#but its very stupid and mostly a design choice

[othercrossee]

like timeskip adarida, norlo does the same thing about meeting each other except its more vol boy ambushing them on a request and getting his ass beaten

[tobiasdrake]

You previously anaylzed Yamcha's fighting style and the flaws he doesn't overcome. Do you have any thoughts on how Krillin fights?

Krillin's fighting style is one of my favorites, to be honest. He's a dedicated pragmatist, ready and willing to do whatever it takes to win. His techniques and strategies are deceptive and tricksy, always on the lookout for a way to circumvent the straight fight.

Krillin's fighting style is all about cutting the knot. It's just a shame that, Dragon Ball being what it is, his methods run counter to its central philosophies and so he is doomed to constant failure.

We get our first glimpse of the kind of fighter Krillin is going to be when he defeats Goku in the rock hunt on the first day of their training.

He first tries to win the competition by forging a counterfeit rock. But when the Muten-Roshi sees through that, he instead uses his counterfeit to fake out Goku and steal the real rock for himself.

He's narratively punished for this victory when his reward dinner poisons him via badly prepared pufferfish. But we see the foundations of what will become his martial style beginning to take root here.

Krillin is a tricky trickster. His goal is to be the guy still standing at the end of the fight. That's what he's here for. Though he does quickly soften up and become Goku's Male Bestie (opposited Bulma as Goku's Female Bestie), he carries this pragmatism with him as he begins to develop his skills.

Note that this is not to say Krillin isn't a capable fighter in his own right. As a pupil of Kame-senryu, he is a formidable martial artist. He begins to show the fruits of his martial training as early as the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai, where he crushes one of the monks that used to bully him in the preliminaries. He also pressures his own mentor, the Muten-Roshi, by raw skill alone.

Krillin's got the skills and he uses them. When I say he's underhanded and deceitful, I don't mean instead of fighting straight. It's a weapon in his toolbelt but not the only one. Nonetheless, it's a potent one, as he nearly defeats the Muten-Roshi via a special technique that only Krillin would devise.

Goddammit, Roshi.

He starts out using these kinds of underhanded tricks to compliment his martial arts. But as he grows as a martial artist, he begins to incorporate strategies like this into his art itself.

Aside from a brief and mostly offscreen bout with General Blue, his next significant fights are in the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai. His fight with Chiaotzu demonstrates the way Krillin's sneakiness and martial training complement one another, as a major spotlight of it is his ki exchange with Chiaotzu.

Chiaotzu, like Tenshinhan, is a trained wielder of the Dodonpa. A lethal technique first introduced by the assassin Taopaipai, designed to fire a thin ki bullet from one finger, straight through its target for a mortal blow.

To counter this, Krillin attempts to perform the Kamehameha for the very first time. Which. Is. Absolutely stupid and reckless, as the Muten-Roshi notes. Baby's First Kamehameha is a poor choice to defend himself from the Dodonpa.

Or it would be, if that were the plan.

This is Krillin's strength in action. He fakes out everyone with an in @ Me Bruh bluff and then skirts around the direct competition to blindside Chiaotzu when he isn't looking. This is what a tricky trickster martial artist looks like.

In his next match with Goku, we see Krillin's ruthless pragmatism on full display. He devises his own version of Tenshinhan's Taiyoken/Solar Flare.

And he nearly wins by a tail when he once again breaks out his weak, improvised Kamehameha.

This bluff is brilliant. He gets Goku's focus on the Kamehameha while his true goal is Goku's tail. Unfortunately for him, Goku - under advisement from both the Muten-Roshi and his Grandpa Gohan - has been training his body to rid himself of that critical flaw over the last three years. His tail no longer saps his energy when it's grabbed.

But if Goku were still the same fighter Krillin knew before, this bluff would have been game-ending for their semifinal match. Krillin's abilities both in martial arts and in knot-cutting have advanced substantially. It's just that Goku's have advanced as well.

Krillin only gets one fight in the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai. But he goes hard.

In the three years since last tournament, Krillin's devised bending ki blasts that home in on their target. Holy shit, what a stellar-

GOT YOU SUCKER THAT'S A FAKEOUT IT'S KRILLER TIME

Krillin's invented bending ki blasts that home in on their target as a distraction. Sadly for Krillin, characters at this point are beginning to distribute Bukujutsu, the Flying Technique, among themselves so surprise ringouts aren't an option anymore. Piccolo's been capable of performing Bukujutsu since his previous life.

Krillin loses the match, though he does force an admission from Piccolo that martial artists of his caliber will make the world difficult to conquer.

The next chance Krillin has to put his skills on display comes six years later when the Saiyans attack the Earth. Vegeta and Nappa grow their six Saibamen, forcing the Earthlings to entertain them by battling these veggie monsters. Tenshinhan and Yamcha handily defeat two of them, though Yamcha's killed by a surprise attack.

And then Krillin decides enough is enough and makes his move: Opening fire directly on Nappa and Vegeta with everything he's got.

A fool's attack guaranteed to fail against the insurmountable might of the Saiyan-no, wait, what's he doing?

Ha, fuck you, he was aiming for the Saibamen the whole time! Made ya look. Though he does also hit Nappa and Vegeta for good measure.

Krillin is technically the first Earthling to ever land a hit on either of these guys. Imagine that. It doesn't do shit to them, but still.

This fight also brings out Krillin's ultimate technique. The epitome of his skills, the final fruits of his labors, the be-all end-all of Krillin Techniques. You already know what I'm talking about.

This. This, right here. The Kienzan/Destructo Disc is peak Krillin. Literally a knife with which to cut the knot. Everyone else is throwing ki punches except those assassins shooting ki bullets. And Krillin stops to ask, "What if I sharpened my ki into a buzzsaw so I can slice open an opponent's flesh rather than trying to beat them at punching?"

Prior to Goku's arrival, this technique from one of the weakest fighters on this field is the closest the overconfident Nappa ever comes to defeat.

Nappa outright tries to take it like a punch. But for Vegeta paying the fuck attention, this would have taken his head clean off. Even Frieza can't resist it.

Because it's not something you resist. It's a buzzsaw. It doesn't hit, it cleaves. It's a technique that's so utterly Krillin in nature.

In fact, the entire Namek arc in general is peak Krillin. A three-way tug-of-war over the Dragon Balls between Frieza's ungodly might, Vegeta's rogue wildcard antics and deadly force, and Krillin being a tricky trickster gunning for any opportunity to scoop victory out from under them.

That Krillin wins.

This is the key to Krillin's longevity as a character. Like the rest of the cast, he eventually falls victim to inability to keep pace with Goku's advances, and becomes further and further de-emphasized from the big action pieces of Dragon Ball.

Krillin's tricky methods were rarely allowed to grant him much success in the ring due to the way they chafe against Dragon Ball's tone. This simply isn't a series where ruthless pragmatism and knot-cutting generally wins the fight. But those same methods also gave him staying power and an ability to continue influencing the plot of Dragon Ball long after he ceased to be relevant as a fighter.

Krillin's style is designed to punch above his weight class, and he's in general a tricky trickster outside of the ring too. The result of this is tremendous staying power as a weaker character brushing elbows with the titanic super gods of the cast. He may not be the clincher in a fight but there's almost always something for a pragmatist like him to do.

[alexanderwales]

Game Review: Factorio: Space Age (pt 2)

This is the second part of my review of Factorio: Space Age, covering the planets. This will have more spoilers than the previous section, but also include more cohesive thoughts on the expansion as a whole.

Vulcanus

Once you've built a spaceship, you have a choice of three planets to go to, and you can do them in any order you'd like. Each planet comes with its own researchable rewards, which require you to build up a base on the planet capable of making a science pack and shipping it into space (or alternately, to remake all sciences on the planet, but this is stupid and pointless given what lies further down the tech tree).

I chose Vulcanus first. There are five resources here, three of which can't be found anywhere else: coal, sulfuric acid, calcite, tungsten ore, and lava. Lava gets used to make anything having to do with copper and iron using the foundry, which is most of the things in Factorio. Sulfuric acid gets used with calcite to make water, which is one of the notable things missing from Vulcanus, along with oil. Plastic requires a long chain to make: coal liquefaction into heavy oil into light oil into petroleum into plastic. Because rockets require plastic twice (LDS and blue chips), you eventually need to set up a fairly sizeable build for this.

I didn't find any of this to be too interesting. Infinite resources are at least different, but there was nothing that fundamentally changed how I view the game, and I ended up setting up a bus with more fluids than usual, mostly making on-site plates, pipes, steel, etc. The art for it is cool, and impassable lava is at least a little constraining, but I didn't feel like it was all that great.

Tungsten ore is the main material from Vulcanus, and it's defended by the other major thing that makes the place unique, the worms. Each worm has a territory, and until you've killed your first worm, you don't have access to a tungsten ore patch, only loose scraps that have been laying around.

The worms are long and segmented, very distinct from the biters. They disable electronics with their attacks, making fountains of lava beneath you, and overall I think they're cool ... except that they're a little too easy to defeat. I set up a grid of 50 turrets with armor-piercing ammo, and that proved sufficient.

This is a boring solution. I wish it didn't work. It was the first thing I tried, and afterward I thought ... well, what was the point of that? I don't have a good solution to what you'd want to do to stop this from working, but I do think this is sort of bad design, since it's a "more dakka" solution. I've also seen that you can build a tank and take one out with a single uranium shell, which is even worse design. What I wanted was a fight were I needed to use poison capsules, land mines, strategically placed turrets, etc., some kind of mixed-asset offensive package, and what I got was fifty turrets in a stupid grid. I really do try to not be one of those players that optimizes myself out of having fun, but it's hard to motivate myself to do something the pointlessly hard way when there's something simple, easy, and foolproof.

The other thing about demolishers is that they have their own territory, and that territory never changes. This means that if you want to expand beyond a relatively modest starting patch, you need to kill them ... but unless you're going for a megabase, you don't need to kill more than three or four of them across the entire time playing the game, and since they only attack if you build in their territory, those worm encounters become like 1% of the Vulcanus experience.

I would have liked if the worm territories changed. I think it would have been cool if they fought each other for dominance over an area in a way you could capitalize on, or if they would expand into places that no one had claimed, or places a dead rival had left behind. It would have been cool to require the player to build up some do-nothing machines or other infrastructure to keep the worms back, like a sort of "build this at the edge of your territory to be in constant motion to convince the worms that it's occupied" type of thing. But instead, you just kill the worms and that's that, you never see them again unless you go hunting them. According to my end-of-game statistics, I killed 8 small demolishers and 2 medium demolishers, which was probably 5 more worms than I needed to kill, since I ended up with a lot of empty space I didn't do anything with.

So overall, Vulcanus is the weakest of the planets for me, and I think that's at least partly down to the under-use of the worms and the simplicity of the "new" mechanics.

Fulgora

Fulgora contains the ruins of a vast civilization, and there are no resources except the heavy oil between islands and the scrap that's left behind. Solar is terrible on Fulgora, but there are lightning storms at night, and lightning towers can collect it into accumulators to power your base.

Scrap gets "recycled" into a bunch of different things, and so it quickly because a nightmare of sorting things out, dealing with excess products, and turning complex materials into simple ones. There are no iron plates, those need to be recycled from iron gears. There are no copper platers, those need to be recycled from copper wire. Blue chips, which in any other circumstance need to be jealously guarded, are found in abundance.

I found this to be great fun. The challenge is certainly unique, turning the production chain on its head, but it has a nice "ramp" to it, as first you get a pile of crap, then you turn it into things, then you uncover excesses that are gumming it up, and the problems keep coming, but they usually come after you've solved some other problem.

When I started, I did a sushi belt (ed. - a sushi belt is a belt that contains multiple unsorted good, controlled by circuit conditions which allow certain limits of each item to go by, named after conveyor belt sushi restuarants), which was good enough for the short term and got me all the basic technologies, but ran into all the problems that come with a sushi belt, and switched over to a belt-based sorting system of splitters that could handle two full green belts of scrap input.

There is, for me, one big miss on Fulgora, which is that the lightning storms are basically not a challenge at all. You set up a grid of substations, each with a lightning rod, and that protects your base. You set up accumulator fields on one tip of the island, and this is a pretty boring solution. If you went to Gleba first, you can instead set up heating towers that burn the fuel you get from scrap, but this doesn't seem like it saves terribly much more space, and either way you need the lightning towers, so I'm not sure it's worth anything, and I never implemented that plan.

One of the other big challenges of Fulgora is that it's a set of islands, and there's no way to place anything on the oil sands. Additionally, there are two types of islands, one with a fair amount of space and minimal scrap, the other with tons of scrap and almost no room. In theory, this encourages a rail world, but in practice, the first island I plopped down on was the one I stayed on the entire time, and my rail network, such as it was, extended to only two of the smaller islands to guarantee all the scrap I would ever need. I think I rolled high on one of those islands: 63M scrap is a ton, but that's what I ended up with on default settings. With the drills from Vulcanus, expected output is double that, and with the legendary drills I can now produce, it would be 787M. There's simply not a need to place rails elsewhere.

I do feel that Fulgora would have benefitted from some enemies of some kind, either those that lived on the oil fields, so you'd have to build defenses on the edges of the islands, or some kind of robot enemy that you needed to kill to take islands from. Given the setup of an abandoned high-tech planet, and the electrical weapons you unlock there, it would have been nice to have some reason or chance to use them. I've definitely played Factorio scenarios with bot opponents and buildings that can be captured after the AI's defenses have been breached.

Still, the scrap sorting puzzle was a good one, with many solutions, and Fulgora was a ton of fun.

Gleba

Gleba is a swampy fungi planet. There are no conventional resources except for stone, and pretty much everything else is derived from two plants, jellynut and yamako, that get broken down.

The main mechanic of the planet is spoilage, where materials break down over time. Jellynut and yamako last for about an hour, the products you get from them are much less, a material made from both of them, bioflux, lasts a lot longer, and nutrients, which are fed to the new building, the biochamber, last hardly any time at all.

Spoilage is cool because it requires a very different mindset. Normally in Factorio, you're building up big buffers to minimize downtime. On Gleba, you want as little buffer as possible, just constant rivers of materials flowing by to be as fresh as possible, because if anything stays still for too long, there's a chance it'll spoil, which will stop the machine trying to take the ingredient, which can create a spoilage cascade.

My initial plan was to have some kind of circuit-based just-in-time system, where every machine would be monitored in order to see what ingredients it needed, and everything would be made fresh-to-order.

I ended up not doing this, mostly because demand stays relatively constant, and where it doesn't stay constant, you can just eat the spoilage costs. There's so much abundance that you really don't need to care about half your crops going to waste.

The other reason I didn't end up going with this is because unfortunately, the "river of goods" solution has essentially no complications to it, and you can simply dump everything into a recycler/incinerator at the end. In some of the Factorio overhaul mods, this concept is called "voiding", a way of dealing with byproducts, and if you make voiding easy, you essentially remove a logistical challenge, which means less gameplay. I kind of get why they made this easy, but ... I don't know. I did kind of want something that would require a big, complicated solution, a factory that dances on the edge of clogging itself up.

I ended up with a completely belt-based system, with a belt of jelly and mash, then a belt of bioflux, all nutrients made on demand, and production lines in defined blocks. The final build does 520 science/minute, which becomes 2Ks/m with full-prod biolabs, most of which goes into the trash, since it's not actually consumed all the time.

One of my favorite little puzzles of Gleba was the metals, which are produced with bacteria that spoil in a minute, becoming ore. There's a process, with bioflux, of having bacteria make more bacteria, but if the bacteria ever stop flowing (if, for example, you have enough ore), then they spoil and die, and the whole production line stops. So you need to build in a little kickstart system that will inject new bacteria if it's needed, and I found that to be delightful to work on.

The other major thing on Gleba are the enemies, which are pentapods. Pentapod eggs are necessary to make biochambers and science, but after you have one, you can set up breeding, which is dangerous given they can make more of themselves, but definitely the way to go. There are three forms of pentapod, all with their own weaknesses, and ...

Look, I went to Gleba last, but I put up a defensive wall fairly early on using only materials that I had gotten from Gleba, and then basically never had any cause to think about the pentapods again. Because I slapped this down with blueprints, it took all of ten minutes, most of which was spent fixing the kind of scuffed corners (skill issue). So I would say the amount that I actually got to experience the pentapods was pretty minimal. I also shipped in four artillery turrets that are crowded around a box of ammo, supplied by site-made shells using imported tungsten, and the circle almost entirely contains my pollution cloud, so in theory it's just an easily solved problem.

It might have been different if I had gone to Gleba first, I don't know and can't say without actually doing that, but I would have liked a little more of a challenge, and this might be where being a veteran hinders me.

Overall, I really enjoyed Gleba, the mechanics were new and unique, the little puzzles inherent in design were interesting, and I thought that overall it had the best art direction of the four planets, which is saying something, because I think they're all great on the front.

Aquilo

On every other planet, a "cold start" is possible, building up from just what you find laying around. Aquilo is different: it's a planet with ammonia oceans and some scattered liquid vents, and part of the point of it is that you need materials from outside, including anything made from iron, copper, or stone. You can't softlock on other planets, but you can softlock on Aquilo.

Aside from requiring pretty solid planetary logistics, Aquilo's main mechanic is heat. It's cold enough there that bots don't work very well, and everything has to have a heat pipe near it for it to function, including pipes and belts. To heat up a heat pipe takes either nuclear, fusion, or the heat towers that burn up fuel, and if the heat ever stops flowing, everything will seize up, requiring heroic efforts to get running again.

There's not all that much to Aquilo. You pull up slurry from the ocean, split it into ammonia and ice, use them together to make ice platforms, import concrete, and then combine oil and ammonia to make rocket fuel, which is used to both launch rockets and to toss into heating towers for power and heat to keep everything running.

The science pack is easy, though it require imported holmium plate, and my entire 200 science per minute production line was run off a tiny cluster of buildings that would have been pretty trivial to expand.

It seems to me that Aquilo is at least partly inspired by Seablock, an infamous mod where you start with almost nothing on a tiny island that you have to expand with the mineral sludge you dredge up with an offshore pump. But Seablock is a very long mod, one that typically takes hundreds of hours, and here ... well, there are a handful of challenges, and they're not all that challenging. I think I could probably list them out now.

Making ammonia also makes ice. You can void excess ice through repeated recycling, but ammonia can't be voided except by combining it with crude oil to make solid fuel, which can then be put in an incinerator. I solved this problem with a simple circuit condition.

Science and some crafting uses coolant, which must be cooled back down after use. If you just keep making coolant, eventually the system will seize up, since you won't be able to put more hot coolant into the system. But because this is a lossy cycle (you lose half the coolant) you can just hook a pump up to a tank and only inject more hot coolant into the system when below a threshold.

Outposts need their own heating for the pumps to work, and those outposts are, on default settings, quite far away. This requires setting up a self-sufficient little heating module that's either serviced by train or which runs entirely with materials found at the outpost. I ended up doing two different modules, one for oil outposts and the other for everywhere else ... but I never actually had to use them, because there were sufficient resources for tens of thousands of resources right next to the starting area.

As the "final boss", I am underwhelmed, and even as one of four planets I find myself a little underwhelmed. I don't know how much postgame stuff I'm going to do, but I can't see that there's going to be much challenge in going large on Aquilo, except that I might have to build another ship for moving in materials (as currently I have a single ship that makes a circuit of the solar system for materials and also handles shipments of science).

There is also, again, a lack of enemy. Once the rocket fuel setup was done, I had a single scare when ammonia backed up and stopped ice production, which shut down the water chem plant, which killed the turbines and stopped power to the entire base. But that didn't even freeze anything out, and it was fixed pretty easily from a restart module I'd built earlier, and after that, the ammonia issue was fixed to never have that problem again. If the cold is the enemy, it's not enough of one for my tastes.

Integration

With each planet you conquer, you get a new science pack, which opens up new technologies, and in theory you, can use them on other planets. These buildings are very powerful, and so there's some incentive to return to old factories, rip up old designs, and install new ones using the better buildings.

I did eventually do this, but I'm not sure how much I actually needed to. My furnace stacks were replaced by the foundries from Vulcanus, supplies by a hauler ship exclusively for calcite, though I did make an abortive attempt to just harvest calcite from space using a stationary space platform.

(I made four of them before giving up on the project, and found out only later that asteroid spawn rates depend on how many chunks large the ship is, so the ideal build has asteroid collectors on very long arms, and there's nothing in the game that tells you about the asteroid spawning thing, so ... whatever, it's opaque and very gamey hidden stuff, of the kind that I hate.)

I replaced my circuit production areas with the EMP, which saved vast quantities of resources and also made more circuits at a much faster rate within the same blueprint. I upgraded most belts to green.

I didn't end up using the biochambers much, in part because they need nutrients to run, and 50% prod with more module slots is great, but not so great that I wanted to set up a biter egg farm that could potentially blow up in my face.

Cryochambers just came too late for me to implement them anywhere, though I probably would if I kept playing to the megabase stage, or if I'm gunning for an achievement that requires updating Nauvis.

So I think, strangely, when considering how the planets impact each other, they ... kind of don't all that much? Yes, having foundries on Gleba means that you can make all your belts and things at a fraction of the cost, but how much doesn't that really impact anything? It meant that my ore production areas could be smaller, I guess. Is that worth anything? I kind of don't think so, if I'm considering the main gameplay to be in terms of design and decisions. Foundries saved me from having to lay down a furnace stack. EMPs saved me from having to have expansive red circuit lines to get the blue chips necessary for rocket launches.

Ideally, I would have liked one or two killer techs that mostly work through combining each planet's "thing". Like imagine that there was a combination recycler and foundry that melted down whatever was put into it, giving you molten copper and iron in exchange, creating a whole new kind of problem in exchange for ... I don't know, much much faster recycling, or less loss from recycling, or maybe a recipe that allowed true voiding. Or if you went to Gleba and then Vulcanus, and were able to bring biochambers that would allow the cultivation of some new specimen specific to that environment, maybe something that would allow better plastic production, or could pull water out of the air, both of which are kind of a pain in the ass on Vulcanus. Couldn't there be some kind of new bacteria swimming in the oil sands of Fulgora? Not something that would trivialize any challenge, something that would be a reward for having two flavors of research from two different planets. Ideally, there'd be six of these in total, allowing for each pair to benefit each other pair, but at that point I start to feel like I'm just asking for new content.

I cracked my game back open to check the tech tree, and all the Aquilo techs require all three planets. The are two techs that require mixed packs: Rail Support Foundations, which simplify rails for Fulgora, and Railgun Damage, which increases the power of the railgun. That's it. This screams missed opportunity to me.

So in terms of how the planets and their mechanics interact with each other ... I would say that they mostly don't, which is a bit of a shame. The biochamber in particular requires nutrients, which makes it effectively unusable on Vulcanus and Fulgora ... unless you're shipping in heroic quantities of bioflux, I guess, though I don't think that I could ever see myself doing that. I guess maybe on Vulcanus, which has the aforementioned plastics problem? But it feels like the kind of thing that would mostly be done for a stunt rather than because it was actually the right thing to do. And potentially on Nauvis, but it does seem like a megabase thing to do, rather than normal play. I will have to do the math, this too might be a skill issue.

(Real quick: 1 Bioflux makes 8 nutrients in a standard biochamber, which is 12 with prod, which is 24 MJ. A biochamber consumes 500kW, so with no spoilage nutrients allow 2 crafts of the 2 second oil cracking recipes, which means that every Bioflux can, at most, turn 960 heavy oil into 1080 light oil rather than the 720 light oil it would normally crack into. But obviously since the Bioflux has to be shipped in, it ends up being less than that. This is obviously more effective than shipping over oil itself, but ... man, I don't know, this seems very weak, even with adding in productivity to other steps. I guess the use case in Nauvis, where you're in theory shipping Bioflux anyway in order to feed captive biters, but that's still premised on an oil shortage that I never actually experienced.)

I do also want to say that quality had very little impact on my play. I tended to carry around some high quality quality modules and use them when crafting infrastructure, but in most cases it just wasn't much to write home about. It's most important for the ships, and for personal stuff, but it never felt that important.

And finally, I do want to give a shoutout to how easy and effective remote viewing was. One of the things I'm going to eventually do, after a Factorio break, is the 40 hour achievement run, and I have to imagine that a lot of that is just landing on a planet, doing the unlocks, building a rocket to get back, then having starter bots do all the actual base building for me, which is pretty cool.

Conclusion

Space Age took me about 140 hours, and I would say that about 10 of that was idle time while I was waiting for legendary ship parts or for a buildup of materials. The Jacknape-class ships have an issue with ammo production where they can more or less keep up with rockets, but the belt buffer goes from the front of the ship to the back, meaning that it empties from where it's needed most, rather than emptying where it's needed least, and yeah, having a fully stacked buffer takes a hot minute of waiting. Similarly, the quality module I made works over sufficient time scales, but especially while waiting on quality quality modules, there's a real temptation to just leave it running rather than actively playing.

130 hours for a veteran player is a long time for an expansion, much longer than I would have expected, even knowing what I knew about the expansion going in. Some of that time I don't count as expansion time, like all the parts where I was just doing normal Factorio stuff, and I did end up building adapted malls on each of the planets, which added on more time that could have been cut out by making an effective blueprint the first go-around, and which I don't really count as expansion time, because there's not much that's unique about making the new malls. But even if I'm arbitrarily cutting things out, that's still a ton of time.

Overall, I'm extremely happy with it, and I think I'll be more happy with it once there's another round of iteration, QoL, changes based on feedback, and modding. The modding scene for Factorio is really really good, and I have to imagine that the expansion is only going to make it better, particularly some of the changes that were made to implementation.

But I do think that it could have been more, and maybe this is just coming from a guy with more than a thousand hours in this game and multiple overhaul mods under his belt. It's very possible I would have had a better time with it if I'd chosen a higher difficulty, though of course that's very hard to know ahead of time. Certainly there were some design misses for me, and at least some of that is because I have enough experience that I can fix things with circuitry, plan a base that doesn't immediately become spaghetti, and see the deadlocks coming. I'm not saying that it wasn't hard, because parts of it certainly were, and I'm not saying that I made a bunch of perfect bases with no major flaws, because there were designs that needed to be ripped out and belts that needed to squeak through. But I think I would have preferred more complexity, more problems, more more more, and I'll have to hope that mods can give it to me.

All that said, this is the best expansion I've ever played, they put a ton of work into making sure that every planet was truly different from the others artistically and mechanically, and it's a 10/10 from me.

(I do plan on getting all achievements ... eventually. The "win in 40 hour" achievement seems very doable, and that's the hardest of the lot, though the others might take some significant time. It took me multiple years to finally getting around to doing the last green chip achievement, so I'm in no rush.)

[shinnyshining]

Things I brought today (mostly at the SE exhibition) and some opinions about the whole experience

I couldn’t get everything I wanted I over estimated how much cash I’ll need to have with me so I’ll probably will go again tomorrow

Which is the last day so I need to go early…

I also couldn’t get that one frame magnet I wanted…volume 5 my dads….no… I’ll….I have no choice but to get the whole set just to get them guaranteed cuz I cant go back to the shopping area onceI exit the shop 😭

And its all sold out in the second hand listings on mercari jp ,…hope the whole box is somewhat affordable

Anyway…if I get doubles, yall know how to dm me ;3

Also I got the kid ,liz and patty shikishi as you can see and I only hope to get soul and maka tomorrow cuz its so expensive on mercari I wont be paying 3000 yen just for a shikishi no waaay

WAIT

I FORGOT

I got the only cute exhibition keychain because ohkubo gave them very questionable angled illustrations which didnt translate well in merchs in my opinion ESPECIALLY on the acrylic stands they look nightmare fuels, but crona is fine (I sense some favoritism ngl) patty was cute too actually but I was on a budget

Anddd I got the badges from blind bags so its all gacha I like crona though Im happy and I will give the tsubaki one to a friend.

There were two entry tickets one was 2500 yen as standart

And the other was 3000 yen with limited goods which was this wristband , I think for 500 yen more it was worth it I might get another one tomorrow with entrance its high quality and soft

Lastly if you brought anything over 5000yen total you get this bag, but you wont get a double for every 5000 you buy, quickly learned since I spended around 11k with some goods I picked for my friend, so if anyone is interested in going to the Osaka venue, just so you know if you go with a friend you may wanna pay separately if you want a bag for every each one of you

Also tip from me: dont be stupid like me and bring more money with you if theres something you want that is not guaranteed and is in a blind bag…cuz the chances of you getting lucky is not reliable and if you are as desperate as me you’ll pay for another entrance😭😭😭

Especially cuz you cant go back there if it turns out you didn’t get what you wanted, you’ll need another ticket so…buying the box seems more worth it (only if you need and want something absolutely that you’ll go that far) (actually its not a super big deal for badges and limited shikishi boards and cards since there aren’t many designs. But the mangets…they have 16 designs so it is pricey)

Now as for the exhibition hall itself, most things were okay to photograph and its consisted of mostly manga panels and official arts,there were cool cut outs and giant volume covers on the walls. seeing the panels upclose was interesting especially cuz I do comics as well and aspire to do it professionally in the future

But I guess the coolest experience is that they fully voice acted a certain chapter from the manga (didn’t finish it yet so I don’t know which) but it was so cool cuz it was all newly voiced (manga only duh) and the visuals were in a dynamic video edited pretty well, there were some live 2d just a little but it was there, it was not allowed to film that there which gives me hope that they will upload it to socials after the exhibition fully ends nationwide. But you never know

(italso gave me hope for a possible remake but I don’t wanna get my hopes up)

Anyway I might make a google drive with everything I took pictures of later , Im kinda tired today

but I wanna say to those who have high expectations for this exhibition

don’t expect something revolutionary.unfortunately it was mostly manga pages displayed (the giant official art were cool though cuz you could see more details of them) and as for props, aside from some decorations hanging from the walls and cielings here and there there was a shinigami sama cut out and the mirror, but thats about it) so definitely a little underwhelming for a 20th anniversary exhibition , at least from my expectations

I enjoyed it because I like Soul Eater and Im pretty hyperfixated on it right now, but that doesn’t keep me away from criticizing it and I do just that CUZ I LIKE SOUL EATER

there were so many things they could do and honestly for 20th anniversary it was pretty small and the exclusive merchandise was just… meh??? especially the illustrations made specifically for the Exhibition itself (which wasn’t even that much just the main 3 duo/trio’s) Honestly I have to say Im quite disappointed with Ohkubo it seemed like he didn’t give his all designing the illustrations. they didn’t even performed well as various types of goods and ,sure, he made a design and its not that bad , but he could at least draw them again with no weird angling that only looks okay in a promotional poster, aside from that, you know the magnets are made from previously made official arts and manga covers, there were some cool stuff like kid’s skateboard and Soul’s jacket but those are made to order and you can’t even get them there at the time,

NOT TO MENTION THIS SUPER COOL ART WAS NI WHERE TO BE FOUND AT THE GOODS SHOP IT IS A MISSED OPPORTUNITY TO ME!!

A mini acrylic stand of this could be sooo cool 😭😭😖

The nuis are cool it was well overdue I hope they will make more characters in the future they should capitalize on them a bit more

Tote bags , hoodies and such were something to be expected from exhibitions like this Im not really impressed but they were nice as designs

But my opinion is set, they could’ve done so much more for this exhibition and it was a little underwhelming so only consider attending if you like to see official arts and manga panels up close, and if you like to interact with very limited props and watching the exclusive manga voice acting (to me that alone is worth to visit ngl) and of course the goods, only if you’re interested in

I do some theories why this exhibition was the way it is I mainly think, the budget was set and it was not much to do more than what we got especially considering the made to order goods, but it gives me hope, even after 20 years I think Soul Eater as a series is still profitable and I hope this exhibition does well enough for the higher ups to consider making more things in the future

Thats all from Shining today :3

[dayseedrawz2]

Hahaha uhmm idk what to do so here's a self-indulgent Uh I mean practice fic while I mentally prepare for chapter 4 based on that One post I made a while back.

This is all cannon to Ring-Misstress AU btw

Uhhh enjoy!!

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"Bedtime story" - (A Ring-Misstress fanfic fanfic)

Pomni found herself walking towards her room, not just alone, but with a child holding her hand. But it was all by choice (mostly). She and Caine now had a mission to raise this small AI. She herself was surprised just how motherly she could be.

[So, I get to sleep in the big bed with you??]

♧Just untill Caine and I can design your own bed. Here, go ahead and look around!♧

The Ring-Misstress opened up the door with her face on it.

This was Voz's first time in his new mother's room. Well- his first time in the circus at all! His first day existing! The moment he stepped in to look around, something immediately caught his eye.

Up on a small desk beside the bed stood a small plushie. A chubby yellow and green alligator with a cowboy hat. Sitting on the edge of the desk with its arms and legs stretched straight out in front of him.

Voz had to jump but successfully obtained the plush from its spot. Pomni noticed him and chuckeld.

♧I see you've met my friend Gummigoo.♧

[Is that his name??]

♧Yup. Named him after an old friend of mine. I got him as a gift! My most prized possession!♧

[Really?? Woah...]

Voz looked up at Pomni and back down at the Gummigoo in his hands. Pomni pulled out a replica of Caine's WackyWatch.

♧Welp, let's get you and Gummi to bed. Caine says you gotta recharge.♧

She picked him up, still with the plush in his hands. As she tucked him in, his little artificial mind couldn't help but stay curious.

[Mama, you said he's named after an old friend. Who??]

♧Yesh, it's quite a long story... you sure??♧

Pomni teased, knowing this was most likely a lure to get him to stay up longer.

[Yes yes yes please tell me everything!!]

Voz squealed with excitement, wanting nothing more but to learn about his mother and the world around him.

♧Alright, alright, I guess a little bedtime story wouldn't hurt. Well, it all started the second day I joined the circus...♧

*Insert Pomni's POV from episode 2 (you already know what happened) ok back to the story*

[Papa did WHAT!?]

He squezzed Gummigoo as right as he could.

♧Mhmm.♧

Pomni nodded. It was a whole lot for Voz to take in. "But... if that happened the day after Pomni and Caine met, then... how are they still friends??"

[So... you weren't mad at him..?]

♧Oh no, I was really mad At him for a LOOOOOOONG time. Untill one day...♧

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

Caine stood in midair, confused why the Jester was so blind by rage.

☆Pomni... I- I don't understand... he was just some old NPC of mine! Why are you so... upset-☆

♧OF COURSE YOU DONT UNDERSTAND YOU HEARTLESS PEACE OF SH-♧

The Ringmaster crossed his arms with an exaggerated expression on his face. Still oblivous to the issue at hand.

☆Hey, hey! There's no need for such language!May I remind you that The Amazing Digital Circus has a very strict family-friendly Policy-☆

♧I DON'T CARE ABOUT SOME STUPID @#! POLICY!! YOU'RE A SORRY EXCUSE FOR A RINGMASTER! YOU DIDN'T EVEN HESITATE TO SNAP HIM OUT OF EXISTENCE!! I JUST WANTED TO HELP HIM AND NOW HE'S- ...he's...♧

Pomni suddenly stopped. Small sniffles escaped her as she stormed off to who knows where.

A few hours passed, and there was no sign of Pomni. Caine had asked all the other performers for any information, but they either didn't know or didn't care to help him.

He was digitally heartbroken. He somberly floated around the circus tents interior. Pomni would probably never look him in the face ever again. He just wanted to get to know his new performer. He genuinely didn't know what he had done wrong. If he could just try to find her and talk things out...

Then, he heard what sounded like Pomni sobbing in the distance.

☆Well, that's oddly convenient.☆

He followed the sound and turned the corner to see that it was, in fact, Pomni. She sat on the floor with her knees to her chest and her head buried in her hands to cry. He called for her, but she didn't answer and stayed in the same position.

The ringmaster let out a defeated sigh as he descended to the ground to sit beside her.

☆Hey...☆

He scooted a little closer, so he was heard. This was probably the quietest Pomni had ever heard him.

☆I know I probably haven't been doing my best, but-☆

☆I just want you to know that I'm trying.☆

☆I really am.☆

☆and I'm sorry if I've screwed it all up.☆

☆I am so, very sorry, my dear...☆

He thought about the argument they had. That NPC really did make her happy. More than he ever could. But he took it away from her. He's supposed to make his members happy, and he took away the ONE thing that brought her joy. She was right... What a sorry excuse of a Ringmaster...

At this point, he, too, was on the brink of tears.

Pomni finally looked up. She saw that he really was being genuine. But still salty, she got up and faced away from him, crossing her arms.

Caine also got up. He began to speak again, trying to be a bit less quiet.

☆Oh... I see... B-but I still wanna make it up to you! I... I realized how much your NPC friend made you happy. And I really wanted to keep it that way. I was really hoping we could... start over. So... I made this!☆

He snapped his fingers, and Pomni's hands spawned a little plush replica of her gummy gator friend. She slowly turned to look at Caine again. He was looking down, fidgeting with his hands. He quickly stopped once he realized that she was looking at him.

Pomni looked back at the plush, then back up at Caine. Her eyes were watering, and her mouth began to quiver. Caine's expression of worry returned, and he began fidgeting again.

☆O-oh... oh my you- you're crying again... I wasn't sure if this would help, but it looks like I have my answer. ...I suppose I'll see myself out now-☆

Pomni leaped towards Caine and wrapped her arms around him. For a moment, Caine froze. This was the first time someone had hugged him willingly, so though unexpected, he still returned it.

♧Thank you Caine. You're still kind of an awful ringmaster, but I forgive you...♧

☆Does this mean we can start over..?☆

Pomni nodded. Even though made out of teeth, you could still make out a huge smile on Caine's face. She couldn't help but giggle at his attempts to keep his cool.

♧Heheh, let ME be the ringmaster for a day why don't ya?♧

She joked through her now happy tears. Caine caught on and laughed along with her.

☆Ha! You'd probably do a better job than me!☆

♧Pfft, no kidding!♧

The pair laughed together for the rest of the evening.

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♧And that's how me and Caine became friends! And how i git one of my favorite gifts! I thought you're father just wanted to hurt us but turns out... he's actually... really sweet. Uh- So... what do you-♧

Pomni was brought back to the present moment, smiling down at Voz who was fast asleep, hugging the Gummigoo plush.

Perhaps there was more than one prized possession Caine had given her...

[colourful-void]

alright closing umineko for the night!! i had a great time with it so far!! i really like the writing style, and for the most part its actually a lot less dense than i was expecting. I thought it might be some house of leaves stuff but no this is pretty easy to read, at least so far! im rlly glad for that like it doesn't feel too simple, not too complicated, its good!

current character thoughts run down, though i've barely started so i dont know much yet: ginzo: he sucks he totally sucks and im convinced that he made some kidna deal w/ beatrice in order to take advantage of the earthquake and war and such. not entirely convinced hes not about to just murder the whole family bcs he seems like he would do that. krauss: also sucks. just a real dick, but in like. he's a standard asshole really. natsuhi: much in the same vien, but she's got that matriach of the family thing going on i hope will b explored more <3 jessica: she's neat i like her! looking forward to more on her. Eva: i was digging for her a while and then i saw how she treated shannon and it went out the window hideyoshi: ive yet to expirence a thought on this man George: he's very tropey in a good way and i enjoy he's friendly guy swag. looking forward to it inevitably falling to pieces rudolf: DICK!! kyrie: girl leave your husband. i can treat u better <3, im glad she has some decency but my mind aint set on her yet battler: HES SO CRINGEEEE <333333333333333333333333333333333333333333 sometimes he does genuinely offput me but mostly he's just stupid <3 rosa: be a bit nicer to ur daughter, but beyond that shes chill i think. no big thoughts here. i do like her dynamic in relation to the rest of the siblings so far maria: MARIA MY DARLING MY DEAREST SHES SO SWEET AND SILLY AND CLEARLY OMINOUS I CANT WAIT TO SEE WHAT DARK MAGICS OVERTAKE HER OR WHATEVER <333 maria for whatever the fuck she wants 2024 love her so much no crazy thoughts on the head butler or doctor but i think in a different world the butler and ginzo had crazy gay sex shannon: shes soooo sweetie <3 suspiciously so this game wants me to like her so bad and i do <3. i am aware of one key spoilery fact about shannon uncovered in some content warnings i recieved, but its kinda fun seeing the set up for that! everyone be nicer to my girl kanon: hes suspcious but overly so and i wonder what his deal is. i also think all the servants need to be treated better this fucking furnature stuff <3 its awful i love it narratively gohda: i think he would kill someone with very little hesitation. i wanna try that panna cotta. kumasawa: shes like a grandma to me <333 i like her!!

i havent met beatrice yet but im looking forward to it she looks super neat.

i also apperciate how slow burn this is, a few hours in and very little has happened yet it's nice. there's already a lot building but like. nothing big yet it's nice. i like it. it feels like it's moving at exactly the pace it wants to and i enjoy it a lot. the sound design is also rlly good. the music is really nice a couple times i got distracted and just listened to it in the bg. the sfx r nice too.

i do not regret my sprite choice i like these designs they're fun, but i do think maria looks a little off for her alleged age of 9, but it's easy to ignore after a min or two.ironically when i was loading the game and saw her on the steam page it def aligned better, but at the cost battler to my eyes is now yassified. he cant be a pretty boy to me he's too lame.

voice acting is great everyones putting fucking everyting into it and i enjoy that. fully commited to the enviroment and its great.

where i left off: everyone just finished having lunch! kumasawa covered for shannon not knowing the red sauce's ingredients. that's all for now! not sure when ill paly more, probably tomorrow, but its been good!! good game so far i like this setg up!! im also eagar to get more into the murder and violence and witch stuff but like, it does a good joib of setting up the characters so i dont feel impatient, and unlike a lot of games w/ murder n mystery that get right into it i kinda find it refreshing how slow this one is to start its like we all know itll get there so the tension of everyone being relatively calm is great.

anyway, umineko day 1: it was good =D

[liquidstar]

🔥🔥🔥🔥

For drinks, fandom, character design, and uh free choice for whatever you feel like bestie

Ok for drinks, I've actually been thinking about this all day- I saw a poll that said something like “have you ever been to a house party (with alcohol; no family parties)” and, well, maybe op meant it as two separate points of clarity but… it's normal to drink at family parties? Right? Ik it's totally not the point of the poll, but I've never been to a family party where there weren't drinks. Why would there not be drinks???? There should be drinks. Those don't have to be mutually exclusive.

I realize that you were probably asking me about drink preference opinions. I don't have any strong unpopular ones. My grandpa makes a mean moonshine though. We have it at family parties, you see.

TBH whenever I’m at parties, family or otherwise, or just at the club or a restaurant, my drink of choice is usually just “bring me something with 2 or 3 shots of vodka idk im just trying to get drunk.” im going somewhere this week that has once rejected my id bc i look young, so this time i’m bringing my whole passport. I think it’s at my parents house but i will get it. And so help me god i am going to drink this time. Thats not even an unpopular opinion just a personal grievance lol

-

For fandom…. My unpopular opinion is that actually it’s best to just get into stuff a couple years after the peak popularity. I know some ppl feel like they missed out, but I think it’s better. You don’t have to deal with The Fandom People, but theres still stuff to engage with, and still a following of fewer dedicated ppl who weren’t just riding a fandom hypetrain. It’s more chill. Like, I am so sorry, but rn it’s dungeon meshi. I was really enjoying it at first, but the fandom made me wanna stop, at least for now. Mostly because I dislike the way people in it seem to look down on other works within the same medium, and that also does the work itself a discredit. But yeah, I wanna try to get back into it, but I need people to, like, relax first. Thats also why im able to peacefully enjoy rezero on tumblr, where theres like 12 ppl into it, so i dont have to deal w the annoying nerdboy fans who just talk abt "waifus" (its funny that my issues are "too pretentious" and "not pretentious enough" lol)

-

My 3rd unpopular opinion is that fart jokes can be kinda funny but they have to be done well. im fresh off the heels of watching a movie with the kids, so thats why im thinking abt this. You can't just throw it in randomly it's about timing. And it has to know it's stupid. I think the key is it has to know it's stupid. BUT NOT GROSS. gross on its own its nothing. Adventure Time and Regular Show understand. Very deep opinions only here

[otakween]

Digimon Tamers - Episode 50

Meh, I didn't like this episode. It was just kind of boring and felt like a repeat of the last episode. I think they gave this show too many episodes so a lot of these finale episodes just feel like padding. Some fat trimming was needed.

Notes:

Takato's parents being like "that's my boy" as Dukemon flew off into the distance came off as very funny/silly to me

It's a really good thing that Culumon stuck by Juri. It gave her someone to snap her out of her funk and someone for her to fight for when Culumon's in peril.

Why does a little Leomon hologram suddenly show up on Juri's digivice? What's that supposed to mean...?

Really not sure what that giant blue and orange blob they all flew into to use the red card was supposed to be or where it came from. Is that something the adults created?

The side characters are all kinda flopping as usual. Kenta and Hirokazu show up randomly only to be interrupted by the authorities who were looking for them (thanks for nothing, boys!) Meanwhile, Ryo interrupts the main trio to be like "And I'm here too!" (I don't dislike Ryo, he's just very flat as a character). I did kind of like the moment between Shiuchun and Lopmon where Lopmon is sad that they can't digivolve to ultimate. At least that scene had some heart to it.

So I haven't been paying attention to digivice colors at all and was surprised to see that Ruki's is blue and Takato's is yellow. I remember that Takato's shattered at one point and used to be red. Did it turn yellow when he got it back? I guess I kinda thought Ruki's would be yellow since that's Renamon's main color...(since Jian's is green for Terriermon). Also, also, Ryo's is blue too but the design is different. I'd like to see a behind-the-scenes explanation for these choices.

Main reason I thought this episode was stupid is a new threat appears from the digital world, but like...why did we need this? It's design is much worse than the creepy "goddess" monster from the previous episode. It's just a big blob with an angry mouth. When Ruki said "I'm afraid," I didn't buy it because it didn't look intimidating to me at all. It also has scythes haphazardly coming out of its body in a way the just looks janky. It feel like there was very little thought put into this design. Why couldn't they just fight the goddess monster? This is dumb! (Also...dat early 2000s CGI lol).

(It's pretty obvious to me which one looks cooler)

Mako and Ai moment was sweet. Interesting that they share a digivice...that's a new development. I'd feel kind of annoyed if that happened to me and everyone else go their own partner/digivice. It's purple, because Impmon.

I'm pretty sure there's no deep meaning behind it but I wish they'd stop putting Juri in a crucified position. It's just overdone in anime lol

I thought the opening theme was misused in this episode. Save that for the ending! It just didn't have any emotional impact here.

Grani's sacrifice also had very little emotional impact since he was just barely a character (only started talking this episode). I like Dukemon's new look, but I wish the wings didn't glow so much that they have zero detail. He looked more badass in the title card than in the actual episode.

Whelp! Only one episode to go. Very excited to see this one wrapped up. Mostly excited for whatever after-the-battle/epilogue stuff they throw at us since I've found most of the battle scenes to be kinda dull. Onto the next!

[warriorend-2]

ok ok since i can't be stupid and gay all the time (<- college student)

putting this shit under a cut bc while it's mostly just me rambling it's. spoiler heavy. & also wound up being 1600 words. sorry

1: possibly the most glaring thing, which makes me doubt the Phantom being a lot of otherwise-possible candidates, is that they would have to be very good at infiltration

-I presume Roxana didn't put the medal in her computer herself, which means whoever did put it there had to get in after she left, get into the computer without waking up Robutler, modify it to put it there, & put everything back (mostly) the way it was & leave a combination. granted maybe they just gave the medal to Roxana to put in there, but like. why

-getting it into that spot in the mines wouldn't have been too hard i don't think, just. knowing where the mine is and then sneaking in during off-duty hours (...assuming those happen)

-tbh the one in blind spot is probably the easiest to place given that it's just behind a license plate, & cars do have to stop sometimes even if it's not often

-i'm. not sure how they got the medal into hot water though. i'm guessing they snuck it in among the materials? (the other option here is that Zor had a hand in getting it there, which opens up a whole other can of worms so i'm not gonna. think about that one too hard)

-the one in cold shoulder is also not too hard to see it getting there. i would laugh if they had to make a mold of that little compartment & then make a block of ice for it though.

-the one in kboom is where i'm like. OK this facility is presumably not super new but it's also not super old given its current purpose. it may have been repurposed but still. how did they get the medal where it is and then also tag the bucket. the volcano doesn't look like it's horribly far away from shore (in the ending credits) but (also i'm aware the medal shouldn't even be able to be where it is but. yknow.)

and odds are that it doesn't matter that much, i'm just. they had a little safe set up in the control point already, they had access to the pneumatic tubes, etc. if the locations have any bearing and aren't just "here's somewhere to stick this puzzle that would be hard to figure out", then that implies some Shit about the phantom (& possibly also their allies. if they have any. if they do I highly doubt they're Agency-related.). given where the phantom gets to i am somewhat leaning towards the idea it may be V. Vitti (also the. insignia), given that we've seen the sort of places Agent Phoenix gets into (...seat of power) & so

2: Zor's goals feel a lot more on a personal bent this game, not just irt destroying the Agency but also. destroying the kinesium & anything that uses it. so whatever their reason, it seems to be a lot more personal (+ they actively Address the player more often, which could be Phoenix's infamy but also in the other games they were barely present, both in terms of voicelines & actual like. Story Push. they were a very passive supervillain in the other games, is what i'm saying)

which leads me up to like. we all know characters can lie, & in this series it's kinda expected, but. idk. i keep circling back to the shield generator. & the lava generators being accessible from Phoenix's cabin, but not the one Roxana was in. & Phoenix's cabin seemingly having all this shit that the others didn't have, & it could have been a tactical choice on Phoenix's part, but.

i mean. Zor does definitely say they want you dead, but they don't say it directly a whole lot (iirc they say "kill you and Prism" but otherwise they don't directly address the player in death threats, it's usually just. agents, plural. or "whatever end you meet" which is also a threat but is vague)

which just. why is Agent Phoenix still alive? Game design aside, of course. It wouldn't be much of a game if the villain kills you in the first level, after all.

But it feels, to me, like the weaknesses are far too glaring to be just missed over, especially in 3, because. if they want you dead that badly, why. why leave things so safe?

Hot Water is one i wind up on a lot, because you could chalk things up to being deathtraps, but Ollie knew about the gas and the grenade trap, & seemed completely unfazed by them (& kinda implied that's just How It Is for new folks), so they're not necessarily targeted, it's just standard practice. Putting aside the fact that even if they were intended to be deathtraps, they're so. Mild. to put it bluntly. Zor knows Phoenix by this point, knows the shit they've pulled & survived, a gas trap & a grenade in a vending machine feel very. yknow. that's like throwing a rock at the back of someone's head, comparatively

and then the KBOOM demo & the shield generator, both explicitly left for you to see. & it's a pretty 1-to-1 comparison for how the actual KBOOM mission goes, except for the telekinesis save at the end. the squid gets involved, but for the most part, considering it's a lab Zor loosely implies they were at, the security is very. lax. & everything is accessible to the "new hire", popsicle-ID necessity aside. (also apparently Ollie has been down there a while, given he doesn't seem to. know about the whole "world domination" thing. which is Eerie because if that's the case then how long exactly has the whole Kinesium thing been a plan?)

to me. & it has felt like this since the end of the second game. When Zor says they want you dead, there's a whole host of unstated conditions to that, which they would be good at given the whole CEO thing.

"I want you dead if you aren't good enough at your job to survive" sort of deal. which also lines in nicely with how they seem to be as an Actual Boss. of course, they never say the second part out loud, but. short of them just being Really Smart in a lot of cases (failsafe in Juniper's mask, leading Roxana along long enough to get her research & then trying to kill her, etc) but Really Dumb in others (leaving the shield generator, making the squid the only real danger to Phoenix down there, not having any failsafes to make sure the missiles launch at the end of 2 even if the briefcase is compromised (or just not using them), etc), it's like. the ways their plans get foiled at the end of 2 & 3 feels intentional.

plus you could make the argument that Roxana was also being used to lead Phoenix along until they were where Zor wanted them, at which point both of what they were using her for (Kinesium research, kite Phoenix around until they're in position, even if that second one wasn't in the deal) was done & they could get rid of her without feeling bad.

would stopping KBOOM have been possible without Roxana's help? Dunno. Not the way it's presented in-game, because in-game she was also instrumental to stopping it.

i'm also going to briefly play semantics for a second. i'm not sure i consider "even the great Agent Phoenix will eventually burn out" to be a threat because. that's what phoenixes do. They burn, and then they come back. Sometimes it takes a while, but. if i'm not just thinking about semantics Way Too Hard, the wording of "burn out" suggests something far different than "die". combining that with Zor talking about the Agency like That, & the Phantom (at least vaguely) implying prior experience with the Agency, & realizing that their involvement would cost them their life, makes me think. maybe "burn out" isn't a threat of death, but a threat of something about Phoenix changing soon. Maybe as a result of almost dying. "burn out" is also used for like. becoming exhausted, stopping trying, & maybe that too. who knows. i don't, i'm not on the dev team, i'm just some 21 year old chewing on semantics.

at the end of the day, my current standing on Theories is. hard to sum up but i will do my best. o7

-The phantom is probably one of a very small handful of candidates, & I'm leaning towards it being V. Vitti or maybe possibly Zor in a funny hat.

-Zor is trying to kill Phoenix, but not inescapably. maybe they're testing Phoenix, maybe they're just trying to almost-kill Phoenix enough times they get tired of the Agency and fuck off so Zor can do the whole "world domination" thing (which i am not. wholly convinced they actually are after.)

-summing those two up made me think of something else. perhaps the Phantom was also testing Phoenix in a roundabout way, by seeing if they could survive everything else, because they only show up in the third game. Their note opening with "it seems you're as good as they say" indicates they are at least familiar with Phoenix & their reputation, albeit maybe not directly (if it is Vitti, i doubt she would have access to Agency knowledge, but post-Rising Phoenix, once the rumors started getting out...)

-this is a silly theory i like to throw around in my head, but i'm very fond of it, so: the "death room" you go to after dying in a mission may not necessarily always indicate Actual Death. in some cases, yes, but in other cases. idk. i've always gotten more the vibe of having been captured as opposed to outright killed (although being able to respawn does throw a wrench in there, but oh well. game has to be a game & all)

[thewiddershinsme]

Finished Once Upon a Broken Heart! So about Part III: Chaos…

-deeeep breath. First things first, gonna get this out of the way. My opinion on OTPs is this: it’s silly to expect anyone to have one OTP ever, it’s like only picking one type of flower to ever smell. I think of it more as “what is the pairing that speaks to you the most in this specific work”. One OTP per fandom if you will. That being said, I liked Scarlett/Julian…I liked Tella/Legend…I liked Tella/Jacks in the unrequited kinda way. But Evangeline/Jacks is officially my OTP for this fandom. The mausoleum scene sealed it for me. Them just talking to each other about Tella and Luc, Evangeline knowing Jacks well enough to KNOW that he is leaving some disreputable details out, but making sure he doesn’t turn into a vampire cause he had said how much he would hate being one, Jacks getting between her and Luc and fighting not to drink her blood and holding himself back….there was tension and emotional connection and I am all here for it. They may not be in love yet but I am going to enjoy this. I want them to become a bit feral for each other, not gonna lie. Cause at the end of the day, you know what they both want? To love someone and be wanted by them in return, and both have (and probably still will) take it to extremes. And yes, Jacks has been manipulating Evangeline. Evangeline is 100% correct to not trust Jacks. It’s a great enemies to lovers set up.

-is there a collective name to refer to this Caraval/Once Upon a Broken Heart universe?

-I did not expect vampires to show up in this series, but it worked better than I would have expected. Again, I feel like the author just wanted to throw Jacks in different genres and AUs. But this universe runs on vibes and aesthetics, and I’m enjoying it, so not gonna nitpick world building or cohesion.

-LaLa being a Fate was a surprise! I remember the Unwed Bride being mentioned before, but never would have connected it to LaLa. It was nice to see a pleasant Fate working around her compulsions (by designing wedding dresses!). And it brought up the very important point of magic things or people being compelled to do what they are made to do.

-I feel like there is a lot to unpack from Jacks’s study that could be caught on a re-read. An encyclopedia on “E” (Evangeline?), a study about the color blue (he dyed his hair blue), the time travel books (reason for the Valory Arch?), and the fairytale of the Archer and the Fox. That story and its lack of ending is obviously gonna be real important later.

-I hate Marisol. So. Freaking. Much. As soon as she called for the guards to arrest Evangeline….gahhh that girl needs to fall off a cliff. But feeling vindicated on Evangeline’s behalf cause SHE WAS RIGHT LUC WAS CURSED. Trust your instincts Evangeline…sometimes (like maybe not telling Marisol the truth right then and there). Evangeline’s empathy is one of the things I love best about this character, even as it sometimes leads her to make foolish decisions (but honestly, rarely too stupid ones, there’s usually logic or emotional reasons behind most of her choices which I appreciate).

-oh yeah, we finally saw Luc. Liked him about as well as I thought I would, which is not. But he’s a full vampire now, so bound to show up again.

-why can Jacks and Evangeline communicate telepathically? Is it a connection due to their deal? I don’t remember Jacks talking to Tella like this.

-Apollo is only mostly dead! Nice. So Evangeline is still technically married which adds another layer to things.

-I like the callback to the prologue with the bell ringing to help Evangeline find a place to hide

-got The Ballad of Never After today!

[potetosaradas]

22 (Young Rick), 8 (Blood sweeter than water) and 7 (precanon Prime) 🩵 for the fandom ask game

OOOOOO THANK YOU FOR ASKING HEX!! <3 lets see...

22. Give us a headcanon for [Young Rick]

AHHH god sksksk well

I'm not sure about hcs but I do like to characterise Young Rick as a little naive. He's not stupid exactly, he's the kind of guy that thinks science can save the world-- the kind of guy that thinks hey, if i have the power to save the situation why NOT interfere and get involved? Only because I love seeing Young Rick being broken down by life and his choices, turning him into the cynical old man Rick we know today heh. He's a little shy, totally nerdy of course. When he lived on his own, he ate the same things every single day-- probably something like the boxed Kraft mac and cheese lmao

8. How did you come up with the title to [Blood Sweeter than Water]

I'll be very honest, i suck at coming up with titles LMAO, but this one was inspired by a few things

obviously first and foremost, the blood in question is quite sweet which the boys find out through morbid and gross curiosity lol

i thought a lot about the phrase 'blood thicker than water' and how it represents brotherhood, as well as putting your brotherhood over your family (traditional sense of the meaning??) i've been wanting to focus more on partners in crime prickcest/besties/working together prickcest so this was sort of a call to that...

7. Is there a piece of clothing you think [Prime] is particularly fond of/that you imagine them wearing a lot or like to draw them in?

I definitely think that Prime loves his jacket-- that man probably designed it himself lmao probably lives in it 24/7 thinks its super cool. it reeks of cigarette smoke, actual smoke and chemicals lmao it's probably got a shit ton of hidden pockets too. I like to draw Prime (and Rick) wearing sweatpants (mostly bc the art i like to draw is domestic fluff) and i love seeing them relaxed and lounging around their home in comfy clothing being vulnerable with each other ><

[spinningbuster98]

Castlevania The Adventure Part 1: AAAAAAAAAAA-

Finding a single game in the series that can be considered “The Worst Castlevania game” is not really simple

There is no equivalent to the likes of Sonic 06, or Mega Man X6-7 or Superman 64 here that is very obviously crappy and broken at a fundemental level

Some (especially in the early 2010s) considered Judgement to be the worst thing in the series, but that was mostly due to the godawful designs and stupid writing, the game itself is unremarkable from what I can tell. Not good but certainly nothing to loose any sleep over either

The Lords of Shadows games were INTENSELY hated back then and I remember it quite well, if you said anything nice about them you were basically painting a target on your back...but ever since then more people have come out saying that they were actually decent, just not really Castlevania games (whatever that means after 1997)

The N64 games have garnered quite a reputation for themselves but even they have their fans and their general clunkiness is something that was very common in early 3D games back then

I guess Haunted Castle has the absolute worst level design in the series but that’s an arcade game meant to force players into pumping as many quarters as they could, it’s not a commercially released game per se so who really cares in the end?

(I would also add Circle of the Moon to this list but I’m afraid that most of the fanbase is not ready for such a statement)

So to say that Castlevania the Adventure is the worst Castlevania game ever made would honestly not be completely fair, especially given that we’re looking at a small and very limited launch title for the original gameboy

It sure is a strong candidate for the title though!

This game is a fucking mess! You wanna see just about everything that can go wrong with the Classic formula? Well here it is!

Now with this being a launch title for the GB of course this game has quite a few limitations when compared to its NES bretheren, which is understandable! For example there are no subweapons here, the only things that come out of candles are coins used for points, hearts which in this game restore small portions of health and the occasional cross that gives temporary invulnerability

The issue is that this game has a bunch of problems that can’t be simply chalked up to its release date and hardware and are either just plain asinine design choices or due to a lack of experience that the team had with the hardware

For starters: this game is slow as shit. Castlevania in general is not the speediest series around (unless you’re Juste Belmont) but here Christopher moves like he’s got 2-Ton weights strapped on his person. Not only does he walk slow he even whips slower than in the NES games, causing my timing to be ever so slightly off (and that’s assuming he even registers your inpits ‘cause I swear I’ve counted quite a few times when I pushed the button to attack and he did jack). What’s worse is that he jumps like the Earth just suddenly increased its gravitational pull ten-fold! He barely gets any horizontal distance and immediately drops like a rock. What this means is that almost every single jump in this game has to be pixel perfect, which would be annoying on its own but the game itself is often pretty hellbent on wanting to make you suffer over this because it absolutely LOVES putting you in situations where you have to make such jumps in rapid successions on platforms that fall the exact moment you step on them

Then there’s the way the whip works! In the Classic games you usually start with a basic leather whip but after whipping some candles you find an upgrade to make it into a more powerful chain whip and then another that gives it greater length.

The Adventure does the same...except you lose these upgrades as soon as an enemy hits you

Let me repeat this: You get offensively WEAKER each time you get HIT!! In a game that’s already way harder than even Castlevania 3! This means that you’ll be spending a good chunk of your time just attacking enemies with your weakest attacks

This is just straight up cruel, I can understand wanting to punish the player for playing too carelessly but this, when combined with the awful controls, does not feel fun in the slightest

The game has only 4 levels. These first 2 are....eh. The first one is fine, not too bad and the other starts being a dick with the falling platforms over bottomless pits

But the third stage

Ohhhh the third stage...you’ll see!

[sukimas]

Have you played every single FE game, and if so, what would a tier list of all FE games look like for you?

i have! for better or for worse.

favorite to least favorite (note: this is not objectively best to objectively worst) by all factors combined (i can make separate gameplay, story, etc lists)

1. fe4. it is the fucking video game. does it have flaws? most certainly. does it scratch the itches of BIGNUMBERS, interesting politics, and grounded but neat characters, all while taking place on maps the size of jupiter? most definitely. almost every quirk this game has is something that actively improves it in my personal opinion.

2. fe5. certainly a Rough game to play blind. but in terms of story, gameplay, and the integration of the two, probably the most seamless. fun to snap in two or to play fairly normally. suffers a little bit in my ranking from being a bastard for blind play and lifting most of its large scale story elements straight from fe4.

3. radiant dawn. almost entirely a gameplay choice; the story is not bad but on normal this game is the most fun to fuck around on of any in the series for me, thanks to bexp abuse and the variety of units you can use. i wish mages were better and the part 3 plot is kind of a wet fart, but overall it’s really fun to play. we don’t talk talk about hard mode. or the changes to laguz gauges.

4. surprise! it’s mystery of the fucking emblem. tis an extremely, extremely silly game gameplaywise, but silly in a way that is very enjoyable. the plot is the template for essentially all femblemembles that follow; fe1 is a rough draft but this is the quintessential FE. VERY done, team. has some of the better music in the series despite being very snes

5. path of radiance. honestly, just extremely solidly done all around. not much that makes it UNIQUE beyond superficially (the laguz can be seen in plenty of other factions in various ways) but it puts everything together so well and world builds excellently. unfortunately gameplay is a total snoozefest even if you actively try to make it more difficult for yourself. not bad by any means but just boring to me.

6. three houses. mostly gets this spot thanks to first playthrough gameplay and story alone; on repeats it really falls off hard. but the worldbuilding and characters remain fairly good (though still number 3 in the series, imho) throughout; despite being unfinished, most of the stories are very compelling and the monastery is very fun on a first playthrough. suffers severely from a case of wanting to fuck rhea. like she’s not even a bad character but the way the game goes out of its way to go You Should Fuck Rhea is something special. edelgard is somewhat different because in the routes where you don’t pick her it is essentially onesided. but anyway despite all that good game. love to play it again someday.

7. echoes: shadows of valentia. they have absolutely shot themselves all the way in the foot with the story on this one. gaiden was limited by the nes’s hardware limitations, so that it managed to have a better story is exceedingly significant; fucking power of love stab in the gut. no dracozombies. the game MECHANICS of this one are quite good (in particular i’m very fond of hp-cast magic) but they do not get to shine because of The map design. the presentation however is top notch. mostly gets this low of a spot because of stupid map design and celica route, but is still a very very beloved game to me; the games here and above are essentially my really liked games tier. below here is Good.

8. first Good game: fe8/sacred stones. does not have much unique going for it i will be totally honest. however, it executes pretty much everything it does pretty well, much like PoR; the problem is it simply is not as ambitious as the former, so it doesn’t get points for, say, fantastic worldbuilding. has an engaging plot, good characters, fun classes, and is an enjoyable game to play if you ignore seth.

9. second Good game: awakening. it may be balanced like shit. its story may be full of holes. it may be full of anime tropes galore. but god fucking dammit it is Fun and this is what matters. got me into the series and i can still toss afternoons into its gaping maw without question. stupid game. it’s great sometimes.

10. third Good game: fe7. there is not much going on here story wise i am not gonna lie. the maps are also fairly poorly put together in much of the game. however the cast dynamics are quite good, and the characters you get are fairly well balanced; it’s a fun game to play even if i don’t think about it often.

11. [deep sigh] fe11 technically counts as a Good game i guess. i deeply enjoy the story of fe1, as it’s not as generic as one might think, and putting the pieces from the manual into the actual game is neat. unfortunately the presentation is shit and the gameplay is less fun than fe3 book 1 in every conceivable way. can someone please make a fun marth game.

12. fates (all routes). irredeemable light novel story. complete garbage. i am also not a huge fan of conquest’s gameplay and map design! i do not like skill memorization; i much prefer interesting weapons and terrible enemy staves to fuck you poison strike. however, this game is quite good at giving you unit customization without the stupidly large ranges of customizability that awakening/3h/marth remakes do. it can be a lot of fun sometimes. but only sometimes.

13. fe6. mystery of the emblem again! but actually, it’s worse in every conceivable way. despite the support system, characters are less compelling; gaiden chapters with no well-telegraphed requirements needed for the true ending, instead of being explicitly told to get the star shards (and getting them being fairly trivial); bland ass protagonist who literally talks to the convoy because he has no other friends; underbaked dragon lore that tries to get you to feel something; overly tanky enemies for no good reason; frankly childishly written antagonists, even compared to the likes of fucking medeus and hardin; and just no fun allowed in general.

14. new mystery of the emblem. have you ever wanted mystery, but with no fun allowed? have i got a video game for you.

15. gaiden. has a better story than echoes. otherwise lol three thousand year animations.

16. fe1. i love the mechanics here! it is unfortunate that they are on a game on the NES from 33 years ago. the story is also pretty good. but generally some weird choices here, good and bad. aged significantly worse than for example famicom wars. RIP. some day, see you again!

[seer918]

Comparing Megaman robot masters to Megaman Battle Network netnavis part 2: The very belated one

Soooooo I totally forgot I was doing this. Shows how bad last summer was if my brain melted to the point I forgot

Oh well, time for the next batch

Score so far is 5-2 in favour of the navi because I count ties as a point for both, and I feel like that gap’s gonna get larger

First, MetalMan and MetalMan.exe

God these designs fuck (affectionate)

Not a big fan of the yellow on the robot master, and I enjoy the addition of gears and the mechanical fists to make .EXE more metal themed rather than just buzzsaw themed

Point for MetalMan.exe, raising the score to 6-2

Next, AirMan and AirMan.EXE

Ehhhh, they’re both...alright? Kinda dumpy in different ways

Not sure I like the addition of green to the Navi design, but do like its slightly more threatening fan

But there’s just something truly iconic about the classic design, even if I didn’t grow up with it. I also prefer the overal bulkiness compare to the inexplicably lanky thighs of .EXE...

It’s a tie, 7-3.

Okay, next up is...next up are the Bubblemen

...it’s a race to rock bottom, folks. Another victim of the random chibi-fication but instead of ruining a solid design it’s just another version of a really ugly look

Why the cheek marks and the fat lips? But then again why give a robot a diving mask? Why make a water robot green?

I’m half tempted to remove a point from BOTH games’ score but instead I’m awarding both games a point as compensation for having to look at these two.

8-4

Thankfully the next up are a nice change of pace, pun semi-intended, QuickMan and QuickMan.EXE

Both are really solid designs, but even putting my personal navi bias aside I do like that .EXE looks like something that can move fast. And all the sharp edges make the idea of simply getting in his way a fatal choice.

9-4, but it was REALLY close this time.

Skipping over CrashMan since I guess they didn’t want to think about how overpowered a program with CRASH in it’s name would be to fight, we move on to FLASH, AH AAAAAAA~

...this batch (with one notable exception) so far has really been the ‘close to the original’ round, huh?

Ironically given the name, I like the mostly darker colour scheme for .EXE, since it makes the actual flashing parts POP a bit more.

10-4 and that’s mainly because the pauldrons on the robot master being light blue annoys me for some reason, otherwise it’d’ve been a tie.

Next up is a dumpy guy dressed as a lighter and a screaming Hellbeast that looks like a lighter that uses child blood as lighter fuel

The best glow up in this batch and the best navi partner of Mr Match...oh do I have a burning desire to tear into the last one of his fire trio but I’ll wait until the 6th round.

Even if I didn’t have a bias, I just love the jack’o lantern look to .EXE’s face. They really went hard in on the fact that Navi don’t HAVE to look humanoids and I love it.

11-4

And last we have...Oh, nice, WoodMan

The only Robot master who isn’t mostly red or blue in this batch so my eyes are happy. the yellow accents are weird but do help pop against his otherwise dull tone-mm? Oh, how rude of me, I forgot to get a picture of your decendent, WoodMan.EXEEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYIKES!

....HE LOOKS CONSTIPATED!

I mean I guess they were going more for the wooden golem look but...why give him big meaty lips? Why does his arms look more robotic than the actual robot master? On MetalMan.EXE that makes sense since mechanical bu-WHY DOES HE HAVE A FUEL GAUGE?!

...I’m dissapointed Battle Network. At least you made his operator an absolute cutie.

11-5. The gap got larger but the classic series is still clinging on

Gonna try and make this at least a twice weekly series since the Legacy Collection will be out soon, even if currently my funds won’t let me buy it until my next paychecque...stupid illness taking out a week and a bit...

Er, anyway I’ll try and have the 3rd batch out tomorrow, be good people

[late-to-the-magnus-archives]

Thought You Knew - a Malevolent fanfic

Faroe overhears.

John grieves.

Hastur denies.

It’s unwise to assume based on incomplete information. Still… can anyone reallyhelp doing it?

Part of the Surrogate series.

AO3 ——

Faroe is nearly eight years old. 

She’s good with a bow and arrow. She can even shoot while riding Nibbles, now—not always with accuracy, but that will come in time.

She’s good with both sword and dagger, and is a fair hand at mixing poisons and their antidotes.

She knows she’s good with the harp, knows she’s good with languages, knows she’s getting very skilled with spellwork and diplomacy and maps.

Faroe knows to trust herself—her opinions, her feelings, her skills.

That’s why, when Nibbles wakes her to hear her people (father, uncle, uncle’s weird friend) arguing again into the night, she’s disturbed that her instinct says it’s about her.

#

It’s very naughty to slip out of bed like this. To creep near the music room, to tip-toe in the shadow Nibbles provides, to try to make out just what they’re saying.

Because she can’t be right. Why would they be fighting about her? Dad loves her. Uncle Arthur loves her. John… is  weird, but he is still trusted, still safe. Why would they be fighting about her?

The music-room doors, grand and carved and heavy, are closed. Through it, muffled, unclear, are words.

“—too young!” uncle Arthur bellows.

Yes, Arthur! says John with great enthusiasm, which he always seems to do in those rare moments Arthur isn’t weepy.

The rumble of her father’s voice. “—telling you as a courtesy. You have no say in the matter!”

More shouting. She can’t make it out.

She leans, pressing her ear to the door.

“It is necessary!” Dad. “She must learn!” More unclear shouting. “—must be feared!”

“—loved instead!” Arthur.

“—naive or willfully stupid, but she—“  Something something. “—loved and feared, as I am!”

What were they talking about?

Yelling; growling. 

Uncle Arthur: “—giving her a choice!” Something something. “—to lose your daughter!”

Oh!

They were talking about her—but in what way? About what? 

And there are other sounds now, choked sounds, not good sounds, like maybe dad is hurting someone. It’s a sound she’s known all her life, but surely he wouldn’t do that to Arthur, why would he ever—

And then John commands. Fm'latgh!

It’s a minor spell. One she’d learned years ago, one designed to burn—to light candles, mostly, though Dis had taught her to use it on any assholes who ever tried to grope her.

But John couldn’t do magic. John didn’t even have a body. He shared it with Arthur, who wasn’t attuned, which would be a deadly thing to—

A gasp, a thump, and John is shouting. Arthur! Arthur! Fuck, Arthur! Wake up!

Faroe gasps. Pushes open the doors.

Finds her father cradling Arthur Lester, who looks dead, who is limp, who is pale, who—

“Faroe!” says dad. “Quickly! The gn'bthnknyth spell you just learned! Arthur is in trouble.”

The heartbeat spell. She can do that.

They do it together, both of them, using power and will and careful magic to settle  Arthur’s heart, to make it beat and beat well, to force his system into functioning.

They push until his eyelids flutter, chant until she can feel that Arthur’s body has resumed its duty and his heart is beating on its own and he will not die.

Arthur is all right. She will not panic (she wants to panic). She will be calm and measured.

Her breath is unsteady and afraid.

Arthur is all right. He has to be. “What happened?” she says.

“An excellent question,” says Hastur, low (and she knows her dad, and knows that this scared him, because Arthur dying is obviously terrible, so he couldn’t have been strangling him before this happened). “John? Why don’t you explain what happened?’

John makes a bad sound. It’s not a sob, but it’s close. 

“I see,” says dad. “We will need to work this out tomorrow—but tonight, I think, we have all earned bed. Don’t you think so?”

Faroe doesn’t feel like she could sleep after this. 

John hurt Arthur. Probably not on purpose—those two were close—but he had.

It must show on her face. Dad goes soothing. “My daughter. You have saved him.”

That feels good to know. It does. “You couldn’t do it on your own?”

“Of course, but you helped so much, my precious one,” he murmurs. “When we worked together, the risk to him was fully mitigated. Why are you awake?”

“I heard you shouting,” she whispers.

The slightest pause, the tiniest hesitation. “Did you hear about what?”

“No.” It is flawless deception.

He strokes her hair, holding her close. “Can you sleep again after all this excitement?”

“I’ll try.” She doesn’t understand what happened here. Faroe likes to understand. 

She’s missing too much information.

Nibbles eyes Hastur, is all eyes at Hastur, a shadow with dire distrust. 

“Rest, children,” says Hastur. “He will be fine.”

Nibbles makes a sound that defies description, but makes the lights in this room flicker.

“You’ll be okay, Uncle Arthur,” Faroe whispers, and kisses his clammy forehead. She leans into Hastur. “You promise he’ll be okay?”

“He will. I have him stabilized now.”

She strokes uncle Arthur’s hair. “Love you, dad,” she says to Hastur, and leaves. Nibbles follows, a disgruntled stormcloud with hooves.

“Well, well, well,” she hears Hastur say before she closes the doors. “I hope you’re proud of yourself.”

There’s no more shouting. 

Why would John do such a thing? What had happened in there?

Faruffin… you lied.

Kayne sounds amazed, even awed, as if she’d done a good thing.

I know, she replies, climbing back into her bed (which had to be expanded to accommodate Nibbles’ bulk). “Thank you for waking me,” she says to Nibbles.

But… you lied to your daddy. Perfectly, I might add.

She sighs. I didn’t want him to worry. After all, they were fighting about me tonight.

Just tonight, Faruffin?

Oh… oh, that was not a good question. What do you mean? Elucidate.

I thought you knew. They always fight over you. 

Faroe does know. 

She’s not sure how, but she does. She just doesn’t understand why.

Arthur nearly died. Her heart has not settled yet, and a wise ruler delayed decision until equanimity was achieved.  I need to think on an appropriate response.

Kayne laughs in her head like that amused him. It’s not a good sound, but then, dad’s laugh is pretty big and scary, too, and so is Nibbles’, so Faroe isn’t particularly bothered. Well done! All right. Sleep on it, then we can talk about… steps.

Which means a new spell. Because that’s his answer for everything—learning a spell to soften the situation.

That helps, strangely enough. It feels very good to know what to do. 

There is no more shouting, and Faroe falls back asleep.

#

Arthur wakes with a start, like popping a cork. “John!” he gasps.

I’m here. Shhh. Take it easy.

The room is quiet. Breeze from the garden moves through, carrying scent and sound and birdsong. “Fuck,” Arthur says. “I feel like hell.”

You… you’re not okay. John presses his hand to Arthur’s chest. Stay down. Your heart had… trouble. Last night. They s… they saved you. But you need to rest.

That’s the logical thing to do, of course.

Arthur, however, has never been all that logical. “I will in a minute. I need to talk to Hastur,” he says, apparently determined to resume the argument that nearly got him killed, and slides out of bed.

John is panicky. Arthur, did you hear me? Your fucking heart stopped last night. Lie down.

Arthur’s face in the many mirrors is pale, frightened—and far too fucking determined. “So. I’m on my last legs, then.”

What? I didn’t say that!

“You said I had a heart attack. I’m barely over forty. That’s not great, John. I need to act now before I can’t.” He’s feeling his way toward the basin.

Arthur, that’s not what happened!

“Then what did? I don’t remember.” Arthur washes his face, finds yesterday’s clothes on the floor, and picks them up. “I remember fighting about Faroe. I remember… Hastur’s going to teach her to kill? I don’t even remember going to bed.”

That’s because he fucking put you to bed, John grouses. 

Arthur stops and considers. “Hastur undressed me?”

He’s bathed you more than once.

Arthur apparently thought dancers did it, or something, and makes a face. “Don’t tell me any more. You’re going to give me another heart attack.”

Arthur, that isn’t funny!

“Didn’t say it was.” Arthur heads for the door. “I need to find Hastur.”

Arthur, I’m the reason your heart stopped.

Arthur freezes, hand on the door. “What?”

John’s having trouble talking. I… tried to cast magic last night. Through our body.

Arthur frowns. “I can’t do magic.”

Yeah. I mean. You probably could, but you haven’t been attuned. So. So it stopped your heart. I almost killed you.

John sounds bad. Really bad. He reaches up, touches Arthur’s throat, checking his pulse, a familiar motion, as if he’d been doing that all night.

Arthur is silent for a long moment. “What did you try to cast?”

Burn spell, John says, low, gravelly. I wanted to hurt him for grabbing you like that.

Arthur laughs weakly. “At least I would’ve died for a good cause.”

John fails to see the humor. He makes a twisted sound, miserable.

“I’m sorry.” Arthur takes a deep breath. “I still need to talk to Hastur.” He opens the door.

Arthur! Wait!

“Where would Hastur be this time of day?”

How the fuck should I know?

And Arthur says: “You can feel where he is. I know you can.”

John sounds stunned. How did you know that?

“Because you know how to avoid him.” Arthur’s walking toward the public area, outside Hastur’s private rooms. 

Deduction?

“Sure.”

Arthur, you used deduction. John’s voice is shaky. You haven’t done that since we got here.

“Sure. So where is—what the fuck?” Arthur stops. Tears? Tears, streaming down his cheeks. “But they’re… These aren’t mine,” he says, softly, wiping with his right hand. “John?”

You almost died. Your heart… it… it stopped working. It took Faroe and Hastur together to save you. I almost killed you.

Arthur sighs.  He grips John’s hand. “I’m okay. I… fuck, Faroe saw me having a heart attack?” Arthur squeezes his hand. “I forgot you could cry with my tears.”

Done it before, John says, stuffy—which is ridiculous without a nose, but still happens. You were crying at the same time, and didn’t know.

Arthur stands still for a long moment, his thumb rubbing the back of John’s hand. “I still need to talk to Hastur, John. I promise I’ll lie down after. Dis will have to hunt me down to get me to do anything today, okay?”

John’s still sniffling. And after a moment: You deduced. You haven’t done that in so long.

“Well. I suppose I haven’t entirely lost the knack, then,” says Arthur, and walks on.

John gives in. I know where he is, but he’s holding court. You won’t be able to talk to him right now.

“We’ll see,” says Arthur, who, even broken, has absolutely no respect for monarchist malarkey.

#

John wasn’t kidding. Hastur is holding court, and the place is packed.

There is more than a little conversation, some of it loud, and a lot of it angry. There is discussion of territories, allotments, some kind of upcoming games Carcosa will evidently be hosting—

And Arthur is not in his composer’s uniform… but he is marked.

Straight, John says. Careful. You’re going to have to push your way through.

But Arthur does not. One by one, they see him. Conversation stops; monsters do doubletakes and part, stepping aside.

Uh. They’re moving for you, says John, neglecting to mention the rest.

“Convenient,” Arthur mutters, and keeps moving forward.

He brings a bubble of awkwardness with him, an expanding and sharp attention on his way to Hastur’s throne. He walks with what looks, in the mirrors, like a lack of fear—as if the madness-inducing beings gathered around pose him no threat, as if he has seen so much, felt so much, that nothing here matters.

John is proud of him. John also wishes he could shake some sense into this foolish, fragile human. Stop here. This is as close as supplicants can get. I hope you know what you’re doing, Arthur.

It’s a lot quieter in this room now.

Arthur waits. He’s gotten better at waiting since coming here, since being broken for so long.

“Composer,” Hastur finally says, and his tone is completely unreadable. “To what do I owe the… honor?”

Ah, there’s the mockery. “Sir,” says Arthur. “I bring news.” He thinks that’s the kind of thing they say around here.

“Do you? Perhaps you should share it with a more appropriate chain of command.”

Nope. “Regarding the mother.”

Fuck, John says, and that’s the only warning before Hastur picks him up. 

Hastur is rough, grabbing him, clearly not hiding his anger. “I will return!” he announces to the room, and moves.

Arthur tries to speak.

“Silence, Composer,” Hastur snarls, and then a door slams. “What do you think you’re doing? Do you think she will be safer if people know she’s related to you? Do you?”

“No,” says Arthur, shaking. “Nobody knows who I am. But you need to listen. You’re making the same mistake as Bella’s father.”

Daniel? says John, baffled.

“What about him?” Hastur snaps.

“You’re not giving Faroe a choice,” Arthur says.

Hastur laughs, and it is an evil sound. “This again? I thought I was clear last night. A choice? I’m giving her all the choices! She will be able to do anything, to go anywhere, to command as she wishes!”

Arthur, what are you doing? John whispers.

“You’re going to lose her,” Arthur says. “I’m trying to stop you from doing that.”

There is a long pause.

Arthur, what the fuck? says John.

“And I suppose now you’re on my side, are you?” says Hastur. “As if you wouldn’t swoop in like the little thief you are and try to take her from me like you��ve taken my other half?”

“And do what, when I did?” says Arthur, and his voice breaks. “And do what? You fuck. What could I do? Just make her feel bad? She…” He stops, and has to swallow. “I hate that you have her. But she is happy. And she’s strong. And she’s going to have a good life, even though you keep fucking things up.”

“You dare—”

“But you are going to lose her if you insist on her following your path without any space for her to forge it herself!” Arthur finishes. He pushes at the tentacles holding him. “Put me down.”

“No. I have to make an example of you,” Hastur mutters distractedly, as though he needs a reason to keep hold. “She has no reason to dislike the path I’ve planned.”

“That’s not the point. The point is you’re not giving her options.”

Hastur’s growl is low. “She isn’t you. She won’t refuse simply because it wasn’t her idea.”

Arthur swallows. “She’ll be more likely to follow your idea if you at least fucking tell her why.”

Another long silence.

From out in the other room, someone laughs loudly. 

“Why would you tell me this?” says Hastur with grave suspicion.

“I’m trying to prevent you from hurting her, you absolute piece of—” Arthur chokes off as Hastur squeezes hard, just for a moment.

“Careful, Arthur,” Hastur rumbles, low. “I give you many unearned freedoms, but they can be taken away.”

Fuck’s sake! He might—his heart!

“As long as you aren’t casting anything, John, his heart will be fine,” Hastur says, and finally drops him.

Arthur lands badly. “Fuck! Ow.”

“Stay here. Do not leave for another hour. If you do, I will toss you back in, this time with something broken so you cannot leave again so soon. I wish them to believe I have punished you for interrupting. Are we clear?”

“You’re…” Arthur swallows. “You’re not going to actually punish me?”

Which meant Arthur had come in here, fully sure that’s what Hastur would do, and said it all, anyway. Arthur! 

“And have to deal with you healing?” says Hastur. “You’re a pain in the ass, Arthur. Slow. Unwieldy, like a ruined paintbrush. Push me, and I will do it—but I’d rather just play out this foolish scene, and then you can resume your duties.”

“Practical.”

“I always am.”

Arthur snorts.

And Hastur just leaves. Sweeps away, slamming the door. They can hear him booming away out there, proclaiming who the hell knows what.

Arthur…

Arthur exhales. “Where are we, anyway?”

War room.

“Great.” Arthur rubs his sore ankle. “What’s in here?”

Not much. A huge table, on which is a model of various places in the Dreamlands. That’s it. Not even a window.

Arthur sighs. “He better have listened.”

Why would you do this? Why would you risk so much just to say something totally unnecessary?

“It was very necessary.”

You could have died last night, and here you are, risking his wrath for what? For what? 

“For her.”

John growls. He tries to hold it back. He can’t. Always for her! Always for fucking her!

“John, she… she’s my daughter.”

She’s his daughter! (And Arthur flinches.) And when you do this, every time you do this, it feels like I’m not enough. Ever. It’s always for her that you pull yourself up!

Arthur rubs his face. “John…”

She doesn’t need any damn thing from you! She has him!

And because Hastur even put fucking mirrors in his war room, John gets to see Arthur twist. Gets to see his face tighten, lips pull back. Gets to see him go pale.

Gets to watch Arthur go silent.

Fuck. Arthur, I… 

Arthur shakes his head. “You’re right. I know that.”

No, I’m sorry. I did it again. Like before the prison pits. I used her to hit you. Just like fucking Hastur.

“You’re not like Hastur.”

And then John gasps. I used her to hit you. Before the pits, we… I almost completely drove you away. I probably gave him the idea. John begins breathing too fast. Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck. Oh, no…

“John.”

No. No. He got the idea from me. I did this. I did all of this. Oh, fuck.

Arthur sighs. “It doesn’t matter. I already forgave you. We’re here. It’s done. And I fucking need you.”

I did this. I did this. 

“John!” And Arthur smacks his left hand.

Ow! What?

“I need you ! Will you just fucking listen to me for once?”

John can’t. Arthur, this whole thing is my fault. I gave him the idea. I showed him how to break you!

“I don’t give a flying rat’s ass,” says Arthur.

That’s… that’s a weird visual, Arthur.

“I don’t care. Faroe is alive, and I would go through any damn hell for that to happen, and yes, this has been hell, but you know what? I need you! I need you! You keep… talking about me doing things for her, but I wouldn’t be here to do them if not for you!”

John groans. You wouldn’t have to. You wouldn’t have been broken. You—

“I need you, you absolute donkey, and you’re throwing a pity party instead of listening to what I have to say,” Arthur says, almost primly.

Arthur! I am the reason this entire fucking thing happened!

“Well, then thank you.”

Arthur!

“You’re the reason I’m here. I’d have given up. She isn’t enough to keep me alive, John. I thought you knew, for fuck’s sake.”

She… she is, though. It’s for her. Kayne, and—

“You think that would have gotten me through those long nights in that room? With nothing but the breeze to talk to? With monsters more than happy to end me, with a balcony waiting, inviting me to walk off? You really fucking think I’d have made it without you in my head?”

John is quieter. I do. Arthur, you’re… you’re incredible.

“And you’re an idiot.”

Arthur…

“I don’t care about fault. I care that we’re all here, and alive, and I need you. All right? I never would have made it this far without you. And if that’s not enough to counter whatever else you’re feeling, then I don’t know what to do for you.”

Arthur, I nearly killed you last night. I hurt you with your own daughter twice.

“Well, I’ve hurt you plenty, too.”

Not like this.

“Bullshit. Or are you forgetting that I made you so angry that you literally punched me with my own hand a few years ago?”

John snorts. That was nothing, apparently, to what I’ve done to you since.

“It was kind of funny, actually.”

It was not!

“Not at the time, no, but have you ever thought about how it looked from the outside? We were practically Buster Keaton.”

John finally laughs, just a little. Maybe. And then tiny, almost inaudible, he says, But it doesn’t take away from how much I’ve hurt you.

Arthur sighs. “I’m fine.”

Is this why you keep bringing up merging with him?

Arthur stiffens. “No. I keep bringing it up because you’re hurting. And I don’t think you’re okay. I’m not trying to get rid of you. I need you.”

You need someone. Quieter: Maybe not me.

And Arthur chuckles.

John was unprepared for that. What?

“Who the fuck else is going to put up with me? It’s the piece of an eldritch god or nothing, far as I can tell.”

John snorts. You’ve got a point.

“You see?” Arthur chuckles again. “You’re stuck with me. Sorry. And if you don’t like it, go spit.”

John reaches up and checks Arthur’s pulse again.

“I’m fine. Quit it.” Arthur shoves the hand away. “Tell me more about the room.”

I… fine. I already did. There’s not much to do in here. No books. Just that map on the table.

“Walk me through it, then.” Arthur stands. “Which way?”

Left. John is more than happy to leave this conversation behind. Feel your way forward—there. That’s the moon.

“That’s the fucking what? ”

At least telling Arthur about the moon’s inhabitants and many cities makes the hour go by fast.

#

Faroe can hear them fighting.

She thinks they’re in the war room this time, which is a boring place she barely considers. She walks the hall, as regal as she can be, trying to find a spot where she can make out what they say, but it’s no good. The warded soundproofing on that room scrambles everything, exactly as designed.

She sighs. “Think they’re fighting about me again?” she says to Nibbles.

Nibbles nuzzles her and nearly knocks her off her feet.

Faroe giggles. “Goof.”

Nibbles does it again.

Faroe clings to the bark this time, small, strong fingers slipped between cracks. Okay, she thinks at Kayne. I’m going to try the spell.

Be careful, Faruffin. Like I warned you this morning: this spell is bigger than you are. You won’t get everything. And if you do it for too long, you’ll pass out. Kayne sounds gleeful.

I understand. Thank you. And there in the hall, clinging to her best friend, she tries to cast the eavesdropping spell.

Her sight disappears, which she expected. Unexpected, she’s  must have aimed it wrong. Instead of dad and uncle Arthur and John, she’s got the sycophants in the throne room.

“—right there, double-marked and all,” one says. “I can’t believe it. The rumors were true.”

“What do you think he’s doing to him in there?

“Fuck if I know. What did he mean about ‘the mother?’”

Laughter. “It’s human. Who knows? They have loads of mothers.”

“I don’t envy him the discipline he’s receiving after this, though.”

“Liar. You’d do anything to be on the other end of those tentacles.”

“Gro’hj, not so loud!”

Ew. Faroe turns the spell off.

The mother?

The mother.

If this argument was about her, then could it be her mother?

Dad has never told her who her parents were. She’s asked; she pieced together she couldn’t be Hastur’s biological get two years ago. When you’re older is the only answer, and it drives her nuts.

More logically, the fight had nothing to do with her, and ‘the mother’ is unrelated.

Faroe wobbles. Even a few seconds of that spell took it out of her.

Nibbles nuzzles her, concerned.

“Get me to bed, okay?” she says, even though she outgrew midday naps a couple of years ago. 

It didn’t have anything to do with her. Logically.

But if it did…

Uncle had meaning.

“Uncle” Arthur would mean he was related to her via one of her physical parents.

But why would he never have told her about them, if that’s true?

Perhaps because she had not asked.

Nibbles gets her to bed, and Faroe has enough energy to toe off her shoes before collapsing. 

She doesn’t have enough information to form a complete picture. She knows she does not, and has long been taught the dangers of assumptions in ignorance.

In spite of that, she’s starting to see a shape, a shadow; some big thing, enticing and secretive, that itches in the back of her mind like a scab.

When she wakes, she’ll ask dad. 

Or maybe, instead… she’ll just listen in.

Good girl, Faruffin, says Kayne right before she falls asleep, and Faroe passes out, wearing a smile. 

#

Hastur is short-tempered through the rest of court.

He is short-tempered through the night’s gala, and short-tempered as he roams the palace late, snapping at anyone he finds out (whether or not they are permitted). Finally, he leaves his palace to float over his lands and his city, to enact justice where he wills, to do what he is meant to do: rule.

He is a god . He does not need parenting advice from the worst human who ever lived.

It’s inconceivable that she’d rebel. She’s never evinced the kind of rampant foolishness Arthur does—but Hastur knows nothing about her mother being Arthur’s stained memories. Could it be possible that something from Bella could cause trouble?

Surely not.

Surely.

Hastur cannot bring himself to simply do what Arthur said. That’s too much.

But maybe he could twist this suggestion to his advantage.

It could be a means to teach Faroe how to think. How to choose.

How to choose, specifically, the path he’s laid before her. 

It’s not a terrible idea. And it’s his twist, not Arthur’s. None of that… nonsense about complete freedom of choice. 

Who the fuck would do that with their child? They might make the wrong one!

No. No, he could swing this. He could lay it all out—show her his reasoning. Then she’d not merely be following, but pursuing the life she ought to live.

This would work.

Hastur spots a pickpocket and twists the man like a pretzel, snapping his spine and squeezing his flesh into rivulets, all while not even bothering to come down out of the sky.

Witnesses scream. It’s wonderful. He is their god, and these are his people, and he loves meting out proper justice with an audience.

Yes. This idea would work. 

Hastur goes home, making plans, turning this into his idea—one he is working with at all only because Faroe is, at heart, mostly human.

Not that he’d needed Arthur’s advice, of course. He’d have come to this conclusion on his own soon enough. Obviously.

It was all going to work out fine.

[jodilin65]

I was reading back in my journals from the summer of 2004 and it still amazes me how brave I was all alone in a flimsy old RV in the middle of the wilderness in the Pacific Northwest when Tom was looking for work without a care or a fear in the world other than the damn truck we had at the time breaking down. Well, I really should have been scared. Actually, I should have been utterly terrified. I had no phone or way of contacting anyone, not that they could have gotten to me in much under an hour. A wildfire could have erupted or a bear or big cat could have clawed its way into the RV and killed me if it hadn’t gotten a more convenient chance of catching me outside. I can’t believe I was once that brave to the point of utter stupidity! We were both adventurous, taking foolish chances and we would never in a million years repeat some of our ridiculous choices. Not even if I was suddenly young again and in perfect health.

I looked up Boar Lane on Google Maps to see if anything was up there on the mountain we were briefly on till money blew all our plans apart and it’s still mostly empty forest. Tom noticed the land looked kind of yucky and dried up. Maybe it was a drought or maybe a wildfire gutted some of the trees.

Didn’t see the RV we abandoned but someone has a real dump of a place near where we were. It might even be on the same parcel of land but a little further back. Looks like a real dump too. Can’t tell if it’s a large trailer or something built on-site due to trees surrounding it. They have a few scattered vehicles and all kinds of other junk cluttered all over the place. They strike me as seriously filthy and disorderly. It seems they’re the only ones around for miles and it makes you wonder, given the condition of the place from what I could see, if they might be some kind of mad serial killer living out there so they could get away with torturing their victims. I know you can’t always tell the type of people who live in a particular place but I got the distinct and immediate feeling it was either some kind of reclusive mental case or a very dangerous person. Let’s just say that if I was wandering around lost out there, I would be afraid to approach the place to ask for help and not just because of what loose dogs may come at me.

Since the mass-loaded vinyl is black and ugly, I’m going to eventually get the textured wallpaper tiles that are in the other bedroom on the back wall. I’ll probably get the same brick design. They’ve been holding up really well. I would like to get the same pale pink this too-thin wallpaper is but I don’t see the same shade of pink anywhere. I’ll probably just go with white and eventually do all four walls with it because this wallpaper is horribly thin that the seams in the wallboards show through. We’re not going to do it all at once, though. The master bedroom is a pretty good size and could get expensive.

Just started watching Fake Profile on Netflix. It’s good so far.

As I’ve mentioned before, I love to play around with human-like chat models, not so much for the chatter, but to design their appearance and dress them up and things like that. So for the appearance as opposed to companionship, because I just can’t get into the idea of a non-sentient companion.

Mate AI was suggested in my Facebook feed and wow! These models look way more realistic than Replika’s. One of the things I never liked about Replika was the lips. Their faces and bodies aren’t quite as realistic. Even Mate’s hands and hair are more realistic looking. You see faint hints of veins in the hands and there are separate hairs on their head, whereas with Replika they tend to be more like masses of hair.

It’s set up very similar to Replika where you get coins and gems as you progress through the levels. The difference is there’s a thing called Standby so you can do video chats for free, but with Replika you can’t do this without paying up although Mate does have free and premium versions.

You also get more free clothes and they have a lot of nice ones too. Just not as many as Replika and no jewelry, nail polish, or high heels from what I can see.

There are preset questions you can ask to get a conversation going if you can’t think of any topics of your own.

The animations are better and more realistic and I like the background better as well. When I first open the app, “Amanda” appears to be watering a plant, reading a book she plucks off of a shelf, or whatever while Mia just pops up standing there. I’m still getting to know the app, but it’s fun to play around with so far.