#apocalyptic gamers

[sealsapocalypticmusic]

Having a weird time! Happy new year! Woe, mountain goats cover be upon ye!

[mutantlord]

Abomination 2 Hand drawn ink art from page 26 of The Mutant Epoch RPG Expansion Rules book The DNA of an abomination is a blend of custom manipulation, happy accidents, and that of animals and humans, the results often pitiful, and always sickening to behold. They have been described as bags of flesh and organs, dotted with orifices and appendages, sensory parts, heads, limbs, and discolored patches of hair, scale, or horn, the whole mess further dotted with open sores that are barely distinguishable from nostrils, mouths or mating orifices. While hideous, hated and typically shunned, some exhibit traits which make them indispensable members of raiding parties, ship’s crews, merc squads and ruin exploration teams. Bristling with often gruesome yet deadly appendages, armored plating, and a blend of offensive and defensive mutations, they can be fearsome and valued comrades. Of course, stemming from blended DNA and often growing up as ill treated filth, they tend to have bizarre personalities, odd illnesses and one or more flaws.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0994923791 or https://www.outlandarts.com/expansionrules.htm

[fandom-flight]

I love ORV because it makes me ask important questions like "if humans were collectively impacted by a decimating calamity and then had to rebuild, how long would it take for esports to be a viable industry again"

[ghoulhusband]

ok because i’m on the train and i just bought some what do you think the best post apocalyptic rugelach filling would be. (if you don’t know what rugelach is, click that wikipedia link, or the truncated version is it’s a filled small pastry originally from jewish communities in poland but now it’s made all over the world and people put all sorts of fillings in them. the filling can be jam, nuts with spices, flavored pastry cream, or even savory fillings. the kind i just bought are chocolate, in case you’re wondering.)

[tjemegames]

HSR: 2.5.1 AS, 2.5.1 PF, & 2.5.2 MoC Recaps

Hello there, the time for yapping is here once again! Since only the same eight or so people tend to read these, I don't think we need a wall of disclaimers this time around. Going forward you should really only expect to see them when I’ve implemented formatting changes or have something important to mention that pertains to the entirety of the recap post.

2.4 turned me into a slightly casual gamer: dedicated subsections for my casual gaming activities have been added to minimize some of the reintroduction redundancy that was happening in the last recap.

As always, apologies for the image distortion: long photos and Tumblr do not mix well.

You know the drill, lengthy rambling about my endgame experience is under the cut!

2.5.1 Apocalyptic Shadow

Gamer's Instigation is probably my favorite endgame title out of all the ones we've had so far (let's go, gamers!) I'm a big fan of AS, as we know, and this cycle's challenge did not disappoint. I got my twelve stars within a total of four challenge waves!

I tried my hardest to avoid resetting in my first run of stage IV, but even after doing stage III and rereading the enemy details I still needed to feel out Phantylia's mechanics to get a better grasp on the best way to defeat her efficiently. Aventurine's battle was rather cut and dry, so his side only took one attempt.

Aventurines battle was also quite fun. Imagine if his normal boss mechanics allowed for a cumulative dice score across your teammates (the energy buff would probably have to be RNG-based or default to the teammate that contributed the most points in order to counterbalance that), but it would make for a much more enjoyable time when fighting him. It’s been months and I'm still salty about the White Night Chronicles MoC XII—there simply was no reason for that to have been as difficult as it was for me back then. I just…

Anyway, here are the builds I used for IV-I:

Phantylia's battle wasn’t hard, it just required a bit more focus and planning to complete. I did my run with a sustain because I misunderstood the HP situation for defeating the flowers; I interpreted it as the flowers would restore Phantylia’s HP after popping, rather than restoring my team’s HP. In hindsight I shouldn’t have understood it that way because that’s not how the flowers work in her Echo of War, but for some reason that didn’t click at the time. Either way, I got it done with relative ease which is all I’m really asking for these days.

These are the builds I used in IV-II:

Pretend you didn't see Aventurine's sphere—there simply was no better choice. It is what it is, and I will not be addressing it further.

The first 800 jades down (whoop whoop!) I desperately needed them because Feixiao bankrupted me on her way to my roster. It’s my penance for betraying Danny boy.

AS Casual Gaming

AS is way too fun for me not to drop back into it over the course of the patch. I tend to get inspired by runs that I’ve seen on Discord and end up motivated enough to try for better clears and/or test out different teams. This is where I’ll be dropping my ramblings about those attempts. Unfortunately, due to image limitations, I won’t be able to include any build showcases in this section. I did consider making a secondary post specifically for this reason but ultimately decided that it wasn’t a big enough deal to be necessary (if I’m wrong about that, please do let me know. I’m down to yap for as long as y’all are down to listen.)

Chasing a better clear with my original team lineup:

Popped back into the game about four hours after my first round of attempts to start the process of trying for a better clear. The last time I was score chasing in AS I kept a close track of my reset count since it was over the course of a few days, and I kept switching back and forth between my phone and pc. This time I stuck to one day and one device so the detailing is a bit less extensive.

Even though I’ve used DHIL in basically every endgame cycle, I still manage to fumble his gameplay from time to time, my first round of tries being a prime example of that. With that in mind, I figured that taking on Phantylia’s side would be my best shot at increasing my overall score. I set my sights on a 100 point increase and went to town.

First three resets: +66 points, bringing me up to 7260

Next two resets: +4 more points, bringing me up to 7264

Final five resets: no points, DHIL managed to die twice—don’t ask me how that happened because I genuinely do not know

70 points of improvement on the second side. I don’t know if 100 overall points is within reach, but I’ll refocus my efforts on Aventurine’s battle and see what, if anything, can be done there.

First and only three resets: no points, I was hoping that there was a work around with the weakness-locked dice but there wasn’t

Barring making my entire team even faster to get more turns, which I don’t have the relics to do at the moment, this appears to be the end of the line for this clear.

Not a bad set of attempts overall. I was able to get my score up to a grand total of 7264 points within thirteen resets. That’s 138 more points than last AS—didn’t see that happening if I’m being completely honest, some of my builds have actually gotten worse since then. Either way, I’m happy enough with this score to forgo attempting a sustainless clear. Let’s be so for real, my account is not currently in the place to even humor sustainless clears. I’ll file that thought away for later down the line.

Getting Jingliu's Revenge:

Remember a little earlier when I said I was still salty about my experience with White Night Chronicles? Well, since I wasn't having the best of days, I decided to head back into AS so I could feel vindication in the form of beating up Aventurine.

Now, you may be thinking, "TJ, you've already gotten your revenge on Aventurine with Boothill like three times since then." To which I would say yes. However, pew-pew gaming him to death just isn't enough to quell the insatiable beast that is my pettiness for this situation. That being said, I called upon my slightly benched, 35% crit rate having Jingliu to finally enact my revenge; the fact that it's been over five months and I still haven't been able to get Jingliu to 50% crate is actually so painful. I had a whole arc where I was farming wind set Pela and did not manage to get a single replacement piece for Jingliu that entire time. I hate that I love this game.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. I regeared Jingliu, rallied the troops (Bronya, RM, & Natasha), and set out for battle:

Victory is MINE! 3608 points is pretty damn solid—my Boothill team only managed to get 73 more points during their run. I feel like I can finally move on from this without any lingering resentment or regrets (yippee!)

Closing Thoughts

That just about wraps up AS for this patch. I was wrong with my guess of having to beat up Yanqing this cycle (a well-deserved break after the 2.5 continuance) but I do hope to see him in this mode sometime in the future. I’m looking forward to seeing what all they manage to incorporate into AS after this patch because the new boss mechanics were both refreshing and interesting. I’m someone who actively likes this mode, so I can only imagine how much of an impact the new features had on those who don’t typically care for it. I hope that they continue to mix up more battles like this in the future.

2.5.1 Pure Fiction

No video for Volubility since I couldn't get past eleven stars: I recorded one but it's not worth posting since I didn't even come close to a full clear. I don't want to waste my time editing and making a thumbnail for content I'm not proud of. Additionally, since I wasn't able to finish and I've since done MoC in between my myriad of PF attempts, I lost the ability to save my build showcases for the aforementioned recording, meaning that I would've been missing an entire section of my video. Truly unfortunate, but it is what it is.

I genuinely had such a bad time trying to do this. I spent far more time than I would've liked trying to twelve star and it sucked just about every bit of enjoyment that it could've out of me. I thought I would have a better chance at beating it after a couple weeks away and doing some character upgrades but apparently it just wasn't in the cards this patch. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Closing Thoughts

720/800 jades is painful but I have no choice other than to accept it and move on. If I somehow manage a miracle before the 2.6.1 reset, I'll be sure to pop in here to provide an update. Otherwise, that's all from me on PF.

2.5.2 Memory of Chaos

No video for Scalegorge Tidalflow either. I did manage to get all twelve stars, but my mental health is currently kicking my ass, so I just don't have it in me to bother with it (or this post really) before the patch ends.

Quick summary off the dome since I didn't write any notes when I did my run; Boothill continues to pay his dues. Feixiao is fun to play with—I might need to pull Robin or build Moze though because I don’t have a proper third slot for her team. I thought I could clear floor XII quicker than seven cycles, but a few rounds of casual gaming did not yield better results. No showcases because I forgot to make them before giving PF another try and I'm drained.

Closing Thoughts

MoC was fine. The exo-toughness mechanic is interesting, and I hope I get a chance to explore it more when I'm feeling better. All 800 jades have been added to the savings for DHIL's cone.

Alrighty friends, that's it for this post. Sorry about the quality drop; my brain is being a nuisance and I'd prefer to put this out now while I have some motivation left to do it—there’s no guarantee that I would've finished it at all if I decided to delay it further. Not my best yap but it’ll do for archiving purposes.

I hope everyone enjoyed the 2.5 endgame cycle (to the best of their ability)! I'll be back in about six weeks when it's time for the next one of these.

[canadian-riddler]

rip indy's neck

Girl help I’m too old and out of shape to headbang

[birdiejett]

“A king of Waste is still a king”

[sarcasticmudkip]

✨✨✨✨FREE sepia filter all across ny today!!! ✨✨✨✨✨

[hazzieandnord]

Absolutely fell in love with this post-apocalyptic experience.

[dragongamers]

[mutantlord]

Cultist: This character grew up in a strict religious sub-culture within a larger community or in a theologically homogeneous settlement. The so-called cult could be anything from a totally new faith all the way to an off-shoot of an old world religion. The term cultist isn’t usually what this character would call themselves, but rather a devotee, disciple, adherent, convert, chosen one, or believer, and it’s outsiders who label this character a cultist. Some of the Epochian era cults are focused on love, healing and forgiveness, while at the opposite extreme, many are obsessed the dark gods, metal deities and devils of folklore and pre-cataclysmic times. Pre-game character caste art for The Mutant Epoch RPG Expansion Rules.

[theomenmedia]

The Last Of Us Season 2 First Teaser Breakdown

Dive into the dark, mysterious world of The Last Of Us Season 2! Our breakdown of the latest teaser trailer unravels new tales of survival, love, and vengeance. Are you ready for what's coming?

Link to the full story: https://www.theomenmedia.com/post/the-last-of-us-season-2-a-deep-dive-into-the-teaser-trailer-s-revelations

[litrpgburrito]

5 Hidden LitRPG Gems: Manga Edition

Here’s a platter of five lesser-known manga titles within the LitRPG genre. Give them a taste!

1. “The Legendary Gamer”

Synopsis: In a world where gaming and reality intertwine, our protagonist, Alex, discovers an ancient console that transports him into the virtual realm of “Elysium.” There, he gains unique abilities, levels up, and faces formidable foes. But as he delves deeper, he uncovers a hidden conspiracy that threatens both worlds.

2. “Chronicles of the Code Mage”

Synopsis: In a cyberpunk dystopia, hackers are the new mages. Meet Kira, a brilliant coder who stumbles upon a forbidden code that grants her magical powers within the digital realm. As she navigates corporate espionage, rival hackers, and ancient secrets, she must balance her dual existence as a code mage.

3. “Realm Reboot”

Synopsis: When a mysterious glitch causes the popular MMORPG “Nexa Online” to merge with reality, players find themselves trapped in a fantasy world. Our protagonist, Jake, must unravel the game’s secrets, level up, and confront powerful NPCs—all while searching for a way back home.

4. “Echoes of the Forgotten”

Synopsis: In a post-apocalyptic world, humanity survives within massive underground cities. The only escape from their bleak existence is the immersive VRMMORPG “Echoes of Eternity.” Our hero, Lyla, embarks on a quest to uncover the game’s hidden lore, battling monsters and unearthing forgotten memories.

5. “Quantum Nexus”

Synopsis: When physics prodigy Mia discovers a mysterious quantum device, she gains the ability to manipulate reality itself. As she explores alternate dimensions, she encounters NPCs with their own consciousness. Mia must balance her scientific curiosity with the consequences of her actions across parallel worlds.

Support your LitRPG Burrito and our goal to go full time by sporting your new Cyberpunk Llama shirt! https://bit.ly/3zcBlTb

[cryptic-paw]

Overland Part 7: Reaching the Reef Now on Cryptic Paw Gaming!

Become Part of The Pack on the official Cryptic Paw website, YouTube, and Patreon!

https://www.crypticpaw.com

https://youtu.be/_YcYP9zjfFg?si=ViYmnmkK3TJU2DJe

https://www.patreon.com/CrypticPaw_Official?utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator

Join Cryptic Paw as she plays through Overland, a survival strategy game, and rates it at the end!

[iidsch]

You are super on point with the "They can consume the message as a product, defanged and absorbed" argument. Anticapitalist media will never be fully successful as long as megacorporations can profit from it and slowly devour its messages.

Squid Game, a violently anticapitalist series, is being turned into a reality show with the same premises as the original show. The original Disco Elysium creatives were forced out of the company by the shareholders, who will definitely milk the game to make profits. Solarpunk was used in an ad about a product made of plastic. The Boys, Squid Game, and now Fallout are produced by possibly the biggest megacorporation on Earth.

And yes, some people will understand the core message of the video game or the series, but the reality is that, to most, it will fly over their heads. Because it's just a product, a fun game, a cool series, not a critique of a political and economic system. If anticapitalist media worked and changed people's minds, we wouldn't need to make more of it.

In short, it's this quote from Disco Elysium:

Hate to admit it but I really did chuckle at "Brought to you by the studio who brought you The Boys and Two Day Shipping*". Its just so grim. Like it's clearly Amazon bragging about being Amazon. But the decisions here... you're marketing this to the fallout audience. These games have "Megacorporations are evil" baked into their DNA. Its why vaults exist. It's why FEV exists. It's heavily implied to be why the war started and the bombs fell in the first place. Nearly every single dungeon you go into is a nightmarish hellscape created by an evil megacorporation of one flavor or another. Everyone who has played these games and thought about it for more than half a second can recognize that Amazon, while less cartoonishly evil (but inherently more evil due to being real), is the kind of company that Fallout has always been against at its core. Now they're puppeting it's corpse around and invoking its themes despite its themes being inherently opposed to their existence. Clown ass world.