#anyway the dlc fucking slaps

[lostbrazilian]

I only got to play the dlc for a few hours before going on a trip (12 days with no computer RIP) but damn, fromsoft hit the nail on this one. I love how darker the tone is now, with the horror of Messmer's genocide front and center, plus the body horror of the Jars and the new Fly People. Bosses are great too, the Dancing Lion is straight up one of my fav Soulsborne fights now.

That being said I do find it amusing how it's barely been 2 days since launch and there's already ppl here complaining about lore and "character assassination." Like, my siblings in Marika, if you finished the dlc this quickly then you probably missed a lot of the story lmao

[wildflowercryptid]

drayton's back on the shit list.

[luisleyyaoi]

Infinite is such an interesting character it’s a shame the writing in Forces sucks ass and half the interesting stuff is in a separate comic instead of the game for some fucking reason and the other half is in some dlc I didn’t know existed until yesterday

[salazzzzle]

Fucking Jesus Christ. Holy fucking hell. Celeste is such a good fucking game but it makes me SO fucking angry. God

[praise-suns-and-chill]

On another post a few comments, mine included, had a little chat about what Mashita's thought proccess could have been, during the Confession in the second game.

So I decided to write a little One Shot about it!

This includes Spoilers for Case 7 in Death Mark 2, as well as the DLC of Death Mark 1.

THIS? 

"I'm not gonna be surprised by anything that comes out of his damn mouth." 

Well. 

Fuck. 

He was really eating those words now, huh. 

He could only stare with eyes ripped open as Yashiki explained, his words as trembling as his hands, his eyes avoiding everyone else. 

In fear of judgement? 

Probably. 

Shame? 

Definitely. 

This was wrong. 

This was wrong on every level. 

He was never one to stick to rules but this? 

MURDER??? 

Mashita couldn't even speak at first as Yashiki just continued explaining. No, there had to be something else, every second now he would mention that they did find that girl again alive, there had to be more, there had to be. 

This was wrong. 

But there wasn't. 

There wasn't and he looked as guilty as ever. Having just confessed. 

To murder. 

"You must be kidding me." 

Words uttered in pure disbelief. 

This wasn’t happening. 

There is no way. 

"To think you'd kill someone..." 

Actually, he didn't want to think about that. Not a single bit.  

Yes, everyone had the potential to murder, he knew that better than most, but this was Yashiki. Compassionate to a stupid, suicidal degree Yashiki. 

"Don't blame him for that! He was controlled by the Departed!" 

Oh great, the brat was talking. Mashita glared at her out of reflex alone. 

Why the fuck was she so defensive anyways? Nobody would react like that after their best friend just got killed, what kind of weirdo was this girl??

"Insanity or not, murder is still murder", he snapped back, before his eyes stared back at Yashiki. 

He felt more like he was the one going insane, his mind completely elsewhere as old training just kicked in. 

It was the only thing that made sense right now. 

"Article 199, a person who kills another person is punished by the death penalty or life imprisonment or for a definite term of no less than five years." 

He felt sick of even thinking of this as an option. He rattled down those words out of pure habit, as he had many times before, in the Academy back in the day and his job later. 

"I'd slap the cuffs on you myself if I had them with me." 

He should, but he wouldn't. Why was he saying that, he wouldn't, because Yashiki would never kill anyone. 

God fucking damnit. 

His heart was racing as fast as his mind, his entire body tense, ready to spring at the threat and yet violently rejecting the very notion that there was a threat to begin with. 

Wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong, wrong, fuck! 

But Yashiki? 

Everyone else, maybe. 

He'd believe Shou, not planned but in affect, too impulsive. Ai too, stronger than she looked, against a stalking fan maybe. Daimon? Doctor, there was always a chance of malpractice. Yasuoka? That old hag definitely had a skeleton in her closet somewhere, if only because she dug it up once because the bones had some weird powers. 

The man who watched the only friends he had get attacked? 

The man who watched his friends get controlled to attack him? 

The man who watched half his friends get cursed into a coma and nearly die. 

The man who was nearly killed himself by the same goddamn spirit.  

The same man who after ALL THAT, still trembling in shock and trauma, barely aware of his own body, STILL refused to think about himself, just for fucking ONCE. 

The same man who looked at a dead spider, the remains of that goddamn spirit and still decided to show compassion to it before ANYTHING else-! 

...

Oh. 

Of course. 

And his body instantly relaxed, as did his mind.  

It didn't make any sense, possession or not. He would never do it. So he didn't. 

"...Let me just say one thing." 

It wasn't like him to get distracted. He had nearly forgotten what case they were even working on. 

"The law only applies if the victim is human." 

[shima-draws]

Why?

Why are the pokemon games becoming more and more of a clusterf*** as we proceed through gens?

I wouldn't go so far as to say THAT;; The last couple gens certainly have an abundant amount of flaws but there's a lot of replay value in them too. To this day I'm still mystified as to why people hated SwSh so much, I know some of the graphics were lackluster but? Honestly imo the actual towns and routes in SwSh are better designed than the ones in SV, especially when you're looking at Hammerlocke and Ballonlea. And the Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra DLCs were a blast to play through if you decided to pay for them. SwSh's story was super lackluster but so far SV's storylines have knocked me flat on my ass with how good they are.

Pokemon has always been hit or miss, it really just depends on what aspect of the game you like the most that will determine how "good" it is in somebody's eyes. As for me, I love games that are more story driven, so yes I definitely prefer SV and SM over SwSh and XY, whose plots don't really fit my standards of being a well-written story arc. Some people just like games that are more fun, so they might prefer XY and Swsh for their mechanics over other games.

I definitely do think that SV was rushed, at least on the graphics front; they could have easily let it bake for another year and released a gorgeously rendered game, but we can't win at everything lol. And yeah, there's a good handful of designs in Gen 9 that could use some improvement, but there's a lot of designs that absolutely slap too.

The main issue now is that Nintendo and Gamefreak KNOW that Pokemon is the most popular franchise in the world. They're going to make money off of their games no matter how, or when or in what condition they release their games in. So obviously they're going to rush development at the cost of quality, and at the cost of their own employees, so that they can make bank every year with a game release. At least, that's what I think is the issue? When SV's release date was announced I know a lot of people said holy shit, THAT soon? It was definitely rushed. That's why there's so many lagging and rendering issues lol

But, my philosophy has always been this: You can thoroughly enjoy a piece of media and still criticize it for its flaws. SV may be buggy and glitchy as fuck but I've had an absolute blast playing through it. I already know I'll be starting a new file and replaying it sometime down the road. The problem now is letting Nintendo know that yes, we love Pokemon, we're going to play Pokemon no matter what, but at the very least we should get a say on how much work should be put into these games. (And, in SV's case, it was clearly not enough.)

Anyway sorry for the super long ramble lmao I clearly have some Thoughts about this. But idk. I'd rather be spending my energy enjoying myself and having a good time than being super negative and trashing on the game at any given chance. And yes I do have some criticisms but that's just how these things go

[fnaffersblog]

Alright take two.

Spoilers for the sun and moon show episode

the sun and moon episode RUIN Sun TRAPPED Moon in VRCHAT LOLOLOLOL See link above

It's late and EVERYTHING is funny

(Trigger Warning Below Cut for: discussions of violence [Bloodmoon, Jigsaw], discussions of mental health [Sun], swearing, [because I'm incorrigible])

I'll be honest I do NOT like the name Jigsaw. I just simply do not like it. It's just not clicking with me for some reason. It sounds like the name is still up in the air in the show as well, but I hope I settled with it real quick if it does become the canon name for this dude.

I couldn't tell you WHY. It's just not sitting with me yet, which is bothering me because it's such a silly reason to dislike the appearance of a character. Especially since I REALLY like this guy.

yeah ya'll are right. Moon's concern for Sun's wellbeing is endearing

More of a gripe with Security Breach, but they missed an opportunity to call the game Glampire. I mean, come on. It's right there!

I try very hard not to be someone who nips about stuff on the show but the 'watch to the end to see...' is... really annoying. I've had to click off a couple videos because I was just... I dunno, they struck me the wrong way? Like, I'm already watching the episode? I want to watch the episode? I don't want to watch the episode when that thing pops up, makes me feel like I'm being told my attention span is not long enough or something. It feels kinda... insulting? But it feels dumb to call it that. It's just something I'm perturbed by. :/ I feel like I saw someone else mention this somewhere, maybe here or in the comments of a vid. So I hope it's not just a me thing.

I wonder why they started doing that? Maybe people were only watching so far into the videos? I'd be genuinely interested in seeing the analytics of the channel. I know that's not an option lol, but I just like data and looking at data. Correlating it to decisions and stuff. ANYWAY

I've also never understood peoples, like, people point out the cameras a lot as being shorter than normal or taller than normal or shakier and ascribing that to being a character when it just always felt like camera work to me. Cause, you know, it's VR CHAT, they gotta work with what they got.

But I did kind of understand this episode, because all I could imagine as Moon was walking through the Arcade back area was Ruin/Jigsaw/'whatever their name is when it's cemented in the future' doing that goofy, like, long legged cartoon walk where someone's sneakin' around in like tom and jerry or loony toons.

or Sims 4 because this is the closest gif I could find lol

THEY'RE SO GODDAMN MENACING RRRRRRRRRGH

They make me genuinely nervous when they TALK it's so GOOD

Like, my heart clenches up you know what I mean?

"THERE'S NOTHING TO SEPERATE" SLAPPIG MY LEGS SLAPPING MY LEGS YESSSSSSSSSS

BOP IT TWIST IT BREAK IT BEND IT KILL YOUR FAMILY FUCK AROUND FIND OUT SPIN IT

LOL THEY DID IT RIGHT AFTER I DID IM WHEEZING

This guy is so. They're SO interesting to me. They're

They remind me of Bloodmoon. But only a little bit. In, like, a similar but opposite way.

so Bloodmoon, like I've said before, was built for killing. It was weaved into their code from the get-go to be violent. But they also enjoyed it, killing people was something they relished in.

This guy also seems to enjoy killing people, but unlike Bloodmoon, if they are to be believed, they are a fusion between Sun and Moon. As far as we know Sun and Moon were not programmed with any sort of penchant for violence. There was Killcode, but Killcode was a virus before he gained sentience, and if New Moon is anything to base off of, those violence urges were not hard coded into him. And if the AI is to be believed the only two folks in this particular robot are Sun and Moon.

Which seems to me like wherever this want for torture came from, they developed it on their own. Whether that be because of the events of the Ruin DLC or what, I don't know but I'm super excited to see all that unfold.

They also seem to enjoy it differently. Bloodmoon killed his victims, violently. They seemed to enjoy the viscera and gore of murdering people more than the lead up. After all they liked blood.

This guy is much more patient, all the way down to how they speak. They enjoy causing PAIN. It's a game to them, because it's fun. Their enjoyment comes from the torment before the kill. It's why he describes what he's going to do to Moon, I don't even think they mention killing at all, THAT'S what he enjoys.

"Moon suggest a different game! Moon suggest a different game!" Lol

"Rock a bye baby *doge w/dolphin sounds*" Had me crying.

As Jigsaw was following Moon back out of the arcade, they'd pass into a more shaded area and his eyes glowed which was Really cool and also Really unsettling.

"We can make them count as limbs" fuck me he's so unsettling

STOP DOING THE POOR SINNERS HAND BIT STOP IT STOP IT

PUT IT BACK ON THE SHELF

WE'RE PUTTING IT THE CABINET

" I don't owe you anything."

"Yes you do! You owe me a game!" Pouty face. (:(

Should have suggested, like, a vocal rendition of Rush E or The Diva Dance from The Fifth Element or something.

I guess... they're robots though. So maybe notes like that wouldn't affect them. Might have set them on fire thought maybe?

Moon's performance was very nice! It really is a good song for his character. It takes a lot of confidence to sing in front of ANY type of audience.

Jigsaw really takes everything in stride. Moon insults him and he doesn't even respond at all.

The lil' nose boop.

The little head bonk.

"I'm yOU remember?"

OOOHHH He does NOT like cheating OOOOOOHHHHHHHH EFFFFFF

I was wrong there are something's he does not take in stride

I

LOVE him. He is shooting way up on my list of characters I look forward to seeing in episodes.

"Well I'm still standing here!" "And I'm way better than I ever was." LOL

You know I can see no cons of creating a portal gun. I think that would be highly beneficial and there would be no terrible outcomes that ignite from the building of a piece of machinery that allows instantaneous travel between two designated locations via breaking the very fabric of space time. Not a single bad thing could come from making something

Yeah okay never mind

(Sorry I gotta poke a leettle bit of fun at the guy who decided making the Newton Star was a good idea thinking making another high-tech piece of equipment is a good idea. I'll make fun of the satellite too, probably, when it comes around don't ya'll worry)

"Ohhhh NOOOoooo DOn't LEEaave ME MOOOnnn PLEEEeaase." As Moon just turns around and walks away

Followed immediately by a fucking jump scare Jesus Christ

But it worked right? It fucking worked, it lulled me into a false sense of security. Like, this guy who was threatening Moon's limbs not seven minutes earlier went into goofy silly clown mode and I fell for it sooooo, like. It worked.

It sounds like this was the first time Moon actually said anything about his trip to another dimension to Sun. So this is being dropped onto Sun with almost no warning.

Sun learned Moon would be gone for a week, and immediately went 'can we hang out?'

He very much needs some support right now. We're, what, a week post-hallucination episode? He needs his support group with him right now, it is a critical point, but he's too afraid to ask for it straight up so instead he's asking around it so to speak.

Instead of asking Moon to stay or telling him what the problem is, he's asking if Moon will play a game with him instead. Hang out. Be in his presence.

There are so many reasons this could be. Perhaps he would feel selfish asking Moon to hold off on completing this satellite to stay with him, especially if he's not comfortable with telling Moon WHY just yet, because if he doesn't offer a reasonable explanation then there's no justification for Moon staying, at least in Sun's eyes. It could be embarrassment over the issues, maybe he feels like he's blowing it out of proportion. Maybe he feels like he's asked or taken too much support already, and outright asking for more will end in not having any support at all.

Any number of things. It's easier to ask now when he knows Moon is 'not busy', maybe even more likely to say yes. And he's grasping for it too, "any random game" he just doesn't want to be alone because he just found out he's going to be alone very suddenly in a time when he should not really be alone at all, whether he knows that or not. He certainly doesn't want to be.

I see people often say that 'the worst thing someone can tell you is no'. They generally mean it in a positive way? I guess? I think Sun is at that point where, yes, one of the worst things you could say to him is no. So even an unenthusiastic 'I don't REALLY want to hang out with you' yes is better than a 'no'. Because a no means he'll be alone for sure, while a unenthused yes still means he won't be alone. Does this make sense? It feels clunky, did I explain this right?

Yeah the demeanor change from after asking Moon about the satellite, to finding out he has to leave for it, to finding out he's not leaving right away, to finding out Moon is going to hang out with him despite not sounding enthusiastic about it (because at least its something, you know?) was a trip.

I know Moon's probably stressed right now too, but the 'isn't there something you wanted to drag me along with' was unnecessarily hurtful.

I feel like we're slowly leaning back into past cycles with these two. Like, Moon not telling Sun about something big and important like that. Sun pushing down problems into something else. We'll see. It's just hints at it for now.

Sorry for the downer boo boo ending to the post ;-;

Maybe the next one will be a bit cheerier?

[the-punforgiven]

Dead by Daylight killers as I understand them (Played the game for like 2 weeks before Blight was introduced)

Trapper: Og killerman. This guy will kill you at night to make sure you're Dead by Daylight™ ©Behaviour Interactive 2016

Wraith: -Tf2 cloak noise- I'm fast as fuck boiii

Hillbilly: We couldn't get the rights to Texas Chainsaw Massacre :(

Cannibal: Oh shit actually yes we could get the rights to Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Nurse: This is the one people use to end games in like 30 seconds

Shape: ゴゴ🎶 🎹 🎶ゴゴ

Hag: Triangle jumpscare

Doctor: Hope you like screaming, you're gonna do it a lot

Huntress: You don't even need to play this game you just KNOW people are calling this one Mommy on the internet

Nightmare: I'm gonna be honest I genuinely forgot this guy was even in that game until I looked at the wiki to make sure I wasn't leaving anyone out

Pig: Boop :)

Clown: I Do Not Like This Guy One Bit, I'm not even scared of clowns or anything this guy's just got the most rancid fucking vibes

Spirit: I think she should get a skin that makes her look like one of the Husk enemies from that Darkest Dungeon dlc, like she's already most of the way there may as well

Leigon: Love that in lore there's four of them but you only ever fight one at a time, I wonder if these guys ever look at Knight's ability and just go "damn 😔". Also they've got the best music in the game, no competition

Plague: You don't even need to play this game you just KNOW people are calling this one Vommy on the internet

Ghostface: I remember watching a video about the weird copyright laws surrounding the character and his mask apparently being owned by two seperate companies or something and rip to whatever Behaviour employee had to sort that out to get this guy in here

Demogorgon: I've never watched Stranger Things aside from the Metallica clip my aunt sent me

Oni: You don't even need to play this game you just KNOW people are calling this one Daddy on the internet

Deathslinger: gun

Executioner: 🔺️🍑👀

Blight: Orange Creamsicle Goblin is real and he is COMING FOR YOU

Twins: I genuinely forgot they were in the game also

Trickster: I think he should also get a timestop. For no particular reason.

Nemesis: He just fuckin punches you! idk why but that's the funniest shit in the world to me

Cenobite: Reblog to slap his bald head, killing him instantly

Artist: Ɓïřď Ļäđÿ

Onryo: Menu jumpscare

Dredge: This guy just kinda looks like a rooster to me tbh

Mastermind: Oh hey it's that guy from Resident Evil

Knight: Hey remember when Dead by Daylight had that collaboration with For Honor, where For Honor had a whole Halloween event where you could fight Trapper and and they had like special cosmetics and executions and shit, and Dbd gave you like, one charm? Anyway I feel like the dbd devs may have had a lil peek at For Honor's sound effects library during that particular little tryst because I SWEAR I recognize the noises this dude makes on a very deep level

Skull Merchant: I feel like you could design literally anything based on that name and it would be infinitely cooler than the killer that actually has it

Singularity: Robot :D I love the cheesy old horror movie vibe to them tbh, it's great

Xenomorph: You don't even need to play this game you just KNOW people are calling this one Mommy on the internet

[tobiasdrake]

Fucking rude. Who pissed in that guy's miso? Oh well. Let's keep looking around Bamboo Creek.

Okay, this is clearly something. Looks more like an exit than an entrance, though. Based on the differently colored stone.

Bro, I'm gonna touch this cabinet every single time I come in here. Just because you keep telling me not to. I think we should both just settle into a comfortable status quo of me touching your cabinet.

To be fair, that's a strong goal to reach for. Devolver publishes a ton of great content for consumers to enjoy. You can also find a treasure trove of fantastic material published by Annapurna Interactive, while we're at it.

There aren't many publishers out there who can be relied on with great material like the Sacred Fable of the Moon Goddess Luana but if you look hard enough, you can find some true gems.

...sorry, shilling products for advertising revenue is part of my religion. You go on, I'll just kick back and listen while enjoying this warm, heavenly loaf of Garl-ic Bread, in stores wherever Warrior Cook Wares are sold.

It's actually addiction-forming, as a matter of fact. The deferment of happiness to a hypothetical future point in time is also the main problem with marketing hype. People can become so addicted to the cycle of looking forward to things that the actual product quality ceases to matter.

This is more or less what's become of the gaming industry these days, as preorder culture and live services and DLC roadmaps all keep people hooked, buying the promise of what the product might be someday instead of an actual product that they would enjoy having right now.

It comes out. It's disappointing. But it doesn't matter, because people are addicted to the promise and eager to jump on the next thing that might possibly materialize into something good some day.

Not to speak ill of Kickstarter since... y'know, biting the hand that feeds and all that... but crowdfunding also feeds into this same phenomenon. It's just that it's easier to put faith in small projects with individual names behind them than in large companies focused on maximizing profits above all else.

We see this in Big Tech spaces as well. Ideas like cryptocurrencies and AI-driven media get shopped around, not because there is anything of value worth investing in today, but because they insist that their product is going to be revolutionary eventually. "This IS the future, this IS where society is going, so you'd better buy in now."

Future happiness is highly addictive.

No, it was insightful. This was a good talk. I enjoyed discussing these advanced concepts with you.

If this is what it gets me, then I'll be sure to keep molesting your cabinet in the future. Anyways, what were we doing? Right, Bamboo Creek, we were....

WHY PLANTS. WHY ARE THERE PLANTS. EVIL HUNGRY PLANTS.

I should have known the forest would not be kind to botanophobes. I thought Luana killed the Botanical Horror! Are there more!? This isn't even the right island for it!

Unless we're in a different timeline. Shit, that's a possibility. Hell, all these Time Shards around imply we're in an active time loop but I'm trying not to think about that because it hurts my ninja brain.

You know, the bamboo construction here is extensive. I wonder who built all this? Did we build it, and the Koopa Kingdom took over after driving us from our lands? Or did they build it, as a fortress to stage their invasions from?

Shopkeep only said this was the closest thing to a relaxing place left on the island so maybe, once upon a time, this was a nice getaway spa or something. The trolleys that move by slapping them are weirdly fun and satisfying for reasons I'm not quite sure I can put my finger on.

Those spikes might be, like, relaxation spikes. You don't know.

No, but, for real. Jumping around from bamboo branch to bamboo branch is, like, a fun day in the park for a trained ninja. If it weren't for all the demon heads blowing in on the wind, I'd be having the time of my life. I think this was a vacation resort.

Plus, y'know, it's been a while since we fought the necromancer. And there was that weird statue in Luana's fable and all that. So. I. Kinda. Was hoping.....

Actually, come to think of it, that statue might have been Quarble. Huh.

...do I get to fight Quarble? 'Cause he's my bestie, don't get me wrong, but I'd love a sparring match with him!

There are a lot of things I wouldn't fight on my day off. Like that inexplicably fast guy with the halberd who stabbed me in the junk. That was not very relaxing at all.

...

But yes, I would like to fight a boss on my day off. Boss plz.

Well, if I don't get to fight a boss then at least I still have my unchecked lust for shiny fragments of concentrated physics violations.

If there's not a boss here then there better be something really good up ahead to--

MOTHERFUCKING HIGH DIVE WHOOOOOOOO!!!!

You win this round, ambiguous Shopkeeper.

Oh hey, a tunnel. Wonder what's down there. If this is the pool then maybe there's a hot tub--

Howling like "the wind howls" or howling like a wolf? Because those will create two very different sets of expectations for what, exactly, is coming to kick my ass.

That guy on the mural is definitely pooping. Weird thing to immortalize, ancient temple builders or whatever this place is.

Very well. At least we've clarified. I will adjust my expectations straight to the bottom of a ravine. Not unlike the one I descended to get here.

[rakumel]

Today in more Xenoverse 2 news no one asked for:

I finally, FINALLY got an Ultimate Finish on PQ 122. By myself. As in, not co-op. Been struggling with that one for weeks, if not months.

I won't bore everyone with what a parallel quest in this game is, a search engine can take care of that. But after that, if you're curious, type in "XV2 PQ 122" and you'll get things like "PQ 122 is impossible", "PQ 122 is absolutely crazy" - and they're right. (Though I was glad to see I wasn't the only one having trouble with it - automatically felt better.)

That's it, really. Though if you're curious, I do go into a little more detail under yon cut:

So this was one of the parallel quests that came with some other DLC I bought some time ago. But even the quests that come with the vanilla game get pretty brutal by this point. (At least they do for an amateur like yours truly.) Not only do they become more of a test on how well you know the controls, but also how long you can endure against multiple opponents, and how well you can keep you and your partners up and running.

If you can meet certain conditions - usually like finishing quickly, or defeating opponents in a particular order - the quest goes into a sort of bonus overtime, and you get a chance to take down a much stronger opponent (or sometimes more than one). If you can defeat these opponents, that's considered an Ultimate Finish.

It's actually not too hard to beat PQ 122 normally, once you know what to expect. What makes it hard to Ultimate Finish is both the number and difficulty of the bonus opponents. That, and it pulls a really nasty trick on you the first time you get to this point.

I can't tell you the feeling that came over me when I thought I'd finally beat PQ 122, only for Fu to waltz in with Jiren and Ultra Instinct Goku. Poor Aloe and her partners were more than half dead by this point, I'd used up all my healing items, and I made the stupid mistake of trying to fight UI Goku at close range. Never do this. He will tear. your. shit. UP. I don't know about other languages, but Fu's appropriately named in English, because I was thinking those letters the entire time I was fighting him.

Side note: I want to like Fu, I really do. He's a demon scientist who acts like a massive fanboy, which in theory sounds fucking amazing. And he does have his moments, to be fair. But some of the shit he pulls in game just makes me want to slap him even harder than that Batman and Robin meme.

Anyway, once I knew that lovely little surprise was coming, it was a matter of stretching out all the healing I could - I had to keep telling myself this quest was a marathon, not a sprint - focusing on one enemy at a time, taking advantage of every spare moment to charge up ki or heal my guys, spamming my favorite Supers (Bending Kamehameha, my beloved), some well-timed Super Ki Explosions, and honestly - probably some luck.

Even then, it still took many tries due to the massive health bars on each of them, and the longer the fight drags on, the worse it is for your side.

I don't expect anyone to ask me exactly how I beat PQ 122, like a game plan or anything. But on the off chance someone does, I don't mind sharing. Mostly though, I just wanted to brag a bit, haha. Because I finally beat the thing! Although I'm going to have to do it again someday, since the RNG completely stiffed me. Didn't get either of the new special moves that you can win from this.

But hey, at least I know now it can be done. And yeah, I guess I could give in and try completing the quest online in co-op, but...eh...I don't want to, really. It's a broad generalization, I admit it, and so it's not going to be accurate, but...fighting games tend to attract certain types of gamers. The type who would probably rather be set on fire than play alongside someone who sucks at the game. I'd rather have fun than worry about how I look to a couple of randos, thanks!

[cacowhistle]

crosses one game off my list. stares at the dozens of others beneath it. big sigh. anyways heres some games i highly recommend:

a short hike: in their words, "a little exploration game about hiking up a mountain." it rewards exploration. i went into it thinking it'd be like, a twenty minute experience? i played for at least an hour or two. very cute, very low stakes emotionally. i really enjoyed the graphics and characters :]

co-open: this game is genuinely the cutest fuckign thing i've ever played. you're a kid going to the store on your own for the first time. lotta queer characters. so much to explore. at first you're like "woah store" and then you somehow end up in the vents and then you're on the roof?? there is so much to this game. i love it. it's so cute. maybe an hour or two or three in playtime.

everhood: i will admit. i have not finished this game. however. it is so stylish. the graphics are so bright. the characters are WILD. the music goes SO HARD. the combat and gameplay is entirely centered around the music. they describe it as a "psychedelic musical bullet hell" and tbh that is literally it. the puzzles aren't too hard. i haven't finished it only because it feels, to me, like it doesn't really... tell you where to go? i get lost very easily if i'm not being funneled in a particular direction when it comes to these kinds of games, ones that aren't necessarily meant to be open-world. that being said. everhood goes fucking hard. play it. it slaps. i need to finish it. i keep fuckign thinking about it its that good.

dredge: this isn't like, an obscure indie pick. but dredge is so good. the story left me wanting a little more, but the gameplay is fun, the graphics are gorgeous (the style is so nice), there are some real good scares, and tbh there is nothing better than a good fishing game. it mixes exploration and inventory management really well! and i thoroughly enjoyed exploring every inch of the game and completing all the side quests i could. also theres a dog and you can pet it.

eronoctosis: put yourself together: this game is about being TRANS and DYSPHORIA and SEX!!!! it's a two-player game but it's free!! (there's a paid dlc you can get too but the base game is free) (the paid dlc includes sexual content, the base game does not). eronoctosis was really fun. my boyfriend and i were so bad at it at first (hi babe if ur reading this. we should get the dlc i wanna play this with u again). but once we got into the swing of things it was honestly really fun. the scares are REALLY good even when you know what you're doing. really makes you dread going around corners <3

two little bonuses are inbento and sudocats. it's literally just. a puzzle game. and sudoku. but in my defense. both games include cats. which makes them cute. very nice little experiences :]

[cobaltaris]

Aris Media 2023 #26: Control (2019)

okay so probably last media post/review until i finish Tears of the Kingdom? kinda burnt out of these but there might be one smaller one soon, not sure, but glad to be taking a break on this note, because holy shit. i found it. the new entry to my Top 20 Games Ever

TAKE. CONTROL

i don't know why i even gravitated to this one for so long, it's been on my mind since release despite the fact i'm really not that into Western AAA stuff - but i suppose you can call that some kind of Altered World Event :v

and now that i HAVE played and beaten it, well. my assumptions were right! i. y'all. this is what video games are about

the mystery about the Bureau, Jesse, the Hiss, Trench...fuck, everything ABOUT this game interested me and had me hooked deep, from beginning to end. a place where reality is on the brink, a brink that somehow everyone is processing rather well, all while Bill Nye's long-gone cousin goes on about how great said Bureau and himself is in some video recording. finding yourself going from the smoothness of a white office to a hotel seemingly woven by dreams itself. normal objects we know from everyday life imbued with higher power. it's. very very fucking good worldbuilding.

i think what i admire most about Control is how it twists everything that is expected out of something like it. from the locations constantly being distorted, to the very out-there abilities Jesse gets, casual communication with the dead. the Ashtray Maze segment. fuck, it's so good and NEVER lets up,,,

plus Jesse and the whole cast are, genuinely great? i loved her dynamics and inner thoughts, especially with Polaris! i like that she's both brutally honest and can still drop a quip every now and then without feeling forced. Emily, Marshall, and Darling were also all really well written, and genuinely had me concerned/Other Emotions That Would Be Spoilery to Say whenever trouble was brewing. i was engrossed in all of it, but the best part is, it plays well too!!

i was so ready for the gameplay to be middling and for this to be 90% narrative driven, but no! they do a TON of good gameplay scenarios in both the main story and the side missions. the abilities you get along with the fact you take more damage when still lends Control to have very unique gunplay and combat, constantly on the move and giving it a bit of a platformer feel at times! Launch. oh my fucking god. LAUNCH. best combat ability by far and the moment i got it, i KNEW this game would slap.

the DLC, Foundation, really brings this together with the new area and abilities, so i loved it as an extension of the main story, but didn't get to play the other DLC, AWE, cuz i had save data issues when trying to reload my save so uh whoops it looked like it was mainly an tie-in story anyway so i'm not too miffed. i'm very pleased with what i did get to play, though

if my gigantic ramble wasn't obvious enough, yeah, Control is an EASY S grade, one i actively want to play again sometime too! one of the best modern games i've ever played and it stuck with me all the way, well worth experiencing at least once

[sugar-omi]

HI IM AN INSANE BAXSTAN AND SWIFTIE AND UR RYT MR PERFECTLY FINE HAS IMMENSE BAXMC POTENTIAL

while i think its not Unlikely for mc to forgive baxter within the span of the dlc, i DO think theyre not given enough options to feel complicated abt it. u pretty much have to decide how to feel from the start, and arent given a lot of room to change ur mind. For example, my mc Anne is a very forgiving person, especially with bax bc she understands his need to be entertaining & liked. HOWEVER she starts the dlc off thinking "ok if hes gonna be distant i can do that" but then when he jokes with xavier shes like "well im CONFUSED now and i need answers" and shes irritated, but also still likes him. after the bowling she hugs him and is still like confused, but again likes him still. by the time shes baking with him, shes both confused and endeared with him but is kinda harsh with him, even when hes apologizing at the wedding.

All this to say; its not UNREALISTIC mc would forgive in that timespan, its just the lack of complexity mc is or is not afforded that makes it feel too fast. additionally, while u do get to be mad, theres no real moderation for it, and no way to be like "this is a start, but it will take time to trust him fully again". so yeah, it feels rushed and personally i think it was rushed to be released due to whatever reasons (either not caring abt baxter or wanting to work on olnf, who knows)

anyway, i would go on about baxters dlc and its shortcomings for hours if given a chance so for now ill just call it here <3 signed, 🌸Anon

YES YES I AGREE

i do think there was a lotta effort n good stuff but into baxter, and i also havent replayed it since they updated some stuff so maybe its a bit better since release

but i do agree i think the emotional range is very limited its either "idc anymore", "im mad", "i look back fondly", "im pretty sad abt it", n all that stuff n its just pretty straight forward in whatever you choose

i think step 4 is a bit short? maybe?

BUT I ALSO THINK ITS PRETTY FLESHED OUT, now i haven't acted professional w baxter, i tried but i just didnt have time to go through w the route. but there are options!!! its just one and done i think so its kinda like, you cant express How conflicted you are

bc realistically id be so sad but i also hold a grudge so id be like "yeah you say you love me n all that n i GET IT but also im scared"

BUT I ALSO THINK ITS BC WE ARE PLAYING IT WITH SEVERAL HOURS??? like MC has 5 years to get through the emotions, but the time between him saying "see you never!!!" and "omg hi, i miss u but u dont need me but i miss u?!?!!?!" is like less than 5 minutes so.....

LITERALLY I WAS PLAYING IT THE FIRST TIME N I WAS LIKE "you bastard, fuck you. i hate you. stfu. YOURE SO CUTE. you ASSHOLE. i am going to KISS YOU. i want to slap you so fucking bad right now"

like pls i was freaking out during my first playthru

i think baxter's dlc was more focused on the "i am hurt" and "i have XYZ reasons for being like this" and it goes through all that and its less "lets work through your complex feelings/this is how you reacted when we met again bc you felt/feel very conflicted and now we will work thru it"

BAXTER DLC IS LITERALLY "I CAN FIX HIM" OMFG

but honestly i like the baxter dlc better than the derek dlc bc i HATED how "i can do everything by myself!!!!" derek was in step 2 and how sibling focused it was, i man i still loved it of course but i wish derek n mc had more 1 on 1 time

and then in step 4 it was like "i missed out on everything, i feel shitty n im sorry!" and mc just.... idk maybe i need to play it again but i was still mad derek ghosted for a whole step n then it was still very family focused, and while i loved that as well

i just wanted more derek by himself, i wanted to pamper him n love him n just yk

idk, all the dlc's are so good but i do think the forgiveness is very quick which makes sense bc they're making ol2 but man, i would love if it was just double the length or half that to just flesh it out some bc i wanted some sweet moments w the boys as well :(((

ANYWAY YES I DO AGREE ITS NOT UNREALISTIC

just unrealistic for ppl like me who take 2-3 years to get over wtf happened and another 2 to actually settle in my decision to forgive 😂😂 but even then, if i had 5 years to get over it i could prbly forgive him after a lot of crying and a bit of screaming LMAO

[chippersweetbaby]

Overall thoughts on the Yuffie dlc: very positive! I loved the variety of materia available, the mini games, how big the explorable areas are… Sonon was an okay character. I actually liked that they didn’t put too much emphasis on him - we’re here for Yuffie, not new-guy. Sorry, Sonon…

I wish it were longer, but it was actually longer than I thought it would be. I spent ten hours on it… and I could reasonably go back and try to win on hard mode and do fort condor on hard mode, I guess Weiss is in the battle simulator now? There’s definitely still more to do! I just love Yuffie and could have played an entire game as her and loved every second of it.

In terms of the story - I hadn’t read up on it at all prior to playing and was pleasantly surprised to see how close Yuffie was to our other protagonists all along. Makes me excited for part 2, when they’ll officially meet. The contrast between chapter 1 and 2 was very strong too. Chapter 1 was pretty light hearted and fun… then Nero was fucking frightening and I wanted to slap Scarlet so bad…

Anyway, highly recommend! This DLC is on sale for Black Friday on the PlayStation store right now. If you haven’t played it and have a ps5… get it!!

[the-kipsabian]

i was told im not annoying so

few key things;

two playable characters confirmed. stories can be played in any order which is really interesting. going to assume the manuscript feature helps to give out points where changing up and experiencing the other half of the story would be a good idea. i personally really like a feature like that. also i was right about the differences between the character locations with one being fucked up real world and another the twisted dark one. which, incredibly cool

also - saga anderson. not only does that name slap, but connection to original game confirmed which is amazing i love that so much

also if the game takes place 13 years after the last one, that explains the changes a lot. just intrigued to see what happened after the seemingly happy ending of alan wake (given i havent played the control awe dlc which i think elaborates some on alans situation? i need to look it up) to lead up to the desolated town taken over by cultists mmmm

what really got to me about this one tho was the revelation that the other agent is alex casey?? im so intrigued to see where this settles in this reality, considering hes just supposed to be a fictional character in this universe so thats. intriguing. so looking forward to figuring this shit out omg

anyways thats that. so hyped for this im gonna be so annoying and its gonna be everyone elses problem!! sorry ive waited 13 years for a sequel im allowed to be a little insane

[soulbolts]

Okay so why the fuck does Sony/all these different kinds of companies think it's a good idea to just slap the "exclusive to Playstation 5/whatever console they want to have the game be "exclusive" to thing ONTO the one game that SHOULD be ported to PC. Honestly, I don't even have a good PC yet, let alone a Steamdeck or a very good laptop but I don't like to see PC gamers suffer at the hands of a big company restricting their very big IPs/games to the console owners. Like, seriously, it's just annoying at this point. Given Silent Hill is a big franchise with a big fucking fandom that sometimes gets divided about certain things, can we all agree that PC gamers need a bit of love and that the companies behind this games like Silent Hill should put some effort into giving that love back to the community? I mean, it's just bad consumerism at this point. Also, I acknowledge the fact that porting games to PC is no easy task. That's a bunch of fucking code you have to sort out and what ever else you have to do, IDK I am not a programmer. I also acknowledge the fact that these games probably are big storage consumers. Considering future updates and possibly DLC being added to the games, I understand this would be a cause of concern for the developers. Look, I am not trying to blame anyone or be petty or anything like that. I am just trying to make a point about this kind of thing. Anyway, I wish all kinds of gamers the best when it comes to finding ways to play your favorite games/IPs/franchises without much trouble. Yes, this includes emulation, but that's a post for another day.