#and one of the few I completed every sidequest in

[fantasmagoriam]

Wolstinien Week 2023: Day 4 - Dragon

 I wonder if we’ll ever get to see a bigger version of Orn Khai, just like we did with Ehll Tou...

[leesmustardgarden]

Gardener/Botanist Reader Headcanons

P x (gn) reader

A/N: Completely self indulgent. I love plants, flowers, mushrooms— any sort of flora mystical or otherwise. I think, considering how much was delegated to the puppets the need for gardeners would be less and less. That aside, people are stubborn when it comes to art and caring for such plants is, in my opinion, nothing short of art.

Warnings: Game spoilers just all around, P and Gemini are a little stupid in this one (I am very fond of them), Lots of bouncing around concepts, tell me if I need to add more

The art of gardening was dying amongst the people of Krat, despite its rich ecosystem and peculiar plants, as it had been delegated instead to the Puppets of the city

When the puppet frenzy set in, almost all of the knowledge gained from Krat’s flora died with its people and with its puppets

Except you had survived, taken in by Antonia in the hotel, and offered her your services as thanks for the safety and security the Hotel provided

You were close with Antonia, saw her almost as a peculiar aunt. In turn she was fond of you and loved to share any of Krat’s secrets during the few times she could muster the strength to visit the gardens or you took a break and stepped inside.

When P first came by and stopped at the inner gardens, you gave him a once over before bluntly telling him not to mess about the bushes. You weren’t otherwise perturbed by his presence.

One of the few things Antonia seemed to hesitate speaking about was Gepetto, and so you had your reservations about a puppet made by him. He seemed… nice, though. Polite. Definitely very sweet.

He had come to check out the puppet dummies Eugenié was talking about, and was intrigued by you.

You kept him coming back to the garden, but most times he’d make an excuse about wanting to try out a new weapon of sorts. Not that he needed to make one— as long as he didn’t out right hurt the plants you didn’t mind.

Honestly avoids touching the plants incase some complication arises and they die or something. Doesn’t want to disappoint you, the silly guy.

Every subsequent visit comes with his awkward (albeit endearing) attempt to get to know you, and what starts off as a tentative friendship blooms into mutual pining.

P is a quiet visitor when he’s in the gardens, content to ask a question and hear you ramble on for however long you want to.

That doesn’t mean he won’t indulge your questions.

He’ll spend just as long recounting his adventures in Krat if you ask for it, sheepish and sweet as he censors the more… unsavoury moments of his journey.

In game, your character gives a bit of exposition to the flora of Krat. You tell him the certain conditions some plants thrive in, talk about the weather conditions in relation to that, etc. but you also talk about the meanings of each one. It’s from you he learns to communicate through flora.

More than that though, when you mention something specific of certain flora, it becomes a little sidequest for him. He’ll take back a little piece of it to show you and you start trading him items every time he does.

Not wanting it to be a one-sided thing, you give him pressed flower charms, amulets, floral accessories, and even some shiny things you’d picked up like quartz.

The greatest reward is maybe like a little gardener costume. To match with you, you know.

And listen, whatever you give P, he treasures. If you gave him a spare gardening uniform he’d wear that the whole way throughout Krat he’m so silly.

There’s a lot of clumsy and endearing gestures from his end.

One time he accidentally misunderstands you and makes a bouquet asking for your hand in marriage and you about have a heart attack.

You explain both the message and meaning of the bouquet to him, and while he isn’t fussed or embarrassed at his mistake he makes note of it

As he progressively becomes more human, his expressions more lively and his voice more open, your relationship develops further.

His own interest in flora flourishes. He starts trying to record the plants he comes across somehow— either by learning how to draw or asking Venigni to make some sort of camera.

He often thinks of you when he finds a peculiar plant, wondering if it would be ok to take it to you. If he had the means to just take record of it instead he’d show that to you

Doesn’t mean he doesn’t get you flowers still though. He’ll pick out flowers while weighing in his mind if it’d disrupt the ecosystem too much, and once he has them he does his best to arrange them in a pretty manner.

Gemini actually helps him here, giving him ideas for things like the wrapping, telling him to do things like use newspapers or something of the like to bundle them up

At some point the two idiots genuinely consider breaking into an arts and crafts shop because Gemini thinks it might be a good idea, and P just doesn’t know enough to argue that it isn’t

“I mean, the shop is closed down right? Nobody would mind if we just stole a ribbon… or two! Nobody’s using them anyways!” — Gemini

When he regains Carlo’s memories, he feels a little embarrassed about that and refuses to ever mention it again. Gemini makes fun of both of them somehow without being ashamed

When even Gemini fails at figuring out how to decorate flowers, P goes to the other Hotel inhabitants

Sophia’s got such a lovely eye for them, and knows how to arrange a bouquet beautifully and loves to help, and Antonia finds the whole thing adorable and loves to tease P lightly but offers genuinely good advice

Polendina is the perfect butler of course, so he knows his bouquets and is happy to help with them, and while he’s seen metal more than he’s seen flowers at the factory, Pulcinella is just as good

God forbid he asks Eugenié or Venigni though. They might be great at what they do but they’ll put together the most foul colour arrangements known to man.

Eugenié finds out about one (1) poisonous plant and decides it’s a great idea to make a whole bouquet of them. Venigni just picks out the flowers he likes the most, or the ones that match with his outfit, without… really knowing how to match it to his outfit.

I don’t even want to bring up Geppetto. Man would probably sit P down and spend hours agonizing over the arrangement of the petals and pollen like the little control freak he is.

But it gives P a nice break from Krat’s troubles, and your joy at the bouquet makes it worth it every single time

By the end of it, the flowers spill into the hotel, spotting the place with life and colour that makes it feel like maybe the world isn’t as dead and gone as it might be

[hollowtones]

what'd you think about jade shadows?

I put it under a read-more because I don't know how to talk about this without talking about spoiler stuff. The tl;dr is "I liked it but I wish there was a little bit more."

One of the things I didn't like isn't even really part of the quest itself, but I saw a mutual bring it up a few days ago & it's been on my mind since: it feels a little odd to have a content warning before your sidequest, and then not give you any way to skip the quest if it's content you don't think you'd be able to handle. Especially given there's a whole event & rewards that only unlock afterwards!!

OK on to the contents of the quest itself. There's a lot of themes of love and connection and empathy in the face of systemic cruelty or indifference, in this game in general, and a lot of how that manifests is stories about characters fighting for self-determination and agency (the Ostrons trying to stay free of the Grineer, the Solaris trying to destroy the systems that keep them in debt & deny them bodily autonomy, Umbra, the Tenno, the Lotus, etc etc).

I think it's interesting to try and explore a tragedy where we aren't able to help someone in time, where the powers that be have brutalized someone and we as individuals aren't able to get there in the nick of time & help them claw their agency back. I think it's an interesting thematic & emotional through-line (with very strong parallels to Ordis... very smart choice to make him the event vendor / narrator, I'm feasting good on all the new dialogue LOL), and I think there have been enough well-written woman characters in the game that don't get written out or killed for the sake of some man's tragedy or growth that I don't immediately roll my eyes about them trying a So Sad The Woman Dies story.

I do also think this would have hit harder if we got more information about Jade herself!! I realize "this woman broke a law and was completely dehumanized / made into a Thing by the empire, stripping her of herself to suit their ends" is Kind Of The Point, and they make enough of a fuss about "wow there's a lot that's redacted about her history, huh!" that I assume this is a plot thread they're leaving hanging for later. But I feel like the big moment would have resonated better if they gave us a little more info to establish this character, other than "she was heterosexual" and "the Orokin were fucked up, don't forget" haha.

(I do find it funny that the storyline about Ballas, who got Divorced So Badly that he Caused Nearly All Of Today's Problems, is all wrapped up, but the story keeps going "no no, don't worry, there's still plenty of opportunity to remind you how fucked the Orokin were." Here's these two people that broke some insipid law about conceiving a child & so their bosses and leaders broke their brains and turned them into bio-weapon lapdogs as punishment. Every time they go "BTW Something Was Deeply Wrong With The Orokin & We Still Feel The Aftershock Of That Today" I clap my hands like a seal.)

Warframe Babies Are Born!!!!! This little tyke is fuckin weird. What's their problem. I think it's weird and cool. I don't really feel much about "this character is a parent now!" type of storylines. (I did pop off when Stalker got to do his shithead honourable samurai defending a child with one arm thing. I'm a sucker for that & they made it coooooool. It feels like they're setting up some kind of "Lone Wolf and Cub" situation. The scythe being juiced up with BabysPower was also funny.) The baby thing is neat to me from the perspective of, like... This is something weird and new that's never happened before in this universe. That's exciting and kind of scary! I'm interested to see where they go with that. (Presumably in a year or two. Very funny to drop this on us when a completely different major story arc is right around the corner with 1999.)

Gianni's delivery was fuckin killer. I'm excited for whatever next arc they do with Stalker if it means they're gonna pay my boy to grunt and yell and scream more. It feels very strange to be acquainted with two people who've done voice acting in "Warframe" now. Me next? ^_^

I like our new Corpus weirdo. I hope she comes back. Fun to get more stuff with the Sisters of Parvos & with Mr. Granum himself. But I liked her a lot. It got a fuckin laugh out of me to have her through all the quest excited about her big promotion that she's going to get & resolving that with "Is that a fuckin baby??? Fuuuuuck! They don't pay me enough to shoot a baby with a gatling gun!" I wish her ending scene was a little more than just stoically standing aside but literally anything else I can think of feels way too cheesy or on-the-nose.

The facial animations on the Operator were really fuckin weird. I just remembered that. I thought that was just a thing on my end but I watched someone else play & the faces looked weird for them too.

Hunhow's a good inclusion. I like him seeing the Stalker stewing in his own misery because he hates the only people that could offer him help & going "aw man, c'mon buster, don't be like me now." I like his signature that he puts in his emails. I like that he's still an emotionally constipated weirdo that hates us but is still endeared to us in some way. (They make nods to The New Strange in his ending email, which makes sense given that this also feels like a quest setting up More Weird Shit In The Future, but I do get a laugh that it also reads as "JADE WAS PREGNANT? OKAY... WELL. DON'T FORGET THAT I HAVE A WOMB TOO, KID." Thanks Grandpa. Love you too Grandpa. Thanks for the sweeties Grandpa.)

The event quest feels like a nice bow on top. I like the parallels between Jade and Ordis. Wanting to afford her the dignity in death he could never be given. Acknowledgement of Ordan Karris is fun!!! (The line about him being conflicted with the thought of Granum un-cephalon'ing him has me rubbing my hands together.) I'm excited that we're getting so much of Parvos Granum lately. What a shit head. It's funny to see him so hyped up about Ordan. "Duuuude! Your history's famous killer!! That's awesome? Do you wanna work for me? C'monnnnn we both hate the legacy of the Orokin. Wouldn't it be awesome if MY rule was the one dehumanizing you and wielding you as a weapon instead?" This is something they've been establishing as early as "Parvos and Ballas in bed with one another doing shady back-room deals over a Warframe bodyguard and specter particle research" but it's fun whenever they sow the seeds of Parvos being so much like the Orokin he hated.

I wrote more than I thought I was going to!!! I like the thematic through-line idea of this quest but I wish they executed on it better. I like the stuff this is presumably establishing for the future. I really like the event quest as... not quite an epilogue, I guess, but as an addition. Other than that I thought it was okay! I wasn't expecting anywhere near the level of Whispers in the Walls, but that quest being such a high bar makes a "pretty okay" quest stick out to me a little, haha.

[who-do-i-know-this-man]

Alright, looks like my dearest blorbo lost, so here's my long anticipated post mortem propaganda post for her and the 15 dollar game bundle that blew me away. For decency's sake, i'm sealing the meat of this post behind a read more, so as to not accidentally colour of the skies everyone who follows this tourney. (Or at least i'm going to try to. Tumblr is weird, and apologies if it does not work.)

One fateful day, I purchased the Bundle For Ukraine from itch.io. While I was initially put off by the seemingly bargain bin quality of most of the games, I ultimately decided it was worth it. I donated, got the games, and perused through them for anything eye catching. I found Celeste, Zeroranger, a couple of cute tools…

And a little game called Crosscode.

I was… intrigued. I'd saw this game once or twice before, and I was curious. Figuring that it couldn't hurt to try it, I downloaded the game and started it up.

Crosscode turned out to be a very good game.

And most of that was because of the main character:

Lea.

In summary, Crosscode is an action rpg game made by Radical Fish and released fully on pc in 2018, with console ports later. It follows the story of Lea, a woman who wakes up inside a futuristic MMO set on a moon in a distant galaxy, where players physically control avatars made out of a high tech substance known as Instant Matter (think hard light holograms, and that's pretty much it.), as she's guided by a programmer in order to recover her lost memories. I can go on and on about just how amazing the game is: how the plot takes a turn from "generic mmo isekai esque" to if someone decided to adapt one of the better black mirror episodes into an action rpg, how polished the combat and puzzles are, and how incredible the music is, but that's not what the main purpose of this tourney is. It's to tell you just how good of a character Lea is.

Lea is the main protagonist/player character, a rather shy woman with a real competitive spirit and a cheeky attitude, once she warms up to someone. A major part of her character is due to a major glitch in her avatar's voice module, she's mute (aside from a couple of hardcoded words her programmer friend could put in). "A silent protagonist?" you may ask me. "Like, a player avatar that is deliberately left without any strong characterisation as to allow nearly anyone to insert themselves into?" Nope! Instead of being a blank slate for projection, Lea expresses an incredible amount of character through simply inflection and facial expression.

This is only a PART of her spritesheet! Only a smidge, and i'm not even getting into the special sprites she has for certain story events.

Throughout the story, Lea has to tackle difficulties with not being able to communicate as well with players and NPCs, along with typical mmo difficulties, all while she unravels the dark mysteries of what's really going on behind the scenes of Crossworlds...

Despite her difficulties, she's always treated with respect by the game's narrative, which can be seen with the many interactions between her and the surrounding cast (all mainly expressed through her many sprites).

A few of my favourite moments of hers include:

Annoying her programmer friend:

Her reaction to her horns:

Her absolute freak out at being held by a five year old:

Her absolutely intending to get into more antics after a certain sidequest:

And if you need any more motivation to play this amazing game, here's the special reactions she gets when you turn on the New Game Plus cheat that gives you insane damage with every hit:

Yes, the devs made specific sprites just for when you play new game plus with a certain cheat.

Please, do yourself a favour and play Crosscode. It's like twenty bucks on steam without a sale. It's what Sword Art Online would be if it didn't completely suck. It's disability culture. It's the world's best single player MMO. It's a Black Mirror's White Christmas episode adapted into a video game.

And most of all... it has Lea.

Wow. Well unfortunately it seems that read more does not work in asks.

[carrotsnake]

Botw/Totk headcanon: Sheikah NPCs beyond Kakariko

after impa being the Last of Her Kind for nearly 20 years, we were kind of spoiled with the era of wilds sheikah. still, kakariko is known for it's older population and botw makes a point to let us know paya isn't used to seeing people her age. this post is about asking 'where are they?' and filling in the gaps. being a peaceful farming village it makes sense the younger gens would want to leave as soon as they can for some adventure.

sheikah typically have hair on the grey-to-white scale (granté proves this isn't a requirement), and unlike the past games they have a greater diversity in eye colour. below is a list of hylian npcs that look too young to have greying hair that i hc are either from kakariko, or have some sheikah ancestry.

from left to right: lecia, letty, mina, her brother mils by proxy, teli, juney, and baumar. i'll go into more detail about each under the cut, comparing them from the 2 games alongside some more headcanons. some of them i haven't found in totk yet, so i'll edit when i do.

pic on the left side is them in botw, totk on the right.

Mina is a treasure hunter looking for loot with her brother by the exchange ruins outside the great plateau. the siblings also show up in the dlc. they're trying to steal a sheikah heirloom back from the yiga hideout, though they don't know it's purpose - they just wanna sell it. in totk she walks on the path between lakeside stable and lurelin. she says that even treasure hunters deserve some fun once in a while, so we can assume she's takin' it easy. Mils, meanwhile...

...joined the zonai survey team, and moans about what tough work it is. he walks through pagos woods to the zonai ruins. he joined in the hopes it would lead him to treasure, but he hasn't had his lucky break yet. most hylians travel from stable to inn and can be assumed not to have a proper home due to the lasting effects of the calamity. this is my bias but i like to think he's talking about kakariko when he mentions home. let him grow some pumpkins and wrangle cuccos. he wishes to live a quiet life.

i find it sweet him and mina are both in faron. maybe they decided to split up and cover more ground? with mina off sunbathing and sipping mimosas in lurelin, mils got the short end of the stick again.

Baumar:

'i hope you die': lazy, cliché, unrealistic. 'i hope your favourite botw npc gets mushroomed and bowlcutted': it's scary, it's possible, it's happening to me right now. such was the fate of our poor resident shield-surfer bro from botw. known for many hit quotes such as 'let's go bamboo! yahoo!', 'shield surfing is like, totally radical, dude', and my favourite:

in botw he rides his horse on the path between serenne and snowfield stable. in totk he's part of the fashion tour-group that run around hateno village. maybe he went to hebra to show his 'wicked' surfing moves to selmie and she said 'kid, if i let you out on the slopes you'll die. sorry'. his world was completely shattered beneath him like a broken shield, so he turned to cravats and puffy short shorts to cope.

his name is similar to the hills of baumer above deya village ruins. maybe he's a descendent of the few survivors. i wonder what his ancestors are thinking now, watching what he does with the gift of life.

Teli walks between fort hateno and hateno village. He sells ancient guardian parts and even mentions he trades them with Robbie. he has a high opinion of himself and tells you he's known across hyrule for his 'roguish good looks.' in totk he's one of the men in the 'Gourmets gone missing' Penn quest that gave himself food-poisoning by riverside stable. after which he scares away some cuccos and makes you wrangle them for a sidequest. just L after L for this dashing rogue.

Juney, now famous for her rupee grinding sand seal minigame, i instantly recognised as the epic divorce woman from rito village. her attitude is just as surly as ever but they gave her a soft side. i like that every minigame location could not be further from hateno. you'll find that school someday queen.

she was a newly wed mad at her husband, jogo, for choosing a cold place for their honeymoon. he begs you to give him flint to cook some baked apples for her to save their already failing marriage.

in totk they're not together, jogo inhabits a cabin in tabantha village ruins with another woman. he didn't give her enough baked apples.

Letty walks along the path between lakeside stable and lurelin. she gives you cooking tips and that's pretty much it. i'm pretty sure i've met her as a yiga disguise more often than i've seen the real her. if anyone has found her in totk, please let me know.

Lecia is a new character in totk. she's with the research team and plays a part in the foothill stable Penn quest. she kind of looks like a grown up Koko. maybe a distant relative? but maybe she's not sheikah. maybe the sight of all those pasty naked man nips traumatised her so bad she got marie-antoinette syndrome from the shock. i haven't seen her since.

thank you if you read to the end. to clarify i'm working on some fic stuff and that entails finding npcs across the overworld to give some more lore. it's a sheikah focused fic so i needed some characters other than the kakariko residents. it's also just fun fleshing out random npcs to make the world feel more lived in. again, i'm missing some details like what mina does before you save lurelin, so i'll edit this post in the future.

[venigni]

I just want to talk about the tragedy of Venigni for a sec. (Spoilers)

So, I regard this sidequest as one of the very few in the game that has a happy-ish ending. Everything about the game is bitter, and the best we get--even in the best ending of the game--is bittersweet. Venigni's questline is no different.

On first sight, the quest has a mostly satisfying conclusion: You return Venigni's childhood toy to him, (potentially) kill Arlecchino, and give him closure on his parents' murders.

But Venigni is still a deeply tragic character.

Based on documents we find throughout the game, we know the Venigni Company itself is taking full responsibility for the Frenzy.

We also know that Venigni basically lost all hope after the Frenzy began, and with how closely he ties himself to his work--literally naming all of his inventions and ventures after himself--he takes this responsibility on his very own shoulders, as well.

A lot of the characters we interact with throughout the game have already had their tragedies inflicted upon them. Usually we're just the bearer of bad news. Venigni is unique in this regard because once you learn of his parents' murders, you are led to believe that was his tragedy. It is not.

Venigni's true tragedy is ongoing, and it is that he is the weight bearer of a series of traumatic and terrible events. The game's events are no exception, because not only does Venigni hold himself accountable for the death of his parents...

...and the puppets who started the puppet frenzy...

...if you decide to tell him the truth about Romeo's message, he also bears the weight of instilling the Grand Covenant within every single puppet; Geppetto's personal fail safe that ensures his complete control over them that gave him the ability to initiate the Frenzy. This is why, yet again, lying in this game serves to ease others' pain, while telling the truth is often seen as the harsher, less-human option. Because the entire reason Venigni came up with the Grand Covenant in the first place was to stop puppets from murdering humans. To stop what happened to him from ever happening again.

And as a result, he unknowingly assisted Geppetto, whom he trusted more than anyone in not only manufacturing all of the puppets, but also...

...in laying all the necessary groundwork for Krat-wide genocide.

Yet another thing he must carry on his shoulders. The pain he must feel is unbearable and still he does his best to put on a smile every single day and try to make others laugh; try to bring joy and hope into the world with his inventions, and be helpful in any way he can to those better suited to fighting on the front lines, like the stalkers and P.

Oh, and on top of that all, he's witnessed almost all of his friends and family die--not just his parents, but Antonia, too, as he particularly mentions she was like family to him growing up--and got betrayed by Geppetto, who played him like a fiddle seemingly their entire friendship.

Venigni, too, is a deeply tragic character, just as every single character is in Lies of P. Even if P helped him in finding hope again, even after the dust settles, he will always have all this contend with. For this very reason that he is such a sad character, he is also a very inspiring one. He persevered. Despite it all, he keeps moving forward.

I know Venigni can come off as a silly character. But he's one of my favorites in all of video games. Never give up! Keep your chin up! Wake up to live another day! Stay smiling! If Venigni does it, you can, too!!!

[thaumana]

Trails of Cold Steel (2 & 3) - Easter Egg and Trivia Rambles

I just reached the first chapter of Cold Steel 3 and took a look around in the new the student dorm, where a certain sculpture in Aurelia's room caught my eye.

It's a good example that I specifically love about the series (especially since Cold Steel) how it sprinkles all kind of trivial dialogues and Easter eggs that hints some subtle background story about the characters in this world.

At first glance, one would think that the principal's private dorm room is filled with ordinary pomp and splendor copy&paste decoration. However, as my memories of Cold steel 2 were still fresh, this striking lion statue looked immediately familiar.

It was Clara's semester project, which she worked on for the majority of the time in Cold Steel 2!

During the epilogue part in the evening, after Thors Military Academy has been liberated, you can find her in the art classroom, where she's completely chill and just has finished her semester project, where you can see it turned out to be a nice-looking lion statue.

The following day after the party, there is a sidequest (the one called "Junk Wanted") where you have to gather all kinds of unwanted junk for the store owner Brandon who intended to sell stuff on the flea market. Clara was one of the donors who gave her finished sculpture away, much to Gaius' and Rean's astonishment.

This means that, whether directly or through detours, Clara's lion sculpture eventually ended up in Aurelia possession at some point, which is why you can now see it in her room a year later.

As a fine lady, Aurelia surely appreciates true art and had a good eye for Clara's craftsmanship!

I wonder how much she paid for it? Did Brandon get a good deal out of it? And will Clara ever find out about this appreciation? Not like she would be the type who cares, lol.

I finished Cold Steel 2 just a couple of weeks ago and jumped right into Cold Steel 3, so I'm not sure if they will refer to it later.

In any case, such quests and those kind of easter eggs are one of many main reasons why I love this series so much, since they add a lot of depth to every single character. Even if the details seem minor at first glance and even if most of them are side characters who are not an essential part of the main plot, their scenes and dialogues strongly contributes to my personal gaming experience and feelings I have for this series and its vivid world.

Edit: Since the game already placed a few of those lions here and there, it's more evident that it's just one of the game assets that have been reused for decoration purposes. So much about the storytelling part, lol. BUT I still like that aha moment since I knew from which scene this asset originated from.

[7grandmel]

Todays rip: 09/02/2024

Joke-Explainer™ 7000 Fusion Collab

Season 8 No Album Release (Read More) Magolor's Shoppe - Team Kirby Clash Deluxe

Ripped by Bruh de la Boi, ChickenSuitGuy, circunflexo, Cosmic199X, Edgi, Ellie53, Jiko Music, Memmy, Pan Visuals by BobTheTacocat

Look alive, everyone - Season 8 of SiIvaGunner has now officially premiered!

It may be a bit rich to say as someone running this blog, and with such deep investment into the channel, but...Season 7 really did bring me back into SiIvaGunner in a way I never quite thought would be possible. I'd sort of just accepted with Season 4, Season 5 and Season 6 that the channel had found a new direction: one that I was still VERY much a fan of, yet not quite the one that had "sold" me on the channel the same way Season 1, Season 2 and Season 3 did. I felt as if I was missing that energy of just...sheer visceral excitement for the future of the channel as a whole from the later-year seasons. There was instead a lot of per-event excitement, tons of little events to enjoy and still fun to be had in speculation of what could happen next, yet that aforementioned optimism still felt like it...missing, for a long time. And funny enough - last I discussed that feeling in particular was with Patched Plains Fusion Collab, a rip that Joke-Explainer™ 7000 Fusion Collab very much seems to be intentionally aiming to evoke.

Part of the reason that Patched Plains Fusion Collab works so well for me, and indeed why Season 2 has long sat as my favorite in the channel's life, is that feeling of raw forward momentum it conveys - the excitement of the entire fanbase thankful that SiIvaGunner hadn't actually ended, distilled into an anthem of so many different styles cheerfully pushing us forward. It was that sort of progress that, back when they were airing, I felt was sort of absent from Seasons 4/5/6 - the SiIvaGunner AI was still running things, Wood Man was still off effectively doing sidequests, and though the rips had obviously gotten better the cynical side of me couldn't help but feel a bit sad at how - for a lack of a better word - "predictable" it all felt. And to be crystal clear: A lot of those feelings have obviously changed for the better over the years. I love all of SiIvaGunner's Seasons nowadays, and I realized eventually that the prior-mentioned cynicism toward the new direction wasn't as fun as just, appreciating and LOVING the stuff to come out from the new seasons for the excellence that they were. And funny enough, I feel like that exact mindset is exactly what made Season 7 work so well for me.

Wheras Season 2 is one I remember for its feeling of constantly moving things forward at a rocket-speed pace, Season 7 excels by doing the complete opposite - the Year of Grand Dad is, at almost every possible turn, defined by its sense of self-celebration, a sort of "Sonic Generations"-type of tribute to the entire channel's life. Be it with RIP² as covered in SING A SONG ABOUT HOPES AND DREAMS, the entire incredible April Fools event I've alluded to within Violet Snow Memories, a newfound sense of chaos clearly inspired by Season 1 as shown in Hidden Headtoilets (skibidi toree 2) - yet with Seasons 4/5/6s newfound touch for genuine quality arrangements as found in rips like Forest of Tears. And, atop it all, the long-awaited continuation of the storyline last progressed back in Season 2 with the Christmas Comeback Crisis' eleventh episode. With such an incredible smörgåsbord of content on offer, it feels damn near impossible for me not to consider Season 7 my all-time new favorite.

And that optimism for the Season, that optimism for the future, is why Joke-Explainer™ 7000 Fusion Collab struck such a chord with me, with its release just a few days ago. With Season 7's ending, the status quo of the channel has been fundamentally altered in a way it hasn't truly been in a long while. For the first time ever, the long-present side character "Joke-Explainer™ 7000" is in full charge of the channel - her most prominent role ever despite having been around since all the way back in Season 1. I'll likely be dedicating another Season 8 post in the future to talking about her in particular with the same level of detail I did back in Vote Responsibly!!, but the context I'll provide for now is that her theme song, Magolor's Shoppe, has been a familiar, comforting tune to many a SiIvaGunner viewer since way back in Season 2. To see Patched Plains Fusion Collab not only get a spiritual successor, but one building upon a character and theme we've long grown attached to, means something so much to me and so many others. The added visuals, of her doing her duty with adorable Kirby-themed artwork as textboxes, are truly the cherry on top of an amazing collab.

From referencing the very beginnings of the channel with an initial arrangement using Pokémon Ruby, to using familiar-yet-infrequent sources such as Thwomp Volcano and Snail's House (jokes "worth explaining", so to speak!), to perhaps even hinting at what jokes are to become even more frequent in Season 8, such as the GOAT of all new jokes I Show Meat - I was long anticipating what the official premiere of Season 8 would be, and Joke-Explainer™ 7000 Fusion Collab was everything I never knew I wanted. My excitement for Season 8 is perhaps higher than for any other Season in the channel's long history, and I can't wait to get to share that excitement with all of you.

[blueskittlesart]

Sorry in advance for how long this ask is. Botw was the first zelda game I played to completion, I played a tiny bit of twilight princess when I was younger purely because you could be a dog, the first dungeon of wind waker, and I have fond memories of both loving and sucking at skyward sword on the wii but ultimately I was just too young and easily distracted by games I was actually good at, and therefore less frustrated by, to have the attention span to beat a zelda game. I think I would have beat skyward sword if not for the motion controls being very frustrating.

Anyway, I played totk and then obsessively read your big zelda doc and basically every post you've ever made about zelda and now I'm insane. Thank you. I didn't have totk spoilers blacklisted at first because I assumed I wouldn't care because I never care about spoilers and then I saw your posts when you were finishing the dragon tears questline and it made me stop just running around doing sidequests and focus down the main quest like crazy.

I'm trying to decide whether to play skyward sword remastered or hrule warriors age of calamity (which I did very much enjoy the demo of) next and was wondering what you'd recommend. I did try to play ocarina of time on 3ds and I WILL go back to it once I stop being so mad at myself about dying in the first dungeon and also maybe give in to using a guide because I don't need to get a Good Grade in Zelda, something that is both normal to want and possible to achieve.

HIII i'm so glad i could be your introduction to zelda lore!! the question of aoc vs sksw really depends on what exactly you're hoping to get out of your gameplay experience imo.

aoc has its. decent points. i will say this. but the 2 most important things to know about it going in are 1. IT IS NOT CANON and none of the events within it actually correspond to anything that happened pre-botw, and 2. its gameplay is NOT zelda gameplay, it's dynasty warriors gameplay. you've already played the demo so you have some understanding of the gameplay, but you should know that that's ALL there is to aoc, and if you don't enjoy hours upon hours of hack-and-slash large-group combat, you're not going to have a ton of fun playing aoc. there is technically a story tying aoc together, and it has its moments, but they're few and far between. mostly it just kind of sucks. if what you're looking for out of this is a well-written story similar to the experience of botw/totk, i would not recommend aoc.

the most important thing i'd tell you about sksw is that even thought this one IS canon, the gameplay is still gonna be noticeably different from botw/totk. sksw is much closer to the classic zelda formula than the games you're most familiar with, and is actually smaller and more linear than games like oot and wind waker. the gameplay is also almost entirely dungeon-based, and those dungeons are gonna be noticeably harder than the botw/totk ones. what sksw DOES really deliver on is story!! i'd say it's comparable to botw with the way in which the story is told and the subject matter it works with. like i said, it depends on what experience you're looking to get! personally i would go with sksw but. we all know how story-focused i am LMAO

[esteemed-excellency]

I planned an entire interactive story set at one of Hiram's parties and I want to write it so bad but I still don't have much free time 😭

It's gonna take a few months to be completed but in the meantime I can tell you this:

There's a chapter for every hour of the day/night. The reader's character arrives at 1 pm and leaves at 12 pm the following day

The townhouse has three storeys + 1 attic + 1 basement (+ one secret room but you didn't hear this from me). People and events in every room change during every hour

The Polycule will give you sidequests

You can pet Sugarplum

@that-giorgione will make pasta at midnight (helping him is a sidequest)

You can pet Sugarplum

You can steal a lot of stuff

You can get some Very Cool historically accurate books from Hiram's libraries

You can rummage through Hiram's desk and find incriminating evidence

There's A Lot of mirrors

You will hear a lot of interesting marine life facts from @that-fella-snipsnop

You can get Hiram arrested

[blackjackkent]

Alllllll righty, it's been a WHOLE WEEK since I was able to do any writing about Rakha's ongoing Terrible Time In The Shadow-Cursed Lands, and I have been missing my poor fucked-up girl.

How're you holding up, Rakha?

Yeah, that sounds about right.

Quick recap (for my own benefit as much as anyone else's) - Rakha has reached Moonrise and it's been kind of a clusterfuck. We did save Minthara (and surprisingly enough, Rakha actually seems to like her, much to Lae'zel's chagrin), but everything else has been sort of awful.

Wulbren, who Rakha rescued on Barcus's behalf, has turned out to be a complete toolbag,

The beast wants Rakha to destroy Isobel, and being denied that, rose up in Rakha's brain and murdered a cat in cold blood for no reason,

and most importantly:

Everyone in Moonrise Towers seems to know her, including Ketheric himself, who mocked her as a "mad dog."

Disciple Z'rell seems even less pleased to see her, and there's a strange tension to their interactions that Rakha doesn't understand.

The only one who seems pleased at the reunion is the terrifying illithid meat in the walls.

On the bright side, she can get Wyll smooches now. ^_^

We did a quick check-in at Last Light, but Rakha wants to get on the road again as soon as possible. She can almost smell Isobel's presence, and she knows that if they stay too long, it's likely she will lose control again. Her current plan is to follow the orders from Z'rell to go find Balthazar, and in so doing, find the Nightsong relic that is providing Ketheric's immortality.

But she doesn't know where that is, so that means an aimless wander through the darkness of the Shadow-Cursed Lands; she hates walking around in that corrupted magic, but it's still better than salivating over the murder of Isobel, the one person keeping it at bay.

(Translation: I want her to catch the other sidequests in this area, so we're not going straight to the Sharran mausoleum.)

One of the nice things about the party system in BG3 is that not only can I say that Rakha sent Wyll up to make a report to Isobel in her place, rather than face her directly, but I can actually do it:

"You did well to help those people escape Ketheric. Every soul saved is a blessing, and you're raining them upon us."

"I saw Ketheric at Moonrise Towers. He was presiding over a trial."

"Almost laughable, that he sees himself fit to judge anyone. Did you learn anything about how we might defeat him?"

"I think I know the source of his invulnerability - a relic called the Nightsong."

"That's incredible news. I won't ask for specifics as to how you uncovered that... but I'm grateful you've done whatever it takes. I can't believe there's an end in sight... thank you."

In Rakha's particular worldstate, this definitely reads like someone has informed Isobel of Rakha's tendency towards wanton violence and she is making a point of looking the other way. XD

Also "end in sight" feels like it's putting it a bit strongly at this stage of the game - but Wyll doesn't object. Far be it from him to take away anyone's hope in this place.

He also has the chance to ask her a few questions about herself, her history, and the shadow curse, and she basically evades and lies aggressively through her teeth through the whole conversation. Obviously, I know this but Wyll doesn't - but on some level, I think he probably picks up on some of the clues that she's not being entirely truthful. After all, he has a long history himself of evading questions about exactly what happened with Mizora and his pact.

"Moon and shadow, light and dark," Isobel says, when he asks her about the curse and about Shar and Selune's conflict. "Divine sisters ever at war. And this place has become one more battlefield. Sometimes life forces us to choose sides. Luckily... sometimes the choice is obvious."

Yes. Wyll can understand that.

[catiuapavel]

I completed every main mission and sidequests in Cornia (excluding the forbidden level 40 area)

This game is so fun and refreshing to play. When I played Ogre Battle March of the Black Queen a few years back, I dreamt of a game in the same vein that could grant you more control over how battles play out and Unicorn Overlord is a far more layered iteration of the timid concept I imagined. Going through all these menus and setting all these conditions, testing them out, doing it all over again to optimize them... This is so thrilling. I love micromanagement.

The more gameplay devices are introduced (like watchtowers, catapults, balistaes, rams, units to rescue in the middle of nowhere), the more fun it gets. Thanks to these elements coming into play one at a time, the stages never feel dull or the same.

I'll say Cornia on expert mode was hardly that difficult. It provided fun challenges so I don't mind. I'm just surprised that the highest level of difficulty feels like a normal mode. That being said I'm not a good judge of strategy games difficulty because I'm pretty much like that:

The presentation of the game is sooo beautiful. The hud, style and environments all fit so perfectly together. So few games seem to understand the value of these things nowadays and it's refreshing playing such a well-crafted one. I just wish there were more parity in character design: men with sillier outfits and animations and (a handful more) women with... let's say more pragmatic ones.

The soundtrack has been alright so far but I'll say: BOY am I glad to get out of Cornia. I think the area could have used 1 or 2 more songs for diversity (even if they kept a similar style or leitmotiv). Drakenhold is delivering in terms of music already!

Unfortunately the only tar so far is that the story is just so very... mid. At best, It's simple and serviceable even though you feel like you've seen it a hundred times before. At worst it's... mind control to handwave morality and responsibility away. However, I don't want to judge it too hastily and I hope to be surprised eventually.

Mostly, I'm genuinely, desperately, hopeful that recruiting everyone merrily will have dire consequences at one point or another. As much as I enjoy collecting every little guy on the continent, defeating a boss set on murdering you and/or terrorizing the countryside and having Alain choose between executing them or recruiting(/releasing) them after hearing their tragically lukewarm backstory (and everything ends well and fine) is becoming jarring. I want to feel regret, I want to feel pain. I want my decisions to come back to haunt me. I want to be crushed under the weight of my actions.

(DON'T tell me whether that's the case or not)

But so far the characters are just bad until they're good and once they join your ranks, they are unconditionally loyal. It lacks conflict and makes everyone far less interesting as a result.

(side note: this one isn't recruitable (thankfully) but Gaston in "Province of Famine" was one of the worst parts so far. You've got a tyrant pillaging his subjects' reserves, depriving them of food while bragging he's enjoying several lavish meals in a row with the most episodic cartoon villain presentation, but when you defeat him suddenly he wasn't actually that bad and was just keeping a reserve in case of famine. Surely... There was a way to write this with a bit more nuance and with less contradictions. The worst part? I called that one as soon as the stage began so it wasn't even shockingly bad, just disappointingly so.)

Still, the characters themselves feel engaging enough. The writing is decent when it comes to interpersonal relationships. I've set one foot in Drakenhold and I was delighted to see Travis and Aubin come into the picture once again. It makes me hopeful the greater cast will develop outside of rapport conversations. And if the narrative truly doesn't deliver later on... I will have these lively and diverse characters to fall back on at least.

[cerastes]

Drimo I need some advice, I picked up Trails From Zero and reached a point in the prologue/tutorial where I gotta fight a big red dude for a quest to break up a gang war but it’s a duel of one party member against a boss for some reason. I keep trying it and get completely creamed each time, and as far as I can tell there isn’t an option not to fight him either, but I’m still in the freaking tutorial with basically nothing to work with while the dude is taking scratch damage and eating a third of the party member’s HP with every attack. What am I supposed to do here? I really want to give this game a chance because I love what it’s doing so far, but this bit is souring me to it real fast.

Give me some info like character and quest names, it's been a few years and there's like hundreds of sidequests per game, I think I know who you mean but just to be sure.

[seqka711]

How competent is each Link based on your competency in the game?

So I saw a post from @telemna-hyelle, who credited this idea to @bllaaaaarrgh, who's original post I couldn't find. But this idea was too good to not do. "How competent is each Link based on your competency in the game?"

Hyrule: The Goddesses themselves had to interfere, not necessarily to get him through fights, but to get him enough rupees to afford potions, arrows, items, etc. Through divine time travel, he always picked the right rupee at the gambling game. He doesn't understand why no one else just does that to get rich quick. In his second adventure, he realized he could also time travel to redo fights and did so frequently. Very incompetent, but with divine intervention, anything is possible.

Legend: While competent in the land of Hyrule, in other countries Legend is a mess. Holodrum and Labrynna have more difficult enemies, more difficult dungeons and even Koholint, while not as bad as Holodrum and Labrynna, still required divine knowledge. Luckily Legend is a beast on home turf, who didn't struggle (that) much in either of his Hyrule quests. His greatest obstacle was Hytopia, which unfortunately required a power not even the great Legend wielded. Friendship. Rather than save the day alone, he vowed to someday return with friends.

Time: Time was very competent during both quests, doing everything that could be done, and even saved Termina very quickly thanks to a few all nighters. He'd be down to up the challenge at some point in the future.

Wind: This kid is cocky and he has every right to be. Not only did he complete his second and third adventures without a single brush with death, he also once had a crazy dream about his first adventure where all his items were scrambled and still beat Ganon handily. He got all 8 pieces of the Triforce before finding a single other item. Peak efficiency has been achieved. He wants the other Links to get on his level.

Four: His first adventure was mostly good, except for the few times he got completely and utterly lost with no idea where to go at all. He never did all the kin stone fusing quests and he really doesn't care (except he kinda really does care). His second adventure was just Green and Red, but that's okay, because they saved Zelda and who really needs Blue and Vio anyway? In his third adventure, Four really did split into four this time, but he was also fake and not real and a pirate because no way four separate people all own Link cables.

Twilight: Twilight is very incompetent at anything after beating Snowhead. The City in the Sky? Who is she? Ganondorf was eventually beaten, but don't ask him to describe anything between Yeta and Hyrule Castle, because as far as Twi is concerned, it may as well have been a fever dream. But wanna know what wasn't a fever dream? All those ridiculously high crossbow scores. He knows where his worth is at.

Sky: Sky has never done anything halfway in his life, and nothing in his life is incomplete or part finished. Never had a problem with his sword, but also never quite figured out how to use a shield. He also has pumpkin related sidequest trauma multiple times over.

Warriors: Warriors doesn't just love his job, he excels at it. He's gotten top marks and gold medals for every mission in all 10 worlds. And because he learned his lesson in his first quest, he also did it all without the Master Sword, because screw the Master Sword, it's too broken. He also owes his life and career to Young Link, Linkle and Marin, but he was no slouch himself.

Wild: Wild thought he was good and amazing and the Goddesses' gift to Hyrule, but then he had a terrible dream where all the chests and goals were scrambled and he got his ass handed to him and couldn't save Zelda or Hyrule in time for the dream to end, and his confidence has been forever shaken. Even in his past life 100 years ago, he ended up not completing everything. Wild is competent enough, but compared to the others, feels very incompetent.

[barilleon]

My Emergent Narrative at Sandrock

Lately I've been playing My Time at Sandrock, a life sim where you are a builder who moves into a desert town and uses your construction skills to better the lives of its inhabitants. You mine ore, chop wood, build things, make friends, fall in love. It also has a lot of narrative content. Maybe even more than a Rune Factory game. And with so many sidequests, things are bound to clash into each other.

The main quest concerns a bandit named Logan, whose face is plastered on wanted posters all over town from the day you arrive. Once a beloved member of the Sandrock community, Logan now terrorizes the town in a series of very weird and flashy moves: hijacking a train, kidnapping the church minister, and blowing up the water tower. As the main character, it's your job to help the sheriff stop him. On the (in-game) one year anniversary of my arrival in Sandrock, I tried that. And something amazing happened.

Warning: Major Sandrock spoilers under the cut!

To set the scene: I'm dating the barkeep, Owen. He's a sweet guy, not too bad in a fight, and his cooking is unbeatable. He's also the town storyteller, and every Saturday night folks in Sandrock gather at the Blue Moon Saloon to hear him tell one. A few nights ago, he asked me if I would participate. Instead of storytime, he wanted to do a play he wrote. It was a weird play, but I'm a supportive boyfriend so I learned my lines and set the date for the performance: my one-year anniversary of being in Sandrock.

That morning, I pursued the main quest, chasing a lead on Logan across the desert. I fell off a cliff, a ledge so steep that the companions who were with me didn't believe I could survive. They returned to town to spread the news: Leon the Builder was dead.

But I wasn't. I miraculously survived, and had fallen into the bandits' hideout. It's here I learn, from Logan himself, that things are not as they seem: he and his crew are working to expose an international spy and saboteur in Sandrock. They need me and my expert building abilities for their next plot. And everyone in Sandrock is a suspect.

I agreed to help, and they warned me: trust no one, tell no one.

With my worldview completely warped, I return to town. Everyone celebrates because I'm not dead. But with the knowledge that I now have, it's difficult for me to stay optimistic. Which one of these characters is the spy? It could be any one of them.

I check my quest log and realize that the day isn't over. At 6pm tonight, I have to perform in my boyfriend's play. I head over to the Saloon to prepare for the part. We run lines a few times, but I have to admit: my heart's not in it. Will the spy be in the audience? Or worse: could he be on stage with me?

We come out on stage, and we perform pretty well! Things are going great. The audience loves it. But then Owen starts changing the dialogue, speaking to me not as my character but as me. It's then that Owen asks me to marry him.

Reader, in any other universe I would have said yes then and there. That Owen (or the game logic) managed to time this event on the anniversary of my arrival in Sandrock is meaningful enough-just like a real proposal! But the fact that this happened on the same day I was told I couldn't trust anyone--it was too much for my builder to bear.

I chose the "run away" option, which promptly ended the cutscene. I haven't spoken to Owen since, and I don't think I will until this business is done. I'm pretty convinced that Owen isn't the spy, but there's too much going on for me right now. I can't think about marriage. And I can't even tell Owen about it, because the bandits swore me to secrecy. And if he knew the truth - that I was collaborating with public enemy number one - would he forgive me? I hate keeping secrets from a partner.

I bet that normally that event is really sweet, but Sandrock really taught me a lesson in how important timing is. Sure, the main story beats will always be the same, but the order in which they're experienced can seriously change the context of the story.

I'm sorry, Owen. I know you deserve answers. But right now I've got none to give. But come hell or heartbreak, I'm gonna save Sandrock.

[crystalelemental]

Rune Factory 5 is going to be the death of me.

I'm at the Forest of No Return at this point, and things are simultaneously going really smoothly and really badly.  On the one hand, equipment is unreasonably good.  I made a Wind Cloak, which is astonishingly low level for the stats it provides, and now we're all basically immune to damage.  Even bosses are dealing maybe a couple hundred.  I managed to forge excellent twin swords as well, which covers Alice and Hina perfectly, and a Spiked Hammer that makes Beatrice somehow even stronger than I am without an elemental affinity.  I haven't been able to upgrade Elsja's punching gloves, but we'll get to that.

Town friendship is going well, if a bit slow.  Everyone except for Ludmila is level 5 friendship, and Heinz recently had salted rainbow trout as part of his rotating stock, so I bought several to give Ludmila over the next few days to speed that process up.  My wife pushed past my progress, so I know full well another character drops in the town if I do the forest and subsequent section, ruining this progress.  I'm on hold until then.

Which means it's time for sidequests!  Part of it is building up crop levels, which is going okay.  Spinach is level 9 and Kumo has a quest for level 10, so provided my sickle can get to 10, we're in business.  I am less than optimistic, however.  The bigger issue is the other side quests, which are steadily killing me to death.

One is making a gigantic vegetable.  I don't know if Spinach isn't able to become giant, or if I'm doing something wrong, but the Gigantizer isn't working.  Priscilla tells you "when they mature," which I thought meant before fully grown, but that wasn't it.  I tried again with fully grown spinach, but that didn't work either.  So I'm kinda stumped on how to pull this off.  I guess I could try with the corn?  I legitimately don't know what to do with it.

Then there's the tree seeds.  Ryker mentioned wanting oranges, and after like three weeks of having no idea how to find oranges, I cracked and looked it up.  Turns out, there are two completely hidden locations where you can randomly find seeds for apples, oranges, grapes, and general lumber with twinkle trees.  I have found zero orange seeds.  It's been over a week.  I have so many twinkle trees and grapes, but zero oranges.  I need to find these soon, none of the trees do well in winter and Ryker wants goddamned 20 oranges, I don't think I have that kind of time.

Around all this, there's supposed to be a looming typhoon.  My wife told me hers hit in summer, and I'm bracing for that one.  I tend to skip a lot of introductory dialogue since it's repetitive, but I think I skipped Hina mentioning her mom sensing the typhoon coming in, because everyone else was also talking about a big storm...but the next day was a festival so it was super sunny and nice, and now nothing is happening, and I'm wondering if the holiday negated the typhoon and I spent over 200k on Wettable Powder for nothing.

But the grand supreme champion of frustration...is Palmo.  Upgrading shops is wildly expensive.  Not by actual cost, mind you.  In sheer money dollars, I have so much raw cash I could buy every upgrade twice over.  Not even with Seed points, although those are rarer.  With the newest badges, I can farm Seed points whenever I wish, and it's honestly not too much trouble.  No, I'm talking about lumber and stone costs.  The first upgrades were sane.  The second were pricey, but could be achieved.  3000 lumber is downright ludicrous.  Those Twinkle Trees better be packing lumber on the order of 500+ if this is to be in any way achievable.  I've heard Heinz' rotating stock can carry it, but at 500 gold per piece, we're looking at 1.5 million gold per upgrade, for something to the order of 9 million for all upgrades.  This is assuming you can even hold that much on your person in a day, given his rotating stock only opens around 3, and he closes shop at 6.  Just by volume that feels like a multi-day project.  It's outlandish.

I know a lot of this probably isn't required, and I'm reaching the point I very well may consider it optional and move on with my life.  The postgame is also in question.  I don't have any true opposition, but at present there are just too many factors hindering my general progress that I can't even think about that right now.  Between lack of oranges, lack of any substantial progress toward renovating the town, and inability to move forward on story until we get Ludmila to friendship rank 5, I'm kinda souring on the game a bit.