#i don't play strategy games much but my god is this fun!!! even just thinking of the kinds of characters i'm going to make in the future is

[endtimers]

i just know bg3 is going to end up my most played game on steam my little bisexual heart can't take this i need to romance everyone

[tarjapearce]

Omg, your asks are back open, I just want you to know that I can’t stop thinking about your punk miguel post god damn. If you could write some more of that that would be very cool 🥺👉👈 Only if you want to though!!! I love you

art by @bumbleboots_art on Ig

Warnings: Angst, mild physical assault, fluff, suggestive towards the end.

Miguel

Punk Miggy

Pt. 1

Ever since Miggy appeared through a portal into your lives, things had been chaotic.

You needed to believe things were chaotic good, but with two Miguels you truly didn't know what to expect. Your grumpy faced Miguel often barked orders with a strategy in mind, while Miggy just gave in the heat of the battle and things somehow ended up working.

But at the end of the day everything resumed into a bunch of

"Te dije que hicieras caso!" (Told you to obey)

"I obey orders from none. You specially"

God, as handsome as they were, they were annoying. The constant clashing had also played a huge part in your almost-lover/boss situationship with you. Everytime they bickered like loud vexing parrots, you left them be.

At the begining it was fun to watch them rant and banter, but as things evolved into something more tense and borderline dangerous, your own share of mental force was drained.

You barely hung out with them anymore, adding to the already snapping short temper of your Miguel.

Miggy looked suspicious, and truly wondered if things had been too much for you to not be around.

His eyes however widened in knowing pain as a flurry of memories paraded on his mental runway. He watched Miguel, or at least another variant of him, having and enjoying a little girl he knew so well. Little Gabriella.

"Stay away" He growled, but how could he?

How he could do such thing when another variant of his little girl was there, happy on his shoulders, freshly out of a soccer game.

His own Gabriella loved hearing him play the guitar, just as much as he loved serenading her. His Gabriella loved to make patches for him to add at his jacket. The two had matching patched up vests. In every universe his little girl was beautiful and loved. Like it should be.

"I fucking told you to stay away!" Miguel growled as his punk counterpart held his hands in defense while dodging a hurling chair thrown his way

"I lost her too, Y'know?" Miggy laid on his chair as Miguel grabbed him by the collar of his vest. Fangs bared, tight grip and nose flaring.

"I miss her too."

With a grunt, Miguel let him go.

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"C'mon, jefazo. You might fool everyone under your command. Even our princesita. But you don't fool me. I am you, remember? Estás bien pendejo si crees que puedes engañarme." (You're stupid if you think you can fool me.)

"She's a constant reminder of what I do." Miguel pointed at the screens, "And why people should fucking follow orders."

Miggy rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Could you shop talking about work second for a moment? Let's focus on-"

"She's gone. Nothing to focus on, besides the multiverse."

"I know what it feels like. To suddenly lose-"

"Tu?! Tu no tienes ni una puta idea de lo que se siente!" (You had no fucking idea to what it feels like!)

Miguel roared, as Miggy frowned with a scowl only to his chest to bump against his, retaliating.

"¿Crees que no, cabrón? I lost her due an asshole policeman doing a misdirected gunshot just cause he mistook me for a criminal. He shot in the air, and it got her. It was aimed at me!" (You think I don't, dipshit?)

He palmed his chest before ripping the velcro patch Gabriella had made for him and tossed it on his hands.

My favorite Rockstar

"You fucking think I don't know how powerless you'd feel while watching your little girl dying right before your very eyes?! "

"Al menos tuviste algo que sepultar." (At least you had something to burry)

Miguel mumbled and his punk counterpart stilled.

"She vanished in my hands." Red and blue clad shoulders slumped heavily. A burden he still carried to this day.

Silence stretched for a bit too long, before Miguel sighed and turned his back on him.

"You stepped in when none wanted to."

Miggy rubbed his neck as he offered his best comfort words.

"That's what a real father does."

Miguel cleared his throat and turned to face him "We wished we could save everyone."

"But we can't." added Miggy with a solemn face.

"Now you understand why I do what I do?"

"I've always understood that, though guy. Still, is fun to give you shit for it"

Miguel dismissed him with a roll of his eyes, but a newfound level of mutual respect settled between the both.

"Specially when our princesita was caught in the middle of our antics."

"Again, there is no ours in here. Give her space."

"I think we've given her enough of it."

"No."

"Yes"

Miguel grunted, annoyed as he followed him.

-----

"No, no, that's not how you do it."

"It's my turn, I kiss her however the fuck I want to."

Bossman Miguel spoke as he cupped your reddening cheeks, making your flushed lips, that glistened over a new make out session invited him to deliver another desperate and breathless kiss.

Meaty lips guided yours in a pace you've grown to know well, just as Miggy nuzzled your neck playfully. The tip of his nose roaming up and down, for him to give a gentle nip at your earlobe.

You groaned into Miguel's mouth, and whimpered as you begged for air.

How had you ended up in this predicament after such a parkour of emotions displayed between them? Lyla had shown you their conversation, glad at least they learned how to share something that found them a common ground.

And then Miggy had waltzed in your work bay, smothering your lips with a breathtaking kiss as an apology for the troubles caused and it only triggered Miguel, that showed him what a real kiss was.

And now it all resumed into this moment. The three sitting on your couch, that sometimes acted as your bed, taking turns to make out with you.

Miggy's turn arrived as he turned your face, placed a gentle hand on your cheek and kissed you. It was soft and chaste at first, but then his tongue pried your mouth open. Soft and moist muscles fighting for a chance to top you, and he did.

Earning a lovely and delicious mewl from you. Rough and calloused hands roamed up your sides and waist

"Let her go, that's enough"

Miguel grumbled as he had to pry away your needy lips from his counterpart.

"Who did it best, cariño?"

Your head felt like it had detached from your body and floated like a balloon as your Miguel nipped at your neck softly and Miggy mumbled the sweetest things to your ear. You certainly couldn't decide, even if your life depended on it.

"A tie."

Both scowled.

"Guess we'll have to find out differently, then."

Miguel's steely stare fixed on you with a suspicious glint in his eyes, as Miggy licked your earlobe.

Where were the anomalies when you needed them the most?

You gulped at your ongoing demise.

[maxwellatoms]

What kind of video games do you like to play Mr. Atoms?

So many! Assuming there's time. These days there's generally not, so I've been bingeing Vampire Survivors in half-hour doses.

Above is a gif from Noita, my top game of the pandemic. It's an old-school "Metroidvania", but every pixel is simulated and you're a witch who can manipulate her spells (and thereby the world) in a seemingly infinite number of ways. Here, I've built magical "buzzsaws" around myself, which blinded me to the shadow amoeba. In Noita, almost every death is due to hubris, and I think I love that pendulum swing. If you're lucky and skilled, you can become a walking whirlwind of destruction, but you're always your own worst enemy. Bonus: You can turn your vomit into rats.

I'm currently on a break in the midst of my Baldur's Gate 3 run, with a party consisting of my BG2 character's daughter, Karlatch, Lazelle, and Shadowheart. Ladies' Night!

I'm also playing a bit of Shadows of Doubt. I'm not sure it'll hold up long-term, but it's got a lot of potential.

I don't really limit myself by genre or platform, but I'd say that I primarily play indie PC games. The games in my Steam library that I keep going back to again and again?

Cities: Skylines: A chill City Building Simulator. Lots of fun mods.

Darkest Dungeon: This thing is a classic strategy game IMO.

Death Road to Canada: A light, fast Project Zomboid. Dogs with guns!

Dwarf Fortress: For me, it's the ultimate fantasy sim. I love it so much. Looking forward to Adventure Mode finally appearing on Steam.

Project Zomboid: The ultimate lonely 2D zombie apocalypse survival game. Or non-survival game, I suppose.

Total War: Warhammer: For when I'm in a strategy-y mood. Like a lot of people, I'm a bit soured on the modern DLC scene, so I'm still waiting on #3 even though I'm a Chaos stan.

Not on Steam? I do play some Star Citizen from time to time. I backed it a decade ago. I used to joke that it was the game I was going to retire into, but more and more that's looking less and less like a joke. Still, it's made some good progress in the last couple of years and I'm hopeful that repair and engineering turn out to be fun.

The game I'm looking forward to most would be the next Elder Scrolls. I know it's still a ways off. Ever since my Nereverine landed in Morrowind with the intention of becoming a just and righteous cleric and instead found herself an unwitting villain and colonizer, I fell in love with the Elder Scrolls and it's deep, gray lore. It is (for me) a great way to really get into a character's head. Roleplaying... go figure.

Since Morrowind (and a backtrack into Daggerfall), I only allow myself one canon playthrough. My rule is to "let it ride", so that aside from death, if I screw up or if something unexpected happens I don't save-scum. All of my characters are related, either by quest or bloodline. I already know that my next character will be Aventus Aretino (the kid you catch summoning the Dark Brotherhood). My Skyrim character (above) had adopted him and then left him in the hands of a vampire, so I should be covered even if there's a big time jump. Now I just have to wait six more years for the game. And then maybe two for mods. God I'm so old.

I need to spend more time with Dave the Diver.

Anything current I'm missing out on?

[jolyneart]

This'll be a long-ish post about my The Locked Tomb themed MTG deck and how I made like 20 versions of it before I decided to build it (and how I'm still working on it).

(I want to do legit art for this card)

If you are part of the Venn diagram of these two interests, or you want to see my slow descent into madness ovear a year of trying to put cardboard together, check the spoilers below.

So, I haven't been playing Magic for too long (a bit over a year). Weirdly I have owned cards since original Ixalan, but I never bothered learning to play until a friend invited me to play commander. I just wanted them for the pretty pictures, I have always admired Magic artists and they have been a huge inspiration on my art career.

Anyways, not too long after I started to play, I got this idea into my head that I should do a Locked Tomb commander deck.

"That'd be fun!" I thought

Well

All of these are over a year old (and are not my only first attempts, but I'll talk about those later).

I had two main issues when starting to build this deck:

1- I have never been interested into deck-building before in a card game

2- I have no fucking idea of what I'm doing

The first commander I chose to lead this deck, that I still think thematically fits within TLT universe, is Ratadrabik of Urborg

This Rat of a man has given me so many headaches, I'm sure that now I'd be able to do make a half-decent deck with him in the lead, hell I do have a black/white aristocrats deck that he could command just fine.

But my issue was that I had no idea how to balance his legends theme and zombie kindred theme at the same time, in the same deck. I was just incapable. And all of my results, budget or not, were jank piles that did very little or exploded into an infinite combo with cards like Boromir, Warden of the Tower or Nazgul. It just didn't feel right and the Locked Tomb theme was barely holding on by a thread with the things I was putting in there. There were barely ANY skeletons in any of these! (this will keep happening)

Anyways, after giving up on Ratadrabik (which btw I think would make for a great Ianthe proxy) I moved on to find some other commander and color combination that'd enable something else that wasn't a pile of legendary creatures.

Queue in Varina, Lich Queen

It's a Zombie Wizard! She cares about zombies, those are kind of early skeletons! She raises the undead herself!

Well, I do think Varina is great, and in other world where I knew how to build decks back then, she might just have been my Harrow commander deck

I don't even think the decks I made for her were that bad at all, just extremely expensive. And also the zombie theme, while much better supported mechanically, I didn't feel really represented the kind of necromantic powers we see in the books at all.

Shoutout to Mikaeus, he'd make for a great Jod if anyone wants to make a deck about our lord and savior the undying emperor.

Ok, now I'm going to take a bit of a detour to talk about what I actually like playing in mtg (not just commander). I predictably really enjoy playing black and graveyard strategies, but also really love putting big idiot beaters into the field with those strategies .I know, groundbreaking. But it is what it is, two of my favourite decks do this in one way or another.

God's perfect deck, my Sauron deck, was my first precon, that has left the lands of preconstruction long ago and is my dearest possession. Is it my most powerful deck? nope. Is it unbeatable? Not really, I almost never win with this deck.

What BIG Sauron does is, in an extremely thematic way, become a problem for everyone at the table, do evil things, and have everyone beat me down for my reanimation crimes.

If you are interested, you can check out that deck here.

Anyways sorry, back to the locked tomb, SO I like the graveyard right? Wouldn't it be nice that there'd be a famous woman necromancers in mtg? What if she leaded the deck?

Well, the most that I can say is that there really can be too much of a good thing. I'm talking about swamps.

Initially I had these two running around in the Ratadrabik deck. I still stand by the idea of having these flip walkers be young Harrow/Gideon and flip them into their "First House" versions. The Gideon/Kiriona and Kytheon/Gideon thing still drives me insane.

I was too sad discarding them, so I grabbed the Lilly card and tried to make it work, I really tried, I put on a lot of effort and care. But it didn't work, it wasn't her, it was me.

I built a pretty generic aristocrat shell, but I think that type of archetype really benefits of having more colors to work with (specially white).

So, with three commanders locked in the tomb (I also tried a Gut rakdos deck but I'm not even going to talk about it), what was next? I spent months on these and still had nothing to show for it. Was I the problem? Was I cursed with bad deck dissease?

No, that cannot be. I'm building other decks while this is going on and those are doing just fine. Lae'zel//Master Chef, Gandalf Big Artifacts. The issue might be that the head of the deck is always caring for just the one thing, there was not much diversity. I kept making Necromancers but had no Cavaliers to back them up.

If there could just be a way to have two little guys up there in the command zone. Wait a minute...

So, this was truly a jank fest. Partner is an extremely strong mechanic in commander, and Tymna is specially strong as a card to have access early. So I decided to justify using these to make the biggest pile of nonsense happen.

Equipment? check. Initiative? check. Skeletons? check. Zombies? check. Graveyard? check. Lifegain? check.

While goldfishing I realized that while the commanders do a great job to sustain the rest of the deck, the ammount of themes and archetypes made this a pile of cards that I can barely call a deck. And worst of all, they enabled two pretty strong commanders, and that didn't feel that'd be satisfactory at all in actual play.

I even prepared proxies for these! Feel free to use them if you want.

Also, I tried the whole partner thing swapping out Tymna for Ikra Shidiqi. Bringing out another whole color didn't help with the theme soup I was working with.

So I wholy abandoned the idea of both partners, and maybe even making this deck.

Maybe my hopes and dreams of having a functional silly lesbians and skeletons deck were doomed (yuri) from the beginning.

Months pass, I built 3 or 4 other decks in the meantime that work, can compete and be fun, sometimes all at the same time if you'd believe it. I had completely lost faith in this deck idea.

All until one day, were I was checking out a pile of cards I had pulled from the recent MH3 set to put them into my binder. And then I see it. There he was, this fucking guy with a shovel(?), looking at me.

I read again his fairly big wall of text, what does this guy do again?

Oh, he does necromancy stuff? attacks? wait wait, he draws POWER from the GRAVEYARD?? in JUND?

He really saved it. Not only I feel this perfectly represents the dynamics of Cavalier is in charge of creating enough thanergy for their necromancer, but ALSO does the necromancer thing, and ALSO loves having like 10 power and beating down face. This was a message, the dream was still alive.

So, I make a list, I order cards, I scrounge cards from my other black decks. And there it is. It's real

The Locked Tomb Griddlehark Commander Deck

But... that's not how my list looks right now. Yeah I know this deck is cursed into being always changing I think. But, the main issue here was what I said before. It had to pull cards from multiple decks to sustain itself. And I learned quickly that I don't like having my baby, my Sauron, being not functional, and that keeping track of what cards are where and swapping them out constantly sucks tremendously.

So, I pulled back most of the cards to their original decks. What was left was a corpse, a beautiful incomplete deck. So I selected cards from my collection, lower powered ones, niche ones, weird ones, and put them in for their more powerful counterparts.

It's function is extremely simple, it fills it's graveyard quickly, ramps, and with Coram on the battlefield, you turn that self-mill into card advantage, the graveyard into a power source and bring back powerful creatures like the Resurrection Beasts (Eldrazi)

There also are skeletons in there, of course.

This deck needed to die many deaths to exist. But isn't that the theme?

I'll make sure to put up the new decklist on my moxfield whenever I get a few upgrades.

[6ad6ro]

my review of each game in UFO 50: BARBUTA - intentionally "hard and obtuse to reflect the era", but imo it works. haven't gotten far but i really appreciate it. BUG HUNTER - kinda hated it at first, but wound up really liking it once i understood the basics. NINPEK - controls great. appreciate the mr goemon inspiration. but sadly way too hard. PAINT CHASE - a fine game. sorta like pacman. MAGIC GARDEN - a really cool take on snake. took a minute to warm up to it tho. give it a chance. MORTOL - what a cool idea! lemmings combined with a platformer. gets hard fast but fine. VELGRESS - inverted downwell? it's neat. super hard but i'm just bad at it lol. PLANET ZOLDATH - an awesome bitesized roguelike. this game is sick, don't skip it. ATTACTICS - i'm too stupid to play this. but also i don't really want to learn. just okay. DEVILITION - seems more interesting than attactics, but i want to play it even less. KICK CLUB - bubble bobble clone, seems amazing at first. but all too quickly turns into tedious bullethell drop puzzles. after world 2 you'll wanna stop playing. too bad. AVIANOS - hard but kickass strategy game. has game customization and difficulty settings! MOONCAT - a big reason to buy ufo 50. weird and great! BUSHIDO BALL - do you like windjammers? this game kicks ass. gets real hard tho. BLOCK KOALA - i've never liked sokoban and i never will. seems fine if you do. CAMOUFLAGE - didn't wanna give it a chance at first, but it seems alright. lil stealth game. CAMPANELLA - it's probably a fine game but i hate playing it. maybe if it had a healthbar? GOLFARIA - amazing idea executed poorly. i wish i liked this more, but it's annoying to play. THE BIG BELL RACE - campanella combined with super off road (or sprint). better than campanella, but that "touch the walls and die" shit makes it way worse than it's inspirations. WARPTANK - seems cool. i def need to spend more time with it. WALDORF'S JOURNEY - good, cute game. hard but small scale, making it very fun. PORGY - an even bigger reason to buy ufo 50. small scale metroidvania. cherried it. ONION DELIVERY - god, what were they thinking? has so much potential but wayyy too hard. CARAMEL CARAMEL - such a good game ruined by a two-hit gameover. booooooo. PARTY HOUSE - this game is just really really good. hard to explain, just try it. HOT FOOT - imagine if super dodgeball had shit controls. why does my player autoswitch? i may never give it another chance… DIVERS - weird swimming rpg. i need to give it more time, but seems ok so far. (skipped over next 5) FIST HELL - a final fight clone? hell yes! but then i realized it was more like playing final fight on hardest setting with a single credit. aka "not fun". another example of a good game mossmouth ruined by making it too hard. (skipped over next 10) PILOT QUEST - tied with porgy for being my fav so far. zelda 1 combined with crafting. but you gain resources even when playing other games. kicks ass, PLAY THIS FIRST. cherried. (skipped mini and max) COMBATANTS - tbh i heard it sucked so i jumped ahead to it. they were right… (yet to play final 4) ??? - awesome but can't talk about it.

i'll update with the rest of the games once i try em.

[amazingmsme]

I am also here to add to the EPIC: The Musical agenda!! Thank you fluff-void because you made my writing brain go brr <3 -Sheridan

Polites and Odysseus start a damn tickle war, once Odysseus’s ticklishness gets out.

It’s really cute; Polites is jumpy and giggly for however long Odysseus feels like dragging out his anticipation, which can be a while depending on how mean he’s feeling. 

He plays it completely straight too, despite the smirk tugging at the edges of his lips. 

“Why so jumpy, brother? I was merely letting you know it’s my watch!” 

“Ah, I didn’t mean to startle you, there was simply a loose thread I didn’t want to risk you getting caught on.”

He’s so smug, ugh. 

The master of playful condescension and sarcasm as he lers. 

“Oh; this tickles? I had no idea!”  

“Being as ticklish as this? You must be an anomaly even the Gods can’t figure out. Heh; that or they cursed you. Wonder what you did in a past life~? Maybe you were just too cute for your own good. I’m willing to believe it- just listen to those adorable giggles and hiccups of yours!”

No strategy a lee of his thinks up will work 9 times out of 10. He’ll typically either know the person well enough, wait them out, or get a read on their strategy and then nip it in the bud. 

Eurylochus let slip a bad spot of his only he remembered and started to hide, only appearing for his scheduled shifts, burying himself in his work. and dodging Odysseus at meal times only to get cornered in his room by an already waiting Odysseus who just grinned at him with a glint in his eyes. 

“You know, I don’t think I quite remember your worst spots nearly as well as you do mine; shall we rediscover them together?”

“Captain, we can talk about this!”

Eurylochus tries to plead his case, already feeling a grin spreading across his lips but Odysseus merely cracks his neck and starts to move towards him. 

“Oh I think you’ve already done quite enough talking for your own good, don't you?”

Eurylochus is lost to laughter after that. 

He’s the one that gets most embarrassed when tickled in public, or in front of his men. His laughter is loud, and hard to contain when he finally cracks. 

Odysseus truthfully isn’t much better embarrassment wise inwardly but his ler side tends to keep the men more in line, along with being Captain so no-one’s the wiser. 

Eurylochus is there to make sure no-one goes too far, and intervene or turn the tables for those that deserve it. cough Odysseus cough

Odysseus gets so flustered if a God shows up while he’s being wrecked. Good Lord.

He can typically hold onto some remnant of his Captain persona otherwise but he crumbles if Athena or Hermes show up, especially if either teases him, or makes a sarcastic comment or dry quip like he tends to do when he’s the ler, or Gods forbid they help? It’s all over for him.

I’M EATING THIS RIGHT THE FUCK UP YOU HAVE NO IDEA! They’re so fucking cute & silly, they deserve to just have some fun & chill out. This got a lil long ‘cause I’m “normal” about them

Odysseus & Polites just go back & forth getting each other, & it all started when Polites just wanted to sneak up & startle him while he was having a conversation. But he surprised him by squeezing his sides & Odysseus was like “oh, you wanna start this?” & he’s so innocent like “start what?” & that’s the last thing he’s able to say

He’s Odysseus favorite to wreck because he’s just so cute & he makes it too easy. Odysseus loves fucking with him & pretending he’s not, it’s literally his favorite game

Shxjsvxuu his flimsy excuses are so funny cause like, yeah he COULD be telling the truth, but look at that smirk! Look at his eyes sparkling! That’s pure mischief baby! & the way he’s just so smugly casual is almost like a dare to be called out on it. & Polites tried to, once

“I know that’s not what you’re really doing!” & Odysseus cocks his head like “oh? So you’re calling me a liar?” & Eurylochus is looking at him from over the captain’s shoulder like don’t do it, but Polites keeps on truckin’. “No, that’s not what I’m saying” “then what are you saying?” & he’s using that teasy mocking tone & Polites is trying not to giggle & is like “you’re just trying to mess with me” & he grins & shrugs like “well now that you put the idea in my head” & Polites tries to be like “but the idea was already in your head!” But he’s wrestled to the ground before he can finish that sentence

I fucking love your examples of some of his teases cause they’re so spot on! He’s so smug & mean about it, he’s literally such a bullyyyy. He LOVES rubbing it in their face how ticklish they are or how much they’re laughing. Literally the best worst

Poor poor Eurylochus knew he fucked up the moment he said it. It just slipped out, Polites was finally getting some well deserved revenge, & in front of a small audience of some very amused soldiers. But he could see Odysseus was trying to get the upper hand, so he casually says “you should try his hips, they make him scream louder than the gods” & then freezes because he knows the target he just put on his back. & as if to confirm it, it the midst of the struggle Odysseus catches his eye & mouths “you’re dead” soooo yeah it’s time for his disappearing act

Some of the soldiers that bore witness catch on when they see that he’s not hanging around their captain & think it’s hilarious. They’ll sneak up behind him & go “boo” pretending to be Odysseus & it gives him a heart attack every damn time! Polites definitely notices his absence by their captain’s side & hunts him down to tease him about it. It backfires, but it was worth it in the moment. After like a week of hiding & strategic avoidance, he goes to his room to grab something. He walks in & the door slams shut behind him & Odysseus is standing there with his hand on the door, smug as ever. Just like “you’re a tough man to track down, you know that?”

He just starts backing up wondering if he could fit through the porthole window, slowly & carefully trying to plead his case. But Odysseus’s smile never falters & he’s just so ready to make him shut the hell up & laugh

Eurylochus has prided himself on his ability to always keep a cool head in most situations, so he gets really flustered any time he loses his composure. & nothing makes you lose your composure more than being tickled

He’s definitely really shy about it & his top priority is trying to hide his face or muffle his laughter. Odysseus loves to point out how he’d rather hide than fight back (that backfires because now he IS fighting back & Odysseus wasn’t prepared for that)

Odysseus talks such a big game for someone who can’t take what he dishes out. He blushes so much as soon as someone starts teasing him. He gets so cute & shy if he thinks he’s about to get wrecked & he goes over every escape option in his head

Ksbskandkf he would absolutely die on the fucking spot if a god personally bore witness to him in such a vulnerable, embarrassing position. Athena once showed up in the middle of Eurylochus & Polites wrecking him & she just quietly waits for them to finish. He’s soooo flustered & pissy that she just stood there & did nothing “I mean, the least you could’ve done was leave” & she’s smirking like “I need to talk to you. And you deserved to be humbled” but he’s still grumpy & embarrassed about it

[mossy-green-aka-ferrythem]

I'm actually kind of done with Limbus Company mechanically speaking.

Got no incentive to return. Especially since the game has felt so frustrating to me recently in terms of how it's designed.

It feels like they're kind of designing it in a way that takes most of the fun out of it. Overpowered IDs, and a game that's rather solidly stuck to a meta doesn't do it for me. Sure you can win with other IDs, but those typically go under the label as "Challenge Runs".

Also like. It feels like they're going deeper into Gacha Hell. Even if it's like "Oh we need more money to do more things." It's like. I haven't seen that much that's that enticing to me. The Arknights crossover seems cool, but like. Sure Arknights seems thematically interesting but my friends have told me plenty about it and like. It's a gacha. It has problems.

Anyways, pretty early morning rant so not the most cohesive.

But like.

My big thing is that in my experience? Limbus Company fans will deflect ANY criticism of the game. Like. I don't hate Limbus Company. There really is a lot to love. But my god. The more I voice my frustrations with the game only to have them shot down, the more my discontent for this "game" grows. I feel like in a lot of cases, a story having a good ending can make people forgive shortcomings it can have. The shortcomings here being mostly gameplay oriented, which I will cover in my current review of it down below.

Also. I can't help that Limbus Company is getting dangerously close into a pay-to-win category. Eh. Sure you can contest me on this point but I think it's a bad thing where something you pay for in a F2P game gives you easier wins, with some truly powerful EGOs. Feels counterintuitive to a lot of practical game design.

I feel like a lot of the game can feel like that more and more even. Even more of the game feels designed around IDs that are the strongest of the strong, and I dislike the meta around strong units, since they are quite difficult to get, something you have to go out of your way for...

COMPARED TO LIBRARY OF RUINA WHEN THEY WERE JUST ORGANICALLY PART OF THE FUCKING GAMEPLAY!

Anyways I should wrap this up.

Very in-cohesive rant. Early in the morning. But. These feelings are my own.

I'll end if off with a review:

Lobotomy Corporation. A favorite of mine. Janky, obtuse, but so alluring in its design. So captivating, and so amazing. To slowly whittle away at it made me feel like an artist, like a woodcarver, slowly chipping away at a chunk of wood, until I have finished what I set out to do.

Library of Ruina. While I don't talk about it much, and have gotten bad at articulating it. This game means so fucking much to me. I love how there's so many weird strategies in this game that genuinely work in such a beautiful way. Even though this game has a sort of meta, I think it works in a satisfying and beautiful way, and when your entire deck is made up of those who exist at the apex of the City, it feels amazing. Truly amazing.

Limbus Company. In the past, while I don't do review scores, since I believe they're counterintuitive when it comes to making game critiques, I do give them sometimes. When I was still playing Limbus, I gave would give it a 7/10. A farcry from what I thought about LobCorp or Ruina. While I love the stories (even if I have some story based critiques here and there), the story is not enough to carry an experience that overall, is rather frustrating, and arduous. Many fights have polarizing clashes, where it is either just an easy slog you can do in your sleep, or is just simply, bullshit, with enemies that clash too high, and occasionally, negative coins, which punish you for like. Daring to actually engage with the mechanics in a way that make sense. It's like. If you're struggling with an enemy who's consistently clashing higher than you, your priority should be lowering the meter that makes them clash high. Enemies like Pequod Town villagers or Distorted Bamboo Hatted Kim completely destroy this philosophy. Just for an example. The big thing is, I have so, so many issues with Limbus Company that what would normally be a cohesive review quickly devolves into a rant about all the things I dislike about it.

What really gets me? A refusal for the game's fanbase to engage in actual criticism of the game. I mean look at their reaction to people leaving negative review scores on changes that, if I'm being honest, are changes I would consider bad. It's all about the "scary chinese players trying to hurt are hallowed project" rather than actually engaging in criticism of the game. Ugh. It's just. A lot. Issues with the game, that are reflected and exacerbated by the fanbase. Even people I hold in good regard as friends can be frustrating occasionally in this regard. Eh. It's just that. Yeah I love the characters and what not and love playing around with silly ideas for them, but playing with them feels more fun than playing the actual game itself.

As it stands, the review I would give Limbus Company, is a rare one where a numerical score reflects my emotions. 5/10. A glaring score of mediocrity, that only sours as the game continues to refuse to acknowledge or fix actual problems indicative to the game.

A game that builds it gameplay value out of obligation tied to upgrade materials and in-game currency, a game that is outcompeted by many other games with roguelike/turnbased gameplay in that department, so really, the only reason to play is an obligation for many people. An obligation that's not worth having.

[space-spring]

I reblogged that post the other day about never finishing video games and it made me stop and think hard about my life and the fact that. oh my god....... I really DO never finish video games........... So I have changed my ways by finishing up Chapter 4 and the ending of Chaos route for Tactics Ogre! Tons of endgame spoilers ahead but here are my bullet-pointed highlights:

My guy Azelstan the pirate! I love him. His whole arc with losing his daughter reminded me a little of Svarog and Hossabara from Triangle Strategy (albeit with substantially more nihilism!), and finding him at the port and then going through the story with the girl he takes under his wing made me die a little inside.

I do really appreciate the fact that even once he joins you he's still a little bit of a mess! I feel like a lot of the characters join Denam out of anger or honor or something else equally passionate, and meanwhile Azelstan's out here going "I've lost everything I love and this is just a decent way to try and make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else." He's simply a very sad old man and I love him a lot

This is not a highlight per se but it IS funny: I had to play the whole pirate cove dungeon where you recruit him like three or four times because I kept thinking I had the recruitment conditions fulfilled and then. did not in fact have the recruitment conditions fulfilled. I killed SO many ghosts. I got to the point where I just bought like 30 exorcism arcanas before going in so I could just have anyone regardless of cleric status blast the stilled undead whenever I needed to

AUGHKDHJSHDGHJJS. I am. SO unwell about the Sherri recruitment scene. I cannot express just how much I am unwell about the Sherri recruitment scene. All the Phoraena sisters really are so cool and good and I spontaneously combust whenever they come on screen but this scene is just AUUUUUGH........ It kills me thinking about how long Sherri's been hiding out because she doesn't think anyone will welcome her back and meanwhile her sisters just!!! love her so much!!!!!!!!!! and SHE loves THEM so much!!!!!! it just makes me go woaugh..........

I also just replayed some of the earlier chapters with Cerya and Cistina to test out the endgame rewind feature, and I take back my little chart I made of them a while back where they're arguing over clothes and things. All of the sisters are defined first and foremost by Being Willing To Sacrifice Everything For Each Other and I love them so much about it

And in addition to all the Phoraena sister dynamics, looking at this scene through the perspective of Denam ALSO having a sister who's keeping herself apart because she feels unloved is so. wowowowow

And on that note Denam and Catiua are rotating around in my head 24/7!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm really so in love with how far the writers went with their argument and fallout and also insane about the bad ending in this scenario because AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH?!?!?!?!?! and also I'm just a sucker for guilt arcs and having to live with mistakes even when it'd be easier not to. Catiua's absolutely insane (affectionate) and I think it's so fun how she changes things around and really comes into her own after this.

Also I really really love that the two of them got to have such a narratively clear conversation about everything that went down!!!!! This is a complete tangent but I sometimes kind of go insane over the fact that in Triangle Strategy we really don't get to see a ton of Roland and Cordelia after they reunite and Whiteholm is retaken. They have. so many things to talk about, and Cordelia has more than a few valid reasons to feel resentment toward Roland for the way he handled retaking Whiteholm. The closest they come to really talking about how they feel is that scene where they're standing in the garden and Roland's trying to explain why he killed Avlora and Cordelia just kinda quietly goes, "I know. I get it. I can't blame you." And while that scene is fun in its own "this bad boy can fit SO many emotionally traumatized Cordelia headcanons in it" sort of way, it's also so so so nice to see Denam and Catiua do the opposite and actually sit down and hash it out for a bit. They get to talk about why they're angry!!! They both get to explain themselves and then reassure each other that they're still loved!!!! They get to be genuinely close again and work as a team!!!!! and I love that for them :)

Also with comparisons to Cordelia, Catiua very distinctly doesn't get sidelined after Denam rescues her!!!! She's an active participant in the war and really takes charge over Denam, which is very neat imo, and I love getting to see her coronation and speech at the end

THIS ATTACK SPECIFICALLY. The whole final boss was so cool but I actually gasped and sat back when I saw this, it was just so so different than any of the other graphics in the game and it made me go nuts

AAAAOAUGH GHAGHG

The credits are really pretty :)

RHCKCHHGLGLRLRLAHHJG I am once again foaming at the mouth about the way the game blends game mechanics and story this is SUCH a fun explanation for how the whole world tarot system works and also I am absolutely gutted by the idea of Denam doing this canonically because he can't stand the regret of the choices he's had to make. I feel like Denam's guilt over the entire conflict isn't explicitly mentioned a ton (he actively makes a lot of comments to the effect of "I'm doing what my honor dictates and I have nothing to be ashamed of") and then every once in a while the game comes back and slaps you with stuff like this. Like hey. hey. yasumi matsuno. can we talk? I jst wantto talkk

Also all the endgame content is SO GOOD. I'm starting to move over to Reborn because I want to experience all the voice acting and stuff over on that version, but it's also so hard to leave my team and all the cool stuff I've unlocked. I need to read up on it more but I'm 90% sure you can recruit Lancelot and Warren if you do the Palace of the Dead stuff which I avoided in Chapter 4, so I'm tempted to go back and do that on there sometime. Or mayhaps I'll just play it through on Reborn once I get through Lawful and Neutral!

But yeah!!! Overall, such a fun route and a fun game and a fun ending :) I do feel like I want to come back to Chaos route once I've finished the other two, because I miss Vyce and the role-playing part of my RPG-obsessed brain really wants him to survive the canon-ish ending because I think there's a ton of things from the beginning of the route that I'll think differently on now that I've finished (like all of the stuff building up to Vyce going nuts and Catiua leaving).

[otakween]

Digimon World 4 - Final Thoughts

Whelp, that was...something. This game is objectively bad, but I still had a good, brain rotting time. It falls into the "game to zone out on the couch to" category. The lack of much story, characters or dialogue means I got in some quality podcast/music time as well. It's pretty similar to Digimon World 2 in its crappiness, but I found DW4's gameplay more satisfying. I think DW2 has the more appealing art style though, so they even out to the same rank basically. Full thoughts below!

Notes:

So this is loosely based on the Digimon X-Evolution CG film I posted about before. I was disappointed to see that the opening credits are just a hodge podge of scenes from said movie. That's pretty boring and lazy if you ask me. I picked Dorumon to control in honor of the film's protag (and since it would be a more novel experience).

I found any weapon aside from the guns to be a colossal pain to use, so I just used guns and guns alone for the entire game lol. At least I was able to get tech points quickly that way!

This game has the most unbalanced difficulty levels ever. It's either stupid hard or stupid easy. Luckily, the stupid easy moments are far more frequent. Every time I fought a boss I braced myself only to just button mash my way to the end in like a few minutes. Most of them were jokes. On the other end of the spectrum, the beginning of the game was weirdly hard because I would get mobbed by enemies and massacred in like two seconds (this is when I realized I should be using the guns lol). It's hard to have much strategy because most battle moves you can do (spin attack, charged attack, block) suck control-wise. My strat for most of the game was either the ole "shoot and run" or just to get up on a high ground where I was invincible. The latter move kinda felt broken and was part of what made the game stupid easy.

Thank God I emulated this game. Although it's mostly easy, there are definitely moments where it's easy to die. Some dungeons will lock you into the tightest corners and then just spawn like a jillion enemies out of nowhere (the Otamamon and Infermon were the WORST). Some of the harder bosses had some pretty cheap moves too. Save states were the VIP, as usual.

The plot of the game is really basic and the writing is just as wonky as DW2. Basically all you need to know is that there's a virus that's bad and you need to get rid of it. It doesn't get any deeper than that and there are no twists or turns. Ophanimon, Seraphimon, and Leomon are the only characters with significant dialogue (none of the bosses talk) and they really don't have anything interesting to say (I did like Ophanimon and Seraphimon's models tho)

The dungeons were definitely better than DW2 in terms of visuals/layout, but the enemies felt super repetitive. You get maybe 3 types of enemies per dungeon and then you just fight those same 3 again and again and again.

The dungeons are unreasonably long slogs with no way to save in the middle of them. I had save states so I was okay, but sometimes a dungeon would take me over two hours?? Like wtf. I know kids have a lot of free time but some of them aren't even allowed to game for 2 hours straight!

Of course, I played this single player. I actually think it'd be really fun as a multiplayer game? Like, that's probably what it was actually built for. There are actually some moments where you can't go to certain parts of dungeons without a buddy :'(

The bosses were mostly big bads from the series/movies which was fun. Made it awkward when I defeated them so easily though lol

All of the walkthroughs for this game suck lol. The one I used for the majority of the game the guy literally kept writing "I don't remember what happens in this dungeon. Just go through it." LOL thanks for nothing, bud. He said "I don't remember" sooo many times it was comical.

I poked around on the internet looking for info for this game and it seems the general consensus in the fandom is that it's pretty abysmal. Still, there are people like me that got enjoyment out of it regardless.

The little noises Dorumon made when attacked were very cute

I never bothered with digivolution. You don't get digivolution until late in the game and if you digivolve it reverts you to levl 1. Nuts to that!

I also didn't bother with any side quests because they sounded extremely not worth it (some of them don't even have a reward?)

I was pretty under-leveled at the end of the game (barely scraping level 30) but I felt like I had infinite healing basically because I had so much MP. That's another aspect of the game that felt broken.

The ending of this game was SO anti-climactic. I defeated the boss, returned to the hub world expecting a cutscene, and then it went straight to credits. No dialogue, no thank you, nothing. I had to go around and talk to people to get some thank yous but they didn't sound that appreciative really lol. Where are my flowers!? 😭 This took me over a month of tedium!

One part of the game that I did find pretty hard was the Storm Train where you have to get to the end of a train track while hitting the right levers while simultaneously fighting of a ton of enemies. If I had to do that without save states, I probably would have given up lol

I never really regret beating a video game, even if it kinda sucked. It's especially nice to check off another game in a series (even though the World series isn't really connected). I give Digimon World 4 a 5 out of 10.

[hildegardladyofbones]

okay final thoughts on disco elysium (post-first playthrough). major fucking spoilers ahead.

This run took me 38 hours and I did it in 6 days (both irl and in game). Today was the day where I played the least, only 5 or so hours

My main strategy for picking options was: 1. what would *I* do? this lead to most of the boring and centrist answers because I don't want to take a stand on politics of a world I don't know shit about. Will definitely make other choices in the future now that I've gotten a grasp. 2. What would Kim approve of? disappointing Kim makes me physically sick. 3. Which of the options has the name Kim in it? I just wanted to say his name as much as possible.

In the future I will definitely be picking the silliest options. I also plan on picking the thinker archetype (i picked the sensitive one because i liked the addition that he might begin to lose his mind.) and that one says that he's very bad with people, which logically would lead to out of pocket things.

Most importantly: I didn't do shit in this game. I didn't even disco. I thought I had an other opportunity to finish that quest, because I could have never thought that the killer would be on the island. There's also the deal with Cuno. Idfk what it is. Will get to that next time. And what was it that Joyce had to say? And how would've the tribunal gone had I not failed all but two red-checks?

Other shit i want to rant about. Kim. Oh my fucking god, Kim. Hands down the best character in any video game I've ever played. (Oh yeah that reminds me- I'm certain I didn't find out all there is to him). I've talked about it before (Wayyy too much) how he was so kind and patient and down-to-earth when he didn't have to be. How he doesn't fuck around. Usually. One of my favourite traits of his is that he is so willing to do random shit for the fun of it. He also doesn't take anyone's shit, like, he has effectively shut people's mouths up. His voice was also way too soothing and enjoyable to listen to for absolutely no apparent reason. I cheered and clapped when he spoke. I am a total kim-freak and I am Definitely kimfected. I can go on. about the fact that he smokes? absolutely obsessed with that fact for no apparent reason. And he's gay! I never would've thought they'd go there. I will be needing an orange bomber jacket and round sunglasses moving forward, thankyouverymuch

I should also talk about Harry. The reason why I didn't fuck with him *as much* is because to me, his characterization was very inconsistent. I'm sure I'll grow to like him even more when I actually know what I'm doing. I absolutely appreciate the constant angst he was in tho, especially after the tribunal, but *that* deserves it's own post. He is one of the more believably fucked-up detectives in fiction and definitely one of the most well-written. What absolutely seals the deal for me is the addition of his skills (?)(idk what to call them). Not only was it a wonderful game mechanic, it also made the game so much more interesting. And the fact that it's canon, there *are* voices in his head also adds to it. The narration was also on point, they picked the right actor for it. Speaking of game mechanics, the dice roll was also a needed addition. That's what made the game hard. Too bad it took me so long to figure out the logic behind it. I think I did that at like the second to last dice roll in the game. It's also, obviously, a nod to ttrpgs' that were an inspiration for this game. That also appears in the gameplay itself. Most of the time the characters are standing still while the narration tells us what's happening. That's neat as well, idk, i've never played an ttrpg

And then there's the ending. I will skip the middle parts, mostly, because they're just great and I love the story and that's pretty much all i have to say about it. The ending fucntioned as a review of how/what we did this run. Kim pretty much laid out exactly what kind of cop we were, what we believed in, how well we did the investigation, etc. and for that fact alone I don't know if I could ever stomach doing a playthrough where I don't solve the crime to near-perfection. I cannot stomach letting that man down. I will most likely be missing out on a considerable chunk of the game that way, but as about everything besides DE lately, idgaf. Kim is the blorbo of all time. Anyway it kind of pains me that the ending came so suddenly, mostly for the afore-mentioned reasons. It also kind of hurt me mentally because of how we're forced to confront how much of a shitshow Harry is. And the fact that it's so heavily hinting at a sequel that never came. The world is against me specifically for not giving this game a sequel. For not letting me see more of Kim. That's right, I will never shut up about him. I am superbly annoying about that guy it's unbearable even to me. FUCK i digress, the main reason why the ending left me with the heavy feeling is the feeling of loose ends. (I didn't fucking disco, remember?)

HOLY SHIT I HAVEN'T EVEN TALKED ABOUT THE WORLD !! I was *absolutely* *positively* astonished the more I learned about the world. I love history as much as the next history freak, but what I love more is *intentionally* mixing up the decades. The cars looked a century old, they had computers, they had ttrpgs', the year was '51 and they had disco, obviously. I live for that shit. There's also the thing that I do with my own fictional world and that is mixing made up shit with our world shit. I am beyond elated when I figured out that's what they were doing because i've never seen anything else do that. Their world mostly looks like and acts like our world, except the cultures, geography and history are all original. it's what I did because I didn't want to learn about the london tube system. And of course there are some super-natural elements (what the fuck is the pale? who is the paleworker? huh???) as well. The similarities between their and my world go on, but I digress. The worldbuilding done here was superb and so fucking impressive. Honestly stuff like "oh why would they call *their* months march, april, etc when the guys that named the months didn't exist in their world" and "oh why do they have communism if that was invented by Karl Marx" doesn't bother me at all. That is the shit i live for. It pains me that there most likely won't be a sequel, but luckily I am estonian so I can read the novel. The game being so heavily estonian-made was another reason why I bought it. (the others being: it was 4 eur and it said the artstyle was inspired by oil paintings)(had i known how life-changing this game would be for me, i would've gladly paid the 40 eur)

There's still more i could talk about, actually. This game also did some pretty insane things to me as a person, but I won't divulge the details here (also my mother thinks i should go to sleep? fuck her, i am staying up until 4am. again). For the time being it altered how I interact with the world, possibly permanently, but it's too early to tell. I am still knee-deep in the brainrot. If you really want, I could elaborate if asked, I don't care that much about privacy.

Anyway thank you for reading this rant? idk why you'd do that, i literally didn't proofread anything i wrote here. Most of it is about Kim anyway. I still have no idea what drugs they put in that character. Literally addicted to him. I think he's not just the 57th's best (or 41st's i guess) but he's just the best. in general. in every category. never figured out what the deal with the gloves was tho.

[accirax]

initial thoughts on DCAS episode 10

wait, Gabby actually said "baddie"? i thought she said "buddy." Ellie is a bad bitch send tweet

given everything that happened in this episode, i honestly forgot this happened. i'm sure it'll come back to be important at some point, though. putting this here to try to help keep it in my mind.

Gabby and Ellie are literally the cutest, my goodness. i thought their ship was okay in S1 (i didn't really understand why Ellie would like Gabby, and to some extent i still don't), but DCAS has made me love them. they just care about and revere each other so much........

god, he's literally the worst (/hj /pos)

does Yul actually care about/need the money? i thought he was only on the show for the publicity. i want to know the Yul lore so bad...

what does Gabby think this alliance is meant to accomplish, exactly...? actually, i take back my confusion. Yul literally tried to poison Aiden in S2. there's a precedent for her believing that the alliance would commit actual crimes.

i cannot believe that Yul canonically knows what Tumblr is. hi Yul

this made me cackle. i'm glad every time that Aiden gets to be more sassy and hotheaded again, especially when it's behind someone's back like this. that rashness is what prevents him from being the super vanilla character that people like to make fun of him for being, and what causes him to do interesting things in the narrative.

honestly, this was way more understated than i expected. and, possibly than it should've been...? like, Jake. Tom literally lied to you just to avoid you. this is actually (in my opinion) something you could be justifiably pissed about.

HE'S SO PANICKED AT THE THOUGHT OF BEING EJECTED FROM THE GAME. HE CARES A LOT ABOUT PLAYING. I WANT TO KNOW THE YUL LORE SO BADDDDDDD

this can't actually be the end of Emily's character, right? right?

i'm glad this scene exists because it makes way more sense that there would still be some hostility between these two after the events of S1. they need time to cook before they can become besties for real :)

Gabby, respecter of girlfriends everywhere

honestly, i thought that she was going to straight up shoot Yul (with paint) after this. it would've been deserved.

...RIGHT???

...how? other than figure, those two look pretty much nothing alike. also, hilarious unforced error given the result of this episode. imagine if this slip up winds up essentially costing Tom the win.

is it just me, or was there more swearing than normal this episode? not super important, but it was noticeable.

this is a really valid argument. why did this count? whatever.

KING!!!!!!! see, i was right to bring up how Alec is great at challenges.

he's an Fi lead (MBTI reference)

KING PART 2!!!!!!!! i love Alec

again, i like seeing this side of Aiden. while i wouldn't say he's as petty as Jake, he's still petty enough to continue the feud instead of trying to be the bigger person. he's got depth!

ABSOLUTELY the best strategic move for the villains. i'm very happy with this elimination, although, i was never a huge Ashley fan. my heart goes out to those who are.

not only that, but the disventure is over too.

Jake is truly going to be 100% alone in this game, now, and entirely due to his own doings. very excited to see how he proceeds from here.

this is a winner's cut moment, ngl.

what did the writers mean by this

aaaaand, that's the episode! i enjoyed this one. it reminded me of the good ol' S1 days, where i got to watch Fiore and Alec absolutely trample all of the heroes with their superior strategy. (i stan the villains, if that wasn't obvious by this point.) i'm well aware that those days can't last forever, but that just makes me even more inclined to revel in them while they're still here.

i do still hope that one of Jake, Tom, and Aiden gets eliminated soon, though. this episode specifically i don't think was an instance of plot armor-- like i said, i think Ashley was by far the most sensible boot given the situation-- but the longer all three of them stay in, the more it does feel like the writers playing favorites than how the game would genuinely shake out.

i'm quite curious as to what the next trailer will show us. are we headed towards another hero boot, or will the villains start beefing already? will the inevitable trevek conversation happen next episode? and is Emily really gone???? i hope not :,( see you next week!

[dokidokitsuna]

I wanted to make a video about this, but seeing as my first Splatoon vid is already taking ages to make, and I don’t really have a whole lot to say, I’ll just write it out:

If you’re not playing X Battles, it may interest you to know that you’re really not missing much. ^^;

When I first tried grinding up to S+ rank to unlock them, I did it in the hopes of finally getting access to serious, exciting matches that always come down to the wire because all the players are super skilled and intent on winning. I mean, Turf War and Anarchy are fine, but sometimes you want a real challenge, y’know? I think every MMO game needs some form of “no noobs allowed” mode in order to provide a consistently engaging experience for mature players, and that’s what I expected X Battles to be.

Unfortunately, that’s not what I got…my first foray into X Battles was surprisingly average; and at the time it was kind of funny. ^^ I mean, every once in a while I did run into a few crazy people who definitely belonged there, but most of the players were virtually indistinguishable from everyone else in terms of observable skill. Like, the battles just felt…normal.

And now, a few seasons later, they feel a lot worse than normal. :[ If it came out that Nintendo was secretly allowing players to buy access to X Battles without having to earn it, I would 100% believe it at this point. Because I’ve seen some really stupid stuff going on in recent matches…and when I say stupid, I mean STUPID.

The vast majority of the time, the experience is something I call “steamroll or be steamrolled”: either you get a disappointingly easy match where the enemy team doesn’t stand a chance against you, or a useless-to-even-try match where your team doesn’t stand a chance against the enemy. Either way, the outcome is pretty much set in stone about 30 seconds in. :/

And then there’s the absolute worst kind of match, a new phenomenon I’m calling “babysitting”: basically, the enemy team isn’t even that good, to the point where I can hat-trick or wipe them all by myself multiple times…but it amounts to nothing, because my allies are even worse, and can’t hold the line without me. So every time I die, we lose all our progress…and unless I can kick it into max-overdrive and 1v4 my way to victory, we just slowly and painfully lose the match.

Obviously, these aren’t things that should be happening in matches pulling randomly from what should be the most skilled players in the population. 6_6; Like, I refuse to believe that I’ve unknowingly become such a god-tier fighter that the whole playerbase seems like kindergarteners to me (I’m good, but I’m really not that good…).

It HAS to be a matchmaking issue…but even then, it’s concerning that people who’ll spend a whole match hiding from the enemy and “charging specials” (a strategy that only makes sense when you’re woefully inexperienced) are (a) somehow allowed into X Battles, and (b) matched with players like me. In a specialized mode like this, I should not have to worry about playing with people who clearly don't understand the game very well. They don't deserve it, and I don't deserve it. :/ Like, if not here, then where??? What's the use of all these ranks and points and statistics if they don't affect the gameplay experience? Am I expected to grind all the way to S+10 before I'm consistently matched with players of a similar skill level...?

And on that note: something interesting I’ve noticed recently is that, as X Battles have steadily gotten worse, Anarchy Battles have actually gotten better: all of the truly fun, challenging down-to-the-wire matches I’ve had in the last few weeks have been in Anarchy. And to me, this suggests that grinding to X Battle eligibility has become so unrewarding that skilled players who would be going there are instead opting to just stick with Anarchy Battles, making the population of skilled Anarchy players larger than before. I mean, if they’re all having experiences similar to mine, I wouldn’t blame them...

In conclusion: X-Battle players are not to be envied, and also I’m kind of concerned about the future of Splatoon 3’s multiplayer viability. ⚆_⚆; There’s a reason that we have a growing population of exclusive ‘Salmon Runners’ and I think this is part of it…hell, if Salmon Run just had more than 1 mode available on the daily, I might make the switch myself (maybe sthg where you don’t have to worry about losing your pay grade and can just kill fishies for fun with your weapon of choice…I’d love an ‘arcade mode’ or ‘infinite run’~). I’m among the people who no longer enjoy Splatfests (I never thought it would happen to me, BUT IT DID ;_;), and yet I always have fun during Big Runs and Eggstra Work. Apparently, the game immediately becomes 50% more enjoyable when 50% of its inscrutable, unreasonable matchmaking system is no longer an issue. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[thessalian]

Thess vs More Next Fest 2024

Still hacking through the demos. Because the demos are fun. There were a few I had to just pitch because while they looked good on paper, as it were, the implementation was ... eh. This always happens towards the end of the Next Fest, for me - it's like I pull all the really good ones out in the first couple of days and then end up with the frustrations when I persist. But because I persist, I did find a few gems.

Tactical Breach Wizards: Turn-based strategy, some really interesting mechanics, and a brilliant sense of humour. Like it says on the tin, it's wizards doing ... well, sort of a cross between law enforcement, PI work, and SpecOps. And ours go rogue, obviously. And with jokes and the kind of Sahara-dry humour you'd think would get old after awhile but somehow doesn't? It's the kind of banter I get when playing TTRPGs with friends most of the time. It's got a very strong Shadowrun-played-for-laughts feel and I MUST OWN IT YES.

Coffee Talk: This is more the series than anything else, and my playing the Coffee Talk 2 demo wasn't so much a Next Fest thing as a "Lemme clear out the demos I haven't played yet" thing. But it turned out to be almost exactly what Tavern Talk is - mixing drinks and telling / hearing stories - just with different graphical styles. So I could stand to have a few more of those in my life. So they went on the list too. (Gods, Steam is going to have so much of my money in the next little while...)

When The Past Was Around: Looking into Coffee Talk got me looking at Toge Productions, and they as a publisher are very into the various ways of storytelling available in video games. When The Past Was Around is sort of a messing-with-the-set-dressing hidden object game which was unexpectedly beautiful even in the prologue.

A Space For The Unbound: I'm not entirely sure what this one's actually about? But it's cute and pixely and the gameplay is slightly janky but pretty intuitive and there are definitely fantasy elements and the story is ... one I really want to experience further, is all I'll say. Looks worth having.

She And The Light Bearer: Another sort of hidden object / messing with the set dressing kind of game, and really cute.

Honestly, while I'm loving the turn-based set-up of Tactical Breach Wizards in terms of gameplay, I've also been getting into the interactive story stuff more lately. I think it's because I don't watch many things. Video games have spoiled me; I like my stories to be interactive and I don't deal as well with being a passive observer as I did. And honestly, I was never very good at that to begin with. I was always the one sitting in front of the TV with a book or a crossword puzzle or something in front of me and letting "I am paying more attention to what's on the TV than I am to the other thing" be my judge of how much I like the thing on TV.

Also did some gardening - mainly repotting some of my plants, and spraying my poor valerian for aphids. I don't know how the aphids are getting up here when I haven't had my windows open lately (though I have today, because it's sunny and 20 degrees), but they are, and they seem to love valerian. But anyway, my dill, marjoram, lemon bergamot, cinnamon basil, echinacea, and thyme (which I had to regrow because this winter killed my other thyme) all got new homes. Probably going to do the lemongrass and the Egyptian mint next week.

And it's D&D night tonight. So a very good Sunday all told so far.

[td-frog]

thoughts on dcas e11

revival

makes sense that it was connor. he and fiore were the only real contenders in terms of like. unresolved. narratives that needed more than a conversation, and fiore returning locks the villain win too early

(plus fiore and alec get some resolution from working together even if she loses, connor and riya Do Not)

also, i really like that he's back? connor's a cool guy who really tries and it sucks how much shit he gets. they've been building up riya's pride before fall for so long; i'm excited to see that actually get started up.

(also this concept takes back some of the feelings i had about early merge- still feels risky in-universe but like. it's fun)

tess/ally/hunter

i think this was the resolution i was waiting for and. well i don't hate it. but i was hoping for more.

jake/aiden/tom

i really like the interaction with aiden and lake. i like aiden a lot as a character, but his biggest flaw is how he really tends to view people in a very black and white way. i like that lake tried to bridge the gap between him and jake, and i also like that he wasn't super open to it. i imagine that he will come around, but i like that it's not easy.

i also really liked miriam calling out tom, because literally everything with the drama this season is his fault for refusing to communicate so aggressively.

i also really like that jake this episode Didn't focus on the drama because his thing is really just needing to move on from it (which he does keep trying, and it's only sometimes his fault when he fails)

yulgrett

yul bothered me so much less this episode because he wasn't interacting with grett :)

other than that neither of them really existed much? it did make me wish we got to see more of grett interacting with non-villains because within the villain group she has a lot more of a kicked puppy vibe which is kinda sad.

predictions

so currently we're back to 5v5 heroes vs villains. narratively it seems like the villains need to lose next, since we've already done the Heroes Are Now Outnumbered plot.

my guess is either 1) yulgrett drama blows up or 2) gabby turns on them. or both. either way i think next elimination is either yul or alec, depending on whether they go for Guy Who Sucks The Most or Guy Who's The Biggest Threat

(i want yul gone, but i do think alec is probably the better strategy)

we're due for the start of some resolution to the love triangle drama, now that everyone's had the wake-up-call of ashley's elimination and heart-to-hearts with their friends. i doubt it'll be fully resolved, but i think it'll start.

riya's safe from elimination but i do think connor being back is going to make her life more difficult. even if it's just in the "god you're so annoying way"

at this point i'm seeing a couple candidates for victory. i'm ruling out yul, riya, and alec for villain reasons (doesn't seem like the direction they're heading in). grett and gabby seem more viable, although i think grett's victory will be dumping yul instead. gabby is a solid option though.

on the hero side: i don't see aiden winning, mostly cause he basically won last time (james winning for the both of them), and it doesn't seem like the right resolution for the plot. i could see jake; it would probably be a self-confidence / trusting people thing and he'd give some of the money to ashley. i could also maybe see tom, although i'm less sure how that'd play out.

i don't know how to feel about ally. i think i expect her to get close, but i don't know how a win for her would feel given the "not caring what others think" lesson. connor is absolutely on the table- i would LOVE to see him win after having riya shit on him for being useless the whole game.

so i think gabby or connor victory seems the most likely at this point, and i'd be happy with either. but we'll see how it plays out.

[0fps]

okayyyy i finally finished the main wuwa story. thoughts (brain dump) below, obviously spoilers so read at your own risk

acts 5 and 6 definitely >>>>>>>>>>>>>> the others. idk if it's because i had digested the world building a bit more by then but they felt way more engaging than the previous acts

partly because all the interesting parties (for me) were finally here. the black shores, jiyan's whole deal. scar was the most interesting of the previous acts but honestly idrgaf about him aksdjflads

dude was not even RELEVANT in these acts they really meant it when they put his ass in jail

i am quite interested in the black shores, hope to see more of them

otherwise just having to do everything with the starter group was boring as hell especially since they all have extremely flat characterizations (yangyang particularly. WHY did she of all people have to be our token partner).

disclaimer, i don't exactly hate yangyang but in general it just feels so unrealistically forced how her and chixia immediately treat mc like their best friend. we barely know each other. i think this is the part that got last-minute rewritten to make them overbearingly nice and it really shows (?? correct me if i'm wrong. idk if it's specifically those two who got rewritten)

i play in the mandarin dub btw. because apparently that's critical for yangyang ajdflkjf

as for the other characters. aalto and encore are so funny together, absolutely loved them. just their characters alone doing their whole comedy routine made act 5 a lot of fun

act 6 was obviously the climax, and i enjoyed it for what it is, but i also felt like it dragged on? like. you'd THINK after we meet up with jiyan we'd immediately go confront the threnodian like asap? they keep spouting how "time is of the essence" but hold on we gotta do all these sidequests?? repair shit?? come on yall LMAO

like the part where we're coming up with our "battle strategy" (which lol. yeah the ranged units should probably attack from a range. only the greatest tactical minds could come up with this) HONESTLY they should have black screened that shit or summarized it in like a few sentences. that was so ?????????? why am i even here.

ofc the cannon thing or whatever is out of power mortefi. of course it is.

i was enjoying act 6 pretty much until this part. then i was like really. REALLY we gotta do all this first I WANT TO GO FIGHT THE BOSS NOWWWWW

idk it just felt like they hyped us up almost immediately for a final battle but then edged us on for forever? the pacing felt weirdly backwards if you know what i mean

i was also just laughing at how concerned they were about the disrupter missing its target. like. you guys are aiming at a giant ball on the horizon you gotta be trying REALLY hard to miss this. the cutscene that showed how small the cannon was in comparison to the force field did not help adjksflasd. maybe if they were talking about the other 2 shots then sure.

once the cannon was repaired and that was over and our 4-man team was finally on their way i was back into it though

really really loved the pulling mechanic thing

however it was just another strike in which i've noticed that this game tends to overexplain some of the gameplay. that pulling mechanic was definitely one thing, the whole "battle strategy" part was another, and the one with the library in one of the previous acts was HORRENDOUS they may as well have reached out of the computer screen and held my hand

literally the only time i respected yangyang was when she decided to stay behind to hold off the enemies. bc istg if she was the one we had to do the final boss with. god. lord. hold me back from the violence i would have committed.

boss battle was a lot of fun. got my ass kicked by threnodian bc i couldn't read its moves but they made it easy to not die 👍

the little. pet thing. that eats the big echos. sooooooo unserious HAHAHAHA AJSDKLJFALD. i'm not going to think about it too hard.

was kind of weird to end that on a montage through a story teller. like i was expecting SOME sort of epilogue but it really went "yup. that's over! go play the rest of the game now"

anyways. despite my grievances i had fun with it HAHA 👍👍👍

i really enjoyed that it did cycle through a lot of story-relevant characters to trial with. it helps that i find all of them super fun to play and it helps keep things super immersive (although i did miss my girl danjin)

a similar thing i really loved was how involved almost every single playable character was

in general a detail i really like is that npcs/playable characters battle alongside you (even in the overworld) - it really makes it feel more immersive and you're part of a team, not just solo'ing everything by yourself

although it was also too early in the story for me to feel. much about everyone helping us out in the beginning. like i literally don't even know yuanwu??? the power ranger shot with everyone felt kinda silly as a result adjklajdfs

i also enjoyed the switching pov with jiyan. in the same vein as above it makes it feel more immersive and far less like the entire world revolves around the mc (although that's the plot device wuwa is desperately clinging onto here lol)

on that note. in general this whole story i'm just like. not really sold with the way literally everyone is so obsessed with mc its just like yeah you're PROBABLY that amazing resonator from way back when and i have a feeling a couple of these characters might have known them from before they lost their memories (esp scar?) but it just feels. very super ultra forced in a way i don't really like

but apparently that's what they're gonna use to drive the story and i can't expect them to rewrite all this (again? lol) so it is what it is i guess *shrugs*

the mc's fame will be less in your face as the story progresses and they actually DO more things. but right now its like. we just woke up and everyone is so obsessed with us lol can we have literally anybody who doesn't care or is like. this sure is fucking weird huh. for a world constantly in turmoil y'all sure are very trusting of this random person with amnesia

mc in general just feels really flat. yangyang being the token partner doesn't help because she is equally as flat. damn maybe we really do need paimon

oh also another detail that kind of bothered me. when we were talking with jinhsi early on there was a dialogue option to ask "have you found jue yet?" while EVERYONE is standing there. i thought this was a secret thing people aren't supposed to know about??? we're just talking about secrets out in the open like this?

what else. i liked the the jiyan and geshu lin phantom confrontation 👍 but it does feel like they're really leaning into the "yeah geshu lin was 99% in the wrong here and that 1% is gonna be jiyan's inner turmoil" and i was kind of hoping it'd be more complex than that

anyways if you read through all that props to you 👍

[caffeinatedattorney]

This topic caters to me only but I think Bruce and Harvey would be forever changed by pikmin.

I don't think there the playing video games type but in this ridiculous hypothetical, i want to talk about one of my favorite games. Pikmin.

Pikmin 1, 2 and 4 spoilers ahead.

Sooo, pikmin.

For those not in the know, the game is cute and brutal because you are conducting an army of little plant guys who trust your every order to survive. The first game is all about saving each other. The pikmin need you, the player taking the role of captain olimar, to build ranks and defend themselves from predators bigger than them. While you need the pikmin to help you carry things to fix your old ass ship so you don't die from oxygen poisoning in 30 days.

I tthought I was a tough guy, until I lost my first few. Nothing prepares you for it. it feels like betrayal by the game for making you do this, yourself for not planning that far ahead, and the pikmin for not fighting for their lives. The horror, dear reader, even when you know what to do, stays. The psychic and emotional damage.

Any pikmin game will have you fuck up as part of the gaming loop. You WILL lose pikmin, especially on the first game with those fuck ass controls and glitches. The latter ones have ways to mitigate loss via tighter controls and less glitches for the most part, but you need knowledge and desicion making to survive and accomplish your goals, just like irl I suppose lol.

So this is a children's game.

And imagining that Bruce and harvey played it... I think harvey would thrive in the strategy, cause reaction, pattern memorization. There's two reactions to pikmin loss, either a. You silently mourn them while chanting "idiot, idiot, idiot" while you restart the day. Or you keep on trucking, still feeling like an idiot, but masochistic enough to do as much as you can, and end the day with the loss.

My headcanon between Harvey and Bruce as Autistics is that Harvey is low empathy, high masking while Bruce is high empathy, low masking. I can't justify it, so I won't lol.

Harvey, being a perfectionist, would try to surmount seeing the little guys scream for help and keep going, only to realize he can do better, as a player and as a guide to the creatures. He finds them adorable and it would be unfair to be an ill fitted leader.

But still, they are part of a game. He won't go back in time for one or two. Necessary sacrifice. Fun, but emotionally taxing. He might be getting a headache from planning routes.

Bruce would try to finish the game without any losses. That man lost one pikmin to drowning and didn't touch it for days. The game gave him a headache and he couldn't shake off the guilt of losing the pixelated little guys.

But he has to make it right somehow. He takes his time, running by the time limit, he spends a lot of time looking at the map in the pause screen.

Pikmin 2 wrecks them both lmao. They thought the waterwraith deserves death. Impossible to play around without prior knowledge and serial pikmin killer.

Favorite creatures

Now keep in mind this is hard for me cause I love all the creatures / enemies and find it hard to decide as a baseline lmao.

The joke answer for harvey would be the scorchcake? Cause it's a disk that flips lmao.

But I think him, being an emotional edgelord would like the destruction and trauma the smoky progg easily causes. Rumored to be a mamuta (I'll explain later but it's basically a god-like creature for pikmin.) that didn't grow properly in it's egg so it curses the land and seems focused on destroying pikmin. The tragedy would intrigue him i think. Pictured below.

Smoky progg themselves.

With Bruce's, I think he'd like mamuta and the foolix. The mamuta is benevolent, in a way. He can't kill your pikmin and is supposed to be the creator, a god even, for them. With that said, it is still part of the ecosystem, another creature. Instead of killing, it plants your pikmin and you can get them 'upgraded' to flower mode which makes them faster at everything.

Look at him. So weird, so adorable. Peaceful, a little unnerving.

The goolix is an amoeba thing. Gigantic, single cellular system, doesn't inmediately kill your pikmin unless you fucked up beforehand. Bruce's nerd brain would vibe with it, in my humble opinion.

This cell likes pikmin

And why not Harv? He'd love the grub dogs. Emperor bulblax, and the literal space dog, the ancient sirehound. Obnoxious, strong personalities, won't hesitate to kill your little guys. Just perfect.

Emperor bulblax. He reminds me of my dog. Licks everything, naps all day, will eat ants.

Here is his majesty, mid crime.

And this is the ancient sirehound. He wields all elements, can fly with its ears and has a cool boss fight song.

Ancient sirehound. He (?) doesn't remind me of my dog.

Overall, pikmin has so many creatures. I doubt most people have clearly defined favorites. I do hate the ones that ressemble 6 legged insects. Too close to home i think.

Curse you, CurseyouCurseyoucurseyou-