#earth 2 review

[suzannahnatters]

My RINGS OF POWER Season 2 Review

The Rings of Power season 2 has ended and I’m sure many of you have been waiting with bated breath to hear my Opinions. Where to begin?

Going in to season 2, my biggest question was whether the show would preserve the things I loved so much about season 1, without degenerating in artistic quality. Bagging on TROP seemed to have become a cottage industry on the internet, with little understanding of the thoughtful ways that the show adheres to Tolkien’s ethos and aesthetic under the guidance of the Tolkien Estate. With so much bad-faith criticism about, I was sincerely worried that the showrunners would compromise their vision to appease the haters.

I’m thrilled to announce that this didn’t happen. Everything I loved is still very much present in the show – the lovable characters, the deep understanding of Tolkien’s themes and faith, and the thoughtful writing of characters like Galadriel, Sauron, and Adar.

There are two main changes from season 1 in terms of tone. One is the increased amount of violence, with the climactic battle taking up much of the final three episodes. There’s also more darkness this season, as Tolkien’s grand second age tragedy begins to unfold, especially in the Eregion plotline. One of my biggest questions going into the season was how the show would manage to show all this tragedy – tragedy which Tolkien never depicted in this level of detail – without adopting a cynical, grimdark tone which would have been utterly inappropriate for a Tolkien adaptation. I’m absolutely thrilled, and also personally inspired as an author, by how well they managed this: throughout the season, the writers maintain a wonderful balance between darkness and light. Early in the season, we are treated to the bloody, brutal scene in which Sauron’s previous incarnation fell to the knives of his own followers. When, hundreds of years later, he’s managed to rebuild his mortal, Charlie-Vickers form, there’s a beautifully understated sequence in which he is offered – but ultimately fails - a chance at true repentance, and a hope of something better. This pattern, of darkness anchored by light, holds strong throughout the rest of the season. There are some big character deaths in this show, deaths that are sometimes expected and sometimes shocking, but not one of them goes by without rendering a sense of the victim’s dignity.

The second big change is the pacing. I was among those who enjoyed Season 1’s slower pacing, with the exception of some swampiness around episode 5. Season 2 runs into different trouble: it feels rushed throughout, with multiple plots coming to an, at best, perfunctory resolution in the final episode. However, despite some characters getting shortchanged, the show knows to prioritise the people and places that are most important. The Eregion subplot takes pride of place, getting some of the best writing I’ve seen in ages.

Another of my big questions this season was whether the things I didn’t like about season 1 would be perpetuated. It’s no secret that I really hated the idea presented in the previous season of mithril as a sort of panacea, which should be stripped from Moria to stop the Elves from fading.  Would season 2 introduce more ideas foreign to Tolkien and his vision? I’m delighted to say that there was nothing this season that offended me on the same level as the mithril nonsense from last season.

There’s one deviation from Tolkien’s vision that caused a good deal of internet outrage but which I am absolutely thrilled with, and it has to do with the Orcs. This was one of my favourite things from season 1, and I was worried about whether the show would back down from the good work they were doing here. I’m so pleased that it didn’t.

Tolkien made few misjudgements during his career, but the way he wrote the Orcs is one of them. One Medievalists.com article seeks to demonstrate that Tolkien described his Orcs with language that was often used during the Jim Crow era in the US to denigrate Black people. While this is probably something to be aware of, I’m seriously sceptical that Tolkien, an Englishman without internet at the beginning of the 20th century, would have imagined, or even had a way to find out, that his language might be racially insensitive in the American context. In my opinion the racial problem hard-baked into Tolkien’s legendarium is this: that when it came to the Orcs, he had a tendency to equate genetics with ethics, so that to be born an Orc is to be bad by definition. That is something for which we can hold him accountable, and it’s also something which he did have the ability to notice. Towards the end of his life he began attempting to address the problem, but he died before he could get very far. And who knows whether he could have addressed it successfully?

I love that The Rings of Power also recognizes this problem and tries to address it. The Rings of Power does something that even Tolkien didn’t, and treats its Orcs like people. In my favourite season 1 scene, the Orc leader, Adar, challenges Galadriel to consider that the Orcs were created by Iluvatar and share in the Secret Fire – the life principle in Tolkien’s legendarium, analogous to the Holy Spirit of Christianity. I was eager for the show to continue exploring this theme, and I’m beyond delighted with what they did in Season 2. Somehow, The Rings of Power both manages to treat the Orcs like people – people with consciences who love their families and grieve their dead, who are capable of wanting to better themselves, who are vulnerable to fall from grace and become deceived by the Enemy – and to hew close to the events Tolkien outlined and the aesthetic he presented. And this is emblematic of what I love about the show as a whole. It doesn’t just thoroughly respect Tolkien; it also exercises considerable wisdom, judgement, and creativity in taking his legacy and forging ahead with it.

This season the standout actor is local Geelong boy, Charlie Vickers, turning in the performance of a lifetime as Sauron. For years Tolkien fans have imagined what Sauron might have been like in his Annatar era, masquerading as an angel of light to deceive the Elven smith Celebrimbor into forging the Rings of Power to enslave the peoples of Middle Earth. This season’s Eregion subplot is probably the show’s strongest. It’s gloriously written and brilliantly acted. Vickers and Charles Edwards, who plays the kindly Celebrimbor, both deserve all the awards; their story is terrifying, disastrous, infuriating, and impossible to look away from. Sauron is that rarest of fictional villains, someone with noble aims, yet whose cruelty and monumental levels of self-deception put him utterly beyond salvation. Still, although he destroys Celebrimbor both mentally and physically – in a scheme taken straight from a domestic abuser’s playbook – the show still never deprives Celebrimbor entirely of his own agency. It’s beautiful to see, and goes a long way towards maintaining the noblebright tone that a Tolkien adaptation requires.

The Numenor subplot is also one of my favourites this season. Those who’ve read the Silmarillion know that things are about to go from bad to worse in the island kingdom, but the show still remembers to keep its heart, conscience, and hope intact. The emotional core of this subplot this season is the character of Queen Miriel, and I’m a bit feral about her. While Cynthia Addai-Robinson’s Miriel and Lloyd Owen’s Elendil are two of the most charismatic people on the show, whose characters share an unspoken courtly-love-coded yearning, their appeal goes far deeper than this. I love that the two of them are drawn together by the fact that their faith in the Valar is the most important thing to them, something they’re willing to die for. Beyond this, I love that in enlarging Miriel’s character for screen and rendering her more agency in the plot, the writers remain true to their theme of light, rather than power, overcoming darkness. Miriel’s strength isn’t in the loudness of her voice or her abilities in a fight: it’s explicitly her love, her empathy, and her steadfast, persevering faith – qualities that seem all too rare either in male or female characters these days.

Other subplots are also present. Some of our characters wind up in the old Numenorean colony of Pelargir: Isildur, Arondir, and Theo. This was a very brief subplot mostly existing to set up relationships and conflicts for future seasons; it contains some lovely character development for Theo and Isildur, and a beautifully numinous encounter with the Ents. Meanwhile, in the dwarf realm of Khazad-dum, we see King Durin become the first person to fall beneath the sway of the Sauron-tainted Dwarven Rings. While this subplot has its strengths – namely, the depiction of a strong and loving marriage between Prince Durin and Disa – the relationship between the elder and younger Durins bothered me in season 1 and although it’s better here, the resolution is still rushed and weak. The show is trying to depict a father/son relationship that is strained but ultimately loving, but to me the relationship just reads as toxic.

Then there is the Rhun subplot which sees the Stranger and Nori striking out into the unknown to unlock the Stranger’s mysterious powers. Again, I found this one a mixture of good and bad. As it becomes increasingly obvious who the Stranger is meant to be, I became impatient with the show’s depiction of someone very patient and kindly; I wanted the razor-tongued old grump I loved from the books. The Stranger also runs across Tom Bombadil, who becomes his mentor, and again I felt that the characterization was off. Tolkien’s Tom is ditzy and fundamentally apathetic about the fate of the wider world. Rings of Power Tom is a likeable enough character, and he has a terrific monologue on the nature of power and magic that is thoroughly accurate to Tolkien’s themes, but in his concern for the fate of the world, he’s just not Tom. I found this subplot the least interesting one this season, with a resolution that posed a very transparent and unconvincing moral dilemma that seemed too cheap for Tolkien. But hey! at least it gave us the adorable Merimac.

Finally, there are the more free-moving subplots that follow Galadriel, Elrond, Adar, and the Orcs. I’ve already expressed my delight with how the show handles the Orcs. Meanwhile Galadriel continues to be one of my favourite characters in the show: this season faces her with some hard consequences of her deception by Sauron in the first season, particularly in terms of a strained relationship with her friend (and future son-in-law), Elrond, as well as her king, Gil-Galad. There are many things to appreciate in this subplot. I’m particularly loving Elrond’s character: as my chum Christina commented, in every interview Robert Aramayo looks like someone who would rob you in a chip shop, and then onscreen he magically transforms into Sir Galahad. And there are not a whole lot of Sir Galahad characters in media today: Elrond is a rare character who allies impeccable gentleness, kindness, and goodness with a will and a conscience of adamant. His friendship with Galadriel has always been warm and sweet, but it gains new depth now that they’re at odds and we see his inflexible moral core. It’s a wonderful character dynamic, and it’s unusual to see a male and female character having conflict that is loving yet not at all romantic. Similarly, it’s unusual and refreshing, in a narrative in which two men hold a woman accountable for being deceived by a cute villain, that the show never makes it feel like some kind of feminine weakness.

In retrospect, the single unifying theme of the season is this: that evil cannot be resisted by power, but only by “light” – which is embodied throughout the season as the three theological virtues of faith, hope, and love. The Rings of Power remains the most overtly Christian work of media I have seen in western media for a popular audience in many years – while remaining artistically subtle and theologically sound. As such, it continues to be an absolute delight to me.

I’m so thrilled to see The Rings of Power holding strong to its best features, improving on its weaknesses, and gradually beginning to win some respect. No doubt it will be another long wait until season 3 releases, but with the sophomore season cementing all the things I loved about the first season, I now finally feel sure that the story is in good hands. I can’t wait to see what comes next.

[samsayswhatever]

6 and a half minutes into the show Loki was already naked and in a collar

I should have known this was going to be my new favorite show 🤭

[freshthoughts2020]

[scattered-winter]

every day i kick a rock and bash my head into the wall because i'll never get to go on a big space adventure and become tightly close-knit with my new found family up there <//3

[nefertiti-fooling-fellow]

For someone named Gaymen, that ending was actually really homophobic, Mr. Neil.

[c7thetumbler]

Quick Game Reviews: August 2024

Continuing on with August! A few days late because I was neck deep in the last game on here. It's very platformer heavy this month as well, but I was on a roll.

image from Steam page

Earth Defense Force 6 (Steam)

EDF! EDF!

EDF is a series that knows what it's about. Having played 4 and 5 on Steam as well, this is just more of that. The game boasts half as many more missions as 5 had, which is astonishing because 5 had 100 and that felt like way too many. I'm playing with friends and still haven't beaten it, but I hope to sometime soon.

The main difference I would say between this and 5 would be the plot. It's still the same tacky, B-movie plot with funny stilted dialogue and crazy scenarios, but they introduced a new element to it that lets it get even crazier but also makes me interested in what's going on past "How are we going to win". Gameplay wise, there's new weapons and enemies of course, and some of those new enemies require much more specific ways of dealing with them, but it still usually boils down to "Shoot them all really fast, and if they have a weak point shoot that." It's good, near-mindless fun and I appreciate that.

If you've played an EDF game before, this is more of the same and definitely best with a group of friends. If you haven't, keep that in mind and maybe wait for a sale.

Screenshot from my switch

New Pokémon Snap (Switch)

I didn't own Pokémon Snap on it's original release; I believe the first time I played it was on Wii VC, if not WiiU VC, so I had gotten far past 1st-gen hype that carried it a lot. It's a fun game, but it's pretty short and the lack of variety on each individual course wasn't doing it any favors. That's not to say I disliked it, but when this new one was announced I wasn't really in any hurry to try it out.

To it's credit, it's done a great job of adding features in a way that solves those issues with the original. You can level up each area as you get more points in it, which unlocks alternate routes and events in each one, and a number of them allow you to go at night which is a completely different experience as well. Your Pokedex also store 4 different rankings of pictures which have their own scoreboard, so you're encouraged to take pictures of the same Pokémon over and over again to get the best you can. I'll say this is a huge improvement, and worth the price of the game in terms of length at least, and that's without me going too far into the "post-game" content.

The game is a lot prettier than its current generation at the time, Gen 8, which is really funny given how poorly that game is run. It does a good job of showing you how expressive, interesting, and deep world that the Pokémon games have built but never have been able to explore upon fully due to the scope of those games and Gamefreak's... development practices. Pokémon's a franchise with a lot of incredibly unique gaming potential and side games like this do a great job of exploring that.

I did however find myself getting frustrated at some points. The Challenge system they have where NPC's give you tasks to try and get unique photos is very finnicky. I've often done pictures that I thought would fulfill their requirements, only for them to not even acknowledge it. I didn't complete a vast majority of them because of this; this kind of game benefits from not having to look things up online because the wonder and discovery is the point, but this could've used some work or an additional hint system for dumdums like me. Some of these challenges can also only be completed after unlocking levels and features and using them correctly, so it's especially frustrating to see the challenge pop up and attempt to do it several times only to discover that it's not possible until you hit level 3 and unlock the special glowy orb.

Overall though, this is Pokémon Snap but much larger and with a lot of great additions to the formula. If you enjoyed the gameplay of the original and want more, this will scratch that itch, but be prepared for some moments where you're confused on what to do next with little guidance.

Image from Steam page

Kitsune Tails (Steam)

I 100%'d this!

This is an adorable, very well done game. It's very much a love letter to SMB3 with some smaller SMW elements thrown in, and they're not only aware of that they've fully embraced it. I'd recommend it for anyone that just loved those classic Mario platformers, as it'll check all those boxes you know and love.

Kitsune Tails also features its own support for importing custom levels or even minigames based off of Lua and its own internal assets, complete with documentation and examples inside the local files for the game. That's something you don't see a lot, and even though I never made anything for it it was fun to mess around with. I will say that they will do themselves some favors if they find a way to make that work with Steam Workshop just inherently so players don't have to hunt around for files or join a discord with no anonymous accessibility (like forums used to do), but I won't count that against them because I have no idea how complicated that is. Update after I wrote this, Steam Workshop is now supported! That's the third time time they've updated the game with design changes and fixes that I was counting against it, which is very rad.

My only real complaints with it come in some more specific issues. A few levels could use some work design-wise; a few vertical levels really enjoy having enemies off-screen jump down to the next available platform to the player which is never fun, and there are some jumps and challenges that just don't feel right. Some enemies have clearly been designed to exploit difficult jumps and player behaviors. Monkeys that throw down diagonally at unforgiving intervals, and then drop down at an unavoidable rate. Ninja raccoons throw 3 projectiles very quickly as opposed to the traditional single projectile from piranha plants, ghosts perpetually chase you rather than being more manageable about directions your facing. It can lead to a lot of frustrating, repetitive fails that don't feel as fair as they could be, but ultimately with enough practice and patience nothing is insurmountable. Midway through my last run to get the hardest achievement they updated some of the problem jumps to be a bit easier which is appreciated, but these enemy issues don't feel addressable in the same way.

The story is adorable and lovely and genuine. Don't let "SMB3 but with fox girl lesbians," while true, color your perception of how the game presents itself or should play. This is a labor of love from a group of speedrunners, Mario fans, and the community that has kept that alive and evergreen.

Screenshot from my Switch

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX (Switch)

I wanted to get a game I could chill with on the couch while listening to podcasts with a drink and my cat, so I picked this up again. I had played the original game on DS and remember liking it a lot, and I've played a number of Mystery Dungeon-esque games in various forms so I figured this would be a good fit. The amount of time between then and now of course (20ish years?) allowed me to forget most of the story beats and I'm not sure entirely of everything that changed, but I'll try and recollect as much as I can.

Visually the filter really works for it; the storybook aesthetic is a lot more interesting than just generic Pokémon cartoon looks, and they recreated everything in 3D very well. The inclusion of several Gen 4 Pokémon, something which at the time of the original release wasn't out yet, was fun to see again and made me nostalgic for when Gamefreak actually tried to do tie ins like that. In terms of changes, I wish they had kept in the Basic Attack that was in the base game, as without it PP management becomes a real chore. While it's cool to see some enemies Mega-evolve in the later dungeons as well, it's not really much of a feature because every Pokémon gets that stat bonus if the right conditions are met anyway.

So from my perspective, this is really just an HD port of the original game; if they added new Pokémon or dungeons to it then they're VERY late in the game and I never grinded enough to get to them. So now I have to jump back to my running bit with Switch remakes releasing at crazy prices. This is available for $59.99 digitally, full brand new Switch Game price, despite just being a rerelease of a GBA/DS game. That's criminal; something like this should release for $30 tops, and without any real new content to justify that price increase there's absolutely no reason it should be less. They really undercut my point here though because just after I picked this up, they released the GBA version of the game on NSO+, so like. Just play that. Or if you don't have NSO+, I'll fall back on my previous statement from last month that The value of these 20+ year old games is essentially free given that it's so easy to find them online, they've been iterated on so many times, and the original developers aren't getting a cent of that anyway. I'm not against remakes, but let's start being realistic about it: if pirating the original takes as much effort as buying it and gives you a near identical experience to the remake, then the remake wasn't needed.

Save your cash. If you want a great Pokémon Mystery Dungeon experience, Explorers of Sky for the DS is generally considered the best in series, and I'd like to see them actually make an effort to drastically improve on this side-series next time.

Image from Steam page

Penny's Big Breakaway (Steam)

I 100%'d this as well!

I was super-excited for this when it was first announced. It was developed by Christian Whitehead and the team behind Sonic Mania, which is hands-down the best 2D Sonic game even still, and they proved that they could figure out and distill the formula down to one the best it could be. So seeing them do a 3D platformer that looked like it would build off of 2D Sonic momentum mentality in a way that 3D Sonic never did was exciting.

I may have over-hyped it. That's not to say this is a bad game; far from it! I had a lot of fun with it and enjoyed a lot of the challenges it brought. It's movement is well crafted and a lot of thought clearly went into the different ways a player could move around the world. But the game is less "3D, momentum-Based Sonic" and more "Mario Odyssey with a Yo-yo instead of a cap." There are a few ways to quickly build or gain speed, but overall most of your movement is going to be rolling on your yo-yo until you get to precision platforming, and then you need to take it slower to do your normal jump, swing jump, double jump, forward dive, etc. to get where you need to go.

The game has a combo system that reminds me a lot of Pizza Tower's combo system mixed with a skateboarding game's points. You do combos by doing tricks (any movement that isn't just walking and a normal jump), and the game feels like you can carry a combo through the entire level if you play your moves very precisely. In my experience however, that's pretty close to impossible and it's a little unclear what specifically breaks your combo. Often times I'm left trying to ride my yo-yo back and forth to figure out how to land on ground without actually landing on ground, and it didn't feel great in those moments. When everything worked out though it felt really fun, and I could see how a mastery of the mechanics could really make everything feel good.

Aesthetically the game looks great. Very heavily stylized in a way that reminds me of Sonic 3D blast and well-selected palette's and themes to bring it all together. Character design is a little wacky, but it fits within it and it's a very well executed look overall; something a lot of indies struggle with so it's great to see that they were able to carry over that skillset from how well they handled Sonic Mania.

So in short, if Mario Odyssey-style movement in Mario 3D land type linear levels appeals to you, then this is a good pick-up! It will however take a little while to get used to the movement in order to properly understand how the game wants you to traverse it.

Image from Steam page

Haiku, the Robot (Steam)

I nearly 100%'d this game! There's an achievement for going through it without repairing yourself or getting chips that help with that (ie, only healing at checkpoints), and I ruined that pretty early. I might go back and do that someday though.

This game is the "prequel" to Rusty's Retirement, which I reviewed last post. It's more that Rusty's Retirement just uses the same characters and some of the aesthetics. But it caused me to be interested in it, and I had a good time with it! It's very much a Hollow-Knight inspired metroidvania, right down to the healing ability and "chips" working like badges. It doesn't hold your hand for exploring, but to the game's credit I never felt lost, which is a problem I had with Hollow Knight itself.

The aesthetic is post-apocalyptic, rusty metal underground entirely inhabited by robots under attack from a virus that causes them to attack each other. The color palette is very muted; You're going to see a lot of Oranges, greys, and browns to match the very rusty look. It works well for it and a few bosses make a point to throw in other accents, but I can see some people getting tired of it.

Gameplay wise it's pretty solid! Everything feels pretty good, some of the traversal abilities are fun to mess around with, there's a lot of build options without feeling like some are objectively better than the other. Honestly, it's just a really solid title. If you like Hollow Knight or tried it and were a bit put off by its difficulty, then this is a great pick-up or alternative.

Image from Steam page

Psychonauts 2 (Steam)

I also 100%'d this

I really, really liked Psychonauts when I first played it on steam over a decade ago. It had a few issues, but overall was a really fun and quirky 3D platformer at a time when those had fallen a bit out of favor. The story and visuals were wacky, it was funny, and had a lot of unique challenges. I did not back any Psychonauts 2 funding attempts though due to the things going around about double fine and Tim Schafer's inability to handle scope, so I was never expecting this to come out. When it did I bought it and it's been in my backlog ever since.

I do really want to like this game; the platforming is fun, the progression and exploration are like how I remember. But this game really seems like it doesn't want you to play it. It took half of my time with the game to start to feel like there's more gameplay than cutscenes. Over and Over again it'll remind you how incredibly linear it is as you get to a new obstacle, area, or just story beat and then just say "hey you need to stop right there and listen to the story." It feels like it inherently clashes with the collectathon genre it's a part of; you want time with yourself and the world to go and explore and find things, but you're not sure if you've fully explored an area before you're thrown out of it entirely and usually irreversibly for a long time.

The story itself is interesting. It too a while to get into due to its first half doing some poor setup of the previous game(s) that made me uninvested in the nuance it was trying to get me into. I shouldn't feel like I need to have played Rhombus of Ruin, the VR exclusive game that occurred between 1 and 2, to have an understanding of a lot of these characters, but I feel like I missed out on a lot having not played it. Eventually though it starts building it's own story with those building blocks, and that's when it gets really good.

After I unlocked the real hub world and done about 3-4 sub worlds related to it, it started to feel like what I remember. It'll still do cutscenes to contextualize the strange, psychedelic worlds and challenges you see, but then it will for the most part let you play in them without throwing you into a cutscene and then out of the level entirely again. As I approached the end the cutscenes interruption got a little more bare able as the story's various threads tied together into something that didn't feel like padding, but the rocky start is a big ask and I can see players who haven't even touched either of the original games not being able to get key elements.

Combat is still a little wonky. I find myself mostly sticking to ranged attacks and gimmick abilities that you need to counter with rather than using the melee abilities that much. The PSI abilities themselves really could've used an update in terms of how they're accessed; You can map them to any one of the 4 shoulder buttons, but you'll always want levitation and your hand abilities available because they're just incredibly useful in and out of combat. That leaves you constantly opening a poorly handled radial menu to swap between you fire, ranged attack, and more situational abilities they like to swap between frequently. Given the either contextual nature of the gimmick abilities vs the universal ones, it feels like they didn't need a swap menu at all and could've incorporated the movement ones more easily into a context-specific button. I'm only ever going to need to jump between thought bubbles when there are thought bubbles around, use clairvoyance when creatures are nearby, slow time when a platform nearby is moving too fast etc., and that would free up the remaining buttons for your way more present actions of jumping/rolling, grabbing things, and combat abilities. It would lower the amount of unaccounted for freedom in handling combat and traversing levels, granted, but the game doesn't feel like it has enough depth and isn't open enough for that to feel like a bad trade-off.

If you liked the original Psychonauts and don't mind your gameplay being interrupted, having to to go back to worlds way later to 100% them, and are interested more in story, this is for you. If you want a seamless 3D platforming collectathon experience, I'd stay clear.

Image from the Gamebanana page

Super Mario Eclipse (Super Mario Sunshine GC mod)

This one surprised me; I had heard of a number of great Sunshine hacks that expanded on the game a lot more, but this one combines elements of a lot of them into one to make basically the most definitive Super Mario Sunshine experience + features and worlds that really bring it together well.

For the basics, the game starts out introducing new movement options and changes from vanilla, which is great. The hover burst, basically a double jump that sacrifices the length of the hover for an added boost, and it makes the game play a lot better. The hover nozzle course shows off dive boosting so you can fly crazy distances, and the turbo nozzle no longer has a charge up and controls much easier. Yoshi has also been updated to hatch automatically without fruit, and in this state he can enter water without dying until he eats a fruit, in which case he changes back to normal behavior. It all adds to the controls Sunshine really struggles with, and while the base layer is still there they're vast improvements.

The game contains the entirety of the original Super Mario Sunshine, including the tedious blue coin hunt, but adds quite a few additional levels. The levels are now interconnected, with physical paths between them being separate mini-rooms that add a lot of character to the game and make the world feel cohesive. Delfino also has 4 new levels that tie directly into the game and link nicely as well, though you can clearly tell what is new content and what isn't just because of the way Level geometry works out. Still, it really brings the whole game together, and with additions such as not kicking you out when you get shines that don't require a reload and a pause-menu Shine/Blue coin counter you're not left struggling as much as the original Sunshine had you doing.

Once you beat Bowser, you unlock Daisy Cruiser and a bunch more levels that, while smaller than the Delfino levels, are still pretty fun in their own right. I would've liked it if they had kept with the tropical + interconnected themes with these levels personally, as I think the best one of these levels is Yoshi's Island which actually does, but still it's a great amount of new content. Daisy Cruiser and Peach Beach are brought in directly from double dash, so there's some scaling issues and problems with layout that could've used some work rather than a direct port, but again they're still pretty fun. There's 240 Shines in this game, with 420 Blue Coins, and even after that there's still a large chunk of game for the 100% completion bonus, so you'll be spending a LONG time with this if you really love sunshine.

If you've not revisited Sunshine in a long time or have the itch to pick it up again, this is definitely the best way to do it. Really rounds out what was otherwise a pretty incomplete feeling game into a cohesive world and fun experience.

[lycanwlf]

was mentally preparing myself to buy a new tablet but right before i did i went and checked the rest of the tablets available and i saw the literal perfect tablet. except its not available for purchase in the US on the official store page...

...

but its on their official amazon page, and its 25% off... ;)

[boxinthewild]

I'm beginning my horrendously long foray into the /idgames archive tonight (just for doom2 maps rn), and the first map I decided to play was one BADTRIP1.wad. I have little to no idea who made this map seeing as I was stupid enough to mass extract all of the wads from their respective categorizations and plop them all in one folder and deleting their text files (unbelievably stupid). Horrendous shotgun audio replacement and confusing puzzle designs await me in this honestly quite forgettable and annoying, 90's era map.

This may have been a wonderful doomcute-esque bar when this map came out (date unknown because the wad itself is confusingly dated for January 1st of 1980), but even so, I really do think this is just a sloppy job. Speaking of the date when this map came out, I am under the assumption that the person who had made this wad probably either forgot to set their clock after the CMOS battery died in their computer, or never cared in the first place. I believe this map was made in the ensuing months after Doom 2's original release but whose to say for certain, I'm way too lazy to check and finding the zip it was located in inside of the massive archive makes me want to look for it even less.

Even though this map does have the occasional (dare i say) good(?) combat encounter, i do think this really is a weird showing of classic 90's mapping tropes, weird secrets that may or may not be required to progress the level/not marked secrets, horrendous audio replacements for weapons and/or enemy noises, seizure inducing flashing sector lights, and really really confusing map design round out this trifecta of potentially unfavorable map qualities, I can't help but enjoy the weird out of touch charm of this map.

I lied, I am really annoyed with this combat encounter in particular. Extremely heavy use of the zombie sergeant almost to a ridiculous degree. If I would have to tell you one thing i hate in doom maps, it would be the needlessly heavy use of a hitscan enemy in a combat encounter, to the point where the hitscanners are the most oppressive enemy in the area.

2 Mancubi who are either stuck or have been placed on a weird linedef that they cant see me really make this encounter the kind of needlessly difficult and unfun time it is.

The trap that springs when grabbing the plasma gun is a couple of monster closets that hold 2 Revenants and at the very least 2 floating meatballs. (edit: its 4 flying meatballs)

I went into one of the rooms on the side of that rather large combat encounter and happened across a maze. A shotgunner maze. A shotgunner maze with quite a few of the hallways having flashing lights strobing at different intervals. I didn't think my enjoyment of this map could have been lowered any further at this point in my playthrough. The flashing lights got so bad that I pretty much had to use the lightamp toggle cheat so my head didn't hurt more than it already did.

Oh great, the tower in the middle of the area was actually progression, i could have never seen that coming.

This Archvile/Pinky encounter room looks cool at least.

I am very rapidly losing interest at this point and i finally just got the yellow key so i can at the LEAST get to the exit section.

It leads into a slightly annoying fodder trap.

Which then leads into whatever the fuck this is beyond the door?

At this point my patience has become thin enough to move through an airlock seal.

The exit switch.

I really really do think there are some interesting design choices in the map, I really really do, but there are just so many glaring issues with the encounters that I cant in good conscious recommend this to anyone. My interest pretty much ran out by the last couple of rooms and it really really shows with my lack of thoughts on the map by the end.

4/10

source port used: prboom-plus -complevel 2 iwad: doom2 res: 1920x1080 with 4:3 aspect ratio cause i'm weird

[esonetwork]

Sweet Tooth Season 2 Review

New Post has been published on https://esonetwork.com/sweet-tooth-season-2-review/

Sweet Tooth Season 2 Review

Gus and his fellow hybrids continue to seek sanctuary from a sick world that hates and fears them. Mike, Mike, and Joseph Martinez discuss the mysteries and revelations contained in the second season of the Netflix series. All this, along with Angela’s A Geek Girl’s Take and Shout Outs.

We want to hear from you! Feedback is always welcome. Please write to us at feedback@earthstationone.com and subscribe and rate the show on Apple Podcast, Stitcher Radio, Google Play, Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Music, wherever fine podcasts are found, and now we can be found on our own YouTube Channel.

Links The Earth Station One Website Earth Station One on Apple Podcasts The New Earth Station One YouTube Channel Earth Station One on Stitcher Radio Earth Station One on Spotify Past Episodes of The Earth Station One Podcast Angela’s A Geek Girl’s Take Ashley’s Box Office Buzz Michelle’s Iconic Rock Talk Show Kameleon Cosplay Kamikaze Vol. 3 Unique Crafts by Jenn

Promos Tifosi Optics The ESO Network Patreon ESO Network Tee-Public

If you would like to leave feedback or a comment on the show please feel free to email us at feedback@earthstationone.com

[princessofmanyfaces]

Crescent City

House of Earth and Blood:

A 5 star read for me. I absolutely LOVED House of Earth and Blood. Even though you kind of have to fight through the first 200 pages with all the info dump, it stays 5 stars. I hate reading into the night but I couldn't put my book down at the end. I cried, I laughed. Perfect.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

House of Sky and Breath:

A 5 star read, too! People don't lie when they say the middle was pretty boring, though. It's a little too much POVs. Still, the ending often makes the final ranking FOR ME and that ending was phenomenal.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Crescent City Series:

Solid 5 star series.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[ravendruidreads]

House of Earth and Blood - Review

Author: Sarah J. Maas Saga: Crescent City (#1) Date Read: December 11, 2023 - January 12, 2024 Format: Digital Pages: 803 Rating: 4,4/10 (2 stars) Spice Level: 1/5

Characters: 6/10 - I didn't feel a strong connection to most of the characters, but I did tear up a few times. I do think some of the characters in this book are very similar in personality with characters from other SJM's books

Atmosphere: 3/10 - I was not expecting to fall into a modern society after reading TOG and ACOTAR. It took me a while to get used to cell phones, computers and surveillance cameras, and even by the end of the book, I was not totally convinced. This rating is also tied with the worldbuilding.

Writing: 5/10 - I'm not a huge fan of SJM's writing, but I have to hand it to her, that this wasn't as bad as I thought... mostly because I didn't have to read the word "mate" every other sentence. I still have beef with "male" though.

Plot: 4/10 - This book could have easily been cut to 500 pages and nothing important would have been lost. There were a lot of moments where the story was unnecessarily dragged on.

Intrigue: 5/10 - It took me a while to get into the story, so much that I didn't pick up the book for almost two weeks.

Logic: 3/10 - Like I said before, this rating is tied with Atmosphere. I will get more into this in the review proper.

Enjoyment: 5/10 - My enjoyment of this book was very much like a roller-coaster. It had a lot of dull moments, but it also had fun and exciting moments.

The review is hidden below due to spoilers.

There is a lot to say about House of Earth and Blood, so let's start from the beginning: the characters.

Shockingly, Bryce Quinlan is not a fair-skinned, blue-eyed, blonde woman, like the two previous FMCs from the same author. It was a very welcoming change, however, I still have a bone to pick with her. Why does SJM feel the need to write all her female (and male, but we'll get to that) main characters as being extremely hot and fuckable? Not to mention that Bryce, Aelin and Feyre have a little bit too much in common, personality-wise. I feel like we're due for some change, here. Something good about Bryce is that it was nice to have some variety and representation of a different body type. We need more curvy, wide-hipped FMCs, please.

Hunt Athalar is your copy-paste morally grey, hot as the sun, super fuckable MMC. And it wouldn't be a SJM book without wings (I'm not kink-shaming). Throughout the book, Hunt is described as being a super-powerful, cold assassin, of being the best in centuries, etc., but we never actually get to see his power in action. Sandriel's death was very underwhelming, to be honest. I hope we get to see more of Hunt's powers in CC2 and 3. One good thing about Hunt? He's not as much as an "alphahole" as I thought he would be. The only time he actually seemed to step in for a "tell me who did this" moment, was with Amelie, and that was pretty soft when comparing him to Rhys and Rowan. But there's still time.

Honorable mentions go to Danika, who died before we could love her, and Lehabah, whose death legit made me sob into my pillow (seriously, My friends are behind me and I will defend them????? How can you not cry with this????).

Now, as for the story...

I felt like the story picked up in the middle of something, like I walked into a circle of people who were already discussing a subject, which was very confusing and unpleasant. To add more logs to the fire, the so-called worldbuilding was exhaustive and confusing. It felt a lot like infodumping. Because of this, it took me a while to go through the first ten chapters (I almost gave up after three pages, but I persisted).

The murder investigation itself was fun to read, but not entirely what I was expecting from this book. Also because I had such a hard time keeping up with the lore, I had to look up a bunch of stuff, and during one of those rabbit hole searches, I spoiled myself to who Danika's killer was, so my entire experience reading the investigation was me just anxiously waiting for them to find out it was Micah, and being super confused as to why there wasn't any foreshadowing that it was him (at least I didn't pick up on it).

Speaking of foreshadowing, can we talk about the plot twist of Hunt wanting to get synth???? Was I blind and did not see it coming, or did SJM suddenly pull that out of her butt? I didn't feel like it added much to the plot other than a rift between Hunt and Bryce (which she overcame a little bit too quickly, if you ask me).

Since we're talking about POVs, I'm not sure if all formats are the same, but for me there was no demarcation between POVs, which was extremely confusing. One second we were Bryce, the next we were Hunt, and by the time I realized that, we were already back to Bryce.

Lastly, and because this review is already extensive, I would just like to express my disappointment with the lack of spice in this book. Yes, I do love me a slow burn, and yes, this is the slowest of the burns, but like... there was so much hype for this book (I should have known better after ACOTAR) for being SJM's first Adult fiction, that I thought it would have actual adult content... but no. All we got was a measly masturbation scene that was very underwhelming (hello, A Court of Silver Flames, my old friend).

Stupid honorable mentions: For over half of the book, every time I read 'CBD' I thought they were talking about weed and not the district.

[whovian223]

Blog in Review - 2023

Blog in Review - 2023 @dragonflight @terminalcitycon @OrcaCon @gmtgames @strongholdgames

It’s Monday and 2024 is upon us, almost sneaking up on us like a wily coyote hunting a roadrunner. As is my tradition over the past 4 years or so, I wanted to do an update on how this blog, and my gaming, is doing each year. A retrospective of the previous year is a great way to do that! I’m not going to go into a great deal about the year itself, other than to say that if you’re going to be…

[tutchando74]

Doom II little review

The continuation of the first Doom, and it's as great as the first, if not more.

There are some additions, like the Super-Shotgun, wich is the best thing ever created by humanity. There are some enemies and most of them are great, but others are either re-skins or a fucking wallpaper.

I cannot for the life of me like the Icon of Sin in this game.

The maps are really great though. They are really well made and fun to play. Barrels o' fun is one of the best maps in this game.

Overall, even if the game didn't add much and can be confused with an expansion, it's a really great game.

[visplay]

Chris: The Wandering Earth 2 is a Chinese sci-fi prequel which is nearly 3 hrs, not a sequel so it covers past history, a sequel would have been much more interesting, so only watch this first before The Wandering Earth, Watch: On Subscription Service.

Richie: It’s a CGI effects heavy film that suffers from bad pacing and should have had an hour cut out of it, Watch: On Subscription Service.

[anintelligentoctopus]

🎡 schlitz-playhouse-of-stars Follow Mar 22, 1954

Back in 1951 I told my draft board I was a homosexual communist so I wouldn't be sent to Korea except now I'm not so sure I was lying lmao

🎡 schlitz-playhouse-of-stars Follow Mar 22, 1954

Looks like I'm joining the war on communism and perversion on the side of communism and perversion

🎡 schlitz-playhouse-of-stars Follow Mar 23, 1954

I've been blacklisted

🧶 herockonmyhudsonuntili Follow Apr 7, 1954

got another one fellas

4,269 notes

🥔 the-famous-eccles May 12, 1954

can't believe i just saw princess margaret x peter townsend rpf on my dash with my own two eyes

#you know who you are

127 notes

📖 photoplays 🔁 bebopappreciator May 12, 1954

👔 johnny-dollars-expense-account-reviewer Follow Mar 29, 1954

honestly dni if you support the boycotting of salt of the earth by movie theaters i'm not even kidding

🌎 mccarthyismofficial Follow Apr 2, 1954

This just in: Tumblr thinks communist and un-American propaganda is good now

👔 johnny-dollars-expense-account-reviewer Follow Apr 2, 1954

Say it ain't so

#this is the communism and un-american activities website

9,257 notes

✒ lesbianeffieperine 🔁 haysoffice Follow May 12, 1954

✒ lesbianeffieperine May 9, 1954

If these shitty rollers fall out again tonight istg

🎞 haysoffice Follow May 12, 1954

Profanity

Blasphemy

VERDICT: POST NOT APPROVED

✒ lesbianeffieperine May 12, 1954

excuse me

#what the fuck

1,684 notes

🎷 bebopappreciator May 12, 1954

here's how adlai can still win

[lufyuu]

''River's Quest..?,,

Protagonist Oc [River!] x Bottom male Reader

Part 2! Part 1

Tw/s: overstimulation, rough rough sex, face fucking, dacryphilia, hair grabbing/pulling, jealous River, public sex, almost caught, a bit of degration, a bit of praising, a bit of edging.

[Loading...]

[System]

—Quest started—

`Click here for details`

Recently, you've made a new friend and River's been pouty about it even if you dont know the reason behind his poutiness. Not only that, he had become even more clingy than before, where ever you went, he was always not too far behind, making you feel a bit suffocated. It all started not too long ago. How you met your new friend, that is.

˗ˏˋ ꒰ ♡ ꒱ ˎˊ˗

"Hey can we be partners?", a feathery voice asked as a finger tapped your shoulder. This is the first time anyone has asked you to be their partner in a project, ever since that incident. Everyone's been too nervous to partner up with you seeing as River is always around you. Well, almost anyway. Today was different, River had a very important project to attend to, leaving you all alone in class. The moment the guy had asked you to partner up, it was immediately followed by the other classmates surrounding you with the same question, shoving the shy classmate aside. "Can we be partners!?", they all giddily said, making you feel overwhelmed at the sudden focus. You knew it was all because they wanted to get in River's good graces seeing as you're the closest person to him at the moment. Even closer than Aria, his very own 'girlfriend.' With the whole classroom being filled with the cacophony of voices, everyone wanting you to partner up with them, the teacher had no choice but to slam the board to get everyone's attention. "Everyone calm down, you're all being way too loud for anyone's liking, especially [Name]'s, how on earth will he be able to choose with you all talking on top of each other?" Thankfully, they all stayed quiet for a moment, looking at you with anticipation.

You decided to go with the guy who didn't try to make you go deaf, the one who had the guts to ask you in the first place before the domino effect took place. In all honesty, you should have paid more attention to the way his eyes scanned you up and down before sitting next to you.

"Thanks", he says, looking into your eyes for no reason in particular. You nod and begin to workout the project, pulling out your notes and laptop. "Let's start it right now since the deadline's pretty tight." Without your knowledge, he continues to stare at you even though you aren't looking directly at him. He eventually does snap out of it after you look at him, confused on why he's staring. Directing his focus on the task at hand. "Yeah..definitely", his voice sounded like a kid who was caught with his hand inside a cookie jar.

Reviewing over the material together, the two of you eventually map out the entire project, splitting the material between the both of you. You had the task of making the presentation while he had the task of condensing the material to make it easier to digest. You press on the power button on your laptop, expecting it to boot up immediately. Only to be greeted with a black screen. "Huh? I could've sworn I charged it last night", you scratch your head, confusion plastered on your face. "What's wrong?", he asked, despite his words, you felt it was void of any worry. You shake your head, "it's nothing, I'll just make the presentation at my dorm and send it to you afterwards", you begin to put back your notes and laptop into your bag. Coincidentally, the bell suddenly rings, indicating the end of class and school altogether. Though, before you could get up from your chair, you felt a tight grip on your wrist, stopping you. "Can I come over? It'll be much more efficient and effective", he smiles, expecting you to agree, "I don't know about that...", you hesitate since nobody from campus has ever been in your house, apart from your close friends that is. But, no harm would be done right? It's just a simple presentation.

Click! the lock clicked open as you turned the key. You grab the handle and pull it, opening the door to your dorm. Peaceful and quiet. Those are the words not a lot of students who live in dorms can use to describe their place due to having a messy roommate or what not. Fortunately for you, your roommate had moved out not long ago, leaving the whole dorm to yourself. "No roommate?" "nope", you answer simply, getting the point across quickly. "Take a seat on the sofa, I'm just going to put my things down, and we can get started", you grab your laptop out of your bag before placing it near your bed. The laptop is placed on your desk, you plug it in and make sure that this time it's on. The last thing you want now is to prolong the guy's stay. You sit down next to him, notes in hand. "Oh right, I never got your name", he perks up at this, "it's Trav!", "nice to meet you, Trav, I'm–", "[Name], yes I know", he cuts you off almost excitedly. He really is unpredictable. Partly because of this, the atmosphere becomes awkward, the two of you not having any topics to bring up.

"Well...Do you want a drink? I can make us some hot chocolate or tea if you prefer that", you try to break the awkward silence with a question, "some hot chocolate sounds nice", he nods as he says this. You get up to boil some water as you get two cups and two packets of hot chocolate mix. "Hope you don't mind instant hot chocolate", you chuckle, "of course not", you could hear him laugh a bit aswell. At least you managed to break the awkwardness for just a moment. The whole time you were making the hot chocolate, you felt him starin at you but whenever you turned around, he wouldn't be looking at you at all. This whole thing was kinda creeping you out but what could you do? You were the one who picked him to be your partner in the first place.

With two cups of hot chocolate in your hands, you head back to the couch and hand him a cup. He thanks you and takes a sip of the drink, "delicious!", he says while looking at you, not paying attention to the cup as some of the liquid spills onto your shirt, "ow shit!", you wince, feeling the hot chocolate on your skin. Seeing this, Trav remains calm, reaching over to grab a few tissues and wiping your shirt a bit, "I think you should take this off", you nod, you'll just change to another shirt, no big deal. You tug your shirt over your head, your hair being ruffled a bit and you get up to toss it in the laundry basket. Trav stared at your half naked body, oogling at your frame before you finally find a sweater to put on, ending his wandering eyes from looking even more.

It's been a month since your first meeting with Trav. You noticed his shy persona going away little by little. Now he's definitely more confident. At least he has the confidence to be 'jokingly flirtatious' with you. Not to mention you surprisingly haven't gotten a love quest ever since you started hanging out with Trav more than River. River took notice of this quickly. He was only gone for a day, and you already made yourself a friend? A friend who dares to flirt with you no less. Do you not know who you are? You ought to be more careful.

Due to this, River has been even more protective of you. He even holds your hand tightly in class under the table. And at this moment, he'd doing exactly that. His fingers intertwined with yours, unwilling to let go even if your hand's sweating. "Let go of my hand—", "no", he answers firmly, not even looking at you as though it was an obvious answer. You huff, you've tried to pull away but his grip's too strong. It just ends up with him pulling the "puppy" eyes on you, making you sigh in defeat almost everytime. "That's all for today's material, please don't forget to turn in your work tomorrow morning on my desk", the teacher says as she walks out the door with the class finally over. You thought you'd be free from River's grip, but no, he was still holding your hand when you got up. "Where are you going?", he asked, looking up at you to which you reply, "none of your business", if this was a cartoon, an irk mark would have appeared on your forehead. You've barely had enough time to yourself, let alone with friends after getting into River's sight. "Let go", your tone somewhat frustrated, hoping he'd let go. This of course, doesn't work, "I'll go with you—", "hey River, can you help me with this?", a random classmate comes up to his desk, handing him a big stack of paper, he reaches for the papers with both hands, letting go of yours in the process and leaving an opening for you to finally sprint out of class to hang out with your friend.

You thought River would follow you but when you look back, he's nowhere to be seen, making you let out a sigh of relief rather than defeat. Looking around, you find yourself at the end of a hallway connecting to a garden. You check your phone to see it's 3:10PM. Trav had promised to meet you here so the two of you could walk home together after he showed you something in the garden. But it seems like he's running a bit late considering it's been 10 minutes since the promised time. You were late too but considering he hasn't even arrived yet, you were quite early. You decide to give him a call. *ring* *ring*, but no answer. "Did his teacher hold him back?", you wonder as you stand there waiting for him to show up.

After a couple more minutes, you felt a pair of hands covering your eyes, covering your sight. "Trav?", you guess only to hear a very pouty, "Trav!?" Turning around, you were met face to face with River, "you thought I was Trav?", his expression turns gloom, disappointed and blue. Seeing this, you roll your eyes, he's probably pretending like he always is to get your sympathy, "I was expecting Trav to show up, he's running a bit late", you explain the situation with a tired look, "kindly fuck off", you smile with a hint of anger. It's been ages since you walked home with a friend, he should at least let you breathe once in a while. Just as you say that, he grabs your wrist, pulling you to the storage room, which is conveniently placed within that hallway, not letting you slip away.

He closes the door with one hand, the other still gripping your hand just as hard. "[Name], you have no idea what Trav will end up doing. You do know who you are, don't you?", he asks as if it's the mosy obvious question in the world. You squint your eyes in confusion, "what do you mean?", he opens his mouth to say something but stops to rub his forehead a bit, "have you not checked the system window?", this made you even more confused, what reason would you have to check it? You shake your head. He stays silent for a bit, his face looks as if he's finally put one and one together. A sigh is let out before he speaks, "so that's why you've been so idiotic and oblivious", you're clearly offended by this statement, no, this lie. "Excuse you."

"You've made me upset, [Name]", he pouts once more, "you know, I was actually starting to think you liked him", he says with another sigh, a sigh of relief this time, "who?", you ask, confused still, "Trav!", he says in a slightly louder voice, your hand free of his grasp by now. You couldn't help but laugh at his admittion, "so..Let me get this straight, you were being an annoying bastard just because you got jealous of Trav?", you couldn't stop laughing. The mere thought of a protagonist getting jealous of an unimportant role was just hilarious. This comment made him frown, his emotions are not to be taken lightly. He'll definitely show you.

[System]

—River's Quest—

Accept the punishment given

"The what quest?", you raise an eyebrow at the title. On the other hand, River had a knowing smirk plastered on his face, the frown long gone. "I guess the system's on my side huh?", you look up at him, no longer distracted by the window as it closes by itself as always. You stare at him with a 'on your side? Please' look. "[Name], get on your knees", you chuckle, "you think I'd just do that? That's ridiculous—", just as you say those words, your knees give out on you, making you get on your knees infront of River with your phone being dropped on the floor next to you. Infront of his crotch. "You're such a good boy", he smiles with his eyes closed, happy at your obedience, "what just...", "what just happened? My dear angel, have you forgotten I'm the protagonist?", his hand extends to grab a handful of your hair, bending down a bit to meet eye to eye. His eyes intimidating like a predator's. Like someone who already knows the outcome. He stares at your eyes. You feel as if he's staring into your soul, you're terrified of this feeling, of him, of what he's able to do.

"Let go..", you manage to mumble out despite your fear. He tilts his head a bit in satisfaction hearing your weak voice. "Alright then", he lets go of your hair, you look down, trying to calm down from the fear you just experienced when, zippp, you hear a zipping sound coming nor too far from your face. Looking up, you see River already taking his hard-on out. You're once again face to face with his girthy cock. "Angel..Suck it", his eyes full of lust, you could have sworn there were hearts in them. You instinctively reach out for his cock, wrapping your hands around it before letting your lips wrap around his tip, earning a very satisfied huff, "that's it...go down on my cock", he encourages you to shove his dick deeper in your mouth, down your throat. You slowly but surely take more and more of him in your mouth, trying your best to not accidentally choke in the process which grows increasingly hard after a few seconds, you forgot how long he actually is. You look up to see his hand hovering over his mouth incase he accidentally moans too loud. Even if classes have ended for the day, it doesn't mean there aren't students still lurking around. "You can do better than that", he says as you've taken about half of his cock in your mouth. You wanted to throw a snarky comment at him but with your mouth full, you couldn't utter a single word, so you opted to glare at him instead. "A glare won't stop me from doing this", he says as you feel him grab another handful of your hair and making you take all of him in your throat. You choke, whine, and even shed a few tears due to the unexpected choking sensation. You could hear River let out a loud moan. Just you were adjusting, you felt River's grip tighten as he pulls you back until your lips were only touching the tip before pushing you back down, "what a shame Trav isn't here to see you choking on my cock", he smirks before repeating the move over and over again for a few seconds.

"[Name]?", speak of the devil, Trav is finally here. He calls out your name in the hallway. You can hear him so close to you, hindered by a single brick wall. You hear your phone buzzing on the floor, "what a bother..", River sighs, grabbing your phone and turning on do not disturb mode, putting it in his pocket to ensure it stays that way. "He isn't even answering the phone", Trav sighs as his footsteps get closer and closer to the storage room. River only tells you to "keep sucking." Those words alone were enough to make you keep sucking his cock even without him face fucking you. The door to the storage room slowly opens, "oh, River, have you seen [Name]?", the confused man asks, thank God you and River are behind stacks of boxes, Trav is unable to see the way you're sucking River so good. "[Name]? I haven't seen him since class ended, why?", River answers calmly as Trav scratches his head, "really? I could have sworn I heard his phone buzzing around here", he thinks to himself for a moment while River tries to hold in his groans and moans. "What are you doing here anyways?", Trav asks, taking a step into the room which makes you panic a bit hearing his voice get closer. River chuckles at your panicked expression, he then grips your hair to make sure your head stays in place, with all of his length in your mouth, doen your throat. "Please refrain from stepping any closer, I'm tidying up and wouldn't want any dust coming off of you", he smiles softly, admittingly a fake smile, at Trav, causing him to back away. "Oh alright then, don't let me disturb you", he says as he finally walks away, closing the door on his way out.

River turns his attention to you, eyes filled with tears, mouth filled with his cock, you could even taste his precum. You feel a tug at your hair, signaling for you to continue. You try your best to satisfy him, licking and sucking his cock so good. When you look up at him, you see his bored expression, "how do you expect me to cum when you're sucking like that?", he asks, expecting more from you. In order to satisfy himself, he starts to face fuck you, thrusting into your mouth once more, harder and faster this time to chase his climax. You could feel tears rolling down your cheeks, why is he so rough. "Now this...agh..is how to please me", he says in-between moans and breaths. You had a hard time breathing but it'd all be over soon as you could hear River say he's about to cum. "Don't swallow it yet", is what he says before cumming in your mouth, pulling out to see his thick cum overflowing your mouth, spilling a bit on the floor, "open your mouth", he demands which you obey. "Good", your mouth filled with cum, not being able to swallow due to his orders. "You took me so well, you can swallow now", he has a mischievous look on his face, fantasizing about all the things he can and will do to you in this very storage room.

"I've really been holding this in, won't you do more for me? You've been neglecting me these past few days and giving your attention to that pesky man", he refuses to say his name at this very moment in order to not ruin his own mood. Truth be told, Trav got under his skin simply for being around you. "[Name], stand up", your body moves by itself, letting you stand up on both your legs whjch were previously weak beyond belief. With his rough hands, River bends you over on one of the boxes, fortunately, it's stable enough to withstand the force. "You're so pretty, it's no wonder he'd want you", he scans your features and your clothed body, "but you're mine", he proceeds to grab your clothes and rip it into two. You cover yourself with your hands, "what was that for!", he doesn't answer, he only trails his hands down your chest, groping and squeezing your nipples to try and get a reaction out of you, which it does. "Ah..!", you moan out a bit, the sensation painful yet you feel pleasure at the same time. "I'm glad you're still as sensitive as last time we fucked", he turns his attention to your pants which without any hesitation, he pulls down with your boxers along with it leaving you naked. "R-River! We're still in school, what if someone sees, the door can't be locked you know!", you try to salvage what was left of your shirt but River beats you to it and throws them on the ground where you can't reach the pieces. "That's precisely why I want to fuck and mess you up here, angel", he pauses and then continues, "if anyone were to walk in here, they'd know you're fully mine, nobody else's."

With that reminder, he lifts up one of your legs and places it over his shoulder, that way, you cant close your legs even if you wanted to, giving him an easy access to your hole. "We haven't done it in a while, will you even be able to take it all the way in?", his teasing reminds you of all the times the two of you did this sort of act in class without anyone noticing due to whatever magic the system performed. "Damnit, if you're going to fuck me, stop talking and do it already!", you cover your face due to how red it is by now.

River doesn't say a single word. Instead, he uses two fingers to stretch you out, taking you by surprise once more as you moan loudly. God you hope nobody's near this specific hallway, if there is someone, both you and River would be found out. "You like that don't you? To have something of mine in you, you love it. Just wait for my cock to be inside of you", he can't stop the dirty talk when it comes to you.

You can feel his fingers stretching you out, moving around. His fingers are long and knows how to turn you on even more than you already are. You let out a string of moans, the pleasure being unreal. Even after a few minutes, you still writhed in pleasure from his fingers alone.

Your hole suddenly felt weirdly empty, you look at him to see him retracting his fingers. You look on, knowing his cock was going to enter you soon. He guides your hands to wrap around his neck, he positions his cock to be at your entrance and grabs your waist, "I'm not going to go easy on you angel", you swore his pupils were hearts for a second, his lust filled eyes looked into yours. In just a second and without any sort of warning, he thrusts all the way into you, you let out a mixture of a moan and a scream, the pain and pleasure mixing together until you can't form thoughts, all you can do is spill out even more tears. "Hah...all in one go, you're amazing angel", his praises go unnoticed by you due to how your eyes are rolling back from pleasure. Your hands which were once around his neck, scratched his back a bit. Fortunately for River, it did not tear skin. "Be careful there, I'll be leaving campus with blood all over my back if you keep doing that", he joked. Even you knew that he wouldnt mind that kind of thing. Infact, he'd probably love your scratches on him, it's as if you're 'marking' him in some way.

Once you clamed down from the initial shock, he wasted no time and started to thurst in and out of you. Hitting your spots just right as you moan out of pleasure from your academic rival. "Moan out my name angel, I want to hear it", even though you're a mess at this moment, you manage to say his name, "Ri-Riv...ahh...River!", with your shaky voice saying his name, he lets out a very satisfied hum and continues to pound your little hole, abusing it all while you're too weak to do anything about it. You could feel yourself getting closer and closer to your climax. River certainly noticed this. In order to stop you from cumming so fast, he places his thumb over your cock head, you look at him, almost terrified at what he's doing. "You're not going to cum unless I let you, got it?", he's getting back at you for all those times you ditched him for Trav. "We're going to have a long, long day ahead of us."

˗ˏˋ ꒰ ♡ ꒱ ˎˊ˗

Seven.

River has been abusing your hole with his cock for seven rounds. The only reason you know is because River himself kept count. He made sure to count every single round. It doesn't seem like he'll stop either. Both your bodies sweating, dripping with sweat by now. The room became humid, it felt as if the whole world stopped for just the two of you. You lost track of time, your perception of time ruined by how rough River has been fucking you. A minute feels like an hour because of him not letting you rest for even a second. You thought you'd die from pleasure if that was even a possible cause of death. Too much sex? That's one way to die.

With this being the eigth round, colors began to mix together, you lost focus a few rounds ago, only being able to see River's face, feeling the rhythm of his cock going and out of you. "N-no...more...", you somehow manage to mumble out."One more time..Angel", he responds as he's panting heavily, hands still gripping your waist like steel. With one final deep thrust to your prostate, you shiver as your cock releases more cum on your stomach along with River's cum which spilled into your hole once more, you could see a pool of cum on the floor and boxes. "Atta boy..", was all you heard before passing out right then and there.

˗ˏˋ ꒰ ♡ ꒱ ˎˊ˗

When you did awake, you were in River's arms. You look at him and blink a couple of times, covering your mouth as you yawn a bit. "Huh..?", you stare at River's resting face. He looks so peaceful, unlike the River who basically teases the shit out of you for a living. Thinking of it alone made you pissed so you let go of the thought to savor this very moment. You reach out one hand to stroke his hair a few times, his soft fluffy brown hair felt like a cloud. He opened his eyes and smiled at you, "enjoying the view, [Name]?", there he goes going back to his teasing self. You instantly retract your hand, "no", you simply answered and closed your eyes once more. He wouldn't let you avoid him that easily though. "Heyyy look at mee", he pouts, trying to get you to open your eyes with a few soft nudges. You eventually caved in and the two of you met eye to eye. "Angel, you're gorgeous", he says out of the blue, "where did that even come from", you giggle a bit from the sudden compliment, "can't I compliment my boyfriend!?", "boyfriend? We're not even dating yet", you say that but you definitely saw the appeal in it. "Cmonn, admit it, you like me dontcha [Name]?", he has a cheeky smile, he knows he's hard to resist, almost impossible to resist to be very honest. "Is this your way of asking me to be your boyfriend?", "maybeeeee what do you say?", he gets up, using his palm to rest his head as he looks at you, "do you want to be?", you pretend to think about it, "hm, after you've fucked me over 10 times? I don't know..", you respond sarcastically before eventually laughing at your own words, "I assume that's a yes", he laughs too before tackling you and getting on top of you. He leans for a kiss but you suddenly remember something.

"River, why was Trav able to see you..? Plus why was the quest even named after you???", you ask, usually the love quests would make the both of you invisible to others, why was it different that time? And especially the sudden title change??"I'm the protagonist silly, I can do whatever I want with the system— oops, cat's out of the bag", he says nonchalantly, "you WHAT!?", you yell in shock, turns out the rumour is real afterall, "ah ah, don't go around telling people this, it wouldn't be as fun if everyone knew", he sighs a bit but you could tell it wasn't all that serious to him.

[System]

Welcome, [Name] [L. Name], after completing the quest, you have been registered as The Protagonist's other half

With the window basically in your face, you read it out loud and get shocked once more, causing you to get up and suddenly lose all feeling in your two legs. Fortunately for you, River caught you in time. "I fucked you real good huh?", he chuckles while you're in his arms basically processing information and the fact you'd probably not be able to go to classes for 3 days because of how rough River fucked you. "River you damn horny bastard!"

Needless to say, River had to carry you around for about 3 days. He doesn't regret it one bit as this showed everyone the two of you are a thing now. Eventually even Trav stayed away from you due to the glares River would throw his way everytime he got close. Whenever someone got close enough to ask what had happened, River would answer in the most brutally honest way he could.

"I fucked him too hard"

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And it's finally out yall the wait is over😘‼️ its currently 5AM and I'm posting this lmao

×For a bit of context, reader had always had the role of being River's love interest ever since he slept with River, he only never bothered to check the system roles, however, River and Trav do know that reader's their goal/possible love interest which is why theyre kinda all over reader. Trav is River's love rival which is why he hates it whenever Trav breathes, he wishes he would js drop dead.