#i really LOVE that the dream world is a location of bloodborne at all.

[misterradio]

no beating gasciogne today i just kind of beat some ppl up and died and levelled up in the dream world. thus ends my bloodborne playthrough blogging for ever

[beesmygod]

Bloodborne question from someone who'll probably never play it because it seem 2 hard and 2 stressful- what *is* the Hunter's Dream? Like a literal dream? Does the non-umbilical cord endings have you like wake up? Is the game's settimg real? I half-remember that one Dan Olson video and I'm confused and you like explaining things so I'm not looking it up so you can have a oppurtunity to give lore out.

hee hee hoo hoo!!! you are who these posts are for!!! i would love to try to explain this to you i truly do love doing this. so my answer is: i have no idea.

the dream is definitely a physical place that exists, even if it exists outside of yharnam's physical reality. items that should exist there can be misplaced in yharnam and returned (like the rune tool or the blood gem tool). hunters who are not blood drunk and have not been severed from the dream by gerhman can come and go as they please using the resurrection magic of bells seen throughout the game. note the bells on the lamp you use to get there.

the doll notes that hunters used to visit the dream in droves during hunts long ago, but now those hunters who did chose to sever themselves before they fell to madness or because the hunt was over (it wasnt) are marked with the gravestones peppered throughout the area. if you choose to sever yourself from the dream at the end of your run, then a new tombstone appears representing you in the new game, so its mutable and not static. the flowers in the garden begin to glow after the reveal of the blood moon, so there is some connection to the main world and its progression; it isnt completely isolated and cut off from yharnam.

i think some people mistake the "yharnam sunrise" ending being like "oh it was all a dream" ending when it's not. you are severed from the dream, dawn is breaking, the hunt is over....but we know it happens again. the moon moves in cycles, the last time it turned red they burned old yharnam to the ground, and this time the entire town lost its mind and body. the situation you are in during the "yharnam sunrise" ending is now you are like djura and eileen: you no longer dream, but the hunt will return. worse than it was before.

interesting side note: gehrman severs you from the dream using his burial blade, which is one of two weapons in the same made from siderite which is "said to have fallen from the heavens". the other weapon is eileen's blades of mercy which she utilizes in her position of the hunter of blood drunk hunters. gerhman's blade cuts you off from the dream and eileen's intention is to kill hunters permanently that pose a threat to others. your access to the dream can be removed by being killed with space rock. weird. neat.

curiously i have no idea where the hunter's dream is located. this is only notable because the other nightmares are completely connected to one another. if you look up from the nightmare frontier you can see the castle in the nightmare of mensis. and vis versa looking down.

this lance macdonald tweet datamined what you see when you look down from the nightmare frontier: ship masts from the orphan of kos fight.

and the hunter's nightmare is stacked on top of itself. you can find parts of it where the ocean above is dripping down into the rest of the map lol. plus the infamous part where a snail lady from the map above falls 3000000 feet and nearly smooshes you.

but the hunter's dream is AWOL and surrounded by weird spires that don't look like ship masts or anything really. it's possible it is at the very tip top.

dreams appear to be born through some process involving an umbilical cord and/or the loss of a great one infant, a host, and the sheer power of obsessive madness. when the great one or the host dies, the dream persists regardless. how odd. very mysterious.

[greenjokwe-blog]

Bloodborne - Finished 19/01/2023

Third FromSoft Souls-like game I’ve finished now! Kinda scary to talk about this one considering the game’s INSANE reputation as one of the greatest things ever, and I definitely did really enjoy it and think all of these games I’ve played so far are definitely masters of their craft, buuuuut I did have my fair share of gripes with it.

Okay first off I should make the biggest and most obvious complaint about the game clear - this shit NEEDS a modern day update. Constant pop-in and framerate drops really kinda bog down a lot of the games best moments, and if they just ported the game onto next-gen consoles with a slight patch update the game would be an undoubtable recommendation from me.

Next up, the most obvious COMPLIMENT for the game! The world is absolutely stunning. It’s all so beautifully dreary and intimidating, and keeps that feeling throughout. While it does make me miss that variety and scope of constantly traversing Dark Souls, the consistency of the theming here and believability of a real breathing location definitely makes up for it. The designs of all of the characters and enemies here are also excellent, REALLY perfecting that Lovecraftian horror design, legit you won’t see shit that looks like this in any other game.

Then there’s the combat, which... hasn’t really swayed me one way or the other on Souls combat in general, which is good, but not in a vacuum. Every single weapon is viable now! Which seems neat, but ultimately means you’re less likely to experiment when you use one build the whole time, which is probably good for some, and the game at least makes up for it by making upgrading multiple weapons at a time fairly painless, but there’s a lot LESS decision-making than in Dark Souls, and even less than it’s “more aggressive” system here would have you believe, because a lot of bosses in this game can be defeated by just spam-dodging into them and wailing R1 mindlessly. Until you get to the The Old Hunters that is in which case HOLY FUCK I THINK THEY BUFFED UP THE BOSSES A BIT TOO MUCH.

Oh yeah, the bosses, right. The big Souls selling point. They’re pretty good I guess. The thing with me is that I always kinda craved the insane diversity of the bosses that Demon’s/Dark Souls always gave, and these bosses are definitely a lot more consistent and there’s nothing as bad as say, Capra Demon or Maneater, I also feel like there’s also nothing as good as shit like Artorias or even Sif (This is why we love Micolash in this house). I did also really like the final boss though, and shit like beating Matyr Logarius first try, or FINALLY beating Orphan of Kos after so many hours gave me a feeling of satisfaction I won’t feel in any other game, so I think it still works pretty well.

The worst part about going through this game though, for me, was the Blood Vial system. I’ve alluded to it but a lot of shit was done in Bloodborne in order to streamline the combat experience, one of the big things is give you a default max of 20 healing items on you at a time so you can more easily spam them while struggling in a boss (it even lets you move while using them now, how sweet). However, what this DOES mean is that Blood Vials only come back to you when you have enough unlike Estus Flasks, and are overall closer to working like the healing items in Demon’s Souls, so guess what, THE GRIND IS BACK BAYBEEEEEEEE! JESUS is it a step-down in almost every aspect, the ease of use in bosses is not worth me grinding at this one spot over and over again to either 1. get blood vials from enemy drops or 2. get enough blood echos to hopefully buy enough vials to fight the upcoming boss for the next 10 minutes. This, along with the Nexus-like hub world labelled Hunter’s Dream, just feels like Bloodborne taking unnecessary step-backs from what Dark Souls established in order to make the game “more convenient” when it does anything but.

So uh... Bloodborne. Still VERY VERY VERY GOOD don’t get me wrong!!!  Absolutely worth playing and isn’t much like anything else, but... I still prefer DS1!!! Sorry!!!

[spoonie-ritsu]

yall know i cant resist

another bloodborne au fic thing featuring everyone’s favorite telepath based on details from this lovely lil thing

They came for him in the night, unexpected.

He didn’t see his parents in the house before they dragged him away, kicking and screaming, unaware that it was his last chance to ever see them alive again. The remaining villagers stayed put in their huts. No one dared to come outside and help him. He was alone.

The cathedral he found himself in was large, winding and unfamiliar, twisting and turning in ways that made little sense to him, but the followers of the church had no trouble navigating the bleary corridors. He was shaking, both from the immense chill in the air and his own overwhelming fear.

He met the leader of the church that night - the Church of Mensis - a bizarre and terrifying man named Micolash, who erratically recounted to him myths and legends of higher beings and something about stars or cosmos or whatever. He didn’t understand a single word to pass his lips, and frankly, he didn’t want to. The man sounded absolutely, irredeemably insane.

But then he said something about him being “chosen”, “gifted sight by the Great Ones”, and suddenly he felt ill as his situation became apparent.

For whatever reason, these people thought him important to their beliefs. They wanted to use him. And he was powerless to refuse. He had always, always been powerless to refuse.

-*-

Time slipped away, like sand between his fingers, like the little remnants of sanity he had left. It had quickly become apparent that they were right about him after all.

He wasn’t powerless, not completely. In fact, he possessed a peculiar ability, something he had only ever heard if spoken in stories or song. Something the Church of Mensis honored him for, and something he himself could only see as a miserable curse cast upon him by whatever cruel deity that watched over them all.

He hadn’t even noticed before they told him so, but he could see things that nobody else could. Dark, slimy creatures that watched them from the shadows, spider-like beasts that clung to buildings and observed with vacuous eyes. Eyes, eyes, eyes, everywhere he looked there were a dozen more looking back, in the walls and on the floor and on the head of the roasted boar that was served for dinner that night. Watching, watching, he was always being watched, his every move carefully followed, leaving him so jumpy and paranoid that he could hardly sleep a wink at night.

He heard sounds, sometimes. Most common was the strange, disembodied cry of a baby, echoing through the forest and the halls of the church. It disturbed him greatly at first, moreso that none of the church members seemed to even acknowledge the sound, but after a while it simply became another part of his life. Just background noise, like static. On more rare occasions, he could hear music- and that, he actually enjoyed. It was so quiet in the church, deathly quiet, and the gentle plucking of strings and keys would soothe his frazzled mind. Although it was by no means an ordinary song. It stuck to him as he slept, filling his dreams with stars and the silhouettes of horrifying beasts against a blood red moon.

They had him read tomes filled with nonsense, ancient writings, and the words filled his head with cotton. Eventually, it got to him. The words started to make sense, and it didn’t scare him as much as he knew it should.

Micolash would test him, in his own convoluted ways. He said his ability had something to do with Insight; the capacity of a person’s mind to hold the knowledge of the “Great Ones”. The tomes they had him read contained snippets of this knowledge, and as he continued to process the information, his Insight increased. He gained a new power.

He hadn’t meant to do it, he really hadn’t. He had finished his book and something felt wrong, a squirming sensation in his head, the scent of iron in his nose. He closed his eyes to stave off the ache that grew behind them and for an instant he slipped away. Fallen asleep from exhaustion, he thought. He jerked back to attention, shaking the fatigue from his head, and as he looked around, the church members that had been observing him were all lying on the floor, writhing and clawing at their heads, trapped in a horrible nightmare.

A nightmare of his own creation.

Micolash had applauded him, as he collapsed in horror of what he had done. He had grown powerful enough to create his own dreams, the man explained, and he had implanted one such dream into the minds of those around him. He asked, in a feeble, shaky voice, how he could stop it, how he could free them from the dream he’d accidentally forced upon them.

Micolash had looked at him blankly for several moments before erupting in laughter. “Free them? Why free them from such a wonderful gift?!”

He clutched his head in his hands and cried, for the first time in years.

-*-

Not long after his 19th birthday, Micolash came to him with a wide grin, a glint in his eyes, and he was immediately suspicious.

They led him to a room he had never been to before, a hidden room at the very bottom of the cathedral, deep underground. The cold chilled him to the bone, to the point that even his blood felt frozen stiff in his veins, making every step forward a laborious effort. Micolash seemed excited about whatever was behind that inconspicuous door.

Micolash opened the door. He recoiled instantly as a terrible stench hit him, taking a step back in horror as he recognized the scent of rotting flesh.

It was a long room, almost a corridor, lined wall to wall with corpses, all seated in chairs with some sort of strange metal cage on their heads. At the end of the room, a single chair sat empty. Waiting. Watching. The walls had eyes.

Micolash ushered him inside before he could run away. Every inch of him was screaming to get out, to fight his way out of the man’s grip and run far away, away from him and the Church of Mensis and the confines of the village that had previously been his home. But his blood was frozen, and he couldn’t move.

Micolash was rambling on, as usual. His words rang hollow in his ears. Not hollow enough to obscure the meaning behind them, unfortunately.

He wanted him to create a dream. A nightmare. A nightmare he would project onto the entirety of Yharnam. Every living thing for miles would see his dream, the nightmare he would create and maintain from this lonely room full of death and forgotten dreams.

He felt sick to his stomach. This was their plan all along - this was their end goal from the start, the purpose of all of the tests and training they put him through for nearly a decade. This was the pinnacle of their hard work. He felt powerless all over again in the hands of Micolash of the Church of Mensis, who steered him forward and sat him down in the dusty old chair at the end of the room and brandished the cage he had been carrying in a satchel at his side. The look in his eyes was the look of a broken man, a man who had nothing to lose and everything to gain as he lifted the cage up and over his head and placed it down so it rested on his shoulders.

The eyes grew lips to laugh at him as he screamed. It hurt, more than anything he’d ever felt before, it burned his eyes and his ears, he heard the voices of the corpses on the wall shouting at him, telling him to accept his fate, to play the role forced upon him. His frozen blood began to boil over, and he frantically tried to reach for his face, to take the cage off of his head, to wipe the blood out of his eyes, but it was hard to coordinate his movements when all he could see were the cosmos and thousands of eyes and the red moon that loomed over it all.

Beneath it all, he felt it. The few, fleeting pieces of his conscience, his personality. The real him, the real Momozou Takenaka, who was sick and tired of being used by this crazy bastard and his crazy church and he wasn’t going to sit back and let them take his life away. Not anymore. Not ever again.

In a single moment of clarity, he grasped the metal cage in his hands and yanked it off of his head, flinging it directly at Micolash, who was too slow to deflect the object as it flew straight into his forehead, knocking him to the ground. He didn’t stick around to see if the man was unconscious; he bolted from the chair, from the room, messily wiping blood off of his face and ignoring the twinkling lights in his peripheral vision as he made for his escape.

He knew where the exit was. He had always known, known it was there but just out of his reach. Not anymore. Not ever again.

He never slowed down, not even for a second, not as members if the church chased after him, grabbing for his hair or his clothes, never quite reaching him. He was too fast, or perhaps he appeared to them slightly slower than he really was, appearing in their sights a second behind his actual location. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was his freedom from this damned place.

And he made it. It was something he had dreamed of for so long, and it almost made him angry how easy it was to push open those tall double doors and dash out into the outside world, taking in a deep lungful of fresh air, feeling more alive than he had in years. He was close to laughing as he left that world behind, giddy in his escape, almost manic, the freedom so overwhelming that he kept on running and running and running, far into the night.

-*-

“Hang on... don’t go out there yet. There’s someone there.”

“Someone? A person?”

“I think so. But they’re covered in blood. Doesn’t look good. I wouldn’t trust it.”

“What if they’re injured? I could help them.”

“It could just as easily be a trap.”

“I can’t just walk away if there’s someone that might need help.”

“Hah... all right, if you insist. I suppose that’s what I’m here for.”

Shigeo Kageyama nodded to himself before stepping out onto the roof of the old farm building. He didn’t really know what to expect when he rounded the corner, but from what Hanazawa had described, it wouldn’t be pretty.

What he saw, though... what he saw there nearly broke his heart in two.

There was a young boy there - couldn’t be much older than him - dressed in modest clothing that was, indeed, drenched in blood, though whose it was he couldn’t say. There was a worrying amount of dried blood coating the bottom half of his face and neck, smeared as though he had tried to wipe it away but to no avail. He had his legs drawn tight against his chest, backed into a corner, rocking back and forth with a vacant expression on his face. Whatever he had been through must have traumatized him.

Shigeo felt a sharp pang in his chest. This was someone that definitely needed help.

He approached the stranger slowly, not wanting to startle him, aware that Hanazawa was watching closely from behind. “Hello? Are you hurt?” he asked gently, leaning down slightly to get closer to eye level.

For about a minute the boy did not respond, staring into nothingness, but eventually he did turn in his direction, wide eyes struggling to focus. “Huh...?” he mumbled, voice hoarse and strained, overused. “Who... who are you?”

Shigeo smiled softly, pleased to hear him speak. “My name is Shigeo. It’s okay, I only want to help you,” he said, soft and reassuring. He tilted his head. “What is your name?”

The boy stared at him for several seconds, openly suspicious. “Help,” he repeated plainly, like he didn’t believe it. He looked away, out towards the forest. “You have no idea what I am, do you? Your friend back there has the right idea. You should leave.”

Shigeo’s eyes widened slightly, caught off guard. How had he managed to see Hanazawa? Had he heard their exchange earlier?

Well. It didn’t matter. Shigeo didn’t feel threatened in the slightest.

“Whatever you are... I’m sure you’re not as terrible as me.”

The boy’s head whipped back around, surprised, and tensed like he was preparing to be attacked, but Shigeo just sat there, calm as ever, posture relaxed.

Then, as an afterthought, “Oh, and Hanazawa is a good person, once you get to know him.”

Unexpectedly, the boy laughed at that statement. It was a quick chuckle, a reaction more than an expression of humor, but it made Shigeo’s heart swell in his chest. Perhaps... he could save this person after all.

Hanazawa walked up behind them, threaded cane resting on his shoulder, hip cocked in that familiar defiant stance. He said nothing, simply emerging from the shadows as his cover had been blown from the start. Still, he stood protectively at Shigeo’s side, eyes trained on the bloodied boy in front of them.

The boy looked between the two of them carefully. He lowered his head as he spoke up again, dangerously quiet. “Are either of you... associated with the Church of Mensis?”

Shigeo scrunched his nose as he searched his brain for anything that sounded similar, but he came up with nothing. He shot a glance to Hanazawa, who seemed just as confused as he was. “The Church of Mensis? I might’ve heard something like that before... are they related to the Healing Church?” Hanazawa asked for the both of them.

The boy sighed, shaking his head. “So you aren’t, then. That’s... good. That’s good,” he trailed off, and he suddenly seemed very tired as his guard finally began to drop. Shigeo figured he deserved some rest after... whatever he had been through.

“There is a place in Yharnam that is safe from beasts - the Oedon Chapel. It’s where we’ve been staying- oh, and my brother is there, too. A kind man named Reigen looks after the place. We can take you there,” he explained, offering a hand to the boy, silently praying that he would trust them and come along, that he would let him help.

The boy looked to the hand, then up at him, then at Hanazawa, then at the hand again. He brushed a few strands of hair from his eyes, ignoring the blood on his face as he slumped forwards and sighed. “I guess I’ve got nothing to lose,” he mumbled before reaching out and grasping Shigeo’s hand. He was so cold that Shigeo nearly jumped at the contact.

He smiled, regardless, and helped the shaking boy to his feet. He was shocked to find that he towered over both him and Hanazawa, though he looked frail, like a twig that threatened to snap at any moment. He tightened his grip, a silent promise to support him as they began the journey home.

Hanazawa led the way, fighting off whatever beast crossed their path. The walk was quiet, for the most part. The boy wasn’t up for conversation.

As they entered the city, he spoke again, with less bite than before. “Momozou,” he said, looking down at Shigeo from beside him. “That’s my name. Momozou,” he repeated with an awkward little smile of his own.

“Momozou... it’s nice to meet you.”

“Heh... you too, Shigeo.”

[galimatios]

fear thy fortune chatlog notes

thinking abt the underdeveloped au i have in that weird off color fantasy universe that i realized is probably similar in ways to bloodborne even before i knew abt bloodbornes plot but this is nice bc i can solidify parts of it and i can probably also combine it with the knights au i have

OK I FORGOT TO PUT A CW HERE BUT CW FOR ABUSE MENT AND GORE MENT

somewhere located in present day west asia slash east europe theres a country divided into numerous states in which princes and princesses (princex (poc)/princen/etc for gender neutral options) are perpetually in contest with eachother for the right to be the divine ruler of the country

monarchy is not guided by blood, rather the church is responsible for finding the chosen candidates via prophecy, fururesight, dream interpretation, etc, and these kids are taken from their homes and reared as royalty the nature of this country is ... severe. pain is a gift, proof that one is alive. much ceremony is based in sacrifice, bloodspill, bloodsports, and pain endurance. magic as practiced by the church is extremely powerful in terms of healing so almost all wounds can be healed provided the heart still beats its essentially one big huge freakish cult of a country that has customs that seem barbaric to outsiders

the divine ruler of each state is the princens, though more often than not their councils do most of the governing with the princen merely being a puppet figurehead. they go through rigorous training to sharpen their minds and endurance against all types of pain, so training includes physical, mental, emotional trials in which the princen is supposed to keep a clear mind, concentrate on mediation or some mantra, bearing whatever is thrown at them. additionally they receive the best training in both combat and politics as well as magic. not all princen can withstand the requirements ofc so they.. vary quite a bit in terms of stability/constitution. its a p sick system even without the knights added in bc thats super messed up

the knights essentially belong to their princens in heart body mind and soul, and each princen receives exactly one knight soulbound to them. they also undergo the same scouting process once the princen is identified, and they undergo similar training except theyre also essentially brainwashed into believing their entire purpose in life is to serve and protect their princen no matter what. obviously this aint healthy! knights delude themselves into it so hard theyll fight for the system that literally abuses them! but thats how cults work

that being said knights are extremely powerful. they act as the sole bodyguard of their princen and believe me you dont want to get inbetween a knight and their prince. they are known especially for their brutality when their lords are threatened. it is extremely common for limbs to be lost in skirmishes btwn assailants and a knight

this takes us to the games! which are essentially gladiator coliseum type bloodsport contests between knights of different princens. its a pretty big affair like how the Olympics are for us so the fanfare the cheering the everything is all there i prob dont need to describe it in detail but its very violent. its considered practice for the knights before the true battle-royale type event thats even BIGGER bc it determines who becomes god-king of the country. this time the princen join their knights in the battlefield and basically whoever is left standing is the new king

is it worth it? probably not bc i think being king actually means being killed to be sent up to the heavens bc god kings dont need bodies any longer in truth the entire debacle is a distraction set up by the church to keep the country under its own control. its super corrupt. the council behind every princen is actually made up of high ranking church members that convene regularly to manipulate the politics of the region

but thats mostly the governing sphere of this world. the commonfolk are removed from most of this violence aside from the indoctrination by the church and the messed up religion they practice. a lot of the belief system here relies on this concept of karma and fate over free will. fate is oppressive, cannot be changed, but god do they try that belief ties into how princen and knights are fated to be pairs, how princen are fated to either ascend to godhood or die trying

but there is one way to manipulate fates in this world there exists in independent of the church a monastery that practices the art of transferring karma. think of karma as a type of currency that can be spent, saved, used, etc. lots of good karma may be distributed amongst loved ones via a ritual headed by a monk, or bad karma can be "paid off" essentially. the amount of good/bad karma a person has directly affects their fortune and luck. this practice is more or less outlawed by the church but the monastery is slowly gaining power over the commonfolk and the church mostly leaves the poor folk to rot anyway- their agenda mostly concerns the monarchy

altho i can definitely see tensions rising with the witch hunting as influenced by the church. particularly nefarious visions may result in blame being thrown around and commoners getting killed for crimes they have yet to commit and thats thanks to the teachings of the church

anyway as of rn though the monastery is still pretty small but it is an old, ancient organization with magic that runs far deeper than the magic of the church. it is a much more subtle magic- monks practice little offensive magic (they are a nonviolent sort anyway) but the ability to exchange karma is rare and has far more reaching impact in the long run i imagine they have strongholds further to the east but anyway theres one trump card the monastic order has

a subsection of the order is dedicated to the keeping of miracles. and miracles are... monsters! they are semi-physical manifestations of literal suffering and the sheer emotional energy provided by them is enough to give miracles the power to.. well. perform miracles.

when a person dies in anguish, there is a chance that their bodies will not decompose the way they are meant to. instead they slowly dissipate, bodies turning coal black and ashen to the touch. these cannot be disposed of the normal way (curses, contamination, all kinds of horrible things happen) so instead these corpses get locked up inside brick cells within the monastery

once, one of these was opened only to reveal that the bodies were gone- only a humming, massive shadow that seemed to move as if made of flies or soot combined. and it spoke, too. this was the first miracle created it was discovered then that these creatures had immense power but could not leave the rooms they were imprisoned in, touch sunlight, and similarly they could not die

imagine like the witchs nightmares in pmmm and you get what its like to be a soul trapped in a miracle. u get to relive ur worst fears and regrets forever. it suck miracles also cannot direct their powers towards their own will, only the will of others. ofc they are still monsters and exact a price for their services, whatever it may be.

a meeting with a miracle does not come cheap or without consequence, bc although miracles can be performed, karma always rebalances itself in the end. monks tasked with guarding and curating the miracles are called gatekeepers and are often someone close to one of the souls trapped in the vortex anyway i think thats the basics of everything in there... i got an au w cyrus as a prince and alex as his knight and instead of sticking around for their inevitable deaths the pair run off into the countryside far far away

actually i think something went wrong in the ceremony. cyrus and alex win godkingship of then... something goes wrong. probably the whole die-to-ascend thing is a secret kept from the princen and the public and. alex does a thing a knight should not do a refuses to let the ceremony continue. and im p sure as soon as cyrus learns of the truth hes like haha well fuck that

then they spend the rest of their days actually experiencing what life is like outside of a freakish cult and my fucking feels

i think.. meanwhile the monastic order grows in influence and power making them the enemy of the church... and jonah (yonah in this au) sacrifices himself to the miracle containing his brother in order to give the miracle a corporal form. which means august and company now have a physical conduit for all that power they had.

bad news for the church! bc august was unrightfully killed bc of a prophecy saying that hed become a huge threat and a killer

funny how prophecies work!

so now hes out for blood and he probably uses his own charisma and power to stage a coup against the church and basically the country goes to hell and i think at this point cyrus thinks. i got out of there alive. i need to do something about this. so he and alex probably join in and become arbiters of the game esp since cyrus and alex were probably the best synced, most skilled prince/knight duo the church had seen up to that date so theyre very powerful. ofc theyre still only two people so i really wonder how theyll step in btwn these two opposing parties

augusts side isnt good either bc august... is only out for revenge and self interest. he has no interest in fixing the country or helping anyone in fact once august is firmly seated on the throne of power he probably declares himself god-king anyway the end game probably looks like augusts body (which is jonahs body) being destroyed and the miracle contained in it finally put to rest jonahs soul must have something to do with the exorcism process- theyve tried to exorcise miracles before and only ended up upsetting it into violent outbursts anyway thats enough rambling from me time to paste this all into a blog post

god what if august picked keith to be his knight. thats messed up. keiths so easy to manipulate and hed be such a wildcard of a knight. he has more magic potential than alex and hes faster on his feet. im imagining bloodlust frenzy almost hyena-like behavior. also i mostly just want to see keith being violent and evil and i have an outfit in mind that would look great with a little splash of red

think like minimalistic ouji but like all black and keith with knives and serving a clearly twisted (even more than usual bc of the miracle’s influence) august

god even better the aftermath of augusts death TIME FOR THE FUCKING FEELS TO KICK IN BC now Keith has no purpose/he FAILED to protect his king WHICH WAS HIS ONLY PURPOSE IN LIFE then alex coming in with cy and just no, you have inherent worth. what happened wasn't right im upset this is how alex and keith become family in this au

miracles i think in this case are definitely more of a means to an end i think narratively ie jonahs brother being killed and augusts soul being trapped within it- tho i think its a good tie-in into how the severe paranoid cultish way the society works ends up producing a lot of People Dying In Extreme Anguish

almost a buildup of sickness so to say.. a plague of the soul that's a cool avenue to go down tbh the idea that miracles are more like viruses spreading misfortune in the long run for some quick gain in this life but bc karma always collects her debts if i throw in some nice reincarnation that would effectively damn someone in their next life... that implies that this story may need to expand across different generations

mechanics being so much bullshit has happened in this country it houses multiple miracles whereas elsewhere its like one, or none, very few in their histories except possibly during wartime and famine

since magic is Exists in this it makes sense that the emotional energy combined w ambient energy would manifest in some kind of grotesque Being

oh no thats maybe why the church is manipulating things by purposely generating that emotional trauma in its society its producing unprecedented amounts of energy they can utilize as magic power oh  no thats super bad august would definitely take advantage of that bc hed definitely figure the truth out once hes back to being alive

im upset bc i think they use princens and knights to specifically create emotional energy

energy released upon death which typically happens after a knight/prince duo has been chosen... then the resulting STRONG ass char plague on their bodies are collected to make artifacts? yes

gems created from the ashen plague are embedded into a huge mandala that actually ... is the god-king itself

[sammgreer]

A Late Review - Bloodborne

I am very late to this party but all the same, thought I'd offer up some thoughts on my time with Bloodborne. Let's get this out of the way first; Bloodborne can be a frustrating game.

And not just for intentional reasons either, though we'll get to those but because of long standing faults with From Software's recent action/RPGs that are here exasperated by Bloodborne's differences. The faster pace of combat really highlights just how pants the camera can be, frequently getting wedged in the arse of some shrieking monstrosity, covering you TV screen in nothing but viscera and wall leaving you helpless to react. It was always a problem in Dark Souls but their slow pace made it somewhat forgiveable. In Bloodborne it can become a legitimate grievance.

But what of the deliberate frustrations?

See, despite Dark Souls' history of being billed as the “hardest game” I've never been hesitant to recommend it. Because yes, it is challenging but it's reliant on patience, observation and learning. A key thing is that with the right preparation, the right build and weapons, every Dark Souls boss can be bested on a first attempt by a newbie. I should know, I frequently achieved as much.

To an extent those elements are still present in Bloodborne but they are no longer enough. The faster combat, finite healing resources and punishing enemies means that you just have improve at the fundamentals of combat to succeed. Dark Souls is tough but fair, Bloodborne is cruel. It isn't afraid to throw one hit kills at you, deprive you of resources and breaks. As a result, it's hard to recommend to those who are newcomers to From's particular brand of RPG.

But I still think it's a masterpiece.

Then why put all that up front? Because I want nobody to be under any illusion about Bloodborne. There are flaws. It's all too easy to discuss these games in a generous light, writing off all the flaws and frustrations. No, anyone who's interested should be aware of these issues up front because if you can't make peace with them then you won't enjoy this at all. 

You must appreciate that it will get harder, that if the first boss proves too stressful it's okay to walk away because the next dozen aren't going to be any kinder. Everyone praises From's games and chastises those who dislike them as if they've forgotten that all the reasons that make these games so endearing are also what make them so inaccessible to most. And Bloodborne is From at their most inaccessible, though also perhaps their best.

So what makes it so good? What makes me put up with those faults and enjoy myself regardless?

It's a Gothic horror adventure that oozes atmosphere and style from every orifice. Visually, it's arresting, with its haunting landscapes and twisted streets. For most games, the Gothic metropolis of Yharnam would be enough but for Bloodborne it's only the start. It feels like the densest location From's ever done, folding back on itself several times and is chock full of details, guiding you from one secret to the next if you pay attention. 

You become a hunter, sent out into the streets under a full moon to hunt those in the populace who have transformed into beasts. Gothic tropes run in its veins; the vampiric like hunters who recover health from the blood of their enemies, the hulking werewolf creatures that stalk the streets and the Frankenstein minds who seem to be at work. Play for long enough though and hints of a deeper story begin to emerge. The hunt and the city, are not all they appear to be. As you progress things begin to change, revelations come along that make you question your sanity. A man speaks to you from behind a door but when you open it, he's already been dead for years. You worry you are descending into madness like your fellow hunters have warned.

Your foes grow more horrific too, from half-men, half-beasts to creatures that assault you with their own flaying skin and then to strange, unspeakable entities deeper in the world. Even the most horrific monsters of Dark Souls had some dignity, some respect. In Bloodborne, they are victims, not spared by the trappings of their world. They are twisted, disgusting creations that may sometimes upon examination warrant your sympathy but they are seldom anything less than completely monstrous. And overcoming them requires you to get determined and brutal in your methods.

The fast paced combat didn't initially appeal, I was already so in love with Dark Souls' harsh but slow methodical pace. Yet after a few hours, I was immersed in it. Not only are the chunky, transforming weapons a visceral delight, arming you with saws and machetes to cut down the monsters, there's a mechanic in which when you're struck you have a few seconds to return a cut, spilling the blood of your foe and recovering the lost health. It turns every fight into this back and forth scrap. 

Dark Souls was characterised by duels and David and Goliath battles. Bloodborne instead wants you to be merciless and leans into the hunter aspect, emphasising aggression. When a boss is slain “Prey Slaughtered” flashes on screen. These are not enemies to be toed around and respected. They are ferocious and will throw themselves at you, again and again. Hunt them down and eviscerate them is your purpose. Fights go on with you and your enemy knocking chunks out of each other, blood splashing in every direction. To succeed you must not be cautious, you must be as relentless as the beasts.

Very quickly I attuned to its pace and honestly, coasted through large portions of the game (Save for the Old Hunters DLC, that is From's most punishing offering yet). Failure can be harsh but success comes quickly once you find the right rhythm. Cutting your way through these winding streets is a challenge that consumes you completely, immersing you in its twisted rules. It's Gothic horror at its most pulpy and gleeful but in service to narrative meaning.

And that's the defining feature of every From game. Every mechanic, every design point feeds back into the thematic ambition of the game. You learn what Bloodborne's about mostly from playing it.

The specifics, the overarching story must be deciphered from studying the world, your curiosity leading you to secrets and clues that help join the dots. Even then, this isn't a world that can be fully understood. There are mysteries in Bloodborne that cannot be answered.

What starts out with gore and blood, disgusting you with body horror and gothic monsters eventually gives way to something far more sinister. The deeper horrors, they will wriggle into your mind and take root. Bloodborne may build upon the classic foundation of Dark Souls but it excels by going further, deeper and stranger. It's more consistent and its mysteries were much more compelling for me. Are still compelling. Because the thrill of the hunt is as enticing as you are warned it will be by the inhabitants of Yharnam, who fear the hunters as much as the beasts.

Bloodborne is not for everybody and I really do mean that. Yet for those who can prepare themselves for the challenges and endure its flaws, there are depths in it like no other. I'm late to it and I imagine anyone who was interested has already played it. But if you haven't, if you're considering it then know what you're in for. If you're up for it then join the hunt. You'll be pondering its mysteries for years to come and playing it is a journey whose intensity even From's other works cannot match.

This is horror done on a scale unparalleled in videogames. It will confuse you, it will disgust you and ultimately haunt you. When it's over, perhaps it will all seem like a bad dream but it's one you won't soon forget.

[timsim26]

Top 10 Games of 2016

Dark Souls 3

Dark Souls 3 did absolutely everything that I absolutely love about videos games so well. The game feels like an old classic, with a new skin and mechanics that make sense. Too many games these days hold people by the hand and are accessible with working on the mechanics or building an understanding of how the game’s mechanics work together. Dark Souls 3 takes everything that it has learnt from previous iterations and improved what works from Bloodborne, the original Dark Souls and improved the way the environment looks and adds to the mood and atmosphere. The number of absolutely stunning challenges in terms of boss fights and creature design feel like the most comprehensive third person gameplay experience I have ever had in a game. Every single enemy must be given respect and requires you to use every tool and also the environment in order to progress. The game so many great secrets, a number of extremely memorable locations and some of the best boss encounters I have ever experienced in a game. It ticks every box and the gameplay is absolutely flawless.

Dishonored 2

Dishonored 2, similar to Dark Souls 3 is another game that absolutely triumphs gameplay over anything else. It is the ultimate player choice and experimentation game as it gives you so many different tools to use and combine in order to be the ultimate killing machine or an absolute invisible ghost. Dishonored 2 really allows players to explore the wonderfully created levels of the game utilising these gameplay mechanics. Dishonored encourages players to explore every nook and cranny as there are so many world building elements in every space that make the universe feel complete and natural. Great pieces of lore, a number of collectibles and some of the best environmental story telling I have ever seen in a game. The game offers a fast, responsive combat system that encourages players to utilise a number of methods in getting the job done. Combining powers like time stop and blink, or Doppleganger and dropping from long distances allows really exceptional moments of gameplay that make you feel smart and powerful. The world building and tone of the universe is excellent and I really enjoyed the characters that the game presents, each feeling unique and engaging. Gameplay is once again king and Dishonored 2 nails this crucial aspect. Combined with a beautiful art design and huge expansive levels, the game is an absolute must play for fans of stealth action gameplay.

Inside

The team behind Limbo gave their absolute heart and soul to this game and the 5 years of development is seen in every single seen throughout the game. I have never seen animation and art more beautiful and ominous that Inside. Every single landscape, movement, environment and gameplay element has been polished for a very long time and it makes the game remarkable. I love the tone and feel of Inside and the grim background and story of the boy. There are a number of extremely intense moments throughout and the three hours of time make it feel like the perfect one sitting experience. The ending sequence is also one of the most exciting, outlandish and unexpected events I have ever seen. This is a masterpiece of a game and does everything right.

Xcom 2

Wow, Firaxis definitely had a great year listening to fans and making some of the best strategy games available. First they finally released Xcom: Enemy Unknown on Vita, then after demanding Xcom 2 for consoles, it was delivered in September. I love the gameplay of Xcom 2. It is so addictive and really makes you think so carefully about every single move you make. It will kick you into the curb and then gutter stomp you to finish you off, with even the slightest mistake and despite this causing frustration and heartache, it is what makes the game so special. The customisation of calling your in game characters funny names, or naming them after your friends and family, only to see them being blown up by an exploding car, hopelessly dying of poison after using your last med kit, or being left behind for the good of the rest of the team or mission has so much weight. Every soldier killed is gone and the permanent death makes losing a highly ranked soldier so hard. Losing my fully level sniper 2 missions before the end of the game was so hard, but it is a part of the war that you are fighting against a relentless alien force. In Xcom 2 the combat is so much more robust as you have so many abilities to deal with an extremely challenging enemy resistance. I love that Firaxis took everything that made the original so great and improved the game in nearly every way. More weapons, more destructibility of environments, more customisations and even more deadly enemies to take down, hack or blow up. With a great narrative and many water cooler moments that are caused by your soldiers hitting/missing a shot only to cause you to win/die horribly in a mission is riveting stuff. I don’t normally enjoy turn based strategy games, but Xcom 2 is brilliant.

Gears of War 4

The second most fun I have had with a multiplayer game this year (more on that in a bit) and one of the most well rounded content deep experiences of the year. When Gears of War: Judgment came out after the exceptional Gears of War 3, I was well and truly ready to give the series a break. After 4 years (5 years if you count releases between proper games) I was definitely ready for more Gears of War. The Coalition took a beloved franchise that made the Xbox 360 the juggernaut that it was and upped the ante in nearly every way. I absolutely adore Gears of War 4 for the variety in its gameplay, the gorgeous graphics, the same brutal combat and the many new additions to the game that make it fun and fluid. The multiplayer feels refined and is extremely challenging, requiring intense skill and team work, the campaign has a great bunch of engaging new characters and some of the best cameos from the returning cast and horde 3.0 is extremely deep. There is a lot of game here and every single aspect has been give a great deal of polish and attention. It is an experience that definitely sets up a great future for the franchise.

Uncharted 4

If you think of what a good AAA experience is then the Uncharted series is the example that many gamers think of. Naughty Dog have proven time and time again that they are able to craft experiences that are funny, tense, action packed and look big budget. Uncharted 4 continues this theme and is once again a game that gives people fans of the actions games one hell of a good time. Uncharted 4 looks absolutely stunning. It is one of the best looking console games I have ever seen and the designs of human figures and the way they animate is brilliant. The acting is some of the best seen in video games and there a number of extremely memorable moments that give players a reason to continue to push forward in the series. Uncharted 4, while being a very familiar game, still does presentation better than any other AAA game in 2016.

Forza Horizon 3

Is there a better racing game than Forza Horizon 3? It would be hard to find one and argue against 2016’s most beautiful game. Seriously Horizon 3 looks absolutely stunning and I would not fault you if you mixed up screenshots with a real life shot of some of the world’s most luxurious vehicles. Forza Horizon 3 builds on everything that has made the franchise the most engaging and bombastic racer in the last 10 years. A huge roster of cars that are fun to drive and feel unique, a great environment that expands on what makes these playgrounds so fun (yay Australia), challenging opponents, a huge amount of customisation in order to find what works for you and how you want to play the game and once again a terrific sound track full of catchy songs that make you feel like a badass. The environment is the real stand out in Forza Horizon 3. As soon as the first game released, it made perfect sense to set a game like this in Australia. It is picturesque, it has a great variety of environment types and is also renowned for the relaxed, dream like state that Horizon 3 pushes on the player. It looks great, runs amazingly and is an absolutely joy to play. It is also bursting with more content than any other racer that I have played and therefore offers hours and hours of content that will keep you coming back.

Doom

From the opening sequence it was pretty clear that Doom was going to be a very special game. The bombastic, in your face attitude of the Doom Slayer breaking free from his sarcophagus crunching the faces and ripping the limbs off of demons to an extremely heavy and well constructed soundtrack is absolute poetry in motion. It all works so well together it is hard to believe that the team at id Software pulled it off. Doom is extremely self aware of how stupid it is and makes so many fantastic references and great story points in addressing this. There are some really fantastic character moments with the doom guy, despite him never uttering a word. Everything is conveyed through body language and his approach to situations. Everything must die is the attitude of the Doom Slayer and honestly I can’t blame the guy. They are demons after all. Considering the outlandish stupid nature of the game, it is extremely well written with a number of really engaging characters. Doom shines with its gameplay, everything feels really fast and responsive, you have so many options with all of the weapons, runes and upgrades that allow you to become an absolute wrecking ball making your way through hundreds of enemies. It looks great, plays great and is further solidifies that id software are among the very best when developing shooters.

Watch Dogs 2

Watch Dogs 2 was a game I expected to dislike, but the more I played it the more engaged I was with the overall experience. It is a game that embraces its millennial style and pushes the hacker L33t culture to the extreme. It is a game that is not going to age well depending on the digital trends that change so rapidly, but currently touches on many extremely relevant issues the world is dealing with. Fake news, live streaming, privacy issues, the rise of robotics and election rigging are some of the issues the game delves into and provides players with a way to influence how the world reacts to it. It is extremely tongue in cheek with the nature of these issues and Ubisoft embraces the silly side of things, which works perfectly for a game where everything is able to hacked with a mobile phone including cars, traffic lights all the way to Satellites that control the world’s communication. Watch Dogs was an extremely serious game with no personality, while I loved the combat and the gameplay, it felt soulless. Watch Dogs 2 fixes those glaring problem and adds much needed personality to the overall experience that helps it stand out as one of the best open world games of the year.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered

Yes Activision are completely disgusting for making this game only available if you buy Infinite Warfare. Yes it is completely overpriced as a result. Yes it is wrong to support a decision like this. However Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is still some of the most fun I have ever had with a shooter in my life. It completely changed the way shooters are played online and created the absolute juggernaut that is the franchise today. Modern Warfare Remastered is the absolute perfect re-do of this game. Absolutely everything feels exactly like it did in 2007, however now the game looks much better, the servers and connections are far more consistent and as a result the gameplay feels even more responsive and enemies die quickly. It is exactly the experience I remember having years and years ago. It is so refreshing after years of the jet pack, wall running bullshit, to be playing a boots on the ground shooter, where every movement has to be calculated and precise and you cannot randomly escape as a result of dumb knee slides and boosting over enemy soldier’s heads. CoD 4 had the best maps, the best selection of weapons and also easy to play, hard to master gameplay. It is so fun going up against a great group of players and coming away with a hard fought win. Raven have also done a great job providing players with new game modes that were not available in the original, that have become staple gamemodes of current CoDs. They have also allowed much more customisation with a bunch of cosmetics that can be earned quite easily through just playing the game. Of course you can also pay to unlock skins and camos, but unlike Black Op 3, Advanced Warfare and Infinite Warfare, you cannot unlock special guns that make the game pay to win. This is far and away the best remaster that I have played and it is so refreshing to be playing a great Call of Duty game.

Honorable mention - Battlefield 1, Batman: A Telltale Series, Titanfall 2 and Oxenfree.