#my old work pc did and it was two times weaker than this one in every possible aspect

[thunderboltfire]

I've tried to run BG2 again (I need to finish my modded playthrough) and my laptop is in such a bad state it prectically lags BG2. BG2, which could be run on a determined microwave, on a laptop that has 8GB of RAM! It is heavily used and it has a lot of apps, but I've uninstalled everything I didn't use and cleaned the registry awhile ago. I suspected the antivirus, but the system manager shows it actually doesn't consume a lot of resources. It's not the disk space, since it's got plenty. It turns out it uses 100% of its disk all the time, and the main culprits seems to be.... *drum roll* system and Windows telemetry service! I now have to spend the evening elbows deep in frankly confusing system settings to find a way to turn the telemetry service off, and it may or may not improve the situation.

Once I finish this playthough, I'm definitely switching the laptop to Unix.

[ravnicaforgoblins]

Ravnica for Goblins

Exciting Planeswalker Visitors

(Caution: Before we begin, this post is going to be much more opinion-based than previous ones. These are my own homebrew ideas, use them as/if you wish, discard/dismiss them if you prefer.)

Planeswalkers are an integral part of MTG Lore, as well as several of its most iconic characters. Put simply, a Planeswalker is an individual with an inherent gift for traveling between planes, or worlds. The gift does not appear at birth, but is usually triggered by some manner of incredibly emotional (usually traumatizing) event. In addition, each Planeswalker displays a unique aptitude for a particular style of magic; be it plant growth, transformation, becoming transparent, illusions, invulnerability, summoning beasts, structural analysis, setting things on fire, etc. Whatever their specific brand of magic is, it’s usually on a higher level than an ordinary person can hope to achieve.

Planeswalkers, as a general rule, are wanderers by nature. They may have a home plane, or even an adopted home plane, but being able to traverse the multiverse leads many towards lives of constant adventuring/shenanigans. Add in the fact that Planeswalkers cannot bring anyone else with them on these travels (except in very rare cases), and you end up with a special breed of super-powerful magical loner. They show up, make a name for themselves with their big magic, and depart when they feel like it. Did you say, “Instant Adventure”?

Ravnica has a few native Planeswalkers among its citizens; Ral Zarek, Vraska, and Domri Rade. In addition, it has several Planeswalkers who have at some point or another (depending on your timeline) devoted enough time & energy to be effectively considered citizens; Azor, Tezzeret, Kaya, Dack Fayden, Dovin Baan, Gideon Jura, and Jace Beleren. Some of these are currently dead, missing, or magically barred from ever returning. At one point, Ravnica had more Planeswalkers on it at one time than any plane in the multiverse has ever or will ever see. If you are going the War of the Spark direction, good luck. You'll need it and so will your players. For everyone else, which Planeswalkers you choose to include in your campaign (if any), should be based on who will work the best for the story you’re trying to tell. A recommendation; if you find their lore too distracting and complicated, stick to the main beats. A lot of these figures can be boiled down to simple ideas, and you don’t want to bore your party with the entire novel of these usually dramatic/tragic lives. Trust me, the base concepts are enough.

With that in mind, here are four Planeswalkers that I, a random person on the internet, believe would work great for a Ravnica campaign. My choices are not based on who has canonically already spent time in Ravnica, or who would be the most powerful/dangerous to suddenly appear in the city. Several Planeswalkers have their own prior commitments on other planes that are pretty central to their character, and BAMFing them to Ravnica for a quick Bad Guy to take down wouldn’t do them justice. These four characters would slide into various aspects of Ravnica beautifully. These four would be the most exciting visitors to Ravnica.

Ashiok, Dream Render

I don’t think any MTG character could be as good a fit for a Ravnican Guild as Ashiok is for House Dimir. Ashiok is almost literally a walking shadow of secrets and intrigue. Their origins, their age, their motives, their face; hell, their gender is a secret yet unrevealed. Ashiok’s power is creating living beings born of the greatest fears stolen from people’s nightmares. Literally.

It’s like if the Dimir stopped half-assing the art of stealing thoughts and turned it into a weapon of mass destruction. Because even the mightiest of Ravnicans are afraid of things. Ask Niv-Mizzet about the Nephilim sometime, see how quickly he changes the subject. What’s better, for a Guild that prides itself on always having the up & up on everyone, Ashiok is inscrutable. They have no past that can be divined, no secrets that can be stolen, no previous encounters to prepare any for their arrival. Neither Lazav nor Etrata can claim such anonymity, despite their best efforts. Ashiok is a true enigma and a dangerous new weapon for House Dimir.

Ashiok also comes with the ability to create minions and NPCs from out of any PC’s worst nightmares, making encounters a great combination of roleplaying & combat. Fighting them is specifically facing one’s deepest & darkest fears made real. Can you say, “character development”?

Ashiok’s arrival could spread this new magical art to other Dimir Agents for a longer campaign, but it might be best to confine it to Ashiok in order to allow for a cleaner victory. Ashiok is not a fighter, cornering them into a direct confrontation should be enough to make the Nightmare Sculptor run for the hills. The mind is powerful, but also very squishy.

Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded

You know how the Cult of Rakdos are technically Chaotic Evil but generally just a bunch of artsy hedonistic nuisances? Tibalt is to them what a gallon of gasoline would be to a lit stove. Good for fire, bad for everything else. Tibalt is an empath specializing in Pain Magic. Quite literally, he loves hurting people for fun. Drawn to pain like a magnet; physical, emotional, spiritual, psychological, etc, he is sadism personified.

His brief time on Ravnica during War of the Spark was enough to make a strong impression on the Rakdos.

“I like this one’s energy.”

This is because they do not realize how bad Tibalt would be for the Cult. There is a fundamental difference between the Chaotic Evil the Cult practices and the Chaotic Evil Tibalt delights in. The Rakdos have survived 10,000 years by taking in the freaks, the rejects, and the crazies, and giving them a place where they can live out their most depraved hedonistic fantasies. They are the voice of the outsiders bringing all figures of power & authority down a peg. They always punch up, never down. Tibalt is a young man with no home, no friends, no job, and no interests or hobbies beyond inflicting pain in as many people as possible. Tibalt punches everyone. The most important distinction between the two is that the Cult of Rakdos is a culture, a way of life for people to embrace; it might be crazy, but it welcomes & accepts people no matter how insane the world says they are. Tibalt does not care about anyone but himself. Following his example would see the city turned into the largest, bloodiest, and most destructive riot in its history; with Tibalt inciting and sicking every monstrosity he can find onto the city at once. He will burn the Rakdos candle at both ends and leave them to suffer the consequences of his fun. The aftermath being the city in ruins, the Cult wiped from the face of existence, and him moving on to his next project. In short, Tibalt will hurt the Cult of Rakdos as much, if not more, than the rest of Ravnica. Because that’s how he gets his kicks.

The one thing standing in his way will be Rakdos himself. As the single largest diva on the entire plane, Rakdos does not tolerate anyone who tries to steal his spotlight. As a 10,000+ year-old Demon Lord, Rakdos is in a league of his own, and Tibalt is just a hotshit little pain mage with a few tricks. It’s not a fight, it’s either an exit or a curtain call for the Planeswalker. If Rakdos is around, Tibalt’s spree will be very short-lived. If, however, Rakdos is doing his usual thing of hibernating for weeks, months, or years at a time, that’s a different story. Tibalt is good for if your campaign wants to bypass politics & intrigue and go straight to killing Cultists & Demons. He’s bad for anyone he comes in contact with.

Garruk Wildspeaker

In case I haven’t made my contempt for Domri Rade clear, I hold Domri Rade in utter contempt. As a character, as a Planeswalker, and most of all as a Gruul, he’s a failure. Scrawny, weak, gullible, and stupid. My chief grievance with Domri is that he fell short in all the areas the Gruul Clans idolize. He couldn’t survive in the wilderness on his own without his Planeswalker abilities, he couldn’t fight for himself except against weaker opponents or with herds of animals as backup, and he acted on orders from someone else who wasn’t Gruul. For a Guild built on independence and survival of the fittest, he failed both completely.

Garruk is the real deal. Gigantic, strong, savage, and cunning. Here is a man who, on a fundamental level, has embraced animal savagery as a way of life. He lives like a predator on the hunt, an alpha of any pack, and a fierce threat to all who intrude upon his territory. On a plane like Ravnica, where civilization has encroached on the untamed wilds almost completely, Garruk would be a gamechanger. Not only could he feasibly fight Borborygmos for leadership of the Gruul, he could win, and he could unite the Gruul under his howl of reclaiming the wilds from so-called “civilization”. Garruk would bring animal strength to the Gruul in ways they’ve only begun to tap into, and he’d do it in their language. Because Garruk understands the Gruul, and they understand him. They have so much in common with each other that it’s hard to think of any Planeswalker who could be welcomed so readily into a Guild. They would become so much more than rock-smashers and anarchists, they would become Ravnica’s reminder that nature will survive when all traces of society have crumbled away.

As if taking on the city itself wasn’t big enough already, Garruk has also taken to hunting other Planeswalkers, and can actually track them across the Multiverse. Meaning a few high-ranking members of Guilds and even the Living Guildpact have to take his threat seriously. He’s got a particular grudge against necromancers, dislikes talking, and has a special gift with animals of all varieties. All of which provides plenty of ideas to build from. He’s an 8ft tall Human Druid/Barbarian who willingly chooses animal savagery over intellectual reasoning, can there be anyone more perfect for the Gruul?

Did I say Ashiok was the most perfect fit for an MTG character in a Ravnican Guild? Yeah, scratch that. Garruk is.

Sarkhan Vol

Most Planeswalkers have a theme to their abilities. For some, that theme extends to their personalities as well. And then there are Planeswalkers who can be adequately summed up in a single word. For Sarkhan, that word would be “dragons”. Sarkhan sees dragons as nature’s purest & most destructive form, and carries a fascination with them that is perfectly healthy for anything with wings and scales that breathes fire, but generally less healthy for everything & everyone else.

One of the things that makes Ravnica unique is the distinct lack of dragons (emphasis on the plural). Ravnica has a dragon, Niv-Mizzet the Firemind, who made the executive decision thousands of years ago that he alone was sufficient to represent his entire species. Ravnican dragons are considered more intelligent than dragons on other planes, Niv himself being a prime example of this. Around the original signing of the Guildpact, Ravnica’s Godlike dragons were hunted to extinction, with Niv leading the hunt against his own kind. They were not entirely successful in this endeavor, but what few dragons do remain in the present day survive by staying as far off Niv’s radar as possible. Some dragons live by carrying out Niv’s will under constant supervision, or by hunting in the untamed wilds outside the city, or as sideshow attractions for the Rakdos (usually with their wings cut off to prevent escape). They are effectively stripped of anything that would identify them as “dragons” for the sake of their own existence. Since dragons are such a notoriously touchy subject for the Firemind, few have the nerve or fire immunity necessary to speak out against it.

Sarkhan would be horrified. If he thought the extinction of dragons on his home plane of Tarkir was bad, seeing them living like this would infuriate him beyond words. What would Sarkhan do once the initial shock of seeing his spirit animal (in more ways than one) reduced to pitiful scraps of life as lab rats, scared prey, and freak shows wears off? Let’s make it a game! Do you think Sarkhan will:

A. Cry.

B. Throw up.

C. Embrace this as a plane’s reality that he has no right to get involved with.

D. Scream.

E. Set something on fire.

F. Set everything on fire.

G. Bring back the dragons.

H. Burn the city to the ground with dragons.

I. Kill Niv-Mizzet.

J. All the above except “C”.

If you selected Answer “J”, then congratulations! You’ve just won a free trip to a BURNING METROPOLIS! Sarkhan will absolutely make it his life’s goal to bring dragons back to Ravnica and destroy the whole wretched city down to the last brick. How he would do it is up to you, but it’s a solid bet that even if every other Guild treats him like an apocalyptic madman, the Gruul might side with him over some shared beliefs in smashing the city apart with ferocious animal savagery. They tend to lean towards such ideas with uncharacteristic willful compliance. Ravnican dragons are primarily red, with the most prominent breed still remaining being the Utvara Hellkites beyond the city limits.

Oh, and Sarkhan can turn into a dragon, too. Have fun with that.

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #454

Top Ten Launch Games 

Oooh, it’s finally here!  

By the time you read this, the Xbox Series X/S consoles will be out, and the PlayStation 5 will be imminent if not already with us. At the time of writing I’ve yet to sample either console, although hopefully that will soon change. However, it’s a bit of a weird console launch, especially for Xbox owners, as there’s not much in the way of actual launch titles. PlayStation has the excellent-looking technical showcase (in that it shows off their sexy new controller, if not necessarily the excesses of the console’s visual prowess) Astro’s Playroom. But on the Xbox side, the only genuine first-party exclusive (not including the port of rather smashing PC title Gears Tactics) was to be the troubled Halo Infinite, which has now been pushed to next year to deal with some of its apparent graphical deficiencies. For what it’s worth, as a Halo fan, I thought the actual gameplay presented looked as good as it always has, so I’m still very excited, but it’s a shame not to sample something genuinely new and shiny at launch. For me, then – as someone not getting a PlayStation this year – I’m going to have to contend myself with updated versions of older games, and hopefully something like the really exciting-looking The Falconeer or, eventually, Cyberpunk 2077.  

Of course, it’s not always been like this; in the past, a landmark game has often been the core reason to upgrade to a new console. Certain titles have defined their hardware platforms, offering a taste of the experiences to come, be it through revolutionary control systems, previously-unimaginable graphics, or simply by shattering preconceptions and expectations. As such, this weekend I’m celebrating my favourite launch titles. 

Now, a couple of my usual caveats. I’ve hardly owned any consoles in the grand scheme of things; I was a computer gamer until the launch of the first Xbox, and even then was PC-first until about midway through the 360’s life. As such I came to a lot of these late, or played them on friends’ systems. I’m sure a videogame historian would give you another list, one that was able to put each title into its historical perspective. For my part, I’m mostly basing it on how much I like the game, but I am also trying to weight it in terms of its “importance”. I mean, one of my favourite “launch titles” of all time would be Lego Marvel Super Heroes on the Xbox One/PS4, but that seems a bit of a ridiculous game to call a launch title, especially as it doesn’t really show off the hardware or define the generation in any particular way. I just think it rocks. So I’m trying to judge it also in terms of how effective a given game was at being a launch title, as well as my personal preference; as such, some games, which I think are more emblematic of their time or their hardware, might end up higher in the list than if I was otherwise just ranking my favourites.  

Christ, that was boring. Look, here are ten games that I like that came out when a console came out. Have at it. 

Halo: Combat Evolved (Xbox, 2001): it’s not just that it made playing an FPS on a console as comfortable and enjoyable as on PC, but it revolutionised what an FPS could do. Expansive open landscapes, dynamic combat with intelligent enemies, an ingenious shield/health combo, two weapons, drivable vehicles, and frankly outstanding graphics. And for Xbox – a curious underdog, a big black sheep devoid of cool or class and feeling like Microsoft was trying to buy its way into the console space with a hefty dose of brute force – here was something unique, something incredible. I don’t think anyone quite expected Halo, and it’s arguable that it single-handedly changed not only Microsoft and Xbox’s fortunes but the entire game industry too.  

Wii Sports (Wii, 2005): the Wii was this strange outlier, a tiny white box that eschewed the grunt and girth of its rivals, and seemingly built around its unique motion controller. Would it work? Wii Sports proved that yes it would, a delightful bundle of games that perfectly showed what the console and controller could do. Immense fun in and of itself, but the Wii’s ability to lower the barrier of entry to non-gamers meant that your dad could thrash your brother at bowling. And that is a thing to cherish forever. 

Tetris (GameBoy, 1989): depending on where you look, Tetris may just be the best-selling game of all time. It’s on everything now, from the Xbox Series X to your watch. But there was a time when “Tetris” meant “GameBoy”; that four-colour greenscreen box of wonder that everybody had but me. It was beyond ubiquitous, and its short-form nature and simplistic styling made it ideal for the portable console, its chirpy and iconic music sounding perfect coming from those tiny speakers. And above all else, of course, Tetris is fantastic, one of the greatest games of all time. It was a perfect marriage of software and hardware. 

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch, 2017): so here’s the thing: I like Zelda, but I’ve never fallen in love with it. I didn’t grow up with it, so coming to Ocarina of Time, there were too many old-fashioned trappings in the way; it just didn’t feel as enthralling or as fun to play as, say, Half-Life or Deus Ex. BOTW changed that; the limitations were gone, the world was blown wide open. It no longer felt like an 80s game in three dimensions, it felt new. Better than new – it felt like tomorrow. Despite the Switch being graphically weaker than its contemporaries, BOTW was and is simply gorgeous to look at, but it’s how it plays, how it feels like a vast but real world, how it has its own rules and they make sense instantly. It’s the greatest open world game of all time, and emergent physics sandbox, and yet it’s still unquestionably Zelda, emphatically Nintendo. Okay, it technically came out on the Wii U at the same time, but who the hell played that? This was the game that made you want a Switch.  

Super Mario 64 (N64, 1997): this is often the game people cite as being one of the great revolutionary launch titles, but I must confess its charms were lost to me at first. Taking what was great about Mario and converting it expertly into 3D was a heck of a feat; graphically for the time it certainly impressed in the scale of its worlds, and whilst back then I felt it lacked the detail and granularity of some PC titles, in retrospect it was a perfectly-suited art style, offering smooth textures even when right up close. But it was its precise controls and the open, hub-based nature of its worlds that was revolutionary; many games aped its style, but it took a long time before anything really matched it.  

Hexic HD (Xbox 360, 2005): not every game here has to be some genre-busting graphical powerhouse; they can be simple but quietly revolutionary. Hexic HD is a terrific puzzle game with a simple hook, brilliantly executed, and enough intrigue and nuance to keep you coming back for one more go, to beat your high score, to get to the next tricksy level. But the time and manner of its release, and what that signified, marked it out as something more important. It was the first Xbox Live Arcade title; Microsoft’s curated gallery of smaller, more indie-flavoured games. More than that, it was free, coming pre-installed on all Xbox 360 Pros (the ones with the removable hard drive). It was a taste of what was to come, introducing audiences not only to the idea of playing these kinds of smaller, less intense games on a console, but also the idea of purchasing and downloading them digitally. It was great and ground-breaking in equal measure.  

WipEout (PlayStation, 1995): I kinda missed the PlayStation generation. I was still, more or less, in my PC-centric “consoles are toys” mindset (which I wouldn’t fully shake off till the release of the N64). But I came to appreciate its qualities as a cool, exciting, super-fast futuristic racer. I’m pretty sure it’s not the first 3D hover-car racing game, but it was presented in such a groovy package that it ticket all the boxes, and helped show off just what the PlayStation was capable of in terms of its 3D graphics and CD sound. And, of course, it helped define the console as being a bit more edgy and grown-up than the previous Nintendo and Sega stalwarts. 

Super Mario Bros. (NES, 1988): what can be said about one of the most iconic games of all time? Mario Bros defined not only a console, not only a generation, but arguably an entire artform. Creating what we now know as a platform game, it expanded and surpassed the basic template of Donkey Kong into a roaming adventure, part twitch-gaming reaction test, part puzzle game. I played a lot of copycat games on my Amiga, but even then, as a whiny computer brat, I knew that Mario was better. Even when my cousins got a MegaDrive and Sonic, I knew – deep in my heart – that Mario was better. It's a deep game, an endlessly replayable game, a supremely fair game despite its difficulty. I think it’s hard to overstate just how good, or how influential, Mario was. 

Project Gotham Racing (Xbox, 2001): I tried hard to pick a different platform for every game in this list, but I couldn’t exclude PGR. This may be tied up with my biography a little bit, but my other half and I played this game to death. I never think of myself as a big racer fan, but every once in a while a title comes out that I just really, really get into – Jaguar XJ220 on the Amiga, Midtown Madness on PC, the Forza Horizon series nowadays – and PGR did that in spades. A gorgeous arcade racer, it was a great launch title to show off the sheer grunt of the Xbox; then, as now, the most powerful console on the market. It also offered a terrific four-player split-screen. But its Kudos feature – borrowed from semi-prequel Metropolis Street Racer – offered ways to win outside of sheer racing graft, awarding cool driving. I still love the original, and I kinda wish they’d bring back or reimagine its city-based driving for a future release or Forza spin-off. 

Lumines: Puzzle Fusion (PSP, 2004): okay, so this is a bit of a cheat as I've barely played the original PSP version, but Lumines is just phenomenal; the best moving-blocks-around game since Tetris, and probably the most influential one since then too (for the record, I've played it extensively on multiple other platforms). An excellent spin on a Tetris-a-like, its use of music and colour made it a beautiful, brilliant sensory experience. With Sony entering the handheld market, the PSP needed a USP, something vibrant and cool that suited a portable experience, and Lumines provided it in spades; also its funky visuals and music was a good fit for Sony’s brand.  

Well, that was fun, and a lot harder than I expected. If you’re enjoying a new console this Christmas, then hopefully you’ll have fun with one of the new launch titles too – even if I doubt any (apart from maybe Astro) would trouble a list like this in the future (although I do think The Falconeer looks all kinds of cool). 

[raging-violets]

Brielle – how does she feel about the Pevensies becoming kings/queens while she's a lady in waiting? How does she get along with Edmund and Lucy? Does she also leave Narnia permanently after PC? What's her relationship with Caspian like? In PC, how does she react to the attempt to revive Jadis? How did she meet the Pevensies? Does she initially believe Lucy about Narnia? Would she betray Peter to his face or behind his back? What pain/suffering has Peter caused for her?

How does she feel about the Pevensies becoming kings/queens while she's a lady in waiting? 

She loves it. They were the rightful ones that fulfilled the prophecy to eventually become the Kings and Queens of Old and she’s proud to be their friend, being by them while they grow to learn how to be the rightful kings and queens.

She was the one who told Susan she would learn and train to be her lady in waiting, the two had grown very close throughout their adventure during LWW and it made the most sense for Brielle to do so. Especially with how long they were in Narnia, not knowing if they’d ever return back to the real world, before chasing the White Stag.

How does she get along with Edmund and Lucy?

Edmund’s her good friend. He often goes to her for advice or at least just a listening ear, because she’s the only one who sits still long enough to really listen to him and his fears and worries of being a King after what he’s done to his siblings because of Jadis. They grow to be very fond of each other.

Brielle adores Lucy and often works as her lady-in-waiting for specific duties when there are things that Susan can handle on her own. They both take a lot of entertainment in teasing Susan about her potential feelings for Caspian and other things that may throw the more logical siblings off kilter.

Does she also leave Narnia permanently after PC?

The Night Witch is set directly after Prince Caspian, but before the Pevensies leave Narnia. So I’m basically throwing another story in before they would leave for Voyage of The Dawn Treader to take place.

What's her relationship with Caspian like?

She has a, sort of, close, relationship with Caspian. It’s more like they have a working relationship. She sends correspondence between Susan and Caspian in the forms of secret letters as well as helps Caspian out if he tries to understand the Pevensies a little bit more.

In PC, how does she react to the attempt to revive Jadis?

She’s actually not there when they try to revive Jadis, so has no reaction to it in person, but hearing about it later she’s a little scared and a little excited all at the same time.

How did she meet the Pevensies?

So, The Night Witch, is actually a re-write of my Narnia story Slipping Away that I wrote in...I believe it was, 2008? In SA Brielle was known as Reagan Johnson, who was abused by her dad, her mom was dead, and she was Australian. There was one really big part of that story that people loved that I had to bring over to The Night Witch and that’s how she meets the Pevensies. She was taking a bath at her house, ends up being pulled through the bottom of her bathtub, and winds up on the beach of Cair Paravel completely naked, where she runs into Peter, Susan, and Lucy. (Edmund had already deflected to Jadis’s side at this point). It’s a real interesting ‘meet cute’ for Peter and Brielle, that’s for sure.

Does she initially believe Lucy about Narnia?

The above portion answers that question. 

Would she betray Peter to his face or behind his back?

Her little attempts to harm him is all behind his back, but when she really goes in for the kill, she’ll betray him to his face. 

What pain/suffering has Peter caused for her?

Putting this under a read more for spoilers

All witches have a familiar, a spirit animal of sorts who empowers the witch and protects them. Brielle’s familiar was Maugrim, who Peter killed. Setting off a chain of events that makes Brielle weaker than she should be, and wanting to enact revenge against him because of how much she grew to love Maugrim and her relationship with him was cut short without a second thought from Peter.       

[mannatea]

Pokémon Shield: A Review

DISCLAIMER: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS HERE!

First, my credentials/gaming history, so you can see if my opinion is valuable to you or not. I would like to make it clear from the start that I do not consider myself a ‘gamer’ by any stretch of the imagination. I’m a filthy casual at best.

I’ve been playing video games since I was maybe eight or nine years old. I’ve always enjoyed dabbling in a variety of genres, and have a great appreciation for the work that goes into creating each and every game, no matter the intended audience. Some of my all-time favorite titles include Tales of Symphonia, Fire Emblem (7), Final Fantasy IX, Legend of Dragoon, Chrono Cross, Tetris, Bust-a-Move, Project Gotham Racing, Ecco the Dolphin (PC,DC), Roller Coaster Tycoon, Harvest Moon (N64/PS1), World of Warcraft, and of course our beloved Pokemon!

I started with Pokemon Red, and enjoyed it immensely, but Silver stole my heart and my imagination. My brother and I used to sit at the kitchen table with guide books open and notebooks at the ready to craft and create new, extremely cool teams. I sank an unbelievable amount of hours into that game, and into Pokemon Stadium (1 & 2), Hey You! Pikachu, Pokemon Puzzle League, and even Pokemon Pinball. Unfortunately after Silver, my interest waned. I was an adult by the time Emerald debuted, and while I was initially charmed by it, found my interest waning quickly. I bought and played Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, SoulSilver, and Black & White, but didn’t beat any of them. I felt like the magic had…disappeared somehow.

But when X and Y released in 2013, I binged on Pokemon X, beat it, and for the first time since childhood started breeding a competitive team just for the heck of it. I also found myself really enjoying Pokemon Sun a couple of years later (though the post-game of breeding didn’t really do it for me this time).

They lost me with Ultra Sun/Moon. I wanted to like them, really, but it was too much of a rehash, and too much handholding (like the originals were, and I could only stand going through that once).

Now here we are with Pokemon Sword and Shield. They released just a few days ago (15 November, 2019) and the controversy has been wild. It seems to me that everyone has some kind of very strong opinion, and a lot of people are very angry.

Pokemon has always been one of my favorite franchises, but my history with the games is far from spotless so I like to think I can manage a mostly unbiased review, though of course everything in this post is my personal opinion.

Here’s what I’ve done in the game:

40 hours played.

200 pokemon in the pokedex.

Main story and post-game story completed.

I played with no specific self-imposed rules and was not spoiled for hardly anything before I started playing.

The Game’s Introductory Sequence [8/10]

As is standard for the franchise these days, the game flings you into the world with little fanfare regarding customization. Rather than the intro being a dialogue of sorts between your character and a professor, you are now instructed to choose what you look like (from a sparse few options) after typing in your name.

The first ‘cinematic’ is pretty boring, but I think the attempt at immersion is genuine enough (the idea being that your character is watching Leon’s broadcasted fight on your new smart phone). My character has a better house in-game than I do in real life. I’d kill for all that storage in the kitchen!

My biggest gripe with the introduction is that it reminded me too much of Sun & Moon’s introduction—in the worst of ways. I wouldn’t say it’s slow-paced, but the constant interruption by other characters is about enough to make a person rage-quit. Luckily I’ve been blessed with a lot of patience; it makes tedious content easy to bear (so long as it’s not difficult), but even I was feeling antsy before the first hour of the game was up, just because Hop and Leon never shut up and I was chomping at the bit to Explore.

Considering this is the first thing a player experiences…I really feel it could have been improved, especially the dialogue, but there were a few really positive things about it, too. The outdoor BBQ was a nice touch (considering everyone knew we’d be going off on Adventures in the morning and all), the game does let you avoid having to learn how to catch a pokemon (your mom slips a few pokeballs into your bag at one point without telling you and if you use them to catch pokemon, Leon will not teach you how to do it later), and I feel like as far as introductions go, this one was fairly short when compared to Sun and Moon’s introductory period.

While I’m being positive, the game plops you down into an idyllic little English countryside and not only do you get to enjoy that aesthetic, but the Slumbering Weald is probably one of the prettiest/most charming places in the game, and you get a peek at it early on!

 The Starter Pokemon [5/10]

I’ve experienced worse? I wasn’t spoiled for any of the starter pokemon’s evolutions starting out, and while I didn’t exactly hate any of them, I sure didn’t love ‘em, either. I named my Scorbunny “Chad” on the assumption that he was likely to turn into a chad, though I’m not sure that accurately describes the pokemon I ended up with. Clearly modeled after soccer players, my Chad is a cocky all-star jock. They went all out on his Pyroball animation but Double Kick can see itself out of my house. No love in this club.

I just really wish I found any of these starters or their evolved forms to be charming, but they’re not. Rillaboom is basically George of the Jungle but 3% less of a himbo, and Inteleon is Greninja’s younger brother in accounting.

 Gyms, Gym Challenges, & Game Balance [6/10]

This is probably one of, if not the, most debated topic over at Reddit. Is the game balanced? Are the gyms too easy? Are they making this game for 5-year-olds suddenly?

Eh. I do think the game is, perhaps, Too Easy, but a game being easy isn’t a shortcoming in and of itself. Check out my section on the story and characters for more on this topic, but I’ll post the short of it here, because it’s relevant: if the gameplay is going to be easy, we either need an option to make it more difficult, or the characters, story, and world have to carry the game in such a way that the easy gameplay still feels fun.

Shield had, uh, none of that going for it, unfortunately. The plot is lackluster (more about this later), and the gameplay wasn’t able to pick up the slack. In other words, the gameplay didn’t make the game feel Substantial in any way.

Which is kind of bad, considering Dynamaxing is a new feature!

The biggest issue for most people was the Experience Share. It’s turned on by default and there seems to be no way to turn it off. You get insane amounts of XP for defeating and catching pokemon, and your whole team seems to level pretty evenly even if you only occasionally use some pokemon in the party.

I personally played the game with the default battle option (where it asks if you want to switch out to a new pokemon when the enemy is going to send out a new one) because I barely remember half the pokemon in the game’s typing. Knowing the name of what’s coming next doesn’t always help me. (How’s that for an embarrassing truth?)

I personally liked the experience share, though I feel having the ability to toggle it on/off (or even on for certain pokemon and off for others) would have been ideal. The idea with having it on all the time is that your team will level fairly evenly so you’ll be able to switch in any of your six pokemon to battle without having to struggle through leveling some of the weaker ‘mons up individually. Additionally, it enables you to easily replace a pokemon on your team mid-game if you so desire. And I did (I replaced my shiny Orbeetle with regular cotton candy Rapidash).

My team at end-game was as follows:

Cinderace (Chad)

Greedent (Moriah)

Thievul (Penelope)

Liepard (My)

Corviknight (Octavia)

Rapidash (Calliope)

As you can see, I have no grass pokemon, no water pokemon, and no electric pokemon. I have two dark types. My move coverage mostly sucked throughout the game, because Thievul had 3 dark moves, and My had 3 normal moves. I’m an official idiot, thanks for coming to my TED talk. Usually I can struggle through no matter how garbage-tier my team is, and this game was…no exception.

I steamrolled the first few gyms and their challenges even though I wasn’t vastly overleveled for any of the content. After the ghost gym (which was easy for me with my dark types) I’d say the difficulty level went up slightly, mostly because my brain has refused to hold type advantages/weaknesses that came after Gen1. I feel like most original type weaknesses made some kind of sense to me and I was never able to incorporate dark and steel into that mix, let alone fairy.

At any rate, once you fight a pokemon once, the game will tell you if your moves are super effective against them or not. I remember people complaining about this feature when it was added (in Sun/Moon I think), but I like it. It doesn’t actually help a lot if you don’t know what the moves do/aren’t looking at move power/effects, but it’s useful for my sieve of a brain in a pinch.

Hop as a rival was almost never challenging. He always starts with the same pokemon, and his team is fairly easy to sweep. That might be kind of the point, but I wish you could have encouraged him to take the starter that’s strong against yours for a bit more of a challenge. Yeah, it’s not much, but it would have been something. Marnie is a better rival than Hop in the sense that she’s actually a better battler, but I swept her team pretty easily too, every single time we fought.

The only real challenges in the game were fighting Raihan (I only had one very weak fairy move and no ice to counter his dragons) and Leon (he definitely outleveled me). On Leon I had to use revives and potions!

The gym challenges started off as pretty cute (herding Wooloo, pipe puzzle maze) but quickly grew into lazy boring doldrums (basically gauntlet fighting of one kind or another). I guess I’d say ‘nice try’ for these and say I don’t really care if I see them again or not unless they’re going to actually give it a real go.

Overall, the story part of the game felt balanced enough for me personally but if I’m being completely unbiased: it was too easy to get levels. I could have wandered around less/caught fewer pokemon as I journeyed and enjoyed more of a challenge, but I just…gotta catch ‘em all, y’know? Most people do! GameFreak should have known this and designed accordingly.

The big issue with game balance feels like it comes…after the game, and I don’t mean the post-game so much as the Max Raid Battles that require other people, but the NPC trainers you can battle with are legit trash at what they do, which kind of forces you to find other trainers, but…

 Online Compatibility & Features [3/10]

So I think the rating speaks for itself, here. The interface is confusing, the stamps are annoying, and the ability to see other players but not interact with them in any meaningful way is rage-inducing (and not just because of the FPS drops).

X/Y had a better online system!

Sun and Moon was better!

I don’t know why we regressed. I’m glad they kept the “wonder trade” (renamed to random trade, I think), because I always did enjoy doing that, but the GTS was the best idea they ever had and they abandoned it for random trading? I don’t want to trade with randoms? If I wanted to do that, I’d just do a random trade in the first place!!! The inability to put what you’re looking for into the stamp that people see? Oversight. Or just bad design. Probably both!

I’ve never hated a pokemon online experience more than this. I’m just astounded by how bad it is. I tried to join max raid battles last night and kept being told the event was over, but the stamps just…didn’t refresh? For HOW LONG? I can’t even tell you because I don’t know, and I couldn’t find a way to manually force them to refresh. It’s like they update every 15 minutes instead of every 15-30 seconds (which they should if I’m browsing for trades to make or battles to join). There are ways around this (according to Reddit) but the interface should be intuitive and easy to use by default.

C’mon, guys, you can do better. This is legitimately embarrassing in the year 2019.

 Music [5/10]

There are some really magical tracks in this game, and there are some really terrible tracks. It doesn’t feel at all cohesive or thematic. I absolutely hated the gym battle remix; it was worse than the regular gym battle music. I feel like the gym battle theme would have really caught on if they didn’t have any other synth sounding tracks in the game, but they kind of do, so it blends in instead of sticking out as a bop.

Notable nice tracks were Hulbury, Glimwood Tangle, Slumbering Weald, and the desert route (which I can’t remember offhand). Some of the better music reminded me of the soundtrack for Tales of Symphonia, which is high praise coming from me. Unfortunately for every good track there were probably 3 forgettable ones.

There wasn’t anything particularly engaging when it comes to the music here, but it’s at least passable.

 Graphics, Design, and Animation [6/10]

I should clarify that this is 6/10 for a pokemon game, not in general. I don’t expect flashy realism in a pokemon game and neither should you. The graphics are adequate most of the time, but the animation leaves a lot to desire when you look away from the pokemon that feel like they were Chosen Ones (and received a lot more attention).

Rapidash, for example, is using the same base model and animations it’s been using since it’s been in 3D. I’m not going to claim since Stadium, but holy cow the animations are for sure the same as they’ve been since at least X/Y for all the older moves. I’m not impressed.

The characters all have dopey expressions on their faces always. The models just use one talking animation loop and it almost never changes. The main character still looks on like a smiley face emoji when turmoil occurs, and though this isn’t as bad as it was in Sun/Moon, it’s still…kind of jarring?

The Wild Area looks kind of bad sometimes, and some areas in the actual game were lackluster compared to what they should have been. Ballonlea is the town you step into after walking through the (honestly) magical Glimwood Tangle, and it’s this charming fairy wonderland…with two houses and a stadium the size of two billion football fields. Uh. Okay? You’re telling me they destroyed how much natural habitat to make this gym? It just doesn’t jive with the scenery/theme out there, especially considering Opal’s theatre is tiny. And it’s not just that I think the game is lacking thematically (though it clearly is), but there’s this…laziness to the design when it comes to places like Ballonlea. It could have been SUCH an enchanting town to explore, but it was two houses with nothing important in them and a sports arena that feels completely at odds with its surroundings. (In this town you do learn that an NPC you spoke to earlier was a ghost, but it’s not as if this is very important information/goes anywhere, really.)

Spikemuth, for all its flaws, was at least memorable. I can’t say the same for most of the towns in this game. I really enjoyed the music in Hulbury but you best bet I had to look it up to remember the name of the town! Time is partly to blame. We don’t spend a lot of time in each town, and we have no real reason to go back to them aside from visiting the nearest Pokemon Center to heal and rest up. But I would argue that, beyond that, the individual designs just…don’t feel memorable because they’re not memorable. The names are mostly meh (every time I see Ballonlea I think of Bologna for some reason), but without anything else to connect to the place as more than just a place…there’s no reason to remember any of it.

Like the music, these are all passable, graphics more than animation, animation more than design, but that’s all there is to it.

Camping and Cooking, Feathers and Fetch! [4/10]

I don’t actually have a lot to say about this. It’s a cute idea, and it’s fun maybe the first ten times that you do it, but then it’s just really boring. The game is terrible at explaining how to create different curry dishes, but it’s almost idiot-proof. I’ve yet to fail at it.

But I’m not sure I care about it, either?

You get like 1/100th of the amount of berries you need to cook while you journey along, so it feels disproportionate. I dunno. Just not a fan.

Playing with your pokemon is the only real joy that comes from camping, but its fun is limited. When you’ve tossed the ball a few times, or watched Liepard smack the feather toy a while, it has that, “Okay, I’ve seen it!” kind of feeling to it. That doing well at cooking can heal your party/cure status conditions is incentive to do it, but it’s faster to just fly to a pokemon center and run back on your bike most of the time than to pitch a tent with your ‘mons.

I feel like there should just be…more you can do when you’re camping together. I’m glad Pokemon Amie is dead (it was cringey), but it felt more personal than this.

I wish I had more to say about this feature, but it felt tacked on and lackluster after I camped a few times.

 Dynamaxing, Gigantamaxing, and Max Raid Battles [4/10]

The urge to give this a zero was high, but I am making an effort to be balanced.

That said, I hate dynamaxing. Gigantamaxing is almost the same thing, it’s just Worse Somehow. Until yesterday I thought they were basically the same thing (and that some pokemon just got extra cool dynamax forms). As it turns out, they’re not the same thing at all! Or rather, they are, but they’re also not?

Dynamaxing makes your pokemon grow large and gives it these generic MAX moves that it can use in combat (Max Knuckle, Max Flare, Max Strike). It lasts for three turns and then your pokemon reverts back to its regular ‘ol self.

Gigantamaxing is when your pokemon grows a little larger than large, gets a special Look, and gets the same generic MAX moves (but with special effects added to them). Oh, and better stats.

At least, that’s how I understand it.

Both are great for Max Raid Battles, where you team up with NPCs or other players and take down huge dynamaxed pokemon that are out in the wild.

Neither is a fun feature as part of the actual gameplay. I guess as a gimmick it works all right, but just like Z-moves it has a long annoying animation sequence, and like Mega Evolutions only some pokemon get to gigantamax (everyone else is just a pleb, I guess). I dunno. I just didn’t find the concept very engaging…maybe because it seems evil and wasteful in-universe, and this is more or less stated in the game itself, but what-the-hell-ever, we’re just going to keep doing it ‘cause it looks cool!

It’s just too goofy a concept for me. Maybe if Dynamaxing doubled or tripled their size, I’d find it more understandable and more aesthetically pleasing? I hate seeing my pokemon, or the opposing pokemon, grow 50+ feet tall and scream at three billion decibels.

(For the record I never liked Mega Evolutions or Z-moves as a concept, so it’s not like I’m nostalgic for a different gimmick. That said, at least I’d accepted Megas as a thing, and Z-moves were overall not too groundbreaking or gamebreaking.)

The design of dyna/gigamaxing is to connect it with specific places so that you can’t just max your pokemon in every battle and sweep every team you fight against, but it still feels like it gets used too much. I’m currently at a point where I find having to dynamax feels like a chore.

Considering this is what the game tried to sell itself on in the initial trailer…? Yikes? I don’t know. I think some people are more ‘okay’ with the concept of dyna/gigantimaxing than others, and I think I’d be fine with it if we only had dynamaxing. Introducing both just feels like overcomplicating things for no real reason, and maybe also poking a little hard at the hornets’ nest that is the competitive community.

Because now you have to go out and grind gigantamax pokemon to catch one, so it forces you to do the thing you might not like to get a pokemon that can do the thing you don’t like, because it’s objectively better in combat? But really, who knows? Maybe these overpowered phenomena will end up banned, anyway.

Despite my disdain for this release’s gimmick, I do think Max Raid Battles are pretty fun, at least…when I’m not getting my ass completely kicked while some NPC trainer’s Eevee is using Helping Hand… It’s actually pretty enjoyable when you can somehow find other people using the y-comm and take on a gigantamaxed pokemon with the help of actual human players. But y’know…good luck using that…lol.

Overall I think the biggest downfall of Dynamaxing/Gigantamaxing is that it doesn’t really add anything of substance to the game. I don’t think it makes it more fun. It’s also not necessary for max raid battles (this could be a phenomena we don’t understand yet that randomly seems to affect wild pokemon, just like with the UBs—hell, Anabel and Looker could return and claim this is all related to that stuff and I’d probably find that believable enough). So what does it add? Flavor? Culture? Nah. It’s just kind of there.

 Post-Game: Is That All? [3/10]

Post-game in Sun and Moon was the Alola version of the Battle Maison, breeding, and a somewhat lengthy (for a post-game) story where you assist Interpol agents Anabel and Looker in hunting down and capturing Ultra Beasts. The plot was somewhat woven into not only Sun and Moon’s storyline (Lusamine’s shenanigans), but also borrowed from the Sapphire/Ruby reboots and X/Y. If you didn’t already know Looker from Ruby/Sapphire/X/Y, or Anabel from Pokemon Emerald, you’ll still probably find them somewhat compelling/interesting as characters. Also, they did a really good job in Sun of making circumstances seem dire—of showing instead of telling you how dangerous the UBs were and how important it was to protect the people of the towns and villages you’d visited throughout your adventure.

Shield has… Max raid battles, a battle tower, and…breeding. Oh, and a storyline about the legendary dogs that barely makes any sense and is plagued by really irritating new characters.

The terrible truth is that the post-game of Sword/Shield is embarrassingly bad. You’d think they’d want to outdo themselves with every release. Sun and Moon hit it out of the park with their post-game content. Most people enjoyed the hunt for UBs, or at least the characters of Anabel and Looker. Sword and Shield have…. Sordward and Shielbert. DID I STUTTER?

They’re terribly designed characters, and so insulting as to not really be any fun at all. The Pokeball Guy mascot is Actually Fun; these dudes aren’t. They’re barely even villains? It was an excuse to try and pull what Sun and Moon pulled, but it didn’t work. I never felt like anyone was in danger at any point, probably because magically everyone was evacuated before I even arrived on the scene to stop Sordward and Shielbert’s vile schemes. :U Oh, and because I felt little or no connection to any of the towns I visited along the way, let alone the gym leaders. Maybe if these guys had showed up partway through the game and we sort of knew who they were already, this wouldn’t seem so out-of-nowhere, but it was, and that made it even worse than it had to be.

When it’s all over, you get your legendary dog (I named mine Goodest Boy), but it wasn’t a fun storyline at all. Who are these guys? Why should I care about them? I cared about Looker and Anabel because they came onto the scene and showed that they cared about each other as people (and showed it, multiple times). These guys? They wreaked havoc and didn’t even go to jail. At least Rose went to jail!

I don’t think the post-game is terrible so much as I think it’s underwhelming, especially considering what it came on the heels of. I don’t expect More More More from every game, but I do expect improvements to be made. A decent post-game storyline is all I was asking for, and I didn’t even get that.

But there’s the tower and you can breed pokemon and train EVs and all that stuff more easily now, so…

 Characters, Story, and Worldbuilding [4/10]

Let me put this as delicately as I can: I’m not a fan.

I could easily rant about bad character writing, bad stories, and weak worldbuilding for hours, but I’ll limit myself because 1) this is a pokemon game, and 2) nobody really looks for exceptional characters here.

As I said earlier, I feel like Sun and Moon did it Better. Most of the main characters in Su/Mo were likable, interesting, had a fun design, or were amusing. Not so in Shield.

Hop has a terrible name (literally a million names to choose from and they picked this?), but the biggest crime he commits is that he doesn’t get a satisfying story arc at all. When he got down about himself I had hope there would be some cool development, but there wasn’t. He ended up getting his crap together and making a Team and Picked a Strategy (which still involves sending the sheep out first I guess). And then randomly in the post-game decided he was going to be a professor…lol.

I felt like 20 different people wrote that plot, because it was terribly cobbled together and didn’t flow at all. Natural progression would have been nice.

Marnie barely has a story and barely develops. Piers seems to kind of have more ‘meat’ to his character but not a lot is done with it.

The gym leaders are otherwise really meh. Okay, so Nessa and Sonia are pals. Gal pals. Pals that are gals. Gals that are pals. Great. I don’t think we ever see them talk so it doesn’t matter. Melony has a son…and it’s just a nod to the other game where her son is the gym leader instead? Boring.

Bede is an asshole with a sob story who doesn’t really get redeemed but gets the redemption option anyway. They could have REALLY done something amazing with this guy but chose not to. His backstory is actually pretty interesting! But they didn’t utilize it worth a damn. And also he was right about the mural soooo…

Sonia was maybe the best character in the game, and that’s just from a technical standpoint. She had development, she developed, she grew as a character. Emotionally, though, I felt detached from her. Maybe it was being called a child all the time that did that? I’m not sure. I get that the protag is a child but I’m living independently and doing well for myself so maybe have a little respect idk… Especially when the first 2/3 of the game you’re told the adults will handle things, and then randomly you’re interrupted every fifty seconds to take care of other people’s nonsense. :|

In fact, I felt emotionally disconnected from pretty much every character. I didn’t really like or feel for anyone. Hop came the closest (feeling guilty about losing a battle cause it might make his brother look bad), but the bad dialogue options and inability to actually cheer him up was frustrating more than anything.

There are zones that are breathtakingly lovely (Slumbering Weald! Ballonlea! Glimwood Tangle!) but all the rest are more or less forgettable. The characters are connected to the world…sorta, but there are times it feels like they force-connected them through dynamaxing and dialogue accents instead of trying to make characters who naturally fit into the world. Like I talked about before, Opal’s gym felt completely disconnected from the reality of her environment. She lives there for a reason. Doesn’t the stadium’s presence jar her? How many fairy pokemon lost their homes when that thing took away tens of acres of forest? What’s the story here? Or anywhere for that matter?

Spikemuth was a waste of space but at least it felt like an attempt to show us a poverty-stricken area… Unfortunately it all fell flat the second they used two models for Team Yell! Team Yell could have been really cool, especially if they’d had different models with their names (challenged by Team Yell Grunt Sierra/Troy/Nellie/whatever), and the same team yell outfit/clothes/paint on. Then we could see these are just regular guys and gals from this poor area who want to cheer on their hometown girl!!!

But that was a weakness throughout the game, because Team Yell were all gym trainers, and all shared models…just like all the other gyms. It felt lazy to me. The outfits can be the same, but way to go making all the models literal clones. That’s just laziness.

The villains are all meh. Rose? Of course he was a villain. The problem is that he’s not a villain for being a capitalist pig or anything. He’s a villain for wanting to fix a power issue that’s 1,000 years from happening. Meh motivation. If it was 50 years away then we have a compelling villain! But no, not 50. A thousand years from happening. And he can’t wait five fucking minutes.

Oleana was boring.

Leon was exactly the person he was the entire game…

The taxi service is a cute idea, and a nice gameplay addition, but it doesn’t really add anything to the world because they didn’t make the effort to integrate it.

Anyway, I’ve rambled enough.

The short of it is this: I walked away from this game not really caring about the world or any of the characters. I don’t even have a favorite character. I can’t remember the last time that happened to me. YIKES.

The Wild Area [8/10]

I don’t want to cover this for too long, because I feel it’s been done to death, but the Wild Area is what the whole game should have been. Or at least, more of the game. I don’t expect we’ll ever get a fully open-world pokemon game EVER, but this foray into the true 3D tells me that it could be a lot of fun, actually, even in somewhat constrained environments. (Oh, and with a good map.)

I enjoy the idea of the Wild Area, but I think its usefulness is limited without the appeal of having more pokemon patched into the game later. Until I get sick of it, though, it’s a pretty neat concept, and it makes hunting for new pokemon to catch a little more fun than it usually is. I like that they kept the overworld pokemon in this area as well as on the routes you have to travel; it feels like more of an adventure to dodge a huge Steelix and scoot closer to see what that yellow thing is in the grass you can’t quite make out. :)

Basically: fun concept that is enjoyable for now but has limited enjoyment. As far as negativity goes, I don’t have much to complain about here that I didn’t complain about in the Online Compatibility section above.

The Pokemon Themselves [6/10]

I was challenged by @hijauindah to list my top five favorite new pokemon from the game, so here we go!

Nickit (cute design!)

Boltund (smooth, well designed—not too cluttered)

Ponyta/Rapidash (MY LITTLE PONY… I think Rapidash could look better, but I’m just glad they cared enough to try something new with them…)

Frosmoth (Super pretty pokemon design.)

Dragapult (Nifty design.)

Most of the new designs are just…okay. There are a lot I don’t actually care for. But I’m biased; I just want more creature-based pokemon that look like they could exist and function in the world they live in. Some of these designs they come up with look like they’d have died out ten thousand years ago due to being Poorly Evolved lol.

 Final Thoughts [6/10]

The worst part of the game for me personally was probably feeling like I was getting interrupted constantly by other characters. JUST LET ME PLAY. But the best part was definitely exploring the new areas, catching a shiny 2 hours into the game, and getting to the end more or less with the team I started with.

The individual scores don’t add up to a 6/10 (they actually add up to a 5.16/10) but I think it’s worth noting that I did have a fun time playing through the game, I intend to hop into the breeding stuff, and even though I don’t have to keep max raid battling and stuff, I probably will.

It’s far from the 9s that it was getting by certain people from certain places that won’t be named here, but it’s not as if it’s a dumpster fire game. I don’t regret the money I spent on it, and I hope to keep enjoying the game for a few more months (albeit more casually than I did over the weekend), but I hope GameFreak has learned from its follies and puts its best foot forward with the next game, because I will not manage to be this forgiving again.

[crqstalite]

15* day swtor challenge.

*didn’t take fifteen days. not even five.

the challenge <<<

anyways, decided to finally get around to this bad boy that i reblogged like a week ago or smth. our toon of choice for this one is our darling darth tri’ama amarillis-quinn.

1. PROLOGUE.  Where was your OC before the class story? How’d they end up on the starter planet?

Tri’ama was born pure Kaasian (or so she assumes) to two unknown humans. There’s evidence there was another child born to her parents, making Tri’ama a twin to someone but she isn’t aware who. Adopted by two Sith Pureblood Lords, Raegia and Yusaits Amarillis, Tri’ama was raised rather well at the height of power. She had always been destined for Korriban, and routinely trained with her parents.

2. FAMILY.  Is your OC’s family a large part of their story? Why or why not? Are they on good terms? Are any of your characters related?

Tri’ama’s parents have always been her biggest supporters, but were always very withdrawn with their loving. Often their childrearing would be considered extremely odd, from the violent training and the fact they’d continually push her past her physical boundaries. However, Raegia and Yusaits were careful to allow her to grow close to them, so they’re always on good terms. Tri’ama is aware that she has a twin, but assumes they were stillborn or abandoned, so doesn’t care much for it. They don’t appear much in story yet, but they will soon.

3. NAME.  How did you come up with their name? What is it in-game? What do people call them? What do *you* call them?

Tri’ama was because I was beginning to realize ‘holy crap you can use apostrophes?!!!!’ hence why at least a 1/3 of my characters have an apostrophe somewhere in their name. It’s the same in-game, Tri’ama Amarillis (though I don’t have money for my legacy name). Sometimes Vette calls her ‘sis’ when they’re alone (which she LIVES for), Malavai refers to her as ‘my lord’, ‘my love’ when he’s feeling particularily adventerous, and her name when they’re alone, Jaesa refers to her as Master, Pierce is always ‘my lord’ or ‘my greatness therefore our one and only savior’ if he’s feeling like being annoying (thankfully he has a so-so friendship with her, so he’s in no danger of dying), and half the time she can’t figure what Broonmark is saying. I, call her bitch boy because she’s an asshole to literally everyone else.

4. COMBAT.  What’s your character like in a fight? Is there anything you wish they could do in-game that isn’t an option? Favorite in-game moves? How did you decide their specialization?

Tri’ama is chaos and mayhem on wheels, but organized. Everyone has their position and what they have to do, and when things go according to plan, things are wonderful. I think force leap is my favorite thing for Sith Warrior’s and Jedi Knights to do because I love just leaping towards enemies and going to town. I decided her specialization because I really, really like double sabers and the abilities that come with them.

5. WARDROBE.  How many outfit slots are filled? Did their look change over the course of the game, or stay consistent?

1. Literally one because I can’t afford to buy anymore. Also because I do more functionality than looks, so it depended on the planet. Whatever a Warrior on Hoth wore, she wore on Hoth. However, fic wise she did, going from having her hair short and slicked back, to having her hair long and around her shoulders during the endgame.

6. HOME.  Where is home? A place? A person?

Home is Dromound Kaas, in her old family home. Home is with her parents, with the smell of good food and the quiet nights as the rain patters against the windows and she falls asleep.

7. PLATONIC RELATIONSHIPS.  Who are their closest friends? Do they have a lot, or a few? Do they trust easily, or does it take time?

Her closest friend is easily Vette, being the first person who began following her. They have a sisterly relationship, and always has a joke for her when they return to the ship. She’s one of the two people that can get her to laugh (the other being Malavai). She doesn’t have too many friends, being not only a Sith but also being Darth Amarillis. It takes a lot of time for her to trust someone, after being betrayed by not only Baras, but Malavai as well. But, it’s easy to see that those she does trust, are there for her life.

8. ROMANCES.  A companion? An NPC? One of your OCs? Someone else’s? Nobody? Explain!

She’s married to Captain Malavai Quinn. Though it’s been a trying relationship (due to his betrayal and her inability to trust), Tri’ama loves him with her whole heart. They spend time together a little more sporadically than either would like, but what they do have, they treasure.

9. RIVALRIES.  Who do they hate most? What’s the fastest way for someone to earn their dislike?

Mierrio. Hands down they despise each other mutually and don’t even try to fight their corresponding lovers on it. For a reason that still has yet to be revealed in-universe >:)

10. SLEEP.  What are your OC’s sleeping habits like? Healthy? Terrible? With someone else?

Tri’ama actually sleeps rather well at night. She goes to bed when work is done, wakes up and then going back to work. In that way, she didn’t sleep with Malavai for nearly a year after his betrayal (she believes she’s most vulnerable while sleep), but now she can’t do so without him. Other than that, she’s the most well-rested Sith in the roster.

11. CANON DIVERGENCE.  Are there parts of their story that don’t line up with in-game information? Why? Where?

Yes. When Baras asks the Sith Warrior whether they know the Sith Code, it’s assumed the PC has no idea what’s going on, and has been rushed into the Sith lifestyle. Tri’ama has been part of the Sith lifestyle since she was adopted by her parents, and of course would know the Sith Code, and what it means to be Sith. She wouldn’t have been rushed to Korriban either, though she was heavily advanced compared to other students and would’ve had no problem murdering Vemrin out of sight of the overseers without the assistance of Baras or Tremel. Other than that, no.

12. AUs.  Do you have any alternate universes for them? What’s different? What’s the same?

One AU I have is the Faction Swap AU, where obviously, the characters switch their factions with the opposite class. Tri’ama became a Jedi Knight, which isn’t much different from her usual form, except that she murders less and doesn’t have an Imperial accent. Doc would’ve pissed her off, but she probably would’ve came around eventually, making it very clear that she was the one wearing pants in this relationship. The second AU I have is the Heritage AU, where she and Malavai have an unknown amount of children and...well it’s not written yet. Another AU is the lover swap AU (where I swap the companion lover and the PC’s roles), and Tri’ama would be the one stuck on Balmorra until Malavai arrives. She’s rather suave about how she enjoys her time spent with Baras’ apprentice and is extremely forward. Tri’ama, with her own trust issues, nearly refuses Baras before her life is threatened, and she purposely makes the robots much weaker than they should be.

13. ALIGNMENT.  Light-dark, or D&D style, or both, whatever suits you. Did you plan for them to be the way they are, or did your ideas change as you played?

Dark side, mostly. Of course, I didn’t intend for her to be merciful to some characters, but it ended up that way because Malavai was partially light-sided as well and Tri’ama wanted to please him. Her D&D Alignment is Lawful Evil.

14. POST-OSSUS. How have they changed over the course of the thirteen years? How do they feel about their past self? How would their past self feel about them now?

Assuming we’re following my very fractured ‘Made of Star Dust’ universe, Tri’ama has changed because being seperated from the one person that promised to never leave her again, and the person that she trusted most in the whole galaxy snapped something inside her. Some call her the Melancholical Murderer, because she kills due to her own sadness and straining sanity. Things don’t go right back to normal after Malavai and Vette return, and she struggles to trust those in the Alliance as well. While Ezridivia has tried to reach out to her, along with Lana, surprisingly her remaining trust in the Barsen’thor (Naji) and Mierrio. Tri’ama sees her past self as weak, for not being able to deal the killing blow when she should’ve. Her past self would’ve seen this version as insane, and downright scary.

15. FREE DAY.  Anything you’d like to talk about that wasn’t covered goes here. Fun facts? Not-fun facts? Go wild. I don’t own you.

Tri’ama loves, loves, LOVES, pets. She begged Malavai to adopt an akk dog (they didn’t, he made a remark that they already had Broonmark), and always checks out the wildlife on any planet that they land on. She also adores silk underclothes, and Malavai always complies. <3

@wolfboywarmachine !

[haughtbreaker]

Special thanks to @jaybear1701​ who messaged me early this morning basically asking me what the hell I was doing with commas. Thanks to everyone who keeps reading.

** Companion song for this chapter is Lay Me Down - Sam Smith ... cause yeah I'm basic like that. I actually do have an in-progress Spotify playlist that I've been adding songs to as I post chapters**

Nicole looked around the party, feeling her body already moving slightly to the music that boomed from the speakers. She was exhausted from her shift at the shop but she was happy to be around friends.

"Nicky!"

Nicole smirked as she found Shae leaning against the couch, drink already in hand. She was waving her free hand to get Nicole's attention, even as their friend continued to talk to her. She detoured for a red cup from the keg station before moving to her girlfriend, capturing a hello kiss. "Hey." She turned to her friend. "Rosita, you're looking extra thirsty today."

"Fuck off, Red." Rosita gave her a rough shove. "You're late, as always."

"Some of us have jobs." Nicole took a long sip of the god awful beer before coughing. "Jesus, they could have at least sprung for the mediocre shit."

Rosita pulled a flask from her back pocket, waving it in front of Nicole. "It's a good thing vodka makes everything tolerable… if only I had a friend to share it with."

Nicole smirked, holding her cup out.

Holding out for just a few seconds, Rosita unscrewed the cap and poured a good helping into Nicole's cup. "You're lucky you're cute."

Shae laughed, reaching up to brush the back of her knuckles against Nicole's cheek. "She's okay." She tangled her fingers in auburn hair before pulling her forward for a kiss. It was needy and possessive, as if she had something to prove in front of even their friend. Nicole just went with it until Shae pulled away. She was used to her girlfriend's drunken shenanigans.

Some people might have been put off by it, frustrated by what seemed like a lack of trust Nicole just didn't care. She was used to it.

"I'm gonna get something else to drink." Shae commented before stepping away.

Don't let her go.

Nicole blinked against the sudden urge, reaching out, her hand closing around Shae's wrist. She felt like she was fighting against something… against instinct and fate.

Shae turned to look at her, confused.

"Here, take mine. I'm not enjoying it anyway." Nicole pulled Shae back to her. "Just… don't leave me."

Shae smiled. "Why would I ever do that?"

Nicole looked up as Rosita grabbed her arm.

"Let her go, Nicole." Her voice was stern, her grip firm.

"What the hell, Rosie, let go."

"Nicole!"

Nicole jolted up in surprise, her eyes bleary as she took in the still unfamiliar surroundings.

"Girl, you are one deep sleeper." Gus huffed as she picked up the extra blanket Nicole must have kicked off. "Isn't this Waverly's?"

Rubbing at her eyes, Nicole nodded, still slightly dazed. "She let me borrow it for now."

"Well, you best get a move on. Waverly won't tolerate being late. She cannot risk her perfect attendance." Gus's voice was thick with mockery, as if she'd heard it a million times which, having met Waverly, Nicole had no doubt about.

"I'm up." Nicole reached for her backpack, digging out her pills. Looking at the photo sitting on the nightstand, she sighed softly. "I'm up."

Nicole adjusted the bag on her back before taking a deep breath, looking down the hallway of the school. It was one building, much smaller than her old school. She looked over the schedule in her hand and the map in the other, trying to make sense of it.

The weekend had been… strange didn't seem like an adequate enough word. She'd stuck to what was now her room mostly, unpacking, avoiding the others. Wynonna had disappeared through most of the day hours, being dropped off by a red land-yacht of a car as the sun was disappearing below the horizon. Waverly stayed home most of the weekend but she had a friend stop by, a strange nerdy kid that looked like he'd been picked on most of his life. He'd stared at her with big, bright eyes the first time they met.

Jeremy.

Nicole blew out a large breath of air before returning her attention to the schedule. She had to somehow find her English class that looked like it would be her homeroom on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Canadian Geography would be Tuesdays and Thursdays.

"What's the damage?"

Nicole looked up to see Waverly standing in front of her, a big grin on her face. "Just your standard new kid in her senior year sort of damage." She'd thought, when Waverly disappeared after dropping her off at the front office, that she was going to fend for herself.

"Sounds like fun. Let me see." Waverly held her hand out, raising her eyebrows when Nicole hesitated.

With a soft sigh, Nicole handed the schedule over. If anything, at least Waverly would be able to point her to her first period.

"Oooo, we have first period together, Calculus, and Physics…" The smile turned into a disgruntled look. "And gym."

Nicole raised an eyebrow at that. "Not a fan of gym?" She wasn't a fan herself. It was usually just a place for stronger kids to pick on the weaker ones.

"I'm fine with gym, I just think it's a waste of time. I mean, I think if you're actually on a team sport, you should get credit for it." Waverly wrinkled her nose. "I'm significantly more active during cheer practice than I ever have been tossing balls back and forth in gym."

Nicole nodded. "Completely understandable." She watched as Waverly's eyes darted over the schedule. "So… we're in a lot of the same classes?"

Waverly nodded absentmindedly. "Yeah. And Jeremy too, but he has clearance from gym so not that." With a shrug, she handed the schedule back over. "It's Purgatory. Pretty much everyone in the same grade are in the same classes… with exception of math and science. We just lucked out, I guess." She smiled brightly.

Luck. Nicole wasn't sure of that yet. She wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing that she wouldn't have much of a break from the youngest Earp, but she would probably find out.

"Come on." Waverly nodded down the hall. "It's not that far down the hall."

"So… where's this American?"

Waverly rolled her eyes as she sat down between her friends Stephanie and Chrissy. Jeremy sat across from Chrissy who he considered safer. "Calm down, Stephanie. I'm sure she'll be here soon." She peeled the top off her salad and shook the small container of dressing.

"Is it true?" Stephanie asked with a smirk. "That she's a lesbian?"

"Gotta love living in a small town," Waverly commented as she tossed her salad with the small bit of vinaigrette. She'd been friends with the two girls since they were toddlers and Stephanie could be a bit much sometimes.

"Holy shit." Stephanie uttered, her eyes on the doors of the dining hall.

Waverly looked up to see Nicole entering, her auburn waves covered by a red and black toque that matched her flannel shirt, her hands tucked into her jeans pockets.

"Yeah, she just radiates gay."

"I'm pretty sure that's not very PC, Steph," Chrissy spoke up.

Waverly's brows furrowed and she stabbed at her salad as she watched Nicole follow the crowd, getting in line to collect her lunch. "She's actually really nice when you talk to her."

"Sure, in the stoic and solitary kind of way," Jeremy remarked, peeling his orange. "But I guess when you're tall and gorgeous, you can get away with it."

Waverly rolled her eyes. She didn't think Nicole was all that bad. Or maybe it was because she knew the reason behind the withdrawn temperament. She hadn't told Jeremy. She'd learned her lesson that first night and didn't intend on spilling those particular beans. When Nicole looked her way, Waverly waved her over with a smile. It looked like Nicole was going to refuse for a moment before she started heading that way.

"Hey." Nicole smiled in an obligatory way as she sat down in the empty space across from Waverly.

"Nicole, you know Jeremy but this is Stephanie and Chrissy," Waverly pointed her friends out.

Chrissy smiled and waved. "Hi, hi. Wish we could chat, but I have a yearbook meeting."

"Nice meeting you," Nicole commented as she began to pick through the hamburger and fries she'd picked up.

"Nicole, huh?" Stephanie smiled a smile that could best be described as nefarious. "The American lesbian the school is all abuzz about."

Nicole froze, looking from Stephanie to Waverly and back to Stephanie again.

"God, Steph, can you not be an asshole today?" Waverly huffed. "Sorry, Nicole. It's kind of a small town and Steph has a weird habit of perpetuating every bit of garbage she picks up."

"Rude much?" Stephanie snorted.

Nicole returned her attention to her meal, tearing open one of the small packets of ketchup. "That's me. Technically I'm only half American but I'm all gay," she responded with half a smile. Picking up one of the ketchup covered fries, she popped it in her mouth before freezing, her face twisted in disgust. "What the hell is wrong with this ketchup?"

Waverly tilted her head in question.

"It's way too sweet." Nicole wrinkled her nose, offering the small boat of fries to Waverly.

With a shrug, Waverly picked one up and tasted it. It tasted like it always did. "It's fine."

"Yeah something's not right with it." Nicole sighed softly before pulling the soggy leaf of lettuce out of the hamburger, applying a very small bit of ketchup to the bun. "Maybe it's just a Canada thing." She gave Waverly a look with just the corner of her lip curling up. "Probably all the maple syrup."

"Wow, way to perpetuate stereotypes," Waverly commented with a chuckle before jumping as a hand landed on her shoulder.

"Who's the new girl?"A boy plopped down onto the seat beside Waverly that had been emptied by Chrissy, his arm slinging over her neck.

"Ugh, get off me." Waverly shrugged his arm off, pushing away from him slightly. "This is Nicole. Nicole, this is my ex Hardy."

Nicole rose an eyebrow as she ate one of the fries. "Charmed." Her voice was flat and unimpressed, bringing a slight smile to Waverly's lips.

"Sup! Everybody calls me Champ." He nodded his head at her. "Number one steer roper in the town."

"Nicole is from California, Champ. Not a lot of rodeo," Waverly commented, trying not to push him off the bench. She wasn't sure why he was there except to bother the shit out of her.

"Cali huh? You surf, dude?" He used a horrible accent you only saw in ridiculous beach movies.

Nicole gave him a tight smile. "Yes actually, but not many waves around here." She looked at Waverly and her smile softened. "Except the Earp variety, that is."

Waverly felt her cheeks growing hot and cleared her throat. "Ha ha." She looked at her ex who was looking at Nicole suspiciously. "Champ, what the hell are you doing here anyway?"

"I just wanted to see you." He leaned closer to Waverly, his attention on her now. "I was just wondering if you wanted to come over after practice…"

Waverly grimaced. "I'm sorry, did you forget that I broke up with you?"

He gave her a confused look. "Wait… You were serious? I thought it was like, that time of the month…"

"Yeah, no. Get the hell out of here." Waverly shook her head.

"What?" Champ blinked in disbelief. "But I thought we could get back to normal.. It's Monday and you know we would always…"

"Don't even finish that sentence," Waverly cut him off. She couldn't believe him. She needed him to just leave before he embarrassed her further. "Just get the hell out of here."

"God, you don't have to be such a bitch about it." Champ growled as he stood up.

It took everything in Waverly not to just punch him in the nuts as he moved away. She felt the sting of embarrassment in her cheeks as she let her eyes drift over to Nicole who was watching Champ leave with a look that was pure poison.

"I don't know why you dumped him, Waves." Stephanie shook her head. "He's so hot."

Waverly cringed. "I just… outgrew him I guess." Scrunching her nose, she looked up to find Nicole watching her. "I guess he's just not my type anymore."

Nicole tilted her head to the side before dropping her gaze back to her lunch.

"Oh Honey… he's everybody's type." Stephanie commented in disbelief.

Nicole sighed as she sat on the bleachers, watching as Waverly and the other cheerleaders practiced on the other side of the gym. There was a time she would have enjoyed the sight, cheerleaders moving to music, flipping through the air… but instead she sighed softly, taking out her cell phone.

I dreamt of you last night. She sent the text off with a smile. Being in a new school really made her miss her friends back home. As if on queue, her phone began to vibrate with a call. She quickly hit the talk button. "That was super creepy."

"Says the person texting me saying they were dreaming about me." There was a soft laugh before she turned serious. "Was it the same dream?"

Nicole took a shuddered breath. "Yeah." She didn't need to say anything else. That was something she missed about being home. She didn't have to answer questions. No one stepped on eggshells around her because they knew where not to step. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I fucking miss your dumb face, Rosie."

There was a soft sigh that came over the phone. "That's pretty gay, Red." There was a brief pause and what sounded like a sniffle. "But… I miss you too. It's so quiet around here and I keep bringing too much booze to parties."

Nicole snorted. "No such thing."

"Yeah for alcoholics." There was another brief pause before Rosita cleared her throat. "So, you gonna tell me about your new roomies."

"Well," Nicole watched as Waverly was tossed into the air easily. "Right now I'm watching one at cheerleading practice."

"Ooo. A cheerleader? I love cheerleaders. Is she hot? Can you describe the uniform to me? Well fuck actually send me a picture."

"You're a fucking pervert." Nicole could feel the day's worth of stress beginning to bleed away. "I mean… I guess she's cute, in the way too chipper kind of way." She shrugged as if Rosita could see her. "Maybe more your type - cute, straight, and ready to break your heart. " She didn't want to go into her own type really, because that meant thinking about Shae, and thinking about how right now they'd probably be hanging out in her room back home.

"Well then definitely send me a pic later. What about the other one?"

Nicole chuckled. "Wynonna? Definitely rough around the edges. Maybe a complete opposite of Waverly. Definitely some damage there." Blowing out a long breath, Nicole stretched her back a little. "It's so fucking cold here."

Now Rosita laughed. "It's a nice 87 degrees here. A nice swell came in Sunday morning."

"Fuck off." Nicole laughed.

"I think I might have gotten a sunburn," Rosita continued.

"You don't fucking burn," Nicole snorted.

"Whoa… language Haught."

Nicole jumped as Wynonna plopped down beside her. "God Dammit, Wynonna!"

"Oooh is that her. She sounds hot. Let me talk to her. "

"Shut up, Rosie," Nicole huffed. "I'll talk to you later." She didn't wait for a response, just hung up. She knew Rosita wouldn't mind. She was the closest thing to a sister Nicole had.

"You don't have to hang up for me,." Wynonna commented as she leaned back on the bleacher behind them, her eyes on the cheerleaders. "You spying on my sister?"

Nicole rolled her eyes. "She's the one driving us home," she answered matter-of-factly.

"And how was your first day of school?"

Nicole snorted. "New place, same shit." She toyed with the edge of her phone before slipping it into her pocket. "What are you doing here, anyway? You don't even go here anymore."

"Maybe I just came to watch my baby sister?" Wynonna's gaze wasn't on Waverly tho. Instead she was eyeing up the girl that looked like she was consulting with the cheerleading coach.

Nicole had watched the older girl as she began to help with the choreography. "Who's the girl?"

"What girl?" Wynonna pulled a flask out of her pocket and took a quick pull from it, not even caring that they were in a school gym.

"Tall, dark, and smokin'...if you're into the goth scene of course." Nicole leaned back against the bleacher as well. She was glad for the interruption and distraction. As much as she loved hearing from and talking to her best friend, it was the bridge that took her back to Shae and to the place she was before. "Ex girlfriend?"

"What?" Wynonna scoffed. "God no. Her and her perfect skin and amazing dancing skills…" She cleared her throat. "She's the ex of someone I…" She waggered her hand in the air, "am friends with?"

"Friends?" Nicole gave her a wry look.

"Look… some friends you go shoplifting with, and some friends you…," she took another sip from her flask, "get naked and bump pelvises with."

Nicole cringed. "Ew. Straight people," she said under her breath as she shook her head.

"Hey now…" Wynonna glared at her. "Watch who you're calling straight," she scoffed, standing up to stretch her back out. "Waverly's probably the straightest one in the house."

Looking over at the youngest Earp, Nicole pursed her lips.

"I need a ride back to the homestead, but I can't take this high school shit anymore. I'm gonna go pass out in Waverly's jeep," Wynonna huffed.

Watching her slip away, Nicole just shook her head before looking out towards the cheerleaders. She'd thought she felt something not-so-straight coming from Waverly over the weekend, and definitely during lunch, but maybe she'd been wrong. After all, her spidey senses weren't really in top shape these days.

Wynonna hummed softly to herself as she looked through the carton of records. All through dinner she kept thinking too much about the argument she'd had earlier that day with Henry. Their on again off again thing was starting to piss her off and while she knew it was mostly her fault, she really wanted to punch him in the face.

"She was really pretty." Waverly was sitting on the floor of the basement, staring at her cell phone.

Wynonna looked up from the stack. "Who?"

Waverly pursed her lips, her face illuminated by the light of her phone screen. "Nicole's girlfriend. The one that…" She let her voice trail off. "I guess her name was Shae."

Wynonna lost all interest in the records, scooting next to Waverly on the basement floor. "Are we stalking Nicole? I'm not against it but normally you are."

"I'm not stalking her!"

Wynonna looked at Waverly through the corner of her eye, trying not to laugh. "Ok, Baby Girl." She focused on the phone instead, seeing the girl with darker skin in a variety of photos wrapped around... "Damn. That's Nicole? She looks completely different."

Waverly nodded. "Totally. I mean… she looks the same, just… happy."

"Well I guess she's got a type."

Waverly sighed, scrolling down the photo feed. "What do you mean?"

"Well…" Wynonna shrugged. "Just something she said earlier today, about Kate."

"Henry's ex?" Waverly's brow furrowed. "Like you think she likes her?"

"She said she was hot, in that angsty goth way."

"Oh I bet that went over well." Waverly laughed, but it sounded a little empty. "I mean, she is kind of gorgeous…"

Wynonna rolled her eyes. "Whatever…" She looked at the screen as Waverly seemed to have stopped on one photo.

This wasn't the Nicole that lived with them. Gone were the sunken cheeks and dark circles. In it, Nicole was in a bikini top and shorts, her wet auburn hair that was much longer was half draping in her face as she had a smile on her face that reflected... genuine happiness.

"Nicole looks… really happy here."

"They probably just had sex," Wynonna joked crudely. The look Waverly gave her could no doubt kill someone at 20 paces and Wynonna physically leaned away. "Or they're just happy..."

Waverly looked back at the phone, a troubled look on her face.

Wynonna had to raise an eyebrow as she tilted her head, a suspicious look taking over. "Why are you so interested in Nicole's girlfriend, anyway?" The conversation she'd had with Nicole was still fresh in her mind.

"What?" Waverly looked up quickly, her eyes filled with guilt. But what was the look for, Wynonna had to wonder. Guilt for prying. Guilt for something secret? Something she wasn't able to admit? "I'm not," Waverly responded with indignance as she huffed, moving to close the app and freezing suddenly. "Oh my god." Waverly looked down at her phone in horror.

"What?" Wynonna looked over to see a bright red heart under the photo. She barked out an obnoxious laugh. She wanted to say she'd never done the same, but she'd stalked enough social media in her life. "Nothing like getting notifications for photos that are a year old."

Guilt turned to horror on Waverly's face. "She's going to know I was going through her photos." Out of panic, Waverly quickly unliked the photo, as if she could take back the last 30 seconds.

"What? No! She'll still get the notification. She's going to know you were trying to stalk her secretly now…"

"Shit!" Waverly quickly liked it again.

Wynonna rolled her eyes, snatching the phone away from Waverly. Her sister was such a flustered mess at the moment. "You… are the worst at cyber stalking." With an upwards flick, she closed out the app. "Well, maybe she doesn't have notifications turned on, you never know," she commented as she tossed Waverly the phone.

Waverly looked nervously at the stairs as if expecting Nicole to come running down the stairs to yell at her.

"Waverly's probably the straightest one in the house." Wynonna's own voice echoed through her mind as she watched her sister fidgeting nervously, eyes darting from her phone to the stairs and back to her phone. Wynonna hummed to herself as she returned her attention to the records, filing the information away for later.

[weekendwarriorblog]

The Weekend Warrior 10/8/21 - NO TIME TO DIE, THE RESCUE, MASS, LAMB, NIGHTSTREAM, and More

It's a very special week here at the Weekend Warrior because October 10 will be my 20th (!!) anniversary as a film critic and the 20th anniversary of me doing a weekly movie preview column, mostly about box office but also with reviews and other stuff. Pretty cool, huh? (I’m celebrating this occasion by writing this column to the music of Public Enemy’s Apocalypse 91 which is 30 years old this month.)

Of course, this column wasn't called The Weekend Warrior in the early days, as I was instead doing "Half-Assed Analysis” at a long-gone Hollywood Stock Exchange fan site called HSJ.org. But then, it was a conversation with Mirko P. from ComingSoon.net (R.I.P.) that got me on the track of changing the name to "The Weekend Warrior" even though it would be a year before I would actually bring it to ComingSoon for 12 ½ wonderful years. The column has gone through a number of transformations and evolutions and iterations over the years, sometimes it being called something different just 'cause I didn't want to go through the ordeal of explaining to one of my bosses at a website that "The Weekend Warrior” is my own, and if I leave, it goes with me.

Anyway, I have taken a few weeks off over the years, particularly earlier this year when it just didn't seem a good time to be trying to predict box office, and I was starting to get burnt out on reviews. Now, the column is kind of back to being mostly about box office but with a few reviews, which is how I've always intended it.

Who knows if I'm going to continue this on that much longer, because honestly, there's no money and very little reward, and it does take a lot of time to write this up each week, especially with all the work I have to do for Below the Line. Anyway, for now, I'm going to keep it going, and we'll see how it goes. But Happy 20th Anniversary to me, and I can promise you… there won't be 20 more. NO FUCKING WAY.

Before we get to this week’s theatrical releases, I feel the need to mention the first of a bunch of October horror film festivals, as NIGHTSTREAM will begin on Thursday and run through Oct. 13. This is an amazing streaming horror/genre film festival that was instituted last year by four festivals, the Boston Underground Film Festival, the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival, the North Bend Film Festival, and the Overlook Film Festival when all four were cancelled due to COVID. Some of these are still happening this year as physical in-person festivals but Nighstream continues on. Some of the guests at this year’s Nightstream are The Green Knight director David Lowery; Akela Cooper, who wrote the recent James Wan horror film, Malignant; horror and special make-up FX legend Greg Nicotero, who is also the showrunner on the Creepshow anthology series, and more.

There are so many movies and events going on in the week of Nightstream but some of the highlights include the World Premiere of Jefferson Moneo’s Cosmic Dawn, Scott Friend’s feature debut, To the Moon, and the Virtual Premiere of Scott Barber’s doc, This is Gwar, as well as much more.

You can see the full list of movies here and learn how to get a pass at the official site.

Let’s get to some other movies hitting theaters...

Obviously, the big release of the weekend and maybe the month is the 25th James Bond movie, NO TIME TO DIE (MGM), once again starring Daniel Craig in his final outing as 007, his fifth movie in a run that started with Casino Royale in 2006 and 15 years later, it’s coming to an end.

Obviously, this being Craig’s last stint as Bond is a big draw for the movie, but there are other interesting things to note First, it’s directed by True Detective’s Emmy-winning director Cary Joji Fukunaga, who is making his biggest budget movie to date, having started with smaller films like Sin Nombre and Jane Eyre, and then getting more attention for his festival favorite, Beast of No Nations, starring Idris Elba, who for a while, people seemed to want to play the NEXT Bond.

Much of Bond’s colleagues and friends from past movies are back including Naomi Harris as Moneypenny, Ralph Fiennes as M, Ben Whishaw as Q, but it also brings back Jeffrey Wright, who was introduced as Felix Leitner in Craig’s first film, Casino Royale, and also a few people from the last Bond movie, Spectre, which wasn’t received as well as the previous one, Skyfall. (More on those things in a bit.) Christoph Waltz played Blofeld in Spectre (for better or worse), and he’s back, as is Léa Seydoux, who played Bond's love interest, and actually she continues said role but brings more to the plot.

The new cast is pretty significant, starting with Oscar winner Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody) as the new arch-villain, Safin, and actually, there’s also a new 007 in Lashana Lynch, who replaced Bond after he retired from MI6. There’s another “Bond Girl” (if you don’t mind the outdated trope) in Ana de Armas, who previously starred with Craig in Rian Johnson’s Knives Out, which feels like it was made 500 years ago but actually has a sequel shooting as we speak. In fact, Armas seems to be getting the best notices from everyone who writes about the movie, even though her section probably isn’t more than 15 minutes long.

I’m not going to say more about the plot. You either don’t need to know it in advance cause you’re seeing it anyway or you don’t WANT to know anything, and good for MGM for being able to keep the plot and lots of stuff secret despite the movie being delayed for 18 months due to COVID.

That’s right. No Time to Die was probably one of the first movies delayed due to COVID, and it definitely wasn’t the last, but MGM (and EON Productions) really stuck to their guns, and didn’t allow a streamer to come forward with millions and millions of dollars to put James Bond on streaming. (Granted, Amazon did come forward and ended up buying MGM outright earlier this year, and we’ve yet to see how and when that will come to fruition. As far as I know, Amazon has nothing to do with MGM’s 2021 releases, of which there are a few still to come.)

Actually, the fact that MGM is releasing this one on its own is an interesting point in itself, because it’s been almost 20 years since the studio has done that with Pierce Brosnan’s last Bond film, Die Another Day. In the time since then, MGM has been co-distributing its films with other studios until fairly recently -- the last four Bond movies were released by Sony Pictures. I’m not gonna throw shade at MGM, because they’ve been doing a fantastic job with No Time To Die, essentially marketing the movie once back in early 2020 and then again for its final release spot this Friday. In between, the movie has moved a number of times as COVID just kept ambushing its planned release date. Any weaker studio (like, say Sony) would have just sold the movie off (as Sony has done many times over the past 18 months until finally having a theatrical hit with Venom). Interesting how that works out, huh? MGM took over Bond, and now it’s releasing the new Bond a week after Sony’s biggest 2021 hit, essentially killing its chances at having a decent second weekend.

Others are seeing how well Venom did and are assuming that the box office is back, and that Bond can do even BIGGER numbers, but you need to take a few things into account, including something called REALITY. And it comes from the wonderful box office archive site, The-Numbers.com, which I have been using for those 20 years mentioned above.

Up until Daniel Craig took over the role, the biggest opening for a Bond movie (not accounting for inflation) was Brosnan’s Die Another Day with $47 million. Casino Royale opened with just $40 million in 2006, but it proved to have significant holiday legs as more people discovered it and decided that the new direction of tougher and grittier and more violent action was for them. It made $167 million domestically and $594 million globally. A few years later, Quantum of Solace had a much bigger opening of $67.5 million but made almost the exact same amount domestically -- the reason? People didn’t like it as much as Casino Royale, so it was more frontloaded.

Oscar-winning filmmaker Sam Mendes took over the 50th anniversary Bond movie, Skyfall, four years later, and that was generally as well received as Casino Royale, so that it set a new opening record for the franchise with $88.3 million and OVER A BILLION worldwide. Woo! Three years later, Spectre was going to introduce two classic Bond villains, Blofeld and Jaws (played by David Bautista) but it once again wasn't received that well, and it opened lower with $70 million and “only” made $200 million domestically vs. the $300 million of Skyfall. It still made over $879 million globally, but a final movie for Craig was always going to happen.

Now I’m going to talk about why I don’t think No Time to Die is going to break the opening record set by Skyfall, and believe it or not, it's not because of COVID. This is the thing. Bond clearly peaked with Skyfall and then it dropped down with Spectre, and that movie wasn't that well-received either by critics or fans with 63% from the former on Rotten Tomatoes and 61% from audiences. That is basically Quantum of Solace numbers and down from Skyfall's 92% and 86%. You take that disappointment and then you add six years, which is how long it's been between Bond movies, and you have a lot fewer people interested in shelling out money to see another Daniel Craig movie. There's no way around the fact that people are just burnt out on Craig and maybe Bond himself, and it really would take a huge wave of positive reviews to get them back.

Also, and unlike Venom, Bond is about as white as you can get in terms of a fanbase. I'm sure there's some African-Americans and LatinX movie fans who enjoy the action and stuff, but do you think you would see the entire James Bond collection in their Bluray libraries? I'm sure there are some, but they may be outliers, because Bond is the kind of Baby Boomer anti-woke un-PC franchise that the Millennials have been warning you about for years. It also doesn't have as big a female fanbase as other franchises (like Marvel) so that's another audience that might not rush out to see the movie. Sure, some changes have been made, including additions like Lashana Lynch or as she's better known, "WHO?!?!?", and de Armas, as well, but it's still the same old James Bond. Fukunaga just didn't try hard enough to make the necessary changes, or maybe he wasn't allowed to, because EON's Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. WIlson still hold very tight reins on the Bond films. Whatever has been done may not just be enough and who knows how many will want to see No Time to Die just to give Craig a glorious send-off? There's also the matter of No Time to Die being almost an hour longer than Venom -- longer run time, less screenings, less money per screen. It's simple math.

I already reviewed the movie for Below the Line -- I liked it but had some issues -- and it’s sitting pretty at 83% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, which is a good sign for getting the interest of fans to return to theaters for a movie that won’t be available on streaming on VOD for quite some time, I’d imagine.

I’m feeling generally bullish (or is it bearish?) on No Time To Die, especially with how much better Venom: Let There Be Carnage did last weekend compared to my prediction (OUCH!) but I’m also keeping track of that REALITY I mentioned before. Not just COVID on this one, but also opening the movie earlier overseas where the movie can be easily bootlegged and put on piracy sites for people who just don’t want to chance it at movie theaters yet. (I’m going to be writing more about this soon, but I have seen probably 100 movies or more in theaters since they reopened in NYC, and I get tested regularly. I have not tested positive for COVID once.)

The movie has done very well overseas, scoring $121.3 million in its first weekend, but I still don’t think it will open over $80 million in North America. But I do think it will be close, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it opens somewhere between $75 and 80 million.

Without knowing if any of the movies below might be going wider (but highly doubting it), here’s what the weekend Top 10 might look like. Actually, let’s make that the top 8 cause last week’s #9 and 10 were so odd and I have no idea if anything is expanding wider, as I write this:

1. No Time to Die (MGM) - $76.5 million N/A

2. Venom: Let There Be Carnage (Sony) - $31.5 million -65%

3. The Addams Family II (MGM/UA Releasing) - $9.3 million -45%

4. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (Marvel/Disney) - $ 3.5 million -43%

5. The Many Saints of Newark (New Line/WB) - $2.1 million -55%

6. Free Guy (20th Century/Disney) - $1.3 million -45%

7. Dear Evan Hansen (Universal) - $1.1 million -57%

8. Candyman (Universal) - $700,000 -47%

I think there are just way too many great movies to pick just one "Chosen One,” but since I probably should decide, I'm going with Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi's new documentary THE RESCUE (National Geographic). You may remember Jimmy and Chai from when they won the Oscar for Free Solo, and their latest is just as good. The rescue in the title refers to the 2018 rescue of an 11-kid Thai soccer team called the Wild Boars and their coach when they became trapped in the Tham Luang caves in Northern Thailand, as the annual monsoon season hits early, flooding the caves in which they’re exploring.

To fully understand how they got trapped, you have to have some idea of the structure of this underground cave system, and this film does a great job explaining how the monsoons create flooding in the caves and how much harder it is to get someone out of them when the rain just won’t stop. Two British cave divers, John Volanthen and Richard Standton, are called in to survey the situation and figure out if there’s a way to get the dozen trapped out alive, as time keeps passing until it seems like those kids are trapped without food longer than any human can survive. Seemingly, thousands of locals and foreigners come to the caves in hopes of helping, whether it’s trying to pump out water or dig new tunnels to try to find where the kids are trapped (which is a difficult task in itself).

There’s a good chance you were watching the news and you know the results of this elaborate and daring cave diving rescue, but you definitely don’t know how the plan was developed and pulled off until you actually watch it as it’s taking place. The underwater and cavern footage of the kids and their saviors is absolutely second to none, and it’s hard not to get emotional in the way Chin and Vasarhleyi assemble the footage with the music.

The Rescue is an amazing movie, maybe as good as the duo’s previous one, Free Solo, and it may be the best recapturing/documentation of an important news event that I’ve seen in recent memory.

I was seriously close to having multiple "Chosen Ones” this week, because there are a few other very good movies, including Fran Kranz’s directorial debut MASS (Bleecker Street), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and deservedly received mass praise and stellar reviews. I don't want to say too much about the movie, because its emotional power may lay in not knowing too much about it in advance. The simplest plot is that it involves two couples meeting in the room of a church to have an important face-to-face about a difficult subject, one that needs resolution and absolution from both parties. If you like great writing and amazing performances, than the work of Reed Birney and Anne Dowd (as one couple) and Jason Isaacs and Martha Plympton (as the other) will make this movie a can't miss.

Again, without getting too deep into what the couples discuss, Mass is written and directed similar to one might do a 90-minue one-act play, but it begins with us seeing the people who work at the church trying to set up the room where this eventful tete a tete will take place. It’s surprisingly witty and even elicits a few laughs from Breeda Wool, who is so nervous and awkward about the meeting that’s about to happen.

When the two couples arrives, that’s where we really get into it, but it still starts out slow, a re-aquaintance phase between the two couples, who clearly have a difficult past, try to get through the niceties before getting into the serious conversation at hand. And here is where I’m gonna put a HUGE SPOILER IN HERE FOR THE NEXT PARAGRAPH.

As with so many movies, Mass deals with gun violence and the survivors of the types of school shootings we’ve seen far too many times in the last two decades. Isaacs and Plympton’s son was killed by the other couple’s son, who turned the gun on himself. It creates this dynamic where both couples have lost a son they loved, but Dowd and Birney are put in a spot where they have to try to explain their son’s behavior and if they saw that he was capable of such violence before the shooting took place.

The actors are all terrific, and while you might think a dialogue-heavy movie with four actors sitting at a table might not do much for you… well, first of all, you can go see No Time to Die if that’s more your speed … but Kranz’s direction is more than just getting these emotional performances out of his actors but also capturing it on film and editing it to best effect. There’s even an imperfection to the camera work, sometimes focusing on one actor while another is talking, that makes this long conversation feel even more authentic, as if you’re a fly on the wall in that room.

Again, the writing and performances and direction of Mass makes it one of the most powerful dramatic works this year. I’d love to see any of the four main actors get awards attention, but especially Dowd and Isaacs, who have been so deserving of awards love for a very, very long time.

Icelandic filmmaker Valdimar Jóhansson's LAMB (A24) is a very different movie, this one starring Noomi Rapace and Hilmir Snær Guðnason as Maria and Ingvar, a couple living on a sheep farm (or rather, a lamb farm -- I honestly don't know the difference) who make an incredible discovery when a lamb gives birth to a child they decide to raise as their own. Invar's brother Pétur is not only not impressed but he thinks they’ve gone crazy, but there’s a lot of far more nefarious things going on in and around their remote and isolated farm.

This is a really fascinating film, one that’s fairly subdued but Johansson and his cinematographer (Eli Arenson) beautifully capture the vast landscapes of Iceland and gives us a real idea of how remote and isolated the farm where it mostly takes place is. He also does a great job building on the mystery of this child and the tension that surrounds where it came from, and yet, I’m not sure I’d consider Lamb to be horror, even if A24 is maybe marketing it in that direction. Really, it’s more magical fantasy mixed with character drama, and Rapace is just great as always, really impressing me with her skills delivering baby animals and driving a tractor.

If you dig a bit deeper, you’ll discover that Jóhansson wrote the screenplay with one “Sjón,” an author who has contributed to Lars von Trier's Dancer in the Dark (one of my favorite musical movies) and also wrote The Northman, Robert Eggers next movie.

This is a terrific debut by Jóhansson -- I have an interview with the director over at Below the Line, too -- and it will be highly interesting to see where he goes from here.

I was hoping to watch and review SOUTH OF HEAVEN (RLJEfilms), the new movie from Aharon Keshales, the co-director of the fantastic Israeli thriller, Big Bad Wolves, which stars Jason Sudeikis, Evangeline Lilly, Mike Colter, and Shea Whigham, but I fell foul of a lousy screener and just didn't have tie to watch it before writing this week's column. Sudeikis plays Jimmy, a convict who has served 12 years for armed robbery who gets early parole, and he swears to give his childhood love Annie (Lilly), who is dying from cancer, the best final year of her life.

I also didn't get a chance to watch Russian filmmaker Evgeny Ruman's comedy GOLDEN VOICES (Music Box Films), which opens in New York and L.A. this weekend. It stars Maria Belkin and Vladimir Friedman as Raya and Victor, the Soviet Union’s popular film dubbers who have been translating film classics into Russian for decades. When the country collapses in 1990, the Jewish couple decides to move to Israel in hopes of finding employment. When she answers a help wanted ad looking for “pleasant voices,” she ends up working as a phone sex operator catering to the Russian community in Israel while he falls in with black market film pirates.

I also just haven't gotten around to JUSTIN BIEBER: OUR WORLD (Amazon), directed by Michael D. Ratner, which seems like the fourth or fifth documentary about the global superstar, this one that goes into the making of his 2020 New Year's Eve concert after a three-year hiatus atop the Beverly Hills Hilton for 240 invited guests and millions via livestream. It will stream on Amazon Prime Video this Friday.

A couple horror movies streaming this week are THERE’S SOMEONE INSIDE YOUR HOUSE (Netflix), the new movie from Patrick Brice (Creep), which hits Netflix and involves a masked assailant targetting a high school graduating class to expose the darkest secret of each victim, forcing a group of misfits to band together to stop the killings.

Shudder gets V/H/S 94 (Shudder), the latest anthology horror movie made up of five installments, directed by Simon Barrett, Chloe Okuno, Ryan Prows, Jennifer Reeder, and Timo Tjahjanto. I haven't watched it yet but that's quite a rogue's gallery of horror/genre filmmakers there.

Streaming on Amazon Prime Video are the next two installments of this year's batch of Welcome to the Blumhouse movies, Axelle Carolyn's The Manor, an eerie tale set in a retirement home and starring the legendary Barbara Hershey, and Ryan Zarazoga’s Madres about a young Mexican-American couple having their first child in ‘70s California where he’s sent to work on a farm where the wife finds a talisman and a box with belongings of the former resident. Both of them debut on Amazon Prime Video this Friday, too. Also, you can read my interview with Ms. Carolyn over at Below the Line.

Other movies that just didn't fit into my schedule this week include:

ASCENSION (MTV Documentary Films) VENGEANCE IS MINE (Vertical) PHARMA BRO (1091) KNOCKING (Yellow Veil Pictures)

Next week’s wide release is David Gordon Green’s horror sequel, HALLOWEEN KILLS!

[pixelrender]

Top 10 PC games of all times

Or more like top 11 or 12 games.

I’ve always played on PC. I call video games in general computer games. I’ve only played some 10 games on various consoles (I would inclued 1: Tactics Ogre).

This is by no means an objective list. They’re games which had the biggest impact on me, my life and thinking about games. I decided to include only one game per franchise. I guess the result tells a lot about me as a player and about my approach to gaming.

I’ll probably make another list like this in 2019. I don’t expect Heroes to change their position, but some other games might (my prediction are 2-3 games being new to the list).

1. Heroes of Might & Magic 3

If there was the only game I could choose to play in my whole life, this would be it. I spent years playing Heroes and I struggled not to include Heroes 5 on my list.

I like everything about the franchise. It’s multiple worlds, they it mixes knights and technology, being often corny. Heroes on their own are just the best strategy I know. There’s focus on everything and everything is good. There’s enough variance that I never get bored.

2.  Kentucky Route Zero

It has the best writing in video games, that on its own would be enough. Yes, I’m sucker for everything resembling Lynch, but this is good writing for many reasons. It’s real post-modern literature.

It’s very pretty too.

3. Oxenfree

Oxenfree is like Kentucky Route Light. The story in it is also great and it had a great emotional impact on me, but it’s almost classic and supernatural stuff isn’t very subtle and there’s even some cheese.

But again it’s very pretty and the writing is great. I played it right after Firewatch and it pounded it into ground, so that’s why it’s here.

4. Tacoma

Honestly, I couldn’t decide between Tacoma, Gone Home and Firewatch. Firewatch  had some great outdoors and I loved living as a forest guard, but the story was a fairly standart radio play. Some stuff in it was forced too. Like protagonist having tragic lifes.

Gone Home was very strong and I would recommend to play it before Tacoma. It completely changed my perception of games and what they can be. It’s soundtrack is better too.

After thinking about it for few days and reading some articles,

Tacoma is taking things so much further. It’s closer to modern immersive theatre than any other video game. It’s architecture is very clever and environmental storytelling is more important than in Firewatch. But it’s more visual than in Gone Home, which heavily relied on reading.

Overall, it’s very polished and subtle. The only I dislike is it being about AI (luckily it’s not the only theme of the game) and a sci-fi (I like sci-fi in general and Tacoma does it well, but it’s a theme, which is not for everyone). In this regard Gone Home takes the lead.

5. Ultima IV: Quest of The Avatar

I’ve never trully played any Ultima game. So, why is it on my list? It was a a complex and forward-thinking masterpiece and I adore so much about it. It’s not about fighting but about ethics and decisions. The game’s big as life in its options too and no other game even came close to reproducing it. Instead they focused on action. Only today, independent devs are returning to themes of Ultima.

6. The Sims 2

Heroes 3 and The Sims 2 were two games I played in my teenage years the most. I loved building houses and whole communities in it. I loved studying at University (and I love it in real live too). And it was a game I loved to watch. We played together with my sisters taking turns and hoping for our sims to become friends.

Later on, when I started playing games like Crusader Kings 2 I rediscovered something from it. In this case you’re building your realm. History nerd in me liked that aspect. But I lacked some less random things and possibility to be a normal working class sim.

7. FTL: Faster Than Light

In three words addicting, clever and stressful.

I’ve never finished FTL and I tried many times. I’ll return to it again. The random nature of it, together with gameplay is extremely compelling. Every event is a risk and every encounter might be your last. I died for gratitous reason. And they are all good stories I can share with other people, who played the game.

8. Dragon Age: Origins

Before I discovered Steam and indie games I was into Bioware a big time. I even attended Biocon. Dragon Age sticked with me more than rest of their games. It’s just fun to play and the world is very complex and fun to read about. I’ve never had an urge to read Mass Effect books but I did read books taking place in Thedas.

The story’s weaker than in Dragon Age 2 or Knights of The Old Republic but I felt more immersed and I enjoyed playing it more than any other Bioware game, especially fighting. Baldur’s Gate got close, tho.

I haven’t played Inquisition yet as I got sidetracked by a milion of small games. It’s one of my priorities and I hope that my laptop is powerful enough to handle it. 

9. Little Party

Gone Home opened my eyes about possibilites narration in games offers. Little Party showed me that I can do a game like that.

It takes a fresh perspective and tegether with very pleasant presentation, it’s a game, which is not nerdy, which tells a short modernist story. Feelings are up to the recipient. And the game happens around you. You play as a mother of an artsy child. Your presence is almost an annoyance. It’s very slow cook game and I love everything about it.

10. Papers, Please

It’s slightly perverse to like playing Papers, Please. But again it’s a great concept and it tells a lot about its theme, which is totality, and about myself. Your decisions have real consequences.

But more than that, I loved doing my job in it. And I’ve intentionally played other games like Papers, Please after it. It’s fulfilling to do your job properly

Honorable mentions:

Crusader Kings 2, Victoria 2, Castle In The Darkness, Firewatch, Gone Home, Half-Life 2, Quake 3,  Baldur’s Gate,  Civ V, Her Story

[studyaroundthetokki]

Downsizing the Curated Collection of Stationary Part I... and advice for some folks about what to take & what not to take/get while teaching overseas since apparently I can’t stay on fucking topic

FFS i have way too much stationary. I’m using this as an opportunity to give away/re purpose/get rid of some of the ones I haven’t used. I figure a lot of people have trouble giving this kind of stuff up so I thought I’d post about it today while taking a break. note:  this is a really long post and there’s a lot of cussing once I start talking about living in South Korea lol.

I cleaned up a moleskine that I’d used like 3 pages out of and stuck it on my brother’s desk with a nice pen & fountain pen I don’t write very well with but is really nice. I’m filling up a good A4 size zip pouch full of school supplies/journaling stuff for my niece. Anything that looks businessy is going to my mom for her office. I love stationary & pens & studying and all that but this has gone overboard for way too long. I also realized that I need to pair down to what I actually am going to take with me if I’m planning on moving overseas again for a good couple of years (which is the plan). What good do dip pen samples do me in a box? It’s now out where I will use it. 

I have numerous boxes but for my birthday I finally settled on getting a few things (it’s not til April but some stuff was almost out of stock on a site that doesn’t get stuff in stock often):

1) One small sturdy travel container for my smaller stationary items (ink cartridges, washi tape, ect). I found a beautiful wood one that would be perfect. I have this weird fascination with small boxes anyway. The one I’m in love with but haven’t ordered is just slightly larger than my instax photos, which is also a reason to grab it. *cough*

2) Limiting notebooks to 1 per subject/project + planner + journal. The rest have got to go. Luckily I have a niece who’s just getting in middle school this year. I can let her mom know to come by and pick up a crapload of stuff (including my well worn Kanken mini.. hopefully she doesn’t mind pink. She’s going through a phase of saying she’s girlie but not *too* girlie with an extra emphasis on this.. though she squeals in delight over baby clothes and my pink stuff so I’m a little inclined to believe this is more to do with her friends than her own tastes). 

3) If I haven’t used it in 2 years, it needs to go. With the exception of some of my ink bottles. I have some lovely shades but didn’t have an ink converter until recently again. I actually need to get a 2nd one...This includes old textbooks that are getting moved into sturdy containers instead of keeping them and any books that I don’t *really* love are eventually going to get donated/given away/given to the library (they don’t always take them).

4) Do I *really* use it? I have some pens that I don’t use often. Like my TWSBI Diamond 580AL. It’s a beautiful pen but I don’t use it a lot. However, I’m not giving it up. My Lamy has now been stuck in my younger brother’s room. I used it frequently but I’m not in love with it. I use it because I feel obligated to. I recently gave away one of my favorite fountain pens to my cousin because she has the same issues with pain while writing that I do (we have the same chronic illness). I replaced it with a pen that is on the way. I used that sucker all the time. It was a cheap fountain pen but it wrote better than my 60$ pen. :| I have empty notebooks I”ve been holding onto for years and.. while paper that has aged is really pretty.. if I can’t think of a use for it, it’s going to my niece. 

5) Junk notebooks: I think it’s good to have some cheap paper just to doodle or write quick notes or practice sentences or write fuck on 5000 times on a bad day. However, I do not need more than one of these books at a time. *stares at stack of blank cheapo books* Sigh. 

6) If you really love it, keep it. There’s a difference between hoarding and keeping something because you genuinely adore it. I have one notebook that is for a *very* specific project. It’s still blank... because I haven’t started the damn project. I have photobooks that I haven’t gotten to. I will probably get rid of the album and instead get a new one since it was just a cheap dollar store book and it doesn’t reflect my personality. I also want a smaller one for my instax pictures which mean a lot to me since they’re one of a kind. This kind of momento stuff is important. My one book is expensive and has beautiful paper. I plan on making it my first “real” translation project for one of my favorite stories (Kiki’s delivery service). 

On Packing to Move Overseas: A few personal notes

Back to the topic of sorting with a mind of moving with only two suitcases and a backpack. This is part of why the downsizing is happening. These are more like additional notes rather than guidelines. Just as a reminder to myself in about 12-18 months.  Things I need:

1. ONE small pouch of pens/ink/tape/scissors/ect.

2. One book of personal grammar notes. I don’t need the textbooks, but I do need my grammar notes. 

3. Whatever textbook I’m currently working on and one notebook to go with it. No more. I do not need the old editions nor 5000 vocab cards. That’s what anki is for.

4. One set of nice stationary. I like to write home. I also like to visit stationary stores. I only need one freaking set to go with me when I move to write people. I didn’t have internet or a phone with rates that I could afford until about 3 months in last time. My mom is not so good with skype (somehow). 

5. A tablet. My brand new expensive gaming laptop I got for work & play burned itself out in two months. A good tablet will be fine for just about everything until I can get a PC/phone. Having something portable but with enough functionality that you can use it as more than an mp3 player is important. Google maps saved my ass many times in South Korea, and all the city subway lines had free wifi.. so yeah it was important when I got there to have this sort of thing. 

6. A sturdy case for my consoles. I mainly game on a switch and my 3DS. These things are pretty damn portable. Might have to get a new dock at some point but mostly I can just get a wall USB adapter to charge both. This is why I like these consoles, I already have a USB adapter for my 3DS, so I just need the wall plug now that I think about it lol these kinds of things are going to be on sale in most department stores maybe even Daiso I’d think.

7. Sturdy file folder that is non-descript to store copies of all important documents. Leaving this shit lying around your apartment while overseas just randomly.. which I totally did. Is dumb. Important documents includes both emergency and general contacts. Your phone might get stolen so unless you have Nana’s phone # memorized, you might want to get that shit down on paper. Same thing with next of kin, addresses, banking info.. it’s really important to have these and to store them well. 

(this post is getting ridiculously long, oh well, that’s why I use “read more” instead of just posting a fucking wall of text like a lot of people do).

8. While we’re at it: clothing items. Deodorant & toothpaste/toothbrush/ect are important enough that you want a month supply but you’re going to find big brands available in large cities. Like they had secret & dove in Korea. It was no big deal (though I think the anti-antiperspirant was weaker). You can find socks. Underwear/bras in western sizes are an issue. Shipping can be a pain in the ass, though someone noted to me that wal-mart ships internationally which is good to know. The climate may sound reasonable but it’s best to prepare for the worst. I heard rainy season and assumed they just meant heavy storms. I grew up in an area with a lot of flooding but I wasn’t worried. Three days in: We took a field trip, I had no umbrella, the water was fucking ankle deep in the street. I had no way of properly drying out for hours. Jeans were not the best choice. The day had started off sunny. I just was not prepared. The humidity is comparable to Mississippi in August. You have been warned. Winter: It wasn’t cold by my normal terms. Hoever, after living there for 5 months by this point, my body was like FK UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU. Layer-able clothing is a must. Gloves. Hats. Scarves. A decent jacket. GOOD SHOES. Don’t like hose and your work calls for it? Opaque leggins and socks in the same colour will work wonders for you. Fat as my 260lb ass? Leggings, oversized shirts, a-line skirts, stretch jeans, light t-shirts, camisole tanks under garmets to catch the sweat of simply living in the humidity that you just do not understandholyfuckitslike98%humidityiguessthedevilvacationsinasiaandturnsuptheheat.

*note: if your ass is moving overseas, please make sure to look into the cultural norms for “revealing” clothing. Shout out to busty girls like me, camisol tank tops under everything help with that “i turn anything into a peep show” cleavage problem. Hike that crap up, sew up the elastic bands. they also provide extra support when you’re running up and down those stairs, and help absorb the sweat. you do not understand how bad it is. i am a cleanly person but i’d come home looking like i just got out of a sauna in full snow gear. it’s BAD. Jesus christ this post is getting ridiculous. oh well. 

So yeah. Clothing. It’s important. You don’t want to bring 2 years worth of stuff, but just bring some extra variety. I made do off of just a few things. I did not *ever* wear the fancy evening dress I got “just in case” (it was cheap ok?) but I did wear the simple A-line dress I’d got to some formal diners.

GOOD SHOES. 

Anyway.. uh.. back to other things besides clothes. lol

WTF # was i on? sec. scrolling up.

9. A decent camera. I’m not talking about for youtubing. The biggest complaint I got from the fam & friend fam was that I didn’t post enough pictures (I posted like 200+ in a year so pfft).. but honestly I wish instead of investing in that computer I’d gotten a better camera. I have a good one now, it’s a nice little point & shoot. I’m not saying you need something that is worth 900$ or more. Just get a legit camera. I also have a HD video camera that I never fucking use. I thought I would, I may in the future (though it’s a little outdated by now I guess? shit records in 1080p so that’s good enough for me, fuck youtube & it’s 4K shit). Anyway, it’s important to document some of it. You’ll want to.

10. A good journal. I don’t even normally keep one, but having a planner and a journal as two separate books is a good thing. Even if you just write down “today sucked Eunji is a racist asshole” (that’s a whole other story) or “broke my leg. i now have 3 months off--that’s better than nothing because having a time frame of when this shit happened is important a few years down the road when your memory starts getting shitty. You don’t have to include what color the flowers were and what type they were in the gift that you got from the guy who’s face you won’t even remember.. but writing down the name of that cafe that had the amazing cake & espresso will bring the taste back in your mouth years later b/c fuckboys be bs but food is life. Taste & Scent & sound memory are real. You won’t regret it if you record that kind of stuff.

11. Last one for now cuz I got shit to do. Invest in good luggage. One good bag that you can actually lug around because you very well may end up pulling that sucker behind you when you’ve got 22 minutes to get cross town and get on that fucking train or you’re going to miss the god damn flight and it’s non refundable. Sobbing in the middle of a train station because you missed your train and you do NOT speak the language very well is uncomfortable for you and everyone around you. Jesus that day sucked. 

I strongly suggest something that doesn’t go past mid thigh. + 1 carry on that you can actually lift and a small shoulder bag that fits in the carry on until you are at the airport. If you can’t carry all of it yourself for at least a mile without dying, then you’ve over packed, it’s too big and you’re going to fuck yourself over. Leave enough room in it with the idea that you might be bringing some extra shit back actually that’s another bullet for this list

BONUS: DO NOT GET BUNCHES OF SHIT UNLESS YOUR ASS IS STAYING IN THE COUNTRY LONG TERM. I HAD TO LEAVE SO MUCH SHIT BEHIND AND ENDED UP FORGETTING THE SOUVINERES THAT I WANTED TO KEEP IN THE 24HR GET YOUR ASS OUT NOTICE I GOT FROM MY EMPLOYER WHEN MY CONTRACT WAS UP. 

Granted, my dumb ass thought I’d have gotten let go sooner than 5:30 on the last day since every other fucking teacher did. Nope Eunji the Assji decided that I would work from 7-5:30 down to the last fucking minute without so much as a “do you need help getting to the station”. -_-; That was on me. I should have known and prepared better. It didn’t matter that my colleagues got released with time to leave with some dignity and not lugging a 80lb set of luggage 1/2 across Busan. 

DO NOT DO THIS TO YOURSELF. Ship stuff home if you have to, even if it costs a lot. Consider how hard it will be to take this stuff to the post office. Do not lug yourself down with a bunch of trinkets. Take photos, write journal entries. Remember that the stuff is just stuff and memories are way more important than stuff. One small box you can fit in your suitcase. Don’t take more than that. Really. 

[the-panic-the-static]

ALL THE QUESTIONS IF IT'S NOT TOO MUCH

1. What is your middle name?I don’t have a middle name

2. Do you have any nicknames?Nope

3. Do you have any allergies?No

4. What is the longest your hair has ever been?To my hips 

5. Apple or PC?pc

6. Favorite flavor?ehh depends on the food

7. Have you ever been on a blind date?No

8. Are you friends with any of your exes?NO

9. What kind of car do you drive?A Citroen

10. How grammatically correct are you when you text?In German, very, in English I try to be 

11. What foreign country would you most like to visit and why?Norway, because it’s so fucking beautiful there AND the US just to see a wonderful human

12. Creamy or chunky peanut butter?creamy 

13. Favorite food to pig out on?

14. DC or Marvel?ehhh idc

15. Disney or Nickelodeon?SAME

16. Do you have any stickers on your laptop computer?I have not!

17. Name/author of the last book you read cover to cover. Do you recommend it?It’s called Bio-Nahrungsmittel für alle ... ?: Trendentwicklungen der Biobranche by Astrid Sara Nave, and ehhh I would recommend it if you’re interested in organic food and speak German (I had to read it for my diploma thesis)

18. Do you read any magazines?I do

19. Coffee or tea?Tea

20. What is your go-to Starbucks drink?I’ve been to Starbucks just once and ehh no thanks

21. How many things can do with your weaker hand?IDK actually nothing tbh

22. Last show you binge watched?None

23. Dogs or cats?Dooogs

24. Favorite Disney princess?wat

25. Do you like fast food?sometimes, sure

26. Favorite thing to cook for yourself?Lately I’ve often been cooking this coconut-rice with vegetables, cashews and dattles cause it’s SO GOOD

27. Favorite song to sing in the shower?Lately: The Heart From Your Hate

28. Have you ever butt dialed anyone?HELL NO

29. iPhone/iPad or Android?Android

30. Any styles of music you do not like?Actually everything else but Metal/Rock tbh

31. Have you ever kissed anyone of the same gender? If so, did you like it?I did and yeah, I liked it

32. Have you ever gotten a ticket while driving?Nope

33. Favorite emoji?EH IDK

34. Showers or baths?DEPENDS ON the day/mood

35. Is there anything you regret buying?Not really, no

36. Are you fluent in more than one language?I am

37. Any movie(s) you can watch over and over again and enjoy just as much every time?There are a few

38. What is the heaviest you have ever weighed?AHHHH

39. Do you have any tattoos? If so, how many and where?3, two on my arms and one on my back

40. Have you ever uttered a spoken hashtag?NOPE

41. Favorite school subject?EH it was Business Informatics and Information- and Mediatechnology

42. Favorite non-chocolate candy?ICE CREAM IF THAT COUNTS AS CANDY

43. Name one celebrity you dislike.IDC

44. If you could have one superpower, which one would you most like to have?READ OTHER PEOPLE’S MINDS I GUESS

45. From 1-10, rate your singing ability.Probably a 3

46. From 1-10, rate your dancing ability.0

47. From 1-10, rate your cooking ability.I love cooking, I’d say a solid 8

48. From 1-10, rate your driving ability.SAME FOR DRIVING

49. Are you religious?No

50. Do you drink soda? If so, which one is your favorite?Not really

51. Have you ever locked your keys in your car?Ehh, no

52. Spring or autumn?Autumn

53. Do you play any sports?nope

54. Can you play any musical instruments?The flute 

55. Are you more introverted or extroverted?Introverted, obviously

56. How easily do you cry?Very, unfortunately

57. Last musical artist you saw live?KORN

58. Favorite YouTube channel?Don’t really have a favourite

59. Star Wars or Star Trek?IDC

60. How long have you known your best friend?5 years!

61. Have you ever voted for a reality show?Ehh, no

62. Last CD you bought?GOOD QUESTION, I don’t really know

63. Have you ever ended a romantic relationship?if you mean if I’ve ever broke up with someone, yeah, I have

64. Have you ever been broken up with?Yeah

65. Have you ever been in the audience for the taping of a TV show?No

66. How long was your longest relationship? Are you still with that person?kinda over a year, no, luckily

67. Have you seen any Broadway plays or musicals?Yeah, with school but I can’t remember anymore

68. Have you ever acted in a play or a musical?When I was in primary school, yeah

69. How flexible are you?kinda, I think

70. Have you ever sexted?Sure

71. Do you own any clothes from garage sales or thrift stores?No, I don’t

72. Real or fake Christmas trees?DON’T REALLY CARE

73. How many pillows do you sleep with?One big and one small

74. How well can you write in cursive?my handwriting is horrible

75. What is your political affiliation?-

76. Do you like any boy bands?HELL NO

77. Have you ever broken any bones?I haven’t

78. Have you ever gotten any stitches?No

79. Do you have any piercings in places other than your ears?I do

80. What is the oldest piece of clothing you still wear and how old is it?a pullover, 3 years I guess

81. Do you like wearing hats?No

82. Have you ever dyed your hair?Sure

83. From 1-10, how competitive are you?I’d say 5, I don’t really know tbh

84. How long have you been at your current job?2 weeks, just started

85. Have you ever studied abroad?No

86. Phrase you say the most?probably “What the fuck” or “I DON’T KNOW”

87. Have you ever quit a job?no

88. Have you ever gotten fired from a job?No

89. Have you ever won a trophy? If so, what for?I have, flute 

90. Have you ever been a Boy/Girl Scout?I haven’t

91. Last thing that made you laugh?TODAY at work I told my co-worker that a girl from my friend’s class and her boyfriend have dildos distributed all over their apartment and we talked about how weird that was cause they don’t hide it when people come visiting them and like, THERE ARE DILDOS ON THE FUCKING TABLE OR COUCH AND THEY JUST DON’T CARE ABOUT IT AND ACT LIKE IT WAS NORMAL TO SHOW EVERYONE LIKE IT WAS SOME DECOR 

92. Do you eat meat?No, actually not

93. Are you more of a morning or a night person?night, definitely

94. Worst habit?Eating at nights, I hate it 

95. Deepest fear?Old habits

96. Do you believe in ghosts?I don’t

97. If you could take home any animal from the zoo, what animal would you take?EHH IDK Probably a tapir, they’re so sweet

98. Do you consider rapping singing?rapping is rapping, singing is singing

99. Favorite costume you wore for Halloween? How old were you?IT WAS A WITH when I was like, 6? 

100. Favorite store to shop at?EHH idk

101. Have you ever given anyone CPR?I haven’t

102. Favorite Pokémon?-

103. Do you own any homemade clothing?NO

104. Do you drink alcohol at all? If so, what is your drink of choice?I do, Gin Tonic

105. Have you ever skinny dipped?YEAH when I was maybe 2 or 3 in our garden 

106. Favorite type of cookie?CHOCOLATE chip, probably

107. Favorite flavor of ice cream?I LIKE THEM ALL CAN’T DECIDE

108. Biggest pet peeve?table manners, probably

109. Are you still friends with anyone from high school?I am

110. Favorite literary character?EHH idc

111. Are your birth parents still together?They are

112. Do you wear or have your ever worn glasses?I have, now I’m wearing contacts

113. How many of your Facebook friends do you actually hang out with?I have like 20 fb friends so yeah, pretty much with everyone of them 

114. Have you ever been the victim of a prank?I haven’t

115. Do you belong to a fraternity or a sorority?No

116. Have you ever taken a nude selfie?I have

117. Are you adopted?I’m not

118. Favorite fandom??

119. Oldest memory?I laughed at a friend’s haircut when I was 6 and she started crying, I regreted it so much that I locked myself in the toilet and cried until my teacher followed me, she needed one hour to make me open the door and brought me back to class, I apologized immediately and since then I’ve never done something like this to anyone ever again, and I won’t 

120. Have you ever snorted when you laughed?No

121. Can you drive stick?I drive stick

122. Favorite Disney song?IDC

123. Random boy’s name.Daniel ♥

124. Random girls’ name.Ehhh, MARLIES

125. How often do you eat out at a nice restaurant?maybe 2-3 times a month

126. How many people are in your nuclear family?4

127. What accent do you consider the most attractive?IDK I JUST KNOW that mine is the ugliest

128. What is your Myers-Briggs personality type?IDK

129. What is your astrological sign?Gemini

130. Biggest regret?THERE ARE some I guess idk

131. What type of shoes do you wear the most?BOOTS

132. Do you like any soap operas?Nah

133. Do you listen to talk radio?No

134. What sports team(s) do you root for?NONE

135. Describe your sense of humor.IDK it’s weird I guess

136. Have you ever been hit on by someone of the same gender?Today a girl randomly sent me her tits, if that counts

137. Favorite video game?BATTLEFIELD AT THE MOMENT

138. Name a moment in your life when you were pleasantly surprised.When I got the job I haven’t thought I would get

139. Do you believe in serendipity?No really

140. Have you ever left a movie theater before the movie was done?Yeah

141. Have you ever felt you were born in the wrong period of history?SOmetimes, yeah

142. Is sex before marriage wrong?Of course not? wtf

143. Have you ever gotten a song you dislike stuck in your head?I have

144. Can you handle spicy food?I love spicy food

145. Have you ever called a non-lover a term such as darling, honey, babe, or dear?I have

146. Do you like MTV?Nah

147. Where on your body are you the most ticklish?Probably feet

148. TV show or movie you quote/reference the most?idk

149. Have you ever lived with a roommate you didn’t get along with?No

150. Where do you think is the best place to meet a new lover?idk, probably in a restaurant or bar, I think it’s not important as long as both feel comfortable with the place

151. Have you ever successfully been on a diet?I have

152. Favorite thing to do outside?EHH GO FOR A WALK? IDK

153. Where did you go on your last vacation?Croatia

154. Do you say “y'all” at all?sometimes, I do

155. Have you ever lived on a farm?I haven’t

156. Do you believe in evolution?I do

157. What TV channel do you watch the most?I don’t watch TV at all

158. Favorite Beatles song?IDC

159. Have you ever been on TV?No, luckily

160. Have you ever been to Disney World or Disneyland?Nope

161. Do you like horror movies?I do

162. Do you like to go fishing?Haven’t been in years, used to go sometimes with my dad when I was like 4?

163. Have you ever been hunting?Ehhh no?

164. Do you take medication for anything?I do

165. Name one item from your bucket list.I don’t have such a list

166. From 1-10, how much do you like children?it depends on the child? I’d say a 5

167. Have you ever thought about your wedding?Nah

168. Have you ever been bungee jumping or skydiving?I haven’t

169. Favorite flower?I LOVE THEM ALL

170. Do you collect anything?LINGERIE if that counts

171. Who was the last person you told a lie to?MY MOTHER TODAY cause she asked me when I’m going to visit them again and I said I didn’t know even though I’m going to visit them tomorrow!

172. Have you ever been a bridesmaid or a groomsman?No

173. Have you ever had a fortune cookie fortune come true?ehh no

174. What was your favorite toy to play with when you were a child?can’t even remember

175. How good are you at math?not too good, not too bad

176. Have you ever learned anything from a how-to YouTube video?No

177. Have you ever participated in a science fair?No

178. Have you ever wished you were born the opposite gender?Nope

179. Have you ever participated in a public protest?No

180. Do you have a pool at your house?I haven’t

181. Have you ever hosted a wild party?nope

182. Do you like karaoke?No really

183. Have you ever written a love letter?I have

184. Have you ever ran a marathon?No

185. How often do you get mad at yourself?Like, all the time

186. Any guilty pleasures? I don’t think so

187. Fruits or vegetables?BOTH

188. Do you live in a house or an apartment?Apartment

189. The countryside or the suburbs?both has its pros and cons, for me it’s the suburbs

190. Worst job you’ve ever had?-

191. Do you hang out with any of your co-workers?NOT YET

192. Were you ever voted homecoming/prom king or queen?We don’t have this dumb shit over here, luckily 

193. Were you voted a “best” or “most likely to” in high school?wtf

194. Have you ever gotten detention?no

195. Have you ever babysat?I have

196. Have you ever taken a road trip just for the fun of it?Of course

197. How many drinks get you tipsy?I think it starts around drink number 6

198. Were you a part of any academic clubs in high school or college?-

199. Have you ever given a public speech, aside from your schooling?no

200. How long have you been on tumblr? For almost 3 years now

THANK YOU SO MUCH DANIEL ♥

[clickbliss]

Devil Engine is a merciless shooter channelling the spirit of the arcade

by Amr (@siegarettes)

Devil Engine

Developer: Protoculture Games

Publisher: Dangen Entertainment

Switch, PC

From mechanics, aesthetics, down to the extra modes and gameplay options, Devil Engine is saturated with homage to arcade shooters, new and old. It’d be easy to catalog them, and breakdown every influence it takes from its arcade family. But in the heat of the action, Devil Engine gave me an almost racer like vibe. Momentum is deeply important, and losing it feels a lot like running yourself off the road. Knowing how to control my speed and where to attack the stage’s corners and enemy formations is key. Explaining exactly why is complicated, so let’s break it down.

Devil Engine revolves around its multiplier and burst system. Quickly destroying waves of enemies builds a multiplier, which increases you score, which determines when you get your next bomb, when you earn another life and how large the defensive burst you create is. Using a burst clears bullets in the immediate area but it’ll decrease your multiplier. Canceling a large group of bullets earns it back. Spamming it leads to weaker bursts that leave you vulnerable, so you’re encouraged to use it only to defend against large groups of bullets, both to keep it effective and to keep the multiplier active.

Devil Engine’s enemy and bullet patterns are aggressive, so to keep that multiplier up you’ll need to be aggressive in turn. Playing defensively and hanging back is a good way to let the screen be filled with overwhelming firepower, leading to a lot more deaths and a starved arsenal. Especially on the default, “Very Hard” difficulty, bullet speed edges on impossible to react to, and boss safe zones tend to force you closer to them.

This is where course knowledge becomes key. I found intercepting enemy waves to cut off attacks before they appeared and allowed me more space to maneuver. In turn, my multiplier increased, building my stock of bombs quicker, allowing me to use them more aggressively to take down groups that took more time for my standard weapons to dispose of.

Corresponding to the three available shot types, bombs are more extensions of the regular functions than the screen clearing lasers or explosions you’d expect. They’re honestly a bit underwhelming, never feeling like the momentum shifting tools that they are elsewhere in the genre.

Knowing each weapon and bomb type, and where to deploy them, is essential course knowledge, however. Spread shot covers large groups well, lasers cut through larger targets and are the go to for bosses, and homing is suited to small, weak enemies waves or for trying to curve around angles that are otherwise blocked by the stage. Each shot type is obtained by getting the appropriate pickup, and has three levels of strength, though anything above the first level is usually adequate.

The arsenal is small enough that Devil Engine might have benefited from a system that kept each type on hand, a la Harmful Park or later Thunder Force entries, but powerups are frequent enough, and shot types can be cycled by hitting powerups with a burst, so getting the right weapon is rarely a problem.

More problematic is the way Devil Engine plays into the macho attitudes of “hardcore” gaming mentalities. The easier difficulty is initially locked off, but after it’s quickly unlocked it greets you with description texts like “ FOR COWARDS” or “WHY DON’T YOU CHALLENGE YOURSELF FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE?”, making it clear that it’s not the intended experience. A few of the more cheeky lines such as “Bullet Tranqulity” or “the wind will surely carry me along” strike a bit better balance, but alongside details like how it plasters EASY MODE on the corner of your screen Devil Engine often shames you for not going all in from the go.

Despite being put off by this attitude, I did give Devil Engine’s Very Hard difficulty a good effort, but I quickly found it to be a poor way to get acquainted with the stages. The overwhelming speed of enemy attacks makes it near impossible to navigate bullet patterns the first time through. Devil Engine hits you with nasty surprises periodically to keep you dialed in, but this has the side effect of destroying your momentum, which leads to agonizing death spirals if you’re unprepared. To return to the racing metaphor, jumping immediately into hard mode is the same as trying to drive 120 MPH down a track you’ve never raced on before, hoping you somehow don’t total your vehicle at the first set of corners.

I found it more productive to get acquainted with the stages in easy mode first, learning the general enemy patterns and stage flow, then try my hand at hard mode after a few runs, to slowly get used to the additional dangers there. This still gave me a serious challenge, even on Very Easy (which is anything but), and allowed me to understand the nuances of the weapon and combo system, as well as map out which of the three movement speed settings to switch to during each part of the stage. No matter how you play it, Devil Engine is going to be merciless, and demand that you work hard to earn the course knowledge to survive, easy mode just makes less frustrating to do so.

Even then, there are still some hurdles to get through, thanks to some unfortunate issues. Devil Engine has a suite of extra modes, filters, and gameplay options, allowing you to adjust the HUD, bullet colors, background vibrancy, and hitbox visibility--all of which help tremendously with readability. These are unlocked automatically as you play, with your lifetime point total being the primary factor. As far as I can tell, however, there is not proper practice mode to allow you to play later stages by themselves, leaving me with a lot of practice for the first two levels, but often unprepared for the rest.

More painful are the bugs, which came up just enough to spoil several runs. My first major pain was a bug that caused to game to crash after unpausing the game. I’m not sure what caused it, so I couldn’t avoid it without avoiding pausing entirely. Which is pretty bad, considering that’s a basic function.

Less game breaking is the continue glitch, which occurs when using the quick restart function to start a new run without backing out to the menu. You earn several extra continues as you continue to play the game, which are essential to being able to practice later stages. Using quick restart breaks the count, resetting to the default of 2 continues, instead of the 8 or so I’d accumulated up to that point. So I had to go back to the menu to start a fresh run if I wanted to keep them. Kind of defeats the point of a quick restart, huh?

I might seem down on Devil Engine, but these problems mostly stand out because of the care taken everywhere else in the game. Devil Engine is worth experiencing on aesthetics alone. A lot of comparisons have been made to Saturn-era shooters, but Devil Engine benefits from modern production. Landscapes are rendered in high density pixel art, with lavishly detailed environments and several layers of parallax scrolling to give it visual depth. Diverse, multi-sprite flames scatter out of each explosion. There aren’t any modern shortcuts here--these are all individually animated, not made from a particle generator.

The same meticulous approach benefits elsewhere. Devil Engine opts to avoid using effects like alpha transparency, using dithering and stippling techniques to apply shading to objects and emulate colored layers. While using dithering for transparency could sometimes look cheap or cause artifacting on older systems, seeing it applied in high resolution creates a much finer “grain” which gives the game strong visual texture without drawing as much attention to itself. 

The color palettes and music imbue Devil Engine with serious verve. Red hues appropriately saturate vehicles and environments, often complemented by the dark green hues of enemies and their bases. The muted tones, paired with earthy brown and grey complements, keep the palette from becoming overwhelming or distracting. Rounded shapes and exposed tubes give Devil Engine’s machines a suggestion of the bio-organic, as if they swole and grew out from a machine seed. It’s distinct, carrying a bit of that gorgeous grotesque that I love.

Just as stylish is the soundtrack, composed of an eclectic mix of synths, guitar riffs and jazz that provides a good mix of energetic vibes. Composers Joseph :Qwesta” Bailey, Mason Lieberman, and  Hyakutaro Tsukumo really kill it here. Particularly noteworthy is the stage 2 theme, which features an incredible arrangement of horns, lending it a powerful neo-noir feel.

Devil Engine is easily one of the most impressive recent entries in the shooter genre. Its marvelous aesthetics carry it through, and the aggressive approach to shooting forced me to commit myself to learning its spaces in a satisfying way. My frustrations with its attitudes toward difficulty and impossible to ignore technical problems definitely soured my time with it, but not enough to damage its core appeal. Otherwise, it’s a worthwhile entry into the genre, albeit one that might only speak to those already bought into it.

[vrheadsets]

VR Vs. DOOOOOM! Pt 2: The Flip Side Of The Headline

You take a regular coin out of your pocket. The coin has two sides. You flip it. At this point you’ll likely think there are two obvious outcomes, but you and I know that’s not how reality works. There’s, more likely, three possibilities as to what can happen. The first is it lands on heads, the second tails, the third option has the coin hit the ground first on its edge and bounce off somewhere. Probably under your sofa or something. The result being that you don’t know what it landed on and you’re also now probably down 10p if you didn’t see were the blasted thing went to, and after five minutes of looking you frankly don’t care anymore.

Hello everyone, and welcome to another edition of VR vs.

Last week I got a bit serious and discussed one of the previous week’s stories from elsewhere that I didn’t agree with, namely how the information that was coming out of the Wall Street Journal wasn’t making a lick of sense based on what we actually knew from the weeks prior. And how despite the fact it didn’t tie in with established events it was enough to amusingly set people off on another ‘VR is dead’ spiral. Well, for something that is apparently dead it’s acting pretty spritely. Should I be expecting a George A. Romero movie about all this?

At the time I did mention there was a second story I wanted to look into that had generated a similar wave of comments on other sites that prophecised how things were doomed. Honestly, if we ever get an office I actually work out of I want this sign in my office.

In any case, the other story in question was one referring to gamesindustry.biz, which we also reported here on VRFocus, about the results of a survey. Yes, our old friend statistics are back.

In this instance however it wasn’t the results of marketing analysis, telling us how [Technology] is going to dramatically increase in use by 40% by 2021 – it always seems to be 2021 at the moment – and be worth an otherwise unfathomable number of millions or billions. It was instead an actual survey of actual VR professionals. Which, frankly, is great to see and it makes facinating reading as it goes between content creators and those working in VR technology, looks into the split between ‘tethered’ (PC and console) and mobile and even breaks down what areas those surveyed are working in. A handy graphic the next time someone says about VR only mattering/existing in the games industry,

It also provides some unintended amusement. Who would’ve ever guessed that the thing content creators believe is the biggest barrier to mass consumer adoption of VR is the price of hardware? Or that those working with VR Tech would say it was the lack of content?

However the article I am referencing to focused on one set of results and reads: “1-in-4 VR pros say biz growth disappointed in 2016”. Yes, 26% of those who were surveyed said that the growth of their business – or biz, if you really want to call it that – had been “weaker than hoped”. (More precicely it is 29% for those on the hardware side and 22% for those on the creative side.) This was all the evidence needed of course for the next flurry of early obituaries for the industry. It was reported as this in a number of places but, as with that coin there is another side as one commenter pointed out..

“That’s not bad when you flip it – so 3 out of 4 developers had their growth expectations met or exceeded? I’m no VR evangelist, but that seems like a good hit-rate for any industry.”

And it is. In an industry still trying to build up its core audience and even still figuring out what can even be done in the first place what works, having 44% of the content creators and 47% of those in the hardware space declaring their growth to be “strong” or “very strong” I would say is pretty darn good. Especially as many are start-ups, and historically the longevity of new businesses (in the UK, at least) is not that good.

In short, as always be sure to look at the big picture. Because unfortunately, a negative is far more discussion worthy than a positive and here it is easy to leap from “weaker than hoped” to “failing” despite that not neccessarily meaning the case.

Your can say your coin did not land on tails five times out of ten but that doesn’t mean it never landed on heads.

You can read that VRX/VR Intelligence survey here.

from VRFocus http://ift.tt/2puS7Yk

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Utilized Toshiba Laptops

Laptops are speedily replacing the individual desktop computers and supplying a lot more ease as nicely as facilities and technological capabilities as for what desktop computer systems have been popular for. With more and more devices getting used for conducting company from smartphones and tablets to laptops, it pays for SMEs to have a complete IT support structure in spot that ensures that you and your employees are protected from the scammers and hackers who can do so significantly damage. Microsoft set out to make the most refined notebook it could with the Surface Laptop, and for the most element it succeeded. It really is sleek and effective and has excellent battery life. It might look like a step back for Microsoft, right after attempting to promote new twists on notebooks over the previous couple of years. But it really is more of a realization: There’s nevertheless a large demand for conventional laptops. And Microsoft just showed how it is carried out.

Time for the numerous benefits connected with owning a Dell laptop charger in UK Get a lot more detail about laptop charger price go to on laptop charger factory. 8) If your usb storage got set up properly, your laptop will boot dos system. Laptop AC adapter is not strange to computer users. It really is an indispensible component of laptops. Although it appears to be a burden of laptop, we have to bring it with the laptop. Without it, our computer will cease working. A single cannot make a silver purse of a sow’s ear. It really is accurate that the battery will not work for long time unless an adapter.

When men and women choose to sell laptops on the internet, they want to do a cautious on-line search to discover a respected on-line personal computer outlet to do company with. Selling a pc is a very profitable enterprise selection, so buyers want to make positive they will get the money they are entitled to when the deal is done. Just as the seller expects a fair cost for their laptop, they have to make sure the laptop they are trying to sell is in great situation and has all of the necessary accessories to facilitate a seamless transition for the potential buyer of your laptop pc.

Families with multiple students are hit the hardest as they have to stretch their spending budget to cover household expenditures and the additional cost of the students becoming away from property. Paying cash for a laptop is merely not an alternative for a lot of students and their parents. So where do folks go to discover high quality, brand-name laptops on a payment plan? Prior to now, the alternatives have been limited to paying cash up front or employing credit to make a acquire. There are a few other choices offered, but discovering them demands a little bit of patience and luck.

I, personally, lean toward maintaining a minimal landline service since a lengthy power failure can mean no MagicJack and sooner or later no cell telephone charging. I did set up MagicJack on my laptop (in addition to my desktop), which can get on-line using a wise telephone. Sensible phone batteries do run down, though so do laptop batteries. Most laptop computers have two energy sources: One is the battery and one particular is the electrical cord. According to Dell, the Inspiron 1525 battery life lasts 18 to 24 months there will be a decrease in functionality. At that time, you ought to take into account altering your old laptop for a new accessory. The modify of the battery is usually a easy procedure takes only couple of minutes to full. The following are some suggestions to do it safely.

A flickering screen is another indication that your laptop wants DC jack replacement. The screen will flicker specially when the power cord is plugged to the electrical outlet. Simply because the jack is faulty, the provide of power is constantly becoming interrupted. This causes the screen to flicker. You may also notice apparent degeneration of the screen brightness. Since your laptop can not accomplish full power, the brightness of the screen will be affected. If these signs worsen, then you must right away contact a mail-in Dell laptop repair center. A trained technician can repair the issue correct away so that your laptop can carry out optimally.

1 of these features is the energy supply. Unlike desktop computer systems, which want to be plugged into an AC Power outlet at all occasions, laptops are generally equipped with a rechargeable lithium, nickel-cadmium, or nickel-metal hydride battery, contributing to the obvious benefit of enhanced portability. Price-sensible, the Surface Laptop is on par with comparable ultraportables. It starts at $999 with a Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. We’d recommend bumping up to the $1,299 model with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. But if you genuinely want to splurge, you can get a Core i7, with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, for $two,199. For comparison, the Surface Pro begins at $799 with weaker processors, even though you can very easily spec it up to the same hardware in the Laptop.

You might consider this laptop appears a tiny plain and familiar, appropriate? Effectively you are right, HP retained this properly-known design seen across a range of models and what this laptop lacks in aesthetics is compensated for with its strong characteristics. This is an best selection for industrious students as this device is an absolute function horse. It is probably 1 of the only laptops with such a tiny value tag to be equipped with an Intel core processor. If you are a student with a heavy and demanding workload, this laptop will be in a position to hold up with you everyday tasks are no match for this beast. The robust and robust exterior is surprising as we’d expect a low-cost laptop to really feel low cost, but this HP laptop feels like it’s created to final certainly deserving of its place in our greatest laptops to purchase with student discount. Nonetheless, weighing in at 2.14kg, we recommend this to students who never travel with their laptop or like to function on the go.

3. You have to plug the adapter into an outlet Inspiron 1525 and connect the power cord from your laptop. The 1st type of cooler will plug in to an outlet for it really is power. What this does is normally have fans that are a bit stronger given that it really is coming from it really is own power supply. The problem with this kind of cooler is that it is not very portable. You will want an outlet to run these meaning that it really is tough to truly use your laptop as you wish. basta wag kayo bumili ng kahit ano pa man produkto dun, iwasan bumili ng HP laptops.

The first step is to make sure that all of your workers know specifically what is anticipated of them relating to acceptable use of business hardware, software program , and network access. For instance, personnel could be prohibited from accessing social media networks from business computer systems or from removing firm tablets or laptops from the premises. The policy need to contain a description of the disciplinary consequences of violations. Although an acceptable use policy won’t deter malicious insiders, by establishing particular rules, organizations can much more very easily detect deviations and take corrective measures.

If you are often on the move, your laptop’s power will have to rely on the battery. To make positive that your laptop battery life will extend for years, you are going to have to take good care of it. The Lapdesk N7000 Speaker is yet another wonderful product of Logitech. Receives a rating of 4.5 star, this product is in fact a mixture of each laptop speaker and laptop cooler In another words, this gear is a all in a single laptop answer for immersive stereo sound and lapdesk comfort about the home. Its built-in high definition speakers bring music and films to life in complete, wealthy stereo sound but without scarifying the deep bass impact.

I was hoping to upgrade from my mid-2015 15-inch Pro, which, even when I purchased it, was a small lengthy in the tooth. But what Apple supplied up was far from what I wanted. The Touch Bar seemed, and nonetheless appears, significantly less handy than function keys for an individual employed to keyboard shortcuts the dearth of ports bothered me a tiny also, but it was the marginal CPU and GPU improvements that genuinely stung, and the sharp like-for-like price tag increases only compounded my choice: It was time to appear beyond Apple, and back to Microsoft, for my subsequent laptop.

On-line shopping is the ideal way you can do this in order for you to get a more affordable used laptop. In addition to company’s on the internet outlet shops you can also visit auction internet sites like eBay to locate deals. But just make confident you buy from a reputable seller to keep away from receiving ripped-off. Dell inspiron b120 battery is a higher high quality rechargeable replacement laptop battery which can be one hundred% compatible with the OEM inspiron b120 battery and operates with a lot of batteries (machines) inspiron b120, We will provide the Fastest Delivery, 30-Day Money Back,1 Year Extended Warranty for you,you can E mail Us if you have any concerns about dell inspiron b120 battery.

Most essential, the general category has thinned down normally speaking. No matter if you happen to be looking from sliver-thin ultraportables, mainstream Pcs, or maybe gaming equipments, lap tops of every single blend today are finer, lesser, and far better fitted to life on the move. The most helpful of such models will nonetheless runs you a quite something, especially if contemplating a business system that will not weigh you down at the time you travel for do the job, but they also offer outstanding efficiency and the most helpful come with various high-end attributes also. Hint screens (with 1080p resolution), complete-size HDMI locations, in addition to eight or more time of battery life have a tendency to be commonplace, in addition to premium laptops (with sophisticated prices) now have higher-resolution screens, up to be in a position to three, 840-by-2, 160 resolution (4K) on the top bar end.

Dell’s Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming has usually been a strong, if unexciting, choice among entry-level gaming laptops. With its newest refresh, Dell is generating things a small a lot more intriguing with some improved graphics choices, ports and a refreshed design. Right after you have at the moment checked all of the connectors of your adapter, possess a glance at electric outlet. The problem could possibly merely be that power socket which you are connected is not functioning any longer. alter the sockets to resolve this situation. For the DC AC adapter of your laptop, verify the DC-jack. This adapter must snugly match. If you could possibly get your adapter plugged in only the appropriate angle or spot, then the DC-jack could possibly be broken.

Suggestions for understanding and getting a laptop energy adapter that will optimize your laptops functionality. A corporate account will be assigned a TAM. In fact that TAM is probably to be positioned at the consumer headquarter, with a complete committed group of assistance behind them. That team would deal with Dell’s internal help structure. You would not have a person calling into 1-800-whatever to get assistance on a laptop. If you finish up going with a 4th generation processor, then be ready to invest a tiny more to get an equal or far better graphics card. Sometimes offers arise with older generation laptops that have high efficiency graphics cards on the low cost.

As I talked about previously I consider you happen to be better off going with the newer technologies in Haswell and the GTX 700 series line if you are acquiring a new gaming laptop in 2014. Alienware laptops carry out properly, but appear a bit pricey, even though MSI and Asus gaming laptops continue to hold their appeal. What do you believe? Let me know in the open discussion area below. Anyway, later right now I’ll hook up a phone and do a tiny a lot more experimenting with what happens when. I do know you do need the World wide web connection. I don’t have access to a wireless router when I use the laptop (so that may be various than what you have in mind). (We have a bunch of safety on the wireless “situation” simply because of functioning for firms from property which is why, when I am home, I use the Blackberry (if I use the laptop at all).

According to Dell, the reps take this strategy since most individuals who send their laptops in for repair want their original systems sent back. “When a consumer calls with a predicament, we absolutely investigate it. We want to make positive our systems are operating in a protected manner. We want to capture the program to make sure we can investigate. Some customers are reluctant to send in their laptops due to the fact they never want to portion with them or with the supplies that the personal computer contains,” says Anne Camden, a Dell spokesperson.

Just before you commence to clean, take off the energy plug and the adapter assembly from the wall outlet and the laptop. Then use a soft cloth to scrub the plug blades on the laptop energy cord with vinegar. Each sides ought to be cleaned inside and outside of the two blades as well as the edges. Try this action for a number of times until the plug blades shine. Then wait for it completely dry. That is the entire process. Be confident that the two blades are clean and dry. Now you can re-connect the adapter plug with the wall outlet and the pc. Your laptop can start off working smoothly.

Apple Laptop Battery – is an on-line retailer selling one hundred% new compatible laptop batteries and laptop accessories for less. Dust and particle buildup among the battery and the laptop computer itself can cause a poor connection, resulting in loss of energy or inability to charge the battery. Troubleshoot a laptop battery by removing it from the laptop and checking for buildup or residue on the battery’s connectors. Laptop designers are not stupid. They know that the bottom of the laptop is normally leaning against a desk, or pillow, or your lap, and they do NOT want heat to go there, given that from there it goes nowhere. Notice the “feet” of that Toshiba laptop? The bottom does NOT sit flush to the surface. Most laptops are like that presently. They have side vents, which cannot be obstructed very easily. And you do not need a laptop cooler to do that.

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How I Came Into Martial Arts and What It Did For Me

Ah yes, Martial Arts; An art form that has inspired cultures throughout the world. It is in our movies, our music (Wu-Tang!), and our lexicon. It is a protector of peace and a deliverer of death. Without it, our world would be much different and weaker if you ask me. I always had an interest in it, but never pursued it until I was 28 years old. In my article, Bullying Is Not Manly: This Is My Story, I shared my childhood story of how I found my self-confidence and how I defeated bullying. Today, I want to take you down my path into adulthood and how martial arts helped me with my self-discovery.

How I Started

Army Combatives

Army Combatives. A martial art form derived from Gracie Jiu Jitsu

So I decided to call up a recruiter and join the Army. What does this have to do with Martial Arts? Well, after escaping my life of cultural mediocrity in Mississippi I landed in Relaxin’ Jackson (Fort Jackson) South Carolina for the beginning of my fun. Among the list of things I got to do, other than almost become a heat casualty at summer camp from hell, was Army Combatives (You can get the history and description right here).

As you all know, I boxed when I was a kid and the only “grappling” I knew was the WWE. The Drill Sergeants showed us all the basic techniques, and it was all alien to most of us except the high school wrestlers (they were salivating). My first impression was “This is pretty cool. I just do not see this happening to me.” My partner arm barred me in minutes. I would go on in my army career and have combative’s class but it never really caught my attention. Maybe it was the instructor, the presentation, or IT WAS EARLY AS FUCK. Not really sure but I wasn’t a fan. What turned me on to Martial Arts? Well…

The UFC

Ah yes, the sport that was once deemed “human cockfighting” by John “Moron” McCain. My first memories of the UFC was the buzz surrounding the first ever event now known as UFC 1. I recall hearing the adults talking about this little Brazilian guy in white pajamas crushing and choking guys out that were much bigger than him. Due to my age, I was unable to see it because of its brutality. As the years passed, I remember it being nothing more than a blood sport or sideshow. Since it was unsanctioned and not on TV, I did not pay much attention to its transformation. By 2006, it had already been sold to the Fertitta brothers, but nobody was watching… well not me at least.

I remember the day it finally caught my eye. It was Shamrock vs. Ortiz. I asked one of my friend’s “is this that Ultimate Fighting shit?” I was in total awe. The movement, the fluidity, and the grace of these fighters were just jaw dropping. The boxer in me said “That shit doesn’t work,” but the daredevil in me wanted to try it. As soon as I returned to the states from deployment, I began looking for MMA gyms. It was 2006, and there were none. So, I had to buy my time and PCS somewhere that had them, which, brought me to Maryland.

Interest Dwindled

This nasty shit was the only thing I put into my body and gave zero fucks

I moved to Maryland in January 2008. My interest in Martial Arts dwindled due to the lack of gyms where I was before, and the army had me pretty busy. All I wanted to do was chase girls and drink as if prohibition was making a comeback. I cared about nothing else. I only exercised because the Army forced me. Martial Arts did not cross my mind at the time until I met a buddy that was involved in Krav Maga and BJJ. I vaguely told him I wanted to be better at self-defense, and he tried talking me into it but to no avail. I wanted to party too much. What a shame.

The Dungeon

Eventually, most of my friends met significant others, and we all went our separate ways. I met a great girl and moved back to Mississippi (Don’t ask me why). I felt empty after getting out, and I was gaining weight. All this testosterone that I expended in the army was not being put to good use. I thought that being a security officer at the Hard Rock Casino and Hotel would help alleviate all that aggression. Despite the seldom altercations, I was wrong. I did meet someone that sparked my interest for good. That guy’s name was John Dixson, and he was the sensei at his gym known as “The Dungeon.”

It was a legit MMA gym that lived up to its name. It was hotter than hell, and he had some killers in his gym who were already on the local pro/amateur scene. Coach Dixson introduced me to Muay Thai, Judo, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (staples of MMA). Coach gave me the tools I needed to have a basic understanding of the trade, and it was enough to get me hooked. However, it was time to move back to Maryland.

Ivey League Mixed Martial Arts

Coach Danny Ives doing work on someone but also teaching in the process. I owe him a lot of as well as some of the other coaches.

I believe that everything happens for a reason. Moving back to my home state had two good points; I got married, and I got to experience martial arts. The return to Maryland was not like the first time. My love for Martial Arts did not dwindle. I immediately went hunting for the perfect gym. The city of Annapolis is the home of the USNA, sailing, War of 1812 sites, the state capital, and Ivey League Mixed Martial Arts. The moment I stepped inside I felt excited, anxious, and nervous.

The guy that runs the place is Danny Ives. Master Danny is a BJJ black belt and former pro-MMA fighter that has tons of knowledge and knows the “who’s who” of the sport. Coach Danny is the epitome of class and hard work, and through his gym, my skills grew not only as a fighter but as a person. Coach Danny and his team of coaches (as well as fellow teammates) made me better each and every day and have me still wanting to learn more. I could not ask for a better gym, and I could not ask for better coaches or teammates. Shout out to you guys, thank you. Oss!

What Did It Really Do

Martial Arts simply made me into a better person. It made me goal oriented, focused, confident, and health conscious (the last one took some time because I love food.) The Army helped with those traits, but martial arts really pushed me over the edge. I think clearer, I am more considerate, less aggressive outside the gym, and take care of my body. It has really changed most of the bad habits in my life. It helped me quit dipping, eating terrible food, and cut back my alcohol intake. I even meditate sometimes. Martial Arts is not for everyone but take it from me, it’s worth a shot. Want to join the Ivey League family and live in the DMV? Find out how here.

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Fantasy football scout tips game week 32: Dele Alli, Leroy Sane, Ben Gibson and more

The game weeks preserve coming thick and fast, meaning masses of fantasy football factors for managers who are paying close attention.

Two of our six selections scored final timeout, Jamie Vardy and Divock Origi making appropriate on our promise, but Alexis Sanchez let us down.

Our protective selections were disappointing too, with neither Andrew Robertson or Ben Davies earning themselves a clean sheet, however optimistically a number of you spotted our connection with Harry Maguire’s aerial threat and acted on it.

So, looking beforehand to game week 31, who’re the first-rate potentialities and the way a lot of them are for your crew?

Dele Alli

It’s turning into harder and harder to ignore Dele Alli, who has taken the mantle of being Tottenham’s most constant attacking presence in view that Harry Kane’s damage.

An aim and help late on towards Swansea made it 5 returns within the final 5 game weeks, including four desires from midfield. Alli is turning into crucial, especially with Watford at domestic this weekend.

Leroy Sane

In case your price range will now not pretty stretch to Alli, you may recollect Leroy Sane, who has regarded promising for Manchester Metropolis.

The teenager blinked at Chelsea but scored at Arsenal, and the go to of relegation-threatened Hull this weekend affords a chance for extra dreams, on paper as a minimum.

Sane works as a longer-time period option too, with Town playing a run in opposition to a number of the top flight’s lesser lights after the Manchester derby.

Tips To Clean Your Football Boots

Have you acquired a pair of soccer boots? If so, you ought to take the proper steps to clean them or they may no longer stand the take a look at of time. We’ve prepared a few recommendations to help you smooth your boots the right way. Study on.

Step 1: After you have got come back domestic, loosen the laces and then put off the boots out of your toes. Now, preserve your boots and knock them with each different to remove the unfastened mud. Use a stiff brush to comb the sides of the boots.

Step 2: get a humid fabric and soak it in lukewarm water. Now, squeeze the cloth and then rub your boots with it to take away any mud from the footwear. some mud may be stuck within the tiny grooves. You may take away it with a toothbrush.

Step three: Get a vintage newspaper page and scrunch it up. Now, positioned it inner your boots earlier than you keep them for a long time period.

This can help your boot stay within the same shape. Other than this, the newspaper also enables your boots to dry speedily because the paper will take in water. placed your boots in a safe and dry place so they don’t take much time to dry completely.

Step 4: Once your boots are dry, You could use a petrol jelly or Vaseline to grease the studs. Every other gain of the petroleum jelly is that it’ll keep the studs from rust increasing the lifespan of your footwear.

Step 5: to keep the color of your football boots, you should make it a dependency to polish them on an ordinary foundation. After 24 hours, You may observe herbal leather oil to your boots to save the leather-based from water damage.

Some Dos and don’ts

A few human beings kick their boots on the heel. Whilst that is tempting, you ought to by no means do it as it can cause some extreme damage.

By no means use a twine brush for your boots as it’s miles too harsh. As an alternative, you must use a brush crafted from a natural, soft fabric.

For cleaning your cleats, don’t use a cleaning agent that includes harsh chemical compounds. The pleasant concept is to apply lukewarm water and a clean piece of clothing.

Placing your cleats close to the radiator for quicker drying isn’t advocated either. Doing so will stiffen your cleats making them weaker.

Overuse of jelly at the studs isn’t always a great concept both as it can loosen the studs or reduce down on the friction.

After each use, you ought to wash your cleats. This is a superb addition. Except, don’t discard your old toothbrushes. As a substitute, hold them somewhere in your private home and then use them for cleansing your football cleats

Every Body in the Game! Make Moves for Good Health

The primary month of the yr represents new beginnings and one of the things that parents put on the list in January is to lose weight. In reality, this is something maximum Americans want to do. In step with the Center for Ailment Control, 70% of adults age 20 and older are obese, inclusive of those which can be obese. Those stats are costly. The financial effect of being overweight can have an effect on income. People who are obese generally tend to have better fees of absenteeism, decrease productiveness and higher scientific charges. Even though this health situation influences folks from coast to coast, it’s an especially weighty rely in Southern states, which have been categorized the “obesity belt.” All of us want to observe it and take note that children version the conduct they see.

Former First Girl Michelle Obama helped put adolescence obesity on the radar.

Which will aid mother and father, infant care providers and kids in struggling with this bulge, she centered on more healthy consuming more fruits and vegetables, established a garden on the White House for domestic-grown produce, promoted staying hydrated with water and were given children transferring. The Let’s Circulate! Campaign initiative centered on placing the table to raise a generation of healthier youngsters. Youth sporting an excessive amount of weight can face some of the same health problems that we see in adults-propensity to develop coronary heart Disease, Type 2 diabetes, allergies, sleep apnea, poor body image and low

It is no wonder that adolescence weight problems have been creeping up. These days many youngsters do no longer stroll to high school, snack-time has ballooned from one snack to a mean of 3 each day and era has given upward thrust to sedentary amusement. Among the Pc, phone, Recreation Boy and video gaming it may be hard to get the ones younger our bodies shifting. That is where the adults must emerge as actively involved. Right here are a few clean recommendations of behavior you may undertake and encourage the young human beings in your own family circle to attempt.

Dove Hunting – Tips on Picking a Good Spot in the Field

  Who hasn’t achieved it, proven up for a large dove hunt and placed yourself in an awful spot? It is without a doubt miserable to pay attention to all the blasting around you as you contemplate everything from shifting spots to what you did to deserve this. The best bullets, most expensive shotgun and a pleasant trained dog cannot make up for selecting a bad spot while dove hunting. Permits examine how we are able to prevent singing the ‘no dove blues’.

First, we can take a look at the three primary approaches to get a great spot whilst dove looking and then we’re going to break down what to look for when scouting.

Scout the sphere: In case you do not have a 6th experience like my dad does,

Then it’s going to pay to do some scouting earlier than you show up for the hunt. You could analyze lots about the dove in only one afternoon. Be aware of their flight patterns, the sun, and the time they begin to fly. Pick some spots that look promising, just in case someone beats you in your first choice.

Early cook gets the trojan horse: And the early hunter gets the spot and the birds. It’s sincerely no longer a very good plan to scout out your spot and are available driving up too late to get it. Without a doubt, If you’ve picked a decent spot it may not ultimate lengthy. Whether or not you’re looking the morning hunt or afternoon, do not dally, get to the field, take your spot and prepare to be the one making all and sundry else jealous.

Be still: In case you’re new to dove looking, then you definitely probably

Haven’t witnessed a couple of incoming doves smash into evasive maneuvers on the slightest motion by using you. After a dove has been shot at more than one times or, as Tim Lilley from

& Fish calls it, educated, they come to be very jumpy and will trade direction on any ground movement. This may be devastating to even the quality spot. Professional dove hunter, Will Jester, thinks that being nonetheless and maintaining your canine still is extra critical than the fanciest camo You can buy. Sure, you’ll want to wear a few camo however If you are leaping as much as shoot way too early the camo might not help.

The ones are the basic steps to getting a good spot to hunt. Now Permit’s have a look at what definitely search for whilst scouting or looking at a subject for the first time.

The solar: Get your bearings and parent out east from west and then position yourself with the sun at your returned. The solar can sincerely restrict your capability to spot dove a good deal less shoot dove. If having it at your returned isn’t always possible try to face where it is not directly on your eyes.