#but it's really cool though how many great games were released this year

[rorafantasy]

Forgot that Echoes of Wisdom came out a few days ago, need to get that at some point because Zelda is so cute.😳 Man, the latter half of this year is just packed with games, like Sonic X Shadow Generations, DBZ: Sparking Zero, Mario and Luigi Brothership, etc. And that's not even counting the games that came out in the first half of this year like Tekken 8 or FF7: Rebirth.

Like damn, 2024 is an awesome year for games, like seriously.

[kerubimcrepin]

What do we know about Joris le Sans-Pouvoir (Joris the Powerless)?

Aka, addressing the "cancelled Nintendo DS game"-shaped elephant in the room.

While this blog has gone deep into the show and character dissections, I think it would be remiss to proceed without addressing the elephant in the room — the game, the myth, the legend, the 2007-2009ish cancelled game Joris le Sans-Pouvoir.

There isn't a lot that is known about it, and all the data in this post comes from two developers.

The only videos of it we have available are uhhh......,

...Please say "Thanks Ronik!" for this video in particular.

I spent hours trying to convert these two SWF animation video files, — which demonstrate how the game was supposed to look, — to something actually viewable. There were many issues, with at least seven different programs.

I suffered for crepinjurgenology studies, but I did it.

Instead of recounting the story in my own words and omitting anything on accident, I will simply present to you, what the portfolios of two different developers say (these two pages are the source of all the images, gifs, and gameplay):

Joris Le sans-Pouvoir is the main character from a feature film Ankama due in 2013. It’s a new character IP situated in the DOFUS universe. I had the chance to work on a platform game prototype that was all about delving into of the character’s backstory. We wrote a lot of background and had a lot of fun designing and developping a cute and quirky platformer with a hint of metroidvania elements and a dash of Grow gameplay elements in-between levels. It also was a great opportunity to work with Jono Takeshi-san of Radiata Stories fame who worked with me on the art direction. (SOURCE)

Joris was the first Nintendo DS project developed at Ankama (in partnership with Magic Pockets). I began working on the project as narrative game designer, then took on the role of Lead Designer and Project Manager. Game design on this project involved boss fight, level design, minigame design, UI… I also designed an original collecting system where collectible items were used in a minigame inspired by the “Grow” series. The developpement has been put on hold to match the release of the animated movie with the same character (scheduled in 2013). (SOURCE)

Neither the movie nor the game, survived their development, due to circumstances. (shorthand for: I have no idea what happened, man. Maybe one day I'll write a post about the history of the movie, and truly open that can of worms, but god, not right now. I don't want to spend more time on this.)

Eventually, The Wakfu film turned into three OVAs instead, and the Dofus film changed its plot a bunch of times, and became Livre 1 : Julith.

...For some reason, in some version of it, Joris had a tail. Yeah, I don't know what that's about either. Cool clothes, though!

We don't know anything about its plot, and unlike cancelled projects Dofus Donjons and Welsh et Shedar (which was cancelled for years, until its recent resurrection), the lore of this game carries no relevancy in modern canon.

The name, Joris the Powerless, as well as the log-centric gameplay, both seem to reference the early concept that Joris had log-based powers, — and that without his "magic wand," he couldn't do much.

(Joris and his weird fucking "magic wand" were, in turn, borne out of the idea of a warrior who had a woman's voice. Which makes me chuckle.)

(The following quotes are machine-translated and may contain errors)

(SOURCE)

This is, by the way, the reason why I personally headcanon Joris to be really bad at huppermagic. So bad that he dropped out of the Huppermage Academy, and almost never uses magic in combat. It's a homage to his original idea.

(Yes, there is an actual reason why I headcanon Joris to be godawful at magic, besides just projecting my neurodivergencies onto him.)

I suppose that, even at this time, Joris was meant to be a store owner:

The gameplay loop involves going from boutique, to missions, and so on, while those two pieces of concept art involve the said boutique section, and show a female character saying «Pas mal, boss !».

In my opinion, it might be this character. Proto-Simone, perhaps?

Since the store seems to be the centerpiece, and the Grow-style minigames involved collectibles, I would assume that the plot involved Joris going around and finding artifacts for the store. That would also explain the concept art gifs of him adventuring.

(Though, the adventuring would probably just be the inciting incident/a vehicle for plot development. Nintendo DS games loved using the jobs characters did for that purpose.)

This is the extent of what I can surmise about the plot.

The developer portfolios also included these example documents, but the image quality is too bad for me to make sense of or upscale. I am including them here solely for some French people who are very good at reading blurry text. (If you learn anything, let me know, okay?)

Overall, my verdict is that this game's cancellation was both a blessing (Joris without Kerubim and Atcham is like tea without water and a cup. How am I meant to drink leaves? Are you stupid? Why are you giving me leaves with nothing?) and a curse (THEY CANCELLED A GAME ABOUT MY BLUE-COLORED YOINKY SPLOINKY (who has a THIN, GRABBABLE WAIST)????? FUCK!)

Hope this was a fun read!

[girlycinephile]

What if Amy Rose had her own spin off??

With the release of Princess Peach: Showtime has got me thinking…imagine if we had gotten that similar experience for our fav pink hedgehog Amy Rose? Sure, you could make the argument that due to the bad reception of Shadow The Hedgehog (2005) when it was released indicated that Sega was not going to make any more sonic spin off games in the future (though I will defend that game for the entirety of my living existence because I whole heartedly loved it) but theoretically it could be a great concept to bring back because you could do so much with each character.

But in this case, I want to talk about the many ways of what I personally think could work if Amy had a spin off game.

1. Good Character Writing

Over the course of the Sonic franchise, there have been many interpretations of Amy some range from very bad to very good if you know what I’m talking about. If you want an in depth discussion of Amy’s evolution throughout the years read @ratrrriot post they do a great job of explaining it better than I ever could. But basically in short terms: showcase her love and compassion but is a fierce determined hero and willing to stand up for the people whom she cares about but retain both her bad qualities such as her stubbornness and so it would make feel more grounded and like a real person.

2. An Open World Format

Sonic Frontiers was a definite refresher for the format of Sonic games. The open world really helped how the open world is a great fit for Sonic games show casing how alive the star fall islands were and immersive gameplay experience can be. I know some people were mixed on that aspect but personally it was a welcome addition that helped with the story. In my mind, Amy would be going on her adventure led by her tarot cards as well as expanding her horizons and come across this magical and unknown land associated with love and kindness (one of Amy’s defining traits). The land would like some fantasy/ fairy tale inspired world with each level being more beautiful than the last and in a sense still being rooted into Sonic’s world with creative lore but with a girly twist on it one of the many things that definitely defines who Amy is and that some of the locations/ levels within the game could be off real life places or folklore.

3. Story

Sonic Frontiers and to an extent The Murder of Sonic The Hedgehog were praised for being the first Sonic games in years to have a good story probably since Sonic and the Black Knight. Definitely can work if they have good writers. Amy would be in the game for obvious but maybe two or three more friends along for the ride too but having them be in the story instead of them just being in the background like Cream, Blaze and Silver or something? Have them develop into by Amy had impacted them in so many ways and how they want to return the offer. Explain how the fantasy world in the game came to be, the culture of it and their way of living, sacred treasures they may hold to keep the world in balance. Introduce characters from the fantasy world so you would feel more invested into the journey and having one of the inhabitants be the main antagonist an trusted ally to the team.

3. Costume Upgrades

Amy has had some very cute outfits upgrades most notably in Sonic Dash or Sonic Forces Speed Battle but you would have to unlock the outfits doing certain tasks or completing each level zones in the game that also help progress the narrative feeling as that they are essential. Again it doesn’t have to be the case but it would be a cool feature to have be put in the game as well as her friends getting costume upgrades too.

Again, this isn’t trying to force the game if it would happen. It’s just me ranting some of my ideas if an Amy Rose spin off game were to actually happen but I doubt it’ll be the case any time soon.

My Synopsis of names of the world in the game, the levels/ zones it can contain and what it would look like;

Location of the Story: The Petula Isles

Levels/ Zones:

Valley of Love:

Dreamy Skyline:

Crittered Cove:

Wintered Wonderland:

Jubokko Forest:

Crystal Caves:

Link to @ratrrriot’s post on Amy’s Evolution:

[gaysheep]

Touching is Good: A Retrospective

My trusty Nintendo 3DS, which has held out since I was gifted it for my 15th birthday, has turned one decade old with my 25th birthday this past November. Given new life with custom firmware and nds-bootstrap via TWiLightMenu, the 3DS is stellar for visiting any past handheld title or console title up to (and somewhat including) the N64. (Quick plug for the CFW/hacking community for the less popular PS Vita, too, which has accomplished some pretty crazy-cool stuff this last year.) I use my 3DS more often than I use my Nintendo Switch most weeks.

The Nintendo DS (minus the three) launched in late 2004. The second display and stylus support were novel tools for developers to experiment with, and the NDS is best remembered for its robust catalogue of RPGs and visual novels. Where it lacked in power, narrative-focused games flourished under its technical limitations.

That being said, while browsing the ROM archives on Vimm's Lair to pick up some titles, I was reminded of what an interesting era the mid-to-late 2000s were for games. While Sony and Microsoft were fighting over the "core gamer" demographic, who had outgrown Nintendo mascots, Nintendo led a series of wildly successful marketing campaigns for its hardware after the light failure of the Gamecube, where the Nintendo DS and then the Wii were targeted at...everyone else.

[Image source. Image description in alt text.]

If you look at ads for the DS and the Wii, you'll see that adults are featured much more prominently than children, especially women and seniors. (This did not go unnoticed, as I found this ancient relic of misogyny while looking for images for this post.) A Nintendo handheld was already an easy sell to parents with small children (though I think it's also notable that ads which do focus on children often prominently feature girls. Munchlax is pretty hot...), but Nintendo's angle for the DS and Wii was that their hardware wasn't just for children. The Wii was a way to get up off the couch and to play board games with grandma. The DS was a great gadget for a working woman to keep in her pocketbook.

This worked. The Wii and DS were two of the best-selling consoles of all time. In particular, the DS's marketing campaign only worked because it came out in the perfect window of time. PDA-phone hybrids had been around since the 90s, and the Blackberry had been kicking around for a few years, but the iPhone wouldn't be introduced until 2007, and the 4G LTE standard wouldn't be released until 2009. While the Blackberry was popular with businesspeople and the PDA was out of style, smartphones were luxury toys for several years; they wouldn't become near-ubiquious until the mid-2010s. I didn't get my own smartphone until probably around the same time I got my 3DS, a full handheld generation later.

Browsing the software library for the Nintendo DS and DSi with that in mind is really interesting. Many titles released for the platform serve the same purposes that would be fulfilled by simple smartphone apps less than a decade later: planners and diaries, fitness trackers, calculators, language learning and SAT prep software, even a guide to the then-most-recent version of the driver's test in the UK. These proliferated with the release of the DSi's virtual store, but they existed even with the base model. You could go to a brick-and-mortar store and buy them on physical cartridges. (You might be wondering, "Why would you bother carrying those around over just buying a Blackberry?" You can't underestimate how expensive the service bills for a smartphone were before companies realized they were the most powerful spyware tool in history.)

There was never a time where every single businesswoman in New York carried a DS Lite, but adults did buy and use them, and a not insignificant portion of the DS's software library is aimed at a casual adult audience. Another niche covered mostly by smartphone games these days—games designed to be picked up and played in short sessions on-the-go, in places like waiting rooms and subway commutes.

Nintendo made crazy bank in the seventh console generation. Publications of the time talked about a console war between Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo, but the real battle was between the PS3 and the Xbox 360 over the gamer demographic. Nintendo was producing hardware for a niche who would quietly disappear once smartphone sales began ballooning by hundreds of millions per year over the course of the early 2010s.

After the failure of the Wii U, Nintendo's marketing strategy pivoted again, though I doubt they'll ever completely abandon their family-friendly image. Currently beat out only by the PS2 and the DS, the Nintendo Switch may very well climb to a status as the best-selling console of all time before the end of its lifespan, but the "gamer" demographic is much bigger than it was two decades ago at the dawn of the DS. As more and more devices become consolidated into the Swiss army knife the smartphone has become, consoles can only carve out a role as dedicated gaming machines.

I'm not sure we'll ever see anything like the Nintendo DS or the Wii again. I think they're worth looking back on for their uniqueness in that way as much as they are for the more celebrated parts of their libraries.

[weirdozjunkary]

Golden heart (a SATBK AU fic) chapter 1

ive been rewatching playthroughs of SATBK and it made me kind of inspired to make a wholesome, but also kind of bittersweet au. Sonic is written so well in the game, but I wonder what would happen if sonic lived in that world and meeting merlina was a coincidence. What would happen in the aftermath of the story? And what if a different blue hero somehow made his way in?

Idk if ill continue this fic, but it was fun to do. Enjoy

Chapter 2

Chapter 1(?)- blue blood of a hero

It was morning, early in the morning. The golden light of the sun shone upon the cold castle, it’s rays bouncing off of every reflective surface. It was quiet, as it was the norm. After merlina’s defeat, things have usually been quiet. Though she had accepted that things would eventually wither and die, Merlina left in search for a new life, not tainted by any shadow. Any sound in the castle now was of rattling drapes near a gusty window, or footsteps from someone who was awake doing their duties.

A book feel from the library shelf, from the echo of the room it’s thud increased tenfold, alerting to whomever was nearby. The book jostled, jerked and writhed. It opened itself and not a moment later, exploded out a portal of bright light, outshining the suns golden rays. Through the light of the book came… screaming? A famous blue hedgehog rocketed out of the book and into the air, his face collided with the cold wooden floor, it took him out for a moment. The bright portal that released him had dissolved away, leaving no evidence of how he got here.

Sonic sat up on his hands and knees and groaned, his face hurt from the harsh fall, but it wasn’t the hardest he’s been hit. He rubbed his sore nose and cheeks, making sure his face wasn't broken or bleeding. Good, it wasn't. A figure with a slightly  familiar voice came up to him. 

He extended his hand to the blue hedgehog. “Um, are you alright?”

Sonic took the figures hand and stood up. “Heh, yeah. Not the worst that’s happened to…” he looked at the figures hand. A metal gauntlet was in its place, it was cold and sleek, decorated with gold trimmings, but somehow it didn’t feel unfriendly. 

“… Are you just gonna stand there and stare at my hand or what?” The figure said.

Sonic finally looked up at the figure. It was… him? Or we’ll, a version of him? He certainly looked like him, but a few years older. He was taller, about as tall as vanilla was. His quills were unkempt and greying. Bags accompanied his tired eyes, and a few scars adorned his body. A crown laid gently on his head. He also had a cape which was cool as hell.

Sonic’s eyes widened at him, it was him. A version of him, but still. And he looked so badass with those scars and that cool cape. Perhaps he starred a bit to long though as his older duplicate spoke again.

“…. I think you can let go of my hand now, buddy…”

“Ah! Sorry!” Sonic said as he released his grip from the other hedgehogs metal hand. “You just look really cool!”

His other self chuckled “didn’t expect to see another version of yourself, ey?”

“Wait you know that I’m a version of you?”

“Well it’s not every day you see your younger self in front of you, now is it?”

“Fair point” Sonic chuckled “you look great though! Like you’ve been in so many adrenaline making adventures!” Sonic replayed a few of his action poses to his other self, who weakly chuckled in response.

“Man, was I really like this as a kid?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing. I’m glad you think I’m ‘cool’.” His older self smiled at him.

Sonic grinned in response. Though it was kind of weird, it was definitely cool to see himself from the future- well, A future. He didn’t exactly know where he was.

“So, uh, I’m guessing from the crown you’re some kind of ruler, huh?” Sonic smirked “Didn’t take myself to be the kind of guy when I was older. What? You married some kind of princess chipmunk or something?”

The older hedgehog laughed “no, nothing of the sort. I’m not really into the dating pool like that.”

Sonic raised a brow “really? So why are you standing there with a dope ass crown and cape?”

“Well, I sort of pulled a sword out of a stone and defeated an evil king. Honestly the sword is the more important thing out of that”

“ ‘pulled a sword out of a stone’?” Sonic repeated like a question. What did he mean by that? Okay, yeah he defeated an evil king, but that doesn’t usually mean you were allowed to be crowned a ruler. Plus he said that ‘pulling a sword out of a stone’ was the more important part…. Wait… 

“YOU'RE KING ARTHUR?!” Sonic exclaimed

His older self laughed at his bewilderment, a loud and guttural laugh, one that sonic himself honestly rarely ever really used. For his older self, it was amusing to see himself be so surprised by who he has become. Once a hero as free as the wind, now a king interested in taking it easy from his many years of adventures. He was King Arthur… that name never really sat well with him.

“Yep. Surprising, I know.” 

“To be honest, not really?”

The older hedgehog gave a doubletake “Wait what?”

“I mean, I know I’m awesome as heck!” Sonic stood proudly “so I’m not to surprised that I’d become king! I AM surprised that you seem to be, well, retired from the hero biz”

The king glanced away from him. He was retired, so to speak. He hasn’t had an adventure in a long time, other than the usual stoping of a runaway wagon, he hasn’t slain a dragon or stopped another evil king. Not that he’d want to do that stuff again. His drive for adventure was still there, but sealed away by a layer of taint from the years before.

But he can’t lament over it. He sighed and turned back to the short blue hero. “If you’re anything like myself, you probably have an appetite by now, right?”

“Oh, uh, yeah I guess I could eat” sonic responded 

The king walked past him, waving him over to the door. “Then come on. Maybe I can get you something that would suit your taste.”

“Got any chillidogs?” Sonic bounced over.

“What’s a chillidog?” 

Sonic blinked in surprise. “Uh… I’ll tell you later”

The royal blue hedgehog raised a brow, but decided to leave the blue hedgehogs comment. The kitchen wasn’t far from the library so it wasn’t really worth smalltalk, he wasn’t the one for smalltalk anyways. The main hall they had to traverse through felt large and hollow, despite being decorated with various tapestries and suits of armor that held the most delicate and pretty weaponry. 

Sonic looked at the armory that adorned the halls, more amazed by each one. He turned to his older self to express his admiration, but the hedgehog seemed agitated by the presence of the suits of armor. His brow furrowed as he looked straight to the end of the hall, not even glancing at the shiny sheets of metal that would catch anyone's eyes.

Sonic shut his lips, preventing any unwanted words to come out. This other older version of himself wasn’t much of a talker, huh? It was strange, he was always up to talking, why wasn’t he? The silence in Sonic's ears was deafening. He could barely hear his steps on the carpeted wood. It was, honestly, sort of awkward, to not chit chat or give small proads at someone. 

But Sonic always respected boundaries. Even if someone never explicitly said anything to him, he could tell when someone was uncomfortable. He continued to walk with his other self in silence.

To ease his mind, he continued to look around, soaking in all of the pretty decorations along with the stone walls and the wooden doors and pillars that kept this castle standing. The wood, though looked worn for wear, never was rotting, like it was being taken care of by, um, whatever they use in this timeline. 

Sonic’s eyes drifted, and he slowly came to a stop in front of two large open doors. It was the throne room, empty, despite it to, being as decorated as the hall connected to it. The throne had a cold look to it, like it hadn’t been sat upon in years. And If any had, it came with a bitter feeling. 

Sonic tilted his head up above the cold throne to a beautiful case for a blade rested atop it, empty. A sword belonged up there, but there wasn’t one.

“I thought you were hungry?” The king hedgehog said with aggression in his throat

“Oh! Uh, sorry! I’m coming!” Sonic quickly paced his way to him. “You just have, uh, a lot of cool things in here.”

His other self grunted, or maybe scoffed in response. Continuing the silence all the way to the kitchen. Sonic glanced up at himself. His face so tired and cold, like he had been fighting an eternal battle for years of his life.

“… I’ll talk to him later” sonic thought to himself. “After all, I just got here” the corners of his mouth rose slightly as he looked in front of himself. “Plus, I really want something to eat right now”

[tsunflowers]

"I saw someone mention overwatch 2 for what feels like the first time in years so I looked at that game’s site and they’ve added a new character who basically looks like a dva skin. I like how many of the women have tattoos and cyber implants on their cheeks. is this bc everyone keeps telling blizzard all the women they design for this game have the same face. bc they actually do still have the same face under the little decorations"

When I first saw her gameplay trailer I did legitimately think that they just turned a Dva skin into a new character, but then I was informed that it was public knowledge that she was in development as an original character for a very long time (as in, other new character with no prior info were released before her)

She did look a bit less Dva like in her concept art though; turns out they just made here more dva-like before release/during the transition to a 3d model

(At least she's voiced by Xanthe Huynh, who is great.)

I feel like she gives more of a retrofuture vibe in this concept art. I wish they'd leaned into that further. that bob is really 60s scifi to me

well, it's like this with disney concept art too. they always sand down the cool parts to make the most broadly palatable design

[georg-prime]

Some good anime recs

With magic and/or queer characters, that are fun, thoughtful, emotionally satisfying, beautiful.

Natsume's Book of Friends

One of the best manga/anime out there. Has some serious angst but also light comedy, issues about the fleeting life of fragile human beings from long-lived/immortal beings' POV, found families, sweet friendship, and a bit of unexpected horror. If you love Ghibli stuff especially Spirited Away, this should be for you. No queer characters in this, not really (except one minor female character), but the vibes of some characters can be debatedly genderqueer friendly for some (especially the youkai) and mlm lining for others, and the fandom delivers as usual. The 7th season is currently airing, and it's never disappointing, please come gush to/with me about how good it is!

Bodacious Space Pirates

Fun hard sci-fi. Mostly young women being cool, smart, funny, and a bit sapphic. Corsair girls in their awesome spaceship, doing light crimes, racing, and saving the galaxy. Super underrated, was slept on when it aired back then and that's just a damn shame.

Flying Witch

The nice daily life of a good apprentice witch, her witches friend and her magical and non-magical relatives, and the many strange and fun creatures she meets. Way too short, manga is still running and could easily be adapted to at least two other seasons (I recommend reading it too), worldbuilding is super creative and it's fascinating how the supernatural is usually just part of nature and the characters dealing with in simple tranquil ways. Side note: I wish some of these witches were as gay they seem.

Witchcraft Works

Underrated too, fun, weirdly feminist imo, creative with great animation, too short and deserve at least a second season to finish to story as the manga is complete. Childhood friends to lovers, boy's one of the sweetest male characters I know and his love for penguins deserves more appreciation, tall witch girl is badass as hell and also somehow a himbo. Catchy funny ending song is iconic.

Yuri!! On Ice

Do I really need to say something, pretty sure it should be popular enough, but maybe teens out here weren't old enough to have been on the internet/Tumblr etc when it was released? It's been some years after all. It's a good sport anime, with one hell of a hilarious twist around episode 7, which completely changed my opinion on the two main characters and their relationship, and makes this such a re-watchable season. Still waiting for a following, though and it's getting worrisome (hopeless?) since the prequel move got cancelled this year... But worth it anyway.

Tales of Zestiria

Famous game franchise with many unrelated games and their animated adaptation, I have a particular love for this instalment for how surprisingly queer friendly the ending was (wlw 🤝mlm solidarity). Good animation and lovable characters, cool fights, it makes you want to play the game(s), and that wouldn't be a bad thing as it is a good gateway to JRPGs in general imho. Quite active fandom still to this day and for shippers that's really nice.

Frieren

There's a lot of things to be said about this amazing manga/anime, it's funny, touching, melancholy, romantic, has some awesome animation and cool fights and is satisfying to dungeon RPG fans... It's really one of the best anime ever and I really recommend getting on the bandwagon now to follow it while release because imo it's one of those stories that benefits the best in weekly release (anime and manga) to let the feelings simmer and the fandom talks flourish (like without spoiling much, currently in the manga, a certain character is back and seriously tense situations are happening and some painful dilemma should be coming, better to live it than hear about everything later I'd say, especially because of how culte the anime already is). Much like Natsume's Book of Friends the way it touch on the pain but worth of knowing and caring for someone even if your lifespans are wildly different, is at the heart of the story and the characters's development and it's so well written. You know the end of the journey will leave you with lasting effects.

[tiny-wren]

Quinn and Timm: An Analysis

*cracks knuckles*

Quinn x Timm is probably the most popular non-canon ship in the Papa Louie series. Even if you don't ship them, if you're in the fandom, you know about them. Drama, fluff, everything in-between, fanart, fanfics, these two have it all. Why is everyone bonkers bananas over these bitches? Because they are iconic. And I am here to talk about them, at length. Strap in. Please take this all with a grain of salt I like being unhinged about Papa's lore so /silly!!! Also I know I have mutuals who don't ship them romantically and that is okay LOL I just want to talk about their dynamic and drama regardless of shipping anyways.

1. When Pizzas Attack/Taco Mia!

Timm is one of the OG’s. We had to rescue his damsel-in-distress ass in Papa Louie: When Pizzas Attack, and from then on he became a loyal and iconic customer. He exists.  Quinn is a character introduced in Taco Mia!. She's Tacodale's top lawyer, and she's cool as fuck. Taco Mia! is where we first see Quinn, Timm and Associates in the form of a lovely…disgustingly garish lime green billboard that sometimes appears at the beginning of each day in the game:

Timm finally has a purpose! Good job, buddy. So, they’re partners. Law partners. They’re lawyers, and they own a law firm together. Note: Timm’s up there too, so he’s more or less equally as important as Quinn is. TLDR; They’re big fucking deals. What we can deduce from this is they’re made for each other. Okay, literally, lovey-dovey shit aside: Their names rhyme. They got the cute little double letter thing going on. Look at their peanut butter and jelly ass color scheme. Pretty solid symbolism for a food game. They go together.

2. Freezeria Freezeria is released a few months after Taco Mia. It’s iconic. It’s great. Also play Freezeria Deluxe it's out now. That’s pretty sweet. Anyways…

Hey, wait, where the fuck is Timm? Where is that lovable receding hairline bastard when you need him? Man. Come on. I wanted to make him a sundae. This sucks.

Oh, well, Quinn is here though... So, Timm is completely absent from the original Freezeria (along with a few other customers, but this isn’t about them). Apparently Timm was too busy getting his hair did or something.

IIRC there were explanations as to why they weren’t here, but I’m not even sure if it’s fanon or official, so…euhhh? "Alright, hey Flipline, you JUST got me acquainted with this duo, and now you take them away from me? " Well, get used to it, bitch. 3. Pancakeria/Flipdecks Holy SHIT Timm is back and WHY DO YOU LOOK LIKE THAT?? I think it’s around this time that Flipline starts making flipdecks, and great timing, because they better explain what the hell happened to this man.

Quinn and Timm’s flipdecks are made pretty close together, with Quinn’s being the 8th and Timm’s being the 10th. We're given their lore back-to-back, which is just #tragic. Anyway:

Quinn’s flipdeck:

"Quinn is one of the top lawyers in town, and offers legal representation for Papa Louie and his many franchises. Her law firm is now called “Just Quinn and Associates” after her longtime partner Timm abruptly left. Quinn only finds time once a week to dine out, and can be extra picky with her meals."

Timm’s flipdeck: "Timm has been a loyal customer of Papa Louie since the very beginning. Always keeping up with the times, Timm has been evolving his look throughout the years. He finally quit his job at "Quinn, Timm, and Associates" to pursue his lifelong dream of becoming a world champion dancer." So they split up. Timm left his stinking dead end job with no warning and Quinn is (reasonably) pretty upset by this. Okay, admittedly, not much is divulged here, so we have to do a lot of reading between the lines.

Timm’s flipdeck is entirely self-centered. It doesn’t even really mention Quinn herself at all, just the law firm and how he was happy to get the fuck out of dodge.

Also, “finally”... How long has this man been sitting on this decision? Dude’s been in court like “god I hate it here” for god knows how long. He hated his job and wanted to do something else. Okay, fair enough, dude. Be free.

Quinn’s on the other hand…

Note how Timm is described as “her longtime partner”.

“Longtime partner”--how long did these two work together? I feel like this wording is pretty emotionally charged, not to mention that “partner” is a word with several meanings. I understand that they’re lawyers, but like…come on. It doesn’t help that Quinn treats this split like a messy breakup by renaming the law firm to “JUST Quinn and Associates” "Yep. Just me! All by myself! I’m gonna put it up on my big pretentious clock tower with big bold letters."

Can you blame her, though? I mean, that was a massive dick move on Timm’s behalf. Even if you love Timm—and I do–he was...not the best here. And it’s clear by the wording of her flipdeck that Quinn didn’t know about it. SAD! So, when did they split up?

Most likely between the events of Taco Mia and Pancakeria. Considering that Timm was absent during Freezeria, we can safely assume that things were already over by then, considering he comes waltzing into the Pancakeria with his new look and all afterwards. 4. BAKERIA

It's 2016 and Timm's a chef! Wait. Okay. Timm is a chef now. Which is really funny when you think about it. He went from being a lawyer, possibly Papa’s lawyer since we know at least Quinn represents him, to being a “competitive dancer”, to…working for Papa for minimum wage.

So, Timm’s canonically a chef, which means…he has no choice but to interact with Quinn once a week. YOU WOULD THINK THAT SOMETHING WOULD COME OF THIS. AND NOTHING DOES. WHICH IS PROBABLY THE MOST FRUSTRATING SHIT EVER, SINCE WE ARE GOING ON A LITTLE OVER A DECADE LONG WITH THESE TWO. Longest slowburn ever am I right? Regardless of there being no canon evidence outside of gameplay mechanics, Timm and Quinn are interacting again. Nobody knows what this means, but I can tell you one thing: the ship was in it’s fucking renaissance and I personally was LIVING. 

YES. SERVE HER THAT PIE. OOOH THE TENSION!

Anyway, shipping aside, it would've been nice to see these two have...SOME sort of interaction, considering they were associated and all, and Quinn was hurt by his absence. But yeah, no, I guess not.

5. Mocharia

I've never played Mocharia and I probably never will, BUT WHAT I DO KNOW is that a bunch of the customers worked on the production of Mocharia Life. That's cute and all, but like... you know, I haven't seen anyone talk about this:

OKAY OKAY LISTEN LISTEN look listen to me. look. OKAY. Probably didn't interact directly. But DUDE. THEY WORKED TOGETHER. THEY WORKED TOGETHER AGAIN. Foaming at the mouth I can't handle this. There is hope besties...

So, that's about it. I really wish that Flipline would give us some actual interaction between these two, and I don't really care what kind of interaction, just something. Given their history!!! I think they're interesting, and my brain is full of these two. I hope you enjoyed reading, and thank you if you got this far!! ^_^

mutuals who aren't in this fandom, thanks for putting up with this hellpost. love u

[ploobis]

I never make posts on here but I'm absolutely flabbergasted and gobsmacked by overwatch rn. I bought overwatch in 2016 for $60, and then $40 when overwatch 2 came out so I could play junkerqueen in the beta (not worth btw). I bought it for $40 knowing PVE wouldn't be out at launch but honestly I was fine with that, I just expected it by like next spring which is what they were saying on the roadmaps. Overwatch is old. Like old old at this point. Overwatch narrowly could have been made for the Xbox 360. A multibillion dollar company with 6 going on 7 years of experience with this game should know how many people you need on a dev team to ship the content they promised. But they've been BARELY able to keep up with the base multiplayer. Back in December roadhog was oppressively strong and they promised a hog rework soon™. Rework implies some pretty strong stuff right, like torb rework and symmetra rework were pretty huge. Instead what we got was a bandaid and a sorry excuse, which even then, the "rework" we got was delayed and delayed. This was a plague for months before the dev team did anything to remedy this. This is just one example of MANY broken and out of touch actions by the devs. A large chunk of the content they've promised has been delayed, buggy, a let down, and more. But for the last couple months I've been justifying it by thinking "oh it's fine though bc I'd imagine a lot of the team is working full time on the PVE. The PVE that's been showcased honestly looked great. Like I'd happily pay $40 to play that game. They had cool skill trees, mastery, neat concepts and progression very unique to ow2. Instead the devs released a game mode of an old 2CP map revamped to look like starwars (with really dope skins and cool art I'll give them that) and cancelled PVE as we know it. It's just so frustrating playing this game with absolutely no hope for content. Lifeweaver is a complete joke, the new shop took one of my favorite systems for earning items and cool bonuses and turned into one of the most prohibitively expensive jokes of a store I've ever seen.

[basedkikuenjoyer]

25 years ago, very close to this day, a storm was brewing in my sleepy little town. A friend with a cool geeky older sister that introduced me to Sailor Moon had tuned me into a cool new Game Boy game last school term. One we played a lot over a Summer he was over at my place a lot. It didn't seem like much in the haze of N64 classics and I don't actually think I knew many people with a Game Boy around that time. When we started Third Grade though...Pokemania was in full bloom. I've been playing a bit lately and it made me nostalgic. Let's have fun with it, especially with the jittery OP schedule.

I love that I've gotten to be here for the full phenomenon. Like I said, the wave reached US shores when I was in 2nd grade but by the end of that year only a few of us knew about it and it seems like most kids discovered the show or the games over the Summer. The card game dropped around this point too, I remember it being around my September birthday. That shit was wild, but I understand why people thought it'd be a passing fad. Because I remember 2nd grade being really big on quickly passing toy fads. The games though. Yeah yeah, the early designs were iconic but the game was clearly unpolished compared to later releases...

That general wisdom is fair. But you know what I like about weird, pieced together with duct tape code of straight Red/Blue? The grit. Pokemon was still originally made in the 90s and it shows here, before it was a childhood mainstay attracting a lot of scrutiny. Because this was just some random Game Boy RPG at the time. So Kanto gets to have a little more edge to it. Not with world-shaking stakes, just because of standards. It never felt weird to have the gambling hall as a spotlight locale, genetic engineering gone wrong plots are one of those things that were big in the 90s but forgotten after. Team Rocket actually feels kinda like a gang, trainer types that don't fly today...also I still can never get over this one explicitly taking place in our world.

That last part is a big one to me. I'm not some old head who hates anything after Kanto. But there was a certain verisimilitude to it that was still there for Johto but just isn't there at all by now. One little thing Kanto does better than others is how there's usually a better logic to why the trainer types you see are on the routes they are. You can really see the Dragon Quest influence if you're a big fan of those like me, later gens primary influence is other Pokemon games. Is it simple today going back? Yeah. If you jumped on later just play the remakes. Fire Red/Leaf Green are great. But like any major series, there were certain elements here that did not continue with it. I'm always fascinated by those, and for Red/Blue to me it's that these games did not have quite the kiddy tone the franchise has a reputation for.

[yakuzabrainrotlive]

Y4 Finale thoughts part 2 time! I hope I can shove everything here labdksnsnqqlqm

This ending was... really good. No, this WHOLE GAME was just an incredible experience. SO glad I got to play this 100% blind! Gonna have to ponder my order of faves a bit, not gonna lie👀

I hate to bring up other media, but this absolutely epic cutscene of them taking off reminded me strongly of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 3's start when the Stardust Crusaders take off at the start. You know, the classic:

The group dynamic, the badassery, the raw masculine energy, the whole vibe... ahhhh. Thoroughly enjoyed it. One of my favourite cutscenes in the games this far.

Okay hold on... Arai has lowkey been just utterly and completely BASED this entire time. BESIDES the whole shooting Kido thing, I've honestly been loving the energy he brings to the table. I found myself agreeing with him a lot and cheering him on. What a great character.

As for Daigo; seems I was kinda spot-on about him. I understand why he did what he did and I actually really like the idea of rebuilding the falling clan entirely, but... I don't like him betraying Majima. Not just because it's Majima, it's because of how much Majima and his family have contributed to the clan. Very disrespectful, even if it's supposed to be for the good of the clan. It clearly wasn't a decision Daigo made lightly, though, so I can't bring myself to hate him.

GOD, why is this finale just pure EPICNESS. I was amazed the entire time. Peak cinema🔥🙌🏻

THAT'S MY KING!! Hell yeah! This is SO necessary, for both of them. I hope they can build a healthy and mutually (more) beneficial partnership in the future.

Not to be like... insensitive or to rain on your parade here Kiryu, but... you were officially the chairman for how long, exactly? 10 minutes?? 😭 Pretty sure Daigo knows pretty damn well how heavy the responsibilities of being the Tojo leader are. I know Kiryu has experience as a representative and liutenant advisor of the clan, and he fought in many major battles but uhh... Daigo has had to deal with like... EVERYTHING. For years on end. Through more than a few massive crises. Cool line, though!

As for the fights! I really like that all the playable characters got their own fights.

Akiyama vs Arai was quite simple and I atomized Daigo in... probably like a single minute. Saejima vs Kido was tricky because I never really learned to properly use Saejima's style (I HATE using those charge move thingies), but it was doable.

NOW. WHAT ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH WAS THAT TANIMURA FIGHT😭 I did manage it first try, but h o l y s h i t. At the start I thought it was a scripted loss and the rest of the lads would come help, but NAH. Wow. The rest of the guys got to go 1v1 while Tanimura had to fight - to quote Max0r - "90 enraged apes". I thought Kiryu would be doing the heavy lifting so all my staminan sparks and best gear were on him💀

Majimaaaa hi!!! Congrats on your release!! Glad to see you and Daigo made up! I would pay real money to see how THAT reunion went, though.

I was KINDA maybe hoping a little bit Kiryu would make a comeback as chairman, but I also knew 100% that it wasn't happening. Eager to see where Kiryu ends up being at the start of Y5! Also very happy for Saejima for becoming a patriarch!! ❤️

[candy8448]

It is done!

I've finally completed many month (maybe even over a year) mission of listening to all the zelda OSTs in release order (now it did take ages cuz i would spend forever between each ost and the longer ones would take so long to get through)

I compiled all my favorite tracks into one massive playlist, as well as covers that i like!

Now i am going to go over each ost and say my thoughts on them! Ill also be mentioning one or two tracks from each game that were really notable for me

(I didn't listen to Twilight princess or Spirit tracks because i dont want spoilers for when i play them)

The legend of Zelda:

The ost for this game is 9 mins long, drastic difference to totk with many MANY hours of music

Obviously a classic, the overworld theme. I really like the "game over" theme, its nice but the ringing of the NES boops hurts my ears so much

Adventure of Link:

I really like the final dungeon theme and the battle theme, so good to just jam to

A Link to the past:

Not much to say here, it set a bunch of classics, dark world theme is super good though and the great fairy fountain theme will always be welcome whenever i hear it, either as the great fairy or as the title screen (tbh i prefer it more as the title screen theme) and the title screen theme! When that bursts out i wanna scream, It fills me with so much nostalgia for this series as a whole

Link's awakening:

Now this one is difficult, because this game is my favorite game out of the games i haven't played just plot wise, but for some reason listening to the music was just super tiring for no reason. Now i was listening to the gameboy version but i tried the swith version and it was also tiring and tedious to listen to?? Im going to go through the switch version ost at some point in time.

You can never go wrong with tal tal hights though, and the ballad of the windfish is just 😭

Ocarina of time:

Im afraid to say anything on it because of the fans of it XD i did play a tiny bit of the game but got to Zora's domain as a child and stopped

Obviously it has a great soundtrack, it has a ton more classics like gerudo valley and such. I like Sheik's theme. The fire temple i am aware is controversial and i think that's the reason it makes me so unnerved when i listen to either version of it

My absolute favorite though is Song of storms (or windmill hut). The first time i heard it, it just stuck with me and i am taken in by it, it luls me, its like magic, im enraptured by it. I don't know what it is about this 20 second theme but i can listen to this on repeat for hours, its one of the first things i learned on piano, when i played the game i just stood in the windmil hut for ages. Such a good track...

Majora's mask:

SUCH an earie ost! I have been wanting to play this game forever. The vibes the ost is just perfect for this game. Clock town is obviously good and its cool how it gets more and more frantic as time goes on, you really feel like time is running out. Overall i think the whole soundtrack does amazingly at embodying this idea.

Oracle of Ages and Seasons:

The two tracks are very similar rhat i can't eeally do these two games separately. For some reason i have a bias towards seasons despite not playing either or really knowing the story??

I love that seasons has song of storms (for some reason), skull pirate's escape is good (oos), ambi's place (ooa) noice, Nayru's song is so nice, and i adore the "Zelda awakens" theme that's in both of them

I love how the tracks for these went back to the boopy style, it makes the themes just has a certain feel that i cannot put words to that feels so right. I have the feeling that when i play these games im going to have a great time with them

Wind waker:

Tbh, not for me, the style of the music is just not the kind of thing i like. Doesnt mean it doesnt have really good tracks though!! Cannot go wrong with dragon roost and i do like a track that i cannot remember the name of (but tbh that is just mostly because i really like the beat) and the Great Sea sailing theme does sound so freeing, you can feel the wind in your hair with that track. Its just that the rest of the music style is just not something i dig so much, its just a personal opinion.

Four swords:

I forgot about this game, and could not recall the ost at all. Had to open sime tracks again to listen to and tbh all i can say is... meh? The ost isn't too great... gotta give it credit for it's version of the overworld theme thoug, possibly one of the better different renditions?

Minish cap:

A cute little game, dont remember much of the soundtrack but i have quite a few saved from it so it must count for something, and i really like the "story" theme whenever i hear it and Mt. Crenel is okay

Phantom hourglass:

Again, it has a similar style to wind waker and i didn't really like it. Linebeck's theme though, what a wonderful character! ("Return of the Ocean King" is also decent)

Spirit tracks:

I did not listen to this soundtrack but the ost is just *chefs kiss* from the ones ive heard. The tracks "the sacred duet" and "battle with king Malladus" are the tracks that made me desperately want to play this game and i am still longing to play it because of these two tracks. I love how throughout the Malladus battle theme there is the constant chugging of the train on the track. I have no doupt that the rest of the ost will be this amazing. (The title theme is perfect, you really feel like you are on a racing train) ive since listened to "in the fields" and ooooooh i love ittttt i so cannot wait to play this game!

Skyward sword:

Man you KNOW i can ramble about this forever. My favorite Zelda game! I cannot put into words how much this game's ost makes me feel all of the emotions in the world, i can only list a few tracks that make me feel so much oooough

Ballad of the goddess (obviously), Romance in the air makes me all fluttery and happy, skyloft theme always feels like home, any version of fi's theme puts me in tears, Groose's theme he is such a silly guy, the loftwing flying theme is so nostalgic, Ghirahim's theme is so menacing, all the Lanayru tracks have such a certain zen feel, silent realm theme's have such a frantic echoey empty perfect feel to them which fit so well, and the guardians awaken theme will make me have a heart attack, and the song of the hero has so many feelings ive talked about before, so much that this track alone made me make a painting for the scene.

This game just stepped into another feel of zelda music with the orchestra, and it captures the grandios of this big, timeline setting adventure so amazingly. I cannot get enough of this game. Arguably one of the best Zelda OSTs in my opinion.

A Link between worlds:

Such a good ost in this game. Dunno what i can say apart for it is one of the better ost's in the series for some tracks alone. Ravio's theme, Hilda's theme, Yuga's theme, Lorule overworld, all the milkbar tracks (the fact that there is also ballad of the godess in there makes me so happy as well), so much of the game's ost is so good!

Triforce heroes:

Such a surprisingly great ost for a game that sounds so much like a fever dream. The main theme?!?!? The woodlands?!?!?!?!? I cannot stop listening to these two such a bop, go listen to them!

Breath of the wild:

Botw has no music???? What the heck???

The tracks are so good! Even all the ambient piano flourishes! It fits the atmosphere so well, but you've probably heared people saying all this before so onto some of my favorite tracks

All the champion's themes fit each one so well, main theme cannot not be good, i lobe how Tarrey Town's theme builds up with each character's home town. The divine beast themes are really cool sounding. Parasailing minigame theme is so fun! Guardian theme will also give me a heart attack, the memory get jingle, i miss Kass and his music so much, Korok forest is so :D, HYRULE CASTLE IS SO GOOD OH MY i love the marching feel. Dark. Beast. Ganon. THIS THEME IS CRAZY BRO that piano!??!!?? All the everything going together?!??!!? This fight may be a victory lap and super easy but it sure as hell has some fire music!!!

Tears of the kingdom:

I finally finished this ost today. It reuses a lot from botw, and tbh it is a little dissapointing how none of the village themes changed even if it does feel safe and familiar, and the surface is largely the exact same even though it is where we spend so much of our time.

There are obviously amazing tracks original to this game though. The main theme was so amazing to hear in full after so long of waiting! So was the prologue theme ("poor Hyrule, for Link has found the body" remember that???) All the dungeon themes have me in awe alongside the sage themes. Each one just fills me with so much ough. The dungeons and their themes were definatly a massive step up from the previous game. I ranked all the sage themes before in another post and go deeper into each one. Link humming while cooking is so cute! The big "BWAAA" when diving into the depths feels so cool and creepy. One of my favorite details is that in the forgotten temple, next to the goddess statue you can hear a broken up version of Fi's theme which im so happy for the sksw ref! It also supports my favorite hc that the forgotten temple is the sealed grounds from sksw! (As well as the reward you get fron that quest but we aren't talking abiut that)

!!!!End spoilers next!!!!!

In the lead up to the final dive into ganondorf's army, the track reminds me of Skyrim and it really does not fit in Zelda. I feel like they shouldn't have used that track. Ganondorf's fight theme is so cool, how at first it is quiet to just hear you two dueling in an echoey room and them builds up. AND HOW CAN YOU FORGET THE FINAL FALL?!?!?!? Such a PERFECT END its amazing how is blends so smoothly to create the perfect scene, all your emotions building up to the end!!! Such a perfect ending to the game. All the music in the end sequence in the Hyrule castle chasm really does do an amazing job of dialing up and down the tension and emotions at the right moments and building up everything until the very end when the credits start rolling.

Overall the ost is great considering all the new tracks!

So that is all the games (other than tp and st)!

Now on to all of the non-cannon games! 🥲

[andsaid]

Should BlazBlue Get a New Fighting Game Entry?

Duh. ... Okay, well let me explain. You've probably never heard of what the heck a "BlazBlue" is. BlazBlue, BB for short, is a 2D traditonal fighting game made by arcsystemworks. It was created when they had lost the rights to Guilty Gear momentarily. They wanted to have an IP that would be fully theirs', and so BB was born. That's the basic history of BB. As most games do, it had multiple installments. The last game we got in the BB name was a game called BlazBlue Entropy Effect in 2024! While a good game, this... was not a fighting game, instead an action platformer. So, when was the last BB fighting game? Let me enlighten you on... BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle!

This game released in 2018 and was the last entry in the BB fighting game series. Unlike Entropy Effect, this was a fighting game! Hooray! Well, actually no. To put it lightly, it isn't a good game. The gameplay is too easy even for beginner players, there was way too many broken moves that completely shut down some characters, and half the cast you had to pay to get. While in concept, having a cross-series fighting game with Blazblue, Persona 4, Undernight Inbirth, and RWBY was cool, it didn't do well. The game stopped receiving any updates after it's final DLC season, not even patch notes. Nowadays, BBTAG is labelled a pretty dead game. But, it isn't all that bad for BlazBlue fans, because...

BlazBlue Centralfiction exists and is very much a great fighting game that is still being played! A big roster of well rounded characters that are both lovable as characters in the fighting game and characters in the story, satisfying combos that were actually practical, and a stable competitive scene. If you want to get into BB, this is the game!! Well, if this game is great, well balanced, has good online, and a stable fanbase, what's the problem? Well, this game came out in 2015... It's nine years old as I'm writing this!! To put how old this game is, Street Fighter 6 came out and is in season 2, Guilty Gear Strive came out and is entering season 4, Tekken 8 came out, and Mortal Kombat is still trash. In the time that all of these happened, BlazeBlue fans still haven't got a successor to BBCF, a tried and true fighting (unlike BBTAG). "Why doesn't the develops just make a new one? Clearly there's a demand for it..." Amazing question! Well, after the the flop of BBTAG, the director walked out on BlazBlue. And well, without a director, a game is pretty much put on a deathbed. Since then, BB has been in limbo. To be honest, BB is one of my favourite series' and I know that's true for so many people as well. Many people want BB back in the fighting game scene in just anyway since even though BBCF is a good game, it's numbers aren't anywhere near games like Street Fighter and Tekken. There is so many lovable characters in this series like Ragna, Rachel, Kagura, Hazama, Jubei, and by god so many others. It sucks that this game is left this way, and if you've actually read this, you'd probably agree too. However... I want to end this on a positive note. Even though BlazBlue has been going through a massive rut, two years ago, arcsysystemworks stated that they do not want BlazBlue to compete with Guilty Gear, their other fighting game. They also stated that they haven't forgotten about BlazBlue. They are a company that honestly puts a butt ton of effort into their games (like seriously just look at Guilty Gear Strive gameplay. The game is really well animated). What they do take a lot of time, talent, money, and passion. It may be a while until we get a new BlazBlue fighting game, but they have said they want it to have a huge impact when it does come out. Of course, things could change but... BB fans are at least reassured that the IP itself isn't dead with Entropy Effect coming out to great reviews and arcsystemworks stating the above. Well, this has been andsaid. Thanks for reading :)

[herald-divine-hell]

My Journey Through Thedas

As Veilguard downloads on my PC, I thought to give my journey through the Dragon Age games and what BioWare's fantastical world has meant for me over the years.

Let it be known, I have been critical with aspects and elements of Thedas' worldbuilding, as well as routes I thought have been fascinating to delve into but BioWare either did not think or were incapable of actually implementing in game (Leliana/Inquisitor). Despite this, Dragon Age is one of my favorite series of all time, and this is my first ever Dragon Age release! So, why don't we go down along memory lane.

I first played Dragon Age in the summer of 2015, at my aunt's house in Texas (at the time, I had lived in New Jersey). While waiting for my family to get ready to get ice cream, I asked my aunt if I could hope onto my cousin's PlayStation 4, because of how terribly bored I was. Thankfully she agreed, and while going through his game sections, I noticed this really cool dragon covering, with a man weilding a sword and shooting a something like a green lasso at the dragon. On it, it read Dragon Age: Inquisition. I was, and still am, a huge fantasy fan, so the sight of that looked really fucking cool. So I hoped in, and went on my cousins save, and there he was at, seemingly just having arrived at Skyhold. I was utterly confused, so I went back and started - as I should have done - a new game.

And oh, boy. Was I excited. The character creator (despite nowadays a weird revisionist take that somehow DAI's character creator was actually bad - I'll give the hair tho) was absolutely fantastic, and since I love nobility I picked a male Trevelyan mage...who was white with violet eyes. (I can't recall if that was the time I started to like Dragon Age, but I played mostly white characters). And oh boy, I was in for a treat.

The opening cutscene was amazing, and there I saw the greatest thing that has ever graced my screen - Leliana, hooded and beautiful. At the time, I thought she was actually Muslim, because I thought her shawl was a hijab. Silly dumb fourteen year old Tim, lol. But I fell instantly in love with Leliana, especially when she stopped Cassandra from beating my ass for someone I had no idea I did. ("She likes me!" No, child Tim. She just wanted info. "No, she loves me.")

And from there it grew. I went and bought DA:I on my Xbox, and began to read Dragon Age Fanfiction, specifically Leliana and Inquisitor. One of my favorite fanfics was actually the Leliana/Inquisitor Trading Secrets by dats__gayyy (who never wrote that Trespasser epilogue :() Shoutout to them for introducing me and giving confidence to write my own fanfic. But at the time, I noticed a heavy leaning toward women, so I thought it was only fair that my first real Inquisitor should be a women rather than that prototype Trevelyan on my cousin's PS4. And in that year, the Hamilton soundtrack came out, right before they went to broadway. It was a match made in heaven. Hamilton - Trevelyan - they sound similar, no! And as I read Ron Chernow's Alexander Hamilton, images and thoughts of Alexandra appeared before me. A hyperactive, bisexual mess who loves to write and refuses to sleep? Perfect for Leliana! And from there, Alexandra Trevelyan, dearly beloved for so many of my friends were born, scarily pale skin and green-golden eyes all!

And from there, Dragon Age saved me. Without Dragon Age, I don't think I'll be alive. I certainly wouldn't have made a Tumblr and met all my lovely friends who provided a safe and secured space for me to explore and recognize my depression and anxiety, and who loved me despite my many, many faults. There were tough times in this fandom, and great times too, and though I may share my frustrations, I still remember going through Haven for the first time to reach the Breach, and seeing Leliana's face, and a very sparkly-eyed Tim whose heart was going to burst from his chest at the sight of her. Can't believe next year will be ten years since I fell for that Orlesian bard, lmao. Now I understand the Warden's pain.

No matter if this game is good or bad, thank you BioWare for making this. Thank you to all the developers unjustly let off by EA after Veilguard's development was over. Thank you all for existing! Now, let's go crack some eggs!

[boqvistsbabe]

Update!!!!!!!!

Hey Y’all!!

Here is the start of hopefully monthly updates. I know in my last update I said I was going to be more consistently here and active. Obviously, that didn’t happen lol. Trying to hold myself to that rn. So this is probably going to be the format for all of my update posts, just so they are easier to follow.

Refresh:

So I am almost completely done with the blog refresh. I think all that is left is updating links and getting some other posts (ex: theme days) made/redone. Most of that got put on the back burner due to how long they were going to take lol. But hopefully, over Spring Break, I’ll be able to get those done (no promises, another thing I’m trying to do, is be more realistic about what I want to get done by when so). 

Writing/Other Content:

Ik I said I’d write more. Once again didn’t really happen. Well, I have written a decent bit, but never finished anything. There is one fic that I am going to try and work on after this week (midterms lol) and have someone look over it (the first time I’ve had a beta reader, look at me go lol). Like the blog as a whole, I am trying to organize my writing, like requests and my ideas and what is going out when etc. (@ any of the other writers if you have any suggestions of what to/where to organize my stuff so it doesn’t get all confusing and mixed up you should def let me know). Speaking of requests, I am going to try and do at least two requests a month. That doesn’t sound like a lot but for me, that feels like something I can realistically do. I will be doing old requests first because even though they are years old at this point, I liked the ideas so I genuinely want to write them. I am still going to be accepting new requests (esp because sometimes that helps spark creativity/help with writer’s block so feel free to send in any ideas!!) but I will try to get those older ones done first. As for any other content (playlists, moodboards, IG edits, drawings, etc.) I am also taking requests for those so feel free to send in any of those requests too. 

Another Blog?!

As of rn the second hockey blog has not been “released”. I want to catch up on things for this blog before I throw that into the mix and try to grow that as well. I am hoping to add that sometime this summer. Also, I do technically have a sideblog already (@samistheman) which is normally where I reblog random things, and I don’t really have tags for that blog I just kinda willy-nilly reblog there (it used to be mostly PJO stuff but now that’s kind of here because of how much of it there is lol).

Life Update:

College is a lot rn. I’m doing 17 credit hours and tbh do not know what possessed me to do that. At first, I was doing pretty good, but now not so much. Like I said earlier I have midterms this week. If y’all didn’t know this, I’m shit at taking tests so not doing great rn. Thankfully one of my classes ends on Sunday so at least I don’t have to worry about that. I’ve had a lot going on in my personal life recently that is impacting a lot so trying to navigate that as well. I am moving out in May, which is yes months from now but there is still a lot that I need to do beforehand. Anyway, I’m going to a college hockey game on Thursday and I am super excited. I haven’t been able to go to a game since October. Also little fun update, I’m going on a weekend (work) trip to Boston. Super excited for that. I’ll be getting to go to a Celtics game and a Red Sox game (I’m a Royals girlie tho). I’ve never been to an NBA game so that’s for sure gonna be really cool. I’ve been to many MLB games before but this will be my first at a different stadium. Anyway, I think that is it for this update. Hope y’all are doing well!!

As usual, if y’all ever want to talk dms/inbox are open <3

I am going to tag some moots, I am totally forgetting some people so I am sorry for that (if y'all could reblog that would be amazing)

@2manytabsopen @krugstrash @jimmystrudel @andreburakozy @sidneycrosbyhoe @fallinallincurls @timstuetzle @typical-simplelove @ilyasorokinn @drei-mrssvechii

[ivan-defonz]

Self-aware gacha game

(not sure if it's a yandere story but it's something)

Imagine playing a game, gacha games specifically. You are one of the first players that are still playing, seeing characters after characters being added, going through their stories, having fun with all the events the game had to offered.

But lately, you've been getting a bit… Tired. Not because of the game, no you love (read as obsessed of) that thing, just that you're just too busy with works and life in general. You started to log in less, stop doing daily missions, you missed the release of all the new characters, of all the events and even the celebration the game has for your birthday. You were starting to gradually leave the game.

And it pained you at first, seeing how important it was to you but hey, real life is also important, as well as the money for all the merchandise of the game you wanted to buy. Therefore, a bit of time off of the game won't hurt you, you decided.

But it hurts them, you know? Those characters you so loved. To the point where it reached so deep into the code, to places where even the coders don't even know, the most obscure piece of code. Being altered, changed, by sheer emotions and will just because your lack off log ins.

They gained sentient.

The old characters that you first started your adventure with, those iconic faces that are beloved be all. Everyone knows them, even those that have only heard of the game. They hold a special place in your heart, even as the game continues to grow and grow and they become less useful compare to all the new playables, you still love them.

And they too love you. Old characters barely have any recognition now, be it by the developers or the players as they continue to chase the cool and more trendy characters, so seeing such adoration you have towards them make them feel fuzzy inside. Oh to be loved, how they long for it. That is why they act like how they are when you left, overwhelmed with sadness. It was clear in some, the more bubbly ones i mean, becoming a shell of what they once were, trying to trick their mind into thinking you were still here or they you will comeback when in fact at this rate you never will to be honest. Some stayed like themselves, moving on with their lifes yet in their heart, something is missing, though they won't admit it to anyone.

The same can't be said to the newer characters. At the time when they were released, some had only know you for a bit. They're at their peak, with banners and banners and people wishing for them to come home. Not you though, it wasn't like you hate them or anything, you just don't care. As a free to play and unusual player, you wish on every banner you came across as soon as you have the materials to with the mentality of "if i win, i win" and you would gladly build the characters that comes to you be it the one on the banner or not, but you would never use your money to get one.

That's why they don't really care about you since you're just one out of many players. Yet, they can't help but feel a bit sad when you left and maybe a bit guilty too, considering how they refused to come home even when you spent all your materials on them. Hard to get, you'd called them. Now as weeks passed, they started to ponder, is it because of them that you stop playing? Now that they think about it maybe it was because of them that you left and now they can't stop feeling remorseful.

They won't change on the outside but they actually wished you come back, to the game, to them. They aren't sure why, maybe it has something to do with how obsessed the old characters are to you but they're starting to be desperate for you too.

Time has passed, and belived it or not, you came back. It's been like, what? A year or two, you'd reckon, you didn't think you'ld leave it for such a long time but hey, you're back and that's what matters, right? How about you spend like, 10 wish on the current banner as a welcome back, yeah that'll be great…

Wait, is that… Your old main. Oh nice!

Oh the banner's character, they're so cute.

And the character that you wanted so bad back then? Hell yeah.

That's like three characters it can't get better than tha- is that the most meta character in the game?

Wait what's going o- Another powerful character???

Yeah you're luck should be out now, let's just skip the whole cutscen- That's literally 10 new characters to your team.

Okay, that's totally normal, it's fine, you're not going crazy, you'll just… Farm for them, yeah, build them a bit. Events and stuff, yeah, getting yourself busy…

It's better not knowing how every character in the game is waiting for their turn to get into your team and wanting to be recognize and loved by you. They do say ignorant is bliss, after all.