#i just need an Actual trailer that can hype me so i can replay all DA games again

[the-blue-wraith]

I hope Bioware could release an Actual DA: Dreadwolf trailer soon. A trailer that shows the glimpse of the plot, new and returning characters, new explorable places etc. that can hype all fans.

[glowstickspinalfluid]

i guess i should've expected getting into a decades-old series like the legend of zelda would've left me lost in the lore and different eras of game development philosophies, but also i got into it when i was like 10 at the time so this isn't my fault.

a little before the switch/botw came out, i got a fun little zelda-like 3ds game (ever oasis) i absolutely loved to death and replayed constantly. my brother around the same time got oot for his 3ds, and absolutely loved and replayed that. he tried to get me to play it, they were so similar and he thought i would like it, but i Did Not Like the graphics or controls and never got further than the great deku tree and wasn't interested in playing the game any further.

then the switch and botw came out, and my brother got those and would make me come watch him play. this was supremely cool for both of us, but i never really played botw myself.

a few years later, i heard ever oasis actually referred to as a zelda-like for the first time and was like ? yeah sure i can try zelda games again now that i have more eye-hand coordination. so i tried botw again and it. sure was an experience.

i still haven't beaten botw. i loved having an open world to explore and the fun little side quests and shrines, but the main plot? i didn't learn how to target enemies until a few months ago from typing this. i got sidetracked, i could never tell if i was prepared enough to progress further because i was cheesing, running away from, and heal stalling everything, and knew if anything required any actual skill i was cooked. it just was sort of exhausting to play, and i had seen most of it through my brother's playthrough. not as much fun as i expected, but still cool.

then totk came out, and i got caught in the hype. i had a few games i could trade out for a discount on it at gamestop, and my brother just got his first job and was super exited to get it. i wouldn't have played if my brother hadn't gotten it and let me play. but totk truly was an experience.

the music and the exploration and the lead up to the dungeons, the layers to explore, the geoglyphs, it was all very cool. but it did wear on me. the world was so big, nothing i did felt very much like progression and i got lost and felt like i was losing important beats because i kept doing things out of order, the fuse system, everything that required building things but i couldn't tell what i was supposed to build or if i was supposed to build anything at all, just so many open ends everywhere, so many things to do all at once, "oh my god why would zelda do that" "demon king? secret stone?" well i would LOVE to tell you why but everything has to be able to be done in any order except for the way i do it, apparently??

and i haven't beat totk either. just keep spelunking. the caves and wells in here are just delightful, especially with ascend. the lore is immaculate, i just wish it was delivered a little differently. maybe totk could've been the zelda movie? idk, it's not worth dwelling on. go watch the skitty video on totk

and then i saw the eow trailer. i'm not exactly the toy art style's biggest fan, but playable zelda? a focus on using wisdom as your main tool instead of the courage to go running into a monster camp with a bunch of weapons that can break on you at any moment? it's being developed by grezzo, the same guys that made my beloved ever oasis, my first zelda-like and one of my favorite games ever? 👀 maybe i will check it out?

(i was planning on getting on release day but then there was an entire cat 5 hurricane decimating towns half an hour away from me. and then i was busy. and then it was time to try and think of stuff my family could get me for christmas. so it took a bit to get it, but i can avoid spoilers easy-peasy.)

so i check it out. it's fun and cute and silly, each of the stories in the regions are fun and resonate, the smaller world helps me keep track of where i am and why, who's who and what i need to help them with and why, but it still feels like exploring the entire time. and it is exactly what i wanted this whole time. it's been like 7 years and i finally got more of exactly what i wanted when i placed my faith in my brothers taste in games forever ago and was burned by getting the shit scared out of me by the gohma boss fight in oot.

and then i go to look at what other people have been saying about eow, because i've had to avoid doing that, and people are like "omg!!! what an amazing return to formula!!!" or "i love a return to the old formula, but i think this game sucks for other reasons!!!" and "why is eow so small and short? i want my sweeping landscapes alongside the traditional dungeons :/"

and. grips your shoulders. this is what the ENTIRE series is like? the entire loz series is all i want in a game. the dungeons, the fun item collecting, the neatly tied stories are what the ENTIRE SERIES IS LIKE. EXEPT THE TWO IVE ACTUALLY PLAYED. IVE BEEN LIED TO FOR SO LONG. maybe eow and ever oasis are just good because grezzo can cook. BUT THAT STILL MEANS THERES A WHOLE SERIES OF GAMES OF DUNGEONS AND MUSIC AND STORY THAT IVE IGNORED UNDER FALSE PRETENSES

i'm devastated. i have to mod my 3ds i have to go to the vault. i have to steal my brother's copy of oot 3ds to try again. how much have i missed out on because all i know is a rebellion against a time i wasn't alive to see. this is what people mean when time is a flat circle. this is why history repeats itself. no shit i didn't like botw/totk that much, it's building off of the backs of games that i mostly can't even play without dropping a few thousand bucks or pirating them. its meant to appeal to new players, sure, but it's also meant to give fresh new stuff to people who have played EVERY OTHER ZELDA GAME. it's probably building off the backs of earlier games with similar open world concepts that i also wouldn't have had the chance the play!!!!! because botw was one of my first video games that wasn't just a collection of mini games!!!!! what the fuck

i need an appropriate reaction image give me a minute

[i-write-boop-spoops]

what pokemon games have you played? (Emerald and Platinum are best imo.)

Yall better buckle up, this is basically the history of me and Pokemon istg

In order, here are the games I’ve played: Platinum, X, Alpha Sapphire, Sun, Let’s Go Eevee, Shield and Brilliant Diamond.

As you can see, I totally skipped the GB/GBA generation, even if we did have an advance spinning about at home. I was probably a bit too young then for Pokemon anyways, so the DS was my first proper taste of Pokemon. I spent a lot of time in Platinum, even if my brother completed the story for me. Much nostalgia.

Noticeably, I haven’t played any Gen 2 (original or remakes) or Gen 5, because I was a dumb kid and never got them/borrowed my brother’s copies of them. I am highkey considering playing them someday though, since they’re both highly regarded.

How do I write for Silver or N since I haven’t played their games? I’ve absorbed a lot of N through other people, breakdowns, and his anime appearances, and for Silver, I basically write him as Felix from fire emblem because they are THE SAME GUY basically and his generations episode is so good.

Why do I write for them? 12 y/o me stumbled on fanart and fanfic of them on Deviantart and I’ve never been the same.

X was what really got me into Pokemon. I remember giving money to my older cousin to buy me a 2DS and X with an employee discount at the shop he worked at. I loved it so much! Even if my team was shit, I had such a good time. I had such a huge crush on Calem, but obviously my tastes have matured and I’m a full on Sycamore stan now.

I wanna say I got Alpha Sapphire in 2015, and then I think I got stuck in Meteor Falls looking for the Dreamboat during the delta episode, and I didn’t finish it until either 2018/2019, and it was so good that I immediately replayed it. Steven might be my favourite Pokemon character, I swear it was love at first sight. Ugh, I wanna play it again, and I wanna give Steven a kiss.

SU/MO were the first Pokemon games I was actively hyped for. I watched every trailer, and I was big into a lot of Poketubers at the time (specifically Birdkeeper Toby). I got Sun for Christmas 2016, and played it for an hour and didn’t pick it up until 2019.

Some context is, my eyesight is extremely bad, reading small font is super hard for me and doing it for a long time really hurts. It’s a progressive condition, so I was able to fairly easily play Pokemon on the DS/3DS when I was a kid, but by that time, my sight could not handle Sun’s tiny text.

When I got my switch I got it with Let’s go Eeevee, and it was just wholesome and fun. I did not like the Go-style catching mechanic BUT my Eeevee was a dote and it was nice to see where it all started. Also I could play it on the TV, with the switch’s zoom if I needed, so it was much nicer on my peepers

Luckily, in 2019, I got my hands on a 3DS XL and with a 4x magnifying glass, I finally was able to play Sun and I loved it. First off, it has Togedemaru, the best Pokémon, and secondly the region is so FUCKING GORGEOUS! And I’m a 2015 tumblr bitch, I love galaxy/space shit (another reason why I love ORAS actually). And the characters were just great (stan Lillie for clear skin) and obviously we got big bug daddy Guzma who I owe most of my notes too lol

So yeah I got Shield at the end of that year, loved it (specifically Leon, I am so horny for that man oml). I didn’t care about the national dex really, but yeah that game has some story problems, and the areas aren’t super flushed out. I love the Isle of Armour and the Crown tundra though. I will also protect all the chatacters with my life.

Most recently I played Brilliant Diamond, and by most recently I mean literally today. I love revisiting Sinnoh but this game… is a choice…

Anyways anon, thank you for this question, sorry for all this info lol.

[amisbro]

My UtaPri Concert Report

So today I saw the UtaPri Concert “Maji Love Live Kingdom” today and it was an interesting experience.  It was interesting in that it shows me sometimes why I need to NOT let people hype up something to me before I see it/play it (if we are talking about a game) because sometimes people overhype something to a point where there is NO WAY it can live up to the expectations that were put forth by a fandom. So let me get into this First off the fact that I am actually UP is a testament to the fact that I drank a lot of caffeine...and its event day in EnStars so I got that to look forward to at 2 AM! I left for the theater at about...8:40 (in the Morning) and got there at about 10:30 ,got my ticket and then went and got some popcorn and a drink to get ready to settle in...that took me a minute though because the Auditorium it was being shown in DIDN’T have a sign but to be fair they are also showing “Tokyo Ghoul S” this week so I can give that a pass...still confusing but I figured it out on my own after about 10 minutes! The next part I need to explain the seat configuration So in the theater there are like rows of seats and then space so people can walk.  I was in the first section where I came into the theater (Section D I think) and took my seat which was right near the stairs so I could walk out when I needed to.  For anyone that has anyone that is handicapped you will be happy to know that they have seats that are clearly marked for Handicapped patrons in each row...this doesn’t come into a factor with me but I thought I would point this out. The actual show started at about 11:02-05 and it went through some of the usual credits but when it actually started it was...”interesting” So the thing opens up and when it does they decide they are going to shoot it so that you can’t see the bottom half of the characters but you COULD see the footwear.  This is borderline dumb since we have seen the trailers by now so trying to conceal the identity of the characters (considering we already know the cast) is kind of “Eh” but we roll with it because when they do the actual “Roll Call” for the characters its at least clever enough that you go “Oh well that’s cool” and it can still get you kind of amped for it After the character intros this way (and it wouldn’t be the last) we see the train really head off to the Tokyo Dome for the big concert NOW...we are going to talk about the actual setlist but before that a little detour Do y’all remember the ‘”Feather in the Hand” and “Egoistic” events in Shining Live?  Yeah turns out that the events with Masa/Camus and Ran/Natsuki were pseudo spoilers for the movie...sigh! Now to talk about the actual show but really...there isn’t a lot to talk about and by that I mean this! For some reason ,when they did the set list, they made a conscious decision to NOT have the songs be played in full unless it was all the group songs which I found curious.  We already bought the shuffles so WHY would you have them do the “Abbreviated” versions?  It makes legitimately no sense because...I can play all the songs from the movie IN FULL and wasting $15 to hear a “Medley” of the shuffles is kind of dumb.  I think people need to really think about that and make a bit more of a stink about it because doing that makes it feel like its a rush job and the irony of that is that I don’t think we had any stages that were under 2 hours except MAYBE the first one ever.  The fact that they would make an Animated one shorter than a real one and at a real one they have an EVEN LONGER set list is kind of stupid in my opinion.  I came to see a concert and not people speedrunning songs You know what they took their time with though? THE MCs! Okay so to put this in perspective there was the MC that we have just about all seen the trailer for ,a series of MCs that dealt with each song (and I will tell you now:  When “Feather in the Hand” came up I legit checked out mentally) and then they did one after they did another medley of group songs Okay so I won’t gloss over this:  Here was the order that they did the two group medleys in (and I will tell you also the ones I liked the most in them) 1st Medley STARISH - Fantastic Prelude (I think that was the name of it right?  I played it in SL once) QUARTET NIGHT - World is Mine HEAVENS - GIRA SEVEN (This was legit my favorite of them all for this one) 2nd Medley HEAVENS - Secret Shangri-La QUARTET NIGHT - FLY TO THE FUTURE (This was my personal favorite of the three) STARISH - Ultra Blast Legitimately speaking:  These two medleys and the MCs were what took up the majority of the concert time.  I think I legit said this out loud in the theater “You know...if you didn’t have these long ass MCs you MIGHT be able to get more songs in...I hear HEAVENS had some singles not used” For almost all of the actual shuffle performances I audibly said “I don’t understand the concept they are going for here” I REALLY said this when Kira and Reiji did the motion where they were clawing at their arms...I had NO IDEA what the f**k that was all about Oh and I also said this during the MC for “Feather in the Hand” “F**k you Maeno” (Really I should have said “Camus” and not “Maeno” but I was still legit pissed at that trio) For reasons that still are lost on me they decided to replay things from Season 4 and especially one of HEAVENS’ lowest moments...not that any STARISH fan that was in that theater would have given a crystal s**t but they did and I was cluess as to why but then again I was still clueless why we had a long ass MC before the final song which was “Maji Love Kingdom”. I went in wanting to like this concert so much and I think if I get to see it again without trying to review it MAYBE I will like it more...still won’t be happy about the whole thing with the Eiji/Camus/Masa shuffle and between “Egoistic” and the one from Reiji/Ren/Kira those songs confused me greatly in concept and that is something I look for greatly when I have to watch a performance.  I can watch the Joker Trap one and get a better idea of what they were doing than damn near any of the MLKingdom ones Alright I have to give this highlight The first MC right:  We don’t get Camus calling us “Fools” BUT we do get something ELSE! When Reiji addressed the audience at one point he said “My Girls” AND “My Guys”!  The best part about that was Reiji made male members cheer louder when he said “My Guys” and it was awesome! Now...was this a “bad” experience for me?  No not really...just wasn’t what I was hoping for when you get a “concert” and instead of getting an experience where they are playing “full songs” it felt like a “Lighting Round” which made me wonder really “What did you do for 3 years?” I also have this issue with any of the groups calling the others rivals...STARISH and QN?  Okay that works but HEAVENS saying it is like SANADA in New Japan saying Okada was his...the difference there was in real life SANADA actually got a win and HEAVENS can’t buy one and have to lick STARISH’s boots from now to eternity...yeah that pisses me off! ANYWHO Go see this if you are dying to see a UtaPri concert Animated and if you are a STARISH or QN fan (and I am a definite QN fan) then you are in HEAVEN (Pardon the pun) If you are a HEAVENS fan...it almost felt like STARISH wants to have the door close on us so they don’t have to take the L on the way out...despite the fact that they DID lose in real life to HEAVENS in the Oricon but why sweat the details right?! Anywho you take care and I shall talk to you later

[applegelstore]

My sis and I are through with the actual main plot of KH3, so I can officially go back to scheduled ToZ fangirling now. …Well, I promised Cray a bit of fix-it-fanart, so after that, I guess.

Hit the cut for a resume. It got super long and has endgame story spoilers, so you might not want to stumble upon it by accident.

Another extra big shoutout (again!) to @crazayrock for bearing my liveblogging on Discord, screaming without context and occasional spoilers. And linking me fluffy Soriku doujinshi. Here, have my favourite, spoiler-heavy excerpt of our conversation:

Okay anyway, let’s get started: GAMEPLAY

Kingdom Hearts 3 is BEAUTIFUL. The gameplay is so smooth and intuitive that you can immediately get to playing like you’d never done anything else; in fact so smooth that I doubt I will ever be able to pick up the first game ever again. It’s always been fun, but the looooooong years’ gap actually did wonders to the gameplay.

The keyblade form changes are fun and keep things fresh, you can do flashy triangle button shit every other minute, and shotlock is still insanely useful without being a game-breaker.

It seems easier than the first two main games, though?

The gummi ship is still a pain in the ass to steer, but I do enjoy the open world-like travel options (even if there’s not… much to discover except heartless lasering the shit out of you). I’m also eternally grateful that they kept the gummi ship thing from KH2 where you can just use a new gummi ship once you got the blueprint and don’t buy actual fucking legos as in the first game.

Thank you, Square. Not thanking you for the dumb cherry flan game, though.

The Caribbean being basically an open world stage was delightful! Apparently what our resident island kid needs is a big ship and tropical islands to plunder.

VISUALS AND STUFF

PRETTY LIGHTS EVERYWHERE

The long gap between the games also did wonders to the visuals.

There’s finally, FINALLY a few towns with actual NPCs you can talk to. Why it took the team so many years and the Gods know how many games is beyond me. The magic effects are beautiful, the animations smooth (honestly you can hardly tell apart cutscenes and fully rendered CGI scenes in this day and age of the PS4. I’m probably the only person still amazed by this because the only games I played on PS4 before were a few hours of Child of Light and of course Tales of Zestiria and Berseria. No, I still haven’t played FFXV but that’s a topic for another day). How far videogames have come.Even space finally looks like space, lol. Not really high-end what the PS4 can do I assume but god, it’s such an amazing and much needed upgrade from the terrible textureless colourful tubes you flew through before.

No excuse for the terrible battleship thingy before the Keyblade Graveyard, though. I got lost and beaten up so many times and crashed against more walls than I can count.

Nothing beats the World that Never Was, but the Keyblade Graveyard also has creepy cool potential, as does the beautiful but ghosted City in the Sky.

Still not getting what’s with JRPGs and very Definitely Final Dungeons (TM) that are basically space. …………or heaven. Or nothing. I’m getting the bad kind of original NGE TV series ending vibes. But. Okay.

The soundtrack is splendid

.……I miss Traverse Town and Radiant Garden, however.

Which brings us to:

THE WORLDS

I guess I can live with no more Final Fantasy characters being there (although I always loved that), and the meta jokes in Toy Story world really got me. Seeing Disney characters calling the KH villains call out on their shit was delightful. …the KH characters lampshading their own games’ sloppy dialogue writing was delightful.Still, those Disney worlds are always so much more in my head than what I actually get to play. This has been bugging me ever since the first game and it still does. I do not expect or want to replay the entire movies, but would it hurt to give the cutscenes some goddamn background music? Whenever there’s cutscenes, either the world’s usual BGM keeps playing or the music stops altogether. Together with the shortened dialogues and generally drastically shortened plots with odd cuts, that leads to scenes that are awkward at best. They never even remotely have the impact the movies had. You just sit there and think “oh wow that is so silly and awkward”.

Dancing scene in Corona? My favorite scene in Tangled. Zero impact on me without the lovely BGM (at least they made it a minigame so the moment isn’t over after 3 secs). Just for example. You can ask me like, world by world, but I can think of only exception off the top of my head and it’s not helping:

Let it Go of course. Listen guys, I actually love the song. But it’s so overused (and Frozen is an overrated movie at best that doesn’t deserve its hype in the slightest) that I can’t even really enjoy it being there. Like.


IF THAT’S OKAY WITH YOU,WHY DIDN’T YOU INCLUDE LITERALLY ANY OTHER ORIGINAL SONG FROM THE ORIGINAL MOVIES. Instead of BGM just not being there entirely, or in odd, cringey re-renderings that nobody wants to listen to (*cough* Atlantica *cough*).

Why torture me and not give me the one good scene from At World’s End (the up is down scene) when you had the chance?Kingdom Hearts is also prone to super lazy level design and wasting chances at wonderful scenery for no apparent reason other than I suppose empty cliffsides are quick to render. All games before did that, and KH3 is, sadly, no exception. We get to see a bit of Corona and Athens and they finally have NPCs, too, but you cannot even get near Arendelle. You cannot enter Elsa’s palace. You spend the entire time there climbing around in the snowy mountains of Norway, and unfortunately it looks less interesting than one would expect from the lovely concept art that the film unfortunately never used.You cannot enter Rapunzel’s tower although Sora can apparently parkour his way up even without her help.

………In short, the places you can go are, again, very limited, and a lot of interesting places and scenes you never get to see.

And to follow the plot you still only need the stuff that does NOT happen in those Disney worlds because they’re all beach filler episodes. It’s always been like that, but I keep wondering whether I’m the only one bothered by that. I’m also still salty they didn’t introduce a single new world from a 2D animated movie.

Also, as I said, I miss Traverse Town, it felt so warm and welcoming and beautiful.

And I get behind The World that Never Was missing although I loved it there, but why not give us back Radiant Garden? Destiny Islands since they’ve been restored? Disney Castle?

As much as I love the series, it never fucking lives up to its own potential. Idk whether it’s made more difficult by copyright issues or whatever, I just know that it bugs me.The first two games also had like twice as many worlds.

PLOT

I mean it’s never been deep; however, it’s complicated. No analysis or whatever from me because plot analysis and meta writing bore me like seven hells, just my emotional reaction: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH 
Okay, bad news. I got into it expecting nothing, and still got disappointed. I don’t actually enjoy the prospect of writing essays about it, but here’s my tea with it; in not particular order:

1) the pacing is terrible. Nothing happens for like 30 hours and then suddenly like 20 characters’ arcs are (naturally poorly) resolved within the last few hours of cutscenes. Build up anyone? At least they actually did pick up Maleficent and the box thing again. …In the epilogue.

2) Speaking of build ups, Sora’s breakdown could have been developed nicely and steadily over the game to feel natural, and instead it’s hinted at in the beginning by everyone picking on him, but then it’s never further developed and comes out of fucking nowhere. Like. For real? It felt terribly OOC.

3) Why on earth have they shown 90% of the plot in the trailers already, and why are those scenes so massively disappointing in context

4) Kairi. Oh god, Kairi. What are we gonna do with you. I want to love her, I really do, but she’s a prime example of shittily written female leads. Mostly because she’s not leading. It’s not her fault. She’s just a fictional character. But honest to God, Nomura, why. Her screen time is almost nonexistent, and she’s entirely use- and helpless whenever she’s on screen (which isn’t often). Her ONLY point in the plot is being rescued because she is fucking useless. Why. Just why. Why waste her character like that. All we know is that she’s shoehorned into being the token love interest, but she has zero plot relevance and there is even less build up of her relationship with Sora. It’s all tell and NEVER show; and not even much telling, either. She has literally zero direct interaction with in the entire game before they share their paopu. The question remains: why are straights like this

5) On a related note: look, I don’t even ask for (or expect, or even hope) my ship to be canon. Squeenix doesn’t exactly have a rich history in queer representation. I’m totally fine with Sora and Riku being best friends. BUT. Building up Sora as the most important person in Riku’s life (and arguably, vice versa) over the course of several games, just to then hardly have them interact in the finale and then SUDDENLY bring back Kairi into the equation, who hasn’t interacted with him since the ending of KH2 (except for one unsent(?) letter) is just piss poor writing, period.I actually love Cray’s suggestion she gave me over Discord: let Sora, Kairi and Riku all share a paopu together (and let them group hug, too, you cowards). It would have been the perfect message to send (Sora as truly all-loving hero, and loving all your friends equally; romantic love isn’t more important than platonic love and doesn’t need to be singled out). Really sad that this isn’t what happens. Apparently that wouldn’t have been no homo enough.

LET THE DESTINY TRIO GROUP HUG YOU COWARDS


Do Riku and Kairi even interact once in the whole game?


HOW IS THIS A TRIO, IT’S JUST A SHITTILY WRITTEN LOVE TRIANGLE

6) Time travelling is a bitch, Christ. It doesn’t solve plotholes or can be played for drama, it just adds MORE plotholes. It just got WORSE. The cloning blues and people not aging doesn’t help, either.

7) Just so you know, I care absolutely zero for wild fan theories. You’re not Nomura. I want a statement from the man who wrote this shit himself why on bloody earth Sora dies when he apparently successfully found and brought back Kairi (and since nobody aged a day, apparently it didn’t even take that long lol). DUDES, THIS IS KINDA PART OF THE PLOT, AND YOU DON’T BOTHER TO EXPLAIN IT INGAME???? And how was Ienzo/Zexion able to revive Naminé while Kairi was still missing/dead/whatever…?

Okay so in short the writing is worse than ever and that’s saying something.

However, let’s try to find something good in this trainwreck; it wasn’t all bad. There’s some really nice scenes which sadly are better enjoyed without any context at all.

So, guess my favourite scenes.You had time enough, here’s the solution:

1) Purifying uhm er rescuing Aqua. Poor girl. She deserves the rest. Poor, poor Aqua. The only properly wirrten female in the whole damn franchise. Also the only person other than Riku who fucking gets shit done.

2) The Gayblade (TM)

3) Happy Axel in the reunion with his kids. Oh god, the poor chap deserves it so much. Thank you, Nomura. I don’t care that it makes pretty much no sense. Make him happy. Give him his friends back. Just give Axel all his friends and let him happily set things on fire. Hi I love Axel

4) The party at the beach cutscene before the credits roll. Axel and Xion get clothes. Half the organization is on our side now. I almost teared up at the Wayfinder trio saying goodbye to Eraqus’ forceghost. Hey come on he’s the voice of Luke Skywalker

5) Sully yeeting Vanitas

6) Woody calling out Xehanort that nobody loves him

7) Jack Sparrow bad breathing Luxord

I wish we had gotten:

1) justice for Kairi

2) a happy Zexion, the poor emo kid. Well maybe now he will be, with all the orga members who changed sides now, lol.

3) I will never trust mobile games ever again so I don’t want to play KHUX but I would have loved to learn about the Keyblade Wars :;))))


WHAT WAS THE KEYBLADE WAR ABOUT CAN WE SPEND MORE TIME IN THAT COOL CITY IN THE SKY WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH MIKLEO
I MEAN THAT EPHEMER KIDDO


WHAT’S WITH THE MASKED DUDES AND DUDETTES FROM THE MOVIE


WTF WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM AFTER THE MOVIE???? WHERE THOSE KEYBLADE USER NAMES ACTUAL MOBILE GAME PLAYER NAMES??? Next game? PLEASE?

I really, REALLY hope the epilogue means we will get Xiggy/Luxu as our new big bad and we learn more about the five dudes and dudettes from the movie. Please. PLEASE. I’m so up for it. Them finally pickung up the bit with Maleficent and the mysterious box again? Hell yeah.

The secret movie was really unexciting in comparison, although I laughed very hard at the “Verum Rex” scene in Toy Story world. Maybe that’s why it was much cheaper to unlock than in KH1 and KH2.

4) give Ven a drink

DLC ideas I would actually pay for because I’m a sad human being: 1) more Disney worlds 2) Japanese audio 3) at least one of the following as permanently playable characters: Riku, Kairi, Axel, Ven, Aqua. At least as a guest member as in KH2. THIS SUCH A BIG STEP BACKWARDS I’M FUMING

FINAL THOUGHTS

Kingdom Hearts 3 is a hella lot of fun, beautiful, and also moving when it sets its mind to it. Unfortunately it doesn’t always do so. I don’t feel like it wasn’t worth the wait; it was. However, I’m very salty how rotten the writing is. I do not mind logical fallacies, I do not mind the cheesiness and cringeyness; however, I do mind how so many interesting characters do not get the screentime they deserve, and Kairi is a very bad joke.

I’ll probably find more to nitpick about (Gods. Just. Don’t come up with dub excuses why Sora is lv 1 in each game. JUST LEAVE IT BE. You don’t explain why Donald and Goofy are lv 1 again, either. JUST. LEAVE. IT. BE. The sacrifice was dumb and not even moving, I’m just still furious that Kairi’s ONLY point in the plot is being so useless that it’s literally getting herself KILLED and she needs constant rescuing to the point that Sora has to sacrifice himself for her, effectively. Kairi deserves better, Sora deserves better, I deserve better than to think about this absurdity.…I’m just… gonna cherry-pick the good bits from the lore and try to pretend the finale didn’t exist, I guess. GODS.

[shadyb00ts]

Kingdom Hearts III Review

I never use this site but I needed some place to put all my thoughts down and this was the only place I could think of.

I’ve probably waited for this game for around 12 to 13 years. KH1 and 2 brought me so much joy as a kid, and it wasn’t until later that I played all the other spin-off games in the series. This game was the primary reason I got a PS4 in the first place and, as fucked up as it sounds, one of the things that kept me going in life. The impact of this series runs that deep for me.

Because we got inundated with a ton of gameplay footage last year, I knew I was going to enjoy this game. I had a few worries that the combat would feel clunky/floaty/stiff when seeing some of the earlier footage, but within the first hour or so of the game I couldn’t deny how good the combat feels. It’s satisfying, fluid, flashy and so much fun. I’d say the keyblade transformations offer much more variety than Drive forms ever did, cause you could use them a lot more frequently. There’s also other things like the shotlock, team attacks, link attacks, flowmotion attacks, so much stuff that you can utilize to really mix up battles every time. It’s probably the most addicting combat I’ve experienced in the entire KH series.

Another change I liked is the gummi system. I used to dread the gummi ship portions in KH2 because they were annoyingly difficult and they served as blockades to the worlds that are unavoidable. In this game, the gummi portion is instead a huge open area of space that you can explore and find treasures in. Battles can be avoided and the way to initiate them is to approach the enemies on the field, which was a huge sigh of relief for me. The actual gummi battles themselves work somewhat the same way as it did in KH2, but it’s not as busy or frenetic anymore so it eliminates the annoyance.

The Disney worlds were well done for the most part. They made the levels pretty big and explorable, and the story/time you spend within each world is elongated so there isn’t a return trip. I guess I understand why they did that but I really liked how in KH2 you could come back to the worlds in the second half of the game and experience a new story within it. In this one, once you’ve finished a world that’s pretty much it. One world would probably take around 2-3 hours to complete, depending on how much you explore. Unfortunately this game was a lot shorter than I was hoping it would be, but it’s still packed with a lot of content so it wasn’t that big of an issue. I was particularly impressed with the Pirates world; it suddenly turned into Assassin's Creed Black Flag. You get to control your own ship and explore different islands and have ship battles. I hated the Pirates world in KH2 but had loads of fun with the one in this game. I also enjoyed the Toy Story world very much, because it’s essentially a giant 3-story toy store and you can explore virtually every inch of it.

Something that disappointed me was the 100 Acre Wood. I actually loved what they did in KH2 because it spanned throughout the entire game, since you had to find the missing pages and gradually see the story unfold. However in this one, I’m pretty sure the 100 Acre Wood was just an afterthought. You go in there and it’s pretty much just 3 mini games that are practically slightly different variations of the same game, and that’s it. It was way too brief, and they definitely could have done something to make it more interesting. Sure, 100 Acre Wood was never my FAVORITE world in either KH1 or 2, but they were much more well done in those games than here because they actually had stories and a lot of creative mini games. It’s pretty clear they didn’t put much thought or effort into this world, and since it���s one of the minor worlds I guess it doesn’t matter that much, but it’s still disappointing nonetheless.

The final act of the game was a bit messy, to say the least. Light spoilers ahead.

I never really try to question or make sense of the convoluted mechanics and plot holes of the KH-verse so I just rolled with it and was along for the ride when it came to the story, but I think in this game nothing hugely significant really happens in the story until the final act. They just packed everything into that last part of the game, throwing boss after boss at you and solving plot line after plot line. It felt a lot like the recent season finale of Steven Universe; a lot of unnecessary buildup until you just throw everything but the kitchen sink in the end.

If you think about KH2′s story structure for example, it was a lot more eventful because between the Disney worlds you also visited certain worlds like Hollow Bastion and Twilight Town and whatnot to advance the main story and have things actually HAPPEN. In this game, the non-Disney worlds were basically given little to no effort. Twilight Town just becomes a little hub area that has the bistro for the cooking mini game; which you can go to via the world map or save points anyway, so essentially Twilight Town is useless cause you never need to visit it again for story purposes. The penultimate area of the game, the Keyblade Graveyard, is pretty much just a gauntlet of bosses. There’s nothing to explore, it’s just a linear path to every possible boss in the game. Fighting all of them in one place like that made it feel oddly anti-climactic. 

And then my biggest disappointment: Scala ad Caelum. This was the area that was hyped up in the trailers, huge and gorgeous with cables connecting everywhere. I thought it would be the final dungeon and you could explore every inch.

Nope. It’s literally just a fancy stage for the final boss. It just breaks my heart to think about all the wasted potential. Maybe they focused all their efforts on the Disney worlds (besides the Winnie the Pooh world), so the non-Disney ones were just afterthoughts? They could have done SO much more with the set pieces in this game, like I just think back to how incredibly well-done Hollow Bastion was in KH2 and how much of the story unfolded in that area. KH2 really made good use of all the worlds and tied everything together. With this game, each of the worlds kind of just play out their own story and it feels very disconnected to everything else that’s going on. 

The great thing about KH2 and the fact that you could go to each world twice is that, the first time you go it’s all about playing out the story of whatever movie it is they’re basing it on; and then the second time you come back, it’s about how that particular world fits into the bigger Kingdom Hearts story itself. It tied everything together and it made it feel like the worlds were actually connected. In this game there’s a big disconnect, and I’m very disappointed in that. Also, I don’t understand why they didn’t have any Final Fantasy characters in this game whatsoever, not even Sephiroth who I thought had become a staple. 

I know it seems like this game let me down, and in some cases it did because of all the things that they could have done that for some reason they chose not to do, even after this game being in development for so long. This game took me about 30 hours to complete but I wish it was 30 hours longer. They could have added at least one more Disney world, they could have done something to make the worlds feel more impactful or connected to the overall plot, there’s just so many things they could’ve done. But even with all that said, I still enjoyed myself a lot in this game because the gameplay was enough to keep me engaged and it felt so good to actually have the game in my hands. 

I’ll give the game a 8/10. I can’t believe I’m doing that because I thought I would have given it a 10, and I was hoping I’d be able to, but it just feels like there’s a big chunk of this game that’s missing and I wish they did more. Still, the things they got right they got right, and I can’t deny that I had so much fun playing it and still am with the post-game activities. I just got the Ultima keyblade recently and it’s a dream to use. I’m eager for them to add a New Game+ feature, because I want to replay it but I want to carry everything over; I’d rather not just start from scratch.

Also sidebar, if you’ve never played a Kingdom Hearts game before in your life, don’t even bother having this one be your first one, lmao. It’s a continuation and an ending to a huge story, so if this game is your first KH game you will not understand ANYTHING that’s going on or know who any of the original characters are. If you want to play it regardless, then just skip the cutscenes and tune out the story, cause from a gameplay perspective this game is a fucking blast.

[paraster]

NTWEWY Live Thoughts (Part 3 - Main Story Finale)

Huge spoilers, naturally.

FINAL PREDICTIONS: Joshua is now the Producer. Not-Joshua (from end of final trailer) is the new Composer. Either Not-Joshua or Rhyme is Swallow.

Can't decide whether all of this or the Red Skull epidemic is creepier.

I wish the Plague Noise required the use of the "run from battle" feature. I liked that moment in the original game.

That reflection thing's gonna be important, isn't it? Can't figure out how, though, but the Plague Noise ARE rather reflective...

A silent guy in shadows whose username is "DownWithTheSyndrome"? Worry.

The arrangement of portrait cut-ins during a Killer Remix just leaves a big open spot for a sixth party member. Not even trying to hide it.

The Plague Noise are being weird with my Groove meter...

Oh, hey, nice to FINALLY meet you, Hishima.

The Social Network calls Hishima a "So-called 'Shinjuku Reaper.'" What's his deal?

When I saw Kanon in the release date trailer for the first time, I didn't expect her character to play out like this.

"DIVIDE" is doing a really good job fitting the tone.

I'm not a fan of the Time Bomb pins when it comes to gameplay, but I like the bombs' design.

...so IS it Beat that Rhyme is talking to?

IT'S A TRAP, SHOKA

I really like Eiru.

Last-second pre-Ayano encounter prediction: the vision will come true, but the wounded person will NOT be Ayano. (HINDSIGHT: I was wrong.)

Seeing Shoka not in her Mr. Mew getup is just weird.

S**ttalking Kubo makes me happy.

How did it never occur to me that "FanGO" was an abbreviation?

Not a fan of this "chat with Shoka" segment. Interesting idea, but it leans too much into trial and error.

And of course Shoka ends up landing the final hit on Ayano.

The iguana's gone...was it evil the whole time?

SCREW. THE. REAPERS.

Could you please SHOW YOUR FACE and EXPLAIN things, Rhyme?

Now THIS is an interesting setup. (Though I can't help but realize the trailer misrepresented the "Rindo amnesia" thing a bit.)

"Strange Noise"? Calling it--it'll be either Taboo Noise or completely made up.

Ah, this is gonna be the finale of Fret's arc about being genuine.

Experiencing the day backwards is great.

Is this "new Noise" gonna be just the Plague Noise?

Kanon ended up being a way more enjoyable and interesting character than I expected.

The voice acting in this game is REALLY good.

Is Coco gonna show up next day?

Is Kaie talking to Rhyme???

...is Minamimoto coming back?

...is this talk about Fret's friend going where I think it's going?

Please tell me Kariya isn't gonna die...

So how long until the Reapers decide to exploit Rindo's "one-Replay-per-day" limit? Is that today?

Hishima is trapping us, isn't he?

Just noticed there's one last Social Network node connected directly to Rindo. Definitely Neku and/or Swallow.

I predict Hishima and Kaie will defect fully.

The Dive battle with that Wall Reaper was surprisingly difficult. The Plague Wolves' dash attack is bulls**t.

Twister's NEO mix hasn't appeared yet, so I'm thinking it'll be saved for Neku's introduction. And/or serve as the final boss theme.

I like how Cyco Records holds the NEO mixes, like it's a shop for classic hits.

We're at Udagawa...is THIS when Neku reappears?

YEAHHHHH UZUKI

The wolves' dash attacks are ABSOLUTE bulls**t.

MINAMIMOTO WHAT ARE YOU DOING

Aaaaahhhhh this makes sense for the birds

LEO CANTUS IS BACK

That fight was HELLISH, but also kinda fun.

BEAT NO

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

TWISTERRRRRRRRRRRR

HE'S SMILING

HE'S WEARING A GATTO NERO HOODIE

ALL RIGHT JUST WAITING ON RHYME, SHIKI, AND JOSHUA

FINALLY a bit of an explanation of post-A New Day

Is Coco the friend?! Was her being good ACTUALLY right?!

Oh God, is Shiba gunning for Neku's friends?

Neku's Social Network reward is a joke about him and Rindo being protagonists; that's SO cute.

I'm guessing there'll be a scene where Shiba says something Neku would have said in the first game and Neku criticizes him for it.

Oh, that's eerie. Good news is that Neku's friends are...PROBABLY safe.

OH I FEEL SO POWERFUL

Aww, that's sweet.

Cat Street...finally gonna explain where the cafe went?

I am SO happy to see Neku again.

I am getting Killer Remixes SO fast now!

The Tower Records clerk is so nervous; I feel bad for her.

That was such a sweet interaction between Fret and Nagi, and getting a pin called "Frosty Friendship" was the icing on the cake.

Hearing "Underground" is so nostalgic and calming.

Everything's coming together...

I doubt "Mr. Mew contains Hype-chan's soul" was ever a theory posited.

Why am I suddenly getting D's when even fights that went horribly would previously get C's?

DISSONANCE?

And finally we know the truth behind Hype-chan.

WOAH YOU GOT BACK EARLY

Please tell me I don't need to fight Susukichi's muscle form a THIRD time. Please let it be just a Cantus.

My biggest question at this point is WHY Shiba is doing this.

The River, of course.

WAIT NO IT'S TOO EARLY FOR THIS

Oh, good, it IS a Cantus.

Shiba's got no one else...except for Kubo. (Is HE the higher power?)

We already know it's Rhyme; can you just show her face already?!

And where's Joshua?!

TWISTER NEO MIXXXXXX

TALK TO HER, BEAT

I like this "meet all the supporting characters" segment.

This is managing a MUCH more intimidating atmosphere than the first game's final day...yet Twister's NEO Mix keeps a sense of determination/

Oh, this is TERRIFYING.

IT RESTARTS TO THE FIRST PHASE?!

Can't even skip the cutscenes...rrrgh...

Okay, Shiba's down...what's the twist?

YEAHHHHH TELL HIM, NEKU

EXECUTOR?! ANOTHER Reaper position?!

Driving home the "Four Is Death" symbolism a bit much, aren't we?

SCREW. THE. ANGELS.

Rindo was a proxy, too...

Hacker Rhyme is great.

Kubo's Cantus will be a raven, won't it?

Wasn't there a Kingdom Hearts boss like this?

SHOKA WAS SWALLOW??? WTF???

...Joshua???

...this finale keeps throwing me for loops.

For a second I genuinely thought Hazuki really WOULD turn out to be Joshua and I'd get to laugh at everyone who said I was wrong.

We're still gonna get an explanation for why Coco resurrected Minamimoto, right?

Meant to say this earlier, but forgot--while the minimap can be a bit disorienting sometimes, I feel like I've gotten a better sense of Shibuya's layout than in the first game.

Actually, Haz kinda feels like Joshua...is it possible it's him in disguise? ...but why would he be disguised?

I STILL think Haz sounds like Joshua.

Is anyone going to bring up that saving peoples' lives is more important than vague notions about what you like about Shibuya?

Ah, yes they will. Thank you.

Honestly feels a bit selfish for Rindo to risk everyone's lives to save a few people.

I feel like this would have worked better if Haz appeared in some form previously.

OHHHHHHHH HAZ YOU MISCHIEVOUS GENIUS ...how much does this actually help?

REUNION HOOOOOOOOOO

OH RHYME IT'S SO GOOD TO SEE YOU AGAIN

Awwwww, Reaper Creeper.

"And I hope your dream comes true." I'm gonna cry

Tsugumi? SHIKI!

Uzuki picking up Rhyme? I'd say that'd be VERY awkward, but I feel like Rhyme would just be "let bygones be bygones."

Shinjuku's gonna be restored somehow too, right?

C-cafe? On Cat Street?

Minamimoto's back! Didn't expect that, but I really should have.

Nice words, Neku.

It's weird hearing Kaie actually talk.

Rhyme is so adorable.

Here we are. Moment of truth. Level 39. Operation: Awakening all set.

SHIKIIIIII!!! EYESSSSSSSSSSSS!!!

I'm gonna cry again

"I CAN SEE YOU JUST FINE"

"I THINK IT'S TIME FOR ME TO GET TO WORK"

JOSHUA! WELCOME BACK YOU LITTLE JERK

This is basically just a really long cutscene, but I don't care; this is awesome.

...My...game...SOFTLOCKED! Didn't realize complimenting the cutscene would be tempting fate.

This is just...amazing. A finale 14 years in the making.

Is the final boss a PHOENIX? THAT'S AWESOME!

NOW A RAINBOW PHOENIX???

My one gripe is that the floor can be hard to make out, so it can be easy to accidentally run into the walls.

I haven't seen a finale that awesome since Octo Expansion. Just...INCREDIBLE.

So IS Shinjuku back?

IT'S SO FRIGGIN' WONDERFUL

Now THIS is the kind of deus ex machina I like

Never thought I'd say this, but GOOD ON YOU, SHIBA.

Tsugumi laughing...

I have no words for this reunion. Just...it's been so long...

AHHHH THE CALLBACK

Awwww...

Finally. A happy ending. Everyone deserves this.

Oh, of course. The world begins anew.

AWWWW the title screen updates!

Oh GOD a new Another Day. I don't have the time or emotional stamina for this right now.

Final thoughts: I don't know how NEO would rank among my favorite video games, but experiencing all of this mostly spoiler-free, seeing all the reveals and feelin all the emotions, just might mean this is my favorite gaming EXPERIENCE of all time. This game absolutely lived up to the hype and is the follow-up that TWEWY fans deserved while still being a fantastic standalone story with (usually) extremely fun gameplay.

[thesparkandtheking]

why stiles and derek are back as sterek

I said I wouldn’t get involved anymore and just enjoy the ride for what it is but alas I’m bored and sterek still haunts me at night 6 years later. 

I think most of us came back from our respective garbage cans when we saw Stiles and Derek grace our screens again and together nonetheless. We’re back at it again, but I know we’re also cautious and calling it for what it is. At the end of the day though, let’s agree that we’re all here because we love sterek, no strings attached to teen wolf. So let’s go from there. 

As the hype kinda died (until it airs that is), all that is left is to replay those 4 seconds of sterek until the skin of my forefinger is scraped away. And now, what I’m struggling with is quite simply sterek. 

It would be foolish to hope for endgame, I know, but at the same time, there are things that don’t make sense. Color me surprised, we’re dealing with teen wolf.

First thought is that it’s a big ass effort to bring back both Dylan and Hoechlin. It is. It’s not just a call all like “so how are you feeling about making an appearance on trash wolf”, “hell yeah sign me up”. No. It’s planning and contracts and like 6 people making a decision and Dylan and Hoechlin with their busy careers. It’s an effort okay. Big one. So why would they do it?

Level-headed objective answer is: Stiles and Derek are fan favorites. Nay, they’re the two most loved characters. Of course they would bring them back for the last season. It’s for the fans. Any show would do that for the fans.

But now satan intervenes and it’s like let’s be honest this is teen wolf and jeff davis. How much would they actually do for the fans? They never gave a shit, why would they now, at the very end? Even if it’s for profit. 

Which brings me to my second train of thought. Queerbaiting is basically profit. But are they really making profit from sterek? Not really. The season is already filmed, ratings don’t really count anymore, and hell, they have a reboot on the way. MTV doesn’t give a shit. Sterek/Stiles & Derek are not being brought back for profits. Period. It’s a fact. Accept it.

Now publicity and hype are another thing. Imagine, in an AU, sterek is canon.This show will be remembered as a representation pillar for the unforeseeable future. Jeff Davis would be finally remembered as something positive. Point here is that it’s a good thing and no one can deny it - no freaking media outlet, network, or producer. Not to mention that this is the last season. There would be no pressure of validating or continuing this godforbidden gay ship.  

So taking into consideration the effort of bringing hobrien back, along with this being the last season, and the positive promotion that stiles and derek would entitle, I do have a bit of a “hope” encouraged by the trailer. Hear me out. 

From that supposedly 2 year future flash we get that Stiles is in the FBI and he’s in the DC. But then we get Stiles carrying Derek in the same flash forward. More than, from the people in the background, we can gather that Stiles and his team are there as well so clearly some shit is going on. So if shit is still going on in the future I can draw two conclusions: 1. It’s not serious. Like who would kick start another plot during a series finale. So it must have a higher reason. 2. Derek is on Stiles’ end. Which also means that they kept in contact, which is not that groundbreaking, but showing that after two years and when Stiles is on duty should count for something. I’m not saying it should count for canon sterek, but still. 

Point here is that I want you to grasp the importance of showing Derek and Stiles together after a 2 year gap. Stiles is still the one supporting Derek. Like, how is that still a thing. It’s not about canon at this point. I don’t need an endgame. This is it. Stiles will always be there for Derek and that’s canon. Even after all this time. Thing about it is that it’s predictable and reasonable. Of course, them being friends/family entitles that they are there for each other.

But as in many cases before, showing it makes all the difference. 

It’s not Stiles supporting Scott, it’s not Stiles supporting Lydia, it’s not Stiles supporting his father. It’s Stiles supporting Derek.

Film choices.

And I’m sure there’s even more to it than we know right now. 

So this is what makes me be all torn up about it. I’m not looking into it as a big proof of anything and I should just enjoy sterek on my screen, but honestly? Even though it’s not suspicious that Stiles and Derek are brought back, it is curious how they’re brought back together.

Am I hoping for sterek endgame? No. But I am looking for some kind of closure. 

[freykugel]

Frey Replays FFVII for the 50th time

Oh boy here we go. With the new trailer for FFVII Remake I’m simultaneously hyped and disappointed. I love this game dearly to death and I’m so excited for new content and new fans. But at the same time I’m dreading the already deeply entrenched fanon characterizations becoming canon in the remake. For example Cloud losing his hilarious sense of humor and kindness to be SAD SAD SAD ANGST ANGST, Aerith no longer being sassy as hell to just being generic animu waifu, and Sephiroth just becoming Cloud’s new yandere boyfriend.

And while I admit to being frustrated about Remake personalities, I’m also your local Boo-boo the clown, putting my clown shoes, clown nose, and clown make-up. I’m a fool first and foremost.

So I bought FFVII again on the switch (good deal, I literally have NO space left on my tiny PSX memory card--1MB!!!!-- and I want 100 save files).

It’s been 22 years and Cloud, this asshole, STILL tells me to attack the robot scorpion when the tail is up. Y’all at Squeenix are lazy as fuck.

So Cloud is a canon certified Good Boye™. You cannot proceed without saving her. I mean, SURE you can say he ignored her and went back because she has 1 of the 2 passwords but in this household Cloud always saves her the first thing. He talks big, acts big, but he’s baby.

GOD you’re such a smug asshole, Cloud. Clarret is truly canon.

As a babb Cloud was a scrappy little punk. I mean, it could definitely go either way in that Tifa misunderstood his childhood. Being bullied and targeted by the townspeople meant getting provoked and Tifa was always in that bubble that told her he was starting them. But I can also definitely see him picking fights. Probably more in that Journey-Into-The-Center-Of-Cloud’s-Mind plot. Tifa is canonically not a good reliable narrator, haha. And I need a refresher.

Aw Wedge. You were gone too soon. Probably not canon because only I’m annoying enough to talk to everyone, but good to know people can see right through him. Cloud is definitely just putting on the cool and stoic persona to hide how lonely he is. And also how he perceives a SOLDIER should act like.

The famous promise scene. Missing are the bits where Cloud is like, “???????WHAT???????” Oh Tifa, you never needed a hero. But Cloud will always be there to help you out in a jam. Scene here to establish that WOWZERS they are childhood friends (honhonhonhon).

For the low, low price of 1500, you too can hire an ex-Shinra SOLDIER as a mercenary for hire. I get that it’s the slums and also the beginning of the game so you can’t expect millions but damn. Tifa’s also so desperate to keep Cloud here.

Y’all just leaving a little girl alone at a BAR, telling her to manage a BAR, while the adults go blow up a mako reactor. Great!

Cloud is so eager to show off what he knows. When you’re at the beginner hall all these people are asking Cloud to help them out and he just puffs out in pride like HELL YEAH I ALREADY KNOW THIS SHIT LET ME BESTOW THIS KNOWLEDGE UPON YOU. I’LL EVEN DO IT FOR FREE. He’s trying so hard to look cool.

Pretty damn early right off the bat we know something’s wrong. That part of Cloud who very much was at the Nibelheim reactor blaring sirens of deja vu. For a first playthrough everyone (including me) would have forgotten this by now. I’m just, //chef’s kiss// mwah. 

Also, by the way, just the fact that you have to jump across this gap onto a freaking pipe to get through the reactor... OSHA would like to have a word with you, Shinra.

So. Um. Any of y’all able to do this in one go?

I’m assuming that rumors of Cloud have spread fairly quickly. I guess it’s fanon that SOLDIERs aren’t allowed to quit and get put down by the Turks considering how nonchalant he is about it. But that’s still a lot of company secrets being let go so I dunno. A SOLDIER who is determined to quit and is good at their job might be able to get away. Who knows.

First-ish appearance of Inner!Cloud. Just looking in from the outside, giving Cloud a push. Also Cloud is a hardy boy holy shit. Surviving huge drops like nothing.SCRAPED KNEES? HELLO? Nothing too deep to say here other than establishing Inner!Cloud.

SQUEENIX. I BEG OF YOU. LET US HAVE DIALOGUE OPTIONS. LET CLOUD BE AN ASSHOLE.

Aerith is so bold. She’s such a flirty person and she’s so cute!

RIGHT OFF THE BAT. THIS LADY IS READY TO STRIKE DOWN THE MONSTERS IN THE CHURCH. SHE’S BEEN LIVING IN THE SLUMS ALL HER LIFE SHE CAN HANDLE THIS SHIT. I just realized I missed getting a screenshot of their first meeting because I told her to run. I didn’t even get a flower, oops. But she just skedaddles on her way.

GOD AERITH you’re so cute. Cloud just finished up explaining that the Turks did a lot of dirty underbelly work and you joke like this. SO CUTE!!

I’m actually quite heart broken?? They fixed this one.

More screenshots about my girl Aerith being all casual about danger. I guess to be fair she was mostly talking about the Turks and whatever the hell was happening in the Remake trailer were vague ghostly spirits, but psshaw. 

GOD the foreshadowing. This is good shit. This isn’t the conversation that someone who achieved his dream of becoming SOLDIER should be having with his mother. Even as a baby Shinra foot soldier he’s so reticent. In subsequent playthroughs these scenes are SO IMPORTANT but the first run it always flies over the head. 

Cloud trying to skip ahead without Aerith, trying to sneak but she ain’t taking shit. I LOVE HER SO MUCH YOU GUYS.

IT’S HERE. MY FAVORITE RANDOM ENCOUNTER. A FUCKING HOUSE.

Ahh, here we are. Establishing that Cloud has super fucked up memories. Missing is that white noise and flash right before saying he’s First Class. And Aerith also holding her cards close to her chest. Something’s not quite right~.

OH BOY HERE WE GO.

WALL MARKET.

But unfortunately I have to cut this short at the best part so stay tuned for the next episode of DRAGON BALL Z.

[ibangtanthings]

Sleep - pt 18

One thing you had come to fear less was the chance of getting caught. The cops never entered the tavern. Maggs knew how to handle customers that got too rowdy after a night of drinking.

The last time you saw a cop was in Sacramento as you guys were leaving and cars on the freeway were getting pulled over.

Jimin wanted to leave soon though. You’ve been on the run for two months now and everything was going better than planned. As much as you wanted to stay, he said it was too dangerous to stay in one place for too long.

“What’s wrong babe?” He walked through the trailer door and you flushed in embarrassment as he saw you sitting down on the floor crying.

As much as you wanted to hug him and feel his arms around you, you stayed on the floor and didn’t meet his gaze.

You shook your head and told him it’s nothing. “Just thinking about leaving. It makes me sad.” You lied.

It wasn’t right. The way you flushed underneath his gaze. Somehow you felt like he was testing you. He always seems to be hinting at more.

He held you longer. His eyes had something else in their gazes.

Now more than ever you thought about Hoseok.

“We can stay maybe another month. We’re not in a rush.” He said, much to your surprise.

You stared at your hands as he sat down next to you. He wiped away your tears and kissed your cheek. It burned with shame.

“Look at me.” He said.

As soon as you met his eyes, he knew.

“It’s him right? You’re thinking about him.” He said calmly.

You looked away and got up, making your way to the bed.

He followed you but he didn’t sit down.

“You know doing nothing isn’t going to help right?”

“I don’t know what to do.”

“About what?” He exclaimed.

You saw that he was getting annoyed.

“I’m just depressed today. Can’t I be depressed for one day?”

“No. I can’t stand seeing you like this Y/N. Come take your mind off it.”

You sighed. He didn’t know that you wanted to take your mind off him. He was the reason why you were so upset and yet he didn’t know. It wasn’t his fault either…or maybe it was.

“I just want to be alone.” You mumbled.

“Alone? Like away from me?” He asked.

“No. I just…I can’t stop thinking about you and Hoseok. I want to think about me. What I want.”

“What do you want? I know that I don’t want you to think about him anymore either. I thought we talked about this. We’re done with Hobi. Why can’t you just get over it already? I don’t even want to hear his name anymore. I’m tired of feeling guilty.” He said seriously.

“I’m tired too. But everyday that passes I just feel more guilty and not because I ran away.”

“Then why?”

You looked away from him again. Silence filled the stupid trailer.

“Is this what you did with him?” Jimin seemed hurt now. “Did you let his feelings for you hover for a while, knowing he wasn’t going anywhere?”

You closed your eyes and hid your face into the pillow.

“Tell me why you feel guilty Y/N.” he touched your shoulder and you leaned away from his touch, not taking your face out of the pillow to meet his eyes.

“You know what?…” He exhaled, remaining calm. “I’ll be back later.”

The door shut quickly after and you looked around at the empty trailer replaying his words over and over again.

He said you played with Hoseok’s feelings. How could he say that? That’s the whole reason why you felt horrible in the first place. Because Hoseok’s feeling for you made everything more complicated.

You missed Hoseok so much. The way he smiled and laughed, and the way his kisses seemed to make everything okay in an instant. And that warmth different from anything you have ever experienced.

That warmth his lips offered was better than any drug, any drink, any dream. Being with Hoseok was perfection. It was beyond anything physical. And you knew that before even kissing him but it was his kisses that confirmed your feelings for him.

Loving someone that much. It was unbelievable. And to think that he loved you that way, it was enough to make you want to spend the rest of your life with him.

But now all of that was compromised. You messed it up.

And yes. Sometimes you felt regret. But you owed it to Jimin not to feel regret. You knew that if you went back, Hoseok would still kiss you. But things weren’t so simple. You would be taken away from him.

It felt like Jimin was trying to push you over the edge. Every time you looked at that charming smile, it promised you the same thing Hoseok’s smile did. That everything was going to be okay, that everything was okay in that moment.

But it also felt like a time bomb was taking its sweet time.

_____

“Can you guys do something? Will this help?” He asked the detectives.

But he look they gave him made him feel like he was talking in some kind of alien language.

“Can’t you track where he last logged in?” Hoseok asked.

“We’ll look into it. Next time just call. You don’t have to come all the way here.” They told him.

“Hey Hobi! You need a ride?” Kris pulled up next to the bus stop.

Hoseok was already running late to work so he put on a fake smile and got in.

Kris’ car smelled like a bag of weed but that was normal.

“You want to come tonight? Kenny knows some guy who has a mansion uptown. He paid the guy a thousand to use it for the night. Can you believe that’s what he used his refund for? The rest of us have to pitch in for drinks and stuff but a mansion? This party’s going to be the best.”

“You always say that.” Hoseok smirked.

“You always gotta top the one before no?”

“I’m busy. Maybe some other time.”

“Busy? Yeah right. Stop being a bitch and come. It’s time to move on.” Hoseok rolled his eyes. Again with the talk from Kris.

“They left right?”

“Yes.” Hoseok exclaimed. “And I’m doing my best to try and find them.”

“They ain’t coming back Hobi. Did you ever think that maybe Y/N doesn’t want you to find her.”

“Did you ever think that maybe she does? Maybe she wants me to save her again?”

“If Jimin kidnapped her then yeah. But since you say he didn’t kidnap her, that they just ran away together then no. They fucked you over, and you’re beating yourself up for nothing. Forgive and forget. That’s all you can do now. And what do you mean again?”

“Nothing.” Hoseok sighed. “If I’m supposed to forget then let’s start with not talking about it anymore yeah?”

“To be honest I think Y/N was into me too.”

All Hoseok could do was laugh. “Shut the fuck up Kris. She’s mine no matter how far away she is.”

“If you come this one time, I swear I’ll stop bothering you. You’ll see, it’s going to be fun.”

“Okay but just tonight.”

Hoseok arrived early, immediately regretting it. Everyone was there. Everyone who knew Jimin and him, and the news of Jimin and you.

Conversations started out awkwardly, making him feel people were walking on eggshells around him. For once Kris was actually being helpful and getting everyone to loosen up.

When everyone was buzzed and having a good time, Hoseok was able to feel normal again. No one brought up your names, no one cared anymore. There were enough people to crowd the mansion and enough people that didn’t know who Hoseok was.

Everyone knew who Hoseok was but not here. The best thing was seeing strangers just bumping into each other, starting conversations and having fun together. Hoseok liked watching them.

Maybe different campuses were here but it didn’t feel like it. Hoseok was going around talking to people as if he never left the scene on the first place.

Sometimes Kris would introduce him as Jimin’s friend, obviously too high to care. Hoseok didn’t care either, he decided not to correct him. It was a party, and he wasn’t going to get mad.

Just for tonight he wanted to let go. Watching Kris and the other guys was too tempting. Hoseok decided he should be allowed to have fun. Just for a while at least. To forget about his pain.

It was a nice house. Huge and glamorous like you see in the magazines. Who wouldn’t want to party here anyways?

Like always the music called him. He felt the vibrations under his feet and he wanted to hear the music deafening his ears. As he made his way towards the crowd of people dancing he drank a couple more shots and spotted Kris between two girls.

Kris spotted him too and motioned for him to come over, Kenny was there too.

“Woah, wait! If anyone’s going to start a dance competition Hobi will judge! Get on the stand.”

“Yeah Hobi, DJ for a bit. These girls want to get down.” Kris yelled and pulled him to the center.

“If you want me to DJ then you better pay me.” Hoseok yelled into his ear.

“Then dance. Loosen up man. You know how many girls have been checking you out?” Kenny grabbed his hand and gave him a joint.

“Just one.” Kris said. “It’s nothing crazy man.”

“Just one.” Hoseok said, following them to a room.

Smoking and drinking didn’t really go hand in hand so he left it alone.

“Did you drink a lot?” Kenny asked.

“Just a few shots. But I feel fine.”

“Then take this instead.”

Hoseok looked at the small pill in his hand. It’s was molly.

“How strong is it?” He asked.

“It won’t kill you Hobi.”

“I hope it does.” Hoseok joked.

For a moment he scared himself. He would never joke like that. He was disgusted with himself. Now angry at himself, he took the pill and swallowed it. They hyped him up and pushed him out the room.

Soon, he didn’t care who was next to him, around him. He just started moving causally, some familiar faces greeted him. Strangers faces too. They seemed to be happy to see him as well.

The lights dimmed and the colorful spheres on the walls became brighter. A girl had her arms around his neck and he danced with her, with all the confidence in the world.

She was a pretty good dancer and she had a frame similar to yours.

It had been a while since Hoseok danced with anyone, especially like this. Teaching dance was one thing but this was different.

He watched as she turned around and began grinding on him. Without a second thought he grabbed her hips and held her close.

“Oh, Hobi!” The guys started yelling.

The girl lowered her hands to her knees and got low, the guy’s cheering and Hoseok laughing at the attention.

They got closer and more girls came to grind on them. As the music got more suggestive, and the movements became dirtier, Hoseok found it hard to concentrate on anything but her body on his.

Her attire didn’t help much either. The red skintight dress left little to the imagination and her hair fell down around her breasts almost perfectly.

She turned around and wrapped her arms around his neck again. He smelled the perfume on her skin, all too inviting.

He licked his lips and avoided her gaze, looking around for someone who was the opposite of you. Someone who didn’t have the same hair color at least.

Maybe she mistook his hesitation for shyness but she kissed him, letting her hands slide down his torso. The thoughts running through his mind let his hands fall from her waist to her ass.

His boner gave everything away.

She grabbed his hands away and smiled, leading him out of the crowd and towards one of the many empty rooms, Hoseok holding her close to hide his boner.

A voice told him no. To stop. But it wasn’t enough. Not when he was feeling like this. Like anything was possible.

If Jimin could do whatever he wanted, why couldn’t he too?

The dark room made his darkest dreams a reality. For when he looked at that girl again, he saw you. It was so easy to turn her into you.

As soon as he kissed her, she melted into his arms. You melted into his arms.

It was your body, the one he craved so much. He could already imagine your sweet moans, his name coming from your lips over and over again. How you would shudder underneath his body.

He couldn’t take it anymore. He was so horny and he needed his release already. He really didn’t care anymore, about anything.

As he pound into her body, he felt glad that he could do whatever he wanted. Because that’s all she was to him in that moment. A body.

Sweat poured down his face as he thrust into her mercilessly. He gasped at how hot she felt around his cock, giving him every sensation he needed.

It felt so fucking good and it was only a few minutes before he reached his high, climaxing hard and coming inside her.

He didn’t care if she didn’t come. He just wanted to hold her then, like he held you so many times in his arms. He missed it.

Instead she just mumbled something about him not lasting long enough and reached for his hand, bringing it down to her clit.

He didn’t move at all, still coming down from his high. Maybe it was the fact that he hadn’t had sex in a while, maybe he was just that horny, or maybe it was the drug, but it was one of the best orgasms he ever experienced.

She kissed his shoulder and talked to him but he didn’t hear it. Finally quitting, she got dressed and left the room.

Hoseok left the room about thirty minutes later. He went straight to the DJ and gave him a break, taking his spot and feeling like he had more than enough energy to play for the rest of the night.

________

You sat outside the trailer in a plastic chair, watching the clouds roll by as the sun set.

He walked out of the tavern and didn’t glance at you as he made his way into the trailer.

Only the rocks underneath his feet made sound as he stepped on them.

You wanted to apologize for making him upset. For pushing him away when all you had were each other. He just wanted to see you happy.

He was your best friend, your partner. Not talking to each other was the last thing you guys needed.

Finally mustering up the courage, you decided to talk to him.

He was in the shower when you entered the trailer again. It was almost dinner time so you started boiling some water and started thinking about what to say.

When he got out, he threw his clothes into the hamper and stood there facing away from you, gripping the hamper with one hand.

“Jimin…” you began nervously.

He lowered his head and then straightened up, turning around and making his way over to you.

Without warning he grabbed your face in his hands and kissed you. His thumbs gentle against your cheeks. You parted your lips in surprise. He kissed you again and again, moving his lips against yours. Your cheeks hot under his touch.

When he pulled away he held you close, allowing you to hide your face in his neck. Your heart raced against his chest.

You hugged him back, feeling like you just had your breath taken away.

“How do you feel Y/N?”

“Scared.” You breathed.

“Is it because of me? Do you feel something for me? Because I understand. I feel guilty too. I want to love you without feeling guilt, is that such a bad thing Y/N?”

“We can’t Jimin.” You whispered.

“Why not?” He tilted you head up.

His eyes stared down into yours with sadness.

“I can feel your heart beating Y/N.” He pressed his forehead against yours, staring at your lips. “Your lips respond to mine.” He kissed your cheeks, returning his forehead to yours. “And your cheeks blush every time.”

“The way you hold onto me. The way you say you need me, but I need you. I never felt anything like this Y/N. I love you. I’m not scared to love you.”

The words leaving his lips, so seriously. It was a confession from Park Jimin.

He knew how he could make you feel. He knew and he wanted it all. He wanted to cross that line and stab Hoseok in the back once again.

“Jimin.” You protested, tears falling down your cheeks and he wiped them away immediately.

He kissed your cheek again, wrapping his arms around your waist and pulling you against his body.

You fit perfectly into his arms. It felt right. There was denying it.

“I know you want me too. I can feel it. I know you. You said it before we’re the same. We’re perfect for each other. I can make you happy Y/N. You don’t have to be scared of loving me. We’re never going back, and they’ll never find us…I understand if you love him too, but I can make you forget him.”

“I don’t want to forget him.”

“Well that’s too bad, because you have to. We have to.”

“What if I can’t?”

“You will. Trust me. That’s how people are. If you don’t want to do this just say so. Because I’m not like Hobi. I like to be clear about my things. I don’t think I’ve ever fallen in love until now and I’m serious about you. So stop fighting it. Please. Or else say it. Say you don’t want me. Say you don’t love me and I’ll choose to believe it.”

He lowered his head, closing his eyes and waited for you to make your choice. In that moment he looked so vulnerable.

You knew that you would keep thinking about Hoseok. That Jimin would know every time you thought about Hoseok. But Jimin was right. You would never see Hoseok again.

Your tears weren’t for you or for Jimin, they were for Hoseok, who was your lifeline that was getting cut off right now. Any foolish hope that maybe one day you could see him again, that was over now.

So long as never seeing him again remained a fact, was dead to you, or you were dead to him. Jimin was asking you to forget that love and start a new one.

It was killing him too, knowing he was pushing his memories of Hoseok away also. Many more memories than you had. Jimin was willing to do that because of how much he loved you.

He was the only person you felt comfortable with from the moment you met. With Hoseok, you had no choice but it was easy to feel comfortable around him. With Jimin it was instant, you remembered. Even as just friends, any form of skin ship completely natural. Just like Hoseok.

Hoseok was warm and life itself, but Jimin was a fire igniting your soul. Even now there was an invisible force keeping you in his arms, and you wouldn’t be able to move away even if you wanted to. Like a silent string of energy connecting your hearts together.

You shook your head at his words. “No. I love you. I love you Jimin.”

_______________________

Part 19

[tsunderin]

EA Round Up

Longshot: Madden '18: Madden with a plotline is kind of an interesting way to take this, so I guess I can believe that it’s the “most innovative Madden”. 

Battlefront 1: Even though y’all said you addressed all your feedback from the users about the game, the little shitty quip about how "constructive [criticism] is a euphemism for not as positive [feedback]" makes me seriously question how much you give a shit. Dice probably cares. You, Mr. CEO, clearly do not care. 

Battlefield 1:

An impressive showing of fan-made content and there’s obviously a lot  of love for the community, but for someone not in the community I’m kind of wondering if the input is reaching Bethesda levels of “eh, the fans will fix it”. Coming out with:

Night maps, which look pretty cool.

In the Name of the Czar DLC: A campaign in Russia. Women's battalion of death is a cool addition, but can you actually play as a woman. :|c

Making FIFA championships bigger? idek. I didn't even know there was competitive FIFA. Very obvious how male driven this scene is. u gh.

FIFA '18: Sure is FIFA. 

Need For Speed Payback: Having duel protagonists is pretty cool, but I have yet to see anyone that isn’t white. Also like... I don’t understand why Need For Speed needed an open world. Please stop.

A Way Out: Indie game by the guy who made ‘Brothers’ about dudes breaking out of jail in the 70′s. Constant split-screen co-op in which the screen real estate seems to change depending on what the characters are doing. Honestly, it looks like a really interesting and actually innovative game, and the creator is legitimately excited about it (which is more than I can say for anyone else). Not so much digging that the only Black woman in the trailer seems to be “sassy”.

Anthem: New IP from bioware. City behind the wall; dangerous beasties outside of wall. BUT U GOTTA LIVE WITH THE CHOICES U MAKE WHEN U GO OUT THERE. This didn’t even explain anything and failed to induce any hype whatsoever; Mass Effect didn’t die for this. There better be something more substantial at the Microsoft conference. Like, literally anything.

NBA Live '18: More “make your character, live your story” sports games. Which is cool and seemed cool despite the presentation being some guy talking over a replay of gameplay, but not talking about the gameplay. What are you even doing?!

Battlefront 2: Getting an actual campaign with a story made especially for the game, along with new characters. Happens between The  Force Awakens and The Empire Strikes Back. THE ONLY GAME THAT HAD ACTUAL LEGIT GAMEPLAY DURING ITS PRESENTATION.

Other Thoughts: So the CEO made a big deal about donating to charities (He for She, The National Bullying Prevention Center, and Ditch the Label) in order to “support the building [of] an inclusive world.” You know how you could do that better? Actually put diversity in your games, you hacks. Also, like, maybe consider actually having actual gameplay of your games that you’re showing off at this games conference. Just a thought. 

Final Score: 

[neni-has-ascended]

Nintendo Switch Test-Play in Vienna: A Report

So, today my brother Mezian (using his online handle here) and had a chance to lay hands on the much avaited Nintendo switch console, thanks to Mezian being a blessing of the gaming gods and snatching tickets for the two of us when he had a chance.

Now, under the microscope of my expert-scrutiny (*ahem*) how does the Switch with the games presented hold up? Well-

First of all, the reception. Upon showing our tickets, we were given our entry wristbands (neon yellow like every other band ever-) as well as some pretty nifty-looking Nintendo Switch pins. I pinned mine onto my jacket. You can see me with it on on the picture above.

I like little presents like this (I collect keychains and buttons...), so I went in with a very positive feeling immediately, I have to admit-

(I don’t know why, but I really like this photo---)

Enough fooling around! Let’s enter the actual event hall!

(This picture was taken towards the end of the event, so the hall looks a lot less crowded than it actually was-)

The following titles were available for testplay during the event: Snipperclips, Super Bomberman R, Sonic Mania, Just Dance 2017, Arms, Zelda: Breath of the Wild, 4 modes of 1-2-Switch and Super Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. 

Super Mario Odysee was present as a demo-video only, you couldn’t actually play it, which kinda blows, but, oh well. Also, I’ll say right away that we didn’t try out Just Dance 2017, since neither my brother nor I felt like playing it.

First we played Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. The game could be tried out in three ways: Either in 4 player handheld mode, 2-player home console mode in split screen, or 2 player split screen on the Switch’s own portable screen. Mezian and I tried the handheld and portable screen methods. 

During the Handheld method I immediately noticed how much more smoothly the game ran and controlled when compared to its Wii U equivalent: The joystick and buttons reacted to my touch just as much as I needed them too, just as quickly as I needed them to and the entire device laid surprisingly comfortably in my hands, though it *is* a tad heavy in this mode. However, the controls are perfect; I can’t remember ever playing a that satisfying round of Mario Kart 8 on the Wii U. 

What additionally helped were the smooth 60FPS frame-rate and the crystal clear screen. The game ran better than ever before. Even though we were using the portable screen in both our test-plays, I could perfectly see everything ahead of me and react accordingly, even in split screen mode. Occasionally, I even forgot we weren’t playing on a large TV screen. This is something I am not sure even my Playstation Vita could do this well, so I really appreciate it. 

However, talking of split screen, I have to admit that the “sideways joycon in steering wheel” control method is greatly inferior to playing with both joycons in a unit in handheld mode. I’m not exactly sure *why* that is, seeing how I was steering more with the joystick than using the actual wheel, but maybe the fact that I subconsciously used both, the joystick AND the motion controls just made the controls less precise, and I found the reflex to use both just too overpowering to resist without ruining my concentration.

Thankfully (and I’m indeed very grateful for this) I can say that the problems with the steering-wheel-control-scheme did *not* stem from the separate joycon’s small size, but I’ll get to that.

Next up: Arms; my personal most-anticipated new IP for Switch.

I really wasn’t disappointed at all when I got to actually play hands on it. The game controlled just as smoothly as I imagined from the previews, it was one of these rare instances of reality actually living up to one’s trailer-fostered expectations. The control scheme used was two separate joycons, one in each hand, and motion controls, and it really worked well. 

Remember how back in the Wii days, Wii-Mote use could often derail into frantic swinging of the controller into every possible direction, because the game wouldn’t quite do what you wanted it to do? Not so for Arms: The motion-controls are quick, responsive and precise to the point that it barely even felt like the motion-controls I have been used to up till now. Every punch translated into a punch in game, every block worked (if I wasn’t stunlocked at the time, that is), and the bit of button control necessary worked flawlessly. 

The only thing that I had trouble figuring out was that moving only required me *slightly leaning my arms left or right*, since I (expecting the motion controls to not register anything more subtle than an avalanche) was frantically swinging my arms left and right to move, which the game interpreted as side-punches. Once I stopped doing that, moving left and right worked fine. I guess it’s time to unlearn Wii-era motion controls.

By the way: Ribbon Girl seems like an ideal beginner’s character, she moved swiftly and did adequate damage. Mechanica, on the other hand, was a lot harder to use, as she was a lot slower... I don’t think I’ll be maining her anytime soon, but players appreciating raw power at the cost of speed might take a liking to her.

At the Zelda Booth we were greeted by... a full waiting list nobody had told us about, and no way to squeeze either of us in for a game anymore without buying tickets for a late time slot in the event. Oh well! I guess I won’t get to play until release, but frankly, I don’t mind to much: With action adventure games, demos tend to frustrate me more than they hype me.

From what I saw at the booth though, the game looks very graphically solid, running at a smooth framerate and with vibrant colors. Want!

Oh look, it’s “Mr. Not Appearing At This Show”. Next!

Snipperclips is one of these really odd-looking, lovingly designed games that you can’t really look away from. The very concept is weird already: You’re playing a pair of two adorable BFF pieces of paper that need to cut each other into shapes and work together to solve puzzles. The whole thing sounds adorable with just a slight hint of disturbing, just as we’re used to by Nintendo.

(The disturbing part made itself very prominent whenever my brother decided to be a huge troll and cut my paper-person into oblivion just because he could. It doesn’t help that the paper people actually flinch when they get cut, but afterwards they just laugh it off together and continue acting cute and friendly. I would make a 50 Shades joke here, but that would imply that there’s something cute or friendly about that franchise-) 

The game is a cooperative puzzle-game, meaning that it’s best played with people who are easily cooperated with AND who have decent hand-eye coordination. My brother lacks the former quality and I the later, so what we were left with were ten minutes of an utter chaos as we tried to figure out how to get a basketball into its basket without accidentally murdering each other.

It was still loads of fun though.

I must proceed at high velocity! 

I’ll be honest here and admit that I never really played much of any 2D Sonic Game, always finding I had trouble with making the controls do what I want, so I went into this fully expecting a disaster as I try to control a game I already always had trouble with, using what might just be world’s smallest first party controller.

That’s not what I got. Instead, I had the most fun Sonic-related time in my recent memory, beating Green Hill Zone with only minor difficulties, and being greatly entertained despite my pathetically failing in Studio Zone. 

You see, remember what I said about the Joycon’s buttons being incredibly responsive? This turned out to be a HUGE plus for this game in particular: Sonic is a game focused on speed, so split-second reactions are often important, and that’s precisely what this controller is best at handling. It’s small size wasn’t even an issue: I played with a single joycon, no progrip, only the attachment with the wristband, and it worked like a magic charm. My hands didn’t feel cramped, I didn’t feel my muscles tiring... The trick is that buttons on each Joycon are placed a lot closer to each other than you’d expect on a gamepad, meaning the space between them and the edge of the controller is still as wide on each side as most people who’ve ever played retro games are used to. Because of this, the controller doesn’t actually feel any tinier in your hand than a slightly smaller NES-pad if you’re holding it in a normal sideways position. It’s kinda ingenious. 

Anyway, I had lots of fun playing Sonic Mania, even if Tales often just randomly wandered off to mind his own business somewhere. Tch. After a while, I did in Studiozone and passed the controller to Mezian... Who ran into a Badnick after approximately one one second of play and died. “The quickest death I’ve seen today!” a Nintendo employee commented with a chuckle. Given how Mezian had wiped the floor with me in Mario Kart before, I felt it was only fair of me to join in on said chuckle.

1-2-Switch, also known as “Glorified Tech Demo 2017″ is a game that really should come bundled with the Switch, but it doesn’t and I don’t get why. Wouldn’t this be the best way to show new buyers just how much the console they’ve just bought can really do, thus keeping their spirits high? Oh well. 

There were four minigames available to try out, a gun-duel simulation, a cow milking simulation, a game where you had to find out how many metal orbs are rolling in a closed box and a Samurai-themed “attack/block”-style timing game. 

The gun-duel proved to me, once again, that I lack such a thing as “reflexes”, but I was again impressed by the precision of the joycon, as the console (in a replay after every round) accurately showed me that the main problem with my shots tended to be that I pulled the trigger to early and accidentally aimed for the ground that way. It even told me where exactly I had pointed when I had pulled the trigger. 

The milking game, ironically enough, was pretty much the only game I actually found the Joycon *uncomfortable* to hold in, since it forced you to hold it in a position no normal human would ever hold a controller. It works, but it will quickly give you the cramps that each and every other Switch game presented in the show so masterfully avoided giving me. That one’s not recommended.

The “guess the orbs” game is a thinly veiled demo for the HD Rumble feature and holy cow, THAT worked WELL! The feeling of metal orbs rolling around in a small box was replicated so exactly, at one point I found myself holding the “box” close to my ear, expecting to hear the orbs roll, only to remember that I wasn’t holding a box, but a controller. It was *that* realistic. If you find useful applications for this feature, it could do amazing things in games, I’m sure. Specifically, I think VR games could profit a LOT from it... Generally, the Switch seems pretty ideal for VR with its features. Nintendo, get to it. You might save this sinking ship and make it your own.

The Samurai game was, one again, a great example of the accuracy of the Switch’s motion controls. Good blocks blocked, bad blocks failed. Real swings cut, fake-outs did nothing. (I know this because my brother actually faked me out a couple of times...) The precision is amazing.

Finally, we tried our hand at Bomberman. I don’t know what much to say to that one though. It’s Bomberman. You got a man, he lays bombs, it’s fun. What’s there to explain? If I could say anything, it’s that the art used for the victory screens is really cute, but aside from that, it’s just classic. What you see is what you get, as they say.

So that was the Nintendo Switch Event in Vienna. Lots of games, lots of impressions, not enough Mario.  So, what do you think? Did you try the Switch out yourself and do you have some kind of think to say I didn’t mention, or a different opinion? What do you think the system is gonna be like for the market? 

I’m generally going in with a very optimistic smile, knowing now what this little thing can do and deliver. This is just the gaming experience I, personally, have been hoping to fit into my tiny bedroom for a long time now~. Hopefully 3rd party support will pick up quickly as developers see the potential in the device. 

[elaminator]

We made it through another year (hurrah?)

It was a rough one, right?

Warning: this will be TMI. Not in a “gross, see a doctor for that” way, but in a, “Hey, this is somewhat in-depth about your life and experiences, and is a bit rambly and depressing and whiny, so maybe not everyone will enjoy it” way.

Also, there are some pictures.

I can’t even remember the last time I’ve made a personal post (and personal posts are a more recent thing for me anyway, since I didn’t tend to talk about my personal life much until it went to shit), but I know it was sometime in 2016.

(I think it was shortly after my mom had her stroke, and we had to temporarily admit her into a nursing home for therapy. She was in behavioral facilities, hospitals, a nursing home, etc last year, in and out, pretty much over and over again. She’s been home now for a little less than three months, and part of me is amazed we’ve made it this long. I love my mother more than anything, but taking care of her isn’t easy, and I know I won’t always be able to do it. I certainly wouldn’t alone, because there’s so much involved with day to day activities like cooking, cleaning, laundry, making appointments, keeping track of medicine and bills, etc, and keeping all of that going as well as watching her 24/7 would be impossible without dad to keep an eye on her too. Dad has his own problems (which I’m trying to help him with), but between the two of us we’re managing…for now. However, mom does require supervision basically all the time, so things can be tiresome, and I’m not sure how long we can continue to manage it.) As bonkers as last year was in general (for the entire world), it felt completely balls to the wall insane to me. 2016 was without a doubt the worst year of my life. I had never been so stressed, so lost, and my life had never been so unstable. (Mom’s nurse phrased it as, “Last year was a wash. You were just trying to keep your head above water.” It seemed fitting.) Frankly, the whole year happened in a bit of a blur (given how painful it was, you would think the opposite); maybe this is because I had so little ‘fun time’ that I couldn’t honestly catch my breath. I spent a lot of it crying and losing my shit in-between being busy because I didn’t feel prepared for anything that was happening, but now that 2017 is here I’m more terrified than ever (what with the shit-stain the US now has as president, and with my mothers poor health; I’m afraid that something catastrophic will happen to Medicare, which would ruin us because my parents medical bills are waaaay too numerous; it’s already bad enough that the ACA might be repealed, hurting millions of people, and that Medicare might be a pipe dream for the younger generation, but my parents would be absolutely screwed without Medicare so you can see why this concerns me. Don’t even get me started on the environment, the suppression of the scientific community, the open corruption and lies that the president and his lackeys keep sprouting, and the attacks on the media and the public. I’m honestly afraid to live in America right now). (But since this is a personal post, and ya’ll can clearly see from my reblogs how I feel about the nightmarish political climate in America…)

Mom was lucky as far as her stroke went, in that she can speak fairly clearly when she tries, but she rarely does. She’s had about nine visits from home health (and therapy) a week, trying to get her back into shape, and while some of it helped, she refused to participate in speech therapy, so that was a waste of time. Ironically, speech was probably the thing she needed the most help with, but sometimes there’s no getting through to her. It isn’t easy asking her to repeat herself (which I do often, and occasionally give up on; I’m not going to ask her to repeat herself twenty times. There’s a limit to what I can do), and her mental state is a bit better atm, but it’s clear she’s not getting better. For a large portion of last year I doubted she even had Alzheimer’s (“Her memory is too good”, I thought; “Schizophrenia and depression would make just as much sense, and her diagnosis was so sudden”), but now I feel like I was just in denial about her condition. Her memory isn’t as bad as it could be (we haven’t reached the point she doesn’t know who I am, and hopefully won’t…), she has a good handle on long term memories, and sometimes short term isn’t so bad, but she’s an entirely different person than she was a couple years ago (paranoid, repetitive, anxious, sometimes mean… If she isn’t screaming something upsetting, downright bizarre or possibly insulting, or interrupting me every three minutes from whatever I’m doing it’s a good day). Our roles have switched, too; I feel like her mother sometimes, and I no longer get any parental reassurance because she isn’t really capable of it. There are things to be grateful for, but ngl, it’s hard to be grateful when you’re so emotionally exhausted. (Kind of physically exhausted too tbh, what with mom and everything going on right now in the US, I’m not sleeping as much or as well as I should be.) Now we’re back in the house (after the flood, which…is something I’m never forgetting), and I’m trying to get into a normal routine again, but it’s hard. (Mom has a break from therapy starting this week, but when therapy was coming we would have someone over at 8 AM at least three times a week, and three visits a day sometimes too, so while I appreciated she was getting help, it was difficult to plan for anything else. It’s 25-40 minutes away to grocery shop or see a doctor, and we have to make those trips on a very regular basis, so we kind of need time for them.) I used to be able to get up at 4 or 5 AM to workout, shower, dress and eat, but rarely do I feel like it these days. I am miraculously still working out (it’s been about four years now that I started my weight loss regime, and I’ve lost about 134 pounds), but usually it’s a bit later in the day. I even lost an extra 10 pounds last year without meaning to (a combination of stress, barely working out while displaced, eating less to compensate for it, and being constantly on the go), but I’ve been up and down the last couple of months. Truthfully, I don’t mind the way I look being a pound or two heavier (though I am annoyed that every time I gain weight it goes straight to my belly), and I don’t actually want to lose more than the few pounds I’ve gained by stress-eating (I already have difficulty finding clothing in my size), but I care far more about the numbers than I should. Acknowledging it is good, right? I’m much more energetic (despite everything), healthy and have more confidence now that I’ve lost weight, but it didn’t come without a price (though one I find acceptable), which is that sometimes I get a bit ridiculous with the self criticism and obsession with staying at a particular number.  Moving on…

As mentioned, we are finally back in the house (we were out…around seven, maybe eight months?), so that’s a blessing, and if there’s one good thing to come of last year it’s that the house turned out lovely. We went through a hell of a time getting the insurance to pay for the flood damage, but regardless of what other issues we have (and they are numerous), it’s a pleasure to be back.

It’s odd sometimes (having lived in the house as it was so long), but it does feel like home, and it reflects my taste now (as mom can’t/won’t make such decisions now, and dad was completely lost so he left most of it up to me), so that’s pretty cool. It is a lot more upkeep than being in the trailer, but it’s worth it. I debated on if I should upload a few pictures of the house or not (because I’m paranoid af of someone IRL finding my online accounts), but figure I’m probably fine. There are a few pieces of furniture yet to arrive, and we don’t have everything we would like yet, but we’re making progress. We (mostly) have what we need, and we’re filling our wardrobes out again (I’ve done a lot of browsing in the last couple of months…for both myself and my parents) and trying to replace whatever else we had too. It’s taking time, but having new stuff is nice.

(Wanted to rave about the Corvo mask; how cool is it? Coming out of the bathroom one night, I jumped the fuck out of my skin because I forgot it was there; still, it was worth the near heart-attack.)

I have a PS4 now, btw! Granted, I’ve had very little time to actually play it, and all the games need massive day one updates to play half decently (some of which might take two months just to download because of my dumb data cap), but…hey, better than not having it at all. I bought The Uncharted collection (unfortunately I lost all my PS3 games) and The Last of Us Remastered, as well as Rise of the Tomb Raider, Uncharted 4, and Dishonored 2. Probably going to be a bit before I get to Uncharted 4 (which I’m very hyped for, as Uncharted is one of my favorite series) or Tomb Raider, but the fact that I own them now gives me something to look forward to. I finally (after months) finished replaying Dishonored again about a week and a half ago (with the DLC this time, which was excellent), and I just arrived at the beginning of the second level in Dishonored 2 (as Emily). It’s a damn beautiful game, even though I’m not as comfortable with the gameplay as I was with the original yet. Most the time I’m fine, but with large groups of enemies… Not so much. I do absolutely love the ability to choke out guards and catch them before they fall to the ground though; it looks so seamless and is a lot easier than having to wait that extra few seconds for a guard to fall to the ground. (And being able to non-lethally choke out an enemy after being spotted and engaging in combat is a time saver.) Hope the rest of the game is just as good as the first, though I know it’s unlikely. Either way, I feel like I’ll enjoy the experience. (I will however say that The Outsiders voice actor change threw me off. It isn’t bad, but… It’s just distractedly different. On another note, I hate that I’m so attracted to this version of The Outsider. The graphics and his slightly updated design really work for me. Emily too, though I remember seeing the first trailer and flipping out over her perfection so she isn’t surprising. Emily is a hottie with a great VA, and it’s incredibly satisfying and fun to see the world through her eyes; I hope there’s lots of Corvo and Emily moments later in the game.)

Anyway, that was long, and this is where I leave off. It’s been a…time (what descriptor would even be appropriate for the year 2016, or the start of 2017?), and though I’m not as up-to-date with everyone as I would like to be, I wish ya’ll the best. Sorry for being so out of touch, it’s just tricky finding time for tumblr and such (I miss fandomsecrets like crazy); I’ve been choosing to spend what time I have on Dishonored, Pentatonix and news, and although I’m missing things elsewhere, I haven’t found a better way to manage my time yet.

Hopefully this year will surprise us and will be better than last, though considering everything that’s happened so far (Trump hasn’t even been president a week and everything is already going to shit) I’m not holding my breath.

[esonetwork]

From Chicago to a galaxy far, far away: Star Wars Celebration 2019

New Post has been published on https://esonetwork.com/from-chicago-to-a-galaxy-far-far-away-star-wars-celebration-2019/

From Chicago to a galaxy far, far away: Star Wars Celebration 2019

Something that people may not know about me is that I like Star Wars just a little. I’m kidding, of course — anyone who talks to me for more than 5 minutes is probably going to hear about how much I love Star Wars, how it’s my favorite franchise, why I love all the movies and books and characters, etc., etc., etc.

So it was probably inevitable that someday I would make my way to Star Wars Celebration, the official Star Wars convention. I actually decided to go to the 2019 Celebration somewhat on a whim last summer. When they announced that the location was going to be Chicago, that definitely grabbed my attention. I live in the Midwest, and that was the closest the con had ever been to me (and, realistically, the closest that it will probably ever get). I started thinking to myself, You know, maybe I can do this.

When tickets went on sale, I believed I would have a while to think it over and maybe find someone to go with me. Then the 5-day passes sold out way sooner than anyone had bargained on and I had a moment of panic where I realized that if I was going to go, I needed to buy individual day tickets and I needed to buy them NOW.

Despite my fears about going to a big con completely alone in a large city, my husband told me that if it was my dream, I should go for it. And I’m super thankful I did.

Star Wars Celebration Chicago was an absolutely incredible experience — worth every penny I spent on it. It was a weekend of fun, excitement, positivity, and camaraderie, and even though I’ve been home for several days now, I’m still buzzing.

I could write way too many words about this experience, if I allowed myself to, but here are my top four (abbreviated) takeaways from the weekend. If you’re a Star Wars fan, I absolutely recommend going to a Celebration someday; it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

1. That Episode IX trailer

I’ve been hyped for Episode IX ever since I walked out of “The Last Jedi,” and my anticipation for this movie is part of what motivated to me to go to Celebration this year.

I was hoping to get into the Episode IX panel with the director and cast, and I did (well, sort of). This year, instead of waiting in an overnight line, you had to enter a lottery ahead of time to get into the premier convention panels.

While there was some debate amongst fans about this system, overall I’m a big fan of the lottery concept. Camping overnight on the convention floor to attend a panel was just not viable for me, and the lottery at least gave me a fair chance to get in.

I didn’t win the lottery for the main stage for the Episode IX panel, but I did get into one of the big overflow rooms, where they projected the panel on a giant screen. While not as cool as being in the room, it was so amazing to watch the trailer debut with a huge group of other Star Wars fans.

I could spent the rest of this blog just talking about the trailer, but I loved it and have so many thoughts/theories about what’s going to happen in the film. I’m hoping to write up a more detailed analysis once I’m finally done unpacking all my Star Wars loot from the con.

2. Meeting my favorite authors

I was excited to see the long list of Star Wars authors who were coming to Celebration this year, and I was able to get two books signed by my favorite Star Wars author, Claudia Gray, as well as attend several of her panels. She’s a great writer and a cool person! I was able to pick up her new novel, “Master and Apprentice,” about Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, and I’m looking forward to diving into that to help me get over my post-Celebration blues.

I also got to meet the author of “The Last Jedi” novelization, Jason Fry, and he signed my copy of the book. He was very kind, warm, and friendly, and we got to chat for a couple of minutes. And I managed to snag a convention-exclusive cover of E.K. Johnston’s Padmé book, “Queen’s Shadow.”

3. The Mandalorian

I lost the lottery for “The Mandalorian” TV show panel, but I was able to watch the panel on one of the big screens on the show floor, which was still a cool experience.

I was already planning to sign up for the Disney+ streaming service so I could watch this show and “The Clone Wars” revival, but this panel made me even more excited. I love that they’re going for a Western/Clint Eastwood vibe with this show, and the few clips/photos we got to see look amazing.

My only complaint is that apparently the people who were at the main stage for “The Mandalorian” panel got to see a full trailer, but the streaming cut to black before then. I really wish they had played this trailer for everybody, and it seems a little odd to hide it, since they’re trying to motivate people to sign up for Disney+. But I heard from people who saw it that the footage looks really great.

I had so many things on my con schedule that I didn’t make it to “The Clone Wars” panel or even watch the live stream, so I’m hoping to catch up on that at some point this week. They replayed the trailer at the closing ceremonies, and that also looks good. There’s so much to look forward to!

4. Restoring my faith in the fandom

It’s no secret that the Star Wars fandom has appeared a little turbulent of late, at least in terms of online discussion. While I never stopped loving Star Wars, over the past year I did find myself getting burned out on the fandom. All the negativity and unkindness I had experienced online was really bringing me down, and I was a little nervous going to Star Wars Celebration because of what I might encounter.

However, the camaraderie I experienced at Celebration was incredible. I didn’t have a single negative encounter with another fan. People were warm, friendly, and as excited to be there as I was. I felt valued and respected, and I just had a huge grin on my face pretty much every second I was there. I met so many great people and made some new friends. I didn’t feel scared or lonely about being there by myself.

This experience helped remind me that the toxicity we see on the Internet within any fandom is really only a small but vocal minority. I also loved seeing the diversity of the crowds at Star Wars Celebration. People from all over the world, and all ages, came together to have fun.

My actual favorite moment of Star Wars Celebration, even more than the Episode IX trailer, was when the fans at the main stage gave Kelly Marie Tran a standing ovation. “The Last Jedi” actress has been the recipient of cruel Internet bullying, and I wouldn’t have blamed her if she wanted to stay away from Celebration because of that.

The fans at Celebration knew what she had been through, and their standing ovation was designed to let Kelly know that they supported her and loved her as a person. I heard that “The Phantom Menace” actor Ahmed Best received similar treatment at a panel on Monday.

Thanks to Celebration, I’m excited about interacting with other Star Wars fans again. Even if I encounter toxic behavior online, I’m going to remember the way I feel right now and all the great things that happened at Celebration. Love always wins in the end — which is pretty much the entire message of Star Wars.

Until next time…

After nearly of year of prepping and planning, it feels weird that Star Wars Celebration is over now. Even though I’m already missing it, realistically speaking I probably won’t be able to attend another Celebration for a long time. However, my first Celebration was a great experience with lots of special memories, and I’m so grateful I got a chance to go. I hope to find my way to another Celebration again someday.

And, of course, we’ve got lots of great Star Wars content to look forward to in 2019. As always, may the Force be with you!

[tumblunni]

Aaaa man im so tired lol, every trip to the shops is a full day experience when you live an hour long bus ride away from goddamn everything XD it was fun though! A lot of neat things to window shop in and cheer me up from all this mess. And even if im too shattered to actually start playing now im still really happy i have the game! Tomorrow i'll try and finish up painting my tv cabinet and organizing the game room in preparation, cos i left all of that totally abandoned two days ago when all that shit hit the fan. Or lol if i end up being too excited i'll just play the game first! It doesnt really have to look perfect, theres no rule i cant just stick the switch on the desk when its half painted. Man im so excited to meet my pika and all the mons and all the old characters and ll the new characters and aaaa!! Im gonna dream about fun nostalgic adventures and hopefully wake up to find the game is just as great as i hoped! Tho i do kinda wanna spend some time tomorrow rebuilding up my hype cos this big mess kinda took the wind out my sails and messed up my routine of counting down each day. So i might try and rewatch all the trailers and spend the morning chatting about the game and doodling dumb lil fluffy pikas and stupid bunnis in ash ketchum cosplay.

OH I DIDNT EVEN MENTION! Wild coincidence, the cashier at the store that sold me the game was actually named Ash! I was like 'yo thats wild' and he had no clue what i was talking about even tho he was in a rowlet shirt. I guess maybe he was into the games but not the anime? Or that their bosses just made everyone wear different poke-shirts to celebrate the launch.

Man im going all offtopic lol i need to gets me a sleeps. And man tomorrow i should go buy cream soda or try and find a place that does non alcoholic apple cider. Friends why did you remind me of america's grand sodas that i lack!! Fuck i crave cream soda so bad now but its already pitch black even tho its just afternoon and aaa i cant be bothered to go back to the store. But man cream soda is like the marshmallows of liquid its like the feeling of hugging a pikachu in edible form~ if cream soda is okay for pikachus to drink then i would love to give Chuppy a lil saucer of it and we can have a nice toast to our returning adventure! Man i miss him and im real sad i cant evolve him into raichu but im glad i ended up getting this version so i could get full nostalg. He was a round and sleepy bean and i loved him so much!!! Replaying yellow on the virtual console didnt really recapture the feeling for me, i think that trying a new alternate take on kanto will be more like he really did come back for another adventure, yknow? And this time i can pap pap his lil toe beans and put a bow tie on his head! :3

Aaaa im neeb sleepb

I gonna sleep and hugg my mimikyu plushhhh~ man i wish i could play lets go mimikyuuuuu~ but i love you too chuppy aaa i wish you could meet all the new friends i made in the later games. The two chus should have big huggins~

Sleepe sleeppppe~

[ddrkirbyisq]

Quite a bit happened...it was quite the tornado of stuff, as I predicted two posts ago, what with Ludum Dare and everything else happening.  There was even more than I expected thrown into the mix... Ludum Dare Ludum Dare came and went, and despite several hardships along the way, was a huge success for our team! I'll be writing a more detailed post-mortem later, but here are the two (!) games that we ended up making in the 72 hour timeframe: Goodnight Sheep: http://ift.tt/2AfwKw9 Samurai Shaver: http://ift.tt/2Ai9opD The soundtracks for both of those are also available (linked on those pages). Even before it started, it already felt like things might be rough for Ludum Dare, as our writer fell ill that week and wasn't feeling well enough to work together with us.  We decided she should take it easy and help us out remotely instead (which also left me with an abundance of extra groceries in stock, haha).  I actually also wasn't feeling the best that Friday either, though thankfully I didn't end up coming down with anything.  Trying to communicate back and forth over chat and video calls was a real challenge and we really struggled to nail down the concept and gameplay behind Goodnight Sheep as a result of that. Halfway through finishing up Goodnight Sheep we actually decided to start work on Samurai Shaver and just start making that.  Although there were a lot of things that we still needed to figure out about Samurai Shaver still (initially it wasn't even a rhythm game at all!), I personally felt like I had a pretty good vision of what the game should look and feel like, so it felt more certain to me, and I was looking forward to escaping the uncertainty of the screaming lambs to work on something a little more well understood.  However I still wanted to finish up some work on Goodnight Sheep before that, including making the music for the levels, and it was during that process that I made some key realizations about what the game should be like.  So in the end it all ended up coming together just fine -- it just needed some more time to get there. We were about a third of the way through our 72 hours when we decided to start work on Samurai Shaver, which put us quite far behind, but interestingly enough I felt very confident that we could finish it in time.  I knew it was a fairly simple game and we didn't need to make a ton of different assets and such (as we did for games like The Music Box).  And of course, I had a pretty clear vision for the game, as well.  But perhaps the primary reason that I was so confident was because back in Ludum Dare 36 we had also started just as late when we made Watch for Falling Rocks (we totally scrapped our initial idea and started over).  Now that we've done the whole "start a game really late and still finish fine" thing twice, I feel like that will always be a sort of possible "plan B" for us moving forward if our initial concepts don't work out.  Obviously that's not the kind of thing I'd like to rely on, but I think it's a bit comforting to know that because thinking up an initial idea for a game is often one of the most stressful parts of the jam. Anyhow, I'm quite happy with how both games turned out.  Currently we're a good ways into the rating and voting process, with a little over a week left before results are announced.  I've been playing my fair share of games (around 40 so far), and we've gotten around 30 ratings for each of our games. Meowmie Early in the morning on Saturday December 9th, we were woken up to news that the one and only original Meowmie had suffered from heart problems over the night and wasn't going to make it.  We were able to say our final goodbyes before he was put to rest.  It was very hard on us and there was definitely a bit of a crying party that day.  Though I was not his owner, I felt very deeply for the loss, more deeply than I realized that I would, too.  It was a new experience for me as well, since I have never had a pet or anything leave me in that way.  Though it still makes me very sad to think that Meowmie is not around anymore, and the image I have in my mind of him from that day really affects me deeply, I am very thankful for the fact that I was able to see him one last time.  Rest in peace, Meowmie.  You will always be special.  (Thank you) Work Work went through a pretty busy period, as we were getting out another demo of our game for PlayStation Experience (PSX) -- more about that here.  Btw, as an aside, I don't know if I've ever mentioned here that Luna has been out now, both for VR (the true Luna experience) and as a 2D port version for those of us who don't have access to a VR headset.  Find that here. Anyhow, work went through a busy period for sure and I basically had infinity work to do, but I think I managed alright, though there was one day where I had not gotten enough sleep at all and was suuuuuper grumpy as a result.  Funnily enough, once the amount of tasks crosses a threshold, I feel like it doesn't really matter how many other work items there are because I know I won't get to them all, so I just sort of chug along at whatever pace I end up going at and whatever will be, will be. After that, work has been really strange as we are in the middle of transitioning to a new office (heating?? A/C??  More than one restroom maybe?? what is this madness?  Maybe the floor won't be slanted either?).  The new place is ever so slightly closer in terms of walking distance from the station, but also just in a much nicer area (right across from Dropbox).  I haven't seen it in person yet, but should be exciting to have a nicer office, and I'm sure it will make it easier for my cooking-lunch-at-the-office escapades as well.  Maybe I need to start bringing in a portable burner?? lololol Anyhow, I'm on vacation now for the next two weeks (much needed) and definitely enjoying some time off to myself.  Should be useful to catch up on a bunch of things after that super crazy busy period that I had (haven't done any work on Rhythm Quest; want to still do more for our Ludum Dare games; have some music I need to write, etc), but also just to chill out and relax. Games I went through the bonus content of VA-11 HALL-A, so that's all finished up with (don't think I'll bother replaying the main story again, though there is a bit more to experience there).  I've moved on for now -- I just started playing through Cave Story!  Actually playing the remastered Cave Story+ version since apparently I have it on Steam already, but after some careful thinking I decided I'll go with the original sprites/graphics and original soundtrack.  Well...ah, who are we kidding, it wasn't exactly a tough choice.  I appreciate the fact that they took the time to remaster it and everything, but sometimes the original has a certain appeal that is diluted with additional modifications and I personally feel that way about this.  Though, if I was already familiar with the entire soundtrack (I'm not) I think the new soundtrack would be a nice change of pace, so that is something. Other than that, Finding Paradise (the sequel to To The Moon) is out now!  Haven't gotten it yet, but I'm sure I will be going through it at some point.  I wasn't 100% sure what to expect, but apparently Kan Gao himself says the game is "utterly, disgustingly terrible", so now I know exactly what to expect!  (I'm sure it'll exceed expectations, hooray!)  It's all a bit tongue-in-cheek, but to be honest, perhaps it was really warranted after all, because I went into Rakuen expecting a lot out of it and came out disappointed.  So maybe I'll temper my expectations this time.  Though to be honest, how could you not get hyped after THIS trailer???  Hahaha. Besides that, we are making our way through Secret of Mana still (just finished up Ice Country), and have taken a bit of a break on Life Is Strange (but will pick it up again I'm sure).  My brother also came over and we raced through Mega Man 1 through Mega Man 4, which was a blast.  I had a bunch of problems and lost most of those races but was way ahead for Mega Man 3 (also the one that I played the most as a child), so woot.  Mega Man 5 and 6 will probably be real challenges for both of us as we're really unfamiliar with those -- I think I've only finished each of them once... Started playing a bit of Hollow Knight, but unsure exactly what I'll do with that one as I think I want to actually just go through Cave Story first.  It still looks like quite a fine game, but perhaps not as unique or special. Dance Not too much of note here as dance events are sort of on break for the end of the year.  A little birdie told me that Unjammix might actually be happening again sometime, so that is super duper exciting!  Also, it's getting to be a few months before Viennese Ball again, so probably sometime next month it'll be time to whip out my Journey dress and add on the final layers so I can be a fully-embroidered red cloak.  So cool that this costume has been evolving along with me over the past 4 years!!! The last Jammix of the year was not too notable and actually was pretty low-energy for me, but I did end up connecting with someone unexpectedly, which was quite nice. Anime Was skimping on Inuyasha for a while but finally watched another episode, hahaha.  But more notable than that, I watched "The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl" (by the same director and writer as Tatami Galaxy), which I enjoyed a lot!  I've watched a handful of other things in recent months too actually, including A Silent Voice (good) and most notably, The Case of Hana & Alice, which I really loved!  Quite an unusual movie I think, but it's really good, really fun, really well-done.  Currently also watching Evangelion (the series), which I watched most of before (but not all?) but largely forgot about.  Have not watched any movies recently -- haven't yet gone to go see Coco or Star Wars... Xmas Xmas stuff is coming along well!  Like I keep on saying, I still have some DIY gifts to handle, but other than that, everything is pretty much squared away.  It took a lot of work but all the letters and stuff are mailed out and all the gifts are wrapped (and some shipped).  I still have to go on my Santa delivery runs at some point this week but that should be fine :) Cooking Have been trying to make Shui Zhu Yi recently (the sichuan boiled fish dish) to varying degrees of success...I'm finding it quite a difficult dish to get right since there are so many factors, like type of fish, everything that goes into the liquid, the different spices, etc.  I think I am getting closer, and definitely am learning more about what to do and what to avoid, but I'm not nearly there yet.  We'll see. Melee Melee stuff has been good recently; I've been feeling a lot of confidence as Marth especially when I am doing crazy stuff like getting pivot grabs and stuff like that.  I haven't really paid much attention to my Fox but I am trying to grind out some stuff with Falco because my Falco definitely needs some work on tech and punishes, so trying to get better with that.  I'm feeling increasingly comfortable with Falcon but am still figuring out how to place my aerials to go for reads on techchases and how to place moves correctly to combo well.  Perhaps the most exciting development is that I am finally starting to "get" Sheik for the first time, as I'm dedicating some time to learning her as a character.  Like Falcon, she feels really weird in neutral to me, and I had to adjust to learning how to boost grab instead of jc grab (feels really weird....also really weird that you don't =always= boost grab, so you have to do it situationally), but I think my experience with all the others characters (esp Falcon) is helping me understand it more and I feel like I am starting to get a handle on her, which is great since I've always wanted to learn her as a character.  I'm going to try and work that up to par for a while before moving onto Peach, which will require a lot more grinding of techskill since she's a whole other animal. Overall life is in a pretty good spot right now; it's nice to be on vacation finally and to feel like I'm on top of things now instead of juggling around a million different things at once.