#if you haven't played it's very cheap on steam right now

[meyerlansky]

what is special about civilisation vi? (i really love strategy games and i want to know if it's worth buying during the sale :)

tl;dr ABSOLUTELY worth the sale price, which is, holy shit, 95% off? that's SO STEEP, literally everyone on the planet should buy it right now

uh that totally threw off my train of thought, that is. so cheap. ANYWAY. with the caveat that i haven't played previous civ games, and with the second caveat that i am the type of person to sink hundreds of hours into a single game as a matter of course [please do not ask how many hours i have in patho 2, dwarf fortress, or crusader kings 3], there is something REALLY addictive about the gameplay loop in civ vi, and the many varied routes to victory opens up so much potential for replay value. i also really enjoy that there's built-in challenges in the achievement list [in steam, at least] for every civilization, in addition to the "win with x civ" chievos—they're fun hints for different ways to play a given civ that's not necessarily what that civ is suited for. i'm thinking specifically of the genghis/mongolia bonus achievement:

as fits his whole shtick, genghis is suited to an early/mid-game domination victory, so going for the cultural victory instead opens up other options, ones a player might not think to try were there not a reward for doing so! there's a lot of stuff like this in the bonus achievements, and it definitely makes the game even more fun for me

the gameplay itself is... i think if someone doesn't have experience with strategy/4X games, there's a bit of a learning curve, but i did find the in-game hints system pretty useful for my first few runs. if you DO have experience with those kinds of games, i get the sense civ vi isn't very far outside the expected format/play style, so it should feel pretty familiar. firaxis has also put out a LOT of updates; they've almost tripled the amount of leaders playable since launch, added new modes, and introduced different playsets you can turn on or off at your leisure. a lot of the DLC is on sale as well as the base game, and the total's pretty steep if you're buying every pack, but that 95% off base game is doing. a LOT of heavy lifting. good god that's such a discount.

[heimeldat]

You know what, I'm just going to answer all of these because I feel like it so there.

who is/are your comfort character(s)? Well obviously the Doctor.

lighter or matches? Matches

do you leave the window open at night? When I can, but it's so humid around here that's only a few days in spring and fall.

which cryptyd being do you believe in? eh nah, none of them

what color are your eyes? hazel

why did you do that? WRITING RESEARCH!

hair-ties or scrunchies? Neither, I keep my hair short

how many water bottles are in your room right now? Two

which do you prefer, hot coffee or cold coffee? Hot

would you slaughter the rich? Not unless I was actively defending myself/my loved ones. I'm too lawful-good for that.

favorite extracurricular activity? You mean when I was in school? Ballroom dance club!

what kind of day is it? Sleepy

when was the last time you ate? Like two hours ago

do you love the smell of earth after it rains? YESSSSS!

are you a parent? (all answers qualify) Well I have a stupid little dog and I sometimes call her my baby

can you drive? Yes. Wish I didn't have to, though.

are you farsighted or nearsighted? Nearsighted

what hair products do you use? A hairbrush.

imagine we’re at a sleepover, would you paint my nails? Sure, want some fun designs? I'll paint little flowers or something! Or dragons! Or skulls! Or whatever.

do you say soda or pop? Soda

something you’ve kept since childhood? A very battered plush polar bear.

what type of person are you? Uh...that's really vague.

how do you feel about chilly weather? I get to wear tall boots and an outrageously long scarf and a big flowy coat and a dramatic hat!!!!!

if we were together on a rooftop, what would we be doing? Chatting, drinking tea, looking at the stars.

perfume/body spray or lotion? Unscented lotion.

a scenario that you’ve replayed multiple times? Lol it's hard to think of one I HAVEN'T replayed multiple times. Anxiety and ADHD make for lots of mental scenario-playing.

about how many hours of sleep did you get? Eight or nine.

do you wear a mask? Yeah, when I'm in a big group or a crowded area. I've gotten lax about doing it when I'm in a smaller group.

how do you like your shower water? Hot and steamy! With a few drops of peppermint essential oil in a bowl to make peppermint steam!

are there dishes in your room? A few. Thanks for the reminder, I should take them to the kitchen.

what type of music keeps you grounded? classical instrumental stuff, especially cello.

do you have a favorite towel? Nope

the last adventure you’ve been on? Isn't everything an adventure?

is there a song you know every word to by heart? Lots of songs. Is that not normal? I guess congregational hymn-singing promotes memorization of lyrics.

what’s your timezone? Central USA

how many times have you changed your url? Don't think I have

someone in your life, other than a relative, you’ve known for 10+ years? Best friend/roommate, might as well be a sibling at this point.

a soap bar that smells good? This handmade mint-scented goat's milk soap a friend gave me

do you use lip balm? Occasionally

did you have any snacks today? Nope

how do you take your coffee? two thirds cold brew, one third milk, sugar optional

an app you frequently use besides this godforsaken site? Audible, Big Finish, Discord

what’s your take on spicy foods? No thank you

you get a free pass to kill anyone, who is it? Someone who's widely known to have committed tons of atrocities but can't be touched by the law for whatever reason.

can you remember what happened yesterday? Of course. Not all the details, but in general, yeah.

favorite holiday film? I don't really watch holiday films...

what was the last message you sent? "She doesn't have an online shop, but she has pictures and she'll ship things"

when did you first try an alcohol beverage? On my 21st birthday. Wait hang on, does communion count? It's just one sip of wine, and it's always nasty cheap red, so I never counted that.

can you skip rocks? Sort of, not very well

can i tag you in random stuff? Sure!

here’s weirder asks

who is/are your comfort character(s)?

lighter or matches?

do you leave the window open at night?

which cryptyd being do you believe in?

what color are your eyes?

why did you do that?

hair-ties or scrunchies?

how many water bottles are in your room right now?

which do you prefer, hot coffee or cold coffee?

would you slaughter the rich?

favorite extracurricular activity?

what kind of day is it?

when was the last time you ate?

do you love the smell of earth after it rains?

are you a parent? (all answers qualify)

can you drive?

are you farsighted or nearsighted?

what hair products do you use?

imagine we’re at a sleepover, would you paint my nails?

do you say soda or pop?

something you’ve kept since childhood?

what type of person are you?

how do you feel about chilly weather?

if we were together on a rooftop, what would we be doing?

perfume/body spray or lotion?

a scenario that you’ve replayed multiple times?

about how many hours of sleep did you get?

do you wear a mask?

how do you like your shower water?

is there dishes in your room?

what type of music keeps you grounded?

do you have a favorite towel?

the last adventure you’ve been on?

is there a song you know every word to by heart?

what’s your timezone?

how many times have you changed your url?

someone in your life, other than a relative, you’ve known for 10+ years?

a soap bar that smells good?

do you use lip balm?

did you have any snacks today?

how do you take your coffee?

an app you frequently use besides this godforsaken site?

what’s your take on spicy foods?

you get a free pass to kill anyone, who is it?

can you remember what happened yesterday?

favorite holiday film?

what was the last message you sent?

when did you first try an alcohol beverage?

can you skip rocks?

can i tag you in random stuff?

[codycoyote008]

Interests n such

All stuff I like. My memory is terrible so I've probably forgotten a lot of things, I don't mention things I don't 100% feel like chatting about all the time or frequently enough

Long and rambly, just look at the highlighted bits if you don't care about the talking

Games:

Call of Duty - I've played MW2019 and MWII, I'm hoping to get MWIII and the originals, and the new Black Ops cause it looks neat and what little I did play of one of another one my mom has was fun.

Planet Zoo - I play this silly zoo game... SO much.

Pokemon - of all types! I have all the mainline 3DS games at the moment, Shield, Scarlet, Legends Arceus, Let's Go Eevee, BD, I just think Pokemon's neat. I grew up on the cards and finally getting to play the games (albeit starting a few years ago haha) is very fun. Hoping to get Black/White and/or B2W2 if I can find a cheap copy

WolfQuest - again I grew up on Classic for like a really long time actually, I'd replay it over and over again looking for all of the achievements, and one of the first games I got with my PC was Anniversary Edition haha. This wolf game has my heart

Lioden/Wolvden - very new but I'm 16 now (😨) and figured hey this looked cool when I was 15... yoink. and it is.

AFK Journey - Viperian my beloved <3 I mostly joined for the character designs ngl

Animal Jam (Classic + Play Wild) - this game has been in my life for half of it istg, I quit for a while and rejoined when I got my PC and now I have no space but hey I keep the membership so I can keep my neat lil outfits. Is it silly and a little dumb, yes, but it is thrilling. (Classic is superior) I like being able to hold on to something I loved so much as a kid and actually kind of be okay at it as an almost-adult. New economy is wild but I mean. Kind of.

Minecraft - I got it on PC like a week or two ago and am not over it, on day two I started up an entire AU just to show my appreciation for Endermen (which then swished right into a spinoff for Phantoms). Finally I can use mods...

Dying Light (1 + 2) - I really like these games but also funny story when restarting on another PS4 cause i couldn't use mine for a bit and getting to the forced night chase, my parents laughed at me from the kitchen as i shrieked from the other room for multiple minutes. which was hilarious ngl i was laughing too once the terror wore off. god i hate volatiles

I also have various other games, I like to think I have a wide variety, most can be found on my Steam page.

Artists, Bands, Music:

So many. So so many.

Sleep Token - god I love ST need I say more. All of their songs are great. The style is cool. All of it dude. Their cover of I Wanna Dance With Somebody is up there, or Alkaline, and Euclid, Higher is cool, I'll listen to any ST song if you hand it over really

Ghost - they're playing like 2h away from me in 2025 so I'm trying really hard to get better so I can get a job and save up for it lol. it's like $100 per ticket now and I need to get it fast enough to.. actually get it... but hey man. Ghost. (If You Have Ghosts and Cirice are my favorites, I do believe)

I really really like Ferry. PAFL is so cool I'm thrilled to have found it

Florence + The Machine - also super duper cool I cannot get over their music. Howl is always on my mind lemme tell you

Glass Animals - I was an animation meme kid :) I need to listen to their newest album still I haven't had the chance BUT Zaba's probably my favorite. Flip??? dude. Or Golden Antlers that one's good.

Good Kid - they're DMCA free and their music is so good. It's energetic and upbeat, Slingshot is neat, Witches is good, i love how similar most of their music feels to itself. It's very nice to zone out to imo. Good brain fuel

HOZIER!!! I'm a little gay man ofc I'd like Hozier. His music is so good. In The Woods Somewhere, It Will Come Back, Talk, hand me a Hozier song and I am screaming, I go rabid over that stuff man

Lord Huron - I absolutely adore the sound. I'm especially fond of Setting Sun just on vibes, The Ghost on the Shore is good, Lonesome Dreams, ofc Meet Me in the Woods/Love Like Ghosts/The Night We Met, all wonderful

The Crane Wives - I'm runnin out of ways to describe just how much I adore this music man. Coyote Stories is the best (Volta and Nobody are also wonderful songs, Foxtales is great too, honestly they're just great. again)

Modest Mouse - bangers. Dramamine, Cowboy Dan, Coyotes, I forgot the rest but they're all good trust me

Måneskin - last year they were playing Rush nearby and that's what got me into them, but I missed the concert haha. someday

The Neighborhood - Afraid... Crybaby... mwah mwah

Arctic Monkeys - found Arabella from a COD edit of all places and that got me to dig into them past what I already knew and liked. Fluorescent Adolescent is also super good for the record

Waterparks - i always forget about them and then I see them and I'm like "oh my god how did I forget" and I do it again :( Blonde is nice I like Blonde. And Stupid For You. And Numb... and I'll stop there haha

Fall Out Boy - look at me and tell me this wasn't expected. anyways The (Shipped) Gold Standard is neat I really like that one. And Church, Phoenix, Hold Me Tight or Don't, so many more idk man

MCR - self-explanatory, I like S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W and Helena and whatever else I'm so tired

AlicebanD - Fight For Me, Fire With Fire, Wolf, It Gets Better, And So Do I, Red River, Dream of Better Things, go listen to them, please

BILLY IDOL his music is neat dude. I got really into 80s rock a while back and never really fell out and his took up a LOT of my playlists

not a band but I'm learning German and found I picked up some words faster if I heard them in music, so I have an entire little playlist which ranges from Rammstein, OOMPH!, and Pisse, to Dota Kehr (and I would really recommend Dota Kehr's music, I find it so calming ngl, OOMPH! is also neat though lol) It also has König von Garnichts by LUZI and I just really like that song

I listen to a lot of Everything Everything too

and IAMX

Jhariah's really neat go check him out

Aeseaes is so cool but I cannot spell their name for the life of me, Carrion Comfort is one of the prettiest songs I've heard for a while, Wild is nice, wooo Aeseaes

capping it here but there is SO much more

Other Media:

Warrior Cats - childhood. I love these silly kitty books. Also playing Clangen and Lifegen :)

I've been getting really into horror books. Right now I'm reading Cujo, The Bright Lands by John Fram, multiple from Stephen Graham Jones, i found Mongrels and Never Whistle At Night. Picked up Never Whistle because fun fact I'm native (Lakota and Cherokee) and thought it sounded like a good read, and Mongrels because. Werewolves. I really like both of them so far, actually, Mongrels especially.

I REALLY like horror. It's most of the media I consume. Primarily movies. I'm especially fond of Lost Boys and Predator- I could go on and on about both of them for SO long. Predator especially mwah mwah smooch smooch I WILL fawn over the giant alien and you cannot stop me, they're so cool dude...

also very big on others ofc. the Friday movies, Nightmare, I liked the first Scream I haven't watched the others yet, same for Child's Play, what I have seen of the Alien movies is a lot cooler than I thought I would find it, the list goes on. Some of my favorites are Dark Water and Ringu, of course, but I'm also very fond of Mama just cause it's the first one I watched. Trick r Treat was also good, and 13 Ghosts, oh I could go on

MARVEL I love Marvel dude. Growing up I wasn't huge on it for some reason but I started getting into it mostly because I watched Spiderverse for the animation and fell in love, then I just wanted an excuse to watch the Venom movies (i am. so excited for the new one), but I'm a little weenie who doesn't say what he wants so we started out with Iron Man. and. dear god it was immediate. I was intrigued. I was invested. I didn't expect to like the rich guy of all characters but guess who's still my favorite (in the Avengers series anyways). I also liked the Captain America movies, Falcon is so cool dude

not exactly media, but I make ocs or dumb little fan things for most of the media I like. Is it cringe, yeah a little, but I honestly don't care, cringe culture grosses me out anyways i think it's dumb. it helps me get out the energy when I don't really talk to anyone about it haha

also not one specific media but monsters are so cool man. they always have been, always will be, expect so much monster stuff (so much it's getting its own blog!)

Also also not media but since turning 16 I decided I wanted to get a motorcycle because the idea of being in charge of a multiple-thousand-lbs hunk of fast-moving metal understandably freaks me out, and now that my parents have agreed to it (somehow) I just need to get a job to save up for the gear and bike itself so I can get a license and probably some lessons. Looking at a Duke 390 for now, I've got some other choices but it seems like it would work the best for me haha. That's looking like maybe $5,000-ish locally just for the bike and not the extra stuff that comes with owning a vehicle, that's fine I'm getting a job for that. Either way exciting yaaay I so want to ramble about motorcycle stuff...

if there's anything else check back on this I will update it a lot

[curejiraiya]

In tonight's episode of let me rant about something no one cares about:

The latest update for Wildfrost made the game a lot easier.

On one hand, I like that I can actually get to the true ending lol I actually had two true wins today alone. Before the update I only had two true wins, ever.

But on the other hand, in a game like Slay the Spire you can infinitely make the game harder. Slay The Spire has difficulty levels so high that it's been reported that no one has ever beat them.

Before the latest update Wildfrost only had four difficulty levels. The normal one, two intermediate ones, and the true ending, and the true ending was just balls hard, but nowhere near Slay the Spire hard.

In the new update there's 15ish difficulty bells, and you need 10 of them to get to the true ending. Which I like in concept, because you get to pick what things make your run more difficult. This also has the upside that the vanilla run is easier, actually a lot easier, which is good because new players often complain that Wildfrost is crazy hard and quit the game.

But adding this system had the added side effect of making the true ending way easier to get, it only takes 10 bells. Now almost all of my runs are making it to the true ending, and it feels a little cheap? This is the true ending of the game, it's supposed to be incredibly hard to get, and now I'm getting it almost every time? to make the same comparison, I play on Slay the Spire difficulty one or even zero usually lol and I very rarely get to the true ending, maybe one out of 30 runs? that doesn't even count beating it, which I just don't do very often lmfao.

Wildfrost's true ending feels cheapened by it being so much easier to get to, and the difficulty system is nice, I like its complexities, but I wish it did more.

Honestly I'm making this complaint, because I just did a run where I felt way too good. I destroyed the final boss lmao. I don't even think the game is unbalanced, I just think once you've played it a lot it starts to get easy; and it doesn't have the longevity that Slay the Spire has.

If you've gotten down to the end of this rant, you should play Wildfrost lol. I don't know why you would have read this if you haven't played Slay The Spire it's like the roguelike deck builder, and wild frost is a more modern take with pretty graphics and nice music and a fun setting and I really really like the game a lot. It's only downside is it's only on steam and switch, I really wish it was on mobile because mobile is so fucking convenient for these kinds of games. But it has full touch control on switch, so I think it'll come to mobile eventually. Cope.

I really like roguelike deck builders, I'll argue they're my favorite genre of game right now. I don't think Super Auto Pets tracks your hours but if it did I probably have a hundred. I've played a ton of Slay The Spire, I think Dicey Dungeons is an absolute masterpiece and must play for people even outside the genre. I'm probably the only person excited for the new Yohane deck builder. I desperately wanted the combat in ooblets to be harder because it was a mashup of my favorite two game genres. Slice & Dice says I've rolled 138336 dice, and my switch says I have 50 hours in Wildfrost, not counting the hours that I put on on PC before I switched over. You should give the genre a try if you're interested (I recommend Auto Pets & Dicey Dungeons for beginners hehe)

[yandere-daze]

Hi daze!! I hope you're doing well <3 I hope you don't mind me asking this but i'm really bored since i can't play my favorite game (for some reason i can't get past the loading screen for a few weeks now...) i wanted to ask do u enjoy any games other than the ones you write for??

Heyyy!! First of all I really hope your game will cooperate soon and let you get past the loading screen, it's really annoying when that happens :/

I actually don't play any mobile games aside from twisted Wonderland and ensemble stars. I still have Fire emblem heroes and love live school idol festival on my phone but I play them very rarely

I'm actually in a bit of a professor layton fever right now! Somehow I've played the first and third game in the series but never the second one so recently I bought professor Layton and the diabolical box so I can play it on my phone.

Also managed to snag a physical copy of specter's call off of ebay a few days ago for really cheap and I'm very excited to play that as well soon! I'd love to one day have all of the professor Layton games but I think they'll just get harder to get once the eshop officially closes down completely.

I really want to get the crossover with Phoenix Wright but that one is so expensive to get as a physical version from ebay and there's not enough storage on my 3ds to just download it from the eshop😭 I so desperately want to play the game because it combines two of my favorite video game series!!

Speaking of Ace Attorney : Please play it if you haven't!! I absolutely love these games ( I'm a big fan of visual novels in general) and the great ace attorney chronicles in particular were absolutely outstanding imo. I'd recommend anyone to play these even if they don't think they're the kind of person that would enjoy these types of games!

Herlock Sholmes my beloved💕

I also really like Fire Emblem so I'm kind of looking forward to Three Hopes ( I think it's actually releasing really soon??) I don't think I would be very interested in warriors types of games but I guess I'll have to try it just because it's fire emblem and I'd love to see even more of the characters from three houses ^^

It's pretty difficult to nail down my favorite I. The series but I think Path of Radiance might just take that spot for me. It's a shame that it's so ridiculous expensive to get so you would most likely have to emulate it to play the game. Remaster for switch when??

ALSO I CAN'T BELIEVE I ALMOST FORGOT THIS AND SO I WENT BACK HERE JUST AS I WAS ABOUT TO HIT POST

Please please please please please play Triangle Strategy! It's a really neat tactical rpg where every character has unique abilities and it has a really cool story and more people need to talk about it. Literally begging at this point. Could talk about this game for hours shsbs

Another game I'm looking forward to that should be released soon is the sequel to AI the somnium files! I really enjoyed the first game and I thought the story was really engaging so I can't wait to dive into the sequel now and hopefully get a story that is as good as the first one!

I fear you might see that I'm having a problem here, so many games I want to play are coming out simultaneously and my backlog is also crying for my attention. And there's steam summer sale too!!

I'm playing 13 sentinels aegis rim right now and man all I can say is : I am so confused but intrigued. Please keep talking about the big scary robots and different time-lines

To no one's surprise, I also love otome games though I haven't finished too many yet. Nameless was great and Collar x Malice too though I do think the latter had some pacing issues at points. I'm also playing Cupid Parasite ( finished three routes so far) and I really appreciate how funny and mostly lighthearted the game is! For some reason most otome games tend to be dark and heavy so this is a very nice change of pace for once!

Another otome(?) game that is super underrated and can't recommend enough is called Soulset!! I'm playing it with a friend on discord and we're slowly nearing the end and I swear we had so much fun with the game! The mystery is actually really interesting and it keeps developing over all the different routes and you just keep wondering what's going to happen next.

It so rarely gets talked about in otome discussions, let alone in general ( probably because it also has female love interests) but I really really can't recommend it enough so I felt like I needed to get the word out there to play this game!!

I would advise you to at least be 18 though if you decide to play this game because there are some suggestive scenes in there that, yes, can mostly be skipped but I feel it's only fair to mention this and that I don't think it's suitable for minors

Another really underrated game? Murder by numbers! It's a detective game where you have to solve murders and also do picross puzzles. I actually never thought I would enjoy these kinds of puzzles but they really ease you into it and I had a lot of fun playing it. Some of the characters are really cute too ( SCOUT is my child and I love him very much 😭💕)

Also I said it before in a bigger post I made some time ago when the game was released on steam, but play Gnosia. Right now. Do it. Trust me. Singleplayer werewolf game in the visual novel style with pretty anime characters. What more could you possibly need?

Uhhm so yeah this kind of turned into a rant, sorry for that anon shdhe But these are all games that I think are worth checking out! There are definitely even more cool games that are still in my backlog but I thought this might be a good time to stop

Sorry if you were looking for mobile games in particular but I don't really play a lot of them any more :/

[lochnessies]

hi there. I promised you a game rec list a while ago, but for reasons I won't get into I didn't get to it until now. I apologize for my tardiness & hope you'll still accept this.

I'm just going to give a brief description of the games and some highlights; you can use Nintendo's eShop website to find out more. dekudeals.com helps with pricing and sales, howlongtoplay.com will give user-submitted average play times, and in you need them, I usually use guides primarily on gamefaqs.com or Steam Community pages, depending on the game. It's Black Friday/Cyber Monday so many of these games are on sale for cheap right now FYI.

Also I tried to stick to games that I think are fairly easy/beatable for beginners or have easy modes; afaik you don't have experience with mechanically difficult games so I don't want to recommend hard games that you can't reasonably finish.

in no particular order, just typing them up as I go:

Transistor An action rpg with a unique pause mechanic, following Red and her companion/lover boy through a Klimt-esque futuristic utopia following her companion's death. Very great and fluid both artistically and gameplay-wise.

Iconoclasts A puzzle-focused exploration side scroller in which you play as Robin the mechanic and her big ol' wrench. It was made by one guy over seven years, and I love the art and gameplay. The story is great, and can throw you for a loop sometimes. Normal may suffice, but if it's giving you trouble you can switch difficulty any time by reloading the game from the title screen.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna ~ The Golden Country Ok I know XBC2 has a reputation™ but the standalone prequel expansion is good (albeit a little odd plot-wise so just go with it). It's a command-based real-time JRPG in which you explore two very pretty and rather big maps as Lora, Jin, and the companions they meet on the way. The characters are honestly all charming and I love the gameplay and exploration. Be sure you buy the standalone game (which is on sale as I'm typing this) and not the DLC version of this game. If you like it, you can check out XBC1's remaster, which is a more involved, more challenging, full length game that can easily clock you over 100hrs.

Destiny Connect: Tick-Tock Travelers Full disclosure, this is clearly a turn-based JRPG for children, so it's very simple and easy, but it's really fun. The game stars Sherry, a nine-year old girl who finds a robot after time has stopped in her British-esque town. Maybe not the most impressive game, but it's very silly and charming.

VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action A cyberpunk visual novel with bartending game elements, like the name suggests. You play as Jill as she mixes drinks and changes the lives of the myriad of unique customers that come into the bar. The visuals and story/character writing are really good. Since the two dudes that made this clearly like anime, there's a lot of cute women. Can be crass at times though, but I don't think it's excessive.

Trials of Mana (2020 Remake) A 3D remake of the previously never localized Seiken Densetsu 3 for the SNES, an action JRPG where you choose and swap between a team of three characters (with slight story and dialogue differences between what characters you pick and in what order). It might be a bit dated by today's standards but was novel at the time, and well, I really like it. The gameplay is relatively simple, with great visuals and music and an enjoyable enough story and charming cast. Two of the mc's VAs played really similar characters in FE: Three Houses, lol.

Collection of Mana aaaand if you like ToMr, you can try out Collection of Mana, which is a triple pack of the first three Seiken Densetsu/Mana series games: Final Fantasy Adventure, Secret of Mana, and Trials of Mana. I've played the games but haven't played this pack in particular, but I haven't heard of any issues with it. There's also Legend of Mana Remaster, which is sold separately. Five whole Mana games! Sheesh!

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (2019 Remake) Admittedly I'm loathe to recommend well known Nintendo games, but the original LA on the Gameboy is one of my absolute favorite games. tl;dr It's a top-down dungeon-based exploration game where you play as Link after he washes up on a strange island with charming inhabitants. It might be somewhat more difficult and involved than some of the other games on this list, but I think it's worth playing.

The MISSING: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories A side-scrolling puzzle game where you play as J.J., who gets separated from her best friend Emily while visiting Memoria Island, and has to mutilate herself to progress forward. Yeah. It's not as edgy as "self-mutilation" would make it sound, but it gets dark. Fun, pretty, and with a unique narrative that is worth playing for. Not surprisingly, there's some heavy topics involved, such as suicide and bullying, so, ya'know, warning.

Gorogoa A puzzle game with stunning, hand-drawn visuals that took iirc 9 years to complete. It's clever, unique, and incredibly gorgeous. I wish I had more to say, darn.

Return of the Obra Dinn  A puzzle game centered around a "who done it"-esque mechanic, you play as an investigator piecing together what happened to the passengers and crew of British merchant ship, Obra Dinn, by examining snapshots of its violent end. Mechanically it's easy to control but ngl it can get hard to solve, haha. I haven't really played a game like it, it's unique. Obviously not for the light-hearted, many of the deaths are gruesome.

The Silver Case 2425/No More Heroes "Trilogy" So this is actually six games, and 1) I don't actually know if you'd like them because they're very niche and very mature-content-y, and 2) if I recommend playing one I would recommend playing them all. BUT Grasshopper Manufacture is my favorite developer and I am obligated to shill, so all six games get quarantined in this singular extended entry. The Silver Case and The Silver Case: The 25th Ward (sold together as The Silver Case 2425) are visual novels with the unique "film window" presentation that take place in Kanto's 24th and 25th Wards, respectively. You either read the story from the perspective of The Wards' Heinous Crimes unit, an elite police force that tries to stymie "heinous" crimes, turtle-loving reporter Tokio Morishima, who gets asked to investigate a mysterious individual and gets caught up in a much larger plot, and 25th Ward's exclusive Postal Service, who uh, sure as hell don't deliver mail. Two horrible, bloody, disturbing, confusing, captivating stories about urban crime and politics accompanied by great visuals, memorable dialogue, and bitchin' tunes. No More Heroes 1, 2, TSA, and 3 are four slightly different beat-em-up action games spanning 14 years of the life of no-good otaku loser, Travis Touchdown. Known for their harsh punk style, unique visuals, great soundtracks, crass asshole protagonist, and memorable boss galleries, the NMH games have managed a cult follow-yadda yadda I slipped into PR talk that I can't keep up sorry. NGL I kind of have the feeling that you'd personally hate this game but. IDK. NMH1 is my, like, fifth favorite game, and save for NMH2 I really love the rest of this whack-ass series. So, worth it to me to mention, ig. At the very least, you can play both series separately, bc only NMH3 references TSC a minor amount, so nbd if only one (or neither, really) series interests you. But really, they're games about awful people and awful things, so if this doesn't sound appealing, feel free to skip it, ha.

Anyway, sorry this is a bit long/wordy. Anyway, if you have any questions about this list or in general re:video games, feel free to hit me up via ask or DM any time. Oh, and have a nice holiday today, btw.

———————————————

holy shit that’s quite a list!!! the missing: j. j. macfield and the island of memories, return of the obra dinn, gorogoa, and the silver case games really caught my attention 👀 i’m definitely going to check those out! thank you! 💞💖💕

[awed-frog]

Hello! I see that people are asking you about diets right now. I started living independently fairy recently, and I still haven't figured out an ideal way of feeding myself. Not sure if my autism plays a role here, or if it's just me being inexperienced, but would you maybe happen to have any advice for NT people regarding food? Like how I can get myself to eat enough fruits + vegetables and how I can keep from eating the same two dishes for the rest of my life (I WILL, if I don't pay attention)

Hi, thanks for the message! I’d say first of all take it easy, planning your meals + groceries is harder than people think, especially in the beginning. Just remember not to buy too much (produce will go bad, stuff like flour will develop flies) and take it easy. I can suggest a few things:

1) If you can, get good cooking appliances, especially a rice cooker or multicooker or Instant Pot, depending on where you live and what’s available. A rice cooker is a good option because they’re generally cheap, but most of them can only handle white rice, which isn’t the most nutritious meal. I finally got myself a multicooker two years ago and I’m really happy. You may have to experiment a bit in the beginning, but it halves the time you spend in the kitchen, can reheat food, and also makes things like bread and yogurt.

2) If you have a freezer, use the hell out of it. The best option for varying your meals is to always cook twice the portion and freeze half. If you don’t have a big freezer, remember that most vegan meals will also keep fairly well in the fridge for a couple of days, so you could eat your delicious meal both on Thursday night and for lunch on Saturday, which is Not Bad. You can also look up ways to freeze vegetables and fruits - I started keeping batches readily available to add to soups, stir-frys, and fruit purees/smoothies.

3) Be realistic. Like, unless you’re a Michelin cook, you’ll need some time to learn a new or complicated recipe, so start trying on a Saturday and give yourself a few tries. And if you get home really late, you probably won’t want to spend two hours in the kitchen, so either prep your meals beforehand (you can find tons of good advice online), or keep some ingredients for a quick meal (like a pesto sauce or ready-made dips).

4) Pantry, pantry, pantry. Most cookbooks will have a pantry list in the first pages, and those are the first things you need to buy. Remember that if you keep the same old recipe but swap out ingredients, you’ll magically have different dishes and you’ll get a lot of nutritional benefits because you’re eating different stuff! For instance, for a quick meal you can make hummus but use borlotti beans instead of chickpeas, or peanut butter instead of tahini. Why not? God is not watching. 

5) Change up your greens. For your produce: if you live on your own, don’t buy too much, and choose variety instead. For instance: weekly, only buy two kinds of fruits (one perishable you’ll eat first, like stone fruits or berries, and one that’ll last longer, like bananas, apples or pears) and three kinds of vegetables (one cruciferous: cauliflower or broccoli, for instance; one root: turnips or carrots or sweet potatoes; and one leafy green: spinach, Swiss chards, kale and so on), plus mushrooms (a nutritional godsend and very yummy) + onions and garlic. Add whatever salad material is in season (summer or winter greens, zucchini, beets, avocado) and you’re basically all set. By thinking in terms of categories instead of specific foods, you’ll ensure variety without too much effort.

6) Stick to easy cooking. As for meals: you don’t actually need a lot of fancy recipes. Find two or three things you like to cook, and repeat them twice or three times a week. By alternating your lunches and dinners, and swapping out ingredients a bit (one evening rice, the other barley, for instance; one lunch roasted pumpkin, the next one roasted Brussel sprouts) you can cook on autopilot while still ensuring you’re getting your nutrients and don’t get bored.

7) Cheat. If you struggle to eat your veggies, there are tricks you can use. For instance, smoothies and soups are good ways to eat tons of stuff fairly easily. If you eat cheese, it will make anything taste good - although garlic has the same effect and zero bad fats. Nutritional yeast is also something most people love. Adding finely chopped veggies to a normal tomato pasta sauce is another way of hiding a few greens without much effort. You can find a lot of recipes for ‘hidden’ fruits and veggies by looking up parenting tips - and remember that the way you cook stuff also changes the flavour considerably, so if you don’t like steamed zucchini, try roasting them, or adding them to a stir-fry, a soufflé, a savoury bread and so on.

8) No rules apply. And finally, remember you’re an adult now, and if you decide that you want to try miso soup and fried rice for breakfast, or that Friday night is ice-cream-instead-of-dinner night, that’s perfectly alright. You don’t have to cook for yourself for every single meal, or stick to your own culture and family traditions for what is acceptable to do.

Also: a slightly unethical life tip. On b-ok, you’ll find most cookbooks that exist - for free. If you need ideas, you can look up a book on Amazon, see if it looks good, then download it on b-ok. I’d suggest trying three or four recipes and if you like them - and can afford it - buying the real book to support the author. I sometimes do this because you can’t always tell at a glance if a cookbook is what you’re looking for or not, so this makes it easier to decide what to buy.

Good luck and happy cooking!

[phoebehalliwell]

partner swap ideas that i haven't seen yet: prue x kyle, phoebe x jack, paige x mark

oh my god. prue kyle would definitely be the most batshit insane. like. like yes you could play it normal and be like you know like a professional rivals to lovers au bc they're both perfectionists p cutthroat intense but it's just like. ten times funnier if you try to do it in canon because there are simply go many times for the two to fight and i don't mean like lightly argue like kyle points a gun at phoebe and prue throws him through a wall but who says that ends the relationship you kinda gotta go freak 4 freak which i feel like is a reach for prue but i think if you have the proper chemistry paired with the right tragic backstory like. you could pull it off. or you could walk the middle road and go a piper/kyle path where in an effort to like protect her sisters prue makes herself the main point of contact and they like. become begrudging demon fighting coworkers it's gotta be different from piper/kyle because prue's way of displaying love is very different from piper's tbh i think it'd be faster bc they Both seem like the type to fall for the "just need to blow off steam" con but then catch feelings but pretend they don't. inch resting to say the least.

phoebejack i feel like would just be the fusion between phoebe and clay and phoebe and jason like with clay it was a kind of cheap early twenties romance eating takeout by a fire like i think with jack it'd shift more towards a jason dean aesthetic where it's like early 20s dating and more adults dating you know if that makes sense but unlike jasons which had like. wooing. like a potential end goal. it's more like clay's where they both know it's not endgame and they're not pressed about it. but again it's one of those things where like. once you actually start to catch feelings in a relationship where you're not supposed to. how do you move forward. and in Both phoebe & jack's case it would be you don't lol you don't wanna ruin a good thing act normal act like you aren't insanely fucking in love. so i feel like they'd def need an external factor here some sibling to be like okay so this has been. two years now. so maybe you guys are in love.

paige and mark is interesting because i don't know how compatible they'd be at first blush because mark literally does just seem so perfect which i think really intimidates paige she doesn't like perfect people bc she feels like very imperfect so i think she'd be very prickly towards mark at first but you know like as they keep having to work in close quarters for whatever reason just the way mark is he's very earnest and when he compliments paige it's just so clear that he means it and again it's like he sees her. so now paige kinda has to look at him. and like. again at first blush he seems perfect but the closer paige looks the more human he seems i think we would do more of a slowburn here because again i don't think paige would be so super ready to jump into that relationship because she mostly just dates guys she thinks are hot and then personality is second place she doesn't do the big commitment things but mark would be so much more than just sex that would be like love. and like. commitment. to a future. and like. !!!!!!!!!!!!???!??!??!. so i think it'd take a minute but once that clicks then we're pretty much all in

[it1776]

The Best Nintendo Switch Controller Review

The Pro Controller is fine.

I still recommend it to most people

but if you play a lot of 2D games that the D-Pad placement

just isn't gonna cut it. 8BitDo is been making

fantastic Deepak controllers for a while now.

I originally recommended the old SN30

if you wanted to play a lot of 2D games.

Its biggest flaw was it's ergonomics, making it hard to play

3D games with its thumb sticks.

They fixed that with the release of the SN30 Pro+

a near-perfect controller that quickly became

my favorite controller for the Switch.

I used it so much that I ran it into the ground

and had to buy a new one recently. Almost two years later,

they finally released an updated version,

simply called the 8BitDo Pro 2.

Thank God that name was starting to be a mouthful.

This version adds a lot

to the already fantastic Pro Controller alternative.

If you are on the fence about getting one before,

this one will for sure give you

a couple of pretty good reasons to reconsider.

(upbeat music)

This video is sponsored by Aspyr, the guys who brought you,

the Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy Switch ports

are now bringing you Star Wars Republic Commando.

It's finally on Nintendo Switch

and PlayStation 4 for just 1499.

Check it out at the link in the description below.

Whoa! Whoa! Come on, dude.

Chaos has erupted throughout the galaxy.

As leader of an elite squad of Republic Commandos,

your mission is to infiltrate, dominate,

and ultimately annihilate the enemy. You will play as Boss,

leader of the special ops unit Delta Squad

together with Fixer, Scorch and Sev

working together as a team

instinctively, intelligently, instantly. You guys all right.

I was here first and then you guys just came.

Battle a variety of highly intelligent and deadly enemies

from brutal Trandoshan mercenaries, all right.

To the flying insectoid warriors of Geonosis.

This game was originally released in 2005

and I think is a crucial part of Star Wars history.

I love this era of Star Wars games and I love that Aspyr

is putting some games from this era on the Switch.

So again, you can try it for yourself for just 1499

at the link in the description below.

(water bubbling)

Sorry anybody got a USB-C charger.

(water bubbling).

So if you're new here

the biggest reason why I recommend this controller

is because of the D-pad. It's perfectly clicky.

It feels almost exactly like an original S.N.E.S controller

but you know, newer obviously. But it also has

all of the makings of a great modern controller.

It's thumb sticks feel almost exactly

like a DualShock 4 thumb sticks, making this a great option

for 3D games if you need something that could do both.

Here's something I often forget to mention.

It comes with a rechargeable battery, but it can be removed

and replaced with two double A's if you're in a bind,

something Microsoft should take note of.

It also has great motion controls and rumble.

The only thing that it's missing

that the Nintendo Pro Controller has is NFC.

But at the significantly lower price point,

are you really gonna be missing NFC that much?

The original SN30 Pro+ was and still is $45.

This new one bumps the price up to $50,

which is still a reasonable price

and some harsh competition for Nintendo's $70 controller.

It also works on Switch, Windows, Mac, Android,

and Raspberry Pi via Bluetooth, which is great

if you wanna play emulators or 2D games via Steam.

It's an all-around great controller

and I haven't even mentioned any of the new features yet.

Everything that I've said is also available

on the older $45 model.

The Pro 2 Sports 2 assignable back buttons.

This is a very welcome addition

and something I wish more controllers included.

My only gripe here is that

they're a little too easy to press. They're very large.

It's very difficult to grip the controller

without touching these buttons with your middle fingers.

In an intense game of Mario Maker

I accidentally press these buttons many times.

Luckily, by default they're assigned to nothing.

So pressing them did nothing at all.

You can assign functions to these buttons

using the brand new 8BitDo companion app.

In fact, you can remap all of the buttons

using the companion app.

And there are three different assignable profiles

that you can swap between on the fly.

Technically there's four because

there's just a baseline default one which is great

for when you don't wanna accidentally hit the back buttons.

Pressing this button right here switches between the modes.

There's off one, two and three.

In addition to remapping the buttons,

this software also allows you to fix the sticks dead zones.

It's also supposed to let you fix the trigger sensitivity,

but I couldn't figure out how to do that in the app.

I can only figure out how to do that on the desktop version.

But I like having my trigger sensitivity set really high

so they're like hair triggers because almost no Switch games

registered trigger sensitivity anyway.

Upon further review it seems that they disabled

the trigger sensitivity tab for the Switch.

So they got rid of trigger sensitivity

entirely for the Switch which is weird

'cause there are games that could still use it.

But if you go to Android or DInput or whatever,

it shows the trigger sensitivity, which is very strange.

You can also adjust vibration levels and of course,

macros, which go great with the new additional back buttons.

Previously, I used to assign macros to the share button.

Now I don't have to, unfortunately, the macro functionality

still, isn't very intuitive. You have to program it yourself

in the app, one button at a time. You can set the timings

between button presses but that's way harder to do

than just inputting a macro yourself on the controller

and having it record your inputs.

Something I've seen in a few other devices lately.

I hope that 8BitDo can eventually update

the Ultimate software and the Pro 2's firmware

to have this sort of functionality.

Because right now the macro function is pretty much

all only useful for like fighting games.

They did add the ability

to use thumb stick inputs for macros.

So if you have more patience than me

you can figure out some macros for Smash Brothers.

What might be more useful is assigning a turbo button

which is useful for many games, namely Animal Crossing.

I have a whole video on that if you're interested.

The old Pro+ had a turbo function but with this new Pro 2,

it might be worth it to assign one of the back buttons

to enable the turbo function. You can also have

the other back button assigned to hold.

So it will hold down a button forever.

So you can breeze through long menus or something.

Another useful feature that was recently added.

You can set the left stick to be swapped with the D-pad.

This is useful for games like Link's Awakening,

which should have D-pad support, but it doesn't.

There's also an option

to swap the right stick with the triggers.

I think that's some fighting games.

But my favorite part about this new mobile app

is that it allows you to change your settings on the fly.

You don't have to disconnect it from your Switch at all.

You can have it connected to your Switch

and the app at the same time.

This is something that you could not do

with the previous desktop app. This is huge for figuring out

the timing of macros or finding out the right button mapping

for yourself and immediately trying it out in the field.

One of my least favorite things

about wireless controllers like this

is connecting it to the Switch.

I often find myself just (indistinct) the button

till it finally comes up.

This controller alleviates some of that pain

by adding a mode switch on the back.

On the previous Pro+ you had to hold Start and Y

to enter switch mode. Windows, Android, and iOS,

all had different corresponding face buttons.

You expect me to remember all those.

There was also no indication

what mode you were currently in.

Now it's as easy as just flipping the switch.

You have Nintendo Switch, Apple DInput and XInput.

XInput is for Windows and Android.

DInput is for like old. I don't know it's

just probably don't worry about it. Other than all that

the only other real difference is it's enhanced grip

which is really just a textured back

similar to the textured back

of the new DualSense controller.

Other than that, this controller feels exactly the same

as the old SN30 Pro+ controller.

Switching between the two reveals that the face buttons

feel more responsive on the newer one.

Maybe it's because it's newer

and I used the shit out of my old one.

It's hard to tell.

- Oh no. - Hit the button, dude.

I think this controller.

(upbeat game music)

You know, I'll try, I'll try the top ones.

The buttons, the build quality, everything feels the same.

The Pro 2 comes in gray, black and GB edition.

I pre-ordered myself the Game Boy looking one

so I'll be getting that one when it eventually comes out.

But 8BitDo sent me their gray edition one, which looks like

it's attempting to resemble a PlayStation 1 controller.

It's an okay design. The A, B, X, Y buttons

colored like PlayStation buttons is like unsettling.

It's like a sin. The strongest design that they have

is definitely the Game Boy looking at one.

8BitDo used to have controllers that looked almost exactly

like Super Nintendo and N.E.S controllers,

but I'm sure they strayed away from that

so that they weren't bullied by Nintendo's lawyers.

It's also probably why they don't have

a Super Nintendo looking one at all anymore.

But I mean, the feel of the controller

is more important than anything else. And for 2D games,

there's nothing better than this,

until you find your Lord and Savior keyboard keys baby.

So if you haven't yet picked yourself up a 8BitDo controller

now might be the time to make the jump.

$5 extra for the back buttons,

the updated Ultimate software, the mode switch,

the custom profiles that can switch on the fly.

Yeah, I'd say it's worth it to get this version

over the original or Pro. Now is it worth upgrading to

if you already have an original SN30 Pro+.

That I'm not sure about.

Maybe if yours is starting to feel like shitty.

I know mine started to feel like

a little unresponsive, I guess.

I don't know how to describe it other than

it just got shitty and then I had to buy a new one.

But if you're perfectly content with your original SN30 Pro+

then it's probably not worth dropping an extra $50

on a brand new controller. It's like 90% the same controller

and about 10% new hotness. Or maybe I'm sure

you could find a way to justify it.

Maybe you could teach your grandma how to do Kaizo Mario.

What do you guys think about the brand new 8BitDo Pro 2?

It's a lot easier to say at this time.

Is this gonna make you finally make the jump

into getting an 8BitDo controller? Or it's something that

you would consider upgrading to from the original?

I don't think you really need to

unless like yours got like old crappy.

If you have a Nintendo Switch Pro controller already,

and you find yourself playing way more 2D games

this might be worth getting in addition to.

I mean it's like a second,

you get a second player with it to.

Leave in the comments below, add me on Twitter

and all this social media garbage.

As always we have new videos here all the time,

at least once a week.

This week, I think you're getting two, lucky you.

And we got streams over on twitch.tv/wulffden

where we can hang out and chat with each other

about stuff like this. Look at that.

Make sure you turn on notifications for all of that stuff

so you know, when we go live

'cause you can't rely on YouTube or Twitch to tell you.

But of course the most important thing right now

is just subscribe. Thank you.

I appreciate you for wanting to watch these videos.

And share this video with a friend.

A friend who maybe hasn't gotten

one of these controllers yet and it's still stuck

with the freaking regular role Pro controller.

Or maybe they're using the freaking split Joy-Cons

like a real, degenerate.

(gentle music)

Thank you. Have a good week.

[fnafworldgames]

FNaF World Steam

About the FNAF 4 Steam Game, Scott had this to say.

“Despite receiving an 87 percent 'Very Positive' rating, I was dissatisfied with the game's feedback and scores. I'll keep working on FNaF World Steam and polishing it.

For the game, I'm currently working on a completely 3D overworld. I'll replace the preview on Fnafworldgame.us with the complete version when I'm ready to update the title. The game will always be free from now on.”

If you're looking for FNAF World Download, you've come to the right place.

In addition to the planned updates and enhancements, he encouraged those who had purchased it to return it, regardless of how much they had enjoyed it. Even by the standards of friendly indie developers, this is a strikingly drastic step. Wasting too much time and money, even at Cawthon's legendary expansion rate, isn't cheap or convenient. Regardless, it's an excellent present for a fan base that was clearly disappointed, if not outraged, by the previous instalment.

Scott Cawthon, the game's developer, has said that it was released too quickly and that it lacks functionality.

The extra month was most likely needed for production. Scott Cawthon, the game's developer, apologized for launching the game too soon and without key features in a post on the FNAF World Steam website. He'll be focusing on items like character stat pages and the chance to see what abilities do for the next few weeks, most likely until February 19th at the earliest.

Cawthon described the features as "any good RPG would have," which summed up his experience with making games quickly and why it went wrong this time.

“You know, since FNaF 1, I've been accused of rushing my games, but I've never felt like I've released one too fast... until now.” I was told that this game should have a variety of features before it was released, but I didn't include them. I was so focused on showcasing the finished items that I completely missed the ones that weren't.”

He apologizes once more to his colleagues and promises to implement these features as soon as possible. Surprisingly, given his belief in the importance of a public apology, I haven't received the barrage of negative responses I had expected. FNaF has its detractors, as does something popular and off-kilter, but the show's audience seemed to enjoy it. I'm not going to read the Steam forums because they're pointless, but neither they nor Reddit seem to be particularly enraged. Although the apologies are greatly appreciated, they may not be sufficient.

On January 21, 2016, the following was first published: Isn't this a lovely surprise? Ahead of its February 19 release date, FNaF World, a fantasy role-playing game based on the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise, has been released on FNaF World Steam.

The final instalment in the Five Nights at Freddy's series, FNaF World, is now available. As producer Scott Cawthon has said several times, this isn't Five Nights at Freddy's 5, but a JRPG-style spin-off starring Freddy Fazbear and the rest of the cast. This means 40 different characters, several endings, and a wide range of challenges.

On the Steam Community site, Cawthon revised the release date for the last main series entry, FNaF World, in his typical tongue-in-cheek way.

"I won't make it to February 19th," Cawthon said two minutes later when asked if the proposed release date was right. Examine your schedule to see if you have some free time this weekend.

The weekend has come early for FNaF, with the game now available on Steam for $9.99/£6.99.

According to its Steam website, here's a quick overview of what FNaF World is all about. "Take command of Freddy and the gang as they embark on a journey in the universe under planets," the game's description says.

“A environment in which things have started to twist and crack, representing the attitudes and behavior of the 'flipside.' Deeper into this digital world, find the root of the glitches and monsters, and restore it to its former state as a safe haven.”

Join the conversation on our Facebook and Instagram pages. Keep up to date on the latest PC gaming guides, blogs, and reviews by following FnafWorldGames on Twitter and Steam News Hub.

[fruiting-body-blog]

motion

Gregor left his seat and stumbled slightly as he moved along the train. He performed a delicate ballet as his dirt smudged Oxfords scuffed the back of chairs. The empty car’s air was stuffy with overheating and Gregor adjusted his tie and dabbed at his sweating brow with a handkerchief, searching for another soul with whom to converse. His chest swelled with great gulps of air as he recounted the story, a slight twinge of the lower lip as he mouthed the words he could remember.

Two cars along he found a young woman, sitting by herself and staring out at the passing landscape. A timid creature, Gregor thought, but perhaps with an inner darkness as yet unseen. This was his hope as he sat two rows in front of her.

Gregor pulled out a hand mirror and angled it so that he could peer at the young woman behind behind him, his eyes narrowing as he focused his inverted gaze on the woman’s far off gaze. Her focus broke and she rummaged in her lap. Gregor found the tenderness with which she applied a black lipstick both appealing and dangerously provocative.

Quite suddenly the woman’s eyes met Gregor’s and she pursed her lips in consternation. But she didn’t look away. Instead she called ahead, “if you’re going to do it, do it already.”

Gregor quickly hid the mirror in jacket pocket and rose, trying to straighten his jacket. He tramped out of the car ahead and into the adjoining connector hall where he leaned against the vibrating walls and dabbed at his brow. “Surely she couldn’t have know” he whispered to himself, his lower lip again trembling.

Gregor pulled out his pocket watch, and grumbled at it’s information. The train had yet three hours to go and there were no stops in between their current desolate location and their final destination - a strange city that Gregor’s auntie had told him stories about as a small, sweaty child to calm him after a day’s excursions in the woods. Built out of the swampy marshes, the city sank a few feet every year, and has done so for the past several decades. The doors on every building need to be entered by bowing into a low stoop where windows, should you be lucky enough to enter a domicile with them, are half cut off by soil, worms wriggling past, making their opening impossible.

Gregor couldn’t live without visiting the city, and as a siren in the night, the characters in his dreams have insisted that he visit it. A stern refutation of the validity and weight of his dreams could only hold up for so long, until the newspaper that slid under his hotel room door held the front page caption “The City of Half - Maybe the City of No more?”

Inside the soggy paper, which was odd in of itself as it hadn’t rained in several days, there contained a folded manuscript which slipped out as Gregor unsheathed the paper’s contents from it’s tepid exterior husk.

The manuscript title page read “Gregor’s abrupt adventure in the City of Half”.

Gregor tapped the papers in his breast pocket, and steeled himself that this was the path laid out.

Gregor re-entered the car.

The woman looked up expectantly and Gregor across the aisle seat, next to her.

“I have a story for you,” Gregor did not look at the woman as he spoke, instead picking out the intricacies on the back of the seat in-front of him.

“We shal trade then,” said the woman. “You may begin.”

Gregor’s great bulk cut into the arm rests as he leaned to his side , beckoning that his ear heard the truth of what the nimble young woman had just said.

Gregor pulled this thick wad out of this jacket pocket and did his best to make it presentable. His pocket watch chain glinted in a rarified sunbeam that cut through a dry mountain past and irradiated but for a moment.

Gregor shuffled through the papers and summarized it’s contents, “M’lady, the conductor of this train is duly drunk, and will unwittingly crash into a stopped haulage truck filled with a rock substrate that has been meticulously carved from beneath a mountain pass in Aldvanya. He driver of said haulage truck has woken up late, missed his break and forgotten to refuel. Hence the truck full of dense rock substrate is stranded on a railway crossing, which,” Gregor checked his watch ”will kill both yourself, the conductor of this train and I in exactly 25 minutes. The driver of the truck will survive.”

The woman took this in grimly and snapped open her red leather purse, rummaging around it in defty. She pulled out her lipstick and began applying another, wholly unnecessary layer of caustic black candelilla wax to her upper lip.

“The truck driver missed his breakfast” Gregor continued “because he had received news that his wife has fallen ill. The truck driver, recalling that his last words to her were innate and inoicious, hastened to home so that he may make reparations should something unspeakable happe. He is a superstitious man you see.”

“I see…, “ said Gregor’s companion. “Now this is the part where you tell me there’s something we can do about it.”

“I, had not thought that possible,” Gregor looked around the car as if to find something lost, his perspective perhaps”. “I only…” Gregor rifled through his papers. “No, no… there’s apparently nothing we can do about it. We die.”

“I believe you must be mistaken. Perhaps yours is a story written about another couple on a train?” she said as she pulled out her own set of crumpled papers and turned paper over page. “You see, my story is quite similar to yours, but the man hasn’t given up hope as apparently yours, and you, have.”

“I believe my story is the correct one,” Gregor said, “all the events in the preamble have come to pass, which is why I boarded this train of death. Which is also why I assumed you had done the same. May, may I see yours?”

“We’ll do a swap.”

Gregor took the woman’s paper and handed his over in return. He could see her name was Emily from the first page.

“Emily makes the City of Half whole again” it read.

“Fascinating” Gregor mouthed. He was at least on the right train then. He was glad of the fact. Even though it meant his own death, his story would be heard as true. There was nothing more a pity as one meeting one’s own death with in the wrong fashion, he thought.

“Well look here,” Emily said, “yours is missing the 31st page. That’s the page the heroeine changes the man’s mind and it sets into motion the scene where they break down the conductor’s door, halting the train’s locomotion. Your’s skips that page and then the two become romantic and fatalistic, and then,” she shuffled to the last few pages, “meet their death! … well that doesn’t sound like the kind of story I should like to see through. Is this what you came aboard expecting?!”

Gregor said rather sheepishly, “I’ve put my affairs in order.”

“Well I certainly haven't! I’ve got a job awaiting me in the city. I’ve got a plans on adopting a dog, and am looking forward to the adventures of Emily and Mr. Scruffs.”

“Well, that does sound like a good series,” Gregor lamented. “But it’s no use. Mine must come to pass, it’s inevitable.”

“But don’t you have secret hopes of finding a companion in the City? I know you do. It’s your character’s driving force.”

“It’ll never happen, I don’t foresee it.”

“Well, I have! It’s a chapter in Emily and Mr. Scruffs - where my faithful companin and I, he’s a white Scotty dog by the way, find a wallet on the street in the middle of the city park and track down the owner - who just so happens to be a mate of yours.”

“A mate, of mine?!” Gregor’s chest swelled with stuffy train atmosphere at the thought of having a friend once again.

“Yes! And we reunite, if only briefly. It’s a companionship forged on page 31 and this very train, you just haven't’ have the opportunity to read it. Which is why your future is all skewed and ends right here. Your perspective is needs realignment. Here, give me my story back.”

Gregor picked up the papers laying beside him. Perhaps, he admitted to himself, perhaps his future was skewed. He had just been so caught up in the maudeline deriguour of it all that he deemed his fait accompli.

Handing the papers over to Emily, she deftly took the 31st page from her stack and slipped it into Gregor’s, and handed him back his sodden fate.

Now however, the papers felt different in his hands. Even the passing scenery outside appeared brighter.

He rifled through the last half, picking the package apart, and realised that everything after page 31 was now different. There was no longer a funeral scene in which the ghostly visage of Gregor played on a projector, towering over his shattered corpse lying at peace in a cheap coffin. There was no final spiteful message bellowed out of speakers from beyond the grave to all those who he had shunned in his will. No, now the final scene contained the paragraph;

“And they walked back to his flat with bags of groceries. A large, fresh baguette poked out of the brown paper bag that Emily held to her breast, as she tapped her toes to an unheard of song and wafted in the scent of freshly baked bread. Gregor looked at her as she smiled, and he knew regardless of where their journey might take them, they’d meet again and again after this fateful reunion.”

A mighty shock ran up Gregor’s spine as he stood to his feet. He checked his watch. “I can still make it” he said solemnly, steeling himself for a moment and and darted to the carriage door, his great bulk picking up steam as he opened the carriage door. Gregor looked back quickly, and Emily watched him with expectant eyes.

“It’s not too late!” she called to him.

Gregor’s ribs nearly burst out of his chest as he smashed down the train conductor’s door..