#next playthrough i get to call the shots

[captainspiggbo]

I'm traumatized. . Playing Baldur's Gate 3 with my bro and he hates spiders. . Naturally we've been killing every one that we find and and and

HE MADE ME KILL KAR'NISS 😭😭😭 I kept trying to drop hints like, "oh uh we might need him later to help us" and he goes, "if he's not a follower we don't, I want that lamp". . . He was just a little guuuuuyyy (⁠ノ⁠ಥ⁠,⁠_⁠｣⁠ಥ⁠)⁠ノ

[div-divington]

The Oceanview Motel & Casino

[its-been-rose]

So I spent like 2 hours on this

Anyways, let me explain:

Methodology: to make this map I watched an unedited playthrough of the game and marked down how long it took to get from one scripted event to the next. I then inserted in the known times/save points the game gives you at certain intervals. I then calculated at what time each event would take place given how long the game takes to actually play, and then put those numbers to correspond with the actual in- game clock. All times marked with a ~ are approximate.

What I found:

The game is actually pretty much in real time, with some exceptions. There are some timeskips. If you’re playing a speedrun, you’re gonna come in at like 3:30, and the game ends roughly at 4 am ish. This means that if you do everything super fast and don’t waste any time, the game timeskips about half an hour here and there. I tried to account for these timeskips where they occur in my map like adding two minutes when Roddy’s song is skipped. Some sections also take a bit longer than the in-game time. For example, the time from Maurice to Virginia to Eugene to Murphy is much longer irl than it is in-universe, meaning no matter who is doing what kill, they are BOOKING IT from victim to victim.

Who did what: so my choices of who did what kill rely on two things: one, proximity to the confirmed kills/scripted events, and two, my own personal headcanons for who did which. I will now put the game’s timeline in order as well as who did what. Please keep in mind anything happening within KFAM like ponty’s calls or the little Peggy q and an after Maurice or Forrest being the rizz king to Sandra are not included.

~11:40 pm: sheriff Matthews is killed (Marie) (I didn’t put an actual time on the map for this because i don’t know if it’s right or not but in my HEAD, Marie started her attack at George’s TOD)

~11:55 pm: whatever the opening cutscene is (Henry)

~12:04 am: Leslie is attacked (Marie)

-Marie recovers from being shot at by the Sherriff and tased by leslie

~12:25 am: Sandra is attacked (Marie) (Sandra’s excact location is unknown but I put her by what is presumably a parking lot by the football field near the river running route.) (Sandra is not seen getting into her car because Marie takes a longer time to actually get into the parking lot due to being injured)

~12:25 am: Henry slashes the fire engine tires and makes his way up to Maurice.

~12:47 am: Maurice reports a break in (Henry)

-Henry is locked in the archive for like 10 minutes

-Marie drops off the tape on her way to get Henry

-when she breaks him out, they hear Murphy acting a fool, but Marie tells henry to stick to his current target before going up to the maze.

~1:20 am: Marie calls Virginia because she has the phone and sends Henry on his way (Virginia’s location is also unknown so I just guessed)

~1:35 am: Henry goes to attack Virginia but is scared off by the frat. Immediately books it to Murphy.

~1:40 am: Eugene is attacked (Marie)

-marie, on her way to the graveyard, sees the teens going to the murder house and watches

~1:53 am: Murphy is attacked (Henry)

-Marie sees the prank unfolding and slips into the group

~2:15 am: the teens are attacked (Marie)

-Marie spends a few minutes at the graveyard visiting George and recovering from getting a bookshelf tipped over on top of her

~2:32 am: Forrest spots the whistling man outside KFAM when going to retrieve LRH (Henry)

~2:43 am: Marie and Henry meet outside the gas station to regroup (optional? Idk)

~2:45 am: the bomb is detonated (Marie)

-Henry goes back to KFAM to hang out outside as the last victims are personal to his mother.

~3:10 am: Ricky is attacked (Marie)

~3:18 am: Jason is stabbed in the woods (Marie)

~3:25 am: Casey calls KFAM now inside her house

-Marie kidnaps Teddy on her way to the school gym

~3:45 am: Henry enters KFAM and locks Forrest in the producer booth

~3:46 am: Interview with Teddy begins (Marie)

~3:58 am: Peggy confronts Marie

Thoughts? Do you agree or disagree? What would you change? Do you think this was a complete waste of my Sunday evening? I’d love to hear your thoughts!!

*edited to add: I changed Virginias location to make at least a little more sense lol

[vashtijoy]

something suggestive about balls: pool table proxy wars in akechi's confidant, rank 7

There's only one thing you really need to know about rank 7 of Akechi's confidant, and it is this: it happens on the day of the incriminating murder phone call.

We know this for several reasons:

It can't be locked for the name change ("family-name-kun" to "given name")—Akechi never calls Joker by name in conf 7. In fact, unless I miss my guess, he never calls Joker by name during the confidant at all, other than when you say hello in Kichijoji—probably because his term of address changes on 10/31;

Futaba will later tell us the call was recorded "a few days" after she bugged Akechi's phone on 10/29. From 10/29 to 11/2 is four days;

Given the importance of confidant 7, especially the rivalry discussion at the end, it's inconceivable that it happens before Joker hears the phone call. He goes there in full knowledge of what Akechi is, and what he intends.

Lastly, 11/2 can be summed up as "absolute chaos":

First, Akechi meets you on the train platform before school. He tells you he "won't be seeing you privately like this any more", once your deal is concluded—well, of course not, you'll be dead.

But this chat is so important that it appears to have two forms, unlike all the rest of Akechi's train platform appearances. One, the one I got in my playthrough, is quite gentle in tone. The other is much less so, much more dismissive, almost third semester in its bluntness. Assuming they're both in game, I'd guess the first is if you have the confidant levelled, and the second is if you don't. It's not legacy dialogue from vanilla P5; this scene looks to have been added for Royal. IDK, I don't know what triggers the two different chats, or if the other is even in game—but I'd like to.

If you haven't yet been to the hideout since 10/29, Morgana will force you to go after school. That's to say: you must have done Akechi's first hideout meeting, the first hideout of the Sae's Palace mission, by this date;

Last of all, Akechi texts you in the evening, for confidant 7 and its violent change in tone. "After all, losing doesn't sit well with either of us. Am I right?"

If 11/2 isn't the day of the phone call, I'll eat a nest of wasps.

boys and their toys

So. Joker walks into Penguin Sniper for confidant 7, in the a. full and b. very recently acquired knowledge that Akechi is a two-faced killer who's gleefully planning his murder. And what does he do?

Akechi has a lot of revealing things to say about balls in this scene, but we're not really here for him. Because look at how Joker is standing.

[screenshots below the cut, yo]

That's his usual "I have a pool cue" stance, with the cue held in front of him. Here he is doing it with the squad (plus one traitor):

See the difference? When he's with the others, Joker's facing the table—like you would at a billiard table, like Akechi is doing in the picture at the top. But in the confidant, when he's just learned exactly how malicious Akechi's intent is, Joker's not facing the table at all. Joker is facing Akechi. And that means he's keeping that cue firmly between them—whether as a shield or an impromptu weapon.

Now, like we said before, that's a standard pose—if Joker is holding a pool cue, he will hold it in that way. But it's the strange angle he's standing at, facing Akechi and not the pool table, that turns it into a message of sorts.

What happens next? Akechi leans down to take his shot, laying out his extended listen-I'm-going-to-murder-you-soon-and-I-haven't-fully-rationalised-it-yet metaphor all the while. Joker's eyes follow his to the table to watch. But he never turns to the table. He stays facing Akechi, and he still keeps the cue between the two of them:

The next thing is that you answer his question—"Hm, that sure sounds like a psychotic breakdown to me"—and Joker uses his hand to gesture....

... but then he gets the cue back between the two of them again, lickety-split:

The next thing that happens is that Akechi—probably deliberately, as part of his extended metaphor—misses his shot. The two of them pause to stare at the cue ball—in the Japanese text, Akechi has explicitly mentioned it as the ball you strike that starts everything unpredictably rolling. But Joker still keeps the cue between them, and still hasn't turned to the table:

(BTW, here's our old friend the sad sprite—there are some really interesting uses of it in this scene, that are worth watching out for.) But now we get to the point. "But even knowing all of that, you're still not going to quit, are you?"

Their eyes meet; the cue is still between them....

You can say "I've made up my mind" or "I won't miss my shot"; both mean, essentially, "fuck you"; both get the same result.

But now. Only now, as Joker goes to take that shot, does he finally turn to the table, exposing himself to Akechi. (coughs)

He nails it. And then they head out into the street to talk about rivalry. But take a look at their positions now:

Note that Akechi has not moved; only Joker has moved. But now the picture looks different. Now, it looks like Akechi is the one defending himself.

Joker has moved in and taken his shot, dropping his defence and opening himself up to attack in the process. Akechi hasn't moved or altered anything he was doing, yet now he's on the defensive.

And Joker's shot was successful, of course. Just like it will be on 11/20.

this is reaching, you should be ashamed

I see your point! Let's go back in time and have a look at confidant 2, for comparison. Here are the boys in happier times:

See? Joker is facing the table. Even though he's talking to Akechi, and looking at Akechi, he's turned to the table.

Here's another. This one's more dubious because of the angle, which means he does have the cue in front of him—but again, you can see Joker is pointed at the table, not at Akechi:

Funny you should say that, kid. Rank 7 Joker is on to you.

[razorblade180]

While I love Amber dearly as she is, I got curious - if you could upgrade or entirely change her kit to put her on a five-star level (or alternatively, as strong as she could be in the lore of how you view your Genshin playthrough, with all her training and seniority), how would you do it?

I feel like somewhere on this blog I’ve talked about a supportive Amber before but the second half of your question is thought provoking in a new way.

What sucks is in a lot of way, Lyney really took main mechanics of Amber.💀

For the sake of keeping her identity, the bow stays. I’m thinking unique enhanced charge shots that are the size of one of Tighnari’s burst arrows. What makes them special is not only would the size make it easier to hit enemies close together, but the arrow is piercing. We’ll call them Scouting Arrows

Rework her skill to be a better Baron Bunny that has a stronger taunt and doesn’t get flung away to create more opportunities to hit multiple enemies. By either using the skill or hitting more than one enemy with a single arrow, the time to charge the next arrow essentially doesn’t exist at all; that way it creates a sharpshooter style of combat I think an Outrider would be an expert at.

Her burst would be a reference to the WEBTOON and let’s call it Flaming Vanguard; she’d create a pyro shield and lose her enhanced charges, but gain an infusion on her normal attack arrows for a short time that are weaker than charge shots obviously but stronger than normal arrows. Her skill would also temporarily changes to a scatter shot of flaming rocks in front of her. (I’m never getting over that)

When the burst state ends, if the shield wasn’t already destroyed, it will vanish and Amber gains a single free enhanced shot with a multiplier that’s higher than her other enhanced shots called Outrider’s Arrow; her cooldown on her next Barron Bunny is also reduced. Cause, y’know…

She can keep her gliding passive. As for her second passive, considering Ganyu exists, I think it would reasonable for Amber to gain a crit dmg bonus whenever facing multiple enemies, but gain a crit rate buff instead when there’s only one. That somewhat helps compensate for the fact in boss fights she wouldn’t have the opportunity to sharpshoot as often since there’s only one enemy to hit.

So in essence, a mid to long range DPS with a core play style that shows her proficiency in archery as well as her job as Outrider; with an elemental burst that shows her personality by Amber being able to temporarily rush into the frontline when other party members need help.

I’m feeling silly right now so I suppose I’ll think of constellations.

C1 Team Player- When Flaming Vanguard state ends, the rest of the party gains an atk buff based on total atk

C2 Double Trouble- Two charges of Barron Bunny and Scatter Shot! (I know she has that in game, and honestly it’s too good to not have that in this hypothetical)

C3 Outrider, the One and Only- Normal attack talent increase

C4 Survival Expert- Scatter Shot and normal attacks performed in Flaming Vanguard independently grant a certain amount of pyro damage bonus up to a certain amount. The bonus ends after firing an Outrider Arrow.

C5 Favonious Hardwork- Talent level on burst increases. (This would effect shield absorption and Outrider Arrow conversion multiplier since it’s already getting the benefit of increased dmg from leveling charge attacks)

C6 A Granddaughter’s Oath- Shooting a Barron Bunny will now automatically detonates it. Deploying a Barron Bunny instantly gains one Outrider Arrow. Upon detonation, gain another Outrider Arrow.

Unintentionally this kit has not only made Mondstadt’s god of wind one of her best teammates in mob situations, but her and Collei would do well in a burning team alongside characters like, Sucrose, Emilie, and even reverse melt Kaeya. Not my intention in the slightest but hey, that works out pretty well in a satisfying way.

By the way can you tell that after nearly four years Amber is still easily one of my favorite characters?

[roxtron-gt]

yippee first time posting about this game but i thought it might be interesting to talk about one of the main things i observed on my playthrough, When I started the game it quickly became noticeable there didn't seem to be anybody around who knew or cared about Sissel. Even though you couldn't talk to Lynne in the beginning there was at least some sense she may have known him, considering she was next to his corpse after all.. so it kinda led me to get attached to her off that possibility they were friends. I didn't consider the possibility she was involved, considering when the game starts she's introduced with an assassination attempt, and when you use the phone to see who's behind it, it looks like Sissel was on their list as well. At the time I assumed whatever the circumstances were, they were probably together during it, at least working together in some sort of way for them to both become targets. Then after talking to her and finding out she didn't know Sissel at all, or at least not before tonight, it kinda ruined the only connection I thought Sissel had. Right back to square one. The longer the game went on I just kept wondering, why does nobody seem to care? Even by the time they found the body, it's not like anyone seemed to miss him or had any family members to call, nothing.. The only other hint I had to go off was Jowd and his painting, getting attached again thinking they might've cared about each other, only to end up shot down again. (not to mention the identity confusion.) Even when we learn about Yomiel we don't even find out about his connection to Sissel until the end of the game. For the majority of it, they're both alone. That's what got me. I initially connected all this to Sissel, it is still upsetting even from that perspective. After all once he died Yomiel just left to go on with his revenge plan, while I'm sure he was definitely upset about it, it's unfortunate that the only person who cared about Sissel didn't even stick around long enough for him to know he was cared about by anyone at all until the very end. But it definitely amplifies the feeling Yomiel felt this whole time. It kind of made it easier to connect to him once we started learning more about him, knowing that if he is the same person as the body we assumed was Sissel, then he wasn't really missed or cared about much either. Sure, his motivations seemed a bit ridiculous, blaming literally everyone but himself, including a literal child, but the knowledge we had to go off of at the time never really made me hate him, it only made me view him as a threat, but with the little knowledge we had at the time there wasn't quite enough yet to make him really seem evil? In retrospect, of course the things he did/planned to do were horrible, but considering all the twists and turns of this game, I knew there had to be more to it than that. I don't really know if I have a bigger point to this, it's all just unfortunate circumstances, but I thought my observations throughout the game were kinda interesting, hopefully worth noting.

[pumpkinmetaphor]

🥘😱😁🙌 for the ask meme! Sits in your inbox with my big rainbow swirly lollipop

side note I hate that it's called an ask meme. This isn't a meme. What's so funny about it. It's so stupid there's nothing intended to be funny why are they calling it a meme this is like when I was 7 and would ask my dad if I could play videogames so he'd go on YouTube and put on a video playthrough of a game thinking that's what video games meant

☝️🤓 um ackshually...

The term "meme" originates from Dawkins's "The Selfish Gene" and is defined as a "replicator" and a "unit of cultural transmission." So a meme is not defined by how funny it is, a meme is defined by being passed on and changed and adapted and propogated and disseminated, now almost entirely understood in the context of online media. So an "ask meme" is called that because it's a cultural unit (understood by Tumblr culture, specific niche, specific demographic) that is being passed around and changed etc. Quote: "Examples of memes are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches. Just as genes propagate themselves in the gene pool by leaping from body to body via sperm or eggs, so memes propagate themselves in the meme pool by leaping from brain to brain via a process which, in the broad sense, can be called imitation."

(dragged out via cane before I can start talking about Baudrillard)

ACTUALLY ANSWERING NOW

🥘What wip are you most excited about?

Aside from the new chapter dropping in the next hour or two? Chapter 11. Other than explicitedly chapters of Okay, Cupid! would be probably a side one-shot I have that functions as a chapter 11.5.

😱What's your greatest fear as a fanfic writer?

2 things. One, that people would feel something I've put a huge amount of time and effort into writing and THEY'VE put a huge amount of time and effort into reading jumps the shark at the last hurdle. I've been sitting on Chapter 9 for a while, and will probably be delayed with each chapter going forward because, despite planning this all out in like May 2023, I keep being like "oh no...what if this is the final cringey ooc straw for the reader?"

Two, I teach. I don't particularly fear my students finding my ao3 as much as I fear them finding my tumblr through my ao3 or any of my writing from when I was a preteen or a teenager. I also have less of a fear of them finding my fic and thinking eurgh she's so cringe lmao and more of a fear of them finding my fic and being like "this is poorly constructed and ill conceived, and you think you can grade our essays?" I wake up in a cold sweat.

😁What makes you happiest? New fic comments, kudos, bookmarks, user subscribers, story subscribers, or Tumblr asks?

All of these make me very very happy. But my heart does soar whenever I get a comment. I do read my bookmark comments, appreciate my kudos, and enjoy Tumblr asks once I get over the initial sense of dread upon seeing the notification and thinking I'm getting hatemail. But I sometimes just reread my ao3 comments to myself, kicking my feet. Helps me get over the aforementioned fears that I'm going to start producing garbage.

🙌What's a line or paragraph of yours that you're proud of?

You're going to have to wait and see some of them in the next chapter. BUT. I'll pick one or two bits that I think are my magnum opus from Okay, Cupid! Even if my writing for Homestuck is probably better tbh.

If "Kyoya and Kaoru went to see Venus in fucking Fur on Valentine's Day" has no automatic gigglers, then I'm dead. Sometimes you've got to laugh at your own jokes.

likewise, out of anything I've published for this fic so far, this entire scene with Akito was my favourite to write

kyokao equivalent of "you wear fine things well" in my head. Way to make it awkward. I struggle a lot as someone who worked as a scriptwriter and an animator to get actions and physical expression across in writing. This is one of the only parts I'm actually satisfied gets the physical action down without being overly clunky. Imo!

[moonglide]

Echoes of wisdom hours 10 & 11

-spoilers for the end of the gerudo quest, and most of the hyrule castle quest.

-previously on: moon's eow playthrough

-AAAHHH WHY THE FUCK ARE THERE THREE LINKS???

-this concludes the segment about the last entry.

-okay so with some clever manuevering, i killed them. had to distract them with moblins and then take them out individually.

-oh i got a bow! guess that makes sense. will the next one be bombs???

-oh i have to be in hero mode to use the bow. lame. zelda is totally an archer.

-i only knew half of the two statue puzzle so i just guessed. and it worked.

-mole guy. i'm a little scared because i've seen people talk about this guy

-guess i'm just too skilled. that wasn't that hard. i used albatrosses or whatever they're called.

-ok so yeah the restored parts of the world are definately just copies. how can i still be standing on gerudo sands in the still world if it got put back?

-no extra triangle? i just get reduced cost on certain echoes? huh? are those echoes gonna be useful in the castle or something?

-ok tri. you want me to go back to lueberry's? joke's on you, i was about to go there anyways to upgrade my sword.

-i ship lefte and wright. i also headcannon that lefte is right handed and wright is left handed.

-OH GOD the rift has overtaken castle town.

-love how when the soldiers are freaking out wright just takes charge. he's actually a really good leader. he boosts morale, is decisive, helps out his soldiers. it's great.

-down, you say? guess i'm taking the well.

-ohhhh we get to go through the castle again! but backwards!

-there's magic evil soldiers? ok. guess they'll die.

-guess they won't die. what? why are they so strong?

-OOOHHHH it's so it can be a stealth section like the beginning of the game!!!!

-got caught and it took me to a pocket dimension. is that why they one shot everything? they're just being teleported?

-ok so apparently you can place water blocks as long as they're connected to the ceiling. the more you know.

-fell off the roof. got stabbed by guard. there's like two darknuts and a moblin in here. guess i'll die. that's death #6

-impa????

-wait she has a diary

-read the diary, i'm not crying you're crying. god impa did you have to punch me in the feels so much?

-ok but also this is the same cell with the hole in the wall. impa you are a ninja. you could have figured something out.

-man imagine what it must be like for zelda in these underwater tunnels. she can't see through walls. she doesn't know where the next pocket of air is. terrifying.

-diff stealth section. landed on this guard's head. from the ceiling. bro turns around and i teleport off.

-hey remember when i asked if the echoes with reduced cost would be useful in the castle? they were useful in the castle.

-death 7 from that room with the ball-and-chain darknut.

-oooh high jump amulet!

-i teleported back but forgot to open the big chest. now i gotta go back again.

-wait am i just straight up fighting the king and left and right???

-oh it's ganon. and he's an echo. i still think ganon from the start of the game was an echo.

-first phase went well. was low on hero mode mana so had to send birds to fight for me

-second phase went well. could get mana from the flaming keese, so i could actually stab him.

-i'm so disappointed in myself. i'm actually so disappointed. i died to magic tennis. how did i die to magic tennis???? it's so simple!! i was too close to him and so when it sped up i couldn't react. i'm a fool. i'm pretty sure i have to start from phase one. whatever.

-death count: 8.

-fave monster: albatrawl. with this guy i can use cloud of bats but better, because they can take a hit, and attack faster, and are stronger. two strong birds is still better than four weak bats.

[mint-merriment]

things about the rhythm doctor act 5 update

just some stuff i noticed/liked abt act 5 !

note: this covers the new content added so there Will be spoilers! also i Just bought the game (despite knowing the prior levels through youtube hee hee) so this is from the perspective of someone playing seamlessly through the acts :)

misc pre-act-5 stuff:

i dont know if the 'simulated' option was there before, but it is very cool actually!

after playing 1-xn (act 4 boss), instead of the credits playing, paige suggests the intern take the day off. the screen fades to black and we are implied to have had a restful day before coming into work the day after and starting the cutscene with hailey and logan

from the steam page, i noticed that you have to play 2-1n in order to start act 5, so i purposefully didn't play 2-1n to see what they would do. (now that i think about it, this definitely is because the boss level uses the 'skip a beat' cue that is introduced in 2-1n's tutorial.) in order to let you know you need to know about skipped beats on svt patients, nicole blocks the doorway to the physiotherapy ward and asks you to go check on cole because he's got a bit of writers' block. it then cuts to 2-1n immediately so you can play it!

before you play 5-1, the ward takes the appearance of the field (which confused me a lil). after the level finishes, the illusion of the field dissipates to reveal the actual ward :0

5-1 & 5-1n:

in the level itself, the background sign counts your hits! other things are also displayed on the lights of that sign when its shown (such as the 'ready get set go' from the nurse, imitation of static during the rainy part, etc)

whenever you have to hit a "two" or "three" or etc, the lights that orbit the patient have that number of beams. nice visual cue there

the beat right before the cutscene where paige is startled awake by lucky, the ball is flung at the screen. even if you hit it perfectly, the animation that plays is lucky's early/late animation- ie, the one where his rotator cuff is tearing :(

speaking of. paige was sleeping/dozing off next to lucky to be startled awake in the first place, and throughout the level and after she notes that he might be feeling anxious

whenever you're cued for "four", lightning flashes in the background. this is just cool to me

in the second half of the level, the hospital ward actually glitches in and out! good foreshadowing for what the actual ward looks like on a first playthrough

5-1n actually starts with ian's hand as a fakeout- you might think he'll take the first few beats, but it immediately fades into the dream where our hand is taking the procedure, and transfers over to real life too

the miner actually has a single held beat in this level, with a unique running animation! foreshadowing his appearance in 5-3 intermission :)

"one slip, too late, three strikes, for me" I LOVE WHEN THE LYRICS COUNT!! AND ALSO IT COINCIDES WITH HOW MANY BEATS YOU HAVE TO HIT THAT TIME. (these lyrics also show up on the sign in the background!)

when logan says 'my hero would never hesitate to take his shot!', hailey joins in from the word hesitate. to me, it reads like he's said this a lot before and she knew what he was going to say, which is quite cute

the second chorus was from the trailer! which. is where they got it from probably lol.

5-2 & 5-2n:

5-2's tutorial has new tutorial music :0

the song itself is called lofi beats for patients to chill to, which is obviously a reference to 2-1 lol

speaking of 2-1, in the level proper, the part after the short cutscene between ian and paige includes that one piano part from it (specifically the part synced to the samurai's heart that ian is doing)!

ahh the classic 'i thought i was getting better so i went back to normal and made it worse' :(

i do like the snickety snick sound of the freeze cue! as well as the texture of the ice, it is very... cool B)

the tutorial (of 5-2n) shows the continuing friction between ian/paige vs edega, focusing on ian. edega is trying to push the rhythm doctor program to be something it's not really, which is just a tasty lore bit (i talk more about the story below)

...okay so 5-2n is sooooo hard for me, specifically me, but maybe also some of you. but it is a banger! and the burn/freeze beats are a very cool concept. (also the burn cue sounds very.. blacksmithy? it reminds me of that one forging minigame in patapon.)

the 'stage' thing is cool, introducing us to the individual concepts, before we get thrown off the deep end. very difficult, very fun. this level will haunt me.

i also liked the background ! oh yes and also: the mythical "5" cue :0

5-3:

5-3 is an intermission! one revolving around held beats haha, fittng for our second character- the miner! i liked the miner's reintroduction, and how his philosophy and views on life and his own health ended up greatly affecting lucky's viewpoint as well. as we see in the future!

the digging through bag to find things and multiple other random things being thrown out was very funny :)

samurai being at the other end of the bungee cord lmao

its nice that miner doesn't even know who lucky is, it makes their interaction a lot more genuine without the veil of 'fan' and 'guy who has fans' :) (even if it is a bit of a hit to lucky's ego oof)

i also really enjoyed the conversations overheard! cole not knowing anything about baseball players was funny, and mr and mrs stevenson reunion was so touching,,,(and also the birds hehe.) i love how they conveniently narrated it so that someone who isn't physically there can know almost exactly what's happening

this also really shows how much the hospital is a community of its own now actually. paige calling everyone over to see the reunion, even wondering where we, the intern finger, are. the doctors work very hard to make everyone's stay comfortable, and i'm glad that everyone's comfortable enough to be reaching out and finding this moment touching.

also speaking of which. its very funny and very in character that the reason mrs. stevenson wasn't moved to mr. stevenson's room earlier.. was that everyone involved forgot about it oops. at least the birds are there too!

annnd as evidenced by 5-x's pre-treatment notes, the miner's words seems to have really helped and affected lucky! good job!

(also. i got an s- on this the first time. dunno if you can get an s+)

5-x:

now. 5-x. the BIG ONE. god its so good but you already knew that

a preface for everything: the window movement is IMMACULATE. IMMACULATE I SAY.

the crunchy guitar chord coming in right as the screen pans up to the sunset-sky and the 'boss stage' fading in was PERFECTION. BY THE WAY.

i like the window moving like a clock! and sometimes, each tick actually ticks over to a different scene at a different time, with different people in the hall (but edega watching from that observation room at all times. unnerving)

the snapshots of people hanging out is also really nice, i like seeing that most have come to visit :) and also in multiple combinations! they are all hanging out :D

i cant get the blast beats perfectly, but i like the timing and occurrences of them- syncing really well with the lyrics/song!

"it'll never be a hundred percent. you have to make peace with that" this line hit me so hard. i have nothing else to say. its a good quote.

this scene is just good actually. it shows that the miner and lucky have spent enough time together, and when he responds to that quote with "i know... it's just..."? that speaks of understanding! and he was also spontaneously willing to share why he strives so hard, which lines up with all of his previous behaviors perfectly.

this cutscene also acts as a checkpoint; if you fail after it, restarting quickly returns you here! (during my initial playthrough i only failed twice, once before and once after)

SAMURAI COMING IN CLUTCH WITH THE "CAN YOU TEACH ME BASEBALL" thank you samurai you've done us all a great service

i really like how when the running sections start up again, everyone who was shown to have been roped in shows up in the next one (ie logan and hailey joining after the box of beans part)

also. the return of beans hopper! nicole's coffee throw being repurposed for baseball! cole and the samurai (who are of course friends since at Least 2-2n) texting each other! cole's "X" response before immediately after being shown running with the rest of them! (interestingly, nicole doesn't show up in the next running scene. maybe because she was designated as pitcher??)

also, lucky is running Behind everyone, the samurai is rolling/skating/thats his run animation apparently, hailey and logan are running together, and cole is running ahead of them all. fitting!

the team!! the people who were roped into this impromptu team include: samurai, logan, hailey, cole, nicole, lucia, hugh (farmer), miner, and the insomniac. thats... almost everyone lol. besides the birds, the stevensons, and the doctors

lucky's 3am thoughts were portrayed really well. imo, even though it doesn't seem like it, i believe that this game does mean something to lucky, though maybe this isn't realized until after the game. the virus kicks in here, and the screen movement is very intense here

glad they included him brushing this negative mindset in the morning to focus for the game though! late night thoughts can be very mean...

the lil graphic of the game playing out under lucky's heartbeat was really cute. glad they didn't go the 'intern, you must now treat Every Patient Here while they're playing' route (though that might be what is implied actually happened storywise rather than gameplaywise? through paige and ian's convo). ayo, hailey scored!

THE BALL BOUNCING AROUND THE SCREEN WAS SO GOOOOOD AUGHHHHH . fun fact the first time i saw it i was so entranced by the ball richocheting that i forgot i had to hit it. i think thats where i failed here lol. also, the parallels between the samurai and lucky here are quite thematic

ahhh lucky's final speech to the team! it resolves his feelings about his coach (whom, as we know, didn't think he could succeed in the role he wanted to play, but from whom lucky still sought validation from), and also helps him portray his own thoughts about his stepping away from baseball for a time to recover.

fun fact: if you fail between the game's start and the final speech, lucky expresses doubts about this being worth, but the players are still ready! they aren't backing down yet!

and of course. they win!! lucky refuses dr. edega's treatment, preferring to stay at the hospital for an extended period of time for his physical therapy :)

fun fact: i talked to the janitor after this (the janitor has some surprising insights actually) and while he was tempted to join the team, he ultimately didnt, instead deciding to cheer from the bleachers! thank you janitor

(also. this poor, poor local university team. they got beat by a cobbled-together team consisting of *checks notes* patients at a hospital who literally All have some sort of heart problem, ranging from some teenagers to people who have been doing hard labor or been incredibly sleep deprived for years. f on their part. but also a big name baseball player was coaching them, so that softens the blow haha. still tho. teenagers. thats gotta suck for them. lmao)

and! even though lucky hasn't been added to the credits (which perhaps the final release might change?), the roof where paige sings still has the net and baseballs strewn around :)

bonus 4-4n because it was also added:

spoiler: it was very cute. im glad they added it, it's very fitting!

the 'skip' cues were quite underutilized before, so im glad that they used them here (especially to signal that the characters were going to speak a short sentence, hehe)

NICOLE ACOUSTIC GUITAR!!! from all the way back in 2-4!! glad she's trying it out again :)

also its SO cute that she dusted off her skills because she was thinking about cole, perhaps wanting to make a song for him.

can't believe that when asked if they were thinking about playing for someone, neither cole nor nicole answered properly.

also. their hearts are beating in sync here. there is no one else to call the other heart's cues, the nurse is enough for both.

((sorry, i love act 2. they are so good.))

logan doesn't have heart eyes on hit, because hailey's out of town :(

leitmotifs!! i like the guitar from 1-2 coming back in for logan and hailey. and also the samurai's part threw in a bit of 1-1 too !

about the story+misc thoughts (this one is WAY more rambly):

this act is about lucky's struggle with his hospital stay, and also brings edega into the spotlight a bit more with the overarching story.

actually, this act is structured a lot like act 2 (which is. my favorite act actually)(all the times is SO GOOD OKAY) but only one person; it uses mostly two-beat rhythms, the first night level is a song with lyrics and the only lyric'd song before the boss, including an intermission, and a moving window final boss (with lyrics!). it also focuses on a singular (2 patients in act 2) patient's struggles for multiple levels, rather than multiple recurring patients for the levels, which i think really fleshes out said character a lot.

and i really like lucky's story! he was so impatient to get out, worrying about losing everything he had built for himself, but through the efforts of everyone at middlesea hospital, he realized that he could take it slow, that he won't suddenly be nothing if he takes the recommended amount of months to heal, and even if he steps away from the game. (i think his friendship with the miner was so good for him, im glad they brought the miner back)

as for the overarching plot, it brings the question of 'if the rhythm doctor treatment is really effective, does this make traditional medicine more obsolete?' and... the answer is actually no. in 2-4n, paige brings up that the rhythm doctor treatment only stops the symptoms, it doesn't treat the cause. and that's what she and ian are actually there for! (although paige does start to wonder if it'll ever get to the point where the rhythm treatment Can solve such things. shelve this for now)

we, the intern finger, are merely throwing a rope to a drowning person. paige and ian (more prominently paige bc ian is splitting his time working on the rhythm doctor program) are the ones actually pulling them back to safety- recovery takes time, and while some problems can be solved with a bit of rhythm defibrillation, Not All Of Them Can. in my mind, the ideal scenario is the rhythm doctor program supplementing a full hospital staff, but...

worryingly, edega doesn't seem to have picked this up, or if he has, he's deliberately ignoring it. as seen before and also in 5-1's tutorial, he's allowing the hospital to remain understaffed while pivoting towards the rhythm doctor program. he's pushing ian to make the rhythm doctor program do more things than what its meant to, as evidenced in the 5-2n tutorial, and in the pre- and post-5-x conversation. (and possibly more but those are the ones i remembered fastest.) ian has actually figured out what's causing the connectifia abortus (and what a shock that was, to learn that the program itself is dealing with inherent glitchiness), but edega making him work on other things is stopping him from being able to fix it. (ian also mentioned edega's plans for a 'miracle cure' which is. hm. worrying to say the least.) i am intrigued about the plan to distract edega long enough to let ian do his job tho...

also. edega's theme is very unsettling. make of that what you will.

if you're down here thank you for reading! tl;dr rhythm doctor act 5 update Good :)

[talesofthedm]

Confessions

The bastard Astarion confessed his feelings on this playthrough sooner than I thought he would so I had to do research and take notes (i was already taking notes, lets be honest).

Anyway, this is my sleep deprived attempt at writing out the Act 2 romance confession. It combines dialogue from both the standard romance confession, the variant if you defend him from Araj, and also a really bad pun (I like puns. Astarion does not.)

Im definitely going to rewrite/edit this at some point when I start like actually writing out the full fic of my playthrough, but that's pretty much to remove some added context/change it out/not be sleep deprived when i edit.

There is a reference to a previous fic i wrote (here), but you don't need to read it for context (but I am here for the shameless plug).

Tav is Freya (she/her), Gloomstalker Ranger/Assassin Rogue. Brief description of a scar she has.

Excerpt:

Astarion buried his nose into her hair and breathed in, trying to memorize it all. The sound of her heart, the tickle of her breath, the smell of sweat and dirt and too-cold river water and whatever perfumed soap she used that was rapidly fading with the passing days. He laced his fingers at the small of her back, feeling the warmth of her skin from where it peaked under her shirt. He just wanted to hold her there, for a while… for an eternity if he could.

TW: brief mentions of just Astarion's past with... all that, and mentions of blood. No actual descriptions, just dialogue.

Gods, when did life become so complicated? They were no closer to finding a way to kill an immortal than before (which was to say, not at all). Instead, they found the entrance to some disgusting, fleshy pit that they all collectively looked and went ‘no.’ The only thing of note the entire day was that damned drow woman with her sultry voice that kept pushing and pushing and insisting… She had half a mind to help her spill some, seeing as how much she seemed to love blood.

She must have been pacing—stomping—back and forth and lost in thought when he called to her.

“Freya?” Astarion asked, tinged with worry. Perhaps he thought she’d have another breakdown, spend the next half day sleeping while they huddled in a corner trying to protect her unconscious body. “Do you have a moment? I think we need to talk.”

She was suspicious, to say the least. He was never one to “talk,” as much as it seemed that’s all he did. When she turned to face him it suddenly became a possibility. Dread. Horrible, gnawing dread at the base of her stomach. It was quiet and deafening at the same time.

He bounced on his feet, as if preparing to run and never look back. True true fear in his eyes.

She all but ran over. “Are you all right?”

“I, uh, wanted to thank you…”

And then she was confused. “For what?”

“For what you said while I was in front of that vile drow,” as if it was so obvious to say, so plain to see. She at least understood his disgust. “I spent two hundred years using my body to lure pretty things back for my Master—" She supposed, on a certain level, she knew. She’d seen the missing persons cases. She’d see the patterns.

But the tension in her body relaxed. There was no threat, no worry that she could soothe beyond watching him squirm at the very idea of a thank you. The corner of her mouth turned upward, enjoying his mild discomfort at having to deal with people.

“What I wanted, how I felt about what I was doing, it never mattered.”

And then it all came tumbling down again, further and deeper than before. Freya felt sick, felt guilty, felt wrong. Her mind shot towards the memory of her first night with him. The tieflings, the party, the shitty wine, and her stringing him along as he so blatantly tried to flirt with her. Let’s take a rain check, she said, once she had her fill of the vampire’s failure to get in her pants.

And then she did her rounds.

And then she talked to Halsin.

And then he told her there was no cure and the only hope was a perilous mission into the shadowcursed lands for a maybe and a hope.

And then the previous weeks’ worth of shit landed on her at once. She was angry and stressed and she needed to direct that somewhere. She wanted to get blackout drunk and hunt; to stalk and maim and rip out some unsuspecting animal’s throat with her bare teeth if it came to that.

And then she remembered Astarion standing there, bottle of wine in hand. What are you doing? He half demanded, half asked. It’s raining, she replied. She all but dragged him by the collar to the outskirts of camp and had him fuck her against the tree until she forgot anything but his name.

Her breathes came fast and shallow with each thought. Freya wrapped her arms around her torso, hoping to keep her meal down and hoping he would think she was simply crossing her arms as she was pulled back to the present situation. “I know,” she whispered.

“You… you knew?”

“I’m not dumb, Astarion.” Her eyes narrowed, believing him to be insulting her. She’d deserve it.

But he was simply dumbstruck. “And you still tolerated me? Still let me seduce you?”

“It was fun,” she shrugged—as if the simple motion could throw away the silence of camp and the churning feeling in her gut… She normally loved the silence. Why was now any different? “I slept with you because it was fun… the risk of death—the constant threat that if I blinked the wrong way or smacked my head in just the right spot that it would somehow—somehow dislodge the magic. That I’d be gone in an instant…

“It was fun. And it was mindless.” Freya blinked away tears before they fell.

Astarion stilled, a beautiful statue. The words he himself knew but had refused to think or say aloud…

He swallowed the lump in his throat. “I know…”

”Were…” She hesitated, scared of his response. She couldn’t look at him or even stand near him… but she also couldn’t run from him. “Were you even attracted to me?” Her fingers reached up of their own accord, tracing the edges of the burn across her cheek and nose. “Or was it all a lie?”

He laughed. He laughed. At her… at her disgusting face… Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. Of course she was a game. A pawn to be sacrificed and used the moment the opportunity arose. Her mind wandered to the game of Lanceboard Raphael and Mol had been playing. What was he guarding in exchange, she wondered. The worst of it was the timing. He had waited for now—when she was too tired to fight and scream and simply be angry—to do this.

Astarion watched, the slightest of smiles on his lips at the mere thought of that question. Was Freya, someone so deadly and terrifyingly aware of everything and everyone around her, truly this stupid? “Of course I was attracted to you. Look at you, for goodness’ sake!”

He reached out, gingerly taking her callused and scarred hand in his own. Freya was frozen in place, unable to meet his eyes until he lifted her chin to look at him. “You’re a vision,” he whispered. “And youre so much more than that…”

The whispered words. The softness in his eyes. The implication that she would forever and always be her own person where he was nothing more than a body to be picked over and used like carrion for harpies. She blinked away tears as rapidly as she could, refusing to let him see her like this. Losing.

Freya was suddenly very aware of the silence in camp. The passive noise—the rustling of sheets, of Gale’s quiet snores harmonizing with Karlach’s significantly less quiet buzzsaw, of Wyll’s tossing and turning as he failed to find a comfortable position that account for his new horns—it had all turned to bated breath.

The bastards.

Astarion averted his gaze from hers, it suddenly burning. He dropped the hand from her chin and instead used the energy to hold on to her even tighter. “I don’t know what to think. I don’t know what I want.

 “I care about you. Deeply. And���and I—I don’t know if I want a friend or—or a lover or—” he stopped himself, knowing full well that he started to ramble but was stuck vomiting the words that had been eating away at his brain more than the tadpole. “I just know I want you in it. In my life… Whatever that means.”

He was searching, pleading, begging for a response of any kind from Freya. Even if its rejection. Because anything is better than silence. Than waiting. That was the worst part; waiting for the mark, waiting for the starving pit in his stomach to dull enough to function, waiting for Cazador to drive the blade in and carve out his flesh.

Waiting for Freya to break the silence he knew she loved so much.

Freya took a tentative step toward him. He felt her arms snake around his waist and press herself into his chest. She was careful, a movement he would maybe mistake for hesitation and nervousness if he didn’t know her so long. It was like she thought him fragile, made of glass. That he would shatter the moment they moved—and perhaps he would.

That’s what he was really scared of, he realized. Her pitying him.

Even still, even for just a fleeting moment, he was willing to indulge. He was willing to accept the lie and just hold her there and pretend; like everything else in their relationship is. Was.

Astarion buried his nose into her hair and breathed in, trying to memorize it all. The sound of her heart, the tickle of her breath, the smell of sweat and dirt and too-cold river water and whatever perfumed soap she used that was rapidly fading with the passing days. He laced his fingers at the small of her back, feeling the warmth of her skin from where it peaked under her shirt. He just wanted to hold her there, for a while… for an eternity if he could.

He continued. “You could have asked me to do the same—to throw myself at her, what I wanted be damned. But… you didn’t. And I’m grateful.”

“I don’t want you to think you have to do anything you don’t want to…” she whispered into his shoulder, barely audible. “You make your own choices now—for better or worse”

He held her closer, speaking into the top of her hair. “It would have been so easy to bite her… To just go along with what I was being told to do. A moment of disgust to force myself through and then I could have just carried on, just like before!” He waved his hand in that flippant wave, a dead laugh bubbling up from his throat as if it was a humorous anecdote.

And then more silence. More waiting. More torture.

Freya tightened her hold around his waist, as if signaling her willingness to stay for a moment longer. “How often were you disgusted by your targets?”

“I tried to pick beautiful people where I could, but there were so many over the years. After a while you stop caring…

“My entire reason for existing was to seduce anything with a pulse. And every instinct I have tells me that nothing’s changed. That I’m still just a means to an end—!” His grip tightened more, bordering on painful but not quite. It wasn’t possessive. It wasn’t protective. He was desperate. Astarion shifted his weight, burying his head into the crook of her neck.

A few tears finally left Freya’s eyes. Guilt and sadness that she had made him feel this way—that she was no better than all the people in his life before her. A means to an end. A confirmation that he was nothing but a tool to be used and tossed aside at a moments notice.

“You made me see I never stopped thinking like I was still his slave, even in freedom. But I’m more than that… More than a thing to be used.”

Freya spoke as if compelled, not in control of her own voice or thoughts. She hated the silence now, and she would not let it exist. “I care about you.”

Astarion pulled away suddenly, his entire body tensed like a pressed coil. It left her afraid that she had said the wrong thing, that he would run into the shadows and never come back. “Really?”

What she didn’t expect were his eyes. Searching, pleading, begging once more. What made matters worse was the spark of hope in them. She didn’t want to lose it, squash it. She wanted to save it, keep it, make it shine as brightly as the sun he lost so long ago and only recently rediscovered… she wanted him.

He was already smoothing away the tears, just as he had done in the House of Healing. It was refreshing, the coolness of his skin against hers.

“You’re worth a great deal to me, no matter what you’re going through…” she spoke between sobs. “For as long as you need, no sex, no midnight romps. Nothing.”

Astarion couldn’t help but break into a smile, the tips of his fangs peeking out. “Ha! Well that almost sounds like a challenge…” It was absent minded, another flippant response to distract away from something.

But he was giddy. He felt… happy. The excitement overtook him, like he was suddenly privy to the greatest secret in Faerun. His chest felt lighter, fluttering. He could take her, spin her, sweep her away to the farthest corners imaginable and just be. No expectations. No script. No plans or threats or empty promises…

“Honestly, I have no idea what we’re doing.” He took one of her hands in both of his. “But I know this: this is nice…”

Freya wiped away the last few stray tears. “We could be an absolute disaster together…”

“I supposed it cannot be much worse than when you dropped a building on my head,” he chuckled, pulling her to him once more and resting his chin atop her head. “But you’re serious about this? About… us?”

“Dead serious.”

“Five seconds into this relationship and I already want to break up with you.”

Freya hummed into his shirt, pleased with herself.

[hughjidiot]

Total Drama Level Up: Chapter Five Sneak Peak

ETA on chapter five of Total Drama Level Up will be sometime next week. So here's a sneak peak for anyone interested.

On the other side of the warehouse, the seven Turtles rode off: Nichelle and Caleb to the south, Julia and Raj to the center, and the remaining three into the north. The low rumbling of wheels and tires on cement echoed as Zee, MK and Lauren looked around, carefully scanning the skatepark set pieces for any glowing lights and finding none.

“We should probably further split up if we want to cover more ground,” Lauren said after a few seconds.

“Good call, but let’s not go far,” Zee said, nodding in one direction. “I’ll check over that-a way.”

He angled his body to turn, pushing himself along the ground to give him more speed as he rounded a free-standing wooden wall.

“I’ll check this way,” MK said, steering her bike towards a cluster of smooth metal picnic tables. As she rode off, out of the corner of her eye she saw Lauren gliding along next to her. “Hey, you got any idea where they hid those t-shirt canons?”

Lauren shook her head. “’Fraid not. They must’ve placed those while I was messing with the equipment.”

“Damn. Ah well.” MK kept pedaling towards the picnic tables. She noticed that Lauren was still rolling in the same direction with her. “Thought we were splitting up. Did you uh, need something?”

Lauren hummed and shrugged. “We’re partners now, right? This the part where we get to know each other, or…?”

“You expecting us to braid each other’s hair while we gossip about boys, or some crap like that?” MK asked flatly. She shook her head. “We may be in an alliance, but don’t think that makes us friends. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I don’t do the whole ‘buddy’ business.”

“Oh?” Lauren kept smiling as she quirked an eyebrow. “You seem to get along just fine with Julia.”

MK snorted. “That’s ‘cause she’s cool, unlike the rest of you losers.”

“Heh, it was fun watching the last seasons back and seeing her mess with everyone,” Lauren admitted.

By now the girls reached the picnic tables, spaced randomly apart and sitting at different angles. The girls rode between them, watching to see if any were glowing.

“So question, from one girl to another,” Lauren said, “what’s the deal with you and Julia anyways?”

Now it was MK’s turn to look at her quizzically. “Deal? We’re friends, what else is there to know? We make a sick team and ran the island for most of season two.”

“And you’ve been hanging out in person after season two,” Lauren stated.

“You haven’t been stalking us again, have you?” MK asked right away, giving her a slightly-disturbed look.

Lauren rolled her eyes. “Oh relax, I’m talking about your Let’s Plays and livestreams. Heard through the fandom grapevine about your gaming channel and checked out your horror playthroughs. Loved your Sweet Home VII series by the way, very nice work.”

~~~

“Check me out @mkplays,” MK said in the confessional closest. “What? If Chase, Emma and Julia can shamelessly promote themselves then so can I, dammit.”

~~~

“Oh.” MK blinked in pleasant surprise. “Well thanks. Yeah, turned out me and Jules both lived in the greater Toronto area so we… started hanging out. There some law of reality TV against contestants keeping in touch?”

“Not at all, I know for a fact a bunch of us do. But from what I’ve seen on social media at least, only a few go out of their way to meet up in person, not counting the Hockey Bros of course. Bowie and Raj, Caleb and Priya, Ripper and Axel, you and Julia…” Lauren trailed off and shrugged again. “Just an interesting pattern I noticed, that’s all.”

With that Lauren finally veered away from MK, rolling off. MK brought her bike to a stop, a perplexed look on her face.

“… the hell she talking about? Pattern?” MK muttered. She ran through the list of names in her head. “I mean those other three are just-”

Her eyebrows shot up as realization struck like a speeding freight train. She narrowed her eyes at the back of Lauren’s head.

Lauren gave a brief glance over her shoulder, her smile morphing into a smirk for a fraction of a second.

[peemanne]

Disco Elysium Review: REACTION SPEED [Medium: Success] - "Uhm... Uh..."

wow hey that's not yakuza is it wowzers wowza

Yeah the game was like, really really really good so I really wanted to write something about it. Haven't done anything in a while I have to be honest so that's another reason for me to thank this game. Thank you, game

This review contains MINOR SPOILERS (but they're all out of context so honestly uhhhh you should be fine)

Reviewed on May 29, 2024. Last completed on May 26, 2023

Completed on PC

Rating: 10/10 (5 Stars)

Disco Elysium fans be like: "Oh, damn! Good thing I stocked up on healing items and quicksaved earlier! There's a really tough paragraph ahead!" It's me. I'm Disco Elysium fans.

It's hard for me to try to properly put into words how much I adore everything about this game. Every little detail, every single aspect, each and every one of those 1.2 million words in the script combine to grab you by the hand and wisp you away into its world.

This game's writing is seriously just something else. It's beautiful when it needs to be. Disturbing and haunting at times. Its comedic timing is perfect when it wants to. It's utterly heartbreaking when the time comes. The characters are all memorable, with even the seemingly insignificant side characters carrying with them bottomless depth. The amnesiac we play as oozes personality out of every alcohol-stained crevice, and carries himself through no matter which path you decide to take. Your inner monologue with your "stats" talking to you was a stroke of genius, and it does so much to inject life into every little thing you do. From hyping you up to sing karaoke, to telling you to lick spilled spirits on a table, to composing yourself to take a vital shot at an adversary, to trying to convince an old war vet to surrender their sandwich. Every little thing you do is painted before your very eyes, and you get to appreciate all of its stunning writing even more with the whole experience being fully voice-acted. Seriously, the prose in here is insane. Really inspires an idiot hobbyist like me.

And haha yeah I really enjoyed playing through this book alright alright, but I really must stress that Disco Elysium makes FULL use out of the game portion of "Computer Role Playing Game". The gameplay elements do an amazing job of bringing everything together. Your skills dictate which ones influence you the most, and which ones you're gonna hear from, further influenced by whatever ridiculous outfit you end up wearing. Not only is the skill system a great way to illustrate to the player their skills returning to them after the whole amnesia thing, but this does a lot to separate each playthrough from the last. One playthrough you'll have Encyclopedia inform you on some awesome fun facts about the chair you're sitting on, as you make use of Drama to crack open the man you're interviewing like a can. In the very next, you'll have Half-Light tell you to sucker punch a child who called you a homophobic slur. You experience the lives of almost entirely different men every time you hit "NEW GAME", despite most of the major points of the story remaining the same (and obviously the fact that you're still playing the same actual guy). But the biggest strength of the gameplay is how expertly it weaves everything together. It feels like even the smallest, most insignificant of checks will come back later to influence your next course of action. Lifted some weights in front of your partner to maybe show off a little earlier? Now you get a +2 advantage on your roll if you want to do a 360 spin kick on the head of a beefed-up racist guard. Messed up a pickup line really badly on a girl you met just after waking up? Ah, that's gonna be a -2 when you're trying to keep yourself composed when her name happens to get thrown in during an interrogation. The game will remember everything you say and do, no matter how insignificant it may seem at first. Even your check fails can open up new paths for you to take. I found myself not save-scumming as often as I thought I would, simply because messing things up would sometimes give me much funnier results than if I just succeeded as normal. I didn't find myself doing what I did for some arbitrary good or bad ending to aim for, I found myself doing what I felt like I would do. No, I found myself doing everything based on what I felt like my character would do, which might be the ultimate win for any RPG.

Most of all, Disco Elysium is a deeply human experience. This isn't a power fantasy where you play some untouchable god amongst men, you play as a broken, alcoholic man who drank so hard he can't remember what money is. Even with your physical skills as high as you can make them, the game makes it abundantly clear that you're still out of shape. Even if you're playing the whole thing sober, its characters still point out that you've downed barrels before and that you could probably break at a moment's notice. Even with Composure and Volition in your corner, keeping you up and letting you open your eyes every morning, you'll still get your heart broken again and again as memories start to resurface. And I love how the side cases never feel like lower-effort detours, but rather supplement your character, like you're simply walking through life. At one moment you'll be talking to your distractingly gaudy tie, and the next you'll try to talk a guy who yells "HARD-CORE!" at the top of his lungs whenever you approach him into becoming a communist. One second you'll repeat the same sentence over and over in front of an important ambassador like a broken record as your skills try to get you working normally again, and the next you'll try your best to tell a woman her husband's been found dead. And this game isn't afraid to get ugly: there are some downright horrific things showcased in its plot.

But after all of it, you get back up again. Your partner extends a hand to you. You put the bottle down and stretch your arms. Despite everything that's been thrown at you, every thought that's raced through your head, every rock thrown at your body, you keep living. It's a new day, and you've got a damn case to solve.

Sunrise, Parabellum.

[retphienix]

Alright, thinking on it, I think I AM throwing in the towel.

I'm just hard walled by eternity Abominationn. He seems pretty fair, I don't see anything absurd about his patterns or what have you, *I* am just not experienced enough in terraria movement + bullet hell fundamentals.

When it gets "too hectic" I get skittish and move out of range (and into a bullet I should have seen) instead of confidently staying near the boss and pouring damage in and Abom seems like too much of a step up for me to adjust and learn from currently- maybe (HOPEFULLY) after I get some more games / mods of this ilk under my belt I can return and finally take him out fair and square :) I really do hope so because this mod has been SICK.

I was able to take out the entire cast, on Eternity from the very beginning, without a single mod to help make it easier

Just the fargo package, magic storage (quintessential for modded runs in my opinion), Angler Shop + autofisher (base settings) because I didn't want to farm fish quests (I still did a lot of them because it turns out Fargo makes the angler quests instantly reset which does quite a bit for improving them), and that's kinda it.

The attack speed meter lets me check how much % melee speed I would need to reach the next use time (didn't really use it this playthrough but I appreciate the accessible info) and no Inferno is a new favorite for getting that oldschool inferno potion graphic out of my eyes lol

Doing all that is kind of incredible to me :P I wasn't kidding when I said prior to this my experience was basically "I beat classic (barely) and beat expert with a mod that added content that was like 1.1-1.2x the strength of vanilla :)"

The trophies are in order of when I beat them from top to bottom, left to right. The top row is everything up to moonlord*, below on top of my main house are the normal champions, and then at the bottom next to my forest pylon is Erid, the named champion and very clearly an actual boss full-stop lol

* with one exception- the offhang wooden platform to the side is to denote a boss added after I already got to end game and so I DID beat him, but it was in one shot because he is a pre-hard mode boss and I didn't want to dig through all the items trying to figure out a "fair" build to combat him (and having to eat a bunch of health debuff fruits to get to pre-hard mode numbers), I didn't really get to experience him but that's fine~

But enough nonsense, more ramble about the mod itself:

Fargo's Souls mod is somehow EXACTLY what I scoffed and said I assumed it was based off the few pieces I'd seen, and NOTHING AT ALL like I assumed lmao

I assumed Souls was a power-fantasy "Everything is overpowered" mod where you shoot 10 billion particle effects and have accessories that give you every effect in the game because I had seen the ultimate soul you can get.

I also (funnily enough) assumed it was probably "Bull shit mega hard for no reason". I didn't bother considering how these two thoughts would intermingle, it didn't matter to me lol

I was pretty definitively, wrong but there's some truth in what I guessed lol- Souls is extremely well balanced around itself on eternity difficulty and offered what I would call like a solid 3-4 steps up in difficulty without being bull shit. It also paces itself A LOT and I'd say pretty well.

You can only access weak enchantment accessories in pre-hard mode and all of them are fairly balanced around pre-hard mode eternity remixes put in place, it was challenging and fun!

Then hard mode lets you start playing with some improved enchantments and you start getting better (there were some pre-hard) combined accessories based on the bosses you can face and it all balances pretty damn well!

Post cultist lets you get some more moderate buffs with the ancient manipulator, then moon lord lets you start making forces and basic souls for a BIG bump in efficacy- before you beat moon lord this mod visually doesn't look anything like what I expected as everything is definitely stronger (us and the enemy) but things aren't 10 billion particles and explosions yet (well, wizard + meteor before they reworked it but mostly)

POST moon lord it becomes BIG CRAZY EXPLOSIONS AND SPEED, and yet it honestly felt earned lol

Yes, the base world of the game becomes a playground, but the remaining bosses still demand so much of you that it feels like a fair step up in your own power. Beating Erid gets you some more upgrades, then after you beat abom you can get even more powerful weapons and the like, and then beating mutant will let you start making the Ultimate Mega Insane stuff that I thought the entire mod was like before actually trying it :P

To be blunt and concise: I think this is my favorite terraria mod atm :)

I have played a handful of them at this point to completion, and I keep finding mods I think are INSANELY quality (AND THEY ARE!!!) but this one really did genuinely blow me away. It was fun like the entire damn time- it was GOOD challenge- GOOD struggle for me.

And the fact I got to experience so much of it in Eternity mode (MY FAVORITE WAY TO PLAY TERRARIA AS OF TYPING- ETERNITY FUCKS!!!! THE BOSS REMIXES FUCK!!!!!) rules :D

I made it all the way to the final 2 super bosses, that's pretty sick :)

Anyways, my plan as of typing is simple.

I'm gonna slap on the Fargo Paper Mario Badge mod, grind out some badges, and give the final 2 bosses another attempt. Maybe it works maybe it doesn't.

My reasoning being that I know from experience that the badges are entirely overpowered- just nutty effects overall.

They aren't "You now 1 shot the boss :)" pieces, rather it's stuff like "Insane health regen" and "Free 50% more defense".

I'm ASSUMING (bad track record) that this will be enough of a nudge that I can overcome them on eternity mode and I will be able to make those final souls just to say I did. It'll be cheapened, maybe I shouldn't, but considering my current plan of "I GOTTA replay this mod when I get better" I'm not too concerned.

If it's not enough then that's that- game over (for now) and I'll settle for having tabled this mod as one of my faves for another day :)

[derekscorner]

Ghost of Ramblings: Dad of Boi

Started a New game plus Recently

I have been playing God of War from Ascension in chronological order over the past few months and I've finally made my way back to GoW 2018 and it's new game plus.

It's been a hot minute since I played the NG+ and it took even more minutes to adjust to it's combat after playing Classic GoW for so long. I got hooked on Ghost of Sparda and GoW3 for quite a while.

The whole while I was just taking in how beautiful the whole game is. Remembering the story beats or how this one game got me into the whole series. My god slayer journey began here with Dad of Boi.

I was reminded of how good its story truly is. How tightly written and delivered it's dialogue is. The nuances of Kratos hit harder too since I have played classic GoW this time unlike my first time playing Dad of Boi.

Back then all I had was curious youtube and wiki searches to get a grasp of Kratos' world. It's hard to explain but it truly does feel different if you play GoW 2018 after playing, at minimum, GoW 1, 2 and 3.

Hell, I'd even argue that GoW 2018 will hit different after plaything through it's own sequel Ragnarok. I know Ragnarok has some harsh critics, I'm not one of them, but it is hard to deny that it's predecessor is just written better.

Every little story in the boat, every little dialogue when exploring, the whole adventure is a bonding and learning moment for Atreus and Kratos. Every scene with Odin's kin, the parallel to Freya and Baldur in particular, shows what Kratos is trying to avoid.

A pacing and blend so well done that I'd call it a lightning in the bottle moment.

I love this scene ^^^^

Nothing in this world is perfect mind you but it's hard to talk about GoW 2018 and not praise its story.

Of course, Ragnarok is still an improvement in gameplay overall. I had grown too addicted to the customization options for appearance. The very fact that I can unlock and play young Kratos in Ragnarok is amazing to me.

It does make me wonder what went wrong in the story department of Ragnarok though. As I said, I'm no harsh critic of Ragnarok but I can't deny it has pacing issues.

Thankfully they added scene skip so even the Atreus segments can be skimmed on repeat playthroughs. They didn't bother me on the first run but I can only handle so many two hour stretches of Atreus wandering Ironwood.

I've always heard rumors that it's because they chose to make the Norse story a duology which I could believe. Ragnarok feels like it needed to be the third game not the second one.

The whole personality shift of Freya truly does feel rushed. As beautiful as that scene is when she lets go it needed more time to be truly believable.

I also think it would've made her conflicted feelings more conceivable if she had witnessed Kratos' memories in some magical mumbo jumbo way. It's hard to imagine he's talk so freely about his family yet I also think it's crucial for Freya to shift the focus of her rage after hearing about Calliope.

Kratos did do her wrong while trying to do something right but I think that would only get through to Freya if she saw that moment. Kratos was by no means a good person but his love for his family was real and it drove him to a madness that ended a pantheon.

Kratos is easily the only man there that understands her feelings.

I glitched the blades in these scenes somehow

But even this is a minor complaint. I do not consider the narrative of Ragnarok worth some harshness I see it get. It's badly paced to be sure but it's not offensive.

If anything, I hope they learn from it for their new projects. I have next to no interest in Atreus since he genuinely is annoying in Ragnarok but I wouldn't mind giving him a shot in a spin off if they learn from it.

Or, ya know, send him to Greece. I do not care how annoying the boy of war is. I would pay them money to see him walk through Greece and see the monster that his father was.

I'd even give them my respect if Atreus realized just how hard Kratos worked to channel his bottomless rage into a weapon to use. I know many fans hate how weak Kratos seems to be now and I personally find the "holding back" excuse weak on the devs part.

So I relate a bit. I do not fully agree since I began the series with 2018 so my opinion is forever biased on such topics.

I have no real point to make with this post by the way. I am just gushing about a game I like and rambling about the contrast it has to it's own sequel or predecessors.

The whole of my praise is also limited to GoW 2018's narrative. In terms of world building or story consistency I could rip the God of War series apart.

The classic games weren't exactly consistent with some things like the potential paradox of using Fates threads, Kratos losing that time travel power in 3 despite using it moments prior in 2's ending, or the whole ambiguity of his godhood. (I wont even get into the last minute hope thing in 3)

It's not a mess like I'd rant about with Kingdom Hearts or Bleach. Sure, there are some details in a novelization or two, a comic story here or there, but it's nothing you need to know.

Kratos even references a novel detail in Ragnarok. When asked why he doesn't just throw his blades away Kratos will retort with an annoyed statement that he "tried".

Step into the light Boy

That doesn't confirm a novel as 100% valid but it does show subtly that the blades follow him against his will.

My own personal take on Kratos' continued godhood is also a curse. He's got to live as what he despises most until something powerful enough finally kills him in a way where he won't burst out of Hel's gates.

That's a tangent all its own I think. I just felt like rambling a bit, there's even a lot I left out. Like the pure pointlessness of a lock-on in either game due to how often the enemies dart around and break the targeting.

I wonder what many of you think about 2018 now that Valhalla has come and gone. Ragnarok may have been hit or miss for many but Valhalla is nearly as good as 2018 I feel.

Though, not having young Kratos speak with his original voice actor in that one scene felt like a missed opportunity imo.

Oh well, I'm done now. Bye~

[elvenbeard]

Then and now - shippy edition! 💜

Enabled and inspired by @pinkyjulien @humberg @arcandoria @breezypunk @kharonion and everyone else who's done something similar XD My little VP and modding journey featuring Vince and Kerry over the last few months!

So, I figure, most of you can relate to my disappointment when I realized at the end of my first playthrough that there's so little interaction possible with the main NPCs outside of their respective questlines. The text messages your LI sends you are adorable, yes. Being able to sleep in their bed and then waking up next to them? A+ game design, 100/100, every game with romances needs this. But where is my option to hug, kiss, spend time with Kerry? Rude!!

Still though, I was undeterred to create some shots for my new favourite blorbos with my vanilla game (I had never heard of AMM then (or at least was too chickenshit still to install it)).

2023/Feb/06

Behold, my first attempts at creating something shippy (and I do still like these a lot) - title: Kerry meets Nibbles.

The idea behind this is probably kinda self-explainatory XD I had these as desktop background for so long, it feels so nostalgic to look back at them now. I think I have some slightly edited versions somewhere but cannot find them for the life of me, but there's no big difference really, just some slight colour/contrast editing.

I was always a bit bummed out by the fact that Kerry's default outfit for idling at the villa is the one with sunglasses on (while over the progression of his questline he wears it less and less as he gets to know V better, as if he is letting his guard down). But oh well! Also yes, that was and still is my favourite photomode pose for V really, because it is very versatile:

But that's... really it when it comes to opportunities for shippy moments outside of the quests.

2023/Feb/09

I was yearning for more!! As you can see, these are only 3 days apart. I had done some research and learned about the "[NPC] Interactions Enhanced" mods that I highly recommend for the options to kiss and hug your LIs alone :3 And! More shippy shot opportunities, because Kerry will finally be somewhere else in his huge-ass villa besides the sofa or the bed, and take off those beloathed sunglasses:

Hhhh.... I can't tell you how happy I was about this shot. I remember yelling to my friends on Discord about it half in tears (none of them really knowing much about the game yet apart from my occasional screaming about all the angst and plot twists). I think I described it as "Vince finally feeling some actual, real happiness, daring to imagine a future", just content and relaxed, having a late night talk with Kerry. I still like it a lot, and because of the mod enabling me to take this pic I still low-key wanna look into quest-modding some day and see if I can make something in a "romance-enhanced" direction. The "Kerry calls V and wants help with cleaning up the villa" quest we all deserve xD

2023/Feb/12

Another couple of days later, and with one toe dipped into modding now, I finally installed AMM (I think, since this was around Valentine's Day, this must've been when I saw a tutorial by @pinkyjulien on how to pose your blorbos for kissing poses with AMM, and my mind was blown XD). My first attempt to even get anything accomplished was kinda frustrating though (because I wanted to do too much too quickly). In a couple of the other "then and now" posts I saw earlier that the more common approach for getting into AMM used to be "swap your characters with NPCs around the city" and I was like.... "oh, yeah, that would've made things a lot easier" 🤡 Nope, I went right in with spawning them in and trying to squish them together with poses that somewhat matched XD

The following were my first AMM-posed screenshots that worked how I wanted them to, and aösdhfdsaf I am somewhat self-conscious about them still. What is a "look at" feature? What are expressions?

I never shared these publically before but hhhhh... this is it, this is the moment where the brainrot started. They're at Dark Matter, talking about V's childhood in Charter Hill, musing about how it's insane how they both occupied almost the same spaces for such long periods of their lives and only never ran into each other due to their age difference. I'm actually still (slooooowly) working on a little comic with this scene/story as topic, cause it is so essential and important to me (based on a random spontaneous decision I made about V's past before even knowing the Dark Matter existed... right across from V's childhood home asdöasdhfjds. Setting the whole "we were destined for each other" trope I have going on with them so much in stone ;A;). This is one of the shoots I'd also really like to redo with my current VP skills... maybe when I've finished my hand-holding poses, cause yeah... hand holding ;__;

Speaking of which:

2023/Jul/13

Five months later, still stupidly in love with each other, still regularly back at the Dark Matter because the place is so gorgeous and important to them. Kerry's getting some more outfits slowly but surely (even with sunglasses!), I have a much better understanding of AMM and the VP possibilities in general now. These two unlocked completely new ways of creative expression for me that I wouldn't even have dreamed of possessing or wanting to follow. VP has become such an amazing creative outlet, for creating all those little scenes I wish I existed in the base game, or which I'd love for them to have in their future.

Am I crying about fictional pixel men too much? Maybe. But over a short period of time they've become so important to me, and I got to meet so many cool and inspiring people in this community after not really feeling part of or even drawn to creating for a fandom for a long time anymore. Can't wait to update this post some time in the future to see where my and their journey will lead to!

I feel like my progress is kinda slow, and I wish I had more time to dedicate to them and all my creative endeavours, cause they'd deserve it for all the joy they bring me xD But alas... Fingers crossed for more spare time and better time management in my future! Thanks for reading this far and coming to my blorbo talk 💜

[lutethebodies]

More Notes on a Duo Act 1/Act 2 Playthrough

Here's Part 4 of tracking my swords bards' 14th playthrough day-by-day in-game, sans hirelings and (most) companions. Continuing from Solo Notes, More Solo Notes, and Duo Notes. This entry wraps up all the Act 1 stuff in the span of six jam-packed long rests, all below the cut:

Day 11. Nuked the spectator first thing; Minthara baited it and then Cannor shot the smokepowder/oil barrels behind the creature to incinerate it in one hit. Went for the drow studded leather afterward. Then relieved the kua-toa of their fake god. Then did for the hag and redcaps in the swamp (smites work wonders) and sent Mayrina and her zombie-husband on their way to the city. Our heroes were running low on barrels, so Minthara stole four smokepowder containers while Cannor distracted the Zhent with performance. Called on the ogres again to help with defeating Filro and the hook horrors. Decided to keep them on to see what they could do vs Grym or the phase spiders. Warped to Moonhaven and camped.

Day 12. Finished up Moonhaven by making the sussur dagger, destroying the phase spiders, and snagging the Poisoner Robe for Minthara's collection. Feather-fell back into the Underdark and returned to the Forge area. When four Zhent smokepowder barrels failed to make a real dent in Grym, Cannor called for the ogres to use them as bait, then while they died horribly, he crushed Grym with the forge’s hammer. That reduced it to 2hp, but then Cannor and Minthara had to do the super-heating thing again to finish it off. Underdark and Grymforge complete, they returned to the Myconid Colony and camped.

Day 13. Turns out the Zhents were salty about smokepowder barrel theft. How unfortunate—for them. After dealing with that, our heroes did other sorts of Act 1 cleanup, like drinking Omeluum’s potion (Cannor), and snipe-bombing the bridge gith (without Voss and Lae’zel, they were no match for Level 6 Minthara). Proceeded to the monastery and demolished the gremishkas. Camped in the creche (also shoutout to this location in general, one of my favorites in-game, for the late-afternoon sunlight, weird alien vibe, and eerie ambient soundtrack).

Day 14. Deciding to get the gith before the gith figured out they were infected, our heroes took on the whole creche stealthily and methodically, clearing the main hallway, infirmary, dorm, training room, and hatchery (where Minthara decided to swipe the egg for Esther after all). Hit level 7 after the latter. Camped in the crags.

Day 15. Finished the job, clearing the entrance, back door, captain's quarters, and inquisitor's room (both of the latter with barrelmancy). Lied to Vlaakith's face by promising to kill the person in the prism. For the first time ever, Cannor nuked the monastery—getting out with no injuries. Camped in the crags.

Day 16. Used some standard kettle-barrelmancy for the Death Shepherds first thing, because fuck them. They traumatized me so badly on my first playthrough a year ago and I've never forgiven them. I've always despised undead and give them radiance and fire in-game whenever I can. Anyway, our heroes traded with Esther one last time and then warped to Last Light and Act 2, leaving Act 1 permanently. Day 16 will continue next time.