#had to do something for this banger of a mod

[clanwarrior-tumbly]

Back in my pokepasta era and ngl i kinda cooked with this one

[bunniemoth]

[fic] Just friends or something (Shane x f!Farmer)

Title: Just friends or something Fandom: Stardew Valley Mod-related spoilers: Immersive Shane, SVE, Polyamory Sweet Pairing: Shane x f!Farmer (Reader) Rating: Eh. PG-13ish, maybe. Nothing too spicy. Summary: The line between friendship and whatever this is gets a little blurry after Shane frames the article about his blue chickens and hangs it above his bed. Words: 770ish Warnings: Kissing without prior consent, one (1) stiffy

Notes (tl;dr): I installed polyamory sweet and got a surprise. Poof! Instant fic. (An extended ramble is at the bottom, beneath the cut.)

True to his word, Shane framed the article. You grin at it in its position of prestige above his headboard, as he grins at you. 

“It’s great, right?”

You elbow him. “Now what, hot shot? Total domination of the valley’s egg supply?”

He cocks his head. “Feeling threatened, farmer?”

Your grin is so big it hurts your face. “I think it balances out, in the end — you’re still dependant on my hot pepper production.” 

He smirks, taking a step back into the room — it’s still a mess, but buttery sunlight makes the chaos a little cheerier, and Shane makes the place glow. That brightness seems to be catching, because you can feel your cheeks warm when he turns his attention onto you at full wattage. 

“On that note I had a great fucking idea. No wait — listen to this: pizza… with a hot pepper crust. So you get the best of both worlds.”

“You’re full of bangers today, aincha?” 

You follow him into a half-turn, the little waltz you’re doing around each other comfortable in a way that’s familiar, the steps learned from stubbornness and resilience.

“Hey, with my brains and your produce, we’d put Joja out of business overnight.”

“Run them clear out of the valley.”

He laughs. “See, I’m not just a pretty face.”

“No one said you were the brains of this operation.”

“Well at least you agree we’re better as a team: Dingus and Dorkbrain Inc. We can trademark it.”

“I’ll get it tattooed to my forehead.”

“Across my ass, farmer.”

“Send me a picture.”

“You can hold my hand while they ink it.”

Yoba, it’s a good afternoon. They don’t always come so easy, but it’s so good to become saturated that it pains you to leave. You will, though: you need to fill the chickens’ trough because tomorrow promises rain.

“I’ve gotta get back, Shane. It’s quarter to six already.”

He reaches, stopping just short of your sleeve. “See you at the Saloon later?”

“Yeah,” you say, and two things happen simultaneously:

His hand falls innocuously to your arm to give it a squeeze, and you lean in with a gesture that’s as easy as your banter. 

His lips are soft beneath yours, frozen in surprise because neither of you are supposed to have crossed this line. The shock arrives with a delay as the kiss brushes by, caught as soon as you’ve realized what you’re doing; what you’ve done; what you’re still feeling as your mouth tingles with the theft.

He exhales a sharp breath, green eyes bright with shock, trying to piece together the boundaries between friendship and… whatever that was.

You’re not dating.

You’ve never discussed it. 

No bouquets have been exchanged, nor any promises —

And Shane?

“I’m so sorry —” you start.

“Fuck,” he croaks, and closes the distance before you can escape. 

His mouth lands on yours again, and this time there’s hunger mixed in to the rhythm as your mouth drops open, rigid with anticipation of something worse: accusations, maybe, or anger, or rejection, but his tongue touches yours and beneath the sweet of the Joja cola he drank recently there’s just… Shane’s hand around the back of your neck, pulling you into the soft heat of his sweatshirt and the body underneath, and the flood of feeling too much. All at once.

Hands and tongues and lips mingled with the things you imagined about him lined up against the reality of your thighs slotting together, your hips following. 

This is your friend.

The thought sends you lurching back a step, your heart hurtling against your ribs, fingers pressed to your lips as if to hold in the memory of a kiss that keeps burning the longer you both stand there, staring at each other.

What the fuck just happened?

And Shane just stares for a second, breathing heavily, his pants tented and not even the slightest bit ashamed. 

Sunlight washes gold over him, lighting every little piece of him you’ve nurtured for the past year — all that darkness illuminated so you can’t deny that it’s there — but the look he wears stops the world on its axis:

He’s smiling: a little dishevelled, a little raw, but spread wide open at the slightest prompting so you can see the whole of his tender parts when he softens and says, “I’ll see you then.”

--

Notes (the longer version/yes I know I'm ridiculous):

So, okay, permit me to explain: I installed Polyamory Sweet for the first time, and no I didn’t look at the config the first time when I launched my save. Why would I do that when I play modded like I’m courting chaos? Full gremlin mode -- stomping on the gas and just going.

Well, it turns out there’s an option to turn on kissing well before marriage, so I visit my best guy at the Ranch after five hearts to drop off some Pepper Poppers and my farmer laid one on him before saying goodbye.

Little heart went poof above their heads and everything. 

Cue me fucking screaming, completely disarmed as the two sprites are standing there staring at each other doing that little heavy breathing thing —

So of course I mashed the button again to “test” it, and wouldn’t you know, the little sluts (affectionate) did it again. 

Was like something out of a movie.

So I wrote the thing down, and here we are: 

With me feeling a little silly but ultimately content that I can mash the blorbos together in an effort towards affection. 

I love them, your honour.

[consumeroflemoans]

Hiiiii analyzing every part of the Subnautica 2 trailer that I can because I am unwell.

Starting off we have a diver in a deep empty abyssal-like area. Typically in the depths there is a source of bioluminescence or at least rock formations for light to reflect off of. The only place inside the game there’s this much empty darkness is the dead zone.

This could mean we have the chance to explore the dead zone! Or that there’s a new area that has similar features to the dark depths of the void.

This would be a banger feature to have considering how horrifying the dead zone is to traverse already. It would provide a new difficulty to the game if we had to confront or avoid packs of adult leviathans to progress.

The trailer then shifts to what could be the safe shallows or twisty bridges equivalent in this game. It seems we’re getting what looks like a proper reef! It’s super neat to see the game being more colorful with its environment design.

We also have a clear look at a new species of fish in this game. Considering its shape and large eye it could be a tropical/reef version of the peeper (or maybe the feather fish?). Or it could just be a new edible fish entirely!

All in all cool design. I do like how vibrant they look

Ok now for one of the most hype things in the trailer. Some sort of hermit crab based leviathan? It would be fascinating to have a leviathan that shows up in the shallows instead of only in deeper water. It could provide an additional challenge but I think this would be something similar to the reefback. Perhaps one of the elements of gameplay would be making it lift itself to access things hidden beneath it?

Next up we have what looks like an underwater city or at least a big building in the background. It’s pretty much a given there’s mysterious underwater structures in this franchise but I personally think it would be fascinating to have a proper Atlantis style city in Subnautica. This could also maybe incorporate the Architects into it? Like maybe after Al-An went to his home planet he brought back more Architects to cure the Kharaa and they set up a base.

Then again this also doesn’t exactly look like Architect architecture which is more of a cube structure. It looks closer like a temple’s architecture from what we can see. Maybe it could be a new alien species? That seems less likely

Next we have a specific feature that I am so hyped to see. It looks like Subnautica may be adding rip currants or something similar. Something that would actively make it more difficult for a player to swim to the surface. This would be so interesting because other than caves/islands/ice flows we generally never have something preventing us from going to the surface in Subnautica. Nothing actively pushing the player back at least. This would be a fresh new difficulty to get used to (if done correctly, at least. It could also be very annoying)

From there we get into something extra curious. It seems like we may have a second human in this game. Before Subnautica’s concepts have been based in the fact your character is alone on this planet with the odds against them. The way I see it, this addition can largely go three ways:

- a possible addition of a co-op system to Subnautica: unlikely, but it has been semi-popular in modding communities. People would have fun playing with their friends but I think it would take away from the horror aspect of Subnautica, one of its major draws

- a human companion that joins you in your journey: slightly more likely than multiplayer, but still not the direction I think they’d go. This could open the game to having puzzles that need two people and a companion could function similar to the sea monkey (bringing you needed items basically). This would also require a lot of AI and would probably be more annoying than anything else, however

- someone like Marguerite or Al-An that shows up in cutscenes and phone calls but mostly stays in one place: the most likely scenario. It could be we have a home base of sorts where this person is stays and gives the player hints and coordinates

Also as a note the vehicle she’s driving looks like a sea truck. Please oh please tell me it is not Sea Truck 2.0

Aaaand now we’re onto the most hype part of the trailer. We have a new leviathan!

This one looks a lot like a Kraken type with a bunch of limbs. It could maybe be related to the crab squids? Like a dead zone version of them? It could explain why it’s attracted to the vehicle

Or as a completely out there theory this could maybe be architect technology like the warpers? It may just be me but the way it moves its hands and its claws are very much reminiscent of heavier machinery. It would be so banger if the architects built themselves a leviathan.

Either way it would be fascinating to encounter a leviathan with the ability to seek out a grab a player with ‘hands’. Before creatures typically grab with their mouths or pinchers like the Reaper. This would be an interesting twist to learn to avoid

In conclusion I am unwell about this game and the theories are buzzing. I am so hyped

[kimberlyeab]

Undertale Yellow - Thoughts

Do you ever touch a piece of media and it hits you so hard that you just decide to drop all your artistic responsibilities for a day and write something to get your thoughts down into a single coherent place.

Well, uh… let’s talk about Undertale Yellow.

Please avoid if you intend to play and do not want spoilers as this delves heavily into topics laid down in the pacifist route. Also please note this contains content warnings for child death, so don’t touch if that ain’t your cup of tea. Like all Youtubers would say, please play the game before you read this, because this experience is best enjoyed in its original form.

The first issue i am struck with before getting too deep into this topic is that this is a fan project. While i, as a fan creator, enjoy feedback on my work; even if it is a little biting at times, i don’t know the pulse of the team in this regard. After all, this had no price tag and was purely a labour of love with seven hard years of development behind it.

i also don’t know how the development of this project was handled and if it was a collaborative effort from start to finish or different teams worked on different sections with an overarching goal. All i have is my own experience of modding for Hearts of Iron IV where my efforts were focused on singular nations and not overarching plots. If different sections were handled by different teams, please don’t take a critique or praise of any singular section as a slight against your work, it was all fantastic just some areas were more fantastic than others.

i enjoyed the mod, immensely, it stuck with me to the point that i had to come here and discuss it for what seems to be close to 2000 words. This project is something truly special, not only in terms of a fan game, but as a piece of media in general. It managed to make me feel that sense of magic I felt two years ago when i first played Undertale. And i can’t think of a higher praise than saying that.

The sprite work was amazing. The battles were fun and just the right amount of challenging… except Axis… fuck Axis. The music was a genuine banger to the point where i even liked some of the songs better than some of Toby’s work (i’m looking at you, the person who composed A Mother’s Love, that Hopes and Dreams drop ruined me emotionally for the rest of the run and i hold you and the writing team responsible for that).

And the story, gosh the story was just a real treat.

The mod in general is a bit slow to start, i’ll be honest, i did enjoy the tease at the beginning with Toriel and i think it was genius to cut us off from her entirely at that point. To me, a Undertale mod doing the ruins is like a Batman movie watching Bruce’s parents get gunned down. So, getting something refreshing here was a great foot forward.  Actually, I think that the fact that this mod does not use the OG cast as a crutch is an all-around strong point that i really appreciate and helps set it aside as its own independent thing, different from Undertale. Even though I did find myself craving at least a cameo at times.

On my first day of playing, i witnessed everything that the ruins and Snowdin had to offer. i enjoyed Dalv and Martlet immensely. As I went into the start of the Wild East, I was having a lot of fun. Yet, something felt off, something wasn’t quite sparking the magic i felt with Undertale. So, I left off my first session in the Oasis, having beaten the third boss. All in all, an enjoyable time but not quite clicking.

i couldn’t describe why the game felt off up to this point. Until i watched a friend stream xeyre own first run of the game.

Xey said something during it which made me realize what the issue with these first three areas was. They felt safe, they felt fangamey. These were fun experiences with great atmosphere and enemies but Dlav and Martlet (up to that point) were not characters who grabbed me and made me feel as invested in them as say Toriel, Sans, Papyrus, and Undyne (all characters we would’ve met at a similar point in OG Undertale). Sure, they were nice, and were immensely fun, but i didn’t feel that drive to get to know them better and care about their greater story. These were not the characters of ask blogs and video essays.

At this point, i went to bed, content to get back to it tomorrow but still very much feeling like “this is a fangame.”

Then i woke up…

And let me telling you about Starlo and the town on the edge of the Wild East.

This is where Undertale Yellow grabbed me, this is where the story became something special. This wonderful cast of six unique characters who left me wanting to consume every piece of dialog they had available. These six characters managed to crackle to life that little fanfiction voice in the back of my brain. It was these characters that planted the seed of this sprawling text i am currently writing.

Starlo, himself, is a wonderful character, very fun, very well written, just a treat to experience and spend time with. His missions were comedic gold to a degree where I was cackling in VC because of how good they were. And the fights, oh jeez, the two fights in that area are where the mod really showed off what it could do when it came to combining fun gameplay, great music, and just top tier sprite work that helped give these characters so much substance and life.

And it was also in this section where i started to get invested in the characters. This is where the fangame vibes withered away and gave birth to that same experience i had playing Undertale for that very first time.

It was hinted at with Starlo, a monster putting on a façade to hide from the cold reality of being a member of a broken species living in an equally broken land. His reasoning is so tragic, yet through the tragedy, he is just trying to distract people and bring them whatever joy he can manage. His methods are faulty but his goal is good.

And Ceroba is just amazing, as well, hinting at something darker in the narrative, weaving her story into OG Undertale by experiencing loss to the same experiments that would haunt Alphys. She is something familiar, a mother in pain like Toriel, but also someone who didn’t let that pain keep her in hiding. She uses that pain to try and help this world. And it plays on me so well, making me genuinely ache as my mind idly wonders which amalgamation in the lab was once this monster’s little girl. I wanted to know her story and experience it.

Then the game was all high points from here.

The adventure in the Steamworks where we see the remains of a shattered legacy and the pain that Ceroba goes through when she realizes that her husband was never respected in life. It resonates as we learn how much he just wanted to help Monsterkind and his legacy was just thrown away and left to rot. It made me hate Asgore.

And then comes the plot twist, the moment the shoe drop, as we approach Hotlands and Starlo confronts us. He knows Ceroba’s secret and is there to keep us safe. I had never been so invested in finding out what any of this meant, craving to know what could possibly bring these two into conflict with one another after being so close just two sections prior.

And that’s when we go to Ceroba’s home. That’s where we experience the empty abode that used to house a family. It’s where we learn how this tormented world of captivity that broke them, one by one, killing father, daughter, and yes, even the mother. It’s where we learn about Chujin, a figure of mythos, this mod’s Asgore in a way. A man who knew that escaping the Underground wasn’t the end goal unless Monsterkind could assert itself and prove that it had a right to exist upon the surface. This moment was so compelling, asking questions that fans have had for years and answering them in a way that felt downright satisfying.

And it put a fire in my breast going forward. i feel bad for the individuals who wrote dialog for optional areas after this reveal because i was a woman on a mission at this point. There was no endearing encounter, no fun moment that would distract me from finally finishing this with Ceroba.

And as we reach New Home and face the enemy, a mother who has lost everything, with our friends by our side, that’s when we play the best boss fight, I’ve had the privilege of enjoying in a very long time. It was the right amount of difficult with perfect music, amazing phases and forms, and a wonderful use of the yellow soul to its full capacity. It was long and slogged out, fought tooth and fucking nail, all while the music perfectly weaves together Ceroba’s struggle with the adventure we’ve been on and also a little nostalgia just to remind you what’s at stake. i have slept and i still remember her piano bits combined with those little western twangs, bringing together two childhood friends before dropping Hopes and Dreams just to show you how epic it is. It is… HOLY SHIT… it is something.

And with every phase we see a little more of what this monster lost. We watch her husband wither away, we see her risk her daughter and fail, and we see every last thing this obsession has cost her. And we know that this is a family broken by a collective scar left upon a whole species. We know that humanity is at fault, subjecting a whole race to torment for something that’s generations old. This family is just one of many who our species has wronged, just one trauma on a whole ledger.

And as we finally dispatch her and feel victorious, the reality of the situation slowly settles in.

This is a prologue… we know how this ends.

Asgore has five souls right now. Yet, by the events of Undertale, he has six.

i knew on a logical level that this would happen but the mod still managed to destroy me with the reality. As our friends try and figure out a way to keep us safe, we, the Spirit of Justice, a child with a pure heart, know that we can’t let this slide. We saw what humanities punishment has done to this species and we know that we can help them.

So, Clover sacrifices their Soul. And its at this moment that i started bawling like a child, watching their friends bargain with them, then plead, then seeing them slowly come to terms with it. And the game slowly ends from there, watching our hero make this sacrifice and then send away their friends so they don’t have to see them die. It’s just us, alone, knowing that we did the right thing and it cost us everything. It’s beautiful and tragic, the perfect ending that still chokes me up thinking about it.

And it pays off as the credits role and we get an epilogue that shows all the monsters we’ve touched and made their lives better.

It was special.

This was the special that i felt after Undertale.

And like Undertale, i will never touch it again (unless i speedrun it). The story was completed and the sacrifice was beautiful. It would be wrong of me to erase the deeds that i’ve done to better these lives. i don’t want to erase their happy ending just to tinker around and extract every ounce of life from this game.

So uh, yeah, sorry to the people who worked on geno-run. i’m sure you did a great job but i can’t bring myself to hurt these characters.

All-in-all, sitting there in a VC, bawling at 3:30 in the morning, i knew this was unique and I knew that i wanted to share my thoughts with the fandom and maybe even the developers if they get around to reading this.

Dear devs, if you read this, you created something out of this world, thank you.

Sincerely, thank you.

Would I recommend this mod?

Let me tell you what I said after the credits rolled.

“Fuck this mod.”

Err… text kind of loses the translation of those words being spoken through the warble of a tear-stricken voice that was fresh from sobbing for ten minutes straight.

So, uh…

Yeah, it was alright!

Hey, y'all should join my Discord! It's multifandom and queer as fuck (Please be 18+ though).

Visit my website to see where else you can find my work, follow my socials, or support me!

[ajastu]

ohhhhhh dragon age 2 the game that you ARE.........

where do i even fucking begin.

this game was the first one i ever played in the series, actually. I honestly dont remember how i ended up starting it, but boy am i glad i did!

Really enjoyed the replay, especially all these years later. Kind of hits different now that i, too, am basically a different person compared to when i first played it...

Anyway. some Thoughts in random order under the cut

First of all. i remember why i was obsessed with my Hawke back then...theres just SOOO much to work with, here....started writing out a document of just the main Points about her just so i dont forget anything. almost at 1k words rn. well. me, obsessed with my ocs? the shock. truly unexpected.

Bethany. I love you. but it really does hit way different if u play a mage hawke.

I still think all the companions were banger (except sebastian im sorry to say. i just. cannot bring myself to care about him much. but that might just be bcs i do not vibe with the chantry's whole deal), BUT! i do view them a bit differently now. For example. Aveline girl yuo are so so bad at ur job sometimes actually. And anders...........gaslight girlboss gatekeep etc etc. the levels of toxicity he reaches in act 3 if u question him honestly took me off guard.

I installed a poly mod just so i dont have to like....replay 4 times in a row. and the Canon Tm romance for my hawke is isabela (maybe fenris too? idk im Thunking abt it), and i never actually romanced him before. BUT OH MY GODDDDDDD he really goes full toxic bf on you if you try to ask why exactly he wants you to distract the grand cleric. Honestly wish we could punch him. Like, its irrelevant if hawke agrees with his actions ultimately or not. That behavior alone is enough to drop his ass over.

Wish merrill's story was...given more thought/attention to. felt kind of...incomplete in places? idk. she deserved better, but i also know that the development for da2 was a nightmare, so i do not fault the devs for most of the things that i think could have been done better.

SPEAKING OF. Really really really funny to me that most of the criticism that is being thrown at veilguard could be word for word applied to DA2. Like, what the fuck was with the ghasts 😭

and the combat was just SOOO FUCKING BORINGGGGGGG spawning in basically the same enemies over n over n over n over- im so fucking glad for the mods. what would i do with no mods. Say what u will abt veilguard but at least they dont spawn shit in over n over in EVERY DAMN BATTLE.

Which leads me to. Playtime.

Obviously, comparing da2 and datv is kind of....like. the times are different. There is 13 years in between the two games. The AAA gamedev industry changed a WHOLE lot, and so most of the things that were possible in DAO/DA2 are just not gonna be possible in current times. Most of the standards for AAA games changed.

That said. Da2 felt significantly shorter than DATV, even with the DLC's. And i do realize i skipped a lot of the DA2 Experience Tm by skipping combat, but i think padding the playtime with fighting thru an absolute slog of enemy wave after enemy wave is...less than ideal. so id subtract that anyway.

THAT IS TO SAY. Both games went thru dev hell, but i think there was kind of...more pressure/expectations placed on datv devs in the aspect of playtime length/visual design. So it makes absolute sense to me why they had to simplify the narrative, and why da2 devs were able to make more options available in the narrative by sacrificing map design and the like.

DA2's story is more malleable, but shorter. DATV's story is less malleable, but it's longer. Both games, however, did an excellent job with (most) sidequests. the games did not feel bloated for no reason (khm khm dai khm khm), almost all the sidequests contributed something to the overall narrative, and overall it felt like a very streamlined experience, in the best way possible.

And the stories in both of these games end up being a banger, Despite It All. Honestly. the devs have my undying respect for persevering thru the horrors.

I dont know. overall, i....really fucking loved da2. Even more than before. I have a new appreciation for the tragedy of hawke's story. They lose so much, even if you do your best. There are just people you CANNOT save. And back when i was younger i kind of went I Do Not See at some of these things, being like 'well, in MY head leandra doesnt die 🙄'

But god, that death especially is so integral to everything. also. definitely something to be said about a kind hawke being much more interesting than an uncaring hawke. I know that maybe im biased on this one but like. it takes much much more to stay kind thru it all. the cruelty is easy.

also, a brief aside? while i appreciate the tangled mess of the da2 story, some slavery/racism moments were really like...............trying too hard. like. To the point of caricature. I'm glad datv took a more subtle approach bcs it would have just felt.......idk. cartoonish otherwise. in my personal opinion.

I'm looking at my tier list of DA games n i just. keep trying to deny the fact that dao+da2+datv feel about on the same level now 😭 I dont want to be so rude to DAI. i need to give it another chance. but it really is just. outside of the club rn. well...................ill replay that next. in the name of fairness. and also bcs i just havent done it in a while. please lord tell me theres a skip combat mod for dai-

[fairytale-poll]

MOD'S CHOICE POLL!

This will be a collection of characters that I, the Mod, really enjoyed. I left Ella of Frell (Ella Enchanted) off the list due to the fact that she is in the finals and I thought it wouldn't be fair to put her against the rest of these characters, many of which lost early on.

Mod's propaganda under the cut:

Vasilisa the Beautiful:

Okay I loved this story so much when I was in middle and high school. Like a lot of people I knew I had a "Russian" phase where I became briefly obsessed with Russian history and mythology between the ages of 13 and 16. Vasilisa the Beautiful was by far my favorite "Cinderella variant" (though it feels weird to have called a lot of these fairytales regional variants throughout the tournament, I didn't know what else to call them) and as a teenager I read a few YA books that functioned as Vasilisa retellings. But none of them are as good as the original tale. It's such a banger and you should read it if you haven't already!

Eun Ha Won:

I don't have much to say about this one. Someone I knew really liked it so I put it on here in honor of her. Seems cute tho.

Yasmin as Cinderella:

I said this for the Mod's poll for Red Riding Hood, but as a child when visiting Pakistan I watched this movie HUNDREDS OF TIMES on a bootleg DVD, so many times that I think I wrecked the DVD. A childhood favorite!

Cinderella / Prinzessin:

As some of you know due to the fact that I am the mod of @yugipoll, I am a Yu-Gi-Oh fan! Watched it as a kid, somehow still am rewatching it to this very day. And she was such a great card! I loved her so much and she's so cute and pretty!!! I also like the arc that she's in, the KC Grand Championship is easily the best filler arc and I really like Ziegfried and Leon. Where are my Yu-Gi-Oh fans?

Hatsune Miku as Cinderella:

It's Hatsune Miku. Do you need any propaganda? Miku Miku.

Mary Santiago:

Not only is this one of my favorite teen comedies, but it's still one of my favorite movies even now. I have no idea why! Like I cannot tell you why I am so fond of this movie! Maybe it's because of the childhood nostalgia! Maybe it's because of Selena Gomez (extension of childhood nostalgia)! Maybe it's the fact I am fond of the late 2000s. But it's so good! Tell Me Something I Don't Know is one of the bops of all time!!!!

Harper Finkle as "Harperella":

Extension of the last one, but I have a lot of Selena Gomez nostalgia because of how much I loved Wizards of Waverly Place. She's not a big part of this episode, but I love and am nostalgic for Jennifer Stone as Harper just as much. I don't know why this episode stuck in my head so much, when it's one of the very last episodes of the entire show, but I feel like when I think of Cinderella retellings in a non-fairytale show, this is what I think of. The fact that there's a magic book that when you read it you have to play the story and that some of the pages ripped out and got mixed up... I really liked that!

[sitp-recs]

HP Rec Fest, Day 31

Last day of @hprecfest and I AM NOT READY to say goodbye 😭 so sad to see this incredible coming to an end but also thrilled that I’ve had the chance to participate and found my reccing mojo again. Thank you @givereadersahug for this incredible initiative and to all the mods for for your hard work!!! Of course the last prompt is a banger, it was so hard to pick a fav amongst favs but to honour my commitment to rec fics that deserve more visibility I’m sharing two stunning works that showcase the beauty of short (3k) and medium (31k) form. No better way to close it out than reccing two stories that have been so very special for me ever since I first read them, and informed the way I see the ships and my respect for short-medium length. I can only hope this post will inspire more folks to check and experience these beauties by themselves. I hope you’ve had as much fun with the Rec Fest as I did! Wishing everyone a happy NYE and an amazing start to 2024 🥂

Day 31) a fav amongst favs:

Drarry

Still Life (orphaned, M, 3k)

No summary provided so I’ll quote:

if you’ve ever wondered if it’s possible to create a perfect short fic the answer is yes and the proof is right here. what a masterclass in short form! the gorgeous prose, the introspective tone, the slice-of-life atmosphere, the perfect pacing and unexpected ending - everything comes together so seamlessly it might feel casual at first but I promise it’s actually quite profound in meaning. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read Still Life and it still hits me in the solar plexus. every. fucking. time. Harry’s pov is a triumph, nuanced, hilariously oblivious and so charming as he navigates conflicting feelings about his growing attraction to Draco. it’s as if we are right there by his side, watching as he overanalyzes their casual-not-so-casual relationship and Draco’s not helping by being infuriatingly hot, tender and quirky (god what a compelling combo, and he has such brilliant lines too!). I am obsessed with their voices and with Harry’s mental gymnastics from horny denial to stunned resignation. this was such a transformative read for me because it’s one of the few fics that made my jaw drop with every paragraph, masterfully crafted to hit me right in the feels. by now I know by heart the lines that give me the “heartkick” - a physical reaction that makes my heart contract and expand with warmth at reading something that changes me in a permanent way. there’s nothing I could say to do this fic justice so I rest my case by stating that it’s a privilege to have the chance to read seefin’s works! what a legend.

Rare pair

A Fine Foray into Fashionable Fellatio by @wellhalesbells (Draco/Ron, E, 31.5k)

First comes tolerating, then comes shagging, then comes unintended consequences.

this is the fic that effectively and irreversibly pulled me into Dron 🪦 I remember being so completely mindblown and obsessed with this story that I immediately found 1824947 ways to mention and rec it every chance I got. holy shit, what a journey! before reading this fic I didn’t know it was possible to love them together and not even think about Harry. but here Ron and Draco are so fully realized, so well-matched in wit, charisma and personality I was promptly sold on the ship without ever comparing their dynamics to Drarry, after all Ron is so very different from Harry. this is quite the emotional rollercoaster, as chaotic, impulsive and intense as both characters; their chemistry and sexual tension are off the charts (the bathroom sex and smoke kink, my god!!!! 🥵) and the Mpreg plot works surprisingly well and in a very Dron way: jump head first, talk feelings later. love the mix of playful banter, horny smut and tentative sweet romance with a long-standing friendship in the background. this is such a FUN read and I really appreciate that the author took their time to develop both the plot and the characters, it certainly felt refreshing to me as I’m used to short rare pair fics. definitely a Dron classic that deserves to be read and reread many times!

[jumpdriveproject]

what kind of music do you listen to offstream?

This is honestly a hard question to answer since I don't really pay attention to genre or anything, I tend to just put my spotify likes on random so its kinda all over the place.

Generally I just enjoy music that has a decent beat, its rare that I find myself listening to slower music. When i was younger I was really into stuff like David Bowie, The Who, power pop in general, etc.

I've thought about making a public spotify playlist or something but in the meantime heres my current top plays.

and have a few select choices of some weirder stuff i like that might give a clearer image.

Simple Man - Klaus Nomi Nomi is a huge inspiration for me, highly recommend all of his work and check out the documentary about him if you can find it.

Elstree - The Buggles Chose this one over their more popular title tracks. Buggles only had a couple albums but theyre absolute bangers that everyone should listen to in full. Trevor Horn went on to do tons of shit and almost all of it rules.

One For You, One For Me - La Bionda I still dont know much about Italo Disco, but La Bionda/D. D. Sound and Righeira kick absolute ass and this particular recording blows me away every time I listen to it.

BE MY BABY - Complex Okay this one isnt one im CONSTANTLY listening to, but it just seems insane we don't hear this getting blasted on the radio even in the US.

Big Painting - The Times I have a huge soft spot for power pop and mod-adjacent music. This album is the one i typically go back to when im in the mood for that. Who cares about the sky?

Michael Caine - Madness Likewise, I love me some Madness. If you somehow havn't taken the time to listen to their hits at least I def recommend it. Classics for a reason.

Finally - The Correspondents Okay I have to add SOME more modern music. I don't enjoy all of their music but Correspondents have some absolute bangers and have a super unique sound. Essentially if they have a video for it it's probably worth hearing.

Androgyne Friend - Eve 6 Eve 6 has been a comfort band for as long as i can remember and their current music is still really good and refreshingly based. Another one where i'd recommend their entire discography.

Starlight - The Supermen Lovers Last one. I simply wish that if my life had a BGM it sounded like this.

[annotatedamblings]

annotatedAmblings's Homestuck Reread Liveblog: Act 1 (part 2, pages 126-247)

Although liveblog posts will contain analysis due to how we like to engage with media, liveblogs are primarily a collection of whatever thoughts came to mind during our reading. Liveblog posts are constructed with each mod drafting their own live reactions separately before combining them, so some sentiments may be repeated due to both mods noting it down. Any analysis within a liveblog post should not be assumed to be our complete thoughts on the subject, and we are not particularly experienced with analysis.

Blue = Mod Aluria Pink = Mod Jasper Arrows (>>>) are used to indicate commentary on each other's commentary.

Page 127: I love the way objects (and people) tend to bounce around during some animations.

Page 129: I think there's probably something there about how early on, Homestuck involves the destruction and desecration of John's childhood room - an important space. Of course, it's primarily just humor - sylladex shenanigans are fun - but I do think there's something there related to the coming-of-age aspects of Homestuck. >Especially since a lot of that destruction is necessary to move forward. Like expanding the room so Rose can reach John's PDA.

Page 137: I will not be hearing anything bad about the Sburban Jungle flash at this time. Yeah it's kinda lame but it also fucks. Fun fact, I used Sburban Jungle as background music for a joint 3D Modelling and Physics project I did earlier this year. FUCK YEAH SBURBAN JUNGLE. Reading Homestuck for the first time was rather neat for me because I really like The Sims. Even though there's not a lot to this Flash, the music is a banger and the text with the loading bar at the bottom reminds me of being a kid on my mom's laptop waiting for The Sims 3 to load lol

Page 141: There is no way she didn't do that on purpose just to see if she could.

Page 142: Coloring error. John's shirt is Jane cyan in the second panel :0 >:0

Page 147: I just think this page is cute. The fact that Rose decides to put the bunny back in the box. The face John makes when she does. It's cute. Aw. It's cute how (in-universe) Rose gets a little silly with the bunny. I like John's little smile :].

Page 148: This panel has me thinking about how weird it would be if you were a Sim and suddenly your house had been renovated in the span of a second.

Page 151: I like how all the Sburb machinery looks so needlessly complicated and clunky. Too much sci-fi is smooth and sleek. Give me contraptions. >The humble contraptions...

Page 154: Thinking about how John knows literally nothing about shit like fetch modi and strife specibi at the beginning. I know it's because readers are meant to learn about these things from him, but it hits different when you think about how different his childhood was from all his friends. Like what Aluria said last time about it being depressing that Dave knows so much about strife specibi. John doesn't know this stuff because he never had to. >I think each kid's knowledge of sylladex mechanics at the start fits very well for them. John had the most 'normal' life, he is kind of the audience insert here, he doesn't know as much. Dave knows a lot about sylladex mechanics including strife specibi and (iirc) effective weaponization of a standard sylladex because he has to. Because his life is shit! Rose is a very curious person, she's the Seer of Light, it makes sense that she would want to learn more about sylladex mechanics, including unusual modi, regardless of whether she has to know it. Oh. R-slur jumpscare. Gotta love 2009. :\

Page 158: Serious Business is one of my favorite early on bits.

Page 160: I love Rose using psych talk to fuck with people.

Page 161: "This isn't very cautious of you, actually." lol.

Page 163: I like the silly little moments of them fucking around and finding out with Sburb, like with this and the bathtub later.

Page 166: I was going to scold John for literally jumping down a fucking hole (he could break his bones!) and then realized I would probably do the exact same thing if not for my fear of heights.

Page 167: "You think it's cool that things don't always have to be a federal fucking issue." I don't have any commentary it's just one of my favorite lines and nobody ever mentions it. >I also love this line. The phrase 'federal fucking issue' lives in my head.

Page 171: Rose's preferred method of learning is "fuck around and find out".

Page 173: Why were you going to put the bathtub in the driveway to begin with? Hello? >ToT It only now occurred to me that. Rose. What the fuck are you doing. Truly a moment of the characters being subject to the whims of the forum prompts.

Page 174: The dialogue is so good here. People always mention "EB: tell me what is wrong with this picture" but no one ever mentions "TT: Yes. Cake, jesters, unfaltering love and support. TT: Quite a road to hoe there." Also, first mentions of Rose's home situation. I feel it's interesting how she's so blunt about Mom's failures as a parent, especially in comparison to Dave's complete denial that Bro has ever done anything wrong. >I think part of it is the very different natures of Rose and Dave, as well as the different natures of their home situations. Dave is frequently actively in a dangerous situation and is actively being manipulated, whereas Rose's mom is an otherwise doting mother who's just kinda shit in one very particular (and major!) way. Dave can't really risk unpacking All That, a fight is a constant threat. Rose manages to get away with a lot more avoidance and more generally has time all to herself where she can think. Perhaps this is a potential topic for an essay. >>They're so fuckt up.

Page 177: Hell yeah it's Sburbin' time. >My favorite part is when John said "it's Sburbin' time" and Sburbed all over the place.

Page 186: We already mentioned this last time I think but I love Harlequin as a track. It's so Videos Game. >Thank you Mark Hadley.

Page 187: "EB: we don't have time for this asinine tomfoolery. TT: This unmitigated poppycock? EB: extravagant hogwash! EB: ok stop EB: stop typing whatever silly thing you're typing" this is what's happening behind the scenes of this blog at any given time. >True! This post has been fact-checked by real annotatedAmblings mods.

Page 195: Damn I sure wonder what that could be. Surely it's not an indicator of impending doom.

Page 196: Here's where shit starts getting real.

Page 199: In John's defense, I would also attempt to ingest a unit of build grist. >Remind me to never play Sburb with you. >>There are many reasons not to play Sburb with me. I'm bad at video games and generally not athletic. Also, you shouldn't play Sburb just as, like, a general rule. >>>It could be worse. It could be Sv- *gets shot*

Page 204: The infamous Dave meteor monologue :} >PLANET FUCKING JUPITER. DAVE TANGENT!!!

Page 208: What the fuck does John do every day that Dad is relatively unfazed by a bathtub in his hallway? >Maybe he just has more serious business. Like baking another cake. Could you imagine. Five cakes. That's as many as five. Dadbert is remarkably chill about stuff like the stray toilet and tub.

Page 214: HI ROSE :D

Page 222: "Nice time management skills there, sweetheart!" Mean to her :{ >Oh so when the narrator is pointing out her friend is dying and she needs to move on it's bad to be mean to her but when you advocate for a character dying in a piece of art i make it's just payback for a curse. I see how it is. </INCREDIBLY UNSERIOUS> "Nice time management skills there, sweetheart!" Okay but Aggrieve (Violin Refrain) is literally a good song so it's worth it.

Page 225: "At least, that is how you have come to interpret the gesture in retrospect." She wasn't always at war with her mom. >Sometimes a once nice parent-child relationship degrades over time as a child begins to recognize the flaws in their parent, and the parent can't, won't, or simply doesn't know how to fix their relationship, leaving the child to deal with the weight of the parent's failures. >>It's tough realizing the people who raised you aren't who you thought they were, but that's a topic for several acts from now. >>>Yeah.

Page 229: This is so funny on the reread. She literally just likes wizards. >God forbid a woman have hobbies.

Page 231: Hi Momlonde.

Page 232: Depressing. >Mood.

Page 234: "Oh the things you'll do to help out a friend." Girl his life is at stake.

Page 238: I like Rose's little smirk here. Iconic. >Yeah! Very classic Rose expression.

Page 239: Little 413 easter egg spotted.

Page 240: Using [sic] in casual conversation goes hard.

Page 245: I don't intend to make a habit of mentioning the newsposts because they're not part of Homestuck but I do feel the need to point out that in this one Hussie points out the absolutely breakneck pace at which Homestuck was updating at the time. This bodes excellently for her mental and physical health in the future, I'm sure. >So fun fact there's a statistic I came up with and started calculating in the context of attempting to mathematically track the increase in speed of the creation of an MSPFA I like called "Days per page". I calculate it by taking how many days since a webcomic started running as of the time of a specific update, and dividing it by the number of pages at that time. The idea is to calculate how far apart updates would've been if the addition of each page was perfectly spaces apart. A normal webcomic with an update schedule that isn't completely fucking deranged can be expected to have a DPP that is. Y'know. Greater than 1. Act 1 ended June 7th, 2009, 55 days after the comic started, and it has 247 pages, giving it a DPP of ~0.22. AKA the average gap between new pages during Act 1 is less than 5 1/2 hours. This is somewhat alleviated by the amount of sprite usage and the forum game aspect, but that's still a LOT of writing, and asset creation, and animation for the gifs, and the FLASH PAGES, some of which are interactive and/or have sound! Jesus fucking Christ no wonder Hussie eventually burnt out. (For the record, the DPP for HS as a whole is ~0.31.) >>This particular news post hit hard because they literally said that they had somehow managed to post with the same frequency as they had with Problem Sleuth despite Homestuck being significantly more difficult to produce. How. Why. >>>Christ. It's a bit of a miracle Homestuck got finished.

Page 246: Obviously, we all get the Bible symbolism here, but I had forgotten that John taking a bite of the apple was right as the meteor hit. Even more Biblical symbolism than I thought, then. I mean, is he not essentially being cast out of Eden (Earth)? And he can never go back, cuz it's gone. >Partake of the fruit of knowledge, enter the game that is a symbol of growing up. Loss of innocence. You can't go back to when you didn't know.

Page 247: End of Act 1!

[ladyofthebookcase]

o shit i never posted this! i wrote this post back whenever i was initially playing the seer.

(spoilers for the seer regions, best experienced blind so go play the campaign instead of reading this post!)

RATING SUNLIT TRAIL REGIONS AS I GO THROUGH:

necropolis: hey what the fuck. 11/10.

luminous coast: LOVEEEEE the aesthetic of this one and the mechanic of having to eat those blue flowers to see underwater. the first time i ate one i was genuinely sat there for a full minute going "NO WAYYYYY THATS SO COOL" and going into and out of the water over and over. the region is also just soooo prettys like i adore the color palette and overall vibe. the way it's staged on these abandoned oil tankers is REALLY fun and makes for fun platforming. i also like the pink squidcadas. 10/10.

chasing wind (updated ver): why are there plants growing inside you chasing wind... i dontthink thats very healthy. bro has a fungal infection. but overall the updates have made it feel much more complete and lifelike with more food sources, shelters, etc. i AM deducting points for having random lizards inside the zero-g sections though because that's just totally unfair, you CANNOT manouevre properly in there to avoid them so it's just instant death. 8/10.

gray urban: at first i thought it was a total nothingburger compared to the other new regions but it's grown on me? i like the chill peaceful vibes it has. it feels really empty which is very fitting for the lore but slightly less fun gameplay wise. the aesthetic is very pretty, i love the combination of the slick gray rainy-ness with the bright gold floodlights and sigils. feels kind of like vancouver. music very serene very demure. died to one white lizard like 14 times. 7/10.

moss fields (updated): a few new rooms were all i could find for changes and honestly that's fine, moss fields is already an amazing region. they also added a new food source which is perfect since food did feel a bit scarce there before. and that new track moss pots???? absolute banger. goes from 9 to 10/10 just for that song.

(i DO think moss fields should've had a spooky subregion like woven nest though. you could fit it in by where the creepy dark connection to CW used to be. idk it would just be really cool if this cutesy pink region was hiding something horrifying underneath but that may just be the deepnest enjoyer in me.)

far shore (updated): the updated rooms and the addition of the tide pools + void vents subregions really ties it fully together imo, like it's a great addition to an already fantastic region (though i'm biased since far shore was my first ever modded region afaik). LOVE the idea of tide pools and the concept was executed super well. i also think i heard some new music tracks, for example in that one inner-wall type area with all the centipedes and the broken karma gate-- the artist is cooking as always with those. i love you far shore. 10/10.

gilded sanctuary: when i first heard about this region i was like "that sounds stupid im not going there ever" but it actually fits into this campaign kinda well?? i honestly think seer should've ascended through there instead of far shore though, the imagery of the sanctuary on their campaign select screen + the general upside-down-and-altered-reality vibe really fits seer better. bit of a missed opportunity there imo. also im very confused by some of the stuff in this region like the preservatory sigil being present in at least one room?? (though that could have been fishnoid's room, since this was made as a region jam and fishnoid made preservatory?? idk.) it might just be bc i've never been to this region before but it seems to me that it doesn't make a lot of sense in general. why is the echo named suckpig. 6/10.

[ur-local-demonlol]

Hi, uhh, I just want to say...sorry. Like, I'm so so sorry. I didn't bother to warn him like that one anon did. i saw all the dots. but i didnt want to say anything and only revealed bits for him to figure out on his own. he feels like a friend

Surely, you can help him right? Right?! From what I know, that hoodie man mentioned something about taste and trying to get it back.

[theorist anon]

//mod: hi, how's life? that latest post was a banger right?

"That's alright. You only tried to help. I'm following him right now. I can't strike first, though. Who knows what this guy will do to me."

> [Asmo contemplated on what the Anon had said.]

"Trying to get back his taste...?"

> [...]

"Fuck, I might just know who this bastard is."

[nonexistent-tales]

when did you first get into gd? (like uhhh early/mid/late [version]) and do you have a favourite level from that era or in general? (can be official or user)

I KEEP FORGETTING TO ANSWRT THIS anywasy yappachino coming up!!

My first experience with GD was in elementary, atp just an average experience. From then on, I kinda had an on-off relationship with the game. Fav level there would probably X-step (still my fav main level now)

My first time really getting into the game was when White Space released. I saw the premier randomly on my feed, commenting stuff like 'haha omori vibes,' and the like, and immediately fell in love with the level and community, losing interest over time, ending up just something I liked, but not enough to consider myself part of the community

And when I *really* got into GD was a bit after 2.2 released, four months ago. Spu7nix's video on WHAT reignited my passion for the community, and I fell into a rabbit hole of GD documentaries. It started with Spu7nix's stuff, then Silent Clubstep, then other things. Still actively watch GD documenteries, holy hell are they bangers. White Space remains my favorite level, Silent Clubstep being a close second.

In the meantime, I randomly discovered an FNF mod based off of all the lobotomy memes, and I really liked it because of its oddly high quality despite being based off of pretty much brainrot (keep in mind the last time I got into FNF was way back then so cutscenes, scenes changing mid song, etc. are still wild to me). I got into this just in time, right before Air Detected was released. I drew a shitton of fanart for this mod, the first of which being used as a thumbnail in a teaser. It's just a neat little community I'm part of and really helped fuel my love for GD :]

oh rifht and vocalpid. Vocaloid helped me get jnto Geometry Dash. No further context.

[mikiebee]

I love the New Vegas Modding community. It is the year 2023 and 13 years later, it's still going strong releasing banger mods.

There are some instances which made me sad/angry though:

New Vegas Outfit/Creature Mesh Replacer by ornvil (I think)

This was a HUGE mod that aimed to refine and fix meshes (in the same vein of WMIM and New Vegas Mesh Replacer but for structures and such). Doing so would've increased performance and reduced crashes. Unfortunately, due to some thieves, the mod was removed. Apparently it was constantly uploaded elsewhere by other people claiming it to be their own work. There is also the issue of this being a huge undertaking.

(I've been writing this over the past few days and as of today, this mod is back and it's crazy)

Unofficial New Vegas Patch (UNVP) by inthegrave

This was another huge mod that came out recently and was taken down. The aim, as the title describes, was to fix up the game in the vein of YUP but using all the tools available today (plugins like NVSE was in it's infancy and some other plugins were non existent). This mod had the potential to run more smoothly and make the game more stable.

Plus, it would aim to be more customizable with features being toggleable via a text file (akin to something like JSswyer Ultimate). This mod had huge support too, with patches created so quickly from other experienced modders.

Unfortunately, it would seem the mod author had bitten off more than they could chew and discontinued it until further notice. Either to fix the mod at a later date or have someone continue it for them.

Mods made by Random11 (I believe that was their username)

This creator had a lot of mods under their belt with one being a mod in homage to Twin Peaks. The last one was the Courier's Museum (which I thankfully still have a copy of and, no, I will not release it). It was a fantastic, vanilla based mod that was an achievement hunter's dream. They even added some of their own mini achievements in the form of some mini bosses and collectibles which, with added base game stuff, would give benefits when reaching certain thresholds when added to the museum.

Sadly, (and don't quote me on this) they were either another victim of mod piracy or were unhappy with a certain mod database website and their approach to the content hosted on their site:

I feel there is a modding Discord that would be able to fill in the blanks or correctly account of how things came to fruition.

[incorrect-hs-quotes]

God, I'm tired

Yes this is gonna be a vent post let me have this and let it be scattered like dust in the wind

I've been the main mod of this blog for like over a year, I remember roughly how many followers we had and generally how many notes a post would get on average, it wasn't as busy as the Mod Dave era but that's how it goes sometimes. We had somewhere in the ballpark of 11k followers and most posts averaged out at around 125-175 notes per post give or take with a few outliers here and there

Fast forward about a year and a half and we're nearly at 15k followers, and the average post is rarely cracks 100 notes

Someone explain it to me how it makes any sense. How is it that we're at our theoretical most popular and yet engagement is abysmal?

I know not every post we make is a banger but sweet jegus, our audience has brown by a third but our actual engagement has been halved

I don't think that the quality of our work isn't poor, but given the lukecold reactions to what we do here it does feel rather disheartening

I'm not planning on leaving this blog anytime soon, just needed to get my frustrations out there. It's not easy seeing the things you put love and care into be met with seeming indifference.

I don't wanna sound like I blame anyone, it's just something that happens and it gets to you

-Mod Terezi

[arcplaysgames]

Ah, so Persona goes for the great white nothingness sort of afterlife rather than the deep dark void afterlife.

Margaret arrives to tell Reverie to stop being a lazy piece of shit and to listen to his friends to remember how to fight. It's basically Reverie Vs The Nyx Egg all over again. I wonder if he has a sense of deja vu here...

Mmhm, eyes getting itchy.

CRITICAL HIT. Oh my god Chie's VA is so fucking good. I'm clearing my throat.

OOP THAT'S IT I'M FUCKED. I'm crying. His voice is so fucking soft and entreating, I'm a goner. Between Kanji and Chie, I was def crying.

BRUH I didn't expect NAOTO to get me.

.... ADACHI?!

YOU KNOW WHAT ADACHI

YOU CAN HAVE THAT ONE, I WILL ALLOW IT. You're great, Adachi, it's been an honor, man.

OH NOOOOOOOOO don't do me like this

Anyway this bit is great. Nothing will hit like Shinjiro's unsubtitled call to action in P3P Reverie's ear but this is good shit regardless.

And lemme guess, they are the Universe Arcana.

That circle sword is cool as hell.

OKAY SO SIDEBAR

This fucking battle needs some fucking Hopes And Dreams-level shit. I'm sorry but to put on my FULLY NEGATIVE HAT FOR A SEC, this entire sequence would land 10000% better if the music was good. But I literally didn't even notice the music the entire time? I think it's on a very very long loop so there's some fun brassy horns but you gotta wait like two minutes for them to come in.

I've talked shit about the music in P4G before because truly P3P's OST fucked, but also THIS SEQUENCE SUFFERS A LOT FOR HAVING MEDIOCRE MUSIC.

I hope someone eventually mods it to have a fucking banger or two.

This part is pretty fucking great. Big fan.

Yaaaaaaaay.

I guess what I'm curious about is was this boss in the original version..... but wait, yeah, she has to be to explain everything.

Now that I've seen the whole sequence, I'm gonna be a negative nancy for a moment.

This whole ending is, uh, weird? It feels weird. Like, I almost think I prefer the ending with Ameno-Sagiri to this one because it felt more impactful after fighting Adachi. It feels like the game keeps answering the same questions over and over since then. I appreciate getting a final answer on why the three folks had Persona/TV powers, but also... It feels like....

The gas attendant did it! Gasp!

Also, like with Marie, there was this inorganic element to her whole plotline. But in the end, I kind of liked that!

But with Izanami, it feels tacked on in the same way but without the justification. The answer to the mystery is very "oh." Rather than "OOOOOOH" which we all know Persona can do.

Also, the entire plotline with Izanami literally only makes sense if you listened to Edogawa's lecture some 40 hours ago! And it's NEVER hinted anywhere else!

I think that's what I'm chafing against. Having the history explained in a lecture is totally fine. but when I got that lecture, I was like "ha i bet this is important!" and then I completely forgot that lecture because no one fucking brings it up again!

I am frustrated because I feel like this game does know what the fuck foreshadowing and story structure are, but it totally dropped the ball. It's to a point I wonder if like... something was lost in translation? Is something missing here?

Eh. JUST ANOTHER REASON PERSONA 3 PORTABLE IS BETTER.

Lets tackle the ending.

[daniel-nerd]

yea, I find myself rambling on like 5 different topics simultaneously which makes it hard for people to understand my points.

i do want them(mojang) to just come out with some sort of a statement about how the updates are going to be(something like “we gonna have update every 18 months or so but every update is going to be a banger like the 1.16 was” or something like “we gonna have a small update every 6 months but it would be a consistent and nice update”) and fix the whole mc live thing, which is just not worth watching anymore.

i also want them to think about the older playerbase.

tbh since the microsoft buying mojang controversy it feels more and more like other games, and like they want to take the safer option rather for the exciting ones… and every controversy(which are usually some microsoft board member fault) it feels like microsoft making them distance themselves from the community more and more.

some of the reasons i love indie games is that they dare to make something cool and they listen to the community.

and it’s heartbreaking seeing minecraft loosing this indie spark and becoming just another game. and i don’t think any new game(indie or not) is going to get that spark minecraft had. a huge part of that spark was the uniqueness of it and the freedom that came with it. terraria is a really good example of a game that came close to what minecraft feels like but it just doesn’t have that same spark minecraft did…

i also want to add that modpacks just aren’t as fun as they used to be… they became standardized, every new modpack that i play feels very similar to all the other ones, they have very similar mod list, very similar quest line, very similar mechanics. something that wasn’t as much of a thing back in the day. for every compact claustrophobia(a super cool modpack) there is like 30 ATM volcano(a modpack that feels exactly the same as all the other modpacks). i guess that’s part of the price we need to pay for the game’s popularity…

as someone who plays modded minecraft since 1.5 modpacks i’ve already played with the new update.

i’ve built with blocks that are almost pixel perfect to the new blocks.

i’ve raided dungeons way cooler than this one.

i’ve used autocrafting systems that are way more fun and challenging than this one.

and yes its going to be interesting and more minecraft-y but it’s just not enough.

i’m going to play with some friends for a few hours raid the new dungeon build with some of the new blocks and play with some of the new redstone features and then after 2 days max i’ll get bored and the only minecraft content i’ll consume will be hermitcraft, rekrap2, clownpierce until the friend or foe series is done, and some technical minecraft players like ilmango and cubicmetre. which is a pretty big group of people its like 8-10 different people but when i get more excited to see a new ethoslab video than the biggest minecraft event of the year and new updates i can’t ignore it anymore… minecraft have became a kids game and microsoft doesn’t care about the java player and especially the older ones who were there from the beginning. its not that neat indie game that got super popular anymore. its that huge game made by that huge company so kids will buy stuff. i seriously cannot see how bedrock is any different than roblox other than the official collabs with big IPs. they’re so similar even in the “not paying the devs who makes the marketplace stuff enough if anything” department. (like seriously side tangent but this needs to be regulated asap people getting pennies for months of hard work for both roblox and minecraft bedrock but because they’re not official employees its ok?? also all the dark paths that both companies and every other company uses to make people(especially children) buy stuff from them should be a crime!)