#i still have not picked up my latest playthrough again

[lordcaptains]

The Herald remembered those doors. He could barely lift his head as the demons dragged him down the dark corridor that led to Baphomet's labyrinthine prison. A hundred faces stared down at him from its massive doors, each one twisted in unimaginable anguish, locked in an eternity of torment. The Herald knew that whatever fate awaited him behind those doors would be far, far worse. Perhaps, with the champion at his side, they could have broken down these doors. Perhaps together they could have freed those poor souls trapped inside that dark, defiled metal. Perhaps -  No. He should not think of her. But the pain made it so hard to think of anything else.

[tellmeallaboutit]

knock knock (Raphael x F!Player)

Chapter 1, In Which You Install The Mod

FOREWORD: inspired by this post

SUMMARY: Careful which mods you install for BG3. Did you read the terms and conditions carefully?

TAGS: meta romance, psychological horror, smut, the character is the player, Raphael is after you, you wanted him, you invited him to our world, he accepted your invitation

RATING: explicit

AO3

***

You hesitated for a moment before downloading this “Devil Wears Nada” mod. It felt slightly inappropriate, absurd as it may sound. There was something disrespectful about making Raphael deliver his final monologue in the nude.

Well, you would have to live with offending a bunch of pixels because you do want these screenshots. You put the salt and vinegar Pringles out of the way and wiped your fingers on a napkin before committing this digital sin.

Clickity-click-click. You dragged-and-dropped the mod where you wanted it to be and launched Steam. Now to load the saved game where you made the deal with the devil and gave him the crown of Karsus… pretty much any saved game really. 

Raphael had been spared in each one of your playthroughs.

A sigh escaped you when the devil still appeared fully clothed in the game; had something gone wrong? You double-checked, only to realize that you'd forgotten to activate the mod - odd, since you clearly remembered doing so. Leaving the game, you dragged the mod back into place.

On your phone, in the Devil's Den discord chat, you informed everyone of Raphael's stubborn refusal to undress.

MAKE HIM! came the immediate reply, followed by STRIP THE OLD MAN, accompanied by raunchy gifs. Couldn't help but grin at that.

Back in the game, you loaded an earlier save file and sank into your chair to watch Raphael emerge from the flames, clothed once again. “You son of a…”, you muttered to yourself. It was getting late anyway; this would be your last attempt before calling it a day. Tomorrow is Tuesday and thus another work day. 

“It won’t be long before you come knocking at my door”, Raphael said, looking straight at you from the wide screen. This wall-breaking sequence was brilliantly executed—you had to admit it—very eerie.

Raphael let out a deep, hearty laugh, head thrown back, pearly teeth glistening in orange-red lighting. You didn’t see this animation before. They must have added it with the latest patch, so you moved in closer. 

Handsome as sin, this devil - if he asked for your soul, you’d hand it over on a silver platter.

Suddenly, he fell silent for several seconds, staring directly at you from across the digital divide. You reached for the mouse to check if there was a glitch in the cutscene when Raphael's voice sliced through the silence.

“You are quite eager to see me naked, aren’t you? Naughty little mouse,” Raphael taunted.

What the fuck?

WHAT THE FUCK!?

You recoiled in shock and slammed your laptop shut. A shriek must have escaped your lips, but you were too stunned to notice. It took a moment for your heart to settle and for you to remember what date it was today.

A quick glance over the watch on your wrist confirmed: it was the first of April. April first, two thousand and twenty-four. 

It was an April Fool's joke from the modders.

Oh, fuck. Having recovered from the initial shock, you cautiously opened your notebook, only to be greeted by the familiar "ta-ta" outro. Oh, fuck. This is some kind of really fucked-up prank. How did they get this voice line?

AI, probably. Not probably. Definitely. There was no way they could have involved Andrew Wincott.

You scanned the game screen for any other surprises, but found none. Picking up your phone, you opened Discord and began recording a long voice message - your fingers too clammy to type.

The replies came soon after.

Haha, this is so fucked up, did they really do this? Hm. I have to try it myself. RECORD IT, RECORD IT PLEASE!

You stared at the loading screen but couldn't bring yourself to replay it. Instead, you searched “Raphael naked mod April joke” and clicked on the first Reddit thread that popped up. You didn't even bother to open it; a quick glance at the preview comment – “crazy I almost had a heart attack” – was more than enough.

Enough for today.

You quickly brushed your teeth in the bathroom and changed into short pajamas before glancing at the laptop on the other side of the room, its camera eye peering at you from across the room. You closed the shutter.

“Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you”, you read somewhere.

You tucked yourself into bed, phone in hand, blanket between your legs. Was it time for a quick stroll through selected Raphael / Tav bookmarks?

No. Well, maybe. The threesome with Haarlep, just a quick re-read to help you fall asleep quicker. You were creeped out, but not that creeped out. You’ve heard of such meta jokes before. Black & White did it, Metal Gear Solid did it, too. 

But still… they really should tag this sort of stuff.

Your nightly reading was progressing nicely; things were getting interesting - “the ridges of his devil cock stroking your sensitive walls” interesting. Your hand slid into your underwear, working your finger past your hair down to your clit. This scene was very well written, you could almost feel it, picture yourself spread open between Haarlep and Raphael. 

The smut got better and better right until your phone vibrated in your hand, and you dropped it on the blanket.

Unknown caller ID.

Don't answer it, came the panicked, irrational thought as it grabbed you in a chokehold. 

You stared at the screen - the call went on and on - and pushed it aside. Swiped to the right in one quick motion and heard an automated female voice:

"This call is from Europol. We would like to inform you that your identity card number has been misused. For further information please press 1."

You hung up immediately, recognizing this as one of those scam calls that had been making rounds recently. Your mum had received one too. 

Nothing to lose sleep over.

You put the phone down and turned your back to it, trying to calm down. Screw the fanfic, you were not in the mood anymore. Well, you were, but…

Another time. 

It took some time before you could relax, your gaze fixed on the blank wall in front of you, re-playing that cutscene all over again in your head, occasionally wandering to the large window looking out over the courtyard (what a pitch black night). 

Eventually, you did. 

As you drifted off to sleep, a voice whispered in your dream:

“You are quite eager to see me naked, aren’t you? Naughty little mouse”.

The silky soft voice was so lovely; it made you feel less alone. A small smile crossed your lips as you slept.

Yes, Raphael. Very eager indeed. 

Tomorrow. You’ll try again tomorrow.

NEXT: Chapter 2, In Which You Meet A Tall Dark Stranger

[gamesplication]

So I beat Echoes of Wisdom the other day. (Not having a job makes beating the latest Zelda game very quick)

Some thoughts (spoilers ahead!):

I really enjoyed messing around in the overworld, traversing, and exploring the mechanics. The echos system is really great and makes for some very expressive gameplay. There's a lot of really interesting ways to use bind as well, and I know for sure that I underutilized it in my playthrough.

The story is a small step above for the typical top-down Zelda game. The NPC dialogues are usually a bit more expressive than the past few games, and some of the side quests go beyond, emotionally, the usual depth for Zelda. This is partly because Zelda as a character has a defined family and connections that are deeper than those of Link, whose usual interactions and relationships are fleeting and brief. The primary example of this is the interactions with your dad, the King. Although there's only one main side quest involving him that I can think of, the tone of the dialogue with him is something we don't frequently see in Zelda games because Link has never had quite the same kind of relationship with another NPC before. A real focus is placed on the kings love for his daughter and the admiration and love the rest of the people of Castle Town have for the princess.

I think the biggest issue I have with the game is the dungeons and especially the bosses. There's a few reasons for this, I think. Because the use of Swordsman mode is extremely limited (especially early on), all of the bosses require a certain amount of experimentation to figure out a viable strategy. It's not always obvious which echoes will be useful for any given encounter. This wouldn't be a huge issue, except that you have to rely on NPC monster echoes a LOT. This means you have to deal with their limited AI. (As an aside, it feels weird to use that term here now because the well has been so poisoned) It leads to extremely frustrating boss encounters where you're pitting dumb and weak enemies against huge bosses (unless you've managed to pick up just the right echo beforehand), and it's often a bit of luck getting them to attack the right place at the right time. It also doesn't help that the amount of non-enemy echoes that can be used for combat effectively is very low. Combine this with very sparse swordsman energy drops from most bosses, and it often becomes a war of attrition. I usually resorted to cheesing the boss encounters, but then again it seems that's what's called for in this situation.

The only exception here is the final dungeon and boss encounter. I won't say more, except that despite the issues I listed above it was still enjoyable and fun.

As a side note, and not something I have much room to speak on myself, I did notice that they really tried to play to stereotypical "girl" interests and themes throughout. It makes sense that they'd want to make sure this reaches a wider demo, but I think the idea that they had to do anything more than just make Zelda the hero is a little misguided. I don't have their market research available, but I suspect that the Zelda series is already popular enough young women and girls that some of their choices seem unnecessary. For example: instead of items to equip, they're called "accessories". Instead of meals, you make smoothies. Horses have never been used in a top-down Zelda before, and I feel like their inclusion here is to grab the attention of horse girls. I don't know, ultimately it's for someone else to talk more about, but I just wanted to point out what felt like a very deliberate attempt to incorporate what marketing departments usually think of as "girly things". No that it's wrong to try to aim the game at young women and girls, just that I don't know if this is the way to go about it especially considering the wide appeal the games already have.

Side note two: why are they moving away from using the term "Triforce?" I don't think that word came up once in this game (and it didn't come up in BotW and TotK either iirc). This time they called it the "Prime Energy", though they did acknowledge the three parts of Power, Wisdom, and Courage and (SPOILERS) the Triforce itself does appear at the end of the game. Anyway, just something I noticed.

Overall I really loved Echoes of Wisdom. It was really exciting to finally play as Zelda after all these years, and the incorporation of her role as keeper of the triforce of wisdom deeply into her gameplay was very satisfying and I think it paid off very well overall.

[realclemhours]

Hi alright take another ramble because I watched the newest episode of the Game Grumps Danganronpa V3 playthrough and this is more of just an introspective dive into my feelings about this trial since I read through some comments and I wanna get my feelings out there.

Idk spoilers for V3 trial one under the cut

Okay so as I said above I both read the comments for the latest episode of the Grumps Playthrough and watched their reactions, and that made me realize that this trial is pretty polarizing and I 100% get why.

The clues leading up to the twist and the murder itself are sloppy and kind of confusing. It’s such a left turn because after you play for this character, who is the first mainline girl Danganronpa protag btw, for only one chapter with seemingly no indication she is now suddenly the murderer you guys have been looking for the whole time. To add insult to injury, the new protagonist is now the guy sidekick, so yeah not great.

However- despite all it’s misses, despite how I know this trial is objectively sloppy, I still really get into Chapter 1 of V3. Even knowing what was coming and seeing Dan and Arin’s rightful confusion in live time, I still felt dread leading up to the reveal. I felt genuine dread and sadness to a sloppy twist I knew was coming, and I think that’s because despite all of V3’s many many many flaws I’m invested in Kaede and Shuichi as characters.

I’m invested in watching a protagonist slowly being lead into the very game she swore against out of desperation to save everyone. I’m invested in Shuichi’s trauma and him slowly picking up on the fact the Kaede did it, but being unable to say anything for the longest time due to how much he cares about her and his trauma. I’m invested in how despite Kaede going into a death march she still has a class trial in one last attempt to save everyone and how she uses her final moments to build up Shuichi’s confidence for his own sake and for the sake of the survival of everyone else. I’m invested in them both breaking down crying blaming themselves. I’m invested in how Kaede in her final moments pushes on her will to save everyone onto Shuichi, not realizing how intense a final wish like that could be and how he struggles with it for the rest of the game. And I’m invested in that final goodbye in Kaede’s lab, with Claire De Lune playing in the back as he mourns the loss of someone who, despite only knowing her for a few days, changed his life.

V3 trial 1 has a very strong emotional core. I think it’s the strongest one out of the whole franchise tbh (that doesn’t equal best btw I think V3 trial 4 or 5 are objectively better), but a lot of that gets muddied with an upsetting twist and a confusing murder, so I get why a lot of people don’t like this trial. However, I really love this trial even after all these years and going through the Danganronpa series again and realizing I find a lot of it mid.

That’s kinda how I feel about V3 as a whole honestly. It’s an objectively bad game with sloppy writing, a lot of filler dialogue, and some gross problematic stuff. I would never recommend this game to anyone in a million years, yet under layers and layers and layers and layers of hot garbage, there’s some moments that really do shine to me. Not for everyone, but for me they do.

That’s why I love V3 Chapter 1 and V3 as a whole so much, despite everything. It made me captivated with a handful of characters and moments even if the overall quality was bad. Growing up is realizing that not everything you like is of good quality and that’s okay. “My Class Trial Our Class Trial”, and by extension V3 as a whole, just so happened to be the media to make me realize that.

[arcanadreams]

alright! so! I just finished my first playthrough of episode eight!! going to put my immediate thoughts in some bullet points here (putting under a read more for spoilers, since it is the latest ep after all):

many people were skeptical about the Nerissa reveal, but honestly I feel like she's become a good narrative device. and yeah, I don't agree with her most of the time, but in this episode she was finally vulnerable and opened up to Traveler and admitted to being stubborn and being in the wrong about some things. which was great, and exactly what I needed from her! I wanted her to be vulnerable, and to show that, and I enjoyed her much more in this chapter.

loving how we can just say live on air that the monarchy should be abolished, that is honestly so slay

Zovack having a sister who died in the Orionite mines...now that was a reveal I was not expecting, and an intriguing one at that

I love KY-L3. Or however you spell it, lmao. he's so fun and he clearly is so fond of Traveler. his protective streak about Nerissa was very sweet.

ZANE INVITING TRAVELER INTO HIS AND ALISA'S BED...BRO. Bro. I almost stuck with the "Don't tempt me" option but telling Zane that I didn't mind if he flirted with me felt icky when I'm on someone's route lol

The "flirty reply" option when your love interest texts you...bro kill me that was so cringe. It's straight up cringe sexting I can't take that shit seriously oh my god...nope never picking that again (jk I need to see how bad it is on the other routes too LMAO)

soft kiss!! at least on Cal's route!! I've said before that one of my main gripes with a6 is that kisses feel like they're softblocked behind the horny options, and that can make it seem like the people who aren't into horniness are being shafted sometimes. for example, you don't get a morning after scene with your love interest unless you have sex. and yeah, I get that it isn't really a morning after scene without the after sex part but like they couldn't just snuggle up in bed with you and stay the night and still be cute in the morning? the texts you get instead on Cal's route are sweet but like if you don't fuck you miss out on an entire scene, which makes it feel a bit like you're punished for not being horny lol. but oh well, that's what fanfic/headcanon is for

WE DID GET A NON HORNY KISS THOUGH FINALLY. after you get the Cal betrayal lore (which I will get into in a moment), on his route he gives you a soft kiss and I LOVED IT.

CAL LORE. WE GOT THE EX'S NAME Y'ALL. It's Selah! She was a singer on Goldis, working for Zovack the whole time. Cal fell for her, but she still couldn't get what she wanted out of him, so she moved on to his childhood best friend, Jasper. They framed Cal for the murder together. Jasper's betrayal hurt Calderon far more than Selah's did. Also, in this scene, we learn that Cal's moms know how to party kjhdslfj

okay so overall, my first impressions are mainly good!! the only things I straight up was like "um" about were the "flirty option" texts...like that was so embarrassing, i'm SORRY i think it's just my asexuality shining through but ough dhsflkj, and the fact that the cute scene at the beginning of the episode is softlocked behind the horny. other than that, I had a blast!!

[soulsisterif]

LITG Season 9

(Not Soul Sister related, people, just ranting)

After weeks and weeks of not playing I got up to date with season 9 and... Well, actually I didn't finish playing the latest volume. Same disappointments as always. I'm not one to post to complain but I'm kinda frustrated. Ranting got too long, so, under the cut.

First off I understand that male LIs are also infuriating and that wlw players are not this game's target audience (then again, there are few of those) but dude, at this point I'd rather not have any sapphic options. The last route I recall being actually good (by which I mean the female LI not stringing me along à la Marisol until the very end) was Najuma's and Angie's, and that was season 4. Yes, you can only couple up with Angie at the end too, but you get so many info about her, and so many sweet moments and bonding that I didn't even care. And it's more about her being unsure of her feelings than unwilling to be with you. Quite relatable. Peak of this game for me, if I'm being honest. Good friends to lovers, even if they went too far too fast with the sex scene in my opinion. Still, it was very well written!

But every single season after that had the female LI fucking drooling over several men (and sometimes women too) and then adding a half-assed line like, "'oh, but I don't know, I have my eyes on someone else too', she gives you a wink". Like that makes it okay? I think the only truly unapologetically loyal female LIs were Najuma and AJ back in season 3.

They put so little thought into incorporating the wlw routes that to make them progress you have ludicrous paths. Like, in my playthrough Henri won a challenge and as a prize my MC could actually dismiss him and choose to go to the hideaway with Natasha or Kelly instead. Like ??? That's just bad writing.

What's worse, we can't even make friends anymore, it's all about romance, which wipes out most of the appeal this game had for me. Practically every islander, even after you reject them, comes at the MC confessing their undying love like a crazy stalker for no reason, because we know nothing about each other! Besides half of the options you have to get to know more about what's happening around you force you to be an insufferable gossip or a petty child. "Let's listen to a private convo, MC", "Why don't you sneak a kiss with guy 2 to make guy 1 jealous?" And you have to pay an unfair amount of gems to do it, on top of it!

I want to get to know the characters BEFORE I choose who I want to pick. I want to know the characters even if they are not romanceable. It's ridiculous, though, that there are seasons in which you know more about your besties than you do about your LI. That's why Angie, or Seb, or Nicky, or Viv or Thabi, hell, even Hope and Lottie, wth all their flaunted flaws are so appealing. That's why Season 2 is so goddam popular. We had actual interactions back then. Now, whatever interactions there are, you just witness.

This is also why people like games like Too Hot to Handle so much more. I'm not really into guys but I still play their routes because it's good content beyond romance stuff. Hell, Jirayu may be my favourite out of this season's bunch. And they're all different! It's an interactive game, choices should matter.

At this point I'll probably stop playing and limit myself to read other people roasting Fusebox. Honestly, a company that asks for the fans' opinions season after season just to ignore all the feedback doesn't deserve half the players they still have.

There, ranting over XD

[chaotictiamat]

CHOSEN

Summary: A quick tale on how Astarion found his fluffy companion.

A/N: This is just a fluff piece really. In my latest playthrough I made Astarion a Ranger/Rogue and he gets to summon a companion. I always pick the cat because he loves cats so much and I just could imagine this playing out. No idea what he would actually name it though! Thoughts?

____________

The boar’s blood did little to curb his need. It was infinitely better than the rats he had been forced to live off of but that hunger still gnawed at his belly. It was an always present reminder of just what he was…vampire. He sighed as he straightened out his clothes, doing a quick inspection to make sure nothing was amiss when he returned to camp. His traveling companions blissfully sleeping unawares and that is exactly how he needed them to be for the moment. He had a plan forming in his mind on how to ensure his continued safety and freedom, his thoughts briefly resting on the de facto leader of their merry little band. It shouldn’t be hard at all to seduce them. He recalled the way Tav’s eyes seemed to linger on him and the way they flushed at his more risque overtures. Yes, it should be rather simple indeed.

There was a rustle of leaves behind him and he turned sharply. Focused. Intent. Years of survival instincts rushing forward. His eyes scanned the surrounding area sharpening on movement in the underbrush. Muscles tensed, ready to pounce, and end any threat when the cat emerged from the foliage. The animals blue eyes seemed to glow brighter in the dark just like his own. The cat was carrying its own meal in its jaws, a small bird whose feathers were smeared in blood. It tilted its head at him, almost questioning. Astarion chuckled to himself, the tension flowing out of his body. “Apologies for disturbing your meal.” He did a mock little bow which only seemed to intrigue the creature who moved further into the glade.

He had always been more of a cat person than a dog. There was just something more noble about a cat than a mangy mutt. This cat seemed to preen at him under his scrutiny, giving its long tail an extra swish. “I hate to eat and run, but places to be. Do enjoy.” He turned then making his way back to the camp and his thoughts turning back to the seduction of Tav.

.

“Astarion?”

He pulled himself out of his trance when he heard Tav’s questioning voice, slowly emerging from his tent. There was Tav, bent over some cushions and pillows he had collected, a small smile on their face. And while he would have loved to have been the one to place that smile on their lips, it was not because of him. Oh no, they were smiling and running their fingers through the brown fur of a cat. A cat with blue eyes resting on his pillows outside his tent without a care in the world. The sound of purring reached his ears as the cat turned its pleased look to him. “Where did you find this lovely?”

Astarion blinked. Tav smiled. The cat continued to purr with an air of absolute smugness about it.

He quickly pulled himself together, barely a pause between Tav’s question and his response. “I was patrolling last night just making sure everything was alright. The only thing I came across was this little one. Though, I am not sure why it is here?” He nodded his head to the cat who at that moment decided to get up from his cushions. It stretched, little claws digging into the fabric of the pillows. “Don’t you tear up those pillows! They were hard enough to find in good condition as it was.” The cat paused, head tilted his way, and flexed his claws again giving the cushion he was on an extra dig. “No, no, no!” He tutted at the cat, reaching down to scoop it up. For being a random cat in the woods, the creature had soft fur that was surprisingly free of bramble and knots. It gave him an indignant meow, before seeming to settle in his arms, and Astarion suddenly found himself with a content purring cat that he was absently stroking his fingers through its fur.

Tav’s laughter mixed with the cat’s purring. “Well, it seems you’ve been chosen.” The laughter was infectious and he chuckled watching Tav walk away. Brown fur was mingling with his clothes and he would have to do something about that in the foreseeable future. “You are going to need a name.” The cat peered at him with a look that clearly indicated he could care less and to keep petting him. A smile tugged at Astarion’s lips as a small warmth grew inside him pushing the ever present hunger he felt away briefly. His mind thinking of various potential names for his new found companion.

Everyone always talked about the Chosen of gods, but he found he much rather preferred being chosen by a cat.

[leclerced]

what are ur fav games?

oh baby i have a lot to say, im sorry. ive been gaming my whole life so theres a lot. i know i’m forgetting some, but here we go. im adding a read more because it accidentally got kinda long bc i nerded out

im a whore for godd howard sorry i mean todd howard games, just games developed by bethesda really. top two of all time are skyrim and oblivion from the elder scrolls franchise, they are impeccable games. oblivion has the strong nostalgia factor, it’s definitely outdated graphically but i love the way it looks. its like a dreamland to me. i’ve been playing skyrim since release, i have bought it on just about every console, multiple times. well worth the money in my opinion. both have incredible story telling, world building, characters, gameplay is pretty simple. i could go on forever. it is the only game ive ever played that i have always wanted to pick up and play again immediately after, i have hundreds to thousands of hours on it. oblivion is just in the hundreds, but still a lot.

the other games by todd howard are incredible too. i love new vegas and fall out 3 and have played those a few times each, but didn’t play much of 4 but i need to tbh. post apocalyptic isn’t generally my style but these games fascinate me and have since i was a kid.

starfield is my latest obsession and i put it down after one playthrough to give myself a rest so i could come back to it and enjoy it fully! its an incredible game that fucks your mind up, beautiful graphics and lovely characters that feel incredibly lifelike and weirdly like real people to me. love everything about it.

onto other games ! i play a lot of fortnite with friends it’s just simple and easy, fun. not a lot to it other than that but ive been playing for 5 years so i feel like if i don’t call it a fav im doing it a disservice.

portal and portal 2 are my favorite puzzle type games, also a mind fuck but very very very enjoyable. super satisfying to beat. have been playing since childhood. was playing portal 2 last night and its still just as fun as it was 10 yeas ago

star wars jedi survivor and fallen order were beautiful, i’m not a star wars fan or a souls like fan generally speaking but i had a ton of fun. it was challenging at some points but its really satisfying beating the bosses they throw at you.

i played it once but it takes two is a super fun two player game that made me cry.

little big planet, little big planet 2, and sackboy (skipping 3 and karting bc i didn’t play much) are all super super fun!!! i think lbp and lbp2 may only be available on ps3 so you may not be able to play those, but sackboy is on ps4 and ps5! lbp and lbp2 are games i grew up playing and love so so much but i can’t explain them tbh. just fun.

cyberpunk is another super fun one, ive only played it once but i tried to 100% it and gave up. im gonna go back to it and start a new game soon though because there’s multiple endings and i need to see the secret one.

the borderlands games are good and kinda brain melty. cool stories, incredible art style, great characters, there’s a lot to the game i can’t begin to describe. it’s food if you like to focus/fixate on something because there’s a ton of grinding and enemies respawn after leaving areas and returning. there’s different characters to choose from and perks to create different skill builds, theres an entire community that has created builds you can follow and guides to farm the best loot, so if that’s your thing i recommend it!

love playing assetto corsa and pretending i am a formula one driver. i wanna get a sim racing set up but they r expensive.

[manonamora-if-reviews]

Trail Stash by Andrew Schultz

============= Links

Play the game (IFComp) See other reviews of the game

============= Synopsis

Just a hinky stunt, really.

============= Other Info

Train Stash is a Twine(SugarCube) game, submitted to the 2023 Edition of the IFComp.

Status: Completed Genre: Comedy, Surreal

CW: /

============= Playthrough

Played: 7-Oct-2023 Playtime: around 30min Rating: - [IFComp vote] Thoughts: Trash and error...

============= Review

Trail Stash is a short-ish puzzle, where you must go through trash to find treasures. Along the way, you pick up items you can use to unlock new locations. As the story is rather not deep and quite nonsensical, the focus of the entry is meant to be on the gameplay. I could not solve the puzzle without the external map.

Spoilers ahead. It is recommended to play the game first. The review is based on my understanding/reading of the story.

Trail Stash is the latest entry of Andrew's experiments in SugarCube, which I got into with his Neo Twiny entries last June, where the focus is less on the story itself but what the code can do or what gameplay could be added to a Twine game. In this entry, it is all about a puzzle map, where you can pick up items, use those items, unlock rooms, and collect all map pieces to get to the ending.

Though it is humorous and you should take the story at the first degree, the puzzle itself is a struggle. There is no indication on what you are supposed to do, or even hints. When you finally manage to understand what's going on after clicking on everything, solving the puzzle itself comes down to a trial and error, and error, and maybe a win, but mostly error, and an error again. If there was a certain logic in where to use which item, I did not find it... Even while using the map, I've made many errors because I could not differentiate the colours.

Honestly, this felt a bit like one of those old school parser puzzle transplanted into a choice-based engine. Which is neat in and of itself, but didn't really work... I found quite a bit of friction, with how the pages were formatted: with the locations being in a line, whole pages refreshing instead of a single line, or the inventory hidden*. That made, to me, the entry feel more like a proptotype. *I think it could have worked better tagged at the end of the passage, with a popup on whether the combo worked or not...

Still, I've always found something interesting with these experiments, as it's made me think of new ways to approach SugarCube or gameplay in general. There's always something intriguing, making me wonder how things work under the hood. And this one is no different.

[spynorth]

happy birthday u nerd. my fellow mass effect buddy. i hope you have a great day! 🎂

i had plans to pick up my latest playthrough again today (i had to restart with 1 when i got my new playstation and i just .. whyyy) but it hasnt happened yet. nights still young though! thank you for being as big of a mass effect nerd as i am. can't believe i knew you before i met you and that we had written together with my indiana jones and one of your past blogs. glad we reunited when i made harbinger. best serious crack idea i've ever had lmaooo. thanks, mate !!

[eli-i-23porfolio]

My Top 10

This list is incredibly biased by my childhood preferences and how sentimental these things are to me. I don’t want anyone to think that I am an overgrown child. I hold things that have a sentimental value to me at a higher regard than what’s “objectively” better. Production quality, budget, date of release are things that never matter when you make something that means something to someone. 

However this list is not ordered in terms of what’s my favorite because I can never pick one favorite media out of everything that’s out there.

Number 10 - Tamako Love Story

This is one of my favorite animes I watched during quarantine. I was always drawn to love stories. This movie is beautifully animated and has a very nice story and conclusion to the story introduced in the show that came before Tamako Market. 

The Official Trailer That Aired in Japan

Number 9 - The Breakfast Club

I really love this movie even though it does have it’s questionable parts, some jokes that wouldn’t be considered okay today. Regardless this movie really does mean something to me because it was one of the movies I watched before I moved to the US that introduced me to how high school was going to be. Of course that was not the case for me at all but it did help me dream and hope for a better school experience than the one I had in Turkey. 

The Original 1985 Trailer

Number 8 - Jujutsu Kaisen

This anime is also one of my favorites because i watched it during quarantine. But it means more to me because I was in an online community that talked about the show every week a new episode came out. I would be waiting for a new episode to air so I could go online and talk about it. I made a lot of friends that way, people my age, and I really liked hearing other people’s opinions. It made the show more meaningful and real to me. 

Jujutsu Kaisen Opening Theme Song 

Number 7 - Carry On

This is one of my favorite books. I loved reading it, it was tense, full of lore, and had great characters and one of the best and worst endings I’ve ever seen. I think it’s one of the only books I finished in one sitting. It was 530 pages long. 

A Really Cool Fanmade Trailer That’s Sadly In Spanish

Number 6 - 10 Things I Hate About You 

Again this is one of the movies that I watched and believed the US to be like. I idolized this movie, thinking the exact same thing would happen to me. It didn’t but watching this movie always makes me feel better, no matter how much I’ve memorized it up until now. I also love the actors in it, Heath Ledger, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Julia Stiles.

The Original 1999 Trailer

Number 5 - Markiplier

Unlike the other things on this list, Markiplier is a real person, who’s my favorite Youtuber ever. I watched him alongside Jacksepticeye when I was small, from age 9 and so on. I never stopped watching him, even after seeing how he changed throughout the last 9 years, I still enjoy his content a lot. And if I ever do stop watching him, I will have so much respect for him for being such a great person and content creator.

His Latest Theatrical Movie Trailer

Number 4 - Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse

This movie is one of my favorite animated movies of all time. The animation is incredible, after watching videos about the process of making this movie I was so impressed. The artstyle and the color palette makes it so fun to watch. The voice acting is so good. Not to mention I have always been a Spider-Man fan, more specifically Miles Morales fan after having read the book about him. 

Official 2018 Trailer

Number 3 - Persona 5 

Persona 5 is a Japanese RPG game that is about a group of Japanese high schoolers who fight demons at night. It’s very anime-like. The game itself takes about 100 hours to complete. It took a very very long time to come out, because of Atlus’ perfectionism. Because it had mature themes I couldn’t play it when I wanted to, in seventh grade. Therefore I watched a youtube playthrough. That whole year I would watch it whenever I could. I loved the characters and the story. And I loved going online and seeing art that was made by fans about the game.

Official Trailer

Number 2 - Life Is Strange

Life Is Strange is my favorite game of all time. If I wasn’t so sentimental about it, it wouldn’t even be on this list. This game came out a day before my 10th birthday. I begged my parents to let me buy it after seeing the trailer. And I played the first part of the game a million times. The art style, music, voice acting, and the heart of this game is so amazing. Especially the music and the visuals, it’s basically a visual dessert. It has gotten its criticisms over the years and I understand and agree with them completely but it still makes me so so happy that I can never imagine ever forgetting it.

Official Trailer

Number 1 - 6Teen

6teen is number one on this list because unlike everything else on here, I have been actively watching this show in the last few weeks. It helped a lot as background noise when I did homework but still is so fun to watch. I first watched this show in my junior year and I have loved and rewtached it so many times since then. The show has so much heart and has such realistic characters that it’s scary. It makes me sad now how I never experienced being sixteen the same way they did but at least watching the show helped me feel that. 

6Teen Theme Song

[iturbide]

I love how this whole chain went from:

grab your mini pitchforks -> grab the popcorn

really fast. Anywho, other than that jazz, how are you doing overall?

I will gladly take popcorn over pitchforks any day (the pitchforks are their own brand of entertainment, but the popcorn is always fun)

Other than that I'm doing okay, though! Still really excited that the Lodestar.sys zine is out (I still think my piece in there is one of the best things I've ever written), but besides that most of my energy is spent keeping track of kittens so other things have been put on the backburner:

I mean. Look at these little hellions.

don't let Hubert's murderous look fool you, Ferdinand is equally naughty

With them in mind, my bookbinding experiments have been put on the backburner for a while; I'm about halfway through my test copy of Crown of Shadows, though -- the signatures are all folded and stitched, the textblock has been sanded, the endpapers are attached (though I want to give the whole thing a final sanding to get things nice and even), and the covers have been cut to size -- and I think it's coming together really nicely so far! I'm thinking about kicking into it again this weekend, since I'd like to get a few copies of Proof of Life together to use as a testing ground for some cover stuff I want to play with before going all-out on the hardcover.

After Crown of Shadows (which I might make another copy or two of, just to keep trying my hand at the flat back book format, we'll see) I'd really like to do a copy of Heart of the Moon with a rounded back, since that one's so much bigger: Crown of Shadows clocks in around 41.5k words and I managed to fit it into 6 signatures (a little big for a flat back, but still reasonably in range for it), while Heart of the Moon sits at 60k and looks like it'll need 11 signatures total, making it a good choice for experimenting with rounding.

(Once I have a little more experience with different formats under my belt, I'd really like to start binding more of my favorite fics and trying to get in touch with the authors to gift them copies of their works; I'm starting with mine since they're just for me, so it's fine if they go sidways...though I guess if anyone would want a hard copy of something I've written, let me know?)

Aside from there, I've been thinking about picking up a video game again but haven't done it yet (again, in part because of kittens who are Too Interested in the TV sometimes). Choices are between Legends Arceus again since I still want a shiny Hisuian Zorua or two, Horizon: Zero Dawn since I picked that one up a while ago and still haven't finished out the damn intro, the latest God of War because it's all Norse mythology and I'm predictable, or Three Houses to finish out that Azure Moon playthrough and go back to Claude because I love and miss him...but I haven't committed.

Instead I've just been playing stuff in the background and occasionally paying attention. I had a craving for Retro Anime recently and picked up Detective Conan again (I love this comedy murder show but it messes me up sometimes, there are some heavy episodes). Also finished Spy x Family and I'm sobbing I love them and October can't get here soon enough because then I get both the second half of Spy x Family's first season and Season 3 of Mob Psycho 100 which I am so stoked for you have no idea. And lucky for me, Nona the Ninth comes out in September, which should tide me over until the new anime I yearn for arrives.

Writing has been stalled basically since the start of the year and continues as such. I'm still stuck with just chapter 7 of last year's Chrobin Week to finish, and I have a bunch of other ideas that I'd like to start exploring, both for Awakening and Three Houses (since I'm desperately missing Claude), as well as an original piece that I've been rolling around for years that's come back to the forefront recently. We'll see what if anything comes out of any of that, but it might just end up being a sparse year on writing.

Anyway yes that's my long-winded status update ramble

[heshemejoshi]

hi i'm still alive just sick lol. during today's energy boost caused by my necessary school absence i downloaded pokémon black randomized since i want to actually have fun with old pokémon games again. i'm going in practically blind and holy shit. it's so much fun???? literally i am having a blast. i played for almost two hours straight. i have not played a game that much in so long.

trying to figure out the logic of what pokémon are doing which type of attack (they're sometimes really different from the pokémon type in question LOL my lotad has a ghost type attack???) this is silly insane it's challenging but satisfying! making notes to actually strategize sometimes too. this is my current team:

SPROUT (celebi) was my starter! other options were toxicroak and audino. i was struggling between choosing toxicroak and SPROUT ngl but 1. i remembered/misremembered (idk) celebi is a legendary, 2. psychic sounds cooler than poison and 3. celebi is cuter anyway and tbh i think it truly is what i'd choose if pokémon were real and i could have any companion. best decision of my life. and yeah SPROUT is strong, sure, but i've encountered pokémon that are immune to its powers! so picking other guys is essential, not just for beating the game but because i do love all the critters. i've strategically made sure to get my weaker ones win fights though, since for some reason the first fight ever with bianca gave SPROUT a shit ton of exp???

MEOWIE was my second one. i've restarted quite a lot and i HAD to get another pokémon because for some reason i kept having Drapion encounters in route 1 and they're immune to SPROUT's main attack that actually does larger damage (other was leech seed, the other two are for status restore and health restore) so i reset. then i got MEOWIE, who kicks ass with its two really useful status moves, then PIKI. PIKI is so silly for some reason i couldn't figure out why he wasn't getting exp and MEOWIE was even though i was fighting with SPROUT for a little bit but that's because she had the exp share item.. PIKI is cool too, he looks like a fucked up scorpion to me but that just adds to his charm. haven't gotten to use PLOP a lot but he's silly he has silly eyes i love him. DOG was my latest catch but i haven't used him since i quit due to me having to do homework. that i still haven't started.

also for context i had only played alpha sapphire in my life before, sold it when i was like 13/14, forgot every type but kinda remember a few pokémon creatures -after the X and Y games i stopped caring-, downloaded pokémon black, got incredibly bored, time passed, and i tested the randomizer. i am definitely sticking with it. also i am not looking up anything about pokémon for this playthrough. PLEASE do not give me pokémon tips through the notes, dms or ask box. i want to be stupid this time!!!

[tttinytrash]

A prompt from the legendary Shy! I decided to go with this one first because the most ideas to fill in the framework they so kindly provided sprung to mind immediately, but expect the other two they sent along at some point soon. I took the liberty of picking Classic and Underfell Sans for the cast, but the nicknames will probably have made that clear anyhow. I tried to change it up and made the prey brave rather than the nervous wreck I often default to, so hopefully that pans out. Enjoy!

Nerds really do have more fun.

You’re not entirely sure how your socially inept self had made friends as good as these two, but your life had definitely improved exponentially after their addition to it. Red and Classic were both skeletons, but that was immaterial to your friendship with the two.

For the moment you three were tinkering away in the lab the university provided for your research. You were attempting to make a version of the monsters’ inventories that was more accessible for humans, or a TARDIS pocket as Classic had taken to calling the project. You couldn’t argue the accuracy of the comparison, though the name would sadly have to change for copyright purposes at some point. The idea was to make a pocket that was larger on the inside, thereby vastly increasing storage capabilities for the denizens of the world without magical capabilities.

Classic was at the far workbench, going over the calculations yet again while you and Red were closer to the machine actually intended to form the dimensional pockets. The burned scraps of a grocery tote bag, the cremated remains of your latest failed attempt, hung in place in the machine for now despite the machine not being active. Red was shoulders deep in the thing, checking that the soldering on the wires were holding after another failed test. You were busy removing the latest scorches from the machine’s plating when you heard the dull hum start. 

You glanced over at saw the machine had started trying to form another rift, without any kind of vessel and without any of you having activated it. Worse, two thirds of the team was not even remotely beyond the safety perimeter! You didn’t even think, you just grabbed Red by the pelvis and dragged him out of the machine. You didn’t even process what he was saying, nor his angry tone as you bundled him up bridal style and bolted from the danger zone. 

You were almost in the clear when you heard the explosion behind you and felt the searing heat on your back. Well, as least you’d gotten your more sturdy human body between your 1HP monster companion and the blast, you had time to think. 

The pain ebbed as quickly as it came and you felt like you were in freefall...

-----

Red really didn’t know what the hell had just happened. 

He’d felt the human yank him out of the maintenance hatch, and the glow and crackling of building energy he could get from over their shoulder as they ran clued him in roughly and mollified his annoyance in favor of concern. Then there was heat and he felt his body fall to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut. Classic had been far enough away from the blast to be unharmed, and therefore was free to rush over to where Red lay. 

He groaned as the unharmed skeleton arrived, not missing the other’s visual sweep of his body for injury or dust. 

“are you ok? where’s y/n?” Classic asked.

Red’s skull whipped back, not finding the human on the floor with him as he’d expected. “i-i dunno! y/n?!”

“Here...” came the weak reply. 

Both skeletons homed in on the source quickly, which was oddly Red’s chest.

A tiny human lay on Red’s sternum sprawled as if having fallen. Y/n was severely reduced in size and dazed, but awake an aware much to both skeletons’ visible relief. Red scooped the sluggish human into his hands and did a Check on them. Their HP had definitely taken a hit, but they weren’t in the red. (Heh, nickname pun.)

The trio was collectively baffled, but the relief that everyone was ok for the most part was palpable. They now had the fun task of figuring out how to reverse this change. Oh. And the machine was smoldering, so that probably should be addressed too. This to do list was quickly looking very not fun.

-----

It was agreed upon (more like accepted, really) that a shrunken human really couldn’t live on their own in a house without any adaptations for such a small person. In the long term (Delta forbid this persisted long enough to need a long term solution) adjustments to your house could be arranged. In the short term, the skeleton pair would take turns hosting their human friend at their houses. 

Classic took the first night, as he and Vanilla (his brother) had a place closer than Red and his bro, Edge. At the moment, Vanilla was out of the house at a sleepover (arranged before the incident) with Undyne. This left Classic and the human alone, and eventually watching TV together. 

You had been set up with a fluffy hand towel for a blanket and set atop a pillow. Your pillow was on the couch cushion besides Classic, who sprawled with the grace of a sack of potatoes on his corner of the couch as he watched the cheesy sci-fi flick on screen. You were both making jokes throughout the movie, but as the night drew on and the ambient temperature dropped, you found your towel wasn’t quite warm enough. 

You were waiting for a break in dialogue to ask for another towel, but Classic beat you to it. He looked over as if he were about to crack a joke at the expense of the movie again, noticed your huddled posture, and paused the movie. “you cold, kiddo?”

“Yeah, a bit. Are there any more towels I could pile on, maybe?”

“i’ll do ya one better, c’mere.” He offered a flat palm, waiting patiently for you to board.

You didn’t really have to hesitate, trusting the guy already and curiosity spurred you on as well. He gently lifted you and your towel, dumped the pillow on the floor absently, and moved to sprawl flat over the whole couch instead. This left his chest as a flat plane, on which you were gently deposited.

You sat there, surprised at the new level of contact. Sure, you three nerds had crammed yourselves onto the loveseat at your place to watch TV or game together and ended up with hips mildly wedged against each other and shoulders bumping, but that was the closest you’d ever been. To now be seated on Classic’s sternum was new territory. 

“go ahead, get comfy and lay down. i don’t mind.” he encouraged. 

You took his advice, curling on your side facing the TV, towel still tented around you. Classic increased the warmth his body offered even more by taking the liberty to partially zip his ever-present blue jacket up to the point that your body was zipped in, but your head was outside the confines of the giant garment.

“better?” he asked.

“Yeah, much warmer.” You could easily affirm. 

While this was new territory, his casual attitude towards the whole thing dissipated the awkwardness you were feeling. Without that feeling, you really found you couldn’t complain. You liked cuddling anyhow, so finding a friend was also up for that was a boon in your book. 

The movie resumed without further incident, though you may or may not have totally fallen asleep on your friend. Eh, he didn’t seem to mind.

-----

It’d been a couple of weeks since the incident at the lab, and today was Red’s day for hosting y/n. Red was playing a campaign in a very story based game, with the human watching from their perch on his shoulder while Classic lounged on the other side of the couch. Playthroughs of games like this were common with their group, and the three would usually switch off who had the controller each session with the other two chipping in and offering advice. 

The biggest difference now was that y/n couldn’t take their turn with the controller, but they seemed content to snuggle into the fluff of Red’s hood, relishing in the warmth of their position by his cervical vertebrae. Ever since becoming small, they hadn’t been able to maintain their heat as well once the sun went down.

“I think I saw something on your left.” they offered. 

Red panned the camera that way to find an enemy, which was swiftly dealt with.

“thanks, pipsqueak.” Red said as he collected the dropped loot.

“No problem. Hey, do you think you could get the bathroom door for me?”

“oh, sure.” he paused the game and crossed over to the bathroom. He gently cupped the human into his hands and gingerly set them on the floor just before the threshold. Inside there was a bathroom setup of bitty furniture, an investment that had been made early on for each of the skeletons’ houses. Once they went inside, he closed the door without catching the latch so they could push it open once they were done. 

In the meantime, he approached the couch again where he saw Classic grinning at him.

“the hell you looking at?” Red groused.

Classic chuckled “a softy.”

Red felt the light blush on his face, much to his chagrin “shut the hell up. s’not like you aint doing the same damn thing.”

“well yeah, but i don’t try to claim i’m not a softy.”

Red groaned as he flopped petulantly onto the couch. “can’t help it, they’re just so small. plus, this is all my fault anyhow.”

“woah, what?” Classic sat up straighter, humor gone from his voice. “what do you mean, your fault?”

“i was fucking with the wiring when the machine started up. it had to be something i did that caused it to go haywire and blast them. least i can do is help em out when they need it.”

Classic was about to address the mountain of guilt Red had built upon himself, but was cut off by a growl from Red’s stomach.

“you hungry?” Classic asked, though Red knew he already had the answer to that question based on the tone. 

Red buried his face in his hands, responding “no, and the human aint gonna believe the ‘i just need a snack’ lie forever. i just wanna protect them so damn bad.”

“yeah, they’re too smart for us. plus, i’ve been using the same lie.”

Red unburied his face, asking “instinct is cropping up for you too, eh?”

“yeah. especially since they get so cold at night. it went downhill fast as soon as i realized we had an easy fix.”

“tell me about it. they were so uncomfortable when they first changed, i didn’t wanna add to the discomfort by asking them about it.”

“well, the machine is back in one piece now so we can start working to reverse this mess come monday when the university lets us back in.”

“yeah, thank delta for that.”

Neither one realized that the human had heard some of their conversation from the bathroom, nor that they refused to accept their friends were apparently hiding something from them. 

The human became determined to confront this issue that very night.

-----

Classic had gone home by now and you were settled in your bed, more of a nest of towels and an electric heated blanket than a real bed. Nest was probably a better term. 

Red hadn’t come into the room yet (you slept in the same room as him so he could help you off the desk and to the bathroom if you needed to make a trip in the middle of the night) so you instead thought about what you’d overheard and what you were going to say. You’d caught only snippets due to distance, knowing something about an instinct they were both trying to hide from you, and you’d also heard “all my fault” and desperately wanted to address that if it was regarding you, which the conversation had seemed to.

Your planning was cut short when he entered, in a loose black muscle tank and flannel PJ bottoms pattered with jolly roger flags flying over a grey background. He flopped onto the bed without ceremony amongst his tangled blankets and immediately started scrolling on his phone. 

You steeled yourself a moment before calling for his attention, leaving your nest behind on the beside table to approach the skeleton closer. “Hey, Red?”

He put down his phone, looking at you with a questioning grunt.

“I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, but I heard you and Classic earlier...”

Red looked mildly alarmed “what exactly did you hear?”

“Enough to know you guys are hiding things from me, and it sounded like it was about me. And something about this being ‘all your fault’?”

Red sat up leaving his face a little higher than you, and only a foot of distance from your perch to his shoulder. “yeah, well it is my fault. since i was the one tinkering, the machine had to have been fucked up by me. and now...” he gestured limply at you. “i’m gonna do my damndest to fix it, but i hate that i did this at all.”

“Cut the crap.”

Red looked as if he’d been slapped. He instantly went from hunched and quiet, reluctant to open up to you at all (probably only caving so early knowing you would keep badgering), to sitting straight up, eyes locked on you in obvious shock.

“This was an accident. No one is at fault.” you stated emphatically.

He looked ready to protest, eyebrows tilting down almost as if angry.

You cut him off again. “You never intended for this to happen. I don’t hold you responsible, or anyone else for that matter. But that doesn’t even matter. You just said you were going to fix it. That matters way more than fretting over the past we can’t change. No more self pity. Not allowed. Got it, mister?” You wagged a finger at him, refusing to be the one to break eye contact.

Red’s expression had mollified during your response, and he was the one who lost the game of eye contact chicken when he changed focus onto his folded hands in his lap. “forgot how much spunk you have, looks like the size change didn’t touch that.” he laughed a little.

“You mean you forgot what made us become friends in the first place? I’m hurt, Red.” You feigned pain, placing your hands over your heart.

His laugh was stronger this time “sorry, pipsqueak. won’t make that mistake again.” He ruffled your hair with a two fingers, which got you laughing too as you batted his invading phalanges away.

“you win. i’ll try to focus on fixing, not shitting on myself. fair deal?”

“Sounds good to me, bud.”

You two lapsed into silence.

You felt accomplished, but only half of your mystery had been solved. you decided to risk it and push farther. You’d back off if he resisted though, as you knew opening up at all was asking a lot of your somewhat emotionally constipated friend. “So... what was the instinct you two kept referring to?”

“damn, you’re relentless tonight!” he laughed again, flopping back onto his pillow.

“Well it’s got my two best friends in a twist over it, I wanna know what the hell is going on!” you defend, happy to keep up the more teasing tone.

“fine, fine. but you asked for it.”

“Yeah, yeah, lay it on me!”

He barked a laugh, “alright, pipsqueak. there’s a protective instinct that can rear up among monsters who’re less flesh based. it’s been triggered by your small size and our desire to help, but basically we wanna take you in.”

“Ya lost me right at the end, there.”

“figured i would. skeletons, and some other races of monsters, have the ability to take other creatures inside their own body harmlessly. more specifically, it’d be me and classic fighting the urge to eat you, but safely.”

“Safely.... eat?” The humor left your tone completely.

The humor was gone in his too, saying “yeah, that’s why we didn’t say anything. that reaction right there. but yes, basically eat minus the chewing bit. it’s safe and you’d be let out later, but the idea is to put us between you and danger. pretty damn literally. but a fleshbag like you wouldn’t be a fan and we both knew that going in. now ya know.” he looked away again, not so much looking at anything but apparently not wanting to look at you.

You thought back to all the times you’d caught either of them trying to sneak stomach growls past you or how oddly often they’d been claiming they’d needed a snack, or even that one time Red had tried (and failed) to play off getting caught wiping drool away. It all clicked into place and made so much more sense. But far more importantly, you didn’t like the resigned tone in his voice. 

You took a moment to process the new information in stifling silence, then asked “So... you thought I wouldn’t trust you?”

“what?” Red’s skull whipped around to fix you with a baffled look. “that’s not even close to what i said. i just meant it’d be pretty fuckin’ weird to you.”

“Yeah, well I went and made friends with two monsters after having shit luck with humans. I’d say I’m pretty open to new and weird.”

Red just blinked at you.

“If you want to, I’m unopposed. Go for it. You said it was triggered by a desire to help, and that it was safe. I trust you.”

Red’s brows were knit, sockets squinted a bit at you as he sat up. He stared you down like that, feeling like he was looking for the “gotcha” or any fear. You stared right back with nothing to hide, you weren’t afraid and didn’t want to take back what you’d said.

“yer sure?” he asked, sounding suspicious. 

“Yep.” You popped the P for emphasis.

“alright. i’ll let you out when you change your mind.” he shrugged, holding a hand out for you to board. 

You took that comment as a challenge and sat on his metacarpals confidently.

He brought you up toward his face while his free hand reached up from behind you, wrapping around your ribs under the arms. Using the new grip, he lifted you over his upturned face with your bare feet dangling in thin air over his opening mouth.

Ok, maybe your confidence had left a little. Your legs tucked up a bit in instinct, but you didn’t struggle when he guided your lower limbs into his mouth. You fought the urge to cringe away at the odd slick feeling of your feet sliding along his thick red tongue, or even more so at the feeling of his throat around your lower legs. 

You still trusted Red, that wasn’t the issue, so you decided to fight your instincts just as your friends had been fighting theirs and refused to show any fear. 

You pulled your arms in close to your chest when his grasping fingers left, and looked upwards as the world was sealed off by a wall of sharp teeth. Thankfully Red didn’t leave you waiting long, as a wet gulping sound drew your upper legs down with a surprisingly strong force. You clenched your teeth at that, barely keeping in the yelp of surprise. Another two gulps followed in quick succession, drawing your whole body into his waiting throat. The tissue around you pressed in, pushing you ever downward. 

For a brief moment during your decent, you felt a warm tingling sensation akin to the light buzz you felt the few times you’d come into contact with a magical construct (Red had lobbed a bone attack at you when you’d be particularly snarky a time or two, usually blue so you didn’t get hurt.) This tingle was much stronger, and you couldn’t describe it any better than saying it felt like Red. ...was that his soul? 

Your musing was cut off shortly after the buzz of magic left and you found yourself kicking a little in surprise when your legs had room to move. The rest of you spilled into the open space a moment later. 

You felt a bit dazed as you just sat there a moment. You were somewhat pulled back down to earth as you felt a pressure coming from outside. It was immediately obvious the pressure was his hand pressing in at you, and the hand started moving, rubbing you from outside in soothing circles, slowly moving up and down your back. Even if you were out of it, you had the wherewithal to realize that was incredibly cute. 

“alright, buyer’s remorse set in?” he asked.

“No...” you breathed, not quite done processing your current situation.

“you ok in there?” his tone was more concerned, the rubbing stopped but the pressure of his hand remained.

“Y-yeah!” You shook your head as if that would help clear the fog, clicking back into reality. “I’m ok. Wow, this is just... a lot.”

“sure you don’t want out?”

“Do you want me out?”

“...didn’t say that...” he mumbled.

You laughed, which earned you a half hearted growl.

“Hey, is it ok if I move around a little? I really want to, uh, check the place out now that I’m here if that’s cool.”

“oh, sure. i don’t care.”

He removed his hand, which left you free to experiment. Call it childish if you wanted, but you really wanted to feel out your new surroundings in an exceedingly literal sense.

-----

Holy shit this went so much better than he’d ever thought it’d go. The human was inside, no panic, and their soul had settled from the anxiety he’d been feeling during their decent. Guess they’d gone and proven him and Classic wrong. Again. Maybe he should expect that by now.

For now he laid back, feeling them slide back to the new lowest point as he got comfortable. He also very much heard their tiny squeak when they startled at the movement, which brought out a smile on him. He felt them quickly readjust, then felt a small point of pressure pushing outwards. A tiny moving bump raised in his shirt, showing where their small hands were pushing out. He didn’t protest, finding this all quite amusing.

On a whim, he used two fingers to push at that little raised bump. He heard them laugh, and then the bump showed up on a new spot, disappeared, and showed up again in yet another. This was a bizarre version of whack a mole, but he did play along until they ended the game with a breathy giggle. 

They were moving again, probably trying to stand given the two distinct points of pressure. They slowly wobbled a few steps before he distinctly felt the impact of them falling over. 

He laughed aloud at the “I’m good!” they called out.

Their movements inside were calm, but distinctly curious. It was all highly endearing on top of feeling good. The quieting of the protective instinct at last was also a welcome absence, leaving him feeling comfortable and secure. He didn’t really try all that hard to stifle his subsequent yawn. 

The responding, smaller yawn from inside was a bit of a surprise.

“tired?”

“We were getting ready for bed, dingus.”

“fair point. we turning this into a sleepover or you going back to your own bed?”

There was a pause, then “Fuck it, sleepover.”

“fine by me, pipsqueak. g’night.”

“Goodnight, bonehead.”

He felt their weight settle, then relax as they slipped into sleep. He decided to follow them, hands folded over his stomach to protect the precious cargo inside.

[blueeyedrat]

Games I played in 2021.

This year got off to a slow start. I was in the same place I left off in 2020 — shut in, just kinda spinning the wheels, not getting all that much accomplished on any front. Things gradually picked up for me as the year went on— I made another game over the summer, and I finally landed a steady job a few months ago. Sure, I'm still a huge shut-in, but I'm actually doing stuff again, and even getting paid for it now. It's honestly kinda weird to think about sometimes. Even if I'll be more occupied with game dev work going forward, I still want to make time for playing games, and I'd like to continue recording my thoughts on games that stand out to me.

There are a few games added to my backlog that I never found time to play (like Chicory: A Colorful Tale, or New Pokémon Snap), and a few new titles I was looking to pick up but have yet to do so (like Monster Hunter Rise, or Sable). Some of these may already have a spot reserved for next year's list. I'm also planning to spend some of my newfound income on a new computer in the near future, so I'll have access to a lot of games that I can't run on my old laptop.

That's all looking ahead, though. For now, let's look back at 2021. It's a slightly different spread compared to previous years, and it mostly falls into two categories: steady time sinks (like Animal Crossing, which carried over from last year), and catching up on games I've wanted to play for a while. Among those, and all the other titles I played this year, these were the highlights:

(2020 ⇐ 2021 ⇒ 2022)

Signs of the Sojourner

Of all the games in my backlog, this one stood out to me well before I loaded it up and played it myself. The gameplay concept intrigued me — a narrative deckbuilder where your deck represents your character's personality and every encounter is one of conversation rather than combat. It's an interesting idea that I've seen other games explore since, and this particular game more than lived up to it: Signs of the Sojourner has some of the best ludonarrative design in any game I've played. Mechanically and narratively, both the world you're in and the ways you interact with it, everything fits together, and it's topped off by a distinctive art style and an excellent ambient soundtrack. The setting provides a large variety of routes and places and people to discover, and offers so many plot threads that it's impossible to get the full picture in a single playthrough. It's a fascinating game, and one that I'd love to explore further.

Carto / A Monster's Expedition

I try to sort these lists chronologically, but I had to bend the order a bit for this one. I played Carto early in the year, and A Monster's Expedition (Through Puzzling Exhibitions) near the end of it. I'm grouping them together because they overlap the same categories: They're both on the catch-up list and specifically are both games I've written about and expressed interest in before, alongside titles like Dorfromantik and Beasts of Maravilla Island, which I also picked up and played this year, and Chicory, which is on the to-do list. They're also part of my ever-growing collection of puzzle games, which this year included colorful titles like Linelight and She Remembered Caterpillars, high-scoring challenges like Mixolumia and Tetris Effect, and mind-bending works like Portal Reloaded and Manifold Garden.

Above all, they're both very charming and abundant in clever puzzle and world design. Carto weaves a sweet, simple story with a colorful cast of characters, and its central map mechanic is used in a nice variety of puzzles. A Monster's Expedition (the latest and best offering from Draknek, who is low-key one of my favorite puzzle game devs) is light on story but has plenty of wit, and its sokoban-esque puzzles grow incredibly complex and loop around upon themselves in ways that make them immensely satisfying to solve.

Dorfromantik

I'm fond of city-builders and sim and sandbox games, even if I haven't played many of them recently. They tax my old laptop a bit too much, unfortunately — I can barely get Cities: Skylines to run now, and I have multiple games sitting untouched on my backlog like Airborne Kingdom, Before We Leave, and eventually The Wandering Village when that releases. All that said, I like some aspects of the genre more than others. I can take or leave the management — population, resources, and the like. This goes for a lot of sandbox games, not just city-builders (one of these days I'll boot up Minecraft and actually do survival stuff again). Most of the time, I just want to build things and make 'em look neat.

Naturally, the notion of taking the building aspect and paring it down to only that, making it something more akin to a puzzle or board game than a sim game, appeals to me very much. Games like ISLANDERS and Dorfromantik fill that niche quite nicely. There's a certain satisfaction in finding patterns, seeing your towns and rivers and railroads continually grow as you add more tiles onto them, making every piece fit together just so. It's well worth the time, and I look forward to seeing it develop further.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps

I replayed Ori and the Blind Forest this year, so I could experience both games in the series back-to-back. It held up pretty well — the characters and environments are memorable, and the controls are loose and flowy, but in a way that makes it very satisfying to move around. It does have some odd quirks that I recall from my first playthrough, which were all the more apparent this second time around — an unwieldy checkpoint system, sparse combat, and level design that often asked for more precision than the aforementioned loose controls were equipped to handle. It's a good game, but not a perfect one.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps, on the other hand, is phenomenal. It addresses all the problems the first game had — the odd checkpoints are gone, the combat is leagues more complex, and the level design and controls feel tighter without losing that satisfying flow. Not only does it improve on Blind Forest's weakest aspects, it improves on its strongest ones as well. The movement still feels excellent, especially with all the added abilities. The world is more vibrant and varied in its environments, and more polished in its sound and visuals, not to mention the larger cast of characters that populates it. There's so much to explore and discover. I rate it very highly.

Grindstone

I got a new smartphone early in the year, so I've added a few mobile games to my day-to-day routine. Nothing too fancy, more along the lines of Piffle, Wordscapes, and Two Dots — the sort of game you can pick up and play a few levels when you have a bit of spare time. Grindstone has that same feel without any of the free-to-play baggage. A simple yet satisfying puzzle mechanic, continually iterated on and applied in interesting ways and new permutations, with a finely-crafted visual style and soundtrack. A clever, addicting time sink.

Sky: Children of the Light

I vaguely heard about this game around the time it came out on mobile, but since I (as mentioned) don't do a lot of mobile gaming, I didn't really look into it further at the time, and didn't really hear about it again until the game got a Switch release. That was enough to rekindle my curiosity — a free-to-play not-quite-MMO game with the same vibe as Journey? Sure, sounds like it could be interesting. And it is! In the back half of the year, I probably invested as much time into Sky as I did to Animal Crossing. I find myself quite enamored with its world and characters, and it's fun to fly around, explore, and take part in seasonal events. Gathering candlelight feels like a slow grind at times, but acquiring new capes and outfits and instruments to play has a certain satisfaction to it that makes it worthwhile. I think Sky's approach to multiplayer and communication is what interests me the most about it — the game is entirely non-competitive, and lets you engage and interact with other players as much (or as little) as you want, with a heavy emphasis on expressing yourself without words. Whether you're hanging out for a while or just passing through, it's always nice to light a candle and say hello.

Mini Motorways

Mini Metro has long been a favorite of mine. Its gameplay is fun, its minimalist sound and style appeal to me, and trains and subways are just kinda neat, okay? I've gotten a lot of hours out of it. Late in 2020 the game added custom level support, so going into this year I jumped at the chance to make some maps of my own — experimenting with the system, and recreating some transit lines close to home, rekindling my love of the game all the while.

Which brings us to Mini Motorways! With how much I admired their previous game, I had to give Dinosaur Polo Club's next title a go as well. The minimalist style and charm is all still there, and there are some interesting mechanics and a variety of challenges to play around with. There are subtle differences in the gameplay in ways that haven't quite clicked with me yet — Metro lets you be a lot more reactive when managing passengers, whereas Motorways requires you to be much more proactive when accounting for traffic and managing your resources. Even so, I've enjoyed it quite a bit. I don't know if it'll ever knock Mini Metro off its pedestal, but I'm happy for all the time I've put into it, and all the time I'll put into it in the future. Hopefully this one will get a level editor too.

Ikenfell

I like to branch out every once in a while, and play genres that aren't my usual cup of tea. I don't play a lot of turn-based RPGs or tactics games, but Ikenfell had enough charm with its characters, pixel art, and music (especially the music) that I was curious about it and wanted to give it a shot, and I'm happy I did. The combat was relatively easy to pick up (if a bit unwieldy at times, though that may have been my own fault as much as the game's) and offered a good variety of characters to use, and the story did its part to keep me interested and introduce new ideas and areas, never overstaying its welcome. A nice time, all around.

Tetris Effect: Connected

Sometimes you can't top a classic. What can I say? I like puzzle games. I like Tetris. I've gotten pretty decent at Tetris. I've wanted to play this one for a good while, so like Sky, its Switch release came as a welcome surprise and gave me the means to finally try it for myself. I enjoy Tetris 99, but I'll take a good single-player experience any day, and Tetris Effect provides that in spades. It is the quintessential Tetris experience — the gameplay is classic Tetris with some optional bells and whistles and a variety of challenge modes on top, and the visuals and sound design are immaculate, making each of its levels a feast for the senses. Seriously, look up a video or listen to the soundtrack or something. Whether you play Tetris or not, this is a game to be experienced.

Night in the Woods

This one... took me a while to get through. I started it late last year, set it down at some point, and didn't come back to it until the end of this year. The art and music are good, the gameplay is simple and straightforward, but the core of Night in the Woods is its narrative. The setting is well-crafted — it's bleak, but a very mundane bleak, where the days come and go and the world keeps turning literally even as it slowly falls apart around you metaphorically. The story is compelling, though it's the sort of compelling that I could only handle in small doses. It's raw and emotionally charged, at times uncomfortably so. The characters are well-written, and the main character in particular fascinates and frustrates me in very deliberate ways. Every so often it seems like there are no good choices, and you don't even get an option to just say nothing — the only way to proceed is to make her say the wrong thing and make everything worse for herself or her loved ones. It can get pretty rough, but maybe that's what makes its emotional moments, the moments of hope and forward progress and reaching out to others, all the more impactful. It's heavy, but it's a good sort of heavy.

-

Now that I've indulged myself and had a nice look back at 2021, it's time to start looking ahead again. I've got some good forward momentum going into 2022, and hopefully I can make the most of it. Best of luck to you all in the new year.

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

Just curious, do you think the writers were aware that they were putting more favor towards Vi? I've heard Kent say that they're balanced but I don't think they are...

So this is something that gets brought up a lot and we’ve had many discussions about the whole “The Louis and Violet routes are unbalanced” thing, but there’s something I’ve concluded from my latest playthrough of the entire series. The whole Louis/Violet thing isn’t the first instance of routes being unbalanced and the devs potentially not realizing it. And to give credit where credit is due, Louis and Violet are the best handled in the series as far as routes go. 

Like, a lot of the things that we point at and go “Hey, that’s not balanced” are usually more minor or even nitpicky. Not all of them, because there are some bigger, more obvious instances that make you question what the intent was and if they really didn’t see how it was affecting this balance. 

Y’know... like having Violet take over as the leader and imply that she and Clementine spent two weeks working together while Clementine and Louis barely spoke, yet expecting players to look at that and go “Oh yeah, that’s balanced. Makes sense.”

Or my favorite... the cell scenes. Y’know, the part of episode three where you can possibly get the heartbreaking horror of Louis having his tongue cut out that is such a well-executed scene, or you can get the most garbage scene in the entire game that is Violet’s cell scene. Hmmm.

But again, to be fair, other than the glaring examples, you can work around the different elements and find balance. 

The thing that I’ve found interesting, though, is that this series has a history of doing this, of having unbalanced routes and we kind of tend to overlook them because we’re focused on Louis and Violet. When you look at each season, it’s almost inevitable that they’d continue this trend, but they did do much better this time around comparatively. Telltale has always had this issue with balance when it comes to picking between two characters. 

Ever since S1 with Carley and Doug because yeah, according to the commentaries, they thought that they did such a good job making Carley and Doug equal aaaaand... No. 

Haha, sorry but no. I’m actually baffled that they thought they gave Doug as much as they gave Carley in ep1.

Fun fact- Doug is the only person in ep1 of S1 that you can’t give a candy bar to when in the drugstore. You can give a candy bar to everyone/every little group [Lilly/Larry, Carley, Clementine, Kenny/Katjaa/Duck] and even offer Glenn one, but not Doug. He’s the only one you can’t even offer a candy bar to. 

At a glance, that’s a very small, pointless detail. Like, oh Doug doesn’t get a candy bar, but who cares? Nitpicky like I was saying before, but... it kinda says something, y’know? 

If I’m supposed to care about Doug and Carley to the point where I’m conflicted on who to save, then why let me feed Carley but not Doug. It’s a minor detail that makes Carley appear more important, like Lee cares about feeding her but not Doug due to not having the option. 

Not only that, but you get to talk to Carley way more, mess around with her radio, and learn more about her backstory. She knows about Lee’s past. You take her with you to go save Glenn. You can give her a fucking candy bar. 

With Doug you get to go outside and learn very little about him before killing your walker brother and that’s about it. There’s no deeper connection, there’s nothing to imply that he’ll be important to Lee if he’s saved, and while they try to show that he’s great with tech and that kind of stuff, it’s heavily overshadowed by Carley’s use of a gun. 

I remember when that episode came out and those percentages were like... 70/30, and that’s what made the writers go “......Oh.”

The only reason they’re as equally picked as they are now is because they backtracked outside of the game [another common thing they do] like “Hey, wait, no! #SaveDoug! Doug’s based on a real person! Please go back and give Doug a chance! He’s really cool! Please!” and people listened. And guess what? Doug’s great, you just failed to show how great he is when it was most important. Oops.

And hey, on top of that, you have the opportunity to come forward and tell the group about Lee’s past if you save Carley. You don’t get that choice with Doug, and a lot of people see that as a downside in picking Doug, myself included. 

But the developers themselves said they thought they did a good job of showing off how useful Doug is and how equal he is to Carley and... well, I beg to differ. 

Then in s2 we have Kenny vs Jane, which isn’t great. In fact, it’s terrible. And it doesn’t help that ANF pretty much said “Kenny was the right choice” after giving Jane the character assassination treatment and punishing Clementine for going alone by having her lose a finger. And Wellington? Might as well not exist.

 And speaking of ANF... you can’t look at me and say that the writers didn’t try and push you into Kate at every possible chance. The writers want you to be with Kate and it feels like they didn’t consider that there’d be a lot of people who don’t want to be in a romantic relationship with their sister-in-law... because she’s married to Javi’s brother... y’know? 

It does feel like the game punishes you when you don’t want to romance Kate. She’s really pissy about it, David still gets pissy himself, and even if you save Kate in the end, she wants nothing to do with you so you don’t even get to make amends with her- you lose even more of your family by not romancing her. And you’re gonna tell me that’s balanced? Because it’s not. 

So when we get to TFS... it’s not that surprising that they’d do it again, but you’d think that they’d take more notice of it and learn from past games... but hey, maybe they did just a bit and that’s why Louis and Violet are better. Not perfect, but better. 

Louis and Violet are both likable, valid options for Clementine, and no matter what you do or think, she cares about both of them and finds them attractive, it’s just up to you as the player to pick who you’re more drawn to. 

And the thing is, I don’t know if they are actually aware of the imbalance because they consistently try to reassure everyone that it is balanced... it could go either way- they truly believe it is and don’t get where the players are coming from because they have a different understanding having been the ones to create the game, or they are aware but won’t outright admit to it being as such for a number of reasons.