#me playing bloodborne for the first time 2 years ago

[light-wolf]

Some scattered Switch 2 thoughts:

It's releasing much sooner than I expected, at about the price that I expected, but ughhhhhh that game price increase fucking sucks. That genuinely killed a lot of my hype.

The thing is mostly just a bigger, more powerful Switch, which is what I wanted, so that's cool! Mouse functionality is interesting even though I doubt I'd use it a lot. Nothing too surprising tbh.

I'm most likely never touching that chat button unless it's by accident. Like, ever. Just not my thing.

Charging money for that tech demo/tutorial thing is the most Nintendo thing ever and it's both hilarious and incredibly sad. This manages to be even more egregious than 1-2-Switch.

Free upgrades to Switch 1 games is cool! Some games will really appreciate it (looking at you, Pokémon Scarlet & Violet). I hope the list isn't limited to what they already showed and they have more upgrades coming in the future.

Paid upgrades is obviously less cool but at least these seem to include extra content so I'm looking at them as if they were DLC. I'll be judging these on a case-by-case basis, with the price obviously being a big factor. At least BotW and TotK are free for NSO members, so that might be a good excuse to revisit them. And hey, in any case, this beats rereleasing the same game at full price like we saw with all those Wii U ports. I'll take it.

GameCube games! Yipee! Genuinely so hyped for this, I have sooooo much nostalgia for these games and this will make them much more accessible. Sad that this probably means Wind Waker HD will remain in Wii U hell for the time being though.

Mario Kart World looks genuinely really fucking cool. Interestingly this is the first time a Mario Kart game is a launch title. Nintendo probably saw the sales of 8 Deluxe and said "yeah, we need this Day 1" and I honestly can't blame them. xd

NEW 3D DONKEY KONG HOLY SHIT. I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING. AFTER ALL THESE YEARS, MY BOY IS BACK!!! Seriously I'm so hyped for this! I'm still a bit weirded out by DK's new design, but it's growing on me. He's so expressive! I can't wait to see more of this.

New Hyrule Warriors! Yay! I... still haven't played Age of Calamity, lol. But still, this is cool! Even though I would've preferred another Nintendo series to get the Warriors treatment rather than Zelda for the third time, I'm not complaining.

Kirby Air Riders! Never played the original Air Ride so I have no attachment to it, but I know it's a beloved title, and I'm happy to see Sakurai back for this. I guess this means no new Smash for a while, but it's fine, I can keep playing Ultimate for years.

Lots of third party support in general, which is nice to see. I recently got a PS5 so this isn't as relevant to me as it would've been a while ago (I can just play those games there), but seeing stuff like FFVII Remake is still really cool.

Nintendo-exclusive Bloodborne spiritual successor wasn't on my bingo card. These games aren't really my thing and this one seems to be focused on multiplayer so I'm even less interested, but still really funny to see. There was a cool rat person in the trailer though, I liked that.

Really surprised by no new 3D Mario. I thought we'd be seeing that for sure, with how long it's been since Odyssey. I guess DK Bananza is kinda taking that spot, so I'm not complaining! Give my boy the spotlight he deserves! Mario will come eventually.

Overall the console looks nice even if there's nothing incredibly surprising. While I'm really hyped about Mario Kart and DK, those aren't games I need to play on Day 1, so I'll probably wait. Especially considering that I just got a PS5. I also still have no idea how the pricing situation will be here in Chile. So... yeah, we'll have to wait and see. Lots of things to consider still.

Anyway. Decent first impressions with some ugly parts and some nice surprises. As a lifelong Nintendo fanboy I know I'll get a Switch 2 eventually, but I'm in no hurry. Probably. Still, a new console launch is an exciting time, and I'm glad we're finally getting concrete info on the damn thing after years of rumors, leaks and speculation, lol.

What did you all think?

[bamitsbeth]

Top Games Played 2024

Hi guys, I know I've missed a couple of years of doing this, but life has been wild.

10 - Saints Row

This may be a controversal option for some people as the newest Saints Row wasn't as liked as the previous but I really liked it! I grinded through all the collectables, the character customisation was fun and there was plenty to do in the world!

9 - Persona 5 Royal

LISTEN WAIT! Before you all come for me, this is only so low on the list because I haven't finished the game yet! However I love it! The stories can be surprisingly dark, the world is quite open in terms of what you do with your time, I'm just starting the romances. The characters are great, and it still has humorous moments, also a BANGING soundtrack!

8 - Dark Souls 3

Okay so 2024 I played a lot of Souls games as my boyfriend loves them, I'm currently playing the first DS. This was super stressful but felt great when you finally killed the bosses. I literally couldn't defeat the last boss though :( quite big worlds, never been so happy to return to the fire watcher woman.

7 - Undertale

I love this game so much, I will never do an evil run. I first watched Dan and Phil play it years ago and then my boyfriend declared a race to who could platinum undertale first, he won by like an hour. Everything is perfect, the story, popping battle music, the characters are so cute too! 10/10

6 - Elden Ring

Our next souls game, I was so scared to play this as I had heard a lot about how hard it was. Don't get me wrong, it is hard but I managed to platinum the game on ps4 and currently trying for the ps5 version. It's SO open world! I really need to play the DLC. The battles are so different and everyone finds various bosses the hardest, besides my enemy...Malenia. She kicked my ass in way I didn't think were possible. I liked how different storylines change the characters and what happens in the Roundtable Hold. Alexander the Jar has my heart <3

5 - Balders Gate 3

Ohmygod, this game was the whole reason I got a PS5! It's amazing, Astarion, my twinky vampire, I love you. Also Karlach, my sweet girl. I put so many hours into it, I needed a break. You can play the game however you want, do the quests however you want. It's getting a new patch soon, and I also need to try the mods! 10/10

4 - Phoenix Wright Games

I know I'm cheating with this as this is counting several trilogies and spin-off games, but it's my list. My two favourites are the original Phoenix trilogy and the Miles Edgeworth Investigations. I have loved this franchise for years and have read A LOT of Miles/Phoenix fanfiction. I still need to play the Victorian game. I would do whatever if I could kiss Miles Edgeworth on the mouth. A girl can dream...The characters go through insane trauma but come out so strong and hopeful. Also the trials get insanely wacky, questioning a parrot has to be up there. Will happily replay any day!

3 - Resident Evil Village

A hot massive vampire lady, Neil Newbon who voices my vampire boyfriend Astarion voicing a character, and fun combat - CHECK. The factory level is the worst area, but that didn't stop me from playing this game at least 5 times. The knife run was brutal, but I was so happy when I finally got the platinum. The castle was the best area by far, I also liked hunting the animals for the duke. Ohmygosh it is such a fun game, and relatively short.

2 - Bloodborne

This was a really hard decision for the top spot, this was the very first souls game I ever played and it's amazing! Gothic world, memorable bosses and a pretty doll lady. Can't believe that guy didn't need his wheelchair... Also that magic King guy who you fight on a roof, CHRIST, that fight was rough. Though the mental guy with a cage on his head had a really fun fight! Even the optional dungeons were really fun! I got the platinum guys don't worry.

1 - Silent Hill 2 Remake

Clearly this had to be the top spot! Silent Hill 2 has always been one of my favourite games, I was nervous for the remake as they had changed a lot but as soon as I played it - oh wow - it's amazing! I still have 3 more endings left to get for the platinum, but I'll happily play it again. The chainsaw is a game changer and is great, pyramid head is gonna get smacked up, Angela breaks my heart everytime, also the Abstract Daddy boss fight is much better in the remake! Different puzzles, lots of mementos to the original and fantastic graphics. I got jump scared so often.

[lamortwrites]

20 writer questions!

Tagged by @mashamorevvna and @sybaritick , ty both <3

I think most people have done this by now but in case you haven't and would like to, I'll tag @kawareo @chronurgy @spellmage @dandelion-bride @zigraves @popiellart @fourraccoonsinacoat <3

How many works do you have on ao3?

Twelve!

What’s your total ao3 word count?

62,565. A third of that is just one fic lol

What are your top five fics by kudos?

you get me closer to god (E, durgetash, 4k, necrophilia)

lose the halo, don't need to resist (E, durgetash, 7k, edging/bondage)

love you to death (E, durgetash, 1.7k, obligatory durgetash desk sex fic)

wear you like a stain (E, durgetash, 1.7k, hand jobs/frottage)

am i too lost to be saved? (E, crisis of faith with a side of durgetash, 5.8k, the tadpoling™)

I don't think kudos are a good indicator of what's good lol two of these I really don't like and one I consider deleting p regularly. But stats are stats ig

What fandoms do you write for?

In terms of what's posted, just bg3 rn. But if I ever make it out of my writing slump I have stuff in drafts for resident evil, the draw distance new york trilogy (though I haven't played reckoning yet...), bg1/2, arcane, and rogue trader :)

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I do!!! Eventually...I'm p bad at responding in a timely manner bc I get nervous about responding and overthink it and then it's been four months and now I feel even worse for not replying but yeah the goal is to respond to all comments even if it sometimes takes way longer than it reasonably should

What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Mmm I guess technically the tadpoling one linked above. But. That's the one I hate the most I cannot in good conscience recommend it. Instead I would suggest Gale orb body horror (1.2k) or durge cannibalism nightmare (1.1k) which I think both qualify for angsty

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

What is this ""happy"" you speak of...? I would say probably durgetash body worship (1k) but I don't tend to write happy fics haha

Do you get hate on fics?

Not yet! There's still time tho

Do you write smut?

I certainly try

Do you write crossovers?

I haven't done before but I'm not opposed to the idea

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge! Most of my fics are archive locked at this point anyway and I don't really think there's anything there anyone would want to steal in the first place

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope, definitely not popular enough for that

Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

A fanfic, no. I used to do a lot of collaborative writing of original stuff with friends a few years ago, though, and the worldbuilding for king of the ninth world was v collaborative with @sybaritick , so that half counts I think

What’s your all time favourite ship?

All time is a hard one. Silverflint? Kiradax? Sarevok/Tamoko? GW/Dorn? Mary Keay/Gertrude Robinson? Nines Rodriguez/me? Claire Redfield/Jill Valentine? Billy Coen/Carlos Oliveira? (That one's fully crack it's not real I made it up but it's real To Me.) Rn it's durgetash still but that doesn't have the longevity to count as an all timer yet I don't think. Give it a couple more years

What’s the wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Bloodborne au my beloved...longfics are so scary how does anyone do this

What are your writing strengths?

Worldbuilding is the main one I think. Not so useful for canon fic but great for sketching out AUs!

What are your writing weaknesses?

Description. Using characters' names instead of overrelying on pronouns. Actually finishing things lol

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in a fic?

Nuance button. It's strange and a bit pretentious but as long as it's not overdone I don't hate it. Works better for conlangs then real world languages imo, but a good enough writer can make me enjoy anything

First fandom you wrote for?

I don't know if there's a fandom for it but the first fanfic I ever wrote was for a children's book series called rainbow magic. It was all about fairies -- each series had a theme (e.g. colours, genres of music, types of weather) and each book followed a fairy whose powers related to an aspect of that theme (e.g., my favourite as a kid was Storm the lightning fairy, one of the weather books). An incredibly easy format to take and write fic of, especially when you're...seven? Eight? Somewhere around that age I think

The first fandom I posted fic for...slightly embarrassing, but it was for mcr's danger days universe lol

Favourite fic you’ve ever written?

I kind of hate all my writing rn 😅 I think lose the halo is an all timer for me but I've improved enough since writing it that reading it feels really bad lol. I'll give it to merfolk au since that's my most recent and therefore theoretically my best writing so far. And I spent way too long writing it, so the world is permanently lodged in my brain

[tlgtw]

Aside fromsoft, are there any fantasy game settings/stories you're into?

Like what was the first game that pulled you in and before you realized you were checking dialogue for inconsistencies?

Zoooooomg, I *wish* had any other answer for this but the first game that "pulled me in" indeed WAS a Fromsoft game; and it was Bloodborne.

This came around a few months after it came out, (Meaning I was 14.) and I'd wanted Bloodborne the whole time because of how wicked fucking awesome it looked. (even if perhaps I was a little too young for it.)

I can't remember how, but by some means or another leading up to or concurrently with Bloodborne's initial release I got into all the "Loretubers" from that time, as they're known now.

VaatiVidya of course--most likely he was the first person I ended up watching, but also the other ones. Like the one who wrote that big book about it basically called like "The Paleblood Hunt" or something, and a few others!

The most significant of which I can tell you for a fact was the 'late' Jerks Sans Frontieres.

Her videos shot straight into my spinal cord because she wasn't a summarizer. She, in a similar sense that I am now, was a detective.

At that point I was still purely an audience-member for that latent genre of YouTube videos. As the consumer I enjoyed all of them, but I liked her's best. And I must've rewatched each of her Bloodborne videos at least a half-dozen times before I finally got my hands on the game myself--for my 15th birthday--and I got *so* scared by my experience in Central Yharnam that I think it took me days to pick up the controller again the second time.

I legitimately considered returning it! It was my first FromSoft game. I'd never played something that just, say, *didn't* have background music all the time, for example. I remember it still, clear as day, how unnerving it was just walking around the early areas hearing just your footsteps and the background rumble and when I was unlucky the screaming sounds of the crows and other enemies.

Precisely, when I first came up that ladder to the Central Yharnam checkpoint, when I heard the scream of the Cleric Beast, it scared me out of my wits so goddamn hard that I stopped moving for like 15 seconds.

I was still *just* turned 15, but at that point I had watched all of Bloodborne over and over again like 80 times. I'd watched tutorials and build guides and cheese strats and weapon movesets and everything else I could about that game, before I finally got my hands on it. I thought I would be, at least, ultimately okay. Cause I would still know everything I'd have to do.

I was wrong.

But I did get through it, hahaha.

In-fact I ended up getting through it so hard that by the time I got my hands on the actual DLC, my main save file was in NG++. So the first time I beat The Old Hunters was in NG++.

Fortunately I was very grinded-up so I think ultimately the experience balanced out.

And nowadays I've beaten Bloodborne so many times that I have the entire level of Central Yharnam actually memorized. Until a few years ago could've draw an accurate map of it from memory (and I have).

With Bloodborne being my introduction, as it were, to the concept of Videogame Story Explained Videos, it was also my introduction to the concept of seriously reading a videogame's story in the first place.

What this wasn't, yet, was me actually going in *myself* to actually cross-reference item descriptions and dialogue, for my *own* understanding. You don't do that sorta thing unless you're specifically involved in discussion. And I was involved in *no* discussions in 2015, or 2016, or '17 or '18 or '19 or anything all the way up to until 2022, because online I have the tendencies of a weird hermit.

Although that is me exaggerating. In truth prior to my dealings with Elden Ring I had been a Redditor and I talked (argued) about the story details of Little Nightmares 1 and 2 (My favourite games.) on the subreddit for those games. By then I had already become the kind of person I am still now, most of all in my disinterest in finding any answers regarding a fictional story that can't account for every extant element... of that story. (As you've seen, and will see more of in Episode X of ERwSET. When an idea I have appears to conflict with work in subject, I drop the idea. And develop one that doesn't conflict with it instead. This is opposed to the alternative of making up reasons or justification to keep the initial idea regardless)

No doubt doing that instead would probably make me a lot more content to make money with... Personally, doing so isn't engaging to me, because I am already someone who writes fiction. And in my opinion, "Videogame Story Explained Videos" are fundamentally a non-fiction genre of video, and for me are more interesting in general when they conform to that, because they interface directly with the media itself, and the material that media's author's put into it. Rather than just the individual video creator's personal experience of that media, of that material.

In part this comes from my background as someone who writes poetry and fiction. Of course.

*Of course,* an author who writes and puts meanings into material themselves, finds themselves more interested dissecting the material and creative decisions of *other authors,* who do the same thing, as opposed to the material and creative decisions of just *other readers.* Who most of them don't--generally maintaining more humane professions and areas of expertise instead.

And probably this is rooted into my tendencies as a 'weird hermit,' too. But, from my perspective, if I wanted to see what a fellow member of the audience thinks are the inner working of this character or imagines regarding the off-screen elements of a story, I would read their fanfiction.

...

...

That is of course reductive, but I think saying it like that is really funny, so that's why I'll be still saying it xd.

"Everyone consumes, but not everyone makes," you could say. The same way there are less farmers than people in the world. There are less writers than readers in the world. When I analyze a work of fiction, underneath it all what I'm looking for is to see what decisions the authors made, for *their final product:* "What does that do?" "What does this do?" "If it was different, what would that make?" "What does this matter? Does it?"

"Would I do this too?"

And this interest excludes the question of 'why,' predominantly. I'm not interested so much in wanting to know 'why,' because the only way to learn that is if the author themselves actually decides to share "why." I'm interested just in what the final decisions "are."

"Why'd the author decide to make this character do this?" Well, maybe they were really hungry that day. Or maybe they saw an ad on TV. Or maybe they were talking to their friend about something unrelated and their friend happened to say a phrase in a peculiar and cool way and the author decided he wanted to make use of that, too. And everything else that encompasses the spectrum of the human experience.

"Why" is whatever it wants, it's not like it would change what the final product "is," right?

And of course this doesn't preclude the fact that author's can just *lie* about their motivations too. For that reason, actually trying to find out 'why' is generally an impossible task.

And I'm not interested in pursuing those/I'm not interested in not #winning.

Perhaps this, you could say, then, is the ultimate source of my attitude. Not in the way that it's why I actually decided to write and draw and voice and edit my 80% Elden Ring lore series and 15% weird cartoon; "Elden Ring Explained with Snake-Eyes Teieruji." I did all those for completely circumstantial reasons! (And I go into detail about them in Issue #0 of the Kinda-Monthly Newsletter.)

Nor even in how my show is... the way it is! 'Cause even that is just me being really really slow and meticulous, (as you've no doubt suffered) and anyone can act like that~!

But it is, perhaps, what made me come up with the idea of making such a show as ERwSET, at all, in the first place. (And you can also read about the *second* major exclusion in my recounting here from that same article in Newsletter #0, which was the Sekiro-related project for which Snake-Eyes Teieruji was actually created, that didn't end up going anywhere.)

You'd have be a pretty specific kind of chucklehead to actually think of doing, specifically all this; y'know?

But you may be surprised to learn that I'm normally not like this at all, when I play videogames. Most of my creative energy in such regards are channeled into my poetry, art, and fiction. When I eat games, or movies, or books or TV, I don't really feel a want to find out "exactly what the author did for this character" or "exactly what elements of this scene connect with another scene" because I guess, perhaps, I'm too occupied with enjoying myself...

Hm.

Well, maybe it'll be more accurate to say that what I'm presenting, "of myself" in ERwSET, is effectively extremely extremely scripted and deliberate.

I spend months writing my scripts. (sorry about that.) And those months include the meticulous cross-referencing and fact-checking that gives those videos their noticeable pow.

It's a large amount of *work,* that that is. The desk-jockeying kind. And it's not something that can just do itself when you're relaxing playing any game normally. (I'll never just stop what I'm doing while playing a game to fact-check whether I'm currently right about something, while I'm still in the middle of playing it.

For example in my first playthrough of Elden Ring: I wasn't actually sure how Marika's name was spelled until I had finished my first playthrough. That I wasn't sure if it was "Marika" or "Merika" at the time just legitimately didn't concern to me. I just didn't pay that close of attention whenever I passed a Church of Marika or whatever to actually remember how it spelled her name, afterwards.

I actually kept a journal to keep track of all of my sidequests and stuff for my first playthrough, too! So maybe here's another example, haha:

And here's one more dfbjkskjdbfbkjsdkjbfsjdsf. These are all things I actually wrote down in the middle of playing the game so reading these myself is really fucked up I just remember what I was doing when I wrote them:

What I'm referring to as 'the fucking castle' there is actually what I thought the Siofra Aquaduct was, the first time I saw it, hahaha. I was even a little bummed out when I actually got to it, I'll admit. I thought it was gonna be an entire dungeon.)

In any case;

The experience of *creating* something, and the experience of *consuming* something, are just fundamentally incomparable things.

You could never figure out how houses are built by just living in one, even if you lived in one for a really long time. Right?

It's that very sort of thing; in terms of cross-referencing dialogue and noting game-wide consistencies and inconsistencies for discrepancies and explanations, no playing a game inspired me do that, or could. It was my becoming an author of fiction that inspired me to do that, and my burgeoning desire to understand the decisions *other authors* made, for *their* fiction.

"I wanna know how to do that too." Right?

Eventually this desire lead to me writing poems instead.

Which lead to me (once I finally became good enough at writing to realize--as related in that poem I flashed from highschool in ERwSET1) disavowing the written word entirely! TOO limited for me, I though...!

Pictures have WAY more pow than words!!!

And that's how I got into drawing...

(which are like *way* more powerful than words, right, like it's not even comparable, the only thing words are up-to-down unbeatable at is, indeed, non-fiction... but also in being a trillion times faster than everything else to actually work with. I have returned to the written word, since then, as you might tell. And I'll tell you that writing also has one advantage that no other skill on Earth has--and that's you can practice it using only your head. Every other skill needs equipment, lit only needs words.)

...which is lead me to my foray *now;* the likes of 2-dimensional medias like video! (visual + audio)

:DDD

But that's maybe not the kind of question you were actually asking, either... so...

Y'know... maybe it actually *is* Elden Ring, that's what 'pulled me in'.

I'm pretty far-in-deep right now in this, aren't I? And I've certainly never been this deep in something before!

How... did I get here...!?

I talk all about this in Issue 0 of the Newsletter as well but it's because of how Elden Ring served to combined FromSoftware's skills in atmosphere, the acting of the characters, visuals + audio, and gameplay, with George RR Martin's skills in actually have a coherent plot to present with those elements.

I've stated so before so I'll say so again that earlier FromSoft games such as Bloodborne and (especially) Dark Souls 3 are, to *a* meaningful extent, "not worth" looking into closely from a narrative perspective. In the way that their stories were never purposely finished.

The Soulsborne games have the reputation of having stories that are predominantly based on vibes, and that's not by accident. They are based on vibes.

Gameplay, atmosphere, acting, etc. Those are things that dictate the vibes. But they're not precise. You can't find the definitive answer to a character motivation in their boss theme, that's music.

*Power,* of course, they have in spades, but obviously not any 'precision.'

As we know, Bloodborne had a lot of cut content. And Dark Souls 3.

And as a result of the same internal situations (i.e. real life reasons like time, budget, and workforce) that lead to all that content being cut, a number of the questions you would ask regarding the plot details in those games, literally do not have answers *in* those games.

The stories of Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3 are ambiguous. But not in the way that there are multiple answers: In the way that there are *no* answers.

Again, that isn't by accident. The games themselves are obviously, literally, finished products. It was deliberate decisions made during production to *remove* material communicating parts of the story, for variable reasons, from what would become the finished product.

Thus, leading to parts of "the story" being, for the reader; missing.

Most people will frame this as equivalent to "the audience deciding what the truth is." And I think this is completely inaccurate.

"The audience can choose what the truth is" is when there would be multiple possible answers. (Little Nightmares 1 and 2 are my favourite games.)

"The audience can *never* know what the truth is" is when there are no possible answers.

And in my opinion they are completely different narrative outcomes. They shouldn't be equated.

...

...not acknowledging, of course, the *massive* amount of subjective legwork the word 'possible' is doing there, with those vibes-based definitions:

"Possible" as in, coherent with what is (percieved to be) in the text... by the reader?

Or "possible" as in, literally possible to be imagined by someone... such as the reader, whoever that happens to be?

The topic is only more complex from there. (All into academia and shit tho I wouldn't know I'm an art school dropout.)

And... almost definitely that's also not what you asked, either...

Hm...

Well, I ask that you forgive me.

As for *why* Elden Ring was special to me, circumstantially, such that it lead to my actually making ERwSET, the explanation for that will remain in Issue 0 of the Members-Only Kinda-Monthly Newsletter.

As to *what* lead to me becoming this way, as you see before you? (Insane.) I hope I was able to answer it.

As for RECOMMENDATIONS, for games in general, that inspire ME, personally!?!?!? (Specifically, in the way that they inspired me to think about the setting and wonder about how things in there connect. These listing might look random but I'm positive they're exactly what you might mean in you including, specifically, what "settings" I'm into. Albeit, you are getting this from a poet. So... there is that as well. I hope if you end up looking into any of these that you do end up pleased with the experience.)

Hohokum (2014), for PS4 and PC

GRIS (2018), for basically everything

Bloodborne (2015), but note it standing directly *on* Elden Ring

Minute of Islands (2021) for PC and consoles

The surrealist artbook "Codex Serafinianus" by Italian artist Luigi Serafini (originally published in 1981, but still added to by him occasionally with an updated 40th anniversary edition having been released in 2021.)

Gorogoa (2017), for basically everything again

Child of Light (2014), also, for basically everything, somehow

Flower (2009), available on PC (and I really cannot overstate how important 'Flower' is to me, I didn't even know games could *be* like that, before I played this)

And of course, my all-time favourite book "The Vine That Ate the South" by the band The Legendary Shack Shakers's basically only actual member, JD Wilkes. (A book that has all-but baked itself into my genome since I first read it in highschool, and the additional 29 times I've read it since. 'Cause I have been counting. I voraciously recommend the Audible-licensed Recorded Books and RB Digital audiobook version; the narrator T. Ryder Smith's voice is a trillion bucks for that book.)

And y'know what I think I'm wanting to mirror this answer directly into the Kinda-Monthly Newsletter itself. Not all my readers follow me on Tumblr, even fewer'll be online at the right time as to actually *see* this post this before it's buried under everything else I'll post afterwards, and I've just spent the last few hours enjoying the hell out of myself writing all 3100 words of it, gyahahahhahaha!!

So, for those who aren't reading this!

Look forward towards seeing it the first time, in Issue #1 of the T-L-G-T-W Official Fanclub Members-Only Kinda-Monthly Newsletter. (The Issue that'll be available for free.)

My reader, I also hope you don't mind your ask ending up inspiring me to do this. But you might be the first of more, too.

So for now, going forward for any questions and answers such as these asked to me (even anonymously) on Tumblr blog, that activate me like this one has; *they* might just end up in the *next* Issue of the Newsletter, too...!

I can't say for certain I'll announce every that do, ahead of time.

But, maybe... you'll just be able to just... tell. Somehow.

Hm

[bihansthot]

My little ham is being extremely cuddly tonight and I am very here for it, I was very sad earlier because I can’t remember what Jäger smells like anymore. I find myself smelling Denny often hoping I won’t forget him too. For some reason I’ve been thinking a lot about Jäger’s final moments lately which prompts trying to remember what he smelled like, what he felt like and I just can’t remember, all of those memories are wrapped up and laced with so much sadness and trauma I just can’t separate them. I don’t know what’s bringing these feelings back up lately, maybe because I haven’t been feeling well and have been unhappy because I feel unwell. I need a nice distraction and neither of the guys I’ve been seeing are providing it. Maybe I need a hobby? Writing seems too constricting lately and not fun. I’ve been thinking about crocheting again but a) I have to learn again which no biggie YouTube taught me when my niece was born 15 years ago, it can teach me again, b) I have no clue what to make? I’d make something for Denny but he has so many clothes lol I guess he can always use more? Maybe cute hats like Good Boy Ollie has? Denny deserves all the cute clothes and hats, he’s such a good baby. I don’t deserve him.

In non depressing dog stuff I made some video game resolutions for the year that I’m not sure I’ll accomplish. If you’ve followed me for a very long time you know I also love Soulsborne games, I’ve beaten DS3 and Elden Ring but my resolution is to beat the DLC for DS3, I want to beat Malenia and Placidusax in Elden Ring and finally play Bloodborne. I’ve never played Bloodborne despite absolutely loving it. The problem is I haven’t touched DS3 since I beat it so I can’t remember how to play it and Elden Ring I’m reasonably confident I can beat Placidusax but Malenia woof waterfowl dance am I right? THB I had enough health to tank most of it if I could avoid at least one but it’s her stage two form scarlet rot dive bomb that killed me. Admittedly I’ve only tried Malenia 2 or 3 times, my partner got Let Me Solo Her themselves to beat Malenia for them. I don’t know where to start though, I have to restart them all from the beginning because I’m on PS5 now, I guess I should go in order? So Bloodborne first? I’m so scared though everything is so fast 😭 I’m a big dumb, clunky over level and use the biggest axe in the game type player and I’m afraid I won’t be able to keep up. I don’t know if I can do the DLC I don’t know if I can beat Lady Maria or the Orphan of Kos but I guess I’ll try. Wish me luck y’all, I’m not embarking back into Soulsborne until I 100% Season of the Cryomancer though and of course this will have no bearing on my MK lust/content or anything, I don’t really have Soulsborne husbandos/waifus though I guess there’s boy Anri and Vicar Amelia (yes I’m a monster fucker, deal with it) oh oh and my precious stingray boyfriend Lorian, I don’t write for any of them or self ship with any of them so there will still be lots of dumb egg jokes. Don’t worry I’m in no way taking a break from MK I’m just indulging in another franchise I love deeply too, multitasking. So I guess just a heads up that there may be an influx of rage posts about Soulsborne bosses lol Or me professing my endless love for Greirat and Boc lol Will I ever go back to Baldur’s Gate 3?? Who knows! Probably not tbh I don’t like anyone other than Gribbo and Scratch not to mention I’ve seen my partner put just hours into it. I’ve seen the game and maybe I’m just bad at it but it’s just not fun for me which is why I’m going back to Soulsborne games lol I’ll tag my posts with “Soulsborne” if you don’t wanna see my rambling about the games though but like I said I promise I will still be all MK all the time after all it’s my true love ❤️

This has been a pointless Sol rambles, thanks for reading 🩵

[asleepinawell]

hot off the triumph of my ng+ run of dark souls 1, i decided to finally go back to try and beat ringed city which i rage quit 2 years ago (read more because i rambled a bit) (obligatory note that this is all just my opinion, other people get different things out of the game and that's fine, etc)

i didn't quit over a boss fight, but over that stretch between the inner wall bonfire and the swamp where the devs were like okay turtle clerics, ringed knights, SIX harald knights on the stairs backed up by ranged, and then a goddamn swamp in a level that should have been a cool ruined city. and all of the hard damage sponge enemies respawn. so if you die you have to go through a ton of very slow hard fights again and it's tedious

this time i looked up where the bonfire was and just made a run for it. and then after trying the next part did the same thing again. it is just frustrating. i can't play for more than twenty minutes at a time without having to turn it off and find something actually fun to do

the whole time I've been thinking about what makes a soulsborne level actually good. i've never thought it was difficulty (and would argue that being known as "so so hard" becoming the core aspect of soulsborne has been the worst thing to happen to the series)

for me, the best levels depend on patience and observation, not extremely hard enemies spawning out of nowhere. the sign of a good level is that when you finish it, when you're out of the thick of it, you think "hey that was cool and i wouldn't mind doing it again someday". and you think that regardless of any annoyance or difficulty you had along the way

when you finish an area and just think "i never want to go through that again" then something went wrong

i think about tower of latria, anor londo, darkroot garden, tomb of giants, central yarhnam, and even the valley of defilement and yeah some of those were grueling but god were they cool and i will go back to them someday. ringed city makes me think i'd rather go mop my kitchen (which i did so i guess something good came of it)

similar feeling about boss fights. artorias and manus were challenging but i ended both fights being like fuck yeah i did it! and the fights looked and felt really cool. i felt like i was fighting a duel rather than waiting for the boss to stop ping-ponging off the walls shitting status effects so i could get in one hit

the first boss fight in ringed city (I'm up to the second one now but haven't done it yet) i was like oh good now i never have to do that again (i don't even remember it very well, just that i didn't enjoy it). i actually prefer easy fights that have neat atmosphere (moonlight butterfly) to harder ones that leave me frustrated and think the best ones combine elements of challenge and atmosphere

(artorias' primal screams still get me every time, the deceptive speed he can move with despite lurching around, his dead arm dangling, the trail of abyss corruption, the way i remembered all his attacks years later...god that fight was good)

anyway i love the series a ton and I'll just end with the fact i have beaten demon's souls about 5 times (3 ng+ iterations included), and dark souls 1 about the same number of times. i've been through bloodborne twice and am almost through a third time. elden ring i beat twice and it's kind of a mixed bag. and then there's ds3 which i beat once and have 5 new characters i never got far on (i did like it but felt no desire to replay). i don't think i ever touched ds2 again after beating it. to me that says a lot

[silenthillmutual]

3 & 18 for Alfred the Executioner, 24 & 25 for Artemy Burakh, and 10 & 48 for Heather Mason!

alfred<3

3. What first drew you to this character?

this is such a fun question for me because i've been asked this once or twice. i genuinely have no idea! i started playing bloodborne in like. uhm. 2022, i think? and i'd gotten far enough in the game to meet him. but i generally didn't think a whole lot about bloodborne at the time because so much else was going on in my life. i couldn't even tell you when or why my brain decided to fixate on bloodborne, much less on alfred. i just kind of woke up one day and my brain was like "yes alfred my best friend alfred!"

if i'm going to hazard a guess, i'd say it's because he's fucking crazy. i love it when a guy (or gal tbh) is covered in blood and laughing like a maniac. i am also admittedly quite fond of the voice acting. i wish all the characters in bloodborne got more screentime, but at the same time i think everyone does a great job with what they're given. the absolute snide turn in his voice when you give him the cainhurst summons is just so good.

18. Do you prefer to see this character suffer or know peace? Angst or comfort? Both?

SUFFER, BLONDE BOY!

i have a whole thing planned out of how i'll get him to interact w my oc and all but the peace lasts for... i don't know. a couple hours? maybe? the rest of it he is suffering. his natural state. even when i take him out and dust him off and put in him pathologic he is suffering. but that's bc i see him as someone who hasn't quite figured out yet that you're not meant to hinge your entire existence on a singular thing: a person, a goal, a label, an ideal. i don't know how to better explain it other than that i think he's got many things wrong with him and can't/won't look inward, but that's not something anyone else can make him do, so it doesn't particularly matter where he is. he's going to continue to suffer.

artemy<3

24. Do you ever dream about this character? If so, describe a dream you once had about them.

i have had dreams about artemy in the past but i cannot for the life of me remember what happened in them! my dreams typically aren't all that memorable unless they're really, really bad. i haven't had one with him in it recently, though i think the first time i had artemy show up in a dream, i was daniil.

25. What kind of fan-fiction do you read about this character? If you don’t read fan-fics about them, why not?

i went through a period where i was trying to read absolutely every pathologic fanfic. i got caught up a couple years ago, and then life caught up with me and i haven't really gotten back to the mines in that sense. now i tend to prioritize what my friends write before reading anything else... but i do like to read gen fic about artemy that focuses on him actually struggling with the outcome of the game. and i feel like this is sort of a rare thing to find. i'd be happy with reading a burakhovsky fic like this if, you know, more of them existed? because so many fics make it The Dankovsky Show. and i get that daniil is a very interesting and important character, but so is artemy! people tend to write artemy as being endlessly understanding and kind, and artemy (in patho 2 at least) is relatively quick to forgive people who have wronged him, it just doesn't sit right with me that people make him a doormat. so i do still read fics where artemy is present, but i don't... go looking for them necessarily, because it doesn't feel like a lot of people treat him very fairly. he gets a better deal than clara, granted, but not by much.

heather<3

10. Do you see yourself in this character even without projecting?

hmmm... i think i probably saw myself in aspects of heather back when i was playing the game at like, 18 or 19 years old, but i think that was more with the heather we're presented in shattered memories, who is deeply hurt and grieving something she never got to have. it was something i could relate to, and the heather of silent hill 3 had something i never did, in having a loving father. i think i probably identified witht he rage she feels in the game, and the fear (since i was peak unmedicated for ocd, which itself is like being in a neverending hell) - but that was probably more of a 'heather lend me your strength' kind of way than in actually being able to see myself in her. though i did cosplay her!

48. What’s your favorite physical/design feature for this character?

i've always absolutely loved her outfit. i used to closet cosplay her all the time - my mother would never have let me bleach my hair, but i had the vest & the skirt & the boots. i actually always loved boots like that, though i don't have them anymore. i'm actually coming back around in the questions here - now that i'm older & harrier & fatter & vaguely more masculine, my cosplay lineup is looking more like travis grady (from silent hill: origins) and alfred.

honest fave character asks~

[xpiester333x]

And finally, to complete my yearly game posts, here's what I plan on playing in the year 2024:

1. Assemble With Care - a short little game I should be able to knock out in a few hours but I picked it up in a bundle and I have wanted to play it so I will try to knock it out this year.

2. I'm more than half way done with Baldur's Gate 3 but I likely will be playing it through January. I hope to finish it at least once before P3R.

3. Bloodborne - help.

4. Borderlands 2 - since I had such a blast playing Borderlands with my boyfriend this year, I'm looking forward to giving this game a second chance and hopefully enjoying it much more.

5. Borderlands 3 - a little less hopeful for this one, since I haven't heard much good about it, but might as well knock out the main franchise.

6. Boyfriend Dungeon - I just got this for Christmas and I'm excited for the concept of romancing my weapons :)

7. I'm also more than halfway through Catherine, so I also intend to finish that in the coming month.

8. Cat Museum - something cute and short I picked up on mega sale and want to make an effort to play this year.

9. The Coffin of Andy and Leyley - I actually have no idea what this game is about or if I'll like it but it was a gift so dammit I'll play it.

10. Dragon's Dogma 2 - Dragon's Dogma is easily in my top 10 games of all time, and I am SO hype for this game. The only downside is it's coming in March, and the first quarter of 2024 is pretty PACKED with games for me.

11. Etrian Odyssey - because I never finished it when I owned it on DS but I'm in my Atlus Games era rn so

12. Far: Lone Sails - I was drawn to this game for the art and it seems like a quick little experience of a game.

13. Final Fantasy 16 DLC - blanketing over the currently available DLC and the up and coming DLC.

14. Hades - a carry over from 2023's list but THIS WILL BE THE YEAR (maybe)

15. Haven - I don't think (?) this game is very long but it looks very heartwarming so I'm here for it this year.

16. Little Nightmares 2 - another fairly short game that I have no reason not to play, especially when I'm obsessed with the first one.

17. Little Nightmares 3 - I don't know what the release date is yet but like Borderlands let's try to close out a franchise!

18. Metaphor: ReFantazio - it doesn't even have a release date and I'm already excited about it.

21. Nier Automata - another carry over from 2023, but I have a good feeling about it this year.

19. NEO: The World Ends With You - I hear only good things about this game but I will be walking into it 98% blind.

20. Nightingale - Idk how much I'll actually play this game but my friend and I have been watching its development for years and we are READY

22. Nier Replicant - I watched a friend play some of this and it looked fun, and since I saw it was free on PS plus... why not.

23. Octopath Traveler - this is to feed my JRPG addiction but break up some of my Atlus obsession

24. Opus: Echo of Starsong - This was a gift like 2 years ago and I really want to play it through this year.

25. Persona 3 Reload - I ALREADY TOOK VACATION FOR IT IM SO READY 38 MORE DAYS

26. Persona 4 Arena - Because I think it's the only readily available Persona game I haven't played yet.

27. Sea of Stars - I'm more than half through this too, I stopped playing it to play Tactica so I'll be finishing this soon as well.

28. Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne - I put a fair amount of time into it this year, and I adore this game. I'm finishing it next year.

29. Shin Megami Tensei 5 - for real this year, I promise (🤞)

31. Undertale - why have I not played this? Why did it sit on my list last year untouched? Why did I install it and never play it? The world may never know.

30. Soul Hackers 2 - because again, I'm in my Atlus Games era and I bought it this year so time to play it.

32. Untitled Goose Game - for casual hijinks

I'm even more ambitious this year than last year and thats without knowing even half of whats to be released in 2024 sooo wish me luck.

[racke7]

Huh.

So, because I don't have Divinity 2 right now, I decided to look through my game-catalog. And I have Monster Hunter World on this thing.

Last time I played this was the first time I played this (years ago), I played it for almost eight hours straight, and I'm pretty sure I spent 90% of that time cursing and yelling at the game because fuck your stupid fucking run-away mechanics. Stand and fight like a proper fucking monster.

But hey, I like being a little hater sometimes. Let's see-...

Okay, so after another 40min of gameplay, I can safely say that:

Monster Hunter is a game for people who really like the combat-mechanics of Bloodborne's Micolash-fight, but who'd really prefer the actual fighting-parts to be the Amygdala-fight instead.

That is to say, not fucking me.

[adollt]

Games I've played since I've been offline. Aka my PC broke n poor so repairs not happening soon.

Consoles are fun for casual gaming

Assassin's Creed Black flag: its pretty fun, I mean you don't get your own crew that you can call for help but like it's got some themings of assassins but I wasn't enough to get me to fin

Assassin's Creed origins; I did the first area and then a couple missions after it and it just really wasn't what I was looking for I mean it feels like a solid game I guess but not really an assassin game especially when I think about brotherhood and you know calling in other assassins.

Fallout 4; on survival difficulty it's actually fun I've always left it to be an ex's game Glad I finally tried it. I'm hella invested into my dumb lil playthrough

Persona 5 royal; about to get to the halfway mark on hard and it's been pretty fun I'm not as emotionally invested as I was with 4 though. And on a side note my mom saw me playing five and now she's playing four because I got it on her switch years ago and she's now in her first dungeon lol.

Dynasty warriors 9 maybe I need to try it on a new console because lag lag lag lag. And here I had some decent hopes for it

Dynasty warriors 8 empires; ah dude if I had as much free time as I used to have I would totally be making a 50 character custom roster to make a custom army because it was actually fun you know for what a tactics dynasty warriors is.

Dying light 2; I got about an hour in but I don't think I really care for parkour mechanics maybe I would like it in co-op. I did not enjoy parkour combat whatever it was and hitting a perfect block or parry or w8r.

I also tried bannerlord for console and it's fucking dog water

Surviving; The aftermath: wow I finally got to try one of the surviving series lines and uh... It was not fun. It wasn't properly fixed for consoles for the UI and in my opinion was quite jank

On the contrary

Stranded; alien Dawn has fucking exceeded my expectations of what a strategy survival can be on console as the UI is easy to use on controller and I have played quite a bit of it and excited to play more

Oh and I also tried Bloodborne again just really is not for me I really like dark souls 3 though. I even got good at the combat at least for the first 3 areas

[maximuswolf]

Deciding what to purchase next

Deciding what to purchase next I have just finished up Final Fantasy XIII, yet another Final Fantasy game & am looking for suggestions from my list about what to play next & would prefer something more modern. This is my list & I may add to it & it entails which single game I would like to play next although I do not have the current-gen-most-modern consoles Reynatis - I have played the Demo for this & it was excellent, I have never played a FuRyu game before & the graphics were superb on my SmartTV. I am looking into playing this on PS4 but have been tempted to wait until it is on saleHalo Infinite - I have played plenty of the multiplayer of this & some of the campaign of the game while it was on GamePass but the steep price tag has always put me off although as a teenager this was my favorite series for the loreDiablo IV - I have played the first Diablo, clocked it & played the second one albeit a long time ago. However i have never played the third one & am wary about re-entering the series right at the fourth one on my xbox one xElden Ring - The dark souls series is something i played although once again only the first one to completion & never the bloodborne series. I enjoy GRR Martin content although it is not my top favouriteSonic x Shadow Generations - Last year I played & platinumed the last PlayStation Sonic, Sonic Superstars. However the lack of dialogue in Sonic games means it is not my favorite, will I get a different experience from this game on Playstation?Fantasian: Neo Dimension - This game was just recently released in the last 12 months & plays like a Final Fantasy game but I do not know a lot of details about it, its price tag is slightly higher but it holds the promise of a more modern feelFinal Fantasy IV - This game Was released around the year of my birth so holds some sentimental value, & i want to platinum it just for the sake of completeness although i do not like Sprite games quite as muchFinal Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster - I have played both X & X-2 but have not loaded all the achievements/trophies & am yet to complete Iutycyr TowerKingdom Hearts Melody of Memory - Of the kingdom hearts games I have played all or most of the English releases including this one but am yet to platinum it, however I find the Proud Mode trophies/achievements daunting but the online mode is a real seller for me, I had a tonne of fun playing matches of this when it released but heard the online section of this game is less active nowAnyone have any suggestions from this list & ideas about what is cheapest, least time involved, what console platform & which is the most fun?I would like to add 1 of these games to my collection within the week Submitted January 07, 2025 at 04:33PM by ozzykiichichaosvalo https://ift.tt/Ickf5sz via /r/gaming

[gorematchala]

I've been playing a ton of shit and not talking about it but

Star Ocean 2nd Story (PS1) is already one of my favorite RPGs just like First Departure R was. I'm kinda leaning toward not liking Claude but its probably because I'm playing as Rena so I'm not getting his internal monologue. But based on his intro in the 2nd Story R demo and how he's acting about Dias I'm like youre kinda a dumbass huh. But not in the lovable heroic way Roddick was. But I think its fine if he kinda sucks, there's room for that

Umihara Kawase is another game that is like instantly on my favorites of all time list. I'm on stage 5 and I'm like okay top 3 SNES game. Could be top 1 but Hebereke and Star Ocean are on there too hehe. But its like a physics based grapple platformer and its so cool. I need to go look at the new one again even though its kinda uggy

I bought Mushihime-sama because I'm still trying to expand my shmup horizons but I haven't been on my Switch much because I'm playing Star Ocean 2 and Pokemon Ruby but from the 2 seconds I played it was really good

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 days, I'm giving so much leniency because I want to like Xion and I wanna experience her story. So far I've only done the tutorial with Axel and its a DS game so I dont expect much from it in terms of performance or visuals or whatever, its fine. My problem and why I'm having to exercise patience is that the writing of that series is so frustrating. The idea of that game is flawed. The whole thing exists to make the organization seem lamer. Like the mysterious shadow guys that were a big threat in chain of memories and 2, those guys all get together for meetings where xemnas assigns them busy work and they groan and complain about it even though i always forget theyre supposed to be emotionless. Vexen doing the Nagatoro crazy eyes all the time doesnt come off as hollow to me. It just makes me mad because its like FF7 where it could be great but a man named Tetsuya Nomura was handed a pen and paper and now we're here. But I will do it for her

I played 20 minutes of Izuna Legend of the Unemployed Ninja and I basically did the intro and then died to the 3rd enemy in the first floor of the dungeon but that game shouldve been more popular. It's really good but unfortunately it released on the same system as Pokémon Mystery Dungeon. Izuna sucks so bad I love her. The first thing she does is go to a shrine that says "this gem keeps the gods from being mad at us do not touch" and shes like hehehe all for meeee. Then the inn keeper is like I'm charging you 300x the rent till you fix this and shes like "we cant afford that, I will pay it... with my life" and she takes out a matchlock pistol and puts it to her head, and the inn lady is like yeah alright do it, and then you hear a click noise and Izuna is like damn out of bullets. I was like this is an insane way to introduce this character but shes my fail girl and we're gonna solve this curse together

The other fun thing has been playing Dark Souls 1 with my brother alongside his co-op playthrough of Smellden Ring with his partner, cuz DS1 is a good game and Smellden Ring is so bad that he has fully admitted I was right when i was bitching like a year ago or whatever. Cuz he took faith this time and now that theyve hit the wall of Mohg and Malenia hes like why the fuck is everything in this fucking game INT. And I'm like yeah dude, idk!!! But then like, we just did Sen's Fortress in DS1 and that place is so mean and fucked up but I was having a chill time just walking through all the traps and snake men and kicking my feets under the desk. DS1 is fully relaxing to me just like Bloodborne and most of DS3. Next time we play is O&S though so I'll get back 2 u on that statement

[fantomette22]

Yep you right. And reading into my mind 😂

But really i got it worst in another fandom years ago (kingdom hearts my beloved) Like i personally saw a ship with the protagonists/ deuteragonist more platonically but i really like that it could be seen as more romantic! But people were so mean omg i pass from being positive towards it to really neutral/ seen them just as BFF xD but it was a while ago

But smt worst i saw was like « we can see the difference between who’s a friend or not if you see this 2 characters as gay best friends (like me) or ship them… » well sorry to ship 2 characters with a great alchemy where one might actually have canon romantic feelings for the other but ok sure :/

And also « unfollow me if you follow THIS artist who ship X! And made ship art of Y too » damnit. I didn’t follow this person thankfully but i knew The artist they reffer too and who got vagueblog. They are super nice and even if there’s some of their ship i’m kind neutral about it is cute and also they draw on of my otp smt so like- i feel super bad for them

So yep it hurts when smn talk shit about smn else or an interpretation / ships and actually ship that other thing you like less! If that make sense. So you identify and links the 2 together when you shouldn’t. But it’s not the thing/ media alone you dislike but more the human behind that you don’t stand on internet.

And to get back to the exemple you speak about well after playing bloodborne for the first time, due to my experience and understanding of the game (+ french dub) i din’t saw Mariadeline as smt really romantic. But i agree after seing various interpretations afterwards that before the research hall it could work yeah! It’s not my main interpretation (excepting a really specific AU). But there was a time after some times in the fandom where of course i sadly associated the ship with mean behaviour that made me like it even less.

But seeing interpret like yours or 8km-2 🥺 or a few other interpretations i can find it even more cute with you context. And it’s just cool positivity and serotonin now where before it was either neutrality « but hey cool art », just didn’t care that much or i sadly had in mind the comments that mark me from well the person who could share it hm…

So yeah anyway like and share what you want guys! (If of course it’s respectful and you know in the rules of the websites) Stand your ground and don’t let other dictate what you should like/ don’t like! But also defend and stand your ground you have the right to not like smt/ prefer smt else and people need to respect that too.

Somehow it seems i may have been more at peace with some ships frequently.

Besides a few things that repulsed me i’m always kinda neutral or even positive towards ships i don’t ship myself/ or don’t have a brainrot on . (If people explain it well i’m really supportive 👍)

And when i start to dislike smt it’s more because of users associating with it and being really mean towards others. For reasons i can’t really understand??

Well i hope it don’t change in like…3 days 😂 but all of this to say that good takes and sharing them while always been kind of supportive of other people, despise differences of interpretations is important. And really cool

[naumin]

2022 in review

in an effort to blog about art on my art blog more i will be writing a post covering my work in 2022 and maybe some aspirations going forward into 2023

2022 was the year of learning to paint! at the beginning i was really frustrated, a lot of my pieces were very hit or miss and i couldnt tell why some sucked and some fuckd. i nibbled at some online courses for fundamentals, James Gurney’s Color & Light book and Marco Bucci’s painting videos, and was looking for a mentor at one point but i think i stopped cuz i broke my thumb briefly lol

a piece from december 2021 that is just a bit random and i think representative of my stabbing in the dark

studying...

in June i split a schoolism sub with emma and it was an amazing decision. i think if you have limited time to practice drawing or dont know where to go the best thing is to take a course, and ive taken cheap or free courses online but the tutors on schoolism are top of the industry and the quality of their teaching is stellar imo. literally felt my brain explode with knowledge they are the best of the best. i finished the painting workout course with wouter tulp and ive dipped in and out of numerous others since then. its cool bcus u can study at your own pace.

July was artfight, i did talk about it here so not gonna repeat myself heh

then i was really busy with my MA, its been so fun and so exhausting. a year is so short and i want to try all the printing techniques and ceramics and everything cry. but hey now i know indesign and can make my own zines and stuff which is amazing. i also tabled at my first market :) i did really like it and would love to do more, dont want to put pressure on myself to do that this year but at least wanna visit them and scope out the audiences and stuff.

school really is making me appreciate traditional art again, tbh it is nothing like digital. you just cant get that chaos or physical resistance from your materials in digital, everything is very deliberate and constructed and almost predictable. ive started to incorporate more traditional work into my pieces where i can, especially photobashing. i can use photos i offhandedly took years ago and it feels really nice to get to repurpose them.

a spread from my school project, a book about one of my passions (i chose the story of how i got into elden ring!!!) i made it from paper cutting, photobashing, and digital. (im going to sell pdf and physical copies in the new year)

so circling back to the start of the year, i think you can see marked progress in my illustrations that ive posted here. i think i learned a lot about techniques within a painting but i want to learn more about pictorial composition bcus my default tends to be 3:4, portrait, charas centre, and i want to break that habit and tell more effective stories :)

over the past 2 years ive been incorporating more realism into the characters i draw and trying to be really deliberate with what features, proportions etc they have.

a 2021 isa and a 2022 isa

i think i want to maintain this level of detail because its descriptive enough for my needs but i want to push it to be more dynamic and stylised. i really admire the way disney animators like jin kim do it. its because im not confident enough with structure and anatomy to really play with it.

on the other hand with life drawing i really want to do more realism and capture exactly whats in front of me because i think i rely on style as a crutch too much hahaha.

from december. proud of these!!!

thats whats on my mind really. again really dont want to put any undue pressure on myself and i am going to be really busy until october at least. i am seriously proud of my progress in 2022. and im really looking forward to playing bloodborne x

[ordosmarkzero]

I started a Dark Souls replay a little while ago, have been wanting to for a while but was waiting for the pc servers to come back online because playing without messages just felt wrong.

Has been my first time playing since I beat it a few years ago, my first time on the Remastered version and my 2nd proper playthrough (I had a few failed attempts before I beat it the first time where I never got much further than around Darkroot Garden / Depths).

Here's some random thoughts I've had during my playthrough, might continue to update this as I go, also spoiler warning I guess?

This is my first time doing an INT/DEX build (Sorcery) properly, all 3 games + Bloodborne I did STR mainly. At first I felt very powerful compared to that and was surprised at how quickly you can blitz down bosses, but as it went on I started to feel the trade off of not having big armour and not being able to hit as hard with your weapon. I'm glad it's now feeling more like a different kind of challenge instead of just being easier. I'm also intrigued to try out faith now too.

I keep going back and forth and how I feel about the lack convenience compared to 2&3. When I got to just before O&S in Anor Londo I was starting to feel like my spells weren't hitting hard enough so I resolved that I had to go back and buy the ring that boosts sorcery. This meant I had to go back through Anor Londo, then descend Sen's Fortress all whilst not using a bonfire so I could easily Homeward Bone back. It wasn't that bad as you can run past the big guys in AL and I had unlocked the elevator in Sen's, but I got knocked off a ledge by a trap due to rushing + nerves and fell to the bottom, I only just survived and had to then use the ladder to get back up. This journey wasn't that much of a big deal but was definitely one of the more memorable parts of my playthrough, whereas in 2 & 3 it would have just been warping back to the hub then warping back to where I was and have lasted about a minute or two. I also enjoy that the merchants and blacksmiths are spread around the world, makes them and the world feel more alive. But sometimes I do find the "oh I need this item/upgrade so I have to travel all the way here" quite tiresome. I suppose it works better in DS1 because it's a lot easier and quicker to get from place to place.

I tried the Forest Hunter covenant for the first time and it's pretty fun! I never really did any PvP in the first game and most people are much better than me but I enjoyed doing it for a while.

The separation between magic & enchanted feels kind of pointless. Maybe I'm not using the right weapon or I've messed up my build somehow but I plugged my stats and weapon into mugenmonkey and even when I extrapolated my INT to around where it'll probably end up the difference was so minimal in what damage my weapon would end up doing between the two.

It's probably because I play the game quite late at night and the game is so old but it feels quite dead. I've barely seen any summon signs and never been summoned when I dropped one of my own. Have had a few invasions though. I think I'll try again during Return to Lordran and see whether that's any better (which I guess would also be a good time to test out a faith build).

I'd kind of blended together Siegmeyer & Siegward in my mind. Whilst I still like Siegmeyer and think he's quite funny, I love Siegward, he's so charming and all the encounters with him are fun. The first time you meet him and the game lets you know he's there because you hear the "hmmmm" as you pass him on the elevator is forever in my mind and one of my favourite introductions to a character.

On the other hand I found Solaire a bit boring on my first full playthrough but I'm liking him a lot more this time.

The Undead female merchant is also pretty fun, "you'd trust a piece of moss over me..."

[anorlondoarcheryclub]

8, 9, 20 for the asks 😌

8. Do you have any fond coop memories?

So far my best run as a host has been in Elden Ring. A total of three summons, two invaders (we killed the first and went long enough to get a second one!), and two hunters made the first half of Stormveil castle into absolute multicolored chaos.

There's nothing like a party of host, summon, and a blue descending on some invading fool who had no idea what was coming. They put up a fight, and even killed one of the phantoms before being absolutely wrecked by the rest of us.

(Edited, because I must have misremembered. Elden Ring doesn't allow four person parties.)

There's also the person who invaded me in the Archives in DS1, tanked a few hits with shield up, then showed me around the place by gesture. I thoroughly expected them to kill me as soon as I got to the next bonfire, but they dropped a bunch of cracked red eye orbs and went home, instead.

You never know, with this fandom.

9. What are your top three weapons and why?

1. Balder Side Sword, my original and beloved, that carried me all the way through DS1. The moveset feels Right and it has a long lunge that became emblematic of my character. I like the feel of the timing, and the wide slashes make handling mobs easier.

2. Black Knight Halberd. It is so SO sexy. Wide swings, big overhead chop, beautiful details, massive reach. What's not to like?

3. Idol's Chime. Not the strongest hexing chime, nor the wildest design, but it's simple and elegant, and strong enough to get the job done. Besides, I have sentimental reasons to like its appearance.

Honorable mention to the Threaded Cane. I've barely played any Bloodborne, but it's fun.

20. What are your thoughts on PVP?

In genera, I enjoy it. I'm not fond of the invasions that aren't a real contest - someone cheesing with spells I can't meaningfully avoid, or people who pile on when I'm already dealing with a boss (thanks, Elden Ring).

That said, duelists, blue invasions where my whole goal is to stop reds, and reds who have a sense of fair play are just fun! I like the challenge of fighting live people, who are so much less predictable than AIs.

If you had asked me even two years ago, I'd have said I'm not interested. I guess you can say the Souls fandom has corrupted me thoroughly. :)