#because you get them on your second run no matter what difficulty you're on

[dragon-in-spirit]

Well, after bouncing off it hard during the first third of the game a couple times, I finally beat Tales of Zestiria. Not my favorite in the series by any means, but despite the lack of depth to the storytelling and characters, and the weirdly stilted and archaic-but-not dialogue style of half the cast, I actually enjoyed it. The equipment skill system is interesting in theory but terrible in implementation, but once I got the hang of it it wasn't too awful. Gonna run through the bonus dungeon and then finish setting up for a new game+, then see how I feel about a second playthrough or if I'll switch to a different game.

[funnier-as-a-system]

Hey, um... This ain't exactly.. An easy thing to say but, uh..

.._I SCARED OFF MY HEADMATES._

I JUST REFERRED TO THEM AS "THE VOICES" BECAUSE. WELL. I DIDN'T KNOW SHIT ABOUT THIS STUFF THEN!! AND ALWAYS DISREGARDED THEM WHENEVER THEY SPOKE [THEY ARGUES A WHOLE LOT. LITERALLY COULDN'T DO ANY WORK FROM THE SOUNDS OF 0NI, D AND COMPLEXITY ARGUING ALL THE TIME-]

Ok.. Calm calm.....

So. I never ever listened to them and sometimes also arguing with them tried my best to ignore them.. Yelling "SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP" repeatedly usually got them to... Well, _shut up._

But just. We had another argument together. After _STARSCREAM_[don't even ask me how she got in here I don't fucking know] decided to act all mighty and shit another yelling match started that I just.. Couldn't take it anymore.. I had some.. Uhm, "quite the words" to say the least. They silenced for the day after that..

And then the next morning they just.. Weren't there when I woke up. At first I was, well, glad! It was finally quite for once! I could do things that normal people did! But uh.. After the second day it was far too quiet for my liking.. And.. It's been a month now. It's still too quiet.. Starscream[why HIM instead of others I have no idea] came back for 20 minutes a week ago.. I was glad to have at least SOMEONE back but she went away again..

I learned about this whole "system" stuff thanks to a follower saying "oh this is such a funny post as a system!" on a reblog I've done. --Which led me here. I've been... _Learning_ the past few days.. And. Well. Things really do fit me well and.. I'm not sure if I hate that or not...

I.. The reason for this _ask_ is because.. I wanted to know if others had this.. Well, "_experience_" too? Like.. I.. I miss them, alright? It suddenly went from 7 to 1 in here and it's far too quiete!!! I just.. I wanted to know if there was possibly a way to bring them back..?

I understand if this isn't the way to go for this typa stuff but... I.. I really don't know _where else_ there is.

Welp. Thanks for.. Having this account and all I suppose. Were a real help in things and, the posts are quite funny as well..! [Sigh..]

- @blog-bites-eats-u-violently

Hey, there. It sounds like you've been having a rough time lately. You have my sympathies for that. I won't give too much advice on this situation you're in – I don't feel equipped to do that – but you're not alone in this experience, anon. We went through a very similar situation a few years back, actually.

At the time, we'd just recently made our then-host (as in, the headmate who was our host at the time) aware that they had others in their head, that they were part of a system. We had... a rough few months after that, filled with fear and doubt. And at one point, our then-host became overwhelmed, and ended up driving away the headmates who were talking to them.

The silence lasted for about two days before another headmate of ours stepped up to talk to our then-host, helping them work through their issues and reconnect with those they'd run off. From what they can remember of the event, it was mostly a matter of mentally "reaching out" – consciously trying to connect to the ones they'd driven off so they could apologize. None of us are sure how it worked – best we've got is that we've always visualized our communication difficulties as walls that we have to get our internal communication/messages past – but it did, and we're all chill now on that front.

So, yes, others have had this experience before, and your headmates will likely come back to talk to you again. I can't promise anything, but if my-our story is anything to go off of, even situations like this can be recoverable. It just may take a while for all the hurt to be worked out.

[thevoicefromanotherworld]

"YOU'RE THE BEST OF THEM ALL"

This story is related to the post I made where I said that I wanted to sit on his lap and call me a good roman citizen.

I hope you like it! 😉😌👍🤍

Caesar watched you as you moved through the plants in the garden.

Your chocolate-colored hair spilled over your sleeveless dress.

The way the thin fabric wrapped around you was something that made him unable to look away from you, as if you were a delicate little bird locked in a glass cage, afraid of pecking too hard and being dragged out into the outside world.

Without thinking twice, he slowly approached you. He placed a soft kiss on your shoulder, making you smile. It had not been long since you had both declared your love before the people of Rome by announcing your marriage.

Games were held in honor of such an event, where both gladiators and animals gave their lives for your enjoyment.

Commodus' lips were now on your neck, specifically in the area where your pulse was beating. You tilted your head to give him better access. You felt his smile against your skin. A shiver ran through you from head to toe as he approached your ear.

-My lady -he whispered making you rest your head on his shoulder, you felt the intricate design of his armor against your back- you look beautiful tonight -he murmured lightly biting your earlobe- this dress… -he thought out loud- is new -he said running his fingers along the skin of your arms-

-It is -you affirmed, your skin getting goosebumps wherever his fingers passed- Do you like it?

A hoarse laugh came from the back of his throat.

-I love it -he answered whispering in your ear again- it's a shame I have to take it off you, don't you think?

He gathered the fabric in his hands taking the dress with him. It fell to the floor, beneath his feet.

Commodus' gaze fixed on your back, on how your figure fit so well against his, as if the gods had made you for him. He slowly turned you around, his gaze first resting on your eyes darkened by desire, before scanning you from top to bottom.

His mouth curved into a smile, before he removed the golden laurel crown he wore on his head and placed it on yours.

“Perfect,” he murmured without taking his gaze off you, “my goddess.”

He reached out his hand to you. You took it and he gently pulled you to sit on his lap, with your legs on either side of his hips.

“Look at you, so perfect,” he whispered, tracing the profile of your face with his index finger, “so beautiful… and so… mine,” he finished, causing a gasp to escape from between your lips. “What have I done to deserve someone like you?”

“You haven’t done anything, darling,” you replied, outlining a gentle smile, “it’s just been you,” you whispered, placing your palm against his cheek, “and that’s enough.”

Your gazes locked for a few more seconds before he moved forward to kiss you. His hands anchored themselves on your back as your kisses became more and more needy. His lips nibbled on yours, desperate for contact, as he took off his armor with difficulty, leaving only the cape draped over his shoulders.

Your gaze dropped to the center of his desire, but he placed two fingers under your chin to get you to look up at his face.

-My eyes are up here, precious – he whispered, to which you pressed your lips together in feigned regret.

-Do you know how many citizens there are in Rome? – he asked as he slowly lowered his hand to the spot between your legs, robbing you of the ability to think and breathe normally.

He knew what was affecting you, so he decided to tease you, he loved doing it.

-What's wrong, honey? Has the cat eaten your tongue?

-No –you sighed in response to his question- I don't know how many citizens Rome has

-The truth is that I don't either –he laughed, separating your thighs- I don't know the exact number, but I'll tell you this –he approached your ear again- it doesn't matter how many he has, because you are the best of them all

He raised his hips, sinking deep inside you with one thrust. A scream escaped from between your lips when you felt him fill you so suddenly. Your nails dug into his back, making him let out a hiss halfway between pain and pleasure.

He began to move against you, matching his movements to yours. You grabbed onto his shoulders, making rhythmic movements back and forth. A new scream threatened to escape your lips when he brushed against your most sensitive area. You covered your mouth to silence him, but he gently removed your hand.

-Don't do it - he breathed, looking at you intensely, his blue eyes shining brightly - I want everyone to know who you belong to.

Within a few seconds, you both came with each other's name on your lips.

Without realizing it, you fell asleep on the couch.

The next day Como had an important meeting at the Senate that he couldn't miss. He knew it, and yet he didn't care.

He was the emperor and he could do whatever he wanted.

And what he wanted was to spend the whole day in bed with you, so that was exactly what he did.

[sol-consort]

Not over how Javik can read your emotions by a simple touch. How useful would it be if you're someone who didn't express themselves often? Maybe you don't even understand your own emotions half the time or recognition them, yet Javik can easily tell each wave going through you apart from its sisters.

Your tearless sadness, your joy with a lack of smiles, your unbotheted but secretly bothered expression. Any difficulty you might face when it comes to both traverse the bottomless oceans of your emotions, but also attempt to make something comprehensible out of them for others around you whilst battling the waves not to drown.

Because something we all come to terms with is accepting disappointment in love, that our loved ones simply can't read our mind, they can't know what we're feeling or thinking if we don't activity communicate it.

So we lower our standards, accept that mishaps and miscommunication will happen, become content with the imperfections of love.

Each one of us must have realised it at some point, that no matter how much you explained yourself to someone you care about, at times, they simply will not get it. It's one of the things in life you learn to get used to, a part of human nature to grow into.

Javik completely defies that law. He breaks out of the mould. Not only can he read your brain, but your emotions too! He senses your body, your flesh, your blood running through your veins and your heart beating so quietly in the middle of the chaos of chemistry and cell division happening around it. Holding so many secrets inside, so many untold things you simply can't choke out, so many unfulfilled dreams and desires.

Not only does he see them, but he feels them as well. For once, someone is truly understanding you, understanding how it feels, how intense it can get. No one but yourself in this life can share your own experience. No matter how hard anyone tries, it's simply impossible to fully understand someone else.

Yet he does it. With a simple touch at that, too. He feels your soul, connects to it for a second in time, and views the real you, vulnerable and bare from all masks you put around your loved ones, not to make them worry.

He is you for a second as he processes each single overwhelming emotion you've felt for so many years.

No wonder he constantly wants to touch people. It explains why he's the way he is, why his words are harsh, why his face is expressionless. He never had to fake it, he never had to communicate his feelings through all these unreliable ways. Protheons could simply press a finger against one another and get to peak inside each other's hearts.

Our clumsy ways just pale in comparison, we are primitive indeed.

How can we even compete with that? It takes a lot of effort to have the beginning of a beginning for a crack code to someone else's emotions, and they can achieve it in literal seconds. Something that would've taken us years of close bonds, time, and great attention to come close to.

He probably feels it too, the guilt and shame hiding in your bones from not being enough for his needs. How lonely he must be, constantly misunderstood by those around him who are stubborn in their old ways.

Is that why he doesn't like machines? can he not read them like organics, so he assumes they don't have a soul? Is he scared that his so called perfected method of communication, might also be just as flawed as the rest of ours?

Javik wouldn't acknowledge your fears with more than a single phrase about you not needing to concern yourself if you're not enough, he chose you so don't question his decision.

But oh you'll never know what goes in inside him, you will never feel the erupting affection at the fact you loved him so much you felt guilty for not being able to give him back what he has given you. You won't even be able to suspect how much his heart is fluttering in response for your worries about him, for your great care for him.

It's as equally sad as it is endearing, stuck in a cage of his own making for being simply too evolved.

Imagine if you went back in time to an era before humans learned to talk with words, and you had to adapt to everyone else's ways of using vague gestures and occasional grunts. Primitive, too much room for error, could not come close to how much talking expresses your feelings and thoughts with such precision.

That's what it must be like for him. But at least you're there, and he can tell your heart is true, your love is pure. And that makes it, just a little bit less lonely.

His world is a little bit less dim with you around, the only caveman who's paid attention to the words he's been using.

[monettsuki]

La Signora headcannons

Mainly fluff and a bit of angst if you squint proceed

GN reader

Also if anyone wanna request I'll take those

Song reccomendation because it fits her Pierrot Play - No.D

Rosalyne is a person of elegance and a sophisticated flair - which is why she would heavily indulge into buying dresses or suits depending on her lover's taste and have them dressed in the finest clothes of Teyvat - all she asks in return is undying love and loyalty to her

After Rostams death I don't think she would've ever thought of ever getting a relationship again - worse after she became the Crimson witch - under her confident facade there is a part of her that questions how could anyone find something that they could like - even love - in her . So sometimes she might get clingy without any explanation because she thinks you're going to realize how awful she actually is (or rather how she actually sees herself) and ultimately decide to leave her

Usually if she's clingy she will come to hug you from behind - she usually has her hands really cold due to her crimson witch powers being greatly dimished - so if you feel cold hands resting on your stomach and a head on your shoulder you will know who it is - she will probably use this tactic to make you jump a bit if the two of you are in Shezhnaya and the bonfire is making the room hot enough

She likes to do things for you but you doing things for her? Absolutely not - though is that a blush when you want to do something heartfelt for her? - she'll cherish anything you do for her no matter whatever it is and she will pay you back tenfold (saying no will not do it this woman is STUBBORN)

If the two of you are cuddling she will be hugging you at all times - is like a cat - you can't escape her grip no matter what and archons forbid you move to get some water in the middle of the night - in the next 3 seconds she's behind you, cold arms slithering around you and a sleepy Rosalyne telling you to come back to bed and if you refuse she's dragging you herself

Whenever she's exhausted she will want to put her head in your lap to sleep -especially if you have squishy thighs she will adore to just use them as a pillow and you running your fingers through her hair while she falls asleep (you will be stuck there until she wakes up)

She will definitely want to have fatuis guarding you if you are a civilian but if you can defend yourself she will be worried of you dying in a mission or while fighting (Rostam trauma) so whenever the two of you are on separate missions she will want to keep in touch with you

She would want to keep your relationship secret for a very long time due to the fact that she wouldn't really want people to know about it - mostly due to her fear of you being targeted and killed in some way - she is after all a Harbringer and a lot of people would give their soul to the devil himself to have one to maneuver like a puppet so she definitely takes that into consideration (especially if you can't fight or have any difficulty with doing so)

If the two of you are alone she will definitely want to just kiss you all over your face just so she can see the lipstick marks on your face and she will just smile while smothering your face with kisses (also as a thank you for loving her and anything you do for her)

She really loves to read books in her free time and if you want she will even read to you especially if the speed at which the two of you read is different - maybe you'll even fall asleep listening to her voice and she definitely likes to hum whenever she's trying to fall asleep so you also have that

She will do your makeup if you ask her nicely - she won't mind it at all but actually absolutely adore doing so - the two of you just spending time together in silence is something that she will love to do and cherish as her schedule is mainly filled with work (will bring you gifts from her far away trips even if the main goal there was a gnosis rather than slacking off)

Perfume and jewellery are definitely her things so if you ever have any problems with that just come to her and she will help you find the best accesory for your outfit or perfume for a change of pace (if you have a favourite perfume she will even associate that one with you after a while and it will mostly turn into ''its you'' whenever she feels the smell of it - its like a memento you're actually there with her)

Anyway goodbye for now ❤❤

[9800sblog]

Hi Jes! I've just been catching up on your blog and really enjoy it. Not sure if this is something you'd be willing to do but if so could we get a reading on what Lewis Hamilton is like as a boyfriend/in a relationship? thank you <3 <3

lewis hamilton tarot reading

as a boyfriend

do I have his energy permission to do and share this reading? 10 of cups, 6 of wands

5 of pentacles - "us against the world" vibes, no matter what's happening, as long as you're together he is ok and he'll make sure his person is happy too. he makes time for his partner no matter how busy his life is, he'd rater miss out on important events and opportunities than miss out on quality time with his partner. can make anything/anywhere feel special. may not show off his partners, may prefer to keep it more low-key - prefers romantic getaways than a date in a famous restaurant, for example.

6 of cups - he's like a kid and he makes them feel young too, specially by being very silly and jokey. gifts is an obvious love language of most wealthy men, but he gives little thoughtful ones, like the person's favorite flowers or something they loved as a kid, an experience, something they mentioned once and forgot about. would plant an entire garden if they said they liked flowers. would give up on his job and run away to the mountains if the person asked. exchange of funny anecdotes and childhood stories, may imitate romances, definitely corny and nerdy.

4 of pentacles reversed - "what's mine is yours" "my world is your world and your world is my world". again, would give up EVERYTHING if the person asked, doesn't care about spending if it's with the right person. may not be very into physical touch or uses material things to suppress the lack of his physical presence since he's a busy man. may have difficulty putting a ring on it tho, although he definitely dates with that in mind.

king of cups reversed - specially clingy and emotional with his person, may cry a lot and be very very corny, always asking for reassurance. feels very intensely, wants to be their husband the second they get together, definitely daydreams about them often and gets distracted at work by it. a very ken type of guy, only has a good day if barbie is in it. struggles to show his emotions because they are very deep, may act cold and shallow if they're not close enough yet. tests the waters a lot, very hesitant.

ace of cups - wants to marry immediately, wants to make them feel like they've never felt before. thinks everything is a new beginning, romanticizes a lot, may wear rose colored glasses. very sexually inclined, very intense and emotional sex. looks for a soulmate type of feeling, someone to bring him a new sense of life and purpose. he may hold back a lot and then act impulsively.

[ageless-aislynn]

Things I learned in trying to get as many Halo Master Chief Collection par score achievements as I could:

Focus on setting the difficulty as high as you can to be able to finish the level as close to the par time as possible. The higher the level, the more points the enemies are worth but that won't mean much if you go over the par time by enough that your score counts down to practically nothing.

Many par scores can be gotten on Normal if you put on as many skulls as you can handle to still get close to the par time.

Often it can be better to move the difficulty up to Heroic or Legendary with no or very few skulls on, rather than trying to get through on Normal with a bunch of them. You'll usually have to just try it out all ways and see what works best for you.

Sometimes you can get a boost from "bad" skulls with very little in the way of the bad: if it's a level with no vehicles and you won't be trying to use a turret or other sort of stationary weapon, put on "Jacked" when available. It means you can't enter a vehicle (or get on a stationary weapon) without hijacking it but if you're not doing either, it's a free point booster. "Famine" makes any weapon you get from an AI have less ammo but if you're mainly using guns you get from crates, they'll still have full ammo. Or if you're using a lot of plasma pistols, you can usually refresh those often because Grunts and Jackals all tend to carry them. "Catch" will get you grenade bombed within an inch of your life... unless you're mainly fighting the Flood. They don't throw grenades so you can put "Catch" on without worry (if there are also Covenant on that level, you can still sometimes get by with it if you're just careful and are ready to dodge out of the way when you hear that distinctive "CATCH!" and know somebody's lobbing one at you). If you see an enemy throwing a grenade at you, a lot of times the best move is to run right at them. The grenade will have a better shot of going over your head than if you try to back up (and will usually get stuck directly). If you can take cover to the left or right, though, do that instead.

Any level where you'll be in a vehicle is easier to get more points, especially if you're in a Scorpion tank. If you have the opportunity to shoot down a Phantom, ("Kizingo Blvd" on Halo 3: ODST has several you can take down) that's a jackpot when it comes to scoring. Always try to do it.

Figure out which parts of the long missions you want to fight (to get points) and which you want to run through (to save time). You can use the same grenade jump in the hanger on Halo: Combat Evolved's "Truth and Reconciliation" later on in "Keyes" to bypass some of the enemies and get to the end faster, for example. If you're going to use grenade jumps, make sure to turn on the "Feather" or "Sputnik" skull, whichever is available but I don't advise "Boom." If you're in tight corridors, Boom will get you killed a LOT. It's not necessary in order to do grenade jumps so I don't recommend it unless you're on a level where you're outside a lot and are hoping to get big points by killing a group of enemies at once.

Level specific par score advice:

Halo 3: "Sierra-117" was one I couldn't get through on Heroic but couldn't get enough points on Normal until I read one simple trick that worked the first time I tried it: play on Normal with as many skulls as possible, go as fast as possible to get to the final section as close to the par time as you can. When the friendly gunship comes in, start shooting at the nearest Phantom before the gunship does. It literally doesn't matter what weapon, as long as you're hitting the Phantom at the same time as the gunship, you'll get the points for the Phantom kill. Do that with the second one as well (save a ranged weapon like a carbine for that one since it's farther away) and that should boost you over the par score.

Also for "Sierra-117": I kept getting murdered by the Hammer Chieftain until I discovered two easier ways to deal with him. Either have the sniper with you and take him out from a distance at the start but the bad part of that is that you'll alert all of the enemies, including the Jackal snipers, to your location right away. However, getting rid of the Chieftain might be worth it for the loss of stealth. Or secondly, don't jump down once the cutscene ends (where you see Johnson being detained), go all the way to the right and you can avoid being seen. You'll come out at the bottom where there are 3 Grunts sleeping (if no one noticed you; if they're awake, you've been spotted but you can still make a run for the lower entrance and avoid most of those enemies). Then go under the walkway, careful not to get swept away by the water or get sniped by a Jackal (depending on your difficulty level). A lot of times, the Chieftain will spot you and start heading for where you'll eventually come out. Watch out for him but either way, bait him into following you back into that tunnel. Be sure to first kill any Grunts who'll be shooting at you from where you came in and also don't stand right in the doorway or the Chieftain can kill you just by swinging the hammer at the wall. Back away and let him follow you. He'll be doing his dodge/weaving back and forth move but he can't swing the hammer in this narrow area. Take advantage of that by continually shooting his helmet. It will eventually pop off, then you can headshot him and then yay, you no longer have to avoid him on the rest of this level AND you have a bonus hammer you can take with you! Start swinging that big mallet, Spartan! 😂😉

Check your career stats to see which level you're the closest on getting the par score. All of them will have [so much]/[whatever par score is] and work on those first. It helps with motivation to be able to check some of them off the list. The levels where your stats are the worst are probably ones you run-and-gun so you'll need to learn where the best chances are to get the points.

My main advice:

No matter what you're trying to do, know you're probably going to need to practice it a few times before you succeed. Don't get discouraged if you don't just get it immediately. I kept telling myself that I was practicing to see which strat worked best for me, that way it didn't feel like EPIC FAIL when it didn't work. I'd just tell myself that I needed to try a different strat next time. 😉

Take advice from those who've come before us. Watch tutorials on Youtube but not just for whatever you're trying to do on that mission. While I watched tutorials on how to get par scores, I also watched for the same mission to see how to speedrun the level, how to beat it on LASO, etc. A lot of times they'll have a different strategy and it would work really well to help me with the par score. HaloCompletionist is an excellent source for guides for about any Halo achievement you can imagine. Nak3d Eli is no longer active but left all of his speedrunning vids up and they're all definitely worth a watch as well. Watch tutorials on how to do tricks and glitches, watch zero shot runs, etc. All of them will help you to figure out not only what CAN be done on a level, but to discover what YOU'RE able to do.

Also, don't forget to do a general search for text guides. That's where I learned about shooting the Phantoms for big points on "Sierra-117."

LASTLY

Remember this is for fun. If you start getting raegy, find yourself getting legitimately angry, frustrated or annoyed, walk away. Go play something else. Don't let trying for an achievement or learning a trick or whatever make you start to dislike playing the game. Also, take breaks, stretch, roll your shoulders, eat and rest.

It's okay to try for something, then decide ultimately to walk away from it. Halo: Reach is my best game so I thought I could get the achievement for beating it on Legendary in under 3 hours. I discovered that I can play Legendary or I can play fast but not often both at the same time. I worked on and off for a long while on that one and reached a point where I realized I was no longer enjoying playing this game that I love. So I let that one go. I'd rather go back to loving the game than feeling frustrated every time I thought about it. 😉

Anyway, don't know if this will actually help anybody but I wanted to write it down while it was all still sorta fresh in my leaky brain. 😱😉

Whatever you're working on, whatever you're playing, I hope you're having a great time! Love you, friends! 🤗💖

[pepirfecin]

A rant about Shadow’s trauma

I am sick of hearing about Maria. Okay okay, bold statement and I'm being dramatic for the sake of being dramatic, but let me explain.

 No matter how you portray Shadow, Maria will most likely be mentioned, since it’s an important part of his character, motivations etc. I think we should pay more attention to the circumstances of his grief though; the real tragedy isn’t the loss itself, it runs deeper than that (I'm not saying anything new here). Let me break it down, the way I see it.

1.) Identity loss: When someone close to you dies a part of yourself dies with them. With your parents’ death you cease to be someone’s child forever. In Shadows case it’s even more extreme: not only did he loose Maria, he also lost his purpose by failing to do the one thing he was made to do. Imagine, your entire life stripped away from you in a matter of seconds, leaving you with absolutely no point to even exist. With his now non-existent purpose and identity as a whole he became a blank slate for someone else's revenge, a vessel powered by sorrow. Most likely only Maria saw her as a person on the ARK, so what is he with that one singular column gone? A weapon, a tool of destruction, the Ultimate Lifeforms made to destroy the planet. 

2.) Closure: When your abuser(s) die it’s a strange feeling. The person/people who made you miserable are finally gone, but what’s left is just emptiness. They made you the way you are, and now they’re gone, but you're still the same. He didn’t get revenge on any of those people. The fantasy of standing up against them verbally or physically (taking out years of abuse is now unreachable. So is the fantasy of it ever getting better. Now you can’t hope that someday they’ll do better. They now never will. Shadow’s left without any kind of closure in relation to his trauma he received on the ARK.

3.) Time to process: Presumably he was around 15-17 like the rest of the Sonic cast at the time of the incident. Almost immediately after seeing the most important person in his life die, he was put into stasis for 50 years. In both SA2 and ShtH 05 he woke up in a completely unfamiliar world with turbid memories, grief still fresh and pervasive. In the midst of world ending level threats constantly looming overhead in almost all games I don’t think he sat down with a psychologist and ever processed what happened. (If you age him up or make any kind of AU where he has time to deal with all this then let him process his trauma. Time heals all wounds pls let the guy leave some of his baggage behind.)

4.) Help: Childhood emotional neglect and other shit make it impossible for him to even reach out for help. Learned behaviour that emotions are not okay (to feel or show), difficulty connecting with peers, hard time asking for help, lashing out instead ect etc.

+This is why I think SA2 was a good, complete arc for him. He came to the planet with revenge and destruction in mind, a weapon that Gerald forged motivated by the immense sense of anguish. He died finally getting closure: He fulfilled his real purpose, his identity restored in some way. I like to think that he died peacefully partly because he knew his promise to Maria would continue to be fulfilled by Sonic. In the English version during the Final Hazard fight he even gave up the title he so desperately clings to in other games ‘The Ultimate Lifeform’. Unlike in other games here he doesn’t need that title and identity, it is no longer the only piece of himself that he has left, so he “offers” it for the person who he sees fit as an extension of his legacy. ("Sonic, I think I've discovered what the Ultimate Life Form is, it might be you!")

Okay all this ended up being a whole lot less cohesive than I intended and I just want to say I have more thoughts on this but I'm stupid dummy dumb dumb and can’t put it into words. (Analysing media is all fun and games until I have to explain then suddenly brain go mush.) This post is a pretty personal analysis, most of it isn’t factual in any way, I just want to provoke thoughts in others about this subject, since I often see his grief be reduced to “Maria is dead Shadow is big sad about it :(” which is fine, but there’s so much to explore. 

If you have any opinions on this, contradictory or other don’t be shy talk. I want. to hear everything. 

[xwonderfuldeath]

.o| It's a small world : XXII |o.

Warnings : Violence, injury, graphic depictions, sex

Please, consider supporting me on Ko-Fi ! ♥

His head was spinning, his eyes struggling to open as he tried to work out what was happening. Taehyung tried to move his hands, but the pain of the bonds made him moan softly, as he turned his head right, then left, to see where the hell he'd ended up. It was strange, his mouth pasty, his wrists aching, his head like a brick. The acrid taste on his lips made him slowly panic, his condition proving to him that he had consumed something illicit, which he would never have taken in his normal state, and Taehyung replayed the sequence of events in his head. He was at the festivals, Jimin was giving the best performance of all time, Jungkook had moved away for a second, a blink of an eye, before he felt something stick in his throat. Panic overcomes him, as he is now fully conscious, locked behind this thick glass cage, his eyes getting used to the strange darkness with difficulty. His heart sinks, painfully in his temples, as he searches for something he recognizes, to find out where he is, but he doesn't recognize anything.

“- Awake at last. Excuse this little… inconvenience, but it had to be done if I was to have a chance to interview you.

- You are… Damarro.

- I see my prestige precedes me. But I'll take you, call me Heisukei.”

He recognizes the man from the party, from his vacation at the chalet, the place is white, like a laboratory, somewhere underground. There was no resonance when neither of them spoke, and Taehyung took a breath before looking at him again. Heisukei was taller than Jungkook, or a normal Korean, which told him he must certainly be American, or European. He couldn't see him well in the half-light, hidden behind the large tubes. Taehyung wasn't sure he wanted to understand what was inside. He didn't even really want to be here, to be perfectly frank.

“- What do you want from me?

- Me? Not much. I have nothing against prestigious doctors like you. I even find you fascinating, a real waste when it comes to your decision to stop practicing altogether.

- I only stopped working for you.

- Exactly what I say, a waste.”

A thud startled him, as he saw a shadow pass by, two military-looking men forcibly dragging the hospital director away, under Taehyung's curious and questioning gaze, he was lost, not understanding what was happening, or where it was all going to lead him. Heisukei had this kind of terrifying smile, as he let the men shove the old man into a capsule.

“- Let me show you my work, Mr. Kim, so we can understand each other better, and have an adult conversation.”

With a wave of his hand, he tells the two men to start work, and they both move to one side of the tube, each grabbing one of the levers, before lowering it in perfect synchronization. A howl of pain passes the man, before a propeller noise is heard and Taehyung cries out, a mixture of pure horror and terror, trying to free himself to potentially help the man in his pain. The shredding noise finally stopped, as did the screams, before the large tubes, hitherto invisible because transparent, filled with the red liquid. The man had been transformed into an amont of flesh, leaving only his nectar. Horrified, Taehyung watched the scene as if in slow motion. The door opens, and all that's left inside are bits of bone, which Taehyung looks at Heisukei, trying to understand why he'd let him discover something so macabre.

“- Now that we're on the same wavelength, we're going to have a very interesting conversation about my companion.

- I have no idea what you're talking about.

- Come on, don't play that game, Doctor. Your life's at stake, you know?”

-x-

No matter how loud the music, Jungkook can't quite get into it. For the fifteenth time, he puts his phone to his ear, listening to the long beeps, before finally hearing the unpleasant voice of the answering machine. A long shiver of terror runs down his spine, and he tries again, looking around, trying to find a sound resembling a ringtone, but the place is too noisy, so he hears nothing but background music. An animated growl passes his frustrated lips, as Jungkook looks around again for a face he knows, before quickly approaching Min Yoongi's minty head.

“- Have you seen Taehyung?

- Nope. Not since just now. Why not?

- He's not answering his phone.

- Maybe he can't hear it?”

Yoongi looks at him, realizing that he clearly doesn't want to hear something like that, and pulls out his phone, trying to reach Jungkook's lover as well. Direct messaging, so he calls Jimin, looking for a less noisy corner to have a better conversation than with the bass noises. Several intonations are heard, before they hang up on him, and his eyebrows furrow, he tries again, but this time, nothing. No dial tone, just the answering machine directly, Jungkook can understand when Yoongi turns paler than average, that something's wrong.

“- What?

- Something's wrong .”

The realization of this information makes Jungkook pinch his lower lip as an expletive passes his lips, he grabs his phone with more fury, dialing the emergency number of their illegal little group, barking out his orders, as Hoseok comes in a little panicked, understanding that the three of them have the same problem without needing to really talk.

“No mercy. I don't want to hear it, the first one who finds him gets a good shot.”

-x-

The heavy silence buzzes in his ears, as Jimin takes the bucket of icy water over the fresh burns of torture, a grinding of teeth passes his lips, he can no longer really speak, nor answer, he barely straightens his eyes when his hair is pulled back, making him scrape the cold, soaked ground. The man in front of him glares at him as he punches him again, this time in the stomach, causing him to regurgitate the alcohol he'd consumed earlier in the evening.

“- Disgusting.

- Speak for yourself. You type like a little girl.

- Tch. Aren't you going to answer me? Your buddy spilled the beans a long time ago.

- Then why are you hitting me?”

The man loses patience with Jimin's attitude, and takes another blow, making him stagger. If he wasn't tied up with his wrists in the air, like a common animal, he'd already be rolling on the ground. But he could only take a few steps to the side, his head spinning as he tried to stay awake, watching his tormentor circle him like a predator. Jimin had woken up an hour before, in this icy room, and ever since, this creep had been giving him a hard time. Yet he remained sure of himself, making no comment on the man's questions, unwilling to answer any of the obviously stupid man's interrogations, because he would never hand over his friend, even if he had to die to do so. His eyes were cloudy, and he coughed up a little blood. He wasn't a doctor, but it was never a good sign to have something like that pass your lips. Jimin can't hold his head up.

“- You could be smart, and answer me, your death would be quicker you know?

- My death? Yours won't be so sweet.

- He'll never find you. Suga will never know about this.

- You're an idiot. He's probably circling the city already.”

The very idea of Yoongi looking for him makes him smile, even if he had to die, then he'd accept it, he wouldn't die without really loving, and remaining himself. He closed his eyes, terribly tired, as he could feel the man in front of him moving, his last thought before falling completely into a coma being that Suga must have been worried about him, and that he must have looked adorable. The bang of the gunshot being the last thing he can hear, not completely sure whether he's totally alive or not.

The pain in his head seems to have subsided as he finally regains consciousness, the bin of the machine to which he was attached by the drip, his eyes rolling to understand what's happening, as he can feel the arms around his aching body, and the doctor's voice, which he recognizes as Taehyung asking the patient to let some air.

“- Where am I… And Elyzabeth?

- Don't worry, everything's fine. Everything's taken care of.

- Settled?

- Heisukei is no more.”

Nodding, he tries to situate himself in time as he moves a little, to be more comfortable in bed. He was at Yoongi's home, he could recognize the familiar smell of the blankets against his back, before turning his head slowly and seeing what was around him, Taehyung was straight, he had a few bruises too, but he seemed to be doing fine, Yoongi looked like he was about to cry, while Jungkook was on the phone behind them. Elyzabeth wasn't there, so he looked for her a little before Taehyung spoke again.

“- She's gone to get some fresh water, relax now. Patients get better when they're relaxed.

- What happened…? Heisukei..? And the rest?”

Yoongi spoke up, they'd gone through all Heisukei's businesses, one by one, before finding where they'd brought them, taking down everything in their path. They'd arrived just in time for Jimin, his tormentor about to finish him off with a bullet, but Yoongi had been quicker. Jimin nodded again, still feeling the weight of fatigue. Closing his eyes gently as Taehyung embraced Jungkook, telling everyone to let him sleep. They were safe, all of them, and that was the best news of the day for him.

[justiceforskywarp]

How to do easy hard mode -- dead cells

OKAY SO. ANYONE WHO'S BEEN FOLLOWING ME FOR MORE THAN LIKE 12 SECONDS WILL KNOW I JUST BEAT DEAD CELLS ON 5BSC TWICE AND GOT THE TRUE ENDING. and im sure it feels unattainable for a lot of fans, especially casual ans. tbh i did have to sweat to get the prior boss cells. however i would like to assuage everyone's worries about 5bsc--if you use what i call "easy hard mode", 5bsc is not only doable, but easier than your previous cells in difficulty. the reason for this is simple: aspects. you can use aspects without punishment in 5bsc, and lets face it--what casual player is going for flawless on every boss at 5bsc? there's one aspect that stands above all others as being the most useful, and that is: Toxin Lover.

easy hard mode works because it allows you to recover hp as you lose it without using your flask. your flask is pretty much used only to reduce malaise OR if you have an absolute emergency and need it. as im sure most of you know, there are two aspects that restore your health: toxin lover and blood drinker. toxin lover, however, is far superior for one reason:

you recover HP if you stand in a toxic cloud, regardless of how it spawned or if you deal damage. blood drinker requires you to constantly attack, but toxin lover allows you passive recovery at all time as long as you have a toxic cloud up. so, here's the strategy:

acquire a fast weapon. i recommend sadist's stiletto, balanced blade, impaler, or the crown jewel that makes this build the most op possible, queen's rapier. queen's rapier is best due to the massive hit output you can get from it.

whatever weapon you get, upgrade it to spawn a toxic cloud with each hit. this attribute is essential, or you can't get this to work.

acquire an amulet that lets you spawn a toxic cloud when you take damage or dodge.

and finally, make your secondary weapon either a shield (i find this is essential against the bosses when they move fast at max malaise) or frost blast. seriously, these as a secondary weapon will save your ass.

and from there, you're free to do what you want. the more poison clouds you spawn, the better. you will heal constantly, and as long as you dont mess up massively, you'll find that its EXTREMELY hard to kill you with this build. you just heal WAY too much, and no matter how many enemies spawn, each of them turns into free health.

bosses are where this build will struggle a bit. to do my runs, i went concierge, scarecrow, hand, and true final boss. i would not recommend facing bosses that you know will take a very long time, because your malaise will max and you will suffer. fuck you conjuctivius.

but anyways, the best weapon for this build is undoubtedly queen's rapier. the amount of hits you get off in seconds spawns so many clouds that you will constantly have healing. and one last thing--for this build, i recommend the mutations combo, no mercy, and melee. combined with queen's rapier, your enemies often will not have an opening to hit you because of how fast you strike while also slowing them down. i literally went through the entire run with the first weapon i got (queen's rapier) and still managed to beat the final boss (though admittedly, the weapon the hand drops is essential here! put your shield in your backpack and carry it with you, it will help you a LOT in the final fight)

and with that, you've accessed easy hard mode! dont expect to sweep because youve got this build, if you fuck up the game WILL punish you, and this does not guarantee every boss will go smoothly. it just makes resources management infinitely easier, eliminates the need to use your flask, and allows you to mistakes without resetting. you'll still need to know how to play, deal with enemies, and of course, fight and dodge bosses.

good luck, fellow dead cells fans! you too can acquire the true ending and get your well earned drip with this build! and remember, its not cheating if the game allows it!

[kwaggysshardmindemporium]

Album! Okay so today was Oar by Alexander 'Skip' Spence. I'm sorry Skip but this is bad. The BEST songs on it are like the definition of "the lower end of okay." And those are the first few songs. After that, it sounds like the artist is getting progressively more bored of making music. I legitimately feel like my time was wasted listening to this. I would say listen if you need a nap, but I've had TWO albums recently that would do that for you that DIDN'T suck completely and totally. (Those would be Ys and The Hour of Bewildebeast, to clarify.) If it wasn't obvious, 1/5. Not the worst thing I've been made to suffer through, but definitely the worst thing I've had in a while.

And you know what? I don't love being this negative. So let's talk about something I LIKE that I've been wanting to post about but never get around to it. Let's talk about my *favorite* band. My favorite song. The song I'm listening to right now to wash the taste out of my mouth. Big long gush plus some song links about something I love very much below the break.

So, my favorite band is The Amazing Devil. You know Jaskier from the Netflix Witcher series? Yeah, he's the lead singer of a band, too. This one. It's great. They write some of the most poignant music you'll hear in your fucking life. The genre I've seen it described as is "gothic folk" and it's very good. Their most popular song according to Spotify at 11.5 million plays, and the first song I ever heard from them myself, is the title track of their second album: "The Horror and the Wild." It's a great song. Here ya go:

That whole album is great, but fair warning if you or a loved one close to you have severe mental health struggles, the opening track "The Rockrose and the Thistle" is about that in a very raw way and might be a tough listen. Similarly, if you've had experiences with abuse, "The Unwanted Animal" towards the middle might be triggering. I personally check both boxes here even if I don't really talk about the latter, and it's probably the only song on there I have real difficulty listening to.

The *best* song on that album in my opinion, is "Farewell Wanderlust," their second-most popular song. Have a link:

I listened to this, got to this song, and knew instantly that this was my new favorite band.

And y'all? This isn't their best song, nor their best album.

Their best album IMO is Ruin, their most recent album. The album goes a little harder on the drums and faster on the guitar, and the subject matter is generally less grim. So it absolutely *soars.* The songs are fucking powerful. The other song I hear a lot of people say they know from this band is on this album because it's... I guess I'd call it a minor viral hit? It's called "Drinking Song for the Socially Anxious" and while it's a good song that title is a LIE. It's a story song about two nerdy and socially stunted people finding solace in each other's presence at a party. It's very sweet but very much not a drinking song.

Another great track on this album that I love a lot is "Blossoms," a song about a very nasty messy breakup.

And let's stop dancing around it. My favorite song from this band, and by extension my favorite song PERIOD and it's not very close, is "The Old Witch Sleep and the Good Man Grace." It's a song about overcoming your demons and if not becoming the person you want to be at least becoming someone who isn't weighed down by the shit the world has shoveled on them. Strap in, it's fucking long.

They do have another album, Love Run. It's their first album. I've listened to it, and it's... fine. Nowhere near as good as the later two, really only bother if you decide you like this band and want the complete experience. You won't be wasting your time but if you're like me you just won't like it as much. I'm not gonna spam links to songs off it because there's not much on there that does it for me.

Don't really have a closer here. Hope a mutual or two actually reads this and gives the band a listen. And even if you don't, if you're seeing this I appreciate you reading it.

[fayerieetale]

Apparently some tag question has been going around, and I thought these have been illegal already. AND nobody tagged me for it, so Imma tag myself cause I'm too lazy to study right now and I'm being a Leo.

1. What would the happiest and best version of yourself look like?

If I'm lying on my side with someone feeding me grapes, and at the flick of my fingers, people do what I please or what's on my mind.

2. What message/advice would you give to your past self?

NEVER WASTE YOUR TIME ON SOMEONE OR SOMETHING NOT WORTH IT-YOU WILL GET OVER THEM.

3. What is your happy place and why?

Church. HAHA, can't even lie to myself.

Last day of exams. I come home. Take a shower. Open the AC. Close the curtains and lights. And take a sleep for hours. Feeling all the exhaustion run out through my body.

4. Have you ever been in a toxic relationship? How did you get out of it? Any advice?

Yup. In all kinds of relationships. The thing is I don't get out, because I like it manipulative and toxic, well, at least, they do.

5. If money didn't matter (if you earned enough money from it) what job would you want to have and why?

Trauma surgeon. Period.

6. Do you have your happiest memory? If you don't mind sharing please tell us about it.

This is rather sad, but my happiest memory was just an expectation. It was supposed to happen last January. But it didn't. And that makes me extremely lonely.

7. Do you have your saddest memory? If you don't mind sharing please tell us about it.

Wow! that escalated rapidly. I think I have more sad memories than happy ones. And the thing is they're of the same level. But I'll choose two since I tagged myself and this is my page.

First: is that when my mother thought I cannot do med school since my sister is having difficulty in law school, which means if she's already having difficult time in doctorate school, what more if I do it.

Second: when someone who mattered to me said, not just on one but multiple occasions: "whenever i see a pretty pretty pretty girl on my social media, i wonder if you were even pretty"; don't get me wrong, these things didn't bother or bother me now, but during those times, I let myself to be vulnerable.

8. What is the movie/book/tv show that made you think a lot or made you change something about yourself?

Nietzsche book just to sound pretentious. Even the spelling is intimidating.

9. If you ever were to write a book what would it be about?

My autobiography. We need to epitomize me.

10. Do you have a strange habit?

Nope. Too perfect.

11. Have you ever met a person that drastically changed your life?

Yeah. We no longer talk.

12. How would you describe yourself in 5 words ?

I will never be enough.

13. What is your idea of a perfect day?

Waking up late in bed with the AC on, and the blanket just keeping me warm. Looking at the back of someone while he quietly makes breakfast for lunch, with sunlight hitting right through the gap of the curtains. Watching movies or reading a book after lunch, sleeping and snuggling, then going out for dinner and walking around Calle Crisologo. I'm easy to please provided that all of his attention, and eyes are on me. And well, if he carries me as I flick my fingers as if on cue.

14. Do you have any embarrassing stories from your life?

I am not romanticizing embarrassment. Just get the book. Refer to #9.

15. What is the strangest thing you've done or seen ?

I plead the 5th.

16. What is your gender identity? Do you think you do a lot of stereotypical things that are assigned to your gender?

I do exaggerated stereotypical things to mock the society. But in general, I couldn't care less.

17. If you could bring one character from a book to life, who would it be and why?

The wolf guy from Twilight. He seems hot. Hopefully he doesn't smell like a dog. (Refer to number 16)

18. Do you have a person in your life that makes you feel special or a person that you feel like you're soulmates with?

You mean personS?

19. What has been the hardest thing you had to deal with? Do you have any advice on how to deal with a similar situation?

Family stuff. Never limit yourself just because they don't believe in you. You do you.

20. What are you currently waiting for?

a. Getting married (refer to number 16)

b. Scholarship allowance

[thatmcgwords]

“No one starts out knowing how one plus one equals two. One thing highly successful people do is dream big, start small no matter the lack of resources, and then keep improving over time.”

A great mark of success is that you never stop learning. ~ Duncan Clark

“So, what makes Alibaba stand out this much? Three things, which Jack Ma calls the iron triangle: ecommerce, logistics, and finance.”

“Nothing makes e–commerce more reliable than a quick and efficient delivery system. Alibaba knows this well.”

You may start losing customers when people know your business doesn't handle their online transactions with utmost priority. ~ Duncan Clark

Alibaba operates on six value systems called the Six Vein Spirit Sword. They are: customer first, teamwork, embrace change, integrity, passion, and commitment. ~ Duncan Clark

“If you're the founder or executive of a company, it will be difficult to separate your personality from the company's culture. You will always shape and influence the work culture your employees will find themselves in because you're the major decision maker. As such, it's necessary to be a person of character. Be inspiring, exciting, positive, and motivating.”

“When you venture into a business that is not very common, you will have difficulty making progress. This is because people can seldom tell the value of your product or service. If you find yourself in such a situation, the only way out is to invest massively in awareness campaigns.”

“The first thing to learn from Jack Ma about dreams is you can never go beyond them. If you dream small, you will indefinitely put in small effort and that will lead to small achievements. But big dreams will inspire you to break limits.”

“The second lesson is to start where you are, with the experience and resources that you've got.”

“The third lesson is similar to the second: do not copy your competitors because you don't know the whole story. Find what works for you and stick to it.”

Patience and good strategies are two important factors that will take you far in business. ~ Duncan Clark

“We can learn a couple of things from Jack Ma's strategy. The first is the element of surprise. Jack Ma started the plan for Taobao, his consumer ecommerce business, underground”

“The second lesson from Jack Ma about beating a strong competitor is doing things differently. No one will patronize your new business when they don't see how it is different from the existing brand that they love and trust. Two things that made Taobao different from eBay are pricing and communication. EBay charged merchants some amount for product listing, whereas Taobao made it free for anyone to put up their product or service on the site.”

You should learn from your competitor but never copy. Copy and you die. ~ Jack Ma

“It takes persistence and grit to found and run a successful company. You will encounter challenges along the way, no doubt, but commitment to your initial dream is what will keep you going during tough times.

Most entrepreneurs start their business without a well documented business vision. This is a risky thing to do. Challenges and difficult times are bound to come in business, it's easy to give in when you don't have a written vision for your business. The vision you pen down before starting the business is one of the things you will rely on for motivation when the going gets tough.

In business, you're almost certain to have competitors. There are two ways to deal with them. First is to use the element of surprise. The second is developing a solid business strategy that includes meeting essential customer needs that your competitors are neglecting.”

“Try this

If you've started a business or plan on doing so, there's one important exercise to carry out. Write down your vision for that business. Make it as detailed as it can be. Next, place it somewhere you can see it regularly. This will help keep you motivated”

https://headway.onelink.me/9USK?pid=app_referral&af_web_dp=https%3A%2F%2Fweb.get-headway.com%2Fbook%2F&c=highlight&af_siteid=highlights

[void-botanist]

7, 22 & 37 for Cady :3

Thanks Red, these were really fun to think about. I'm gonna do this out of order to put the cut lower in the post.

22. What does your character like in other people? He likes people who don't take themselves too seriously. They don't have to be jokesters, but they gotta be a little loose. He had trouble getting along with Rodney at first because he read Rodney as a self-serious asshole. He's incredibly weak to tattoos and piercings and will immediately try to make friends with anyone who crests his very low "cool" threshold with those (read: Tristan and Declan). He also likes people who are passionate about something so he can egg them on, and people who can make unexpected connections in their casual jokes that catch him by surprise.

37. Is your character more concerned with defending their honor, or protecting their status? He cares a little bit about his status as Cool Guy and also Captain but honor matters way more to him. If he acts honorably and people perceive him that way then obviously he's a Cool Guy and someone people want to keep doing business with. He loves playful insults but won't tolerate people actually talking shit (well, maybe unless it's true). Occasionally he does run into trouble where defending his honor or someone else's costs him a customer or an opportunity or lands him in a "sir this is a Wendy's" moment but he mostly just shrugs it off. (But there has to be at least one "this is a Wendy's" moment that he looks back on with embarrassment even if he still thinks he was right.)

7. Does your character have recurring themes in their nightmares? I'm pretty early in the planning stages for this story, but I have a tendency to forget about dreams and nightmares so this was interesting to dig into. Before his disappearance, Cady rarely had nightmares, and they were in response to weird experiences or spooky media. Now they're much more common and they do have a central recurring theme: that in the emptiness of space, no one can hear you scream.

There are two general forms of the nightmare. The first is a sort of abstract one, the kind you also have in normal dreams where you're on a boat but it's also your dad's Wal-Mart. Here, the store is meant to be the planet he's stuck on. There's some kind of monster somewhere in it, and he's been around the store a thousand times but there are no doors, and he's not even certain that there's anyone else inside, because they seem to disappear if he looks away too long. He ends up on the PA system, trying to page for someone, anyone, using his calm captain voice, while he can feel the unseen, perhaps unknowable monster getting closer. The dream ends shortly before it reaches him, as the absolute certainty he is going to die settles in.

This second one is a bit more graphic, so mild warning for claustrophobia, suffocation/difficulty breathing, and, uh, impending death.

The second builds on his real experience sitting in an ejected racer seat, which is its own little short-term life-support capsule. Sometimes he's on the surface of the planet, sometimes out in space, but its distress signal keeps droning out with no response. He knows that someone's supposed to save him, but they're just not coming. They're not picking up his signal. Maybe it's blocked by the landscape and there's not enough of an atmosphere for it to reflect off of. Maybe their equipment is just not listening. But the tone goes on and on and the capsule, which is literally only a bit larger than the seat itself, starts to seem smaller and smaller, like it might crush him before anyone arrives. It inevitably starts to crack at the seams. The smallest gap between the pieces is enough to let the air out. The low oxygen warning lights come on. He's breathing evil, thin atmosphere, an unrealistic but insidious green that feels like it's infecting his lungs with every breath, or trying and failing to breathe vacuum. Now his lungs feel smaller and smaller until there's no space for air—there's no air—and he knows with leaden certainty that this wasn't how things were supposed to go, but it's too late now.

Then he wakes up and wishes like hell he remembered in the dream how it was going to end so maybe it would be less horrifying.

[ageless-aislynn]

I still can't launch Mass Effect: Andromeda without my computer going

💀No thanks💀

but at least the MCC can still launch and play (most of the time 👀). So I've been working on some solo achievements that I didn't think I would be able to get, namely the par scores. I went through and tried some of my favorite levels of Halo 2, 3, and Reach (sorry, 4, there is no level of you that I enjoy playing to that degree 🤷‍♀️ and I already have the ones on CE and ODST that I wanted to try for) and was actually able to get them! 🥳🥳🥳

And then. I realized I had 5 of the 9 levels of Reach, by FAR the most par scores than on any other game. And so I decided to try for "We'll Be Back" Beat the par score on every Halo: Reach level.

If you've ever tried this, well, either you're going

or you're just a much better player than I am, lol. Par score means you have to beat the par time but on a higher difficulty with tougher enemies and you can't just run by everybody, you've got to take 'em out to get the points.

"The Pillar of Autumn" was one that I'd struggled to get the par time on before (and that was on Easy so... 👀) but I got the par score on the second try. 🥳 That was a total shock!

I thought I'd get stalled on "Long Night of Solace" but I've gotten much better at the sabre section and blasted my way to victory after a few tries. (It was actually the fight on the Covvie ship after that that kept delaying me until the par time ran out and then your points begin frickin' to roll backwards to practically 0, ARGH.)

But then: "Exodus" and "The Package."

If those two levels just brought fear to your heart, then yeah, you've tried this achievement before.

ZOH MAH GUH. These levels are sooooo long *that's what she said joke goes here* 😜 and require stupidly high amounts of points: "Exodus" 20 minutes par time, 30,000 par score, "The Package" 20 minutes par time, 65,000 par score.

I didn't even get remotely close to par time or score my first dozen attempts at both of these levels. I tried different combinations of Normal + a bunch of skulls to raise the difficulty and Heroic + fewer skulls. I finally went with Heroic + fewer for "Exodus" annnnd after many, many times jetpacking my way to absolute failure trying to do the mid-level fight skip, I would make it to the last battle and my score would drain out because I went past the par time.

😑

That was legit my expression.

But then, I kept working at it, got better at doing the skip. Figured out how to jetpack up the building to do another skip (there's a trick to briefly stopping your jetpack halfway up, then starting again that will - eventually after much trial and error, falling to your death and cursing like a sailor 🤬😇😉 - let you get up to a higher place than you technically can in one jetpack burst). Then it was a matter of optimizing that final fight section where you have to activate two switches, then a final third. I died SO MANY TIMES trying to get to that last switch. Then I discovered you can jetpack up the outside of the room, go through the window, try not to get ABSOLUTELY OBLITERATED by the Hammer Chieftain Brute waiting for you, and hit the switch! I finally made the par score, woo-hoo!!!

And that left "The Package" and its monstrous 65,000 par score.

Playing on Normal with almost all of the skulls, despite seeing Youtube guides of other people managing it easily, just didn't work for me. I couldn't get nearly enough points. So I finally had to go with Heroic and almost all of the skulls on. That was painful but better than trying Legendary with no skulls and then I'd get my face melted off in the first section with the two turrets, the sniper Jackal with the focus rifle, the two fuel-rod Grunts and the 2 Grunts in the Ghosts. MY ABSOLUTE WORD, FRENS. My face got melted off SO MUCH. 😑

I learned speedrunning tricks I'd only heard of before and never thought to even try. I figured out how to run up the frickin' center support columns and do weird curving crouch jumps to 2 platforms just to avoid fighting a ginormous bunch of Jackals. I did the bounce trick where you sprint onto a sculpture, bounce up to a higher point on it, then jump for the window, crash through it and get to the Halsey's lab firefight without having to fight the camo Elites and that one Really Annoying General Elite™ with the concussion rifle.

(GAHHHHHHH, that dude blasted me SO MANY TIMES. And if throws a plasma grenade in your general direction? GOODBYE. HE DOES NOT MISS.)

You lose the points from those fights but if you're struggling for par time and you're already at about 50k points or so going into the firefight section, it was worth it.

I can't record but here are the 2 tricks at 3:46 and 4:36 (I had to jump to the higher level of the sculpture and crash through the window more to the left, I couldn't do it in one jump like Vodred does but I still could eventually make it about 3 out of 4 times, depending on if a camo Elite spawned standing RIGHT IN MY PATH. 😑)

I finally made it through to the Halsey's lab section at under 10 minutes. The following firefight is almost impossible to speed through at less than 10 minutes on its own because you have to wait for each wave of enemies to come in before you can clear them.

(I saw the world record holder do some amazing speedrun tricks to destroy the Phantoms as they come in to bring the enemies but, yeah, it was taking so long to try to learn that, I finally figured it was faster just to figure out how to fight them more efficiently.)

I did learn to reliably hijack a Banshee in mid-air thanks to my cool new jetpacking skills learned on "Exodus," at least. 😉

And then I got shot out of the sky SO MANY TIMES by those dang Jackals and Grunts and their overcharged plasma pistols. MY WORD. I worked a few different strategies, changing the Banshee for the Wraith and finishing the level like that or choosing to destroy the Wraith for the points and stay more maneuverable in the Banshee. I honestly thought the second strat was going to be the one that worked for me but MY STARS THOSE OVERCHARGED PLASMA PISTOLS ARRRGH.

I would get an enormous amount of points - once over 120k! - only to watch it drain to 16k because I couldn't finish the level even close to the par time. I was so sad on that one, frens, I can't even. 😭😭😭

But then, last night, I decided to try one last run before I went off to try to become a slightly more productive member of society. 😜 And I fought my little heart out, doing a combo of speedrun tricks and stand-and-fight to get points. And I out of the corner of my eye, I saw the timer at 19 minutes and change and the last wave was just dropping. 😱 I had over 110k points at this time but would start losing them quickly once we reached 20 minutes.

I was in the Wraith, which is powerful but moves slooooowly, down at the bottom of the map to take out the first of the last 3 Phantoms. I mortar bombed the other Wraith just as it was dropped off. I sped as fast as my Wraith could go - approximately the speed of molasses sliiiiiding down a hill in the sunlight 😑 - back up the map. I mortar bombed THE HECK out of everybody in the middle, trying desperately to be not only fast but to catch them grouped together for the multi-kill bonus points I knew I was going to need to inflate my score as high as possible against the going over par time penalty.

I see the timer hit 20, then 21. I stop looking and decide just to finish the fight™ (Master Chief John-117 😇😉) and see how close I could get.

I hear Dr. Halsey say, "Well done, Spartans. I'm opening the laboratory door," which is your cue to go and push the button (why the rest of Noble Team, who are STANDING RIGHT NEXT TO THE BUTTON can't do that on their own, I DUNNO). I have an Elite dancing around my mortar bombs as I'm Wraithing my way slooooowly towards the door. I glance down and see I have 90K POINTS LEFT, ZOMG. I do this stupid panic jump out of the Wraith without killing the Elite.

He starts shooting me. I JETPACK INTO THE SKY for some reason because I apparently forgot I have the jetpack on and not the sprint, lol.

He's still shooting at me. My shields are lighting up. I'm awkwardly jetpacking straight at Carter, mentally begging my beloved Noble One TO SAVE ME.

I land behind him and he provided accidental cover for me, actually getting shot by the Elite in my place.

Carter, my beloved.

ANYWAY, I'm doing this SUPER AWKWARD jetpack bursting hop thing towards that dang button because I again have forgotten I DON'T HAVE SPRINT RIGHT NOW, GEEZ. I hear the enemy Wraith on the platform behind me launch a mortar bomb and know that it CAN HIT ME WHERE I'M AT.

Ask me how I know. 😑

But this time, my awkward jetpacking meant I got to the button before the mortar got there and YES YES YES!

🥳

Annnnd here are the other par scores I got since I started trying for them last month. (And yes, when I can't sleep, I play Halo. 👀 Don't be an insomniac if you can help it, frens. 😴😉)

So, now I feel like I've accomplished something pretty special, even more than just getting the Legendary achievements because... Wait.

I wonder...? 🤔🤔🤔 I mean, Reach on Legendary is no party. *points up to that part where I mentioned getting my face melted* This would be a Legendary speedrun but I've learned a LOT of speedrunning tricks and there are a lot of really good guides out there...

Hm, maybe not. 😑😂

If you read all of this, thank you. I just mainly wanted to share my happiness at having gotten that achievement and since I couldn't include fun GIFs or video clips of it, I had to just be wordy. 🤷‍♀️

Have a cookie, from my heart to yours.

Now with 2000% more screencaps!

[fadebolt]

Now this is one I'm actually excited to talk about. And that's quite ironic, cus the question is incredibly easy to answer. But the topic itself is just incredibly interesting - and it's no coincidence that so many others have commented, or reblogged with tags/comments too (even though this was likely an easy one to answer for most of them, too). But what especially surprised me is how civil everything has been under this post. I don't know if the blog's owner has been moderating this post, or not - but what I do know is that I've witnessed discussions about difficulty in the LoL communities of Reddit and YouTube... and those always turn into bloody battlefields, the likes of which you've never seen before. (Speaking from experience, unfortunately. Seriously, don't ever talk about the topic of difficulty with the League community. It's not worth it.) It could just be that Reddit and YouTube are generally more toxic than Tumblr (which they absolutely are, let's be honest), but I've seen the people of this site loosing their cool a good number of times - and this absolutely includes the RW fans of Tumblr too. I guess that's just the nature of the internet, though. People overreact to everything all the fricking time. I'm just grateful that everything is chill over here.

Aaaaaanyways, let's not get too sidetracked here. What's the deal with Rain World's difficulty? Well, Rain World is known to be incredibly tough, for one simple reason: when people do their first Survivor/Monk runs, they die... a lot. And things only get more nuts once you attempt the other 6 Slugcats (we don't talk about the ninth one, they're not real). But frankly, determining the difficulty of a video game by how much you die on your first run, is like determining how smart/clever a person is by just looking at their IQ. Sure, it does show you part of the picture... but the topic is a lot more nuanced and complicated, than that. The weird thing with Rain World in particular is that the things it asks from you are just simply not hard. Neither the platforming/swimming/0G traversal, nor the Survivor/Monk creature spawns are that tough to deal with, and your second playthrough on the basic slugcats will become an absolute breeze as a result of this. Sure, subsequent playthroughs will always get easier, no matter the video game. But the difference between the first and second is substantially higher in Rain World, than in any other game I've ever played.

And that's for two simple reasons: One is that Rain World withholds a ton of information from the player. Most games don't do this, because they would become a lot less approachable as a result, but also because the 'hidden information difficulty factor' becomes completely irrelevant after the first playthrough. But now, you're stuck with the problem, that you've lightened up everything about your game, to adjust for this factor, and you've created something with basically no replayability (though Rain World solved this with colored pearls + new campaigns that are designed with the expectation that the player knows how things work, so this isn't an issue here). And the second is how quickly and easily your Slugcat can die. Sure, you have Karma Flowers, while rocks and spears can be used to escape the grasps of some creatures. But that... really isn't much, especially in a game where there's an element of randomness. A single mistake can kill you in a snap, yet the game is designed in a way where you're not just encouraged, but often forced to play risky (which gets dialed up even further on the following campaigns, so good luck). And that can make things feel quite tough and stressful, when you're not a veteran.

The combination of these two elements results in a game where even if it asks for things that aren't hard in concept, they will still feel incredibly challenging to the players. You could say that it's faking difficulty, but... the struggle experienced by the players is real. So that wouldn't really make sense, would it? It's an interesting conundrum. Rain World has to be simple, to account for its punishing and unapproachable nature, just as much as a complex game would need to be quite a bit more forgiving (hence why games like HoMM3 and Warcraft 3 allow you to save/load whenever you want, for instance). Because of these things, I'm honestly thinking that the discussions about the difficulties of single player games is actually sort of irrelevant. Telling a new player that a game is 'very hard' will never paint a clear picture. Is the game unforgiving? Does it require high APM? Do you die easily? Does it require combos of fast button presses that are difficult to pull off? Does it require a quick reaction time? Does it require tricky resource management? Does it require multi-tasking? Does it have puzzles with tricky solutions? And so on, and so on. The only things you'll know for sure, is that you'll have to be patient (cus you'll be failing a lot), and you'll likely need good quick thinking. But the fun part about all this is that different people find these elements to be challenging to different extents. So an objective difficulty rating is not even really possible. You could do a scale (something like - "at best, you'll find RW to have a 6/10 difficulty, and at worst, you'll find it to be a 9/10"), but that's basically the most you can go for.

Though let's just be honest for a moment. Did any of us answer to this poll through objective lens? A few of you may have. But most of us just thought back on which games gave us the most trouble. And let me tell ya, that really simplifies the process. One potential issue is that more often than not, players can influence the difficulty, and deliberately make things easier/harder for themselves. Rain World is no exception for this. You have lots of campaigns with different levels of difficulty. Settings and assists that can help you out. Mods that can also influence the game in a variety of ways. Challenge mode, which offers entries that are somewhat light, but also ones that are incredibly daunting. And Expedition mode, which you could set up to be a chill fetch quest, or a complete hellscape of death and agony. I've messed around with some things that are on the more extreme side of things, and many of them have indeed bested and frustrated me. Though if we look at the baseline of what Rain World considers to be 'hardmode' (so like, Hunter+DP campaigns), Warcraft 3's hard difficulty wins by a mile. Oh, sure, its normal difficulty did feel easier than Survivor, but I also happened to do challenge runs, and tough mods on hard difficulty... and I've had many horrid experiences that actually exhausted me. (In case you know WC3, and are wondering about the worst 5, it's: 5 - Second Human Book of Arkain, map4/Lord of Shadows 4 - Curse of the Forsaken, map5/A Rallying Point, hard difficulty 3 - Everything in To the Bitter End from map5, and onwards 2 - Second Human Book of Arkain, Menace Below (I don't remember the map number, it was something like 10-11) 1 - Resurrection of the Scourge, map7/Disobeying Orders, hard difficulty with 'only no upkeep challenge')

And I've had a bunch more gaming experiences that felt more rough than Rain World, so I'm going with a 'no', for sure. Maybe my opinions would be different if I did challenge runs, and played challenge 70, and did ultra tough high point Expeditions with many burdens, played Inv, and tried mods that make things crazy hard. But I didn't, so I wouldn't consider this to be one of my most difficult gaming experiences. (And I likely won't do those in the future either. RW just doesn't lend itself well to that stuff, I feel. I could change my mind on this, though)

Is Rain World one of the hardest games you've ever played?