#i understand that you want to experience playing the game on console but sometimes you just gotta emulate

[ezlo-x]

Every single time I see those twitter accounts that go “wind waker/twilight princess for the switch!!” This image i made a while back pops in my head once in a while

[insertdisc5]

Devlog #16: Answers and Questions

Hello everyone! Welcome to this month’s devlog!

If you just stumbled upon this, I am Adrienne, also known as insertdisc5! I’m the developer, writer, artist, main programmer, etc of the game. The game being In Stars and Time, a timeloop RPG, which is also the next and final game in the START AGAIN series, following START AGAIN: a prologue (available here!).  You can find out more about In Stars and Time here!!! 

LET’S GET TO IT. This month is Q&A: Cohost edition!

“A Q&A again?” Heheh well I don’t have anything to talk about this month ✨ We’re working hard on finalizing the localization! And on porting to consoles! And on secret stuff! You know, the usual!!! Get excited!!! So, Q&A again 💖 And see, I asked questions for Q&As on Twitter. On Tumblr. On Discord. But some new social media platforms have entered the fray. SO.

Welcome to Q&A: Cohost edition. (Follow me on cohost and/or read this post I wrote about why I think cohost is neat teehee) (and follow me on bluesky if you want. I like it way less though. Sorry bluesky)

@ItsMeLilyV asks:

One of the bits of advice that gets tossed around by indie devs is to avoid making RPGs, especially for your first few games, because they tend to be large in scope, difficult to prototype, and easy to underestimate.

Was this ever a fear for you in making START AGAIN, or In Stars and Time? Did you take any special precaution to keep these games within a scope you could handle, and did you learn tricks from START AGAIN that carried over to ISAT when in came to keeping things manageable? Thank you!! ✨

I had no idea that was a piece of advice given, but yep, that makes a lot of sense! Since I didn’t know, I went in blissfully aware, teehee.

I will say that I am familiar with working on big projects from working on comics, and with seeing big webcomic artists always mention to never start with your magnum opus… And I could tell ISAT had the potential to be way bigger than I imagined, which is why I decided to start with creating the prologue to get used to RPGMaker as well as making games. Kind of a pilot of sorts!

Again, thanks to comics, I know to keep my scope pretty small, because even if you keep it small it WILL balloon into something way bigger than you thought. Just for the prologue, I imagined it’d be a 20mn game, and it’s easily a 2-3h one! Keep your scope small!!!

As for tricks, when I catch myself thinking “wow what if I added this cool thing”, I try to always keep in mind those two things: 1. How long will it take to implement (including bug testing), and 2. Does it add something important to the game. I know we always want to add a fishing game, or a fun minigame, but do you Need It. Does it add something substantial to the story, to the Themes. Or are you just adding it because you like fishing games. Which is a valid reason, but also, maybe just make a fishing game instead. You are not the Yakuza series!!!! You are a small indie gamedev!!!! Think about you in 4 months who has to fix all the fishing game bugs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@stem asks:

how is it to have a piece of art that's basically done (as far as i understand) that you can't share yet? like how do you personally bide the time until it's finally ready to release, or is it not really a challenge to wait? :0c

It’s so weird!!! The game has been done for so long!!! I’m very glad I asked some friends to playtest the game, so I could at least get some feedback before the game is out… In some ways it feels like the game will be done twice: once back when I finished making the game, and once when the game actually comes out. It’s just a very strange experience. Sometimes people tell me they’re excited to find out more about this story beat, or about this character, and a part of me is like… Wait, haven't you played the game? Oh, yeah, it’s not actually out. Guess you’ll find out later.

EDIT: My god. I just checked on my private devlog for when I completed the Alpha of ISAT. It was in August of last year (I lay down on the floor and look at the ceiling) (I still had to finish all the illustrations so really the game was Done Donezo in October but still…)

anon asked:

What role did Armor Games play in creating the final product?

SO MANY THINGS. Here are some of them: support when it comes to porting/marketing/social media/localization, feedback on the game and how to make it better, community guidance, testing support, QA/internal testing… The game couldn’t be the way it is without them.

For more small details, I have a weekly meeting with my producer, Dora! We talk about the game and how everything is going. A couple months back, I also was checking in with the internal QA team fairly often to fix any remaining bugs. They also helped me find ISAT’s additional programmer, Isabella, and she is a godsend because coding is hard. They also take care of communicating with press, finding more opportunities to showcase the game in conventions, talking with the localization/porting teams… I am probably forgetting a thousand little things they did to help out!!! THEY’RE SO GOOD OK

Anon asked:

So obviously the skills/spells/what have you are based off of Rock, Paper, Scissors. Did you design each "type" to be like a certain style? Rock being heavy damage and defense buffs, scissors being speed and quick attacks, like that?

Absolutely! I just went with the obvious. Rock is physical damage, defense focused, Scissors is swords, attack focused, and Paper is magic, mind focused. It was fun to develop a spell system around those! I’m excited for people to find out more about Craft…

@nickshutter asks:

I really loved START AGAIN (streamed it for a small handful of friends) and was super happy to hear about a follow-up! The cast is so much fun and their personalities are really well-balanced—did any of the characters change pretty drastically from their initial conception during development of the game?

I’m so glad you streamed it with friends… I hope you had a good fun time…

And for sure! Isabeau and Mirabelle were pretty set from the get go (himbo and shy wallflower), but Odile started as more of a gentle teacher type, even if I very quickly went the snarky old lady route. Siffrin and Bonnie were harder to pin down– I wasn’t sure how to portray Siffrin’s despair in the prologue, and started showing them more overtly depressed, but I thought it’d be Very Yummy to have them show a happy facade to their friends. And then, for ISAT, I had to figure out what a non-depressed Siffrin would be like, for the first couple acts of the game before the despair sets in. As for Bonnie, I had a lot of trouble figuring out what they’d be like, what kind of kid they were, what their relationship with everyone else would be like, and then I thought about what their past would be like and then their characterization was set in stone. Sometimes you need to figure out One Thing to unlock a character’s brain. I’m very excited for everyone to find out more about each character in ISAT!

@SuperBiasedGary asks:

What games (or other media) lit a fire under you to create your own?

It could be stuff you liked so much it inspired, something you found frustrating because you felt an itch to do it differently, or something that made you realise humans make things and you could be one of them.

I found a lot of indie games inspiring, but I think Umineko might’ve been the one that made me go… Oh, anyone can just make a massive video game narrative. And you can make it very simple, with kinda goofy sprites, and still manage to make an incredibly touching story!

As for frustrating games that lit a fire under me, I think I’d say in general, I found issue with the classic trope of the “main character helps people and doesn’t get anything back”. What often happens in some games is that you help NPCs with their problems, sometimes helping them with very intense, complicated problems! For a very long time! And, in exchange, you get… A cool item? A nice new skill? And that’s it?

I know this might be complicated to implement on a narrative perspective, but I remember playing Persona 5, and your character just went through a very harrowing experience (like, oh, being INTERROGATED AND TORTURED BY THE POLICE) and you help your friends during social links, and they go “thanks for your help! Bye~” like WHAT ABOUT ME. WHAT ABOUT MY PROBLEMS. CAN YOU GIVE ME A HUG

So on a certain level, I wanted a game where instead of the characters around you having problems, the main character also has problems. And is subconsciously screaming “CAN YOU PLEASE NOTICE I HAVE PROBLEMS AND GIVE ME A HUG.” And hopefully, the characters notice. Winks

Hm. I do want to say I wrote most of the prologue/ISAT during the pandemic, and I felt very lonely and not supported. But then guess what. I told my friends about how I felt. And most of them told me they had no idea, and vowed to support me more. And now I’m closer to them. So the moral of this answer is, yeah, it’d be nice if people noticed, but also, you need to tell people when you’re feeling bad. LOOKS AT SIFFRIN

Anon asked:

Is there a song you listen to in order to put yourself in the sasasa/ISAT mindset?

I have a whole playlist baybee. Before you ask: there aren’t any hidden meanings behind those song choices. It’s about the Mood, and also my personal tastes in music I listen to when I need to concentrate. I like songs that go WUB WUB

 In no particular order, here are five random songs I played on repeat when making the prologue:

Future Club (Arcade Version) by Perturbator (in bold because this was THE song I listened to on repeat. I believe I gave it to Lindar for inspiration lol)

Arcades by C2C

Wake Me Up by Para One

The First Wish by DROELOE

Les Enfants du Paradis by World’s End Girlfriend

And here are five random songs I played on repeat for In Stars and Time:

Down by Chloe x Halle

Nonsense Bungaku by Eve

Non-Breathe Oblige by PinocchioP

Gentle Heart by Jamie Paige

Ready For The Floor by Hot Chip

It’s interesting, the songs I listened to for the prologue are generally more heavy and frenetic, while the ones for ISAT are more hopeful… I made sure to listen to more lively songs for ISAT, since that’s the feeling I wanted to give off…

That’s all the questions I have! In other, non related ISAT news, I have started a new project and having a lot of fun. It’s a visual novel this time. I’m hoping to get some screenshots ready in the next few months, but also I’m taking it easy on this one. If it takes years with many breaks in between to get it done, it’s fine. What matters to me right now is the process!

That’s all I have to say for today! Let me know if you have any questions, or if there’s any aspect of the game development struggle you’d like me to talk about! See you next time!!!

AND DON’T FORGET TO WISHLIST THE GAME ON STEAM ALSO IT REALLY HELPS BECAUSE STEAM’S ALGORITHM IS MORE LIKELY TO SHOW OFF GAMES WITH A HIGH AMOUNT OF WISHLISTS THAT’S THE REASON WHY GAME DEVS ALWAYS ASK TO WISHLIST!!! OKAY BYE!!!!

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for wanting to use the TV?

I (26, NB) live with my parents (55+, M and F) and siblings (25+ assorted genders). I have a job and I don’t pay rent because it isn’t asked of me. I do pay for all of my own entertainment things like consoles and video games, and I like playing these games on the TV in the living room because my siblings have fun watching me/accepting me being bad at video games be background noise for whatever work they’re currently doing.

My mother does not like it when we use the TV. Ftr, she has control over the TV 16 hours out of the day, but doesn’t really watch anything. She’s not engaged in anything she puts on the TV, really. She’s either on her phone, watching TikToks, in another room doing something else without pausing her show, or just straight up asleep. But if we try to take the TV when she’s not engaged, she yells at us and throws tantrums for being rude to her; even if she lets us use the TV she will spend the entire day making passive aggressive comments at us for using it.

Note: when I say “we” this is because the three of us siblings all count as one unit even if we aren’t all engaged in what someone else has on the TV.

What’s weird is how hard we need to push to use the TV for maybe 2 hours/give a condition where she can ask us to stop when she wants a turn, and she can openly ask or give us a heads up like “can I have the TV in 30 minutes?”.

Sometimes we also ask her to turn the volume on her phone down/use her airpods because we’ll watch shows with tense scenes or get to climactic points in a game and our experience can be ruined if a tiktok starts blasting katy perry’s fight song (true story; completely ruined the true pacifist ending of undertale). She gets really mad about this, but we never play things at loud volumes on our phones (because we are scared at being yelled at) when she is ‘watching’ something.

So why might I be the AH? Well… she has a mobility disability and can’t really go upstairs to her room to do something else or go outside for a walk or anything, so I understand that this is basically the only thing she has in the way of a hobby… (I mean if you can really call binge watching hallmark movies a hobby.)

TLDR; mobility disabled mother controls the TV in the house’s only common area for 16 hours out of the day but doesn’t really have other means of engagement. AITA for wanting to use the TV to play games or watch shows with my siblings?

Additional info: we try to do things when she goes upstairs, but that tends to be near midnight on many days, so we don’t get to do much.

Sometimes she engages in what we’re doing, sometimes asking questions or giving commentary when I’m being bad at video games. She’ll even laugh and joke about it sometimes.

She is not interested in watching shows as a family and has no interest in trying any video games.

What are these acronyms?

[northwest-cryptid]

The future is now, and a lot of people really don't like it.

It's something I've noticed, I was born just before the turn of the century, and I grew up with a lot of talk about what the future would be like. Computers, the internet, technology itself was still fairly new at least to the everyday consumer. Sure my father had been programming for years, but cell phones were still bricks we had to carry around in our pocket. This isn't a put down, so please don't think I'm using Zoomer as a derogatory term or anything but; Zoomers may not really grasp the fact that our first cell phones were these really chunky bricks that had 2 toned small screens that literally could just make calls or play snake. Texting was a pain, you had to literally hit the same key multiple times to cycle through letters and then wait for it to move to the next slot if you needed a letter on the same key.

And yet, almost everyone around me, and everyone I spoke to online was excited about technology; about the future. Integration of tech into the daily lives of those around you was the coolest stuff you could see, we had classes in school that taught us not just how to type and use the computer, but also things like internet safety and even really basic stuff about how to program. We're talking about elementary school by the way, I was playing computer games in the lab and learning how to type properly, how to stay safe online; and in some cases even how to make games. It was uncommon for anyone even in middle school to own a cell phone, and if they did it was a Nokia. You had people who would swear by Apple products because "they made the iPod!" Which yea, you read that correctly; not the iPhone; the iPod. The iPhone was still just this sort of concept back in the day. The idea of a future where our phones could do more than play snake, send texts, and call people.

You had a lot of people online who made their own websites and were lamenting how easy the internet was becoming for "just any schmuck on the street" to use. It used to be a utopia for only the biggest nerds with their text based computer games and personal websites. However it was quickly becoming more and more accessible to the every-man and people were divided on whether or not that was a good thing. Some didn't care for the direction the internet was going, and others enjoyed the attention the internet and technology by proxy was finally getting.

With more people being able to use technology effectively, the demand for better and better tech was growing. At the time, the capitalistic nature of the industry was fine, it prompted companies to compete for the biggest and the best new stuff to show off. If you were going to spend your money on something; it really had to be quality made. This isn't just about cell phones and computers either, if you look back at how much advancement was made in game consoles back during the time of the Gamecube or Dreamcast eras, you'll see that no one in the console industry could stand by and make sales by just being a brand name. Everything from computer parts to gaming consoles to even software was becoming better, whether that meant faster; higher definition, or even just sometimes having bigger numbers. I mean hell the Nintendo 64 literally put the number in the name to tell you how big of a deal it was.

This was the golden age for technology, and I am genuinely sad that a lot of Zoomers never got to really experience it. We shit-talk Zoomers for growing up without tech literacy, or being iPad babies, but the truth is; they're not taught like we were. Most of the older Millennials, or gen Xers had a lot more understanding of tech because we either were literally raised on it, or we were making it. Zoomers never got to experience what it was like to know the what and why of new tech coming out. The market has become so taken over by capitalistic greed that no one is really happy about it.

We wanted a world where tech made people's lives easier, integration of tech into your daily life was meant to simplify things. Not to advertise 20 different products to you before you can request an uber to come pick you up just so it can ask you if you want to upgrade, only for your uber driver to be so distracted by their phone and the reek of marijuana that they can't drive safely. Which mind you, isn't to say phones or weed are necessarily bad, but hey don't drive under the influence you piece of shit, especially not with passengers; you make the rest of us look bad! Now I gotta go online and complain about this on social media, of course I'm talking about like, maybe one of five social media sites people actually use. Yes it's highly censored and what isn't censored by the people running the site is likely to be caught in the net of the social culture around the website, so of course I have to watch what I say and over explain myself. Then I think I'll reblog that post about how we're all explaining ourselves too much and being too nice and we're too afraid to speak our minds and we really need to stop doing that. Then I'll answer the anon hate I got for speaking my mind and trying to not over explain myself because the social culture net is so broad it encompasses significantly too many different kinds of people who won't see eye to eye...

My point with that whole paragraph is to say that even someone like me, who adores technology and wants it to progress and wants it to integrate more into my life; still doesn't agree with what has become of it. I think the worst part about it is that some of it is inescapable while other parts can be fixed but every time I say that I get yelled at for it. It's like people would rather believe they're trapped here than understand they still have a lot of power over the use of their technology. It's easier to accept the world around you when you don't feel like you could do anything, when you understand that you could do something rather than merely complain it creates a dilemma. Suddenly you know for a fact you could fix your problem, but that requires a certain amount of effort on your part. I've heard people tell me they can't learn to code in HTML for reasons branching from trauma to disabilities. Which is baffling because if you can literally make a text post on tumblr, or send me anon hate to yell at me about how you can't possibly learn HTML; you could easily type out HTML or copy paste it.

However I'm not here to point fingers, I'm here to say I've noticed that the places we can't escape from are getting more and more aggressive, and no one feels like we can do anything. It's rough, because I know if we did try to do something it would be a hell of a lot more effort than just getting people to figure out they could make their own websites if they don't like the ones they are on.

The majority of public transport, businesses, and restaurants have apps that require you to have a smart phone. I sit down and ask for a menu, I'm told there's a QR code on the table I can scan. I once told a waitress my phone couldn't scan QR codes and she made a big fuss about how they don't have physical menus anymore and she wasn't about to tell me what all they had as options. It was my fault for being too poor to afford a good enough phone. Something that was once considered a luxury is now a necessity to eat at an establishment. If you're curious, it was a waffle house. A fucking Waffle House decided to do away with their menus and opted for QR codes. Thankfully I've not seen this catching on with other Waffle Houses, but consider the target audience of a Waffle House. This isn't some fancy classy restaurant, this is a 24/7 diner where you stop in at 3 AM to eat some poorly cooked hash-browns and eggs that were made by a poor college student who isn't paid enough; and hope no one starts a fight because the only other two people in this place are drunk off their ass and getting a little loud with the waiter. When I asked the waitress for literally just hash-browns, a couple of eggs, and bacon; a typical breakfast you could get just about anywhere that serves, you know; breakfast. I was told that's not a menu item and that I'd need to order off the menu if I wanted to actually buy anything. We went back and forth for about 5 minutes and I was doing my best to be polite about the situation because I've worked food service before and I understand too well what it's like to just want a quiet, simple shift. Finally the manager came out, charged me about $7 and made me some food. When they told the waitress to leave me be I heard her remark "alright but they were being rude as fuck" as she walked off. Mind you the only thing I asked for was a menu, then some food; and then asked what the menu item most resembling my order would have been and to just charge me for that. As the waitress stood off in the corner of the Waffle House she literally pulled out her smart phone. Not once did she offer to just scan the QR code for me and help find an order closest to my request, or any such thing. The situation was simple in her mind, I didn't have access to their QR code menu, so I couldn't order anything; end of story.

For many if you take public transport and you need an app for it, your phone needs to be able to run that app. If it can't you're out of luck, it doesn't matter if you have the money for the bus, it doesn't matter if you could pay a taxi. You need to have the app on your phone to travel, you need to scan a QR code to eat, some apps will literally ask for your ID or driver's license, so that's fun. I've literally had apps ask me for my social security information. Yea, remember kids don't give out your personal information to anyone online... unless it's this fun app you use, because remember the guys at [business] are your friends! I know you may believe that they're a business and therefore they have to use your data responsibly, but the truth is that's just not how it works. The people working at Google, at Tumblr, at Uber, they're all just people; people like you and me. Except they have access to your cloud storage, they have access to everything you've ever posted, they have access to your location, they have access to any pictures you've taken that get automatically backed up to your phone with metadata that lists the exact place it was taken; yes that includes your nudes. "For your eyes only... and like all the google employees who see this, and that one creepy guy who screenshot it and shares it with his friends uwu"

Not to be a boomer, but back in my day we were literally taught internet safety in school; and a lot of people cared deeply about this sort of thing. They weren't so apathetic to it all just to get through the day, I hear people say "oh I don't care, I know they're watching, listening; they know everything about me, targeted ads are real; etc." Hell I've been there myself, it's hard to care about it all because it feels like it's everywhere. I understand you may not want to really concern yourself with it, but when you're aware of it you can actually take measures to prevent it where you can. That's literally WHY we were taught this shit in school.

Truth is, I still have those hopes of a future where tech is part of the daily life of those who want it. I love the idea of convenient apps and fun websites. I love the idea of tech advancing and everyone finding new ways to enjoy life. Things like Vtubers, VR/AR tech, video games, and yes even the good things about shit like cell phones, and smart devices. That's all great, but I want it without all the bullshit. I hate using AR tech and going "hi random Meta employee who's likely viewing my data, location, and possibly has random access to my cameras and what I'm running on my own personal tech!" People call me paranoid, they bitch at me for being cynical; and I can't blame them. I really can't, because I know I'd enjoy life a lot more if I didn't think like this, if I didn't know what I know. It's that age old saying that ignorance is bliss.

However, when I see things like the Old Web Movement, and I understand people are trying; they're fighting the good fight and I'm just sitting there? I can't do that. I have to do my part, I have to try as well; or else I have no right to complain, to want for better tech; safer tech, more private tech. I can't scream about something as simple as discord suddenly telling me about everything my friends are playing, or what they're watching in a server I'm not even a part of; unless I'm actively actually doing my part to spread awareness and fight against the violations of privacy that so many tech applications are imposing upon people. I have to speak up even if people hate me for it.

If I was alone on that front, I'd probably let it die; I'd just be some hermit living my own way and not even care. However when I see people trying to fight for others to make their own websites, to give that power back to the public. When I see people trying to teach others how to jailbreak their tech, how to fight back against the automation of data mining and AI stealing your every word to teach some multi-billion dollar waste of electricity. I have to do my part, because I was born just before the turn of the century; and while I'm sure people would tell me it's not that deep. I still dream of the future that was promised to me when I was young, and if I can't have it in my life time, I'll fight for Zoomers; and if they can't have it in theirs, I want them to be armed with the knowledge necessary to help the next generation.

[bahamutgames]

Paper Mario: The Thousand Afterthoughts

Game: Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door (May 23, 2024)

Console: Nintendo Switch

It's that time again!! If you had told me not too long ago that I'd have to give my thoughts on 2 different Mario RPG remakes on Switch (and an upcoming brand new M&L) so close to each other, I would've laughed you out of the room. But here we are. And now I look quite foolish, don't I?

My mood is kinda in free fall and I only want to write about these Mario RPGs when I'm in a good mood, but I think I'm okay right now. So I'll capitalize on it. Similar to the Super Mario RPG Remake I'll try to focus on what makes this such a lovely remake rather than gushing about why I adore TTYD. But if you're curious, it has some of the best characters, writing, and combat in the series. While I also think it's a really padded out game. That's my micro review of the original. Okay? Okay.

As always, this isn't a review. Just me throwing up my thoughts. Go play Thousand Year Door RIGHT NOW. Either the original or the remake. I'll wait.

Now that they're gone-

SPOILERS FOR THOUSAND YEAR DOOR AHEAD, YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!!

Opening

I feel like I've given you my long, tragic backstory with Mario RPGs a billion times but if you somehow missed it. These were my favorite games of all time, they fell off, I get sad, so on and so forth. Thousand Year Door is one of my favorite video games ever, in the trio of greatest Mario games ever made you have Super Mario RPG, Bowser's Inside Story, and TTYD. And, yeah, needless to say. I was bummed when Paper Mario started to go in its new direction. But I'd like to not give that the oxygen of attention at the moment.

So when they were like "Oh there's one last thing" in that direct, the MILLISECOND that first note hit I was like "HUH???" And I flipped my fucking LID, I couldn't believe they were ACTUALLY gonna remake TTYD. And not only that, it was looking good! And then it came out and I couldn't afford it lol.

But thankfully my good friend (Idk if they want me to name them here so I'll avoid it for the time being) bought it for me. Which was so so so nice of them and I genuinely appreciate it cause this was such a wonderful experience. So this review is sponsored by my friend :)

And again, I'll skip the suspense. This is another WONDERFUL remake that's a total love letter to the original and understands what made it so good.

Stuff I liked

I think the best place to start would be with how faithful this is to the original. It doesn't change pretty much ANYTHING. If there's any major changes to stuff that was in the original (not counting new content) I can't remember it. Not that I was expecting them to change it but still, it's nice that they didn't like, butcher it or something crazy. It's the same good plot, pretty much an identical script (with any changes being for the better imo.), and the same wonderful gameplay.

But of course, what makes a remake interesting is what ACTUALLY gets changed. And I think pretty much right out the gate you'll notice the MASSIVE graphics overhaul this game got. It takes a more papercraft approach like the secondary Paper Mario Trilogy (SS, CS, OK) but applies it to the worlds from the original game. And it looks AMAZING! This is basically exactly what I wanted ever since we got to see the SS Flavion in Smash 3DS lmao. In addition to that there's SO many new sprites in this game for each character. It's actually crazy just how much new animations there are for everyone. Not just teammates, who now have back sprites and TONS of facial expressions and reactions, but even enemies and NPCs have TONS of new things that can do. Sometimes enemies will laugh at you if you get fucked over, people will change to match the mood of what they're saying. It's actually crazy, I had to stop playing every 5 seconds to look at all the new sprites and details. One of my personal favorite new expressions is Mario tipping his hat in respect when death is brought up. It's small but it's such a Mario thing to do and I actually flipped out when I first saw it.

Then there's the redone soundtrack. OH MY GOD it's SOOOOO GOOD. This might be a better OST than the original, and may be one of my new favorite Mario RPG OSTs in general. Every song is lovingly redone and they all sound SO NICE. In particular the battle theme, which changes for each chapter, is SUCH a treat. I adored that. All the boss remixes are great (Cortez in particular was a big shock that I loved) and I believe the teammate themes are actually new. This was also a lovely addition. Bobbery (not biased because he's my favorite partner) probably has my favorite theme. And some of my favorite songs, 'Happiness and Sadness' + 'We're Counting On You, Mario' were both SO well done!! And it's changes and upgrades like these that REALLY add to the experience and make it even better in my opinion! Or at least, wonderful to reexperience!

Then of course there's the combat, which is pretty much completely unchanged as far as I can recall? But they did actually add new super bosses which was really cool! You can fight Prince Mush which is neat, and Whacka which is AWESOME! This actually gives a reason to do the Pit of 100 Trials a second time (fun fact, this remake was my first time ever beating the pit! And I did it without dying. You can retry a floor if you die in this remade version of the pit, just as an fyi).

And the game over all is filled with nice little changes like that. Stuff that's maybe not ground breaking, or giving you a brand new reason to try it like the changes to Super Mario RPG's combat. But in my opinion, these small quality of life improvements are just as good. A much easier to access quick travel room to warp to each chapter is added in the sewers. Saving is instant, similar to Origami King and such. Most of the backtracking that people complain about has been cut out with simple pipes and springs in convenient locations. They even add more stuff to collect like letting you unlock CONCEPT ART WHICH IS SO FUCKING COOL, I still haven't looked through it all but it's actually amazing they did this and I'd KILL for Mario Art Books from every Mario game please just release more Mario concept art UGH. And of course there's the changed dialogue to confirm vivian being trans which is so nice, and I'm honestly shocked they actually did it. It feels almost un-nintendo of them to do. But I'm so happy they did it! It's a real remake, baby!!

In general, yeah, this game is perfect. It's filled with clear love for the original, without being afraid of acknowledging where improvements were made in future titles. Like, again, instant saving or the really nice graphics or music changing for each chapter. And while there aren't any WILD changes like brand new cutscenes in the Super Mario RPG remake, I'd say what they add and ultimately didn't add makes this such a wonderful remake all the same. I had a blast playing it and it felt so good to just, genuinely no coping love playing Paper Mario again!

Stuff I didn't like

But of course no game is perfect. And I do have some nit picks. Like, why don't they use Mario's official new signature when he signs up to join the Glitz Pit? No but seriously, folks-

There's not much wrong with this remake, there's some small stuff like them not fixing EVERY bit of fluff from the original. You still have to mash 100 times for the 'I Love You' scene. Which is funny! But like, no one complains about THIS but you all complain about a little backtracking? Amateur hour. I also think the Prince Mush fight isn't as cool as everyone says it is. I'm not huge on fights where you have to play 100% perfectly but I know that's just a me thing. And I wish SO badly they could've done a tiny bit more to have teammates interact with each other more. Although I do love that everyone comes out whenever you stand on the altar in front of the door. But like, I think everyone should've come out when the Crystal Stars are gathering everyone's wishes... OH MY GOD I FORGOT THEY MADE THE CRYSTAL STARS UGLY IN THIS REMAKE OH NOOOOO GAME RUINED-

But really, I think my big main complaint is that this remake feels a little... Too easy? Compared to the original. In the original the game is MASSIVELY padded out by having you get constantly fucked over by the stage elements. But this time I swear I got hit by a stage element maybe 2 or 3 times. But my enemy was CONSTANTLY getting fried or slammed to death in every fight. It's too common on the enemies, but feels like it's massively toned down on you. I think in the original you can get fucked over a bit much, but this doesn't feel like a compromise, if that makes sense?

Final Thoughts

But WHO CARES!! This remake is SO good! Genuinely, if you love Thousand Year Door, if you hate Thousand Year Door, if you've never played Paper Mario in your life. I think you owe it to yourself to finally experience this wonderful video game. It's truly one of my favorite video games ever and I think it's such a fantastic entry into the RPG genre.

From small changes to big changes, this is a wonderful remake. I don't know if I'd say it's a replacement to the original, personally. I actually think the original's more simple graphics have a GREAT and cartoonish feel to them that's lost a little bit with the papercraft look. And obviously nostalgia is a hell of a drug, but if someone told me they prefer this version? It's absolutely a no-brainer why. I'm so happy I loved this game so much...

Sooooo, how about that Paper Mario 64 remake, guys-

===

And that's that! Once again, I know I've said this a million times. But even though this remake was amazing and made me fall in love with Paper Mario all over again. I'm still waiting patiently for them to do a new Paper Mario in this style. I'm only so impressed that they made an amazing game amazing again. I want to know if they have what it takes to make something BRAND NEW with such a wonderful plot, characters, and combat. I'm very excited for the potential of future Mario RPGs regardless though, and I can't wait to see what's in store for us with Brothership. But Intelligent Systems, I AM wait for a new Paper Mario in this style. You've been warned.

That's all I have for now. Go out and play a game you adore!

[roguemonsterfucker]

It's hard to answer questions about my childhood in terms that other people understand

because my childhood was very weird

it was very influenced by a combination of my family having to be very atypical due to my sibling's medical issues and disabilities and the fact that i had an undiagnosed anxiety disorder and the fact that my entire family is extremely autistic (also undiagnosed until recently).

We didn't go trick or treating because my sibling easily could become ill if exposed to germs and also was in a wheelchair that made going around a neighborhood very difficult. The once or twice we did go trick or treating was when we lived in a small town where we were related to a high proportion of the residents and we drove to each of their houses.

I was homeschooled after a certain age because I was bringing illnesses home to my medically fragile sibling, who was already being homeschooled, and I had an anxiety disorder that made me want to die being around so many people even when I was only six years old.

I had one friend as a child who was also homeschooled but after we moved, I never made any more friends and rarely left the house as my undiagnosed anxiety disorder got worse and worse. My sibling wanted to go out and have friends, but couldn't because of their physical disabilities. We spent most of our time at home playing video games. My parents always made sure we had computers and game consoles growing up because they knew my sibling and I didn't have many other options for entertainment.

Being homeschooled made interactions with people weird sometimes because I'd get asked "Are you out of school for the summer?" and I'd be like ".... out of school? Summer? What?" Because we had school activities all the time when we were able (sometimes things had to be put aside because of my sibling's health so it wasn't a strict schedule).

Even my homeschooling experience was different from most other homeschooled kids.

anyways i don't know what the point of this ramble is but i had a weird childhood and i'm having a weird adulthood and i don't really know how to fit into the world because everyone's life experiences are so different from mine.

and i'm still processing the fact that so much of my life has been stolen by anxiety disorder no one knew i had

[maintitle]

I have some thoughts on the transition from DA2 - DA:I - DA:Ve that I want to talk about, but I'm going to put it under the cut because it is slightly Inquisition critical.

So to be clear on two things ahead of time, I prefer Inquisition to DA2. I prefer it's story more, and that ultimate is more important than anything to me. I also want to make clear I try to not comment on gameplay unless I have a very strong opinion that I feel I actually can make without pretending that I know how game development works, because I strongly believe the vast majority of talking heads on the internet actually DON'T understand how it works and I find the self-assumed expertise exhausting.

That said, I have always felt the change from DA2 to Inquisition is really, REALLY stark. Obviously it's a huge graphical upgrade, but every time I pop in Inquisition I'm overtaken by how my character controls like a tank. I find that to be a problem, because it's at the center of all my issues with the game; It's slow. It's incredibly, pain stakingly slow.

That CAN be a good thing. Weight to combat I think can work really well, as evidenced by A LOT of games in the last decade. But I specifically think this choice is terrible for Inquisition. It has it's positives, it gives a huge feel to boss fights that makes huge challenges satisfying, but those fights are few and far between, and often entirely optional. But there's also large moments, ESPECIALLY in some of the DLC content, where combat is specifically made more challenging by making enemies have ridiculously big health bars and nothing else, and that's a time waster, and time wasting is Inquisitions greatest flaw.

I know some folks enjoy the open world of Inquisition, and I get it, it's gorgeous in places. But there's rarely anything out there, and very little of it is interesting. Worse than that, it takes an absurd amount of time to cross the map. That slow pace translates to exploration in a fairly barren world, and it makes clearing areas sometimes agonizing. The worst part is, something like a sprint button would have made this feature so much better. The mount system barely helps, and only gives an illusion of speeding things up. They were an afterthought and it plays as such.

All this is to say, I think I'm going to wildly enjoy Veilguard more for this exact reason. Yes, I'm upset we lost a party spot, yes I'm upset we only have two companions left, but the fact is combat was NOT satisfying in Inquisition... but it WAS satisfying at times in DA2. It had some issues (enemies surviving on a sliver of health that only die when you disengage and re-engage, anyone?), but it's still feels fantastic.

I recognize people prefer Origins, and that's fine, that's my favorite game of all time. But as a console gamer, I had a wildly different experience with that game than folks who played it on PC. It was very bare bones in a way that was sometimes satisfying, but only in big boss fights or major combat. DA2 was an upgrade for that, and that's what it was designed to be. They want to recapture the console market because, yes, as hard as it is to believe, these games sell better on console.

I think this is the right decision. It already looks better in Frostbite. I think top-down hurt Inquisition. I think removing it will help Veilguard. Add to that getting rid of most of the open world, and this wildly appeals to me. As long as they get the writing and dialogue wheel right, I'll be happy, but god am I looking forward to a combat system closer to DA2 than Inquisition.

[jcmarchi]

Valorant For PlayStation And Xbox Coming Later This Year

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/valorant-for-playstation-and-xbox-coming-later-this-year/

Valorant For PlayStation And Xbox Coming Later This Year

During the 2024 Summer Game Fest showcase, Riot Games announced that its popular free-to-play hero shooter, Valorant, will be coming to consoles sometime this year. Earlier this week, I had a chance to visit Riot Games, where I not only played its upcoming 2D fighting game set in the League of Legends universe, 2XKO, but also learned all about Valorant for consoles and even got my hands on the upcoming Xbox Series X version.

When creating the console version of Valorant, Riot Games relied on one of the mantras that fueled its PC version: “Creativity Meets Clutch.” This means the studio wants to retain the kind of experience where the game has a strong tactical foundation that caters to the competitive crowd. In speaking with production director Arnar Gylfason, he tells me that even as the team opens the game up to new demographics through the console release, the more dedicated and competitive crowds will always be Riot’s main priority with Valorant.

Through the transition to consoles, Valorant will retain the same anti-cheat and network performance found on the PC version, and Riot Games has renewed its commitment to growing with the players. Riot says it has no end date in mind for Valorant, so it will continue to add content for as long as the player base craves it. 

On consoles, Valorant will deliver the same wide-ranging customization and cadence of updates players have grown accustomed to on the PC version, but Riot insists it is not a straight port. However, despite PC having several years of a headstart, Riot says there is no flagship platform for Valorant, and players can enjoy cross-progression. This means that no matter where you play, your money, unlocks, loadouts, and more carry over from platform to platform. Valorant on consoles also has crossplay, but only with the other consoles; PC players can only play with other PC players to maintain competitive integrity since mouse and keyboard controls grant various advantages, particularly with first-person shooters.

I enjoyed the smooth controls on Xbox Series X. The development team has done an excellent job translating the controls from mouse and keyboard to gamepad, which Riot admits was one of the biggest hurdles in bringing its hero shooter to consoles.

“That was the big question to solve for on bringing the game to a console audience: How do we allow you the same range of control that you are used to on a PC from a keyboard and mouse to a controller?” Gylfason says. “With a controller, you just don’t have the same input variability, and so we had to solve that for the console player. Our approach to solving that is what we call Focus Mode. So, when you’re hip-firing and moving and shooting normally, you want to have your sensitivity way up so that you’re very quickly looking around, scoping around, and understanding your environment. And then, when you engage Focus Mode, which is engaging your left trigger, have your sensitivity significantly lower so that you can fine-tune that aim and hit that headshot that you wanted or take that engagement that you wanted to take. While you don’t have the same scale of variability as you have on PC, you at least have some scale of variability.” 

Focus Mode feels good in action, and since the last time I played Valorant was around its 2020 launch, it’s great to see how much additional content has been added to the game since then. Alternating between the tactical Swiftplay mode and the all-out fun Team Deathmatch for my hours of hands-on time, I had an absolute blast. Since I’m much more of a console gamer than a PC gamer, I’m excited to dive into the Valorant competition in earnest when it finally comes out sometime later this year.

[tundraglitch]

The Human Factor, Einstein and the Games at Play in the Universe

If you were asked “Does God play dice with the Universe?”, what would be your answer?

It is well reknown the answer Einstein gave to this question, basing mostly his belief on his theory of relativity: a sound NO, a firm convition that everyhing in the universe is following an already written story.

In fact what is the consequence of saying that time isn’t something equal for everyone, but it depends on the obsever and its relative velocity?

It means that someone who is fast enough is already in the future respect to someone who is stationary.

Maybe while I’m writing this blog post, a super fast flying saucer in a point of the space is looking back at the Earth a hundred of years from now, when everything I’ll do or every stupid I’ll say in my own future, is something that has already happened.

According to Einstein time is a dimension where past, present and future are illusions of the mind: time and space are the same thing, every point in the room where I am right now coexist in a continous space, exactly like yesterday, today and tomorrow coexist in time.

The consequence is that my free will seems something not really relevant: if I’m already in the past for someone else, am I deciding anything in reality?

Again, Einstein would say that yes, free will is another illusion, better than that, he said the following:

“If the moon, in the act of completing its eternal way around the earth, were gifted with self-consciousness, it would feel thoroughly convinced that it was traveling its way of its own accord on the strength of a resolution taken once and for all. So would a Being, endowed with higher insight and more perfect intelligence, watching man and his doings, smile about man's illusion that he was acting according to his own free will. “

But what can I say to console myself about the fact that passing an hour choosing the right font for an article is better than choosing the first one at random, because the universe has already decided that font for me?

Well it can be a small consolation, but when philosopy crosses science everyone can have their saying. So like a detective searching for clues, I’ll search what I can say to save my right to make mistake that are only my fault and not decided by some equation running in the background of the stars, so I’ll point to the fact that in his honoured career Einstein wasn’t always right.

For example for a long time Einstein thaught that the Universe was static, the stars fixed in their place, now and forever: because his equations weren’t predicting a static universe, he added a “cosmological constant” to them so to make the Universe static as he liked. Later many experiments, in particular from Edwin Hubble, demonstrated that the univere was instead expanding, because the light from the stars showed the phenomenon of red-shifting, indicating that the stars were accelerating. In the end Einstein reconsidered his opionions and he admitted his error, defining the cosmological constant his greater blunder. Einsteins remains an icredible genius nonetheless, but what makes his error so precious to me is that when it comes to translating the results of calculations or of experiments to “laws” that govern life, sometimes it is “the human factor”, the totality of dreams, hopes and sometimes prejudice to guide the mind, rather than an incontestable applications of the said laws. Einstein wanted to believe in an ordered universe and he tried to find a way to the universe he liked through calculations: I understand that, I wish I could think everything really make sense as well, but I’d accept a bit of chaos in exchange of my free will. Another clue: Einsten theories cannot explain quantum physics mechanics, so we can say that maybe he didn’t have the full picture at hand, leaving to my free will a space where everything can happen: it’s big like a quantum particle, but is full of expectations. What would I answer about the dice and the universe? Well, I have my own bag of dreams, hopes and maybe prejudice as well, but I would say that judging by what happens, this universe isn’t just a game of dice, it is the full casino.

[ultraternative]

Why pokemon fans should not and do not want gen 5 remakes: an essay

I said I would do it, so here I am. I'll put it under a read more just because it'll be a long one and I don't want to fill your screen without your permission. That being said, let's begin.

As I'm sure many people know, the fifth generation of pokemon games, those being black & white and their sequels, are fan favorites and beloved by many. In fact, black 2 was my second ever pokemon game, so I'm no stranger to the magic it made people feel when they played it. It was ambitious, exciting, and completely new, so I understand people wanting to go back and live it for the first time again completely revamped and with a new coat of polish.

But that's not what this is about. I'm here arguing for the opposite, and why I think it would never work.

Remakes: an underlying problem

Yes, pokemon is no stranger to doing remakes of their games. It's been around since gen 3, with firered and leafgreen, and has been going right up until not too long ago in gen 8, with brilliant diamond and shining pearl. And I understand that it's to let players newer to the franchise play older games on recent hardware, but sometimes it's hard to stay faithful to the original while introducing new mechanics to keep old players interested.

Take for instance, omega ruby and alpha sapphire. Those games were done in a way that kept the spirit of gen 3 while having the new mechanics of mega evolution and such from gen 6. And it worked, in my opinion. But then we move on to brilliant diamond and shining pearl. Maybe it's because it was outsourced to a different development studio, or maybe it's because they wanted to be too faithful to gen 4 on a new gen console, but it didn't have the same impact as the original games. And the only new things they added was fairy type existing and a revamp of the underground, pre-post-game of course. And maybe I'm biased, but the let's go games don't appeal to me because I never got into pokemon go, and the catch mechanic is entirely based on that.

Realistically, what could we expect?

Think about it. Each remake was built in the style of its most recent generation. So if we take that and translate it over to today, we could theorize the region of unova to be a semi-open world 3d environment, letting players explore the world before moving to the next goal. But that's not the spirit of gen 5. The games were fairly railroady, putting you on a path and making you stick to it. But it also had moments like the bridge leading to castelia city being a bit overly long but mesmerizing to experience that first time. The pixel sprite of your character walking along this massive structure as the camera shifts to show off the landscape, making it feel as though you were going on an adventure just as big. How would you translate that to full 3d? How could they capture that same feeling?

Because I don't think it's possible in the current day.

The number 2 and a time skip

Yeah, this is another thing I want to bring up. After the events of black and white, the characters move on with their lives and live peacefully for a while. Then the events of black 2 and white 2 happen. Unlike every other pokemon game*, gen 5 is a canonical 2 part story. Team plasma gets up to shenanigans twice there, and a different kid has to beat them up each time. And if they really want to do remakes of gen 5, I feel they would need to incorporate both the first and second games into the same game to keep the story flow consistent and so fans don't have to deal with buying another game to continue the narrative again.

Some unaware people might say "Well what about the ultra sun and ultra moon games? Aren't those continuing the narrative from the first of those games?" No, they don't. It's roughly the same story, set at basically the same time. It's like an alternate universe at that point. It's not the same.

And I know someone is gonna bring it up, so I will address it here too. I am aware that the events of gold and silver take place after the events of red and blue. However, I am arguing that since they are different generations, they do not fit in the point I am trying to make. Black and white had direct sequels in the same generation, and if they get remakes those should be incorporated. But they won't, because they don't want people getting more games in their game.

A reasonable alternative

The whole reason I started this rant was because I saw an article saying something about players noticing the names of the bike colors in gen 8 could be the names of the gen 5 remakes, and they latched onto that pretty hard. And it also mentioned that they made that connection when the game came out, long before even the gen 4 remakes, and they just wanted to bring it back up for some reason. And I seriously doubt they would tease a game that far in advance, all things considered. I think it was just some cool names for cool decals.

But another article I didn't read said something about a potential legends style game for unova, which I think would be perfectly okay. Since it was established in legends arceus that it's very clearly a prequel to explore the origins of a region, I think it's a better plan to make that game over a glorified port that can't capture the magic of the original.

(Also I would be fine with just a straight port of gen 5 no changes but bundle the first and second games together)

Closing remarks AKA the tl;dr

Just give us legends unova. Don't bother with black & white remakes. It wouldn't be the same and they wouldn't bundle the sequels with them either.

Thanks for reading.

[laocommunity]

Get Ready to Jump into the Spine-Tingling World of Alan Wake 2 - Preorder Now for Exclusive Bonuses!

Get Ready to Jump into the Spine-Tingling World of Alan Wake 2 - Preorder Now for Exclusive Bonuses! #Get Ready to Jump into the Spine-Tingling World of Alan Wake 2 - Preorder Now for Exclusive Bonuses!# Are you a fan of thrilling video games that keep you on the edge of your seat? Look no further, as the highly anticipated Alan Wake 2 is almost here, and you won't want to miss out on the opportunity to preorder and receive exclusive bonuses! #Introduction# Alan Wake, first released in 2010, was a game that captured the hearts of horror and mystery fans alike. With its unique storytelling approach and eerie atmosphere, it quickly became a cult classic. Now, 11 years later, we finally get to dive back into the world of Alan Wake in the second installment of the franchise. #What You Can Expect in Alan Wake 2# If you're already a fan of Alan Wake, you know what to expect - a spine-tingling story with a blend of horror and mystery. The game will follow the story of the titular character, an author whose latest book, "Return to Sender," is drawing unwanted attention. As Alan delves deeper into the mystery surrounding his book, he ends up discovering a dark force that threatens to consume him. #Preorder Now for Exclusive Bonuses# Want to get the most out of your Alan Wake 2 experience? Preorder now and receive exclusive bonuses that won't be available after the game's release. Some of these bonuses include additional in-game content, early access to the game, and exclusive merchandise. #The Benefits of Preordering# While some gamers may wait until after the game's release to purchase it, preordering has a number of benefits. By preordering Alan Wake 2, you're guaranteed to have it on release day, meaning you won't have to wait in long lines or deal with sold-out copies. Additionally, as mentioned above, you'll receive exclusive bonuses that won't be available after the game's release. #How to Preorder Alan Wake 2# Preordering Alan Wake 2 is easy - simply visit your preferred video game retailer and reserve your copy. Some retailers even offer preorder bundles that include additional bonuses, such as special figurines or art books. #FAQs# 1. Why should I preorder Alan Wake 2? By preordering, you're guaranteed to have the game on release day and receive exclusive bonuses that won't be available after the game's release. 2. What kind of bonuses do I get for preordering? These bonuses can include additional in-game content, early access to the game, and exclusive merchandise. 3. Can I cancel my preorder? Typically, retailers allow you to cancel your preorder before the game's release date. However, it's best to check with the individual retailer for their specific policies. 4. When will Alan Wake 2 be released? While an official release date has not yet been announced, the game is expected to release sometime in 2022. 5. Will Alan Wake 2 be available on PC? Yes, Alan Wake 2 will be available on PC as well as on major gaming consoles. 6. Do I need to have played the original Alan Wake to understand the sequel? While playing the original may add to your understanding of the story, it's not necessary to have played it to enjoy the second installment. #Conclusion# If you're ready to dive back into the eerie world of Alan Wake, now is the time to preorder the highly anticipated sequel. With exclusive bonuses available for those who preorder, you won't want to miss out on this thrilling gaming experience. So get ready to jump into the spine-tingling world of Alan Wake 2 - preorder now for exclusive bonuses! #AlanWake2 #PreorderNow #ExclusiveBonuses #TECH Read the full article

[lostplay]

Game 6: SNK Vs. Capcom: The Match of The Millennium (Jan 2023) 💖

There is always someone more talented than you, that old saying? I think this game is encompasses that. I honestly didn't think I get such an outstanding fighting game experience on the little Neo Geo Pocket, but here The Match of The Millennium is to tell me exactly that it is what it says on the box. There is so much love and dedication to this game, and it's sources of material. From the various character sprites to mini games to it's music, this game shines above and beyond the library of Neo Geo Pocket.

Nearly every character in this game has their own soundtrack, additional super moves to unlock, and unique introductions to other characters. To say that this game has personality is honestly underselling it. While understandably the idea of locked super moves and secret characters has been a hot button issue with fighting games; the way The Match of The Millennium does it in an Unobtrusive way. You unlock fighters through beating arcade mode, and on various difficulties you unlock more blocks that are blocking said new character to be added to the roster. In addition, everything you do gets you a certain amount of money to spend on various goodies, most of which being super moves. In addition to arcade and versus mode, you can play the SNK Vs. Capcom Olympic mode to get more money to spend. What makes Olympic so interesting tho is that instead of regular fighting game stuff, we also get a variety of mini games to play featuring characters from either company. While each game may have varying amount difficulty, there is honestly enough here to at least charm a player to play it.

I don't want to be selling the fighting for this game short though as it more than holds up it's own compared to other Neo Geo Pocket games. Heck, I'd even argue that The Match of The Millennium is such a well done fighter that it gives plenty of console games a run for it's money. The controls are just so responsive, they kept everything simple, and in a lot of ways plays better than some other versus fighter games. You're honestly just going to be getting a lot fast paced fighting akin to street fighter II rather than the touch of death comboing the likes of Marvel vs. Capcom tend to have. While both types of fighting are a blast to play, it was clear why they made the game the way they did, and honestly I feel is a good showcase of how simple is sometimes better.

SNK did an amazing job with The Match of The Millennium. If there is any game that convinced me the power of the Neo Geo Pocket, it be this game. While I doubt we will ever see a rise of the Neo Geo, I'm at least thankful for making such a simple robust versus fighting game that has uddles of charm like The Match of The Millennium does. If you haven't had the chance to play this game, and consider yourself a fan of fighting games, don't miss out on this one.

[sidestcriies]

Chiaki always tries her best to explain games in an easier way for non-gamers to understand, yet she is aware sometimes she gets carried away and ramble a little too much. The gamer have never watched any of the Ghostbusters movies for example, only clips with the famous theme song – all her knowledge about it came from the video-games and the bonus materials therein, so if she can grasp the story of the movie within the game she consider it to be an efficient game for the most part. She knew Sonia might have lost the plot at some point, maybe the mention of the blood splatters and spooooooooooky stuff could retain her focus but not by much.

❝ Zombies Ate My Neighbors have one of the best co-ops in all time. ❞ she declared ❝ Luigi’s Mansion 3 is also great fun, we can play both at some point. They are very fun games that are easy to learn and challenging in the right amounts. ❞ some games require little to no prior knowledge to pick up and play, they are just easy fun that are accessible to all skill levels and it doesn’t matter if you are the Ultimate Gamer like Chiaki or someone with near zero experience like Sonia. Those can be overlooked at times by the so called “core gamers” or “real gamers” but the truth is that looking down on games that exist to bridge the gap or as gateway to gaming is silly – and not very gamer-like attitude in her opinion. Everyone needs to start at one point and not every games are for everyone : like how people made fun those who say Sekiro is too hard or complain about the tanuki outfit in Mario, that isn’t a very nice attitude. It is ok to like hard games, or to want to play laid-back and cozy games. It’s like music, probably: if you don’t like a genre, you don’t need to listen. Or like movies, if someone is too scared of horror movies it is ok to watch whatever they like instead.

❝ Dead by Daylight is a game that requires some practice and knowledge of both the game’s mechanics and the characters skills to be efficient. ❞ Chiaki explained ❝ Sometimes, however, they release a character that is too overpowered and easy to play. This is why they are always rebalancing the game, making the “weaker” characters more efficient with proper setups and some of the unfair ones being nerfed. I always have great respect for everyone who picks an underrated character in any title and learn how to properly play them. ❞ her mind went to the player who got specialized in Fang, considered one of the worst characters in Street Fighter and entered in international championships with very good results even if not making all the way to the finals. It was truly inspiring. ❝ Maybe at one point Freddy Krueger will be rebalanced or a legendary player will show everyone how to properly play him. ❞ it was always fun to cheer for the underdog, many games were focused in these.

Chiaki tilted her head upon Sonia’s mention of the food, she really couldn’t relate on having alcoholic beverages yet but she understood to some extend ❝ Social gatherings can be hard. ❞ she never felt at ease with so many people around until joining the 77b. ❝ Eating well is important. Like, I don’t understand why they make those super fancy dishes that look pretty but they are so small. Do they give you extra HP or something like that or is there something else? ❞ it didn’t made a whole lot of sense to her. Usually in gaming larger items give you bigger boosts, but rare items also give you more bonuses and it doesn’t matter the size most of the time.

❝ Interesting you mention authorities and journalists, Sonia-chan. ❞ the gamer was comfortable sitting in front of the console, the title screen showed a pictured framed of a building and zoomed in to show a three stores hotel with brick walls, the words “World’s Fair Hotel” showing in the lower corner right while the menu was displayed in the left ❝ The main protagonists are part of a crew making documentary about H. H. Holmes. ❞ with that she hit “New Game”, the hotel was now front and center. Despite Chiaki’s words about the documentary crew, however, the game introduction presented them with a newly-wed couple visiting Chicago in 1893. The broad daylight contrasting with the horrors that awaits them, exchanging loving words before setting foot in the deathtrap. Of course, the gamer knew how that part would turn out, but part of the fun of playing with a friend is watching the reactions – and doesn’t take long for the camera to pan to focus on a human skeleton’s skull while the blissfully ignorant couple keeps on ringing the reception’s bell. The young man complains about the service and they can pick how the lady is going to reply: to say nothing, to be excited about the fair taking place or to tell her husband that the people must be busy. ❝ Which one, Sonia-chan ?❞

Sonia nodded, listening to Chiaki explain the nuances of the different Ghostbusters games. She was familiar with the films of course, so she could place a game with the corresponding movie easy enough. But famicom? And movies never made? Oh, now it was getting terribly complicated!

But what wasn't complicated were two very important things: how much positive energy radiated from her friend when she was prompted to speak about video games at length, and how she did not expect Sonia to follow along completely or be an expert in it all. She did not frown upon that either, which allowed the princess to relax in her best friend's company. There was no need to come up with just the right response to say that wouldn't be scrutinized. She simply seemed to want someone to care, to listen and engage where they could. And Sonia could do that: it was the easiest thing in the world, she thought. To care and show kindness towards others.

"I must say, I have considered the possibility of zombies consuming my neighbors at home," Sonia giggled. Imagining the aristocrats in neighboring counties to her family's manor, their summer home, becoming infected and it spreading throughout the countryside...it rather sounded like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. It wasn't a video game film to be sure, but if Chiaki enjoyed zombies, she might find some fun in the horror-inspired retelling of Jane Austen's classic novel. "That does sound like great fun! Perhaps you might show me the mechanics sometime? We might fight zombies together, then!"

She was quick to catch up, but just as quick to fall behind. Just how many games were there in this game? And there were different sorts of gameplay? Sonia smiled but, in truth, she was becoming even more lost than before. To her, it seemed there was a certain pattern of buttons to press at a certain time and that was what assured success in many games. Chiaki would, certainly, know better, but it was far beyond her own scope of play. The games she played the most were the Mario Kart and Party with her cousins, and chess with her father. On occasions where they could all get away with it, they'd rustle up the video game controller guitars, microphone, and drum pad and pretend they were in a music band. Sonia was always given the drums because while she could keep a beat, she could not sing or play notes for the life of her.

"I doubt Freddy Kreuger would appreciate being referred to as a low-tier killer," Sonia remarked, a small pout on her lips. "But I believe he would jest in retaliation! Surely charisma and manipulation count for something where serial killers are concerned. In real life, they especially do."

That didn't seem to count for much in games, or at least that one specifically. But it seemed that Chiaki had selected another for them to play, and thus Sonia settled down on the sofa as she set up the proper console. "Well, what can I say..." She smiled, albeit a bit sheepishly. "It can be a challenge to resist the allure of champagne and canapes, but I admit that after awhile, the plated dinners are a bit boring. Truth be told, so often I crave something simpler. Like karaage! Or a gyudon bowl. Nothing that needs several sets of cutlery and china to consume, you know?"

It was a side of herself that, despite how eager she was to prove to her classmates and the world that she wasn't perfect and hardly represented the ideals of animated princesses, she often kept hidden. Underage alcohol consumption was still somewhat frowned upon in Japan, while in Novoselic it was common to drink with meals. And more, when one was affluent enough to have parents too consumed with their lives and social statuses to even pay much attention until a catastrophe occurred.

But Chiaki...she simply accepted it. There was no judgement to be passed, just a concern that her friend was eating appropriately. "Then it is good I ordered enough food for two, then? But I rather like this idea of an interactive horror film! With you mastering the game's mechanics, I shall endeavor to do my best to ensure our characters, and ourselves, are deffo 'final girls!' We must prevail with a harrowing story for the authorities, or the journalist who comes to interview us, after!"

[okayeojin]

loona reaction to having a gamer gf

➢ 💌; fluff

[female reader]

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。• ..・。.・゜✭・. ° • .

heejin

you would usually be in front of the pc whenever she came home (or at least, more often than not), and after putting her bag and the rest of her things aside, she would hug you from behind and kiss your ear and neck gently, attempting to get some sort of reaction out of you. you would always pause whatever game you were playing to kiss her back and give her some 'welcome back' affection. other than that, i think she would find you really cute (and highkey hot) while gaming, so she would admire you from the side and simply be in your company and chat while she was on the bed with her phone. also being on your lap would make her really happy, especially receiving kisses from you whenever something good happened in your game. i personally don't see her joining you willingly, unless you specifically asked her, and she would comply for the sake of being in your company and watching you cutely giggle at her being a mess at videogames.

hyunjin

she would love it oh so much, she would be the one to ask you to teach her some games, and with your aid she'd get pretty good at it very quickly. i also think she'd have the beginner's luck and even beat you literally at the first try. literally how. and she's be so cocky about it too. it's not even that she would get competitive, but she'd be so naturally good at it that it would make you competitive, playing one match after the other, while being laughed at and made fun of by your girlfriend. if for some reason you were also a streamer, she would beg you to be in one of your videos, playing against each another, and if she won, she would be so annoying like "you saw it here everyone, ditch y/n and come to me, im creating a channel right now-" before you kicked her out of the room.

haseul

please she'd be so precious, she would focus way more on the characters' designs and the visual aspect of the games you were playing, rather than the game itself. if you ever asked her to play with you, first of all she would be so ecstatic that you wanted her to be part of your passion, but she would be one of those people to chose a specific character just because it "looks cute". however, i think she'd be so adorably clumsy that even losing on purpose against her wouldn't work, she'd manage to kill her character and lose anyway. she'd get pretty upset about it, and you couldn't help but give her a big kiss of encouragement every time she lost, and teach her again and again tips and tricks to succeed. please she would also ask continuously "what does this button do again?" "wait how do i jump?"

yeojin

i definitely think yeojin would genuinely enjoy video games, she would probably start playing more often because of you, but she liked gaming occasionally even before she met you. that being said, she would text you or talk to you about new games being launched that she was interested in, and suggesting you played together, or ask you to recommend some games to her, since you had more experience and better knowledge than her anyway. she would play for the sake of winning, and she'd get so competitive, sometimes even getting upset at you if you kept on winning and winning. needless to say you'd cover her in kisses and beg her to keep playing with you, since from time to time she'd have to walk away to cool off before getting back to play against her super cool gamer gf. also, "gamer gf" would be how she saved you on her phone, lmao. anyway, at least you'd definitely train her to be better than her members.

vivi

vivi doesn't know a lot about video games, that much i can tell you. if you left her by herself in front of a pc or a console, she wouldn't know where to start, and i don’t think she would get interested by herself, but seeing just how much you were into games, she would want to understand the appeal and teach you to ask her a thing or two. she’s a quick learner i think, so she’d learn the basics pretty rapidly, and she would occasionally join you mainly to be in your company, but overall it wouldn't really be something made for her. regardless, she'd keep you so much company, sitting by your side, bringing you snacks and reminding you to take breaks in between gaming sessions.

kim lip

she'd pretend to not be interested and whenever you asked her to join you, she'd refuse and say she had other things to take care of. however, from time to time she would sit by you and admire your skilled fingers moving so fast on the controller and your eyes shifting on the screen, your focused expression with your lips slightly parted making her chuckle to herself, glad you couldn't hear her thanks to your headphones. she would also take so many super zoomed in pictures of your concentrated expression and use them as memes. she would indeed think you were super cute and funny playing, but also very attractive, when you removed your headset and brushed your hand through your hair right after you had completed a level, for example (ops).

jinsoul

oh she would love it. not games in particular, but her pretty girlfriend playing them. she would definitely find some time to sit with you, preferably on your lap, and watch you play and play and play and play... she would probably get bored after a while and suggest you instead taught her how to play so that she could join you. would definitely choose which game to play based on the overall aesthetic of it, and also choose the character on the same kind of premises, "she looks cute, i wanna be her". she would start off as wanting to play just to stay with you and listen to you talk about things she didn't understand at all, but eventually she would get so into it and put so much effort to defeat you. if she did ever actually beat you, you’d never hear the end of it. her ego would be so fueled she would ask you to play with her more and more, until you had to ask her to stop because it was getting too late.

choerry

you would have to play in secret and hope she wouldn't find out you were playing without her, because she'd constantly try to either get on your lap or play with you. she would start off as a total newbie and eventually being really good at it and actually give you great advices in case you couldn't finish a level. you would be so surprised the first time she told you "let me do it" when she saw you struggling on the same spot over and over again, taking your place on the gaming chair, while you stood behind her, and your jaw literally dropped when she completed the level first try, flashing you that bright smile of hers. "there you go!". little did you know she had been practicing in secret just to surprise you, so she could play with you and be actually good at it. so yeah she would genuinely enjoy gaming thanks to you.

yves

she wouldn't be super interested in gaming itself, but rather interested in watching you do it, either having you on her lap or vice versa, or even her laying in bed while listening to your cheers of victory or groans of defeat. would definitely be concerned about your well being and constantly remind you to rest your eyes every now and then, but she would definitely smile to herself at the sight of her girlfriend enjoying herself and being happy doing what she liked, so she would mostly let you do your thing while watching from the side. if she felt really lonely, and noticed you didn't have any intention of stopping anytime soon, she would waddle and sit next to you, wondering if she could join you, maybe suggesting some more chill and easier games. but don't get used to it, because it wouldn't be an every day thing.

chuu

she wouldn’t care if she didn’t know how to play or that you would beat her every time you two actually played together, she only cared about spending quality time with you, even by simply watching you game at your desk and cheering you on from the bed out loud. sometimes you would lose because of her yelling “oh do that! dodge that!!” so loudly in your ear that you’d get distracted, simply laughing about it and threatening her that you would tickle her to death if she kept it up. chuu would be very much supportive of your passion, offering herself to receive some coaching sessions from you in order to get better at it. your “training” would most likely end up with her sulking about not being able to beat even the easier levels and you showering her with kisses to reassure her.

gowon

she’d want to sit on your lap whenever you were in front of your pc, for the mere reason of wanting to receive your kisses of victory whenever you succeeded in whatever game you were playing. she would ɡet so ɡiɡɡly every time you hugged her tighter and she couldn’t stay still on your lap because of her excitement. she would mostly stay in silence while watching you, but commenting from time to time on the graphic of the games “that looks pretty” etc, or even be impressed by your skills, “how did you do that?!”. she would learn a lot just by observing you and the way your fingers quickly pressed the keys or moved on the controller. she’d be so amazed, despite not really being into video games. eventually she’d shyly suggest you two played together and you couldn’t be happier that she wanted to take part in what you were passionate about. such a supportive gf.

olivia hye

damn she would love it. enjoying playing video games herself, she would love to have someone to share this passion with, and who better than her girlfriend. would it be boring to say that majority of your dates would be the two of you in front of a screen, occasionally cursing at the game and each other, making bets such as “okay if i win you have to do whatever i say for like a month” and so on? she would complain so much, accusing you of cheating whenever you won absolutely she did not lose because you had more than 7 years of experience and knowledge, yeah. regardless, she would keep asking you to play with her, she adored so much the fact that she had someone to actually play with instead of the members who preferred to just watch her. she’d often pretend to be upset at the fact that you were better than her, but she secretly admired you so much. so proud of her girlfriend.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。• ..・。.・゜✭・. ° • .

masterlist:°•☆

[donaweasley]

Their Little Secret

Pairing: Loki x Fem!Reader

Plot: This can be read as a sequel to What If or even as a solo.

The reader and Loki have been best friends for long, but eventually realised that it was more than just friendship. As they secretly step into a new world, the entire team, unbeknownst to it all, makes it their mission to make the love birds realise and confess what they feel for each other.

Warnings: Fluff, slight angst in relationship, a happy ending! Oh! And late-night hazards and a long read. Sorry!

Read time: ~26 mins

“(Y/N), could you please take a look at this once?”

Loki waltzed in through (Y/N)’s door with a file in his hand. She was reading a book, when he knocked.

“It’s pretty late. I thought you said you’d go straight to bed. What are you doing with this poor old piece of rat-food now?”

“I did. But then I couldn’t sleep. So...I thought of doing something boring enough to lull me to sleep. But this old file actually turned out to be quite interesting,” he explained animatedly. “I just couldn’t understand one part. So, here I am!”

She eyed him suspiciously as he spread his arms to accentuate his royal presence.

“That, or you wanted to see me, and this file is a flimsy excuse,” she drawled.

“Come on, darling! I’m fond of you but not to the extent that I’ll have to make lame excuses to see you. Besides, why would I need to lie to you?”

After taking a moment to consider his words, she stepped beside him and asked him to show the file.

“It is here - this part,” he pointed at a chunk of printed information.

“This one is…” She pondered aloud. “That doesn’t make sense! Loki, w-where did you get this from? That doesn’t look like any mission report or anything. It looks like...an excerpt...from...a book?”

Before she could register, a kiss landed on her cheek. It was immediately followed by Loki excitedly wishing her, “Goodnight, darling,” and vanishing into a green glow.

She stood stunned for a while. Gradually, the tingling sensation where Loki’s lips had caressed her skin began to spread like wildfire through her face, and soon she was blushing and smiling like an idiot.

“Idiot!” She cursed him as she flopped back on the bed.

After a few seconds of fiddling with the bookmark, and staring at blurred lines on the page, she closed the book, and decided to call it a night. After what Loki just did, nothing else could compare to a happier ending to the day.

As she closed her eyes, sunny memories started flooding her mind.

It had all started hardly two months ago, when they were having their usual midnight snacks, casually talking the day’s stress away, talking nonsense - just the usual best buddy night.

But then something happened: a childish game of “what-ifs”.

It was fun, for the most part, until Loki had asked her about her intentions if she met the love of her life the next day. Already stained with painful memories of past relationships and with the hopelessness about her love life, she tried her best to evade the question. But Loki, being Loki, kept proding her until she gave him a genuine reason for her frustration.

And everything changed after that. Because in trying to save the other from falling down the emotional cliff, they had saved each other. They had found each other.

She laughed softly as she remembered the hesitancy in both their hearts as they had crossed the threshold of friendship.

That was the first time that she had kissed him. On the cheek. And that was even before she had fully realised that her feelings for him were no longer platonic.

That was the first time Loki had put an arm around her and pulled her close to him.

Another giggle escaped her as she remembered the moment when the soft morning light, and a stiff back had awakened her from her sleep.

Both were still sitting in almost the same position as they had been when they were chatting.

She had found herself cocooned in the arms of Loki, her legs tangled with his, both of them safe under the thin blanket that Loki had picked while preparing for their night. Her head rested on his chest, while his rested on the top of her head.

The last thing that she remembered from the previous night was them promising each other that no matter how things turned out, they’d always be beside one another. And then Loki had pulled her closer, and gently laid her head on his throbbing chest.

It was now peacefully moving up and down with his sleepy breaths. Before opening her eyes to reality, she stole a few moments to let this feeling sink in.

When she had closed her eyes the night before, there was an excitement so high in the air that Thor’s thunder would have been ashamed. It was the hammering of Loki’s heart that had eventually put her to sleep.

The morning brought a peaceful rhythm beneath her ears. It was beautiful, it was calm, it was...reassuring. She loved it more than the thrill of the past few hours.

But no matter how long she tried to soak herself in the feeling, the incidents of the night before still seemed somewhat unbelievable. How could something months long change overnight? Was it all a mirage then, cast by the treacherous night?

The darkness of the night sets the mind free to imagine anything, take any decision. But the clarity of the day brings logic to the forefront, which sometimes turns out to be good but sometimes not so good.

But...it had felt right. She took a deep breath to clear her mind. It still felt right. That was all the assurance that she needed for the moment.

As she turned in her bed, she remembered the raspy voice in which Loki had wished her a good morning.

The close proximity, the husky, sleep-laden voice, the sudden change in the air - everything made blood rush to her cheeks and ears. Loki had sleepily chuckled at her flushed state, though he was only slightly better than her in hiding his own flustered state.

Ever since, not a single day had passed when the two of them hadn’t thanked the stars.

She used to think that she loved Loki’s friendship more than anything. She was happy to be proven wrong when she experienced Loki’s courtship.

A different flower everyday, sometimes inside her room, laid carefully near her door, sometimes on her bedside table, and on some mornings, beside her pillow.

She was used to going out with her best friend Loki, but going out with her boyfriend Loki was an experience on a whole new level. Light brushes of the fingers, sometimes an arm around her shoulder, intertwining of fingers, occasional brushes of his lips on her temple, and not-very-occasional blushes that tinted both their skins.

Every day, before parting for the day, she was blessed with bear hugs from him - something that she had never expected him to be fond of.

It was the best time of her life! Almost every doubt that she had about this relationship not working out had evaporated long ago. It was - she dared to say - perfect!

Except for one small hiccup: they had to keep everything off the radar.

For one, they were still testing the waters. No matter how happy and confident they were with one another, their newfound relationship was still at its infancy, and they didn’t want to declare anything to the rest of the team right away.

Second, everybody in the compound had been teasing both (Y/N) and Loki about “getting a room” for a long time. They didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of knowing that they were finally correct. Well, figuratively.

Unfortunately, the team did not know that they had already confessed their feelings to each other. And so, they were desperate to make the love birds see the truth of their emotions. The Avengers, tough and stubborn as they were, never gave up. And Loki and (Y/N) simply decided to play along.

For instance, around a month and a half ago, Tony had thrown one of his usual parties at the compound, and had brought a line of apparent suitors for (Y/N) and a host of gorgeous ladies and lads to introduce to Loki.

Though the new couple was initially confused at the unbridled attention, they eventually understood what was going on: Tony Stark had decided to use the age-old recipe of jealousy to crack either one or both of them.

It was fun, they both admitted later, to dance to the tune, and give the host a frowning face when he realised that neither were biting the bait. Instead, both seemed to be enjoying themselves flirting or dancing with their respective “baits”.

What escaped the eagle eyes of the team were the furtive looks that both (Y/N) and Loki threw at each other from time to time. It wasn’t easy to masquerade those longing glances with playful teases that two friends might share. But they had to.

Late into the night, after the party was over, Loki teleported into (Y/N)’s room. The security cameras were still a threat to their little secret.

“Hello beautiful!” Loki purred when she didn’t turn all her attention towards him as she usually did, but kept herself apparently busy in making the bed.

“Is this my consolation prize for all your flirting this evening?” She tried to keep it casual but her displeasure seeped into her tone.

“Ooh, someone sounds jealous,” he drawled.

“Speak for yourself, God!”

Loki stepped towards her, and gently caught her hand, putting a pause to her actions.

“Look at me. Please?”

She smiled as she faced him, but he could easily catch the facade.

“I know what you're trying to do. You can’t fool me, (Y/N).”

“And what is it that I’m doing?” She tried to question with the same casualness but her voice kept betraying her.

“You are trying to make it look like it didn’t affect you - me being with all those lovely people. But in reality, you are hurt, even if it is a tiny bit.”

Her smile faltered. Of course, she couldn’t fool the God of Lies!

Closing her eyes, she shook her head, “I don’t know why you’re saying this Loki. I’m perfectly fine! Why would I-”

“You and I understand each other perfectly,” Loki gently cut her off. “Or did you forget that?”

He reminded her of the one line - of the one realisation - that had triggered the tiniest thoughts of them being possibly together, if at all.

Realizing that all doors were closed for her, she tried to turn away from him, only to be stopped by the trickster.

“If it makes you feel any good,” he resumed, “it did burn me a bit, too, to watch you dance and laugh with those clowns.”

At this, she burst into laughter. Loki was glad at the change of mood, and allowed a few happy creases around his eyes as well.

“Is that true,” she asked, “or are you simply trying to make me feel better?”

He shrugged, “What do you think?”

“I’d like to believe that it’s true,” she confessed shyly.

“It is.”

“Well then,” she said after suppressing a wild grin that tried to crack its way through, “I guess that makes us even.”

“Guess so.”

“I’m sorry, Loki,” she sighed, “I lied earlier because I didn’t want to put any kind of pressure on you or anything. I mean...jealousy? That’s the first stage of obsession. And...I don’t want you to think that...”

“Hey,” Loki held both her hands in his, “your feelings for me will never suffocate me. On the contrary, they help me breathe. You have given my life a new purpose. I thought I was happy being your best friend. But this...this is even better. Never think that you’re putting any kind of pressure on me. None of those men or women out there, or anywhere for that matter, can bring me what I feel with you, for you.”

Words seemed insufficient for what she wanted to say. So, she simply nodded, and wrapped her arms around his torso.

“Thank you,” she murmured into his chest.

He chuckled as he ran his hand on her head, “Being jealous actually makes you look cute.”

She unwrapped herself from him just enough to look at his face, “Says the man who just confessed being jealous himself!”

“I never said I don’t look cute,” he shrugged again.

Shaking her head and laughing, she pulled his face down, and placed a warm kiss on his cheek.

“Go now, before I punch that cute face of yours.”

“When you say ‘punch’,” Loki drawled, “do you mean…’kiss every inch of’...?”

Blushing furiously, she pushed him towards the door.

“Shut up, and just go!”

Loki laughed as he wished her a lovely night, and disappeared into his usual green glow.

---------------

But the Avengers were not the ones to give up.

Not many weeks later, Natasha planned an evening at one of her favourite nightclubs. While Steve, Vision and Bucky backed out of the plan, given their previous not-so-delightful interactions with the loudness and the crowd, Thor and Tony were adamant on dragging Loki with them.

“We thought you liked a little fun! Since when did you start wearing grandpa’s knickers?” Tony snorted.

“C’mon, brother, don’t embarrass me,” Thor’s voice boomed in Loki’s room. “(Y/N) has embarrassed me enough. She didn’t want to go either. Said she’d rather sleep than be tormented by the blasted noise.”

She said what? That means she’s going to stay back-

“Wait, what?” Tony turned towards Thor with a perplexed look, “She said that?”

He turned around to face Loki again, “Are you two planning something or have you both become boring?”

No, no, no! They’ll add up…

“I am not boring!” Loki declared. He decided to stay quiet on the other option that Stark had mentioned.

“Well, then join us,” Tony shrugged.

With a dramatic roll of his eyes, Loki agreed.

Needless to say, his eyes went wide when he saw (Y/N) dressed up and ready for the outing when he was expecting her in her pajamas. When she silently questioned him, he immediately realised that he had been tricked.

I have to be more careful.

The team’s plan soon became obvious when, after a few rounds of shots, everyone made a beeline to the dance floor, leaving behind a string of excuses, and Loki and (Y/N) at the bar. Even through the crowd, the duo’s trained eyes could catch glimpses of their teammates shadowing them.

“Do they really think getting drunk will make us confess?” She shouted over the sound of the music.

“I’m a God,” he shouted back. “Midgardian liquor doesn’t affect me anyway.”

“Well, it affects me,” she shrugged and drained another shot down her throat, “and I love it!”

Last one.

She had started feeling dizzy. Getting wasted could be saved for another moment when she wasn’t being spied on.

A few minutes passed in silence as neither was fond of shouting to communicate. (Y/N) bobbed her head to the music while Loki eyed the mass of bodies swaying and moving with the beats.

“Would you-” Loki began but stopped midway.

While her eyes questioned him, he silently slipped from the stool, and came to stand almost behind her.

His hot breath, dipped in a faint whiff of alcohol, hit the shell of her ear as he purred, “Would you like to dance with me?”

She was rendered immobile for a while. A small corner of her mind wondered if Loki knew what he was doing to her.

I bet he knows what he’s doing.

“I’d have loved to!” She drawled. “It’s a shame there isn’t room for a waltz here, and I wouldn’t want a God like you to hop like teeangers in the crowd.”

She felt his chest brush against her back.

“I was actually hoping that you’d be up for that dance,” he pointed at a section of the crowd where bodies were gliding against each other in the most provocative ways.

Her breath hitched again. She didn’t need to turn her head to know that Loki was smirking at his achievement.

But this time, she wouldn’t squeal, she wouldn’t push him away with a timid smile. Diffidence and boldness both tugged at polar ends of her heart until boldness won the war.

Not this time. Two can play the game, darling.

“So, what’s stopping you?” Her lips almost brushed his earlobe as she tilted her head to whisper in his ear.

Where did that come from?!

Loki wasn’t prepared for this.

It was usually him who threw mildly suggestive comments which she pushed away with a shy gesture. He never expected the tables to turn so quickly.

She did not even have enough shots to get drunk yet, he noticed.

“What happened, did the cat get your silver tongue?” She smirked.

“I-I...uh...”

While Loki continued to gape at her, an inkling of panic nudged her chest.

Did I take it too far? He obviously wasn’t ready for this, but…

It all must have been another prank for him, and I…

No!

With a cackle, she sliced the apparent tension in the air. “So, finally got you, ha? Mischief!” She winked.

Turning towards the bartender, she ordered another shot.

Loki’s brain was still trying to decipher her behaviour.

Did she really mean it…? It didn’t look like a joke though…

As she focused on her drink, he thought he saw a flicker of disappointment cross her face, but the incessant dance of light and shadows made her features almost unreadable.

“You should get back to your seat, y’know?” She told him with downcast eyes.

“What?”

“The team might notice and...they might know.”

Did her voice just...tremble?

Loki hated the place: the noise, the dim lights, the secrecy - he hated the way everything seemed to veil her from him.

“I think I’ll go find them.”

Downing another drink, she hopped off her seat, and disappeared in the crowd, leaving Loki to his thoughts.

Once they were back in the compound, Loki went straight to (Y/N)’s room. This time he did not sneak into her room using magic; he knocked on her door. This wasn��t the moment to play a game of cat and mouse. If the entire compound was prying on him, he would gladly allow them to. Well, maybe not gladly.

“Hey! Hi, Loki!”

Her smile was as bright as ever.

Was it all in my mind then?

“Are you alright?” He tried to sound calm but his anxiety turned out to be more stubborn than him.

“Yes, I am. What- Come inside first.”

She stepped aside, allowing him to stride into her room, and flump down on the bed.

“I’m sorry,” he began honestly, “I thought...I thought you were upset. At the club… I thought I saw you...sad? I’m not sure. I just had this feeling that you’re probably not okay, and-”

“Loki,” she held his shoulders and gently hushed him, “I’m fine.”

Her assurance enabled him to breathe normally again.

Caressing his face, she placed a light kiss on his forehead.

“Thank you, Loki! For everything. For caring so much about me.”

“(Y/N),” he held her hand, “are you hiding something? From me?”

He didn’t miss the way she gulped before replying.

“Why would you say that?”

“Look, I’m sorry if I cross the lines sometimes. I know I tease you but those are… I’m sorry if I’ve ever made you uncomfortable or have hurt you.”

“You are an idiot! Do you know that? You’ve never hurt me or made me uncomfortable. Now, get these stupid thoughts out of your little brain, and give me that devilishly charming smile of yours.”

Despite all her compliments, his eyes did not light up as they usually did.

“Are you sure?” He asked her.

“Absolutely!”

“You’ll tell me if you’re upset, won’t you? Promise me.”

He took note of how she licked her lips before nodding.

Something is not right.

“Come here,” he pulled her in his arms, and buried his face in the crook of her neck. “And I’m not an idiot. I am smart.”

---------------

The next few weeks turned out to be more and more challenging as the team was now hell-bent on getting them exposed. What made them so sure of their relationship was still a mystery to the couple.

“Are we that obvious?” (Y/N) asked Loki one day.

“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “It is said that it shows on the faces of those in love. So, I guess...”

The words, coming from him, filled her with warmth. If that be true, and if everyone could see that they were in love only by looking at them, then she’d happily trade their secrecy for more obviousness.

But every time they came close to taking the relationship to the next level, she would find Loki backing away. Every time they had the opportunity to reveal their beautiful secret to the team, he would quickly shield both of them.

Why, Loki? Do you not want us?

---------------

It was a rainy evening when Tony had gathered everyone in the living room. At first (Y/N) thought that it was an urgent meeting for a new mission. But when she knew the actual reason behind it, she couldn’t prevent the snort that escaped her.

“Excuse me?” Tony pointed at her. “You got some problem, princess?”

“Truth or dare? Like, how old are we? Twelve?”

Tony spread his arms as if to silently make a point. “Since when did you start categorizing fun into ages? Ever since you started dating Rock of Ages?”

“Hey!” Loki made a tiny protest at his nickname.

“We are not dating,” (Y/N) deadpanned.

“And there goes my question,” Wanda sighed from across the room.

In response, (Y/N) simply rolled her eyes, and grumbled, “Kids!”

Once the game started, the team wasted no time in getting to the point: (Y/N) and Loki.

The first one to get attacked was Loki.

“No, no truth for you,” Sam chimed in just as Loki sucked in a breath to choose “truth”.

“He’s the God of Lies!” Sam announced, “He can easily slip away with any lie!”

“The bird’s got a point!” Tony agreed, followed by everyone else. “‘Dare’ for you!”

“This is not how it works,” Loki protested.

“Did you play this on Asgard? Thor?”

“No, we had never even heard of it until we came here,” the big brother responded.

“But-”

“Nah-ah!” Tony didn’t let him finish. “This is exactly how it is played. Who wants to give the God of Mischief a mischievous dare?”

(Y/N) wanted to protest; she wanted to tell Tony that he was bending the rules to get to them. But any word of support would further corner them both. All she could do was play along.

“Kiss (Y/N). And you know where I mean.”

Nat’s voice yanked her out of her thoughts. She watched in horror as Loki’s expressions changed from shock to anger while the entire team cheered.

“Nat!” (Y/N) jumped up from her seat, “do you even hear yourself? He’s my best friend! We can’t just...”

“Why not?” Sam questioned with a smirk. “You seemed to be enjoying it when I was asked to kiss Buck. He’s my best buddy.”

“Speak for yourself,” Bucky mumbled.

“C’mon, it’s just a game! Don’t be a spoilsport.”

Steve?? Et tu?

Rubbing her eyes, (Y/N) tried to find a way out of it. She knew well that if Loki kissed her, she’d melt into it. Everything would become obvious.

No, no, no!! This can’t be. They can’t just expose us like this. Loki would be so....

Wait, why isn’t he saying anything?

She opened her eyes to see Loki standing. His expression was unfathomable.

Oh no! Is he going to…

“This is outrageous!” Loki snapped and turned on his heels to walk out of the room.

Oh!

For reasons she did not want to explore then, (Y/N)’s heart dropped several feet. She was expecting a similar reaction from him but wasn’t hoping for it.

Quickly gravitating back to the situation in hand, she stammered an excuse or two for his behaviour, and followed his tracks to check on him.

Once both of them were out of earshot, Tony leaned towards the group, “Did we save it or kill it.”

“Looks like we killed it,” Sam sighed.

“Trust me,” Wanda smiled, “we saved it.”

“Vision? What do you think?”

“I still do not understand why you have to torment them like this. Let them come out when they want to. It’s-”

“Okay!” Tony interrupted him. “Sorry I asked! My bad!”

The door to Loki’s room was half open when (Y/N) arrived. Gingerly, she admitted herself inside.

Loki was standing at the window, with his back towards her. His head was bowed but his hands were curled into fists on both sides of his body.

“Loki?”

The name came out so softly that she couldn’t be sure if he had heard it, given that he did not move at all.

But before she could call him again, he spoke.

“I did not want this to happen,” his voice bore that particular kind of seriousness that usually preceded an unwanted or unhappy revelation.

What?

“I am sorry, (Y/N).” He turned towards her, and she realised in an instant that he wasn’t fooling around.

“What are you talking about, Loki? What did you not want to happen?”

Her chest felt tighter with every passing second.

Please, not what I’m fearing.

“This,” his hand vaguely gestured towards the hallway. “Whatever happened just now. I knew they would come down to this one day. I never wanted-”

“It’s okay,” she interjected. “I did not like that either. Although they meant no harm. It was just for fun… And I understand if you're having second thoughts. This entire thing between us was just something… y’know, a spur of the moment kind of thing. I totally understand if-"

"(Y/N)! Where is this coming from? What are you even talking about?"

She couldn’t make herself look at him, for if she did, he could clearly see the moisture pooling in her eyes. She needed to appear strong.

“Loki, you’ve always been my best friend. And I’ve loved that. You know it. And it’s okay if this new turn in our relationship does not turn out to be something that you had hoped for. It happens. It’s okay-”

“It’s not okay for me,” Loki grasped her hands. “What are you saying? Why? A-are you not happy with me? Have I done something wrong? Did I offend you in any way?”

What is he saying? I thought…

As she looked up at him, a couple of drops ran down her cheeks and on her shirt.

“(Y/N), please tell me. You had promised to tell me anything and everything that upsets you. So, tell me what happened. Why do you speak of our relationship as if it was a mistake?”

“It never was a mistake for me,” she breathed, “I thought you felt...I thought you...”

“What?”

The shaky way in which the question came out of him stung her more than any thought of Loki not wanting this relationship. It was then that she realised how badly she had hurt him.

He never wanted to leave! He always wanted me? Us?

She didn’t know what to say.

“I’m sorry,” she finally managed. “I thought that you...didn’t want...this. Us. I-”

“Why would you even think so? Why would you bear such thoughts when I love you with every fiber of my being?”

Her head snapped up.

“You love me?” Her own voice became shaky.

“Of course, I do,” he gently placed a hand on her cheek, “always have. At first I thought it was a love for friends until that night, when I realised that I wanted to be more than just friends with you.”

More tears fell down her cheek as she rejoiced in the moment. Loki wiped them all, and placed soft kisses on each cheek.

“And all this time, I was afraid that you’re having second thoughts,” she confessed.

“And why is that?”

“Because...”

How do I say that it’s because you haven’t kissed me yet? And ran away from the one moment we had today, albeit in a not-so-comfortable situation?

“Because I haven’t kissed you yet?” Loki asked her.

Her heart beat so violently, she could have sworn that Loki could hear it. Her tongue felt too heavy to speak.

“I didn’t think you were ready,” he admitted. “That is the reason why I did not dance with you in the club either. I was teasing you, yes, but when you responded I was definitely taken aback. I wasn’t sure if it was you or the ambience talking. So…

You have always shied away from any comments that I make, and...I did not want to push anything on you.”

“Oh, Loki!”

She hugged him so hard that even the Asgardian had to take two steps back to balance himself.

“I’m so, so sorry,” she wept into his shirt. “I misunderstood your actions for… I pushed you away. I thought you weren’t ready for this relationship. I’m sorry!”

Tears of both apology and relief flooded her. He tried to sush her as he rocked her slowly from side to side.

After taking a moment to compose herself, she stood straight. Loki looked at her red-eyed, tear-stained face and tutted.

“Doesn’t suit you, darling. Show me your crazy, grinning face.”

With a chuckle, she gave him a funny face-splitting smile, making both of them laugh.

“(Y/N), I didn’t want to kiss you because of a game or under the watchful eyes of that insufferable bunch of imbeciles. But if you will allow me now, I-”

“Just stop being so polite for a change, and kiss me,” she tugged at the collars of his shirt.

Loki didn’t need to be asked twice.

---------------

In the hall, the Avengers were busy speculating the outcome of their little plan, when the couple in discussion walked in. Hand in hand.

“Yes, we had changed our relationship status around six months ago,” (Y/N) announced to a stunned audience.

“And yes, we kissed. Just now. And I hope you know where I mean,” Loki added before dragging his love away towards the elevator.

“What was that?” She whispered as she was being whisked away.

“What?” Loki asked innocently, although his eyes stated otherwise.

“You didn’t need to declare that we just kissed!” She laughed as the doors of the elevator closed.

He shrugged while jabbing at a button. “They wanted us to kiss anyway. So, I gave them the satisfaction of knowledge. Besides, they need to know who you belong to now.”

“Aha! Possessive?”

“No! I also made it clear who I belong to now.”

He smiled as the doors opened to the hallway that led to his room. And once again, his words had rendered her speechless.

Silver tongue!

***

-----------------------------------------------

You can read the backstory here.

And here's a song to sing along and keep the mood floating...

[forbidding-souda]

can I maybe get some hcs with Makoto, Kyoko, Hajime, Souda, Gundham and Fuyu with an insecure s/o? your work is VERY comforting and I am in need of it akfbskfbsfnsjf thank you <3

Makoto Naegi, Kyoko Kirigiri, Hajime Hinata, Kazuichi Souda, Gundham Tanaka, and Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu with insecure S/O

All of you requesting soft things to make you feel better is so sweet as if it doesn’t take me like a month to write these JEDWNLKSAJ

-Mod Souda

Makoto Naegi

❤ He would have never noticed the fact that you are insecure unless you tell him. He's just an optimist. He sees everything about you to be perfect. There's no way he'd even think you're insecure - especially since all the people around him aren't either.

❤ I can imagine him giving you an inspirational speech about how much he loves you. He can give you one all the time, no matter the setting nor time.

❤ Over breakfast, he won't be able to stop thinking about the reason you're insecure. It feels so minimal to him but he'll try to empathize with you.

❤ But he'll always be there to rub your back or kiss your forehead if you're not feeling good.

❤ There's a genuine excitement when you express to him you're in a non-insecure mood. It makes his heart beat fast. He loves hearing you feel good.

.

Kyoko Kirigiri

❤ When she notices you aren't feeling good, she'll always leave presents around the house for you. She's not much of a confrontational person. But she cares enough to leave you your favorite crackers or bags of teas (she loves teas).

❤ And she always tries to come home early, which is not early at all in your opinion, so she can sleep with you and hold you tight.

❤ She won't have very good words to share with you about it. And whatever she will say, she knows it won't help. So she'd prefer to silently console you through actions.

❤ She wonders if insecurity is even curable. Maybe there are things used to hide it.

❤ She rubs her fingers together, feeling the thin material of her cloves. Maybe.

.

Hajime Hinata

❤ He's dealt with a lot of insecurity, through others and himself. Hey, he's probably way more insecure than you.

❤ There will be no positive words or gifts of his love. He thinks insecurity is a natural part of being a person. When you tell him, he'll probably compare it to his own experience before changing the topic entirely.

❤ If it gets bad enough where you are unable to do certain things he will just sit you down for a talk. He'll just tell you that your thoughts are being silly and if you're going to do anything about your insecurity.

❤ If the answer is yes, he will gladly help you any way he can. That's when the stream of kind words and encouraging thoughts come in.

❤ If the answer is no, he's not going to do anything going forward. Why would he waste his energy trying to support something that has no motivation?

❤ He'll always treat you like he loves you, though.

.

Kazuichi Souda

❤ "What do you want to change?" He'll ask. And it won't even be a hypothetical. He's ready to help you with anything. When he was insecure, he changed everything he was insecure about.

❤ So, are you going to dye your hair? Get a tan - start new medications? He'll be here for you. And he loves change, so it'll be exciting for the both of you.

❤ He'll be with you through whatever you decide to do. What you do with your body is not his business, and it will never be. He has no opinions on what you should or shouldn't do.

❤ He's the best canidate to be with if you're insecure.

❤ He'll be the most supportive out of anyone.

.

Gundham Tanaka

❤ He doesn't understand. He's also wondering what your approach to being insecure is? Still, he's going to kiss your knuckles and tell you that even if you're insecure, everything is going to be okay.

❤ The animals can sense your distress. They'll curl up to you more often or give you their toys as gifts. It's cute when the rats will give you a portion of their food, leaving it on your lap to try and make you feel better.

❤ He will give you compliments, trying to make you feel good in the unique way he does. A lot of adjectives get added to "my beloved", words like exquisite and irresistible, are the words you understand. Sometimes you wonder if he makes some up.

❤ It's flattering of course, and it definitely does make you feel better.

❤ His attempts go straight to your heart. Just the fact that he really does care about you is thrilling enough.

.

Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu

❤ Insecurity is a touchy subject. He might get a little mad at you for bringing it up. He'll avoid the topic entirely. There's no reason to talk about it. But he'll remember the attempt - and he'll try to help you without the need to talk about it.

❤ He'll buy you many rings and expensive clothing to make you feel better. It just makes you smile. This is his attempt? To make you look fancy?

❤ When you express to him that all you need is him - his efforts change.

❤ He focuses on spending more time with you. He'll play all your favorite games with you and just have the intent to make your mood a little better.

❤ He's also realized that he likes getting you gifts, so look out for more of them, because he's not going to stop.