#its easier plus I think it looks neat

[storybookclan]

Intro

…

Once upon a time, there was a group of cats…

Lignin took care of the younger ones… she named them too when they were given stupid names

She was sad and scared

Page was the youngest… so sweet and kind. He took care of Lignin because she couldn’t take care of herself

He was too pure for the world

Then there was Quill. He was troublesome and fun. Always made everyone smile, even when he was the most annoying thing alive

There seemed to be no end to his energy

And… Ink… he stepped in for Page when she couldn’t do everything… which was almost always…

The others joked that there were hearts on his pelt because he had too much love to contain it all inside him

There was also a cat named Story

…

He was a jerk

[nyatbinary-81]

@vulpixisananimal sifstem art jumpscare!! more specifically i got bored and decided to mess around with sif and mal's outfits.

[rikebe]

couple of ladybug redesigns ive been doodling while stark raving mad about how this show for little kids doesnt have more badass outfits for the characters. i basically take a crack at these every couple of months but this is the first time im really pleased w what i came up with!

i def wanna come back to these and tweak them or come up with more designs for the other characters. and i esp wanna do a hawk moth chloe..........

long winded explanation of my design concepts unser the cut

ladybug - this is kind of my brain process here. her canon design (the worst one in the show imo) just kinda looks like a polkadot onesie so i really wantes to give her more bug-like features. i gave her black eyes bc i think its really cool when miraculiur holders change eye colours to something unnatural and i think its pretty neat and comicbook-y, and also insect-like. i also gave her bug-wing hairclips and changed her pigtails to twin buns so they had more of a shape contrast to the clips. for all wing details i added turquoise as a third colour to give it some SPICE.

my first designs (1-4) went off the idea of a short dress/coat with puff sleeves to suggest the shape of bug-legs, and the coat tails serving as her wings. i think its a cute design that fits marinette's girly style, but i wasn't quite happy with it.

i had the idea of her sleeves serving as her wings instead of her skirt or coat tails, and looked a little into chinese styles of clothing with big sleeves like this to lean more into marinette being half-chinese. i found a style called hanyuansu, which is modern clothes modified with hanfu elements and took inspiration from looking at a few outfits, so i tried a couple different takes. i really like design 6 with the big coat, but it seems really impractical for crime fighting :/ maybe its like a formalwear alt look lol.

7 is my final design that i'm happiest with, as it has all the elements i wanted but is still simple enough to not feel overloaded. i made the yoyo black for a little contrast and just bc i think it looks really cool!

queen bee - chloe was robbed of a character arc and a cool design. i will avenge her.

this ddsign came to me muchhh easier. a beehive hairdo seemed like a no-brainer, as well as fur trims both because she's a bee and because she's a bougie rich girl. i wanted the look to scream elegance and be a little retro and 60ies-inspired to go with her hairdo. the shape and tights are like a cute minidress married to a fur coat meets bee stinger, which is the vibe i want! the gloves are full chic and also sort of like black insect legs.

again a light blue wing detail for a pop of contrast and just because wings are fucking cool, and it gave me an excuse for 60ies inspired blue eyeshadow! yellow eyes cause i love weird eye colours, and it just looks a little creepy and jaundiced hehe

no mask because everyone knows its's her anyways, so why bother? plus masks are sort of annoying to design around lol. i kept her feelers because theyre really cute!

queen bee x butterfly - ive wanted chloe to become the new hawk moth since the concept was teased. well now my heart is broken forever, but i can still dream!! so this is like, an au where she has a full epic villain arc, keeps the bee and also gets the butterfly miraculous and becomes the new big bad!

i kept a lot of thw elements from the queen bee design but modified them. the dress changes shape into something less like a stinger and more like a chic mini winter coat to match the giant fur trim she has now! obviously huge moth wings are a must, and more of a staff than hawk moth's cane because, hey. she's royalty.

her queen bee feelers change to fuzzy moth ones, and the colours are a little different to match better with purple! plus a butterfly mask now, and white eyes with solid yellow irises to diffirenciate her from.......

hawk moth - who is a fashion designer and should really have a better look!

i gave him solid white eyes to make him look less human and goofy, and again for that cool comic-booky look.

i based the whole design on wanting his silouette to mimic thw butterfly miraculous, so i kept and exaggerated his canon lapels and added two pointy coat tails for the bottom of the wings.

the long coat is a bit more dramatique and less basic, and i tried to give his mask a little flourish to keep him from looking so much like a silver thumb.

the only place i kept the silver is for the vest, which is segmented to imitatw to look of a butterfly or moth's belly. i spent the least amount of time on this one but i'm pretty happy with it for a rougher draft than the other three designs.

[greyborn2]

Elisif headcanons now! (friendly tone ofc <3) Why do you think she would be a good marriage candidate? I'm curious :)

Yesssss!!! Okay - so this boils down to two categories. Personal interest in it, and underrated narrative JUICE. Starting with the former because its easier to begin with. So Elisif is just... she's neat. She's simultaneously one of the most politically important people in skyrim while also being COMPLETELY overshadowed by the men around her (Nobody talks about her, really, they talk of Torygg. The civil war isnt her vs ulfric, its TULLIUS vs ulfric. Her own decisions in court the first time we even see her are seemingly overruled on a dime by her own court, by Falk.). Its like she's this big thing of incredible importance and is constantly hidden away both in narrative and in game. But despite that, if you actually sneak in a bit, ignore all the big figures standing in front of her and propping themselves up on top of her, she has a surprising amount of meat to her.

Most of the Jarls are like... a few word summary at best. Greedy idiot boy, honourable honorman, paranoid bigot, old seer, etc etc etc. You get an initial impression of them and thats kinda it. Ulfric has a lot more, obviously, because he's a major character but it would *SEEM* that Elisif should be on the lower end of content. It takes so much to seek her out in her overshadowed little corner after all, but she has so so so much surprising stuff around her. The necromancer potema plot revolves around her, a whole big dialogue tree that isnt super common to see for a jarl, some touching personal quests that go into detail about how she saw her late husband. Its just all super compelling to me to have a character that, despite being so important, is *soooo* hidden away actually have some meat to her. Plus she's just a nice person!!! ANYWAYS!! PART 2!! The JUICE!!

For starters, I think, there should just be more opportunities for the dragonborn to play the political game if they want. Beyond just choosing a side in a war or ticking off their 'thane of everywhere' list, actually getting in on climbing the ladder and enmeshing oneself with the politics of the land they're in. BUT BUT... same can be said for Ulfric. Absolutely true. I do think he should also be a marriage candidate. BUT...

I think Elisif PARTICULARLY makes sense as a marriage opportunity that isn't one you seek out, but one that is put forward to the player. Specifically with an Imperial victory in the civil war.

The war is won. Alduin MAY or MAY NOT be slain. But either way, no matter what, at this point the dragonborn is a war hero, a champion of the people, and decorated imperial legate. And this would be fucking FRIGHTNING, I think, to the politicians back in Cyrodiil. There's a *history* of war hero dragonborns, popular with the people, turning on their commanders and declaring themselves emperor afterall. Oh boy is there a precedent. Suddenly they're the big figure in a war that was supposed to be Tullius' duty and they might start sweating in their boots a little.

SO... after the war is won... the legion starts... pushing. Just a little. A few letters, a few comments, that the dragonborn should maybe marry Elisif. Become High King by marriage. Lock them in and satisfy the war hero with a political title off in the ass end of the empire before they turn their gaze toward a ruby throne. Don't give them time to think on it. Ooooh look tasty treat right here shhhh dont think yes you did very good dragonborn yes yes be high king.

I think from there it could go one of three ways;

1) Last Dragonborn marries Elisif but with her actually agreeing to the union (after completing her personal quests) and she FINALLY steps out of the shadows. Rather than the expected you using her for power, she uses YOU for power. You allow yourself to be the thing she props herself up on and finally really starts coming into public view. Maybe to the nervousness of the Empire as she's a less eager puppet then they might have thought, now.

2) Last Dragonborn falls right into the trap the empire placed. You didnt do the quests for Elisif, she remains in the shadows, there's a loveless marriage and you get to be satisfied with a big title that hopefully keeps you occupied.

3) Last Dragonborn refuses all of this. Things seem to proceed as they do in canon but... well... maybe you notice a few more non-DB assassins using imperial weapons attacking you on the road then you did before. Curious.

[void-chara]

@mcytblrholidayexchange gift for @irrealisms !! you had lots of prompt ideas for writing, but not for art, so i hope you're happy with eclipse federation misery and agony compilation, plus song lyrics

lyric credits: Temporary - Chase Petra / Stranger - The Mechanisms / Easier - The Crane Wives (appears four times) / Two Birds - Regina Spektor / Little Soldiers - The Crane Wives (appears twice) / Heretic Pride - The Mountain Goats

feel free to ask if you want me to adjust some text to make it more readable or something, i think it looks fine but i know different peoples eyes and devices are different, and if i had more time i would definitely have spent more time messing with the colors on everything

speaking. of time. im really sorry i took so long ._. i kind of suck at estimating how long projects will take and how much time i have. thanks for being so patient!!

oh, also, some lyrics and drawings have story reasons for being grouped together, and some went where they looked good. uh. ideally id make sure everything had reason for its location, but this is one area where i did correctly estimate my time, instead of getting stuck in the planning phase.

also in the process of typing all this ive already gone back twice to change stuff in the images and re-add them to the post lol

OH also!! the part where vitalasy jumps off to his death! is as far as i can tell NOT canon accurate!! all the footage shows him jumping off the prison, since thats where he respawns. i didnt think to check this until after id already drawn most of the stuff, and already had the prison drawn, and i didnt want to reorganize the drawing. im telling myself that we only see a few of the later deaths and so theoretically the first one could have been jumping off a grassy ledge somewhere but its still bothering me and i needed to mention it.

anyway yeah really hope you like it i tried some new stuff with this one im not sure how well it turned out and thanks again for being so patient!!

EDITING TO ADD SOME MORE WORDS!!! i love talking about my art! so first, all the text on signs and stuff i did go back and look at videos and vods to make sure was entirely accurate, and i wrote all the words entirely by myself. for the lyrics and other text(death message and DELIVERANCE), i used a text tool first to make sure the words would be neat and where i needed them, and then traced over that on a new layer and deleted the original text layer. my handwritting fucking sucks always no matter what, this was a very necessary step. also! this is officially the first thing i have drawn entirely on my phone, rather than on my ipad like i used to do! also i dont use a stylus of any type i just draw with my finger lol.

[ejaysstuff]

DESIGN REFERENCES FOR LI JINZHA

⚠️NOTE⚠️ I am NOT a researcher, meaning I did not go beyond his baike article for this post, so please don't take this post as a concrete, definite description of Jinzha. Remember that there are different versions of mythology characters all the time, and these are simply some of them. I'm only making this so others can have a starting point in designing him!

Any rbs with corrections/additions are highly welcome!!

Throughout my year of Li Brother Illness TM, I've seen some li brother designs which always makes me incredibly happy. However, I still thought it'd be neat if I shared some stuff that helped inspire my headcannons/designs of the li siblings. This one will be about Jinzha!

I hope this gives a little more insight to my beloveds while also generating more ideas for them <33

Jinzha is described as a handsome young man who wears light yellow/white Taoist robes. Sometimes the ends of his Daoist robes is drawn poofy which is so cute,, he is also depicted wearing a golden hair crown (束发金冠). Other figures like Sun Wukong and Lu Bu wear this too, but with pheasant feathers attached to it

There are also designs that depict him in armor!

SNAKES (蛇）

This is an older version of Jinzha, Bodhisattva Jundali Mingwang. He is a Buddhist figure, and can be seen decorated with red snakes and yellow-collared snakes around his body. He also has a spirit snake (灵蛇), which could either mean a magical snake or a fast and precise one. He uses it as a weapon, which I think means he flings the lil guy at his opponent and it just starts biting them (erlang shen strat with his dog)

While this isn't fsyy Jinzha, I still think it'd be neat to include snake motifs in Jinzha's design more,, plus I think it'd tie in nicely with his Dragon Stake :)

(Bodhisattva Jundali also wields other weapons such as a spear, a whip and a polearm that looks similar to a halberd (戟). Jinzha doesn't have any of these in fsyy, but just gonna put these here if you want more weapons to draw him with :>)

DRAGON STAKE (遁龙桩)

I've shown this weapon briefly here, but I'll show it again so it's much more organized! The Dragon Stake appears time to time in fsyy alongside Jinzha's swords, and is a weapon that can bind any opponent. It's commonly depicted as a pole with three rings. It seems to be able to change its size, growing bigger when in use. In fsyy, Jinzha would sometimes bind the enemy first with the Dragon Stake before finishing them off with his swords.

I was luckily able to find an illustration showing how it looks like in action!

This weapon was used by Jinzha's master before it was passed onto Jinzha. It's also what was used to subdue Nezha when he tried to kill Li Jing

More illustrations with Jinzha holding it:

more illustrations of Jinzha and the stake!

(^illustration credits: 苍狼野兽 on weibo)

VASE OF SWEET DEW (甘露宝瓶)

(For those who use his wikipedia article, the 'Ganlu Treasure Vase' is this.)

甘露 gān lù, meaning sweet dew, is a special substance that functions like holy water. It is contained in a vase, and Bodhisattva Jundali used this to defeat demons. This one doesn't seem to have a particular design, but it looks similar to the one that Bodhisattva Guanyin holds in her hand.

I did find some variations of it online though!

I hope this can give more ideas when drawing Jinzha! There aren't many english sources about him, so maybe this helps make researching a little easier <33

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Raven-san you need to stop gaslighting yourself his hair is atrocious! OTL Its like rock paper scissors, and he lost to the scissors type of bad.

[Referencing this post!]

NO I SWEAR THAT iT ADDS TO HIS cHARACTER 😭 (I mean, I won’t pass up an opportunity to bully him for his haircut but I’ll still defend it with my life—)

It just suits him in a way that’s hard to put into words. Like, I can’t see him in any other hairstyle, it fits his neat and tidy look so well. But it also??? Sort of makes him look like a pathetic little constantly angry cat looking for something to claw into… which, again, is super fitting. I sadly find something oddly endearing about it 😔 It’s a resonant chaotic energy that matches up with how fucked up his character is… It’s got strong gap moe 💕 PLUS THE MORE FOREHEAD THERE IS, THE EASIER IT IS TO KISS—

I want to add that there might be a cultural disconnect regarding the haircut. Many of the TWST fans I’ve interacted with are predominantly English-speaking—and the kind of haircut Rollo has is rarely seen in those circles. I wasn’t as shocked or as put off by his hair at first because (at least from my own cultural background) it’s not uncommon to see little boys and young men with similar-looking hairdos. I’m more used to seeing it around, so I’m not as offended by it. This is also true of Rook’s bob cut, which is not typically found in western cultures on men but has a place in Asia. (Of course, there’s going to be people from the same background as me who think Rollo’s hair is ugly. I’m only speaking for myself in this post, not them.)

I personally find Malleus, Jack, and Trey's hair to be much more unappealing than Rollo’s 💀 Malleus and Jack basically have mullets, while Trey’s is super short and reminds me of a freshly mowed lawn.

[discet]

Was Joe Sparrow planned to show up in the Newtopia Arc, before the Journal was released?

It's interesting to not have him now because our heroes can't easily travel back and forth to one location like in Canon. They have to be a bit more tactical in the route they take. Plus it lets Sasha use the skills she grabbed while being on the road with Yunan, which is fun to see.

In a way this kinda fixes a problem I heard people talk about with Joe. In that, he sort of breaks Amphibia's scale because the characters get to pretty much instant transmission to anywhere in the world. It's a complaint I never agreed but I always found it interesting.

Was Joe Sparrow planned to show up in the Newtopia Arc, before the Journal was released?

He was! I actually had a whole bunch of neat bird lore in my back pocket before the journal came out.

Tamed birds were going to be an extremely rare and valuable resource in Amphibia. They bonded to a rider for life. There was going to be a young starry eyed member of the knight guard who was Joe's rider in the AU. I was going to heavily implied was killed by Andrias in canon to gift Joe to Marcy. (He didn't do the same with Sasha in the AU since in their manipulation game he didn't want to show how important the box was to him.)

Ultimately when the book came out, the idea of there just not being a stable group of flyers simplified a lot of things. It was a lot easier to justify why Sasha and Yunan were on foot.

In a way this kinda fixes a problem I heard people talk about with Joe. In that, he sort of breaks Amphibia's scale because the characters get to pretty much instant transmission to anywhere in the world. It's a complaint I never agreed but I always found it interesting.

Yeah, I don't think that's on Joe, Early season 2 establishes the scale in Amphibia through the road trip to the capital. Joe traveling to the radically different environments in season 2 also establishes how far away they are from the familiar set pieces of Wartwood and Newtopia.

I think 3b really messes with the scale of the setting more than anything. Specifically Root of All Evil, Newts in Tights, and Beginning of the End.

The first two the locations feel increadibly generic and its hard to guess if they are supposed to be in the valley (like most of 3b) or a great distance from the valley, looking abroad for recruits. They seem to be going by cart so how far could they be? From what I recall the dialogue feels like they are far from home, but it doesn't really feel grounded in a place like the road trip episodes from 2a did

The more egregious offesnder though is Beginning of the End. Which, despite being a favorite of mine for the rest of what happens, has the entire resistance army marching, on foot, from their base under the Plantar's house in the valley to just outside the gates of Newtopia in less than a day(You can see the ruined capital behind Andrias's army). This kind of breaks everything since it took Anne and the Plantars what felt like Weeks in Season 2 to get there casually and at least a week to get back with no distractions.

[kay-elle-cee]

Re: the oneshots posts!

I am super pro posting separately. It's always been like that. FF.net actually forbids multiple oneshots in multichapter format, if I'm not mistaken.

I believe that posting and archiving fics is supposed to accommodate the reader, more than the author. And as a predominantly short story reader (and writer), I can attest that it's much easier to find what you're looking for in a much bigger pile of stories, but where each one has its own length and tags and summary, than it is to rummage through multichaptered collections.

Plus I think short stories deserve love and visibility each in their own right!

The only advantage of grouping the short stories together is that the author's page looks less cluttered, I guess? But it's like - having your clothes neatly organized in a wooden closet. It looks nice and neat, but if you're looking for something, you have to open it and make a mess. Whereas putting everything separately is hanging them in an open rack. It's no coincidence that they have open racks at the shops! They may look messier, but it's easier to pick and choose. And readers want that option. :)

Just my two cents 😊😘

I love this, Anna, thanks for chiming in! I’m definitely not someone who uses the search function often on ao3, but you make really good points. I’m definitely thinking about this leading into Jilytober since I’m doing the 31 prompts again (though, in my head I definitely like, see it as a collection around a theme even though they’re independent from each other plot-wise.)

(And yes I know that’s what series are for but the thought of adding 31 fics in one month gives me hives 😅)

[pup-pee]

HAIIII :3 SPINS U!!!! HOW DO U MAKE UR BUTTONSSS, THEYRE SO NEAT ^_^

HAWOO!!! SPINS BACK @ U TYSM AA （＾∀＾●）ﾉｼ

NGL MY PROCESS IS SO MESSY(as in IM MEsSY & CANT EXPLAIN COHERENTLY) BUT ILL TRY 2 EXPLAIN IT!

((this got unnecessarily long bc i like 2 ramble so im doing this))

so-SO 1st is that all i was just handed a cookie hold on ok cookie ate i 4got what i was OH RIGHT OK SO ALL OF MY DRAWINGS R 1000 x 1000 pixals! or most @ least, so i have a consistent size 4 each of my buttons

HERES THE TIMBER BUTTON IM MAKING!! i dont use bigger canvus bc my phone will explode in not the silly way but i also like how it turns out!

i draw everything in ibis then like copy + paste it in2 google docs where i can size them! i usually make them a bit bigger than whats listed, 4 example 2.5 inch buttons r printed in 2.55/2.6 inches if that makes any sense (￣▽￣)"

i also select break text bc i tetris them around

then i print them out & use a cookie cutter thing 2 cut them out! i have a button pressing machine(all manual bc im not that rich) so its all about sandwiching from there

i could fill the whole page w/that pink background to give me a "cleaner" result but honestly i dont think it changes anything? as long as u dont see the white on the front. but it IS easier 2 cut it out if the border is thicker(which is y i add a border in the 1st place plus it looks neat!)

((this 1 got messed up in printing but since im not selling it i rly dont care LOOK @ THE CUTIES!)

sometimes the machine cramps up or i will 4get the film ontop so i have 2 redo the entire process again but i like repeated activities!

ISTG THEY LOOK SO MUHC BETTER IRL MY CAMERAS JUST SHIT & I HAVE NO LIGHT LSKAHFKD BUT YEAH!!!

did this make any goddamn sense? i hope so. btw my button machines name is huey :3

this coouldve been more of an ask on how i draw my buttons but ong thats even mroe boring so- dsakjdghj cause it literally jsut consists of me listening 2 wtnv dramatically & drawing @ like 1 am 4 4 hrs straight

KHFSKAG ANYWAYS I HOPE THIS ANSWERED SOMETHING!! SRRY 4 THE LONG(GER) POST TY 4 HTE ASK AGAIN! q(≧▽≦q)

[fishing-croagunk]

Game Clearing 2024: A Retrospective

You know the drill by now, it's time to go over all those games I played and beat this year.

More detail about my experiences with each game under the cut.

her tears were my light - Jan 8 - Jan 8

Starting off with a game I planned to play last year, but just didn't for some reason. Back in 2022, I played BAD END THEATER by NomNomNami, and I really liked and alluded to trying out some of her other games. As of writing, this is the only other one to be released on Steam so far (though a lot more are available on itch). And, I also really liked it. It's a nice little game, and I would recommend checking it out. Of course, I am purposefully being light on details since I want you go in as blind as possible.

New Zealand Story: Revolution - Jan 11 - Jan 12

When I originally purchased this, I was wondering how much it was changed. It seems like not too much, as it seems almost all of the levels retained their layout from the arcade original. They even have the Heaven levels, which I was pretty surprised about, since this game has infinite continues and a level select. Since it's on the DS, they added in a lot of minigames that use the Touch Screen. Things like Spot the Difference, launching Tiki upwards, and a balancing act. These mini games are fine, but there's one issue with them. Sometimes, winning them will warp you to another level. This means if you want to save the Kiwi, you sometimes need to intentionally lose these minigames to progress in the level, which is a bit counterintuitive. There is a reason to do this, as saving every Kiwi in every level unlocks Expert Mode, where Tiki turns magenta and more enemies spawn. I would not say the Expert Mode much harder than the regular stages, except for a couple chokepoints caused by the increased enemies. I would definitely recommend this version, if you can look past the touch controls.

Tetris Plus - Jan 14 - Jan 18

An arcade game that made its way to home consoles (and the Game Boy), I quite liked it. The meat and potatoes of this game is the Puzzle Mode, where you guide the Professor through a board and to the goal. The professor can climb and fall off of blocks, so in some stages it's easier to have him climb rather clear lines. These strategies really only work if you get the right pieces, and the game's piece rotation means that you may be waiting a while for the only piece that can clear a line for you while hoping the ceiling doesn't come crashing down first. One minor complaint is that since the first few worlds can be played in any order, they all start super easy. Despite being based on an Arcade game, the offers infinite tries, and you can even save your progress. Other than a versus mode and classic Tetris, there's also an edit mode where you can create your own levels, which I think is really neat. I'd say the Puzzle Mode is worth checking out. Also, outside of an arcade-only sequel, the Professor and the Assistant haven't appeared in any other Tetris games which is a bit of a shame as these two are the closest thing Tetris has to mascots (unless you count the SS Tetra crew)…

Cult of the Lamb - Jan 19 - Jan 21

It was pretty fun returning to this game again. Overall, I would say that I like a lot of things added, like the outfits and the drinking. Part of me did wish had more to do on the crusade-side, other than completing Purgatory lines. I did not unlock everything that was added, and that was largely due to me knowing I have a lot of new games to check out. Still, if they are continuing to add content to the game, I'm still gonna come back every while to check it out!

New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe - Feb 10 - Feb 22

Ah yes, the New Soup series. I really like it, and had a lot of fun revisiting Mario U and Luigi U. Honestly, I would have done that even if I don't log my game clearing. I did like playing as Toadette (who I main in a lot of the spinoff titles), even if does trivialize some levels. I also decided to check out the side content, since I literally have no memory of ever playing it. Boost Rush is a perfectly fine mode, and I'd imagine it'd be more fun with friends. The challenges however, are awful. A lot of them take stages from the Story Mode, and add a twist. There's the ones where you run through a course as fast as possible, but most of them don't feel like they were designed with speed in mind. Stringing one-ups off of one series of bounces, collecting coins or avoiding them. Many of them were a pain to just complete, I can not imagine going for a Silver or Gold Medal on all of them! With all that said, since this makes up a very, very small portion of the game (and one I'd recommend skipping completely), I would say I really enjoyed playing New Soup again.

ALIEN XENOBLASTER - Feb 22 - Feb 24

Definitely one of my favorites so far. If I had to describe this game, I would say it's like Donkey Kong, but you have a gun. And you are not Mario, you're trying to stop everyone from reaching Pauline. The enemies come out in waves, and your gun has limited ammo, so make sure you have time to restock before a Goob reaches your cardboard cutout. It's pretty addicting, and I liked the little cutscenes before each boss battle. Oh, and you can play as Peppino and Annalynn, alongside other guest characters. I'm a bit sad more people aren't talking about it, so I'd definitely recommend this one, no notes. Also, this game may be receiving updates in the future, so I might talk about this game again.

Pokemon: Kanto Expansion Pak - Feb 25 - Mar 1

Ah yes, a romhack I was looking forward to ever since it was announced. You might think this would just add in some new mons and call it a day, but no! This hack has new areas, new trainers, and new music, just to name a few. I'm intentionally being vague again since I want more people to go into this blind, but I would definitely recommend it.

Ufouria: The Saga 2 - Mar 9 - Mar 12

I was very excited when this was announced, as I personally consider the NES original to be one of my favorites for the system. And really enjoyed the sequel! It has just as much charm as the original, and the art style is wonderful. I did not care for the achievement that required you to grind coins, but that's completely optional anyway.

Pizza Tower - Mar 13 - Mar 25

It's time to bring the Noise. I was very happy when this came out, mainly because it gave me an excuse to play Pizza Tower again. The Noise's moveset is pretty different from Peppino's, but once you get acquainted with it, it's downright fun. I don't know if there's going to be any more updates to this game or if they're moving onto a new project, but either way I can't wait to see what these devs make next!

Donut Dodo - Mar 29 - Mar 29

Oh boy another arcade-style game! But for whatever reason, the game just never clicked with me. The gameplay's alright, the music and art is good, but I just thought it was okay. To the point where after beating the game once, I felt like moving on. I'd definitely say to try it out, maybe you'll like it more than I did.

Pokemon Silver '97 Reforged - Apr 11 - Apr 17

I really love the unused and beta content in games. And one good example of this is the Spaceworld Demos of Gold and Silver, which were wildly different from the versions we all know today. So naturally a romhack exists that takes these early concepts and turns them into a full fleded game. And this romhack does a great job at that! It's honestly great just going through the early version of the region and seeing / using early designs of mons, as well as mons that never got to exist. Honestly, if this was the game I got to play all those years ago as Gold and Silver, I probably would have loved Gen 2 as much as I do now!

Dangeresque: The Roomisode Triungulate - Apr 17 - Apr 17 & May 27 - May 27 & Jun 27 - Jun 27

I love Homestar Runner. One of my earliest memories online was watching toons on the site, back when Flash was all the rage. And while I never got the chance to play the Telltale Homestar games, I liked checking out this little point-and-click adventure. It's a bit short, but it also has plenty of jokes in it, and a lot of that brand humor I've come to love to the Brothers Chaps. I'd honestly say to play this even if you don't know Homestar Runner. Additionally, the game got two major updates, one Roomisode with Dangeresque Too and the ability to finally play Rig Rug!

Mario Vs. Donkey Kong - Apr 25 - Apr 26

For someone who played the GBA original last year, I was hesitant to play through it again. But then I saw that they added more levels and made some improvements (like removing the score system). The original levels played just as good as they did on GBA, although that might be because I sort of remember what I needed to do. The Plus levels didn't feel nearly as painful for similar reasons. I really liked the two new worlds added, they really fit the feel of the other levels. Plus, I also got to try the Expert levels, which were not as bad as I'd thought they be. I honestly hope they'll make a sequel to this that focuses on the puzzle platforming and not become Lemmings for some reason.

Gimmick! Special Edition - May 1 - May 1

I've played a few of Sunsoft's older titles, but Gimmick is one I've never got around to, until I saw it on Steam. While it is just an NES game, the ability to use save states and rewinds is a nice feature. I would definitely say to pick it up or to play it if you can.

Wario Land 4 - May 4 - May 5

After not playing any of the Wario Land games, I decided to finally rectify that by playing this. And I really liked it! The movement, the transformations, the exploration, it's all so great! I also found the escape sequences to be fun as well. I can definitely see myself playing through this one multiple times!

Gauntlet Dark Legacy - May 7 - Jun 5

This one's a bit of an interesting inclusion. So I actually host Parsec sessions my buddy Nyte (aka Spycrab). And up to that point we've only done Mario Party, but then he encourages me to check out this arcady action adventure RPG, and it was amazing. We ended up playing through with two other friends during our adventure, and it definitely added to the experience. There's so many classes to choose from, so many places to explore, and plenty of stuff to do as you gain exp and gold. Even if you can't find anyone else to play with you, I'd still recommend it.

Grapple Dog - May 8 - May 10

Momentum is what makes or breaks a good platformer. And what would be better for momentum than swinging around on a grappling hook! That's the core mechanic of this game, and not only is it fun to swing around, but the levels are designed to take what you know about Pablo and his grappling hook and take it into directions that makes each world feel great, but one gimmick never overstays it welcome. If you're a big fan of platformers, go pick this up now. And apparently they're working on a sequel, so this definitely won't be the last time you hear about Pablo.

Pokemon White - May 19 - Jun 15

As you can probably tell, I am a huge fan of Pokemon, but for some reason never played Gen V. And I can safely say kid me was missing out. I like the world of Unova, I like the story and the characters, the gameplay is great. There's a reason why many people say Gen V is the peak of Pokemon, and I agree with them.

Mr. Driller DrillLand - May 27 - May 29

Mr. Driller is a series I know vaguely about, so I was definitely curious when they re-released a Japan-only GameCube title to Steam, though this time everyone gets to play it. While I do suck at this game, I quite like how each of the attractions puts their own spin on the formula. Maybe I'll play another game in the series, maybe Namco Bandai will release another game if this sells well. Either way, this game's quite good.

VIVIDLOPE - Jun 25 - Jul 1 & Nov 29 - Nov 30

Of all of the games I've played this year this is definitely a unique one. The game is itself is a like a mix between Q*Bert and Vib-Ripple, for the people out there that have played the latter. I really enjoyed the game, although I did have to switch to a lower difficulty for some of the later levels. I am quite glad that switching to Easy mode and using items has no real penalty other than rankings. While I don't see myself getting all V-Ranks, I might try to get all S-Ranks someday. Additionally, there's a couple extra modes that are also great. Later I came back to play the new update, tying into the Swtich port. Adding in Miss Noir as playable character, and a ton of QoL changes. There's also the X levels, which are scrapped levels, which are probably the hardest levels in game, although the reward you get for beating all of them is really cool. It's a shame more people aren't talking about this one, so it's a strong recommend for me.

Pokemon Emerald Rogue - Jul 2 - Jul 5

It's rare for me to revisit a romhack, but Emerald Rogue received a major update that makes the previous version look barebones by comparison. A re-done hometown, more places to explore, and we're up to Gen 9 now. There's also plenty of ways to customize your adventure, beyond just difficulty settings. If you like Pokemon or Rougelikes, I can't recommend this hack enough.

The Simpsons Game - Jul 7 - Jul 14

Out of the dozens of Simpsons video games out there, there's usually three (four if you count the arcade game) that are generally considered to great: Road Rage, Hit & Run, and The Simpsons Game. And finally getting to play it for myself, I can definitely see why. The writing and humor is spot-on, with plenty of moments that'll get at least a chuckle outta you. The gamelay is alright, you get to play as all of the Simpsons family, and they each have unique abilities that spice up the platforming and puzzle-solving. Generally I'd say to check this out if you're a fan of the show. Also, I played the PS2 version, thinking that the removal of the hub area being the only major change, only to learn that a lot more was changed between generations, including mechanics and entire sections of levels altered or removed altogether. That being said, I do think both versions are good, though I might have to check out the newer gen version at a later date.

Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore - Aug 8 - Aug 8

The CD-i games are legendary, and while I've heard the gameplay is actually decent, most people remember them for the cutscenes. Arzette is a very solid spiritual successor to those games, improving and expanding on the gameplay of Wand of Gamelon and Faces of Evil. There's also a bit of Hotel Mario sprinkled in there for good measure. However, I do think this game definitely stands by itself, with its plot, characters, and music. Honestly, even if you have no experience with the CD-i games, I'd still strongly recommend it!

Wario Land: Shake It! - Aug 24 - Aug 31

I remember wanting to play this one back during the lifespan of the Wii, and finally getting to play it now, it's a very solid game. I think it plays with the formula well, and the motion controls do not take away from the experience! I really liked the secret levels, and the bosses. I did not feel compelled to do the missions, but I did enjoy the little puzzles involved with getting the treasures. Honestly, I think you'll have a good time even if you don't care about completion, largely due to fun levels and wonderful art style.

Demon Turf - Sep 7 - Oct 7

I've played quite a couple of 3D platformers, but I really like how this game takes that formula. Beebz' kit is very fun to use, and the platforming will let truly understand just how wild your moveset is. While I don't care for side content, I do think some of things on offer are neat, even if I don't care to complete it. The game's humor is also excellent, it's worth stopping to chat to the locals of the levels, they've usually got something neat to say. If you like 3D Platformers, I would certainly recommend trying this one out.

Monster Party - Oct 8 - Oct 8

With the Halloween season upon us, it felt appropriate to finally tackle this cult classic. I've seen a few Let's Plays of it way back when, but never played it myself. The levels themselves are fine (outside of the damn labyrinth), but that's not why you play this, you play for it the bosses. Highlights for me have to be the Already-Dead Spider, the Dancing Zombies, the Evil Cat, and the Fried Foods. I would say the game gets easier and harder in the later levels. Easier, since the game starts giving out pills like candy (cause even the devs know trying beat bosses with Mark is a pain in the ass). Harder, because they get really stingy with health pickups, and Bert's laser goes from a quick shot that shoots straight, to a slow wave shot that can whiff very easily. Despite all of that, I would still recommend playing this game, as it's a short adventure, especially if you use save states.

Papa's Freezeria Deluxe - Oct 10 - Oct 14

I have never played any of the Papa Louie games. While I'm sure plenty of people have memories of playing the games on websites in computer labs, I never did that back when was in school (mainly because we played Melee during lunch period and had Quake 3 Arena on every school computer). However, when I saw that one of the games was heading to PC, I knew I had to pick it up. The formula is pretty simple, but man is it fun and addictive. This game is also very casual, as messing up an order only results in a lower score and tip. I'd say to try out any game in this series, as they recently released a new entry where you make ice pops. It's only on mobile though, which is a bit of a shame, as I'd love to see more of their library get ported to PC (like those platformer games that are no longer playable).

Boogerman: A Pick and Flick Adventure - Oct 15 - Oct 16

I've always wanted to check out Boogerman, after playing as him in Clayfighter. And, seeing as I have played the Earthworm Jim games, it was about time to get messy. And boy, is this game kinda rough. Power-ups are usually scarce, but getting hit once loses them, and you start at two, but can get up to three. As his name would suggest, the boogers are your go-to weapon, a quick projectile that gets better with milk. The gas is very situational, either needing to be charged, or so close ranged you're gonna get hit using it. The only time I use it is with a pepper, to fly over enemies. There's also bonus routes, but they're more likely to get you killed than reward you. The mountains are probably the worst levels, as you are pelted with rocks most of the way, and one missed jump can mean losing a lot of progress. Also, no continues and you get a password when you game over, but if you'll probably be on an emulator with save states anyways. I would only recommend this people who think they have the stomach, and I ain't taking about the gross visuals.

Backyard Baseball 2005 - Oct 23 - Oct 25

I have a lot of nostalgia for the Backyard Sports series, my brother and I played them since the first game. Although in my case I watched him play most of the time, as I was too young to use a computer. We even still have all of the CD-Roms, though we stopped buying them when Humongous was no longer the developers. With Backyard Sports apparently coming back, I was hankering to play one of them again. I have the most nostalgia for the 3D games, Baseball 2005 especially. I had never unlocked everything in one of these games nor finish a season, so I was determined to do both. And it was just as fun as I remembered! While there was a bit of jank sometimes, I was also playing this on Windows 10, on a disc I can best describe as "well-loved", via a USB disc drive. I would honestly recommend trying any of the Backyard Sports titles, especially with some of them coming to Steam. Will I be playing through any of them here? Perhaps.

Super Mario RPG - Oct 28 - Nov 3

Here's a game I've heard get universally praised, but I've never played. Actually, I have played the SNES original before, but that was back when ZNES was the go-to emulator, and I don't think I got far. Finally getting to play it now, it might be my favorite game I've played this year. The mechanics really clicked with me, I enjoyed the story, and the game is beautiful. While I have very little experience with the original, I do think most if not all of the changes and additions add to game's overall experience. Regardless if you've played the SNES version, if you've got a Switch, I can't recommend this one enough! A Super Mario RPG remake was seen as a pipe dream for some time, and this game is certainly a dream come true!

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga - Nov 6 - Nov 11

I've never actually played any Mario & Luigi title. So with this coming to NSO, and Brothership coming out to unanimous praise, I knew I had to finally play one of these. And yeah, I can see how this game created its own series. Funny writing, dope mechanics, and a fun world to explore. The minigames were fine, though I never wanted to play any of them more than once. Definitely worth checking this one out (or its remake). Now, will I play Brothership, and any of the games in between? Definitely, and probably.

Sonic Frontiers - Nov 12 - Nov 19

I haven't played that many Sonic games, but I heard good things about it, so picked it up. While I usually don't care for open-world games, I liked it here, even if I have no desire to fully complete it. I enjoyed the various puzzles and levels, and the boss fights were cool, although it got kinda annoying when I was running to get some place, only to have stop because I've entered a boss's arena. Story was also pretty good, though I don't want to spoil anything here. And before you ask, I have also played the Final Horizon, thought it was really cool, and it somehow ended the game on an even higher note for me.

Mendel Palace - Nov 26 - Nov 26

It's sometimes hard to remember that Game Freak makes games outside of Pokemon. Many of them are still held in high regard, such as this one, which is their first one. The game is simple, but challenging: flip tiles and slam the enemies into the walls. Learn what the various enemies do and capitalize on the various tile types. You also get infinite continues, so you don't have to worry about losing progress when you game over. There's roughly a hundred levels to play through, so it'll probably take you an afternoon to beat it. One interesting thing is the Extra Mode, which removes the map menu, but gives you 100 new levels to play, all of them much, harder than the base game! Do you unlock it by beating the game? No. You gotta hold START and SELECT as the game boots up. No idea how anyone was supposed to know that, but I would certainly recommend trying this mode. Additionally, there's also a whole manga about the characters in the game, which apparently ran for a few years, and to my knowledge has not been translated. If I had a nickel for every time a video game got a comic about it afterwards, I'd have two nickels. Either way, a strong recommend from me, especially if you like NES titles.

And here is the year end tierlist. Since I don't really play "bad games", the C and D tiers are a bit misleading. Nothing I've played would receive less than a 5 / 10.

[ladyappletun]

Pokémon Improvements I Loved

Gold to Ruby

The MUSIC! I never thought I was the biggest fan of RSE's soundtrack (I think my favorites are DPPt, HGSS, and XY), but just hearing the improvement in the quality of the music, seeing how the composers could play with more instruments and parts to make the music more dynamic, was really cool. I was particularly fond of the Dive theme.

RUNNING SHOES!!! It is soooo nice to be able to go fast without getting on and off the bike constantly. I'm not sure running had to be associated with an item, especially these days, but just the fact that you can run at all and run so easily was wonderful.

Being able to choose your gender. It's kind of wild how, 20 years ago, having the choice between a boy and girl player avatar was a big deal, especially because games nowadays are kind of moving away from that (e.g., in Animal Crossing New Horizons, you're prompted to choose your "style" instead of your gender, and you can change it at any time). But for me at least, being able to play as a girl is nice. I could mostly ignore the fact that you have to play as a boy in RBY, but in Gold and Silver, there's quite a bit of gendered language and it just took me by surprise. My favorite is when you battle Blue; before the fight, he says "Ready, Johto boy?" P.S. I know you could play as a girl in Crystal, but since I played Gold as my Gen II game, this is the first time I'm getting the option.

The game makes it much clearer when an attack misses and when an attack doesn't affect the opponent. In Gens I and II, if an attack misses or it doesn't affect the opponent (like, using a ground move on a flying type), the game just says "It didn't affect ____!" It was really unclear to me, so I'm glad they finally changed it in Gen III.

When you're going to teach a Pokémon a new move, the game shows you a screen with all its current moves and the new one. You can see all the moves' power and accuracy, so you can make an informed choice about which moves you want your Pokémon to have.

The little pop-ups that tell you what route or town you're (again, I know this was added in Crystal, see my point on gender above).

Every city has unique houses, which really sets them apart from each other.

Dive is a really cool concept as an HM. Unfortunately, I didn't end up using it that much, because I didn't have enough patience to deal with the slow movement speed. But it's such a neat idea! Diving underwater to discover new Pokémon and hidden caves (especially as a part of the Regi Trio side quest) made me feel like I was discovering an uncharted new world. I'm looking forward to diving more in ORAS, where your character will hopefully move faster than in the originals.

Double battles! As I've said before, I'm not a huge fan of the meta game, but double battles give a lot more variety for Pokémon. It's nice to just have a different style of battling in the main game from time to time. Plus, at least in later games if not this one, you can team up with a friend in multiplayer battles, so battling with your friends can be a teamwork experience or an adversarial one.

Every Pokémon has a unique sprite in the party menu. It's nothing particularly mind-blowing, but it's a nice touch.

The PC's Pokémon storage system! God, it is so much easier to organize your Pokémon into little boxes instead of having a bunch of lists to navigate. It makes the Boxes feel much bigger, too, like you can store more Pokémon than you used to.

[frankzcollection]

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[a-pale-azure-moon]

Random TotK Thoughts #5

Sheesh, it's been forever since I made mention of my progress. I'm bumping against the 200 hour mark and I am somehow still not bored. At all. I'm not done with the main story either, though I've found all the Dragon's Tears and done the four regional phenomena. I'm at 143 shrines completed, 83 lightroots found (finally making some progress in mapping the Depths), and 402 Koroks collected (no I am not aiming to find all of those, just what I need to get all the inventory upgrades).

I'll cover my thoughts on the Dragon's Tears in a different post, so this will be primarily about the Gerudo section and what happens when you complete the four regions.

-The Gerudo section started off a bit disappointing with the main obstacle being a sandstorm again, only worse than before. I did get pleasantly startled encountering Gibdos though, given that it's been awhile since their last appearance. Glad that I had a ton of fire fruits on hand!

-I'm relieved that Link no longer has to change clothes to enter Gerudo town, because that got annoying in a hurry when it was still required even after clearing the Divine Beast in BotW. I do miss having the disguise itself though, since he looked very cute in it, plus it was free heat protection even if its defensive stats sucked.

-Seeing the Gerudo hub as a ghost town was great for establishing the creepy atmosphere. And then finding the underground shelter was neat, if a bit predictable. I'm not saying I want the Gerudo to come to harm, but finding out everyone's fine chilling underground does undercut some of the spookiness of the zombie village above.

-Riju got a lot taller. Everyone in this game is taller than Link except for small children (and I think Robbie and Josha?), which is hilarious to me. Her ability is pretty cool, though really none of the other three come close to matching Tulin's utility.

-I really enjoyed the segments where you protect Kara Kara and then Gerudo Town from the Gibdo hoards. They fun and frantic but not in a way that felt overwhelming. I wish there was a way to repeat the town siege to see if choosing different groups to protect different gates made things easier or more challenging.

-I also liked finding and networking the various mirrors in the desert. It felt more in the vein of a classic Zelda puzzle, and then that shot of the Lightning Temple rising out of the sands was appropriately epic. I also liked that you confront the boss outside before she retreats to the temple. That was more interesting than the lame minibosses in the Goron and Zora sections, or hunting down random mooks in the Rito section.

-I'd heard stories that the Lightning Temple was the one most like a classic Zelda dungeon. I can see where people said that, but...eh, it's still definitely a BotW/TotK dungeon. Networking mirrors/manipulating light beams was a nice nostalgic callback, but I thought it was done better in previous games. (particularly the Ikana Canyon/Stone Tower area in Majora) The Temple certainly had a grand scale that I appreciated, but it seemed very empty, and once again it was just a matter of figuring out how to reach certain points so you could use the Sage's ability to activate a device. I finished this dungeon the fastest of the four.

-Queen Gibdo was a chaotic boss that was satisfying to beat but also very annoying, especially since I spent a good part of the fight chasing Riju down. It wasn't nearly as annoying as Mucktorok (thank god), but Colgera definitely sits as the best boss of the four regions, and the competition isn't even close.

-Why did we have to watch the same post-dungeon cutscene four times? There had to be a way to modify this part dependent on whether or not you've completed another region already. I've been craving some new insights or information about the Imprisoning War but each time I got bupkis.

-Overall, I give the whole Gerudo scenario a B+. I can't definitively say that I liked it better than the Zora section, but I liked it just as much.

-Naturally, I had to spend several hours running around hunting for shrines and farming for materials before I returned to Lookout Landing. The whole "evil Zelda" thing is the weakest part of this game's story; even if I hadn't already found all the Dragon's Tears at this point, I was never fooled into thinking this was the real Zelda. I suspect that no one else was either. I wish they'd cut out this thread entirely, or at least re-worked it so it was far less contrived.

-I like that they removed "Zelda" from the blood moon cutscene after this event. That's a nice detail.

-The best part of chasing fake Zelda was that I got to collect a bunch of monster parts quickly. I also found some great weapons scattered throughout the castle that I missed on the cursory pass I did much earlier on (I'm still carrying around the first Dusk Bow I found sometime after I finished the Wind Temple).

-I enjoyed the Phantom Ganon fight. It might've been more of a surprise if I hadn't already encountered him from the Grabby Hands, but at least this wasn't just a bland repeat of those encounters. Liked having all the Sages show up for a Power of Friendship moment too.

-I'm obsessed with the demonic horse Ganon was riding in the following cutscene. I desperately want to be able to tame and catch that beast because it looks amazing. I'd give it an ill-fitting name like Sugarcube and parade it all around Hyrule.

-I've just barely started the fifth Sage quest, in that I found the special clothes and cleared the storm from the sky islands. Since I'm invested in trying to clean up the remaining shrines and lightroots, it'll probably be awhile before I finish this quest. Even with Mario Wonder and the Mario RPG remake looming, I'm still enjoying TotK too much to want to rush to the end. Yes, even after 200 hours. It's going to easily overtake my BotW playtime at this rate, and that's assuming there really won't be any DLC.

[wormsgame]

In September of 2015, Worms 4 released... no not THAT Worms 4. Not to be confused with Worms 4: Mayhem in 2005 (but not your fault if you do), this was the sequel to Worms 3 (the mobile game, not Worms 3D) and was an attempt at making the definitive Worms mobile experience, seeing how Worms 3 didn't really do much to make it more mobile friendly other than improved controls. The game also has a weird sorta polygonal artstyle.

Shorter matches, smaller landscapes and teams of only 3 worms with only 1v1 matches matches available. not the best for a Worms game but understandable for what they were doing. Its definitely meant to be a "pick up and play" sorta deal, with menus being extremely easy to quickly get into a match, unfortunately also meaning a lack of most scheme options which sucks. Asynchronous play was also removed though, which is kinda weird for what they were going for. Classes and Cards were also removed but we all kinda saw that coming.

Most of the weapons & utilities are returning ones from Worms 3, plus the Flamethrower. Alongside those, there were 2 new weapons at launch, being Hailey's Comet, a teddy bear that causes an exploding girl to drop down from the sky and the Dice, which the size of the explosion depended on the number it landed on. Two more were added in updates, being the Voodoo Doll, which if an enemy hurt they'd be delt the damage back to them, and the Cracker Jack, a close range Christmas cracker weapon which exploded.

Due to the more mobile focus, there's a lot more "mobile gamey" elements in it, such as a prize wheel and loot crates that give you items. These can contain cosmetics or one of the games' main additions, Loot Upgrades.

Loot Upgrades are badges you unlock from crates and work as upgrade for cosmetics and weapons that come in 4 tiers. For hats and gravestones it's a case of them starting out simple in design, then with each upgrade more is added on before finally the final upgrade makes them animated. For weapons it increases the power of them and sometimes have visual differences, with the final upgrade making them either poisonous or emit fire.

Another new addition is factions, where you choose to join either the the red or blue faction at the start of the game, with "Faction Battles" occuring where you fight players of the opposite faction to earn Faction Tokens, with the winning faction getting a prize. There is also a campaign, where you fight across 5 islands to claim territory for the faction you picked, unlocking more weapons as you go along.

There are also "World Events", which are events that occur sometimes on the world map. There is one for each island and you fight on a special map as you represent your faction. There are also daily challenges where you complete objectives to get awards. Also forgot to mention this earlier but you're also able to individually customise each worm on your team, same goes for weapon upgrades, neat.

So, is this the definitive Worms mobile game? Well, it is definitely the most mobile friendly but if you're looking for a regular Worms experience on mobile, maybe go to the other ones.

I mean, is this even a sequel to Worms (2007) anymore? Life could've been so much easier if they just called the XBLA version Open Warfare too.

I think this might've been the longest post on the account. How the hell.

[assumptionprime]

I vibe with this interpretation.

I think it also explains why I might like Dark Souls 2 the best of the trilogy. It is trying to invent some new things, try some different stuff. Playing the greatest hits is fun, and I enjoyed DS3 a lot. But I didn’t know what to expect from 2. And I enjoyed a lot of what it tried.

Not all of it, mind you. The hollowing mechanic might sound neat from a story perspective, losing your humanity bit by bit the way it is described in the lore. But in practice it’s just Demon’s Souls’ mechanic but slower. Making the game harder to play the more you die never works. The torch timers effectively don’t exist once you’re a little bit into the game. Some of the bosses are kinda boring (looking at you, Old Iron King).

On the plus sides: I love Majula: I’m a sucker for gathering a group of friendly people in a quiet little village in basically any game. And I like most all the characters there. (Saulden is the best Crestfallen, don’t @ me). I enjoyed Lifegems. Weapon upgrades were so much easier and cleaner. I like that the story basically completely drops all the stuff from DS1. Those characters and places are gone, lost to history. What does Gwyn, Lord of Sunlight mean to the Bearer of the Curse, trying to find a way to save their failing mind from this curse? What does he mean to Lucatiel, your friend slowly losing herself the same way? To Vengarl, who found peace and contemplation by spending untold years as a decapitated head sitting in a forest? Nothing! Long ago King Shitdick the Fire God fucked over the world, but what matters now is that you all have to try and find a way to live in it. DS1 is about the start of a terrible cycle, DS3 is about ending it, and DS2 is about the people caught in the middle of its vicious repetition. DS2 feels like it knows there’s going to be a DS3. The story already began, and they can’t end it. So it decides to be about the middle.

DS2 could have just been DS1 Again, but they made some swings and I love it for that.

I think Dark Souls 3 is the most “self-aware” Fromsoft game, only possibly topped by Elden Ring. With Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2 they’re still figuring stuff out, and Bloodborne was very experimental, but Dark Souls 3 says “alright you know what this is” and just lays it on really thick.

Some have called Dark Souls 3 uninspired, and to a point it’s true that it reuses a lot of stuff, while Dark Souls 2 made more of an effort to invent new things, but I think the game is making a point. More than any other game in the series, DS3 is playing the hits. It languishes in the tropes the series itself established, plays around with them and creates variations on them, but retains their core. It’s almost joking about how repetitive it all is.

You know the drill, says Dark Souls 3. Here’s your hub area, here’s your firekeeper, here’s your standard covenants, here’s Patches, here’s the Onion Knight, here’s all the weapons you know and love, here’s a mimic in the very first level, here’s a stormruler fight, here’s a boss that evokes Big Hat Logan, and here’s a boss that strongly evokes fan-favorite boss Artorias. One of the major bosses is literally wearing the skin of one of the bosses from Dark Souls 1. It’s all a rehash, but it works, because it knows it’s doing it. It’s the point, it’s central to the plot: the world has repeated and repeated itself to perpetuity and it’s breaking down and it can’t go on, so it’s time for it all to come to an end.

Dark Souls 3 is a statement on franchises, how they repeat themselves and stagnate, and it indulges in its own legacy to an almost comical amount, but it also says “this has to end somewhere”, and that’s the note it leaves things on. The final boss is an embodiment of the franchise itself, an amalgamation of people who have perpetuated the cycle, symbolizing every single person who’s contributed to the franchise’s continuation, and by defeating it, you lay the series to rest. The fire can’t be linked any further. The cycle breaks.

Finally, in the DLC, the idea is taken further, leaving the game on a statement of hope. One day, a new world will be created, it says. A little game called Elden Ring will sift the ashes, taking a lot of the tropes and running with them, and leaving some to rest where they were. Using the blood of the Dark Soul to paint a renewed experience.