#it feels like so long since i last did a “gameplay” gameplay post

[aurorangen]

Life in the countryside

[blueskittlesart]

did u not like totk?

i LOVED totk. i think it was well-written and did its job as a sequel to botw very well. HOWEVER. i do think it suffered slightly from the commercial success of botw. as i mentioned in my last post, nintendo does this. thing. when one of their games gets popular where every game after it has to be Exactly The Same so they can make all the money in the world via comparison marketing. (and this is a problem with the wider game industry in general but also a very observable pattern in loz specifically.) I know it's been a pretty long time since botw came out, but before (and immediately following) its release there was some pushback from longtime fans who worried that the open-world and lack of traditional dungeons meant that the game had strayed too far from the classic formula that makes a game a "zelda game." this is to say, botw was EXPERIMENTAL. and the devs had no idea if what they were doing was going to be successful or not. the open-world of botw wasn't a gimmick, and it wasn't the devs jumping on the open-world bandwagon. it was what CREATED that bandwagon. the open-world was a deliberate choice made specifically for botw because it reinforced the story that botw was designed to tell. the game is about exploring a desolate world, about making connections, and rebuilding both the broken kingdom and the player character's shattered sense of self by traveling and learning and building relationships. a large open-world map with only minor quest guidelines and lots of collectibles and side quests lends itself perfectly to this specific story, which is specifically about exploration and rebirth.

the problem is, botw was. almost TOO good. it was so good that every other game company on the planet started scrambling to build giant open-world maps into their next release, regardless of how much sense that actually made narratively. and because of that, when it came time to release a sequel to botw, the devs had a lot to think about. they had HUGE shoes to fill in terms of fan reception, but they were ALSO being asked to follow up one of the best-performing games of all time, commercially. totk needed to SELL as well as botw. And, likely because nintendo was worried about that potential commercial value, totk needed to keep people comfortable. I don't know for certain, but I definitely get the feeling playing totk that the devs were specifically told not to stray too far from what made botw marketable and successful--that being the open world and the versatility of gameplay. so in order to follow that up, they made... 2 more huge open maps, and new gimmick gameplay which was explicitly super-versatile.

do i think that the extra maps and ultrahand were BAD choices? no. however, i don't think they necessarily ADDED anything to the game as a narrative whole. one of my favorite things about botw was how everything seemed to be designed AROUND the narrative, with gameplay elements slotting neatly into the story thematically. totk just. didn't really have that, imo. there wasn't a huge narrative benefit to the gigantic, completely unpopulated depths and sky maps. ultrahand was cool, but within the context of the story it meant basically nothing. in some ways, i almost think totk could have benefitted from a much more linear approach to its storytelling, a la skyward sword, because there are a lot of story beats that have to be found in chronological order in order to have the right emotional impact, but because of the nonlinear open-world it kind of became a struggle to hit all the important story points in the right order. an easy example of this is the dragon's tears in comparison to the memories--the dragon tears have a very specific set order in which they happen, and finding them out of order can make the story you're seeing in them feel confusing and disjointed. the order in which they should be found is technically displayed on the temple wall, but most players aren't going to pick up on that or follow it--more likely, they're just going to explore the geoglyphs as they come across them organically, and therefore will likely witness the story in a completely disjointed way. compare this to the botw memories, which ALSO technically have a set order--the order in which they're displayed on the sheikah slate. however, because they're largely just small moments in time, and not one continuous story, finding them out of order has a lot less of an impact on how you as the player experience the narrative, and it's not hugely detrimental to your experience of the story if you find them naturally as you explore rather than explicitly seeking them out in order. If TOTK had been allowed to deviate from the botw formula a bit, i think we may have ended up with a more cohesive game in terms of narrative beats like that. as it is, i just think the game is torn slightly between wanting to be its own new game with new gameplay and needing to be botw, if that makes sense.

[akitasimblr]

and this is the finale of mad about dodo! MAD started on the 10th of june and i think we have come a long way! i hope all of you enjoyed the BC, i sure did! the first round was a blast for me in terms of gameplay - i love the chaos, i admit it! 😆 and i grew too much attached to all the contestants and at this point i wish i could marry them with all my single harpers so they would all appear in the family tree <33

@demonicrosebush lucy was a true player. she was graceful since day one and no deserted island will take that off of her. her late night jokes by the fire will be remembered by all contestants too <33 lucy did develop some romance with both martha and daisy flores so... who knows!!

@panicsimss tempest, another pixel that owns my heart! i absolutely adore her and her paranoid trait. who also love her are alejandro and anselme, these three are besties for life!

@jonquilyst quiet and kind lucian was probably the contestant with more friendships! he was dear to everyone, and particularly to me 🤍 oh and maybe hazel too, with whom he developed some kind of romance *wink wink*

@changingplumbob shay was a favourite of mine since day one. she's fun, she's bold, she's awesome! and both lucian and eleina agree with me!!

@mdshh daisy... i love to look at her, hope you don't mind me saying. this girl was never afraid to get her hands dirty, she played hard but fair! i actually like that of all contestants, it was with lucy that she developed a stronger friendship :)

@tipsy-clouds my dear sierra! i have a bittersweet feeling about her second place because she really had a great chemistry with dodo. also interesting to note is that araminta and sierra did develop a beautiful friendship so i hope this softens any broken hearts 🤍

@ethicaltreatmentofcowplants araminta, the first sim to be submitted to this contest and the last to stand <33 araminta went through this challenge with elegance. she won dodo's heart with grace and... a very bold first impression outfit, am i right? 😏🤍

to you and to the other contestants' watchers, my deep gratitude for sending and trusting me your sims, for following their silly adventures, for engaging daily with my posts, you have no idea how that kept me motivated! thank you for being part of this and be sure that all contestants will forever be part of my harpers lives. you were all amazing!

🌴previous | the end🌴

[ethicaltreatmentofcowplants]

Heya, I don't want to make a thing about this, but. Just for the information of my mutuals, I blocked 'life and death,' 'life & death' and whatever foreseeable tags the expansion pack will have for now. So if you tag me or expect me to respond to those posts, I won't be able to view them 🤍

a little more info below the cut

We lost my dad to cancer last year. He was still relatively young and had been in excellent health prior to that. For context, my mother's father and both my grandmothers were still alive when he passed. While I'm generally fine with death in the Sims since it's handled in a silly way (and have attempted the black widow challenge before), I do toggle off aging, turn off neighbourhood stories and don't age grandparents etc to elder in my legacies because it's still rather raw for me.

And when I was watching the trailer, even though I could appreciate that it appeared to be done in the same silly way as other serious life events without cheapening the subject, the funeral and funeral home scenes had me feeling some kind of way. Especially as both my birthday and Christmas approach when he always made occasions like that such a big event.

So yeah. This is not to rain on anyone's parade or make people feel like they have to censor themselves around me. I'm usually fine with death in other people's gameplay so long as it is tagged appropriately, doesn't deal with that c-word (or other real life terminal illnesses) - and no one is responsible for me being triggered on the internet.

The trailer did look pretty good. It could be a strong pack if they execute their ideas well, but then, it is also EA.

[theresattrpgforthat]

Oooo you know what I haven't seen a lot of? Games meant for long term play between two players. Id love to see that!

THEME: Long-Term 2-Player

Hello friend, here's a few specific recommendations, but you'll want to take a look at the bits I recommend at the end as well!

Afterglow, by Fistful of Crits.

It started when a WIZARD cleaved apart the temple into two. Because, in the cyclical way of things, one ideology eventually wins out over the other. The Celestial Cycles shatter and pour away, blending into the colour of their worship into tones of soft purple and creamy orange hues.

Now there is no more day or night, no rising or setting of the Godly tombs that float in carefully calculated arches through the sky: there is only the AfterGlow and the wake of a different world.

AfterGlow is a solo or co-operative play journaling TTRPG game. Become a Dawncarver Acolyte of the Light, Imefelga, or a Nightweaver Acolyte of the God of the Night, Elestrell. Expand the world as you explore, search for offerings, fight dangerous threats and discover the mysteries of the Wizard and the AfterGlow.

AfterGlow is designed using the Firelights system, which was originally designed for solo play, and inspired by games such as Hollow Knight. As a game system, I think it’s one of the games that’s meant to last longer than just one session, and since AfterGlow uses the same bones, I’m guessing that it could work as a longer game as well. Just keep in mind that this game isn’t inspired by Hollow Knight; it’s more of a fantastical post-apocalypse.

Empanel, by Bogus Cheesecake.

The year is 1915 - you sit inside a dreary office, working as a telegraph operator for the North American rail system.  The dots and dashes of the telegraph machine spell out a dreary, unfulfilling existence. Until one day, a new kind of message appears. 

Empanel is a two-player narrative roleplaying game based around telegrams and queer yearning. Completely diceless, Empanel's messaging-based gameplay is designed for long-distance play between you and a partner. 

Empanel provides a new spin on two-player conversational roleplaying. Step into the shoes of a middle-aged telegraph operator (or anyone, we're not your boss) and explore the feelings of reconnecting with a love long past. 

I find that two-player games designed to happen over long distances naturally lend to more long-form play, although that is partially because of the time it is expected to take to send messages to each-other. That being said, even if you don’t live that far away, you’ll be expected to think carefully about the messages you send to each-other, as well as spend time encoding and decoding every letter you send. If you want a game about longing and secrecy, you might like this game.

Trading Places, by Jamie Sands.

Trading Places is a game for two people - one who has an ordinary life, and one who has an extraordinary life. They both keep journals. One day, they wake up in each other's bodies.  What happens next is entirely up to the people playing - will your story be a poignant examination of what a life of value means? Will you create a holiday-themed romantic comedy or an existential horror? 

This game doesn’t look like it has a recommended play time, and since it’s a journaling game, you’ll likely need to wait for each other to submit journal entries. I think the fact that you can change the tone of this game makes it really flexible, so you can talk with the other player about what kind of story you’d like to share. I also really like the idea of exploring the life of another person, and coming up with that as you go.

One More Thing, by Nathan D. Paoletta.

Somebody has been murdered! The murderer is sure they will get away with it - but the detective is on the case, and quickly sees the truth of the matter. Both of them know that the murderer did it; the question is how to prove it.

Your story begins with the murder, and continues as a back-and-forth drama playing out in the view of an imaginary television audience. The Murderer never gets away with it, but they can control how the audience sees them in the end. Were they justified in their crime? Did they see no way out of an untenable situation? Or are they a cold-hearted monster who took a life for their own material gain?

One More Thing tells compelling stories of criminals bought to justice, in the finest tradition of TV detective dramas from the 1970s to today.

This game feels episodic, but I don’t think that would stop it from being something a bit more long-form. You could run this either with one player embodying the same detective over a series of different murders, or you could alternate between roles, perhaps following the stories of two connected detectives, or switching between different tones.

Hit the Road, Jack, by Urania Games.

Hit the Road, Jack is a solo/duet game of adrenaline rush and creeping terror. Of chasing and being chased, of being forced to face your sins or to leave them all behind. It is a game of cat and mouse between two characters that we call the Jacks.

This is a game that mentions blood, violence, drugs, crime, and death - both deaths you choose and deaths you don’t.

Jack Be Nimble is the sinner, the criminal, and the one being chased. 

Jack Be Quick is the lawman, the aggrieved, and the one who chases. 

This is their journey cross-country across an empty stretch of highways. By drawing tarot cards and responding to journaling prompts, you will be able to flesh out the nature of these two Jacks, their relationship, and how they deal with whatever the road throws at them.

The game page mentions that there are different lengths of play that you can use for this game, so that tells me that long-form is definitely on the table here. I don’t know how long exactly the game is, but the nice thing about having two different roles, is that you can likely play the game twice, switching roles to give each of you a chance to be each character.

Other Games To Check Out

Little Shepherd, Little Spy, by @psychhound, has a two-player mode called Little Mortal, Little Fey. It’s a game about communication between spies, so I feel like it’s meant to happen over a significant period of time.

There's a lot of GM-Less games out there that aren't specifically two-player but are duet friendly, and are designed for longer-form play.

[arcadekitten]

[MY WISHMAKER Spoilers!]

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I just played MY WISHMAKER last night and I loved it, so I wanted to give you my thoughts!

Arcade, you are SO SNEAKY AND CLEVER!!! I saw those promo images and was like "oh dear, he has a gunshot wound, what happened?" only to boot up the game and find out HIS WHOLE ARM WAS MISSING! You really can't tell when he's facing right, so I applaud you for hiding it so well.

I LOVE how sassy The Wishmaker is! I was expecting it/them(? I'll just go with them for now) to be kind of highfalutin and regal 'cause they're a deity and all but I really love how you went in this completely other direction! I think it does make sense since The Wishmaker obviously has to, like, grant people's wishes (in some way at least), so having a more casual manner of speech would probably make them less intimidated.

Also! I loved how you implemented the QTEs! I feel like it spices up the gameplay and is a nice little nod to your fans who played My Neighbor Enide. Even though I messed up all of them, though I SWEAR the Vas one was not my fault! I was mashing that Z button for dear life, but my laptop decided to type it into Edge for some reason!? I didn't even have it open!

Oh, and I see you were able to figure out the mouse movement? You said you'd have to move around using the arrow keys, which I was fine with, but I was pleasantly surprised when I booted up the game and I could move with the mouse too! It really completed the experience.

I don't really have much to say about the story, not because it's bad, but because it's so shrouded in mystery that my cogs are still turning as to what it could mean. I did really like the puzzles, though! And I did notice those key items you hid away...

I have plenty of theories I've been ruminating on even before MW, but I don't wanna put them here because 1) since this is an ask it might make you feel obligated to comment on them somehow which you are not and I don't want you to do, and 2) I think I would start rambling and make this ask a mile long LOL.

That's about everything I could think of off the top of my head! Overall, I really enjoyed it, and I hope you the best in all the other chapters and games you plan to make. I'm sure I'll enjoy them just as much, if not even more. Take care!

Haha yes! ♡ I know some people have been asking why Reginald has two arms in the promo images and it's like...it's meant to be a surprise, silly!

Also for our little Wishmaker character, yes! I adore them very much and I'm very excited for people to see more of them and learn their real name!! Another one of my favorites to be sure ♡ Not sure how I'll tag them in posts yet until their name reveal... clock, maybe? Just to avoid confusion? This character can be referred to with any pronouns, but for clarification that in games and in my posts they will only be referred to with "they" and the occasional "it"

I'm happy the QTEs are received well! (Granted they were a bit harder at first haha!) I'm happy to include them in future chapters as I feel future chapters will definitely be more linear and dialogue heavy and so I hope they can spice up the gameplay and keep things interesting and maybe just a tad more immersive! ♡

As for mouse movement controls it's kinda like a "Well yes, but actually no". You CAN move using the mouse if you really want to but you also have to be aware that you could accidentally hit an object's hitbox and activate its event. And you can't back out of an event once it has been activated like in typical point-and-clicks. (There's only so far I can push the engine with my experience level!) It's for this reason (and the surprise of QTE's!) that WASD/Arrow Key movement is recommended!

Thank you so much! ♡ I am so very happy to hear you enjoyed the experience and I love to hear what people have been brewing up regarding the story and the mysteries still unfolding (even though I can't say anything about it yet!) and I can't wait until I can have more to show you all! I'm really excited for it and I hope everyone will be too! ♡♡♡

[moyokeansimblr]

Update

Not feeling so hot and I'm not going to do anything impulsive at 8PM on a Friday evening but

here is a link to a sfs folder with ALL of my content that's currently only hosted on patreon.

I want to add individual sfs links to the tumblr posts but that's a lot and I'm now regretting never adding alt dl links this whole time... and sorry I don't think the downloads in the sfs folder are in order... it also might be some other things, like fixed meshes or stuff. tbh I just added everything I've made after April 3rd 2023 since that was the last time I uploaded anything to sfs.

I guess while I'm here... I was going to wait until after I finish up the last of my active requests (probably by Monday, I'm almost done) but I desperately need a break from CC. I sent a group message on the 17th to my $4 and $6 patrons encouraging them to cancel, but I know not everybody knows patreon even has dms so maybe you'll see this post and I'll reach out again in the coming days so nobody is wasting their money. I am so immensely burnt out and I need to not create for a while. This is completely my own fault, nobody made me work on CC for 8-10 hours 5 days a week for the last several months and I fully knew it wasn't sustainable ages ago but I kept doing it because it made me feel good, until it didn't. Quite honestly, even before I sent the group message the instant wave of relief I felt just having made the decision to take a break... that caught me off guard but just confirmed I need this. I do feel really awful about it because I feel like I'm letting people down but at the same time I don't want to hate creating which was already happening. That being said, I don't know how long the lull in CC is going to be, and if you're only following me strictly for CC I apologize. As said I am still finishing up one request I still had, I'm about 75% done with that as of this post. But that's gonna be it for a while.

There is a part of me that wants to stop using patreon completely and unpublish my creator page (which is what I'm not going to impulsively do tonight without properly thinking it through...since there are positives like how easy it is to download files and whatnot) but I'd again encourage not only those who joined the $4 and $6 tiers but also the $2 tier to cancel so that you aren't wasting your money. If I did do this I would definitely do the individual sfs links on everything first. I'd not just leave you guys unable to download my stuff.

So, what does that mean for this blog? I'll spare ye, impatient readers, who have already read a lot because I ramble⬇️

Well, as of posting this I still have THREE HUNDRED AND TWENTY FOUR Strangetown posts in my queue. And I'm not tired of playing that.

I'm looking forward to having an opportunity to do all of the things I've been neglecting. I'm finally going to go through the subfolder within my downloads of everything I'm downloaded the last few months and decide if I wanna keep it in my game or not. And finish default replacing everything. And all my other various little projects I haven't been doing.

Also, I want to start playing Veronaville 😮I've already started downloading lots from kattaty to replace the in-game ones, and I found a cool replacement for the neighborhood map. I am leaning towards making a new sub-blog for this so that you don't have to try and follow Strangetown/LFT posts and Veronaville/ALT posts at the same time. I've only ever played the Veronaville sims for like one day as part of a super failed megahood years ago so I'd like to get to know them.

So basically, I guess I'm a gameplay blog for now? Until I want to create anything again anyways, but I don't know when that will be.

I don't know how to end this post... I'm sorry for the disappointment, but thank you so much for enjoying my stuff 💛💛

[kozachenko]

A Retrospective Analysis on Touhou 17

So it's finally here, and even though I know for a fact that I am not going to be able to get the Keiki drawing done by this time (I'm having trouble with the eyes, for some reason it's always that aspect of drawing her that's difficult for me, I can never really capture the essence of her character no matter what I do) I still wanted to post something about this game today since it's the game's 5 year anniversary. I have a lot of thoughts on it, and my views on the game have changed quite a lot throughout my time being a Touhou fan. This is going to be very long so I'll put the rest under the keep reading tag.

So for some background, Touhou 17 was the first Touhou game I ever played, I got into the series during 2021 shortly after my Hunter X Hunter phase ended (since the manga was still on hiatus at the time) and I remember playing 17 during that time as well. I'm pretty sure that the reason I played it was because of that one nitirushh animation where Keiki disses the animal spirits so hard that they die (still my favourite fan-depection of Keiki tbh, it's just really funny to me) and that set my interest in the game itself. It was also the newest Touhou game at the time and none of the other games interested me as much. Then I actually played the game and at the time I found it insanely fun. I remember feeling so excited playing the stage 1 of the game and thinking to myself "Holy shit I'm actually playing a Touhou game" and having a lot of fun with it. Even though the game itself is the easiest out of all the Touhou games, it was still a challenge for me at the time since I had never played a bullet Hell before. For this reason, the game as a whole struck a chord with me. Funny Touhou animation aside, I don't know if it was because I had only recently gotten out of my Hunter X Hunter phase after finishing the whole 2011 version of the anime and had caught up with the manga during 2020, but maybe some aspect of 17 kinda scratched a similar itch in my brain and it really stuck with me IDK.

As for what I think of the game itself now.... gameplay wise, it could be better, it's still fun but there was so much potential for the game to tell it's story through the medium it chose to present itself in. Why did we not have more similarities between Eika and Keiki's danmaku styles to show their connection? Why did we not have a moment similar to what happened in TD during the final boss fight where Mayumi comes back in to take over during the fight in a last ditch effort to protect Keiki? It's the final boss so go all out! The animal spirits could also be balanced a lot better as well, especially with Youmu becoming incredibly overpowered with the wolf spirit, and visibility is a bit of a problem in this game. Some of the tracks could use a bit more polish too, I commend ZUN for being experimental with his newer tracks but the stage 3 theme and staff roll theme are both kinda eh, and while the boss themes have a lot of good punch to them and can be really good, it still feels like some extra spice could've been added to really make them stand out (which is why I love the theme remixes Saki and Yachie got in Touhou 19). I also wish the Animal Realm got explained better within the lore of the series, mainly because it raises a lot of questions about how Hell was founded and it kinda needlessly complicates things. I would've rather it be introduced as it's own region of Hell rather than being a separate thing entirely that just so happens to be located next to it. I also wish that we got more stuff with this setting that explains how it connects to the rest of the worldbuilding a lot more, I definitely feel like actually having it explained more in the mangas would definitely help to make it feel less convuluted, but unfortunately the closest we're getting are cameos in Lotus Eaters and very brief mentions of the games themselves. I still like the game though, as I've mentioned I do love a lot of the music and I love all the characters we got introduced to in this game. I've been appreciating Eika a lot more recently, I do like Urumi but she's neat and I like her design a lot, Kutaka is a fucking shithead who kept FUCKING UP MY 1CCS IN BOTH 17 AND 17.5 THE FUCKING BITCH- who is very funny and I love seeing more insight into Hell's management. Yachie's great and I find her relationships to the other characters in this game very interesting, Mayumi is awesome and the more I think about her the more I like her, and I love how Saki contrasts Yachie in her strategies. That being she has no strategy and just goes "fuck it, we ball" with no hesitation lmao.

I'm pretty sure you all noticed the absence of one character in particular, that being Keiki. I've made it no secret on this blog that Keiki is my favourite Touhou character, and a lot of that is because of her role as an antagonist in Touhou 17. I always found it really fascinating how ZUN created her as an allegory for AI (I don't know if Apollo just randomly blessed him with the gift of prophecy because MAN does that statement hit harder now more than ever) and the fact that she's portrayed as a very morally grey character in the game itself and Reimu's reaction to her, stating that she can see an "evil aura" in Keiki. I've already talked a lot about Keiki on this blog and I don't know what there is that I haven't said, but I wanted to start off with her because it ties into a big part of why I still find this game's story interesting. That main aspect being it's parallels to Gensokyo and Touhou's overarching them of humanity's relationship with nature.

So to step back from 17 for a second, I feel like we should look at what the Youkai represent in the story. Youkai in Touhou are created from humanity's fear, and back before science was able to properly explain anything, this fear very often manifested into a fear of nature. Natural disasters would end up wiping out villages, dangerous animals would often lurk in forests and end up killing anyone who would go in them. Overall nature isn't very kind to humanity, and humanity knows this. This is why humanity would often try and find reasons as to why these things would happen. This brings us back to the Youkai in Touhou who are the embodiment of the unexplainable. In manga like Forbidden Scrollery and Lotus Eaters, we often see how the humans in the human village are at the mercy of these Youkai, the only reason that they aren't being slaughtered is entirely for their own benefit so they don't run out of resources. The only hope the humans in the village really have is to turn to the gods, another product of man's desire to explain the unexplainable, to potentially save them. The survival of the people in the human village will always be in the hands of beings beyond their comprehension. No matter what, humanity will always be at the mercy of nature.

Coming back to Touhou 17, we can see that the relationship between the human and beast spirits isn't exactly.... pleasant. The beast spirits all see the human spirits as slaves essentially and they gain strength from their torment. The only way that the human spirits are even able to stand a chance against them is to submit themselves to a god and pray for their protection. And even then there's no way in Hell that they're getting out of this situation since the god they're praying to views them the same way as the animal spirits (whether they are aware of it or not).

So if you haven't noticed by my word choice, there are quite a lot of similarities here with the dynamics of the Animal realm and Gensokyo. That's not even mentioning the fact that in both places we have at least 3 different parties fighting over control of the humans, whether it be animal spirits or Youkai. Hell, this race for power in Gensokyo is a plot point in Lotus Eaters and Forbidden Scrollery, so it's not like this is a new concept for the series to explore either.

There's also something to be said about how Keiki and the technology she brings with her are seen as a threat to the order of the animal realm. Throughout human history, humanity's creativity and ingenuity have always been major factors in our survival as a species. We created tools to use the nature around us and make it work to our advantage, we created weapons to more efficiently hunt and find food to survive, and we created art and literature to document our histories and make sense of the world. Going back to 17, Keiki is the epitome of humanity's evolution and creativity and she is the one who responded to the human's cries for salvation. Another thing to think about is that in Gensokyo, the best the villagers are going to get in terms of technology are old computers that are very limited in their use, and even then barely anyone will have any idea how to use them. The reason that Gensokyo even exists in the first place is to preserve the Youkai and Gods that would become forgotten by humanity's technological advancement. In both of these places, technological advancement is seen as a threat to the natural order and must be suppressed at all costs.

Of course in Gensokyo it isn't as extreme as the animal realm. The Kappa, the Tengu, and even gods like Kanako are all quite technologically advanced and/or are introducing new technologies to Gensokyo (those are just the ones I could list off the top of my head, but please tell me if there are more that I forgot). But here's the interesting thing, notice how none of the examples I listed there were humans. The only way for the humans of Gensokyo to have these technologies introduced to them is if the powers that be, nature, let them have those technologies. Going back to the animal realm, even after Keiki is defeated we can see that the beast spirits are still using the technologies she (most likely) introduced, i.e. that one chapter in Lotus Eaters where one of the otter spirits introduced what is essentially a GameBoy to the Kappa and Nitori saying stuff like, "oh yeah the animal realm is actually pretty technologically advanced nowadays" as well as that one story in CoLA where Ran and Yachie deal with the AI Sumireko made. Once again, the only times when the use of technology goes unprotested in this series are when it's kept out of the hands of humans and back into the hands of nature. Even when humans are able to fight back and create their own technology, nature will always win in the end, no matter how hard humanity tries to defeat it. The way Touhou 17 ends is indicative of this, with Keiki being defeated and the Animal Realm returning to it's status quo.

However, Gensokyo has never had this kind of issue before.... or so it may seem. Yes there's never been any technological uprising by the human villagers and with the way things are there most likely never will be, but when you take away the potential for technological advancement from humans then the next best thing would be magic. And when humans in Gensokyo use magic to find a way to gain power and be more than just fodder for the Youkai, they end up being punished. This is most prevalent in Forbidden Scrollery when Reimu kills the fortune teller. I don't think I need to go too in depth about this moment since I already did so in my Forbidden Scrollery review but this once again shows a parallel between Gensokyo and the Animal Realm.

So what am I trying to say with all of this? I've been bringing up a lot of the similarities that these two places have but similarities can just be chalked up to coincidences that don't mean anything. What I've been trying to say with this whole thing is that the Animal Realm represents an extreme version of Gensokyo, one where every ugly aspect of it is dialed up to 11 and the law of the strong eating the weak rules all. It's a Gensokyo without a spell card system to level the playing field. I do want to say that I don't believe Gensokyo is a grimdark setting, sure some parts about it are bleaker than others, but there are also many good aspects of Gensokyo that I feel like I should bring up. It's a safe-haven for the forgotten, and if we continue viewing the Youkai and Gods from the lens of both of them being allegories for nature, Gensokyo is a place where nature can fluorish outside of humanity's hands. Unlike the Animal Realm, Gensokyo was never established with the intentions of harming people. Nature is both beautiful and terrifying, and where Gensokyo displays the beautiful sides of nature, the Animal Realm displays all the ugly sides of it. Even then, there is some overlap between the two, Gensokyo does have a nastier side to it and the Animal Realm is a place where nature can exist unrestrained by humanity (even if the place is still a shitshow overall). Now that I think about it, this sort of duality between the two realms is kinda fitting for Touhou, and I can't stress enough that when I say that Gensokyo and the Animal Realm have some parallels I am not trying to say Gensokyo is a grimdark dystopia. Hell even going back into the Lotus Eaters manga, the otter spirit that escaped from the Animal Realm even said that Gensokyo was a better place to live.

So yeah, I don't really have any good way to end this aside from saying happy 5 year anniversary Touhou 17. You are a flawed game but god do I still love you. Oh yeah, and if there's anything I missed or any mistakes I made, please correct me/let me know.

[kaija-rayne-author]

Hugest of sighs.

I really hate it when I can feel a special interest dying.

It's like watching something you've loved and put your everything into for however long get smaller and smaller in the distance. Until it disappears in a puff of smoke.

I can feel it happening with Dragon Age.

It's actually managed to hang on for a long time, so I guess I should just... wish it a fond farewell and let it go.

I was going to write a less acid filled version of my editorial critique/review about the gameplay preview to send to the devs, but why?

I don't get the kind of interaction I need on posts like my Dragon Age posts to help me keep the special interest alive.

The devs aren't going to listen to some internet rando like me if I did waste my time writing it. Not even if I'm actually a professional editor and this is in fact my job that I'm pretty good at.

They don't even toss me a heart on responses to their posts. And they probably wouldn't read it even if it did happen to make it through all the stuff they probably get on their feeds, anyway. Valuable professional editorial critique or not.

Before I stepped way back from social media I could easily get thousands of @ in a day. I know what they must be dealing with.

I have other things I should really be spending my time on.

Sadly, my special interest in Dragon Age has been on life-support since I saw the gameplay preview.

My DA gaming group has gone from a couple hundred people, most of whom weren't active, to waaaaay more people than I'm comfortable being social with. (I have since muted most of it and withdrawn from anything I'm just... not interested in anymore.)

I honestly feel the new look for Solas killed Solas for me. (Given I'm solavellan that's saying one hell of a lot.) For a bit there, I was hoping he'd grow on me. But apparently, I haven't been inoculated with that particular style of virulent mould yet. So it hasn't happened. Every time I saw a picture I just... cared a little less.

Where once I had the fires of a volcano inside my heart for this franchise, nothing but ash in a breeze remains.

It's always possible that something could happen to reignite my passion for it. It's happened a few times before for faded special interests. It could also be my depression talking and I'll feel completely different tomorrow. That's happened too. (So far hasn't happened in the threeish days since I wrote this. It's probably not the depression.)

But... After seeing that gameplay preview, and listening to the Q&A, and reading the Game Informer post... it may just be time to call Time of Death. As someone who loved the first three, and who absolutely marinated myself in the lore, I frankly feel betrayed. (I mean... Varric with a beard? Really? There were story significant reasons he did not, in fact, wear a beard, did they forget that? Like they forgot his bloody hair colour?)

So long, Dragon Age. It was fun while it lasted.

I truly do hope people enjoy the blathering posts I did about it when passion filled me.

I hope people truly do enjoy the new game. There's too little joy in this world and I hope with all my heart it gives you as much joy as you can handle. I'm just a little sad it won't for me. I'll always have the first three, which I do legitimately love to pieces.

I'm not even crying or upset. I just... don't care anymore.

From a professional standpoint, that's always a danger when you change a piece of media too much. There has to be a certain amount of continuity to it so it feels the same. Without that?

You lose obsessed people like me.

You lose the older gamers who loved what Dragon Age was.

And absolutely, yes, fiction does need to change. It's an integral part of the whole thing. If it doesn't change, if it doesn't adapt, it dies just as quickly as if it changes too much. I like to see change in media. It's needed in so many ways. Change can be hard to adapt to, of course. Or in some cases impossible. Shrugs.

There's a professional balance to these things. It wouldn't surprise me if I have a bit of savantism when it comes to editing and writing. I just seem to deeply understand how it all works in ways others rarely see. Looking at a novel or a game or a show from an editorial perspective is very much like looking at a 4d puzzle for me. I can instinctively see what works and what doesn't.

It's just that, in my honest professional opinion, they tried to change way too much to appeal to a different set of gamers than those of us who are a little older and have loved the feel of the first three games.

It's not the change itself I object to. I'm definitely not one of those people who thinks that DAO was the best DA ever. I've loved them all for different reasons. But they all still felt like Dragon Age. Even DA2, which a lot of people hate, still felt like a fantasy RPGish adventure. (I enjoyed it for what it was. I'd've liked to see what it could've been with more time, but for what it was, they did a great job and it was an enjoyable game).

DA4? From what we've seen so far, it doesn't even remotely feel like a fantasy RPGish adventure game. It feels like a cheap star wars/FFXIV/Fortnite knockoff designed for a much different type of gamer. (Which was actually confirmed by Epler in the Q&A. They did, in fact, design it more for younger players than those of us who have been waiting for it for however long.) Professionally, I believe that was a mistake that may cost them.

The darkspawn alone are a bloody travesty. WTAF are those things? And yes, I've seen the 'lore excuse' that it's the red lyrium making them look like bad halloween deco. I'd buy it if they were kinda spiky and had red lyrium growths and stuff like the red lyrium infected creatures in DAI. But it's like they forgot their own canon.

I dunno. It really just doesn't matter. I'm pretty sure that no matter how beautiful the backgrounds and some of the art they've just... lost me.

I guess I write these kinds of posts so others in the same boat as me know they aren't alone.

You aren't imagining it. While change is in fact good and necessary to a certain extent, they've changed it so much trying to appeal to a different market that it really doesn't feel even remotely like Dragon Age anymore.

[ohkate]

Thank you @jessij1997 for this tag. I love this topic!

How long have you been writing fics?

One year. I did write a fic about 20 years ago but nothing since then.

What fic are you reading right now or what was the last one you read?

I've been in a more romantic mood recently and I reread Flower-U-Up by Miss_SnowWhitePink for a pick me up.

I also reread Cooperative Gameplay because I rec'd it to @badassfetish.

What fic are you most proud of?

I'm the most proud of the fic I wrote for this year's Shameless Big Bang. I can't wait to show it to you all!

Second to that, I actually really like my story Five Senses. It was the first fic where I did exactly what I wanted to do with the concept without feeling like I wasn't a good enough writer to write it properly.

What is the last fic you wrote?

Other than my Galladrabbles and the silly AI Generated story I posted, the last real fic I wrote was This, which was a gift to @badassfetish.

Your 3 favourite fanfic tropes:

I would say these are specific to THIS fandom:

Alpha/Omega: "Oh no my suppressants aren't working for some mysterious reason. If only my down low soul mate was here to fuck me for days. Oh wait...he is!"

Pretend relationship leads to real relationship

Fridging: Yes I know this is horrible and I understand why. But I love when one love interest is hurt and the other one goes on a rampage to avenge them or rescues them, etc. Ian telling Lip that if he ever hits Mickey again he'll kill him is hot for a reason.

What is your favourite thing about writing fics?

I love that it helps me flex the creative muscles that sometimes get stagnant from just doing gifsets. People tend to like basic gifsets but the more arty stuff, the stuff you have to think about and actually put thought and effort into, the text you come up with to make it feel like something more...it can sometimes be less appreciated. Not because it's not good but just because not everyone likes YOUR style. I tend to be uber-romantic and with Ian and Mickey that ends up being more AU, lol.

So sometimes I find myself doing the same scenes, the same moments...and trying to make something new out of a limited amount of scenes can be tiring. But with fic, I can create something and mold it right to how I want it. I don't have to be limited to the footage of them we have.

tagging the most recent writers on my dash: @gallawitchxx

@callivich @suzy-queued @takeyourpillsbitchh @lingy910y @badassfetish @starry-nights-17 @sweetbee78 @spicycinnabun

[anthurak]

So as something of a follow-up to this post I did on Psychonauts, I thought I’d try and think of other examples of games with a notably casual and relaxed early-game instead of tossing both protagonist and player directly into some intense main plot. Particularly if there are ways of essentially ‘putting off’ the main story to the point that a significant percentage of your playthrough of the game takes place in this more casual, relaxed state.

Now as someone brought up in the tags of the Psychonauts post, yes Kingdom Hearts 2 has a great example of this concept with Roxas’s prologue. Sure, it may not be very long compared to the rest of the game and there is no reasonable way to extend it (indeed, that inevitability is very much part of the POINT of Roxas’s story in KH2), but at the same time the last few days of ‘summer vacation’ for Roxas so perfectly capture and present this chill and relaxed atmosphere that really does set KH2 apart from so many other games. Not to mention being probably THE main reason Roxas ended up being as beloved as he is by the fandom.

For another, perhaps unexpected example, I’d actually put Cyberpunk 2077 on this list. Specifically the pre-heist section of the First Act. Like it might be easy to miss if you just go straight to the meeting with Evelyn and the deal with Maelstrom, but after the meeting with Dexter, you’re given free reign of the Watson district along with a few side quests you can do. Sure it’s not like how Psychonauts opens up basically three-quarters of the map after the first level as you’re still stuck to one district with a number of higher level unlockables unavailable. But I think it’s still a bit significant, particularly as you can complete either of the main quests at your leisure and even put off the heist itself until you’re ready.

Which I think in turn gives the first act a more relaxed, casual feel since most notably, V DOESN’T have the ominous specter of Johnny Silverhand looming over them at this point. Like even though functionally from a gameplay perspective there isn’t much difference between the first act and the rest of the game, there is still that FEELING of creeping mortality that pervades the rest of the game. Which as an aside, speaking personally has actually been the biggest barrier to replaying CP77 for me. Like yeah, I do think the game is fun, and I want to have fun with it, but the looming doom and gloom of V’s fading life really does create this oppressive atmosphere that sucks a lot of the fun out of the game for me. To the point where I really wish there was some kind of secret route (perhaps a New Game+ mode?) where maybe V can avoid getting shot by Dexter and triggering the relic?

Finally, for the fourth example that I’m sure will surprise a few people; let’s talk about Skyrim.

Specifically, Skyrim with an alternate start mod.

Because while the base Skyrim game might rather infamously lock you into the main quest right from the get-go, there are in fact a number of fan-mods that essentially allow you to sidestep the main quest entirely.

For example; the mod I used back when I played Skyrim, Live Another Life, essentially allowed you one of several dozen alternate starts to your playthrough. From starting as a new recruit for any of the major factions, to starting as a new arrival to one of Skyrim’s ports to starting in a random inn or tavern, to starting as a bandit, necromancer, vampire or other random enemy in a dungeon/camp, to starting on a shipwreck, and many more.

And once you started, the main quest was essentially locked. No dragons flying around, no one freaking out about dragons returning or anything else like that. At least until you wandered nearby to Helgen and saw the big fuckoff dragon fly away from the big smoking hole in the ground which kicked off the main quest as normal.

But that meant you could essentially put off the main quest as long as you want and just play around in Skyrim doing all the other quests and adventures you wanted without the big ol’ ‘end of the world’ and ‘chosen one’ malarkey looming over you.

Heck, depending on the mod you were using, you could just disable the main quest entirely and roleplay as someone OTHER than a dragonborn.

So those are the examples I could think of for games with a notably relaxed early game, which certainly feel rather notable and interesting when it seems most games are rather terrified of losing player attention and thus toss them right into the plot/action as soon as possible.

Would definitely love to hear any other examples anyone can think of XD

[lazerv4]

Thoughts on Dragon Age: Inquisition [REPLAY]

Just my raw thoughts not a review or anything

Coming back to Inquisition after 10 years now, is like seeing an old friend that you truly didn’t realize how much they really cared until now that they’ve been gone for a while.

I loved my time revisiting the third entry in Dragon Age especially after last year’s Baldur's Gate 3 and the release this year of Dragon Age: The Veilguard in a few months.

Besides a few issues with the ambition of the story not quite being able to be realized at the time the game is incredibly fun, charming, epic, funny and honestly kind of ahead of it’s time like it’s series tends to be.

First speaking for the gameplay I played a rogue who specialized in assassination, which was incredibly fun a had an entertaining loop once I got my build finalized because man it took a bit to get to the good stuff and I’m not sure if I would have the patience if I already didn’t love the game which is a big slight issue that while the game eventually solved took way too long. The open worlds are all nice, fun and expansive if you remember that not all of them are gigantic and the hinterlands is a go back to every so often kind of place instead of staying there forever like many did. The combat flows well with the level design for the most part having areas that are open and easy to maneuver through however the prowess of the engine holds back some scenes trying to create a large scale that can’t be fully realized since the engine can’t hold that many enemies on screen even with a ludicrously over specs PC like most gaming PCs would be today. However even when the game itself can’t realize the massive world and scale of everything going on the story pulls through and does the heavy lifting. The main plot itself is rather simple, it follow your created character becoming the Inquisitor and expanding your influence to slowly figure out who killed the Divine and created a rift in the sky which eventually turns out to be a returning Corypheus from Dragon Age 2 and then you uncover a lot more things about him, the nature of dark spawn and the mysteries of Thedas as you work to beat Corypheus once and for all. The 3 DLC are 2 main story expansion and an epilogue, the first being Jaws of Hakkon which expands the world into previously uncharted lands further making the world of Thedas feel alive and well thought out as you interact with the Avvar people who basically share nothing besides their species and language with the rest of Thedas as well as uncovering the secrets of the first inquisition in what feels like a fantasy Indiana Jones jungle adventure at times just being incredibly satisfying. Next was The Descent which expands even further into Dwarves and the Deep Roads finally making them feel as cool as the series has always wanted you to think they were, the plot is a simple go down and explore what is causing sudden earthquakes and the resolution to it while leaving you with a bunch of new questions expands on dwarves in fascinating ways that I hope The Veilguard explores more through Harding. Finally you get to quite possibly one of the greatest pieces of DLC ever made with Tresspacer, the third and final story expansion set 2 years after the events of the campaign where an Exalted Council is held by your current Divine to see the future of the Inquisition post Breach and political pressure from both Orlais and Ferelden as a Qunari invasion starts within Eluvia Mirrors (teleporters to a different dimension) as you slowly uncover the mystery old the olden elven gods and why Solas left after the defeat of Corypheus then learning that he is in fact the Dread Wolf, the legendary trickster god who defied the gods and imprisoned or killed them as your mark which turns out to be his doing starts to slowly kill you. Trespasser alone is worth getting into Inquisition with how fantastic it’s quality is, I cannot stress enough how cool of an epilogue plot it is and how it’s unlikely anyone will quite be able to do it like they did.

Inquisition as a whole package is incredible with how it weaves a story spanning the entire continent through it’s side quest and DLC and a pretty fun fantasy story in it’s main plot as you live and breath along with everything in Thedas in a medium that is inherently the best at making worlds feel lived in. Few do it like Dragon Age and none do it better, Skyrim gets a lot of props for being “immersive” but that is only true superficially, if you truly wanna see what a believable world is then go ahead and give not only Inquisition a chance but also the entire series including material outside the games, it’s all great and you get to visit so many places that you basically come to know Thedas as if it was a place you’ve actually lived in. I wish I could write more about how great this game and experience was but I feel like The Veilguard will cover some territory that I want to mention here so I will save it all for that.

[wildfangz]

Lil (long) simblr gratitude day post

I wanted to make a post shouting out some of my favorite creators, storytellers, and just general simmers from over the last year, mainly focused on ts4 since that's where my attention has been the most. Long post ahead so it's going under a cut. If you're not tagged please know I did wake up late today so it's not as complete of a list as I wanted it to be!!

@adelarsims - You are an essential in my mods folder!! I love how much realism and/or character your cc adds to sims, from things like the piercing holes to the wonky glasses to the mechanic overlay... Just so many little things that I can't imagine not having in my game or on certain characters now. Speaking of characters, your sims both original and premade are always so gorgeous, and I really enjoy your interpretations of wg and jeb. & Thank you for being WCIF friendly, I know it takes time to get that info but it's so appreciated, u've help me find some very beloved pieces of CC. Also the level of dedication u have to organizing your mods folder is incredible and you've inspired me a lot to get my folder's act together finally!! Which is SUCH a QoL improvement

@bearphase - I adore the bright legacy and I admire all the little details and effort you put into your posts, like fixing clipping issues, making icons and templates for custom careers or story events, ur creativity really shines through. You've also reminded me how fun NSB can be and inspired me to get back to it and my human enough gameplay and I can't thank u for that enough, it's got me sooo excited for future simming endeavors

@daisydezem - You've been a welcome addition on my dash back since POSE, which was a fantastic first community experience for me and so much fun, & I love your gameplay & love how much work u put into rainbowsin! (I adore Venus so much btw!!) I hope you're healing well and that u have a lovely new year!!

@divinedionym - CLAIRE!!! I was SO happy to see you dipping your toes back in the community I missed you on my dash! and while I adored ur vatores and their story and ur an incredible storyteller, I'm glad you've been able to pivot into something more enjoyable for u. I hope you have lots of fun in the coming year and I can't wait to see what Aspen gets up to… or into… especially with his vampire BF. Aside from that idk if you'll ever wanna run another sims server, but I did want to give you a late shoutout and props for that bc I know from experience it can be difficult and I really loved how you ran yours! I could just be an anxious bitch but I feel like its so hard to find comfortable servers.... and esp the storytellers one was so cozy and helpful, and ur management of it was *chefs kiss* I've also really enjoyed it every time we've talked, tho I'm sorry I'm so shy 😭😭

@earthmoonz - LONG TIME MUTUAL ALERT ….. ur sims are always so gorgeous. Love the Devereauxs and... Max and Lena… WOO. I support womens and nonbinary rights. and wrongs. Wifey has been SO good and I'm pumped to see where the rest of the story goes. U have a natural talent for storytelling and I really appreciate how much care u put into your characters. Everyone read wifey today rn

@hauntedtrait - Another mutual I enjoy every time I see you on my dash!! Your Lilith is drop dead gorgeous but honestly so many of your sims are. I love ur premade makeovers and Dakota is sooo pretty I'm obsessed. I can't wait 2 see who he ends up with! :]

@horusmenhosetix - I love seeing u on my dash and every time we've talked has been so lovely!! There's been so many times you've made me want to jump back into my projects for ts2 or even go back to ts3 once I have the space to download it. I love your s2cc and god ur sims …. its been a year but I still smile whenever I think about the vatore siblings you shared jhskfdh they're so perfect its got me inspired to throw together an s4 save whenever I get my mods folder sorted. & I'm so excited to go thru ur downloads tag and fill that baby UP with ur stuff next time I work on that !!!!!!!!

@myshunosun - One of my favorite CC creators, pretty sure my folder has all of your stuff in it bc I couldn't help myself. Always impressed with the quality and I love the variety. Thank u for sharing such incredible work with us!

@nucrests - I downloaded a lot of ur cc more recently but MY BOYS!!! U'VE CLOTHED MY BOYS!!! You make such good quality content and I'm always a huge fan of those that help me give my male sims some flair and style, thank u! :')

@oshinsimblr - Long 1 incoming... While I've never been a sims 4 hater, like a lot of people I've still struggled with the gameplay aspect of this iteration, so it's been really inspiring to watch how you go about your game and immerse yourself in it, see all the care you put into your sims. I have to thank you for the videos you've made on it, like the one on how to make sims you connect to, season 1 of Lovesick where you went basically vanilla with the specific intent to show people how much you can do with imagination and what that looks like in gameplay! It's been literally game-changing for me lol and helped me to have more fun with my saves, even if they're not one of the rare few that starts out off the rails, I get more enjoyment playing it out until things do start happening outside of my control. & YOUR CC RECS!! I've downloaded so many of the mods you've recommended and I love how much they fill out the game. On the topic of Lovesick, I have not been able 2 get enough!! I'm so hooked lmao. Watching this series has really taken me back to the days when I was a teen reading like those particularly juicy drama-filled sims 3 stories you can't help but to keep clicking "next page" on, except Lovesick is so solid writing-wise. SO excited to see where Lizbeth is going in her life!!

@simandy - Your hairs have been an essential in my CAS folder for so long, and I've been so impressed with the evolution of your creations over the years. I've always liked your work but GODDAMN the quality always blows me away these days!! & I really, really adore and appreciate the variety! @squea - ANOTHER SORT OF LONG ONE BUT ... Your sims just POP!!! SO much character, and your edits and art r phenomenal. Corn is one of my favorite little digital guys I've had the pleasure of experiencing on line in all my years in the sims community reading stories and gameplay. If Cornelius has a million fans I am one of them. If Cornelius has ten fans I am one of them. If Cornelius has no fans I am no longer on the earth. If world against Cornelius, I am against the world. So on and so forth TBH you've also helped me have a lot more fun with the sims 4 talking about how you enjoy your game, and have a healthier mindset about my place in the community and connect back with the reason I made this blog in the first place, which was just to have fun and archive something I love, regardless of whether it got any attention or not! I started going MIA a bit post 2019 after really getting involved in the community, for Life Happens reasons, and naturally the lack of consistent posting for a while meant less eyes on whatever I came back to share. For a while I let that discourage me esp when a lot of effort was put into something, but after you posted about just genuinely enjoying ur game and loving what you made regardless of notes it made me realize what I was doing and helped me get back to that state of mind. Now whatever I make gets to matter simply because it matters to me, even if I post it at like 3am bc I'm so excited and no one ever sees it bc of that DHKDHKHSD. & I feel like I have u to thank for that!! U turned da lightbulb on

@thefoxburyinstitute - I could not make a gratitude post without forgetting to include the foxbury institute!! I've been messing around more with making CC the last couple of months and your blog has been so incredibly helpful, and I highly recommend everyone interested in creating or just wanting to maintenance and mend their mods folder a bit check them out!

@tricoufamily - YOUR RENDERS ARE SO GORGEOUSSS and I love your take on the Villareals. I never ran into the original story so I'm really excited tbh to see whats up ur sleeve... also I love everything you've shared about two headed lamb so far, so eerie and offputting in the best way. Also everyone read this is the fall here

@void-imp I know we just followed each other a few days ago but ur trio is SO CUTE!!!!!!!!!! I love Jab's design so much and I rlly enjoy what I've read about aleksey so far. :-)

@warwickroyals - Ok so first off your clothing is a STAPLE in my folder for my more wealthy and/or fashion-oriented sims! And as for the Warwick Legacy? One of my absolute favorite simblr stories I've read. I still remember when I started it, it was pretty late at night so I was just planning on reading a handful of posts and then picking it back up the next day. That did not happen I could not stop. Straight up stayed up the entire night bingeing all the way to the latest post (which was the Big Phillip Thing. I had to get up from my computer to pace I was having a Moment LOL) I've got some catching up to do but so far I think that's been my favorite arc. Aside from that your editing is beautiful, and I've always been a character enjoyer so I'm in love with how much thought you've put into all of yours, and the fact we get to learn so much about them. I think you do a really good job of balancing the cast and I really dig your storytelling style in general.

@whimsyalien I know u post moreso on twitter but since u ARE technically also on simblr... I just wanna say I love the polaris legacy and thank you so much for all the poses and templates you share!!!

@windbrook THANK YOU for making so many fantastic builds and for sharing your saves, it's one of my absolute favorites. Also all the original sims u post are so striking, and ur cartoon-ish makeovers were so much fun!! Loving the recent builds/world pics u shared as well, and looking forward to whatever you create whether its in sims 4 or a previous game in the series!

@yooniesim Your cc is a more recent addition to my folder but there's so many things you've made and I'm sure will make that are essentials there now, like the teeth and body hair and god that necklace set for men is a necessity, but outside of that I love a lot of the other CAS CC you make you have some of the cutest hairs and I really adore the accessories! Thank you also for speaking out on certain issues within the community.

Finally,

To My Followers: thank u all for sticking with me even as I've been a biiit flaky over the years. My healths doing a lot better tho and I have so much passion for the game and I'm so excited for what I have to share with u all next, and I hope it can brighten ur dash up a bit, pull the heartstrings when appropriate, etc!! I also have a lil milestone coming up so im planning on doing some sim requests soon as a thank you when that hits. c:

[oltammefru]

After having done IS4 D15 ending 3 here's my first impressions on the gamemode. Do note that I've only played this gamemode on D15 since a friend farmed difficulties/progression tree for me:

The squads are all relatively balanced, there's a lot of interesting options between them. I favored Support Squad in my first clears for early snowballing reasons but I think I'll likely play something like Scientism more once I learn the stages better. All the class squads seem relatively balanced with each too.

Lin is really goated she is so very useful.

The early game is incredibly fucking snowbally. If you do well early game and transition into midgame with a decent team, it is so easy to get to the point where the game is just over. In the run where I did 3rd ending, I had like 8 E2 6stars, 28 collectibles, and about 30 life + shields at the end of floor 3.

Objective shields, in particular, early game ones, are way more impactful. Often times they're the difference between an entire collapse level worth of collapse.

Collapse effects are far far more negatively impactful than rejections. I know a lot of people had a lot of issue with IS3 rejections but honestly I think they just rarely ever affected the game.

One thing I liked about the design of IS3 stages / the light system is that basically every stage is made much much easier if you choose to leak a few elites, and leaking on one or two stages is rarely enough to fuck up your run on your own. In contrast, in IS4, every leak you make is incredibly impactful and has long-lasting impacts. Life itself as a number only matters in the sense that once you leak once, there's not much of a downside to leaking more so you can use that to take hard stages you'd otherwise leak like 10 on. (I have a post planned analyzing leaking in IS3 vs IS4 and how it contributes to the various themes of the gamemodes.)

6 stars are even more dominant. Part of this is because of the fact that the +1 hope cost to 4 stars and above (proportionally) affects 6 stars the least, but also because hope is way more plentiful and you only have limited squad / deployment units, so you might as well spend your hope on the more slot-efficient units.

Collectible quality is much much higher. Basically everything is at least somewhat good, every variant collectible is just incredibly efficient for its effects.

Golden chalice is honestly kind of mid? Unlike other collectibles, which have instant effects, chalice takes a while to scale up, while not being great early game (which is the main point in time where you really want good collectibles, because of how snowbally IS4 is). It's also far from the most efficient thing you can do with your money, if you get a -50% shop even with chalice it's generally better to spend at least some of it?

Robbing shop on F3 is way way better as an option now (although I've done it quite a few times in IS3 too, I think it is an underrated option in IS3). The F1-3 rob combat is much much harder though.

There's a lot of combats with <25 enemies there seems to be an emphasis on combats with lowish enemy counts. Like I said before, in IS4 it is much more important to play stages perfectly than in IS3 but I do think this creates an interesting gameplay dynamic where like if you've accepted you're going to leak on like Musical Disaster (very easy to leak on that one!) it doesn't even feel that bad to leak a few more.

Emergencies give way more exp than normal commands (and the gap seems far bigger than previous ISes).

Foldartals are neat. I like them a lot. Some of them feel pretty imbalanced though, in particular the one that has an accord that turns selected nodes into Bosky Passages and maxes out your index is so stupidly good compared to most of the other high rarity bottom ones.

[quibbs126]

I can finally post this, after weeks!

But yeah, this here is something I made to celebrate the 9th anniversary of Evoland 2

Some people may remember this work in progress from weeks ago, but now I can finally show the finished product. Which I finished 2 weeks ago

It’s based on the 3D picture you get when you finish the game, specially the 100% completion, and more specifically, my screenshot that I took when I first completed the game and got 100%

Though I should probably also note that this was the only picture I had of the beach scene until I was mostly done with the picture, so there are some inaccuracies between it and the original. Except for Reno in place of the Prophet, that was completely intentional

This game was I think the first (and will probably be the only) game I’ve ever 100% completed, and when I did it the first time, it was just because I knew that games would have extra things for those who 100% it, and I wanted to see what the game would give me. It’s the only time I was so invested in a game that I had to know what I’d get if I got everything. It’s also the only game where losing nearly 10 hours of progress due to a (maybe) glitch does not make me give up the game in frustration, but instead complete the entire thing within a single school week

I may gripe about my issues with the game, but I absolutely love it, and I have a lot of fun playing it. Well, aside from the parts I’m bad at, but that’s just because I’m bad at them. I feel like I have next to nothing to complain about from a gameplay perspective (which is in part because I don’t know how to critique gameplay, but also because I think any issues I have are my own fault), it’s just narrative stuff. And even then, I wouldn’t nitpick it so much if I wasn’t so invested in the world, story and characters

Maybe today I’ll start replaying it again, seeing how I’m pretty sure I’m free today from any schoolwork

I’m still holding on to some admittedly delusional hope that a 3rd game could release one day, even if I know it’ll almost certainly have nothing to do with this one, but even if it never does, I’ll still have this game to play over and over again, so I can accept it

I was disappointed that I missed the last two, since I first played the game in 2022, but not this year, I remembered!

Now to just talk about the art itself, the reason there’s two versions is because I originally made the background lineless, but after finishing the characters I thought it maybe clashed a bit too much, so I made a duplicate of the picture to do a lined version. But I also spent so long on the lineless version that I didn’t want to just leave it in the void, so I’m showing it too

Admittedly now I think I can say the lined version probably is the better one, but I can still show off both

I used the card colors for the characters, since all of them have cards for reference, but now I’m looking at the colors and thinking they look somewhat wrong. At least on Menos

Also as mentioned prior, I switched out the Prophet for Reno. I know I’m biased but I really think he’d fit in this picture of all the main characters far more than the Prophet, considering he’s kind of the reason the plot started, the second half happened, and he’s the main motivation for one of our party members. I mean, I see why the Prophet’s there in the original. He’s really the only other semi-important character with a 3D model, and Reno never had one, so they’d have to make an entirely new one just for this extra thing. Also it doesn’t make sense for him to have a 3D model in the first place, especially not of his Present era self. But not only is this now a drawing where I have the power to do what I want, this scene isn’t canon in the first place, so put Reno in the background there!

Overall though, I’m honestly surprised the piece turned out as good as it did. Those who follow me know that I was really struggling with drawing during the summer, more specifically drawing people and the Evoland 2 cast. But despite all that, I think the characters turned out pretty well. Certainly not the best, but better than I was expecting. And not only that, but the background turned out so much better than I thought it would, especially since I don’t usually do backgrounds. Though I suppose it does help to have a reference for all this though. But yeah, there was a reason I was so proud of how the sketch turned out, and while the final product may not have entirely been what I was hoping for after the sketch, it still turned out pretty good

As long as I can remember it next year (which I really hope I can, considering that’s the 10th anniversary), I’ll try to make something there too, hopefully with much improved drawing skills, since I’m still trying to figure all that out again still

Not sure what I’ll draw then. Maybe I could redraw the beach scene, or make an entirely new beach scene concocted by my brain. But it’s also the 10th anniversary next year, so maybe it should be something more special

Ah well, that’s next year’s problem. For now, have this to celebrate the game’s anniversary. For the minuscule amount of people who actually play this game, I guess

[strangerstime]

Perhaps this information will totally influence my future writings

This topic exhausted itself a long time ago. But is it always a bad thing to return to something that still weighs on you to this day? Yeah, I'm talking about Sun and Moon Show.

So why did I pull this topic out of the nailed coffin when I have already stated my opinion before? Well, there are reasons for that. My friend, @visionthefox, often makes little posts debating this, and I read them from time to time. And the post about Bloodmoon and Lunar has me quite interested. More specifically the fact that BM broke his arm. I was impressed: in a show made for kids, they showed that moment in a very violent and intimidating way. For that they have my respect. I hadn't heard my boys' voices in quite a while and was immensely happy to hear the two of them again (if you remember, it was after BM and Lunar died that I finally gave up on the show). But my happiness didn't last long.

I watched a few other episodes, including gameplay episodes (where I think the BM actor underplayed emotionally, since I saw him as Moon the whole time, but Ruin Eclipse behaved pretty similarly, but not about that), and was somewhat disappointed. Not only that they made two hysterical twins out of my fun and active twins (which is justifiable, since they've been betrayed many times and suffered mentally from it), but also how much the plot became… monotonous? I just didn't have the fervor to find out what happens next.

You may say to me, "Well, it's a show for kids! Why pick on it?" Well, I came to this show when I was a kid. And I thought it was pretty strong script-wise. So what happened? When did those subtle plot lines weaving together turn into constant "here-this-twists!"? All in all, it's pretty sad. I don't deny that there are some positive aspects to the show: I like that the BMs are shown to be much more serious and more realistic, with their complexes and fears; that they brought up Lunar and BM's "brotherhood" (After a year- KHEM) and other minor pluses, but there's nothing here that can bring my attention back. The saddest thing is when watching something leaves no emotion at all…. Just emptiness...

I am in no way judging you if you like this Show! This is my subjective opinion, which I just decided to express for one simple reason: I feel guilty.

Guilty of falling for it, of following the creators' leash, of deciding to base my universe on it and thereby creating so many problems for myself that I won't be able to solve anytime soon, because all the problems start from the first comics… I've only been doing this for a year, and I realize I'm as far from perfect as the Earth is from the Moon. I realize that I should have thought of the consequences earlier, but I was going with my emotions and hopes, which ultimately didn't come to fruition. I accept the fact that people unfamiliar with SAMS will not get on board, they will be confused and end up drowning in trying to understand what is going on here. Which leads me to ask just one question:

"What should I do now?"

Is it worth restarting the whole thing? Flush a whole year of my efforts down the toilet to convey the true essence of my complicated plot? Or should I give up and just pretend like this is how it's supposed to be, finally finishing at least one part of this story….

Many people won't get to this point, but the few that do, hear me: never repeat my mistakes. Don't put your fate in the hands of other people.

End of communication.