#genuinely one of the most enjoyable gaming experiences i've ever had

[seriouslyseravellan]

if i could just only play oblivion's shivering isles dlc over and over again for the rest of my life i would be content

[salemssimblr]

My Top 24 Screenshots Renders of 2024!

I was tagged by the so many lovely mutuals and creators! Thank you @elderwisp, @savagemagician3, @sikoi, @blvckentropy, @mosneakers, & @azeterna! I love yall so much!

I'm so sorry, despite my very best efforts I couldn't choose just 24, so have 30 instead 😅

Looking at all these together, I'm worried I may have plateau'd just a bit 😅 No but in reality, it's really cool to see that I've refined my style and methods over the year, starting in January and continuing it all through 2024. Seeing progress and improvement is one of my favorite things about this process, so doing these recaps is always enjoyable.

January:

Looking back, I'm still so proud of the first dancing set of renders for Ariss & Vasily, and who could forget the first Alice sighting?? I can't, look at her.

February:

February was a bit of a slow month for me but I still love how this A+tM album cover came out!

March:

March was a bit slower, but I love this set of Ariss (:

April:

April was a goood month, I'm still so in love with all three of these.

May:

MerMay was lacking for me a bit this year, but I really love how my contribution turned out (: & this spicy render of Ariss & Vasily is one of my favorites, if for no other reason than his little fang peek.

June:

June was all about Alice + the Madness! & like LEGIT? I still can't believe I made this Rolling Stone cover? I have a secret, I've tried to make another one for Alice, but nothing has or probably will ever look as good as this one so I've given up lmfaoooo

& this render of Erisande was such a labor of love. I sat down and said it'd be really quick and then spent hours editing meshes and adjusting the lighting... but then, that always happens with me and "quick" renders 😅

July:

Bit of a slow month, but I'm still so floored (& happy!) about the love Millie has gotten! This isn't even a completed render and it's one of my most well-received posts to date haha, but I can't blame anyone, look how cute she is.

August:

Ramping up into spooky season we have two of my favorite renders of all time, my "bog demon" and mothwoman! As obsessed as I am with Ariss and Vasily, it's really nice to do creative one-off renders and these were both SO FUN to do. I hope to do more in the new year too (:

September:

This iconic portrait of Ariss will always be one of my favorites (& is actually my computer's wallpaper rn, but a version updated with her 'new' tattoos), & this render of Kai could definitely be improved on (maybe in the new year...) but it was a really fun challenge! I do see flaws in it now but that's growing and learning!

October:

October was (not surprisingly) a very busy month for me! The idea for the render of Theo & Millie had been rolling around in my head since I first created them, & while the end result wasn't exactly what I was envisioning, I still really love how it turned out.

& though this set of renders for Ariss & Vasily took me FOR-FUCKING-EVER, and I see a lot of flaws even now (after trying my damnedest to have NONE), I still really love it. The end result/edit/colorway was NOT what I planned but I really fell in love with it.

November:

November, the month of ambitious scene-building, pose-making, and upping my skin shader game in a BIG way. I spent literal hours perfecting Ariss' new tattoo, and literal days building the scene for that gorgeous render of Kai.

& I'm so glad yall love that pose set! It was definitely a learning experience and a labor of love.

December:

Looking at this overview, December has been dark and spicy lmfao but I actually love it. Once again, all of these took wayyyy longer than I thought they would when I sat down to start them, but I'm genuinely in love with all three!

& that's a wrap (so far) on 2024! I'm having surgery tomorrow so not sure I'll be able to create/post anything else this year, but I have big plans for 2025! So stay tuned (:

I'm tagginggggggg @kuroashims, @a-m-pyra. @acidheaddd, @gothoffspring, @pralinesims, @thebramblewood, @moonfromearth, @nepotisim, & YOU, I want to see all your creations!

(There were a LOT more creators I wanted to tag but I saw yall have already done this!)

[content-d3leted]

Undertale is actually the best game of all time. (Prepare yourself for some rambling lol)

Its characters are so unique and loveable, and the plot and the universe its in has so much depth, there's so many easter eggs throughout the game, all the different AUs are so creative, and the soundtrack is AMAZING-the songs are so incredibly intertwined with one another with all the motifs throughout the music, it is just an all-round immaculate franchise, and I adore it.

I can't quite remember how long my interest in it lasted, maybe 2 years? But I first discovered it in September 2019, by watching jacksepticye's playthrough he did in 2015, where I became completely hooked on it! I remember learning all the names of the songs in Undertale's soundtrack by heart in chronological order, and also drawing the characters for hours on end!! Genuinely one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life.

My favourite character is Papyrus (NYEH-HEH-HEH!!), with Mettaton coming in at a close 2nd place. But to be honest, every single one of the characters are brilliant!!

For about 4 years I've been trying to kill Sans (unsuccesfully), but I can almost get past the last stage by now, so thats progress at least..but tbh it was such a horrible feeling to murder everyone else, especially Papyrus, on the genocide route- but it had to be done I suppose.

Undertale means ALOT to me, especially since it helped me get through some super difficult times back when I was in school, due to really bad depression etc. It also helped me make an irl friend too (who is now one of my best friends)! So yeah, undertale truly means the world to me.

And deltarune is just the same, completely incredible!! The battle theme (Rude Buster) is one of the greatest game songs I've ever heard, and I often listen to it on repeat. I had a short second phase of undertale/deltarune a year after my first one, where I became obsessed with Sweet, Cap'n and K_K. They are such good characters aaaaa I love them!!! I can't wait for chapter 3 of deltarune to be released soon!!

But omg the undertale/deltarune soundtracks are so fun to play on instruments (especially piano for me), especially fallen down, home, your best friend, death by glamour...the list goes on lol.

Undertale also introduced me to my first ever gay people so I have Undyne, Alphys and Mettaton to thank for making me realise I was in the LGBT+ community!!

So in conclusion, Undertale is the best game. Yes.

Why are you reading this surely you have better things to do

[quirkle2]

i'm gonna sound old when i say this and it's such a non-issue but i actually think u can't get the genuine casual boardgame experience from an app on ur phone/tablet. bc none of them ever let u fuck up. part of the joy of games like chess, for me, is those moments where i make a stupid move and put my knight directly into their queen's line of sight. that makes it interesting, that makes it Your Game. in every chess app i've ever played, u Cannot make an illegal move or a move that will directly damage urself. and i think that's lame. i should be allowed to fuck up royally. that's part of the experience. making what u think is a 6292838373IQ move and then getting absolutely bodied by ur friend who looks at u like ur idiot is part of the charm and enjoyment of chess, as well as other games

my mom and i once wanted to play checkers, but both of us had a pretty hazy memory of how to play. we went with our guts and started playing and didnt realize until halfway through the game, when my dad walked in and said, "What the hell r u guys Doing," that we realized we had organized the checker peices like you would in a game in a chess. completely wrong. we both unanimously decided on the Wrong Rules and it was a completely bullshit game of checkers. but it was one of the most memorable games to me, one of the most fun, bc we were Allowed to fuck up in the first place. that was on a real checkerboard

obviously, no app would let u organize checker pieces like chess, but it's the principal of it. i wanna be able to make moves that are Fucking Stupid bc that's part of the fun; u get to laugh at urself afterward, and ur friends get to laugh w u. most people who play boardgames dont play them very often and are probably not gods at them. a lot of people i know only roughly, vaguely, remember how to play chess. u don't play chess casually to carefully follow the rules and try to get good at it. u play chess to laugh. when apps Manhandle me into moves that are good ideas and lame and boring,i am not laughing . let me be an idiot, cowards

[littlest-nightingale]

little! 13th Doctor because I've talked ab her as a caregiver but not as a little:

 • oh my god. she is a DISASTER

 • she goes to great lengths to hide her regression/not regress. like she is FIGHTING IT

 • about... 1-3 years old? she's little little

 • i genuinely don't think she had an entirely pleasant regression the entire time she was the doctor. i actually think she was that miserable. like maybe there were some regressions that were enjoyable but i think she was lonely and upset most of the time

 • she was absolutely desperate not to let the fam know. She didn't want them to think she was weak, and she definitely didn't want them to see her when she was so helpless.

 • part of it was definitely because this regeneration was a woman! lots of people started treating her differently when she regenerated into a woman, and part of that was that people thought she was weaker or dumber or more incompetent. So she definitely didn't want people to know she regressed! she didn't want to be viewed as more incompetent than people already seemed to view her as.

 • it was also because she was running from her issues. regression takes away what little filter she does have. if she was to regress and say something about the stress she was under, the fam would definitely start pushing her to talk about it, which she very much doesn't want to do!

 • finding out about the timeless child ordeal broke her. She had an entire childhood she couldn't remember because it was taken from her! and, because we know she could remember little glimpses of it, what if regression allowed her to remember. little bits and pieces. little glimpses into tecteuns experiments. maybe even the few times she was forced to regenerate.

 • after finding out, regression wasn't safe for her! memories she wasn't even supposed to have started slipping through the cracks, and unfortunately, her regression isn't entirely voluntary.

 • it didn't help that she spent 19 years in isolation immediately afterwards. she was stuck in that cell and she would regress and she would remember and there was nobody there to help her through it.

 • and even afterwards, she didn't open up about it. ever. She pushed through, she regenerated, and that was it.

 • in terms of regression gear, she has quite a lot. that doesn't mean she uses it.

 • 10, 11, and 12 were also regressors. 10 got a metric fuckton of regression gear and that collection has been modified and added on to with each new regeneration.

 • most of this is kept in a nursery/playroom originally made for 10, which she has asked the TARDIS to hide down the longest hallway she could generate (sometimes the TARDIS pushes the room forward. 13 doesn't take that well)

 • she keeps one stuffed animal in her room. one raggedy stuffed giraffe clara had gifted 11. it is hidden under her bed next to a teether and a box of stim toys

 • given her just. general autism. and how she is. she can get away with alot. she can have stim toys. she can stop talking. she can have cute onesie pajamas. you get the idea. so at least she has that.

 • but stepping away from the absolute misery, here's some happier ones:

 • i think there were positive regression triggers, even if she suppressed it. like at Yaz's grandma's wedding, when they were doing the henna tattoos (i believe that's what they were? im not too familiar with the culture, excuse me if i am wrong and feel free to correct me) as well as the fez, and getting her new clothes!

 • She has a tamagotchi! She is very good at taking care of it, despite it all. She also has a ds with Nintendogs, which was previously used by 11. it's modded so she can have more dogs than the game allows =]

 • she has matching bracelets with her giraffe plush!

 • Shes got a blanket with stars on it, sometimes she lays on top of it with her nightlight on because. sparkly

 • she draws on herself. yes she has paper yes she could draw on a more permanent surface but it's more fun to draw on herself

[7grandmel]

Todays rip: 05/02/2024

Epic Rap Battles of History: Funny vs. Funnier

Season 5 Featured on: Rips From Around The Way 7 (Hidden Track)

Ripped by DonnieTheGuy Visuals by moralem, Blookerstein, PsychLantern, Myeauxyoozi

Requested by crickep! (Discord)

Yknow, for as much as I like to go on and on about Season 2 being my favorite period of the channel's life - it may honestly just be due to my own personal investment being at its highest at that point. Its a herculean, damn near impossible task nowadays to actually try and critically evaluate a season of SiIvaGunner in retrospect, and most of what I go off of obviously just comes from my own experiences and memories. It goes to reason, then, that Season 5 is my least favorite season of the channel not necessarily due to any fault of its own, but just due to my own personal investment in the channel being rather low at the time. I say that, because with every rip I cover from the Season - now including Epic Rap Battles of History: Funny vs. Funnier - I'm baffled as to why I'd ever consider the season anything less than peak.

When I have that discussion with other people (or just with the voices in my head), the reasons tend to primarily boil down to a lack of lore developments made during the year. Yet as I talked about way back in Knowledge of the Depths, even that feels like doing the Season a disservice, given just how enjoyable and, in a way, lore-crucial the audio dramas made during Season 4 Episode 2 and Season 5 wound up becoming. Which again makes me point toward my own lack of attentiveness toward the Season as the one to blame: because how else could I have missed out on how genuinely engaging and interesting the lore regarding Lady, Yankin', Masked Wolf and Astronaut in the Ocean was? And as the cherry on top - how could I have missed just how perfect of an ending to it all Epic Rap Battles of History: Funny vs. Funnier wound up being?

I've dissected and talked about Masked Wolf before in Aquarium in the Ocean and Snow halocean, as the figment who best fits the role of a true anti-hero within SiIvaGunner - an agent of chaos whose rips only occasionally bother to actually sound good, yet one we wound up loving despite (or because of!) it all. Yet as Season 5 began to truly ramp up, his role seemed to change from agent of chaos to necessary evil - as the only remaining figment capable of stopping the reign of hell that Lady's "Yankover" was subjecting us all to. No doubt SiIva has had its contentious, long-lasting takeovers before (Harlem Shakeover and Totally Shaaking Out Right Now, anyone?), yet nothing truly compared to the neverending downpour of hellfire cast upon us by one particularly crass rapper singing about her genitalia. And for once, it seemed as if the SiIvaGunner team agreed - Lady became, for all intents and purposes, the actual villain of Season 5, with her figment form reimagined as a full-on demon in need of imprisonment. And small nuggets of lore were being handed out week by week (nuggets that I, again, unfortunately glazed over back in the day), Lady's defeat wound up happening at the hands of HoBART, everyone's favorite mixer from the King for Another Day Tournament. Yet to me, Epic Rap Battles of History: Funny vs. Funnier still sits at the most pure, befitting end to her reign - a battle between the Season's fallen angel and its lawless demon, set to the tune of a game whose entire hype cycle practically enveloped Season 5 in its entirety.

Back in Satinpanties Symphony, I mused over how Friday Night Funkin became a mainstay feature on SiIvaGunner almost overnight, and how it feels as if the two projects share a lot of DNA that make them a perfect fit for one another, in how they handle the idea of legacy. What better game, then, could there be to depict the encounter between these two legends that defined the season, than with the game that defined the year - coincidentally, one entirely focused on duels between rappers. That's not to imply that Epic Rap Battles of History: Funny vs. Funnier isn't an absolute banger on its own - the melodic core of Ugh, paired with the implementation of both Astronaut in the Ocean and Yankin's backings into the back-and-fourth, creates a fantastic re-imagining of the song that's both endlessly relistenable and incredibly charming with the custom visuals. Yet its the same point I made in Take You To The Desert - with all that context in mind of all that led up to this battle, the knowledge of how much the community suffered under the thumb of both rappers yet came to understand one for his harmless-if-strange tendencies yet came to loathe the other...Epic Rap Battles of History: Funny vs. Funnier becomes something genuinely legendary. Paired with so many small flourishes added on top, such as the original track's "Ugh" sample being replaced with Masked Wolf's opening "Astro", the reference to Lady's attempted Thanksgiving resurrection ritual in Twerkey (seriously), down to Lady being positioned as the player character to truly sell home how dominant she was during her reign...It feels like yet another one of those, for lack of another word, Perfect, rips.

The cherry on top of it all though is, of course, the ending. Despite the seemingly even back-and-forth in the battle, Lady is suddenly dragged back into the pits of hell, as Masked Wolf leaves her with his parting words.

I believe in G-O-D, don't believe in T-H-O-T.

[vidreview]

VIDEO ESSAY ROUNDUP #5

[originally posted march 30th 2024]

it's been a minute since i've done one of these, for a whole host of reasons. the biggest one is that i just haven't been watching very much youtube lately, on account of spending my time making youtube instead. in February i released a scripted essay about the German time travel murder mystery show DARK, while in March i posted an unscripted conversation piece about all the movies i own but haven't watched. i've got a lot more planned for this year, but we're here to talk about other people's essays, not mine. so let's do that!

"Yellow Paint" by Caleb Gamman.

i've talked about Caleb Gamman on this blog before, and no doubt i will continue to do so. he's a fantastic and criminally underrated essayist whose materialist approach to media analysis is a model for the kind of thing anyone making video essays ought to aspire to. nominally about the discourse over yellow paint signposting interactible objects in modern AAA video games, this essay is a disgusted and exhausted act of passive aggression (which turns into regular aggression by the end) against the ways social media and corporate greed have engendered an atmosphere of deliberate ignorance and illiteracy towards games, traditional media, news, politics, everything. it's an entertaining and vindicating watch, full of great points argued with genuine conviction.

"PS1 STORIES - 3D SHOOTING MAKER" by Blue Bidya Game.

this one i found through a friend posting about it. we're looking at a review of a very specific PS1 "RPG Maker" spinoff dedicated to 3D rail shooters a la Star Fox --which is an instant sell for me, a long-suffering Star Fox enjoyer. but it's just as much an in-depth history of the Maker franchise as a whole, which is a lot deeper and more interesting than i ever could've imagined. a lot of research went into this, a task i can only imagine was made incredibly difficult by the language barrier. it's a great little video that packs a lot of charm into its 31 minute runtime, but what i find even more remarkable is Blue Bidya Game's mission statement: "I do sentimental videos on every game in the PS1 library alphanumerically and region-free until I die. Let's get weird and look through low graphical detail windows together. What do you think is out there? What could be just past those blocky hills?" at time of writing, there are 36 videos on Blue Bidya Game's channel, the vast majority of which are below 2000 views. if the quality of this single essay is even remotely indicative of the rest of his catalogue, then this might qualify as one of the most exciting & slept-on works of historical games journalism out there. if you were a fan of Tim Rogers' "Let's Mosey: A Slow Translation Of Final Fantasy VII" series, i think you may have found your new favorite youtube channel. you're welcome

"VR's Greatest Hope, We Thought - Half Life: Alyx Four Years Later" by Brother Burn.

there was a time when i believed wholeheartedly that VR was my beat. i futzed around with the Oculus DK2 at the University of Oklahoma tech lab in, what, 2014? and had my mind blown by the experience of riding a virtual roller coaster. in 2016 my roommate and i went halfsies on an HTC Vive, which arrived on our doorstep the very day that Donald Trump won the presidential election. more on-the-nose symbolism you couldn't possibly ask for-- that is, assuming VR software development & investment kept up its then-rapid pace long enough to support total quadrennial escapism, which it absolutely did not. don't get me wrong, i found a number of titles to love; i made a video about perennial VR classic Beat Saber in 2018, but was plenty charmed by the likes of Arizona Sunshine, The Gallery, Vanishing Realms, Zombie Training Simulator, and especially the fast-paced climbing game To The Top, whose only weakness for me was the limited number of tracks in its (admittedly good) OST with no ability to easily import your own tracks instead. yet for as much as i liked these games, vanishingly little about them was so far beyond what was offered by the tech demos present in Valve's VR pack-in The Lab that you couldn't get an approximately similar experience by just playing that instead. alas, the horizon of possibility for VR games hit something of a ceiling once all the most obvious ludic experiences had been more or less perfected.

anyway, this video by Brother Burn is at least in part about that. i never played Half Life: Alyx, but it certainly seemed positioned to be "VR's Greatest Hope" at the time and so i was naturally drawn in by this essay's title. what it confirmed for me is that i'm glad Alyx exists, but don't feel an especial need to play it. he talks at length about the stealth level "Jeff", which sounds cool as hell and is something i could never under any circumstances subject myself to. i cannot handle horror in VR. there's a section of Arizona Sunshine set in an abandoned mine that i had to psych myself up to finish for three weeks. so it's good, in that respect, to get a breezey overview of Alyx from someone who isn't a Half Life superfan (like me), who gets motion sick in VR easily (also like me), and who clearly came up during a very specific era of youtube (ditto). Brother Burn's style is a time-capsule from 2017 in all the best ways. post-Game Grumps, pre-Breadtube, high effort editing with a lightly self-aggrandizing sense of humor, lives maybe two or three doors down from Errant Signal; i dunno what to say except i find his work charming. that he has less than 2000 subscribers at time of writing is as unfortunate as it is unsurprising.

"remember fingerboards?" by Jeffiot.

this may quietly turn out to be one of my favorite video essays of the year. a history of skateboarding with a history of finger-skateboarding along with a personal history of both into a genuine loveletter to what is objectively a very silly activity? oh yes, thank you very much, i'll take two. the section where he first tries fingerboarding is so surprising and charming, and everything that follows is like… i dunno, freeing? there's something about this video that feels like a substantially relieved exhale, as it's the first really niche thing Jeffiot's done since the astronomical success of his Skull Trumpet essay. the scariest part of being Suddenly Popular after such a long time being totally invisible is the looming specter of What Next. the temptation must've been there to just keep on doing videos investigating the origins of Weird Internet Ephemera forever, since that clearly resonated with a lot of people. instead, here he is doing something totally unrelated, in a realm that none of his new subscribers are likely to be interested in --a supposition at least momentarily supported by the fact that this video only has 14,000 views after a single day (compared to the 100k+ views his last few hit). that number will surely go up, but for the moment i think it's illustrative of the fact that every channel's subscriber count actually contains at least two, probably more, discrete pools of audience. 155,000 subscribers is impressive and substantial, but how many of those people are there for Jeffiot, and how many are there for More Skull Trumpet? all things being equal (which they very much are not), i see that 14k viewership number as a soft indication of Jeffiot's dependable long-term viewers, the people who'll follow him down whatever blind alley he wanders through.

i plugged Jeffiot in the previous roundup, with a lot of time spent analyzing the phenomenon of running a small channel that suddenly gets huge because of a single viral hit. when i wrote that post in january of this year, he'd just exceeded 50,000 subscribers after having only 5,000 a few weeks prior. now, two months later, he's got over 155,000 subscribers. this makes Jeffiot's channel a really useful case study in how one translates good luck into good fortune. the most notable development in my opinion is that quite a lot of Jeffiot's back catalogue has seen an immense increase in viewership as well, something that simply does not happen unless there's a palpable and immediate and consistent qualitative energy shared between the old stuff and The Thing That Went Viral. when i say that the job of a video essayist toiling in sub-5k-views obscurity is to lay the groundwork for getting lucky, this is exactly what i mean. Jeffiot's stuff is high-effort, surprising, and thoroughly entertaining across the board, unique in subject matter yet somehow broadly approachable (that he's clearly very influenced by the work of Tim Rogers over at Action Button is, i'm sure, just a coincidence). i really hope that Jeffiot doesn't take the relatively low viewership of this fingerboard essay as a Failure and vow to stay away from such seemingly off-brand subject matter in the future. it's not a failure (i mean, god, i'd kill for a video of mine to even break 5k in a single day at this point), but rather an indication of confidence and direction. the best artists and creators will walk their path whether you follow them or not. there's no being true to what compels you which also permits universal success, and any attempt to the contrary is a great way to strangle your soul to death. the successes float you on from the sinkers. views and subscribers don't have a linear relationship with monetary success on youtube (unless you rely exclusively on ad revenue, at which point you're already fucked and should probably check a calendar to see if it's still 2015), yet it's so easy to get spooked by them because youtube wants us to be obsessed with analytics. somehow, i think Jeffiot's smart enough to avoid such pitfalls.

"The Mass Extinction Debates: A Science Communication Odyssey" by Oliver Lugg.

this one was suggested to me through my askbox. what strikes me most about this video is how it spends 45 minutes building up the context leading up to the debates about what actually caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, so that you understand what they really represented beyond a simple who's right/who's wrong. i had no idea this was such a recent thing-- 1996, man. that's so in my lifetime. i've always thought the asteroid theory was just uncontroversially true, it never occurred to me that there would have been a combative dogma against it in the scientific community. this is just a good, fun, enjoyable and educational video essay.

"Everyone But Me Is Wrong About The Cornetto Trilogy" by Innuendo Studios.

this is an essay refuting the semi-popular assertion that the Cornetto Trilogy (Edgar Wright's Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and The World's End) are about stunted manchildren being forced by circumstance to finally grow up. instead, Ian Danskin argues, these films are about stunted manchildren who refuse to change until circumstances beyond their control forceably change the entire rest of the world in a way that allows them to never have to grow up. this is one of those essays that's clearly been on the backburner for a long time, delivered with a real sense of frustration and desire to correct the record on something that seems, to Danskin, transparently obvious.

i liked this essay a lot because (to get a bit inside baseball) i'm dedicated to finally producing my extremely-long-in-the-works essay titled Everyone Is Wrong About LOST, about how everyone is wrong about the tv show LOST, by the end of this year. a big question for me in writing that essay has been what tone to strike, how much indignance i should show, where the line between funny and annoying lies. this essay did a lot to clarify that question for me, which is only that much more edifying because Ian Danskin has been at this since 2014. his original essay, This Is Phil Fish, was a big inspiration for me when i first started thinking i might want to try my hand at this gig, and his work ever since has remained some of the most consistently good and clear argumentative writing on the platform. any time he posts a new essay is a moment of quiet celebration for me, especially on the rare occasion he does traditional media analysis like this instead of the equally excellent but generally dry rhetorical analysis he's been doing with the Alt-Right Playbook for the last 6 years. it feels somehow poetic to once again have the path forward in my work clarified by a creator who inspired me an entire gender ago, like somehow despite all that's changed i'm still being true to my WAIT HOLD ON WHAT

well i guess i'd better hurry up and make this fucking LOST video, huh?

<- ROUNDUP #4 | ROUNDUP #6 ->

[blubushie]

That part in Learnin the Blu's where Mick and Jesse sing "Tie me kangaroo down, sport" is genuinely one of the most... domestic? Sweet? Incredibly warming? Moments I've ever read in fanfiction. It's perfect. The poker game, the silly bets, the sleeping, the waking up, the singing together after it all. I'm not sure how to describe it, I just know that when I read it, it instantly brought a goofy smile to my face. Had to put my phone down, and just smile for a bit, before getting back to reading.

I'm an absolute sucker, I am, for cheesy corny bits like that. And with the added context of which characters are doing that, it makes it even better. It's so... Man

It's one of those "Oh my god I fucking love humanity" moments for me

It's definitely something I'll copy and paste to a document, just so I can go back and read it every once in a while.

Really enjoying the story as well, I'm partway through chap 10 currently

You legitimately have no idea how happy this made me to read! Domestic fluff is probably the thing I enjoy writing most (probably because I don't experience it, sorry Mundy, mate, I'm living through you) and I'd glad to hear it's enjoyable to read!

Domestic fluff continues in chapter 11 but there's some action coming in chapter 12! I just hope it ends up coming out okay because god knows I can't write action scenes lmao

[melloggd]

Review: Rhythm Thief & the Emperor's Treasure

xeen • SEGA • 2012 • Nintendo 3DS Read it on Backloggd: (x)

This was one of the most pleasantly surprising experiences I've ever had finding, buying, playing then beating a game! I went in COMPLETELY unspoiled aside from having played the 3DS Demo and knowing it was sound directed by my beloved Tomoya Ohtani: both of these things left great impressions on me, but I don't think either could've prepared me for the game as a whole.

You can see right from the boxart what this game is about: A story-driven Rhythm game with an immense sense of style and personality. It taps into the energy that games like Professor Layton save for the very end, to instead use for the entire game's runtime.

With every new game I play, pacing ends up being a make-or-break aspect that decides whether or not I finish a game. It was so refreshing to not only play a game with absolutely top-notch pacing, but also one with a genuinely fun story to follow. What I'm getting at is: Just on a game-feel level, these kinds of games don't come often.

And I haven't even discussed the gameplay, which is both where the game shines and falters in the most charming ways possible. Despite being a mostly outsourced game, it channels the feeling of Y2K SEGA through and through: Ambition over polish, emotion over consistency, and a full dedication to whatever silly premise the game is running with. Rhythm games are usually mixed for me, I of course get dopamine from hitting actions to notes but I've always felt like something was missing from the experience. With this, I know now what that something is: Variety and story context both add immensely to the vibe of each Minigame. Are there a few stinkers? For sure, for sure. Mostly the ones using Motion controls, but some of the traditionally-controlled games also suffer from being a bit too ambitious in difficulty. But its hard to care when they're almost always wrapped in a memorable, unique package.

In that way Rhythm Thief is a game better than an analysis of all its aspects could ever tell you. Despite its flaws, its an experience that you can't help but smile through. Raphael, Marie, Charlie, Inspector Vergier and all the side characters are stuck in my head forever now. It shares that in common with the SEGA classics of yore like NiGHTS, Jet Set Radio, Panzer Dragoon, Space Channel 5, Sonic Adventure and Monkey Ball: Weird design choices stop impacting your enjoyment when the confidence and heart on display is just that strong.

Maybe I'm biased toward SEGA's particular brand of jank and an appreciation of over-the-top stories, but Rhythm Thief made me smile in a very earnest, personal way, that very few games have.

That's gotta mean something, right?

[Play time: 20 hours] [Key word: Birthday]

[eightwholebreads]

So, since round 1 is over, I think it's time I looked back at how the 21 characters I submitted to @who-do-i-know-this-man season 2 did. I want to keep the winners secret for now but I'll evaluate them in order. Do I count all of these characters as blorbos to me personally? No not really but I do have a reason for each of them. Why 21? Well that's because it's 1% of the whole tournament! I kept a rule that there should be only one character per series so there's some variety. Do I think any of them will win? No, but some may get pretty far.

On with the list.

[redacted] was up against a main character from a film. I don't recognise the film but I recognise some of the actors named in the cast list. I think this guy is my most obscure character that I submitted if only because he's from a kind of a forgettable thing despite it being broadcast regularly enough

Cecille (Luminous arc) did pretty good I think? Is the overlap between DS game enjoyers and webcomic enjoyers large enough that a significant amount of the both/neither vote is both? Good fight but the adversary was simply too obscure.

[redacted]. I'm genuinely surprised he did so badly but given the media was given as the album and not the band... I don't know why op didn't put the album cover as the image tbh. He got a visual appearance recently! So he will have one for round two. But I don't think that'll help recognisability in the slightest

Digit Al (Digital UK). I know he has some enjoyers on this website and wanted to jumpscare them. Fun fact! I typed his name wrong on the submission form so it actually says digit ai on the poll...

[redacted] seemed to be up against a much beloved character. This was one of those "Have you played this game?" characters

[redacted] was submitted to prove that you can't submit [redacted] characters on the [redacted] enjoyers website and expect them to get anywhere. But she somehow won this round...

[redacted] is from a game that never got an official english translation. I know there's [redacted] enjoyers on this website... I mostly picked him in particular for his fun design. Described as "looks very polite"

[redacted] only won because of the massive coincidence of who she was up against. I don't think she's surviving round 2. My first ever blorbo! I was obsessed with her at age 5

Kasasagi Watase (Root Double -Before Crime * After Days) is another "Have you played this game?" characters and the answer is mostly no since he only got about 7 votes (vs the other guy's 5)

[redacted] was a "have you read this book?" style submission. This particular book fills my dreams at times and makes me desperate to reread it since I still remember the shape of it in my mind. I did reread it recently and I can't tell you a single thing that happened because it was really weird.

[redacted]. The guy who I liked the most in [redacted] and also the guy who I had the most interesting experience with (somehow triggered the [redacted] system near the end of the run...). I guess the other media was just more well known? but I've never heard of it

Nero (Lunar Knights) I ♥ black cats! What more can I say. Technically the wrong image. Was meant to be this guy

[redacted] I wish they'd bring him back... but also his final adventure where he ends up stuck in a time loop is too good of an ending imo. To the person who said "#wait [redacted] have a podcast? #is it a musical comedy podcast?": what a way to find out

[redacted] another "Have you played this game?" type submission. Why her? Idk I just remember her banana holder in perfect clarity for some reason. Idk how well she'll do in round 2 since her opponent this time seemed to be well known

Professor Layton was submitted because I do still find him sexy somehow. Plus I wanted to see how many not-obscure-enough complaints he could generate. Note: I did not pick the image used but I approve

[redacted] Does anyone know how to get this game working on linux? Actually I've got it working but I can't record it properly. I think it'd be fun to stream due to massive deep nostalgia in those that know.

Qrs Tuvwxyz did I think he'd win on the Qrs Tuvwxyz website? no. But look at him!!!! Yippee!!

~~space for a mysterious 22nd character I don't think I submitted because he's not on my list but as soon as I saw him I went oh I think I submitted him~~

[redacted] I picked him because he had my favourite joke in [redacted] (His [redacted]). Also I apparently completely didn't recognise his voice actor the whole time I was listening... I'm gonna have that weird experience of re-listening to something and only now recognising their voice

Russi Clover/Candy Holly was picked due to this quirk of hers. The reason this happened was the phoenix wright and miles edgeworth manga were translated by different people. Despite her appearance in the edgeworth manga clearly being framed as a re-introduction, the translator didn't notice and so re-named her

Suzukage Hotori (remember 11). Definitely kind of a trick one given the exact nature fo this character. Surprised she lost and [redacted up above] didn't

[redacted] he stood out to me and my friend when we were playing [redacted] together around age 8 and his name became an inside joke for a time

So the final result is...

Slain at the first hurdle: 8/21 On to round two: 13/21

If this keeps up (it won't) one of my guys might even win this thing!

I submitted 1 character each to seasons 3 and 4 and they are both winning (so far)

[licorishh]

I finished Black Ops 2 yesterday and I have some... thoughts 😭. Fair warning, I kinda put it through the ringer and bash it a bit because I had a less than enjoyable experience so if you absolutely love it then... yahoo for you, I guess. You are not my target audience per se but you are welcome to educate me if you feel that I have wildly misinterpreted the way this game works.

There is genuinely nothing I can say about this game other than the fact that it's the first Call of Duty game I've ever played that I actively dislike, which sucks, because it's one of my favorite franchises and y'all frickin' know by now I'm of the opinion the original Modern Warfare games are three of if not the best video games ever made.

First of all, BO2 is so freaking glitchy??? Genuinely unplayable sometimes. Models spawn and despawn at will, textures flat-out disappear (in one of the first missions when I pulled Woods out of the train car thing his arm suddenly turned black and it just. Never got fixed for the remainder of the mission), voice lines don't trigger or they trigger multiple times (that happened three times in the part where Woods shoots Mason thinking he's Menendez; completely ruined the immersion), the way the voice lines are censored with the graphic content turned off is absolutely ridiculous and causes whole entire sentences and sometimes even whole pieces to be cut out when there’s only a word or two needing to be censored; it's insane. Did they even test this game before release?? WHO QA'D THIS?????? And I played the whole thing on an Xbox Series X we got like three months ago so don't frickin' tell me it’s my system. 😭🙏

This is a VERY common complaint, but the AI in this game is abysmally bad. It's unspeakably bad in the strike force missions but even in the base campaign I might as well have had no teammates at all.

He also has, like, no reason to even be considered a threat up until the VERY END OF THE GAME when he finally launches the attack. Up until that time we didn't see him do literally anything worth the game making him out to be this terrifying Makarov-esque adversary. Why should I even care??? And he says the stupidest cheesiest most Dreamworks-villain junk and he's just so fundamentally NOT dangerous that it's almost awkward to watch.

I was hoping Menendez would be another cool villain to get invested in, but... goodness sakes he was not. He's boring and flat as freak and the motivation they gave him for doing all these things is wildly underwhelming and makes no sense at all. I get it, dude. Your sister died (accidentally, I might add) and you are apparently so creepily obsessed with her and so unable to live without her that you... become a supervillain with a master plan to overthrow the major powers of the world by launching a cyber attack......???????? Like???????? Where is this coming from????????????????

(To clarify, I'm talking about the bit be

David and Harper are... fine, I guess? They just didn't really jump out at me like at all. Salazar's whole character just annoyed me and made me roll my eyes. It didn't feel like a betrayal; just a halfhearted attempt to shoehorn in some shock value. That and the whole bit with Menendez taking over the ship was just... so dumb. There was no lead-up to it and yet somehow I completely saw it coming.

It also felt like the exposition in this game was crazy. The whole time it felt like "Menendez is bad! Menendez is soooo bad! He's so so so so sooooooooo bad! Trust me bro he's like AWFUL" but then he just. Never... actually does anything. Until the very frickin' end of the game. That and the characters frickin' kept narrating everything that was obviously happening but didn't explain literally any of the parts I had trouble keeping up with.

Smaller nitpicks but really?? A THIRD voice actor for Hudson??? And this one just sucked. Didn't sound like Hudson at all so it made me feel practically nothing when the guy got capped. It didn't remotely feel like the same Hudson from BO1 and Cold War. Not at all. That and all the ridiculous scenes with fast switching between camera angles and slow-mo. It felt so frickin' cheesy in a dadgum Call of Duty game. Our lives are supposedly on the line with a supposedly reaaaally really bad (<- like really really bad trust me guys 🙏) bad guy right outside the door and you're gonna do a 2002 quick-zoom on Salazar as he pops the other two soldiers in the room. IT'S JUST SO UNNECESSARY I'M SORRY 😭😭😭

Don't even get me started on the ending when you either capture or kill Menendez. It's over so quickly, he's literally JUST STANDING THERE WAITING TO BE CAUGHT, and no matter which option you pick, THE GAME INSINUATES THAT CORDIS DIE IS GONNA KEEP GOING ANYWAY SO IT DOESN'T EVEN FREAKING MATTER. If you kill him he becomes by his own admission a martyr and inspiration for Cordis Die, and if you capture him, he frickin' says "Yeah lol I'll escape again (<- JUST LIKE HE ALREADY DID EARLIER IN THE GAME WHICH THEY LITERALLY EVEN BOTHERED TO POINT OUT BECAUSE HARPER REMINDS DAVID THAT CAPTURING HIM DIDN'T WORK LAST TIME) so I'll see you in a year" SO ALL OF THE EVENTS OF THE GAME JUST ACCOMPLISH FLAT-OUT NOTHING. NOTHING IS ACHIEVED IN THIS GAME. LITERALLY NOTHING.

On TOP of all of THAT, CHLOE SERVES NO PURPOSE. IN THE BAD ENDING MENENDEZ DOESN'T EVEN NEED HER BECAUSE HE LAUNCHES THE BIG BIG BIG BAD ATTACK SO THE WHOLE DEAL ABOUT BRINGING HER BACK AND SALAZAR SUBSEQUENTLY KILLING HER JUST MEANS GENUINELY NOTHING.

This game was so maddeningly frustrating I cannot quite even. Normally I'm either neutral with a positive lean or I really like COD games (World at War is the only other game I've been more "meh" on but that one at least had a very sensible story and felt like a Good Game). Black Ops 2 is just... bad. It genuinely astounds me that this one is most people's FAVORITE. WHAT DO YOU PEOPLE LOVE ABOUT THIS GAME SO MUCH IT'S COMPLETELY UNPLAYABLE AND NOTHING MAKES SENSE AND IT'S OVERDRAMATIZED TO SUCH A LAUGHABLE DEGREE THAT I FEEL LIKE I'M PLAYING A ROBLOX SHOOTER I CAN'T EVEN FHRJSJDHDHD

Maybe I missed something. I don’t know, but I played it with my dad and he feels the same way. He was nicer about it because he likes to pretend like bad things aren't as bad as they are but he definitely was confused by many of the choices made for the story and was frustrated by the blandness of Menendez' character.

It's unfortunate because I really liked what Treyarch did with Black Ops 1 and Cold War. They really popped off with those and then just royally flunked with this one. I don't know what happened. Even the models look like they were straight-up made by a different studio. It feels completely out of place with the rest of the Call of Duty games. There's zero flow or synergy or connection beyond some nostalgia bait with Woods and the couple of times Mason gets to do something (Alex, not David).

It feels like a Titanfall fan-game reject at its core. Maybe that's harsh or whatever but like honestly. Just. Eugh.

[veebs-hates-video-games]

Yay time for more random stuff.

I ended up liking Lies as a Starting Point more than I expected, which is kinda surprising considering how rough the translation is. Like some of the errors in it feel like a real person made them and not just machine translation, but this was not proofread by anyone who speaks English anywhere near fluently. What I was able to get out of the story through the mess of the translation was enjoyable enough, with three smaller stories about people lying to each other in their relationships and the effects ot that, but then the way they're all tied together by the framing story of the main central character is pretty satisfying, and it ends up being about a bit more than just what it seems on the surface at first. Not the best story I've ever read, or even a contender for the best so far this year, but I liked it enough that I feel like it deserves a proper translation.

And then for something completely different my preliminary thoughts on Super Mario Bros. Wonder. It's fine, I guess? I don't love it. I've finished the first two worlds and probably have enough momentum to finish the main game, but even if I do make it through that I can guarantee I won't be doing all the optional stuff like I have with some previous Mario games. I'm not really into the way with some of their more recent big games Nintendo has gone beyond their traditional high level of polish all the way into smoothing off so many edges from things that it starts making it feel less good and be less interesting to me. I kind of had the same problem with Kirby and the Forgotten Land too, although at least with that one I genuinely thought it was great until some point in the middle (and then by the end only pretty good).

I feel like instead of splitting them into 2D and 3D you could divide the Mario games based on how they're structured into the ones that are like SMB3 and the ones that are like Mario 64. Even as someone who played SMB3 when it was new I always thought it was kinda overrated, and I've generally tended to like that style of games less, but my favorite of those is still Super Mario World. I don't think I've played a SMB3-style Mario game or 2D Mario game in general that I've liked more than that.

On the other hand the 3D Mario 64-style games are still doing things I love and continue to be lots of fun for me. Odyssey was excellent, and so was Bowser's Fury (but I absolutely couldn't stand 3D World on the same cartridge, which is a SMB3-style 3D game and probably the Mario game I've disliked the most out of all the ones I've tried over the years).

I dunno. Everyone keeps going on about how great Wonder is and how creative the levels are with how much weird stuff they experiment with, and I can kinda see it, but it's just not really doing it for me. I think maybe it feels too much like a tightly constrained theme park ride or something? Maybe I'm just not into this style of game anymore ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

probably doesn't help that I've never liked bowser jr. either

[kpagrandtour]

The conclusion of the American Grand Tour (3-16-23)

Davis Wooten

This trip was truly an amazing experience that I am so thankful for. Me and my class got to embark on the long anticipated journey to Boston, New York, and Philadelphia this year as a supplication for the Europe trip that we would have taken as juniors, had covid not intervened. However, as appealing as Europe may have sounded, this trip quite possibly could have been just as enjoyable, if not more for me personally.

The first city we stayed in was Boston Massachusetts. The day began with us visiting the freedom trial and learning more about the American Revolution on a more personal level, since we were able to go and see places and artifacts that many of the American Patriots valued and utilized, just as we do today. That night we also visited the JFK museum which was very interesting as well, because much of the history was more recent and relevant to us in today's age. Our second day in Boston took us to the battle sight of bunker hill, as well as well as the U.S Constitution, which was a famous boat in the old American Revolutionaries navy. This was a lot of fun because it allowed everyone there to see things as the patriots back then did from the perspective of an old ship deck, or through the lens of a window down below. Boston was in my opinion, the prettiest city, with it's blend of modern and historic architecture mixed with a more substantial sense of open air from the docks and other areas, that you just don't get in New York or Philly.

While Boston may have been the most aesthetically pleasing city we went to, no amount of enjoyment throughout the trip could compare to the first day that we had in New York City. Having the opportunity to explore Central Park and the streets around it was something no one should ever take for granted. There was so much to see and do, and no two corners of streets were the same. Outside of getting to explore the city and Central Park, we were allowed the opportunity to explore radio city music hall, which was also a blast. We had a phenomenal tour guide who made it all the more interesting as well, so even if you aren't a music fan, this tour would surely surpass your expectations and make you want to change your mind. That night in New York we also were given the opportunity to see a broadway play, which was one of the most entertaining and genuinely fulfilling experiences that I've ever had on a trip. It's not everyday that one gets to see a broadway play, and this did not disappoint whatsoever. The second day was also enjoyable because we got to see Ellis Island and the statue of liberty. These were both things that we had previously learned about in history, so it was neat to see it in person. New York was jam packed with fun and fulfilling things that definitely gave me more memories than I could fit on this page.

Lastly, we got to go to Philly. This was an exciting part of the trip as well for a multitude of reasons. The first reason being that we were given the opportunity to go to a Philadelphia Flyers hockey game. This was a particular interesting and enjoyable event for me to get to experience because for one, I had never been to a hockey game before (much less an NHL one), and two, I had never had any particular interest in the sport. I was also not too sure on what the rules of the game were, but thanks to Dr. DePoe and Mr. West, I got a pretty good list of what was happening and could follow along. After seeing this game, I was pleasantly surprised as to how enjoyable it actually was. The next day, we got to go to the national constitution center and the Eastern state penitentiary. Both of these were very interesting aspects of the trip and they only added on to the fun.

Overall this was one of the best trips that I have ever been on. What made it so enjoyable was the fact that we were able to balance out the historical and educational aspects of the trip, with that of the more entertaining ones such as the Flyers game or the Broadway play. Thank you to all of the staff who worked so hard to give us this trip and the memories that were made that will stay with us for a life time. I know I speak on all of the students in my class when I say that y'all are huge influences in our lives and we appreciate everything y'all have done and will continue to do!

[takaraphoenix]

5, 6, and 9 for the ask game

Thanks for playing! :)

5. Do you have a favorite character “type?” What do your favorite characters have in common?

"He's snarky and sassy but oh he only uses it to hide his pain because he's canonically gone through Some Real Traumatic Shit". Gets me absolutely every single time. Kuroba Kaito, Spike, Jace Herondale, Tony Stark, Jack Frost. I'm aware of the theme.

6. What is a fandom you’re in that you’re embarrassed by, if any?

Kay since I already answered the PJO fandom, mmmh... Let's take one of the past.

I used to be in the V0ltron fandom, shipping K/ance and I can tell you, there's a special kind of embarrassment in sharing a ship with the local antis.

You know how the worst people in a fandom usually unite behind one character/ship (the ship usually featuring the character), so this character/ship just... generally get a stale aftertaste because they remind you of the bad people who go around harassing and bullying others in the fandom? Most fandoms nowadays have those.

And it was just a very, very different and new kind of embarrassing to genuinely love this ship that is also loved by the worst people in the fandom, because when interacting with fics/fanart, you always gotta wonder "oh no is this A Nice Person, or do they too anonymously send hate and death threats to shippers of Other Ships?".

9. Worst fandom experience?

Oh, Teen Wolf for sure!

I remember being delighted that even years after the fact, there's still a moderately active fandom on tumblr! So when I rewatched the show, I decided to spam some commentary along the way.

Made me run into the most unpleasant people (a certain defense squad that shall not be named so I shall not gain their attention again because I could do without that).

It also earned me my first death threats and rape threats - and those, I kid you not, for saying "hey, this ship that is literally canon isn't so bad to watch!", I didn't even claim it had become my OTP I simply dared to state that it was more enjoyable during this rewatch than it had been during others. A canon ship. A ship that is literally canon and you have to sit through watching anyway. But that statement really got me a lot of hate-mail that lasted a while and I'd like to say that active Stalia shippers are genuinely braver than any US marine, I mean hot damn that was a bizarre experience.

It's not all bad, the Sterek fandom remains beautiful and amazing, but holy shit I had not expected all of that and it really might be the worst fandom experience I've ever had, crossing paths with those other sub-fandoms.

Fandom Ask Game

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

How would you rank telltale's other games (not including twdg)?

Of the ones I've played, from best to worst imo:

1. Tales from the Borderlands. Listen, I've never picked up a Borderlands game, never had any real interest.... but I love this game. While twdg is my favorite from Telltale, I genuinely believe this game is the best thing they ever put out and I will be forever pissed that this didn't get a sequel. Great characters that actually grow and develop relationships with one another, antagonists that are enjoyable and hateable [in a good way], great story, great writing, choices that matter.... overall amazing game. If you haven't played it, go get yourself a copy. Do it, do it now, play it and have fun.

2&3. Batman s1 & s2. I believe s2 is the better of the two, but s1 is still one of the best from Telltale. I'm not a big Batman gal, I don't really get into the DC world, but like with tftb, I adore this game anyway despite not being super familiar with the source material. Anyone who has watched my streams of s2 in particular knows how emotional it makes me. I just.... Bruce and John Doe's relationship throughout the season just gets to me, it's so well done and heartbreaking. Also, I love Bruce as a playable protagonist, he's fucking great.

4. Game of Thrones. Yes, really, I'm putting it this high. I'm actually shocked that I enjoyed this game as much as I did because again, I didn't watch the show, didn't read the books, not a fan of the source material. I went into this blind. While it has a slower start where I felt like I had to force myself to really pay attention otherwise I would get lost, once I had a grasp of the characters and the four storylines, I could relax and get immersed and enjoy the experience... well, "enjoy" is a loose term, I suppose. Also, it has a certain choice later in the season that actually haunts me. I still think about it to this day. Like... I had to pause the game, I had to breathe, I had to cry to chat during the stream I was doing, it hurt me deeply and I haven't let it go. Holy shit.

5. The Wolf Among Us. I love this game. Bigby is one of my favorite playable protagonists in any Telltale game. I love the aesthetic of it all, I love the character designs despite a lot of the characters not actually being favorites of mine. I love a good murder mystery. It has an amazing soundtrack. I do feel like this game is held back a bit by some of the side characters, and the reveal of who the big bad really was is.... ehhh, could've been better. Still totally worth playing, though.

6. Minecraft Story Mode. Uuuuggggghhhhh...... and we have a huge drop off. I can't with this game. It's awful. It's boring, it's slow, the characters have one-note personalities, the plot is dumb, Jesse isn't allowed to have a character because they gotta be vague so you can project yourself on them which I don't love, it's riddled with fake choices that don't matter, it feels passionless, and there didn't need to be eight episodes. Oh, and it has one of the most botched death scenes I have ever experienced in a game. Like... I have little to nothing positive to say about mcsm. It feels nothing like a Telltale game, it feels a knock-off but it's not and I hate it. There was one choice that I kinda liked, the one where you gotta decide which armor to wear but whoever's armor you take, they're left defenseless which results in them getting killed. I like that you have six Jesse's to choose from in terms of looks.... um.... Lukas was okay? The murder mystery episode with all the dumb youtuber cameos was probably the best episode of the eight. Again, I streamed this game... ask anyone who was there how miserable I was the entire time. It still pisses me off that THIS got a sequel but Tales from the Borderlands, Game of Thrones, and Wolf Among us didn't. It infuriates me that it made more money that those better games. I just.... UGH.

7. Guardian's of the Galaxy. The only reason this one is below mcsm is because I literally couldn't finish it. Not because it was so terrible... no, I physically couldn't finish it because it was a broke mess. I kept getting stuck and soft-locked, I had to back out of episodes and then go back to pick certain choices because some choices just don't work and break the game. Another one I streamed, and once we hit what...? the end of ep3, I believe? we got stuck and I gave up and just read from the wiki of what happens at the end of the episode, and then just moved on to ep4..... only to have it fucking break halfway through ep4 with no way to continue other than to restart the episode from the beginning and pick different choices that wouldn't break everything and I just..... I couldn't do it. I read from the wiki for the rest of the game.... it was ridiculous. I can't believe Telltale actually released something so broken. And it wasn't just my copy, a lot of people had the same issues I did. For as much as I fucking hate mcsm, at the very least I was able to finish it.

Those are the ones I've played. And no, I haven't played mcsm s2 because I can't get my hands on a copy and I'm not willing to watch a playthrough. I never want to touch that game ever again. I would rather play Life is Strange: Before the Storm than mcsm and that's probably the biggest insult I could give it. Ugh.

But yeah, the other games are great, highly recommend.

[bisluthq]

Hey! I'm fairly new here and I have a pretty uncommon take on Kaylor. But I just wanna start off by saying I try my best to be as supportive of LGBT people as possible and if they're both bisexual, then I would be 100% okay with that! I'm not trying to "defend their heterosexuality" or anything, I think that's really weird

Okay, so my personal theory is that Kaylor did happen, but that Taylor and Karlie are both straight. I know that might sound contradictory, but I say this based on my own personal experiences based on how I am with my best friend. I think Karlie and Taylor's relationship might have been similar in some ways to ours

Right, so I'm straight and I'm not into women in the gay kind of way (but it's completely cool that some girls are), and I have this roommate who's gorgeous. Really gorgeous, she's like a 10/10 "I would sell my kidney to look like you" kind of girl. She's very attractive, she has like tan skin and long legs and gorgeous brown hair and pretty eyes and nice lips and just like… she's just very good looking. I'm definitely jealous of her body, I won't even pretend I'm not 😪 I lowkey hate her because of it (jk)

We've been living together since not long before COVID started, and we're very good friends. There were three of us before, but our other roommate went back home to stay with her parents until in person classes are back on and we agreed to it and worked something out because she has really bad anxiety so we understood her reasoning for it

Anyway so it's just been us two and because we've been at home a lot during this time instead of out for most of the day like before, we've gotten to know each other a lot better and have become a lot closer. We were already friends from before, but now we're like super close besties, we've been hanging out a lot together and playing board games, watching movies, helping each other with essays, just having long conversations about anything and everything, etc

Like it's been so nice having a best friend that I can be this close to now because I haven't had a best friend since I was a kid

So my friend and I were having like a conversation last year about how hard it's been in quarantine not being able to go on dates and how we miss kissing people, and so we decided to just like, make out for fun you know. I mean, there's not really anything that's inherently romantic or sexual about making out, that's just society that says that. But tbh I think making out with your friends if you want to should be normalized, it's fun and it can even be emotional sometimes. It's not that different from hugging people

After a couple of weeks or so, I think we got bored of just making out with each other and decided to like, fully hook up. It started off because we were modelling lingerie for each other for banter and were pretending we were each other's runway judges and then I think we just decided to hook up with each other as like part of the whole "game". I can't remember who initiated it now, I think it might have been me as a joke lol

Like just in a platonic way for fun, as a kind of substitute until we can go back into society

And tbh I always expected hooking up with a woman to be like mediocre and boring and awkward, but although it was a bit hard to get the hang of at first and there was a learning curve, it's actually very enjoyable. Like I was very surprised actually at how hot it can be, I think I can maybe see why bisexual women and lesbians like doing it

Anyway we both liked it and we just carried on hooking up on the regular and it's been like 8 months now and tbh I just think it's very sweet and heartwarming, like it actually makes me feel a little emotional how we're close enough and care about each other enough that we can even help each other out with the physical intimacy side of things so that we don't get sexually frustrated while we're stuck in lockdown

I just think it's really cool and we even sleep in the same bed most of the time now because tbh what's the point in sleeping alone when you can sleep in the same bed as someone else? It's nicer, like you can cuddle and stuff

Anyway, I think that maybe Kaylor's relationship might have been similar. I think they're both straight but they became really close friends in a short space of time, and that their friendship was so intense that it became physical but in a platonic way

I think lesbians and bisexual women are amazing and I have so much respect for you guys for accepting yourselves in a society that tries to erase you, and I think there definitely needs to be more wlw representation on TV and in movies

But at the same time, I would also like there to be more close female friendships like the one that me and my friend have where you can just talk about everything together and do things that society usually reserves for romantic partners, but in a platonic way. Because female friendship is really important and beautiful, whether that's between straight women like me and my friend who I think is probably straight too, or between queer women because one thing I've learnt during my short time on this blog is how queer women can have very close platonic friendships with other queer women too

I think society just has overly strict ideas of "straight" and "gay". Like for some people, they would hear about two women sleeping together and think "Oh that's gay", but not necessarily because straight women can enjoy sleeping with other women too, like it's normal 🤷‍♀️

I think it's just a result of women being a lot more physically beautiful than men are, like straight women really got the short end of the stick tbh compared to straight men

I also think it's because women are so oversexualized in the media, and obviously straight girls see that too and so we sort of internalize that attraction to women because we're so used to seeing women being presented in a sexual way? Except it's not real attraction with us like how it is for queer girls

Like I'm very much "attracted" to my friend, she's genuinely stunning and just very hot tbh. But I still identify as straight because it's just a case of what I mentioned above, it's a "fake" attraction. And also because men are afraid to compliment other men because it's seen as "gay", but women can be fully confident in their sexuality and still recognize other women's beauty and sex appeal. You see it all the time in instagram comments, and I really love how we're all so supportive of each other like that

Like I can be fully confident in my sexuality and yet still say that some women like my friend are gorgeous as hell and also 100 times better looking than most men I've seen. I'm very much obsessed with some women's appearances but in a platonic way

And I just love the concept of "girl crushes" and I think that from a feminism viewpoint, it's beautiful that we're focusing on other girls and showing love towards other girls too, instead of just to men who, let's be real, don't even fully appreciate it half of the time

I am going to be sad when we all have to return to life as usual and my friend and I won't be able to spend as much time together anymore. I'm dreading it tbh, I don't want it to end yet. And it really sucks that the physical side of our friendship will probably have to stop too once our other roommate comes back because I think she'd definitely misunderstand the situation and think it's something different than it actually is if she ever saw us kissing or something. I really am going to miss it a lot though, I really like how things currently are and it's just really really nice and I don't want it to change :/

Btw I'm sorry if I sounded fetishistic or offensive with any of this, I just get a bit jealous sometimes that you guys get to date girls and we're just stuck with men. Honestly if it wasn't for all of the homophobia and the struggles that you all have to face and the fact that it would feel disrespectful to the LGBT community, I would probably really wish I could change my sexuality to be bisexual or gay instead because I just think women are better. Sometimes I really do wish I was into women in that way because dating girls just sounds so much more appealing to me (in a non fetishizing weird way) but unfortunately I'm stuck with dating men 🤦‍♀️ But I also know I'm lucky and privileged to be straight even though most men are mediocre and kinda gross and I don't mean to be disrespectful because I know you all have to face homophobia and other LGBT difficulties and it really sucks, people are awful. There's nothing wrong with women dating women or men dating men at all, society is just ugly and bigoted

Anyway, does anybody else have a similar sort of take on Kaylor where they think they could have both been straight and just had a very close friendship with a physical side to it? I think it would explain a lot. But like I said, this is just a theory of mine based on my own situation, and I'm also open to the idea that it was an actual relationship and that they're both into women for real, not just fake "into women" like I am.

Also pls feel free to call me out if I accidentally said anything offensive towards LGBT people, I tried my best but if I made a mistake anywhere pls let me know and I'll avoid it next time!

You’re not offensive. Please stop apologizing. And we’re gonna come back to the Kaylor stuff another time because... Honey. You and I need to have a conversation for a bit.

So firstly, I’m not trying to like “diagnose” you and at the end of the day it’s your choice what you want to call yourself but... tbh you might not be straight. Sexuality is fluid not static and exists on a spectrum not in absolutes. It’s not like it’s straight, 50/50 bi, gay and you’re born knowing and there’s no room for anything else. That’s not true. There’s a lot of room in between all of these and labels can change over time. We’re people, not cereal brands, and sometimes we don’t even KNOW the word for what we might be. I’m tagging a tag for you from when we asked people to share their label journeys for you to see. It’s not simple or easy and it’s not just because of external stuff - it’s because figuring this out internally is HARD. If you found yourself having such an intense friendship it became physical, repeatedly, you liked it a lot, you still sleep in the same bed and continue to share all your thoughts and you don’t want any of that to end... I’m not sure you’re Kinsey 0. And I think you might lowkey have a girlfriend dude. 

You can obviously prefer men but like... hun I reaaallly don’t think you’re completely straight.

Also: it’s okay to say “I see myself winding up with a man and this is a situationship for right now!” but that doesn’t make you straight because again, sexuality is a spectrum and you can manifest a particular kind of endgame while experiencing other things along the way.

But here’s where you really got me: “most men are mediocre and kinda gross” and “women being a lot more physically beautiful than men are, like straight women really got the short end of the stick tbh compared to straight men” because that’s the kind of thing I used to say in my Bi 1.0 era before I ID’d as a lesbian for a bit and before Harry Styles (KING 🥺) made me bi for real. Hun, no. Straight women like men. Tbh BI women like men. I genuinely, unironically, find Harry and Timmy and Matt Smith to be sexy beasts and I would do dirty things to the former two but maybe not the latter irl in 2021 but yes also him if I could be on that Spain trip with him and Karen where they got sloshed and which I think of often. These men are genuinely fucking beautiful to me in the same way Taylor is and Di Silvers is (okay she’s prettier than all of them but like same ~vibe) and like Megan Thee Stallion is and Indira Varma in everything but especially GOT and Gillian Anderson and Keira Knightley. Like those women are HOT to me and SO. ARE. THE. MEN. 

Straight women find SO MANY DUDES hot. So many. Starting from objectively pretty options I just cannot personally understand like Chris Evans all the way through to bitches who are outchea simping for wrestlers and Cole Sprouse. Do I understand? No. But like... that’s straight girl culture and ours is not to judge. 

If you’re struggling to find men hot then... you might be gay.

Also, I’m not sure what you mean by “fake attraction”. Like queer women - especially femme women which I assume you very much are - experience the same kinds of feelings straight girls do. We have women we want to be like and look like and find enviable (me and Oenone Forbat) and women we find aesthetically gorgeous (me and Anya Taylor Joy) and we have extremely close female friends who we can spend hours on end spilling our guts to - as you say female friendships are truly special - and without going into personal people that you don’t know, that’s me and Cam and Sim right? I literally talk to them for hours. Like those are not gay feelings. And yes we can chat about those kinds of feelings with straight girls and call them “girl crushes” and not immediately get “caught out” because they experience this exact shit too.

But here’s the thing. They never do and I don’t want in the cases above to fuck these women. It’s not sexual.

The moment I can actually imagine fucking the women in question that’s... gay. 

Like it’s not “fake attraction” it’s literally just gay. That’s how we desire women. We want to fuck them. Not all women. Not always. But sometimes we want to get under or on top of one and just really truly fucking make each other moan with pleasure.

I have no idea if Karlie or Taylor are into women. They could both literally be straight. I have no idea.

But I have a better idea about you.

Hun, you’re fucking your roommate/best friend and don’t want to stop.

You’re not “into women”.

You’re into this woman.

And possibly into women more generally.

So I know it’s weird to have to be the one to tell you this, and if you want to keep chatting via anon or in my DMs or if you want me to try collate resources for you from around the web but...

Like.

Dude.

You’re a whole ass part of the rainbow.

Welcome to the community you thought you weren’t a part of earlier today 🌈 ❤️

It’s nice here, sure there’s homophobia, but at least we get to fuck girls and man is it good.