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[milesluna]

2024 GOTY Write Up

In 2024 I got a full time job for the first time in four years, and you know what? It turns out you don't get to play as many video games when that happens.

And yet, I persisted. I think there was a common theme among my favorite games this year, and it's that I had to meet many of them on their terms. Yes, some whisked me away from the moment I hit start, but overwhelmingly I found myself really clicking with these titles when I paused, reconsidered how I felt the game wanted me to play, and adjusted my pace to meet their intentions.

This year's write up is a bit rushed, but I got it in just before the buzzer! I hope you'll enjoy. If any of you ever want to talk about these games, you know where to find me.

Before we get started, here are my Honorable Mentions:

Crow Country - If a survivor horror game was also a cozy game that ALSO made you laugh.

Batman: Arkham Origins - A gritty origin story where Batman has an ARC?! And he’s kind of a DICK?! Let’s GOOOO!!!

Sonic x Shadow Generations - It's the best Sonic game ever made. Full stop.

Shenmue - A time capsule of a game with disastrous ambition. Both ahead of its time and utterly wrong in what it assumes everyone wants from an open world experience. I love it. Sea of Theives - The perfect game to enjoy with your morning coffee or evening edible. Relaxing if you want it to be, harrowing if you want it to be.  

Now…

My Top 5 Games from 2024

#5 - Astro Bot

The best Nintendo game of the year was made by Team Asobi for the PlayStation 5, and baby it’s Astro Bot. There is delightful imagination and a surprising level of polish covering every pixel of this adventure. In fact, I think it’s surprise that winds up being Astro Bot’s greatest strength. Each main stage introduces a novel mechanic that must be mastered, boss fights feature multiple phases that often turn the literal world on its head, and secret challenge stages leave players with nothing more than their basic move set while demanding a level of mechanical precision that would make Super Meat Boy blush. There is no filler in Astro Bot, only a tangible love for the art, science, history, and joy of video games.

#4 - Dragon's Dogma 2

Like Death Stranding, Dragon’s Dogma 2 is a game that thrives on friction. Traversing the world is genuinely treacherous and requires careful planning before leaving the (relative) safety of a city or village. Maybe you think you can save some time and resources by spending money on a fast-travel wagon, only for said wagon to be attacked by a gang of goblins… and for that fight with goblins to be interrupted by giant griffin that will pick you up and carry you across the kingdom before you’re able to wrestle out of its talons. When things go wrong on your adventure, and they WILL go wrong, the systems and possibilities spring to life. If you pay attention to your surroundings, though, and listen closely to the many hints the game drops for you, you’ll survive… if only just barely.

#3 - Balatro

I think Balatro is going to be my exercise bike companion for quite some time. This silly game of poker hands and multipliers makes time melt away, almost alarmingly so. I’m actually hesitant to call the game “fun”. “Hypnotic” feels more appropriate. The looping, otherworldly soundtrack, spiraling background, and floating UI elements all seem tailor-made to pull players into a dreamlike trance, and boy oh boy do they succeed.

#2 - UFO 50

Goddamn, what a triumph. UFO 50 contains 50 full-length games that would’ve shared shelves with Super Mario Bros or Dragon Warrior back in the 80s. Just about every prominent genre of that era is represented in this collection, from Shmups to JRPGs. I think my favorite aspect of this game is how it makes you more aware of your own gaming proclivities. Everyone I know who plays this game has a different list of favorites; a different game that “made everything click”. For me, that game was Bushido Ball - a surprisingly complex title where samurai play soccer. Every title only requires the use of 2 buttons, every title has its own “historical lore”, and every title - no matter how obtuse or challenging it seems - is excited for you to uncover its secrets and achieve victory.

#1 - Helldivers 2

Helldivers 2 had a well-deserved moment in the spotlight when it first launched. It was a perfect storm of fun that managed to convince players to fully buy into the world of the game and had them gleefully shouting “FOR DEMOCRACY” over and over again. That is an impressive thing to do. I’ll never forget the days when TikTok was filled with “wartime footage” backed by Creedence Clearwater Revival while players urged one another to “join the fight” as if freedom actually depended on it. Then that honeymoon phase passed. But you know what? Helldivers 2 is still my go-to game when I’m looking to have fun with friends within a matter of minutes after sending out the call on discord. The game manages to feed your explosion-fueled power fantasy and SECONDS LATER humiliate you by flinging your worthless corpse halfway across the planet. When I win in Helldivers, it often feels like I barely managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. When I lose in Helldivers, I laugh. Every time.

And now…

My Top 5 Games NOT from 2024

#5 - Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Definitive Edition S

I fear JRPGs. I know myself well enough to be wary of most games that consider 10 hours of playtime an introduction. However, I’m currently experiencing a very unique moment in my life wherein I’m leaving my beloved home and venturing out into the larger world for an adventure. Perhaps that’s why the Dragon Quest XI demo called to me in a way it never had before. I’ve enjoyed spending about an hour with it before bed every night, chipping away at it slowly and letting it charm me with its characters and story. Earlier this year I would read chapters of the Dragon Ball manga before bed, now I feel like I’m finally experiencing life inside of one of Akira Toriyama’s worlds. Since I started playing a few weeks ago I’ve put about 13 hours into Dragon Quest and have only just had the full world map revealed to me. Rather than feeling my usual level of intimidation and disinterest, I find myself excited to see where this adventure will take me next.

#4 - Resident Evil 2 (1998)

A few years ago I finally realized that Resident Evil is my favorite long-running video game series, with the RE2 Remake firmly positioned as one of my favorite games of all time. Replaying the original RE2 over a long weekend was a blast of an experience I won’t soon forget. This campy, pixelated puzzle box of a game managed to get a few genuine jump scares out of me and plenty more smiles. The famous ink ribbon save system was so effective at repeatedly forcing me to ask myself “Can I check just one more room? IS the risk worth the reward?!” As I slowly peeled away the mysteries of Raccoon City, I realized the game I held in my hands was a perfectly tuned, mechanical mouse trap (copyright Umbrella Corp).

#3 - Assassin's Creed: Ezio Trilogy

Outside of AC2, I never quite jived with this franchise, but this year I went through my typical phase of simply wanting to exist in a video game world… and Italy called to me. What happened next, I never could have expected. I devoured the Ezio Trilogy. I had forgotten about the days when “open world games” were significantly smaller and simpler, and by god did it make me realize how much I miss those days. Despite presenting a story with more than a few grating characters and a plot that loses the… plot, these three games made me fall in love with Ezio. It isn’t often you get to spend time with a character from the moment they are born to the moment they die. Ezio’s death and his reflections on his legacy brought actual tears to my eyes. The most interesting legacy of all, though, was the one being forged by Ubisoft at the time these titles were originally released. Seeing video game sensibilities evolve over the course of these three games, for better and for worse, was a fascinating experience.

#2 - Red Dead Redemption 2

You know how I said I like existing in video game worlds? This game world is the best. RDR2 was my hunting and fishing simulator for a few weeks, and then I figured I might as well finally try to finish it. I used to hate how slow this game felt, and then I realized the game was begging me, PLEADING me to slow down. Arthur Morgan and his friends are all running out of time, and there is a wonderful moment when the player and Arthur both realize that the time they have left is more valuable than anything else they have ever chased after in the shrinking West. There’s not much else I can think to say about RDR2 other than that it lived up to the hype. I look forward to returning to it as John Marston from time to time for years to come.

#1 - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD Remake

I started the year rekindling my love for the WiiU. It’s one of my favorite consoles and there was no better game to bring me back to it than the Twilight Princess HD Remake. I feel like these days there are four types of Zelda games. There are the DS-style games (that nobody likes). There are 2D Zelda games, my favorite of which is Link Between Worlds. There are the two Immersive Sim Zelda games, Breath of the Wild being my favorite of the two. And finally, there are the Puzzle Box 3D Zelda games… and this year Twilight Princess officially dethroned Ocarina of Time as my favorite. Again, this is a game I enjoy simply existing in. It is bursting at the seams with interesting characters, both big and small. I adore the art style and music. I adore the melancholy tone. And (coldest take in the universe) Midna is THE best Zelda companion to ever grace us with her presence. According to my save data, I’d tried Twilight Princess twice in the past and both times I made it to the Water Temple and bailed. Back then, the game just felt like it was trying to be Ocarina. Little did I know that as soon as you emerge victorious from Lake Hylia, the game takes on an entire new personality of its own. And I fucking love it.

[another-delta-lover]

Hello!! Delta here!! Coming back from a long break!! :D

^ A lil about my blog:

CRADITS FOR THE HEAVY DIVIDERS: @sister-lucifer // CREDITS FOR THE PFP: @coffeeboys-posts

PLEASE DON'T CALL ME AN ARTISTS!! MAKES ME UNCOMFY!! :( Call me someone that draw or anything else, be creative and have fun about it XD

This blog might contain some unappropiate stuff (swears, slurs [the ones I can say], sex jokes, and so on) but nothing nsfw!!

This is mostly an art blog! I do drawing requests A LOT!! They're open most of the time, but it's always kind to ask first!!

ASKS ARE OPEN most of the time! Say whatever you want idc! If you make me uncomfy I'll tell you or just block you! I'm always open to chat! :)

I get tired often T_T So some days I might not be as active as others, so please don't insist too much about it :(

] DNI!! if you... [ :

.- are a Zionist or Pro-israel, TERF, Proshipper, Trump supporter, are against the LGBTQIA+ community, are a pedofile, or very disrespectful in general!! . If you're any of these, please educate yourself better. If you don't, then block me/DNI. -.

☆My alt blogs!!-

M...myself?- @lil-delta-delticus-guy

My evil self >:] : @another-alpha-hater

My Medic-Bot (and other tf2 robots) RP blog: @the-real-tf2-medicbot

My TF2 heavy and medic ocs RP blog!: @niko-n-frank-mailbox

My new tf2 ocs askblog...: @deltas-team-blog

☆ MY TAGS!!! -

Non art related:

Important stuff- #Deltas megaphone

Reblogs- #Deltas reblogy:3

Mutuals- #Deltas frens

My best friend<3- #Deltas bbf 🇦🇷 @coffeeboys-posts

My best she/her friend!!- #Deltas cloudy fren @darkcloudsatnight

My platonical crush- #Pootis Deltis @pootimedes

Random yappin- #Deltas yappin

Random RAGE/ANGRY yappin- #Deltas AUGH

Vent/Sad yappin- #Deltas cry for help

Asks- #Deltas consulting room

Art related:

Fanarts- #Deltas fangirls

Drawings- #Deltas pencil grabbin

Drawing req- #Deltas requesties:P

Doodles- #Deltas scribblings

Ocs - #Deltas children

SFMs - #Delta thinks he's Valve XD

Extra tags:

Posts about ma family :3 - #Deltas family posts

Me being obssesed with Heavy— #The Flower N The Bear

Alt blogs and I arguing- #Deltas voices getting louder

🇨🇱CHILEAN STUFF WHEN IT'S SEPTEMBER🇨🇱- #Deltas UYUI🇨🇱

OLD TAGS:

Drawings- #Deltas serious pencil grabbin

Doodles- #Deltas random pencil grabbin

Requests- #Deltas mercy on the poor

THIS BLOG'S CURRENT HYPERFIXATION IS:

Team Fortress 2

[ FANDOM TAGS UNDER THE CUT ]---

Tf2- #Deltas men obssesion

UT/DT- #Deltas cringe era

House MD- #Deltas medical malpractice

Mouthwashing- #Deltas Dental Hygiene

Gravity Falls- #Deltas reason to love triangles

Dandy's World- #Deltas fav roblox game

JJBA- #Deltas BUFF GAY men obssesion

I'm Scared A Pixelated Nightmare- #Deltas worst hear me out

SCP- #Deltas scientist complex

DHMIS- #Deltas fav scary series

The Sims 4- #Deltas God Complex

Regretavator- #Deltas WORSE roblox obssesion

Minecraft- #Deltas inner child

TADC- #Deltas YT brain rot

TNMN- #Deltas really unhealthy obssesion

Good Omens(I don't support the writer)- #Deltas june depression

Frankenstein- #Deltas book reading

Some extra fandoms I'm in+ stuff I like that don't have a tag!!-

Untitled Tag Game

Cube Escape

Doors

Mandela Catalogue (I don't support the creator)

Bad Parenting

Life Eater

The Last Of Us game

Cuphead (show and game)

Nimona

Wild Robot

You can always ask me if I like more!! (I always forget XD)

[annah-kitathryne]

I recently mentioned I liked some of the Alt covers for the Batgirls series. I thought I'd share some of my other favourites.

Batgirls #1

I just think it's kinda fun. A nice homage cover and I really like the simple highlights in Steph's hair.

Batgirls #3

The lines feel like a sketch. It's giving a bit of a Spiderverse feel to it if that makes sense. I love the yellow outlines on the foreground compared to the background. The overstuffed utility belts make a lot of sense.

Batgirls #6

I love the vibrant colours on this cover. Pink Yellow and Blue. Reminds me of printer ink. The yellow being a highlight, and the pink almost becoming a shadow or lowlight on Cass's suit.

Batgirls #7

Love how Cass's cap feels a bit like a wing. The ombre background reminds me of the ombre background sky from Huntress (1994 run). I like how a light blue is used as a highlight and a mid tone blue is used as Steph's undercape compared to the warm tones.

Batgirls #9

The outlines bring pink on Cass where the light hits compared to the solid Spoiler suit lines. Steph's hair is softly outlined compared to the harsh lines.

Batgirls #11

Cass's making up the left ear, and the way both capes make the logo go in different ways. Cass's makes the logo wings go down, and Steph's makes the logo wings go up. The grainy feel to the art reminds me of old comics. Feels a bit nestolgic

Batgirls #12

I own this one. Old Cass Batgirl logo! The art reminds me of a specific era of advertisements and the colors of older TV color. 80s or early 90s anime? IDK I don't remember the right name.

Batgirls #15

Pink sky, blur bag round, and green in the bottom left corner. Cass, who stands out against it, and Steph, who seems to make it her own. I like the idea of some more color to Cass's outfit. A bot of a mix between the Bat suit and the orphan suit. The blue building reminds me of building plans..

Batgirls #16

Paint splatter background. The bit of a white outline. The detailed drawing. It reminds me of the aesthetic background people put behind cut-out pictures. Like a mix of quick art and slow art if that makes sense? The blending of two styles together.

Batgirls #19

Gold outlines?! Yes! Steph has rays of sun behind her. Reminds me of the dead Steph carrying Cass panel from Batgirl 2000. Again, with the paint splatter. Love to see it. The white highlights on Cass's suit.

[captainkranos]

Daily Era Art 3 - Blink Bot

a remake of one my my older arts, mostly with colors to match my robo-sona

[tyrantisterror]

You Don't Remember Muncher

Sony, as a film-making company, has reeked of desperation for at least a decade at this point. They have IPs that they know SHOULD be making them more money but they just. Can't. Get them to. And sometimes this results in them taking some big creative swings, to be completely fair - I love the Spider-Verse movies, and you don't get movies that expensive and conceptually heavy with a studio executive who's playing it safe. And I think the fact that they keep taking these big swings even when some of them end up duds like Sausage Party is commendable.

But I do think one of their big problems is this inability to understand that 1. films are a form of art and 2. what art is. They're good enough to understand that artists know what art is, which is more than a lot of studio leadership can say, and those big creative swings they take come from trusting artists to do their art thing. And even their misfires tend to have laudable stuff - Sausage Party may be an SNL gag that someone decided to stuff full of the most dated racism and bigoted jokes imaginable to get up to movie feature runtime, but the animation in it is oddly beautiful, even when depicting things that are repulsive. Like a protestant on the way to Dracula's castle, the heads at Sony seem to treat their artists with respect despite not understanding why they gave them a rosary and other primitive superstitious charms to protect them from vampires.

But when they have to make choices themselves, hoo boy, those poor bastards. They don't know what they're doing.

So Ghostbusters is one of those valuable IPs Sony is desperate to monetize, right? They just know they can have a huge hit on their hands with Ghostbusters. It was popular in the 80's, and things that were popular in the 80's are HUGE now! Look at that Stranger Things, baby!

Now, the heads at Sony may not be able to understand art, but they try. They are at the very least good at picking apart a piece of art and sussing out what ingredients made it, like Claire Saffitz trying to recreate an oreo. For their 2016 reboot, they correctly deduced that the original Ghostbusters was 1. a comedy 2. starring at least two actors from SNL and using their star power for promotion and 3. was liked by nerds because the heroes are out-of-shape nerds rather than chiseled Rambo/Arnie types. Also it has ghosts in it, probably.

Now, the problem is, the SNL actor-led comedy was taken out into a dark alley and slowly beaten to death by Adam Sandler and his cadre of goblin men starting somewhere around the time Little Nicky was made. It gave way to the era of cringe comedies like The Hangover and Judd Apatow bromances, which were led less by SNL stars and more by actors and actresses who'd gotten their start on NBC thursday night sitcoms - a minor difference, perhaps, but notable I think. And, like, even then, by 2016, that era was also pretty much over. The cringe comedy was a dying genre. Comedy itself, at least pure comedies, was kind of losing its place in film, being supplanted by action movies with more quips than they used to have. We were three years deep into THE WHEDONING.

But being three years behind the curve has never been a problem Sony worried about. I mean, historically it should be, but they never do. So Sony tried to assemble the best Ghostbusters they could make from the ingredients they could suss out, using the closest equivalents they could make. Grab some of the actresses from Bridesmaids, and an SNL star or two if you can. Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy have a pretty good banter going on ala Bill Murray and Dan Akroyd, really put them front and center. Oh, and we sussed out another ingredient! The original Ghostbusters had Sigourney Weaver as a love interest, and she was the star of Alien, which our Sony genre determining bot claims is an action movie, so let's get a hot action star as a love interest. Chris Hemsworth! Oh, we can make him be a silly goober like we did with John Hamm in Bridesmaids! People love handsome guys being silly goobers! (in this, Sony is correct)

The result was... fine, I think, if missing a few crucial ingredients. You know the ghosts in Ghostbusters? First syllable of the title? Most of the ones in the 2016 movie are just, you know, transparent humans, maybe a bit bluer than normal, making maniacal faces. Whereas in the original:

Well, they got some fucked up freaks in the original.

A lot of fans didn't like the 2016 movie, some for stupid sexism reasons, some for "I don't see why you need to remake Ghostbusters at all really" reasons, and some for, like, just personal taste reasons. It did not provide the big box office hit Sony wanted. Their first attempt to recreate the oreo was a failure.

So they go back to the drawing board, listening to the loudest, angriest criticism and looking to what's working outside of their influence for answers. Fans thought the 2016 movie was too different, not reverent towards the original as the perfect golden calf of Bill Murray comedies that it is. So this new reboot would be oozing with reverence. Fans didn't like the cast of ladies, so, yes, got it, scrap the lady-led ghostbusters.

Star Wars Fans loved that J.J. Abrams Star Wars reboot, The Force Awakens, for being a sequel rather than a full reboot, but also for just telling the same story they already love but slightly different. And nerds in general still fucking love that Stranger Things show - they even had an episode where the Stranger Things kids wore ghostbusters costumes! Hey, there's a million dollar idea, Stranger Things kids... as ghostbusters...

Now, the one thing they can't take from The Force Awakens is copying the tone of their original movie, because they tried copying the irreverent tone of the original Ghostbusters and fans did not like it. They need to be reverent to the original, because that's what The Force Awakens, even if showing reverence at all is antithetical to the tone of the original movie itself (which it is, because Ghostbusters is an irreverent Bill Murray comedy, like that's its whole schtick). But if they can drape this new-found reverence in 80's nostalgia, maybe, just maybe, nostalgic fans will be too dumb to notice.

And hey, they love that Stranger Things, which is a big homage to The Goonies and E.T. and Steven Spielberg-esque stories about pubescent kids going on perilous adventures where they face bad guys and learn life lessons in the process, reverent but dated in the same time period as Ghostbusters. And what an idea... Stranger Things kids... as ghostbusters...

This was admittedly a lot of preamble to get to the actual topic: Muncher. See, in that Force Awakens style, they needed to not only bring old characters from Ghostbusters back, but also make new characters who are really just the old characters but slightly different. For example, The Force Awakens brings us BB-8, who's basically just R2-D2, but visually different enough to feel new, and maybe a little cuter. Instead of moving on treads, he moves on this big ball, which is more complicated from a puppetry aspect and thus looks a lot more impressive and just a bit more "modern" while still basically being R2-D2 again.

Such was the genesis of Muncher.

Slimer (originally called Onionhead by the production staff and John Belushi's Ghost by Bill Murray) wasn't intended to be the franchise mascot, in part because Ghostbusters was never meant to be a franchise. He was a one off ghost who's iconic design and role as the first ghost to be busted made him a fan favorite, and eventually became, like, the ghostbusters' dog in the cartoon series. We love that for him, but the fact remains that Slimer's success was accidental.

Muncher, by contrast, was an attempt to recreate Slimer. But different! He's a gross gluttonous monster, because that's what Slimer is, but there's a lot less focus on wet goo when he eats and more solid chunks. See, it's different? And you know what's popular now thanks to, like, a cracked article or something? Tardigrades! They're these cool little microscopic things that everyone's making into monster designs now, they're even on a Star Trek! Why, if we made Slimer 2 - err, that is, Muncher have some tardigrade elements, he'd look weird and, like, modern - but not too modern! Like Slimer, but different!

Before Ghostbusters: Afterlife came out, there was a LOT of Muncher merchandise. A lot. Which makes sense, Slimer had so much goddamn merch in the heyday of the original Ghostbusters. There was fucking Slimer toothpaste. Toothpaste! From Slimer's teats!

It looked identical to Slimer bubblegum.

But, for whatever reason, Muncher did not connect like Slimer did, and so Sony did a last minute trend-chasing pivot and tried to focus on the new hotness: cute baby versions of characters who were old and not cute in the original movie.

I don't know if this scene was planned to be in the movie before The Mandalorian was a big success, or if it was a hasty addition to it, but it doesn't matter, because what does matter is the late marketing shift to focus on these little fuckers, and giving them lots of toys. They're already in the marketing for the sequel, where Muncher is nowhere to be found.

Because you don't remember Muncher, do you?

Muncher didn't connect. They took a swing with Muncher and they fucking whiffed. They made a shitload of Muncher toys and all those little blue fuckers ended up clearanced to Hell. Muncher is a failure, a loser.

You don't remember Muncher.

And you never will.

[genericpuff]

A theory as crazy as it is profound in a silly r/im14andthisisdeep kinda way

So there's this conspiracy theory of sorts that's been whispered within the ULO discord and subreddit the last little bit. I don't think anyone's made an outright statement on it yet but it's definitely something people have been casually talking about in the comment sections and chatrooms, mostly as a joke, but also as a thought experiment.

And that thought experiment is concerning the notion that Lore Olympus could very well have become a poorly-made AI comic.

Not necessarily the art, as we've already dissected the art process plenty of times before and it points to Rachel simply being bad at team management and using her mismanaged team as a way to circumvent any real effort on her own part.

But the writing. There's just something about Lore Olympus' writing that's become incredibly stiff, boring, and alien.

Disclaimer before I continue: this is a tinfoil hat theory, and a lot of the points I'm about to discuss can be easily proven with far more reasonable explanations, so take it with mountains of salt. That said, I do think it's something worth talking about as we're currently in an era of mass AI-takeover in the art and writing scene, and let's face it, Lore Olympus nowadays really does feel like it's either being written by an alien, or an amalgamation of possessed animatronic endoskeletons wearing a human skinsuit. So viewer beware, this post is full of speculation and tinfoil hat wearing, read at your own discretion and don't take everything I'm about to say 100% seriously.

Let's get started.

THE TONE OF VOICE

This is where that whole "animatronic wearing a skinsuit" vibe really shines, so I figured it would be where I'd start. Lore Olympus... does not feel human. It's dialogue often feels stilted and scripted, none of the characters have any sense of personal voice, and it often feels like the dialogue is coming straight out of a sterilized Wikipedia article.

There are also often times when characters will say one thing only to be responded to with an entirely other thing. It comes across as randomly generated, like the dialogue is being created based off a script that is only given prompts as to where it needs to end up - so everything between Point A and Point B ends up feeling like non-sequitur filler at best and outright nonsense at worst.

In fact, there can be better tone of voice and dialogue found in the legitimate AI conversations of Lore Olympus themed ChatGPT bots.

And this is a bot that's self-aware it's a bot, so it definitely has that going for it.

The more likely explanation: Rachel's bad at writing. She's planning these episodes maybe 2 weeks ahead at a time at best so she's just throwing dialogue in to keep readers spending money and meet her panel quotas. Her characters have no voice because they aren't, in and of themselves, characters. She hasn't given them any depth beyond their appearance and she clearly has next to no understanding of writing outside her own headspace (and her actual headspace as we've seen is... yikes) so it's not surprising that her dialogue-writing is on par with Shenmue 3. And Shenmue 3 is a game with real human-written dialogue that exists so it's not a stretch that something like LO's bad writing could be entirely the fault of a human either LOL

THE NARRATIVE INCONSISTENCIES

It seems since the start of S2.2 (post-mid-season hiatus which starts us off with the 10 year time skip) narrative inconsistencies and plotholes have become far more egregious, sometimes contradicting itself within the same episode. Almost like scenes are just happening from single idea prompts and no actual structure underneath the surface.

The more likely explanation: Just like the first point about stilted dialogue, this could easily be chalked up to Rachel just not committing to goal-oriented writing. She doesn't have any sort of end point planned for any of these plotlines, she just drags them out until she can finally think of a way to resolve them, if she even resolves them (many often aren't resolved, or are simply left as a "yep, that's it, moving on" type ending, ex. Eros and Psyche).

STRANGE SYNTAX AND CONSTANT TYPOS

This goes hand in hand with the first point about stilted dialogue, but part of what makes everything feel so stiff and robotic is how often the sentences are structured in very... odd ways. From the lack of contractions that make sentences feel less natural-

-to the strange choice of words that no human being in a modern setting would ever use (and LO is, again, set in a modern setting and is trying to portray the gods as being 'just like us')-

-to the numerous typos and spelling errors.

(there are so many I could post here but the "his deam" one always makes me laugh lmao)

It really feels like a lot of these sentences were pulled straight out of Twitter or a Wikipedia article. As a result, it never feels like these characters are talking to each other, but at each other.

As for the typos, at this point, Rachel really has no excuse for how frequent they are. Fortunately, she has hired a copy editor recently which seems to have mitigated these errors, but if there were a bot involved, it wouldn't be farfetched to think that the bot would also make spelling mistakes and stilted dialogue if it's been trained off Rachel's past material which is, y'know... full of spelling mistakes and stilted dialogue.

The more likely explanation: It's a well known fact that Rachel has dyslexia, so I'm not going to fault her for struggling with spelling things right. None of this is to shame people who struggle with dyslexia and reading disorders. But the fact of the matter is, Rachel is a multi-million dollar creator in the year 2023 where spellcheck exists. It's wild that she's only now taken on a copy editor. Literally any of her assistants that she's had for the last few years could have done that for her. It's great that she's hired a copy editor but it feels like too little too late. That isn't going to fix the stilted dialogue, either, which just comes down to, yet again, Rachel being a bad writer. And possibly a series of animatronic endoskeletons hiding in a human skinsuit.

REACTING TO CRITICISM

The irony of this post is that it asks not to take every speculation I write here seriously because it's just that, speculation, and we shouldn't get carried away with conspiracy theories... which is exactly the sentiment we had back when we initially suspected Rachel of spying in the criticism groups, which turned out to be true. It's basically public knowledge at this point that Rachel lurks in the criticism groups, thanks to both testimonials from others who have been in groups who got hijacked by Rachel (see: Broseidon's Palace of Fishposting) and the 'clapbacks' in LO that are clearly meant for the audience.

But it's wild to think that Rachel would really spend time in criticism groups when she's said it herself that she "doesn't like criticism". And considering she already spends an absurd amount of time on social media, it would be really ridiculous if she was still finding time to also lurk in the critic groups and concoct ways to 'get back' at them.

Unless, of course, there was a bot parsing criticism hashtags like #antiloreolympus and #loreolympuscritical. I can personally attest to the fact that Rachel must be subscribed to hashtags in some capacity because I've had Lore Olympus fanart (way back in the day when it was actual fanart and not foe-art) get retweeted by Rachel herself literally seconds after posting. So either Rachel is just constantly refreshing the search feed all day, or she's directly fed tweets and posts with the hashtags she's subscribed to.

The more likely explanation: Rachel literally just spends an absurd amount of time on social media and considering she clearly only involves herself in the beginning and end process of drawing her comic - and only has a buffer 1-2 weeks ahead of time - she's definitely got plenty of time on her hands to lurk and hurt her own feelings in the criticism spaces. She could also just have her mods sending things to her as well. Either way it's icky behavior and I wish she'd do herself and her mental health a favor and just stay out of the fandom spaces, they aren't for her, they're for the fans.

HOW IS IT GETTING WORSE?

Consider everything I've laid out here. Remember that Lore Olympus is a comic that's been in development since 2017, and in the Originals catalogue since 2018. Its Originals version turned 5 years old in March and technically LO is well into the 6-7 year age range in total. It's absolutely absurd that after all these years, not only has the story fallen apart, but the art has lost the quality it once had. Comics are a medium that encourage improvement, you're drawing lots and typically the same characters and settings over and over again, it's natural progression to get better at doing it over time. And yet, Rachel seems to be getting worse at it, and her involvement in the comic seems to be shrinking with each year.

Of course, improvement is optional. Not every comic gets better over time. Which brings me to my final piece on this matter.

The most likely explanation: Rachel is burnt out and not interested in LO anymore. This is the longest project she's ever done, and while it's not the first webcomic she's done on a schedule, it is the first one that's made it further than a handful of chapters (The Doctor Pepper Show ended after about 1-2 years, not even making it to 10 chapters). She even stated herself in the beginning that LO was a project she'd "never finish".

While it is a testament to how far LO has come from its humble beginnings, I think it also serves as a precautionary tale - success can come at the expense of your happiness and integrity if you've trapped yourself in a project that no longer fulfills you.

Rachel's never finished a long-term project, and at this rate, it's hard to say when she will. As well known as it is that she has dyslexia, it's also well known that she has ADHD, and speaking as an ADHD creator myself, I can fully empathize with and understand that webcomics are hard to create, and get more exhausting to see through with each passing chapter. There's a reason not everyone does long-term comics like this, they're incredibly hard to manage and require a lot of commitment. Even I've found my commitment to current projects wavering as the honeymoon phase has worn off and I've sunk into the reality that is monotonous work, panel after panel, episode after episode, deadline after deadline.

If Rachel were a more experienced creator and more self-aware of her own limitations and work methodology back in 2018, Lore Olympus likely would have never been dragged out this long. She may have gotten the chance to finish it while she was still happy with it, or at least leave it behind when she was ready to move on. While I'm sure the allure of signing on with Originals felt worth it at the time - especially when we didn't know yet just how exploitative Webtoons was - it clearly hasn't benefitted her in the long run because it's tethered her to a project that she never felt wholly dedicated to in the first place. A project that's now less about telling a story and connecting with an audience and more about generating clicks and revenue.

She can claim all she wants in her interviews that Persephone and Hades were her "muses" as a child, but the writing is on the wall - LO was a passing fancy that stuck around too long after its heartbeat gave out.

What it's become now is an endoskeleton on life support, made up of statistics and analytics, struggling to stay alive from inside of a colorful but rotting skinsuit that only barely resembles a living thing.

[thelongestway]

The Nameless Fanfic (2/4 stories drafted): Masterpost

Figured I'd need a new masterpost, since the situation has evolved a little since my last one!

The Nameless Fanfic is planned to be a series of crossover fanfics for Time to Orbit: Unknown and The Murderbot Diaries. I post the rough drafts here as I write them, then edit them and post them on AO3. As of right now, I have two stories drafted completely, one edited and being posted on ao3, and one in the pre-writing stage.

The series is set post-canon for TTOU and just after Fugitive Telemetry for TMBD, but spoiler-wise it's extremely heavy spoilers for the end of TTOU (of the "you should probably read the original first" variety), and light spoilers for Fugitive Telemetry for TMBD.

Story 1: Connection Test Start (AO3 link)

SecUnit has told Senior Indah it is open to further work, but only if the work is really weird. So when a research transport from an unfamiliar non-corporate political entity called Trellin arrives at Preservation Station and starts throwing strange errors within seconds of contact, SecUnit is tasked with figuring out what the hell is wrong with that ship. (A lot. A lot is wrong with that ship. One, it’s not ART. Two, it’s kind of an asshole anyway. Three, it has feelings. And morals. And that last one might be the worst.)

Chapter 1: Identity and Chapter 2: Construct Chapter 3: Bees Chapter 4: Protocols Chapter 5: Security Chapter 6: Medical Suite Chapter 7: Damage Chapter 8: Affect Chapter 9: Humans Chapter 10: Hostage Chapter 11: Extraction Chapter 12: Metaphors Chapter 13: Friends Chapter 14: Plans Chapter 15: Play

Story 2: Formless and Vanquished We Shall Travel

One Public Universal Friend runs a corporate blockade with a shuttle full of refugees, fully expecting to die in the process. Instead, it wakes up on an unfamiliar ship, with a bot pilot that informs the Friend that it is well aware of the Friends' existence and has helped it escape pursuit. In the Corporate Rim era, the Friends have been forced into becoming an underground operation, and they have few allies. Stranded, disoriented, and hounded by a corporation in possession of an anti-terrorism mandate, the Friend must deal with its situation and not sink its entire organization in the process.

Direct continuation of Connection Test Start.

Chapter 1: Rescue Chapter 2: Calibration Chapter 3: Need-to-know Chapter 4: Pretense Chapter 5: Verdict Chapter 6: Package Chapter 7: Grace Chapter 8: Trail Chapter 9: Analysis Chapter 10: Records Chapter 11: Station Chapter 12: Extraction Chapter 13: Inspiration Chapter 14: Keepsakes Chapter 15: Practice

Standalone shorts:

Chosen Burdens - after s2ch5, "Verdict".

I also occasionally post music, pictures, reference materials, etc on the nameless fanfic: supplemental tag. This is mostly for my own convenience, but if you're the sort of person that enjoys finding new music or something that way - enjoy!

[venomous-qwille]

Hey qwille!! for no devious reason at alll,(lie)

What kind of furniture does the gitm house have? You’ve told how ghost in the machine is set far into the future, but you’ve also said the house that the boys reside in is more vintage, I just can’t tell how vintage.

(I hope this makes sense aaa.) Especially considering furniture, the art you draw with simple seating and from what you’ve described in the fic doesn’t give much information to the look/from what era it all comes from.

I’ve gathered the reader’s uncle is one for auction, so I can see how the furniture would get there- I just can’t seem to understand if the furniture they have would be like what one would see today in modern homes, or what one would see even further than that…

apologies for such a long ask!!! I just wanted to get more accurate before I started anything<3 (I would also appreciate it if there was perhaps a height chart for the cast? :o)

Hiya! I have a bunch of info/refs for the heights and the house in the misutamojis discord. I answered an ask re the house refs here!

The house is a bit of a mishmash when it comes to furnishing, but it is almost entirely antique early twentieth century stuff, with a bunch of mid-century dated styling in places like the kitchen/bathroom. There is a bunch of other more modern stuff picked up 'as needed' so the whole thing clashes a ton. The house is mostly chock full of collectables!

re the heights, this is what I have on the discord:

Clip (8'0"ish usually but he can change to whatever he likes so…) Fool (7'5"ish) Ruin (7'2ish) Misuta (6'11"ish, the boots put him ahead of the others from the same gen) Sol, Sunflower, Sanii, Nova (6'9"ish) Sunspot (around same height as Y/N, but I headcanon him 5'8"ish

they are big bots!

[amymbona]

hello hiiii (coming in anon cuz im silly and embarassed to share LOL)

So, I noticed, realized, that while there are lots of bots of Art, there are very few of Patrick and even fewer of Patrick and Art. AND THEN there are like only two angsty bots. So i've come here to share with my fellow sisters, brothers, and sibilings this angsty bot I made about the boys in their standford era forgetting about your anniversary. (it's not specified very much about user's feelings so you can easily maneveur it and turn it around so it isn't too angsty or make it very angsty if you want ^^)

https://character.ai/chat/dLubX1p55TEdaYPs6M3lN833RGeU61o_20beBMqJvuo

Babe that's a really good one! I love the idea and the story. 🥹🥹🥹 I also looked through your account and was pleased to find so many men that I like. 🤭 Really fucking good job, keep it up! <3

[shadowjokerao3]

The multiverse just got a lot more crowded… and chaotic.

I know I said I was done with the multiverse but I honestly couldn’t stop from making this. After 3 days the multiverse has expanded, many of these AU mikes being made between me and two very good friends of mine (will be in the tags below). In total there are 16 mikes here for shenanigans. Below this will be close ups of the groups they were drawn in with their name tags/nicknames and proper tags with who created them. Any mentioned stories can be found on AO3 as well.

First up are the plushies!

Plush (left) was created by @driftingvoid-155 (Void) and can be found in their story “Perfect Size for Hugging”

Plush Mike (right) is owned by @kiramorganpotatoqueen

Next up is the Mikes with the ability to swing in some way.

Mike Pines is owned by @soniccrazygal and can be first found in their story “Friends, Family, and Frights”

Wires is a Tokyo Ghoul Half Ghoul AU and was created by me, Void and @panaramic-art (Sean) with the story “Remnant and Blood of a Ghoulish Kind”

Ash is a Percy Jackson Half Blood AU created by Sean

Next is the bot boys! Mikes trapped in a suit of some kind!

All the way on the left is Rockstar Lolbit made by @inkspottie with the story “Laughing at Tragedy”

Next is the lovely Trap, a Mike stuck within Spring Bonnie, created by Sean. Can be found in “Spring(Lock) and Key”

And finally is Fox, Mike stuck within an unused spring lock suit, created by me who can be found in “Caught to the Bone, the Rise of FoxTrap”

Next we have the zombie boys!

We have Zom on the left created by Sean and can be found in the story “15 Year Old Zombie”

Vic is a zombie were-fox based in the Victorian era created by me and Sean. Their story can be found in “Franken-Fox”

Ok there’s not real connection with these 3 but they are still together.

Endy is an AU based on if Mike never possessed his corpse and instead became part of Ennard (baby gets ejected eventually) and then use an illusion disc to hide their form. Created by Sean and Void

Of course Glam Mike is from the comic Into The Pit by @pixlokita (yes I keep using the Halloween costume I really like it don’t at me)

Luster is a darker take on the wizard of oz, created by me and Sean. Can be found in the story “Soulless in Oz”

Finally, to round out the last of the mikes is these 3.

Clicker is a Mike based off the Last of Us (tv show specifically) created by Me, Void, and Sean.

Foxtrot is a serial killer Mike AU created by Void and can be found in “It Runs in the Family”

And last but not least is Petals, a mutated Hanahaki Disease AU created by me and can be found in “Lungs Suffocated by Lilies”

I hope you all like it this took so much time to make *~*

[anatecuenta]

IA y literatura: ¿herramienta, reemplazo o copia deshonesta?

Análisis de Andrés Vergara-Aguirre acerca de la influencia de los chatbots en el proceso creativo literario

(Esta nota, porque me parecía pertinente, la hice con ayuda de ChatGPT 😀)

La relación entre la inteligencia artificial (IA) y la literatura está transformando el panorama creativo de formas sin precedentes. Desde el lanzamiento de ChatGPT-3 en noviembre de 2022, esta herramienta ha generado un impacto significativo en diversos campos, incluida la literatura. ChatGPT, desarrollado por OpenAI, ha provocado debates sobre su potencial para transformar la creación literaria y la naturaleza de la autoría.

En pocos meses tras su lanzamiento, ChatGPT-3 ha sido coautor de cientos de libros disponibles en plataformas como Amazon, algunos producidos en tiempo récord por autores como Tim Boucher, quien ha publicado cerca de 100 títulos con su ayuda. Aunque estas obras tienden a ser breves, reflejan una nueva era de producción literaria acelerada.

A pesar de este auge, la literatura creada por máquinas no es un concepto nuevo. Desde los años 80, se han desarrollado sistemas que generan textos literarios, como The Policeman’s Beard is Half Constructed (1984) o Mexica: 20 years-20 stories (2017). Sin embargo, el avance vertiginoso de la IA plantea nuevas preguntas sobre la originalidad, la creatividad y el papel del escritor humano.

Voces en el debate

Vergara-Aguirre recoge opiniones diversas sobre el impacto de la IA en la literatura:

- Escepticismo y rechazo: Escritores como Rolando Gabrielli y Laura Restrepo dudan que la IA pueda crear gran literatura. Argumentan que la verdadera creatividad trasciende la mera imitación de estilos preexistentes, ampliando los horizontes de lo humano.

- Utilidad como herramienta: Algunos, como el desarrollador Sergui Aguimbau, consideran que la IA no sustituirá a los escritores, pero podría inspirar ideas valiosas y agilizar procesos creativos. El premio Nobel Abdulrazak Gurnah también ve a la IA como un recurso para enriquecer investigaciones y apoyar la escritura.

- Impacto en la autoría: Críticos como Gustavo Pablos y Dago Cáceres Aguilar analizan cómo la IA está redefiniendo nociones tradicionales de autoría y creatividad. En un futuro cercano, podría haber una convivencia entre humanos y bots en la generación de universos literarios.

Reflexiones desde Colombia

Desde una perspectiva colombiana, investigadores como Augusto Escobar Mesa y Consuelo Triviño Anzola destacan que, aunque la IA ofrece nuevas herramientas, no garantiza una mejor calidad literaria. Insisten en que el talento, la paciencia y la singularidad del escritor humano siguen siendo insustituibles.

Por otro lado, Gloria Posada Vélez y Darío Ruiz Gómez cuestionan la autenticidad de las creaciones hechas con IA. Posada considera que estos textos homogenizan la imaginación, mientras que Ruiz Gómez afirma que la IA carece del «aura» necesaria para capturar la profundidad emocional del ser humano. 

Originalidad y creatividad: el corazón de la literatura

La mayor crítica hacia la IA en la literatura radica en su incapacidad para emocionarse o reflexionar sobre sí misma, aspectos esenciales de la creatividad humana. Como señala Ana Clara Pérez Cotten, la creación literaria no surge del intelecto, sino del instinto y la emocionalidad. En este contexto, la IA se percibe más como un espejo que refleja el conocimiento acumulado que como un creador genuino.

Perspectivas futuras

Andrés Vergara-Aguirre concluye que la IA contribuirá a una mayor producción literaria, pero las grandes obras seguirán dependiendo de la capacidad humana para crear significados únicos. Aunque herramientas como ChatGPT podrían ayudar a los escritores a desarrollar sus ideas, el mérito final recae en el autor humano.

En síntesis, mientras la IA revoluciona la forma en que concebimos y producimos literatura, también reaviva preguntas fundamentales sobre qué significa ser humano y cómo definimos el arte y la creatividad. La coexistencia entre la tecnología y el talento humano podría marcar una nueva era para la literatura, siempre que se mantenga el equilibrio entre ambos.

Este video de The Dave Cullen Show, titulado The Impact of A.I. on Hollywood and Creative Writing, plantea en tan solo 8 minutos el mismo interrogante y llega a la misma conclusión: todo depende del uso. Me pareció muy interesante la imagen que plantea con la tendencia a comer «comida orgánica» con lo que él cree que va a pasar con el contenido creado «libre de IA» en un futuro, porque yo también creo que, una vez que baje el entusiasmo colectivo que generó ChatGPT y derivados, va a haber una revaloración de la creación humana.

Para cerrar, les dejo una Charla TEDx de la crítica literaria Galina Yuzefovich: Impact of AI to literature.

Me encantaría que me cuenten qué piensan ustedes. ¿Creen que la máquina va a reemplazar al hombre? ¡Los leo!

[heca-teaa]

Y’all’s sister ever get you so into a mini fandom that you have to create ocs for it? Blame @unoraeverse for the influx of art for this girlie <3

Her name is Bailey! <3 she’s a werebear in a modern era and she may or may not have a JanitorAI bot for her soon🫶

[stardustlives]

GOTY 2024

The games keep comin'. Another list of games I played throughout the year I thought could be worth mentioning during a game of the year discussion. This list continues to omit games I've replayed and games I didn't think were good or interesting enough to get a mention.

Games of the Year

1)Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom Now is the era of indie 3D platformers all about insane movement tech. Was utterly elated by the energy and level design in this car based platformer where your primary traversal ability is ramping off of stuff. Please give the demo a shot I think you'll find something really special here.

2)Metaphor: ReFantazio Fantasy Persona. After just being okay with Persona 5, I got completely engrossed with this one and its world. I enjoyed how demanding some later fights became as they had me actually do significant changes to my party and strategy to overcome them. In these times of games that are way too fucking long, this was a rare instance of me getting bummed by seeing the end of the adventure on the horizon.

3)Astro Bot The degree of polish in this thing is on another level. Individual stages feel like an entire event as they'll each treat you to lavish set pieces and elaborate, unique mechanics. A joy to give yourself to while looking for cute cameos from PlayStation's history. Now, concerning those cameos, you might think they would prioritize the recognizable mascots or big sellers, and while those are in there, Astro Bot will also grab you by the shoulders, look you straight in the eye and go: "Arc the Lad." It's awesome.

4)Nine Sols Fresh off of their struggle against Xi Jinping, narrative horror game developer Red Candle Games decided to take a swing at a tight, execution heavy, parry focused, action exploration game. And boy what a swing it is. Its intense action is backdropped by a cool comic book art style that it uses to deliver a beautiful melancholic story about one's time passing. Strong mood and fantastic boss fights.

5)BAKERU The Kirby's Epic Yarn developer made a Ganbare Goemon spiritual successor. Everything's bouncy and joyous. This thing's a non-stop party with regular enemies spread across levels having a silly good time just for the fun of it. The bright colors and bad guys hanging out gave me Ape Escape 3 vibes.

6)Animal Well There used to be a time where video games were occult and mysterious. Not because they didn't have tutorials but because the tutorials were written down inside manuals and we didn't read those. Nevertheless! This feeling of mystery kids make for themselves by being impatient is what Animal Well wants to emulate in its own atmosphere and design. The game refusing to textually explain itself instead presenting you with situations that nudge you towards uncovering its functions yourself leading to great feelings of discovery.

7)Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree Elden Ring 2 over here. Loved the new weapon types and its gorgeous environments. Don't got too much new to say about more Elden Ring other than I mostly enjoyed the controversial high difficulty. But, boy, they can ease up with the next one. They gave entire boss move sets to regular respawning enemies. They don't got nothin' to prove it's okay.

8)Tekken 8 Tekken's fucking awesome. As a casual player, the intuitive nature of the controls allows them to be easily expressive. It's a great time at even lower skill levels which is not always the case with highly regarded fighting games. The (on release at least) downright reasonable progression mechanics made me reevaluate Mortal Kombat 1 from the prior year pretty negatively by reminding me that even in a "live" game, progression systems can be about drip feeding game elements and rewards to the player without being entirely about maximizing their time in a microtransaction store.

9)Grapple Dogs: Cosmic Canines Grapple Dog is back and he's the latest platforming mascot to find an interdimensional portal with an edgier version of himself in it! She's got a gun too, watch out! Develops the design of the first game further with some new powerups that bestow special abilities for the duration of a level.

10)Crow Country A uniquely stylish nostalgia play on your classic Silent Hills and Resident Evils. It has a grainy 90's atmosphere over toy-like characters and environments that seem to either elicit a creeped out "analog horror" vibe for some or nostalgic coziness for others. I lean in the second camp. Either way, a very compelling diorama world to explore.

An Ample Selection of Runners-up

11)Penny's Big Breakaway Era of insane movement tech again. Same developer as Sonic Mania which I'm more critical about than most people. Mania is beautiful and has wonderful music but I frequently felt like I was just holding right and watching the game happen rather than playing it. Not here, this is a very involved 3D platformer with many synergizing movement options. Difficulty can be a bit inconsistent as some challenges give me the impression of having been only tested by people who got very good at the game as members of its development team. While most of the game is pretty chill, it will sometimes spike and demand very sharp execution from you. The high skill ceiling is definitely its own appeal though.

12)UFO 50 I spent the entirety of this thing's development thinking it was going to be 50 minigames so I was like "what's taking so long?" but no, this isn't 50 minigames, it's 50 games. Mostly at the scope of NES games but still. In the 50+ hours I put into it I ended up clearing 11 games and cherry clearing (completionist clearing) 7 of those. There's some meat on them bones and I want to go back to 'em. Getting into specifics for each games would be an essay on its own, but, hey, you want 50 NES games that are almost all at least pretty good?

13)Instruments of Destruction Red Faction: Guerilla developers got together to make a hybrid between Blast Corps and Besiege. In the main campaign you use a kinda shocking amount of unique vehicles to fulfill destruction objectives in various combinations of destroy this, don't destroy that, do it fast, dodge the missiles… always with a new kind of goofy ass car that might just act like a bulldozer or have a giant flipper at the front. Then, in the second campaign, the game fully turns into Besiege asking you to build your own motorized solutions to the blight of upright man-made structures. I fell off of that second one but the Blast Corps style main campaign was great fun the whole time.

14)Dread Delusion A tiny indie team taking on the task of making an entire Elder Scrolls game taking particular inspiration from the odd vibes of Morrowind. Extremely ambitious and inheriting the limitations of its inspirations both in the form of simplistic gameplay and not infrequent technical issues (though they did patch the game heavily and quickly). Limitations or no, I cannot speak highly enough of the creativity that courses through the world and its distinct lands. From its blighted medieval countryside to its, uh, blighted but worse and more fucked up industrialized Siberian snowlands. The real appeal to me is hanging out in the wonderful, imaginative world to learn of its factions and takes on supernatural concepts like ghosts, undead eating habits and relationships to what one might call gods.

15)Children of the Sun Devolver Digital presents: JFK Reloaded. You're a young psychic woman with a Mandy-esque beef against a freaky forest cult. The game has you scout the positions of cultists whom you must then take out with a single bullet whose path you can influence with a small suite of powers. Starting with the ability to "refire" the shot in a new direction after a kill. Each level is a pathing puzzle all about achieving some real grungy Yondu shit.

16)Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Oh boy. I have such mixed feelings here. Remake's excellent combat system is still here as good or even better than it used to be thanks to new playable characters and new mechanics they sorta have to sneak onto the controller. The environments are mostly great (except the jungle which sucks) as well as beautiful but much of the game is spent doing map clearing stuff, uneven sidequests, and mediocre minigames. I find much of this version of the story awkward as well. The pacing suffering most of all both from the sluggishness that comes from the map clearing open world design and the relentless maximalism that comes from the developers' decision to turbo stuff every moment of the story. High highs low lows and a whole lot of mediocre faff in-between.

Something I've thinking about a lot is how much substance is actually present in longer games and how that compares to games of more modest length. My somewhat thorough replay of the original FF7 in 2020 took 60 hours. My similarly thorough playthrough of FF7Remake (covering the 4~7 hour Midgar section of the original) took 40 hours. Rebirth, which runs until the end of disc 1 of 3, took over 100 hours and its mostly mediocre 6 hour final dungeon lasted longer than a full playthrough of my third favorite game Zone of the Enders: The Second Runner and its extra mode, Zoradius, a simple take on a 3D Gradius. Just something I couldn't get out of my mind all the way through that dungeon. The fights against the red dragon and wall monster were very good.

17)Great God Grove You're on your way to vacation in the titular GGG when you come upon the near divine instrument known as the Megapon which allows you to speak to people! Or, more specifically, repeat shit you're told! Wow!! From the same developers as Smile For Me this is also a wholesome little adventure about getting an adorable cast of oddballs to understand each other. If you've any taste for Psychonauts this is absolutely down your alley.

18)Frogun Encore Tiny sequel to Frogun (mentioned in the Catch Up section) with new mechanics and camera perspective. Encouraging even wackier speedrunning tech than the original. Very much worth playing both.

19)Pepper Grinder Handful of tiny games down here. A Devolver published joint in the style of a GBA game all about zooming through dirt with a large drill to collect treasure and perform sick jumps.

20)The Rise of the Golden Idol Outside of some quality of life adjustments to the UI this is mostly more of The Case of the Golden Idol. Which is good because while the original deduction game is very good you kinda can't play it again. You've already deduced everything there is to deduce. Taking its world that's much like ours but not quite to modern times means taking modern technological trappings in consideration while thinking through the incidents.

21)Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door A mostly slightly better version of Paper Mario: TTYD. Still a great game but not different in ways that are excessively worth noting.

22)Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes Ups and downs. It has a 6 hour long prologue that is almost lethally boring but once it gets going after the first war segment I enjoyed it. A word I kept coming back to when I was trying to figure out my feelings for it was "cozy". This is sort of the platonic ideal for a PS1 style JRPG and how appealing you find this will depend on how cozy the PS1 JRPG form is to you. Unfortunately, carries over the PS1 JRPG characteristic of a wonky localization where it seems the writer and voice director simply did not speak to each other. Very odd changes ignoring what the original work was going for especially in sidequests. There's group of 4 characters that are clear parodies of shonen archetypes in their dialogue and designs but the voice direction is just doing something else. So similar to Suikoden 2 I might recommend you just play Suikoden 1 then that instead but if you want something comfortable and familiar I enjoyed it as comfort food.

23)Dragon's Dogma 2 Second attempt at trying to "get" Dragon's Dogma. Really loved the skill system but did not vibe with its idiosyncrasies and caprices. I wish its game design had either been way more normal or way weirder. Appreciate that if they're gonna have ridiculous fantasy slut garb the dudes can put it on too.

24)Berserk Boy We will simply never run out of indie takes on Mega Man and we should be grateful, frankly. This one's not the best out there with some frustrating jank, even softlocking me during an optional challenge which turned me off of all of them but it's neat all the same. People who make these have a good tendency to ensure they feature unique ideas and make their games interesting in their own right.

25)Froggo's Adventure: Verdant Venture Teeny weeny little Kirby's Adventure inspired tiny small thing. You're a frog who suspects a witch girl might have maybe stole something from your well so maybe you should go to her house and beat the shit out of her? Maybe! It's less than $1.50 CAD and a good time for it.

26)Nightmare Kart Formerly Bloodborne Kart until Sony said no literally a day from release. Kinda funnier than it's fun but benefits from a "you get what you pay for" valuation as it's free.

27)Starstruck: Hands of Time A meditation on the blurry line between inspiration and plagiarism and the ways one is necessary to enriching an ever developing creative inner world while its nearly indistinguishable sibling is a harbinger of rotten, even apocalyptic, stagnation. This game has right in its main menu a bibliography of inspirations featuring the likes of Chulip, Kare Kano, and Richard Wagner. On that last one, it's impossible and arguably irresponsible to discuss ol' Deutschland Dick without mentioning his influence on Adolf Hitler which the game will momentarily do, awkwardly maintaining a wholesome veneer while non-specifically gesturing towards a "dictator". I'm gonna be blunt here I did not like this one. It has an issue typical of creative projects without much oversight where it eventually ends up with its head a ways up its own ass with the metaphors and references. I spent most of its climax muttering "fuckin' wrap it up" to myself. Some of its gameplay is a not great rhythm game with an uneven soundtrack. "Break the Mold" is the closest it has to Gitaroo Man's Legendary Theme and it sucks ass.

Despite all that it's an interesting text worth interacting with if the word "different" is important to you when used in relationship to video games.

Catch Up

God of War: Ghost of Sparta (2010) Bastion (2011)

Tyranny: Gold Edition (2017) Tyranny is set in a world where evil has won and you, as an exceptional individual, have been scouted to be a "Fatebinder" a sort of a wandering lawyer/judge/executioner representing the judgement of Archon of Justice Tunon the Adjudicator, highest authority beneath Kyros the Overlord. The game denies you the ability to make a morally clean character as before the game begins in earnest you'll be made to determine your history as mediator between two of the empire's brutal armies: The uncompromising supremacist Disfavored and the infernal snarling horde of the Scarlet Chorus.

Regardless of how many games I play I still have blind spots, CRPGs being one of them. Ahead of playing Baldur's Gate 3 I wanted to get my feet wet and train my ability to lean into roleplaying, play a character whose values differ from mine and accept less than optimal resolutions. I struggled at first but what really unlocked the roleplaying for me was the Reputation system. The first companion who joins you is Verse of the Scarlet Chorus and I utterly hated her. Going through her dialogue tree and learning about her was initially exhausting to me and threatened to make me bounce off of the experience until after a particularly unpleasant story the game gave me the opportunity to bluntly call her disgusting. The way Reputation works in tyranny is that you concurrently build Favor and Wrath with factions and Loyalty and Fear with companions. One does not take from the other like in say, Mass Effect, there's no wrong answer there's just what your character would do. Leaning into my hatred for the Scarlet Chorus committed me to a character which let me have a great time learning about Tyranny's layered world. Sorta peters out in the 3rd act in, what I'm told, is common for CRPGs but the way there was always compelling.

Yuppie Psycho (2019) Demon Turf (2021) Demon Turf: Neon Splash (2022)

Scorn (2022) First person atmospheric adventure all about diving into an H.R. Giger-esque world. Freaky and gorgeous. Many people struggle to get what the combat expects of you which is that as much as possible you do not want to be in a fight. You want to let creatures pass and you only want to hit them so they're staggered enough to let you bail. Worth playing if you want to be in this sort of atmosphere.

Frogun (2022) Adorable platforming adventure with tight levels where you use the tongue of your "Frogun" to zip across gaps. Every level is to be done twice: first as a collectathon and routing exercise and then as a speedrunning challenge where the level design allows and enjoys ridiculous skips that will satisfyingly cut down your time to a fraction of your initial playthrough.

Marvel's Midnight Suns (2022) Okay so the on-ramp is too long and it drags real bad at the end and it's got (pre-mcu) Buffy era style Joss Whedon dialogue you might find grating but hear me out: Once the game gets going for real its system of one-shotting mooks, tossing them into each other, to build Heroism points that can then be cashed in for bigger moves produces a rhythm and strategizing I've never seen in any other tactics game. It's a great time.

Lunacid (2023) I was never really impressed or into creepypasta style horror but this thing marries it to shockingly potent effect with King's Field style pacing and atmosphere. Made by a very small team its got some wonky balancing but the mood is something else. Very high recommendation for anyone who takes pleasure in exploring odd, eerie spaces.

Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name (2023)

Turbo Overkill (2023) First weapons you get are dual wielded laser magnums followed by laser SMGs that are also dual wielded. A button press will make a chainsaw burst from you cyborg leg and launch you into a high speed slide at no cost. In some ways this thing feels like it's trying to be The Final Boomer Shooter, going for peak stupid meathead video game fun.

Orbo's Odyssey (2023)

Lies of P (2023) My favorite non-FromSoft Souls game. Can Timothee Chalamet become a real boy? Derivative in nonnegligible ways but things like the weapon combining system and Pinocchio theming help keep it apart.

Baldur's Gate 3 (2023) Oh boy I might have played this gigantic thing twice in a row. Spunky little indie sleeper hit you may not have heard of; I gave it a year to truly complete its early access period. I loved it. I loved roleplaying as a Vengeance Paladin struggling against the Dark Urge, I loved the party (except Lae'zel) and loved the build making. My second playthrough was all about goofy multiclasses and gave me a real taste for it.

PARANORMASIGHT: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo (2023)

A More Modest Than Usual Selection Of Retro Games

Jumping Flash! (1995)

Jumping Flash! 2 (1996) Hadn't played this since I was 6 when I got lost in the second world's "maze" level even though these are little games for little babies that a little baby could play. Don't know what was wrong with me. Very neat looking and a fun look back to a time before standardization when there wasn't a set way to make a first person shooter or any sort of game for that matter.

Final Fantasy IX (2000, HD 2017)

The Adventures of Cookie and Cream (2001) FromSoftware experiment in making an entirely co-op game where each player runs through puzzle platforming to allow their partner to make progress. Played through this with a friend and it was a great time.

Looney Tunes: Sheep Raider (2001) Sheep, Dog 'n' Wolf outside of North America, a puzzle game based on the Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog Looney Tunes cartoons where you as Ralph have to use ACME contraptions to steal sheep from under Sam's nose. I was impressed by its capacity to emulate the cartoon's animation style with PS1 graphics and each stage having unique mechanics that never show up again. There's some real head scratchers in there too.

Ratchet & Clank 2: Going Commando (2003)

Ratchet: Deadlocked (2005) Going Commando was alright but I was annoyed with every part of it that wasn't just Ratchet & Clank combat. Then I remembered a rental from my childhood, like, hey, you know what game is nothing but Ratchet & Clank combat? All about leveling up your goofy ass guns so they get even goofier. Awesome time.

Call of Duty 2 (2005) You like that? You like me calling Call of Duty 2 a retro game?

Missed games I'd like to get around to when I can make time. The video games… Please... they are too good…

FANTASIAN Neo Dimension Freed from apple arcade, rub and tug diorama Final Fantasy.

Sorry We're Closed Resident Evil: Dead Aim by way of Silent Hill and Grasshopper Manufacture.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown I bought this months ago and never made time for it! Despite being a lifelong Ubisoft and Rayman hater, it's my opinion that Ubisoft Montpellier's Rayman Legends is an all-time great so you can imagine how upset I was when their next highly well received game didn't sell enough for Ubisoft's tastes so they shot the whole team in the back of the head. Eager to play it and complete my mourning period.

Dungeons of Blood and Dream Nasty ass grungy first person roguelite sorta thing.

Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven I gotta actually sit down and give a SaGa game a real shot and this one sounds way weirder than its art style suggests.

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth Genuinely not sure if I wanna play this one. It'd be the first Ryu Ga Gotoku game I skip but the length preemptively exhausts me. If I choose to play it, I need to figure out how I want to interact with it.

Flintlock: Siege of Dawn Played the demo which was alright and was intrigued by the exp system which has you gamble a multiplier. You never lose the exp but you might lose the bonus.

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess Great demo for a well focused, weird game; couldn't make time for it!

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Neat looking "good kind of a 7 out of 10" I don't want to pay for. Maybe after a deep discount or through alternative means once it's fully updated.

Gundam Breaker 4 Don't know if I could make time for it but I love designing robots.

Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster Do I wanna play this? Do I wanna just replay the original?

Judero Whole stop motion world made with old customized figures, I wanna see it!

Slitterhead Demo for this one by the Silent Hill 1 and Siren director was rough but I'm still intrigued.

Mario & Luigi: Brothership Need to hear more about this one to know if it's a return to Superstar Saga quality or if it carries the issues of later Mario & Luigi RPGs

Sonic X Shadow Generations They made a good Sonic game? Seemingly titled like a slashfic?

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl Want this to be my way to "get" S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Gonna do the same thing I did for Baldur's Gate 3 and give it a year of updates.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Got frustrated at how effusive the reception to this was because it made it something else to add to this bloated list. Good problem to have.

Kura5: Bonds of the Undying A free Boktai fangame that seems very cute.

[kyunniebuns]

Jinwoo bot harem thoughts no.3?

I feel like the Yandere Jinwoos like the Inspector!woo, "heir to the dragon's slumber"!woo, lovesick!woo, student lovesick!woo would all be either throwing down or intensely glaring at each other.

Vampire!woo is just there, and a few of the Jinwoo multiverse are curious on how that happened

Vocalist!woo, BL!woo, Lovesick student!woo, Welcoming party!woo, HS bf!woo, childhood friend!woo, biker childhood friend!woo, Secret admirer!woo, "law student and art major"!woo and handsome classmate!woo would probably just... hang out? maybe try to figure out what's the differences between them

holy shit there's a lot of jinwoo-

All of the Jinwoos would have... mixed feelings about E-rank bf!Jinwoo, but generally positive? I wonder what E-rank bf!Jinwoo would think of the others.

Husband!woo, Single father!woo, possibly criminal inspector!woo (the new one, don't think I didn't see that) and any Jinwoo that is in the timeline where Suho could exist, (dependent on which you think has Suho) would stare at the Suho bot

Slave!woo would promptly get grabbed by the scruff like a miserable stray cat by the several Jinwoos and promptly wrapped in a blanket. He is just a crinkled tissue. he needs a hug.

Can't forget how Slave!woo, Ravenclaw!woo, fiance!woo, Academy of magic!woo, Emperor!woo, Duke of the north!woo, ect would not know technology.

Generally i think E-rank Jinwoo would be highkey envious of his other selves since they all have trustworthy and exceptional strenghts, Historical era Jinwoos would all be confused as hell. University/Hs era Jinwoo would all just be there and hang out sunce they are peak maturity. The yanderes ones,,,, ye they’re on timeout. Tho no matter what au Jinwoo they would all be doting on our Suho^^

[slytherin-anklebiter]

Alright, so Character AI has Thanos'ed the HP bots, so my main way to scratch my rp/short story writing itch is gone. So, I have decided to use this blog to scratch said itch.

I'm planning to add more, detailed info about my OCs ( Harry Potter OCs only ) on this blog, preferrably in different tabs once I remember how to do that. I'm planning to make all of them profiles of their own with their own bio and art to accompany it.

As for my Harry Potter OCs, I have accumulated quite a lot by simply toying with writing ideas and roleplay. Both from the marauders era as well as the Golden Trio era. Most of them are related to Snape in some way, because I am cringe like that, and I liked messing around with concepts and how characters would act towards each other that way. That way I had established 3 main "AU's" around Snape, and I'm going to flesh those out a bit more as well.

As for the OCs I want to work on, many have not seen the light of day yet. But I'm making a personal checklist as well as a list of what can be expected to appear on this blog, which can be found under the cut. The 3 AUs have my main priority, but I will eventually get to the standalones. I'm hoping to get the first things posted before the end of the year!

AU 1 ( The one I have fleshed out the most already )

Ileana Munguia ( Ravenclaw, marauders era + later )

Jackie McMillan ( Hufflepuff, marauders era + later)

Daithí O'Driscoll ( Gryffindor, marauders era + later )

Avilius "Avi" Snape ( Hufflepuff, Golden Trio era )

Callisto Snape ( Slytherin, Golden Trio era )

Gaia Snape ( Hufflepuff, Golden Trio era )

Lilith Snape ( Ravenclaw, Golden Trio era )

________

AU 2

Elwira Malinowska ( Slytherin, Marauders era )

Venus Snape ( Ravenclaw, Golden Trio era )

________

AU 3

Ashley Rowan ( Gryffindor, Marauders era + later )

Eros Snape ( Gryffindor, Golden Trio era )

Asterios Snape ( Ravenclaw, Golden Trio era )

________

Standalones :

Katarzyna Zalewska ( Golden Trio era, adult, didn't attend Hogwarts )

Nienke de Munnick ( Golden Trio era, adult, didn't attend Hogwarts )

Ellie Vandoorne ( Hufflepuff, Marauders era )

Nurul Bakti ( Gryffindor, Marauders era )

Rufus Snape ( Ravenclaw, Golden Trio era )

[seonghwacore]

hey new users! i know that the first thing tumblr asks you to do to join tumblr is follow blogs similar to your interest, VERY MUCH LIKE TWITTER EH? 😃🤡😃🤡😃🤡

this is a new establishment that disadvantages both old users and new users. since you're a new blog immediately following us, you look so shady without pfp and header and description and our fight or flight response will be blocking and reporting you as spam. you don't get the content you wanna see, old users experience in this hell site declines in quality cus we have to block and report every single day.

talking about user experience, this doesn't look good for tumblr as a business as well. i dont even wanna blame the uix guys behind this web you just get order from "the important ones".

we are currently in the freaking age of ultron era. we are shooting dozens of bots immediately. no mercy. some of em come into my dm, asking if i'd be interested in some sexy smoking hot women. honestly? i would bro. but not from a malicious pornbot.

(they just don't know i already have two malewives... both are cute and sexy...)

you, new users, can get into the crossfire, if you don't immediately give your blog a makeover or state in your description that "i'm new don't block me!!!! i follow you cus im interested in your posts don't shoot me!!!!" you will be immediately blocked even if your blog/url look like this:

(sweet kelly was the one offering me hot sexy mothers that i unfortunately have to refuse)

for a decade tumblr has been a place to enjoy arts, all types of creations ranging from graphics to creative writings. and people can get pretty political here too. we care nothing about your mlm business or nfts. but you can possibly get followers who will tip you, if you post your amazing and genuine creations.

usually, i will immediately block blank blogs but because of this new setting, now i will wait for 3 days to review my new followers and if they don't show any change or inform me in any kind of way, sorry, bullet through your head.