#as long as we stay spoiler free XP

[the-lavender-creator]

warning: euphoria spoilers, tw alcohol, drugs, sex, vague mention of suicide, abortion and sorry if i forgot any of the other common trigger tags

during there grad or dance or whatever they went to the bathroom together and they were in the stall and jules told rue i want you to want to kiss me so bad that you don't even ask and that lines lives rent free in my head 😭😭😭 rue didn't kiss her tho bc she's a shy little bottom smh 🙄 so they went back out to the dance floor or i think they went outside to sit and talk and long story short rue suggested they just run away to new york and jules said yes so they went back to rue's house for her to grab her stuff and then they went to the chain station where rue chickened out and jules kissed her on her hand and told her goodbye and that's pretty much where the season ended well after rue walked back home crying in the rain and then there was the notorious all for us dance part. i really relate to rue bc she has anxiety she was diagnosed with anxiety, ocd and i believe bipolar disorder all of them like between early childhood and her teens and like she also does really chaotic spur of the moment stuff like suggesting they run away but then she chickens out and i relate to tht a lot in terms of anxiety bc well same and also i feel like most characters with anxiety are portrayed as shy and and like anxiety is there whole personality whereas rue's portrayal seemed more realistic at least in terms of my own xp. like once she had a panic attack the first day back at school when she had to talk about her summer in front of the class, she also had a panic attack at a party but we also see her like being that wild and chaotic teenager and i think it's very important that they portrayed that those things are not mutually exclusive

rue says drugs are kind of cool - ik there's a lot of criticism that the show glorifies drugs but i think it just shows an accurate representation of the life of a drug addict like she admits that she knows it's bad to say. her addiction stemmed from her taking care of her very ill father and she had to give him pills and one day she took one or two i think and yeah and that's understandable bc she was really close to her father his death hurt her a lot and like the stress of taking care of him and just the whole situation ofc wld've emotionally impacted her negatively and one day she tries a pill and suddenly everything feels better so she wld obvi continue and ofc it got out of hand. there's also a really popular quote abt the 2 seconds of nothingness of smth like tht i cant remember it off hand

fav jules x nate - jules and nate had a very toxic and complicated relationship and i do not support it in any way but uhhhhthtpartwaskindahotsorry. anyways nate is typical school bully and jules is the new girl but plot twist nate who pretends to be the definition of straight is a jock has a gf etc likes or had a thing for ig mtf and jules and him formed a close relationship on some dating app and then she met him and yeah disappointment the clip is from the meeting she didn't actually stay she pushed him away and went back to rue's and rue hugged her to sleep and it was very sweet

another iconic rue quote - this was at the party i mentioned earlier where rue got a panic attack and jules' behaviour she was acting distant lately kind of contributed but jules had a lot going on with nate blackmailing her and her mom wanting to see her and then i think the night of the party she found out her mom was back in hospital so she was going thru a lot and not communicating with rue and rue felt like things were slipping and she had become sort of co dependent on jules and she was the reason she was staying clean sort of and all tht so rue took the change in behaviour hard ofc and yeah the quote was relatable

another quote from the party after her panic attack - her best friend from childhood lexi hugged her and reassured her she wasnt a burden and it ws very sweet again i love the duality of the crazy unhinged rue and the vulnerable rue it's chef's kiss

enby icon - rue usually dresses very casually and for the aforementioned dance thing she wore a suit she looked so good and jules did her makeup and she commented tht she was scared she messed with rue's gender presentation of smth like tht which is like all i need to confirm that rue is non binary UwU

chris mckay x cassie howard - kind of toxic relationship also kind of real he was older than her and the post is what he said when nate asked if they were dating there were a lot of weird stuff tht happened between them in the end she got pregnant and had an abortion and they broke up and she swore off dating for a while lol also cassie is lexi's big sister but my half a brain cell self watched the whole of season one thinking lexi was actually older and it was only when watching a fan edit on youtube i realized akjdf;ajdf;ka

rue being relatable again talking abt anxiety and why alcohol and drugs help - from personal xp and my friends' xp with anxiety like ppl can criticize the show for drug glorification but she's not lying and i believe anyone with anxiety who has a similar xp can testify to that however it's a slippery slope bc then ppl with anxiety and other mental illnesses may be inclined to also try drugs and alcohol but at the same time i think the show also portrays why you shldnt do tht so yh

rue special edition commentary - i nvr related to rue more than the things she said in this episode it was just her sitting down talking to ali her mentor and like she was spitting some real hard facts about being mentally ill and how it changes your perception of life and sometimes even when you're not in the worst spot anymore you still dont really care to live no matter how many people love you etc n felt

i live watched jules' special episode

some thoughts on rue being an unreliable narrator which she really is someone commented smth on this post tht changed my opinion of what i wrote abt not trusting her but i cant remember wht it was rn

rue manic rep - she was trying to figure out what was up with jules being distant and omg in this scene she also poured coffee into the coffee maker to make more coffee i believe smth like that but it was iconic lol but she did figure out nate was blackmailing jules and lexi was helping her

uhhhh i dont relate much to jules but these are the ways i do :(

jules' trans xp - so in her special episode speaking with her therapist she talked about performing feminity in a way to like please the male gaze and she realized she doesn't want to do tht anymore and tht like that isnt what being a girl is abt yk and the best thing abt this is usually she dresses very feminine and she wore a short skirt n crop tops on the first day of school in season 1 but for season 2's trailer she's wearing just sweats and a tee

hahahahha you might enjoy this post :)

ok this is long welp sorry

I wish you could put a read more line in an ask

[tigerkirby215]

5e Akali, the Rogue Assassin build (League of Legends)

(Artwork by Jessica “OwleyCat” Oyhenart. Made for Riot Games)

(Shit meme by yours truly.)

I mean honestly it’s about time I go around to this. With the year nearing its end (thank fuck) here’s a build I had planned pretty much since the Soulknife subclass was shown. Yeah spoilers I guess Akali’s a Soulknife Rogue because she throws a shit load of knives. No she isn’t an assassin, despite the name of “Rogue Assassin.”

GOALS

You can never have too many kunai - We need a hell a lotta kunai and shurikens to throw at our enemies. Remember that part where I said “Akali’s a Soulknife Rogue?”

Smoked 'em - We’ll need to be able to turn invisible and stay invisible while still being able to hit our foes.

Quick and deadly - You’re quick and deadly like a ninja, with dashes over and around just about everything and swift executions. Almost like you are a ninja.

RACE

Akali is a human, no matter how much training in stealth, spirits, and singing she has. She is however from the magic land of Ionia filled with magic people, and since she probably got some spiritual training from Shen I figured that’s good enough justification for me to grab a Dragonmark! A Mark of Passage Human gets a +2 to Dexterity and a +1 to another ability score: we’ll go for Charisma for K-Pop stans. You can also learn a language of your choice and Sylvan makes sense to speak to the spirits.

You have a Courier's Speed for +5 feet of movement and can add a d4 to Acrobatics or motorcycle land vehicle checks thanks to Intuitive Motion. But the main feature of note is Magical Passage for Misty Step in your pocket once per Long Rest. You know me: gotta have Flash available.

If Dragonmarks aren’t an option: Variant Human with +1 to DEX and +1 to CHA is good enough. Take the Mobile feat at level 1 instead of later in the build, and perhaps invest in Fey Touched or something when the time comes for that feat I don’t know.

ABILITY SCORES

15; DEXTERITY - You run and jump around and throw a lot of knives. Almost like a ninja.

14; CONSTITUTION - Be it Gunblade or Riftmaker, Akali is deceptively survivable. That and even ability scores are nice.

13; CHARISMA - Charisma is tied to performance for Korean raps in whatever band you joined this time. Look I’m not saying I want Akali in Pentakill but...

12; WISDOM - Shen tries to teach you a lot of Wisdom and I’m sure at least some of it got through to you.

10; STRENGTH - ‘Kali got abs. Being a ninja requires 100 push ups, 100 sit ups, and a 10 kilometer run every single day.

8; INTELLIGENCE - Ninjas don’t normally have a good math and science program. The answer to how many kunai you brought is “yes.”

BACKGROUND

While you may have once been part of the Kinkou Order you have since decided to go rogue. When you’re part of a ninja organization killing people is cool, but if you do it on your own you’re just a Criminal. You get proficiency in Stealth but I’m going to suggest replacing your Deception proficiency with Arcana for some teachings thanks to Master Shen. You also get proficiency in Thieves’ Tools (though if you want to min-max I’d perhaps swap this out for something out) but I’m going to suggest replacing your gaming set with a Disguise Kit, because my lord Akali has a lot of skins.

Be it your old connections from the Kinkou Order or a new informant for assassination contracts you have a Criminal Contact that can easily supply info, and who you always have a direct line to. They send the target, you get the kill.

(Artwork by Alvin Lee, Pan Chengwei, and Bo “chenbowow” Chen. Artwork made for Riot Games.)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - ROGUE 1

wOw ThE cHaRaCtEr WiTh “RoGuE” iN tHeIr NaMe Is A RoGuE?!?! Blatantly obvious information aside Rogues get proficiency in four different skills! Take proficiency in Acrobatics for ninja stuff, Perception for warding, Intimidation to scare little Noxian kids (hey ninjas are scary!), and Performance for Korean raps.

You also get Expertise in two of those skills: naturally you need Stealth to be a ninja and Performance to be K-Pop artist, so take expertise in both of those. You also know the secret code language of Thieves’ Cant, which only other ninjas (or just regular old Rogues) know.

But of course you can’t be a ninja without knowing how to Sneak Attack. If you attack an enemy that’s distracted by an ally or have advantage to hit a weak point, you do an extra d6 of damage. Don’t worry: your assassination potential only gets better with time.

LEVEL 2 - ROGUE 2

Second level Rogues get Cunning Action for some ninja speed. You can now spend a Bonus Action to Dash, Disengage, or Hide.

LEVEL 3 - ROGUE 3

Yeah spoilers I guess Akali’s a Soulknife Rogue because she throws a shit load of knives. No she isn’t an assassin, despite the name of “Rogue Assassin.”

3rd level Rogues get to choose their Roguish Archetype and Akali is a Soulknife because it turns out psionics is the fastest way to get a shit load of throwing knives thanks to Psychic Blades. When you take the Attack action you can make a psychic knife in your hand that does a d6 of Psychic damage, and you can either use it to stab in melee range or throw it up to 60 feet.

If you attack with the blade you can make a smaller blade to attack with as a bonus action. The damage die of this bonus attack is 1d4 (instead of a d6) but other than that it pretty much works the same. The Psychic Blades vanish immediately after hitting or missing, and they leave no mark on their target, which is just a nice little bit of ninja flavor.

You also have innate Psionic Power which... takes a bit more to explain that “funny psychic throwing knife.” You have Psionic Energy die equal to twice your proficiency bonus, and you can use them on the following abilities:

Psi-Bolstered Knack lets you boost your skill checks with legally-not-Bardic Inspiration, as long as you’re proficient in the skill.

Psychic Whispers lets you coordinate in team chat and set up ganks.

I’m not going to go too deep into these abilities because they’re listed in the subclass and if you don’t know what the subclass does buy Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything and read it yourself. “See? Balance.” And speaking of balance your Sneak Attack damage now increases to 2d6!

LEVEL 4 - ROGUE 4

4th level Rogues get an Ability Score Improvement but because it’s the 4th level in a Rogue build we’ll instead be taking the Mobile feat. Along with a 10 foot increase to your movement speed you can also cross over difficult terrain (cough walls cough) without spending extra movement if you Dash. But most importantly if you attack an enemy in melee range you can run away from them without provoking an attack of opportunity, even if you miss!

Yup XP to Level 3′s meme explains it better than I can. Sneak attack and run away: keep to the shadows and never stand still.

(Artwork by Jennifer Wuestling. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 5 - WARLOCK 1

What? Did you think that we’d be going for pure Rogue levels? Ha ha Warlock levels go brrrrr. Regardless a connection to the Spirit Realm manifests as powers of the Archfey, such as Fey Presence to Charm or Frighten anyone within a 10 foot cube with an epic rap battle.

And you also get Pact Magic, which comes back on a Short Rest! You get two cantrips at first level: For a Shuriken that inflicts Deep Wounds on those who idolize Eldritch Blast take Chill Touch, because a ninja should always have the right tool for the job. For some ninja trickery grab Minor Illusion to manipulate the shadows to your whim.

For your leveled spells Hex will cripple your foes to make it harder for them to run while also making your strikes deadlier, and uhhh... that’s about it, really? I mean, Sleep from the Archfey list is pretty nice for a sleep bomb but you really don’t need it. We’ll be holding off on leveled spells for a bit.

LEVEL 6 - WARLOCK 2

Second level Warlocks get Eldritch Invocations... hey wouldn’t it be funny if we just didn’t take invocations? I mean, feel free to grab some basic stuff like Armor of Shadows or Devil’s Sight for a time, but again we’re going to want to wait for...

LEVEL 7 - WARLOCK 3

Third level Warlocks get their Pact Boon and while you may never have gone to an official school you were sure to keep all the teachings of Master Shen in a tome. A Book of Shadows from the Pact of the Tome to be precise!

While Pact of the Blade would probably make more sense I’m pretty sure you can’t make your Psychic Blades into Pact weapons. That, and we need a multitude of features from Pact of the Tome more.

Picking up the Pact of the Tome will let you learn 3 cantrips from any class’ spell list. For a quality assurance guarantee on your skill checks take Guidance for that extra boost you need. For some natural Ionian magic Druidcraft will let you feel the spirit in the earth and the trees. And I know there are some spells I seem to stick into every build but yeah: Message is still good even if you have telepathy, for some silent resourceless communication between allies.

Oh and remember how we took no invocations last level? That’s because we’re going to be grabbing both Aspect of the Moon to confuse Diana mains as well as remain alert through the night without needing to sleep, and Book of Ancient Secrets to have some ninja tricks you can prepare over 10 minutes by Ritual Casting. I’d suggest Alarm and Comprehend Languages as the most in-character options but you can get more ritual spells by picking them up and inscribing them into your book (with some really damn expensive ink.)

You can also finally go and pick up those spells that I’ve been ignoring! Darkness is good for a magic smoke bomb (as long as you’re okay with blinding yourself and your allies too) and while perhaps not the most in-character Mirror Image is a damn good spell to up your survivability. And while we may already have Flash once per long rest I won’t ever complain about more Misty Step.

LEVEL 8 - WARLOCK 4

4th level Warlocks get an Ability Score Improvement: time for hee-hoo Athlete Feat that I take whenever I want a +1 in DEX but don’t know what to do. But believe it or not there’s actually a reason for it this time: Akali is an athlete, and you need to be able to perform feats of acrobatics like a ninja. Because again: you are a ninja.

You also get another spell along with another cantrip: for your cantrip Mage Hand will let you do a little bit of spirit-jitsu to reach the kimchi on the top shelf. As for your spell Pass without Trace was added in the Tasha’s extended spell list but you don’t really need it. Your friends might but for the most part I’d again suggest waiting for next level.

(Artwork by Zeen Chin. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 9 - WARLOCK 5

5th level Warlocks get another Eldritch Invocation and to be sneaky like a ninja One With Shadows will let you turn invisible if you stand still in the dark. Alternatively (if you think Stealth Expertise will carry you) you can take Far Scribe for some more secret shadow messages.

You can also learn third level spells like Blink for a slightly unreliable Smoke Cloud that’ll shroud you randomly, or Fear because ninjas are scary.

LEVEL 10 - WARLOCK 6

6th level Fey Warlocks get Misty Escape. As a reaction when you’re hit you can drop a smoke bomb to turn invisible and then teleport up to 60 feet. You remain invisible until the start of your next turn unless you attack or cast a spell, and can use this feature once per short or long rest.

You can also prepare another spell and for a ninja flashbang grab Hypnotic Pattern to daze everyone in a 30 foot cube. What? Ninjas can use flashbangs.

LEVEL 11 - WARLOCK 7

7th level Warlocks get another Eldritch Invocation and we can finally run across the universe to whoever we marked with our shuriken. Or at least 30 feet closer. Relentless Hex lets you teleport up to 30 feet and arrive within 5 feet of an enemy you have Hexed, as long as you can see them. While you can dash for this distance or Flash (Misty Step) this will let you get past any difficult terrain or obstacles with ease.

We can also finally get what we came for: a smoke cloud we can attack from while still being invisible. Take Greater Invisibility for invisibility that remains even after you attack. Yes this does mean as a Rogue you’ll have Advantage on all your attacks (to Sneak Attack), and yes the aesthetic of stabbing people with psychic knives that leave no mark while you yourself are invisible is freaking nuts. There are other 4th level spells you can take (Dimension Door and Shadow of Moil being two worth mention) but your other spells are still good. It’s up to you what you do as again I only own the build, not your character.

(Artwork by Alvin Lee. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 12 - ROGUE 5

At long last we’re going back to Rogue! 5th level Rogues can use their reaction for an Uncanny Dodge to take half damage from an attack. Remember that you only have one reaction per round, and this is the same reaction that you need to use for Misty Escape. So decide if disappearing but taking full damage is more valuable than taking half damage.

Your Sneak Attack also increases to 3d6, and you know those Psionic Energy die of yours? Well they’re now d8s! Finally!

LEVEL 13 - ROGUE 6

6th level Rogues get Expertise in two more skills. Acrobatics is an obvious must but I’ll leave the other skill up to you! Make your own build, even if it’ll probably include Riftmaker. (But when in doubt I opted for Perception personally.)

LEVEL 14 - ROGUE 7

7th level Rogues become masters of dodging skill shots thank to Evasion. If you make a Dexterity save and succeed, you take no damage. If you fail the save, you only take half damage! Additionally your Sneak Attack is now 4d6.

(Artwork by Pyeongjun Park. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 15 - ROGUE 8

8th level Rogues get another Ability Score Improvement. Hey about we cap that Dexterity score which has been sitting at an 18 for the past 6 levels? Deadliest knives, most agile of dodges, and BADDEST of dance moves. (Wait no that’s Charisma.)

LEVEL 16 - ROGUE 9

9th level Soul Knife Rogues can improve their weapons to Soul Blades, giving a few new uses to your Psionic Talent die. Homing Strikes will let you add your talent die to a missed attack, potentially allowing you to hit. If the talent die causes your attack to hit, you spend it.

Psychic Teleportation on the other hand will let you roll a Psionic Talent die as a bonus action to teleport an unoccupied space you can see, up to a number of feet away equal to 10 times the number rolled. This feature spends the die no matter how far you teleport. And finally your Sneak Attack increase to 5d6.

LEVEL 17 - ROGUE 10

The nice thing about Rogues is that they get more Ability Score Improvements. For MORE dancing increase your Charisma to show them what you’re made of. I’ll keep making jokes about K/DA don’t worry.

(Artwork by Atey Ghailan. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 18 - ROGUE 11

11th level Rogues get Reliable Talent to turn any roll of 9 or lower on a skill check you’re proficient in to a 10. As per standard whenever I hit 11 in a Rogue build I like to make a list of your lowest possible roll so...

27 on Stealth or Acrobatics

25 on Performance

19 on Intimidation

17 on Perception

15 on Arcana

With results varying based on your choice of Expertise, of course. And if somehow that isn’t enough to make a skill check, your Psionic Talent die increases to a d10 along with your 6d6 Sneak Attack!

LEVEL 19 - ROGUE 12

Hey more Ability Score Improvements! That means you can nearly max out your Charisma just before level 20!

LEVEL 20 - ROGUE 13

13th level Soul Knife Rogues get the ultimate stealth tool: the Psychic Veil. As an action you become invisible for 1 hour unless you dismiss this effect (no action required). You remain invisible unless you deal damage to a creature or you force a creature to make a saving throw. You can use this feature once for free per Long Rest, and have to spend a Psionic Energy die to use it again.

Now some might say this is a weak ability since you have Greater Invisibility, but that spell only lasts a minute. This ability is far more useful for infiltration and out-of-combat uses, as with a full hour of being unseen you should be able to get into most places that you shouldn’t be. But if you think “a second level spell extended to 1 hour” isn’t a good capstone just remember that your Sneak Attack does increase to 7d6. And that... you know... You could just go Rogue 12 / Warlock 8 if you don’t like the level 13 ability.

FINAL BUILD

PROS

They can't stop me. I mean, they can try - 45 feet of movement with the ability to dash and teleport, with Athlete helping you scale up walls and Mobile making difficult terrain a non-issue. And yeah the Mobile feat in general makes you incredibly slippery.

I make problems... disappear - Who could’ve guessed that a permanently invisible Rogue would be dangerous? With a dozen tools to play keep-away you can easily be in multiple places at once and make your enemies unable to know where to strike.

I'll make this look like magic - You’ve got a nice bit of utility too with some great skill checks (boosted by your Psionic talent!) along with a ton of cantrips and the ability to learn any ritual spell you may find.

CONS

There are over 300 pressure points on the human body - You have a lot of features that are more for flavor than actual practicality, notably Relentless Hex which uhhhh... just Dash? You also have abilities which aren’t that strong, like weak Warlock spells we didn’t swap out (feel free to do that yourself) and Psychic Veil generally being a mediocre ability. (Nothing you can do to fix that.)

I was just warming up - Your stats aren’t awful but also aren’t fantastic... well except for your Intelligence: that’s pretty bad. And without any saving throw proficiency and a surprisingly limited amount of skills for a Rogue you really won’t be helpful outside of your area of expertise.

You don't get back what I take - Almost all your class features run on limited resources. Most of your Rogue abilities rely on your Psionic Talent die, and while you may have a lot you can only get one per Short Rest. Similarly you only have two Warlock slots, which even if they come back at the end of a Short Rest it leaves a lot to be desired. Frequent tea breaks are nice and all but you can quickly exhaust yourself without breaks.

But you are quick, silent, and deadly. All the skills of a ninja in one package. Dive in, make a clean cut, and get out before they know what hit ‘em. Akali’s that girl. 'Kali go grr. 'Kali don't stop. 'Kali don't skrrt. True Damage we do it, and maybe if you perform well enough you can get into Pentakill too. Look I’m not saying I want Akali to be in every band that Riot makes, but Pentakill Akali would be equally cool and hilarious.

(Artist unknown. Made for Riot Games.)

[itsybitsylemonsqueezy]

ANGST KAZUMAJI ANON AND WOOF. FUCK. GOTTA LISTEN TO THOSE SONGS AFTER WORK. EXCITED. Your idea though OW. I haven't seen Y6 yet (I watch playthroughs don't have the console and my computer laughs at me trying to run the games) the streamer thats playing it finally got to Y6 and I am Refusing To Watch It. My heart can't take even starting the VOD.

You’re welcome for the music cc: 

A LOT of people haven’t seen 6 yet, so I did my best to get through that without spoilers ^^; Hope I haven’t ruined anything for you. And I feel that, my laptop and I have constant arguments and I’m not a good gamer anyway ^^; I should try Kiwami 1 someday though... I have it, I'm just Nervous about Being Bad ^^; 

Nice, following one streamer, well done c: I just hopped around to different playthroughs on youtube ^^; My wife and I binged all 7 games in I think 2 months, max. ^^; She crazy tho and a bad influence on me xp She likes to just sit and binge things and I am, understandably, weak for my wife <3 

6 isn’t so bad, I promise. You can do it c: It’s very pretty, you get to stare at Kiryu’s juicy ass the entire game, there’s lots of cute minigames of Kiryu with a baby, uh... *running out of nice things to say about 6* ...did I mention it’s very pretty? Fuck... Listen, I have... Feelings about game 6, but I don’t want to ruin it for anyone ^^; Everyone’s allowed to experience things in their own time and form their own opinions and I don’t want to deprive anyone of that. Please watch it and when you see it, feel free to come tell me about it c: 

And as a reward for all that, another angsty idea: 

The Nishikiyama Opera! 

So I composed the entire thing on a car ride with my wife last week and it’s WILD. Y’all ever see opera? If you’ve never seen an opera you SHOULD, they’re fucking Great. Operas are all about being The Most, comedy or tragedy, they’re all horny as shit and everyone is extra as fuck. If you living for the drama, you HAVE to get your ass to an opera. I’m lucky enough to live somewhere with a relatively robust opera community. And anyway, my point is, The Nishikiyama story? RIPE for an opera adaptation! 

First, you gotta know some of the opera tropes. There are two categories of opera, comedies which are kinda rare and tragedies which is... constantly. And operas are pretty good at telling you almost immediately which one they will be. There’s also a lot of meta about the voice parts themselves: 

Soprano - heroine, ingenue, beautiful. Will win if this is a comedy, will die if this is a tragedy. 

Alto - mothers & witches. Not the heroine. Will probably die regardless of comedy or tragedy. Unless she’s the villain, then she lives in a tragedy. 

Tenor - hero. Given the sexiest parts to sing. Sometimes unbearable. Everything is about Him. 

Baritone/Bass - fathers & villains. Gorgeous voice, never utilized properly. 

Knowing the vocal parts and what they classically represent is key to knowing who will win and who will die in the opera. For example, in Carmen, Carmen is actually an alto, not a soprano, and Don Jose is a tenor. This immediately tells you that shit’s fucked. Tenors are supposed to fall in love with sopranos, never altos. So this story can only end in tragedy because he’s interested in the wrong kind of voice part. There’s even a counterpoint of a soprano who is madly in love with him, and the baritone toreador for Carmen. They’re given their proper voice partners, but Don Jose still pursues Carmen which is a ginormous mistake by operatic tropes. 

So, opera education over, picture this: 

ACT I  Kiryu (soprano) is the loveliest yakuza in all the land! He’s just delightful. The Chorus sings his praises and he demonstrates his impeccable fighting ability. (Forgot to mention, any opera worth its salt has a Chorus and I will die on this hill.) The Audience is assured of his might and grace. 

Kiryu, obviously, does not want for admirers, but has not chosen to court anyone formally. 

Here enters Kiryu’s brother, Nishiki (bass). The Chorus explains that Nishiki is second to his brother in strength, but is formidable in his own right. Nishiki explains to the audience how he longs for Kiryu, how he covets him, his strength, his beauty. How after a lifetime together, affection has turned to love. Nishiki must have him. 

Kiryu hears none of this. Nishiki approaches to make his case when Majima (tenor) sweeps onto the scene. Majima is brazen and glib. The Chorus tells us to beware his charming smile, he is as dangerous as he is flirtatious. Majima has heard of Kiryu’s reputation and calls him into the street to defend his title. Kiryu responds and they do battle. 

In the midst of the battle, Majima finds himself won over by Kiryu’s skill and grace, his kindness and strength. Majima is bursting with love and there and then makes a proposal to Kiryu, offering his whole heart. 

Kiryu is stunned. Majima is not a weak fighter, he is not a braggadocio, despite appearances. He was a real challenge and Kiryu was not expecting the fight to take this turn. He is so surprised he cannot make an answer and politely, but quickly, leaves. 

Nishiki has been watching the entire time and finds his heart gripped by jealousy. He plots to claim Kiryu for himself and hates Majima bitterly, despite the fact that Kiryu has given no answer. Nishiki believes he knows his brother too well not to know that Kiryu returns his affections even if he won’t say. Nishiki leaves, concocting a plan. 

We find Kiryu at his balcony, lamenting his situation. Majima may have been exciting, but Kiryu’s no fool. He has no proof that Majima’s feelings will not waver in time. Majima steals into the garden beneath Kiryu’s balcony and professes his love once more. 

Kiryu is startled and makes to flee, but Majima sings so sweetly, entreats so gently, that Kiryu is compelled to stay. Majima doesn’t even ask again, just sings of his feelings. Kiryu, in his heart, is wooed by this. He may have been ready to answer when Nishiki interrupts. Majima quickly hides in the foliage. 

Nishiki counters with his own confession, his own proposal. Kiryu is shocked and saddened. He begins to sadly tell his brother that he cannot accept. Nishiki flies into a rage, demanding if there is someone else, someone else Kiryu prefers. Kiryu hesitates, but answers honestly that he has always seen Nishiki as a brother, regardless of any other feelings. He cannot accept Nishiki on the grounds of their previous relationship. 

Nishiki was expecting this. He reveals a vial of poison and threatens to drink it unless Kiryu will marry him. Majima gasps. Kiryu pleads with Nishiki not to be rash, but Nishiki only demands his answer, the vial nearly at his lips. 

Kiryu swallows back tears and collapses to his knees. Sorrowfully, he agrees, unable to bear the responsibility of his brother’s death, and the act finishes to the sound of clamoring wedding bells. 

ACT II The lights come up on Kiryu and Nishiki in their home. Nishiki is pacing the floor and making increasingly outlandish suggestions for things to do. Kiryu says yes to all of them, gently and politely. Nishiki’s frustration and annoyance increases with every yes. Eventually he snaps at Kiryu, demanding why he won’t fight him, demanding why he will give no more reaction than a placid yes. Kiryu shrugs helplessly and tries to soothe his brother, but Nishiki won’t be soothed. 

They have been married less than a year and it has been like this the entire time, getting worse by the day. Nishiki can see the pain he’s causing his brother, but can’t stop himself. He loves him too greedily to stop. He departs, hoping to take his mind off things. 

Kiryu is left alone in the house and sings a longer, sadder version of his lament from the balcony. Distantly, we hear strains of Majima’s love song, now broken and echoing. 

The scene changes and we see Kiryu sat down in a busy cafe. At first we assume he’s alone, but people move and we can see he is sitting across from Majima. They do not touch. Their careful, polite space around each other is conspicuous. 

Kiryu is tired, he looks wan, almost sick. Majima sings heartbrokenly, telling Kiryu he needs to take care of himself. He is desperate to take Kiryu away from all this, and asks several times, but Kiryu always sighs and shakes his head no. Majima knows Kiryu will not break his word once given, he is too good and honorable for that. But he cannot help singing for him all the same. He cannot touch, he will not permit himself to touch, but he can sing. 

Kiryu eventually cannot take the heartache anymore and departs sorrowfully. Majima looks after him, just as sad. Nishiki is revealed to have been spying on them the entire time. He confronts Majima, furious and accusatory. He insists that he and Kiryu have been having an affair. Majima simply looks at him and shrugs. Nishiki screams for Majima to admit it, to admit that Kiryu loves him, has always loved him, this whole time. Majima only says that Nishiki knows Kiryu best. He will not confirm or deny anything Nishiki says. Shaken and stymied, Nishiki flees. 

We return to Kiryu’s balcony, where he sits, silent and pale. Nishiki storms in and begins to berate Kiryu with his accusations. He is half-mad now, not seeming to hear Kiryu’s denials. Kiryu professes over and over that only Nishiki is his husband, that he loves only Nishiki. Nishiki cannot accept this as true. Nishiki screams that Kiryu ought to ask him for a divorce. Kiryu cannot claim to want a divorce. He gave his word. Nishiki reveals that he had been watching them in the cafe, that he knows all, the secret contents of Kiryu’s heart. Kiryu manages some resistance at last and asks Nishiki for proof. What proof of his indiscretions? What proof of adultery? What has Kiryu done that has angered his husband-brother so? 

Nishiki has none. Kiryu has not done anything wrong, not in word, not in act. Whatever thoughts he might accuse Kiryu of having are ephemeral and will never be real. Still... Nishiki saw how they looked together and his heart was sore. He knows he has stolen Kiryu from what was rightfully his. Moved to regret, Nishiki withdraws the vial of poison again. 

Kiryu gasps and tries to prevent his brother. 

Nishiki swallows the poison quickly, insisting this will set things right, this will free his brother. He says he did it for love. He falls. 

Kiryu collapses next to him, sobbing. 

The final scene is Nishiki’s funeral. Kiryu kneels next to his brother’s grave, all in black. He sings of his regrets, of his sorrow. Majima stands close by, but still not touching. He does not look at the grave, only at Kiryu. His broken love song is the last thing we hear. 

The End. 

...this opera was a tragedy ^^; 

[thesevenseraphs]

Bungie Weekly Update - 8/30/18

This week at Bungie, we’re on final approach. This is the last blog update before-saken, and we’ve just served up a menagerie of content to get you prepared. If you’ve been looking to avoid spoilers, don’t click “play” on any of the following videos. If you’re chomping at the bit for info, this was cooked up just for you:

The hunt is about to begin, but we also have a long road ahead of this year. To share our goals for Forsaken and what waits beyond launch, we invited developers from the team to go on the record. Check out the new ViDoc to see what we have planned for the second year of Destiny 2:

If you’re looking for a quick reference on what’s covered in the ViDoc, we’ve also made a roadmap with details on Forsaken, Annual Pass content, and the free Seasons updates.

Gambit Showdown & Trial

On September 1, every player of Destiny 2 will be invited to try Gambit before the launch of Forsaken. For 24 hours, fireteams will bank motes in a race to beat their opponents and burn down a Primeval.

Tomorrow, before the games begin for everyone, we’re inviting some special guests into our studio to show how it’s done!

Gambit Showdown

www.twitch.tv/bungie

Friday 8/31, 1 PM PDT

The following day, all are invited to join the fun. This is the final stop before launch, and we'll be out there in the wild with you. If you happen to catch a Bungie employee on the opposite team, show 'em your favorite emote.

Gambit Trial

All platforms

Saturday 9/1, 10 AM PDT - Sunday 9/2, 10 AM PDT

We're also planning to place a few bounties during the Gambit Trial event. If you want a chance to earn the " Sign of Mutual Combat " emblem, stay tuned to @Bungie for future announcements.

As always,

DEATH HEALS PRIMEVAL.

Penny Arcade Expo

Still hungry for a bit more Gambit before September 4? Stop by and see us at PAX 2018 in Seattle! With the convention center in our back yard, we’ll be here all weekend to host Gambit matches, hang out at signing tables, and offer some sweet Destiny gear for purchase from the Bungie store.

Location: Booth 229, on the fourth floor.

Play Gambit—Earn an Emblem

We will have Gambit playable on the floor at PAX. Stop by the booth and try out the new competitive co-op game mode all weekend long. Anyone who plays will also receive a code for our event emblem.

Bungie Store—Snag some Swag

Available throughout the weekend, the Bungie Store will have the following merch (and more!) available for purchase.

Signing Tables—Meet the Devs

We’ve rounded up a few developers from various teams who’ve brought Destiny

and Destiny 2 to life! If you’d like to shake hands and snag an autograph, here’s the lineup.

Friday, 8/31

11 AM–12 PM: Narrative

3–4 PM: Crucible

4–5 PM: Gambit

Saturday, 9/1

11 AM–12 PM: Bungie Diversity Committee

1–2 PM: Art and UI

2–3 PM: Sandbox

3–4 PM: Gameplay and Investment

Cosplay Meetup—Meet the Guardians

Sunday 9/2, 1–2:30 PM

Each year, we’re humbled and amazed by the talents of our community. If you’ve ever wanted to see hand-crafted exotics or snap a photo with your favorite Destiny 2 character, chances are they’ll be there! For details on location, check out the Destiny Meetup at PAX West group.

Bringing the Hammer

The team has been hard at work the last few months improving their toolsets to watch over Destiny 2.  They have some important information to share on how we’re improving your search for Glory in the Competitive playlist.

Security Team: Throughout Season 3, we’ve been working on improvements to our systems that identify players who may be tampering with their connection to Crucible matches or breaking the Terms of Service for Destiny 2. We have some news to share, but first a point of clarification… We have received reports from players who have been using bungie.net or other third-party websites to attempt to identify wrongdoers. We want to clarify that our internal tools have much more detail, which players do not have access to. For example, a player who returns to orbit or switches their character will show as did not finish on a third-party website, while our internal tools have much more detail on the reason they left the match. This helps to ensure that we do not hand out restrictions when opponents are disconnecting due to temporary networking or ISP issues or opponents leaving of their own accord. Using this data—and working with the PvP team directly—we’ve recently updated our detection and analysis tools and re-checked the previous four months of matches from the Competitive playlist. 

Effective September 4, 2018, we will apply more restrictions and bans to player accounts that benefitted from opponent disconnects at a highly abnormal frequency throughout Season 3 with our improved detection methods. This will include “voluntary” disconnects when players are repeatedly matching against the same opponents.

We are also updating our Account Restrictions and Banning Policies to detail the potential forms of punishment.

Depending on the severity of infractions, players may receive Crucible restrictions and bans.

This will remove access to pinnacle Crucible rewards, such as Redrix’s Claymore, Redrix’s Broadsword, and Luna’s Howl, and any pinnacle Crucible rewards released in the future. 

For the most severe infractions, players may permanently lose access to all Destiny 2 activities, including PvE.

As we begin to apply this moderation, we will be crosschecking matches to ensure the proper levels of punishment are applied. We’ll continue to apply and revise our detections throughout Season 4 and beyond. 

If you believe you’ve encountered a player who is breaking the terms of service, please see Report Suspected Cheating on help.bungie.net. This page details all available forms of reporting to Bungie for the platform on which you play.

As a final note, thanks to everyone who plays Destiny 2 legitimately. We appreciate the time you invest in our game, and we’re working hard to ensure everyone has a good experience when rightly earning their rewards.

Pardon Our Dust

Since the Year 2 deployment on Tuesday, we’ve seen reports that matchmaking time in the Crucible may be taking longer than usual. While no deliberate changes to matchmaking were deployed in Update 2.0, we have been investigating this issue.

We are planning to deploy a fix that we hope will increase the speed of matchmaking queues. As our investigation continues, please stay tuned to @BungieHelp for updates on our progress.

Upon the launch of Forsaken, skill matching will work in the same manner it has in recent weeks (i.e., no skill-based matchmaking). In the near future, we will preview any planned improvements to matchmaking in Crucible Labs first, so we can tune that experience collaboratively. As always, our commitment remains to communicate all changes to the competitive ecosystem in advance right here on bungie.net.

Thanks for playing!

Download After Download

As we said last week, things are a little weird right now. Player Support has been on the front lines, troubleshooting issue reports and identifying workarounds for some of the oddities you might be seeing since the release of Update 2.0.0.

This is their report:

Destiny 2 Hotfix 2.0.0.1

On Tuesday, September 4, Destiny 2 will undergo maintenance to receive Update 2.0.0.1. The conclusion of this maintenance will mark the launch of Destiny 2: Forsaken, and this hotfix will be required to log in and play. For the Hotfix 2.0.0.1 deployment schedule, please see the times listed below. On Tuesday, September 4:

7:00 AM PDT: Players will no longer be able to log in to Destiny 2. Players leaving activities will be returned to the title screen. Hotfix 2.0.0.1 will begin rolling out across all platforms and regions.

7:30 AM PDT: Destiny 2 will be taken offline for maintenance, and all remaining players will be returned to the title screen.

7:30–10:00 AM PDT: Destiny 2 will remain offline for maintenance.

10:00 AM PDT: Destiny 2 maintenance is expected to conclude, and Destiny 2: Forsaken will become available to play on all platforms.

For Hotfix 2.0.0.1 patch notes on September 4, players should keep an eye on our Updates page or follow @Bungie on Twitter for live announcements.

Destiny 2 Update 2.0.0 Known Issues

Over the past few weeks, we have warned players that the weeklong transition between August 28 and September 4 may be a rocky one. In direct response to player reports on our #Help forum, we have listed below some of the known and emergent issues we’ve tracked since the launch of Update 2.0.0. Please be aware that not all of the issues below will be resolved in Hotfix 2.0.0.1.

We are aware of an issue impacting players’ ability to obtain specific loot from the Nightfall strike “Strange Terrain.” This issue should be resolved on September 4 with Update 2.0.0.1.

The XP bar is not showing XP gains for players at the level cap. This is a UI issue, and all players will continue to earn XP and Bright Engrams at their expected rates. This issue is expected to be resolved on September 4 with Hotfix 2.0.0.1.

We are currently investigating an issue that causes the precision multiplier for some weapons with explosive rounds to be incorrectly capped, making them deal less total damage than intended.

We are investigating reports of issues impacting sandbox gameplay, including Hand Cannon recoil on PC and aiming down sights not cancelling properly.

Some Year 2 Forsaken weapons and armor may drop prematurely from world loot sources. Items awarded to players early may see minor changes following Hotfix 2.0.0.1 and the launch of Destiny 2: Forsaken on September 4.

Some objectives that require Heroic strikes will not be achievable until Hotfix 2.0.0.1 on September 4.

Players who still have the “Spicy Ramen” quest will not be able to complete it because the ramen shop is no longer distributing expired coupons.

For the full list of known issues, as well as possible mitigation steps, players should see our Update 2.0.0 Known Issues list.

Gear Infusion and Level Requirements

Once Destiny 2: Forsaken is live on September 4, players may begin increasing their Power and character level beyond their Year 1 limits. As with all increases to player Power in Destiny 2, players should be aware that infusing gear with a requirement above their current character level will make the infusion recipient unavailable for use until the player levels up. For example:

A player logs in to Destiny 2: Forsaken on September 4 at character level 30

The player receives new gear with a level 31 character requirement

The player infuses the new gear into their favorite Year 1 gear

This Year 1 gear is no longer available for use, since it has adopted the level 31 character requirement from its infusion material

The player must then increase their character level to 31 to reequip this gear

Players should pay extra attention to the character level requirements on their gear as they climb to max level in Destiny 2: Forsaken. Mod Changes for AllAs a reminder, mod changes will take full effect on September 4 at the launch of Destiny 2: Forsaken. Listed below is the full experience that players will encounter once Hotfix 2.0.0.1 becomes available.

Year 1 weapons will not accept Year 2 weapon mods

Elemental attributes on Year 1 weapons will be locked, and you will no longer be able to change them

Some targeted Year 1 Power weapons have had their elemental attributes changed and locked for Year 2

Year 1 armor will accept Year 2 armor mods

Year 1 Gear will not receive randomized perks

All Year 1 mods will be deprecated at the launch of Destiny 2: Forsaken on September 4

Year 1 mods may safely be dismantled ahead of time in preparation for the Year 2 mod system

Solstice of Heroes T-Shirt Redemption

As of this past Tuesday, Solstice of Heroes and Moments of Triumph have concluded in Destiny 2. Players who achieved 250 Triumph Points or more and redeemed the Triumph Shirt reward in-game are eligible to generate their Solstice of Heroes T-shirt code on their Bungie.net profile until September 12 at 10 AM PDT.

Players who generate their code by this deadline have until September 30 at 11:59 PM PDT to redeem their code at checkout with their shirt order at the Bungie Store. At that time, all remaining T-shirt codes will become invalid, and players may no longer place new Solstice of Heroes T-shirt orders on the Bungie Store.

[lostlegacyuniverse]

NNK2 Thoughts

So with Ni No Kuni 2 having been out for a year now, as well as having the free adventure DLC that just went live, I can finally sit down and talk about the sequel to the amazing first game.

This is long and there will be spoilers ahead, you have been warned.

Combat! The combat of the second game is wonderful and fluid. Blocking, dodging, being able to even attack with ranged weapons like guns and wands at will. It’s really well done and easy to get into the rhythm of combat. I especially like the idea of recharging your mana by hitting enemies with melee attacks, and then using that mana on an empowered weapon for a massive hit in kind. Putting a pause on combat when using items was a nice feature to have as well. And the party AI! Oh, goodness it’s nice. Sure they do silly things on occasion, but they don’t come close the the AI teammates of Ni No Kuni 1. No Esther running into an enemy attack, no Oliver eating every ounce of mana he can as fast as he can. They’re smart! They build charge, they are cautious with spells, they run into healing zones, they back off when on low hp, THEY DODGE ATTACKS. It’s a wonderfully drastic improvement. However, having a limit on each helpful item type per battle was seriously annoying, especially against one of the Tainted dragon mini bosses which, -even with me being a full 10 levels ahead of him- made the battle draw out for far, far longer than it needed to. It wasn’t fun to get smacked for half my hp for the 40th time, and then realizing that I had no more ways to recover hp through items. This is an RPG, not Dark Souls. I have 99 4 Leafed Soreaways, let me use them, dammit. The only thing I really disliked about the combat was the inability to force the enemy AI to target a specific character on my team with a taunt or spotlight or what have you. Which led to awkward situations where- for example- a Tainted monster would suddenly turn on me -mid attack- after having focused an ally for the entire battle.

Aside from combat and story, I really disliked how damn tedious building my kingdom was. It felt like a glorified mobile game. There was even a point where I had to wait for a specific research to finish, so I could move on. This wasn’t one of those “Oh I want more xp before I keep going” kind of things, I had to actually put down my controller for 30 minutes, and WAIT for this research to finish to PROGRESS THE PLOT OF THE GAME, because the game would not allow me to continue until I had done so. Honestly, that’s one of the reasons I probably won’t be replaying this game from scratch. And it’s not due to lazyness. I’ve replayed the first Ni No Kuni dozens of times, hell I’ve even replayed Persona 5 TWICE, which is a 100 hour run each. I’d have no problem replaying Ni No Kuni 2, it’s just the way you progress the story, and all of the shit it’s locked behind is a complete turn off for starting a new game run.

Story wise, the game was... okay. Nothing terrible, but nothing fantastic either. There were a lot of plot points that were either never really answered, or were done so in a way that felt just unsatisfying and copped out. For example how quickly Evan forgave Mausinger for what he had done not only to his father and him, but to the entire kingdom (who then equally forgave him just as quickly).

I was admittedly thrown for a loop and shocked when it was revealed that Roland and Doloran were “soul mates” (a term from the first game that was CRITICAL TO THE PLOT, that meant that two people from different worlds shared the same soul. What happens to one, happens to the other, death or brokenheartedness for example.) Doloran just monologues for a bit about how they “were the same” and “wanted the same thing” (to resurrect a loved one), and ends up asking Roland to join him, but again, as crucial as a point it was supposed to be, it felt very sudden and copped out. Long story short, Doloran had supposedly been trying to manipulate Roland to do things. What exactly? I don’t know, it’s not explained, let alone important in any way. Did he use him to try and sabotage Evan’s kingdom? No. Did he use him to help him steal the Kingsbonds of other kingdoms? No. Did he use Roland to accomplish his goals at all? No, he didn’t need him for any real reason. There was this sudden pressure of “THIS IS IMPORTANT” but it held no actual merit.

Soul Mates weren’t mentioned at all during the entirety of the story, and the developers themselves said you didn’t need to play the first one to understand the second. So to have this “VERY IMPORTANT PLOT POINT”- seriously I can't stress this enough- just suddenly pop up at literally the final boss in the final chapter, with no prior warning or discussion felt downright lazy. It certainly made no sense to anyone that had never played the first game. What significance was it supposed to hold for them? It’s not like this was a cute little easter egg like the Trial of Kings was, what with the Ni No Kuni 1 crew being there, this was supposed to be a BIG IMPORTANT REVEAL. But knowing about the bond changed absolutely nothing about the fight or the story that followed. There was no danger to Roland, no dramatic fight to the death followed by self sacrifice. Doloran just got thowmped, did his evil hocus pocus anyways, and we flew off into the 9th dimension to go fight Bahamut. The only reason the bond between them exists, is so that Roland had a way into Evan’s world, and later a way back, and that’s about it. Sadly there wasn’t even retribution for Doloran for how many lives he’d taken to fuel his Horned One monster (regardless of the fact they were returned after it was killed), nor the damage he’d caused by taking the Kingsbonds (which weren’t returned, by the way). His love blinded ass even created a death dimension dragon that BROKE THE LITERAL SKY, and all he got was a pat on the shoulder and a talk about how sad it was to lose a loved one, and that he would enjoy this new world if he tried.

I.. what? What? Course you could argue that Shadar and Cassiopia from the first game received similar treatment. However, Shadar and Cass fell into a deep despair (from their respective actions, defying orders and saving Alicia, and using the Manna) that consumed them to the point of wanting to inflict that despair on others. Shadar payed for his actions by separating his soul from Oliver’s so that the boy could keep living while he drifted into Limbo / The Afterlife. He didn’t even see himself as being forgiven for his actions. Cassiopia redeemed herself when she helped fight against the Zodiarchs, the abomination created from her despair, grief, and magic that had utterly consumed her for thousands of years. Doloran? Doloran killed thousands of people and threw the world out of balance to get his beloved back, when in fact she was WAY beyond saving, and then did nothing to help defeat the monster he had unleashed. But it’s okay guys, he was in love, he gets a free pass.  I thought this game was supposed to be “more mature” and ‘more geared towards adults” than the first one. So how is it that the first game handles these messages and themes better than the one that was designed to does?

Don’t even get me started on the lame assed bonus ending of “Oh well Evan only united 4 of the kingdoms, you missed all the smaller ones, so your KID went ahead and took care of that in the future and offscreen, and he’s the one that ACTUALLY united the world. He’s the real hero, not you.” Don't invalidate the efforts of the player like that. Don’t.

Aside from the remarkably disappointing ending, there were a few other gripes I had.

So your Kingmaker is Lofty (who doesn’t compare on any level to Drippy’s character, don’t get me started on that rabbit hole) and he’s supposed to impose this weak and downright worthless appearance compared to Longfang, Oakenheart, Brineskimmer, and Bastion. He’s not supposed to be this majestic, powerful dragon like the other 4. Until of course it’s revealed that he IS, he just can’t transform because his bond isn’t strong enough. Cool idea right?

NOT WHEN THE TWIST IS SPELLED OUT ON THE VERY FIRST CUTSECENE WITH THE DECLARATION.  HE’S LITERALLY AT THE TOP OF THE DOCUMENT. IN FULL EASTERN DRAGON FORM. BEFORE YOU EVEN GET TO THE FIRST KINGDOM.

Not to mention the fact that he’s even on the COVER OF THE GAME. Who did this? Who decided this was a good idea? Who ruins their own twist like that?*coughDisneyandTreasurePlanet,no,I’mnotstillsaltyaboutthat,shutup*

And the characters, ohhhh the characters.

Evan felt surprisingly out of place in his own story. I understand that he’s a young king and his character should reflect that, but his growth felt dry and fake. He didn’t really expand as a character, he didn’t overcome his flaws, or grow in any meaningful way. The people around him did that for him. By the end, I cared more about Leander, Bracken, hell, even the other Kingdom leaders than I did about Evan. Evan stayed this cringey child character that didn’t seem to understand very critical concepts about running a kingdom, and the rest of the supporting party was happy to stand back and let the world tick down to literal annihilation as he figured it out on his own. It definitely felt more like Roland should have been the main character of the game. He had more drive and interesting traits right from the start than Evan had all game to develop. Which is incredibly disappointing. I wanted to hear more about Roland’s backstory of being bullied, how he became President, how the literal atomic BOMB going off moments before he was yanked away to Evan’s world damaged his psyche. I will admit the traitor arc was very interesting and had a lot of promise. I only wish it had lasted longer, or had a larger impact on the other protagonists.

Batu and Tani lost a lot of value throughout the game, which is a damn shame considering they were these rough, authority defying Sky Pirates. About the time Goldpaw ran around (which is very early on, mind you) they started to fade into the background, and they were almost forgotten until Roland’s traitor arc, which is CHAPTER 8. OF 9. Let that sink in.

Leander and Braken had a similar problem of being shoved to the side in favor of Evan, but however stayed relevant throughout the remaining story. Although I would have loved to hear more about Hydropolis before the eruption and subsequent daily magic resets. Or more about Broadleaf as a whole, like for example the GIANT FLYING SUBMARINE THE SIZE OF A CONTINENT SITTING JUST 2 MILES NORTH STUCK IN THE ICE? OR THE GIANT CRACKS IN THE SEA THAT GO INTO THE VOID? NO? WE’RE NOT GONNA TALK ABOUT THAT? Okay.

There was just all this amazing backstory and lore that could have been expanded on, like connections to the first game, places and ideas that changed over time. Where did the Higgledies come from? What happened to the familiars? To Wizards? To Nazcaa? To Cassiopia? The other kingdoms? Anything? At all?

Honestly, this game could have come out as completely unrelated to Ni No Kuni 1, and I would not have noticed a single difference. Not that Ni No Kuni 2 is a bad game, it’s far from it. But if you’re looking for an engaging story and have to choose between the 2, pick the first game. No amount of improved combat can redeem a story so desperate to jump the shark, that it falls in and gets eaten.

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

DRV3 ch 4 speculations and spoilers

Ok before I go to ch 4, ch 3....was kind of a disappointment. The killer and motive was better than ch 2 but.....I didn’t like how...well.....they had an interesting idea they could’ve gone with but pissed it all away. The idea being that Kiyo committed the 2nd murder but couldn’t be punished for it.....I think it would’ve been more interesting if Tenko had committed murder (even if accidentally, maybe she didn’t do anything but she scared Angie who tripped and ended up dying cause she tripped and caused a fatal injury, actually that would be an interesting trial.....and would either result in the same case of self defense like DR1′s first case or would be a new rule), or someone else, or even suicide, and Kiyo committed the second murder but had to stick around. Sorry, basically I think it would’ve been interesting if they had a person who legit murdered a classmate but wasn’t punished for it (nor rewarded) in their mist (and not just a serial killer or ult assassin who have killed before but not the participants).

Also ironically I was missing Toko and split personalities and stuff and it was nice to see that again.....even if it was only for a little bit. ;w; Also the whole sister thing, ehhhhhhh the monokubs were flirting with that heavily prior to that reveal so.....I....was.....kinda desynthesized to the idea by the time Kiyo brought it up....plus it’s Danganronpa.....I expect stuff like this (like how I expect it in Game of Thrones). XP 

Also not surprised Monodam committed suicide, it was either him, or both Monotaro and Monoph-.....Monopink (can’t remember her actual name 8V). I do feel sorry for the little guy tho. ;w; Also not surprised Monotaro’s memory is going....feel bad cause of how much he’s been hit. ;w; Esp his personality change (which kinda reflects a similar phenomenon that happens to football players, or at least people that get lots of concussions regularly, which is really.....sad...then again also he’s robot so does it work like that?......but then again this is DR so of course it could also happen to a robot so yeah *shrugs*).

As for ch 4....I feel like the death flag (aka victim and/or killer) has been raised for Gonta and Mui (Kaito too of course, but like.......that’s more outside of the killing game, but I’m waiting for him to kick the bucket). I hope I get at least one more day of free time cause I’m like 1 away from maxing out Mui so like....stay alive for at least that long Mui. ;w; 

Mui will probs be targeted cause of something with the computer, I she figured out that she can “save” everyone by making them go VR, DR2 style. 8V I dunno why but I feel like if Mui is killed then it’ll turn out that Tsugumi was the killer.....cause Mui in her free time event mentions she used to be “plain�� which is a word that comes up a lot when Tsugumi talks....but then again that could just be a coincidence.....

The video with Rantaro, I feel like everyone has a video of themselves saying similar things and not just Rantaro (probs just only showing him to make him look suspicious). Also have been wondering since the hint at the end of ch 1, if the old sounding people at the funeral were DR1/2 characters that have grown old but *shrugs*. Also wondering if this is all literally a game.....like none of it’s “real” in terms of the DR universe......

I feel like Monotaro will be next to go, esp with how he’s abusing Monopink (if the abuser is killed theme continues to go on). I also feel like Monodam isn’t dead.....we don’t really see the rest of his body tbh from what I recall, just him going into the flames....he could just be hiding. XP 

I have a feeling this whole “keep playing till there’s 2 people” might indicate that this is a “Noah’s arc” situation going on, esp with the whole church floor (5th floor?) that just got unlocked.....and the whole end of the world thing.....Which probs means Maki (or some other girl of course) and Shuichi will be the last in the game (assuming they don’t find a way out).....They did kinda have a shippy moment recently so...yeah....I feel like Maki’s the best candidate for girls..... Ngl, except for Tenko’s crush on Himiko, I really don’t like how any shippy moments/possible romantic relationships are written in this game...... it feels very artificial imo.....it’s def a dip down in writing quality (in terms of character interaction and romantic/ship implications that is) compared to DR1/2/UDG/3 imo. It’s something I noticed right from the get go in the prologue and it’s bothered me since..... ;w;

[onlyfools-fall-foryou]

So I wrote for the school magazine but this was never published because we ran out of time. Long story. Just gonna post this here.

Lina’s Completely Self-Indulgent To-do List for You and Me

Most of these listed items are pretty mature. By that, I mean high school and older.

Upcoming Movies: Dunkirk Why don’t we just watch all of Christopher Nolan’s movies while we’re at it? Dunkirk is, yes, another WWII movie on the side of the Allies, but it’s a Nolan film, so I’m not complaining. Nobody’s complaining. Like Nolan films, it’s incredibly star-studded, with his usual Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy etc. Nolan really hasn’t given away anything by his short and simple trailers, other than what people already know about the Battle of Dunkirk. (Spoilers, they get rescued.) Release Date: July 21, USA

Spider-man: Homecoming Can I just say, I am loving new spidey. That guy is ador(k)able. Marvel is finally giving us the sassy teenage Peter that we didn’t know we needed. Release Date: July 5, Finland

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets Luc Besson, director of /Leon, Nikita, and The Fifth Element/ decided to turn the futuristic sci-fi time-traveling comic series, /Valerian and Laureline,/ into a movie starring Dane DeHaan and the beautiful, beautiful Cara Delevingne. (I was slightly obsessed with Cara Delevingne in 2016.) Let’s just hope that Cara is better at acting here than she was in /Paper Towns/. Release Date: July 21, USA

Detroit From the only female director who has won the Academy Award for Best Director, Kathryn Bigelow, director of /The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty,/ comes another possibly scarring, possibly life-changing movie based on modern historical events. (By modern, I mean 50 years ago.) This time, it’s about the Algiers Motel Incident, taken place during the 1967 12th Street Riot that left three black males dead and two white females and seven black males brutally beaten by the police. Remember when I said this would be scarring? It stars John Boyega and many other beauties. Release Date: August 4, USA

The Dark Tower This is the beginning of a possible movie franchise adapted from Stephen King’s novel series of the same name. Starring Idris Elba as our formidable hero and Matthew McConaughey as our mysterious villain. If you’ve read any Stephen King or seen any adaptations, notably I’ve seen /The Mist,/ you know they’re chilling and terrifying and scarring. Watch with caution. Release Date: August 4, USA

Movies If you’re a nerd who likes to spend most of their life in a screen like me, just invest in a Netflix account (unfortunately, I get nothing out of this promo). And, all the Netflix original shows are top notch because Netflix goes all out on their shows. (Edit: DON’T TRUST NETFLIX. THEY MIGHT CANCEL YOUR FAVOURITE SHOW.)

Patriots Day (2016) It’s about the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombings. Apparently watching it the first time around is the best, according to my brother who watched it twice. For the first 20 minutes or so, you’re so tense because it’s just people getting ready for the marathon and you know what’s about to happen. That was interesting, because the movie did try to tense us up, but it didn’t try that hard. It was mostly our knowledge of the bombings that did most of the work. Most of the characters are real people, except for the main character played by Mark Wahlberg, who is fictional. It leaves you sweating from your pores (and tear ducts) at the end of the movie so drink some water before starting.

Moulin Rouge! (2001) If you’re into music, beautiful people dancing and singing, renditions of pop songs like “Smells Like Teen Spirit” or “Like a Virgin,” you should watch this sort of rom-com/rom-tragedy starring Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman. Go read my other article on page * for some extra info.

Inglourious Basterds (2009) Glorious cinematography. Glorious deaths. Glorious acting. The opening scene is pure gold. It’s one of those scenes you get completely lost in. It also gets you sweating from your pores. Everything from the cinematography and the acting and the set and music and everything is just so well done. Everyone who has seen this scene knows what I’m talking about. And of course, Mélanie Laurent is (one of) the main character(s) so that’s a lot of, em, eye cleansing.

Twilight (2008) Just kidding.

TV The Get Down Go read my other article on page *. Tl;dr: About the origin of hip hop in 1977 Bronx told around beautiful brown young adults with voices of angels.

Lost You have probably head of /Lost/, whether it’s something good or bad. Lost is infamous for its bad ending, which, I don’t think is that bad, but who cares about an ending when everything else is good? The premise is, a bunch of people were on a plane going from Sydney to LA but it crashes on an island. For the first couple episodes, you might think it’s just another survival show, but boy you are wrong. The episodes vary from present to flashback, the centric-character changing every episode. Try not to cringe too hard as Daniel Dae Kim completely ruins the Korean language. Lost is one of the shows I only watch when I have a lot of time because it and its soundtrack completely emotionally ruins me.

Books Sorry, this list may be shorter than the others because I shamefully admit, I don’t read as much as I watch. (Stop judging me, I know my brain cells are dying.)

Harry Potter Need I say more? If you haven’t read Harry Potter, where have you been and where is your integrity?

13 Reasons Why I read this book in the summer of 2015 and it was one of those books I couldn’t put down, not because it was so fun to read, but because my stomach was shaking with uncomfortable angst and I had to get it over with in order for my life to move on. It’s about a teenage boy who gets a mysterious tape one day. On the tape is a recording that a sort-of-friend/ex-crush, Hannah, made before she killed herself. The thirteen reasons are, yes, why she killed herself and are directed at 12 people in total (it goes to a person twice). It deals with some pretty mature content like sex, sexual assault, and obviously suicide. I think I was a little young to understand the book to its full potential, because the book is heavily about the relationship of Hannah and everyone around her and I didn’t realize relationships were so hard at the time.

Percy Jackson Yes, I can hear you snickering about how big of a nerd I am. I admit, I was obsessed with Percy Jackson, still low-key am, but to be fair, so was my mom! Whenever we would get a new book, my mom, brother, and I would pass it around none too patiently. Percy Jackson is definitely more for younger kids, i.e. middle school, because the level of darkness and death sort of stays the same throughout, unlike Harry Potter that matures along with us, becoming darker and darker. If you don’t know who Percy Jackson is, he’s the son of a mortal and Poseidon. He then struggles to save the world every book. The series really educates you in a fun way on Greek (and later, Roman, Egyptian, Norse, and who knows what next) mythology and it’s fun to see how the writer portrayed his Godly characters. It’s just a really, really fun read. Another perk is Rick Riordan seems to keep writing books, so the series doesn’t seem to ever end.

Music

Hamilton If you’re into American history, people of color, hip-hop, bromance, and death, listen to this amazing cast album of Hamilton: An American Musical (or watch the bootleg). Basically the story of Alexander Hamilton’s life, through childhood in the Caribbeans, coming to New York where dreams are made of, the American Revolution, trying to set up a government and finally his death. Will you become a non-functioning human for a couple days while you finish it? Yes. Will you start violently sobbing when you hear the name John Laurens? Yes. Will you start breaking into song and rap when you know you can’t sing or rap? Yes. Is it worth it? Yes.

Harry Styles Following the classic tradition of naming your debut album after yourself, Harry Styles comes back to the music industry with this album that is completely different from One Direction (before they started writing their own songs, so this album more like MITAM). After a year (and a half) of being in the new Nolan movie (life goals right there mm mm.) and chilling in the Caribbeans, he randomly dropped news of his single “Sign of the Times” and the rest of his album in April. The album is like a time capsule from the 2007s with a mix of the 1970-80s, giving off rock god and sappy indie breakup band vibes at the same time. I’m actually listening to it as I’m writing this right now, and gosh it is good. It’s Harry doing everything he couldn’t do in a band, every song has him straining his vocal cords and (*wipes away proud tear*) you can just imagine him jumping around stage and having the time of his life.

Other

Duolingo.com (Like I said, I get 0 money out of this.) Duolingo is a website for, you may have guessed it from “duo” and “lingo,” learning languages. It’s completely free, these people don’t even require you to “upgrade your account” to do all the languages. There are most of the European languages, some Asian languages like Vietnamese (Japanese and Korean etc are in progress), Swahili, and Klingon (in progress). You can choose how seriously you want to learn and set your daily XP goal. It sends you an email and application notification so you don’t forget (but of course you can turn it off) and there’s an app too. If you do it intensively (really intensively, like a couple hundred XPs a day), I think finishing a language course during the summer is possible. It’s such a good and wholeful website/app. I’m currently learning Norwegian so if anyone wants to join, halla at me!

Learn How to Box Finally, a non-nerd item on this list! More broadly, get in the habit of working out. Whatever we’re going to do in the future, we need the stamina for it, even if you’re just going to sit at a desk all day. I’m only putting boxing up there as an example because it’s fun and it makes you feel powerful. Not that I’m an expert or anything, I did like four months and quit (lol) but I still work out in various ways. Grab a friend and convince them to go with you. Working up a sweat, even for a short time, generally makes you happy. I don’t know how much this applies to other people, but personally, I spend my workout minutes giggling most of the time. When I’m doing something really challenging, I start manically laughing. This is also an excuse for you to get your mom to let you out of the horrible cycle of hagwons and tutors!

[yahooben]

'Mass Effect: Andromeda' review: A sprawling space drama that struggles to stay on target

‘Mass Effect: Andromeda’ invites you to strap in for another space opera.

“Space is big,” beloved author and interdimensional traveler Douglass Adams noted in his seminal towel-seller, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” “You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big,” he wrote, hammering home the point that when it comes to bigness, even our new president has nothing on the universe.

That size presents quite a challenge to game makers, but few have hacked away at the quandary with as much gusto as developer Bioware. The team behind the blockbuster “Mass Effect” trilogy managed to capture the epic scope of the big unknown while keeping our eyes trained on the intimate interactions between characters, a space opera in its truest — and, in terms of video games, among its best — form. So when they announced a return to their beautifully realized universe with “Mass Effect: Andromeda” ($60 for Xbox One, PS4, PC), we all got very excited indeed.

But a great deal has happened since 2012’s “Mass Effect 3” simultaneously wowed and enraged gamers; namely, “The Witcher 3,” “Fallout 4,” Bioware’s own “Dragon Age: Inquisition” and a host of other genre-blending RPGs (you could arguably toss recent greats “Horizon: Zero Dawn” and “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” into that mix, too). Big-budget role-playing games have blossomed in the past five years.

‘Mass Effect: Andromeda’ has the makings of a great game, but misses the mark with a number of missteps.

And unfortunately, “Mass Effect: Andromeda” picked up some unwelcome visitors on its long journey to your gaming machine. Though it has some stellar moments, “Andromeda” tries to cram too many ideas into one package, turning its obsession with the bigness of space into a crutch for uncharacteristically shoddy workmanship.

The (next) final frontier

To answer your most obvious question: no, you do not need to have played the prior “Mass Effect” games to understand what the hell is happening here. “Andromeda” tells a self-contained story featuring entirely new characters, planets and star systems, though references to elements from the original trilogy (the Citadel, the Geth, Spectre, etc.) do occasionally pop up.

The game is set roughly 600 years after the events of the original trilogy. Just as things were heating up in the Milky Way (around the “Mass Effect 2” timeframe), several giant Ark ships were launched towards the faraway heart of the Andromeda galaxy. Snuggled in cryo beds and dreaming of a new life, the adventurous souls aboard these vessels were hoping to discover habitable new worlds and plant some flags.

‘Mass Effect: Andromeda’ sees you exploring the Andromeda galaxy for a new home. But – spoiler alert – things go very wrong.

Naturally, things go sideways. You play as either Scott or Sara Ryder, a twin thrust into the role of ‘Pathfinder’ and tasked with guiding a ragtag group of aliens in a quest to find a new home. It’s all pretty standard sci-fi stuff — a bite of “Star Trek,” a nibble of “Battlestar” — but Bioware crafts a well-told tale that rises above its derivative vibe to keep you, um, engaged throughout.

Mostly, that’s done though a tweaked version of the branching narrative structure Bioware is known for. Conversation options have expanded beyond the binary Paragon/Renegade of prior games, adding flexibility and giving you a bit more agency over your particular Ryder. Despite some nasty bad guys and extremely high stakes, it’s also significantly more lighthearted than the trilogy’s dour doomsday scenario. Regardless of how you play Ryder, he (or she) is quick to joke and seems intent on keeping the joy of discovery intact.

The dialogue system isn’t as thrilling as it used to be, however. Other franchises have taken the cue and built branching narratives with greater emotional value. “The Witcher 3,” “Life is Strange” — heck, the entire Telltale Games catalog (whose Season 1 of “The Walking Dead” bested “Mass Effect 3” in most 2012 Game of the Year Awards) have pushed the envelope of branching narrative design, making each choice feel impactful. Though your tone changes based on your responses in “Andromeda,” Ryder’s playful, at time snarky attitude takes some of the gravitas out of the decision-making. You rarely break a sweat.

‘Mass Effect: Andromeda’s’ dialogue system lacks the kind of gravitas that makes games like ‘The Witcher 3’ so addictive and powerful.

Still, developing relationships, opening/closing paths, trying to get busy with a blue lady — it’s all here, and thanks to an interesting story, likable characters and great voicework by both male and female Ryders, “Andromeda” does a convincing job of turning you into Captain Kirk.

A downright uncanny job, you might say.

Valley of the Dolls

Unless you’ve been avoiding the internet for the last week, you’ve likely caught wind that gamers are, to put it mildly, displeased with the “Andromeda’s” animations, particularly its facial close-ups. And, well, yeah, the facial animations aren’t great. The game doesn’t just glide over the uncanny valley, it builds a big space house and moves right in.

I typically don’t put too much stock in this; plenty of outstanding games are kind of ugly up close (I’m looking into your lifeless eyes, “Fallout 4”). What makes it so rough here is the amount of time you spend staring at close-ups. A good third of the game is spent chatting with people and developing relationships, but when they look like broken robots, it breaks the spell. About halfway through the game, my Ryder inexplicably developed two wicked lazy eyes that lasted for a good 10 hours.

‘Mass Effect: Andromeda’s’ human characters look like dead-eyed androids.

Perhaps the increased power of modern consoles/PCs (I played on PS4) is the culprit — as the theory goes, the closer you get to reality, the deeper the valley. But as ugly as it gets for humankind, the power leads to some amazing aliens. The brutish, dinosaur-like Krogans have never looked better, and jittery eyes and smooth skin give the amphibious Salerians incredible life. I relished every chance to chat with non-humans, both to bask in Bioware’s great work and as a respite from the mannequin onslaught.

This sort of uneven delivery extends to the rest of the game’s graphics. The art design is triumphant – Issac Asimov would commend the look and feel of the game’s colorful terrain, sweeping interstellar views and massive starships – but technical glitches abound. Flickering textures are common, load times are excessive and occasional pop-in mars the stunning planetside vistas. These sorts of glitches aren’t game-breaking, but they speak to a project struggling to bear its own weight.

Humans might not look good in ‘Mass Effect: Andromeda,’ but the aliens are gorgeous.

Galaxy quest

And make no mistake: “Andromeda’s” scope is massive.

Much of the game takes place on explorable planets that are significantly bigger than the regions found in “Dragon Age: Inquisition.” You can spend hours scouring the nooks and crannies of each location from the comfort of your Nomad rover. And as you find ways to make life more hospitable, the areas open up even further.  

‘Mass Effect: Andromeda’s’ worlds are vast and beautiful.

A star map gives you free reign to explore the Heleus cluster of the Andromeda galaxy. You can only land on and explore a handful of planets, but you rarely feel hemmed in, and the desire to build outposts pushes you to approach Andromeda like a real pioneer. It’s a good hook.

But this goal is quickly buried beneath a ridiculous number of less essential Things to Do. Some are classic “Mass Effect” – your shipmates have needs, and if you want to unlock their highest-level abilities or get them into bed (perv), you’ll need to attend to those — but you pick up other, seemingly unwanted side quests with alarming ease.

Checking in on an outpost? Be careful who you talk to, because apparently every single life form in the galaxy is incapable of handling their own business. Even if they don’t have a gigantic exclamation point on their head, they’ll probably ask you to shuttle something somewhere or look into a mild, pointless drama. And you’ll feel pressed to track down every one, because you never know which insignificant-sounding rabbit hole will yield some legit XP or loot.

‘Mass Effect: Andromeda’ piles on the quests like every other RPG, but organizes them poorly.

This is fairly common to RPGs, but “Andromeda’s” flood of quests is compounded by terrible quest tracking. A Journal ostensibly keeps tabs on them, but inexplicably lists them based on where you picked them up rather than where they are located in the world. It’s a crazy way to organize quests; land on a planet and you’ll have to either scour dots on the map or rummage through your Journal to figure out what, if anything, you’re supposed to do there.  

This alone drove me nuts. I may be a real-world organizational disaster (I am a writer, after all) but this is definitely a trait I don’t want to carry into my sci-fi power fantasy.

Laser tag

On the other hand, I did get to carry lots of guns. And this is one area where “Andromeda” really fixes something.

The game does a fine job of improving and even amping up “Mass Effect’s” combat. Jump jets and a handy dash make you far more maneuverable, which is a boon since you contend with enemies in open-world locations. Skills and proficiencies can totally alter the way you play. Focus on Combat to be a Rambo, invest in Biotics to be a Jedi, stick with Tech to hurl fire and ice, or spread the wealth and be a bit of each. Deep but approachable, the system serves as a solid backend for the on-the-field action.

If there’s one thing Bioware improved for ‘Mass Effect: Andromeda’ it’s the game’s combat.

I forgot exactly how shooty “Mass Effect” was, and once you get used to the fact that you’re not playing a game quite as refined as the “Halos” and “Horizons” it attempts to ape, it falls into a pleasant rhythm. Nice touches abound, like jumping and pausing in the air for a few seconds while aiming down your sights. Experimenting with different abilities is also a snap thanks to a handy respec option, quelling the FOMO that rules most games that force to to stick with one class. It’s flexible and fun.  Bioware upped their game here, for sure.

But it isn’t perfect. The wide-open universe only yields a handful of enemy types, and none of them are particularly exciting. You have little control over your two fellow squadmates, and the weak enemy A.I. means you never need to think strategically when deciding which companions to bring into battle. I mostly stuck with the Krogan warrior because he looks cool. A baffling “auto” cover system claims that you just need to move close to an object with your gun drawn to hide behind it, but it doesn’t work very well. It just ends up getting you shot a lot, even when you think you’re safe.

You want jump jets? You’ve got jump jets.

Systems overload

“Andromeda” just doesn’t know when to quit, layering on screen after screen and system after system to make even the simplest task, like equipping a hot new weapon, painstaking.

Find a gun? You’ll need to head back up to your ship or find a “forward station” to switch your loadout, because, well, who knows. Tiny, uniform iconography turns inventory management into a slog. You know the thrill of finding and ogling a gorgeous, exciting new rifle in “Destiny?” That ain’t here.

Scanning planets for resources takes forever due to pretty but infuriatingly slow pans and zooms. Tracking down a specific resource to, for instance, craft a new helmet, is a total crapshoot. Bioware’s focus on the big picture has left a surprising number of holes in its basic RPG foundation.

They even tossed in co-op multiplayer, because it’s 2017 and I think that’s required by law now. “Mass Effect 3” toyed with this and it returns largely unchanged, as you and some pals clear out waves of increasingly stubborn baddies. It’s got its own progression system and offers a decent break from the RPG slog, though considering the core game could take a good 80 hours to complete, I’m not sure anyone needs it.

So do they need “Mass Effect: Andromeda” at all? That’s a tough call. A cool game is buried beneath “Andromeda’s” issues. When the guns are on point and you’ve exploded a Biotic combo, or when the ramifications of some difficult choice made hours ago comes back to haunt you, “Mass Effect: Andromeda” scratches that old space itch. But getting past the technical gaffes and unfriendly interface requires a great deal of patience. Space is big, indeed, but it’s supposed to be fun, too.

Platform reviewed: PS4

What’s hot: Cool story; outpost settling is a good hook; improved maneuverability; deep combat options

What’s not: Technical issues; aggravating interface; seriously uncanny valley; quest quantity over quality; dated feel

More games coverage:

‘Middle-earth: Shadow of War’ lets you lead orcish armies — and destroy them

Nintendo Switch launch games: The must-haves, the maybes and the probably nots

‘For Honor’ review: You’ll need skill to survive this online fighter

‘Horizon: Zero Dawn’ Review: Combat and storytelling shine in spectacular sci-fi epic

The $450 Analogue Nt mini brings new life to old-school NES games

‘Resident Evil 7’ review: It’s a screaming good time

Ben Silverman is on Twitter at ben_silverman.

[furgemancs]

AsylumTale Relapse: Chapter 2

(5060 words)

Okay, so I had a burst of creative juices pound into my head and I finally finished this! I also, because of how the chapter turns out, decided to make this a three chapter thing. I hope you like it!

~~~~

Okay, first of all, forgive me for reading it this late, there were some personal issues and had no time to get over the story.

Secondly: I must read the first part again, cause I not remember what happened earlier XP

And finally the big part. This story was AMAZING!!! Okay it had some tiny teeny grammar issues, but pffff I don’t mind, thanks to the way you built up the events. I really loved how you showed Asy’s agony and how much he hated the fact his condition got worse. (the ‘I wish I was dead’ segments were a bit harsh tho. He can be super depressed, but never wish for death) The way you portrayed his struggle, his fear and desperation was overall awesome. Seriously I felt sorry for him, my poor baby. I could point out every single scene and why they were great, but I don’t want to spoiler XP

So let me tell you, dear that you did an excelent job on this ‘short’ story and I’m eager to see the finale. Thank you so much for sharing me this marvelous idea!!! 

(you can read the story under the cut)

Asy lays in a bed, his eyes closed even though he wasn’t asleep.

He hears the door creek open but he lays as still as he could, trying to keep his breathing even. He had hoped he’d never wake up again after the last night.

“So, we’ve assigned him a live in aid that is required to stay for a minimum for twelve months. He’s been proscribed a new medication that should help make sure this doesn’t happen again. He’s also been given a three weak paid leave from his job. It seems that his employer knows about his situation and is sympathetic.”

The mystery voice talks quickly and quietly so Asy has to listen closely to really hear what they were saying.

“He’ll have to have a psyche checkup once he’s woken up but other than that he should be okay to leave.”

Asy doesn’t know who this person could be talking to. If they knew what was going on, who would they be telling this to that wouldn’t already know?

He hears footsteps fade away, indicating that they had left.

He finally opens his eyes but quickly realizes it was a big mistake.

The little bit of light that he had let in burned his eyes like fire. His head throbbed and he couldn’t help but dig his fingers into his skull slightly. Thankfully not too deep to leave any lasting marks.

He had closed his eyes once again, not wanting to prolong his suffering.

Asy shrinks down under the blankets he had piled on top of him but his arms get caught on the fabric. Since his head was mostly under the blankets he peaks his eyes open to look at his arms. They were covered in bandages, the edges of the tape that was holding them in place had stuck to the fabric, leaving some fuzz attached to the tape.

Asy closes his eyes.

Great, another reminder that he just wasn’t okay.

He doesn’t know how long he laid there, not wanting to be in this hell before the door creeks open again.

“Asy, are you awake?”

It was a woman’s voice.

He shakes his head under the blankets, obviously letting them know he was awake.

“Oh, okay then. If you’re not awake I guess I’ll just have to eat your breakfast.” The unknown woman says tauntingly.

Asy just now realizes that he was completely starving. He starts to crawl out of his little blanket cave but stops, remembering the time before.

He peaks out, cracking his eyes open slightly.

A brown eyed female, probably in her mid to late twenties is sitting on the one chair in the room, holding a try of food.

“And he lives!” She says, trying to lift his spirits.

Asy doesn’t look amused. 

He almost wished he was the opposite of what she had said.

“You up for some breakfast?” The woman says, trying to keep her tone of voice cheery. “Oh, I’m Martha by the way.”

Asy doesn’t respond, instead getting up out of the bed and sitting on the floor.

Martha looks at Asy curiously. “So, on a scale of one to ten, how much more comfortable is the floor compared to the bed?”

Asy flops back onto the floor, lying down.

‘I wish I wasn’t here.’

'I wish I was normal.’

'I wish I was dead.' He shivers at this thought, disgusted at himself for even thinking it.

'I hope I lay here until the lights blind everyone.’

“I’m not hungry.” Asy says simply, not voicing his thoughts.

The woman rolls her eyes. “Sure you’re not. Even though from what I heard you haven’t eaten for at least twelve hours.”

Asy covers his eyes with his bandaged arms. “ugh…” His hands twitch and he tries his best to hide it and act like a normal person. He stands up, silently taking the tray from the woman.

“Thank you.” He says quietly, poking at the food. He wasn’t sure how to act. This was a new situation for him and there was just enough going on in the room that he was on the edge of having another panic attack from all that had already happened and what might happen in the near future.

Martha smiles at him, watching him poke around his food, sitting on the floor once again. “So, are you going to eat it? Or is it just a little game now?”

Asy looks up quickly. “I’m ah- I…” Asy sets the tray off to the side on the bed and moves so that he could rest his chin in his  hands. “I’m not- I…” He tries to think of what to say but he couldn’t think of anything besides 'I’m not hungry.’.  Martha frowns. “I get it if you’re not up to eating right now.” She says, watching as his hands twitch.

Asy silently thanks the woman and pushes the tray to the side. “You’ll have to eat eventually but I’ll give you a pass until next meal time.” Asy nods and rubs his arms subconsciously. “How long am I going to have to stay here?” He asks, not meeting her eyes. Martha looks away, thinking for a second. “Oh, only like a week or something. It’s not too bad.”

Asy rubs a little harder, feeling a little bit of satisfaction in the pressure and slight pain. “Y-Yeah, not too bad.” He echos. They both fall silent for a good ten minutes before Martha brings something up. “How about we head over to the Rec room? I mean, it must be better than sitting on the floor in your room.”

“Better…” Asy focuses on the word. Is it better? It could just be worse. So many people. People he knew. People who knew he had gotten out. People who would judge him for being back in this place again. People who would give him the odd stares, stares of disapproval and disappointment.

“Uh…” Asy half groans out, realizing he really didn’t want to go there. “Sure.” He says. He doesn’t know why. Maybe it’s so he can show that he can function normally or that he can prove to himself he’s strong enough to do things like this. The woman stands up takes his hand, picking up the try with her free hand. “Let’s go then. I hear they got a few new bored games in there.”

Asy stands, feeling a little awkward holding this woman’s hand but secure at the same time. They walk out of the room and down a long hall, turning only a few times before they reach a large open area where patients walked freely, some with orderlies around them and some who had doctors keeping a very close eye on them.

Asy feels very out of place. He feels like he shouldn’t be here, though he knows he should be. He knows he’s messed up. At least that was different than the first time he was here. He stops just short of passing the line where tile met carpet, staring nervously into the room. He knew he was drawing more attention to himself by not continuing on but he just couldn’t get himself to cross that line.

He looks around some more, noticing some new patients. There was a small rabbit girl who looked as if she was trying to have a tea party with a couch, not letting anyone sit on it. There was a blue creature who was slamming his fists into the wall, causing some orderlies to try and restrain him. Then there was a white monster with a human like form. He wore a plain outfit, almost the same as everyone else in this place. The only difference was his upper half.

Instead of the normal shirt he wore a T-shirt that popped out much more than the tan pants that almost melded into the floor of the same color. He also wore a red scarf wrapped around his neck. He walked around with out swinging his arms, causing him to look as if he was floating. Asy watches as the monster walks up to an older patent. “How are you today brother?” He says in a calm tone. The older patent doesn’t respond and the white monster smiles. “That is very good to hear.”

He walks away in his floating like fashion, catching Asy out of the corner of his eyes. He turns and walks swiftly up to Asy and Martha. Asy’s eyes widen with each step the monster took. “How are you today brother?” At this Asy looses it. He backs up a few steps before sprinting away back down the hall. Martha reacts quickly, running after him with the call of the other monster echoing behind her. “That is very good to hear.”

~~~

Asy runs and runs, not knowing exactly where he was going though he knew the place like the back of his hand. He didn’t notice until he stopped at the entrance of the building that he had fat tears running down his cheek bones. He wants to just leave. He wants to leave so badly but he knew he had many more days to stay before he could do this. He wonders if he could get away with it. Just leaving and not caring what anyone else would think.

He takes a tentative step towards the door, reaching out a hand slightly. He knows it would be wrong.

He knows there would be consequences.

He knows he wouldn’t be out for long.

But maybe…

He was only a few inches away from pushing the door open when he hears the female voice that had called him out from his bed earlier that morning. “ASY STOP!” Asy jumps at the loud shout, not turning around for fear of what her angry face would look like. He lets his tears roll freely, emotions flowing all around in his skull, making him more and more confused and frustrated. “Asy- Oh, it’s alright, come here.” The woman turned Asy around and noticed the large tears flowing down his face.

She pulls him into a hug, allowing him to squeeze her tightly. “I-I was better…” He cries into her shoulder. “I just want to leave. I want to go home.” She rubs his back and nods. “I know, I know. And I’m sorry. If I could I’d let you go home right now, but I can’t.” Asy continues to cry, letting out a heart-wrenching sob every few minutes. All his emotions just pour out into the open, he was scared he’d never get better, angry that he was back in the asylum again, happy that he had some comfort, and upset.

Upset that he couldn’t hold himself together. Upset that he couldn’t just leave. Upset that he was upset in the first place. And upset that he could never see his brother again.

Asy pulls out of the woman’s hold and stumbles back into the doors. He doesn’t know why he does this. Maybe his thoughts were too clouded by his emotions. Maybe he just couldn’t handle any more of people feeling bad for him. He doesn’t know. All Asy knows is that he’s done with this place.

Still crying, Asy slams through the doors, causing alarms to go off all through the asylum, alerting all the staff. Martha is shocked for a minute before she realizes what was happening, surprisingly for the first time in the history of the hospital.

A patent escaped.

~~~

Asy doesn’t know where he’s running to, he just knows he’s not staying back there anymore. He hears alarms blare after him and the sound of foot falls chasing him just spurs him on to keep going. He runs past multiple monsters, accidentally knocking a few over. Some yell things at him that make him want cry harder. Some notice him and what he’s wearing. They notice he was a patent from the hospital. Some back off, not wanting anything to do with a 'crazy’ person. A couple men try to hold out their arms, trying to stop him.

They slow him down a little but not much. He struggles out of their grasp and sprints on, his energy quickly leaving him. He makes a sharp right turn in waterfall as the guards who were chasing him were still around the corner. They keep running straight while he hides out in a small cave room.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid!” He says to himself, hitting his head with each word. “I shouldnt’ve done that. I’m so stupid!” He puts his head in his hands. “Why do I always mess things up!? I could’ve just stayed there the week and then left but I had to be stupid and run.” He slumps to the ground and pulls is knees up to his chest. “Now I’m never getting out. That was the one thing I wanted but now if they find me I’ll be locked up in a room the whole time. They don’t let runners be alone or go into the rec room.” Asy mumbles to himself.

“What am I doing?”

“Asy…”

He pulls his head out of his hands, looking up sharply. In front of him hovered Papyrus, His dead brother. DEAD.

Asy doesn’t scream, he doesn’t yelp in fear. He just glares at the hovering form. “Why did you have to come back!?” He shouts at him. “I was so close to being okay and you just had to come back and ruin it!” Asy picks up a rock and chucks it through the ghost like form. “I hate you!” He yells. “I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!” He starts sobbing again, burying his face in his knees.

He feels a pair of arms wrap around him and he looks up to see his brother hugging him. The embrace was neither warm nor cold. Just… There. “Get off of me! I hate you!” He shouts again through the rejuvenated tears. Papyrus doesn’t talk. He doesn’t make any sound. He just stays there, hugging Asy, stroking his skull in a soothing motion. “Papyrus…” Asy says, finally allowing himself to feel the hug.

“I’m sorry. I’m so so so sorry.” He cries, scratching at the bandages on his arms. “I didn’t mean it. I wanted to see you again. It’s not your fault. It’s mine. It’s all my fault.” He says. He knows it’s a hallucination but he can’t help himself from talking to his brother one more time. “It’s always been my fault…” He says, trailing off.

Papyrus shakes his head. Asy looks at him sadly. “I- You’re not even real…” Asy slides down to the ground, lying down and turning over. “I’m making him up. My mind just keeps making me see him.” He continues scratching his bandages, breaking through them quickly and scratching at the already raw bone. “Over and over and over again.”

He hears more footsteps run past his little cave. “Where do I go? I can’t go home. That’ll be the first place they look.” He sits up and looks to his right, Papyrus still there. “Go away.” He says quietly. “I know you’re not real so just go.” He wipes the tears from his face, standing up on shaky legs. He takes a step and collapses from exhaustion, physical and emotional.

Asy squeezes his eyes shut and opens them back up again. Papyrus was no longer there. He lets out a sigh and pushes himself up to his hands and knees, crawling out of the cave. He was sure that all of the people looking for him would’ve left the area already. He crawls away, going to the place he knew best in waterfall.

He crawled for a solid ten minutes before reaching an area full of echo flowers. He finds a good spot and lies down, pulling a flower down to his lowered level. “I miss him.” He whispers. He takes another flower and whispers again. “But I hate him.” He lets the flower go and pulls down one more. “But I love him.” He lets the last flower go and listens to the flowers echo back his little poem. He watches the ceiling of the large cave, the glittering rocks serving as beautiful stars.

He feels the stinging in his arms and doesn’t even look at them before scratching once more. He didn’t care. There were very few things he cared about at the moment. He cared about not being caught, he cared about being alive, he cared about his brother…

He didn’t care about his arms, or the fact that he had stopped scratching a month after he left the hospital. He didn’t care that he felt like he was going to melt into the ground with despair. He didn’t care that the poem he had made was causing him to tear up once more. He didn’t care that his eyes were burning or that he was shaking so hard the flowers around him were shaking as well.

He didn’t care about a lot of things.

~~~

Asy walks through a snowy town, wearing a grey hoodie and dark blue sweat pants. He held a bag of all his belongings at the moment. Asy walks into a small shop, the door making a small dinging sound as he entered.

It had been two days since he escaped. He had ran as soon as he heard people shouting for him. He left waterfall and had been hiding out in various caves until he found this town, Snowdin. 

The shopkeeper smiles and waves at him as he enters. “Hello hun, is there anything I can get 'cha?” Asy looks over his left shoulder, looking to his brother for guidance. His mental state had steadily decreased since he left, each day Papyrus had become clearer and clearer. He already could whisper to Asy with ease. “How much do you have left?” Papyrus whispers, floating to Asy’s left. “Three 'G’.” He says back, the shopkeeper giving him an odd look.

“Sorry hun, we don’t sell anything here for three 'G’.” She says, crossing her arms. Asy nods, not looking at the rabbit woman. “Thank you.” He says simply. He raises his head slightly and a poster catches his eye. It was of him. A missing persons poster.

'MISSING. Asy, patent at the mental hospital. Is unstable and is a danger to himself and possibly others. If found, please contact us right away.’

Asy reads the poster and tries to not look as horrified as he was feeling.

'Warning: He may be hostile if  found out. Please stay calm around him and don’t let him leave. If you cannot get him to stay, follow him, don’t let him be alone.’

Asy looks wide eyed at the poster. There was a picture of him from three months ago when he had just left the hospital. “Oh God…” He says, backing up a bit before turning around to leave. “Wait, actually, I do have some experimental buns in the back.” She says, walking around the counter. “Uh, no thank you, I-I’ll just go.” He says, getting a little worked up. He couldn’t tell if she had noticed who he was or not so he tried to play it cool.

“No please, I insist. I really need a taste tester for these.” The bunny says. She takes hold of Asy’s arm and drags him into the back room area which turned out to be the woman’s house. “You just sit right down and I’ll pull out the buns.” She says, pointing to a wooden table. She pulls out the buns from the oven and places two on a plate, setting it in front of Asy. She stands with her hands on her hips, watching him for a moment as he stares at the food.

He looks up at the bunny, then down at the buns, picking one up and taking a bite. “It’s- uh good.” he says, trying to stand up. “I’ll just-” The bunny lady cuts him off, pushing him back into the chair. “No, you’re going to finish that, I don’t want that bun wasted.” Asy sighs and takes another bite. “I’m going to go and get something from my room real quick, and I want you to tell me everything about the bun.” The woman says.

Asy takes another bite and tries to explain the taste. “It’s well, uh…” The bunny holds up her hand. “No, Eat the whole thing then tell me.” She says. Asy sighs and continues to eat the bun. It wasn’t bad, actually it was probably the best thing Asy had ever tasted. He just didn’t have the words to describe it.

She trots off to her room, pulling out her phone and dialing the number on the poster. “Hello, I think I found your missing patent… Yes, Asy…. Yes, I’m at the shop in Snowdin, I have him trying a bun in my kitchen.” The conversation between the bunny and the person on the other end of the line goes on for only a few more seconds before she hangs up, grabbing a random item from her side table and rushing back into the kitchen to make sure he hadn’t left.

Just as she enters Asy stands up, the bun gone. “So, tell me. Was it good? Bad? how’s the after taste?” She asks, setting a small snow globe down on the counter. Asy shrugs. “It’s fine. Can I go?” He asks, rubbing his forearms together anxiously. The bunny lady smirks. “I gave you two didn’t I?” She says.

Asy sits back down and starts eating the bun. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to eat it. No, it was that he didn’t want to eat it here. He finishes off the bun as fast as he could before standing up to leave. “Thank you m'am, I need to go now.” He says, trying to keep his voice steady. “Uh… Alright, I’ll walk you out.” The woman says, taking his arm and walking as slow as she could without seeming weird.

“Take care now, y'hear?” She says as Asy walks out the door. She looks out her window. He nods and leaves the store, looking left and right for any sign of the hospital workers. He sighs when he doesn’t see any and walks away from the small store. He decides to walk towards the outside of town, away from waterfall. Unfortunately he only gets a few steps away before he’s tackled to the ground. “AH!” He shouts, trying to get up.

“Give it a rest punk, you’re not going anywhere.” a familiar, stern voice says. “U-Undyne? No! Get off! Let me go!” Asy shouts, struggling under her grip. “No way. You need to go back to the hospital you crazy dude.” Asy struggles more and more before he feels Undyne grab both of his overly long sleeves and tie them together behind him. “No. No no no no no!” He chants, the feeling of his hands literally being tied was too reminiscent of his time in a strait jacket.

“NO!” Asy screams, shooting bones up from the ground randomly until he hit Undyne in the shoulder, knocking her off of him. All the commotion grabs the attention of the townspeople, people staring and pointing at the 'crazy skeleton’. Asy stands up and with great force rips his hoodie, the sleeves falling from his arms. Oh God…

His arms were scratched so deep in many places, it looked as if he had sat, scratching for hours on end. Maybe he did. He sprints faster than it looked like he should be able to, gaining so much ground away from Undyne that there was no way she’d be able to catch him. “He’s heading back towards waterfall.” Undyne says into a walkie talkie, standing up and brushing some snow off of her before running after the speedy skeleton.

 Asy runs as fast as he can, faster than when he ran away the first time, faster than when he ran away from the rec room. “Asy, please.” It was papyrus. He laid a hand on Asy’s shoulder as he ran. “No, no, no, no…” Asy says in reply. “They just want to help you.” He says, trying to get him to stop. “No! They want to take you away from me again!” Asy turns, dashing back into the cave he first hid in when he ran away two days ago. He dives in, rolling across the ground a couple feet and scraping his arms against the rough stone.

“You know that’s not true. I’ll always be here for you, weather you can hear and see me or if I’m just a feeling.” Asy breathes hard. “I-I Papyrus, I can’t… You-” Papyrus stops him, pulling him into a hug. “No, You can. You can because you’re strong, you’re the strongest monster I know.” Asy sighs. “…Okay… I trust you brother. I trust you.” With that Papyrus fades and Asy stands up, walking out of the small cave and into the open.

He stands in the middle of the path, his head hung low, just now noticing the gashes in his arms. 'When did I do that?’ He thinks. He hears footfalls from both directions and he shivers a bit. He still didn’t want to go back but he knew when he ran away it wouldn’t last for long. The underground isn’t that big. Not enough places to hide.

“Asy!” He hears a woman’s voice call from behind him. “There you are punk!” He hears Undyne’s voice from in front of him. “Are you alright? Were you hurt? Oh dear, your arms. I thought you stopped doing that.” It was Toriel who places her large hands on his shoulders and bends down, looking at him like he was a child. “Careful Ms. Toriel, He attacked me earlier.” Undyne says, catching her breath.

Toriel rolls her eyes at Undyne. “Oh, please. Asy wouldn’t hurt a fly.” She says. Asy keeps his head hung low. “I’m sorry…” He says quietly. He really was sorry. He was sorry this whole thing had happened. “Oh dear, we’re so glad you’re okay. You shouldnt’ve ran away like that but people make mistakes. You just have to learn from them.”

There was no physical indication that Asy understood or heard what Toriel said. “What’s going to happen?” He asks numbly. Toriel looks very upset after Asy asks this question. She slides her hands down to Asy’s and looks him in the eyes. “You’re getting admitted back into the hospital. We don’t know for how long, I guess that part really depends on you.” Asy sighs, not allowing his angry tears to reach his eyes. Toriel rubs his back, turning him back around and urging him to walk back to the hospital.

Undyne trails behind, not taking her eyes of Asy. It wasn’t like she needed to. Asy was exhausted and he had made up his mind. He was going to go with them, he was going to trust his brother and try once again to get better.

~~~

Asy was lead to the showers by two orderlies who wouldn’t let their eyes leave him for a second. “You’ll have fifteen minutes to shower off, be sure to clean off those arms.” Asy nods and walks into the slightly privet area. He already knew how far their trust had been pushed back. They always changed the amount of time he had to shower.

First it was ten minutes with an orderly in the room with him. Then it was ten minutes without an orderly. That was a great day. Next he had fifteen minutes with orderlies checking in on him. then he had fifteen minutes alone. The last three stages went the same way, going up to twenty minutes, though he never used that much time to actually shower. He always wanted to just stand in the warm water. He loved the warmth it gave him in the normally cold hospital.

Asy starts undressing, putting on some light green swimming trunks to stay covered. He starts washing his arms, feeling the sting of the water falling into his cuts. He hisses in pain but realizes just how dirty his bones were. There was a clear line where the bone had been in the water and where it hadn’t yet been. He lets the water run down his skull and drip through his ribs. He was done cleaning in seven minutes but he doesn’t want to leave just yet, it felt so good… He slides to the ground, leaning his skull back against the tile wall that the shower head was coming out of.

He hears a door open and an orderly comes in, looking at him cautiously. “Are you doing okay?” They ask. Asy opens his eyes and nods, giving a small thumbs up and a fake smile. The orderly nods back and smiles, setting down a towel on a chair a few feet away before leaving. 'So I’m  back a little further than I thought…’ Asy thinks, standing up and shutting off the water. He picks up the white towel and dries off a bit before changing into the standard outfit for the patents. He really hated that outfit.

He leaves the showers and looks at the two orderlies. They motion for him to follow and Asy complies, not wanting to go against his brother. Speaking of his brother, where was he? Asy hadn’t seen him since he 'turned himself in.’ They take him to a room that was very familiar to Asy. Once again there was a reminder of how far back he had been pushed.

The room had one large, metal door that had a long window in the middle. There was a window to the right of the door that looked like it was a two way mirror, though Asy didn’t see why that was necessary. One orderly opens the door for him while the other guides him inside. There was a simple bed that was bolted to the floor, A white comfy chair in the bottom right corner and a little table next to the bed with a little plush dog sitting on it.

“bunny…” Asy mumbles. He picks up the plushy and sits on the edge of the bed. The two orderlies leave, closing and locking the door behind them. Asy frowns for a moment before stroking the small white dog’s head. “I missed you friend.”

[gesteckt1]

Toshiba Satellite l755d Battery all-laptopbattery.com

While our camera crew takes a moment to set up a super-slow-motion shot, I quietly crouch down next to a pile of ready-to-test batteries and whip out my multimeter to verify the current. But sure enough, the meter reads 4.2 volts -- we're looking at fully charged lithium-ions.Then, we play NASA Mission Control, counting down to the moment our technician will press the big button and these batteries will get their chance to ignite.First, we try a standard lithium-ion pouch battery pack -- no SafeCore material inside. As the nail goes in, it's astounding how quickly the battery reacts. It bulges like a balloon, bursts with a puff of smoke, shoots out flying reddish sparks and finally explodes into a huge column of flame that reaches the ceiling of the test chamber -- all within 6 seconds flat.

But when we place SafeCore-treated batteries in the same torture devices, there's no bulge, no smoke, no flame. The punctured, crushed batteries are warm, maybe even hot to the touch for the next 10 minutes, but they feel no more dangerous than the hand warmers my Scoutmaster used to hand out on Boy Scout camping trips.Getting a great laptop doesn't have to cost you a fortune. There are tons of great sub-$1,000 options out there, whether you need a mobile business machine, a portable gaming powerhouse, or something in between. Here are our top picks.To evaluate whether a laptop is worth your hard-earned money, we run industry-standard performance benchmarks such as Geekbench and 3DMark as well as a variety of real-world tests that we've developed in our labs. This includes the Laptop Mag Battery Test, which surfs the web at 150 nits of brightness until a laptop runs out of juice, as well as a custom spreadsheet test that measures a laptop's processing power. For more on our process, see this page on how we test laptops.

Looking for even more great values? Be sure to check out our roundups of the best laptops under $200, the best laptops under $500, and the best gaming laptops under $1,000.No matter how you configure it, the Dell XPS 13 is the best laptop for your money. Even if you opt for the $899 configuration of Dell's flagship notebook, you'll still get a stunningly slim chassis, a gorgeous 1080p InfinityEdge display, and solid internals that include an 8th Gen Intel Core i3 processor and a battery that can last well above 12 hours.The best Chromebook you can buy will still run you less than $500. The Asus Chromebook Flip C302CA packs fast Core m3 performance into a sleek design that you might mistake for a premium MacBook at first glance. Factor in a bright, responsive 1080p touch display (perfect for using Android apps), a satisfying keyboard and all-day battery life, and you've got the best Chrome OS notebook for work, play or a mix of both.

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If you're seeking premium looks and portability on a budget, look no further than the Asus ZenBook 13. This beautiful, blue-tinted laptop has one of the best designs we've seen from a recent notebook, and backs up its eye-catching looks with strong Core i5 performance and more than 9 hours of battery life. The colorful display and loud speakers don't hurt, either.The Dell G7 15 is proof that you don't have to spend thousands of dollars for a good portable gaming experience. The $849 version of this affordable powerhouse packs an Intel Core i5 processor and an Nvidia GTX 1050 GPU, which is perfect for running mainstream games on decent settings (a more powerful GTX 1060 config costs just $1049). The G7 15 also stands out with long battery life and a refreshing white and blue design that's a far cry from the overly aggressive, red-and-black looks of most gaming notebooks.

Microsoft's Surface Pro is still the detachable to beat, thanks to its slim and versatile design that's a joy to use whether you're drawing with your Surface Pen in tablet mode or getting work done with a Type Cover keyboard attached. The $999 version of this 2-in-1 gets you a Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD, which is more than enough power for staying productive on the road. The hybrid's gorgeous PixelSense display is just icing on the cake.If you need desktop-level power on a laptop budget, the Dell Precision 3530 is for you. This business powerhouse features a durable, MIL-STD 810G-tested design, a secure fingerprint reader, and enough battery life to last through a full work day and then some. And with a Core i5 processor and 15-inch anti-glare display in the machine's $929 configuration, you'll have plenty of muscle for getting work done on the go.

The Lenovo ThinkPad E580 is a no-nonsense work laptop that packs everything you need for running a small business or putting together a presentation, without all the bloat (and cost) of enterprise-level notebooks. The E580 packs a best-in-class keyboard with Lenovo's signature pointing stick, a ton of ports for accessories and monitors, an optional fingerprint reader and strong overall performance no matter how you configure it. You can get the E580 for just $699 with a 15-inch 1080p display and an Intel Core i5 processor, which are specs you'll rarely find at such a low price.Sometimes it is obvious which apps are draining your laptop battery, and sometimes it can be difficult to know if Windows indexing files in the background or your antivirus are responsible for cutting down your cord-free existence from 6 to 3 hours.

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A few months ago, with the Windows 10 October 2018 Update insider previews, Microsoft added the ability to see power consumption in the task manager, not just instantaneously, but also over time.The new columns are normally hidden by default unless you make the task manager wider or maximise it, but otherwise does not need to be activated or selected.Unfortunately, the numbers are expressed qualitatively (very low, low, high etc) rather than quantitatively but it should still give you an idea which are the vampire processes draining your battery the most.The October 2018 update is currently only available to Windows 10 Insiders, but should, of course, reach regular users sometime over the next few weeks.Video editing is often a tedious and intricate process that requires incredible attention to detail, long hours spent in front of editing software, and the ability to make a bunch of different factors (i.e. sound, graphics, film) line up and come together to achieve a great final product (aka, your masterpiece.)

Similarly, finding the best laptop to assist in your *work of sheer genius* also involves a lot of different components coming together into one kick-ass video editing machine. The reality is: a laptop fit for video editing is going to require some serious specs.Generally, a great video editing laptop will have a powerful processor (CPU) and graphics card (GPU), an impressive display, and a hell of a lot of memory and storage. In an ideal world, this laptop would also offer multiple different input/output options and be relatively lightweight, because if you happen to also be shooting the video you'll edit, the last thing you want to do is add weight to your already-heavy camera equipment bag(s). Lastly, in this ideal world, these laptops would be cheap. Spoiler alert: this is the real world and these things aren't cheap. However, some are definitely more affordable than others — so if you're on a budget, price is obviously another huge factor to consider.

SEE ALSO: Best photo editing software for your desktopUnfortunately, until the laptop-manufacturing gods (or whoever is in charge of laptop branding) decide to make "video editing laptop" as easily identifiable as "gaming laptop," we're forced to break down the specs for ourselves, seeking out the one that hits the most checkmarks on our list of necessities. Fortunately for you, we've devoured the tech specs of all of the top contenders for the best video editing laptops and organized them in a way that'll help you pick the best option for you. So whether you dream about Premiere Pro and video playback in your sleep, or you're just starting out and need a laptop that can grow with you, these are our top picks.

[thesevenseraphs]

Bungie Weekly Update - 9/21/17

This week at Bungie, we are welcoming back some old friends.

First off, if you still haven’t finished the Destiny 2 campaign, there will be some SPOILERS in this blog post. If you haven’t learned the fate of the City, yet, you should definitely go play through it right now. We’ll still be here waiting for you. Seriously, go do it now!

Now that you’ve defeated Ghaul, we are ready for a special event called

Faction Rallies. Starting on September 26 at 2 AM Pacific, you will be able to volunteer your services in support of your favorite faction, or the one that holds the loot you most desire.

We spoke with Senior Designer Tim Williams to find out what Faction Rallies is and how players can join in on the fun.

Tim Williams: Each of the factions of the Tower is having a rally to collect resources for its cause. They’re recruiting Guardians to gather supplies for their faction and destroy enemy resources. They’ll offer a suite of rewards to help the Guardians rise up against any enemy threats. As an incentive, each faction has set aside a powerful weapon to entice players to choose their side. The faction whose Guardians collect the most faction packages will be declared the winner. The winning faction will offer the weapon to everyone, but all who pledged loyalty will receive it with a huge discount as repayment for their contributions to their faction’s cause.

Arach Jalaal from Dead Orbit, Lakshmi-2 from Future War Cult, and Executor Hideo of New Monarchy will return to the Tower to ask you to pledge your loyalty. Before you can make this choice, you must first reach Level 20 and gain access to the Tower. You will only be able to pledge to one faction per character

Once you have chosen your side, your mission will be to return to the wild and complete activities in support of your faction. You can do public events, explore Lost Sectors, complete strikes, clear the raid, or compete in the Crucible. As you complete these activities, you will be rewarded with faction tokens that you can turn in for packages full of loot.

Dead Orbit

Future War Cult 

New Monarchy

In addition to all of the gear on display above, each faction will be offering a special weapon as a reward to be sold if they emerge victorious. Everyone who pledged to the winning faction will be able to purchase it for 1,000 glimmer. Anyone who did not pledge can still get it, but will have to pay a higher price of 50,000 glimmer. Here’s what is up for grabs during this event.

Dead Orbit Scout Rifle

Future War Cult Pulse Rifle

New Monarchy Sidearm 

You can earn faction Tokens to turn into your faction of choice all the way up until 2 AM Pacific on October 3. We will declare a winner later that day at 10 AM Pacific. Good luck Guardians, and may the best faction win!

Destiny 2 Art Parade Bungie houses a roster of incredible artists. All of the gorgeous armor, weapons, characters, environments, and everything else your eyes get to admire in Destiny 2 is created by many, many talented people. Now that you’ve had a fair chance to experience their work (we did warn you to finish that campaign), we’ve invited them to pick some of their favorite pieces to share with you. If you click any of their names, you will be able to browse even more of their beautiful creations in their personal portfolios. This is just a small sample of artists from our Art team. Hopefully we can encourage more of them to share their work with you in the future. There are some SPOILERS below if you have Destiny 2 adventures that still await you. Rosa Lee, Aaron Wehrmeister, Mike Jensen

Allan Lee, Ken Osuna

Jared Trulock, Corinne Scrivens, Dima Goryainov

Tyler Bartley, MacKay Clark

Aaron de Leon, Joshua Morrison

Lee Hinds, Ryan Choi, Chelsea Velazquez

Roderick Weise, Alex Velazquez

Ethan Scheu, An-Tim Nguyen

Andrew Hackathorn, Brandon Campbell

Jeremy Baldwin

Madison Parker, Kevin Whitmeyer

Ryan Kamins, Tony Arechiga

Dorje Bellbrook, Joseph Biwald

Thad Steffen, Mike Stavrides

Guided Raids

Guided Games will become available for seekers seeking clans to show them the mysteries of the Leviathan on Tuesday, September 26, at 10 AM Pacific. It’s just over a week into the Guided Games Beta, and we want to update you on how things are going before we open it up for those brave enough to take on the Raid.

Senior Designer Steve Dolan

is on hand to give us a better idea of how Guided Games work.

How have Guided Games been going?

Steve: So far, over 100 ,000 seekers have been guided through the Nightfall strike. Throughout those games, over 90% of Nightfall attempts have resulted in completion.  Even when the activity is hard, Guardians fight it out to the end. ��You’re an amazing community and we love hearing stories about players meeting their new clan through Guided Games.

Some players don’t have mics, or have trouble speaking. Do they have to be in a voice chat?

Steve: Even if you’re unable to speak over a mic, being able to listen in on chat can make a huge difference in your team’s success. Nightfalls and raids are pinnacle content, designed and tuned so that communication between players is essential to success. Guides and seekers are not forced to join the same chat channel after they land in the pre-game lobby, but are strongly encouraged to do so before the fireteam leader starts the guided game. If you use in-game chat you should already all be in a chat channel together. Guides, if you’re in a PSN or Xbox party, be sure to invite your seeker to chat.

Does finishing a Guided Game version of an activity advance milestones?

Steve: Yes, even though the UI tooltip doesn’t mention the milestone, it will advance when you finish the Guided Game version of the activity.

How does a clan get punished for being a jerk?

Steve: We review all reports on clan identity information and take action on objectionable clans.  If you come across a clan with an offensive name, mission statement, or motto, file a report and we’ll take a look. If you’re at the front of the queue for Guided Games, we’ll hold your spot in line until you’re done with your report.

If a clan doesn’t lead a good Guided Game, their Oathkeeper score will go down. To get credit for a good Guided Game it must either finish successfully, last as long as the activity or Guardian Oath, or end with an agreement to disband. When you get to the front of the guided game seeker queue, make sure to check out a clans Oathkeeper score before selecting them for the activity you’re about to start.

If players are being offensive to you during a gaming session, you should report that player via the in-game and console reporting functions.

What if the Oathkeeper score is blank?

Steve: We don’t give a Clan an Oathkeeper score until they’ve run at least four Guided Games of an activity. You can skip them or choose to trust a clan who has just begun to host Guided Games.

When players match with a clan, do they have to wait again if they reject that clan? What happens after they reject a clan?

Steve: We want you to be able to select a clan you want to play with. When a seeker gets to the front of the line, we show you a clan with which you have a good internet connection. If you say no to that clan, you’ll go right back to the front of the line where you will match with a new clan soon. Find one that looks good to you before clicking “accept”.

Sometimes life happens and players need to leave before they finish. How do they leave without getting an oath breaker penalty?

Steve: When you bring up your Ghost Nav Mode menu, there is an option to vote to abandon the activity.  During a Nightfall, if all three players vote to abandon the guided game, the Guardian oath buff will fade and players are free to leave without penalty. If you want to stick together to try the activity again outside of Guided Games, be sure to get everyone into a platform party so that you can invite everyone to the new fireteam.

In the Know

Community Management is about more than telling jokes on Twitter. Responding to issues we diagnose, troubleshoot, and resolve is a team effort. The tip of that spear is Destiny Player Support.

This is their report.

Destiny 2 Update 1.0 .3: Server Maintenance and Downtime

Destiny 2 will be taken offline on Monday September 25 for server maintenance. Players will be required to download and install Destiny 2 Update 1.0.3 upon maintenance completion.6 AM PDT (2 PM UTC): Players will no longer be able to sign in to Destiny 2.7 AM PDT (3 PM UTC): All online players will be removed from Destiny12 PM PDT (10 PM UTC): Expected maintenance conclusion, Destiny 2 Update 1.0.3 available.For steps on how to install a Destiny 2 Update, please see the Installing and Updating Destiny Guide. Stay tuned to @BungieHelp for all announcements regarding upcoming server maintenance, status, and downtime.

Destiny 2 Known Issues:

The following issues have been confirmed, and are actively being investigated by appropriate teams:

Trials of the Nine was not disabled properly at this week’s ritual reset. Moving forward, players should expect this activity to be available each Friday at 10 AM PDT through Tuesday at 2 AM PDT.

The quest step “His Highness’s Seal” is not properly incrementing when players acquire Emperor Seals.

Occasionally, objects aren’t properly spawning within the Exodus Crash Nightfall strike. Players may need to relaunch the activity for objectives to properly spawn.

Public event completions are not properly granting Clan XP upon completion.

Clan Engrams are not being rewarded to some qualifying players. NOTE: If a player leaves a clan and joins a new clan mid-week, they will not be able to earn further Clan Engrams until the following weekly reset.

If a player creates a new character after an alternate character has earned a raid key on a given week, the key will be erroneously removed from character Inventory. NOTE: Raid keys are removed, by design, with each weekly ritual reset.

Eververse: Query Failed

We have recently identified and are working with our partners to address issues that are causing some players to encounter delays in receiving their purchased Silver due to “Silver Sync Pending” or “Query Failed” errors.If a Silver purchase has been made but has not yet appeared in-game, players may need to follow the below troubleshooting steps.

Fully close the Destiny game application

Clear the console cache

Relaunch Destiny

Select any character

Silver should be credited directly to your inventory.