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bahamutgames · 2 months ago

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ZELDA : AFTERTHOUGHTS PRINCESS

Game: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (November 19, 2006)

Console: Gamecube

Fellas... There comes a time in every gamer's life when they should play a game that's wildly out of their comfort zone. And try a game series that they've only ever clowned on and not given the time of day previously. And in 2024, that day has come for me.

This is my first time EVER beating a Legend of Zelda game. I've played some when I was younger, but got bored or stuck and would put them down pretty quickly. But no, this time I did it and actually beat one for real. And now, for the first time ever. You'll get my true genuine thoughts on a Zelda game. Are you ready?

You know the drill, this isn't a review. Just my general thoughts for you to read. Please play anything I talk about that interests you!

SPOILERS FOR TWILIGHT PRINCESS AHEAD!!

Opening

So, as previously stated, I've had an odd history with this series. I thought it was cool as a kid because back then just being a video game kinda meant I adored you, regardless of if I played it or not (maybe not such a bad mentality to have sometimes lol). But I could never bring myself to beat any of them. Sometimes, I thought they were too boring. Too confusing. Too hard. Or just not my type of gameplay. Except one, and that one was Twilight Princess. I LOVED this game, and I wanted to beat it SO bad. But I got stuck during the teardrop collecting scene in Gerudo Valley, and never managed to beat it.

Years went on. And I started to just kinda lose all interest in Zelda unless it was in Smash Bros. I thought the series was massively overhyped, and just didn't have any interest in it. But I knew... One day, I'd have to come back and put my money where my mouth is. I knew one day I'd have to come back and finish Twilight Princess. If not for me, then for my tiny child self being so upset they got stuck in it. And maybe fix the timeline where I may have become a huge Zelda fan.

And so here we are! I finally finished Twilight Princess! Something just came over me and I decided, yeah, I wanna do that. So let's see what I thought about this game and my true renewed introduction to The Legend of Zelda!

Stuff I liked

So, to start. There's a lot of stuff in this series that even as a little bit of a Zelda hater, I couldn't deny. For one, the music. Yeah, even as someone who only consumes Zelda content through smash, it's no secret Zelda has GREAT music. And there's a lot of fantastic songs in this. I'm relisting to the ost as I write this and the opening theme is still pretty chill inducing. And Ordon Village is SUCH a nice song. Then there's the characters, they could never make me hate the Zelda characters. They are really good. Obviously you have Link, Zelda, and Ganon. Who are all at their BEST in this game specifically, sporting their best designs and all 3 of them being sword users which kinda owns. But the non-triforce characters are all fantastic. Agitha, the Yetis (my favorites probably lol), and Telma. From humans to Zora to cat. Everyone has a lot of personality and they're all great. I genuinely don't know if there's any characters off the top of my head that I didn't like.

And a lot of them are super fucking sexy and let's cut to the chase here: It's Midna. She's so fucking fine. Like, I always knew she was hot, but you don't really understand how INSANE her imp form is until you play the game. Why is one of her first shots on screen a close up of her ass? Why does she moan a little when you dash as Wolf Link? WHAT WERE THEY ON?? Her human form is sexy too. It's crazy-

But, let's get a little more serious here. Zelda, I feel like, is pretty well known for its stories? Or at least they're some of the more traditionally story and lore heavy games put out by Nintendo I think. And I did actually enjoy this game's plot a lot. I liked the invasion of Twilight into the world, it's a nice visual that isn't really scary. But more depressing, which is neat. I thought Zant was cool, the whole plot with the Fused Shadow, and finding out who Midna is, and everything in general was neat. Maybe not the most earth shattering story ever told, but like, it's good. And I'd say that matters more, it never felt like it was stagnating or getting weak. I think the pace of the plot keeps up pretty nicely. Even the reveal of Ganondorf as the true antagonist, a reveal that SHOULD piss me off. Because I usually hate when a new villain is killed for the same guy as always. And even though they kind of butcher Zant by the end, I think the Ganondorf reveal is cool and works, like, it doesn't feel like they said "oh we have to shoe-horn in ganon" it felt a little more like they were saving Ganon? if that makes any sense? And I have to give the game SO MUCH PROPS for not making Link and Zelda fall in love by the end. In fact, it's kind of cool Zelda is barely in it, just like Ganon. I was worried they'd force a romance between them but they don't. Link honestly seems to care more about Midna which makes sense because they work together the entire game. When the two of them smirk at eachother in the final boss, I loved that for them.

The visuals are also NICE in this game. I think Gamecube graphics are still really good, but especially for something trying to be hyper realistic. Twilight Princess' graphics have aged GOOD!! In particular, the fountains where the Light Gaurdians sleep all kind of blew me away lol

But even stuff like seeing the twilight over the Bridge of Eldin, or the mossy overgrown remnants of the Temple of Time. And even faces and characters and animals who are all realistic so they should look gross, just don't! The faces in particular are NICE and really stood out to me. They have some delightful facial expressions that I was really impressed by. I was reminded of how good animations and faces were in KH2, which actually predates this game by a year I believe.

And then there's the gameplay, which is typically my biggest gripe with these games. It's not bad gameplay. But it is kinda slow and tedious in my opinion. And while I certainly wouldn't say I was wrong, it is slow and tedious. When the game throws a GOOD dungeon your way, man, it clicks. Sometimes it'd be a drag, but sometimes you'd be just feeling so awesome putting everything in your arsenal to use. If I had to highlight one temple that I think is TP's shining star, it's the Temple of Time! THIS DUNGEON RULED! It's easily and favorite and the most compelling and fun one to do. Going through the first time, it's very standard. Using your tools in ways you'd expect. But by the end, you get a staff that lets you control statues, and that's where the fun starts. Having to figure out where to place statues and having the big ones slam things with their hammer is SO fun. And the pay off with the boss battle is WONDERFUL! Everything comes together when you realize the statues at the four corners have huge hammers, and you immediately know you gotta squish that spider! Bosses in particular were a highlight with some fantastic designs and neat ideas among even the worst of them. Not every dungeon is perfect, and some boss fights left a lot to be desired, but again when it clicked it really did click. I think the Monkey Temple was nice, the Twili Realm temple with the wall master hand thing was stressful but SO cool, Magnet gimmicks in the volcano were fantastic, and the ice temple mansion was such a cute idea even though I thought it was a huge chore until you get the ball and chain.

Which, is maybe my final point here, the weapons are fantastic! I actually enjoyed using the bow, double claw shots were SO cool, obviously I adored the statue wand. And had a surprising amount of fun with even simple things like... iron boots. But yeah the crown jewel was the Ball and Chain. That shit was SOOOOO cool and fun to use.

Stuff I didn't like

And that's actually a wonderful segue into my issues with this game. For starters, man, you barely use some of these tools, huh? The ENTIRE game I would see fans and junk and think "OH I can FINALLY use the Gale boomerang again!" And eventually I was right, when I was in the FINAL DUNGEON OF THE GAME! The spinning top thing, which is maybe the most out of place but coolest thing in your arsenal, is used like 2 times outside of the dungeon it's introduced in. And the poor ball and chain... Why didn't they let me kill Ganondorf with this thing? Come on. It's such a shame.

Which segues into my next issue. Wolf Link. Potentially the coolest concept in this game, with a WONDERFUL design. And potentially the most underused thing in the whole game. When it's put to it's full potential, it's so cute. I love that you can talk to animals and dig stuff up, and having to use wolf sense to find the Poes in the tomb was FANTASTIC and it's why it's one of the best dungeons. But like, the wolf only exists for that one dungeon and so you can do the tedious as fuck tear sections. In later dungeons it's almost a full on punishment, getting caught in dark clouds makes you turn into the wolf, which makes you have to go through the whole process of talking to Midna to untransform, it's odd.

Yeah man some of those dungeons and bosses did not hit. I thought the Yeti mansion was a TEDIOUS piece of shit. Requiring you to fight annoying ass wolves in snow you can't walk in and tediously carry canonballs around. Yes, the dungeon becomes AMAZING when you get the Ball and Chain and suddenly everything opens up and it all comes together and ends with another great boss. But god what a chore leading up to that. The water temple was insanely confusing, and I'm not just saying that as a meme I really did not understand the staircase thing in the main chamber. Some of them just have odd moments. Like the tomb, which is also a really good dungeon. But they have a weird gimmick where you are attacked by invisible ghost mice?? It's really weird. And bosses like the dragon, which SHOULD be cool, are kind of a chore if you don't realize you can lock on with pretty much every item in the game (I'll admit, I didn't realize this until way too late). Or the giant skeleton dragon which I actually thought was kind of confusing honestly. And a lot of enemies are kinda like this. A lot of enemies are MASSIVE chores to take down, and sometimes you'll have to take down a lot of them at once. Dragalfos, Darknauts, those weird worms under floor tiles. Every enemy can be a HUGE chore and I shudder to imagine fighting them without getting all the secret sword skills.

Speaking of Tedious, that's probably the biggest issue with this game over all. It can be REALLY tedious. Having to run all around hyrule, especially later into the game and before you can teleport, is tedious. The tears of light sections are so long and boring and kind of not fun except the boss with the giant dark bug. And like, the entirety of Lake Hylia is SO FUCKING TEDIOUS. Running around the lake, having to talk to the canon guy 50 billion times. The giant bird boss there. The story does not meander, but it sure felt like the game was meandering at that part. Why was there a fucking on rails gliding section that was MANDATORY to do multiple times. Oh my goooooood. And it's just a lot of little stuff can explode into HUGE things really quickly or get kinda ruined when you have to spend so much extra effort getting through it. Fighting Skull Kid can be a bit of a chore, especially when you do it TWICE. Having to blast off into the desert multiple times before you can teleport to it. Being stopped every 5 seconds to fight those weird big twili that have to be killed all at once which is neat the first 10 or so times but wears thin REAL quick. It's a lot.

But my final complaint, and maybe this is a bit more a nitpick. Would be the final boss. I think fighting Zelda is neat. But it's a shame we don't see her ACTUALLY use her sword a single time in the game. And then I thought Beast Ganon was SO cool for the first phase. Having to aim while he charges you. But then the second phase... Oh boy. Did you like the stupid goat grappling mini game? What if that came back as a main part of the final boss instead of... idk... any of your old tools that barely get used? No, you get to do shitty horse combat AGAIN! I HATE THE HORSE COMBAT SO MUCH! Albeit the final boss version is the best of the 3 times you do it, and it's an honestly kick ass set piece. But I could probably do without it lmao. And then the final phase. A 1-on-1 sword fight between Link and Ganondorf. This is SO BAD ASS! And it should be the best part of the whole game. Except I unlocked all the secret sword techniques so he basically couldn't hit me as long as I spammed Helm Splitter and stuff. Being too easy isn't inherently a bad thing, but like... Did you REALLY have to make him a carbon copy of the Darknauts?

Final Thoughts

So... what do I think about Zelda now? I've finally given it a shot, and honestly gave it a fair chance and saw it through to the end for the first time. What do I think?

I get it now. I don't know if this is for me, I'll be honest. But I get it. Where I see "slow and tedious" I can see where Zelda fans see "methodical and epic". It's got great characters, and music, and concepts, and even if I do still think it's maybe a touch overrated, I do understand WHY it gets that praise. It's nice to maybe be able to justify why the series doesn't click with me the way it does with everyone else now that I've actually played it for real. That's why there's not really much to lose with trying stuff, even with something you dislike.

But honestly, I wouldn't say I disliked it. Yes, it's maybe not for me. But from my understanding, Breath of the Wild is GREAT for people who aren't Zelda fans. And there's the whole world of 2D Zeldas to try. I think this is a game that in a few years I won't be able to help but look back on it extremely fondly. From its edgelord aesthetics to midna's insanely hot body, there really is something here I can't help but feel like... Yeah, okay that was cool. I get a feeling my time with Zelda isn't over just yet. But we'll have to see what I tackle next. For now, I think I'm done.

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And that's that. I'm sure some people were interested in seeing what I thought about this game, and I hope this messy garble of words gives you a good idea into what I'm thinking. This was certainly an interesting experience and even though it pissed me off a good bit, I feel better for having gone through it.

As always, feel free to follow me on twitter where I now unashamedly will retweet all the hot Midna fanart I see. I'm a Zelda fan now, guys. I can retweet it and it's not horny, I'm just such a huge fan!!

That's all I have for now, go out and play a game you normally wouldn't give a chance!

#thoughts #2024

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chen-chen-chen-again-chen · 2 years ago

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WIP Wednesday

Thank you for the tags, @martsonmars, @artsyunderstudy, @cutestkilla, @bookish-bogwitch, @sailorblossoms, and @hushed-chorus!!!

Once more, I bring shitpost energy to WIP Wednesday! I’ve been having Way Too Much Fun playing with Canva lately, so I mocked up some clothes from my ongoing WIP, Jelly Babies. Behold the shirt that Gregory stole from Simon:

Hello tags, more clothes, stories about clothes, and a bonus pic of The Artist as a Victorian Baby (XD) under the cut!

And here is Sophie's sweatshirt, a Christmas present from Tyr:

I’m honestly furious that Canva doesn’t give me the option to make this entire sweatshirt tie-dye. COWARDS. The text is based on Lizzo’s Tiny Desk.

Here is the shirt that Tyr is wearing at dinner:

This is a real shirt, and a shout out to my spouse's friend Tim, who will never read this or my fic. Hi Tim!!!! The first time I met Tim, he went on a long, intense monologue about Desert Bus (which New York Times called The Very Worst Video Game Ever Created) and the very cool charity event Desert Bus for Hope. Tim actually did design some art for DBfH, which is insanely awesome.

He's a very nice dude and the most wonderful DM; he did a one-off Christmas campaign for us a few years ago where he let me be Genji, a fuckboi YT influencer geisha/bard whose winter outfit was a red knitted thong, a cropped jacket, and no shirt (my nips were always tastefully covered).

I will always remember how, on the afternoon of his wedding, Tim said, "I feel like I'm DM'ing right now. I've set the context, gathered the players, and I'm just here to see this unfold."

Sadly, I don’t have a graphic yet of the God’s Gym shirt:

Gregory borrowed some of Simon’s clothes to sleep in, so he’s in old basketball shorts and a very soft, faded t-shirt that says “GOD’S GYM” and has a picture of Jacob wrestling with an angel. It’s extremely gay.

This is A REAL SHIRT, owned by a professor of one of my high school English teachers. I’ve never seen the shirt with my own human eyes; it exists in the sacred homoerotic theatre of my mind. At some point, I think I need to actually draw it / design it so I can wear it on my bod.

And lastly, as a bonus, here is a (very blurry, low-res picture of a) picture of The Artist as a Victorian Baby that inspired the photo of Baby!Swithin.

“He just,” Gregory chokes, “he somehow looks SO BORED and yet SO SERIOUS?? He’s just a baby and yet his eyes look a HUNDRED YEARS OLD?? Why does this photo look like it was taken in the Victorian era? How is he so adorable?”

I wish I could share the entire photo, because part of what makes it hilarious is that the rest of my family looks perfectly normal and happy and very 90s. And then. There’s me. The Grim Spectre. But like, a baby.

TRUE STORY: My best friend did lose her tiny mind over this photo, and she did save it as her lock screen. Every once in a while, she’d catch people doing a double take at her phone. She’s white, and I’m sure people assumed she had adopted an Asian baby. Whenever anyone asked, she would just say, nonchalantly, “Oh yeah, that’s my best friend,” and refuse to explain any further.

As always, pressure-free hello tags! @captain-aralias, @excalisbury, @facewithoutheart, @fatalfangirl, @ionlydrinkhotwater, @johnwgrey, @larkral, @moodandmist, @nightimedreamersworld, @raenestee, @thewholelemon, @whogaveyoupermission, @you-remind-me-of-the-babe

#WIP wednesday #jelly babies #fake clothes #real clothes #real baby

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rogue-of-broken-time · 2 years ago

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JSE Community Greet

Saw @archivefullofyoutubers start this, think it's a neat idea ^^

Preferred name: Rogue, or Kelly if you wanna use my irl name.

Preferred pronouns: she/her

When did you start watching JSE?

Well, uh, funny story about that�� once upon a time in 2017 over the summer, I discovered his channel (I'd pop in to watch some videos now and then, but didn't "officially" sub and start watching a lot til September). One day, I was bored. Decided to check on his channel to see if anything good/new was there to watch. Saw a weird video– a thumbnail with glitches all over it and the title being "KILL JACKSEPTICEYE". Watched it for about 10 seconds, saw it was a medical game, noped outta there real hard, and never bothered to follow up on that until a couple of months later… so uh, yeah, I'd say late summer of 2017 xD

Why did you start watching JSE?

Frankly, it was because I'd seen this funny YouTube guy named Markiplier do some fun stuff with his friends Bob, Wade, and Jack, and I wanted more of Jack specifically. I had NO idea that it was even a thing they were so interconnected at the time. And now one could argue that I like Jack more. xD

What's your favorite things about the channel?

A lot of things, really, but overall I just really like how connected the community is. We've had our ups and downs (boy do I know it) but every little nook and cranny I've nestled into over the years here has felt like home, at least for a while. And I'm so glad to be part of a force for good in the world.

Do you have a fave ego?

Back in the day, JJ was my favorite. He's still up there, but now I can say with a degree of certainty that it's Marvin. I don't know why exactly, he's just SO appealing and I can't wait to know more about him.

What type of community member are you?

Theorist, baby! Oh, and I write from time to time. And edit as inspiration strikes. It really varies xD but I'd say most people probably know me for my theories. Those are a lot of fun to make ^^

What else do you enjoy?

Videogames of various sorts, D&D, talking with friends I've made through the community and sharing ideas. I'm always down to make things spicier than they need to be xD

Are you open to nice messages and new friends?

Hell yeah! I may be a theorist, but I am also a dumbass who has no clue what she's doing a lot of the time. As such, I may forget to respond in a timely manner (or at all), so if that does happen, I apologize profusely in advance– but please don't let this stop you from interacting! I really do love the interactivity that Tumblr offers and I'd love to share thoughts with you ^^

(Original JSE Greet prompt post here!)

#jacksepticeye #jse community #rogue speaks #jse community greet #this was a lot of fun to do ^^

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qipsir · 29 days ago

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something about BBC Sherlock

lately I've been using hbomberguy's video essays as background noise because I've seen most of them over and over again, but there is something I would like to add to/say about his epsiode on BBC's Sherlock (linked to video)

The first time I watched Sherlock, I was in awe. Not because I thought it was good writing, but because for the first time in my life, I had an accurate representation of how my mind/brain operated, how my emotions functioned, and my perception of the world.

Every other adaptation was never quite Speedy enough, never quite so much brain chatter and boredom and chasing puzzles to counteract the mundeanity of day to day life. I knew that it likely wasn't intentional, but it was really really nice.

And then I found out Cucumbitch is ableist and that the show, as a Sherlock story, is really really fluffing bad. The ableism hurt more than finding out about the plot, despite it being comical given Crumblebrunch's typecasting, but I digress.

The video essay pointed out that Moriarty was written as a "nutcase" who'd just do whatever he wanted because he could. Literally putting himself 6 feet under for the sake of seeing what Sherlock would do (I'm not marking that as spoiler this show's been out for ages and the fanbase collectively hates it). And the first time I watched the video, I found myself connecting with Moriarty more than Sherlock. The clawing pain of boredom is obvious enough with Sherlock, yes, but with Moriarty? Literally just doing whatever he wants and getting upset because the one person he thought he could play with turns out to have fallen for the red herring? I see myself in that far more than words can describe.

I understand very well that a lot of who I am and how my mind functions has to do with growing up in an abusive household with evidence so non-tangible that my [donor]'s only real defense was "I have never once hit you" which meant mind games and manipulation were a constant. And I remember how proud I was when I finally beat him one day, but by then I had already grown accustomed to it being a challenge. By then, it was enrichment. Riddles were good but not creative enough, not abundant enough with adequate details.

I can emphasize with that moment of Moriarty's frustration so well that I have genuinely considered writing a story that was a spin on Moriarty and it's just some kid being so bored they decided to challenge Sherlock for fun. And I was literally either going to call it Moriarty or Bored. The only reason I haven't is because a while ago now, I started tailspinning in burnout and the one thing that survived 20 years of hell finally gave out. And I don't know if I'll ever have it in me to sit down and write a story ever again.

Point of this, I dunno, slap everyone involved with that show for making it a clusterfuck when it could've been a really interesting depiction of neurodivergence melding with intuition or something?

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sukifoof · 3 years ago

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Your tags about Asriel in DT being a nice guy but also Kinda A Jerk got me thinking. Like. If he were a nice guy and beloved but also got bored of people and sick of them So Fast, especially when they only know the perfect amazing guy surface level.

Like, we know he's had romantic encounters with both Catty and Bratty, we know even Pizzapants considers him a close friend. I'm picturing him like, picking one person to be his datemate or best friend, being the sweetest and nicest guy to them, seeing what their likes and interests are... and slowly getting bored, distancing himself, finding someone more entertaining. He's never rude to them as he leaves, he's still polite and kind and wonderful, but surely now that he knows what they're like there's something better to be doing. (And maybe a part of him is a bit entertained by all the drama Bratty and Catty are starting up now)

After all, Flowey initially kinda acted like that. He says he gave everyone their best possible endings and talked to them until conversation topics were exhausted, he didn't start doing No Mercy runs until he got bored of being nice, until he'd 'read every book, [and] burned every book'

So perhaps Asriel's a little similar, in that there are only so many people in this small town, and college is Big and New and Exciting and Far Away-- something I think Toriel foreshadows in the first chapter. In that opening montage with driving through Hometown, Toriel briefly wonders if after the excitement of college, Asriel will really want to return home.

I do think he does care for people. Since he lacks the trauma of Flowey, I think he's a lot more open with his emotions, still feels guilt over things, and still feels like he can return emotions of love. We know he definitely could as a kid, even when it was just about video games. I like to imagine caring for Kris really is genuine, that like Chara, Kris is the one he feels understands him best. Because they live together and Kris sees how Asriel isn't perfect, he gets bored with people, he needs alone time or entertainment or sometimes he wants to discuss 'hey it'd be fucked up if this happened in this book instead of what really happened, that'd be interesting to see'. And since Kris knows those imperfect impulses, and perhaps sometimes explores them for him(like rambling about what they think would happen in such a situation), Asriel has more to explore and talk about with Kris, meaning he doesn't get bored of them...

I feel like Chara and Asriel in UT had a habit of mutually idolizing each other, with Asriel believing Chara was the only person who really understands him, his best friend, and Chara being harder to determine but they chose to painfully kill themself and entrust Asriel with seven souls and create a happy world FOR MONSTERS, rather than just take power for themself and destroy everything right off the bat. I think it would be fun if a similar mutual idolization is explored with Kris and Asriel, although with less. Suicide and murder. If like Asriel felt Kris was the only person who knew the real 'Asriel' while Kris thought Asriel was the best brother ever and deserved all his adoration, and how do they get to know him so well? Out of all the people who adore him in Hometown how are they his best friend?

...Yeah as it turns out I had A Great Many Thoughts hope you enjoyed my immense rambling.

AAA THANK YOU FOR THIS (and sorry for taking so long to answer i needed to gather my Asriel Thoughts) i think deltarune asriel is such an Interesting Guy. we know so little about him besides Really Good Guy Who Is Loved but then theres that. story where he was sobbing while confessing to his Video Games Sins Despite Sin Not Being A Thing In His Religion. would Love to know what That was about......

ok i ended up having many thoughts so i will put this under read more <3

based on ut asriel i wouldnt be surprised if dr asriel acted that way out of fear. i think the idea of charas thoughts on Being Above Consequences really comes into play here... flowey was so disconnected from receiving long term consequences that he was terrified of chara at the end of no mercy and didnt really. register it as fear at first. and thats not surprising, of Course he would have a hard time being afraid of anything at that point cuz hes so used to being in control and not having to care about anyone. but he Does care about chara and hes so scared of them hating him or leaving him or at the very worst killing him for good,,, and in both no mercy and true pacifist he has a hard time owning up to his actions until losing chara is a real possibility... like hes scared of permanence you know?? and i dont think its very different from when he was still alive either,, asriel just wanted to do what was best for everyone. on top of it there was the stress of being the prince which ive talked about a few times i think.....

but anyway considering how he first tried to help everyone as flowey and only started acting that way when he knew he could get away with it is pretty telling. especially with how he REALLY doesnt want toriel and asgore to know who he is based on "i dont want to break their hearts all over again"..... like hes just so scared of them not loving asriel anymore because they know that hes Actually A Bad Murder Flower. of course i could just be looking too far into it and maybe he Does really want to spare their feelings but,, idk. to me i feel like toriels feelings towards asgore and how she tells frisk to Be Good would really influence the way flowey thinks about things as toriel is obviously really important to him,,, he already sees himself as unforgivable and he probably cant imagine toriel forgiving him and he just. cant deal with that. especially if he thinks that we're done resetting and This Is It. he already struggles with thinking its his fault chara died and if his mom hated him for his actions as flowey he would probably be So upset.

so when it comes to deltarune asriel, i think it would be really interesting if hes such a nice and good guy cuz hes so scared of being unwanted, but also he has a hard time really truly caring for people. not in the exact same way flowey struggles to care for people (u know his whole If You're Nice To Anyone You Will Get Hurt), but like, in a way where he feels he cant be himself to them because hes trying to keep up his Perfect Guy Thing. flowey says that the only people he could truly be friends with or care about is someone Just Like Him. like you said with him getting bored and distancing himself, i wouldnt be surprised if he became "friends" with someone and after a bit decided it could never work out because he just doesnt Understand them and gets bored or because hes scared he'll mess something up and Never Be Forgiven Ever. in undertale forgiveness was kind of a Big Thing for asriel in particular,,, he needed to learn to forgive himself without someone else validating it.... I Think About This A Lot.

the idea of kris and asriel mutually idolizing each other like chara and asriel would also be really interesting.... kris looks up to asriel because hes. Well. You Know. but asriel would probably really look up to kris as well for just being themself. theyre able to Be Weird and they were comfortable enough to play pranks on people without feeling like they needed to...... Beg Forgiveness From A Priest?? he probably wants to be able to feel that kind of freedom. and given how ralsei says darkners are there to "assist lightners"... and everything going on with the concept of freedom................. idk i just Think About It............ i would elaborate but its 5:30 am and i Will start to ramble and just Say Things

i think i was going. Somewhere. with all of this but im kind of losing my train of thought and just going into Analysis Zone..... i had this whole paragraph analyzing the other deltarune kids but it went on for a little too long cuz i like to ramble BUT BASICALLY i think its really interesting that most characters in deltarune struggle with lack of control (which is why susie is very important but if i start talking about that i will Never Stop)....... i love undertale and deltarune very much everyone is so well written and i think about them all so much

as a side note i think whatever happened to dess is probably also a pretty big part of. whatevers going on with him. theres not really much to talk about here cuz we know so little about dess but i get the feeling shes gonna be Really Important and if i will cry so hard if its like another hero and mari thing i will be So Sad All The Time. omori my beloved very good game. but anyway it would be Very interesting if asriel being at college was also kind of an escape from whatever happened. like if he struggles to be there cuz everything stresses him out or something......... its Way too early to guess but it Is fun to think about :):) cannot wait for toby to release the Asriel Lore

to wrap this up yes i think it would be very great if asriel was secretly kind of a jerk or had many issues i think it would add a lot of depth to his character. here is a drawing i did of dr asriel doing the Shintaro Kisaragi Grin. imagining asriel being like shintaro is the funniest thing in the world to me

#i have more thoughts but. i really will never stop talking </3 #deltarune #undertale #asriel #asks #riel art #technically lol #another really interesting thing would be if asriel just struggled with empathy in general.....#theres not a lot of characters with empathy issues that arent portrayed as Evil Monsters #i would really like to see a character who struggles with empathy that a lot of people like. and is like. not a terrible murderer #u know. for kinnie reasons <3 /hj..............#ok i really am done talking now i promise #utdr analysis

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echthr0s · 3 years ago

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I complained about the seemingly tedious and small nature of questing in FFXIV (in ARR, mostly, but some parts of expansions too) along with everyone else, but while it might have been boring to play through at the time, none of it was pointless and none of it was small. not to me, not anymore.

the DRK story has already touched upon the negative effects of doing so much for so many random people, but the positive effects are present so much in FFXIV's story as a whole that it's impossible to ignore. there are NPCs you help that you never see again, sure, but ultimately the effect that the Warrior of Light has on the world is so palpable and so rewarding that I could never complain about running around collecting eggs or wine bottles or whatever for these people. all these people are my people, my friends, my allies, the people I'm striving so hard to save in the first place. getting to know even the smallest of them has made this otherwise-trite mission, Saving the World(tm), have meaning.

there's a scene in late Endwalker where the Scions put out a call for some hard-to-gather material and the response is staggering. there's so many ships in the harbour and crates being offloaded onto the docks that no one even knows what to do with it all at first. we made one call, and that call spread to every end of the earth, because we've impacted so many lives that they leap at the chance to be of some small help to us in turn. we have fostered relationships of great richness and joy amongst many different and disparate groups of people, and in the midst of this extremely bleak time in the world's history (like, it's literally the apocalypse rn. literally), those people all come together for us. because they believe in us, because once we believed in them.

to quote our Goth Lord and Saviour Eric Draven, nothing is trivial. video games tend to make you do a lot of trivial shit, and in many of them, the payoff is equally trivial, if it exists at all. FFXIV is ultimately a game that makes one feel like the things they do have meaning, have resonance. whether it's killing god or helping some sky pirates do crazy piratical shit or just listening to someone talk for a while.

it's nice to feel that way, for once. I live in a world where it feels like nothing an individual with no money and no power does can possibly have any effect on anything. I live an existence where loneliness is a most common denominator, where my most stalwart companion is despair. this expansion hit hard on the despair front, obviously, but the sheer joy of seeing all those familiar faces amassed on the harbour -- my friends! -- feels immensely real. there's always a payoff here, always a dawn. the deep darkness does exist, suffering does exist, none of these things are going away and it's futile to try and wish them away... but Fourchenault Leveilleur hugged his children today, and that moment was brighter than the brightest Sun.

#don't worry i'll be mad at this game again in five minutes bc it'll find another way to STAB ME IN THE HEART #but for now i feel the dawn.#singularity.txt #ffxiv #the ffxiv tag

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ambivalent-anarchy · 4 years ago

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Peter Parker - SFW Alphabet

Masterlist

This is for MCU Peter (cuz some of the answers would be different if they were for others lol)

A = Affection (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?)

Peter loves affection, but he's got to work through all his nerves first. Just the idea of touching you sometimes is enough to make him start blushing and hiding into himself. But once he finally works through it, affection is always. He likes to receive it, but he LOVES to give it. He basically has all the love languages, but his major two are words of affirmation and physical touch.

B = Best friend (What would they be like as a best friend? How would the friendship start?)

Peter Parker is a good best friend...when he's there. He pays attention to all the little things and he always does right when it really counts. He'll geek out with you, help you no matter what, and try his best to make you happy no matter what. However if you don't know about him being Spiderman, it can be a real stress on the friendship, because he'll always seem distant. Once you know, it will be like everything falls into place. You finally understand why he does the things he does. Overall though, he's a stellar friend.

You'd probably become his friend because you sat next to each other in class, or you were already at the Avengers compound, and for whatever reason, the two of you immediately clicked.

C = Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)

PETER LOVES CUDDLES. And when Peter wants to cuddle, he wants to CUDDLE. He wants to squeeze you and never ever let go. Ngl he'll probably fall asleep while cuddling you because when he's cuddling he's in PEAK zen mode. It's probably the most relaxed that he can be.

D = Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?)

Yeah he definitely wants to settle down, but he's scared to. It's not that he has commitment issues, it's just that he's so afraid and aware of the dangers of being with him. But if given the chance, he'd probably settle.

He's not completely terrible at cooking, May has definitely taught him a few things. But he's no chef. Let's be real he's probably had a bunch of moments of forgetting that something was in the oven. There will be lots of disasters. When it comes to cleaning, if pressed, he will clean. But don't be surprised when every room in the house is messed up again because of things that he'll "come back for later" that he never comes back for.

E = Ending (If they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?)

Oh he'd hate every bit of it, he'd dread over it for days and days. If Peter were to break it off, he'd do it face to face. He'd feel so bad about it, and if you start to cry he actually might comfort you in the midst of breaking up with you.

Best outcome, it was mutual and you guys end like friends. Worst outcome, he gets cold feet and actually just leaves you a note.

F = Fiance(e) (How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?)

He's surprisingly cool about commitment, given the dangers of his life. Of course, he's hesitant, but when this dude falls, he falls HARD. So hard to where he'll commit and not think twice about it.

He'd wanna get married whenever it hits him I guess. Not right away, but it's not like he'd have you waiting forever.

G = Gentle (How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)

Physically- As gentle as the average teenage boy I suppose lol. Well a little bonus because of how anxious he is of hurting you. 5/10

Emotionally- Peter's more anxious boi than soft crybaby. He wouldn't need comfort on everything 24/7, because he can actually handle way more than people give him credit for, but it's when he's going through something really personal or really traumatic when he needs that reassurance that everything will be alright. 6/10

H = Hugs (Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?)

Peter doesn't mind hugs, but he's gotta be in the mood for one to really enjoy it, otherwise he's just going through the motions with it. Like if he's in the mood his brain is "oh my gosh you're hugging me this is beautiful you've graced me with your touch you wonderful specimen" but if he's not it's just like "oh... this is unexpected." I don't think he's super into hugs because I kind of like the headcanon that he's a bit of a germaphobe but I don't think he's super against them either. He's more in the middle where if it hits him, it hits him and if it doesn't, he doesn't want them.

He gets in the mood to hug like 20 times a day. You'll be beside him doing work and like out of nowhere. BOOM. Hugged. And then he just goes back to doing whatever he's doing except now he's blushing really hard while doing it.

Peter's hugs are really soft and quick (unless he's cuddling you, then it's really long). He just wants to feel your presence until he's satisfied. He's always really warm so that's a major plus.

I = I love you (How fast do they say the L-word?)

Not right away. It'll be whenever it feels right. And I picture the first l-word drop going one of three ways:

1) Quirky - you guys will be chilling/making out/watching a movie and he'll find himself feeling really sentimental and emotional for no reason and he'll just turn and be like, "hey, I love you". And it sort of catches you off-guard and he sees your expression (whatever it may be) and he immediately starts blushing and stammering and he's like "I-i mean- no I don't!..I-i mean I do!... but like- not unless you want me too! I-in fact I'll hate you if you want me-" and you have to cut him off with a kiss before he gets too wound up and you softly smile back like "I love you too, weirdo."

2) Sweet - he's thought about this for a long time (and even maybe told May and Ned about it) and he really wants to tell you but he doesn't know how and you notice that's he's been weird around you and always looks like he has something else on his mind (like more than usual) and you're getting pretty worried and after awhile you can't take it anymore and you confront him about it probably at the lunch table or in the hallways after school or at his apartment (is there some mission you don't know about? Is he breaking up with you? Is he okay?) and he's stuttering alot and he finally has to pause and compose himself before pulling you aside and softly telling you how we feels.

3) Angsty - after a particularly intense night at patrol (definitely with a casualty) he's perched on the top of a building, staring out at New York, feeling like the biggest failure alive. He's run down with guilt and the tears just won't stop. Hands shaking, he dials your number and you pick up and immediately start asking if he's okay once you hear his trembling voice. "I messed up," he mumbles before he breaks down and sobs out the entire story to you. You try your best to comfort him as best you can through the phone, trying to tell him (with no avail) that it's not his fault and that he can't save everyone. It takes a while, but he finally calms down enough to clearly take a swing, but not before he says, "look..I want you to know that I love you... and I'll do everything I can to always protect you...I promise you that...I can't lose you," he sobs. Given the situation, neither one of you really registers that this is his first time saying it, but it makes it a dozen times easier to start saying it more often from now on.

J = Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous?)

Peter's jealousy is probably the average amount for a guy. He doesn't do much with it though. He'll just get really quiet and maybe freak out to Ned about it later. Very subtle looks and jaw clenches but other than that, he's fine. Unless you're really attentive, you probably wouldn't notice.

K = Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?)

When he first started getting into the hang of first dates and stuff, his kisses were pretty fast and more like little pecks on the lips and stuff because he was always so nervous about messing up. But now that's he's gotten the hang of it, Peter's kisses (when he's not in a rush) are usually slow and sensual. He wants to do nothing but focus on you in that moment.

Well mostly on the lips of course. He'll lay his head on your shoulder alot when he's bored so every now and then when he's doing that he'll turn his head and give you a little kiss on your shoulder. If he's whispering in your ear in lunch he'll give a kiss on the cheek. Really though, once he gets the all his jitters out about it, he'll kiss you anywhere.

Peter probably likes to be kissed on the cheek and on the lips more than anywhere else

L = Little ones (How are they around children?)

Peter is amazing with kids. He'll always find a way to get along with them, and they usually warm up to his easy-going nature. He's a bit of a pushover when it comes to really nice kids so they usually love him because he'll give them anything. I'm not really one of talking about having kids, but he'd be a great father in the future. (But we're not in any rush for him to do that okay😂🤭)

M = Morning (How are mornings spent with them?)

Mornings are spent, well first of all waking up (obviously), cuddling, finishing whatever movie you were watching the night before, Peter probably rambling a bunch about whatever he finds himself wondering about, playing video games, and basically just relaxing before May tells you it's time for school.

N = Night (How are nights spent with them?)

Nights are spent goofing around with Peter and Ned at Peter's home or chilling with Peter which can literally be doing just about anything (making out, relaxing, deep talks, watching movies, doing homework, etc.). You can do practically anything with this guy.

O = Open (When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?)

Peter isn't the best about opening up, not because he wants to hide things, but because he isn't on the same wavelength as everyone else when it comes to "important" things to share. Like out of nowhere he'll find himself telling you something and you'll be like "woah I wish I you would've told me that earlier" and he'll just shrug and be like "oh I didn't know that was really important enough to tell". He doesn't tell anything slower or faster it's more like whenever it's on his mind or convenient for him to tell.

But for the most part, if you're important enough for you to know he's spiderman secret, he'll tell you pretty much anything.

P = Patience (How easily angered are they?)

Not easily angered at all. If anything he's more easily confused then angered. Like if you were trying to make him angry, he'd be more "why are you doing this🥺🤨?!" than "why are you doing this😡?!"

He'd only get angry easily if he'd been going through alot and a bunch of things have been building up, other than that, normally he's a pretty chill guy when it comes to losing his temper.

Q = Quizzes (How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?)

Oh he remembers practically everything you tell him. Even crap that you've probably forgotten about yourself, he knows. He notices every tiny thing, though he forgets the big stuff sometimes.

Ex: one day May asks him what he wants her to buy at the supermarket for breakfast and he says poptarts because he remembers that you like poptarts from that one time you briefly mentioned how much you liked them and he gets the kind that you like even though he doesn't really like it so that on the days you come over to his house you'll have something to eat...but like legit that same day he forgets that it's your anniversary😬

R = Remember (What is their favorite moment in your relationship?)

He has many favorite moments, one of them being your first date. He was so nervous, and he showed up late, and he'd regretted letting May choose his outfit, and he hated himself for not choosing the restaurant because it'd show that he wasn't assertive enough, and he was pretty sure he stepped in dog crap while he was running to the restaurant and he just knew that he was the worst date ever until finally he got there and you were totally just fine about it. You told him to relax and that everything was fine and you were just glad to have him there, which in turn made him relax. He looked into your eyes and knew there was absolutely nothing to worry about and he had an amazing time.

S = Security (How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?)

He's protective, but not suffocating. Like if he sees something happening to you from afar, he's not gonna step in unless you make it clear that you want him to. For the most part, he'll let you handle things yourself.

Peter's more like a "protect you from the unknown" kind of guy. He's gonna protect you from threats that you don't know are there, and that are probably much bigger than the two of you. Things like death or heartbreak. He'll probably break up with you to "protect" you, which, let's be honest, is complete stupid, albeit noble. Overall, he'll do anything in his power to keep you happy.

Peter doesn't really need protection more so... comfort. He knows the world he lives in. He can defend himself and all that, but at the end of the day, he just wants someone to tell him that everything's gonna be okay🥺

T = Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?)

With Peter it's either extremely last minute but a little thoughtful (because he probably forgot) or extremely thought through with unbelievable effort. No in between. Truly a go big or go home type deal. Like for your birthday he's either getting you something he's researched on for months that he knew you'd love or you're getting a card that he bought from a Walmart on the way to school with a sloppily written love letter inside that he came up with off the top of his head. At the end of the day it's the thought that counts when it comes to Peter.

U = Ugly (What would be some bad habits of theirs?)

He thinks literally everything is his fault🙄. If something bad happens, and he feels that he could've done even the slightest thing to change it, he's gonna beat himself up about it no matter what what you try to say.

Also he's a really busy guy. So if you're one of those girls that needs to be kept or need your boyfriend there all hours of the day, Peter's probably not for you.

V = Vanity (How concerned are they with their looks?)

Not too concerned. Like of course he wants to look good or cool or whatever, but he's also learned to be pretty comfortable with himself (at least as far as looks go). He gets pretty insecure sometimes but for the most part he's okay with his looks. He'll totally do himself up if he's trying to impress someone though.

W = Whole (Would they feel incomplete without you?)

Depends on how close you've become. If he only liked you, he'll be okay. If he loved you, yeah, he'll feel incomplete without you. But only if you break up or if you're hurt or lost or something. If the two of you just haven't seen each other for a while he'll be fine. He's not that sentimental.

X = Xtra (A random headcanon for them.)

Peter has a skirt kink. Skirts. They make him weak. He found this out about himself when he started dating Gwen Stacy. He will practically break his neck to see you in a skirt.

Y = Yuck (What are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner?)

Someone who has extremely poor hygiene. Peter's not the best at hygiene. He's definitely skipped brushing his teeth from time to time, but someone who's a complete slob? It'll just make him feel bad for you. It's a turn off for him. You won't get his affection but you will get his pity.

Someone obnoxious or aggressive. Peter, although anxious, is overall a pretty chill guy. If someone was just on 100 every time he saw them, ngl they'd probably weird him out. Like of course he wants someone with their own personality, but he wants someone with a level of coolness and obnoxious and aggressive people just aren't cool.

Z = Zzz (What are some sleep habits of theirs?)

Peter wants to hold something when he sleeps. When he was little, he used to sleep with a stuffed animal, and once he got older he broke out of it. But when he slept with you for the first time (sexually/nonsexually, doesn't matter) all that came rushing back. He'll hold you tightly in his sleep and won't let go unless you make him.

Hope you liked it!!😁😁😁

Tagging mutuals: @allegra-writes, @angelsparkers, @hey-its-grey, @spideyyeet, @sunkissedspidey, @underoosjae, @chaoticpete, @spidey-reids-2003, @thesherlockianavenger, @bubblebucky

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kickassfu · 3 years ago

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k so I binged the series and my tldr thoughts are that I would have enjoyed the series more if it were better written.

It's way to short to carry all the emotional beats it tries to put in and the relationship dynamics between Geralt and Yennefer falls completely flat and they are among the most forced ship dynamics Ive ever seen in any show. Theres zero indication why Geralt is suddenly so obsessed with her or why she is so into him.

I don't ship them but jaskier and Geralt have an unambiguously better build up and dynamic even though it was also very rushed and could have used more development given how close they seem. Other than that I love Ciri and Yennefer and I wish they had more screen time.

Ciri in particular isn't given enough development given how essential she is to the overarching plot and political struggle. I kinda wish that instead of the back and forth time skips which just leave me confused and not knowing what's happening they just wrote a linear narrative with flashbacks. given that Geralt actually doesn't do much in most of the series besides B plot monster hunting quests I think his character would have been enriched by sticking to a linear narrative instead of the back and forth.

If I (a person who has never written anything elaborate in my life) were to have written the show I would have filmed one season separated into 3 parts, one following Ciri, one following Yennefer and one following Geralt that you can watch side by side or after the other and they all end end with Ciri and Geralt meeting and Yennefer mysterious fate.

within the series there would be connections and Easter eggs that you can put together once you watch the other series. it wouldn't have only helped build the overarching plot as well as the character and relationship development and felt more like a video game adaption.

Apparently the series also cost 10 mill per episode which I assume must have gone mostly to Henry Cavill because it's simultaneously the cheapest and most expensive show I've ever seen. Some scenes look really good but others look like a fanmade film. Not that those films are bad and I don't know how to explain it but they have a quality to them that makes them not look real even if the costuming and video quality is good. Like that scene in the cave with that goatman and the elder.

I'll see how the second season is reviewed once it comes out and I'll think about checking it out. I know I complained a lot lol but I didn't hate it.

oh i'm actually really happy that you decided to come tell me your thoughts. and i don't disagree with most of them honestly haha

in a better written show maybe i'd ship geralt and yennefer (i don't hate them together btw, and also they're hot so they make a nice picture xD) but the show doesn't give me anything, they meet and suddenly??? geralt is just tying himself to her in such an intrinsic way? i just don't buy it. it's weird, and the writing does not pay off what they show us.

i do ship geraskier, but i get it if you don't! they do have more of a buildup than yennefer and geralt. it seems more natural, and gradual. but again you're right, they could have shown us more of their development.

i like Ciri as a character, but i was bored watching most of her scenes, they just don't do her justice, and the show seems to slow down whenever she shows up (to me). and i also love yennefer, she's a very interesting character!

i actually kinda enjoyed how the show isn't technically very linear, but at the same time it is. because geralt's, yennerfer's and ciri's stories are indeed linear, and yes we're seeing them at the same time as if they were going on at the same time but they aren't. and it was neat when their stories finally aligned. and i enjoyed looking for context clues to see when something has come to be in one of the other one's stories. it was another way to keep me focused in the show when i so often have a hard time to focus on the thing i'm watching lol so in this we kinda disagree. i do understand that it might be complicated and boring to other ppl tho.

having it be three different stories could work better to develop the characters more i agree. but it'd be boring for me, and i'd probably not be able to get through the 3 different shows/parts of a show like that. but again its a matter of preference and i understand where you're coming from.

oh def....some of the cgi is BAD lol and it does come off cheap at times for sure, even if other scenes are amazingly well done. but it's a first season and they were finding their footing so i forgive them to a certain extent.

i am going to watch s02 no matter what the reviews say. not because i love this show but because i love Jaskier LOL he just makes the show so fucking fun for me, you have no idea. and i am interested in what's gonna happen as well. i'm glad you got some enjoyment out of it!

also i'm sorry that my thoughts are also too long akjsdhsdfjhsd sorry

#ask answered #anon #the witcher #i love talking about stuff like this #and i love that you actually came back to give me your honest thoughts #i thought you wouldn't but here you are #bless you

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natromanxoff · 5 years ago

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Queen live at Colston Hall in Bristol, UK - November 18, 1975

The photos could be from either night.

This article from the November 29 issue of Sounds chronicles the second night in Bristol.

Queen triumphant

QUEEN ARE the type of group that make a man want to abandon rock writing. They pose questions and never provide answers. They exist in their own space-time continuum, visible and audible but keeping their secrets to themselves.

On the surface they couldn't be a nicer bunch of people, but they carry English reticence to an epitome. It isn't, as Geoff Barton said two weeks ago, that they're boring, it's just that they're reserved. Or in writer parlance, they don't automatically provide colourful copy. All my instincts as a writer tell me that there is a great story in that band, but after two nights with them I'm hardly any the wiser.

Skin tight

That their insularity has a lot to do with them being one of the most amazing heavy-metal and/or rock bands in Britain - with all the signs that they'll end up monsters on the order of Zep - is fairly obvious, but just how much bearing it has on the matter is hard to say. The enigmas they might pose mightn't even have answers.

Is there any logical reason why they present an image and persona straight out of the Beatles school of interlocking chemistry?

John is reserved, almost nonchalant on stage, as if it's all in a small, personal joke. When asked how he saw himself within the framework of the band he replied, with a small smile, "I'm the bassist".

Roger is his opposite, the cheeky sidekick in a Clint Eastwood movie, and attracting a lot of cheesecake attention in America and Japan.

Freddie is an original - one of the most dynamic singers to tread the boards in quite a few years. His attraction is obvious.

Brian is perhaps the biggest enigma of all. What is this seemingly frail, gaunt astronomer doing on that stage, striding purposefully and blasting diamond-hard rock? They're all equally strong personalities - like the Beatles there's no one major focal point. Ask four fans who their dream Queen is and you'll get four different answers.

Queen have been busy lads these past few months. Having disassociated themselves from their former management and joined with John Reid, the fourth album was seen to. Reid decided that a tight schedule wouldn't cause them undue harm, and figured on two months to record before embarking on this current tour.

Only Queen are driven to better each previous album - which at this stage of the game is obviously producing some excellent results - and 'A Night At The Opera' turned into a saga - culminating in 36-hour mixing sessions in an effort to allow at least a few days for rehearsal. In the end they managed three and a half days at Elstree with four hours off to videotape the promotional film for 'Bohemian Rhapsody'.

Their first few dates had not been without errors and the quartet were still not feeling totally comfortable their second night in Bristol, fourth night of the tour. You'd never know it, though.

Like all other aspects of the group, the stage is sophisticated. A black scrim provides a backdrop bounded by a proscenium of lights both front and rear. At each side the p.a. rises like a mutant marriage of Mammon and Robby the Robot. Amp power is readily evident but the most extraordinary is Brian May's subtle set up: nine Vox boxes stepping back in rows of three. The only packing crate visible is holding a tray of drinks, and you may rest assured that no roadie will rush, crawl or lurk across the stage while the show is in progress unless it's to rescue Freddie's mike from the clawing crowd.

As the auditorium darkens the sound of an orchestra tuning up is heard over the p.a. The conductor taps his baton on the music stand and a slightly effete voice welcomes the audience to A Night At The Opera. The Gilbert & Sullivan portion of 'Bohemian Rhapsody' follows, a brief glimpse of Freddie is allowed, and then in a blast of flares and white smoke the blitzkrieg begins.

Roger is barely visible behind his kit, just his eyes and tousled locks. John is wearing a white suit and playing the-man-who-must-stand-still-or-it-will-all-blow-away. Brian is slightly medieval in his green and white Zandra Rhodes top, while Freddie is...

Around his ankles his satin white pants flare like wings - fleet footed Hermes. Everything north of the knee is skin tight - tighter than skin tight - with a zip-up front open to AA rating. But further south, definitely in X territory, lurks a bulge not unlike the Sunday Telegraph.

There have been sex objects and sex bombs, superstar potency and the arrogant presentation of this all-important area, but never has a man's weaponry been so flagrantly showcased. Fred could jump up on the drum stand and shake his cute arse, leap about and perform all manner of amazing acrobatics, but there it was, this rope in repose, barely leashed tumescence, the Queen's sceptre. Oh to be that hot costume, writhing across the mighty Fred!

Phallic

Freddie is not pretty in the conventional sense of the word; like Mick Jagger of '64, he is his own convention. Also like the Jagger of the time, his stage persona and action is unlike anything else. Although it borrows - like most of the group's plagiarisms - slightly from Zeppelin, in tandem with Freddie's supreme assurance and belief in himself - he always refers to himself as a star - it explodes into something that is a constant delight to watch.

He reacts to his audience almost like an over-emotional actress - Gloria Swanson, say, or perhaps Holly Woodlawn playing Bette Davis. At the climax of the second night in Bristol he paused at the top of the drum stand, looked back over the crowd and with complete, heartfelt emotion placed his delicate fingers to lips and blew a kiss. Any person who can consume themselves so completely in such a clichéd showbiz contrivance deserves to be called a star.

Freddie's real talent, though, is with his mike stand. No Rod Stewart mike stand callisthenics here, just a shortee stick that doubles as a cock, machine gun, ambiguous phallic symbol, and for a fleeting moment an imaginary guitar. He has a neat trick of standing quite still in particularly frantic moments and holding the stand vertically from his crotch up, draw a fragile finger along its length, ever closer to the taunting eyes that survey his audience.

Their show contains lots of bombs and smoke, lots of lights, lots of noise. They fulfil the function of supremely good heavy metal - i.e. you don't get a second to think about what's going on. When they do let up for a few minutes, it's only so you can focus in on the bright blue electric charge crackling between your ears.

Bulldozer

Dominating the sound is Roger's drumming, a bulldozer echo that bounces like an elastic membrane, meshing with your solar plexus so that your body pulses in synch with the thunder. Tuned into that, everything else is just supremely nice icing.

For three days rehearsal, after eight months off the road Bristol was extremely impressive. In speculative mood I quizzed people on how long they thought it would take to headline Madison Square Garden. I was thought a radical at a year and a half. John Reid smilingly assured me it would take a year.

That Queen should end up with John Reid is an entirely logical proceeding. Everything about Queen demands that the world eventually kowtows at their feet in complete acquiescence - so big that bodyguards have to accompany them at every step. Well, no - they found that an annoyance in Japan, but, you know, huge.

Such status demands a Reid or a Peter Grant, and whatever the causes for their leaving Jack Nelson and Trident, an elegant group like Queen is going to look for a man with class. Reid found the idea of managing a group interesting, and having to deal with four strong personalities a challenge. He only concerns himself with their business and ensuring that the year ahead is mapped out. In January they begin a jaunt through the Orient, Australia and America, by which time it's March and they begin preparations for the next album.

Reid's prediction of a year was proven highly credible the next evening in Cardiff. The band had still not paused from the rush up to the tour and spent most of the day relaxing and sleeping - no doubt a factor in their near recumbent profile. Also, unlike most groups, they were keeping their dissatisfaction with the show to themselves.

They stopped off at Harlech TV on the way to see a cassette of the video for 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. The general consensus was quite good for four hours, with much laughter during the operetta. Brian finds film of the group educational - the first time he saw himself was a Mike Mansfield opus for 'Keep Yourself Alive' - "It was 'All right fellows, give it everything you've got but don't move off that spot.' It was terrible." You don't like Mansfield, eh? "Oh, I hate him - we all do... I was horrified when I saw it - I couldn't believe we looked that bad. I looked very static - seeing myself has taught me a lot about stage movement. Some of the things I do are planned for effect, but it's mostly just feeling the audience and communicating that back to them."

Arriving at the motel - several miles out of town - Freddie immediately fell asleep, John held court of a sort, joined later by Brian, while Roger went jogging, a daily event when touring. Tuning in to rock via Bill Haley and Tommy Steele, he became a drummer because he was better at it than guitar. All through school he was in bands; he only went to dental school out of "middle class conditioning, and it was a good way to stay in London without having to work". His mother thought it a bit strange when he opted for a career as a rock star, but she doesn't worry too much now.

The concert starts in much the same manner as the previous night, but there are signs that tonight is work, with posing an afterthought. The endings to most of their songs are magnificent and majestic, especially 'Flick Of The Wrist' and the rapid harmonies of 'Bad Boy Leroy Brown'.

Maniacal

The audience, seeing their faces in town for the first time, are vociferous in their appreciation. Guys know all the words to every song, yelling enthusiastically at every effect and solo. The band picks up, Freddie receiving the crowd beneficently, telling them they’re beautiful.

As the show builds it is obvious that things are gelling more. The previous night Brian had seemed totally out of place, not moving too much, taking solos with the weirdest half blank half possessed stare, talking to himself; cocking ear towards guitar. He was the proverbial stranger in a strange land, one step removed from the plane inhabited by you and me.

Tonight he moves fluidly, the gonzo lead guitarist of a gonzo band. His expressions are just as maniacal, but it only makes him look more demonic. His solo in 'Brighton Rock', an exposition in riffing and echo, is a treat because of his physical response to both music and audience, complete with ham acting. Freddie gets into the same game on 'The Prophet's Song', where he conducts an acapella madrigal with himself. It's a pretty commanding moment.

It’s soon after this that Madison Square seems reasonable. About a minute into 'Stone Cold Crazy' it becomes very obvious that Queen have suddenly Plugged In. Found the metal music machine and Connected. Freddie's movements explode in perfect unison with the music, the lights and surroundings go crazy, and the audience goes berserk.

Freddie asks for requests and receives a roar out of which one can vaguely make 'Liar'. Fred walks along the stage, nodding, agreeing he will do this one and that one while the kids roar on. "I'll tell you what - we'll do them all!"

'Doing Alright' opens slow and portentously. Queen's variation of light and shade is one of the major factors in their popularity, but even so the quiet sections frequently find the audience's mind wandering. One kid starts getting a joint together, totally forgetting it when everything blasts off again; guys talk among themselves, only to instantly leap to their feet, fists flying to the beat.

'Doing Alright' changes into a cha-cha beat, Freddie snapping his fingers, the coolest hipster in town, and then instantly drops into faster-than-light drive - the whole row next to me leaps to their feet as a man, rocking back and forth as Brian roars into a blinding solo.

Two songs later, in 'Seven Seas of Rye', the kids break - very fast - and in five seconds half the audience is a seething mass in front of the stage, climbing on each other in pyramids, sudden openings appearing as a splintering seat sends a few bodies to the floor.

The rest of the show is equally intense, especially for a couple of minutes during 'Liar; where Fred and Brian merge into a tight little triangle with Roger while John stands in front of the bass drum, staring out with his small smile.

Freddie has treated his encores - 'Big Spender' and 'Jailhouse Rock' - differently on successive nights, once appearing in a kimono and in Bristol with rather rude tight white shorts, giving the song title new emphasis. In Cardiff, though, he doesn't bother to change at all. Later it transpired that Brian had twisted his ankle during 'Liar'. While he’s attended to, kids out front pick up chair slivers to keep as mementos.

On the bus back to the hotel Brian sits quietly at the back, chatting with two girls. John sits at the front, as always. Freddie stares out of the window, lost in his own world. Roger bounces around, starts a pillow fight with Brian - which stops as soon as Brian scores a direct hit to the face - then discovers an eight track of 'Sheer Heart Attack', punching it through the channels as he conducts the group. The two hours towards which they have channelled the day's energies are spent.

Ambition

That Queen have become a top attraction through a fair degree of plagiarism is amusing. Stealing is nothing new in rock (or any art for that matter) and mostly Queen use the borrowed material better than the originals. That they would be big I don't think anybody really doubted. All four have immense desire to be successful, and that kind of ambition will keep them slogging until they achieve it.

But there are popular heavy metal bands and there are popular h-m bands. From watching Queen's audience it is apparent that Queen speak for them in a way that bands such as the Who and the Stones and the Beatles spoke (and continue to speak) to their audience. Uriah Heep may be great at what they do, but five years after their demise who'll remember them? Creedence Clearwater Revival demonstrate the same thing - who remembers them? And yet five years ago they were the largest band in the world.

Queen will probably always be remembered, because as their tour is beginning to demonstrate, they have the ability to actualise and encompass the outer limits of their sense of self-importance. Queen and their music, presentation, production - everything about them says that they are more important than any other band you've every heard, and who has there been, so far, who has objected? Certainly not the 150,000 people (plus 20,000 a day) who bought 'Bohemian Rhapsody' in the first 20 days of its release. Certainly not me.

See you at Madison Square Garden.

[text © J. Ingham 2007; photos © Kate Simon]

~ You can see the photos which was mentioned on the article, from the link on the title. ~

#queen #queen band #roger taylor #freddie mercury #brian may #john deacon #queen concerts

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recurring-polynya · 4 years ago

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I was reading your response to that anon about renji's character - very nice response by the way! - and saw your tag about "infinite jest." I own that book and i'm curious on your thoughts on it? i find it a bit daunting (my paperback is in size 9 font, single space [!!!]) and i have plans to read it this summer. How did you feel about the story? Would you reread it? Did you take notes? (I read a review where someone had a notebook on the book so they could keep track of the story). If you answer, thank you for doing so!

WOW I feel like I have been waiting my whole life for someone to ask me for my Infinite Jest wisdom! I feel so honored!

So, I read Infinite Jest twice, about 7 years ago. I am constantly threatening to read it again. The first time took me six months, I do not remember how long the second time took. I did not do this for a class or anything, I just did it because I am insufferable.

My first tip to reading Infinite Jest is to think of it as a project, not like reading a book. Reading Infinite Jest is not very much at all like reading a book. It is not a story. It is the negative space where a story should be. It is weird and boring and confusing and insufferable, and reading it changed my entire perspective on what stories are and formed a new lens through which I perceive all media. I habitually read before bed, and there were some nights I was not able to make it through an entire page. This is not to say I read it and gave up--the text is very rich and chewy and sometimes I was just “full” after just a few paragraphs.

I am not sure if taking notes would help. The problem with Infinite Jest is that it presents you with a fantastic volume of information, most of which is only tangential related to the “story”. I feel like trying to keep track of what’s happening might make things harder. A lot of the information is arranged in appendixes at the end for easy reference. I think I read The Filmography of J. O. Incandenza about eleventy-thousand times, and the very serious descriptions of made up movies featuring an anthology-style cast has stuck with me more than an other aspect of the book (Blood Sister: One Tough Nun and Medusa vs. the Odalisque in particular). I feel like color sticky tabs might be more helpful, if you’re looking for an organizational scheme? I had two book marks, one to mark my regular place and one to mark my place in the appendixes.

You should probably be passingly familiar with Hamlet before you read it. For some reason, the entire first time I read it, it never occurred to me that it was a retelling of Hamlet, but it is, in fact, a weird, tennis and drug-themed re-telling of Hamlet. That’s why it’s called Infinite Jest, you see. I am a moron.

I did not take notes. I just let it wash over me. The first thing I did when I finished reading it, was to pick up my phone and google “what happened at the end of Infinite Jest”. I read a few blog posts and learned some things. I also felt reassured that no one really knows what happened at the end of Infinite Jest. The second read was much, much more satisfying, now that I knew what the hell was happening.

If you are not enjoying your Infinite Jest experience, you should stop. It was a very rewarding project for me, but it was also a lot of work. There is a certain kind of person who will tell you “everyone should read Infinite Jest!” and I heartily disagree. It is definitely Not for Everyone and there is no shame in giving it a shot and then giving up or taking a pass entirely.

It takes place in the not-so-distant future. Half of the book is extremely prescient, and half of it misses the mark in a hilarious way. DFW completely predicted Netflix streaming and Zoom backgrounds, but he also thought that people would get obsessed with live events and would go to see ice melt on a duck pond. A significant portion of the novel details an amateur documentary made with puppets detailing an idiot president coming to power, taking over Mexico and Canada, and turning Vermont into a nuclear waste dump and I am honestly afraid to reread the book because of how it’s just going to be an extremely accurate depiction of the Trump presidency.

I do want to point out that DFW was both a problematic and deeply troubled man. He is not very good at writing anyone who is not a cis white man. I think he meant well, but we all know what that’s worth. When I read the book, I was not as discerning about these things as I am now, but I definitely recall some cringing, and I suspect I would be cringing even harder if I re-read it now. To me, DFW was an incredibly interesting writer. His descriptions of depression are unparalleled. He thought very deeply about what it means to be human, as is evident in his This is Water speech (a friend of mine happened to graduate from Kenyon when he gave that speech and said it was amazing in person). I often wonder what sort of person he would be if he had lived, what his opinion would be on things like the Black Lives Matter movement. I am not a DFW scholar, I cannot say. He is not with us anymore, though, and my philosophy is take his writings with the grain of salt that he was who he was. Infinite Jest is not a happy book about well-adjusted people.

Michael Schur, one of the creators of Parks and Rec, B99, and The Good Place is a huge Infinite Jest fan and wrote his thesis on it and owns the film rights to the book. Parks and Rec contains a number of Infinite Jest references, but they are mostly just names, they aren’t anything very clever. The Good Place is full of rich Infinite Jest vibes. Schur also directed the music video for the Decemberist’s Calamity Song, which is a scene from the book where the tennis kids play a weird game about nuclear brinksmanship. I did not know this the first time I saw the music video and I wish there was footage of me watching it and losing my shit in real time as it slowly dawned on me what was happening. If you have read my fanfic Call Me Back When the War is Over, the scene where they watch the Brawl is loosely based on this scene.

I wish you luck in your quest! One thing that may happen to you is that you may feel the need to talk about Infinite Jest, and if so I am here, please feel free to message me if you need.

#infinite jest #this blog contains multitudes

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uwu-boll · 5 years ago

Text

Recently, the 2 year anniversary of my engagement passed. I forget the exact date; it doesn't matter to me much anymore. But it did get me thinking about how much of a bad decision it was. I predicated it on the acknowledgement of a love and passion shared between two 18 year olds who got a little too drunk at their first party together and said they wanted to marry each other. To think I was blind to that reality, but it was romance in my eyes; star crossed lovers, high school sweethearts.

The love was real, sure, and we shared many memories together, plenty of which I will never forget. But we were ultimately incompatible. I was overwhelmed by her mental illness, and her absolute dependence on me, and when I couldn't support her emotionally anymore, it destroyed her. When she couldn't handle to see me with other people - platonically - and it affected our relationship in a way that she would lash out at me and blame me, or even herself, and cause huge issues simply over me talking to other girls - platonically.

I had no friends of my own for nearly 5 years. Every time I brought it up she would blame herself but do nothing to change how she felt. She would get mad at me for not having friends and upset at herself whenever I would tell her why I didnt. It was an emotional rollercoaster.

I'm not here to lay down my dirty laundry with keala, nor am I to say she is entirely to blame for the collapse of our relationship. Going long distance definitely was not helping the situation, and my insistence to make it work was probably the wrong move. There were times where I was cruel and intentionally petty to her because of the way she treated me. Does that justify how I was treated? No, but it doesn't mean I'm blameless.

Regardless, the breakup was intense, chronic, and extremely dull. Imagine being bored all of the time. Colors are dull, and boring, and conversations are surreally uninteresting. Video games were the only stimulation that mattered to me, and I buried myself in both games and work to get my mind off of everything. I was spiraling downward, every day was worse than the last and honestly I didnt really care if I lived or not at that point. I had no drive, ambition, or any real sense of purpose. I felt like I was in a rut. I started drinking a lot more that I used to. I picked up drinking casually with Marisol because it was something to do and I didnt want to smoke, but that developed into a borderline addiction. There were weeks where I would go out with friends and get shitfaced every day. I was the friend who liked alcohol. I'm not proud of it, to be frank, but that's how it was.

My point is, losing keala was devastating, but I grew a flock of friends that loved me, genuinely, but unknowingly enabled me. But that flock grew and grew and then it grew to include the person I came to write this post about:

Katie is my best friend, and has probably been my best friend since the moment we met. She and I met through Norms, the restaurant I worked at before I quit a month ago. We met in passing a few times through work, but really clicked that Halloween, where we both got off work at 9pm and spent the next 12 hours talking to each other and driving around. At the time, she was dating this skinny kid named Harrison. He seemed like a nice enough and genuine enough kind of person at the time

Katie and I immediately became very close and became closer and closer as time went on. I had no intention of getting between Katie and Harrison, but, ironically enough, jealousy consumed Harrison as well, as he also grew dependent on alcohol and then lashed out, culminating in his assaulting of Katie, and her uncle. That's a whole story in and of itself, and I'm not gonna get into it. What you need to know out of it is that they aren't together anymore.

As of now, Katie and I are "dating". I say that in quotes because that's the official story. We're trying to downplay things a bit, because everyone "expects us" to take it slow, which is understandable. But we're both very intense and passionate people, and it's hard for that kind of love to burn dimly. But I cant get my mind off of this girl. We are beyond compatible in so many different ways: I cant help but compare her to keala, and I'm pleased to say that Katie and I are so much more compatible than keala and I ever were. Keala was too quiet and contributed nothing. She was shy and introverted and would rather sit and do nothing than be in a production relationship. We were chaotic forces, living in anarchy. We didnt support each other in any way that mattered. Our love was selfish. We had ambitious plans but no means or drive to move forward and grow to achieve them. I needed her to help me move forward, and she was too stagnant in her mental health to grow. Our lack of growth suffocated us.

Katie and I have known each other for almost a year now, but we've spent almost every day of that year together. We have worked together and know how our minds work. We have the same tastes in a lot of things - movies, music, TV shows, literature - we love writing, animals, smoking. We're both open minded and she is extroverted and gives me the boost I need to be more social. She makes me want to be a better person and she genuinely makes me happy.

She took this picture of me (left) and Mario (right) and was blown away by my smile. She had not ever seen me smile like that, and I agreed: I have never been as happy as i am since she and I have been together. I dont even remember being this happy in nearly the past 3 years.

Ultimately, the point of this point is this: I saw that my 2 year had past and thought of how I could still be in that mistake, and I'm glad that I'm not. Instead, I'm in a completely different lifestyle, with a completely different style and a completely different taste, and most importantly I have a girl at my side who has shown me what I have been missing this whole time.

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sally-mun · 7 years ago

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As someone who hasn't, wouldn't, and won't be experiencing Major/Minor (or whatever it was called) could you perhaps analyze more specifically some of the things you felt were missteps more in depth, so others who decide they might want to make a visual novel or even just a story, might be able to avoid the same issues? I realize this might not be your area of interest, but I'm always interested in these kinds of analyses.

Man, where do I even begin.

I suppose I should start by saying that this game could have been fine; I don’t necessarily hate this game for the story, even if I think it’s uninspired. I play lots of point-and-click games and usually enjoy them (even the stupid ones) so long as they have merit in one area or another. But that’s the core of the problems with Major/Minor: It has NO merit to work with. Its construction shows absolutely no understanding of this genre of game design. Or of writing. Or of entertainment in general. Or of simply respecting one’s audience.

First and foremost, let’s discuss visual novels.

The critical difference between a novel and a visual novel is interactivity; a novel is a set and done deal that takes its readers along for the ride, whereas a visual novel invites the readers to be part of the ride itself. The direction of the story is influenced by the player, and this allows them to personally take ownership of later events. It’s the sort of game that tries to put you in the role of the protagonist in the most direct form possible. Like other first-person games your view as a player is exactly that of the character you’re playing, but in a VN’s case it’s like reading a comic book in a choose-your-own-adventure format.

Major/Minor not only fails on both the visual and novel elements, but it also fails when combined as a visual novel.

1) Visual

For the most part, visual novels don’t have a lot of action. They primarily consist of conversations with NPCs and usually take place in static locations. For this reason, both the characters and the environments need to have a lot of personality. Players need to feel like they’re actually having conversations with the characters and that they’ve entered a unique location that sees real use. This is the red, meaty center of how VNs engage and gratify their players.

Designing characters in a visual novel is about more than giving each one a different face; it’s about giving each character enough of a range of actions and emotions to sell the idea that the character is actually interacting with you, and in a way that’s truly unique from every other character. In real life, people do all sorts of crap when speaking: Our expressions change, we gesture with our hands, our posture varies, and sometimes we even have small ticks associated with certain topics or emotions. Between these visual cues and the actual discussions themselves, players ought to know the NPCs well enough to be able to describe them like real-life friends by the end of the game.

This brings us to Major/Minor’s first serious offense: Every character has one face. Typically in a VN, each character has a minimum of half a dozen expressions, poses, and gestures/ticks to match the different emotions they’ll need to exhibit over the course of their conversation topics. The characters in Major/Minor can only make a single expression and pose throughout the entire game, which immediately leads to some seriously disjointed discussions. It’s hard for me to take a character seriously when they say they’re angry with me when the art staring through the computer screen is bright, cheerful, and apparently mid-laugh. Sorry, NPC #672, I really don’t care that you’re allegedly on the brink of tears, because your singular piece of character art is so smarmy and mischievous that I forgot you were trying to tell me something tragic.

What makes this even more annoying is that most of the characters DO have a secondary piece of art, but it’s only ever used ONE time as an introduction to a new character before the game chucks it in the bin and we never see it again. Each character COULD have had at least two expressions if the dev had planned his commissions carefully enough, buuut instead he chose to get two shots that are barely distinguishable from one another so there could be a ~=*FLOURISH*=~ when we see someone for the first time. Granted, two per character still isn’t anywhere near enough, but it’s a hell of a lot better than just one! It makes me wonder why he bothered to spend the money on a second image for each character at all, since half of these commissions only get about 10 seconds of screen time. What a waste.

And hey, speaking of wasted opportunities, let’s talk more about the environments! Lots of visual novels don’t spend much energy on their backgrounds, and although that’s usually fine (albeit not my first preference), Major/Minor seriously needed to think more about its settings. For the moment I’ll ignore the laziness of the fact that the backgrounds are generic photos with a blur filter over them; what’s more important is that this game loves to tell us all kinds of random crap about the rooms we’re in, especially during the scenes that take place in Japan. This game would’ve benefited dearly from simply having more detailed backgrounds and just letting us observe the goings on of the room on our own. Y’know, because that makes it more... visual.

Honestly, if it were me, I would’ve taken it all a step further and gone full-blown Ace Attorney on the environments. In AA games, investigating the scene is very important because you have to look for clues. I’m not saying Major/Minor needed to let you hunt for items, but I do think that it could’ve cut a ton of random information from the text by simply letting us inspect the backgrounds. That way the players that want to know what a kotatsu is can find out on their own time and players that already know or don’t care can move on.

Something else that would’ve brought the game a much-needed boost of interest is cut scenes. As noted earlier, visual novels don’t tend to have a lot of action, so when something physical DOES happen, it makes an impact. One way to maximize that flash of excitement is with a cut scene – or at least, the visual novel equivalent of one. A “cut scene” in a VN isn’t typically a full motion video like most video games boast; it still makes use of a static image, but it’s an image whose quality far surpasses that of the rest of the art in the game. Maybe it’s abnormally large and the camera slowly pans across for dramatic effect, or maybe it’s a scene drawn from an interesting angle that isn’t the player’s POV. Some games take this even farther and really do animate their cut scenes a bit (usually on par with a nice animated gif). Lots of VN cut scenes make use of sound effects or action-specific music cues to keep the player emotionally involved with the scene, as it’s a moment that’s out of the player’s control.

Major/Minor, on the other hand, does none of this. Much like the drought of facial expressions, the game simply pelts you with paragraph after paragraph to tell you about the events taking place around you, rather than simply letting you see for yourself and be, y’know, involved. Even a handful of cut scenes that had some real effort put into them would’ve really given this game some pep. Not only would it have kept me engaged as a player, but it would’ve weeded out even more unnecessary narration.

Oh, and speaking of weeding shit out of the text…

2) Novel

The writing in this game badly, badly needed to be edited. Like, so badly it makes me physically hurt from how poorly this text is constructed. I’m not talking about the simple things like misspellings and failed capitalizations, I mean BIG mistakes, like sentence fragments and improper conjugations and completely misusing some words all together. It’s also excruciatingly repetitive. Never in my life have I ever seen prose that recaps itself so frequently – sometimes literally within minutes of the event that it’s reminding you of. It even recaps itself within the same block of text a few times.

It’s pretty obvious the dev never allowed a seasoned editor to proof the text, but it’s so unbelievably bad that I’m not even sure the dev himself ever gave it a second glance. It reeks of being a first draft that was never once revisited; actually, it strongly reminds me of the sort of stories I myself wrote when I was about 13. At that time I wanted so badly to write big, dramatic stories! Stories that had deep themes and lots of intrigue! With a complicated plot and several subplots!! And lots of characters that would all totally be different and completely matter!!!! But the problem was I was so wrapped up in wanting to make my stories big, impressive epics that I stretched myself way too thin and everything came out incredibly shallow. It’s honestly kind of eerie to think back on the things I wrote as a kid while I play this game. The similarities are so striking that I can’t tell if this is something the dev wrote at that age and just never decided to polish, or if he did write it as an adult but has the writing skill-level of a teenager.

But honestly, I’d overlook all the technical flaws and melodrama this guy could throw at me if he would just show and not tell. “Show, don’t tell” is one of the oldest rules in the book when it comes to storytelling, and for good reason: Telling instead of showing is not only fucking boring, but it treats the reader like an idiot. If a writer knows what they’re doing, they shouldn’t have to tell, because they’d just demonstrate those things instead.

For example, let’s examine another huge flaw with the writing: Incredibly shallow characterizations. Early in the game the player meets a character named Rook. Rook is very rude. I know this because the game tells me. All. The. Time. I legit don’t remember how many times the game has mentioned that Rook is rude at this point. The dev seems completely oblivious to the notion that you don’t have to tell the player these things. You can just… write Rook as being rude. Trust me, my dude, I can figure out if a character is an asshole or not. Not only can Rook’s rudeness be demonstrated by how he treats me as a player, but it can be further reinforced by other characters reacting to him in a put-off manner. If you’re so concerned that I won’t pick up on the fact that Rook is a rude person just based on how he behaves, then you’re doing it wrong, end of discussion.

But then, as I said, the characterizations are shallow in general. Everyone tends to have their one basic trope and the story rests on the idea that you know what the character is. None of the scenes go out of their way to really dig into who someone is – which is kind of amazing, honestly, since the prose is so obsessed with making sure you know the most inane and unrelated shit half the time – and even after I’ve known a character for several chapters they still feel like a cardboard cut-out to me.

To be honest, I’m kind of impressed by the sheer volume of ways that Major/Minor fails at showing instead of telling. It tells you what characters are like instead of just letting you interact with them, it tells you about the places you visit instead of just letting you view them, it tells you every single time the characters have a mood shift or expression change because it couldn’t be bothered to give them each more than one face, and it hamfists unnecessary information into the script where it’s unneeded and interrupts the scene – and THEN, it makes SURE you notice that it’s telling instead of showing by repeating those things over and over and over again!

All of this is further exacerbated, by the way, because the dev has no idea how to tell a story in the first place. Even with all the above flaws, I miiight have still been able to enjoy this game if it was just a compelling narrative in any sense of the word at all. I will happily deal with poor construction and telling-not-showing if the story still has some intrigue. Even a flawed story can have a mind-blowing plot and keep you reading just to find out what happens next, right? I thought so too, until I realized that Major/Minor goes SO far out of its way to spoil its own plot that it frequently makes you sit through scenes that you, the protagonist, are not even present for. Yes, in a game that’s built upon being a first-person experience, the story will slam on the brakes and take you OUT of the protagonist’s shoes to make you sit by as an observer to events that probably would’ve been an great reveal later on had the dev just kept his mouth shut.

3) Visual Novel

So the visuals suck and the writing sucks, but hey, lots of games get by without investing much in those areas. Could Major/Minor pull it together and at least give the player an interesting mechanic? Hahahaha no, of course it didn’t. As far as the gameplay is concerned, Major/Minor is so bad that in many ways I hesitate to even call it a game.

The cornerstone of visual novels is making choices. They can range from serious decisions that determine the overall outcome of the game or small cosmetic details, but either way, the core of this gaming style is putting the player in the driver’s seat as often as possible. When playing Major/Minor, however, the player is strapped into a straight jacket, blindfolded, and tossed into the trunk of the damn car. This game is so reluctant to surrender control of the narrative that it’s not uncommon at all to go through entire sections of the game having made no choices whatsoever. It fails so spectacularly as a visual novel that I’d be willing to bet that the dev had never played one before. He is astonishingly disinterested in what makes a visual novel enjoyable to the player.

There’s a principle in game design called Illusion of Control. The goal of this idea is to allow the player to feel like they’re in charge of the game while actually keeping them within strict boundaries. It applies to a lot of games, but it’s especially important in visual novels. Players need to be able to dictate how the story progresses, even if some of those choices make no real impact on outcomes. For example, players can enter conversation trees with NPCs that seemingly offer a lot of control – perhaps the player chooses the discussion topics, or can decide if they want to be shy or snarky in their replies – and yet at the end of the scene there could realistically be no change to the story’s progress. The greater point is that the player feels like they handled the conversation the way they wanted to. This allows them to still feel like they’ve gotten somewhere and that they accomplished something.

Major/Minor appears to scoff at the very idea of this, like the game’s worried you’ll cramp its style if it gives you too much power.The player is allotted no input whatsoever on how the PC treats the other characters, what subjects to discuss, where they’d like to go, how to react to the actions of other characters… It’s truly mind-blowing just how consistently the game misses opportunities to allow the player even the illusion of control. For example, there’s a scene where the player character (PC) is awakened in the middle of the night by a pounding on the door, and no options are offered on how the player would like to handle this. A better game might allow the player to choose if they want to pretend to keep sleeping, or call out to whomever is knocking, or try escaping out a window, or crack the door open to see what the person wants. Even if it’s an absolute necessity to the plot that this person enters the room, it’s still better to let the player choose, because there are a plethora of ways to redirect each of those options back around toward the character getting in.

Unfortunately, Major/Minor is just too damn lazy to be bothered with gameplay, and the PC just lets the stranger in with no input from the player. Soon after, the stranger attacks the PC, which would again be a prime opportunity for lots of reactionary options: The player could duck! Or the player could punch their assailant! Or maybe they could kick instead! Maybe they’d try to run away or call for help! Buuut no, Major/Minor really doesn’t care what you want YOUR CHARACTER to do, and it’s already decided that you’re going to put up no fight at all and immediately pass out. It’s by far one of the most unsatisfying things I’ve ever experienced in a video game.

The disconnect between the player and the protagonist is so extreme that I honestly don’t feel it’s a fair assessment to refer to the protagonist as the “player character.” It’s not uncommon for visual novel protagonists to speak in the first person, but in most games it feels like the PC is speaking on your behalf because they’re acting according to your will. The protagonist of Major/Minor decides so many things for themself that it stopped feeling like “my” character a very, very long time ago. This character isn’t me and never was; it’s the main character of a book that I didn’t ask to read, who very occasionally pauses to ask my opinion on something.

HEY HOWDY HEY SPEAKING OF PAUSING… If you boot this “game” up for a session, you’d better hope you have plenty of time on your hands to get through it, because you’re at the dev’s mercy for when you can save your progress. Being able to save anytime you want is a staple of visual novels because 1) people read at wildly different paces, and 2) for many people, excessive reading makes them tired. Not only that, but sometimes life just plain gets in the way and you have to pick up and go on short notice. Major/Minor ignores all of these factors and leaves the player relegated to appointed checkpoints throughout the game.

Now, I’m not necessarily saying that checkpoints are inherently bad, but they do need to be used very, very wisely. Any game (VN or otherwise) that doesn’t allow the player to save anytime they want needs to be sure checkpoints are reasonably close from any given location, and furthermore that they’re spaced at regular intervals. As I’m sure you’ve guessed by now, however, the dev flushed that idea down the toilet along with what was left of his common sense and parents’ love. Sometimes Major/Minor stacks save points practically back-to-back within the span of a few minutes, and in other cases I’ve literally played for over and hour before the game finally rewarded me with the option to save.

There’s no discernible pattern or technique that I can detect for when save points are bestowed on the player; you’re not even guaranteed an opportunity to save when the game switches chapters! I would say that I can’t fathom why the dev thought this would be a good idea, but let’s not kid ourselves here, it’s clear that the dev never thought this through in the first place. If he had, he might’ve noticed that players being uncertain about whether or not they’ll be able to save their progress discourages them from playing at all.

Also, before I fully move on from the game design, I just wanted to make a brief side note about the music. To be honest, I turned the music off a VERY long time ago, so I don’t even remember what it sounds like; however, I’ve read that all of the music in the game is from the free assets you get in RPG Maker. I’ve further read that the free assets (both audio and visual) were the entire reason the dev decided to use RPG Maker for this game in the first place, in spite of the fact that there are other programs out there specifically geared toward making visual novels. This is worth mentioning because it further highlights just how lazy this entire game is. It’s not a sin to use free program assets – that IS what they’re there for, after all – but when you ONLY use the free assets and then advertise your game on Steam for being sooo creative and original, AND have the gall to charge $20 for it?? Yeah, that’s a gigantic slap in the face.

Speaking of Steam, you’d think a game like this would’ve been weeded out by the gaming community for being the garbage that it is, right? After all, there’s a ranking right at the top of the page showing the proportion of good and bad reviews it’s gotten, and right now it says the feedback is “very positive.” I will say that I do take community feedback into consideration when I’m thinking about a game that I haven’t otherwise heard of before, and my misstep with this game has definitely taught me a valuable lesson. When I saw that the game is ranked “very positive” and I scrolled down to see several glowing reviews, I felt that was sufficient enough research to know if the game was worth my time and money.

However, upon trying out the game and realizing just how badly I’d been deceived, I did a little more digging. As it turns out, the dev is known for flagging negative reviews as “abusive” and getting them deleted, allowing him to effectively filter out the bad press so long as he can make some kind of a case to Steam. This debacle has taught me that it’s not enough to scroll to the bottom of a Steam page for user reviews, as those tend to be the most recent; what you do instead is click the “Read all [x] reviews” link, as those reviews are sorted by popularity. THIS is where you’ll find the reviews that the community has deemed the most helpful and informative, and in this case, it’s like night and day. ALL of the highest-ranked reviews of Major/Minor are negative, and the numbers are staggering. Literally HUNDREDS of people have ranked these terrible reviews as helpful, and most of them are in the 80-90% range on agreement. You have to load more reviews four times to find even one single positive post, and once you do start getting into the positives, the upvotes are significantly fewer.

SO, in conclusion...

I want to say that’s about all I have to give on this subject, but the sad truth is it’s not. I could probably critique this game line-by-line, moment-by-moment, if I really wanted to. Fortunately for my sanity, I really don’t want to. … Not right now, anyway. I’m sure I’ll lose it at some point and decide to go through and count all the missed opportunities in the game or something, but I won’t be doing that right now, thankfully.

So in the vein of others learning from the mistakes of this game: If you were thinking about buying Major/Minor, don’t. If you bought it a while ago during a sale and were thinking about starting to play it, don’t. If you’re interested in making a visual novel and wanted to learn from this game’s mistakes… Well granted there’s a lot to learn about what not to do, but still, don’t give this lazy, deceptive dev any more money. Learn from this guy’s shortcomings based on the feedback of players. Hell, read or watch a Let’s Play if you really want to experience it first-hand. Just please don’t buy and play this game. As a favor to ME, please don’t buy and play this game.

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#sciver #Sallymun plays Major/Minor #I hope you guys enjoy this because it was not easy #if you know someone who's thinking about this game please show them this post #REBLOG TO SAVE A LIFE

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myinspirationlog · 7 years ago

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Been a while since I did one of these and I'm bored, so here we go.

(1) Do You Sleep With Your Closet Doors Open Or Closed? - Closed.

(2) Do You Have Freckles? - Yes, more so as I’ve aged. Mostly on my shoulders, sometimes on my face.

(3) Can You Whistle? - Rarely.

(4) Last Song You Listened To. - Cardi B - Bodak Yellow

(5) What Is Your Favourite Colour? - After spending a good 10 minutes trying to find that one Ex Machina quote that puts it so eloquently, I give up. I do not have one.

(6) Relationship Status. - Forever Alone™

(7) What Is The Temperature Right Now? - Outside 12 degrees. Indoors, maybe 20-25?

(8) Did You Wake Up Cranky? - Lol I didn’t sleep.

(9) How Many Followers? - Are they truly followers because they clicked a button? Nah. I have no real following yet.

(10) Zodiac Sign. - Aries, babe.

(11) What Is Your Eye Colour? - Grey with a few brown freckles.

(12) Take A Vitamin Daily? - Usually B12 or multi.

(13) Do You Sing In The Shower? - No.

(14) What Books Are You Reading? - No one right now.

(15) Grab The Book Nearest To You, Turn To Page 64, Give Me Line 14. - “She smiled.”

(16) Favourite Anime? - Not a big anime consumer. Prefer manga. (Sailor Moon forever though.)

(17) Last Person You Cried In Front Of? - On the phone with my mom.

(18) Do You Collect Anything? - Sadness and despair.

(19) What Did You Have For Lunch? - Ha. Some kind of butter-less McGyver sandwich out of random stuff I have at the house. Trying not to buy too much new food since I’m moving soon.

(20) Do You Dance In The Car? - I DO NOT OWN A CAR.

(21) Favourite Animal? - Used to be cats, but honestly... I just love them all.

(22) Do You Watch The Olympics? - No.

(23) What Time Do You Usually Go To Bed? - Never o’clock.

(24) Are You Wearing Makeup Right Now? - Nope.

(25) Do You Prefer To Swim In A Pool Or The Ocean? - Ocean. 100%. Nothing beats the waves.

(26) Favourite Tumblr Blog? - None right now, if I’m honest.

(27) Bottled Water Or Tap Water? - Tap. I’m not made out of money, bruh.

(28) What Makes You Happy? - Art. Growth. Adventure. Travel.

(29) Post A Gif Of What You’re Currently Feeling Right Now.

(30) Do You Study Better With Or Without Music? - Without, usually.

(31) Dogs Or Cats? - BOTH.

(32) If You Were A Crayon What Colour Would You Be? - Black. Simple, not showy, full of potential and beauty when handled right.

(33) PlayStation Or Xbox. - Dude... either one is fine.

(34) Would You Swim In The Lake Or Ocean? - Both.

(35) Do You Believe In Magic? - Neh.

(36) What Colour Shirt Are You Wearing? - Not wearing a shirt ooooooooh......

(37) Can You Curl Your Tongue? - Yes.

(38) Do You Save Money Or Spend It? - Hahahahahahhahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahhahahahahahahhahahahahahahhahahahahhahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahhahah ahaha....... I normally save it but am currently on a binge since I’ve spent 4000usd on a driver’s license I haven’t even passed yet so I’m going crazy :)))))))))))))

(39) Is There Anything Pink Within 10 Feet Of You? - Perfume bottles.

(40) Do You Have Any Obsessions Right Now? - Alice Isn’t Dead.

(41) Have You Ever Caught A Butterfly? - As a child, yes. Never would now.

(42) Are You Easily Influenced By Other People? - More so now than I used to be. Trying to get back my old independence and self-confidence.

(43) Do You Have Strange Dreams? - I don’t really dream anymore.

(44) Do You Like Going On Airplanes? - It is only one of my favorite things in the world.

(45) Name One Movie That Made You Cry. - Katie Says Goodbye.

(46) Peanuts Or Sunflower Seeds? - Sunflower seeds.

(47) If I Handed You A Concert Ticket Right Now, Who Would You Want The Performer To Be? - Made In Heights.

(48) Are You A Picky Eater? - Not at all.

(49) Are You A Heavy Sleeper? - Not at all.

(50) Do You Fear Thunder / Lightning? - Not if I’m in a safe place, no. I find it very calming actually. Reminds you that our planet is alive. It’s like nature’s period. (That was a weird analogy but it works.)

(51) Do You Like To Read / Write? - Yes, but I never do it anymore. Trying to find myself again.

(52) Do You Like Your Music Loud? - Loud enough.

(53) Would You Rather Carve Pumpkins Or Wrap Presents? - Pumpkins.

(54) Put Your Music On Shuffle, What Is The First Song That Came Up? - Made In Heights - All The Places (Instrumental)

(55) What Season Are You In Right Now? (Weather) - Fall AKA the dreary gray.

(56) What Are You Craving Right Now? - Affection and human intimacy. And my intelligence back.

(57) Post A Screenshot Of Your Tumblr Feed.

(58) What Is Your Gender? - Female! :D

(59) Coffee Or Tea? - Both.

(60) Do You Have Any Homework Right Now? If So, What Is It About? - I wish. I miss school so much.

(61) What Is Your Sexuality? - Girls by Beatrice Eli is my sexuality.

(62) Do You Make Your Bed In The Morning? - No.

(63) Favourite Pokemon? - Mew was always my fave.

(64) Favourite Social Media? - I hate all of them. I suppose Vimeo is nice though.

(65) What’s Your Opinion On Instagram Stories? - Why is everyone trying to be snapchat????

(66) Do You Get Homesick? - Only for places I haven’t lived in.

(67) Are You A Virgin? - Nope.

(68) What Shampoo And Conditioner Are You Using Right Now? - Generic store brand.

(69) If You Were Far From Home And Needed To Sleep For The Night, Would You Choose To Rent A Crappy Motel Room For $60 Or Sleep In Your Car For Free? - Depends on how much money I had and how sketchy the motel was.

(70) Are Both Of Your Blood Parents Still In Your Life? - Nope. Don’t want them to be.

(71) What’s The Next Movie You Want To See In Theaters? - Hmm... Maybe The Beguiled.

(72) Do You Miss Your Ex? - Yes. I do. I miss our friendship. I often come across things I know she’d appreciate with me, and in those moments I mourn that we no longer speak.

(73) What Is Your Favourite Quote Right Now? - I can’t think of one.

(74) What Eye Colour Do You Find Sexiest? - It ain’t about the color of the eyes, it’s about the look in them.

(75) Did You Like Swinging As A Child? Do You Still Get Excited When You See A Swing Set? - I was gonna make a sex joke but eh. Yes, I love swinging. Still do.

(76) What Was The Last Thing You Ate? - I already answered this.

(77) What Games Do You Have On Your Phone? - “Really Bad Chess”. That’s it.

(78) Would You Give A Homeless Person CPR If They Were Dying? Why Or Why Not? - Depends on how they were dying. Like if someone just shot them in the head I doubt CPR would help. But yes, I would. I couldn’t bear the idea of watching another person die and do nothing.

(79) Been On The Computer For 5 Hours Straight? - Not currently but yes.

(80) Stalked Someone On A Social Network? - Ha... yes.

(81) Do You Like Meeting New People? - YES I DO. SHOW ME THE NEW PEOPLE. WHERE ARE THEY??

(82) Do You Wear Rings? If You Do, Take A Picture Of Them. - Not usually.

(83) Do You Sleep With Your Bedroom Door Open Or Closed? - Closed. Unless I’m hanging clothes to dry on it.

(84) What Are Three Things You Did Today? - Got a massage, purchased bananas, sat on a bench.

(85) What Do You Wear To Bed? - Usually just underwear.

(86) List All Of Your Different Beauty Products You Have Right Now. - This list would be too extensive. Skincare is important yo.

(87) Are You A Day Or Night Person? - Both, actually.

(88) List All Of Your Video Games On Your Phone, Console Etc. - Have none. Just Really Bad Chess.

(89) Tell Me About A Dream That You Had And When It Happened. - I just found an old journal where I wrote down a dream where apparently I was the boss at some job and I had a bed in my office that I was trying to coax my employees to have a fourway with me in.... idk wtf that was about. I don’t think we hade the fourway.

(90) Favourite Soda Drink? - I don’t drink soda.

(91) What Sounds Are Your Favourite? - Wind. Rain. Water rushing. Birds. A nice 80′s synth.

(92) Do You Wear Jeans Or Sweats More? - Please. Neither. I am a lady. (No but in all honesty I’ve been wearing sweats like every day at work for the past year.)

(93) How Do You Look Right Now? - Indifferent.

(94) Name Something That Relaxes You. - Clean sheets and no obligations.

(95) What Tattoo Do You Want? - The mathematical symbol for “equal or greater than”.

(96) Favourite YouTuber? - Natalie Tran hands down. Hate youtube currently though.

#mine #questions

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