#i could talk about this game forever

[bansheestrikez]

some of my fav spooky fes a live bromides kuz this was my dream gacha rhythm game and the KILLED IT :(((

i miss this game so much and i will never stfu ab it or get over it...plz come back PLZ (its never happening)

[thelovelyblark-barg]

help I'm thinking too hard about outer wilds again

[mostspecialgirl]

growtopia is the funniest game of all time even if only considering that you can tell people “yeah man you can play as rayman in it if you pay like $300 usd to some guy in indonesia. No theres no other way to do it if you’re a new player” and it’s just true

[asteryllic]

you know a game is good when it fundamentally changes your perspective on life and death and the universe

[notcryingtoday]

the obsession is back

[witchlingcirce]

Thinking about how Ned’s greatest sacrifice will always be protecting Lyanna’s son

[dykedvonte]

Jimmy killing himself because he knows he is incapable of living an life without Curly and knows that in the miracle chance they were found and saved they would not let him have contact with Curly and he hates the idea he'd actually have to take responsibility.

Even if he lied, its only a matter of time before Curly is capable of showing or telling what a monster he really is, no matter what delusions tell Jimmy Curly would never do that to him.

He understands that he was the monster in everyone's worse moments but refused to accept that at the end. So he made sure that he died without the possibility of it being actualized as he's the only one that saw death as an escape rather than a release. Jimmy truly didn't believe Curly had anything to escape from even after everything and let him have what he perceived as glory as the sole survivor and thus Captain of the Tulpar.

[humlase]

Neil's mother may have been abusive, but that doesn't stop him from missing his mom and Abby is right there to pick up the pieces.

Or in other words, Abby gives great mom hugs.

[svtskneecaps]

dude i fucking love how this server has communication as its premise and built into its fucking core. i fucking love that. bc it's one thing to be like 'this server is about multilingual communication and cultural exchange!!' bc that could present in any NUMBER of ways but like. with the federation and the eggs and a common shared goal they all decided WE ARE A TEAM. and like, ok,

when baghera was sus of jaiden because of the thing when pomme died and jaiden had been the reason baghera left her side for the only time that day, i wasn't even worried. i wasn't worried bc i was like "we just wait. because i know they will TALK TO EACH OTHER." and I WAS RIGHT. TWO DAYS LATER IT WAS ALL CLEARED UP AND BAGHERA WAS HELPING HER OUT WITH CUCURUCHO

and the ordo theoritas is functionally a secret organization. it would be SO EASY to gatekeep the lore, on grounds of "the federation is always watching and anyone could be a spy" and yet the ordo theoritas says that, like bad SAYS THAT, says OUT LOUD, "anyone could be a traitor" and then turns around and goes "hey person i've had a few days' worth of conversations with, here's a detailed rundown of everything we've learned about the island's mysteries, and the secret location of the ordo base". SOFIA was supposed to be secret from everyone, and for a little bit she was. but now like, the ordo theoritas is showing her to everyone. it would be SO EASY to hide things and to gatekeep things but they just. don't do it. here's the supercomputer!!!! don't forget to grab her waystone so you can come back anytime!!!

bad learns something. "i need to tell forever/cellbit/baghera". forever figures out a new way to protect the eggs, and he gets it to everyone within days. cucurucho tries to have a secret conversation and the entire server knows about it almost instantly and there are three people buried in the walls reading the subtitles and giving each other meaningful glances

i love it. i love it. miscommunication plotlines drive me up the fucking wall and the fact that i wasn't even SCARED when jaiden and baghera could easily have angled into an angsty tangled web of that and instead just MET WITH EACH OTHER AND EXPLAINED EVERYTHING AND CLEARED THE AIR ALMOST IMMEDIATELY was so fucking breathtaking. and this is a multilingual server. this is a MULTILINGUAL SERVER. i love it. i love it so much i want to cry. it's a server for communication and people Communicate, it would have been SO EASY to slip into monolingual factions and stick to the familiar but they DIDN'T. they DIDN'T. WE GET TO HAVE A THEORY TABLE WITH SO MANY LANGUAGES SITTING AROUND IT. we get to have conspiracy walls in every language!!!! idk sometimes i forget how fucking CRAZY all this is, like the scale of what they've accomplished

so yea thank you to quackity and the qsmp admins for this, and thank you to the streamers for hearing 'this is about connections' and taking it ENTIRELY to heart, and also thank you to whoever the fuck decided to give quackity's school class the job to look after a fucking egg to learn about parenting. bc holy shit. holy shit.

[xxplastic-cubexx]

//staring at the ceiling at 4AM// like what other magneto skins could they make they already peaked with The Master of Magnetism but i also would like to see their attempts to succeed The Master of Magnetism

[front-facing-pokemon]

[beargregor]

Chef greg delivery just for you. it's a wonder I hadn't bearified him yet, he's my fave greg too 🔪

gays literally only want one thing (to be chopped up and eaten by a depressed man) and it's fucking disgusting

[tangledinink]

day five of repostober is old art! this is a ttrpg character from my vampire the masquerade game-- his name is candle and he's very sassy, very flirty, loves to perform, and lives in a van with his rabbit, brooklyn. he used to live in nyc with his husband back in the 80's when he was still mortal, but, well, you know. shit happens.

he's a stripper by trade (and is extremely good at it.)

[demento-mori]

Alright! Now that ive finished Act 3 ive put together some of my general thoughts and feelings from this section of the game.

First off, I absolutely love how much the dialogue, descriptions, flavour text and so on changes and evolves throughout the loops. There are so many little details and plot threads, such as Siffrin repeatedly hitting their hip against that one corner, and getting increasingly frustrated each time, or learning that the dying plant is Mirabelle's and being able to compliment it in the next loop. It makes the characters and the world seem so organic and alive, and provides a sense of progression as you are able to learn more and more about the world around you. Even though the game gives you the option to loop directly to certain floors and areas, I find that I prefer to go through the house the 'legit' way each time, simply because I'm so eager to see whats changed.

Siffrin's psychological decline has been devastating to watch play out, especially since you, the player, are right there alongside them. You're also hoping that each new dialogue unlocked, and each change in the loop means that you've found the right solution to end the loops, and everytime you're disappointed and feel like your efforts were all for nothing. This especially hit home in regards to the party/family members. The first time you do each of their friendship quests its so heartwarming and emotional, you feel so happy that you've been able to get to know them better and become closer with them. But then, in each subsequent loop the impact of those quests lessen, and its easy to begin seeing them as just another hurdle you have to overcome in order to progress. It mirrors how Siffrin gradually stops seeing them as autonomous beings and rather as actors in a play, who he is "manipulating" to get his own happy ending.

The changes in the game's artwork that show Siffrin looking more worn down and tired is equally devastating. Its a small but very effective detail that drives in how the loops are wearing down on them. It almost feels like the game itself is becoming more and more corrupted as the loops wear on.

The worldbuilding is on another level. Like, you can tell that so much thought and care has been put into the world. The countries and their different customs, the religions and their practices and mythology. The language, the fashion, the magic system, the history. One thing that really stand out to me is how Vaugarde is clearly a very wonderful place, but its far from a utopia and there are still societal issues and injustices. For example, rather than taking the route of "there is absolutely no prejudice, all races genders and sexualities are equal", the game shows that gender and romantic/sexual attraction are all widely accepted and seen as fluid due to the change belief, but conversely aromanticism and asexuality are not as common or accepted as they clash with the religions practices. This makes the world seem much more fleshed out and believable, as it provides clear and convincing justifications for why the society is the way it is. And all of this isnt even getting into the more spoilery worldbuilding elements, such as colours and the island north of vaugarde, or even simplier stuff like the other countries and their cultural differences, or the various different vaugardian towns and their unique customs.

I feel like Isat is the only video game Ive ever seen that utilises the time loop concept to its full potential, let alone accomplising that in a way that still translates to a well-made and engaging gameplay loop(ha). Both the gameplay and the story make full use of the time loop gimmick in order to craft a compelling narrative, to explore the characters, their backstories and development, and the psychological effects of the situation upon them to their maximum potential, and to ensure that the gameplay loop never becomes stale and is able to consistently keep the player invested with new things to explore each loop. Its truly a masterpiece of game development.

[thorough-witness-enjoyer]

A Look into My Witness/ Destiny Cultural Project!

Greetings!! In order to help organize my cultural project (that I am still working on, so everything here is still malleable as my understandings and drafts change!), I decided to share with you guys what I aim to tackle (warning, I’m not a professional by any means)!

My project is a very causal one that will be used to form discussions with others. My goal is to encourage people of my culture to tell passionate and authentic stories after years of pressure to be docile to Western ideals, using the Witness and its role in Destiny to show that there are universal themes and antagonists we can portray to a worldwide audience!

I’ve been hopping around getting interpretations about Destiny in order to understand how others perceive a story that can be read to resonate deeply with our experiences.

For context, I am using this reading, inspired by my cultural experiences, to compare interpretations against and form this project: the greater story of Destiny is about how the indifference of the universe and its tendency to act in ways people see as cruel paired with the questions left by its silence drive people to seek an answer to it that is objective/perfect out of fear and pain, failing to realize that there is no one way to look at those aspects of the universe spiritually and that the pursuit of enforcing purpose leads to cutting away at beliefs/people that you deem a threat to your paradigm.

That fear of uncertainty and the inability to make the universe act the way you wish it would often leads to individuals forfeiting a personal existential pursuit in favor of assurance within a collective belief system that gives them a sense of safe, objective meaning; a system that can cause long lasting devastation, but can be defeated by choosing to fight alongside others to protect diversity and the right to self autonomy, even if that means living in a world that can cause pain alongside others that can choose to be immoral.

I relate this to an exploration of Caribbean culture against imperialism, specifically religious imperialism, and talk about beliefs/ideas like Myal, Obeah, Vodou, Evangelism, Fundamentalism, and Négritude.

Here’s what I have as categories!

A Silent Universe is One Open to Interpretation for All- Understanding the Traveler/Gardener’s role in Destiny’s narrative and how that leads into creating stories inspired by its dedication to free will as well as our own culture’s interpretations on the roles of the universe’s forces and divinity (with personal additions added from my experiences of focusing on scorning the universe instead of helping others understand their place in it as a partial result of people forcing the narrative of an omnipotent, omnipresent, all knowing God into fitting the white supremacist theory that slavery was earned via the lineage of African individuals to Ham from the Bible)

Don’t Submit to the Indifference of the Cosmos, Work in Spite of It- Understanding the Veil/Winnower’s role in the Destiny narrative and how that can enrich stories involving fighting against Social Darwinism and dogmatic cruelty (discussion of the hive occurs here)

Do You Need Salvation? I Don’t, but You Do- Understanding how the ideas that the Gardener and Winnower represent lead to the creation of the Witness and using that to sympathize and understand the behaviors of “Precursors” in our real world; an argument against the notion that ethics is only for “civilized westerners” and that religions with vertical morality/a “perfect”, blissful afterlife are the objective truth

We Don’t Want the Ends and We Sure as Hell Don’t Want the Means- An analysis on the intentions of the Precursors and how far intentions can be valued in stories that focus on the consequences

We Fight Systems, Not People- An exploration on how the decision to make the Witness it’s own being outside of the Precursors makes it a powerful representation of how individuals can harm themselves to make an oppressive system that is more than their individual actions

It is Beauty Amongst Ugliness- An exploration of how Destiny’s support of fighting for hope and personal freedom against insurmountable odds shows a potential interest from general audiences for Caribbean stories of maintaining hope in desolate conditions; a discussion on how tales of black triumph has a place on the world stage

You Look at the Sands, I Look Beyond the Horizon- A discussion about how more communal groups that are close to their cultural identity might focus on the more societal, large scale implications of a story rather than the more personal implications individually minded people see first, something to be aware of and acknowledge when creating cultural fiction (with observations about Witness interpretations and other pieces of media, like Dev Patel’s movie Monkey Man) (please note I am not demonizing any type of interpretation, I just think it’s important to consider that people have different scopes in order to avoid frustrations in story telling)

Disciples, Taken, Dread, and Zombies- An exploration of “zombification” (as used in the book Myal by Erna Brodber) to explain the treatment of the Witness’ forces and relate it to how imperialistic acts aim to strip people of cultural/religious identity to use for the perpetuation of its ideology

I Hope That’s Dread You’re Feeling - A discussion on how, after years of intimidation from oppressive powers, fiction can be used to cause negative reactions in audiences that move them to take our issues and stories seriously (with pieces of the Witness’ abuses, manipulations, and mutilations described); a discussion on the importance of fostering a Lordean Rage in depictions of abuses as well as the exploitation of black bodies (with additions from Myisha Cherry’s book The Case for Rage)

Leaving Lubrae Won’t Save You- An analysis of how Rhulk can be interpreted as a metaphor for zombification; how imperial powers seek to prey on the vulnerable and frustrated to isolate them, instill in them their ideology, and turn them on people who struggled just like them with promises of salvation (with additions from Derek Walcott’s Dream on Monkey Mountain play and the book The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon)

You Can Look at it This Way, or That Way, or That Way Too- An overview of some of the historical/mythological/cultural/philosophical/psychological references in Destiny that are key to understanding the world building and how Bungie uses them to enrich the game’s themes; a discussion on how we are not alone in our struggle to prove we have a right to existence and expression

You Should Always Aim to Do Better- A discussion of some of the narrative shortcomings in Destiny, especially involving racial biases (intentional or not), that storytellers should be mindful of when developing narratives or using cultures to inspire antagonistic forces

Is it Human? Male? Female? No, it’s Evil- A general discussion on the design of the Witness paired with more specific observations on how people interpret it’s gender; a detailing of personal observations on how whether the Witness is seen as masculine or feminine often coincides with what traits/interpretations of it are given attention, related to how imperialism is often seen as a masculine force

The Stars Were Made for Us Too- An encouragement to people of my culture to not shy away from implementing our experiences in sci-fi and fantasy settings based on some of the aspects people admire about Destiny (inclusion of varied forms of gender expression and sexualities, poc from different backgrounds being main characters, etc.) (with additions from a visual arts thesis a friend of mine is producing about black mythology and the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston)

If you guys have any questions or want to participate, go to my pinned post and comment on it/Dm me personally! I’m still accepting responses to my questions and lore/references that could help me out, and I thank everyone who shared that post! Thank you for your time and I’m so excited to keep working on this to refine it more!

[saints-who-never-existed]

For the terror ask game-Franklin?

Franklin - Who’s an underrated character in your opinion?

Well, funnily enough, I actually find Franklin himself to be underrated in many ways.

As so often is the problem with fandom generally speaking, he often gets flattened down and smoothed away until he's just 'stupid old man who fucks everything up'. And, like, I'm not saying that he's not that but I do think there's much more to him than just that.

I think he's a man more than aware of his own limitations for one thing - sometimes painfully so but also often not? He knows full well he wasn't first in line to lead the Expedition:

"Sir, he [Crozier] was no one's first choice for this expedition." "Nor was I..."

He also shows in places a surprisingly keen understanding of both his limitations in comparison with Crozier - "I'm not the sailor you are Francis, never will be." - and the difficulties of communicating with him - "Perhaps it is I who's unable to truly bring him into the bosom of my confidence. I want to. I always plan to. But then, when I'm with him, I don't know why I falter."

There is a willingness there in him to confront and accept his own foibles and I find that really interesting to think about in comparison with his hubristic, self-aggrandising side.

-

Another contrasting aspect of Franklin's character I find fascinating is the care he has (or doesn't have) for the men under his command. There's an artifice to it in many places - the way he turns David Young's death into self-serving propaganda (all after making choices that actively worsen the circumstances of that death), or bribes the marines in the hunting blind with rum and revels in feeling like one of the gang afterwards. But there are other places where it feels much more genuine. Gore's death, of course, hits Franklin like a ton of bricks and it's Crozier raising the idea of risking further lives that really starts to set him off in E03 too -

"It's only eight men, Sir John. And there is just enough time." "I have lost six men on this expedition to date. SIX! And you ask me to risk more..."

-

And don't even get me started on that rant! My god! It's absolutely my favourite scene for Franklin! Again, there's a fascinating contrast in the way he so accurately reads Crozier to absolute filth but then, anger spent and realising the pain he's inflicted, the way he fails so utterly to make up for it - "So let us turn our energies back to being what the Admiralty, and life, have seen fit to make us..." etc. that's just putting a bandaid on a stab wound. And I go a bit bananas for the additional lines that didn't make it into the final cut too

"...There can be no argument between us there. I will not bother you again with more. But do not test me again with more, either."