#it’s a bit of a mix of the core games with a dash of the ranger series doused in a lot of headcanon

[ranger-crow]

(@teamgardeners) Greetings. I must say, I'm very curious about these Rangers of the human word. What exactly do you do? -Virizion

Rangers are a pretty diverse class of trainers but we play a very important role in our communities. At our core, rangers strive to protect our ecosystems, pokémon, and the people who travel our routes.

On a smaller scale we keep our routes clean and easy to traverse. We guide people, offer battles, and keep an eye out for people who seek to harm pokemon. We work with our local communities to make sure that everyone is safe and living at peace with one another.

Whenever we find pokémon who have been injured, we treat them and take them to the proper rehabilitation centers if they need it. We assist the professors in their research and filling out the dex. When a stronger Pokémon wanders from their territory they can often become a danger to nearby communities as well as themselves. It’s up to us to soothe these pokemon and relocate them to someplace safe.

And on a larger scale, we are some of the only people who can help when disasters strike. Not only cleaning up after storms and other natural disasters- but people who pose a threat to our region as a whole. We help organize evacuations and keep people and pokemon safe during times of crisis. It’s our duty to protect those who cannot protect themselves.

I’ve broken up illegal breeding operations, detained poachers, and busted countless underground fight rings. I’ve guarded eggs, updated Pokédex entries, and delivered countless lost hikers home. I was at the front lines when Team Plasma attempted to overthrow the league and pillaged our cities. And I was there when they returned and froze a chunk of the region.

I became a ranger because I wanted to protect this world that I love so much <3

[chronurgy]

I think small studios often get a little incestuous with their fans for a number of reasons. It often is one guy running all the socials and the complaints form and writing the patch notes as like a side job and they are talking to the same few fans over and over again so they really do have some level of "relationship" even if that isn't maybe a good idea. And some of that is noble. Some of that is because the creators are really genuinely thrilled to interact with people who love their work soso much and that goes to their heads a little bit, because we're all friends here right? And some of it is a little less noble, because small studios often rely on a small core of superfans to survive and of course they need to make them happy, that's where all their money comes from.

As long as the studio and the fan base both stay small it can work, sort of. There are definitely issues, but since there are fewer people involved it lessens the chance of something truly terrible happening and since everyone "knows" each other they can often work it out. That's not to say things don't ever blow up, they definitely can. But you can see how things can sort of trundle along without any major issues for a time.

And then the next game blows up. The fandom gets huuuuuge. The studio keeps interacting with fans like they've always done, because it's always worked before and they love their fans! They've always been close to them and involved, and the fans love it too! It's here that things have a nasty habit of blowing up. A tweet that was cute when everyone in the fandom knew it was Steve dashing something out in his off time comes without that context and suddenly isn't so well received. The studio has transitioned from being "our friends" to "the company" or "our heroes" to much of the fan base, but they haven't realized it yet. Employees respond to things with their personal accounts, because they always have, mixing company decisions with personal opinions in ways that aren't always clear. This, too, can cause problems.

sometimes studios realize before it gets too bad. They put in directives, tell everyone to cool it with the posts, hire a social media manager, and start walking it back. Other studios don't. They end up in some big blow up before they realize they can't do this any longer. I've seen this happen a few times now and after awhile you learn to recognize the signs. I'm hopeful that more studios will start thinking about this early on if only to save themselves the trouble. It's so easy to slip into because at first it really is just a few fans and they really are so happy to chat! I don't think anyone goes into it with bad intentions or thoughts about their audience suddenly growing 1000-fold overnight. But it happens all the time and maybe it's time to start thinking about it sooner

[lordsovorn]

Horror of Shapes

I am OBSESSED with borders and angles, with the language of shape and form.

There is nothing quite like the admiration I feel for the art of dissecting and then reassembling the core sensory components of different things.

I do not mean cosmetic coatings or costumes. I do not mean stiching together equally recognisable, pure parts, like a griffin or a furry. No, I mean the shapes and borders, the silhoette, the weight, the sound envelope, the motion, all talking directly with your reptile brain - and saying different things. Using the language of recognisable forms - but mixing them to say something new. And more often than not, something disturbing.

Our brains don't like things between categories. If they are absurd enough, that's funny, that's just a combination of normal things - but if the contradicting parts are interwoven properly, that's just... real. A wrong, stressful kind of real that doesn't contradict itself, but rather, contradicts our deeply ingrained sensory and emotional catergories.

So it's not at all surprising that this kind of shape mixing - successful or not - is especially common in horror media.

One shape speaks human, and the other doesn't. And it is moving in your direction.

...

For example.

...

And that's why we're all here - to talk about the Stalker from Amnesia: The Bunker a bit.

(Medium-heavy spoilers for Amnesia: The Bunker)

(I'm discussing in detail the design of THE monster of the game. You'll hardly get a good look at it normally, and I will also inevitably reference its nature a bit. Without any story or gameplay spoilers)

...

When you think of the Beast and its defining shapes, what comes to mind first?

Long, terrifying claws? Rows of needle-like teeth? A twisted, contorted visage, from which a snarl of unprecedented hate emanates?

I think of its neck. I'm in love with that fucked up neck as a subtle, yet powerful design choice. If you're surprised you've never really noticed it - google its model and marvel at the huge, thick, long neck of the Beast.

And think for a moment what it means in terms of silhoette.

...

The unnatural length of the neck is invisible from the front - the direction you're most likely to *really look* at the creature when you are cornered and have to shoot. When it stands up to howl before dashing, it keeps its inflexible neck behind the head as well - but the head appears disjointed and disproportionate, moving in a way it's not supposed to in a humanoid creature.

The Beast is quite front-heavy - with huge claws and massive head. This is only emphasized by the perspective trick at play - the head looks bigger because it is actually closer to you than you think, thanks to the neck.

From the front it looks humanoid, like a monstrous gorilla, standing on its knuckles. But when you look at it from the side, while it crawls along the half-lit corridors, you see just have elongated it is. The neck ruins the humanoid silhouette, breaks the shoulder line, lowers the head and emphasizes the arched back, creating an image of a predatory, confident beast.

But the two bayonets sticking out of its spine disrupt even this image. Of course, you're unlikely to even distinguish that those are bayonets in normal circumstances - it's just two strange spikes, breaking up the smooth line of the predator.

...

The back is different too - it is the least deformed part of the creature. Its legs are almost... normal, in the proportions at least, and it's from this angle that you clearly see the ragged remains of torn clothing on a disturbingly hunched back.

It kind of makes sense that from the least dangerous angle in the gameplay sense, the Beast looks the least threatening. Almost like a big, awkward, miserable human - more comfortable with this part of itself than with the huge claws in the front, but incapable of balancing itself any other way.

...

The claws deserve attention too, as they are the first thing you see as it reaches out from its burrow. They are grotesque in their absurd size, that suggests something huge is about to emerge from this tiny hole.

They are bigger than they have any reason to be - it is very clear how awkward moving with them is, as the Beast constantly switches between full-palm run, knuckle-walk and standing on its two legs.

It is the claws that disrupt the "beast vs human" duality - no beast needs such unwieldy claws that are good only for killing. No beast prowls constantly and leaves dismembered, not eaten corpses. No beast constantly vocalizes its anger and frustration in uncontained growls and hisses as it hunts.

...

Finally, this contradiction is also true for left vs right, as the right half of its face is torn and twisted into an almost crocodile-like form. This lateral assymetry, visible also in its uneven shoulders, sends a very clear message - sickness.

Nature is symmetrical - this monstrocity isn't. It is distinctly not natural - not even in terms of lore, but in terms of basic shape language.

Normally, the game does an exceptional job of hiding the Beast - even when it kills you. This contradiction of unwieldy mass, dangerous length and terrifying speed; of awkwardly human, confidently bestial and sadistically demonic never goes away - precisely because the Beasts' very proportions read differently from different angles.

...

Devs at Frictional seem to have been searching for this image for quite some time. The contradiction of human and unnaturally demonic is visible in the concept art of The Dark Descent, but, I dare say, not in the game itself, where enemies look like wax torture mannequins.

A Machine for Pigs tried to do it more explicitly, but failed to properly bind together the disparate shapes, and instead created ugly furries. SOMA did monster design wonderfully, utilizing the strengths of the engine and avoiding its weaknesses - but, of course, not in THAT way. While Rebirth put the horror of shapes back a bit, focusing on ramifications and pacing.

The Bunker seems to be the culmination of this search - a rather elegant solution, one that must have taken a lot of time to get just right. And in the end it is not just simple - it is persistently hidden.

It is the culmination for Frictional of the art of hiding the monster, while letting the shapes do their thing - speak terror into your mind in the most basic language possible.

[skqw]

Arid Athenaeum is a techless puzzle-routing map by Adam Korinek (Anzen_) focused around dash-refill dash blocks. The map is heavily inspired by Revita, entirely built with custom graphics and even adding some gameplay changes. The big change is no grabbing, and the elevators as goals carry over too.

The first thing to note is that the custom graphics are absolutely stunning. I haven't played Revita, so I don't know how closely the sprites replicate the original game, but it all fits so smooth in Celeste's pixel art style.

It's also -- thankfully -- unintrusive. It's just enough to be pretty and to give off the right vibes, and it doesn't fall in the category of maps so saturated with custom graphics that it's hard to tell what's going on. It feels like exactly the right amount of effort for what the map is going for, I hope the mapper thinks it paid off as well!

Gameplay starts off with a fair amount of easing into the new feel. There's new mechanics of course, but the no-grab limitation is just as much of a foundation to the map as the refill dash blocks. Platforming and movement is built around this, you need to know how to use walljumps to increase height and distance; it's not just a disabled-neutrals-style gimmick. It's emulating a different game, after all.

The refill dash blocks come in one or two-dash variants, and are paired with spikes and dash spikes. Interestingly, spikes on refill dash blocks are the only ones that can be sideways or downwards. Dash spikes only allow you to touch the block if you're dashing, functionally the same as dream spikes if those are familiar to you.

The core gameplay loop of the map comes down to figuring out which dash blocks to break in which order, often involving when certain blocks are accessible and storing a two-dash state for use somewhere else. Fully utilizing your dashes and planning ahead always feels very clever. Gameplay segments are almost always limited to the size of the screen, so the player is given the opportunity to pause and think about the room before they try it. Spawn points are plentiful as well.

It's one of the easier routing maps I've played, but it is a good exercise in the style of dash and refill-centered routing puzzles. The map is techless as I said, and I think I can get away with calling it red beginner. However, with as much as the map departs from Celeste, a decent intuitive understanding of the physics. Some segments are technically trickier than others by a decent enough margin that the difficulty ramp may feel uneven to players still getting the hang of the game.

I do have two gripes with the map. First off is just the camera, which does just stem from the style of map. Moving between gameplay segments moves the camera very quickly as it changes target, which is a bit jarring. This is really just an issue when gameplay is close to screen transitions, when the player might fall of a ledge or interact with entities they cannot see because the camera hasn't focused yet. This is more of an issue on downwards movement, where the camera doesn't move down until the player is near the bottom of the screen, essentially making it a leap of faith. I understand why it was done like this, but it did pull me out of the map a little and this is one of the cases where it's more important for the map to be Celeste and not Revita.

My second issue is the sprites for the refill dash block spikes. They look a bit too similar to tell apart from a glance, since dash spikes and regular spikes are mixed together a lot more as the map progresses.

It feels mild in retrospect, but not knowing the layout of the levels made it matter more. I just wish that the dash spikes were a little less spiky, I guess? More of a shape distinction, since the colors are pretty set in stone.

Don't let these minor complaints get in the way of enjoying the map, though! It has a great, unique theme that goes beyond visual style. It's really not only a Celeste map, and it doesn't feel like one either. It's comfortable for anyone who's beaten the game before, and it can serve as either a good starting point for getting into routing maps or as a reading exercise for experienced players. A couple strawberries and a fully completed debug challenge room are the cherry on top. What else can I say besides to give it a try?

Remember to leave a like on the GameBanana page if you enjoyed! It really, really helps.

[gear-project]

Annon-Guy: Please refresh my memory on how Ragna would do in Guilty Gear?

Same for Naoto, Es and Mai.

Hahah... I once wrote a huge "article" extolling the concept of putting Sol Badguy in BlazBlue, talking about all the mechanics that would translate in to the "Drive Button" that BlazBlue mechanics center around.

I suppose the reverse would happen in Ragna's case... instead of a Drive attack, his move kit would get replaced by Heavy Slash and Dust and several special inputs (though likely also simplified for STRIVE, given more modern conventions).

Also, Ragna's Crush Trigger frames could easily be modified in to a Wild Assault attack, come to think on it...

Much of Ragna's abilities centered around regenerating Health while his attacks were blocked by his opponent, often frustrating players because of his natural offensive capabilities. But it was also because of this that Ragna also suffers the same fate as Chipp Zanuff: having a low Health capacity, so that would also come in to play (and maybe even get adjusted accordingly to GG's standards of damage).

Also, because BlazBlue is technically more "Defense-Oriented", Ragna and the rest would also have to be adjusted to Guilty Gear accordingly as well. Including Roman Cancels, Faultless Defense, Wild Assaults, Air Dashing, and other aspects.

Naoto's Drive Attacks centered around the idea of Wild Assaults and guard breaking, so they could probably do something special for him there as well. Also, because Strive has a "Dash Button" Naoto's "Momentum-based" combos would be much MUCH easier to initiate and perform (less stress on the thumbs and wrists for us players!)

Es is centered around setting up Projectiles and placing Crests, so in many ways she plays very similarly to how Testament currently fights, as well as Elphelt and Bedman: the idea being setting up and mounting a stream of offensive attacks that are hard to deal with.

Es would most likely be very similar to Bedman's current style if she ever were to fight in STRIVE that is.

Finally, regarding Mai... her Spear acts very much like Elphelt's Rifle in Strive, with the varying homing abilities it can shoot. Still, Mai has other techniques that made it easier to break her opponent's defenses, effectively making her much like a Dragoon (or Dragon Knight) who darts through the air and strikes downwards... so her style would likely be a mix of Elphelt's and I-No's current styles. Though given how aggressive Strive is as a game, she would probably have to be adjusted similarly to how Giovanna got adjusted in terms of mechanics, because of how offensive a character she naturally is.

Mai's "combo system" would also have to be adjusted like how Elphelt's Lolipop Chain (Noel's Chain Drive) operates: a selection of fixed moves that she can alternate with that can still be reasonably dealt with on block... just to make things at least semi-balanced when dealing with Mai players.

Also, Mai had a "parry counter" move which is similar to how Anji Mito plays currently, so that would also have to be adjusted.

By and large, BlazBlue characters would likely have to be toned down a bit to exist in STRIVE... but even if they took the "Accent Core" approach, they'd still have to make a few adjustments to how Guilty Gear used to do things, since even proximity Throws were different in older GG games.

[owlixx]

Kirby Copy Ability Thoughts

Animal - Pretty cute, useful for digging, decent in combat, would love to see it come back

Archer - Perfect, wonderful, amazing. Love varied movesets.

Backdrop - Great when merged with fighter later

Ball - I hate this one, yet I would love to see it return

Beam - A classic, prefer it when it has a more diverse moveset. Love the dash air attack and the infinite air spin

Beetle - One of my favs, super fun and fluid to use

Bell - Again, slept on, really enjoy the dash attack and the look

Bomb - I always avoid this one, it just feels very plain jane to me

Bubble - Gets a little overwhelming to have to manage all the bubbled abilities, but genuinely interesting. Would love to see a way for it to return.

Burning - Great when it becomes merged with fire later

Circus - Not a huge fan of this one, doesn't feel like I am in control

Cleaning - Interesting how it is worthless for Kirby but good for his friends, and love that Star Allies uses it to reference those games

Cook/Crash/etc. - I barely ever use these unless they are obviously offered right before a boss fight

Copy - Such a funny one. Niche, but I wouldn't mind seeing it return. The Tac is such an iconic enemy too

Cupid - bring him back! Feels like a downgraded UFO, which I like. More abilities like this that really change the way Kirby moves, for better or worse

Cutter - A classic, maybe my favorite of the core abilities. Great for bosses once you can aim and charge it.

Doctor - Not a huge fan. Cute theming but feels like it lacks a gameplay purpose

ESP - Good on the mech for that one double boss fight, but otherwise cute theming and underwhelming power.

Fighter - Love to see it every time. The original varied moveset. Lost a bit of its uniqueness as other abilities also gained varied movesets but its always fun to see the flashy animations

Fire - Very reliable, love it for safely bashing bosses. Love the fire dash, love the flame wheel drop in Triple Deluxe

Freeze/Ice - I miss when he would turn blue for this one but the Parka is cute too! Love the ice blocks, the air attack, and most of all the iceball roll from Return to Dream Land. Always a fun and cute one.

Ghost - Never unlocked it but seems odd

Hammer - I mean, the king of weapon abilities. Always try to hold it as long as possible. Great for bosses. Love the dash air attack

Jet - Love using this in enviroments designed for it, fun that it turns the mech into a shmup

Laser - Really like this one for unique puzzle solving but less so for boss fights. Bring it back! I'd love to see this mix with other powers or an Ultra/upgraded version too

Leaf - A little underwhelming for such a late addition, but I really like this one for hitting aerial enemies. Feels situational. Bring it back.

Light - LOL I forgot about this one, its funny. Bring it back for the lolz

Magic - Enjoyed this in Squeak Squad, felt wacky but usable. Bring it back.

Metal - Superior to stone in every way (except cute references). Bring it back NOW

Mike - I never use this but I think it is funny that the mech version isn't single use

Mirror - THE GOAT, my all time favorite copy ability. Useful for all occasions, especially when they add the pillar attack. Only reason to leave it out of a Kirby game is to give the other abilities a fighting chance for my attention

Missile - I like that it is hard to use. Bring it back

Needle - Sucked until you could shoot the spines.

Ninja - Never connected with this one much despite its ubiquity

Parasol - A bit situational, but a reliable one that ages well as the moveset grows

Plasma/Spark - Was never a huge fan of these until I learned their boss-killing potential late into Return to Dreamland, but I still hate wiggling the stick. RtDL helped by allowing motion control for charing up

Poison - Not bad, its cute, great for boss killing, deserves to return

Sleep - I like there being one bad ability

Spear - Really like this one being included as bandana's weapon!

Stone - Actually never liked this one, maybe it got a better moveset at some point that I never picked up on

Suplex/Throw - Great but prefer when merged with Fighter

Sword - Not really a huge fan except for the dash aerial or mixing with elements or underwater

Tornado - Great for bosses, great for levels. Love its power being counter balanced by its difficulty of use

UFO - I never understood why this is such a rare ability when it seems like it just slows you down

Water - This one seems like it should've been included sooner. Love the dash attack

Wheel - Adore this one, always improves a game by being present. Lends itself to unique platforming level design. Great when you can ride an ally. Hate the mech suit version though

Whip - Never connected with this one, seems like it doesn't do enough damage to be worth using on bosses but isn't mobile enough for level clearing

Wing - Really enjoy this one, I love any ability that changes Kirby's movement options

Yo-Yo - So rare that it really reminds me of Super Star, and I love Gim's design. Really glad this one is in Star Allies.

Overall, I basically just like the abilities in Super Star especially since Mirror and Yo-Yo are two of my favorites. But I also really like Archer, Beetle, and Bell introduced in Triple Deluxe. Shout out to Return to Dream Land too though for Spear and Water. And the last shout out goes to Squeak Squad for having the guts to replace Stone with Metal.

[19thperson]

19th's Steam Next Fest Impressions Oct 2024 Edition - Day 5

Day 1/Day 2/Day 3/Day 4

Golfr

An open world golf game.

The control scheme was a bit weird, having to flick the stick right to left to swing, instead of back to front, as well as multiple button holds, but I do like the amount of control it gives you once you get used to it.

Aside from strength, spin, angle, club choice, and your dominant swing hand, the game gives you the "sim shot" system, which allows you to take as many practice shots as you want before the real one. and even if you fuck up, you have a limited number of mulligans, which you can refill via finding a side resource.

There are two problems:

1) It doesn't feel like it's really taking advantage of its open world structure. From what I could tell, you can't do the holes out of order, and aside from mulligan tokens I didn't find much reason to go off the beaten path. Hopefully the full game provides more.

2) For some reason there is non golf-related combat. I do not like it. I do not know why its here. It's just throwing your golf club over and over from an over the shoulder angle.

Aotenjo

Mahjong Balatro. This is the 2nd time I've seen something like this attempted, and it's the better of the two. But I still have mixed feelings about it as a mahjong player.

It's not as "clean" a translation as poker was to Balatro. The core is still 5 card draw, while this feels like it only has… half the core. You have the excitement of building strong hands, but it doesn't have the terror of getting fucked over by discarding into someone else.

Is this a good intro to mahjong? I think so? Maybe? It'll teach players about hand composition and which patterns are better than others, but they'll have to unlearn some stuff that this game teaches. The scoring is entirely original to this game, but still uses han and fu, which might cause some confusion. It uses a much wider array of patterns/yaku that most places won't use.

But judging solely as a Balatro-like, yeah I had fun, and there's a lot more pattern overlap to mahjong's patterns than there are poker's patterns so I can see it having a deeper strategy base.

Heartworm

PS1/VHS styled throwback survival horror game.

You are some 90's goth girl who goes to a haunted house for mysterious reasons. It's said that the house lets you visit "the other side" but no one has ever come back. I was excited for house of leaves style eeriness as the house slowly expands and distorts.

Anyways the first thing you see is said house floating upside down in a void with the attic window functioning as the entrance, filled with TV static. It kinda feels like the game plays it's hand early.

Photo-based combat a-la Fatal Frame, but doesn't seem to have Fatal Frame's proximity system, which was the secret sauce that made it all work.

Maybe it'll be different in the full game but it's playing the protagonist's motivations and history so close to the chest that all this obviously-based-on-her-memories stuff isn't really resonating.

The enemies being silhouettes made of TV static is on-brand, but it isn't exactly succeeding at being scary.

Mildly disappointing.

Beaming Stingray

A time manipulation Shmup. This game is a lot of promise held back by a key design decision.

The gimmick here is that you can absorb special blue-green bullets to fill up a meter. Once filled, you can go back in time. Not only does this allow you to cover mistakes, but the recording of your past self replays while you move independently.

This leads to some interesting boss design. The bosses tend to have a weak spot that needs to be revealed via shooting a specific point, so you shoot there, then go backwards, and take advantage of the opening you created.

A lot of Radiant Silvergun influence here, with the color based chaining system, the multi-part bosses, and the pseudo-orchestral soundtrack.

The problem: They made the ship movement too slow. To compensate, you get dashes that rapidly send you across the screen. In my case, a lot of the time directly into enemy fire.

Speed control is a solved problem in shmups. If you want to encourage micrododging just give me a slow button while keeping base speed high.

Fix that one problem and I can see this being great.

Souno's Curse

A Hollow Knight inspired metroidvania, down to being a silent protag little guy, whose main attack is a stubby little melee strike, who is trying to unseal a cursed door via defeating 3 guardians, whose main map is an underground cave system, whose level design is entirely based on right angles, he has a projectile attack that can also extend your jump, he has a pogo, he has to platform around buzzsaws…

It's not subtle.

That being said it's not a problem if the game is good. And so far it is fine. not doing anything explicitly wrong. Well, save for the camera having some trouble with vertical movement. It kinda juts upward disorientingly.

Pager

A 1-bit horror game about following directions. You're a new employee in a company and have been given a pager, which will explain your daily duties. If you don't follow through with them… there will be consequences.

It's mostly puzzles about following instructions to the letter, and kind of came off more of a comedy than a horror game so far. To spoil an early jumpscare/gag: your pager mentions "in the next room, there is a colleague who will guide you to the next floor." When you open the door, the guy runs away from you, screaming, directly towards the elevator.

Wonderful Handhelds

A game that's set to be a collection inspired by LCD handhelds, like the Game and Watch or the Tiger Electronics games.

They're set to be more visually advanced, but still set to similar restrictions of characters jumping from spot to spot with minimal animations.

It's cute. The demo only had one game, and it can be finished relatively quickly, but it did what it needed to do.

Alice's World

A sickly housebound girl wakes up in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, able to hear the voice of you, the player. You both discover the area is filled with monsters, and that characters from her brother's favorite isekai novel are also popping up. It feels like reality has started to break down.

A basic adventure game with nice presentation and a 4th wall breaking streak. Right now they're foreshadowing heavily "this is a simulation" but I'm hoping it gets a bit more complex.

The puzzles were standard adventure game fare. I do like that you can stop to chat with Alice, but there's not a lot of variation in your responses to her.

[kira-moonrabbit]

i must further rep rhythm game fans as i recognize all of the songs the other rhythm game guy sent :)

siqlo - SATELLITE : this one isn't from a rhythm game but it Did win a contest held by the label hardcore tano*c, who notably do a lot of music for rhythm games! as you'll see below. lmao

aran - E=mc2 : also not for a rhythm game, but aran's done a lot of work for them! this one's just been hardcore stuck in my head. did you know tano*c does original album series...es? this one's from hardcore syndrome 17!

DJ Noriken - Meta-Mysteria : fun fact, hardcore tano*c sponsored the creation of a rhythm game themselves called wacca! this is one of the originals for it, which also got into the arcaea wacca collab pt2 originally just for switch! no real notes other than this song makes me insane

C-Show - My My My : this one was made for maimai! it's fairly different from c-show's usual work imo, but it's fun :) and i like the title being a joke on maimai with an extra syllable

t+pazolite - Oshama Scramble! : another maimai original, one you'll see pretty much everywhere! has an absolutely infectious energy to it

TAK x Zekk - MIRINAE (Original Mix) : my dedicated arcaea shill. this one's an original made for the latest arcaea sound collection album! just a fun time and a fun listen all around :)

lapix - Flying Castle (Extended Mix) : konami may suck but you have to admit their sound library is insane. this one i can give you an actual genre for too; colorcore! i love color- subgenres, they have a particular sound that scratches my brain

Toby Fox & かめりあ - Summerblue : i'm legally required to show the funny twinbee reference to everyone. i just think it's cool toby got to do an original with camellia for bemani :) about exactly what you'd expect from toby & camellia collabs, of which they've done a few!

thus ends my autism hour. :)

i meant to get to this like, 3 days ago, but my computer chose the wrong moment to decide its tummy hurts, and then there was The Woozy Hour. But now... now should be an epic time... and this time you'll be hearing first impressions rather than after-the-fact recollections!

...eh, ignore the fact this ask is way more than 3 days old. I shall slash the dash and get a-crackin!

SATELLITE - I started trying to listen to this one, and then i realized, "oh, I still have windows music player and windows explorer open. i should close those." Then my computer threw up from me trying to close them. ...Proper opinions now... unfortunately i cant come up with anything super thrilling to say about this one aside from "is good." And good instrumence... all in all, if i had to give it a real rating, it's probably a 7/10, if that even means anything. Which in my personal scale is real good!!!

E=mc2 - Album serieses!!! I've never heard of tano*c before so why oh why would I know such things! But I love trivias! There's like... sort of radio-scratchy vocals that kick in a little bit into this one that i think is one of my favorite things that people can add to music. sprinkle some radio chatter in there. Takes a song from D rank to A rank, to use an esoteric scale. Why do I keep scaling things?! Oh bother!

COMPLETE aside. Im eating sour candy right now. Its very sour. I think it fits this type of music though. I needed something to eat, and if refrigerated candy that hasnt been covered what we got, it's what we eat. I'm not one of those people who can taste music, but the stuff i've been hearing in my inbox thus far has been sour candy coded.

Meta-Mysteria - This song literally punched me in the face. It very much earns its title of being meta and mysteria. Songs that fill me with whimsy and nostalgia... I used to listen to music like this a bunch in my youth, before i decided that... hm... how do i put this... well, before i decided that i didnt like music like it. Tastes come and go like tides... Now I've got a soft spot for this-core music again, even if I like ambiance and whatever the hell you call Present World Overhaul more. Ah, if a song makes me tangent, you know its good.

My My My - I'm willing to admit I don't like this one as much as the other stuff I've seen thus far. It does have the bones of a song that I really would like though!!! "What do you mean bones?" I don't know how to explain it. I'm better with explaining why I like songs I like...

Oshama Scramble! - Ohhh, you introduced me to something famous, I can tell... It definitely is VERY infectuously happy. I too have been drinking a bunch of milk lately, though for very different reasons (all the soda's been making my health act up but i still want something tasty to drink :[ ) This is one I'll have to come back to later to study it like a bug....

MIRINAE - Hey. I know a Mirinae... shes the one who does augury kick strength stacking... This one's got me closing my eyes and paying attention... I am now nodding in a sagely manner. The Arcaea Shill has passed the vibe check. hell yeah boss!!!!

Flying Castle - They most certainly didn't lie. The castle flies. The castle flies!!! My ass loves pianos... Theres piano in this one! Too, too easy to please... Well, a piano does not a song make, but yknow.

Summerblue - I know Twinbee. Vaguely. There's a Kirby character who gets remodelled constantly because of Twinbee. This one's another one that gets a smile and a nod. Quite the fun one, this. This is very close to one of my very favorite vibes. Stuff that causes one to feel endless joy and whimsy!!!! Joy! Whimsy! Hell yeah!!!!!

...Am I allowed to go on my own little autism attack moment? Because I saw "camellia" and I remembered, "oh hey, she did some stuff for Yume 2kki, right?" And then I checked the wiki, and it's true! As far as similarities go, nothing close to anything i've seen in this little list, but any time I get to talk about 2kki is a good time, and it's probably kinda obscure. So in exchange for this lovely list I'll give you a list of Stuff Camellia Has Done For Yume 2kki.

2_38 / Lorn Tower - I love this one! Mysteries... It fills the heart with mysteries. And it sounds kinda underwater, but not like, muffled, but just underwater in general.

2_40 / Power Plant - What if you were stuck in a tube? And people looked at you? Now imagine it funky. Presto!

2_13 / Fairy Tale Woods - It's an eerie drone but with a very, very, very slow beat. But I love eerie drone type beats!!!!!!!

2_16 / Techno Condominium - It's... another eerie drone, but without any frills. Eerie drone enjoyers... ASSEMBLE... ...This one plays in a lot of different places in different speeds, but I'm picking places that I like.

6_3 / Pink Honeycomb - Imagine if a Sylveon was scary. Now imagine music to go with it. Presto! Again!

cave_2 / Realistic Beach Glowing Cave - Nuts! It's nuts! This theme has no right going this hard for the area its in! But I'm so glad it does. There's also enter_2 , which is the same without the crazy beats. Couldn't find it with a good quality on youtube, but the wiki has it.

Phew! There's some cool things for YOU to listen to, too! (I would have included a bonus round of non-camellia 2kki tracks i like but that would be a little too off topic.)

Now I'm gonna go lie down!!! There's a lot to consider.

[getmymettle]

Unveiling the Fantastic Benefits of Plank Exercises for Those New to Fitness

Let's dive into the age-old wisdom from India that suggests syncing up with the universe can get your body, mind, and soul grooving in perfect harmony. And guess what? The plank workout is like the universe's way of giving your muscles a secret high-five—it's simple, snappy, and does wonders for your whole body in just a hot minute!

Let's Break Down the Plank Party

I. Getting into the Plank Pose :

Picture this: You're belly-down, knees bent, feet joining the fun. Your body shapes up like a sleek arrow from head to toe. Engage those abs without breaking a sweat—let those tummy muscles do their happy dance.

II. Maintain a Plank Position :

Keep that back straight, abs on duty, and throw some love to your glutes and quads. Shoulders down, neck stretched—freeze like a statue for a cool minute. If you're a plank newbie, ease into it and amp up the seconds. Feeling bold? Switch to a forearm plank. Sure, your muscles will chat back, but hey, that's energy having a blast!

Unwrapping the Plank Perks

Powering Up Core Muscle Squads:

Meet the heroes:

Transverse Abdominis: Your lumbar spine's groove buddy during limb shenanigans.

Rectus Abdominis: The genius behind a flat stomach and kicks that pack a punch.

Oblique Muscles: The twisty pals bringing flair to your midsection.

Gluteal Muscles (Glutes): The dynamic duo pulling the strings on hip and thigh moves.

1. Strutting with a Healthy Posture

Imagine a posture so on point, it's practically a piece of art. No slouching, no hunching—just a balanced distribution making you strut, stand, and sit like a rockstar. Planks play architect, getting every muscle in on the action to craft a frame that screams confidence.

2. Harmony and Cooperation

Ever felt a bit wonky on a bike or wobbly on one foot? Say hi to core stability, the unsung hero. Planks school your abs to keep it real, resulting in muscles that bring swagger to your balance game.

3. Kicking Back Woes and Dodging Illness

Back pain and slouching—nobody's BFF, right? Planks ride in like knights in shining armor, straightening up the back, tossing out back pain, and waving buh-bye to muscle issues like osteoarthritis.

4. Core Strength VIP Pass

We're not just about looking good; we're about heaving, ho-ing, and being everyday heroes. Regular planking, mixed with a buffet of exercises, crafts a core that's primed for whatever life throws your way.

5. Flexibility Vibes

Dreaming of nailing headstands, handstands, or any kind of stand? Enter the plank. It's like the secret sauce in yoga, paving the path for flexibility and stability. Your body will shoot you a thank-you note when you're striking those Insta-worthy poses.

6. Metabolism Boost

Is your metabolism doing the snooze fest after sitting for ages? Not on plank's watch. Amping up your metabolism means burning more calories—even when you're in snoozeville. A dash of plank love is your secret weapon in the fight against belly fat.

7. Mental Health Bliss

Endorphins, the feel-good vibes. Planks have a knack for targeting stress zones, especially in your shoulders and neck. And let's keep it real—constant stress is no party for your mental health. Planks swoop in like caped crusaders!

So, as you dive into your plank escapade, remember—it's not just a workout; it's a hangout with ancient wisdom and a gift to your body and soul. Say a big ol' hello to the plank, your newfound partner in the fitness groove! And oh, did we mention the epic plank exercise benefits for beginners? It's the perfect kickstart to your fitness journey, especially if you're on a mission to bid adieu to that belly fat!

[ttnets]

Best Gaming Laptop | The Affordable Game Changer

Best gaming laptop

Why Asus TUF Dash 15 is 2024’s Best Pick

miro.medium.com

Price on Amazon $979.99

A Look at Asus TUF Dash 15: Power Meets Affordability

In the competitive laptop market, the Asus TUF Dash 15 shines with its blend of power and affordability. “Power Meets Affordability in the Asus TUF Dash 15” offers a great perspective on this laptop. It’s known for high-end gaming at an affordable price.

The TUF Dash 15’s mix of affordability and performance is notable. In the gaming sector, high performance often means high cost.

What make so especial Asus TUF Dash 15

Robust Performance: At the heart of the TUF Dash 15 is a choice of Intel Core i7 or AMD Ryzen processors. Equipped with NVIDIA RTX graphics, the laptop is well-prepared to smoothly run the most current games.

Sleek Design: Gone are the days of bulky gaming laptops. The TUF Dash 15 boasts a minimalist design and a slim profile, making it a great travel companion.

Impressive Display: The 15.6-inch display, with a 240Hz refresh rate, ensures smooth gameplay. It is clear that the laptop is not the top in color accuracy. The display meets the demands of rigorous gaming sessions.

Although not the most color-accurate, it’s more than sufficient for intense gaming sessions.

Effective Cooling System: No more overheating worries. The cooling system of the TUF Dash 15 keeps temperatures in check, even during long gaming marathons.

Delving Deeper into the Asus TUF Dash 15

Let’s explore this laptop a bit more closely to understand why it’s the talk of the town in 2024.

Keyboard and Touchpad: The laptop features a comfortable keyboard, perfect for both gaming and typing. The touchpad is responsive, making navigation a breeze.

Connectivity Options: With ample ports, the TUF Dash 15 offers great connectivity, allowing you to plug in all your gaming peripherals without any hassle.

Battery Life: Surprisingly, for a gaming laptop, the TUF Dash 15 offers decent battery life, adding to its versatility.

miro.medium.com

Budget-Friendly: It’s a top pick for gamers who don’t want to burn a hole in their pockets.

Portable Gaming: Its slim and lightweight design makes it easy to carry around.

Powerful Specs: The combination of top-notch processors and graphics cards means you won’t be compromising on performance.

Competitor Analysis: How Does It Stack Up?

In the sea of gaming laptops, how does the Asus TUF Dash 15 fare against its competitors? We took a look at some other popular models to give you a better perspective.

Lenovo Legion 5: Known for its sleek design and 144Hz display, it’s a close competitor but falls slightly behind in terms of portability.

Acer Nitro 5: A solid choice for budget gaming, but the TUF Dash 15 edges it out with better graphics performance.

ASUS ROG Flow X13: A more premium option with a 2-in-1 design. However, it’s pricier, making the TUF Dash 15 a more budget-friendly choice.

MSI Sword: Another stylish option, but the TUF Dash 15 offers a better balance of performance and price.

miro.medium.com

Screen Options: You get multiple screen choices, from FHD to QHD, catering to different gaming preferences.

Customizable Keyboard Layout: The keyboard layout has been updated, adding an extra set of media keys and a larger clickpad.

No Biometrics: A notable absence, but not a deal-breaker for most gamers.

Gaming on a Budget: The Future Looks Bright

As technology advances, the gap between budget and high-end gaming laptops is narrowing. The Asus TUF Dash 15 is a prime example of this trend, offering high-quality gaming experiences without a hefty price tag.

Conclusion

In net shell, the Asus TUF Dash 15 stands out as the best budget gaming laptop of 2024, masterfully blending high performance with affordability. With its powerful processors, top-notch graphics, and sleek design, it’s a dream come true for gamers who don’t want to compromise on quality or break the bank.

miro.medium.com

miro.medium.com

FAQs

Q: Is the Asus TUF Dash 15 good for non-gaming tasks?

A: Absolutely! Its robust performance makes it suitable for a variety of tasks beyond gaming.

Q: How is the battery life for gaming?

A: While gaming laptops generally have shorter battery life, the TUF Dash 15 does a decent job, allowing for several hours of gameplay.

[abdi1144]

Best Gaming Laptop | The Affordable Game Changer

Best gaming laptop

Why Asus TUF Dash 15 is 2024’s Best Pick

Price on Amazon $979.99

A Look at Asus TUF Dash 15: Power Meets Affordability

In the competitive laptop market, the Asus TUF Dash 15 shines with its blend of power and affordability. “Power Meets Affordability in the Asus TUF Dash 15” offers a great perspective on this laptop. It’s known for high-end gaming at an affordable price.

The TUF Dash 15’s mix of affordability and performance is notable. In the gaming sector, high performance often means high cost.

What make so especial Asus TUF Dash 15

Robust Performance: At the heart of the TUF Dash 15 is a choice of Intel Core i7 or AMD Ryzen processors. Equipped with NVIDIA RTX graphics, the laptop is well-prepared to smoothly run the most current games.

Sleek Design: Gone are the days of bulky gaming laptops. The TUF Dash 15 boasts a minimalist design and a slim profile, making it a great travel companion.

Impressive Display: The 15.6-inch display, with a 240Hz refresh rate, ensures smooth gameplay. It is clear that the laptop is not the top in color accuracy. The display meets the demands of rigorous gaming sessions.

Although not the most color-accurate, it’s more than sufficient for intense gaming sessions.

Effective Cooling System: No more overheating worries. The cooling system of the TUF Dash 15 keeps temperatures in check, even during long gaming marathons.

Delving Deeper into the Asus TUF Dash 15

Let’s explore this laptop a bit more closely to understand why it’s the talk of the town in 2024.

Keyboard and Touchpad: The laptop features a comfortable keyboard, perfect for both gaming and typing. The touchpad is responsive, making navigation a breeze.

Connectivity Options: With ample ports, the TUF Dash 15 offers great connectivity, allowing you to plug in all your gaming peripherals without any hassle.

Battery Life: Surprisingly, for a gaming laptop, the TUF Dash 15 offers decent battery life, adding to its versatility.

Budget-Friendly: It’s a top pick for gamers who don’t want to burn a hole in their pockets.

Portable Gaming: Its slim and lightweight design makes it easy to carry around.

Powerful Specs: The combination of top-notch processors and graphics cards means you won’t be compromising on performance.

Competitor Analysis: How Does It Stack Up?

In the sea of gaming laptops, how does the Asus TUF Dash 15 fare against its competitors? We took a look at some other popular models to give you a better perspective.

Lenovo Legion 5: Known for its sleek design and 144Hz display, it’s a close competitor but falls slightly behind in terms of portability.

Acer Nitro 5: A solid choice for budget gaming, but the TUF Dash 15 edges it out with better graphics performance.

ASUS ROG Flow X13: A more premium option with a 2-in-1 design. However, it’s pricier, making the TUF Dash 15 a more budget-friendly choice.

MSI Sword: Another stylish option, but the TUF Dash 15 offers a better balance of performance and price.

Screen Options: You get multiple screen choices, from FHD to QHD, catering to different gaming preferences.

Customizable Keyboard Layout: The keyboard layout has been updated, adding an extra set of media keys and a larger clickpad.

No Biometrics: A notable absence, but not a deal-breaker for most gamers.

Gaming on a Budget: The Future Looks Bright

As technology advances, the gap between budget and high-end gaming laptops is narrowing. The Asus TUF Dash 15 is a prime example of this trend, offering high-quality gaming experiences without a hefty price tag.

Conclusion

In net shell, the Asus TUF Dash 15 stands out as the best budget gaming laptop of 2024, masterfully blending high performance with affordability. With its powerful processors, top-notch graphics, and sleek design, it’s a dream come true for gamers who don’t want to compromise on quality or break the bank.

FAQs

Q: Is the Asus TUF Dash 15 good for non-gaming tasks?

A: Absolutely! Its robust performance makes it suitable for a variety of tasks beyond gaming.

Q: How is the battery life for gaming?

A: While gaming laptops generally have shorter battery life, the TUF Dash 15 does a decent job, allowing for several hours of gameplay.

[miloscat]

[Review] The Golden Compass (PSP)

His Dark Tie-in Game.

Wayyy back in 2016 I played the DS licenced game for the Northern Lights movie. I still haven’t seen the film but the PSP game is a decent way to follow up the Arctic animal companion game Never Alone, thematically. The DS game was unique among all the released versions; every other port was made by Shiny Entertainment. Remarkably, they put out the same game on PC, Wii, PSP, PS2, PS3, and 360.

The PSP might actually be the format it’s best suited to, with its cramped level design and disjointed gameplay. Or to put it another way, every other port was hampered by game design decisions built around the limitations of the weakest platform. My experience did suffer from mid-level loading and frequent audio hitches, not to mention the less-than-ideal PSP thumbstick. But there’s some kind of charm to the relatively low-res textures that are trying to capture this detailed fantasy world.

This version of the game certainly does a better job adapting the film than the DS game did (although apparently the structure of the game is based on a version of the film prior to a last-minute edit that rearranged the third act), with a richer 3D world and a mix of in-engine cutscenes and FMV movie clips. There’s spoken dialogue throughout with Lyra and Pan’s actors reprising their roles and everyone else with decent soundalikes, while the gameplay has a try at representing different tones and scenes with its various states and modes.

The problem is that none of these modes is well executed, at all. When it’s Lyra 3D platforming it’s clumsy, with a bad camera and no drop shadow. When Iorek is brawling it’s shallow and repetitive. Lyra and Pan are sometimes called upon to do “evasion” sequences of boring QTEs, while Lyra’s silver-tongued conversations are presented as gauntlets of tedious (and difficult!) minigames. These latter two also have a set of consumable items to make them easier, although you get totally loaded up with more than you’d ever need.

I do like how Pan has different forms that let him buddy-up with Lyra for different abilities: the ermine takes on precision actions and can scan your surrounds for interactables and lore, with the cat you can dash and climb, the hawk lets you glide Pathless-style, and the sloth(!) can grab and swing on poles. They’ve also added bits to the story which I always love to see in a tie-in game, although it’s mostly in the form of new boss characters for Iorek to fight, like an electro-tank, a magic shaman, a super-hunter with a wolverine dæmon, the witch-queen, and a heavily armoured flamethrower guy. But the strongest sections of the game are when it slows down and Lyra can explore an area, take in the detail they’ve packed in to make it feel real. These “adventure game” feeling parts also spotlight the alethiometer feature.

The eponymous device has a complex series of symbols, which Lyra gradually learns more about. This is often represented by picking up a big glowing collectible in the world, but there’s cleverer occasions where an object in the world will grant you the understanding of one of the three meanings of an icon, representing how Lyra’s life experiences are giving her deeper wisdom which leads to more accomplished use of the oracular object. You can then ask it prebaked questions, whether for plot or fleshing out the lore, using the meanings you’ve discovered and filling in gaps as a player by induction or intuition. Sadly this does then lead to another boring minigame, but there’s the core of a really interesting dynamic here.

Due to the nature of the story the back half is very action-heavy when Iorek becomes playable, although they move a section of this to the start of the game, I guess for a more exciting cold open. But it’s rarely engaging enough to not become frustrating or dull, even with how varied the gameplay styles are. Every individual part is stilted and ends up dragging, so ultimately the game feels like it both skips around and plods along. The sprinkling of good ideas, occasional cheesiness, and the strength of the source material can sometimes shine through, but on the whole... what a mess.

[patchworkpuzzle]

MINORS DNI 18+

word count: ~2.5k

paring: Sero x f!Reader

warning: rough handling, edging, overstimulation, squirting, clit slapping (so I guess impact play?)

authors note: so.... uh.... I wrote this for me. Been giving gifts that past few days and I wanted one so.... I hope you guys like it!  And please don’t perceive me, okay? (Also, so sorry if there are grammar mistakes. No beta reader, we die like men)

You had a bit of an attitude.

Not all the time, in fact most of the time you were very sweet. But sometimes, like today, it was made very clear that you were very much a brat. You had a craving since the moment you woke up to be ravished by your super handsome and wonderful boyfriend.

But alas, his hero work came in between your plans. And there was nothing you could do to stop the hero Cellophane from saving the day. So, you had to begrudgingly say goodbye, and good luck, to him as you watched him dash out the door.

On a normal day you would just let it slide. It wasn’t like Sero wanted to go in on his day off, he was dragged into it all. So, because of that, it means it wasn’t his fault he couldn’t tend to your needs. You know he would have, and he never left you unsatisfied. If you just waited like the good girl you were known to be, you would be rewarded.

But for some reason, you just couldn’t.

For some reason you were just in a mood. And that mood meant, instead of sulking all day trying to get your mind off things, you were going to make your horniness his problem too. If he was going to leave you needy, well then you were going to make him want to come home as soon as possible.

The back of your mind was nagging you the entire time. Telling you it wasn’t smart to get into your favourite lingerie set, nor was it wise to take that many selfies of yourself in said set, and that it was especially a bad idea to send those selfies to your boyfriend with the provocative messages attached.

And an even worse idea that when he responded, his usual dominance showing through telling you to ‘not to play this game with him right now’, to send him a video of you slowly touching yourself and loudly moaning his name.

He was silent after you sent that video. It was clear that he saw it, the icon proving as much, but as the hours passed without so much as a single word made you worried. That nagging voice now speaking even louder as the hours passed, telling you how much of a terrible idea it was.

But how bad could it be, really? Usually when Sero got this way it meant that you were going to be punished. And, oh, how your nerves shook with pleasure that went straight to your core at the thought. A night where Sero was mad at you, punishing you for being bad, meant a nonstop assault on your body. Being tossed, toyed, played with, fucked, within an inch of your life. Your body being abused in the most sinful, and pleasurable, of ways.

You bit your lip at the thought. When Sero got dominant over you it made you go feral; even more so than what you were now. As your mind was buzzing at all the possible outcomes he may have in store for you when he walked through the door.

What you were expecting, you didn’t know; but you weren’t about to complain in the slightest.

At least not much, that is. As your instincts screamed at you to walk out of your shared room to greet him when you heard the door slam open, and the sound of his boots harshly thumping against the ground as he took them off, but you held firm and stayed spread out on your bed. The only thing you did to show you knew he was home, was sit up. Your brattish attitude wiggled its way into your chest as you waited for him.

You heard him call your name, asking where you were. His voice was deceptive, he sounded friendly and normal, but the tone that was almost hidden underneath was dark; proving he was furious at you. It made your legs clamp and rub together, trying to alleviate the growing pleasure you felt as you held your tongue. You wanted him to find you.

And he did. It wasn’t like there were that many places to look after all. And when the door swung open to reveal his lean form, you gulped. Seeing him in his hero outfit always did something to you, the way it shaped his perfect body to show off every piece of strong muscle was almost sinful; certainly not fair to you every time you saw him in it. And the way it mixed with his dishevelled hair, clearly due to his helmet, and the dark threatening look held in his eyes as he scanned your form made a shiver run down your spine.

“I called out, why didn’t you respond Cariño?” Sero asked, his tone chillingly calm as he stalked his way to your side of the bed.

He didn’t sit down, like you expected him to. Sero just stood there, staring down at you, eyes scanning over your form once again as he took in just how lovely it all looked on you. Your heartbeat raced in your chest as you licked your lips, wanting to respond but instead you didn’t. You looked away from him.

A yelp, turning itself into a breathless whimper, let your lips as his hand grabbed your hair harshly causing you to sit up on your knees. His face came dangerously close to yours, to ensure you were looking directly at him. His warm breath fanned across your cheeks as you watched with hooded eyes as his tongue peeked past his lips to wet them.

“I asked you a question.” He growled out, his other hand coming up to wrap around your throat in warning “And I expect an answer.”

Sero could feel you swallow as you nodded your head, enjoying the way you were squirming in his hold. He waited a breath before throwing you face first back onto the mattress, chuckling darkly as he watched you lift your hips, so your ass was in the air; wiggling it to tempt him to spank it.

He ignored it, walking his way to the other side of the bed as he began to move some things around; mainly the full body mirror you kept in the corner of the room to sit facing the end of the bed.

“Papi!” You whined, turning your face to watch him but never moving out of your lewd position “I want you to play with me!”

“I know you do, Princesa.” His back was still to you, ignoring you completely as he finished setting everything up “But should I? You haven’t exactly been good, have you?”

The whine that left your lips could only be described as pathetic, as you continued to squirm on the bed; never once touching your aching core to avoid anymore neglect from the man before you. Small please and begs leaving your lips, telling him that you were being good.

“Please, want you to touch me Papi. Want you to fill me up, please Papi! I need it!” You whimpered, eyes starting to water with tears as your discomfort grew the longer you stayed untouched.

You heard Sero sigh as he finally turned to face you, a dark smile slowly starting to grace his features as he looked upon your glassy eyes. “You’re such a needy baby, aren’t you?” He cooed down at you.

You nodded your head as you carefully watched him walk up to you, gasping when he forcefully pushed your backside down on the bed. Grabbing hold of your arms he pulled you over to the end of the bed, picking you up before you had the chance to fall to the floor.

Without a word he maneuvered you to the floor, making you sit like a pretty doll as he sat himself down at the foot of the bed. Once comfortable, he patted his lap, allowing you to crawl up and sit on his lap. Though, before you could do anything else – like reach up to kiss his lips, he turned you around.

And then it all made sense.

Looking ahead, all you could see was your reflection staring back at you. It made heat flood to your face, as you watched the wicked grin return to Sero’s face as he forced your legs apart; spreading them wide and forcing them to stay in place with the use of his knees.

“Because my pretty girl wanted me to know how nice she looked today, she can sit here just like this while I play with her.” Sero chuckled as he heard the small whines leave your lips as he slowly petted up and down your inner thighs “And get to see how lovely she looks when she cums.”

You leaned your head back to rest on his shoulders, hooded eyes gazing at your own form. Mainly at the large hands that kept slowly rubbing up and down the expanse of your body. Slowly kneading the flesh of your breasts through the lacy fabric, before on hand dipped down to rub slowly at your clothed clit.

“Naughty girl, you’re soaked already!” Sero groaned, pushing aside the thin fabric to touch your fold directly “Were you waiting for me to play with this pussy all day?”

His teasing made you keen in embarrassment as you closed your eyes and bucked your hips in his hand, wanting to feel more than just the feather light touches he was currently giving you. Though Sero was not having any more of your misbehaving, as his hand came down to smack harshly at your bundle of nerves; the stinging red-hot pain causing you to cry out.

 “I said look at yourself!” Sero growled once more, his hand moving from your breast to lock on your jaw to force you to look in the mirror “And answer me when I ask you a question. This is your last warning, Princesa.”

“S-sorry Papi! You stuttered, trying to keep your eyes focused on what he was doing to you in the mirror and keeping your hips from moving too much “Please don’t stop. Please play with my sloppy pussy!”

“Yeah, want me to play with you? Want me to stuff you with my fingers?” Sero asked, enjoying the dazed expression you were giving him in the mirror as he slowly started petting your core again.

“Yes, please!” You whine drew out your words, but you couldn’t help it.

Not when he slowly started to pump two fingers into you, starting shallow before going deeper and deeper until he was touching that spongy spot inside you that made you see stars. His steady rhythm was causing your head to toss and turn from side to side, though making sure you still kept looking at your reflection, as it drove you crazy. Especially when he would scissor his fingers, slowly forcing your clenching hole to stretch to his desires.

You felt your orgasm approaching, the burning sensation made your legs shake as your moans grew louder and needier as you called out to Sero. Out of instinct you brought a hand down to grab hold of his wrist, to keep in place as your back arched. But just as you were about to tip over the edge, Sero ripped his hand from your core. The denial caused you to sob out as you bucked your hips widely to get the friction back.

“Brats don’t get to touch!” Sero growled, taking your hand and placing it back at your side “And they don’t get to cum without permission. Isn’t that right, Princesa?”

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry Papi!” You wailed, fat tears threatening to fall from your eyes as you looked at his reflection, silently leading him for forgiveness “It won’t happen again, promise!”

“Shhhh” He cooed, rubbing his hand up and down your thigh to calm you down as his other hand moved to swipe the falling few falling tears “Be good and you’ll get to cum, okay?”

All you could do was nod your head, allowing yourself to calm down and for your breathing to go back to normal. When you felt his finger prod at your entrance once more, you had to force yourself to not buck into his hand. Or to whine in protest when his started to fuck you hard and fast with his fingers once more.

Though every time you seemed to get closer to your orgasm, Sero would pull away and try to calm you down. Reminding you to be good, or else his punishment would last even longer. It was frustrating, to say the least, you just wanted to cum after all. But you trusted Sero and knew that he was going to take care of you like he promised.

When you felt your core clench and tighten for the nth time that evening, Sero didn’t stop you from cumming. His hand that forced you to keep looking at the mirror tightened as he made sure you kept your eyes open to watch yourself, despite your mewls of discomfort over it. He didn’t let up either, he always thought you looked so pretty with your mouth agape as your face pinched in a mixture of ecstasy discomfort as he quickly pushed you over another orgasm.

“Keep looking, yeah that's it. You're gonna gush, aren't you pretty baby?” Sero asked, his fingers relentlessly hitting that special spot inside you that made you see stars.

“S’too much! Gonna cum again!” You slurred, trying to keep your eyes focused on your form in front of you but it was getting harder every second.

“Do it baby, wanna see yourself make a mess.” Sero groaned, the way your gummy walls clenched so tightly around his fingers made his cock twitch in his pants; he was going to make sure to fuck you dumb when he was done playing with you like this.

You let out a wail, your eyes crossing as your tongue involuntarily stuck itself out as you felt you cum gush out, forcing Sero’s fingers out along with it. Not that he minded, if his loud groan that accompanied your mewls was anything to go by.

“Yes, yes, yes! Good girl!” He praised, his hand coming to vigorously rub at your clit to make more of your release gush out of you and onto your thighs; soaking your comforter “That’s a good girl, yeah keep going!”

You whimpered when you felt his fingers enter you again, hand coming down to try and push him away only to have harshly slap at your clit once more and resume his attack on your core once more. The sounds of your slick echoed in the room, making you squirm in discomfort.

“P-papi, n-no more!” You sniffled, throwing your head back and crying out once more as you felt him hit your special spot again and again.

“Not a chance, Princesa.” Sero hummed, thumb coming up to rub at your sore clit “You didn’t look at yourself when you came just now, so now we got to start all over again.”

[divine-regret-index-j]

roguelikes Index played in the last month and a half

The deathgames sale on Steam has coincided with me re/playing a decent pile of roguelike / hybrids over the past month and a half. While I'm not much in the mood for explicit reviews and recommendations over reflections, I've had a long time and sampling space to partake of and meditate over the procgen permadeath's dynamics and possibility spaces, as defines my first and my latest gamedev endeavours. As such, there's a given musing's approach borne out of the each of them here, from whatever mountaintop hermit's perspective I use.

(Games covered: Wizard of Legend, One Step From Eden, Crypt of the Necrodancer, Cogmind, Orbital Bullet, Night of the Full Moon, Devil Slayer Raksasi, Caves of Qud. Some mild screenshot spoilers...)

Wizard of Legend (2018) has its own orthogonal design swimming against the current. Many action roguelikes centralize on a few shifting weapon movesets or a few core verbs paired with a few strategic options. Said wizards here lean on over two hundred options of spell actions to fill six buttons with cooldowns, and brandish explicit armor outlining for ranged target selection and closed-quarters comboing down- quite a ways cleaner than many unmentioned and untuned leaning on short pokes and i-frame abuse. (Really, there's a lot more in vulnerable dashes than readily plumbed, c.f. Hollow Knight.) Given individual runs thus inherit a bit more distinction (if not flux) compared to many unfocused on breadth of direct player actions, and slide in nicely with a decent mixable and scaling enemy and boss sets well even with a visibly limited asset budget. Such mix-ups are more lacking on starting builds or the standard passive perk accumulation, beyond curses or the disappointing stretching out of metaprogression currency, but for some given number of wins there's a strong variant on the format to be had.

I've come around on One Step From Eden (2020). It is one of a slim few games brandishing a certain micro-grid card-churn action grown from Mega Man Battle Network's moss-coated skeleton, and pushes such with a certain ravenous yet curious nature. Many action roguelikes thrive in a rapid twitchy manner, reliant on dodges and low total permitted injuries. While Eden's pace is much faster than its origins and most games in the market, the discrete grids allow for shaped forewarnings that a lot of pattern recognition kick in and reshape instinct. It pairs curiously with one of the few explicit assist modes I've seen for a roguelike and the only one of them I've seen outright recommended for others, and a deckbuilding style where frequent choices start to boil down to "is this worth extra vulnerability of defense or stopping to aim" plus hybridizing up some duo of signposted supported keywords. (Unfortunately, a bunch of the most interesting build-arounds and synergies pop up a little ways into metaprogression, or half way up the ascension system, or only nine months after the initial release- the last of which made me take a long while between initial acquisition's play and current Hell Pass 14 completion.) It took a long while for me to get back into it, and while difficulty is a nightmarish discourse it's unavoidable that this game is set to backbreaking levels. Still, there's little like it around, and such fusions set in such ruthlessness feel like a breath of fresh air after a hundred-year storm.

The rhythm roguelike Crypt of the Necrodancer (2015) barely needs any introduction, with its unique notion of actions mapped to beats then forged around strictly-patterned encounters presenting pressing questions how to handle bundles of half a dozen different discrete behaviours at once. There's a certain clarity of focus borne out of said behaviours being predictable but timed in a game with short and fast runs- there's more enemy varieties in the pre-dlc final zone than many games unmentioned here (and some mentioned here still) manage throughout their whole lengths. Plus, at a time where much of procgen level design has dissolved into canned room gauntlets without variety of terrain or spatial bleedthrough the digging system set in simple caves catacombs make for more memorable layouts than even the old titans' regularly manage. I do have duly note, however, that after pushing available content to my furthest capacities, the characters I play are restricted down to those who die the least easily (Melody's easy armor access, Nocturna's parrying access)- while there's many meaningful options for quite a few equipment slots, the damage numbers also just let you die in one or two specific hits for most of a 10 to 20 minute run. Probably better than face-tanking being the norm, but painful nonetheless.

Cogmind (2017+)is... noticeably, the only game I haven't beaten on this list, and one of two classical format games on this list. Without community interacting or lurking it's quite hard to learn the depths of either without a hybrid's other genre execution to help assess matters, in terms of warding off death or finding what actually distinguishes and qualifies the given game. Here, the simulationist options and modularity of provided strategies are dense in the extreme, to both its merit (over a dozen relevant things to risk at each terminal! shed your weighty armor and limbs for new ones as they rot or you flee!) and its detriment (death and generative life are both great teachers neglected in the hybrid sphere, but there's a lot of wiki reading to even learn of most unspoken options). The alert level and part fragility both contribute well to not fighting everything compared to most of these games, which also helps provide a sense of re-pacing, but when given fights can slaughter those bleeding out it's exhausting Some day I'll succeed in rhizome maneuvers, and learn to best walk through walls as a helicopter with a bazooka. (Also, the graphics are kind of always this small, as an unavoidable product of the game's own terminal use. The monochromatics approach mostly hurts on sufficient part piles and which decor machines explode, though some definitely just can't read the game at all- though, accessibility-wise, plenty can't read the faster games on this very list, anyway. No need is an island.)

Night of the Full Moon (2019) feels like something that fell out from a parallel timeline. The Dream Quest style of deckbuilder roguelike was highly muted in Slay the Spire's wake, though a few still march forward on it- centered on the core notion of enemies having their own deck and unseen hands pushing on severe build-countering gimmicks rather than direct action intent patterns. In abstract, this would allow more bluffing, more distinction, and more memorability for being blown out one way or another- in practice, without a stack, a board state, or explicit incoming threat to react to (and no, pre-emptive hand attack doesn't count), the opposing opacity feels 80% like that inaccurate reputation of card games boiling down to opposing instant games of solitaire grazing against one another. (Thanks, Master Duel.) It's sad, as there's a fair bit of undeserved dismissal in most of this particular genre intersection's other outputs, and there's a fair bit of build and map decision-making plus complicated sequencing available in much of what Full Moon is willing to do. It's also got quite the clean look and actual flavor direction many in this lack for, when the eight billion myriad talents required to make games exist need for shortcuts and genre flavour is one of the first for most to shortcut. (In particular, originator Dream Quest itself is quite scribbly.) The translation's awkwardness is almost impressively amusing on the regular for e.g. stilted translations clashing against surprisingly clean voice acting, or the absurd number of annoyingly-anchorless profile stories for countless encounters. Go beat up those townsfolk for no reason, Red.

Orbital Bullet (2022) has a certain fresh style and strength while also speaking rather openly to some obvious core issues on the standard fitting of builds and the hyper-proliferation of metaprogression climbs. The nested-rings run-and-gun play is quite unique for 2.5d arrangements and shifts the parsing flow of enemy input and player output, and the ambushes for every room with such addresses a core issue many other 2d gunplay games possess of safe strats devolving into maintaining max distance with glacial increments forward. (Looking at you, 20XX.) This is tempered twice over, alas. I tend to despise a certain degree of metaprogression locking away core gameplay system- if random new sights are supposed to cover for death, then fully parsing systems is the same whether innate or gradually unlocked. Here, that includes fundamentals for pacing and run distinction between perk upgrading, healing access, challenge rooms, and combo streak rewards. This wouldn't be completely damning if not for per-run strength gain also struggling- randomized skill tree offerings mostly concentrate on a quickly singular damage goal over the mild perks of others. It's easier to say than it is to design "just make player plans adapt mid-run", and swapping guns covers for a bunch of this, but it overall feels... weak on the overall roguelike front, where a briefer arcade spirit could have replaced extended cross-run grind for the better. Still solid on such shorter lengths, nonetheless.

Devil Slayer Raksasi (2021) is centered on small amounts of action stamina, and thus counts closest as, gasp, a (top-down camera) soulslike. In such a welltrod and visible other half it unavoidably falters in still interesting fashions- for most followers in that fashion struggle hardest with what manages to be most cherished. Many roguelikes jarringly lack focus on encounter breadth for so many given runs, and despite hundreds of such foes drawn up they each lack for distinguishing factors beyond different frames and counts for swings. (While many players evidently dive in rather than out and around like as substantially eases dks1 and 2, any such kiting caution flattens most assaults- not an unreasonable lesson to learn for any stamina-centric game, but one more than established already.) Fromsoft is also more than glad to abuse poor lighting, thin paths, blind corners, rafter snipers, pressure plates, and all other sorts of viciousness lost to the clean floors and comfort food of hack & slash spectacle fighters, which this also lacks for. What it does manage to succeed at is baked into the title- with twelve+ zones and twenty+ bosses, there are in fact a fair number of unique devils to slay who do in fact have poise and art and gimmicks afforded to the each of them, and I have to wonder how well this also would have felt without the permadeath churn exposing the endless need of broad possibility space beyond exchanging swings.

I'm still deeply mixed on Caves of Qud (????), and it feels quite the shame and disconnect for the second-most recognizable game on this list still holding up a torch for the classical roguelike format. Even at the end of all of these musings I could probably write up an essay's worth alone for this on how it's a massive mismatch for a former dcss dev like myself- a maximalist sprawling open world akin to Elder Scrolls or ADOM that hyper-concentrates difficulty and interest into select spaces and otherwise frequently gets one literally mechanically lost in a dull wilderness or metaphorically lost in various fixed grinds. Back there we never agreed with the notion that systems-abusing grind like pudding farming is its own punishment, and that players have to be saved from themselves- contrariwise, many runs feel crushed down and slowed by the fixed offerings and strategies of mechanical wings, hologram / force bracelets, monetary exploits, and the start-independent option of crafting to reroll offerings for endlessly. It especially doesn't help that emergency options beyond recoilers feel slim, and many things are more than glad to stone you dead quick. The actual interest targets have plenty of solid strength that'd carry things if not stuck in such a morass- the sheer hostility of unique terrain and fight gimmicks afforded to plot dungeons is quite strong in its own It also still has an unmatched style of prose, tangible acronym representatives, and a rarefied flavour of locale, all in a genre that struggles to. Probably this, alongside the deckbuilders I've sought out, is why I've spent the past two and a half years putting my money where my mouth is working on the writing and assets for my own roguelike of gay creatures in warped worlds.

If I went a ways further back, there'd be plenty more I could ramble and muse upon, with lingering generosity for the each of them. Nowhere Prophet's rich post-post-apoc desertpunk setting for one of the very few other polished creature-based deckbuilder rogues, Going Under's invigoratingly bitter anti-work ethic blended with brutal destructible weapons action, and Shiren 5 still holding up an unmatched style and gimmick depths for the format's old guard. There's also most likely plenty to speak of further ahead- properly beating some CRYPTARK and Invisible Inc. campaigns; getting into Voidigo and Chrono Ark like my partner heavily recommends; acquiring and assessing Arboria, Brutal Orchestra, Rhythm Fighter, and Malice & Greed. There's always so much to investigate in this combinatoric space, and such dynamics interplays demand a lot- but partial success is still interesting and supportive in and of itself, even if I could endlessly, vexingly, lovingly pick at the seams of each reality.

[kingsuckjin]

YEYYY THIRST NIGHT! can we get a dom daddy!jk and sub babygirl!oc who loves being praised? like him telling her how good she is doing and making him feel eventhough she is shy and nervous? a bit loveydovey? love your writing sooo much💜

anon from the dom daddy!jk with praise kink ask again... could you maybe throw a bit of possessiveness from him in there 👉👈 i dunno why but when a guy says "you're mine" because he genuinely loves someone, it just makes my heart skip a beat

Here you go babe

Mine

-Warnings: blow job, unprotected sex, chair sex, praise kink, daddy/babygirl kink, dom jk/sub reader, dirty talk, a dash of possessiveness, a pinch of fluff and reader shyness.

-Words: like 900 maybe?

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

 A guttural moan cut through the dark room and it came from above you. You loved hearing it. You loved just how deep his voice could go, just how lost he could sound when you were on your knees pleasing him. You had Jungkook's cock head deep in the back of your throat, your spit smeared messily all over your chin and his balls, dripping onto your bare chest. You didn't care, you didn't care how messy you got as long as he kept feeding you what you craved, his moans and words of approval.

"That's my girl, just like that baby. Show me who that pretty little mouth belongs to." 

Most of the time you were a very sweet and loving couple, but once he got turned on enough the vulgar things he would say and do make your stomach do flip.

"Ah ah" he let out and you watched as his fingers dug into the arms of his gaming chair until his knuckles turned white. "Baby-" he was breathing hard, a sign he was close. "Come here." 

Tingles went through your body at his command, but you pulled him out of your mouth and obeyed. You stood up between his legs and watched as his eyes took in your naked body. You wrapped an arm shyly around your bare chest making him smile just a little before pulling at your arm until you were fully exposed to him. You let him pull you onto his lap in the chair. Your shins settled on both sides of his hips and you could feel his warm still spit clicked cock right at your core.

"It's cute how you still do that" he leaned in and whispered, brushing his lips against yours. You wanted to taste his sweet breath in your mouth so badly, feel his tongue work yours. "You still hide yourself even though I've seen you naked a thousand times, even though you know what your body does to me" 

He reached down between you and you could feel him jerking himself off slowly with the leaking head of his dick at your entrance with his wetness mixing with yours. 

"You still do that even though you're mine."

He let out a soft grunt as he fully pushed into you, filling and stretching you perfectly. 

You let out a whine of pleasure at just how good and needed the sensation felt.

"Tell me you're mine baby girl." He hissed into your ear as he gripped your hips to help them move at a quick pace that you both were enjoying. He knew just what it took to make you cum, he knew your body maybe better than you did. Your breathing was already heavy and your head flopped onto his muscular shoulder.

"I'm yours." You whimpered into his warm skin.

"What baby girl? Did you forget, huh?" He now did all the work, slamming into you so hard you couldn't think clearly.

"Daddy. I'm yours." 

His head flopped back onto the headrest as he let out a throaty moan.

"Such a good girl. So good sucking my cock, you make me feel so good." He pulled your hips down on his now and rolled his own into you, pushing his cock as far as it could go inside of you.

You could help but dig your nails into the skin of his upper arms and clench your walls at the sensation.

"You like that baby? Are you going to make a mess on my cock for me? You deserve it for taking my dick in your throat so well." 

"Oh fuck." You were getting closer now with every word and every rock of his hips.

"So fucking wet and tight for me. God you're just so good, so fucking good for letting me use your body like this." 

You squeezed around his cock a little harder as he smashed into you and before you were cumming hard. Your hips automatically and needily moved with his the best they could while you our brain was overtaken with the amount of pleasure pulsing through your body. Even after you it was over you still felt so high, but he still needed to cum. You kept moving your hips, careful not to stop or slow down but watching him carefully. This was your favorite part.

"Fuck, good girl, ride my cock, I'm so close." He whispered, clearly lost in his approaching orgasm. He muttered nothing but praise, fulling you to only fuck him faster until finally he came with a slight growl and a curse. You felt pulse after pulse of warm cum spill inside of you as he moaned, closed his eyes and let his head fall back once again.

"I love you so much." He panted through tired breaths "so much." He repeated for effect.

You felt so proud you could make him this fucked out and tired.

"Love you too." You replied as your cheeks felt warm with a blush. It was cute how he could still do that to you, even if you knew how he felt about you already, even if he had said it one thousand times before, even if you were already his.

[safethaw]

Say Goodbye To Driveway Oil Stains: 5 Effective Techniques.

We've all been there. You step outside, and there it is, mocking you: a glaring oil stain smack in the middle of your once-spotless driveway. It might seem like a tiny blemish, but it's akin to that single stain on a crisp white shirt - impossible to overlook. Before you throw your hands up in despair, we've curated a list of five simple tricks to get your driveway back to its former glory. Here is how to remove oil from driveway: 1. Quick Thinking With Absorbents Did you get a fresh spill? Speed is your best friend. Oil stains are like pesky intruders; tackle them early, and they're easier to deal with. For a DIY fix, scatter some cat litter, cornstarch, or even baking soda over the spill. They act like little sponges, soaking up most of the oil. Let them sit and do their magic for a bit, then sweep or vacuum. Voila! Much better already. 2. The Dish Soap Rescue For those stains that have made themselves too comfortable on your driveway, it's dish soap to the rescue. Combine it with some warm water and give the spot a good scrub using a sturdy brush. Remember, dish soaps are built to battle grease, so they're perfectly equipped for this mission. 3. Steam Cleaning: The Heavy Artillery Got a stain that's been lounging on your driveway for what feels like centuries? It's time to bring out the big guns. Consider renting a steam cleaner. The combo of heat and pressure will loosen the oil's grasp, making your driveway gleam once more. 4. Nature To The Rescue: Skip The Chemicals Before you dive into a sea of strong chemical cleaners, take a breath. Sure, they might seem like the go-to, but they can erode your concrete and harm our lovely planet. Instead, try a mix of good ol' white vinegar and baking soda. Mother Nature really does have an answer for everything!  5. Future-Proofing With Sealants Now that your driveway's all clean, why not keep it that way? A quality concrete sealer can be a game-changer. It'll throw up a protective shield, making sure any new spills don't burrow deep and can be cleaned up in a jiffy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2uACuEGD4k How To Get Oil Off Of Concrete? Oil stains aside, winter throws its own curveballs, with driveways turning into slippery deathtraps. While many reach for salt to ward off the ice, doing so can be a double-edged sword. While it does fend off the ice, it can also eat away at your driveway. That's where Safe Thaw saunters in, like a superhero with a cape. It's not just any ice melt; it's THE ice melt. Crafted without any corrosive chlorides or toxins, Safe Thaw ensures your driveway remains slip-free without the risks regular salt poses. There may be different answers to your question- how to remove oil from driveway, but Safe Thaw will remain constant and on the top of the list due to its non-corrosive and toxin-free properties as an ice melt. Plus, if you've got any industrial gear around, Safe Thaw's gentle formula ensures they remain unscathed. With its potent formula, a little goes a long way, season after season. Kudos to its innovative crystalline amide core and special agents that give it an edge! Wrapping Up Your driveway is more than just a spot to park your car; it's a part of your home's personality. Whether you're battling old oil stains or prepping for a frosty winter, a dash of know-how and the right product like Safe Thaw can be a perfect solution to your question- how to remove oil from driveway. So, here's to a driveway that's not just clean, but also treated with care and love! Read the full article