#it's not even a cutscene from in-game and it's still probably in my top three pieces of genshin content

[tempests-bards-and-birds]

not a day goes by where i do not think about the endless suffering pv

[dgiacomo]

munday on a not monday, what are your thoughts on the dlc so far? :0 that is if you’ve… GOTTEN far lmao

[I have plenty of thoughts on the DLC, hahaha XD And I've finally seen the one cutscene. But people really hate when I talk about my thoughts on canon and what it means and I don't really want that negativity in my life right now, so whilst I could say plenty about the Team Star part and the main section, I'm going to choose not to =T

I will say three things though, that hopefully won't be too controversial...

Firstly, something that made me sad... the generic NPC bodies they gave everybody but Eri (who looks like she had the most time spent on her, probably because their hands were forced), has given Giacomo a bobblehead look which is especially bad in Scarlet... I get it, they didn't want to model their unique body types 10 times since the outfits between Scarlet and Violet are more than just palette swaps, for a cutscene we'll see once and never again, for characters who aren't really fan favourites by a long shot. It's just a shame. He looked so sturdy and broad shouldered standing with his base game model, now he looks like his head is too big. <=(

Disclaimer; If you like how big his head looks and the way they did the bodies, that's cool.

EDIT; I've got both models and I've laid them on top of each other, interestingly it looks like the depth mostly matches (EDIT EDIT; I was wrong, it looked like it matched up, but it doesn't, not at the front or back), but his width doesn't(???), on the Violet outfit at least. They've also thinned out his legs(??) width ways but not depth ways(??) The Scarlet outfit is cut down even more(??). Conclusion; strange.

FURTHER EDIT; His neck is also considerably narrower from the front than on the base game model, so I feel like the assets haven't been thickened enough for him? As in the limbs etc don't match... But that's why his head looks too big, I imagine, his neck is thinner. His head itself is the same size and in the same place.

Secondly, something that made me happy... I like how his eyes look brown now, at least in this shot (to me, personally). I think it's obvious why that makes me smile!

Disclaimer; Yes, it's likely a lighting bug, a texture error, my "eyes are bad", if you want his eyes to still be black, that's cool.

Finally, congrats to Eri for her eyebrows!

(I really hope that last one isn't controversial...)]

[mrfroag]

any chance you'd be willing to share why you made some of the design choices for the scret soulmate fusion?- it always facinates me to see why artists do certain things and your design is especially cool👀����👀

!!!!!!!!!!

Oh watch out you've unlocked the froag unskippable cutscene you're not safe from my abnormality about rocks now >:))))

For real though, there were a couple reasons I picked Apatite for the secret soulmates fusion, but. I'm going to put this under a cut because this WILL be long:

I'm honestly not sure how people usually find rocks to look for for gemcyt fusions, but for me the thing I found most simple was to just. Scour geological and gemology websites for any information I could find about blue gemstones. I had a couple criteria in mind- since Grian and BigB's current designs are opposite ends of the blue spectrum (Bigb leans more ultramarine/warm blue, while Grian leans more turquoise/colder blue) I wanted to look for a stone that ideally had a good mixture of the two, and preferably with spotting or interesting color patterns to sort of match the speckled nature of blue quartzes [also I wanted to potentially give them freckles. I'm a weak guy]. So I spent a few hours looking around on various websites, comparing gemstones for their hardness, chemical properties, what their cuts were, etc? I probably went a lot deeper than I should for. A rock to make a funny little fusion guy out of, but it was basically me squinting information about a rock and thinking "hmm. can I see secret soulmates in this rock" until I found some that clicked. By the time I was done with that I had Apatite, Sodalite, and Larimar as my top three potential choices, and eventually picked Apatite:

Number one, it looked like a really fun gemstone to pick colors from!!! It has a lot of interesting color patterns, and I especially liked the little bits of gold you could pick out in it, which would be fun to mess with. And secondly, Apatite is actually pretty fragile as far as gemstones go- it only has a rating of 5 on the Mohs hardness scale, and isn't often used for jewelry because of how brittle and easy to break apart it is. And that was a little interesting to me. Grian and BigB choose each other as soulmates, they trust each other, they go against the fate of the game to swap gifts and resources and be together. But there's also the way in which at the end of it, Grian still kills Ren and doesn't even realize he's killed BigB until it's already over. Something about the way that even if they choose each other that isn't enough to change the way the game goes, or fully break the other alliances they have. So, it was kind of inchresting to connect that fusion to a rock that's a bit softer.

In terms of the actual DESIGN for Apatite though, it was mostly just me messing around sketching until I hit something interesting? I knew before I picked the gemstone that the weapon was probably going to be some kind of bubble contraption- I was originally going to go for some kind of detachable bubble sword where you had the physical hilt, and then a bubble/water blade that could shift shapes, but that was before I dug into BigB's design and found out he actually uses a chakram [which is a sick as hell weapon btw]. So it ended up being the perfect shape for a bubble wand fusion!!

The chef theme was a silly little homage to how Secret Soulmates started because Grian and BigB exchanged little cookie gifts and promised to exchange food, and also just because. Look at these two goobers. I feel like they'd be moderately competent chefs together and it made me giggle to think about, so I went with it! Plus, having a little chef theme and tilting the bubble wand so that you could move it a bit like a frying pan, giving it exploding bubbles that could look like food- it sounded like something a little goofy and silly, which is the main theme I was going for lol.

The three sets of arms was honestly more of a whim kind of thing- I'm still sketching out and designing this dude in my brain so i might add on or take stuff away later when i give it a second pass. But I knew I wanted at least one of the sets of arms that Grian contributed to be water hands? Firstly because it'd be kind of fun for a silhouette, it'd match up with the chef theme (give this guy so many sets of hands he can be his own sous chef), and also because it'd kind of match up with the trickster, multiple sets of repeated limbs motif that other Grian fusions like marblegroves' Charoite design have, which I thought would be cool. Gonna be real most of it is because I thought it would be cool or funny.

I think that mostly covers it so uh. Hope you enjoyed unskippable cutscene if anybody has made it this far criminy. Hands you a gold star or something I guess if you're down here ^-^"

[darkclouud9]

one of the things you have to realise in life is that Minato was and would've been a shit parent

he FAILED his three students.

one of them had sacrificed himself for the other two, the other sacrificed herself for the whole fucking village, and them Minato said fuck it to his final student and let him go on for 10+ years after his death, depressed and suicidal.

and then in the Road to Ninja movie where Minato is alive and Naruto gets to meet him, he slaps his child for disrespecting his mother.

Minato, imo, was just a shit person in general idk why i still love him so much. like my top 2 characters are Kakashi and him, but like. Minato didn't do anything good for Kakashi? literally nothing from Minato was worthwhile or useful to Kakashi.

the ONLY thing of use to Kakashi from Minato was the hiraishin kunai, and even then, all it did was save Kakashi and Rin's life. (which is still important, I'm just saying we never see Kakashi with it again, plus Kakashi *might* have been able to keep himself and Rin alive there, plus Minato technically should have heem there with them in the first place)

we never see Minato act lovingly towards any of his students, always acting cold. I think there's a cutscene in one of the games where Minato and Kushina talk about Obito in a good way, but still. we never see Minato's (full) reaction to Obito's sacrifice OR Rin's death.

Minato hardly has any accomplishments as hokage either. the only thing we can say he did is fuck Kakashi up worse (and take the word of another anbu who fucking lied to him), and die saving the village.

also I have little to no complaints about most of Naruto in general, but if there's one thing I'd ever want changed, it's one scene in the war. it's a small scene, but it's around the time Obito 'loses' and Kakashi pops out of kamui to kill him, to which Minato stops him.

something something, the scene where Minato says 'that should have been your job' about Naruto talk-no-jutsu-ing Obito to become good again or whatever.

BECAUSE IT SHOULD HAVE. I just think it would've been cool if Kakashi was the reason why Obito 'lost'. not Naruto.

and I get it. Obito probably wouldn't have listened to Kakashi. I mean. after Rin's death, Obito probably wouldn't have wanted to listen to a WORD Kakashi said to him, but still. I just think Kakashi could have gotten to Obito. I just wish.

(and I get it. it's about Naruto. the show's named after him. but still. other characters can be important too...)

[jadagul]

I beat FFXII today. (I want to go back and do some more completionism, but I beat the final boss and watched the credits.) And honestly, while I didn't hate it, I was disappointed.

I have about 90 hours in the game. That's about twice as long as the next-longest Final Fantasy I know my playtime for (for a single playthrough, I mean). And that seems like a good thing—there's lots of Content—but to me it underscores how empty the game is that I have twice as much time in it and it feels like much less has happened.

The story just generally felt underwritten; I've said it before and I stand by that. It's not that anything was bad; it just felt like characters had isolated scenes with isolated character beats that weren't prepared or resolved. They probably should have taken some of those extensive space airship battles that definitely aren't from Star Wars and replaced them with cutscenes involving the actual characters in the actual story.

It didn't help that there were often hours of play between one plot scene and the next—another place the long playtime rears its head. Of course, a lot of that was me going off on sidequests. This game has a ton of sidequests, and at least most of them it telegraphs pretty clearly. That's nice, in that it shows you the content; but it winds up keeping the focus off the actual story when there are hours of "go kill random bosses" in between each story quest.

And it also always hurts me as a somewhat-roleplayer to go do sidequests when in theory my characters should be under time pressure. ("Oh, there's a giant sky fortress leading a fleet towards my hometown. Now is a perfect time to run errands!) One of the things I most liked about Breath of the Wild is that it basically justifies your desire to run around sidequesting rather than fight the final boss. That's a diegetic, in-character decision that gets discussed.

And the climax feels equally half-assed. I was genuinely surprised that the game ended where it did; it really felt like it needed at least one more act. (I hadn't planned to finish tonight!) The final final boss is way more arbitrary than most FF final bosses, and might even beat out FFIXs. And honestly the credits didn't wrap up nearly as much as I expected, either.

And the gameplay wasn't awful but wasn't super fun. The gambit system was neat, although I kept wanting it to be more fine-grained. (I wish I could and two gambit instructions!) The fights were sometimes a little too chaotic to tell what was going on clearly, and I really don't like the reliance on fuck-you "this boss is immune to everything for the next thirty seconds" fields.

Some of the bonus bosses were interesting and tense and fun. But if you're doing them, the story bosses then become pretty trivial. At the same time, even with doing a bunch of the optional content it's easy to be missing what I think of as core abilities, which made the optional content not really feel optional to me. (And I still don't have any of the, like, top two or three tiers of abilities or equipment. God only knows how boring the final boss would be if I'd actually done all the sidequests first.)

So yeah. I got 90 hours of playtime, and I'm probably going to get more, and I don't regret playing it. But I was disappointed, and I'd have a hard time recommending it.

[soartfullydone]

I finished my first bg3 playthrough and just need to ramble about act 3 things specifically (spoiler-heavy, don't read this)

There's so much about this game that's great. But so much of act 3 made me go from :D to :/ like people were not kidding about how unpolished it feels. There's some positive thoughts here, but there's also a LOT of critique sooo don't read this probably fr fr.

The amount of bugs are egregious in act 3. I normally have a high threshold for bugs in games. They happen. So long as I don't lose gameplay hours over them, I'm pretty fine. But omg, I finally found my threshold. Just so much that distracted and detracted from cutscenes, from character moments, from the immersion of it all. It's hard to praise Larian for showing up the AAA studios when they turn around and actually do much the same as them: rush an unfinished product to launch. BG3 should've been worked on another year at least so the poor devs wouldn't have to go through the crunch time they are as I type this.

Acts 1 and 2 feel very tight and cohesive, act 1 especially (and I swear, act 2 was the shortest, easy, and yes, I did everything), but in act 3, you start to see so many holes, so many quest lines abandoned, rewritten, and unfinished. Quick question: why was Cazador's palace attached to a random guard wall in the Lower City when he's as upper echelon as they come? Oh, because we cut all of the Upper City from the game but still needed to resolve Astarion's storyline? Got it. What was the point of me tracking down the bomb factory in the fireworks shop if there are no repercussions for either destroying it or leaving it alone? Oh, just a reason to connect Rivington to Baldur's Gate, same as the Dribbles quest? Cool.

Speaking of Dribbles, I almost couldn't even finish the damn quest because I stole the clown's hand from the kobald and the game didn't acknowledge it because a cutscene didn't trigger. I had to do the most roundabout series of tests and finally figured out I had to put the hand in a pouch marked as wares, sell the wares to the kobald, steal the pouch back, drop the hand in front of him, and ensure he caught me stealing it.

That being said, there is nothing about the Circus segment itself I would change. Pure confetti all the way down. Enjoyed being turned into a stinky wheel of cheese.

I love love love the Auntie Ethel quest line. The only thing I could've asked for in relation to it is even more fae shit.

On that note, loved Valeria. Loved how Normal a miniature flying elephant detective was.

The Emperor's sex scene? Delightful. So glad I got to experience that through a friend. Can't wait to be a freak like that someday.

The House of Hope was Hot AF. I died at the Haarlep part; it was everything I wanted: a Raphael """romance""", a terrible deal, exhibitionism, companion-wide disapproval, body and mind violation. Honestly, Larian DOES get full points for that. (Now, make it a true possibility with Raphael, cowards. Let me ride that pillow princess.) Can't WAIT to fully go through with this deal someday with a different character because Riven wasn't the one.

The Raphael fight was honestly incredibly fun (the soundtrack lol A+++) and I didn't find it that challenging in Balanced mode. Like, I thought it was going to wreck my shit, but it was easily one of my most favorite parts of the game. Getting to the room to go through with it, however, was a trial and a half.

Act 3 also had two, if not three, of my least favorite quests of the whole game, tbh. And when I say least favorite, I mean they were just plain not fun to play. At all. Top of mind is the Free the Artist quest with the haunted house, which should've been fun but was just an incredible pain in the ass the whole time, and the Iron Throne quest, which I had to do no less than 8 times to get the exact results I wanted because bugs would thwart me at every turn. NPCs not dashing because their pathways were somehow blocked. Characters getting stuck up the ladder, not allowing anyone else to climb it. Having a character physically move to pull a switch to lock a door behind them only to get them permanently stuck on the wrong side of the door. Did I mention this quest was also a timed trial? lol lol

Kept expecting for my betrayal of the Zhentarim in act 1 to have Repercussions when I reached the city, their stomping ground, in act 3. lol lol

With the flood of companion interactions and cutscenes I got in act 1, it's a shame how much those dried up in act 2 and were practically non-existent in act 3. Their personal quest lines are all you have, and once they're over, you'll maybe get one final cutscene and maybe a romantic one and that's it.

Karlach barely feels like she had a real arc. You do a few things to keep her infernal engine from exploding, but then there's nothing more you can do and she resigns herself to death, refusing to go to Avernus. She and Dammon stop interacting, and the game gives you no other avenues to explore besides a confrontation with Gortash that went about as well as I expected. Just dissatisfaction after dissatisfaction with her. Which is a shame because her VA killed it the entire time! The best I could do for her was take her to the House of Hope for a few hours of relief, but not even an archdevil's home has anything more to offer her.

And it's wild because her death scene was super emotional and touching. I was ready to burst into tears until Wyll ran up and begged her to come to Avernus with him, to live. Then, I wanted to cry for another reason! (My Wyll lost his warlock powers but saved his father and became the Blade of Avernus.) This made so much sense to me as an option for Karlach a long time ago, that I was both relieved and frustrated that this was The Solution the whole time.

I gave Karlach the option to choose what she wanted, and she chose to go with him. What has all this been for, then? So much of Karlach's narrative and the tragedy of it hangs on her absolute refusal to return to the place that tortured her so badly just to live—but that turns out to be only solution this whole time? Why couldn't we just go to Avernus and find something that actually helps her then?

Karlach and Wyll got short-changed in many respects to their arcs, which is wild considering all the touchpoints they have with each other. I'm still frustrated that I, not Wyll, had to choose between severing the pact and saving his father. Even though I achieved both, Wyll should've been given the option to make that decision based on how you interacted with him throughout the game, same as every other character gets to make. At least he gets to choose between becoming a city official and the Blade of Avernus. But it's wild that we have two characters here who were used and enslaved by devils, and that's either not really addressed or resolved (Karlach) or it's only passively handled (Wyll).

And god, I loved the final scene with Wyll and Karlach in Avernus! How Karlach accepted that she would live, how she appreciated both the horror and the opportunity that Avernus presented, and how she wasn't alone anymore. I loved how confident she gets, assuming the role of the experienced expert/hunter in this place. And then Wyll. Who has also hunted and explored Avernus before. Doesn't even get to speak. Just smiles encouragingly the whole time, silent. This scene is so clearly written for Karlach with a Tav, and it's. Frustrating. Wyll and Karlach should be straight-up talking shop together right now. If this is the resolution of both of their arcs together, then it should be written for both of them together.

I'm a Wyll fan who loves the character he is, but I also resonate with folks who are frustrated losing the EA Wyll I never got to meet. I love what I've seen of his romance arc; it's his character arc that has me scratching my head at times, just because I see where they could've done a lot more with more time. The Ansur quest was... interesting but feels very tacked on at the last minute, and the twist that occurs from it isn't even about Wyll. And it matters for all of two seconds and then is never brought up again except to remind you to never speak of it lol what?? At least the lesson Wyll learns is one I knew all along, which is he's the hero Baldur's Gate needs and deserves.

And Gale! I'm honestly not even counting his arc as resolved. That was a joke. The crown falls into the lake?? And based on how you talked to him, he decides whether he's going to fish it out or not??? And I don't even get to see it??? For me, Gale decided to leave it alone, not giving it to Mystra or using it to become a god, which is. Wild. Considering my Tav, Riven, was very much Team "Fuck Mystra" and didn't discourage him from the god path. I was expecting a whole moment like what Astarion got between completing the ritual or not, but nope! You've gotta be joking.

I think the only arcs I'm satisfied with are Lae'zel's and Shadowheart's, even though I still don't know how and why the latter dyed her hair white lol. (I mean, symbolically, I get it, but I'm half-convinced her hair's not even supposed to be white because her portrait never changed hair color and the other characters only commented on her bangs like is this a universal bug that everyone accepted and Larian doesn't want to own up to?)

I also wish that if Halsin, Jaheira, and Minsc are going to be companions that they would've given them proper arcs, too. Halsin especially since he comes along earlier. Jaheira gets more of a pass since she's older and a legacy character and I love her, but I could take or leave Minsc tbh. Haven't gotten Minthara yet, so opinion's still out on her.

I loved Jaheira's little adopted family. A shame I never saw them again or got anymore resolution! (More on resolution in general later)

I guess I'll talk about Astarion's arc. I loved so much of it, but I'll be honest; I was having the most fun with him in acts 1 and 2. The sex repulsion thing, while key to his arc, also seemed to dry up all the romantic chemistry he has between himself and your character. Part of that might be because his arc turns so hard into obsessing over the ritual. But part of it is a Huge Missed Opportunity between exploring the difference between Sex as a Means to an End and exploring with him what actual intimacy looks like. Sure, you get the hand-holding and the hug, once, which can easily turn into a Just Friends thing. But where was learning what easy sensuality and intimacy looks like with a partner who won't pressure you into making it about sex? The graveyard scene was great! Sure wish there was more where that came from!

Astarion's romantic arc became a lot more about what Astarion wanted versus what you both want, argue with the wall. Sure, he wants it to become something real and wants to take things slow, but at what point is a Tav who was used for protection through sex allowed to be sexually frustrated and not shamed for it? The only time that's even acknowledged is if Tav considers a poly relationship with Astarion and Halsin, and we're supposed to feel bad on Astarion's account and not Tav's. Well, I'm sorry, but for Riven, Astarion would've been her first sexual partner and relationship, and he knowingly turned that switch on to make her obsessed and pliant towards him. It's unrealistic to just. Expect her to not be sexually frustrated, to grin and bear it, just because he's finally acknowledging his own automony. Part of that autonomy means taking ownership for what he did as an exploitive sexual partner; I'm not saying he needs to get her off or anything, but this is where displaying actual intimacy could've helped while they were taking a break from sex. Instead, the game really does have Astarion cut her off cold turkey with no further romantic scenes outside of the odd line here and there while discussing the ritual, and p e r s o n a l l y, I take Great Issue with that as a woman with some fucking self-respect.

Considering how hard this romance goes on the front-end with sex, flirting, and banter, Astarion's romance arc feels very foreplay-heavy with a very dissatisfying finish, which I'm not impressed with, okay? (And yes, my last romantic scene with him was bugged all to hell, so I didn't get to experience it as a cutscene, just fragmented lines in a box of a room. In fact, a lot of his romance lines throughout act 3 would either get cut-off or there'd be other buggy things happening that detracted from the scene.) At least he stays an asshole and not this uwu baby that so much of the fandom wants to pretend he is lol

That said, and even though I haven't done it yet, I am so sure that it'll be Ascended Astarion >>>>>>>> Good End Astarion for me lol. Give me the dark, fucked-up ends forever, thanks.

I didn't even get one of the biggest payoffs from convincing Astarion not to Ascend. I had Shadowheart cast Daylight as an orb and not on an object, so when the other spawn got free, they took damage from the spell and ran away, disappearing forever. Cazador's staff was nowhere to be seen because it was tied to a cutscene with those spawn, so now??? The ~7,000 spawn trapped in those arcane cells are just going to be driven mad as they starve to death, which we know from Astarion being held in solitary for a year is going to take a very long time. Meaning the more humane thing to do would've been to just. Let Astarion go through with the ritual, damning himself to save them from a fate worse than death. Great storytelling, Larian, we didn't test that Daylight spell at all, did we? Good thing I made a save with Astarion post-Ascension, tbh.

(Which, the fact that you still have to convince Astarion not to go through with the ritual, despite your high approval, romance, and all the things he's seen getting there, fascinates me. So many other characters will do the right thing if you've planted the seeds and give them the chance to make the choice themselves, but Astarion is determined to see the ritual through by default unless you roll real good. It's Big Sexy of him.)

On the one hand, this game has SO many more companion cutscenes and reactions than past rpg games like this. But on the other, it doesn't balance them well throughout the game. It doesn't help that I played the version with approval thresholds being lower than they should've been. But it goes back to how much of act 1 was written, built out, and tested in EA, and how much the rest of the game was... not.

Also what was the point of Yenna besides being nice to an orphan kid? Why did she disappear from camp for days and days that was never acknowledged? How many more bugs with kids did I experience in this playthrough, the Mol quest also being fucked sideways?

Gortash was so hot and SO underused and for what??? Jason Isaacs, b r u h!!! Oh well, more reason to play Dark Urge at some point.

I also never got the option to Find Familiar my owlbear and he stopped moving in the camp in act 3, and I'm sad, okay? He does somehow become fully grown?? for the final battle and armored up, but you're joking if you think I'm risking my baby boy like that

That said, I did like how the final battle played out, how you could summon your allies to help fight. (Zevlor redeemed himself and survived, baby!) I liked the various stages of it. But omg... the audio problems. A whole area where background music didn't play for over 20 minutes. Where characters had dialogue but no audio track. The immersion was in tatters for me, and given all the character arc resolution problems I discussed above, yeah, no WONDER I'm fucking frustrated. All this build up, to just trip at the finish line?

It was also wild how. Abrupt. The ending is. A series of cutscenes with a few final choices here and there, with random companions interjecting their opinions/perspective, but. There's no goodbye tour. There's no talking to everyone for the last time before the FINAL scenes happen and the credits roll. No "what will you do now?" discussions besides Karlach and Wyll's abrupt leave (made even worse by Astarion's abrupt leave for Reasons). I've been traveling with most of these people since the first hour of the game, and I can't even say to them "goodbye and thank you"??? We've poked fun at Bioware throughout BG3's launch, but they beat you there, Larian. Muchly.

The ending cutscenes were also not edited together cohesively, which might be why the Astarion romance scene bugged out. It's possible it's out of order, but it either goes: Companions talking about celebrating, Astarion getting scalded by the sun and running away, Karlach's engine catching on fire, Wyll convincing her to save herself and the two running off, the narrator showing you the city and proclaiming you a hero, Astarion romance scene in a black box, Wyll and Karlach in Avernus, end credits. OR it goes: Companions talking about celebrating, Astarion being scalded and running off, Karlach's engine catching on fire, Wyll imploring her to live but you convince her to die, the narrator proclaiming you a hero, Astarion romance scene, credits. And that switch to the credits, both times, is a fast and hard switch.

Also okay FINE I'll be honest! How determined this game is to turn you illithid finally pissed me the fuck off! The whole game, I played a character who would Not Eat the Damn Tadpole for anything but who would still abuse her compulsion powers now and again. (Which, a shame that power went away in act 3, that was fun roleplaying.) The whole game, she decides and is given the option to decide that her own strength and those of her companions would be enough, and guess what? It's not lol. Someone still has to become illithid and eat Orpheus's brain. Picture it: I had Astarion, Gale, and Lae'zel with me, the latter two who still need their arcs completed, hence why they're here. And the choice I'm given is either: give the Emperor the stones and have him eat Orpheus' brain; turn myself into an illithid and eat Orpheus' brain, or free Orpheus and convince him to turn himself into an illithid (or have myself or a dying Karlach do it, and guess what? We'd still have to eat his brain). All but one of these choices will either have Lae'zel hate me forever or permanently end my Astarion romance. The only viable option, meanwhile, is depressingly anticlimactic and uninteresting. Yeah, I'll say it: BOOOOOOO!

I have so many characters I want to do different playthroughs with, but act 3 and its ending, man. The taste of it is not horrible but it's not great, either. Kinda torn between taking my time in the first two acts and giving the game a break, see if they fix the most annoying bug issues first. I don't hold out much hope that storytelling issues will be fixed, but god, I wish they would be. Gonna just hold it in and die until I can talk to any friend about it.

[justasmallbloginabigklainefandom]

Tentative Persona ranking

I have played Persona 5 Royal, Persona 4 Golden and Persona 3 Reload, so I guess I have played the Big Three (rip to Persona and Persona 2). I decided to make some tentative rankings, just for fun.

Beware for spoilers!

Best storyline/storytelling

Persona 4's murder mystery

Persona 5's conspiracy

Persona 3's Dark Hour eradication

Okay, what I mean is the way the story got told, etc. The reason Persona 4 wins is because it just kept throwing in twists and turns that felt like they fit a murder mystery. The game had me hooked and I never knew what the fuck was up. Once I thought I had a lead, something else would fuck it over. Persona 5 is second place because I really, really like the framing device that this is all a flashback till November, and then there's the aftermath of it all. Persona 3 is a story that definitely had some plot twists, but it was told in a very linear way.

Best gameplay experience

Persona 3 for the great UI/HUD, smooth gameplay and QoL

Persona 5 for the great UI/HUD and QoL

Persona 4 for mostly smooth gameplay

Basically, which one is the youngest. Persona 3 did win over Persona 5 since it has a way better pacing. The main issue I had with Persona 5 (and also with 4) was the terrible pacing. Sometimes entire in-game weeks would just be cutscenes and all that. And also, the first 10 hours or so of Persona 5 sucks to play. Persona 4 has some pacing issues, but it's alright. The reason it's still the lowest is because I really miss the QoL and great UI/HUD and that impacted more than the pacing. This is why Persona 3 is on top.

Best theme of the game

Persona 3's meaning of life and death

Persona 5's abuse and rebellion

Persona 4's truth and self-acceptance

This is a hard one, since all are so different and all slap. It's like comparing apples and pears. The concept of death absolutely compells me, so well, here we are, that one's on top. Persona 5 and 4 can switch around, I guess.

Best protagonist

Persona 5's Ren Amamiya

Persona 3's Makoto Yuki

Persona 4's Yu Narukami

Another hard one, because my GOD I love these guys. I chose Ren because I think he has more going for him. He's more than just a self-insert. Same goes for Makoto, of course, since Makoto has an interesting background as well, but I am just enamoured by Ren. Yu is in the game kind of... flat compared to Makoto and Ren. I know a lot of his absolutely amazing characterisation comes from the anime, though, but in-game he is a silent classical hero type. Heck, he didn't even get Shadow confrontation with his awakening.

Best main group

Persona 5's Phantom Thieves

Persona 3's S.E.E.S.

Persona 4's Investigation Team

I like how much the Phantom Thieves can be insufferable. My feelings towards them kept fluctuating and I like that. It makes them feel more real. S.E.E.S. is cool too, and I like how they have different relationships towards each other. Not everyone likes each other, which brings an interesting dynamic. Also, there are good reasons for the distrust and dislike, unlike the Investigation Team. I like all of the IT individually, but as a group I never saw a real click.

Best side characters

Persona 3's S. Links

Persona 5's Confidants

Persona 4's S. Links

This one is kind of rough to rank, since all games have stellar Social Links, and also Social Links that suck ass. I suppose Persona 3 has the least shitty ones. I didn't like the Gourmet King and Kenji's. I didn't finish Hayase and Kaisuke.

For Persona 5, obviously Ohya's story sucked, and I didn't even finish it. I also wasn't to keen on Makoto's and (unpopular opinion) Ann's. Chihaya and Shinya... exist. Sae's was bad. I only didn't finish Futaba's (although I also didn't finish Yusuke and Yoshida on my first playthrough, I am still working through my second).

Persona 4 is last, probably because the Fox, Margaret, Naoto, Teddie, Marie, Shu and Sayoko weren't that great. Rise and Yukiko's were also badly told, although I like the stories. I didn't finish Kou, Ayane, Ai, Eri and Nanako (ouch). I wasn't even able to meet Yumi and I missed out on Daisuke, obviously. So yeah, overall, this one had the most that I didn't really care for.

Best combat outfit design

Persona 5's Phantom Thieves outfits

Persona 3's S.E.E.S outfits

Persona 4's TV glasses

I mean... the Phantom Thieves have a full on transformation. Whereas not every design is, uh, amazing, it is absolutely great and it overshadows a simple jacket or cape like for S.E.E.S. (although those outfits go hard too). The Investigation Team just has glasses.

Best Persona world

Persona 5's Metaverse

Persona 4's TV world

Persona 3's Tartarus

The Metaverse can be anything and that is pretty cool. I like how all Palaces represent someone's twisted desires and how Mementos is the collective cognition. Also, I am trying to limit it to Royal, Golden and Reload here, but in spin-offs like Strikers and Tactica you have Jails and Kingdoms, that show how versatile the Metaverse is. The TV wold als has some variation, since all the individual dungeons are also modelled after a Shadow version of someone. In comparison to those, Tartarus is just meh. It's always the same, but with different Shadows and a different lick of paint.

Best design of the game

Persona 3's blue simplistic design with water elements

Persona 5's red and flashy comic book style

Persona 4's yellow and black TV static

I love red. It's my favourite colour. BUT MAN, the simplistic design of Persona 3 is so gorgeous to look at and it's calming, especially with the water elements. Persona 5 is super loud. I suppose 3 and 5 can switch around, depending on the mood. Persona 4 is very basic, but alas, older game.

Best music

Persona 5's jazz and pop music

Persona 3's lo-fi-ish pop and rap music

Persona 4's J-Pop music

Personally, I like the jazz more than the lo-fi and rap. I am also not the biggest fan of high pitched voices, which you get a lot in J-Pop. That all being said, all of the music absolutely goes hard. Even Persona 4's soundtrack goes off.

Best setting

Persona 5's Tokyo

Persona 3's Tatsumi Port Island

Persona 4's Inaba

To be fair to Persona 4, the whole point of Inaba is that it's a small boring town. And with this ranking, I am basing it on what to do in the overworld. Toyko is so big, there are several spots I never even visited after 100+ hours of gameplay. Tatsumi Port Island is probably the best size. It's never boring, and also not overwhelming.

Best human villain

Persona 5's Maruki

Persona 4's Adachi

Persona 3's Strega

Is there anyone who doesn't like Maruki? His storyline is so compelling and I think the game itself shows that his vision isn't bad. In fact, if you choose his reality, you don't get a bad ending, but just a different true ending (ideal vs. real instead of bad vs. true/good ending). I think that shows how strong Maruki's beliefs are. Adachi, to be honest, was a big left field for me. I genuinely didn't suspect him to be The Culprit. I only picked him in December because I knew his Social Link got added between vanilla and Golden and hmmm, which other Persona storyline got a big change like that? Ah. Akechi. The surprise antagonist of Persona 5. A part of me thinks it was a too big of a surprise, but I guess that is the point. Yu (and I) fell for Adachi's goody persona. And Strega has a compelling backstory, but compared to Adachi and Maruki it's a bit eh. Still good, just not as good. They're classic villains, instead of MACs.

Best godly villain

Persona 3's Nyx

Persona 4's Izanami-no-Okami

Persona 5's Yaldabaoth

Nyx has a lot going for her since she was brilliantly woven into the story before her reveal through Pharos and Ryoji. I actually really, really didn't like the Yaldabaoth reveal. The surprise that this entire conspiracy that it was actually a God's doing felt a bit "die a hero (Shido story) or live too long to become a villain (Yaldabaoth story)" for me, but alas, Persona 5 was my first game and I didn't know that the God stuff is a normal thing in the franchise. Still, since my initial reaction was so negative, it has left a bad taste in my mouth. So yeah, Nyx is great because it was woven into the story, Yaldabaoth sucked because it was too weird. Izanami-no-Okami is slap dab in the middle.

Best Velvet Room attendant

Persona 3's Elizabeth

Persona 5's Carole and Justine/Lavenza

Persona 4's Margaret

I love Lavenza, so she actually got first place when I initially wrote this, but oh man, Elizabeth probably has the most personality out of all the Velvet siblings. She goes absolutely nuts and Lavenza/Carole and Justine and Maragaret cannot hold a candle to her. And yes, again, I try to base this ranking on Royal, Golden and Reload, but Elizabeth's story in Persona 4 Arena ULTIMAX definitely cemented the fact that she is the best.

BONUS

Best relationship with unintentional underlying homoerotic elements

Persona 5's Shuake

Persona 3's Ryomina

Persona 4's Souyo

[weaselytedious]

I've only played Dual Destinies once (a couple of years ago) but I remember really enjoying it!! Some bullet points of things I remember liking a lot:

• Controversial opinion (?) but I prefer the 3D Ace Attorney style over the 2D one! All the character animations are really expressive and fun, and it's only the older characters who don't seem to translate to 3D as smoothly as the ones created for it. The style feels like a noticeable step up from the 2D sprites with their limited frames, and only gets better in Spirit of Justice and later The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles.

• The tone of this game feels unique and it doesn't shy away from trying to freak you out. Finding Apollo lying on the floor in the first case like you usually find a murder victim is genuinely chilling, even though you know he'll be fine. The first case also has a creepy Athena traumatic flashback. And of course there's Athena's entire child covered in blood stuff going on there as well

• Athena!! My girl Athena! I just love her. She slots perfectly into both lawyer and weirdgirl assistant roles and I love her dynamic with Apollo in particular, where it doesn't really matter who's officially taking the case because they're on pretty even footing throughout anyway, and have some great banter.

• Blackquill!! Still one of my favourite prosecutors (up for review when I replay the Apollo Trilogy lol). He seems like he's going to be really stoic and edgy but actually me laugh a lot with his wry and morbid sense of humour, and that part where he just leaves the courtroom to walk away because the testimony was stupid is peak comedy. I love his "SILENCE!" line as a counterpart to Athena being overwhelmed by sound, and his relationship with Athena in general feels unique and touching. This guy has a heart of gold. Also he decided to prosecute an orca, presumably because he thought it'd be funny (and it was)

• Speaking of the orca case, that one was so much fun! They pretty much reused the plot of Turnabout Big Top but actually made it good. Apollo has to just exit stage left at the beginning because he's too normal (rip), leaving nobody around to ground Phoenix and Athena from all the absurdity and the energy is great. Featuring MULTIPLE animated musical numbers!

• I love Apollo and I love Apollo Backstory Number Two. I was surprised at how much the game made me care about the loss of his friend even though we never got to meet him.

• I think this game has the most anime cutscenes we've ever had in an Ace Attorney game (barring Layton), and I enjoyed them a lot. Some of them are really tense, some of them are creepy, some are just funny, and some are the aforementioned whale musical numbers!

• The Mood Matrix is probably the most fun of the three Ace Attorney's gimmicks in the Apollo Trilogy. The music and atmosphere is so good for building tension, especially in the last case and the parts where it overloads

• Do I need to mention that the rest of the music also slaps? It's good in every AA game and this one didn't miss (shoutout to the pursuit theme)

• The Fullbright twist was immensely satisfying for me because I felt SURE that something was off about him as soon as he was introduced, and got more and more suspicious as the game went on. I don't think I've ever felt so much vindication in guessing one of these games' plot twists before. I KNEW HIS VIBES WERE OFF

Overall I understand a lot of people's criticisms of this game and get why they may not like it, and I would agree that it's probably one of the weaker entries to the series. But most of my complaints are about gameplay (like being too easy/obvious and removing investigations outside of specific areas). I personally really enjoyed the characters, music, and story and thought it was a blast to play! It's a really good game!

i'm really craving some aa5 appreciation... do me a favour and reply to or reblog this post with stuff you liked about dual destinies, literally anything at all no matter how small or inconsequential or ridiculous

pretty please 🥺🥺🥺

[mammonsbby]

A Crushing Victory

This is the third part of my “when he knew he loved you” series.  

Lucifer | Mammon | Levi | Satan | Asmo | Beel | Belphie Diavolo | Barbatos | Solomon | Simeon | Luke

✨My Masterlist✨

Warnings: Cursing Pairing: Leviathan x GN!MC Words: 1201

“Damn it!” Levi curses. He’s been stuck at the same part of his new game for over an hour. He’s lost track of how many times he’s tried it. He takes a deep breath before trying again, only to die within a few seconds. He groans and drops his controller on the floor, resisting the urge to stand on the desk and scream at the top of his lungs.

If it weren’t for Lucifer’s threat to confiscate his gaming computer, he probably would. He takes his headphones off and slams them on the desk, a way to release some frustration. Then he realizes that they’d done nothing wrong and that breaking them will not help.

He sighs when he realizes he’s feeling empathy for a pair of headphones. Then a gentle rap at the door startles him.

“Password,” he says, knowing that it’s you. You had told him you’d be by after you finished your study session with Satan.

“Let me in, Levi,” you reply. He rolls his eyes. Why does he bother coming up with passwords if you won’t use them? Stupid normie.

Nevertheless, he opens the door before returning to his chair. As you go to join him, you nearly step on his controller.

“Oops, I almost killed this,” you say as you hold it out to him.

“Might as well,” Leviathan grumbles. He takes it and you sit down.

“So… you wanna play DevilKart?” you ask, already grabbing your controller from the desk.

He gestures to the screen, “actually, I’m kinda in the middle of something right now.”

“Oh.” Levi notices the disappointment in your tone and starts to change his mind. “I don’t mind watching till you beat it.”

“Cool.” He says, selecting ‘retry.’

“Is that Azeroth? I’ve heard he’s the worst boss in the game,” you ask, just before the enemy strikes down Levi’s character.

He huffs, “yep.”

“Try again,” you say. He does. In fact, he makes dozens and dozens of attempts. Levi doesn’t notice it getting late. He can only focus on this stupid fucking boss with his stupid fucking rejuvenation powers. How is he supposed to beat someone that gets his full health restored every time he lands an attack on Levi’s character?

It’s not fair!

You try to help, both with encouragement and advice. You even try it yourself a few times. But it’s beyond annoying and you simply don’t have the patience. While Levi is the type to try over and over until it’s done, you’re content with losing three times.

You’ve got the cutscene memorized, it’s annoying as hell. You never want to hear the word ‘vanquished’ ever again. Not that it comes up a lot in real life, but still.

You’re getting pretty tired, but you said you’d watch. So… you sit there, waiting desperately for Azeroth to meet his end. You start to yawn, covering your mouth with your hand. The screen flashes. “VANQUISHED,” announces the game. You grit your teeth, that fucking word. Levi groans.

“Maybe you could put it down for a bit and try again later? Or we could look up a walkthrough?” you suggest, yawning again.

“Mmhmm,” he hums. You can tell he’s in hyperfocus mode. You grab a plushie off the shelf and start to fiddle with its clothing. Straightening out its collar and fluffing up the skirt. Eventually, you hold it in your lap like a teddy bear and sink back into your chair.

Your eyes start to close against your will, but Levi doesn’t notice. Within minutes, you’re sound asleep. The stream of constant curses and the sound effects from the game aren’t loud enough to wake you.

Finally, finally, he pulls it off. His character stands triumphantly over the foe and Levi leaps out of his chair and cheers.

“MC! MC, did you see that? It was amazing! I’m so glad I recorded this, I’m gonna post it on—” he pauses for a second when he realizes you aren’t cheering. Then his brows scrunch as he takes in your sleeping form, “MC?”

He rubs at his tired eyes before glancing at the clock, 3:21. Holy fuck. How long had he been working at this? Over… four hours. You’d been keeping him company since midnight.

When had you fallen asleep? He can’t recall. He starts to poke you awake, so you can sing his praises, as you always do when he does something awesome. But, before his finger touches your arm, his gaze falls on your sleeping face.

A blush creeps across his cheeks. Stupid kawaii human, drooling on one of his limited edition plushies. He grimaces, but decides he doesn’t mind too much. It’s not one of his favorites anyway.

Finished with the game for now, he turns it off. Then stands there for a few moments, unsure whether he should wake you. As he’s trying to decide, you move in your sleep, leaning a bit too far back. His eyes widen as your chair starts to topple over.

Before it can dump you to the floor, he grabs it by the top of the backrest, pulling it forward. Once it’s steady, he realizes you’re now awake. And staring up at him, confused.

“Y- your chair started to fall so I caught it,” he blurts out.

“Oh thanks,” you start, a blush on your face. He quickly backs away.

“I… I beat Azeroth,” Levi says, changing the subject.

“Really? That’s awesome! Good job!”

“Yeah, uh, you wanna see how I did it?” he asks.

“Hell yeah!” you answer excitedly. But when he turns to find the recording, you take the opportunity to yawn. After you see his recorded victory twice, you start to share your thoughts, “it was really smart of you to use those two moves together! And the poison attack while he was restoring his health! I didn’t think of that!”

He beams at your praise. And you start to stand, legs wobbly from sitting so long. You place Ruri-chan back on the shelf carefully and turn towards him.

“I’m gonna head to bed now, before I break my neck falling out of the chair.” You laugh.

He nods, “see you tomorrow?”

“Of course,” you start, then you narrow your eyes, “but we’re playing DevilKart.”

“I promise. I’m… sorry I got so caught up in that,” Levi apologizes.

You smile. “It’s okay. I think it’s sweet how focused you get,” you say, patting his arm. “Goodnight.”

And with that, you exit, leaving him alone in the dark, clutching the arm you’d just touched.The blush on his face is brighter than the light from the monitor behind him.

“Sweet?” he says aloud. You think he’s sweet? This is like that one manga he read, ‘I kept my friend up all night playing video games and they confessed their love for me.’

He flops back in his chair, staring at your empty one. Is that actually how you felt about him? His arm is still tingly. Holy shit, how does he feel about you?

(The next evening, he keeps his promise. And because he can’t focus, you win every single race. Which annoys him, but when you smile, he feels his face heat and subconsciously touches his arm.)

–

Thank you for reading! Please reblog!

If you enjoyed this fic, please consider buying me a coffee.

<3 Aerie

[nervousron]

Where do you stand on shipping Michael and Trevor? Pre-prologue did they have an established relationship, an unlabelled "thing," or just ridiculous romantic tension? How about post-canon?

i flip-flop on where I stand a lot. Especially with the pre-game stuff. I don't think it was ever an established relationship, but there are a lot of little comments in the game that make me think they had something going on between them.

(Post Deathwish conversation)

"we're back baby! Mike and Trevor - top of the world."

"T, come on."

"Trevor Philips and Michael... De... *fart sound* together again!"

"Yeah. We're together at this moment, but... ahh... you know it's not..."

"I know, alright? Shit, you're such a downer. I don't even feel drunk anymore."

"Well, you are still drunk. So cheer up."

"Nah, you ruined it."

(Drunk conversation)

(T) Fuck you, actually (M) Dont you wish

(Cutscene in By the Book)

(M) hey, fuck you (T) You know? I'm beginning to think that's exactly what you wanna do (M) Yeah, Jesus. I just said the same fucking thing to my wife

Trevor's attraction towards Michael seems to have been there from the get-go. Lamar jokingly refers to it as "love at first sight" and i dont think he was very far off. When Trevor blew their first robbery together, he was sent to prison for it. By all accounts Michael should've skipped town and continued on his way. But he didnt. He waited for Trevor, a man at this point he hardly knew, and that decision changed Trevor's life irreversibly. I think thats where his infatuation begins.

As for Michael I think the attraction to Trevor comes on slowly. He doesnt realize its happening, and when he does, he makes up excuses for himself so he doesnt have to worry about being a queer. Buddies jerk off together all the time. If your best friend is willing to go a little farther than that and doesn't make it weird in the morning, why not go with it? And if Michael loves him a little, so what? Who doesn't love their best friend. They're Bodhi and Johnny Utah. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid. That's all.

I think they had a good thing going for a while, up until Mandy got pregnant. Then they had an on-and-off thing for years that got more and more volatile as their friendship fell apart.( I wrote like 6 paragraphs about that but it was getting really lengthy so that's a post for another day lol.)

Or maybe they just never acted on it and the farthest they got was weird flirting, drunken three-ways with call girls, or jerking off to the same skin-flick. I can see em' all happening and its a horrible back and forth on my end of which makes the most sense canonically.

No matter what I think they had something really deep and guttural together before the Ludendorff heist

As for post-game i have my realistic idea of what would happen, and my idealistic ideas of what would happen.

Realistically:

Trevor is done pining after Michael. He still loves him, that will never change. But he's done with the heartache. They made up, and they'll hang out from time to time, but Trevor is never going to let his heart be broken by Michael again.

Michael is trying with his family. He wants to make his marriage work. He continues to fuck up, probably still sleeps around from time to time, but he's genuinely trying to stay with Amanda. He doesnt think about his past with Trevor very often, because if Trevor doesnt want to bring it up, neither will he.

They have a strained fucked up friendship, but a friendship nonetheless.

Ideally:

Abso-fucking-lutely. They figure it out. They're a goddamn mess together, but they're happy. They fight like they always do, but at the end of the day they're both trying

(im working on a post about my ending C Trikey thoughts that was supposed to be a reply to iagami a while back. i have so many ideas for a post-C ending for them and most of it is just dumb "lol thatd be funny" type stuff, but a lot of it has genuine thought put into it too. This post is already too long lol. thanks for reading through it!)

[katkeyboardmastah]

*cracks knuckles

In short, murder... a lot of murder.

I personally recommend watching through the cutscenes of its story over reading any summary. Bcuz I feel like it's a much more focused plot compared to even the X games, with a much better Disney world intergration. The reason why there are no YT summaries is probably bcuz of the rather spliced narrative filled with flashbacks and flashforwards.

Anyway, here's my attempt at a summary:

So basically 50+ years before the current KH timeline we have been dealing with since BBS, we have the story of Xehanort during his days of youth at Scala Ad Caelum (created on top of Daybreak Town post KHUx). The main plot of KHDR focuses on this one particular sequence of events when Xehanort and Eraqus were still students along with their other classmates. During the game we also see plenty of flashforwards of either previously unseen events (Xehanort talking to the Magic Mirror in Dwarf Woodlands), events we had seen but with brand new context (Xehanort bringing Ven into Eraqus' care) or extended scenes (like MoM's meeting with YMX in Re:Mind). All of these are spliced at the start and end of chapters of the main campaign.

Let's focus on the main sequence of events first:

Eraqus & Xehanort are as we see em in KH3's chess matches. They study in Scala Ad Caelum to become Keyblade Masters under Master Odin alongside 5 of their classmates (Vor, Urd, Hermod, Bragi and Baldr). KHDR's main campaign begins with Master Odin tasking all of Xehanort's classmates except Baldr (who is absent) with finding the missing upperclassmen. They went missing after journeying to the Disney Worlds for their Mark of Mastery. Their names are Vidar, Vala, Vali, Heimdall, Helgi, Sigrun and Hoder. The most important 2 you gotta keep in mind are Vidar and Hoder, the latter of which is Baldr's older sister.

First order of bisiness for Xehanort and co. is to journey to the other Disney worlds and to find clues about the missing upperclassmen and then go from there. They split up into 2 teams, Eraqus-Xehanort-and whoever you picked for the third and the remaining 3. At this point the Disney worlds actually exist and are not projections of the future like they were in the X games. Some function as normal but way back into the past (Olympus Colliseum, Dwarf Woodlands etc.) and others are still too young to properly operate (like Agrabah, which is devoid of all people). In the first three chapters, Xehanort and co. discuss the nature of darkness, how it can spurn from negative emotions and hide within people (example being the Queen of Hearts in Wonderland). At the end of chapter 3, we are treated to a flashback featuring Baldr, telling Eraqus 1 week prior to the main events that he is worried about his sister. Eraqus additionally drops hints that Brain from the X games is his grandfather.

Moving on to the end of ch 4, Xehanort, Eraqus and Vor team up and ask the Magic Mirror in Dwarf Woodlands about Vidar's (an upperclassmen's) whereabouts, only to be immediately visited by Vidar himself. Vidar shows no signs of wanting to return as he hints he has his own agenda and asks Vor to join his cause. He attempts persuasion by saying she will not be able to grow and become a Keyblade Master if she stays as she is. She agrees to his offer and leaves with him. Xehanort respects her choice while Eraqus is against it. In chapter 5, Xehanort, Urd and Hermod visit the Beast's Castle to find more clues. By the end of it, Vala and Vali (aldo upperclassmen) appear and try to recruit Urd, but she turns them down. The upperclassmen so far have seemingly been trying to disrupt the balance of the worlds by stealing their light, the reason to that unknown at this point. Ch 6's world is Agrabah once again with the same team as the previous chapter, but during the middle of it they are joined by Eraqus and Bragi, who have trying to find Vor and bring her back. At the end of the chapter Vidar encounters the gang once again, with Vor in tow, revealing that his goal is to summon forth Kingdom Hearts itself in order to rid of the darkness that took his friends.

This alarms the group, so they deduce that some of the upperclassmen are now dead. But they also need to find out what happened to them in order to understand Vidar's motivations. Their next destination is the Underworld, thinking that it is the best chance to seek answers. Baldr also finally shows up, seemingly fine after over a week of absence and asks to join the search for the sake of his sister. We also see a flashback of him watching her die in front of his eyes in Enchanted Dominion.

They reach the Underworld and ask Hades about the ones who died in the next chapter (and against Odin's warnings to stop prodding). This is kinda funny considering that Donald & Goofy are also searching for Hades at the end of KH4's reveal trailer, seemingly to ask about Sora's disappearance. Xehanort and Eraqus come into contact with Heimdall, Sigrun, Helgi and Hoder (Baldr's sister). Heimdall reveals that it was the darkness that killed them after Hoder tried to confront Maleficent by herself in Enchanted Dominion for their exam. They also imply that they were in The Final World before being called here (implying a connection between the 2 worlds). Hoder has been silent throughout and as the other 3 finally pass on she asks Xehanort for a favor (and the scene fades). As Xehanort, Eraqus, Urd and Hermod try to escape the Underworld from Hades and Heartless, they get sucked into a dark corridor much to Hades' shock. There is also no sign of Baldr and Bragi during this sequence. In the dark corridor, sth gets to both Urd and Hermod and kills them. Meanwhile at the last minute, Xehanort and Eraqus are saved by Master Odin from the brink of death. In the scene he was wielding the Master's Defender (Eraqus' Keyblade in the future).

The final chapter of the game takes place back in Scala Ad Caelum, as things are going haywire with Heartless as far as the eye can see. Xehanort and Eraqus deduce that one behind all of this darkness was Baldr himself (and Odin was hiding this truth). They assume the reason is his sister's death beckoned the darkness to possess him. As the Heartless attack, the three remaining upperclassmen, Vidar, Vala and Vali return. Eraqus, who is pretty emotionally charged rn, fights them with Xehanort at his side, bcuz they were aware that Baldr was the cause and Eraqus just wants to save his friend from the darkness. After the fight Baldr shows up, all wrapped up in darkness. The way he talks is very akin to the primordial darknesses as seen in KHUx's story. Vidar talks about that he wanted to save Baldr too through Kingdom Hearts bcuz he is Hoder's brother but has given up on it, since Baldr is too far gone at this point. Additionally he suspects that summoning Kingdom Hearts is what the darkness would want (for the world to reborn in darkness) and they are not going to play its game. Baldr leaves and the gang deduces that he will kill Vor next, who is on her way to report to Master Odin in the tower.

In the tower Vor is fighting Baldr. The upperclassmen save her only to be killed by a powered up form of the darkness possessing Baldr called Hringhorn. Unable to stop him Vor also dies as Eraqus and Xehanort arrive to the scene. His mission is to kill 13 lights to feed 13 darknesses to summon Kingdom Hearts (a more twisted take on the original tale).

The final fight it between Baldr's Hringhorn and Xehanort & Eraqus. Before Xehanort finishes off Baldr, Eraqus tries to stop him cuz he doesn't want to lose more friends. Around this time we find out that Baldr was not possessed by a primordial darkness as seen in KHUx but rather his own. This darknes was spurned by his own negativity towards his sister, who was always his light and delved in absolutes, that all darkness should be purged. The darkness within his heart saw an oppertunity to use Baldr's own anxiety for his sister's safety to pursue her. It is revealed that the one who seems to have killed Hoder and therefore caused the deaths of Heimdall, Helgi and Sigrun was the darkness. This event sent Baldr spiraling in his own grief and trauma for a whole week, after Master Odin isolated... or more accurately, locked him up in the infirmary so he would heal (good job Odin, you made things worse).

During the end, we see Hoder once again, her heart dwelled within Xehanort's upon her request (like how Eraqus did in Terra after BBS) and the siblings have one final talk where they talk about their problems... or so it would seem if Hoder didn't try to eradicate Baldr for his darkness and Baldr trying to eradicate Hoder (what a sweet family am I right?) This went on long enough that Odin would show up and pin Baldr down using the No Name Keyblade so Xehanort finally finish him off and Baldr perishes. It's an empty victory, as Baldr spurred Xehanort to think about the parallel between the siblings and his bond with Eraqus.

The main story ends sometime later as Eraqus and Xehanort visit the graves of their fallen friends, putting down flowers for each of them. As they leave a figure in a black coat appears, and it turns out to be Bragi? But wait didn't Bragi die? Well, Baldr had assumed he died, but what trully happened was this: When he was left alone with Bragi in the Underworld, Baldr revealed his true colors and tried to kill the latter, only to be bested. Bragi reveals that he was actually Luxu all along (*insert As if here) and he proclaims that this life is kind of a bust as he assumes that Xehanort is not the scapegoat that he will need in the future in order for MoM to return (at the time at least, bcuz Xehanort did NOT go on his dark path yet). Thus he decides to leave, so everyone else would persume he died.

Now that was the main story but here are some other scenes that are of great importance that are either flashbacks or flashforwards:

-Xehanort meets MoM for the first time about 1 year after the main story during his Mark of Mastery exam. It seems that MoM had to personally intervene in order for Xehanort to witness the things he needs in to go down the path that was set out to him.

-Xehanort leaves Scala Ad Caelum aproximetely 7 years after the end of the main story to persue his own goals

And most importantly:

-Xehanort has seen the Player's memories of their life in X/Ux primarily. How you ask? Well, the Player raised him, and through empathy, Xehanort managed to reach them (another parallel to Sora in fact). Didn't the Player "die" at the end of Ux? They become the Player of the upcoming Missink Link, it is their second life. So the version of Player that raised Xehanort on Destiny Islands (particularly the island Sora and co. play at) is the one post KHML, in their late years in a blue robe. Xehanort leaves the Islands not long after their caretaker passes, and then he meets Eraqus and everyone else in Scala (as his sudden appearance there is a mystery to many). Bcuz Xehanort could gleam the Player's past, the latter assumes that Xehanort was the child of destiny, bound to save all. This stuck with Xehanort for his entire life, driven by his curiosity for those memories which leads him to finding Ventus. Additionally explains the martyr aspect of his motivations a lot better. And lastly, in the same scene, it is revealed that Xehanort's origins lie in Scala Ad Caelum, as he is Ephemer's descendant.

I skipped over a lot of character stuff and other nuance so once I again I highly recommend watching the cutscenes bcuz this story is really really good!

can someone give me a rundown of what happens in Kingdom Hearts: Dark Road? I can't find a summary of it on YouTube

[perlukafarinn]

finally watched avengers: endgame and i have thoughts. nothing i’m about to say is new but i just need to get this out so i can stop thinking about this movie

this movie is so ugly to look at. so much of it looks like a video game cutscene; you can feel the weightlessness of the cgi and it makes you feel less invested in the action. 

the action is also poorly staged. i’m no expert by any means but a lot of it was confusing and difficult to watch, not helped by the screen being so damn dark. the lotr trilogy pulled these epic battles off much better 20 years ago, there’s no excuse.

the characters are massacred all around. since the characters are the only thing that ever drew me to the mcu to start with, this is a problem.

even tony, who is treated with a lot of (imo) unearned reverence, still gets screwed by poor character continuity. he’s had to learn the same lesson about how being a hero requires selflessness/sacrifice in like three separate movies now. it doesn’t help that this is rdj’s worst performance in any of these films so far, you can really tell he’s looking towards the exit

i can’t think about steve’s ending without getting pissed off. i think this might be the worst way they could have possibly ended his story? and they sloppily try to justify it by completely rewriting his character trajectory in this movie. just bad decisions all around

nat’s death was stupid and they should feel bad. clint was so very much the obvious choice to sacrifice himself for the soul stone, if we even had to have that stupid plot point. even if they wanted to do the bait and switch ‘oh you think one of them’s gonna die but it’s actually the other one’, you could have had nat arguing more passionately that she’s doing this so clint can reunite with his family and then have clint beat her to the jump with a whole ‘redemption through sacrifice’ moment (because he needed to be redeemed after the first half of that movie and he isn’t really).

the stupidity of nat’s death is even more obvious when you show the characters talking about her after and it’s just a room full of men. really drives home why she was considered the most expendable avenger

thor’s story i feel like could have worked if it didn’t rely so much on fat jokes. but i still think the trajectory they took in infinity war, effectively erasing all the good work ragnarok did, was stupid in the first place. 

the time travel plot felt like an excuse for cheap sentimentality and fan service. when they had like three characters meet dead loved ones in quick succession i wanted to laugh. and they literally just reshow some well known shots from older movies, no new footage needed.

all of the mcu women gathering on the battlefield felt like a cheap ploy for some unearned praise. you know, since they’re so progressive for including so many badass female characters in their movies when most of them haven’t been developed beyond being side characters in men’s stories.

the way ‘five years later’ faded in one word at a time pissed me off so much i groaned out loud. you could feel the decision making process behind it, the gasps they were hoping to elicit from the audience. you know when scorcese said these movies aren’t cinema, they’re theme park attractions? he might have been talking about this exact moment (i don’t agree with that take but endgame was doing its best to convince me otherwise)

you know, the reason it took me three years to watch this movie is that i was so burnt out on the mcu after infinity war that i didn’t feel like watching another marvel movie. so i didn’t, until now. and i probably never would have gotten around to endgame if not for my mission to watch every movie from ‘1001 movies you must see before you die’. now that i have watched it? possibly the second worst time i’ve had watching a movie from that list (nothing is topping saló). 

[metroidprimepics]

More scrapped content and stuff you would struggle to see in normal gameplay.

Again, there are dead bodies in this one.

Prime

I would desperately like to take a nice aesthetic pic of this room, specifically because of the cool spooky fog. (Connects Tallon Overworld to elevator to Root Cave, which in turn connects to Magmoor.)

However, freelooking past the HUD causes... issues. It turns out that said fog was implemented in a manner I can best describe as “deranged”. It only fills the precise rectangle that you can see through the HUD.

Literally no other room in the game is like this. I can only assume this was an early one made when they were still figuring things out and it was just left like this. After all, you would. never notice normally... I can probably find a way around this, so if it turns up in the queue someday don’t be surprised. But it is weird.

When not menacing you, Magmoors chill underneath the lava vertically like this. It’s... kinda silly-looking.

Echoes

One of the dead Marines (Echoes would not let me scan, but she’s M. Angseth) has a black visor, instead of the usual blue. There is also a swarm of flies around her face.

On top of just being unusual, the flat black looks bad, so I thought there might be something weird going on underneath. Sure enough...

...clipping past the black as best I can, there’s a very low-res dead face texture underneath.

Given how shoddy it is, I’m guessing the face was hastily blacked out to make the game a little less dark, as even at this resolution the effect is somewhat... grim. Especially with the flies. (As mentioned, other ordinary Marine corpses have nothing beneath their opaque blue visors.)

Correction: All the marines have this texture??? Seems I didn’t have the best grasp of freelook controls last time I checked. It’s just really subtle. You can just barely see it through the visor, even.

They did manage to sneak one dead guy into Corruption though. More on that later.

Generally speaking in these games, if something is out of reach then it isn’t actually solid. But this ring around the Hall of Honored Dead - which, to my knowledge, ought to be inaccessible - is perfectly standable. Maybe it was meant to be used for something? Edit: It probably retains collision from being a part of the floor. Still, kind of neat.

In Torvus Bog’s Great Bridge room, the water and some of the modeled environment (e.g. that trunk on the left) extend out of bounds. On the side facing the entrance to Torvus, the edge of the room’s box has been marked with fuchsia, probably for inscrutable 3D dev reasons. is fuchsia, because the texturemap’s empty spaces are in standard “nothing is supposed to be here” fuchsia.

Also, while we’re out of bounds and looking at the back of a door- door frames may be hexagonal, but the actual door is round. (Or as round as you can get with the Gamecube’s polygon count.)

The Light World version of the Temple Access corridor just beyond has two paths - a lower Morph Ball tunnel and an upper walkway. (And an energy tank in between, if you’re into that kind of thing.)

The Dark World version, meanwhile, only has the lower tunnel. (Ignore the damage indicators, I have invulnerability on.)

...Or, does it? :)

There are three ignitable safe-zone lights at the top, some modeling, and the animated spinny thing from the light world version of the door.

You know, this frame. The dark world version is spinny and everything.

These suggest that, at some point, the upper walkable path was meant to be usable in the Dark World as well. Seems to have been scrapped, though. I mean, there wouldn’t be a point to it, except leaving after defeating the Chykkas and grabbing the energy from the Dark Temple.

Also, the safe zones at either end of the regular tunnel are emanating from hidden staffs.

Corruption

As it turns out, there is one prendered thing in this game, which is the ending cutscenes. This is not what 4x Resolution looks like. I can’t imagine that isn’t also the case for the Gamecube games. (Edit: Some of it is prerendered, a lot of it isn’t. This is the most prerendered you get, discounting . Um. You know. The other... metroid... game.)

The credits, however, are not prerendered, so I can freelook in those too. For some fucking reason. Huge shoutout to everyone in these credits (except Yoshio Sakamoto)!

This one is marginally more graphic than usual so I’ll put it in a link, but as mentioned, Retro did manage to include one uncensored human corpse on the Valhalla.

This is worse than the one in Echoes, but he’s tucked into a corner in a mid-game area, so I imagine those responsible for keeping the game T for Teen didn’t notice. In fact, probably nobody noticed, except weirdo corpse-examiners like me. It’s not even that remarkable, except when you remember that Metroid is (allegedly) a flagship Nintendo franchise.

There’s some text on these screens in the Olympus. Anything interesting?

“Ship frigate 1” on the left and “dgfdfg dfgbbfd” etc on the right. Nice... lore.

Um... Maybe something like...

[bunch of words] people especially you because i know it’s not every.... is dfhdfbsd good for you everyday it’s good for you [absolutely cannot read] bring you [something] TP everyday it’s good for you [something]

Mmm. Tasty lore. Really meaningful.

This one I had to flip since it’s backwards ingame, but it is the only screen that has real text, which consequently makes it much easier to read. It looks like a safety notice.

Exercise extreme caution when firing your guns inside ship, armour piercing rounds may penetrate hull’s [something something something] causing massive damage. Glass of observation decks is protected with emergency shutter incase of sudden decompression a [something] will fall from the ceiling and to you.

It’s not super professionally-written, but if anything that’s more realistic. (The Commonwealth spelling “armour” is weird from an American dev though.)

Almost certainly none of this was ever meant to be read, though.

There’s not much interesting going on in the readouts on the bridge, but I would like to point out at the very bottom of one of the screens, it reads,

“ONLINE OTHERBRAIN ACCESS READING 100″, There is an unused logbook scan which says some people call Aurora Unit 242 “Other Brain”, so it might be referring to her? Or maybe the fighter onscreen has its own mini-AU. Stop putting brains in things for no reason... Please...

Speaking of horrible meatships, I just wanted to give a nicer view of the Space Pirate ship that rams into the Olympus during the attack in the prologue, because it’s really something to behold.

...It’s come to my attention that the planet labeled as “Pirate Homeworld” in this game has an actual name, Urtraghus. So from now on I’ll be using that.

In the transit stations, I happened to fly through a cloud of the little bugs around the lamps, and realized...

...that they aren’t just little motes of light. They have models??? And textures???

Given how tiny these are, and how high they fly, it is really unlikely you would be able to see any of this during actual gameplay. 15 years later, they are revealed... Let’s zoom in.

Cute! The face resembles that of the Pirates from this planet. Could be larva, or just a related species. (Edit: the ingame filename is Pirate Wasp Mother, and the artist lists them as larvae in her portfolio. So Who Knows!)

There isn’t really any figurative art on Urtraghus. Which technically makes sense, since it’s not temples and suchlike but military installations, but I was kind of experiencing statuary withdrawals and kept looking anyway, and well... This structure looming over the big courtyard looks like a very stylized head...? Maybe. There’s a couple similar structures around the planet, maybe this is as figurative as they get.

Also, this is a long shot, but if anyone has a MPT (or even regular Corruption) save in which you’ve acquired Grapple Voltage but haven’t destroyed the seed yet, I would appreciate it, as it’s proving difficult to emulate some of the necessary motion controls. If not I’ll go through and handle this planet on the Wii myself.

Thank you to bearborg for corrections and said save file :D

[tainted-wine]

I didn’t apply all of these descriptions but these are the main three I had in mind while writing this. How did I attract so many fans of the crusty boi? Either way, welcome to the club!

Words: 1.5k (how the hell did that happen there’s barely any sex)

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

The website didn’t explain what the “LOVER” cheat does. Probably unlocks a deleted path that didn’t make it into the official game. Or maybe he just gets a head-start on his Affection progress with you at the very beginning. Or maybe it doesn’t do shit – that could be why there’s no explanation.

Well, now that he knows how to do it, it wouldn’t hurt to test it himself. Shigaraki absently scratches at the irritated skin on his neck as he boots up the game. The directions were fairly simple and easy to remember.

1. Start a brand new file.

Ugh, he despises games that hold only one save file. It’s not like a visual novel holds up much space. What if you want different files in order to experiment with different choices? It doesn’t matter in his case anyway; he 100% completed the game months ago. With no regrets, his original game was deleted and a new one began.

> What is your name?

He might as well stick with the one he used last time.

‘SHIGGY-SENPAI’

The introduction cutscene began, the protagonist going on about the new town he just moved into. Pretty by-the-books, as far as romance openings go.

2. Finish the intro. Once you meet Y/N, go to the menu. 

After skipping through a bunch of fluffy dialogue, you finally appear in all of your cute glory. Once you’re done introducing yourself, Shigaraki brings up the main menu.

3. Type in “LOVER”

Just like that? Alright then...

Right after inputting the final letter, a sparkly ping sound straight out of a magical girl anime could be heard, and that was it. Okay...it sounds like he did it correctly.

When he returned to the game, his success was much more evident. You were staring directly at the screen - almost through the screen - with a glowing expression he’s never seen. Each and every one of your reactions have been seared into his brain after so many hours of gameplay. This was new.

“You...do you really mean that, SHIGGY-SENPAI?”

What? Voice acting? Though you did say his name pretty stiffly, as expected when a computer tries to pronounce custom text, but what the hell? Why would this be hidden as a cheat?

“But it’s so soon, and I’m not very experienced...” You blushed and shyly twiddled your fingers.

Oh.

“But I already trust you, and I want you too.”

Oh.

It’s that kind of path.

A hidden adult route. Shigaraki really likes that, even though this would’ve had a much stronger impact if it happened on his original file, the one where he was fully bonded to you. Sucks that he needs a fresh file in order to fuck you.

Shit, he’s not even prepared for this. Maybe he should go grab the lotion and a couple of tissues, assuming that this special scene will make for pretty decent fap material.

But the dialogue continued automatically. You creeped closer to the screen as you gushed about your feelings for him. “I want to make love to you forever and ever!”

You were getting really close, and with a show of impressive animation, your hand reached out to touch the fourth wall...

And the screen began to distort and ripple.

What the fuck?

“I just can’t wait to feel your amazing cock.” Your fingers began to phase through the fucking computer screenWHAT THE FUCK?!

“Take me, SHIGGY-SENPAI!”

Just like that, a full-sized bitch materialized out of the game and onto his lap, nearly toppling his gamer chair.

Even in the darkness of his room, your eyes shined brightly as they studied his pale face. “You’re even more handsome up close!”

Shigaraki was still too stunned to even respond to the rare compliment. Only when you began to pull down his pants did he finally find his voice again.

“Wha–ah–who the–hey!” He knows that he shouldn’t be afraid of a hottie touching his cock but ooooh shit she’s already stroking him.

“Ah, you’re so big!” You stared at his untouched manhood in awe, watching him become more erect after every pump of your soft hand.

“Fuck, am I?” He gasped.

“Mmhmm! And I bet you’re really tasty too!” You say before he’s suddenly engulfed with the very real warmth of a mouth.

Fuck fuck fuck he isn’t gonna last. He was ready to jerk off, not actually get his dick sucked. It feels more amazing than he ever imagined, your tongue working along his sensitive flesh, and those lips sucking at him so eagerly.

When his hand grabs the top of your head, he realizes too late that all five of his fingers are tangled in your hair.

You nearly fall over from how suddenly Shigaraki rolls back in his chair. You look shocked, confused, and...very much not a pile of dust.

“What’s wrong, SHIGGY-SENPAI?”

He looked at his hands, then at you, then at his hands again.

Then he takes hold of your face and shoves you back into his groin, because he can touch you, he can touch another fucking living thing without any worries about completely destroying it. Must be some crazy logic about you being data from a videogame or something. He doesn’t care, he’s so horny, feels so good having his cock so far down a hot tight throat, he just might burst...

Wait, he might have just done exactly that.

“Ah, shit,” he watches you pull back and swallow with the most satisfied grin.

“That was quick, SHIGGY-SENPAI!” You really need to stop saying his name like that. It’s fuckin’ weird. “I didn’t even get to feel you inside me.”

“Shut up,” the mixture of emotions he’s been experiencing ever since your ass crawled out of the screen like a girl in a cursed video is starting to piss him off. He’s so insulted and thankful that this fictional bitch gave him his first blowjob and made him nut in the span of sixty seconds. “Just give me a few minutes.” 

A few knocks on the room’s door startles both of you.

“Tomura, the Vanguard Action Squad is ready to move out.”

Shit!

“I’ll be out in a damn minute, Kurogiri.” Shigaraki moves to get out of his seat, only to be stopped by his new partner.

Your sparkly puppy eyes are so grossly cute, yet it has his dick twitching again already. “Are you leaving me already, SHIGGY-SENPAI?”

“Quit saying my name in all caps.”

“Okay, ˢʰᶦᵍᵍʸ⁻ˢᵉⁿᵖᵃᶦ.”

“Not like that. I can barely hear it.”

“How about SHIGGY-SENPAI?”

He slaps a hand over your mouth. “Just stop saying my name.”

A much harsher knock rocks the old door. “Hey, you ugly bastard,” That sounded like the Dabi asshole. “The hell are you doing in there? Jacking off to anime girls?”

Shigaraki scoffed. When’s the last time that burnt Stain fanboy got his dick sucked?

As much as he wants to join in on terrorizing the brats at U.A, he really wants to get laid today.

“Just go without me!” He yells through the walls. He nearly misses your muted squeak of joy.

“Eh?” Hearing Dabi’s annoyed muffled voice was pretty amusing. “You’re just gonna sit on your ass in your room while we do the work?”

The villain’s retort catches in his throat when you take his hand and begin to slowly lick at his fingers, all while pinning him with an innocent gaze.

“Your fingers are so pretty,” You whispered.

It’s so difficult to pay attention to the words being uttered outside of the room while his hands are being placed on your chest. BOOBS.

“Please trust Tomura. I’m sure he has faith in you all handling this mission on your own,” Kurogiri tries to explain. Shigaraki knows him well enough to know that he’s probably irritated as well, but there are titties in his hands so who gives a fuck.

Dabi releases an exasperated groan. “I knew this whole League of Villains thing was bullshit. Shouldn’t have bothered.”

Shigaraki slows his exploration of your breasts to shout, “If I make you the leader of the mission, will you shut up?”

“......Yes.”

“Well, I pronounce you leader of the Vanguard Action Squad. I’ll even give you a Nomu. Have fun.” The two of you are rushing to lift your shirt off for better access to your skin.

“Fuck yeah,” Dabi’s voice is still fairly close. The sooner he pisses off, the better. “I can probably pull this off better than you, anyway. Come on, psycho girl, we’re gonna go round up everyone else.”

Toga can be heard squealing excitedly as they both step away and finally give him his privacy back. You look absolutely lovestruck by the entire exchange.

“You gave up an important mission just for me? You really do love me!” 

He just rolled his eyes and lowered his head to take a hardened nipple into his mouth, enjoying your sounds of delight.

He can’t wait for the next time he faces those stupid heroes. He’ll be smarter, stronger, and can even tell them that he got his dick wet.

Oh, the collapse of hero society is going to be glorious.

[flecks-of-stardust]

okay year in review eh

this shit's long so i'll put it under a cut, and also all tags are going to be removed

I posted 4,547 times in 2022

That's 1,870 more posts than 2021! (lmao. even though i made my blog sept 2021? i guess i slowed down somewhat)

551 posts created (12%)

3,996 posts reblogged (88%) (honestly not too shabby of a ratio for original stuff)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

liquidlikecats (hi moss)

aroarachnid (hi ash)

flecks-of-stardust (LOL MY FUCKING LIVEBLOGGING)

flame-shadow (huh i guess flame just posts a lot)

I tagged 3,149 of my posts in 2022

Only 31% of my posts had no tags (that is surprisingly high tbh)

#hollow knight - 939 posts (haha yes hollow knight blog)

#ghost - 277 posts

#the knight - 237 posts

#hornet - 177 posts

#bug fables - 163 posts

#rain world - 141 posts

#holly - 134 posts

#the hollow knight - 115 posts

#bookmarked - 113 posts

#pale king - 87 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa (of course it's just screaming)

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

the sale is over stop giving this notes pls /hj

160 notes - Posted May 4, 2022

#4

yknow, the watcher knights really speak to the influence lurien had. monomon’s protection is uumuu, a sentient jellyfish that presumably has some ties to her, while herrah’s protection is her people, in her Den. but lurien? lurien gets an army of knights. we fight five/six, but there’s more husks in the background. who knows how many knights he had at his disposal, all ready to guard his body? what kind of power must you have to have access to that?

192 notes - Posted November 27, 2022

honestly i still don't know how this has so many notes. where were yall even coming from?

#3

[image description: a crochet doll of a very round Radiance. She is roughly spherical, has a three pronged crown, a pair of wings each with three fronds, and round yellow eyes set into a black heart shaped mask. Everything about her is rounded and soft, though her eyes are ovals. end image description]

Orbiance

i saw someone’s radiorb plush in the main tag and was hit with the realization that i, too, can make the roundest radi to ever moth. she’s the biggest thing i’ve ever made thus far, which is... fitting, i think. her crown was surprisingly easy to wrangle into place, but i won’t complain sfjkghjk her face took more effort, honestly.

it’s interesting trying to simplify a design as layered as radi’s down into what is essentially a fancy ball. i thought about adding more fluff to her wings, but honestly, the triplet wing-crown-wing probably makes it cuter. also, from experience with the wooly aphid, adding more fluff just tends to look weird, so eh. simpler is better sometimes.

also, there is a surprise under her...

See the full post

236 notes - Posted May 7, 2022

bro tumblr gave this post a cliffhanger DKJSJKS all hail radiorb

#2

i ship lurien with a bed and a good nap

340 notes - Posted August 12, 2022

fran i blame you for this /j

My #1 post of 2022

the abyss cutscene after you dream nail the egg is a somber one, but i do have to wonder. how does ghost know what the pale king asked of the vessels? like the pale king is clearly going ‘no mind to think, no will to break’ as ghost is climbing up to the top in the cutscene, but surely he couldnt have told each individual vessel as they hatched ‘hey heres what i want you to do’ since theres probably billions of them

the most likely answer is probably magic, somehow, or. gameplay reasons. because this is a video game. but i want to entertain the idea that ghost knows what the pale king expected of the vessels because he stood at the top and screamed it repeatedly down into the abyss

661 notes - Posted January 4, 2022

thanks flame for helping this post blow up /s

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

anyway this is interesting. if i'm still on the hellsite next year we'll compare again lmfao

[bainhardt]

Pokemon SV thoughts: tumblr exclusive dlc version sorry this is so long but too bad lol

I got to the credits tonight and to be honest, I feel like I have way too much to say about SV, but that'd be kind of exhausting, so I'll try to keep it to broad strokes. It reminded me a lot of Legends Arceus: I had my share of fun, but I have numerous complaints as well.

First, if what people are tired and cynical about is Game Freak's supposed lack of "innovation," I feel this game is proof that they are finally coming around to trying new ideas. This and LA are the freshest the franchise has been in decades. But new ideas take a lot of refining.

The most fun aspect was exploration. It's legitimately awesome to simply wander, see Pokemon, and catch Pokemon, and you can go basically anywhere you want from the word “Go.” I remember wanting far more out of the exploration in Legends Arceus, and I was relieved to find when playing SV that it felt much closer to what I had envisioned for the concept. This is a big step forward in terms of freedom (and the region is pretty cool, which helps).

But the battling is the same as always (even with the new gimmick), the gyms are the same, the E4 is the same. If the core gameplay loop has grown old for you, there won't be much to win you over; you can do these battles in any order you like, but they're still just... battles.

Add on top of that this game has... a LOT of cutscenes, and it can really drag just trying to get things done so you can progress and become stronger. Story is always subjective, but if you're not invested in the plotlines, you are NOT going to enjoy the pacing (I didn't).

Despite that, the "endgame zone" so to speak is probably the single coolest thing I've seen in a Pokemon game to date. idk that I'd say it makes up for the first portions, but I did start to enjoy the story in the back half. imo the coolest villain/plan segment in the franchise.

Lastly, this game runs like shit. This is THE worst technical showcase of any game I've played on my Switch, bar none. I'm not talking your occasional slowdown or something - this is literally a game that spends more time chugging and breaking than not.

It really brings the entire experience down to know this was a game that was willing to put the work in with its ideas and ambition, only to be held back by hardware limitations and likely development problems (three Pokemon games in a year, all felt crunched and unpolished). I honestly feel like now that the fanbase at large has gotten their hands on gen 9, just about anyone would’ve been willing to give up BDSP and Arceus if it meant this game got the time and resources it really needed. But that problem rings true for any one of them; all three of these games needed more work than they got in the end. Not one of them has felt truly complete when compared to SWSH.

Anyway, all I really had left in terms of complaints are minor ones, but man, I had about a thousand. You can't turn move animations off, you can't L=A mode, there's no Battle Style Shift or Set option, the Pokedex and Bag don't remember where your cursor left off in between uses, the PC box takes forever to load each page, you can’t change to the All Boxes view while holding a Pokemon, the summary screens work differently between the PC and the Party screen, the Bag and Pokedex have no fast scroll buttons, the sandwich recipe menu has a favorite button but then no way to filter by favorites, each time you use an item on a Pokemon it deselects that item and makes you select it again... you get the idea. Many people don’t notice things like this, but for me they’re like pebbles in my shoe, and holy shit - this game was like walking on goddamn gravel.

If this game worked as intended, it would very probably rank the best in the franchise like, unanimously. For a lot of players, it likely still will be. But to me, it's hard to recommend a game that feels this broken, that feels this slapdash when I know they can make them better.

Also, I never tend to include this as part of my actual review’s parameters, but I liked a lot of new Pokemon (most since like gen 5 maybe) and thought a lot of new abilities/moves/battle stuff was really creative. This was the first game I can remember in years where I actually used a team of nothing but new guys, and a full team of six at that. But there's also some truly batshit insane powercreep stuff that's looking to make competitive a nightmare (getting my predictions in early). Continuing the post-3D trend, practically every new Pokemon has a signature move, signature ability, or both, and holy fuck some of the new moves are unbelievable. And the two box legendaries have some Calyrex-ass double down abilities that are sure to make the restricted format full of them. Ugh.

Another thing I felt even before the game came out and after playing still feel is: I really hate the approach to graphical presentation and how that factored into the designs and appearances of the human characters. It’s admirable that they’re trying to add more detail to the Pokemon with texture and lighting, but the people in this game look properly fucking weird to me. The clothes are textured to look more real, the hair is attempting a realistic texture with like visible strands (although it does look pretty shoddy)... but then the skin and faces are still giant plasticy anime-style deals. It reminded me a lot of fashion dolls. Just kind of uncanny, you know?

And personally, I don’t even want the graphics to be more realistic at the end of the day; Pokemon is supposed to be cartoony, and I think this bizarre middle ground only hurts the style in a lot of ways more than it improves it. The trainers and NPCs at large suffer from this lack of cartoonishness, and I feel like the entire world’s color and vitality gets brought down a level from generations past. Yes, the gym leaders still manage some good and a couple great designs; yes, the Star leaders are probably the best designs in the game. But virtually everyone else in the game look like “boring human in clothes.” Battling what few trainers I did, it felt hard to believe this is the same franchise that used to have unique Youngsters, Lasses, Beauties, Fishermen, Hikers, Ace Trainers, Battle Girls and Black Belts, where everyone from business people to scientists to janitors to students and their teachers had memorable and new appearances each generation. Looking at this game, the notion that we could see a repeat of what happened to XY’s Hex Maniac, for example, was laughable. They really put all their eggs into one basket with the main cast, which I think is a significant step backwards.

The actual, real, final thing I can remember to say at this time was that I felt the gym/E4′s use of Terastallization was poor and a huge missed opportunity. Each gym, the leader uses a random ace that they Tera into their gym’s type, which only serves to make the battles as much of a sweep as always if the player is sufficiently prepared. When wiping the Water gym leader with my Electric type, I actually paused for a second when seeing his final Pokemon was Crabominable. I thought “huh, now I don’t have a great move for this, do I switch out to-” before remembering he was, of course, going to change it to a Water type like everything else and I could finish the battle with no more trouble than before.

To me, the better way to handle this and introduce the depth and possibilities of the mechanic is to have each leader’s ace still be a Pokemon of their type, which they Tera into something different and unexpected, reflecting the way it will work in real battles with other players. This also serves to showcase a range of basic strategic choices for each type players could choose to use in their own teams. The only leader that felt close to this was Iono, Terastallizing a Mismagius into Electric so as to have no weaknesses with Levitate. Giving her something like a Volt Absorb Pokemon to Tera into Flying or Water and negate a weakness wouldn’t have been as “strong,” but I feel it would’ve been more thematically appropriate while requiring players to actually vary their approach a little more.