#fallout 4 final cutscene

[shanaz-khan-newaccount]

Look, i know it sucked, it's trash, it's a pathetic attempt of a final cutscene that should never belong to an rpg with multiple endings but at least it's not a pic of my malewife in a pit with a voice over that states that they died alone and miserable in a dark alley because they attempted to eat a can of soup and chocked themselves with the tin can and it was all my fault because i didn't choose their favourite political party to rule the city.

[punkitt-is-here]

(WRT Fallout, nukes, and thematic decay)

Another way that you can see the themes warping from Fallout game to Fallout game is the way that the phrase “war never changes” is used.

When it first was used, it was a condemnation. War never changes: it is always a bloody and violent affair that makes monsters of some men and corpses of others. There is no glory in it and for the common man there is no reward. Maybe you did the right thing, but the right thing might not have been a good thing.

In 4, it is said in the very end of the final cutscene, after nuking the Institute. Here, it is an affirmation. War never changes, and you are a warrior. So long as you keep solving problems with violence, this wasteland will make sense to you. To see nuclear hellfire rise into the sky again was horrible, yes, but necessary. You did what you had to do, right?

It drives me fucking crazy

[sammypinkgirl]

Fallout 4 ending cutscene: ends and fades…

Hey you, you’re finally awake!

[jokest3r]

Tagged by @g0giro ! Tyy, I hope these facts people find interesting

Three (+1) Facts About Me

1.) I first got into art as a little kid, 4 or 5, but eventually stopped practicing once I was around 7 or 8. Though I would still doodle little characters on paper and things like that. I only truly got back into art when two people(who are now my closest friends) pushed me to get back into at 12 or 13. I still have drawings from back then that have been accidentally archived, which I'm embarrassed of but still hold some nostalgia for. I also joined tumblr around that time, as I was obsessed with Voltron and Homestuck(embarrassing but I still have Homestuck somewhere in my heart.) I'm thankful I never posted my art back then as much as I think they are good to look at to see how far I've progressed as an artist though I doubt I will ever post them. If, however, people are very curious, I may post one or two.

2.) My first ever forays into video games was Pac-Man on the Gameboy. I LOVED the shit out of that game as a kid, the next few games I got introduced to was World At War and the original Modern Warfare Series, something my sibling enjoyed and I would watch them play Zombies as they always hogged the console lol. I was also introduced to San Andreas for the Original XBOX along with Saints Row 2 for the XBOX 360 and Fallout 3. I played Saints Row 3 and even got my parents to preorder the 4th one in the series when I was 8, and could barely stand over the Gamestop counter. I think also my first case of gender envy was probably when I played Origins in Black Ops 2 and saw Rictofen in the beginning cutscene. I LOVE POST-APOCALYPTIC GAMES.

3.) I love reading, writing, and watching horror movies in my free time, my first ever horror movie was actually "Ghost Ship" and I was also extremely interested in the SAW movies and still am years after. I would like to think my favorite movie genre is Horror, as I can't find myself interested in anything else. I love sci-fi books and fantasy romance. Though for writing I mostly keep myself to Fan-Fiction rather than my own works, just isn't as fun and interesting.

4.) Bonus Fact, I go by Cat mostly as a pseudonym for my real name which is far away from Cat. My real name compared to my screen name would probably make people laugh in all honesty. The name cat comes from the mob you can discover in Final Fantasy "Gimme Cat" who asks you for a diamond and when given runs off with it without giving anything in return. I fell in love with the mob as my friend streamed it and decided to make it my new name on Discord as as soon as Discord forced everyone to make a new user/rename themselves someone had taken my original name. Though I find this one, much more fitting.

Tagging: @welldonekhushi @applbottmjeens and anyone else, no pressure !

[maddestmewmew]

chat i need you to understand my bioshock lore . i spent years begging for my mom to let me play violent video games SPECIFICALLY so i could play bioshock and i finally was allowed to on myyy i think 11th birthday. i got bioshock and fallout 4 for my birthday and while fallout i was like Eh. bioshock i Fell In Love With i was OBSESSED and here i am almost 8 years later . BUT before i played the full game i fell in love w it when my dad let me play a demo while my mom was at work this was when i was like.9 i think. BUT even BEFORE that my REAL introduction to bioshock was when i played playstation all stars battle royale sackboys story route bc i was obsessed w LBP growing up and then there was a new game w sackboy in it so obviously i had to play it. i was 6 or so anyways so in all stars sackboy has little cutscenes where he interacts w the big daddy and little sister and for some reason my brain LATCHED onto them and i HAD to know more abt them so my dad let me play bioshock that one time so i begged my mom to let me play the full game for years and here i am 18 years old spam reblogging sander cohen. anyways this is why i think they should make another playstation all stars and also more shitty smash knock offs in general. so that normal little girls can play a game bc they recognize a character and then be changed forever.

[night-city-valentines]

Starfield Review (finally)

So, my desire to build a spaceship and fly around shooting shit finally outweighed my annoyance at Todd Howard, and I've finished the main story of Starfield.

For some context, I played Starfield Day One. I had a character who I grew pretty attached to, and was planning on seeing everything the game had to offer. Then the game decided my save was busted.

I was so pissed, it took from about a week from Starfield's launch to a couple of days ago for me to even consider starting anew. But that's what I did.

And now, I can safely say that Starfield is a solid 7/10. Maybe a 6 if I'm feeling harsh.

The gameplay itself is, like, whatever. If you've played Fallout 4, it's kinda like that but without VATS. Sometimes (rarely) you'll be in low-gravity areas. Spaceship combat is, honestly, where I have to give the game credit. It doesn't reinvent the wheel, and it isn't some simulator. To quote Roddney Toddney Howard, it just works. It's fun to do spaceship dogfights!

What ISN'T fun is a billion loading screens.

Unlike, say, No Man's Sky, space travel is not seamless. There's a cutscene to take off, a cutscene to fly between planets, a cutscene to LAND on a planet. The spaceship feels needless half of the time, and the game really does not put you in enough ship combat segments for my liking. I do like building ships, but even that is hampered by you needing to hop between ports to browse all the parts - which, I remind you, involves about 3 or 4 loading screens.

Onto the characters and stories, yknow the meat and potatoes of an RPG (which Starfield claims to be). When they were revealed as the main group of the game, I saw Constellation and went "Oh god, they're gonna make you be a goody-two shoes". I was half-right. You CAN be a murderous space vandal, but then you have to deal with literally EVERY character in Constellation hating your guts. Fine, I like characters that have a moral code. The problem is that A, how the hell do literally ALL of them hate space pirates, and B, the game contradicts itself! When you first meet her, Sarah Morgan basically says "do what you want, as long as you don't get us into trouble, hell some of us are ex-cons", and then ALSO has a line later on in the story where she implies she has sympathy for Spacers and pirates. Barrett, the only tolerable Constellation member, is not only an ex-smuggler, but briefly befriends a pirate captain holding him hostage, as the two realise they aren't so different. BOTH of these characters IMMEDIATELY get angry with you (not a description of emotion, that is a state within the game) the moment you do piracy near them, or choose to side with the Crimson Fleet (we'll get to that).

The game front-loads itself with interesting ideas, mechanics, and concepts, but then either doesn't expand them, or forgets they existed.

"But V, why would a pirate-aligned person work with a group of explorers?" Uh, money?? Because in the United Sta- I mean Colonies, criminal =/= bad person? Have a character be like "yea I rob people, and I'm like mostly hunting artifacts to maybe make some money, but also I keep my pirate buddies off of our backs and would share the take with Constellation". Boom, I thought of that in 30 seconds, but you're telling me an army of professional writers didn't consider it?

I joked a second ago, but the UC really is just 'what if America but space'. The Freestar Collective is also 'what if america but space', but closer to 'what if wild west but space' with the way things are run. There's also House Varu'un who're religious zealots but, like anything interesting, they have very little screentime outside of a story mission and a faction mission. The whole morality of the game feels very...Suburban Liberal. Again, context here, I am a leftist, so this isn't a wOkE bAd thing.

The game is also...strange when it comes to WHO you get to know. In the MSQ, you have missions with all members of Constellation except one - Noel. Arguably, Matteo, Andreja, and Vlad only get half a mission. Reminder, these are meant to be your MAIN companions. Sure you speak to them during quests, but outside of that its up to you whether you interact with them. Not that you'd want to, they're all fairly...nothing. Except Barrett.

Then, you look at the Crimson Fleet. During their faction quests, you don't often do much mission-ing with them, but you DO get to know them much better than Constellation. The big choice you make in that quest line is whether you help them get a fuckton of cash, or betray them to UC (who you got forced Into working for). Everything about the setup, missions, and just how well you get to know the Fleet, leaves me thinking that you're MEANT to side with the Fleet, but as I said earlier, all of your Constellation-mates will be LIVID.

The main story itself is just...whatever. They set up the quest to find the Artifacts as some kind of 'who made these' thing, but then the question shifts to 'what are these things', and then you find that out and also meet the Starborn and just go 'Well:) glad we solved the mystery!', with the question of their origin only coming up in the ENDING, and EVEN THEN you still don't get an answer, just a hand-wavy "who knoooows" kinda response.

Also the powers are dumb. STOP MAKING EVERY PROTAGONIST A SPECIAL SAUSAGE, BETHESDA, IT IS OKAY FOR THE PLAYER CHARACTER TO JUST BE A REGULAR PERSON!!!!!!!

All in all, Starfield is a game that takes concepts and gameplay from other, better games, half-asses them, and only gets nominated for one category at the Game Awards (that it is definitely going to lose, because its up against Baldur's Gate 3). Fuck you, Todd.

[oc-ohsahi]

ohhhh shit this is so hard. hrmn. what counts as Teen Years. im gonna say like pre-college.

1. Kirby Superstar Ultra - First ever REAL GAMING video game. love that pink fucker

2. Club Penguin - I think this counts. My mom bought me puffle plushies if I got all A’s in school and id cry if somebody touched them

3. Minecraft. Fucking obsessed with that shit. Servers, mods, whatever. Have probably logged like 1000 hours across a million platforms, worlds, servers, realms, etc

4. FTL: Faster Than Light. Played the shit out of that.

5. Fallout Series, particularly New Vegas. Played that in later highschool and got depressed cause I had sunk so much time into other fallout games that were nowhere near as good lmao

i also simplly cannot limit to 5 and the rankings are not Accurate cause idk how to rank dkcjs fdj

6. Portal 2 - Favorite game growing up. Really influenced my humor. Still one of my favorites.

7. Dishonored Series. Not one of my favorites anymore but i thought it was the shit back in early hs. The worldbuilding/design/aesthetic are still GREAT though.

8. Bioshock series. I bought a used macbook in middleschool and it had Bioshock 1 installed; I booted it up and got so scared by the first splicer scene that I waited for the laptop to die over the course of like a month before opening it again. finally worked up some courage and played the series in mid highschool

9. The Witcher series. I diligently played 1 and 2 as well. I finished the Witcher 1 during the first hour of a ~10 hour flight and thought ‘wahoo! time to start the witcher 2 :]’ and then the FIRST cutscene in the first MINUTE of the game is just BARE TITTIES so i slammed my laptop shut and sat the other 9 hours in terrified silence thinking i did something illegal (middleschool lol)

10. Naruto Shippuden Clash of Ninja Revolution III - I was addicted to this shit in elementary school. I wasnt even good at it. I’d check it out of the local library literally every week. When I finally saved up the money to buy my own copy years later, I went to put it on my shelf and then realized there was already a copy there. I forgot to return it to the library and nobody gave a shit lmao

11. fossil fighters. addicted to that shit. had all the guidebooks and everything haiii @technicolorlove haiiii

12. CoD ghosts. my dad really did Not know how to deal with me growing up but i taught him how to play CoD and we’d play infected together on xbox live. genuinely some of my best memories with my dad

Minecraft, DDLC, Yandere Sim, FNAF, and Animal Jam 🫡

[electronicdelusionstarlight]

What's the deal with Fallout The Frontier?

I'm not the best to explain this but it's apparently a 7+ years in the making, mch awaited much hyped Fallout New Vegas mod (Cyberpunk 2077... 2!) Made by several mod authors and shit.

It's set in the frozen hellscape that is Portland, Oregon and adds several new shit that is frankly astounding given the use of the Dated as shit New Vegas Bethesda Engine such as drivable vehicles but at the same time is, like... Ripe with some of the worst examples of shit Bethesda Mods have had over the years, mostly narrative, thematic and plot wise.

Like... Bullet point of common complaints:

1) You can only start by joining up with the NCR side, which isn't the ACTUAL NCR but Deserters that set up the NCR Frontier in Oregon (why are they still called the NCR is beyond me). You can switch sides later but you are railroaded into this at the start.

2) Everyone reacts to you being the "Legendary Courier" or some shit. It's over exaggerated as hell even when it tries to go for the "I don't actually believe you're hot shit" at first with the foot soldiers and all. At the same time, there is some major bootlicking with the main NCR General guy there.

3) There are some... Thinly disguised fetishes added in the mod and no one knows why or how. You find a used condom right at the beginning of the mod. You can fuck a Deathclaw. There is a race of lore breaking snake people (Not argonians, just large snakes with arms) and you can fuck their Queen. You can get a follower who becomes your sex slave by passing 2 speech Checks because she is depressed and has low self esteem. She has also incredibly smelly feet.

4) You start the mod by getting on a truck and moving to Portland with it (Hey you, you're finally awake) and the mod has a liberal use of "cutscenes" or sections of the game where you play as someone else, so you can play the Battle for Helios One from vanilla and commit non canonical war crimes while you're at it, or you get captured by the Not Legion and the Not NCR sends hundreds of soldiers to save your crucified ass because you're the "legendary courier."

5) Most plot points and scenes (AT LEAST in the NCR section) are straight up plagiarized from a random old COD game.

6) Most named NPCs can't be killed outside of the questline.

7) Everyone keeps talking about this "Mormon Brotherhood of Steel from Skyrim" thing so there's that.

8) This one youtuber that does challenge let's plays tried to do a no damage run of it but the mod has LOTS of scripted, unavoidable damage so there's that. The bosses in the space station part of the mod are also pretty frustrating.

9) A couple other videos about this.

10) Oh, and of course, general racism/sexism you'd expect from shit like this and, of course, w*ndig*s being appropriated apparently.

[subjectsix]

creator appreciation tag!

thank you for the tag @plainrea!! ;u; ily and I always love seeing you in my notifs and on my dash :D

RULES: It’s time to love yourselves! choose your 5 (ish) favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2020. Tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works.

1. Grow Brighter

i still can’t believe i wrote this fic ksjdhfkjsdhf i could probably say a lot abt it but mostly it was therapy for jesse, dylan, and me and it was nice kdjhkjshf ALSO i met a lot of amazing people in the fandom through it and im very thankful for that and love you guys a lot ;o;

2. WHAT’S YOUR ALIBI?

this remains my fave video edit I’ve ever done, I feel the hitman hype ;u; I’m really proud of some of the “fake” cuts I got in there-- the hitman cutscenes and mission briefings are extremely dynamic, and I managed to splice entirely different ones together to look like the same fluid clip because of the way the camera moves :D

3. There’s a Long Journey Through the Night, Back Into the Light

dude every day i feel my love for alan wake growing. this was just the clash of two new fave characters into one fun little fic. also writing dreamy prose colored by the west coast is fun

4. Antiseptic Moonshine

This is like, the only content I’ve made of my Sole Survivor from Fallout 4 ;o;  (who... isn’t the SOLE survivor but whatever) I’m really proud of how it came out and his interactions with Mac-- maybe I’ll finally write more for them this year. (Yes, his name is Kip, no, he’s not a self insert, yes it’s kinda confusing ksjhdfkhd, we both have the same namesake)

5. Magic Trick

This was my first published Control fic, inspired by @one-berzerker‘s headcanons and I still freakin love it, this is defo like... when I started making friends and realizing I was in this fandom in the deep end and not leaving akjshahdfjkh ;u;

i taaag @ollierachnid, @rienlen and @eri-223! (if u want to, obvi) <3

[wuestenschakal]

No birds were hurt in the making of this comic... much. (Only a little roughened up.)

As for the context behind this comic strip? It’s quite a long explanation.

After having finally seen the Sonic movie with a friend we started discussing the future of the Sonic game franchise. Long story short, I created a second Redemption AU! by picturing it as my dream Sonic game (or rather Shadow the Hedgehog game.) I came up with a whole concept, including different game mechanics, stages, boss battles and cutscenes. (I’m not kidding, you guys.)

The premise of this specific Redemption AU! focuses on how shortly after the war, Shadow went rogue by defying GUN’s orders to exterminate Infinite. On the brink of death and disappearing into Null Space, Shadow gives the weakened Infinite his inhibitors rings before then taking him and going into hiding. From that point onwards they’re fugitives running from both GUN and the Resistance.

While trying to get Infinite, now Zero, to get back on his feet, the two of them will not only find out the truth about what happened to the Jackal Squad, but they will also come to learn on how to work together and that they may not be as different from each other as they initially thought. It’s a story of redemption, self-discovery and friendship/love (for all the shippers out there).

Now for the events in the comicstrip. It’s a particular scene that I had in mind (about 2 or 3/4 into the story) where the Babylon Rogues unknowingly looted Ruby Shards from one of Eggman’s bases, inevitably resulting in Shadow and Zero, who’ve grown much closer in the meantime, to go after them. Of course they had to be a little extra when confronting the Rogues. While Zero lives for that kind of thing, Shadow tried to downplay how much he actually enjoyed it. (Bring those three jerky birds back, Sega. And Mario & Sonic Olympics doesn’t count.)

More info about the AU! and EXTRAS beneath the cut:

(I think I’m going to call this AU! Rogue Redemption, just so that I can keep my different AUs apart.)

The first few months are quite taxing on both of them, distrust and anger dictate their relationship. Tensions are constantly running high, what with the stress of running and hiding from basically the whole world, as well as the risk of Infinite losing his battle against the all-consuming residue powers of the Phantom Ruby and being quite uncooperative. So, they’re pretty much at each other’s throats, all the time.

But after scavenging Eggman’s abandoned base in Mystic Jungle, Shadow does not only find a potential power source (shards of the former Phantom Ruby prototypes) that would help sustain Infinite, but he also discovers that the rest of the Jackal Squad are in fact alive and strewn across the world.

Thus, the journey to reconciliation and redemption, finding Ruby Shards and the missing members of the Jackal Squad begins. Shadow will finally find his place on Earth and Zero will come to realise that the world is more than just the painful past he had come to resent. But evil is watching and scheming and soon Shadow and Zero will have to proof to the world that they’re not the ones wishing destruction upon the earth.

Meanwhile, GUN and the Resistance think that Infinite managed to mind control Shadow and is now using him to regain his powers. Of course, finding the two will turn out to become quite the challenge because if anyone knows how to remain under the radar from the authorities, it’s those two (and Rouge, obviously.) Upon learning that Shadow is in fact helping Infinite out of his own volition, it results in a major fallout between the Resistance and Shadow. (But he still has a couple of allies within the resistance despite his questionable decision to help Infinite of all people.)

I’m still working out the kinks and details of this AU, but seeing as by how inspired and motivated I currently am, it won’t be a surprising if I were to actually start writing this fic. So, if I do decide to continue working on this AU, be it a warning to everyone that it will end with Shadow and Zero becoming a couple (the same as in my other Redemption AU!).

P.S.: After seeing some amazing redesigns of the Babylon Rogues, I wanted to do some as well. Though, these here are just provisional. There will be some more changes as I’m not entirely satisfied with how they turned out, especially Wave and Storm. I also gave Tails a major redesign in the extra as well, making him look more like an actual fox.

P.S.S.: I’m currently trying to change my style a little bit. But Shadow and Sonic are just so hard to draw... their facial proportions don’t make sense to me and every time I draw them they look different...

EXTRAS

Meanwhile...

[weapon-alpha]

Thoughts on Cyberpunk2077

Potential Spoilers ahead!

Overall I really Liked Cyberpunk lets get that out of the way real fast I liked it That being said I really wanna defend the game but I really can’t. I think they Teased/Announced it waaay to early it was announced and a teaser shown in 2013 which is 2 years before Witcher 3 came out and the same year GTA V came out for some time references. So what happened over a near 8 year period? I think over those 8 years they tried to make 3 different games because the overall tone of that first teaser and the next time we would see it at E3 2018 (5 years later) are majorly different and nearly feel like they don't belong together if it weren't for the mantis blade arms then I think they stopped halfway after that to try and make it a next gen game as well. Then it was gameplay trailer after gameplay trailer that each time showing something that in the end as far as I could tell didn't end up in the final game like clothes contributing to your Cool level and everyone will react to you about how you dress and how Cool you are they literally don't clothes are just armor and 80% of the time you look like a terrible douche Cool doesn't mean anything to anyone unless there's a dialogue option and there's never really a reason to upgrade your clothes or guns for that matter because literally the next mission can net you better stuff every time. And in the end I can’t defend it and say that the game was launched as a finished product because it just wasn't. For me personally LOTS of graphical bugs and people will say yeah but people still play Fallout 4 or Skyrim and those are buggy (Sorry Bethesda) and while a good argument Skyrim came out 9 years ago and Skyrim 5 years ago (yes that also means Cyberpunk was known before Fallout 4 was out as well) shouldn't shit have been better by now? I don't know if anyone else had problems with the sound of the game the main menu music and overall sound of the game was way too loud like a large percentage of the time the background music would drown out character dialogue and that's after it being lowered but that’s fixable on my end the part that isn't is the voice/audio changes that happened as a character was talking to me. I could be standing in front of someone talking to me and their voice would actually change to sound like as if I was on a phone call with them and then would change to normal voice as if they were beside me if I was on a phone call. And the amount of times I had to stop myself and look around because it is a beautiful game when it wants to be but its so go go go that I don't even notice it unless its for a cutscene. I also felt like the added the Relationship options in like really late in the game because they don't really mean anything either you romanced them or you didn't and nothing changes in the end if you did or didn't you finish their “Storyline” and never speak or do anymore with them again and it doesn't impact relationships with anyone else and as far as i know there's only 4 2 guys and 2 girls and it feels like one of them (a Girl) is supposed to be the main one and even then its not a meaningful relationship its more like teenage angst over an over emotional plutonic relationship like you fuck them and the next line is welp gotta go bye. My main complaint is the Main storyline is waay to short like shockingly so what i thought was a midway point of string missions was actually the final round of missions to finish the game like they REALLY expect you to just fuck off and do side missions to keep it all going. Someone could finish the story in one evening if they really wanted to. And the ending i got from the choices i made near the end REALLY didn't make any sense and was a very much a non-ending. But i really did like the journey of it all my highlights mainly contain the mission where you let Johnny take over (Which brings up something else like both you and Johnny talk about seeing and experiencing each others memories but theres literally only one flashback as Johnny) Playing with Samurai on stage really just made me want to play a Cyberpunk 2020 game instead with it all about Johnny and the gang and just be a Rockerboy and was probably my favorite mission. 

[sootonthecarpet]

What faction do you usually pick in Fallout 4? It kind of sounds like you have beef with the Minutemen but the Brotherhood are bigoted trash, the Institute are bigoted trash who can't even accomplish anything productive, and the Railroad are super fixated on their ethically dubious synth liberation quest and do pretty much jack all for everyone else, so I'm curious as to which one you went along with in the end.

i havent played it thru to the end yet full disclosure kkfdksgf the main questline has been underwhelming so far, so i’ve been dragging my feet even tho i have like multiple playthroughs going. but i’m siding w the railroad because while there r heavy criticisms to b levied w/r/t their methodology, it still feels good to do literally anything to impact any of the game’s like, stilted in-universe bigotry subplots to even a small extent hahajfdsgf. plus i like most of the individual npcs, i end up more annoyed at my own lack of flexible dialogue options than i do at the characters themselves. (it’d be chill if the game had more RPG elements and i could like, influence the politics and idk ‘destiny’ of the group more overtly instead of just being Assigned Grunt.) some of their sidequests are actually pretty fun, or at least are no more bothersome than unguided exploration would be and give me a bit of character development to tide me over.

i guess i do kinda have beef with the minutemen but for the most part that’s my beef with the actual writers showing thru bc of how the game’s like. colonialist fantasy gameplay loop and its unironic fetish for revolutionary war imagery intersect hEAVily when it comes to the minutemen (obvs). in all honesty i’ve never wanted to dip too far into that questline or even take preston along much even tho he seems chill and i like him so far, bc i know the writing (or, best case scenario, the way the gameplay will inevitably actively subvert any good writing that sneaks in there) is just gonna end up seriously pissing me off.

there’s no like, group in fallout four that suits my political views bc even the vaguest whiff of real-world radical politics were very carefully kept out of the vaguely liberation-aligned groups in the game. like, goodneighbor is kind of implied to be SOME kind of socialist outpost right? shared resources, anyone is welcome etc. but wait! it’s a new reno esque hedonistic crimefest where you can get anything for the right price and the only language they speak are bullets! but wait! they have a mayor who they love and respect very much. or is he a de facto monarch? or is he just a mayor? (actually, he’s my lover.)  i don’t think it’s like, especially new or inventive of me to say this, but any theme that made it into the game was thoroughly stripped of meaning and made broadly palatable to like. the right-center, reactionary white gamer demographic. like, uhhhh, this was def a high budget game for a post-gamergate market. so honestly i take what i can get with the railroad. any moment im not cringing is a moment of good gameplay. (usually those moments are like, jumping into a lake in far harbor to get a better look at the non-interactible fish models for ecosystem lore, but again, i take what i can get.)

would have really liked a plot where the pre-game massacre of most of the railroad’s outposts allows the PC to like, optionally restructure it into an organization that’s actually involved with the ppl it’s set up to help (and nix the policy on mindwipes as a shortcut around trauma recovery/safeguarding of the vulnerable, and the--HOLy SHIT--disgusting attitude towards bodily autonomy in general, both of which seem to be there more for player convenience than for a well thought out story purpose), or even like. to see just a LiTTLe followup on some of the shit deacon says abt philosophical infighting early on out back of the slocums joe? but it doesn’t seem like we r going there and like, eh. i can keep my head down and grind out a few boring quests if it means avoiding the risk of total disillusionment with preston garvey and not having to listen to brotherhood anti-ghoulfucking PSAs or whatever godforsaken shit happens when i finally close out the act and let the institute beam me up ahaha.

oh yeah also like every guy who works for the railroad is weird-hot in one way or another (and also they sell me armored, combat-ready versions of casual clothing items so i can look great and feel safe, & make sure anyone whose inventory i can access has some armor on em without heavily impacting their look) and ultimately im shallow enough to let that tip the scales. plus its so nice to come back to the cave at like four AM after a long string of sidequests n see these totally random npcs who dont even like each other, all spooned up on all them mattresses. at the end of the day they deal w each other bc it’s cold and nasty. that’s a way more compelling vibe than i get from any of the actual faction related cutscenes in the game.

then i ruin it immediately by waking up tinker tom to buy more bulletproof dresses.

[radramblog]

Top 5 Games, ever...?

This was sort of on my mind, considering the recent GOTY post I made. Come explore the hyperfixations that managed to stick around long enough to be my top 5 list. 

5. Uhhhhhh

So turns out I haven’t figured out what number 5 is yet. I suppose instead I’ve got to split it among the honourable mentions, huh.

Kirby Super Star Ultra is probably the best game from the GBA/DS era of the series and is just a blast to play. It introduced Masked Dedede, and all the banging music and memes that come with it, and probably deserves a spot here just for that.

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth removes all the awkward Flash Stuff from the excellent original, and adds so, so much more content- the game’s final expansion still isn’t out yet as of writing but even now there’s just so much to unlock. While some aspects of the game can be pretty unforgiving, you probably aren’t going to be exposed to the worst of it unless you get into it pretty hardcore, and if you do, you’ll get used to it. It’s a roguelike, after all.

Speaking of roguelikes, FTL: Faster than Light is chaotic yet serene, brutal but fair, and a bunch of other pretentious dichotomies wrapped into a neat little bow. It takes some getting used to the mechanics, but once you get the hang of it, building your little ship up and up in the face of all odds is extremely satisfying. Have fun dying hopefully not too many times.

SPEAKING of permadeath, Realm of the Mad God gets a spot here just out of sheer hours I’ve spent with it. After a messy few years with a not-so-great owner lead me to dropping the game, it seems finally to have recovered and has devs and community that actually freaking care about it, which is nice. Also, it’s free, and the recent transition to unity has the game looking better and playing smoother than 12-year-old me could ever have dreamed of.

Terraria isn’t just 2D Minecraft btw, its actually more of an RPG/Metroidvania thing, you probably know at this point, but its pretty good hey. Still haven’t fully dove into 1.4 but considering I thought Red was done at 1.1 I’m not complaining with what I have played.

 4. Fallout: New Vegas

(...ish??)

I’d argue that between the primitiveness of the original Fallout games (I’ve tried to get into them, but I just can’t) and how…meh… the other Bethesda ones are, New Vegas is the only one in the series to stand up strong. Obsidian’s excellent writing and tweaks to the gameplay of 3 make New Vegas feel like an actual world, rich and characterised, which was something I found lacking in previous open-world RPGs I’d played up until that point (which admittedly might just have been Skyrim). It’s a game that challenges you to make choices that actually matter for more than the mere moments of an altered dialogue tree, both in dialogue and character building, which helps make the game actually replayable. It is also the first game in a long time that really sold the idea of DLC on me, seeing as each of the game’s 4 expansions adds an entire new region of world with its own stories and unique gameplay, tying together with the main plot but standing on their own. I am excluding Gun Runner’s Arsenal from this for obvious reasons, though it isn’t like GRA is a bad DLC or anything- on the contrary, the sheer scope of modifications and munitions makes playing a repair/science-based character incredibly fulfilling- but it just isn’t at the same scope as the other 4 (Courier’s stash barely counts seeing as its just oops! All preorder bonuses).

New Vegas is one of the few games I have actually 100% completed, achievements and all, but I’m still pretty sure there are bits I’ve missed, paths I haven’t taken, characters I haven’t talked to. Despite its inhospitability, the Mojave is always a comfortable place to return to.

 3. VA-11 Hall-A

(Hey look, my phone background)

Vallhalla is a masterclass in storytelling, atmosphere, and aesthetic. Like all good cyberpunk dystopias, you get themes of class and transhumanism and artificial intelligence, but they aren’t the point of Vallhalla. Through the window and lens of cyberpunk and PC98 nostalgia is focussed a surprisingly human story centred around the protagonist, Jill, which through multiple replays still hits me in the feels just so. Of course, Jill’s story is not the only one being discussed, as every single patron of the bar has their own life going on, and the glimpses we get imply a rich, often interconnected, world. Glitch City is, frankly, a shithole, and it’s not like you don’t get some assholes coming into the bar while you’re working it. The first patron you serve, in fact, is a great example of this- Donovan D. Dawson, essentially a parody of J. Jonah Jameson, is a colossal prick and knows it- but its clear he has his own system of morals and it is mentioned that he’s excellent at his job, much as he gripes about it. He’s rude and more than a little sexist, but frustratingly charismatic and authoritative, and he’s just one of many people who show up throughout the game. Vallhalla is the perfect game to sit down, grab your preferred beverage, and just relax with.

 2. Total Annihilation

(This image is on the steam page for this one, despite blatantly not being from vanilla TA)

I think I actually need to explain this one. Total Annihilation was a game released in 1997 made largely by Chuck Taylor, who would later go on to produce spiritual successor Supreme Commander. It’s an RTS game featuring exclusively robotic units with a fairly chunky aesthetic, allowing the visuals to age better than some, and a fully orchestrated soundtrack by Jeremy Soule, who would later go on to do work on a whole bunch of stuff, most notably Skyrim.

Total Annihilation is an intensely nostalgic game for me, being one of the first games I ever got to play as a kid outside of edutainment stuff, and I’d argue still holds up today (especially with the excellent Escalation mod). What it lacks in story (it’s pretty basic, but functional) it makes up for being miles ahead of its time mechanically, being the first (?) RTS to function in 3 dimensions- heights of things actually matter, hills exist and certain units climb them better than others, shooting down airplanes is difficult without anti-air but possible if you aim *just* right. While appearing pretty similar and having largely analogous units, the two factions of Arm and Core are well fleshed-out in terms of aesthetic and playstyle- Arm preferring fast and cheap equivalents to Core’s slow but powerful- and the unit variety is sufficient that strategies can vary wildly based on the map. Both campaigns as well as those from the game’s expansions are challenging, but satisfying, limiting the units you can produce to force exploration of different playstyles.

Total Annihilation isn’t something I tend to binge play for hours anymore, but I’ll pick it up for a bit every so often, and I don’t see that stopping for a long time (especially due to the recent steam release).

 1. Pokémon Emerald

(At the top, where it belongs)

Yeah, this was inevitable. Pokémon is my favourite series ever; Emerald is my favourite in the series. Go figure.

Emerald, being the final game for the franchise’s days on the Game Boy, reflects everything Game Freak had learned in the first 3 generations of the series’ history. The game’s balance is challenging but fair, never spiking so tough that it is insurmountable but never holding your hand either. The AI opponents are throwing odd combinations of mons and moves at you from every corner, double battles are everywhere but rarely mandatory, and the variety of available mon both before and during the postgame is excellent. The added features on top of Ruby and Sapphire are great- Battle Tents serve to replace 3 of the contest halls (they should have all been under one roof to begin with) and provide a taste of what would later be available in the Battle Frontier. The Frontier is probably the single most expansive and challenging postgame in any Pokémon game, providing the game with a longevity that is sorely needed due to the inaccessibility of Pre-DS multiplayer. The game also manages to tie together the plot of both Ruby and Sapphire into something that feels natural, and provides the series’ first ever actual cutscene, which felt a lot cooler at the time than it sounds now. The return of animated sprites gives the Pokémon a level of life far beyond the static sprites of RSFRLG, and in my eyes wouldn’t feel the same until Black and White several years later. The return of the Pokégear phone in the form of Match Call, as irritating as it is to some, makes the world feel alive in a way that Sinnoh and Kanto probably never will, in addition to making grinding a fair bit less tedious and more beneficial. It is, altogether, probably the perfect Pokémon experience, and in my opinion only one other game comes close (its Platinum).

Oh also, they got rid of the font from Ruby and Sapphire, thank fuck, that shit is atrocious.

[breakingarrows]

Stealing this from twitter, one of those 1 like = 1 video game answer

1. Very first video game

I have hazy memories of playing Sonic on the Genesis and if not that then most likely Pokemon Red? Twisted Metal is the oldest game I own that I didn’t buy myself and just always had so maybe that one.

2. Your favorite character

God gotta be Geralt. It is hard to separate his Witcher 3 iteration from the books, which is probably the best compliment I can give CDPR’s adaptation as the more I read the books the more I appreciate how faithful that game was. Geralt’s the typical grumpy dad who puts on a show of having no emotion but really does care about others and frequently acts on that (no need to read into how that reflects myself).

3. A game that is underrated.

Tough because underrated as in metacritic or just in general like mass audience reactions? I think overrated would be an easier pick for metacritic but for mass audience underrated I would say something like Disco Elysium since it was PC only and even there seems to have found a small but dedicated niche audience. I would also say Rain World but honestly need to play more.

4. Your guilty pleasure game.

LA Noire, Alan Wake, Alien Isolation, games people are mostly either like, that was okay or didn’t like but I really love.

5. Game character you feel you are most like (or wish you were)

Damn guess its time to admit how Geralt reflects myself.

6. Most annoying character.

Got some classics like Navi (OOT), Dutch/Micah (RDR2), Ryder (GTASA), I feel like there are more good ones but I can’t find/trigger their memories.

7. Favorite game couple.

Geralt and Yennefer (Witcher), Red and her unnamed lover (Transistor), Harry and Kim (Disco Elysium)

8. Best soundtrack.

Fuck. Hyper Light Drifter, Final Fantasy VII, DOOM, Transistor, Halo Reach/ODST, Red Dead Redemption, Kingdom Hearts, Alien Isolation, LA Noire. Licensed: Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1, 2, 3, Fallout 3/New Vegas (even if they repeat way too often).

9. Saddest game scene.

Ending of Crisis Core, death of Avalanche members in Final Fantasy VII, ending of Red Dead Redemption, ending of Transistor, saying goodbye to Clementine in The Walking Dead Season 1.

10. Best gameplay.

Titanfall 2, DOOM, Hitman, Halo 5 (Arena multiplayer only), Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 (revert is king), Metroid Prime (on Wii).

11. Gaming system of choice.

PS4/3/PC in that order

12. A game everyone should play.

Disco Elysium, Bioshock 2, Rain World, Yakuza 5, Final Fantasy Tactics (either PSOne Classic or War of the Lions)

13. A game you’ve played more than five times.

lol full playthroughs Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, DOOM. Games I’ve started and made significant progress in so many times: Final Fantasy VII, Modern Warfare 2, Alan Wake, Red Dead Redemption, Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, LA Noire, Halo Reach, Final Fantasy Tactics The War of the Lions

14. current (or most recent) gaming wallpaper.

Wallpapers on phone have been Evangelion for years now. The rotating desktop wallpaper folder only has Alien Isolation because of how much it looks like Alien and Breath of the Wild because of how much it looks like Ghibli landscapes.

15. Post a screenshot from a game you’re playing right now.

It would be something from Apex (a win screen) or Red Dead Redemption 2 (landscape)

16. Game with the best cutscenes.

God most games have cutscenes that are really boring (shot, reverse-shot, in-game engine puppets, black bar zoom ins, economical choices because of how often they’re going to be used but so boring) so I guess Control because its got styyyyyyle.

17. Favorite antagonist.

uhhhhh the greater structure of the world in Disco Elysium? Human opponents in Apex Legends. The rain in Rain World. Tenpenny in Grand Theft Auto San Andreas. Xenomorph in Alien Isolation.

18. Favorite protagonist.

I mean Geralt (Witcher), Alan Wake (the titular Alan Wake), Harry Du Bois (Disco Elysium), Red (Transistor), John Marston (Red Dead Redemption), CJ (Grand Theft Auto San Andreas), DOOMGUY (DOOM), Jesse Faden (Control)

19. Picture of a game setting you wished you lived in

Most of video game worlds are trying to kill you but Breath of the Wild, San Andreas, Kingdom Hearts, Morrowind

20. Favorite genre

Seems to be shooters, some open world if the angle is good.

21. Game with the best story.

Story as in fiction? Disco Elysium. Story as in the thing its trying to sell you on as you play? The Last of Us, Bioshock 2, Transistor.

22. A game sequel which disappointed you.

Not technically a sequel but Bioshock Infinite, Red Dead Redemption 2, Fallout 4, Metal Gear Solid V, Uncharted 4, Halo 5, Infamous Second Son

23. Game you think had the best graphics or art style

Persona 5, Disco Elysium (those portraits jesus so good), Shadow of the Colossus (PS2 version, the fog and unfocused edges make it such a #mood), Morrowind (I love the fucking early 2000s 3D graphics), Final Fantasy VII (the pre-rendered backgrounds, I could star at them for days), Control, Hyper Light Drifter, any of those Yoshi art games (crayon of Yoshi’s Island and fuzz of Wooly World are standouts)

24. Favorite Classic game

Pokemon Gold, Link’s Awakening, Doom, Final Fantasy VII/Tactics, Spider-Man

25. A game you plan on playing

boy I have a whole spreadsheet for this on but the one on my mind is Okami, Alpha Protocol, Madworld

26. Best voice acting

uh idk the expensive games, Red Dead Redemption 2, The Last of Us?

27. Most epic scene ever

when I get a win in Apex Legends with like 8+ kills overall

28. Favorite game developer

Remedy Entertainment, Respawn, uh hard to find consistency, most of my favorites have been one-offs where I either haven’t played or don’t really like the rest that developer made.

29. A game you thought you wouldn’t like, but ended up loving.

I usually don’t play games I don’t think I would like because I know my tastes and don’t waste time but I guess something like Hitman was a surprise because I had heard all the praise about it long before I finally sat down to play it myself and it was fucking great.

30. Your favorite game of all time.

God uh I mean I’ve been returning to games like Uncharted 2, Final Fantasy VII, San Andreas for like a decade now. Pokemon Gold too if I would finally buy the stuff to replace the battery in it. So I guess one of those since they’ve been part of my life the longest.

[murfeelee]

My Top 10 Games of All Time

I saw this games list on my dash, but I felt it was dated, so here we are:

10. Tetris

I don’t like puzzle games and platform games and stuff. But Tetris might be one of the very first games I ever played, and to this day it’s just a ton of fun. Very nostalgic.

9. Castlevania

Vampires, medieval, bishounen, great story? Sign me up! I got into Castlevania while I was neck-deep in all things gothic and dark and creepy. It’s such a fun game! The Prince of Persia-esque mechanics with swinging from the whips and chains were freaking hard, and the dungeons were cool, and I love the out-of-place cartoony summons, that dial back the creep factor just a smidge so I don’t feel I’m trapped in Dark Souls where everything’s tryna give me a frikkin heart attack. I wanted so many more Castlevania games. But nooooo~! It’s all about effing pachinko machines now! Jim Sterling said it best: F*k Konami. >_<

8. Warriors Series

The ham and cheese of it all in this delicious sandwich of a Chinese, Japanese, and Asian mythology hack and slash series. Delicious. Tedious and predictable AF. But still delicious. Unfortunately, Koei just about tanked Dynasty Warriors with the more recent installments. U_U And it’s so hard to play the Samurai Warriors games since they bailed out on effing localizations, like thanks, that’s rude.  >_>

7. Shin Megami Tensei/Persona

I freaking luuurve how effed up and zany and twisted this dystopic cyber-ish world is. SMT and Final Fantasy have hands down the best summoning systems in games (Pokemon does NOT count), with an entire array of multicultural pantheons incorporated into the in-game universes. I swear, just researching the references they use is half the fun for me, cuz I’m that kind of nerd; sue me. :P

6. Legend of Dragoon

I never got into Final Fantasy 7 the way other folks did, cuz I was busy playing Legend of Dragoon, baby~! ^0^ The FF7 train whizzed on past me, but that was fine. I was happy right where I was. LoD’s battle mechanics were HARD, but SO good to master. I was always excited to keep progressing; the story’s one of the best I’ve EVER played (ROSE! My bish!); and the worlds and cutscenes and music were BEAUTIFUL. When TF is Legend of Dragoon getting it’s next-gen remaster with Cody Christian voice-acting Dart, Sony, huh, HUH. HUH!? >_<

5. Tomb Raider

My girl! ^0^ YES, I’m the RL archaeologist who’s never seen a single Indiana Jones movie (cuz eff ALL that racism), but you best believe I saw both the Tomb Raider movies, and played a crapton of the games! XD Gravity deaths, T-rexes, zombie samurai and all. Werk it, queen. With your double pistols. And Double-D cups.

4. Skyrim

I hate 1st-person perspective in games, in literature, everything. If they hadn’t added a 3rd person I’d’ve been like nope. But yeah, Skyrim’s freaking epic. It’s got DRAGONS, for starters, and sith lord lightning spells, and giant open worlds to explore, full of lore and magic, and one of the most amazing soundtracks of all time, and did I mention the dragons? I was so hyped for Elder Scrolls 6, but with Bethesda being frikkin INCOMPETENT lately *(*cough* Fallout 76 *cough*) I dunno about ES6 now. :\ If it stinks, I won’t be surprised. But Todd Howard KNOWS the entire community will FUS RO DAH his arse if it bombs! >_<

3. The Sims

Skyrim’s Hearthfire EP tried it, but NOTHING compares to The Sims franchise, allowing us to create our characters’ entire lives in a game. From birth, to childhood, adulthood, the elder years, death, and even afterlife, in The Sims we can control and customize every aspect of the characters’ story, to fit our own unique tastes and style. And that’s why I love TS3 the most out of the bunch, with it’s in-game Create-A-Style, open world with CAW and Edit Mode, and so much more. I wish all games had non-linear customizeable aspects where you can just sit back from the main story and quests; take a gander at your surroundings, build a house, marry that cute NPC you bumped into in the marketplace, have some babies, and let Alduin just do his thing till the next Dragonborn comes along; cuz I’m retired and living my best life in this here village; bye Felicia. 8)

2. Final Fantasy

No game franchise has ever made me cry as much and as hard as I did than while playing Final Fantasy. Holy. Crap. Their stories? THE BEST. EVER. You get seriously ATTACHED to these characters! Aerith, Angelo, Vivi, Sir Auron, Fran, Fang, the Regalia...they’re FAMILY! XD And the villains? ICONIC. Simply iconic. Eff Dark Souls; the side-bosses in FF are frikkin IMPOSSIBLE. SO dang good! And I love the touches of in-universe continuity, with Phoenix Downs, chocobos, cactuars, tonberries, airships, and the strangest fashion choices I’ve ever seen. Say what you will -- what I HAVE -- about certain polarizing entries in the series, but that’s just because we KNOW there’s a certain standard FF has, and a bar it’s classic titles have set, that you just don’t sneeze at. You just DON’T. (But FF15 was a piece of shhiiii~!)

1. THE WITCHER 3

If y’all can’t tell, I LOVE me some RPGs. Give me a set of beautiful ancient/medieval worlds to explore, full of elves and dwarves and of course MONSTERS; and protagonists with magical powers and big freaking swords, and I’m in it to win it, baby. Suffice to say: I WAS NOT READY for TW3. I STILL haven’t recovered from how good that game was! Even the MINIGAME within the actual game was legendary (Gwent had me BROKE, lemme tell you). And the Blood and Wine DLC was...like....something else; bumped it from a 10/10 to a 15/10, easy. The combat, the world building, the characters, the dialogue, the sidequests, the main plot, the MUSIC, UGH. If Netflix effs up The Witcher tv series Imma be MAAAAD.

[breadknight-likes-things]

Game Journal 04/29/20: After The Brumak Fight, I’m All In On Gears Tactics!

I wouldn’t exactly say I was hesitant to put my full commitment behind Gears Tactics, there’s no universe where I wasn’t going to play this game, but after the first boss fight against the iconic Brumak?  Oh you can just count me all the way in.  Brumak’s have a weird history in Gears of War, I vividly remember most of the marketing material for the first game heavily featuring them, largely because it’s clear someone at Epic Games thought their design was cool as hell.  When the game actually came out though, The Brumak was relegated to a cutscene, only actually becoming a part of the game when the PC port added in “the lost chapters” bonus levels that....to be honest I don’t know if were actually cut from the base game, or just added in to move more PC copies, but they were merely okay, even if they did finally add in the big monster from all the marketing! Here in Gears Tactics the Brumak is back to their imposing as hell self, straight out of the marketing with the sad music!  The encounter takes the form of a really creative battle where the only way to inflict any damage to the boss is to shoot the tanks on his back.  Thing is, whenever any unit takes a shot at the thanks, the Brumak will turn around to deny that unit a follow up strike.  Positioning your soldiers in a four way zig-zag to keep such a large and imposing enemy confused and disorientated is a ton of fun, and handily sold me on the idea that the fast paced energy of Gears of War could flawlessly translate to a genre known for it’s slow goings. 

Plus the campaign just brought my squad to Vasagar!  We only know of Vasagar from like, Gears V, where it’s in absurdly worse shape than it is in this game, but any kind of recognizable location is more than welcome by me!

I’m extremely impressed at the overall quality of Gears Tactics.  I can’t wait to keep playing more of this game, it’s making me find an appreciation for a genre up to now I couldn’t stand!  Such is the power of Gears of War, you know, along with the chainsaw guns, ridiculously muscled dudes and savage violence.

Random Screenshot Of The Day:

Sometimes it’s a wonder what a simple re-texture mod can do to the entire vibe of a game.  The Commonwealth looking green and vibrant is like a whole new world to explore!

Stray Game Notes:

- Nothing much!  All I played today was Gears Tactics and it was only in the breaks I had in-between final assignments! 

- Well, I did play Ring Fit in the morning like I have been for the past two or so months.  Sometimes I forget that it’s a video game at all, which is really a disservice to it because it’s a great video game!

- Yesterday I got to the point in Fallout 4 where the Brotherhood of Steel showed up and you can get up to the Prydwynn, remember that precocious kid from Fallout 3?  He’s a Hitler now!  Enjoy!