#i imagine thats the MMO they play lol

[oct2pus]

Assorted commissions I've sent to ZerosPanda. NSFW LINK Marina in an outfit design wingit, Icetal in a fancytier outfit and my two furries as a white mage and a black knight respectively.

[spikeinthepunch]

oh man RDR2 is on my play list too for that reason lol!!

its really a shame. i played SSO for a few years and the horse models are lovely but aside its just a fetch quest mmo with a bland story (and yeah its for young girls but could we at least have better quests?). and the only real thing to do there are the fetch quests or timed races lol. and really i would say i think SSO has some of the best horse models out there, with a huge selection!! (my god i just checked and they have updated a LOT of them now... @ SSO when are you gonna update the player models...) but the gameplay is just boring.

most other horse games have also like, no real control on the horse either-- ones that just have you clicking around to breed them and send them off to a race. and like? thats boring as hell. i want to ride them through a normal open world with a nice focus on breeds, customization, and realistic relationship building. i want a lively world of animals and nature. ideally i always just wanted to play a game As the wild horses but thats just me and my love for imagining myself as animals so <3

@abrica-bang

[bmpmp3]

ikemen sengoku might be an isekai. it might not be by modern definitions, but it could be if you go by 80s and 90s historical shoujo manga tropes being grandfathered into the genre. it could be an isekai.

princess debut is absolutely an isekai.

[transmandrake]

This is a wierd one and I'm only typing it cuz I feel like complaining and rambling today (see username) but

(Big ramble about pokemon games and other similar games)

Man, Pokemon being kinda not good wouldn't hurt so much if not for the fact that like... there's hardly anything else that matches it. And if it does, it hasn't gotten an installment in decades.

The only things that come even slightly close are digimon (which has a completely different tone, style, and, is only a mon game like 25% of the time) and Yokai Watch (which imo is like. Not really the same kind of game. I also hate its designs but thats neither here nor there) and even then those two kind of fizzle out and in and out. Yokai Watch hasn't even been localised for a good while I'm pretty sure.

Now I know, I know, imaginary straw man I'm directing my words towards, there are some great indie mon games I should try and-

I've played them. All of them.

Every last one. If I haven't I either haven't heard of it (extremely rare) don't have the money (Nexomon, Monster Crown) or access, or it hasn't come out yet (Coromon, That one open access one that is real time Or I guess I just know it's not good I mean most mobile ones are just poke clones but with worse designs and microtransactions.

Terra monsters. SMT. Dragon Quest Monsters. Temtem. Spectrobes. Fossil Fighters. Monster Sanctuary. Minimon. Mystic Guardians. MH Stories. Too many mobile ones that are usually just poke clones or scummy money suckers.

And like... 75% of them are dead and not coming back. It is a goddamn drought out there I tell you.

The thing that really gets me about mon games is that it's so small, it doesn't even really have a genre. Steam calls 'em 'creature collectors' and has stuff like my singing monsters and rune factory, which, yeah you collect monsters and they might be part of your team, but its not monster-to-monster combat. I'm not limiting stuff even by being turn based. I call em 'monster catching games' or jus. Mon games. And sure you can find lists of similar games but like, its so small!!! Imagine if you could name every single rpg within a twitter post or two!

And why??? I just don't understand, THERE ARE MORE POKEMON FAN GAMES THAN THERE ARE MONSTER CATCHING GAMES!!! (And YES, I've already played a ton of them. I am a slut for mon games, please, give them to meeeeee)

And even then of the games that do something different significantly? Even sparser. God if you haven't played Fossil Fighters GO PLAY FOSSIL FIGHTERS IT IS SO ORIGINAL AND IT HAS DINOSAURS

Like what is the deal??? Its not like theyre mmos or open world games that would take entire teams to make, minimon was made by one dude. Does just no one want to? Why? Pokemon has one of the most passionate fanbases around, in many ways, are people really that dedicated that they dont play anything else or want to make their own thing? Even when they do its still jus fan games! I don't get it. But I dont really understand fan stuff in the first place, its jus not my thing, even if i love peoples incredible passion, I also secretly and probably rudely weep at what people could accomplish if they just did something original and not doomed to be C&D'd if its too good.

Basically I'm learning to code out of spite because my god if no ones gonna do it I will. But in like a decade I have too many projects to do lol.

I'm not really all that loyal to pokemon but it really hurts when it goofs up because thats like, 90% of the genre. Its so large it swallows everything else and dooms it to obscurity. It feels like its the only option. I can only replay everything else so many times :(

[barbariccia]

throwing my final thoughts under the cut for posterity’s sake.

i stayed up til 3 fucking a m only for my thoughts to sum up as

maybe because i was tired and zoning out, but the engame was incredible short imo. i get that the additional post-patch padding was just that, padding, but the approach to insomnia was all kinds of stupid short. i'm thinking of other final dungeons and the trek to getting to the final boss - sure, you can slack off and go finish up sidequests or dick around in the gold saucer, but there's usually some time needed to get through them. northern crater's kinda long! ulty's castle's definitely long! lunar subterrane can kiss my ass! kefka's tower, anyone? vs.... hey this is a tiny rest stop that's... why is it here? why? and then walk in a straight line lol. ????? 

-again, haven't really been paying 100% attention to all the lore ("all" lol) and stuff, and that's on me - and that's ultimately why i want to actually play it for myself and give it that modicum of an extra shot- but uhhhh ifrit out of. nowhere? i'm still a little bewildered by that, even if episode ardyn does clear that up a bit (i'm hoping i remembered that right, anyway). -hey sidenote ffxv shouldn't have been a FUCKING LIVE SERVICE GAME WITH DLC ADDONS FUCK YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU it ruined the story. okay ruined is a stretch but cutting chunks out only to add them back in later is SUCH a stupid design holy shit. not even fucking 13 did that (mm... exception 13-2's dlcs, maybe? but even they were, uh, well, colisseum fights, a gambling room, and i never did touch lightning's dlc lol) and they absolutely could've tried it then. ff is not a live fucking service unless it's an mmo. -how comrades is still going considering xv is now fucking abandonware is beyond me -who ever heard of a mainline ff title being abandoned -shidding farding crying throwing up etc

-that last battle was absolute trash holy shit. scenery? fuck you. what feels like good, fulfilling combat based on everything you've picked up so far? literally go fuck yourself. -he do be straddling the king of kings to noncon him doe -forgettable music, too. also, if i never hear somnus again it'll be too soon . did you know that track came out at least 13 years before the game itself did? :^) -let me sum the final battle up for you as: i have never heard anyone talk about it or screenshot it or video it. until last night i genuinely thought that ifrit was the final battle, because that was ALL I'VE EVER FUCKING SEEN OF IT. and i didn't see a huge amount of xv back in the day, even, but i absolutely saw bits and pieces! ardyn fucking who? i remember being kinda  at bahamut when he appeared because that felt like it was kind of a huge deal (followed up by some sick flips lol)? but, uh, no, i'll just go fuck myself -i also thought up until last night that ardyn was ifrit the same way gentiana was shiva, tbh. because i KNEW THAT ARDYN WAS THE BIG BAD AND I THOUGHT IFRIT WAS THE BIG FINAL FIGHT. YA FUCKIN KNOW?

-uhhhhh i am still very tired -back to the live service thing, honestly. like, i cannot imagine having played this on release and then having to fucking wait to see what happened to other characters in the game. you know, people i'm meant to have formed an emotional connection to. iris? demon slayer, okay, that's kinda sick honestly, but could we not have seen that? did the budget not allow for another female model? aranea? no word about her? gentiana? oh i guess not but -i realise now that's the end of the list since luna and ravus are dead (hey how come like zero people ever fucking commented on the oracle's bloodline being totally gone) (thats a rhetorical question.) uhhhhhh lol nvm -which leads into: holy SHIT the cast was tiny. and you know what, some games actually pull it off really well. v and xiii both had super small casts! but both of them made an impact! xv made itself somehow feel isolated even from its own main cast, somehow?

-the characters lol. -i am suffering a little from "neeb and i have talked about them and i am attributing more to them than the game has and i have to try and remember that's seperate from the game" -we have sasuke but boring, ignis is okay i guess, i don't actually mind prompto but i can 1000% see how he would get on people's tits, and toxic masculinity -with a side of how dare you want a woman, the bad guy who should've had more to him if he was showing up from the beginning of the game but eh whatever, mr in 50 places at once, why wasn't the marshal with the guys, and ANOTHER female? greedy [smacks your wrist] -they sure exist and they sure interact with each other but uh i can only see those deep bonds of friendship if i squint and approach it from an angle -i would be lying if i didn't want to write smut tho so like, joke's on me

in conclusion: -lol -lmao -they really thought this was their magnum opus of magnum opuses (opusii? opusopodes?) huh? what’s really sad is lif is right, the potential’s there. knowing development was The Way It Was is a shame. and as an ff liker, i’m genuinely a little ashamed at this blemish on the franchise. -a b a n d o n w a r e -thank you yoshi-p for my life

spent my XIV pre-patch maint finishing off the main story of an objectively worse FF. God I hate this game. Wish I wasn’t fucking obsessed with it.

And I’m not even done I still have to do post game dungeons, Ep Ignis verse 2, Ep Ardyn, and then I threatened to read the Dawn of the Future novel aloud to @barbariccia and @lifygreens. WITH the voices.

The Windows/royal edition added a lot to the Insomnia area and story, but at the cost of basically ruining the pacing/emotive impact of the original sequence. Granted, the attempt to make you care about Insomnia was … well there was an attempt? I appreciate that they added more to do, considering how bare it was before, and I also appreciate the boss gauntlet with the corrupted Lucii statues that mirrors off each boy (though I feel like Ignis should’ve squared off against the Rogue). I need to go back and explore the city now that I’m not just making a beeline for the msq since it was like, 3am where Mol was. The addition of the Kingsglaive was nice, and I’m curious to see what kind of quests they have to offer.

I’m still despairing over the fact that we were never given a reason to care about Insomnia, but the additions and set dressing were An Attempt. It utterly wrecked the pacing and made a lot of it feel weird, but hey at least it was there? We got to see Noctis being an actual king to his people instead of just kinda … figureheady. It was needed, and given how the game was already shipped out, I’m not sure how else they could’ve added it in than the way they did.

Whelp. Time to reward myself with some sleep and getting to play XIV 6.1 tomorrow, content in the knowledge that it’ll be Actually Good. I’ll probably start my NG+ of XV later this week, go through just the MSQ to see how the story feels without doing dozens of hours of sidequesting. Probably just as bad as before, but I also need to take notes for the fic I’m writing. I’m also still thoroughly enjoying the Comrades DLC, so I’ll be chipping away at that periodically as well.

[tumblunni]

OKAY WHOA

I just started playing ‘Orion: A sci Fi Visual Novel’, a thing I got in last year’s steam sale and took this long to play cos it looked like a naff cliche fest. BUt like... its starting out really strong???

Protagonist is a really relateable lil kid who suffers from like.. psychic future powers or something that’re being used as a relateable mental illness metaphor. And its also implied that he has problems with anorexia. And we’re introduced to his really goddamn nice brother figure who’s trying to figure out what’s causing the poor kid’s nightmares and AAA he raised him alone cos their parents are dead and AAA we get lots of internal monologue from the protagonist that even tho he is a grumpy gus he really does love his brother!!! AAAA HE WAS TOO SHY TO SAY ‘I LOVE YOU’ BUT HIS BROTHER KNEW WHAT HE WANTED TO SAY!!! And he says he appreciates his bro trying to help him with his disordered eating problems, and he thinks of himself as a burden to be taken care of, and aaaaa NOOOOO The game’s description said it was gonna be a dating sim I think, tho? So is this a flashback prologue? I BET THE NICE BROTHER IS GONNA DIE, DAMMIT PLEASE SAY I’M WRONG like, maybe the art style just makes this character look younger than he’s supposed to be, and he’s actually a teenager, i dunno. we only see small clips of him from the head up cos its from his perspective, so i could totally be getting it wrong. PLEASE LIVE FOREVER KIND BRO BRO

okay, apparantly protag is 16! I would have guessed the brother was that old, lol! I like the unique art style but it does still kinda suffer from anime age syndrome XD

also seriously LOOK AT THE HIGH PRODUCTION VALUES!! and there’s voiceacting and like.. i wouldnt say it was professional quality or anything, there’s some mixing issues with different characters sounding more faded out than others. But its just very GENUINE! Its not bored people reading out lines off a piece of paper, it sounds like people who were passionate to play these characters! Also the music is REAL GOOD, I feel like I’ve already got attatched to these two cos of the really well placed calming music through their whole big ol heartwarming intro. Also, i like that the clche of ‘dreaming an omen of the future bad guys, then waking up’ as an opening is like.. actually being explored. Its not just NEVER EXPLAINED or anything! We get to see the protagonist being emotionally affected by it, and its a chance to have him be introduced in a vunerable and honest state, hugging his big brother. And it’s something thats implied to have greatly shaped his past and personality, if he’s been suffering weird omen dreams for YEARS! And is getting actual real psychological councelling for it! And being very relateable!!! I know barely ANYTHING about this guy yet and I’m already emotional about him!!!

Anyway, back to the game I go! oh, one random extra thing in like.. the next line I just clicked MORE COOL CHARACTER ESTABLISHING Establishing that big bro is a good big bro again, cos he chucks protagonist his holo-pad to answer, without snooping on his calls or anything. We are now informed that even though he’s an overprotective parent figure, he’s not an abusive sort! And its also casually established that protagonist might be a bit of a socially awkward loner, and some sort of child prodigy? Cos he’s wondering who on earth is actually calling him, since he usually only gets school emails and adverts for MMOs. Also apparantly his lockscreen password is a super long string of numbers or something. Oh, and apparantly the setting is ‘utopia’. That’s all we know about it so far, it’s supposed to be a perfect living environment but protagonist finds it boring. I’m already caught up wondering if maybe nobody can leave, and whether this utopia is really what it claims to be, or I dunno maybe its just a more down to earth story and the kid is just bored cos there arent many other people his age. Which makes me wonder how it would be handled on self-contained space colonies, actually! What do you even DO if one of the crewmembers has a baby? I’m imagining it’d be a very strange environment to grow up in, if he’s been the only non-adult on the space station and he’s never even seen earth before. BUT WHATEVER I NEED TO GO PLAY SOME MORE But I’m already going wild theorizing just from this intro!! That’s a good sign o quality!!!