#i then started to think about cuphead and blind and it stuck

[teen-cups-au]

Teen Cups - Plot Notes Part 12

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At home, Mugman is watching TV, as Elder Kettle brings him his medicines. The front door suddenly opens and Cuphead enters.

Cuphead: I have good news !

Chalice then appears from behind him, waving at them. Mugman smiles tiredly.

Mugman: Chalice ?!

He weakly gets up to go hug her.

Mugman: Where were you ?!

Chalice: It’s a long story. Are you alright ?! You’re burning up!

Mugman: Better, now that you’re here-

He moves away to cough.

Chalice: Sit back down and rest !

She greets Elder Kettle.

Chalice : Hey ! How are you ?

Elder Kettle : I’m doing alright, how about you ? It’s such a pleasure to see you again !

Chalice : I think I’m okay. I was stuck in a trap from the Devil. But Cuphead freed me !

Elder Kettle turns to him.

Elder Kettle : Good job, boy !

Cuphead : I really didn’t do much.

Chalice : I hope you don’t mind me still considering you as my savior.

Cuphead shrugs and heads upstairs. Chalice turns back to Elder Kettle.

Chalice : Is he okay ? He lost consciousness earlier…

Elder Kettle : *sigh* He suffers from anorexia…

Chalice looks shocked. Elder Kettle looks at Cuphead, before he disappears from their sight.

Elder Kettle: Cuphead, how are you feeling ?

Cuphead stops walking.

Cuphead: I’d simply like to go to bed.

Cuphead continues his way as Elder Kettle nods. He turns to Chalice.

Elder Kettle: Chalice, can I ask you for a favor ?

Cuphead is laying on his bed, facing the wall with a depressed face. Someone knocks at the door that opens behind him and Chalice appears with two meals on a tray.

Chalice: Can I come in ?

Cuphead turns to her.

Cuphead: Sure.

He sits up on his bed while Chalice enters and sniffs.

Chalice: Are you smoking now ?!

Cuphead: Uh… Yeah.

Chalice sits beside him after putting the tray on the nightstand. Cuphead is looking down.

Chalice: Are you okay ? I’m confused… So many things changed since last time… Mugman and you both look sick, I’m worried…

Cuphead looks away, silent. Chalice puts a hand on his shoulder.

Chalice: I’m here for you both.

Cuphead starts sobbing. Chalice’s eyes widen.

Chalice: *thinking* I don’t remember seeing him cry since we were little…

She hugs him.

Cuphead: I-It’s all my fault…

Chalice: How so ?

Cuphead hesitates.

Cuphead: I don’t want you to hate me…

Chalice: I won’t, I promise !

Cuphead sniffs, wiping his eyes.

Cuphead: I messed up so bad…

Cuphead explains her the whole story.

Cuphead: And that’s how we got here…

He awkwardly looks at Chalice. Expecting her to judge him and to be angry. She stays silent for a moment, staring at the floor. She then turns to him.

Chalice: That’s… That’s so fucked up…

Cuphead looks away again.

Cuphead: I know…

Chalice: The Devil is such a… Well, he’s the Devil… And that dice prince guy, they’re pure assholes !

Cuphead looks surprised.

Cuphead: I’m not better tho.

Chalice looks at him, raising an eyebrow.

Chalice: What ?

Cuphead: What I did to Mug…

Chalice: Wait- Yeah no, I mean… Of course you shouldn’t have dealt with them, but they were the ones who used your feelings !

Cuphead: My stupidity you mean.

Cuphead’s eyes start filling with tears.

Chalice: No ! That’s not stupidity, that’s love ! Many people are blinded by love. You’re an amazing brother !

Tears start rolling down Cuphead’s cheeks. Chalice approaches him to hug him.

Chalice: If you ever need to talk, I’m here okay ? I know you’re a good person, I’ll never ever judge you !

Cuphead calms down in her arms.

Cuphead: I… actually did already. While you were gone.

Chalice: Huh ?

Cuphead lets go of her and opens a nightstand drawer. He pulls out a notebook titled "Chalice" and faces Chalice, caressing it.

Cuphead: Heh… I’m so happy my wish came true.

Chalice: What wish ?

Cuphead: When you disappeared… I felt horrible. I… didn’t accept that you were gone. When I was alone, I kept talking to you as if you were here. And after a week, I had the idea to keep talking to you, but by writing. So you could read it all when you’d miraculously come back. I’ve also written stuff that were happening, so you could be caught up.

Chalice stares at him with big eyes.

Chalice: Wow… That’s so sweet, I don’t even know how to react…

Cuphead hands her the book.

Cuphead: Here !

Chalice takes it and opens it to start reading.

Flashback. Cuphead’s hand is writing in the book.

Diary: Hey Chalice ! OK this is weird, but I just can’t stand forgetting you.

Cuphead is crying as he writes.

Diary: You’re my closest friend and I refuse to admit that you’re gone. I’m sure you’ll come back someday.

Zoom out to see Cuphead from above, sitting on his bed as he’s writing.

Diary: And I’ll make sure that it’ll be as if you were always here !

In the present, Chalice has a soft look as she reads this.

Diary: I’ll keep you updated here and give you this diary thingy when you’ll reappear.

Flashback again. More like a flashback in the flashback. A flashback Cuphead is having while writing. Flashbackception!

Cuphead and Mugman are at a funeral.

Diary: It’s so hard tho. It’s like living my parents’ disappearance all over again. We all concluded that they’re dead by now.

Cuphead and Mugman have each one an arm over the other’s shoulder, looking down sadly at the funeral.

Diary: Well, except for Mug. Maybe what he feels about them is what I feel about you right now. But I’m so scared that it’s just hoping for nothing, which will lead to suffer

Cuphead looks awkwardly and angrily at what he’s writing.

Diary: Nevermind uh… So it’s been 1 week that you’re not here anymore.

Back to the present. Chalice closes the book.

Chalice: I’m so sorry that I made you go through this…

Cuphead: Hey, don’t ! What you went through wasn’t better ! Being locked in a jar for so long !

Chalice: Anyway, I think I’ll save the reading for later, if that’s okay ? Our meal will get cold. And I don’t wanna turn our stomachs with hurting memories.

Cuphead: Well it’s not as if I had any appetite anyway, heh !

Chalice gets up and takes the tray to put it on his bed, between them.

Chalice: At least, get a few bites ! Please.

Cuphead: *sigh* Fine.

Cuphead holds his stomach, wincing.

Cuphead: Okay, I’m done.

Chalice: Is that all?

Cuphead: It’s way more than usual, and my stomach can’t stand it. It’s a miracle that I managed to swallow so much, please don’t make me eat more…

Chalice: How so?

Cuphead: Makes me feel sick.

They finish eating. Chalice says that she’ll go back home to find her father. Cuphead proposes her to accompany her, worried. Chalice says that she prefers him to rest, as he has to. She points out that she’s fine now anyway, as she just had to get used to move her body again. She greets Cuphead with a kiss, making him shocked, and leaves his room with the dishes. As the door closes, Cuphead, holding his kissed cheek, starts crying, finally letting his emotions out.

Chalice goes downstairs and says goodbye to Elder Kettle in the kitchen, while bringing the dish. Elder Kettle is surprised that Cuphead ate that much, even if it’s just a bit. He tells Chalice that she’s the only one he knows who managed to motivate him to eat.

Chalice then goes to Mugman to say goodbye to him too.

Mugman: I told the guys that you’re back.

Chalice: Cool. Just… Can you tell them to not come and visit right now? I’d like to spend the rest of the day with my Papa, take back my bearings and stuff.

Mugman: Sure- *cough*

Chalice: Thanks. Take care of yourself!

She opens the front door.

Chalice: *thinking* Oh, it's getting dark already… *out loud again* See ya!

She goes out and starts running, with a look of fear.

Mugman then texts in the group chat what Chalice asked. Baroness von Bonbon replies, saying that she better gets ready for the next day, as she’ll go see her first thing in the morning. Mugman laughs and starts coughing.

In his room, Cuphead is lying on his bed, still holding his cheek, smiling with tears, repeating to himself that Chalice is back, that she’s fine… He closes his eyes. Then suddenly opens them wide in shock (Squidward meme like).

He goes downstairs, running, calling Mugman. Elder Kettle reminds him that he needs to stay in bed, but Cuphead says that he just needs to tell Mugman something quick. He then goes next door, calling Mugman again.

Cuphead: Mugman ! Code red !

Mugman: What’s code red ?

Cuphead explains him about the diary, whispering so Elder Kettle doesn’t hear. Mugman comments about how sweet he is. He coughs more, looking more tired. Cuphead continues, telling him that there was a part that he wrote at the first anniversary of Chalice’s disappearance, in which he wrote really intimately something, as he was especially upset that day. And that he wasn’t expecting her to actually read it someday. He then notices Mugman, barely conscious. He asks him if he’s okay. Mugman lifts his head to look at him. He says that the medicines side effects are starting. Cuphead then helps him go to bed.

[honeybumzz]

Ssssoooooo do you mind if i ship this? saw nobody make this ship yet so i’m gonna call them blindcup *finger guns*

[trashboatprince]

So, I’m planning on working on the final chapter of Ink Spots this week (several months late, but who cares) and I was reminded last night that there were a lot of ideas I scrapped during the writing of it and I feel like sharing some of them with you

Spoilers for the story under the cut

-Bendy found blueprints for the Ink Machine during the Chapter Two arc, the ones you can see on Sammy’s desk, and there was a reason for this. Originally, Bendy and Henry’s goal was to return to the first floor and use the blueprints to shut down the Ink Machine completely from the inside. This would have resulted in the Ink Demon and Bendy having a big fight on the inside and nearly killing each other, but it was scrapped when Chapter Four came out because I started thinking about using Chapter Five for the ending

-Henry was going to become completely color blind thanks to the ink. I think Bendy says he can’t see color except the yellow in Henry’s eye and his own, which would have resulted in the same happening to Henry when his right eye turned black and gold. I dropped the idea in favor of just giving him a break

-Henry wasn’t going to keep his ink demon powers, but I let them stay cause it keeps Bendy and Ink Demon bounded in one body and keeps the connection between the three. Also, because it’s cool.

-Wally wasn’t going to be Boris until I started the Chapter Two content and said, screw it, let’s up the angst. It got worse when Chapter Four dropped

-Henry was originally named Ross instead of Stein, but that was before Chapter Five. There are a lot of changes to that, but I missed a few, whoops

-Chapter one’s middle was completely scrapped and rewritten cause of the Chapter Four updates to the previous chapters, and that includes the Jack content in Chapter Two being added. I was pissed off about having to do that, I spent way too much time drawing Ink Bendy and Bendy as a blob creature, even having to open up youtube videos of a play through of the original Chapter One to get the background of the Ink Machine room right.

-Everyone was going to live. I dropped the idea because it became too difficult to work for the plot so their souls were released and the ink creatures were free. Only Henry, Bendy, Ink Demon, Allison, and Thomas escaped. Joey too, but... yeah.

-Joey was going to be worse. I hated the idea actually, cause he seemed too much like a comical villain, even for this story, so he became a desperate man who was too scared to fail his kingdom, fall from his throne, and lose himself to the death curse placed on him due to his need for success

-Ink Demon was suppose to curse Henry. There is a weird scene early on in the story where Ink Demon taps Henry’s forehead, originally he was going to do something to him if he pushed him into the ink. But I dropped it because I seriously forgot it, so now he’s just doing it to freak Henry out something bad (and to try to kill him for shits and giggles cause he knows Henry will be released from the ink)

-The Dark Puddles were the most annoying thing to write, but headcanons and Chapter Four saved me from writing my original idea. Henry was suppose to be stuck in a state of constant drowning until someone pulled him out. Bendy was going to do that, but I changed it to Ink Demon, then it became Ink Demon telling him how to get out of the Puddles in a voice similar to Henry’s own (you can’t recognize your own voice and demons are known for imitating people, that’s the reference I was making)

-I wanted Malice and Henry to fight. But I dropped it for the Brute Boris content

-Bendy gained a tail for aesthetics and to represent how much his own body was changing thanks to the effects of the ink and the studio, just like what was happening to Henry

-Henry was suppose to become a full on Ink Demon during the original final fight in the Ink Machine. I was stuck between two ideas on his design, either give him the same body as the Ink Demon, but give him Wandering Sin eyes in green and yellow, or make him a monster. Neither happened. There is a design of a Beast Henry though I did yesterday.

-Bendy and Ink Demon weren’t going to fuse. Originally Ink Demon sacrificed himself to destroy the Ink Machine, ala that weird ass Sonic OVA where Metal Sonic says ‘there can be only one sonic’, that would have happened with Ink Demon telling Bendy there can only be one Bendy, and he destroys the machine. That never happened, haha!

-The stains and marks that Bendy worried about so much at the start of the story were more important originally, but I never went into full detail and no one ever asked about them. Basically, if you were marked with a stain somewhere on your body, it was where an ‘ink infection’ would begin and spread into your body to prepare you for what Joey was going to do to turn you into a toon. The same thing happens in Pulling Strings, which is where it came from. The only reason Henry and Joey got different marks that were shaped like Bendy were for plot reasons.

           -Basically, Joey’s was his connection to the Ink Demon when his blood fused with the demon’s ink. The same can be said about Bendy’s ink mixing with Henry’s blood from the cut he got during the events of the Chapter Two finale.

-I made A LOT of references to easter eggs in this that a lot of people missed, along with a Cuphead reference (a few got it) and two yugioh references that only ONE person got, and that’s my friend Spottie! Any time Bendy called Ink Demon ‘the other me’, that was a reference, and Bendy’s soul room is also one.

[nerd-breached-containment]

Peasant vs. King’s Court - LPS100 plays Cuphead: Log #13

After countless deaths and shenanigans, from a carnation distracting me with his handsome look, a genie‘s puppet turning the fight into a living hell, a gorgon who kept gazing me with her poked out eyes and letting the eels take liberties on me, to a fucking dragon whose innocent look hide his relenteless power to turn a what it seems to be easy fight into a seemingly neverending living nightmare of hell, taking days just to end him.

It’s no secret that I didn’t had that much high hopes that I would get to Inkwell Hell with only two bosses who surpassed the 45 death mark and another two who surpassed the 80 death mark, one of which got all the way up to 129 deaths and kicks in my ass. But I’m now at Inkwell Hell, got all the coins, all the Charms, all the Weapons, and I’m ready to take on King Dice and his Court, and then, the bitch himself, the Devil.

But no one knew, not even myself, that King Dice himself would bring up a fight all because of damned bet.

I will be honest: I forgot all about King Dice’s Court. I couldn’t remember any names aside from Phear Lap and not even their look and what did they do I could remember - I was about to walk in pool of blindness.

In the roulette, there’s in total of 9 mini-bosses, each with their own gimmick, assholeness and a safe space after 3 bosses, all ready to kick my ass or send me in a hellish spiral of death.

I’m going to stand up and say that the dice is timed. If you time your parry to get the number you want, you can get it, but if the edge is oh-so a little to the right, you will get whatever is on the right side, vice-versa when it’s turning to the opposite way. This would’ve been fine if it wasn’t for the fact that some of the bosses are...fucking christ, I tried my utter best to avoid it either because I would get annhilated by them or they would wreck me to oblivion.

Even when I had a stratgy or when the board had an excellent HP Up placement, I would often fail to get the number and either be forced to retry or deal with the fucker, hope to god that I survive the damn bastard.

And sometimes, King Dice would feel pity for me and add an HP Up on a piace of shit that I wish to avoid, how cute of you, King Dice.

Now, who were the bitches? Let’s go one by one, each will have a range from 1-5 on how much I avoided them and how much I hate them and why

Tipsy Troop:

Avoidance: 3

Hatred: 3

Why?:

As much as I rarely got them, I would avoid them at best. They supposedly get easier as you go through the fight but I didn’t noticed that big of a difficulty difference.

The bottles that sprayed wine in a horizontal and vertical manner would often get me everytime, specially the vertical one because I for some reason, couldn’t hear that big of a sound cue for it, and I rely a lot on sound cues when it comes to a focus-demanding battle.

I died a couple of times and I ended up in trying to avoid them at best.

Chips Bettigan:

Avoidance: 4

Hatred: 5

Why?:

Fuck this piece of shit, oh my god. I don’t what I kept doing, I don’t know if I had the wrong weapon or something, it would ALWAYS take forever just to end this fucker.

Sometimes, I would jump too high when it required a medium jump, sometimes, I wouldn’t notice the fucking lower chips and get fucked, sometimes, I would duck but I would be right below him. Yes, I could fucking dash but that would make it worse. I would often dash into him or not have enough space to avoid the rest.

And his.fucking.voice... jesus fucking christ. I swear to god, he sounds like a cowboy who’s storing nuts for the winter in his cheeks but needs to keep cowboying.

Mr. Wheezy:

Avoidance: 1

Hatred: 0

Why?:

He was relatively easy to understand how to avoid his projectiles, I would always get a 3 just to fight it, and at some point, I would often get a no hit run with him due to being so accostumed on how to dodge his projectiles.

Pip and Dot:

Avoidance: 3

Hatred: 1

Why?:

I would only fight them on occasions, though I wouldn’t rely on them that much. Would often miss the parry or get hit by it or touch the spikes, specially when I was close to finish them.

Though, because I always had the full super bar whenever I reached them, they would end quickly.

Hopus Pocus:

Avoidance: 4

Hatred: 5

Why?:

Ah yes, Hopus Pocus, the bitch that I kept getting so many fucking times that King Dice often added an HP Up because he felt pitty for me. How cute of him. I died and got annihilated so many fucking times because of him, specially on the parry section.

My biggest weakness is parrying, even after understanding how it works, I still had problems with it. When it was from below, I only failed a couple times, but when it’s from above? Fuck that shit, fam, I would always get hit and rarely get it.

And even when I used the super on him, I would often finish him after either getting hit once... or with my HP drained.

At the least, I could see what I was doing. The next one on the other hand...

Phear Lap:

Avoidance: 5

Hatred: 5

Why?:

Phear Lap is the definition of “Why too much shit on the foreground can distract you”.

I’ve had my share of deaths and hits where the foreground would completely cover me or a projectile, resulting me in getting hit by something I didn’t see. But Phear Lap takes it to a whole new level, the foreground includes big, large, black trees that cover up a lot of the screen, so a lot of times, I would lose sight of myself and either get hit by the present or by the fucking ghosts.

Yes, ghosts, on the section where the horses are racing, it took me a fucking while to realize that there’s this ghost rider who will come up and spring himself to the air if you’re on top of him, which can take you off guard when you’re too focus on the present and on where you are.

I avoided him at all fucking costs and when I didn’t, I would either get annihilated, get hit or in a miraculous turn, go through without a single hit.

Pirouletta:

Avoidance: 0

Hatred: 0

Why?:

The most easiest boss in the whole board. Dashing through her while shooting with the Rounbabout was the equivalent of constantly avoiding a bull’s horns without any problem. I would also dash through the projectiles after the wait for the projectiles to come closer to me so that I had space to dash and avoid them.

Mangosteen:

Avoidance: 2

Hatred: 2

Why?:

He’s not really that hard, it’s just his little minions that kept interviewing the damn battle kept either hitting me or I would get killed by them. Other than that, he’s fairly easy as fuck, just bash him with Spread and dash to the correct spacing the moment you hear his weird sound.

Mr. Chimes:

Avoidance: 4

Hatred: 4

Why?:

Fuck this piece of shit as well. At the least, my times of playing match the cards helped me out with the cards in the game but christ, fuck this bitch. Whenever a wrong match was gotten, he would often times move to the opposite way, often hitting me unexpectedly and take me off guard. He would often corner me badly during the shooting section and this bitch had to go on its way to mark his fucking name on “biggest bitches I had to deal with in Cuphead” by softlocking during a great run.

I knew I would get one eventually after countless of should-have-been-a-softlock moments but did it had to be at the worse time?

I must’ve triggered a good match the moment he stopped twitching over a bad match resulting in him beign stuck in a corner and not attack at all. He would react to the wrong matches but never move or attack. I had to kill myself in it by touching him because I had no supers to kill him and neither my weapons could reach him.

The pressure of trying to destroy him while there’s a 100% chance I might get cornered was so big, I would often try to avoid him...

... And hit something even worse.

Local piece of shit Start Over Tile can suck my fucking ass.

I went on my way to count how many times I would hit this piece of shit and everyone, I want you to know... I hit this shit 6 fucking times. About 2 of them were in a row.

And it wouldn’t have been so bad if it wasn’t for the fact that I had to walk on eggshells because there was that fucking chance I would get to fight another bitch. And, what wouldn’t be the definition of hell and spelling eggshells without hell without constantly fucking encountering either Tipsy Troop, Hopus Pocus and the three pieces of shit themselves, Chips Bettigan, Phear Lap and Mr.Chimes.

A big special shoutout to Phear Lap because he can suck my fucking ass as well.

But when I get Fin, it was time to fight the bitch itself: King Dice.

My parry is still shit and it’s very visible in this boss, I would constantly fail to parry the cards, specially when there was a 3-card distance away from each other. Then there was my parry timing, I already said this before but I’m gonna say it again:

The pressure makes me timing go wonky. I could be thinking that I’m timing my parry when I’m not and I’m just falling into death. So, about 90% of the times, I kept getting hit by the cards because I wasn’t parrying right. And yes, I could’ve used the cheat of hiding behind his hands but I ain’t going to cheat, I want to play this game fair and clear, without any cheats.

It took me forever to understand a few bits:

You seemingly can’t parry the same card twice, which I always thought I could, resulting in a lot of hits and deaths;

Instead of waiting for the cards to comes, go straight for the parry the moment you see one. Apparently, getting a running start helps control the parry, to me at the least;

Though on the second point, I would often forget how to time-parry because throughout the whole level, they would force me to rapid-parry due to the damn dice. If I want that 3, I had to rapid-parry that bitch or else, I would be fucked.

I will be honest here, the hard part wasn’t King Dice, it was the Court. Retrying the level basically means go through the roulette again, with a high chance of starting over and forcebly make me walk on eggshells, and then fight the King. So, my desperation started getting high not because of the King, but because the Court kept killing me so much, more than the King, that all I wanted at that exact moment was to end the damn battle and leave.

And I did got close a few times, in one of the tries, I used the Super... to the wrong way and it would’ve killed him had I aimed it at him.

In 24th Ass Kicks, I was that close to beat him:

And again in 39th Ass Kick:

But, to a surprinsing event, I was able to parry some cards in a row to survive and finally beat him with...

39 Ass Kicks and a A-.

To put this into prespective:

Dr.Khal’s Robot has 43 Ass Kicks;

Cagney Carnation has 45 Ass Kicks;

Djimmi the Great has 49 Ass Kicks;

Cala Maria has 89 Ass Kicks;

And the bitch himself:

Grim Matchstick has 129 Ass Kicks.

I was rooting for King Dice to at the least get to a 80-90 Ass Kick mark, but no, he has less than a Isle 1 boss.

The Devil is our only chance to beat a Debtor’s record. Can The Devil himself prove that he is the hell spawn of hell itself and beat Grim’s record? Or will Grim keep his record for eternity?

Only one way to find out: It is time to fight The Devil.

[gamerzcourt]

Xbox One and The Quest for Relevance At E3 2018Xbox One and The Quest for Relevance At E3 2018xbox 360

New Post has been published on https://www.gamerzcourt.com/xbox-one-and-the-quest-for-relevance-at-e3-2018xbox-one-and-the-quest-for-relevance-at-e3-2018xbox-360/

Xbox One and The Quest for Relevance At E3 2018Xbox One and The Quest for Relevance At E3 2018xbox 360

It’s not often that I rant at Microsoft and even less so around E3 time. After all, tis the season for every company to hawk their wares, put everything up for show and convince us to actually partake in their games/services for the next year. Well, except for maybe EA which devoted significant effort to showcase a Command and Conquer title that no one enjoyed. But I digress.

Isn’t it better to judge a company after their press conference is over? In Microsoft’s case, the struggle that its Xbox brand is having to remain relevant isn’t new nor did it begin a few years ago. The resulting struggle has been going on for a while now, taking roots in the Xbox 360 era up till the introduction of Kinect.

“Cut to 2017 and what is Microsoft best known for? Why, cancelling Scalebound and shutting down Lionhead Studios along with Fable Legends.”

In this day and age, the Xbox One is still a fairly popular console. Granted, it won’t ever reach the PlayStation 4’s sales and may even be struggling to hit half that amount. That was becoming incredibly apparent only a year after both consoles launched. It was painfully obvious that Microsoft was lagging behind. It was incredibly sad to see the company’s botched “always online” functions ultimately drag the Xbox One down, even if they were completely reversed before launch.

However, in 2014, the Xbox One was cooking in some pretty cool ways. Titles like Sunset Overdrive, Titanfall (which would also release for Xbox 360), Project Spark and Forza Horizon 2 were cementing it as this place with great games. Well, except for Halo: The Master Chief Collection that is. 2015 would seem to be even better with franchises like Forza Motorsport, Rare Replay, Gears of War Ultimate Edition, Halo and Tomb Raider (albeit in timed exclusive form) sharing space with new franchises like Ori and the Blind Forest and Rivals of Aether.

Of course, it didn’t take long before Microsoft’s old habits began to creep up. Halo 5: Guardians was a huge disappointment at launch, especially with its campaign, and only cemented 343 Industries as a developer that thought it knew what made the Halo games great, and not the fans. Gears of War 4 would release in 2016 and barely carried the franchise forward in any meaningful way. Forza Horizon 3 was pretty incredible but titles like Quantum Break just didn’t rise above our already average expectations. Dead Rising 4 was just awful and ReCore wasn’t the best new IP by a long shot despite the incredible talent involved.

Cut to 2017 and what is Microsoft best known for? Why, cancelling Scalebound and shutting down Lionhead Studios along with Fable Legends. Were both projects going to be amazing? Well, we don’t really know but this was a console that desperately needed exclusives. With Sony firing on all cylinders with its first and third party exclusives in that quarter, Nintendo at the pinnacle of hype with the Switch release and no major exclusives but Halo Wars 2, Microsoft seemed trapped.

“It’s that Microsoft has failed to really foster new ideas within those franchises (or indeed within new franchises) to really excite anyone in recent memory.”

This practice of cancelling projects and relegating studios by the wayside wasn’t exactly new either – Microsoft had done the same to Obsidian Entertainment, with the company on the verge of bankruptcy before Pillars of Eternity was fully funded. Similarly, the numerous hoops that it made developer Darkside jump through before taking them off of the Phantom Dust sequel were similarly damning.

It’s not like the latter part of the year helped either. Cuphead was the one shining light in a land of original IPs but Forza Motorsport 7, despite being excellent, felt like more of the same (but with progression seemingly gated behind loot boxes). Tacoma was all well and good (even though, again, it was a timed exclusive) but Microsoft was laser-focused on PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, particularly on its exclusivity to the Xbox One. It was marketed as this huge prize that would see console players flock to the Xbox One. In December 2017, not only was PUBG one of the worst optimized games for either Xbox One X or Xbox One but the base PC version is buckling under the lack of improvements, new content and proper optimization. Granted, things have improved but PUBG’s popularity also took a significant hit with Fornite: Battle Royale’s release.

What is Microsoft’s plan come E3 2018, which will pretty much define its strategies going forward? Will there be much change with Matt Booty as head of Microsoft Studios as of January 2018? Rumours indicate that Halo, Gears of War and Forza will form a major part of Microsoft’s plans (with some Fable thrown in for good measure). Looking back on Microsoft in the Xbox 360 days, it’s incredible how the company seemingly doubles down on these franchises when all else seems lost. The spoiler is that these franchises aren’t advancing the Xbox business as much as Microsoft would think.

You could argue that back when the Xbox 360 was winding down, Kinect was popular and for sure, it did some very good business for Microsoft. However, the crux of the issue is that – unlike Nintendo – Microsoft has struggled to really muster up a compelling first party catalog when motion controls started trending downwards. The one constant isn’t that Microsoft keeps going back to its known franchises to cater to their respective fans. It’s that Microsoft has failed to really foster new ideas within those franchises (or indeed within new franchises) to really excite anyone in recent memory.

“The point isn’t that Sony is pro-consumer. It’s the building of successive franchises with a longer goal in mind rather than going back to the well again and again and again for diminishing returns.”

Look at Sony, which pushes new franchises like Horizon: Zero Dawn and new ideas in established franchises like God of War. Not every new idea is a slam-dunk hit (see The Order: 1886) and not every idea is incredible out of the gate (Evolution Studios’ DriveClub). However, it’s clear that the studio isn’t looking to just compete with the best that first party competitors have to offer. It’s competing with third party developers, pushing higher production values in offbeat concepts and providing a platform with benefits for third party developers on the PS4. Meanwhile, Microsoft continues to minimize its third party dealings.

I’m not saying that deals with timed exclusive DLC for FIFA or Call of Duty set my world on fire but they were a few of the aces that Microsoft had. This is, again, to say nothing of Microsoft’s dealings with developers like Platinum Games who it completely shafted. We could talk forever about Microsoft’s failure to really employ the creativity seen in the Japanese game development market. But those chickens came home to roost in 2017 itself when all the big names like Nier: Automata, Persona 5, Nioh and so on stuck with the PlayStation 4 at their respective launches (with Nier: Automata only now being confirmed for Xbox One).

The point isn’t that Sony is pro-consumer. It’s the building of successive franchises with a longer goal in mind rather than going back to the well again and again and again for diminishing returns. Yes, God of War and Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End remain some of the most successful PS4 titles. Re-imaginings/remakes of old classics like Ratchet and Clank and Shadow of the Colossus have also proven successful. However, it’s the franchises like Horizon: Zero Dawn, Until Dawn, Detroit: Become Human, Bloodborne, Nioh, Nier: Automata, Persona 5, Gravity Rush 2, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice and so on which it either developed or helped foster (even as some released on other platforms later) that are ultimately building up the console’s brand.

“If Microsoft goes back to the well again with Halo, Gears of War and Forza, it’s shooting itself in the foot a decade later.”

On the flip-side, look at the Nintendo Switch. Even if Nintendo does go back to the well with franchises like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey, it’s still pushing relatively newer properties like Splatoon 2, Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, Snipperclips, Fast RMX, and ARMs. It’s providing a platform for games like Xenoblade Chronicles 2, numerous indie titles which couldn’t break out on other platforms, and so on to achieve success. Even when it does recycle old IPs, it does so in unique ways as the open world of Zelda: Breath of the Wild attests. Furthermore, it’s proving a strong platform for indie developers to really taste success.

Of course, foresight is 20/20. Even if franchises on Nintendo’s less successful Wii U platform didn’t exactly set the charts on fire, like Bayonetta 2, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, it still brings them over to the Switch on short notice at the behest of fans. Furthermore, it uses properties like Bayonetta 2 to help promote upcoming exclusives like Bayonetta 3. It’s almost like Nintendo seems in tune with what the consumer may want and attempts to deliver it to them. What a funny concept, right? That doesn’t dismiss whatever issues people may have with the upcoming online service but again, there are still more incredible games on the Nintendo Switch in its first year then there’s been on the Xbox One in the past two.

At the end of the day, whether it’s Sony, Nintendo or even the various PC-exclusive developers, players around the world are given umpteen reasons to invest their time into these platforms. Those looking to get into a platform won’t just have the future to look forward to – they’ll have a compelling backlog supported by strong names, whether new, old or rising. The Xbox One currently lacks this and if Microsoft goes back to the well again with Halo, Gears of War and Forza, it’s shooting itself in the foot a decade later.

“With Nintendo and Sony doing incredibly well for themselves, Microsoft and the Xbox brand are in danger of not just “third place” but total irrelevance.”

The Xbox One doesn’t just need new IPs. It needs IPs that people would fall over themselves to invest time into. State of Decay 2 garnered over one million players in the first two days of release while Sea of Thieves reached over two million its first week. Game Pass user breakdowns aside, both titles have motivated Xbox One users to invest in them. Microsoft is on some kind of right track (even if the above titles were rather average in their critical response) but needs more quality and in larger quantities. It needs its own Bloodborne or Uncharted 4 or Horizon: Zero Dawn. Not in the sense that it needs the exact ideas those games contain but to inspire the same kind of frenzy that those games do.

Microsoft’s E3 2018 presser is on June 10th. Will we see history repeat itself as the company struggles to relate to a user base that expects more? There are 15 “World Premieres” planned for the show. Will that equate to 140 minutes of just premiering games that will also be coming to other consoles like Battlefield 5? Will it simply cut the prices for the Xbox One, Xbox One X and Xbox One S even further? Announce some free subscriptions? Or will it ignite our excitement like it did in 2014, showcasing a company that doesn’t just want to talk down to its players but offer them exciting things and back up those offers with exciting products?

Time will tell and for better or worse, time seems to be running out for the house that Xbox built. A long time ago, we would push certain companies to be better simply because more competition was good for everyone. With Nintendo and Sony doing incredibly well for themselves, Microsoft and the Xbox brand are in danger of not just “third place” but total irrelevance.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to GamingBolt as an organization.

Video Game News, Reviews, Walkthroughs And Guides – GamingBolt

[meepdrawartgood]

Glitch AU

So we came up with an AU in the Discord chat that @gutsywuts drew Beppi for a while ago, so I thought I’d expand on it! WARNING FOR SOME DISTURBING STUFF BELOW THE READ MORE

So in the Glitch AU, something happened to the game’s file. Whether it was a simple glitch, got possessed by some sort of spirit or demon, or something else, it doesn’t matter. But whatever happened, it horribly corrupted the game, turning the Inkwell Isles into a wasteland and its residents, including the bosses, into terrifying monsters. The goal of the game is not to get the soul contracts to the Devil, but to put the suffering, mutated remnants of what the characters used to be out of their misery.

The game starts like normal, with the MDHR screen, but from there, it’s fully corrupted. The game pulls up to this title screen, playing “Don’t Deal with the Devil” backwards, similarly to how it does in the normal game when you get the bad ending and start up the game again.

There are no savestates or introduction sequence, but when you start the game, it goes to black, then cuts to inside Elder Kettle’s house. He looks weak and sickly, the only sound being his shaky breaths. He holds out the potion to Cuphead, then slowly falls forward onto the floor, revealing the huge, gaping hole in his back. All you can do is leave the house.

You go through the game killing the different bosses, with no cutscenes at all, and once you defeat King Dice, you go to the throne room.

But the Devil isn’t there.

His throne is empty and theres no sound other than the faint crackle of TV static. Nothing happens for about 3 minutes. Then, suddenly, it cuts to the final storybook, violently and rapidly flipping through pages too soaked in blood to read as a cacophony of noise assaults your eardrums, then slams shut to a blank cover.

The game crashes and is deleted from the computer, only leaving behind an image file that contains only the words “thank you”.

Anyways, I can’t think of a good way to transition so on to the boss designs! I don’t have visual refs for a lot of them and a few of them are just sketches, sorry!

Psy, Weepy, and Moe are all zombielike and decomposing, covered in mold and rot. Psy’s third eye is dripping blood, Weepy’s eyes are sewn shut to prevent his acid tears from flooding the world, and Moe can no longer speak, only doing what Psy tells him to.

Goopy is nothing but a blue puddle, but if something gets too close, he’ll start groaning and the liquid will rise up, forming an arm that tries to grab and digest anything it can reach.

Hilda is an eldritch abomination in the shape of a mood, with her Taurus head, Gemini head, and Sagittarius head sticking out in random places. Her own face is covered in deep craters.

Ribby and Croaks have fused together into a barely recognizable ball of flesh, various limbs and other body parts sticking out at random.

Cagney is a mass of tangled vines with an Audrey 2 style head at the top. He has a large hunk of pure flesh embedded in his chest, sometimes with eyes, sometimes not.

(art by @gutsywuts)

Beppi is torn in half down the middle, all the way down to his waist, and where he’s torn, sharp teeth line the inside and several long tongues flail around, flecking saliva. He has two legs and four arms, all twisted up like long balloons, and won’t stop laughing.

(see here)

Djimmi is bound by chains to his Sarcophagus and is covered in circular scars. If he gets too upset and wakes it up, the Sarcophagus opens like an iron maiden, its insides lined with flesh and teeth, and drags him in. It chews him to a pulp to feed on his blood, spits him back out, and covers him in a healing powder so he’ll reform, ready to be fed off of again later.

(art by @gutsywuts)

Bon Bon, instead of having no head, is covered in heads, always screaming.

Wally is a wooden bird puppeted by Junior, whose brain has grown so big that his head has split open in places.

Grim’s entire body is lined with burns so deep that in some places, you can see the bone, and he can’t stop crying.

Rumor is covered in her subjects, forever suffering as they try to smother her like bees do when they don’t accept a new queen.

Werner seems normal at first, until his can breaks apart, revealing that he’s only a lure on the tongue of a cat with a centipede-like body that goes on forever.

Brineybeard is gone. The boat ate him along with his marine friends, and still has bits and pieces of them in its teeth. Briney’s mutilated ghost haunts the ship.

Cala Maria is half eaten by the fish that were once her friends, stuck in her gorgon form with huge chunks bitten out of her body and a few fish and eels still clinging to her, feeding off of her flesh.

Dr. Kahl has permanently attatched himself to his robot, which has been upgraded into a terrifying death machine.

Sally resembles Amnion from Silent Hill, held up by spiderlike limbs with her bulging belly hanging below her. She has two pairs of angel wings on her back and two masks for faces, one happy and one sad like the traditional comedy and tragedy symbol.

Blind Specter is so covered in eyes that some are hanging out of their sockets and others have popped, dripping clear eye jelly.

And King Dice is exactly the same. Except he’s missing one thing.

(art by @rbot-jive)

[lightpudding]

So, 2017 ended and it’s theoretically time for some summary. So I thought, maybe I could do this? And here I am, I have no idea what am I doing.

This is for sure year of villainous. 2016 was year of homestuck, as I finished it then, but I’m glad I moved and aren’t still stuck just in one fandom. I also started to post more of my ocs, and I actually considered making a different blog just for them, but it’s too soon.

I was writing much, and I started to write in english, which, exactly one year ago, was unbelievable achivement for me. I’m still learning tho. Sadly I barely wrote any of my personal projects, just fanfics. And when I’m writing in english I’m forgetting how to write in polish.

I reached over 800 followers! I feel bad for not doing any special event, but I just don’t really know how it works. But I’m promising I’m gonna do somethink when we reach 1000 (in this year, hopefully)

I’m not good in comparing my art to see progres, I would be more than happy if I find site which could help me with that. So it’s post without comparing art, but I want to share things I never published and probably never finish (those from villainous will be in other post)

This one was after watching Itachi’s past, small bean was perfect (all his life). It’s actually my first draw in 2017, I think.

What should I say more? I didn’t like sketch.

Tried to do some lyricstuck. Maybe will finish one day? (it’s just one part)

Case project

I met him on internet. But we stopped talking. I liked how Lar cam out, but had totally no idea for this character.

My lovely Gabrielle. It was supposed to be epic draw and project of her armor...

I had cute idea for small comic about ghostblossom (Cagney x Blind Specter from Cuphead) but I stopped here. Welp. Maybe will finish one day?

That’s kinda first part, because I want to have villainous in different post.

It was... Good year. Well, could be better, but wasn’t the worst. I visit Cuba, my mom recovered (or I hope so, she should take care of herself more), I passed first year on uni, I finally started to know people there more.

New Year’s resolutions? Write more and publish something in real magazine. Socialize more. Find time for reading my books, not just pretend to read those from university. Work on my english. Actually start to work out. And probably many more.

Have a great, great new year guys!