#bonus points if u can guess which one i want to board | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

is0gild · 5 years ago

Text

Ice Cream and Fire Oven Pizza - Chapter 18

Pairing: Elsa x Lea/Axel || Side Pairing: Riku x OC

Summary: Modern AU. She's an introvert ball of nerves who works at Ice Palace, a mall food court ice cream shop. He's the outgoing, sassy goofball who works at the Pizza Planet across the way. Hilarity, snark, and fluffy romcom hijinks ensue.

Word Count: 7,733

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

Credit for super friggin’ cute and super friggin’ amazing cover art goes to the super friggin’ talented ky-jane here on tumblr!

"Oh dear god, the rumors are actually true."

I blinked over at Frozone. "What rumors?" I asked as I bent forward over the countertop towards the little girl with short black hair tied up in adorable pigtails, handing her an ice cream cone that was almost as big as she was.

He facepalmed, dragging his hands down his face to give me a deadpan look between his fingers. "Are you seriously dating the pizza guy?"

My shoulders tensed momentarily before I gave a nervous chuckle, holding my hand out to my tiny customer so I could receive her tip since she was too short to reach the jar. "Why do you ask?" I avoided his gaze, instead electing to sift through the small treasure pile now in my palm. Besides the assorted change, there was a smooth pebble, a shiny paperclip, and a crumpled up business card I assumed belonged to the kid's dad who she was scurrying back over to now. He was a big hairy guy standing off to one side in a garish blue suit with purple polka dots. The name on the card read James P Sully and he hailed from a company called Doors-R-Us, which I believed was a hardware store located somewhere else in the mall.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Frozone wordlessly point across the way. As I dropped the munny into the jar and tossed the rest, I looked to the Pizza Planet and I had to quash the urge to facepalm myself. Lea was bouncing around behind the counter there, not so subtly alternating back and forth between blowing me kisses and holding his hands up over his head in the shape of a heart.

"Yup," I sighed, closing my eyes and pressing my fingertips between my eyebrows, "that idiot over there would be my boyfriend alright."

It'd been a few days now since the group date. There hadn't been any further outings, not of that magnitude at least, but Lea and I had been taking our lunches together if they lined up as well as making other small public appearances together wherever else we could to keep the act up. I was finally getting to the point where I was more used to all the hand holding and hugs so they no longer fazed me, not outwardly at least. The little flutters my heart would give were another matter, but at least those were easy enough to conceal and keep to myself. His kisses, on the other hand, continued to be a work in progress, often still causing my brain to experience a temporary hiccup in functionality. But I liked to think I was getting better about that too, just more slowly. I still hadn't made any progress in the initiating-PDA-myself department, but I just needed more time. I was working up to it, I swear! I'd get there. Maybe today even. Perhaps… Possibly… Hopefully? ...unlikely. Ugh.

Lea himself had been enthusiastically taking on the task of leaving no doubt in anyone's minds that we were now a couple. In fact, this was not the first time he'd been brazenly sending me air kisses and hearts across the food court. Just the first time Frozone had caught him doing it.

"But why?" Frozone shook his head, looking genuinely confused. "I thought you two weren't even getting along. I mean, after the incident on your first day of work and all that weirdness in the weeks after…"

"Actually, we were dating before all that. Even before I started working here," I said quickly. Not that that helped clear things up for my coworker. Like… at all. But hey, I had a story to maintain. As his brow only wrinkled further at me, I winced. "It's… complicated."

He held his hands up, "You know what? I've decided I don't even care. As long as you don't let it interfere with your work, you do you, girl."

"Oh it won't! I promise! You can count on me," I reassured him, plastering on a smile. From my peripheral, I could see Lea was still at it with no sign of slowing down. If anything, he only seemed to be getting more spirited about it. To Frozone, I said with every ounce of dignity I could summon, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a very important and totally work-related text to make on my phone right now that in no way, shape, or form has anything to do with…" I gestured a hand gingerly towards the Pizza Planet, "that over there."

"...uh-huh," he said flatly, turning away to assist another customer.

Hastily fishing my phone out of my skirt pocket, I brought up my texts, tapping on a certain name before my thumbs were blurring across the screen.

Quit it, you're making a fool of yourself.

I narrowed my eyes up at him as I hit send and he froze mid gesticulation, looking down at one pocket of his pants. Then I watched as he dug his own phone out, read my message and smirked before his fingers were on the move. There was a buzz in my hands and I looked down at the screen.

1st of all, when hz that ever stopped me b4?

Well he had me there.

2nd of all, u thought all that was 4 u? Plz, all that luv was directed mr studmuffin ovr there

I squinted one eye at the words before looking back up at him. He was now waggling his eyebrows as he pointed to my left and I realized he meant Frozone. The man in question was looking between us as he rang up an order, his eyelids drooping. "Do I even want to know?"

I snorted, biting back a grin. "No, I really don't think you do," I told him, tapping away at my keyboard again.

Dork.

Lea was now typing something back one handed, using the other to wave off Xion as she tried to get his attention.

U know it. What time u off?

I checked the clock on my phone before replying.

10 more minutes.

Xion was beginning to look frustrated over there as she more urgently tugged on his sleeve. Lea just smothered her face with his free hand, lightly shoving her away while he remained focused on his phone.

Perfect me 2. Dont go NEwhere without me, we got plans ;)

My head tipped to one side.

We do?

Xion huffed, stomping away to grab a giant slab of pizza dough and balling it up in her hands as she gave Lea the evil eye. He continued to remain blissfully unaware.

Most defini9kf.u1kd4

Apparently his fingers had slipped followed by accidentally hitting send as that ball of dough smacked him square in the jaw, courtesy of Xion's pitching arm. And strong arm at that, for it was enough to knock him straight off his feet and send him disappearing below the counter. She razzed her tongue at him, dragging her left lower eyelid down with a finger. Then she paled and squeaked, bolting into the back room when a scowling Lea pulled himself back up, half his face dusted with flour now and one eye twitching as he stalked after her. I just laughed softly, turning my attention to a new customer that had just approached my register.

A few minutes later found me clocked out and standing in the food court, scrolling on my phone while I waited. I was still in my work attire, including of course a pair of glorious, blessed stockings (of the snowman-print variety) because never ever again would be the day I'd go without. My hair was still pulled back into a ponytail, but I'd tucked away the Ice Palace cap into my bag.

"Ah, there ya are!" I felt Lea's arm slip around my shoulders and his hand cup the side of my head, bending it towards him so he could press a kiss into my hair. He grinned down at me, "How is my lil lekker stroopwafel this fine day?"

I blinked up at him. He was still in his work clothes too, sans apron and visor. Pocketing my phone, I echoed, "...lekker stroopwafel?"

"It's Dutch. It means you're my lil delicious waffle," he cooed and planted a swift peck to my cheek, which I squeezed one eye shut against.

Face warming, I gave him a blank look. "Do I even have to say it?"

He pouted, "Aw man, really? Overruled? Crap, I'd thought you'd like that one too. Guess it's back to the ol' drawing board." He started walking, the arm still hugging my shoulders pulling me along with him.

Shaking my head at him with a tiny smile, I asked, "So what are these plans we have?"

Holding an index finger up to his lips, Lea winked at me. "It's a surprise."

I quirked an eyebrow and frowned thoughtfully. "...is it the clocktower again?"

"Pft, like I'd do the same thing twice. What a lame-ass surprise that'd be. What kinda uninspired oaf do you take me for? Gotta keep things new! Fresh!" he chuckled as he moved us along, keeping our pace brisk. "And bonus, it's good for the masses to see the two of us out and about like this. Keeps us in the public eye and people talking about what a freaking adorable couple we make. Stop here."

"Wha-?" I was cut off as he suddenly swept me around, pointing me at the Bippity Boppity Boo formalwear shop. However, I got the feeling that he wasn't so much facing me towards it specifically as he was more so facing me away from something else.

Standing in front of me now, he brushed a hand down over my sight. "Close your eyes please. No peeking now."

As soon as he removed his palm, my eyes snapped open again, "But what are you-"

"I said no peeking," he laughed, his hand gently sliding my eyes shut again. "You'll see soon enough, 'kay?"

"Fine," I puffed out a breath, crossing my arms and doing as I was told this time.

A shadow flickered over my eyelids - I think he was waving his hand in front of my face. Then I heard his footsteps walking past me, followed by him asking, "You got it?"

"Right here!" a friendly female voice I didn't recognize responded.

"Perfect! Thanks, you're an angel, this world isn't worthy of your pure divinity," he said back, to which she just gave a warm chuckle. Then I heard the tip-tap of Lea's shoes again, could feel him hovering just behind me now. When he spoke, his voice was right next to my ear, "Alright, you can open 'em now."

I did, discovering he'd looped his arm around to hold something up in front of my nose. A flower. Two of them actually, blooming from one stem, both white and delicate and with fuzzy sprigs of yellow sprouting out the centers.

"...winter honeysuckle?" I said quietly, carefully taking it from him.

His head still beside mine, I felt him nod, "Mm-hm! It's your favorite, right?"

I turned to look at him as he straightened up now. "How did you know?"

"Asked Raindrop," he grinned, shoving his hands into his pockets with a shrug and not yet taking a step back, remaining real close.

"Thank you," I murmured, bringing it up to my nose with a soft inhale. "I'm surprised it's blooming this time of year."

"That's Aerith for you. The Greenthumb Goddess," he tossed his head back towards the flower kiosk behind him and in particular at the woman running it. I recognized her from last time I'd walked past here, her big pink bow hard to forget. She just smiled at me, green eyes dancing as she waggled her fingers in a tiny wave.

I returned the smile and wave before setting my gaze on Lea once more. "Is this the surprise?"

"Are you kidding? Please, this is just the opening act. C'mon," he slipped his hand into mine and gently tugged me into a walk once more.

"But what's it for? Is there some sort of special occasion?" I frowned down at the plant, twirling it between my fingertips as I racked my brain, trying to come up with the answer myself but drawing a blank.

"Whaddya mean, what's it for?" he snorted as we passed an Olympus Gym with floor-to-ceiling windows, through which could be spotted a squat, bald, grumpy looking fellow that appeared to be training a chiseled, golden-haired Adonis who could be a strong contender for the Mr Universe title. Pulling me onto an escalator, Lea continued, "I just wanted to give ya something you'd like."

We slowly rose up to the second level, a Blitzball Sports shop and a Glass Slipper shoe store gliding by before disappearing beneath us on the floor below. A crease formed between my eyebrows. "But why?"

He blinked at me, then chuckled and ruffled his fingers through his hair. "Just cuz! What, does a boyfriend hafta have a reason to give his girlfriend lil gifts every now and again? Jeez, ya act like you never-" he froze, eyes widening. The back of his foot hit the top of the escalator, catching him off guard and he stumbled, but managed to remain upright before looking back at me horrified. "Wait. Please, please don't tell me your royal dumbass of an ex never gave you any flowers."

I stepped off the moving stairs after him, looking away with a tiny huff. "Yes, of course he would. Big bouquets, in fact, full of a whole variety of blooms. They were actually quite lovely… but…" I raised the flowers up to my nose once more, hiding my small grimace behind them. "...well, there was just always a reason… an event or something. Just because etiquette would demand it. And they were never winter honeysuckles. I don't think he even knew they were my favorite. He never… asked…"

Lea pinched the bridge of his nose with a grumbling sigh. "This guy sounds more n' more like a total tool with each new thing I hear about him. Ugh, forget him," he brightened, linking our hands together once more, leading us onward.

We passed a magic shop bearing a glittery sign that read Sorcerer's Apprentice, inside which were two old dudes, each with beards more ridiculously long and grey than the last, plus a younger blonde gentleman with a goatee and several piercings, his hands shuffling what was most likely a trick deck of playing cards. Neighboring that establishment was the Blue Sitar, a musical instrument store with some guy snoozing behind the counter, his hair at war with itself, not quite sure whether it was a mohawk or a mullet.

My attention was drawn back to Lea as he chimed in once more, "Besides, we have way more important concerns to be thinking about." He turned his head to the right and his eyes lit up. "Like puppies!"

"Pup-?" the word was swallowed in a gasp as he dragged me into a run towards a store dubbed 101 Spots. A pet store, to be exact, as I quickly learned when we passed through its doors and my ears were greeted with a chaotic chorus of woofs, meows, and chirps. Both eyebrows shot up my forehead as I glanced around, "...is this the surprise?"

"Nah, this is just a detour," he chuckled, releasing my hand to squat down and reach forward, fingers beckoning towards a dalmation near the cashier counter. The dog's ears perked up curiously for a second, then it gave an excited bark and barreled into his arms, nearly toppling Lea to the ground. It seemed the two were already old pals, if the way the canine's tail thumped against the carpet was any indication.

I tilted my head. "For puppies?"

"Well yeah! Always detour for puppies! Isn't that right, Mr Slobber-Drool-Face? Yes it is!" he squished the dalmation's face between his hands, using his baby-talk voice as it responded by enthusiastically giving him doggie-kisses.

Oh dear. Lea liked dogs.

"Is that the spot right there, buddy?" he asked as his four-legged friend flopped onto its back expectantly and Lea obliged, both hands giving vigorous belly scritches. "Oh yeah, that's definitely the spot! Woojy-woojy-woo!"

Like… really, really liked dogs.

My crush was soaring to dangerous new heights.

Clearing my throat, I tucked my flower into my bag, leaving the petals poking out the top so they didn't get smashed. Then I kneeled down beside him so I could reach down and scratch behind the dog's ear. It lapped at my palm and I grinned. "You looking to take this one home?"

"That's Pongo," a new voice spoke up. I looked up to see the woman with blonde hair done up into a bun smiling at me from behind the counter. Anita, or so her nametag boasted. "And he's not for sale. He and Perdita," she looked fondly down at a second dalmatian sleeping nearby, "belong to my husband and me. Perdita will be having puppies soon though, so you may want to check back in a few weeks."

"I like to stop in and give Pongo and all the other puppers here some wub whenever I can," Lea cooed, playfully wrastling the dog into a hug.

My eyes crinkled as I watched him play with the pooch for another minute, then I stood up once more, deciding to take a look around. I meandered slowly, reaching into the low pens as I passed by to give quick pats to dogs, cats, and bunnies, running my fingers lightly along the bars of bird cages as their occupants quizzically cocked their feathered heads at me before I moved on.

Finally I came to a stop in front of the puppy pen. And I didn't mean that in the same way Lea did, who seemed to call everything that barked and ran on all fours a puppy, regardless of the animal's true age. These were actual puppies. There were a bunch of children on the other side of the pen that had gathered most of the puppies into a joyful frenzy over there. However, there was one that was staying back, ears at attention as it sat on its haunches and stoically watched the others frolic. Put quite simply, it was a pure ball of fluff, white and poofy. It had to be more fur than dog.

"Hey there little guy," I murmured, getting its attention as I bent down over the enclosure. It backed up a step, lowering into a crouch and giving the hand I offered it a tiny growl, which was more cute than threatening. "It's alright," I soothed patiently, still holding out my hand. The snarling subsided and after a hushed pause, it tentatively crept forward to snuffle at my hand before giving it a timid lick. "Ah, I see," I laughed, sticking both hands in now to pick the puppy up and hold it in front of my face, "not such a tough guy after all, huh? No, you're just a big ol' softie deep down."

Its stubby tail began to wag and it replied with a small yip.

"You don't say?" I smiled back, cradling it in my arms now and taking one of its paws in my hand. "Look at those feet. You're going to be a big fellah, aren't you? Do you have a name?" Another yip. I scanned the puppy corral, but didn't see any signs listing names. Ruffling the cushy fur of its tummy, I told it, "Well you look like a Marshmallow to me."

"Quick," Lea suddenly appeared at my shoulder, whispering into my ear, "you distract everyone with your feminine wiles and I'll stuff the pup down my shirt to smuggle him out of here."

I snerked, not taking my eyes off the poof as I tapped a finger to its wet nose. "Ah, so this is the one you're going to get. Good choice."

"Me? Nah," he shook his head as his hand went to pet it and it repaid him by treating his fingers like a chew toy. He didn't seem to mind. "Saïx would murder me execution style if I ever brought a dog home."

I turned to look up at him now, arching an eyebrow. "But I thought you said Saïx loved dogs."

"Nope. Other way around, they love him. He just suffers their presence. Does lead to some pretty funny interactions though whenever he crosses paths with one. But no, I meant you. How 'bout it, wanna give this lil tyke a home?"

"Oh no," I sighed sadly, shifting the puppy in my arms and it took the opportunity to flick my nose with its pink tongue as I did so. "Unfortunately, pets aren't allowed in my apartment complex. But maybe when I get my own place."

His head rocked back slightly, "Huh? Already have plans to move out? But you just got there."

"Situation's temporary. My room's a future baby nursery, so I need to find a place before junior arrives in a few months." I nuzzled the critter's snoot. "Hopefully I'll find somewhere nice that allows dogs and I can get a little cutie like this guy to just snuggle with in bed all day."

"Mmm," he hummed. I could feel his hand trailing down the length of my ponytail, running it through his fingers and letting it slowly slip free strand by strand as he mumbled, "Sounds like that would be nice to come home to." Then he tensed beside me, snatching his hand back to instead scratch a spot behind his ear, "Er… that is… I mean you make… coming home to a dog sound nice. Heh."

I made a noncommittal noise in my throat, stroking a curled finger under the puppy's chin.

"...I'm going to have to take the lil mutt away from you, aren't I?" I heard Lea ask.

"Chances are good, yes."

"Alright, fuzzball, time to go back to your pen before the pretty lady commits grand theft doggo," he scooped the pooch from my arms. It growled at him and he just snorted as he plopped it down into the enclosure, "Oh yeah, so scary. Got me shaking in my stylish-yet-sensible Chuck Taylors."

Would-Be-Marshmallow ran up to the plastic fence, whimpering at me and giving me the full force of its sad puppy-dog stare. I tucked in my bottom lip, my hands already reaching for it again, "Maybe I should just-"

"Nope, let's go," he snagged my hand and started leading me towards the exit. "Don't make eye contact, that's how they get ya. One look and bam! You're powerless to resist their evil, doggie mind games."

I let him guide me back out of the store, offering little resistance beyond a tiny pout. It wasn't until he led us onto another escalator that I snapped out of my sulking. I furrowed my brow, looking down, "Wait, we're descending."

One step below me, he turned to face me with a smirk. This was one of the rare occasions he was at my eye level without having to stoop. "Yes, that more or less tends to happen on down escalators."

"But why?" I frowned.

His head tipped slightly to the left. "...I'm guessing you're looking for an answer more sophisticated than, 'to get to the first floor.'"

I rolled my eyes, "Yes, I mean why-" I stopped, realization dawning on me and my eyelids drooped. "...did we seriously only go to the second floor so you could pet the dogs?"

"Puppies," he corrected then shrugged, "and yes. It was on the way."

"No, no… if it requires taking an up escalator to get there, then a down escalator to get back on track, that is by definition out of the way."

He lifted his chin with a sniff, "Puppies are never out of the way."

I shook my head at him, "You have a problem."

"Says the puppy snatcher."

"I did not-"

"Oh-ho, but you wanted to. Could see it in your eyes, El," he leaned forward, pointing to his own gaze. "Lucky I was there to save you from going down a dark path from which there's no turning back."

I gave a huff through my nose and deadpanned, "My hero."

"That's right, babycakes. And don't heroes always get a kiss from their lady fairs in honor of their heroic deeds?" His hands shifted to cover mine on the rubber handrails and he leaned in further still, his nose brushing mine, his eyes hooded.

Cue the conga drum beat that was the hammering of my heart.

Gosh, he really did just so love using this pretend boyfriend act to mess with my head, didn't he?

Well, nope. Nu uh. Not today, you stupid blush! Turn around and march yourself back to wherever you came from because this face ain't buying what you're selling.

I rocked back on my heels a bit, regaining a little space between us as I turned my head away. "Well, if you head back to 101 Spots, I'm sure Perdita would love to slobber you with those kisses."

Snerking, he stepped off the escalator as we reached the bottom, muttering, "Was worth a shot." As I followed him onto the ground floor, he grabbed hold of my shoulders and guided me a few steps further before bringing us to a stop. "Here we are!" he proclaimed, flourishing his hands out before us, "Ta-da!"

My nose scrunched up slightly. "...The Toy Box?" I read the colorful sign hanging over the archway before me that opened up into (you guessed it) a children's toy store. It seemed business was currently slow, for inside all I could see was one employee by himself, wearing a kiddie cowboy hat too small for his head and galloping around on a stick horse to amuse himself.

"Huh?" Lea followed my gaze then tsked under his breath. "No, not that. That." He pivoted me slightly so I was instead looking at the next business over. Above its entrance flashed big, neon letters spelling out Hot Wheels. They were punctuated by a blinking image of a pair of old fashioned four-wheeled skates leaving a trail of cartoon fire in their wake.

"A roller rink?" I asked slowly and uncertainly.

"Yup! C'mon!" And with that, he weaved our fingers together once more and pulled me through the doors.

The place was huge inside, with eighties synth-pop blasting out from the overhead speakers. The ambient lighting was dim, but you'd hardly notice what with all the glowing neon rainbow tubes twisting and stretching along the walls, the iridescent laser light show dancing to and fro, and the spotlights darting about all over the large arena that was taking up a majority of the space. It was jam-packed with roller skaters laughing and having a good time.

Lea led me over to a long counter immediately to the right of where we'd entered. The cashier across from us was a chick with short, choppy black hair that had a few streaks of violet in it. She said nothing, just crossed her arms and stared at us, chewing her bubblegum and looking unimpressed.

"Hey Go Go!" Lea chirped at her, holding up a pair of fingers. "Two sets of skates please!"

Bored stare not letting up, she merely blew a bubble and remained silent. For a second, I almost thought she hadn't heard him over the blare of the music. But then the gum burst and she gave a flat, "This her?" Her eyes gave me a quick once over before narrowing on Lea. "She's too good for you, Red."

"Don't I know it!" he laughed before shifting over to mime cupping his hands over my ears, "But don't let her hear you say that, otherwise she might finally come to her senses and dump my sorry ass!"

Her eyelids drooped and she blew another bubble. Tough crowd, it seemed. With another pop, she turned her back to us, grabbing a few things off the shelf behind her before dropping them down on the countertop in front of us. "You know where the lockers are," was all she said as I looked down at the padlock and two pairs of roller skates - the smaller set powder blue while the others a blinding red.

"Sure do! Thanks, Go Go," Lea beamed, gathering everything up and tucking it under one arm.

I cocked my head at her, "But I didn't even tell you my shoe size, how-"

Once again, I was being dragged away by Lea's hand on mine. I tripped but caught myself, glancing over at him as we walked towards some benches. He grinned, "Don't worry, they'll fit. Like me, she's got a gift," he tapped an index finger to his temple. "Except instead of ice cream, it's skate size."

Okay… strange talent.

But couldn't argue with results. They fit like a glove. As I tightened and tied my rentals, I glanced over at Lea out of the corner of my eye while he did the same with his. Roller-skating, huh? Not what I'd expected. Then again, I'd had no idea what to expect. But this could be fun. Plus, maybe I could look at this as another opportunity to initiate PDA. Couples roller-skating was an optimal time to do that, right? Right! I just needed to look for my opening and, I don't know… just grab his hand, something like that.

Alright. Mission Make A Move was in motion.

Maybe.

We'll see.

It wasn't long before both Lea and I had finished lacing up and stowed our shoes away into a locker along with the rest of our belongings we wouldn't need. I followed him to one of the few openings in the barriers surrounding the rink. "Ever roller-skated before?" he asked, stepping out into the oval arena just as the song You Spin Me Round started playing over the sound system.

"No," I shook my head, padding across the carpet and stopping at the edge of the ring. I watched as his wheels glided him into a half-spin with ease, coming to a stop when he faced me. Clearly, this wasn't his first rodeo. I shrugged, "But I used to ice skate, so shouldn't be a problem."

"Shouldn't be," he hummed a chuckle, eyes crinkling. Then he rolled back a few steps, making room for me and gesturing for me to proceed, "Have at it then."

I took a step onto the glossy surface, stumbled and nearly faceplanted.

I say nearly because Lea was there in the blink of an eye to catch my arms and steady me, giving a loud snort through his nose. "Dunno how much your ice skating background is gonna help ya here. Blades and wheels? Not the same thing. Ice and hardwood? Not-"

"-the same thing. Got it," I grumbled, my legs wobbling as I struggled to keep my balance, my fingers squeezing his forearms hard.

He smiled down at me before cautiously releasing one of my arms so he could about-face, shifting to my side. There, he took my other hand and tucked it into the crook of his elbow before his feet pushed off, coasting at the speed of molasses. Me, being on teeny-tiny tires, had little choice but to be towed along with him as he said, "Ice and roller-skating are two sides of the same coin, but still totally different animals. Your muscle memory is probably gonna work against ya for a bit. Your body will expect things to work one way and react accordingly only to be surprised when the physics of it all is totally outta whack."

"Thanks for the lecture, professor. I think I'll figure it out." I tested moving one foot forward, slipped and desperately tightened my grip on him to stay upright. "...eventually," I amended, both my arms hugging his bicep close now.

Did this count as making a move?

I don't think it did. It was more like advancing a move already in progress and not even one that I'd started myself in the first place.

Maybe I should concentrate less on making a move and more on just not falling flat on my rear.

Consider the mission scrapped.

"So… you were an ice skater?" he asked conversationally.

I nodded, trying out another step while still using him for support. This one went marginally better. "I took lessons for a few years as a kid. My parents' idea. Supposedly, it improves posture, balance, flexibility and coordination, all in the pursuit of excellence," I recited dryly. "But even though it was just another tool they used to mold me into being their perfect little girl, I still found it fun despite all that. I actually enjoyed it quite a lot. I was sad when they ended my lessons once they'd decided I'd outgrown it."

"Ah," he continued creeping us along at a lazy pace while I grew more bold and determined in my attempts to figure out how to make the cursed roller-skates bend to my will and obey me. "That explains why all your movements are so graceful."

"Graceful?" my head snapped up to look at him before I gave a derisive snort. "No, not at all, I'm a total klutz."

"Sometimes," he agreed, pulling to a stop and curving around to stand in front of me now as he hunched forward to look me in the eye, one corner of his lips twitching up. "But that's cute too."

Bam.

Shot through the heart.

Which, coincidentally, were the lyrics that'd just sung out over the speakers as the music switched to You Give Love A Bad Name.

As my brain scrambled to come up with a response, any response to that, a huge smirk suddenly flashed across his face and he declared, "And spin!"

"Wha-?"

Taking both my hands in his, he leaned back and started swinging us both around into a twirl together. Or perhaps death spiral would be the more appropriate term for it. I squeaked as we gained speed, our surroundings blurring more and more together, my feet scrambling to keep the wheels from slipping out from underneath me.

"Don't worry, I won't let you fall," Lea called, still grinning like a madman.

And oddly enough, I took comfort in those simple words. I shyly smiled back and my muscles began to relax. Once I stopped fighting the spin, it went a lot more smoothly. I laughed as my ponytail whipped about from the centripetal force.

He abruptly slowed us to a stop and I staggered at the sudden change, but he caught me around the waist with one arm, pulling me up against him. "I got you," he reassured, panting a bit from energy expended on the twirl. I just breathed a small chuckle and his gaze softened as it flicked from my eyes over to my ponytail, which had swung itself forward over my shoulder when we'd stopped spinning. He brought his free hand up to twist a platinum tendril around one finger. "...why don't you ever wear your hair down?"

"My…?" I blinked at the random question that'd seemingly popped up out of the blue. My gaze averted and shifted about. "Well, I… I guess I never really thought about it. Just to keep it out of my face, I suppose."

Lea watched his fingers as they continued to play with the strands. "Your hair is just really pretty. It looks… I mean, I can... imagine how nice it must look down."

That blush came a-knocking again. And this time my face, being the utter fool that it was, let it in.

I suddenly shot out one arm to the side, pointing a finger and blurting out, "Go over there."

He spluttered and snerked. "Seriously? Just cuz I'm a fan of your hair, you're banishing me?"

"Th-that's not- no, I just-" I stammered, looking down with a frown. "I want to try and see if I can skate on my own for a bit."

"Oh." He tipped his head. "You sure you're ready for that?"

"Won't know until I try. Now," I flicked my hand dismissively at him, "shoo."

Releasing me, he started skating backwards. "Fine. I'll be right here though if ya need me," he said, stopping just a few feet in front of me.

Now shakily standing under my own power, I moved one foot forward to attempt a glide. I teetered and I saw him tense, ready to spring into action and rescue me. However I steadied myself, shooting him a tiny warning glare. He backed off, raising his hands in surrender. I sighed then told him, "Turn around."

His head reeled back, "What?!"

"Turn around," I insisted, rolling slowly forward now, feet lurching and arms darting stiffly about to maintain my balance. He began drifting backwards, maintaining the same space between us. "I can't do this with you looking at me. I feel self conscious."

He beamed. "But I like looking at you! It gives me the warm fuzzies inside," he announced loudly into the sudden hush as the last song ended so all the other skaters around us could no doubt hear.

How I didn't pancake onto the hardwood right then and there will forever remain a mystery to me.

This guy, I swear. The lengths he was willing to go to to sell the whole boyfriend act would never cease to amaze me. Feeling that familiar warmth creep back up into my cheeks as Take On Me started to play, I snapped, "Just turn around!"

"Alright already, jeez," he sniggered, rotating away from me to face forward now while still maintaining the same snail speed.

"No peeking," I told him sternly.

Lea gave an exasperated laugh, "I'm not! I'm not peeking!"

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously on his back as I wobbled my way into another step. Then I had a thought. Perhaps now would be the opportune moment to give the whole PDA thing another shot. I was already starting to get the hang of roller-skating. If I could catch up to him, I could go for the hand or… or hug the arm or something! Just for the sake of maintaining appearances, of course. You know, just... keeping up my half of this whole pretend girlfriend-boyfriend deal. My motives were strictly professional and had nothing to do with a certain little, teensy-weensy crush that would never, ever even see the light of day.

Yeah, okay, let's do this.

Mission Make A Move was back on.

Alright, step one: reaching him.

...that might take some doing.

In the meantime, we'll instead work on step zero: small talk.

"Do you come here a lot?" I asked, unsteadily picking up speed and trying to close the gap. "You seem pretty good at it."

"The kiddos and I goof around here from time to time," he scissored his skates, leisurely weaving his feet in and out and in again. "Been doing it for a while now, so I've picked up a few things. Not gonna be going pro anytime soon, but I get by."

I attempted to mimic his actions with my own skates and failed miserably, floundering a bit before stabilizing. At least the fumble had brought me a few inches closer. "I'm sure you've brought a girl or two here before too."

He shook his head with a chuckle, "Nah. Never really made any stops along the way between the bar and my apartment when taking a lady friend home. But… I always did think this might be a fun place to take a gal on a date."

Realization struck.

"Wait!" my foot slipped, I staggered and flailed before catching myself. "Is this a date?!"

"Heh, sorta?" his hand went to the nape at the neck, tugging at the hairs there. "More of a mini-date? Or just… chilling together cuz we enjoy the pleasure of each other's dazzling company so much!"

"This is a date!" I repeated, stomping after him furiously now. Which, let me tell you, was not effective in skates at all. But through sheer force of will alone, I managed to get a bit closer. "I was supposed to pay for the next date!"

"And you have!"

I swear I could hear the smirk in his voice.

"I most certainly have not!"

Almost there now.

"Have too! It was free. Me and Go Go are tight, like this," he held up one hand, crossing his index with his middle finger, "so I gots the hookups!"

A growling huff escaped me. "Cheater. This doesn't count, I'm paying for the next one."

"This so counts! Next one's on me, you can cover the one after that."

I scoffed. "And give you time to figure out how to con the system again? I don't think so, you-"

I suddenly tripped over the toe stop of my left skate and toppled forward, crashing hard into Lea's back, my arms instinctively latching around his waist. He grunted in surprise and swayed, but managed to keep us both upright and standing. As I hung onto him as if my life depended on it, fingers clutching at the front of his shirt, face buried in his back and inhaling his cinnamon scent mixed with the hint of pizza that still clung to his clothes from having gotten off work not too long ago, it slowly sunk in…

Mission accomplished.

Move made.

...albeit accidentally.

But still!

One small step for Elsa, one giant leap for introvert-kind everywhere.

Maybe the next one I'd actually do on purpose.

Cheeks burning now, I awkwardly cleared my throat as I relaxed my grip on the fabric of his Pizza Planet polo and started to withdraw my arms, mumbling, "Sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Don't," Lea said quickly, covering my hands with his and squeezing, forcing them to stay put right where they were. I could feel him pushing us off into a slow glide once more. "Don't… worry about it. It's fine, I don't mind. Take all the time you need to regain your footing."

"...thank you," I muffled into his shoulder blade. Then I hesitated, gnawing on my bottom lip. "...you know… for a guy who's never been an actual boyfriend before, you're actually really good at this."

I could feel his laugh rumble through his whole chest. "Thanks," he said, gently pulling on my arm to bring me around to his side so he could look down at me as he slung an arm over my shoulders, all while making sure my arms remained firmly secured around his midsection. There was a faint redness to his face, probably from the exertion of all this roller-skating. I could only hope he'd assume that was my excuse too. "I guess I was just waiting for the right person to come waltzing into my life." Then he winked and grinned, "That person being your uncle of course."

Eyes widening, I stumbled again, grasping Lea more tightly. "My… you mean the Duke?"

"Hell yeah, the Duke! Talk about silver fox! I mean, hot damn, mamma may I!" he fanned himself with his free hand.

Snorting, I shook my head. "I guess the heart wants what the heart wants."

He chuckled, rubbing his hand up and down my arm. "Seriously though, if it weren't for his Royal High-And-Snootiness marching into the food court and unleashing all holy hell, you and I wouldn't be here doing this right now. I wouldn't be unlocking and realizing my full boyfriend potential and you," he poked the tip of my nose, "wouldn't be experiencing all the joys that come with being the lucky recipient of such attention. He's the one that started it all."

"I suppose that's true," I nodded as I tried to mirror the way his feet moved. How did he make it look so easy?

"And I like to think we have fun with it too," he smiled down at me.

I returned it. "We do."

"Good. On that note," he reached down, unfastening my arms from his waist as he announced, "let's make like a pair of professional roller rinkers and dance!" Taking my hand in his, he whipped me into a couple tight spins.

"Roller rinkers?" I laughed softly when I came to a shaky stop, one hand going to his chest to steady myself. "Don't think that's a real term."

"Hey now, who's the one who actually knows how to skate here?" he smirked, twirling me out wide now. "Trust me, I know the lingo."

I rolled my eyes as he pulled me back in. "My mistake. Forgive me for questioning you, oh supreme fountain of roller-skating knowledge."

"Damn skippy! Now for the flashy finish," his hand went to the small of my back and he bent me backwards into a low dip, waggling his eyebrows at me as he did so.

And that's when it all went wrong.

For you see, I don't think nature ever intended for one human being to dip another while both had tiny wheels attached to their feet.

"Motherfu-" that's all Lea got out before our skates shot out from beneath us and we both went crashing painfully to the floor, him on top of me.

I heard him groan, then, "Shit! El, you okay?!" He hastily braced himself up onto his hands, hovering over me and eyes full of concern.

"Fine," I winced, my fingers going to rub the sore spot at the back of my head. "Let's just… leave the dancing to the professional roller rinkers from now on, okay?"

Relieved, he gave a low breathy laugh and pushed himself back to sit on his knees. "That sounds like quitter talk and I won't stand for it."

I sat up, propping my palms against the cold hardwood behind me. "Good, better not to stand period. Less chance of falling that way."

"C'mon, you. Back on the horse," he grinned, drawing a knee up to his chest to get one skate under him followed by the other before standing and reaching his hands down towards me.

With a sigh, I took them and let him pull me back up to my feet. "Alright, but no more dipping."

One arm encircling my shoulders once more, his eyes crinkled. "I make no such promises."

That earned him an elbow to the ribcage.

Author's Note: Here, have the latest batch of lil references I've baked up fresh out of the oven xP I actually don't have any fun facts for this chapter, I just simply delighted in getting to expand on the mall a bit and injecting more gooey, mushy fluff xD Personally, this is up there for one of my fave chapters of the whole story, haha!

Next chapter, will our couple continue to perfect their fake dating skillz? How will their actual relationship keep developing and evolving? Will Elsa ever successfully "make a move" on purpose? Will the two of them ever realize their as yet unspoken dream of being professional roller rinkers and take the skating world by storm? Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading, I super duper appreciate it! And an extra BIG thank you to those of you who’ve liked, reblogged, and followed so far, seeing those lil notifications always brings the biggest, goofiest smile to my face!

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

15 notes · View notes

destieldrabblesdaily · 6 years ago

Note

hello there (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ I'm pretty new to destiel and just found your blog because I wanted to look into some fanfics and someone recommended & turns that you have like a billion one shots for destiel! love your writing style but, I'm not sure where to start in your drabbles tag because it's soooo much (ﾟдﾟ) can u maybe point me to some popular ones or some that you preferred writing or something like that to get me started? thank you anyway (ʘ‿ʘ)ノ✿

Hey friend!

Ahh, I totally get you. :p A billion is a bit ambitious, but with like 400 stories in one tag and no way to sort, it might get tricky. *sweats nervously for not having a better tagging system*

But anyway, you rock for finding my blog and liking my style, so here is a little something to help you out! For starters, a lot of my stories are also on AO3, which is still a realm of chaos, but is a hell of a lot easier to navigate than my tumblr tag.

Anyway, here is a little map to get you started, sorted by my most popular Destiel fics (according to AO3), and ones I personally just loved writing!

—

Canon!Verse fics, most popular:

1) CursedTeam Free Will is hunting a witch, but before she dies she turns Cas into a kitten. They can’t find a cure, and after two weeks everyone is losing hope. One night when Cas is sleeping on Dean’s chest, the curse fades and he turns into himself again. As Dean’s luck would have it, Sam walks into the living room seeing Dean sprawled out on the couch with a very naked Castiel on top of him.

2) JealousyWhen Dean, Sam and Castiel are having a drink at a bar after a hunt, Dean finds Cas flirting with a guy, and suddenly realizes something about his own feelings for the angel…

3) Dream A Little DreamCastiel goes after a Djinn but gets captured, and of course his dream world is all about Dean and him being happy together, so he’s very disappointed when Dean and Sam save him and he wakes up…

4) With A Little Help From My FriendDean is really nervous about finally telling Castiel how he feels, so he practices over Skype with Charlie. Naturally, Cas chooses that exact moment to drop by, and ends up hearing the whole thing…

5) WhiteboardFor a while now, there has been a whiteboard in Dean’s room. When failing to say the words out loud, there’s always the option to write them down. So that’s exactly what Castiel suggests, and Dean humors him, the two of them finding new ways to understand and forgive each other by working through some issues from both the present and the past.

—

Soulmate AU’s, most popular:

1) What Can’t Be SeenSoulmate AU where you first see color after eye contact: Cas is a famous best selling author and he’s promoting his book, so he’s talking to a crowd of people and suddenly his world is in color, and a lot of his fans pretend to be his soulmate. A Cinderella type situation ensues.

2) The PendantAU where instead of a tattoo/name everyone’s born with a pendant/charm necklace that matches their soulmate’s. Dean walks into their bathroom thinking it’s empty, but there’s Cas taking off his shirt to take a shower and Dean sees his necklace (that matches Dean’s, obviously) and freaks out (because Dean is totally 100% NOT gay at all). Bonus if Cas already knows.

3) Daffodils & Forget-Me-NotsSoulmate AU where when you write something on your skin with pen/marker/whatever the hell you want, it will show up on your soulmate’s skin as well.

—

High School AU’s, most popular:

1) No HomoFor the prompt: ‘I wasn’t gay, but then I kissed you in front of some homophobes to piss them off, and turns out I might be kinda gay for you after all’. In which a kiss makes Dean realize that he has feelings for his best friend.

2) This Game We PlayDean and Castiel have been best friends since they were little, and sleepovers are a common event. They’ve always loved playing the game where they draw out letters on each others backs and try to guess what the other is writing. Even though sixteen seems to be a bit too old to still play the game, Castiel uses it as a chance to silently confess something that he’s been wanting to share with Dean for a long time.

3) Camping and CuddlesDean and Castiel have been best friends since forever, and they decide to go on a camping trip to celebrate graduating high school. When it starts raining and Cas’ tent turns out to have a huge hole in it, the boys are forced to share Dean’s tent, and things heat up.

4) The CallCastiel accidentally butt dials his best friend Dean, and Dean overhears a conversation that wasn’t meant for his ears. Or: the one in which Dean finds out that his best friend has feelings for him.

5) Practice Makes Perfect‘It’s not gay if it’s practice, but shit that was actually really nice wanna practice some more?’ Or, the one in which Dean offers to help his best friend Cas improve his kissing skills, until it’s no longer just ‘practice’.

(If you are particularly into High School AU’s, I also made a complete list of al my HS AU’s that you can find here –> Click!

—

College/Roommate AU’s, most popular:

1) What It MeansDean’s roommate and best friend Castiel always says ‘I love you’ to him every night before they go to sleep. Seeing as Dean has some serious feelings for his friend, he can’t take the confusion any longer and one night asks Cas what it means when he says ‘I love you’.

2) If At First You Don’t SucceedFor the prompt: “Wait, did you just flirt with me?“ “Have been for the past year, but thanks for noticing.

”Dean has a huge crush on his friend Castiel, with whom he also shares an apartment. When he decides that he finally wants to woo Cas, everything that could possibly go wrong, does indeed go wrong.

3) UnbrokenDean’s best friend and roommate Castiel is asexual, and it’s causing Cas a lot of trouble when it comes to dating. Cas feels broken, but Dean deeply disagrees; he’d be with Cas in a heartbeat, if only Cas would see him as more than a friend…

4) Safe And SoundFor the prompt: ‘College!AU where Dean and Cas are roommates and one of them is afraid of thunder, so naturally they have to huddle/cuddle together until the storm is over.’

5) Hot & ColdDean and his best friend Castiel get stuck in the middle of nowhere when the Impala’s engine gives up on them. A snowstorm is raging, and it seems that the only way to keep warm is a method that sounds a lot like ‘naked cuddling’. Not that Dean is complaining.

—

Blind/Deaf AU’s, most popular:

1) Through Your EyesDean’s best friend Castiel is blind, which is why Cas loves it whenever Dean describes the things as he sees them. When Castiel gets curious and wants more details about Dean’s looks, Dean is reluctant to go into detail about them. Castiel’s solution is simple, and demands nothing more than a gentle touch.

2) At First SightDean has been blind since he was four years old, but at 18 years old he regains his sight through special surgery. This also means that he will finally be able to actually see his boyfriend Castiel for the first time. Castiel is excited, but at the same time utterly terrified that Dean won’t approve of his looks…

3) MisunderstandingsWhen the handsome new student Castiel Novak arrives at Lawrence High, Dean has every intention of making him feel welcome. However, Castiel seems to ignore Dean whenever Dean tries to talk to him…

4) DeliciousImagine your OTP, based on this text post: ‘Okay, so I’m a waitress at this restaurant that’s open really late and it’s nearly 1am and this family comes in and I’m so tired that I handed their BLIND SON a menu and he’s like “ah… thank you… I’ll just… read this” in a serious voice and I fucking snorted.'With blind!Dean and waiter!Cas.

—

Personal favorites to write:

1) Her Favorite Love StoryThe story of Dean and Castiel as seen through Mary Winchester’s eyes; AKA how she witnesses her oldest son fall in love with his best friend.

2) The MatchmakerBased on this prompt: “My cat keeps breaking into your apartment next to mine, so I tied a note to its collar to apologize, and you write back. We keep exchanging cat notes, and you turn out to be pretty cute.”

3) WingsWhen ten year old Dean Winchester and his family move to a new town, he becomes best friends with the boy next door, who happens to be an actual angel. Dean is fascinated with Castiel’s wings from the start, however when they get older, Cas suddenly starts hiding them and no longer wants Dean to groom them for him.

4) BlackboardsFor the prompt: 'Dean and Cas are both high school teachers, and they leave each other cute notes on each others’ black boards.’

5) To Date a DickCas is out on a date with a complete and utter asshole in a really nice restaurant, and Dean is their waiter who feels the need to intervene.

6) Angel Grace (2 Parts)Dean Winchester loves going to conventions to meet the cast of his favorite TV show 'Angel Grace’. Aside from being good at his job, lead actor Castiel Novak is charming, handsome, and has a heart of gold. Like many fans, Dean has a serious crush on the guy. However after meeting Castiel several times, it’s starting to look like Dean’s crush isn’t as one sided as Dean had always assumed it was.

—

Holiday Specials:

❄ Destiel Drabbles: December/Christmas Edition Fluffy Christmas-themed Destiel stories to warm the cockles of your heart during the cold December days!

❄ All I Want For ChristmasDuring a big family get together, a drunk Castiel starts singing ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ to his best friend Dean while the whole family watches.

🕷Destiel Drabbles: Halloween EditionSome fluffy Halloween themed Destiel drabbles. Happy Halloween!

🕷Kiss Or TreatCastiel has been dutifully handing out Halloween candy all night, entertaining the many kids ringing the Novak house’s doorbell, but he’s in for a big surprise when the bell rings once more and it’s his crush Dean Winchester suddenly standing there on his front porch…

🕷Of Holding Hands and Haunted HousesFor the prompt: 'You’re scared of haunted houses and Halloween attractions, and I don’t even know you but your friends left you behind (what dicks) so I’m gonna hold your hand and get you through this, alright?’

♥Valentine’s DayFor the prompt: 'Cas anonymously sending Dean one of those school Valentine’s Day flowers with a little personalized note, thinking that someone as popular as Dean won’t notice his message anyway because he gets so many. Little does he know that Dean sent one to him as well…’

—

If you feel like reading a multi-chapter Destiel fic, I wrote one of those as well:

Fortune CookiesDean and his best friend Jo own a bakery together. When a salesman named Crowley visits Dean to make a deal, Dean has no idea of the consequences, and his world turns upside down when an actual angel literally crashes into his life. For the first time in his thirty-year-existence, Dean is overwhelmed by real companionship, wings, and most of all… love.

—

Or for easily reading and clicking through short fluffy (mostly canon!verse) Destiel stories, go here:

~ 100 Days of Destiel Drabbles ~

Or here:

~ 30 Days of Destiel Drabbles ~

—

Hope this was helpful, and happy reading! :D (I really need to become a better tagger, ahum. :p)

#Anonymous #replies for ts #destiel #deancas #fic rec #sort of #long post for ts

309 notes · View notes

icewindandboringhorror · 5 years ago

Text

Questione...

Possibly just shouting out into the void, but wondering if anyone has some information on a game...

The game pieces are hexagons with two differently colored sides, and three numbers in sections on them. It’s a two player game (each player being one color), and the point is to try to put down your piece in a place that will flip as much of the board as possible to your color, based on what number is largest on the sides that are touching each other. Your goal is to have the majority of the board in your color at the end of the game (when all pieces are used up). You can also see the pieces your partner has, so part of the strategy is also predicting their moves/ basing yours on what they have to put down (like which side of the hexagon their largest numbers are on, etc.).... An example move looks like this image below (with Purple vs. Blue being the colors)

I was introduced to this playing a game on kongregate, called The End (link here even though the game itself doesn’t seem to work anymore and the official site for the game doesn’t either so idk), BUT this is not the main point of the game, it was just a mini-game inside the main game. I liked the mini-game so much I made my own version with pieces of cardboard, to have one I could play with others not solely within the kongregate game, but the nature of the game just seems like...something that there’d be a version of somewhere else?

I’ve tried googling like ‘hexagon numbers game’ ‘number tile flip game’, etc. and looked up the company that made the game as well, but as far as I’ve seen they don’t list much about it (this is just one tiny mini game within a tiny game out of many others I think are more popular) or etc., though there are some images of game development that make it seem like they created the concept themselves, they could have been inspired by something. Either way, this just seems like too enjoyable and cool of a game to be lost forever as merely a tiny mini-game hidden within a long abandoned flash game!!

---- So, my main question: Is anyone aware of anything similar to this?? Is this an actual game somewhere, that could be purchased as a boardgame or something?? If the game creators took inspiration from somewhere, is there a known game it’s based off of? OR, even if it is wholly their creation, is there at least anything else out there that operates very similarly?

Additional info (images and the videos I could find of gameplay) under the read more for extra details on how it works..

----------------------

Here’s a screencap of the actual game from some youtube video i found

And see there’s also some powers you can use to make the game more interesting, like for example a ‘+2′ power would allow you to add 2 points to one single side of your hexagon- so if you had a 6, you could make it an 8 and maybe then overcome your opponent’s 7 on that side, etc. (though you’re limited in how many you can use, obviously. The strategy is also picking the right ones). There are many of these, and I unfortunately don’t remember what they all are, so I can’t incorporate them into my handmade cardboard version T u T ;; , but they also added a neat twist !

Here’s a video I found of like, actual official gameplay, it’s from the people who made the game so it shows in good detail how the game actually works:

https://vimeo.com/23525726

and then here’s there website or like, something where they wrote stuff about the game -

https://preloaded.com/work/channel-4-education-end/

'The End’ was primarily like, just a usual jumpy puzzle platformer sort of game, the ‘death cards’ section was only a side-thing you did at the end of levels, if I remember correctly. Though for me I basically ONLY played the main game to earn additional powers (like the +2 bonus) for the side game, and pretty much spent all my time playing that instead gghg

But like.. LOOK at the gameplay!!... it’s just.. fun..I like the little strategies of going into corners or playing in a way where you try to trap pieces of your own color in places they can’t be turned or accessed by the opponent, and like how you can look at their numbers and predict their moves or etc. Idk it’s like one of those things where it still requires you to pay some amount of attention to what you’re doing, however it’s still casual and easy enough that you rarely have to sit down and intensely focus so it can kind of fill this tiny “Vaguely Occasionally Challenging But Primarily Just Relaxed And Fun” niche where it’s so enjoyable to just hang out and mindlessly play 10 rounds or so every once and a while when you have 30 minutes to waste or whatever..

So like idk,, I hope it’s an actual thing somewhere else???

Whenever I google anything like ‘hexagon number game’ or even specific stuff like ‘flip tile two player hexagon boardgame’ or ‘different color shape flip number game’ or ‘tile number game’, ‘ tile number game flip tile’ etc. It’s only ever stuff like this (or math learning games, or some weird rummy game) that comes up -

which from what I’ve seen, is not really the sort of thing that I’m looking for at all. I want something where you compare multiple numbers of one tile based on it’s placement on the board, flip tiles or something similar in order to win, basically the same mechanics/premise as ‘death cards’ etc.

It could very likely be that the people who made The End just made this from scratch with no inspiration and there’s like...not anything even remotely similar around, which would be unfortunate (since I’ll just have to stick to my cardboard version then lmao) , but I thought I could check with the masses first perhaps, since looking on my own for a little while I couldn’t find much.

Admittedly, I only looked for like 45 minutes or so but idk, usually if you can’t even find a hint of what you’re looking for after searching google for even 20 minutes then you’re either using wildly incorrect search terms (which maybe people could give me leads on better terms to search instead) or the thing you’re looking for is pretty obscure (in which case maybe someone out there still knows about it) so, idk.

I would just feel really bad for a premise that is really cool to die as only ever having been a mini game in some random browser game about philosophy or whatever. I would think maybe at some point the game-creators would release it on it’s own as a separate thing or something, but the game has been inactive for a while and whatever’s going on with it, I don’t think anyone seems to care that much, or is really rallying to bring it back or anything.

But anyway, I would just like to play this game in a more official way, somehow, if it actually exists somewhere?

Particularly due to the issue of game balance. In my handmade versions (since first drafting this post, I now have like 3 of them, experimenting with different tile shapes and amounts of tiles lol,, lov to become preoccupied with random concepts and spend hours making tiles out of cardboard), there’s really no way to completely ensure that there isn’t an element of luck involved.

Part of the reason I like some strategy games is that they can feel more like each person is starting out on a level playing field, and it’s all about just utilizing tools the right way, or what you can think about and come up with. You ‘’win’’ more by skill than just random chance. But with this being a numbers based game, inevitably, to some degree, a player with higher numbered pieces is more likely to win, which when the pieces are drawn randomly, is hard to control for.

In my cardboard versions, I handled this by making different colored marks on the center of the pieces, green for very good, purple for in the middle, and I think red for pieces that have mostly low numbers (which is based on what all the numbers add up to, like if all three numbers on a tile are over 22 (meaning there must at least be some 10s/9s/8s), they’re green, if they’re from 21 - 10 they’re purple, under 10 they’re red, etc. etc. Something like that, I don’t remember the exact numbers I used). Then each player gets a set amount of greens, reds, and purples, so each person will have an equal amount of good/bad/etc. pieces. But even this, I don’t feel is precise enough and am still concerned about it influencing the game results.

For the digital version, I’d guess there’s probably some sort of algorithm or something that like.. generates the numbers of the pieces in a way where each players pieces add up to a certain number, or something like that, so that one player can’t end up with ALL 10s (highest number in the game) on all sides of their hexagons, and the other has none. Obviously there will always be SOME element of chance, but I don’t know if it’s COMPLETELY randomized, as they must have done something to make it more even, I would imagine???

So, this is a main reason I’d like a more official version, if I could like.. buy a board-game that’s already been balanced for me, or play an online version of basically the same game etc. etc.

(Though if any of the 3 of you who have actually read this far have any advice on how to better balance my cardboard versions, please let me know! There may be a better solution than color coding into categories lol)

(ALSO it may be hard to imagine or boring looking if you’ve just watched videos of it and have never played but, hHH, trust me that it’s really cool! It’s one of my favorite games but, obviously it being relatively obscure and the main game it was attached to being now nonexistent, nobody is ever excited about the concept as much as I am lol... just try.. to imagine... )

ANYWAY!!!!... I just... really like this game for some reason and in my quest to find an actual version of it or something, now amplified by the fact that the actual game seems to not work anymore, I thought.. berhaps... other people in the general public would have suggestions or know of similar games (like with flipping tiles based on number calculation)???? sir, may I have some flipping hexagons based on number comparisons? please sir, some coloured hexagons flipped based on numbers?? sOME NUMBERED HEXAGON TILES ON A BOARdggh hvhjflkfnkelnhekltnhlnklkl kh iohnkl k;m klm klm

#completely random out of nowhere post but #I don't know how else to Reach The Public ghghjg #long post #one of the many many posts that's been in my drafts for over a year or two gghhhj

8 notes · View notes

fiftyshadesofsleigh · 6 years ago

Text

Christmas Incorporated (2015)

Starring: Shenae Grimes-Beech (Degrassi: The Next Generation) as Riley, and Steve Lund (Reign and a ton of Canadian shows, including the freaking reboot of Street Legal!) as William.

Street Cred: 9/10 Shenae was on Degrassi so I know she’s got this in the bag and Steve was on Haven. Both have a handful of TV movies under their Canadian belts. I have zero worries about this casting.

Official Synopsis: Riley lands an assistant position for a headstrong socialite who is being forced to play Scrooge and close one of his factories just weeks before Christmas. Riley slowly convinces him to visit the town and hatches a plan to keep the factory afloat.

What Really Happens: First of all, I feel like they use the term ‘socialite’ very loosely in this case. William is highly educated and seems to have been somewhat groomed to take over his father’s company, but he’s indecisive and self-conscious. Maybe because his father just died and he didn’t think things would happen so quickly. Just a thought.

Riley, on the other hand, is delightful. She’s qualified but unemployed (that’s how us millennial's roll, isn’t it?) and appropriately snarky when she’s told in an interview that they only hire candidates who are already employed since they’re looking for “the right job” and unemployed people are just looking for “a job”. Seems legit.

She ends up being hired as William’s personal assistant when she waves her opinions around in a room full of privileged white guys and impresses William. The only problem is that she’s the wrong Riley V! There was a resume mix up, but a job is a job, and she’s not going to point out their mistake because avocado toast doesn’t pay for itself, okay?

She calls her parents, who are suffering from Christmas throwing up in their house, and confesses to the deception. They seem okay with it. They know how hard it is out there for a working girl and they support her no matter what. Yeah, they’re those parents. Weird, right?

William sends Riley to Dover, where the factory in the synopsis is, to “prepare for his arrival”. What she actually does is befriend half the town and decorate the hell out of his gorgeous heritage rental home. There’s a great scene where the mayor of Dover forces the owners out of the house to make way for William to stay there. It’s a quick scene, but funny as hell.

We find out very quickly that William DOES NOT do Christmas. Instead, he rides his motorbike to Dover because he’s a bad boy...and promptly gets pulled over and detained for driving without a license or registration. Socialites, amirite? Riley bails him out and doesn’t ask why he has no luggage because Hallmark hand waving. She brought one small suitcase that must be a cousin to Mary Poppins’ carpet bag because she wears several different coats and outfits. Maybe she uses those vacuum suction bags.

Guess what William’s company makes. Go ahead, guess. TOYS! Bet you didn’t see that coming. At first glance the factory is horribly inefficient. Like, they didn’t even try to make it look plausible. Two people to take boxes off a conveyor belt and it attached to nothing? Where are the boxes coming from? Are they union?

Anyway, William isn’t really a Scrooge McDuck, he’s just kind of depressed because everyone he loves is dead. But we won’t mention that because CHRISTMAS MOVIE! The problem with the toy company is apparently they’re overstocked with boring, old toys! Their #1 seller, a talking bear (but not THAT talking bear) is passé kids want exciting, new toys like drones, and slime, and anything that will drive their parents batty and stain the carpet.

Riley comes up with an idea to reprogram the bears to be more hip and terrifying and if they can completely re-market and sell all the bears before Christmas (which is, of course, shockingly close), they’ll save the factory! To do this, they employ word of mouth, spam emails, a Creepy Magic Santa, and some seriously awkward scene extras. I mean it, spot the guy with the dark curly hair and just follow him through the groups scenes and you’ll see what I mean. This guy should have his own drinking game.

Riley and William do some flirty-datey things while a reporter from the local paper stalks them and publishes damning stories about William’s ability to do pretty much everything. In her sleuthing, the reporter discovers what HR couldn’t: that Riley is not the Riley William thinks she is!

Meanwhile, William finds out his Grandmother started the local ‘Carolvan’ and drags Riley along so they can both look very bored and unhappy while other people sing cheerfully in the back of a flatbed truck. They redecorate the house (a.k.a. Hallmark foreplay) and he reads to kids while Riley’s ovaries explode with potential, all of this culminating into Riley asking William to come home with her for Christmas. So of course this is when the reporter spills the beans about the mixed-up identities and Riley runs away over literal blankets of fake snow.

William is confused! He’s grumpy and sullen and not at all full of Christmas cheer so the Mayor of Dove smacks some sense into him following some weird editing and scene changes. This is what happens when there isn’t enough content to fill all two hours and three minutes of your movie.

The ending brings with it digitally added snow, the question of Riley’s parentage, and William taking Riley to the creepiest place he can find to ask if he can have her for Christmas.

Teacup’s Tidbits:

The one guy with lines on the board of William’s company is super shady. Someone check his basement for missing children

“We only hire people who are already employed” is the new “You’re overqualified for the position and should have something that challenges you”. We just want to pay rent and feed our cats, dammit!

On the other hand, she thinks she can start a new job in December and not have to work Christmas? Yeah, okay.

William is so sassy! Mr. Sheriff is not impressed

It’s nice of them to dress the mean reporter in black so we know she’s not on Team Christmas Love

This factory should absolutely be shut down. Pretty sure it’s just a front for money laundering

I bet if Mr. Dickhead Board Member knew that, he’d vote to keep it open

Hallmark should really issue an official apology to all Marketing professionals for grossly misrepresenting the hours and creativity their jobs require

That extra is laughing at nothing. He’s just standing there, raising his eyebrows and opening his mouth. I didn’t know Hallmark had the budget for anamatronics

I don’t think William was groomed very well for this job. He’s not Commodus-level incompetent, but Riley is going to be running the show in about 3 minutes (Bonus points if you know who Commodus was!)

Oh, Riley’s mom’s Rainbow Christmas sweater is amazing and I want it!

The inscription in his book looks like three different people wrote it. None of the writing matches and at least one of the people are only pretending they can write in cursive

The fake snow blankets are killing me.

Riley has very dark hair for someone whose parents are both super blonde. But she can’t be adopted or it would have been a plot point and this would have been a whole different movie

Why would “the wreckers” come when the truck breaks down? They’re just going to scrap the truck and all the merch on it? I think I know why the company is failing...

Pretty sure William is buying her love but I’m okay with it because it’s less “come work for/depend on me” and more “start your own company and build your brand while helping my company be successful” and Riley’s all “Hope you still like me, F U pay me!”

How I Would Fix This With Fic: Meh, this one was pretty good. I always think Shenae Grimes-Beech annoys me, but it’s because I keep mixing her up with Shailene Woodley. I liked this one, but I would probably throw some smut into the mix if it was fic and use William’s bad boy persona for all it’s worth.

Fics Like This: Good for something.. by Jalfie (Fallout: New Vegas, Vulpes Inculta/Male Sole Survivor), The drawing that brings us together by Darkly_Adorable (Harry Potter, Ron/Hermione), His Right Hand by redscudery (Sherlock, Johnlock) This one seriously tempts me to dip a toe back into the Sherlock fandom!

#holiday movies #Hallmark Movies #Christmas Incorporated

6 notes · View notes

kingkadence · 7 years ago

Note

Aaa I had someone ask me the same question and I realized after reading people's posts that being 'anti' about a ship is different than just not liking a ship, 'anti' means you think its morally reprehensible or something and 'antis' are known for judging and attacking people over ships. I was using the anti label up until about a month ago but dropped it as soon as I figured that out. I guess the term for just not liking a ship is notp?

Here! Is basic guide to not liking a ship (all my opinions based on what I’ve read, y’all r free to think what you’d like)

Lvl 1 - “disliking a ship”

You see content for a ship, might make you uncomfortable or put you in a bad mood. Maybe you don’t have a particular reason, you may just not be fond of it. Or hey! Maybe you just never thought of the characters seeing each other that way. Most of the time you see it, it’s new, it’s foreign, and you just never imagined them together. With this, it’s common that after a while of exposure you might even like it after a while! Or even just have a neutral opinion. Ur dislike isn’t too serious, you don’t talk about it unless someone brings it up, you’ll scroll, you mind ya own.

Lvl 2 - notp

You see it and it makes you… hhhh internally. If someone posts this you might scroll or even go as far as muting posts or unfollowing. The ship described in one word for u is just “No.” for whatever reason it may be. It might be because you don’t like the character the other is paired with, you might think that the fan base behind the ship is gross, you might just hate both character but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ who knows. Your resentment goes deep, and if you see someone post this kind of stuff, you will surely avoid it. You’ll go on a rant on how much you hate it if someone brings it up, not one that’s offensive, you’re just passionate with the hate you have for this ship. You might make bash edits or amvs of them. If a mutual posts this ship, you may grumble, you might say “I don’t ship this but the content is nice” ((heads up pls don’t do that it’s annoying and destructive to content creators))

Lvl 3 - ship hate

Definitely hitting a radical status but not there yet. It’s toxic, let’s just put it that way. You may not like the ship because it gets in the way of your otp, to you it may seemed forced in canon writing, you may even go as far as to say the ship is abusive, who knows it might be, but harassing other ppl over it,, isn’t abusive behaviour??? Lol ok. Anyway, you may have an account dedicated to how much you don’t like it, you will bring it up to people constantly to the point where others might say hey,,,, chill dude. You are VERY active in the discourse tag, you are sure to write your own opinions, very passionate, but very pushy. You may even comment on ships saying “ew gross, x ship for life!!” and you probably got into a fight in the comments at least once. You see an account post it, you block them. A mutual? You are VERY tempted to unfollow, if you haven’t already.

Lvl 4 - anti

This,,,, just oof,, you think the ship is LEGALLY an issue, very morally wrong or you just fucking hate the hell out of it bc it gets in the way of your ship and you’re grasping at straws to say why it’s toxic. (I actually was internally an anti for a while when I was like idk 14, suffered bhad from these symptoms, fun fact) you will go out of your way to voice your opinion, you will purposely message people telling them they’re disgusting calling them names, not even really justifying why it’s bad?? Telling ppl they’re fucked up……… doesn’t let ppl know why they’re fucked up but I mean go off. Anyway, you DEFINITELY have thought about running a hate account, you post other people’s art and content without crediting them, and proceed to hate on the content. Whenever the fandom is brought up you cannot CONTAIN your hatred for whatever discourse is going on. Let’s face it whatever resentment u got, it’s MUCH more chaotic than the love you have for your ship. Just down right negative all around. Explosive, unstable, if you don’t harass the people in the fandom, making them unsafe. (ie: sending gore pictures, death threats, making them and their followers WILDLY uncomfortable) you send it to the creators! You threaten the lives of people who make the show, you are disruptive, and literally have no personal boundaries, and you don’t give a shit about the writing, the plot, the developing of characters. You want your ship, or rather, you DON’T want other ships. To the point where human lives clearly don’t,,, matter to you????????? But cartoon ones do are you GOOD

(Imma do this one bc sometimes it’s okay to not like a ship!)

BONUS LVL - activist shipper

You don’t like this ship because it’s ACTUALLY hurtful and not because a ship is getting in the way (*ncest, p*dophillia, genuine abuse between these characters in canon etc) commonly antis will think they’re apart of this group, or this group will think they’re antis. Nnnno!pe! It is TOTALLY ok to dislike/hate these ships and think it’s insensitive to post things like this that may actually hurt people. I’m not gonna SAY which ships but if you’re shipping a 25 year old with a 10 year old,,,,,,,, u rlly gotta think,, about ur moral compass. ESPECIALLY if you’re sexualizing kids in your content. These people are commonly in discourse, but they voice why it’s bad, they voice their opinions RESPECTFULLY. Because AS SOON as you tell someone to die ur rlly pushing it. These people are here to educate, they’re not here to hurt. They want people to learn and grow and know what’s harmful and what’s not. They might get into an argument, nothing might change, but they’re happy knowing that they’re fighting for people who have been hurt bc of these topics and they’re not comfortable being silent about it.

Let me tell you, it’s ay okay to dislike and hate a ship. But don’t let it consume you, just like how you shouldn’t let ur otp consume you?? And if you see GENUINE bad happening in a fandom don’t be afraid to speak up, but be MINDFUL, RESPECTFUL, AND EMPATHETIC!! I am not on board with some of the ships ppl post but telling someone to die isn’t gonna help them learn what they’re doing is wrong. And if you don’t think you can PROPERLY TELL SOMEONE hey this content is hurtful, maybe,,,,,,, get someone else to do it,,,,,,, bc ur literally being just as harmful.

((Also while I’m on my soap box stop shipping abusive wlw/mlm JUST because they’re gay,,, that’s xtremely fetishy,, and as a gay guy I don’t approve :/))

Anyway, take this or leave this, just what I think

#ship discourse #discourse #fandom discourse #anti discourse #allie discourse #ask #mine

6 notes · View notes

housebeleren · 4 years ago

Text

Theros Beyond Death Limited: Premium Uncommons

Time for the Uncommons of Threos Beyond Death!

White

Archon is costly, but it’s likely going to be the biggest evasive threat on the board, and by the time you get it out, it shouldn’t be difficult at all to get value out of the death trigger, if your opponent does remove it right away. Seems like a pretty easy 2-for-1, which is what you need your Uncommon 6-drops to do. 3.0/5

Banishing Light takes care of literally any threat on the board, for a very reasonable price. Yes, it can be undone with Enchantment removal, but there’s not so much running around that it’s extremely likely. This is better than usual in this set because it also triggers Constellation, and Exile is much better than sending to the grave, because of Escape.. Take highly. 3.5/5

Knocking out all abilities is a critical part of this card, and is a large part of what makes it playable. This will completely neutralize any bomb Creature for 4 turns, which is a lot of action for only 2 mana. I’d still usually rather have the Banishing Light, but this is not bad at all. 3.0/5

I like that there are multiple ways to recover used Enchantments at Uncommon in this set. It makes for deep interactions that are tons of fun. This teller of tales is a decently sized body on his own, and the option to put a Dreadful Apathy back on top of your deck is big game. It reminds me a little of the Choking Restraints/Ironclad Slayer combo from Eldritch Moon limited. I’m a fan. 3.0/5

At Uncommon, White gets a lot of strong interaction and some reasonably costed cards with lots of potential for creative plays. This is exciting, because White is frequently a super straightforward color in Limited, but it’s clear there’s room for depth and subtlety in the color that is very refreshing to see.

Blue

This is basically a 3/2 that dies and leaves behind a 2/3. And that is really solid value for only 3 mana. A vanilla 3/2 for 3 is playable filler anyway, and will usually trade reasonably. I suspect this will go undervalued by a lot of people. 3.0/5

Aside from having absolutely gorgeous art, Callaphe is a pretty strong turn 3 play. It doesn’t take much for her to be a 4/3 or bigger, at which point she’s great value for the cost, and she taxes all targeted removal against her, as a bonus. Add the fact that she triggers Constellation and adds 2 for Devotion, and I’m pretty well sold. 3.0/5

It’s one mana more than Banishing Light, but it’s just about as effective, though it doesn’t clear abilities, which is unfortunate. Even so, it’s pretty close to unconditional removal, which is much needed in Blue. 3.0/5

This is a card you’d play as an ordinary creature anyway, with the base stats. But this is one of the few ways in the set to truly abuse Constellation, and it will also let you reset your Enchantment-based removal to scale up to bigger targets as the game goes on. And that’s not even mentioning that there are several good ETB triggers to reuse. I’m suspecting this will be really good. It’s the successor to Riptide Chimera, but this one trades stats for being optional, which I’m very okay with. 3.5/5

If Ravnica Allegiance taught us anything, it was to not underestimate Faerie Duelist, which won combats and completely warped the combat calculus around its existence. At Uncommon, this will be less, well, common, but the effect is still potent and shouldn’t be ignored. It’s less consistent, but the upside is higher, and a 1/3 is more playable on its own stats than a 1/2. 3.0/5

Blue got a ton of action at Uncommon, which somewhat makes up for my initial impression that the Commons were a little underwhelming. That said, the variance on the Uncommons is much higher, as there are a few that I think will be fairly weak, so snap up these good ones when you see them.

Black

There is no doubt this will be good. Even at 4 mana, it’s playable, and the cost reduction is just a bonus. Premium removal, for sure. 3.5/5

The first Saga to make the cut for me, I suspect this will be pretty good. Creature powers aren’t crazy high in this set, so you should have some good targets for this, and it will be very difficult for them to avoid having to discard something useful if you cast this on curve. Completely obliterating any Escape they may have going on is a great upside, and very relevant. I’d basically always run this, and maybe side it out against the R/G Ferocious deck or something. 3.0/5

Gary’s back! You definitely want a little devotion on the table before casting this, but once you have another few Black Creatures out, this can be a huge life swing. Definitely an incentive to go deep in the color, but not a great reason to pivot if you’re already going somewhere else. 3.0/5

Play this for the 2/1 Deathtouch. The Escape enabling is just a perk. 3.0/5

Pharika’s Spawn seems like it could be pretty close to a Mythic Uncommon. A 3/4 for 4 is fine, if unexciting, but the Escape is where the real action is. For 6 mana and just a few cards from your ‘yard, you get a 5/6 that comes with an edict attached, and that is big game. Assuming it trades once upfront, this is a completely believable 3-for-1. Sometimes, it won’t end up quite that good, but the potential is also there for it to be even better. If you can get repeated Escapes out of this, I don’t see how you’re losing. One of the best Escape payoffs in the set, and I’m starting pretty high on it. I could imagine this getting up to a 4.0 if the format is right for it. But for now, it’s a 3.5/5

Black knocked it out of the park in Uncommons. There were even more I could have picked, but I wanted to limit it to 5 highlighted cards. Given its strong showing at Common as well, I suspect Black will be a powerhouse color. Of all the colors, Black stands out to me as probably the best candidate for mono drafting, since it really doesn’t need much help to be great. If Black is wide open and you can draft mono-Black devotion, I expect that to be great.

Red

I like the Demigods with variable power rather than toughness, and I also like the ones that cost 1CC rather than CC, since they’ll be easier to cast on curve. Anax here threatens a lot of power on his own, but his ability is pretty fierce as well. By himself, he’ll at least always leave behind a 1/1 when he dies, but it has the potential to get really nuts in in the sacrifice deck. I suspect he will play better than he looks at first blush. 3.0/5

A 2/1 for 2 that chucks a Shock when it dies? Sign me up, this is exactly what both aggro and sacrifice decks want, so I suspect these will get snatched up fast. 3.0/5

Okay, this one I admit I’m a bit unsure of. A 4/2 for 3 would normally be around a 2.0, but this one has some extra going for it. The fact that its ability can hit any target is huge, because it can snipe off opposing X/1s or be that one extra point to take down larger creatures with some of Red’s Instant speed removal. And eventually, it’s going to trade with something itself, so I’ll give it the initial benefit of the doubt. It is definitely way better in the R/U Flash deck than in just a normal deck, so adjust your expectations downward accordingly. 3.0/5

Funny how far Scry 1 goes. While I’d generally rather see Lightning Strike, adding the Scry keeps this from feeling bad at Uncommon. It’s strong, flexible removal, and you’ll like it. 3.0/5

Red did decently in the Uncommon department. Like with its Commons, many of the cards feel situational, like they’ll be better in some decks than others, so my gut is telling me that, barring the bombs at Rare & Mythic, Red will be at its best as a support color, and probably not a great candidate for mono drafting (unlike Black, which seems bonkers if you can draft it alone).

Green

I like this. There aren’t very many 1-toughness creatures with Flying, so if you cast it for 1, it’ll mostly be a chump block. But the Escape is pretty sweet, because a 4/5 with Reach is a massively bigger deal than a measly 1/2. This can be an easy 2-for-1 against many decks, and has even a little more ceiling than that. 3.0/5

A 2/3 for 2 would already be pretty playable. Add that it’s an Enchantment in the color that cares the most, that it shuts off counters at no cost, and that it has a late-game mana sink, and you’ve got a potential powerhouse on your hands. My guess is that it will rarely be amazing, but the potential is there, and it will always be at least good. 3.0/5

On its own, this swings as a 3/4 Trample for only 3 mana, and that’s pretty solid. Being able to move its bonus around as the game develops keeps this relevant, and I suspect it will play very well. 3.0/5

Affectionate Indrik is back, and it was good then. I have no reason to suspect it won’t be now, even if I don’t love that Green keeps getting Fight on ETB. 3.0/5

Renata seems great. On her own, she’s a little underpowered, but pumping up all your future creatures is incredibly solid, and it’s unlikely this card will disappoint. 3.0/5

Green feels quite solid. There are very few cards that feel unplayable, and many of the cards are just good on there own, without help. The color seems flexible and reasonably deep, which is a great sign.

Gold & Colorless

For the Gold cards, there’s just the one signpost for each pair at Uncommon, so I’ll go through all of them.

Most of the Black pairings seem to be centered around the Graveyard, and it’s probably the best color to be in if you want to go deep on Escape. Green-Black has a little self mill, a little top of library filter, and some sacrifice to help fill the ‘yard for your powerful Escape creatures. The Acolyte here is exactly what the colors want, and is a great Gravedigger variant for the archetype. 3.0/5

Black-Blue goes heavy on the self-mill, but outside of Escape, there really isn’t any payoff for doing so. Other than this cutie, of course. It’s a cheap and evasive threat, and can easily fuel your Escape cards. I do wish it were a 2/2, since there are some cards that punish one toughness in the set (Wrap in Flames, for example). Still, you’ll usually play this. 3.0/5

Eutropia seems great. The card she reminds me of the most is Skyrider Patrol from M19, which was one of my favorite cards in the set. Most of the Green-based color pairings care about Enchantments, so it shouldn’t be too hard to peck through lots of damage with Eutropia helping you out. 3.0/5

Red/White is a throwback to the Heroic mechanic from original Theros. (Which they very cutely seeded with Feather & Co. in War of the Spark.) For this round on Theros, Red/White is also the go-wide pairing of the set, with the Herioc triggers this time serving as team pump spells. Hero of the Nyxborn is already a good deal, creating two bodies for 3 mana, and if you’re in the colors, it shouldn’t be hard to get a few good combat tricks to make it even spicier. 3.0/5

I like that they’ve been exploring new ways to do Blue/Red besides just “Instants & Sorceries Matter”. After U/R Draw 2 in Eldraine, U/R Flash is a great compliment in this set that feels right (and fuels my argument that Red should be moved to secondary in Flash, and Green should have Flash restricted somewhat, for balance purposes). Anyway, the Chimera here is great. Well-costed on its own, and a great trigger once you start slinging spells on your opponent’s turn. I’m a fan. 3.0/5

White/Black is another Escape archetype, but with some Enchantment recursion to be found on the Uncommon & above rarities. As for this card, I really wish this were 4 mana. I honestly think Wizards needs to allow reanimation to be a touch more aggressively costed, and let White have a little more unconditional reanimation, again for balance reasons. This card does give me some hope that they recognize the need. For Limited, as is, this is a harder to cast Rise from the Grave, but with the added upside that you’ll occasionally be able to snag back a Dreadful Apathy and get some extra removal. It’s decent, but not as good as most of the other cards in this batch. 2.5/5

But seriously, I’m for Resurrection in Standard. I think it’s completely fine in power level, and would be great for White to reclaim some of the pie.

Green/White is the primary “Auras Matter” color pair, which makes perfect sense. Siona, aside from being FIERCE. AS. FUCK., is a fantastic card for the archetype. She digs deep, making the odds pretty decent that you’ll find an Aura to grab, at which point she’s already worth her cost. If you can grab a Dreadful Apathy with this, even better. (The fact that I keep mentioning that card makes me wonder if I should rate it even higher...) And occasionally she’ll phone a friend, which is just all upside. 3.0/5 (with potential to go higher in the right build)

Sacrifice? For Black/Red? Groundbreaking.

Seriously, though, I am eager for Wizards to surprise me with Black/Red sometime. I’ll give it a pass this set, since there is a minor Graveyard theme, so it’s a natural fit. Spectacle in Ravnica Allegiance was such a breath of fresh air for this color pair. But anyhoo, this card. He’s pretty solid. He threatens a lot of damage, and will be very difficult to block, so I’m suspecting he’ll be good. 3.0/5

White/Blue is a very ambiguous archetype this time around, basically just “tempo”. That said, this card threatens to run away with the game very quickly, and will be absolutely bonkers put on a flier or other evasive threat. I seriously wonder if this will bring back the Curious Obsession deck in Standard, except in White/Blue. For Limited, if you can get at least one hit in with this, you’ve saved yourself from getting 2-for-1′d too badly, so I’ll start with the assumption that this is good, and revise down from there. 3.0/5

Last but not least, Red/Green is doing “Ferocious” this time, which I really enjoy as a semi-deciduous theme. Warden of the Chained is a decent payoff for having other 4+ Power creatures, but is a little frustrating if you don’t have very many of them in the deck. You’ll always play this, but it strikes me as a little weaker than some of the others. 2.5/5

Phew... that’s it for the Gold Signpost cards. Just a couple Artifacts to touch on:

I love this. It’s basically an Icy Manipulator, but it costs a little more to activate, but then frees up your mana after you’ve done so. It can also permanently tap down a creature with a tap to activate ability, something Icy couldn’t do. Every deck will be happy to run this. 3.0/5

I feel like they’re finally getting Vehicles right. 4 mana is a touch more than you want for a 3/3, but First Strike, Trample, and Haste are a lot of keywords, and it’s super easy to crew. I don’t know if it will be great, but it’s definitely playable. 2.5/5

The Rest of the Uncommons

Let’s blaze through the remaining cards, lightning round style. (out of 5)

Alseid of Life’s Bounty - I suspect lots of people will run this card who shouldn’t. Sure, it can sacrifice itself to protect a bigger bomb from removal, but it just doesn’t do enough on its own to really warrant much excitement. 1.5

The Birth of Meletis - This does a lot of things, and... none of them are particularly great? Very weird collection of effects. 1.5

Commanding Presence - This is a lot of effects for one Aura, and it should be possible to either get through or take out a blocker the turn you play this, mitigating the 2-for-1 potential. 2.5

Dawn Evangel - Figuring out when this triggers and what it can get back is a feat unto itself. It’s pretty narrow, to be honest, and so I’m really just looking at this as a 2/3 Enchantment creature for Constellation. 2.0

Daxos, Blessed by the Sun - I like Daxos more for constructed, since there aren’t any lifegain triggers in this set to really make this great. He’s solid, just not incredible. 2.5

Favored of Iroas - I like the concept here. Problem is, it shouldn’t be too hard to predict when you’re holding up a Flash Enchantment as a trick, so a lot of the time, it’ll just be a 2/2. Maybe I’m wrong. 2.0

Hero of the Winds - I really wish this were a 2/4 to begin with. 2.0

Phalanx Tactics - Probably the best Heroic enabler in the set, this is perfect for go-wide, but mediocre if you aren’t in the colors. 2.5

Reverent Hoplite - I want at leaset 3 tokens out of this before I feel good about it. Which, shouldn’t be difficult in mono-White, but could be frustrating in most decks. 2.5

Glimpse of Freedom - I don’t really think this is the format for this card. If you’re in Blue/Red, it’s an Instant, so that’s a thing. The escape is expensive enough to likely not come up often. 2.0

Medomai’s Prophecy - This, on the other hand, is a lot of action for 2 mana, even if it is spread out over several turns. Nonbos with self-mill somewhat, but a cheap Divination if you do it right. 2.5

Sage of Mysteries - Gorgeous art. My guess is this usually isn’t worth it, but occasionally you might be able to build a legitimate mill deck around this. And if you see your opponent is self-milling, it’s a great strategy to pivot into. 2.0

Sea God’s Scorn - I’ve been burned with the six mana bounce spells before, so not again. My hunch is this will be playable, but not every deck will want it. 2.5

Shoal Kraken - Seems solid. Possibly will play better than I think, but reminds me of Sage of the Falls, which was only great sometimes. 2.5

Stinging Lionfish - If you get really deep on Flash, this could go up significantly. Most of the time, I’m expecting it to be just fine. 2.5

Sweet Oblivion - Combined with Sage of Mysteries, a true mill deck could be viable. But I wouldn’t run this just to mill myself. 1.5

Whirlwind Denial - Convolute is as Convolute does. 2.0

Agonizing Remorse - In a set with Gods, it would be foolish to assume this is unplayable. But definitely don’t assume it’s premium removal, because it’s not. 2.0

Cling to Dust - This strikes me as pretty decent sideboard hate for a good Escape deck. But I wouldn’t main deck it. 1.5

Enemy of Enlightenment - By the time you get this out, your opponent can work around the discard. But a 5/5 flier is big, so there’s that. The removal in the set seems good enough to dampen this a bit. 2.5

Hateful Eidolon - There aren’t tons of Auras that make me think this is super worth playing, but if you draft like 3 or more Mire’s Grasp, this gets really cute really fast. There’s a deck for this, but it’s not every deck. 2.0

Inevitable End - Usually this will just be a slow kill spell, but occasionally if you put it on a bomb, they’ll sacrifice other things just to keep that alive. It’s conditional removal, but still removal. 2.5

Minion’s Return - This being an Enchantment-Matters set makes me like this a lot more than I usually do, and there’s potential for combos with Hateful Eidolon & some of the White recursion. 2.5

Tymaret, Chosen from Death - Difficult to cast on curve, but a reasonable drop at any time. Great hate for Escape decks, but remember, you can’t exile an Escape card once they’ve declared they’re casting it. 2.5

Underworld Dreams - Save it for Constructed. 1.0

Blood Aspirant - In the dedicated R/B Sacrifice deck, this could be a thing, but it starts too puny and the expense is pretty high. 2.0

Dreamshaper Shaman - I get it, but this honestly feels more like a casual Commander card than something for Limited. For Limited, it’s mostly a big body. 2.0

Escape Velocity - This again strikes me more as something for Constructed, something a deck like Izzet Drakes might like. For Limited, it’s cute, but not particularly great. 1.5

Furious Rise - The upside on this is pretty great in the dedicated Ferocious deck. I’d give it a go. 2.5

Heroes of the Revel - Decent stats for the cost, and another Heroic enabler. Good in the archetype, mediocre elsewhere. 2.5

Impending Doom - The name of this card really doesn’t match the flavor, but whatever. It’s a solid Aura for aggressive decks, good in the Heroic build, but a liability if you’re not wanting to attack. 2.0

Skophos Maze-Warden - Ignore the wall of text, this is a 3/4 for 4 with the “Flowstone” ability. Which is pretty solid on its own. If you get the maze, it’s cute, but definitely not necessary to play this. 2.5

The Triumph of Anax - This is one of the hardest cards to evaluate in the whole set. My hunch is it will often not work out quite the way you hope, and one or more chapters will end up getting wasted to removal or by not having good targets. I’m starting pessimistic until I see otherwise. 1.5

Underworld Fires - Can be a way to clean up stragglers after combat, and will be good against decks like Heroic go-wide. There’s potential, but I might start it as a sideboard pick until the format shakes out. 2.0

The Binding of the Titans - This card takes a while to do much useful, but it gets there, and it’s a pretty cheap inclusion. Some decks will want it. 2.5

Hydra’s Growth - This can absolutely run away with the game if left unchecked, so I’d generally run it in G/W Auras or decks with heavy Constellation or Heroic triggers. But it is risky until about 3 turns in, so take it with a grain of salt. 2.5

Klothys’s Design - Oh, how much better this would be if it granted Trample. As is, it’s a reasonable top-end finisher, but some decks will find it dead more often than not. 2.0

Mystic Repeal - Enough Enchantments are running around for this to consistently have targets, and it avoids enabling Escape as well. I’d rather have a Return to Nature for flexibility, but this will do in a pinch. 2.0

Nessian Hornbeetle - I like this little guy as a payoff for the Ferocious deck, and there’s virtually no downside to including him. 3.0

Nessian Wanderer - A two drop that can smooth a land-light hand is reasonable, but you could skip it and probably not notice. 2.0

Setessan Petitioner - You’re rarely going to gain more than around 4 life with this, but once you get above about that point, this starts getting good. If you manage to draft mono-Green, I’d slam this, but in most 2-color decks it’s pretty replaceable. 2.0

Wolfwillow Haven - There’s not much need to ramp in this format, but if you’re heavy Green, it can do work for both Devotion and casting double & triple Green casting costs. The ability is too costly to get excited about, though at least it feeds itself. I’d generally skip this except maybe in mono Green with a good Devotion payoff. 1.5

Mirror Shield - Mostly a flavor win, I don’t see lots of reason for this in the format. Side it in against the all Moss Viper deck. You could also side it in against control decks to hedge against removal. 1.5

Soul-Guide Lantern - This will be a brutal sideboard against the heavy Escape deck, but that’s mainly where I see it. 1.5

Field of Ruin - Save it for Constructed. Nothing in this format is worth destroying aside from maayyybe Labyrinth of Skophos. 0.5

That’s it for the Uncommons. Very few dead picks, lots of good options and a few fun buildarounds. Overall, a good looking set, I think. Up next, the Rares & Mythics!

#MtG #theros beyond death

0 notes

vodka-aunt-coran · 8 years ago

Note

archaeology au???? i'm currently writing a shallura fantasy au in which shiro meets allura because he's an arch nerd so I'm listening

oh boy oh boy oK LISTEN

(ok sorry i’m adding a readmore. this got long. beware y’all this is ENTIRELY self-indulgent, like, 100%, and i don’t expect anyone else to enjoy it.)

this begins in college but it’ll extend to post-graduation

i’ll start with shiro, a poor, tired grad student who took a few years after his masters to split his time between CRM and projects whenever he got the chance, but now he’s back to fight for a PhD

his focus is on…hmmm…for now i’m going to go with historical archaeology, mainly focusing on the cultural interactions between china and japan?

shiro is also a TA! and each semester, whatever class he’s teaching, he like. straight-up adopts the undergrads in his section. there are four undergrads in particular who keep popping up. they are his children now.

matt is also a PhD student! he got 2 majors and 2 minors in undergrad, completed his masters really quickly, and then tried to go for a PhD immediately but burned out :x he’s back now! just under heavy supervision from shiro.

matt specializes in reconstructing paleoenvironment. this is done through paleoethnobotany (looking at old seeds n shit), sometimes geoarchaeology (looking at dirt n shit), AND getting climate information………………from ice cores.

(and lake cores but i know what the people really want to hear)

allura is like…everyone’s goals. she took her time getting her degrees (coughcoughmatt) and had a 4.0 probably, she’s worked on a frankly astounding number of projects, and people can hardly believe she doesn’t have a PhD yet.

i’m not 100% sure what allura’s specializing in. i feel like she wouldn’t either? like, she’s worked on such a variety of projects that she took a while to figure out what she really wanted to stick with. my guess is that, like matt, she decides to focus on technical rather than area so she gets to work all over the place. i’ll go with…osteoarchaeology. aka. bones n shit.

that’s right allura’s the badass who gets to work with burials and is probably cursed 93% of the time

her dream job is working on the domuztepe death pit

(don’t look up the death pit if you’re squeamish and also bc the information won’t be as good as if you dm me for the deets update: i made a post concerning The Deets, but proceed with caution, because it is about horrific deaths)

allura and matt are TAs too but matt is not super helpful if it’s not about his own field? and allura is rly intimidating. so people generally just go to shiro for help.

The Children are just undergrads BUT what they end up specializing in:

keith: warfare lmao boy loves his weapon artifacts. he’s like. A1 at identifying them too, show him an old sword and he’ll be like “oh yeah that looks like a viking design from the early 8th century”

lance: he rly…rly likes working on sites near water…like every time he gets to work on a shipwreck or anything underwater his soul grows brighter. that being said, i wanna say his specialty is in preservation and possibly curation? so during important digs he’s on site and nagging everyone to be as careful as possible

hunk: does a lot of lab work! he’s like. the king of the lab. need that sample carbon dated? hunk’s got you. need to know the composition of that ceramic? hunk’s your guy. need lipid analysis? bring it to hunk. he can even get the ancient XRD machine to work, even though no one else can figure it out. he’s a legend.

pidge: …i want to make a her a paleoethnobotanist so bad. but like. i know she wouldn’t simply bc matt’s already doing that and the independent will of second children is strong.fcuk it, she’s a paleoethnobotanist. she’s ridiculously good at identifying samples, and usually ends up helping matt with it. she’s also really into reconstructing diets and stuff and gets excited when she gets to work with stable isotope data.

bonus! shay is a geoarchaeologist who asks for hunk’s help mayyybe more often than is strictly necessary. then again, hunk will sometimes ask her opinion on samples when she’s pretty sure he’s already interpreted it perfectly. a modern romance <3

ok some more nonsense about them follows in no particular order

all of them are rly passionate about combating looting, collecting, and other destruction of sites. keith almost dropped a collector at a convention once. shiro held him back, but they still got kicked out bc while his back was turned allura and lance were cursing out a rly skeezy (but rich) curator.

shiro: hunk, why didn’t you stop them?hunk: [writing a paper about the museum’s poorly provenienced polynesian artifacts] what?

shiro is more careful about who he brings along to his academic conventions.

i mean. obv he also wrecks these garbage people. but with heavily researched papers n shit.

[while in undergrad]professor holt: ok class today we’re going to watch a documentary on the excavation of this famous site in the 60s!whole class: [cringing at the poor methodology]professor holt: i know, i know, we’ll roast our predecessors after the video is over

keith and pidge are huge conspiracy theorists right. like. aliens are real and out there, you know? so you’d think they’re all about those aliens built the pyramids stuff

some loser: hey you know how the aliens built the pyramids right?keith: ok listen math and astronomy existed before greece there is so much evidence showing that the egyptians themselves built their pyramids and there’s a clear progression from stepped pyramids to perfect ones and the fact that stepped pyramids appear around the world doesn’t mean anything more than making it obvious what the easiest way to build a large structure is and while we’re at it let’s talk about the nasca lines–

basically they call out Certain Theories for what they are bc…like…bro didn’t u notice that u only claim aliens abt incredible achievements when the people aren’t white

shiro: so, wait. if you don’t believe that aliens interacted with prehistoric peoples, why do you believe in them at all?pidge: because they infiltrated european politics beginning with ancient rome and have currently shifted their focus towards controlling american governmentkeith: [pulling out a Conspiracy Board] do you want to see our research, we think it could be our thesis project

like how pidge and keith are into aliens, lance deeply believes in ghosts. he’s convinced that allura has a million curses on her and the fact that she’s still perfect is evidence that she is A Goddess.

allura: lance, there’s no such thing as ghosts. you won’t be haunted or cursed if you help me handle this burial.lance: …alright, fine. only for you.[three days later]allura: [picks up phone] hello lance. how are you?lance: A TREE FELL ON MY CAR YOU LIAR

[at a historical site w shiro]lance: so uh. how many ghosts do you think are in here.shiro: oh my god, you’re just as bad as the other two.pidge: don’t group me in with that! i know ghosts aren’t real.keith: eh, they might belance: you work with violent deaths, how could you sleep at night believing in ghosts?keith: i’m not a coward like some peoplelance: !! i am not a coward!![door slams down the hall]lance and keith: [sprinting back outside]

lance gets on everybody’s case abt what they should and shouldn’t touch, and how to bag things, etc

when anyone wants a lipid or dna sample run, hunk makes sure that lance is there to make sure they properly handle the artifact sharon if you don’t wear gloves and the facemask all your research won’t count for shit

keith is The Worst at bagging and labelling his shit like. lance sometimes just makes a point of coming to his digs for the express purpose of labelling all the stuff for him.

lance: keith are you really going to make me waste shelf space on all these soil sampleskeith: [softly] lance i don’t know why the fuck we even take soil samples this isn’t my job

lance made the mistake of going to pick up boxes of artifacts from the holts on april fools day. when matt ‘tripped’ and dropped the box, it didn’t matter that it was really empty, because lance was already in tears. shiro had A Word with them. pidge and matt had to be a lot nicer to lance after that.

allura and keith work together pretty often bc. y’know. war stuff and remains tend to overlap. they’re besties with a sense of morbid humor to rival shiro’s.

allura: keith you’ll never guess what happened to this femur!keith: it looks…bad?allura: yes. the individual was killed by a boiling tar poured over the nearby wall!keith: i guess he didn’t get a heads up?allura: haha!! exactly!! or else he would’ve suffocated horribly!!both: [laughing]shiro: [hunched over faded old documents] god i wish that were me

pidge: hey lance, i was sieving through dirt from the hearth area for seeds, but i think i just found a tooth?lance: oh god ok put that back i’ll call allurapidge: dude it’s just a tooth, it might not even be human. i think we can handle it.lance: what if it is!! where do you think teeth come from pidge!!pidge: look, someone just happened to drop a tooth in the fireplace!!keith: hey guys i think i just found a skull in the hearthpidge: DAMN ITlance: AHA!!keith: not the reactions i was expecting but,

hunk: keith, i need to break off a piece of it if you want composition. you know how this works.keith: [cradling knife to his chest] but i love her

(update: here are a few bonus additions to this, since this is more or less the main post and this is main stuff)

#oh god i love this au #again i dont expect anyone to care about it but #text #self indulgent au #space family #i feel like i want to add more but also i want to sleep yknow #anon #ask

97 notes · View notes

the-perfect-film-blog · 8 years ago

Text

How To Fix RWBY Volume 4

With the existence of trains and steampunk airships, there's really no reason for team RNJR to have to walk all the way to Haven.

Rather than have an entire season of our heroes in transit to do something interesting, I propose that Volume 4 could be condensed into 6 or 7 episodes without losing anything of value.

Spoilers below the cut.

Before I begin I just want to say that I could have done without Blake's storyline for much of this season, as it hasn't tied into the main plot or directed Blake towards the rest of the cast yet. I would have instead ended Volume 3 with Sun running off after Blake and come back to her when she is likely to become relevant. (None of this Blake didn't even notice Sun following her nonsense.)

So with that in mind, let's cut fix Volume 4's pacing.

Episode 1. The Next Step

We can still open on WTCH I guess. But instead of Tyrian laughing for no goddamn reason just have him quietly suggest, "Hey Cinder u want me to cut that girl's eye out for u since you're indisposed? ;)"

Instead of the Geist fight, cut between the grimm being born in the opening and show RRNJ pushing a group of grimm into a pit or funneling them through a something that would actually display strategy. for a nearby village to fund the next leg of their journey.

Either Jaune has already upgraded his weapon or he uses his share to have his upgrades done after the fight, not before it like a tool. No need for this scene to last 8 minutes either, just have him see the armory and be like "can you modify this?" then cut to his new weapon.

Team RWBY moves on to the next village where they can board a ferry to Haven. It's destroyed and everyone is dead. Ruby and suggests waiting for an incoming ferry so RRNJ can explain what happen but Ren and Nora object. Eventually they get going. As they move on, we zoom out to Qrow cutting down some Grimm and watching them progress.

No Oscar for now.

Episode 2. Rememberance

Ruby wakes up from a nightmare and walks in on Jaune either practicing with his new sword while watching Pyrrha's tape or trying to figure out his semblance. Pyrrha's tape is also just actually training drills and any "btw love u babe <3" is condensed to one sentence. Ruby comforts Jaune and says, "I know. I miss my partner too." Bonus points if Jaune's training has nothing to do with Pyrrha's instructions and he just wanted to hear the sound of her voice.

And then we cut to Weiss and Jaque after Ironwood storms out. Can reduce the altercation to Ironwood vaguely saying he needs to secure Atlas and Jaques objecting because his monopoly-man mustache needs as much Dust money as it can make.

Weiss reluctantly agrees to sing a song that would be likely to be sung at a banquet for rich people. Maybe Whitley walks in on Weiss being all buddy-buddy with Klein and kind of casually noses in like "lol whatcha doing sis?" breaking up the conversation. Maybe Weiss buys it but Klein doesn't.

Yang can get her arm but neglect to actually try it on for a while, or she tries it on and can't move it the way she wants, gets frustrated and takes it off. (Because irritability is a symptom of PTSD! Why not use it!)

We can have Port and Oobleck drop in, reminding everyone of Ozpin and asking when Tai is going to come help and be useful, since he's an actual huntsman, and he rejects because Yang. Instead of the OMG SHOCKING "callout" from Taiyang about Yang losing a few brain cells with her arm, maybe Yang gets frustrated that Taiyang is never around to help and decides to push herself. Either way she tries the arm again and challenges her dad for not being any more willing to help than he was the past three seasons.

Episode 3. Runaways and Stowaways Family

Salem and Cinder have their little "Is Ozpin really dead?" moment.

Cut to Oscar doing a little bit of his farm work and then going to wash up for the night only to hear, "Hello! I'm professor Ozpin!"

RRNJ reaches Higanbana where they hope to wait for an airship. Except there is not an airship to catch; they're currently in use by some huntsman searching for bandits. RRNJ shrug their shoulders and stay in an inn.

Raven and Qrow have their little, "Hey you asshole you gonna go help your kid?" spat and ask each other about the relics and spring maiden.

Taiyang and Yang spar, during which at some point Taiyang literally disarms Yang (frustrating her) but instead of all the vaguetalk about Raven Taiyang offers an anecdote that reveals more about Raven's character and demonstrates a parallel between Yang and Raven. Instead of his problem with Yang's overuse of her semblance being "it will make you weaker" (which it obviously does not), it should be that a semblance wherin she has to damage herself to use is not viable in every situation. (Also she shouldn't have been 100% powered up vs Adam in Volume 3).

Tyrian does his "Have you seen a girl with Silver Eyes" schtick but instead of laughing maniacally his eyes flash purple.

Episode 4 - Tipping Pont

Not really all that different from Actual! Tipping point. Start off with Weiss at the concert singing some sick Atlas Opera about Grimm and a Princess instead of "Let me live my life, DAD!"

Gala. Weiss has her meltdown. Instead of accidentally summoning a boar maybe she does something innocuous like knock a glass out of a lady's hand out of spite and all these hoidy-toity rich people are aghast and ready to call security. Ironwood intervenes and walks Weiss out, complete with his, "She's the only one around here making sense" line. We see Whitley whispering to Jaques and Jaques ruffling his mustache.

Instead of having both Oniyuri and Kuroyuri we could instead have them come across a sign with the name crossed off, where Ren explains why Kuroyuri was to be built and explains there's no point in going, it's already destroyed.

"But Ren how do you know that--"

And oh shit it's Tyrian!

Maybe Tyrian confronts them in an open space initially - team RRNJ clearly has the advantage because of course they do, it's four on one. Maybe Jaune says as much.

"Hey, it's four against one! We're not looking for a fight, just walk away!"

And then Tyrian, who doesn't really give a crap, goes for Ruby and RRNJ uses powered-up Nora to push Tyrian back. With some distance between them we get the dialogue exchange minus the "the rose has thorns!" line because Ruby’s comeback was weaksauce. Any laughter is going to be used strictly when Team RRNJ thinks they can scare Tyrian off. Tyrian proceeds to wipe the floor with RRNJ until we see a Qrow flying in overhead. We watch from Qrow's perspective as Ruby's aura breaks and Tyrian goes in for the kill incapacitation. At the last moment Qrow blocks Tyrian and pushes him back.

Episode 5 - Punished

Tyrian fights Qrow. Ruby attempts to help despite Qrow warning her numerous times not to get involved. RRNJ attempts to offer fire support, but Qrow warns them to stop.

Tyrian chases Qrow into the forest and Ruby pursues despite Qrow's protests. When she and RRNJ catch up their auras are broken and she rushes in in an attempt to help. Qrow's semblance causes her to trip, drop things on herself, and almost get stabbed. In his rush to stop Ruby from getting hurt, Qrow gets stabbed by Tyrian's tail, which Ruby then cuts off.

Tyrian flees and either Ren or Nora starts to chase him, until Qrow nearly collapses and his injuries are made apparent. He promises to explain everything.

Weiss gets told she's not the heiress anymore, Whitley is, and she resolves to pack her things and hit the road. She asks Klein for help in getting out and he agrees - and he brings her weapon so she can train. Whitley mocks Weiss because “you’re grounded what are you gonna do with that” and she slams the door in his face with zero fucks given.

Oscar and Ozpin have a brief moment in which Ozpin explains what he wants Oscar to do, and it's for the greater good so you gotta, and Oscar kind of vaguely says, "I gotta talk to my aunt."

Qrow gives some exposition to RRNJ and starts to lose feeling in his limbs. This is a slow-acting poison, not a wake up and keel over poison. RRNJ argue about what they should do next and against Ren and Nora's wishes they go to Kuroyuri, because it's the closest place they can actually get to.

Nucklavee tease.

Episode 6 - Kuroyuri

Not too much is different but this time it is clear from Ren's behavior that he is certain of some danger in the village and he warns the team that they need to get what they're looking for and get out fast.

Ren's flashback (condensed into just the part about meeting Nora and finding her once the village has been destroyed) is played as a way of him explaining the danger to Ruby and Jaune, and though they hurry up the Grimm blocks them as they're preparing to leave.

Qrow collapses and there's no choice but to fight.

RRNJ fights the Nucklavee but this time instead of "Run in a circle, team who are already running in a circle!" we see the team overwhelmed at first, trying to charge for perceived weak points like its knees and firing at the head only to be brushed aside.

With the pressure put on, maybe the beast disarms Nora, Ren loses his cool and tries to go for the head. Big mistake. It screams/spews some sort of sludge and Ren is injured. His Aura breaks. Nora is injured getting him out of there.

It is at this point that Nora runs to yell at him for losing his cool and Jaune and Ruby realize that the only way they're taking this thing down is by turning the whole thing sideways (it's a horse, horses are really bad with taking a fall). When Ren and Nora return, Jaune uses Ruby and Nora to use their respective powers to flip the horse over so Ren can slip in and stab it.

Jaune acts as a distraction and tanks a few hits for the rest of the team to do this. As they're fighting we see the first sign of the airships over the horizon, it's almost over. They just need to hold out.

Once the grimm is killed the team goes. Ruby writes a letter to Yang and sends it by drone. Taiyang warns Yang that she isn't ready, but says it's ultimately her choice and he won't stop her. Maybe Yang calls him out on not going to help and tries to rush off on her own again, leaving Taiyang concerned.

Meanwhile we see Weiss sneaking out with Klein to board an airship. Weiss overhears just "Based on information your daughter gave me, I'm closing the border!" and Weiss gasps and hurries the fuck out of there.

Blake arrives at Menagerie where she and Sun are aghast to see Adam Tauras's White Fang flag flying, not the White Fang flag one would typically see in Menagerie.

Tyrian returns to Salem while Cinder is doing whatever it is that Cinder does these days, admits he couldn't take Ruby and says he poisoned Qrow so they're very likely dead.

Salem says, "Yeah whatever you useless turd" and Tyrian has his little meltdown.

Episode (7???) - (Anything to do with Blake)

Rather than Blake and Sun being surprised by the White Fang presence, this trip is about Blake returning to her family for closure, because she knows she did the wrong thing.

And rather than a drawn out sequence in which Blake and her father talk it out we need only a long scene of Blake not wanting to enter.

Maybe she explains to Sun that she left home to be part of Adam's White Fang, that she thought her father's leadership was weak, and that she has done terrible things.

With some consolation and encouragement from Sun, she knocks on the door and her parents accept her. She has her cry with her family, and from there I really don't know where Blake's story is supposed to go yet so I can't go into much more detail about how to rework it.

Oscar meeting Hazel and getting on the train can go here too; it would be easier to make it clear he's not traveling a huge distance but maybe only about 100 km or so if we can easily recognize Haven just on the horizon.

I hope I've more or less demonstrated the ways that the pacing in this season could have been adjusted. Since there are fewer unnecessary fight scenes, this leg of the season should be overall easier to animate, and the finale can instead head towards the team getting back together.

#rwby 4 #rwby spoilers #rwby critique #rwby volume 4 #rwde #rrnj #rnjr #team rnjr #rwby criticism #rwby critical

37 notes · View notes

survivorwakea · 6 years ago

Text

Episode 9: “Anabel back on her crackhead bullshit.” -Asya

Justin going out after getting a self-vote. Don't trust anyone, not even yourself.

________________________________________________________________

ZACK FOUND THE FUCKING IDOL. ZACK FOUND THE FUCKING IDOL. ZACK FOUND THE FUCKING IDOL.

Me, Ben, Elmo and Zack were on a call and we all did an idol search and ZACK FOUND IT AND I SCREAMED AND ITS 3AM BUT I DONT CARE ZACK HAS A MOTHERFUCKING IDOL.

________________________________________________________________

Oh sweet fucking jesus.

So I get off call with Elmo, Ben and Zack and Zack is like hieee can we call? and im like okay? I have absolutely no idea what to expect at all. He's like I have something to tell u, at this point I'm like fuck this sounds like bad bad news or good news but idk if im mentally stable enough to handle either. He tells me he has the fucking premerge idol and that he got it on his first run. I'm sat there basically starting to cry like oh my god zack I cannot believe this right now. and he's like no there's more. My stomach fucking drops. He tells me Elmo knows as well. I'm like ok sis what the fuck. He had to tell Elmo because it was his first go and him and Elmo were sharing guesses. Okay I guess I understand. But he also said something like Elmo said not to tell me. Which really does have me thinking. I thought me and Elmo had a lot more open communication now, and the fact he didn't want to tell me something like this is a reason as to why I have been hesitant to talk game with him. But according to Zack he also said he doesn't think I would leak so maybe he was just thinking about not wanting too many people to know. I need to have a chat with Elmo tomorrow so we can clear some stuff up so I can know better where I stand, or just have Elmo lie to my face which I end up finding out later down the line when he inevitably tries to vote me out again. But oh how ironic it would be if I could convince Zack to use the idol on me to get Elmo out. Please note ~ I don't dislike Elmo, in fact I adore him. I just see me and him as very similar players and therefore I feel he would be one of my main competitions especially as this game gets further on. I just have a lot of feelings and a lot of things to discuss right now

________________________________________________________________

I've had so much to think about the last couple hours my mind is spinning. Justin voted out because of his own dumbass move to tell Johnny about his self-vote, like that's not a death wish waiting to happen. Hell I would've been on board with voting Justin had I known. He was a clear threat but I was planning on waiting 1 more tribal before trying to get him out. I was lied to by a lot of people, maybe 2 tribals in a row now which leaves me shaking and scrambling. Where the fuck do I stand with any of these people? Zack who I adore with all my heart where do I stand with you baby? I know you said you would use your idols on me and help get us both to the final. But I am scared, I am so so scared you could be lying to me. You said it yourself earlier you are so used to lying to people in this game that if someone asked if your name was Zack, you'd tell them it wasn't. I think it would hurt me more if you told me about your premerge idol and said you'd get us both to the end and then voted me out more than if you never told me anything at all. Did you tell me this because you're worried about your position or because you genuinely meant it? Remember I could be on the jury. Asya, my sweetness in this game. We didn't talk for a full day after Joey got voted out. It was only when I decided to own up to the fact I wrote her name down tonight that we opened a discussion and I feel we cleared the air a bit, both of us felt we had no choice when writing down each other's names. I hope things improve between us and we can work together again, however you have appeared to be inactive which kind of scares me. Johnny having kept the vote of Justin from me after I told him I felt I wasn't being listened to with the people I was aligned with has kinda rubbed me the wrong way since I very heavily hinted I wanted Justin out, but you can't be sayin those kinda things to people you're aligned with cause they could so easily turn on you. Although I had mentioned it to Zack and I think Zack would've been down as well so that was my plan for a couple tribals ahead. Do you really want to work with me or has this all been lies? Ben I do not trust as far as I can throw him right now. After Zack gets the idol he conveniently says he forgot to mention that he landed on one of the bonus spots on the way to the idol and got an extra vote. Okay bitch boy how the fuck does that just accidentally slip your mind? Do not trust one bit right now, once he realises he's on the bottom he's definitely gonna flee like fuck. Has a soothing voice though, I enjoy being on call. He's kinda funny, even if he does make Zack mad by the fact he's getting comfortable with us and calling us bitches. Bodhi is just a lying fucker and I want him out ASAP, he should've been the person we got out or at least tried to instead of Asya but whatever, there's always next time. Lily I have no idea what the fuck is going on in her head right now, she messaged me with some half hearted apology and then wants to create a group of people to work together but when I asked who she wanted to involve she has just ignored me, whatever your time will be up soon enough unless I try to drag u to the end with me so I have a goat since I haven't seen u do much other than win like 1 immunity challenge. Jared I wanna work with but idk how much trust is there, plus he's a strong player and I feel could do well so I want him out kinda soon oopsie. But who knows, if we start working together maybe it's something that could work out for us. Sometimes competition is good. Anabel a cutie but also a massive liability, never know what's going on with her and where she truly stands with anyone. I wish she would just be properly up front with me about who she's close with. Wish she spoke more game to me than she actually does. Elmo I've already wrote down a lot about how I feel about you but ya I love u so much I just think you're such a threat to me and there could be a vote where if it's not you that goes home it will be me. Also where the fuck do I stand with you? Are you being open with me? It'd crush me if you weren't I've been trying this game with you I really have. This is long and turned into something I didn't expect it to be and its like 5am so I need sleep. So much has gone on and I've so much to think about I don't even know where to turn right now.

i manifested that, right.. like.. i literally JUST said in my last confessional how me and chloe eventually wanted justin out and then it happened.. now, it didn't go how i would have wanted it to go, but it still went.. would i have loved to be part of that plan? duh. but i think justin leaving might be a blessing in disguise. or a huge curse. i guess we'll have to wait and see. all i have to say is this.. justin did that to his damn self. how stupid of him to tell johnny about the alliance we're in and the fact that he has a vote against him that round.. like WHAT is wrong with him.. all he had to do was keep his mouth shut and he would have been here kJGDSKS... and the fact that he literally told johnny EVERYTHING like what the fuck is wrong with you justin.. so stupid on your part and im so fucking pissed bc it fucks with my game. now.. some bigger news.. i found the merge idol?? KLHDFKLJSDKFGJL.... now i have two fucking idol. i can't believe IT. manifestation really does work. so ben, elmo and chloe all know about the merge idol because we all been helping each other find it.. and i told chloe i have the pre merge idol today. i told her elmo knows and that elmo didn't want me to tell her. i'm doing what i have to do in order to secure me spots more weeks into this game. but now this round is a speed round and i work 12-7 tomorrow so i'm gonna get no social game in really... this sucks and i just have to pray and hope they don't target me this round because i don't wanna have to use any idols yet. i really just wish this round wasn't sped up because it's really fucking with me and i hate the fact

________________________________________________________________

sorry i pressed enter before.. i hate the fact that i know i'm not gonna really be able to talk to people this round bc of work so i have to trust my allies will do everything correctly.. unlike how justin did anything he did.

Zack found the idol and I told our alliance about the extra vote. I am ride or die with Anabel's Angels at this point

Ignore everything I said in that last confessional. I don’t know what I’m doing. Getting Justin out was essential to moving those who I know I can trust to work with further in the game. Finally in an alliance with Jared and Johnny. I feel really solid about that. I’m continuing to not tell Elmo anything but still wanting to work with him so that’s a mood. But it sounds like my alliance along with Bodhi asya and anabel should be able to come together again and vote. But let’s find out cause I sure don’t know. Also Justin danggggg you were really coming out the gate. We gotcha but really respect how you make moves.

wow,,, speed round,,, crazy stuff miss aj,,, lol im so stressed ab this i literally dont know what im doing. jared wants to vote out ben and honestly i kinda do too, and i would w/o hesitation if it wasnt for zack elmo and chloe. i told them my voting justin out and lying to them was a one time thing and i like desperately wanna hold true to that, but jared brings up some INCREDIBLE points. i wanna tell them i wanna vote ben but ik they wouldnt react very well.. i just feel like voting him is best for my game bc like hes potentially the person whos playing the very best and im terrified of that bc i wanna win!!!! not him!!!!! it is just. hard. ill get back to u later prolly thank u for listening :)

so..... i lived

my heart was literally POUNDING during that tribal like i was fully prepared to drag anabel and johnny out behind me by their noses but ! i stayed ! sucks it had to be me or justin but according to chloe he may or may not have REALLY hardcore been pushing for me to go so.... the superior hawks stan won ig

oh yeah i talked to chloe. i’ve been putting it off but she messaged me and it wasn’t as bad as i thought bc as far as i’m concerned we’re even now. i want to really try to be a good ally to her. i know i have my alliance of 5 (6? are we counting lily in the alliance? she’s not physically in the chat but she’s been more of an ally to me than anabel so,) but i’m not stupid enough to think that those are gonna be the last people standing at the end. there’s always room for error. so i’m gonna do my best to work on my individual connections this round. it’s rough when these people literally just tried to send me home but we try anyways.

now. today’s issue. i literally want anabel gone So Bad. but johnny. he thinks that he has her on lock but like. if that was the case then the joey thing wouldn’t have happened (or maybe it wouldn’t have happened if the dumbass men listened to opinions other than their own but w/e). like she’s playing the game and doing it well. we’ve had two merge votes, both split down the middle almost. anabel is the ONLY person to vote on the right side both times. that doesn’t work for me. i don’t think she’s like actively targeting me because as far as i know, the facebook people kept justin’s self vote a secret from her? which means she might not have known we had the majority anyways 6-5 and she just voted him because she didn’t want me to go. and that’s all well and good, but i definitely see her being a problem for me in the later game. so. something to think about

Trust List 3.0:

1. Asya 2. Bodhi 3. Lily 4. Johnny 5. Chloe 6. Elmo 7. Zack 8. Anabel 9. Ben

anabel back on her crackhead bullshit. all i’ve said is that i won’t vote chloe because i gave my word and now suddenly she wants to vote chloe because johnny doesn’t want zack to go for some reason and his ass was out all day so basically he comes home two hours before the vote and starts changing shit up. i’m LIVID

https://soundcloud.com/bodhi-small/week-8/s-SjYaD

________________________________________________________________

Ben is voted out in a 5-4-2 vote. He becomes the third member of our jury.

#episode #sailaway

0 notes

survivormuxloe · 6 years ago

Text

Episode #6: “because Sweyn’s Baddies are COMING” - Jones

My bitch ass glasses broke so I’m more than happy to be doing a challenge that requires my ears. Maybe wil my eyesight so poor my hearing will get better to compensate who knows. Even if we lose I’m in a Gucci spot to survive.

Tribal was a success. With the first tribal done I’m happy trust is built and I can stop being paranoid.

With that said I think I’m in a good position going forward as I have an alliance and we’re probably reaching a merge or a swap soon.

my plan of action for my tribe since we legit havent got Anything on the doc yet (me n michael have an excuse..) is to make it seem like im doing more than i am. oh im gonna work on it soon! i’ll do this soon! like its all about seeming like im contributing.. when i aint LAMDKNDG

me n michael made a f2 altho it breaks my heart to say its just for the sake of my survival on this dumbass tribe.. theres no way malik flips on me and with michael as my f2 i can essentially force him to flip on danielle if he wants to stay which is like perf rn since i dont really trust her..

i miss my close allies tho lol. like ryan is my #1 n its unfortunate he isnt getting a chance to make more bonds considerig we need those bonds for his idol to make a big move.. hopefully mercia loses again and wes goes tho? it evens it up to 6 sweyn vs 6 mercia and i think itll swap again before merge and hopefully ill be with ryan/rhys/jones :)) my social game is good rn i think.. i just gotta lay low with physical and downplay strategy so im never the target. hard w/ these personalities tho. X

SOOO THIS CHALLENGE IS FUCKING HELL!!! U KNOW WHAT WOULD BE BETTER? IF OUR WHOLE TRIBE FUCKING DID SMTH!!

like im actually gunna go fucking mad.. its songs. yah its hard to identify bc theyre distorted and overlapped but theres no excuse not to get at least artists.. or even one song. malik n michael can barely do that.. LIKE YEAH I HAVENT DONE THE BEST BUT IVE GOT 2 SONGS THERE RN AND IDENTIFIED NICKI + XTINA SO! BLOOP! im gunna kill myself.. poor dani. its especially painful knowing ill try to get her out if we lose LMAOAOAOA but i mean.. (: oh well!

This challenge can litterally chomp on a dick. No. I hate it. I dont want to do it. Like BEGONE.

Honestly its so hard, and like i dont listen to pop so im struggling with it. Hopefully we win, but I feel safe if we go to tribal.

At this point I am so upset because I feel useless because all the ones I know have been picked and idek if anyone took my suggestion seriously. If this round ends my game, I’m going to be so upset!

We’re pretty much fucked unless a miracle happens

I've been a bit nervous about my position and stuff in the game and I'm trying to catch up socially with a lot of people and stuff. I'm doing what I can on a five person tribe and hope I can work on hard on getting as far as I can in this game. I have a feeling we merge next round so that could be cool. I wanna make it far as I can this game, I'm trying to be active but UTR so hopefully it works.

WE WON FIRST PLACE AGAIN AND THIS TIME I WASNT A FUCKUP WOOOOOOOOOOOOP WOOP I’ve been talking to David more and I helped out a lot with this challenge so I’m hoping he won’t want me out next time we go to tribal.

THREE IN A ROW, BABY. Feels good to not have gone to tribal since Jose's elimination. Also an added bonus that I basically carried our tribe to win today, not a big deal, LOL.

Also, with the reward, I've now got a vote steal advantage. This is HUGE for me. I have a group of people I wanna work with in this game and if this group is down in numbers at any point, this vote steal can come in handy.

that challenge was a damn mess but i'm just glad we made it out alive. sad Canute lost though ugh i'm sending all of my positive energy to Scott so he can make it through.... hope we merge next round that would be cute; i'm ready for more action in this game

im gunna kill my self . :) WE LOST. AGAIN. :) NOT MY FAULT. AGAIN.

n now i gotta deal with fucken awkward 2-2 tribal lines when i have a f2 with michael and a love for malik.. but bc dani is good at challenges her ass wont go and thats so annoyin but u can bet ur ass ima try somethin if i have to bc i dont trust malik to keep me safe vs her whereas michael will.. if i have to flip on malik i will

why me tho like im a good person. i dont deserve this. why couldnt i be on a competent tribe. LMAOAOAOA.

THANK GOD WE WON IMMUNITY if we lost I probably would’ve spontaneously combust Bc I love??? My current tribe??? I love Madison too and It sucked we voted her out Bc I actually adore her but she wasn’t doing a lot. I just love this tribe and if we had to vote for each other again I’ll lose my marbles. Maybe we can work more together going into merge if we get there? I hope so, because Sweyn’s Baddies are COMING

Well, we lost once again and I’m upset about it. The challenge was super hard for us and we struggled. It seemed like everyone wasn’t really putting in all they could as they just said “I forgot” I was like oh!! cool!! This tribal, I’m not crazy worried right now. I trust Scott a lot at this point because he doesnt have a reason to lie to me by telling me that I’ve been holding up the tribe because... I have been. I think the move this week is to vote out Malik. We’ll see whats going on but I really think we might be doing that this week. Hopefully there’s a merge soon because I need to fucking be by myself!!!

My ass is for sure on the line tonight. I know that Malik is targetting me for being weak and all that so rn I’m just trying to get Scott 100% on board with voting me and Malik 100% certain that he is safe with me just in case there’s an idol and maybe if I’m too in my nerves and scared I have no qualms with throwing a vote on dani incade of a tie

youtube

You know what they say, another week safe,

That one didn't seem so easy, partially cause I sucked at it and mainly because I sucked major balls at it. But hey Mo and David saved our asses so yeeeeeeeeeeee boi. And not only that we also got reward but not really cause the only thing I got was a jpg image, and so did Felix David and Mo according to them which means either one of them is lying or Wes has it. Either way I guess it's not the end of the world.

So now Canute is going to tribal I wonder how that is gonna play out, a part of me wants Dani and Michael to be safe but another one wants rocks but at the same time another one would be jealous cause I wouldn't be a part of it and I could use some rocks in my life. Either way that's it for now folks now if you excuse me Felix wants to kidnap me and introduce me to the spooky facebook wikia comunity, spooky shit indeed.

So WOOOOOOOO this is the first tribal of the season that i'm not attending which is amazingggg and feels so good to finally have a break!! Plus like I honestly LOVE my tribe rn bc everyone is so iconic and fun and we even made a charlie's angels thing bc its so iconic... ugh love them BUT if it came down to tribal I think I would be okay still since i've really worked on rhys and we have a 3 dude gay guardians alliance of me, rhys, and ryan even tho im not even gay but they dont need to know that... my boy scott is in tribal rn but i hope he comes out okay!!! if he doesn't well oops idc bye bitch but if he does then yay!!

Tonight I am absolutely terrified I think the votes are gonna be on Malik but you just never know so my best plan is just to hope for the best and campaign to stay I’m not just gonna sit back and get eliminated especially this close to a merge situation where I know I’ll be in a good position to make it far.

im legit gunna die im so nerv and i shouldnt be. LIKE. I TRUST THAT MICHAEL HAS MY BACK. AND MALIK ISNT VOTING ME. SO IT SHOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE FOR ME TO GO. BUT I DONT THINK THAT FOR SOME REASON. all i can think of in the back of my mind is what if michael and dani flip on me and its 2-1-1.. but theres nothing i can literally do bc if i vote michael and stay our relationship is gone lol

ughhhh i should just be positive but its so hard bc even if malik goes.. i feel awful LMAAOAOOA but like. uhm. yes ): i feel awful

Scott as much as I like the guy I can for sure see he lets his emotions dictate how he plays and while that’s not necessarily bad it’s difficu when you’re trying to blindside someone and he could just run and tell Malik so the nerves are here and out to play hunny

My thing is I think it’s is going to go to rocks. Which is why we were worried about that when linus left but it’s real. Dani we don’t wanna vote each other, hell everyone says they don’t want to vote me which is always weird for me to hear but if that’s true good if they’re all voted me then nasty.. but I don’t want to vote Dani and I definitely don’t want to vote Scott..so that kinda leads to Michael which I don’t want to vote either but I have reasons: the main reason is the past couple of challenges he’s done the worst in, and if we need to survive incase there’s no swap or merge then we need all the strong members here.

I feel a bigger bond with Dani and Scott vs Michael who I feel is cool but I don’t feel we’re clicking on a better level. And it’s not even a tribe thing it’s literallt what I feel could save us from tribal, and how don’t i know if Dani and Michael won’t vote me out right after Scott leaves? So basically what’s happening is it’s likely going to be a 2-2 on Michael and Scott, and I’m not changing my vote. So I’ll likely go to rocks and lose but that’s ok. I did my best and it could be a stupid move but I don’t wanna risk Dani and Michael voting me out if we lost again, because I’d hope Dani wouldn’t but you never know. So rocks here we come!

Malik is voted out 3-1.

#episode #royallyyours

0 notes

weholyperfectioncollectorme-blog · 7 years ago

Text

aaa car insurance quote nc

"aaa car insurance quote nc

aaa car insurance quote nc

BEST ANSWER: Try this site where you can compare quotes: : http://freeautoinsurance.xyz/index.html?src=tumblr

RELATED QUESTIONS:

""Whats a good, less expensive, insurance for a younger driver?""

i'm 19 and have had my liscence since i turned 16, i have a clean driving record and even got a perfect score on my driving test 3 years back. My car's been under my dad's name for the last three years but i plan to move out soon and want to switch the car into my name. does anyone know of a good, less expensive car insurance that would be affordable, and not have high rates just because i'm a younger driver.""

Where can I find non-owners insurance?

I need what is known as an SR22 which is also non-owners insurance. I have looked everywhere and it seems like nobody has a policy for it. If anyone knows anything about it. Please let me know.

Which auto insurance companies DON'T use a credit score when deciding rates?

I disagree with the use of credit scores and auto insurance, and would like to find an auto insurance company that doesn't use the method when selling me their service. Does anyone know of companies that don't check your credit, and instead uses your driving record, age, etc....like it used to be?""

Did I get a good quote for my car insurance?

I am 28 years old and recently passed my driving test. My full UK driving license is 4 months old and I got car insurance with my uncle for 43 a month including 7 years no claim bonus, 506 a year. Is that a good deal?""

Did Alanzo have car insurance in Training Day ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=InPoPRfqNWM If he didn't have car insurance why do we have to?

How much will my insurance raise after DUI and totaled vehicle?

I totaled my 2005 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Friday night and got a DUI. I have been with Nationwide for a number of years, and had a pretty exemplerary driving record. I was paying about 100 dollars a month full coverage as a 26 year old male on my Jeep. Does anyone have an educated guess at what my insurance rates will do now? I'm trying to decide, when I get my license back and buy a new car, if I should be looking at a sports car with full coverage, or if insurance prices alone are going to make me want to get something cheap with liability coverage. By the way, I live in West Virginia.""

Does an insurance consultant in Massachusetts need to be licensed?

It is corporate insurance, not personal.""

Does anyone know of any good and affordable marriage counslers in york pa?

My husband and I desperately need marriage counseling before it is too late. We are very poor and can't afford much. Does anybody know of someone good and affordable? My health ...show more

Car Sales/Insurance Sales?

OK, so just want an opinion. I just got a job to sell cars. Its slow right now, they said avg salesman sells about 8 cars a month. its a 1,000 draw,. $500 per month, and %25 to %30 commission. But I also got accepted to be an insurance agent for Farmers, all I have to do is pass the license test. But this could take up to a month. And Im not sure how the pay works, if its 100% commission, or whatever. I might not be making money for a while when im first starting up. If they offered some type of base pay then I am leaning towards the insurance agent, but then again the economy sucks right now. Any advice..which would you take? I am thinking of just doing the car sales for a while, save $$ and then get into insurance afterwards, but I might lose this opportunity. What do you think...thanks.""

Do you have to have car insurance? dont answer if you dont live in texas please?

I want to get my drivers license and i dont have a car so therefore i dont have car insurance. Can you get your license without having car insurance? Also would i use there car to drive or do i have to bring a car bc like i said i dont have one? And if i was to use someone elses car would i have to be on there insurance? Because if i have to then thats like saying you cant get a drivers license without a car or car insurance which wouldnt make that much sense. And please dont answer my questions if u dont live in texas

How to get health insurance for my wife.?

Just found out my wife is newly pregnant. I just switched jobs and am not eligible for insurance for 90 days (at which time I'll add her). Unfortunately though, we obviously need to get to the doctor before 3 months from now and have the preliminary check-ups and stuff. Is there anything I can do?""

What are the best/ cheapest private health insurance providers in wisconsin?

23 yr old male, good health medical, dental, and vision plans? Thanks!""

Cheapest Car Insurance for Young Drivers?

I'm 19, and I cannot continue driving with no insurance.. im going to get pulled over!... I can afford monthly insurance for about 150/mo but everyone is charing me double that.. i think i tried every company.. any suggestions?""

How much would insurance be for a BMW 3 series from 2001 with 150k miles?

My dad said he'd buy me a BMW if the insurance isn't considerably higher than my brothers, who drives a 2004 VW Golf. I'm a 16 year old male and will probably be driving within a year but I want to know whether the insurance would be considerably higher than a golf. We live in Dallas TX Thank You""

How much will my insurance go uop?

i was in an accident not to long ago. My car was totaled and my insuranced paid it off ($13,000) it wasnt my fault but im 20 and ive been driving for 3 years but recently got my license last year. i was already paying 250 a month, how much more will i have to pay?? my car was an 05 altima. now its a case of he ran a red light, versus she ran a red light""

Where can I find affordable insurance when living on disibility?

I am disabled and I only earn a certain amount per month, and I also have a wife and child. I just want to cry sometimes.""

I would like to buy a car.How much is the price of the car insurance about? I am going to buy a 1300cc car.?

Insurance E-bike?

I live in california and I would like to know if I need an insurance for my e-bike if I hit someone or something. If you could post the web page you found it on that would be nice. Thanks

Does anyone know any cheap car insurance companies for new drivers?

I am coming up to 19 (1 week) and have had my UK Full Manual license since December 2012, it's now May 2013. I have tried everything to find cheap car insurance online and it's virtually impossible! I don't know if it's my area that I live causing it to be so high, or my lack of experience with driving. I have tried different addresses (i.e. family members) not in to be fraudulent but to see if it is the area, which is proving to be quite true. But I've tried insurance comparison websites and asked friends who they got their insurance from and still no good. My cheapest quote is around 2,000 which I just can't afford. I am going to university in September and will be going on various placements within the weeks I am there, so a car would really help get me to places easily. I was wondering if anyone had any tips on lowering the cost of insurance, somehow? I've tried all these telematic sites but it's still too high. Also, could anyone recommend any sites I could try for my insurance quotes? N.B. I haven't purchased a car yet (as there is no point if I can't afford insurance) but is there a year which can help to lower the cost of car insurance? Such as, rather than having a 10 year old car (03 reg) having a 3-4 year old car? Any specific year? Thanks very much.""

What happens after you buy car insurance online?

Just curious as I'm planning on buying a years insurance for the first time in my life (I'm 17) from the post office website. Either that or could I pay at my local post office branch? I'm so close to getting my own car and then insuring it seems so simple that every time I think of it I start to physically shake!!! Thanks!

Car insurance for rural carriers for usps?

Doen anybody know if your car insurance rates go up if you are a rural carrier for usps ? I have state farm insurance and have been a little nervous my rates would go way up.

What's a site I can use to see how much car insurance would be?

I want to see an estimate

""I drive a work vehicle 5 days a week, shouldn't I get a low rate insurance for my own car?""

I've started a new job few months ago, where I'm provided with a work vehicle (insured by my work) and I drive this work car 5 days a week (Monday thru Friday) ... I still have my own car and I'm not getting rid of it, but the question is shouldn't I get a lower rate insurance for driving my car only in weekends, if any?""

Why do we NEED car insurance?!?

Why is it the LAW that we have car insurance?? I honestly think it's stupid. Shouldn't we, as free Americans, be able to make the choice of whether or not we want insurance, and still legally drive a vehicle, as long as we have a license, at our own risk? Kind of like if you go skiing or snowboarding, you go at your own risk, you're not forced to get skiing insurance , or boarding insurance , or anything like that. I mean, think of this situation: I have no insurance, and I wreck into somebody. They have insurance, so they are covered. I don't, so I will either have to get rid of my car, or pay for repairs myself; that's the risk I took and this is how I'm paying for it, by being car less or spending tons of money on repairs. But why must we be forced by law to have it, or NO DRIVING FOR YOU says big ole' government?? This is angering me because I'm currently in college, without a car, and while I can walk to my work and school, it's still about 30-45 minutes each way to walk, and if I could get an old car for cheap, it would make my life MUCH easier and less of a hassle.""

Is a mazda 3 a sports car too a insurance company ?

will a insurance company consider a simple mazda 3 a sports car ? like not a mazda 3 speed , just a normal mazda 3 sedan 4 door""

aaa car insurance quote nc

Need cheap no-name insurance companies for motorcycle insurance?

Well, i live in Florida where motorcycle insurance is not required at all. But I need comprehensive insurance at least (and maybe liability too) so that I wont have to cry over a stolen bike after a week of purchase. I'm buying this bike in cash (2008 ninja 250R) and still big insurance companies like progressive and geico will charge me a thousand bucks a year for liability and comprehensive coverages alone. So, I need to know the names of some small insurance companies who wont use their big and flashy names to jack up their prices. please help. I dont wanna pay 1000 bucks a year for a 3500 dollar bike. Thanks.""

Fast old car that isnt cost millions to insure?

I am 17 i understand that the insurance on a very fast car would be millions! but i was wondering does anyone know an old fastish car that the insurance isnt tonnes and tonnes of cash in the UK

I need cheap car insurance in ny?

Why has my car insurance went up?

mine and my partners car insurance is up for renewal, we only passed 3 years ago next April we were 660 for a 1.6 focus we thought it would go down this year as my partner is now 25 but the insurer we are with wanted 900?!! the cheapest we have seen is 730?? nothing has changed we have never claimed so why has it went up?? is it not suppose to go down the more experience you have and older you get? anyone else having this problem?""

Report to insurance or not?

i was driving down the freeway yesterday and a rock hit my windshield. it now has two huge cracks. and i have to get it replaced i know it cant be repaired. my deductible on my insurance is $500, should i report it to the insurance or not? would it be cheaper to just fix it myself?""

No insurance ticket?

I got a ticket today for no insurance. I know I can go to court and show proof of insurance and just pay court costs. After I show the court my insurance card, are they going to contact the insurance company to make sure it is valid? I'm sure you know why I am asking.""

What is the cheapest motor vehicle insurance company in NY right now?

I wanted to know if anyone knew of any good insurance companies with low rates. I'm kinda sick of the one I have now Geico. Service is not great, guess they spend too much money on commercials and none on customer service. Any info would be great! Thanks.""

What is the best health insurance company to go through for maternity insurance.?

What is the best maternity health insurance company to go to in Tennessee. Me and my hubby want to start having a family and need to get some insurance.

What are the cheapest insurance companies in Canada?

Emergency answers asap! Cheapest car insurance just to be legal?

We just need to drive from texas to PA, and we're not going to keep the plan. we just need to be kept legal from pa to texas, i realize we'll need 6month car insurance (assuming temporary car insurance is a myth) we need to leave tomorrow and we will be on the road a few days geico dropped us immediately after a car side swiped us, so that is on the record. yes, the cancellation is effective. we don't have time to investigate, I really just need cash numbers or whatever advice you may have.""

Where can I find cheap health insurance?

My wife is epileptic and health insurance is difficult to find for her due to her pre-existing condition anyone know what I can find.?

About how much would the insurance for 16 year old driving a 1997 Chevrolet Camaro?

In Missouri about how much would car insurance be a 16 year old with good grades be for a 1997 chevy camaro, or a 1997 pontiac firebird. And also, what is the cheapest car for a 16 year old to insure? Thanks""

How much would insurance cost for a 17 year old?

I'm going to be seventeen soon and I'm just curious how much it will cost to insure me. My parents have USAA and they have some kind of family type plan with me my sister and both of my parents. I will probably be driving this car http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2004-NIssan-350Z-custom-body-work-and-paint-/320645191467?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item4aa7f1572b#ht_930wt_1123 I don't care about your opinion of the car, and I don't need a lecture on the fact that I shouldn't street race I just want a ROUGH estimate of how much it will cost per year or per month or whatever you can find""

How does a LAPC in Georgia get on insurance panels?

Is it okay to drive an unregistered car with insurance in California?

I'm in the process of getting the paperwork for registration, but it's taking longer than expected. The previous party (who I bought the car from) already gave up title to the car. I have the bill of sale and insurance and have been staring at an undriven car. Can I drive it? What are the consequences?""

How much would insurance be on a 1993 mazda miata mx-5?

i am a 17 year old that has already had one speeding ticket if that helps.....but how much do you think the insurance might cost?

Will 3 points increase my car insurance by much?

if so how much? Is it very bad to get 3 points?

Whats the cheapest insurance company?

I need to know the cheapest car insurance to use? I'm an 18 y/o female single living in Portland,OR I graduated Ive never been in a car accident I took drivers Ed The car ...show more""

How much did using my SSN to get a car insurance quote hurt my credit?

Motorcycle Insurance?

Ive been trying to find online quotes but am unable to (don't know why, but they cant give me a quote online). Anyways I was just wondering what insurance company would you recommend for motorcycle insurance? I want to buy a bike, I don't have my M1 (because I don't want to take the test before getting the bike), and obviously I've never taken the motorcycle course. Yea I know it would be hard to get a quote given that I have zero riding experience or licensing but cmon do you really expect me to get my license only to have it expire in 90 days without even having a bike yet? Anyways when you started out what kind of insurance were you paying and with who? Also is 600cc pushing it? will that screw me over for insurance? I was looking into getting a honda 600. Thanks!""

Can 2 insurance policies go on 1 car ?

hello all .. i sold my car today basicly because i couldnt insure the insurance or fuel anymore as my hours have been cut in work . now my question is .. can i insure my mums car which is already insured by her .. reason i ask is if i cancel my current policy i will have to pay the full years worth of the car i had previous which would be 1000 pound , so i was thinking to insure my mums car to keep my insurance going ? is this possible ?""

What is the cheapest/best home insurance right now?

my home insurance just went up from roughly $800 to $1300 a year! Is their a better, more affordable one out there? Thanks""

How much is car insurance?

i'm 18 n i want 2 get a car very soon. i'm paying for my own insurance so i want 2 get an idea of an estimated price. if i get a care made between 1999 n 2005. so if any1 has an idea can u please help me out

Adding car insurance to existing insurance...?

I don't have any car insurance, and never had any, but my elder brother does. He has his own car as well. I read it somewhere that it's cheaper to add a name to an existing car insurance because first-time drivers usually have high insurance. If I were to do that, will I have to drive the same car as my brother does? Can I buy another car and add my name to existing insurance of my brother? I apologize in advance if it sounds like a stupid question. This is my first time and I don't have any experience with this. Thank you in advance.""

How much do teens pay for car insurance a month?

If i am 17 years old buying a brand new 2009 car sedan about how much will i pay monthly on insurance?

aaa car insurance quote nc

Do you have to pay for insurance if you get your learners permit in California?

I am 15 and am getting my permit next week and I was wondering if I would have to pay for insurance if I drive my parents cars.

Average cost for motorcycle/scooter insurance?

Im considering getting a scooter or small motorcycle, and was just trying to estimate my monthly payments, including insurance. Could you please give me an estimate or exact numbers on how much i should expect to pay? And is it generally cheaper with a smaller bike? cheapest with a scooter? Im 25, no accidents or tickets whatsoever, and am looking for something between 80 and 250 ccs.... Thanks!!!!!!!""

Do you need to buy the car before getting insurance for it?

I am looking for my first (used) car from a private seller, and I would like to be able to drive it home, so will I have to buy insurance for it before I buy it? And will I have to own the deed before I get the insurance?""

""How much would it cost me for motorcycle insurance in toronto, ontario?""

I'm 16, going on 17 in march, and have my G1. I have a 1984 Honda cm250 custom that has been sitting in the garage and I've decided I'd like my M1 as well. Before I get it I was interested in how much I would be looking at paying for it per month/year. It would be used for pleasure, to get to and from school, and the odd day to go driving, probably less then 12 000km a year. If there's any info missing I'll gladly add it in. Here's all the info on the bike: Years Manufactured: 1982 - 1984 Category: Classic, Custom Engine & Transmission Engine Displacement: 234.00 cc (14.28 cubic inches) Engine Type: Four Stroke Twin Horse Power (kW): 17.00 (12.4) @ 7500 Compression Ratio: 9.4 : 1 Compression Pressure: 170.7 psi (12.0 kg/cm2) Bore x Stroke: 2.09 x 2.09 in (53.00 x 53.00 mm) Valves Per Cylinder: 2 Fuel Control: OHC Ignition System: CDI Cooling system: Air Gears: 5 Number of Plain / Friction Plates (cutch): 6 / 6 Transmission Type / Final Drive: Chain (1982, 1984) Belt (1983) Weight (including oil and gas): 317.5 lbs (144.0 kg) Top speed: ~75 mph (120 Km/h) Fuel Efficiency: ~50 mpg, city (21 Km/L) Engine & Transmission Front Wheel Dimensions: 18 in Rear Wheel Dimensions: 16 in Front Tire Dimensions: 3.25S18-4PR Rear Tire Dimensions: 110/90-16 59S Front Tire Pressure: 25 psi (1.75 kg/cm2) Rear Tire Pressure: 25 psi (1.75 kg/cm2) Rear Tire Pressure (>200 lbs): 32 psi (2.25 kg/cm2) Front Fork Travel: 5.5 in (140 mm) Front Fork Oil Capacity: 4.56 fl oz (135 cc) Rear Fork Travel: 2.9 in (75 mm) Front and Rear Brakes: Expanding Brake (hub) Engine & Transmission Spark Plug Type (NGK / ND): CR7HS / U22FSR-U Electrical System Voltage: 12 volts Alternator Output: 190 watts @ 5000 rpm Fuel capacity (total): 3.3 gal (12.5 lit) Fuel capacity (reserve): 0.4 gal (1.5 lit) Oil Capacity 1.6 qt (1.5 lit)""

Got a fine for no car insurance.?

I got a fine for no car insurance in CA, what will possibly happen to me? I'm fearing the worst...although there should be no excuse for it I didn't have the money at the time.""

Cheap Auto Insurance (Liability)?

I need to register my tags which has expired. I know I need to be insured before doing so. I am looking for an Insurance company whom would insure me today with all proper documentation (today) . Does anyone know of such a company with affordabile rates? Ex: $45.00 or less monthly. I live in Georgia outside Atlanta.

What are your opinions on insurance companies?

hello there.... I need to know what do you guys think about insurance companies.... thanx in advance :) P.S:- it is a school project

If my camera is in my car and it is stolen will my auto insurance cover it?

How much would insurance be on property based business?

i have a few acres and was wondering what the insurance would be if i decided to open up a atv/rv park on my land~i would have a waver that made sure all that rode would be rideing at their own risk etc.plus any other limations you could think i might come acrross~

What Classic Cars are cheap and cheap to insure?

I'm coming up to a point in my life when I need to buy a car. (16 years old UK). I want to get a classic car like a classic VW Beetle or an Austin Mini, something with real character and not a typical first car like a Peugeot 106. Have you any suggestions on some cheap cars to insure and ones that you can buy the car for less than about 600-700 used? Thanks.""

""The shutdown has cost 22 Billion in 11 days, how much health insurance would that buy?

in your opinion

""Is it normal for car insurance to cost more than the previous year, even though I made no claims?""

My insurance is coming to an end soon, I last paid 689 for car insurance and was going to consider staying with the same company and let them renew my insurance automatically but then they said that this year it would cost me 978. Isn't car insurance supposed to reduce a little each year? I know prices can change but I have not made no claims yet they are asking for over 200 more this year, is that normal? Other companies that I have used for more than a year in a row have always gone down in price each year but this one is going up?""

Insurance for a 16 year old. ?

I turn 16 on December 30th, and i can get my license on January 4th. I know insurance costs less if you have a 3.0 or something like that in California, thats the state i'm asking about. Our new semester starts when we go back to school on the 3rd or something like that and i will have all a's. I was wondering if anyone knew if they look at those grades, or the final grades from the semester before? this is for the deduction on the insurance, anyone know?""

Affordable health insurance for self employed in Missouri?

Average motorcycle insurance cost for 17year old male ?

How much would insurance coverage cost me? I am going to take the rider safety course. I have no previous accidents and have above 3.0 GPA. I want to get a Kawasaki Ninja500 because I heard they are great for beginners and are decent bikes as well. Any tips, advice, general information would be much appreciated!""

Which insurance company offer the lowest price to insure my car? I have a Ford contour 2000 y.?

i need for emergency to insure my car in the cheapest way-very important.That's why i need the best offers from insurance Companyes

Can a cop get life insurance?

With the way the economy is...I am considering being a cop after I finish my degree in human development(good for kid teaching). Anyway, can a cop get life insurance? Does it cost more?""

My own insurance if i file independent?

Im 18, if no one claims me as a dependent on their taxes (so i claim independent), will I be taken off my parents insurance? and if so, is it health or life insurance or both? and what are the best insurance options for me if i have to get my own?""

Car insurance question?

I just turned 16 and got my driving permit. I would be using my grandmothers car and she has erie insurance. My question is.. Am I allowed to practice driving on the car even without getting insurance? She insists that I'm not allowed to unless I get insurance but everyone else I know does it without. She thinks that I am going to get in a crash because I can't keep my room clean. (wtf?)

""I'm just wondering, is there anyone here who can't get health insurance?""

If you do have it, how do you get it? and if you don't have it, why not? Spiritually speaking, of course""

What auto insurance should I have for a car that stays in garage?

I live in California, I do have a car that I am not using anymore and it stays in the garage until I decide to sell it. By California law, is there any law that you must have insurance for car? even if it is not being used. if there is a law then what is my best options for auto insurance? Thanks, I appreciate any answer!""

Student health insurance...please help?

So, I'm looking for my first health insurance since becoming independent. What is a reasonable amount for the deductible and monthly payments, coinsurance and the price per office visit? I really have no idea...thanks for any advice. i'm a full time student btw and i'm 19 female""

Can I stay on my parents auto insurance policy if I move out?

I am covered under my parents' insurance policy (Ontario), but am planning to move out on my own. I do not own a car but I want to maintain coverage so that I have a good rating when I do decide to get one, and for the rare time I borrow their car. Can I stay on their policy even though I live elsewhere?""

""What is the penalty for driving without insurance on a motorbike, as i feel it was a genuine oversight?""

I was stopped because of a broken rear light and as it happens my insurance had expired about 4 days before. I wasn't aware that the insurance expired , i thought it was at the end of the month. I didn't receive any reminder because i had forgotten to change address with the insurance company, which was completely my fault. This is a genuine oversight on my part, but I'm not sure if they'll look at previous incident i had with my cousins car when i was a teenager about 7 years ago, i got caught driving without insurance. Probably one of the stupidest things i have done but i learned from it, but the court may not look at it like that. Should i get a solicitor and does anyone know how much they cost? Will i be suspended from driving?""

Who should I trust when it comes to auto insurance?

I am looking for Auto Insurance but want to deal a company I can trust.

aaa car insurance quote nc

Best car insurance for 17 yr olds?

been quoted silly money for car insurance...anyone know who is cheapest for 17 yr old 1st time driver????

Will my car insurance go up because i have a child with a driver's license?

Hello, I am writing from Tucson, Arizona and I have 2 teenage sons (16 & 17) that both live in Wayne County, Michigan (near Detroit). The boys live with my ex-husband and he wont let them get their driver's license because he claims 'his insurance rates will go up'. ???is this true???? (I have a 21 year old daughter and when she was 16 with her driver's license I just excluded her from my insurance with one company and when I switched to another company, I just ommitted telling them I had a teenage driver. Does anyone know who this works in Michigan, Harper Woods, Michigan, I believe he has just a local company with no-fault insurance, state basic minimim insurance. ???Or if the boys do have to get their own insurance when they do get their own car, does anybody know the best rates for new teenage drivers with a good record???? thanks""

Healthcare Homework help?

Here is what i need to find: 1) explore insurance costs for patients with and without cancer 2) will the new Obama healthcare act help patients with cancers be able to access affordable health care insurance rates? 3) do hospitals have the right to reject some patients and refuse care? 4) what are the local, state, and federal laws regarding right to treat? Okay so i've already done some research but some of the questions are kinda vague and im having trouble figuring out what to say and finding info...especially #1. It's supposed to be placed on a poster board for a showcase so it needs to be nice. I dont know much about healthcare so i dont know what i need to focus on?""

Why are insurance group 1 cars so expensive?

Looking at insuring a car - in the UK we have insurance groups for cars, I can look at an Astra in group 16 and second hand I can see decent ones for 500-1000, but when I look at the shittiest cars known to man, the ones in group 1 - they are all 5000-7000 minimum SECOND HAND. Why the hell is this? If I wanted to be ****** in the *** financially, I'd rather it be with the insurance because at least I'd have a decent bloody car.""

Insurance Question?

If I am pregnant and my current employer provided insurance covers maternity but then my husband gets a job out of state and we must move will his comparable insurance pick up my maternity costs even though it is a pre existing situation?

How much does insurance cost for a new young driver with a brand new car in newyork city?

Cheapest Motorcycle insurance?

I have a job & have paid my car insurance fully each month since I was 16 it was expected of me. I also tend to pay for my motorcycle insurance I have 2 jobs & go to College. I have had 3 speeding tickets 2 in 2008 & one in 2009 2 were around 10MPH over & the 3rd was around 15ish. I have my reasons for speeding regardless drive down the interstate & find more then 3 people that don't speed..SERIOUSLY I HAD PLACES TO BE cops are prejudice. Anyway I want a 02 or newer Motorcycle & state farm is my current provider although I know that are Top Of The Line & I just want the cheapest insurance for motorcycles. I understand my rates will be higher then average but I turn 21 in a year and it can only drop. I just need some Input here. Thank you!

How much would insurance be for...?

A 2001 Audi TT, Turbo I think. It would be for a 16-17 year old. Kept in the drive way or a locked garage. I think the car itself is about $6,000 without tax. Dont tell me abunch of stuff like all these statistics and stuff like depending on .... I just want your personal opinoin/rough estimate how much it would be per year or month. I would probably be the occasional driver, and my dad would probably be the primary driver, even though Id drive it more often. Just give me a rough estimate in your opinoin.""

Help Buy Auto Insurance!?

Hi, Just bought a care and now as a second step looking for a auto insurance, must be cheap, reliable and have a good history of dealing with auto insurance. Regards!""

Car insurance???????????????

im 17 and bout 2 insure my car, iv got 1 year no claims bonus on a moped, can that be used to save money on my car insurance.??""

Car Insurance quotes - when you get an online quote and it asks you?

how much your car is worth, do you quote the price you paid for it or its present price..? I ask because if you think about it you could have bought your car last year for 12, 000, and one year later it's worth 9,000. If you car is written off it isn't as ther inusrance company will pay out on the amount you paid for the car.. this happened to my brother and they only paid the value it was worth on the day of his crash which was considerably less....""

How much will my insurance increase after I got a DUI?

I'm an 19 y/o male. I already know I made a bunch of big mistakes in my life, I just want to know how much this portion will cost.""

""I am buying a used innova car, will the car insurance be in my name?

The car is having a loan of Rs 350000/- & i am planing to take over the loan. But if any thing happens to the car in the loan period will the insurance company pay to me or the owner who has made the insurance.

Used 2006 mustang v6 insurance for teens?

how much do you think insurance will be for a teen ages 16-17. (estimate) will it be cheap or expensive because it is used. and what if it is under the parent's plan? thank you

""Does car insurance go down when you move to a different state, if so how do i lower mine? (see details)?""

I used to live in LA and my car insurance was 46.00. Well, I went to progressive and did a quote with my new address which is in TX and my car insurance quote is for 26.00. How do i go about getting these new rates since I no longer live in Louisiana.""

How much do you pay for car insurance?

I'd like to know the insurance price for a 1.8 litre car, about 5 years old, driver being older than 26 years old, and no claims bonus not included, in different countries. In Ireland I get a quote about 1,200 Thanking you all in advance !!""

""Heres another crock of feces, about car insurance!?""

Apparently I didnt get the lowest rate because I didnt open an account or have a loan before age 25. What the F? does that have to do with the ability to drive a car? Also not because of no history of car loans or leases. Once again, What the F? does that have to do with the ability to drive a car? Also not because I have 2 accounts in good standing. I need more? or less? Once again, What the F? does that have to do with the ability to drive a car? Your company has never paid one dime to me or because of me. YET YOU BASE YOUR PREMIUMS ON NON RELATED ISSUES! F?ING BITE ME, WHAT A BUNCH OF SCAM ARTISTS! No wonder people commit insurance fraud. Because insurance companys F? you all the time. Another good one, recoupment fee. If you get money you have to pay it back. What was the purpose of the insurance in the first place? Now I know why we need billions of gallons of oil so much. Vaseline is a by product.""

How much would the treatment cost for stage 3 non-hodgkin's lymphoma if you didn't have insurance?

My friend put a friend of hers who was just diagnosed with stage 3 Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma in touch with me today, but I really don't know how to help her. She's 21, fresh out of college but unemployed, and does not have insurance. I don't know why she wasn't still on her parents' plan, or how student healthcare insurance works. She's terrified not just about the diagnosis itself but the cost. She was already financially strapped and trying to figure out how to pay for housing after college. I had Hodgkin's Lymphoma at 16-17, but my parents have insurance, and they are the ones who handled the bills. I never paid for anything myself so I really don't know about the cost involved. I saw one bill for my radiation and was literally shocked-still by the amount. It was like $1500 for each treatment I think, and I was getting them Monday-Friday then. Chemo was much more, but I never saw a bill for it so I really don't know the price. I did see a bill for one night I spent in the emergency room when I had this awful infection and a terrible fever, and without insurance that one night would have been over $7000! With insurance I think it was like $2400. All of my treatments and doctor's offices are in posh medical facilities in affluent parts of Los Angeles like Beverly Hills and Westwood / Bel Air, so perhaps that's why my medical care was so much. I honestly don't know. I wish I knew how to support or advise this girl. She's too old to attend the support group I went to, and I don't really know that much about NH-L because it's quite different than HL. I was fortunate to never have to be concerned about the finances, and I don't even know what the total amounted to since my parents won't tell me. They said, that it's not my concern. It was all medical care for me, so you'd think it would be my concern, but whatever. Will her oncologist's office help her to find financial support? How does that even work? What do they do if you can't pay? It would suck if she had to file bankruptcy this early in her life. Won't that keep her from getting a job, a loan for a house, and everything else? She went to USC. Can recent alumni be treated at their hospital for a reduced price? I was treated at UCLA, and I think at UCLA students can get medical care at a reduced cost. At my school I think we can as well. I don't know. You just show your student card. All bills are sent to your parents, so I don't know how it works. What should I tell her? She wants my help. All I really know to do is to send her the links I have on my profile. I can give her emotional support, but am clueless about financial support. What's the total cost of this going to most likely be for her?""

Cheap cars to insure at 18?

Im looking for some cheap cars to insure for an 18 year old. Stuff like 106 quicky's, gti's, corsa,punto,saxo,clio. Ive been wanting a clio williams but there very dear on insurance if u can give me a price for any of these cars from the top of your head it would help thanks.""

How much would car insurance cost for me if I got a car?

I'm 22 years old and have been driving since I was 18. Never got pulled over, a ticket, or in any accidents since I've been driving. Been on my moms insurance since then but I'm looking into getting my own used car and just curious as to how much it would cost for someone like me.""

How do I drive a new car home if I can't get insurance on it for another 2 weeks?

My insurance company said they need the car title before they can give me insurance on the car. This doesn't make any sense, the dealer say they cannot hold on to the car once it's bought because it's not their responsbility anymore. But I need to buy the car to get the title and the title won't be processed for 1-2 weeks. So once I buy the car I need to take it home but that means driving without insurance, what's going on here is it okay?""

Would a 2001 jetta VR6 be expensive for insurance?

Would it be expensive for insurance, im 17 almost 18 male car costs around 6000""

What is a 1989-94 Nissan 240sx considered as?

Sports car, classic, what? I mean what would the car insurance consider it as? Serious question, mature answers please. Thanks!""

Is Progressive a good auto Insurance provider?

I have used Geico for years. I have been extremely satisfied with their service. However, my premium is still more than I want to pay. I got a quote for Progressive and it is considerably less. Anyone out there have Progressive and satisfied with them? How have they handled claims in the past? Any other good, reasonably priced auto insurance companies?""

Start up restaurant in chicago need insurance.?

I'm looking for affordable insurance that want break the bank.

aaa car insurance quote nc

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/kia-picanto-free-insurance-alexander-moreno/"

0 notes

gamerspasm · 8 years ago

Text

My 2016 in Games

It’s that time of year again. Time for me to look back on all the games I’ve played in the last 12 months and review them for no other reason than it’s the end of the year. Honestly, last year took a while to write up, but I’ve been looking forward to this since January. Obviously, like 2015, this is a mishmash of different games, both old and new, and ONLY games I haven’t played before. What’s more, these are games I have at the very least beaten. So let’s get right to it:

Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice (3DS)

I’m a massive fan of the Ace Attorney series, and it feels like it’s been ages since the last one. Realistically it’s only been 3 years. Like most of the games before it, Spirit of Justice does what it can to balance the classic gameplay everyone loves with new elements that help to keep the series fresh. Here, it’s the divination seance, adding literally the last moments of the victim’s life to the testimony. It’s a nice addition, offering a lot to consider, but given how previous additions make a return also, it does feel a little clustered when they try and cram them all in. Still the cases are a lot of fun. Typical Ace Attorney, with plenty of twists and turns along the way. One thing I did find irksome though was I felt some cases could have been expanded upon more in order to make the shocking reveals all the more impressive. There were a few “plot twists” that fell rather flat, basically. Plus, despite the inclusion of colourful characters, most of the time defendants are people we already know, which can lead to the stories feeling stagnant. The music is great as always and the overall look does the job. All in all it’s great, but, personally speaking, not the strongest entry in the franchise. The finales are always big in these games, but this one just doesn’t seem to have the same gravitas. That said, it does have one of the most emotional and heart-wrenching moments in the series’ history, but I dare not spoil it here. You’ll have to play the game yourself. 8/10

Another World 20th anniversary (Wii U - eShop)

This game has been sitting on my Wii U for a while now, but I finally got around to playing it this year. I never played the original, but even so I do have a soft spot for these types of puzzle/action platformers; especially those that came out during the SNES era. Graphically the game isn’t brilliant, even when updated, but it’s kind of cool that you can switch back and forth between the old and new on the fly. Sound-wise there’s absolutely nothing memorable here, which is a shame, but there’s a surprising amount of humour. I don’t know why, but all the death animations and cutscenes just made me laugh. I think it was the abruptness of them. Speaking of, the near instantaneous respawn makes failure less painful to endure, but dying can still be frustrating. For example, the game is programmed to only save progress if the player has accomplished the tasks before it in the right order. However, because the solutions to some of the puzzles aren’t very clear, it can lead to massive set backs, where the player is catapulted seemingly half the game backwards. It can be quite annoying. That, teamed with the terrible controller response time - something that seemingly feels neglected during the update - makes failure almost inevitable in some instances; and with a lot of reaction based combat being sprinkled in, it can drain the fun. Overall, the game is average. Nothing I’d write home about and it is a little short, but it’s fine. 6/10

Bayonetta 2 (Wii U)

I really enjoy Platinum Games’ stuff. No matter what they make their content is almost always unanimously fun. Bayonetta was no exception, and it’s sequel continues the trend. Going in, this game had a lot of praise. There was a lot of love for it, with many holding it up as one of the best on the system. Would I agree? Yes and no. Graphically the game is bright, colourful and lush, and the soundtrack is brilliant once more, but I couldn’t help feeling, especially in the early stages, that Bayo 2 was just a retread of the original. Story structure and level layout is very similar and there was very little new. Not that that’s a bad thing, but I guess I expected more. The plot at first is also a little sporadic and difficult to keep up with, so that didn’t help. By the end though, not only is the story proven to be really well done and thought out, but the game finally has a lot more to offer than what was previously there. Aesthetics are a little disjointed however. Whilst enemy design is magnificent and always interesting to look at, location design is often bland and boring. Even Hell, which is usually a goldmine of imagery, looks standard and uninteresting. Then of course there’s Bayonetta herself, who again seems to be mostly eye-candy for the male gaze. That does die down again, like it did in the first game, but somewhat much further along. It’s a shame really as I do think Bayonetta is actually a good character. She’s a badass who takes charge and doesn’t give a crap about what anyone else thinks. Plus she has a sensitive side beneath the bravado. I’d like to see more of this, not just the sex appeal. Ah well, I still had a blast with it, despite my own personal drawbacks. 8/10

Box Boy (3DS)

To be clear I started playing this last year, when it came out, but I only got around to beating it this year. Box Boy is a delightful and cute puzzle platformer that has all the charm and love you’d expect to find in a Nintendo game. The design is brilliantly simple but its surprising just how complex these puzzles can get from it. Each world has its own theme, with gimmicks and traps getting steadily harder as you progress, and there’s a challenge element there too. You can beat the stage using as many boxes as you want, but if you’re ruthlessly efficient you can earn the crowns. These don’t really do much outside of earn you more cash at the end of a stage, but some are really devilish to get so bragging rights are to be had too. Music, much like its appearance, is rather underplayed and standard, which is a shame, but I guess it’s forgivable. The reason why this game took me until this year to beat however, comes down to the secret stages after you clear the story. These worlds are no joke, compiling everything in the game up to that point into one gauntlet of puzzles; many of which make you feel like you’ve cheated when you beat them. It’s really interesting to see how complicated these simple mechanics can become, but the difficulty serge may put a lot of players off for a time. That includes me. 8/10

Castlevania (Circle of the Moon) (GBA - Wii U Virtual Console)

Fun story. When I was first getting a Game Boy Advance, I couldn’t decide which launch game to get with it. F-Zero Maximum Velocity or this. This was before I had ever played a Castlevania game, and so I ended up going with F-Zero; but looking back, I think this would have been a better fit for me at the time. As Castlevania games go though, and having played plenty now, it’s a little rough. This was very clearly the starting point for some of the later GBA and DS titles. Never the less, it’s a lot of fun. Graphics are gorgeous for its time, gameplay is mostly intuitive, and the soundtrack has its moments. Difficulty’s a bit cruel, mind, and there were some bizarre decisions made regarding design. Why is walking even an option? Why do I have to get a power-up in order to run, and even then, why do I have to double tap a direction to use it? These set backs make the game needlessly finicky at times, and the alternative isn’t so great when the game has an excruciatingly slow walk speed. For what is supposed to be a fast paced action game, you can see why this can be an issue. Then of course there’s the endgame structure. No real spoilers, but having a final boss that can kill you in one hit isn’t hard, it’s cheap; and having to grind for a stupidly long time in order to beat said boss is also poor design. Even so, I had a good time with the rest of it. 7/10

Chibi Robo Zip Lash (3DS)

Being a Nintendo fan is sometimes less fun than expected. With a company that has so many beloved franchises you’d think they’d use them properly. Well turns out, no, actually. Instead Nintendo has been taking some of its IPs and experimenting. Nintendo have been doing this so much recently, I’ve decided to coin a term for it: Genre-flipping. Chibi Robo Zip Lash is one example of this. Chibi Robo is a time management series, with fun visuals and an adorable character. Chibi Robo Zip Lash is not a time management game and nor are the visuals that fun. At least they got the character right. I’m not truly sure where to start. Visually, it’s bland, with environments being seemingly made out of lego bricks, and the soundtrack is absolutely forgettable. From a design standpoint, taking Chibi’s mechanics into consideration, it’s a little fun, but ultimately nothing special. It’s all rather by-the-numbers. There are a few collectables here and there, along with some bonus medals that do absolutely nothing. Of everything though, the most bizarre thing about this game is its wheel-of-fortune way of progressing. At the end of each stage you spin a wheel that tells you how many stages you advance through. Essentially it runs like a board game, with one path doing a circular from numbers 1 through 6 and then again. My question is: why? Beyond being pointless, it’s also annoying. You, the player, don’t get free movement of a world until you beat every level, and because you have to essentially roll a dice to decide which level you go to, you could end up doing laps of the world just to get to the level you need to play. Oh and FYI you need to clear the level again in order to roll again. Fun. Eventually, I learned a trick that guaranteed that I would play each level consecutively after the other, but again, that just hits home how pointless the gimmick is. The only explanation I have is that very early on this game was going to be a free to play game, only they changed their minds at some point and went to retail. The final boss is also dumb, asking the player to essentially buy the final level (if this WAS free to play, you know it would have been locked behind a pay wall). Still, it comes with a Chibi Robo Amiibo. So that’s nice. 5/10

Dante's Inferno (X360)

What’s that? A game that was no where near my back log and practically forgotten? Sure, why not, chuck it on. This year I’ve kinda had a thing for all things Hell related. I just find interpretations of it fascinating. That’s what led to me playing this. Graphically it’s a little dated now, but not hard to look at, and the music is actually quite impressive. Mostly its just choir and eerie instruments, but it’s Hell, what did you expect it to sound like. Mechanically it doesn’t really do anything special though. It’s about as standard a hack-n-slash as you can get - borrowing elements from games like God of War and such. That’s not really a bad thing, as the game plays fine, it just gets a little repetitive as you go. Furthermore, the difference in difficulty is too vast. On easy, enemies die in seconds, but in normal, you’re hacking away for ages. I never even bothered wasting my time on hard. Personally however, the thing I loved the most about this game was the design from an aesthetic standpoint. Each circle of hell is given a different theme that is faithful to its source material, and I often found myself just stopping to take in my environment. I wish the levels were longer to be honest, but at least everything keeps moving, unlike Castlevania: LoS last year with the intrusive results screen at the end of each “stage”. What I also like is how the game ties the levels of hell into the story of our hero. It’s not exactly an original plot, but it was interesting how Dante had committed sins worthy of each circle, and that every descent brought him closer to redemption. It’s certainly a nice adaptation, and the game ends on a never to be realised “to be continued” but it doesn’t need a sequel. it’s fine as it is. 7/10

Destiny (PS4)

There are certain genres I have no interest in getting involved with for whatever reason. MMO is one of them. Multiplayer games just don’t grab me as much as single players do, so generally, I don’t bother with them. So, when Destiny was released, I couldn’t care less. That coupled with the infamous lack of content didn’t really spur me into buying it, but when the taken king DLC pack came out I decided to give it a go. As stated, I’m not really an MMO gamer (shooter or otherwise), so I’m very aware there are probably much better games in this field, but I have to admit I kind of like it. It looks stunning, if a little too spacious, and there’s always something to do, even playing in single player. By far the most fun I had was playing with others though, time that led to some genuinely memorable moments. Enemy design is interesting, albeit unoriginal (the Fallen are essentially the Covenant from halo - like for like). Bizarrely, it’s the small stuff that makes this game good to me. All the big stuff where the budget clearly went (i.e. voice talent) doesn’t add all that much. What did shock me though, was when the Taken King story began. Not only was it a better campaign to play through than what had come before it, but it also highlighted just how bare bones the original title was at launch. This also goes into another matter of constantly re-releasing the game with brand new bells and whistles every 6 months - something I have no time for - but I digress. If you haven’t played it yet and you have a couple of buddies online too, give it a whirl. Nothing ground breaking, but enjoyable enough. 8/10

Doom (XBO)

Last year I wrote about Halo 4, and I talked about how it was the game that pretty much ended my affair with First Person Shooters. Realistically that hasn’t changed; I’m still not a massive fan of FPS games, but Doom got my attention. There was a lot concerning me about this game. No pre-release reviews (which is never really a good sign) and a lot of the gameplay footage resembled every other FPS game out there, so I was a little split on picking it up. Still, I gave it a whirl and I have to say this game is an absolute breath of fresh air. Action is thick and fast; locales are always different; and set pieces are easily distinguishable. Even the story, which you’d expect to be quite weak, is engaging. The ultimate word I would use though is fun. This game is a blast play. The character of the Doom Guy is so enjoyable to play as you can’t help grinning from ear to ear as you mow down the hordes of hell’s army. Which reminds me, enemy design is not only unique but also faithful. I’ve never played a Doom game before this one, but looking at the older games and seeing how the designers remained true to the originals I can see how much this game is a labour of love. The soundtrack is brutal and raw; not exactly something I would stick on my MP3 player, but enough to get the blood pumping, and there is a surprising amount of content. I think what makes Doom so enjoyable though is that it knows what it is. It’s a video game. It’s not focused on keeping things realistic. It’s all about carrying an arsenal on your back, destroying demons in endlessly satisfying ways, and finding little mini figurines, secrets and references. A surprise hit for more than just me, Doom may be one of the best 2016 had to offer. 9/10

FAST Racing Neo (Wii U - eShop)

FAST Racing Neo is a game that got a lot of hype, both before and after launch. It was easy to see why. Not only did the game look truly outstanding, but to many, it was the worthy successor to F-Zero that they were craving. Unfortunately it’s anything but. This is not F-Zero. It may look like F-Zero. It may sound like F-Zero. Hell, it may even want to be F-Zero, but it’s not. So what’s wrong with it? Simple: mechanics and design. There are some good ideas here, but an hour of testing should have told them they were going the wrong way about them. Changing colours to suit the boost pads is nice, but said boost pads are few and far between. Not to mention how truly difficult it can be to drive at such speeds. Turning or adjusting course is just straight up stressful when it’s this unreliable. This leads me on to the next problem, the difficulty itself. It’s way too hard for the earlier difficulties. It just throws you in the deep end. Refreshing as it may be, it’s certainly not welcome. It can lead to genuine frustration, and can make the player feel as though the game is unfair. This tied in with easily the biggest issue of them all: the boost pellets. Scattered about each course are small pellets that fill up your boost meter which can ultimately turn the tide. Again, nice idea, and on paper there’s nothing wrong; but when these pellets are incredibly tiny and laid out in tricky positions you can see where the issues come from. Not to mention the speed your travelling. Yes, I know it’s *FAST* Racing Neo, what did I expect, but the game has to accompany that speed. Fast is great, feeling like everything is based on luck with a near vertical learning curve, isn’t. 5/10

Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS)

Fire Emblem is without a doubt one of my top 5 favourite gaming franchises, so you’d think it strange that I’ve not really played it in about three years. Maybe even longer. Thing is, Fire Emblem is a series that deserves respect. No distractions and no commitments. Just you and the game. So, earlier this year, when all my distractions and prior commitments were dealt with, I decided to finally play what many consider to be one of the best. It’s hard to disagree. As a Fire Emblem veteran, Awakening is probably the most refined of the series thus far (I haven’t played Fates yet). It’s simplified for newcomers, whilst maintaining the difficulty, and it introduces a lot of value to the support system, leading to some great battles. It also introduces the quick reset function for the purists. The characters are brilliantly likeable, and with the ability to play previous maps again and again, it allows you to get the most of the team mates you don’t typically use. The inclusion of an Avatar is a welcome change too, as is the chance to get specific special characters as a reward for gaining S rank support. The music is also wonderful. If I had any downsides it would be that it is overall quite easy by comparison to other Fire Emblem games, with only a handful of levels proving any challenge; allied AI is almost intentionally crap, with CPU villagers running headlong into enemy fire; and the story is a little disjointed - it feels more like three different stories, with one thread running weakly through them. These problems don’t really effect the overall experience however, and as always I walked away absolutely satisfied. An absolute gem. 9/10

Hyrule Warriors (Wii U)

There are hack-n-slash games and there are hack-n-slash games. Some play out a narrative or story that requires you to take out a number of enemies to progress, whilst others set an objective and ask you to mow down hundreds of thousands of foes to see it through. Hyrule Warriors falls in the latter category. Coming from the same studio behind the cult-hit Dynasty Warriors series, the game is a collection of levels and maps with a set task and just hordes of enemies between you and it. I’ve never played the Dynasty series, nor have I had any inclination towards this vein of hack-n-slash, but I have to say the experience was extremely enjoyable. In many ways, tackling army after army is cathartic and in the simplest of ways plays into a person’s deep desire for destruction. Want to feel godly? Play one of these games. Surprisingly though, there is a hell of a lot more on offer than you’d think. There are challenges and bonus tasks to each main stage, plus rewards for playing the stages in unorthadox ways, and that’s just the main game quest. There is an absolute boat load of content outside of that, with practically over a hundred levels and challenges, all of which encourage you to play the game to the fullest. Play as various characters, upgrade in various ways, grind, farm, there’s so much to do in fact that any attempt to 100% would be enough to drive you out of your mind. You’re looking at 200 hours, easy. As a result, there’ll come a point when you just stop. Not that the game gets bad, or gets stagnant, but that the way forward just gets too trying. I might jump back into it one day to relive the same joys, especially since they’re releasing DLC, but until then, I think a breather wouldn’t go amiss. Oh and the soundtrack is flawless. 8/10

Kirby and the Rainbow Paintbrush (Wii U)

If there’s one thing I hate, it’s gimmick games. No, not games with gimmicks in them, but rather games built around gimmicks. The DS suffered from an influx of these at the start of its life, with every title shoehorning needless touch screen elements into their games, but thankfully they started to die out. Nothing stays dead for long, it seems. Enter Kirby and the Rainbow Paintbrush, a follow up of sorts to the DS’ Kirby’s Canvas Curse. Let’s get the good out of the way first. Straight off the bat, this game looks gorgeous. The clay motif is wonderful to look at, and the lighting really makes the colours pop. Soundtrack-wise it’s nothing exceptional, but there are some good songs in there, along with some classics from the previous Kirby games. And that’s it. There is nothing else this game has to offer. Look at screen shots and listen to the soundtrack online; you do not need to play this game. Why? How about the game being 100% touch screen controlled. Buttons do nothing, and so you the player must scribble the life out of the Gamepad in order to do anything. I’ll try and convey how atrocious the controls are. For a start, once Kirby starts moving, he doesn’t stop. So he will just keep rolling about until you direct him otherwise. This leads the player into a wrestling match to keep the little bugger from wandering off. Then, in order to turn Kirby around, you “simply” draw a wall in his path. Except if your wall is drawn upwards and not perfectly vertical, Kirby will mount it and roll up it instead. Then there’s the limit to the rainbow rope. I get it, I know why there’s a limit, but once you draw a line, there’s no way to make it go away without using MORE rainbow rope! This can lead to the groundless levels being painfully frustrating, and even the standard levels aren’t much better. You can’t truly relax, you’re just always in a constant state of rage. You can forget collecting everything too. Not only is Kirby a pest to control in order to get all collectable items anyway, but many collectables are hidden in mini game rooms. These rooms are not fun. They give you 15 seconds to figure out what you need to do AND get Kirby to play along for a change. The number of times I came so close, only to be thrown out. It’s a joke. So yeah, bad, BAD, game with only a few - and I mean a few - moments of enjoyment. It’s only marginally more playable in multiplayer, but even then its just a game of babysitting that nonce, Kirby. 4/10

Kirby Triple Deluxe (3DS)

I actually don’t hate Kirby games. I mean, they’re not masterpieces, not by a long way, but they seem to get the right things down. Most of the time. By and large Kirby games are fun, if a little easy, but fun all the same. Triple Deluxe is just that, fun. I kinda don’t know what else to say about it really. Graphically it looks good - with some great character animations - and the music is, again, okay but nothing truly spectacular. It was good to play Kirby as he was meant to be played. Even if it wasn’t that hard, there was still a lot of enjoyment to be had. It’s classic Kirby gameplay with a slight 3 dimensional twist. If I had any negatives it’d probably be the ending, which I do feel goes on overly long with boss fight after boss fight after boss fight. Some would say it makes the finale all the more impressive and epic, but, to me, there’s only so epic a Kirby game can get before it outstays its welcome. It’s more of a personal reason, I know. Overall a quaint and charming game, which is certainly more relaxing than a certain other Kirby game I played this year. 7/10

Legend of Zelda: Picross (3DS - eShop)

After my frankly unhealthy addiction to picross at the end of last year, I’ll take any excuse to get back into it. So when Nintendo went ahead and released a Zelda version (essentially for free to My Nintendo users) you better believe I snapped it up. What can I say, it’s picross. It’s the same simple, enjoyable, and addictive puzzling its always been, only now you’re drawing Zelda things. For what is a cheap pick-up-n-play title, there’s actually a fair amount to get through, along with a new mode if you succeed at beating the main challenges. That being said, this “new mode”, otherwise known as Mega Picross, isn’t actually that great. Besides being needlessly complex and confusingly explained, you’re solving the same puzzles as before, only everything is convoluted and frustrating. All in all though, it gave me the perfect picross fix. Just don’t expect it to hold you for longer than a weekend. 7/10

Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD (Wii U)

Nostalgia can be a difficult thing to get past. Case in point, Twilight Princess; a game I felt was truly a flawless game the last time I played it on the Wii. Playing the HD update however, I’m not sure I can say that anymore. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a fantastic game, with great structure, dungeon layout, mechanics, graphics and soundtrack. Furthermore, it isn’t *worse* because it’s a HD remaster, its more or less the same - with slight improvements and detriments. It’s more that, playing over it again and doing everything I could to 100% it, I found a lot of the game more frustrating than the last time I played it. Certain side quests that were ultimately poorly designed. For example - having to manually trek back to the beginning of a quest if you fail it rather than just being transported, is a pain. I even rage quit at one time because it was so infuriating. There were even parts of the main quest that I felt were needlessly elongated. I know they were for story purposes, but when you’re having to travel back and forth to the same points over and over again, it can be a bother. In terms of what’s new in this version, much like the Windwaker HD, it’s mostly small items that don’t shake the foundations, but they certainly can be a big help. I also felt some of the collect quests were made a little easier, but I can’t be too sure about that. Of all my problems with this game though, my biggest comes down to the controller mapping. It’s not unplayable, but, just rather bizarre. The way certain buttons are mapped is a little backwards in my opinion, with some buttons literally not being used at all. It just feels odd that in the process of making the game slick and smooth on all fronts (gameplay included) they would seemingly botch this area up. Ah well, the game is still great, and one of the best in the series; even if my eyes have been opened to its shortcomings somewhat. 8/10

Liberation Maiden (3DS - eShop)

Japan is an odd place. There are some games that struggle to get a western release despite a built in audience abroad, whilst there are others that get released without any real problem. In the latter zone we have liberation maiden, one of a compilation that was released digitally outside of Japan by Level-5. Why do I emphasise Japan so much here? Well, because if I had to describe this game in one word I would say: Japan. It’s everything you would expect from a Japanese title. You are the princess of a space colony that is tasked with stopping the evil metal aliens from polluting the planet by using a giant, meta-morphing battlebot. See what I mean. If you take out the (questionable) english voice acting, this game practically screams “Japan”. But lets move off that shall we. Graphically, this game doesn’t look all that good, and the soundtrack is...well...it’s hard to say. Most of the time the music is really quiet and you can’t hear it over the sounds of explosions. As for the gameplay itself, it’s a little stiff, and it’s all rather confusing. I spent a little too long waiting for the game to grab me, and even then it never did. I found the combat to be rather bland, and the levels to be quite repetitive. That’s not too bad though, considering realistically you can beat the game in a single sitting. Generally, it was a decent way to kill an afternoon, but ultimately, its about as standard as it gets. 6/10

Limbo (PS3)

Limbo has been one of those games that I’ve watched from the sidelines. A lot of people praise it, it’s earned a lot of respect in the indie community, but it’s never really shot to the top of my to-play list. That was until the developer released “Inside” earlier this year to the same critical acclaim. Right off the bat, Limbo makes you feel like it’s a game with more style than substance, but as you play you get given more in-depth challenges with more dangerous obstacles. By and large its a puzzle game, but each brain teaser keeps you on your toes and forces you to think differently using the game’s design and logic to win the day. Visually its impressive. The dark tones create a brilliant atmosphere, as does the eerie soundtrack. It’s also a game with little to no frustration. If you fail a puzzle, you die; but you respawn so quickly, that the whole trial and error prospect doesn’t seem too bad. Honestly I wish more games did this. It’s a little on the short side, pretty much beatable in two sittings, but it’s just about the right amount of enjoyment. Like a French Fancy cake. 9/10

Mario and Luigi: Paper Jam Bros (3DS)

In spite of the fanbase, I actually like the recent run Mario and Luigi games. I mean, of course the original DS trilogy is better, but these are hardily trash. Hell, I actually think Paper Jam Bros gets the series staples bang on. It has refined and purified all prior game problems to create an experience that is efficient in its execution, and one that never asks too much from the player involved. With that said, it is strange then that this game is not the series best. I can’t really describe it, but it just feels as though this game is missing somewhat of a soul. Don’t get me wrong, the music is great again; it’s visually interesting; the battles are really clever and can be quite strategic; the writing and humour is some of the series’ best; and the overall gameplay is fun. But it’s something beneath it all. There’s no grandness to the adventure. No point or reason to having it. It just feels like an idea that, whilst done well, didn’t really have the weight to go anywhere. Structurally it’s not terrific either, with the game bouncing back and forth between the main adventure and mini-games. The mini-games do offer a nice distraction, but they aren’t really paced properly, which can make them feel completely out of place more than once. And if they aren’t thrown in at random occasions, they’re predictable. It all feels by the numbers really. The game is great, and in no way do I regret playing it; but it just doesn’t have the same quality and heart as previous entries. 8/10

Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor (PS4)

Let’s get the obvious out of the way first: Shadow of Mordor doesn’t have an original bone in its body. Realistically, this isn’t a bad thing. It has the free roaming and wall climbing mechanics of Assassin’s creed, whilst also bringing in the combat and stealth segments of the Arkham games. In many ways, it delivers on the best of both worlds - albeit in a little clunky fashion. I did like the “power system” though, a near limitless roster of ranked orcs that you can take out, sometimes more than once, and the overall interface was quite intuitive. Graphically it looked great too, and the background music was atmospheric and cinematic right when it needed to be. The story too is quite interesting, offering not just an adaption of the events preceding the Lord of the Rings, but also an enormous amount of lore to get stuck into. Not to mention the side quests and bonus content available if you’re willing to put in the time. Sadly, in spite of all it’s good qualities, and there are a lot, the fact that there isn’t really anything that makes this game stand out from the crowd can lead people to just shrug it off. The final boss is also incredibly anti-climactic - unless of course you pay for the DLC which gives you a “better” send off. Typical WB; what are games for if you can’t make money off of them, amiright? 8/10

Overwatch (XBO)

I’m repeating myself. Multiplayer focused games just aren’t my thing. I can appreciate the design, and I can love the overall experience, but the games just do not have the power to hold me for longer than a week. With that in mind, Overwatch is incredibly enjoyable, with a few minor drawbacks. The cartoony style looks lush and interesting, and the characters are all beautifully realised and unique. The maps are quick and frantic, leading to some genuine fun and epic moments. It’s not all smiles and celebrations though. Naturally there are some pros out there who can play this game blindfolded, which in turn can make some matches incredibly one sided, and when there’s a heavy emphasis on teamwork, having that one teammate that does nothing, or even having a smaller team than the opposition, can make things un-fun very quickly. Fortunately, there is an option to play against CPUs, but these matches do not give out the same rewards to playing against real people. The rewards themselves are also meagre. They’re random, can be duplicated, and half the time they’re locked behind micro-transactions. You’re essentially gambling to get worthwhile skins and other cosmetics. Beyond all of this, there isn’t much the game offers, but I will say that when you’re playing with friends, it is a lot of fun. Definitely for its competitive audience, but that doesn’t necessarily include me. 8/10

Pokken Tournament (Wii U)

I feel I should point this out now. This game’s score is attributed exclusively to the gameplay. By that I mean the fighting. Whether its between you and a friend or the computer, it’s fun. Combat is surprisingly in depth, offering a lot to fighting fans, and the graphics are spectacular. Plus there are plenty of characters to choose from, so you can tell this had some effort and thought put into it. As for everything else though, it’s a little bare bones, and frankly tedious. For starters, all you can do is fight; and you fight a lot. There is literally nothing else this game has to offer. There is a story that pans out as you play through the game’s “league mode” (essentially a ranked arcade mode) but beyond that all you can do is fight. Over and over again. The way the league matches are organised is incredibly repetitive and asks for a lot of patience out of the player. As a comparison, imagine being asked to play street fighter’s arcade mode upwards of 8 times just to advance to the next bit. Sounds like a slog doesn’t it? Furthermore, the menus are intrusive and, as a result, make the player less inclined to change their fighter during the main modes - given that you have to pick a default fighter from the start that can only be changed by going to the main menu itself. Finally, the voice acting; oh god the voice acting. Not only is it obnoxious coming from your “guide” character - who will not shut up unless you switch her off - but it is also woefully bad. Delivery is a farce with lines and emphasis not matching up, and the general dialogue sounds like it was written by a 5 year old with no idea what pronouns are. Still, the gameplay is good. 7/10

Rhythm Paradise Megamix (3DS)

I’ve never played a Rhythm Paradise game before, and really, I didn’t exactly want to. They looked like fun, but when they were being packaged and retailed at the same price as other, far more in-depth games, I couldn’t bring myself to get into them. When Nintendo announced they were going to be releasing what is essentially a collection of the entire series up to now though, well that was a different story. Honestly, I’m kinda glad I skipped the series before now, as I can experience the greatness of the franchise in all its glory all at once. I’ve got to say, RPM is an absolute blast. Brimming with life, colour, and most importantly, rhythm, the game is almost impossible to put down. It’s highly addictive and more fun than you might think. Plus there’s actually a lot of content to get through, with challenges, highscores, and unlockables. The best thing going though is the soundtrack. Every stage has a completely original song made just for it, and each one is wonderful to listen to. I often found myself playing through the same levels over and over again just for the hell of it. If I had any draw backs, I’d have to say its more what they could have done, or should have done, but didn’t. For example, the perfect campaign, the ability to earn rewards by clearing a level without missing a single note, shouldn’t even exist; Three goes and then it kicks you out? Why? Why not instead just have it always on the level and then if you fail it doesn’t stop the song and boot you? Also sometimes the margin for error varies too much and occasionally button presses aren’t recognised on some of the faster games. Finally, why is there no randomizer option, or playlist function? These seem like no brainers to me, as the game is already the perfect down-time game. Ah well, the game is still a lot of fun, and I think I’ll be humming its beats until the day I die. BA BOM BOM BOM! 8/10

Rise of the Tomb Raider (XBO)

Tomb Raider’s latest reboot was a brilliant surprise last year, so I couldn’t wait to dig into this one. Right away, it certainly ups the ante. The game plays a lot smoother and the newer mechanics give depth and strategy to the overall experience. Lara’s character is irresistibly good, and still retains a lot of her strengths from the last game, but the good news is, they’re actually taken further here. The developers could have easily carted out the same old Lara, but it’s good to see they really care about her as a character. Now, Lara’s much more tenacious without being over-confident. She’s vulnerable, but resourceful; and she’s formidable but not impervious. The way she develops as she goes ties into the game’s title really well; this is Lara truly becoming the Tomb Raider we want her to be. Stealth elements are beyond intuitive. Everything flows without coming to a standstill and it’s all incredibly simple. Crafting items like bombs and Molotov cocktails in the midst of battle can also shake things up, and the layout and design compliment these elements perfectly. Everything is laid out so well that, if you play your cards right, you can take down an entire platoon of enemies without them even seeing you in a matter of seconds. In terms of content, there’s a lot to do and find, and the interface is so useful that the path to 100% is rather straightforward. Negatives? It does feel a little shorter than its predecessor, although I don’t know if that’s because the individual areas are a lot bigger or not. I don’t know. Honestly, I really struggle to find fault with this game. It was a lot of fun to play, and on top of that, it’s incredibly well made. 9/10

Shantae (GBC - 3DS Virtual Console)

After playing and loving Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse last year, I thought I’d go right back to the beginning with the Gameboy Colour original. And how was it? Well...let’s just say it’s certainly come a long way. Oh the game is good. It’s a lot of fun, with a startling amount of content for a Gameboy Colour title, but it is a little rough around the edges. Not only is a lot of the game not really laid out for you (forcing you to question whether or not you’re going the right way) but it’s also unspeakably difficult. Like, immediately this game pulls no punches at all. From the get-go it’s hard, with enemies doing a hell of a lot of damage, and Shantae herself being unable to hit them without getting really close. Not only that but there are insta-death zones everywhere, and also there’s a day and night feature which rotates every 5 minutes. How is that bad? Well enemies take twice as long to kill and do twice as much damage at night. This can make a lot of areas unplayable in the dark in the earlier stages, and as the game is designed in a metroid-type way, there’s a lot of back tracking involved, so you’ll be passing through the same areas a lot. Finding the warp squids makes travel less cumbersome, mind, but even so it doesn’t make exploring the wilderness any easier; a lot of the game’s secrets frankly require a strategy guide. By the end though, despite the unforgiving difficulty, I was somewhat sad to leave it all behind. I did have a lot of fun when all was said and done, and even though I’ll probably never play it again, I would recommend it to those looking for some retro adventure gaming. 8/10

Star Fox Zero (Wii U)

Here we are: arguably the most divisive game of 2016. One half claiming it’s great, with a lot of value and charm; whilst the other half calls it a broken piece of trash that doesn’t work. Frankly, I have no idea what the latter group is on about. Star Fox Zero is a fantastic game that’s a hell of a lot of fun to play. It looks brilliant, with a style that seems to be both realistic and retro at the same time, and the music is really engaging and great to listen to. The opening level has one of the best tracks to get the blood pumping. Honestly, going in I had reservations. I was worried about the controls. I feared they would get in the way of the gameplay, but I was surprised. In fact, I played the entire first level without even using them. Plus, they’re customisable to a degree, so you can mix and match to suit your style. Granted there are some learning curves later on, specifically with the walker, but as far as I’m concerned, if you’re willing to put in the time, you’ll be rewarded in spades. If I did have any problems I would say that the branching paths don’t really feel like proper levels, as they’re more like bonus levels; I wish the game wasn’t just a reboot of the series; and the final boss almost doesn’t feel like the final boss; but realistically that’s it. The controls are fine unless you have literally zero patience or tolerance for trying something new, and half the time you can play without them. And on top of all of this, it has the best tribute to Mr Iwata. I’m just glad to have Star Fox back. I’ve missed you, buddy. 8/10

Steamworld Dig: A Fistful of Dirt (3DS - eShop)

Steamworld Dig is an odd game to talk about. I don’t really know where to begin. On the one hand I could call it a dungeon crawler - although that’s not entirely accurate - and on the other I could say its an exploration adventure game. Tell you what, I’ll go with the title. Dig. Because that’s what you do. You dig. Downwards and sideways and sometimes even upwards. That’s practically 90% of the game. And it’s awesome. Who would have thought a game that asks you to do the same menial task again and again within seconds of each other would not only be fun but also incredibly addictive. Forging your own way through the underworlds below, finding treasure and mining ore as you go, as well as uncovering more of the plot, all come together into a highly enjoyable package. There’s just something incredibly soothing and cathartic about smashing a rock until it breaks. I rarely got tired of it. Even when I did, I was back to playing it after a few hours. It’s just a blast, surprisingly. There are a few downsides of course. It’s a little on the short side, even with the different worlds to uncover and the music is rather standard outside of the main theme, but these are just minor details when all is said and done. Pick it up if you can, it’s certainly good for a weekend. 8/10

Super Luigi U (Wii U)

Can DLC really count as its own standalone game on this list? When it’s released as its own retail copy it does. And what a strange one it is. It’s not Super Luigi U, it’s New Super Mario Bros. U + New Super Luigi U. That’s the name of the game. Meaning when I put it in my Wii U, the console had no idea about my NSMBU save file. But I digress. Super Luigi U is all right. Well it wasn’t really going to be anything special when it’s essentially built on top of a pre-existing game, but I do like what it’s trying to do. All stages are practically speed runs, with only 100 seconds on the clock, and a number of challenges between you and the goal. This is probably the game’s best feature. Honestly, I didn’t feel like I was trudging my way through another Mario title, but rather breezing through it at an alarming pace. It’s also pretty straightforward to 100%, even if Luigi plays like he’s on roller-skates and some of the levels are a little on the difficult side. At the end of the day though there was no shaking that this title didn’t really feel like its own game. I mean, I know it isn’t and that it’s DLC, but still. It’s more of a pleasant distraction than anything else. I would like to see Nintendo do more with Luigi, but until they start giving him his own proper space, instead of having him just run around in Mario’s, he’s always going to be second rate. 7/10

Tengami (Wii U - eShop)

Tengami to me is a classic style over substance game. There is some substance admittedly, but this game is clearly built on its look; which is paper. More specifically, origami. I do have a soft spot for it though. Having everything being treated like a literal story book, turning over pages and such, it did bring a certain charm to the game. Then again, it was developed by ex-rare staff, so we’re clearly dealing with some talent. It’s essentially a point-and-click puzzle game, but when I think about it there actually weren’t that many puzzles. The puzzles it did have were great, with some intriguing and inspired brain teasers, but it would have been good to see some more. Easily the game’s biggest strength though is it’s soundtrack, which honestly floored me with how good it was. This game came out in 2014, along with Shovel Knight, Bravely Default, Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse, and Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze. It got me thinking: 2014 was a bloody good year for Video Game music. Speaking of Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, the soundtrack is done by the same guy; the irrefutably gifted David Wise. He captures such mysterious nuances to everything he puts his hand to here, and it’s truly remarkable. Even if you’ve never played the game, I implore you to look up the soundtrack. I’m going a little off topic here, so let’s talk about Tengami’s problems. For starters, it’s short. Alarmingly so in fact. I beat it in a single sitting and with very few moments of pause; which is even more damning when you take into account the other major flaw. The game’s nameless hero moves so - bloody - slow. It’s painful sometimes, and god forbid you forget to do something before you move on because back tracking is an absolute chore. Overall, I don’t regret playing it, and if you’re looking for a decent game to unwind to, look no further; just be prepared to wait a while for your character to get his arse in gear. 7/10

Theatrhythum Final Fantasy Curtain Call (3DS)

Hey, big shock, I like Video Game music. You wouldn’t know it, would you? All joking aside, Video Game music is some of the best music out there in my opinion, and it’s a shame it doesn’t get more attention. So when a title comes along that takes video game music and makes an entire game around it, you know I’m down - especially when the music in question belongs to Final Fantasy. Theatrhythum Final Fantasy Curtain Call is a sequel of sorts. I played and enjoyed the first game, and found myself getting addicted to it, so it was only natural I played the follow up. Funny thing is, it’s not really a follow up, or a sequel, it’s more of an ultimate edition. This game is the first game again, only with a bazillion more things in it. It’s a rhythm game with some of the best songs in the Final Fantasy library; only now there are over 200 songs to play through, on multiple difficulties. Yikes! No joke, the way the game works, I hadn’t even played all the songs once by the time I reached the credits. Plus, you keep unlocking new songs as you go, which just adds to the playtime, and, whilst the first game just featured the main canonical Final Fantasy games with a few bonus extras thrown in, this game features music from any game with Final Fantasy in the title. It’s insane. Plus it doesn’t just stop there. There’s also a cool adventure-type mode, that sees you playing song after song, sometimes on the hardest difficulty to reach the end. You have to play through these if you want to get even close to unlocking everything. Oh did I mention the unlockables. As well as extra songs, the game also has extra characters, collectable cards, and Sound Test items to unlock. AND THEN, even though it has SO MANY SONGS to begin with, there are DLC songs too, just in case you were thinking of giving up on the real world altogether. This game has so much in it, in the end I just had to cut the cord whilst I was still plugged in. For the sake of my health I just had to put it down for good and walk away. Definitely a great time, but be careful you don’t lose yourself to it. 8/10

Thomas Was Alone (PS3)

One of the more random games I decided to pick up this year, Thomas Was Alone is a fun, quirky, and most of all funny puzzle game. I got plenty of Portal vibes off this game while I was playing. The dialogue is so witty and humorous. Add that to Danny Wallace’s excellent comedic delivery and you’ve got a game that has you laughing on every stage. Graphically the game is lacking, although this is intentional, and the same goes for it’s soundtrack. But the design and narration easily make up for the absences. It’s a little short, but it’s charming. No other game has given faceless, coloured shapes personalities before. That’s got to count for something. 8/10

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS3)

The Uncharted series has been on my back log for a long time, but this year - with the release of Uncharted 4 - I decided to finally get stuck in. And it’s ok. That’s it. Sorry, Sony-boys, the original Uncharted is only just above average in my opinion. Maybe for its time it was a much better example, but right now it’s a little dated. Graphically it’s not too bad, though environments are rather stagnant, and the music is very cinematic, but the gameplay is rather bland. Combat is tiresome, with firefights being overly long and boring. Seriously, you take on something like thirty guys every time; what other word is there but tedious. Then there’s the puzzle segments of which there aren’t that many. Most of the time you’re climbing which is equally as overplayed as the combat, and when that’s your lot it doesn’t take long for the game to get a little exhaustive. The structure here is also questionable. When Nathan Drake steps foot in a secret chamber no one has been in for centuries, why are there suddenly armed guards to take out in there? Basically, it seems combat is used as a device to add variety to the exploration, but there are surely more and better ways to do this. The best qualities this game has however are the plot, which is highly engaging, and the characters who are irresistibly likeable at all times. The overall gameplay is fine - although very clunky and rough around the edges - and for the most part it is enjoyable enough. A decent first effort from Naughty Dog but nothing truly spectacular. 7/10

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3)

Coming off the back of Uncharted 1, I didn’t really have a lot of enthusiasm for the sequel. But, a lot of people had said that it was ultimately a better game and so I gave it the benefit of the doubt. Thankfully, it paid off. Among Thieves is a much tighter experience than its predecessor. The story is just as good as the first, and of course the characters and writing remain brilliantly entertaining; but on top of this Naughty Dog have worked on the faults of the first game. Combat is much more balanced, with firefights now making a lot more sense, and there are a lot more environments to explore. There are also a lot more puzzles, although 90% of the solutions require climbing. Fortunately, that too has been improved, with Nathan moving a lot quicker and seamlessly from foothold to foothold. General variety is up too, with combat not just being the only thing to do. Generally the whole game is a mark up from the last one, but there are still a few problems. It does still feel clunky moving about - more than once Nathan swan dove off a ledge I didn’t want him to go near - and some of the newer elements, more specifically the stealth aspect, don’t exactly work. All it needs is a button prompt when you’re close enough to do a stealth takedown, but because it’s not there, Nathan just swings his fists like a maniac and draws all the attention to himself instead. Luckily, no parts of the game require stealth, but it’s frustrating none the less when you want to be stealthy but the game messes you up. In the end I gave up on sneaking and just went in guns blazing. All in all Uncharted 2 is a much better game and seems to be going in the right direction. A few weak areas here and there hold it back and I’m still waiting to be absolutely blown away but it’s definitely a great game. 8/10

Undertale (PC)

I am a firm believer that video games are art. Art - to me - is a means of expression that can be interpreted in different ways by different people on top of connecting emotionally with the viewer. So basically, so long as the user is connected and is invested in someone else’s creation, it is art. Now, not all video games should be considered art, but there are nevertheless plenty out there that could. Undertale is one of those games. Quite frankly, this game is a masterpiece. Part RPG, part bullet hell, not only does it do new things and break the mould of its genres but it also exemplifies the video game experience. Now I’m sure I’m not the first person you’ve heard say these things about this game, but I’m in earnest. This game is a triumph. In many ways, Undertale is the true Citizen Kane of gaming. Like Orson Welles, Toby Fox is pretty much a one man army with this project. Designer, Director, Writer, and Musician, among many other things I’m sure. Speaking of musician, can I take a moment to bring up how immaculate the soundtrack is. It’s easily the one of the best video game soundtracks of the decade. Every track is perfection and immediately recognisable, not to mention incredibly well made. Gameplay is excellent and intuitive, and it’s one of the games where the player’s actions directly impact the game as a whole. This is a game that rewards you for not killing, and vice versa. Beating the game on a pacifist run (do not kill a single enemy) will give you arguably the true ending to the game, whilst beating it on a genocide run (kill literally every living thing in the game - yes, that’s a genuine possibility) will result in the game being broken forever. I never had the guts to attempt a genocide run. For starters the characters are too endearing and full of life, but also because, if you constantly kill, the game openly does what it can to make you feel like a horrible person as you play. Music becomes distorted, your inner monologue becomes much more hateful and aggressive, and characters and NPCs regard you with fear. It’s seriously messed up. Honestly, the pacifist run alone is what made this game truly exceptional. I can’t say too much without spoiling it, but I’ll just say during the perfect pacifist run something happens that changes the way you see this game. All previous assumptions get turned on their heads. That sudden change in perception is what cemented this game as a work of art. I thought it was just a brilliant and fun game, but it’s something a lot more special. Undertale is the real deal; the genuine article, and you owe it to yourself to play it if you haven’t already. 10/10

Yoshi's New Island (3DS)

Ah, Yoshi’s New Island; or as I like to call it: Yoshi’s DO IT ALL AGAIN. This game is just disappointing, and I’m saying that after going in with low expectations. It’s hard to believe this game came out in the same year as Yoshi’s Woolly World (i.e. a vastly superior game). Presentation is lazy, soundtrack is obnoxious, and level design is bland and generic. I also find it ironic that the game calls itself Yoshi’s *NEW* island, and yet it seems hellbent on re-enacting the original SNES game. Every world is themed and structured identically to it, but whereas then it made sense given the structure of the island, here it doesn’t work. Why is world 5 a snow world? In the original it was because you were climbing the mountains, but here it’s just snowy. The game as a whole adds a little bit here and there, but nothing ultimately earth-shattering, and it’s not exactly hard. The overall design is just unfair for completionists though. The way collectables are placed can lead to some genuine fury, and if you end up missing that one red coin, that’s right, you have to do the whole level again! Not surprised I gave up on 100%-ing this after a while. Oh, and as if to throw in some form of self awareness, the final boss repeats itself. Nothing changes, it just asks you to, literally, do it - all - again! Fine as a “Babies First Yoshi” game, but for fans, stay away. 5/10

1 note · View note

housebeleren · 5 years ago

Text

Theros Beyond Death Limited: Premium Uncommons

Time for the Uncommons of Threos Beyond Death!

White

Blue

Black

There is no doubt this will be good. Even at 4 mana, it’s playable, and the cost reduction is just a bonus. Premium removal, for sure. 3.5/5

Play this for the 2/1 Deathtouch. The Escape enabling is just a perk. 3.0/5

Red

A 2/1 for 2 that chucks a Shock when it dies? Sign me up, this is exactly what both aggro and sacrifice decks want, so I suspect these will get snatched up fast. 3.0/5

Funny how far Scry 1 goes. While I’d generally rather see Lightning Strike, adding the Scry keeps this from feeling bad at Uncommon. It’s strong, flexible removal, and you’ll like it. 3.0/5

Green

Affectionate Indrik is back, and it was good then. I have no reason to suspect it won’t be now, even if I don’t love that Green keeps getting Fight on ETB. 3.0/5

Renata seems great. On her own, she’s a little underpowered, but pumping up all your future creatures is incredibly solid, and it’s unlikely this card will disappoint. 3.0/5

Gold & Colorless

For the Gold cards, there’s just the one signpost for each pair at Uncommon, so I’ll go through all of them.

But seriously, I’m for Resurrection in Standard. I think it’s completely fine in power level, and would be great for White to reclaim some of the pie.

Sacrifice? For Black/Red? Groundbreaking.

Phew... that’s it for the Gold Signpost cards. Just a couple Artifacts to touch on: