life, and for once he felt an ounce of hope, until, you had mentioned the filthy human you were in a relationship with, not to mention one that treated you like absolute garage, and you had assumed that no one better would love you, but shit were you ever wrong. He was standing right in front of you, and though you had just met him, he loved you with everything he had and would do anything and everything to protect you. 

**

"I appreciate your advice, Hongjoong, but it's getting late and I have to work tomorrow." You sigh. "How much do I owe you?" You ask, grabbing your card from your wallet. 

"It's on me." He tells you, grabbing your empty glass.

"Well thank you." You smile. "It was nice meeting you." You tell him as you slide off the stool. 

"You too." He says, watching you walk away from him. 

That night when you got home, you couldn't get Hongjoong off your mind, a smile spread across your face as you walked through your front door, and headed into the living room, then it instantly dropped. Chad had not moved from the spot you had previously left him in a few hours ago. "Oh, babe." He says, sucking the cheeto dust from his fingers. "Kyle brought me some snacks, since you threw a huge temper tantrum about my snacks, you can just venmo or cash app him, k?" He says, going back to playing his game. 

You went to bed that night, dreaming of one man, who was not your man. 

**

Over the next few weeks, you had absolutely no desire to be at home. So you headed to the bar that Hongjoong worked at, everyday after work for a drink, or two, or four. In those weeks the two of you spent an ample amount of time getting to know each other, you were sure he knew you better than Chad ever did.  You didn't want to see Chad, you didn't want to be near him and it was bad enough that he constantly texted you throughout the day, sending you lists of things to buy from the grocery store, as if he wasn't able to do it himself. But much to your surprise, he didn't text you when you never came home with his snacks, he didn't check in with you throughout the day, and honestly it no longer bothered you. 

You felt your feelings for Hongjoong deepen with every encounter the two of you had, every time you saw him it was like nothing you had ever felt with Chad, your emotions were amplified around Hongjoong and you weren't sure how much longer you could keep them hidden. 

"One more." You tell Hongjoong, as you set down your fourth glass. 

You can tell he wants to smile, but he's too good at controlling his emotions. "You've had enough, I'm cutting you off." He tells you. 

You pout, trying to give him your best puppy dog eyes, but absolutely nothing got to the man and it was frustrating as fuck. 

"A bad storm is coming, you should probably get home." He tells you, drying off some glasses. 

"I don't want to go home, he's there." You scoff, just thinking about Chad made you want to vomit. "I guess I could just get a motel room, at that place across the street." You say, pointing over to the run down motel, that had flickering lights, and probably a rat and cockroach infestation. 

"You will do no such thing." Hongjoong replies. "You can stay at my place." He says. "Give me a minute." He walks from around the bar, towards the back of the building, and you can't help but to turn in your stool and watch him walk away, damn he looks good. 

Within seconds he's back, grabbing your bag and scooping you up into his arms as he effortlessly carries you out the door. 

"I can walk." You object. 

"I know." He says, his face stone cold. 

"You're very pale." You tell him, as if he didn't know. 

"I know." He replies, unlocking the door to his car. 

"And you're very cold." You say. 

He sighs. "I know." He finishes as he slides you into the passenger seat of his car. 

As soon as he started his car, the rain began pouring as thunder and lightning jolted the sky. 

"You were right, there's a storm." You say, watching out your window. 

"I know." He replies, this time it sounded different. You turned to look at him, hoping you'd catch him smiling but no such luck. 

He continues driving, taking you out into the middle of nowhere, out of city limits, this was it, this was probably when you died. You panicked slightly but you felt it in your entire body that he was not going to murder you, at least not that night. 

Hongjoong pulls up to a gate, punching in a few numbers to open the gate, which just blocked off a winding road. You squinted as you tried to see where you were going but it was far too dark for you to see anything, until you pulled up to a beautiful mid-century mansion that made your mouth drop. It was absolutely stunning and you couldn't believe that he lived there. 

"Seriously? This is where you live?" You say. 

"MY family, but yeah." He answers, parking the car near the entrance. 

He hops out of his seat, walking towards your side to open the door for you, pulling you inside before you get too wet. He dragged you up a large flight of stairs, not letting you admire the inside of his house. He put you inside a large room, with a large bed and a bathroom ensuite. "There's towels if you want to shower, I'll be back in a bit to check on you." He says, avoiding all eye contact before walking out of the room. 

You let out a deep breath as you take off your heels, unbutton your pants and unhook your bra, placing it all next to the bed. You sit down on the bed in your underwear and t-shirt, wondering what to do, until your phone rings. 

Looking at the caller ID, you didn't want to answer it, but you felt it would be unfair for you to do so. 

"Hello?" You answer. 

"Hey babe, it's me.. it's Chad." He says. 

"I know who it is." You sigh. 

"Look.. I know you've been terrible, oh, wait, I mean I've been terrible in our relationship lately but I want to make almonds." He says. "No idiot, it's amends." You hear from the background. 

"Are you kidding me right now? Do you seriously have Brad over to help you?" You yell. 

"Well yeah, he noticed that we were drifting apart and offered to help me get you back." Chad explains. 

You get up off the bed, pacing on the hardwood floors as you tried to process what he just said to you. 

"The fact that you didn't even notice that we were drifting apart is all that I need to hear. You know what, Chad? I'm done. I'm done with this relationship, I'm done with you. Just get out of my apartment, I'm over it." You yell, hanging up the phone. 

You stand there, taking deep breaths as you replay the conversation you just had, he didn't even care enough to notice that you'd been pulling away. That kind of hurt, but then again it was Chad. He was never very perceptive. 

A knock at the door before it suddenly opens, reveals Hongjoong, walking into the room. He tried to play it cool with the fact that you were practically naked in front of it. 

"I heard yelling. You okay?" He asks as lightning strikes, causing the power to flicker. 

"Chad called, he had his friend Brad over to feed him lines because Brad noticed we were drifting apart." You explain. "But I did it. I ended things." You proudly admit. 

"Good for you." He says, staring at you, while you stare back at him. A crack of thunder hits loudly, making you jump, and within seconds Hongjoong's arms are wrapped around you, like he was protecting you. You look at him and he looks at you, and before you can tell yourself not to, your lips are pressed against him, and he is kissing you back. 

The kiss turns passionate and needy in seconds, both of your desires for one another coming out without any control. He moves you both to the bed, laying you down as he hovers over you, his strong arms keeping him above you. You wrap your arms and legs around him, pulling his body closer to yours, feeling him near was all you'd wanted. His ice cold fingers touch your stomach as he begins to lift your shirt up, you can feel his cock slowly becoming harder. You begin lifting his shirt, when his phone rings. He stands up, whispering an apology before answering his phone, barely speaking any words. 

"I'm so sorry, Y/N. I have some things to take care of." He says. 

"Oh, yeah, no problem." You say, sitting on the edge of the bed. 

"Get some sleep." He tells you before walking out of the bedroom door, leaving you alone once again. 

You tried to fight the exhaustion you felt, but it was far too hard. You got snuggled underneath the blankets, watching the door, hoping he would come back but your eyelids got too heavy for you to keep open, and you swiftly drifted off to sleep, finally feeling some peace. 

**

The warm sun was shining into the room, waking you up. You let out a little stretch before opening your eyes, only to see five men standing around you. You sit up, moving to the wall, as these men stare at you. You looked at them all, and they all looked similar to Hongjoong. Pale skin, dark eyes, dark head, blood red lips. 

"Who are you?" One of them asks. 

"Y/N." You whisper. 

Another one speaks up, looking at the other four men. "Who the fuck brought a human home?" 

[swordaperson]

Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark - An Overview

Devolved by 6 Eyes Studio (Twitter)

Published by 1C Entertainment (Website)

The Steam Page

The Backlog Project Master Post

One of the great boons that the indie market has brought to the industry is the revival of genres and sub-genres that were thought otherwise dead or discarded by the mainstream sector. It can be a glorious thing to see creators take ideas and mechanics that have been left by the wayside and mix them with their own creative juices to get a new, interesting whole.

It is also no less glorious to see creators go 'hey, I rather liked that game. Let's do our version of that'. With that, Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark; the long lost 4th entry in the Final Fantasy Tactics series.

Surprises Before The Game Starts

That may sound like sarcasm, but it's actually not. There is no shame in creating an unofficial spiritual successor to a game or series that has otherwise not received much love from its developer. And that is exactly what 6 Eyes Studio has created here.

I don't want this entire overview to be just me comparing the game to FFT, so I'm just going to say: Yes, Fell Seal absolutely styles itself after its spiritual forebear. And it absolutely wears those influences with pride, from its game mechanics to its graphical presentation. But Fell Seal is also more than that and I think one of its best features is shown off before you even properly start the game, its difficulty selection.

The Noble Arbiter

The game is also completely non-judgemental for how you set your difficulty. You can make it has easy or challenging as you want and the entire scope of the game's content will be open to you regardless. And not only that but you can alter the difficulty at anytime during your playthrough (outside of battles) so it is very easy to get the exact experience you want as you explore the world and story of Fell Seal. But what about that story and world? Well...

Many years ago, the Immortals a group of powerful individuals, saved the world from chaos and certian destruction. In order to prevent such catastrophe again, the Immortals established a Council that they would helm and that would govern the world. They also established the order of Arbiters, who would have the authority to arrest and detain criminals and to defend the common folk from the dangerous monsters that roam the land.

The story proper open on Kyrie, the captain of a team of Arbiters. With her (besides the countless generic units you're sure to create) are the jovial and smary Reiner, her adoptive brother, and the cheerful but naive Anadine, Arbiter-in-Training and Kyrie's apprentice.

Kyrie is honest and forthright, and always seeks to dispense justice where she can. These are traits that are unfortunately becoming rarer and rarer amongst Arbiters. So much that, after a grave miscarriage of justice occurs, Kyrie decides that she is duty bound to try and discover the source of the corruption that has seemingly infested her order.

To say much more on the story would be getting perilously close to spoilers. But the story is good and very well told, with plenty of momentum to carry it through all the way and plenty of twists and developments that kept me intrigued and wanting to know more until the closing credits.

The characters themselves are also extremely well done, but my favorite of the cast is probably our protagonist, Kyrie. She's a great example of The Stoic archetype done very well, as she plays off her fellow party members very well, not being above trading some sarcastic remarks with Reiner or showing off her gentler side when teaching Anadine. She's also not so dedicated to JUSTICE as to forget to be human, a trait that serves her well as the story grows more and more thorny.

Tactics of the Game

While the story and characters are standouts through the game, the true shining spot is the actual gameplay. It's divided into roughly two halves: the overworld map where you can go to towns and buy equipment, go to guilds and recruit new 'generic' units into your army (and customize them when a wide bevy of options) and either go on optional patrols or story missions, both of which lead to the other half of the gameplay, battles.

Battles are turn-based affairs that take place on a gridded map. Allies and enemies take turns, each turn comprising of movement on the map and an action, whether that action is swinging a sword, casting a spell or downing a potion. As your characters battle, they gain both EXP, which increases their levels and thus their stats, as well as AP which can be used to unlock new classes and abilities in those classes. If this is starting to sound familiar, well, see the opening paragraph of this post.

Character classes range from the standard knight, or ranger, or wizard, to more interesting classes like the luck of the draw gambler, the trap setting peddler, or the pure offense powerhouse warmage. Each character can be given a class, which determines their abilities in battle as well as what stats increase when they level up, and they can also be given a subclass which allows them to access more abilities in battle. Between classes, subclasses, equipment to give characters, as well passive abilities and automatic counterattacks they can learn, there is a lot of room to customize your party and how you tackle every enemy encounter.

The enemy AI is also surprisingly competent. Not only do they make smart and tactful moves, but they also play by the same rules your characters do, having access to the same assortment of classes, equipment, and items that you do. And while the random nature of class assignment to enemy forces can occasionally lead to a unit build that's a bit at odds with itself, they are all for the most part challenging and dangerous combatants on the battlefield. More than once I was forced to try and retry a mission because the AI managed to get me thoroughly by surprise by how good and well versed it was.

Conclusions

There is a lot to Fell Seal. It's story and characters are well told and it's tactical RPG gameplay hits just right, being both challenging enough to push you to dig into the RPG elements to build your party, while also being flexible enough to really let you get every unit under your command outfitted and geared just to your liking. Combine that with its modular difficulty options and its equally modular New Game+, you have a game that is both packed with content and very replayable.

Therefore, I give Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark a Ramza with Ultima/10

I very much enjoyed my time with Fell Seal as it proved not only to capture that spark from Final Fantasy Tactics but in some ways actually surpass it. The battles are deep and strategic and the ways you can build your characters can lend so many different ways to conquer the trials the game throws at you.

And while it's story is maybe not as good as Ramza's Heretical Adventure, it is still very solid with engaging characters and enough intrigue to keep you interested in wanting to know what happens next.

6 Eye Studio absolutely hit it out of the park and I am very eager to see what the studio has planned next. But until then, if you're looking for an RPG or strategy game (or a merging of both) Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark will absolutely not disappoint and it gets a hearty recommendation from me.