#non arcade stuff wow

[turtlesocksv2]

Liveblogging DFF Ep 11

We're in the Final Stretch! Shit's gonna hit the fan and I am here for it.

Uncle Joe is the worst. He is the real villain of this show.

Interesting that Tee claims Non as his friend when we know damn well that was never true. But he does seem to mean it, pleading for Non's life and physical safety.

Non's so right to be confused. Tee is just...really surprisingly naive. "i didn't bring you here to die! Uncle said he'd help you find the money!" dumbass what on earth did you think your mafia uncle was gonna do to get the money??? considering he already extorts his underage nephew??? you've been involved in mafia shit for a while it seems like, and you still didn't realize?????

This dramatic confrontation really does make me want TeeNon though. You were the one supposed to be helping me! Why me? Is everything I do so awful? This is all your fault!

"when you pay off your debt you can go home" he's never going to pay off his debt!!! that's the point of mafia debt!!!

So Perth's unnamed character is weird. He's clearly important and isn't a fan of working of the mafia. Is he a prostitute/forced into sex work? the way he was rubbing uncle joe's shoulders that one time, the way he's Doing Customer Service in the casino. The way he tells Tee not to question his work ethic. I just get that vibe. I did laugh when Perth called Tee out for giving Non special treatment and liking Non. I just said the TeeNon vibes were real and now i am validated. thank you Perth.

"I think I'd choose myself. Would you?" that's exactly what Tee did when he got Non involved in the first place, he put his/his family's health and safety above Non's. I'm not say Tee was wrong to look out for his sick family member but there must have been a way that didn't involve dragging highschoolers into the mafia. and Tee regrets it! He's trying to make up for it! so no, at this point I don't think Tee would choose himself, necessarily. He might! But it's less likely than it was.

Interesting that Top is the one to say he thinks Non will come back to school when Top was the one most convinced that Non's ghost was haunting them.

Good on Jin for getting up and leaving the table.

Tee got a job at an arcade! couldn't you have done that earlier?! but i guess he did have to stop going to school to do it...not exactly great for the future. but neither is working for the mafia so...

oh Tee's dad is THAT kind of sick. yeah, kid never stood a chance. especially since it seems like his dad was also mafia before the dementia. like this is genuinely heartbreaking stuff. i have to assume that tee's dad is going to die soon because by the time Phi and Tan join the group Tee seems a lot lighter.

lol I don't think any of them really believe Non ran away with Mr Keng here. but fucking Top being the one to say that the video leaking was enough to make him run away! the dumbest most annoying one of the group! out of the mouths of idiots I guess. and Por! Finally someone saying Mr Keng is evil for what he did! Wow!

oh shit. Non's dead for real for real? damn, i was hoping for him to be alive and stalking everyone.

what does the paper say?????????

oh. "I'm gonna get out of this place I'm not a loser" and then i suppose tally marks for the days? that's...heartbreaking. no wonder Tee's upset.

lmao at the transition from the sad noteburning "i don't deserve to be happy" to the absolute shojo meetcute energy of White coming into the arcade. pink lights and tinkly piano music ~Cute Boy Has Entered Your Life Alert!~

White trying to hit on Tee by asking if Tee's smoking pot and can he try it??? is so funny. these fucking loser children. White slowly breaking down Tee's walls is very cute. i have to say, that's the least sexy shotgunning i've ever seen on tv, BOC, but i don't think it was actually meant to be.

Lol Fluke I seriously doubt that "I'm not involved" i just don't beleive it. Phi getting the gun from Fluke was A+, very hot shit. Tan is full crazy and I love him. He's right! These Assholes did cause Non's death! Jin needs to shut up with his "you don't want to be like New do you?" boring ass take. "you'll be no better than the bad guy" takes are always the worst.

lol TanNew slutshaming Phi. "You're a slut who didn't love my brother if you did you'd kill them!" King Behavior. and then he drugs everyone even more. I love it.

[aijamisespava]

Favorite Song From Each Country! Part 8/37: Switzerland!

Ah yes, hello everyone! If you're reading this, then it is time for me to tell you about my favorite song from yet another country from 2009 onward. I've talked with someone about some stuff afterward, which will certainly help tide us over a little bit to help with the Post-Eurovision Depression (because sometimes we want more than memes and compilations)!

So, what's next for us? Switzerland!

Well, here we are with the country well known for winning the very very first contest all the way back in 1956! Oh yeah, plus their second win was with a song by someone named...CELINE DION! Needless to say, Switzerland has certainly found a place in Eurovision history, and a little bit of music history as well. For me, it makes personal history as the first (and so far only) country to have been my personal winner TWICE! That's right...I've had different countries win all my other rankings, except for Switzerland. So, let's get to the favorite and my 2023 thoughts (I've been looking forward to this one)!

Favorite Entry: I want to start off by saying that my favorite Swiss entry is my favorite Eurovision song. Period. End of story. And that it's Gjon's Tears' "Tout l'univers" from 2021. This is one of the first non-winners that I've heard (not counting Iceland's 2020 entry that randomly popped up on my Facebook feed during the pandemic). So, imagine hearing and liking "Fairytale," "Arcade," and "Zitti e Buoni" and thinking that those songs slap, knowing they won. And then you hear a non-winner and you think "Wow. If a song like this didn't win, IMAGINE what other songs are out there!" So, to be 100% honest, I doubt that I would be here writing this if it weren't for that song. Also, I'm putting a link to the song that would send you to Gjon's debut album (that he put "Tout l'univers" on). It came out a little over a month ago and it's really good with so many other songs and a variety of vibes! RANK: 3rd in 2021 Grand Final/PERSONAL RANK: 1st of 39 Countries *and 1st of God-Knows-How-Many Entries*

Thoughts on 2023 Entry: Alright, we have Remo Forrer with "Watergun" this year. After the blazing success of "Tout l'univers" in 2021, Switzerland has been sending ballads. Which, as someone who likes ballads, I don't see it as bad. "Watergun" follows that format. And aside from the theme being rather...ironic (iykyk), it's actually not that bad. Remo's voice is excellent, and I absolutely love that beginning piano. It's one of my mom's favorites from this year too! Other than that, I don't have much else to say about it because it ranked rather mid-pack for me. I liked some entries more, but I liked it more than others. RANK: 20th in 2023 Grand Final/PERSONAL RANK: 23rd of 37 Countries

[pitagain]

Wow, with a list that varied, I'm surprised I have any games to recommend at all, but here goes! I'll go over each game in more detail if asked:

3DS exclusives -

Dilon's Rolling Western trilogy (Tower-defense action game combo, although it does suffer from "right-hand-only" controls for the 1st game, which later ones fixed)

Rising Board 3D (Not much of a goal in this one, but its gameplay is fairly stand-out among other "stunt" games of its kind)

Harmoknight (The Game Freak rhythm game that needs no introduction)

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity (I'm definitively confident in saying this is the best story ever told in a Pokemon game, as well as one of Spike Chunsoft's best works, as well as a decent beginner entry, thanks to its relatively easy difficulty! It pretty much defines many of my preferences in media to this day, from characterization, to atmosphere, to that phenomenal music! I'd say only the sound design and lack of option to skip text without external cheat codes (Which I can provide) falls notably short. Although somewhat simplified in comparison to other entries, it's still best experienced via learning that sweet dungeon-crawler gameplay depth in-game dictionary accessible via the highlight text button made available ever since the 1st entry [Red/Blue Rescue Team, which got the DX remake on the Switch in 2020])

Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon (For those who played the rest of the series, seeing as its got a bunch of cameos for characters from previous games. Also has the most addicting gameplay via its many Shiren-inspired additions)

3D OutRun (Has more content to add to the beloved 80s arcade "driving game" classic, including unique music made just for it, and unlockable easy mode upgrades, although the Switch "Sega Ages" counterpart adds even more via remakes/demakes of existing series music!)

Pokemon Rumble Blast (The single best entry in what's otherwise widely considered a mediocre spin-off series, due to its simplicity, even in comparison to the core series. Have yet to get far enough into this to know why it's considered great, but my experience playing the original Pokemon Rumble and Pokemon Rumble World were pretty bad, so I'm interested in seeing how this entry improved the series design before spiraling into microtransaction nonsense for later entries)

Rage of the Gladiator [Improved Remake] (I can't find the game on the iOS store for the life of me, and its Android version has been confirmed to be removed, so for all intents and purposes, it's stuck to the Wiiware original and this 3DS release, therefore making it exclusive. Not only was it one of Wiiware's best, but it also built upon what already made Punch-Out!!'s tough, but possible to master pattern-based fights so appealing, by adding a talent tree system to make your attacks varied among playthroughs. It gets every bit as difficult as you'd expect, which for me at least, makes overcoming the challenge all the more satisfying!)

Virtual Console/Non-Exclusive stuff on the 3DS that you most likely already did, but might've missed for all I know -

Shantae, Shantae: Risky's Revenge, Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (A well-renowned 2D adventure game series in the vein of say, Legend of Zelda, or other old games known for their labyrinths, puzzles, item collection game, and combat. The first one and Pirate's Curse are my favorites of the series for their elaborate design and nice length, while Risky's Revenge is still important enough to the series from both gameplay and story development perspectives to pick up, just note that its status as a DSiWare title seriously limited its file size and content as a result)

Gargoyle's Quest (The start of a trilogy of games starring Firebrand, who's the same species as those dreaded Red Arremers from Ghosts n' Goblins series. It also has some of that 2D adventure game feel, although more platform-heavy, with some "Zelda II world map" shenanigans thrown in. Its decent design already makes me pretty excited to play the other two games what's surprisingly one of Capcom's highest rated series, despite not getting mentioned often)

Tails Adventures (So what if you made the 2D adventure game formula feel more like a Search Action game [Or what others would the bizarre term "Metroidvania", despite only a few games in said genre feeling like Metroid or Castlevania at all], and removed the Sonic franchise's focus on speed? Sounds like a recipe for distaster to many, but as someone who wasn't fond of how Sonic platformers were designed, this was a breath of fresh air that quickly climbed up to my #2 favorite Sonic game [Only behind Sonic Riders; another spinoff, go figure]. Biggest issue is the limited amount of gadgets you can bring to each stage visit, otherwise, this game gets what makes both the genre and Game Gear shine in more ways than one!)

Wario Land series [Minus 3. That game doesn't understand what makes Search Action games good in my book] (I don't need to introduce you to this wonderful platformer series either, especially since I'm about 90% sure you already tackled it. Its got personality, good design, interesting gameplay concepts, dazzling aesthetic, and plenty of Wario to go around!)

Mega Man World series [III, IV, and V in particular, as the first two had... less than stellar design] (A gameboy series that might seem like mere ports at first glance, but feature more and more original content with each entry! So much so, that V has an almost entirely original cast of enemies, stages, music, weapons, and bosses! I still find IV to be the best designed though, and definitely a personal favorite, for not being handholdingly easy like V, nor somewhat unwelcoming in difficulty like III. If you don't like the classic series Mega Man gameplay formula after an entry besides the first two games [The console ones, I mean, confusing, I know], this won't win you over, but if you do like such gameplay, this is a treasure trove worth exploring!)

Metroid II: Return of Samus (Doesn't need an introduction either; it's genre-defining, after all!)

Ace Attorney series (Yes you've heard of this one too, but I'd still say go for it! It and Danganronpa have their ups and downs, as well as occasionally dated writing, but serve as solid murder mystery series that are ambitious and complex in their own ways. Although far more forgiving in terms of spoilers affecting the experience, Ace Attorney is still best played blind, because lots of the fun comes from solving these mysteries on your own; it's not just about finding the killer [As the first game already tells you who the culprit is upon starting the first two cases; not even a spoiler as a result], it's also about figuring out the interesting logic behind why the killer is guilty, and why your client is innocent, leading to that long sought-after "galaxy brain" moment!)

Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove (Only finished the base game "Shovel of Hope" campaign so far, but this is the kind of action platformer where jumping and whacking stuff with the shovel are equally effective in combat. The Mega Man kind of level design I find intuitive and engaging is apparent here too, it's another reason that other inspired games like Freedom Planet [Released the same year as Shovel of Hope, coincidentally] also enticed me! I don't think any description of this indie classic can do it justice, especially now that it has four full-fledged campaigns [Fifth if you count the brief Showdown one], each with wildly different playstyles that'd be too difficult to explain individually in this kind of post!)

Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters (Might as well get the Kid Icarus trilogy closer to completion)

Oh yeah, does anyone have any DS/3DS recomendations?

Been looking to try more stuff in both of these system's libraries!

I am fairly familiar with both but im sure ive missed some gems in there

[arcadenerdsstuff]

A: “Why do you smile if no one likes you?” L: “None of your business, nosy hoe!” ----- Chaotic neutral, le dicen. idea; @vsa-pieldepapel 

[new-vegas-reacts]

There’s mods that make you have bonuses for not attacking any humans or animals like pacifist runs so you get way more experience for doing so. Companions killing stuff doesn’t add to your pipboy so people have companions kill stuff for them. I was wondering how would the companions react to an idealistic, pacifist courier who never kills things and runs away from fights even stuff which would be easy to kill but who is super skilled at non combat things (you get so much xp and skill points!) thanks if you do this and try a playthrough like this sometime if you want it’s fun haha

Awe aren't Las Vegas mods great? I wish I could install even the most simple mod but I am inept at technology 😅 I'm sure it's a blast though! Maybe if I ever get my crao together I'll play it haha.

Arcade: Very surprised. The courier seems like the type of person to shoot first and ask questions later, and you are... the exact opposite. If you make him do all the fighting, he will be extremely annoyed. Angry even, if you guys get into a severe situation. "I'm one to respect ideologies, but I could use a little help!" If you want to avoid fighting all together, he'll respect. Maybe it's a bit unrealistic to him, but he's a Follower so he isn't going to be excited for violence. He's impressed by your other skills, and very glad that not all of the medical expertise is on his shoulders.

Boone: To be honest, he thought you were an idiot at first. He believed you not killing things was an inability to do so, not a choice/ideology. How could someone who got revenge for his wife be so inept? He finds out your way of thinking and isn't happy about it, believes it quite niave, but it's better than traveling with someone who can't take care of themselves at all. When he finds out all your skills, he looks genuinely surprised for once. Maybe he underestimated you just a little bit... it IS nice when you repair his gun. It will take a lot of convincing for him to talk it out with the Legion though, so be sure to prepare for that.

Cass: Very very confused about why you ran from one tiny radscorpian. When you explain your pacifist ways, she's visibly annoyed. "That's all nice and dandy, but this isn't dreamland. The wasteland is dangerous, how could you not have learned that by now?" Then she sees your other skills, and she understands at least a little. The way you weasel out of situations is impressive to say the least. If she tried to do the things you did she'd be six feet under. If you let her fight, she'd be a bit annoyed at being the only one fighting, but you've gotten them out of muddy situations too so she supposes it balances out. If you don't let her fight, she'd have trouble with it. Not being able to defend herself and you makes her feel helpless, and that is a feeling that definitely doesn't agree with her.

Lily: If you let her do the killing she won't mind, she puts herself in front if you anyway! Let grandma handle this. If you want her to stay passive, she's hesitant. "Okay dearie, grandma will do her best." Lilly tries bless her soul, but she can't help it sometimes with her psychotic breaks. When she finds out you other skills she's so proud! Repairing weapons, helping others with their wounds, you do it all! Wow! Don't worry dearie grandma will crush those bad radscorpians for you!

Raul: He's very sarcastic when you refuse to fight. Big surprise, right? "Oh yeah, boss. Run from the big bad giant ant. Leave the old man to clean up this mess." He understands your philosophy, but he's been here a lot longer than you. It's just not realistic in his opinion. He then sees your skills and understands how you've made it this far. Your repairing skills impress even him. If you let him fight, he does NOT enjoy fighting alone. "Sure, boss. Let the rotting ghoul fight alone. Great idea." If you don't let him fight, that's fine he guesses. Just don't come crying to him when a limb gets blown off! Still, you are pretty good at medicine, so maybe you could just sew it back on.

Veronica: "Oh wow! There's no one like you in the Brotherhood!" You can't decide if that's a compliment or not... she's more curious about your way of thinking than angry or annoyed. It makes her a little nervous. Your luck can't run deep enough that you just... don't fight, right? Then she sees your other skills and understands how you get by. Your skills with medicine, repairing, etc. Is almost unmatched. So if you let her fight, her combat and your other skills make for a great team! If you don't want her to fight, she'll be a but upset since she's good at it. But this will be a learning opportunity at least.

ED-E: If you leave all the fighting to him, he will be sure to take care of what he can. If you want him to not fight at all, you get a few confused beeps when you initiate the protocol. But ED-E of course follows your lead. Just be sure not to get hurt, that will get plenty of sad beeps :(

Rex: Doesn't like it >:( if something hurts you then you should hurt them back! He will absolutely step in to protect you if you let him. If you tell him not to fight, he will pout and growl but do as told. You always seem to get out of bad situations, so he supposes it's okay.

[millepara]

arcade update:

prichan and pripara are gone now, but they haven’t rearranged the space or added more primagis (my wistful but unlikely hope) so they’re just slightly farther apart while still somehow feeling like they’re on top of each other.

what they have done is taken one primagi and made it be out of service. they usually do this when they’re planning to move stuff around and haven’t gotten to it yet, so whatever. but of all of the primagi recorders that cabinet had the one that worked best :( today I tried a bunch of times to get a vid of the new mychara song VIVImajicarat☆STAR

which is on the Vivid Star stage and which is my fav of the 3 arcade-only songs but they all failed within seconds..... it’s possibly my usb so I’ll bring more than 1 next time, but another thing that is true is that all of the recorder remotes are absolutely fucked, like the box refuses to recognize the signal from it. I’ve never had a problem w the remotes till primagi so idk if they’ve gotten old or if the primagic is interfering w the technology or my personal suspicion, if they’ve needed new batteries for months but the staff doesn’t check the recorder in the routine game checks. what if I just bring batteries the next time I go and change them lol (I will not do this)

anyway repeated recording failures really killed my motivation to play a ton of primagi like I planned, so I played a ton of aipura!! for literally the first time this year, the first time in months!! definitely the first time since primagi came out. things I was reminded of abt it:

oh god the loading times are still so long. I completed a full news article every time it tried to read my idol license.

touch screen!!!🎶☀️💡♪💖( ＾ω＾)✨🌈👆🎵 totally forgot how much fun it is to play the rhythm game w it!

even when I know there is no possible way I will fail dress change, I still stress about it every time ugh

and some new thoughts:

after playing primagi I found myself thinking ‘wow this is cheap’ because I didn’t buy any swings so my games were 100円 lmao... how the turn tables

though I was also impossibly more disillusioned w the coord & song offerings than I was pre-primagi (usual disclaimer that this is not a judgement on people who like them, people like different things and that’s good and ok, etc)

I tried the real time battle mode once... on accident bc they updated the menu by removing all of the text from it lmao!! I won (though I think it was actually vs the computer bc it was a weird time to be in the arcade) but it was still anxiety-inducing. ‘what abt it was anxiety-inducing’ idk the thought of the possible presence of a person somewhere else in the country onto whom I was forcing the imposition of having to be made aware of my existence. I guess. this is my curse and also why I can never play mmorpgs no matter how fun they look

distance from my initial impression of Never Never/Shubidubi Swing + playing them in the game did improve them, though I still don’t love either... Paralela World is def the only Lab song I enjoy

but the biggest thing was my immense relief at how the tiny little bug of a recorder attached to planet never gives you any problems. you just press a button to start and press it again to stop and that’s IT. I mean I haven’t checked the vids yet so maybe they’re all scrambled but no error message that blocks the whole screen and that the non-functioning remote prevents you from dispelling popped up so afaic it did a perfect job.

[wishing4nuclearwinter]

1-3 for Sol and Arcade :3

1. How did they first meet?

It was a pretty standard case of “Courier Six sees funny doctor man and uses low intelligence skill check to convince him to come along”. Granted, Sol does not have low int, but it was just that he couldn’t manage to string his words together properly and Arcade misinterpreted it. In hindsight, he does feel bad and embarrassed about being like “wow… you sound like you really do need some help”. Sol very briefly considered just. walking out of the Fort and never coming back after that, but obviously he didn’t

2. How did they get together?

Painfully slowly. I have been playing with the timeline a bit and I’m thinking it is at least several months post-canon before they get together in a romantic sense. Sol has a lot of stuff to work through and deal with (both in general and regarding past relationships) and he also takes a long time to develop non-platonic feelings. Arcade meanwhile has been sitting in the corner silently pining for months. Eventually they kiss and Sol has to take a while to try to understand his own emotions (and I’d say that he didn’t fully develop romantic feelings for Arcade until after they kissed. The beginnings of it were there, but they could have just as easily ended up in a platonic partnership had Arcade not been attracted to him).

Regardless, they took it pretty slow at first and Arcade took Sol on a nice date (or several) for dinner and watching the sunset while trying to help him figure out his own feelings. But as soon as Sol realized that he really did want to be with Arcade, he fell hard and fast

3. Who kissed who first?

Arcade technically, but it was a group effort lol. They were joking around at the Lucky 38 and Arcade took Sol’s Pip-Boy and was holding it over his head while they sat on the rec room couch. In Sol’s attempt to get it back he basically ended up in Arcade lap and they were both like 😳

In a spur of the moment thing, without thinking Arcade asked if he could kiss him and Sol obviously said yes. Queue a tentative kiss, a slightly longer and more passionate kiss, then Sol fleeing into his bedroom to be like “huh? what the hell just happened????”

[gio-is-writing]

Hiiii! May I request Rohan with a sweet and kind caring, goofy, affectionate s/o that is super badass when needed to be and Josuke and Okayasu are all like?!?!?! This doesn’t make sense! Thank you in advance!

REQUEST: Hiiii! May I request Rohan with a sweet and kind caring, goofy, affectionate s/o that is super badass when needed to be and Josuke and Okayasu are all like?!?!?! This doesn’t make sense! Thank you in advance!

i love writing for rohan so much plus we are celebrating that my rohan figure finally arrived!! Hope you like it!!💞

Pairing: Kishibe Rohan x Female Reader (also some platonic duwang gang x reader)

Warnings: a few swear words

MISMATCHED

Koichi knocked on the mangaka house door waiting for him to open, Rohan had been caing him non stop for him to visit and help him out with a few ideas he had for his manga and of course Koichi, though a little annoyed at the insistence, was happy to help. The silver haired was about to knock again when the door suddenly opened to reveal a young woman holding it.

“Hello, how can I help you?” she said smiling down at him

“I-I...”

“Are you here to see Rohan?”

“Y-yeah”

“Come on in!” she opened the door all the way to let him walk past “Would you like something to drink?”

“Oh, a glass of water would be fine”

She closed the door and invited him to join her in the kitchen. Koichi sat in one of the chairs and watched as she moved around to serve him what he asked. He has been to Rohan’s house just a few times before but he had never seen this woman around, he was sure Rohan lived alone!

Just as she placed the glass in front of him another more recognizable voice was heard.

“Koichi-kun!”

“Rohan-sensei!”

“I’ve seen you met my lovely girlfriend” he smirked in his direction standing beside the young woman with now blushing cheeks “This is (Y/N), (Y/N) this is Koichi”

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you Koichi-kun!” she bowed slightly and he did the same

“Nice to meet you too (Y/N)-san”

“Well” Rohan spoke up again while almost dragging Koichi up the stairs “We’ll be upstairs, don’t interrupt”

“Nope!”

After a few hours Koichi left (not before thanking (Y/N) for her hospitality) and they were left alone again. (Y/N) was making dinner when he walked back into the kitchen.

“He is cute” she said after a few minutes

“What do you mean he is cute?” he frowned

“I mean he is tiny cute”

“Meh, I like him”

She placed a plate with food in front of him before turning to serve herself the sitting down to eat as usual. Rohan ate in silence while she glanced at him with a hidden smile.

“It’s nice that you have a friend”

“He is n-“

“You should invite him more often!”

“...I probably should”

— • —

Josuke and Okuyasu had the idea of going to the local arcade after school, summer was almost around the corner and people where walking everywhere. The trio walked past the local market when they heard a loud noise and a hiss.

“Let go of me you crazy bitch!”

On the ground was a greasy looking man holding what seemed to be his bleeding nose with one hand while the other was pinned down to the concrete by a heel and a woman standing over it.

“Next time think twice before trying to grab someone’s else stuff”

That voice sounded too familiar to Koichi, but the person was wearing a summer hat that blocked their face while holding a brown bag filled with groceries. The teenagers stood still and almost in shock as they watched the scene, the woman released his arm and he scurried off quickly. She turned around just in time to meet their eyes.

“Koichi-kun what a coincidence!”

“H-hello (Y/N)-san!” he quickly answered “Need any help?”

“Oh no no, I’ve taken care of it” she giggled while adjusting the bag in her hip

“Looks like it”

“How you been, you haven’t been around the house!”

“I’ve been pretty busy with school and all that”

“I’m sure you are”

Koichi was left a blushing mess in the hands of a caring woman. (Y/N) was really beautiful no one could deny that and her sweet nature was the icing on the cake. A fake cough was heard and Koichi was reminded of his friends standing just a couple of feet away.

“Oh! (Y/N)-san these are Josuke and Okuyasu, my friends” He introduced “Guys this is (Y/N)-san, Rohan-sensei’s girlfriend”

“Hello boys, pleasure to meet you!”

“The pleasure is all ours miss”

Josuke and Okuyasu both bowed to their senior as she showed the brighted smile they had ever seen.

“Who knew an asshole like him could get a girl like you” Josuke thought outloud and was met with a elbow meeting his ribs by his best friend “Sorry...”

“Haha!” she laughed and dismissed him with her hand “he tends to be a little mean, doesn’t he?”

“Y-yeah...”

“Well boys, I must get home” she waved turning back to the street “I’ll see you around!”

“Goodbye (Y/N)!” the three boys answered

As she walked away, the teenagers were left wide eyed. Was THAT Rohan’s girlfriend?

“What in the world...” the tallest whispered

“I told you!” Koichi was quick to point out

“Why are these men getting the best girls?!” Okuyasu cried out

— • —

Summer was hitting Morioh like a truck, the sun was harsh and walking home from school was a torture. Josuke and Okuyasu walked along the sidewalk almost panting, Koichi had been snatched away by Yukako so it was just the two of them. (Y/N) was outside the mangaka’s house watering some plants when they walked past noticing their state.

“Hello boys!”

“(Y-Y/N)-san!”

“Where are you heading?” she shut the hose off and approached them with a hand on her hips

“We were on our way to get some drinks...”

“Oh! I made some lemonade not long ago” she remembered “would you like to try it?”

“Sure, we’d love to!” Okuyasu was quick to answer

(Y/N) smiled widely and guided them into the house. Josuke was a little wary of Rohan being there but his attention was back on her when she spoke up.

“This heat is insane, isn’t it?”

“It is haha”

Both teens sat on the table while she moved to fetch the glasses and pour some cool lemonade and a few ice cubes. Turning with a smile she placed both glasses on the table.

“Here you go!”

Josuke and Okuyasu thanked her and gulped down their drinks earning a giggle from her. They finished their glasses in record time and smiled relieved.

“Wow it’s really good!” Okuyasu complimented

“Very refreshing!” followed Josuke

“Thank you!” she sat with a glass of her own “The lemons are from a tree both Rohan and I planted a few months back”

They had a relaxed conversation while still drinking, they felt much more refreshed. It almost felt like they would pass out out there.

“What are you doing in my house?”

That voice, Josuke frowned turning to the door frame where Rohan stood with his arms crossed.

“Rohan!” she greeted “I invited them in to cool down a little”

The green haired scoffed “They can burn for all I know”

“Tch... asshole.”

Okuyasu and (Y/N) shared a look at the sudden tense atmosphere between Josuke and her boyfriend.

“Well (Y/N)-san, I think is time we leave” Okuyasu was quick to say standing up.

“Alright boys, I’ll walk you out”

(Y/N) walked past Rohan glare and was followed by the two boys. She opened the door wide and they walked past her turning around on the little stairs of the deck.

“Thank you so much for the lemonade!”

“I’m glad you liked it, feel free to stop by anytime”

“We doubt your boyfriend would like that” Josuke added still bitter from the interection.

“Meh, he is a big grump” again she smiled widely “plus, this is my house too!”

“Then we’ll take your offer into consideration” he responded relaxing and smiling too

“Good bye (Y/N)-san!” they both said walking along the sidewalk

“See you!”

(Y/N) walked back inside and closed the door under her boyfriend’s annoyed gaze.

“Of all people you had to invite them in”

“Aw come on Rohan” she whined walking up to him “Summer can be really harsh on teenage boys”

“I don’t care about how summer treats them” he scoffed turning his head

“You are a meanie”

She wrapped her arms around his waist in a hug resting her head on his puffed out chest. He looked down and sighed, wrapping his own arms around her.

“And you’re just too good”

“Are you done working?” she asked looking up at him without breaking the hug “Can we watch a movie?”

“Sure” he simply answered

“Good!”

(Y/N) let go of him running to the couch to set everything up. Rohan groaned but was happy to finally be alone with her, no annoying teenagers to interrupt their day. He sat down and she cuddled up to his side, his arm wrapping around her shoulder.

“I love you Rohan”

“I love you too (Y/N)”

He kissed her forehead and turned to the TV

[pagingevilspawn]

Loving You Is A Losing Game- chapter seven

i actually hate this, so ew. but i’ve forgotten that i write, so i’ll try to type some stuff up tomorrow! regardless, i hope everyone enjoys! click here to read on ao3. 

TW// domestic abuse

~*~

"small town boy in a big arcade. i got addicted to a losing game."

~*~

alexandra: you do realize how crazy that sounds right?

joseph: it's not crazy at all if you ask me.

alexandra: jo, asking for lollipops for your christmas present sounds very crazy to me.

and christmas isn't for like, a while.

joseph: dude, christmas is in two weeks and one day

and plus, i'm settling on lollipops. what i really want is a pony, a shiny, pretty one with rainbow hair, you know those? that's my dream right there

alexandra: oh crap really?

yeah yeah, ha ha. laughing so much right now.

joseph: hate to break it to you, but it's the 10th alex.

and i know, what a shame i wont be able to have my pony. it was at the top of my list this year

next to an ice cream sundae the size of manhattan, obviously.

alexandra: very funny. can't you tell how much i'm laughing.

crap, got to go, robbins is letting me in on an esophageal atresia on a newborn. i'm her favorite you know.

joseph: ugh, lucky.

make sure to kick ass and not kill anyone. that would suck. 

actually... your big head could use some ego deflating. make sure robbins has to save you halfway through. maybe then you'll earn some humility.  

alexandra: wow, you're such great help. so nice too.

joseph: you know it ;)

she turns off her phone, a small smile on her face as she looks out the window, passing by houses that all looked exactly alike; white exteriors with a bright green lawn. the only thing that could help someone tell them apart was the door colors. her and paul had just come back from a dinner with some of his coworkers, but he wasn't talking to her so she decided to text alex. the silence in the car was tense, though she was unable to grasp the reason why.

they'd been texting non-stop since the conference three weeks ago, talking about each other's days, complaining about annoying coworkers and classmates. they really enjoyed having a friend they could just talk to because they felt like it. it was refreshing. they'd never had anyone like that before. in the past they had friends that they felt comfortable around, but it was different when you had someone who understood you so well. not to mention, being able to make self deprecating jokes about their crappy childhoods and receive a laugh in response was so much nicer than the pity stares they were both so used to getting,

she snaps back to reality at the sound of the engine turning off, cutting the music as the expensive car door opens. she sees paul angrily walk out of the car, slamming the door behind him, not stopping by her side of the car to open the door for her like he normally did. (she was actually thankful for that. she was a grown women, she could open a damn door herself)

weird, she thinks, but decides not to question it. her husband had been a bit more moody and temperamental lately, so she supposed it was just that. but the dinner seemed to go really good in her opinion. she got along with his colleagues and paul certainly enjoyed himself, getting to be around all his coworkers and interact freely. she liked to think that his colleagues liked her as well. they complimented her all evening and included her in all of their conversations. though, she did wish that they would've referred to her by her name more, rather than 'mrs. stalder' or 'paul's wife.'

she gets out of the passenger side and shuts the door behind her, walking up to the steps after she hears that paul had locked the car. she places the small clutch she had on the entry table and walks to the kitchen, seeing paul sitting at the kitchen island, nothing in front of him except tea that he had heated up in the minute or so he'e been in there. she kisses his cheek and starts talking, knowing that it would probably help calm whatever he was feeling.

she gives him a smile, rubbing his shoulder affectionately. "it seemed like the dinner went really well, all of your coworkers are super nice and-"

"you talked to steven too much." he cuts her off, sending an icy glare her way, and look she had never seen on him before shining darkly in his eyes.

she cocks her head to the side, "huh?"

he stands up from his place abruptly, making her jump back slightly. "i said," he spits out, eyes narrowing as he stares her down "you talked to steven too much."

she lets out a loud laugh, thinking that he was just joking around and messing with her. at any second he was going to join her giggling, ignoring the way his eyes had only seemed to darken the second the sounds had escaped her mouth."oh, that's funny." she says in between laughs, eyes shining with childish glee. "jesus you really scared m-"

pain.

her words get cut off by a fist coming directly into contact with her face. she feels the stinging sensation burn from her eye to her cheek, her brown eyes watering with tears as she realizes what had just happened. she lifts a palm up to touch it protectively, almost making it seem like it was more real if she touched it.

oh god, it hurt. it hurt like hell. his gold wedding band adding to the impact was sure to leave a scar by the corner of her eye. she'd been punched before, multiple times actually by foster parents and girls while she was in high school, but this hurt so much more. it was so much harder than she'd ever been hit before.

her husband just hit her.

"oh brooke, baby." paul says, taking her into his arms and brushing her hair back immediately, trying to get her to relax into his embrace. "i just got so mad. you just made me so mad brooke. you can't make me mad like that" he tells her, eyes dripping with some kind of emotion she can't place as he places light kisses on top of her sea of brown curls, ignoring the way the way she stood stiffly in his arms, a few lone tears making it's way down her cheeks.  

"i love you. you know that brooke" he whispers, wiping the tears from her face, his hands feeling usually rough against her skin, his touch not easing over the bruise that hard already begun to form.

she nods. it was okay. he loved her. he didn't mean it. he just got angry. it was okay. it was fine. he loved her, it was okay.

she thought she probably deserved it. after all she'd cheated on her husband just three weeks before, and had continued to keep in contact with the man she had cheated with. it was only karma.  

"i'm sorry paul." she apologizes sincerely as he cups her face in his hands, giving her a sweet smile. it wasn't his fault. it was hers.  

"it just better not happen again." he states, eyes burning into hers intently, his grip on her face tightening without her even realizing it. all she really felt was numb, as if all of her senses had seemingly shut down to avoid dealing with the pain that was spreading throughout the side of her face.

she nods her head up and down as she pulls her back into him. "i'm sorry" she whispers into his chest.

he smiled.

and that's when he knew he had her.

____

alex finished scrubbing out of a surgery, shaking off the excess water on his hands, grinning internally. it was always so much better when he was able to help save a kid. the success was just that much more fulfilling. he's about to push the door open when it swings in itself, making him come face to face with cristina, the expression she was wearing was more worried looking than he'd seen in a long time. he'd known yang for a while know, and he knew whatever was about to come out of her mouth would be bad. cristina yang was never worried.

"what do you want yang?" he asks, noting how she had her hands crossed over her chest and was avoiding his gaze.

"there's a merger happening." she says, looking up to meet his eyes to let him know that she was serious.

his narrows his eyes, scrunching up his nose. "what?" he questions. a merger? as in, combing two hospitals into one?  

"you just missed the announcement. apparently we're merging with mercy west." the raven head repeats, a slight trace of fear in her voice, a very unusual thing for cristina yang.

he lets out a deep breath, tugging his scrub cap off and running a hand through his hair as he leans over the scrub sink, gripping it so tightly his knuckles begin to turn white. "i can't loose this job yang." he says to her softly, making her nod in agreement.

"you and me both." with that she walks out of the room, alex not far behind her, both of the surgeons heading up to the resident's lounge to change, which was filled to the brim with chatter, all of the doctors talking about the newest topic, the merger.

meredith sits down next to him, slipping a long sleeved purple shirt over her head when she casts a glance to alex, who was sitting still looking down at his phone's empty screen, seemingly deep in thought, almost as if he was waiting for something to magically appear on it.

the blonde nudges him, snapping him out of his trance. alex sighs, resting his elbows on his knees as he buries his head in his hands. "what am i gonna do about iz?" he asks her, judging by her face that she was drawing a blank, much like him.

jesus, this was great. these past few weeks he had hardy been able to look his wife in the eye, because every time he saw her he was reminded that he slept with someone else. not to mention, he was just texting that certain someone just a few hours ago. he was really screwed. izzie had currently been home on bedrest, not being allowed to return to work until two weeks from now, which apparently would also be when the mercy westers would turn up. fucking great. he felt as if the universe was rallying against him at this point, no matter how much he knew that wasn't possible. he dug his own grave, it was just a matter of time before he would need to lay in it.

"she'll be okay." meredith reassures him, but he can tell by the look on her face that she was unsure as well. who knew would end up getting cut? they would need to pull their heads out of their asses and prove that they deserved to stay. none of them could lose their spot. not only because of their job, but also because of the people there. they were a family. they couldn't lose any more of their family. they'd just lost george, and they couldn't lose another.

"evil spawn, put on a shirt!" cristina yells, balling up a shirt from his locker and throwing it at him, hitting him square in the chest as he glares at her. he pulls on the shirt silently and heads out, not bothering to say goodbye to anybody as he leaves the lounge and heads straight to joe's across the street.

he slides onto a barstool, ordering a beer and thanking the bartender with a slight nod of his head. how was he supposed to tell izzie about the merger? he knew that if his wife knew, she would want to return to work immediately, but he knew she couldn't do that. she was still getting her strength back, and standing around on her feet all day surely would delay the healing process. he couldn't risk her getting hurt because he wasn't able to stop her.

he'd done enough recently, even if izzie didn't know about most of it. the last thing he needed was to cause his wife more harm than he already had.

he was going to tell her, he knew that, just not right now. right now he was going to sit on this uncomfortable wooden bar stool and drink his beer and forget he had any problems. he was going to forget about the merger, he was going to forget about him and izzie going at it twenty-four seven, and he was definitely going to forget about the brunette with a fake name who seemed to be on his mind all the time.

he was just going to forget everything, his only focus being his beer and the football game on the small television above the bar. yeah, that sounded like a good idea. a really good idea.

____

okay, so he forgot about two out of those three things.

he was actually doing pretty good for a while, almost a full hour with nearly a beer and a half finished. all he had been focused on was the seahawks playing against the steelers, with the steelers crushing the seattle team thirty-four to seven. not much of a surprise though, he couldn't remember the last time he'd witnessed the seahawks win. it wasn't that they were a completely crap team, it was simply the fact that one; the steelers were much better this year, and two; he hardly ever got enough time to sit down and watch a game. being a resident drained the life out of him, especially since he had finally knew that he wanted to specialize in peds. when he wasn't at the hospital he was reading up new medical procedures in magazines, or occasionally sneaking over to meredith's to watch old ellis grey tapes.  

he was doing really... until he got a text message from jo.

joseph: how was your surgery?

alexandra: wow, you must be bored.

joseph: ...

what makes you say that?

alexandra: really?

joseph: i'm in med school, thank you very much. i have a severe interest in your surgeries. 

alexandra: mhm, sure.

joseph: fine, i'm bored. entertain me. please.

alexandra: that sounds vaguely dirty.

joseph: oh great. how drunk are you?

alexandra: what makes you say that?

haha, two can play that game.

joseph: i'm guessing two beers in?

alexandra: shut up, only one and a half.

joseph: mhm, wasn't too far off

but seriously. i'm bored and am in need of anything remotely interesting. you just scrubbed in on a super cool surgery, i want details

alexandra: fine, baby maria duboir, two weeks old, robbins let me lead the procedure about half way through, coded once, we then shocked her at 150, and now she is stable and in the NICU.

happy?

joseph: yes. very much so

although i do think your OR stories need work

you sound like you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about

alexandra

wow. you're a real delight you know that?

joseph: oh, believe me, i know. don't even get me started on how many times people have complimented how freaking amazing i am

it's quite a common occurrence.  

if i had a dollar for every time someone said that to me, i'd be living on my own private island

alexandra: i bet you would.

seriously though, tell me something. i've got nothing better to do than watch the seahawks get crushed.

joseph: i'm guessing that's sports talk, so i'm just gonna ignore that, since it hate any sport where men look like giant block of cheese, run around a court, or just run in general.

but today's been boring. went to a dinner tonight. fancy stuck-up rich people who laugh with posh accents and sip their champagne way too slowly

fucking turtles.

alexandra: sounds fun.

joseph: you suck. i can literally hear the sarcasm through the phone asshole

alexandra: that's the point. i'll take a sick kid over fancy dinner any day.

crap, that sounded really horrible didn't it?

joseph: it really did

"i'll take a sick kid over a fancy dinner any day" real charming if you ask me. night in shining amour.

alexandra

yeah yeah you know what i mean.

____

they're not sure how long they end up talking for, alex siting at joe's bar and jo lounging on the couch in her living room while her husband was in his study going over and grading tests for one of his classes. before either one of them even know it, it gets to be twelve thirty boston time and nine thirty in seattle. alex's texts had gotten much harder to read, which made sense, considering he was now on his third beer.

jo teased him about it though, finding it more enjoyable than she would've guessed to text a drunk alex than a sober one. he seemed to get increasingly flirtier the tipsier he got. not to mention, all the spelling mistakes he made was definitely one for the books. she had a feeling that it was getting a but harder for him to see which letters where which, considering a few b's were located where there should be d's, and 'm' where they should be an 'n'

alex knows for a fact he's earning many stares from fellow people at the bar because of how much he's laughing (loudly too), but he doesn't really care. if he's gonna laugh, he's gonna laugh. all he could really focus on was the fluorescent lights hanging from the bar's wood ceiling and the frankly hilarious texts coming through his phone. (okay, so they weren't that funny, but everything is always a lot more funny when you're drunk)

jo was thoroughly enjoying herself, laughing more and more as she sank into the couch, completely forgetting about the bruise on her left cheek as she typed away, grinning from ear to ear when the man on the other side responded, words misspelt and random numbers and semicolons popping up from time to time.

they knew that what they had done was wrong. they knew that what they were doing was wrong. but they couldn't stop.

if only they had stopped sooner.

[welcome-to-green-hills]

I’ve been a longtime follower of your blog! I love it! First time asked. I remember you telling us that you take inspiration of the timely town you’re in for your blog. How much of that is used for your AU?

Oh, man! That was a long time ago I’ve said that! That was around the time that I started this blog! Wow, I feel like I need to give year-long followers a golden star or something!✨

As for your question, when I do go in-depth with the events here, at least 60% of it is inspired from my tiny town:

A while ago Sonic talked about the Scout, a Non-Binary cowboy that rides a horse around town. That’s an actual person in my town—but their name isn’t “Scout.”

There is a comic book/arcade in town with an old jukebox that plays stuff from the 80’s—and you can get food there as well.

We have a person in town that never wears shoes, dresses in tie-dye, cut off short-shorts, long hair and a beard, and always hands out flowers to people when he says, “peace be with you.”

There actually is a lot of agricultural and art festivals in town.

A quarter movie theater and many mom-and-pop grocery store! The nearest Olive Garden is out of town, but there is a Target!

My town does have a forest/swamp in it, as well as many caves and places to hike uphill. You can get lost in the area if you’re not used to it.

There is a place like Jellee’s Donut shop in town. The owners can make many flavor that you think of and them some.

I don’t think that we have a Carl of the town, but we do have someone in town that tries to capture alligators and peacocks that wander around town. (Yes, alligators walk right up to you here. Don’t feed them, but sometimes you can chill with them. Just make sure to run in a zig-zag pattern if one chases you).

We do have sheriffs in town, but it feels like we always see the same two patrolling the town. And yes, they do act like Tom and Wade.

A lot of the things that Sonic says and acts like are things I’ve done as a kid.

I’m sure that there’s more to the AU that I’ve portrayed in my life, but I’m currently writing this in a rush before entering into my online class to take a test.😅✨

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #482

Top Ten Sega Games

So I read somewhere on the internet that in June it’s the thirtieth birthday of Sonic the Hedgehog (making him only a couple of months younger than my brother, which is weird). This is due to his debut game, the appropriately-titled Sonic the Hedgehog, being first released on June 23rd. As such – and because I do love a good Tenuous Link – I’ve decided to dedicate this week’s list to Sega (also there was that Sonic livestream and announcement of new games, so I remain shockingly relevant).

I’ve got a funny relationship with Sega, largely because I’ve got a funny relationship with last century’s consoles in general. As I’ve said before, I never had a console growing up, and never really felt the need for one; I came from a computing background, playing on other people’s Spectrums and Commodores before getting my own Amiga and, later, a PC. And I stuck with it, and that was fine. But it does mean that, generally speaking, I have next to zero nostalgia for any game that came out on a Nintendo or Sega console (or Sony, for that matter). I could chew your ear off about Dizzy, or point-and-click adventure games, or Team 17, or Sensible Software, or RTS games, or FPS games, or whatever; but all these weird-looking Japanese platform games, or strange, unfamiliar RPGs? No idea. In fact, I remember learning what “Metroidvania” meant about five years ago, and literally saying out loud, “oh, so it’s like Flashback, then,” because I’d never played a (2D) Metroid or Castlevania game. Turns out they meant games that were, using the old Amiga Action terminology, “Arcade Adventures”. Now it makes sense.

Despite all this, I did actually play a fair few Sega games, as my cousins had a Mega Drive. So I’d get to have a bash at a fair few of them after school or whatever. This meant that, for a while, I was actually more of a Sega fan than a Nintendo one, a situation that’s broadly flipped since Sega stopped making hardware and Nintendo continued its gaming dominance. What all of this means, when strung together, is that I have a good deal of affection for some of the classics of Sega’s 16-bit heyday, but I don’t have the breadth or depth of knowledge you’d see from someone who, well, actually owned a console before the original Xbox. Yeah, sure, there are lots of games I liked back then; and probably quite a few that I still have warm nostalgic feelings for, even if they’re maybe not actually very good (Altered Beast, for instance, which I’m reliably informed was – to coin a very early-nineties phrase – “pants”, despite my being fond of it at the time). Therefore this list is probably going to be quite eccentric when compared to other “Best of Sega” lists. Especially because in the last couple of decades Sega has become a publisher for a number of development studios all around the world, giving support and distribution to the makers of diverse (and historically non-console) franchises as Total War and Football Manager. These might not be the fast-moving blue sky games one associates with Sega, but as far as I’m concerned they’re a vital part of the company’s history as it moved away from its hardware failures (and the increasingly lacklustre Sonic franchise) and into new waters. And just as important, of course, are their arcade releases, back in the days when people actually went to arcades (you know, I have multi-format games magazines at my parents’ house that are so old they actually review arcade games. Yes, I know!).

So, happy birthday, Sonic, you big blue bugger, you. Sorry your company pooed itself on the home console front. Sorry a lot of your games over the past twenty years have been a bit disappointing. But in a funny way you helped define the nineties, something that I personally don’t feel Mario quite did. And your film is better than his, too.

Crazy Taxi (Arcade, 1999): a simple concept – drive customers to their destination in the time limit – combined with a beautiful, sunny, blue skied rendition of San Francisco, giving you a gorgeous cityscape (back when driving round an open city was a new thrill), filled with hills to bounce over and traffic to dodge. A real looker twenty years ago, but its stylised, simple graphics haven’t really dated, feeling fittingly retro rather than old-fashioned or clunky. One of those games that’s fiendishly difficult to master, but its central hook is so compelling you keep coming back for more.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Mega Drive, 1992): games have rarely felt faster, and even if the original Sonic’s opening stages are more iconic, overall I prefer the sequel. Sonic himself was one of those very-nineties characters who focused on a gentle, child-friendly form of “attitude”, and it bursts off the screen, his frown and impatient foot-tapping really selling it. the gameplay is sublime, the graphics still really pop, and the more complex stages contrast nicely with the pastoral opening. Plus it gave us Tails, the game industry’s own Jar Jar Binks, who I’ll always love because my cousin made me play as him all the time.

Medieval II: Total War (PC, 2006): I’ll be honest with you, this game is really the number one, I just feel weird listing “Best Sega Games” and then putting a fifteen-year-old PC strategy game at the top of the pile. But what can I say? I like turn-based PC strategy games, especially ones that let you go deep on genealogy and inter-familial relationships in medieval Europe. everyone knows the real-time 3D battles are cool – they made a whole TV show about them – but for me it’s the slow conquering of Europe that’s the highlight. Marrying off princesses, assassinating rivals, even going on ethically-dubious religious crusades… I just love it. I’ve not played many of the subsequent games in the franchise, but to be honest I like this setting so much I really just want them to make a third Medieval game.

Sega Rally Championship (Arcade, 1994): what, four games in and we’re back to racing? Well, Sega make good racing games I guess. And Sega Rally is just a really good racing game. Another one of those that was a graphical marvel on its release, it has a loose and freewheeling sense of fun and accessibility. Plus it was one of those games that revelled in its open blue skies, from an era when racing games in the arcades loved to dazzle you with spectacle – like when a helicopter swoops low over the tracks. I had a demo of this on PC, too, and I used to race that one course over and over again.

After Burner (Arcade, 1987): there are a lot of arcade games in this list, but when they’re as cool as After Burner, what can you do? This was a technological masterpiece back in the day: a huge cockpit that enveloped you as you sat in the pilot’s seat, joystick in hand. The whole rig moved as you flew the plane, and the graphics (gorgeous for their time) wowed you with their speed and the way the horizon shifted. I was, of course, utterly crap at it, and I seem to remember it was more expensive than most games, so my dad hated me going on it. But it was the kind of thrilling experience that seems harder to replicate nowadays.

Virtua Cop (Arcade, 1994): I used to love lightgun games in the nineties. This despite being utterly, ridiculously crap at them. I can’t aim; ask anyone. But they felt really cool and futuristic, and also you could wave a big gun around like you were RoboCop or something. Virtua Cop added to the fun with its cool 3D graphics. Whilst I’d argue Time Crisis was better, with a little paddle that let you take cover, Cop again leveraged those bright Sega colours to give us a beautiful primary-coloured depiction of excessive ultra-violence and mass death.

Two Point Hospital (PC, 2018): back once again to the point-and-clickers, with another PC game only nominally Sega. But I can’t ignore it. Taking what was best about Theme Hospital and updating it for the 21st Century, TPH is a darkly funny but enjoyably deep management sim, with cute chunky graphics and an easy-to-use interface (Daughter #1 is very fond of it). The console adaptations are good, too. I’d love to see where Two Point go next. Maybe to a theme park…?

Jet Set Radio Future (Xbox, 2002): I never had a Dreamcast. But I remember seeing the original Jet Set Radio – maybe on TV, maybe running on a demo pod in Toys ‘R’ Us or something – and being blown away. It was the first time I’d ever seen cel shading, and it was a revelation; just a beautiful technique that I didn’t think was possible, that made the game look like a living cartoon. Finally being able to play the sequel on my new Xbox was terrific, because the gameplay was excellent too: a fast-paced game of chaining together jumps and glides, in a city that was popping with colour and bursting with energy. Felt like playing a game made entirely of Skittles and Red Bull.

The Typing of the Dead (PC, 2000): The House of the Dead games were descendants of Virtua Cop’s lightgun blasting, but with zombies. Yeah, cool; I liked playing them at the arcades down at Teesside Park, in the Hollywood Bowl or the Showcase cinema. But playing this PC adaptation of the quirky typing-based spin-off was something else. A game where you defeat zombies by correctly typing “cow” or “bottle” or whatever as quickly as possible? A game that was simultaneously an educational typing instructor and also a zombie murder simulator? The fact that the characters are wearing Ghostbusters-style backpacks made of Dreamcast consoles and keyboards is just a seriously crazy detail, and the way the typing was integrated into the gameplay – harder enemies had longer words, for instance – was very well done. A bonkers mini-masterpiece.

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 (Switch, 2019): the very fact that erstwhile cultural enemies Mario and Sonic would ever share a game at all is the stuff of addled mid-nineties fever dreams; like Downey’s Tony Stark sharing the screen with Bale’s Batman (or Affleck’s Batman, who the hell cares at this point). The main thing is, it’s still crazy to think about it, even if it’s just entirely ordinary for my kids, sitting their unaware of the Great Console Wars of the 1990s. Anyway, divorced of all that pan-universal gladhanding, the games are good fun, adapting the various Olympic sports with charm, making them easy-to-understand party games, often with motion control for the benefit of the youngs and the olds. I don’t remember playing earlier games extensively, but the soft-RPG trappings of the latest iteration are enjoyable, especially the retro-themed events and graphics. Earns a spot in my Top Ten for its historic nature, but it’s also thoroughly enjoyable in its own right.

Hey, wouldn’t it be funny if all those crazy internet rumours were actually true, and Microsoft did announce it was buying Sega this E3? This really would feel like a very timely and in some ways prescient list.

[urirealvibekiller]

♡   : ·  • this is an overall ship for @yunhoesss​​ with stray kids !! sahjhsk you are so pretty okay wow gorgeous angel and i’m so excited to write for you !! hope you enjoy this my chaotic sweetest bby <33

---------------

♡   : ·  • i ship you with...

han jisung !!

i’m sure you expected this ahaha <3

only 10% of me is influenced by the fact i know he’s your bias okay. the other 90% genuinely sees you guys as extremely compatible - bias or not.

firstly, just visually speaking, you would look so absolutely cute together oml. you’re both so good-looking, so adorable, yet also has this badass vibe (especially on stage while performing for jisung). 

both of you have quite round and soft features yet also look so different. overall, your visuals would look cohesive yet interesting and simply just very good-looking 

he’s very extroverted and loud and my instincts are seeing that at first, someone who seem a bit more shy or introverted would attract him because of the initial contrast in personalities. but honestly, i think in the long-term he would want a partner who can match up to his chaotic nature. that’s why i thought you would be perfect; a little bit of shyness to interest him but once you show the loud and crazy side of your personality to him - oh the boy will completely fall in love. 

i’m seeing this as one of those ‘best-friend’ relationships. you’re just extra, crazy, and chaotic together. you know, the kind that fist-bumps each other. 

but also i see this as the type of relationship filled with so much fun, understanding, and non-judgement yet there’d be such an immense amount of love, adoration, and respect for each other. 

he’s your personal cheerleader okay. when you’re having days when your self-esteem is on the lower side, expect this guy to always lift you up - both physically and emotionally. 

and on days when your self esteem is sky high? that’s good. expect this man to add to that even more. compliments left and right. but at some point he might act a little annoyed and might teasingly say things like he hyped you up too much and now you’re cocky. but genuinely he would rather see you like this than down okay. he soft and even softer for you. 

i see you guys going on lots of dessert dates especially ice-cream. also bowling dates, and arcade dates. playful battles and competitions at the arcade. a lot of cute play-fights and banters. but ultimately, he gives in. 

karaoke dates where he romantically (not) sings to you ballads in very funny voice on purpose. you would also just dance together and have fun. 

but he really does serenade you seriously-ish when you’re just lying down together late at night, too tired and lazy to do anything but too awake to sleep. 

also imagine amusement parks ! you guys would go to a lot of these fun places where you can play together - i see other members of stray kids tagging along too. you might be a little shy with them at first but with jisung’s help you warm up to them in no time. 

also so cuddly :(( lots and lots of hugs. cuddles. just a very playful and pure relationship okay i adore this. even when you have lazy dates where you stay in, there’s still going to be some activities like baking together or even pillow-fighting.

i think he would constantly be telling you cheesy pick-up lines and kinda stupid jokes. and you know those kinds of guys during movies when they point out a certain cute or ugly character and be like “that’s you” or pointing out characters in books/cartoons? yea he’s definitely one of those guys. 

also he would just love your short height ? he would find it so cute and he couldn’t help but want to tease you like holding stuff above your head and when you try to reach it up, he would just give you a peck akdjaskldsa smooth mf 

would give you a piggy-back 100% 

on more serious note, he’s such a good listener and he listens actively. if you ever feel sad or just down about anything, he’s possibly one of the best people out there to rant to - he would listen without any judgement and just make you feel heard and validated. 

the type to know when to cheer you up and when to just let you be sad and let it all out. 

this honestly makes me so soft :(( <3 

---------------

thank you for requesting bby and for your patience ! have a beautiful day/night <3

[murfeelee]

Cyberpunk Metropolis

My contribution to the Creator’s Cave theme for September: Urban.

Included are 22 items total. 13 are holograms, with different themes (Afrofuturism, Asian, and General), and sizes (2 storeys high, and 2, 4, or 6 tiles wide -- only one’s 1 storey high).

(The file names are a hot mess, so I might’ve thrown in unnecessary duplicates. Oops.) Found under Outdoor Lights and Wall Lights. Semi-recolorable, some with a plain variation included (IDER which ones though). I’m tired, ok, yeesh.

The rest of the .zip has a few random TS4 to TS3 conversions, to help decorate your futuristic city streets.

Included are 9 more items:

EA Atlas Sculpture as Misc Surface / Lawn Ornament

EA’s Arcade Machine - Invisible! (REQUIRES Late Night EP)

EA’s Arcade Machine - Invisible! (REQUIRES the Into the Future EP)

TS4 to TS3 SciFi Planter Rug (REQUIRES the Into the Future EP)

TS4 to TS3 City Living Billboard as Floor/Outdoor Light

TS4 to TS3 Console #3 as Decor; Screen as Floor Light

TS4 to TS3 Console #5 as Decor; Screen as Floor Light

The consoles have a visible and invisible variation, and are designed to make decorative Console #5 appear more functional.

The EA Atlas Sculpture as Misc Surface / Lawn Ornament is especially designed to hold up my Globe Hologram Light, uploaded here.

So, that’s that!

Download set (packages only) : SimFileShare | Mediafire

Descriptions & preview pics under the cut:

_______________________________________________________

Some of y’all may recognize this set from my Holograms Tutorial here. I hadn’t really intended to upload them, until I saw the winning theme for the month. Urban...metropolis...same difference. So I decided to just do a whole set fit for cyberpunk neon cities.

I had so many Holograms variations that I decided to split them into multiple files, with holograms of different themes (Afrofuturism, Asian, and General).

YES, there’s a variation for “Wakanda,” and “Cyberpunk” in Katakana.

And YES, there’s Grace Jones variations.

And YES, Janelle Monae’s included, too. Cuz she’s THE Arch-Android. 

[EDIT: 08/2021] Wow, I just realized that I never showed y’all all the different variations--I need adult supervision to remember these things, okay!?

Afrofuturism

Asian & General

The TS4 to TS3 Billboards are from City Living, so credit to @kandiraver-sims for extracting it here!

The TS4 to TS3 SciFi Planters, and Consoles #3 & #5 are all from Rumoruka-Raizon, who apparently deleted all their stuff?

HUGE shoutout to @mspoodle1 for helping me with the planters! :D

The Planters REQUIRE the ITF EP. They’re fully recolorable, and the monitors come in several non-recolorable variations.

The Console Bases are decor, and their hologram Screens are Floor Lights. To make Console #5 in particular appear “functional,“ use the MoveObjectsOn cheat to place the Invisible Arcade Machines.

The Swoop arcade REQUIRES the ITF EP. The Freezer Bunny arcade REQUIRES the Late Night EP. They’re all fully recolorable, found under Misc Electronics.

Last, and IMO least, is the Atlas Sculpture as Misc Surface. I resized it to fit my Hologram Globe here, with 3 decor slots on his neck.

I somehow effed up the texture of the sculpture though. I wanted it to be translucent, like glass or a hologram, but it didn’t turn out right. Oh well. I can’t be bothered.

_________________________________________________________

And that’s that!

Download set (packages only) : SimFileShare | Mediafire

[lovemesomesurveys]

What's your favorite accessory?:  I haven’t worn any in awhile. What is the last article of clothing you bought?:  A shirt I bought online. What does that article of clothing look like?:  It’s black and says “Keep your distance” on the upper left side and on the back in big letters it says, “Thank you for keeping your distance.” Which is better: candy necklaces or Ring Pops?:  Not a fan of either one, honestly. What's your favorite kind of soda?:  Coke or Dr. Pepper.

What program do you use to play your mp3s on?: I use Spotify on my phone for music. If you've taken the SATs (or PSATs/ACTs/etc), what was your score?: I never took them. How much wood can a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?:  A lot. Do you honestly care how much the woodchuck could chuck?:  Not at all. What time do you wake up every morning?:  More like late afternoon around 3ish :X What was the last movie you rented or bought?: We rented You Should Have Left on On Demand last month. Do you play Dance Dance Revolution?:  I never played that. I can’t. If so, what's your favorite song to play?: What do you think of the Kool-Aid man?:  I don’t think anything about it. Do you like Dane Cook (he's a comedian)?: I know who he is, but I’ve never really heard his stuff. Have you had a song in your head today? What is it?:  Not so far. Have you ever humped someone to greet them in school?:  Uh, no. I don’t greet people that way. Who would you rather have sex with: Prince or Billy Idol?:  Prince has passed away, but regardless I wouldn’t want to have sex with either one of them. What was the last concert you went to?:  Green Day back in 2009. What is the next concert you are going to?:  I don’t have any plans for one as of now. There aren’t any concerts right now anyway and who knows when there will be. What is your favorite board game?:  I just love board games. Do you think Jade Puget is really awesome?:  I had to Google who that was and while I am familiar with the band they were (are?) in, I don’t know who he is. What's your favorite punctuation mark?: Period. And that’s on periodt! ha. What foreign language do you take in school?:  I took Spanish all 4 years in high school and 1 semester in college. Have you ever read any of the Chronicles of Narnia series?: Nope. Do you hate Harry Potter as much as I do?:  I don’t hate Harry Potter. How many times have you seen the movies in the Star Wars series?:  Several times. What is your favorite anime?:  I don’t watch anime. Do you own a lava lamp? Blacklite? Fiber optic lamp?:  Nope to all the above. Do you write it as "favorite" or "favourite"?:  Favorite. How many bracelets do you own?: I don’t know exactly, but quite a few. How many bracelets are you wearing?:  None. What's your favorite flavor of Pocky?:  Chocolate banana.  What's your favorite way to wear your hair?: I just always throw it up in a bun. What brand of gum do you most often chew?:  I haven’t had gum in years, but I used to always get either Orbit, Stride, or 5 Gum. Do you believe in the Zodiac somewhat?: Nope. What's your Zodiac sign?:  Leo. What's your Chinese astrology sign?:  I don’t know. If you were to attend an art school, what subject would you major in?: I wouldn’t attend an art school. How old is your PC?:  I have the 2017 Macbook Air.  Do you have any 16-bit video game systems in your house? (ie Sega Genesis):  No. When was the last time you got some film developed?:  Uhh. I have no idea, it’s been several years. What was on that roll of film?: If you were to get a tattoo tomorrow, what would it be of?:  I’ve wanted to get ‘free bird’ for a long time. When you turn 18 (or already have), what did/will you do on your birthday?: I turned 18 13 years ago D: Anyway, I went out of town to one of my favorite cities with my parents, brother, and cousin and spent the day there. Can you use a hula hoop?: Nope. What is the longest distance you've ever walked?: Years ago a former friend and I went all over San Francisco by foot (er, by wheels for me). Do you wear eyeliner?:  When I wear makeup, yeah. I haven’t worn any makeup in like 3 years, though. Has anything been bothering you physically lately?:  Of course. Always. How about mentally?:  Always. Do you already have an idea of what you wanna do for college?:  I already went and graduated. What's your favorite kind of fruity candy?: I’m not a fan of fruity candy. How long do you think you could do jumping jacks non-stop?: I can’t do any. What do you usually use your tokens on at the arcade?: I haven’t been to an arcade in several years, but aren’t tokens just used for the games? What else would I use them on? What's your favorite kind of fruit?:  Bananas. What's your favorite kind of Coca-Cola or Pepsi (Vanilla, lemon, lime, etc.)?:  Regular Coke. What do you think of eyeball jewelry?:  Eyeball jewelry? What kind of deodorant do you use?:  Secret. The powder fresh one. Have you ever had a lemonade stand?: No. What's your favorite font?: Cambria, Georgia, Verdana, Tahoma, and Times New Roman. What size and color do you use with it?:  Typically just 12 and black, but it depends on what I’m doing. Like, I often do my Bible studies on Google Docs, so in that case I’ll switch up the font color. What's better: glitter or rhinestones? Rhinestones because they’re not a big, annoying mess like glitter is. Glitter is really pretty, though. If you were given a $50 gift card to an art store, what would you buy?: Some nice markers and pens.  Do you like taking pictures of yourself?: No. Are you fairly photogenic?:  I’m not at all. What was your first job?:  I haven’t had one. If you could have wings, what kind would they be (bird, insect, bat...)?: Omg I saw “if you could have wings” and instantly thought of chicken wings cause I’m hungry lmaoooo. Anyway, uhhh I guess I’d have bird wings. What do you order at your favorite fast food place?:  Depends which fast food place I go to, which would either be Chick-Fil-A, Jack in the Box, Taco Bell, or McDonald’s. What kind of sauce do you get with chicken nuggets?:  Ranch and BBQ. Do you like making sandcastles at the beach?: Nah. I like just chillin’ at the beach. If you had a tricycle/big wheel when you were a kid, what did it look like?: I didn’t. Did you have streamers in the handlebars of your bike?:  Would you put streamers on your bike now?:  I don’t have a bike. What is your favorite McDonald's toy you've ever had?: I used to love those mini Beanie Babies and Barbies they'd give you. <<< What was your favorite toy that you broke when you were a kid?:  I don’t recall. How do you like your hamburger?:  With cheese, mayo, mustard, ketchup, and pickles. What's your favorite kind of juice?:  I don’t like juice. What is your favorite belt you own?: I don’t own any belts. What is the most obscure thing you've found at a thrift store?: I don’t go thrift shopping. What's the weirdest thing you've seen while taking a walk?:  Uhhh. How often do you go for a walk?:  I don’t go on walks. What does your discman look like?:  Discman? Wow, this survey is really old.  What is your favorite kind of Pop Tarts?:  Frosted brown cinnamon sugar and frosted strawberry. When was the last time you colored in a coloring book?:  A couple months ago. If you were able to sell your soul to someone, how much would you charge?:  I wouldn’t do that for any amount. What would you buy with the money?: What instrument's sound makes you smile?:  I love the piano. Do you like to be tickled?:  No. Does tickling turn you on?: No.

What brand of condoms do you usually use?: I haven’t had to use any. What was the last CD you bought that you really liked?: I don’t even remember the last CD I bought. When was the last time you had a papercut?: Like a month ago, actually. Hurt like a mofo. I literally heard it slice through my finger D: Who's one person you absolutely hate and why?:  No one but myself. What makes you think a person is absolutely obnoxious?: If they’re arrogant, cocky, and rude. What was your favorite Pokemon?:  I liked Jigglypuff. Did you watch the Power Rangers when you were little?: Nah, I didn’t get into it. What's better: Ben and Jerry's or Dairy Queen?:  To be fair, I’ve only been to DQ like once and it was when I was a kid, so I can’t say for sure but I do like Ben & Jerry’s. If you could go over to someone's house right now, who's and why?: I wouldn’t. Are you good at playing ping-pong?:  Never played. Do you like to chew on things?:  I only like to chew food. What's a nervous habit of yours?: Picking at my nails. Do you like to paint your nails?:  I used to. It’s been a few years since I last painted them. Would you be able to fit in a kiddie pool?:  Yeah. What makes you giggle with glee?:  I don’t giggle with glee. When you read the comics in the paper, what do you go for first?: I haven’t done that since I was a kid, but I loved the Peanuts, Family Circus, Blondie, and Garfield comics.

[wirewitchviolet]

The Workification of Games

I like games. Quite a bit. Play them constantly. Used to review them for a living. I make them. I’m perpetually tempted to maybe stream them for a new living. But there’s so many times where I look at the stack of new games I haven’t started in on, or ones I’m presently in the middle of, and I just start groaning, because there’s this whole sense of obligation and drudgery and that’s not actually fun, so I avoid playing them. And we kinda need to talk about that.

We’ve had games that are secretly jobs for as long as we’ve had games that aren’t designed to be played in a single sitting, really. At the dawn of time, there was just arcade games. Classic arcade games had no real sense of progress to them. There’s a sense of ADVANCEMENT. You can get better at playing Centipede, and clear more boards, and see more palette swaps, but there’s no real end goal to it, and when you step away from the machine, you know you’re starting over from the beginning the next time you play. The only way there can be any sort of obligation is if you have some personal challenge you set for yourself, like getting to the top of the high score chart at your local arcade maybe. And that’s not something that takes constant effort, that’s just having one really good game one day.

Then later, we got relatively long-form console games. Super Mario Bros. has 32 levels. There’s an implicit goal that you need to plow through all 32 of those levels and save the princess. But still, like the personal high score challenge, any given time you sit down, either you complete the game, or you don’t. Next time you’re starting fresh. You’re taking that challenge on your own terms, whenever you want to, and while learning the game is kind of a thing, there’s no sense that you’re falling behind if you take a break for a while.

Later still, we got the first wave of games that are meant to take more than a sitting. Dragon Quest, Zelda, Metroid, Ultima. There’s still some end goal you’re working towards, but now the expectation is you aren’t just going to sit down and make it or not. You’re going to play the game a while, have some sense you’ve made some progress by gathering stuff or leveling up or whatever, get your password/save the game, and come back to keep chipping away. And hey, at the time, that was novel and cool and kinda made you feel good that you’re always advancing instead of starting from scratch.

RPGs then became kind of a thing. They got longer and more involved. There was a stretch where basically, every 5 years, the amount of time you had to sink into a single RPG to see the ending doubled, until they turned into these 80+ hour Commitments. It isn’t “today I think I’m going to sit down and play Xenogears before dinner.” It’s “this month I’m going to spend like 4 hours between getting home and making dinner playing Xenogears, should be finished by the 30th or so.” And hey, whoops! That’s a job now! In my own personal experience, that was literally a job. I spent some time reviewing games professionally. I was being paid by the article, and seeing the game through before reviewing it was a policy at that outlet, so, yeah. I had to sit down with these big 80 hour epics and slog through them, getting in as many hours as I could each day, just like some people had to go stand behind a counter flipping hamburgers or sit at a desk making phone calls. A full on job.

Now granted, at the time, it was mainly just RPGs that did that, and most people didn’t literally play them for a living. So OK you have your one big PROJECT of a game to slowly chip through and then everything else you’re playing is relatively light. Only relatively though, because hey, RPGs were the first genre to really get LONG, and took it to the greatest extremes, but damn near ALL games in the mid-90s could be counted on to have some main story-progression mode too long to be played in a single sitting, with save files to maintain your progress. And that PROGRESSION creep never went away. Super Mario Odyssey has somewhere around 1000 moons for you to go find before you can say you’re done. That’s a pretty sizeable commitment to plug away at.

And really, even around the late 90s, things were getting pretty bad. Game production started really picking up steam, so it went from “hey like 5 really great games came out this year” to “wow, there are 5 games coming out this month alone I want to play” and all of them are some sort of time commitment. So if that’s how you spend your time, not only is this game you’re playing making the demand that you sink 20-100 hours into it, there’s a stack of games piling up behind it and more on the way. You need to stay on the daily grind or you’ll fall behind and the unplayed stack is going to start getting taller. Gotta keep your head down and work towards that ending if you want to stay on top of new releases and not skip anything.

And then MMOs happened. WOW are those ever obligating! You’re not just buying a game, you’re paying for a subscription. And that means, really, any time you’re NOT spending playing the game, well that’s just throwing your money away. And the games want you to stay subscribed, so they have every incentive to keep you from ever feeling like you’re done, but still want you to feel like you’re getting somewhere. So we’ve got the slow slow grind of leveling up, like once every couple hours you sit there. And the long long quest chains. And the random loot drop based stuff to stall you out and buy more time to add more long quest chains. And oh, the SOCIAL obligations! You’ll have more fun and make more progress if you have a group! But everyone has other obligations in life, so this six hour block from 8 to 2 AM every night, you simply have to be logged in. Can’t do this raid without our best healer. It’s literally a job, but you pay for the privilege!

And that mindset spread. And people started actually researching howto take advantage of human psychology to make everyone feel even more obligated. Gotta have that PLAYER RETENTION. If you aren’t being incentivized to log in every day (here’s your daily log-in bonus!) you might drift away and start something else. You’re not going to stick around for any DLC or in-game purchases or whatever, where people make the real money. Better make it feel like you’re punished if you don’t maintain some minimum daily commitment, really.

And again. This started with RPGs, but it’s just everywhere now. Even games that should be light breezy things, where you just sit down for an hour, play a match, and you’re done, those come with daily log-in rewards and experience bars and stuff you need to unlock just as a matter of course. Can’t just sit down and shoot robots for an hour to relax, you have to be MAKING PROGRESS and working towards unlocking stuff. Gotta be a job. Gotta make it a commitment.

It’s awful. It’s draining. It keeps you from ever really relaxing and having fun, and developers have no real incentive at all to stop doing it, so it’s on us to start identifying it and saying no, and highlighting the games that don’t suck you in like that and you can just have fun.

The one game lately that devours the most of my time right now is Risk of Rain 2. Risk of Rain 2 is pretty damn great. There’s SOME sense of “there is progress still to be made here!” in the form of achievements/challenges left for me to tick off. A LITTLE of that is good, arguably. It rationalizes me playing it still if I can’t fully shake that weird urge to be “productive” with my leisure time, rather than “wasting it” on a game where I’m not advancing or unlocking anything, but the fundamental structure of it is this very arcade-y, somewhat rogue-adjacent game.

If I sit down and play Risk of Rain 2 for an hour, I’m not pushing any sort of progress bar up one damn bit. I’m just in the moment, playing me a quick run. I might have some goal I’m trying to hit with that run. Some little side challenge for an achievement, but whether I actually pull that off is really just going to come down to luck, and I know this probably isn’t going to be the run where I do it. If I do, cool. If I don’t, I’m still having this really intense frenetic little hour here where there’s the excitement of whether I’m going to do great or die quick and start from the beginning again. It’s like the old arcade experience. All I’m working towards is mastery so I can have some bragging rights, but really, I’m going to be as “far into finishing the game” after today’s little session as I was yesterday. Or a week ago. I’d say “or a month before that” but nah there was a big recent patch and I unlocked Acrid that day. Still, it’s just a fun, for its own sake, non-obligatory time. And I can play it with friends if I want to. But nobody falls behind if I play without them in any sense, just, hey, I have company to talk to tonight while I run around shooting space lizards.

And maybe Risk of Rain 2 is not your thing. You like slower paced games, maybe an old school feel? Well then might I suggest you look into the wide wonderful world of randomizers? Whatever your favorite game was 20-30 years ago, odds are surprisingly good that some entrepreneuring hacker in the last 3 years or so has gone and made either a quick little downloadable program, or a website, where you can take that old game, scramble it around, and get a fresh little remixed experience out of it. And this is all an offshoot from the speedrunning community too, so even i that game of yours used to be a big 20+ hour commitment the first time around, NOW there’s randomizer settings to trim out the fat and turn it into something where you’re basically guaranteed to be able to finish the whole thing in like 2-4 hours tops. If this is your first introduction to the concept, here, have a random let’s play to give you an idea how these things go. You get this nice mix of the comfortable and familiar, while still doing something new and exciting for the first time. There’s really no sense of long term obligation since it’s a single sitting thing. And if you finish or you feel stuck, cool, flush that ROM, generate a new one, and you can do it again.

There’s also something just very freeing about just going back to some old game that at one point DID have a big ol’ progress bar to fill up, but you did it and now you can play it without any real goal anymore. The Saints Row games are particularly great for this, because they have a little option to go replay old missions you’ve already done, and a lot of customizability options. So just, hey, load your old save up, give your character a fancy new makeover, switch to a wackier voice, and replay whatever part of the game you remember most fondly. Or crank the radio and drive around exploring the city. Whatever. Relax and enjoy it, it’s a game. It’s fun and relaxing.

As for everything else? All those JOBS you’ve accidentally installed on your hard drive or on your phone or on a shelf in a nice little row of cases? You need to think, really think. “Is this something I’m really enthused about the idea of PLAYING, or is this something I’m looking forward to being DONE WITH?” I mean, not all games that are jobs are miserable and unrewarding. I will crack open an Etrian Odyssey or something like a lobster and suck the meat out of every leg, drawing those maps and finishing those floors in such rough shape I barely make it back to town and have a good time doing it, and that’s fine. But I am SURE right this minute there’s at least one game that you’re playing because you want the closure of saying”hey, I played all the way through Metal Zone 6. Credits rolled.” Or there’s that one where you’re just logging in every day to “do your dailies.” Or some awful thing on your phone where you’re waiting for your action points to fill back up because there’s an Event going this weekend and it’s your only chance for that gacha pull that’ll give you the big boobed princess in her winter vacation alt costume or whatever.

And those are all terrible reasons to be playing a game! Screw it! Quit that soul sucking job! Uninstall it, take it off your mind, enjoy all the extra free time you just opened by doing something you actually enjoy! Real life doesn’t have some completion percentage and if it did, 100%ing every damn game in the world wouldn’t count towards 100%. Those things are just randomly generated side content that don’t count for progression. Which.... OK this is honestly the worst metaphor I could possibly be using, but the point is, games should be fun, not jobs. Don’t work jobs for no reason. That’s just an awful thing to do.

[lunawings]

King of Prism SSS episode 8 commentary (Yu)

So, in my opinion, I think the episodes we’ve seen up until now could be more or less enjoyed to the fullest by newcomers and/or people who haven’t seen Rainbow Live. 

But from here on out, there is a notable change. And I really mean from here on out: Episodes 8 - 12 basically require having seen Pretty Rhythm Rainbow Live to be fully understood I think. 

So if you watched this episode and thought wait.... why did they just skip over Yu’s backstory like that!?!

Two words: Rainbow Live. 

Anyway let’s get started.

I’m surprised the subber knew the correct spelling to ViviC Heart Session. That takes.... research!? ....Wait, it’s in the credits. Still, that’s some non-linear translation. 

Also I kinda wonder when and where ViviC Heart Session came from in canon. Yeah it’s the Pride the Hero ending, but there is a whole story on how they made and performed Dramatic Love for the Christmas concert, but nothing on ViviC Heart Session as far as I know. 

If you’re wondering why they’re all acting so weird, there have already been not one but TWO different story arcs in the Prism Rush Main Story about Yu ambitiously deciding to write songs and biting off way more than he could chew ahah.... 

They know. 

So this kinda dates this episode? Sort of? Despite the way it seems in episode 1, clearly the Prism One doesn’t take place right after it was announced ahah. 

The way Yu says this line makes me think it’s probably been a month or so already. 

So maybe it was announced in July-August (episode 1 takes place in “summer”), and happened in September-October, something like that?

So like literally JUST as I was thinking to myself “wow the subs have really gotten better in this episode....” THIS had to happen... How dare you translate Taiga’s “IT’S A FESTIVAL” as “party time”................

Oh well. Honestly though, aside from this, this episode has the best subs so far, BY FAR. 

Been wondering for months how they would sub MUGEN HABUUUUUU because I had no idea how I would do it myself ahah.

Although they don’t state it explicitly, it’s pretty clear this episode takes place in Okinawa. Among many other things, I think it’s the only place in Japan with habu. 

I may or may not have thought way too hard for too long about how Taiga and Kakeru ended up in this boat together. 

I mean I would like to think Taiga chose Kakeru as his partner in good faith that they could work well together. 

BUT KAKERU ISN’T EVEN ROWING COME ON 

HE’S JUST ENJOYING THE VIEW

THE VIEW BEING TAIGA IF YOU DIDN’T GET MY DRIFT

I suppose it could have been random pairs, but Shin and Leo also ended up together and that seems not random ahah. Speaking of which...

When I saw this episode for the first time I saw it as a 3-pack with Leo’s episode coming right before (the theatrical Part 3). So I had just gone though Leo’s episode for the first time and all the baggage that came with it less than 10 minutes earlier. 

And needless to say I was VERY MUCH NOT OVER IT AND EXPERIENCING VERY HIGH EMOTIONS ABOUT LEO

So during this scene I was like like

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO

MY SONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

SAVE HIMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM 

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

It actually took me until at least my second or third viewing to catch Kakeru trying to take a selfie with Taiga in the background there and I lost my shit. 

BTW I just want to mention that ViviC Heart Session was made for this episode. Well yes I know it wasn’t literally made for this episode, but it’s always sounded tropical for me and it just could not be more perfect.

I have been wondering for months what Taiga says here and I’m still not sure. (Not that I think this subtitle is wrong, but I mean I can’t make out the Japanese he uses. I just know folks in the theater laugh about it. Or they could just be laughing at Taiga’s method of escaping from Yu.)

Me at cheering: “IT’S SHIN. PICK UP.”

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO”

I wonder if like, they all got together and tried to figure out who Yu was least likely to hang up on.

But seriously though

WHO COULD EVER HANG UP ON SHIN

YOU MONSTER 

I said once that Jin was the best voicework in SSS, but Taiga man I dunno. Taiga is up there too. This scream is just so..... BRILLIANT..........

My reaction here changes from “OMG TAIGA ARE YOU OK” to just laughing hysterically. Sometimes in the same showing. Taiga I’m sorry. 

My new desktop background.

Seriously this episode is just SO BEAUTIFUL. 

Such a simple plot, but such amazing atmosphere and visuals that really take it SO MUCH FURTHER.

If I stopped to take screenshots of everything I thought looked amazing this post would never end. So just know I’m definitely thinking it. Just goddamn. 

For a long time I wondered how and why Minato found about about this.

But then I realized it actually makes a lot of sense.

So remember in my last post when I talked about my theory that Minato and Yu probably joined Edel Rose at the same time? Well, when Yu met Leo, basically the first thing he did was brag about knowing Over the Rainbow. So he probably did the same to Minato, and/or Minato just noticed him being way too friendly with Kouji. 

Considering Minato entered Edel Rose FOR KOUJI there is no way he wouldn’t notice that and wonder about it. 

So one day he probably worked up the courage to ask Kouji about it, and.....

Oh boy. 

BTW if you’re thinking huh? Yu’s family was separated? What? 

See: The Ito/Kouji plot in Rainbow Live. (And bring tissues.)

Just the comparison of how fast he picks up here. Even though the first thing he does is complain to her it’s like.... HALF A SECOND from when he sees it’s Ito to when he answers omg..... 

So I kinda questioned this subtitle here. Because the literal Japanese is just him saying “IT’S LATE!” 

So I always thought he meant it like “Do you know what time it is!?”

But then I thought about it some more. And I remembered the Rose Party 2018 event, where the voice actors played a game where they all decided new aspects of the characters. And one of the things that were tasked with deciding (at the afternoon performance I believe) was what Yu does every night before he goes to bed. And one of the answers was “discusses life problems with Ito”. 

So, maybe Ito does call Yu every night so he had been waiting on a call from her for a while.... 

And if so, in that context this subtitle is spot on. 

You win, Crunchyroll. 

Cheering audience: “THAT WAY”

Yu was so impressive Kakeru stopped taking pictures of Taiga for a full minute. 

DID I MENTION THIS EPISODE IS FUCKING BEAUTIFUL 

But so like. As soon as they started heading up the hill. Like practically from when they called his name, I was like..... Yu’s gonna cry. 

So then it was many long, long seconds of anticipation.....

until finally this.....

And I was not disappointed. 

Of all the beautiful things in this episode, I think the most beautiful thing may just be Yu’s crying animation here. He’s such a beautiful crier. 

I love this scene so much. It brings me so much joy. Because he’s not crying because he’s hurt or sad. 

He’s crying because he realized he has friends. 

HE’S CRYING BECAUSE HE HAS FRIENDS

YU

YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

You know, I didn’t even realize Taiga was hiding behind Kakeru until someone in the stream pointed it out.

Am I an asshole because this is Yu’s episode but most of my favorite moments involve Taiga/Kakeru. 

HUG HIM

HUG HIMMMMMM

OH MY GAWD I have NEVER so desperately wanted to reach through the screen and hug an anime character

Also Leo always cries when anyone else is crying. 

I spent so much time looking at Kakeru and Minato that I didn’t even realize Taiga too..... They’re BOTH sleeping on top of Minato omg.....

Also I can’t help but laugh that Leo is the big spoon on Shin. But it doesn’t surprise me. If you read Prism Rush stuff, Leo aggressively cuddling Shin in his sleep is nothing new.

Damn but. Okay so like, another way in which seeing this episode right after Leo’s influenced me is, during Leo’s episode I kept thinking about what PriPara coords were closest to the outfits that the boys were wearing and how I was totally gonna record arcade videos with them. 

And then we get to this and I was like OH MAN I can’t wait until that outfit comes out so I can put it on my character.... then I was like.... WAIT.....

And I realized this is basically the only idol anime I watch currently where I can’t have the clothes and I was like......... ahhhh.... not fair..........

Seriously though it is kind of odd. For me anyhow.

But also because they don’t have to worry about an arcade game for King of Prism, they have a lot more freedom. Like in a show like this, usually all the important coords that season will all uniformly have wings or holograms or otherwise follow some kind of a theme.

But with this it’s like... WHATEVER. Give Yu a huge floaty cross?? SURE WHY NOT!!!! ahah......

PRISM LIIIIVE

Okay so I know this animation is straight from Rainbow Live. 

But this lightning guitar here, it’s a recolor of Sara’s guitar from PriChan isn’t it?

And if it is, this’s the first/only specifically PriChan (not PriPara) reference I know of in SSS.

So I guess the Prism System doesn’t score Prism Lives for boys yet, huh....?

So one Prism Live + one jump = this. 

But I suppose you could also argue that although Yu’s show was super personal and meaningful to him, he really didn’t do much for the audience did he? (The in-universe audience I mean, as it did plenty for me haha.) It was a rather street-style show in that aspect when you think about it. 

Oh well, I guess no matter what someone has to be last................................

Ah man anyway this episode.

So when I saw it for the first time, it actually didn’t leave that much of an impression on me. But that’s because it was a bit overshadowed by how EXTREMELY EMOTIONALLY DISTRAUGHT I was from Leo’s episode, and then I ended up leaving the theater thinking about the um, surprise that’s gonna happen next week in Alexander’s episode. So this episode kinda fell by the wayside. 

I was actually kinda jealous of how much you guys in the stream were freaking out about it. It really made me wish I had the chance to see it independently without the influence of Leo and Alexander. There are definitely advantages to watching these week-to-week instead of in odd bunches. 

Because the more I watched it, the more I really REALLY liked it, and now I think it’s probably my third favorite character episode after Taiga’s and Leo’s. (Or maybe even second. I keep flip-flopping.)

I was also a bit blindsided by how this episode didn’t really follow the normal formula. Since they skipped over Yu’s backstory, they had time for other things. They had time for, dare I say it... “filler”? By that I mean, time to focus on just the boys being boys. Although it’s something we get a lot of on Prism Rush, I realized it’s something we have been severely lacking in the movies and anime. Another big difference between this series and typical Pretty Series/Aikatsu-type anime (other than not being able to have the coords......) is the lack of filler, and I realized how truly valuable it can be. This episode is just such a jewel. 

So in between last week and this week I picked up a magazine (spoon 2Di vol. 50) with director commentary, and this was the last episode he commented on. 

He said this episode is about Yu going through his “rebellious phase”, which he never had the chance to have when he was younger since his family split up during such an important part of his childhood and he felt he had to be strong for his mom and all that. 

So instead he goes through it with his Edel Rose family.

GAAAAAH

Probably my favorite thing about Yu is how we’re able to see him gradually grow and change more than any other character I think. 

Who would have though that little boy we met in Hokkaido would get this far......

So next up is Alexander’s episode and um....

You may have noticed me talking significantly less about that episode that I have about others. And there’s a reason for that. And it’s not because I have nothing to say about it......

The events in Alexander’s episode basically set off a continuity train until the end of the series. IMHO it doesn’t matter what order you watch episodes 2-8 in, but from here on out it’s definitely all connected. 

So basically what I’m trying to get at is.... um.... g..... get emotionally ready for some future cliffhangers. I’m sorry. 

Also, your last chance to properly prepare by watching Rainbow Live.... you won’t be disappointed, I promise.......