#honestly looking at it I wish I’d added mayhem too

[blye-flower]

💜 when you’re swinging around the city trying to have a moment and your superhero brothers decide to ruin it 💜

The last couple of days, we had a gala event in the server to celebrate our one year anniversary! The mods created and shared a lot of awards, but I couldn’t not post this one for @shiveagit’s Spiderverse AU!! We voted it as fanfav AU in the server and it’s so well-deserved. Watta’s made some really good designs for it and has done a really great job incorporating as many rise characters as possible! Honestly, I definitely recommend checking it out, Watta also has such a really good art style ajshsjs.

Under the cut is the piece without the words:

[edenmemes]

cyberpunk 2077 starters

more to be added !

❝  the wider the smile, the bigger the lie.  ❞ ❝  it’s called a reputation. you should try having one.  ❞ ❝  if only you were the one calling the shots, you would already have the city at your feet.  ❞ ❝  seems like you’ve got a real problem with authority.  ❞ ❝  well, then it’s a good thing i’m on your side then, huh?  ❞ ❝  you’re starting to remind me of me.  ❞ ❝  only people who know me real well can use my real name.  ❞ ❝  hope that’s it for last requests. not sure i can handle more.  ❞    ❝  look at me - see this? this is a look of un-fucking-surprise on my face.  ❞ ❝  actually, i don’t think of you at all. ever.  ❞ ❝  wanna part ways on good terms. as friends.  ❞ ❝  listen, i know i fucked up a lot of things. either let down or used every last person who gave me their trust.  ❞ ❝  been a rough year...and to make things worse, i fell in love.  ❞ ❝  funny how you still manage to surprise me sometimes.  ❞ ❝  haven’t managed to get my head straight yet, not after everything that happened.  ❞ ❝  hey, look at me. right in the eyes. choose your next words carefully. might be the last choice you ever make.  ❞ ❝  i’m a master of cuddling, too - got a black belt, multiple disciplines.  ❞ ❝  tsh...gonna miss you something awful.  ❞ ❝  here come the test results: you are a horrible person.  ❞ ❝  there is a saying in your country… one moment, it will come to me…ah now i remember! go fuck yourself.  ❞ ❝  you need anything, i’m here.  ❞ ❝  wanna see me give up? sounds like something you’d do.  ❞ ❝  i’m sorry, do you hear me poking around your personal business? digging through your past?  ❞ ❝  what you did for me, i’ll never forget it.  ❞ ❝  it’s hard to believe, but it looks like everything’s gonna be alright.  ❞ ❝  you ain’t dying yet. i got you.  ❞ ❝  see ya in the next life, friend.  ❞ ❝  i allowed my temper to flare and for that i apologize. even i can get carried away at times.  ❞ ❝  shame. was starting to like you…  ❞ ❝  i’m just glad your mother didn’t live to see this. the heart should break but once.  ❞ ❝  there are not many like you, but without you the world would have long turned into shadows and dust.  ❞ ❝  you put a barrel to my skull not so long ago.  ❞ ❝  there’s a difference between being an idiot and believing people wanna do good.  ❞ ❝  you plot, you plan, you calculate, and weave webs so tangled you sometimes lose yourself in them.  ❞ ❝  i’m a serious man. and serious matters are what, if not all, that concern me.  ❞ ❝  you’re tough as nails. a warrior without mercy.  ❞ ❝  i’ve managed one thing for now. not to fuck this up... what we have.  ❞ ❝  you got a short fuse, sure, but there ain’t no dynamite in that soul.  ❞ ❝  really think i can make it? survive this?  ❞ ❝  if there’s nothing you can do to help me, then…what the hell do i do?  ❞ ❝  i’ll kill anyone who gets in my way. you included.  ❞ ❝  if they find us, they won’t bother with arresting and interrogating, do you understand?  ❞ ❝  everyone admires you, but you know that your only reward will be the next task you’re given.  ❞ ❝  just don’t fall in love with me…  ❞ ❝  promise you’ll try to get some sleep?  ❞ ❝  it often seems that you’re on your own, but always remember you have a team you can count on.  ❞ ❝  whatever you’re planning, make sure you see it through to the end.  ❞ ❝  it can get tough when it feels like there’s no end to it in sight.  ❞ ❝  i don’t need this world anymore, but i need you.  ❞ ❝  it doesn’t matter how well you do something, as long as you look good doing it.  ❞ ❝  i always felt like my mission was to cross the ultimate frontier. that frontier is death.  ❞ ❝  something in me died back then. i just couldn’t handle it.  ❞ ❝  would you take a bullet for me?  ❞ ❝  what, a little guilt creeps in and that’s that? you give up?  ❞ ❝  it’s an awful place...it is no wonder you are losing your mind.  ❞ ❝  i realize you’re there, always were, and a wave of relief washes over me.  ❞ ❝  remember when you were asked: quiet life or blaze of glory? shame you chose wrong.  ❞ ❝  ooooooooh, i get what’s going on here. you’re jealous.  ❞ ❝  think dangerous; be dangerous. think weak; be weak.  ❞ ❝  it’s true what they say. you’re good. really fucking good. got a stick up your ass, through.  ❞ ❝  hah. my mind. that’s…that’s a touchy subject.  ❞ ❝  y’know, they say time is the best teacher. i used to think that was true.  ❞ ❝  you know what, sweetheart? we’ll have plenty of time to tear at each other’s throats later.  ❞ ❝  i have to sit and think…about everything.  ❞ ❝  no really, it’s ok. it just scraped me.  ❞ ❝  a peaceful death in this town? guy won the jackpot.  ❞ ❝  sorry you had to witness that. things just get complicated sometimes.  ❞ ❝  who you work for? start talking!  ❞ ❝  well, well….looks like fortune favors the stupid, too.  ❞ ❝  day’s not over yet. you still have a chance to piss me off.  ❞ ❝  what’s free comes most costly.  ❞ ❝  sometimes two people find themselves at the wrong place at the right time.  ❞ ❝  i’m in this city, free to do whatever i want with my life, but…am i really free?  ❞ ❝  i sense anything going wrong, i’m out.  ❞ ❝  drop by if you ever want to talk. or if you don’t we can just sit together in silence. either way, i’m here for you.  ❞ ❝  i’m nobody, i’m a zero.  ❞ ❝  you know, i still got that contract to kill you.  ❞ ❝  have you known love? do you know what it is?  ❞  ❝  talked in your sleep, you know.  ❞ ❝  tsomeone…someone should give you a checkup, see if you’re ok. someone you trust.  ❞ ❝  goodbye, and please - stay away. you’ve done enough already.  ❞ ❝  one thing we can’t do is be afraid of others.  ❞ ❝  that the pick-up line you settled on?  ❞ ❝  right…so, gonna stop by? or gonna make me grovel?  ❞ ❝  i’ve missed you, you know, heh…  ❞ ❝  it seems all good, like nothing bad ever happened.  ❞ ❝  i…i was angry…i must’ve lost control.  ❞ ❝  if you wanna change the world, there’s always a price to be paid.  ❞ ❝  you ever wake up in the middle of the night…and not know who you were for a second…? you ever feel like you weren’t really ‘you’?  ❞ ❝  here i feared you’d forgotten about me.  ❞ ❝  all right. you know why we’re here, don’t you? say you do.  ❞ ❝  you don’t realize it, but…you’ve given me something beautiful.  ❞ ❝  i’m really starting to feel like your puppet.  ❞ ❝  if you wanted my attention, you just earned it.  ❞ ❝  the stronger survive. you’re either somebody or you fizzle out into nothing.  ❞ ❝  now answer my question. honestly. forthrightly. are you here alone?  ❞ ❝  my whole life’s a fucking cosmic joke.  ❞ ❝  i know that it might seem like you’re trying to help, but i’d rather that you just left us alone…otherwise things won’t end well.  ❞ ❝  so you can be nice when you feel like it.  ❞ ❝  it’s always good to have the strength of others to support you too.  ❞  ❝  you’re worth more than you think. trust me.  ❞ ❝  talked in your sleep, you know.  ❞ ❝  well, i slept like a puppy. that’s a crazy shoulder you have there.  ❞ ❝  is that a quiver in your voice i hear?  ❞ ❝  what makes someone a criminal? getting caught.  ❞ ❝  the only limit to what you can do is what you’re willing to do.  ❞ ❝  you only have to look at you. a venomous spider wearing the mask of a nice lady. but i will not be fooled.  ❞ ❝  ugh, trust issues, again? thought we’d talked it all out.  ❞ ❝  what the fuck is going on? i feel like i’m not in control of anything anymore…  ❞ ❝  sorry, but, i’d rather be alone right now.  ❞ ❝  remember, a while back, you told me to give you a solid kick in the pants if i saw you diving into the stupid pool again?  ❞ ❝  sit your ass down a minute, honey, and breathe.  ❞ ❝  lately i feel like i’ve been ranting and raging, so i just want to make sure you know i appreciate what you did for me.  ❞ ❝  i’ll just lie here a while, by your side, gazing at the stars.  ❞ ❝  when the time comes, it will be my life for yours.  ❞ ❝  how did we grow so far apart?  ❞ ❝  no more mayhem, no more shady-ass schemes. done with that.  ❞ ❝  say it. say it out loud. not for me, but for yourself.  ❞ ❝  a pathetic attempt to get under my skin.  ❞ ❝  i loathe it - this whole ‘playing tough in the face of death’ thing.  ❞ ❝  the road to the stars is always paved with darkness.  ❞ ❝  wait up! don’t do this. you can still change your mind.  ❞ ❝  dammit, no matter how hard i try, i can’t forget you...  ❞ ❝  plenty of others out there’re more deservin’ of life. but even so... i’d never wish you dead.  ❞ ❝  truth is everything’s going off the rails. i feel worse and worse.  ❞ ❝  i’m nowhere near as tough as you and i can’t pretend to be anymore.  ❞ ❝  you don’t seriously think i’ll just up and leave you? i’m with you - through thick and thin.  ❞ ❝  i’d say i’m happy to see you, but it’s not good to lie.  ❞ ❝  i’ll get us through this, you’ll see.  ❞ ❝  i’m just happy, like, dumb happy, you know? you’re really amazing.  ❞ ❝  you’re playing with fire. don’t dare cross the line.  ❞ ❝  i’m afraid things won’t be the same between us if i tell you the whole truth.  ❞ ❝  do you even know what i had to sacrifice to get where i am? the price i paid?  ❞ ❝  your first time here, isn’t it? want some advice? go the fuck away.  ❞ ❝  when someone tells me to not worry, they’re usually hiding something.  ❞ ❝  it’s not easy talking about what’s biting me at the ass.  ❞ ❝  just promise me one thing: don’t forget me.  ❞ ❝  legends - know where you’ll find most of them? the graveyard.  ❞ ❝  ah, you try to provoke me. is this wise, you think?  ❞ ❝  i can lead others away from the darkness.  ❞ ❝  the more i say everything’s okay, the more i feel like i’m straight up lying.  ❞ ❝   you need to take a few deep breaths. then rethink all this, hard..  ❞ ❝  you can call me back. do you know why? because i am here for you.  ❞ ❝  why’d you wanna meet me here? for the view, or you turning sentimental on me?  ❞ ❝  know what? think i figured you out.  ❞ ❝  if not for you...i’d be long dead. several times over.  ❞ ❝  you’re adorable. didn’t realize you still had a child-like imagination...and intelligence.  ❞ ❝  death walks in your wake.  ❞ ❝  just trying to live with it. survive, actually.  ❞ ❝  the world doesn’t forgive. it eats people alive. but you - well, you survived.  ❞ ❝  everyone i’ve met so far says i’m far too gone.  ❞ ❝  hey, come on, you’re not the one at blame here.  ❞ ❝  don’t make the same mistake i made. say goodbye to the people you love.  ❞  ❝  well, aren’t you just bursting with a can-do attitude?  ❞

[k7l4d4]

A New Perspective: Owl House AU Story

Hello All, today, I am going to embark on a Collaboration with my good friend, Flamestar50! Everybody clap your hands!!

Standing in the main living room of the Owl House, a face off of epic proportions was taking place. With this, the entire fate of this ragtag band of misfits would be changed forever...

“I play, THE WILD CARD!!” With a victorious shout, Eda slammed down her Wild Card, winning herself the game of, you guessed it, Hex’s Holdem, much to the annoyed groans of her sister and King.

“Edalyn, please. Reconsider!” Lilith pleaded, desperate to try and gain some measure of caution from her sister before she did something stupid. “Was playing a mere card game really necessary to decide what to do with the shard of the portal Luz recovered!?”

Eda turned an annoyed glare her sister’s way. She had committed to this, and she would not be swayed. And besides, “Need I remind you that you cursed me, lied to me about it for years, and blindly followed a tyrant in some insane scheme to cure me without me ever finding out it was all your fault?” As Lilith cringed, feeling the brutal honesty of her sister’s words, Eda fought off a grin. “You’re lucky I gave you anything resembling a say in this anyway. At least you had a fair shot!”

Lilith silently conceded the point. For all her crimes, she was insanely lucky Eda was letting her live here, let alone allowing her a say in what went on. Still, this was risky. “I understand that. I merely wish for you to take a moment and consider what could go wrong! It’s something I’ve wished I’d done myself all these years.” Lilith internally cringed, knowing that, even if her ploy, however honest it may be, worked, Eda was going to be sour for that.

Lilith was honestly surprised as Eda merely sniffed, and nodded. “I’m not as reckless as you seem to believe sis. I know not to try anything crazy with this little doohickey.” She held up said doohickey, a sliver of the portal to the Human Realm they had managed to recover. She shot her sister a crooked grin. “I haven’t avoided getting caught all these years by being reckless, and I know when to keep myself in check; it’s not just ineptitude that kept your goons from grabbing me all those years!”

In spite of the little jab, Lilith breathed a sigh of relief, more than glad her sister wasn’t planning anything... TOO crazy. “Very well. Do you have any plans in particular?”

Eda grinned, more than glad to talk about her favorite subject the majority of the time; herself! “As a matter of fact...”

As the two witches made their way to the kitchen, Eda craved some good old fashioned Apple Blood after a well-earned victory, chatting away about their plans, neither noticed that they had forgotten the very shard they had had their epic duel of wits and will just moments before on the table.

“Eda! I got my Potion Homework ready! You promised to help me go over it, remember? Eda?” Entering with said potion in hand was the Owl Lady’s Apprentice herself, Luz Noceda. As she looked around, she quickly spotted Eda’s cards for Hexes Holdem, rolling her eyes fondly. She may not have known what Eda and Lilith had been playing over, but the fact they weren’t here was a solid indicator Eda had won, and was getting her victory Apple Blood, as had been her tradition since the debacle with Tibbles.

“Luz! I’m bored and demand your aid!” Marching in with as menacing a glower as his adorable face could manage was King, Eda’s original roommate and the self-styled King of Demons. Also, one of Luz’s good friends, when he wasn’t being an adorable tyrant that is! “I need you to get me some of the backup cookies behind the- hey what are you doing?” One thing King could always be counted on was his ability to instantly switch fixations at random, and his current fixation was now Luz’s project! 

Eager to finally have someone show interest in her non-glyph related work, Luz began extolling all that her potion was supposed to be and could accomplish, theoretically, with King unusually enraptured by her monologue. He normally could only really focus on his own! Just as she was about to get to the good part, Hooty barged in. “HEY WHAT ARE YOU GUYS TALKING ABOUT? DO YOU THINK I COULD HELP!?!? HOOTY HOOT!”

“GAH!” With a yelp, and an undignified plop to the ground, King whirled on the House Demon. “Why can you never enter without making a scene!?” As King bellowed his retort to Hooty’s unintentional mayhem unironically, he leapt for the larger demon, who let out a rather frightened shriek. As the two demons wrestled, Luz tried her best to break them up.

“Guys, guys! Please! Can’t this wait till later?” As Luz pulled at Hooty’s sinuous bulk, she never noticed as she and King inched ever closer to her Homework and, unbeknownst to them, the portal shard. As they pulled closer and closer, Luz picked up the thumps of Eda and Lilith drawing nearer to the racket.

“Eda, I can’t believe we left the shard in the living room!?”

“Ah nuts, Lily, it’ll be fine..” No sooner had Eda uttered this did she and Lilith enter the room and took in the carnage. She slowly turned to her sister, noting the struggle to keep a pleased grin off her face, and retorted in advance. “Not. One. Word.” As Lilith pulled her hands up in surrender, Eda strolled over, more than ready to put a stop to the nonsense, when her eyes honed in on the sight of the shard, and the unknown potion beside it. As her memory of her promise to help Luz snapped into place, she quickly shouted a warning.

Said warning came just a hair too late, as Hooty and the other crashed into the table, and sent the potion and shard smashing into each other. As the potion sputtered and sparked, the wrestling demons and human finally noticed the arrival of the elder witches, as well as the destabilizing potion next to them.

As Lilith took in the sight before her, of her sister, her sister’s apprentice, her roommate, and their very home itself abstractly, she knew she had only one option. With a leap containing every ounce of effort her body could give, Lilith shoved the others out of the way, shielding the potion with her body.

“LILY!!” With a desperate cry, Eda reached out as best she could, desperate to save her sister from the potion breaking down beneath her form.

“Goodbye, Eda.” With a content smile, Lilith pulled closer, fully prepared to sacrifice her life for her family, and as the potion finished breaking down under the influence of its surprise ingredient... a portal opened up directly overhead. Snapping her gaze above herself, Lilith’s eyes widened as a bevy of individuals fell through, and onto herself.

Stunned at what had just occured, and noting how similarly, heck, fully identical, the strangers looked to Luz and her little friends, Eda had just one thing to say. “Well, that was unexpected.” Turning her head to Luz, she only half-jokingly added: “Want to help me pickpocket them?”

[danthepest]

Having finished Saints Row 1 a few weeks ago, I thought I’d share some of my thoughts in a semi-coherent manner.

If you’re used to Saints Row 2 or any of the later Saints Row games, Saints Row 1 is balls to the wall hard compared to them sometimes. The lack of checkpoints is an absolute pain during certain missions. And 8 activity levels is absolutely too much. I’m glad they shortened them to 6 and were generous enough to reward you for getting passed 3 levels in SR2. And Jesus Christ some of the races are unforgiving. So much trial and error to find what car works best for certain races.

The Hitman missions are...something. I managed to kill 4 or 5 random targets completely by accident while doing other stuff or fucking around. Wasn’t actively hunting or searching for them either. When I was looking for them, I spent god damn ice ages trying to make them spawn. At least they still reward you at the end of each list completion, as opposed to SR3.

And while the need to kill them with certain weapons is a neat idea on paper, it’s horrible in practice. They should’ve made it so you’d get a bigger money reward if you killed them with the desired weapon but not mandatory.

Why of why did SR2 and 3 remove the on foot radio? I loved doing diversions and fucking around while listening to it. Had a car flip and land on its side. Then it kept hopping ever so slightly while I was still inside as the chorus went “Look at me, look at me, look at me, I’m a winner!” I wish I was recording that.

Snatch, Trafficking and Escort always sucked and I have no idea why they kept these shit activities for SR3 while removing the fun ones.

It was frustrating having stores be closed at knight. I run into Friendly Fire to get me some ammo and then remember that this isn’t SR2 and the alarm goes off. I do actually prefer how store robberies are handled in SR1 though. And I really liked the safe cracking and package delivery diversions. Shame they were gone by SR2

Seeing Zombie Lin is heartbreaking.

LOVE the mansions and penthouse cribs you unlock after each story arc.

Requiring you to find all tag locations to unlock unlimited stamina was pure sadism on Volition’s part. You can’t change my mind on this.

The CD collection is actually worthwhile this time if only for “Man Up” and “Saints Row” as opposed to the silly stock music in SR2.

Was sad that Tobias isn’t a homie, but I loved hanging out with Mr. Wong, Laura and Samantha. Shame Wong and Laura aren’t homies in SR2.

As much as Warren is treated and thought of as an imbecile for wanting to go to war with the Saints, he was actually right. Had Ben King stepped up as soon as they blew up and “killed Aisha”, the Saints might’ve been dead before the starting line. King was kind of an idiot and should’ve expected the revolt.

It’s saddening that you can’t hang out with Johnny, Dex, Troy or Julius after the story.

All of the hair options were garbage. Gave my Playa a ponytail, but it looked so awfuls, that I had to give Playa a bandana for the entire game to make it look decent.

Richard Hughes’ dialogue in the final cutscene was clearly meant for a different backdrop, possibly a hotel or expo building, as shown with lines like “Could you wait outside?”, “Steve, could you come in here?” and “I have a party to get to.” even though he’s outside. On a boat.

Some of the radio ads were obnoxious, like the T’n’A and Lik-a-Chic ones. The voice actors had fun and it shows, but the ads themselves are groan worthy.

“CATCH DA LUCKY PINGPONG BALL AND YOU GET TO RELOAD DA CANNON”

“THE NEW FUCK-IT-BUCKIT”

There are several ped dialogue lines that talk about Julius being a coward and never finishing what he starts. I find that interesting as it sheds some light into his sudden betrayal of Playa and subsequent justification for it.

Was disappointed you don’t unlock all the enemy gang vehicles like you do in SR2. The fact that none of them had their own custom decals also sucked.

I like how you can buy out clothing stores. Beats having to go to a store and then try to remember if you bought a shirt or pants a certain color already like in SR2.

I can hardly believe that Stilwater has changed so much between SR1 and 2. I can honestly say I know how the Boss felt at the start of SR2 now.

The activity cutscenes were downgraded considerably in SR2. The SR1 cutscenes made the city feel more alive, more involved.

There was an attempt with ped dialogue to make them more believable, like talking about how their loved ones could’ve been widows/orphans because of you. I like that

The portrayal of women in SR1 is....eeeeeh? Like, I’m not gonna cry misogyny at something just because it has hookers or shows bad women or whatever, but you can tell that SR1 was made in the mid-2000′s, when most portrayals of women were as desirable sex objects. I don’t think it was intentionally misogynistic on Volition’s part. Just a product of its time. They got better by the second game and much better by the time AoM came out.

I find the first story cutscene to be both utterly ridiculous and endearing and how Playa joins the Saints.

“Levar, you gonna let those bitches disrespect us?”

“Shiet wha’chu think?”

Like imagine the Boss discussing how they entered the Saints with the younger crew.

“I crossed the street. Got my leg injured. Went to church. The rest is history.”

“But-”

“History.”

All in all, I loved the first Saints Row. Great potential that was realized in Saints Row 2, but even then Saints Row 2 took some steps backwards compared to the first game. But the improvements were so vast that they outshine those backsteps. Man, it’s no wonder SR3 and beyond have been plummeting in quality and writing. Saints Row peaked to early with 1 and 2. Agents of Mayhem was a small step in the right direction though.

[throwing-summers-at-the-walls]

Hello half valid anon here (i like my nickname 😂). I got through all your fics and they were all great. Right now im just reading a lot of poi fanfics and watch fanvids cause i can't accept that the series is over 😂 --- i know what you mean about fics affecting you negatively. I had this with 13rw (the Show and some fics) everything was so dark and hopeless that i had to stop watching it. I also love to seek out fics where someone is hurt so i can feel my pain through the characters (1)

But i try to read only fics with lots of comfort so it kinda feels like i get comforted as well (dont know if that makes sense). If it makes you uncomfortable or if its unhealthy for you to write about this i completely understand and i dont mean to come of as pushing you to write. I just hope whatever you do will be the right decision for you! As for you feeling suicidal im sorry to hear that. Let me know if there is ever anything i can do to help! I wish i could say sth more comforting but Im not super good with words :( i just hope you have people in your life that support you! 💛

maybe root will grow on you too? Or maybe you can skip her scenes and enjoy John, Harold and most importanly Bear! 😂 Yeah Shaw definately looks really good. She is a bit like Reese minus the caring. At first it seems she doesnt care about anything at all but thats not exactly the Case. There was an episode with Shaw and a little girl (3x5) and i really loved it (have you seen that one?).

I really think Shaw would grow on you (especially since in the beginning she does a lot with John) but then again a lot of her later scenes include Root so im not sure. Yes i love that there were never any romantic undertones with her and John!!

yeah the core four were great. I was so sad when Carter died! :(

i guess everyone sees chemistry different, i think Shoot and Rinch post have great chemistry ☺️

as for John being good with people: YES!! he is always so compassionate and such a great listener as well. I especially like him with children. John and the baby were so cute or John with the boy who offered to pay for him. John + Kids was always a great combination and i wished we would have seen it more often. Also regarding children we did we never got to see a John Taylor scene after Carters death? I needed that!

yes John the badass is also amazing! His character has so many different sides and i love him so much!!

i think Grace Harold was really cute but i dont really see a future for them, i mean he lied to her for so long! but then again they really loved each other so idk maybe they work it out. Im also not into John/Harold/Grace but like you said good for the people who like the ship :)

John and Zoe were great! i wish Zoe would have appeared more often!

I have so many things to say about John and the boring therapist but i think i better not say them :D i wish i could just erase their relationship from my mind!

of course he didnt die! i didnt see a dead body so i refuse to believe he is dead! i also just wanted them to be happy. what kind of an ending is it to let the main character die? i refuse to accept this! -- thank you for the rec i will check it out :) while i do like fluff i mostly read h/c (with the focus on the comfort) cause i just want John to get his much needed comfort :D -- i have no idea where season 1 is supposed to be boring. but idc the people can live with their wrong opinions :D

(today: tumblr user nourann3 discovers the option to indent text after almost 5 years on tumblr...)

Hiii !! It is a very valid nickname 😂 That's nice !! Hmu if you want more recs ! Lol same honestly, I can't believe it's been 4 years since the show ended ! I can give you a link to my poi/Rinch fanvids playlist if you're interested 👀

Oh boi 13rw is so cursed, can't believe I watched all of the 1st season 😬 I remember being afraid of the suicide scene making me uncomfortable but it was so cringe, unrealistic and just bad that I wasn't even that uncomfortable, I cringed when she cut her arms but that's it.

Yeah big mood I project a lot on comfort fics as well. For suicide fics, I think it also depends on how the fics adress the subject. It's something that is complicated to write. If I read a suicide fic with no recovery I'm gonna project but feel like shit. But with recovery, I can project into the recovery as well so it's better ! I read a really good ace attorney fic showing Miles recovering after a suicide attempt, it was thoughtful and didn't fall into the pitfalls of magical super fast recovery/love heals everything, and some lines stuck with me, it was really good and comforting. But yeah if it's just a suicide/suicide attempt then I don't think it's good for me (but sometimes I still read it bc I'm a Dumb Bitch).

Dw you didn't come off as pushing 💜 I'll see how I feel about continuing it or not. I have to figure out if writing about suicide is positive or negative for me 🤔 I mean I'm not portraying John's suicidal crisis as a positive thing, and he reaches out to Harold, and considers he might get better so I don't think it's bad for me ? Another problem is that I have a tendency to drop my wips to write a new shiny idea I get, and then I never finish anything gkgkffjfjf I dropped the suicide fic for the body horror fic which I dropped for the time loop fic, and there's also the hanahaki fic I started last year but I haven't touched in months, plus a bunch of random shit floating around OneDrive lmao someone stop me

What helps the most is venting, just getting that shit out is helping y'know. I appreciate your support ♥️ at least it's not as bad as it used to be

I doubt Root will grow on me, catch me watching her scenes at 1.5 speed lmao, also yes you bet I'll enjoy watching them !!

Yes I remember that ep ! Iirc the little girl tells Shaw she has feelings but the volume is lower than in other people or smth along those lines ?

I hope she'll grow on me bc she seems cool. I remember I was a bit afraid of her just becoming a sort of hollow copy of John, like "look we added another badass to the show". Seems to be more than that though ! Also I'm curious about their mayhem twins dynamic. But yeah if she has a lot of scenes with Root idk how much it'll annoy me

I feel like I wouldn't be able to get the Shoot chemistry bc I'm too biased against Root lol

Ikr the crossing hurt me so much. But thinking about it takes me back to my careese days and my first fics lol. I feel like the death of one of the core four + the abandonment of the library really alienated me from the show (did I already say that before ?). And here I'm gonna shamelessly derail from Carter to the library bc boiii do I have a lot of feelings about the library !! And you're here, talking about poi, so you're the perfect subject to throw these feelings at. This post really says what I feel about it (I'll put the link at the end as well if you wanna read it after you're done with this l o n g reply). It was in a way its own character and its forced abandonment/destruction really hit me (fucked me up when they broke that glass board). It says something that it's one of the few things I remember from S3 along with Carter's death and 4C. I loved it a lot, it was a cornerstone of the show. It was a safe place, a home for Harold and John (and Bear !). I love when they're together in there, I love this cracked glass board, this yellow stained glass in the windows !!! (at least I assume it's stained glass ?), these lights, Bear's cushion, the whole cozy/safe/isolated feelings, just absolutely everything. And yeah later they have the subway, idk when it's introduced I don't remember if it's early enough for me to have watched it. And maybe it's nice, I can't judge rn. But it's like trying to give me a new MC after a MCD, make him as nice as you want I'll be clutching the previous MC until I die. Gkfkfkff I went overboard and off topic but I just love the library ok

Ikr I love how he's badass but also gentle and understanding and nice to people ! I love him !!! Yeah wolf and cub is really good, also I love when John smiles to Darren at the end !! I use this moment as my pfp bc I love it so much. He's just so cute ! I wish he smiled more (did we ever hear him laugh in the entirety of the show ?). Baby blue is so great, Harold and him are such a married couple in this ep ! Yeah same more content with John and children would have been nice.

I never thought about how much we needed a John Taylor scene but yes !! We were robbed :((((

Speaking of John being a cool badass. Here's a badass John vid rec it's super good

Yeah they were cute in the past. I think it's good he went back to her bc it gives closure to both of them. But I don't see their relationship working again. She grieved, probably started to move on after all these years and knowing he lied all this time probably won't make her want to go back with him. I've never been in love so what do I know lol, but were I her I probably wouldn't want to go back with him and I'd just be happy knowing he's alive after all.

Same I need more Zoe (also she's hot)

Lmao let's just forget about that weird relationship shall we

Aren't we all the same, firmly believing he's alive and happy out there ! It was foreshadowed since the first ep and it made sense but do I care ? No, fuck that shit John is very much alive

You're welcome ! John needs all the comfort and the love !!! I think I have a preference for fluff bc he gets hurt enough in the show lol

Indeed they can, veryyy far away from us

Sry if this is shit I have like half a functioning braincell today

The post abt home bases I mentioned

[cruddyborderlandstheories]

Would you rather see GB buff Zane's other trees, buff everybody else to be on par with Seein dead Zane, or nerf Seein dead?

Why only stick with one? Let's go for D, A mix of everything, plus other class mod buffs (for all!). I can't imagine Seein Dead Zane is the strongest VH atm (as far as I know, I haven't been keeping up with meta because this game beyond my own little bubble is kinda making me sad-o lately. I thought that award went to IB Moze nowadays), but regardless of my knowledge yes I'd genuinely love to see everyone at the same power level. Buffs ahoy! Or nerfs. Whichever works, so long as the game is actually fun and satisfying to play.

I'd personally like them to swap the Seein Red capstone with Seein Dead, but without the +25% kill skill buff. (aka: Seein Dead (mod): activate kill skills on action skill start. Get +25% kill skill efficiency. Seein Red (capstone): Zane has a chance to activate Kill Skills when shooting/damaging an enemy). Seein Dead would still be his top mod probably, but at least it would open him up for other playstyles (somewhat- we still actually need damage in his other trees). He's almost unplayable end game without that mod, because of his reliance on the skills it buffs, and I'd love to try a late-game build on him that isn't centered around kill skills for once. I tried to make a Conductor build and gave up after it took 4x as long to do anything. His new mod (won't go into more specifics bc spoilers) is looking a tiny bit promising for an Under Cover build, but we'll have to see how well that actually plays out when I get down into it. I get the feeling the damage output is going to be 'not good'. But I will be very happy if I'm wrong!!

That said, I really want to be able to use any other class mod at M10. Op8/10, my main VH Zer0 had the sniper OR melee build and even for the melee build (I am a dirty melee zer0 main) I could swap between two legendary mods. In Bl3 that difference is felt even harder because class mods are supposed to give us unique skills. But it's a pretty goddamn easy choice between "get a random dot when freezing an enemy" or "activate all your kill skills and also they get a 25% damage buff". They could've buffed Death Follows Close and Seein' Red, you know to match pre-release values (and maybe also swapped their positions back to how they were iunno just a thought), but instead dropped that class mod on us (BEHIND A PAY WALL NO LESS) and said 'whelp. We did it, boys. Zane complainers are no more'. If anybody wants to play Zane late game, they've gotta drop money on the Handsome Jackpot dlc to get their hands on the mod. That's so... Messed up? Like it feels like they locked his fix behind a pay wall and a gear slot. Like, Zane mains don't get to experiment with the new class mods that drop because we know it's never gonna top Seein Dead. Even if it's kind of 'okay' in comparison. So maybe buff his other mods? Fix Zane's skill trees? Both?? Like why. Okay. Hear me out. Seein Red: activate kill skills on AS start. Wonderful! CCnC: (potentially) infinite AS uptime. Cool! But trying to mix those two together? There's no synergy. Why does Good Misfortune buff Zane's AS uptime when the literal next skill in the tree rewards short uptime and fast cooldown? Same with Borrowed Time. There's so much... Non-synergy in his trees it's almost comical. Fixing Seein' Red would open up a ton of possibilities. Running a CCnC/Seein' Red build could actually be possible if they made it so Seein Red activated Kill Skills on damage. Or! Fix CCnC so each proc of it counts as both action skill end AND action skill start. Do *something* to make his skills synergize instead of being polar opposites.

And it's not just Zane, but he's the biggest example in my books since I know him the best. I hear Amara only has 1 (2?) good mods, too. She definitely only seems to have 1 good action skill and it's unfortunately the Phaselock redux. They could buff her other two skills, make phaseslam or phasecast actually hit hard at later levels, but they don't. It's the whole Deathtrap thing again, except now they proved its possible for AS to deal damage in m10 with iron bear and Blane (Zane's clone) so what's the deal? Also, I'd love to see Amara actually deal decent damage with DoTs at higher levels given how many of her skills are dedicated to them. It would make that one class mod that applies your AS element dot to all enemies hit by your AS really cool for mobbing.

So, okay, clearly I'd love to see everyone balanced at one level, but honestly I think they need to get to max level before they do that. I don't think we're going to have a 'Salvador' situation in 3 unless they fork up the new skill trees Big Time, so I'd love to see all the VHs at one power level (whatever they decide is best). The constant tweaking to max levels and adding new skills/gear/Mayhem levels is doing not great things to the balance (or fun-ness, imo). I get the game is still in development, and I get that they wanna buff longetivity with grinding with each level cap, but my biggest wish is that before they add new content, that they'll fix the stuff we have now so there's a base to go off of. VH skills, class mods, guns, grenades, Mayhem levels, all of it. I especially want them to test stuff at M10, given what happened with the Guardian Takedown on launch.

I know the borderlands games aren't... The best... At scaling/balancing issues late-game. But I really hope they will try to fix that this time. It is extremely disheartening to see every patch/hotfix that Zane is still... Basically borked at the base level. He's had a handful of really good fixes (stacking kill skills, the buff to quick breather) but a lot of his trees/skills are still pretty messed up, especially when you think about synergy. Also, you know, just saying, the Under Cover tree is just... So bad after tier 3. I used to vouch for CCnC, but why use CCnC when we have good misfortune which is 3x better with none of the restrictions? And why use his ice-based life steal skill, when you can get life steal at tier 2 on *any* enemy, frozen or not? Someone just needs to scrap the whole tree and remake it from the ground up. That capstone is... Blegh. So bad. I have not seen a single viable, m10 build with that capstone. You can make Seein Red work. You can make Double Barrel work. Fuckin distributed denial? N O P E. I tried. So got-damg hard. But it's a headache when it doesn't work with at LEAST half the shield effects in the game and you don't know which ones it won't work with without testing and also it's mainly for multi-player and none of my friends wanna play because the balance is so forked and...

Aw geez. This just turned into a rant about things I want fixed haha. Sorry about that, it's late and I get cranky and rambly at night.

So uh. To answer the question: yes. Just. YES.

Tl;dr: Someone please fix Zane I want him to be playable late-game without players needing to drop money on DLCs. plz thx.

[roxannarambles]

Fire Emblem Fanfic - Ch 1

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Title: Acquired Taste

Author: Roxanna Rambles

Summary: When Heath defected from Bern's wyvern knights and joined Eliwood's group, he was very keen on keeping to himself, and for the most part, that was easy to do. However, a particular ex-assassin insisted on hounding him. It was extremely annoying. Heath hated it. And there was no way that was going to change. Nope. 

Author Note: Semi-AU, mainly to add characters into the story early; just know Legault joins Eliwood during 'False Friends' and Heath joins during 'Talons Alight.' Also some minor adjustments to Heath's past, so that he's a little less easygoing when he joins Eliwood's crew.

Chapters: Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10  Chapter11 Chapter 12 Epilogue

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The man stood upon one leg, his other foot pressed into the wall his back was propped against. One arm was crossed over his chest, his hand tucked into the crook of his other arm, rolling and twirling a short stick absent-mindedly about in his other hand.

A long, purple cape fluttered gently in the evening breeze, and flowing lavender hair swept back with a bandana matched the cape's flutter. The man held a peaceful, contemplative expression, his heather eyes focused on nothing in particular. Such a serene face was marred with old, deep scars traced broadly from above his right brow to down across his face and cheek. Although it gave a fierce, intimidating look about him at first blush, something about the man also immediately suggested he was not a savage fighter by nature. Perhaps it was the sly smirk that decorated his face, or perhaps it was the ring of lock picks hanging from his skewed leather belt, belaying his current profession.

Had someone come upon this man, they might have easily assumed he was lost in thought. His head was bowed and his casual demeanor gave him an air of lazy comfort. But he was not oblivious to the outside world. On the contrary, he was actually listening carefully to the hustle and chatter of the camp around him. The ragtag crew of soldiers, nobles, mercenaries, misfits and turncoats were a bunch he had somehow gotten caught up in. The entire company, under the leadership of some plucky young nobles with grand visions of combating corruption and evil, were camped out after a full day's march. Their chosen site for rest was a crumbling old church abandoned perhaps a millennia ago. It was one of the outer walls he was propped against now; listening to tents being pitched, draft animals shooed about, supplies being sorted for the evening and the general mayhem of so many people in a relatively small space.

Legault found it pleasant to just perch there and listen. Perhaps it was nothing more than indulging ingrained habits. In his old line of work, he used to stand like that for hours, patiently, watching, listening. It was nice to keep one's skills in check, even if he didn't plan on using them again.

Among the din and natter, one voice in particular caught his attention. It was distant and indistinct, yet it immediately leapt out at him. It was that wyvern rider who had joined their lot a few weeks back. Legault tilted his head and could just barely make out the man's figure within the interior of the church ruins. A lanky man, with wildly spiked green and white hair, still donning his old, cracked Bern armor-- he stood speaking with one of the Lycian nobles, Hector. Legault strained to catch what pieces he could of the conversation.

". . . could do that, it would be a great help. I don't trust these woods . . ."

". . . no trouble. She should be well rested by now, I can head out immediately."

"Excellent! Be sure to check the whole perimeter . . ."

After a few moments, they concluded their conversation, and the wyvern rider began heading in the direction of the  impromptu stables area. It wasn't difficult to surmise he would be taking his beast out on patrol for the evening. Legault let his thoughts settle around the enigmatic man. What an odd fellow. It was clear from the very outset that the man carried a strong sense of pride and justice, but he was so aloof and guarded. There seemed to be much behind his pale eyes that he left unspoken. Legault had found himself drawn to the stranger almost immediately. Unfortunately, his friendly overtures had been met with prickly irritation and suspicion, and he'd been unable to progress beyond that point. A shame, really, as the handsome Bern turncoat was really quite admirable and fascinating.  If Legault was being entirely honest, he'd been on his mind far too frequently.

Why did he always have to fall for the difficult ones?

Gravel crunched under heavy reptilian feet, the creature being guided outside the church ruins to reach the open skies. Legault remained as still as he had the entire evening, and waited until they had just gone past him.

"Sneaking off for the night, Heath?"

The man visibly startled and spun around. When his eyes fell upon Legault, he sighed wearily.

"What are you doing skulking about?"

"If you can go out to enjoy the night air, why can't I?"

Heath scowled and turned his focus on adjusting his wyvern's saddle.

"I'm not out for a jaunt. I'm running nightwatch for Hector."

"That's valiant of you. Mind if I tag along?"

Heath gave him a puzzled look.

"Why?"

"This constant questioning of my motives does get tiresome. I thought you might like the backup. Besides, it'd be nice to stretch my legs."

Heath climbed onto his wyvern's saddle.

"It would take quite the jog to keep up with me. But do as you please."

He glanced down at Legault and added as an afterthought;

"I'm setting up watch at the mouth of the valley after running the perimeter. Perhaps you'll manage to make it out there, if you don't run afoul of the boars or wildcats."

With that, he signaled his wyvern and took to the sky. Legault watched him veer off and vanish over the trees.

"Well," he muttered to himself,

"I suppose I do love a challenge."

After giving the camp a brief backwards glance, he began hiking.

Although the distance to travel was not unreasonable, the density of the woods and the ever-darkening sky didn't exactly make things easy. Legault hadn't brought a torch, of course, but he possessed unusually keen eyesight-- one of the advantages of his nature, being a predator of the night. Even he had his limits, though. Fortunately, he was able to keep his bearings and was guided during the final leg of his journey by a tiny point of light.

Heath was seated upon an old log, poking at a sloppily-built campfire with his lance. He glanced up and raised his brows as a figure materialized from the trees.

"Hmm. I admit I expected you to have been eaten on the way over."

"I imagine I taste far too foul for that sort of thing."

The wyvern rider grunted and turned back to poking the fire. Legault drew closer, glancing to the scarlet wyvern curled behind Heath a few feet away. It could be an unpredictable beast, but he knew it was wary of the fire, and at the moment it seemed content enough. A few moments passed in silence.

"So is this how you spend your nightwatches? Sitting about and poking campfires?"

"More or less. Guarding isn't exactly an exciting duty. I still cannot fathom why you'd wish to join me."

Legault settled down upon a large stone near the fire.

"I'm curious about you, Heath. You're a very tight-lipped man. Why don't you tell me more about yourself?"

"I'd rather not."

"Well, you might as well. We're out here for the night with nothing better to do."

Heath scowled, but remained silent.

"How about start with what brought you here, mm? Why leave your old life behind? It must have been a compelling enough reason to mark yourself a fugitive from such a powerful country."

"My reasons needn't concern you."

"I see. What about those gentlemen you were working for before you met this little band? You left them in quite the hurry as well. A flighty fellow, aren't you?"

"Perhaps I'm just indecisive."

"Somehow I doubt it's as simple as that."

"I do not see why it is important. What matters is I am here now."

Legault smiled wryly.

"Goodness, Heath. Might you throw me a bone?  Does your wyvern have a name?"

The knight's eyes flickered to the slumbering animal. After a moment, he said,

"Hyperion."

"Ah! At last, a suitable topic. Well then-- is it difficult to keep it fed? It looks as though it would have a sizable appetite."

"She. She can be a glutton if I let her, but she doesn't need much. A few rabbits or a bushel of fruit."

"Fruit? I wouldn't have expected that."

Heath leaned back a little on his seat, looking hesitant, but did continue to speak.

"She prefers meat, of course, but there are times during travel we must make do. Sometimes fish, sometimes insects, even roots or fungi. They are hearty, adaptable creatures."

"I can see why Bern's soldiers use them."

The knight shook his head.

"That is not so important a thing to Bern. The wyverns are used for their strength and ferocious appearance. A beast that calls to mind the terror of the time of Dragons is advantageous. It . . . matters very little to Bern's armies if the wyverns are kept healthy for long. They are bred in masses and simply replaced."

"Oh. Ah . . . that seems a little cruel."

Heath turned a log in the fire with his lance.

"It is."

Legault hummed,

"I guess it's lucky for her that she's got you, then."

Heath looked again to Hyperion.

"I am more in debt to her than she is to me. There is much I would have failed to survive without her. Especially when I. . ."

He trailed off, seeming to catch himself.

"When you went on the lam?"

He gave a reluctant nod.

"Honestly, I'm a little jealous. I wouldn't have minded the assistance of a wyvern when I left the Fang."

Heath seemed to prickle a little at that.

"I assure you my challenges far outweighed any minor advantage I had. Bern deserters are treated like foxes for the foxhunt."

"They sound like a cheery bunch," Legault commented dryly.

"Not particularly. They . . . curse you, Legault!"

The thief straightened up a little from his slouched position.

"What? Why are we suddenly cursing my name?"

Heath glowered at him.

"I suppose you should be proud. Your attempt to lull information from me nearly worked, for half a second."

Legault felt his normally cool, sanguine disposition heat a little.

"Why are you so hellbent on the notion I have only nefarious wishes in my heart?"

"You're Black Fang, Legault."

"Former Black Fang."

"Does that really matter?"

"I certainly feel it does."

"I've heard about the Black Fang, all right? It takes a particular kind of person to become involved with that lot."

"Mmm," Legault replied coolly,

"And perhaps you don't know as much as you believe you do. You're being awfully quick to hold a man's former associations against him, all things considered."

Legault said that final part with special emphasis. Heath glared a moment, but the fire faded from his eyes.

"Very well. Your point is made. Then tell me what you know of them."

Legault nodded.

"First, tell me what you believe of them. Although I could hazard a guess."

Heath considered a moment, then shrugged.

"As I know them, they are a team of assassins that unscrupulously accept any and all commands to kill. Although they masqueraded as a group that only targeted the corrupt in power, in truth they terrorized all in equal measure."

"Sounds about right."

"Then I'm correct?"

Legault shook his head.

"About the Black Fang as we know them today, yes, but that hasn't always been the case. The entire enterprise has been eaten away from the inside out. I doubt that you'll believe me, of course, but the truth is they used to believe in those ideals you mentioned. It was supposed to be about justice, against those who normally would see none."

Heath didn't exactly look as though he believed him, but in the very least, he was listening. Legault settled back down into a comfortable position and sighed.

"Things were very different back in the day. We were such a small group. Close-knit. It was almost like a family, of sorts. I'm not about to claim our profession was a glamorous one, but it was righteous, at least. That much, I know. The change . . . it . . . crept up gradually."

Legault gazed off at nothing in particular.

"It crept up on us all. Some of us realized sooner than others. Some never came to their senses. And those that did . . . well."

He smiled crookedly.

"Let's just say I think you understand the dangers of being a deserter or a traitor."

The small space fell silent, with only the crackle of the fire. It was a few minutes before Heath spoke.

"Do you ever long for your old life?"

The thief glanced to him, not expecting the question. Heath added,

"Before your group changed, I mean. Before they fell corrupt."

Legault tossed the small twig he'd been idly playing with into the fire.

"For the most part, the Black Fang is all I've known. It's not so much a longing as it is feeling aimless now."

Heath gave a small nod, gazing steadily into the fire. Once again, Legault saw so many unspoken words flickering behind the man's eyes. Eventually, the knight said,

"Perhaps you will yet find purpose."

Hyperion ruffled her wings and stretched, then curled back up again lazily. Legault sighed wistfully.

"Here's hoping, anyway."

[operationrainfall]

Title Psikyo Shooting Stars Bravo Developer City Connection Publisher NIS America Release Date February 18th, 2020 Genre SHMUP Platform Nintendo Switch Age Rating T for Teen – Fantasy Violence, Suggestive Themes Official Website

I wasn’t originally planning on reviewing Psikyo Shooting Stars Bravo. Not cause it looked bad mind you, far from it, but because I’m not an expert at the SHMUP genre. I enjoy it, but it also regularly kicks my ass. While Steve did a great job of tackling Psikyo Shooting Stars Alpha, he’s also closer to a veteran of these games than I am. But since I’ve always been intrigued by the Psikyo games, I figured I’d give Bravo a shot. This collection brings together all three Sengoku Aces games (even though they’ve tweaked their original titles), as well as two Gunbird entries and a very strange puzzle game. Was Psikyo Shooting Stars Bravo my introduction to the hardcore SHMUP genre? Or did I go down in flames?

For simplicity, I’ll cover the games in the order I beat them in. I started with the Sengoku (Samurai) Aces games – Samurai Aces, Samurai Aces II: TENGAI and Samurai Aces III: Sengoku Cannon, then tackled Gunbird followed by Gunbird 2, and closed things out with Gunbarich. Pretty much every game in the Bravo collection has large elements of fantasy, as well as nods to Japanese culture aplenty. There are giant Daruma dolls, mecha samurai, assorted demons and all sorts of crazy elements. They all play almost identically, with a few exceptions. Some are inherently vertical SHMUPs, while others are horizontal. Some only arm you with bombs and regular gun attacks, while a couple of the entries here have charged sub attacks. And even though the games are technically pretty simple, in execution they are all quite challenging. While only some of the games here would classify as bullet hell, none of them are easy. At least not on the Normal difficulty I played them all on.

Visually, the entire package of Psikyo Shooting Stars Bravo is quite attractive. Even my least favorite entry visuals-wise, Sengoku Cannon, still has some diverse enemies and complex artwork. I loved the hand drawn portraits in all the games, and even found the tiny models to be impressive. There’s tons of things generally happening in the games, humans running, machines gearing up, bullets flying and more. Tons of credit goes to the massive and evolving boss designs, and flashy and bombastic visual effects. Musically, each of the games does what’s necessary, and adds a bit of flourish. I like the audio retorts found in some of the games, such as shrieks of victory or screams of defeat. Though all the games are great musically, my favorite is TENGAI, especially how the soundtrack shifts when bosses are near, adding drama. Overall, the Bravo collection has fantastic art and sound design.

There were a couple minor quirks I encountered while playing Psikyo Shooting Stars Bravo. One happened when I first booted up Gunbird. I picked Marion and started playing, only to find there was no music whatsoever. There were sound effects, but no tunes. That only happened once, but it was a bit strange. Worse by far was the first time I played Gunbird 2. Though I know for a fact I picked Normal difficulty, the entire game was dialed up way harder. I barely got through the first stage, and was sweating bullets the entire time. Subsequent playthroughs were fine, but this was still an odd blip in an otherwise smooth experience. Also, while this isn’t a glitch, I really found it unfortunate that the Bravo collection had no compendiums, galleries or music boxes. I would have died for some behind the scenes insights into the development of the games, some artwork and the ability to listen to tunes. I also would have appreciated a gallery showing the endings I’d collected so far. The lack of these doesn’t make this collection horrible by any stretch, but it does prevent it from getting a perfect score from me.

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Apparently all the Samurai Aces games take place in Feudal Japan, and revolve around stopping a cult before they can resurrect their demonic god. I say “apparently” since it’s hard to get much plot from any of the games in the Bravo collection. The first Aces game is enjoyable. It features great and complex artwork, lots of moving parts and big foes. So long as I could hoard my precious bombs and powerups, I did pretty well. Having said that, I do feel the game can be a bit unbalanced in some stages. More tricky is that in all the games in this collection, the stage order is randomized. You’ll only play so many stages each playthrough, meaning sometimes you’ll be able to avoid the harder ones and others you won’t. All in all though, the original Samurai Aces was a fun romp with some really quirky characters, including a bald monk, tomboyish shrine maiden and even a dog. Don’t ask how that last one works, it just does.

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While the first Samurai Aces game was a vertical SHMUP, the second one, called TENGAI, switches things up. Not only does this entry move the Aces games to horizontally focused mayhem, but it also introduces sub weapons. Once you’re powered up to a certain level, you’ll be able to charge and unleash more powerful shots from your spectral familiars. My personal favorite is a fire breathing lemur companion. I actually loved this game the most of all in this series, and felt it was both the most well balanced and also had some amazing bosses. Not that the first game had horrible bosses, it didn’t, but I appreciated how modular the ones in TENGAI were, shedding parts and evolving into strange and dangerous new forms as you fought. This game also introduces the concept of recurring mini-boss foes that hound you, and even engage in some banter before battles. Oh and fun side note, the tomboyish Miko, who is also known as Koyori, gets a hell of a makeover in this game. Let’s just say with her newfound curves you can’t call her a lean tomboy anymore. But she’s just as arrogant and spunky as before.

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The third Aces title, Sengoku Cannon, is also the strangest. You could tell they were trying to make use of newfangled polygonal graphics in this game, and it actually hurts it quite a bit visually. Most stages are empty space filled with angry foes and quickly moving background landscapes. Worse was that the bosses are just floating humanoids that assault you with all manner of projectiles. Oh and did I mention, this is the first true bullet hell in the Bravo collection? That said, once I got past my dislike of the graphics in this particular entry, I really grew to enjoy the unique mechanics. This one played similar to the other games, but introduced a secondary Cannon attack which seems key to the score received at the end of stages. It also sometimes turns all enemy projectiles into coins when you kill enemies, which I’m a bit perplexed by. Though the bullet hell takes getting used to, it’s also mostly pretty fair. I grew to anticipate and avoid streams of bullets the more I played, and started to even get a little cocky. That is until the latter portion of the game, where the developers show us what they’re really capable of, and flood the screen with all manner of annoyance. It’s rough, but thankfully all the games in the Bravo collection allow you to tweak the parameters, giving yourself more lives and continues. Suffice to say, I dialed my lives up to 9 and continues to 3, and was thus able to beat all of the games in Psikyo Shooting Stars Bravo. The only exception is the last game, but I’ll save that for later.

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It was a special treat to play through the Gunbird games, since I had actually bought one of them individually months before. I hadn’t thought I was capable of beating it then, but I found the first Gunbird to be pretty well balanced the more I played it, at least on Normal. When this and the other games in the collection loop after you beat them, it seems as though the difficulty also ramps up significantly, making things much more hectic. So while that did prevent me from getting an uber score in the games, I still enjoyed them. Gunbird specifically had some really strange characters, including a Witch, a mechanical man, a cloud riding beauty, and even a very odd carpenter. Though this one does play quite a bit like the first Samurai Aces game, it has a bit more cartoonish spunk and humor. There’s some 20+ endings in this game alone, and they all depend on how you choose to spend a wish granted by a feline genie. I didn’t realize how important that decision was until I beat the game, decided to beat the genie mercilessly, then was trapped as a replacement genie for my sins. Yes, this is a bonkers game, and I really loved that about it.

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Gunbird 2 was the most visually impressive game in the entire Bravo collection, and it was also the most relentless. While it doesn’t quite go the route of consistent bullet hell that Sengoku Cannon does, it is really, really challenging. It also features chargeable sub attacks and modular boss battles with multiple waves, and a really odd final boss. If you like recurring side characters, those are here too. They’re a team of naughty pirates that reminds me a lot of Team Rocket, just a lot more competent and armed with dangerous mecha. Also, the endings in Gunbird 2 are even more insane than those in the first Gunbird. While the first game revolved around finding mirror pieces to open a path to a genie’s wish, here you find elemental vials to develop a potion that will grant your greatest desire. My first ending was as Alucard (yes, that Alucard) who turns out to be utterly bald. His wish grants him an amazing afro that he completely hates. Another one has a rotund man on a flying carpet get a makeover. Honestly the insanity in both Gunbird games were what I loved the most about them, and that’s why it’s worth your time to beat the game again and again to find all those endings. Just be ready to suffer through Gunbird 2, cause it’s pretty brutal. Though not as tough as I found the last game I played, Gunbarich.

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I can hear you saying that I shouldn’t have had trouble with the one puzzle game in this collection. And sure, Gunbarich doesn’t appear to be that rough. It’s a brick breaking game in the vein of Breakout, and you can control recurring character Marion the Witch, amongst others. The tricky thing is, each stage requires you to break every block and do so in a limited time frame. If you fail, you’ll lose a precious life. Or if the ball gets past you, you’ll also lose a life. Which starts to add up as enemies spit balls back at you, or try and paralyze you with other attacks. And though you’ll find powerups here like in the other games, they don’t explain what these do at all. There’s even boss fights, and though they’re not as rough as those found in the rest of the Bravo collection, they are far from easy. And this particular adventure seems to be the longest too, so you’ll have to really work for that ending. I ended up turning my continues to unlimited just to beat Gunbarich, and it was still a rough ride. Don’t let the candy coated aesthetic fool you, this one is hard as nails.

All in all, I really enjoyed playing through Psikyo Shooting Stars Bravo. For $39.99, you get 6 distinct, entertaining and challenging games. Though I didn’t play it in TATE mode or multiplayer, I had a fun time. Thankfully, you can tweak things to make the experience more palatable to your tastes. While I miss features like galleries and sound tests, I still would highly recommend this collection. I spent probably 5 hours playing through all the games, though there’s plenty of replay value to get all those endings. The name Psikyo is legendary for good reason, and this serves as a wonderful tribute to their legacy.

[easyreview cat1title=”Overall” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”4″]

Review Copy Provided by Publisher

REVIEW: Psikyo Shooting Stars Bravo Title Psikyo Shooting Stars Bravo

[thomasroach]

Cyberpunk 2077: The Game of the Decade

The post Cyberpunk 2077: The Game of the Decade appeared first on Fextralife.

Recently we were given the opportunity to check out an updated build of Cyberpunk at E3 2019 (now with more Keanu Reeves) though we did see 2 demos last summer. The game looked better than ever, and in this article I want to tell you why Cyberpunk is the game of the decade. Sit back, jack-in and let me explain why you probably won’t see another game like this for a long time based on everything we’ve seen so far.

Cyberpunk 2077: The Game of the Decade

Cyberpunk 2077 gives nearly unlimited freedom in the way you handle quests and characters, which really reminds me of the Fallout games during their heyday. However, Cyberpunk 2077 takes this concept of player choice and brings it home on an unprecedented scale. It isn’t simply that you can follow a quest line, changing your mind about who to help and how to handle it (just about as many times as you could in real life). It’s also about the variety of ways you can approach each quest that will be highly determined by your character Build.

You Don’t Have to Kill

I always felt in Fallout that you could make an intellectual (or charismatic) character, that didn’t focus on violence, but that you were always at a disadvantage in doing so. This is because the game has a moderate amount of combat, and getting into a fight was simply inevitable. This created periodic hardships for this type of character Build. However, in Cyberpunk 2077 this doesn’t seem to be the case.

Much of this issue is rectified by the gunplay of Cyberpunk, but also because of things like Hacking. Hacking allows the player to take control of enemies or objects and turn them against other enemies. This allows them a way to “fight” without being experts in combat themselves, and makes this style of play more accommodating. One particularly interesting thing to note, as well, is that it is entirely possible to beat Cyberpunk 2077 without killing a single person. Or so CD Projekt Red says anyway…

Polished to the Max

Another really amazing aspect to Cyberpunk 2077 is the amount of polish the game already has. Now this may be downgraded at release, and many people suspect that it will, but if it isn’t…forget about it. The closest thing I’ve seen to this type of polish in a game is the recent God of War or maybe Last of Us, and both of those games won Game of the Year. If CD Projekt Red can keep the level of refinement and detail they have shown in their 2 uniquely different demos then I can’t see this game getting less than a 10 from most major outlets. In fact, it’s the only game I can think of that is likely to receive a perfect score by more outlets than it isn’t. Queue Kotaku and Polygon complaints here…

The graphics of the game are excellent, and though not the best I have seen in a game, the level of detail is outstanding. Things run smoothly, characters look and feel realistic, nothing ever jumps out at you to pull you from the immersion. Take The Outer Worlds, which is probably the most similar game releasing within 6 months of Cyberpunk, and it’s a totally the opposite.

While the gameplay looks very good, the poor character animations and odd graphical design choice, leave much to be desired. This detracts heavily from that sense of immersion, and that is a game being developed by Obsidian, which has a relatively stellar track record within the gaming community. I’d wager that Cyberpunk will be 2 to 3 times better than The Outer Worlds at launch, which is staggering…

Freedom and Customization

As mentioned earlier, players will have an unparalleled amount of freedom when it comes to playing Cyberpunk 2077, and they can be the hero or villain. And that can change at the drop of a hat, as players acquire new information that may sway their decisions, or make them have a change of heart.

The main protagonist, V, is very much a neutral character by design, only doing what is necessary to survive. This allows for you to take control, and really determine if what he/she is doing is enjoyable, or loathed, and decide if you wish to change that or not. This isn’t something that is new in gaming, but is certainly a must have for any game to be considered mind blowing.

In addition, players can customize their appearance separately from their equipment, so you can look as badass as you want, without having to worry about which gear to wear. Gear works very similarly to other RPGs with slots for each type of equipment, allowing players to change gear on the fly, with many different types of weapons, but little in the way of Armor. This is one area that is still very much a mystery, as not much has been shown in this regard. However, assuming they don’t do anything too drastic, it will likely be good enough.

Keanu Fucking Reeves

Hollywood and the gaming industry have been on a collision course for some time now, but no one has managed to implement a celebrity in the manner that Cyberpunk 2077 does. Destiny featured Peter Dinklage as the Ghost that helps the Guardian, providing modestly witty dialogue, and Cyberpunk 2077 takes it to a whole new level.

Not only is Keanu Reeves the “Ghost” of Cyberpunk 2077, but you see him constantly in all his “excellence” when he speaks. While this is certainly not a “reason” to purchase the game, and I would never recommend the game simply because of this one aspect, this sort of thing creates even more hype and interest. And if I must say, it works exceptionally well within the gameplay of Cyberpunk, and doesn’t seem like a forced addition in the slightest. I honestly look forward to seeing him more in my own playthrough, while I look at pictures of him on my phone from E3.

Final Thoughts

There is a lot of hype surrounding Cyberpunk 2077, and it’s very easy to get caught up in it and overlook the game’s faults. Objective journalism is becoming a thing of the past, and when you start adding celebrities to the mix, this only becomes more true. Everyone wants to make friends with rising stars, and Keanu Reeves, and so it becomes difficult to criticize games. I have always tried to maintain some semblance of objectivity, though difficult. Witness my recent shredding of The Outer Worlds, which I’m sure didn’t win me any brownie points with Obsidian. So when I say this game may be the best in the past 10 years, it doesn’t come lightly.

Time will tell if I’m right or not, but all indications are that it will be even better than what we’ve seen, and that is something that is frankly hard to fathom. If you have not got caught up in the hype yet, or you are holding out until you see more gameplay, I fully understand. However, just let me say, you will be eventually. Fucking help us in April of next year, because it will absolute mayhem.

Stay tuned for more Cyberpunk 2077 content as we explore how a board game becomes a video game, and be sure to check out the Cyberpunk 2077 Wiki for all information that is currently known.

The post Cyberpunk 2077: The Game of the Decade appeared first on Fextralife.

Cyberpunk 2077: The Game of the Decade published first on https://juanaframi.tumblr.com/

[carygarman980]

Raised Beds in the Backyard!

When I was little, before I recall having any real interest in growing flowers or trees or shrubs, my parents granted me a little territory in the backyard where I was permitted and encouraged to plant things. Tucked behind the garage and a part of the deck, this was a terraced section of the yard, each level retained by railroad-tie-style walls. It’s a set-up not uncommon for over-scaled homes built in the 1990s, where developers insisted on constructing houses whose boxy plans bore no relation to any given site’s existing topography. The land was simply built-up as needed, compacted, retained, and mulched. Consequently, the soil was difficult to plant in: rocky, full of clay, and nutrient-poor. It was shady back there, too, but I did what I could to encourage the success of my garden. My brother and sister had their own plots adjacent to mine, although I don’t remember my brother ever taking advantage of the opportunity. For her part, year after year my sister wrestled with a few strawberry plants whose results were scant at best, but found her footing more successfully with cucumbers. She took to peeling one and then perching at the kitchen counter with a paper plate of salt in front of her, eating it like a carrot and dipping the gnawed-off end onto the plate between bites. She still does this, and I still find it equal parts cute and grotesque.

Tomatoes were my thing. I don’t recall even especially liking tomatoes, but I really liked growing them. Part of it might have been that I knew my sister—who despised tomatoes—wouldn’t mess with my crops. She treated the plants like they were toxic, as though failing to give them the proper berth would result in disease or instant death. I’m not sure why sibling tampering was such a concern of mine. Would she try to…sabotage me? I can’t really say. We’re deeply competitive.

Likely due to the aforementioned sun and soil conditions, our plants’ production was never especially impressive but we didn’t know that. To us, anything our plants grew that we could eat felt like some form of low-level sorcery. Ripening tomatoes were placed in a neat row along the windowsill behind the sink, and on weekends they’d get sliced and served with bagels and lox to much fanfare and accolades. I loved it.

Then I grew up. Summers in high school tended to keep me away from home for long stretches, so it didn’t make sense to plant crops I couldn’t tend and harvest. Of course I didn’t know that over the next decade I’d find myself in a series of small urban apartments without outdoor space, occasionally entertaining the idea of one of those upside-down tomato plant grower-thingies from Skymall before forgetting about it. Then again, tomatoes were readily available at the store, and—like I said—it’s not like I even love tomatoes. I like them. I really like growing them. Outside. In the sun. And the dirt. With bugs and stuff.

SO. Then I bought a house, and shortly thereafter experienced the revelation that omg I can do that again! Technically, as it happens, some olde-timey Kingston law actually grants me the right to practice my husbandry on a whole goddamned farm. I can have chickens and goats and ducks and probably other stuff I should never, ever be allowed to know about. Can you imagine?? GOATS??? I fucking love goats. I guess let’s see how the veggies go first, though. Then we can discuss urban homesteading the shit outta this joint.

Between the asphalt-covered backyard, and the fence-building, and the front-garden-creating, and then the side-garden-planting, and the great dirt-moving effort, and SO MUCH WORK on the house, and also several other houses, it took a few years for the vegetable garden to start to become a reality.

Originally the idea was something like this. I wrote about it back in 2015. Outside of the new french doors on the garage there would be a fire pit/chill zone, and beyond that 4 large raised beds. As often happens, I’ll throw out an underdeveloped idea, and you guys help to develop it! Primary concerns were a) the location of the fire pit/chill zone is sad and b) those beds are too big to easily tend and c) pea gravel is apparently the work of the devil.

So the plan changed in subtle ways. I put the chill zone in the middle of the beds, and made the raised beds a foot narrower—bringing them down to 3 feet instead of 4 feet wide to make them easier to manage—and aligning them with the structure of the garage and the placement of the new doors. Pea gravel got replaced with reclaimed brick for improved walkability and weed prevention, and this plan felt solid enough to at least get started.

During the autumn that followed the great dirt-moving effort, I managed to build one of my raised beds and even get a coat of stain on it! I was so antsy to just get something done other than filling up the yard with soil, and wanted to see even a small part of my plan enacted just to make sure I even liked it, and that the height and length were right, that kind of thing.

In the spring, I promptly and efficiently picked up where I left off, finished the beds, got them all filled with great soil, and by mid-summer had a booming garden!

HAHAHAHA. I KID. IT DID NOT HAPPEN LIKE THAT AT ALL.

First thing’s first: Marimekko did that line of stuff for Target, so I got myself some cute chairs. I ordered a fire pit on Amazon. It was smaller than I’d imagined and arrived damaged but I was SO DETERMINED TO GET THIS PARTY STARTED that I just decided to use it rather than deal with a return.

Then I set about building the rest of the raised beds. I don’t think it’s especially useful for me to walk you through my process because I wouldn’t do it like this again if I were building these today. Basically the structure is just 1×6 pressure-treated boards attached to 4×4 pressure-treated posts, and I did most of the fastening with shanked siding nails because I was working alone and a nail gun is way easier than a drill and screws if you’re trying to hold things up at the same time.

To keep the middle from bowing out once the box was filled with dirt, I fastened these 2×2 pressure-treated stake things to the posts. They do the job.

I don’t especially know why I chose the wood I chose, but I wish I hadn’t. Pressure treated wood ALWAYS breaks my heart. I don’t know why I keep giving it the benefit of the doubt. It’s like, if you let the boards dry out before using them, they crack and warp and split. If you use them and then let them dry out, they crack and warp and split.

Unsurprisingly, my planter boxes have cracked and warped and split. Not in a way that makes them non-functional, and it’s not even that noticeable, but it is just…annoying.

If you’re interested in building similar but better raised beds, my pals Kim and Scott (sometimes we live parallel lives, I think) tackled pretty much the same project but with a few adjustments, including using 5/4″ decking boards (which are actually 1″ thick) instead of 1-by boards that are actually 3/4″ thick. They also capped off the top perimeters with a board, which looks much better and has the added benefit of obscuring the 4×4 posts.

I’d also strongly consider using cedar rather than pressure-treated, which—again—I have no idea why I didn’t do the first time around, but I didn’t. Cedar should last a comparable amount of time, and is naturally rot-resistant rather than needing to be treated. It should be noted that pressure-treated wood is made very differently than it was years ago, and seems to be now generally accepted as safe for growing edibles, but even just from a functional/aesthetic standpoint I’d prefer the cedar.

Ah well. That’s why this is not a step-by-step tutorial post. The raised beds are 3′ x 10′, and I used Cabot’s solid-color acrylic siding stain in black just on the parts that are visible with the planters filled to avoid unnecessary exposure to the soil.

If this WERE a step-by-step tutorial post, this picture PROBABLY wouldn’t make the cut. Any fledgling vegetation you think you see is just weeds. I built my raised beds in the spring with big ambitions, and then I went and tore the entire side of my house apart, which then meant wrapping up an ENORMOUS exterior project while also trying to reclaim my house as a place fit for living, attempting to pick up the tattered pieces of my kitchen, laundry room, pantry, 1/2 bath, bedroom, office, and den. So some chaos ensued. That was two years ago and I’m honestly only STARTING to feel like the house has recovered. Suffice to say there have been some decisions I would revise if given the opportunity but, of course, that’s not how life works! Lolz. *bursts into tears.*

So I built these raised beds, and then I didn’t plant a single solitary thing. Instead of filling them with soil and plants I filled them with mayhem and foolishness. That was it.

Over the course of that exterior renovation project that summer, I remember one day it felt COMPLETELY logical to spend the afternoon going to get a couple yards of stone dust, so I could begin whatever paving situation I was planning for around the beds. It’s not like there were at LEAST one thousand more pressing things to take care of.

I think by this point I’d actually calculated how many bricks I’d need, and it was almost 2,500 bricks. Which is just simply too many fucking bricks. So then I had this whole idea of using my impressive stock of bluestone slabs to do kind of a flagstone thing between and around the planter boxes.

So we spread landscape fabric and a few inches of stone dust, and then I got to work!

On other stuff. I worked on other stuff. Not my paving solution. Did I mention I wrecked the whole house at once? So my stone dust sat in these weird almost-paths with landscape fabric elegantly bordering them.

Adding insult to injury, one day I was innocently burning off-cuts of framing lumber and whatnot in the fire pit, and the fire department came. They shut that shit down. Apparently there is NO OPEN BURNING in the city of Kingston, which I kind of knew but thought a) was clearly not at all enforced, because fire pits are totally commonplace here and b) didn’t apply to manufactured fire pits, only to, ya know, that guy who wants to arrange some rocks in a circle and burn stuff in it.

Evidently I was mistaken. No open burning. No fire pit. Nobody can seem to give me a straight answer on whether this also applies to things like chimineas, which don’t exactly seem open so I’m maintaining that as an option until I inevitably buy one only to be told I just wasted hundreds of dollars, and to please keep my pyro tendencies in check.

I love burning things. I have a constant and steady supply of things to burn. Everyone back off.

By early the next spring, the situation had devolved into THIS. Feel free to note that the defunct fire pit has not moved. Also feel free to note the extreme chaos and disorder that would be…impossible not to note.

I share stuff like this not because I think embarrassing myself online is THAT fun (it’s a little fun), or because I think this is anything worth emulating, but you know what?

THIS. SHIT. IS. HARD. ALL OF IT. IT IS REALLY HARD. I AM ONE PERSON. TRYING TO DO THESE THINGS. AND THESE THINGS ARE TAKING ME YEARS. BECAUSE THEY ARE VERY BIG THINGS. AND THAT IS JUST HOW IT IS. SOMETIMES LIFE LOOKS LIKE THIS AND IT DOESN’T FEEL GOOD.

So. That’s what I have to say about that.

Like a fucking cherry on top of this shit sundae, also the tree fell. There are three other trees in the opposite corner of the backyard, but seeing as this was the ONLY remaining bit of intentional vegetation within 50 feet or so, this felt like a real slap in the face. On the bright side it was a Rose of Sharon, which I don’t actually like, so. No big loss but I was hoping to have some other stuff going on before removing it.

It wasn’t until early that summer that the beds finally got a little more attention! It was getting late in the season and I didn’t want to delay things further by worrying about giving the raised beds another coat of stain, so I just went ahead and filled them with enough soil, amended with compost, and planted stuff!

After this prolonged process, you can imagine how exciting this felt. Growing things to eat! In my very own backyard! At long last!

This was taken a few weeks after planting and before things really took off, but that summer I planted tomatoes, brussels sprouts, japanese eggplants, parsley, basil, cucumbers, and broccoli! AND IT ALL DID WELL! Like, REALLY well. TOO well. At a certain point, nobody wants your weird homegrown tomatoes anymore. Nobody is interested in your buckets of cucumbers. You can take your multiple kinds of basil and shove it all where the sun don’t shine.

NATURALLY, this coincided with the summer where I really didn’t have a kitchen. Even the makeshift kitchen wasn’t nearly as equipped for actual cooking as it ended up being as the months went on and a new kitchen didn’t magically materialize. The only functioning sink in the entire house was the original bathroom sink upstairs, a shallow double-tapped roughly 130-year-old porcelain little number that is really not ideal for washing dishes or, say, vegetables in.

This is a roundabout way of saying that a lot of those vegetables ended up making really nice compost for this year’s vegetables, and I still feel lousy about it.

ALSO. AS WE CAN ALL PLAINLY SEE. I was delusional about the amount of stone I thought I had. It’s so hard to tell when things are in piles. Then you spread them all around and it becomes painfully obvious that you have miscalculated. Maybe you spread a little more, because denial. And then you’re like, why did I spend hours spreading all these individually heavy objects out that now I have to put back? So perhaps you don’t put them back. Perhaps you decide that by seeing them all splayed about, inspiration will come. Perhaps while the inspiration is coming, you allow the spaces between them to fill with weeds that seem to overnight become as tall as you, turning your compost-from-the-dump garbage dustbowl yard into a kind of weed resort-spa.

Perhaps.

Also you may notice I built 4 planters but have planted 2. On one hand, due to the truly insane amount of produce for someone with no easy means to cook it, I’m glad for this. On the other hand, it’s just because they were still in a state that was not good for planting, i.e. full of mayhem and foolishness rather than dirt and mulch.

WHICH brings us to this summer, where things are still nuts but not as nuts. This summer I got 3 of the 4 beds planted, this time with tomatoes, collard greens, romaine, chard, japanese eggplants, basil, parsley, cilantro, cucumbers, kale, broccoli, lavender and tarragon!

Every year you learn something about what to do next year, so now I know I definitely need to do tomato cages next year (I really like Joe Gardener’s approach!), definitely don’t need this many collard greens, strawberries are still kind of a waste of time, and I really don’t eat as much parsley as I thought I did.

Oh also! You can see where I decided to put the stone to use—walls! I’ve been chipping away at building these dry-stacked stone walls to kind of separate this area from the rest of the yard. It’s slow work but each stone that gets placed represents just a littttttle bit of progress, and there’s something kind of nice and meditative about that. Isn’t THIS ENTIRE ENDEAVOR basically just…that? Stone by stone until it starts to be something.

Look at those little tiny bottom teef! Look at the size of those weeds! The weed situation is sometimes under control and other times intense and not under control. This is in large part because there’s no weed barrier around and between most of the planter boxes or anything else to discourage weeds from growing.

Which leads us: back to the original plan for pea gravel! I cannot be talked down this time for various reasons. It is practical, it is affordable, it is beautiful, it is classic, and I have loved it forever. I believe I have a healthy understanding of the pros and cons and I have decided that the pros outweigh the cons and so IT IS SETTLED.

Except for the part where all summer now I have been talking about the enormous amount of pea gravel imminently arriving in my yard, but have not actually ordered or bought any pea gravel. Like every other summer, the demands of the house renovation and other projects have forced the backyard down the list of priorities, so while I WISH this area looked a whole lot better by now—and honestly expected it to—it’s not like the tomatoes really care whether they’re surrounded by pea gravel paths or bare landscape fabric or dirt. I’m still dying to get at least some of the gravel down while the weather’s still nice, since I’m excited for it and SO TIRED of looking at this mess.

ANYWAY. Now that I have more than sufficiently whined and moaned about stuff being difficult and time-consuming and disappointingly slow, I’d like to circle back to the part at the beginning—you know, about how this is fun and satisfying. I LOVE growing food in my backyard. I LOVE puttering around the beds, pulling weeds and cutting things back, yanking out spent plants to make way for new ones, thinking about what I’ll do the same and differently next year. It’s a fucking lovely experience, and someday it’ll be beautiful, too. Stone by stone.

[thomasroach]

Cyberpunk 2077: The Game of the Decade

The post Cyberpunk 2077: The Game of the Decade appeared first on Fextralife.

Recently we were given the opportunity to check out an updated build of Cyberpunk at E3 2019 (now with more Keanu Reeves) though we did see 2 demos last summer. The game looked better than ever, and in this article I want to tell you why Cyberpunk is the game of the decade. Sit back, jack-in and let me explain why you probably won’t see another game like this for a long time based on everything we’ve seen so far.

Cyberpunk 2077: The Game of the Decade

Cyberpunk 2077 gives nearly unlimited freedom in the way you handle quests and characters, which really reminds me of the Fallout games during their heyday. However, Cyberpunk 2077 takes this concept of player choice and brings it home on an unprecedented scale. It isn’t simply that you can follow a quest line, changing your mind about who to help and how to handle it (just about as many times as you could in real life). It’s also about the variety of ways you can approach each quest that will be highly determined by your character Build.

You Don’t Have to Kill

I always felt in Fallout that you could make an intellectual (or charismatic) character, that didn’t focus on violence, but that you were always at a disadvantage in doing so. This is because the game has a moderate amount of combat, and getting into a fight was simply inevitable. This created periodic hardships for this type of character Build. However, in Cyberpunk 2077 this doesn’t seem to be the case.

Much of this issue is rectified by the gunplay of Cyberpunk, but also because of things like Hacking. Hacking allows the player to take control of enemies or objects and turn them against other enemies. This allows them a way to “fight” without being experts in combat themselves, and makes this style of play more accommodating. One particularly interesting thing to note, as well, is that it is entirely possible to beat Cyberpunk 2077 without killing a single person. Or so CD Projekt Red says anyway…

Polished to the Max

Another really amazing aspect to Cyberpunk 2077 is the amount of polish the game already has. Now this may be downgraded at release, and many people suspect that it will, but if it isn’t…forget about it. The closest thing I’ve seen to this type of polish in a game is the recent God of War or maybe Last of Us, and both of those games won Game of the Year. If CD Projekt Red can keep the level of refinement and detail they have shown in their 2 uniquely different demos then I can’t see this game getting less than a 10 from most major outlets. In fact, it’s the only game I can think of that is likely to receive a perfect score by more outlets than it isn’t. Queue Kotaku and Polygon complaints here…

The graphics of the game are excellent, and though not the best I have seen in a game, the level of detail is outstanding. Things run smoothly, characters look and feel realistic, nothing ever jumps out at you to pull you from the immersion. Take The Outer Worlds, which is probably the most similar game releasing within 6 months of Cyberpunk, and it’s a totally the opposite.

While the gameplay looks very good, the poor character animations and odd graphical design choice, leave much to be desired. This detracts heavily from that sense of immersion, and that is a game being developed by Obsidian, which has a relatively stellar track record within the gaming community. I’d wager that Cyberpunk will be 2 to 3 times better than The Outer Worlds at launch, which is staggering…

Freedom and Customization

As mentioned earlier, players will have an unparalleled amount of freedom when it comes to playing Cyberpunk 2077, and they can be the hero or villain. And that can change at the drop of a hat, as players acquire new information that may sway their decisions, or make them have a change of heart.

The main protagonist, V, is very much a neutral character by design, only doing what is necessary to survive. This allows for you to take control, and really determine if what he/she is doing is enjoyable, or loathed, and decide if you wish to change that or not. This isn’t something that is new in gaming, but is certainly a must have for any game to be considered mind blowing.

In addition, players can customize their appearance separately from their equipment, so you can look as badass as you want, without having to worry about which gear to wear. Gear works very similarly to other RPGs with slots for each type of equipment, allowing players to change gear on the fly, with many different types of weapons, but little in the way of Armor. This is one area that is still very much a mystery, as not much has been shown in this regard. However, assuming they don’t do anything too drastic, it will likely be good enough.

Keanu Fucking Reeves

Hollywood and the gaming industry have been on a collision course for some time now, but no one has managed to implement a celebrity in the manner that Cyberpunk 2077 does. Destiny featured Peter Dinklage as the Ghost that helps the Guardian, providing modestly witty dialogue, and Cyberpunk 2077 takes it to a whole new level.

Not only is Keanu Reeves the “Ghost” of Cyberpunk 2077, but you see him constantly in all his “excellence” when he speaks. While this is certainly not a “reason” to purchase the game, and I would never recommend the game simply because of this one aspect, this sort of thing creates even more hype and interest. And if I must say, it works exceptionally well within the gameplay of Cyberpunk, and doesn’t seem like a forced addition in the slightest. I honestly look forward to seeing him more in my own playthrough, while I look at pictures of him on my phone from E3.

Final Thoughts

There is a lot of hype surrounding Cyberpunk 2077, and it’s very easy to get caught up in it and overlook the game’s faults. Objective journalism is becoming a thing of the past, and when you start adding celebrities to the mix, this only becomes more true. Everyone wants to make friends with rising stars, and Keanu Reeves, and so it becomes difficult to criticize games. I have always tried to maintain some semblance of objectivity, though difficult. Witness my recent shredding of The Outer Worlds, which I’m sure didn’t win me any brownie points with Obsidian. So when I say this game may be the best in the past 10 years, it doesn’t come lightly.

Time will tell if I’m right or not, but all indications are that it will be even better than what we’ve seen, and that is something that is frankly hard to fathom. If you have not got caught up in the hype yet, or you are holding out until you see more gameplay, I fully understand. However, just let me say, you will be eventually. Fucking help us in April of next year, because it will absolute mayhem.

Stay tuned for more Cyberpunk 2077 content as we explore how a board game becomes a video game, and be sure to check out the Cyberpunk 2077 Wiki for all information that is currently known.

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