#anyways people say videogames have no real world effects well tell me why i get nervous about recycling now

[todayisafridaynight]

Sometimes when i throw out garbage and accidentally throw something recyclable away i get nervous and put the recyclable in the proper receptacle cause i imagine majima hunting me for sport otherwise

[sonntam]

I don't get it when people say "oh, why minmaxing in DnD, it is all make-believe anyway".

Guys. It's real. If my character in tabletop is the biggest badass in the world, killing people left and right, then it's SO much more real than anything that ever happened in a videogame.

Videogames are so make believe. But tabletop?? My homies are there. They see my beautiful build. They see how well I execute my strategies. If it works, it's glorious.

I literally lived for past three days on the high of being a paladin with an aura that gives +2 to saves and casting Bless on my group. It was SO important that everyone passed their save. It was so important that my Find Steed horsie accompanied a lost druid back to his village.

This is where everything comes together: roleplay supported by in-game abilities and spells. Lady Arisa von Fellengard as I originally conceived her was supposed to be not very flashy and being tank/support Eldritch Knight Fighter. Now she is a paladin and she really blossomed.

Full tanking capabilities by having War Wizard multiclass, so that she gets both Shield AND the ability to add +4 to her saves as a reaction. Full support with Bless (bonus to saves & attacks) + Lay on Hands (healing) + Crusader's Mantle (group buff with radiant damage). Some additional support spells like Gentle Repose, Revivify, Dispel Magic, Lesser Restoration and Protection From Good and Evil always at hand.

I have whole TWO awesome weapons: Siab'Mal, the sentient sword with radiant damage which gives off sunlight AND a gorgeous magical whip with 30f range and automatic grapples on hit. That is SO COOL, because I have a Dexterity build, so with the addition of my DM graciously giving me the partial effect of the Shield Master feat (being able to put on/take off shields as a free action) I can use longbows, rapiers, whips AND my best boi Siab'Mal. It gives me a great weapon versatility which I highly appreciate, since I wanted Arisa to be a veteran of many fights and able to wield anything.

Then there are spells which highlight her personality: Zone of Truth (always prepared due to her subclass) which is utterly perfect for Arisa who prides on always telling the truth (and wishes more people followed her example). Shield, Find Familiar and Comprehend Languages nicely round up her bookish interests, while Alarm helps to show how she is often expecting the worst case scenarios and ready for an attack... at pretty much all times. Tactical Wit feature from the War Wizard has a similar feel, giving her a bonus to Initiative equal to her Intelligence.

And I did not even talk about her aura which gives immunity against charmed effects, which is so fitting, because Strahd loves charming people... and she utterly hates him (the hate is mutual). I like to think that Arisa's no-nonsense aura sobers up people around her, suppressing their charm.

And last but not least, since taking her oaths Arisa became immune to diseases with Divine Health... and also got rid of her phobia of being unclean or getting parasites.

[thechekhov]

So glad you decided to play Undertale! I think it would really suit you so I’m so happy you got into it! Could I have your thoughts about the game? I would LOVE to hear them. I’m ALL for long essays and rants, that’s my jam, but even just a small review from you would make me ecstatic!

Alright alright alright alright. 

I am ecstatic that someone asked because I have a lot to say AS ALWAYS. 

I’m gonna try to keep this readable, I swear. Will add pictures in between to keep things interesting. 

However, due to the length this will SURELY achieve, AND due to spoilers (and yes, laugh at me all you want, the game has been out for 5 years) I’ll put this under a cut. Read at your own (f)risk.

Metagaming - the game plays YOU

When I first started Undertale, I ‘knew’ these things:

there’s a stabby one with a knife, their name is chara

there’s a flower everyone hates

something something sans something something

and the last, and perhaps most important thing

you can spare your enemies to avoid killing them

The thing is. The THING IS. 

I did not realize how pervasive this strategy was. My thought at first was ‘okay, so I don’t have to kill EVERYONE.’

I had no idea that the reality was that I didn’t have to kill anyone.

I’m sure many others have already said this, but Undertale kind of changes the way you think about other games. It forces to you examine simply fighting your way through the RPG by introducing completely non-murder-y ways to resolve issues. This conversation-based combat style is not the first of its kind, I’m sure, but it’s also incredibly well done. It ties into the story, it ties into your decisions.

It ties into your decisions SO MUCH that it changes everything else in the outcome.

Undertale is a game well known for breaking the 4th wall. However, it does so in a strangely eerie, heart-wrenchingly real way. It teaches us that there are other solutions to conflicts - and it really... it really TEACHES us, you know?

Which is funny because to be honest, it took me a while to get the lesson.

(You may already be fully aware of this but yes, my first True Neutral Route was extremely organic. I legitimately had no idea that there was even more than one ending. I was just stumbling about er... killing. Out of habit.)

The beauty of this is that the game drives home that point even more effectively because I was fully unaware of my own bias. I had assumed that some enemies would require killing - DESPITE TORIEL SPECIFICALLY TELLING ME TO TALK TO THEM, and the entire Ruins tutorial being about Mercy. I killed the Dummy on accident (granted, it was due to me pressing the key too fast a few times) and didn’t think much of Toriel’s disapproval. I killed a few monsters because I saw my level was low and decided to automatically grind a little bit. 

By the time I got to Toriel, I was still not comfortable with the mechanic. I knew I could Spare her somehow - after all, she was a kind monster, and clearly an important character - but the Spare option didn’t yield promising results the first few times I chose it. I ran out of patience and decided that maybe... maybe it was like pokemon! 

Maybe I had to get her health down to a certain level before she would allow me to pass through.

Funny thing though.... you know what happens if you attack Toriel one too many times? Even if she has most of her health left? 

Yeah uh... it activates that one-hit-KO thing from No Mercy Route.

So of course, what happened? I hit her one too many times... and killed her! And of course, immediately panicked and reset. 

I got back to my previous save, Spared Toriel PROPERLY this time, and walked out of the ruins only to be confronted with my own reliance on the magical ‘redo’ button which was... apparently... not that magical.

Because it WASN’T a clean redo. Flowey apparently remembered. 

The idea that the game would KNOW about my previous attempts beyond the save file snapped me out of my casual Undertale playthrough. I realized that something was up - this game was not going to be like the others.

I think it was from this point on that I tried to be more careful, but again - I still hadn’t quite gotten the memo about not killing. I took down a few monsters around Snowdin. And when I got to Papyrus, I grew frustrated about not being able to beat him (I ended up losing several times and coming back to try again) and went off to grind SOME MORE because I figured that could raise my HP and increase my chances of holding off long enough to Spare him. 

(The incredible thing about this game is that actually, raising your level gives you only a slight advantage. You can be level 1 and carrying no items, and as long as you’re relatively proficient at dodging the bullet hell style projectiles you will have no issues.) 

Anyway, the point is that I realized I could spare the big monsters and did so readily - but I didn’t bother to spare many of the smaller ones. 

I figured it didn’t matter. 

And then I successfully evaded Undyne, gave her a cup of water, etc... and then went to her house to meet Papyrus, fully expecting her to befriend me anyway. 

And you know what happened?

“She said she won’t hang out with a murderer.“

I think that probably hit me the hardest at that point in the game. 

I had a bit ‘....oh’ moment at that point because I realized that the game would punish me for killing even the ‘not-important’ civilians of the Underground. It wasn’t about just sparing the ‘boss monsters’. My actions had consequences beyond just the ‘elite’ characters that we all tend to focus on.

Because yes, it made sense. It wasn’t about just Undyne - why WOULD she randomly be my friend after I killed tons of living beings?

From there on, I spared everyone, but didn’t reset. I decided to see how it would unravel.

The thing I want to talk about, which is a little difficult, is that...

It took me that long to learn that kindness was the answer. And that, in itself, ends up being a metaphor. 

It’s difficult to be kind if you have not been show how to be.

It’s difficult to change the way you behave (in a game or out of it) if all you know is using other methods.

It was hard enough to spare Toriel before I realized I had to just be very patient and trust that her attacks wouldn’t hit - though at first I thought she would just kill me! 

It was hard to avoid Papyrus’ attacks and I had to die several times before I successfully got through it. 

It was near impossible to fight Undyne because I legitimately had no idea Fleeing was an option. I struggled for ages at her stage, and I had to ask for help to understand what I could do.

And that’s actually honestly very true to life as well.

Being kind takes risk. Being kind takes effort. And sometimes, being kind means asking others HOW to be kind. 

When you choose to be kind, you risk being hurt, and you risk being trapped (Toriel). When you choose to be kind, you need to expand a lot more energy to succeed (Papyrus). When you choose to be kind, you need to sometimes reach out to others to show you how to properly do it (Undyne).

The rest of the playthrough probably went about as you expect. I completed the game, didn’t kill any Boss Monsters, fought to the end and... got that really unsatisfying Neutral Ending which felt strangely bittersweet. 

And of course, after I was done, I was prompted to go back and do a proper Pacifist Run. Which I did. I learned about the background of Determination, about Chara and Asriel... and about how everything came to be the way it was.

The thing that gets me the most about this game is how it serves as a direct parallel to how we use videogames. In fact, Undertale is a videogame... about videogames. 

Chara appears to be a direct metaphor for the people that use videogames to escape - to cope with whatever happened to them in The Overworld. Bad family life, or bad relationships or whatever we suffer - escapism through games is not, in itself, a new theme. 

Chara arrived in Undertale by dropping themself down a hole in the mountain, perhaps even seeking to end their life. They dropped into a world which offered them comfort and companionship, a new family and a new life - but in the end, their nature was destructive because their means to finding a solution inadvertently used other people as fodder. Asgore, Asriel - they used everyone else to complete their plans. It wasn’t about forming connections - it was about Completing the Quest. 

I wonder - did Chara even HAVE access to a MERCY option? 

Was their world one without the option of sparing someone? Did they only have the choice of acting - and was Mercy in the hands of whoever attacked them? I wonder how difficult it might have been for them. I wonder how that, in itself, shaped their perception of the world. 

I wonder if that’s why, during the No Mercy run, people recognize you as Chara? If they come back and attach themselves to your resonating DETERMINATION?

If this is true, was MERCY perhaps created later, brought into existence once Asriel himself made the choice to NOT fight, to turn back and flee, even after being attacked by humans in the Overworld? 

(It would be a nice parallel to Asgore DESTROYING the Mercy option when you enter the fight with him...)

...

In the end, I think Undertale is about many things, including video games. 

But it’s also hurting - and being hurt. 

It’s about how trauma can shape us, how we deal with feeling grief, and loss, and depression - and not being able to feel anything.

It’s about how we focus on goals and use DETERMINATION to keep going - even when whatever it is that’s driving us no longer has any SOUL. 

It’s about how our action have consequences, but they also carry the weight of a choice, and how powerful those choices are, and how powerless we feel when we aren’t given a choice - not to fight back, nor show mercy. 

I think that’s probably the reason this game resonated with so many people. It really brings something we love about videogames to the forefront - that ability to fight back, to have full and total control of our own lives...

And it also shows us how having that endless loop of repetitive grinding and fighting with zero consequences can lead to an incredible hollowness and make us numb to how we interact with real-life people. 

Anyway. 

Good game. 

[griffinblogsgw2]

The Narrative Challenge of MMOs

So I saw a post recently in the GW2 tag about how the narrative of Guild Wars is more communal vs individualistic compared to other fantasy games and, while I did like a lot of what the post said, I think it gave GW too much credit. A lot of what GW2 does is a direct result of it being an MMO and this got me thinking about the narrative challenges inherit to that.

I didn’t want to hijack their post to write about it, so here we are.

First off, hi my name is Griffin North. If you know me at all, you probably are familiar with my GW2 fan comic, Tora Steals Things (over at ToraStealsThings.com) or you know me as that random person who wrote an essay several months back about the dying tumblr fandom of GW2 that ironically blew up.

What a lot of you probably don’t know about me is that I studied Game Design for two years and have a Diploma in it. Part of what I studied was in fact narrative in games so this is where most of my knowledge on the subject comes from, consider this my disclaimer and take it for what it is.

Narrative in MMOs

Narrative in videogames is a huge topic but today I really want to talk about MMOs in general. One of the problems I saw with the post that inspired this was a comparison between Guild Wars and several fantasy games that are single player.

The demands between a single player game vs an MMO for narrative are different!

If you want to make an earnest study of Guild Wars compared to other games, it’s best to stay in the same ballpark: look at what WoW or what FFXIV are doing! That’s how you find differences! Unfortunately, I haven’t played WoW since 2007 and I haven’t even touched FFXIV so I can’t personally dive into those differences myself.

For the purpose of this essay, you can consider this as a case study of how Guild Wars 2 specifically deals with the narrative challenge of MMOs here (and why this leads to it feeling more communal as a story), but if anyone reading has anything to contribute on how other MMOs handle this I’d love to hear it!

Let’s talk about the main challenge of writing a story for an MMO

Say some new story content drops in game: you get a letter saying to go talk to a certain NPC on the map to progress the story. So you go do that only to find that said NPC is talking to a whole crowd of other players doing the exact same thing. Even as you talk to the NPC and he delivers his lines like he’s only talking to you, you know that isn’t the case -you’re not stupid after all.

Like it or not, this moment breaks the immersion of the story for a player, and this is the heart of the main issue MMOs contend with:

How do you make a player feel like the main character amongst a sea of main characters?

Game Designers want you as a player to feel special but this is immensely easier to do in a single player game than a multiplayer game. In an MMORPG, they have to deliver story that makes your character special while contending with the fact that as soon as you’re released into the world you’ll meet several other special characters played by other people. It’s really hard to feel like the magic hero with the master sword if everyone you see is also a magic hero with the master sword - get it?

How does Guild Wars handle this?

Heavy Use of Instancing

I don’t know how common this is now but when I first played Guild Wars 2, one of the things I really noticed was their heavy use of instancing when delivering story beats compared to other MMOs I’d played at the time. It’s not an elegant solution, you literally get torn out of the normal game world to play your own instance of it and that’s jarring, but it’s effective in that it allows you to be the main character of that instance. Even if you bring along friends, so long as you own the instance, your character is the one that speaks and is shown in cutscenes. Fairly simple solution, that.

The narrative immersion only really starts to break once you’re back out in the normal PvE maps with other players, and honestly there’s only so much the game can do about that.

To deal with that they contextualize the other players to justify them being there.

Guild Wars 2 narrative contextually allows space for other important player characters to exist because so much of it is organized as a war effort, and this does make a huge difference. Because you’re at war, those other players do not have to be you, the commander, to be significant. They can be various other members of the pact for example -very shiny, glittery disasters with special weapons pact members, but pact members all the same.

Guild Wars is definitely not unique in this approach though, and I think that’s obvious. World of Warcraft has you as a member of one of two different alliances at war as the game’s basic premise. I wouldn’t be surprised if FFXIV has some sort of war in it as well. It’s the easiest way to justify why these other heroes are running around in your adventure: you’re the special one, and they’re all a bunch of soldiers.

Don’t get me wrong, this doesn’t fully solve the whole breaking immersion of having a crowd of people talking to a story NPC, but this is one of the ways games like this combat the “everyone is the hero” problem.

If you’re following so far, this is why, by design, MMOs can’t be too individualistic

A war effort is a common backdrop to these kind of games because it easily justifies the multitude of players in it, but this also inevitably means that the story is going to be more communal in nature. You don’t/can’t fight a war alone.

There’s one other thing that Guild Wars does though, that makes it feel less individualistic as a narrative...

The Main Character is Special Adjacent

What I mean by this is that the main character is rarely the one the story is actually about. They’re still special, yes, but they’re special adjacent as in they’re always beside the actual special character for the story. Think about player rage about Trahearne or Kormir taking player credit and you’ll know what I’m talking about here.

The reason they do this is because it’s really hard to tell a good story about a character who’s basically a blank slate - we can’t know how the player characterizes them personally or what they’re even named. Characterize the commander too much and you risk alienating parts of your audience who view their character differently. Giving them too much of a character arc leads to the same problem. The solution then, is to allow the player to be special in SOME way but have the focus be on a different character that they CAN characterize and have grow.

Usually you’re special in how you relate to that character: you’re Trahearne’s Commander, you’re Aurene’s Champion, you’re the Boss of the various characters in Dragon’s Watch, etc. This is why the player character, the commander, doesn’t have as much growth or characterization compared to the rest of the cast.

The main character is special adjacent so that you can have your fully customized mmo character and still be the main character basically. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is true of other MMOs as well.

And this is why games like this feel less individualistic

It’s by design of how MMOs work -that’s really my point here. I love the world of Guild Wars 2 and how much of it feels like we’re fighting to save the world from ourselves or fighting nature (I see some parallels to real world shit like climate change here), but I do think it’s communal nature has more to do with it being an MMO than any real strength of its narrative.

Anyway, that’s all I got.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

[randomnumbers751650]

So, I'm writing this because I'm trying to understand psychological horror, focusing on two animes from last year: Angels of Death and Happy Sugar Life. I wanted to write this because I got inspired by discussions on the Netflix's Ted Bundy show, Explanation Point's video on HSL (which made me watch it), and because I made the mistake of reading AoD's prequel manga Episode 0. Spoilers abound.

Due to way I was raised, I have difficulty in understanding stories that villains are the protagonists. Why would anyone cheer for them? Sure, there are many logical arguments, like the attempt to understand how his mind works and the cathartic feeling of being able to do feelings you know you'd be wrong. I have a RP blog and I once talked to with a friend on trying to understand how musing an utterly despicable muse could be so cathartic and she wondered if it's because it allows her to vent her stress and negative feelings on fictional characters, instead of real people. Logically, it makes sense, but I still feel odd about it.

I first watched Angels of Death because I really enjoyed the portrayal one of my best friends in the RPC had of the protagonist, Rachel Gardner. I honestly think it was a well-written anime, Rachel telling Zack that they weren't tools and the climax with the building on fire were my favorite moments. AoD also had a great advantage because it was self-aware, the banter between Rachel and Zack was pretty hilarious, and Cathy and Danny were also evilly funny. I always wondered how AoD managed to get to be an anime and Ib not...

Also, another thing that AoD makes sure to show is that every single named member of the cast is a murderer, and the man behind everything judges himself God for the sake of an experiment. It shows Zack murdering people in flashbacks and enjoying every single minute of it. In fact, the biggest plot twist is that the apparently innocent Rachel is probably the most dangerous murderer of them, the moment when she tries to kill Zack in her floor was a moment that actually got me on the edge of my seat (said event was properly foreshadowed).

When I say all characters of AoD are well-written, I say this in a "technical" sense - given their backstories, they act in a way consistent to what they are. Zack had a really crappy childhood and turned into a murderer; Danny was bullied and indirectly caused his mother's suicide; Cathy is subconsciously guided by a desire to punish sinners that caused her parents' death; Eddie was rejected so hard that he saw killing what he liked as the only way to preserve; and Rachel also had a crappy childhood, but parents who hated each other and killing her father in self-defense just broke her, her emotionless insanity is what guides her death wish (funnily enough, it doesn't seem that Gray has anything but a god complex). In other words, while they might be nearly a caricature, they still show to act on motives that make sense for them.

The question that guides the series is "what does it mean to be human?" In the end, we all want to avoid loneliness, as Gray says to Danny while the building explodes. Danny had a really pathetic death - he was a "love to hate" villain, even if he had a childhood excuse, nowhere implies that we should sympathize with him, on the contrary, he's one of the creepiest waste of air type of characters - if we showed his portrait in the game, one could put a sub "Most Likely to be a Pedophile").

But then I decided to read the prequel manga. I hated it. A lot. The characters are nothing but violent dicks to each other, in a grand scheme to get the role of "angel" in Gray's experiment (I used to muse Dr. Danny in my RP blog, it was fun to protray him as a pathetic peepermaniac, but I lost my drive after it). It doesn't try to be nuanced or anything else, but I guess if the objective was to remind us that the characters were murderous scum, it succeeded. The effect was so bad on me, that made me question the entire point of AoD itself.

I thought about this for a while. In Aod, we're basically siding with two murderers and Zack's popularity is immense, he's a Chad of murderers. The question is why?

It would be easy to dismiss his popularity as an example of the "bad boy fantasy", mostly associated with women who latches on a "bad boy" type in hopes of "fixing him", but that alone is insufficient to explain (and although it's usually recognized as a 'feminine fantasy', I want to avoid any implication of sexism, even though I don’t doubt this has been discussed in woman’s studies).

At point a friend of mine linked me Explanation Point's video on Happy Sugar Life. Why is Satou, a murderer and near pedophile (near pedophile because she doesn't engage in actual sexual activities with Shio, but it's not less disturbing), a sympathetic character? I won't recap the entire video here, but Satou is sympathetic because of many factors, such as the fact almost everyone around her is worse (arrogant rapist manager, sadomasochist actual ebebophile Danny's long lost brother, lolicon, an actual succubus in human form, obssessed copycat stalker, mad artist - the only developed characters that save themselves are Shoko and Asahi (and not 100% in his case, his determination was his downfall) - I honestly dislike Shio because she's annoying), had a crappy childhood, and that she seems sincere in her feelings for Shio.

The issue, in the end, it's about the way it's framed. Lindsay Ellis has a pretty good video on framing, on explaining how Mikaela actually had potential to be a well-written character in the first Michael Bay’s Transformers movie, but it was ruined by the way she was framed - as mere fanservice, instead of a strong character. The same principle applies to Happy Sugar Life, just pay attention to the way Satou is framed, as a strong character, in “pure” love, flowers appears on the screen when she’s thinking of Shio.

Framing is one reason why HSL failed or, at least, lost a part of its power as a cautionary tale. In the last episode, the way her imagination exploded with images of what her happy life with Shio could be, sprinkled by sappy imagery. Even if Satou killed herself to save Shio as a way to defy her aunt, it still gives a mixed message.

If we apply EP’s argument on Satou to Zack, I think we have even better “case” for Zack. Let’s count the reasons why one should sympathize with Zack:

Antagonists (Danny and Cathy) are worse people

Strong and powerful, to the point of turning into a shonen protagonist when cutting rocks in the last episode

Has a code of honor, only kills people who are laughing

Has standards, refuses to accept godhood from Rachel

Enjoys what he does, he’s probably the most sincere character of the cast

Has a twisted sense of humor

Has a sad backstory, that offered the chance of following another path (but the old man died)

Recognizes he’s messed up

Ridiculously loyal to Ray in the end

We never get to see the PoV of his victims and when we do, the frame actually makes Zack sympathetic - for example, the woman in his flashback, we see her lying to him and him killing her for it - it’s a bad thing, but the scene is framed in a way that Zack is the offended party (it was his PoV anyway)

He’s hot - granted this only works for the anime, because in the game he was some sort of tall mummy gremlin

As another friend of mine said, when I brought this to her, in the end you’re kind of cheering for them to escape police and continue murdering others. And, in the end, they do get away - Zack (and Ray, to some extent) is never punished for his crimes, even though the ending is ambiguous most people believe they escaped anyway.

In HSL we have a similar situation: even though Satou killed herself, Shio is still irreparably damaged, preferring to live her “happy sugar life” in her head than the real world. In fact, HSL’s ending is one of the most hopeless that I’ve ever seen recently, that the entire surviving cast is apparently beyond repair (as worse as Shio worse is Taiyo - it’s quite rare to portray female on male abuse on such a realistic way, any other anime would make a semi-hentai scenario on him, but here, I wouldn’t be surprise if he died starving himself to death in his room). HSL’s ending managed to be much more hopeless than AoD’s ending.

But, returning to Zack, the way his story is framed makes him a sympathetic character. However, while I argue that Zack is a well-written character, he’s not a very realistic one for one simple reason: he’s too conspicuous to be a successful serial killer, he’s too loud and messy; actual serial killers are methodic people, they plan a lot to not leave clues. Meanwhile, Zack is dumb as a rock, which might add him being an escapist character another trait of him.

And that’s where the comparison with Ted Bundy enters. It might be a stretch comparing a fictional character with a real person, but I still think it has some merit. While I haven’t seen the Netflix series, I read the debate on whether it glorifies Bundy or not. Basically the way the series frames Bundy is an argument for the glorification, but the interview with the victims who escaped him and loved ones of his victims is an argument against it. But the fact remains that both have their fans.

If we criticize Bundy’s fans for not noticing how much of a pathetic and deranged person he actually was, why can’t we do the same for Zack’s fans? Well the fact that one is real and the other fictional might be one reason, and being fictional he acts as an outlet for our own frustrations and tendencies just as I discussed with my friend above, but I feel that alone is insufficient, there must be a further reason... but I can’t think of anything else. Otherwise an argument has the danger of turning into the fallacy “videogames make kids violent” sort of thing.

One thing that has to consider is that both AoD and HSL are psychological thriller/horror series. If Zack, Ray and Satou got caught, the shows would be lesser works of art, because one function of psychological horror is to challenge our perceptions of justice.

Horror challenges our perceptions of safety and we are used to the bad guys being punished in the end, it’s a safe assumption. Instead, in horror, the bad guys get away and might be sympathetic, making us sympathetic to their getaway. It’s horror in the sense our own safe perceptions of morality and justice are twisted upside down.

I could go on and approach the thorny question of whether AoD glorifies murderers and HSL glorifies yanderes with children, but this essay is already getting too big, so I leave it for another occasion.

[inbarfink]

Alrighty, here’s all of my Deltarune theories

1. Deltarune’s central theme\moral question will be something a long the lines of “The free will to do bad things versus the safety of not having the bad choices”. To put it in videogame terms (as Undertale was more concerned with meta-commentary about videogames than real-world implications) “Should a game give you the option to do the evil thing even though you should totally do the good thing?”. The world of Deltarune is... safer than Undertale’s, at least that’s how it looks like. You literally can’t do a Genocide run, you *have* to end your adventure in the Dark World as a ‘Hero’, you have to be good - no matter what you want. It’s safer, since there’s no chance of a Genocide-Timeline, but it’s... oppresively suffocating when you know you have no other option - and kinda creepy to think about the fact that even if you WANT to be a horrible human being, everyone is ignorant to it and thinks you’re a great hero anyway. The world of Deltarune is a world where *nobody* has a choice; the player is railroaded, Kris is controlled against their will, Ralsei argues we *have* to be heroes because of a prophecy, the Darkners were created for a ‘purpose’ so their Free Will might be kinda fucked. The “Pacifist” Ending to the Dark World segment feels like a rushed parody of an Undertale Pacifist Run, complete with going back and talking with all the monsters you befriended. But it feels... deeply unsatisfying because this “Happy Ending” was not caused by your hard choices, but because you just... did as you’re told. Plus, Kris and friends have caused no REAL change in the Dark World the way Frisk changed everything to the Monsters living in the Underground. Sure, there’s a new ruler in Card Kingdom - but the Darkners are still living hidden from Lightners without much hope of having “purpose” again. Meanwhile, in the Light World, the Monsters have lives that... fairly happy and safe - but not quite as happy as they could be in the Undertale True Pacifist Ending. There’s less relationships, less self-improvement, less people-choosing-who-they-want-to-be. No free will robs you of satisfaction and reaching your fullest potential, but on the other hand... is it worth it if it means someone (*eyes the Player*) will use that free will to do evil? Yeah, the Light World is not quite as happy as the True Pacfist Ending - but it is not the only ending Undertale has.

2. There are two main antagonist-forces in the story: The Angel’s Paradise, that force the Delta Warriors are destined to banish and whatever you wanna call the Queen and the Knight and ect. The Angel’s Paradise is responsible for ridding this word of choices, probably for that sort of ‘greater good’ of preventing people from making bad choices (Although, to be thematic, the Angel’s Paradise is also robbed of choice in some way). The Knight and the Queen and company wish to bring choices INTO this world, but like... in a bad way. By destroying and remaking it or something. They would be a metaphor for a frustrated-denied-Genocide-player. But they would also be potrayed sympathetically somewhat because, as mentioned - not having choices sucks.

3. Since the Angel seems to be the center of the religion of Hometown, I think Deltarune will be upping the JPRGness game of Undertale by having Kris literally fight against the God-Figure of their parent’s religion to restore free will to the universe.

4. The Angel’s Religion in the Light World would be very open about the fact that it’s all about personal choices being less important than safety. That’s why Toriel is so religious, valuing safety over freedom was always kinda her thing.

5. I do, at the very least, believe Toby Fox’s claims this is not a direct sequal to Undertale and it doesn’t effect the ending of Undertale that you got in any way. I espacially buy that last part. It’s VERY important to Undertale’s themes that all endings are equally “canon” and whatever one is real depends on the player’s choices and nothing else. I don’t think Toby wants to make either True Pacifist or Genocide or Post-Genocide Pacifist into the “Real Ending”. That hardly means it has to be a totally unrelated AU, however. My money right now is that we’re looking at a stealth prequal. The World of Deltarune is one without choices, by banishing the “Angel’s Paradise” and\or letting the Queen and the Knight destroy and remake the world - they create the world of Undertale, one where there are choices. Although the characters are fearful about existing their safe, railroaded world, they are hopeful this new world would be even better with choices. Although the ending is the “same”, it’s context would be different depending on what you did in Undertale. If you ended with True Pacifist ending, you have proven the hopes the Deltarune people had for the new world correct. If you did a Genocide run, then the Deltarune people just look like dupes and overidealistic fools and you have accidently proven the Angel’s Paradise totally correct about how nobody can be trusted with choices and you’re no better than the Queen whooops. 

6. Undertale tells us the original meaning of the Delta Rune symbol has been lost to time. I’m guessing that although the Underground interpeted as a prophecy of freedom - this was all just conjecture and coincidence on their part. The real meaning will be revealed in Delta Rune, it’s probably the Delta Warriors banishing the Angel’s Paradise (IE, the Undertale World’s creation myth, basically). Question is, why is one of the triangles upside down?

7. Not only do I think Sans might be originally from the Deltarune timeline (and aware of it), I think he might be a Darkner. Implications that Sans might not be originally from neither the Underground or the Surface, and that he might not be a proper Monster - are well-documented in the Undertale fandom (”You must really want to go home. Hey, I know the feeling, buddo.” “look. i gave up trying to go back a long time ago. and getting to the surface doesn't really appeal anymore, either.” The fact that he bleeds, can dodge attack and we don’t ACTUALLY see him turn to dust.) I just never took them super-seriously cause none of the purposed “solutions” made sense to me. Sans as a Darkner, though? Darkners are not originally from the Underground, Lancer’s dialouge implies they can bleed, and we don’t know what happens when *they* die. Not to mention, they can perfectly dodge attacks if they’re ‘On Guard’. ALSO, the most consistent difference between Monsters and Darkners? Monsters have Black-and-White dialouge icons, Darkners have them in full-color. But Sans (and Papyrus) have black-and-white faces. Darkners or Monsters, THEIR PROFILES WOULD LOOK THE SAME. That’s the sort of Hidden-in-Plain-Sight twist Toby Fox is into. Papyrus is almost certainly a Monster, he turns to dust when you kill him and everything. So that would mean Papyrus and Sans are not brothers by blood or something like that. Maybe Sans adopted that little Monster Skeleton Child as his “brother” to keep his Lightner disguise intact and ended up really honestly caring for the guy as his true bro.

8. Speaking of Papyrus? Something is very much up with him being one of the only Undertale Monsters you don’t get to meet. I support the speculation that he might have a radically different personality in that timeline, but also... Sans only mentions hanging out with his “Little Brother”, he never mentioned a name. Could it be that Sans’ brother is not Papyrus? At least not yet? I mean, we still don’t know where Gaster fits into this timeline.

9. I’m betting that Deltarune Asriel is... secretly a jerk. Mostly because: A. Ralsei is an obvious Flowey-Analogue and he’s as sweet as they come so what does that makes of the analoge for Flowey’s sweet alterego. B. Everyone is just so fucking praiseful of the guy some other shoe’s gotta drop C. Deltarune has some real ‘Monkey’s Paw’ vibes in regards to what people wanted out of Undertale 2 (Dark World = Just Undertale Again with Some Terms Switched and Upgraded Gameplay, Light World = Hanging Out with the Post-Pacifist Happy Ending Characters) it only make sense Toby Fox would want to fuck with our desire to see Asriel alive by making him such a radically different (and asshole) person. Kris’ gloomy and antisocial personality might be a result of being bullied by their big brother while nobody notices and assumes Asriel is Just Such a Nice Big Bro and Great and Hot. I’d be bitter too. They could have, like, a sequence that plays on our expecations of Asriel from Undertale. Where at first he comes in and seem as nice and sweet as that other Asriel and the player buys into it too (even though Kris was in a position where he would have recognized it as non-sincere) only for it to be NOOOPE he’s a jerk actually! Why did you fall for his trap Kris you’re the one person who knows how he REALLY is it’s almost like you’re mind-controlled or something? Thankfully, since Asriel was last in town, Kris aquired a new mean purple friend who likes eating faces and doesn’t like mean family members.

10. As for the OTHER Goatson, I don’t think Ralsei is like... secretly sinister or deciving Kris and Susie - but I also don’t think his worldview is as sweet and correct and right all the time. His issue is more... naivete, and being just a bit too comfortable with a lack of choice. (He honestly doesn’t seem to realize why Susie isn’t really into “Well, the prophecy says you’re a chosen one so you MUST be a hero and act nice and stuff). Although he means well, I think more will be called into question about his worldview other than the Pacifism. I am also... kinda expecting the twist that he might not be the Prince from the Dark. Again, not because he lied, but because he was... mistaken. (In the Legend of the Deltarune speia tone thing, the Monster and Human clearly look like Susie and Kris - but the Prince of the Dark only looks like Ralsei because he is wearing a cloak, which is not his default outfit. I feel like this might be relevant). He wanted it to be true cause then he’d get to go on an adventure and be a hero and have friends - so he just convinced himself it’s true. Would he be so okay with following prophecies when he finds out that, like, Lancer or whatever is who’s REALLY supposed to be a hero and friends with Susie and Kris?

11. Also that part about Darkners being made with a ‘purpose’, to ‘serve’ the Lightners... it REALLY creeps me out. Ralsei says Lancer feels good inside about being friends with Kris and Susie because he’s ‘fulfilling his purpose’... Is it possible that maybe all Darkners are just... a little too suggestible to friendship from Lightners? Like the friendship with Lancer seems pretty honest, but maybe all the ‘friendships’ we made with the Darkners we spared had less to do with us just being nice and more about us accidently overriding their free will??? Scary to think about, but it fits with the theme of Restrained for the Greater Good versus Free and Evil. It could also explain the King of Spades’ reaction to Lancer saying the Lightners are his friends, as far as the Spade King knew this was more Mind Control than actual friendship. Maybe the Spade King doesn’t think there’s any way to solve that dilemma but destory all the Lightners so that the Darkners won’t have to worry about that ‘purpose’ shit anymore? He thinks it might be the only way his people could have free will? (Also there’s a real theme here about rejecting railroading by becoming a villain; Spade King being a self-professed ‘Bad Guy’, Susie rejecting the role of the Hero to also become a Bad Guy, probably Kris at the end)

12. As for the ‘purpose’ for which Darkners were created. Well, to be meta, I think they were created to be NPCs for RPGames... sorta. I don’t think the game is gonna use the term outright, but they’ll word it like the Darkners were created to play villains and secondary roles in epic-fantasy-stories Lightners made happen inside their realm. That’s why the Dark World follows RPG Logic closer than the Underground (you can sell items in shops, for example), and why all the Darkners are themed after things like Chess and Checkers and Card Games and Plushies. They were made to be playthings, games. 

I think that’s it for my predictions to what’s gonna happen next in Deltarune, stay tuned to literally none of them being true in any way.

[tumblunni]

Ok so.. I feel really ungrateful as fuck saying this.. but it kinda bugs me how much perrin being nonbinary just.. isn’t really shown at all.

At least, in what i’ve seen so far, yknow? I watched the first ep of someone else’s let’s play to see if i was gonna like this game, and i like this game SO MUCH that I stopped right there and am downloading it at the speed of light yo!!! My hype is maximum and I really don’t want this to be seen as a hate message or anything, it's just a mild opinion piece about something that bummed me out a little, as a nonbinary person.

Ok so.. again, this makes me sound like an ASSHOLE but I have to say it.. Perrin looks like a boy. 100% of all LPers I have seen have assumed they were a boy. I, a nonbinary person, assumed they were a boy. (And felt like absolute shit afterwards, man I still have to work on my internalized gender stereotypes!)

Now in real life I absolutely wouldn’t go around being some douchebag who tells other NB folk they aren’t dressing ‘right’, or whatever. In real life people can feel very different ways about being outside of conventional gender norms. Some people feel like “both at once” or “neither” or “something else entirely that doesn’t touch either side of our society’s current binary stereotypes”. And regardless of whether you’re agender/bigender/genderfluid or any other type of genderqueer person, your fashion sense doesn’t have to fit any strict rule to “prove” it to people. Some people try and dress in androgenous stuff, some people try to mix parts of both gendered fashion worlds, some people like to wear very neutral baggy stuff as a different way of being androgenous, some people like to wear wild and fun stuff that never had any gender stereotype in the first place/because it helps them feel confident in themself if they have a big brave kind of fashion, yknow? (that’s why I dyed my hair at least, and why I think a lot of lGBT people do) And of course, some people just prefer ‘feminine’ or ‘masculine’ clothes regardless of not being that gender, and if we can accept that cis women can enjoy ‘tomboy’ fashion then we should accept that trans people don’t have to fit into even more rigid fashion rules in order to ‘earn’ their gender.

BUT this isn’t real life, it’s a videogame

We have a lot more context here, with the context that this is a character designed within a fandom whose previous attempts at NB representation have kinda started setting up a trend. In that context, this is a bit worrying that it’s happened again, and maybe future fangame creators are feeling like they have to do it, or something?

Like the NB protagonist Pluto in Pokemon Uranium.

They’re still someone I deeply love, but their design looks incredibly masculine aside from a side ponytail. If anything their design communicates more that they’re a younger option compared to the other two, or something?

And the two NB protagonist options Ari and Decibel in Pokemon Reborn

Their designs look like more traditionally masculine and feminine-leaning ways of being nonbinary, ykno? And that wouldn’t be bad on it’s own, but let me try and explain what I mean...

A similar issue occurs in the unrelated dating sim Hustle Cat:

Which is generally incredibly progressive and actually the first dating sim I’ve ever seen that lets you play a nonbinary protag! But you still get only two character models to choose from.

Like it’s great that they had two options to aknowledge how not all trans people are the same, but it starts to look a bit.. odd, when those two options are ‘feminine and masculine’ and no form of androgenous is ever an option. or even like.. someone with a ‘masculine’ body build but a ‘feminine’ fashion sense. That would be kind of a stereotypical way to depict a trans character but it wouldn’t just be making a random design that could fit amoungst the already existing gendered protags and then just saying they’re trans. And a lot of people found it weird how these ones seem to be drawn as like.. both on the far masculine end, just a cis man and a trans man.

Like.. even as a nonbinary person myself, I wouldn’t have known these characters were nonbinary if you hadn’t told me. And that leaves me feeling horrible about myself that I judged them on first sight, but I mean this is within a genre of entertainment that’s literally never had any Me in it and i’ve got used to being all ‘no you’re just reading too much into it’ whenever i headcanon anyone as genderqueer...

And just.. I feel like if you’re gonna just draw another two masculine and feminine looking characters, or just a second masculine one (or a weird two masculine ones that’re labelled male and female with no option for in-between...) then couldn’t you have saved time by just letting us choose our pronouns for the two you already had? like I already play a lot of games headcanoning the protag as just a masc-fashion version of my enby self, I feel like kinda the point of adding a third design would be to make it something the others aren’t already delivering. Look at it this way, you already HAVE two nonbinary characters who look masculine and feminine, just like the player could also play them as a trans boy and trans girl. Pronoun selector box is the greatest invention of our time! So what I’m really saying is not “don’t have super masc NB protags” but just “can we have another option too?”

Oh, but then that’s also been done not-so-well by certain games too.. Awesome amazing multiplayer party game dating sim Monster Prom let’s you choose your pronouns!

...except these are your only character options! All of these are very clearly intended to be read as masc or femme, you’re probably gonna feel dysphoric as heck if you play them as trans, and none of them work super well as nonbinary either. I think pretty much every NB player has always gone for Oz (yellow one), cos he’s the one that’s most capable of fitting that headcanon just by virtue of being perpetually shadowed. Tho still his default is “he” pronouns, his fashion sense is masc and his voice is masc. Still I’m really fuckin proud of the fandom for collectively latching onto NB Oz and using “they” all the time in fanworks, and then the developers being okay with it, like holy shit man you healed my goddamn heart... <3

Still, it makes me feel a lil like this would have been easy to fix? like I’m not saying redraw everything to have them all change bodies/fashion style depending on your pronoun choice, but like.. maybe just not draw them with such super disparate body styles in the first place? like in this style every girl is hourglass and has weird legs out arms out pose, and every dude is a chunkfest with twice as big hands and feet. Like you could have maybe just made two of the characters be a very curvy girl and a very buff boy, and then the other two be more neutral in appearance but still retaining the same designs. Like I think if you just gave the blue girl a baggier shirt that doesn’t highlight her boobs and hips so much, she could easily be my favourite ‘most NB-able’ design! maybe also tone down the eyelash and lipstick effects?

I think probably a similar thing could have been done with the Reborn protagonists? like there’s nothing inherantly feminine about wearing a tanktop and having a fancy undercut hairstyle and such, its just the way they drew Ari that makes them look feminine. I guess maybe that’s a necessary evil of fangames, since they usually use edits of already existing characters from the games? Then again the games have plenty of androgenous characters already, even if nobody is canonically confirmed as LGBT. *shrug*

Anyway

I absolutely am not trying to nitpick and attack the game for not being perfect in this one aspect. i’m still super excited to even see someone like me in a videogame at all, and I’m definately not one of those people who’s like ‘I’d rather have nothing than have something flawed’. I already admire you greatly for what you’ve done for the inclusivity of this fandom, and I hope that my discussion of this stuff doesn’t discourage you from continuing.

And I guess my point is, in summary

What I mean is not “there are no nonbinary people who prefer to dress masculine instead of androgenous”, but instead that when you’re designing a nonbinary person as the only option a nonbinary player gets or the only nonbinary person in the game, with no playable option, it would probably be a little better to draw them androgenous.

Like, you’ve put that NB character into the role of representing all nonbinary people ever, to the hypothetical audience of people who’ve never heard of the concept before and aren’t super educated about the intricacies of gender presentation. And then also rather than using traditionally gendered outfits to aknowledge that NB people have many ways to present themselves... you’ve given us less ways to present ourselves.

Also it’s a little bit odd that you have an NB rival but said “we’re not ever considering an NB player option in the future”. Sorry but I cannot understand the logic? Like.. you know NB people play your game if you wanted to put NB representation in it, but you didn’t put it as playable because... reasons?? I hope maybe that interview was just taken out of context and you meant something more like “it’s not planned for now because it’s a lot of work and the game is still in its demo stage”, which is absolutely an understandable reason and how Uranium and Reborn did it. But Uranium and Reborn were kinda odd for being a world where literally nobody else aside from you could ever be NB, so I am really grateful that your game did add an NB character. And one in a big role!! This is what i mean about how grateful I am and how I feel awful that my bad internet typing skills are making this post come off as more aggressive than intended.. *sigh*

OH and also maybe a tip for Periin? just.. like.. mention their pronouns. It’s really frustrating to watch everyone doing let’s plays of this thing and constantly assuming Perrin is male because their design is very masculine. Even me! Even me was assume! :( So like... maybe just have Perrin actually tell the audience that they are nonbinary at some point, during this introduction? or have the protagonist’s inner monologue mention it, or another character mention it on the way towards meeting Perrin? like I dunno, maybe a Perrin fan npc?cos it would seem a bit more natural to talk about gender if it’s someone saying “wow I admire Perrin’s androgenous fashion sense” rather than like.. a stranger saying “i can’t tell if you’re a boy or a girl from your face”.

I can understand how it can be tricky to figure out how to introduce a LGBT character’s LGBT-ness without having them go around saying it to every new person they meet, it’s something I’ve had to fix in the editing process even as a trans person writing trans characters. But just having their gender only be mentioned on missable promotional material outside the game means that a lot of players won’t ever hear about it, and it like.. has zero impact of actual inclusivity on the game. It’s why people were angry about DUmbledore only getting revealed as gay after the series already ended. Him being gay missed all of its chances to make gay readers of the series feel welcome, or have any part of his character be informed by his sexuality. like the plot between him and grindlewold could have been way more effective if it was him losing a boyfriend to the dark arts, just sayin...

anyway whatever, bunni is bad at writing coherant posts in summary thanks for perrin and sorry for whining about perrin, aaaaa

[osmw1]

Poison-Wielding Fugitive   Chapter 5

See, I’ve decided on the request already, but I just can’t shake the fact that I’ll be battling monsters off my mind. Can I really fight in a battle out of the blue? All I can do is use Poison Release and throw swamp toxin. I don’t have any weapons beside that.

‘Is it a weapon you desire? If so, move somewhere you will not be seen.’

What are you trying to do? As per Veno’s instruction, I walked behind the town hall and made sure that no one was watching.

‘Good. I shall take it out now.’

As soon as I saw the gleaming in front of me, a sword and armor simply appeared with a thud.

“Wh-what the hell?!”

I blurted out loud before I even realised. No, I understand that it’s something Veno did, but how it suddenly happened is astonishing.

“…”

It was some Western-looking sword and armor. Though I haven’t seen the real deal before, I’m well-acquainted with ones from videogames and manga. I gently pick it up. I imagined it to be rather heavy, but it was a light as a stick.

Flyiron Sword +4 Quality: Superior Required level: None Bonus effects: Flyweight An alloy sword made with outstanding metal ores. Light as a feather so that it can even be wielded by a complete novice. However, the weight is inconsistent.

Smoke Armor +3 Quality: Fine Required level: None Bonus effects: Smoke Magic armor crafted by solidifying smoke. Though it is smoke, it is solid and light. However, beware that it is not impervious to water.

Robe of Concealment +3 Quality: Fine Required level: None Bonus effects: Cloaking; Reveal Resistance (Low) A robe able to camouflage its wearer. Woven to disguise ordinary users. Made from the skin of monsters with high concealing abilities. Resistant to revealing magic and grants disguising capabilities.

You can tell this is equipment with a focus on being lightweight. Even I can equip this no problem. The armor, though… feels weird to the touch. Kinda like a beanbag chair? It’s a very odd texture. However… everything is nicely decorated and you can tell it is quality.

‘Equip this and you shall be fine.’

… exactly as I was thinking. Won’t deny that. But there’s a few things I want to point out, if that’s alright.

‘What is it?’

Where did you take this out from?

‘Ah. I have employed Compression Storage Magic on those items. I can rather easily retrieve anything stored. The lot who casted Forced Possession Summoning are unlikely to be able to detect this amount of magic.’

Judging by his words, these items that Veno had held on to from the beginning must be good stuff.

‘I, too, am a dragon. It is more or less in our nature to maintain a collection. If we could return to my lair, I would show you my hoard. Unfortunately, I am uneasy about that.’

So, I get that he’s telling me to equip the sword and shield, but who did it come from?

‘Before I had Forced Possession Summoning casted on me, challengers recklessly come for to fight, get defeated, and I plunder their goods. Is that not obvious? They were carrying fairly good equipment, so I applied storage magic and forgotten about it.’

In short, then, the estate of nameless heroes?

‘I had not killed them. Merely stripped them of their property.’

Sure, this stuff is quite helpful, but shouldn’t I just sell it all off for the money?

‘Think carefully, you fool. You would be a man who cannot be mistaken as anyone strong, selling expensive-looking equipment and goods, and turning it all into money. What do you think barbarians—these fools who are devoted to only their desires—would do to you?’

Well, yeah. It’s not uncommon to hear of robbers that specifically target people who are travelling abroad. It would be rather dangerous if I simply sell off Veno’s possessions.

‘In any case, I have nothing of the sort at hand. You should not only rely on what I have either. Anything better than what you currently hold has level requirements. If not, it is mass-produced swords and spears at best. Furthermore, I do not have that much of stock since it is rubbish, aye?’

So, to a dragon, normal swords and spears and other weapons are trash? He only takes what’s rare, eh? Well, I’ll just use what I’m given.

I first put on my armor and then draped the robe on top… it seems like it should’ve been a nice fluffy robe, but it feels more like linen. The surface of the robe is also changing colors. It’s light and helpful too. I tie the sword and belt given to me to my hip.

‘Then I will store the clothes you have worn until now.'

The suit, shirt, and trousers I had been wearing suddenly disappeared, as if they had warped space-time. Only the armor and robe was left. … but why did you store my clothes?

‘So that you can freely go into combat. I also want to give you a bow and arrows. However, I have judged that it is too early for you to use what I have in stock.’

Ah, yeah… for someone like me with no combat experience, a bow or crossbow would be better. I’m not certain if I can hit anything at distance, but ranged combat is powerful. I could even smear poison on the arrowheads.

… well, not much I can do about it since I can’t equip it anyway. Honestly, having never fought before, there’s a limit to what Veno can do for me. There’s a limit to how I can use Poison Release too, right? I mean, all I can do is chuck it at a target. Since I’m weak, I’ll have to somehow connect my strikes…

‘It seems like I can somehow use Compression Storage Magic on your items too. You need not carry so much of your belongings.’

That skill is really convenient, huh? Well, no reason not to use it.

‘Humans, too, can use magic like this if they are a high-ranking magician. It seems like it does not exist in your world though… was it not inconvenient?’

So sorry, but the Japan I lived in doesn’t have any magic that handy. Or rather, nothing so extremely expedient. Where do the items go if the owner dies?

‘Obvious it gets scattered by the corpse.’

… what? It feels like I’ve caught a glimpse of an RPG or something where monsters drop weapons or items.

‘By the way, this spell does have a few peculiarities to it. Of course, there is a limit to how many one can store at a time, but as well, items will continue to deteriorate, and can be interfered with while in holding. A skilled user, though, would be able to indefinitely keep ice without it melting. Well, one could always use magic to create more ice, but still…’

How good are you then, Veno?

‘Do not look down on me, aye? I could swallow up this entire village and still have space left over. But, well, there are limitations, so it would be impossible for me to store away the whole village right now.’

He did say his mana has been strained. It otherwise wouldn’t be much of a hardship for him. Still, having that much capacity is a boon.

‘Aye. Anything that you can carry on your back would be easy, but beyond that would be, for the time being at least, a spot of bother. On the other hand, I promise I shall keep your items from deteriorating to the best of my abilities.’

Don’t mind if I take this convenient item box magic. Well, now… I’ve finished my preparations and I said I’ll try my hand at adventuring, so let’s go try picking some flowers. I take the request off the bulletin board and, as Veno instructed, headed back the way Arleaf and I came from.

I’m simply going back the same way, but… there’s an ominous, maybe uneasy feeling in the air? I wouldn’t be surprised if a monster were to pop out any time. When Arleaf was here, it wasn’t like this at all. Maybe it’s because I’m all alone?

‘I am here, no?’

Veno, huh? A self-proclaimed dragon who is talking in my head doesn’t really soothe this feeling of isolation. He did prove his existence by giving me weapons though.

‘If you are feeling lonely even with me… does not that mean that you are a lonely person?’

… I’m going to pick my battles. I ignore him and put my feelers out. If this were a game, then I’d probably be worse than a lv 1 villager. There are only simple fields around this area so there might be a small fry or two roaming about. Random encounters would be scaled to the level of the character in a videogame, but this is real life. Enemies lv 30 or 40 might pop out all of a sudden. Suppose the villagers around here are all at least lv 35. It would be an instant checkmate for me. It might be better for my chances of survival if I target easy monsters and strike swiftly.

‘Calm yourself. You have my support. I will use my knowledge to tell you whether a monster you face is dangerous or not.’

That’s convenient, but a fight safe for a dragon wouldn’t necessarily be safe for a human. Again, I have no combat experience.

‘You are certainly helpful to me by focusing on your surviving. However, how you do not place trust in me is aggravating. I would like for you to not to get carried away with ridiculing me.’

As I was walking with vigilance… A monster’s name appeared with a blip in my field of vision.

Chrome Yellow Poisonwhip

It’s a monster that looked like nothing more than a vine growing in a nook on the path. The vine itself is reasonably thick.

This thing wasn’t here when I was with Arleaf. But it’s got a damn long name. The name is so hard to remember that I’d even forget if this were a videogame.

‘Ah, that is an easy one. Part of the ecology, but the tip of the vine will first try to spray venom to weaken its opponents, wrap itself around them, and turn them into fertilizer.’

That right? So? Is it something a lv 1 can beat?

‘Even I cannot determine any and every human’s fighting capabilities. But, it would be wise for you to try launching a surprise attack on it and cutting it down with your sword.’

Will I be alright? Even with the advice, I’m not fully sure about my own specs or the performance of my weapon.

‘Fortunately, if you conceal yourself to the best of your abilities, I believe your disguise will not be seen through. Pretend like you have not noticed it and calmly walk up to it. Before you are engaged by it, swing your sword while you run past from behind.’

Gotcha. Perhaps due to the effects of my Robe of Concealment +3, the Chrome Yellow Poisonwhip doesn’t fully notice me. I pretend to be calm and walk up to the tree that the Chrome Yellow Poisonwhip is entwined to. It senses my approach and waits for its chance to take me by surprise. Before I let the Chrome Yellow Poisonwhip get the drop on me, I dash out without pausing and pass behind it. Like a kid swinging a stick at the air, I brandish my sword. The tendril of the Chrome Yellow Poisonwhip was extremely easy to sever. A clean cut. The part still entwined to the tree turned limp and frail and rolled onto the ground.

The Chrome Yellow Poisonwhip’s tendril screeches out as I make contact with it.

“Seems like you cut all right,”

I mutter to the Flyiron Sword +4 while looking at the blade.

Maybe because it’s amazingly light and cuts well, it’s rather easy to wield. It cuts as well as a fresh boxcutter on a piece of paper. I was merely pretending to be a samurai or something but it went so well. As its final act of resistance, the Chrome Yellow Poisonwhip crooks its neck like a snake and sprays its toxin at me.

While I quickly dodge its attack, the Chrome Yellow Poisonwhip flops limp and became still. And then it says here that I earned 12 EXP. My experience of RPGs tells me that anything more than 1 or 2 is wicked. By MMORPG standards, that was a higher-level monster.

‘It seems like you have emerged victorious for your first battle.’

It doesn’t feel like I’ve fought a lot though… There would’ve been some kind of victory fanfare when a battle ends in a game, but in reality, it’s like this. Still, winning is winning. At the very least, I’ve still defeated a living monster.

‘For your first battle, fighting an easy monster like this is best. Experience outweighs anything else. Plus, I get a better understanding of your skills.’

Since I’ve experienced my first battle, I’ll go check my status. How much ‘til I reach the next level? Looks like I’m 80% of the way there already.

‘Oi. Do not lose focus. Are you listening?’

To level up from lv 1 to 2, I need 14 EXP in total, huh? I wonder if I can level up from fighting one more? I succumb to an impulse to search for another monster.

previously: /ch001/ /ch002/ /ch003/ /ch004/ /ch005/ /next/ (full list of translated chapters) (discussion thread) (support Average Translations)

[blaperile]

Homestuck^2 - Reactions Chapter 1 “Ghostflusters” (Pages 33 - 56)

Time for Chapter 1: Ghostflusters!

So what's it gonna be? Ghostbusters Earth-C rip-off videogame? Furthest Ring ghosts something something?

In any case, presumably perspective switch incoming in 3... 2... 1...?

Page 33:

OH HELL. FUCKING. YES YES YES YES YES!!!!!!

IT'S FUCKING CANDY EARTH!!!!!!

HOLY SHIT I SCREAMED OUT LOUD AT THIS

I HOPED FOR THIS

I HOPED FOR THIS SO FUCKING HARD

I'm so happy about this!!!

I was SO afraid that John, Vriska, Jane, Jake and Alpha Calliope would not appear at all in Homestuck^2, give or take a brief conversation from Terezi with John and/or Vriska or something.

But this!!!!

THIS!!!!

Oh man I screamed of joy and pumped my fist at multiple parts of this page. First the image! Then the "wind skims the void" esque quote. Followed with the confirmation that this is Candy Earth. And finally, the mention that it's JAKE and not John!

I've mentioned it before, but I absolutely loved the way Candy Jake was portrayed, and I thought it was a shame that we'd never see him again.

I hadn't dared dream we'd revisit these people on Candy Earth!!!

Oh god oh man oh god... are we PLEASE going to get official art for Tavros Crocker, Harry Anderson Egbert and Vriska Maryam-Lalonde???? :O

Also, can we just appreciate the fact that John has finally removed that banner of his 18th birthday? :P

abundantChewtoys has a good point, is Dirk the narrator here?

To be honest, the fact that the next arrow seems to be within brackets, and how the Candy path was portrayed before, for now I'm going to assume that we've returned to a speakerless narration.

Page 34:

LOOK AT HIM. HE'S GROWN A MUSTACHE! :D

He's starting to look more and more like good ol' Grandpa.

This entire bit of narration... god, I'm so proud of him. You go, Jake!

This seems to imply that this isn't taking place very long after the events of the Candy path, in any case. Not very long after they moved in with John. Seeing as he's still talking about the state the house is in because John was gone for so long.

Heh... so Tavros is out with Vriska right now. Please don't tell me this will be an excuse for them not to show up in Homestuck^2. :P

Anyway, I wonder where this will be going.

Just, for now, some Jake introspection and perhaps dialog with John or... hmm, what if this is taking place around the time of Dave's death? That Jade might have found his body and will need someone to talk to? :(

I'm incredibly curious if there's going to be some kind of overlap between the Meat and Candy stories, now after Calliope, Aradia and Davebot have left this reality.

Or are we going to get 2 separate stories? One for Meat, and one for Candy, fully separate?

I'm leaning into the overlap theory, if only for the fact that otherwise I'd have assumed the two to have been split up just like the Epilogues were.

Page 35:

I absolutely love this art.

Eesh... Jake might have developed a drinking problem. I wouldn't really blame him after all he's been through, but still. Maybe he should have a good talk with Roxy.

Page 37:

Holy shit! For a second I thought we were switching perspectives to someone else, but I think abundantChewtoys is right!

That looks like Jake's old jungle. The good ol' Homestuck sun, and all those trees...

Oh man, what is Jake dreaming about? Brobot/Dirk? Grandma? The Lusii? Something else entirely?

Haha, just before moving on to the next page I noticed that John's old drawing is still attached to the fridge. That's adorable.

Page 38:

Wow... okay, it's being made clear that it's a dream and not reliving a memory or such. He's not his 16-year old self, nor is he dressed like it (his outfit and gun are from SBURB).

I wonder what he's being chased by? Some kind of Jane-like monster? :P

Or Dirk.

...Gl'bgolyb? It DOES have way too many limbs, after all.

Page 39:

...Welp. It's fucking Dirk.

I sincerely hope it's "just" a dream, but I'm getting afraid it's going to turn out that Meat Dirk can contact Candy Jake in his dreams. :(

Page 41:

HOLY MOTHER OF A FUCK IT'S BRAIN GHOST DIRK.

HELL YES

Oh jeez, I did NOT expect that

Looks like he even transcends any individual Jake, because he remembers the events of the Game Over timeline!

Also, Jake remembers meeting Aranea in his dreams? Then I guess that happened before his pre-retcon and post-retcon selves became separate beings?

Oh man, is it just me or is Brain Ghost Dirk totally ripping on the normal Dirk here?

I always loved Brain Ghost Dirk. Those were the main moments we could see Jake and 'Dirk' talk to each other back in the original Homestuck.

Is... is he going to warn Jake about what his Meat self is up to?

On the other hand, there IS some kind of connection between Brain Ghost Dirk and 'normal' Dirk, what with how he transformed into Dirk in that one Dreambubble meetup.

I'm really curious what's going on!

But if Brain Ghost Dirk truly is the "last sane Dirk standing", then I fully approve of it! And immediately I'm starting to hope that he's going to materialize into a real person again.

I'd absolutely love to see Brain Ghost Dirk fight ordinary Dirk.

...

Holy fuck, abundantChewtoys is right. "Ghostflusters" is probably referring to Jake and Brain Ghost Dirk, haha. Is that now the official shipping name for Jake and Brain Ghost Dirk? xD

Just imagine what Jake must be feeling like now. Dirk has been dead for DECADES from his perspective. So to see him again, in some form, after all this time...

Pages 42 - 43:

...Welp, that was sudden! Why did Brain Ghost Dirk wake him up again so soon?

Did he mean it as a warning, a warning not to trust Dirk?

Or is Brain Ghost Dirk now going to appear in front of Jake in real life now, just like how he used to see Brain Ghost Dirk alongside him while nobody else could?

Page 44:

Huh, why is he looking at his hand? Is there something between his hand and the table? Did Brain Ghost Dirk somehow provide him an object that now materialized in the real world?

Page 45:

OH YES, I KNEW IT. He's seeing Brain Ghost Dirk!!!! :D

I'm starting to wonder... what with how the Candy Earth seems to be out of reach for Meat Dirk, maybe that's going to be key to defeating him?

I mean, other than Alternate Calliope being capable of suppressing his narration, anyone else from the Candy timeline could be essential too!

I guess it depends, can he get control on them if they are to enter the Meat universe? Or is he unable to control them even if they enter his universe, just because they come frmo Candy?

Page 47:

!!!!!

Oh man, this is the Brain Ghost Dirk I love so much. Being absolutely Dirk, but doing what's best for Jake. I love this guy.

Looks like, for now, the plot on Candy Earth will continue to be disconnected from the Meat universe! This is actually going to focus on Jake standing up against Jane, holy shit!

I'm so curious just what exactly Jake's going to DO here.

But I'm liking it very, VERY much already! :D

Page 48:

Holy SHIT, we're not wasting any time here! STRAIGHT to Jane's battleship it is! And here comes Jake with Brain Ghost Dirk right behind him.

Wow... just look at this ship. Looks just like The Condesce's ship, with a slightly more colorful make-over.

And sporks. Goddammit, the sporks. xD

I wonder, are we going to get a reprise of that scene on Derse? With mindcontrolled Jane visiting Jake in his prison cell and upsetting him, while Jake was also talking to Brain Ghost Dirk.

I wonder what Jane will look like... I wouldn't be surprised if it's more like her mindcontrolled self. And like abundantChewtoys suggested, perhaps with a bit of business suit and Condesce jumpsuit thrown into the mix. :/

Page 49:

Jane LOOKS like she's receiving Jake with open arms... but it's gonna be so much of a trap isn't it?

She's gonna appear sweet and kind for a second, lulling Jake into a false sense of hope that she's back to normal... and then she's going right back to being a jerk, isn't she?

That, or she's holding out her hand to instantly give him a slap in the face or something.

Page 50:

...Well then! That I did not expect.

Looks like Vriska took Tavros right with her to the rebellion! The question is, did Vriska force him or did Tavros voluntarily go?

Nonetheless, it's not like he's gonna be in a prison camp there or something.

I love Jake's reaction here. He knows Tavros is better off there than with Jane.

Unbelievable. Jane didn't know Jake was GONE all this time? Damn.

Well uh, at least Jake won't have much trouble infiltrating then I guess. xD

Page 51:

Oh man, what's Brain Ghost Dirk going to do? Shit on her desk? xD

Pages 52 - 53:

Ahahahahha, Dirk, no, what are you doing. xD

This is the Dirk I want to see more of, oh my god.

Page 54:

Omfg, Jake's shirt!!! It's a mix of John's slime t-shirt and Jake's own skull logo!

I wonder who created that. Did John give him this t-shirt, or did Jake take one of John's t-shirts and put his skull logo on top of it? :P

Page 55:

Oh man. I like how the light effects make the bottom of his shades more orangey, like Meat Dirk's new shades.

Page 56:

That dialog definitely created some awkwardness there!

But it's definitely good. It shows Jake a bit more of what Dirk really thought like, that it wasn't all good stuff.

That's the end of the first chapter! :O

I didn't expect the chapters would be relatively short. I guess they'll be mean to differentiate between different scenes, and when the perspectives will be switch? And not really like the gigantic acts of Homestuck. :P

I gotta say, I'm really liking the way this Epilogue is going so far.

I can't get enough of Candy Jake. To me, he was the absolute highlight character of the past Epilogues, and I'm SO glad that doesn't stop being a thing here in Homestuck^2!

Oh man, "Clown Logistics" is the next chapter... that's definitely going to be something Gamzee related!

But... what, exactly?

Is it going to be a department here on Jane's ship? Perhaps we now switch over to Jane's perspective?

I'm having a hard time coming up with anything else, considering we've never seen Meat Gamzee and Candy Gamzee is supposed to be... well, uh, dead.

Definitely doesn't look like we're headed back to Meat Dirk just yet!