#lmfao every damn time

[deoidesign]

I met the me who made different choices

[buwheal]

Unexpected but fair.

How long were we disconnected?

[colloquialcolors]

Well. Goddamn. Having finished In Other Waters. What a phenomenal game. No clue how to effectively recommend it to people in a way that both sells it accurately but also doesn't understate how. Thoughtfully and intentionally it's made. But I do want to capture my gut reaction, right off of finishing it. So. Hrm. Lets see.

- You experience the entire game through screens- minimal graphics, dots and radars and scans and texts. It is scientific and methodical and- not tedious, exactly, but. Exacting. You scan, and move, and monitor, and the whole world is lines and dots and bare bones information on a screen.

- But the world is also alive. It's so beautifully, wonderfully- at times, terrifyingly- miraculously alive.

- I don't know how to describe the way that the game builds this, but it feels like learning a language, or slowly seeing a pattern. Little things move in the water and you learn to recognize the movements. Wordy, beautiful descriptions for every spot you move to. Entries on the intricate and bizarre biology that grow in detail and understanding as you find more pieces and analyze more things.

- Its like. The entire mechanic of- you put together entries about each plant or creature or organism, piece together information in walls of text, and when you finally learn enough, you are rewarded- with a sketch, a visual representation of the thing you have been reading beautifully worded entries of, something you have been imagining and visualizing.

- You are reading, and scanning, and gathering, and imagining and theorizing. And then you, suddenly, can see it. You read about the shimmering veils of bioluminescence strung together in inky darkness, and then you see a rough sketch of an organism constructed out of blinking lights, metres long. You spent hours wading through waters reading about the way the light filters through water on the reef and the brilliantly colored plants sway in the waves and suddenly you see a sketch of one of the leaves. Fast moving dots described as winged, fast moving creatures, and you document their burrows and their paths and their food and then. A rough scientists sketch of one.

- The whole game. Feels like that progression- a slow sense of awe. Repetitive, intentional steps, unfolding into pictures.

- You are the only thing like you, in the whole game. An observer learning the world. You are alone, but not exactly. You are a guide, acting as the eyes and hands and leader for someone you only know through text. Ellery talks to you through text prompts, and not always- but she does talk to you.

- You are her hands and eyes- you scan and move and decide where to go and monitor the oxygen and power to keep her safe and fetch all the samples. She is your hands, and eyes- she describes each new point you move to with painstaking detail, describing the sand swirling in water or light glittering, or the way darkness closes in, or the way bioluminescence throws shadows. She notes down the information and processes the samples and is the one to write the entries and turns all the data into something real.

- You move Ellery around the whole game, act in service of her, but she feels very distinct from you- secrets of her own and backstory you have to earn from her even though you guys move as one unit.

- And you learn about Ellery, and Minae, and. man. man.

- The way the screen changes with different biomes- the colors and the music shifting. The way that the layout stays the same but you feel the differences. Deep darkness alleviated by points of light. Open, sunny sands with swaying vegetation. A choking, cloying algae bloom.

- The UX stays the same, for all of these. The color, and indicators of topography are all that changes. But you feel the differences.

- Look, the mechanics are- finicky. A little unintuitive. Occasionally frustrating. But it feels right- like operating a clunky control board to steadily map an unknown space. You learn it, clumsily, and you get the motions down until it feels right. Navigation is- at times slow, and tedious, and confusing. There aren't really shortcuts to navigate through the different sections. But that feels right too.

- The game itself is not always fun to play. But it is rewarding, and it feels worth it.

- There's a whole ocean of inexplicable, alien life! And you get to explore it in a way that feels so intentionally, lovingly crafted. I don't know what to say beyond that. What. A fucking treat.

... also the plot about corporations fucking up ecosystems because of the never ending desire for profit and the destructive impact of thoughtless corporate greed. so. you know.

[svtskneecaps]

i should be sleeping but i do want to reiterate how much i love that our collective fan community and also the streamers are constantly like, so new members when? new language when? a teaser drops and we're all like germans???? german time????? asiatic language time??????? new faces??? new friends?? new communities????

i've said this before but it just constantly makes me feel all warm n fuzzy to see it. i'm really happy we're all so excited and united in this.

[armoralor]

and update to [this] post. please stop trying to moralize silly fictional ships and have some fun for a change.

[tenrose]

Anyway I decided to drastically reduce all my social media access. I'm low-key addicted to Instagram and I didn't delete the app cause I still want to pop in sometime. So I decided to play with my stupid brain and I just deleted the app from my home screen because I almost never go through my entire phone and of course I blocked all notifications. Taking steps ahead before it also become a nazi social media. If some of you who have my Instagram see me in two hours you can virtually smack the hell out of me. From now on I will only be here but I'm also gonna try reducing my time. And I'll be here only to enjoy whatever stuff I'm into at that time.

Hopefully with all the time I will save I will be able to do constructive stuff that makes me feel better.

[alienaiver]

also in regards to my last rb and also like generally. i miss u all so much like last night i dreamt i was having strawberry croissants with snart who left me with a link drawing and a few weeks ago i had burgers with deru and several times now ive walked thru meadows of purple heathers with dira in my dreams. i am genuinely saddened that im unable to be here as much as i would like to, u all mean so much to me!!

[sluttyten]

Yall I get to see Doyoung AND Yuta too 👀

[meri-meri-mwah]

This scene will never not be funny because THAT'S NOT THE FACE YOU'D EXPECT TO SEE AFTER GETTING YOUR SHIT ROCKED???

Vash really just (⁠◕⁠ᴗ⁠◕⁠✿⁠)

(It's also funnier when you see Vash glaring at Wolfwood from the side)

[analogboii]

every time i put on my fluffy/poofy headband to wash my face/do my make up, hyunjin's voice just rings through my head like some voice of god or smth

"tch...hairband"

every time. without fail.

[killerpancakeburger]

SO ANYONE WAS GONNA TELL ME THAT THE ZEVLOR/ARADIN DIALOGUE CAN END WITH ZEVLOR BEING THE ANGRY ONE COS ARADIN SAYS RACIST STUFFS OR WAS I SUPPOSED TO FIND OUT MYSELF??

[rigginsstreet]

The anxiety of leaving a place you were staying hoping you didn’t accidentally leave something behind even though you checked over the place before leaving

[rendoa-blog]

Was yapping to a friend about something I was really obsessed with as a kid and am still really passionate about when he fell asleep mid rant

He woke up 5 minutes later when I was writing this and how sad I was

He listened a bit more to me yapping because I was excited to get back into it

And them he fell asleep again mid another rant about the same thing but I kept yapping because there was one other person in the call

But then that other person had to gi do the dishes and now I'm happier than I was at first because yay someone actually wanted to listen (... even if one fell asleep. The other one didn't have any complaints, though, and I am happy about it :D) but also I didn't get to finish my yapping session :(

[chimerafflesia]

every day deleting all my social media sounds more and more peaceful

[grimmjowjaegerjaquez]

khalil thoughts entering my head again as i rediscovered his playlist i made ages ago

[aroacettorney]

love how ludger rejecting divinity means so fuckin little because even if he is not a "proper" god hes still the most op and successful character in the entire multiverse