#but I hate how every generation there’s new ports and stuff it makes this kinda thing a pain in the ass

[ultimablades]

Good morning party people. Yesterday, I progged P8S for almost four hours and I’m at the final mech in the fight before enrage. I’m so close!! I’m so close to the clear!!!

[crystalelemental]

I have finished Cassette Beasts.  All Archangels defeated, all beasts (except Magikrab, don’t have the patience) acquired.  I am calling that complete.  Thoughts below.

Stuff I liked

I kind of appreciate how the starting beasts have split evolutions.  I think an issue Pokemon often runs into is my sense of “I can’t abandon my first child,” but then it there’s another thing in that type I want to use I can’t.  Having alternate options helps.

I actually like the idea of everything being one singular type.  I think it simplifies things a lot.

I love how the game plays with strategy.  Specifically stuff like:

Type Shields can cover for your weaknesses in absurd ways.  An Ice Shield put up for a Fire-type means any Water moves that are aimed at it instead boost its defenses.  The early Poison Crow thing can set Wind Shield, and not only negates its Fire weakness, but the shield gets stronger and lasts longer.

Glitter Type is really interesting.  Being able to apply a new type that overrides the former, and then shifting the opponent’s type to the next attack type that lands, is an interesting gimmick I wish I’d played with more.

Strategies like stall just kinda...work consistently.  There was very little that couldn’t be addressed by Leech/Poison Spore.  I love that.  I love stall strats.  And I think the biggest thing is that they’re just accurate.  They don’t miss arbitrarily.

Neutral commentary

Boss battles are fine. Until I really got into the Stall Swing, many of the Archangel fights were frustrating, because they’re immune to debuffs, which feels like an incredibly stupid thing to do.  I don’t like when games just turn off mechanics and call it a challenge.  You can do better.

Beast designs range from pretty neat to kinda meh.  There were none that stand out to be as strong favorites, but none that stood out as things I couldn’t stand.  They all work out.

Any arguments to be made about the type chart being better than Pokemon’s is asinine.  It’s just as imbalanced, if not worse in some ways.  Poison feels like Gen 1 Psychic type; only one weakness (Fire) that is easily negated or turned into an advantage.  Earth is just Pokemon’s Ice, it’s so hilariously bad defensively.

I don’t really know what the point of Glass type is.  One thing has it.  It doesn’t seem good, like...at all.

Some mechanics just don’t get added until late.  When I finally encountered Glitter Bomb as a sticker, I was already established with my Stall comp.  There are just certain angles that feel like they aren’t even available until you stumble on the right sticker, which can be ages.

Archangels, conceptually, are...fine.  I’m on board with things made manifest by the imagination of humans.  But also I don’t feel like many of them exude much in the way of personality.

This is the same general feeling I have toward the human characters.  Absolutely no one stands out.  I reference my girl Kayleigh a lot, but that’s frankly more to do with Decibelle than her.

Stuff I don’t like

Look, the only thing I actively hated is that the Switch port is constantly crashing. They get that patched, this is the kind of game I will probably replay some day.  But as it stands, the game is borderline unplayable on console, with some quests being so routine in their crashing that you have to be really stubborn to find solutions.

I think 2v2 mechanics don’t necessarily work out all the time.  While there are interesting things you can do with it, the main suffering is random encounters taking forever.  Early game, running into the Poison Crow is a nightmare.  I don’t have a ton of wood to constantly rest, it’s gonna Poison me, and if I try to hit its Fire weakness, its literal only weakness, there’s a good chance it’ll Wind Shield, and I’ll make this entire situation way worse.  It turns every encounter into a real hassle and a significant threat, which isn’t really to the game’s benefit.  Especially not when stall strats crack the Archangels like a particularly flimsy eggshell, but random encounters can still threaten the hell out of you.  It feels very backwards.

AP Systems are not my favorite.  So much of this game can feel like just waiting for your AP to generate.  The entire reason I latched on to Decibelle so strongly was because Echolocation auto-activating into AP Boost that applied to both allies sped up access to stronger moves.  On fusion, this is the difference between getting a lot of the really good attacks, and being 1AP short, and the double application means you get twice the duration, which is always enough to finish the match.

Fusion, as a mechanic, feels irrelevant by endgame.  Early on, and even in mid-game, it’s the main solution to boss fights.  But again, stall strats.  You can easily figure out that Leech/Poison Spore will answer big single-target fights just fine, and that Decibelle’s Echolocation lets you pivot around AP boosting, Doc Leaf for further healing, and Shield to block major attacks.  The result of this is that Fusion winds up being an outright worse solution.  I can run the risk of my opponent out-DPSing me, or I can safely sit here and siphon HP without issue.  Don’t get me wrong, I am all for Stall Strats, but I do think Fusion as a mechanic starts to stop mattering.  Then again, maybe that’s a personal problem.

I think if there’s any major criticism of the game’s story and characters, it’s that they feel like they’re trying for something they’re not out to deliver on.  The game does a lot of pushing things like building community, and pushing back on injustice and such, but only as lip service.  The Landkeepers are an interesting antagonistic force that ultimately doesn’t amount to much more than a bunch of allusions to real world housing market bullshit.  Random trainer encounters will talk at length about modern issues, but it never goes anywhere.  I think the worst is one has like seven pre-battle dialogue boxes about different eras and worlds, like one has a major plague an one is undergoing major social upheaval, etc, and ends on “Wouldn’t it be so fucked if there were a world where all that was happening at once?”  YEAH, SURE WOULD THANKS.  Like, it’s commentary without really saying anything.  I’m sure there are concepts to be drawn and extrapolated on from playing, I know not everything has to be spelled out.  But this also isn’t Utena.  There’s not really anything being set up that can be dug in to.  It’s just alluding to stuff, alluding to the concept of a solution, but not really presenting anything novel or compelling.  Like, Kayleigh was part of a cult, helped run it, for people who first showed up in this strange world, couldn’t get home, and fell into despair.  Do we want to do anything with that?  No, just one quick comment on the general vibe and then we all go on like no one’s actually all that affected by its rise or its leader’s sudden death, leaving them directionless?  Okay.  It feels like the game, quite legitimately, would’ve been better without trying to push the social commentary stuff, and just sticking to the “Archangels are cool concepts” and more mundane human stuff.  Like, I actually liked Felix’s quest.  An artist embarrassed by his early work comes to appreciate where he started from and get over that notion of cringe?  Excellent, that’s doing something, that’s saying something.  Just do stuff like that.  Smaller moments are what the game did well.  Larger elements felt directionless.

In totality, it’s the kind of game I definitely wish I liked more than I did, but I chalk up a lot of the dislike to frustrations around the game crashing.  I think it’s overall pretty good!  As a gameplay experience, definitely worthwhile, pretty nice for only $20.  Just...don’t get it for Switch until the performance issues are patched.  Seriously.  It is constant.

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Question, why're you so hateful towards any and all things that has happened with persona games post p5?

What is the problem with p3reload? I literally cannot find any problems well apart from the well worn down complaints of the lack of femc and answer.

If this is about the Ken post, I think it's fair I'm a bit miffed that (SEA) Atlus posted that. TT0TT Otherwise, I'm going to be assuming this is just a reaction of seeing my other posts. XD

Now....hateful? P5.....most likely, I mean I went from loving it to....well... I felt betrayed (I've gone into my issues with P5 time and time again on this blog tbh TT0TT If you want more specifics I'll can go into it again but not atm for this post to save time ;w;). All in all P5 broke my sanity, I used to be very excited for it, but it turned sour when I actually saw how.....much it sucked.

P3 is salt. I'm pissy. I'm just angry at the choices made. It's something I love that's just.....it just has so many issues tied to it now (I do like some stuff, I do like the new singers voice BUT I hope they allow us to play OG tracks, but that goes for any remaster/remake). This broke me into going villain era ("you aren't making those posts anymore silly" I know I have other stuff outside the internet sadly ;w; orz if I wasn't wiped every day I would be showing my distain on every Atlus post but alas I can't I must pick and choose my battles and if it means bitching on here I'll at least take that orz)

Tbf to P5, I love Kamo's arc. I'll always stand by that. After that it gets complicated.

Spinoffs in general I really just don't like the......non direction the P5 spinoffs have had compared to P4. Arena/Q1/Ultimax were like a mini narrative. P4D was a send off. P5's are....aimless. But that's not hateful, that's just frustration with the direction. (I'm thinking it's cause the team got restructured so.....random events go I guess it's whatever). Like as burned out of P4 as people were for the P4 spinoffs (a bit unfair since 3/4ths were also P3 spinoffs TT0TT), they had some great writing highlights in the franchise and were released in a very natural way. (and the hype of announcing 3 games alongside P5's teaser? Oh god that was fun!)

P3/5D I'm.....very upset with how Atlus handled it. It's price gouging (wanting $60 for each game SEPARATELY), lacking content compared to the previous game P4D (less story and less songs, again P3/5D are counted as two separate games), and horrible timing. The latter is that....P3 didn't have a modern console for people to play on. Atlus screwed P3D over. They should've used this opportunity to funnel the new P5 fanbase into the older games, but instead of focusing on porting P3/P4 over ASAP within that year (which would come to hurt the next game), they pushed for P3/5D instead and didn't give it a fighting chance. Now P5D is screwed in a way that....P5D didn't have the best song selection, like P3/4 could pull from MULTIPLE games and animes, P5 only had P5 and an anime airing. P5D should've happened later, maybe as a send off like with P4. TT0TT (I think timing for P3/5D right now would've been great, considering it feels like we're ending the P5 era and P3R is coming out. I'm hoping they port P3/5D or give us a sequel/remake now would be the BEST time).

PQ2 I'm upset because the lore and how things work are fundamentally fucked over (only a minority may care or notice but it's there TT0TT), like it literally was "P5 broke me 2, electric boogaloo". And I hate how P5 focus it is....esp when I don't think they do much with the story that's meaningful. Love it has FeMC in it (one of the best highlights), love that Yosuke/Teddie are finally written closer to their original game counter parts (outside P4D). Sad that it feels like they game constantly licks P5's boot for some reason (it feels very one sided compared to the equal praise P3/4 did in it's era). I don't mind Hikari but I'm kinda......eh on the PQ2 story as a whole. Was excited to see Climax Theater again only for it to be....eh. The worlds felt eh compared to PQ1. It just felt like an all around downgrade in story compared to PQ1 (it def has better characterization, tho I want to attribute some of PQ1's flanderization to the translators, also to PQ1's benefit.....flanderizing was to help give all the cast members screen time, which PQ2 doesn't do well). I hate that FeMC and P3MC barely interact even tho that was a big freaking advertising point. TT0TT The cast is too bloated, I like to say PQ2 would be better without P5 (it would), but really we need to cut a team. If they wanna keep the FeMC/P3MC plot line then we gotta cut either P4 or P5 (if we gotta change some story/setting I'm fine with that too). Hell, I'm fine with a PQ2 game with just P4/5 and no P3. But the game is just too bloated atm. TT0TT Also Atlus screwed this one too, 1) by not having P3/4 ports available yet, but also 2) putting it on a dead console. orz they really had no fighting chances.

P5R it's.....unnecessary tbh. I like the 3rd semester, but Sumi/Maruki would've been better suited for a spinoff game. One were we could just focus on them and not have to slog through a game that barely anything changed. Also really? 3 years? And we need an updated release? AND IT'S NOT DLC??? Fuck, at least FES The Answer you had an option to get the updated version or buy the Answer itself at a lower price (basically the PS2 ver of DLC). And at least the portable ports of P1-4 were on a different console. P5R is doing this ON THE SAME DAMN CONSOLE. It's BS. Feels like a cash grab like P3/5D were. (I probs prefer vanilla more than Royal tbh, even tho I love Sumi and like Maruki).

P5S......I just....thought it was bad. Felt hollow, like not enough social stuff and too much focused only on gameplay (aka not enough balance, if you ignore the gameplay you're left with.....not a lot). There's issues with characterizations at time (not that P5 was consistent to begin with but still). Like P5 I'm fine with the premise of the story, I hate the execution. While playing I was like "Wow this game doesn't understand P5....I feel sorry for P5!" I was appalled at how they handled some of the villains. Gameplay is fine, just wish there was more to do outside the gameplay. Annoying P5R couldn't be more involved in this (timing is just all over the place with these games wtf atlus??? TT0TT), it lacking P5R isn't a break it for me I just find it to be VERY odd. Esp since they released it after P5R???? At organize it like you did with Arena and P4G, it'd be less strange. TT0TT

P5 anime fucked up Kamo's dungeon didn't want to touch it after that. I don't think I'm in the minority of people not liking the anime.

P5 manga, need to catch back up but I didn't mind the first two dungeons. Liked the new additions. I'm probs in the minority.

P5MM manga: it's ok. Love the artist. Story started off strong but ended up kinda meh at the end.

P5 Daybreakers OVA: I like it a lot. Wish we had more like it.

P5T: Nothing against it atm actually. TT0TT I'm liking the pink villain so far (so far she's being handled better than Alice! YAY!). I really like the new spinoff only chars of this game so far (I'm neutral/positive leaning on the other's but I don't LOVE them). Atlus' statements on the timeline of this game is confusing, and if it IS non-canon to the main timeline I find it very shitty of them to only say that AFTER people have bought the game. ;w; Other than that...uhhh DLC is my only other issue (which I haven't brought up a lot, barring P5S, and on the lower end of PQ1/2, DLC has been ASS with the P5 era games. Like P4D DLC was ass too ;w; And Arena/Ult/Q1 weren't great either, so it didn't start with P5, but it got worse with P5). It's not the WORST DLC practice they've done, but it's still not great. DX

P5X: Nothing to say here, we vibbing. Like what I see so far. Sad it's a gatcha but que sera sera I guess. Probs my fav overall P5 spinoff so far.

P3P/P4G ports: Eh audio this, AI background that. I'm just happy these mfers are finally ported. TT0TT Now do it again with P1/2!

Ultimax Port: Just happy it's ported tbh. Shame they couldn't add a new route (since this game's writing needed a bit more ironing out).

Now P3R.........I think people being upset about the lack of FeMC/Answer is completely valid and talked about for a good reason. Hear me out! A big reason me and a lot of other people have been clamoring for a P3 remake is because we wanted to FINALLY have a complete version of P3. Both Journeys and AT LEAST one Answer (two would be great, but the bar is in the GROUND right now, we're asking for the BARE MIN TT0TT). Then P3R is released and............nope we get another non complete version of P3. It's not just FeMC/Answer fans who are upset. It's the fact we can't have it all in one STILL. And it's not just "one complete game" It's about "One complete story" we lack being able to experience the full story of P3. ;w; *spoilers for key elements of the Answer below* (I just want all three journeys to be treated with respect, but Atlus cutting the FeMC and Aigis journeys....it just puts a bad taste in my mouth and causes issues in the fandom).

(hell the manga, movies, and stage plays NEVER made an Answer adaptation, and the manga/movies never pulled a P4tGA for FeMC either! If they were upset with how they first made The Answer they could always rewrite it at this point and keep the key elements which spoiler: Wild Card Aigis, Metis appears, Erebus fight, Liz leaves, and everyone grieving and then finding out the reason behind the Seal. Like I'm pissy as a FeMC fan first and foremost, but I'm very upset as a Metis fan about the lack of Metising I get to see TT0TT)

I also don't like the look, I hate the lighting and the new art style (I got into Persona cause of Soejima's art style tbh, so I'm vibbing more with ReFan and P5X) and (esp) models (I could overlook the art style if I didn't hate how the models look so much). They look plastic, the heads are overly round and it throws me off (like how Anne's head portrait go more circle in P5R compared to P5 vanilla/P5S), and their....facial features....it's probs cause I'm used to Soejima....but something abt them feels off like they're smooshed. I dunno. The environments outside Tartarus looks like shit with the shitty lighting. "Oh it's just the lighting" well it keeps taking me out of it along with everyone's plastic looking helmet hair.

I'm not the biggest fan of some of the UI. (did I ever finish that post? I don't think I did sigh I gotta dig it up if I didn't TT0TT).

I'm sad about certain gameplay changes (lack of tired system esp, but lack of splitting up and such as well). It was a big identity to P3 that I loved and it being gone now is.....sad ;w;

I'm happy about other gameplay changes (and aspects I've had on my wishlist have come true, such as expanding on P3MC's friendships w/male chars in these new eps or even expanding on Strega). But what I'm happy with so far is mostly the social gameplay additions/changes, not so much some of the combat/exploration changes.

I don't really care about the voice changes for the english version. I know other people are but I'm eh. I'm sad we're missing Yumi and have a new singer. I like the new singer, tho I'm eh on some of the covers (as long as we get the OG tracks to swap to I'm gucci, but I'm good regardless). Only issue with the new singer is they......hired ANOTHER new person??? I feel a bit bad for Mayumi (FeMC singer) and Shuhei (PTS, anime sequel to P3, and P3P op singer) who were already tied to P3 and were passed up on....ngl I would've loved more Shuhei. TT0TT Really drive the male vs female. Just....why did they pass up on them? Esp Shuhei? TT0TT

But I'd be able to overlook all these little things I hate about it......if they would JUST GIVE ME A COMPLETE VERSION OF P3. If they just gave me FeMC and Metis, I'd accept all the other stuff.

That being said, again I don't want to be gouged by DLC a fucking again. Which I fear is what WILL happen to FeMC/Answer...... but gd I'll choose the devil I like more and I'll take. I'll hate it but I'll freaking take it. But considering Atlus LOVES showing off day one DLC, and not a peep of FeMC/Answer anywhere....I'm feeling like we aren't going to get that even. orz.

And I know there's a tired counter "But that's extra work!" well consider this:

There's already a complete script (story wise, and planning wise)! P3R is working off an existing script, sure they've added stuff and tweaked other stuff, but it's not like they had to start from scratch. Same goes with FeMC/Answer, they have a baseline. They have assets they can work off of. (translators and new Eng VAs besides that)

Atlus already copied and pasted A LOT of the male events into the FeMC. Like the main story is nearly identical (maybe 20% has differences?) 14/22 SLs share the same people, with only 1 really being completely rewritten and the rest being nearly exactly the same outside a handful of dialogue. Music wise there's only 6 song differences and 1 additional new song. (tldr; they could totes be lazy and just copy and paste with slight differences I'll take it, small changes can still go a long way and it's something rather than nothing).

(related to point 2 but looping Answer in now) The dungeon and story beats are the same between male/female. So gameplay structure is the same. Answer's dungeon and areas is basically a copy and past assets (with some recolor) as well.

Atlus is a big boy studio, they aren't in financial straits like in the P4 era, they have big daddy Sega to help them. They can handle it. And it's been in development for a while, I'd rather they delay it and give me an actual full version like people voted for. (And yes, the votes included P3/FES/P when asked, not just P3 vanilla or male).

[swanpyart]

Headcanons For My Human AU

In this AU, Draxum is a human who is married to Lou Jitsu, who never turns into a rat, and the turtles are human boys that Draxum created with alchemy. I elaborated more on this in a previous post. I also made artwork of them!

Lou:

* He’s a retired action star. Basically, he took the prophecy about the Shredder a LOT more seriously than in canon, so he quit acting and created the turtles with Draxum.

* “Splinter Hamato” is his new identity, and he kinda went into hiding to avoid any extra attention on his husband and kids. The boys have no clue where their dad gets his disposable income.

* He’s horrible at naming. He wanted to name the boys the color names that he gives them in canon (Orange, Blue, etc.) cus he thought they’d be unique, but Draxum vetoed him down lol. He still calls them by their colors as nicknames.

* He’s still kind of a bum? Like, he knows he should help the boys become ninjas...buuut he also procrastinates and forgets to teach them stuff. He’s also conflicted between teaching them to fight or to let them be normal kids.

* Still a bit obsessed with his past. He gave up acting not because he wanted to, but cus he needed to, so he’s still sad about it.

Draxum:

* Draxum is a human in this AU. He’s a scientist who snuck into the hidden city and learned magic and alchemy. The boys all have their mystic weapons that he wanted them to have (except Donnie, but for a different reason.)

* He’s a LOT nicer than he is in canon. He’s not a villain here, but he still has his antisocial tendencies. They don’t stem from outright hatred, he’s just an awkward, shy (and pretty proud) man who just can’t function in public

* His relationship with the boys is quite different; he loves them and has raised them with Lou, but he tends to be a little...cold towards them. Not neglectful, but since he created them with a mixture of his and Lou’s DNA, (and infused them with some mystic energy, unbeknownst to Lou) he has high expectations for them and gets disappointed when they’re not met. It’s something that he’s slowly growing out of as the boys get older.

*Huginn and Muninn are still around him, mostly because of the spectacle of “strange human mastermind who knows magic”, and since he offers them free food and a place to sleep. These two are basically the family pets/babysitters (god help them)

The Turtles/Boys:

In this AU, the boys are humans with mystical powers created by Draxum and Lou. The four of them go to April’s school. Most of the stuff with their personalities are the same. This is a list of personal quirks and such for each:

Leo:

* He’s 15 in this AU, and in the 9th grade

* Has two port-wine birthmarks over his eyes. He’s really proud of them and never wants to cover them up.

*Since he’s able to go to school, he plays competitive basketball, but pretty much all of his teammates hate him since he hogs the ball (he’s been kicked off the team several times before). He also does track.

* I definetely Headcanons him as gay. Splinter and Draxum know and are fine with it, but he probably came out in the weirdest way possible

* He’s definitely the one who gets on Lou and Draxum’s nerves the most. With Lou, it’s because he’s just generally dismissive during ninja training, and with Draxum because he doesn’t care too much about how magic works compared to the results.

Donnie:

* Leo and Donnie are fraternal twins in this Au; twins that don’t look alike. Donnie is older by like 15 minutes. He’s in Raph’s class cus he skipped a grade

* He’s still a super genius here, and still has his rivalry with the purple dragons and such. Pretty much every club he joins he kinda screws over by accident (think “Donnie vs. W.I.T.C.H. Town,” where he’s trying way too hard to prove himself, except in a school with a bunch of mathletes and nerds, and you get the picture).

* He has heterochromia (his eyes are too different colors). He also needs to wear contacts and, if he loses them, has these really thick rimmed glasses (that Leo makes fun of, cus they make his eyes look really big and shiny).

* I Headcanon him as bisexual, and pretty much all of his family knows tbh

* The relationship between him and Draxum is the most complicated; they love each other, but Draxum puts a lot of emphasis on mystic stuff because it was such a turning point in his career, whereas Donnie rejects it because he can’t figure out exactly how it works. Donnie refused the mystic weapon Draxum wants to give him because he wants to prove that his tech bo is good enough.

Raph:

* He’s 16 years old and in 10th grade

* Still a soft boi, but he’s part of the wrestling club. He loves roughhousing and fighting, but still tries to only do it when he thinks it’s necessary (which to him might be a lot).

* I headcanon him as having some type of dissociative disorder; he panics when he’s alone and afraid and/or left alone with his thoughts, and tends to just... detach. Of course, his bros and dads are there to help him out.

* Has a stuffed animal collection, of course. They’re his comfort items for when he’s particularly overwhelmed.

* Honestly, he comes across as someone who’d be bi, but leans more towards girls. He’s very nontoxic about his interests (he likes “feminine” things like stuffed animals, fashion, etc.) and is just comfortable with his masculinity in that sense

* He’s covered in scrapes and bandages cause he’s a rowdy boi. He also has braces and crooked teeth. Some of his teeth are aligned in a way that makes them look like fangs.

* Raph steps in when his dads aren’t around to try and act like a third parent (which, as usual, tends to go sideways cus his bros don’t listen).

Mikey:

* He’s 14 years old and in the 8th grade. He thinks high school’s gonna be just like Highschool Musical and will be supremely disappointed upon hearing the truth

* He’s part of his school’s cooking and art clubs, and is really good at it

* I don’t necessarily align him with a certain sexuality, but I like other people’s headcanons that he’s pansexual, so I’ll make him that here.

* I could see him as pretty gender nonconformist, as well, so I can imagine he’s comfortable wearing feminine-coded things

* he’s definitely the brother with the most friends, tbh.

* Claims to be Draxum’s favorite son (he’s not). He’s definitely the one who encourages Draxum to socialize the most after Lou.

[m39]

History of the Creed - Part 5: Assassin’s Creed: Liberation

This review would have been earlier if I hadn’t had problems with the Internet.

Before we start, here is a fun fact: This is actually the first time I played Liberation. So my opinion may end up differently if I’ll play it in the future. Also, I didn’t get every collectible, since everytime I play the game for the first time, I tend to skip around 50% of the optional stuff to see how the main story ends.

So, without any further to do, let’s get it started.

ASSASSIN’S CREED: LIBERATION (Original release in Europe: October 30th, 2012 (original version on PSVita), January 15th, 2014 (HD version on PC))

Played on the remastered version, released on March 29th, 2019.

Liberation is an interesting case of a game. As shown higher, it was originally released for the handheld-console, PlayStation Vita, as a side game along with AC3. It was later released on the main consoles due to the fans’ petition, adding some content into it, and changing some of the more irritating stuff in it. The remaster I play is based on the latter version. Time to find out if I liked this game.

STORY

Now the plot is rather… how to put it… kinda’ messier than AC3 due to the jump cuts in the Animus console or how the fuck this version of the Animus is called. Here’s how it goes:

You are Aveline de Grandpré, an Assassin and the daughter of the French merchant and the slave woman. She wants to free slaves and stop the local Templars and their leader, The Company Man, from doing... whatever Templars want to do.

So, uhm… yeah, that’s all I can understand from it. The (probably) only thing that stands out is how Liberation is also an in-game product created by Abstergo, but I’ll talk about it later.

CHARACTERS

Aveline is… fine, I guess? I can see why many people like but me? I’m not so sure about it. She wasn’t really annoying but I can’t really see her standing out.

Other characters were doing a nice job. Aveline’s mentor, Agaté, was the most interesting out of all of them, while captain Carlos Dominguez was the funniest character, mostly due to his drunken antics. Also, I liked Connor’s cameo in one of the missions.

As for the Templars, they were underwhelming. Surely, most of them were interesting but I feel like some of them didn’t have enough screen time. The Templar before the confrontation with the Company Man might be the best out of the bunch.

As for the Company Man, well, this character’s identity is kind of interesting but I’m not gonna talk further due to spoilers.

GAMEPLAY

One of the biggest cases of Liberation is that Aveline can change her outfits into three different personas. Each one has its own advantages and disadvantages. Assassin’s Persona will let you freerun, use bigger weapons, and have more health for the cost of constantly being at the first level of notoriety. Lady’s Persona will let you bribe or charm other guards to let you pass, but you can’t have any weapon outside of the hidden blades, your health is lower, and you can’t freerun. And Slave’s Persona will let you slip through the guards while carrying a crate and have a small weapon to defend yourself, but any suspicious activity like climbing will slightly increase your notoriety meter and you have the same amount of health as Lady’s Persona. The last Persona is my favorite one, probably because I can freerun and my notoriety isn’t constantly on level 1. Also, you can easily decrease your notoriety.

Speaking of notoriety, it’s almost exactly like in AC3 with three levels of it and the same ways to decrease it (however, the printers are replaced with the Witnesses). What’s different from AC3 though, is that in Liberation, notoriety is for each of the Personas, that is, it only increases for the Persona you are dressed as, and each way to decrease the former corresponds with the latters. So tearing down the wanted posters decreases the notoriety of the Slave’s Persona, bribing the corrupted magistrates for the Assassin’s Persona, and killing the witnesses for the Lady’s Persona. I’m not gonna lie, I kind of like the idea of it.

You also have a Whip. You can use it in combat to pull enemies closer and make yourself pass through some of the larger gaps. Honestly though, aside from traversal usage, I had no need of using it while fighting.

There are also Chain Kills, which, after filling up, will let you automatically kill up to three targets in a short time. I find this ability useless since you are easily capable of fighting even without it. I used it only once for the tutorial and that’s it.

I mostly liked the locations in this game. In terms of main ones, New Orleans was good but nothing special, while Louisianan Bayou was fine but more annoying. Good thing the trees are stacked up in such a way that it didn’t make me want to use canoes.

Oh yeah, there are canoes in Liberation… I hate canoes. It’s hard to get on canoes. It’s hard to get off canoes. It’s hard to control canoes. The canoes are ass, and I don’t want to talk about them anymore.

To put it in the nutshell, Liberation in terms of gameplay has some stuff that I would remove and many things are just the things from AC3 but still, I had some fun playing it.

ACTIVITIES

I think you already know the drill with this series. In terms of collectibles, there are Alligator Eggs on the bayou (collecting enough of them will give you a hat that scares the alligators away), Diary Pages of Aveline’s mother, Mayan Statuettes in Chicken Itza, and Pocket Watches that can be bought out of friendly smugglers. Also, each Persona have their own individual collectibles: Assassin has the Assassin Coins, Lady has the Jeweled Brooches, and Slave has the Voodoo Dolls.

As for the side-missions, like with collectibles, each Persona gets its own set of five missions. There are also missions where you recruit people for your ship crew, kill business rivals to later buy out their shops, help one of the slaves, heal people who are frenzy on bayou fever, and rob the camps that belong to the impostor’s acolytes.

There is also a matter of Citizen E. As I said earlier, Liberation is also an in-game product created by Abstergo itself, and while playing Aveline’s story you will notice the glitches during some of the cutscenes. These ones have been censored to convince the general public that the Templars aren’t as bad as they look at first. That’s when the Erudito comes in. After completing some of the main missions, in some places there is hidden the Citizen E. Killing them will play the rest of these cutscenes.

In my opinion, this stuff is fine, but I feel like in some places it becomes more obvious that it stagnates. I have mixed feelings on how some of the collectibles can be earned only by a specific Persona. I really enjoyed Citizen E stuff though, due to the award it gives.

GRAPHICS

The graphics, from what I’ve seen, are on the same level of quality as AC3 most of the time. Sure, in some parts is worse, since it started as a Vita game but still, it was good in other parts. As I said at the beginning of the review, this is the first time I played Liberation so I’m not gonna compare it to its previous version.

SOUND

The sound effects were on the same level as AC3 so, it was good. Although the enemies sound somewhat too loud which can get annoying.

The music (composed by Winifred Phillips) was fine most of the part. My favorite one was the one that played in Chicken Itza.

STABILITY

Framerate, for most of the time, was constantly running at 60 FPS except when synchronizing viewpoints for some reasons where it drops to 30 FPS.

The bugs I encountered during my playthrough were actually worse than in AC3. One time, Aveline didn’t appear in the cutscene, so all this time I was watching nothing but her voice. Other time when the game faded to black when I was changing my Persona, it didn’t return to normal, fixed only after I exited and returned back to the game. Another time it straight up just crashed (I think it was during one of the Business Rival missions)! Sure, Assassin’s Creed 3 wasn’t a diamond in terms of bugs, but at least those bugs weren’t so severe as the ones in Liberation.

SUMMARY

Assassin’s Creed: Liberation has many problems: some of its mechanics are redundant, the story and its characters could’ve been better, and the bugs that I’ve encountered were worse than in AC3. Did I still have fun while playing it? Yes, I still had some fun. And I can understand that this game was developed as the handheld console game first that was later ported for the home consoles and PC, but still, if I had to rate this game, I would say it’s just an okay game. Would I recommend it to the other fans? I honestly don’t know. There is some spoiler stuff about the Company Man in Black Flag, but I feel like you won’t miss that much if you skip Liberation.

But oh well, at least the next game on the list is better than this one. Better prepare some ship for the next game. It is the type of game that some certain Vaska will enjoy.

See you next time.

Bye!

[xxforsaken-angelxx]

> Consult an expert

xxforsaken-angelxx uh knock knock?

centaurstechnician D—> Greetings xxforsaken-angelxx hi im eridan makara the grinmaww im fuckin doin shit i wwas told you knoww things about helm recovvery

centaurstechnician D—> I am called the Engineer D—> As it happens, I know quite a bit about the subject D—> As helm installation and maintenace was my primary focus for six sweeps D—> And the rehabilitation of uninstalled helms the last four

xxforsaken-angelxx ok cool so youre just a funky miracle man

centaurstechnician D—> If it pleases you to phrase it that way

xxforsaken-angelxx no i mean it thats more rehab wwork than anyone here has

centaurstechnician D—> Indeed, do you know how much of their physique is compromised by the biowire’s intrusion? D—> As well it w001d be helpfoal to know how long they have been filly on life support

xxforsaken-angelxx purportedly the biowire aint fuckin wwith anythin an theyvve been there bout fifty swweeps, on full life support for a lotta that

centaurstechnician D—> According to whom? D—> Helms are %tremely bad at self reporting D—> And technicians are apt to overlook anything which does not interfere with the job D—> But assuming all you are dealing with is musc001ature atrophy, and not compromised limb function due to %cessive scarring and nerve damage D—> The I have a regimin of physical therepy %ercises to deal with each stage of recovery D—> As well as diet suggestions. D—> It will take them an amount of time to adjust to taking food by mouth again, and you will want to start with liquids, though a high protein diet rich in calories is imperative to recovery D—> I also suggest that perminant ports be replaced with silicone seating for comfort while moving and laying in any position

xxforsaken-angelxx according to the techs but thats fuckin useful shit

centaurstechnician D—> Are they currently on broad spectrum antibiotics and antivirals? D—> Restarting the immune system is an entire process involving transfusions and system boosters D—> They abso100tely will find their body treating every new thing as a possible intruder once it begins to ramp up D—> So you will need to watch for anaphylaxis, and have epinephrine ready, as well as simpler antihistamines and steriods

xxforsaken-angelxx youre a fuckin useful bitch yknoww that like i knoww wwere prepped for that one but youre less dodgy than the clowwn nurses

centaurstechnician D—> I am nothing if not usefoal D—> Helping to rehabilitate helms legally and freely is a dream > centaursTechnician has sent file exercise&diet.zip D—> My notes

xxforsaken-angelxx *hell* yes

centaurstechnician D—> I understand the subject is entering this affair willingly? D—> There may come a point, more quickly, or further along, where they grow tired of constantly struggling to do normal activites. D—> I have found a simple and uncomplicated short term and long term reward system helps with motivation, as long as you are entirely transparent about your motivations

xxforsaken-angelxx yeah they apparently wwould really like this to be a thing, so but tell me more about that?

centaurstechnician D—> Between keeping a private journal that remains private, and finding out what motivates them, new books? Food? Food is quite popular with psions in general because of their abnormally high caloric needs.

xxforsaken-angelxx i cant evven guess wwhat theyd like but wwe wwill cross that bridge wwhen wwe get there

centaurstechnician D—> once off the automatic regulation of blood sugar by the life support systems, many psions have reported feeling like they are constantly hungry, so food as a short term treat rarely goes wrong

xxforsaken-angelxx noted

centaurstechnician D—> feel free to contact me with any further questions

xxforsaken-angelxx actually heres one wwhat do you do like speech wwise

centaurstechnician D—> Are the vocal chords damaged? D—> If the voice is damaged, cybershades or glasses present an alternative to communication while strength and dexterity is being rebuilt in the hands

xxforsaken-angelxx theyvve refused to talk their wwhole service so i mean i fuckin assume an wwhat the fuck is a cybershades

centaurstechnician D—> It may be a form of protest, specifically. D—> Ah, hm > centaursTechnician has sent file cybershades.pdf D—> I apologize for the slightly rough instructions, this was pulled from a site where they discuss building one from cheap and spare parts D—> But it should still be usefoal D—> They are shades that present a HUD display of a computer interface, and work via a touch contact neural transmitter. D—> They can be both single or paired with a other device for increased computing power.

xxforsaken-angelxx ...thats cool as all shit

centaurstechnician D—> They are invaluable for giving some freedoms to those who have trouble communicating D—> And also for using your computing devices on then fly

xxforsaken-angelxx i wwould FUCKIN imagine

centaurstechnician D—> Language

xxforsaken-angelxx im a clowwn if i dont swwear then i shrivvel up like an unwwatered plant

centaurstechnician D—> I suppose if it is medically necessary I shall allow it

xxforsaken-angelxx i kneww youd understand

centaurstechnician D—> Of course D—> Let me know if there are any other pieces of equipment you need schematics for or questions I can answer

xxforsaken-angelxx one more thing any tips on like keepin someone not horrifically bored wwhen they wwont tell you wwhat they like

centaurstechnician D—> Give them the resources to seek their own entertainment. D—> Remember that they are probably very angry about the fate that was handed them D—> However they choose to express that anger is the only act of will they have taken for themselves from the shambles left to them of their abillity to act D—> You are not entitled to know anything about them D—> Give them the shades, allow them to order and ask for things on their own terms D—> They can find their own way. D—> As long as things are available to them if they choose.

xxforsaken-angelxx mm that makes sense not wwhat nymede wwants to hear though

centaurstechnician D—> There are many realities of dealing with people on the other side of a system you have benefitted from which are.. difficolt by nature

xxforsaken-angelxx shes been havvin a rough time wwith it but its easier wwhen i like fuckin knoww wwhat else to tell her to do

centaurstechnician D—> Feel free to direct her to me as well, if I can help, I will D—> I have been tasked with restoring Goldwave, as well D—> So I do have familiarity with the particulars of the implants used.

xxforsaken-angelxx yeah good fuckin point just might do that ...on a scale a one to ten howw much of a bitch is he to deal wwith

centaurstechnician D—> I believe he is doing his best to behave D—> Although I personally find him enjoyable enough. D—> perhaps a six, a nine if you are not me.

xxforsaken-angelxx thats about wwhat i thought but also i dont knoww howw the fuck you like him

centaurstechnician D—> My Red’s pale would rate him a twelve I’m certain

xxforsaken-angelxx ha

centaurstechnician D—> I quite enjoy his quick wit, and Strength of personality and determination

xxforsaken-angelxx i mean thats one fuckin wway to put it ...youre also wwith the serial killer bitch or somethin though so i dunno

centaurstechnician D—> I am Vriska’s moirail, yes. Ive known her since we were wrigglers

xxforsaken-angelxx im sure theres somethin there for you but i only knoww her for a lotta felonies so its questionable to me

centaurstechnician D—> I am curious about what intellegence about those procedings youve managed to gather

xxforsaken-angelxx not fuckin much i knoww there wwas a lotta murder an some fuckers head got stolen an our one heiress aligned ship that got ovver to the scene fuckin hated it uh she used transportalizer tech wwe dont havve

centaurstechnician D—> I apologize for my little prank with the letter, also

xxforsaken-angelxx OH YEAH THAT BITCH

centaurstechnician D—> :) D—> I’m told she killed every coolblood in the station

xxforsaken-angelxx yeah that she did fuckin brutally

centaurstechnician D—> There is nothing I can say which will lessen the impact of her chosen methodology D—> And I am not going to attempt to. D—> I’m curious, though, Grinmaw D—-> How many people have you killed?

xxforsaken-angelxx none zero none people

centaurstechnician D—> We have the privilege of having that in common, then

xxforsaken-angelxx not the up close vviolence type myself

centaurstechnician D—> Do you prefer a hands off approach, then? xxforsaken-angelxx eh, kinda im supposed to knoww wwar strategy type stuff an i like studyin it but right noww if i havve to actually use it then thatd be a bad sign to say the least centaurstechnician D—> I sincerely hope that your hands can stay clean.

xxforsaken-angelxx nice a you you too though centaurstechnician D—> Thank you

[y01te-moved]

🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻

i almost cant even count how many this is but im doing every single one anyways and you cant stop me despite the fact that this obviously took me ages to actually answer

1: if ur reading this ur legally obligated to follow max (sender of this ask) Right Now. Just Do It.

2: i think more ppl with my sense of humor should watch Spider Riders bc listen..  if somewhere along the line that show suddenly gained more popularity again in this fine year of 2019 id be both actually funny for once but also revolutionary. by all technicalities some of my hcs are fucking great but i dont think i could say a lot of them and even be comprehensible outside of orientation based ones that are just rlly controversial. granted im not even sure i could or would actually recommend the show to people cause its kinda dumb a lot of the time and also fairly long at least to my standards so its harder to finish unless ur like really invested in it :pensive:

3: also on that note the next time a horny person even THINKS about Corona im Going to break into their home and then break their knees. i hate that she has so much fanart thats basically just fetish art or otherwise managing to be nsfw in some way shes like 15 at best fuck off!! its rlly only a problem on like. deviantart but it still makes me die inside.

4: character development is hard i never actually keep my ideas and what i have written down on like.  my actual bios for everyone on the same pace so its a confusing mess and i wish i was better at combating that

5: anon and kanon r such good loids i wish people used them more but i think a part of the problem is that i dont always look That hard for things that use them ahdbsadgashdj

6: alex is the best sdv bachelor and im not accepting criticism on that notion. 2nd best would probably be like..  sam except i havent tried hard enough to be friends with him yet which i feel bad abt bc he seems nice

7: i miss the cracking open a cold one with the boys meme that was still one of my favorites

8: (goes BACK to thinking about SR shdfjds) the anime had no right having like so many characters base their ideals off of how brade used to be in the past and all those good takes on like not necessarily Having to resort to violence as the ultimate solution and all that good stuff just to be like, “surprise!! he actually IS still around! but also he’s going to be minimally helpful at all until the last few episodes and otherwise we’re going to make a ton of gags about him trying to hit on the like 2 girls in the team who are also like 15 while he ignores practically everyone else because thats funny!” im still so mad about it. he is the absolute worst and he has no rights. there was also so much potential they seemed like they could have used and were trying to hint at using in terms of further developing more important details about the history of the inner world or at least some of the things that had been going on well before hunter ever showed up and then they didn’t do anything but hint at the idea of brade having known hunter’s grandfather. but even that wasn’t 100% confirmed bc they dodged around it the one time they had hunter ask. its a mess.

9: my taste is so fucking weird and i hate it bc its mostly just, “oh yeah i heard abt this thing and it seems cool im hoping to start getting into it soon!” for most things that are actually cool or popular or all that and never actually get into it, but then i see smth dumb as shit that i know would probably make me look like an absolute fool for liking and im like, “oh yeah yknow what i can do this one” and then i do like it but i cant say much about it either cause i dont wanna look like.   a fool.

10: these have been depressing as fuck so im gonna lighten the mood and say that himbo is a fucking hilarious word and i love it

11: also axel (kh) is a himbo. why? he just is.

12: im also bad at character design i think bc i always worry that my characters look too similar in terms of hair style like all the time and idk if its rlly that bad or not jfhgkf.  that and like. so many of my characters just wear jeans and boots in terms of the lower half of their body its so unoriginal but it always works so well…

13: still disappointed in myself for having never 100%’d even 1 tlodw game. lunatic mode.. Difficult

14: i dont keep up with ace attorney fans but i hope everyone out there agrees that miles has peak vampire energies based on the way he dresses alone

15: re:zero fans have no rights only bc i only ever see ppl talking abt rem and ram like. wh..   was no one ever going to tell me about reinhard or was i just supposed to watch him get introduced in the first few eps and then fall in love w/him immediately before even finding out hes supposed to be a knight which makes him 20x better

16: leon and/or leonhart is like genuinely a good name idk why it just sounds rlly nice

17: ive had like so many technical difficulties with this site since trying to answer this i hate tumblr

18: im pretty sure im like. genuinely just gonna go mute or some shit one day cause honestly ive mostly only ever gotten worse and worse about not actually being able to say things even when i know exactly what thought im trying to say, both physically and like. online. its so weird i feel like i just cant say things. it may just be being self conscious but i restrict myself soo heavily and its WEIRD….  its like being trapped in ur thoughts and it sucks.  probably doesnt even actually mean all that much but it still makes it hard for me to accomplish anything ever which i hate.

19: despite all the titles like ssbu and all that existing for the switch i think id only want one to play the new(er) inside system games i havent had the chance to yet like the spinoff card game and rudymical and also brave dungeon but w/neville and klinsy and whoever else was dlc on that game cause obviously i own the 3ds port but also neville..  good…  i wanna see how she plays..

20: i miss when i could be passionate abt cave story it just makes me feel tired seeing it sometimes at this point but it also still holds a great significance to me so its just confusing and im not sure how i feel abt it

21: the SR novels were cowards only on account of not giving us any official design for petra but also for writing igneous like.  That.  novelverse igneous is just too bitter in general and like i get it but they couldve done a lot more with him even though he is still somewhat respectable in the end, granted its hard cause like holy shit hes so fucking mean to hunter literally who asked for that. im just glad the anime let him be somewhat more idk..  i guess sociable while still keeping a lot of the inherently essential aspects his personality had like his almost over the top loyalty to the prince and taking things like training/combat in general very seriously. its just good and animeverse igneous is so good id die for him thanks for coming to my tedtalk

[gumnut-logic]

Access Denied

Title: Access Denied

Author: Gumnut

24 – 25 Jul 2018

Fandom: Thunderbirds Are Go 2015

Rating: Mature (for some violence)

Summary: He found a way.

Word count: 5650

Spoilers & warnings: Season 2 in general. Occurs sometime before 2.07 Home on the Range. Also there is some violence in this fic and some bits are kinda creepy. Virgil!Whump

Author's note: Ever wondered how the events of Home on the Range were made possible? Many thanks to the wonderful welcome I have received in this fandom. Here I am again stretching my writing muscles with a fic a little different again from the previous one. I hope you enjoy a little whump, because even I feel sorry for Virgil in this one. My next fic will have to be fluffy to him to make up for it. Ouch!

Disclaimer: Mine? You’ve got to be kidding. Money? Don’t have any, don’t bother. Scenes parroted from the episodes are definitely not mine.

Chapter 1

 “Why does it always have to be snow? I hate snow.”

 “It’s only water, Gordon. I thought you loved that stuff.”

 “Only in degrees above zero.”

 Thunderbird Two banked to port as Virgil sought out a place to land. Landing on ice was one thing, landing on a glacier, a river of fractured ice, was a completely different kettle of fish. At least the weather was being kind. Blue skies, almost no wind. If it wasn’t a rescue, it would make a beautiful painting.

 Well, except for the massive scar of black meltwater that led to the downed air freighter in the middle of said glacier. This one was going to be a challenge.

 Fortunately, the site was a relatively close one, being halfway down New Zealand’s South Island, so International Rescue had managed a fast response. Scott was already here, obviously doing a thorough site assessment, TB1 hovering quite a distance above the wreck.

 “Thunderbird Two, welcome to the party. We have a single air freighter. Three lifesigns. No contact since initial distress call. Cockpit is embedded in the glacier, looks like we are going to have to dig them out.”

 “FAB, Thunderbird One. Locating a suitable landing site. On the ground asap.”

 “Watch that ice. It’s fragile.”

 “Noted.”

 Of course, it was fragile, it was ice. Virgil forced himself not to roll his eyes.

 Scans revealed a chunk of rock half covered by snow, not far from the site, just big enough to support TB2. As Virgil deployed the VTOL gear, most of that snow was blown off. The clunk of her landing gear hitting rock, reassuring.

 Sure, he had landed on ice many times before, but the fractured, rippled surface of the glacier below just screamed melt and die.

 “So how are we going to get down there?”

 “You’re not going down there. You’re staying here. I’ll take the exo-suit and zipline down. You’re on retrieval.”

 “Fine by me.”

 Virgil levelled a look at his brother.

 “What? I’ll keep an eye on you.”

 Ignoring him, Virgil flipped a switch. “Thunderbird One, zipline it is. Recommend you stay in the air in case we need to stabilise the vehicle.”

 “FAB, Virgil.”

 -o-o-o-

 Virgil loved his exo-suit. Sure, it could be awkward and clunky sometimes, but it enabled him to do so much. It had helped him save so many people.

 And in what way was having your own super-suit not totally cool?

 When Brains had first come to him with the idea, he had jumped on it. He could see the possibilities. Of course, the teasing that had initially resulted from four brothers was a lot to be borne, but hey, super-suit!

 Totally worth it.

 As he rolled his shoulders back into the metal skeleton and slid his arms into the sleeves, he felt himself relax just that little. The equipment hummed and enveloped him, the framework connecting with his boots, re-enforcing his legs, and thoroughly encasing his spine.

 He stepped forward, the whine of servos playing in concert with his every move. It always reminded him of the look on Alan’s face during testing. For some reason seeing his older brother doing the Robot Dance in a robotic suit had fried his brain.

 “Gordon, deploy zipline. Ice pick grapple.”

 “Copy that.” The clunk and whistle of the forward launcher echoed through the ship’s frame. A moment later, Gordon joined him in the pod bay and Virgil raised the body of his ‘Bird, activating the pod bay door.

 There wasn’t much in the way of wind, but the air was brisk. The roar of Thunderbird One was a continual, but familiar background noise.

 “God, why can’t people crash on tropical islands once in a while?” Gordon’s breath puffed and clouded around his face. Virgil was quite happy to have his helmet on.

 Double checking his supplies, he hooked the bag of equipment to the zipline pulley and sent it spinning down to the crash site.

 Gordon checked and double checked his harness, before giving him the thumbs up – zipline is go.

 “Thanks, Gordon.”

 A hook onto a pulley, a staggering run and he was flying across glacier. A few seconds of weightlessness and racing white, and his boots skidded in snow, coming up hard against solid ice. He grunted, gaining back his balance before releasing himself from the line.

 Nothing put size into more perspective that being on the ground. He was surrounded by a sea of cracked and jagged ice. The freighter had ploughed into the side of one of the many crevasses, its snout embedding itself in the crevasse wall just below the surface. With a bit of luck and the right equipment, he should be able to break through the crumbled ice above the cockpit and enter through the top of the vehicle.

 “Thunderbird One, recommend you secure the backend of the freighter. I don’t know how stable she is. Removing weight here may alter the balance.” And send her plummeting down that great gaping hole.

 “FAB, Virgil. Deploying grapple.” There was a whoosh and an almighty thunk as TB1’s huge electromagnet made contact. “Grapple secure.”

 And Virgil started digging.

 A combination of shovel, claw and laser work did the job. Fortunately, the cockpit was only a couple of metres below the surface, so it didn’t take long, the exo-suit taking most of the punishment.

 “I’ve reached the outer skin. Thunderbird One, can you give me confirmation on my position. I’m not going to hit anything explosive if I cut through here?”

 “Negative, Virgil. You are directly above the cockpit. She is lying at an angle, so you’ll actually be going in through her upper port sector. All clear.”

 “FAB.” Standing in icy dross, his feet slightly apart, Virgil recalibrated his laser and cut a seventy-five centimetre diameter hole in the fuselage beneath him. “Any further response from the crew?” They had to have heard him.

 “Negative.”

 Damn. That was never a good sign.

 Using the pincers on his left arm, Virgil peeled back the metal.

 -o-o-o-

 Scott stretched in his seat, rolling his shoulders. Skyhook duty was notoriously boring. But Virgil was right. They couldn’t risk it.

 When John had interrupted their breakfast, Scott hadn’t been surprised. Virgil, on the other hand, hadn’t had his breakfast interrupted. He’d been dragged out of bed, by Gordon. Scott had no doubt that the aquanaut enjoyed every minute of it.

 Scott, in turn, had made sure his bed-head of a brother had taken some coffee and a power bar with him.

 And here they were.

 Scott yawned.

 Maybe he should have had a power bar too. Or extra coffee. Extra coffee sounded nice.

 “Thunderbird One, I’m receiving a strange power reading from the freighter. Has Virgil reported in yet?”

 “He’s cutting the fuselage now. What kind of reading?” Scott sat up straighter in his seat.

 “I’m not sure-“

 “SHIT! Get-“ Virgil’s voice cut through everything. And then cut out.

 “Virgil!” Nothing. “Virgil?”

 “I have him on my scanner, Scott. He is still outside the freighter.” John’s hologram frowned even more. “He’s not moving.”

 His pulse hit the inside of his skull. “Thunderbird Two, do you have eyes on Virgil?”

 “Negative.” Gordon’s voice was strained. “He’s still in that hole.”

 “Virgil!”

 No response.

 Scott flung up his restraints. “I’m going down for an eyes on. John, what’s with that power reading?”

 “I’m still not sure. Working on it.”

 “Keep me apprised.” He grabbed his jet pack, opened the cockpit and jumped.

 Darting down, he approached the excavation from a shallow angle, enabling him to peer over the edge without exposing himself.

 Virgil lay on his back, halfway up the side of the hole he’d dug. But he wasn’t still. His head was thrashing side to side, his torso struggling within the confines of the suit, but the suit appeared non-responsive, both legs held out straight and not moving. A malfunction?

 “Virgil?”

 His head turned and fixed on Scott. His brother’s eyes were wide and his lips were moving. He was shouting, but Scott couldn’t hear him. A comms malfunction?

 Scott eyed the open hole in the freighter. No-one was making a sound. No one seemed have come out. All the bootprints in the snow and ice clearly belonged to his brother.

 But then there was John’s strange power reading.

 “Virgil?” He let his feet hit the ground and Virgil started shaking his head vigorously. Scott stopped at the edge.

 But Virgil suddenly moved, his left side bending backwards at an angle it was never meant to bend. His brother screamed. And this time he heard it in full digital stereo.

 Oh, god. Instinct took over and he rushed in.

 Only to have his arm grabbed by Virgil’s right claw.

 -o-o-o-

   Chapter 2

 The moment Virgil pulled away the fuselage, several somethings flew out of the resulting hole.

 Whatever they were, they buzzed and immediately attacked him, one landing on his right arm, the other on his left, and there was another one…somewhere.

 He jumped backwards, awkwardly attempting to shake them off himself. “SHIT! Get off me!” Electricity sparked across the metal of his suit and burnt into his shoulders. He yelled in pain. There was a scuttling and Virgil realised that at least one of them had legs.

 He tried to pull his arms out of the sleeves, to shed the suit, but his right arm was pinned by something sharp. And his left…

 The suit convulsed, pulling his left arm backwards. More backwards than it was ever meant to go. Something snapped and tore. Virgil cried out and fell.

 There was nothing for a few moments, the pain in his arm and shoulder taking his focus. Sweat broke out on his brow.

 Something crawled up his side and nestled inside his left sleeve, jostling his injury. He hissed. “Scott?” Nothing. “John?” More nothing.

 His left side was a mass of pain, so he gingerly attempted to move his right.

 He couldn’t. None of the controls responded.

 He attempted to move his legs.

 His body moved within his uniform, but the exo-suit held him still.

 Again he attempted to free his right arm from its exo-suit sleeve. That something sharp reminded him of its presence rather abruptly and he gasped in a breath.

 Spread-eagled on the ice, he was being crucified by his own equipment.

 He bit his lip, trying to calm himself and think.

 Scott and Gordon would notice his lack of response. They would investigate. He’d be out of this shortly.

 Something buzzed near his left ear and scuttled over his shoulder. His instinctual flinch away set his left side screaming again. He panted as the small mechanical creature crawled across his chest and across to his other shoulder, secreting itself just behind his neck. It made a chirp. Another chirp came from his left arm and something down there began moving.

 Virgil had never been so helpless and terrified in his life.

 Or so he thought until above his left arm, a fuzzy hologram of his beloved Thunderbird Two spat into existence.

 Oh, god. No, no, no!

 If this was some attempt to get his ship… He struggled and it blinked out.

 Scott appeared over the edge of the excavation and Virgil realised that his brother could not come anywhere near him. If these creatures were trying to hack the system, Scott would be their next target.

 He shook his head until he saw stars, his arm screaming at him, but Scott still landed. No, no, no, no! He yelled at his brother. Stay away! Please, Scott. No!

 No. Please.

 And the suit folded beneath him and wrenched his left arm backwards once again. His world whited out and he screamed.

 Then Scott was there. Virgil’s right arm was moving by itself and he had a millisecond to realise exactly what they were trying to do.

 His claw reached for his brother’s arm, its teeth wrapping around his bicep…No! Everything that he had and he forced his body to move just enough to create just enough momentum. The suit slipped a matter of centimetres in the icy dross, but it was enough for his brother to slip from the claw’s tightening hold.

 Scott scampered backwards, his eyes wide. Virgil heard him shout something into his comms, but his head was swimming.

 The sharp thing in his right sleeve twitched and stabbed directly through his fore-arm.

 The world went away for a while.

 -o-o-o-

 Scott landed on his butt in the snow, but his legs kept peddling, throwing himself backwards out of the reach of the claw now snapping repeatedly in his direction.

 “Virgil?!”

 His brother’s head was lolled to one side, his eyes closed.

 The claw was still reaching for him.

 He clambered out of the hole, putting a solid distance between himself and his brother and his possessed suit.

 The claw dropped to the ice and a mechanical insect about the size of his hand crawled across his brother’s chest.

 Mecha!

 The Mechanic! His eyes darted across the landscape, but there was only ice. And the downed air freighter.

 “Thunderbird Five, Thunderbird Two. Confirmed sighting of mecha. They’ve got Virgil. John wide area scan, can you find the Mechanic?”

 Shock from the other end of the comline was quickly followed by John’s strained, “Negative. The only unusual reading is that power reading we discussed earlier.” A worried breath. “It should be noted that there are now no lifesigns aboard the freighter.”

 “Alert-“ A sharp, green hologram appeared above his unconscious brother’s arm. “John, they’re trying to hack Thunderbird Two via Virgil’s wrist remote!” Thunderbird One’s idle roar was suddenly accompanied by a rising whine from Thunderbird Two.

 “Shit!” From Gordon.

 “EOS!”

 -o-o-o-

 At John’s panicked yell, EOS dove into the z-band network, flinging herself across space, seeking the familiar confines of Thunderbird Two.

 She was suddenly grateful for those moments she had spent with the ship and its pilot. Virgil, of the four other brothers, was the most like John. Different and somewhat difficult at times, he still seemed happy to speak with her and answer questions from time to time while doing maintenance on his Thunderbird.

 She knew TB2’s systems well and knew immediately what was not supposed to be there.

 They were like teeth with tentacles. A multitude of tiny little programs munching on the security system while the tentacles reached through the network seeking control.

 She threw up an electronic shield, drew a knife and started hacking.

 How dare these creatures invade her network. Teeth scraped against her, but she slashed and she burned. Get out!

 Her sensors registered the panicked movements of the second youngest brother as he made his own attempts to regain control of the ship. Unfortunately, he was hampering more than helping, so she cut off his access.

 There was a yell as the console sparked.

 She threw an apology at the comline. “Sorry!”

 But then her attention was taken by a renewed vigour from the invaders. They were attempting to reach around her and gain access to the propulsion systems.

 No, you don’t.

 Flaring out across the ship’s circuits like a tsunami of fire, she shredded the incoming commands, disabled the programs and abruptly severed the connection between Virgil’s wrist comm and his Thunderbird.

  The engine whine dissipated and Thunderbird Two settled back onto her haunches.

 She pulled herself back together, re-enabled pilot access, and sat threateningly in Two’s directive cache, ready for another assault should one come.

 “EOS?” John.

 “Yes, John?”

 “What did you do?”

 “Repelled the invaders. You once again have control of Thunderbird Two.”

 “How?”

 “Your brother Virgil’s remote access is no longer viable.”

 “Where are you?”

 “On Thunderbird Five. And Thunderbird Two.

 “Are you okay?”

 “Yes.”

 “Will you be coming home soon?”

 “I am home. However, I would like to shadow thunderbird Two’s systems until the possibility of further attack has been neutralised.”

 “Can you access Virgil’s exo-suit?”

 “No. That system is low level with minimal computing power. The mecha must be supplying the processing power and direction to take control.” She hesitated. Stepping outside the z-band network was definitely possible, but the thought frightened her. “I would need to invade their systems to take control and I have just severed the only direct link. To open the connection again would be enabling another attack…and the territory would be unfamiliar, John.”

 She could almost sense him thinking, considering her trepidation. “We may have to consider it a possibility, EOS. Virgil’s life is at stake. Would you be willing to try?”

 It could be her life at stake. She had won this time, on her own turf, but it hadn’t been easy. “Maybe. It would be dangerous…for me.”

 It was better than a no, but the silence at the other end of the comline set her worrying.

 The eldest brother’s voice cut through the conversation.

 “Oh, hell. They’re moving Virgil.”

 -o-o-o-

   Chapter 3

  Scott’s feet crunched on the ice as he stepped backwards. Down in the hole below, his brother’s body was standing up. Despite the fact he still appeared to be unconscious. It was definitely one of the most horrible things he had ever witnessed.

 His brother’s head lolled forward as the exo-suit forced him to stand. It rapidly became clear that there was more than one mecha attached to the suit. One for each arm and another on his right shoulder.

 The suit started climbing out of the hole.

 “Scott, get out of there!” Gordon.

 He still had his jetpack, he could flee at any time.

 But this was Virgil.

 And he was leaving a thin trail of blood in the snow.

 As the suit carried him above the edge of the excavation, the movement of his limbs must have drawn his brother back to at least a partial consciousness, as his head lifted a little, his dreadfully pale face a mask of pain.

 “Virgil?”

 “Sc-tt…no” A gasp as the suit straightened up. “Go..way.”

 As if to re-enforce his brother’s urgency, the mecha on his right arm suddenly detached from Virgil and flew directly at Scott.

 He stumbled backwards, activating his jet pack to the sound of a yell from both Gordon and John.

 He was not two metres off the ground when the mecha made contact.

 With his jetpack.

 It sparked, stuttered and he was suddenly falling. Snow and ice jumped up and bit him.

 “Scott! Move!”

 John’s voice fired all the neurons in his brain and he was moving, snow and ice flung up in his wake.

 Virgil was screaming.

 A glance behind him saw the suit staggering, attempting to run towards him. Something crawled down his left arm towards his remote control.

 No, goddamnit, no! He swiped with his other hand and the mecha went flying. Without hesitation, he took a leap and when it hit the ground, he landed his full weight on it. There was a satisfying crunch. He stumbled, but kept moving.

 -o-o-o-

 Virgil’s world was pain. Every movement was fire.

 But all he could see was the fear on Scott’s face. All he could think was what these things were trying to do. He couldn’t let…

 The devices had full control. They were using him to get to his brother and through him, control of his Thunderbird. He had no idea if Thunderbird Two was safe or lost. He couldn’t see. He couldn’t let…

 Scott had run out of ice. He was cornered. Gaping crevasses either side. His eldest brother was looking at him in anguish.

 He couldn’t let…

 The suit approached Scott.

 He couldn’t let…

 Shifting his weight on the next step, he overbalanced the suit. It slipped, falling sideways, his torso loomed out over open air. Another sudden shift and he sent himself plummeting down the crevasse.

 He had enough time to thank god before everything blanked out.

 -o-o-o-

   Chapter 4

  Scott screamed, reaching out. “No!”

 The suit trapping his brother disappeared over the edge and was gone.

 God, no. No, no, no, no.

 He staggered over to the edge, his comms yelling in his ears. He crept up to the precipice, terrified to look, but forced to by the tiniest amount of hope.

 About twenty metres down, his brother lay sprawled on his back in the snow. On a ledge next to a further hundred metre drop.

 As he watched, two mechas detached from his brother’s suit and flew upwards. He flung himself backwards, throwing his hands up to protect himself.

 They ignored him.

 Flying straight up, they passed out of sight.

 “John.” His voice was hoarse. “Can you track them?”

 “They’re gone.” The impreciseness of his reply betrayed John’s state of mind. “He’s still alive, Scott.”

 “He is?” His heart hurt so much.

 “That power reading is gone.”

 “They’re gone?”

 “They’re gone.”

 “John, you have Thunderbird One. Gordon, full altitude retrieval pack. Stretcher.” A pause. “And bolt cutters.”

 -o-o-o-

 It took Scott ten agonising minutes to reach his brother, both Gordon and John hovering above and on his comline. It took another twenty for him to extricate Virgil from the suit. There was some dark pleasure in severing the mechanical connections to ensure it would never work again.

 Then it was attending to the still bleeding puncture wound on his right arm – a spike of metal still protruding from it, spine and shoulder stabilisation, along with a full body splint for his left side.

 Virgil remained unconscious the entire time. No response. Once he was secured in the stretcher, ready to be pulled up by Gordon above, Scott cupped his brother’s hair in his hand, leant over and touched a trembling kiss to his forehead.

 His hands were shaking.

 “Gordon, haul us up.”

 -o-o-o-

 Hospitals varied. Fortunately, New Zealand hospitals were rated amongst the best. They ended up at Wellington Hospital in the country’s capital. Unfortunately, Thunderbird Two was too big for their helipad, so International Rescue would be footing the bill for lawn repairs at the local oval.

 But Virgil was still alive when they made it.

 He was still alive after surgery.

 He was still alive two days later.

 But he wasn’t awake.

 Tracy Island was in an uproar. Brains was completely beside himself with horror at the thought one of their family being tortured in the attempt to gain access to their technology by their technology.

 Both John and EOS were losing sleep in the attempt to track down the Mechanic. The fact they could not detect him anywhere, was frightening. The thought that this kind of thing could happen again was the stuff of nightmares.

 And there were plenty to be had. No member of the family was free of them. Scott fell asleep in the chair beside his brother several times only to wake screaming, the suit disappearing over the edge so many times.

 Virgil didn’t even twitch.

 -o-o-o-

 Sally Tracy had had moments in her life of true pain. She had lost so many members of her family, sometimes she wondered if she could bear losing another.

 Her second eldest grandson was almost as pale as the bedsheets he was lying on. One arm was wrapped in a bandage, the other in a cast. His dark hair was tousled and a contrasting smear against the white.

 Her eldest grandson was sprawled in the chair on the opposite side of the bed to her. His almost equally dark hair splayed out on the covers as he slept the sleep of the thoroughly exhausted. She’d only allowed him to stay because at the suggestion of a break he had almost fallen as pale as his brother.

 These two were a pair. Two pieces of a puzzle different to each other in a way that enabled them to fit together perfectly.

 Consequently, when one fell, the other one fell with him.

 Not to say the rest of the family fell any less. Both Gordon and John were haunted. They had refused to tell her the full story, but she had enough to give her nightmares already.

 She held Virgil’s right hand in hers, her fingers caressing his.

 “Dear Virgil.” Her voice was little more than a whisper. “We so miss your music.” A hitch in her breath. “Please come back to us.”

 International Rescue was on full stand down. They were a mess. Brains had frozen all but the most necessary assets in order to give every piece of equipment a thorough security check and reinforcement. Kayo was caught between the security of the island, Virgil, and hunting down the Mechanic. Sally almost felt pity for him if she found him.

 Almost.

 Gordon was caught up in the ‘what if’ circular frame of thought. She was going to have to pin him down and have a talk with him at some point. Probably John as well. The astronaut had almost cut himself off from conversation, his only contact a random appearance from time to time to hover over his brother. With the security breach, Brains had demanded that both he and EOS return to Earth for safety. Both had protested rather loudly, but Scott had stepped in, and Sally suspected it was more the exhaustion on his eldest brother’s face that had made John relent than anything else.

 Alan had been out of contact on a mission at the time of the incident and had the unenviable situation of returning to a very different home to that from which he had left. There had been tears.

 Scott…wasn’t sleeping. He had craters around his eyes. The fact he was out cold at this very moment was simply due to the fact that his body gave out.

 “Grandma?” Two drowsy brown eyes were staring at her.

 “Oh, god, Virgil.” She squeezed his hand. “How do you feel?”

 He frowned. “Foggy. What happened?”

 She hesitated. “What do you remember?”

 The frown deepened. “Gordon hates snow.” Virgil’s eyes unfocussed a moment. “He wants to crash in the tropics.”

 A small smile. “Sounds about right.”

 “Where’s Scott?”

 She gestured in the direction of his brother.

 Virgil sluggishly moved his head. “Oh.” A swallow. “What happened to him?”

 “He’s just tired. He’s been busy.”

 “Huh.” Virgil’s eyes were drifting closed again. “Make sure he gets enough sleep. Or he’ll…get grumpy.” And Virgil was asleep again.

 She lent up and gently kissed him on the forehead. Turning, as expected, her eyes were caught by a pair of blue.

 She returned his tired smile.

 -o-o-o-

 It took weeks. Both for Virgil to recover and for International Rescue to get back on its feet. Scott tried his best not to think too hard about the possibility of lives being lost during that time because they were not available. All calls had been redirected through local channels and what little help they could give had been given.

 Virgil claimed that he didn’t remember much about the incident. He had been both traumatised and suffered a head injury from the fall, so it was entirely possible. Scott had chased it up with several doctors and the feedback all said the same thing. The scans said there was no damage, amnesia was a possibility due to the initial injury or for psychological reasons. The only way to handle it was to let Virgil take one day at a time.

 And so he did. First in hospital, then at home, then through the horrible rehabilitation period where he had to work both his arm and torn shoulder back to health.

 The day he finally sat in front of his piano and shakily tapped out a tune was an emotional one.

 Once all their equipment was thoroughly approved by both Brains and Kayo, the last remaining question was what to do with the rest of Virgil’s exo-suits.

 No-one else could use them, they were specially designed for Virgil’s rather large frame. Scott didn’t even want to look at them. He was still waking in the middle of the night with one of them starring in the role of ultimate nightmare material. But there was also the consideration of how many lives those pieces of equipment had saved, not to mention the fact that even while corrupted, that last suit had still saved his brother – it had broken his fall.

 Could they afford to deny themselves the use of this valuable equipment?

 In the end it was decided to ask Virgil. After all they were his.

 “What do you mean?” The question echoed around the hanger.

 “Do you think you would be comfortable using your exo-suits?”

 “Why wouldn’t I?” His brother was staring at him.

 Scott frowned. “You are aware of what happened with the last suit you used?”

 “Yes, apparently it got possessed, broke a few bones, stuck a hole in me, and threw me off a cliff. Your point?”

 “This isn’t a joking matter, Virgil.”

 “I’m not joking, Scott. Those exo-suits save a lot of lives. So a megalomaniac screwed around with the last one. Why should we deny innocent people help we can give them just because of that asshole?”

 “So you’ll have no problem wearing them?”

 “If I do, I’ll just have to get over it. There are more important things.”

 “You’re sure?”

 “Why is it when I make a decision you feel the need to get it in triplicate?”

 “Because I’m worried about you, Virgil.”

 “Well, you don’t have to be. I told you, I hardly remember anything. And I don’t want to be put in the position where someone is going to die just because I can’t get over myself.”

 Scott wondered if Virgil realised he had just contradicted his previous statement. If he didn’t remember much, what did he need to get over?

 “Okay. Then I’d like you to try one on, just to make sure you are comfortable.”

 “What? Now?”

 “No better time than the present.” So okay, it was a direct challenge, but then he needed to know his brother could handle this. It wasn’t something that could be left to the field.

 Virgil shrugged. “Okay.” He looked down at himself. “Just let me grab my uniform.” He disappeared up the stairs.

 Scott looked up at Thunderbird Two. Such an echo of his brother. She, too, had needed some repairs. EOS hadn’t been gentle when she had defended the ship. Gordon ended up with two small burns on his right hand and several important pieces of circuitry had needed full replacements. But as Brains, and later Virgil, had reassured her, it had been worth it.

 She had also stood in as an advisor as to what defences could be installed to prevent this from happening again. All their remotes had been reconfigured, their casings reinforced to the point that a nuclear warhead might not even reach the internal circuitry.

 The exo-suits – Brains and John had thought long and hard on that one. They were mostly mechanical, they enhanced Virgil’s natural body strength and took directions from his movement. As far as they could decipher, the mechas had managed to interface at that point – by trapping Virgil in the framework, he provided the support while the mechas provided the processing power and direction of the functions. This wasn’t something easily prevented. So they came at it from another angle. The new suits all had the capability to completely disassemble at will. Virgil should never be caught, unable to get out. A double switch was located in both sleeves, that when activated, the suit fell apart, freeing the wearer. No support equalled no zombie suit situations.

 There was the hiss of an object approaching at speed and he looked up to see the chute extender deploy. A moment later his brother shot out, fully dressed in his uniform, and flung himself into the cockpit of Thunderbird Two.

 The lower hatch deployed and Virgil walked over to him.

 “You know I think you really enjoy that.”

 “Yeah, ‘course I do. Who wouldn’t?”

 And no, Scott was not going to answer that.

 He led his brother over to the module bay and activated the door of Module Two. Without a word, they both entered and there, waiting to be deployed, was an exo-suit.

 They both stood there a moment. “Well, go ahead.” Scott gestured his brother forward.

 Virgil shrugged and stepped into the suit. A whirr of servos as it deployed, wrapping itself around his brother. Scott froze, his heart in his throat.

 The stuff of nightmares.

 He shook himself. He’d have to get over himself as well.

 Virgil was standing still, a blank look on his face.

 “Virgil?”

 He looked up. “Huh?”

 “You okay?”

 “Uh, fine.” He waved his claw around and flexed his pincer.

 Scott shivered.

 “Are you okay?” Virgil’s eyes had narrowed and were pinned on him.

 “I’m good.”

 He could tell Virgil didn’t believe him. His brother took a step forward.

 Scott took a step back.

 Virgil pressed his lips together. “Sure.”  Stepping backwards he disengaged the suit, slipping his arms easily from the sleeves, only to stop and freeze a moment.

 Scott waited. Virgil stared at his left hand. He mouthed a whisper Scott couldn’t quite hear.

 “Virg?”

 “Huh?”

 “Am I allowed to ask if you are okay?”

 His brother glared at him but didn’t confirm or deny anything.

 Sighing, Scott walked over to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “C’mon, Virgil. Admit it, this is going to take some more time.”

 A look, a flicker of vulnerability quickly masked. “I guess.”

 “What if we come down here every day and give it another go. Eventually we will get so sick of the sight of it, we won’t care anymore.”

 Virgil was looking at his hand again, distracted. “Okay.”

 He squeezed his shoulders.

 Not okay, but getting there.

 -o-o-o-

 Several degrees north of nowhere, the Mechanic sifted through the information the drones had captured. He had the codes, he had the capability, now he just need to find an out of the way place with the resources he needed.

 As his eyes landed on Gran Roca Ranch, he smiled.

 -o-o-o-

 FIN

[bltngames]

Five Things Sega Could Do To Save a Sonic Unleashed PC Port

Sega has a tendency to release PC ports of their games on Steam out of the blue. Valkyria Chronicles and Bayonetta were big surprises, only announced basically the same day they went up for sale. One PC port some Sonic fans have been requesting (including myself) is 2008’s Sonic Unleashed.

I'd argue that Sonic Unleashed is still, a decade later, the best example of the “boost” gameplay later popularized in Sonic Colors, Sonic Generations, and most recently, Sonic Forces. Sonic’s levels in Unleashed are fast, challenging and frenetic in a way none of those other games ever really matched. The problem is what surrounds Sonic’s levels -- a good 75% of Unleashed’s gameplay is slow, tedious busy work, dominated by levels where you control the plodding “Werehog.” This was a long-running problem Sonic Team was struggling with back then; they seemed to be better at making 2-3 hour experiences in an industry that expected something closer to 8-10 hours. So, they compensated by padding out the clock.

That makes Unleashed the straw that broke the camel’s back. It was the last of their games to contain such a significant amount of padding, with later games embracing their shorter completion times (until Sonic Lost World, anyway). Because of what a slog Sonic Unleashed can be, only the most dedicated really dig in and uncover its bright spots, with most getting scared away by how often and how hard the game slams on the brakes.

Sonic Team’s Takashi Iizuka stated just as recently as last year (2017) that he was open to the idea of a PC port for Sonic Unleashed, so if someone were just so happening to be working on one, I humbly present you with a wishlist of features that I think may help elevate the game to the forgotten classic I believe it to be. Each change will be rated on how hard it would be to implement, and just for the sake of fun, I’ll throw in some left field requests at the bottom that I don’t necessarily think would be possible, but I’d like to see just the same.

1. Reduce Medal Requirements Significantly

Why? One of the biggest things people hate about Sonic Unleashed is the game's medal collection aspect. Stashed in the corners of many levels are sun and moon medals which unfortunately block your progression. As you play through the game, eventually you'll reach a level requiring a certain number of these medals, and if you don’t have enough, you can't progress any further without returning to previous levels and collecting more. More often than not, players don’t know they’re behind on their medal counts until it’s already too late. And as you near the end of the game, medal unlock numbers get to be excessive, wasting hours of playtime on busy work. So, just reduce that requirement. It barely provides any legitimate gameplay and is clearly only there to tack on extra hours to the clock. Nothing of value will be lost, but players will enjoy the game more, and completionists can still hunt out all of the medals for achievements and such. Complexity: Low. With what I know about game development, this would be as simple as changing a few variables in the code -- it’d take ten minutes, tops.

2. Increase EXP Earned for the Werehog

Why? I maintain that a fully powered up Werehog is actually kinda fun. Early-game Werehog sucks; you don't have enough health, and you don't have a lot of combat abilities to fight back with. You must spend HOURS grinding out experience points (EXP) and leveling up your stats before any of that starts to feel tolerable. What's annoying is the Werehog is balanced so that you'll finish the game long before you learn all of the combat abilities, even if you focus on JUST leveling up the one stat that teaches them to you. There are entire DLC levels built explicitly to help grind out tons of EXP quickly, so Sonic Team knew this was a problem. Just throw the player a bone and make defeated enemies drop slightly higher amounts of EXP so you can get to the good stuff faster. Complexity: Low. Along the same lines as changing medal requirements, changing the EXP values in the code could be done in the time it takes to heat up leftovers in the microwave. It would probably take longer to figure out how much to change them.

3. Consolidate all DLC in to one “World Tour” pack

Why? Typically re-releases like this include all of the DLC as a free bonus, but Sega has bucked that trend with games like Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2. Both games contained optional DLC to add in their bonus Gamecube-exclusive content for an extra $7 or so. Shrewd, I guess, but it probably also helped provide Sega with a financial incentive to make those ports at all. It was also easy to ignore if you didn't like the idea of paying an extra $7, because it was all optional side-content, separate from the main game. So, do the same with Sonic Unleashed: roll the five or so DLC packs in to a singular “World Tour” pack and charge $7-ish for it. I know it's dumb, but business is dumb, and it might give the porting team a little more leeway with their development budget. Complexity: Moderate. I don’t know how Sonic Unleashed supports DLC, but this probably wouldn’t be as easy as packing all the DLC together. It still wouldn’t be that difficult, though.

4. New NPC marker to denote story-critical characters

Why? A big complaint and misconception I've seen about Sonic Unleashed time and time again is that you HAVE to spend lots of time hunting down and talking to villager NPCs in towns. Though there are a few times the game forces you to talk to townspeople, you can ignore most of them and progress through the game just fine (I certainly did). The issue is that the Unleashed doesn’t really designate between characters you can talk to, characters that give out optional side quests, and critical story characters, so it’s easy to get stuck doing something that’s unnecessary. My answer is to simply do what many other games do: mark which NPCs are important. NPCs already have markers above their heads, so simply add a new type of marker so it’s obvious who you need to talk to for progression and who is giving out optional side quests. Complexity: Moderate. This would require generating new graphics assets to insert in to the game and editing the icon display systems as well as changing map values to support it. Not difficult, but it would still take a bit of effort.

5. Break Werehog levels up into smaller chunks

Why? The other main problem with the Werehog is just how disproportionately large his levels are. Again, I don’t actually think the Werehog is the worst thing in the world, but only when it's experienced in the right context. 20+ minute Werehog stages vs. 3-5 minute Sonic levels creates a significant imbalance, and combined with grinding out EXP, everything about the Werehog feels like too much effort for not enough reward. So, cut the Werehog levels short. In theory this isn’t hard -- just move the Goal Ring found at the end of a stage somewhere closer so the level ends sooner. Of course, this creates a huge list secondary problems with pacing and leaves a lot of unused real estate on the cutting room floor, so this would take some significant work to figure out. But it’d be a necessary evil for making this part of the game a lot more digestible. Complexity: High. Individual elements of this seem simple, but combined, this would take a lot of coordination to do properly. You’d be redesigning almost half the game.

Now, let’s talk about fringe features. Things that would require exorbitant amounts of work, or are just daydreams:

6. Recreate the game in Sonic Forces’ “Hedgehog Engine 2” Why? Regardless of how you feel about the game it powers, Hedgehog Engine 2 does seem to offer some moderate technological and rendering benefits over the original Hedgehog Engine that powers Sonic Unleashed. Those benefits could be carried over to a remake, but that could come at a cost: a remake would have to be careful to make Unleashed feel “right” otherwise the whole project would be in vain. Complexity: Extremely High. You’d have to update everything for the new engine, and change how the engine itself works to support features from Sonic Unleashed that aren’t in Sonic Forces. It’s basically like making an entirely new game.

7. Implement Sonic Colors’ “Marathon” Egg Shuttle Mode Why? The shuttle mode in Sonic Colors is basically the only way I play that game now. It runs through every level in the game, in order, with boss encounters, without having to go back to a map screen or watch cutscenes, turning it into an experience like the classic Genesis Sonic games. All Sonic games could use something like that, including Unleashed. Complexity: High. You’d have to write a lot of new code and make a new map and menu option for this to work.

8. Steam Workshop support Why? Sonic Generations modding support was hacked together from scraps and managed to generate some very impressive results. It’d be nice if we could get the official Hedgehog Engine tools in some form and have a way to publish levels without having to fumble around in the dark. Complexity: Extremely High. The old Hedgehog Engine tools require having a specific versions of the Havok Physics SDK installed, which costs multiple thousands of dollars. A workaround would have to be implemented.

9. Redesign the entire end game Why? Sonic Unleashed is not a game that finishes strong. From the moment you unlock the final level, the villain’s twisted theme park called “Eggmanland,” the game nosedives hard. Eggmanland is an obnoxiously long level, easily taking over an hour to clear (without any time to stop and rest). It also breaks many of the game’s rules, with a number of genuinely mean traps that only exist to mess you up and get you killed. Your reward for finishing Eggmanland is a gauntlet of at least three final bosses, each one more stupidly aggravating than the last. None of it is fun or exciting, just annoying. Every part of it needs to be reworked somehow. Complexity: Extremely High. Eggmanland needs to be shorter, bosses need to be more forgiving, controls in certain parts need to be improved… it’ll be a lot of work.

10. An option to revert every change on this list Why? Even if I think all of these changes are necessary to improving Sonic Unleashed, it's also important to preserve it in its original format. Besides, there will always be a group of people who prefer the old game over the new version, so, every time you implement a change, put in an option to revert to put it back the way it was. Simple. Complexity: Variable. It depends on what gets changed, really.

Some people may look at an article or a list like this and ask: why not just play the modded version of Sonic Generations that adds in the Sonic Unleashed levels? Why do we need to muck around with changing Sonic Unleashed for a PC port nobody supposedly needs? Because while The Unleashed Project (that Generations mod) is pretty cool, it’s not perfect. Generations doesn’t support everything required to translate those levels perfectly, and some of them definitely suffer for it. Not only that, but future updates to The Unleashed Project are indefinitely on hold, meaning the more questionable parts will never be fixed.

The only real solution is to port the full Sonic Unleashed game to PC, and why not smooth over some of its rough edges while they’re at it? Taxman and Stealth’s Sonic CD port in 2011 did this, improving the game’s control, collision detection, and framerate. Nintendo did this when they updated The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker for the Wii U -- they added items to speed up the slower parts of that game and make the overall experience more enjoyable. Precedent for fixing these kinds of games does exist, it’s just a matter of whether or not anyone at Sega has the initiative to make it happen, vis-à-vis a potential Sonic Unleashed PC port.

One can only hope.

[eldritchsurveys]

o62.

[[ Random Survey Questions // By @x-hallie-x​ ]] What is the most you’ve ever eaten in one sitting? >> I have no idea, really... probably like 7/8ths of a pizza? Or maybe something else. I also don’t pay a whole lot of attention, so, you know.

How often do you skip breakfast? >> “Breakfast” is a hard concept for me to lock onto, because I usually eat at some point after waking up, but it’s not like... a dedicated meal. I just eat when I’m too hungry not to.

What’s the longest you’ve gone without leaving the house? >> Here, probably five days or so.

Where are you going the next time you go out? >> Sparrow is going to this... idk, informal memorial thing or something for one of her grandparents so I guess I’m going with her lol.

Did/do you miss a lot of school or do you have a good attendance record? >> I had an impeccable attendance record until high school, and the only reason I didn’t have an impeccable one in high school is because I was in and out of the hospital by eleventh grade.

What are some weird habits you have while eating/about food in general? >> I don’t like certain textures (things being mushy when they’re not Supposed to be is the best example). Produce has to be inspected and vetted before I put it in my mouth; any imperfection is liable to put me off eating it. I don’t like messy sandwiches (have had shutdowns in restaurants because of messy burgers and such). Probably more, but I don’t really think about it until someone points it out or I inconvenience someone else with a habit of mine.

What kinds of things are likely to make you cry? >> Certain movies. Grey’s Anatomy. Some of the things Can Calah says. A lot of the things Wednesday says. That’s really it as far as “likely” is concerned.

What are some things that make others cry that don’t make you cry at all? >> Animal death and most people’s deaths (David Bowie was a special case and I’ll fight anyone about it) are the only things I can think of that are almost guaranteed to make other people cry but generally don’t affect me on that exact same level. Other than that, I feel like the things that make people cry are as varied as people themselves, and it’s really difficult to compare this sort of thing.

If you drink/smoke, how often do you do these things? >> As of the past month or so, I’ve been drinking significantly less in comparison to earlier habits. I opened a bottle of wine a couple of weeks ago and I only just drank the last of it a couple of days ago. I’ve had a four-pack of Backwoods Bastard for at least a week and a half, and I still have two left. I don’t even drink enough to get past tipsy anymore, I just kinda stop myself when I notice the “hey we feel great, so that means drink more!” impulse, because I know it’s a fallacy and it’s one discipline-related thing I can teach myself right now -- to ignore that voice. I don’t really just... sit and drink anymore, which is an improvement. I think it’s finally just lost most of its appeal -- alcohol is too much of a stressor on the body-mind and I’m tired of it. I don’t smoke anymore; I try to sometimes because I still have this pack of cloves and I’m just like “meh” every time. I would still smoke weed, though, but I don’t have access to that.

Where was the last place you went out to eat and what did you order?What do you think of fast food? >> I actually don’t remember... I’m sure we went out at some point after Chicago but I’m just blanking on it. So I’ll just say Nando’s, which was in Chicago, and we ordered wings and chips (and I got one of the custards). I like fast food, I think it’s great. I just can’t eat it often because I have a bougie body. (You can thank my father for that.)

What website do you spend the most time on and why? >> tumblr, because I genuinely enjoy it here.

What’s the most amount of time you’ve spent online? Is this usual for you? >> Like, in a day? All of it. And yeah, that’s pretty standard for me, although video games now influence how much time I’m actually on the web (as opposed to using the internet connection for the game).

What is something you daydream about often? >> I don’t know that I daydream. I am either in meatspace or inworld, but I don’t think I play around in dreamscapes much. Inworld kind of is like a dreamscape, in the sense that it’s sensitive to Our needs and wants and adapts accordingly, so I guess that limits my need for daydreaming...? I don’t know. When I do daydream it’s to get ideas for writing stuff, I think.

What is one belief you used to have, but no longer do? In what ways are you influenced by the opinions of others, if ever? >> I used to believe that my identity was set in stone and I couldn’t do anything about that. And I guess I’m reasonably influenced by the opinions of others -- like, I’ll always consider a convincing argument. I try not to get caught up too much in confirmation bias, but that’s always going to be a pitfall, too. Mostly I just try to keep an open mind, because it’s valuable to me not to get too tunnel-visioned or “this is how it is and anything else is wrong!” about anything. After all, what do I know, right?

What was the last thing to make you feel good about yourself? >> I don’t remember. Uncertainty (regarding myself, my development, my contribution to society, etc) has been a struggle lately, but I guess that’s just human.

How would you describe your overall (or preferred) personal aesthetic? >> Right now I’m just kind of a lazy goth/metalhead. It’s difficult for me to shop for clothing and I also don’t have a lot of money. Plus, it doesn’t matter as much to me as it did when I was a little younger and had to look like a goth fashion plate at all times. (I did look good, though! :p)

What kinds of small judgments are you likely to make about others? >> I make a lot of inconsequential snap judgements about people on tumblr, mostly, because that’s the most contact I have with strangers on a regular basis. You know, like... “oh god you must not get off tumblr much if you’re discoursing about whether aces belong in the queer community” or “oh my god you really can’t stand to see the word queer ever in your life? smh” stuff like that. Mostly because I’m fucking tired of the discourse, but luckily I don’t see much of it on my dashboard so I usually don’t have much snarky internal commentary to make. 

What was the last thing you did mostly because society expected you to? >> That’s a good question but I don’t remember, lol.

When was the last time you felt out of place? >> In “bougie Meijer” (the Meijer in Cascade, which is an upscale part of town... they have Tesla charger ports in the parking lot, if that’s any indication) earlier. It’s such a low-grade alienation that I don’t even notice it anymore, but like... just going a lot of places in Michigan makes me feel out of place and socially/culturally alienated. I have never belonged here and I don’t expect to ever feel like I belong here.

Do you believe in aliens, spirits, or angels of any sort? >> Sure. I see no reason not to.

In what ways are you superstitious? >> I’m not sure. I don’t think I am, really; I think I have a few minor compulsions at best, but I’m not really superstitious per se.

What is something you wish for right now? >> To not have a reproductive system.

Where was the last place you went walking and how far? Would you rather exercise alone or with other people? >> Uh... the mall, I guess? Does that count? LOL. Wasn’t very far. I don’t do much walking these days. And I don’t know, I’d just... rather not exercise at all. Doing it with others doesn’t really make it any more fun for me because that’s how much I hate it.

What kinds of nail polish colors do you prefer to wear? How about makeup? >> Black, usually. I like other colours, I just... feel more comfortable in black. I like gold and dark shimmery colours in makeup, and plum-toned lip colour.

How would you describe your own relationship with makeup? >> I don’t really have a relationship with it, I wear it sometimes for the lulz but usually I don’t have the patience for it. It’s a huge hassle for someone like me.

Who has been in your life the longest amount of time? What about the shortest? >> I think Elle has been in my life for the longest amount of time (9 years). Shortest... Rez, I think (maybe 7 or 8 months? idk time isn’t real).

Who was the last person to leave your life? How about return to it? >> I just realised some of these questions got mushed together when I copied it and they weren’t supposed to be answered that way, lmao. Oops. Oh well, what’s done is done. The last person to leave my life was Sigma and the last one to return to it was Hallie.

When it comes to travel, what kinds of places intrigue you most? >> Culturally-rich places, places where people look more like me, places where colonisation and/or Westernisation hasn’t completely supplanted the local culture and religion, places where nature isn’t treated like something to conquer.

Do you think humans colonizing Mars is a good idea? Would you go, if you could? >> I think it’s an amazing idea, and I love it. Whether it’s a “good” idea or not is better argued by people who have knowledge of these things. I don’t know if it’s a “good” idea or not, but I know it makes me very excited, and that’s all I can speak about. I would absolutely go if I could.

What is the farthest you’ve walked in one day and what made you do it? >> Probably a few miles. Well, there was one time when I was stuck in North Carolina and I wanted out and I... well, it’s a long story, lmao, I’ll certainly tell it but not in the middle of a survey. I’ve also walked many city blocks in a day when I lived in New York, for funsies or for free travel... but I don’t know how to translate that unit of measurement into more standard units.

Why do or don’t you prefer to make New Year resolutions? If you make them, what kinds are likely to stick? >> I don’t make them because there’s no way a New Year resolution is going to stick any harder for me than it would if I made the resolution any other time of year. I think NYRs are cool and fine, they just are ineffective for me personally. Also, I try not to put that kind of pressure on myself unless it’s absolutely necessary, and if it is, then it doesn’t matter what time of year it is.

Do you have a chore/housecleaning routine or anything like that? >> Not... really. 

How organized would you say your living space is? >> My room is vaguely disorganised only because my storage options are limited and the space is small so things get out of hand really quickly. It does bother me but I try not to get too far into my head about it because honestly, it really isn’t that big a deal, I’m just crazy. The rest of the apartment is in various stages of array or disarray because Sparrow, lol.

What is one thing your ideal living situation would include? >> A big bathroom with a big glass-door shower with dark stone instead of white tile. (Or maybe no doors. Just the showerhead(s) and a sloped floor for proper drainage. I don’t know, I just have this badbrains complex about small white bathrooms with a lot of “hidden”/hard-to-clean nooks that’s really been ruining my life.)

What is something important that’s often on your mind lately? >> Me. Hurr hurr. :B Uh... I can’t think of anything specific, you know, it’s just... life. Things about me and my development, things about how I can be a “good/better” (that’s not the word set I would use exactly, but you know what I mean... like “effective” but not quite so clinical) SO, things about being human and what it means for me to be human, things about my fear of death and how to deal with it, things about how to help myself since I can’t seem to get any professional help, adulting things like finances and stuff, and so on.

What about something unimportant, but you can’t stop thinking about it? >> Hmm... I don’t know! Probably like... how much I miss NOLA. That ain’t important. But it feels important to me! :’(

Do you find it easier to forgive yourself or others? >> I don’t really think about forgiveness, it’s not a concept that has much use for me. I really do think it’s like... a religious sort of thing, like a ritualistic “I have let go of this thing for the moral good” kind of cathartic... rite??? I don’t know. All I know is that I’ve never felt the need to make a point to Forgive Someone. It always seemed like an extra step, like... I’ve already processed this pain and I’m learning how to accept myself as this new creature with this new scar and I’m moving on with my life... oh, wait, now I have to Forgive too? I’m already moving on! Isn’t that the same thing? Or like, if I let someone back into my life, then I have to Forgive them too? That isn’t the same thing???? It really confuses me and I know sometimes I just sound Dense or like I’m playing dumb or something but like... listen, I live in this brain, and it works the way it works. Sue me. And if I’m not wreaking bloody vengeance on you, then just... call it “forgiven” if you must, and let’s move on! Please, for our fathers’ sake! :’)

Have you ever had to call 911? For who/what reason? >> Yeah. My first boyfriend, Tommy, was an addict and overdosed twice in one week. I had to call the ambulance both times. (His GP had prescribed him a giant ass bottle of Vicodin for this “old injury” pain he complained of. When I say “giant”, I mean like... there were 150 pills in there. I remember this because the EMTs had me count how many were left, and it was something like 70. He’d only gotten them a few days prior, like a week prior at most. They made me count twice because it seemed so implausible to them. But nope! His GP was a fucking idiot and he was a career addict!!! It be’s like that!!!!!) (And THEN, to top it off, this fucking dude came over and brought drugs with him! And gave them to Tommy! He got his ass beat in the hospital elevator by Tommy’s best friend and threatened into disappearing, though, so that solved that problem. (I know because I was there.)) Great story, huh! I was also still in pharmacy tech school at this time! I did my homework in the ER! I don’t think I knew what sleep was for a week! ...I know there are a lot of exclamation points in here and it looks like I’m still upset, but actually I’m just fucking amazed at some of my experiences sometimes. Like... and yet! I’m still out here!!!!

What was the last book you purchased? Have you started reading it yet? >> The last book I bought was... hmm... I don’t remember. But the last book I was bought was A Book That Takes Its Time, which Hallie bought me because I thought his copy was so neat :’) <3 I read one chapter, I think (it’s not a reading-book as much as a, like... doing-book, a contemplating-book), but then other stuff took precedence so I haven’t gotten back to it yet. Soon! I promise :p

Do you like oatmeal? If so, what kinds of things do you like in it? >> I do! I haven’t eaten it lately because I don’t eat a lot of heavy stuff in the summertime, but I love it in fall and winter. I usually just put ghee and cinnamon and honey or maple syrup in mine. Very filling, hehe.

What was going on the last time you felt nostalgic? >> I was thinking about when I lived in 7F, and like... there’s no way I would ever, ever, want to go back to living in that rundown NYCHA apartment where I slept on the living room floor along with anywhere from 1 to 4 other people (sometimes up to 6 on random nights), where I had nothing to myself and I was at the whim of the leaseholder (who could be capricious sometimes, just like us all), and where I basically spent 90% of my time intoxicated in some way just to... not fall into the black pit of despair or boredom or loneliness. I don’t. I would be perfectly happy to never see it again barring maybe a couple of visits in the future, if that’s a thing that happens. But nostalgia is patently stupid, and it tries to form unnecessary attachments to every memory, and so sometimes I’m like “damn, them were the days” and like, really, Shadow? Really? Them were NOT the days. ...But one thing I will say-- I’ve got some great stories from living in that apartment.

How much attention do you pay to the movements of the stars and planets, and do you believe they influence anything? >> I pay a moderate amount of attention... like, I could definitely stand to pay more attention, because I do find it interesting, but I just never make time for it, yanno. I think it’s perfectly reasonable to assume their influence in our lives, since we’re all star-stuff and ~cosmic relativity~ and... I don’t know. It just gels very well with my worldview (my universe-view, if you will) and I don’t see any reason to debunk it just for the sheer sake of... cynicism, or whatever gets people hard these days.

When was the last time you were afraid to tell someone something? >> I really don’t remember.

When was the last time something didn’t go the way you expected it would? >> When I went to the Love Wins thing and the Blue Bridge did NOT light up rainbow at nightfall!!!! I was mad as hell, lmao. I wanted to show Hallie.

What is the most difficult or involved video game you’ve ever played? >> Hmm.... Silent Hill 4? That was a long time ago, though, so my memory of its difficulty might be skewed by exactly how bad I was at video games back then. Maybe WoW, because it’s an MMO with a lot of elements, and it took me a long time to figure out all those elements -- but once I did, it really helped me with other games, so I really enjoy how the learning curve is getting smoother and smoother with the more games I play. It’s kind of like muscle memory but also like... just pattern recognition, really.

What was the last thing you just couldn’t understand? >> Why people glorify terrible child-raising practices instead of thinking, “you know, maybe that was fucked up and maybe I shouldn’t repeat it”. I also still can’t fucking understand why Jay sent me a friend request on facebook. HE KNOWS WHAT HE DID!!!! WE ARE NOT FRIENDS

Other than this survey, what was the last question you were asked that you didn’t want to answer? >> The last question that I was asked that I didn’t want to answer.... yeah, I really don’t know??? I just have a hard time remembering this kind of thing unless there was specific reason for me to hang onto it and rehash it in my mind or whatever. idk! good survey tho. :B

[wendronwitch]

things i liked in Fyre (will probably contain Spoilers)

okay so i’ve seen Fyre get a lot of hate and i understand why, there were a lot of things about it that didn’t add up or were inconsistent or just made me cringe. at the same time though, there were a lot of things i actually really liked about it, so here’s my masterpost? masterlist? what do you call it? 

the mythology stuff behind the 2-faced ring. i feel like this builds off very nicely from the melodrama in Darke?

SIMON AND LUCY GETTING MARRIED im !!!

Beetle and Marcia being a Team ™  i mean… honestly… the mutual respect as well as how well they can deal with stuff together,,,, i’m Shook

Marcia and Marcellus being Marcia and Marcellus  (esp. with regards to Septimus)

Jenna being Queenly as hell… more will be said soon

Marwick being so kind and helpful to Aunt Zelda (who is Olde now remember)

Mandy “I wield a mean duster” Marwick,,,, also his cooking,,, I mean.. I would Die for this boy

Septimus and Jenna telling Marwick about his family (i had to reread that chapter because it made me Emo)

Marcellus being a Good Uncle to Jenna

Spit Fyre and the Dragon Boat, the family vibes

Septimus going from awkward 3rd wheel wrt Jenna and Beetle to their matchmaker :’)

Simon becoming the Alchemie Apprentice… finally! he deserves all the good things!

Forest Heaps living in the Palace and generally helping out,,,, cute

Marcia telling Septimus to have “fun” and Septimus being like “who are you and where’s the real Marcia Overstrand”

Marissa “I flirt with every boy in the Castle” Lane kinda understandable though I mean the boys in the SH universe are all cute

Milo and Jenna becoming a little closer because even tho Milo’s not the best, he really does care

Lucy the architect!! that’s my girl

Septimus and Simon bonding and being able to do stuff well together

Marcellus suggesting that they use Simon for marketing purposes and Lucy being like “huh.” (i can post photographical evidence if you don’t believe me)

more World Saving from the 2 Darkest Wizards in the Universe by our Fave Squad, this time including Simon

Simon! actually! figuring out what was happening! when nobody else could!!! I love it when he uses his Darke knowledge to save the day

Marcia suggesting Merrin for bait makes me laugh so much somehow it’s so very Slytherin of her

Merrin and his mother,,,, they’re sweet. I don’t like either of them personally but their relationship is Good and i hope they’re Happy

Jim Knee,,, I mean,,,, where was this sleepy banana boi during the Darke Domaine when we needed him but here he is now

Jenna’s Port Palace……… Jenna Knowing Queen Things............ Jenna being badass and yet regal

Marwick becoming the Keeper! yes fuckn finally that’s my boyyyyyy

Julius Pike and Marcellus Pye and some age-old Drama

Jenna, Sep and Nicko actually flying off to the house of Foryx to get Hotep-Ra’s help

the Saving the Day bit ft. Jenna doing a standalone spell with Marcia protecting her

Jenna being crowned and becoming the Queen

Marwick giving her Petroc’s family… I mean, for the benefit of me and all the other kids who wondered what had become of Petroc

OH ALSO obviously, Alther and Marcia!!! i mean, that holds for every book

SIMILARLY Marcia and Septimus!!! there are so many good moments that show you how much those two care about each other and it makes me so emotional

(edit: yikes, can’t believe i forgot) Septimus thinking Marcia and Marcellus are a couple when Marcia announces their “new partnership” lmao i can’t deal 

feel free to add more things i might’ve missed!!!

[bluebeads-art]

Tweaking Parts of Rayner’s Design The dates I finished each part of this are in the captions

It’s been a long time coming for me to redesign Rayner’s legs. I over-designed the hell out of them originally, and a lot of the time it was keeping me from drawing him because I really did not want to draw those legs.

Ramblings and lore under the read-more

I made some changes to Rayner’s face and hair as well. His hair’s only undercut on his right now, and there are basically little USB ports on the side of his head. For brain access. :y Just like Linnet and Kobi and the neural interfaces on the backs of their necks though, Rayner absolutely hates people touching or messing with them. Brain hijacking is a very scary thing for all three of them.

He also has a scar on his nose that Dayne peer-pressured him into keeping. Rayner doesn’t experience physical attraction at all, so he has a hard time understanding what traits make people look more or less attractive. Because of this though, Rayner’s not judgmental about looks at all. That’s part of why Viviana likes him so much, because he never gave her even the slightest hint that he thought her vitiligo was weird.

Oh, and in case people are like, “Wait, I thought Dayne was dating someone else,” he’s polyamorous. He’s with both Tillip and Rayner. Tillip used to dislike Rayner because she saw him as competition in more ways than one, but she grew to really like and respect him over time. So happy, healthy polyamory, woo! I didn’t intend to start shipping Dayne and Rayner, but it turns out they had really good chemistry, so I was just, “Whoops, my hand slipped. You guys are dating now.” Dayne’s type is totally “people taller than me that could kick my ass.”

Then there’s Rayner’s new legs; The main reason I wanted to tweak his design. Like I mentioned above, his [old legs] were stupidly over-complicated. I designed them that way because I wanted Rayner to be able to jump off buildings and other cool action-y stuff, and well, typical human knees are generally a weak point in the shock-absorption area. Why have to bend your knees when you could just take the shock with your legs straight? However, I solved this problem with three pistons on each leg when I only really needed one. He still bends his knees forward a little when landing, so that’s why the pistons are tilted back a bit like that. The piston can collapse to the point where that part mid-calf and the ankle bit touch. They fit into each other a bit.

Another reason for the redesign besides, “Holy shit, I don’t want to draw his legs,” is that the more I thought about Rayner’s flexibility in every day life, the more I realized how much he’d struggle. I knew when designing his original legs that he wouldn’t be able to sit in chairs very well, but I thought that would be fine because, well, he’s a robot. He doesn’t really need to sit. He can just lock his legs and stand comfortably without spending extra energy like a human would. But then I remembered, oh right, you need to sit in things like cars or other transport.

With Rayner’s old legs, if he was ever knocked over, he’d have a hard time standing back up. That’s kinda cool from a weakness standpoint, since he’s already really hard to topple anyways. Knock him down and you can incapacitate him for a bit. These new legs still have weaknesses though. Rough or steep terrain is difficult to impossible for him. His feet can twist side to side a little bit, but just look at his ankles. There’s not a lot of wiggle room. Basically his feet only move parallel with his shins. So if there’s a steep grade going perpendicular to his feet, he really can’t stand. Or should I say he can’t stand it. Oh ho ho, puns I didn’t intend on making. Since the pistons in Rayner’s legs are hydraulic-powered, compromising that system can cripple him too. The large hydraulic reservoir is in his thighs, so water has to move through his knee joints. The joints are mostly built to take vertical force, so hitting him on the side of the knees is weaker. It’s a great place to cause a rupture in the water piping, completely messing the whole system up.

One thing that’s funny to me about this redesign is, unlike some of my other character redesigns, this change could actually take place canonically. Linnet and Kobi could just... build him new legs. In fact they have a lot because he keeps getting damaged in combat, as well as when they first found and rebuilt him. Speaking of Linnet and Kobi, the design similarities to the [armor they might have worn] is totally intentional. Of course they’re slightly biased to design elements that they think are desirable.

Okay, I’m done rambling. There was just a lot I wanted to talk about all this, haha. If you made it this far, thank you so much for reading! I feel so honored when people are interested in my OCs enough to read a bunch about them. (ノ*゜▽゜*)

[hamitome--imagines]

Royal Pain in the Ass

* Hamilsquad x Reader

* Hamiltime

* Requested by anonymous

* Request: the reader is King George's child but they hate his cuz he's a jerk so they come to America and join the revolution and the Hamilsquad?

A/N: So, the requestor didn’t specify a gender in anyway so I made it gender neutral. And this is quite long. Yet, I kinda like this. And I hope you all do too.

Word Count: 4,000 (Wow, that’s very pleasing)

~~

You sighed as you straightened out your formal attire in the mirror. It was almost time for dinner with your father, King George the Third of England. Has there ever been a more pompous title? You were forced into association with him as you were his child. You would gladly give away everything you ever had if it meant you’d lose all ties to him. He was a royal ass. His colonies across the ocean knew that. Every time you thought of those tiny communities, a smile appeared. They were brave. A knock broke you from your thoughts as a maid entered your room.

“Oh forgive me. But your father requests you in the dining hall.” She said.

“Of course he does. But thank you.” You made a point to show the kindness your father didn’t. You weren’t looking forward to dinner. Lately, they’ve been painfully quiet. Mostly because you had nothing to say to him. You didn’t like your own father. How sad was that? You stopped in front of the large wooden doors to the dinning room. You took a deep breath and pushed them open.

“Ah Y/N.” Your father greeted you.

“Father.” You replied with a polite nod. He smiled at you before scanning the document in front of him.

He handed it off to a servant with a sigh. “Send more soldiers to the colonies. And I want Massachusetts locked down. Port closed, soldiers doubled. Make it an outcast among the other colonies.” He ordered. The servant nodded, bowed, and scurried off.

“What now?” You asked him, trying to keep the venom from your voice.

He sighed and rubbed his head as if fending off a headache. “It would seem that the colonists don’t appreciate my taxes.”

“Imagine that.” You mumbled quietly so your dad didn’t hear. “What did they do?” You asked, excited to hear it. They had some spunk over there and it never ceased to piss off your dad.

“They boarded a cargo ship, poorly disguised as savage natives. Then, they proceeded to throw all the tea into the harbor as an act of defiance.” He told you. You tried, you really did. But you couldn’t help the laugh that escaped you. It was hilarious. That was the best thing you’d ever heard. Your father didn’t share you opinion. “Is something funny Y/N?” He asked. He was clearly mad but you decided not to care.

“Yes. Those colonies are humiliating you.” You admitted. “And your little plan to cut off Massachusetts isn’t going to work. It’s gonna piss them off even more. They’re gonna point to that city and say ‘Look what that jackass of a king has done.’” You taunted.

“You know Y/N, if I didn’t know better I’d say you support that little uprising.” Your father threatened.

“And if I did?” You asked.

“Excuse you. I’m your father and king, I deserve your loyalty!” He shouted pushing up from the table.

“All my life all you’ve ever been is a king, never a father. And I hope those colonies revolt and I hope they win. I hope they take everything form you. I hope your left looking at those colonies as they grow to be more powerful then you could ever expect.” You told him. You voice stayed level and calm. A technique you had picked up from him.

You never got to hear what he’d say when a maid rushed in. “Sorry sire. But there’s more news form the colonies.”

“What now?!” He growled as he followed the maid out. You silently cheered and ate your dinner in peaceful silence.

—

After your outburst things between you and your father never got better. They actually grew much worse. He kept a knight from his guard on you at all times. “For protection.” He always said. You knew it was merely to keep an eye on you. You hated it.

Still, the two of you kept up a pretense for the people. So you sat aside you father one day in the throne room. A soldier stepped forward. “Sire, we must inform you. This arrive today.” He handed you father a scroll. Curiosity over took you. You stood and walked over to stand beside your father. It was a court day so he was donned in his full kingly get up. Crown on his head, a cape over his shoulders, a scepter lying near by. You wore a crown as well, just less flashy and gaudy. Also, your father made you. Your father unrolled the scroll and your eyes widened.

“The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America”

No way. They were actually declaring themselves free of your father. You looked back up at the soldier and saw he was terrified. This wasn’t a joke. The colonies did this. You were really proud of them. “What on earth is this?!” You father yelled, causing you to actually jump back in surprise. You’d never seen him so angry.

“The uh…the colonies are declaring themselves independent from us.” The soldier stammered in fear.

“And why is that?!” You father screamed. “After all I did for them!”

“Father!” You shouted now. “Stop screaming at the solider. He clearly doesn't have the answers you want.”

“Y/N, leave. You are in no position to voice your opinion on the matter.” He told you lowly.

“Father?!” You exclaimed in disbelief. Sure you told him how you felt, but he has never kicked you out before.

“I told you to leave. That’s an order.” And there it was. You glared at him. You went to leave but stopped in front of his chair.

“What ever you decree ‘Your Majesty.’” You put as much venom and sarcasm into the last two words as possible before storming from the throne room. You tore the crown you were wearing off and tossed it to the ground as you stalked through the castle. If he was going to cast you aside like nothing, you would make him regret it. You found your room and rummaged for your least formal attire. Unfortunately, that wasn’t much. You grabbed some clothes and started to tear the embellishments from it when you could. It took away the flashiness and created a few tears. Finally you deemed it good enough to pass.

You gathered up some valuables and shoved them in a small bag. You never asked to be royalty and, now more then ever, you didn't want to be. So you weren't going to be. You slipped on the ruined clothes and grabbed the small bag. You grabbed a hat to hopefully help to obscure your face. You knew their was a guard on the other side of the door so you went to your large windows. You quietly opened it. You took a deep breath and swung yourself over the ledge.

You don’t know where your idea came from but you were gonna follow through with it. You made your way through England, darkened with the late hour. You made your way to the docks. You bought a ticket on a ship with one of the objects from the castle. The ship didn’t leave until morning. You hunkered down in an inn near the docks. You left early and boarded the ship.

You stood at the end of the boat as it took off. You stared at the country you grew up in. Not long now the castle would know you were gone. There would be chaos everywhere. The town would be searched and the staff questioned. You felt slightly bad but it quickly passed. The staff was never more then nannies and watchers. They never really cared. You were never allowed to leave the castle and wander the city so you weren’t even attached to the town. You scoffed as your old home got smaller and smaller. “Good riddance.”

“You hate England that much?” A man asked from beside you.

“More than you could ever imagine.” You admitted.

“So is that why you’re going to the colonies?” He asked.

You let out a bitter laugh. “Oh no. I hate England so much that I’m going to help the colonies. I want to make sure the king loses everything he ever had.”

—

Why did you want to do this?

You stood, terrified, as you came off the boat. There were people everywhere and you didn’t know them. You did’t know where anything was. You squared your shoulders and stood up to full height. You could do this. You were royalty dammit! You just had to find someone to help you. However, they ended up finding you. “Excuse me? Sorry, you just look a little lost, confused, and scared. Can I help you in anyway?”

You eyed him up and down. He seemed trustworthy. “Yeah actually I need-“ You stopped when you noticed all the soldiers. Some higher ranking or more trained. Some of these people could be stationed as soldiers but where you father’s eyes and ears. “Never mind, not here. Is there an inn or something near-by?” You asked hopefully.

“Uh yeah. Come on.” He led you through the crowds and further into the town. He led you up to a decent house.  “My place.” He explained. He led you inside. “Ok, now why couldn’t we talk at the docks?”

“There were soldiers everywhere. And I’ be willing to bet some of them were just there to report back to the King.” You sneered.

“How could you know?” The man asked.

“I just came here form England. I know a bit about…stuff…” You replied evasively.

“Hang on. What’s your name? I’m Alexander Hamilton.” He said with a small smile to evoke some trust.

“Oh Y/N L-L/N.” You stuttered out a last name that you pulled from mid-air. It would be awful if you said your last name was Fredrick, like the king. You’d have to commit the name to memory. “Anyway, I uh…I wanna join up with the revolution. I don’t suppose you’re a loyalist.”

“No way. Are you?” He asked suspiciously.

“I just told you I want to fight the crown. Why would I be loyal to the same crown?” You asked.

“Just checking.” The man said. “Ya know, if you know a little bit about the British, the general would love to meet you.”

“Good, cause I want to meet the general.”

—

You were sitting in Alexander’s house, waiting for General Washington. You were a bit anxious. After a while, there were two sharp knocks on the door. “That’d be the general.” Alexander said, hopping up from his seat. He went to the door and pulled it open.

“Hamilton. Why did you send for me?” He asked. Now you were very intimidated. Washington was a large imposing man. He was tall and well built with dark skin. He was kind of frightening.

“Oh this is Y/N L/N. They just came from England. They know quite a bit about the forces and strategies. They could really help out.” Alexander explained.

Washington glanced over at you. “And you’re not loyal to the king?” He asked suspiciously.

“No.” You growled. “I want to see the king lose everything that was ever important to him.”

Washington smirked and nodded. It seemed like he could sense your honesty. “What kind of information do you have to offer?”

“Well I can tell you the British soldiers aren’t well trained for distance strikes. I’m guessing they usually try to approach your lines?” Both men nodded in answer. “Well that might work to your advantage.” You commented, deep in thought. “If you have half your men stationed somewhere, let the British chase them down. Keep retreating. Then, have the other half, with a competent general, come around behind them. Close in on both sides.”  You suggested.

The men stared at you in shock. “That’s a great idea.” Washington admitted. “If you want to help our cause, I’m more than willing to offer you a place along side my men.”

—

You were constantly working with the General, exposing every weakness you knew. You were vital to the group and you knew it. By now, word of the missing royal heir had reached the colonies. No one cared much, they thought it didn't effect them. Plus, your image was rather unknown in the colonies. People don't pay for portraits only to send them across the ocean. Well, your father did, but he was crazy. The army thought it was a fascinating story and kept coming up with crazy explanations.

At first you had laughed about them. Silly little stories about the missing child running off to become a jester in a different court. But lately, they seemed to be wishing violence on you. True, they didn't know it was you but their theories weren't as funny anymore. Claiming, hoping, the kings child was caught and killed by French nobles. Or perhaps that a ship sunk, and you were one of the passengers. "Anything to weaken the King." They'd say about the ideas. If only they knew the king would probably rejoice at your death. Hell, you were opposite sides. He probably didn't even really care you were gone. Just another disrespectful subject.

At the camp, you shared a tent with Alexander Hamilton, John Laurens, and Lafayette. Alexander had insomnia or nightmares or was working with Washington until late hours. You never knew when he'd be up or asleep. John was an extremely light sleeper. He was up at dawn, the slight sunlight waking him up. Lafayette was unpredictable. Sometimes he worked guard late at night, sometimes he just didn't want to sleep yet. Other days, he'd be the first one asleep.

You had also befriended Hercules Mulligan. The two of you had an interesting bond. You were both spies in your own right. Hercules a constant spy, you merely an informant. But you were both crossing a dangerous enemy. You were a little surprised when you learned of Hercules' position. They had a spy in a tailor shop. It was honestly genius. These little colonies really were amazing.

One night, as you slept, the guys met up together. "Where's Y/N?" Hercules asked as he noticed your absence.

"Oh still sleeping. They don't sleep too well on the cots so we weren't gonna wake them." Alexander answered.

"Yeah didn't they mumbled something about the cots feeling like cement slabs compared to what they're used to?" John asked.

"Something like that." Alexander agreed. "Anyway, what do you have Herc?" Hercules had claimed he had more information. Though it wasn't vital to the cause, he knew his friends would want to hear it.

"Well, news is that the king's kid must have boarded a boat. They're most likely in the colonies. The found a ticket was bought with some jewelry from the castle." Hercules explained.

"How long ago?" Lafayette asked.

"Months ago now. Well, that's when they would've bought the ticket. They would've been here about..." Hercules trailed off, thinking.

"As long as Y/N." Alexander spoke up. He spoke cautiously, as if suggesting something even he didn’t want to admit. “I mean, if you think about it.”

“You can’t be suggesting that they’re royalty. They hate the king, complain about him all the time.” John spoke up. “They can’t be the child of the king.”

“But how much do we know about them?” Hercules asked.

“They are notre ami.” Lafayette tried.

“They don’t write to anyone?” Hercules asked.

“No. They don’t have chance. Either I’m up, or Laf will wander in at some random time, and any light will wake up John.” Alexander answered.

“What if they go report back to soldiers?” John asked, starting to believe everything as well.

“Y/N is the last name of the heir to the throne.” Hercules spoke up.

“Have we been harboring our ennemi the whole time?” Lafayette asked.

—

You woke up as you were pulled off your cot. You didn’t hit the ground as someone was dragging you up by your collar. You were roughly shoved against the pole holding your tent up. As you finally registered your surroundings you found Hercules was holding your collar. The rest of the group around him. You could tell it was still dark out. “What the hell?” You asked as you tried to push him off.

“We want some answers.” Hercules demanded.

“About what?” You asked, panic clawing up. They trusted you so far. You couldn’t lose it now, you couldn’t admit anything. They would kill you.

“Let’s start with something easy.” John said lowly. “Who are you?”

“I told you-“

“You told me a last name that sounds made up.” Alexander interjected.

“I suppose it’s merely a coincidence that you share the same first name as the king’s child.” Lafayette spoke up.

“Or that you arrived here at the same time as them.” Hercules added.

“Or that they’ve been missing for some time.” John ended.

“I uh…” You stopped. Could you lie? Either way you’re losing their trust. And your pause told them enough. Hercules scoffed and let go of your collar. You dropped to the ground and coughed a few times. “What do you want me to say?” You asked.

“Well if I were, I’d start explaining why we shouldn’t just kill you. Or us you as leverage.” Alexander growled.

“Because it wouldn’t be worth it.” You mumbled.

“What?” Lafayette asked.

“Because it wouldn’t be worth it!” You practically shouted. “My father doesn’t care, trust me.” You stood from the ground. “I hate him. I want him to lose. He always acted like my king and not my father. He treated me like a subject so I decided to be the most defiant subject there is. Haven’t I helped you?”

The men exchanged glances. “We do have an upper hand now.” Alexander mumbled.

“You could kill me and his royal ass would’t care. In fact, he’d probably be happy.” You whispered. “We’ve never seen eye-to-eye and now he knows I support you guys. He probably knows I’m the reason he’s losing.”

“Why would your dad be happy about your death?” John asked.

“Because he hates me.” You whispered. The guys noticed your emotional turmoil. Guilty looks spread across their faces. You sniffed, trying to compose yourself. “You guys won’t tell the other soldiers or the General will you?” You asked hopefully.

“Your secret is safe with us Y/N L/N.” Alexander told you.

—

“’Til the world turns upside down.” You muttered to yourself as you readied your gun. France finally provided the colonies with funding. You were going to fight the British in Yorktown. This would be the one of the final fights.

“What was that Y/N?” Alexander asked you.

“Oh, just an old drinking song. It’s not important. Are you guys ready?” You asked Alexander and John.

“We gotta start a new nation and I gotta to meet my son.” Alexander said with a grin. You smiled at your friend. His new son was all he could talk about lately.

“We’re good to go.” John answered. “Are you good?” He asked in concern. They were always worried about you before a fight. They were concerned about how you felt about killing your fellow country men.

“I’ll be fine. Let’s end this.” You said with a small smirk. They smiled at you.

“Sounds good to me.” Alexander said.

You had hidden in trenches at the start of the war. After that you pushed forward instead of your usual tactic of retreating. You were trying to force them toward the sea and blockade them. They weren’t escaping this time. Unfortunately, that involved getting closer to them than before. You raced forward, gun ready to shoot, and aimed at a man with a red coat draped over his shoulders. The man fired off a shot. As he readied his gun once more, he glanced at you.

“You!” He exclaimed on shock. You lowered your gun in surprise. No on had noticed you yet. “Why are you fighting with the rebellious scum?” He growled. “You no good, traitorous scoundrel! You were an heir to the throne. Your father is going to be very displeased when we return you. What do you think he’s going to do to the biggest traitor to the crown?” Suddenly a gunshot from behind you caused you to jump.

Alexander sauntered up beside you. “That was my friend you were disparaging.” he growled. You smiled up at him. A gunshot in your direction caused the both of you to spring back into action. Your trio was running around, fighting. You were standing near John Laurens when a loud BOOM sounded. You looked over to a canon. You quickly jumped forward and shoved John to the side, tackling him in the process. An explosion sounded from near where you both were.

“Holy shit. You saved my life.” He exclaimed.

“Of course.” You said as you stood and helped him up as well.

The battle waged for a week. Eventually you noticed a white flag in the distance. You slowly lowered you gun. A small disbelieving laugh left your lips as the symbolism dawned on you. “We won.” You said a bit quietly. While you were quiet, your friends were loud.

“We won!” Alexander shouted. A few days later, you stood watching the men line up and leave. They were singing the same old drinking song you had mumbled a week ago. You sighed and began quietly joining in. The boys looked at you. “That’s what you mumbled a few days ago isn’t it?”

“Yeah. Pretty much everyone in England knows that song.” You said with a small, shy shrug. The boys shrugged as well, unconcerned.

Lafayette shouted, “We won,” once more. The he added, “Freedom for America, freedom for France!”

Alexander leaned closer and threw and arm over your shoulder. “We won!”

“We won!” You all shouted together.

—

“You say, the price of my war’s not a price that you’re willing to pay. Insane! You cheat with those colonies while I’m frighting with France and with Spain. I’m so blue! I don’t remember an arrangement where you went away. You were more that a subject to rule. Well even despite our estrangement, I’ve got a small query for you.

What comes next?

They’ve freed. Do they know how hard it is to lead. You’re on your own. Awesome! Wow! Do you have a clue what happens now? Oceans rise, empires fall. It’s much harder when it’s all your call. All alone across the sea. When the people say they hate you, you can come crawling back to me. Until then, you’re on your own.

King George III”

You scowled at the letter your father had sent you. You could point out every lie. You tossed it onto your desk and sighed. You were able to afford a decent home with the money you gained from selling the items from the castle. There was a knock on the door so you went to open it. Alexander stood on the other side, a small baby in his arms.

“I have someone you need to meet.” He said with a smile. You welcomed him into your home. “Say hi to Philip Hamilton.” He said as he handed the small boy to you. You smiled down at the sleeping child in your arms and cooed some nonsense to him. Alexander smiled at you before glancing around. He noticed the letter on your desk and picked it up. He quickly read it. “Are you gonna go back?” He asked.

You noticed what letter it was that he was currently holding. You shrugged slightly, a little hard considering you were holding a baby. But a small smile appeared on your lips. “Eh, I didn’t like being royalty anyway. I think I’d much rather be Y/N L/N, a citizen of the United States of America.”

Alexander smiled back at you. “Well then may I just say, welcome home Y/N L/N.”

[eificopper]

Autotag #10 – Twinkle Headcanon meme

☾ : Sleep headcanon -Shira really doesn’t like sleeping with other people, she needs space and it can be uncomfortable but most importantly even when asleep her horns can channel other’s people’s feelings and even affect her dreams. -On the other side of the spectrum Eifi very much enjoys sleeping with company, as it makes her feel more secure and loved somehow, she’s also fond of sleeping in her pokémon form all curled up. -Kuro sleeps a lot in intervals during the day but it’s also a light sleeper so his rest is often easily interrupted. He’s somewhat nocturnal so he prefers to sleep during the mornings and though it’s rare he can sometimes snore, Eifi is not really bothered by it (in fact she thinks this is a clear sign he’s sleeping well and therefore it’s good)

☠ : Drinking/drunk headcanon -For whatever reason Shira always ends up crying when drunk. Don’t ask, she doesn’t know either, it just happens. La que no se mide y se manda peas lloronas -Very surprisingly, Eifi seems to never get headaches or hangovers from drinking, she can get really… uhh…horny though, and won’t always remember everything…;; -Kuro hates drinking alone, seriously, he’ll only do it if others (which I guess means Eifi) do too (he also kinda hates smoking alone but what can you do?) he’s never gotten drunk since he doesn’t drink that much actually.

☼ : Childhood headcanon -One of Shira’s favorite pastimes as a kid was climbing trees and cliffs, she never fell and once even beat a grown adult at climbing much to the amazement of other kids (yes, she’s still proud about that, and will gladly tell you the story in full detail) -There is no denying Eifi has always been an indoors espeon but there’s nothing she loved more than to visit the Minamo ports, markets and the beach -Kuro vaguely remembers life with other kids at the Safari zone but more pleasant memories come in the form of sleeping under the warm sun or exploring the wide forest with Soren.

☯ : Genderbent headcanon -Arudo Hanaki is more self-conscious and not as proud of his body as his female counterpart and likes to dress more “formal” and of course more covered than Shira so he was a little more careless about his self-harming. ALSO Shira is a closet pervert but this guy is such an open pervert my god -Elias Akihara absolutely loves Tae-kwon-do, he practices it since he was like 9 and his dream is to represent Hoenn in an international competition and/or start his own school when older. He really admires his sempai Emily. -Kuroko Tensho has a slight kleptomania problem that made up for a rough start between her and Elias when they first met. She’s always hated it because of the anxiety it caused and the troubles it got her in and started taking treatment later in life.

⋆ : Sex headcanon -Shira likes to bite and scratch her partner during sex way more than a skiddo probably should, and certainly won’t complain about being “marked” either. The one time she doesn’t care about keeping a perfect physical appearance. -Eifi is mostly an auditory person and so she’s VERY turned on by sounds because of this, some growling, moaning, panting and dirty talk is sure to get her hot and bothered. Which Kuro learns to exploit eventually. - On top of being demisexual Kuro is very reserved and even easily embarrassed when it comes to this topic. However, a surprisingly more dominant and wild side of him shows during sex (or like when Eifi turns him on which she loves to do//hit)  Cuando le da, le da heavy

☮ : Bedroom/house/living quarters headcanon -There are so many notebooks in Shira’s room, so many. The majority of them aren’t even halfway filled, she has a really hard time tossing those kind of things out though. -Eifi likes to make “nests” with the bed’s covers and pillows and just curl there. If you mess it up (how can you mess up a mess of blankets? You can) she’ll get very upset. -Kuro loves big windows and open spaces such as a terrace or back/front yards. He’s very picky about his living space in the sense that he doesn’t like densely populated or building packed areas

☄ : Any AU headcanon -Eneco!Shira is somehow more extroverted and notably more affectionate and touchy-feely, she enjoys bothering people by sleeping or sitting to purr on their lap/chest. - There’s an AU where Eifi and Shira did not get along at all for reaons involving lives past and they end up getting in a fight where Shira either kills or nearly kills Eifi. Nada más alejado de la realidad -There’s a certain AU where things between Kuro and Eifi did not quite work out and they remained good friends. He ends up marrying Shira instead; they live happily in Renri and have no kids.

♤ : Cooking headcanon -Shira secretly likes to cook and can sometimes even come up with interesting new recipes (some of which were born during her time at the academia or SO) -Eifi has the habit of sometimes eating stuff raw, including but not limited to: dough, meat, fish, pasta and vegetables, ironically the one thing she refuses to eat uncooked are eggs. -Kuro is the type of person that doesn’t really know how to cook but he follows the recipe and it just… comes out great?? how?

⊕ : Talents/hobbies headcanon -Shira absolutely loves to sing, and she’s loud and shameless about it... -Eifi is amazingly flexible like no you don’t understand her back arches in a way that can and probably will scare others. -Not only does Kuro know how to dance (thank Eifi and later Shira too) but he really really enjoys to do so, it’s just that most people don’t know it since he simply doesn’t mention it.

☻ : Mood headcanon -During elementary Shira had a hard time expressing herself and keeping her current mood stable, as spending even a short amount of time with others in the same room could lead her to channel and mimic the other person’s mood without her even knowing. That said she still somewhat “adapts” to her surroundings when accompanied, but has gotten more emotional independence and stability as she grows. -Even though Eifi’s mood is more or less volatile it can somehow fit surprisingly well with her natural surroundings, that is to say the weather and even beings in the proximity. Even she finds it weird, considering her detectors don’t really work… -An infallible and easy way to tell Kuro’s mood is by paying attention to his tail: if he’s calm or even bored it sways slowly, if he’s happy or pleased it twitches every few seconds, if he’s nervous or otherwise shocked/scared it’ll tense and become stiff, while anger makes him lash it around like a whip.

✚ : health headcanon -Shira very rarely gets sick to be honest, she has high defenses, but when she does oh boy. Bedridden, no joke. Lasting high fevers, lots of vomiting, some passing out… and then feeling bad for making others worry/take care of her. -Eifi regularly takes pills for headaches, muscle pains, vitamins and birth control. At worst, she jokes she’s “constantly on meds” -Kuro immune system is pretty strong, he even got the right genes for it and wildlife just enhanced it all. His wonds can scar easily though.

✿ : happiness headcanon -It’s fairly easy to know when Shira is happy: she’ll be more open, talkative and physical, moving a lot (specially her hands and hooves) and her voice will slightly increase in pitch. -Eifi will get all excited and bubbly, well, more than usual! Her hands will get restless and she’ll laugh more and be all blushy blushy. -Kuro's happiness is practically tied up to his sense of peacefulness and security, if he feels comfortable and safe he’s happy, even if it doesn’t seem like it due to his neutral attitude. His smile is the cutest thing though!

✖ : anger headcanon -When Shira gets pissed it’s common for her to start cursing in kalosian and then she just switches over absolutely oblivious to the fact that the other person (most likely) can’t understand her. There’s also her silent fuming though, where she’ll get snarky and her talking would be cut short and sharp. -Eifi is surprisingly prone to violent tendencies when angry (Though she’d have to seriously be pissed/stressed) these often come out as rabid-like gestures such as hissing, growling and scratching… even in sapimon form. -Kuro’s anger shows off in huffs and growls, he’s hard to annoy and even then it won’t be much: a rolling of eyes, a hiss, and after clearing his mind he’ll be back to business. Watch out though, he’s the protective-rage type so yeap.

♆ : body headcanon -Shira’s tail (like those of all skiddo) is semi-connected to her spine, technically branching off as a steam like her neck leaves, though much sturdier. In general is like a thin branch that CAN break off but if it were to happen it would hurt like hell and not grow back… Also her nails are pretty strong and have a natural orange hue, y’now, keratin like her hooves. -Her feet are a mess and she often tends to them with creams and covers them with bandages and the like so it’s normal to see Eifi walking around home with them. -Part of Kuro’s “hair” is actually his mane, true it’s still hair but it’s thicker and coarser to the touch, pretty difficult to brush or tame (and Eifi has tried…) his actual hair is surprisingly silkier and so damn straight. Has some old scars here and there and (fun fact) one of them was even made by Shira woops.

ϡ : mental state headcanon -Shira’s rivalry ability is surprisingly not unpleasant but rather feels similar to adrenaline with a strong impulse to overcome the specific trigger (fight rather than flight). However it can cause unstable levels of anxiety, depression and aggression if activated too often or for long periods of time, which is exactly why Shira eventually got prescribed suppressants. -After the events in Enju city Eifi's mental state quickly deteriorated and she accidentally started developing and behaving with a sort of dual personality thanks to her Dreamweaving, it got really bad for a little over a year, until her depression mellowed down. That said she still has episodes from time to time but has to learn to cope with it. -Kuro has mild insomnia, which frustrates him a lot since it totally messes up his sleeping schedule and more often than not he can’t really rest well, along with a bunch other factors and consequences. He uses medicinal sleep powder for it sometimes.

ღ : love or sexuality headcanon -Shira is deathly afraid of divorce (this is why she has troubles with relationship commitment) be it for her parent’s almost one, her family and friend’s complains and overall negativity surrounding it, or because she had to “agree” with her partner it was better to go separate ways despite still liking them twice. It’s rooted deep down on her fear of being alone. -Eifi is in general a very touchy and cuddly person who craves some company and affection, and her love lies just as much in soft touches, tight hugs and kind words as in sex and make out-sessions themselves.   -Kuro’s not very big on direct lip kisses, he really likes forehead and cheek kisses and thinks they resonate a deeper, more intimate connection. He’d often kiss Eifi on the hand or fingers and Shira on her neck and shoulders.

† : religion headcanon -Shira is really big on celebrating Winter-wrap up and épanouissement, has always felt somewhat connected to her patron Xerneas and thus prays and swears on his name. That’s not to say she doesn’t hold some high respect for Yveltal and Zygarde too though. -Since she was little Eifi has always followed the ritual of giving offerings to Kyogre in special dates, she considers it a great honor and giving her kindness and thanks to her patron deity. -Kuro never adopts a certain religion strictly speaking, but (as the majority of things in his life) he ends warming up to a mix of Kalos and Hoenn beliefs.

✄ : nervous habits headcanon -Quite obvious but Shira shuffles A LOT on her hooves when nervous or anxious, she also does this gesture where she shakes her hands but that’s when she’s trying to avoid her hemophobia acting up. -Sometimes when really upset Eifi drags her nails against her own skin (thighs/shoulders) just to leave the red marks and feel the sting, as strange as it sounds she just likes it and uses it to “let out some steam” -Funnily enough Kuro tends to actually talk more when anxious but will get restless and spend mad amounts of time climbing places and honing his claws.

[randoreviews]

KEVIN/ARCHITECTURE INTERVIEW

Ben: Okay, so first question, why do you like architecture? Kevin: Hehehe... B: It’s a big one, I know. K: Umm... I think I like it because... like I don’t think a lot of people know what it is... B: Mhm. K: And I feel like I’ve got an inside track on what it is. And I like when people talk about it because I feel like most people when they’re talking about it, they don’t know what they’re talkin’ about, so, I don’t know, I feel like it’s interesting and it involves a lot of things. B: So many things. K: I feel like I’ve studied it for a long time and I find it interesting, and I don’t see an end to the learning. B: Mhm. That’s cool. Um, okay, so this question will dovetail on the first one... When did you first become interested in architecture? I know you went to undergrad for architecture but was there a period of awakening for you? Or did you just always love architecture, did buildings always speak to you?  K: Uumm... I don’t... I don’t think... that I really understood it until I started working in an office.  B: Mhm. K: Like when I had to pick what to do after high school, what school, I don’t even know how architecture became one of the things I was gonna do, and I think... when I first got accepted to architecture school, I kinda thought it would be a lot more art than it would be science, and the job really got into the science a lot more. And I think you can’t really do that at school because... I just think school is more artistic, it was less science. Now every day it’s kind of more science-based, so I don’t know. I think the stuff I’m doin right now is pretty interesting, I don’t think it would be interesting to a lot of other people but I find it interesting.  B: That’s cool, yeah, I don’t think of the science side of it. I think of the more artistic side. But the science side is probably the more practical side, right? K: Yeah, it’s the more functional side. B: Right. Um, did you have a favorite professor at school? K: Uhh, yeah, I did. Haha. B: Did they have a cool name? K: We called him “Lefty,” his name was Elefterios Pavlides. B: Wow. Where’d he come from? K: Greece. B: Yeah. Haha. Cool. Any more you want to say about Eleftorios? K: Uh, he used to, he was my studio professor and he used to come to my studio desk and when he used to look at my work he would always ask me if I wanted to go to summer school... because I wasn’t working hard enough. B: Haha. Was this during the time you had your huge beard? K: Uhh, maybe. B: Haha. Okay, cool. Sooo... change directions here... Why aren’t there more well known women architects? Or is that just the way things are in society?  K: Umm (thinking)... I think it’s a big problem. I get emails, architectural-related emails a lot, and I’m seeing it more in the emails, so I know it’s becoming more of a focus. B: You’re seeing more women on the emails? K: There’s more kind of focus on women in the architecture industry, and even in the building industry in general, which I think is good. My first real boss was a woman who was an architect, who’s relatively the same age as me, and you know, I still keep in touch with her and talk to her. B: That’s great. K: And she kind of helps me, you know, wade through my career a little bit, and it’s funny that it’s such a problem, but it’s not really a problem for me. She’s pretty important to me. B: Yeah, that’s great. Um, did you go to Roger Williams with, I mean, were there women in your classes? K: Yeah. B: That’s cool. Okay, so what’s one building that you want to see in person that you haven’t seen? Tops on your list. K: Haha. Um... What’s Gaudi’s cathedral? B: Mm, that documentary we watched. K: I’m going to Barcelona this summer... B: NICE. K: ... and I’m gonna see that. B: Excellent. Yeah, that’s out of this world. K: But I’d like to see a lot of stuff just in the United States that I haven’t gotten a chance to. Like I want to go see Fallingwater, I haven’t done that. B: Yeah, I was there in the fall. Special place. Okay, do you have a favorite architectural word? Like Domurad loves golf and he likes the word “fescue,” which is a high grassy little area. K: I’m familiar with fescue. B: Haha, okay... Do you have a favorite architectural word in that vein?  K: Ummm... (sips coffee)... I think I’d have to think about it a little bit more.  B: Okay! We can circle back.  K: When I was in school, it seemed like we always used to make up words, especially my professors. They used to refer to “horizontality” and “verticality,” and I always just thought it was hilarious because those aren’t real words.  B: Mm. But you knew what they meant, right? They got the point across? K: Yeah, but I have a feeling that people that write about architecture have a tendency to make up a lot of words, so I just think it’s funny when, you know, I read things... Like I had to write the word “thicknesses” a lot... B: Mm! K: ... which I find to be... B: Sensual. K: ... It pisses me off to be honest with you. B: Haha, you don’t like it? K: Haha, yeah, maybe I just told what word I hated most. My least favorite architecture word. B: Haha, okay. I guess fescue could be an architectural word. K: I mean thickness is one thing, but thicknesses? That’s just... that’s a little too much for me. B: Yeah, makes your tongue work. All right, so what do you think of the new World Trade Center as compared to the old one? K: I remember reading a lot about the process and how they were gonna build that site. And I don’t think... that that was an extremely pleasant project to do. Maybe when it got finished, you know, there was a lot to celebrate, but the process seemed really overwhelming and people felt really strongly about it and, you know, the Port Authority seemed like a big, bureaucratic mess.  B: I can’t imagine the red tape. K: I think what they’ve done is pretty amazing and you just asked me a minute ago where is somewhere you’d want to go and that’s somewhere I haven’t gone either but would love to go. Um, I got really into... Maya Lin for a little while, she did the Vietnam wall. B: Mhm. K: And I think the memorials at the World Trade work in a way kind of similar to that a little bit, where... I think it’s really interesting when something works, and you know it works, but you don’t really know why it works.  B: Mm. K: And I know that that works, and I’ve seen pictures of it, but I don’t think I’ll really know why it works.  B: Yeah, I’ve been to the Vietnam one and it’s like the most powerful thing I’ve ever stood in front of. It was, yeah, almost unbearable, but awesome.  K: I mean the World Trade is more than just a building. It’s a memorial too. So there’s a lot of stuff going on on that site.  B: Yeah, it has a soul to it, for sure. K: I think it’s very delicate how they’ve balanced all that but I think they’ve done a really good job.  B: I didn’t have this question written down but it makes me think, when they had just completed the new World Trade Center, which is very modern, sleek-looking, Banksy wrote an article about it complaining about it calling it a “shyscraper,” because I guess he was thinking of the old World Trade Center, hoping they were gonna make one similar to that, which was... I don’t really know what I’m talking about, you said that most people don’t know what they’re talking about when it comes to architecture, I fall in that category... but the old one came out of like the Brutalist period, right? Which is so big and brawny. Could you even make a similar one these days?  K: I wouldn’t call it Brutalist, but when that happened I was a freshman in college, and... one of the women that was at my school, she did a big lecture on why the building fell down the way that it fell down. B: Mhm. K: I think that... I’m trying to think of a way to say this... I think that you learn by your mistakes. I don’t think those buildings were a mistake, but I think when you see how that building fell down, you realize maybe that we’ve advanced so much in terms of structural engineering, that we wouldn’t build a building that way again. B: Mm. K: I don’t know, I think one of the things that I get frustrated with is there’s a lot of historic buildings that people don’t wanna see ‘em change, and people don’t want to see ‘em go away, and I think there is a point where a building has a lifespan and when it reaches the end of its lifespan you need to get rid of it.  B: Mm! K: You need to allow something new to come out of it. So I don’t have a problem with... I know a lot of people were saying, oh, we should build the two buildings exactly as they were, that would be the best monument, and I don’t think that would have been the right thing to do. B: Mm, great answer. Okay, so, who’s your favorite architect? K: (thinks for a minute) I think right now it’s probably Frank Lloyd Wright. B: Yeah, he’s a pretty big figure.  K: I forget names a lot. I’m really not good at names. B: I’m the same way. K: I had to memorize all these names all the time. I like Frank Gehry, I saw a building recently at MIT. B: Mhm. What’s that one called? K: I forget the name of it. But up close I was like, I don’t know if I like Frank Gehry. Hahaha. B: Well his stuff kind of looks flimsy up close. I mean the Disney Concert Hall which I used to live near is amazing, and then I just saw a picture online a couple days ago of... the Dancing House? Prague? K: I’ve seen that, yeah. B: But again, maybe if you see it up close it wouldn’t be as impressive. I don’t know. But so Frank Lloyd Wright, he was like an alien. K: Yeah, and I like everything about Frank Lloyd Wright. I like his volumes, I like how the volumes act. I like his details. I’ve never been in a Frank Lloyd Wright house but, you know, we went to The Met together and they have that Frank Lloyd Wright room. B: Mhm. K: And one of the things I think is hilarious about Frank Lloyd Wright is that he’s a short guy, so he designed everything around himself. So I know that I feel kind of, like, too tall a little bit, and I’m not that tall, when I was in that space, and I kind of wonder if his other spaces feel the same way. B: So it feels like a miniature room? K: It feels a little SHORT. B: Haha. Made for small people. Okay, cool. Okay, so is it true that buildings are being made more cheaply these days or have they always been made cheaply and we only see the old good ones because those were the ones that were built to last? K: We’re basically using a different kit of parts than we used to use. And on top of that, the number one priority for someone constructing something is to keep the cost down. When you engineer the cost down, there’s more emphasis on the function of the building and less emphasis on the appearance of the building. B: Mhm. K: Occasionally you don’t have that, somebody has a lot of money to spend and, you know, I’m thinking about the pictures you sent me the other day in a text about some of the buildings in Mansfield. Um, those are just boxes, and they dress ‘em up sometimes. They did this at my school, and I went to an architecture school, is they make things look a certain way, but they’re not really that. A lot of times when you talk about expressing something, you think about the structure of the building is like your bones. Your skin, you have skin like a building, but you see features behind the skin. And a lot of times what you’re seeing expressed in a lot of these buildings is not structure. It’s like a facade that’s on the front of a strip mall. You know what I mean? You think what you see is a gable and it’s not really a gable. It’s kind of like a fake front on the front of something.  B: Right. Does anyone make real gables anymore? K: Plus the cheap way of doing things is everything comes to the same plane, so you have something that’s really flat. B: Mhm. K: And you know, we don’t build with masonry anymore because it’s too expensive, but even when you build with masonry you have thicker walls and your windows start to sit in a little bit, so you’re startin to see the face of the wall, there’s parts of it that are set back and coming out, different shadow lines. Now everything you see is just a box, it’s all flush. And there’s no character. B: Mmm. I was thinking, we were referring to the same building near the town hall, right? Comey’s Cleaners?  K: Yeah. B: That building became really rundown, to your point it ran the course of its life, but it reminded me of 101 Dalmations, Victorian London kinda, right? What kind of top did it have? K: Uhh... I’m tryna remember exactly. I can’t remember if it had a hip roof or a gable roof, but I remember there being dormers at the top, and I remember it kinda sat on that corner lot and the entry was at the corner... B: Mhm. K: ... and I remember there being a lot of glass on the first floor, and just the way that that building stood on the corner, it was a husky... it was a big, wide, tall building that... B: Yup. K: ... had a lot of character. And when they tore it down, I really realized how much... B: You cared about it. K: ... space that building occupied. B: Oh. K: I understand that, like I said before, sometimes you gotta tear things down. There was a building similar down in Plainville, near the Plainville House of Pizza. B: Mm, P-HOP. K: And I think it used to be an old country store. It had a big porch out front. It was, like, three stories tall. Kinda similar. And I remember I wanted to buy that building, cuz I was gonna fix it up. And they put the new bookstore... B: Yes, my mom loves that place. K: I forget the name of the bookstore. I told you I’m not good with names. B: Haha.  K: But actually when they built that building it looks pretty similar to the building that was there before and it made me really happy that they, you know, I had said that the twin towers they shouldn’t have done them the same way, it’s okay to let that building just go away and have something new on it... B: An Unlikely Story. K: There you go. It’s not a replica but they kept the spirit of what was there... B: Kept the building’s integrity. K: ... so I like that they put a similar-sized building there. I thought that was really cool.  B: Cool! Uumm, okay, so would you rather design a house or an office building?  K: (thinking) I think I’d rather build a house. B: Why? K: I’ve always wanted to build my own house, and I think that, I’m working in commercial architecture right now, and I think one of the things I’ve learned is that your ideas get sabotaged by the economics of everything. You can make suggestions to clients and what they’re gonna say back to you is How much does it cost? That’s the biggest impact of anything is how much it costs. I think if I was building a house, I’d probably be my own client, so I could make those decisions I wanted to make. I’d be my own boss. There’s a greater capacity to be my own boss. B: Yeah. Make an actual gable. Cool, just a few more questions. Do you have a favorite style of house? K: I love the shingle style. B: Like Cape Cod? K: Uhhh... I don’t like necessarily a Cape. A Cape usually is shingled. But the shingle style I’m thinking more, some of the stuff you’d see down in Newport.  B: Mhm. K: Even if you think about, like TPC Golf Course and they have the museum down there that building is all shingled, I kinda like how with the shingles you can kind of cover any volume you want and still kinda get a look, but that’s what I like. I like a house that has a lot of different volumes coming together. I like that look of the shingle style.  B: Cool. Okay, in order to be a good architect do you have to be a good draughtsman? K: (takes a sip of coffee) No.  B: Haha. Don’t say any more! Okay, next question. Is there too much red tape getting buildings made these days or is all of that necessary? K: It’s all necessary. They just passed a new building code in Massachusetts and building is getting increasingly more expensive. It’s getting increasingly more complicated. But it’s getting... safer. And it’s getting... more energy-efficient.  B: Yeah. Any more? K: No, that’s it.  B: Haha, okay. So the red tape is necessary. And buildings are becoming more energy-efficient. That sounds great to me. Okay, so when I say “disappointing building,” what’s the first building that comes to your mind? K: Haha. What’s that building that’s by the train station? B: Right in the middle of town? K: Yeah, that’s pretty disappointing. B: Yeah, easy pickings. Okay, so this is the last question... What’s one thing about the architectural world as a business that you wish you could change? K: As a business... So I’m workin for an engineer right now, and I find the relationship between architects and engineers to be fascinating. And I come from an architecture background, and I work with architects, but primarily the company I work for is an engineering company. And people talk shit about architects all day long.  B: Why’s that? What do they say? K: Mm, it’s the hierarchy of how they work together and what their backgrounds are.  B: Mhm. So are architects viewed as lower on the totem pole compared to engineers? K: Engineers look at architects like interior designers.  B: Haha.  K: And architects look at engineers like... B: Assholes? K: ... they can only be focused on one thing. And it’s the architect’s job usually to coordinate a lot of different people beneath him. So I think there might be a little bit on the engineer’s side, and this is not always the case but it’s typically the case, but I think the engineer sometimes, um, dislikes the architect because they’re in charge. B: Mm. K: Kinda resentment because the architects are in charge.  B: Sounds like human nature. K: So if I could do anything, I think I would like to change that dynamic a little bit. B: More love between the engineer and the architect? K: Yeah.  B: Even footing? K: Maybe the dynamic is just more mutual respect. B: More mutual respect, cool. So that was the last question but was there anything I didn’t touch on that you wanna talk about?... Have you thought of your favorite architectural word? K: (long pause) I don’t think I have one. 

[darkarm66]

Xenoblade Chronicles X review

Hundreds of ship are leaving the planet and then, the Earth explodes. Right off the bat, Xenoblade Chronicles X is filled with wonderful sights. This game is not only one of the best RPGS, it also a blueprint on how to do open world games that aren't just inefficient ways to select quests. As much as Nintendo's consoles has gotten shit for its lack of hardware muscle, the amount of content that the player can seamlessly access and just how much gameplay is actually there.

First off, this one of the biggest and best worlds ever. Actual worlds where people work, show up on schedules, creatures have their own biology: there are a million moving parts, all in front of the player. In fact, this game can overwhelm when control is giving to the player. Mainly due to the fact at no point, the player is ever forced to do anything. Xenoblade Chronicles broke JRPGs for its unprecedented lack of linearity and XCX follows suit for open worlds.

And it's beautiful! You see sights that are legitimately breathtaking in real life: waterfalls, active volcanoes, snow-capped caverns, isolated islands, sandstorms, lightning storms, caverns, and sky high islands. People gush over real life open worlds but this is one of the best looking video game worlds ever. It's like Nintendo keeps it a trademarked secret that more than 8 colors can be used. 

What makes these visuals more hypnotic is the lush soundtrack from Hiroyuki Sawano. Looking around the sky and looking at that night sky and hearing a lot of these overworld themes is powerful. It swells up more emotion than any cutscene can do, even if it lacked some of the variety of its predecessor. But what makes this world of Mira more beautiful: all of it is interactive. There are no invisible gates, no waist barriers blocking off access. Anything visible can be walked on and explored. And this is the truly beautiful part: all of it affects gameplay.

XCX has some of the deepest linking systems in gaming. Every and any thing done feeds into on another system that is needed to progress though the game. Any battle, no matter how quick or long? Of course you get XP to level up but you also get affinity points between your party members that allows for battles to go smoother. Random doodad you picked up walking around? Boom: side quest completed. Side quest completed? You just leveled up your online affiliation and have bonus items waiting for you. Those items? Yeah, just completed another quest. That quest you completed? Just gave you some Miranium to use to level up stores, now you have access to better weapons and gems but what if you want higher level gems? Keep getting into battles and gain the materials needed, which still gives you more player specific missions which unlock tougher sidequests and expands more materials. Point is: nothing you do in this game is wasted or just busywork to fill a marketing bullet point. Everything leads to something to unlock and use. Everything is a constant build to better and better gear. This was a great way to stimulate player agency. Can it be too much? Kind of leading to one sticking point.

XCX has no time to explain how a lot of it works together. You will spend hours wandering around these gorgeous continents, doing whatever, wanting to know the purpose of why something was done. And fighting yourself to do something more directed. And its mainly due to trying to reach a ledge or cave you know leads to better loot but can't reach in the meantime. So while XCX does a good job of letting you play in a sandbox, you have no ideas why some of the toys are there.  But the truth is, a lot of it is there to test your battle mettle.

While the game isn't a direct sequel to the incredible Xenoblade Chronicles, the battle system (and sidequest logic) returns with a lot of tweaks. While its still auto attacks/special arts/cooldown based with your party being handled by the A.I., the affinity system comes into bigger play as the your party members, expanded to four, actually call out which arts they need to stay in the battle, which not only increases affinity, but has the player tinkering which class and skill set is needed to be effective at every battle.  Then, half way (or a quarter: story/chapter progress isn't the same for every player), the Overdrive system is introduced and allows for more bonuses and status effects, as well as some nifty visual effects. And now arts can be chained together for more bonuses, but finding the right chains will take some experimentation. Sometimes you'll miss the way more effective chain attacks, but due to the online elements, the battles had to seemingly be tuned for balance but to make the player work a bit harder. That was the only element from Xenoblade which I missed the most. This is a severely challenging game, make no mistake. As easy as Xenoblade was and as much the high level enemies exist to 'conveniently' gate off other areas of the world, this game will hand you your ass if you never paid attention to how buffs and statuses work, which is which makes the sidequest grinding described a few paragraphs earlier so important. Truthfully, this game is gauntlet to gamers who crave gameplay. 

This game will be as easy or hard as you want it to be, depending on how much time you attempt to put into it. A straight romp through the story, which is still gonna ask the player to explore, will still take a bit of commitment but the beauty of the game's depth reveals itself the more the player puts into it on their own accord. It's like Monolith Soft heard how easy Nintendo games and just went 'Uh huh, try this on for size.'

And again, when it comes to sidequests, XCX will drown players in actual content. Many of the same 'collect this and kill that.' This can drive people insane due to the game's inability to explain stuff. Especially affinity, which is a just a vague bar where you never know how much is being added to it. While many of them are optional, it just becomes chances to actually get some challenging gameplay for their selves. Despite this, too much good stuff is hidden behind some quests and bars. I never minded because it was still a chance to keep exploring the world itself. And then you get Skells....

And its when you get Skells, you kinda get why a good chunk of the content was locked off. One reason was to justify its size but the main reason: they're fucking awesome! It's not just a super mode for combat, skell combat and exploration becomes a game on its own and one can appreciate the size and diversity of Mira. As mentioned earlier, despite how huge this game is, nothing is wasted. And even Skells unlock more and more challenging gameplay to experience. I'll go on record and say that Skells are the best video game mechs ever, even if they never fight. It flies, transforms, and when it fights, it curbstomps and can be customized to an absurd degree. 

And the online elements, which are that elements, not huge blockers or impediments to gameplay. They can only enchance your time, but yet: it's not a requirement.

For all this gameplay that makes XCX a worthy successor to the original Xenoblade and it many elements, surpass it, there was one key element not mentioned: the story. Chris Kluwe's dumbassery be damned, Xenoblade's story was epic, masterfully told, thematically tight, and above all: complete. XCX's opening scene of an exploding planet couldn't be better of a set up. And yet, to find any kind of theme, emotional resonance or connecting thread, it's all in the sidequests. The plot never got going and only until its final chapter are players getting answers that turn into more questions, just like all previous games in the Xeno series. 

While I applaud any game developer that chooses more gameplay over more cutscenes and linearity, what disheartened me about it is that Xenoblade proved that could tell a story completely. And I was fine for the plot staying away from the most part and when it revs up: the end! Maybe it was gonna be left to DLC or  a Switch port, but either way a bigger story was going to be told and there's no definitive conclusion. All the threads have to be found on the player's on accord with the evidence they have left. But still, themes of genocide, diversity, racism, extinction, rebirth, insanity (you can't be part of surviving race in a new planet without losing your mind) are touched on with neatly.

So, while the story didn't conclude, what we're left is still an amazing game that continues to delight and expand. A sprawling open world that puts more emphasis on the world actually being open and not inhibiting the player's own natural curiosity. It takes some doing and some time, but Xenoblade Chronicles X is an instantly rewarding time sink and one of the very best games of this console generations.

CAVEATS!!!!: I try to review games as a way for how I feel about to make sense to me, so I try to look at the the mechanics of a game, which may or may not work, regardless of how I feel about them. Also, I hate the release date rush to get a review because you have to rush before you truly understand a piece of art. Sometimes, its only when you get away from the hype and first week cycle can you see a game on its own merits. Plus, hindsight really, really helps prevent a review from sounding like an unofficial circle jerk.