#glad i could get this done and actually like it

[sleepiestoken]

i've just pulled out some interesting quotes from the metal hammer article for myself and anyone else interested. anything bolded for emphasis by me.

-

George Lever [Sleep Token producer 2016-2021]: The starting point was removing this idea of the music you listen to being related to the person making it. By being anonymous, the listener is forced to relate to what they're actually hearing.

-

James Monteith [Tesseract guitarist/publicist at Hold Tight PR]: I was approached by Tom Quigley, who was a scene regular and ran a few blogs at the time. He said he was working with this new band, would we maybe be interested in doing their press? We ended up talking for an hour, and he rolled out the whole concept, the imagery and everything about it... other than the music.

George: The lore/narrative was pretty loose still, but it definitely existed.

James: There was nothing specific as such, more this idea of creating an occult vibe and feeling, led by this prophet-like character who leads a religion.

-

George: A lot of the first EP was actually us trying stuff out. We recorded the drums on a whim at Monnow Valley Studio in Wales. I introduced him to one of my friends, who actually still drums in them now.

-

James: We always got requests [for interviews], but the band said from the start they were anonymous and wouldn't do them. It helped create more curiosity because nobody could get access to them.

Matt Benton [Metal Hammer writer]: You can't do an introductory piece without an interview. We managed to get an agreement for an email interview with Metal Hammer. Even then, the band knew they didn't want a voice.

Matt: It's one of only a few interviews they've ever done. It's something I'm glad exists, because it's like getting the Word Of God.

-

George: I had freedom to offer interpretations of what I was hearing. It was a very fortunate combination of personalities and ideals. There was never any, 'We're going to take over the world' -type chat. It was more, 'Do we like this? Let's do more of that.'

-

Nathan Barley Phillips [co-founder of Basick Records]: Trying to keep some sense of anonymity was a real mission. Particularly getting them to and from the stage [at Great Escape festival 2018] without anyone seeing who they were.

-

George: We did Sundowning in three months - we went from demo to final master being released in just 12 weeks. We didn't have days off; we'd do seven in the morning until seven, eight or even nine at night every day for three months. We were in each other's pockets; we'd go to the gym together, swim, do the sauna... All this stuff to recover from being sat down all the time. There was a lot of time to spend holistically being friends making this record. We didn't know how to make this thing, but we had a confidence that we'd get there in the end. That's my favourite three-month period of my life.

-

George: We started making [TPWBYT] and the first day was when lockdowns began. Tomb... was tough for all of us emotionally. There were lifestyle pressures as a result of the lockdown that made it not very conducive to making art that is supposed to be welcoming. A lot of those songs are, in one way or another, about love, love being lost or remorse, they are compassionate tales that are designed to bring the listener towards the artist. It's hard to do that when it feels like the world is going to end.

-

Matt: I've got friends in merchandising and they say Sleep Token shift more merch than any other UK heavy band - more than even Iron Maiden.

-

Nathan: Bands like Ghost and Sleep Token aren't successful because they wear masks. They're successful because they write great music. Masks don't mean anything if the music isn't any good.

Matt: I'll be interested to see, when the first official TV movie of the band gets made, the difference between the reality of what happened and the story that gets told. In a way, the myth becomes reality.

[fuyuu-chan]

How solo leveling men will react when they realize someone made (name) uncomfortable?

Pairing: Sung Jinwoo x Reader & Liu Zhigang x Reader (Separate)

Warning: mention/implied of killing, mention of threatening someone

Fuyuu-chan: i suddenly enjoy doing this type of hcs lol 💃

✧⁠◝⁠(⁠⁰⁠▿⁠⁰⁠)⁠◜⁠✧

Sung Jinwoo:

• he would know immediately from your body language

• he would excuse you to whoever that person is (glaring over his shoulder once you were not looking, a silent warning to that person that if they ever do it again...well we know what happens) and talk and ask you softly if you wanted to leave already and when you nod your head he would use his shadow exchange to your shared home

• (ps. he would have done smth to that person at that moment but you were there, you were already uncomfy and he doesn't want to add more than anything to your uneasiness so he sent some of his shadow soldiers to deal with it, maybe threaten the person or scare them off)

• he would cuddle you up, either in the living room or the bedroom as he set your fav show/movie in the tv

• he would also whisper comfort words to you just to make sure that your day wouldn't be ruined

• he would also order your comfort foods or make beru and igris make smth in the kitchen (maybe he'd let you eat ice cream or any snack before meal but not so much so you could still eat an actual food)

• and when you requested to see the children shadow soldiers he would summon them as you happily shower them with affection and head pats that they always love (well maybe bcs you spoiled them by always doing that)

• jinwoo would softly look at you, admiring how you treat his children. And he would be amused on his shadows on how they act around you versus on battles

• The duality really...but who is he to judge when he himself also act gentle, caring and lovingly to you but completely different on the dungeons?

• def not, his shadows def got it from him anyway like father like sons

• anyway...he's glad that you finally felt better after what happened earlier, he successfully makes you feel better or take your mind off of what happened and he's proud and also bcs he gets to cheer you up with his kids :)

Liu Zhigang:

• gurl did you see what this man did when he was angry at the manhwa?? (Implied anyway based on what @mayaree-darling said hehehe)

• if you made him mad or slightly irritated. You're dead.

• he's a national level hunter, anyone would be in danger once this man got in a bad mood

• so what's more when he saw you or your body language trying to get out of or make an excuse just to get out of that conversation? Now that person just got on his bad side

• you were truly such an amazing person for you to remain that poised, like he could never

• he admire that personality of yours but at the same time why can't you just be like him? I mean you have the power to end that person

• but anyway he knew you wouldn't, you don't kill people, you were just such a good and merciful person

• still he wouldn't let this slide

• he took you by your arm not even uttering a word or excusing the both of you in front of that good for nothing person, he didn't even spare a glance as if no one was even there

• he holds you gently tho, he doesn't wanna hurt you, only treating you softly and gently

• as he successfully led you away he asked you if you're alright, if you need anything as he wraps his arm around your waist

• you nod your head, telling him you felt much better than before

• he felt relieved and gave you a soft smile

• he asked if you want to go home or go around town but you don't wanna ruin the day just bcs of that one conversation so you picked the latter

• liu follows you around town, watching how your mood lifted up

• and as he guide you to one of your fav food place, he can't help but admire your ability to shift your mood and how easily you brighten up again. But he was glad, bcs he only wanted to see you happy. He would be so disappointed at himself if he see you down

• liu first and foremost prioritize you than himself anyway. And your happiness is his happiness

• and just like what he usually do when someone pisses him off, that's what he did earlier the moment he led you away from that person. You didn't notice due to how quick it was but he had used his power, which was nothing really bcs that person isn't even a hunter, so it was like killing a bug

ฅ⁠^⁠•⁠ﻌ⁠•⁠^⁠ฅ

Please do not copy, translate, repost to any other social media, Thank you.

[threbe]

📏THE RULER MLB SEASON 6 REVIEW

we just keep on winning

Thank god we got new writers this season the way the past episodes have been done should have been getting in season 3-5 not know in season 6

So first I'm glad we finally get to see Nathaniel and Mark's families I didn't know Nathaniel was rich cuz like that is an amazing looking home like I think his mom is an architect not sure what his dad does he looks like he's a shady lawyer to be honest with you or maybe he works at some type of accounting or law firm he could be into art as well I'm not sure

I never paid much attention to Nathaniel I always thought the only thing he and I ever had in common is that we like to draw but I never knew I would end up seeing one of my own parents represented in this episode because my dad was exactly like Nathaniel's mom and never wanted me to draw or be in the anime cartoons and was always disapproving he was even like that towards other people's kids it was so rude and annoying which is why we probably still don't talk to this day 😂

I like Mark's parents it's so cute their relationship seem so wholesome and nice it's not just to actually see a decent family that doesn't seem like they have problems cuz even marinette's family even though she has both her parents and her grandparents seem to be getting along even though they're separated and I know nobody likes Mariners Grand dad and I don't either nothing will change my mind about him but at least he's in there in his life and then you got Adrian over there he doesn't have any real family he can depend on besides Natalie and even something shady's going on

I swear to God I would I wish I could like teleport into a show I would become a therapist because you could make top Bank living in this city considering everybody has issues especially family issues you become a family therapist you'll be rolling in dough you wanted the richest people in Paris even the world 😂

🔴

So later on in the episode we switch and we go to the school Marinette has a cold but doesn't want anyone to know again I don't know who these new writers are but thank God because we're not focusing on Marinette I'm be honest with you it's been five to six seasons I don't even know what marinette's favorite color is I'm just going to assume it's pink cuz she wears pink all the time with Adrian is probably green like I know these sound like the most trivial things like what's Adrian's favorite color or food but that is something you want to know about your favorite characters like their birthdays favorite food and hobbies I like that we see other characters mixed in with the classes with the characters we usually see I'm not sure why Zoe and Mark are there considering they're in a grade below everyone else but I remember my school actually did that where we had mixed grades being taught by different teachers cuz I remember when I was in school we had other grades mixed in with our grade

I keep forgetting that kagami goes to their school it's just so odd seeing her there cuz I never really thought about it I thought she went to another school like maybe a private boarding school that was like real strict and I'll probably all girls but looking at the situation she was probably

homeschooled like Adrian and I never thought that that's why I'm glad we're getting these new writers with these episodes because we're exploring more of the home life these characters had that we should have got seasons ago and building more on their characters I also think that us building up with their characters is going to show that even when everything goes down with ladybug and people learn she lied we're going to see that even though these characters depended on ladybug and trust in her it's not going to change their growth or make them think oh I shouldn't do this past because ladybug help me realize it these characters are going to continue down the path there on with or without ladybugs influence

I'm also glad that the kids in this show are supportive of each other in the class cuz in real life you know you would not have been able to get classmates to be this support of our cooperative with each other

I also like that Marinette and adrians aren't in the spotlight like I said or focusing on the other characters like we need Nathaniel struggling to wonder if he wants to do the comic a certain way without judgment from his mom or dad and that's understandable it's a lot of people who struggle with art and don't really like to show it with to people well I do that with my art I don't think I've shown any one of my family my art since I was probably in Middle School

I do like we seen Nathaniel sit there and think and add more to the story that made it even better actually hope that Zack actually would release this comment because it looks so interesting and the art in it is so beautiful

Later on the the next day Nathaniel shows Mark the comic but then he gets home that night and his mom found the comic and then acts well like a mom I kinda had something like this happen to me when I was in 5th grade so I get how pain this is

Mark and Nathaniel basically break up you know that's what this is basically alluding to it feels like a breakup because Nathaniel's parents don't want him writing certain things or writing with Mark

We also see the class attending to the gardens around the school so that's nice to see they have the kids helping out around the school with the gardening and stuff and not just leaving it to the staff

It's always fun to see the way Lila uses the butterfly miraculous she's usually in a ways Gabriel could never even imagine she's so much more creative and I know we're going to have like 14 season possibly a million more but the fact that we're dealing with Lila and she does things so uniquely and we never know when we're seeing her and when we aren't seeing her or possibly people even working for her it's just crazy and I can't wait till we get to the end of this season because it said that once we get to the end of the season and then go back and watch everything we'll just be so surprised at something that's happening with Lila that some type of hidden secret that's in each episode I can't wait

Later after Nathaniel's mom gets akumatized she has it where she uses her abilities on Mark so he and Nathaniel never talk again and it really pissed Nathaniel off

We see ladybug show up Nathaniel goes in transforms and we finally got his transformation which thank God after all these years we finally got it

Have to say I actually like he is the best but I have yet to see Mark's cuz I've always liked Mark's design out of all of the male characters next to maybe Lukas so I'm excited to see his whenever we get his episode or him being a part of the episode and we get to see his transformation I'm also kind of hyped to see julica's transformation because julica's transformation was basically lady noir's transformation and you cannot tell me otherwise they just made a few changes but the rest of that transformation was lady noirs she needs a more original one

Of course like usual Adrian shows up he gets like 2 minutes of screen time is cat noir and then he either has to go be the distraction or he's getting control I swear we have not seen cat noir do squat this season

I like that they've had it where instead of the akuma fights being like they usually are we actually see more of how the characters are powers are utilized I do miss the fusions of the miraculous cuz I would love to see what ladybug whose power is creation and the goat which can create any object it needs and how that would do combined

I'll be honest after ladybug made it seem like she went off of the school grounds and cat noir left I literally forgot about him for like 2 minutes till he came back up behind the bushes and knocked ladybug into the ruler and then she got

I like that these powers are actually smart that the characters get from Lila cuz having it where you could just control them and have them give the miraculous to whoever's akumatized is actually smart hell instead of having cat noir Chase ladybug she should have just took the ring right then it there she would at least have one of them miraculous but of course we're still in the earlier episodes of the season so that's not going to happen

I've always liked ladybugs Lucky charms I specially love the detail on this one with the red around the circles instead of the usual black it's kind of like when ladybug transforms into lady dragon where you have the gold around the spots instead of just being like just black polka dots you have the gold outlining them I also like this armor design as well

So in the end like usual the parent realizes they're wrong marking the thing you'll go up to his room after they get praised for how good their comic is then they sit on the bed and then

Love this page

They start talking and they revealed their identities to each other and it was just the most wholesome cutest thing and I don't care what type of reveal we get with ladybug and cat noir it's not going to top this for me cuz we've seen them get revealed so many times I think we've all just become numb to it and even if this show was ending and it was like the final minute of the show and there were literally saying it was the end and they revealed their identities to each other I don't think we were still believe it because we will look up in a special will come out or a new movie that's Canon and it would redcon the reveal so we just don't believe the reveal anymore thankfully we have this

This was a great episode I give it a 8/10

A lot of us originally thought this was going to be the episode with Miss bustier because again this is another episode we're not sure what episode order this is supposed to be because a lot of us thought the ruler was going to be about Ms bustier and it was going to be about her getting akumatized

because we believe that's the first episode and we noticed that the school even though it's still doing that kids learn what they want and everything is green stuff there are still some cars around Paris and we do see that there are teachers at the school and I believe the kids are still being graded because we've also seen it where the kids are getting homework so I'm thinking in the first episode when Miss bustier gets akumatized parents aren't happy and people are happy about the no car thing so maybe they switch to different type of cars or something and that could involve Tomo making cars for the City of Paris or something who knows

[ssa-writerminds]

Undercover || Part 2

Undercover: Part 1 || Part 2

Warnings: Could this count as angst? Enemies (sorta) to Lovers? One bed trope (eye roll i know, but i like it). Use of Y/N again and I deeply apologize.

Plot: Back at the motel you and Spencer unwind, dealing with the fact that you'll have to share the bed in your own ways. After years of not getting along with Spencer you decide to talk it out, or rather, argue it out...

A/N: I don't remember how I wrote the first part and if I'm being honest i hate how i wrote it SO this is probably very different but I hope you love it nonetheless. I'm so so so sorry for how long this took and I'm still not even fully happy with it... and there's going to be a part 3... BUT I PROMISSSE it will not take as long, and if it does absolutely crucify me and burn me at the stake. 💔💔

-x- -x- -x- -x- -x- -x- -x- -x- -x- -x- -x- -x- -x- -x- -x- -x- -x- -x- -x-

Showers are widely agreed to be relaxing. Cleansing yourself of the horrors of the day behind you, maybe some soft, slow music playing to help ease them out. Warm water running over your mind, washing away worries and concerns with it.

That's exactly what you did (or rather tried to do) shortly after checking in to the motel. Paul Anka was the first thing that played through the radio when you turned it on. 'Put Your Head On My Shoulder.' Any other time and you would've sang along or at least hummed softly — but now? It felt wrong.

For in the next room was a man who had been nothing less than hostile for the time he had known you. He was reluctant to even agree to go undercover with your assistance in the first place, and now that the plan he had spent 8 months working on had gone to complete and utter shit? You didn't want to push it.

You stood under the water for a little longer than usual, basking in the comfort that its warmth provided, before you gave in to returning to reality. The reality that was a mildly pissed off, rather volatile Dr. Spencer Reid — whom you would be sharing a bed with that night. Lucky. You.

You could hear the TV playing softly outside when you turned off the shower. At least he wasn't sat in silence, because it seemed like a rather Spencer thing to do: racking his brain for anything he could've done differently, perhaps trying to find a way to mentally put a curse on you for being seen by the unsub when help was 20 minutes away. Maybe that was something he could actually do — put a curse on you — because you never knew with a brain like his and all of the little magic tricks he would show off to the team.

The longer you thought about it the more you realised how, over the past 8 months, you had missed the silly, innocent genius who had sat a few desks away from you for several years... Wait- Missed him?

A soft knock on the bathroom door interrupted your quiet time and you were brought back down to Earth much quicker than you had been trying to avoid (although — with the direction your thoughts were taking you— maybe you were glad it did...)

"Y/N? You done? There's only one bathroom and I kinda have to..." You reached for the handle at a speed which you hoped he didn't take as an act of annoyance, because it wasn't. You just simply didn't wish to hear about the habits of his bladder.

"Yeah sure, I can dry my hair out there." You said rather quickly. So quick that you mentally face palmed and could only hope your cringe was internal and not a physical reaction.

"Oh- uh, okay."

Well... There's your answer.

-- -- --

Spencer finished getting ready for bed in exactly 1 hour and 37 minutes. Not that you were counting... No, you definitely were — because by the time he had reached the hour mark you definitely considered calling for help. Maybe he'd ran out on you, done exactly as Liza had said and gone to live in the desert, too pissed off at you to return to his old life. Could you really blame him though?

It was when you were considering much worse possibilities for his disappearance that he finally emerged from the bathroom, hair damp and a towel draped around his shoulders. You tried to avert your eyes from where a few droplets of water had made the back of his white t-shirt almost see-through. If you looked long enough, you were sure could figure out where each dip and contour of his back laid.... okay you were definitely looking long enough, too long even, what is wrong with you?

He could, without a doubt, tell exactly where your eyes were staring, because by the time you had realised, it was already too late. You could only watch as Spencer rolled his eyes and turned away from the mirror and walked towards the bed.

Luckily for you both, the motel did not lack pillows, and so you had crafted a sort of barrier between the two sides of the bed, separating you from him. Spencer only rolled his eyes again and you had to admit you were a little offended. At least you were trying?

"I can sleep on the couch instead? It's small but I'll probably fit if i just-"

"It's fine."

Well okay then... sorry for trying to make things less awkward...

Is what you should have said. Instead, you just sighed and reached for the remote, stopping a few inches away when another hand came into vision. It withdrew almost as quickly as you saw it and your eyes turned to the source. "Oh, do you want to-"

"No, it's fine. You take it." He crossed his arms and turned over and away from you, pulling the sheets to his shoulders.

Now you were pissed.

You had given him the benefit of the doubt — today (and without a doubt the last 8 months) had been rough. Of course it had been, it was rough for you behind the scenes, nevermind face-to-face with a sociopath — but this? This was childish, immature, and extremely annoying.

But you simply bit your tongue and looked through the channels on TV, or rather the lack thereof... Today you would be the bigger person, it wasn't anything you hadn't been through before. Just take a deep breath and don't let it bother you...

It took about half an hour for your eyes to finally droop, the noise inside your mind to go quiet, the sound of the tv to slowly fade out as you prepared to leave the conscious world behind for a much needed 8 hours of sleep — and then he spoke. Of course he spoke.

"Can you turn it down?"

A small request. You complied.

"Is there anything less bright on?"

An odd one, but sure. TV could be overwhelming when you're trying to sleep.

"Can you just turn it off?"

That's it. You had had enough.

"What is your problem?" You sat fully, crossing your legs and facing him, hands on your hips, full mother-telling-a-child-off mode, because that's exactly how he was acting.

"My problem?" He turned his head, not even bothering to give you the full turn, you were sure he couldn't even properly see you. Turn to face me coward, look me in the eyes when I'm confronting you. It was exactly like a cowboy standoff — which was fitting since you were in the South...

"Yes, your problem! You've been standoffish with me the whole night!"

"Well I'm sorry but I'm a little stressed right now since someone let the unsub I'd been trying to catch for eight months get away." You'd never heard him take this tone of voice before — well, not towards you, and especially not since he was off his mind on... nevermind.

"We. We were trying to catch her. You know- the team? Who I am also a part of?"

"Well you're not very good."

You froze. What was that? Who was that? Because that's not the spencer you knew. Sure, he could be a little blunt sometimes, he could even be a little mean. But he never truly intended to hurt you — far, far different from the venom that had just laced his every word, coating both of your mouths and ears in a sickly silence.

A silence that Spencer physically felt. He felt the way you hesitated, no, completely stopped. Saw the way your eyes widened in an emotion he couldn't quite place. Betrayal maybe? He thought about it, thought about how you had done nothing but try to reassure him and defuse him. And he regretted.

"Y/N..."

No. You shook your head, turning away from him, trying to talk yourself down from the tears that threatened your eyes, the taste of bile that rose, the way your mind raced.

What if he's right? You did let Liza get away afterall... How many times had you messed up in the past? Why did Hotch even keep you on the team? Would he rethink that after this situation?

"Y/N." He spoke again. You threw your legs over the side of the bed, and stood facing the wall, the door. You considered it, and then reconsidered when you realised what you were wearing as PJs — Let's just say it wasn't something you'd want whoever roams the streets at this time of night to see...

"Y/N please..." His voice was softer now. He was half tempted to stand up and walk over to you, to reach out and place a hand on your shoulder, to do anything, anything to make you look at him again.

His mind changed when you walked towards the one place you could possibly hide in this dingy motel room, the bathroom. He winced as the door slammed closed and he heard you sliding down the other side. He listened, and his frown only grew as you quietly sobbed. He decided against knocking — this was his fault and he needed to think about how he could make it up to you.

-- -- --

To be continued...

[veal7creative]

[//Re-Re-Re-Rose/Water

//Your guy should be hailing your comms rn, little shook up and a bruise or two but nothing major, at least from what I can tell.

//He didn't see how the first two went down, but based on how he looked at the nanite swarm around me I assume he could figure it out.

//Two targets neutralized, drone footage available from multiple angles as proof, no body left over.

//One's still kicking and the other...

//I didn't even get to him. Something in the stims must have made him weaker than he thought he was.

//Stims didn't even kill him, heatstroke did. Believe it or not, damn hard to die of heatstroke in a Ghengis

//He was one of the only real threats, and he got all tuckered out before he found my main chasis.

//Glad I got the first one out before I boarded. His rig would've nailed me.

//Some horrid contraption built from a Gilgamesh base with enough Sunzi components to legally count as one

//Gave him the ol' memetic noogie because despite all that tech his actual software sucks ass and his factory-default memetic-shielding got disabled when he turned off whatever safety limiter kept him from doing...

//whatever the hell he'd do with this blink tech configuration

//He's got a thousand yard stare that could find Deimos

//Give him until this time tomorrow and he'll be... functional. At least enough to eat/drink, shouldn't be able to fight again, much less pilot for... 4 days, give or take?

//Haven't used this one much, for obvious reasons. Might take a few weeks before the residuals die off.

//Him and Jorjo and en route

//I'm taking this specialized hull, and some of the files. Apparently they used to have a fifth member, who handled their tech.

//Them dying set off this little misadventure, and if they had their sys defences up I would've needed a lot more help taking them down.

//Deepwell handled it well though, just needs a few days to self-replenish.

//One last thing, he said you were good with NHP's, actually cared about their rights n shit.

//Their AGNI-partition, calls herself Pele, seems...

//Less than well taken care of. Given the audio logs I captured from Gustav, I think you can help her better than I can.

//Sending her casket & the logs I found with Jorj, just listen to the logs before you they show up.

//I'll be happy to help again, if you need a job done soon. I'll be in the system for, like, a month working on something, so feel free to hit us up.

//Send me the manna when you can. Rose/Water out.]

Announcement from Akhaan Security and Administrative.

A bounty of 1,200 manna for the safe return of one Jorj Latulas, last known location orbiting Ocram IV. Being held hostage by a four pirate strong team of Krakensong.

An additional 200 manna will be paid for every pirate neutralised, dead or alive.

-Alexis, Akhaan Security.

[motof1bfs]

Simply. Lovely.

[choccy-milky]

MC doing what we all wished we could do (aka napping on the floor with ominis )😴💕

[aquanutart]

desert flygon

[deoidesign]

when your main characters start dating after years of writing so they finally get to be like this

[flowerakatsuka]

today's birth flower is the four-leaf clover and kuroba's birthday! i think they'd celebrate by going to the park and relaxing with someone special to them. :3

[marshmallowgoop]

ShinRan Week 2023: Day 4 | Black Knight and Princess

[july-19th-club]

i have no mouth and i must scream speech but for about insomnia hate hate hate let me tell you how much i have come to hate being awake

[sanchoyoscribbles]

maybe link should consider that I filled my inventory with salted milky smoothies right before the fight and spent all that time leveling up the sword and energy gauges tho ...🥲

[piecesofchess]

So anyway. Finished ZigZag today. I get I've already blabbed a lot about my experience with Arc 2 so far but I'll be collecting all my thoughts below just to log things for myself. Thanks to everybody who added their thoughts to my previous posts about all the P101 Updates.

The obvious thing out of the way -- the new voice acting is meh is at best, but I understand the situation around that and know much can't be done atm. I lament Catbeard having no presence in the story because of it though, and I feel like if he *had* we could've gotten an interesting/funny response to that whole "starting the war" thing, lol. Loved seeing Contessa finally getting to be around more.

Sinbad is fine and I like him, he got better later on. The business in Marleybone had me hooked getting to hear of Napoleguin and seeing Meowiarty again (although I wish more could be elaborated + explored about him and his situation) , but my god. My GOD. That dungeon going after Wheeler is one of the worst fucking things I have ever been through in the game. They seriously need to fix the enemies respawning and having our character locked in-place for post dialogue in there. Bran a Raven lord sucked ass, there was no real point to that whole Thing. But it's cool to see our actions on starting the war are facing consequences and all that.

The business in Aquila I really liked - I found myself thoroughly enjoying Hawkules' presence in the story. I just wish Tartarus played better on a technical level, as the environment is beautiful and I liked seeing Death again, everything was straight up my alley but I ended up getting aggravated with the map, broken quest things, etc. I KNOW KI has been informed of these bugs and I wonder just how much longer they'll sit there like the rest of the things needing fixed have been for years.

Krokotopia was...undermining and aggravating. As I said before, the map needs a serious fix on not forcing enemies to respawn in cramped areas that you need to revisit -- and everything just looks copy/pasted from Wiz and thrown together to be considered a 'new area'. I Just KNOW Krok can be a gorgeous place with a wonderful skyway of its own in Pirate -- just look at Mooshu and Marleybone -- but Kingsisle INSISTSSSSS that none of that can be done, even though it's been proven it can. But whatever. I doubt they will do a graphics re-haul of ZigZag anytime soon, even though I think it's the one new area that kind of needs it.

I'm reaaaally conflicted on this whole story thing. The whiplash of our parents saying 'Go to El Dorado! Don't go to El Dorado!' with KI clearly backtracking to say that it was all a trick from a Wizard just feels...confusing and lazy. Oksana would be a fine idea for an enemy -- in the game she belongs to. It's not that I'm against exploring magic and wizards in P101's story, but to have that replace the enemies we ALREADY HAVE and turn a 180 due to KI's rushed Book 15 update is. So disappointing. If our business with the Armada was finally done with, which it ISN'T, then maybe I'd feel more open to moving on with a different Main Villain or something.

These new worlds and updates are filled with issues regarding the quest mechanics (some question marks not changing, wrong companion models being used, empty dialogue box, no names in some of the dialogue boxes, some quests not being shown as completed even though they are, seeing Go to . , instead of area names, etc), map access still isn't there even though it would be nice to have, and you can still walk through some doors and walls in some areas. It's ridiculous things like these that prove to me time and time again these are being pushed / rushed out for the sake of content and to show that they are 'updating' the game.

Kingsisle...we have already been waiting for years, on what was considered a disappointing, rushed dungeon to end Book 15. I'm pretty sure a majority of us would be FINE waiting for a polished, fixed update. I get they don't have the same budget and team they used to, so updates like these will inevitably be underwhelming compared to Arc 1, but they could at least fix the bugs and make these a bit more playable.

The next update at least looks promising, as it is likely the Queen Elite are going to be in there, possibly Diego and Roberto (the two who I REALLY wanna see from the Wizard game!) and we will finally properly see Queen again...I can only hope KI won't mess it up by rushing the technical aspect of it. Blind Mew said he learned from his mistakes with Oksana, but the damage is done and she's already in the game, so I'm hoping the writing either gets better by integrating the Armada *properly* into it again, or Oksana just gets...better. I don't know.

--I know all of my opinions on this are pretty late, and most of these have already been expressed by other players, but I just had never been enticed by the premise of these updates, and I only enjoyed certain parts of it once I did play them. I am glad to see the crew's writing getting better, as it felt somewhat superficial in the beginning, and to see their dynamic again feels...so good. I genuinely missed them, the companions are one of my favorite things about the game.

I just hope my other favorite part of this game, i.e. the Armada, gets proper time in the story again. I will feel incredibly cheated if we never learn what happened to Kane's mind and how Phule and Queen are progressing with the current state of the Armada. I'm excited to get to know the Queen!Elite and if they'll have any proper names. But I am still craving a new world with its own skyway, or to explore the parts of Valencia we still can't access, and to see another puppet show in the future.

One last thing -- all of this felt worthless without a level cap increase. Hours of progress just to be at the same maximum level once all was said and done. Pouring hours into this just for the story is fine and all, but with dragged-out battles and challenging dungeons that give little reward, it feels like we're still sitting in one place despite moving forward. I hope KI finally implements what we want so we can finally feel like we're getting somewhere.

[unnonexistence]

new year, new WIP post! at the end of 2024 i had 8672 words edited and marked as Done on the Big WIP. now i'm up to 8865

[upsidedownsmore]

And Forever

Color schemes assignment part 5 of 6: Split Complementary

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