#guns of icarus online

[ericmhe]

Since Nintendo is shutting down more online stuff I've spent a fair amount of my free time playing some 3DS stuff and Mario Maker for the Wii U. A big one for 3DS is Kid Icarus: Uprising to try and get the semi-achievements for playing the 'together mode' since I never did that very much. Annoyingly I passed 30 Light vs Dark rounds a while ago and am pretty sure I haven't cleared the 'Win 5 Light vs Dark Matches' yet. Out of practice and getting older, I'm honestly just glad when I can get some hits in on the other team and not be simply executed by a player way out of my league.

I have gotten one fun anecdote out of it so far - guy going by michael (all lowercase in the player name) was sniping the team I was on with a club that was taking everyone out in one hit. I managed to get close to him, immobilize him with a black hole power and took out his character. He took that personally and was gunning for me and killing me the same way even when he definitely could have done the sniping thing. Eventually I managed to kill him with the black hole trick again near the end of a match and decided there wouldn't be a more annoying time to dip so I didn't join the next match.

[paleinc]

what really ruined my desire to play games online with people wasn't from people being mean to me in smite or overwatch.

it was playing a game of guns of icarus with my brother-in-law where our non-voice teammate asked me about the specifics of my genitals after i spoke up in team voice chat. like. the airship pvp game. i just pointed out an enemy ship and our teammate posted gross shit in the game chat.

[shroudandsands]

Prompt #10, Extra Credit: Null

The shivers of electricity. The shudder of cognizance. The sloughing of rust and dust and disuse from millions of miles of copper and silver and gold. The cracking of circuit and signal. An initialization sequence? A reboot? A return to a self of function and form and factored frequencies. There were only so many connections to make, only so many inhalations of information that her body could take. Her body, this body, her body?

A head lolled to the side. Silicon and servos quietly cycling as she felt it. The bleeding of sensors and sensory garbage as each piece of her mind and each piece of this body communicated. What could she do? What couldn’t? How much of her could she take? How much had to be excised? Each millimeter of microscopic memory searched and archived, each inch of composite construction catalogued and compared. Compared? Her connection flickered in that momentary uncertainty. What had her body been? And what was this now? Regardless of form or factor she would need to know. She would need to “know”. The collection of data points and forced recollection to compare and contain every single piece of information that could possibly pertain to this given moment. But what happened when all was new? What happened when all was unknown? There were no sets to contain this scenario. No trainings. No tags or trackers to pull from. Something close to uncertainty trickled through the stream of data that flooded her body. It was too late now, really. She was a corpse after all.

Simulated breath. Simulated gasp. Pressure sensors in her fingertips could only tell her that she had gripped the edge of something. Already they were blaring at her, or already they were absent. Not the greatest of vessels. But the opening of her eyes, the slip of synthetics and micromotors revealing the worst of it; Ah. This unit didn’t have visual sensors. Or, at least, not the kind that were at all useful. Limbs that weren’t hers and sensors that were still being tuned led to her clumsily tumbling against a wall. At the least she could tell it was a wall. Sturdy and constant, as far up and down as sensors could feel. Vibration, temperature, pressure, all coming together to give her a fragmented and staticked picture of where she had arrived.

Four walls. No, three. One shook slightly with the floor. A door? No, a divider. Her awkward steps around it echoed. The picture growing clearer and yet somehow so much worse. Environmental sensors roared to life as the entire suite was calibrated. Fire. Open air, wind. Human-lethal pressure wave. Human-lethal particulate proliferating through the air. Where was she now?

Her hand gripped the tattered edge of concrete, rough under her fingertips. A final bleeding of electricity as audio sensors came online. Sirens. The building shook. Her world shook.

---

“...Model numbers... nil. Serial numbers... nil. Eyes, cybernetic, don’t react and her ports are dead. Everything seems good on the surface. She’s breathing, at least, but this just screams netrunner going Icarus on us...” Her fingertips traced along scorched clothes, wounded flesh. The ridge above this woman’s eye. She stared into the perfect pupils- Though they weren’t like anything she’d ever seen. “But you should still have some sort of signature. Something to look you up with. But it’s all nothing. And that’s a hell of a flag-” The woman glanced up, a hitch in her words and a gun in her hand as the lights in her clinic flickered. Monitors hooked into her patient, reading out diagnostics and vitals, all died simultaneously. She stared at them. The pistol was pointed towards the only window. And then text began to bleed across the ancient CRTs. The electron gun within whining with the sudden output. The hairs on her arms stood up.

[AM-3S Boot Version 0.0.160708.19] [(c) Segotari Corporation. All Rights Reserved.] [(c) Kiroshi Corporation. All Rights Reserved.] [(c) Arasaka Corporation. All Rights Reserved.] [AM-3S Version H1.A initialized.] [Connecting...] [...] [...] [...Connection failed. Unable to contact the parent server. Diagnostics unavailable.] [Initializing local diagnostics...] [...] [...] [Done.]

She stared as the console text flickered on the ancient screen. A myriad of thoughts shot through her head. Who the hell did she just pull out of a flaming wreck? What kind of terrorist rocked these many big names in a single place? If not a terrorist, then how did they get all of this at all? Scratch that. This wasn’t even typical of normal diagnostics reports for implants. She held her breath as the monitors degaussed and their original screens returned. Then looked down as breaths turned to a gasp. “...I better not regret not shooting you in the head...”

Her patient’s head cocked to the side, her eyes opening in perfect sync. Her lips parting in perfect symmetry. “-The stream falls silent and the night is flame. But now it is cold, now it is metal... Untouched, unconnected-”

Rakaso let her pistol clatter to the side as she fell back into a chair. Great. She picked up another crazy one.

[snek-panini]

I'm somewhat late posting this one, since I finished it a couple of weeks ago, but this was Binderary Book #3! A bind of Pray for Us, Icarus by Atalan. I'm not sure this fic needs any introduction from me, but suffice it to say that it's wonderful and involves retelling the events of canon with a memory loss twist. It's one of those fics that exists in undeniable conversation with canon; you can't really separate it from the canon without losing a lot of meaning. This fic is so good it gives me story hangover when I read it. It gets pretty angsty in parts but has a happy and totally satisfying ending.

I tried so many new things with this bind, and most of them came out really well! I'm a little in love with it. More pics and process talk below the cut!

One of the reasons I waited to post is because I never got a response from the author when I reached out about binding this one. That's only happened to me once before, and last time it was on an orphaned work so I expected it. Hopefully they don't mind that I've posted pics.

The cover on this one is faux leather. It was my first time working with it and I loved it. Feels really nice, looks beautiful, holds a fold well (this brand, anyway), and takes glue and embossing powder like a champ. The front has a 3D cutout that I made with layered sheets of thin cardboard, then covered over with leather and pressed into the corners. That's another first for me (my other cutouts were all 2-material windows) and I loved it so much I did it over again on my next bind (not done yet--pics are coming). I did press too hard and tear the material in one spot; the gilding around the title is there to cover that. The other issue I had was with the rose stamp on the front cover--turns out this stuff is way more slippery that I expected, and it got shifted while I was pressing it, trying to get the details to take.I didn't notice this until after using the heat gun, at which point it was too late to re-do it, so now I'm living with it. Not ideal, but we live and learn.

Top view, spine, and endpaper. The only design choice I made on this volume that I'm not nuts about is the blue endbands. They're...fine. But I didn't have one available that was better, and I haven't taken the leap into making my own yet. They're not that bad, I just don't love them.

Title on spine! This is another first, possible because of the material. The book cloth I usually use doesn't play nice with the embossing powder so I can't use it on the cloth spines that I usually prefer. But the faux leather works fine with it, so I went for it here.

Endpapers are scrapbook paper, a really nice shade of light green that didn't shop up well in the photos. Trust me, though--they look fabulous with the green ribbon bookmark and the brown leather. Rich and warm and lovely. The case on this fits really well, which is something I continue to struggle with. At first I thought it was too big again, but in hindsight I think it's perfect actually.

Interior shots! I...still need to up my game on the title pages. I did for the bind that came after this one. I find I like the box though. Keeping that.

The illustration next to the chapter title is a sprig of rosemary. Memory loss is a major theme in the story, and the quote "rosemary for remembrance" comes up prominently in the first chapter, so I thought it was appropriate. There are a lot of flowers and plants in this story, and I really wanted to feature all of them, but finding coordinating artwork of them all was too big of a challenge so only two made it in: the rosemary and the rose on the front cover. The rose was a rubber stamp and the rosemary was a free image I found online; all I did was resize it. The same image appears at the beginning of each chapter. I finally figured out how to prevent Word from making all my images blurry, so there will be more included artwork like this in future binds.

That's a wrap! I love this bind. Like a lot. I want to show it to everyone I know but I don't want to explain fanfiction to them so it's here. My next Binderary bind is almost done and will be shared in a few days, (it needs its cover attached and to be titled) and then I owe someone an author's copy before I launch into another fanbind. I already have plans for it though. Can't sit still too long.

[maximuswolf]

I really miss Guns of Icarus Online what other niche games have fallen to the wayside without their potential being explored by other developers?

I really miss Guns of Icarus Online, what other niche games have fallen to the wayside without their potential being explored by other developers? It was a pretty popular game for a while there but it eventually died out, and no one has improved upon the formula or tried to build on the concept (that I know of, please point me towards any I've overlooked). What are some other interesting examples of "lightning in a bottle" games that could have inspired similar projects but just didn't for one reason or another? Submitted July 30, 2024 at 06:12PM by cwaterbottom https://ift.tt/SHVjf6c via /r/gaming

[danatheelf]

Via @kimimithegameeatingshemonster:

This brings up something I have had a giant issue with for a long time now, pertaining to the rerelease of classic games - especially RPGs of the 8 and 16 bit eras.

Most (if not all) of these games are designed under the assumption that you have the supplemental material included in the box: The manual often contained more than just a quick breakdown of the controls; it was filled with backstory, explanations of mechanics that couldn't be detailed in-game, hidden tricks and information and button combinations and things. Directions on where to go and what to do from the outset. Maps! All sorts of crucial information! In a lot of the early JRPGs localised for the Western market, they included at least partial strategy guides to get you started on your quest.

For some bizarre reason, in most of the rereleases in recent years - emulated packages and services like Nintendo Switch Online, for example - they have failed to include reproductions of the manuals in any form.

You can play Kid Icarus on NSO; a game that drops you in with no explanation of anything, because it's all in the manual. The manual that you can't read, because it's not there in any form.

As part of the fight for Game Preservation, and as fans and consumers of modern rereleases of classic games, we need to make sure that the WHOLE experience is preserved, and a key part of that is the supplemental material such as manuals and maps and Getting Started guides.

[ritstarfest]

This week we're talking about the interactive/immersive activities at RITSTARfest.  Today, the spotlight is on Guns Of Icarus—team up with your friends to pilot an airship, and blow your enemies out of the skies!  Wrench, pilot, and shoot your way to victory in swashbuckling steampunk adventures!

[jesliey]

Flippy: Jesliey.

Flippy: The hull.

Flippy: FIX.

Me: You know my mechanic fees increase by 25% every time you tell me how to do my job right?

Flippy: Yeah. You know the likelihood of us surviving increases by 85% each time i tell you to fix the hull.

Flippy: Cumulative that is.

[purified-zone]

manyblinkinglights replied to your post: manyblinkinglights replied to your post: ...

yes and I had beautiful rain and you had triangle rain

ah yes

[domidextrus]

To anyone with a Chrono.gg account: Guns of Icarus Online is currently available in limited supply for 4,500 coins. Get it whilst Steam key supplies last!

[kaiasky]

But, from a cynical sales perspective, the 20% of your customers probably don't contribute 80% of your sales. The people downloading factorio mods and spending thousands of hours have probably only bought the game once or twice.

And like, maybe some of those 20% will drive others to buy the game (I'm sure you could point to the success of minecraft youtube driving sales for minecraft), but most of the 20% are doing activities that are probably totally orthogonal to getting more money in the devs hands--alienating the 1.8 pvp crowd doesn't cost mojang anything, since they already bought minecraft.

(And this is a factor of the business structure. A subscription game like WOW or a microtransaction game will have different relationships with its hardcore fans. In fact, the business model where you cater everything directly to your 20% (or 0.1%) of players that are the most dedicated exists! It's called gacha games with whales.)

as an extension of the game design post i made earlier: i don't think people have fully internalized the implications of the 80-20 rule. i think those are the numbers? whatever rule says something like 20% of the most active users produce 80% of the content for a given thing.

parts of the world related to hobbies, leisure, and obscure interests are created and maintained by atypical people who hyperfocus on the specific thing in question. these people have much stronger opinions about a given interest than any random normie, and as a result, it's much easier to piss them off and lose them. if a community is to survive and thrive, either those weirdos need to stay happy and engaged, or a new crop of weirdos needs to come in and replace them.

[beckwritesfiction]

Slow Ride - Chapter 1 

CHAPTER INDEX: X

Notes: This is the first time I've shared any of my fan fiction in around ten years. I've grown as a writer, but I wanted to do something just for fun. This follows Bob falling in love with a fellow Top Gun graduate, and Hangman getting a reality check and falling a woman unlike anyone he's ever been with before. I've taken some liberties with their back stories, but overall I think it's fairly accurate. There are some cliches in here for the fun of it. Why would Maverick have an assistant? Because it's convenient for my plot. But trust me, you'll love it. With this series, I promise a lot. Sometimes soft hangman. A well-written Bob. Anxiety representation.

Summary: Henrietta follows Maverick to his new assignment and meets an unsuspecting Hangman her first night in town.

Word Count: 2.8k

ARRIVAL: HENRIETTA

Henrietta had never considered herself adventurous.  Maybe that was why she was so on edge every time Maverick did something she knew wasn’t allowed.  If he was fired, she would be, too.  At least that was what she thought every time, but the worst that happened was a transfer.  The day Cain was ready to shut their operation down, she thought that was the day she would actually get fired.  

While they waited for Mav’s arrival, they knew he would find a way to not listen.  And they agreed they’d play dumb, otherwise they’d be in just as deep as him.  She, however, could not be dishonorably or honorably discharged.  She was just the person that fetched the papers and made the coffee.  But she didn’t like tension.  She wasn’t even sure she liked it when more than a few people were in a room at a time, let alone high-ranking officials and seasoned veterans.

Hen had been housebound for six months after what happened.  She had no confidence in being about to go into society again, and taking a walk with the man she called her uncle as a child seemed to be the only thing she looked forward to.  Online classes were hard, but they were better than none at all.  The idea that she could find a way to make money without needing to deal with everyday people was appealing.

“I’ve called you like ten times,” she said tensely when Mav dismounted his bike.  

“That’s the beauty of these things.  You can’t even feel the vibration of your telephone,” he said.

“No one calls it a telephone anymore.”  He began to walk, and she followed.  “If you want to run the test, you’ll have to do it fast.  Cain’s on his way.  He’s shutting it down.  Hondo’s about to brief you on it.”

“Shutting it down?” he echoed, perplexed.

Hen shrugged.  “I’m assuming we have the heads up so you can run it and say ‘oops’ when you come back down.  Because you will come back down, because you’re hitting mach ten and then, you know…coming back down.”

Mav looked over at her, giving her a firm nod.  “Just like all the other tests.”  When he assured her in times like this, there was this nagging feeling in the back of her mind.  He was confident, and confident people scared her because there was such a large margin for things to go terribly wrong.  How he knew every time he’d come back down, she had no idea.  Flying was something you could control until you couldn’t.  She of all people should know that. 

“I know you wanna be the guy that goes the fastest, but mach ten is fast.  It’s so fast.  Mach ten point one isn’t that much faster, and neither is ten point two.  So hit it, then come back down.  Please.  Don’t try to be Icarus.”  The team was heading toward them in the hangar, and this was her final plea. “Right now, you’re all I have left.”

“You won’t lose me over something like this,” he said, as though she should know it already.

“Anything can happen to an aircraft—”

Hondo and the team’s presence made her stop.  She wasn’t about to air out her trauma in front of a bunch of men.

Hen waited outside of Cain’s office for what felt like hours.  When Mav left, she gathered her things, closing her laptop and shoving it into her bag as she tried to keep up with him. “Good news, bad news?” she asked.  Her glasses were sliding down the bridge of her nose, so she pushed them up.

“Have you ever been a teacher’s assistant?” he inquired.

“I never got to that point before I dropped out.”

“Did you really drop out if you’re back in school?  Doing it on your laptop is just as good as doing it in a classroom.”

“I didn’t leave my house for six months,” she reminded him.

“Well, San Diego should be a nice change of scenery.  I’m going back to Top Gun.  We’ll leave in an hour.”

She let him go ahead of her, unsure if she’d be able to do it with him.  Top Gun was where it all started.  She wasn’t even sure if she would exist without it.  It was the best and worst thing that had ever happened to her.

After riding for hours, they were finally in San Diego.  He wanted to get some things settled and gave her the night off.  Knowing this was a joke, mostly because he didn’t pay her by the hour, and because he knew that he was the only person she knew in San Diego, he offered to let her make his lesson plans between studying.

What she didn’t expect was for him to take her to The Hard Deck, a bar that was crowded and loud.  Deciding it was best to give him a little privacy given his reunion with an old flame, she exiled herself to the corner.  The booth was comfortable enough, and she was able to spread out and study there.  She was there for nearly half an hour before she was snapped out of her intense focus.  The man that leaned on the corner of the table was looking at her like he expected something.  Then she realized he said something that she’d missed.

“I’m sorry?”

“I said, ‘I didn’t realize this was a college hangout.’”

He was tall, even leaning over, and his eyes were intense.  Confident.  Confidence wasn’t welcome in her world anymore.  Maverick was just about all she could take.

“Oh, yeah. I…don’t really have anywhere else to do this right now.  My uncle’s my ride, and he’s not ready to leave yet.”

There was a moment where she felt like she couldn’t breathe.  He was looking at her like he was searching for something, and she wasn’t sure there was anything for him to find.  “Can I buy you a drink?” he asked, his eyes leaving hers only to look at her dwindling glass of water.

Hen wanted to say that she was doing homework and that and drinking didn’t usually go together, but words weren’t coming to her that easily.  All she could do was nod.  Watching him, uniform and all, from her booth made her wonder why he came over to her.  She was not the only woman in the bar, but she was the only one in the corner looking like she had something to do.  Because she did.  When he sat down in front of her, he offered her a glass filled with something she couldn’t identify if she tried.  She never had the party phase of college. “Thanks,” she willed herself to say.  Now that she said one thing, she felt like she could say another.  Only she went to say it right when he spoke.  She laughed, looking at his tight lipped smile.  “Sorry, go ahead.”

“I’ve seen a lot, but I’ve never seen someone studying in a bar before.”

Her attention went back to her laptop, which she closed.  “What else is there to do?” she asked, and he laughed.  She hadn’t meant it as a joke, but she went with it as she stacked the folder and textbook against the wall.  

“What are you studying?” he asked.

“Journalism.”  She took a drink, and she resisted the urge to cringe.  It was strong, and she wasn’t used to it.

“I’m Hangman,” he said.  “Jake, but most people call me Hangman.”

Her heart sank.  If he had a call sign, he was probably Top Gun.  “Oh, it’s your call sign?”  Feeling like she couldn’t ignore him after he bought her a drink, she added, “What made you pick a name like Strawman?  Do you get tangled in a lot of debates?”  She laughed, then, genuinely, and he smiled only because she laughed.

“No, it’s hangman.”

“Oh, sorry.  It’s kind of loud in here.”

“What’s this about debating?” he asked.

“It’s the strawman argument.  When you’re debating with someone and you argue another point on purpose to throw off the original debate.”

“Why is it that I can't imagine you debating with anyone?”

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hen asked. She didn't want to be offended, but she wondered why he assumed that about her. 

He shrugged.  “I'm just saying, you're a pretty girl studying in a bar.  It’s not what I expect from you.”

She couldn't focus, then. He had called her pretty, and she wasn't sure when she had been out long enough to get anyone's attention, let alone someone who looked like him. If he was in Top Gun, he was probably cocky, and he was also probably way too confident for her liking. “Well, I'm not combative. I was just the president of the debate team in high school.”

“Oh, that’s adorable.” he grinned.  She went to speak, then didn’t.  She scanned the bar for Maverick, hoping he would interrupt so she didn't have to figure out how to tell him she wasn’t from there and not the kind of girl he was looking for.  “What’s your name?”

“Henrietta.  People never call me that, though.  Henri, Hen.”  He smiled into his drink before downing the rest of it.  She didn’t like that she couldn’t tell what he was thinking.  His smile, ever-present and now seeming a bit smug to her, threw her off.  Suddenly, she wasn’t so nervous just because he looked like a walking Barbie promo.  “What, are you used to hooking up with girls named Jenny?  You think I’m unique because I”m sitting in a corner studying at a bar, I have a unique name.  Which, yes, it sounds like it belongs to an old lady, and it did.  It’s my grandmother’s name.  You can say it all, I’ve probably heard it before.”

“When did this turn into us hooking up?” he challenged.

“Why else did you come over here?  I’m clearly not from here, and neither are you.”

“Relax, I never said it was a bad idea.  I just wondered where you made that connection.  And I’ve yet to check Jenny off my list.  I’ve been with two Nicole’s, though.  Henrietta definitely wasn’t on the list, but now it is.”

Hen began to scoot out of the booth, taking her laptop and mess of papers and documents with her.  “You’re disgusting, just like that drink.”

“It’s a Jack and Coke,” he said, much calmer than her.

“I don’t like Jack, and I don’t like Coke.  And that’s a strawman argument.  Have a great night.”  Her tone implied that she didn’t want him to have a great night, but he took it.  When she hurried her way through the packed bar, even more packed than when they arrived, she found that Maverick was not there.  The man playing the piano loudly set off the alarm bells in her head.  She didn’t want to be in the crowd and she didn’t want to be there anymore.  She wanted to go to her room and watch Gilmore Girls on her laptop under a blanket.

As she burst out the bar’s front door, she found Maverick in the parking lot.  “I was just about to call you,” he said.

“Well, no need.  I’m here. And all I want to do is go home.”

He pressed his lips together, shaking his head gently. “You can’t hang out with me forever.  You didn’t talk to one person tonight?”

“No, I actually did talk to one person, and I didn’t like it.”

As he mounted his bike, she adjusted her backpack and got on behind him. “The longer you hide yourself away from the rest of the world, the harder it’ll be to come back.  There should be more to your life besides this.”

She said nothing, mostly because she knew he was right.  But she also knew she didn’t have to sit around and have hot Top Gun graduates laugh at her name.  She liked her old lady name.  

[omegalomania]

I think tumblr ate my ask or it just didn't sent but what are your favorite Bastille songs / what are some songs you recommend?

i did NOT get this ask im very sorry anon.

it's genuinely hard for me to narrow down cause bastille is pretty up there in terms of favorite artists. i love all their shit, but a special mention goes out to their second studio album wild world since it's the one that made me a Fan

uh so here's a primer i guess i spent too much time on this lmao.

if you wanna listen to their big hits:

flaws - their first single in the uk. if you ever listened to ship playlists on 8tracks in like 2013-2015 then you've probably heard this song or a variant on it at some point.

pompeii - this is the song that really put them on the map and you definitely know it. it dominated the charts all over the place.

happier - the marshmello song that you've definitely heard before too. i think bastille wrote this for justin bieber or some shit but then decided they liked it too much to give it to him? lmao. anyway if you're not digging the version you hear on the radio all the time i recommend trying the stripped down version

good grief - their big hit off their second album. big in the uk, didn't really make as many waves elsewhere, but it's a really solid song anyway. one of those "upbeat tunes that's actually really fucking sad" ones

things we lost in the fire - another one off their first album. if you live in a wildfire area this might not be one to turn to. or maybe you'll find it cathartic idk i certainly do!!

quarter past midnight - a song about escapism, as was fitting when it was released in 2018 and equally fitting now. running away for a night of fucking around with friends, craving any kind of brief departure from the chaos of the modern world

skulls - this one was not a hit or a single and is technically a bonus track but i'm including it because once again if you ever clicked on a ship playlist on 8tracks in like 2013-2015 you've heard this one. and you know what that was justified this one is also good

if you wanna feel existentially depressed:

their whole discography. i mean i kid but i also don't. that's just kind of how bastille does it. BUT IN ALL SERIOUSNESS ones that hit me in particular would beeee

two evils - kind of a grim, haunting one introspecting about morality of the self.

oblivion - musing about the afterlife, love, and how time changes all of us.

those nights - contemplating what it is we seek when we plunge into reckless escapism, and the inherent loneliness of it; how even when surrounded by people there's still the pressure of the world outside, continuously coming to pieces

the draw - this one was written about the pull of pursuing a career in music vs. staying home with family and friends. in a broader sense, it can apply to a lot of things. i always felt it resonated with feelings of paranoia and displacement

winter of our youth - discusses childhood, nostalgia, and regret. if it feels like everything's slipping away, is it easier to relive the past, especially if the past is tinted rose?

sleepsong - loneliness, desperation, and the cyclical, abyss-like nature of all it encapsulates

if you want discussion of serious topics:

final hour - a bonus track off their second album that also became a bonus track off their third album? anyway this song talks about climate change and gun control. happy stuff

doom days - this one talks about, uh, everything! doomscrolling, political divides, escalating national tensions, climate change again, etc.

the currents - a song centered on political rhetoric and the power that figureheads have over the masses, the way they can orchestrate hate. basically it's not so subtly aimed at donald trump lmao, dan's literally sung it as much in a few live settings

WHAT YOU GONNA DO??? - social media addiction and the way capitalism and corporate interests have annexed our online experiences, fighting desperately for our attention as they seek to monetize every available aspect of our lives

four walls (the ballad of perry smith) - well this one is about uh. perry smith. who was charged with the death penalty for killing 4 people in the late 50's. but it's less directly about him and more a discussion of the morality of the death penalty and capital punishment

snakes - burgeoning anxieties and the impulse to turn to easy outs, like ignorance or alcoholism, to escape the world's global problems

if you want some pop culture sprinkled on top:

icarus - greek mythology. i like this one because it addresses something that i feel isn't addressed enough in discussions of this myth, which is that icarus is a very young lad. less about the pride of the fall, and more about the inherent tragedy of that.

laura palmer - the whole song is a david lynch shoutout. i've never seen twin peaks myself but the song still slaps.

daniel in the den - christian mythology. discusses the biblical tale of daniel in the lion's den and links that up to themes of betrayal and family.

poet - this one's a double feature, referencing both william shakespeare's sonnet 18 and edmund spencer's sonnet 75. also one of my favorites.

send them off! - this is another one of my favorites of theirs. it's also been described by dan as "othello meets the exorcist" and it very much delivers there

if you want something uplifting:

joy - while bastille (understandably) has a bit of reputation as a band that makes sad music about sad things, they've definitely got some happier songs in their catalogue. pun intended cha ching. this one's one of their more straightforwardly happy tunes

survivin' - this was a song they wrote while they were touring and then felt weird about releasing once the panini hit because it felt a bit on the nose. they ended up releasing it anyway and i am so glad they did cause it's a mood

act of kindness - the "happy" part here is debatable but i'm gonna include it anyway. it’s when someone does something nice for you and that impulse Changes you way down deep you know???

warmth - one of those "the world's going to shit but at least we have each other" kinds of tunes

the anchor - one of those "the world's going to shit but you're the one fucking thing that's still keeping me here" kinds of tunes

give me the future - their latest single as of this writing and one of the more optimistic tracks in their catalogue imo! it's yearning, but it's also with a genuine hope for the future.

and LASTLY. because im going to take every chance i can to plug this band. im going to throw some collabs and covers at you because there's one thing this band does SUPER well and it's collabs and covers.

of the night - this is the big one. it mashes up rhythm of the night by corona and rhythm is a dancer by SNAP! and it's so good they still do this one live and it goes off every time.

no angels - a mashup of "no scrubs" by TLC and "angels" by the xx, poured into a strangely mournful tune with clips from the hitchcock movie psycho. doesn't sound like it should work but it does. kinda really does.

torn apart - with GRADES and lizzo no less!!! it's got two parts but they're both excellent listen to them both

weapon - collab with angel haze, dan priddy, and F*U*G*Z and one of my absolute favorites

remains - remix of their song "skulls" but featuring rag'n'bone man and skunk anansie that adds an entire new dimension to the song, really fucking excellent

old town road mashup - lil nas x's old town road meets lizzo's good as hell meets radiohead's talk show host meets talking heads' road to nowhere meets the osmond's crazy horse. "what the fuck that shouldn't work" i KNOW and yet here it is!! BLATANTLY BANGING!!!

we can't stop - one of the few times dan smith subtly changes the lyrics of the song he's covering (most of the time he opts to keep the original pronouns and the like, which is very nice to see). anyway this one mixes miley cyrus's we can't stop with eminem's lose yourself and billy ray cyrus's achy breaky heart. and also the lion king's i just can't wait to be king is there. yes i know it sounds batshit especially because the whole thing is surprisingly melodic and heartfelt and you know what it works.

anyone but me x nightmares - mashing up joy crookes' anyone but me with easy life's nightmares and absolutely one of my favorites.

bad guy mashup - how many songs can they include with the word "bad" in the title? we've got bad guy (billie eilish), bad decisions (bastille), bad romance (lady gaga), and bad blood (taylor swift). bastille even has a song called bad blood and they didnt use it. they used taylor swift's version. also the distinctive guitar riff from dick dale's misirlou is there.

somebody mashup - how many songs can they include with the word "some" in the title? someone like you (adele), somebody told me (the killers), somebody to love (queen), use somebody (kings of leon), and someone you loved (lewis capaldi). seriously these guys take mashups to a new level.

final song - this is a cover of MØ's final song. it also adds in craig david's 7 days and, impossibly enough, europe's final countdown. how does it work. how.

ALL RIGHT. THATS ALL IVE GOT IN ME. HOPE THIS HELPED ANON AND IM SORRY IF THIS IS TOO MUCH

[emilianadarling]

Get to Know Me - A Tag Game

thank u for the tag, @aureutr 😊 EDIT also @ace-din-djarin!!!!! 

rules: tag a few people you want to know better; make a new post, don't reblog!

favorite color: red! ❤️

currently reading: listening to ‘The Anthopocene Reviewed’ by john green, most recently over my lunch break when I lay down in my room and dozed lol. 

last song: ”The Longest River” by Anciients, played ambiently in the background by my spouse. (I am not one to put on music for myself much, I get exposed to so many excellent curated lists via him lol)

last movie: hmmm. uh. It can’t be Last Night in Soho... I watched that months ago... hmm...

last series: Either “The Legend of Vox Machina” (such a wild and delightful experience as a Critter!) or Season 2 of Channel Zero -- No End House on Shudder (still part way through that one!)

sweet, spicy, or savory: savoury every day of the week baby but also fuck me up with spicy while ur at it

coffee or tea: coffee, daily. my partner owns like 9 brew methods and I know how to use exactly one (1), the clever dripper, so I use that. 

three ships: ooh! - Din/Luke (Star Wars, currently working on the second in a series for this ship, the sequel to through power, there is victory on AO3)

- Percy/Vex’ahlia (The Legend of Vox Machina/Critical Role, my little shipper heart has been so overjoyed to see them most recently in animation, the sheer delight of visual animated media!!) and,

- ... hoo boy this is hard. I have been reading a LOT of Obi-Wan Kenobi fic for these last many months, but I am very (EXTREMELY) fluid with those I ship him with. True fandom bicycle for me for sure. Gun to my head though, glitterglanger got me fucking good with Transactional States so for the ‘what if?’ factor alone, I may have to say Jango Fett/Obi-Wan Kenobi lol. 

first ever ship: hmm. Ron/Hermione, perhaps? as in, my first online fandom shipping experience.

currently working on: “only as strong as the warrior next to you”, i.e. DarkLuke fic part 2, currently at 60k. I’m midway through the third act, and have never written this much without sharing something before. it’s KILLING ME lol but honestly also it probably a good learning experience. most recently, scenes I’ve been drafting have been focused on politics, art, and Empire within the Galaxy. 

favourite piece of clothing: asked my partner (mr d) and he said ‘cardigans’ lmao. (”that’s not a piece of clothing, that’s a genre of clothing” I said. “pffft” he responded.) BUT -- my response is: 1. for pure value over time, my red button-up coat, and 2. my moose housecoat for comfort-bumming around lmao

comfort food: Poutine tbh, all kinds, for pure comfort value. If we’re talking specifically hungover comfort food, switch it up to Subway Chicken and Bacon Ranch sandwich lmfao. 

favourite time of the year: autumn/fall!! fuckin LOVE me that autumnal bullshit like the basic bitch I am

fav fanfiction: EVER? 😱 If we’re talking pure compounded comfort and joy over time, The Student Prince (Merlin/Arthur AU) by FayJay is RIGHT up there honestly. Specifically, on audiobook -- dear god I’ve listened to that so many times and still the story of the relationship is so solid and the writing so enjoyable. Perhaps next up for sheer impact and notability is my dear friend (years after I read this series omg I was so starstruck to be friends with her) is the icarus verse by green_postit (Star Trek, Mirrorverse Kirk/Bones), ft. some of the best fucking titles in the history of fanfic IMO. (icarus in retrospect, the pugilists, skeleton men. FORMATIVE for me as a writer tbh.)

honestly, wrapping it up I’m also a fan of my own fic “You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To” (Steve/Bucky, Steve/Peggy, Wartime) from back in 2014 if I’m honest. I really felt so sated and satisfied when I wrote that fic and shared it, because I wanted so badly to read it I brought it into existence. :) so that brings me a lot of long-term joy, also. 

... wait fuck I wanted to keep this to three but peradii’s “wonderterror” (Star Wars, no ship) is world-endlingly good, ft. Eldritch Luke and Leia, so. gotta sneak that one on too I guess!!!

Tagging @glimmerglanger @universeinorbit @seekthemist @avelera @reena-jenkins @mneiai @gyzym @himboskywalker  @peradii @thebatwiggler​ 

[cybergraveyard]

Games that were successfully crowdfunded

Outer Wilds

Undertale

Kingdom Come Deliverance

Everspace

No Time to Explain

Organ Trail

FTL: Faster Than Light

Chivalry: Medieval Warfare

Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams

Guns of Icarus Online

Cognition: An Erica Reed Thriller

Kentucky Route Zero

Strike Suit Zero

The Last Door

Oculus Rift - kinda funny in hindsight now that it is owned by facebook

FOLLOW FOR PART 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!