#i don't think i'll ever get over watching my player character die

[chimerafeathers]

the concept of intentional boredom/tedium in video games is very much a "your mileage may vary" kind of thing and i go back and forth about it in different situations. where does it work? where does it feel earned/worth the mental toll? why am i gonna play a game that is trying to make me miserable?

i can understand this not being the case for everyone (ymmv, after all) but for ISaT i was so fucking fully on board with the repetitive tedium of it all. rubbing my grubby little hands together and going yesssss, yesssssss, make my immersive gameplay experience directly emulate the exact frustrations and anxieties and mind-numbing breakdowns of the player character. remind me, at every turn, the toll this would take on the person living it. make me live their inner monologue before it's ever verbalized on screen.

how strong you feel, compared to the party you're inevitably leaving behind, how weak they seem now. how annoying it is to cut down these same enemies again and again, always pointlessly getting in your way (oh, how convenient that Siffrin feels the same way so intensely that you can get an item that lets him scare them off by sheer force of will before they attack you!). since when was the King's battle--so terrifying, so impossible before--so easy? can't this go faster? you've heard this all before.

let me skip ahead, loop around, treat my character my body Siffrin as disposable, take the fast and easy way to reach the next goal when you're on the verge of an exciting breakthrough, this loop doesn't matter anyway. but ohh, this next loop might be The One, better do this one right and follow the script to perfection. make all the jokes and say all the right things to get the lovely bonding dialogue so you can carry the Best Version of Everyone through to the end. that'll give you the Good Ending, right? can't hurt to try, right? you don't really believe it but this time will fix everything, right?

how generous and wonderful to have so many shortcuts at hand! dissociating zoning out to skip repetitive dialogue, splitting your head open on a rock slipping on a banana peel in the town to loop right to the floor you need, suuuuurely all of this stuff is purely for the Player's Convenience and won't have any psychological impact on our dear protagonist such that it gets slammed back into the player's face as a stomach-dropping reminder that someone's moment-to-moment experience in this time loop still matters, still carries over, still gets riddled with scars even if they can't be seen!

i've played & watched enough games that trivialize/hand-wave game mechanics that it's pretty easy to detach myself from the minutiae of video game decision-making. "this input gets the Good Response" -> "i will continue doing this input." "this option will be more efficient" -> "might as well save some time then." but this game would not let me stop thinking about consequence.

picking Siffrin's favorite food makes them happy! :) it's also the option that makes Bonnie the happiest! yay! -> i keep picking their favorite food -> Siffrin gradually grows sick of something that once brought him joy -> oh. right. that...makes sense, huh.

okay i asked the King what i needed, mann there won't be any tears after the fight is over so i'll have to do the whole ending scene again and that takes a while and i reeeeally wanna talk to Loop, maybe i'll just lose on purpose this time -> OH. RIGHT. THIS IS MAYBE THE MOST PAINFUL WAY FOR SIFFRIN TO DIE BOTH PHYSICALLY AND EMOTIONALLY HUH. -> never gonna do that again actually!!!!! the ending isn't that long!!!!

banana peel time! we've got places to be and mysteries to solve! -> (you're a living comedy sketch.) (you wonder if you'll ever be able to smell bananas again without wanting to vomit.) -> i'm sorry i'm sorry i'm sorry i'm sorry

it's always cute to see Isabeau's reactions! pick the options that make him blush :3 -> (disgusting. manipulative. it's no wonder he thinks he likes you, you made him feel that way.) -> i'm sorry i'm sorry i'm sorry siffrin NO he liked you before any of this happened please don't think of yourself that way--

maybe it won't hit the same for every player (what game can expect to do that?) but holy fuck it hit for me. the way the mechanics let you fall into familiar gamey rhythms but constantly, constantly remind you that this is Siffrin's life you're playing with. the way you end up perfectly in step in the worst ways. muscle memory and habit built up so well that you both stumble when something changes. devastating and delicious

[fandomandangstlover]

Allies chosen based off an old experiment conducted by Roblox, one of the few memories that he managed to retain, BLOXWATCH watches every inch of this world with dedicated attention. 'Armed' with his Banhammer and traps, this Killer focuses on taking his victims off guard and dazed. If you think you're safe from watchful eyes, think again.

The corrupted counterpart of BUILDERMAN. Selecting BLOXWATCH as your Killer will disable every other players' ability to choose BUILDERMAN as their survivor character.

Shown above are the two Skins currently available for BLOXWATCH: PUNISHMENT [DEFAULT] & OMNISCIENT.

PASSIVE ABILITIES

- CREATORS OF CREATION

Every survivor that is killed by this Killer, a glitched version of them will spawn from their corpse and roam around the map. Attacks any survivors in their line of sight, deals 10 damage and loses interest in 10 seconds. Can be killed like any. Would you want to, though?

- A SADISTIC THIRST

Gets faster with every damage that is dealt by this Killer within a certain timeframe, this can stack. Caps at 30(? idk man i don't want him to turn into the Flash.)

ACTIVE ABILITIES

- BANISHMENT

Basic attack movement. Swings the Banhammer down onto a Survivor. Deals 30 damage. Wide hitbox.

- ACCOUNT SNIPE

Bloxwatch constructs a Sentry that can be interrupted by a stun, same construction time as Builderman. Sentry deals 1 damage per second when in range and will glitch out after 5 minutes. Half the range of a normal Sentry hitbox. Can only be built twice per round.

- NOSTALGIA

Places down a landmine that explodes in your face, blinding whoever walks into it for 30 seconds and deals 5 damage. Plus alarting all killers to your location. Looks like a grey flat circle. 1 minute cooldown, but unlimited.

- SKYBOX

Eyes starts appearing near the Survivors that shows all Killers where they are. Will stay forever unless destroyed, alarting killers if a Survivor walks by or is near an Eye. Can be rid of by clicking/hurting it, temporarily causing Bloxwatch's cooldowns to last longer by 2 seconds.

VOICELINES

- ATTACKING

BANISHMENT:

growling.

"stay still!"

ACCOUNT SNIPE - BUILDING:

"watchtower coming up!"

"termination in progress."

ACCOUNT SNIPE - KILL:

"found something? Hehe."

"thought you could get away, huh?"

NOSTALGIA:

"feels familiar, doesn't it?"

"second warning~!"

SKYBOX - ACTIVATION:

"all of you... i see all of you, always."

"hiding won't save you."

SKYBOX - DEACTIVATED:

"my eyes... aches."

"...blurry..."

- STUNNED

"augh— my head... ow.."

sharp breathe in, shaky breathe out.

brief noise of pain. "it hurts."

stunned by 1x1x1x1:

"nonono— not again, please not again."

- KILL LINES

General:

"sorry, your account's terminated. goodbye."

"end of the map, die."

"another one falls. who's next?"

to 007n7:

"game's over, rulebreaker."

"your son's waiting for you. go find him, won't you?" (if c00lkid/bluduud died earlier in round)

"i'll find him for you, don't worry." (if c00lkid/bluduud is alive)

to c00lkid/bluduud:

"you lost, kid. what did i say about cheating?"

"your father misses you. go to him, won't you?" (if 007n7 died earlier in round)

"i'll find your pa, don't worry." (if 007n7 is alive)

to John Doe:

"you thought i wasn't watching? i'm disappointed, mr.doe."

"isn't this familiar? hehe..."

"what a failure."

to 1x1x1x1:

"this is payback."

"we won't be hurt by you ever again."

"i... i did it. haha— i did it!"

WITH TELAMON:

finding a survivor while ally is nearby:

"Shed, over here!"

"SHED! THEY'RE RUNNING!"

killing a survivor after ally's callout:

"shed, look at this. they look so miserable, eheh."

"got em!... thanks, shed."

WITH DAISY BELL:

finding a survivor while ally is nearby:

"found them, Bell!"

"DAISY! THIS WAY!"

killing a survivor after ally's callout:

"i got them. thank you, ava."

laughter. "burn, burn it all."

TRIO GIMMICK: DOUBLE UP

BLOXWATCH is only found with either TELAMON or DAISY BELL by his side. Whichever character is his teammate cannot be chosen as a Survivor, and both will interact with the counterpart of the missing companion if chosen in a round.

Spotted SHEDLETSKY - SOLO:

"don't run. please, don't run."

"why did you leave? why did you leave!? answer me!"

Killing SHEDLETSKY - SOLO:

"you were always so stubborn... ahah..." shaky sigh.

"we'll get out of here, i promise."

"... one day, we'll be free."

Spotted AVARICE - SOLO:

"why did you leave? why? what did i do?"

"please stay. please."

Killing AVARICE - SOLO:

"where did it all go, Ava? did it all mean nothing?"

sobbing.

"... sweet dreams."

DISTORTED DEVS - BLOXWATCH & TELAMON

Spotted AVARICE:

softly. "... Daisy?"

"TEL! SHE'S OVER HERE!"

Killing AVARICE after TELAMON'S callout:

*on the vague of sobbing* "i want to go home, Tel."

"... goodnight, Ava."

1 SURVIVOR LEFT:

"one reminding, and it'll all be over. let's finish this."

HACKED PURGATORY - BLOXWATCH & DAISY BELL

Spotted SHEDLETSKY:

"Shed? is that you?"

"DAISY— DAISY I FOUND HIM!"

Killing SHEDLETSKY after DAISY BELL'S callout:

"... i missed you. i'm sorry."

"... Daisy? i don't want to be here anymore."

1 SURVIVOR LEFT:

"last one standing. let's see how long they can fight, shall we?"

hiii y'all!!! here's Bloxwatch :33 finally managed to post him here cuz i had enough motivation to put everything in here, yippee!! goodness this took awhile....

Daisy Bell is an OC that belongs to @splatting-stampede & is my fellow collaborator in this AU ^^ ty for joining me in my silliness, eheheehhe >:3

[katatty]

Non-Sims Interests

I got tagged by @episims and thought this one looked like fun. Thank you, epi! Ofc like so many of us I kind of a sims monomaniac, but I do have a few other hobbies and interests (many of them tangentally related to sims, haha...)

D&D - I started playing this back when I was at university, and later decided I missed it enough to teach my friends how to play and became a dungeon master! I actually think it is very similar to sims in a lot of ways, where you get to do a lot of world-building and setting up of interesting situations, but you don't have complete control over what happens! That's all up to the players and the game-mechanics. Unlike sims though its a social sort of hobby, which keeps me from being a total hermit lol! Currently we are playing a setting inspired by ancient/mythological Greece, which ties into some of my other interests, too :)

Wrestling & Soap Oprea - As a kid I into Neighbours & WWE, like, religiously. These days I don't keep up with WWE to the same extent, but its an interest that revives itself every so often and I'll go through phases where I am super into it. I also watch Coronation Street these days and actually when I was at university a decade ago wrote my dissertation on 1960s Corrie! If you are a fan of both of these, you might get why I lumped them together - wrestling is kind of just a soap with tons of fight scenes, lol. I am a fan of really long-running "endless" series that weave together a lot of diffient characters and plots. I think for me the fact that the writing is very inconsistent and sometimes messy is part of the fun for me! It's a very dynamic and ever-evolving kinda storytelling I just love... (And yes, this obviously ties into my love of the Sims too, rotational gameplay is like a soap-oprea generator to me!)

History - I am not as much of a knowledge-hoarder as some people, but history is interesting to me! I did study it at university but didn't enjoy uni so much which caused the interest to die off a bit, but I have noticed its revived a fair bit over the last few years, now that its something I do for fun again. I know the most about England and Europe, but really like classical Greece & Rome, and lately I have been interested in Chinese history too

Literature - I am a bit on-and-off with reading (see previous post lol) and not as well-read as some, but I like reading a lot! A few years ago I read Moby Dick & it triggered some kinda deep obsession in me which causes me to bring up Moby Dick in conversation, like, I guess a lot more than the average person. Every so often a book makes a deep enough impression that it gets etched permentantly into my personality lol

Other Games - I am not a HUGE gamer because I am always mostly playing sims lol, but I do play other titles sometimes! I go through a big Dwarf Fortress phase a couple of times a year which always obliterates all my other hobbies & my social life. I also really like Visual Novels, I think they are suuuuuch a cool and under-rated genre (but the best ones are all X-rated, so, like, I get why LOL). Oh, and I was super-obsessed with Dragon Age Origins when I played it! Sadly none of the later games made as big of an impact on me

Hiking & Nature - this is kind of a basic one, I feel like most people enjoy this? But I do love the Great Outdoors! My dad is more into it than me, he is very into gardening and also regularly goes on big walking holidays and knows a ton about plants, trees, and wildlife... I think he instilled an appreciation for nature in me as a kid and its something I get a lot out of, too! I would love to eventually live somewhere that has a garden, and hope to maybe go on a camping trip or two this year :)

I will try and tag some different people to last time, but if this looks interesting to you please consider yourself tagged, too! @deedee-sims, @strangetomato, @plumbtales, @simhealing, @simnationlifebefore, @dunne-ias

[box-off]

ok do it talk about tf2 and postal

You asked for it.

Okay, let's start with tf2. Tf2 is one of the best games EVER in my opinion, and it's not a really trustworthy one, but it's an opinion. I love everything from character design to the community to the game itself. The comics which make me want to explode from how well the character design goes both for 3d and 2d, and the silly world that the characters live in. It's like some kind of wonderland, but it's made for a fps gamer. The first thing that made me interested in tf2 was my friend talking about it, he sent me the "Meet the spy" video and a fan made animation. I remember seeing it and thinking "Wow, those guys look cool", and when I started learning more I REALLY wanted to play as scout (who I still main to this day). I obviously knew about tf2 before but never got too interested in it. But when I started playing oh wow it sucked me in. Tf2 made me have a big standard for character design, thanks to tf2 I never watched Hazbin Hotel or Helluva Boss (no matter how hard my friends tried to make me watch it), because oh how distracting those designs were for me. Whenever I think about good character design it's the tf2 mercs, they made me realize that the characters don't have to have 300 cool guns on them to point at the character and say "THIS GUY IS COOL!", you can make simple characters that are still catchy and easy to remember and recognize, and even get to understand their main purpose from just a glance. It's even better to make them simple in some cases! (In general valve games have good designs, but tf2 stands out a lot, at least for me). The game itself always makes me feel good, surprisingly it can be relaxing if you don't get too into the competitive mood and have the luck to get normal teammates. Yes, I might be a casual player, but I'm free. Don't get me started on the amount of playing styles tho. I'm not really good at them, I always go with scout, hop around and do my shit. I do play medic in MvM tho, I just really like to have a huge shield and be like "I'll protect you", idk, it's probably the furry alpha wolf speaking in me. But in normal game, oh what a blessing it is sometimes to have a really skilled demoknight, or a good rocket jumper in your team. Or a good spy who saves the day when the engineers build their nest right over the corner, or a medic that manages to heal everyone and not die 100 times in the process. I barely talk in chat in the game (because it's distracting), but know that if you play good and I'm in your team I'm thanking you constantly in my mind. Let me add that I joined the fandom when the bots where still there so I played with them a lot. Now that this is getting fixed it's even more fun! But I managed to fall in love with this half broken game and I'm sorry, that's a big fucking gold medal for a game, if it can still pull fans while being abandoned (hopefully that changes, but it's still impressive).

Now about Postal. I am edgy. Let me be real, if you saw my art you can probably tell that I do like myself some guts and blood from time to time. And I like humor, I like to laugh, to chuckle, to snicker if you will. So me liking Postal was just a matter of time. First game I played was Brain Damaged, and oh boy, the humor was good (even tho some things I missed because I didn't play the other games). As I got deeper into other games I was so IN. Those games are just so much FUN. I like fps games if you couldn't tell, and this? This is the fps game ever, it has some fun stuff to do, you of course can shoot, you can just walk around and explore in postal 2 and 4, and it's worth it! I love exploring those games, they always have some silly stuff here and there. And what they did well in Postal 4 is that they made you explore, they hid dolls, gnomes and all that stuff all over the map, and you can explore it, not just because, but you can actually get something for it. And let me be honest, Postal Dude? Hot. He's hot, and as a dirty stinky gay man myself I appreciate the representation. But jokes aside, HE'S A GOOD CHARACTER. I love him, it's interesting to watch what he does, to hear what he says, in all the games btw, yes, even postal 3. The character design again? Really well done. Postal Dude is simple, Postal Dude is cool, he's not your stereotypical "Cool guy who kills people with huge armor on" or "The buff guy who fights everyone with bare hands" (except Shtopor, that guy is fucking RIPPED.) When I look at Doomguy? I think "Damn, you're cool." when I look at Postal Dude?? I think "Damn man, you're probably stink", and you know what? THAT'S THE CHARM OF THIS CHARACTER. He sucks! You know where he sucks even more than in the game? The movie, and you have NO IDEA how much I love it. The movie is bad, like, not just because "it doesn't represent the characters as they are in the game" but because it's a bad movie. Just as a movie it's not really well done. But! I still love it. It's a movie that is fun to watch with your friends, you laugh at how bad it is, you just have a blast, at least me and my friends did. And I have the bluray disk, so I have the behind the scenes and all that cool stuff, and you know what? It made me like this shit even more. I really wish I could play more Postal with people, and not just that, I'm also waiting for Postal 4 co-op, and some of my friends getting the game as well. Because in my opinion Postal is that type of game that has to be shown to your friends in a "Hey guys, look at this stupid game I found, isn't it so random??" way. I talked a lot about Postals funny part, yes, but I do have to also mention that Postal 1 is rally good. And yes, postal redux is just Postal 1 with a bit better graphics, but I do like it in a way (mainly because of the better quality of the loading screens, because those are just so good. I really like the artistic part of this game). Funny postal? It's good, I love funny postal. But without creepy postal there wouldn't be some stuff in the funny postal that we like so much. Other Dude? The head wound making everything look strange? I don't really think we would have that in newer postal games without postal 1!

[bizlybebo]

<SPOILERS FOR APOTHEOSIS EPISODE 2>

THEY START IN A TAVERN LMAOOO

Rumi is on the stage oh it's greattt!!!!

Rumi- "You! Do you know how to play the viola?" POINTS A FUCKING PETER

DONT PEER PRESSURE THIS WET RAG OF A MAN INTO PLAYING AN INSTRUMENT ON STAGE

RUMI STOP BULLYING HIM XD

"I'm sorry I don't know why he did this" Stop apologising.

Nevermind maybe do apologise that was awful

Don't sing hot cross buns over his narration

Rumi STOP dragging this poor boy around!

Oh yeah I get what you mean, he is sobbing over a surface level compliment

"I'm sorry noone has ever asked me that" YOUR NAME????"

I have visions of you" that does not have the implications you think it does (retrospect, that was probably intentional)

I can't imagine the players are anything except entirely baffled by Peter

I love Peter he's such A dork

I love Rumi he's so cool

"I was more like a meat puppet in sort of a play of destruction" boyyyy

Rumi is bestieeee he's great

"We just joined hands" SIR

"I have litterally never done anything"

"This is the best day ever" You sopping wet tissue paper boy

I THINK RUMI IS GETTING LIKE FOLLOWERS TO GET POWER TO HELP PEOPLE THATS SO COOL!!!!!

PETER YOU ELDRICH DIVINE HORROR

ANGELIC LIZARD OMG <<<3333

"I run into a tree" Charlie stop physically abusing your characters they deserve better

"Goddamit you're a murderer"

"Stand behind me"

"No stand behind me"

"No stand behind me"

"No I'll protect you"

"I would like to sense anything holy"Just both of Them

Peter Sqloint, the most holy man

Oh shit PvP

TASHAS HIDEOUS LAUGHTER TO MAKE HIM LAUGH LMAO

"You can't just magically make me laugh" He litterally can though

Peter for being Peer Pressured

"Rumi this guy kinda sucks :<"

"I steal his viola and play hot cross buns"

I am suffering /pos

Hes so genuine

All of the other JRWI characters take note, THIS IS how you do a speech

Peter: 🧍

As the nothing moves across the nothing XD

LIZARD 💜💜💜💜

Peter be like: not me, actually my super cool all powerful OC

"You look super aggressive sometimes please don't kill me, I'll die, I'll just die

Summons sword epically and musically

SUNNYYYY AAAAAAAAJSHSHSHD 💜

Exandroth my beloathed

"Peter is GONE" well bring him back maybe?Archangel sounds are the worst

"Don't lecture me on morals"

"THERES A WOLF ON MY LEGGGG >M<"

"YES PETER YOUR BLOOD IS NOW SPIDERS""

Your [blah blah blah] will be your end/downfall/undoing"

Okay so it's not just me right? Rumi is incredibly Gay

Woughhhhh

Lizard Log

(These are gonna take a while because Tumblr eats the formatting from my notes app, also if there are random words that cut off a sentence and don't make sense, autocorrect is a bitch)

RAGHHHHH RUMII AND PETERRRR I LOVE TJEMMMM THEY WERE SO <3333 FROM THEE STARTTT

i can’t wait to watch peters development because you can already see how he’s getting stronger + more confident in himself even by episode 6 aughuguguh. going from crying when rumi asks him his name to bashfully accepting compliments who cheered (me)

rumi is SO gay. i aspire to be like him he’s so fucking gender. but also a suave motherfucker i hate them so much. i want to shake them like a maraca and hear them go shkshkshkshk

RRRGGHH JUST THE. THE EBERYTHING AND THE WAY THANATOS GOT IJTRODUCED TO THE PARTY I LOVE TJEM SOO MUCHH AUGGH

rumis so fucking graceful even in combat it makes me angry. who let this asshole be so perfect

if peter doesn’t get his lizard log by the end of apotheosis then it’s all for nothing istg

[the-white-soul]

Flowey laughs sadistically, enjoying each vivid death he gives to Clover. The more he proceeded, the more satisfied he felt watching the fear grow in their eyes, only encouraging him to keep going until they finally gave in. A sense of power fills him knowing he's the one who provoked such a pathetic reaction out of the usual strong, threatening character Clover has. They're practically coming apart, and yet still pretend to act tough. How funny.*

*Once Clover resets, Flowey finally settles, grinning with delight.* Mmm~ Feels good to let go once in a while! I outta thank Clover for the opportunity. *he giggles, ending it with a sigh.* I suppose we should hope this doesn't happen again even so. The less trouble the better.

*he climbs onto Kara's shoulder to rest comfortably.* Don't listen to that idiot. You were also part of resolving that little fiasco. We both know the talent and qualities you hold! There's a reason I like to hang around you. And Noelle, and any other friends you might have.

Speaking of them, they don't have determination, do they? Monsters won't be able to remember resets because they have no determination, so Noelle won't be mad at you anymore. Convenient, huh? *Thinking to himself in the parentheses* (At least for Kara. But in my opinion that's such a shame.) Funny how Clover's power only ended up advantaging us in the end! Now, it's up to you if you want to announce our win to the others or not mention the reset.

(Kara) "No, unfortunately, she'll remember. She left this universe right before it reset. But hey, we'll remember it."

Arak shows up from a door that leads to the omega dimension. (All do just wanted to specify where it came from. If determined enough at least.)

(Arak) "Determination. Great job. *Claps slowly.* I guess some people can change, except did they? You know something let me show you."

*Arak brings Flowey and Kara into the omega dimension.*

(Arak)"Now do it 7 million more times."

(Kara) "What?"

(Arak) "You and that little flower know that it wasn't just one random universe that had that problem. Genocide infects us all from the creatures known as players. In fact, I might prove a point. You saw that one universe might actually achieve peace. You're wrong. Players, they don't deserve peace. In fact, you think they want us to beg for mercy. NO, YOU IDIOT!!! They want us to fight for eons so they can have games. We must kill all..."

(Kara) "Enough!!! Stop talking your stupid mouth, you and I both know that players are evil. It's rule number one, but that is no excuse for you to harass others who have no part in it. 'Oh here's my long boring reason that players should all die at all cost' You know what I'd rather be controlled by Merg my entire life picking every bad option besides killing than to EVER commit genocide. I learned that very late in my life, and for that I feel bad but if I can learn it so can you."

*Noelle shows up*

(Noelle) "You meant that? *Runs over and hugs Kara*. I thought you were a ruthless person for a second but now I've learned you've changed and if you can change, *Looks at Flowey* Flowey changed too. I forgive you Flowey."

*Arak trembles for a second, realizing that they're backed into a corner they run off. Just then Merg shows up.*

(Merg) "Well, that's the last time I'm letting a loser do my job for me. I'm just going to say this, Toby knows where you are, and so does Temmie."

(Noelle) "Get away from Kara now, or I swear to god I'll rip off all your arms and put them into a spider donut."

(Merg) "Well, that's not too bad..."

(Noelle) "Then rip off your legs put salt in your eyes, *This continues for an hour I kid you not AN HOUR* and then sell your soul to satan."

Everyone's just in shock.

(Noelle) "Sorry was I too violent?"

(Kara) "That was the coolest thing I've heard."

(Noelle) "*blushes* Thanks, what about you Flowey?"

[fritterpaws437]

long waffle on the masked woman because I think I'll combust if I don't say everything I was thinking when I replayed this game

-”I need to protect you, no matter what…”

under the cut!

someone might of said this stuff before but idk

I never expected to ever even sympathize with her in any capacity, ever, to be honest, but I think she’s just interesting enough for me to want to write about her. [I know I’ve complained a lot about her, but she isn’t the 2nd coming of Satan as I made her out to be.] Maybe a bit grating, but not that horrible. It’s more so that, EVERY character in the ending is grating, to me. It’s not just her. Moreso, I think she was failed mostly by the writing. 

I should probably preface this by saying I do not believe AINI has an affect on the canon of AITSF; considering the … shaky ? reliability of AINI actually happening . and not being a simulation . and it’s easier for my sanity that way because, I do NOT agree with the choices they made to change Mizuki’s backstory in this game. I never have agreed with it, and that was not one of my stances that changed on my 2nd playthrough.

That being said, let’s get into Bibi herself.

Quite unsurprisingly, I came to the conclusion very quickly on my 2nd playthrough that “everything she is doing, is for her sister [Mizuki].”

And that really defines who she is, for better or worse. Nearly all the actions she takes could be related back to Mizuki and ensuring her safety, or some sort of justice related to her. And, when I thought about it…

It’s very clear that Bibi is plagued with near-constant anxiety about the safety of her sister- she will take, quite literally, any action to ensure this is filled. It might of alluded the player, but, on 2/13 Ryuki Chapter 3; we can even see her, presumably looking for Mizuki in Lemniscate, though she refuses to answer any of Ryuki’s questions and leaves quite quickly. In this point in time, Bibi is still actively assigned to the case- which kind of implies that even between investigations, she took to this “shadowing” behaviour. Bibi is not content with trusting that the people around Mizuki will ‘look after her.’ despite her knowing quite well that Mizuki can probably take care of herself. [another example of this is indeed before Komeji and Shoma end, but it doesn’t happen in the Resolution timeline; it does show more of this.]

While I was looking at the developer comments on TCRF, I found something quite interesting about her.

I initially believed Bibi knew Mizuki enough to just trust she would be able to protect herself, without her help [but under her watch], but the comments seem to suggest the opposite! She would quite literally die for Mizuki if the situation was dire enough; this comes up again later. 

-the Cycle, and how it feeds into her anxiety

Unfortunately, many quite horrible things happen to Mizuki over the course of her life, even before the events of AINI. While, It appears that Mizuki comes mostly unscathed out of the experiments that happened to her as a toddler, thanks to Bibi, but it doesn’t remain that way. As we know, Mizuki’s life with Renju and Shoko was not exactly peaceful, and Bibi must of known about near everything that happened while she was living with them. [as from the developers notes]

If we think about it this way, Bibi is aware of every horrible thing that happens to Mizuki before she begins to ‘defend’ her. While she doesn’t see Renju’s dead body in this timeline, she sees Shoko’s. And, eventually, even after she starts this behavior, Mizuki loses both her eye and Date. She is aware of *all* of this happening. 

I’m sure that these events only worsened Bibi’s anxiety- further combined with the guilt of being unable to prevent it happening from her, it only fuels her to keep trying to ‘protect’ Mizuki. Especially during the period after Ryuki tasing her causes her heart issues to flare up- [and eventually ends up with Hitomi.] While, she probably can’t predict that Mizuki will go with Date to the cathedral, I imagine she considered the possibility. Her fears are just confirmed later.

[I don’t imagine she would of been particularly happy with the fact Date takes such a neglectful role in AINI towards Mizuki, but that’s a conversation for another day.] 

-her relationship with death and self worth

We hear when she talks to Shoma in the hospital, that she, again, seems to value her own life over Mizuki’s, and, more concerningly, she says. ��If I lost her, I could just die…”... It’s safe to say Bibi is quite dependent on Mizuki. 

Furthermore, of course it’s kind of funny but, “rats don’t wear shoes” makes me think. The only time she was really referred to as a mouse/rat was in the experiments, possibly the worst most traumatic time of her life- it seems quite strange to joke about it, but maybe it’s some sort of humour-coping-mechanism? [Mizuki herself does a bit of this]

In the epilogue, she responds quite nonchalantly to being told that her heart condition can be cured… as if even after everything, she accepted that she would die young…

-her relationships with other people

I don’t really have much to say about her relationship with Boss, other than I think it’s quite sweet :] they seem like good friends 

Her relationship with Kizuna is quite interesting to me too, more specifically, the way she acts after it comes to an end. While it’s sadly not explored too deeply, the developer notes say this:

Bibi seems to have developed some sort of avoidance to Kizuna after she leaves the Chiedas- I don’t know if this is some sort of detachment, to avoid feeling guilt for leaving her [something which Kizuna seems to have a whole lot of pain associated with, so it’d make sense] or something else entirely. Kizuna seems to honestly, truly believe in the good in Bibi’s character, regardless of this. Even in the epilogue, Bibi seems to avoid talking to Kizuna as much as possible. I don’t know if they will ever come to an understanding, but I hope they do…

[Also, I didn’t want to complain about AINI’s writing in this, but, I think the way they handle her suddenly going ‘yeah sure Ryuki whatever i forgive u for nearly ending me’ makes no fucking sense considering what we know about her]

-Moving forward, and her life after AINI.

As for after AINI, I think she still has a bit of healing to do, even if everything is out in the open. 

In her file, we see that … I don’t know if this was supposed to be funny, or the writers didn’t want to put much for something most players wouldn’t even look at, at this point in the game. She has no discernible interests or hobbies outside of Mizuki. If we choose to take this seriously, it says that Bibi has not gotten better in the slightest when in regards to her dependence on Mizuki. What would Bibi do if Mizuki just… needed to go somewhere without her? IDK?? to a concert or something?? I sincerely hope in the future that she learns to just trust that Mizuki can take care of herself…

-

Thank you for reading! A big thank you to whoever wrote the doc detailing the AINI timeline, as I would not of been able to figure it out on my own lmao.

it pains me that most of her characterization is packed into the last 3 hours of the game it makes her really hard to figure out her actual personality

I'm not sure if that's absolutely everything I wanted to say about her, but I think I'm content for now.

[riveroverthesky]

HE DID IT AGAIN!

Frank, you had the perfect plot twist practically gift-wrapped for you and you just couldn't stop yourself from overexplaining what was going on. Frank, why do you keep doing this to me?

Spoilers for people who haven't read the series:

Just to reiterate, I don't hate Dune or its characters or any of its worldbuilding, I just hate how it sets up cool plot twists, only to ruin them by telling the reader in advance what is going to happen.

Book one I can forgive because the plot twist happens in the first act and there are other story threads that add dramatic tension once the inciting incident happens and all the major characters are separated and alliances are formed.

Book two I like less because while I don't hate how it sets up every major player in the mutiny to overthrow Paul, I hate how Paul already knows how each villain is trying to bring about his downfall and has already put plans into motion to counter them. What is the point in having a shapeshifter if the character can see right through it??? I wouldn't mind it as much if the reader didn't know Paul knew all along, and that was the plot twist in the final act.

I'm only 15% through book three, so I don't know if this was meant to be a plot twist, but that's the impression I got so far. For context, book two ends with Paul, now blind, walking into the desert to die after the death of Chani who died giving birth to their twins. Nine years have passed, the planet is now green, a new religious movement is rebelling against the government regime, and Paul's children, Prince Leto II and Princes Ghanima, have inherited his power of foresight.

This new cult is led by a masked preacher who dismisses the entire religious movement built in Paul's name, and before you even have time to speculate who this masked figure might be, Leto ruins it by telling his sister he thinks the masked dude discrediting their dad's legacy, is, in fact, their dead dad.

I hate this.

Again, I've only just started this book so I don't know if the plot requires Paul to be found out this early in the game, because he hasn't been unmasked yet. So maybe the book will surprise me, but it's so obviously Paul. We don't even get an establishing shot with the preacher before any tension is ruined. We are introduced to him as the kids are discussing this new religion and theorizing who its leader might be. We don't officially meet the guy until several chapters later!

I am not good at noticing plot twists early on. I'll admit that. I'm dumb as bricks and like shutting off my brain. So I don't know how quickly everyone else would have caught on that Paul is the Preacher, maybe it would have been obvious from the beginning, but I know for a fact I would have missed a key sentence just now if I didn't already read the previous few chapters where the kids planted that seed of suspicion in the back of my head. Because THAT was something Paul would say, so I know for a fact it's him! (that and how the book doesn't even try to be subtle about bringing up blindness again and how the Fremen treat their blind tribe members, even though we've only ever had one blind character in the series so far. Gee, I wonder why???)

It's especially annoying because of how Paul's story ended in the last book, and how final it felt watching him wander into the desert after losing his powers. This was the end of Paul's reign and the throne had been passed down to his orphan heirs who have a hard journey ahead of them. At no point did I even entertain the idea Paul was still alive and would come back. The world has changed so much, the characters we grew to love have moved on with their lives, and we're now following two brand-new characters who have taken over the role of protagonists. Only for said protagonists to hit the breaks and remind you of Paul's existence just as you were getting comfortable with the new setting.

Let me be surprised, Frank!

I am back on my bullshit!

[snowyfrostshadows]

pmd fan?? 👀👀👀

I love pokemon mystery dungeon so so much

Explores of Darkness was I think my second pokemon game ever and the first game I'd saved up money for to buy

I have made sure to keep the lil promo poster that came in the box in as good condition as possible as I dutifully took it down and restapled it to every single new room/house as I've moved and gotten older (it's definitely fared a HECK of a lot better the Emerald mini poster)

I love these games so so much and honestly I think I hold them in a little higher regard than the mainline pokemon games

[redjennies]

I 100% agree that PCs shouldn't be dying like this to further another character's development. I wouldn't like it for any character but I'm already lukewarm bordering on uninterested in Imogen, no flack to Laura, so not my cup of tea.

Credit to Matt where credit is due, he does a lot for these stories and elements that seem rough or odd can turn around, but oh boy. If he can turn this around I'll be impressed because this was so railroaded (derogatory). Otohan was designed to jump around the map and had no trouble reading the Hells' minds so any attempt at negotiating could just become: I'm going to steal the information from your head and continue killing because Imogen still hasn't done what I wanted. Once they entered that encounter, barring miracle rolls, they weren't getting out until they were let out.

Then there's the final wisdom save which felt like an "oh shit if I don't do something the whole party is going to die" decision. Because yes it made sense for the character but it took the decision to not let go out of Laura's hands because killing her friends apparently wasn't motivating Imogen to pick the "right answer" and if she didn't let go the rest of the party would be taken down because Otohan is just Like That apparently.

It was just frustrating.

was kinda holding onto this one because it is honestly summing up everything I feel about the situation once I put my emotions aside.

the one thing I'll extrapolate on is as you touched on, I don't think Matt is a bad DM. I think Matt is normally a very good DM but this was bad DMing and I think these almost rookie-ieh cheap tactics are beneath his ability. this was bad DMing regardless of anything else. there were ways to up the stakes, there are ways to kill player characters, without doing -- *gestures broadly* that. I saw someone describe this combat as "feeling like a cut scene where you're supposed to lose" and I fully agree. this was some Kai Leng from Mass Effect 3 bullshit and that is one of the worst insults I can give a RPG, even more so to a TTRPG. it stops being D&D and starts being just a show when you start doing stuff like this and if people like that, then that's fine for them, but I'm not watching if that's the direction the series is going in. I'm not wasting hours of my life listening to other people argue about what to do next just so combat can become essentially cutscenes. I'm not getting invested in characters who are considered secondary.

like as it dragged on even Laura couldn't stop it and what is the point of roleplay or combat or player choice if we're doing that? I can't get into the whole Poetic Dice Rolls when bad dice rolls are the only way to end it. what should have been a beautiful moment in Imogen and Laudna's relationship, regardless of your read on it, is undercut by Matt making it all feel so forced. Laudna's decisions didn't matter, Chetney's decisions didn't matter, and Imogen's decisions didn't matter. Orym wasn't even given a choice. the only people you can even remotely argue had any agency were Fearne who kept wandering back into the fray and Ashton who successfully ran away. in my book, that's bad DMing no matter how you slice it, and my semi-sincere, semi-passive aggressive apologies for thinking Matt is so much better than that. he made a series of decisions that someone with his experience had to know would piss a bunch of veteran D&D players off and so long as I'm not harassing him over it, it's not really my fault as a viewer for hating it when it's breaking every common sense rule of how to be a DM. it doesn't make him a bad person or the Worst DM Ever, but he really should have thought better than to do something so tacky.

anyway this really is the last of what I have to say about it. I really appreciate everyone thanking me and sending me well wishes in the inbox. 💕 the good has truly outweighed the bad both in the past 24 hours and in the past two years, but this is my stop and I have to get off now.

[pebblysand]

Ask thing: 9 and 32, only if you feel inspired to do so. 🦔💜

Thanks for the questions!

9. Tag 3 fic writers you think are underrated/unknown in the fandom/fanfiction community.

I won't lie, this one is a bit hard because I feel like 90% of what I like isn't very mainstream. I'm not reall au fait of what is popular and what isn't. So, I don't know, check my bookmarks, I guess? I really like aceofdiamonds for instance, and I don't see their work be recommended often, but I might just be blind.

32. Copy and paste your top three favorite lines/jokes/sentences you’ve ever written. What fics do they come from?

Man, this is HARD. You're asking me to choose between my babies 😭.

Okay, I won't give you three lines that are my "favourites," I'll give you three lines/paragraphs that I really like. I don't know if they're my favourites, I can't choose.

listening for that angel choir - Spooks

In hospital, after Dad got shot, Wes asked if it hurt. Dad hesitated before he answered. ‘It feels cold, is all.’  And: Wes remembers the white walls and the smell of bleach, the beeping of the monitors around them. ‘I’m alright, mate,’ Dad forced a smile and pulled him into an awkward hug over the bed, ruffled his hair. ‘Don’t worry. I’ll live.’ Wes thought: please.

This fic has seven kudos because the Spooks fandom is super tiny and it's about a super minor character within that fandom, but it's still probably one of my favourite things I've ever produced. Wes is Fiona and Adam's son (who are main characters on the show) and both die in the line of duty (they're MI5 agents), and his story is like, the epitome of tragedy and resilience. At that point in the fic, Fiona's died but Adam is still alive but he's having a lot of issues coping with her death and PTSD, and is becoming more and more reckless with his own life, leading him to getting shot (albeit not fatally).

I love everything about this sequence. Wes asking if it hurts (so many meanings in that, including the fact that his own mother died after getting shot), and there's such a quiet sort of desperation in that word: "please," from a child who can see his father is losing grip. There's also such a disconnect between the casualness with which Adam says "I'll live," like: it's alright, I just got shot, I'll live though, and Wes's words, that are begging him, his only parent, to live. There's also such a tragedy in knowing the rest of the show, knowing that he doesn't - live. Yet, you also have a lot of love in that scene, in Adam lying to reassure Wes, and the awkward hug… I'm obsessed with this.

It's funny, I remember @copper-dust once asked me about favourite lines, and I said it's very hard for me to point to my favourite lines because I rarely think of lines, I think of paragraphs. Like, there's not one line I particularly like in this scene, and they wouldn't really make sense independently, but it's the overall feels of the paragraph I'm very particular about. This gives me a lot of feels.

.

the fault in faulty manufacturing - HP

This is probably obvious because I used it as the summary, but I really like this:

At the pub, the walls were painted a pine shade of green, the white of the ceiling exhausted by an old leak, frames dangling off nails, slightly tilted. John F. Kennedy having a pint, Ollie Campbell in dirty shorts and an Irish jersey, the tricolour flag hanging from behind the bar and a fading print of Poblacht Na hEireann by the door.  On game days, drunk and rowdy middle-aged men would congregate to watch Mayo lose every GAA final since 1951. They called it the ‘Mayo curse’ and the legend had it that after the team’s last triumph, the bus escorting the heap of victorious players had passed a funeral cortege on the road, and failed to pay proper respects. A catholic priest had placed a curse as punishment, and the county never won a final again. So, come to think of it, maybe that’s why Dad never minded Mam’s post-wedding revelations much. In Ireland, even the Muggles believed in magic. 

I remember working on this for a very long time because as we all know, I'm not very good at visual description, and I wanted to really re-create the feels of an Irish pub, and the feels of Ireland, in general, without sounding like (as one of my Irish commenters so eloquently put it): "the romanticised diddly-aye Darby O'Gill version of Ireland that you often see." I wanted it to feel true and real. And, to be honest, having the opportunity to use the Mayo curse (which is a "real" thing, btw, although as the last of the players recently died, there's a question as to whether it might finally be lifted lmao) in fanfic was unreal. I think that description encompasses so much of what I love about Ireland as an immigrant, where the flag and the declaration of independence literally exist next to a "curse" on the same level, and I really love it. Also, the last line "lands" really well, I think, and adds this sort of depth to Seamus's story and to magic in general that I love.

.

castles - HP

I've told you this before but I know you (@turanga4) really like the "mother who called him brave" line, and I do too. I also really like the "sex and funerals" line that I used for the summary. I think it really encompasses the fic, you know? Good things and bad things? Also, I kind of have an emotional connection to that line because when I started writing castles in 2020, I actually had half of an old first draft of the first chapter on my hard drive. I read it over the summer when I didn't have much to do and it was when I got to that "sex and funerals" line that I was like "Oh, that's a good line. Maybe I should continue this fic, actually." I can't remember when I wrote it but past me had good taste, lol.

I also really like this line from chapter 8:

I dig my fingernails into the inside of my palms and it feels like the blood that comes out is already boiling.

It's such a strong image.

[lordrandreaming]

73 hours, 159 level ups. I beat Elden Ring.

I bit the bullet, after fighting Dragonlord and defeating him, i then went on to first try all the final bosses of this masterpiece.

First of my Endgame tour, was Dragonlord. What a PAIN in the Ass to fight. Took me three tries. Of course, being a FromSoft game, Elden Ring's optional fights are the hardest. Malenia and Placidusax are no exeptions. But, at least, Malenia doesn't fucking teleport around. Sure, she's hard. But.. Placidusax is just terrible. One day, im going to get all the Sorceries/Incantations for the trophy, and when i do.. I'll be one overleved sorcerer. But as for Daedra, FUCK NO! He's not going to go against Placi for a VERY long time, if ever again. Hated this boss. If you do this boss, be a VERY high level. I was 152. Recommending being 160 and higher with ALOT of vigor.

Second.. Maliketh. My fucking FAVORITE fight in this whole game.. First tried. Best music, my all time favorite boss and character. He's what really got me wanting Elden Ring, so to beat him first try was.. Unbelievable to me. I thought he was an optional Endgame boss.. Like Farum Azula was optional to go to. But NOPE get FUCKED emotions. I love him so much.. Plus, I completed Gurranq's quest before doing Mali, so i got the special dialogue i wanted. :) Fav boss 10/10 will always look forward to fighting him.

Third, Gideon. I destined deathed his ass.. First try. He didn't even hit me- I sure showed him! Becoming Elden Lord and all. So sad that he chooses to fight against us as he doesn't believe a Tarnished could even be Elden Lord. Shame, he woulda been a good advisor for us.

Fourth, Godfrey. Annoying second phase, but overall a pretty fun fight. First try. Poor Serosh.. Godfrey is such a good guy though. Commending us for our strength and how a crown befits it.. Aww thanks man. Basically the first boss to be like 'WOW man. Your strong. Go for it.' Chivalry's not dead!

Fifth.. Radagon/Elden Beast. My gods.. Where do i begin? Radagon is an asskicker, that's for sure.. Poor fucking guy. First try. Kicked me and my Mimic Tear's asses like were nothing! I so wish we could do something for him, other than just killing him. I won't get into his lore and so fourth, but he was probably a pretty good guy, not motivated politically like Marika, kinda almost opposite of her. He was everything Marika didn't want to be. And i wish we could help Rennala too.. Fought the good fight, but in the end it just wasn't enough Rada 💔

Elden Beast, what a beautiful boss theme omfg.. Only had 5 flasks when i started with 12 on Radagon. Annoying because it can just go under the water.. But not as awful as Dragonlord. A good Final Boss, since its a 2-for-1 kinda deal. Drained me of all my crimson, but i still bested it.

The ending i got? I got the Duskborn Ending. And.. I got chills. I fucking love this game, and am crying. Just watching death be restored to the Land's Between.. People can finally just die again, things will never be the same though. Just Daedra, sitting on that throne, watching.. It felt profound, yet oddly comforting. I didn't get the same feeling i did after DS3, because after DS3 i felt a little... Hollow. Haha! Get it? Anyway.. I instantly hopped into NG+ as i got addicted to DS3.

With Elden Ring though, it was rather accomplishing. I think i forgot a Talisman for the legendary Talisman trophy, but seeing the Erdtree and Roundtable hold on fire.. It felt so empty. So. Entered Ng+ like a madman, and now I'm going to do it all over again! Yknow.. Except for Dragonlord (ESPECIALLY Dragonlord.), Fortissax, and Malenia. I don't even need to explain.. Lol

But then again, I ran through all DS3 bosses way after i capped NG+7. And i mean.. All of them. Even the DLC bosses. I found it fun to fight Midir in NG+7. Gael not so much, but you know :) Souls player's love doing crazy shit.

My plans are so- I either stay in NG+ as Dae, get/wait to get Age of Stars ending, or i move on and do as i did in DS3 and NG+7 the game before the DLC comes out. Or.. OR I take Tennren, my Sorcerer Build and do the Age of Order ending. THEN do the DLC with him, before diving in with Daedra. But I'll probably have Daedra go through the DLC first, because :)

The EldenSoulsBorne series is just a magnificent series, renound for it's twisting and turning lore, incredible stories to be uncovered and pondered- the punishing difficulty, staggering new player's, causing them to just drop the game, never to return. It happens with all the Souls games, if you don't know what your doing.

But these games, once you learn one, you will find it a breeze to go through all the other ones. I learned DS3 after about.. A whole three months of playing it, i think? It came out April, in 2016.. I bought it then. But took like.. A week break, because it was just so hard.

But the journey.. It was incredible. I'm so utterly blown away by all the stories Souls has to offer. All stories are beautiful, yet similar. So different, but are almost the same.. It's something I've never encountered before. EldenSoulsBorne will always habe place as #1 in my heart, because it just.. Speaks to me.

As I've said, I've completed DS3, Bloodborne, Dark Souls 1, and now Elden Ring. DS2 is on its way to being completed.. I'm a fairly decent level and don't exactly expect too much trouble with the DLC's and endgame. But man..

Elden Ring hits different. All Souls have that unique hit on you, actually.. No Souls game will punch you in the heart and dick the exact same way.. I will always cherish these games, and the impact they made on my life.

If you haven't played one of the aforementioned games, i suggest, that if you are ever so eager, to start with Dark Souls 3. It's among the easier side of Souls games, but its still plenty challenging. These games prove difficult at first, but they are oh so rewarding when you learn them.

Thanks for reading.

[braveandsnipe]

kamen rider geats episode 8-10

finally getting caught up, here are my thoughts

overall i enjoyed the episodes more than i anticipated, but i still don’t particularly care for the series.

i like how keiwa’s main buckle kind of lines up with his mindset/world view. i can see how this also applies to michinaga in a way (with his line towards the end of episode 9), but not with ace or neon

ace says "the shinobi buckle must have resonated with keiwa" which is why it flew away, despite the boost buckle being the only known semi-sentient buckle. sure, maybe they're all sentient, but it's never been brought up before, only that certain buckles work better with certain ID cores. maybe it will happen again, if it does, fair enough, if it doesn't, well than this is kind of BS.

maybe i’m misunderstanding, but since the jamato killed keiwa and sara’s parents, that means their parents were participants in the game given i belice ace said “if you do in the game, you die in real life.” but this doesn’t apply to non-participants as we saw the soba shop owner in episode 2 and the baby in episode 9/10 revive after the world reset. also, i looked like both of them were wearing driver belts, the mom even looked like she was holding it as she fell.

episode 9 was probably my least favorite of the 3 (and over all tbh).

i like the scenes between michinaga and tooru, they're very eerie. i wonder if it's something that will be expanded on later.

the ending between michinaga and ace was very interesting, it almost felt.. amicable? the way michinaga kind of smiled at ace as he was retired...

episode 10 was probably my favorite

i liked the opening with ace, tsumuri, and girori having breakfast together, i was funny and cute

i also like the small detail of giving tsumuri two different slippers to match her regular two different shoes

i don't know if i ever actually posted it, but i do think ace's wish, while bizarre, does make a bit of sense given tsumuri and girori are probably the only people who have been consistent in his life while everyone else has come and gone (either by dying or no longer being a participant in the DGP)

i love punkjack/win. i think this show needed someone more light-hearted. although, i think his character can be that way because he doesn't have as much stake in the game comparatively and it helps facilitate this facade he's putting on to take down ace.

in the beginning i'd be onboard with someone taking down ace, but im kind of sad. like, sure, ace isn't the most pleasant guy and a complete ass sometimes, but i feel like he's just going through some things.

i don't care for how they brought neon back. first off, it's just fodder for ace, but the more pressing thing for me is how girori can just add players as he pleases. this is probably how keiwa will be brought back, despite technically loosing his qualifications.

it's interesting they introduced her to michinaga's team, i feel like it'd have more impact/shock value if she was introduced to ace's team.

between all three episodes, i have to say what makes me dislike the series the most is how a lot of things that happen feel like they happen out of plot connivence. and in a way, i feel like that's just the nature of the game, but i don't find it fun to watch.

there are some characters i like, i am intrigued by the DGP, but i'll probably not be watching on a week to week basis

[mochikeiji]

Take a Hint.

↠ Pairing: Bokuto Koutarou x Akaashi Keiji

↠ Warning: College AU! Fukurodani Volleybal Team!(with managers) Shy Akaashi! Popular Bokuto! Slight NSFW, Fluffy

↬ Word Count: 3,912

Summary: First year college student, Akaashi Keiji begins his new life away from the comfort of his home solitude. Growing up to be an introvert, Akaashi had a hard time gaining friends and fitting in. But what happens to someone when they've met a rowdy senior who somehow slithers their way into their lives and becomes their only friend? Or maybe more.

⇢ Day 2: Obliviousness/Pinning, Roomates, College AU @bokuakaweek2020

✎﹏

It really is terrifying for some to move out of the comfort of their house and their personal room to move into a dorm for their first year in college. For some it seemed fun and adventurous, only because they were an extrovert.

Unlike Akaashi, a man with few words, was an introvert. Sure he used to play volleyball back in his highschool days— even got himself the spotlight as their schools top tier setter, but he believes he could never match the other monsters such as Atsumu Miya, Kageyama Tobio and former captain of an opposing school, Oikawa Tooru. To him, he was nothing but an average person trying to get a good grade and a college degree and good job and die just like that.

His mother did try to tell him to atleast make some friends during his days in highschool so he wouldn't be so lonely. He couldn't say he can't do it due to his facial expression and blunt words. He couldn't help it, it was already part of his charisma. Now, he wished he wasn't so alone as he carries a box of his belongings in a crowded hallway to the dorms. Seeing other freshmen and seniors helping out each other was one thing he secretly envied. He wanted a friend too, but he was just clueless on how to even make one.

Keeping his head lowered and muttering small, soft excuses on his way to his dorm, he manages to make his way smoothly away from the crowd, thinking they might've been whispering stuff about him being odd when clearly no one even saw him pass through.

Rummaging in his pocket for the key, he pulls out the small metallic object. But before he could thrust the key up into the doorknob, it flung open.

"Oh? Are you my roommate!?"

The chattering hallway was immediately silenced as the mega phone like tone of voice dominated the entire atmosphere. He was a loud person, Akaashi thought.

"Y-yes, but you may want to keep it do—"

"Ah? What are you nervous about! These guys," he points behind Akaashi with a grin, "They're all my buds! Right? Hey!" he starts as the students behind Akaashi laughed and followed his lead, "Hey, hey, hey!!"

It surprised the black haired male to see them, even the mean looking ones just go along with this mans quirks. He must be popular then.

"Anyways, come in! I'll show ya around." Bringing his hand on Akaashi's smaller frame from behind, he flinches from the contact and squeaks silently with the door clicking behind him closed. Sighing, he takes a long look at each corner of the dorm. It only held two beds from each side and two study tables. Typical.

He then reviews over his roommate's side of the dorm, it wasn't as neat as he expected from him. His bag was wode open with papers bulging out, his sheets were torn off the mattress, and what caught his eye was a volleyball jersey displayed on his pillow.

So that's why he was so popular, he thought.

"Sorry about the mess there, didn't expect my roommate to come until tomorrow." Bokuto follows Akaashi's eyes, giving him a sheepishly smile while scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. "But enough about that, I forgot to introduce myself." he swung his right arm toward Akaashi, "My name's Bokuto, Bokuto Koutarou, second year college student."

Fumbling with the box, Akaashi quickly places it down on his side and bows in respect, "Sorry, I didn't know you were a senior....Senpai." he can feel his skin crawl with goosebumps from the honorific rolling out of his tongue like a female character in a shonen manga, "I'm Akaashi Keiji, first year college student. Thank you for having me here."

After that small introduction Akaasgi managed to pull off, he was giving himself a pat on the back for actually interacting with someone normally with out bluntly saying anything out of the blue.

Or so, he thought.

"A-ah, no, it's fine. You can just lay off the honorifics, Kaashi. Bokuto is fine."

He was caught off guard by the sudden nickname he was given. I guess they were in that bases now. Akaashi gets up from his position and gives him a small nod, "Very well, Bokuto."

The room fell into a deep silence, other than the sound of Akaashi's stuff being carefully put away properly. His other stuff were still downstairs in his mother's car, he'd have to hurry un packing. But his movements were not only slow, nor careful, it was as if he was trying not to mess up or do something embarrassing as he felt golden eyes just grazing at the back of his head.

"Say, Kaashi," flinching again from Bokuto's sudden call, "Do you play volleyball? You have pretty big hands for a small boy like you."

"Have you been watching me?" that's what he wanted to say, instead he was flustered and pushed up his glasses to hide his already sweaty self.

"I used to be a setter."

Putting his leg down, Bokuto's eyes lightens up with a sparkle, "Really!? Then join the volleyball club here!" jumping off of his bed while looking at Akaashi with hope glittering his golden eyes.

"There's a volleyball club here?" to Akaashi, all he thought of college was just study, libraries, and cafeteria. He didn't stop to think if there were clubs like the ones during his highschool days.

"Of course! It would've been boring to study if we didn't atleast have a sports club. So, will ya join?" egging him, Bokuto was on his feet awaiting for the males answer.

"No."

Ah, that was too blunt.

"EHH?! Why not? You must be a pretty good setter!" His eyes trail at the tips of his seniors hair. They were dropping down as if they too were also feeling his emotions. Afraid that he might've hurt the males feelings, he quickly apologized and explained.

"Sorry, it's just, I think there will be mroe better setters for your team, Bokuto."

"Hm? But we don't even have a setter."

Akaashi's mouth closes, not knowing how to tell Bokuto that he was just not the type to be outgoing and indulging himself into prying eyes. Sure, he was able to sought out his passion in volleyball back in middle school and highschool, but that was only because he was never noticed by some people. During official games, he'd only have his hair slightly grown a bit to hide his eyes whenever he plays to avoid feeling thw pressure by the crowd. Sometimes, he'd allow himself to be seated during an entire game and watch his other setter take his on his role.

Yet somehow on his third year, he manages to catch the title of being captain.

"I'm just not cut out for it, Bokuto." he twiddled with his fingers from both habit and to ease his sweaty palms, "I'm not a pretty good setter."

"Show me first, and I'll be the one to comment." Bokuto huffs and crosses his arms with a childlike pout forming on his mouth, "And for the record, I think you're pretty."

And that was the beginning of Akaashi's heart always beating harder whenever he was with Bokuto.

After four months of adjusting into the new world, Akaashi had gone through the months according to his neatly made schedule. But even so, the past four months was also filled with Bokuto's never ending pleads for him to join the volleyball club and be their setter.

Which leads to him now panting in his sweaty attire with Bokuto still high on stamina and determination.

"One more, Kaashi. Give me a good toss!" with that being said, the setter runs into his position after one of their teammate's had flung the ball up. With long fingers easily grazing the ball and fitting his hands perfectly, Akaashi delivers it to his right to where Bokuto had already sprung up with his feet.

Like a big bang, the ball sounded as it looked squished by the floor after having the ace smash it down. Pants were heard from all players, but Akaashi paid no attention to the sweat dripping on his forehead nor was feeling exhausted. His eyes were more focused on the way Bokuto had spike the ball and landed perfectly on his feet.

And it was oddly satisfying for Akaashi to keep seeing his only friend send him straight into an awe.

That being said, it wasn't the only thing that was seen by just him, but the fact that he has done it ever since he has gotten in the team, it was so obvious to everyone that he was staring at their ace.

No one bothered to say a word about it, but being with an airheaded captain, at some point without Akaashi by the distance, they would run forward to him and say, "Looks like you've caught a really rare attention there, Bokuto."

And it always ends with, "How do you catch someone's attention though?"

Blowing a whistle far from the team had broken his stare from the captain. Before any of them could gather up, there were cheering from both above and below the sidelines of the gym.

"Bokuto senpai! You did so good!"

"What an amazing spike!"

"You really are an unstoppable ace!"

Most of them were consist of females. From senior to freshmen, they seemed to be oogling more on his physical appearance more than his passion according to Akaashi. It had been like this ever since he joined, every end of their practice, his senior would always be crowded in a herd of praises and swooning ladies. It was said by his teammates that Bokuto was a sucker for praises, and since he was well known to this university everyone of his adoring fans knew that about him.

And it made his insides churn into an unpleasant twist to see him casually talking to them, more so letting them touch him so freely.

"Akaashi, you seem troubled." another one of his senior who was at the same class as Bokuto, Yukie had spoken as she passes him his water bottle. Looking at to where his eyes were seconds ago, she could see Bokuto and couple of males but more on females gather around him with another round of praising and some gifts given.

"Bokuto has always been gaining a lot of attention ever since he entered the campus," Yukie sighs, "It's getting really annoying, we can't even finish a simple meeting after games." looking back at Akaashi, she let's out a small flinch when she saw him looking almost depressed by staring at Bokuto.

"I wish they'd leave him for his peace." no, that wasn't what he meant. Feelings were not a stranger to Akaashi, he wasn't oblivious of his own emotions. He knows what he has between him and the ace, and knowing that and seeing something like this happen all the time crushed him. The only thing the setter didn't know was how obvious he was pinning after the ace to his teammates and managers.

"Hey, hey, Bokuto senpai," calls out by a random girl, "Who's that guy over there, the one wearing number 5." she points at Akaashi, who now averted his eyes immediately away from Bokuto and started talking to Yukie.

"Yeah, I don't think we've seen him before."

"Isn't he that nerd from Class 1?"

"I think sensei offered me a tutor from him."

"Wasn't he wearing glasses? He looks kinda hot without them."

Each comment passes to Bokuto's ears made him bite the insides of his cheeks. There was no way they were going after Akaashi.

"Ah, well, that over there ladies is our setter, Akaashi Keiji. He just joined in a month ago so he's still kinda shy." Konoha, another close friend of Bokuto and his teammate steps in the conversation, "He's single but I don't think it's easy to catch a fella like him." he jabs the ace's chest with his arm, hinting him about something with his eyebrows moving up and down.

Wincing at the slight pain, he glares at Konoha, "I don't think it's a good idea to pin for Kaashi, ladies." he finally spoke, this time his tone somehow getting lower only to be noticed by Konoha who was quietly snickering behind his fist, walking away to go talk to the red haired manager.

"Why not, Bokuto?"

"Does he already have his eye on someone?"

Contemplating whether or not he should admit it, Bokuto blurts out, "Yes! Well no! Soon, someone's already have their eye on him and well," glancing slightly at Akaashi with a hint of longing and impatience, he holds himself together and lets out a sigh, "That someone is trying really hard to get him to like them."

"So, did he got mad at you?" Yukie places her hands on his hips as Konoha approaches her with a sly grin on his face.

"No but he did somehow indirectly admit his love." winking at Yukie, who sighed at his little antics.

"You really are an idiot."

"So are those two."

An hour passes, Bokuto managed to get all of his fans out for them to resume packing up and cleaning the gym. Akaashi was silent after the entire fiasco and placed each ball on the basket carefully, still deep in thought about his friend.

Bokuto notices how quiet he has grown. It wasn't the normal kind of quiet he's known to Akaashi, but rather this one seemed to be sad, "Hey, Yukie. What's up with Kaashi? He hasn't spoken to anyone, let alone, me." finally done lowering the net, Yukie sighs once more and lightly smacks his head with her clipboard, earning a small whine from Bokuto.

"Honestly, can't you take a hint Bokuto?"

For the past four months, since Akaashi's first day in the University. When Bokuto had decided to introduce him to his group of friends, despite them being older than him, they could already see how fond the owl haired male was with the smaller male.

Even before Akaashi was introduced, he was all he talks about with them during dismissal or anytime they'd get together. Everytime they'd go ahead to the cafeteria, they can see his eyes caught in his direction all the time. The kind of eyes that showed so much emotion to volleyball.

And once they got to know Akaashi, they thiught to themselves they were going to be fine knowing Akaashi wasn't as dense as their baby like captain was.

Oh how wrong they were.

Akaashi had gotten close to Yukie for the oast two months since she was mostly on her own. Kaori was always with Konoha and Washio since she was in the same class they were, but different schedules. When Yukie found out that Akaashi did too, have emotions for Bokuto, she was giddy. But when she heard him utter out, "I don't think he likes me." that's when the frustration built up. Doesn't he notice the way he was being stared at or even the lingering hand on his shoulder whenever Bokuto pats him?

"What hint?" his tone was troubled, Bokuto was truly lost at this moment, not knowing what had caused his beloved friend to feel this way.

"Try talking to him later, Bokuto," patting his shoulder, "And please, tell him already." letting go of him, Yukie walks away with the rest of the team, leaving Bokuto behind to think.

"Tell him what though?"

Back to their dorms, Akaashi rubs his eyes using his fingers to ease the tension that had been laid upon his shoulders for the past few hours. Admittedly, he has this kind of bitterness flowing in his blood remembering the events earlier, but after a few seconds, those bitterness occurred to his insecurities. He was used to over thinking a lot when he was alone, but never about another person. It was always about him.

Groaning loudly he lands his face on the plush of his pillow, releasing a shaky breath as he looks at the bedside Bokuto owns, "Why did it had to be you?"

"Who are you talking about Kaashi?"

Jolting up at the sound of the door clicking behind him, Akaashi could only stare into his face with the orange light of their room illuminating his features in the dark night. Being roommates was harder when you were living with someone that literally shakes your entire world.

"Nothing." plopping back down on his pillow, Akaashi exhales deeply. To Bokuto, it seemed Akaashi was more frustrated to see him here, but to the timid male, he was just calming his heart from beating erratically inside of him. Hearing his footsteps closing in, he thoughts to himself he was finally going to sleep. What surprised him and made his face flush against the pillow was when he felt his bed dip down from his feet as Bokuto sat down.

"Are you mad at me Kaashi?" Bokuto looks at his back side in worry, "You haven't talked to me after practice. You even left without me today." There was a tinge of guilt inside Akaashi. He didn't realize he left Bokuto alone after he left since they always walk together back in the dorms.

When Bokuto heard no reply, he continues, "Yukie told me something about not taking a hint on something? I don't really get it," golden eyes averting up on their dim light of the room, "But the more I thought about it on the way back, all I could think of was you, Kaashi."

Holy shit, he wasn't going to do it now.

"I know it sounds lame, but I really did thought of what she said and all that pops out was you, you get where I'm getting at, right?" Bokuto had his arms on his legs by now from moving into motion as he spoke. Meanwhile if Akaashi were to sit up, his heartbeat might've been already heard.

Gulping quietly, feeling Bokuto's eyes watching him intently, all he could do was shake his head slowly. He wanted him to go on. He needed to hear where he was going with this. He can feel the vibrations of his light chuckling from his body as Bokuto sighs.

"Usually I'm not afraid of doing something out of the blue, y'know? You've seen me do some weird crap all the time." Akaashi's light laugh muffles against his pillow as he continues, "But when it comes to these, it really gets into me. Telling someone how you feel about them."

The last line made Akaashi almost ascend to heaven. Was he dreaming? Was he expecting too much to know what was going to happen next? The numerous scenarios running through his head all mixing up, causing his cheeks to flare up. They got worse when Bokuto landed a soft palm on the small of his back, jolting a bit from the sudden contact.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that," Bokuto pauses, shifting his position closer to Akaashi, leaning his head next to his ear, "I like you."

Shivering at his warm breath against his ear, Akaashi bit his lower lip at the small rush of arousal from his lower regions, clenching his thighs together to ease himself.

"I like you. I don't know why it connects to Yukie's words, but somehow telling you this at this moment felt kinda right." he gave his back a small stroke for comfort, noticing him tensing after uttering out his sudden confession, "You probably don't like me, Kaashi. It's not everyday you see someone the same gender as you say that nonchalantly." chuckling out sadly, he smiles, "Still, I'm still here for you. So please, whatever is bothering you, tell me. We can dismiss what just happened now."

Not liking the end of his sentence, Akaashi grabs his hand from behind and sits up quick, "No! That's not what I meant, Bokuto." both were in shock and daze. Their faces held a tinge of redness in them, for Bokuto, Akaashi looked way more tempting than he already was with his added messy appearance.

"I-I'm sorry I left you unintentionally." he glances down at his smaller hands being held by himself, fighting away the butterflies as his feet were getting colder, "I was just really troubled by those people," he explains, "It had been a bother to me that you were always crowded by so many people...That I began to look down at myself." he grips his hand as he thought about how painful it was to endure the same scene as earlier everyday.

"What's worse is that I have feelings for you.." Finally admitting with quivering lips, "I like you, but there were so many people better than a squanny nerd like me." sighing, he lowers his forehead on Bokuto's hand that he held, avoiding eye contact. Despite having to hear his confession first, he was in fear of the future he had no idea what held the possibilities that might hurt him.

"Kaashi, why do you think I came here, sitting down on your bed, and telling you that I like you," each line he said, his voice was going lower, huskier, followed by moving his hand away from his forehead and cupping his cheek, "And just you."

Akaashi was shaking on his spot. He didn't know what to do consisting this was his first time to be experiencing this. And his first instinct?

Was kissing him.

It caught Bokuto off guard and balance, luckily he stabilizes himself by carrying his weight with one hand leaned on the mattress, and the other pulling Akaashi closer in the kiss. Both males were stuck being oblivious to each other, now getting addicted into something that they've wanted for so long ever since they've encountered each other.

Akaashi whimpers a bit feeling Bokuto's tongue swipe his lower lips for entrance, in obligating, he allows himself to be dominated by the muscled male, letting himself gently fall back into bed with him hovering over him. Hands making their way on his sides to squeeze them, making him squeak and melt into the kiss.

Pulling away panting from the loss of oxygen, they both stared at each other in daze and with so much love.

"I guess you made your own point there, Kaashi." Bokuto teases, lacing his hands together from the side of Akaashi's head.

"Shut up, please." he scoffs, pushing his head to his side to feel less embarrassed of his vulnerable state. Bokuto chuckles, peppering the side of his cheek with kisses and affection.

"I'm kidding, Keiji. I've been wanting to kiss you too."

He sees the way Akaashi's cheeks reddened from calling him by his first name. It felt so right coming from his mouth. And he loved every second of it.

"So why don't you do it again..."

"Do what again?"

"Koutarou..."

"I'M KIDDING— KAASHI WAIT NO, DON'T GET UP."

He laughs, and it was music to Bokuto's ears. Making him flustered above him. Akaashi pulls him by the neck, an inch aay from his face, "Does this mean I'm your boyfriend now?" he asks, his voice lacing with worry.

"Well you are my boyfriend, but you can ve the girlfriend if you want." Bokuto teases once more, before giving his pouting lips a short kiss of confirmation,

"But yes, I'm all yours now, Keiji."

[cyberwavelit]

Gamer's Debt (Short Story)

"Crap, all I wanted was the gold chest so I can buy some extra lives. If I don't get any more extra lives, I'll lose all my gold when I die. How am I supposed to win if I have to pay for every damn thing?" Joden stepped down the ramp of his Blourgan cruiser and surveyed the alien landscape. It was barren except for the remains of a small village that he had just annihilated with a two-ton necro-missile.

"That's life. People are generally selfish, impatient, and insecure. Game companies use these weaknesses to motivate players. Maybe you shouldn't have blown up the village, is all I'm saying." The pilot of the cruiser, Jershamalama, spoke through his comm.

"But how does anyone get the hell out of this game if they can never win? I've been stuck in this hell hole for thirty days! My body’s back in the real world, rotting away.”

"Hey, you wanted to play, didn't you? Maybe if we travel to a non-npc sector we can trade off some of this junk we get every time we kill an enemy.” His pilot stared at him from the cockpit.

Joden looked back, “I feel like a slave. That garbage is only worth a pinto cent. It’ll take decades to get to the end game. And besides, that's if we can take off with all that junk. It'll take us a few hours to get back into the atmosphere. It's like a Fetch-22."

"You mean a fetch quest?"

"Yeah, something like that." said Joden taking out his cent-o-meter. It consumed his health bar as it scanned the surrounding sector. His eyes darted around his visor interface, looking at all the blips and bubbles that pinged. “I wish I could afford the Super Hyper Gold Jetpack that all the booster players use.”

“They only release that on the first Wednesday of every other month with a sign-on fee, an option to buy stocks in EternaEntertinament, a monthly fee, a mental evaluation, and maintenance fees when your able to grab it from one of the random places it spawns, like the Hell planet Infernum or the planet Madness Descent. Plus, I hear they only give you like a 3 second jump.”

“What?!” He nearly tripped over a crumpled alien body. “You can’t be serious. My mom’s going to kill me. I told her I was going to school. I figured I could just sign up for a few games, try my hand at Galactic Teamslayer, and be back at the rent-a-plex by nine. That was a month ago!”

“Relax. They won’t even notice you’re gone. Most parents have been sucked into this new thing called Binge Child Raising. EternaEntertinament created it too. It’s a simulation where adults can raise children and not have them become reclusive, angst-ridden failures. They’re really gouging everyone for money, real and fake, young and old.”

Joden was too focused on the horizon where a few blips were going off. They were purple, which meant that they were low-value targets. Everything seemed to be purple. “I never asked--how long you been here?”

“You shoulda seen it when it was it first came out. The servers would never load and you had to sit there, in the darkness, watching a timer run out as they patched their simulation. It was like holding your breath under water.” The pilot sucked his teeth. “Hang on a sec. Have to rate the game again—after this ad.”

“Yeah, I hate doing this every hour.” The astronaut picked up a child’s toy from the clutched hand of a sloblarian. “Wonder what this is worth. I heard that we used to play with things like this, not just video games where you pay to win. Up, hang on a sec, got an ad playing.”

Joden’s reality changed. He was sitting on a park bench. A duck came up to him, honking and pulling at his pants. The countdown to the end of the ad appeared in his peripheral. It quaked and quaked until Joden threw down a few coins to skip it.

Back in game world he was still holding the toy. He threw it down with distain and a lack of remembrance for such physical trifles.

He was then asked to rate the game. He voted as he always had, giving it a one-star out of three. There was a chime and a message: “We’re sorry you’re not enjoying your time in our game world. Perhaps if you were more openminded and understanding of the fact that you may not always get what you want, you might have a better experience with our merchandise. Please lower your expectations. Thank you.”

Joden coughed to drown out the message he had heard a hundred times. “I’m so tired of game companies stealing from us. Don’t they realize that it’ll only make the game suffer?”

“Yeah,” responded the pilot, “let’s go steal something.”

“I’m so tired, Jersh. I just want to go somewhere where we can kill an alien race and grind their bones into dust. What’s so wrong with that?”

“If you only knew, kid. On its launch the game world wasn’t even finished. Eterna used the gamers to construct most of the planets using the build-and-play incentive. Those gamers signed a contract that said that they had to make at least four hundred ‘products’ before they could actually the game. They called it the ‘fix-it-later’ release. The products they were referring to was one galaxy. Those designer gamers are probably still waiting…”

“Four hund--?” Joden held up his fist to the pilot, who had been watching from the ship’s windshield. “That’s extortion!”

“Welcome to the world. They get away with it because it’s a game world. You can do anything in the game world like gambling, murder, blackmail, forced labor, and forced sodomy. Nothing’s real so nothing matters.”

The astronaut had disembarked about five hundred meters from the ship. Steam bellowed from its worn exhaust. “Why did you call me kid? How old are you? I mean I know you have the same avatar as me…”

“Age doesn’t matter either. Yeah, I couldn’t afford the customizations either.” Jersh tapped his helmet. “So, I guess we both have the same face.”

“And same weapons, gear, armor, boots, ships, weapon skins, and abilities.” He noticed a large oval blob on his visor’s HUD. It was moving closer behind a small series of stone pillars.

“Oh no, I have the blue-skinned Rigormortis rifle. It’s got this badass blue stripe on the side. Cost me 20,000 gold, 200 platinum, and 4 of my lifesaving’s accounts. If I didn’t have this stripe, I’d probably go insane or worse, color blind.”

“Shut up, dude. Something’s coming. I think it’s a surviving sloblarian. I hear they get angro really quick. I don’t want to die here, man. I never bought a 600-gold resurrection pack. It’ll take sixty days to load back in…”

Jersh responded, sounding distracted, “You’re fine. Just cap it in the head or something.”

The purple blob was twenty meters away. If it wanted to attack it would have to come out into the open and charge him. He could tell there was movement but it was more restless than threatening. Joden took out his rifle and fired at the rock tower. The gun exploded in his hands, sending his obliterated fingers in multiple directions.

“Ah damnit! I forgot about the maintenance fee!”

The figure bounded from the pillar and slunk slowly towards the enemy astronaut. It skulked across the yellow, Phallusian sand with its omni-dexterous flippers. Arriving to the hunched-over human its tugged at his spacesuit and motioned for him to come closer.

“Gross dude, it wants to talk to me. What should I do?” The rounded head bobbed up and down like a rubbery ball. It seemed to be injured or at least miserable.

Joden heard distinct crunching noises emanating from the pilot’s mouth. “IDK. Step on it I guess.”

The polymorphous blob at his feet opened its crevice-like mouth and appeared to gasp for air. But it wasn’t gasping. It was whispering. He leaned down and listened.

“Dunk…prrray…Donk pppreeeey.” It was saying, and gargled as its lips flapped. “Doooonnk plllaaaaay. Chooose nut to pprraaaaay. Fyind sumting essl to do wilth yourg tyhme.”

“Oh, hell no!” shouted the man, as he squashed the creature’s face with his boot. It was like stepping on a water balloon filled with pebbles. He looked at where his hands used to be and screamed into the sky. “What does it all mean? Why do I always have to be punished! I’ve been in the same place for too long!”

"It's not good to live in a dream.” More crunching came from the ship. “You sometimes forget what life is like."

Virtual blood splashed onto the dry dirt from his nubs. A few splatters mixed with the alien’s internal fluids. The reflective pool at his feet showed his avatar’s face, the same face of his pilots. He searched rapidly for any signs of wealth or material possession. There was nothing but ooze and viscera. Tattered cloth around the dead alien’s head was smushed and torn.  

He turned toward the ship with a look of bewilderment. “How many gamers are trapped here? We can’t be the only ones. This game isn’t anything like what they advertised. They lied to us! Who would want to be stuck in this perpetual nightmare of pay-to-play, pay-to-build, pay-to-live, pay-to-pay mechanics?”

“I don’t think you get it.” The pilot was still eating. “Companies do this to consumers because consumers let them. The general belief is that consumers are very smart but when’s the last time you heard someone say: ‘I won’t buy that because it goes against my code of ethics?’ None, no one’s ever said that. People like spending money. It’s in our blood. Its our nature to trust rich people. They seem to have all the right answers even when they don’t. They make the truths that we all follow. Besides, how could they get all that money if they had bad intentions.”

Joden used his character’s remaining strength to rush back towards the Blourgan cruiser. He felt a draft of air coming in the direction of the ship, and heard the engine roaring to life. “What the hell are you doing?”

The mercenary vessel hovered three feet off the ground and its nose pointed at the runner. Its pilot could be seen through the windshield, “Sorry newb, you’re becoming to be a real downer.”

“I thought you were my friend!” he whimpered, his nubs heaving back and forth.

The ship elevated to ten feet. “None of us are really friends. We’re all just trying to make a living. And I need one more kill for the Slayer Award. We’re all just numbers.”

As he came to the plateau where he had disembarked, he held up his invisible hands to shield his face. “I just want to go home! I just want to go home.”

A cybersonic laser beam burst from the cruiser’s forward cannons. He felt the hot bathing light of the beam and then felt nothing at all.

“I can’t get out…I can’t…” He awoke in darkness. A screen appeared that read the same message he received hundreds of times, “You have died. Looks like you have low gear and feeble weapons. Would you like to buy a booster pack?”

“No.” he responded.

“A looter box?”

“No!”

He said the same words over and over before. The message continued, “You have elected to refuse game-provided assistance. This is a poor decision. In order to continue gameplay without using game-provided assistance please insert thirty-seven-point-one resurrection tokens.”

He wanted to cry but said, “I don’t have any.”

The automated voice paused and spoke again after popping up a sixty-page form. “Well that sucks. In order to continue please complete the loan agreement in front of you. The loan is for $6,000. Sign here, here, and here.”

Joden lowered his shoulders and looked at his current debt. It read: “-387,000.” He breathed out, collapsing his chest, and grew red-faced. “No!” he shouted.  

There was another pause and the form disappeared. For several moments there was darkness and silence. “Very well.” The automated voice returned. “You have chosen reincarnation. Goodbye.”

“No!” he screamed defiantly. “No!”

Then, all of a sudden, he felt strange. He looked out through oddly-colored eyes. His hands had returned but they had three fingers instead of five. When he tried to speak, he could only gasp through what felt like a straw. The sand that he walked on grew hardened in his webbed feet. An alien girl danced toward him, carrying a toy. She hugged him with pencil-thin arms and turned towards the sky. Tattered robes fell along his arm and he patted the girl’s head. He looked up, to where the girl was gazing and saw a massive fireball break through the atmosphere. A necro-missile came out of the fiery plume, heading straight for their small, stony village. 

[thefarrons]

Everything right with XIII

With opinions so mixed on XIII either going from one extreme to the other, those being either "XIII was the best game ever and has no issues" or "It was the worst game ever and a disgrace to the franchise!" I thought it would be interesting if I (someone who legitimately enjoyed the game and noticed dozens of problems in my over 100hrs of playtime) did a (almost) unbiased look at the game and go over everything wrong and right with XIII as well as give opinions on what could be improved or changed in a future port.

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for the sake of time and page space im going to be breaking this up into two separate posts. this first one is going to be on everything right with the game.

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\*EVERYTHING GOOD WITH XIII\*

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\*STORY AND FLUIDITY\*

with XV coming and showing us just how much we take game narratives for granted XIII presents it's on-screen narrative particularly well. the games narrative flows pretty well as relevant and exciting cutscenes happen every half and hour or so always giving the player something to look forward to while playing. You never go for long stretches of playtime without something happening in the story unlike XV (don't worry im not going to just bash XV) and most chapters end in a cliffhanger like fashion giving incentive to players to keep playing to see what happens next.

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The datalog is another debatable feature of the game but one that ultimately does more good then bad. say you missed a term, character's name or location in a cutscene? no problem cause the game essentially gives you an in game glossary to scroll through giving you all the data you need to keep up with or lean about the games plot or world. Now this does come with a downside "yes" but that'll be explained later.

​"no need for a wiki search now"

the game also has brief chapter summaries that can be read every time you load up the game. Say you last played a week ago and are a bit rusty on what happened last. No problem as you can now just read a quick paragraph and get all caught up.

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the ending to the game is also pretty sound as conflicts brought up earlier are resolved and although there are two sequels afterwards you don't feel obligated to play them as the ending here is ultimately satisfying.

​"no need for a sequel here"

\*PLOT AND CHARACTERS\*

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Im not going to delve super deep into either of the two as both topics could easily take up an essay each individually.

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The plot of XIII is overall messy. While you certainly don't get the "obviously unfinished" vibe like you do with XV you also can't help but feel there was a lot left on the cutting room floor for XIII. The standard plot of XIII is alright more or less. the main conflict of XIII is fairly explained well. a group of (mostly) strangers are branded enemies of their home and have to find a way to complete their "focus" or suffer either eternal sleep or a zombified existence. The main plot of the game is explained as the characters do take the time to explain specific concepts and terms so the player just watching the cutscenes and not reading the datalog can stay up to speed with the story. XIII however looses it's players with it's finer details or abstract details never being explained well or never explained at all but more on this later.

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tldr: the OVERALL plot of the story isn't too hard to follow but the finer details of the story are muddled and incoherent

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The cast of XIII however is easily one of the two best reasons to play the game. The main party of XIII is a bunch of mostly strangers who have been thrown together and have to cooperate with one another or die. while the main story of the game can be a bit of a head scratch it's characters make up for it with their interactions with one another. The main party has a lot of problems with each other but also problems with themselves and the fun of being with this party is seeing when one confronts another, how they react and what change this causes. it's satisfying when they finally accept one another as they've actually grown with one another so when they finally start throwing some banter in the second half it feels earned as you the player knows first hand knows what these characters have been through together.

​"the game has great character arc's"

\*ART DESIGN & MUSIC\*

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XIII is a linear game and by this time you and your grandmother knows about it however just because the lvl design itself sucks doesn't automatically equate to "boring". Although linear XIII easily boasts some of the most impressive areas in backdrops in the series in terms of visually alone. every "hallway" you travel is visually polished to the T and always relevant to the main story at hand. aside from two particular areas most usually aren't very long and before you know it your on to the next location. While it's unfortunate you can't "explore" much you can totally get a sense for what type of world the game is trying to convey to you. From the SI-FI bridges and highways on cocoon to the wilderness of pulse below you feel like your in another world especially with the fantastic ost from Masashi Hamauzu.

"I'll take this any day over an empty open world"

all and all while I definitely understand why XIII's linearity can be disappointing especially with what I just wrote above I still don't see why it's art design and music can't make up for that and still take you to another world.

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\*THE BATTLE SYSTEM\*

​"this is how a paradigm deck should look"

arguably the best the best thing to come out of XIII and the franchise in general. The paradigm system is a great combination of gambits from XII and standard ATB. XII while deep got a lot of flack for its lean towards set ups rather than active play. XIII takes from the system it built while overall streamlining it and merged it with standard turn based combat. XIII requires players to prepare for battle by setting up strategies (paradigms) outside combat and then executing them during. It's a system easily rewards your ability to plan beforehand and your speed and timing once in battle. players are *incentivized* to play ASAP for a star rating. the quicker you are the more stars you get which gets you better loot for upgrading or selling.

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"press x to win huh?

one of the more controversial topics with XIII are it's level caps and while they certainly are a detriment in the long run they actually serve a good purpose during a first time playthrough. In a lot of rpg's in general when a player is faced with a boss or enemy they can't beat they simply grind to overpower the enemy through sheer stats and numbers rather than actually beating them with skills or techniques. XIII mitigates this issue by limiting how much grinding the player can do in one given chapter. This in turn forces the player to lean the battle system and use the tools at their disposal to overcome whatever challenge the player faces.

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"It's so pretty tho..."

\*POST GAME CONTENT\*

​"The place where I spent 100hrs"

XIII's post game content is a hard thing to sell overall. It's a post game that definitely requires how much the player enjoys the battle system or the characters. XIII has 64 overall missions to complete and each one of them is an interesting battle to overcome. doing these missions eventually unlock you Chocoboes to ride across the map and discover other areas of grand pulse. there's a survival like mode called "titans trials" in which players can compete in multiple lvls of pre set battles in which the player can net goods and rewards. there's also a couple hidden bosses hidden in a few select locations. The biggest downside to all this is that it's all one type of side content so the game is really banking hard that you fully know and love combat at that point and if you do then you easily have an extra 60 or so hrs added to your playtime.

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do you agree with what i wrote? please sound off below.

but yeah this is everything I think XIII does right. Thanks for reading all the way and I plan to also make a twin post about everything WRONG with the game. I actually really like this game but it has a lot of problems and I intend to break down all of them.