#atb answers

[darkkpastels]

Stardust is interesting but are you worried about the number of characters? There is alot of people to follow, there are alot of people playing two sides in this story

I do.

We are only a few chapters past midway, trust me , it'll make sense as time goes on :)

If it helps, Hoshi isn't on any side. She's just lost and isn't aware that Jiisan has left. (oops.) :3

[pens-swords-stuff]

hello miss! I want to ask if you have any recent brain worms in regards to Always the Bridesmaid? the synopsis and characters are so ✨✨✨✨✨

Thank you so much! I saw the tags that you left on the reblogs today and I was so stunned since I didn't think people actually were still interested in that project. It meant a lot and I really appreciate it!

Always the Bridesmaid is technically still in the pre-drafting stage since I decided that I need a stronger foundation and a better understanding of the characters before actually attempting to start drafting, so it's mostly just been a lot of thinking and some experimental writing, just to grasp and develop voices.

Recently, I've been toying with the concept of Victoria saying "you love it" in regards to her doing something that Nathan absolutely does not love and the evolution of his response as their relationship shifts. I don't want to reveal my hand too much here so I won't discuss the actual responses, but something along the lines of the first time Victoria says "you love it", Nathan responds with a flat no. When Victoria says it again, once they're in their fake marriage, maybe it's a sarcastic response abotu how as her fiance he most certainly does (when he clearly doesn't). When they start getting a little closer, maybe the response becomes a little embarrassed or teasing. So on and so forth, until eventually the response morphs into a startled, unwitting confession of love. (And then in a full circle ending, when they're actually together and in love, obviously the response to it is the exact same as the very first response Nathan gives, the flat no or whatever it ends up being).

Or like, maybe there'll be an inversion of the dynamic there too, where Nathan mocks her by copying her and saying "you love it" and how Victoria's response also evolves from indignant to something more laid back? We'll see what happens.

I've been thinking about writing a one shot that's a series of vignettes that illustrate the evolution of this particular exchange. I don't know if it'll actually end up in the draft someday, but it'll definitely be an exercise in helping me find Nathan and Victoria's voices (and maybe some of the other characters, depending on the scenes) and smooth out their dynamic.

All official ATB content (snippets, drabbles, character intros, etc) can be found at #always the bridesmaid or @always-the-bridesmaid-wip. You can find all the ATB posts that I post on my blog that includes rambles, fun facts, shitposts and random thoughts on #atb.

There is no taglist for Always the Bridesmaid! If you are interested in being notified when there’s a post, please follow @always-the-bridesmaid-wip and turn on the notifications for that blog. (You will not receive a ton of notifications, I only reblog official ATB content there once).

It’s Sleepover Sunday: Come chat with me!

[vrnicky]

I will befriend twister if it kills me

Twister gives you the side eye JAJDJAJD

Depending on the die I throw, its how rude he is lol

1-4 fcking rude

5-6 doesn't even react aka ignores

7-9 small nod

10 stare

[2000s-angxl]

☆ Strawpage! My first gimmick =]

★ Anyways uh,, eat a nail. Dk wut type of nail u were talking abt but u didn't say if it was rusted as well >=]

[harringtonstilinski]

Loved the latest chapter! You are so talented! 💃

you have no idea how much that means to me <3 from the bottom of my heart, thank you for these kind words!!

[inthe-afterglows]

Just read your answer to the anon about ATB! So excited to read the sequel whenever you decide to return to it <3

awe thank you, I hope one day I will get there as I have written quite a bit of it already but I'm waiting until it's finished or close to finished until I post <3

[spiriiitt]

thinking atb what universities i woul apply for without knowing what my atar will be is scary lmao. I'll probably have an atar of, like. 60 something realistically. I've been looking at universities instead of studying for my mh trial exam, kinda like how when you feel fucked on a test you'll go through and count the score you'd get for the questions you HAVE answered lol but most things want a minimum atar of 70 or 80 as a guaranteed thing, even if it isn't the sole thing considered for visual/fine art degrees, and only go a little bit below that for the lowest they accepted for each year in that degree Also, I have no clue HOW to build an art portfolio.. I feel liek I should probably have more than just digital art and a sketchbook, plus like one hand drawing i did last year that took me like 30 minutes but people liked a lot bc it looks like a lot of skill I should like. Quickly start sculpting or some shit idk

[zellink]

LOVING atbs, can’t wait for the next chapter!

What inspires you as you write/gives you the fuel to keep going? Your work is so lovely, I’m very curious as to what influences you might have!

i’m so happy you’re loving bells anon, thank you so so much!! next chapter is coming soon! ♥️

okay so i have LOTS of things that help inspire me when it comes to this longfic. if you haven’t noticed already, the title “all the bells say” is taken from the poem “Dream Song 29” by John Berryman. it’s the same poem that the tv show Succession used for their season finale episodes. i listen to a lot of Succession soundtracks as i’m writing — while the two stories are vastly different, there are some similarities between them that i draw inspiration from: the act of trying to preserve a dying, crumbling empire, wrapped in pageantry/luxury, made so so messy by family drama.

i also draw inspiration from the tv show The Crown — they’re both about royal families after all! (again) the pageantry, the traditions, the connection to god/a higher power… it just hits!

i have lil bits and pieces of other inspos here and there, like the songs that i associate with bells etc etc but that’d be too long of a list LOL. i have a private discord server that’s just for outlining this story and to keep track of lore and inspo and such.

idk i’m just rambling i’m so sorry anon 😂 but i hope this answers your question somehow!

[wandringaesthetic]

Regarding the open world, the world map, and Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth

(no/minor spoilers, this is about world maps, I'm in chapter 9)

Gamers tend to call either Final Fantasies I thru IX or I thru X "classic" Final Fantasy. They mourned the turn-based or ATB based combat once it was gone after X, or they mourned the world map, gone after IX.

They also mourned pretty much every other change to the series before and after that, so they weren't necessarily right. Final Fantasy is a series defined more by crisis than identity and I personally wouldn't have it any other way. But the series *has* been even more difficult to define post about 2001, whereas before one could at least point to gameplay and structural similarities. Through the years, I've played and thought about Final Fantasy an amount that is probably actually insane, and my most honest answer to the question of "What makes a Final Fantasy a Final Fantasy?" is "checking most of the boxes on a list of about 50 things."

But anyway, the world map. The problem was, once it was gone, nothing really replaced it. Nothing made the gamer feel like they were trotting over the entire globe like that.

The world map was always a sort of placeholder, a conceit that was accepted because we don't have enough memory and budget to render an entire globe to scale. The map offers the illusion of being nonlinear, but isn't actually. You are driven in a certain direction in a certain order, dictated by what sort of transportation is available to you. Original Flavor PS1 FFVII offers a couple of detours that can be tackled whenever or not at all (Fort Condor, Wutai), but not many because it would interfere with the plot and with game balance.

Final Fantasy VII was the first Final Fantasy I played, the first JRPG I played, and also the first video game I had played in several years when I first played it. Midgar already felt huge. Stepping onto the world map was awe-inspiring. (Or... It was once I figured out what I was looking at. The polygons rendered Midgar as a huge but not to scale alien disc on a blighted landscape. It took some getting used to.) If you were already impressed, you ain't seen nothing yet. There is so much more. The world is your oyster.

I would argue that no other Final Fantasy has recreated that sense of scale. It's the time to world map (ttwm) that does it. You have trekked through several hours of city and reactor and slum before the game needs to resort to shorthand to render its world.

Final Fantasy Remake extends the Midgar section to its own full game, and Rebirth recreates that feeling of opening up onto something proportionately just as big.

But also, at this point in gaming history, in the year of our lord 2024, most of us have played an open world game. I am not an expert on these, since the only ones I've played are Horizon Zero Dawn and Forbidden West, but even I have done enough to feel Open World Fatigue. As soon as I climbed the first communication tower, I was putting my face in my hands, saying ohhhh noooo it's an open world game.

Or, well, is it? It's subdivided into regions and chapters. Some chapters aren't or mostly aren't on the world map, you spend a lot of time in towns and dungeons. You can check all of your boxes in one region and then advance the plot and move on to the next. It feels a bit more manageable and directed than a "standard" open world. But it does follow the "about eight different sets of things to find" format.

Is this good? Bad? Indifferent? Is this just what video games are now? I've enjoyed it, but I'm willing to extend this world and set of characters and even developers more time than I would most, since they probably literally redirected the course of my life and all. I cannot be an impartial judge, probably of any Final Fantasy but maybe especially of this one.

How much did the old world maps have to do, really? They were just some scenery and random encounters as you moved from point A to point B. The "sets" of things to do in the new world sometimes feel contrived, but they give the huge areas purpose and give motivation for exploration. They make the world manageable without reducing its scale. I would be intrigued to see what an original Final Fantasy did with this format.

So is this the answer to Final Fantasy's identity problem? Is the open world the new world map? I'm a little chagrined to see Final Fantasy follow the pack on this one, and to follow pretty far behind at that. But FFVII Rebirth is so often so weird and goofy and has such a bizarre number and variety of minigames that I can't say it doesn't have its own identity. And after all, FF didn't do the world map first. It was taking cues from Dragon Quest and Ultima.

I can't help comparing Rebirth to Final Fantasy XVI, a game I overall enjoyed but have some mixed feelings about. I'm just having a lot more FUN with Rebirth. I haven't read any reviews and have avoided most coverage for Rebirth, not just because I want to be free of spoilers, but because I want a pristine mind, free of strangers' opinions on it, until I've judged for myself, but one can live under only so large of a rock. I've seen the metacritic score and a thumbnail with a bunch of 10 outta 10s on it. I gather Rebirth is being reviewed a little better, as well as selling at least a little better, than XVI. (Which reviewed and sold decently. I know subtlety is hard, but do not take the wrong message from me here, quit it with your FINAL FANTASY XVI is a WRETCHED FAILURE thumbnails)

Not speaking to the quality of FFXVI for now, I'm afraid Squeenix and maybe gaming at large is going to take the wrong message from this. More remakes, play it safe, play to nostalgia. And that SUCKS, because I can't even say Remake and Rebirth are low effort, low risk cash grabs. Rebirth is constantly doing The Most. So much more than it ever had to and possibly pissing a lot of people off by the end by changing things. (I'll find out just how much after, uh, 20 to 50 more hours of gameplay)

So what is the right message? Chop your open world into manageable chunks? Maybe what people mean when they complain about linearity is that they want rewarding exploration? Is Open World just being late to the party or is that the secret ingredient that would shut up people who have been saying Final Fantasy doesn't feel like Final Fantasy anymore for years?

[darkkpastels]

Shhhh!

[vrnicky]

*gasp* New friends AND the possiblity of a future confession? Who would have guessed?

Seriously though, they were all sweet.

Ehehe yep!

You had extra points by meeting Blue and Miere firsts, Hator usually don't talk to others and well, Odiseo is as friendly as blue lol

But serious now, any moment Miere could confess to you

So be ready

[razrrgames]

tomorrow is the 7th anniversary of when i first released after the bell.

a lot has happened in the past 7 years.

i have/had an entire update planned, i wanted to rebuild the game from the ground up, especially since porting it to the steam version of 2003 fucked up the fade transitions.

but i never did.

i’ve tried starting many times, and failed every time.

i don’t think i’ve talked about it here, but im very open about this: i have ADHD and autism. the ADHD is what applies the most here.

the ADHD prevents me from doing what i want, and the RSD makes me overcomplicate things.

back when i made ATB, i was in a hyper focus state on RPGMaker. i had four ongoing projects at once: after i finished the first version of ATB, i was drafting the update, file:blue was added during a horror game jam, riitami, and one other project i literally cannot even remember the name of off the top of my head. i focused hard on these projects, mainly riitami, and then the novelty wore off. this is one of the worst parts of my ADHD. i get really into doing something for a short burst and then i get bored and can’t force myself to do it anymore.

i felt horrible for so long. why can’t i just DO things like everyone else? i need to remake ATB, i need to fix it, i need to take out the stair scene because it was in poor taste, i need to expand on the lore so i stop seeing people asking why ghosts can’t just go through the wall, i need to expand on these characters, etc etc etc. and i just couldn’t do it. i forced myself to come up with a logistical reason for not passing through walls, i rewrote and scrapped and rewrote and scrapped over and over again.

don’t get me wrong. i still do want to update after the bell. i want to remake it. i want to make it better. better maps, better art, better jokes, better characters, etc. but i can’t give you an estimate on when that will happen.

as for the lore of the game,,, i don’t want to put any more thought into it.

i didn’t go into that project with a real plot or world in mind. i just drew a little ghost girl and decided i wanted to make a game about her. then i made her a girlfriend and some classmates. i thought of a very simple fetch quest: getting her name. that’s all it was. nothing more, nothing less.

that said, i have new answers to things.

why can’t she go through walls?

who cares? i’m not gonna make transition events on every wall tile just to satisfy some people who can’t put their suspension of disbelief on hold for a silly ten minute game.

why are all these girls dead?

i don’t know. i just thought one character would be too lonely, so i added some more. i thought more ghosts would be better than filling the space with living characters and then dealing with whatever allows them to communicate.

and there was one person that once said in a comment that it was weird that protag’s parents had the same last name. that has always been a strange thought to me. they’re married? one took the other’s last name?

i don’t really know what i’m rambling about at this point.

in the past seven years (in no particular order), i have moved out, got my drivers license, lost my job, got another job, was ghosted out of that job, gotten a new job that destroyed my soul, fell into a deep depression at the start of the lockdown, went back to the soul crushing job once it resumed, fell out with my roommate, moved back in with my parents, quit my old job and got another job that i now love, adopted a hamster, had her until she passed away earlier this year from health complications, made friends, lost friends, started and ended therapy, got a psychiatrist, got on anxiety medication, started (trying) ADHD meds, started dating my girlfriend, saw her in person twice, was briefly hospitalized to get my first surgery (gall bladder removal), had ANOTHER surgery (septoplasty + removing polyps), went to new york to meet old friends twice, went thru multiple medications trying to find something to help me sleep at night, came out to my mother as a lesbian (she still does not know my gender identity), met some of the people who would become some of the most important people in my life, cried over dnd (positive), started writing stories again, tabled at a lot of conventions…

it’s been a long and wild road. and in those seven years, i have thought about the ATB cast. i know the game got a little traction when it was first released, and i’m a little shocked that it seems to get a lot more attention in spanish speaking communities! that’s a lil crazy to me! not in a bad way of course. i think that’s really cool. sharing our creations and experiences across different language communities is one of the coolest things in the world.

i’ve seen praise and criticism that have helped me think about my work as an artist, and some that have hindered me a bit. nevertheless, i’ve grown a lot since then. at least i hope so.

im rambling about a lot of things. sorry. my train of thought is more like a spaghetti junction, lol

at the end of the day, these silly little ghost girls were my first real journey into RPGmaker. i’d loved playing games for a long time and had made one shoddy little thing before, but ATB was my first real release. i’ve thought about these girls a lot. i don’t think too hard about their world, the lore doesn’t really matter to me; it was just a silly little game i made with no real forethought.

one day i will deliver that remake to you. i don’t know when. i love these characters, simple as they are, and i want to do right by them. im even thinking of asking for help, as i clearly have a lot of trouble moving forward; help with setting up maps and transitions is the most important thing, as i’m not very good at layouts or mapping, but i can handle all the artwork and writing dialogue myself. i also want to commission someone for custom music, as the original music used in the game was generated via online programs because i am also, shockingly (/sarcasm), terrible at music composition. or more like i have no experience with it. i’m tone deaf as all hell.

that is not financially viable for me right now, unfortunately (i owe my parents like $800 for insurance + some assistance from when bebbie passed away) and i do not want to just. not pay people for their work. as an artist i understand the value of the work that goes into these things, and i’m not about to run around asking for free help with a silly little ghost game. i want to be able to pay my help appropriately for their time and effort. that said, if you’d be interested in helping out when that time comes (paid of course, i can’t tell you when that’ll be bc as much as i love my job i don’t make a lot of money) please let me know.

i should bring this rambling to a close.

thank you for seven years of silly ghost girls. it’s been a long time, but i hope that these girls pop into your thoughts from time to time to say hello, as they do for me. i want to do them better, even if they are just a couple of silly middle school lesbian ghosts.

thank you for your patience and support. i’m sorry i haven’t lived up to be the person or developer that i wanted to be. i’m sorry i failed to bring you something to play so many times and for so long. i hope you can forgive me.

thank you, thank you, thank you.

[harringtonstilinski]

Yeah... Steve dropping Jonathan's camera... dick move

major dick move, lol

chapter three: holly, jolly

[bigfatplanet]

youre gay

(i want a partner/girlfriend/boyfriend 😭😨🤬‼️)

atb is your answer

[julia-bunncat]

I!! noticed!! in the 1ST post bout 𝖆𝖒𝖆𝖘𝖍𝖎𝖓𝖘𝖆𝖎 𝖒𝖔𝖓𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖇𝖔𝖎𝖘 𝖑𝖔𝖛𝖊 𝖆𝖚 (iykwm), it was written saihara can turn into nobusuma (bat squirrel or wtf), !BT! in the last heby biology entry mentions his "VERY attractive tail pattern" (wonder how it looks HMmM)... guess idea's changed?? can u write bout it?? pwwease do! ▼⁠・⁠ᴥ⁠・⁠▼ atb ly

Oh, hi dear Anon!! I hope I'm not answering too late – it was so unexpected to get the question, eheheh :> So, yeah, first of all, my heartfull thanks for it! 🤗 I'm insanely glad someone is genuinely interested in my AU and trying to get to the bottom of things!

And in general, you are absolutely right in your assumptions! Since the plot of yokai!AU [but I like your alternative title too – keep calling it like that xD] has been gradually modernised, it turns out that it now has several branches. In the first version, after his death, Shuichi turns to Nobusuma... And in the currently more entrenched version – to Hebi. This "uncertainty" is due to the fact that the yokai!AU storyline could have been used in the visual novel… But the second reason is Korekiyo's actions and a stronger bond with him, as Shinsai turns out to be more gentle than Amasai here :'D

I hope I've answered your question ^^ buuut if you need any further clarification, I'll be sure to add it! Same goes for the pattern on Shuichi's tail, if my artist-friend can draw it ~

Thank you so much again for asking!!! uwu It made my day, so may yours be marvellous too! 💞

[thesinglesjukebox]

PEGGY GOU - "(IT GOES LIKE) NANANA"

It's summer somewhere, and it's also 9PM somewhere.

[7.05]

Kat Stevens: Peggy's continued shameless tactic to lure me in with random snippets from Ibiza Anthems vol 1-4 mixed by Alex P & Brandon Block is absolutely working. [8]

Oliver Maier: Absolute head-empty stuff. Pretty 90s inasmuch as it sounds like "I Like To Move It" for a corporate boat afterparty. In, like, Dubai. [6]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: The kind of big dumb pop hit that feels all the sweeter after a half-decade of sophisticated, fashionable house music from Peggy Gou. Somehow, I feel like this is her true form -- a hook-focused trickster spirit hitting all the dopamine release points as quickly as possible. Everything else -- all the long-form odyssey-like qualities of her earlier work, all the couture and style and glamor -- fades away. In pop music -- and "Nanana" is excellent pop music -- all that is secondary to the sheer sugar-rush joy on display here. [9]

Crystal Leww: Peggy Gou has made something like five songs in like five years, and yet somehow her status in dance music is now enormous -- she regularly sells out massive crowds in at least three continents despite incredible price tags (her last NYC show was on a Wednesday and tickets were one hundred and forty eight American dollars each). Yet, if you've ever seen a video of Peggy Gou DJing, it's all cameras up, with no one seemingly doing any actual dancing except maybe Peggy herself. Her whole schtick is like the culmination of the blurring of lines between DJ and influencer -- it's seemingly just as important to be seen at a Peggy Gou show as it is to actually enjoy a Peggy Gou show. All this being said, all five or so of Peggy's songs sound so incredibly warm and timeless despite the fact that they are perfectly engineered to trend chase after all. "(It Goes Like) Nanana" hops on the trance and eurodance revival that's been percolating the last two years, with an unmissable ATB sample and yet unlike what it's ripping -- corny, goofy, silly -- it's engineered to be so cool, conjuring images of exclusive parties on yachts and perfect bob haircuts that cost $1,000 a pop. "It Goes Like (Nanana)" works because it gives anyone a chance to feel like they could be a part of that exclusivity - it's a song meant to played in rooms with wood paneling and on expensive soundsystems while twirling around in circles with your best friends. [7]

Nortey Dowuona: She used to be good, what the freak happened? Are we all so desperate to run back to 1985 just cause Studio Ghibli was founded that year? They're not shuttered yet! [5]

Wayne Weizhen Zhang: Peggy Gou never changes, nor does she need to. [7]

Ian Mathers: She just doesn't miss! What's that? Lenny Kravitz? No idea what you're talking about. [8]

Scott Mildenhall: Finally, a song worthy of a one-hour YouTube loop. Peggy Gou's work doesn't feel formulaic so much as geometric -- "Nanana" has the colour and kinetics of a game of Breakout, pinballing predictably, but forever satisfyingly. [8]

Katherine St Asaph: Bliss is the absence of thought. [7]

Alfred Soto: In Peggy Gou's eternal 1998 and 1987, plinkety-plonkety pop house is the lingua franca. I'll admit to confusing "(It Goes Like) Nanana" and Kylie Minogue's "Padam Padam." Who wouldn't? [6]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: nah nah nah [4]

Claire Biddles: The Peggy Gou: The Complete Singles compilation that comes out in 2034 is going to be the greatest dance pop album of all time. [8]

Edward Okulicz: I didn't have "Peggy Gou gets an actual hit single" on my 2023 bingo card, but if you'd told me that it was going to happen last year with a song that steals as much from K-Klass as it does from ATB, I wouldn't have batted an eyelid. The whole song's as slick as the little "9PM" guitar line and if it's too soft to be a real floor filler, that seems like a decision rather than a flaw. [8]

Aaron Bergstrom: Answering the question, "How do you get from 'I Go' to 'featuring Lenny Kravitz" in one step?" [6]

David Moore: I love the small touches in this, especially the chintzy pitch-bend synth guitar, even though this song's massive success after "I Go" kind of feels like when a major director finally gets an Oscar for a merely competent movie after getting snubbed for their masterpiece. I'll take it, though. [7]

Peter Ryan: In the right light a bit of a supercut of Annie's Endless Vacation tracks. I can't complain; Gou's track swells in sync with the lyric's devolution into a heady non-verbal state. She gets it -- don't think, just move. [9]

Brad Shoup: Now this is a Eurodance text: verb choices just a couple degrees away from expected, similar clauses chained together, a big arrow pointing at the universal hook. If ATB could clone his hit i don't see why Gou can't. I dunno if this is a one-off trance dalliance but if not: try "The Lonely One" next. [7]

Taylor Alatorre: A dance song which performs its intended function ably and effectively, and which is committed to becoming a throwback club hit even as it is afraid to commit to representing anything beyond that. Those little bent synth phrases after the chorus sound cool. [6]

Will Adams: A panoply of musical choices designed to hit every pleasure point in my brain -- mindless, wordless hook; house piano chords; organ bass; synthetic guitar straight from an ATB classic -- that its slightness doesn't really matter. [7]

Vikram Joseph: This deserves to be heard under a high sun by a glittering sea so much that, listening to it for the first time right now, I almost want to hold myself back from it so that I can save it for the summer of '24. But to do so would be futile, because there's nothing delayed about the gratification that "(It Goes Like) Nanana" provides. It's so deeply kinetic, decorated with lashings of house piano, sweet pulses of synth and a fleeting quarter-century echo of the motif from "9 PM (Till I Come)"; it might have a big, dumb club-goading chorus but it's also smart enough to under-stay its welcome. Best just to give yourself entirely to it -- I mean, it's summer somewhere. [8]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox ]