#maybe the second playthrough week be different

[v1nsmoke]

𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇 𝐌𝐘 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊 // 𝐉𝐎𝐇𝐍 𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐎𝐂𝐊 𝐗 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑

oneshot - fallout's john hancock x reader

tw: mentions of drugs (usual hancock activity)

summary: after days of exiting goodneighbor, you and hancock finally get to talk

fandom: fallout

a/n: there is not enough talk about this fella omg… now that liking the ghoul from the fallout show is accepted, i can come forward (i chose the “romance hancock” option every playthrough). no pronouns used, so gender neutral ig? also the inspiration for the title is that one song thats viral on tiktok rn, also galvanized square steel mentioned

tags: -

wc: 0.6k

“Day twenty-five since leaving Vault 111, today is Monday and my location is Diamond City, it’s currently 2:41 PM. Me and my companion are at the noodle shop,” you say, speaking into your Pip-boy. 

Recently, you’ve been documenting every day, usually just a brief summary on that day’s experiences. These experiences consisted of hourly radroach attacks, accidental overdose on jet, or encounters with hostile Mr. Handy’s. Or accidental near-death situations with a deathclaw. That only happened once. 

You weren’t sure anybody would ever hear these, even better, be interested in these daily logs. Your companion seemingly couldn’t care less about these logs, as he ate his portion of ramen next to you. 

“The Institute remains undefeated, and I doubt it will change today, I’m not in the mood for it,” you continue.

“If it depended on your mood, it would be there forever,” Hancock cuts in with his sarcastic remark.

A sigh escapes your lips at his words.

“Maybe I should switch back to Dogmeat and send you back to Goodneighbor,” you reply.

“Now, what good would that do for you?”

“It would spare me from more of these remarks.”

“But can Dogmeat give you this?” He asks as he slides you a jet.

Hesitantly, but you accept it with a smile. 

“John Hancock, the ghoul you are,” you sigh.

A smile creeps onto his features. 

“See? You like me enough.”

“Whatever helps you sleep…”

You’ve been traveling with Hancock for the past week or so, after you accepted the offer of Bobby, who just so happened to lie to you. One thing led from another, and after finishing off Hancock’s bodyguard, you managed to solve the bad blood between the two of you by killing Bobby herself. 

Hancock was useful and good company, helping out where he could and making small talk with you. Not to mention that he was supplying you with a different kind of drug every day. They don’t have that stuff in Vaults…

Last night, the both of you got high as hell in the home you bought with hard-earned caps here, in Diamond City. It was mostly a box, so you decided to illegally expand it with galvanized square steel and eco-friendly wood veneers. So, after the finished construction - that lasted four days with the cheap and friendly workforce including Little John (Hancock) and yourself -, the two of you decided to celebrate.

He plopped down onto the mattress - the construction fee was too much for you to spend even more caps on a normal bed -, resting his back against the wall. You popped open a bottle of Nuka-Cola, taking your place on the mattress next to him.

“So, how do ya like it?” He asks, taking a Jet out of his pocket.

“So far so good,” you reply with a sigh.

“That’s all? Not ‘I love this place more than the Vault’?”

“I do like it more than the Vault, cause you’re here.”

He stays quiet for a few seconds before speaking up.

“That’s good.”

“That’s all? Not ‘Wow I, too, am really glad that I’ve got you and get to share Jet with you and that you defended me from that Deathclaw’?”

He lets out a slight chuckle, hanging his head low. 

“Thank you, then. For these past few days I’ve spent with you. Never thought I would find anybody who would accept me as their companion.”

© v1nsmokes 2024. Do not modify, translate or rewrite.

[oneknightstand-if]

Fencing Club Route is a Go!

Update 2: Chapter 1 Part 3 - Fencing Club Route

Don't feel like playing polo? Join the fencing club instead!

Play the Updated Beta Test

(Since there were bugs reported throughout Chapter 1 & 2, your current saves are probably going to reset to the beginning of each section of the game)

*If you're getting error messages or the fencing club route isn't showing up properly for you (after you refreshed and restarted the game), you'll need to clear your cache. More details found here.*

Additional Word Count (Sans Code): 120,000+ Additional Word Count (With Code): 155,000+ New Total Word Count (Sans Code): 614,000+ New Total Word Count (With Code): 833,000+ Average Playthrough: ~60,000 words

Note: You can view the game code on my site the same way you do on Dashingdon just add /scenes to the end of the URL.

Next Update

Merlin's Guide to Minor Enemies

A bucketload of owed texts & e-mails to the MC

Decisions of great import... just where are you sleeping in that motorhome?

A̴ ̴C̴o̶m̴p̷l̷e̵t̷e̴l̴y̵ ̶N̴o̷r̸m̴a̶l̵ ̵G̴a̴s̸ ̶S̵t̵a̷t̷i̶o̷n̸ ̵S̴t̸o̷p̷

Take part in your first multi-user spell! (Potentially depending on the length of the gas station stop?)

Meet the next Harbinger - RO #4 (Potentially depending on the length of the gas station stop?)

Link to New Polls on the Update (Which don't auto close in a week like the Tumblr ones)

Also...

I'm currently coming down with something (Covid test says not that, so maybe just the flu?) so I'll be taking a bit of a break after this.

More (Fiddly) Info on the Update Behind the Spoiler Cut...

The Update Also Includes...

Calmly letting Merlin into your apartment after escaping the monster-under-the-bed no longer removes the mute flag

Fixed Adrian literally calling the MC as "MC" in the pub

Fixed expresso back to espresso AGAIN *stares at it*

Fixed the phil_status 2 bug AGAIN (Somehow I must've reverted a bunch of bug fixes in Chapter 1)

Fixed bug where MC's name permanently changes to their pseudonym if the player tried to back out of the renaming screen

Fixed the "On second thought, let me try a different fake first name…" option so it only asks the player to change their fake first name (as originally intended)

Fixed some dialogue with Adrian depending upon your clothing choices in the polo club branch

Fixed the Adrian text messaging bug. Again. Hopefully third time is the charm.

Fixed bug where your current job being your dream employment wasn't triggering the positive job attitude flavor text

Fixed bug where the mute flag was being toggled off when interacting with Adrian regarding your fancy outfit before the polo club meeting

Choice where Lucid Dreamer MC talks to Modern Arthur about Merlin's dreamwalking advice is now set to toggle only when the MC speaks to Merlin in the Camelot dream sequence

Fixed bug with the user's input option for Business Casual outfit

User's choice option for Business Casual & Business Suit now toggles pants or skirt variable

Fixed bug with the Cracking text effect in darkmode

All piercings & scars now available in one choice during customization.

Fixed bug (AGAIN!) when Lucky MC fails the luck check to escape the bed monster

Added reactions to Camelot-affiliated names belonging to inanimate objects.

Fixed *set ag2 2 -1 bug in Camelot dream sequence (I wonder how that didn't trigger QuickTest)

A Bit More Info on the Update Mechanics

The decision on which club you join is one of the first questions in Chapter 1, so players will have to restart from pretty early on. However the fencing club flavor text will continue to run throughout the rest of the game (including in the Camelot dream sequence with the Courtyard branch for the Lucid Dreamer MC).

Otherwise this current update does not progress the game further into Chapter 2.

Also Part 2....

We lost power to part of the house (thankfully not including my computer), and while I'm usually the one who deals with the circuit breakers, since I'm currently sick I asked my mother to do it this one time. She turned the power off to the entire house. 🥲 The uninterruptible power source did nothing and now my computer and the microwave are bugging out. I'm just going to lie down now.

[its-sheepe]

Art Week: Bugsnax

Day 1: Main Character

It’s the Journalists! I love it when people make each different color of the Journalist a different character so here’s my take on it!

All the journalist siblings together taking a nice family photo :)

Starting from bottom middle and going counterclockwise, we have

Red: The middle child and most “generic” of the group (as it’s the default journalist color). Represents normal playthrough.

Black: The youngest sibling, very goofy. Represents messing around during normal playthrough.

Purple: Second youngest, most responsible. Represents 100% completion playthrough.

Green: Same age as Red and adopted! Nobody ever remembers seeing him with his shades off (maybe he’s an alien). Represents debug playthrough.

Yellow: The oldest of the group, indirectly inspired the rest of his siblings to be journalists (he doesn’t mind). Represents good ending playthrough.

Blue: Second oldest, and also very aloof. They love their siblings though! Represents bad ending playthrough.

[splatsvilles-fashionista]

played any fashionable games lately? besides splatoon i mean.

I've primarily been rotating between Splatoon, Deep Rock Galactic, and Elden Ring in the last couple of weeks, though in the case of the latter I did recently wrap up my second playthrough of the DLC and is taking a bit of a break from it because the final boss is exhausting, and not in a fun way. It inspired me to replay Sekiro for the first time since 2020.

But to actually answer the question I think the most fashionable game I've been playing is a tabletop-inspired roleplaying game called Citizen Sleeper. You play as an android with an emulated human mind who has just escaped their corporate "owners" and set about trying to build a life on a large circular space station known as the Eye. It's a pretty dystopian, but ultimately hopeful narrative, less interested in the suffering caused by the cruel capitalist systems it depicts than the strength and solidarity of the common folk living within them.

And it has some really good sci-fi fashion, too. It leans really hard into the synthetic materials and heavy work uniforms necessary for people doing manual labour in maybe the harshest environment imaginable (space). The outfits are well-worn, patched, and personalized, except when they're not, immediately marking the people wearing them as someone on a different rung of the economic ladder. It's all around just very very good at using its fashion to tell you things about the people wearing it, and I think that is always just wonderful.

I could go through literally every single outfit in the game and talk about the things I like about them individually, but instead I'll just show a couple of my favourites here. Definitively check out Citizen Sleeper if it sounds interesting, it's really excellent and the soundtrack is just lovely.

[downwithpeople]

bg3

bg3 was good. even if it wasn't good it's hard to deny that it became a key facet of my life for the past two weeks.

i'm gonna say bg3 isn't smart. it's like ordering a family meal from a fast food restaurant and slowly eating the whole thing yourself. it's a deeply stupid game and if it wasn't for how well it generally carries across the spectacle of the thing i think i would have written it off as a shameful attempt to remaster dragon age inquisition. the opening cutscene, with the nautiloid plowing into hell pursued by dragons, really got me hype for the whole thing.

i came into bg3 halfway through my second rogue trader campaign and bg3 feels much sloppier in the moment to moment play. this is because much like dnd 5e itself, bg3 is trying to be a simulation which sometimes makes moving around the map feel like herding four stupid cats. the plus side of this is that sometimes you can move and interact with the environment in a way that kinda feels like rennfaire hitman.

the mystery of the tadpole and all the weird mindflayer shit is cool. that it eventually becomes a fight against three evil power rangers combining their evil powers is a mark against it. i think the story as a whole suffers because instead of just focusing on the mindflayers, the emperor and maybe the githyanki, we have a separate bad guy for act 2 and two more completely different bad guys for act 3. it's like when an OVA for an anime comes out and it's all original story; yes the main plot is still important but let's spend 90 minutes fighting THIS guy! i also felt like the final choice the game presents you, to either side with the emperor or set prince orpheus free, is completely artificial. the emperor isn't stupid and he knows everything about you. he repeatedly insists that he wants to be your ally and your friend. all that, but he's still awfully quick to flip allegiance on you and embrace assimilation into the hive mind. for what? he's wrong about orpheus and stupid if he hasn't seen gale cast Magic Intercontinental Ballistic Missile.

i found most all of the companion characters to be very likable. i romanced shadowheart and wasn't disappointed. i was set up to hate astarion and gale but the latter is fine and the former is one of the most well-written, well-acted characters in the whole thing. i didn't care much for halsin, because he's a boring druid guy. i also didn't care much for jaheira, who doesn't join your party until the final act of the game and who i know nothing about because i haven't played bg1 or 2. the same is true of minsc, but minsc is fun and not a fantasy CIA agent.

the pacing of the game is a little odd. act 3 should by rights be the shortest act in terms of mandatory boss fights. the reality is that if you're even remotely completionist you're going to spend half of your playtime there. it's densely packed with sidequests and punchlines for set-ups from 50 hours ago, and if you're invested in the characters at all then you feel obligated to see their shit through. you also have some of the worst fucking quests and setpieces in the game in act 3, like oskar's stupid ghost mansion or the disappointing fight against orin.

i just started my dark urge playthrough and i'm ready to durge all over these suckers

[ask-danganronpa-after-death]

Hello there!

I bet you didn't expect to see something from this very dead blog today, huh? Anyways, It's been... a really long time... like over a year and half worth of time. So we're well overdue for an update!

(tl;dr at the end)

I'll just start with some honesty on my part, when Mod Prom asked me to help them revive this blog the first time, I had just played V3. A lot of the plot points and minor details were still pretty fresh in my mind, and writing what amounted to a full retelling from a different perspective, felt more doable. Now it's been a few years, a lot of life, and I'd be hard pressed to remember V3 clearly. I've tried to start a second playthrough, and I've tried to watch let's plays for chapter 2 to write more for the blog, but none of it has been successful.

and BELIEVE ME I've been wanting to start this blog up again for MONTHS. In fact, I've had 4 posts READY to release since March of this year, and at least 8 posts drafted and thumbnailed. I just... didn't want to bring this project back until I knew I could actually commit to it. I thought maybe if I had enough of a backlog I could simply start posting once a week and try to keep pace, but that was a lot harder than it sounded.

I don't want to abandon this blog, this story and these characters, and I don't think I can properly put into words how strongly I feel about that.

This is update could have happened at any time, but is coming out now because well... me and Prom are working on some bigger original projects. Ones that we're SO excited to share. This blog in it's limited run has taught me a lot and I want to learn more. I want to be able to bring this project to a more natural conclusion, put it to rest with pride, and to be able to enter a bit of a new creative era.

I've been talking with Mod Prom and we think it's best to take a step back from this actually being an ask blog. Handling the inbox was a bit of a nightmare, and I've got a LOT more respect for the ask blogs of yore that managed to keep up. We still want to keep engagement, but we're going to change just how that works. We're just not sure how yet.

The first step to getting started again is posting the drafts I already have completed as a way to enter the second chapter, and from there things are going to play out a bit more loosely. Posts are gonna focus more on key story beats and occasional goofy tangents as opposed to moment to moment storytelling.

TL;DR - This blog is getting revived, but things are going to be a bit different. We want to give a proper telling and conclusion to the story we started, but keeping up the format isn't something Mod Prom or I can really tackle, we'll still try to accept and post asks when we can.

Thank you to everyone that has been patient with us, and to everyone who might join us in the future

~ Mod Noodle 🌱

[doks-aux]

I started reading Five Nights at Freddy's: The Week Before, and as you can see, I'm being very normal about it.

I've avoided as many spoilers as possible so I can experience the lore hunting on my own for once. Never been as deep into the fandom during a book release before. The pages on the right are my notes while reading, whatever I think might be important to the worldbuilding or mysteries or just interesting minutia like how the restaurant is run. These were the notes after getting through Night 2. I've finished Night 3 by now (so please no spoilers beyond that), so there's a bit more.

The page on the left is where I'm recording my "official" playthrough. It's an "interactive novel" (because Choose Your Own Adventure is off-limits), and the way I'm reading it is by committing to one route each night and playing it to the end or until I die and have to get back to the last branching decision. And then when the night is over, I go back and read the branches I didn't take. (Except for the Bonus Item route. I've heard it's best to leave that until the very end.) The inventory is only items I pick up in the official playthrough (I probably didn't have to cross out screwdriver and paperclip after I used them, whoops), and I'm only recording Game Overs I reach organically (there are more of those now, too).

It's a lot of fun. This was a smart way to present new information and provide some different gameplay experience. I've never been able to play the video games when they actually come out, so it's nice to have a way to discover things firsthand and not have to rely on watching other people's videos. And since there are so many diverging points, there's still the question of which version of the story actually happened (if this is indeed canon to the games' timeline instead of it's own slightly-to-the-left continuity) and what information we can actually trust. Maybe it's Stockholm Syndrome talking at this point, but a straight answer wouldn't be quite as much fun.

There are some WILD implications if it's even adjacent to the games' timeline though. Like, at this point it really seems like a night guard's actual purpose is to keep the animatronics in the building than to keep anyone out. The idea that they would just up and fucking leave if they had a means to honestly never occurred to me (or at least it would have died off quickly after the earliest games), but apparently they will do exactly that. And it's largely been accepted that at least the original Fazbear four weren't malicious toward children (The Silver Eyes said as much and I think one of the games did, too), but in this story they're straight-up obliterating kids if given the chance.

Good shit. Excited to read the second half.

[nerdygoth77]

Did Lily ever hookup with any of the other companions and what factions did she work with before arriving to Nuka World?

Was she the typical civilian (minuteman type) and got corrupted by the wasteland/enticed by the raiders of Nuka World or was she always a little Neutral Evil?

Sorry if this is a bit of a long ask I'm just curious 😂

Never apologize for a long ask!! I love in depth questions like this!! I really loved this ask and was so excited I had to answer this the moment I saw it!! This answer is super long btw! I couldn't JUST answer these questions, I had to give you a full history of my OC.

So I have been thinking of Lilly's story for a long time, along with her character development. She is originally based on my evil Overboss playthrough of Fallout 4 where I completely ignore the main story LOL. I get to Nuka World as soon as possible by leveling up, mostly by doing Good Neighbor and Cabot family/Edward Deegan missions.

So Lilly's story isn't quite set in stone! But my main idea so far is that she is pre-war. Lilly does come from Vault 111 but she isn't the mother of Shaun and isn't the Sole Survivor. That's her brothers problem, who gets out of the vault a few days before she does. He goes one way, using his military training and desire for revenge to survive, becoming the leader of the minutemen(or he joins the Brotherhood. Maybe both?? idk yet) Meanwhile Lilly escapes Vault 111 and goes a completely different direction.

The vault is picked clean, and the body's of her brother and nephew are missing, while her sister in laws corpse has a bullet in her skull. Lilly finds no sign of her brother, and doesn't search too hard either. She leaves the vault, avoiding the neighborhood of Sanctuary and the possible people that lived there, their campfires burning brightly in the night only deterring her away.

Lilly's pre-war life wasn't military like her brothers. She was a "no good hippie" who was between jobs and staying with her brother and his wife until she "got back on her feet," Her brother took her in. In return she would help her PTSD stricken brother and his depressed wife take care of their brand new infant son.

Lilly was seen as no good to most in the pre irradiated world. She had been a part of the large underground punk scene in Boston, becoming a disgrace to her family and a nuisance towards the police. Her life had always been chaos, never knowing quite what she wanted to do as she jumped from job to job trying to keep money in her pocket that was instantly spent on drugs and lipstick.

Lilly doesn't even spare a second glance at the vault or neighborhood as she heads into the wasteland. She is more than prepared to leave her old life behind in the ashes of the old world, so she immediately finds a change of clothes, some chems, and heads towards Boston. She doesn't know why Boston, maybe just morbid curiosity of what the city had turned into. Maybe in search for drugs and answers to why she was still living. Her mindset is that of a depressed addict. Nothing on her mind but that next hit that would bring her that sweet rush of endorphins.

She enters the world with little to no knowledge. She can fight decently with her fists and switchblade, pick locks, run her mouth and hardly shoot a gun. She has a rough time getting to Boston, the weirdly smart German Shepherd she finds at a gas station, and lovingly names Dogmeat, helps her survive her first few weeks in the wasteland.

Soon she finds herself in Boston, and like all drifters, she quickly finds herself in Goodneighbor. She immediately sees the potential in the city and in its mob boss ghoul mayor. Lilly and Hancock quickly become romantically involved. (She is def fucking Maccready in secret too. But RJ is nothing more than some fun to her. She also has a fling with Edward Deegan who she also meets in Goodneighbor when he comes offering a job.)

In my au Hancock is a bit darker and mob boss like, Lilly corrupting him slightly. She helps clean up the city, both metaphorically and physically. She wipes the triggermen out, and takes down Marowski. Long story short they take over his chem empire and become the main chem bosses and suppliers of the commonwealth. They build Goodneigbor into an empire. Her charisma and luck are incredibly high, making it all the easier for her.

John teaches Lilly about the Commonwealth, about proper fighting and weapons. She gains as much knowledge as she can about the new world, settling into the line of leadership and manipulation well. But John wants something real and long term. He loves her, but Lilly doesn't love him in return. He has big ideas for the future, from helping synths to building supply lines to marrying her. Lilly doesn't share the same feelings or ambitions, so she leaves.

She takes her knowledge and weapons of the new world and leaves Goodneighbor without warning and without a trace. She disappears yet again into the wasteland until the best thing to ever happen to her since finding Dogmeat happens. She finds Nuka World and meets Porter Gage. Or maybe he finds her instead?? I don't quite have how they meet picked out yet but I have some ideas!

So yes, Lilly has always been a bit evil! She had a few loose screws in the beginning and the Cryo pod only made it worse. She is corrupted before the bombs, but the wasteland corrupts her further and further. By the time she reaches Nuka World she is already a pretty bad person who is scarred inside and out. Meeting and joining the raiders only corrupt her further. Gage actually helps her get clean and off of chems, but she does get a little crazier. But she couldn't be happier. Porter Gage and Nuka World become her lifeline.

Gage does change her for the better. Lilly finally able to commit to things in her life for once, like her romantic relationship with Gage and job as Overboss.

Fun fact: I actually named Lilly after my evil five pound toy poodle. Lilly is a grumpy old bitch of a dog. She is my whole entire world but she has some screws loose for sure.

So the short answer: Yes! She does hook up with other companions, but only John Hancock and RJ maccready. She also sleeps with Edward Deegan, having a short fling with him. All of these relationships are nothing compared to what she has with Porter Gage, their bond being actual love. Lilly is factionless, choosing to go her own way entirely. She becomes a mob boss before completely ditching that life and disappearing on the irradiated wind before finding Nuka World. Starting over with yet another new life. Lilly is a bit evil from the beginning, but the wasteland does corrupt her further.

[morallygreychaoticneutral]

I think the writers could've chosen something different rather than "I could be persuaded" since my guess is that's the main thing that is making some people have second thoughts. It's not that I personally mind the phrase because I don't think they intended Astarion to be pressured at all but hey, some players may have needed that reassurance. Either way, if they don't like it they can very well choose not to have sex with him in the graveyard, that's a valid option the game offers as well. Maybe some Tavs don't feel comfortable having sex in a public place. But there's no need to claim he doesn't want it. He is the one to initiate it in the first place! Like you said though, their hearts do come from a good place and I understand that, same for how our personal experiences color the way we see all of this differently.

Oh, there's no judgement over whether or not it's okay to go back to the brothel. It's a game, people should feel free to do anything they want. If we were to judge people over how they play it then most would be murderers and criminals IRL. Imo, this matter is more grey rather than black or white. From a role-playing perspective, Tav has no idea he will dissociate. It's just that some people have been arguing you should go back there with him because it's important to his healing journey to figure out what he likes, that it's infantilizing not to do it (to me it's the opposite of "you are a bad person if you do it"...it's more complicated than that). Which sure, it's important to do that but shouldn't he be the one to propose it? This is my personal opinion, but I also don't think having meaningless sex and orgies is really necessary for him right now, especially in such a new relationship. Like, his first "I love you" was days ago. He's had plenty of meaningless sex already, at this point in the game I think he values more the emotional connection. Still, there's every chance he could genuinely want to try something like this on his own initiative in the future (I feel similarly about the poly thing, it's also not something he proposes to Tav but rather reacts to). Meanwhile even his demeanor in the brothel sounds very performative like he did in act 1, even when he agrees to initially, if you compare his voice to his act 2 confession and the graveyard scene.

"And the lack of actual time pacing does make the game hard to track as far as where everything is in chronological time." There's an aswer to this! The game takes place over the course of about 4 months according to Withers in the Astarion Origin playthrough if you romance Karlach: "In but a dozen tendays an entire life was lived." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8f8hEmoX1k at 3:25. I don't think anyone did a breakdown of the entire timeline but I doubt the third act takes place over the course of more than one month, perhaps one month and a half at most. Which makes the entire brothel thing take place over the course of a few weeks at most: going there for the first time and then for a second time after Cazador is defeated.

I'm sorry if you felt like you had to share your story, I didn't mean to pry. I'm happy it worked out fine for you and you had someone caught what was going on in time and removed you from the situation!!

I like how you broke out the statement you are responding to. I will be implementing that in the future.

"If we were to judge people over how they play it then most would be murderers and criminals IRL."

Right?! LOL. I feel like I'm a peaceful person, but there are moments when I have an eye twitching desire to redrum some peeps.

I see what you are saying. If this was the real world, ethics would say doing that with in weeks of that revelation would be inappropriate. And letting them suggest it would be better as it gives them more control over the situation.

Only four months? Wow. That is short. It took me longer than that in real months to complete the game. LOL. But in my defense, I have to do ALL the things!

Don't feel sorry about story. You didn't pry, I offered it up. :)

I think the hardest thing about posting on these platforms, for me, is knowing if I am coming across correctly.

Anyway, thank you for the clarification and discussion!

[acradaunt]

Acra's EO Guild Card Megapost

Guild Cards are a neat thing in the most of the Etrian Odyssey games. Sometimes, they're pretty pointless, but in some, they actually do some neat stuff. I… have a tendency to do multiple playthroughs, to try different team compositions (as seeing how different a game can feel based on your builds is one of my favourite things ever, and I also like abandon them before the big fights, on the hypothetical urge I want to re-fight a boss at an appropriate level an infinite number of times), so I've amassed a fair few of my own.

Why am I uploading these now? Apparently the Nexus database got borked a couple days ago, so this is the perfect time for me to get a few feet in the door. I also swear this is the last time I'll ever post about these, seriously.

EO Nexus -A total of 100 Guild Cards are needed to unlock the Vampire pseudo-class. Obviously, 100 is a lot, so they obviously expected the community, paltry it may be, to come together to make a database. And they did. And then they locked it the second they got 108. And then it died. So now I finally get a second chance to contribute.

Galeforce

-My first (main) playthrough. I actually uploaded a card weekly to help out, but I think only the first one made it on in time. It's not Heroic because it's like a NG+++++ file. This is the final card, but for the weekly set of them, um, here:

Week 0 || Week 1 || Week 2 || Week 3 || Week 4 || Week 5 || Week 6 || Week 7

Stardust

-Filled with all my C-listers that couldn't fit into Galeforce. I ran them as two separate teams; the Boss Killers (shown here), who fought the FOEs/Bosses, and Team Midriff, who did all the exploration.

Sunstorm

-A Guild consisting of classes I mostly avoid using, and portraits I hadn't (as of its conception) used before. As always, there's like another three members that get used that aren't here, including a Survivalist, Nightseeker, and an Arcanist.

Maelstrom

-An attempt at a Nuzlocke-esque run, and also an 'evil' party. Characters stopped being used if they died, but only until the end of the stratum, to not make it overbearing. Being an evil party lacking in support and healing, this was an absolute slog that I considered a total failure by the Jungle.

Brilliant

-An idea for a mage-guild that kinda went askew. Starting as a Sovereign, three Zodiacs, and a Farmer, I ultimately turned this into three single-element teams; Each consisting of a unique Sovereign, a unique Zodiac, two other characters that get earlygame elemental skills (Survivalist's Flame Arrow, Landsknecht, etc.), but the same Farmer (Hazel) across all three. Didn't take it all that far, but worked kinda well!

EOV -Definitely where Guild Cards are seen the most. About 2-4 times every floor, there'll be an event that'll use you GC database to have another guild interact with you in the labyrinth. If you have none, you'll be introduced to memelord Conrad of the Freeblade Guild about 110 times in your course of a playthrough. In stark contrast, Nexus only has GC events maybe a dozen times across the whole game.

Starlight

-Main guild. Not a lot to say. It's a Chain-oriented party, because I love Fencers/Landsknechts.

Bundt

-Cake pun. See, bundt is a type of cake, and the guild is filled with Brouni. As in Brownies, the fairy/pixie/sprite, but I'm punning off the--- ANYWAY. Horrific offense, but don't die easily. Kinda miserable against a few specific enemies like the coffin jerks on 15F, but otherwise worked astonishingly better than you'd expect. Which is; not GOOD, but totally serviceable.

Necrocosm

-My original 'evil' guild, featuring two Necromancers, and edge as far as the eye can see. Two Necros work pretty well together; typically Velvet summoned them and Rue made them explode. The fact Necros heal and have evil vibes let them succeed where Maelstrom would totally fail. I also didn't bench anyone for dying, so that probably helped too.

Firebird

-This playthrough is only saved at Amalgolem and took like a single weekend to get there, so I didn't remember squat about it. Amalgolem is like my single fave boss in the whole series, so I just had to leave a file there. It's heavily skewed towards non-humans, and the bottom deck of the guild is just full of nigh-on unusable cross-classed horrors, like a Celestrian Pugilist and Therian Warlock.

EO2U -Probably where Guild Cards are the most functionally useful. Lets you get the Grimoire Stones the attached character has on hand as many times as you can afford. Pretty nifty, as Grimoires are semi-random in spawning.

Skyquake

-So I didn't actually buy EO2U when it came out for a variety of factors, not least being unaware how different it was from the original EOII, my first EO game. So I've only started this and Untold I fairly recently.

Ironroot

-Holy Gift gives you extra experience, but each level costs twice as much to trade as the previous. That is, you need two level 3 Grimoires to get a level 4. Or 128 level 3s for a single level 10. So having a Guild Card with lowish level Holy Gift is actually pretty dang useful to have.

Untold

-Story Guild. Haven't… uh, haven't exactly been Motivated to do Story mode in Untold 2. On paper, I really dislike the team composition. In practice, hasn't been so bad, but still not enough to make me play them more than necessary.

Fellbloom

-Now legally required Evil Guild. Probably won't ever get past Chimaera.

EOU -Unlike the sequel, Guild Cards don't let you choose what to get from the friend's Guild Card. You just get given a random Grimoire Stone once per playthrough per Guild Card. Kinda lame.

Untold -Unlike later games, only one save file here, and the game nigh-on requires you to play through the Story Mode before doing Classic in NG+, so, that's where we sit.

EOIV -First game to use QR codes. III had Guild Cards, but I don't know how you'd trade them. They do serve a purpose here; each Card gets given a random treasure, and having a Card lets you find that treasure in the overworld. Most are crap, but some are circumstantially useful, and some are permanent stat-boosts, IIRC. I don't think mine was very good…?

Zephyr

-Uh, EOIV had a glitch where your Ventured Days would go up dramatically every time you paused. I think it comes into affect if you ever do NG+. So I haven't actually played for 48 in-game years. Truth be told, now knowing of a way to back up save files, I am admittedly tempted to make a new EOIV playthrough, since it's been like a decade, but for my own sanity, I really probably shouldn't.

[draiad]

Veilguard Thoughts

I finished playing Veilguard last week and went immediately back into playing it. And now that I've had the time to sit and think about the game I still love it just as much as I did when I finished.

Spoilery thoughts under the break.

Gonna break this down into parts. Story, Art, Characters, Romance. I want to preface this that, I don't often have a lot of criticisms for stories I love what I love and there's very little that can ruin it for me. So there's not going to be a lot of negative thoughts here.

First up, I want to talk about Rook. I adore Rook, but I will say of all the things that bothered me about the choices we could make for Rook in this game, there wasn't really enough of a difference between the three major options in dialogue choices. Like, even the tough love sterner type reactions to things seemed really soft. I don't play mean characters, I just don't enjoy it, so not having an option to be evil doesn't really bother me especially in the way the story for this game goes.

I really love how well integrated Rook felt in the story, how there were people out there who knew Rook before. It made you feel more like a part of the story. However I would have liked more options in game to use the faction to direct your answers. You'd see it here or there with some of them but most of the time it didn't really have a huge impact and there were a few times where Rook would say something and I'd be left like ??? how do you not know this. We seemed to get more choices as an Elf than as a member of our faction.

Story wise, I'm really pleased with how it turned out. The ending destroyed me and I got the "Good" ending with only one loss to the team. Both of the villains actually felt like a threat and were a LOT more compelling to me than Corypheus was. I loved seeing Bellara's struggle with coming to terms about what the elves have done in the past. Would have been interesting to see more of an uproar from the elves about it all but honestly not that bothered by it.

I do kind of wish there were a couple more maybe not hard choices (Like Which city to save) but maybe more moments of struggle for the team. Their quarrels among one another felt very quickly overcome. And I know a lot of this is time constraint both in creation and how much you can put into a game. As they said this game is about found family as well as everything else and having them be at odds with one another would have been an interesting way to play off the more bleak ending of the game.

Like aside from saving Minrathous having dire consequences for Lucanis' story none of the other choices you make really have a huge impact until the end.

I also agree that the first little bit of the game is very railroady. But once you get past that I found everything very enjoyable. Lucanis' romance and Taash's romance I think so far are the more disappointing ones? I adore the few scenes we did get for Lucanis and really liked the first start to Taash's but they kinda feel like they didnt get the same attention as some of the others.

My second playthrough I've enjoyed paying more attention to certain things, specifically Varric. Because the first playthrough I had some moments where I was thinking "That's a weird choice." Now its a "Ahh, I get it now." I suspected in the first playthrough after we fought the two blighted dragons but brushed it off.

I feel like the characters are the best part of this game, the companions are just ugh I adore them. I also really love the visual style of the game and I know a lot of people don't but once I got Rook looking how I wanted him to it was perfect to me.

The music though... kind of a letdown. There's a couple songs I really like and then the best songs in the game IMO were the call backs to Inquisition. Especially the lost elf theme at the end if you redeem Solas.

I have over 100 hours into the game already and I can forsee many more. I have a lot of fun in the CC as well and intend on making many many many sliders for people to use.

[blazehedgehog]

Looking forward the the SH2 Remake?

Not really, no. I haven't been keeping super close eye on it ever since that awful reveal trailer, but I occasionally see Bobvids bring it up over on Bluesky.

For the uninitiated, Bobvids is one of the core names in the Silent Hill Community, and one of the two main people behind The Grate Debate podcast. It's not all he does, sort of like how I do more than just talk about Sonic games, but Silent Hill is like, one of the media properties he's most invested in and he's an intelligent, thoughtful voice in that space, I feel.

There was a window where it sounded like he was warming up to it, because recent previews didn't look as bad as the reveal trailer. So he had a "maybe I'm being too hard on it" thread about a week ago where he talked about changes they were making that he liked. He was taking a step back and trying to give it a second chance.

Like a day or two after that, someone came forward, having an early copy of Silent Hill 2 Remake, and they'd recorded themselves playing the entire game front to back, start to finish. They shared this playthrough video with Bob, and he (along with his friends) streamed the footage and talked about what they did and did not like.

I didn't watch most of them. I had other stuff to do or whatever, but I saw they were doing the finale last night and I poked my head in just in time for them to be on the game's final cutscene, which meant they launched into a long post-game discussion of the product as a whole.

Again, I was kind of doing other things, so I was in and out of the stream, but the general gist I caught was they weren't very happy. They felt like the push towards having lots of Resident Evil style combat cheapened the experience (in Bob's own words, he feared people would "see Silent Hill as 'bad Resident Evil' and write the series off") and they were particularly incensed by certain changes made to the game's tone in later chapters.

They seemed to invoke the dreaded "It's worse than bad, it's just bland." That it did not understand the depth that drew diehards to the franchise and moved to dumb the experience down, with fewer puzzles and less influence from David Lynch. A version of Silent Hill 2 with a lot fewer parts that made Silent Hill 2 memorable.

I was honestly surprised to wake up to a pair of Silent Hill 2 Remake reviews and first-impressions this morning that are praising the game, because Bob's whole crew really weren't very happy with it at all.

I'm more willing to believe what Bob has to say. That's not to sleight professional career critics (remember, I was a paid critic for 12 years) but I do feel like they're going to be a little more surface level and mainstream than someone whose intricately studied why Silent Hill 2 left enough lasting impression on culture to even deserve a remake. I'm sure Gamespot or whoever is doing their best, but it's still going to be a different tone from somebody that's lived and breathed it, for better and worse.

I expect it'll be something that ends up in a humble bundle, or it'll be free on Epic Games Store or Twitch Prime, I'll redeem it, play it in six years exactly one time, and feel pretty "whatever" about.

[rosehippiefield]

For the fandom ask game: 3, 13, and 15? (Yttd and/or ace attorney)

I'll do yttd first and then ace attorney

3. a character that fandom has helped you appreciate

It's certainly Midori. I didn't really get his appeal initially but several posts along with some YouTubers convinced me that his character is interesting. For me he's the mad sadistic scientist combined with childish desire to play, except he plays with people. Not in normal way but like with toys. I used to think he's not that intimidating or scary but looking back to how he made everyone sign the contract and how he influenced Shin Midori can be terrifying. The fanarts really capture his playful madness or his unhealthy obsession with Shin. Overall I feel like I have a better grasp on his personality though of course I still can be wrong about him

(I also really hated Shin at first but that's due to my peculiar style of experiencing yttd where at first I thought he was Midori and I didn't watch playthroughs fully so I actually had little idea what was going on in this game. It was fun being so wrong. But analysis of many people showed me that not only he wasn't with kidnappers, he had reasons I could get behind. So hatred was very short-lived)

13. your favorite type of fandom event (gift exchange, ship week, secret santa, prompt meme, etc)

I really love the draw it in your style events! Everyone makes their own spin on the original art so the little details here and there from different people are fun to notice. Everyone, absolutely everyone adds something interesting, something that makes their fanart unique, while capturing the initial idea. And I like your fanarts there too of course!

I also adore the whiteboards! They create a special, warm sense of unity where you can contribute too. And you can stay anonymous if you want to. I even drew Kanna and Nao once, though as I drew with touchpad of all things it was kinda difficult

15. the character that always makes you smile

Sometimes it's Kanna because she's so sweet and innocent and kind I just want her to be happy. And I kinda relate to her.

Also, maybe not always but quite often Shin can really brighten my mood. Not only do I relate to him in many ways, he became my inspiration to become better. Like I don't know if I sound melodramatic but one time I was thinking about his infamous zero and why he, the smart guy, had no chance to survive. I thought how he manifested his zero into life by believing in it while not believing in himself. I thought about how if he would have been more confident he could have avoided the mess he created at least partially. If only he loved himself more... Suddenly it occurred to me that it was exactly what *I* needed. To not bring myself down, to not overthink what I did wrong, to not compare myself with others. To respect myself for who I am. I imagined that Shin was saying to me "don't hate yourself" and "love yourself" and it hit me. This guy has been my comfort character ever since

The ace attorney ones:

3. It's probably von Karma and Sholmes. I don't really like irredeemable villains but once again he seems so entertaining. On the second rewatch I really appreciated his unapologetic evilness. The guy caused it all for the most petty reason imaginable. And he's perfect to the point where expects Phoenix to cross-examine the parrot. He also has been carrying a bullet in his shoulder for fifteen years. Really what a character. One certain channel (RPG gamer? I forgor how it's named) certainly helps with iconic "what can I say except you're guilty".

As for Sholmes, he didn't feel like original Sherlock Holmes with his enthusiasm but in the end he is your reliable ally that wants to help you. His that one dance is 20/10 and his relationship with Iris is super sweet. I didn't read a lot of fanfics but in the great ace detective his other side is explored, which helped me realise he makes such obvious mistakes due to raising a child, so he uses same method of teaching with Ryuno.

13. I'm not active in ace attorney fandom now but I loved the music competition on Reddit. People took their time to explain in details why they either disliked a soundtrack or defended it. The battle was intense as hell. Shame I don't remember the results

15. I absolutely love Edgeworth and his smug swag, his character arc fascinated me. At the time I thought that his character was literally perfect with balance of flaws and good qualities. Some may say he's too kind in AA2 but I love how he comforts Sebastian too much to care. Maybe there's some plot holes in Rise from the Ashes but still not terrible enough (or they are explainable even, I don't remember). For me he's the example of good writing and I enjoy his journey to the point where I like the first investigation game too

[alitgblog]

didn't play last week's episode until yesterday but I'm all about consistency so here's vol 9 ep 9 thoughts

I had so much false hope they'd do casa right following season 8 where at least your og li didn't leave. like sure there's the loophole of being single, but he recoupled with someone so even if you were still together it would work (it's just that it forced you to couple with a casa boy for drama there but I sorta just ignored the guy I brought back 🤣). but alas, no...

said it before and I'll say it again, casa is the biggest drama love island loves to put on, so why do they keeping fucking it up 😭

you at least get a little bit of sadness from the guy you left single, unlike Elliot s6, but he leaves so quickly and you don't even get a special goodbye from him? you get a special goodbye from Kat's partner??? and he's so vague about it too, not even for gems wtf

Easily if the goal was to remove Kat's partner but still keep Uma with Hamish, for whatever reason, I think just have the islanders vote who to keep between single islanders and then keep Chen/your OG LI if you twisted. If you stuck, then maybe Kelly twists and then the islanders vote between Kat's partner and Finn.

Or even better, just have the LI make a mistake! I love a good "I need to explore this" storyline. Ok fine, I guess that's annoying for most people, but I still think giving the LI's some dimension is great, and this would also help differentiate him from the casa boys' plotlines, because as it turns out in the rest of this volume, yeah they're merged for sure.

So I twisted with Stefan and it feels like there's less history between him and MC (i.e., it's as if I stayed with Chen). I'm of course delusional and changing it in my head, trying to gain some meaning, but it's hard because he's been so "I'm here to win you and you only back" and all of a sudden he's exploring things with Uma? See if it was Chen or even Marshall/Cassius I'd be less upset at that.

like this statement makes less sense to me for Stefan but would make sense for chen. what do you mean "early on" this is the second season you're together?

Oh and speaking of Uma, so I guess Hamish chose to keep her as a friend to stay safe? I don't hate that, if not for the fact that it was Uma. He should've brought like a Lulu type as another LI for MC (ideally not Lulu bc there's too many S5 people already and Eddie's not even here yet).

Anyway so yes I'm mad at Stefan and he's like trying to apologize saying "I'm choosing with my head and my heart and it's with you" and like ok sure, bud. Sleeping only in the hideaway is all I'm saying. he just goes on and on about how compatible he is with Uma but is gonna stay with MC anyway, like if I was watching it I'd suspicious he just knows MC is his ticket to win

Now to the real routes in S9, Hamish kiss???? Ahhhhhh. The problem with my current MC, Kara, I don't think she'd be with Hamish. If Stefan steps up his game, I think she goes to Stefan, and if he doesn't, she's walking out of the villa and reconnecting with Chen. However, the Hamish route is so enticing. it's so cute and fun, and I'm relying on the rest of yall to play and post it about it so I can live vicariously through you.

Finn is another route I'm lost on. I just like him with my S5 MC (and that's in part bc she's like a less possessive/hot-headed Kat). So I'm going through his route but I know he's not endgame for my current playthrough. That being said, ooo the gym scene

and she didn't even kiss him he does this

I don't know if it's different if you're in a Kelly route, but Kelly has kind of faded into the background and the problem with that is I don't remember how she feels about Finn, so I have no idea is it snakey that MC flirts with Finn? I refuse to believe they settled things off camera bc she seemed so into him.

oh God don't mention liam

it feels like they replaced the gem choice stefan/Chen drama with Hamish/Lyle drama that all feels a little similar, specifically with how it seems like a nonproblem? like they just don't get along ig

poor marshall tf? he so downgraded this season. I kinda would've liked if he had a reformed bad boy storyline but he's kinda just in the background imo

personally I think Marshall and Hamish should have a bromance happening since they were friendly in S6. I know fusebox doesn't believe in showing as friendships anymore but they should. and I know Marshall isn't in everyone's game but I'd be okay if Lyle and Hamish made up and then they become close friends instead.

like I said, didn't do anything in the hideaway, but I'd see yall post about the sexy crossword that killed me 🤣

excited for movie night 😈

anyway I think most likely movie night guest is Max just based off the shape of the preview, but imagine it was Eddie? like the guy known for stalking people and knowing everything that's happening in the villa is the one who reveals all in movie night.

no but I think if he comes back he'll be like a Logan sort of situation. I also hope that Kelly and Finn don't settle for each other because they seem like just good friends, but I wonder if that means Kelly will choose to recouple with Eddie in the final recoupling, and Finn gets dumped if you don't pick him. Probably not considering how the Theo/Claudia storyline went, but it's an idea, especially if Eddie is not an LI because he definitely needs more time to convince me he's changed.

[viridianstarlight]

About 400 hours in to Elden Ring, on my fourth attempted playthrough of the game, and I've finally finished it! Went with Age Of The Duskborn for the ending. I also killed Malenia. Haven't got the DLC yet, so I haven't really got much left to do in the game besides either waiting until I get that (maybe in the next couple of weeks) or start NG+.

For reference, my first character only had like 50 hours of play time, and I don't think I ever beat Margit. The second had closer to I think 90 hours, and I remember getting stuck on a late-game boss (probably Malekith). The third playthrough I got stuck at the final boss after about 120 hours. This playthrough lasted about 125 hours, and I was close to level 200 by the end.

I've messed around with a lot of different playstyles throughout all of that. In terms of magic, I definitely prefer incantations over sorcery, but I do wanna mess more with sorcery. My first two playthroughs both focused on twinblades, my third on curved greatswords, and my fourth on scythes, and all of those were a ton of fun. I'm hoping to mess with katanas and dragon communion magic in the next playthrough (I've already got the Dragon Communion Seal for that, and I've got plenty of katanas to try).

I'm thinking that, until I get the DLC, I might try messing around with the different katanas to see which ones I like.

Oh also, entirely solo. I'm on PS4 and don't have PS+, so although I had a couple of friends offering to help with some of the more frustrating bosses, I didn't have the option to do multiplayer at all.

[moodymakeshifter]

Hi, I recently found your page because of Afterlife Archive and became really interested in playing it, but I noticed that the last update on development is from last October and was wondering if you're still developing it or if you decided to take a break from that.

I just wanted to know in case you plan on making more changes in dynamics in the future, but I intend to support the development of the game either way, because it seems great

First of all, thank you so much for reaching out with this positive input. 🙂

Afterlife Archive got put on hold at the end of last year because I was hired at a new job and I was taking time to settle in. In my free time, I put effort into creating updates for the game that I was never entirely satisfied with, and so they were never released.

I've noticed that my posts about the game still do get some attention here on Tumblr, and the Kickstarter prelaunch isn't dead either— there are a number of followers waiting for the other shoe to drop. I don't want to abandon the project or the people, like you, who are interested in seeing it develop fully.

In the past couple of weeks, I've been toying with the idea of a big rework for the game's premise and mechanics. I would also be renaming the project After-Connect.

In this new version, the game would function more like an interactive fiction with randomized and score-keeping elements, instead of a journaling rpg with player customization and minigames. The game would flow more intuitively, and the rules would be learned as the player progressed through a case, making decisions and rolling dice to bring about different consequences, all the while tallying up points that could be used to unlock things like badges, player prestige titles, and perhaps even abilities/skills to be used in later cases/playthroughs to change the course of the story.

The interactive fiction approach to making this game would no doubt require more pages, though, especially if I want to include a wide variety of settings, entities, and clients for the player to interact with. So, I think I may try splitting the game into volumes, each one containing a small set of 2-3 haunting modules for the player to have at. 😉

The title change— from Afterlife Archive to After-Connect —seems only appropriate since I intend to tweek the premise.

Before, the player would take on the role of an investigator belonging to an old Order of scholars with a focus on occult knowledge. The player's main objective was to learn and speculate about the nature of the entity.

In the new version, the player would take on the role of an independent agent verified by an online organization and network called After-Connect. Here's some copy I came up with for the fictional online service XD :

After-Connect is a network that pairs occult experts with real people experiencing real paranormal problems. We at After-Connect, alongside our growing userbase of verified agents, are here to help with a wide range of occult related issues. You're not alone, and there are solutions.

Submit an Agent Request Form here.

Essentially, After-Connect offers verified agents multiple cases to choose from, and puts them in touch with the Clients who submitted those request forms. Agents may rent equipment from After-Connect to use during their investigations, as well as gain access to the wealth of occult information stored in the virtual archive when and where it would assist in making judgment calls.

The player perspective would switch back and forth between After-Connect's user interface and present-tense second-person point of view set at haunting location.

The overall player objective in this new version would be to meet the Client's request. Maybe they want the spirit expelled from their property. Maybe they want you to facilitate communication with the spirit. It all depends on the Client. Your goal is to satisfy their curiosity, put them at ease, make them happy. To accomplish this, you need to gain a clear understanding of the entity you're dealing with, and gathering various pieces of evidence will help you do that.

So that's my plan for the game formerly known as "Afterlife Archive". To hold myself accountable going forward, I intend to post pictures of new pages as they're drafted. I want to keep those interested in this project informed about its progress as much as possible, and I apologize for the radio silence that's transpired for the past few months.

Let me know what you think of these concepts and possible developments. Do you like the sound of this new direction? Does After-Connect seem like a good idea? Feedback is always welcome~

Thank you again for the ask. It feels great to know there are still eyes on this project. It keeps me invested even with the distractions of life swirling around me. I'm grateful for all input from the gaming community! 😄

t i p j a r . . . ♡