#i can return to them without much fanfare it may be more accurate to say that i simply miss those easier times

[fraudue]

[snowdice]

Having a Ball (Dice Roll 14)

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Relationships: Logan/Patton, Remus/Virgil

Characters: 

Main: Logan, Patton

Appear: Virgil, Remus, Roman

Summary: 

Yet, he was not to be alone for much longer, as just as he turned his head back to the crowd, the doors to the ballroom opened, admitting another guest. Logan found himself unable to look away as the man entered the room with no fanfare. Most of the other guests did not even notice him, but Logan did. He was pushing through the crowds a moment later. 

Logan dances with a man at a ball.

Universe: Royalty

Genre: Fluff

Notes: Cinderella AUish, Sexual innuendo

This is part of my Roll the Dice Event which is where I do random ships, universes, and genres for the Sanders Sides fandom. For more details see this post. I posted a few days ago my results from this dice roll here. You can read the last one of these fics here.

Balls had always been the bane of Logan’s existence. His father had once told him that he’d grow to enjoy them, but even at the age of 50, he still thought the things were nonsense. At least, for the most part. He could barely tolerate the drivel that passed for conversation with most of the guests, and just attempting to cross the room was often hindered by bodies dancing and moving about. Unlike his younger brothers, Roman and Remus, he did not have the ability to flow with the crowds. The fact that he’d never even thought to attempt to learn was inconsequential. Just like this event itself. He didn’t even know the occasion for this one.

Roman was already off and about enjoying the attention he garnered from the crowds. Truly, he was the main reason Logan still permitted these balls. He would approve them every time with the condition that Roman would be the one to plan everything, and Logan would only consent to show up on the actual day. Roman was more than pleased by this arrangement and Logan couldn’t say he resented the younger man’s enjoyment of the task.

Remus also enjoyed the balls, but for a different reason. He was currently off doing… lord knew what, but it was probably something Logan should care to prevent. He did not care to prevent it, however, as he knew the moment Remus was done sowing mischief, he’d sweep away the only other sane person currently at this event, leaving Logan alone.

“What even is the theme of this one supposed to be?” Virgil asked from beside him. Logan’s brother-in-law was the only person in the room not wearing a mask, though he had one in his hand.

Logan squinted out at the crowds. “Green?”

Virgil snorted. “I doubt Princey would be so uncreative. It’s probably something like Woodland Fairy Summer Solstice in a Meadow After a Rainstorm.”

“No, no,” Logan said, suppressing a smile. “I do believe that was three times ago.”

“Ugh. No offence to you, but I’m divorcing your brother, so I don’t have to deal with your bloodline’s antics anymore.”

There was a faux wounded gasp from behind Virgil. “What is this I hear?” Remus asked, wrapping his arms around Virgil’s waist from behind. Despite Remus’s feigned discontent, he pressed his lips to his husband’s neck. “Am I being betrayed by my love?” he breathed into his ear.

“No, stop,” Virgil hissed, trying to squirm away. “We are in public and in front of your brother!”

“Oh,” Remus said. “If only there was a way to keep you anonymous so you wouldn’t have to be embarrassed.” He plucked the mask out of Virgil’s hand and basically slapped his face with it.

“Everyone knows who I am anyway,” Virgil groused, but he did reach up to secure it to his face. “I’m the only one Roman can never force to wear his outfit designs. I stick out.”

“And whose fault is that?” Logan asked amused.

“Roman’s for having such shitty taste.”

“Well, no argument’s here,” Remus replied with a chuckle. Then he hummed, releasing Virgil briefly, only to grab both of his hands. “I guess the only avenue open to us it to go make out in a dark corner.”

Virgil sputtered, face turning crimson behind his mask as he glanced nervously at Logan. Logan just raised an eyebrow. It was ridiculous that he still grew embarrassed about Remus saying such things even after over two decades of marriage. Logan himself had long ago grown numb to it. Remus shot Logan a wink and Logan return it with a droll look. The next moment, Virgil was being pulled away, leaving Logan well and truly alone. Logan mourned his loss.

Yet, he was not to be alone for much longer, as just as he turned his head back to the crowd, the doors to the ballroom opened, admitting another guest. Logan found himself unable to look away as the man entered the room with no fanfare. Most of the other guests did not even notice him, but Logan did. He was pushing through the crowds a moment later.

He bumped shoulders with a few of his guests but could not muster any regret. He mumbled a few courtesy apologies without even glancing at the recipient. No one dared protest as, even with the mask, they could almost certainly identify him as the king.

The man had just made it to the bottom of the staircase by the time Logan shoved past the last of the crowd. He looked up at Logan as he approached and though Logan could only see his eyes through the mask he wore, he could still without a doubt say he was stunning.

He’d obeyed Roman’s theme for the most part but tweaked the color scheme just enough to stand out from the crowd. The outfit was somewhere between a suit and a dress, the top being a suit jacket over a waistcoat, but the bottom flaring out into a long skirt. Logan could not tell if it was one or two pieces. It was green as instructed by the invitations Roman had sent out, but with a touch of blue here and there and the accents edged further toward gold than the suggested brown. Logan could not see his mouth as it was covered by the bluish-green mask, but he could tell by his eyes that he smiled when Logan stopped in front of him. He was beautiful.

“Hi,” Logan said.

“Hi,” he replied.

Without missing a beat, Logan offered his arm. “Would you like to dance with me?”

Amusement pooled in his eyes. “That’s rather forward of you, Mr. Stranger,” he said, yet he still took the offered arm, “but, yes.”

With his permission, Logan pulled him towards the dance floor just as another song began. Something about the man made the movements of the dance easier for Logan. He was always pinpoint accurate with his steps, but he’d been criticized as too stiff his entire life. Yet, Logan could feel himself loosen up with the man in his arms. His mind drifted from the order of the steps to focus almost completely on him, on the way his eyes sparkled with glee and the way his hand gripped at Logan’s shoulder. They were inappropriately close, but Logan didn’t care at all. In fact, he leaned his head in closer to listen to him speak and speak they did. They spoke about everything and nothing until Logan couldn’t even recall how many songs they’d danced too. Eventually, the conversation stalled to a comfortable silence.

“Are you enjoying the ball?” the man asked after a few minutes of them just dancing.

“I wasn’t,” Logan said simply.

The hand on Logan’s shoulder squeezed a bit at that. “But you are now?” he asked.

“Well, most of my discontent was due to the fact that I’d been lacking good company.”

Logan could imagine the smile under the mask with perfect clarity. “Well…” he said. “If the event itself isn’t fun for you, perhaps we could go somewhere else.”

Logan could love no idea more. He leaned in so his lips were near the man’s ear. “We will have to sneak away so my brother does not see.”

“Hmm,” the man contemplated, looking around. “We can pretend we are going to the balcony for some air and sneak off to the garden,” he suggested.

Logan glanced around the ballroom, locating Roman who was currently chatting with a small group of guests on the opposite side from the balcony. “That seems to be an adequate plan,” he agreed. His partner shifted the dance slightly putting them on a trajectory that led them towards the balcony. Logan kept his eyes on Roman every time they turned to make sure he wasn’t watching them. Eventually they made it to the balcony doors and stepped off the dancefloor together. They walked casually towards the balcony and then with one last glance back at Roman, they dashed out of sight towards the door that would lead down to the garden.

It was guarded as guests were not allowed in the garden, but the guards stepped aside for Logan easily, and the two of them slipped out into the night air. The man giggled when the door closed behind them, assuring their freedom, and Logan could not help but laugh as well.

Then, they were off to walk into the garden. Of course, they had been dancing for so long that they were starting to get tired, so after only a few minutes, they found a bench hidden from any castle windows by a long row of bushes.

They settled onto it and sat there for a few minutes, just soaking in each other’s company. They did not need to speak but for a few words. Every so often the man would giggle breathlessly, probably still in reaction to their daring escape.

Finally, Logan turned to him with a tender smile on his face. “May I take off your mask?”

“You may,” he agreed easily. Logan reached up as soon as the words left his mouth to carefully remove the mask and reveal a very familiar face.

“Hello,” Logan said.

“Hi,” Patton replied, his face flushed, but happy. Logan leaned forward to touch their foreheads together, and he giggled. “You always find me, huh?”

“Always,” Logan promised. “Even when I have no idea who you are or what your face looks like. Even if all I have to go on is a stupid magic shoe made out of glass.”

“Aw honey, I love you too!” He leaned forward to kiss Logan, but before their lips could meet, a voice spoke up.

“Nope!” Virgil’s voice said. “Nope, they’re kissing. I can’t keep quiet anymore.”

Logan frowned and looked back to see Virgil’s head had popped out of the bush behind them. As unhappy as he had been when the man had left him earlier, he was even more unhappy to see him now. Logan glared down at him.

“Hello, Virgil,” Patton giggled.

“Do the two of you have to do this every goddammed time?” Virgil groused. “We get it. You broke a curse with a magic shoe and stubbornness.”

“And love,” Patton reminded.

“Ugh.”

“Aw, let them have their kinky roll play,” Remus’s voice said from within the bushes.

Virgil grimaced. “Ew.”

“Says the man currently hiding in the bushes,” Logan shot back.

“I’ll have you know this was a completely nonsexual romp through the bushes,” Virgil claimed, but then his eyes widened as he jumped and yelped. “Remus!”

“Tell them to go away. We were here first,” Remus whined.

“I was born first,” Logan groused.

“Well, I already have my pants off.”

Virgil looked down quickly, face going red at what he saw. “When did you take your pants off?!”

“You’re lucky you still have your pants on,” Remus said.

“We are not screwing in a bush, Remus,” Virgil said. Then, “Hey!”

Remus laughed lowly and Logan looked back at Patton. “Perhaps we should just leave them to it.”

“That’s probably for the best, knowing them” he agreed, standing up. “We’ll be in the gazebo, boys,” Patton told them. He grabbed Logan’s hand and pulled, and well, Logan would never not follow him.

[theirrationalzone]

Yakkin ‘bout Games: Wolfenstein: The New Order

Yakking ‘bout Games is a series where I talk about games that I’m currently playing or have just finished. It can be new or old, console or PC, good or bad, it really doesn’t matter. If it’s a game worth talking about, you’ll see it covered here.

I think it’s fair to say that the FPS genre has enjoyed a bit of a renaissance over the last decade and a bit. The modern military shooters that dominated the late 2000s and early 2010s have become less common. We have seen the return of classic franchises like Doom and Half-Life, and we have also witnessed the influx of “boomer shooters” like Dusk and Amid Evil. A lot of cool stuff indeed.

With that being said, let’s take a trip back a few years. 2014 to be exact.

This was the first year of the (then) brand spanking new PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The two consoles were not off to the best of starts though. Their early exclusives like Killzone Shadow Fall, InFamous Second Son, Forza Motorsport 5 and Dead Rising 3 had failed to impress. The only games picking up the slack were multi-platform releases like Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag. The only FPS games available at the time (other than Killzone on PS4) were Call of Duty Ghosts (dull as dishwater) and Battlefield 4 (I enjoyed it but it was completely broken on release.)

Not exactly the most exciting of times for an FPS fan on console.

Wolfenstein: The New Order finally came along that May. It had been announced the year prior but it didn’t have much fanfare behind it. The initial E3 showing didn’t really impress anyone and there wasn’t really a great excitement for the game’s release. Perhaps it was because the previous Wolfenstein game was largely ignored by people or maybe because people were skeptical due to the game being MachineGames’ (the developer) first effort. People needn’t have worried though. The game turned out to be a massive surprise. It ended up being one of the best of that year.

Why am I covering this now? It’s because I recently got the urge to play it again after all these years. Plus I wanted to see how it would function in a post modern Doom world. So with that in mind, let’s get psyched and see how the game holds up.

Never has a smile brought terror to my heart so fast. Well this and my last dental appointment...

The New Order is set in an alternate universe where the Nazis won World War II due to their advanced technology being too much for the Allied forces. After an operation to try and assassinate the spearhead behind this growing technological evolution goes horribly wrong, Captain William “B.J.” Blazkowicz ends up taking a piece of shrapnel to the back of the head which puts him into a vegetative state. He ends up spending fourteen years in a Polish mental asylum before finally being awoken again due to witnessing a horrible atrocity committed by the Nazis. B.J. is now in the alien world of 1960 where the Nazis rule over the world with an iron fist. It’s up to B.J. to link up with the remnants of the Resistance and take the fight back to the Nazis once and for all.

The story was and still is one of the most surprising elements of The New Order. It paints a brutal picture of a world controlled by an evil and ruthless force who will stop at nothing to assert their dominance. The cast as well are very memorable. You have the plucky and likable Resistance fighters who you get to spend quite a bit of time with. You then have some memorable encounters with the evil figureheads of the Nazi regime at certain parts of the story. Anyone who has seen the train sequence in this game knows exactly what I’m taking about. I have to give MachineGames credit as well for the characterisation of B.J. himself. They managed to turn a character who was known for being a badass Nazi killer to a very sympathetic and likable Nazi killer. B.J. in this game is weary and tired after years of fighting evil and tyranny at every corner. The man wants nothing more than for the war to be over so he can hang up his guns and finally settle down. How could you hate the man after hearing something like that?

B.J. is such an upstanding guy that he would infiltrate a Nazi controlled train just to get you some coffee. Liberation and a Cappuccino, you can’t beat it. 

The real bread and butter of The New Order though is the gameplay. It has held up fantastically for the most part. Combat is a blast thanks to the very meaty arsenal at your disposal including assault rifles, shotguns, marksman rifle and a Laserkraftwerk which allows you to blast enemies to smithereens. You’ll have plenty of enemy types to cut through including rank and file soldiers, big mech suit soldiers with heavy weaponry and robots that have massive lasers. B.J. has a few abilities though to help turn the tide of battle. Leaning is one such ability and it’s implemented very well. How it works is that if you hold the L1 button, it locks B.J. in place and you can then use the left stick to lean at different angles. It’s super useful. Earning a well placed few shots at a Nazi from a very awkward angle never gets old. B.J. also has the ability to dual-wield certain weapons to deal even more hefty damage to his foes. Press up on the d-pad and prepare to bring the carnage. While this is a pretty fun feature, it does limit your movement speed and it can result in you burning through ammo quite quickly. It also is restricted to two types of the same weapon. You can also find upgrades for weapons which give them different ammo types and fire modes. The Laserkraftwerk, for example, can be used to cut through certain boxes and materials which is pretty nifty.

In terms of how health works, it’s a hybrid between classic pick-ups and regeneration. You can recover health by picking up health packs and food throughout the game. Armor can be found as well to allow you to take some extra damage. If you take health damage and managed to find cover, you’ll eventually get 10 health points back. You also have the ability to overcharge your health. How this works is that if you end up picking up a health item that takes you over your max health, you get higher health points for a brief period which is quite useful. You can increase your max health by finding hidden health upgrades throughout some of the levels.

AI is decent for the most part. They will attempt to find cover in the heat of a firefight and they do try to flank you. Some of the heavy soldiers will also attempt to rush your position. I certainly didn’t notice any unusual behaviour from them. Boss fights are a bit unremarkable for the most part. The game pretty much spells out how to take them out and they don’t really put up much of a fight. The main exception being the final boss but even then, it really isn’t that hard.

The secret painting boss fight was an interesting idea though. Definitely a canvas for them to work on in the future. (Apologies for the bad pun and joke.)

The game does have a basic stealth system and it works fine. When you enter most of the areas in the game, you will be informed that there are two commanders in the area. Take them out without being spotted and you can sneak through the area without having to worry about reinforcements if you get spotted by an enemy. You can take down enemies stealthily by using a silenced pistol, throwing knives or by sneaking up to them and performing a takedown. Stealth can feel a little overpowered during some of the early sections because the pistol is super accurate and it only takes one headshot to take some of these enemies down. The game does balance this a bit better later on as areas are populated with more elite enemies that harder to kill without being spotted.

Being a Wolfenstein game, you would expect exploration to be a big part of the gameplay and it does play a part for sure. There are hidden areas to be found with collectibles such as the Enigma codes which can unlock new difficulties and cheat codes. You can also find hidden max HP upgrades and other stuff as well. Maps can be found in each level which will indicate possible hidden secrets with a question mark. Levels are definitely more linear than some of the prior Wolfenstein games so don’t expect huge hidden areas or levels.

Key and item hunting still exists of course. You will find doors that require a key or a tool needed to progress which requires a bit of skulking around to find that key or item. You see this especially in the Resistance HQ sections which occur after most of the levels. In these sections, you will be tasked with finding a certain item for a character to progress to the next level. There are also side missions where you can do the same thing for other characters in the HQ and completing these unlocks extras such as artwork. I’m mixed on the Resistance HQ sections overall. On the one hand, they’re good from a lore perspective because you can overhear conversations from some of the characters and there are newspaper clippings and notes to find which do a good job of building up the world. On the other hand, they do feel a little bit like filler. Swings and roundabouts, I suppose...

I don’t really have many issues with the gameplay as a whole. My only real gripe is how the weapon wheel works. Weapon wheels are commonplace on console because a controller doesn’t have many buttons when compared to a keyboard. Makes perfect sense. The New Order’s one however can be such a temperamental thing to use. How it’s supposed to work is that you hit the R1 button to bring up the wheel and then you use the right stick to pick the weapon you want. Sounds simple enough. In reality what happens is that the game ends up giving you the wrong weapon time after time. I can’t even begin to count the amount of times that I tried to switch to the assault rifle and the game switched me to the dual-wield pistols instead. It can be a bloody nuisance. Part of this is down to how sensitive the stick is when using the wheel. It’s way too fast. Also why do the dual-wield options even need to be there? You can already hit up on the d-pad to dual-wield a particular weapon plus I didn’t really need to dual-wield all that much so it’s just clutter. They could have cleaned this up a lot better. I also had issues with swapping back to the previous weapon. It would sometimes default back to the Laserkraftwerk even though it wasn’t my previous weapon. Thankfully these issues didn’t get me killed but they certainly got on my nerves a little bit.

Textbook schadenfreude here from one of the villains. Shouldn’t be that shocked really...

From a graphics point of view, Wolfenstein: The New Order still holds up remarkably well. It runs on the same idTech engine that powered Rage before it and it certainly looks great. Character models are well detailed and they animate well. Cutscenes are well framed and the angles are perfectly done. Environments are beautifully crafted with amazing detail so whether you are in rainy soaked London or even the friggin’ Moon, you feel immersed in the world of the game.

I wasn’t kidding about the Moon. Look Ma, I’m in space! (In a video game...)

The game is quite aliased on the consoles. You definitely see sharp and jagged edges at times. Plus the textures look a bit low-res when viewed up close, but the game still looks great, and I imagine the PC version cleans up most of this stuff anyway so there’s that.

Tumblr’s image compression doesn’t do this environment justice. Oh well. C’est la vie, I suppose...

I can’t fault the game’s sound though. All voice performances are pitch-perfect with Brian Bloom (the voice of B.J.) being the standout. The music is incredible too with a great balance between atmospheric tracks and hard edged ones when the action really kicks off. It’s composed by a guy named Mick Gordon. Don’t think he’s done anything of note since though.

In terms of length, you’re looking at about roughly 8-10 hours for a first time playthrough. There is replay value with the collectibles and the Timeline system. To briefly explain, the Timeline system is related to a choice you make at the start of the game which changes some of the characters you encounter during the game. It doesn’t drastically change much. The events remain the same. You just get some unique dialog and a scene or two. Not much else.

So as you can see, I think that Wolfenstein: The New Order is still a bloody good time. The shooting still feels great with some really meaty weapons, the story and characters are super engaging, and the presentation and sound still kicks some ass. It has some minor issues here and there, but this game is well worth experiencing. You can pick it up pretty cheap nowadays on most of the platforms and it does go on sale quite often.

It’s nice to go back sometimes and revisit a classic, isn’t it? 

Check back here soon for Part 2 of this where I take a look at The Old Blood. Until then, stay safe, folks!

[herohawks]

Five times Connor is forced to call Hank “dad”. They both suffer.

A/N: short little snippets im writing while my wrist is out of commission. dont know if im going to post them to ao3 since  kinda crack-ish lmao. feel free to send me prompts.

---

PART 1

“Remind me again why we agreed to this shit?”

Connor hefts a box onto his shoulder and balances another on his hip. Hank is struggling to carry one. The bottom of the cardboard is not taped adequately to withstand the current weight. Hank had been the one to tape this particular box, but Connor thinks it best not to point this out.

“We agreed to take the case because we are one of the few within the DPD who specialize in android-human crime. And, as Captain Fowler pointed out, our particular skill sets will allow us to infiltrate this group much easier than our other coworkers,” Connor says as he leads the way to the front door of their new home.

Hank snorts, uneven steps following not far behind. “Skill sets. Yeah. That what they’re calling it these days?”

“That’s what the captain called it, yes.” Connor deftly switches the box on his hip to his knee, balancing it between his leg and the wall so he can fish out the house key the captain had entrusted to him.

The key latches in easily and Connor swings the door open with little fanfare. He allows Hank to go first under the guise of trying to get a better grip on the box he’s currently holding over his knee. The structural integrity of Hank’s box is nearly at its limit.

“Well,” Hank huffs, dropping the box onto the living room floor with a muffled thump. Connor sets his down much more gently. “Jeffrey has always been too nice for his own good, so I’m gonna set it to you straight. You look like a goddamned twink and Jeffrey thinks your scrawny ass will fit in real well with these other skinny, starving college kids. I’m here to make sure you don’t screw it up.”

Connor looks to the ceiling and sighs. It’s a mannerism he’s picked up from Detective Reed that he quite likes. It accurately and efficiently sums up what he wishes to convey with little effort on his part.

“I am not ‘scrawny’,” Connor says, a tad defensive. “Second, the term ‘twink’ is widely outdated and carries negative conn—“

“Connor. Do me a favor and shut the fuck up.” Hank stretches his back, then groans loudly when it pops. “Jesus, I’m too old for this shit.”

“You only carried one box,” Connor points out helpfully, twirling the key ring on his finger for lack of anything better to do with his hands. He itches to go bring in the other nine boxes stacked in Hank’s car.

Hank rolls his eyes so hard Connor is briefly worried that they’ll fall out their sockets. “Jesus Christ. Just – go get the other boxes, would ya?”

Connor does, and makes good time. Hank grumbles while unpacking the boxes, throwing things in a haphazard manner that must have some sort of logic to it, though it’s not one that Connor can decipher at a glance.

With Hank’s back turned to him, Connor takes the chance to run a quick scan. The lieutenant’s blood sugar is low, and Connor detects a minor muscle strain in his lower back from poor posture and lack of adequate hydration.

They still need to go grocery shopping, but Connor had packed a few granola bars and water bottles just in case. He digs them out of one of the boxes and kneels down beside Hank to hand them over. “You need to eat, Lieutenant.”

“Thanks,” he says gruffly, snatching the water and energy bar from Connor. He sets it aside so Connor leaves him be and goes to unpack the other boxes.

They settle into an easy rhythm. An hour later, Connor hears the telltale crinkle of the protein bar being unwrapped and wisely says nothing when Hank’s mood significantly improves from that point after.

What probably felt like an eternity for Hank but was in actuality three hours and thirty-two minutes, they’re finally finished settling in. Connor is pleased to note everything is where it needs to be when he does a cursory scan of the rooms. Despite Hank’s grumbling, they make a great team.

“Great work, Lieutenant,” Connor says as he comes back into the living room where Hank is currently lounging on the couch. “It seems like everything is in order.”

Hank scoffs. “Don’t act so surprised.” A pause. “And it’s not ‘Lieutenant’ right now. Don’t blow our cover.”

“You’re right. Sorry, Dad.” The moment the sentence leaves his vocal unit, a heavy silence stretches between them. Connor has a peculiar urge to exit the room and not return for maybe forever.

“Okay. That was fucking weird,” Hank says finally, breaking the tense hush that had fallen over the room. He runs a hand over his beard, eyes flicking around but never settling on one thing for long.

Connor feels some of the tenseness in his shoulders melt away at the implication that Hank, too, may be feeling some measure of awkwardness. “I agree.”

“Shit. We need to get our shit together before we’re seen in public.”

“It’ll take some getting used to,” Connor admits, and runs a finger along the outer seam of his jeans. They’re not as comfortable nor as flexible as the pants CyberLife had issued him, but it’s currently the style preference of many young adults, and Connor has to blend in. He still misses his own pants, though.

“Want to go grab a bite and forget this ever happened?” Hank asks as he pulls himself up from the couch with a grunt.

Connor does. “Yes. I would like that.”

Hank makes a valiant effort to throw his crumpled wrapper into the small waste bin set along the floor separating the kitchen and living room. He misses. Connor quietly goes over and places the wrapper in the bin.

“Thanks. Hey, don’t forget your glasses,” Hank says and Connor can’t help but wrinkle his nose. Hank laughs. “What, not a fan?”

“You know I’m not,” Connor says, a little cross. Nevertheless, he unhooks it from his shirt and puts them on. They constantly slip down the bridge of his nose. “It’s impractical.”

Hank does not care about his suffering. “It’s your disguise so quit complaining. You’re not the only one who had to make some changes.”

The lieutenant scruffs a self-conscious hand over his freshly cut hair. It’s shorn short with the top a little longer – it looks good, Connor thinks. Makes him appear younger and highlighting the blues of his eyes.

Connor’s glasses, on the other hand, do not look good. They’re clunky and annoying, and Connor thinks they sit awkwardly on his face. The urge to snap them in half is strong.

“They look fine,” Hank says with the tone of someone who’s said this many, many times, which he has. Connor does not believe him any of those times. “Hurry up. I’m starving.”

“Fine.” Connor is getting better at expressing his displeasure through his tone, but Hank tends to ignore this new development as he does with anything he finds inconvenient.

They decide to walk. More accurately, Connor decides that if they’re going to order something unhealthy, they can, at the very least, walk there. Hank is not pleased. Connor doesn’t care.

  A mile and a half later, a small lot with a few food trucks parked in a messy half-circle comes into view. Hank makes a beeline for the hotdog truck so Connor trails behind him. Hank orders a hotdog with only one topping at Connor’s insistence, and Connor buys a small vanilla milkshake to maintain appearances.

  The lot is very crowded, but they manage to snag a table near the sidewalk and away from most of the congested foot-traffic. There’s a light drizzle so Connor pops open the umbrella attached to the table. The atmosphere reminds him of their meeting at the Chicken Feed all those months ago, when Hank had been skeptical and Connor had been apologetic and insistent.

  That had been one of their first, positive conversations. It’s a fond memory, one that Connor keeps tucked away in his memory files for safekeeping.

  “So,” Hank says, snapping Connor out of his musings. “Excited about your first day of school tomorrow?” Hank is grinning so Connor levels him with an unimpressed look. “What? A father can’t have a healthy interest in his son’s education?”

  Connor sets his plastic cup down firmly. “No.”

  “Don’t be like that,” Hank laughs and Connor shakes his head, rubbing his fingers along his temple in a gesture he’s seen Hank do many times.

  His fingers stutter over the place where his LED used to be, the synthetic skin smooth to the touch. He feels oddly naked without it. Vulnerable. He wouldn’t mind the glasses half as much if he could just have his LED back.

  Something must show on his face because Hank’s smile fades a few seconds later, replaced with a worried expression. “Hey, kid. You alright?”

  “Fine,” Connor says a touch too quickly. Hank’s eyebrows shoot up, clearly unconvinced. He runs a finger one more time over his temple before placing it back on the table. “Nervous, maybe.”

  “Hmm. About school?” The way he says it implies he is talking about something else. Connor believes he is inquiring about their current undercover case, so he nods. “Don’t sweat it. You’ll be fine. You’re smart, and a fast learner. You’ll fit right in.”

  Connor has his doubts. While he’s done extensive research into the university as well as updating his human integration program to include the most recent pop culture and dialect, Connor can’t help the uneasiness that settles in the pit of his stomach. Maybe Hank is right. Perhaps this is beyond their capabilities.

  Connor keeps silent and pretends to sip his milkshake.

College is…an experience.

Connor takes the automated bus despite Hank’s insistence he drive him there. The walkways are constantly flooded with harried students and Connor finds himself having to fight the crowd more often than not.

He observes that many of his peers carry some type of overly-caffeinated beverage on them at all times (there had been a memorable moment when Connor’s sensors had picked up vodka disguised as water in someone’s water bottle, but he’d kept the information to himself). After this observation, Connor stopped by the local coffee shop on campus to purchase a small, black coffee. It reminds him of Hank.

His classes had been fairly boring, but Connor supposes that is to be expected. Hank had told him university was probably going to be uninteresting to an android that could calculate over a thousand possible scenarios in two seconds. Connor had promptly told him it actually takes him an average of 0.53 seconds to compute those scenarios, which had resulted in Hank scuffing him across the head.

Connor, despite his reservations, slots into college life seamlessly. Finding the group responsible for the android hate crimes disguised as hazing is almost too simple. They arrest the group three months later once he’s obtained the proper amount of evidence, plus some. Connor wishes they’d at least make it a challenge.

Overall, a success.

“Good job on your first undercover op,” Hank says over dinner.

Here, Connor doesn’t have to pretend to eat. He hadn’t realized how exhausting it is to pretend to be human. His LED is firmly reinstalled, and Connor brings his fingers up to brush it periodically, the familiar ridges soothing.

Sumo lies by their feet, tail thumping happily every time Connor or Hank looks his way. The Saint Bernard had missed them dearly in their four months apart.

“Thank you.” Connor is pleased with the results. His whole body feels warm, but jittery at the same time, like he has excess energy that can’t be contained. He bounces his leg, he twiddles his fingers, and shifts his posture every few seconds. “I’m glad we were able to bring them to justice.”

“Nah,” Hank says after swallowing a bite of his vegetarian stir-fry (Connor’s making, of course). “You’re just happy you don’t have to wear those dorky glasses anymore.”

“So you agree, then. That they looked bad.” Connor feels betrayed. Hank had told him they’d looked fine. Hank is a filthy liar.

Hank snorts and shovels more food into his mouth before replying. “What’d you do with them anyway?” Avoiding Connor’s sort-of question.

Connor rolls his shoulders in a self-satisfied way, and shoots Hank a sly grin. “On the record, I disposed of them in the appropriate recycling bin. Off the record, they may have ended up in a bonfire at the last party I attended as a college student.”

Hank barks a laugh and slaps the table. Connor smiles, too. “Shit,” Hank says, wiping his eyes. “You make me proud, kid.”

“Thank you.”

“Tell ya what, though. Having you call me ‘dad’ for four months was probably the most awkward four months of my life. As long as we don’t gotta do that shit again, I can die happy,” Hank says, taking a sip of his water.

Connor nods. “Agreed.”

[thefreckledone]

Pompeii 46

Sakura traced along the salt circle with her feet, slowly making her way around the clinic and apartment. Sai and Yamato were her silent shadows, but she could sense their nervous energy. The lines of salt were no thinner than an inch at any given point and in the areas behind the building the design swirled outward into what appeared to be runes. Sakura sneezed, rubbing her nose at the sheer force of the magic within the salt.

It completely encircled her property.

“What do you think?” Yamato asked, scrubbing a hand through the coarse hairs at the back of his neck.

“It’s quite strong,” Sakura said, bending down to examine a rune that appeared to be an inverted ‘g.’ “How much energy did the two of you have to put into it?”

“Shizune assisted,” Sai said. “She’s been shoring up power within artifacts for decades.”

When Sakura still looked concerned, Yamato took her hand in his and patted it. “Sai and I will be running low for a few days, but our apartment and yours are impenetrable.”

“And salt alone will do this?” Sakura asked, thinking back to the memorable baking experience where Ami mistook salt for sugar when baking a chocolate chip cookie pie. Perhaps Ami was trying to ward their apartment.

“It’s more than salt,” Sai said, staring at the different designs. “It’s imbued with our magics and our intent. It’s able to assess the motives of those who touch its borders and keep them from crossing if they hold hostile intentions.”

“ You—we’ll be safe,” Yamato said.

Sakura nodded, a slow smile overtaking her face. “Well, alright then. Thank you both for your kindness and generosity. I guess we can begin your restoration period with a movie marathon. How do you feel about Studio Ghibli films?”

Yamato and Sai glanced at each other before shrugging.

“Oh are you two in for a treat,” Sakura said, herding them toward the front door.

“Sakura?”

The trio whirled and Sakura grinned.

“Kakuzu! It’s been awhile!”

“Has it?” Kakuzu stepped across the salt, shuddering slightly. He looked between Sai and Yamato’s thunderous scowls. “Which of you included the sting in the protection spell?”

Sakura glanced between the men, frowning at Yamato and Sai. She wasn’t sure if they were being overzealous or, considering the attitude of the town, properly cautious. Still, as she met Kakuzu’s slightly confused gaze, Sakura knew that he didn’t mean her any harm. Besides, he’d crossed the barrier of salt just fine.

“It’ll be fine,” Sakura said, looking meaningfully at Yamato and Sai. “Go ahead and get My Neighbor Totoro queued up; I’ll be up shortly.”

Sai was the first to turn away, clapping a hard hand on Yamato’s shoulder and pulling the glaring man away.

“I hadn’t realized they moved in,” Kakuzu said, smiling slightly as he looked at Sakura. “A lot has changed these past few days, huh?”

Sakura frowned slightly, letting Kakuzu into the clinic. “Kakuzu, it’s been a year since I last saw you.”

Kakuzu’s eyes went wide and he stumbled as he crossed the threshold. Sakura caught his arm, helping to take a seat. He sat down heavily, placing his head in his hands.

“Are you alright?” Sakura asked, rubbing a hand over his.

“When am I?” Kakuzu asked.

“Well, the last time I saw you was at the Uzumaki party closing out the old year. It’s been over a year since then. We’ve just ushered in a new year. The Uzumaki I’m sure completed the same rituals as last year but without all the fanfare; it was a private affair.”

“Private?” Kakuzu asked. “The winter solstice festival has been opened to the public for centuries. There’s no way that the Uzumaki of all clans would suddenly close it off.”

Sakura grimaced. “Well, a lot has changed in the year since your disappearance.”

In halting starts and stops, Sakura told him of current climate in Pompeii, the mysterious illness, and the turn of its citizens upon her. Kakuzu stayed silent throughout, but kept his hand over hers, squeezing at the specific intervals wherein Sakura discussed Pompeii’s attitude toward her.

“A lot has happened while I’ve been away,” Kakuzu said when Sakura fell silent. “More than anything that’s happened in the past few decades.”

“Where were you?” Sakura asked. “Do you normally disappear for months on end like that?”

Kakuzu shook his head, eyes curving up into a smile above his mask. “No, it isn’t normal. Usually I’m better able to keep track of the passage of time. I was in the fifty-second dimension which tends to cause one’s mind to wander far beyond time and space but…” He fell silent, brows knitting together with concern.

“But what?” Sakura prompted.

“I tried crossing back here a few times,” Kakuzu said. “I was…unable to. I had to jump among a few dimensions to finally make my way back here, which has never happened before.”

“Something prevented you from returning?” Sakura asked. “How is that even possible?”

Kakuzu shrugged in a particularly blase manner, but Sakura could read the concern in his eyes. “There was some sort of barrier between myself and Pompeii. I couldn’t reenter this reality. I was able to brush up against the barrier though and it felt…cosmological in nature.”

“Meaning?” Sakura asked.

“The essence of it was ancient, beyond myself or any of the denizens of Pompeii. I’ve felt such things before, rarely, in my travels.” He squeezed her hand. “It is something that has existed since the beginning.”

“The beginning of what?” Sakura asked, a trickle of fear trailing down her spine.

“The beginning of all,” Kakuzu said. “The beginning of both natural and unnatural existence.”

Sakura read the spark of fear in Kakuzu’s eyes and felt her body go cold all over. For Kakuzu, a being who sifted the fabrics of time and space easily, to be frightened scared her even more. What could she possibly bring to the table? Sakura curled her ragged fingernails into her palms, scowling. Though there was little she could offer, she’d offer it still. That had to mean something.

It had to.

“It has been awhile since I last saw you here.”

Sakura glanced up, fighting the urge to fidget guiltily as she met Hiruzen’s gaze. She smoothed back her hair, knowing it was a futile gesture in the face of the war the magical books waged against her. The books on philosophy and the existence of the universe were apparently quite finicky about being handled and they weren’t afraid to let her know it.

“Things have been busy,” Sakura said, trying to keep from being defensive.

“Ah, you mean the tongues of the town have been busy,” Hiruzen said knowingly. Sakura flushed but did not disagree. “Unfortunately, Pompeii is kept running not by magic but by the gossip mill.”

“Sir?” Sakura said.

Hiruzen smiled, softening his harsh features to those of a genial elder. “Pompeii has abused you quite harshly. They’ve forgotten the services you’ve so willingly provided far too quickly. We may be long-lived creatures, but our memories appear to be much shorter lived.”

“You still do not believe this is my fault?” Sakura asked, chest tight with relief.

“Of course not,” Hiruzen said. “You, unlike many, have been seeking out the source.” He nodded to the pile of books. “Few have even considered coming by the library to use its knowledge. Besides, you know as well as I that there are far more likely candidates than you. The trees are the vessels for the attacks. I can think of only one individual who could possibly command the trees to act in a way so adverse to their nature.”

Sakura’s face fell. As much as she disliked Hashirama, especially the cold, easy calculation in his eyes whenever he looked at her, she didn’t think he’d destroy Pompeii. She’d seen his deep love for the town, quiet but profound. “Is he the only one with such abilities? Certainly, everyone seems to think he’s some sort of unique prodigy but he cannot be the only person to possess these particular gifts.”

Hiruzen eyed her with contemplation. “Perhaps,” he said. “Hashirama himself has experienced great tragedy in his life that may have driven him to such lengths. He lost two brothers in a skirmish with some nonmagical folk, centuries ago. Perhaps he believes he can bring them back, should he harness the powers of others. Besides, no one else with such power exists in Pompeii’s history.”

Sakura glanced down at the books in her arms. “Maybe not in its written history,” Sakura said. “No one has recorded a firsthand account of Pompeii’s founding, right?”

“As far as we know,” Hiruzen said. “All is legend and speculation; secondhand accounts that create legends larger than life.”

“Perhaps they were more accurate than you think,” Sakura said, thinking to the knights in the forest. “If nothing else, Pompeii has taught me that truth is far stranger than fiction.”

Hiruzen chuckled, patting her shoulder. “You may be right, my dear. Would you like me to go ahead and check out your books?”

“One moment,” Sakura said, running back to the shelves. She scanned them, grabbing one and adding it to her pile.

“Legends and Tales of Our Supernatural Beginnings,” Hiruzen read, glancing quizzically at Sakura.

“Legend and speculation,” Sakura said, smile wry. “This is a land where everything is larger than life. What better stories to explore than those of the gods among the supernatural? Perhaps they will have some extraordinary solution to the problem on our hands.”

“I hope you find what you’re looking for,” Hiruzen said softly, leading her toward the front doors.

“As do I,” Sakura replied, nodding her thanks as he opened the door for her.

She stopped dead in her tracks.

Ahead of her, out in the courtyard of the library stood Tobirama, his arms crossed over his dark trench coat and green scarf. He was pale, paler than usual and Sakura knew it was the sickness within him. The stripes upon his face stood out clearly against his unhealthy translucent skin.

“Tobirama,” Hiruzen greeted, face unreadable as he moved to stand beside Sakura. “Are you feeling better? Hashirama let me know you’d fallen ill.”

“I couldn’t stay in bed,” Tobirama said, eyes focused intently on Sakura. She kept her gaze averted. He looked angry. And, considering the topic of her conversation with Hiruzen earlier, she couldn’t bring herself to look at him. It seemed unlikely for the brother of the potential perpetrator to show up so soon after the conversation. “There is too much going on to stay idly by.”

“And are you coming in?” Hiruzen asked mildly, ignoring the tension between Tobirama and Sakura.

“I can’t,” Tobirama said reluctantly, sneering up at them. “Why have you blocked the entrance against me? I thought all were free to learn here.”

“They are,” Hiruzen said. “I am not the one preventing you from using the library’s facilities.”

“Oh yeah?” Tobirama’s lips curled in pain as he looked at Sakura. “Are you erecting the barrier?”

“She is not responsible for it either,” Hiruzen said, voice still calm even in the face of Tobirama’s raw emotion. “The library is an extension of Pompeii itself; I nor anyone else has control over its whims.”

Tobirama reared back in offense, hands flashing briefly with gold energy. “What are you implying, Sarutobi?”

“Was that not clear enough for you?” Hiruzen asked blandly. “Allow me to be frank: Pompeii is the power here. If you are unable to walk up the steps of the library, then it must be because Pompeii wants it to be so. The question you should be considering is why Pompeii would do such a thing? It is rare for Pompeii to actually intercede in the physical realm. What have you done to incur the wrath of the town?” Tobirama’s eyes flashed to Sakura for but a moment before returning to Hiruzen, but Hiruzen caught it. “It seems you have some idea as to Pompeii’s reason for doing this.”

Tobirama opened his mouth for a moment before quickly closing it. He shook his head, turning away from them. Sakura and Hiruzen watched until he disappeared.

“Thank you,” Sakura said, warmed by Hiruzen’s defense of her.

Hiruzen smiled. “I like to fancy myself an observant individual. I pay attention to the town and those it likes or dislikes. You, my dear, are well liked by Pompeii. The town is a far better judge of character than myself or any of the other denizens. Do not give up hope yet.”

Sakura shifted the books before reaching out to loop an arm around Hiruzen’s neck. “Thank you for believing me.”

“Of course, my dear. Here,” Hiruzen gently turned her toward the courtyard once more. Now the pink brick led up to circle lining her apartment. “Head on home. The library is open to you whenever you need it.”

The quiet movement of water lulled Sakura as she flipped through the pages of the book. In her periphery, Marigold and Daffodil practiced swordplay with weapons that creaked with each strike against one another. The small shrine was an oasis in a sea of uncertainty, untouched by the dark mysteries of the forest. Truly, Sakura thought it the best location to attempt to unravel said mysteries.

She skimmed entries of land masses rising from fights among veritable titans, more interested in stories taking place after the formation of this world.

She paused on a story about deposing a magic drunk tyrant with unnatural fruit, tracing over the illustration that accompanied the text. “Peaches,” she murmured, eying the swollen fruits in contemplation.

Perhaps it was an unhappy coincidence, an odd tie between magic and this particular fruit. Sakura closed her eyes, a shadow of the sweet scent filling her lungs.

Perhaps not.

Something tapped the side of her head and Sakura flinched, turning to the source. Marigold stood there, the butt of its sword sliding down to rest against Sakura’s shoulder. It clutched the battered sheath within its hand, marigolds spilling over across the sword.

“Sorry,” Sakura said, smiling up at the knight. “Did I zone out?”

Daffodil came up alongside Marigold, slapping the back of its helmet. Daffodil seated itself beside Sakura, leaning against her shoulder.

“I was just reading through the stories,” Sakura said, sighing as she flipped through the pages listlessly. “I hoped for some answers. So far, not much has come up, but hope springs eternal…”

Daffodil patted her arm in sympathy.

“Actually, I did have some questions for you,” Sakura said, pondering on what Hiruzen told her earlier. “Are you, by chance, related by blood to the thing that’s harassing Pompeii?”

Marigold tapped its foot twice.

Sakura swallowed against a suddenly dry throat. Perhaps Hiruzen was right about Hashirama, though she didn’t want to believe it. “I know that the Maiden was involved the last time the forest acted up. What did she do specifically? Did she fight the entity?”

Marigold tapped twice for yes while Daffodil tapped once for no.

They looked at each other, crossing their arms.

Sakura frowned at the conflicting answers. Unfortunately, there was little they could do to communicate the apparent complexities across the simplistic channel they’d created.

“In the end, she sacrificed herself,” Sakura said, tracing along the gilt of the book’s lettering. “Is there any way to avoid the sacrifice of the self?”

The two knights turned their attention to her, but they did not respond.

Sakura felt a chill run down her spine and she rubbed at her arms.

“Yeah,” she said, pausing to clear her throat at the thickness that lodged there. “That was what I was afraid of.”

They stayed in silence for several long moments as Sakura contemplated the worn, tidy shrine across the pond from her. The Maiden, whoever she was, had been willing to give her life for this place, before it was even Pompeii.

“So,” Sakura said softly, keeping her gaze to the book. “Where did this grand showdown take place?”

Golden light filled her peripherals. Sakura blinked before lifting her head. All of the hairs on her neck and arms stood on end.

At the very edge of the protective circle of the sanctuary, a will-o’-the-wisp bounced up and down, a buoy on a waveless ocean of air. Twenty feet beyond it, Sakura saw another, and another further beyond it.

The forest was beckoning to her.

The two knights stepped in front of her, hands to their swords.

“It’s alright,” Sakura said, shaking her head. “It hasn’t come to that; it won’t come to that. I won’t let it.”

She stood, stepping around until she was alongside the shrine. Sakura placed her hand on it, a sense of calm overcoming her in the moment. Silvery wisps of light threaded over and across her hand, encircling her wrist.

“It won’t end the same way this time.”

Sakura tiptoed through the garden, clutching the notice-me-nots close to her chest. Imbued as they were with an enhancement from Shizune, Sakura knew no one was going to see her but she couldn’t keep from being nervous as she heard voices from within the house.

She did her utmost to ignore them, focusing instead on the lattice that trailed upward to a small balcony. Sakura tucked the packet of notice-me-nots into her bra, pulling on her gloves before testing the lattice. It was, as she expected, quite sturdy beneath her grip. Thorns bit into the gloves, but left Sakura’s skin unscathed. Sakura hoisted herself onto the lattice, trying to avoid crushing the pale purple roses as she climbed. She swung herself over the railing of the balcony, landing softly.

The curtains were drawn and Sakura looked in.

The room was tidy and rich with all sorts of wall hangings and maps. A large desk filled with books and knick knacks stood in one corner. In the other was a large bed piled high with blankets. Beneath those blankets lay Ino, face waxy and wan even at this distance.

Sakura pressed at the door, unsurprised to find it locked. She wiggled her credit card between the double doors, shaking her head when, after a few moments of maneuvering, the doors swung open.

The lack of security was appalling, though it certainly explained how Kin and the rest survived even as veritable outcasts of Pompeii.

She pressed into the room, hating the stale taste of magic and medicine that lingered heavily in the air. It was nearly suffocating and Sakura knew it wasn’t good for Ino, magical disease or no. No one needed to live like this.

Sakura approached the bed, heart sinking the closer she got to Ino. Ino’s face was sunken and pallid, aging her far beyond her supernatural youthfulness. For once, she almost looked her true age. Lines of sickly green ran close to the surface beneath her skin, interconnected pathways that didn’t follow any normal physiological pattern. Sakura guessed that they traced the veins of magic that wove throughout Ino’s very being, marking her essence as different from that of a human. Patches of skin were covered with dull feathers, many shed among the blankets that encompassed her body.

Sakura swallowed against her suddenly dry throat, as she came face-to-face with the extent of Ino’s illness. Ino was a latecomer to the sickness, the symptoms appearing only a week and a half ago. How much worse off were the early victims?

How much closer to death were they?

Sakura pulled the notice-me-nots away from her skin and brushed Ino’s sweaty hair out of her face.

Ino stirred, blinking bleary cornflower blue eyes. “Sakura?” she asked in a husky voice.

“Hey,” Sakura greeted, movements gentle as she began to braid Ino’s hair out of her face. She didn’t ask how Ino was doing. They both knew it was a trite question and Sakura feared the answer. She strummed a thumb across Ino’s far too pronounced cheekbone. “I’ve missed you.”

“I miss you too,” Ino said. She startled, grabbing Sakura’s hand as she struggled to sit up. “Do my parents know you’re here? They’re angry, even though I told them—”

“It’s alright,” Sakura soothed, showing her the notice-me-nots. “I hadn’t realized how unusual the potted flowers you’ve gifted me with were until Yamato told me. Were you preparing for a situation like this?”

Ino huffed a laugh, for a moment looking younger and brighter. “I am all knowing.”

Sakura grinned, turning Ino’s hand palm up so she could trace spiraling patterns over it. “I should listen to you more often.”

“You should,” Ino agreed. She clamped her hand around Sakura’s fingers, waiting until Sakura looked at her. “Listen to what I’m saying now. You need to leave Pompeii.”

“What?” Sakura flinched away from her.

“Pompeii is getting worse,” Ino said. “I hear them talking sometimes, when they think I’m sleeping—you have to leave. It’s too dangerous for you to stay.”

“Ino—”

“No!” Ino said, grimacing before falling back into her bed. She coughed and Sakura eased her back into a more comfortable situation. “Sakura, please.” Tears streamed down her face as her voice rasped out of her chest. “I love you. You can’t die a pointless death; not here, not for Pompeii.”

“I won’t,” Sakura said, bowing her head over Ino’s until their foreheads nearly touched. “I won’t. But I’m not leaving, not yet. If I must…well, I’m making arrangements.”

“Good,” Ino said, eyes falling shut. “Good. I’m so tired…”

“Rest,” Sakura replied. “All will be well soon.” She leaned in and pressed a kiss to Ino’s forehead.

She tucked the notice-me-nots back into her clothing, watching as Ino drifted into an uneasy sleep.

“I love you too.” Sakura said, taking one last look at Ino before stepping out onto the balcony. “And I won’t be repeating history.”

[entergamingxp]

Final Fantasy VII Remake is Like Coming Home to Discover a Whole New World

March 2, 2020 4:00 AM EST

Does Final Fantasy VII Remake truly stack up to the legendary original? Tough to say, but this upcoming remake is off to a very strong start.

I’ll admit, I’m a turn-based JRPG purist; I believe in the depth of strategy that is unmatched in a traditional role-playing game. Very few action RPGs can match, especially considering Square Enix’s last forays into the genre were…less than exemplary. Naturally I was disappointed when Square decided to forgo my beloved ATB gauge system for the allure of fast-paced flashy action. But coming in to try out Final Fantasy VII Remake, I put that bias aside and tackled the game with fresh eyes.

And my verdict? This game has almost completely convinced me of its merit — in both its very existence and why the genre shift was justified.

A quick synopsis of the start of the plot for those who may not be familiar with the original: the game’s story follows Cloud Strife, a mercenary who joins an eco-terrorist organization named AVALANCHE to stop the world-controlling megacorporation Shinra from using the planet’s life essence as an energy source.

“This game has almost completely convinced me of its merit — in both its very existence and why the genre shift was justified.”

As this is an action RPG, enemies are scattered throughout the environment and you immediately engage with them once you’re in range. Basic combos are executed using the Square button and holding it down lets off attacks that hit multiple opponents. You also can target groups of enemies or sections on a single enemy for more precision by using R3 to lock on.

There are special abilities that each party member possesses, which are accessed through the Triangle button. For instance, Cloud can use Triangle to switch between his Punisher and Operator stances; the latter is great for its fast movement and attack speed while the former is much slower yet capable of extremely powerful blows. Other examples are Barret’s Overcharge, Tifa’s Uppercut, and Aerith’s Tempest.

Remember how I said that Square did away with ATB gauges? Well, that’s not exactly accurate. Each party member has at least two empty ATB gauges, which fill as you attack and take damage. These gauges, much like in the original Final Fantasy VII, are your lifeblood. You cannot take any action other than Attack or Limit if there is not at least one gauge filled. Therefore, one of the biggest and most pulse pounding aspects of combat is the constant switching between characters to utilize these gauges as they fill up.

Once at least one gauge fills, you can enter Tactical Mode, which lets you choose between Abilities, Spells, and Items as well as later options such as Summons and Limit Breaks (though Limits behave a bit differently). Abilities are where a variety of powerful attacks are located, each with its own unique effect. Choosing which Ability to use at the right moment and figuring out how to mitigate each one’s ATB cost is one of the keys to victory.

Next are Spells, which is magic derived from orbs of coalesced lifestream (the lifeblood of the planet Gaia) called Materia. Each Spell uses one gauge and are extremely important in combat since they can bypass a high physical defense and deal major damage. Many enemies also have elemental weaknesses and casting the right spell lets you take full advantage of that. For instance, mech enemies are weak to Thunder, so casting that Spell deals bonus damage. The Items option lets you use items collected or purchased during battle and they basically have no charge time, making them extremely useful in a pinch.

“These gauges, much like in the original Final Fantasy VII, are your lifeblood.”

Summons make their return in this game and unlike in vanilla Final Fantasy VII, they play a much deeper role in battle. You use all your ATB gauges to Summon and then your summoned ally stays for a set period of time, denoted by a special gauge that drains over time. They automatically attack enemies when summoned, though you can set certain patterns for them. When the gauge expires, they leave after casting one final Summon Spell on the enemy.

Limit Breaks return as well, and they’re just as flashy as you remember. Each character has a unique Limit with its own range and effect. Unlike any other move, you can use Limits no matter what. And also unlike the original game, Limits do not replace the Attack option, meaning you can actually save them until you need to break them out during a key moment.

Materia as mentioned before in relation to Spells, is the main mechanic of Final Fantasy VII Remake as it serves as the magic system. In order to use a Materia it must be equipped to a piece of equipment, which has a set amount of Materia slots: some linked, and others unlinked. Just as in the original FFVII, the majority of Materia Spells that can be used in combat are attack spells (such as Fire or Thunder), buff spells (like Protect), and healing spells (like Cure) among other types. There’s also a special type called Support Materia that is used to augment the effects of battle usable Spells and can do so through linked Materia slots. For instance, if you link a support spell that raises magic damage dealt with a Fire attack Materia, that will enhance the power of that Fire. However if you simply equip those same two Materia into unlinked slots, the support one will have no effect.

A brand new game mechanic, which seems to be inspired from later Final Fantasy games (particularly Final Fantasy XIII), is called Staggered. During a sortie, each enemy has a Pressured Gauge underneath their HP Gauge. As you attack enemies that gauge slowly fills, with some Abilities having the effect of greatly increasing it. Once it fills up, the opponent is Staggered and they topple over completely unguarded, leaving them wide open to critical damage. It’s an excellent system that’s perfectly crafted to handle stronger enemies and bosses and is absolutely essential for defeating them in Final Fantasy VII Remake.

As I adapted to the genre shift and learned the ins and outs of combat through trial and error, it occurred to me how well-suited this change to action-style gameplay was to Remake. Allowing characters to move freely around the battlefield and attack at will adds this sort of frenetic pacing to combat. Coupled with the fun and often funny dialogue between characters during and post-battle, it makes the whole game feel more alive and exhilarating. For new players, this means they can jump right into the fray without having to adjust to turn-based combat that slows downs the pacing of the missions. And for the returning players, it better represents how the game felt to us when we first played it, versus how it would actually play if they remained completely faithful to the classic ATB turn-based system.

One other concern was alleviated for me as well, which was the difficulty of each sortie. Many action RPGs are notorious for brain AI reducing the game to a mind numbing button-mash fest. While there is a scale of weak to strong enemies in any given group, Final Fantasy VII Remake does an excellent job mixing up the red-shirts with some truly challenging combatants that force you to carefully consider each move, lest you be cut down prematurely. It’s refreshing to play such a strategic action title, an experience I haven’t felt since my last foray into the Tale of franchise.

“Final Fantasy VII Remake does an excellent job mixing up the red-shirts with some truly challenging combatants that force you to carefully consider each move.”

During my extended session with Final Fantasy VII Remake, I was able to play through the entirety of Chapter One, and sections of Chapter Two, Seven, and Ten. Chapter One covers the famous Sector 7 Mako Reactor opening mission, which opens in the same pulse pounding fanfare that fans of the original game will fondly remember. The entire firstchapter is paced perfectly as you learn the ropes of combat and fight off waves of enemies.

The AVALANCHE members are all brimming with charm and personality in every single interaction (especially Jessie!), but the banter between Cloud and Barret cannot be understated as the two play off each other very well. Easily one of my favorite moments is when Barret needs to walk between Cloud and Jessie but makes the extra effort of pushing Cloud to the side with his gun arm. Even when Barret isn’t constantly questioning Cloud’s integrity, he still manages to convey his hostility through body language cues, and I live for that kind of character storytelling, folks.

The mission culminates in the game’s first boss battle against the Scorpion Sentinel and the fight pulls no punches (and don’t worry vets, Cloud doesn’t give you completely wrong advice about when to attack it). The battle also serves as an effective way to test your skills so far, whether you understand Materia, the ATB Gauge system, how to use each characters’ strengths effectively during battle, and other hallmarks from the original game

This chapter really sets in what to expect from Remake. While newcomers will have the chance to fall in love with the characters, story, and gameplay, returning veterans can look forward to plenty of surprises and new expansions to the plot’s presentation.

Chapter Two starts right after the Mako Reactor 7 blows up as AVALANCHE splits up to meet back at their base of operations. Taking control of Cloud again, I was tasked with navigating through the rubble of the area immediately surrounding the reactor. As I played through this section, I recalled what scenarist Kazushige Nojima said about how the presentation differs in the remake version versus the original, the latter which required players to use their imagination to supplement the graphical limitations of the PlayStation.

This approach to Remake’s presentation permeates every aspect of the game. As Cloud passes by civilians, you hear their frightened conversations as they worry for their safety and their loved ones. A couple pieces of dialogue really stood out to me in particular: a man fretting about his son who lives mere blocks away from the destroyed area around the reactor, and a now displaced family worrying about where they’ll go next.

Between moments like these and certain other events that I won’t spoil here, human elements are extremely pervasive in Final Fantasy VII Remake and serve to add an almost intimate touch to these large scale events. It’s a reminder that they have a huge impact on everyday people and that impact is extremely important — you can’t, and shouldn’t, turn a blind eye to it.

That said, in terms of gameplay, this section is the weakest. Though there are some great skirmishes, a standout for me being the tense and strategic fights with the Huntsman enemies, this section feels like it’s padded out a bit too much. What really makes it so noticeable is that Cloud is alone, so there’s no banter to distract you from wave after wave of enemies.

“Human elements are extremely pervasive in Final Fantasy VII Remake and serve to add an almost intimate touch to these large scale events.”

The next portion I played was Chapter Seven, which is the Sector 5 Mako Reactor mission starring Cloud, Barret, and newcomer Tifa. Immediately I noticed a substantial difference in the way Cloud and Barret interacted, the two being far more relaxed and comfortable around each other. Aiding that is Tifa, whose naturally soothing yet no nonsense presence balances well with the gruff men.

Early on the party is made aware of a new super combat mech, called the Air Buster, and quickly comes across a way to sabotage it before their inevitable clash. There are several rooms that contain a key card. One key card can be exchanged for a debuff on Air Buster (it takes away a component and sends it to the disposal room) and there are a few choices available: M Units that give the party items during the fight, AI Programming which slows down the mech’s finger beams and general speed, and the Big Bomber Shells that reduces the amount of times it can use its strongest attack.

Later on the team encountered two rooms, one that lead to the boss and the other to the disposal room. They’re both blocked by locks on the door that use a lever system to unlock. In other words: a mini-game! And even something as simple as a lever puzzle had tons of dialogue variation and banter to keep you entertained long after you finish.

As an aside, somewhere located in one of these rooms is a vending machine called “Potions and Music,” which lets players purchase a variety of battle items as well as soundtracks from the game to listen to on the side. The aesthetic of the kiosk is just great, with this funky sort of jazzy music that plays while you shop, and it’s a simple yet useful quality of life feature to be able to replenish items in combat zones.

The main attraction, the Air Buster, really is as grand and powerful as you’d expect. The entire fight is crafted to be difficult with a variety of attacks and sequences that force you to switch between characters and best use their abilities once again, as well as constantly heal, use Limits, Spells, or even Summons. There are so many strategic options at play and it’s exhilarating to figure out what works best for you in the heat of battle.

The final segment I played, which comes from Chapter Ten, was relatively short. It starts with Cloud waking up to find both Tifa and Aerith still knocked out. You then have the choice to approach one of the two ladies and wake them up. This is mere conjecture at this point, but I believe that the scene is related to affection points. For those not in the know, these are hidden point values that determine how certain events unfold later on between parties members.

After that came the Abzu boss, the first non-mech one I fought in this section and it was quite the challenge. Its high physical attack allowed it to deal massive damage to anyone close by. But Aerith is a great counter for this boss, as she both attacks from a distance and has high magic which compliments her healing Spells well. As I fought Abzu I noticed how differently it moved from the mech bosses; because it was a flesh and blood foe, it moved much faster and way more erratically. This was by far the hardest boss I battled in this play session, but that made my victory all the more satisfying once I eventually defeated it.

“This is a remake that will impress both newcomers and veterans in equal measures — a task very few games of its kind are able to pull off.”

As I played, I soaked in the gorgeous graphics and luscious details of each environment in Final Fantasy VII Remake, admiring how they lovingly reflect the aesthetics of the original while adding a depth that only current-gen technology could pull off. However, because of how far graphics have come since those days, much less is left to the player’s imagination, which means much more care and thought had to be given to how the story elements and character animations would be presented.

I mentioned before about one of my favorite scenes involving Barret pushing Cloud out the way with his gun arm. Such a scene was never present in vanilla FFVII; we only had his words to reflect his hostility towards Cloud. And believe me, the dialogue in this remake is fantastic. But the inclusion of non-verbal moments like that, that convey how characters feel about each other and the broader happenings of the events unfolding around them, shows that the development team considered the best approach to portraying things that now must be explicitly shown. Seeing that level of attention to detail given to some of my favorite characters in gaming made me that much more appreciative of what Remake has to offer.

Despite those few moments of obvious padding, Final Fantasy VII Remake is a game full of life and details. It takes the fond memories and rich world building that made the original Final Fantasy VII so beloved and manages to improve upon it in nearly every aspect, while still making the protagonists, villains, Midgar and its denizens feel fresh and exciting. This is a remake that will impress both newcomers and veterans in equal measures — a task very few games of its kind are able to pull off.

Final Fantasy VII Remake will release for PS4 on April 10, 2020. For more on the game, check out why Final Fantasy VII Remake may have won over our Features Editor Ryan Meitzler, and why Staff Writer Cameron Hawkins believes it looks to be the biggest achievement for JRPGs in over a decade.

March 2, 2020 4:00 AM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/03/final-fantasy-vii-remake-is-like-coming-home-to-discover-a-whole-new-world/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=final-fantasy-vii-remake-is-like-coming-home-to-discover-a-whole-new-world

[toomanysinks]

How do startups actually get their content marketing to work?

[Editor’s note: this is a free example of a series of articles we’re publishing by top experts who have cutting-edge startup advice to offer, over on Extra Crunch. Get in touch at ec_columns@techcrunch.com if you have ideas to share.] 

Even the best growth marketers fail to get content marketing to work. Many are unwittingly using tactics from 4 years ago that no longer work today.

This post cuts through the noise by sharing real-world data behind some of the biggest SEO successes this year.

It studies the content marketing performance of clients with Growth Machine and Bell Curve (my company) — two marketing agencies who have helped grow Perfect Keto, Tovala, Framer, Crowd Cow, Imperfect Produce, and over a hundred others.

What content do their clients write about, how do they optimize that content to rank well (SEO), and how do they convert their readers into customers?

You’re about to see how most startups manage their blogs the wrong way.

Reference CupAndLeaf.com as we go along. Their tactics for hitting 150,000 monthly visitors will be explored.

Write fewer, more in-depth articles

In the past, Google wasn’t skilled at identifying and promoting high quality articles. Their algorithms were tricked by low-value, “content farm” posts.

That is no longer the case.

Today, Google is getting close to delivering on its original mission statement: “To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” In other words, they now reliably identify high quality articles. How? By monitoring engagement signals: Google can detect when a visitor hits the Back button in their browser. This signals that the reader quickly bounced from the article after they clicked to read it.

If this occurs frequently for an article, Google ranks that article lower. It deems it low quality.

For example, below is a screenshot of the (old) Google Webmaster Tools interface. It visualizes this quality assessment process: It shows a blog post with the potential to rank for the keyword “design packaging ideas.” Google initially ranked it at position 25.

However, since readers weren’t engaging with the content as time went on, Google incrementally ranked the article lower — until it completely fell off the results page:

The lesson? Your objective is to write high quality articles that keep readers engaged. Almost everything else is noise.

In studying our clients, we’ve identified four rules for writing engaging posts.

1. Write articles for queries that actually prioritize articles.

Not all search queries are best served by articles.

Below, examine the results for “personalized skincare:”

Notice that Google is prioritizing quizzes. Not articles.

So if you don’t perform a check like this before writing an article on “personalized skincare,” there’s a good chance you’re wasting your time. Because, for some queries, Google has begun prioritizing local recommendations, videos, quizzes, or other types of results that aren’t articles.

Sanity check this before you sit down to write.

2. Write titles that accurately depict what readers get from the content.

Are incoming readers looking to buy a product? Then be sure to show them product links.

Or, were they looking for a recipe? Provide that.

Make your content deliver on what your titles imply a reader will see. Otherwise, readers bounce. Google will then notice the accumulating bounces, and you’ll be penalized.

3. Write articles that conclude the searcher’s experience.

Your objective is to be the last site a visitor visits in their search journey.

Meaning, if they read your post then don’t look at other Google result, Google infers that your post gave the searcher what they were looking for. And that’s Google’s prime directive: get searchers to their destination through the shortest path possible.

The two-part trick for concluding the searcher’s journey is to:

Go sufficiently in-depth to cover all the subtopics they could be looking for.

Link to related posts that may cover the tangential topics they seek.

This is what we use Clearscope for — it ensures we don’t miss critical subtopics that help our posts rank:

4. Write in-depth yet concise content.

In 2019, what do most of the top-ranked blogs have in common?

They skip filler introductions, keep their paragraphs short, and get to the point.

And, to make navigation seamless, they employ a “table of contents” experience:

Be like them, and get out of the reader’s way. All our best-performing blogs do this.

Check out more articles by Julian Shapiro over on Extra Crunch, including “What’s the cost of buying users from Facebook and 13 other ad networks?” and “Which types of startups are most often profitable?”

Prioritize engagement over backlinks

In going through our data, the second major learning was about “backlinks”, which is marketing jargon for a link to your site from someone else’s.

Four years ago, the SEO community was focused on backlinks and Domain Ranking (DR) — an indication of how many quality sites link to yours (scored from 0 to 100). At the time, they were right to be concerned about backlinks.

Today, our data reveals that backlinks don’t matter as much as they used to. They certainly help, but you need great content behind them.

Most content marketers haven’t caught up to this.

Here’s a screenshot showing how small publishers can beat out large behemoths today — with very little Domain Ranking:

The implication is that, even without backlinks, Google is still happy to rank you highly. Consider this: They don’t need your site to be linked from TechCrunch for their algorithm to determine whether visitors are engaged on your site.

Remember: Google has Google Analytics, Google Search, Google Ads, and Google Chrome data to monitor how searchers engage with your site. Believe me, if they want to find out whether your content is engaging, they can find a way. They don’t need backlinks to tell them.

This is not to say that backlinks are useless.

Our data shows they still provide value, just much less. Notably, they get your pages “considered” by Google sooner: If you have backlinks from authoritative and relevant sites, Google will have the confidence to send test traffic to your pages in perhaps a few weeks instead of in a few months.

Here’s what I mean by “test traffic:” In the weeks after publishing your post, Google notices them then experimentally surfaces them at the top of related search terms. They then monitor whether searchers engage with the content (i.e. don’t quickly hit their Back button). If the engagement is engaging, they’ll increasingly surface your articles. And increase your rankings over time.

Having good backlinks can cut this process down from months to a few weeks.

Prioritize conversion over volume

Engagement isn’t your end goal. It’s the precursor to what ultimately matters: getting a signup, subscribe, or purchase. (Marketers call this your “conversion event.”) Visitors can take a few paths to your conversion event:

Short: They read the initial post then immediately convert.

Medium: They read the initial post plus a few more before eventually converting.

Long (most common): They subscribe to your newsletter and/or return later.

To increase the ratio at which readers take the short and medium paths, optimize your blog posts’ copy, design, and calls to action. We’ve identified two rules for doing this.

1. Naturally segue to your pitch

Our data shows you should not pitch your product until the back half of your post.

Why? Pitching yourself in the intro can taint the authenticity of your article.

Also, the further a reader gets into a good article, the more familiarity and trust they’ll accrue for your brand, which means they’re less likely to ignore your pitch once they encounter it.

2. Don’t make your pitch look like an ad

Most blogs make their product pitches look like big, show-stopping banner ads.

Our data shows this visual fanfare is reflexively ignored by readers.

Instead, plug your product using a normal text link — styled no differently than any other link in your post. Woodpath, a health blog with Amazon products to pitch, does this well.

Think in funnels, not in pageviews

Finally, our best-performing clients focus less on their Google Analytics data and more on their readers’ full journeys: They encourage readers to provide their email so they can follow up with a series of “drip” emails. Ideally, these build trust in the brand and get visitors to eventually convert.

They “retarget” readers with ads. This entails pitching them with ads for the products that are most relevant to the topics they read on the blog. (Facebook and Instagram provide the granular control necessary to segment traffic like this.) You can read my growth marketing handbook to learn more about running retargeting ads well.

Here’s why retargeting is high-leverage: In running Facebook and Instagram ads for over a hundred startups, we’ve found that the cost of a retargeting purchase is one third the cost of a purchase from ads shown to people who haven’t yet been to our site.

Our data shows that clients who earn nothing from their blog traffic can sometimes earn thousands by simply retargeting ads to their readers.

Recap

It’s possible for a blog with 50,000 monthly visitors to earn nothing.

So, prioritize visitor engagement over volume: Make your hero metrics your revenue per visitor and your total revenue. That’ll keep your eye on the intermediary goals that matter: Attracting visitors with an intent to convert

Keeping those visitors engaged on the site

Then compelling them to convert

In short, your goal is to help Google do its job: Get readers where they need to go with the least amount of friction in their way.

Be sure to check out more articles from Julian Shapiro over on Extra Crunch, and get in touch with the Extra Crunch editors if you have cutting-edge startup advice to share with our subscribers, at ec_columns@techcrunch.com.

source https://techcrunch.com/2019/04/13/how-do-startups-actually-get-their-content-marketing-to-work/

[fmservers]

How do startups actually get their content marketing to work?

[Editor’s note: this is a free example of a series of articles we’re publishing by top experts who have cutting-edge startup advice to offer, over on Extra Crunch. Get in touch at ec_columns@techcrunch.com if you have ideas to share.] 

Even the best growth marketers fail to get content marketing to work. Many are unwittingly using tactics from 4 years ago that no longer work today.

This post cuts through the noise by sharing real-world data behind some of the biggest SEO successes this year.

It studies the content marketing performance of clients with Growth Machine and Bell Curve (my company) — two marketing agencies who have helped grow Perfect Keto, Tovala, Framer, Crowd Cow, Imperfect Produce, and over a hundred others.

What content do their clients write about, how do they optimize that content to rank well (SEO), and how do they convert their readers into customers?

You’re about to see how most startups manage their blogs the wrong way.

Reference CupAndLeaf.com as we go along. Their tactics for hitting 150,000 monthly visitors will be explored.

Write fewer, more in-depth articles

In the past, Google wasn’t skilled at identifying and promoting high quality articles. Their algorithms were tricked by low-value, “content farm” posts.

That is no longer the case.

Today, Google is getting close to delivering on its original mission statement: “To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” In other words, they now reliably identify high quality articles. How? By monitoring engagement signals: Google can detect when a visitor hits the Back button in their browser. This signals that the reader quickly bounced from the article after they clicked to read it.

If this occurs frequently for an article, Google ranks that article lower. It deems it low quality.

For example, below is a screenshot of the (old) Google Webmaster Tools interface. It visualizes this quality assessment process: It shows a blog post with the potential to rank for the keyword “design packaging ideas.” Google initially ranked it at position 25.

However, since readers weren’t engaging with the content as time went on, Google incrementally ranked the article lower — until it completely fell off the results page:

The lesson? Your objective is to write high quality articles that keep readers engaged. Almost everything else is noise.

In studying our clients, we’ve identified four rules for writing engaging posts.

1. Write articles for queries that actually prioritize articles.

Not all search queries are best served by articles.

Below, examine the results for “personalized skincare:”

Notice that Google is prioritizing quizzes. Not articles.

So if you don’t perform a check like this before writing an article on “personalized skincare,” there’s a good chance you’re wasting your time. Because, for some queries, Google has begun prioritizing local recommendations, videos, quizzes, or other types of results that aren’t articles.

Sanity check this before you sit down to write.

2. Write titles that accurately depict what readers get from the content.

Are incoming readers looking to buy a product? Then be sure to show them product links.

Or, were they looking for a recipe? Provide that.

Make your content deliver on what your titles imply a reader will see. Otherwise, readers bounce. Google will then notice the accumulating bounces, and you’ll be penalized.

3. Write articles that conclude the searcher’s experience.

Your objective is to be the last site a visitor visits in their search journey.

Meaning, if they read your post then don’t look at other Google result, Google infers that your post gave the searcher what they were looking for. And that’s Google’s prime directive: get searchers to their destination through the shortest path possible.

The two-part trick for concluding the searcher’s journey is to:

Go sufficiently in-depth to cover all the subtopics they could be looking for.

Link to related posts that may cover the tangential topics they seek.

This is what we use Clearscope for — it ensures we don’t miss critical subtopics that help our posts rank:

4. Write in-depth yet concise content.

In 2019, what do most of the top-ranked blogs have in common?

They skip filler introductions, keep their paragraphs short, and get to the point.

And, to make navigation seamless, they employ a “table of contents” experience:

Be like them, and get out of the reader’s way. All our best-performing blogs do this.

Check out more articles by Julian Shapiro over on Extra Crunch, including “What’s the cost of buying users from Facebook and 13 other ad networks?” and “Which types of startups are most often profitable?”

Prioritize engagement over backlinks

In going through our data, the second major learning was about “backlinks”, which is marketing jargon for a link to your site from someone else’s.

Four years ago, the SEO community was focused on backlinks and Domain Ranking (DR) — an indication of how many quality sites link to yours (scored from 0 to 100). At the time, they were right to be concerned about backlinks.

Today, our data reveals that backlinks don’t matter as much as they used to. They certainly help, but you need great content behind them.

Most content marketers haven’t caught up to this.

Here’s a screenshot showing how small publishers can beat out large behemoths today — with very little Domain Ranking:

The implication is that, even without backlinks, Google is still happy to rank you highly. Consider this: They don’t need your site to be linked from TechCrunch for their algorithm to determine whether visitors are engaged on your site.

Remember: Google has Google Analytics, Google Search, Google Ads, and Google Chrome data to monitor how searchers engage with your site. Believe me, if they want to find out whether your content is engaging, they can find a way. They don’t need backlinks to tell them.

This is not to say that backlinks are useless.

Our data shows they still provide value, just much less. Notably, they get your pages “considered” by Google sooner: If you have backlinks from authoritative and relevant sites, Google will have the confidence to send test traffic to your pages in perhaps a few weeks instead of in a few months.

Here’s what I mean by “test traffic:” In the weeks after publishing your post, Google notices them then experimentally surfaces them at the top of related search terms. They then monitor whether searchers engage with the content (i.e. don’t quickly hit their Back button). If the engagement is engaging, they’ll increasingly surface your articles. And increase your rankings over time.

Having good backlinks can cut this process down from months to a few weeks.

Prioritize conversion over volume

Engagement isn’t your end goal. It’s the precursor to what ultimately matters: getting a signup, subscribe, or purchase. (Marketers call this your “conversion event.”) Visitors can take a few paths to your conversion event:

Short: They read the initial post then immediately convert.

Medium: They read the initial post plus a few more before eventually converting.

Long (most common): They subscribe to your newsletter and/or return later.

To increase the ratio at which readers take the short and medium paths, optimize your blog posts’ copy, design, and calls to action. We’ve identified two rules for doing this.

1. Naturally segue to your pitch

Our data shows you should not pitch your product until the back half of your post.

Why? Pitching yourself in the intro can taint the authenticity of your article.

Also, the further a reader gets into a good article, the more familiarity and trust they’ll accrue for your brand, which means they’re less likely to ignore your pitch once they encounter it.

2. Don’t make your pitch look like an ad

Most blogs make their product pitches look like big, show-stopping banner ads.

Our data shows this visual fanfare is reflexively ignored by readers.

Instead, plug your product using a normal text link — styled no differently than any other link in your post. Woodpath, a health blog with Amazon products to pitch, does this well.

Think in funnels, not in pageviews

Finally, our best-performing clients focus less on their Google Analytics data and more on their readers’ full journeys: They encourage readers to provide their email so they can follow up with a series of “drip” emails. Ideally, these build trust in the brand and get visitors to eventually convert.

They “retarget” readers with ads. This entails pitching them with ads for the products that are most relevant to the topics they read on the blog. (Facebook and Instagram provide the granular control necessary to segment traffic like this.) You can read my growth marketing handbook to learn more about running retargeting ads well.

Here’s why retargeting is high-leverage: In running Facebook and Instagram ads for over a hundred startups, we’ve found that the cost of a retargeting purchase is one third the cost of a purchase from ads shown to people who haven’t yet been to our site.

Our data shows that clients who earn nothing from their blog traffic can sometimes earn thousands by simply retargeting ads to their readers.

Recap

It’s possible for a blog with 50,000 monthly visitors to earn nothing.

So, prioritize visitor engagement over volume: Make your hero metrics your revenue per visitor and your total revenue. That’ll keep your eye on the intermediary goals that matter: Attracting visitors with an intent to convert

Keeping those visitors engaged on the site

Then compelling them to convert

In short, your goal is to help Google do its job: Get readers where they need to go with the least amount of friction in their way.

Be sure to check out more articles from Julian Shapiro over on Extra Crunch, and get in touch with the Extra Crunch editors if you have cutting-edge startup advice to share with our subscribers, at ec_columns@techcrunch.com.

Via Eric Eldon https://techcrunch.com

[rollinpage]

  Japanese Battleship Mikasa sits in Mikasa Park, Yokosuka, Japan.

Japan and Russia are at war.  Russian incursions into Manchuria and Korea in search of natural resources and warm-water ports in the Pacific angered the Japanese Empire, who saw the attempts as Russia encroaching on their sphere of influence and disrespecting Japan’s place on the world stage.  In 1904, these tensions blew up and after negotiations failed, Japan declared war on Russia.   At first Russia didn’t take Japanese threats seriously, but the stunning failure of the Russian fleets in Port Arthur and Vladivostok to escape anchorage and break the Japanese blockade, taking heavy damage in the process, led the Tsar Nicholas II to send a large part of the Baltic fleet around Africa, across the Indian Ocean, and into the Sea of Japan to relieve the Pacific fleet.   It was a long, difficult trip, but these Japanese upstarts couldn’t possibly stand against a full Russian battleship fleet.  Right?

A statue of Admiral Togo, commander of the fleet at Tsushima Strait, stands tall in front of his flagship in the battle, Battleship Mikasa.

And so, early in the morning on May 27th, 1905, Admiral Togo, leading the Japanese fleet from his new flagship, the Battleship Mikasa, got his fleet underway in the early morning fog.  The Russian relief fleet was sighted overnight steaming toward Tsushima Strait.  They had hoped to slip through in the night and reach the remains of the Russian Pacific Fleet in Vladivostok, but intercepted Japanese wireless messages let them know that they had been found and had Japanese cruisers shadowing them.  Battle was inevitable.  By early afternoon, the two fleets were in sight of each other and Admiral Togo crossed the Russian “T”, bringing the full firepower of his five battleships and numerous cruisers to bear.  The Russians, while having more twice the number of battleships, were still greatly outnumbered and after such a long voyage around the horn of Africa, their ships were ill-supplied and in poor condition.  And after so much time at sea without any friendly ports, Russian morale was also in very poor condition.  By nightfall, Mikasa and her comrades sent four Russian battleships to the bottom with only light damage in return.  After nightfall, Japanese destroyers and torpedo boats moved in to finish the job.  By the morning of the morning of the 28th, all but a few Russian ships were either sunk or heavily damaged and surrounded while the Japanese had lost only three small torpedo boats.  They had no choice but to surrender.  Of the 38 Russian ships that started the battle, only two small destroyers and a large armed yacht arrived in Vladivostok.  The rest were either sunk or captured by the Japanese.  The Japanese Navy, with Mikasa in the lead, had almost completely destroyed the navy of one of the great Western powers.  The Russians were forced to concede defeat and end the war and Japan was left as the dominant power in the Far East.

The side of Mikasa, bristling with guns. Before HMS Dreadnought and the advent of the modern battleship, these old battlewagons were designed with as many guns as possible, all of varying calibers.

The battle of Tsushima isn’t that well known outside of Japan and Russia, but it is historically significant for a few reasons.  It was the first major battle between two modern steel hulled battleship fleets and the Russian Battleship Oslyabya was the first all-steel battleship to be sunk by naval gunfire.  It also further established and emboldened Japan’s colonial ambitions in Asia while showing the west that they weren’t the only ones playing the naval power game.  While most Japanese ships at the time were built and designed by the British, Japan’s victory in the Russo-Japanese war clearly showed that, given access modern technology and tactics, non-European nations could equal or defeat the western powers.  Today, most people would never question that fact – nor would I.  In 1904, however, it was a different world and the idea that non-Europeans (or the U.S.) could match the might of Europe was a scary thing.  And Battleship Mikasa was front and center in all of this.

  Mikasa

Battleship Mikasa stands proud in Mikasa Park, Yokosuka, Japan

Battleship Mikasa was ordered from the Vickers shipyard by the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1898 and was based on the Royal Navy Formidable class ship with two extra 6 inch guns crammed onto her decks.  These days, it is easy to think of emerging navies buying retired warships from other countries, but the Japanese in the late Meiji were buying brand new, bleeding edge ships and paying cash.  So Mikasa was almost brand new and top of the line when she went into battle that early May morning.  She didn’t say new and pristine for long though.  She only took minor damage in the Russo-Japanese war, but shortly after the war, while in port in Sasebo, a fire broke out and detonated one of her powder magazines.  The crippled ship settled onto the bottom of the harbor and 251 men were killed.  She was still the flagship and pride of the Japanese fleet, so she was quickly raised and while she was being repaired, she also had her guns upgraded.  She served the Japanese in WWI and supported Japan’s attempted intervention in the Russian Civil War, but these conflicts passed without incident for the grand warship.  Meanwhile, Britain had launched the HMS Dreadnaught and changed the face of battleships forever, leaving older style battleships like Mikasa far behind.  Following the restrictions placed on the naval powers by the Washington Naval Treaty in 1922, the young, but now obsolete, battleship was scheduled for the scrap yard.  But Japan’s memory is long, and the flagship of Tsushima was too important to throw away, so the Japanese petitioned the other treaty countries to allow the Japanese to preserve the ship as a museum.   The other naval powers agreed, but only if Mikasa was permanently berthed with her hull encased in concrete, ensuring she could never sail again.  And so Mikasa still rests today, encased in concrete along the water’s edge on the Yokosuka waterfront.

A replica six inch gun on the deck of Battleship Mikasa. Following WWII, the ship was stripped of almost all structures above the deck and guns of this style and age are very rare, so replicas had to be made.  All of the guns on board, from the main armament and turrets to these smaller caliber guns had to be completely remade when the ship was restored.

Mikasa’s retirement hasn’t been kind to her though.  After WWII, all of her superstructure and guns were stripped away and scrapped, leaving only a bare hulk.  For a short time, a dance hall and a small aquarium were built on top of her main deck and she fell into disrepair.  Eventually, those businesses failed, and Mikasa was left abandoned.  Then, in the late 50s, the Japan Times with the support of American Admiral Chester Nimitz launched a successful campaign to see Mikasa restored as a proper museum ship, open to all.  In 1961, she reopened with much fanfare and a visit from Prince Masahito.  Today the ship is well maintained and open to the public, with much of her decks, guns, and rigging accurately reproduced from photos and schematics of her in her heyday.  The guns are, of course, non-functional replicas, and only one deck is open below the main weather deck.  Even so, she is the only battleship of her era left in existence, and that really is something.

One of the larger caliber broadside guns with hammocks strung next to it. There are several displays around the ship intent on showing what life on board was like in 1905.

The Mikasa’s museum is fairly good considering the limited area of the ship open to the public.  There are displays in the various spaces with mannequins showing activities such as firing the guns.  The Admiral’s quarters at the stern of the first deck are fully refurnished as they would have been and are open to walk through.  There are many signs in English and a lot of good information about the Battle of Tsushima Strait, including an interactive V/R experience.  There are a few claims made in the museum, though, that are a bit of a stretch.   The biggest claim is that the Japanese victory in the Russo-Japanese war directly led to freedom for all colored people and inspired non-whites to push for more freedom and equality –especially in Asia.  While the battle, and the war, had implications on the international stage, most people outside of Japan, Russia, and the European ruling classes really didn’t know much about it.  So, while I can’t say it had no bearing, the museum makes a pretty big claim with no real way to back it up.

The bridge of Battleship Mikasa, restored with fittings bought from other scrapped ships of the same era or recreated from old plans.

The second big claim the Mikasa museum makes is that Mikasa is one of the “Three World-Renowned Historic Memorial Warships”, alongside USS Constitution and HMS Victory.  They claim that these three ships are the most important preserved warships in the world as each helped establish and maintain their native countries.  The issue here is, how do you say there are only three great memorial warships?  Mikasa is definitely a good museum ship, and her historical significance is unquestionable.  But the same can be said about a dozen other museum ships around the world.  Once again, this is a pretty broad claim with no real way to objectively support it.

Looking back toward the gangway from the Admiral’s gallery.

All that aside, if you do find yourself in Yokosuka with an afternoon free, Mikasa is definitely worth the time and money needed to visit.  You can see most of the ship in a couple hours, and the 600 yen entrance fee is worth it considering that there are no other ships of her type in existence, and only two other ships from her era left in the world.  For that reason alone, she is worth the trip to pay her a visit.

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The side of Mikasa, bristling with guns. Before HMS Dreadnought and the advent of the modern battleship, these old battlewagons were designed with as many guns as possible, all of varying calibers.

The admiral’s saloon at the stern of the ship. Here, Admiral Togo would entertain officers and draw up battle plans.

looking down on the bow of Battleship Mikasa from the bridge wing.

A protected, armored secondary bridge for steering the ship when under fire. Many of these fittings were salvaged from scrapped South American ships of similar era and construction.

The port side of Battleship Mikasa facing the city of Yokosuka. Before HMS Dreadnought, battleships crammed as many guns as possible in sponsons along the side of the ship, giving the ships a powerful broadside, like the sailing ships of old.

Battleship Mikasa in Mikasa Park, Yokosuka, Japan

Battleship Mikasa – Hero of Tsushima Japan and Russia are at war.  Russian incursions into Manchuria and Korea in search of natural resources and warm-water ports in the Pacific angered the Japanese Empire, who saw the attempts as Russia encroaching on their sphere of influence and disrespecting Japan’s place on the world stage. 

[littledraga]

Stuck in the Well

Pulling into Hammerhead, Prompto could have shouted in joy, but the sun still had a few hours before it started to warm the sky, so instead, he raised his arms high over his head, easing the tension in his back. The boys had agreed to take an overnight hunt to take out a few Iron Giants that had been causing a problem. They weren’t as terrifying to the group as they were in the beginning, but still took a lot of time and energy. Silently they agreed, turning the hunt into Takka could wait until after they got a little sleep.

Holding open the door, Prompto made to follow the others inside the small camper when he heard a familiar crackling sound. They had left his Gravity Well with Cid earlier, but certainly, the mechanic knew better than to activate in Hammerhead, didn’t he? Seeing the light in the garage still on, Prompto had begun to worry.“Hey, I’ll be in in a second, just gonna check on something, alright?” Gently closing the door behind him he pretended not to hear Gladiolus’ comment about not bothering Cindy at this hour. He wasn’t planning on bugging anyone, but he would feel better knowing. Just a peek he told himself. It was probably just an engine Cindy got distracted with acting funny anyway. Getting closer, Prompto became more concerned, his Gravity Well’s attack was normally done by now. Trying to convince himself it was simply proof it wasn’t his weapon reeking havoc, the blond peered around the edge of the garage, looking inside.Eyes wide, he saw Cindy, arms outstretched toward one of the lifts. The crackling sound of the weapon was much louder, trapped in the garage as it continued to pull the young mechanic to it. Laying open on the table, the core of it was bare and pulsing. Not allowing himself a chance to think, Prompto ran into the garage and into the gravitational pull. Covering up the core was simple enough, but without being sealed it was still pulling them in. Fumbling with the seal, Prompto lurched forward as the other blonde slid into him.“I’m sorry, darlin’, it’s getting harder to keep my footing.” “S’okay, I’m almost done and everything will be normal again.” Prompto could feel the heat in his face, but he was proud of himself for keeping a level voice as Cindy seemed to give up on trying to fight the pull and lean against him. It was only a few seconds before the seal was back properly in place, and the additional pull was released. Swaying, both managed to catch themselves before falling to the floor. Prompto reached out to Cindy before he realized what he was doing. Hands freezing in place, he felt the heat back in his face as he stuttered.“Ar-are you al- alright, Cindy?” Taking a moment to straighten her hat, she gave herself a once over, making sure everything was how it should be. With a small nod, she smiled brightly at Prompto, “Right as rain! Thanks for the save, Prompto. I’m not sure what happened, but I’m mighty grateful it’s over.” Giving a nervous chuckle, Prompto gave his weapon a gentle pat.“That’s the power of the Gravity Well, I shoot off a blast and it pulls everyone together. It works great with Gladiolus’ wide attacks. I’ve helped him take out like five goblins at once with this baby!” Beaming at Cindy, his face fell when she tilted her head and gave him a confused look.“Gravity Well, huh? When I started I just figured it was ya’lls Crossbow, I guess it lives up to its name. I watched grandpa upgrade the other one, so I figured I could figure out how to upgrade it again. ‘Course doesn’t do me any good if it’s not the same thing does it?” Nodding to the machine behind Prompto she added, “That’s some fire power you’re packin out there.” Giving a sheepish smile and nod, Prompto agreed, “Yeah, but we’re fighting some pretty strong monsters out there, so we need all the help we can get. That’s why we’re so grateful to Cid for helping power us up.” Cindy made a small sound of agreement before she rounded Prompto and started peering back into the machine. Very gently, as not to disturb it again, she tapped the core and asked, “So this is the bit that gives it that extra power right?” Nearly stumbling on his own feet, Prompto quickly spun around and showed her the inner workings of the machine.“This gives it that pulling power, and it travels out the same path as the rest of my blasts. A single blast only lasts a couple seconds, but it can make a difference.” Tapping another piece of the machine’s innards, Prompto continued to explain the machine. Whenever Cindy asked a question, he stuttered out an answer, suddenly reminded who he was excitedly babbling to but otherwise, he was able to keep himself, mostly, composed.“Oh, that’s it!” Cindy suddenly exclaimed as Prompto showed her where the machine got its fire power. Ignoring how Prompto jumped back at her sudden outburst, she leaned over the machine snatching up the hydraulic cylinder they had left with Cid. Holding the piece up to another cylinder in the machine, she compared them.“I think this is where grandpa was going to make the change. See? If we change it here,” she traced her finger along the path of machinery. “We can increase the power here.” Interjected Prompto excitement bubbling up into Prompto’s chest as Cindy began reaching for her tools.  They would have to all but dismantle the machine, but nothing could dampen their enthusiasm as they took it apart. Each piece found its place on the table, just like when Prompto took it apart for maintenance. Some pieces were starting to go, and Cindy was more than happy to replace them with left over parts she had in the shop. They even found two pieces had managed to switch places in the Well, Prompto blushed and tried to blame it on when the weapon discharged in the garage. Laughing, Cindy nudged him with her shoulder, still expertly unscrewing a plate that covered that last pieces.With two people working on the machine, they actually took longer than when Prompto was alone. As they worked, he found himself answering a nearly never ending string of questions. Cindy knew cars better than she probably knew herself, and it was enough to get by with a lot of things, but this was still all new for her and she was ready to learn everything. The reverse of how it had always been before, Cindy teaching him about the cars that came in when he stepped in to visit. Just as eagerly as she asked, Prompto answered.It was some time after the sun had risen when they had nearly finished piecing it back together. Putting it back had proven more opportunities to improve the weapon, and they couldn’t resist the challenge. With a few changes, the machine was stronger, faster and far more accurate than it was before.“This is so awesome,” said Prompto as he snapped the new seal over the core. They had increased the size of the Gravity Well’s output, so they gave it a better seal, just in case, they had agreed with a nod. Of course, they had no way of knowing until Prompto got out there and used it, but he kept the original pieces, of course. “Do-do you want to watch me test it?” Prompto murmured, glancing up at Cindy through his bangs, her concerned face sent him reeling back, arms up in defense.“No, no you’re right, it’s dangerous! I don’t want to risk you getting hurt, that’s stupid, for-forget I asked alright?” As he stammered on, Cindy grinned and broke out in laughter. “I don’t see why not? I can trust ya to take out a couple voretooths can’t I?” Prompto’s face broke out into a grin, and he raised his fist in the air in a victory salute, but before he could say anything, a gruff voice cut in.“Now whatcha mean by taking Cindy out to play with some voretooths?” Both blonds looked to the voice and saw Cid walking in, a mug of coffee in his hand. Two open mouths gaped at the master mechanic before they stuttered over each other. Prompto gave in and let Cindy talk, she was probably better with him anyway.“We were fixin’ up his Gravity Well and well,” she smiled a little, “We may have done a few other little things to make it better, we hope. Prompto was just offerin’ to let me watch our handy work is all.” As the young mechanic spoke, Cid made his way over to them,  looking between them and examining their work. Giving a few experimental pressing and pulls on the gun, he gave a satisfied grunt, leaning back.“Not what I had in mind for that cylinder, but I like it. You kids did good.” Giving them each a pat on the back, Cid made his way back out of the garage and back to his chair under the umbrella. His plans were done for the day after all.Looking at each other, they both broke out into laughter as he left. Turning back to the task at hand Cindy brought Prompto back to work, “Come on now, we’re almost done and I wanna see how good this works before lunch.” Prompto’s face dropped as he started to frantically look for his phone. He had been so caught up with the project and Cindy he had forgotten to check back in with the guys. It was nearly ten, and he had texts from Noctis. Groaning he opened the first one.‘Dude where are you?“Seriously text me back if this is a prank it sucks.’'Ignis went out looking for you, you better hurry before he gets madder.’'WTF? Ignis came back and said you were busy, what’s going on!'With a sigh, he typed out a response, 'Helping Cindy with my weapon almost done just gotta test it. See you after.’ Putting his phone back in his pocket he gave a curious Cindy an apologetic smile."I forgot to check in, I guess Noct freaked out.” Giving him a cheeky grin, Cindy shook her head and handed him the tool he was using before as they got back to work. In just over an hour, they had put the last piece back into place. Holding his hand up to Cindy for a high five, he let out an excited fanfare as Cindy returned the gesture. Picking up the weapon, the gunner tested the weight, satisfied that it felt the same. Itching to go out and try his upgraded weapon, Prompto looked up to Cindy, nearly vibrating with excitement. Catching on, Cindy laughed and grabbed an over sized crowbar, laying it across her shoulder. Prompto’s eyes went wide, and Cindy smirked.“What? Pretty girl alone in a garage, I gotta make sure I’m safe.” To prove her point, Cindy stepped away and gave the bar a few test swings, the air whistling as she cut through it. His jaw slacked, he suddenly felt better about bringing her with him to test the weapon. Making their way out of the garage, they planned where the best place was to go. As they debated, another voice joined in.“Where are we going?” Asked Gladiolus as he draped an arm over Prompto’s shoulder, eyeing Cindy’s weapon. Shrugging off the larger man’s arm, Prompto turned and held up his machine, “We finished it, so now we’re off to test it out.” Grinning, Cindy gave a nod of agreement. Noctis and Ignis had walked as they discussed plans to test the weapon. With only a minor protest, a blushing Prompto murmured about being able to take anything near by on by himself, they started to walk again.“Of course, but we’re all interested in what you’ve managed to accomplish,” Ignis replies with a small smile. Prompto agrees with a weak nod as the group walk out behind Hammerhead to see what they could find.They didn’t go far before Ignis saw a small pack of voretooths circling around them. Quietly calling to the others, they stepped back, making sure the three were between Cindy and the beasts without obstructing her view. Stepping forward, Prompto took aim at the center of the pack. He caught the attention of the pack and they began their approach. Prompto adjusted his aim as they shifted, and fired. The crackling of the Gravity Well was louder as it went off. Black and purple light swirled around themselves, larger than before as it took the beasts in. Even stragglers at the edge of the pack clawed at the ground trying to break free from the pull of the machine. Letting out a cheer, Prompto switched to the machine’s normal setting, blasting through the creatures. Even though guilt panged in his chest, he knew if he didn’t take care of them quickly they would be after them as soon as the blast dispersed.As the last one fell, Prompto turned to face the others grinning like a fool. Before he had a chance to celebrate, his face fell as he called out for Cindy. The others turned at his scream to see a voretooth coming up on the mechanic’s side, crouched to attack. Raising up her crowbar, Cindy brought it down over the beast’s head and even Prompto could hear the sickening sound of its skull being crushed. As she lifted her weapon she looked back to Prompto with a smile, “Told ya, I learned to take care of myself.” As the others still stared in disbelief, Prompto cheered for Cindy singing is signature fanfare for her.After the others had picked their jaws up off the ground, they headed back to the out post with the promise of lunch made by Ignis. All the while asking for stories of Cindy’s adventures with the crowbar.