#in all seriousness though i can understand not liking the vehicle gameplay

[green-ejgyhdgghvfk]

Superchargers haters be like:

[lolmouseywritings]

Cursed Child

So this is what happens when I move, have no internet access to my computer, draw mdzs and watch Paper Dolls 2 gameplay from CJU on my phone. 

I will now go back to writing the WenWuxian Au. I’ve been working on.

I hope you enjoy this, and if you’re confused, ask away. 

P.S. I wrote this to get it out of my system. First time writing a horror story.

This will be on AO3, I also added the keep reading line

dabaizi: I think this mean brother-in-law. If I’m wrong, please let me know the correct title. I was trying to be accurate.

Summary: Lan Sizhui just wanted to run away. He didn’t realize it would drag him into a curse filled history of Gusu Manor. Running from fierce corpse’s, the ghost general and Yiling Patriarch, he could only hope he can get out of this alive.

Lan Sizhui sighed, his breath fogging up the glass window. He wasn't interested in the passing background, but it was something that got his mind off, as his cousin chastised him.

"Seriously? I know that I run away a lot, but I wasn't expecting you to do it," chastised Jin Ling tugging up his jacket. The chilly air from the mountains of Gusu was unexpected, but it was the place that Sizhui wanted to go.

Twelve years ago his parents passed away unexpectantly from the accident and he was taken in by his A-die and senior. It was fine, he guessed, but in the short while, his senior's health was failing. He was notorious for sleeping in late, but it was apparent that he had trouble getting up. Then he had trouble eating. He wouldn't even drink his favorite wine. Then one day-

He didn't wake up.

A-die didn't fare well, and now he hardly moved from Senior's side.

People called him cursed.

"Come on Jin Ling, no need to be upset, he just needed some space. Right Sizhui?"

"Yeah just ignore little mistress. He was just, if not, more worried than he let on." Then there goes. Jingyi was always riling up Jin Ling. It was a mystery to how they stayed being friends.

"Shut up, you- ZIZHEN! WATCH OUT!" Without question Zizhen swerves, hitting a tree branch and stopping the vehicle.

The boys step out, zipping up their jackets, and look around.

"Hey what the hell was that?" Questioned Jingyi looking straight at Jin Ling.

"There was a deer out on the road."

"There wasn't!"

"There was!" Ignoring the argument, Sizhui looks around and groans in despair. 'Damn the tire is out.' He looks at his phone and wonders just how cursed he is.

"My phone is out, is anyone else's phone working?" Asked Sizhui as the entire group shook their heads. All phones were out of service.

"Dammit! Uncle will break my legs!" Sizhui  patted Jin Lings back.

"It's okay.” Jin Ling shakes it off and glares at him. His stance aggressive.

"You don't get to say that, when you packed up and left. I know shit's hard for you, but it's hard on everyone else too."

"Calm down," Zizhen starts. "I'm sure none of us want to be in this situation. Best bet is to go to the nearest town and call for a tow. We can also call our families and let them know where we are."

"The nearest town is Moling. It will take us at least 2 hours to walk! And it's cold and I know that none of us want to walk for that long!" Gripped Jin Ling. Sizhui and Zhizhen shared glances, thinking little mistress.

"HEY I SEE SMOKE!" Exclaimed Jingyi. The group looks up to see what looks like a dilapidated manor. They agree to separate in groups of two. Zizhen and Jingyi at the car and Sizhui and Jin Ling to walk up to the manor and see if they could make a call. Sizhui would have honestly preferred Zizhen or Jingyi. Jin Ling, however, wasn't about to let him out of his sight. He was way too much like his uncle than he cared to admit.

Not a surprised considering how close the Jiang/Wei siblings are. Walking up the mountain was a tiring endeavor as the steps seemed to never end. It was worth it once they reached the entrance until they realized that no one lived in the house.

"I guess the smoke was just our imagination?" Remarked Sizhui.

"So the four of us imagined smoke coming out of this place." Jin Ling rolls his eyes. A nervous laughter escapes Sizhui at Jin Ling's rebuttal. With a sigh, Jin Ling walks up and knocks on the door. The icy breeze passes by, causing both boys to shiver. The door opens with a creek.

With a hesitant step, Jin Ling goes in.

"Hello?" His voice echoes into the manor. Not waiting for Sizhui, he walks in.

"Wait Jin Ling." He walks up the steps ready to follow his friend. As he steps in, it took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the dark. Or it would have if he didn't feel a sharp pain at the back of his head.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "You promised me!" "W̷̧̎͌̿͌͋̀́ë̵̟́̍̈́̚i̸̩̭̤̦̱̐-" "You promised me they would be okay! AND NOW THEY ARE DEAD!" "Please, listen!" "I'M DONE LISTENING! I'M DO-" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Wake up. Junior master, wake up!" Sizhui groans, placing his hand to where his head felt a throb. He felt nothing wet, so that was wonderful news. There was a however a sizable bump on the back of his head.

"What happened?"

"Quick get up!" He looks up and notices that the voice he kept hearing was nowhere to be found.

"Where are you?"

"I'll tell you but you must leave the room or else-" He hears the heavy dragging of chains. It was his only warning before he hid into an old decorative closet. He held his breath as he took a peak thru the crack.

Pale skin, clumpy lumped black hair, poor posture and old tattered clothing. The chains were black, looked as heavy as they sounded, and covered in blood. 

Sizhui had to cover his mouth to hold back the bile as the heavy scent of iron, which he was certain was not only from the chains, filtered into the air. He waited as the groans and dragging chains disappeared into the next room. He gave himself some time to get out.

"Magnificent job," he heard the voice as he looked around to discover its origin. "Take the door on your left and walk down the hallway till you reach a door. It should take you outside. Walk down the path next to the pond until it leads you to a building surrounded by bamboo,  the Hanshi. Quickly!"

Without a word Sizhui follows the directions, eyes and ears peeled for anymore unearthly beings. Thank god he didn't have to take the door that- he shivered- thing took.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The man sitting before him was wrapped in gold robes with a peony emblem in front. He held a certain charisma that it almost made Sizhui want to sit down and drink the tea that was sitting innocently on the table. Prepared just for him.

Guangyao, as he presented himself, had the smile that made Sizhui want to run in the opposite direction. Especially when he told him what was happening.

"What do you mean that I'm stuck here?"

"Hm, kids these days are hard of hearing, I guess." Upon looking Sizhui's face Guangyao sighed and refilled his cup. "I mean that until you can set the resentful spirits to rest, there's nothing you can do to escape. The Yiling Patriarch has us trapped here until you can vanquish him."

"And why can't you do it?"

"I tried and failed. Now the Patriarch has me trapped here for who knows how long." Sizhui let out a breath of frustration.

Great! He leaves his home because his life is falling apart, gets caught at the gas station by his friends, their tire blows out because of a random tree branch, even though Jin Ling claims it was a dee- wait!

"JIN LING! Where's my cousin Jin Ling!" Guangyao looks at him confused.

"Jin who?"

"My cousin! He was with me!"

"Ah well, it's possible that he’s lost in the manor as you, Sizhui-er. Though I would start looking. He may end up dead before the night is over."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sizhui cursed his luck for the umpteenth time. There were zombies in here, zombies that moved faster than what he would have liked them too, and some of them liked to explode! 

They sucked! 

They sucked so hard that- argh!!!! 

He hated them!

It didn't help that he met the chained zombie, a fierce corpse, as Guangyao like to call them. He saw him this time when he opened the door, thinking the room was clear, and chased him across the manor. He was lucky enough to find another closet to hide in. As soon as the creature left, Sizhui carefully climbed out and walked to another path.

Ok, so to recap he went to the library and found Elder Teacher's Scroll. It had spells for evocation, suppression, and rest. He didn't understand it much, but once he found the other items that he requested, he was sure Guangyao could help him. He placed the scroll in his back pocket, making sure it was secure.

There was still no sign of Jin Ling increasing his worry, as he hoped his cousin did not have to face those creatures.  He kept walking until he heard nothing. The crickets did not chirp and the sound of the wind was ominous. It had a haunting tune, one that spoke of longing-

"Is that a flute? No, it's a-". He looks up to see a man in a black robe, red trim sitting on the rooftop, a red ribbon holding back his hair. It was a black bamboo Dizi, the type that Senior would love to get his hands on and play. It looked like the man did not hear him until he opened his eyes, looking straight at him. They had a red glow to them that spoke of pain and suffering.

"Sen-"

"My, my, look what the mouse dragged in! Tell me, what did you do to get trapped in here?" The animosity in his voice forced Sizhui to recoil back. The laughter sent a frigid chill down his spine.

This wasn't, this wasn't-

"No matter, let's get rid of the pests, shall we, Hanguang-jun?" With a few notes from the Dizi, the room marked Jingshi bursts open and out popped a man dressed in a white robe as if he was in mourning, a white ribbon around his forehead and his long bangs covered his face.

Sizhui moved out of the way as the blade cut thru his jacket sleeve. The sting on his arm caused him to hiss. Run! He thought. He had to run so he could stay alive.

He ran to the path towards the classroom, but the man had an unnatural speed to him. He was upon him, but Sizhui did not plan to give up. He took another direction, and he was there. Another and he too was there. No matter what path he took, he was right in front of him.

Fleeing would not work, so he looked around and found an old rusted blade. He held up to block a strike from above and fell, feeling the shock to his very bones. Such a ferocious attack!

It didn't appear, as the man walked to him slowly carrying what looked like an air of serenity, but the movement and aggressiveness of his blade was monstrous. It betrayed the strength that this fierce corpse was capable of.

Sizhui couldn't even get up. It was stupid! He thought fighting that thing was his only choice to live, and now he regretted it.

He thought of the mischievous laughter and the stern but reassuring ‘Mn' from his guardians, his parents, as he closed his eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Wen Qing, Wen Ning, it's okay! I'll give them the Stygian Tiger Seal and I'll go to Gusu. When I do that, they'll leave you and everyone else alone."

"Ẅ̵̧̨̠͇̦̩̹͕̰͉̥͔̪̯̱̙́̉̅͛́̅̎̔̎́̐́̔̃̃́̏̍͑̀̃͘̕͜ͅẻ̷͐��̤̼̭̭͍̮̝͎̪̯͕͈͔̻͍̾̌͊̆̂̓̿̋̇̾͊̾̎̒̉̆͜͠į̴̛̤̩͕̙̗̥̠̦̬̙͈̗̟̖̆̽̃́͂̀̏̀͒̊̎̔̇̎̈̃̿͑̋̄̚͝ ̵̨̛̘̯͈̻̔͋͒̀͌̀̌́̌͋W̴̨̛̖̮̖̫̗̣̫͖̣̌̌̏̃̀̐̔̐̆͛͛̆̿͆̀̈͑͂͌͑̈́̂̓̕u̷̧̖͈͕̹̬̫͓̲̠͉̭͐̈́̓͋͐x̶̳͓̪̟̯̜̯̳͙̳͇̪̳̻̳̦̺̲̝̟̓̄͋̅̈́̑̋͜͠i̴̢̨̛̛̙̱̺͍̜͚̗̟͉̗̹̘̝̦͌͑͛̌̃̎̇̔̀̋̈́̊͊̾͋̉̓̽̚͜͠͠ͅͅa̶̹͖̤̝̗̻̹͎̦̤͚̮̯̪͎͇͕̗̫͙̠̹̹̎̇̀̈́͆̃̃̈́̈̈́̈̎͜͠͝͝n̵̳͉̤͈̗̽̏͛̈́͗̊͝͠, you know we can't accept this! You paid your debt! You took us out of the camp, you brought my brother back. Don't do this!" Ẅ̵̧̨̠͇̦̩̹͕̰͉̥͔̪̯̱̙́̉̅͛́̅̎̔̎́̐́̔̃̃́̏̍͑̀̃͘̕͜ͅẻ̷̤̼̭̭͍̮̝͎̪̯͕͈͔̻͍͐͒̾̌͊̆̂̓̿̋̇̾͊̾̎̒̉̆͜͠į̴̛̤̩͕̙̗̥̠̦̬̙͈̗̟̖̆̽̃́͂̀̏̀͒̊̎̔̇̎̈̃̿͑̋̄̚͝ ̵̨̛̘̯͈̻̔͋͒̀͌̀̌́̌͋W̴̨̛̖̮̖̫̗̣̫͖̣̌̌̏̃̀̐̔̐̆͛͛̆̿͆̀̈͑͂͌͑̈́̂̓̕u̷̧̖͈͕̹̬̫͓̲̠͉̭͐̈́̓͋͐x̶̳͓̪̟̯̜̯̳͙̳͇̪̳̻̳̦̺̲̝̟̓̄͋̅̈́̑̋͜͠i̴̢̨̛̛̙̱̺͍̜͚̗̟͉̗̹̘̝̦͌͑͛̌̃̎̇̔̀̋̈́̊͊̾͋̉̓̽̚͜͠͠ͅͅa̶̹͖̤̝̗̻̹͎̦̤͚̮̯̪͎͇͕̗̫͙̠̹̹̎̇̀̈́͆̃̃̈́̈̈́̈̎͜͠͝͝n̵̳͉̤͈̗̽̏͛̈́͗̊͝͠ shakes his head.

"They have to, besides my control isn't the same as before. It won't be long before they break through the seal. At least this way I can save-" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CLANG!

Sizhui opened his eyes as he saw that the blade, ready to strike him, wrapped in chains. The howl sent a shiver up his spine as the chain pulled back, sending Hanguang-jun back to fight the fierce corpse that followed him.

'I guess they're not friends!' He thought as he looked up and saw that the mysterious Dizi player gone.  Seeing an opening, Sizhui runs into the Jingshi and looks for the instrument, a Guqin. It sat on the table next to two white jars covered with a white cloth. From the smell of the fermentation, he could tell that taking a sip would burn his throat.

He shook his head. He had no time to think of such things and grabbed the instrument. It would be too heavy to lug this around and heads to the Hanshi.

He forced himself to forget that Senior looked like the man from the rooftop, along with the laughter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He told Guangyao all about the Hanguang-jun and the mysterious man from the roof.

"Great, he knows you are here. Look if you see them again just run. When Hanguang-jun died they already knew him as one of the top cultivators. As for the man you saw, well, the Yiling Patriarch is an entirely different beast on his own. His ability to cultivate resentful energy is how he can bring fierce corpse's to life." He sips from the tea, savors it, then sets it down.

"From what you told me the Ghost General-"

"Ghost General?" Sizhui receives a silent reprimand from him causing him to stop talking.

"It's rude to interrupt. The fierce corpse with the chains. They knew him as Wen Ning, the Ghost General of the Yiling Patriarch. Though I find it odd that they would be fighting. Maybe something happened?" Sizhui shrugs. Everything was going over his head. Really, the sensible thing would be to grab Jin Ling and run to the edge of the forest and find a way out.

Jin Ling was still missing, though, and Guangyao had no way of knowing where he might be. Plus, it wasn't as if he could leave the Hanshi. He’s stuck in this beautiful and dark room, a partition serving as a cutoff from the tea table and the bed.

He notices a figure sitting slouched forward.

"So you've noticed my roommate."

"Who is he?"

"The last Sect master of Gusu, Zewu-jun."

"He's alive!"

"Hardly. He’s also afflicted by the same curse as me." Before he could ask more Guangyao smiles at him. "It's best that you look for the next items on the list."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With supplies ready, given by Guangyao, and an old rusted sword he found, which he knew he was useless with, made Sizhui felt slightly braver. Hopefully, the talisman's would be helpful.

The Library Pavilion was tricky to get to. He knew something was following him and knowing what the denizens of this cursed place was like, Sizhui was rightfully hesitant to meet this creature.

Finally reaching the place, he walks around looking for the secret passageway. Being in the library, however, he could not help but look at an open book talking about a chord assassination technique. Backing away, he forced himself not to jump when he heard whispers.

Lan-er-gege! You can't be mad! I've called your name so many times. Sizhui stops there. Lan? That's his family name. Why would he hear his family name? He thought back about his parents saying that they had an ancestral home once. But they never finished telling him anymore than that. After all, how could they when the 18 wheeler hit them, pushing their car over-

"Find the secret passage. Find the flags. Find the secret passage. Find the flags." He tripped. Face smacking the floor.

Did he mention how much he hated this place?

He rubbed his nose, checking for blood. Thankfully, there wasn't any and looked to see his foot caught on a handle. A handle that led to a door under the library. The secret passageway. He pulls it up and walks down the staircase.

Dust and cobwebs covered the entire place. Gulping he walks forward using the sword to clear the way making sure to not disturb any of the spiders.

"Well, I know that Jin Ling is definitely not here. He would just screech at this sight." He finds a stack of flags at the end of the room next to a jar. He makes a quick count and realizes he’s short one.

"Okay, where's the last one?" Looking around, he feels a sudden vertigo.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Come to Gusu with me.

I can't. What will happen to the Wen's? You know that the other Sects want them dead.

I can talk to brother.

I- I

Please W̴̢̳̻̮̪̱̤̖̲̤̟̱͌̈͌̆̚͠͠ͅę̶̮͖͍̕ḯ̴̛͚͉̜̙͉̰̱͐͝ ̴̲̺̭̰̆̈́͐́͒̀̋̋̋̓̾̕͠͝W̴̨̛̖̮̖̫̗̣̫͖̣̌̌̏̃̀̐̔̐̆͛͛̆̿͆̀̈͑͂͌͑̈́̂̓̕u̷̧̖͈͕̹̬̫͓̲̠͉̭͐̈́̓͋͐x̶̳͓̪̟̯̜̯̳͙̳͇̪̳̻̳̦̺̲̝̟̓̄͋̅̈́̑̋͜͠i̴̢̨̛̛̙̱̺͍̜͚̗̟͉̗̹̘̝̦͌͑͛̌̃̎̇̔̀̋̈́̊͊̾͋̉̓̽̚͜͠͠ͅͅa̶̹͖̤̝̗̻̹͎̦̤͚̮̯̪͎͇͕̗̫͙̠̹̹̎̇̀̈́͆̃̃̈́̈̈́̈̎͜͠͝͝n̵̳͉̤͈̗̽̏͛̈́͗̊͝͠ come to Gusu.  I will talk to brother. The Wen's will be safe. A̷͕̯͔̖̤͖̫̼̫̹̼͛̏͆͑͆͂̏̏͊͂͂́͘-̵̡͍̗̬̯͚̹̹̱̼̰̟̘̩̖̥́̐̄̈́Ỵ̵̢̮͎͚̱̗̯̘̹̉̋̂̔̓̍̇͆͗̈̃͑̐̈́̋̋̐͊̉͛̚͘͝͝ͅu̸̧̡̖͕̼̗͓̳͙͍̠̹̙̗̙̘̥͍̯͖̫̦̣͆̊͠͝ȧ̶̡̖̳̫̟͔̣̩̋̔̀̆̀̒͠ň̸̢̧̨̛̘̠̗͍͇̭̯̪̠͕̤͈͚͔̟͕͔͖̖͕͌̇̈́̿̏̈̇́̃̏̈́̎̃̚̚͜͠ will be safe-

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A hand holds him up, and he calls out a name.

"Jin Ling?"

"Jin Ling? There is no Jin Ling, though there is a bastard with that family name." Her hair was up and her dirty black robes have seen better days. It looked burnt and ashy. She had a stern face, but oddly he felt the urge to see her smile. He shakes the thought and looks back, her face familiar, though he knows he never met her.

"Who-" She shushes him as they hear footsteps from above. It was slow and methodical. He catches sight of a white robe. Eyes widening, he hopes that his heartbeat would not betray their location. They lean back against the wall, standing still as statues. She silently signals him to follow her. He watches as she walks a few steps past the bookshelf to reveal a secret door, initially hidden by the shadows of the room. He works his way towards her.

The jar, caught by his jacket, falls with a loud crash. The woman gasps and holds out her hand. He darts to the door as Hanguang-jun breaks down the floor beneath him. As they enter, the woman is quick to close the opening making a grating rocky sound. The stone door should hopefully hold off the fierce corpse. His companion seemed to think otherwise.

"Quickly! Follow me!" They run down the passageway which leads to the forest. 

"He's still following us!"

"How do you know?" The sound of trees and branches falling behind him answers his question. Leaving him to wonder if this Hanguang-jun was strong enough to cut through the stone.

He's forced to stop when the woman turns towards him. From her robes she pulls out a needle which she uses to cut his cheek. He hisses as he watches her make a sigil. Something red and hazy appears next to her.

"You go down the path quickly, I'll meet you soon!" He didn't question her and took the path she pointed. He stopped at a dead end. For once it wasn't scary, in fact there were rabbits there. Sizhui sits down by the tree and hugs himself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

W̷̧̪̱͚͖̅̐̌̀́͠ȇ̶̛̹̜̐̋̀̎̈̄͝į̸̡̗̤͈̪͉̈́ ̷̟̻͔̋̋̓͂̌̋͊W̴̨̛̖̮̖̫̗̣̫͖̣̌̌̏̃̀̐̔̐̆͛͛̆̿͆̀̈͑͂͌͑̈́̂̓̕u̷̧̖͈͕̹̬̫͓̲̠͉̭͐̈́̓͋͐x̶̳͓̪̟̯̜̯̳͙̳͇̪̳̻̳̦̺̲̝̟̓̄͋̅̈́̑̋͜͠i̴̢̨̛̛̙̱̺͍̜͚̗̟͉̗̹̘̝̦͌͑͛̌̃̎̇̔̀̋̈́̊͊̾͋̉̓̽̚͜͠͠ͅͅa̶̹͖̤̝̗̻̹͎̦̤͚̮̯̪͎͇͕̗̫͙̠̹̹̎̇̀̈́͆̃̃̈́̈̈́̈̎͜͠͝͝n̵̳͉̤͈̗̽̏͛̈́͗̊͝͠. I love you.

Ah, L̷͍̣̟̬̤̹̝̜̪̮̭̈̌̀̿̑͑̈́̐̈́̐̇ȃ̵̧̫͕̪̰̻n̴͔̳͖͗̑͒ ̸̲̖̜͕̈́̀̂͌̏̐͂̇̎̚͘Ŵ̴̭͊̾̎̌̆͜͠a̴͍͉̳͍̐̓͜͜ͅͅͅn̴̜̺͖̰͉͖̻̆̂̾̓̈́̕g̸̗̈́͋͂̊̑͌̇͝͝j̸̢͓̣͎̟͠i̶͇̚! Warn me when you tell me things like this.

Mn

L̷͍̣̟̬̤̹̝̜̪̮̭̈̌̀̿̑͑̈́̐̈́̐̇ȃ̵̧̫͕̪̰̻n̴͔̳͖͗̑͒ ̸̲̖̜͕̈́̀̂͌̏̐͂̇̎̚͘Ŵ̴̭͊̾̎̌̆͜͠a̴͍͉̳͍̐̓͜͜ͅͅͅn̴̜̺͖̰͉͖̻̆̂̾̓̈́̕g̸̗̈́͋͂̊̑͌̇͝͝j̸̢͓̣͎̟͠i̶͇̚, take responsibility and hug me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He wakes with a start.

That wasn't- that wasn't them.

It looked like them, but it wasn't them.

"Hey Sizhui! Wake up or I'll break your legs!" Sizhui rubs his eyes as he looks up to finally sees his cousin.

"Jin Ling, where were you?" Jin Ling scoffs.

"Looking for you! Come one let's get out of here. This place is creepy." Sizhui nods and stands up. They walk out of the grove.

"What were you doing, anyway?" Jin Ling asks, rubbing his arms up and down. Seems he lost his jacket while searching for him.

"I was running from zombies." Jin Ling stops to look at him, then laughs mockingly. 

"I'm serious! These fierce corpses were chasing me, and I had to run around getting these items. Look! I had to grab these flags to do a ritual-" He feels a sharp pinch on his arm. "Hey!"

"Can you hear yourself," asks Jin Ling as he tsks. "Zombies, rituals, really Sizhui I know you don't want to go home but stop playing around."

"I'm not-"

"Really? Then why don't you go visit jiu'jiu'-Xian? Visit-"

"I'm not playing!"

"As if! Look, I know the shit that everyone is saying. Cursed child, whatever! You just punch them in the face!"

"uh... A-die says I shouldn't."

"Your A-die doesn't even respond anymore. Coward." Sizhui turns his head sharply, eyes narrowing. Jin Ling raises his hand up. "Sorry. Low blow, but I'm serious. Everyone is worried about you and you can ignore those gossiping blowhards. They just want to say something to feel important." Sizhui doesn't even bother to get after for him.

"How did you find me, anyway? I didn't leave any notes." Jin Ling raises his eyes in disbelief.

"We sent pictures on the web and tv. Some dude caught sight of you at the gas station." Odd, he only saw granny there taking care of the counter and there were no cars around. Maybe it was a passing vehicle and the guy just saw him. It didn't matter. He tried to run because he wanted to escape. Better for everyone.

Ever since his parents died A-die and Senior took care of him as if he was their child. They still told stories about his mama and baba. A-die even taught him how to play the Guqin, though he knew he was rusty now. He stopped playing when A-die stopped responding. That was almost six months ago. Now he was the cursed kid that no one wanted to be around. Anyone that takes care of him meets a grisly end. He receives a harsh slap on his back.

"Hey, when we get back I'll stand by you and help you beat up those whinny ninnies." Sizhui snorts.

"Whinny ninnies? Have you been hanging out with Jiu'jiu-Cheng?" Jin Ling scoffs looking away, but not before Sizhui caught sight of his face turning red. It was then that they heard moans coming from one of the forked paths.

"Sizhui. Tell me you were really kidding about those zombies." Jin Ling stares at Sizhui, who shakes his head. They both turn just in time to see the fierce corpses heading towards them, now running since it caught sight of them.

With no prompting, they ran side by side to the hallways of Gusu Manor. Left, right they ran to hide from the monsters, but no matter where they went they found themselves unable to outrun them. It was as if there was a tracker on them. Letting these creatures were they were going.

Sizhui has a horrid realization.

"Jin Ling! Take this path! It should lead you to the Hanshi, you should be safe there!"

"What? No!"

"Do it! Wait for me there! I will meet you there!" He pushes his cousin and runs the opposite direction. The fierce corpses ignore Jin Ling and follow him instead.

Damn Guangyao! Couldn't he have told him that these flags were a damn beacon for these monsters! And he wanted to smack himself for leaving the sword behind. Though it would do much good since he had a horde.

He remembers the talisman and finds one that say's repress. As he runs he is quick to grab a box that was the perfect size for the flags, place them inside and places the talisman on it. It glows a light blue and slowly it appears as if he is losing them. Once he ran far enough, he found that he was further than he intended from the manor.

Luck was on his side when he caught sight of large, trumpet-shaped flowers. They were an intense blue. Finally, Sizhui was on his way to the Gentian house.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Arriving at the house was no trouble. It was the last item that was the issue. Guangyao had told him that at the Gentian House there should house the Stygian Tiger Seal. The only thing he found was the missing flag, which he placed in the box for safekeeping.

No matter where he looked, he could not find the item in question. Under the bed, in the desk drawer, the bookshelf with a sealed red and white urn, he even went to look under the boards, but nothing. He was about to call it quits when he heard the door open.

He hides in the closet and peeks to see the Yiling Patriarch. He looked around, confused. Crap! He’s bound to notice him.

"Aiyah! I must have left a mess. Oh, well." He sits down, pulls out a board and reaches in. From there, he pulls out a bottle that reads Emperor's Smile.

"He, he, he There's not much left so I may as well enjoy what's left." He pulls off the seal and drinks it. The fermentation strong in the air. Sizhui tries not to gag.

THUD! THUD!

He holds his breath when he sees the man stand up, angry.

"Get lost!"

THUD! THUD!

"GET LOST!" He hears the bottle of wine crash against the door, the resentful energy feeling thick in the air.

"GET LOST! GET LOST! GET LOST! DIRTY LIAR! CRUEL WORTHLESS DIRTY LIAR! MURDERER!" Sizhui almost felt faint by how much resentment was filling the air. Thick inky clouds expelled from the Yiling Patriarch. He wanted to cry, yell, anything, but all he could do was let out a pitiful sob. He sits back, upset.

It becomes quiet, the energy he felt gone. Sizhui covers his mouth. Did he hear him?

He sits still, listening. The footsteps are slow, as if trying to make the most minimal sound as possible. Maybe he heard but didn't know where the sound came from? If he's lucky he can sneak out and distract the Yiling Patriarch and maybe come back?

The door opens as a pale hand pulls him out. He screams as he's thrown to the partition.

"Oh, and look at this small mouse. Did you think I would not find you?" Sizhui crawls back, trying to get away from the man. The steps he took were still slow, but also predatory. The resentment, the ominous clouds now hung heavy in the air.

"Tell me what are you looking for mouse? Maybe I can help you?" Teased the man viciously. Sizhui is still crawling back until he finds an incense burner.

He throws it. It didn't hit him, but it gave him the chance he was looking for, which was to run to the door. As he opened the door, he barely missed being decapitated when he ducked to an opening.

"Damn that Hanguang-jun!" He doesn't turn to look back. But he could feel that they were close, which was bad. All the running was getting to him. He didn't know how long he could keep it up. He was about to trip, when he’s suddenly wrapped in chains and pulled up to the sky.

He's caught by the Ghost General. His heart, wrought in fear, goes to his throat as he faints.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stop following the demonic path

Ah, L̷͍̣̟̬̤̹̝̜̪̮̭̈̌̀̿̑͑̈́̐̈́̐̇ȃ̵̧̫͕̪̰̻n̴͔̳͖͗̑͒ ̸̲̖̜͕̈́̀̂͌̏̐͂̇̎̚͘Ŵ̴̭͊̾̎̌̆͜͠a̴͍͉̳͍̐̓͜͜ͅͅͅn̴̜̺͖̰͉͖̻̆̂̾̓̈́̕g̸̗̈́͋͂̊̑͌̇͝͝j̸̢͓̣͎̟͠i̶͇̚, you have no-

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

L̷͍̣̟̬̤̹̝̜̪̮̭̈̌̀̿̑͑̈́̐̈́̐̇ȃ̵̧̫͕̪̰̻n̴͔̳͖͗̑͒ ̸̲̖̜͕̈́̀̂͌̏̐͂̇̎̚͘Ŵ̴̭͊̾̎̌̆͜͠a̴͍͉̳͍̐̓͜͜ͅͅͅn̴̜̺͖̰͉͖̻̆̂̾̓̈́̕g̸̗̈́͋͂̊̑͌̇͝͝j̸̢͓̣͎̟͠i̶͇̚, than-

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ẅ̵̧̨̠͇̦̩̹͕̰͉̥͔̪̯̱̙́̉̅͛́̅̎̔̎́̐́̔̃̃́̏̍͑̀̃͘̕͜ͅẻ̷̤̼̭̭͍̮̝͎̪̯͕͈͔̻͍͐͒̾̌͊̆̂̓̿̋̇̾͊̾̎̒̉̆͜͠į̴̛̤̩͕̙̗̥̠̦̬̙͈̗̟̖̆̽̃́͂̀̏̀͒̊̎̔̇̎̈̃̿͑̋̄̚͝ ̵̨̛̘̯͈̻̔͋͒̀͌̀̌́̌͋W̴̨̛̖̮̖̫̗̣̫͖̣̌̌̏̃̀̐̔̐̆͛͛̆̿͆̀̈͑͂͌͑̈́̂̓̕u̷̧̖͈͕̹̬̫͓̲̠͉̭͐̈́̓͋͐x̶̳͓̪̟̯̜̯̳͙̳͇̪̳̻̳̦̺̲̝̟̓̄͋̅̈́̑̋͜͠i̴̢̨̛̛̙̱̺͍̜͚̗̟͉̗̹̘̝̦͌͑͛̌̃̎̇̔̀̋̈́̊͊̾͋̉̓̽̚͜͠͠ͅͅa̶̹͖̤̝̗̻̹͎̦̤͚̮̯̪͎͇͕̗̫͙̠̹̹̎̇̀̈́͆̃̃̈́̈̈́̈̎͜͠͝͝n̵̳͉̤͈̗̽̏͛̈́͗̊͝͠ .

Did you forget what we promised? What's right and what's wrong?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Did you hear? The Jin Sect is cursed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Another vision. Great. Ever since his hit on the head he tried to ignore them as time passed, but whatever happened back then seemed to want to make itself known. No matter if the audience is unwilling or not. He takes a deep breath and opens his eyes.

He awoke in what looked like a boarding room for school kids. As he got up, he’s quickly pushed down.

"You need to rest. You've had a hard night." It was the woman from before.

"No, no, I need to continue"

"And as a doctor I need you to sleep. My brother found you and saved you from those two." Sizhui’s confused.

"Your brother. He fought the Ghost General?”

"He is the Ghost General." His eyes widened as he looked around. "He's not here, but I am. My name is Wen Qing and you are?"

"Lan Sizhui." He noticed her hand stiffened for a moment, then continue with his wounds. She wrapped and cleaned his arm with a bandage and was now cleaning a wound was on the wing of his back. Funny, it must have been the adrenaline running in his system. He didn’t realize he was injured till now.

"What exactly are you doing? Running around, you should be leaving, not staying." She reprimanded as she cleaned and tidied up her supplies.

"I was told that I could not leave until I broke the curse."

"And who told you that?"

"Guangyao." Her hand freezes just as she was about to close her box.

"Guangyao? Jin Guangyao, you're listening to that beast!"

"What are you talking about?" He asked, understanding now that there was something more to his mysterious benefactor.

"He didn't tell me he was a Jin, just that his name is Guangyao." Wen Qing scoffs.

"Only because he doesn't want his crimes to be known. Listen here! You need to stay away from that man. He will only use you and throw you away once you're no longer any use to him."

"What do you mean?!" Wen Qing sighs.

"He is the reason that this curse came to be. A  long time ago our leader, Wen Ruohan, lost the war and they killed the survivors off. Only Wei Wuxian stood for us since we save him and his brother." She closes the box and puts it away.

"During the war he created the Stygian Tiger Seal. It was powerful, but it did its job, however later on he grew to fear how much resentful energy it was consuming. So he made a deal with the remaining Sects. He would give himself up and the Stygian Tiger Seal. In return, the Sects would let us live in peace." "I'm guessing that's not what happened."

"They killed us all and those remaining died without medical help. Even the smallest-" she chocked as tears fell from her eyes.

"You're not alive. Are you?"

"I died trying to hide little A-Yuan. But from what I hear, he didn't make it." She wipes away the tears.

"I don't get it. Why is it Jin Guangyao's fault?"

"It's his fault because under his father's order, he incited the other clans to attack by killing Sect Leader Nie and blaming us for it. If it wasn't for his brother, Nie Huaisang, finding out, then everyone would have believed we were guilty. I only know this because even now the remaining spirits love to whisper, but Nie Huaisang, visited  Wei Wuxian. He was heartbroken when he couldn't visit A-Yuan's funeral. They thought he was there to console him. They were friends during their schooling here in Gusu. Then a few days later he activated the curse. And now we are here, stuck in Gusu, unable to move on."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

L̵̡̧̢̞̦̰͖͍͚͉̳͒͌̀͗̀â̵̧̯̫̦̳̟͉͖̣̝̄̆͑̆̾̑̈́n̶̥̔͋́̈̊́͘ ̸̢͉̬̞̲̘͎͊̐Ŵ̴̭͊̾̎̌̆͜͠a̴͍͉̳͍̐̓͜͜ͅͅͅn̴̜̺͖̰͉͖̻̆̂̾̓̈́̕g̸̗̈́͋͂̊̑͌̇͝͝j̸̢͓̣͎̟͠i̶͇̚ stood outside-

-wail in agony.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Jin Ling! Jin Ling! Where are you?!" He pulled open the door, not caring about the commotion he was causing.

Both of them were getting out of here, he thought. They weren't staying there a minute longer.

"Sizhui-er! What's the matter?!" Guangyao appeared by the partition as he walked over to calm the teenager.

"My cousin! I sent him here. I know it. I saw him head this way."

"No, no, no, I saw no one come by. Here," he pours a cup of tea and presents it to Sizhui. It felt warm to the touch. "Drink this. You would feel better afterwards." Sizhui stared at the cup and felt a surge of anger as he threw the teacup, not quite hitting Jin Guangyao, but close enough.

"ENOUGH! Enough with the lies! Enough with the half-truths! Tell me what do my parents Lan Zhan and Wei Ying have to do with the spirits of Hanguang-jun and the Yiling Patriarch!?"

Jin Guangyao sighed, sat down, as if he was the one who ran around this damn place, tired. He looked at him straight in the eyes.

"It took a while to find all of you, you know."

"Excuse me?!"

"Lan Zhan and Wei Ying are the reincarnations of Lan Wangji, Hanguang-jun and Wei Wuxian, the Yiling Patriarch. Or rather, their half-reincarnations. So I called them. Pulled their souls over here." Sizhui punched him.

"YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT MY PARENTS ARE COMATOSED BECAUSE OF YOU!" Guangyao laughed, not a care in the world. The secret now out.

"See I made many choices, choices that led to the deaths of an entire sect, that led to the terrible descent into madness for Wei Wuxian. I didn't care. I was working my way to getting my father's approval, or at least I thought I did." He grunts as he gets up, wiping the blood from his lip.

"I was a war hero and shared the cups of brotherhood with two other known figures from the war, Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen. Yet, no matter what I did, it wasn't enough." He gave an empty laugh. Sizhui felt uncomfortable as he felt the despair.  

"I ruined Sects for that man so that our Sect could stand on top. I killed one venerated brother so there would be no opposition, had the Wen-dog survivors blamed so we would kill them off. I destroyed Wei Wuxian's reason for living and relationship so we could appear righteous and powerful. Then I destroyed the one that truly mattered."  Sizhui gulped as the man in front of him reminisced.

"I didn't mean to, but I failed to see how much Huanguang-Jun loved Wei Wuxian. It was easy to see how much Zewu-jun loved his brother, and for him I made sure no harm would come to his little brother. Zewu-jun, he called me his equal. I wasn't some son of a prostitute, I was special to him. When I had the Wen's killed, the Yiling Patriarch cast his curse, which Huanguang-jun accepted... I saw how Zewu-jun broke down to see his brother give up, be taken willingly."

“Hanguang-jun blamed himself.” Stated Sizhui. Jin Guangyao nodded.

"Yes, and maybe he wanted to show that he would stand by Wei Wuxian's side. Who knows, that man didn't speak much, always keeping his thoughts to himself. Like I said, I didn't care about anyone else except for my father's approval and... Zewu-jun, Lan Xichen." Sizhui looks back at the man sitting on the other side of the room, hidden by the partition.

"Discovering what I did, Zewu-jun immediately blamed himself, for without his blessing's and his help, I would not have been able to do the things I did. When I tried to break the curse, the reason we couldn't was because of me. Zewu-jun could no longer trust me. So we- I failed. The only thing we did was just forcefully subdue part of the spirits." Jin Guangyao clenched his teeth, holding back the tears that threatening to spill from his eyes.

"My betrayal was too much, the pain that it wrought was too heavy, that he just shut down. I don't care wether any of the spirits here can find healing, but for Zewu-jun I want to break this curse and maybe he can finally move on." Sizhui sighed.

He just wanted to find his cousin and get the hell out. However, hearing what happened to the Wen siblings living the half cursed life. The memories of Lan Wangji sitting outside the Gentian house when he wanted to get Wei Wuxian to at least talk to him, hear him, see him. The pain when Wei Wuxian wanted to save little A-Yuan only to die. He never even got to see his body to mourn properly. Damn his bleeding heart.

"Fine, let's get started."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Mingshi was musty smelling, perhaps from the mold, dark and littered with cobwebs. They worked quickly to clear it with only the light of the moon, from the broken ceiling, to guide them. Though ominous, Gusu must have been a beautiful place. He could almost imagine the foliage from the outside, how the ponds and rivers would have trickled and the birds singing.

But it wasn't. He would need his friends' hands to count how many steps he broke from him just placing the slightest pressure. He picked up the scroll and read the evocation and rest. As he told Guangyao it had been a while, but he hoped he could remember the hand placement to play these scores.

A nagging question had been on Sizhui's mind. Would the ritual work? And why? Figuring it wouldn't hurt to ask, Sizhui turned to ask Guangyao the nagging question.

"Sizhui-er, I have every belief that this ritual will work."

"And why is that?"

"Because, you have Wen Yuan's spirit." Sizhui's blank face caused Guangyao to sigh heavily.

"Part of the reason for Wei Wuxian's madness is that he blames himself for his adopted son's death. When he realizes that you're the reincarnation of Wen Yuan it may settle him down enough to allow us to play Rest for the peace that he denied himself." With all the cloak and dagger from Guangyao, his word was useless. So why go along with this?

"And if that does not work?"

"In the words of today's youth, we are totally screwed" Sizhui snorts. Guangyao side glances at him questioningly.

"You are out of touch."

"Shut up." Odd how that reminded him of Jin Ling. That is the most frustrating part. He met his cousin finally only to lose track of him.

He's startled when he feels a hand on his shoulder.

"I have it on good authority that your cousin is fine." Sizhui felt a familiar course of anger but was too tired to act on it.

"Is this something you've known for a while?"

"Not until I had confirmation." Knowing the man by now, that could have been a few hours ago or maybe right from the beginning. It was no use now.

Quickly they set the Spirit Flags and drew the sigil for evocation from the Elder Teacher's scroll. He pivots to see Guangyao holding the flute, Liebling as he called it, touching the mouthpiece, his lips pursed.

"Will you be able to play it?" Guangyao snaps out of his trance and nods.

"I've practiced, just not with this instrument, but it should be no different." Sizhui nods and takes his place.

"What do we do about the Stygian Tiger Seal?" That had been the only thing he hadn't been unable to bring with him since he had to run for his life. Really, he would do anything to not get near the madman.

He... he wanted to go home with his A-die and Senior.

"He'll bring it with him. There is no way that he would leave without it." Guangyao ignored Sizhui's glare as he puffed in indignation.

"Then what was the point of me going to the Gentian House?"

"To let him know that I haven't stopped."

Lan Sizhui had to count to twenty in order not to kill Jin Guangyao.

"You are the most aggravating man I ever met."

"Yes, Dage would tell me that often." He was not laughing. He wants to go home. Wants to find Jin Ling. Eat Lotus Pork Rib Soup and forget that this night ever existed. Sadly, he let himself get duped, he realized. He should have grabbed his cousin the first chance he found him and just ran the hell out of this place. Now he’s stuck here, baiting a madman who apparently had every right to curse this place, who held... Senior's soul. 

He realized the implication now. Did Senior not wake up because now, in his previous life, Wei Wuxian the Yiling Patriarch held his soul. It would make sense, weirdly. The doctors could not find out why he refused to wake up. There was no brain damage, no previous health problems. He was just asleep. A-Die is like that too. They had trouble waking him up, and now his appetite was non-existent.

That broke him.

He couldn't see him go down the same path as Senior. He was the one lifeline he had against, the vicious rumors that sprouted. Cursed child.

He left for that reason.

His parents died trying to get home quick to surprise him. A-Die and Senior are now dying because Guangyao called their spirits back and the only way to save them is to put the Yiling Patriarch and Hanguang-jun to rest. The doors open and the few candles that Guangyao lit flicker off, one by one. Sizhui follows Guangyao's lead as he plays Clarity. He did not understand what was happening, but he could feel the coaxing influence as Guangyao directed the energy to circle around them.

"My, my Lianfang-zun, you're still here? I would have thought you'd have wasted away," joked Wei Wuxian as he walked through the door. He wasn't alone. Behind him were scores of fierce corpses in faded blue and white robes marred with dirt and blood. They stood there as if in attention.

It became apparent why, when the Stygian Tiger Seal is pulled from his sleeves, floating in his hands.

"If I recall correctly, I wounded you."

"Yet here I am."

"Yes, very interesting. Anyway's give me back the Wangji. That Guqin doesn't belong to you." All this time Sizhui hadn't stopped playing as instructed, but felt nervous. The Guqin, called Wangji, trembled in Sizhui's hand. He didn't see how this could be a weapon, but right now he had no choice but to trust Guangyao. He played the notes on and on, concentrating on the music, trying to listen to the scene happening before him.

"Wei Wuxian, you know that it's time to stop."

"Time to stop? Funny, the time to stop should have been when I gave myself and the Stygian Tiger Seal up, the time to stop was when we locked ourselves up in Burial Mounds, the time to stop would have been after the war when the Wen's gave up. But you didn’t, did you?" He plays a harsh note and sends a red and black energy towards them.

The sound of Clarity encircling them dissipated the attack.

"Oh, and I guess you learned some new tricks? Then again, you always were so good at twisting something so good for your benefit weren't you?" Guangyao growled as he prepared to send an attack only to stop when the Yiling Patriarch moves to the side.

Lan Xichen was supposed to be in the Hanshi. Yet here he was floating, held by the dark resentful energy that the Yiling Patriarch exuded.

Lan Xichen dropped to the floor, shoulders slumped.

"And here is the other culprit."

Guangyao stilled. With a quick movement, he motioned for Sizhui to be ready to be on the offensive.

"Seriously dabaizi, how naïve could you be. Oh, wait you weren't, you were just willfully ignorant. You know Sang-Gongzi was kind enough to tell me how many times Dage tried to warn you about Jin Guangyao? He's a liar. You can't trust him outright. He's up to something. And what did you do?" He lifts the other man's chin up.

"You gave him the very thing he needed to kill him. Your action allowed him to pin the blame on the surviving Wen's and kill them. Tell me, why were you allowed to mourn for A-Yuan when your actions had  a hand in killing him." He could not see an expression from Zewu-jun, but Sizhui could see the tears.

"Tell me Guangyao, will you be willing to save Zewu-jun or will you let him die just like Sect Leader Nie?" The horde of fierce corpse's ran in and Guangyao’s forced to work double time. On one end he played Liebling to continue the surrounding shield, on the other he helped Sizhui to direct the attacks to the fierce corpses.

If they had more time. More chances to work together, their teamwork would have been possible.

It failed as a demon corpse plunged a blade into Lan Xichen's back. His body dropped.

"No!" Guangyao ran hoping to catch Zewu-jun as Sizhui let out one last attack, pushing back the fierce corpse's back. It broke the connection. Red eyes narrowed in irritation.

Guangyao held Lan Xichen's body as he wept in agony, trying to stop the blood. It seeped his beautiful white robes.

"Zewu-jun! Zewu-jun! Xichen!" Cried out Guangyao, his voice breaking in pain. Sizhui allowed himself to become distracted, not realizing that the Yiling Patriarch was right next to him. He stood up in fear only to feel him ram his hand to his chest.

It was odd as he looked down. There was no blood, in fact it didn't go through his chest, but he noticed a red energy where the hand went through. It wasn't until he felt a squeeze to his heart that he realized the terrible implication.

"I don't know how you broke the connection. A lucky strike, perhaps? It matters not, why don't you make your last amends, eh?" He squeezes his heart and Sizhui could only scream in pain. His mind blacks out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "I can't-" "You should take him. He see's you as his father" "..." "A-Die! A-Die!" "A-Yuan! How is my little turnip!" Sizhui can feel himself carried and as he squeals into the air. A-Die is so fun! Alway's burying him in dirt to make him grow like the turnip he is, taking him to the market and let him play with the toys. Although he never bought him any, he never thought to beg him to buy it. He's thrown up in the air, enjoying the excitement. He could hear Wen Qing chiding him and uncle Wen Ning moving around to make sure he didn't fall. No worries. A-Die will always protect him. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Yiling Patriarch let's go as Sizhui falls back gasping for air. He didn't believe Guangyao's remark, but he could feel A-Yuan's feelings and how safe he felt. Tears fell from his eyes as he tried to get ahold of the turbulent emotions within.

"A-Yuan? A-Yuan is that you?" Sizhui looks up and see's the man in utter happiness. He looked so young, so joyful. Like he had committed no atrocities in his life. He tries to back away, but frozen from the frenzied look of Wei Wuxian. The man hugs him, his shoulder becoming damp with tears.

"A-Yuan! You're back, you're finally back! Please tell me you're here to stay. I'll protect you. This time I'll protect you from anyone that wants to harm you! No one will hurt you here. I promise! We'll stay in the Gentian House, plant potatoes and radishes, I'll play the Chenquing for you, no nightmares. Maybe if I'm in a pleasant mood, if I can trust him, I can let that man play on his Wangji. Stupid man, naming it after himself, ha, ha, ha!" With each word the Yiling Patriarch hugged him harder and harder, his nails digging into him deeper and deeper to his sides.

He tried to push him back, but he just refused to let go. It was becoming harder to breathe. The sound of the iron chain was the only warning they had before the Patriarch pushed him away.

"Wen Ning... why are you stopping me? I get it now, why you did what you had to do. You knew he was little A-Yuan, but now you're trying to take him away from me? Why?"

"Because A-Yuan died and moved on!" All occupants looked back to see Wen Qing, holding a red and white urn, the same one he saw in Gentian House, standing by the doors.

"He's A-Yuan reincarnated, but he's not our A-Yuan anymore. Wei Wuxian let it go. It's okay. You did your best." Wei Wuxian shakes his head in anger.

"No, no, no! It wasn't my best. I trusted the wrong people! I thought I was doing the right thing. I had the best intentions, and you died, granny, uncle four, everyone died. A-Yuan died!" He makes way to grab A-Yuan only for Wen Ning to get in the way. Hanguang appears and sensing Wei Wuxian's intention runs to grab Sizhui, but the extensive range of the Ghost General's chain cuts him off.

He does a sweeping arc to the two men, who’re forced to step back. Lan Wangji however changes his momentum forward when the chain passed by him, intent to accomplish the new goal.

Sizhui grabs Guqin and plays more notes, remembering how Guangyao guided him. He plucked the strings towards Hanguang-Jun. It wasn't strong, but it caught him off guard. He picks up the instrument and runs towards Guangyao and to pull him away from this place.

They failed, but they can come back and make an alternative plan! Something that'll free his guardians, free the spirits!

He forgot how fast Hanguang-Jun could be when he appeared by his side and used his long legs to trip him. His face smacked against the floor and he’s forced down when a foot pushed into his back. The Guqin landed far from him. Guangyao was not idle, though, as he pulled his blade out.

"Get Zewu-jun out of here!" Sizhui nods as he attempts to pick up the body. He didn't know if Guangyao noticed or just ignored it, but already Sizhui could tell his body had lost its warmth.

Sizhui attempts to move the man's body, but he was tall and he had trouble moving him. He looked to Wen Qing to help him, but she just stood there.

"Wen Qing! Help!" But she shook her head.

A misstep happens as the chaotic resentful energy acts up and crackles in the air. It nearly hits Sizhui, which causes the Ghost General to change tactics and steps in to protect him and Zewu-jun’s body.

The negative energy pours into Wen Ning, who lets out a howling growl. Seeing Sizhui endangered Wen Qing is quick to throw the urn passing through him. He shivered, cold and confused. Why did she pass through him? Wasn't she a fierce corpse? Was she a ghost?

He hears a scream and turns to see Hanguang-jun cut the Ghost General into pieces.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Lan-er-gege! You can't be mad! I've called your name so many times." "Shameless." The innocent sound of laughter is heard in the air of the Library Pavilion. Lan Wangji lips tilt in a smile. He hides it before Wei Wuxian catches sight of it.

***********

The Wen's took so much and now Lan Wangji’s left to wander with Wei Wuxian’s brother to look for him. He could only hope they weren't too late.

*********** "Stop following the demonic path," he laughs, surprising the occupants in the room. "Ah Hanguang-jun, right? You have no right to tell me anything. This is Jiang Sect's business." Lan Wangji leaves confused. What happened to him?

*********** "Lan Er-ge-ge, thank you for playing for me." Lan Wangji smiles and thinks everything would be okay.

************ It wasn't okay. It stopped being okay, and he didn't know what to do. "Wei Wuxian." "Did you forget what we promised? What's right and what's wrong?" That promise, they promised to protect the weak.

************ He'll protect them. He'll uphold his promise like he should have when We Wuxian first left. "Come to Gusu with me." "I can't. What will happen to the Wen's? You know that the other Sects want them dead." "I can talk to brother." "I- I…" "Please Wei Wuxian come to Gusu.  I will talk to brother. The Wen's will be safe. A-Yuan will be safe." "Can you promise me that?" "Mn." He will make the promise again if it gives him the chance to protect him and the others when he should have.

*********** "A-xian. I love you." He murmurs as he held him close. They couldn't bring A-Yuan yet, seeing as the Lan was in discussion with the Jin Sect about this. It should be fine though, as his brother promised to see things through. "Ah, Lan-er gege! Warn me when you tell me things like this," giggles his love. He looked better now. His face didn't look as pale, and though he found out his golden core’s gone, it still wasn't impeding his recovery. "Mn." "Lan-er gege, take responsibility and hug me." He does, and so much more. This moment and all other moments would become so precious to him.

*********** "You promised me!" "Wei-" "You promised me they would be okay! AND NOW THEY'RE DEAD!" "Please, listen!" How could it all go wrong?! The Wen's killing Nie Mingjue. He still couldn't understand how such a thing could happen, but all evidence pointed towards them. "I'M DONE LISTENING! I'M DONE! WHY DID I EVER LISTEN TO YOU! I SHOULD HAVE STAYED AT THE BURIAL MOUNDS! At least-" He sobs and he could only watch in pain. "At least-AT LEAST THEY WOULD BE ALIVE. WEN QING... WEN NING... A-... A-YUAN!"

********* They found A-Yuan, hidden by the tree trunk and sneaked him back here. They were too late, and they prepared a private funeral. The elders however had stipulations. "Never! His outbursts are too dangerous. Did you not see the resentful energy around him! It would only agitate the boy's spirit. It's sad that we were too late to save him from the fever, but we cannot allow him to partake in the mourning ceremony! The poor boy's soul would be endangered." Lan Wangji stood outside as he heard Wei Wuxian wail in agony. He wouldn't even answer his calls. He stood there, like he did when he was younger for his mother, but now for his A-Xian.

********* "Did you hear? The Jin Sect is cursed. Many of the main family are dead. The young madam had to move back home to protect the heir. How sad that her husband did not survive. Some say he had a hole in his ribs." He ignored the rumors, when all he cared about was whether his love would open the doors. He sat there on his knees, waiting. Waiting. He never noticed when the Stygian Tiger Seal flew into one of the opened windows.

********** Jin Guangyao arrived, claiming that Wei Wuxian stole the Stygian Tiger Seal. Lan Wangji didn't care.

********** Lan Wangji can only watch in despair as the Gentian House, the home of his late mother and now of his love, surrounded by resentful energy. The others begged him to move, to stop the Yiling Patriarch, but he knew he couldn't. He didn't trust him. Wouldn't open the door. He didn't even want to talk to him anymore. He lost that right when he could not protect the Wens. 'If I gave you my life.' He thought as he stood there ignoring his brother's call. 'If I gave myself to the curse, would you please look at me? Just once more.' Tears slid down his face, his throat closing up. 'Please look at me once more.' Jin Guangyao had to pull Lan Xichen away as he watched his brother give himself up to the Yiling Patriarch's curse.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"GET OUT OF HERE!" Hanguang-jun stood still, surprised that Wei Wuxian was looking at him.

"YOU DID IT AGAIN! GET OUT OF HERE!" Without a word he leaves, but not before grabbing his Guqin, Wangji. The Yiling Patriarch surveyed the area, ignoring the longing look from Hanguang jun.

The ashes were scattered across the floor as Wen Qing held her brother's corpse cut into pieces. She wept as Wei Wuxian landed on his knees.

"Wen Qing," he sobs. "Qing. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He kowtows before her. Wen Qing grabs his arm and shakes her head.

"It's okay. We've suffered enough, you've suffered enough. Let it go, it's time to rest," she utters as a golden light circles around her. Wei Wuxian could only cry as she disappears.

Both Sizhui and Guangyao leave with Xichen, allowing the Yiling Patriarch to mourn.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They arrived to the Hanshi in a somber mood.

They didn't succeed and Zewu-jun, who somehow lived all this time, was finally dead.

He was still curious how such a feat was possible, but Sizhui didn't even had the energy to sate his curiosity. The latest visions left a sour and bitter taste to his mouth. So much good intentions and it all lead to this hell.

Jin Guangyao fell. He waves off Sizhui.

"Go take him to his bed. I'll- I'll sit here and then join you for a bit." Sizhui nods and proceeds past the partition.

Odd that he never really walked passed here. Then again, he was never invited to the private room and with Lan Xichen mourning... it really wouldn't be appropriate.

He steps in and takes in the sight. The place was tidy. The books were in their place. A broken Guqin rested in one corner of the room with blood on its strings. It must have been Guangyao's as he remembered the conversation from earlier. The event must have been bad since it stained the wood.

Sizhui turns and finds a sight that should have terrified him, but after tonight's events he felt numbed. There on the bed was a dried up corpse. He wore the same clothes as Jin Guangyao but where the peony emblem should be, was nothing more than a hole, dried blood staining the fabric.

Jin Guangyao was a ghost too, huh? Odd how he felt real to the touch. Then again, so did Wen Qing. He wondered how that was possible, when she just passed by him, except for the urn holding the ashes. Were those her ashes?

He settles the last master of Gusu Lan to the bed, next to Jin Guangyao. Funny that Zewu-jun looked like he was sleeping peacefully. He wonders what his visions would have been. Did he and Guangyao share tea in this room? What was the relationship between him and his brother to fully entrust the safety of the now deceased Wens? He must have been a man of great integrity to have everyone trust him undisputedly.

He walks out of the room ready to face Guangyao's ghost, only to see the Yiling Patriarch standing over the fallen form of Guangyao.

"Stay away-" He stops short when he sees a sight for sore eyes. On the floor wearing Guangyao's clothes was his missing cousin, Jin Ling.

"This makes little sense."

"It does to me. I knew I killed him, I was just confused about how he could wield Liebling. After all, ghosts have no corporeal forms, so for them to hold on to anything they would need a relative or someone with a weak spiritual constitution to possess. Let me take a crack at it. A Jin? He has the same haughty look that all Jin's carry." Sizhui stood still, ready to grab his cousin to safety.

Wei Wuxian smirks.

"Don't worry, no more blood will be spilt. We have enough tragedies as it is. Question though. You are Lan, but you're not bound here. You could have left anytime you wanted. Especially when you found this one, so why are you still here?" Sizhui clears his throat.

"I can't leave till I free my A-Die and Senior. You have their souls"

"Let me guess. Guangyao? Here's the truth. He lied. Go ho-"

"You have their soul's! Their names are Lan Zhan and Wei Ying. Your laugh sounds almost like his if it didn't sound cynical and Hanguang-jun," he pauses. Unsure to tell him about the visions. "He is just as intimidating." Wei Wuxian laughs.

"Well, it makes sense why I felt out of it. It's only till recently that I feel coherent." He walks around the room taking in the sight and stops.

"You know that empathy can go two ways, right? It's hard for those that start off in the beginning, but once you get the hang of it, it becomes easier to look at the other side." He see's Sizhui's face and laughs.

"You know the visions you had. Tell me why did you run away?" It stuns Sizhui. did he know, no wait what did he know? Lying wouldn't get him anywhere, so he might as well be truthful.

"I'm cursed, or at least that's what other's say. My parents died when I was five and A-Die and Senior Wei took me in. After a while Senior Wei fell ill, with A-Die following along after that."

"Hm... and you thought running away would help?" Sizhui feels ashamed for the first time since he ran. Why did a man who placed a cursed, who almost killed him, wanted to kidnap him, now appeared to be admonishing him as if he did nothing wrong in his life? His mood was all over the place.

"Look kid you had good intentions right? Follow my advice, then. Running won't do you any good, it'll just make things more complicated. I ran instead of talking to others, confiding to others, and look where it took me." He gives him a grin, eyes appearing to water. "How about you go home and let those that love you help?"

"But the curs-"

"I'll take care of it. After all your what 15?"

"I'm 17!" He laughs lightly, painfully reminding him of Senior Wei.

"Take your friend home and leave. By the time you are walking down the mountain, we should break the curse. I just need to collect someone to help me."

"And you could have done this all this time." The devil may care smirk seemed to be a favorite face that Wei Wuxian loved to wear.

"Rule number one of a curse maker. Always know how to break said curse." He walks away, heading down the path that lead to the library. Sizhui wastes no time and wakes up Jin Ling.

"What the hell am I wearing?" As he takes it off, revealing his shirt and pants underneath. Sizhui finds his shoes and jacket in the closet, mindful to keep Jin Ling out of the room with the two dead occupants. No way would he be able to calm Jin Ling. 

Leaving no room for argument or questions, he pushes his cousin out of Hanshi and down the path that would take them down the mountain. Along the way, they met Jingyi and Zhizhen.

He answered their questions the best he could without revealing the horrors he faced. It was especially helpful when Jin Ling could not recall what happened at all. He saw Jin Ling look at him suspiciously, but figured he would explain to him at a later date. Now though was the time to leave this damn mountain.

Zhizhen was the first to hear the distant sounds of Dizi and Guqin playing.

"Wow, that sounds beautiful! Hey, are those fireflies?" The group looked around as orbs of light floated the night sky. Sizhui could feel it. They broke the curse.

Thank Jingyi who did not believe they were fireflies and urged them down the mountain.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The tow truck came and took them to Moling, where they called their Jin Ling's uncle Jiu'jiu'-Cheng. They could hear him threaten to break his legs if they moved from the spot.

Apparently the boys didn't ask or tell anyone they left to pick him up. He could only imagine how Jiu'jiu'-Cheng would react with him. He was always cautious about how he interacted with him, treating him like he was some porcelain doll. He didn't think that would last long after his latest stunt, though.

The next day, after a vigorous shower and thorough checkup, the injuries he had horrified his friends. He went to the hospital. The place was busy, but not as much as the one coming from his parents' rooms. Nurses were coming in and out, getting things and chit-chatting in excitement.

"What's going on?" he asked gu'gu'-li. Jin Ling's mother Jiang Yanli smiled, the joy reaching her eyes.

"Why don't you see?"

Lan Sizhui walked up to the room. It was a lot to take in.

Last time he was in this room Lan Zhan would just not move. Jiang Cheng, Wei Ying's brother, had to always come in and forcefully move him. Didn't work for long, as he always returned, until he could no longer move. He came to occupy the bed next to his beloved. He stopped coming in after that.

'That goes to show how much he loves Senior Wei.' He thought mournfully.

He didn't know what he was expecting, but the moment he came in heard  the rustling of the bed. It's been so long since he saw those grey eyes filled with mischief and glee. Tears erupted from his eyes.

"Well, there's our little rabbit." Commented Wei Ying, laying back comfortably on the pillow, his voice hoarse from disuse. He held back his gasp with a choke, foot pace quickening as he went to hug him. He felt so frail, and if he hugged him any tighter, he was sure to break him.

The sob came out, but he didn't care. He wasn't embarrassed, he just wanted to make sure that this moment was real. That the nightmares from Gusu manor were long gone. Senior Wei, he wasn't cold; he wasn't menacing and most of all broken. He was here alive! Living, breathing, and so warm. It was just so hard to let go. But he did when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked back and seeing those tired golden eyes.

"A-Die." His father turned him around.

"I'm sorry." Why was A-Die sorry? He didn't have to apologize. He was heartbroken. Lan Sizhui knew how much A-Die loves Senior Wei.

"Ah Lan Zhan, take responsibility and hug our little rabbit. Don't you see how worried he must have been." Lan Zhan agrees and hugs him tight. Lan Sizhui's eyes widened, then softened as he returned the hug.

"Don't worry about it. I know how much it hurt."

They stayed at the hospital room the entire day, reminiscing about the past and planning for the future. Jin Ling and the other's would join along. Almost caused them to be expelled, only to be kicked out when Jiu'jiu'-Cheng threatened to break his legs for his stunt. Running away had now permanently put him on the same list as Jin Ling, which said cousin cackled. Traitor.

Needless to say, Senior Wei forced him to stay the night to keep his adorable rabbit and show him all the love in the world.

Sizhui was okay with that as he slept on the couch happily. He was ready to welcome the many more days to come.

[wwwps4]

Just Cause 4

For me, Just Cause 4 was in the top ten expected games of 2018. Since the release of the first game on the PlayStation 2, I have loved this series for the freedom and dynamics of the gameplay, with each new part increased thanks to innovations, mainly tied to the hook-cat of Rico Rodriguez, the main character of the series. From the third part of the franchise began to change noticeably, adding serious notes to the previously crazy action, often devoid of meaning, logic and laws of physics. Actually, for which the series was loved by fans. But the degree of seriousness in Just Cause 3 was kept within the bounds of decency and did not destroy the cool atmosphere of madness — we had a charismatic dictator, not devoid of a sense of humor, a huge world and a wide Arsenal of tools of destruction.

From the fourth game it was quite logical to expect only the development of an established formula, and we got it. Partially. With the evolution of some game variables, unfortunately, others have noticeably degraded.

Looking back at the past, on the review of Just Cause 3, today's I wants to meet myself from the past and hit the head with a poker. Because the estimate is too high. But today's I also understand why this happened: against the background of the second part of the previous game looked and played much better, even despite performance problems. The new mechanics looked great and encouraged the player to use them. In Just Cause 4, the situation is different: new mechanics are curious, but experiments with them get boring after an hour or two, and you only return to balloons with boosters when you perform numerous and monotonous tests that make your eyes ripple. Finally, the game itself does not encourage the use of innovations.

Yes, the developers have tried to add some variety to the tasks that are set for the player, and now the mission to weaken the influence of the enemy in the region is not to destroy their bases, but to systematically capture them. On some bases, you need to disable and hack guns, on others-to steal drawings or weaken the protection, opening important rooms for passing with the help of specific models of cars, tanks and boats. But this is where all the diversity ends, because the mechanics of performing different tasks are still the same: find the switch — break the switch, find the generator-destroy the generator.

Story tasks and side activities in the game are tied to completely similar tasks, the variety of which is even more than in the previous parts of the series, but does not save you from the routine. Disabling switches and blowing up generators would be much more interesting if the developers had improved the artificial intelligence of their opponents, because in their current state, only some types of enemies pose a threat. And even then, not the biggest. A much more dangerous enemy of the player in Just Cause 4 is crazy physics, which can suddenly give out some stupid feint, turning the car over on an even spot or blowing up the helicopter from touching a tree branch with the rotor.

Helicopters in Just Cause 4 are your best friends, even though the body kit and weapons available to the player often don't match (for example, we see two types of projectiles and a machine gun, but we can only use one type of NUR and a machine gun). With them, you can perform most speed tests, clean up almost all the necessary enemy bases, and even destroy an enemy General trying to get away on a jet fighter. Yes, you can catch up with him by helicopter and shoot him. Not ask...

But it is worth paying tribute: the shooting in the fourth part is several goals higher than all previous releases in the series. Finally, Rico has learned to fire from the shoulder, which makes it much easier to aim and makes the control more comfortable. You can only praise the work on weapons and opponents. The hero's Arsenal grows as you progress, and each barrel now feels unique: different rate of fire, accuracy, alternative fire mode, reload speed, and so on. Worthily. Types of enemies also pleased — "Ghosts" and "Titans" can not only spoil the nerves of the player due to its elusiveness and strength of armor, respectively, but also send the invulnerable Rico to the next world.

Transport management has also improved, and all at once. The weight of the cars seems large, although they continue to be cardboard boxes, judging by the impact of game physics on them. Even tanks and armored personnel carriers take off here, like Chinese cars made of chocolate foil. Examples are in the video below! More pleasant than in Just Cause 3, was the management of air technology, but this is more due to its ease. But water transport is frustrating clumsiness, although it is most likely just quite realistic. Other things amuse: boats and jet skis sometimes feel good even on land. See for yourself:

There are also outright deterioration compared to Just Cause 3! For example, the tone of the project changed from casually playful and jaunty on "complex SSI", which has a negative effect on the atmosphere. The share of humor in the narrative and side activities has decreased, and attempts by some minor characters to dive into the pool of jokes ends with a painful blow on a newspaper spread out on the water. Alas, in Just Cause 4, there is no charismatic dictator, no cool boss battles, and most of the potentially cool moments are closed under a video lock. Seriously, instead of creating spectacular battles with the elements, the developers have translated all the "victory over bosses" in the format of videos. It turned out even worse than the battle with the final boss in Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. And there are few things worse than her.

The plot of the game... Yes, someone will now say that the game Just Cause has never been, and so on. True, but the developers themselves decided to change this and tried to take the "new height", which they did not submit. And since Avalanche Studios themselves decided to bring the story of Rico Rodriguez to the forefront, they gave carte Blanche for appropriate criticism. But it is not worth much to crucify and complain about this, either, it is more expensive for yourself. In General, the story has a good potential, but little attention from the authors, who are constantly confused about the details, dates and events of the past.

Moreover, some of the game dialogs simply do not correspond to the events that follow them. For example, in one of the videos, Tom Sheldon, who decided to make peace with Rico and help his precious student, says: "I will lead", which causes an entertaining skirmish with references to the past. But he gets behind the wheel of an armored car, and Rico climbs in after him. And what do you think? The car, of course, is controlled by the player. Either we were temporarily given power over Sheldon, or the developers and writers again forgot to sync the project's cloud.

When performing tests in Just Cause 4, remember that most of the necessary vehicles for "through the ring on a particular vehicle" tests are located near the test itself. From a few meters to a couple of blocks. For example, if the marker indicates that the test at the top of the mountain requires riding through the ring on a motorcycle, do not rush to look for the bike and attach the balls to it, as I did-climb the mountain using a winch and you will surely find a bike waiting for you there.

As for the technical part and scripto, they are a good source of high mood. However, not when you once again can not get the local "fultons" or jet mini-engines of the hook to work humanly, and they begin to turn the raised objects against any logic. Unfortunately, there will be most of these situations. The Avalanche team came up with interesting chips, but it did not work to implement them in a human way, as well as to encourage players to use them. The entire game, story - wise, you can go through, almost without using hook modifications. So what's the point?! The variety of the "set it yourself" level has always worked in Just Cause, but before that, the game mechanics did not go beyond the daily combat comforts.

Even for most of the tests where you need to deliver a car to an island or the roof of a high-rise, it is much easier to use a cargo helicopter with a magnetic grip than to play with balloons that behave as inadequately as possible most of the time they are used. After completing half of the tests, of which there are more than four hundred, I met only two where it was necessary to use balloons. Here just came to the rescue modification for them, allowing you to control the direction of flight crosshair sight.

The moment just got into the video below, which also says a lot about the technical part, artificial intelligence, stupefied since Just Cause 3, and the gameplay in General:

However, I repeat - fans of the franchise will be more satisfied with the new game, because the basic gameplay is thoroughly prettier. Another thing is that game innovations are mostly meaningless, and if they are simply thrown out, Just Cause 4 will not lose anything. The weather conditions that Avalanche was so proud of look great and even work, but have a strictly plot-based meaning. Without the technology developed by the local dictator, Solis seems to have no tornadoes, no winter blizzards, no sandstorms, no rain and thunderstorms. I just want to start packing my bags and looking for air tickets! After clearing objects that control weather conditions, we can turn them on and off with a single button. What for? To complicate your life, for example.

And there is no need for more. Storm and Blizzard limit the field of view, once in them, the enemies become absolutely stupid and blind. And since computer idiots and so ... idiots, send their intelligence to negative values once again do not want to, because the game becomes not interesting. Tornadoes destroy some objects, but only in specific areas. As well as the storm does not go beyond its limits. It turns out that we can again subject to spontaneous rape already cleared and captured areas. What's the point?! Oh, deja vu…

[burnouts3s3]

Jump Force, a review

(Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit unprofessional blog post written by an unprofessional blog poster. All purported facts and statement are little more than the subjective, biased opinion of said blog poster. In other words, don’t take anything I say too seriously.) Just the facts 'Cause you're in a Hurry! Publisher: Bandai Namco Developer: Spike Chunsoft Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP): 59.99 USD How much I paid: 99.99 USD for the Ultimate Edition. Bundle Includes: 3 Days Early access. Lobby Vehicles to ‘ride around in’ that’s purely cosmetic. Season Pass that unlocks 9 DLC characters to be announced and released at a later date. Rated: T for Mild Blood, Suggestive Themes and Violence Number of Playable Characters: 43. 4 Original characters. 39 Characters from Established franchises. Number of Stages: 7. Each Stage has a transition that changes when a character hits an opponent with a specific attack. Can I play offline: Yes. Controller Support: Yes. It was compatible with my Rock-Candy Xbox 360 controller.  Keyboard and Mouse controls are available but are very awkward and the game was clearly designed with a controller in mind.   How long I played: 18 Hours. 10 Hours to beat the story mode while watching the Cutscenes. UNSKIPPABLE cutscenes. 7 Hours just messing around and playing online matches. Microtransactions: 39.99 Season Pass that unlocks 9 DLC characters to be announced at a later date. Dual Audio: No. Only Japanese Audio with Subs available. What I played on: My PC. Performance Issues: For the most part, I got ‘mostly’ 60 FPS when I was playing online or running around. However, the FPS dips when there’s a cutscene playing to the mid 40’s even the high 30’s. Too bad however beautiful the particle effects are can’t adjust the wooden facial animations and stiff body movements. 3 Crashes within my playtime. My Personal Biases: I’ve followed the saga of Son Goku and friends. I’ve watched Naruto Uzumaki become the Hokage. I’ve watched Yusuke Urameshi journey from boy to man. I’ve watched Gon, Killua and Kullapika go on their various hunting expeditions. I’ve watched Yugi Moto become the king of games. And I’ve watched Light Yagami become defeated by his own hubris. In other words, I’ve been waiting for this game a ‘very’ long time, and have played previous games such as JStars Victory Vs. My Verdict: As much fun as it is seeing characters like Fist of the North Star’s Kenshiro beat the pulp out of My Hero Academia’s Deku, the limited roster, worn out gameplay from the Naruto Shippuden and Dragonball Xenoverse games, the laughable animation, idiotic story mode and the ever anti-consumer practices of Bandai Namco are bogging this game down. If you’re a fan of Shounen Jump, you’ll sure to have fun. But, if you’re patient or you want more characters consider picking up Jump Ultimate Stars or JStars Victory Vs and wait for a sale. Jump Force, a review

In celebration for 50 years, Weekly Shounen Jump has announced a new crossover game. Made with collaboration between Publisher Bandai Namco and Developer Spike Chunsoft, “Jump Force” arrives to bring together various characters found in Shueisha’s long running publication.

Can the game live up to the vast legacy it has inherited? Let’s find out in this review of “Jump Force”!

The Umbra cubes, cosmic cubes capable of granting those great power, have spread throughout the world. Thanks to the villain, Kane, and his lovely assistant, Galena, he has recruited the villains from Shounen Jump and replicated them. All the meanwhile, normal citizens have become “Venoms”, possessed by evil impulses. But just as Frieza fires a laser beam, ending your life, Trunks comes in, uses and Umbra cube and grants you great power to help combat evil.

Jump Force is an Arena fighting game similar to games such as Dragonball Xenoverse or Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm. Players pick between 3 characters and attempt to lower their opponent’s (shared) healthbar to zero. In addition to physical attacks, they can spend the abilities gauge to use a variety of ranged or close up attacks. In addition, whenever players take damage, they fill up the ‘awakening’ bar. Using half an awakening bar will allow players to unleash an ultimate attack, an ability that deals more damage than regular abilities. Using a full awakening bar will ‘transform’ the character to a powered-up state. For example, Goku will transform from his base form to his Super Saiyan form.

The other two characters can be called upon using the left trigger. Simply pressing the trigger will swap the character while holding it down will call them for an assist attack. Unfortunately, you cannot change the order of which characters you switch to and must cycle through said order to access the characters. (For example having a team order of Goku, Vegeta and Piccolo means that Goku cannot switch to Piccolo without switching through Vegeta first). Be careful because if you switch while both characters are on screen and the opponent is able to hit both, you’ll receive double the damage.  

Customizing your character is nothing new for Bandai Namco games such as the various DBZ Xenoverse games and Naruto: Shinobi Striker, but the mechanic remains impressive here. Allowing you a vast customization between characters allows different playstyles and gives your individual avatar the ability to learn various techniques such as Vegeta’s Galick Gun or Yusuke’s Spirit Gun. However, certain techniques, such as anything related to Jotaro or Yugi are unable to be learned by your Avatar character.

Similarly, the defense system returns. Using the mobility meter, characters can dash towards or away from the opponent or teleport out of a combo behind the enemy. Most of the time, using the guard button will block most attacks. But, characters can either grab the blocking opponent or hold down either the smash or heavy smash button to break through the opponent’s guard.

While most of the characters play similar to one another, some of the characters have slight variations. For example, similar to his manga counterpart, Sanji will be unable to deal damage to female characters. Similarly, when Gon connets with an opponent with his Ultimate attack, he will become unplayable for the duration of the match.

Learning said techniques can be used by spending the in-game currency which allows you to easily unlock abilities, skills that aid in battle such as boosting attack power or various costumes for your avatar. In-game currency can be earned by either playing through the story or playing online.

The Story will not win any awards unless the Razzies suddenly announce a video game category. It’s a pastiche of clichés, tired tropes and nonsense as players slog through another world ending plot with stupid villains, stupid twists and characters acting like morons. For some reason, Light Yagami figures out the twist that even the dumbest of us can figure out 5 seconds in. Not helping matters are the rest of the characters acting like complete idiots with Sanji being the focus for some reason.

Say what you will about the current state of fanfiction, bad fanfiction is at least INTERESTING.

This combines the worst of Mary Sue fanfiction with the most boring and bland cliches possible. I understand orienting the game for Western audiences meant having to borrow notes from the Avengers and Justice League, but the characters expositing non-stop about the predictable plotline isn’t helpful. Worst yet, Developer Spike Chunsoft has forgotten a vital component for any story cutscene, the ability to skip them. So, be prepared to watch as characters drone on and on during the cutscenes figuring out the plot.

Just the same, the artstyle is going to alienate some longtime fans. While using the Unreal engine to render things such as particle effects, fire and energy beams is a delight to behold, said delight is replaced by revulsion watching the stiff character faces barely emote when watching a cutscene. These animations make Mass Effect: Andromeda look like the Witcher 3.

Half the time, the characters don’t even talk. RYUK DOESN’T EVEN HAVE A VOICE! What’s odd is that in the non-essential cutscenes, when the characters barely move and don’t have voices, the writing actually improves. Seeing various characters from different franchises interact with each other, brings a small delight to a mess of a game. Watching Zoro tutor Asta while Kenshin watches on or seeing Deku be a student to Kakashi’s lectures is the stuff of fan dreams. It’s too bad these moments are few and fleeting. And while 42 Characters in a base game is nothing to sneeze at, fans of Shounen Jump crossover games have already called out Developer Spike Chunsoft. While more famous franchises such as Dragonball Z, Naruto and One Piece boast a whopping 6 representatives each, more obscure franchises are either not represented or have a meager 1 character, such as City Hunter’s Ryo Saeba or Fist of the North Star’s Kenshiro. Meanwhile, mainstays from previous Jump crossover games such as Dr. Slump’s Arale, Kochikame’s Ryotsu, Bobobo’s Bobobo, D Grayman’s Allen Walker, Reborn’s Tsuna Sawada and Gintama’s Gintoki are all missing (though there is speculation they would be added later as Downloadable Content locked away with a paywall). And yet… God, it’s just such a fangasm seeing characters from different franchises duke it out with one another. Seeing Jotaro fight with Deku. Seeing Asta cross blades with Dai. Seeing Goku trade blows with Kenshiro is just one of my biggest dreams. There’s a germ of an idea here but it’s botched by piss-poor execution. I’m just so sick of games I would’ve loved missing the mark and not reaching their full potential. Caveat: Shounen Jump, Shueisha and Bandai Namco have a rare opportunity on their hands. Having the ability to have a character as old as Seiya have a fist fight with a modern character like Deku is one of the rare privileges a company can have alongside with Marvel, DC Comics and Nintendo. So, it’s unfortunate when Bandai Namco and Spike Chunsoft drop the ball and start limiting the roster, overpopulating it with familiar franchises instead of obscure ones and start nickeling and diming its customers with stupid DLC policies. Say what you will about the (very) imperfect JStars Victory Vs (which was also developed by Spike Chunsoft and published by Bandai Namco), the one thing that game did right was introduce a plebian like me to series such as Medaka Box, Assassination Classroom, The Disastrous Life of Saiki K, Toriko and Beelzebub. And while I did enjoy the extensive customization and gained a sick sense of pleasure whenever I finish off an opponent with DIO’s Road Roller, part of me couldn’t help but wonder when Kinnikuman is going to get the recognition he deserves. Maybe when Shounen Jump has its 55th anniversary, they can give its vast legacy of characters a game worthy of 50 years. We’ll always have Jump Ultimate Stars on the DS. Verdict: Rental or Wait for a Sale

[nyrator]

And thus ends another Kresnyan week of wonders

It was quite an eventful week so buckle up for tons of photos, mainly arcade photos~

okay so I talked about Monday already

Tuesday was good, first thing in the morning we play F-Zero GX to wake us up, and somehow managed to beat the Ruby Master Cup with Silver Rat. What an awful, awful character, and yet such a good game for rewarding good mechanics.

Then we went around town exploring the local shops, got led into a strange pawn shop where the entire building was covered with junk, you had to shimmy through a small hall of junk to get through the place, and the owner followed in behind us without us realizing, pretty strange. Also entered a quiet little music shop and had Kresna serenade me with his good accordion skills, then visited my workplace and discussed seeing fireworks with them (we decided not to and instead played EDF and then more DDR, I also even bought a dance mat + two PS2 DDR games that day)

speaking of I got a second PS4 controller and so we played EDF 4.1 and over the course of a few days managed to 100% Hard mode with me as a Wing Diver and him as a Fencer, good times, lots of me dying and him saving me. Reminded me a lot of the PS2 one we played story-wise which after looking it up is a form of reboot of it, so neat. We decided to go straight to Inferno after that and managed to get up to about mission 23 before he had to leave, but man, we were decimating that mode (let’s ignore the having to deal with dragons in the future)

Bit disappointed we didn’t unlock Geist D because as dumb as it is I love the Geist, but mannn, got a sweet laser and Thunder Bow/Sniper 40s that I like to use

Anyway, Wednesday, the big event.

Round1

So initially it was a three-person trip that’s been planned all year, Kresna, Spade, and myself, though sadly but understandably Spade couldn’t make it this time. But mannnnnn.

So, we get up, struggle waking up, and head out on the two-and-a-half hour drive to Exton~

there was lots of neat street signs

there was also a Batman Road but couldn’t take a picture in time

also tons of great sights I forgot to take pictures of, but man, wouldn’t mind living in this area honestly, very pretty and very tree, we took a bunch of detours to avoid tolls and it was a very nice trip

but yes

round 1

this place is massive

this is what we first see going inside

that’s probably less than half of the cabinets they have

you got the shooting and driving cabinets to the right of the entrance, to the left is all more simplified games like pinballs and other popular brand ones, down the hall is the bowling alley which is adjecent to a bunch of claw grabbing machines for things from plushes to anime figures, past that you got the billards with karaoke booths, the fighting game cabinets, and at the mall entrance you have all the dance and musical cabinets, and mannnnn

see when I heard of this place I figure “oh yeah they advertise their bowling alley and also have karaoke, probably an arcade on the side, yeah”, no, this is an arcade feat. special guests bowling and karaoke

we got there at 1PM, took a small food break halfway through, and left around 5PM

my dudes, this place is amazing

I admit, I’m not much of an arcade gamer, but mannnn, what an amazing place.

Here are some of the games we playeddd

Kresna with his Tetris Grandmaster skills~ He played it three times, but man, given enough time he can easily top the scoreboards for sure

Some Outrun 2 SP~ My first time playing and I am bad at it but Kresna did pretty well

I tried playing some of that Gunslinger Stratos game I’ve heard about (aka saw there was Kuja costume DLC some years ago) but unfortunately the gun cursors were awful on the machine I used, all over the place, still beat two missions somehow with the girl in the giant robot, but mann, those cursors

heck yeah, some dekarissss and boy I absolutely am awful at tetris I am so sorry Kresna, the giant joysticks are fun though but man, multiplayer dekaris was suffering for the Kres

for reference, his solo attempt

there was also some rhythm heaven which was neat, Kresna again amazing at it and me not-so-much

we also decided to play this to fulfill our DDR thirst before taking a break

also SHOUTOUTS TO MUSIC GUNGUN, a simple but fun game with lots of good music and Kresna and I love it and may have to buy a cabinet, probably my favorite game there

after the break was more games but less photos to save battery life and repeating some of the aforementioned games, some that stood out

playing lots of Mario Kart DX, I won a grand total of once at the end but I’ll take that, thanks Waluigi and curse you Rosalina

I tried playing some Gitadora but failed miserably, my high school guitar hero skills were not enough for Medium Gitadora

meanwhile Kresna and his incredible talent at Beatmania

we finished the day at Round1 with some last bit of Music Gungun and trying out two-player Dancerush Stardom

and thus ended the trip to Round1, where we decided to head... east

East into New Jersey.

There was one more cabinet we needed to play.

Have some foliage that I forgot to take earlier to show how trees PA is~ There was a ton of nice foliage driving on the way there like I mentioned, just did not get to photograph ittt~

After another hour and a half drive (most of it spent in Philadelphia traffic, I will have you know that I am scared of heights or at least get vertigo easily, as well as being terrified of cars, and being in Philadelphia traffic is still absolutely terrifying to me)

I tried taking a photo of the Delaware but mannn could barely look up out of my seat because crippled with fear (seriously it’s only gotten worse the older I get for some reason)

anyway, just past 6:30, we finally arrive

Tilt Studio at Voorhees, NJ.

I admit, it had some neat cabinets, like Luigi’s Mansion, but nothing like Round1. However, we played none of these other cabinets

Kresna and I (mostly me) had a mission, and that mission was one cabinet

F-ZERO AX, BABYYYYY

look, you don’t understand

f-zero ax

I don’t have an addiction okay

anyway I brought my Memory Card (except I have unlocked basically everything in GX already so hm) and played with my custom vehicles~

and in just under $20 dollars worth of credits (with some used by Kresna of course) I managed to race every single race and I got my name on every single leaderboard (though they’re probably erased at the end of the day at this point)

yes we drove basically four hours to play F-Zero AX (plus Round1 goodness)

was it worth it? Yes

Sadly there aren’t any more licenses (to be expected though), but Kresna and I may have to buy our own cabinet, but a Deluxe Cabinet- the kind with moving seats and two-player actionnn

(it’ll happen you’ll see)

So then, the journey home, a night drive through NJ and bed

Thursday was firework day, though it was mainly EDF day for us. What a good game, EDF. Got some ice cream and hung out and was nice

Friday things began to slow down, EDF feat. more pizza and DDR dates~

Saturday was also pretty slow, slightly stressful day, including blahs from both of us, struggling at Inferno EDF and suffering my bad gameplay, and getting a flat tire on the way back from our last DDR trip of the night (oh boy), though we decided to watch a movie at least~ Genocidal Organ, based on a book Kresna read, it was pretty good~ Got Netflix to watch it (and Spy Kids 3D in honor of Red Square), though sadly SK3D didn’t have an anaglyph 3D option, and Genocidal Organ wasn’t on US Netflixxx, but we watched it through other means instead~

Today we finished the day with some car repairs, window shopping, and eating a big meal at a diner~ This is notable for being my first time eating somewhere in public and eating something that wasn’t just french fries (I had a blueberry pancake with whipped cream~)

Speaking of foods, this visit I tried sardines for the first timeee, not a fan but it was edible, my first time ever eating something fish-y~ Otherwise some neat treats from the Kresna involving many eggs and toasts and even an english muffinn

it was a good first anniversary week, and being with Kresna is always wonderful

And now to await the end of August, where I will finally migrate north and visit the Canadian lifestyle...

[killscreencinema]

Far Cry 5 (PlayStation 4)

Back in July, I had started playing Far Cry 5 as, in lieu of fireworks and a grill out to attend, this seemed the best way to get my patriotism on.  Of course I was aware of the controversy about how non-controversial the game was; that people were expecting the game to be a scathing social commentary on Trump’s America but actually turned out to be rather surprisingly moderate (though Rightwing Conservatives are still painted with a broad brush in a variety of unflattering stereotypes).  Several game critics were upset the game didn’t take more risks by completely lambasting Republican ideology.    

I can understand why they were disappointed - when the game was announced, my curiosity was piqued by the direction the game was taking.  Aside from the incredibly fun 80s throwback, Far Cry 3:  Blood Dragon, I’ve never played nor had much interest in the Far Cry games.  Ubisoft’s move to develop a new game set in rural America, and dealing with religious extremists, seemed incredibly prescient and bold.  Considering how stressful the presidential election was, and the emotionally exhausting years after, this game seemed as good way as any to blow off some steam.  While the game didn’t validate my political beliefs, I never really expected it to.  After all, we’re talking about an FPS developed by a Triple A company who is in it for the dolla bills, ya’ll.  They ain’t about to alienate their customers by making political statements. 

That shit is what Steam games are for. 

The game begins with a helicopter full of police officers en route to arrest Joseph Seed, leader of a dangerous cult called Eden’s Gate, who have all but taken over a fictional valley in Montana  named Hope County.

It goes about as well as you would expect.

You play as a nameless deputy, who barely survives the debacle, and is rescued by a member of the resistance fighting the cult to regain the valley.  After getting a briefing in just how fucked your situation is, you are then sent out to rescue your law enforcement comrades, rally the resistance, and take out the Seed family, who all look like the personifications of different types of white trash, one member at a time until you get another crack at Joseph (who looks and behaves like he’s watched Matthew McConaughey in True Detective way too much).  

You accomplish this by performing missions in each district a Seed family member runs until you’ve accrued enough experience to draw them out for a showdown.  I liked this style of gameplay, as it gives the player a lot of autonomy to play the game however they wish.  Ultimately, you have to play the story missions in order to progress, as they give the most experience, but it usually there’s almost always a story mission or two left over after each cult leader is dispatched, so the game gives you plenty of other non-story opportunities to earn XP.

The side missions can be tedious fetch quests at times, but honestly the environment is so gorgeous and expansive that any excuse to explore is welcome.  The game has a similar sense of discovery as Breath of the Wild, though maybe not quite as full of wonder (i.e. “My god, is that... is that a MAZE I see in the middle of the ocean??? And is that a goddamn dragon flying in the sky???”).  I honestly enjoyed just checking out landmarks and seeing what there is to see.  Playing every mission and finding every “Prepper Stash” (hidden bunkers loaded with useful supplies) was a joy beyond the cash rewards.  For example, one of the Prepper Stash missions involved investigating what happened to a man who had gone off in search of the sasquatch, which made me wonder... is sasquatch somewhere in this game?  I love the idea of searching for, and maybe even finding, a mythical beast in a huge sandbox game like this.  What a treat it would have been to be wandering around the woods, preparing to take back a cult outpost, only to glimpse Bigfoot walking around in the underbrush! 

There’s lots of nice moments like this, and it helps that the game doesn’t take itself too seriously.  There’s a satirical edge to the story, similar to games like Grand Theft Auto.  That being said, whenever the game forces you to pay attention to main story, it can be a little jarring and irritating.  Every now and then, your character gets captured by whichever Seed you’re gunning after, and you have to escape their clutches.  I hate that the game doesn’t give you any agency in whether or not you get captured, even though it pretends to.  The story is serviceable but not great and the Seeds are all very shallow archetypes.  Hell, with the exception of Faith Seed, they even looked alike - just dudes with beards and copious amounts of tattoos.  Cool cool - thanks for interrupting the good time I was having hunting grizzly bears so that I could be forced to have Beardy Man #2 get all up in my face to tell me why I’m a sinner and how the world is going to end.  Speaking of which, the only really interesting part of the story is at the end, especially if you get the bad ending (which I did). 

My biggest complaint about this game is that it’s easily broken once you get enough money to buy the best weapons and vehicles in the game.  I never felt the need to really explore all of the options available to me because once I got my sniper rifle, my machine gun, my magnum revolver (all equipped with silencers by the way), and attack chopper lined up, I was set for the rest of the game.  

Overall, I had a fucking blast with this game and would wholeheartedly recommend it!  But if you’re playing it because you wanna stick it to Trump, and the ideology he represents, then I’d advise you to redirect that energy to the voting booth on November 6th.

[danbevanwriting]

The Ranking of Final Fantasy: Final Fantasy II

After the runaway success of Final Fantasy, Square wanted to capitalise on it and release a sequel as soon as they could. As such, Final Fantasy II was made a mere year later for the NES for Japan only. What made this sequel special is in how little it actually resembles its predecessor. Instead of taking the easy route, Square decided to change how the combat system worked, worked in a more elaborate story with more in the way of characters, and crafted a whole new world. Very impressive work considering the single year gap. Some assets were understandably re-used (such as character sprites being close to identical to FFI) but there was a fair amount of original designs too. Of course, none of this came without a price...

All of the above sounds pretty good on paper, right? Well, I'll start with the combat system. More specifically, the leveling system. Experience as a leveling up system is gone, and in its place is a system that levels up stats and abilities with their use. So, as an example, you level up your sword skill by using swords in battle, and you level up your intelligence or MP by casting magic (magic costs points to use now rather than the charge system in the last game, which is an improvement in my eyes). Again, on paper this sounds pretty good and logical! However the amount of time it takes to level up these skills to a high degree is insane, requiring literally thousands of casts to reach anywhere close to top level magic, and each spell has to level up individually. This means if you want to cast high level elemental magic for the 3 major elements (fire, ice, lightning) then you'd have to cast each about 3,000 times. The same issue applies to the weapons too, which means that despite there being a whole host of different weapon types, you are at a complete disadvantage if you level anything other than swords, bows, or axes as most of the types have little to no late game tier weapons. This is probably why the encounter rate in this game is so high. It's far higher that FFI from what I can tell, or at least it feels significantly higher. The constant battles make the game feel like a chore to get through, draining you of your resources in game and patience out.

Another flaw with this system is that to be able to increase your maximum HP or MP then you have to take damage or use MP in battle and finish the fight. This leads to a problem with the way the game calculates the damage taken. If one of your characters takes damage in battle but you heal it up during the fight, it'll negate the damage taken and not count for the trigger to increase maximum HP. The way this is all calculated means that a common 'power levelling' tactic is to fight the weakest enemies in the game, beat the ever loving crap out of yourselves for as long as you can, then finish the fight, resulting in massive stat increases. This easy work around means that the game can become trivialised pretty easily. It also makes the game in general very unsatisfying to play as the game is either way too hard or way too easy due to a lack of balancing and huge difficulty spikes for the unprepared. Instead the gameplay is an exercise in tedium rather than being enjoyable like the first game due to level ups not feeling as good as they did in FFI nor the exploration aspect of the game being very enjoyable either.

The exploration aspect of the game is the same as the first game: world map, towns, dungeons. The world map aspect is pretty standard and follows in the same vein as the first with the same sort of transportation options open to the player. I only have a couple of issues with it to be honest, both of which are relatively minor. Firstly it's deceptively small, which means that the game requires you to back track through a lot of it with quests sending you back and forth across the same parts of the world and getting you back to a home base of sorts. Not a massive issue as it is not a bad thing, thematically, to return to the base of the resistance between missions. This does slow the pacing of the game right down though. Secondly, the map has an issue with signposting difficult enemies. For example in the last game, as the map was significantly larger, harder enemies were gated in to zones you could only get to with the use of a vehicle or tool locked behind a dungeon or boss. Not the case here. It's very easy early on in the game to wander just a little bit to too far to the West and get one-shot by enemies meant to be fought a lot later in the game. It does give the world a more hostile feeling but it's not exactly fair either. The towns that litter the world map are fine, nothing too interesting of note as they all are pretty similar, although I do like how they change throughout the game at times, such as Fynn being re-occupied by normal citizens when you liberate it from the empire and Altair showing signs of damage after it's attacked. Helping exploration a bit is the key word system which lets you learn and ask key words to certain NPCs. It is somewhat limited in scope however and isn't utilised as well as it could have, but this was a NES game after all so I wouldn't have expected anything too amazing. The fact it is in this game at all and utilised how it is is impressive in itself, honestly.

The dungeons are a different story though, and is part of the major failing of this game. You'll spend the vast majority of the play time crawling through these dungeons which take a few different shapes but are mostly caves and stone fortresses. The tile sets look fine but the way that the dungeons themselves are designed is among the worst I've ever played. They're so tedious. Not only are they complex to a fault, having many twisting paths and dead ends that provide little to no reward, but they seem to be designed to create as much ire in the player as possible. Throughout all the dungeons there are doors, either in corners or at the end of a corridor with a few of them in a row, but unfortunately these doors more than often lead to empty rooms which drop you in to the middle of them. Not only is it annoying that there's nothing in the rooms (especially when you choose the wrong door out of several next to each other, only one of which progresses the dungeon), the encounter rate in these rooms is tweaked incredibly high. This means that it is more than possible to encounter enemies with every step you take back to the door which can be lethal if you're in the wrong situation or get a bad mix of enemies. Not helping the dungeons is the boring music, which certainly doesn't negate the tedium.

The music in general is rather lackluster to be honest. The only music pieces I can think of that are good are the normal battle theme, the over world theme, and the rebel theme that plays when you're in the rebel base. Everything else is really boring, or repetitive, or just bizarre like the boss theme. Seriously, what is up with that boss theme?(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fprhlzyl30s) The one used for later game bosses is better but still not incredible or very memorable. Honestly that's a word that can sum up the majority of the soundtrack despite how repetitive it is: forgettable. This is where the Chocobos are introduced for the first time, but they somehow ruin that through the music which is literally just one bar long and is repeated ad nauseam, and I don't think I need to explain why that is so terrible...

The story of the game ranges from boring to 'okay'. Characters are more than mere cardboard cut-outs like in FFI but they still aren't amazingly fleshed out. There isn't much in the way of character development for the main characters, despite them being distinct characters this time around. You never really learn much about Firion, Guy, or Maria during the whole game other than they're orphans and really don't like the empire because they destroyed their home. This is a shame as they are obviously with the party the whole game and just get nothing to say really. The supporting characters aren't too much better either. Through the game you get extra party members that take up the fourth slot in your party, however you'll quickly learn that this is sometimes just a death sentence for them, or you'll learn just to simply not care about them at all. Often times the party member will come in weak and underpowered, meaning you have to baby sit them as they gain levels, only for them to leave the party forever (taking all equipment with them) or they die to save the three protagonists in a dramatic moment. While it does provide a context for the fight and shows how desperate the war on the empire is, but it's also dramatically repetitive. Of course this is a really good story for a NES game and has far more complexities than anything else at the time. But now the story is mostly just not engaging. The story is mostly predictable, characters are mostly one note, the big bad, the Emperor, is pretty flat and starts the trend of Final Fantasy antagonists either being only one part of a bigger unseen picture, or coming back from the dead because 'evil magic'. Honestly I don't think there's a single memorable character here, and there isn't much I could tell you about the ones I do remember, aside from Minwu looks cool and unique? The story starts surprisingly strong though, with an unwinnable fight to wipe the party in order to set the tone and the pace of the story is pretty snappy too, setting you off in to the world and making decent progress with exposing or routing the empire from towns and even destroying their Dreadnought ship. Unfortunately the story's pace just nose dives after that, padding the story out with a world spanning fetch quest where the story just treads water until the end with boring long dungeons and an ending which is rather flat.

In conclusion, Final Fantasy II isn't very good. It's boring, frustrating, repetitive, tedious, but also has a couple of bright spots in the premise and the idea of the levelling up system. I played through this game on the PSP/ mobile version which is far less frustrating than the original or PS1 version. In the original game on NES, the frustrating stat increase system was even more annoying with a stat degradation that would take away points from skills or stats that weren't used for a while. I think that would have made me quit the game pretty early on to be quite honest. The original also only ever let you save your game outside, and with the length of some of these dungeons combined with the high encounter rate would also lead to an ungodly amount of stress and frustration.

So how does this game compare to the rest of the series so far? Well comparing the game to FFI alone, this is a night and day difference. You can tell this game was made quickly as the developers seemed to have forgot to make the gameplay fun before they focused on telling a more complex tale within a video game. Not only is this a bad Final Fantasy, it's a bad RPG, and is the black sheep of the series for a reason. Obviously this is going to the bottom of the list, where I predict it will stay for the rest of this series.

And that's it for Final Fantasy II! I won't lie, I'm glad to see the back of it. It's part of why I took so long getting this done, I lost a lot of motivation to get through the game due to some of the rubbish the game threw my way. It's only up from here though! Just for the record too, I plan to do all direct sequels in this series too, which means I'll be reviewing and rating Final Fantasies IV: The After Years, X-2, XIII-2, and XIII: Lightning Returns. The only one I probably won't touch is XII: Revenant Wings due to me mostly just being uninterested in it. Anyway, thank you for reading, and please look forward to when I review and rate Final Fantasy III!

Current Rankings:

Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy II

[nemolian]

After watching 50,000 hours of Pac-Man, Nvidia’s AI generated a playable clone

Enlarge /

To rebuild

Pac-Man

, you must watch a lot of

Pac-Man

.

Nvidia / Bandai-Namco

0 with 0 posters participating

You may be familiar with the Infinite Monkey Theorem, an oft-cited (and often incorrectly quoted) claim that thousands of monkeys could bang on thousands of typewriters and eventually produce a work of art equivalent to Williams Shakespeare. (Yes, Simpsons did it.)

This week, Nvidia confirms that it has taken this theory quite seriously with its own twist: an army of AI routines, dubbed GameGAN (short for "generative adversarial networks"), trained to build a playable video game from scratch. More precisely, they've chosen one of the industry's biggest, most recognizable games, celebrating its 40th anniversary today: Pac-Man.

If you've seen other farms of computers trained on existing games, this has usually come in the form of them learning how to play the game in question. After watching thousands of hours of a particular game and tracking the most successful moves and reactions in the course of a versus match, these AI routines can then control games, repeat and juggle thousands of strategies, and battle humans. (Sometimes the results go well for the computers, but not always.)

Nvidia's latest experiment starts in similar fashion, as its AI research team trained a farm of four computers—each equipped with a Quadro GV100 workstation-grade GPU—on 50,000 hours of Pac-Man gameplay. That gameplay, conveniently enough, was also played by a separate AI. Trained on this footage, the computers in question then turned around and created their own identical-looking clone... with some exceptions.

Watch Pac-Man, write Pac-Man

"Our AI didn't see any of [Pac-Man's] code, just pixels coming out of the game engine," Nvidia representative Hector Marinez said to Ars Technica. "By watching this, it learned the rules." Those included specifics like: Pac-Man's speed, movement abilities, and inability to go through walls; the four ghosts' movement patterns; what happens when Pac-Man eats a power pellet; and what happens when ghosts touch Pac-Man, super-charged or otherwise.

"Any of us could watch hours of people playing Pac-Man, and from that, you could potentially write your own Pac-Man game, just by observing the rules," Marinez said. "That's what this AI has done."

Video coming soon.

Marinez and the rest of Nvidia's available researchers did not clarify exactly what coding subroutine drove this AI's ability to write executable code of its own, nor whether it leaned on existing game engines. (After all, if simply watching hours of Pac-Man could teach me how to code video games by hand, I would have a very different career.) Eventually, they handed us a copy of the associated paper that explains how Nvidia's research team pulled it off. It's... complicated. The quickest description is a series of three modules (memory, dynamics engine, and rendering engine) that run as neural networks.

The available researchers also admitted that Nvidia's existing model suffers from fidelity issues. The below gameplay maxes out at roughly 128×128 pixel resolution, which runs at roughly 50 frames per second, below the series' 60fps standard.

Nvidia says this playable version of Pac-Man will be made available to the public "this summer," though the company would not clarify whether it would be distributed as a downloadable executable or served via a restricted cloud-gaming service like Nvidia's GeForce Now.

In our interview, Nvidia suggested how this technology might some day revolutionize the work pipeline of a video game studio. The representatives didn't do much to back up their bold claim that "there's a straight line from Pac-Man to having GameGAN produce games and simulations" of the same quality as modern 3D mega-hits. But the team's researchers were bullish on AI-driven routines possibly aiding the development of massive virtual worlds as tools to be directed by human staffers.

"We've created an AI agent that can learn the rules of the game just by observing it," one Nvidia representative said. "Before you create a tool that puts content into the game, it needs to understand the rules." They went on to discuss the wealth of assets (characters, buildings, vehicles) you might expect in a massive open-world game—which need to first be designed and then coded to react realistically to the game world around them. "Think of Grand Theft Auto V. Thousands of artists worked over many years to produce those worlds. Any tools to assist in generating that content would be very valuable."

Full pretzel fidelity, some day?

But Nvidia didn't offer a guess or estimate of how much a farm of computers would have to scale up to study and examine real-time gameplay of 3D games, let alone the kinds of videotaped, real-world environment study that the company could use to build smarter, more responsive real-world robots. It needed 50,000 hours to interpret a single Pac-Man maze, and again, that was choked up in terms of fidelity; one researcher admitted that higher resolutions are "still an open challenge for these kinds of networks." How many equivalent processing hours will be needed to recreate a dated 3D game like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, let alone best-in-class 3D worlds?

We're not the kinds to say it can't be done. But while the cutting-edge idea has us intrigued, we're going to reserve our excitement until we see a full-resolution version of Q-Bert get its own GameGAN translation. (Really, even the four-puzzle upgrade of Ms. Pac-Man would be a good start. Maybe in time for its 40th anniversary in 2022?)

via:Ars Technica, May 22, 2020 at 08:06AM

[waringawaw153-blog]

How to get Farming Simulator 17 Free

Although simulation activities have been known for ages, Farming Simulator kicked off the farming genre. Other farming games be, yet nothing competes with this iconic series. FS17 brings mod foundation and fresh attributes to Xbox One also MACHINE, but is that enough to substantiate passing over the money?

The Farming Simulator series created with Farming Simulator 2013. Since then, sequels have happened every a couple seasons for LAPTOP and console. Farming Simulator 16 was a harbor of 15 for mobile and PlayStation Vita.

Everybody understands this is a simulation activity in which people desire tractors and other farming machinery, grow plants and stock, and handle the fiscal aspects of a farm. So let's look at most of this time new functions and how much they improve the game.

In the two included maps, Goldcrest Area is mark new and set in the USA. The other map, Sosnovka, develops with Asian Europe. Originally published as downloadable articles for Farming Simulator 15, it has been remastered with greater idea quality. Farming Simulator games always launch with no more than two places, which is a bit skimpy.

For the first time in the chain, we can want to participate because also a man or female farmer. This will make the game more compelling to new audiences. It's definitely a step up the right way. However, the game still gets place for further variety.

The two characters you can choose from, one per gender, are both white. You can't change their skin color, but you could pick out the color of the shirts. Giants Software is situated in Switzerland, a mostly white voters. In games like this, targeting a global audience, developers must think players of new races as well as their own.

The overall goal in Farming Simulator has always been to buy all the takes on the place and spread the farm as large as possible. That stage in '17, but the developers added a hail dose of form using the new assignment system.

Each buyable scenario of earth is owned by a player who offers to pay people for finishing missions. These missions become an excellent way to make money. After you've completed all of a farmer's missions, he'll push the topic designed for a much worse cost than if you'd wanted to get this outright.

Drivable trains add a fun another factor for the sport. Players have several files on all place. You don't have to get them before pay maintenance costs, and you can jump directly in them by wherever on the map.

Cruising in now trains and having the landscape is enjoyable on its, but they're also a great way to transport materials with wood for sale. You use a claw-game like crane to weight stuff onto the exercise and then head to the adjoining selling point.

Farming Simulator 15 was not the interesting up for. The worst offender became its surface maps. Comparing ground textures between '15 and '17 on Xbox One, I detect a little increase with attribute. The textures in '17 live precisely below standards to the console, which is a real shame. Still, '17 does apparently have strengthened mip mapping, so textures retain detail at the higher space than now '15. Foliage is slightly more described, and pale has found better too.

As for sound, Giants has increased two in-game radio sections to participants can toggle while making autos (and optionally, by base also). The harmony is nothing special, but it presents for a more varied experience than listening to the measure of character for hours on end.

Mod leg was pushed as a key characteristic of Farming Simulator 2017 ahead of the release, particularly during the period to mods for the PlayStation 4 variation of Fallout 4 were looking rocky. Now that the game is here, the nonsense appears to include lived for naught – at least by consoles.

Mods are registered specifically for the right screen menu, so they're easy to recover. The store lists several different classifications of downloadable items, and some extra categories like Latest and Most Downloaded. Trouble exists, among those categories, the Xbox One account just say 31 total mods at here.

All but one of those mods are easily farming tools not significantly different from those involved with the game anyway, though several seem to suggest enhanced thing. The solitary non-equipment mod changes gameplay somewhat by disabling camera difficulty with cars. Its author is Big Software. The Places category doesn't need a single point yet.

Like Farming Simulator 15, '17 supports 6-player online co-op. Players can pick who can write their game – random players, friends, or call only. After an individual wants to join the game, you'll receive a prompt asking whether to allow them to participate or not. Nobody will be messing around with your farm and funds without authorization, that is fine.

The ability to join competition is unnecessarily complicated by the game's holding of downloadable content (DLC). Should the host include any DLC or mods enabled, participants may just be able to join the game if they own the same DLC. You end up having to turn DLC down (the option thankfully presented every time you worry a bar game) in order to play multiplayer, only therefore that many people may reach.

A greater implementation would increase the data for all DLC to all players, even if they don't acknowledge that. And then they could contact the host's cars in multiplayer, but not on their own. Alternately, the game may prompt you to download any missing DLC about entering the game. As it happens, you can't even tell that content you're missing - you only get rejected.

Upon successfully joining a multiplayer game, everyone shares the same vehicles, wealth, with reserves which go on the crowd. You can leave working together as a group. This is fun in the relaxing, social way. But as with other areas with the competition, complex numbers with decisions threaten to ruin the fun.

For instance, player character standards have laughably bad life. When you start, that appears to help additional players like you basically moved up to the fresh air then defeat over. The perfect doesn't need a flying animation. Going with tracking looks awkward as well.

Another great trouble with multiplayer is Achievements. Persons that sign up for the host's game may earn Achievements, which is bad, but not entirely unusual. About sports only allow the first player to have them. Yet '17 goes a move farther by not even letting the host participant to earn Achievements in multiplayer. You can load up the exact same place from your single person game, although if perhaps another player reaches in, you won't be able to earn Achievements.

Games like this really need Achievements to provide targets and organize to persons, so arbitrarily not being able to make them when using friends is thoroughly unproductive. I talk with the developers about the question at E3 shortly after Farming Simulator 15 came out, but however, they preferred not to address the issue in this sequel. I wonder when the public responsible of '17 play many other games.

Farming Simulator 17 offers 17 Achievements / Trophies happening the entire systems, a move down through the 26 Successes in Farming Simulator 15. I suppose they care for the Achievement count to match the year with the activity. Some are easy, like as lower down 50 woods or gain a 3-point killed in the new (but bad) basketball minigame.

This year, players just should earn one million currency rather than ten million. You can apply our Easy Money Trick to make a cinch, as well as knock not on the 'play for ten hours' Achievement. There is once over an Success for locating 100 collectibles, and you only must realize 10 before the rest show up on the road. The rest involve breeding animals, harvesting 10 hectares of ground, and finishing all jobs for the NPC farmers. Stay tuned for our full Achievement Leader with ideas for all of these.

FS17, like '15 otherwise this, is a major blow upon COMPUTER. We can safely put on a fair console audience as well. That may well seem funny to action-addicted gamers, but a match with certainly no violence may always be fun. It's a Farming Simulator Series farmsimulator.eu calm experience somewhat akin to playing Minecraft in Creative mode.

We know that sequence is a load of income. I merely wish more of these money might be met for the display. There's absolutely no cause Farming Simulator 17 must come across so dangerous because it sort out. The physics are certainly terrible in many places. And a lot of clunky gameplay factors such as hitching trailers could certainly become developed, only when the designers studied other games.

Seriously, I hope they'd spend some good hours about Minecraft then deliver some of the belief to live ultimately rank in other activities over to Farming Simulator. One must deal with a lot of rough edges to enjoy FS17. But if you can do that, that absolutely offers a deep farming event and lots of realistic licensed machinery.

[shooshopath]

Finished MEA

THE GOOD THE CC. yeah yeah there’ve been like 5000000 complaints about it and like 60% of them are valid but also I can actually make an East Asian Ryder. Like it took 6 games but bioware finally got there LET ME HAVE THIS BEFORE DA4 TAKES IT AWAY BECAUSE APPARENTLY EAST ASIAN PEOPLE DONT EXIST IN THEDAS. VETRA. light of my life. My moon and stars. So tall. So kind. She’s just-so good. Like she keeps a literal crate of cereal in her room how was I supposed to not romance her. Honestly I really liked almost all of the tempest crew, barring Cora who…I don’t dislike, I just wish she’d talk about something besides asari. But I really think her story of self doubt has a lot of potential if it’s done correctly. GAMEPLAY. Fighting in this game is so fun! I’m not a fan of the profile set up but combat in general is so much more fluid and dynamic without being too frustrating. I do wish the guns did more damage but I was also admittedly playing on hardcore. Yes that was a humblebrag let me have this. In general my melee weapon did a lot more damage than any of my firearms which I guess is fine, though it did get a little boring constantly going pull-charge-melee on everything. THE SIDEQUESTS. I made it a point to only do the ones that sounded interesting but honestly they’re so much better than DAI’s. KADARA was probably the best part of the game for me. Fun plot line, interesting lore, not having to crawl inside the nomad every five minutes so I don’t die. THE BEST. THE NOMAD is so much better than the mako. I feel regret for every time I ever insulted the nomad on Eos because I can actually turn with it and that’s a feeling I never thought I’d get to experience with a vehicle in mass effect. THE ANIMATION. yeah yeah it’s weirdly jerky and a lot of the faces are cringey but after the patch it still looks better than any of the other mass effect games sorry not sorry THE FINAL QUEST. Actually really enjoyed the final charge. It kind of feels like what me3 should have been, in that all the allies you made throughout the game actually show up to help you and be your meatshields in combat. Also twin angst feels. LOYALTY MISSIONS. good shit.

THE MEH LIAM is not meh. Liam is an angel. But I feel like the people who wrote his loyalty mission/convos with ryder and the people who wrote his banter with other squadmates were on two completely different pages. It feels like he’s presented as friendly, open, and willing to break the rules to do what’s right, but then I’m in the nomad and half the convos between him and other squadmates have him with a stick up his ass and acting like a by the book cop. Which we were told that he quit BECAUSE he wasn’t like that. But whatever. THE ANGARA are ok. Though the game keeps on telling me they’re open with their emotions and I…did not see that. Like crying because you found out your mortal enemy is a zombified version of your race or being angry that a bunch of aliens are suddenly all up in your grill seem pretty reasonable to me. I enjoyed the moshae, it’s nice having a character who is firmly confident in her beliefs. VANGUARD. is so broken. 90% of the time I loved the combat and I’m either at full barriers all the time ripping turrets apart with my sword or I’m dead because the kett two feet in front of me is apparently an Invalid Target and I can’t charge them. Unrelated but I feel like vanguard mains are equivalent to dog owners in that we can’t and won’t shut up about how vanguard is the best class even if you’re talking about any other class. It’s Me. I’m guilty of this. ASARI FACES are all the same and a lot of people have complained about this but it’s actually true for all the of the original games as well, they just hid it better through lots of variations in makeup, skin tone and facial markings. It seems like a combination of the graphics being so much better and way less variation in terms of makeup/tattoos just made it incredibly blatant. SAM is…SAM’s ok, they just seem way too overpowered and I still don’t really understand what about them specifically makes them able to control the remnant besides Alec Ryder being Just That Good Of A Programmer. I like that SAM grows along with Ryder and you can see that as the game progresses (especially that Convo with your sibling near the end, that was Good), they just need to set some limitations on what they’re capable of because right now 80% of the quests are just “wave SAM at the thing to do the thing.” REYES VS SLOANE. Out of context I really enjoyed this plot line and Kadara, but…man, pitting the only prominent black woman in the game against one of only two mlm romance options and forcing you to choose between them is. Not great. Also, it feels like they were definitely pushing for the player to go with reyes-you get more chances to know and interact with him, and the game’s a lot more blatant about how evil sloane is compared to him when in actuality they’re both very morally grey. Also, if you’re playing a gay Ryder and you’re uncomfortable with letting sloane die you’re fucked either way since it’s either let that happen or not have the chance to finish the romance path of one of only two options (and if you’re not interested in the baby plot, really the only option). Also I loved Reyes he is a great character but please for the love of god hire someone who is actually latino to voice him because right now all I hear is default white mhawke trying and failing to do a sexy accent to impress his LI.

THE NONSENSE THE ORB BOSS KETT THINGS are stupid. HAINLY ABRHAMS aka we fucked up writing a trans character so we’ve just decided to remove any reference of her being trans at all to make up for it. Bioware, progressive bastion of the video game industry. JILL is exactly as bad as you would expect and I hope to god they just remove her from the game completely. FANDOM. yes yes it’s unrelated to the game but I’ve already seen like five posts whitewashing Reyes and another five turning him into a goddamn stereotype and I. I am so tired. THE KETT are so boring. I’m sorry they just. They just are. Also the Archon talks about genetic perfection yet his head is literally??? A horn circle??? There’s literally no plausible reason I can think of for why a species obsessed with being the strongest would use its resources and considerable scientific knowledge to grow a kett who has the equivalent of a Christmas ornament hanger on his head, in fact I’d argue it’s actually a detriment, like every time I see it I just want to yank. Also how would that even grow?? I’m assuming it acts similar to how horn growth occurs in mammals so how do the two horns eventually converge into one, and why would you want them to converge when having horns is already way more useful than a stupid halo that’s just begging for someone to loop a rope through and use him as a door knocker. Like the only feasible reason for why it exists is for target practice? Like some Kett hazing ritual, haha shoot through the horncle for 50 points it’ll be fine I swear come on man oh no oh fuck oh shit run. It’s so useless and serves absolutely no purpose yet some important kett scientist knowingly made this aesthetic choice. None of the other Kett leaders have it so why???! Does it exist????? I can’t take him seriously every time I see him and his deep ominous voice and his baby face I just can’t get past the horncle it destroys the tension why did whoever was in charge of character design let this happen goddamnit

[williamsjoan]

Magic Leap and other AR startups have a rough 2019 ahead of them

Very rarely does an early technology garner such an air of inevitability like AR has in the past few years.

2018 was supposed to be a year where the foundational tech for augmented reality was built out a bit and the industry took a couple big leaps. Things started off well-enough, but momentum really doesn’t seem be on the side of some of the industry’s heaviest hitters heading into 2019, suggesting that life for earlier-stage startups may not be much easier.

There are plenty of reasons to be long-term bullish on AR, but the time horizons some have espoused seems to be bogus and pitch decks organized around a near-term spike in phone-based or glasses-based users are going to have a tougher time being taken seriously in 2019.

The ghost with the most

For all of the AR advances made this year, the company most emblematic of AR’s numerous challenges was clearly Magic Leap .

The company spent the past few years trashing industry standards and lauding their own approaches with braggadocio, but ended up releasing a product that largely iterated on its competitors. With the release of their “developer kit” this year, a product that clearly seems to have stopped being a first-gen product only when the reality of the climate availed itself, the startup seems to be finding that optics and infra progress is going to come more slowly than foretold.

I’ve talked to more than a few people who think Magic Leap hindered progress in the AR industry by siphoning investor attention and discouraging other hardware startups from joining the fray in the face of a billions-backed unknown. But in 2019, there are fewer available plays for the funding juggernaut. They spent years trying to distinguish themselves from the corporate mission of Microsoft and their HoloLens headset; now it seems they’ve begun to see that the only hope of justifying their sitting valuation in the next few years is enlisting support from the big customers that MSFT is chasing, as opposed to single-handedly birthing a consumer market. Magic Leap recently lost a bid to Microsoft for a $480 million military contract to outfit troops with AR headsets, and as Microsoft prepares to release a second-generation HoloLens with the enterprise in full concentration, it seems like Magic Leap is going to reshuffle its deck.

Dead-on-arrival content plays

Magic Leap’s struggles are well-documented, but what plagues the overall AR industry seems less discussed.

The consumer appetite for phone-based AR content is obviously lacking. Even Apple’s reality distortion field isn’t enough to convince people that its ARKit releases have led to anything other than some weird experimentation for iOS users. Few Android OEMs are boasting about compatibility with Google’s ARCore platform anymore, suggesting that approachable hardware standards for device makers wasn’t all that was missing from the failed Tango brand.

The most apparent mobile AR opportunities are probably in user-generated content, but there seems to be a disconnect between platforms and users in terms of how complex these AR experiences can and should become. At this point, selfie masks still seem to be at the edge of users’ comfort levels, leaving a lot of solved tech problems stuck in limbo waiting for a problem that makes them worthwhile.

Niantic is probably one of the most revenue-heavy startups dabbling in phone AR, even if it is a bit of a false idol for the industry. Nobody seems to think of Niantic as a capital-A augmented reality startup, but it’s clear that the team behind Pokémon GO sees the technology as a not-fully-tapped reservoir of potential for future gaming experiences that feel more social and more immersive than any mobile RPG that’s sucking up the majority of your playtime today. The company’s new Harry Potter title still doesn’t have a release date, we haven’t seen any gameplay, but we do know that AR plays a part in the title in some capacity. We’ll see if they figure out things the rest of the industry hasn’t.

Platform tech opportunities

Part of this broader content pain is the fact that some known platform fundamentals are still getting tackled. In 2018, the startups in AR that were raising the most buzz were so-called “AR cloud” startups, teams that were largely focused on solving more fundamental back-end problems around localization and mapping. It turns out “simple” problems like getting a bunch of users in a single session or keeping track of objects you’ve moved around between sessions are actually incredibly complex.

6D.ai is building AR tech that crowdsources a 3D mesh of the world

A big issue is that AR fundamentally relies on a level of spatial understanding that goes far beyond grasping geometry. For all the ground that has been traversed by computer vision researchers this year, issues like segmenting environments by objects and accurately identifying them are still in the earliest stages. When you think of AR tech as a subset of vision problems, you realize that products today are being approached in a kind of bizarre manner.

Google has been making worthwhile movements in proliferating their Lens computer vision engine across new apps and devices. In a very roundabout way, the company seems to have come to the worthwhile perspective that mapping an environment spatially doesn’t really help that much if you can’t parse the contextual nuances of what the camera is actually looking at, as well.

A lot of the AR startups in this space have raised some cash on the backs of the smartphone AR trend and the hundreds of millions of potential users, but it still seems pretty dubious whether this market has legs. Fortunately, most of these solutions have wide applicability across future industries like robotics and autonomous vehicles, helping computers interface with the real world through visual and geographic cues, but their utility might not be as ripe as they’d hope.

This is an area where Magic Leap could be poised to find some relatively near-term success. The startup’s top brass spent a hefty amount of time at their developer conference talking about the “Magicverse,” basically their vision for bringing localized AR layers onto geographic spaces where users with Magic Leap glasses could observe the content. Without having taken a peek at the tech they’re working with, their biggest advantage seems to rely on their partnership with AT&T, which is poised to start working more seriously with 5G in 2019.

The back end still remains a much more exciting market than hardware in 2019, but there may still be some interesting movement with devices this year. I don’t trust most of the predictive data that exists surrounding headset sales, so I’m not even going to reference it; suffice to say that AR headset sales aren’t going to explode anytime soon.

North Focals

More conservative AR hardware

One trend that I am curious to see shake out is the more simplistic version of AR where the glasses basically just offer users a heads-up display for notifications and lightweight apps.

Companies like North and Vuzix have been talking a lot about their work here. Apple’s rumored AR glasses have been talked about for ages at this point, with 2020/2021 seeming to be the rumor mill sweet spot for a release time frame. If that’s the case, I’d bet it falls more into this design ethos than a HoloLens type device. The hardware just isn’t small enough yet, but it is getting close, and there could be some interesting early ground that the industry could gain by moving in more heavily on traditional wearable use cases — though high component costs will be an early limiter as well.

AR glasses startup North picks up Intel’s Vaunt patents

This is probably a hardware space Snap has their eyes on; Spectacles jogged a lot of the current thinking on glasses-type wearables, but at this point, the company needs something that has wide appeal and can feed users back into its own app. The company isn’t in a position to hock something with razor-thin or non-existent margins, and it doesn’t gain that much from a product that sells a few thousand units in terms of building its platform.

Bottom line

For the Facebooks and Apples of the world, immediate market conditions and user interest obviously hold a different weight. U.S. investment firms with good track records spent a lot of time this year rejiggering their expectations for their first waves of investments. For the more ambitious privately held AR startups of the world, there’s probably going to be an issue with raising capital this year, as a lot of the top hardware companies have been seeking more free-flowing late-stage cash from Chinese firms, which have been growing harder to pin down as the trade climate worsens. This is going to be a problem for hardware companies especially.

After $130M+ in funding, AR startup Blippar collapses

For the most part, the BS is going to continue to get easier to parse this year.

Platform plays are going to have to dial in their target audience a bit more than “everyone with an AR-enabled phone”; more realistic expectations are something the industry should benefit from. ARKit and ARCore are going to level-up and game engine-makers are going to get better solutions for AR content creators. Back-end vision challenges are going to get solved and enable things like more seamless multi-player, but there are plenty of reasons why these tech problem solutions won’t lead to big changes in user behavior. Users failing to take off in the second year of some of these big platforms probably won’t dissuade Apple, but it definitely will dissuade some investors from continuing to bet big on the near-term future of mobile AR.

Magic Leap and other AR startups have a rough 2019 ahead of them published first on https://timloewe.tumblr.com/

[theinvinciblenoob]

Very rarely does an early technology garner such an air of inevitability like AR has in the past few years.

2018 was supposed to be a year where the foundational tech for augmented reality was built out a bit and the industry took a couple big leaps. Things started off well-enough, but momentum really doesn’t seem be on the side of some of the industry’s heaviest hitters heading into 2019, suggesting that life for earlier-stage startups may not be much easier.

There are plenty of reasons to be long-term bullish on AR, but the time horizons some have espoused seems to be bogus and pitch decks organized around a near-term spike in phone-based or glasses-based users are going to have a tougher time being taken seriously in 2019.

The ghost with the most

For all of the AR advances made this year, the company most emblematic of AR’s numerous challenges was clearly Magic Leap .

The company spent the past few years trashing industry standards and lauding their own approaches with braggadocio, but ended up releasing a product that largely iterated on its competitors. With the release of their “developer kit” this year, a product that clearly seems to have stopped being a first-gen product only when the reality of the climate availed itself, the startup seems to be finding that optics and infra progress is going to come more slowly than foretold.

I’ve talked to more than a few people who think Magic Leap hindered progress in the AR industry by siphoning investor attention and discouraging other hardware startups from joining the fray in the face of a billions-backed unknown. But in 2019, there are fewer available plays for the funding juggernaut. They spent years trying to distinguish themselves from the corporate mission of Microsoft and their HoloLens headset; now it seems they’ve begun to see that the only hope of justifying their sitting valuation in the next few years is enlisting support from the big customers that MSFT is chasing, as opposed to single-handedly birthing a consumer market. Magic Leap recently lost a bid to Microsoft for a $480 million military contract to outfit troops with AR headsets, and as Microsoft prepares to release a second-generation HoloLens with the enterprise in full concentration, it seems like Magic Leap is going to reshuffle its deck.

Dead-on-arrival content plays

Magic Leap’s struggles are well-documented, but what plagues the overall AR industry seems less discussed.

The consumer appetite for phone-based AR content is obviously lacking. Even Apple’s reality distortion field isn’t enough to convince people that its ARKit releases have led to anything other than some weird experimentation for iOS users. Few Android OEMs are boasting about compatibility with Google’s ARCore platform anymore, suggesting that approachable hardware standards for device makers wasn’t all that was missing from the failed Tango brand.

The most apparent mobile AR opportunities are probably in user-generated content, but there seems to be a disconnect between platforms and users in terms of how complex these AR experiences can and should become. At this point, selfie masks still seem to be at the edge of users’ comfort levels, leaving a lot of solved tech problems stuck in limbo waiting for a problem that makes them worthwhile.

Niantic is probably one of the most revenue-heavy startups dabbling in phone AR, even if it is a bit of a false idol for the industry. Nobody seems to think of Niantic as a capital-A augmented reality startup, but it’s clear that the team behind Pokémon GO sees the technology as a not-fully-tapped reservoir of potential for future gaming experiences that feel more social and more immersive than any mobile RPG that’s sucking up the majority of your playtime today. The company’s new Harry Potter title still doesn’t have a release date, we haven’t seen any gameplay, but we do know that AR plays a part in the title in some capacity. We’ll see if they figure out things the rest of the industry hasn’t.

Platform tech opportunities

Part of this broader content pain is the fact that some known platform fundamentals are still getting tackled. In 2018, the startups in AR that were raising the most buzz were so-called “AR cloud” startups, teams that were largely focused on solving more fundamental back-end problems around localization and mapping. It turns out “simple” problems like getting a bunch of users in a single session or keeping track of objects you’ve moved around between sessions are actually incredibly complex.

6D.ai is building AR tech that crowdsources a 3D mesh of the world

A big issue is that AR fundamentally relies on a level of spatial understanding that goes far beyond grasping geometry. For all the ground that has been traversed by computer vision researchers this year, issues like segmenting environments by objects and accurately identifying them are still in the earliest stages. When you think of AR tech as a subset of vision problems, you realize that products today are being approached in a kind of bizarre manner.

Google has been making worthwhile movements in proliferating their Lens computer vision engine across new apps and devices. In a very roundabout way, the company seems to have come to the worthwhile perspective that mapping an environment spatially doesn’t really help that much if you can’t parse the contextual nuances of what the camera is actually looking at, as well.

A lot of the AR startups in this space have raised some cash on the backs of the smartphone AR trend and the hundreds of millions of potential users, but it still seems pretty dubious whether this market has legs. Fortunately, most of these solutions have wide applicability across future industries like robotics and autonomous vehicles, helping computers interface with the real world through visual and geographic cues, but their utility might not be as ripe as they’d hope.

This is an area where Magic Leap could be poised to find some relatively near-term success. The startup’s top brass spent a hefty amount of time at their developer conference talking about the “Magicverse,” basically their vision for bringing localized AR layers onto geographic spaces where users with Magic Leap glasses could observe the content. Without having taken a peek at the tech they’re working with, their biggest advantage seems to rely on their partnership with AT&T, which is poised to start working more seriously with 5G in 2019.

The back end still remains a much more exciting market than hardware in 2019, but there may still be some interesting movement with devices this year. I don’t trust most of the predictive data that exists surrounding headset sales, so I’m not even going to reference it; suffice to say that AR headset sales aren’t going to explode anytime soon.

North Focals

More conservative AR hardware

One trend that I am curious to see shake out is the more simplistic version of AR where the glasses basically just offer users a heads-up display for notifications and lightweight apps.

Companies like North and Vuzix have been talking a lot about their work here. Apple’s rumored AR glasses have been talked about for ages at this point, with 2020/2021 seeming to be the rumor mill sweet spot for a release time frame. If that’s the case, I’d bet it falls more into this design ethos than a HoloLens type device. The hardware just isn’t small enough yet, but it is getting close, and there could be some interesting early ground that the industry could gain by moving in more heavily on traditional wearable use cases — though high component costs will be an early limiter as well.

AR glasses startup North picks up Intel’s Vaunt patents

This is probably a hardware space Snap has their eyes on; Spectacles jogged a lot of the current thinking on glasses-type wearables, but at this point, the company needs something that has wide appeal and can feed users back into its own app. The company isn’t in a position to hock something with razor-thin or non-existent margins, and it doesn’t gain that much from a product that sells a few thousand units in terms of building its platform.

Bottom line

For the Facebooks and Apples of the world, immediate market conditions and user interest obviously hold a different weight. U.S. investment firms with good track records spent a lot of time this year rejiggering their expectations for their first waves of investments. For the more ambitious privately held AR startups of the world, there’s probably going to be an issue with raising capital this year, as a lot of the top hardware companies have been seeking more free-flowing late-stage cash from Chinese firms, which have been growing harder to pin down as the trade climate worsens. This is going to be a problem for hardware companies especially.

After $130M+ in funding, AR startup Blippar collapses

For the most part, the BS is going to continue to get easier to parse this year.

Platform plays are going to have to dial in their target audience a bit more than “everyone with an AR-enabled phone”; more realistic expectations are something the industry should benefit from. ARKit and ARCore are going to level-up and game engine-makers are going to get better solutions for AR content creators. Back-end vision challenges are going to get solved and enable things like more seamless multi-player, but there are plenty of reasons why these tech problem solutions won’t lead to big changes in user behavior. Users failing to take off in the second year of some of these big platforms probably won’t dissuade Apple, but it definitely will dissuade some investors from continuing to bet big on the near-term future of mobile AR.

via TechCrunch

[fmservers]

Magic Leap and other AR startups have a rough 2019 ahead of them

Very rarely does an early technology garner such an air of inevitability like AR has in the past few years.

2018 was supposed to be a year where the foundational tech for augmented reality was built out a bit and the industry took a couple big leaps. Things started off well-enough but momentum really doesn’t seem be on the side of some of the industry’s heaviest hitters heading into 2019, suggesting that life for earlier stage startups may not be much easier.

There are plenty of reasons to be long-term bullish on AR, but the time horizons some have espoused seems to be bogus and pitch decks organized around a near-term spike in phone-based or glasses-based users are going to have a tougher time being taken seriously in 2019.

The ghost with the most

For all of the AR advances made this year, the company most emblematic story of AR’s numerous challenges was clearly Magic Leap .

The company spent the past few years trashing industry standards and lauding their own approaches with braggadocio but ended up releasing a product that largely iterated on its competitors. With the release of their “developer kit” this year, a product that clearly seems to have stopped being a first-gen product only when the reality of the climate availed itself, the startup seems to be finding that optics and infra progress is going to come more slowly than foretold.

I’ve talked to more than a few people who think Magic Leap hindered progress in the AR industry by siphoning investor attention and discouraging other hardware startups from joining the fray in the face of a billions-backed unknown. But in 2019, there are fewer available plays for the funding juggernaut. They spent years trying to distinguish themselves from the corporate mission of Microsoft and their HoloLens headset, now it seems they’ve begun to see that the only hopes of justifying their sitting valuation in the next few years is enlisting support from the big customers that MSFT is chasing, as opposed to single-handedly birthing a consumer market. Magic Leap recently lost a bid to Microsoft for a $480 million military contract to outfit troops with AR headsets, and as Microsoft prepares to release a second-generation HoloLens with the enterprise in full concentration, it seems like Magic Leap is going to reshuffle its deck.

Dead-on-arrival content plays

Magic Leap’s struggles are well-documented but what plagues the overall AR industry seems less discussed.

The consumer appetite for phone-based AR content is obviously lacking. Even Apple’s reality distortion field isn’t enough to convince people that its ARKit releases have led to anything other than some weird experimentation for iOS users. Few Android OEMs are boasting about compatibility with Google’s ARCore platform anymore, suggesting that approachable hardware standards for device makers wasn’t all that was missing from the failed Tango brand.

The most apparent mobile AR opportunities are probably in user-generated content, but there seems to be a disconnect between platforms and users in terms of how complex these AR experiences can and should become. At this point, selfie masks still seem to be at the edge of users’ comfort levels, leaving a lot of solved tech problems stuck in limbo waiting for a problem that makes them worthwhile.

Niantic is probably one of the most revenue-heavy startup dabbling in phone AR, even if it is a bit of a false idol for the industry. Nobody seems to think of Niantic as a capital-A augmented reality startup, but it’s clear that team behind Pokémon Go sees the technology as a not-fully-tapped reservoir of potential for future gaming experiences that feel more social and more immersive than any mobile RPG that’s sucking up the majority of your playtime today. The company’s new Harry Potter title still doesn’t have a release date, we haven’t seen any gameplay, but we do know that AR plays a part in the title in some capacity. We’ll see if they figure out things the rest of the industry hasn’t.

Platform tech opportunities

Part of this broader content pain is the fact that some known platform fundamentals are still getting tackled. In 2018, the startups in the AR that were raising the most buzz were so-called “AR cloud” startups, teams that were largely focused on solving more fundamental back-end problems around localization and mapping. It turns out “simple” problems like getting a bunch of users in a single session or keeping tracking of objects you’ve moved around between sessions are actually incredibly complex.

6D.ai is building AR tech that crowdsources a 3D mesh of the world

A big issue is that AR fundamentally relies on a level of spatial understanding that goes far beyond grasping geometry. For all the ground that has been traversed by computer vision researchers this year, issues like segmenting environments by objects and accurately identifying them are still in the earliest stages. When you think of AR tech as a subset of vision problems, you realize that products today are being approached in a kind of bizarre manner.

Google has been making worthwhile movements in proliferating their Lens computer vision engine across new apps and devices. In a very round about way the company seems to have come to the worthwhile perspective that mapping an environment spatially doesn’t really help you that much if you can’t parse the contextual nuances of what the camera is actually looking at as well.

A lot of the AR startups in this space have raised some cash on the backs of the smartphone AR trend and the hundreds of millions of potential users, but it still seems pretty dubious whether this market has legs. Fortunately, most of these solutions have wide applicability across future industries like robotics and autonomous vehicles as well, helping computers interface with the real world through visual and geographic cues, but their utility might not be as ripe as they’d hope.

This is an area where Magic Leap could be poised to find some relatively near-term success. The startup’s top brass spent a hefty amount of time at their developer conference talking about the “Magicverse,” basically their vision for bringing localized AR layers onto geographic spaces where users with Magic Leap glasses could observe the content. Without having taken a peek at the tech they’re working with, their biggest advantage seems to rely on their partnership with AT&T which is poised to start working more seriously with 5G in 2019.

The backend still remains a much more exciting market than hardware in 2019, but there may still be some interesting movement with devices this year. I don’t trust most of the predictive data that exists surrounding headset sales so I’m not even going to reference it but suffice to say that AR headset sales aren’t going to explode anytime soon.

North Focals

More conservative AR hardware

One trend that I am curious to see shake out is the more simplistic version of AR where the glasses basically just offer users a heads-up display for notifications and lightweight apps.

Companies like North and Vuzix have been talking a lot about their work here. Apple’s rumored AR glasses have been talked about for ages at this point, with 2020/2021 seeming to be the rumor mill sweet spot for a release timeframe and if that’s the case I’d bet it falls more into this design ethos than a HoloLens type device. The hardware just isn’t small enough yet but it is getting close and there could be some interesting early ground that the industry could gain by moving in more heavily on traditional wearable use cases though high component costs will be an early limiter as well.

AR glasses startup North picks up Intel’s Vaunt patents

This is probably a hardware space Snap has their eyes on; Spectacles jogged a lot of the current thinking on glasses-type wearables, but at this point, the company needs something that has wide appeal and can feed users back into its own app. The company isn’t in a position to hock something with razor-thin or non-existent margins and it doesn’t gain that much from a product that sells a few thousand units in terms of building its platform.

Bottom line

For the Facebooks and Apples of the world, immediate market conditions and user interest obviously hold a different weight. US investment firms with good track records spent a lot of time this year rejiggering their expectations for their first waves of investments. For the more ambitious privately-held AR startups of the world, there’s probably going to be an issue with raising capital this year as a lot of the top hardware companies have been seeking more free-flowing late stage cash from Chinese firms which have been growing harder to pin down as the trade climate worsens.  This is going to be a problem for hardware companies especially.

After $130M+ in funding, AR startup Blippar collapses

For the most part, the BS is going to continue to get easier to parse this year.

Platform plays are going to have to dial in their their target audience a bit more than “everyone with an AR-enabled phone”; more realistic expectations are something the industry should benefit from. ARKit and ARCore are going to level-up and game engine-makers are going to get better solutions for AR content creators. Backend vision challenges are going to get solved and enable things like more seamless multi-player, but there are plenty of reasons why these tech problem solutions won’t lead to big changes in user behavior. Users failing to take off in the second year of some of these big platforms probably won’t dissuade Apple, but it definitely will dissuade some investors from continuing to bet big on the near-term future of mobile AR.

Via Lucas Matney https://techcrunch.com

[demigreenwell3-blog]

10 Points You Need To Know.

Open up world labels are actually complicated creatures and it is actually always interested look at the Dead Rising collection within that context. Yet at that point the automobile broke down my third time there certainly because of the failing of the radiator and coolant system, and even if I received these fixings, a significant establishment fixing solution urged me from a 50-50 opportunity of an additional break as a result of covering and engine troubles. As with its ancestors, Forza Perspective 3 uses the pretense from a fictional celebration phoned Perspective, in which car enthusiasts get together to race as well as celebration, as a reason for its gameplay. So I went online to an U.S. internet site as well as booked a car for regarding half the neighborhood quote. Amongst the training programs you'll locate a good stable of homemade UK favourites, European classics, the very same United States and Aussie tracks our experts've viewed in Grandmother Turismo 6 and Forza 5, plus a handful of fantasy street training courses based on the Cote d'Azur and the Californian freeways, amongst others. If you have any type of concerns concerning where and ways to make use of the original source, you could call us at the web site. A better recurring value is going to guarantee that the car will definitely deserve acquiring after the lease is actually total and also that will certainly additionally acquire a reduced month-to-month remittance. In reality, just about seventeen many thousand cars and truck accidents take place in the U. S. each day. The game likewise carries out an excellent project of alerting you if you're upgrades are actually going to very seriously imbalance the cars and truck's efficiency, though there were times where, in my overall lack of automobile understanding, I was still conveniently able to destroy my vehicle's footing by means of gratuitous motor upgrades. The only downside is actually that whoever resides in the middle will have to straddle an incredibly vast lump in the floor, although this is actually far off unique for this class of automobile. Trees of the thick hardwoods, finding plenty of meals near the surface area of the ground as well as being actually secured coming from the winds by each other, don't believe any requirement for spending superiors for high-wind insurance coverage by draining their roots deep. Our company going with the brand-new as well as bubbling listings of titles weekly, take a look at just what readies and let you know. Sony is great at making individuals presume they introduce things, similar to Apple, however they definitely don't do that - much like Apple. Uber is going to not provide a timeline, yet it aims to reduce that to one specialist, still responsible for the steering wheel, to step in and also to fulfill existing state policies that call for a driver in an automobile. I neglected, yet despite just me, a tour and the cars and truck timer the activity was definitely electrifying. That has said before that this is actually actively looking for auto producing partners, which implies our company could possibly see a Toyota, Ford or even Fiat-made Google.com auto later on, but that is all very much still chancy. Bear in mind, however, you only possess a limited quantity of time to function once the vehicle has actually been had. I suggest, a fantastic production from the period, passionately become pregnant by not known performers, consumed in its own image, if not its own use, by a whole population which lifts in it an entirely enchanting things." At presents, cars and trucks all appear the very same as well as rather quickly, if the producers have their method, our experts won't also need to steer them. I believe you could take the Hearthfire DLC as a really good version but with simple skill-sets like science as well as repair work transform this into something even more imaginative and also one-of-a-kind totally. That can chair just TWENTY - consisting of pair of set down at the home window shelf - but that's worth the claustrophobia, as the food items here is actually truly great. I really ased if component of the book where Author mentions just how Algorithms have related to play a crucial task for Stock market as well as individuals which have actually helped them. There are actually five parts of the cars and truck A/C viz the converter, the condenser, the growth shutoff, the refrigerant, and also the clothes dryer or evaporator. It soaks up holes as well as spines along with more tranquility than the majority of automobiles in its training class, also, however is at its very most unusual on struggling A-roads, delivering a poise and calmness that promotes you to sustain your velocity even with the bumps. When you get a vehicle, that features a handbook coming from the producer, recommending how and how commonly you have to obtain your car checked out. Hazel's dream reminds me from a technology professional I spoke to at the SMMT seminar, that pointed out that in the future, the vehicle that individuals ride (or even that steers all of them) will be much less useful in comparison to the data derived concerning the person coming from the auto's connectivity - where they take a trip, what they enjoy or watch as their driverless lorry ferryboats all of them all around, where they take their vacations, also exactly how they being in the vehicle. Getting a good deal is over only price, especially when you are purchasing a preowned automobile, even if that's under manufacturer's warranty its own excellent to understand just what you are working out over. Organizing your very own finance is actually constantly a really good technique, consumer legislation experts state, as is actually reviewing costs on websites like TrueCar and also Kelley Directory just before visiting the dealer. There are actually a lot of things to think about when picking a cars and truck yet brand-new auto purchases have informed vehicle manufacturers just what the customer desires.

[2017gamesreviews-blog]

Need for Speed Review

There are a few However there also have been a few that I and thousands of other players would have chosen never existed -- such as SimCity and the many Sonic games Sega appears hell bent on racing to market.

 Now it is time for Need for Speed to acquire the reboot therapy. It is a franchise that has been in existence for more than two decades, with a release program viewing a game arrive yearly for nearly the whole of the moment.

  The latest title, Need for Speed Rivals was financially a success, but it did not resonate with long term fans of the show like myself. Aware of the developer Ghost Games chose to bypass its regular yearly release plan and spend two decades refining and creating its newest Need for Speed name.

 Answering if the the protracted development period has paid off is somewhat complicated. On the 1 hand you have got outstanding underground night racing with loads of challenge, but on the other you have a throw of underperforming "bros" which become so bothersome you will wish you're flying solo on this one.

 Need for Speed Rivals got so far off from this, using its midday racing and participant control cops that the reboot would need to be severely awakened to move any farther away in the series' origins.

 But thankfully, Ghost Games has gone to get dusk until dawn gameplay cycle together with the setting at a fictional variant of Los Angeles called Ventura Bay. With a few utterly photorealistic images, the demand for Speed reboot virtually sets Forza 5 and Project Cars to shame creatively.

 The weather could be restricted to rain, however as soon as the roads are dappled with puddles, representing the streetlamps' light as well as the craziness of your auto's wrapping as you speed through town, you will recall why you loved Need for Speed at the first location.

 There is just one slight problem with continuous night racing and that is visibility. I frequently found myself pelting down the street at close 200mph mid-race simply to find myself slamming to a vehicle since the back lights were just vaguely observable, or a garbage bin as it only appears to be the identical shade of gray as the sidewalk it sits on.

 Component of my reignited fire came from the improved auto creation tools. At the beginning you will have the ability to select among 3 cars to phone your own. I picked for the Subaru BRZ Premium (2014) and proceeded to perform kitting it out with puppy decals, custom bodywork and also an evolving paintjob involving quite garish gold stains.

 But there is much, much more to the automobile customization compared to creating the ideal wrap. It is about making certain your ride manages exactly how you need it to, and also has the functionality to help keep you ahead of the bunch and making REP (or standing points).

 You'll be able to upgrade several facets of your vehicle's functionality, in the gas system, camshaft and engine block into the intake manifold, ECU not to mention the nitrous. Upgrades are secured behind degree caps and construct career assignments, but even starting out there are loads of alternatives on offer.

 All of the updates occur in the garage, and it is a place you are going to be coming back to frequently as you advance through the sport. I found myself leaping back there every few races to update components, tweak the managing or add still another decal to my ride's paint project.

 In a high degree you'll be able to tweak your managing along a spectrum from Grip to Drift, however if you are more educated you are able to drill down into particular segments of your automobile to actually optimise your racing experience.

 I found myself starting off towards the Grip finish of this scale and then gradually moving towards Drift since the races becoming harder and I became more acquainted with the controllers.

 From the time you get near conclusion on some of the career paths, I discovered that the match penalises you for shunning the ramble controls. To earn the maximum REP you will want to learn the manner of this drift and begin combining all of the a variety of play styles together.

 Ghost Games idea using the demand for Speed reboot is the fact that you will find five ways to performwith: Speed, Style, Build, Crew and Outlaw.

 You will earn REP to your functionality across all five classes. You will earn Speed REP for driving at a high rates for a protracted period; Style REP for wandering round corners; Crew REP for synchronised wandering along with your pals; Construct REP to get mod-related driving like a fast 0-60mph speed or utilizing nitrous for your benefit; and Outlaw REP for getting one over to the cops.

 These five drama fashions are represented by personalities that will dish out assignments and races that you tackle with the objective of fulfilling their (and ultimately your) icon.

 If titles such as Magnus Walker or Ken Block mean anything for you or you read SpeedHunters frequently, you are going to be seriously impressed with all the titles that Ghost Games has hailed for the match. Your goal in Need for Speed would be to contend with the icons, together with Block and Walker one of them, and everything you will need to do to get there's continue racing.

 Missions differ from time trials, rate strikes and sprint races into the more Style-focused gymkanas. There is a lot to do here and you're going to want to be really in tune with your vehicle and competitions if you would like to attain the big boys.

 But first, you will want to suffer through the figures which will direct you through the five career courses.

 To present your brand new audience, Ghost Games has selected to perform live-action cutscenes. 

 The simple fact that Ghost Games has successfully managed to combine live-action cutscenes with gameplay footage so that it's always your customised automobile from the garage is actually admirable. However, when you've led into a meet-up with all the team five or six occasions, the Terrible acting and dialogue really begins to grate.

 Partner these really painful scenes together with how every member of your team can and will telephone you mid-race and you will instantly wish there was a method to turn your in-game telephone off.

 You will want to answer the telephone to take new assignments, but if you are mid-race you can dismiss them. The phone is only going to ring three times. Sadly, it is generally the case that when you dismiss one of these, another four will ring you directly later, meaning that a bombardment of telephone calls in a short period of time. Additionally, they are a really repetitive and demanding group, always calling to remind you that there is a new race readily available to take part in.

 There is another problem with Need for Speed also. You may just play it on the internet. There is no offline play accessible at all -- I understand, I analyzed it. It merely takes a 192kbps connection rate to operate and was not a problem, but how you've got to get a continuous connection will probably be irksome to get some. 

 For me personally, the Internet connection became a problem Once I realised that there is no Method to pause the match. When you press on options to get your telephone (aka the Match's menu) or hit on the touchpad to the primary display, the game remains enjoying Out from the background. So no Suspend Perform on the Xbox One or PS4 too.

 Initially not denying the game had not stopped while in menus really caused Me to have busted by the cops and also to drop a race. So You Will Need to wave goodbye Into mid-game teabreaks or replying your true phone unless you are at the Garage Need for Speed.

 Autolog in the Demand for Speed reboot is good most of the time, filling out Your match with real world gamers -- but now the cops are all AI.

 You might realize that a few players could marginally destroy your match though. Most of The moment my pre-launch game encounter was full of fellow journalists Trialling out the match before launch, but once or twice I have come up against The sadistic players.

 1 particular fellow chose to accompany me while I was trying among those Harder time samples, and then opted to ram me to the walls of this tube He would then Await my automobile to respawn and get it done Some players are merely evil.

 Hopefully when the game hits retail, this will not be a Indication of things to come, 

Need for Speed might have become the reboot that the show needed. It's got Terrific gameplay with some impressive vehicle customisation, but destitute, bothersome Characters that finally make the live-action cutscenes excruciating mar the Whole experience.

 If you can endure through your newfound gang and discover the Demand for Speed Essence under in its dashing, then I would recommend it. Otherwise you are better Off opting for Forza Horizon two or even The Crew.

[wyattkittredge3-blog]

Need For Speed 3 Hot Pursuit Cool Racing Games Pc Game Full Version Free Download

All Car Games Free

Games undoubtedly are a great source of refreshment. And Spiderman video games are good video games to get refreshment. Young people are looking forward to games to begin with but swiftly lose interest. When you know it, they are begging you for yet another online game. Young children can become aware about trend and items of clothing in addition to body pieces, colors as well as learn about the surrounding planet while playing this zero cost dress up games. And most of these are available without cost. Online flash games will be the answer for every generation. Online flash games with regard to talented children are a smart way to master through play. It might look like they're just spending more hours enjoying video gaming, but the ones within this list are designed like that. It really is an unfortunate truth that on the net gaming requires tolerating the remarkable volume with bad manners, vulgarity, weak sportsmanship, along with simply old awful manners. Several online game areas tend to be a little more mature than others, although anyone can generally count on this specific type of misbehavior throughout simply regarding each and every multiplayer video game you appear across. I recognize that people are usually basically private on the internet, and some people could get quite sentimentally involved within the particular competition, although that is definitely simply no cause to be able to chuck away any semblance of respect or decency. I've set with each other a couple of pointers on good on-line video gaming etiquette, however I believe the actual worst type of offenders aren't most likely to receive notice. Play Sensible Disloyal and applying exploits is actually a great admission which you are unable to succeed without having them. Additionally, you'll find succeeding a considerable fight considerably more worthwhile. In the event that winning is definitely crucial to you, maintain just practising and also understand from what successful participants are usually undertaking. Must the actual opposition confirm to become far too much for you, finding a diverse online game can be a greater answer than cheating. Always be A Good Sport Laughing at conquered competitors, bragging with regards to your success, overdoing it along with taunts in addition to emotes, almost all help to make you look childish. The actual fact is, actually kids should understand far better. A good proper emote used during the right point in time is often a stunning factor, yet whenever it accompanies just about every encounter inside the game, it becomes into that much far more mindless spam, which brings us all to our next guideline. Do not Spam You really never have to smash the particular chat system by using WTS mail messages in order to promote a great merchandise, or do you have to use every channel within the actual online game any time there can be a channel focused to business. If folks are not interested, echoing a message within conversation each and every 3 seconds just isn't likely that will switch that. Hang on a minute or 2, and also perhaps you'll start to get through into a brand new target market. Give up All of us the actual Caps Lock come on men and women, this can be a no-brainer that has been close to since the start of the Net - don't employ almost all capital letters inside chat. It can be the wording equivalent with yelling at anyone, along with no person would like to get yelled at. You Were a Noob Too No person may select up a brand new game and instantly get familiar themselves along with most of its technicalities as well as particulars. Right now there are generally heaps of acronyms and slang special to each and every video game, and it is really absurd to be expecting people to recognise these kinds of elements with no somewhat assistance from some other people. Somebody once stated to you exactly what had been occurring, currently you may accomplish the exact same, instead than basically showing these individuals they really are "noobs" plus departing it at that. A Little Teamwork, Please Whenever you might be part of the group, try to cooperate with your current teammates a little. Rambo-style gameplay hardly ever pays off within a team-oriented video game, therefore you should not assume your current teammates to get right behind you when you go kamakazi directly into a gauntlet of opponents. Likewise keep in thought process that essentially winning the actual match is definitely far more necessary compared to being at the top of the scoreboard. You should not Be a Quitter It can be amazing just how often individuals may detach not having a word when there're losing, as well as drop out as soon as their own group come across a problem. In case you do not feel you could succeed, surrender. Whenever your current instance run is just not proceeding effectively, attempt to work it out politely as well as give a good number of pleasant advice. At situations while your own team seriously isn't up for the task, explain the problem to other people without insulting all of them. You under no circumstances recognize what exactly type of answers people may come up with right up until you provide all of them a chance. Not really Every person Who Is victorious Is a Cheater Simply just for the reason that a different participant eliminates you a several times really does not indicate that there're cheating. As very good as you may perhaps think you are at any video game, right now there usually are very likely a good deal of people that will be just as excellent or much better than you are. If you are as hot as almost all that, then begin trying to play professionally in LAN competitions exactly where there is no manner to gain a advantage. If you are just about certain that another person is cheating, report these individuals to an admin and also allow them take a look at instead than throwing about accusations you won't be able to back up. Camping out Is usually a Lame Approach Although many game titles promote it, camping spawn details and corpses is usually commonly a dull strategy. In several scenarios it's only possible due to the fact of problematic game design and style, although it's still a poor approach that people with any self-respect do not resort to. Overlook Insults Whenever someone insults you, your greatest alternative is to disregard them. In the event the insults go on, many chat and voice models include 'ignore' functions to guarantee that further communications coming from these folks are generally obstructed. Returning the insults generally just escalates the exchange into a little something you will regret later on. Enjoy the Video game Video games usually are meant to be enjoyable, and if you cannot chuckle it off when issues go drastically wrong, or forgive a team associate for screwing up, and then maybe it's occasion for a break. Many of us have enough anxiety in our lifestyles, we really don't genuinely care to add a lot of video gaming tension to that. Once you start taking it too seriously, it defeats the reason for playing a video game in the first place.

All Car Games Free

The excitement, frustration and also the engagement numbers of a racing game is actually to put aside. Racing games are ever green and mobile gaming is doing enough to revamp the racing game craze. Gaming on the Android is particularly cool through great Smartphones with cool gyroscope and accelerometer regulators. Below are few belonging to the best Android racing games if possible find within Android Store. No beneath rug . time to play every game. This is into the benefit because chances are the children missed several great games from last time of year. 2008 was a monumental year for gaming and couple options several amazing (and discounted) games that you to choose from!

Origin: Designed by Toru Iwatani, and programmed by Hideyuki Moakajima San, this game came in mid 1980. The name is obtained from a phrase that refers to the sound when mouth area opens and closes (allegedly). Namco produced the game, but this process took off in America when Midway released that. Many online car games involve driving cars at nasty road racks. During car racing games it makes me wonder to contend with other online players. These versions end up being most also great for players. Games that comprise car racing on vehicle have many kinds of attractive online facilities. These games are available totally free on many sites. Players don't to help download them on personal computer systems. An advanced playing interface enable players do enjoy car racing on house page on the website. The Concept: aliens are invading the planet in 'blocks' by moving down model . gradually. While intrepid savior of becoming green it's your task to make use of solitary laser cannon, by moving horizontally, and zapping those dastardly aliens right sky. Luckily, you have four bases to hide behind - these eventually disintegrate, though provide some protection from a alien's missiles. The Concept: The game is designed represent a personal game of Tennis or Table tennis (Ping Pong). Each player has a bat; the bat could be moved up and down. The screen has two horizontal lines on the highest and bottom of this particular. A ball is 'served' and moves towards one player - that player must move the bat so your ball hits it. The ball rebounds and moves back the other way. Depending on where the ball hits the bat, the ball will transfer different directions - should it hit one of the top or bottom lines, then this will bounce of all. The idea is simply to boost other player miss the ball - thus scoring a detail. Speed Racer and Street Speed are two of the latest car racing games ever to hit the on the web arena at this time. And like the other ones before it, these games require no fees or registration to play. They would load on your browser quite automatically. Also using the they are ready to start, play them on your computer for it's going to be like.

All Car Games Free

Games undoubtedly are a great source of refreshment. And Spiderman video games are good video games to get refreshment. Young people are looking forward to games to begin with but swiftly lose interest. When you know it, they are begging you for yet another online game. Young children can become aware about trend and items of clothing in addition to body pieces, colors as well as learn about the surrounding planet while playing this zero cost dress up games. And most of these are available without cost. Online flash games will be the answer for every generation. Online flash games with regard to talented children are a smart way to master through play. It might look like they're just spending more hours enjoying video gaming, but the ones within this list are designed like that. It really is an unfortunate truth that on the net gaming requires tolerating the remarkable volume with bad manners, vulgarity, weak sportsmanship, along with simply old awful manners. Several online game areas tend to be a little more mature than others, although anyone can generally count on this specific type of misbehavior throughout simply regarding each and every multiplayer video game you appear across. I recognize that people are usually basically private on the internet, and some people could get quite sentimentally involved within the particular competition, although that is definitely simply no cause to be able to chuck away any semblance of respect or decency. I've set with each other a couple of pointers on good on-line video gaming etiquette, however I believe the actual worst type of offenders aren't most likely to receive notice. Play Sensible Disloyal and applying exploits is actually a great admission which you are unable to succeed without having them. Additionally, you'll find succeeding a considerable fight considerably more worthwhile. In the event that winning is definitely crucial to you, maintain just practising and also understand from what successful participants are usually undertaking. Must the actual opposition confirm to become far too much for you, finding a diverse online game can be a greater answer than cheating. Always be A Good Sport Laughing at conquered competitors, bragging with regards to your success, overdoing it along with taunts in addition to emotes, almost all help to make you look childish. The actual fact is, actually kids should understand far better. A good proper emote used during the right point in time is often a stunning factor, yet whenever it accompanies just about every encounter inside the game, it becomes into that much far more mindless spam, which brings us all to our next guideline. Do not Spam You really never have to smash the particular chat system by using WTS mail messages in order to promote a great merchandise, or do you have to use every channel within the actual online game any time there can be a channel focused to business. If folks are not interested, echoing a message within conversation each and every 3 seconds just isn't likely that will switch that. Hang on a minute or 2, and also perhaps you'll start to get through into a brand new target market. Give up All of us the actual Caps Lock come on men and women, this can be a no-brainer that has been close to since the start of the Net - don't employ almost all capital letters inside chat. It can be the wording equivalent with yelling at anyone, along with no person would like to get yelled at. You Were a Noob Too No person may select up a brand new game and instantly get familiar themselves along with most of its technicalities as well as particulars. Right now there are generally heaps of acronyms and slang special to each and every video game, and it is really absurd to be expecting people to recognise these kinds of elements with no somewhat assistance from some other people. Somebody once stated to you exactly what had been occurring, currently you may accomplish the exact same, instead than basically showing these individuals they really are "noobs" plus departing it at that. A Little Teamwork, Please Whenever you might be part of the group, try to cooperate with your current teammates a little. Rambo-style gameplay hardly ever pays off within a team-oriented video game, therefore you should not assume your current teammates to get right behind you when you go kamakazi directly into a gauntlet of opponents. Likewise keep in thought process that essentially winning the actual match is definitely far more necessary compared to being at the top of the scoreboard. You should not Be a Quitter It can be amazing just how often individuals may detach not having a word when there're losing, as well as drop out as soon as their own group come across a problem. In case you do not feel you could succeed, surrender. Whenever your current instance run is just not proceeding effectively, attempt to work it out politely as well as give a good number of pleasant advice. At situations while your own team seriously isn't up for the task, explain the problem to other people without insulting all of them. You under no circumstances recognize what exactly type of answers people may come up with right up until you provide all of them a chance. Not really Every person Who Is victorious Is a Cheater Simply just for the reason that a different participant eliminates you a several times really does not indicate that there're cheating. As very good as you may perhaps think you are at any video game, right now there usually are very likely a good deal of people that will be just as excellent or much better than you are. If you are as hot as almost all that, then begin trying to play professionally in LAN competitions exactly where there is no manner to gain a advantage. If you are just about certain that another person is cheating, report these individuals to an admin and also allow them take a look at instead than throwing about accusations you won't be able to back up. Camping out Is usually a Lame Approach Although many game titles promote it, camping spawn details and corpses is usually commonly a dull strategy. In several scenarios it's only possible due to the fact of problematic game design and style, although it's still a poor approach that people with any self-respect do not resort to. Overlook Insults Whenever someone insults you, your greatest alternative is to disregard them. In the event the insults go on, many chat and voice models include 'ignore' functions to guarantee that further communications coming from these folks are generally obstructed. Returning the insults generally just escalates the exchange into a little something you will regret later on. Enjoy the Video game Video games usually are meant to be enjoyable, and if you cannot chuckle it off when issues go drastically wrong, or forgive a team associate for screwing up, and then maybe it's occasion for a break. Many of us have enough anxiety in our lifestyles, we really don't genuinely care to add a lot of video gaming tension to that. Once you start taking it too seriously, it defeats the reason for playing a video game in the first place.

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