#it's even got an exploration move where you can just explore and do the puzzles without having to fight anything

[bestdressedchuuya]

Ok I wanna talk abt crow country cuz I just finished it tonight and I really loved it, major spoilers under the read more 👇

So as soon as we saw the first "guests" and how humanoid they were, I knew they used to be human, and I kinda figured that they were originally park guests who got blobbed up due to the crazy shit happening right underneath the park. And like... I did feel kinda bad at first shooting up monsters who used to be human but it's like eh, typical horror trope (I mean that's basically what zombies are) so I got used to it. BUT THEN you find out that they're humans from the future who are desperately trying to communicate a message to you despite the fact that their bodies and minds are completely falling apart and I dunno abt anybody else but that made me feel WAYYY worse about blasting their heads off. LIKE...they are using the last semblance of their human thoughts to desperately write out the year they came from in blood all over the place and it's so tragically falling on completely deaf ears!! BIG OOF. MY GUY EDWARD CROW FUCKED UP BIG TIME.

[carbonbasedmatter]

there's sadly not a lot of content of them together but troy and annie's friendship is so important to me. I feel like we don't talk about them enough outside of general trobedison. they're two people who liked the idea of each other at some point for kind of superficial reasons but grew to appreciate each other as their own people and not just this goal of someone to "pull" the more they got to know each other. honestly glad that the writers dropped the ship cus it's so much better than it would've been if it was romantic. instead we got this cool thing where they both kind of helped each other grow into themselves and cope with changes.

the talk they had at the end of mixology certification reflecting on everything that happened after annie's sudden crisis about what she wanted to do with her life was so sweet.

ANNIE: ... I did it because I didn't wanna be me. I did it because i'm not sure who I am. Admit it- we went to school together for four years, and you didn't even know me.

TROY: Yeah, but I know you now, You're Annie...You like puzzles and little monsters on your pencil and some guy named Mark Ruffalo. You're a fierce competitor and a sore loser and you expect everybody to be better than who they are and you expect yourself to be better than everyone. Which is cool.

This was the episode where Troy realized that becoming an adult isn't this big, dramatic change and the people he looked up to were just as confused and imperfect as he was. He decides on his own that the grown up thing to do is to get everyone home safely rather than drinking. Here he's the one reassuring Annie, telling her how she does still have time to explore the world on her own terms, not knowing her well back then was his own loss.

I really like that about their dynamic how Troy kind of helps Annie realize she can just...relax and be herself without being judged, seeing her high school crush that she always wanted to impress casually building pillow forts and speaking in only movie references with his best friend. We don't see any immediate drastic changes in her that it seems unnatural but she's definitely more comfortable weird in her own way after moving into 303 (For ex her making Abed film missing lover clips for her)

I love how much they both care about abed too...in different ways. troy matches his weirdness, giving him an escape from what the rest of world thinks while annie shows him he CAN leave the world of simulations and scenarios, being different from someone but still having them respect you as a friend and build a close relationship with them letting him connect with the world. But they actually care about him letting him show a vulnerable side that he doesn't with a lot of the other members of the study group.

I also think the gay himbo+ smart but insane lesbian dynamic is v funny yea

anyways here are some silly photos that'll hopefully help get my point across

[colesluvr]

When Your Powers Are Taken | All Ninja x Female Reader

REQ: I HAVE A REQUEST!! How abt all ninja x female reader; when your elemental power is taken by aspheera (like kai’s was taken)

can i be frank with yall, i kinda like this lmaoo. kinda want to make a p2 to this, how y/n will react to losing her power. thx for the request, i really enjoyed writing this!! hope yall enjoy! <33

if you want me to make this a seprate reaction i'll write that as well, just holla <3 by that i mean each of thme having their own reaction to y/n losing her power

E/P: Elemental Power

"No! Don't!"

It was too late. 

With one push of the block, aligning the puzzle in it's proper pattern. It glowed bright color's and the pyramid started to rumble. Dust and pebbles fell from the top of the room. Everyone stood in a line in front of the large chamber, waiting to see what will happen.

Suddenly, the door exploded, causing everyone to duck down as dust filled the room. Laughter soon emerged from the chamber, and you opened your eyes to see a large, blue, female snake slither out with a staff in her hand.

You squinted your eyes, coughing from the debry that fell upon you. You tried to get abetter iew of the snake lady in front of you. 

"Free at last," She said as she looked around. She looked forward to see 8 figures on the ground, "Where is he?" Was the first thing she asked. Looking oward Lloyd. 

"Who?" Lloyd grunts as he tried to stand, "The treacherous deceiver. The one who imprisoned me." She spoke, "Tell me where he is, and I, Aspheera, will show you mercy." The snake demanded. 

"I believe she is looking for the boy mentioned in the hieroglyphics." Zane guessed as everyone sat up from the ground.

"What do I tell her?" Lloyd whispered, looking over to Nya who got in his face with a worried tone, "Tell her the truth! We don't know." 

They all stood, Lloyd starting to speak, "Uh, that was a while ago..."

The blade on the snakes staffed began to glow purple as her rage increased. Raising her weapon, she shot a bright, purple beam to Lloyd, knocking him into the nearest wall. 

Clutch Powers dodged Lloyd's body as it made contact with the stone. The ninja's pulled up their hoods while you got your weapon in hand, all of you ready to fight. 

"Let her have it!" Jay shouted, shooting a spark of electricity toward the Serpentine. 

"Uh," Clutch spoke as he hid near the wall of the exit, "I'll get help!"

"Help from who? The camals??" You shouted at the explorer who ran away. "Y/N, focus!" Nya shouted at you, both of you dodged the blast of purple energy shot at from the snake. 

The Serpentine chuckles as all the Ninja's and your's powers blew right off her, leaving not even a scratch on her. 

"You." 

Her hand pointed toward you as you were the only one in front of her. Her eyes and yours locked, "You are a E/P elemental?" 

"The one and only! Name's Y/N! Not so nice, to meet  you!" You shot a blast of E/P at the Serpentone when you shouted to meet,watching her once again take the hit without ant damage. 

You watched as her head slowly raised, her hissing loud and clear in your ears. 

"Your E/P, enlightens, me." Aspsheera spoke softly, slowly slithering her way toward you as she continued, "For too long I have been trapped in this cold, dark place."

 You stepped back  from the snake as she got closer, and closer. 

"I will take your E/P!"

"I'd like to see you try, snake!" You tempted, ready your power in your hand. Before you can land a hit, you saw her wave her staff to the side and toward you raising up, however your body followed with her staff. 

You felt your body freeze, you couldn't move. Your feet were lifted from the ground as you felt the power inside you fade away. It hurtI. You let out screams of pain, trying to break free from the Serpentines hold. 

However, the purple hold had you in a tight knot. You weren't able to escape and endeered the pain. 

"Y/N!" Kai cried your name, attempting to get up and stop the snake. 

"What's happening?" Cole cried "She's stealing her elemental power!" Zane shouts, answering Cole's question. "We must stop her!"

They tried.

They really tried. 

When they attempted their spinjitzu on her, she gave them a taste of theirown medicane, somehow still being able to steal your power.

You felt your eyelids get heavy, and your body grew more and more tired by the second. Next thing you knew everything went blank. 

"She knows Spinjitzu." Lloyd mumbled in a worried tone. 

"How?!" Jay cried, twice as confused as Lloyd. 

Suddenly, your body fell straight to the floor, but you didn't move. Not even an 'ow' left your lips. Bad sign.

You were knocked out cold. 

"Y/N!" Lloyd called out your name, everyone running to your body. 

"I..thank you, elemental. In return for your gift, I shall spare your lives." 

Next thing, well, no one knew, was there hands chained up to each other and pinned to the wall high above the ground. However, you were still knocked out in between Zane and Nya. 

"May you enjoy your time in this place, as much as I did. Farewell," Aspheera, who was now the color of your E/P, bid her goodbyes, slithering toward the exit.

"You won't get away with this!" Lloyd yelled over to the snake.

They all watched the Serpentine leave, Lloyd looked back at your unconscious body. Your head was hung down low as your right arm was raised in the air by the chain that pinned you all to the wall. 

"Y/N? Y/N, can you hear me?" He cried, pulling himsef forward to try and see you better. Nya was able to reach over, holding herself forward with her feet, as she pulled down your mask that coverd the body half of your face and look at you with a sadden look. 

"Zane, how is she?" Cole asked, looking ove rto his Nindroid friend who was already steps ahead of him. 

Zane took a moment to scan your body, before responding. 

"Her vitals ar stable. She's alive. She should recover shortly." Zane spoke with a soft smile.

"Good." Lloyd sighed, looking at the chain above him,

 "Now we just have to figure out a way out of here."  

[askagamedev]

On the topic of “what the player is doing”, what do you feel about so called walking simulators? How does the design of a game where the player is largely is moving from point a to b is defined?

Even in walking simulators, there's still the active element of moving around the environment and examining each item. The player retains agency in exploration games, even though there aren't too many other overt actions to take.

Consider a "walking simulator" like The Talos Principle. The actions that the player take include exploring environments, collecting puzzle pieces, avoiding obstacles, jamming obstacles, moving boxes, climbing boxes, using boxes to obstruct enemies, and that neat time recording feature. The Talos Principle primarily interweaves the exploration and narrative elements with puzzle solving.

Another "walking simulator" is The Stanley Parable. In it, there's really only exploring and interacting with the environment, but the presence of the narrator enables two major actions the player can take - obey or disobey the narrator and see the results. It is these decisions and actions that provide the engaging gameplay - the players get pulled in by seeing the results of their choices.

The important thing about the actions that the player chooses to undertake is that every action a player does must cause the game to react to that player's specific actions. Moving from point A to point B shows the player more of the world. Choosing to interact with a door means the door opens, revealing what was behind it. Allowing the player to jump should allow the player to reach places that would otherwise be unreachable without the jumping. The actions a player can take must be acknowledged and recognized by the game. This creates a sense of agency and ownership that places the player in the game world. The player experience changes from "Kratos pulled the head off of Helios" to "I pulled the head off of Helios". These active choices cause a sense of self-insertion that would otherwise not exist if everything just happened while the player passively watched the scene unfold.

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[bluebudgie]

I heard it's GW2 map hours

And just because I feel like it. An appreciation post for LS3. The story throughout that season may have been a little choppy, but man if it didn't deliver in the map department.

Bloodstone Fen. Absolutely tiny and gimmicky. And so much fun. A new map aesthetic we've never seen before. Introduced new gliding masteries that felt somewhat relevant on release. Evading obstacles while flying? Getting adventurous now! Map completion in <15 minutes? Say no more, your ultimate keyfarm friend is here. Best experienced without mounts.

Ember Bay. A giant SKULL SHAPED volcano. Probably the most brutal jumping puzzle in the game. Doesn't get more metal than that. Introduced a new way to travel around the map. Which wasn't optional. You had to use it to get to places. Mounts made that obsolete though.

Bitterfrost Frontier. Another tiny one. Had that one mechanic where you had to craft a tonic to be able to enter a part of the map bc otherwise you'd freeze to death. Literally noone liked that mechanic but if you get into the freezing place and move to the right part of the mountain you get an absolutely gorgeous view. Also great forest section. And that one cheesy cherry tree lookout that used to be restricted but can now be flown into with mounts.

Lake Doric

Draconis Mons. Do I even need to say anything about that one. Oakheart Essence. Explore the map by becoming spider man. Absolutely gorgeous map with a fun layout and tight meta bosses. An amazing jumping puzzle that seems confusing at first, but once you figure out the clever hints that point you in the right direction becomes an absolute feast to complete. They truly didn't do anything quite like this map since 😔Best experienced without mounts.

Siren's Landing. Hey it's Orr! But it's less deadly and more varied. (ilu OG Orr no hatred here). First time we got a weird waypoints-that-aren't-waypoints mechanic. Trying to get up to the stupid spider boss with updrafts only was.... interesting. (Or was it a mastery point? Was it both?). Another amazing jumping puzzle! A perfect breather after the two complex puzzles in the maps before, but still posing a decent enough challenge.

LS3 had sooo much variety. Hell pit swamp! Fire! Ice! Jungle! Each map had such unique features. Absolute top tier season for map design.

[tokiro07]

That reply I got on my last Zelda post made me realize that I was only thinking about the story elements for potential Zelda-led games and not the mechanics of those games. I touched on it a bit in my reply, but I wanted to dive a little bit deeper into it here

As in Echoes of Wisdom, the goal here is to find gameplay styles that de-emphasize direct combat or physical dexterity, though we don't need to completely eschew them either (even EoW Zelda throws boulders around, after all)

Skyward Sword: a common complaint with Skyward Sword was the lack of content in the sky, so I think revisiting that through Zelda herself would be a great idea. Getting to spend more time with the Loftwings would be fun too, so I'd like them to play an active role within the dungeons. To that end, I'm thinking something inspired by Team Ico's The Last Guardian would work well, with the goal being to guide and instruct the Loftwing to perform tasks, requiring the player to pay attention to its mannerisms in order to gain some semblance of control

Minish Cap: the shrinking mechanic in the original was already a game-spanning puzzle in and of itself, so revisiting that could work well for Wisdom gameplay. To differentiate it, though, I might recommend expanding it to include shrinking and growing other objects, maybe a little bit like Superliminal but on a smaller scale. Or Zelda could just be shrunk down the entire time and needs to figure out how to navigate the world around her

Four Swords/Adventures: FSA ended with Zelda talking about learning a lesson about teamwork and some such, so this could either be another co-op game where the players need to coordinate with each other, or one player would be given multiple characters to work with at once and need to keep track of them all, like the single player in Tri Force Heroes. Honestly, my problem with TFH was that it was clearly not designed for single player, so if they revisited that concept with that explicit intention, I think they could have something solid

Ocarina of Time: obviously this would be Sheik stealth game. Oracle of Seasons already had minor stealth segments, so if you expand that concept into something more akin to the classic Metal Gear games, being more focused on observation, reaction and improvization than pure memorization, I think you'd really have something

Link Between Worlds: again, the 2D/3D puzzles of the original were already exactly the kind of thing we're looking for, so if the developers felt in any way that they hadn't fully explored the concept, like giving Zelda the ability to actually perform actions in 2D rather than simply moving, I think it would be worth revisiting

Zelda 1/Adventure of Link: similar to my idea for Four Swords, I think this one would best focus on the dichotomy between the two co-existing Zeldas, so perhaps an It Takes Two approach with each character having unique abilities would be best. Again, this is a good opportunity for co-op, but I'd like it if they could be controlled simultaneously, like in FSA. Maybe something more like Mario & Luigi's overworld segments, where they're both moving at the same time and different buttons are assigned to each character to activate their unique abilities. We don't really know enough about either of these Zeldas to conjecture what powers they'd have, but if we go off of Zelda I being under a sleep curse, maybe something to do with stillness vs. motion? Like one can make things stop and the other can make things speed up? It would take some workshopping, but I see potential here

Twilight Princess: knowing so little about the Twilight Realm, I'm envisioning labyrinthian architecture, where pathfinding is the name of the game. Given the predilection for darkness, perhaps light-based puzzles would be in order

Wind Waker: this one has the best reason to expand into combat for sure since Tetra is a fighter, but coordinating with her crew to perform tasks either for puzzle-solving or combat would be a perfect way to incorporate her Wisdom into the gameplay. Maybe there would be naval battles where steering the ship in the right way or firing the cannons at the right time would help fend off enemies. Maybe on land, resource management of ammunition and other supplies would be something the player has to be mindful of, or Tetra can bring two or three of her crew along at a time like the Sages in TotK to use their abilities

Spirit Tracks: the Phantoms were already pretty much exactly what we're looking for, so I think just coming up with new Phantoms and level designs would be sufficient. Rearranging the Spirit Tracks themselves for more efficient navigation could also be fun, but I don't know if most fans want land development in their Zelda games

Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom: I already said in my last post that the Ancient Power system in TotK would have worked as a Wisdom mechanic, so again, any enhancement or refinement therein should probably go to Zelda

If I were a professional, I'm sure I could come up with something a lot more workable than these high concepts, but my main goal with this thought exercise was just to see how the extant stories could be used to make new ones, and I definitely see a lot of areas of opportunity

Of these, I personally like the Skyward Sword idea best, I like what Last Guardian was going for and would really like to see the concept explored by other developers

[rriavian]

Do you think Morpheus knows deep inside that Corinthian is his mirror? The reflection of his own darkness and desire?

Jessamy my beloved! I love getting asks from you! They are always the most interesting questions to really make me think about how to put my thoughts into words! <3 Sorry it took so long to answer this one (think I broke my record for time taken to answer an ask eek)!

I had this typed out nearly ready to post but got very distracted by Corintheus week! Can't believe it's February already, I hope you’re having a good New Year so far 😊

Does Morpheus know that the Corinthian is his mirror?

I think that Dream does, and that in some ways he holds himself responsible for the difficulty of it, because I think we can all agree that it’s a lot for any singular creation of his to embody. On the flipside of this you could argue that Fiddler’s Green is supposed to be a reflection of the light—the ‘heart’ of the Dreaming, a representation of pure life giving creation—with Gault as the fluid, transformative, link between all three of the major arcana. I think I’ve talked briefly about this before but it’s relevant again for this question.

Her place as a link between the two extremes, and her transformative powers, makes sense for why Gault would want to become a dream (and perhaps another reason why Dream agreed in the end) but it also suggests how complicated the facets of Dream’s identity are.

(I could probably make an entire separate post on this but! Moving on!)

All three major arcana reject him just as the rest of his creations do, are the last to return to the Dreaming and none of them do it by choice. Even Fiddler’s Green needs to first be tracked down. The Corinthian is found at the convention where Dream takes responsibility for making him the way he is, designating his rebellion as his own failure. The Corinthian was his masterpiece but I think Dream might now consider that as designing too ambitious a spec, the coding perfect but corrupted in the end. I think that assessment could be why he highlights the Corinthian’s purpose as being a dark mirror for humanity instead of one for himself, despite how closely those two things seem to be bound.

Not necessarily changing his mind, just changing the emphasis.

But, as I said, I also think Dream made the Corinthian for it. To be able to take it. Or at least hoped that he would—another reason why he might have said that he’d had so much hope for him, why Dream was so disappointed—not constructed to be given a burden, not supposed to be that at all. In many ways I think that’s why he’s a major arcana. But the Corinthian also has his own unique darkness, perhaps finding its origins in his creators but without its place in Dream’s larger puzzle it expresses differently, the exploration of what happens to a counterpoint to a dream that isn’t held internally.

The Corinthian is far more selfish with his darkness, lives out all that desire and need the way Dream can’t (and won’t), can embody it wholeheartedly because he’s not supposed to be balanced in the same way.

Yet in doing so he offers balance; can offer that to Dream, the same way he allows darker human impulses a chance to take center stage.

An outlet for it all.

All of Dream’s creations in some way seem to be that, a combination of the restriction of a role and the individuality of personality, might have a set purpose but have choices in how they carry out what they are. The same as Dream really. They are concepts personified, ideas and emotions that might originate in another, whether it be humanity or their creator, but they’ve been given their own voice.

It's no one way dictation…a dialogue with humanity because their function is to speak back.

So yes, I think that Dream knows that the Corinthian is his dark mirror far better than the Corinthian himself does. I think he knows how important he is in a way the Corinthian doesn’t see (the way the rest of his creations sometimes can’t see about themselves either).

I think the existence of a dark mirror (and other such representations) are a way in which Dream keeps emotionally healthy, just as they are a way for humans to keep emotionally healthy, and you could even argue that it’s how his creations keep themselves healthy too. Change and growth are certainly positive aspects of life, but like anything that’s not necessarily universal, because so is embracing what you are. Who you are. Without referencing my own neurodivergence too much, I think we can all understand circumstances where forcing oneself to change is far from a good and healthy thing.

Acceptance of the parts of oneself that we struggle with/have a tricky relationship with is a big part of what dreams and nightmares help humans to do.

It’s a big part of what a nightmare does.

Ok, this is getting long, so I’m going to make one final point. So I think that Dream could have spent centuries living vicariously through the Corinthian’s nightmarish nature and then finding that crucial mechanism corrupted, poisoned, when the Corinthian suddenly started killing dreamers in the Waking World. I don’t think that’s one of Dream’s desires at all, secret or otherwise, and I think it repulsed him to the point of potentially threatening to destabilise the rest of the system.

Perhaps Dream found his own darkness felt tainted by a reflection that (however intentional the rejection was) no longer wanted to mirror him.

In killing dreamer's the Corinthian was showing how he no longer wanted to mirror humanity (wanted to take from them instead, thought that a better match for what he was made for) and in doing so denied not only Dream, but his own identity too in no longer wanting to be what he was. For someone like Dream I think killing the dreamer’s would have been deeply offensive, an incredibly personal insult, a perversion of his function and an attack on what agency he has to fulfill it.

Whatever disgruntlement Dream may have with his role, he was then faced with the result of how instead of having a healthy outlet, those feelings could have been twisted/warped within the Corinthian's own unique mix of individuality and function. Perhaps in many ways it felt like being forced to kill his dreamers with his own hands.

And I think that was why when Dream found him in Berlin he was so quick to decide to unmake the Corinthian on the spot.

[thelostgirl21]

Congratulations on these two for the smoothest lute exchange in TV history...

Because I literally can't tell you at what point exactly it managed to change hands.

I had to return and watch the scene, just to go check if we could catch a glimpse of Jaskier holding his lute while talking with Yarpen after his meeting with Radovid (spoilers alert: we can, but it's easy to miss), because I was mentally going "Wait. Do we ever see Radovid handing Jaskier his lute back, or did he just... put it down against one of his legs while the camera switched to Philippa, for Jaskier to pick up later?"

1.Like ok, so the last time we see Radovid holding the lute in that scene, it's in his left hand, and he takes a few steps closer to Jaskier to express how he'd love for him to become his bard and suggest he should totally move in with him already so they can start a new life together talk while momentarily excluding Philippa from the conversation.

2. Jaskier tries to resist the puppy dog eyes play it cool remembering how he attempted to start living with Geralt and offered to become his bard as soon as he started squishing on him; and how, although things eventually did work out between them (and they now have this whole queerplatonic family dynamic going on), maybe he wouldn't have gotten so brokenhearted if he'd taken things with him a bit slower? And adjusted his expectations in accordance with what Geralt was willing or able to offer back then, maybe?, and pretend he's totally not intrigued and aroused by the offer.

3. Radovid steps in even closer to make sure he has all of Jaskier's attention, while attempting to convince him that he would gladly let him tie him up and explore whatever kink he might have one can find plenty of ways to make life at court fun and exciting.

4. Philippa decides to play chaperone, because she's never taken Radovid outside for a walk on her own before, is not 100% sure if the prince has been trained to properly behave in public when he's not at court, knows Jaskier has literally no shame, and she'd rather get between these two now before they are given any opportunity to start making out and humping each other right in the middle of the fucking town's square! to step in closer to issue a few threats, for good measure.

5. Jaskier briefly looks like he's trying to sniff her finds the interruption quite rude and intimidating, yet stands his ground as he is unwilling to let her force him to back away from his prospective mate.

6. Philippa and Radovid , whose brain was so busy making out the shape of Jaskier's body through the very thin fabric of his shirt, that he only took from that whole conversation that he and Jaskier are having a date in five days, take their leave.

7. Jaskier is left trying to catch his breath while dealing with an awkward boner as he watches the prince leave leave, only to be interrupted by Yarpen Zigrin that has apparently just been standing there, silently watching the very rare and fascinating courtship display between a wild bard and a domestic prince...

8. Aaand, as Jaskier turns to greet him, we can catch a brief glimpse of the lute's pegbox that Jaskier seems to now be holding in his right hand. And Yarpen's puzzled, slightly traumatized expression, pondering what on Earth he's just witnessed, and how that complete pansexual disaster of a bard still manages to get laid so often.

Therefore, we can assume that the lute moved from Radovid's left hand to Jaskier's right hand anywhere in between 3 and 4...

But, with the way these two were so engrossed in each other by the time they got close enough to make the exchange, I'm trying to figure out how that went...

Like, try approaching your crush having this very intense conversation with them while continuously holding their gaze...

...and, at the same time, attempt signaling to them that you wish to give them back the object that you are holding, without any of you two looking down to see where the object or the other person's hand is.

There is visually and verbally a complete lack of acknowledgement that anything else is happening between them in that scene! It's uncanny!

Like if I'd been in Radovid's place, I'd probably have been awkwardly bumping the lute against Jaskier's right arm or leg while trying to figure out where his hand actually is; and then waiting to feel a little tug on it to make sure he's holding it securely before letting it go.

If I'd been in Jaskier's place, I'd probably have been trying to make physical contact with any recognizable part of the lute and then followed a path to its neck. Or, if I was feeling particularly bold, touched Radovid's arm and then caressed it all the way down to his hand to go place mine above or below the place where he's holding the lute's neck.

There would have been some slightly noticeable fumbling around involved, one way or another, at the very least.

But somehow, nothing could break the very sustained, sharp, and constant sexual tension focus between them while they were eye fucking each other talking and Radovid managed to give Jaskier back his lute.

These two can go from the awkwardest and most dissynchronized

to the smoothest and most seamless social interactions in a matter of seconds, I swear!

[avelera]

OK, so, I have now seen Good Omens Season 2 and had a moment to muster my thoughts after binging it.

SPOILERS below the cut, if that needed saying.

--

Let's start with the good.

Loved that Beelz/Gabriel became canon. What can I say? I love stories about immortals falling in love over the course of several meetings at a pub ;)

John Hamm in general was fabulous

I cackled at the fact we were getting an actual fem Aziraphale/Crowley, human coffee shop AU running parallel with the absolute fanficciest of justifications that Aziraphale and Crowley HAD to make them fall in love in order to *mumble mumble* something plot whatever, lol

I loved the bits of lore flashbacks we got about Aziraphale and Crowley first meeting when they were both angels and I found the whole Job encounter overall charming.

I was deeply fascinated by the fact that Crowley consistently performed selfless angelic acts while Aziraphale consistently needed to learn and grow around doing the right thing. Even to the end he remained, for the most part, a good little soldier. Aziraphale thinks the system can be fixed. Crowley "knows" that it can't. Presumably, Crowley is right. More on that later.

Muriel was adorable

Loved that we got the kiss. Also, huge shoutout to the fandom that I genuinely went in unspoiled on that front after the whole trailer debacle. I SUSPECTED based on the reactions that the spoiler was a kiss, but I was able to successfully forget all about it so I genuinely gasped when they kissed.

I'm not really all that bummed by the ending. It's so obviously a "temporary breakup so we come back together stronger" moment so I was largely unbothered. I actually want MORE angst, not less, in fic after that, please and thank you.

Unpopular opinion praise for S2, but I'm glad we didn't get more of The Them, or Madame Tracy (though the recasting of the actress in another role puzzled me?) or Anathema/Newt, or any of the non Aziraphale/Crowley, Heaven/Hell stuff. I found all those plotlines hugely boring and I'm glad the story moved on from them.

Did I mention I adored Gabriel/Beelz? Loved that plotline. Might rewatch that bit again just for that. I SORT of suspected it was happening but was still delighted by the confirmation. I couldn't BELIEVE this minor ship got made canon, but along the way I was sort of side-eying Beelz's reactions through the lens of, "Wait, what if Beelz is WORRIED for Gabriel?" and it worked very well so I was tentatively *glad* for the shippers who might view it that way and NEVER guessed they'd make it canon this season with more than a few tidbits for those shippers to cling to. Wow. Whole-ass parallel instead of what Aziraphale and Crowley COULD be if they actually 1) communicated and 2) understood each other's values and valued the same things.

Truly, it was a love letter to the fandom I found that to be very sweet as a choice made by Tumblr Girlie Neil Gaiman.

H'ok, now let's get into the negative. To be clear, I enjoyed the season! A lot of room is left to explore stuff in Season 3! And I'm not a deep Good Omens fandom person, I didn't read much fic after S1 dropped, I was more of a book fandom fic person for it. So my level of investment isn't such that I'm *crushed* by any of this, these are just more things I found a bit "meh"?

I really thought we were heading to a side-swap story about Aziraphale and Crowley and I was little bummed it didn't happen, though there's still room for the possibility in S3. The whole "maybe I did the good thing and you did the bad" taken to the max. I really wanted the angst of them finding each other only to end up on opposite sides again and opposite-OPPOSITE sides of where they'd been and been comfortable up to this point. I really wanted to see IMPACT and SUFFERING and DISCOMFORT and... idk, more drama? Than we got?

Like, there were SO MANY references to Crowley being selfless and doing the RIGHT angelic thing while Aziraphale did a lot of HORRIFYING things, including all the mind-fuckery stuff he did around the ball, totally insensitive to the needs and wants of the humans involved, only seeing them as tools, that REALLY made me wonder if we were getting a swap by the end.

The fact we saw SO MANY ominous references to Aziraphale FALLING because he was tempted by Crowley, over and over, because he questioned God, over and over? I thought something would come of that! I thought Crowley would get through to Aziraphale just in time to have Aziraphale fall and for Crowley to do something truly angelic, to have Aziraphale get through to HIM at the same time so they'd swap sides officially, against their will, the same way Crowley never meant to fall. It seemed like falling was something that COULD HAPPEN TO YOU AGAINST YOUR WILL and I wanted REDEMPTION to work the same way, AGAINST Crowley's will. I wanted them to get absolutely FUCKED by the moment they finally got through to each other and swapped philosophies.

So that was a bummer. Could still happen in S3 but...? I'd be a bit surprised at this point given I think it will instead focus on (*sigh*) averting the Apocalypse again.

I thought the pacing was fucking atrocious. There was so much dead time. So many scenes that were simply *not* needed and didn't add anything. So much meandering script with darlings that desperately needed to be killed for the sake of a snappier story. So much that felt like padding. With a better editor and 2 fewer episodes, I think it would have been a much tighter, better, fast paced show.

S2 recalled with a problem I have with Neil's writing in general - he's a short story writer/comic issue writer at heart. I, personally, am a long-form novel writer. Neil is not great at writing novels, he's a novella/anthology/short story person and it shows when he so often, so consistently, fails to pull a long-form story together in a satisfying way (to me, and this is just my subjective opinion).

It shows up in so many ways with how, in my opinion, S2 seemed to flounder with how to fill 6 episodes. The flashback to the Resurrectionist stuff could have been half as long and I found much of the writing pretty awful and cliche in it.

I liked Aziraphale learning that morality is complex, truly, but that was all I really liked of that bit of flashback and it could have been much shorter. I found everything around Elspeth exasperating and on the nose. It was a short story straight out of a random issue of "The Sandman" and sometimes it really feels like Neil has never managed to break out of the same stories, plots, and themes, with a dash of horror as he did from that era. He's always, always, still just writing either 1) fanfic of another person or mythology's work or 2) an original Sandman short stories/issues with no long-form plot. In his defense, they're always COOL and have an interesting VISUAL or IDEA but these stories aren't very... good? Writing? Or rather, he tends to just do the same things over and over again. Nifty idea that don't actually really *gel* into anything more complex than a single storyline?

I felt the same way about the Nazi Zombie plotline. I found that entire story beat EXCEEDINGLY tedious and pointless except to fill airtime, not to mention a bit gross to watch. I found the Magician Aziraphale plotline in general EXCEEDINGLY pointless and tedious to sit through. I thought it added absolutely nothing and was incredibly dull for 99% of the story.

Everything with Shax was exceedingly tedious and boring to me. The fight in the bookshop felt nonsensical and poorly choreographed. That needed to be a 2x speed to feel any sense of peril or urgency at all, and not knowing where it was going, or if anyone was actually really threatened at all just robbed it of any real sense of tension.

There was just... zero sense in general of important stakes in the Shax storyline or really in the season because there was no Apocalypse to build towards, no event that we knew about to worry about.

The world wasn't ending. Shax didn't seem empowered to actually do anything or hurt anyone. They were just a random action plot for... reasons? To make the climax in the bookshop come together so we could have a Jane Austen ball at the same time as 69 demons (heh) invading? There were so many logical leaps there to make that happen and the pacing/editing being garbage just... robbed it of any feeling of importance except as a time waster of a plotline. The actress is great and all but dear lord was that plotline dull.

A lot of the flashbacks in general just felt like... padding. Yes, we got a bit more Aziraphale and Crowley but they never quite... worked for me in those. It was always pointless STUFF they were doing rather than anything that contributed to the plot or even to my sense of them being in love or working towards becoming a couple! They were just... there, a lot of the time, sitting next to each other.

Some of the script pauses were SO BIZARRE. Like as if they'd just written the script and not realized how bloody often Crowley is given NOTHING TO DO in the background so he just... stands there, waiting for his next line, or taking a nap, or observing random stuff. David Tenant in the Resurrectionist bit with all his theatrics felt, again, pointless and tedious but also the best the poor guy could fucking do to fill out this incredibly boring story with any sort of entertainment. Bless them, the actors worked their ASSES off to get some fun and excitement into huge swathes of this script.

Maggie and Nina's relationship was cute but ENTIRELY pulled off by the actresses, the story was again, incredibly tedious and pointless otherwise, as many coffee shop AUs are in my opinion. Their personal charm elevated the material but it all felt like more stalling tactics with a wink-and-a-nod at fic writers, with this entire season was stretched out to justify, presumably, Aziraphale being in Heaven after being promoted to Archangel while Crowley is on Earth and they're fighting.

Quite frankly, if the "real" sequel, which Pratchett co-wrote, just opens with Aziraphale thinking Heaven's shown up to destroy him, only to promote him on the spot, basically the last scene of S2, you actually don't need 99% of this season at all to get there. In fact, it's a pretty fun comedy beat to do quickly. Basically, "Oh shit, the cops!" then "Actually, we're here to promote you!" and boom, we've reached the same spot as we got to after 6 episodes of S2.

Not that I didn't enjoy many of the character moments! But overall, it felt like stalling for time to make it a trilogy series, since only a few plot threads had any longer term importance to anyone who isn't a fanfic-writing super fan who knows what a coffee shop AU is and can giggle over there being one in the actual show.

Basically, it was very lacking in the strengths of the story that I attribute to Terry Pratchett - like the ability to pull a long-form story together, and certain clever turns of phrase.

There were so many lines where there was a pause where it was as IF they were going to say something clever, and then they just... didn't? And the line was just another cliche or a trail-off of someone mumbling "comedically"? That's where I very much felt Pratchett's absence. It indeed felt like half the writing duo was missing in many ways. And I'm not personally... all that convinced of Neil's chops when it comes to long-form stories or romance, two things that this season kinda relied on pulling off right that I was left feeling pretty tepid about after.

Look, overall, I did like it! I'm really excited for how the fandom will run with what happened and make their own stuff with it. I'm very excited for Season 3, whenever we get it, and the return of Terry Pratchett's fingerprints on the story. I think it's going to be great!

It's not that I think my time was wasted so much as I thought places where *I* would have done things differently, which is not a fair criticism of any work. From a technical perspective, really I just think it needed a tighter script or tighter editing, and they just might not have been able to do that if they were contracted for 6 episodes when they only really needed 3. Oh well. Onward and upward!

[twstbookclub]

Hide and Seek

Summary: A game of hide and seek with Floyd goes terribly wrong. POV: 2nd Person Pronouns: Gender Neutral Admin/Writer: Cat 🐈 Tags: Fluff, Comedy, Slight Horror, Romantic and/or Platonic

Word Count: 654

Running with bated breath, as the sound of laughter rang down the hall, why in the world did you think it was a good idea to mess with Floyd? Of all the things you could have done. Did you seriously have a death wish? Sadly, you would need to process your life choices later. He was approaching rapidly. Damn him and his long legs! 

As you were sprinting you noticed the door near the end of the hall. “Azul’s office. Not the ideal choice, but it will have to do for now,” you mumbled while opening the door and slamming it shut. Your breathing was unstable as you panted against the frame.

Looking up from his desk, Azul stares at you with a puzzled look. Setting his pen down, he sighs, “What did you do this time? And does it involve another overblot?”

“Oh shut up! ….. I don't think it's- just help me out and I’ll do whatever ya want.”

Humming, Azul nodded over to the desk, “If it’s Jade, I wish you luck, but if it’s Floyd you may get under the desk. I expect you to work a full week’s worth of shifts for this whole ordeal.”

It didn’t take you long to respond, I mean come on it’s practically a get-out-of-jail-free card. “Deal! Just don’t put me with the twins,” you pleaded while dashing under the desk.

Chuckling Azul picked up his pen, “No promises. After all, you did say whatever I pleased.”

Mentally facepalming at your choice of words, your breath immediately halts as you hear that damn sound. “Oh Shrimpy, I know you’re here somewhere,” Floyd said with his signature laugh as he slams open the door, “Come out, come out, wherever you are~”

“You break it, you pay it,” Azul warned, not even batting an eye at the eel.

“Aww, you’re no fun Azul,” He whined while looking around, “Now where’s Shrimpy? I know I saw them come in here.”

“Is that so? They must have passed by me then,” Azul stated, before gesturing to his paperwork, “After all, I’ve been swamped by paperwork.”

Floyd stared at Azul, his smile now fully gone from his face. Suddenly the paperwork was darker due to the shadow of a six-foot-three body structure of an eel, slouching and hovering over Azul's desk.

As if being able to feel Floyd’s stare, Azul tapped his pen twice on the desk. A small muscle spasm hit his hand due to nerves, and a small stain of sweat went down his sideburn. “Though feel free to look wherever you please. Just don’t make too much of a mess.”

Almost immediately you see the eel snake around the desk, a huge smile plastered across his face. You couldn’t help but feel your heart rate increase as you watch him. He was moving almost lethargic as he explored the room.

Something was off, you just couldn’t tell what.

That was until Floyd turned around and looked you dead in the eyes. That damn octopus! “There you are, Shrimpy! Come here so I can squeeze ya~” Floyd stated happily while making grabby hands at you.

“You damn octopus! You ratted me out didn’t you!” You yelled at the man above you as Floyd started reaching for you.

“I wouldn’t dream of it. I expect to see you here tomorrow, and Floyd?" Azul finally glanced from the stack of papers and having a clear petty smile on his face, "Don’t break them. I need them in peak condition for their shifts."

Before you could respond Floyd grabbed you and pulled you out from under the desk. Almost instantaneously and effortlessly you were being picked up and squeezed by him. “Hehehe, I got you now my Shrimpy♡!~”

Azul goes back to the paperwork as Floyd leaves the office "Noon sharp!" Floyd without hesitation responds "No promises!~"

"Azul Ashengrotto what the FUCK!!" you scream as it reverberates down the hall.

[demdozeguys]

Strap in for a long one, because it's time for:

REVIEWING AND RANKING EVERY GAME I GOT FROM THE STEAM SUMMER SALE

ramblings under the cut:

UNRANKED: ULTRA STREET FIGHTER IV

okay look I know I said I'd be ranking all of these but putting a fighting game up against six linear-progression single-player adventure type games feels a bit unfair.

as for whether I liked it: yeah it's alright. it's street fighter, it's fun. only time will tell how much my brother and I will get out of it, but I'm already feeling like I don't like it quite as much as 5. how much of that is due to 4 not having Urien is anyone's guess.

#6: CROW COUNTRY

I'm gonna be honest I didn't fuck with this game nearly as much as I thought I would.

maybe it's because I'm new to the genre. maybe it's because I've been spoiled by autosave. or maybe it's just because I can't aim to save my life. but losing upwards of 20 minutes of progress every time some creature I failed to hit or juke tagged me one too many times got frustrating pretty fast.

I didn't hate my time with Crow Country. the environments are gorgeous, the story kept me intrigued, and filling out my mental list of "oh shit I can go here now"s was still satisfying. if this is your thing don't let me dissuade you, I just wasn't built for it.

#5: KAMIKO

Kamiko is decent fun, but there's not really a whole lot to say about it. It's a short and sweet zelda-esque game where the meat of the playtime comes from trying to go through it as fast as possible, and as you'll see later I happen to enjoy going fast. enjoyable, but not super meaty. if you like routing and time management give it a shot.

#4: PONY ISLAND

Alright, this is where we get into the Good Shit.

Pony Island is a game in which you play a game called Pony Island made by The Devil From The Bible. every few minutes there's some new weird meta setpiece to keep you on your toes, plus the code puzzles and pony sections between are solid fun on their own. it's a great time. and if you're interested, there's a pretty solid reward for getting 100%.

if I had to dock points, it didn't seem to have much in the way of replayability, but that's not a huge dealbreaker. I really need to get my hands on Inscryption now.....

#3: SPOOKY'S JUMPSCARE MANSION REMASTERED

I'm not normally big on horror but Spooky's kept me coming back. despite going into it already knowing what all the specimens did, they managed to keep me on the edge of my seat because you never know when they're going to show up. combine the legitimate building terror with an offbeat and self-aware sense of humor and you have a damn fun package.

it's worth noting that as of writing this, I've only completed the main story. the DLC campaigns probably won't affect the final ranking? but I have a feeling they'll make me appreciate the game more.

#2: PEPPER GRINDER

Pepper Grinder is fucking awesome.

The level design is great, the soundtrack rips, and just moving around with the core gimmick of "what if you could drill and then jump out" is so good. I just really wish there was more of it.

I was able to get all the major in-level collectibles and reach the end in under 3 hours. the bulk of my playtime came from the time trials, which do manage to hit a sweet spot of encouraging you to push yourself without requiring CBT perfection. demolishing the gold medal on the final boss took me well over an hour's worth of attempts and may have been one of the most viscerally satisfying challenges I've ever completed in a game.

Pepper Grinder is really, really cool. But if it had another world's worth of levels it would be even cooler.

#1: CHICORY: A COLORFUL TALE

Man. I fucking love Chicory.

The vibes are immacculate. The story made me really feel for these gay little animals. The soundtrack is delightful (Lena Raine, everybody!). The exploration is rewarding. The painting mechanics made me actively want to go back to areas I'd already been to and recolor them better than I did originally, which is like. not something most games do. You can even draw penises everywhere if you want. There's something for everybody.

I'm having a hard time putting down exactly what made me fall head over heels for this game as much as I did - especially when I wasn't expecting to going into it. Maybe it was just in the right place at the right time. No matter how it cheated the system, Chicory is easily the best game I picked up.

And that's that. this was my first time doing something like this (especially on tumblr) so it felt kinda weird but idk lmk if I planted any seeds in your brain

[allstartrekgames]

Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force

Original Release: 2000

Developer: Raven

Publisher: Activision

Platform: PC

After a previous failed attempt, Voyager finally gets a video game: a first person shooter based on the Quake engine. You are part of an elite squad designed for dangerous situations called “Hazard Team”. During a training mission, Voyager gets attacked by an unknown ship and, upon the ship’s destruction, gets transported to a region of space full of dead ships with a dampening field that stops Voyager from moving. You play as Ensign Munro, second in command of Hazard Team, and get sent on missions to other ships, as well as defending Voyager itself.

While using the Quake engine, the game is also inflected by Half-Life, with your Hazard Suit maintaining your health and recharging from ports on the wall. The suit also explains other FPS tropes in a way that fits the Star Trek uniforms. Most notably, your suit has a transporter buffer that can store all your weapons.

The weapons are also fun to play with, using a mixture of starfleet designs and alien weapons, with starfleet weapons using power from your suit and alien weapons using crystals. This ammo mechanic also makes choosing weapons interesting – using the portable photon torpedo launcher consumes the same ammo as the phaser rifle. The ammo placement throughout weapons also encourages you to swap between starfleet and alien weapons rather than sticking to the same weapon. You also have a standard phaser as a backup (or quickly switching to in order to blow up objects without consuming ammo).

There’s also a few puzzle and platforming sections, although I do with the Tricorder (found in the expansion) was given more of a use for this, as most puzzles are pushing switches. A few slower paced sections where you have to scan, learn an analyse stuff would enhance the game a lot – that said, it’s still a great game.

The add-on (which now comes with the standard game) lets you explore a good chunk of Voyager, playing with some consoles and having fun in the holodeck (including a Captain Proton mission). It’s a really nice part of the game, and you can even blow up the ship or just shoot people. When you get “killed”, you get a brig scene, although the response is random, so I got 30 days in the brig for vaporising Chakotay.

Elite Force isn’t just a great Star Trek game, it’s also a great FPS game. I definitely highly recommend this one.

[heinousactszx]

i finished echoes of wisdom a week or so ago, and i wanted to let my thoughts on it settle a little before i wrote my final thoughts.

overall, really good! i'm so happy they made a top down zelda in 2024 at all, let alone one of this quality.

the gameplay does take a bit of adjusting, especially for a series veteran. the ability to jump at all times, along with the echoes providing you extra height, adds a level of verticality to the game that the series has really never had before. in link to the past, the only way to scale a wall was to trek around and find a path that would lead you up there. in echoes of wisdom it's as simple as building your own path. in a lot of ways it feels more like a 3d platformer than a traditional zelda game. the way you move through it contrasts greatly with previous 2d zeldas. if you saw something on a cliff in say link to the past, you knew you needed to find path to get up there, whether through a cave or a warp. echoes of wisdom will just let you straight up build to it immediately, and as long as you have enough tri pieces, it won't stop you

this dovetails into the biggest fear i had for the game: using the echoes for puzzle solving, although in this case, perhaps problem solving is the better term. it is true that you can rely on the same echoes for much of the game. the bed is one of the first you get and it will frankly carry you in almost every scenario. however, despite my fears, i had a lot of fun with the puzzles. i definitely solved a few in ways that were not "normal", but the flexibility of the game allowed me to do it how i wanted, so long as i had the imagination for it. i wish they had done a few puzzles were you were forced to just use bind though. there's nothing wrong with a puzzle with only one solution

they did have some of the classic 2d zelda stuff. i prefer the exploration in topdown than 3d just because it's way easier to travel around and keep it all straight in your mind. unfortunately, because the echoes are basically your items, there wasn't as much to find as a typical topdown game. plenty of heart pieces and crystals to upgrade the sword, and smoothie ingredients, but not much else. there are the accessories zelda can wear that give her different stats, but i prefer something i can use, not just passively wear

combat was unfortunately a bit of a drag too. i know some people have fun with the summoning, and the automatons allow you a little extra agency, but if you don't have energy for the swordfighter form it can take a while. i really wish the spin did even a little damage, just to give zelda something to attack with in an emergency. especially because i think the swordfighting in this game is really good, almost up there with link between worlds as the best. i think they did realize it was an issue, because there's definitely less fighting overall in this game. i just wish they had made more puzzle bosses like smog, the game is perfect for them!

finally zelda herself. at long last she got the starring role in this game. i'm happy she's playable, i really am, and i like that the story frames her as being active in bringing people together. i think the echo summoning is a fun playstyle and does distinguish her from link. but it can't be ignored that the first time she's directly playable in a main game is the one where you can't fight directly. and made worse by that final boss where link does most of the work. it's a problematic aspect of the game that can't be simply explained away. the easiest way to ease the blow is of course to make zelda playable again in a future game, and i really hope that will be the case, but there's no guarantee nintendo will

overall though, it's an excellent game, both by itself and as part of the series. I don't have a real ranking of my favorite zeldas (though maybe when i'm done with them all), but this would definitely be high up there on the list. strongly recommend it

up next, although in theory i should return to oracle of ages, i'm actually taking a detour into the spinoff world with cadence of hyrule!

[balkanradfem]

Had a weird and interesting dream last night!

I woke up in a moving bed in a wide, wooden corridor, surrounded by people. Some of them were doctors, and they were about to operate on my left arm. It vaguely made sense to me, because my left arm hurt, but it didn't hurt to the extent it would need an operation. I also didn't remember signing any consent form, or agreeing to this, so I was confused as to how they were allowed to do it. I tried to show them where my arm hurts, and expressed worry over whether my arm will still work after the surgery, but they reassured me that this operation was done for 'educative purposes', and that they knew very well how to put a hand back together. Then I thought to ask 'wait, will I be given anaesthesia?' because up to that point I fully expected them to just cut into it while I was watching, without medicine, which seemed like a fun concept to me. They said 'yes we'll put you to sleep', and went to look at other patients, which were also in this wooden corridor. Corridor itself was crowded by people walking trough, but few were on movable beds, as if they were about to be hauled off into surgery.

At this point I spotted a male that I despise; apparently he was watching over me and making sure I stay put. Upon spotting him, I figured 'nah, this isn't legit, I gotta dip', and I waited until all the doctors were distracted, got up from the bed, and started running. The male went after me, and I entangled myself into a crowd, changed direction, and ran inside the big winged doors.

I found myself in another corridor, and it had dozens of winged wooden doors I could go through, so I picked one and ran! I stumbled upon corridor after corridor, each with many big wooden doors, they reminded me of a courtroom for some reason, but I was ecstatic. I was sure I escaped the male and he wouldn't be able to trace me. And this building filled with doors and corridors was fun! There was so much to explore, and I wanted to see everything. After a bit of running trough doors, I stumbled on a giant wooden room, bigger than a school gym, and even as it was decorated with doors all over, they were no longer winged, or openable. I realized I was in the corner of the building, and if I could have opened any of these doors, they would lead me outside. But they weren't doors, they were walls.

There was only one, small door at the very edge of the room, leading to another room, but it was guarded by some guy in a blue t-shirt. I knew I cannot linger in this room and had to go back to explore the labyrinth of doors, so I ran up to the door, asked 'can I go through here???' and he said 'no' and I ran trough anyway, because he didn't seem like he had any backbone to stop me. I stumbled into some sort of puzzle where I had to figure out which way to walk in order to get to the next door! This is where I was woken up, so I didn't get to puzzle my way out of it.

I've never had a dream like this, I'm very entertained. The only thing I can connect in it, is that the house I'm in right now, has many doors, I have to get trough 5 doors only to get to the kitchen, so maybe my brain has decided that the doors were the new thing that is fun now. If anyone can see any sort of meaning in this I'd love to know!

[thefirstknife]

What do you think about the season of the dawn mostly our guardians gravesite do you think it will come to fruition? I think it would be cool if they just killed us and had us come back someway. But I wanna know what you think.

I think about that very often. I think about Season of Dawn very often in general.

For those that weren't there, Season of Dawn had a community event that allowed us to explore the Corridors of Time. It was one of the most complex things that ever happened, only lasted for two weeks, and the solution to the whole puzzle led to a room called the Timelost Vault where we could see our own grave and hear Saint-14 saying an eulogy.

One of the most fascinating places we've ever seen tbh. The whole Corridors of Time were incredible to me, but that final room that took the whole community working night and day to find was something else.

We still to this day don't know what it truly means. In the eulogy, Saint says that we've died and that there was some sort of "final confrontation" and that he left a weapon we used there, shattered. And he also says that if we come back and aren't truly dead ("you've performed miracles before"), that we can take it.

Is this a prediction of the future? Is it some alternate timeline? We have no idea. The nature of the Corridors of Time is such that we just can't know. And of course, this was referenced in Season of the Splicer in one of the Expunge missions where Quria talks to us through our HUD:

The area in Expunge where this happens is very reminiscent of the Corridors of Time, the only are that doesn't have colour:

Corridors of Time:

But Quria was a Taken Vex mind so Quria saying this also doesn't help us. It could still be talking about an alternate timeline and not necessarily a prediction of the future. I think that as an alternate timeline, sure; it's absolutely possible there's a timeline where we died in any of the numerous battles for the system.

As a prediction for our own timeline... Hard to say. The Vex can't simulate paracausality, though the Corridors of Time aren't something the Vex made; they are just able to visit it and use it to move through timelines. So can the stuff we see in the Corridors of Time be a real prediction of our current timeline? It's definitely possible, but not something we can either prove or disprove for sure. I personally think it's most likely not a prediction, but it's definitely something to think about. Corridors of Time in general, as well as any timeline shenanigans, the Vex, the Sundial and the rest of the stuff that happened in Dawn.

I can see a scenario that mimics what Saint implies in the eulogy; that we "died" but that we're secretly still out there somewhere and can return. A story like that could make the grave and the eulogy true, but not have any impact on the playability of the game. But how likely that is? Unclear. I think that this ominous setting of our grave is a really cool setpiece that basically constantly looms as a possible threat in the background and we can never tell if and when that might come to pass.

One of the best setpieces in the game for me, but one that was unfortunately only there for 2 weeks. This definitely gave it an extra air of mystery and intrigue, but also it was highly inaccessible from the time when FOMO was much worse than it could ever be now. Even if you played this season, you could've easily missed this event. I almost did, as I was away on a vacation for a week when this happened and only got back for the few days after it was solved to run through it. This short availability definitely made the whole event feel much more ominous than perhaps intended so it's really unclear what this meant exactly and how relevant it still is and whether or not it was a meaningful prediction or just the consequence of being thrown into exploring millions of timelines. If anything, I would really enjoy seeing a reference to it in some way!

[yours-the-author]

Hey, so...

Does anyone remember this post I made recently?

.

.

.

I made some art for it...

If you wanna see it...

Here it is:

I'M SO MAD AT MYSELF IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE SURVIVING THE MANSION BUT I DIDN'T REALIZE UNTIL AFTER I FINISHED IT AAAGGH

...Aside from that little oopsie, though, I'm actually really proud of how the logo came out? I based the font off a style called "Micro 5 Charted". Thank goodness I was using graph paper!

I'm not sure if that Kanji is correct; Google Translate doesn't seem to like the word "oni" or "stick", especially together, so I spelled out the Romanji in the English box and then tried to copy the characters Google offered me as closely as possible. I think I'd be more surprised if I got the Kanji correct, honestly.

Henry Stickmin title screens usually have two different fonts for the verb and the noun, and I thought about trying to make "Mansion" look like an actual house, but that made my brain hurt to much to conceptualize, so I stuck with different colored fonts. Hmm, that clock sure is there. I wonder what it means gets hit by a bus

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Anyway, here's some theoretical scenarios of what the main gameplay would look like! This one stars General Hubert Galeforce and some other guy:

Option 1: Shoot

Result: The monster hears you move as soon as you pull your gun from its holster. No time to defend yourself.

FAILURE (DiE!)

Option 2: Backup

Result: Your radio refuses to work, even though it was just fine before you entered the mansion. The monster waits until you've realized this, then goes for your throat.

FAILURE (No one will hear your screams...)

Option 3: Time Out

Result: The monster does not hear you and goes into a separate room, out of sight and out of mind. Galeforce survives... for now. But what was that thing...?

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I don't know how feasible it would be, but I imagine this would be a cross between typical RPG Maker-styled games (pixels, speech boxes with pictures of the characters, moving around a set floor plan, puzzle solving, etc) and typical Henry Stickmin-styled game play (cutscenes, choices, possible interactivity [grabbing items/bios], the occasional quick time event, etc) (voice acting would be a stretch). Most of the gameplay, like exploring the mansion, puzzle solving, and running/fighting the monster, would be RPG style, and then occasionally switch into a cutscene that requires you to make a choice; usually with just one correct answer but possibly others that could result in diverging dialogue/interaction/paths/endings? Something to think about.

Anyway, Galeforce! Poor man has no idea what he almost walked into, haha. I experimented with perspective and limb placement here, which was exhausting but also a lot of fun! Dynamics are hard with stick figures, but considering that they're they only character medium I've ever been decent at, I made it work.

And the Oni... I tried to give it some sort of anatomy, but quickly realized that I do not have the skills to pay those bills. I opted for a more of a shadowy figure looking thing with a big smile instead (you can see some of the lines where I tried to make it have arms, I think). I opted for Ao Oni's purple-y blue color scheme verses HetaOni's gray alien look. Back in the day of fan made Ao Oni games, people would usually try to put their own unique spin on the Oni sprite, with HetaOni's being the most unique I ever saw (keep in mind, it was one of the few designs I ever saw, so there might be cooler ones out there, who knows). In theory, a game called Sutikku Oni would use a stick figure shaped monster, but with my current art skills, that would just look like a normal stick person with a big head (look! Geoffrey Plumb's cousin!). I think the less we see, the better; all good horror games know when to leave things to the imagination!

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I also made a second one, featuring my boy Dave Panpa!

...Dave, I'm so sorry... *MAKES HIM PEEP THE HORROR*

Option 1: Call for Help

Result: You call for help...

FAILURE (...but nobody came.)

Option 2: Run

Result: You tense your muscles in preparation to run. The monster is faster.

FAILURE (YoU... wOn'T... eScApE...!)

Option 3: Pretend to be a Piano

Result: Frozen with fear in front of the piano, it's all you can do to hope the monster thinks you're also a piano (a sopping wet piano, but still). It's deadly quiet. You can hardly breathe, and you're afraid to. The monster stares at you for an uncomfortably long time, before walking away, out of sight and out of mind. You stay still a little longer before collapsing to the ground. Dave Panpa survives... for now. How on Earth did that work? Or... did that thing let you live out of pity...?

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UGH the piano! Pianos are so hard to draw! Luckily, I had an almost head on reference that I was able to use for the first picture. For the above view shot, I had to do some wild guessing. The red stuff near Dave's head in the second picture is the red stuff he was referring to. Is it blood? Paint? Something else? Who knows! But as we all know, any self respecting Ao Oni fan game needs a piano puzzle!

I imagine Dave was dragged along for the ride when the Toppats decided to find the treasure of the mansion (or something to that degree), fully intending to leave him there to die if there was, in fact, a monster inside. Poor Dave... Maybe there could be an ending where amends are made? Or maybe not...

I mostly put the smile on the monster's shadow as a means of showing that, indeed, it is the monster, but now I'm wondering if the monster's mouth glows or something? Hot fires of Hell, delivered right to you! Can you beat the heat?

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Thank you all for coming to my fixation ramble that absolutely no one else except me finds interesting! Any thoughts before you go?

(A cricket chirps, then leaves because it's in the wrong conference room)

...Yeah, I figured.