#now every new content has to be made for the like top 1% of players with maxed out trading capabilities or it's not 'hardcore' anymore

[a-shrieking-cloud-of-bats]

like I dunno I played borderlands 1 for like fifteen minutes and decided I did not want to do that shit but the idea that in a game with randomly generated loot, there is a theoretical best option, and as a result that best option is astronomically rare, I don’t know who is legitimately factoring in this astronomically rare theoretical best option into their actual practical builds

I think there are games that do this wrong (path of exile comes to mind) but they’re pretty far and few between

[ohnoitstbskyen]

Oh no. Sir I believe I'm going to need you to explain that Dragon Age 2 opinion, that is a BLAZING hot take

I really don't think it is. Although of course all of this is personal opinion, not some sort of divine proclamation on high about which video games people are allowed to prefer, so take please it in the spirit it is offered.

Origins is a worldbuilding walking tour as much about explaining its own in-universe lore and fantasy history as it is about either its characters or the actual story that is happening in the game. It's a cool world! With some great lore! But also it is built entirely around Generic Fantasy Plot Structure #1 and never particularly seems interested in innovating, or surprising the player. On top of which, a lot of its setting and lore is pretty weakly sketched and doesn't really get developed into something either visually or narratively compelling until it gets built out in later games.

And while Inquisition has some genuinely fantastic characters, everything else about the game suffers very badly from the plague of BioWare Magic™, i.e. the production was an absolute mess up until the last minute when five hundred extremely overworked and underpaid creative geniuses somehow managed to wring a functional experience out of the trainwreck. It was made with fucking Frostbite of all things, jesus christ, it's holding together with spit and duct tape.

Now, Dragon Age 2 shares a bunch of the problems of Origins and Inquisition. It too bears the hallmarks of "our executives couldn't plan a healthy game production cycle if their lives depended on it" with a lot of unfinished content, half-assed sidequests and a truly frustrating over-reliance on a combat system that isn't half as engaging to use as it needed to be.

But Dragon Age 2 also has something neither of its siblings could ever even hope to match: an actual compelling protagonist.

Like, listen, I know people adore their headcanons about their Wardens and Inquisitors, and it has made for some truly amazing fanworks, but Hawke is literally the only actual character out of all of them. Hawke has conflicts, problems, needs and drives that actually inform and push the story forward, they have a family and a history and a reason to give a sh** about the central conflict of the narrative.

In Origins and Inquisition both, your character becomes the main character of the story entirely because of fate and random chance. You are the Chosen One and you are the only one who can Save The World because you're the last of the super special elite fantasy Hero Squad, or because you got some green magic stuck in your hand by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Because the character is a complete blank slate onto which the player is expected to project themselves, random chance and circumstance are the only tools the plot can use to position them as main characters. There is no character to drive them to it.

In Dragon Age 2, Hawke becomes the champion because they're trying to build a new life for their family in Kirkwall, and end up embroiled in the chaos and politics that befall the city as a natural consequence of living in it and dealing with the conditions of it. Hawke and their family's needs and wants drive their actions, and push them to engage in endeavors that influence the course of history. They have agency (in the conceit of the narrative, at least) over how their life turns out, they make choices that have consequences, rather than being dictated into the position of Main Character by a literal looming apocalypse that permits no other course of action.

And I'm not about to sit here and claim that Dragon Age 2's story is perfect or that every character is a masterpiece or that every plotline is amazing. No, there's plenty of scuff and jank and things that have aged poorly and unresolved plot threads and all the rest of it.

And I am definitely not forgetting the godsdamned DLC where BioWare threw it all overboard by inventing a Special Bloodline Plot where oops it turns out Hawke actually IS a special chosen one specially chosen by a special fate to have a special role in Saving The World because they're special because of fate and destiny and blah blah, I still think that was phenomenally stupid (especially when Corypheus wasn't even Hawke's goddamn main villain to deal with what was any of this supposed to add to their character ffs BioWare)

But even with all its problems, the simple fact that Hawke is a character you can give a shit about independent of your own projection as a player - the fact that Hawke isn't just an empty bland blank slate with no personality, no traits, no wants or needs or drives - that has made Dragon Age 2 infinitely more memorable to me than either Origins and Inquisition. I think about it to this day. I think about Hawke to this day. I care about what happens to the character in a way that I just simply could never bring myself to do with either my Wardens or my Inquisitors.

[amemenojaku]

can we get the diao ye zong top ten songs ? (or album tier list)

we sure can!!! I'll put this under a readmore though because it's very long

1) 墓標 (bohyou): I'll be honest here I think this song and the hohuri album are one of the main reasons behind the DiPP Renaissance in 2015-2020 (significant increase of DiPP fanworks/fans being able to recognize jacketko & labelko). a big circle making DiPP songs led to more fans reading the original story and then making fancontent of it which in turn got more people into it etc. so to my dear followers if you're reading this and you're not a dyz fan but you gave DiPP a try thanks to people creating more content of it after 2015 mayyybe you should also listen to 屠 (hohuri) by diao ye zong...... anyway the song itself is really good. the intro is chilling - just imagine getting that CD back in the summer of 2014, putting it in your music player/pc expecting the first track to be an arrange of A Sacred Lot like written on the tracklist and instead you get THIS! (I did with my friends and it was scary.) the instrumental is amazing, I love that it's mostly original with bits of arranges from DiPP here and there, and Merami's performance is leagues above everything else she'd ever sung for the circle until then imo (and it kept getting better after that). and just, that last part...

2) 悠久の子守唄 (yuukyuu no komoriuta): dyz song I have the strongest emotional attachment to.... it's a bit old now (you can even hear the difference in quality of Merami's mic lol) but it still makes me feel so many things... when I say I'm really invested in hakurei shrine maidens fanworks this is what always comes to mind first

3) Dolls into pitiful pretenders: DiPP meta song where jacketko mocks both the other honest men AND the DiPP fan community at large (if you want to interpret it that way). Merami's best performance to date imo, even now, especially during the reverie part

4) n_tegralより愛をこめて (integral yori (a)i wo komete): it's difficult to choose one dyz hifuu(renmerry) song above all the others, there's just too many good ones..... but if I have to then it HAS to be the followup song to the fucked up hifuu cat music (iykyk). has shaped my interpretation of merry's character like literally nothing else ever will. also it's just beautiful. 'together we will become a world' etc etc...

5) まぼろしの友達 (maboroshi no tomodachi): like with the hifuu above it's tough to choose one akyuusuzu/FS song out of the (still)growing selection of really good remixes we got over the years... but this one is so emotional and soft and the different layers of interpretation are the cherry on top of the cake for me. there isn't a single line in the lyrics that doesn't hurt me lol

6) 幻想萬歳楽 (gensou manzairaku): very very different from everything else in this list but I love noh and this one based on the okina opening performance is just genius. the instrumental is beautiful. I had a paper to write on noh a few years ago and just listened to it on loop

7) 異聞『正義の味方』 (ibun "seigi no mikata"): I was hoping for a vocal remix of little princess from dyz so the first version of seigi no mikata (kishin/輝針 「セイギノミカタ」 from sasage) already had me really glad, but then a few years later they made a new one that's much, much darker and I love it even more. it reminds me of the like 2-3 really dark shinmyoumaru songs some circles released the year following DDC... very powerful and desperate. I love that it can be interpreted in two opposite ways - shinmyoumaru's anger at the betrayal, or this (fucked up and funnier)

8) 夏の終わり／世界の終わり (natsu no owari/sekai no owari): RENMERRY KABOOM <3 when the fear of being left behind in a boring unchanging world pushes you over the edge. 'if you plan to cross over that boundary, I'll find every door possible, close them shut and break the keys!' chilling despite the catchy instrumental. similar to maboroshi no tomodachi in the 'it's ok if you end up hating me for what I'm about to do. I love you and that's what matters most to me right now' it's just... ough.... uaghh...... hurts :)

9) ハロー、マイフレンド (hello, my friend): alternate universe where marisa lives an ordinary, unfulfilling student life in the outside world and sometimes dreams about a shrine maiden flying in the sky. MUST be listened to with the instrumental remix of Casket of Star that comes right before it in the album, it's beautiful and has that little phone alarm at the end of it - pulling marisa out of her dream. I think this song would resonate with a lot of people for whom fiction is one of the only respites from real life. it sure did with me!!!

10) Salvator noster: this is a crazy mix of so many things - keiki's theme and pokemon SV area zero music and gregorian chants and buddhist (?!) imagery and that dyz-typical everpresent undertone of something going really, really wrong. definitely my favorite arrange of Idolatrize World ever and up there in the list of Merami's best performances (she never stumbles once in the fast parts and it's amazing)

for my top 10 albums:

屠 (hohuri) (cannot be dethroned): flawless from beginning to end despite turning 10 years old this year. god I feel ancient

Q: would be number 1 if hohuri didn't exist. I already wrote a short review of it here but anyway it's the dyz album I'd recommend the most to anyone who's looking for a whole experience

喩 (tatoe): full of what-ifs and interesting AU concepts. really, really solid and relatively easy to get into for newcomers as long as they're fine with some darker topics from time to time (if not then number 7 on my list is a better pick)

慄 (furue) (not on spotify yet): hifuu-only with the added flavor of being based on Lafcadio Hearn's works. so like, perfect lol. narrated/drama tracks between every song and I really recommend those in particular, they're amazing, especially the one where merry goes a bit crazy insane. my fav is the arrange of Infinite Nightmare but it's worth checking out for 無間夢幻無想夢想幻葬 and its longass title alone

△ (tetra): the ultimate hifuu dyz album!!! hifuu club hallelujah etc etc. I know the go-to dyz hifuu song is absolute one-way street but I hope this album as a whole will reach same levels of popularity one day... every song has its own identity and explores different sides of science fiction as a genre. also a good variety of vocalists in this one if you get tired of Merami

伝 (tsutae): built around the concept of a day of noh, with its opening performances, plays in all the different categories and kyogen inbetween. they're not actual plays ofc but the premise really works. I always wonder how different it would've been if this one had been made after HSiFS released

奉 (sasage): most newcomer-friendly dyz album imo. simple concept: one song to represent each main game from EoSD to DDC. the atmosphere of each game is transcribed perfectly into each song. nothing ever gets particularly dark. in the same spirit 掲 (kakage) (its twin sister album to me), themed around spell cards, is pretty good for dyz beginners too and since it gets a bit heavier at times I think it works well as a transition to some other better but more fucked up albums

騙 (katari): the album that got me into dyz :') when it came out I'd been into touhou for a little while and had already listened to a few dyz songs, but this is the one that really caught my eye. it's messed up and hopeful and bittersweet... 真実の詩 and rebellion -たいせつなもののために- (the followup to absolute one-way street) make me feel especially nostalgic

彁 ( ): I love that the album themed around 'fantasy' as a concept uses a kanji that doesn't exist as its title. overall solid album (I just don't like the clownpiece song but only because I'm not a fan of that vocalist). the reimu song at the end is perfect. maybe THE reimu song to me (even if Hearken unto, from the latest album, is a strong contender now)

密 (hisoka): secrets!!! the first two tracks are a punch to the guts, the reimari song is the softest thing ever, the 3-part keine song is an amazing experience and Kirisame Eversion is like... it sure is something lol (saying this positively. I adore it). really good hidden secret song too

other contenders which I like very very much in chronological order: 遙 (haruka), 辿／誘 (tadori/izanai), 薦 (susume), 音 (omoi), 逆 (sakasa), 軛 (kubiki)

if you've read all of this: thank you :] sorry for being insane

[octopuscityblues]

Kafkaryan, The Wrath Of Cod

June 2024 Progress Report

TLDR: Unfortunately we had to push back our planned release date again. We don't have a new date yet, but we're trying our best to bring you Octopus City Blues as soon as humanly possible. We're very sorry about that. The rest of the update will go over some of the things we've been working on and provide additional context for the delay.

Progress

Starting in April, Marina (benevolent tentacle artist) and I (Firas, malevolent snail) significantly changed the way we work. Previously, art and development were mostly done independently and we communicated on a weekly or biweekly basis. We switched to a virtual office kind of setup where we dedicate fixed hours to working together every day. It's been going great so far and we feel much more motivated and productive.

Our current target is the Robot Graveyard, the lawless wasteland at the base of Gold Tower. We're mainly working on the remaining interior locations such as the Conman's shop or the cyborg club.

By the way, we recently released yet another demo update, based on all the quality-of-life and interaction improvements made since the previous one. These include:

🦔 Kaf the Hedgehog is now 33% faster and has 100% more walking frames! 

🖼️ Intuitive top-of-the-line settings menu to crank up your sim's colors to 11. 

🎨 New text background colors to make your eyes bleed. From the grimy "Jungle" to the ominous "Caput Mortuum". 

💬 Switch between the gossip and item menu modes like a pro using Q/E keys or the gamepad's shoulder buttons. 

🎮 Say goodbye to gamepad confusion! The simulation will reliably remember the most recently used controller. 

🍄 Beetles crave mushrooms. Drop the right item in the plaza and watch the little critters go! 

😷 You no longer have to "touch" dirty objects or people to interact with them. Standing close by is sufficient. 

🤖 Sacrificing Mom to science will pay off sooner.

🪲 And numerous other fixes, copy editing changes, and a host of new potential bugs for you to discover!

I'm also happy to present one of several music tracks that the newest addition to our team, Shannon (omnibenevolent troubadour), has been working on:

There's a lot more happening behind the scenes. For example, Julia (unambivalent wordsmith) went over and helped improve large portions of the script, while Karl (ambivalent doodler) is practicing card tricks.

The Delay

Octopus City Blues has had a long and rocky journey over the years, so I apologize if the following is too long and boring. Nevertheless, you all deserve an honest explanation for the delays. Back in late 2021 when I was pitching the project to the Midgame Fund, the plan looked something like this:

Early 2022: Demo play testing

Late 2022: Release of Act 1 in Early Access.

Mid 2023: Steam Next Fest demo

Late 2023 / Early 2024: Release of Act 2

Later in 2024: KS reward fulfillment, possible localization and console ports

After getting funded, the helpful investors at Midgame Fund advised against Early Access and recommended releasing both acts together. Much of 2022 was spent on discussions, planning, and extensive play testing that took place in two main rounds. The testing feedback showed us that we still had much to do, particularly when it came to guiding the players.

By early 2023 we were struggling to follow the original plan as we addressed all the testing feedback. That's why I decided to cut a lot of planned content and rewrite the story so that it no longer had two acts. The original acts were separated by a 10-year gap, which would've required a lot of art editing and writing completely new responses for every character.

The next play testing round coincided with the Indigo event. Even after all the changes made, some players were still struggling with certain parts or running into bugs. That's why we decided to participate in the October Steam Next Fest edition instead of the June one. The release date was pushed back to Q1 2024.

The Next Fest event itself was a great success. After years of neglecting marketing, we used 2023 to promote the project and make it more viable financially. On the other hand, the event left us with even more feedback, some of which we were still addressing in January (2024). The release date was pushed back to Q2.

In early 2024 the Q2 release plan was still feasible. However, things temporarily took a turn for the worse after our last update. The first roadblock was due to real life developments and personal circumstances that impacted the availability of key team members. Thankfully, everything is back to normal now.

A more general problem is that the more we get done, the more work we end up creating for ourselves. The complex branching quest design means that the amount of testing needed can grow exponentially. Automated testing and play testing rounds can only take us so far.

The next obstacle had to do with the 2023 rewrite. Taking a story with many characters and intertwined elements and completely rewriting major parts of it turned out to be much trickier than expected. Some major plot elements simply didn't work in the new framework, and I had to make additional changes to improve the story's overall pacing and consistency.

At first I thought we could still release the main parts, and then slowly restore some content after release.  That would've meant early adopters and our biggest supporters wouldn't get the complete intended experience. There are also many more things we'd like to tackle after release (Kickstarter rewards, localization, porting) instead of adding more content.

To be clear, there are some things that we still plan to add after release (as free DLC). In particular, there are the arcade games and the quests related to them. While not part of the main story, they were in our original pitch (and much of the art is already done).

All of this brings us to our current plan. The story is still in one act, but some previously cut areas and quests will be restored. As mentioned in the previous section, we've adopted a new way of working since April and have been slowly adding the remaining areas and characters to the simulation. While things look promising, it's hard to tell what will happen tomorrow or if additional play testing will require even more changes.

OCB is something that particularly benefits from these play testing rounds, because the more we can anticipate the player's actions (e.g. trying to combine the knife and baby items), the more fun and immersive the experience feels. Obviously, we can never get rid of every bug or address all feedback before release.  That's why we'll just have to find the right balance.

We still have to finish the following parts: Graveyard (in-progress), Big Beef, Turkeys, and the ending. Of those, Big Beef is the most involved one. I changed the planned release date on Steam to simply 2024 because that's our goal, but please keep in mind that it's not a release date either. We'll only announce a concrete release date once all of these areas are done and work primarily shifts to testing and polishing.

If you've made it this far, thank you for taking the time to read all of that! We remain as committed to this project as we were on day one, and we're genuinely trying our best as flawed and naively optimistic humanoids. We owe it all to your continued support and understanding.

[seldaryne]

"Wyll's quest regarding the Wyrmway is now a subquest instead of part of his main quest."

"Wyll's quest regarding Ravengard will now more reliably and frequently receive updates in Act III."

so mechanically speaking then, was the demotion of quest status in the first point required for them to implement the functionality of the second or??? because i genuinely don't understand why it became a subquest, especially when the game's structure already allows you to just ignore quests & move on to the next area if you want. most of the patch notes that directly mention wyll are bug-related or scripting flow, which i don't have a problem with (bug fixes are great, we love those). i'd love to hear any thoughts about this, though, because i really can't think of a reason why it had to become a subquest?

i also initially read that second point as planning for future updates to wyll's content but at a second glance i think it may just be referring to journal updates? i don't know, i'd like to believe my initial reaction was the correct one but... yknow. anyway i maintain that this is yet Another example of some really goddamn weird choices on the developmental end of things. if the companion quests exist on a sliding scale of 'most related to current main storyline to least,' wyll is very much at the top end of things. optimistic thought is that a lot of his scrapped content existed in the parts of act 3 that were cut, but i would think that as a studio you'd see that & make an effort to level things out with how much screentime the other companions have. at the bare minimum, your player base shouldn't be able to clock so many weird holes in his story arc where it's clear that something else was supposed to be offered.

i'm also not saying that the other companion arcs weren't clunky in some areas & didn't need a bit of help, but the disparity here makes deprioritizing those edits seem like a more logical course of action. like there's a difference between some slightly unpolished scenes vs. something that feels fundamentally lacking in a lot of structural ways, especially when you get into the finer points of the comparisons. act 3 imo is the one that feels the most bare-bones to me. like yes, there's Stuff there visually and quests too but it doesn't feel as lived-in as acts 1 & 2. i would say that the underdark to ketheric section feels the most dense, content-wise, and i don't think it's a coincidence that it's the bracket of the game i enjoy the most. i maintain that giving wyll's storyline the attention it needs would not only help with the character arc itself, but also pad out the quieter stretches of act 3. at this point i don't really see how they'd be able to add in the upper city without either completely changing the trajectory of the third act (so like, almost definitely something we Will Not See Happen & understandably so from a production standpoint. weird post-release editing aside, it is still a finished game.) & i'm also not sure what a DLC would look like here because the main story feels pretty complete too. off the top of my head, maybe one where you follow wyll & karlach into avernus would work, but that's worldstate dependent & probably wouldn't get made for that reason.

all that to say, from where i'm standing it really seems like giving wyll the same respect other companions are offered would by extension fix some of the act 3 issues, without having to release an entirely new area of the game (i'd love it i just don't think it's realistic lmao). like i know why/what the factors are that led to wyll getting the short end of the stick, it's bullshit but it's not the first time we've seen black characters handled unfairly by devs (& fans), but beyond that it's literally just. so confusing to me on the basis of writing alone. why wouldn't you use the character with that many ties to the titular city of the game more? why isn't he more integral to the story when it really seems like he has every reason to take the spotlight in certain areas?? like that's a fantastic resource of a character to use to move the narrative along and Yet.

idk. this started off as just a reaction to patch notes but it's so unbelievably frustrating to watch it keep happening every patch.

[quinloki]

And now, the Top 20...

The top 10 here almost matches the actual top 10 and I really dig that.

Stable rankings: Arlong and Beckman forever going 1-2 with each other.

People who fell off the rankings: Sir Crocodile, Eustass Kid, Koala. I am shooketh over Mr. Sandman and Fire Locks.

People No Longer Missing from the list: BUGGY THE FUCKING FAIL CLOWN MADE THE LIST!!!!!! About fucking time.

People new or returning to the list: Ace, Buggy, Kaoru.

Those who moved UP since June: Shanks moved 2-spots from 5th, Alvida moved 2-spots from 6th, Borsi Baby moved 2-spots from 9th, Dr. Kureha moved 3-spots from 13th, Laki moved 5-spots from 16th, Smoker moved 6-spots from 18th, and lastly Wyper moved 13-spots from 19th.

Those who dropped DOWN since June: Trafalgar dropped 1-spot from 15th, Vivi dropped 2-spots from 3rd, Nico Robin dropped 4-spots from 4th, Zoro dropped 5-spots from 8th, Nojiko dropped 5-spots from 12th, Sakazuki dropped 8-spots from 11th, Marco dropped 10-spots from 10th, and lastly Bell-Mere dropped 11-spots from 7th.

Actual positions swapped: Vivi and Shanks swapped places from last month verbatim. Sir Crocodile's 14th spot was taken by Buggy and I find the irony in that hilarious. Borsi Baby's 9th spot went to Ace so that Borsi could take 7th place from Bell-Mere who dropped down to 18th spot. Smoker moved form his 18th spot to 12th which was Nojiko's originally and she dropped down into 17th kicking Eustass Kid from the list entirely. That was quite the swapping salad in my opinion.

Koala's dead last position has now gone to the Fineapple and his original 10th position went to Dr. Kureha. Dr. Kureha's original position of 13th went to Zoro, whose original 8th spot went to his fellow crewmate Nico Robin as Alvida took her rightful place back in 4th from Robin.

Kaoru returned to the list in 15th place knocking Trafalgar into 16th which bumped Laki up into 11th place which knocked Sakazuki back down into 19th which in turn moved Wyper back up into 6th which was last month's placement for Alvida.

These position swaps get more elaborate with every month I swear.

Wyper jumped the most spots for someone already on the list (13-spots!) and Ace ranked the highest out of new/returning players (9th-place). Bell-Mere dropped the most spots for folks already on here (11-spots) and of the people who fell off entirely, Sir Crocodile fell the furthest as he was in 14th position and the other two who fell off were ranked even lower than that.

I don't even think I care that Crocodile or Kid fell away considering I got Ace back and Buggy finally got his ass on the list. I mean he's far away from Alvida but he's higher than I thought he'd be and I'm content with that. Because there is no way in hell he's making top 10 and I don't want my girl dropping below 4th. That is her spot, she belongs there. The fact that Buggy's position also ends in a 4 feels like kismet to me.

I'm content with July's rankings all things considered. The top 10 rankings I did earlier were much harder to do and took way longer, but the write up for the top 20 always takes longer because I analyze it to death. I had to make a cheat sheet card and everything so I could remember how I do these things. XD

"Sir Crocodile's 14th spot was taken by Buggy and I find the irony in that hilarious."

1000000% xD

I am happy that your rankings for my birthday month are more inline from what you want them to be. It feels like a small gift for me. Which, reading your breakdowns are something I look forward to all on their own, so that's just icing on the cake =3

[candy8448]

@floof-writes

Here are my notes on the dungeon if you want

Im in the process of trying to tyrn this dugeon into a DND campgain so things are simplified to make it playable in dnd but can be made more complicated if you want, also some things might be explained in dnd like terms

Sections: there are description of the town notes, puzzle idea notes, boss fight sequence notes and dnd playing notes that are not really needed in a fic context

If somebody uses this idea, please please please credit me

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

Clocktower campgain:

Descriptions:

Each of the houses have a faint red light (street light kind of thing) that light up when it starts to get dark. Drcide when that is

Have a special currency that they can use to skip hours at some point once you've progressed to a certain point

Opening narration: "Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock. You look up to see a clocktower looming over you, the numbers in roman numerals and the hands steadily ticking along. The clock pannel glows with a warm orange in the dark of the night. The clock reads midnight. At the top of the clocktower there is a purple orb, the light from both the clock and the orb lighting up the surrounding area just enough to see. Youre in the center of an abbandonned town, behind you a building. What do you do?"

Unlock: every 4 houses completed unlocks a new level/floor of the clocktower

Lvl1: double the noting space for every player

Lvl2: time speeds up

Lvl3: ability to use the currency to skip time

Lvl4: boss fight

The town is split into four quadrents/streets: The quarter past quadrent, The half past quadrent, The half to quadrent, The quarter to quadrent. There are signs outside of each with the name on it. This is to make it easier for the players to tell me where they want to go

Puzzles:

There is a button in the room, on the other end of the town there is a matching one, maybe colour coded. The party has to split up and press it at the same time

One room has a code that applies for another. The party has to memories this code because if the numbers are written down, they fade away as if there was nothing there

A room has a lock. Its coloured but they have a few coloured keys. Depending in their perception, they get the right colour. If its bad, then they need to keep trying more keys and the hour might end before they unlock it

Have two or three locations where in one, only a specific skill that only one of the players have is needed, then have them both interchangable so that the person needed is always in the wrong space, and has to make their way over there. Maybe put something blocking their way, maybe something theyre weak to, that they need the ithers to clear out like a sort of escort mission

Two houses that unlock at the same hour, but at am and pm, their contents switch places to the other one

Pieces that form a riddle, so when they get all the pieces, they try to figure out an order and then solve it

One room has a puzzle specially designed to take too long for the hour, and every time they come back it resets. In the previous hour's house, there is a secret tubnel that can lead to it meaning they have an extra hour to figure it out, or the tunnel is in a shed so they have acces to it 24/7. Maybe that is also where one of the buttons is that needs to be pressed at the same time. The button is always easily visible (like through a too tiny window) but both cannot be accesed at the same hour. However, when they find the tunnel, they now have access to it meaning they are able to go to the ither house at its hour and then this one using the tunnel and press it at the same time. The key is actually a shovel (can be changed for fic reasons), but the whole town in concrete floor, so they go to the park to dig down and find the tunnel

Have a diary that has a riddle or a code hidden in words that ends up with maybe a number code or something, but its a red herring to waste time and make them miss a few hours

Boss fight:

Phase 1 in the clocktower, once they get the health down to zero, the monster screams, and rewinds time for just themselves, the party watches in horror as you see the clock hands winding backwards, accelerating. The boss has regained it's health and explodes the clocktower. Phase two is in the streets of the town, with all of the house doors locked and a force field around the park and sheds so you cant go in them

Dnd playablity stuff that you dont need for a fic:

Cover parts of the map with paper that they incover as they go along. Have post it notes or paper with blu tac that they can stick on the houses to label the time

Dont tell them how many rounds an hour lasts, they need to figure that out themselves

After two levels of the clocktower, narrate the ticking sound, then go faster, and say the amount of rounds for an hour is less now

The players can make notes if they want

To press the button at the same time, people on both sides need to roll a d20, if they roll within 5 of eachother, they are succesful, of not, maybe time runs out or something, idk

Depending on their intellegence or wisdom roll at the start, that is how much lined paper they have to note on. One piece of info on each line. Maybe after the first layer of the clocktower is unlocked, they all get another a4 or a5 sheet to write on (e.g. they roll a 1 and get 2 lines to write on, roll a 2 and get 4 lines and so on)

The players can roll perception checks to see how much health an enemy has. On the final boss, if they check, lower they cant tell, middle they see the health, high they can feel a sort of reserve of power underneathe. Have that like a gradient for whatever they roll

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

If you write this i would be the happiest being i the universe, but of course you dont have to, im even happy with just the fact that you are excited about the idea

[alertarchitect]

I'm sorry if this seems kinda out of left field for my blog here, but it's an observation a friend and I made yesterday/last night while playing the currently available Iron Banner mode in Destiny 2 and I don't have many other places to post it.

So, first is some context for those who aren't necessarily into D2, or at least the PvP side of it. Iron Banner, or IB, is a PvP mode that happens 2 times per 3 month season for 1 week each time it happens. Kind of a special event thing. For a lot of people, it's also basically the only time they play D2's PvP. This can lead to moments like me being dimly aware that PvP was in the midst of a SMG meta, and then suddenly experiencing how overpowering some of the weapons at the top of the general SMG heap can be. Especially with the new boogeyman weapon of Destiny 2 PvP: The Immortal.

This thing right here. Image is not mine, as I do not have this weapon on any character.

"But, Arti," you may ask, "why is this little thing so terrifying?" Well, it's simple. Not only is it a SMG, it has the strongest SMG archetype with the second-highest rate of fire, can get ludicrous amounts of range for a SMG (to the point where it can and does overshadow auto rifles, which are supposed to be the automatic weapon option for mid-to-long range), can drop with amazing perks, and can drop with enough points in its stability stat to make these little words right here, the ones that say "high recoil," absolutely fucking meaningless!

Not only that, but it drops from the Trials of Osiris game mode. Trials is a PvP game mode, kinda like IB, but it is the sweatiest game mode in Destiny 2. The reason for this is simple - not only does it drop incredibly good weapons such as The Immortal here, but those weapons can drop as Adept versions. See, there are some examples of end-game content in Destiny that reward you for doing well in them, especially at higher difficulties, with versions of their normal weapons that intrinsically have better stats. Not enough to make it so that having an Adept version with a bad roll is better than a regular version with a good roll, but enough to make strong guns even better than they already are.

So where all of this comes together is, to put it simply, everyone and their mother played a metric shit-ton of Trials this past weekend when The Immortal was released, as anyone that read up on the new weapons and saw what The Immortal was going to be like through the D2 API immediately knew it was going to be the strongest weapon for PvP in the current meta.

This has led to me and my friend, who don't normally play PvP much outside of IB, consistently going up against full teams of people spamming this gun, along with a shotgun (as shotguns are also doing well right now), and barely getting to do anything because of it.

And this was when we had an idea.

See, one thing that is incredibly easy to forget in the face of a meta this dominating is that even in the darkest times, the meta isn't everything. And even weapons that aren't necessarily as strong can still come out to play and fulfill one very important role - counterplay. Because The Immortal may have enough range to push out into being useful at mid-range - but at its core, it has the same weakness as every other SMG. A weakness that is magnified by most of the people running it using it in conjunction with a shotgun.

Range.

So if you, like my friend and I were, are getting frustrated by game after game of being matched against these meta-spamming people trying to get as close to you as possible so they can do optimal damage, do what we did. Pull out your scout rifles and hand cannons and take them out from a farther range than they can reach. Show them how annoying a pulse rifle player being safe about engagements can be.

Make these people that lessen variety suffer through your use of it.

[adaru32]

The Red Devil's Chronicles' May - July 2023 News Updates: PoC, Figures, Etc.

Hey, how's it going? Yes, it's been awhile. Hope everyone's having a fun and safe summer. I meant to share these news updates last month since I felt I had enough to share, but forgot and figured this month would do.

1. Dante in a Street Fighter game. b) Along with Nero and Vergil.

2. Lots of updates with Peak of Combat on their Youtube channel. b) And an interview with Itsuno about Peak of Combat. c) And V becoming a playable character (surprisingly not featured on their Youtube channel, but their archive channel). d) Finally, anyone can now register and play it! Sadly, still no Steam release news yet.

3. Devil May Cry V on CapCom's top selling games. b) Speaking of which, Dante and Nero once again appear on another art work of theirs', celebrating Capcom's 40th anniversary.

4. Asmus Toys making more chibi figures. b) And a DMCV Trish figure. c) And Prime1Studio made DMC3 Dante and Vergil statues. d) And Voxenation made a DMC1 Dante plush.

5. Content creator Cuhrayzee shows off cut content from the Devil May Cry series.

6. Devil May Cry 6 development rumours topic pops up once again with a slight bit more info.

7. Capcom planning to release an unannounced title next year.

8. One of the members of the animation team of DMC3 & 4, Takayusa Yanagihara, is suffering from ALS.

My Thoughts On These Updates:

1. It's interesting how many collabs there are with Devil May Cry V compared to the other Devil May Cry games.

2. It's cool how far Peak of Combat has gotten with its content and such. I like the sound and lyrics of their track they released, excluding the screamo vocals since I'm not too much into screamo. Looking forward to more music content from them. So Itsuno was right about V being playable. But it's strange how they don't release their V trailer on their official channel. It's nice that anyone can play it now. I still don't plan on getting it since like I stated a few times now, I'm not a mobile game player. Hoping for that rumoured Steam release to come in the near future.

3. Again, it's amazing that Devil May Cry V's become one of Capcom's top selling games. Just makes us more hopeful for more Devil May Cry goodness. And with Dante and Nero featuring on Capcom's 40th anniversary art work, goes to show how Devil May Cry really is a top seller of theirs'.

4. So many amazing figures and merch. I would love those DMC3 statues but I don't have any room, and they're ridiculously expensive (I'm trying to save for a good custom gaming PC).

5. I always love finding out a lot of things of the Devil May Cry series, as some of you may know from all the trivia I've shared on my Tumblr, Facebook, and Twitter pages in the past. Very interesting how some of these cut content never featured in their art books or in interviews. I've learned quite a bit on some of the things cut out from DMC2 &3 when it came to gameplay mechanics, and other cut stuff.

6. Every month since it first came out, I see the topic of a rumoured DMC6 being in development pop up. It wouldn't be a surprise if it already is being made due to DMCV's selling numbers, but seeing is believing once we eventually get an official trailer. Despite the same rumour popping up often, it's interesting how this one seems a bit different. Makes you wonder if it really is happening, or if these people are just pulling stuff out of their rears just to gain attention. Only one way to find out.

7. Maybe this unannounced title of Capcom's is a DMC6 or remake? It's a couple options, but guess we'll have to see. Others are believing it's either the Dino Crisis Remake, another Resident Evil, or Monster Hunter.

8. It's very devastating to hear of a talented individual contracting ALS....I hear it's a very scary and painful disease. Hoping things get better.

[cassioppenny]

top 5 pkmn rivals OR top 5 non-pokemon video games :D

starting with rivals...

5) silver

he is so silly his favorite video game is probably unironicly shadow the hedgehog. i think it's sad he has never interacted with red once not even in pokemas which is so weird to me. milesverse silver and red (also leaf/green but she's from an alternate universe so she doesn't count) are brothers (same dad) so uh yeah. more milesverse lore silver basically tried impersonating red during the main story ethan like immediately figures out he's full of shit not only because he looks nothing like him but also silver dropped his trainer id so lmao. the team rocket grunts he fights don't realize though. so uh yeah the meow meow

4) blue

kanto trio sweep. i love blue a lot but like specifically the made up version of him in my head and also anything post gen 1. gen 1 blue by himself isn't like incredible or anything though he is easily the best character in gen 1 by virtue of being the only character with more than four lines. though milesverse gen 1 era blue is my little meow meow i have given him every mental illness

3) cheren and n

i don't know who i like more so i put them together. very swag dudes i like them a lot

2) all of the sv rivals

i love them so much i had to put them all on here but i didn't want to put any of them higher than eachother i love them all equally they are my besties for real

1) wally

walter my little meow meow he was born in a wet cardboard box all alone i will protect him with my life he is my little guy. here's some milesverse lore he's like basically the main character in the gen 3 adaptation though brendan is like thoroughly convinced he is. wally, brendan, and may end up calling themselves team sky when they start going against magma and aqua. wally kinda just blurts it out during the part at the waterfall place and the gang rolls with it. also wally summons rayquaza like how the player does in emerald so uh yeah wally swag moments. he also becomes champion at the end

and now vidya games

5) sonic 3 & knuckles

i love sonic <3

4) sonic adventure 2

i love sonic <3

3) undertale

undertale sweep i love undertale so much. when i was a kid i though aus were so cool i made an au where all the characters were pokemon. i love that game. i actually like deltarune more but it's not done yet so undertale takes its place for now

2) persona 3

it's an incredibly wonderful game about living your life to the fullest even though death is inevitable with characters i adore. it is also a game created by a guy who said that he has never had a friendship with a woman and it shows. never play a persona game worst mistake in my life 0/10 don't recommend. it is also one of my favorite games of all time. special mention to the new content added in persona 5 royal actual peak fiction it is so good and on its own could be my favorite game of all time. too bad it's still persona 5. persona 4 is just bad for the love of god never play persona 4

1) kingdom hearts 2

i am. a big fan of kh. sorry for liking the disney game i can't help it. the kairi in my url is in fact kairi kingdom hearts. i will defend her honor to the end of times no one gets to bully her when im around. i kinda hate the kh fandom though specifically the people who are really invested in the ships there is a lot of misogyny there i fear. back to the game kh2 is fucking amazing it's so fun to play and the ending is so cool and the first four hours is good actually fuck you. hashtag kairi sweep give her a game square enix you cowards

[jamierobinson]

Pursuit Development Post

Before development it was important to figure out what the challenges for the player would be. I ended up choosing 2 obstacles for the player to evade. A projectile that will come at the player from the top of the screen, similar to the work done in the workshop, and a laser that will instantly cover an entire lane. These will give enough variety for the player to remain focused on the game, additionally increasing the speed of the projectiles and time for the lasers to come out will introduce stress, in addition with the intrinsic skill required to dodge the obstacles will result in a difficult experience for the player. This was all covered in Week 7's lecture.

Additionally, the time slow ability the player has will remove this timed element for a short while allowing for the cycle of fast and difficult and slow and easy during the moment to moment gameplay, hopefully captivating the player in the game and inciting fiero within them.

Now with the core moment to moment gameplay figured out, I started with the scaffold of the workshops content as it already had player movement and the projectiles for my idea. I then stripped back the assets and replaced them with simpler and easier to replicate ones. This was done as it is easier to produce a cleaner look with simpler graphics and it will result in the player being able to focus on what is important (the player themselves being a coloured square, the laser indicator being flashing red and the time bar turning red when the player is using it too much)

The next step was to make the next obstacle, lasers. This was a relatively simple feature to add as it was simply a long white rectangle that shrank in size from a tween. The warning was made a bright red that would blink rapidly in the column the laser would strike. The player was given 1 second to get out of the way which I though was a generous amount as the average human reaction speed was 300ms additionally the player would have access to time slowing meaning they would have plenty time to get out of the way.

Now it was time to add time slow. This was the most important as it was the main feature that made this game different to others. And so I wanted to make it as realistic as possible to further envelope the player in the world (The magic circle) as stated in the Week 3 lecture and in the textbook. This meant the projectiles had to move slower, the lasers had to fire slower and come out later and the spawn rates of both needed to adjust for when the player slowed time. This was partially made easier through Gdevelops built in time scale feature that slowed down everything in the scene however since timers were not a physical object in the scene they were not slowed down. This was an issue because timers were used for spawn rates of obstacles. Resulting in more obstacles spawning closer together when time was slowed. This was mitigated by changing each timer into a variable and a separate timer that would add to them every second and changing the check for this new timer to 5x what it would be normally if the player is slowing time.

Finally, I introduced a simple hidden scaling system that after certain milestones in score would increase the speed and tempo of the game, this allows for exact scaling for certain points, the speed of the bullets still slowly ramp up as the max speed is changed however it means I can keep players at certain difficulties for certain amounts of time allowing me to introduce them to new features or get the used to faster speeds. After 120 score or 2 minutes of gameplay I set everything to the max if anyone wished to keep going, however this prototype is not intended to be progressed past 120, it is essentially winning the game as there is not enough time to create more in depth scaling.

The final game should look something like the gif below (I altered the hiddenplayerscore variable to 60 to showcase the full game)

(The game does start to bug out when there are two lasers however) https://necromancer00.itch.io/pursuit this is the link to the game if you wish to play it :)

[chiptunecreature]

I'm gonna do a ranty post, because I love trading card games in theory, but I feel like I have a problem with every single big game out there right now.

This is just me venting, don't @ me.

Magic the Gathering: This game sucks if you don't like commander. That stupid-ass format ate every single part of this game that i loved, and its playerbase is insufferably smug about it, while also somehow claiming that THEY'RE the ones being pushed around by competitive players. Y'all get 3-4 new decks every set, commander-only launches between sets, commander focused secret lairs (sometimes with full decks,) obviously-for-commander cards in standard releases, the majority of content online now, and the obvious support of WotC. You have the biggest format in the game, to the detriment of every other way to play the game. You are not being pushed around by anyone. Have some damn grace about it.

Pokemon: Two things annoy me about pokemon. First off, the meta tends to be... odd. I got into the game right before Lugia Vstar dropped. I have never seen a deck take up literally over 60% of a meta before, and the fact that nothing was done about it until its key cards rotated out is nuts to me. Second... frankly, this feels more like a collector's thing than it is a player's thing. I can't find a game of it locally. Tons of people buying the cards up, but not many games that I can find. Plus, the game's appeal to kids means any event I do find is just gonna feel like that episode of Seinfeld where Kramer joins the kids karate class.

Yugioh: To be blunt, I don't like what this game has become. The speed of it, the fact that you can set up a massive boardstate in a single turn, the amount of negates you have to fight through to play something, the speed at which decks fall out of favor, the power creep, and biggest of all, the fact that saying you don't like any of this immediately gets you labeled a Yugiboomer. I've never seen a community more resistant to the honest opinions of new and returning players.

Lorcana:

Flesh and Blood: I feel like I just don't click with this game. I want to love it, but I feel like it's kind of repetitive and restrictive. It's cool that you get to fill your hand up every turn, but you'll be pitching 1-2 or those cards for resources, so it ends up feeling really restrictive. Plus I absolutely hate the idea of Living Legend. Maybe these are things I'd get over if I played more. I dunno. I'm trying.

Legends of Runeterra: This is the closest anything has gotten to taking the crown of "best card game" for me. I love this game. It's fun, the mechanics are cool, the production value is top notch, the economy is INCREDIBLY generous. So why aren't I playing? Simple: Standard rotation. I really, really dislike standard. They took the way I like to play the game and made it available only for a few days every month or so, and now you HAVE to play standard if you want to play this. I've tried to like standard so many times in so many games, and it just is not the format for me. I just don't find it fun.

[no1noman]

Okay, so apparently people are now going to be, and I quote, "shooting on sight". While I reblog stuff pretty often, I haven't actually posted anything, so I'm making this post to do two things;

Let people know I'm not a bot (please, I swear I'm not 🥺)

Geek out about PvZ Heroes, because I know I'll probably never give myself another chance for this

If you haven't heard of this specific variant of "mobile game for kids made to squeeze money out of parents pockets", it's a card game in the style of games like Magic and Hearthstone. What sets it apart from other CCGs, however, are a few key factors

Firstly, the game is asymmetrical. Plants and zombies each have their own selection of cards to choose from, access to certain keywords, and different places in turn order;

Zombies play minions first

Plants then play minions and tricks (aka spells)

Zombies are then allowed to play tricks

Finally, a combat phase where all the minions fight each other

Secondly, combat in this game is lane-based. Minions cannot attack minions in other lanes, and need to fight the minion in front of them before damaging the enemy hero's health. Tricks and abilities aren't restricted unless stated otherwise, but minions are locked into the lane that they're played in

There are 5 lanes in total; a relatively mundane "heights" lane to the left, 3 "ground" lanes that can host environments (abilities that only effect the minions within the lane they're played in), and finally a "water" lane that is only accessible to amphibious minions. Everything in this game moves from left to right, such as combat, the activation of abilities, and more

Finally, and it's not a feature worth praising, there is a block mechanic. Whenever a hero is hurt, their block meter will charge. After gaining 8 charges, the attack fully charging the block meter is nullified and the hero gains one of their 4 powers to either hold for later or use immediately for free

What makes this unfair, however, is that attacks charge the block meter randomly; by either 1, 2, or 3 charges. A common scenario is someone gaining a "California roll", which is slang for blocking an attack after 3 hits (3,2,3). It can also sometimes just roll really low, and you end up taking a ton of damage

So with that all out of the way, is the game worth playing?

It depends on what you're looking for and how willing you are to hack in all of the cards, since grinding is practically non-existent. Even if you're hitting max rank every season (a feat that is sadly very possible), you have no real way of gaining the funds necessary to keep buying card packs (outside of watching ads for hours on end)

You 100% do not need good cards to compete on ladder. If you want to play with people who are good at the game and have good decks, however, hacking is the only practical option

Finally, you may be wondering about how the meta of this game looks like? Well, there hasn't been an update since 2019. Technically, there have been bug fixes, but no new content or balance change has been made in over 4 years. PvZ Heroes has been thoroughly researched and tested at this point, but most players still don't have a clue what the meta looks like, so ranked has slowly become very uncompetitive and kind of a joke (more than it already was, anyway)

I decided to make packages for each class to represent which cards are often ran, if not auto-included. These are obviously not all of the cards that are meta, but they are some of each classes best options and are used in a lot of competitive decks. I should note that, while Solar and Crazy are the best plant and zombie classes respectively, the others are a bit more debatable

I also have this post on Reddit that you can check out if you want to know which decks are considered competitive. The majority of them are either listed on a public database and/or are made by well-known top players. The exact lists are subject to change, but it's not often that I remove or add any decks

Tl;dr: I'm not a bot and, in fact, am a huge nerd for a dead children's mobile card game

[f1]

BEYOND THE GRID: Laurent Rossi on how he plans to drive Alpine up the grid and join F1s big-hitters

Laurent Rossi and Alpine are on a mission. After steadily rising up the F1 constructors’ standings over the last couple of years, the next target is clear: break into the ‘top three’ and edge towards title contention. In the latest episode of our Beyond The Grid podcast, the French brand’s CEO tells us how he plans to make it happen… Rossi took on the overarching role at Alpine ahead of the 2021 season – following parent company Renault’s decision to rebrand their team – with the task of turning the midfield runners into regular podium finishers, race winners and, ultimately, world champions. READ MORE: ‘It’s time to get to work’ – Pierre Gasly takes you behind the scenes in his exclusive new F1.com column Central to these ambitions is the timeline introduced by Rossi and outlined towards the end of Alpine’s first season. “It’s going to be every year a bit better. It’s a 100-race project, four years, four seasons,” he made clear. So far, that 100-race project is on track. Alpine held on to fifth in 2021, which included a standout win for Esteban Ocon at the wet-dry Hungarian Grand Prix, before progressing to fourth in 2022, via a scrap with McLaren. Laurent Rossi is entering his third season as CEO of Alpine Heading into 2023, and the second year of F1’s recent rules reset, Rossi knows exactly what Alpine should be targeting next, while being well aware of the challenge ahead, as he settles into a lengthy conversation for Beyond The Grid. “Two years ago, I said – and everybody was like ‘Ah, they’re still buying time – we’re on a 100-race journey. I maintain that,” Rossi explains to host Tom Clarkson, fielding questions over Alpine’s ambitions. READ MORE: ‘Everything went wrong today’ says frustrated Ocon after being penalised three times and retiring early in Bahrain “It takes time to turn around a ship like that, to basically get to where Mercedes is – was, in fact – Red Bull is. All these teams have taken a good three, four, five years for some – Ferrari even longer – to get back to podiums. “We’re on this path, hopefully. The first two years of that kind of four, five-year plan are going well – they delivered according to our expectations. We finished fifth in 2021, fourth in 2022, so it’s only natural now we are looking towards the other spots up there on the 'podium'. “I have to say we are also very well aware that the gap to third is big, so I think this year – which is a critical one – we need to show that we’re capable of getting closer to these guys. “Of course, to beat them would be ideal; everyone has that as a stretch target, a moonshot I would say, but the minimum is to finish fourth and to start bridging that gap to third.” READ MORE: Gasly explains turnaround from miserable qualifying after racing from last place to points on Alpine debut During a wide-ranging chat, Rossi also talks about his early days at university and in working life, his day-to-day duties balancing Alpine’s F1 operation and road car division, what he and the team learned from the departure of reserve driver Oscar Piastri to McLaren in 2022 and much, much more… To hear Rossi’s Beyond the Grid interview, hit go in the player above, or head here to catch it on your preferred platform. via Formula 1 News https://www.formula1.com

[bunkershotgolf]

Ten Top Golf Stories 2022

By ED TRAVIS

Not since Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus engineered the 1968 split from the PGA of America to start the PGA Tour has the professional game been so wrenched from business as usual. The advent of LIV Golf, the well-financed competitor to the established professional tours, has changed the world of those who are paid-to-play. That’s our top story of 2022 and along with some other interesting happenings the year generated a lot of ink.

PGA Tour vs. LIV Golf LIV Golf, fronted by Greg Norman and financed by money from the Saudi Arabian royal family lured several top players from the PGA Tour with signing bonuses of $100 million and up plus promises of a limited field 54-hole no-cut eight event series paying prize money to every player regardless of score. The reaction in the usually laidback world of pro golf was as just short of volcanic. PGAT commissioner Jay Monahan withdrew membership status from the players who jumped ship since they now were playing for a competitor and violating their agreement with the Tour. Over the year acrimony and just plain mudslinging have been a stiff price to pay for what seems to many as Norman’s ego-driven revenge for the Tour stomping on his idea of a world tour 30 years ago. Those sticking with the PGAT will receive the benefit of multimillion dollar purse increases which may or may not take some of the sting out of LIV’s millions. Unfortunately, any settlement between the two sides is more likely to be in the courts than on the course.

Woods Hall of Fame Tiger Woods during his March induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame voiced uncertainty when he would return to the PGA Tour, and as we could have guessed—it was the Masters in April. He finished out of contention in 47th and made his next appearance at the PGA Championship when, visibly limping, he withdrew after a third round 79. The 15-time major winner then withdrew from the U.S. Open and missed the cut at the British Open. While he did not play for the remainder of the year his star power is still undeniable and the soon-to-be-47 Woods draws more attention than any other player by an order of magnitude.  According to Forbes magazine his net worth topped $1 billion thus joining Lebron James and Michael Jordan in that exclusive club.

She’s Baaack! Lydia Ko, the New Zealand native with the sparkling personality after a spectacular start to her LPGA Tour career all but disappeared from view reasserted herself with three wins in 2022 including the season-ending CME Championship taking home the $2 million first prize. After 14 wins her first four seasons she admittedly struggled and only was able to take the top spot twice in the next five years and 109 starts. That’s all changed now as she is this season’s leading money winner and overtook Nelly Korda as number one in the Rolex World Rankings.

A Damaged Legacy Phil Mickelson succeeded in shooting himself in the foot multiple times not only by bolting to the LIV series but for some borderline outrageous comments about the PGAT and obvious rationalizations of the LIV–Saudi connection. It’s too bad to have the Saudi-backed LIV Golf series as your legacy to a game that has been so good to you. Mickelson lost sponsorships with KPMG, Callaway and Workday plus was fired as spokesman for the American Express event on the PGA Tour. This year he did not play in The Players, the Masters, or PGA Championship but did in the US Open. It has been speculated Lefty’s gambling debts were perhaps a factor for grabbing the reported $200 million in cash for signing with LIV Golf.

Scheffler POY & McIlroy Number One Scotty Scheffler won the WGC Match Play Championship for his third win in 42 days and took over the top spot of the World Golf Ranking plus led in prize money for 2021-2022 with $14 million. His fourth win of the season at the Masters was a thrill for all golf fans even those numbed by CBS’s Tiger-centric coverage that featured multiple replays of Woods walking from the 72nd green to the clubhouse. Rory McIlroy overtook Scheffler for in the WGR with victories in the Tour Championship, Canadian Open and CJ Cup which also gave him the FedEx Cup and along the way he took his fourth Vardon Trophy and the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai. Interestingly the native of Northern Ireland with 23 wins on the PGAT has become an outspoken critic of LIV Golf and Greg Norman while championing the American and European tours.

USGA Roll Back It’s a safe bet the USGA and R&A, arbiters of the Rules of Golf, are going to adopt a rule stipulating a reduction in golf ball or club performance particularly those played by the elites of our game…touring professionals and top amateurs. For the past several years the USGA has claimed players are hitting the ball too far and this is ruining the game with the only possible solution to be rolling back the distance a ball can be hit. The arguments against roll back are futile since the ruling bodies have already stated regardless of the opinion of others or it would seem, the facts, they are going to proceed. The only question it would seem is whether restrictions will be placed on golf balls or clubs or both. There are any number of comments that might be appropriate but the one this writer has had for many years is this is simply another example how out of touch the two associations are with average golfers.

LPGA Prize Money Increases Mollie Marcoux Samaan has already made history in just over a year as LPGA commissioner crafting a 33-event 2023 season that will have prize money topping $100 million for the first time, up from $85 million this year. The quality of the play has never been better with venues for next year such as Pebble Beach GL, TPC Harding Park, Shadow Creek and Baltusrol GC reflecting the increasing fan interest. The LPGA is a true world tour with sponsored tournaments in 12 countries and multinational membership.

Women & Golf—A Winning Combination The burgeoning numbers of women playing golf are apparent even to the casual observer. The National Golf Foundation says the number of women taking up the game has risen by 600,000 in the last two years golfers to a total of approximately 6.2 million. Retailers like PGA Tour Superstore have recognized this growing market segment and are actively promoting instore programs such as group lessons and proactively managing inventory for style and performance.

World Golf Hall of Fame moves to Pinehurst It was a great sounding idea. Build the World Golf Hall of Fame on Interstate 95 near St. Augustine, Florida, the route millions drive each year seeking fun in the winter sun. There were a lot of reasons attendance didn’t come close to projections and the PGA Tour, the driving force behind the Hall, feels moving it to Pinehurst, N.C. and making it a part of the new USGA testing facility will go a long way to ensuring a viable future.

PGA Show 2022 The January 2022 edition of the PGA Show, “The Major of the Golf Business,” was a shadow of pre-pandemic years as organizers attempted to recover relevancy after the virtual-only show in 2021. Major companies did not exhibit, and the number of attendees fell by 60%. For 2023 there is hope though, a recovery is possible as the largest golf companies such as Callaway, Acushnet, Cobra and Ping have signed up. The Show next January will be the 70th and it has been for decades the primary golf industry meeting not only for nurturing relationships with past customers but finding prospects for future business.

[itsalwaysnight]

Thank you for the tag @loveliest !!

Last Song I listened to:

Inertia by F.O.O.L & Caster. Currently listening to monstercat uncaged vol. 11

Favourite Colour

Turquoise/teal

Currently Watching:

Abbott Elementary which is so so good as well as forever and always watching the most current season of RuPauls drag race and all associated shows that are in English like drag race UK, Canadas drag race, down under, etc. I did try Philippines for a season but it was too much reading. Season 16 just ended, not who I wanted to win but she is still a good winner so it's fine

Sweet / Savoury / Spicy

Sweet, especially chocalate

Relationship status

In a happy relationship of over 4 years, living together for 3 of those years.

Last thing I googled

List of champions with supression debuff mcoc.

Needed it for the new act 8.4 content for Marvel's Contest of Champions (see next)

Current obsession

Yeah after a solid and consistent 8 years of playing, Marvel's Contest of Chanpions still owns my whole ass I am paying at the top 1%-0.5% in competive group play (30 people in 3 groups of 10). Best finish was 55 in the world in a game that has over 100 million downloads on both Apple and Google play.

Best finish I'm solo competive ever was 1656 although that was admittedly a year ago or so now. Been so busy at work I haven't qualified for ranked in a few seasons (which are 4 weeks on season then 2 weeks off season and repeat).

The best part is undoubtedly the community. While games like COD and LOL will get you called slurs and have players with toxic attitudes, The Contest has always been about supporting each other and lifting each other up. And then every alliance I enter I eventually get made an officer as I prove my extensive knowledge of this game. I obsess over the detailed meta and it really pays off.

My strongest champs are Hulk and Black Cat and my favourites to play are Mojo, Hercules, and Kate Bishop

I really appreciate the opportunity to talk about this it is a genuine obsession !!!

Tagging: @p3rson27 @you-are-not-real @immoralfag

✦ people i'd like to know better ✦

tagged by! @good-death-for-the-lonely thank you so much!!!

last song I listened to:  we need a bigger dumpster by cheekface

favorite color: pink so bright it hurts your eyes a little

currently watching: I don’t watch many TV shows, I tend to watch movies though! I watched Lisa Frankenstein recently and really loved it!

sweet/savoury/spicy?: I can’t decide between savory and sweet, so i’ll say both! Like kettle corn!

relationship status: single! Trying to figure out if i’m aro tbh

last thing you googled: “Puppet artists” I was working on a project for a teaching class

current obsession: i’m between obsessions at the moment, so i’m just gonna take this as an opportunity to list past ones. The most recent are danger days/mcr as well as the matrix, but others include archive 81, the magnus archives, portal, slime rancher, lemon demon, and the disney parks!

tagging: @busyhearingvoices , @lenaluthorssuitcollection , and @mothwithpronouns