#anyways i finished my lis 1 playthrough!!

[emerynn-art]

was feeling kinda down this morning so i drew max six times and that seemed to do the trick

[vspin]

On Act 3 and the lack of companion reactivity and dialogue.

So, I officially hit 400 hours on BG3 yesterday (no lifing it lmao) and I've been thinking about some things I wish Larian would improve or wish that they had implemented. A big thing that comes to mind is how much companion reactivity and dialogue abruptly stops in Act 3.

Act 1 really shines with companion reactivity. They always have something to say to the MC, to NPCs, or even to each other! I love the interaction after you use your ilithid powers for the first time and it's a 4 way conversation between everyone.

Then we get to Act 3 and there's such huge drop-off. Some big offenses:

Very little reaction to quests and locations. When I killed Raphael I only got comments from Astarion and Gale! Seriously?? We just survived a trip to the Hells! This happens with multiple quests

Blank faces when Durge is killed by Bhaal.

Camp is lifeless. Everyone just stands in front of their bed, There are no interactions.

In my playthrough, the Emporer admitted to my Tav he was manipulating her and didn't really care. It was bummer I couldn't talk to the other tadpole gang about it.

I remember coming across a Druid in the city. He was trying to heal a tree. So I went back and grabbed Halsin because he was complaining no one in the city cared about nature or balance. So I thought surely, he would have an interaction here! Nope, nothing!

As soon as you finish a companion's personal quest that is basically the end of your interactions with them; even if you romance them.

What I'd like to see: (Disclaimer: Just my opinions. I have no expectation of any of this being added to the game)

More camp interaction between companions. Jahiera and Minsc had a great example of this. Let there be a quick cutscene of Minsc and Halsin arm wrestling. Shadowheart, Karlach, and Astarion drinking wine. Anything. DA:I did a great job at this. It seemed like anytime I approached someone for dialogue they were in the middle of an interaction with someone else. Or events like the card game. It brought a lot of life into the party.

More random city encounters. They did a good job with Karlach; she has interactions with the steel watcher and her friend Fitz. Would have been cool to have some of those with Wyll, maybe he meets another noble or a flaming fist and has to deal with their shock of seeing him as a devil. Or with Gale in Sorcerous Sundries (he is a famous wizard after all!). Astarion mentions he needs to keep a low profile in the taverns; what if someone called him out!

More reactions to story events.

Expand on romances a bit more. We don't need it to be a dating sim but if you finish your LI's quest early on get used to just asking for small pecks and that's it. I would like to see more romance-specific dialogue for quest reactions.

And Finally:

We needed all companions at the final battle. Everyone should have been at the main keep before confronting the brain. You should have had your final conversations with them before you all potentially die in battle. DA:O style. A passionate kiss with your LI (not a tiny little peck lmao). This was a huge exclusion.

Anyway, these are my thoughts on the matter. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

[hummingbird-games]

2024 in Review (Indie Games)

2023 | 2022 | 2021

Helloooo gamer friends!!!

I'm so tired.

Lol.

Anyhoo, y'all don't care about that!!! Y'all are here to see what games I played and what the heck I have to say about them! Reminders: I don't bash games I didn't like, and I try to post more in-depth thoughts and reviews and general yapping to Gem's Game Gems.

DEMOS

When Stars Collide - I am by no means a sci-fi girlie. I need a HEAPING dose of fantasy or fantasy elements to help me out. That said, y'all might remember how I went feral for Gilded Shadows, so I am locked in for this journey with WSC. It's just as mysterious and lore intense as GS, but also just as intriguing and engaging!

Love Me, Love Me Not - I looooove when a game charms me to pieces??? Our MC Addie, the introduced LIs, the story, the art??? Where do I begin?? Anyway, please check this one out y'all! I'm impatient for the full game (shocker, I know).

Threads of You: Beyond the Bay - So my thoughts and reactions for this one are on the side blog, but I really enjoyed the demo and I have eyes for Chris, Vince, and Alex hehehe.

Lost in Limbo - While I'd been keeping tabs on this game for what seems forever because of the character art that originally caught my attention, I almost didn't finish the demo because it was lowkey disturbing (I'm a wimp and not all horror is made equal). But!!! BUT!!!! I push through to the end, had a good time, noted that I need to play the full game in the daylight with the music turned down low. And I absolutely adore Ara and Xal so, so much.

A Simple Twist of Fae - Absolutely no one cares, but I read a lot of manga this year. Like, a lot-a lot. Like, ~180 books and 1/3 of that was manga. Anyhoo, When JMB announced she was cooking up this game, I was impatient to get my grubby hands on it. AND THEN I PLAYED IT AND IT WAS THE SHOJO INSPIRED GAME OF MY DREAMS?!?! Like.....I wish I could both have it on my computer and also on my bookshelf. Final build dropping when??? (Also the UI design is utterly delightful, I cry.)

The Summit Library (FULL DEMO) - The last time I reviewed this game, we got chapter 1 as a taste, and I was. Locked! In!! The full demo gives us the first 2 chapters as well as the previews for all the romance routes and while giving everyone a whirl I'm *still* undecided on who to go for in the future, I must mention this: TSL is so aspec friendly???? I do love a game with smut, don't get me wrong looks at College Craze but sometimes I have my moments of being overwhelmed/sliiiiiiightly repulsed and the variety of options you have to choose how you react and interact with the various LIs in this game is amazing. (I have more thoughts on this, so I'll try to remember to post to the sideblog, but please understand that this game is totally worth your attention and time imo!!!)

Fully Released & Played (at least 1 playthrough)

Rabbit Trail - This. Game. Is. SO. Cute. *punches the air* 😭🥹(Copy + paste of my review on the itch.io page -> This was so charming, so fluffy, so cozy, just delightful all around??? I've only reached one ending so far, but René is just the cutest protag to play as, and his interactions as he delivers his mail made me cheese so dang hard! (Also, I wanted to fight his parents for not properly appreciating their kid LOL))

Stuck by Design - I checked this game out because I was looking into games that fellow programmers had worked on, and this cozy game stumbled onto my lap. The music was perfect, the UI is beautiful and clean, and I thoroughly enjoyed the performance of the VA for the LI, Yuki.

Wake Me Up If You Need Me - I called this game older!HSDJY MC x Ryan coded and I'm still right. The voice actor MAKES this game, and the interactions the player has with Reed is so flippin' delightful?? All my love and adoration to the game developer. May they make more beautiful games.

CTRL FREAK - The developer team brought us The Faithfulness of the Universe which is a banger in its own right, and CTRL FREAK is the team's commercial, finished project that I also found delightful. The soundtrack and the animations are chef's kiss 💛

Breathless Winds - Ooo, baby, ooo. So. If there is only one game you play from this list and you have some spare cash to spend (at the time of writing, the game is on sale!!!) please, please, check this one out. It left me absolutely spellbound, both the orginal demo, and then the full game. While I didn't get to blog fully about this one, and I only tackled 2 of the 4 routes, this game is absolutely everything. This is my indie game of the year. Poppy and her journey resonated with me, and between the music and the art, everything just came together so perfectly.

Wake Up Magical Girl - Listen TF up, if miseri creates it, I'm gonna play it, idc, idc. That being said...this game had a kick to it that when I finished my first playthrough, I had to stare off into space and gather myself. It takes the concept of magical girls and heroism and gave me a teeny tiny existential crisis, but other than that, I'm fine, it's fine, play this game, thank you.

Sleeping Under Spells - God, I love me a game where I get to argue with a LI. I love it. Bonus points if it's lowkey stupid stuff we're bickering over LOL!!

Our Wonderland - Yeah, uh huh, you thought you'd escape me talking about this game this year, didn't yah???? Too bad. The fifth and final arc dropped this year and I played it and I cried and felt for the briefest moments that life was okay. To say something different than my review of last year, I love that this seems to be the game that helps fellow ace devs find and flock to each other, I'm not kidding 🤣 so thank you Carrot for helping us fellow aspec peeps feel seen and validated and understood!

I Watched a Full Game Playthrough and Highly Recommend

Replay Boys - Okay so technically at the time of posting, there's still one more video I'm waiting to watch (Naja of BlerdyOtome uploaded her stream to YouTube) but my Godddddd. I've had my eye on this game for FOREVER but I was lowkey waiting for it to move to itch.io (I'm still a lowkey Steam hater 🥹) anyhoo, watching this absolutely wild game made me go ahead and buy a copy for myself to replay at a later time, but it's just great. The summary only scratches this surface of what the game entails 🤣

Gemi’s Gushies

(a list within a list of games that have devs trucking along in the background and I want to spotlight for y’all)

Save the Villainess - Life got away with me and unfortunately I never finished my play of the demo BUT what I have played was fun and I hope to return to this in the new year!

Woman of Xal 2 - Plot Twist Studios is on that Sequel Train with the next installment of WoX!!! Which I'm VERY excited for!!! I've unfortunately only completed one playthrough of this game, but the first game is definitely a masterclass in replayability, and I hope next year I'll be able to do a second playthough as I wait for game 2's Kickstarter!

...

And that's 2024! Any shared favorites?

- Gemini 🫶🏾

[wizardsix]

ok... so I have finally finished veilguard after about 90 painful hours (two playthroughs). im not gonna write an actual review about all of my detailed thoughts bc it'll actually take days, this is just to at least get my general thoughts out and see if anyone else feels the same or if ive actually lost it.

overall it is the weakest dragon age game story-wise, and I'd give it a nice lukewarm 4/10.

(i wrote this post right after I finished the game on the weekend so maybe I sound a bit harsh, I tried to edit it to be more reasonable lol but I didn't really want to delete this since I do still stand by a lot of this)

I really tried to go in with an open mind, bc I always want to experience media in full before making any kind of judgement, but about a few hours in I had this horrible feeling that once again this was another soulless, rushed game, and I still don't feel any different after finishing the game.

what stuck out to me was that there's no sense of urgency despite what the plot is, serious topics are not treated with care as the writing overall is shallow, and the gods as well as any other enemy you encounter are just cartoon villains (and apparently the lore retconning, but I'm not well-versed enough to dissect that so I won't).

I can't take this plot seriously when it feels so disjointed and forced and lazy. and I see no point in caring about anything when choices literally don't matter. no say in who you recruit, no say in the relationships with them and they have almost no awareness of rook, definitely doesn't matter if you have allies or not bc they show up anyway, and only four companions are locked into unavoidable decisions where one of them bites the dust no matter what (which is strange bc why are harding and davrin forced to die no matter if they're at hero status while bellara and neve can literally survive blight if they're at hero status), so it's impossible to try to strategize for better (or worse) outcomes with all the people you've gathered when there's only one right answer that the game pretty much tells you instead of letting you think for yourself (and side note this game does an incredible amount of hand holding). the game actively tries to trick you into thinking your choices matter with the onscreen notifications, but nothing matters bc the devs clearly had only one story in mind and for some reason lied that it had "complex choices".

also rook in general wasn't interesting as a protagonist bc they were written to be perfect. they always know what to say and are so supportive of everyone. they never struggle with anything. not even with leadership beyond "man leading a team is hard :/" but it doesn't actually show how hard it is by having actual volatile conflict between the companions* or showing how their plans sometimes fail. which, if we actually had choices that mattered, would have helped develop that struggle. also? what's with everyone being so friendly? I'm not gonna get into that but everyone is so eerily nice and it's been said a lot but yeah, the world is extremely sanitized and devoid of any real conflict aside from the gods I guess.

*(like off the top of my head cassandra fighting with varric and accusing him of not being on their side or how the inquisitor can literally punch dorian and solas if approval is low enough or fenris and anders bordering on killing each other is not the same as lucanis and davrin distrusting each other or people being uncomfortable with emmrich's necromancy. it just scratches the surface of conflict and never goes anywhere)

and let me say real quick again, there's nothing wrong if they wanted to make a more rigid story about being a hero. it's been done a million times and it can be executed well, but if you do that you need to make sure you 1) don't lie to people and 2) actually flesh out your (especially main) characters and plot to give people a reason to care. look at dragon age 2. hawke is a fixed protagonist with their own life front and center. they ultimately only have two choices (siding with mages or templars), but it works bc the game took time to build up the conflict straight from act 1 so by the time chaos happens in act 2 and 3 you understand why bc it's Been brewing the whole time. it just makes sense. the villains as well have sound reasons and feel real instead of being evil just bc. the story is more grounded, yet you have choices. you decide if hawke ends up alone or not. you decide how they approach situations with force or diplomacy. there's none of that in veilguard. a game that supposedly took 10 years to make. when dragon age 2 took almost 16 months (yes I know da2 also has problems like the fact that the templars are always proven right but this isn't the place to dissect that).

I want to be fair though and I do want to restate what I enjoyed about the game. the cc (though would it kill them to have more variety in face textures like age and body types beyond average.. also no colour wheel... especially since they claimed their cc was so good), the map progression/visuals/exploration (how certain places become more blighted overtime), the factions (though I feel there should have been more content for your faction, and helping them or not should have mattered more), the combat (did not feel like a slog, pretty fun and mindless), the companions (bellara, davrin, emmrich, harding, and lucanis had solid personalities and stories despite my complaints. neve was not memorable and I just feel sad for taash's bad writing), certain parts of the story were good, the intro and the point of no return sequences were solid, and the ending didn't feel rushed or boring compared to inquisition. and yes, I do appreciate that rook can be trans, I just think a little more subtly and care would've been nice.

another thing I did like and predicted was that varric died at the beginning of veilguard, and for a second I actually enjoyed that because i thought we were finally (a bit too late tho) getting some depth to rook and their own struggles of accepting his death and carrying this weight without him. and while I do think maybe they should've taken more time to establish the mentor/mentee relationship so we really feel rooks regret, I still think it was at least the right direction where in their grief they still see him, giving advice and narrating their journey.....but then it turned out to just be solas manipulating them the whole time, immediately destroying any emotional weight this reveal had.

whenever bioware has good ideas they shoot themselves in the foot and make it about solas. it's like nothing in the world exists without solas being involved somehow, and that is just incredibly boring and uninspired to me. not to mention solas just being an insufferable ass the whole time, which is fine, but it's not even in a compelling way like he used to be. he became so ugly by the end and the fact that the devs consider redeeming him the "good ending" and not giving him what he deserves is very telling and once again shows their own bias is king over good storytelling (solas' feelings should not come into play here, whether you/your companions live or die should determine good/bad ending since solas is trapped no matter what, only difference is who is trapped with him. idk but I personally think different endings actually means different outcomes). i will not go into the bs of the secret post credit scene, bc frankly I'm fed up with bioware's shitty writing and I won't be playing their next world ending space aliens game (unless they miraculously pull a good story out of their ass but lbr).

overall the bad outweighs the good for me. it's fun to play as a game, it's a decent fantasy game, but the story just doesn't do anything for me. sometimes I wonder if dreadwolf was a completely different game and was scrapped for veilguard last minute. maybe this was yet another inevitable industry fuck up and maybe there was a good story planned at one point. idk. all I know is bioware lied. respect and credit to the poor devs and writers who actually cared and to those who were kicked from the project, but in the end bioware promised too much and delivered too little.

[blightwashed]

So I just recently finished my second playthrough (I'm slow, so what?) and I have a lot of Thoughts and Feelings. Probably should split some of this up, but whatever, we're all just shouting into the void anyway. But honestly, on my first go-round, I walked away from the end of the game really fucking angry, and I can't say this time was much better. I've been trying to not only put into (a few) words the reason WHY I feel this, but also, what small-ish things could have been different in the game that would have (I think) gone a long, long way to making it better. But first, for some levity: Photo 1 - Antoine, darling, your bow is backwards. You are hopeless without Evka around. Just admit it. Photo 2 - Let's all just take a moment to admire the split spinny jump thing Lucanis is doing up there. It's beautiful. Okay, serious stuff. My main feeling at the end is that none of it - NONE OF IT - is earned. The redemption ending is...fine, in theory, but it felt so hollow to me. My game did not include Solavellan, because my Lavellan could sniff out a sketchy egg a mile away and never fell for that shit, but I have watched videos of that ending, and...UMGPH. (I mean, I'm really happy for you if that was enough for you to wrap up 10 years of Toxic Yearning (see what I did there), but it looked pretty flat from my end.) Anyway, this time around I was trying to analyze the writing to see where if felt (to me!) like something was missing, and while I know it wouldn't FIX anything, I really, really feel like we needed a couple of lines between the Mythal fragment and Solas's decision to atone. It's just way too damn fast in game. I mean, the man's world has just been completely ROCKED. He needs a minute. So, this would have been a perfect opportunity to insert a bit about WHY we need to keep the Veil up (if we're going to ignore the perfectly valid crit that bringing it down should have been one of the options after all - maybe a secret option, a la the ME3 "refuse" 4th option?). BUT, continuing on this path, now would have been the time to bombard him with pathos, right? Have Rook (or anybody, really, let's be real) make a brief but compelling case for "isn't this world worth fighting for, too? Aren't we people, too?" Maybe have Rook and their LI hold hands and show solidarity or some shit. Make it a cheesy Lilo-and-Stitch "yeah, this is my family. It's small and broken, but it's mine" kind of moment, if that fits with the Disney-fied vibe of this game. I just feel like we needed an extra beat in that space. Am I alone in this? It seems like such a small thing, but maybe that's what this game is missing, really. About 1,000 "small things" that could have all added up to more than the sum of their parts. And one final thought: honestly, this game dropped exactly 4 years too late. I've seen (and admired) people discussing the more hopeful tone it has and why that's a good thing, and I don't hate that line of thinking. I've overall been trying very, very hard to stay in that middle lane of "I can enjoy what I can of this" and "I can see and scream about all the flaws," but what if a lot of what happened both in the writing and the aftermath also boils down to timing?

Imagine if this had come out on Oct. 31, 2020. Just a few days before THAT election instead. When everyone was still mostly in quarantine and in need of a big dose of hopefulness. When the cultural zeitgeist was still riding the Avengers: Endgame high and the time was ripe for this kind of Marvel-team feel-good story (especially one that features winning against a seemingly unstoppable BLIGHT ILLNESS). How might the reception have been different? I mean, I feel like it was meant to release back then (I don't know enough about the development timing, I'm just going on tonal vibes here, so stick with me). 2020 as a whole could have been the target audience - talk about a way to get the "new players" that they wanted. But development hell happened, and here we are 4 years later with none of that energy left in us, and a game asking us to pretend we still have it. But instead, we're all just tired. And maybe a little regretful, too.

[bulletbilltime]

Finished Lost Records tape 1. Thoughts below (spoiler warning)

Kat you legend... you icon. It took me a bit to warm up to her even if I still liked her, but she fairly quickly became my fave.

Genuinely the main 4 are almost on par with Max Chloe Rachel and Alex Steph Ryan. Loved their friend dynamic so much.

My character ranking is probably Kat > Swann > Autumn = Nora?? I don't have too many thoughts about Autumn and Nora but I do still really like them a lot!!

Honestly the vibes in this game are like a blend of LiS1 and True Colors... might be my fave presentation-wise of the three ngl, even if LiS1 does have the unique painterly style

I LOVE THE CAMCORDER MECHANIC SO MUCH. I love taking photos of things around me with my phone so that was a godsend to me y'all.

Me seeing the bike in the woods: "Ooh this could be a fun setpiece!" Swann: "omg kat and nora you should roleplay your sister and her bf" Me: "WHAT NO I DIDN'T WANT THIS WHAT THE FUCK NOOOOO THAT'S SO WEIRD 😭😭😭 KAT BESTIE I'M SO SORRY THAT MY PLAYER CHARACTER IS A DUMBASS"

Me picking the option that ruins the moment in the makeup scene before the finale very much giving "didn't select the option that makes Amberprice kiss in Before the Storm" (because I thought it would have been too forward and not work. like an IDIOT). Apparently nothing happens even if you don't fuck it up anyway? I think?? so oh well. Still was hilarious tho. Drawn to the no-rizz option like a magnet 💀

The ending made me so mad and sad tho like WHY WAS IT MY FAVE 😭😭😭 I do love how you're led to think she's coughing bc "oh this is bc something evil from The Abyss is taking over her" and it's not. It's just illness. But also NOOOOOOOO 😭😭😭😭

GOD I am hoping we get to see 2022 Kat, but I know it's not very likely. Extremely tragic 😢

Having to wait 2 months for the next update is so cruel. At least I have smth to look forward to. I guess.

GAME IS GOOD THOUGH. It gave me the same feeling I got from my first True Colors playthrough all the way back in 2022 (ironic, I know). I will probably replay it sometime in the near future!

As for ships? uhhhh tbh I don't have any strong leans so far. The allure of polyship is very tempting. Otherwise tho I do see a bunch of teases of Nora x Kat and Nora x Autumn in the game which make those make sense to me. I think my current fave pairing might be Swann x Kat tho? But there's not really a runaway fave atm like Chenrich or Pricefield were at first

OK but that same feeling of "queer escapism" I felt before with stories like One Last Stop and LiS 1 / TC hit me like a truck with this one. Just like this idea of finding your people to go out on adventures with, and share memories that'll stick with you for the rest of your lives. As someone who didn't really figure out her queerness until wayyyy later & was a bit of a shut-in, it's hard to not watch those kinda stories and long for a more adventurous coming of age story that I just never got to really live 😔

Swann's excitement at seeing poop in the woods is hilarious to me. Girlie you are such a dork (positive)

Honestly all of them are dorks (positive). I adore them and would fight anyone who tried to hurt them

Praying for a group reunion and happy ending that I very much doubt Dontnod will let us have. LET THEM BE HAPPY AND FRIENDS (or poly idk I'm not their boss)

[bratgoatswiss]

Apologies for length, have to save the cut for spoilers.

I FINISHED VEILGUARD!

I have. So many thoughts and emotions about it and I'm still processing but I just wanted to counter some of the vitriol I'm seeing from people who are doing the Fandom thing with what I hope are reasonable, normal thoughts. Ha. Haha. Anyway. Mostly spoiler free but there's one small thing and one BIG thing that is that I'll put under the read more.

There was a lot to like about this game. The combat was fun and I think upon a 2nd playthrough it'll be even better. Some of it could get repetitive but its not a big gripe.

The characters were very endearing and felt well fleshed out as people and I enjoyed spending time with them. Most of the side quests were related to your companions in some way and I thought that was clever. Some were more interesting than others.

The writing has been contentious and I can see why. It can get cheesy and predictable in places, but overall I thought it was very similar to DA2. I enjoyed it and thought it reflected some realistic responses to what was happening around you. If you're here for gritty edgelord shit 24/7 go play Dark Souls you weirdo.

I can only speak for the Lucanis romance cause I love an angsty man, but it was perhaps, underpadded. It was slow and sweet and I did like it very much but I could have used some...more you know? I didn't even get to see my own tits and that's tragic.

Solas. I did not romance the egg in DAI. I do not like the egg. I liked how I got to handle the egg. So much. I've seen the Lavellan romance scenes and if there's any uproar from the Sollavellans (one l or 2?) it's because they didn't let you see the 2 of them fuck nasty in high definition for an hour. It's Rooks story now. You're fine. Go write fanfiction.

The lore. Hoo boy. Honestly they really did put everything in a blender and fished out what they liked. Everything is made up and the points don't matter. I don't LOVE that they retconned so much of what was in Origins. Zevran and the Crows especially seems really odd. I THINK the idea is that it's been like 20-30ish years since all that and stuff has changed or information was wrong or inaccurate or whatever? But that seems lazy. I wish they'd addressed it more with SOMETHING. But also there's 3 games worth of lore, not to mention comics and novels and like. I get it. But consistency guys. Add more codex entries or something. This is my biggest gripe. It did not impact my enjoyment too much. I loved what was added.

Spoilers below

That ending was so ABRUPT?! At least with DAI you got a ending party and final scene with your LI but here you get some end cards and voice over? I would have accepted that if we were getting DLC but this?? This is insane! Bioware I am begging on my knees to give us at least a "well we did it!" scene. The ending was epic but the ENDING was a disappointment.

Now. The suicide mission. I spent [redacted] number of hours investing blood, sweat, and tears of friendship into these 7 assholes and there is NO way to save 1 of them?? And you have to choose between Harding and Davrin??? Just those 2?? There should be a way to save them! Don't give me the no matter what crap! I don't want CONSEQUENCES I want FRIENDSHIP. If you could do it in ME2 you should be able to do it here. Also. Can we not have it be 50/50 heroic sacrifice with a black man? Like. I know you can technically choose but like why make it an option. It just feels weird.

So yeah. Initial thoughts and feelings. Overall good with some stuff I really disliked. I will be normal about this eventually.

I'll probably regret sending this out into the world when the sollavellens find me. Oh well.

[xylathesilkwing]

played the Time-Breaker DLC! confusing and both enlightening experience- spoilers under the cut below! It is my feverish ramblings and not professional at all, enjoy

-SAM LAAAAKE I thought you were evil Mr Lake but I only had you for a moment I miss you come back

-JESSEEEE JESSEE jessse hi. hi Jesse (insane)

-no fr though Petri Alanko confirmed that the music that plays during Tim (Shawn?? Jack?? I’m gonna say Tim) and Jesse’s introduction was supposed to be a 1:1 recreation of the music that plays in Quantum Break with Jack and Beth, and I just think that’s neat (going feral)

-the insane scribbling on the whiteboard in the trailer resembles the scribbling the real (original? currently dark place) Tim’s notes:

and since I think it’s confirmed that the DLC episodes are just attempts at Alan Wake trying to escape the dark place, did he see the OG notes and go “oh yeah, I could probably write something with that”? Did he predict what Tim would write that without ever meeting him? Is the multiverse real??

-also, “red headed woman” in both images. obviously in the DLC it’s Jesse, and probably is the same in the actual game (especially with the polyhedrons) but it’d be so cool if he also remembered Beth or those other versions he had seen

-this image alone down below?? listing off names??

obviously we’ve got Jesse, plus Dylan (Faden? possibly her brother?) and someone named Savage, but we’ve also got Lisa, Elisa and Liz being nicknames for Elisabet/related to it. Just sayinnn Beth could be part of that tooo (delusional) (hasn’t finished quantum break yet)

-anyways we continue

-the ocean view hotel is so freaky cool in this world??? The clocks leading you to different rooms, the FBC being present and posting notes on doors and cannonly being there, plus the ENEMIES? I’m afraid of the shadows in Alan Wake’s playthrough but these were also pretty freaky

-JESSEEE I’m sorry I’m just genuinely so insane about her im glad she returned

-while I can’t remember the name of the place she works for, i find it pretty funny she still works for a concealed/unknown agency involved with secret forces. went from supernatural events to the multiverse girl

-the time-sea-whatever outside?? insane. cool. wicked awesome

-“and another version of me got super powers” and it’s her lifting a forklift!! Love the control references, especially the Alien Guardian Angel one.

-“as you say, characters in a video game” METAA

-okay I had to put this here but Tim/Jesse shippers.. I see you. like I’m an avid Jessily shipper but genuinely I see the appeal

LIKE? Obviously this is most likely an homage to the fan theories of Jesse and Tim being echoes of Beth and Jack, but it’s also so interesting Alan-wake wise. I could probably make a separate post for this but like- imagine you’re Jesse and you’re seeing all these versions of a man some variant of you loved die gruesome deaths, and you’re feeling these feelings that aren’t actually /yours/, it’s. I’m insane it’s so freaky and cool and sad and ARGH

And for Tim!! your other versions were trying to find this girl and when you get there you realize that the feelings you feel for her aren’t actually yours either! just some version of you and some version of her that probably didn’t work out! I’m gonna go insane!

-the arcade game sequence was INSANE and I love it so much. I wish we saw more of that universe

-the universe with all the empty time-core-thingies?? insane, freaky, perfect.

-THE VOID? THE TEXT?

-okay so I might be weird for this but instead of thinking about The Master of Many Worlds I thought about the red headed woman I’m so sorry. definitely got caught off track but the way her name is LIS like the names list?? and she’s a DANCER? <—— I’m a dancer

-it was so freaky when all the text and numbers turned into Alan Wake at his desk?? but also so meta and cool?? insane DLC

-awesome DLC! North Star is my favorite so far but tbh this one was super meta I loved it

[nebulousmistress]

2024 Fic in Review

format lifted from @luddlestons who borrowed it from @ziskandra but nobody will notice since I live in rarepair hell lol

Total number of fics: 44, tho this includes WIPs I posted to that I'd started previously

Total wordcount: 342,031

Fandoms: 4, if lumping all Dragon Age into one fandom. 18 Stardew Valley, 24 Dragon Age of various types, 1 Original Work in the Cthulhu Mythos, and 1 Original Work of my own

Smut scenes: 6 explicit, more if you count alluring suggestion

Most Popular Fic (by bookmarks): A Farmer's Madness with 12

Most Popular Fic (by kudos): The Green Rain with 154

New Things I Tried: 60 thousand words without ever naming one of the main characters. Liberal usage of 1st person POV but not for all of it, nowhere near all of it. I started just to see if I could then it became a running joke then it grew into a realization of eldritch proportions

Fic I spent the most time on: Memento of Legacy, it went deep into left field and dragged an entirely new rarepair out of me and AO3 kicking and screaming. And it's still a WIP

Fic I spent the least time on: The Purpose of Aesthetics, about half an hour

Favourite thing I wrote: Confessions, I don't even go to this or any western religion and yet there was something delightfully cathartic about this one. Sebastian was trying to get me to torture more but I kept the Templar rape out of it. Man was a masochist looking to get punished. He's better now and this fic is part of why

Looking Back, Did You Write More Fic Than You Thought You Would This Year, Less, Or About What You’d Expected? [looks up at 300k words] Honestly I expected that number to be lower. But I wrote about as much as usual? This is fairly normal for me. I write when I'm stressed and A Lot happened this year

Story Of Mine Most Under-Appreciated By The Universe, In My Opinion: Most of them? I have to go with Safe, an original work with only 18 hits. I knew it would never breach a hundred hits but I posted it anyway. It's a EM-induced musing I had while the rest of the world marveled at aurorae and got migraines

Most Unintentionally Telling Story: Either Protector of the Valley where I admit the Farmer's name and unintentionally reveal how much one version of me has done recently, or The Seeker's Quest: Kirkwall where I heavily imply one of the greatest secrets of the series

Biggest Disappointment: I still couldn't bring myself to work on my Star Wars AU, it's gnawing at me

Biggest Surprise: So @bengesko has been recommending this game for a while now, Stardew Valley, so I picked it up and on my very first playthrough... Now I've got 60k of fic and a series that might actually END all based on that very first meandering playthrough I ever did

My Favourite Part Of Fandom This Year: This was the first year in 20 years of fandom that I ever had the courage to actually commission art for a fic FOR THE PURPOSE of putting it into stories and it rocks ngl

Writing goals for next year: finish shit. Finish all stories planned for the past in Dragon Age. Finish this Eldritch Stardew series. Write for the Inquisition in Exile era. Enjoy myself in rarepair hell since it is where I excel

Did you meet last years goal? I had a goal? Lies

[confinedmadness]

[Game Review] 結合男子 -  Elements with Emotions

I’ve been wanting to play this game since finding out about it during the Tokyo Game Show 2022 in September last year. I admit, I was drawn to it purely based on the art. But, after knowing more about it, I realized it was a type of game I play often enough anyways.

Elements with Emotions is a visual novel-style game where in you pair up different characters to proceed to different story routes. At the moment, the game is only available in Japanese and can only be played with Nintendo Switch.

I bought and downloaded the game on release day, and after a day I’ve finished exactly 2 endings (1 proper ending, and 1 failed ending). Overall, the game was fun to play, with a rather simplistic story but a cast of varied lovable characters, and a repetitive leveling system but very interesting ability concept.

Story

Personally, the story is okay. “Dead matter” is overtaking the world and turning it into nothingness. We join the main characters as they fight against dead matter with elemental powers. It keeps you interested enough to keep going, with a few twists here and there, especially towards the end, but really nothing special. 

I think the story is burdened by a lot of terminology. While it does help create a completely different world, it also introduces a lot of complexity that I thought it didn’t really need. Sometimes, they just made the story harder to understand instead of making it interesting.

If you have the patience to immerse yourself in the world though, you will be rewarded because the worldbuilding was great. There’s even a lot to learn from reading the glossary of terms and the information packed into the descriptions / explanations.

Characters

I do love the characters in this game. Character design is amazing, and they thoroughly make use of this in the marketing of the game. Each character has their own twitter account (yes, the character) and you can see each of their personalities shine that way. I think this is only possible because each character was well thought out.

As with any visual novel, you don’t really get to know all the characters in a single playthrough. You get to know the most about someone in a route where they are the central character. And then you get to know extra information about them in the other routes where they serve a more minor role. 

However, considering I only really played through the entire story once (because the failed ending was really too early), I do think they did a great job of introducing the characters and giving you a chance to know each one a little bit. Enough for you to be interested in them.

Every in-game day, you have a chance to talk to a character or pair of characters and learn more about them (their personality, hobbies, what they do and where they go in their free time, etc).

I am personally really excited to buy Misora’s additional content so I can play his routes. Despite playing a relatively small role in the route I did, he definitely caught my attention.

Also, the game has a wonderful voice acting cast, which is always a really big point for me.

Game Play

At its core, this game works just like every other visual novel. You read the story and every now and then, you will be presented with choices that will affect dialogue, responses, and the story as a whole.

The unique aspect of this game, however, lies in its use of the elements. Every character has the power of a specific element. No, not the classical elements like earth, wind, water, fire. I’m talking about chemical elements-- hydrogen, lithium, carbon, etc.

Every in-game day, you’re able to train chosen characters. You can choose between 3 activities: (1) “link” two characters (elements) so their connection  becomes stronger, (2) train your whole team so their shared abilities become stronger, or (3) let them rest so their “happiness” is restored and their future training becomes more effective.

The abilities are my favorite thing in the game. Abilities are named after chemical compounds. And yes, you can only use abilities if you have all required atoms to form the compound. For example, to use the ability Carbon Dioxide (CO2), you need to have 1 carbon and 2 oxygen atoms available. These atoms are generated with every attack that the corresponding character makes.

I swear I had so much fun learning about these compounds (even though you don’t need to understand them to play the game) that if this game had existed when I was still in high school, I might have gotten a better grade in chemistry.

Finally, during a fight, once your “link gauge” has been filled, you can then “link” your chosen pair so that they are strengthened and can deliver a killing blow to the enemy. (So far, all enemies died once I’m able to link, but I’m unsure if it guarantees the end of a fight.)

All in all, had a lot of fun with it and looking forward to trying out different pairings and seeing the different stories. Also, excited to form more compounds with more characters as additional stories are released in the coming weeks.

[alitgblog]

"live" blogging s7, vol 1 (some analysis, some jokes lol)

first off, I totally forgot there were other casa amor girls so opening the app to see them on the banner I was like oooo

the S7 MC isn't too bad art wise, like it's definitely better than I thought with the preview, but

I do think the skinnier size MC is super skinny and the bigger one is not that much bigger, which is a little disappointing (always appreciate more size inclusion). ideally I think there would be one more size up i think but I do understand that means they'd have to fix all the clothes 3 times.

speaking of clothes they've always been bad at the beginning of the season since like s4 and this is no exception. I wish we got more options in the beginning and then the others they tack on later

the skin tones really are only three shades with each having one warmer variation, which is kind of nice to have people get that option in tone, but I do still wish there were more shades variation in between (and darker ones in general)

for absolutely no reason I have decided that my MC is also gonna be the S5 MC from my first playthrough getting a second chance after a second failed relationship with Suresh (let's just pretend she didn't win her season lol) and she's cute in this style (but again i wish we had the right skin tone for her). I guess if fusebox is backing out of bringing back Eddie then I'm bringing my MC

Her name is Junie and she's doing a lot better now mentally and has gained a little bit of healthy weight and finally loves herself now so fusebox better not make an embarrassment out of her again.

this actually works out pretty well bc usually the casa amor girls on the show arrive at the same time unless something is special about one of them who can show up separately like MC does here (ok fine I've only seen that happen in LI USA S5 and I guess s6 of the game)

Ep 1

Bonnie being an LI feels solely like penance for me thinking Iona was hot but sad she wasn't even a friend really let alone an LI in s3 so thank you but for narrative purposes I'm making Junie straight

Uma is gorgeous

also fusebox is not beating the reused assets allegations even those poses are just too eerily familiar

"I wanna try the slow burn" *has war flashbacks to the Ozzy route I never finished*

short king raf

ok Alex picking MC when Summer was flirting so hard is actually very funny to me

I understand bc it's a gem choice i didn't pick that we didn't get the last card but very funny that they were like we're just not gonna give Summer a chance at all actually

Let's goooo confirmed Joyo is Indonesian (I'm filipino so i was hoping filipino so I could draw him singing karaoke but I am here for any southeast Asian representation at all 🥳)

however I am upset with the use of "rizz" again. maybe once or twice but if they do it again I'm rioting

Alex nerding out is so cute. also who wouldn't want a bob the builder boyfriend for home improvement projects lol

am i too old to understand what normcore is?? like I barely understand e-girl aesthetic but there's more??

Bryson and his sister Jess have the most realistic sibling relationship from the last two seasons bc I also would mess with my brother's partners. and I once again am mourning the idea of a protective brother slow burn storyline in s6 instead of whatever Amelia was doing

"I won't bore you with the details" no pls do it I wanna know and I don't wanna pay the gems

all the guys have great personalities so far and idk if it's because I'm paying attention more this time or it's just better but oh no I'm falling for all of them

the drama set up with the guys and their partners is promising writing (namely the triangle with Geri, Bryson, and Joyo but maybe just because im torn between those two anyway) I'm shocked but cautious it's episode 1 lol

ep 2

early doors?

the gem party outfit is so 2013 disney channel, I actually will be taking the free outfit

wait why is it not night time for truth or dare why did they change clothes lol

joyo, get out of here with the graphic tee and blazer combo. Maybe this is why Bryson doesn't like you, and it'd be justified (tbf him being a bad dresser has been established already though)

oh God I didn't see his pants too jfc let him borrow some clothes

I'm into the frenemy relationship with Summer, like there's always a female villain in the game and they're almost always entertaining to me at the beginning (minus maybe Kat and Ivy)

I'm warming up to the all the guys like how can you pick

I'm starting to realize I personally have a problem because I always go, at least initially, for the chefs/foodies (Jake, Bobby, Camilo, Roberto) and I like Bryson rn and I think my MC would go for Bryson based on how I played her in s5 but I'm slowly inching over to Joyo and honestly i see the vision for Bobby clone I mean Raf and it is absolutely bc they've mentioned cooking

stop talking about feet pls not again

I expect this from Summer but Uma coming over to try to steal my man?? I appreciate her boldness though and at least she's not going behind anyone's back

ep 3

as someone who doesn't have the modded app and will not pay real money for gems, I feel very happy with choosing to eavesdrop on the guys' conversation. I feel like usually a lot of the gem scenes aren't worth it but this one is fun

Joyo does skincare but can't dress and Bryson is a fashion expert but makes fun of skincare. If they joined forces they'd be unstoppable, thank God they hate each other

hey what the fuck happened to cassius

so in summary im pleasantly surprised and hyped for this season at the moment. and lastly, pls don't drop the ball on stick or twist again please please pleaseeee

[still-a-morosexual-help]

Just curious, what made you start playing OBM, and why did you continue? I started playing some time in 2020 bc I saw some art on tumblr, but then I stopped playing for a while up until a few months ago. I'm really glad I got back into it, it's been great fun :) I'm only halfway through s2 so I've got loads of content waiting for me

I've been sending a lot of asks (I'm the person who got the Barbatos UR card twice, and I've also asked about the boys' outfits), could I be 🦇 bat anon if I send more?

I'm glad you were able to get into it and have fun! And yeah you can definitely be bat anon!

Ohhhh smdknjjsmdd okay so long story short it was on a whim.

But really there were a lotta circumstances that lead to it. It was a complete domino effect of coincidences.

You know how Diavolo called MC coming to the Devildom, fate bred out of coincidence or something like that? Yeah that was it exactly.

Gonna cut it cause it'll be long and I'm gonna end up ranting

Normally I don't regularly watch youtubers. Trust me this is going somewhere.

Anyway normally I'll watch like 1 or 2 videos every once in a while but it's never a regular thing

I've never watched a playthrough of a game before either.

Until youtube randomly recommended a cody ko video (I hadn't even subscribed) of them playing season 1 of love island the game and I was bored so I figured why the fuck not (I also didn't know he had a youtube channel at the time and part of why I clicked it was "hey? Isn't that the guy from vine?")

Turns out you could romance one of the female characters in the game too and I ended up watching the whole series, except they never reached the end cause all their game data ended up getting deleted

For about 2 weeks after that I kept wandering if MC ever got together with Talia and how it happened and etc until I finally gave in and downloaded the game (also the first dating sim I've ever played)

Litg uses a lot of gems though for premium choices and cause I was only interested in finding out how S1 ends I figured I'd just quickly run through s2 without making any gem choices and collect all the gems I could after finishing chapters

Except turns out, not only is the are style of S2 better but the characters/their personalities are more 3D and the writing was better and I ended falling completely in love with it (and Bobby)

By the beginning of 2020 I'd replayed S2 at least 3 times and by April we were in lockdown and leaving the house could get you arrested and I was bored and my litg hype had died down and I was on play store just scrolling through and now that I'd played one dating sim they kept on recommending others as well including OM!

I clicked on it (did not read the description) but looked at the pictures, got the general idea and scoffed and downloaded it cause I figured it'd be dumb and I'd delete it in a week or on the off chance that it was good I'd delete it in a month or two cause that's usually how long any game (even ones I adore) manage to keep my attention (litg s2 had softened me up a lot and made me more open to dating sims, without it I highly doubt I'd have given OM! the chance considering I'd been ignoring the arcana for years despite how many times play store tried to recommend it to me)

I've never played otome games before but I knew MC was always a petite fair skinned, long haired girl. And that the LIs would trip over each other to get at MC immediately for no reason and with no built up chemistry.

Looked at my wall, saw the rubber lizard stuck to it and named MC Eliza - short for A-Lizard - cause I figured that's a generic name for the type of person an otome game MC usually is (and for the type of person who'd get stuck in a gothic house with demons)

So I downloaded the game on April 20th (completely forgot about 420), named MC, played a bit and immediately wanted to punch Mammon in the face cause like what the fuck is that guy's deal!? What a fucking asshole!? Why are we stuck with him!? He's gonna get mc killed! Ugh at least ik who my favourite character won't be!

Anyway it's been 1 and a half years and I've made sure to login every single day to get the login reward (even if I don't play the game I need to login outta some weird need to prove something to myself)

MC's only visual representation being a sheep, MC being completely gender neutral, MC using they/them pronouns, the brothers not immediately falling for them, only getting a kiss at the very end of S1, the found family trope, the mystery with Belphie & Lilith in S1, the growing urge to punch Lucifer in the face throughout S1, MAMMON, the way all the characters develop & grow on you, MC & the brothers being separated at the end of S1, MAMMON, the layout of the homescreen, how easy it was to get dv & dp, the potential for angst and deeper lore, the chats and how realistically all the characters spoke in them - they weren't stiff yknow? They said things and had interactions the way real people do while texting

^ all those things kept me hooked plus the fact that I'm grateful cause:

• my gender's always been very up in the air and I've been confused and uncomfortable with it a lot, but the first time they referred to MC as "they" I went "ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh"

• The Mammon Way is the first Devilgram I got & read (and I think it's everyone's first). I read it and instantly went "Oh. He has ADHD." and then went about my day. Found out a lot of people thought that too and then someone sent me a really long twitter thread that talked about Mammon & ADHD with canon evidence. I was heavily on board that HC then. Started writing Mammon × MC fics in july and it took me till around oct to realise that maybe the fact that I relate to and project on Mammon way more than I do on MC (the character literally created for us to project on to) while writing fics probably had a deeper meaning (turns out it did)

Eliza ended up being none of the things I though they'd be. They're tall, brown, short-haired and definitely not a girl and I'm as attached to them as I am to the brothers

The only thing I regret is that I made their birthday the 21st of April, the day after I downloaded the game, not realising that if I'd just kept the current date their birthday would be 420🥲

[ratcandy]

Guess who finished Wandersong, boys

spoilers under the read more as i have MANY thoughts

Okay 1 where the FUCK WAS AUDREY IN THE CREDITS SEQUENCE? did I MISS HER SOMEWHERE? That feels like. a. pretty important character to show at the end! so I’m assuming I must’ve missed her?? or?? strange unless this is foreshadowing a sequel or somethin. wandersong part 2 electric boogaloo: audrey is back and she’s depressed

oR she’s just fuckin dead after killing the last overseer but dam

Also ok I get why the fandom would dislike her but. i. legit cannot hate her by any means during the whole,,, part,, of act 6, i was just like. oh you’re a human being with emotions! yea i thought so! YEA I GOT YOU. I GOT THIS ON CAMERA

then there was the whole “i lied” to the promise thing which I called shdkgjh My thought process was like “either she’s gonna redemption arc (unlikely), betrayal (likely), or the song won’t work on the King of Hearts and she’ll have a reason to be like ‘VIOLENCE IS THE ONLY WAY!!’ or whatever”

but it was the betrayal one :// which like,, i understand i guess I just wish there was an entire ounce more of reason behind her other than “this is the way it has to be” tell me she’s tryin prove something to someone specifically maybe? At first I thought that would be Eya or Eyala but seeing as... no, then i dunno I get she was a “nobody” before she got deemed Hero but. like. what. was her thought process here? what did she want? other than being... special Which she would have been if they saved the world?? she said “it’s not enough” as her last words but like...... why not. why isn’t that enough

what are you trying to prove. and to whom

I wanna dissect her brain so bad and figure out her exact thought process here ‘caUSE I GET that she would hAVE the “this is the way it’s gotta be” mindset from Eyala, but then Eyala?? Supposedly was like “yo hold up for a sec” and that pissed Audrey off? so i don’t. i mean I guess it could make sense as she had her little epiphany. She doesn’t want to be told what to do anymore. but. like. she’s. doing exactly what she was told to do in the beginning. by killing the overseer

her motivation makes sense to me but like... barely

if we’re not careful i’m going to project onto her and give her stupid family issues or some shit. it’s literally going to be zote all over again! trying to prove themselves to their family for insert reason! got dammit

all-in-all, i really like audrey!! I think her character is epic! I’d get happy whenever she showed up, even most of my playthrough after act 3 was me whispering “please audrey don’t be here” because i knew. i knew it’d be bad news for me BUT!! Still! I just. oogh. she’s complicated and a lot is unanswered and I like that! don’t take any of what I said above here as bashing on her development or the game!! I want,, moRe of her, thatse all! more reasons, more everything. ‘cause she’s still so vague to me

ANYWAY MIRIAM!!!! CAN WE TALK ABOUT MIRIAM... CAN I TALK ABOUT THE ENTIRE SCENE IN THE CRATER AND HOW I CRIED CAN WE TALK ABOUT HER GETTING HIT BY AUDREY’S LIGHTNING AND THEN HAVING TO GO ‘CAUSE SHE’S HURT AND THEN THINKING SHE’S A FAILURE AND I JUST YELLED AT THE TOP OF MY LUNGS “NOOOOOOOO” BECAUSE 1) MIRIAM BABY NO PLEASE and 2) oh ngonogn oh noooo oh no oh fuck miriam please don’t be relATEable like that

i want to hold miriam in my arms and tell her it’s going to be okay she’s loved and i love her and i want the best for her and i hope she has a wonderful future now that the world is saved

also irrelevantly am i understanding right that the Baron is the Bard’s. father

did i completely misinterpret that OR

hhrgn this game was so pretty and beautiful and the music got my gay little heart going AAAAA, and then the wholesome ass ending with the HUG and the “thank you for being my friend” made me AUUUGH NOOOO irl see when I deal with overwhelming emotion i take it out on punching things, but this time i had nothing to punch so i just beat the everloving sHIT out of my chest and now it hurts so bad

Mask boy is good I’m 90% sure i got all the dances because I just kePT LOOKING FOR HIM i wanted to hear that funky little groove he does on that note: i choose to ignore that the bard dabs. thanks

also did phil really have to smashmouth - allstar me in the credits. was that thing he had to do

ok i know i had more thoughts than this but it’s very late and i’ll need to be sleepin soon, i’ll properly respond to some things tomorrow maybe hehehee audrey is short. goodbye

[freckled-lili]

So some of you may be trying not to remember that I did a silly, cingey playthrough that I called Sou Doki Doki!, where I was playing Doki Doki Literature Club and named the MC after Sou Hiyori, then for the rest of the VN acted out as Sou. It wasn’t very good.

But anyway.

During Act 2 of the VN I had also wrote a poem and uploaded it into three parts (mostly because the poem ended up being a lot longer than I had originally intended). But I had also encrypted the poems in different codes (Base64, Binary ... I think the last was UCode or something?), because that was gimmick DDLC also did with some of their easter eggs - hide extra poems or additional content through encryption.

After some thought, I’ve finally decided to upload all three parts in normal text for anyone who was curious about what was going on with those poems. I will admit it’s not that great, but I worked really hard on the poem so I’m satisfied with how it came out.

*skateboards out*

The Man with the Glass Smile

 Part 1

Today I was invited to a game

When I arrived, there were only

Two holes

They fit perfectly for my eyes

They must have been made

For me

They said

“Look inside me”

So I peered inside

Not all things can be ignored

Inside were rivers

All rushing and struggling

To move forward

To steer their own course

Fleeing nonsensically,

A world full of tangled possibilities

But all rivers lead to

The bottomless ocean

You can’t change nature

You can’t change the threads of fate

I stumbled back

The two holes said,

“I’m sorry

Did you think that all life

Was equal in this game?

You are all nothing but

Numbers on a page

And you and I

Are the most insignificant

Of them all”

I fell to my knees

tried to scream

But

I was choking

A million beats

threatening to erupt from

my throat

Tiny frogs

trying to swim up

a waterfall

Something was dribbling

from my lips

I covered my mouth

But soon it was lea

king

from the cracks of my pale fingers

Excreting from my body

was ink and glass

It splattered over

the floor below me

A black, cracked pond that reflected

Nothing

Least of all myself

The pond grew tall

Morphed and twitched into

A figure

He had a smile made of glass

He was someone I should know

A memory shoved in the back

Or a piece of my soul I barely knew

The man with the glass smile said

“I’m sorry

You should never have been sent

To the front lines

I am not your savior

I will be the one

To walk out of this game

For you

All you have to do

Is stay inside”

I wish I could I say

I refused countless times

It’s hard to remain crystal clear

When the mind is

crac k ing

I rested my head down on his shoulders

Held him like a tired child

He carried me in his arms

Ink stained my skin

Shards pricked my flesh

There is no flawless future

So I buried myself

In the ink and shards

We held each other close

We conducted our discordant lullaby

“We/I can(‘t) keep the pieces together

We/I can(‘t) keep the pieces together

We/I can(‘t) keep the pieces together

We/I can(‘t) keep the pieces together”

I close my eyes

I will sleep

Until the poem is finished…

Part 2

…but I couldn’t sleep

There were voices

From outside

It was so cramped here

It was made for me after all

Is survival supposed to feel so

Lonely?

I saw two holes along the walls

They fit perfectly for my eyes

My isolation enticed me to peek

Not all things will be ignored

Outside there were eyes

They were upset about something

Seething, glaring, squinting

Their pupils dilating with hunger

For demise

My demise

They drew in close

They said,

“Soon

Soon

Soon it will be

Your turn to die

Soon”

Distressed, I looked down at

Myself

But I was no longer mine

I belonged to the man with the glass smile

That was the deal

With my mouth

We bared cracked grins

With my voice,

We crafted lies to conceal me

With my hands

We passed the skull to another

With their lives,

We moved forward

With his way,

My hands are crimson

It hurts

Is this really survival?

I pleaded

“It wasn’t me!

I’m sorry, it wasn’t me!”

But my mouth

Wasn’t mine anymore

The man with the glass smile

Stroked my cheek with jagged hands

Wet with inky tears

He said,

“I’m sorry

Did you think this was going to be easy?

We’re only doing this

Because you can’t

They’re only numbers on a page

All frantically adding and subtracting each other

Are you really weeping for numbers?

Don’t forget

Yours the most insignificant

Of them all”

He drew me away from the holes

We whispered out lullaby

“We/I can(‘t) keep the pieces together

We/I can(‘t) keep the pieces together

We/I can(‘t) keep the pieces together

We/I can(‘t) keep the pieces together”

Inside I tried to sleep

The poem will be over soon.

But I couldn’t think about verses

Only numbers

They’re just supposed to be numbers

Why does it hurt

When one is taken out of the equation?

It doesn’t matter

How many times it gets better

1000 x 0 = 0

All rivers lead to the bottomless ocean

The voices our louder

Swarming, twisting, writhing,

I can’t breath

Has anyone drowned in sound before?

This can’t be survival

I need to get out

So I start scratching

Fingernails rakING violently around me

A revolting

cac

O

PHO

ny

Of voices and s////cr\\\\a////tche\\\\s

Soon my nails are stuffed with pulp

Like a FATTENED cherry pie

I keep s////cr\\\\atchi////ng\\\\

I//// ke\\\\ep sc////rat\\\\ching

S ////c r A \\\\ t C H I n //// g gggggggggggg \\\\

The man with the glass smile

Peels me away from the walls

Shards pierce my skull

Ink stinging my cuts

He said

“I’m sorry

But you knew

You could never survive this game

That’s why I’m at the front lines

There are no saviors

There are no heroes

There is only surviving

You can’t really die on the inside”

We struggled

We scrEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEamed

at each other

“We/I CAN(‘t) keep the pieces together!

We/I can(‘T) keep the pieces together!

We/I CAN(‘t) keep the pieces together!

We/I can(‘T) KEEP THE PIECES TOGETHER!”

He went back outside

I kept sc////rat\\\\c////hin\\\\g inside

This is not survival

I want this poem to end

I hate how it’s coming out

I keep scr////at\\\\c////hi\\\\ng …

Part 3

…but it was all meaningless

I always knew

If there really was no chance

Then I wish I was taken out of the equation

Before I put together a glass smile

There were two holes

They fit perfectly for my eyes

I crawled towards them

And took another peek

There are some things you won’t ignore

Outside there were eyes

They were upset about something

Seething, glaring, squinting

All hungry for demise

My demise

I’m sorry

In the distance

There was a silhouette

Faint as a ghost

They fluttered towards me

Softly

A cherry blossom in the wind

Their little hands poked through the holes

I held them by their fingertips

Tried not to stain them with ink

(Or was it blood?

I can’t tell anymore

It all looks the same now)

They didn’t seem to mind

I forgot what gentleness felt like

Behind me

A cacophony of voices and scratches

In front of me

The hushing breath

Of a meadow’s breeze

They swept away

The madness of sound

I forgot what tenderness sounded like

Did you ever think

That a ghost would bring life?

I forgot what that was

I wasn’t living

I was simply not dying

I always had my head down

Trying to keep the pieces together

I was always struggling

To remain afloat in the rushing river

With one faint touch

I looked up and remembered

To bathed in the sunbeams

With one faint touch

I felt a little more grounded

And finally touched the sky

The air felt so clean and clear

I breathed again.

They asked me

“Have you ever met someone

Who became a ghost before they died?

I am a ghost for someone I lost

Just like you

Who you lost, I don’t know

You and I are simply flickering in life

Maybe I can save you

What little light I have left

I want you to have

So you may be your own light again

If I have to fade

I’m ready for that”

They let go

They fluttered away

But not to join the wind

A cherry blossom adrift

On the ocean’s surface

Ready to sink

Did you keep my head up

So I could watch you go

And never come back?

The man with the glass smile asked,

“Are you really weeping for numbers?

It’s just another subtraction

That’s how the game goes

Remember

You’re the most insignificant

Of them all

Subtracting you won’t save anyone”

Enough

My fingers flew up

Smashed the glass smile

From my face

I reached out

I already lost myself

Please!

Don’t let me lose them too!

Please!

But the two holes were too small

So I start scratching again

Dug my nails along the edges of the holes

Spread them open

I leap out

All rivers lead to the bottomless ocean

I reach out

With the last of my strength

I held up the flickering ghost

With my last breath

I blew them back into the wind

And they fluttered away once more

There are saviors here

But that savior wasn’t me

Under the surface of the ocean

I gazed up towards the reflection

Of the man who once had a glass smile

I said,

“I’m not sorry

I can’t live being made of glass

You and I

Could never keep the pieces together

Instead you just picked off

the shards from my broken body

Laid them down

For someone to bleed on

How can I walk out of this game

If you keep taking me apart

And leave me behind?

The person I lost was me

You were never really surviving

Just writing a long-winded poem

Hoping you would never have to

Finish it”

The final word

Was mine

I’m reaching the end of this poem

I never felt so happy

I sunk into the cradle of the ocean

Silence never sounded so beautiful

I smile

I sink

I live

0.0%

[superpotato824]

i just finished Life is Strange: True Colors, so here are my thoughts on it (this is gonna be VERY long)

WOW okay my head hurts from staring at a screen that long but omg that game was so beautiful! The scenery, the ambient sounds, the characters, oh my GOD it was a visual masterpiece. The flower bridge, the flower shop, dang just the whole entire town of Haven!!!! Such a pretty place and so breathtaking. And the character animation??? I was scared it would look weird or creepy but WOAH it looks amazing. Definitely loved how the game looked and felt. All the characters were well fleshed out and that made it easier to connect with them as a player.

Now, for the plot... I really did love it. At least... I think I did? I'm determined to love every LiS game so take this with a pinch of salt. The plot was very interesting and definitely refreshing for the LiS series. In the original game, the plot kinda centers around the supernatural tornado or whatever that Max saw in her vision. In the LiS2, the brothers are running cuz of an accident caused by Daniel's supernatural powers (also its been a while since I played BtS so uhhh I don't really remember it oops) ANYWAYS in True Colors!!! It's finally different! The main conflict is not caused due to the character's supernatural powers! It's different, but honestly really cool. For once, you don't have a nagging feeling about causing the end of the world or being caught by the cops whenever you use your powers! Well, sort of... I don't know if it was just me, but some times when Alex used her powers, it felt like blatant emotional manipulation. Like, she would "dive into the hearts of others", find their greatest secret, fear, whatever it is, and then turn it against them. Using her powers to make Mac tell her the truth about what happened with the call Gabe made. Idk it just didn't sit right with me sometimes. Alex's powers are so unique and honestly I love the idea behind them and how the game works with it! But... I was at least hoping for SOME mention of how this was emotional manipulation on Alex's part. I mean, even in the original game, the nightmare-Max or whatever says that Max is using her powers to know exactly what to say and manipulate people into liking her. That's why I was so excited when a nightmare-esque scene began, cuz I thought we were about to dive deeper into that. But no, the nightmare-esque scene just showed us Alex's past, which was very interesting and definitely good to get to learn! But not exactly what I was hoping for. Sure, sometimes Alex makes an offhand comment about how she is using her powers to manipulate people, but it never stops her. Idk I guess I just wanted to see more into that but maybe that's just me. ANYWAYS again.

Honestly, I kind of saw the "surprise bad guy" being the bad guy way from the start. Idk something just seemed off about him to me or maybe I'm just used to LiS making good characters their surprise bad guy lol. Still, definitely made for a super cool and complex plot! Also though, at the end of it, I only felt like the choices that changed the end of the story were 1.) Who you romanced and 2.) Literally what you tell Gabe at the end of the game. Like,,,, I haven't seen any other playthroughs yet, but I really hope the game is different depending on your choices throughout, even if the ending is kinda stagnant (if that makes sense)

Thought of this last minute so I'm just gonna add it here before my final statements!!! ALEX'S POWERS. They are honestly SO COOL. I love how she goes from seeing them as a curse, something that makes her broken, to seeing them as a way to help people and to make things right. It's really so beautiful how the storytelling with her powers went. And her powers help flesh out the characters around her! We get to see little glimpses into the past and into these random strangers around town! It really adds another level of world building and makes the town of Haven seem even more real.

I really did love the story and oh my GOD did I love how the game looked! Definitely glad I got this game and I really wanna play it again to see how/if your choices really make a difference at the end of the day! Dang this was long and I still probably have even more thoughts on this game but I'll stop now. I think I love this game. If not for the beautiful scenery and town, then definitely for the cool, fleshed out characters living there.

Anyways if anyone wants to talk about this game or ANY other LiS game (or really anything tbh) send me a message!!! I'm bored and making friends is fun!

WAIT ALSO I JUST POSTED THIS BUT I THOUGHT OF SOMETHING ELSE!!!! There are some choices to "take" people's emotions from them. We... never see the long term consequences of that? Do they get them back? How does it affect Alex? Sure we see that the character that had anger taken from them is now numb to it, but do they ever get it back??? Can Alex give it back? And what about the character that had fear taken? How did that affect them? Sure we see they turn against the company that used to scare them, but is that the only fear Alex took? And again, how does this affect Alex??? After taking their emotions, we see Alex have a small breakdown, feeling a sudden urge of these feelings way after she took them. Like when she yelled about Gabe being dead and how nothing would bring him back, or when she curled up on herself, in fear of being watched. Does it just... go away? Does she ever deal with it? Does it ever come back???? And it doesn't help that you can choose NOT to take their emotions! That makes it harder to address in the long term. AAAA NOW IM CONFUSED AGAIN

AAAAA AND AGAIN ANYWAYS ALSO JUST REALIZED THIS WAS A LIS GAME THAT DIDNT MAKE ME CRY AT THE END. LIKE THE ENDING WASNT SAD? AT ALL? LIKE THE END FITS THE STORY AND I LOVE IT BUT WOW A LIS GAME THAT DOESNT HAVE A TRAUMATIC ENDING? CRAZY

[elffees]

so i just finished little hope

hm.

i’m gonna tag this as

SPOILERS

bc i will absolutely be talking about the ending. so anyways:

i’m guessing all the games are gonna be like this? “you think it’s supernatural but then it turns out it’s actually more scientific and not real”. i’m not saying it’s a bad trope, like i’m a huge scooby doo fan myself, but idk there’s just smthg about the dark pictures anthology that makes it...... fall flat.

i know everyone has to be tired of people bringing up UD when talking about the anthology games, but i have to compare it again here since it was essentially their stepping stone.

UD does the “supernatural but not actually” thing really well in regards to the josh storyline. but it’s not really working for me when it comes MoM and now LH. i do think LH executed it way better than MoM did tho. the reasoning is much more interesting (anthony’s past and mental state) and it basically begs you to do a replay and try an approach a player would NEVER seriously attempt as their first-run strategy (to get everyone killed actually)

i think, for ME personally, it falls flat because, in UD you had josh’s fake killer clown storyline, but alongside it was the wendigo plot. there was both “not actually supernatural” and “very fucking supernatural” storylines going on at the exact same time. it reached to fans of BOTH tropes. with the the dark anthology pictures, it’s like they start out advertising and catering to that same audience and then pull the rug out from underneath them and cater to only half.

the blend of real life issues (trauma, grief, etc.) mixed with the supernatural (monsters, ghosts, etc.) is such a good blend! it’s why i love the show the h*unting of h*ll house and why i loved UD! MoM and LH tho.... god i just can’t explain it.

it’s like instead of it going “the ghosts of our pasts still haunt us” type of blend, it feels more like “oh you wanted this thing? okay, come here... come closer i have it right here... i promise.......... SIKE actually it’s a completely different thing haha you fool”.

the LH plot twist also just feels weirdly written. the concept behind it is a good one. anthony is a traumatized man full of self loathing who can’t forgive himself for his family’s tragedy. the execution is where my problem lies. there was absolutely no build up. the two storylines we were following were the college group and the puritan group. the 70s group fell into sand after the intro.

i’m not saying the plot twist shouldve been obvious, absolutely not. but a good plot twist is one that makes you go “oohhhh everything makes sense now!” and the LH plot twist didn’t really do that for me.

aahhhh idk. these are just my feelings on the ending. like i said, i do think LH executed its main point way better than MoM did, but it still fell a little flat for me just the same.

(but then again, so far i’ve only watched 1 playthrough of this game. maybe there are some other aspects like notes or scenes that make it flow better that the lets player i watched missed. i do plan on watching other playthroughs to see what’s different. these are just my initial thoughts on everything so far)