#now i have an actual gaming pc and can play it as it was intended

[galacticsabc]

curently new-game-plus-ing witcher 3 with the next-gen update

[sootsz]

qsmp has accidentally stumbled into a psychology experiment that would make the stanford prison experiment sob in fear. they’ve gotten a bunch of cc’s, and tens of thousands of viewers, to be deeply emotionally connected to pixel eggs. in doing so they’ve presented a problem:

how the fuck do you get outta this

the eggs were obviously never intended to be permanent (logging on every day to do tasks isn’t feasible to upkeep forever) and they were even given a vague limit of When Mama Dragon Comes Back (and then, of course, the “6 days til they die” thing). now you’ve made it so quackity (and his team) have a big ol dilemma, where two things are true: 1) they can’t keep the eggs forever since it’s not sustainable 2) you can’t take away the eggs without, oopsies, emotionally damaging your friends that you invited to have fun on your server.

turns out, when you give a group of humans all their own fully-realized individual who presents as a (weak, vulnerable) child that is in need of care from them, whatever instinct has kept us alive for generations goes “!!!!!” which is both really cool and compassionate, but also kinda concerning!

because, well: not sustainable! and if the eggs aren’t sustainable, what’s the alternative? killing them?? no! just look at jaiden’s reaction to bobby “losing” a life, even when it wasn’t his last one. or bad’s genuinely heart wrenching reaction to dapper losing a life. or how quiet and angry phil got after chayanne and tallulah had a “nightmare,” before it was resolved. that’s not acting. that’s real. what the hell will they do if the eggs actually die? from what i see, the cc’s are taking the “6 days til death” thing as something that’s avoidable. a threat that can be overcome. and for their sake, i hope it is.

ever played a dnd game where you actually feel insulted bc of smth someone’s pc did? yeah. that x20 because there’s SO much overlap between “streamer persona” and “literally just who they are”. and this level of roleplay character bleeding is cool, but i hope the eggs are handled carefully, or all those involved might end up actually hurt.

there’s also the whole added element of fans, many of whom only tune into the streams for egg content. the plot is very egg-centric. the roleplaying and characterization that the cc’s are doing is all centered around the eggs in one way or another. it’s been going on for a month, but it does not feel at all resolved, and plot-wise it would completely mess up so many plot threads happening if the eggs were all to go (charlie’s unresolved deal with lil j, quackity’s goal to bond with tallulah, the trial, etc etc) so if you take away the eggs, you risk messing up the whole vibe they’ve got going on, and facing backlash from fans who are also emotionally compromised by pixel eggs

we inherently want to protect the cute and vulnerable, and by god are these eggs cute and so very fragile. (then, there’s another layer of people’s own issues that they project onto the eggs. be it desire for paternity, some kind of maternal instinct, or, even in the matter of chayanne, using chayanne as a sort of way to cope with loss by making connections between chayanne and technoblade. which is beautiful and very sweet but would give chayanne dying some additional emotionally charged elements which i think should be avoided at all costs). there’s a reason that movies and other media generally do not kill named children characters—audiences really hate it. it’s taboo for good reason.

which leads us to

schrodinger’s egg: until sunday, they r both alive and dead. and this is both good and bad. god help us all

[binniebakery]

Doll

Non Idol AU Soobin x Fem!Reader, Friends to Lovers(?) ♡ Warnings: very heavily inspired by dollification (im crazy), reader is wearing cute/feminine clothing!!! suggestive!, soobin manhandling, mentions of a small reader, reader gets called nicknames (doll, dainty, cute, etc) ♡ A/N: ALRIGHT! this is for my fellow coquette girlies!! raise ur hand if u feel like this kink suits him because 🙈🙈asdfdfkj idk this may be a little ooc of soobin so i apologize in advance.. !! i love this concept sm i was literally biting my knuckles the entire time writing this🧍‍♀️🧍‍♀️(in other words someone sedate me) also not proofread teehee

You sat there as cute as can be, your lovely skirt resting against your legs as you sat on the edge of your best friend’s bed. Soobin had invited you over to his apartment to hang out on a particularly boring evening. The room was completely silent, aside from the soft clicking and tapping of the controller in your dainty hands. Soobin was taking a shower but had messaged you to let yourself in if he wasn’t done by the time you arrived. You two had been friends for a good while, so you made yourself at home, kicking off your pretty heels and turning on his PC to play some new rhythm game he had installed.

After a proper few minutes you found yourself comfortably lying on your stomach, elbows propped as you tried to beat Soobin’s high score. Your frilly skirt riding up just slightly enough to show off a little more than you intended. Hearing the door open, you pause the game and look back to Soobin smiling. “Hey, enjoying yourself aren’t we?” he chuckled as he watched you kick your feet with a wide grin. “Yeah, took you long enough in the shower I was dying of boredom!” You teased as he sat on the bed next to you, his eyes lingering over you a bit longer than usual. You were too busy fiddling with the controller to even notice. “Your outfit’s cute today y/n.” Soobin softly mumbled as his fingers traced the lace of your skirt, fingertips almost grazing the exposed skin. You feel yourself shudder and immediately sit up, a nervous smile plays on your lips as you look up at Soobin who was still softly feeling the material. You flush at how his still-damp hair hangs around his handsome face. Even though he wore just a simple white t-shirt and jeans it was still enough to make him insanely attractive. “A-ah thanks! I just got this outfit actually.. ” Your voice beginning to fail you as your best friend looks down at you with a look you’ve never seen on him before. Before you could say anything else, Soobin lifts his large hand and cups your face gently, thumb caressing your cheek softly. You feel yourself wanting to melt into your best friend’s touch. Sure, Soobin wasn’t always that affectionate, but you were both comfortable enough around each other so he had his moments. Then again.. why was he looking at you like that? The way his eyes stared at your pouty lips felt as if he was enticing you to lean into his palm. And you did. “You’re so pretty y’know?.. Like a doll. I feel like.. I could just break you with how small you are.” He whispers and your eyes widen. “Wh- what? What do you m- mean..?” You see a slight blush form on his cheeks as if someone else but him had just said that out loud. Classic Soobin, always speaking his mind without a filter. Did he even have any idea just how this was affecting you right now? “Sorry.. I just.. That slipped out..” he mumbled and his eyes are back on your lips again. Your mind couldn’t think of anything to say in response, your cheeks felt like they were on fire as your hands sat in your lap. You didn’t dare to move an inch. “You’re just such a..” Soobin begins again as he moves the thumb that was caressing your warm cheek down to your soft pink lips. “Dainty girl..” His fingers held your chin so that you were looking up at him. You closed your eyes, breath beginning to shake as you just couldn’t into your best friend’s eyes.

“Will you let me see those pretty eyes y/n?” Soobin’s voice sounds like honey, warm, low, and smooth as he drags his thumb to smear your once-perfect lipgloss slightly. You open your eyes and he’s smiling at you, eyes half-lidded as if he were in a haze. “Atta girl. You listen so well..” He continues moving his thumb, caressing your plump bottom lip. From the way he was smirking anyone could see how he was enjoying this. The way you melt under his touch, it makes him want to ruin your pretty makeup even more. See the tears that stream down your pretty face, see how your eyes and nose get puffy, turning that perfect pink when you cry.  “S- Soobin.. my lip-” Your lips were smoothed shut as Soobin’s thumb smeared your lipgloss once more. “See? So easily played with, my whole hand just-” he squeezes your cheeks to prove his point, the color on his fingers now tinting parts of your cheeks. “Can hold your entire little face..” he chuckles quietly. Since when did he speak so condescendingly towards you? It didn’t matter, you secretly loved it. His large hand easily moved around, playing with your face as you stared at him through your pretty lashes. Your heart was pounding at the intimate attention and you found yourself craving more. You squeak as Soobin suddenly places you into his lap, large hands squeezing your waist once you were situated. His movements felt swift yet so careful. “Have to be gentle with you. You’re like a porcelain doll..” You find your breaths becoming more labored from the touch. With every touch he gave you, you felt the fire and intense atmosphere between you grow thicker. Large hands roaming your waist and sides, admiring your outfit. “S’cute..” he chuckles as you lean into his shoulder from embarrassment. “S- Soobin..” You were so flustered over how you felt. You’ve always felt an attraction towards him, but of course, keeping your feelings hidden was the path you chose as you weren’t even sure if he had feelings for you. However, his actions today seem to confirm he feels the same way.

“Pretty girl.. My pretty girl... Letting someone like me move you and touch you however I want..” he cooed as he ran his fingers through your perfectly done hair. Fingers lightly tugging at the ribbons you meticulously tied this morning, just enough so that they threatened to undo themselves. The same way he wanted you to become undone. “If it's you... then- it’s fine binnie..” For Soobin, hearing you say that in his neck ever so softly made his heart swoon. You used that nickname sparingly, only using it whenever you were feeling cheeky. Or whenever you wanted something. It drove him insane. You placed your hands on his chest as he tilted your head back, giving him space for his lips to start hovering over your pretty neck. You were completely under his control. Like he was the puppeteer and you, his cute little puppet for him to admire. Though you didn’t really mind the attention, did you?

You felt your breath hitch as he stayed still, your eyes squeezed shut in anticipation of feeling his lips on your skin. You wanted it, needed it. “Please..” you softly whisper and Soobin smirks at your whines. “Does my pretty girl want me to do more?” He questions, voice sounding innocent and sweet but the look on his face was giving a completely different vibe. All you could do was nod in response. “Can my doll use her words for me?”

That was the final straw for you, forget the morality of it all. You nod again “p- please.. I want more..” you pleaded, looking at him with big doe eyes. Soobin’s eyes lingered on your face, the way your lipgloss was smeared across, the flush of your pretty cheeks, the way your lashes were curled to perfection. He was obsessed. You feel him lay you back, his larger body moving over you as his fingers admire the fabric of your outfit. “Mhm, good girl.. Let me treat my pretty doll with the utmost care then.”

[linka-from-captain-planet]

Florrickology, Part 1: The Thong That Launched 1000 Headcanons

My favorite thing to do as a background character fan is to co-opt things that were definitely not meant to be characterization by making them characterization.

Thus, I have looked way deeper than intended into every possible pixel, moment, and mention of my beloved Counsellor Florrick and developed the exciting new field of Florrickology to report my findings.

Obviously the first place I'm going is this fucking dress and how I use it to infer upon her the two sexiest characteristics a woman can have:

Unflinching vanity and a deep-seated, yet subtle, insanity.

This dress is more than a bit of an enigma because... why?

It really stands out because, while Larian gives players plenty of opportunities to sexualize their avatar and their companions, they don't really sexualize NPCs. Most women, like men, are dressed very modestly. Outfits that female NPCs wear are even often much more unisex than the equivalent outfits available to player characters (e.g. tunics that male PCs can wear may turn into tits-out dirndls on female PCs for no apparent reason, but female NPCs wearing the same outfit get a tunic). The only characters who are sexualized are presented as Sexy Characters, like Abdirak or Sorn Orlith or Orin or even Mystra and Mamzell Amira, who also wear this dress.

Mostly.

Florrick, despite being beautiful, a two-time damsel in distress, and a certified MILF, is not presented as a Sexy Character. She's presented as a no-nonsense, somewhat domineering, loyal-and-virtuous-to-a-fault fed. This is the only description of her in the game files (see img description), highlighting these bare-bones characteristics:

So... why? For this character whose appearance truly doesn't matter beyond being eye-catching enough to communicate her importance to the story, who has no even vaguely flirtatious dialogue and no implied sexuality or romance (even with the man she spends the entire game chasing!), and not even a weird torture porn moment which she has ample opportunities... why dress her like this? Why emphasize her body over any other similarly-prominent NPC like, say, Alfira?

My assumption would be that they did it to soften her to the average Redditmod McGamerbro because the story really is better if incels don't kill her for being "bossy"... if they didn't also code her as a middle-aged black woman and give her a custom face sculpt with a prominent nose, large jaw, and non-Western features, all famously accepted with no problematic reaction from this demographic whom Larian doesn't not cater to. In fact, as the #1 Florrickposter in the universe, I often see people say in tags and comments that they didn't even notice how revealing her dress is while playing the game. While racism is definitely at play (plus misogyny, rendering this middle-aged black-coded woman invisible, whereas a younger and white man in the same role would be ALL OVER THIS DAMN PLACE), it also speaks to just how discordant her outfit and explicit characterization are.

Now, this outfit does make a little sense on a glance and I think that's a big part of why it flies under the radar as well: she's important and presumably wealthy, so of course she wears this very posh and expensive-looking dress. She's a wizard (a fact everyone manages to glean on a glance, despite it never being stated and basically never being relevant), so of course she's wearing something obnoxious and purple. From the waist up, it actually looks like a pretty reasonable outfit for a person of her DnD class, social class, and occupation.

It's from the waist down where it gets out of hand.

But first, this isn't even Florrick's original outfit or face (which I'll talk about in another post), or the first iteration of her current outfit. Originally, she wore the ostentatious yet modest feathered peacock dress that eventually ended up on Lucretious (and took the thicc waist with it RIP). According to my research, there was a reason for this: it was too baller for Waukeen's Rest and kept causing crashes, so they had to put her in a less graphically-demanding outfit.

The original peacock dress sent the necessary "I am an important quest giver, engage with me" message, so why not just remove the cowl that was causing the issues? But instead, they changed her outfit entirely, keeping it eye-catching and posh (suitable for a big-city government official), but randomly making it super revealing (strange, for a big-city government official). Further, Florrick got a major va-va-voom upgrade between Sexy Dress v1 and final release, with a new dress model that makes it clearer that the front and back panels are sheer, subtly showing even more skin, and which unsubtly emphasizes her hips and breasts.

Based on extensive academic research using mods, I determined that the dress is what conveys the extra curviness (see img description in the left-most pic) vs her having a custom body sculpt (weak). Further, when viewed from behind, the dress pads out her ass, also making it look bigger and rounder than the standard body type 1 (see img description in the right-most pic).

What's more, if you look closely at the waist seam of the final version of her sexy dress, it looks like they went so far as to skew it to make her hips stand out even more when she takes the cocked-hip stance (which she seems to only stand in) and perhaps draw even more attention to her thong sticking out. Notice how the waist seam is even and straight across in Sexy Dress V1 above, but Final Florrick has it like 2 inches higher on her right, without fabric bunching to explain the different seam lengths. You can also see how the dress subtly pops out farther than her actual hips (and from the side view, over her lower stomach), giving her the impression of curves the standard body type doesn't have. They were very intentional with it.

Shockingly, I don't actually have much to say about her exposed thong in and of itself (it is what it is) except that I think it actually makes the outfit look substantially skimpier because it draws attention to just how high those hip slits are, compared to leaving the area blank so eyes gloss over it (even if that would imply she runs around commando all game). It's a small detail that drives home the overall design.

All this is to say, since this dress is only worn by 4 people* with Florrick being the first you see and by far has the most screen time, and it isn't lootable, it seems this outfit was developed intentionally and specifically to emphasize her body to make her look sexier.

*Florrick, Mamzell Amira (slightly different lower half), a random patriar at Gortash's inauguration named Lady Alia Durinbold, and Mystra

So, this takes us back to the question of 'why'. Why spend all this time and these resources fine-tuning this dress to make it as sexy and flattering as possible? Why put it on a character who has literally no reason to wear such a thing? Why put this dress which is nothing but nonsense on a character who's pretty much only characterized as being no-nonsense??

And this is also where the real tinfoil hattery comes in, as I doubt Larian really meant anything by it aside from creating a hot NPC for players with good taste to enjoy across all 3 acts.

But that's not what this nuclear caliber simp post is about; it's about overthinking shit because I love her and she is a main character to ME.

So, whatever Larian's intention, there's only 1 in-universe reason why Florrick wears this outfit:

She woke up that day in Waukeen's Rest, in the middle of nowhere a full tenday from the city, on her way back from literal hell to deal with yet another crisis, and decided to put it on. And continued to do so every day thereafter.

It's logical that she can't change right after being rescued since the inn is burning down presumably with her luggage in it, but why did she choose that outfit in the first place, considering she was travelling? She's been travelling for months; it can't have been her only clothing. Did she not have a Fist uniform? A pair of leggings? She runs right off after she's done talking; does she hike all the way in and out of the shadow-cursed lands in a thong and flat macrame boots? It doesn't even have any indication of cinches or buttons despite having all the logical seams and it's clearly tailored to fit her bananas hourglass figure, like there's no way she can just pull it on or step into it, so does she have to expend her valuable magic to wear it? Does she take the time to sew herself into it every day instead of sucking it up and wearing *barf* pants??? There are plenty of people around in Act 2 that could and would give her something more practical to wear, even if she did have a good reason to wear her original dress that day in Waukeen's Rest. Yet, she continues to wake up every day and put that outfit on. Even after returning home.

(In my head, the video game convention of every character only having 1 outfit is shorthand for what their "typical" outfit is, and they "really" have a wardrobe of similar clothing. So when I say she wears that outfit every day, I mean she has a couple of similarly-bonkers dresses in her bag and chooses to wear one every day vs something more practical).

So the simp's question isn't what Larian is saying about her by dressing like this, but what she's saying about herself by choosing to dress like this.

Clothing is self-expression. Look at the many analyses of the main characters' outfits. Larian may or may not have really meant anything by giving Florrick this outfit, but just as Astarion's careful mending of his shirt necessarily says something about him and his personality in the universe he lives in, so does Florrick's decision to wear flashy, revealing clothing.

It almost makes no sense... until you think about one of Florrick's explicitly-demonstrated characteristics:

Confidence. Over confidence. Hubris, even.

I'll have more to say about Desiré "Fuck It, We Ball" Florrick and her personality in another florrickology post, but the long and short of it is that this woman is not afraid of shit and sashays into every situation fully confident in her ability to charm or steamroll it to her liking. "She is used to getting her way", indeed. Her epilogue letter betrays a bit of self-doubt, but it seems to have been brought on by her perceived failures in relation to the player character's successes, so likely not her ordinary attitude. Whereas this seems to be her ordinary clothing, since she took it with her to Elturel and back for no apparent reason and chooses to wear it for no apparent reason.

She has nothing to gain from it, no one important to impress at least until returning to the city in Act 3. Otherwise, she's in bumfuck nowhere with her boss-friend and lackeys, or cursed!bumfuck nowhere with her lackeys and a bunch of vigilantes planning a war. While I wouldn't doubt that she has or might be willing to use her beauty and sex appeal to meet her goals (TadpUlder does, curiously, call her a "black widow"; is his tadpole capitalizing on stereotypes--could it be slut shaming her??, or is it referencing things that the shreds of Ulder's mind know she's done?), ultimately, there can't be a tactical explanation because there's nobody more powerful than her around 90% of the time.

She also doesn't flirt with anyone and nobody flirts with her (philistines). She has no mentioned spouse or lovers, nor any implied sexuality at all. The closest we get is Mizora saying "she misses the Duke" after Florrick's ambush in Act 3, the only time anyone implies she's on a crusade to find him because of romantic feelings and not duty, loyalty, and friendship... which means Mizora is probably just talking out her ass and belittling people, as she does.

So, combine self-confidence with the decision to constantly wear a sexy dress that shows off her body for no practical reason, and what do you get?

Balls-to-the-wall, unapologetic vanity.

(If it wasn't clear, when I call women "vain" I think they are objectively correct and this is a compliment of the highest order.)

Sure, maybe wearing this kind of outfit boosts her confidence and that helps deal with this unprecedented crisis and possibly the first self-doubt she's ever experienced, but this is evidently her usual clothing and she isn't usually dealing with those things.

So, she wears this intricate and revealing dress mostly she likes it and how she looks in it. This means she likes that it's revealing. She likes showing skin to literally no end except her own enjoyment.

Notice she doesn't really do her hair (it's shiny and neat, but not really styled) or bother with makeup (she lost the EA smoky eye in favor of a quick swipe of eyeliner). One may think that perhaps she isn't as confident in her facial beauty since she does have unique features, so she calls attention to her body instead, but she's so devoid of modesty that I can't help but assume she simply looks in the mirror in the morning, thinks "no notes" (correct) and moves on to pouring herself into her favorite skimpy dress. She's proud of her natural beauty, and she's not about to cover it all up with goop or fabric!! She never mentions it and nobody who knows her does; she's not trying to stunt on anyone or even attract other hot people.

She's in it purely for the love of the sport and, sexiest of all, herself. This woman doesn't think she's the sexiest creature in any given room, she knows it.

And she knows that being hot doesn't affect her ability to do her job and protect the city she loves. She doesn't have to cover herself up, doll up her hair and makeup, slap on like 400 pettiskirts, etc, to be taken seriously. It's possibly even giving 'malicious compliance'. She commands so much respect that even horny gamers don't notice her entire ass is one breeze away from being out.

The deep-seated, yet subtle insanity part has pretty much already been covered; maybe in her day-to-day life of attending meetings and walking all over everyone in Wyrm's Rock, it's not so impractical, but it's a completely insane thing to wear in any sort of crisis or outdoor adventure. That this woman is willing to risk chafing or being cold (womankind's public enemy #1 and #2) simply for the drip is delightfully nutty. There is not a single moment she appears in this game where this outfit would be reasonable.

She presents herself as a stalwart, serious, determined woman, but then squeezes into a dress so tight and precarious that it knocks off her Fleet of Foot speed boost, for literally no reason aside from being vain and lowkey kind of crazy.

Good for her!

[maqui-chan]

surprise my pcs actually have names

Aiko - my actual first pc back when i was bad at the game (literally i was playing it like 'how bad can it get') i am so sorry aiko-chan... she's still going through it tho. her main way of making money is being a chef at the cafe and also shaking her ass at the danube mansion parties

Lyon - nvm the pic featured above she's actually a very nice girl. she's actually quite chill most of the time. although she maybe has a few screws loose. i mean who goes out of her way to get assaulted just so they can beat someone up. her main way of making money is by stealing (is besties with landry) (the police has a file cabinet dedicated to her)

Yuri - latest pc intended for a yaoi run but is now a happy monogamous relationship with sydney. he adopted a gentle demeanor so that the other orphans wouldn't be so scared of him, and now he's very popular with the younger orphans. his main way of making money is being a masseur at the spa (he has the least money among the pcs)

[lonewolflupe]

I thought it would be fun to write a little bit about myself, so come over and get to know me! (As far as I know myself because I didn't come with a manual so I'm still figuring myself out..) If you have any more questions, feel absolutely free to ask them!

Expect a karkload of ramblings below the cut, this turned out so much longer than I intended I am so sorry, no one is probably going to read this but I'm just leaving this here anyway because I don't really have people to share my ramblings with

PERSONAL

My name's Julie (she/her)

Lupe is actually my OCs name, but I adopted it as a nickname here on Tumblr when I first started posting and I kinda stuck with it

Quickly approaching my 30s help

I'm from the Netherlands 🇳🇱 so my first language is Dutch

That obviously means English isn't my first language, so please excuse any errors in my writing

I am Dutch, therefore I love cheese 🧀 (like Gouda, NOT cheddar)

I am an archaeologist! I've been a history nerd all my life

I work in a museum (obviously one with a history collection)

My #1 all-time favourite animals are wolves

In RL, I am super introverted and people scare the kark out of me

I never got any diagnosises, but I'm pretty sure I'm neurodivergent

I prefer the internet over meeting people IRL, because I feel way more comfortable to be myself and ramble about the things I love online than IRL

I tend to switch between my several hyperfixations from time to time, but I really hope to stick around the Star Wars fandom for a long time <3

HOBBIES

Star Wars obviously ahahahaha what are you doing here otherwise?

Drawing, writing, photography, gaming, history, nature, collecting, listening to music

Drawing: has always been one of my favourite pastime activities. I used to draw wolves almost non-stop, until life happened I guess? I only recently picked up drawing again. Drawing humans is a struggle, but it's so much fun practicing with clones <3

Drawing: I'm currently drawing with my ergonomically irresponsible mouse in Photoshop CS6 (I've been using the same software for over 10 years now and I am too afraid to switch to something newer)

Writing: I used to write stories about wolves (shocker) but same as with drawing, life happened. Until I recently picked up writing again! I started writing fanfiction for the first time when I started posting on Tumblr around June 2024

Writing: publishing a book has been on my bucketlist for a long time but I'm not sure that's ever going to happen, so let's keep it with fanfiction for now (which I am REALLY enjoying)

Gaming: I prefer gaming on my PlayStation 3 and 4, but I occasionally play PC and Nintendo Switch games. I mostly play single-player games. Assassin's Creed got me into gaming and is still my favourite series. I also really enjoy The Witcher III, Red Dead Redemption I + II, LA Noire and Far Cry Primal. And others, obviously

Gaming: I play Pokémon GO! If you're a player as well, shoot me your friend code and I'll add you (:

Music: I'm a metalhead; metal is my favourite genre! But I also like (hard) rock and (folk) punk. My favourite metal subgenres are power metal and folk metal. But I can listen to movie/game soundtracks for weeks as well!

Music: Rammstein got me into the heavier stuff and is still an all-time favourite. I was a die-hard Volbeat fan for years, but I haven't felt drawn to their latest releases. My current favourite band is definitely Powerwolf (more wolves lol)! Other favourites are (among many others) Sabaton, Amon Amarth, Slipknot, Nightwish, Within Temptation, Dropkick Murphys, Flogging Molly, The Real McKenzies, Heilung, Wardruna, Eluveitie, and some amazing older stuff like Alice Cooper, Pink Floyd and E.L.O.

STAR WARS

This is where the fun begins

I've been a Star Wars fan for as long as I can remember

My brother and me used to watch the OT and Ep I on VHS when we were kids and were lucky enough to see Ep II and III in cinemas

I missed watching EP I in cinemas this May (due to its 25th anniversary) because I was moving homes during that time and I am still crying about that, see you in 5 years I guess

What I like about the Prequels: everything? Obviously the clones ahahaha. But kinda everything. The setting, the plot, the characters, the tragedy. I know there's a lot of hate on the writing, but I grew up with them and I think they're awesome. Definitely not perfect, but (and please don't hate me) I would choose the Prequels over the OT anytime. Also the meme material coming from this?? Legendary.

What I like about the OT: the story and the characters! It felt less complicated back then, more about good and evil (there's a lot of grey area now, which is obviously more realistic; but as a kid growing up with the movies, good vs evil was less complicated)

What I like about the Sequels: BB-8, porgs, and the Somehow Palpatine Returns-meme, that's it. Maybe Poe Dameron, but that's probably because it's Oscar Isaac.

I also VERY MUCH like Rogue One; what a wonderful and sad story. I won't shut up about how much I love how this story blends into Ep IV/the OT; I think this was so well done, I- aaaaaaah I love it

What I like about the animated shows: CLONES. Clonesclonesclones. And Ahsoka. And a lot more, but at this time, the clone brainrot is real. I actually really like how some things are further explained in the animated shows (I think they're a real addition to the movies/story). And the angst and the tragedy, ugh my heart. Also the animation style of course! And clones, did I mention the clones?

Favourite characters (non-clones): Ahsoka Tano, Darth Vader, Obi-Wan Kenobi (prequel era), Plo Koon, Aayla Secura, probably Darth Maul too, Jyn Erso

Favourite clones: Hunter (he started it), Fives (I cannot put into words how much I love and feel for this man I just need to wrap my arms around him and tell him it's alright and that he and the clones deserve so much better and that I'm there to listen to him and it's going to be okay I'm going to make all his problems go away and also some adult stuff I'm not going to write here), Echo (my beloved), Wolffe (awooooooo), Cody (good man that Cody), Rex (obviously), Fox (you matter but please stop drinking caf and get some sleep), Vaughn (my love, my heart, my soul; I would die for you) (> I get obsessed over a different clone pretty often but it's safe to say I love all clones)

Favourite droids: R2-D2, Chopper, BB-8, Gonky, K-2SO, (also BD-1 is super cute), the droids helping out Ahsoka during Shattered/Victory and Death (R7-A7, CH-33P, RG-G1), mouse droids, (I haven't played Outlaws yet but I have normal feelings about ND-5)

Favourite animals: loth wolf (duh), tooka, massiff, varactyl, acklay

I used to collect Star Wars LEGO and Hasbro and I would love to put those on a shelf/into a cabinet one day

I would love to go to some sort of fan con one day but I'm afraid I won't survive all the stimuli/amount of people there

I did visit the Star Wars Exhibition in Brussels somewhere in the late 2000s/early 2010s; it was kriffing majestic

I used to play Star Wars Battlefront II (2005) with my brother all the time. We played it so much the disc got damaged by the PlayStation 2 itself and obviously we bought it again to keep playing

I played Jedi: Fallen Order (2019) and it was awesome! I really need to replay it so I can play Jedi: Survivor (2023) afterwards (haven't played it yet, I need to get myself a PlayStation 5 first, RIP)

Since we're talking about PlayStation 5, I'm dying to play Outlaws (2024) help (I need to know what is happening between Kay and ND-5??)

I really want to play Republic Commando (2005) (I even have a PS4 copy laying around) but haven't found the time yet

LASTLY

So one of my other hyperfixations is Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002), the 2D-animated movie by DreamWorks. (I know, I'm super weird; I'm a metalhead switching between Star Wars and an animated movie about horses (and some other hyperfixations but let's not go there).) I even created a fansite, if anyone's interested (which has still lots of WIP-pages I'm sorry I'm into Star Wars at the moment)

Alright that was a lot of super random information no one asked about. If you've come this far, holy kark my utmost respect to you, please leave a comment so I can send over some cookies because you kriffing deserved them?? I might consider writing a ficlet for you.

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[anim-ttrpgs]

The Actual Patreon Post: You can get a PDF copy of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy right now for only $5.

As many of you who already follow this tumblr page have no-doubt already seen, after some difficulty, we have finally been able to set up a functioning Patreon page. Those of you who already follow this tumblr page have also no-doubt already seen that we have been working for several years on an original TTRPG called Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy. This is a robust, rules-medium TTRPG that is designed to run mystery, horror, and even action adventures in any time period between about 1850 and the present day.

More info about what makes Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy so unique as a TTRPG can be found

Here (Introduction/Summary)

Here (The Eureka! System)

Here (What is Eureka for?)

Here (The Woo Roll)

Here (Lore)

Here (2D6 System)

Here (Gameplay and Design Philosophy)

But for a quick summary, Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is a 2D6 system(NOT PbtA) that puts the players in charge of relatively mundane investigators as they attempt to solve puzzling mysteries, both ordinary and supernatural in nature. Investigators are flawed, vulnerable people who must rely on their wits more than heroic skills to overcome adversity and dig for the truth, even when it may not be enough. Combat is deep and tactical, but very realistic and deadly, with overconfidence easily able to land a character on the ground.

Eureka takes a rare approach to party dynamics and TTRPG narrative, where the PCs are on a mostly even playing field with NPCs, and playing their cards wrong could easily have a new group of PCs showing up to not only solve the original mystery, but the unsolved murders of previous party as well.

Additionally, it is not discouraged for PCs not to 100% trust the other members of the party, with betrayal being a real possibility. Even in the absence of an intended betrayal, in some cases a PC may actually be some kind of supernatural creature passing for a regular person, who can reveal this to neither the rest of the party nor the actual players sitting around the table. If your character is a vampire, that’s between you, the character, and the GM. No one else can know, or else. What supernatural characters gain in overall power and often durability, they make up for with the added challenge of utilizing their powers and avoiding their supernatural weaknesses while attempting to solve the mystery without tipping off anyone else to their true nature.

Now for a few quotes from those who have had the opportunity to playtest and preview this game:

“The most stress-free character creation I’ve ever seen.”

“The Eureka! system is something that really sets this apart from other mystery games.”

“This approach to investigation is the right way to do it.”

“I love the Woo Roll.”

“[The monster dynamic] is one of the most interesting things I’ve ever played with.”

So, why am I telling you all this again? Because Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is, basically, being soft-launched right now. The official Kickstarter is still several months away, but the actual game is 99% done. You can pick up a PDF of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy, along with three pre-written adventure modules to go with it, for $5 right now on our Patreon page.

For official and top-secret reasons, I can’t actually speak about how much we intend to Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy for when it actually goes up for official sale, but I can say that this is a very, very good deal for what amounts to almost 500 pages of material.

[abibeur]

So. I played Side Order (or rather I finished Side Order, aside from a few completion marks that doesn't offer any spoiler stuff!).

I've been seeing stuff on Tumblr, on Discord servers, on YouTube comments by people who were… Not entirely happy with it. Or rather disappointed. "They could have done more…", "This character was underused…", "I preferred the Octo Expansion…", "Let's re-write it for something better…". And let me tell you, I was (and still am) infuriated when reading these. Not because those comments and posts and messages were unfair, unjust and idiotic or anything (well maybe the re-writing thing was uncalled for), but because I actually loved that DLC. I think that's pretty normal to be angry with seeing a thing you love being shit on, even if I get what all of you meant. But I still wanted to share my own thoughts (because why not, I like saying what I think).

First and foremost, let me just say that I have a pretty different relation with Splatoon than most people. I was in since the release of the first game. I didn't play it due to a lack of Wii U, but I watched a lot of videos. And I liked it! I even had Splatoon OCs, I could be considered a fandom veteran at this point! But after some years, I put it at the back of my head as something I loved. When the Switch came out, I didn't have the money for it and no one would buy me one, so I continued to be a PC gamer. And when I saw the news of a Splatoon 2, I dismissed it like it was something silly, "what can you say more about Splatoon!?" I knew there was some new idols, some stuff about a DLC, Callie being kidnapped, but that's all. I dismissed all of this, and as a result I don't have much of an attachment for it. But in 2021, when I saw the news about a third game, I was ecstatic again. And in 2022, when I finally could afford it, I bought a Switch. Not just any Switch, the Splatoon themed one, and I pre-ordered the game. And when it came out, I spent less than a day to finish the story mode, and it was one of the best day of my life, I played Splatoon for 16 entire hours. Splatoon 3 is now my most played game on the Switch, more than 300 hours (that can seem not that much for some of you, but I'm a casual gamer, I don't play every day, so that's still a lot!). I even bought Splatoon 2 and the Octo Expansion after that. Splatoon 2 story mode was incredible, because that's the game I never got to play but more mastered. Octo Expansion was incredible, because it was… incredible. But I still liked Splatoon 3 story mode better. Is it because I've played it before? Because I hadn't the one year of unskippable Off the Hook news to make me like them before the DLC (to be fair I didn't know much of Deep Cut too!)? Because it clicked more on me? Honestly I don't care. It's not important, because it's still my preferences. But let met tell you, when the news of Splatoon 3 DLC dropped, I was roaring. Every crumbs of news and trailers widened my life expectancy. I was finally sharing the hype that you felt for Octo Expansion. And…

Two days ago, I played it. And I loved it. Why? Why did I love it where so many people seem disappointed? This will not be an analysis, I'm not good at those, just… Here's how I see things. Also there will be huge spoilers so if you haven't censored the tags for whatever reason, I will hide it beneath a read more because I'm nice.

First, the gameplay. When I heard it was going to be a roguelite, I was intrigued, because it seemed interesting. I was wondering how it was going to play out, more like The Binding of Isaac, or like Hades… Okay I only played those two. And it was like Hades. But I think the best thing to come out of this gameplay is… Well, the fact is every mission from all other story modes (including octo expansion) are pretty much the same in that they have an intended way to be beaten. Sure, for OE and S3 you have a choice of weapons, and there's probably unorthodox ways to finish them (including speedruns), but it's still organised around a specific way to deal with the levels. You go at one point and there you're done. And that's why I will never re-play the story modes I already finished. I know the ropes, so… Why? But here… The gameplay itself doesn't change much. It's an amalgamation of most Splatoon gameplay since now, Salmon Run, Ranked Match, Octo Expansion levels… But the way you APPROACH this gameplay is different and that's why every thing changes. Because you are now free to choose. You don't want a stage? Choose another one, the cost of a good chip and membux not being that punishing, you want a specific type of chip? Go for it! There is so much fun combos to do, I have fun at every run! They told us it was going to be replayable. And they haven't failed to give. Because when I want to replay a game, then I know it's good. Aside of multiplayer games and games made to be replayable (TBOI, Dishonored…), some of favourite games are Half-Life 2 (my favourite game in general), Hollow Knight and Mario & Luigi Bowser's Inside Story. Once you've finished exploring it all, well there is nothing else. But I still want to experience it again. And again. I have tens and even hundreds of hours on each of them. So yeah. If a game makes me want to replay it, I like it! And also… The final fight. The "phase 2" of the final fight. It was probably the most satisfying gameplay in all of Splatoon. Every path you took? Every path you didn't take? It was there. And you could experience it all together and finally finish your first run, empowered by it, in-game and outside. This was so good. I really wish we will get updates like more stages, bosses or even chips, because wow.

Secondly, the atmosphere. This point will be much shorter, but holy shit this game was incredible to be immersed into. The cold and sanitised atmosphere of the Spire? Amazing. Obvious Portal and liminal spaces vibes, but hey. And the music… Really the music makes a lot of it. The final fight music is absolutely incredible, one more time, and the credits theme is probably my favourite credits theme of every Splatoon game and DLC (that VIOLIN, that heckin' VIOLIN). I wouldn't be able to say which one of Octo Expansion and Side Order's atmospheres was my favourite. I guess I'm less sensitive to childhood memories and such but hey. Both DLC's atmospheres were incredible good.

Finally… The sore point of everything I guess, the story. I guess we expected more. Even myself, I expected something darker, deeper, more mysterious and esoteric… Have I been disappointed. No. I understand that some people were, but I am not. And frankly, I feel like I don't have to be. Like what do we really wished for? More octoling lore? Marina's past uncovered? Mature themes and dark atmosphere? I am just describing Octo Expansion. We didn't need Octo Expansion 2.0. Every theme that I've seen wished for? Octo Expansion tackled them, greatly even. So did we really need to do the same thing again? I feel like Splatoon 3 was the great conclusion of the other games' story modes, where all marine life finally united against the common enemy: mammals, the past of Earth's life coming back for its great revival. And it was a spectacular conclusion. And Side Order was Octo Expansion's conclusion. But it wasn't that bombastic, it was more of a calm conclusion, an epilogue of some sort. Marina wasn't in great danger or anything (well she was but less than we expected), we didn't need to expand the damsel in distress role for confirming Marina and Pearl's relation (which was pretty much hinted on greatly without it lmao), we already knew that. We didn't need some dramatic story about Marina's departure's effect on the one she was close to, like some people predicted for Acht. I think some fan comics explored this way better and Nintendo telling their own version would have been disappointing either for it or for the fan comics' versions! We didn't need more insights on Eight, because once again Octo Expansion ALREADY did this. Eight seems happy with their new name and identity, so why should we uncover more? They already won a lot with Octo Expansion and their sacrifices would have been dull if there were reveals on "who they really are".

Nah. Side Order, how I see it, is a story about fixing the damage made in the Octo Expansion. It's a story about recovery. About finally confirming your place in the world and accepting that everything will not be like you think it will. Acht is not there to expose Marina's errors, Acht is there to show how this recovery can work. She symbolises every octoling Marina left when she quit the army and ESPECIALLY every octoling she swore to help. And she's also there because it would have been less interesting to see an octoling we've never seen before, especially since she is an octoling we knew got Kamabo Co.'d! Every palette is someone we already know, an anchor to the world of Splatoon, and for Eight, an anchor to their memories, as the locker was their palette. As they know more and more people, they know more and more where their place in the world is. And the end of your first run? The start of the final boss phase 2? Yeah the music is Pearl, Marina and Acht's. But it is Eight's pulse that got everything back together. Their heart beating made the world beating again. They found freedom, now they found their place in the world. They're finally complete. Like you complete your palette with every chips at once. Octo Expansion final fight was their last fight for freedom. But I think this was their last fight for identity.

But outside of that, I think Order/Smollusk is more than that. More and more we advance through completing the palettes, we learn that Smollusk is the result of Marina's wish for order in her life (and her fellow octolings') and especially the other octolings developers dreams. And I think that's really important, because after that, we learn that why Smollusk still fights us is because it's… alone. And Acht seemingly understands that. You know why this is? Why it doesn't understand Marina's intentions by "betraying" it? Because Marina, as opposed to the other developers and Acht, found someone. She found her partner for life, the love of her life you could say, she found someone else that could offer her something great. And I think the other developers didn't find that companionship, so they had other goals with the Memverse, and Acht, left behind by Marina, felt this loneliness too, taking refuge in music, so that's why she understood what Smollusk felt. I think Splatoon story is a lot about isolation, solitude and loneliness. The (Inkadian) octolings were chased from the surface, living in the underground, isolated and forced into military life. When they risked survival, they stole the great zapfish and we sent then back into the dark. So they retaliated by stealing it again and also kidnapping Callie, separating Marie from the person she holds dearest (while Callie thought she could offer them company and finally uniting back the two people). Octo Expansion was also about isolation from the surface, for everyone involved and Tartar… Well the mammal (and adjacent) survivors don't really have it well, huh? Judd was made immortal, a great lonely situation for one of the last mammals, even if the professor give him Lil Judd for that (isolating the latter from self expression, oops!), Tartar wanted finally someone who could understand the knowledge he was bearing, and in his final instants was longing to return to the professor and for Grizz… We saw what happened in the logs! But this is not where it ends. The first final Splatfest was literally choosing between the Squid Sister, separating one from the other. And when the Splatocalypse happened, we thought it would be the same, that both option were going to be negative. A endless world of anomy where nothing makes sense against a cold and dystopic dictatorship. But we saw Chaos rather meant a world of differences where anyone can be what they want to be and still be reunited with people. So now we see what Order meant: reuniting people by putting them on equal terms. And at the end, that's what you and Smollusk agreed on! He'd be a difficult final boss and you'd be a formidable opponent for him! Splatfests weren't meant to be divisive or anything, it's just a fun way to see what do people choose in their life. So to face loneliness and meet new and fun people, what will you choose? Chaos or Order?

I guess I understand if it wasn't the story you wanted to see. But I liked it either way, as I also struggle with loneliness and finding my place in the world. And as I also like roguelites!

[daitranscripts]

Frequently Asked Questions

Update: 8/29/2024

I would like to remind everyone that I am just another fan, and this is a fan project. I have no control over character dialogue.

Remember to be kind in my ask box and notes. I cannot explain why some character lines were chosen to be cut from the game, nor is this the place to start character discourse. I am also not a machine - I am a person with feelings and other hobbies. I love to take dialogue requests, but asks that demand certain quests or are rude will be swiftly deleted. Repeat offenders, or especially rude anons, will be blocked.

Please be courteous! This is something I enjoy doing, and I ask that you keep the experience enjoyable for myself and your fellow fans.

What is this project?

DAI Transcripts is my endeavor to document and format all of the dialogue (companion comments, location banter, various remarks, and more!) in Dragon Age: Inquisition. I started this project in 2019 as a spiritual successor to the discontinued @dragonagetranscripts. ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤ

Why are you doing this?

Because god has punished me for my hubris and my work is never done. 

jk it’s actually because I was sick of watching bad let’s plays while trying to work on my longfic so I took matters into my own hands.  ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤ

How do you know you're using accurate dialogue? Where are you finding the deleted lines?

I type the transcripts by hand side-by-side with the game files, a plot flag editor, numerous youtube playthroughs, and my own game open. I also keep a number of handwritten notes on plot flag strings. I have played DA:I over 30 times, and crowd-source from the communities I'm in.

I do occasionally miss things or can't figure out exactly how a piece of dialogue fits, but I always note this within the transcripts. ㅤㅤ ㅤ

Where did you learn to read the files?

I used to create my own mods for DA:I - There are a tutorials online that cover dialogue file editing you can find on the nexus. ㅤㅤ ㅤ

Can you share the audio files?

Unfortunately, this isn't something I'm willing to take on right now. Each line must be extracted one at a time and renamed as you go, or every line within a dialogue file will try to export with the same name (some files have hundreds of lines). They are not logically named and it is a lot of trial and error. ㅤㅤ ㅤ

Why do you use "PC" instead of "Inquisitor" or "Herald"?

The game files use "Hero," and to save myself the trouble of trying to differentiate between conversations that can happen before or after reaching Skyhold I decided to use the neutral "Player Character," or "PC". ㅤㅤ ㅤ

You typo'd/did a thing wrong/you’re missing race/class specific dialogue!

Please let me know in an ask - I hope to have a very accurate account of all the dialogue, so don’t be afraid to let me know if I’m missing something or have any egregious typos.

Please note: since this project has been ongoing for nearly 5 years, I bridged over the change in text editors. Additionally, I only started referring to the text files around the end of 2022.

Posts made before August 2023 (around the middle of Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts) may have formatting errors due to the change from old to new text editor and missing dialogue. ㅤㅤ ㅤ

Will you do -insert quest-?

Short answer: Hopefully, yes!

Long Answer: I intend on working through the game from start to finish, first main quests, then secondary/companion quests, and then romances. DLC, location, and side-quest dialogue are on the list as well.

If you want to see something specific, just drop me an ask! I don't mind it at all, and sometimes it's a refreshing little break. ㅤㅤ ㅤ

Who are you anyway?

I'm Plisuu in disguise :) I am a high school teacher, artist, and writer. You can find me on all social media under the same name, though I'm only really active on tumblr these days. ㅤㅤ ㅤ

Please take my money! How can I support you?

I have a Ko-fi, but honestly, the kind messages and tags I get on my posts are more than enough! The best way to support me is by sharing this resource :)

Feel free to share your fics with me as well, I love seeing how different folks use the dialogue given to us and spin such unique and varied stories.

Remember, my ask box and messages are always open!

[seijatachiis]

so been playing reverse 1999 again for over a week now from a fresh account and i'm obsessed. i'm in the middle of chapter 4 and idr if at launch ch4 was completed or not bc i kinda don't remember some of where i am now but!!!! story is so good!!!!

i'm playing it as god intended, english dub, on my ipad, in bed, headphones ON. i played it on pc last time and it doesn't need that! i also play jp dub but rv99 prides itself on the eng dub so i figured if i truly wanna try to get back into this game i need to give it a shot and it's WORTH IT. sonetto is like the only one i feel isn't good? bc she sounds inconsistent but everyone else is great. matilda is literally 30000% more annoying but it fits her character SO well and actually hearing her mutter in french her character just comes alive (i love matilda)

sonetto and matilda also soooooo gay

---

gameplay wise and unit wise, i've got 4 6s rn, the free semmilwise (idr how to spell her name), regulus (from starter banner), lucy (bc she's a lim and Meta so i'm like why not i like sexy robot), and 37 who's my precious baby. i heard 37 isn't really meta but she works with lucy (once i her lucy to i3...i've not even gotten 37 to i2 bc resources...) so i'm gunna work on that.

i really want vila and isolde rn so they're my priority! i wish 5s had more place tbh... like once i think i have two teams and can comfortably clear more of the endgame content i'll revisit building matilda...

---

i'm just having so much fun again but it is also hard to find time to read everything bc i don't wanna skip stuff even if it's not main story stuff yknow? but i've totally neglected my other games minus arknights lol

add me!!

411604139

let's be friends :) i want rv99 friends :)

also might start working on a rv99 oc... hehehe

[silversiren1101]

I do understand people are allowed be upset with DD2 but it gets really frustrating when people point to things that aren’t even true about the game. It’s one thing when a game is designed maliciously to use and abuse players like a gacha game, games that rely on fomo, or are pay to make a game playable. But DD2 is not. It was always made to have certain design choices. Which people can dislike but also existed in DD1 at launch. The micro transactions don’t ’improve’ the experience. The micro transactions are NOT about grinding. The intended experience of the game is it without micro transactions and the game is NOT interested in making you buy them.

I wasn't going to answer this because things are already starting to settle with the amount of articles coming out clarifying the situation (that all the things are easily obtained in game nor is the game designed to be harder to make the mtx more desirable - it's not that's just how DD is)

Ultimately how I feel is:

-It's a single player game. The only person being 'cheated' by buying those items is the person that bought it. If other people want to buy it, it did not effect you. It's not like buying better weapons or power-ups in a competitive game, where $$$ gives you an advantage over other players. It's just you in your box, and them in their box. It's also not gacha mechanics - you're getting exactly what you pay for. I got every single unique blade in XC2 without buying a single core crystal pack. I've been in those mines before.

-I don't necessarily object to ease-of-play microtransactions in single-player-games. It's for the lazy or the busy. It's not some penalty on 'the poor', because the game isn't designed to push you toward buying them. If some guy out there can only play a few hours of video games a week because they're a parent or work so much and wants to fork over a whopping two or three whole dollars to maximize their play time then whatever. That doesn't affect me.

-I think a lot of the loudest voices are people that didn't actually play DD1. The complaints I'm hearing with regards to "locking fast travel behind pay wall" tells me what I need to know about that, lol. Or, they don't actually like "obtuse fantasy roleplaying games with a purposeful lack of modern 'qol' features as a conscious design choice" as they say or think they do. Not to mention DD1 launched with dlc/mtx ON THE DISK. Now that was heinous! I do think it's funny the sequel is launching with near the exact same reception as the first though, lol.

Things that people SHOULD be focusing on as real actual issues with the game:

-The poor optimization. It's dogshit on PCs. Inexcusable. The main reason I haven't bought the game yet and why I probably won't for a few months.

-The design choice to not let you easily restart. This is a complicated issue, because it's clear at this point this was a purposeful design choice and I get why: DD is all about making you live with your decisions and failures. It's VERY anti save-scumming, and now it's 'evolved' to "play the game straight through." A lot of people don't like this, and I totally understand, but consider there is another matter with this though that i don't think people are considering is the pawn system. Such a core system of the game relies on the exchange of player-tied companions that grow in power based on how many people they're passed around to and their owners. It's an amazing system that's universally beloved... but as for what exactly happens when the owner of a pawn is deleted or a pawn that's with someone that deletes? 😬 Do they keep all their progress? Items? Does it go away? Capcom has already said they're working on adding an easy way to Restart, but I believe it was in the works already for the future. They probably wanted to limit the amount of restarts in these crucial early days so that a big library of pawns can healthily develop. Not an issue further into the game's lifecycle.

[miloscat]

[Review] Sonic Adventure (PC)

A highly successful revamp.

Before getting to Frontiers and Shadow Generations, I decided I should go back and finally complete my Sonic homework by checking out the Dreamcast era properly for the first time. Adventure was a big revamp for the series after several false starts. Sonic Team struggled to bring Sonic to 3D, but in the end as a Dreamcast launch window title Adventure made a splash and is still remembered fondly. But what did I think of it as a certified Boost enjoyer?

I have played a bit of Adventure before during a stream. Loaded up with mods I sampled parts here and there, and played Gamma's story. This time I wanted the full unmodded experience. That's not to say it's the original experience, mind you: the version available for sale on Steam is regarded as a shoddy port of a shoddy port, as it's based on the Gamecube "DX Director's Cut" version, which changes a lot of textures, lighting, and graphical effects. Many fans consider these changes for the worse (some alterations even messed up intended gameplay or lore), and there's mods to revert the look of the game to the cleaner Dreamcast appearance. I didn't think it was a huge deal while playing but looking through comparisons afterwards, I reckon the reversion mods truly are the best way to play.

Regardless, Sonic Adventure is impressively ambitious. I now understand what games like 06 and Unleashed were striving for and missing the mark! Yes it's janky and the camera sucks but the characters generally control well and the level design suits their playstyles. The cutscenes and voice acting are awkward and stilted but there's a cinematic pretension that comes through anyway. Most importantly the game passes the vibe check with flying colours, this thing has heart!

The story plays out over a series of six (plus one) campaigns told from different characters' perspectives. There's a nonlinear storytelling thing going on and you (the player) piece together the full events by playing each one, even if the characters themselves never really get together to work things out. It all revolves around the watery monster Chaos and the lost history of the echidna people, although Robotnik/Eggman's scheming is the primary motivator. My favourite parts were the surprisingly touching story of Gamma, and Amy's role which is maybe her strongest appearance in... any Sonic game ever? After her campaign in this game I'm even more baffled how the writers could have gone so wrong with her for so many years.

Between stages the adventure hubs serve as a little breather, and flesh out the world without being overwhelming. Mystic Ruins is the standout here being large and fun to get around, taking great influence from the dev team's research trip to South America (they even took reference photos that were converted to textures in the game!), while Station Square feels like a good approximation of a lively city street within Dreamcast limitations. Talking to NPCs gives you little snippets of flavour that advance as you progress the plot... I just wish they'd actually used the face buttons they had instead of binding interact on the same button as "attack", which makes things awkward. By the way, Sonic has a spin dash in this game although you rarely need it.

Sonic's speed feels well balanced with the environments; it's a wonder what decent level design can do. His story is the longest, while the others remix the existing levels to various degrees. Tails gloriously breaks the level design by flying, and his stages play out as races against another character to get to the goal. Knuckles is more of a collectathon in enclosed arenas; I really liked the pace of his gameplay combined with his climbing and gliding powers. Amy sadly feels clumsy to control but her levels have an interesting idea in trying to escape an invincible and implacable robot. Big the Cat debuts here with a goofy storyline and a fishing minigame that I didn't find that fun but is mostly optional.

Gamma rounds out the cast as a defecting badnik with a lock-on gun, and of course Super Sonic finishes things with an epic setpiece fight which is thankfully quite breezy (later Sonic games make this kind of fight overly difficult or complex, to their detriment). Occasionally a subgame like car racing or snowboarding will break up the action, but they're pretty shallow. The casino level has you playing janky pinball to earn rings, one with a slot machine theme [cringe] while the other is a pleasing love letter to Sonic Team's previous game Nights. The Panzer Dragoon-like rail shooter segments have incredibly twitchy controls for some reason which rather ruins them, but like most things they're not too difficult; with this game I never found myself in a spiral of dying and having to repeat sections (a notable exception to this is the awful final boss of Sonic's story, a long and boring fight with janky difficulty spikes). Again it's odd that the balance is well considered here when it is so out of whack in some later entries.

The game feels very free and open, and you're able to easily revisit prior levels just by going there from the hub. Sometimes it's unclear exactly what to do next but talking to wandering folks (we're in a world of humans for the first time, but they're cartoony enough that they feel natural) or the helpful glowing orb (it's in fact Tikal, please bring back Tikal) will usually get you back on track. It really feels like an adventure, which was a totally new approach for Sonic at this time.

There's a lot more to the package than the story modes too. They tacked on Missions and Trials to extend the playtime if you want more, but I didn't feel I needed to. You can do extra objectives for emblems or find them in the hub, and there's even optional equipment that enhances your abilities to reward exploring. Between levels you can also visit the Chao garden, a popular feature that expands on Nights's A-Life system by letting you raise cute critters and race them or something? As with Nights, it's completely optional... I found it too fiddly and unrewarding so I just ignored it! To its credit the game never forced me to engage with it.

I already praised the vibes and recommended the Dreamcast graphic mods, but aesthetically the game does look very good. Well, apart from the character animation in cutscenes which is quite wonky. The soundtrack is pleasant and spans various genres; special mention must also be made of the vocal themes. Every character gets their own, from Sonic's buttrock to a goofy duet for Big and Froggy. My favourites were Tails' upbeat poppy number and Knuckles' famous rap, but all of them are fun especially when you hone in on the lyrics which describe the character and what they're about. It's silly but so charming.

I was honestly dreading going back to these older 3D games after the rollercoaster ride I've been on, but Adventure was a pleasant surprise. It's true I've used the word "jank" several times in this review and it can't be denied, this game is a bit messy at times. But compared to some other Sonic games I've played it's a stone cold masterpiece! Either way, I do get why it's beloved, it's a soulful game, a deserved killer app for the Dreamcast (RIP), and a worthy 3D debut that successfully revamped the franchise and set the tone for the next decades.

[shariefaerie]

Doll Show! (and goodwill/my friend!!!) haul!!!!

This year the creator of strawberry shortcake was there. so there was a LOT of original strawberry dolls and toys, and a WHOLE LOT of ADORABLE costumes!!! I had strawberry shortcake toys as a kid in the early 2000s, but I didn't see any of those at the show.

Super happy with my purchases this year! I was also super lucky to have my tax return hit right before the show, so I went a liiiiitle overboard with the monster high dolls. Ghoulia and Cupid are grails, and Robecca and Spectra aren't grail status but they were right up there on the ISO list. Lagoona was just really pretty and had her fins and was only 15 bucks.

I got some skrm accessories as well, lagoonas knee pads and and wheel love gils knee pads, also ghoulias skates. skrm is so weird but one of my favorite lines, it's just so unique!

I got my very first (sort of) BJDs as well! I'll talk more about them in a bit because oh no i am in love.

Last thing from the doll show is an AG ballet outfit. it was only 15 bucks and something I'd been looking to get! so, yay!!! I had originally intended for it to be given to corinne, my (at the time) only American girl doll, but as you can see in the second pic, that has changed.

I have weirdly good luck finding AG dolls at the thrift, and today I got VERY lucky! I've actually found an Addy before, a PC one O_O but she went to live with my cousin, I was a bit sad to see her go so im happy to find another, this one is a 2008 but I really don't mind modern AG dolls, and shes so darling!!! I tried the ballet outfit on her last night and it belongs to her now x3 she's going to be a dancer.

Found another bratz board game! It's complete as well which is awesome. it wasn't used at all, for good reason, it's very convoluted, like monopoly but weirder. I now have Make Me Up, Mall Crawl, Passion 4 Fashion, Bratz Twister, and the 2015 bratz CIY Shoppe Game. even if i don't play them I like to have them for the boxes x3

My friend who I brought to the doll show with me gave me a few of her childhood hamtaros! some are fakies but they're all adorable! She and I also got the BJDs together, hers is the Sakura one and mine is the grey haired one, we ended up swapping faces for a while lol. I got one of the boy BJDs too, I definitely got my least favorite of the options but he is cute! He just needs new pants.

Overall, what an awesome day! I'm so happy I got to go buy pretty dolls and see my friends!!

[iveneverbeenmorestressedinmylife]

Citra emulator: Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney trilogy

A hopefully comprehensive guide on all the malfunctions ive run into so far. Because honestly, ive recommended aa on citra to so many people, the least i can do is give yall a guide for when you run into problems.

Spoilers under the cut for aa1 (rise from the ashes mostly).

1. Ema's aluminum finger print powder (Rise from the ashes)

In the final case of the first game you meet the Skye sisters. Lana is the Chief Prosecutor and Ema is a high school student who wants to become a forensics scientist. In her guest to prove her sisters innocence Ema will employ a couple of tools like Luminol blood splatter detecting spray and finger print detecting powder.

How does the aluminum powder work? You click on a suspicious surface. Make sure to cover all of the fingerprint with white powder/pixels!

And then what? This is an emulation of a Nintendo game. You are prompted to blow in your mic to blow off the powder and reveal the fingerprint. But well. You can't exactly do that now can you?

How can you get around this?

Maybe if you have a mic you could connect it to your laptop/pc and blow there but i don't know if that would actually work since i don't have a mic and therefore can't give it a try. But theres a way to get around this obstacle! A way that took me like an hour and a lot of research in ace attorney and emulation related forums to find 😭.

You will have to go on the top left corner of your screen and open the configuration option. I think.

Now as you can see my program is in greek which is not exactly making this easier to understand for the rest of you. But nonetheless we will persevere!

What you have to do is go Configuration -> sound -> microphone -> real device ??? It must say something like that. It might take you a little bit of trial and error but you can find it. Try a few of these choices and see which one works. This will make your laptop/pc pick up on the games music and use it to "blow away" the powder by itself. Problem solved <3

2. Playing connect the dots with Ema's name (Rise from the ashes again)

In the final day of the trial we have a piece of evidence that almost everyone hates: that goddamn jar. Aside from its ridiculous resemblance to that monstrosity the blue badger when you rotate it in a highly specific way, this jar holds yet another secret. And that secret is a name written in blood that seems to have been wiped off. We are asked to "connect the dots" to prove whose name is written there. Normally connecting the dots would make red lines appear on the jar that make up Ema's name but well. If this worked as intended i wouldn't be making this post now would i.

When playing in Citra the lines won't show up. Nevertheless, you can still beat this new obstacle: just connect the dots anyway. Be extra careful: you don't want to forget one of the smaller ones. If you connect them all and present the evidence in court the game will progress as it should. Personally, when i was playing i kept forgetting to connect the top right dot in M and got penalised a few times too many over it. I suggest starting from the bottom of E and progressing carefully from there.

Ema's name wiped off the jar's surface.

Ema's name after you've connected the dots or how it would look if citra hadn't messed that one little detail up.

Aaaand those are all the malfunctions i stumbled upon on aa1. Honestly, could be worse. And they were both on the same case too, so maybe there won't be any more trouble in the rest of the trilogy games. But if i find any more i will come back and update this post. It will probably take a while tho, im very slow when it comes to video games.

[pawpunkao3]

A dilemma for D&D/TTRPG players:

Imagine a magical genie offers to solve all of your money problems for life. You will never not be able to meet your needs, and you'll have plenty of cash left over, too. All you have to is submit to one of these two scenarios:

Either:

You can never use the D&D system again. This includes all versions of D&D and any slight alterations to the core system, such as Star Wars 5e. However, you are free to take as much aesthetic inspiration as you want from the game's lore. Fight an owlbear in Kids on Bikes! Make your Call of Cthulu PC a barbarian! Your character in that tarot-based game worships Lathander now! You can also choose to pretend D&D doesn't exist at all and play these game systems as they were intended.

Or:

You can play any TTRPG system you want, including all editions of D&D. However, you cannot use the aesthetics of D&D. Your characters can fight the statblock of a beholder, but you need to call it something else and give it a different personality. Mechanically, your character is a cleric, but they don't actually get any of their powers from worship. Your PC can be made using the Drow player race template, but that's just how you generated their stats and abilities---they aren't actually a dark elf. You can draw on fantasy tropes not established/codified by D&D in any system, including D&D, but you may not take inspiration from anything created for D&D in any system you play.

[kooldewd123]

one of the smaller leaked details from the teraleak about plza got me thinking about what i'd like to see in terms of shiny hunting mechanics, and i ended up going down a rabbit hole and ranking the games by how much i enjoy shiny hunting in them (roughly ordered within tiers):

reasonings beneath the break, i've got a LOT of thoughts to infodump:

SM/USUM: sos chaining is my absolute favorite shiny hunting method. there's a really fun element of preparation to it that i think most other methods lack - researching your target pokemon, looking for any recoil or status move that may be an issue, figuring out how to plan around it, etc. it's a fun planning game that can easily make individual hunts much more memorable than simply “wow this one was so quick/long” when you see your plans come to fruition. usum improved it even further with some small mechanical tweaks, plus an expanded dex to hunt through. also in usum is the ultra warp ride. the wormhole shinies are honestly so easy that their allure wears off super quick, but the actual minigame attached to them is pretty fun. that said, the real star of the uwr are the legendaries and ultra beasts, all available through soft resetting. i love soft resetting for mostly the same reasons as sos chaining: you've got one chance to catch this legendary, so you better go in with a solid game plan and make it count once you finally see those sparkles. or if you want a different sort of challenge, you can always go for one of the gift pokemon instead: poipole, type:null, and ash cap pikachu. no battle required, but no shiny charm, either, with the added clout value that their shinies haven’t been available since. alola was my gateway to shiny hunting, but even trying to account for nostalgia, i still think it has some of the most engaging hunts to this day.

XY: i feel like kalos is really overlooked nowadays when it comes to shiny hunting, but it’s one of my absolute favorites. friend safari is always one of the first things that comes to mind whenever i think about shiny hunting. it’s a really cool community-driven shiny hunting experience. i spent so much time just exchanging friend codes to find the shines i needed, and i was always able to find a thriving friend safari community all the way up through swsh’s lifespan until i finally caught every possible shiny i could from it (i wonder how they’re doing now that the 3ds servers are shut down?). this is also the best region for fossil resets - most of the fossil are readily available in large quantities, so you can stock up as much as you'd like and revive them all at once to see if any surprises pop out at you. between friend safari, fossil resets, and horde hunting, xy has a lot of good mindless shiny hunts. a lot of the time, shiny hunting is just something for me to do with my hands while i’m bored, and xy excels at that. oh yeah, there’s also pokeradar in this one, too. i could never quite figure out how to work it.

SWSH: swsh gets massive bonus points for being the only game where masuda hunting is actually fun tbh. the fact that zl can be used as a replacement for the a button means that you can just gather up eggs one-handed at the route 5 nursery, then you can use the 3d camera in the wild area to easily spin in circles to hatch them without even needing to return to a pc box every five minutes like before. as for the rest of the shiny stuff in this game… the intended shiny hunting method is laughably pointless and dynamax adventures, while a neat concept, are only fun if you actually have friends to play it with. otherwise, you’re stuck dealing with either braindead npcs or even more braindead randoms. like i said before, i love planning out big hunts, but in dynamax adventures, so much of it is out of your control that it’s just completely unfun to me (at least we got the regis and swords of justice huntable through run aways. those are some really fun hunts as a consolation prize). honestly, i’m definitely placing these games several spots higher than they probably should be, but sword is possibly my most played game ever due to the sheer amount of masuda breeding i’ve done in it, so that has to count for something.

GSC: okay i know these are a curveball compared to everything else on the list. when these games came to the 3ds virtual console, i did some rby glitching to get a shiny ditto into them and honestly? probably my second favorite game in terms of breeding after swsh. because shininess is determined by ivs in these games, a shiny ditto parent gives every child a flat 1/64 shiny rate, balanced by the fact that the oval charm and flame body don’t exist yet. what you end up with is a situation where you get eggs much more slowly, but with hunt times still comparable to modern-day masuda hunting, and i personally found something about this arrangement really satisfying. every egg has so much more build-up to it, and so despite the slower pace, it somehow still felt more consistently exciting than perhaps any other shiny hunting method. crystal has some additional shiny fun with the odd egg if you feel like doing a bit of save manipulation with it (plus obligatory shiny celebi comment).

PLA: i know this is a very niche and odd opinion to have, but pla handles loading pokemon into the overworld better than any other game with overworld pokemon. the format of having distinct separate regions that you can load and unload at will, with pokemon (even those not yet spawned) being preset at the moment of loading and persisting until being forcibly unloaded, is something that i truly hope carries forward into future entries. it creates a world that feels much more natural, and yet is also highly exploitable on a gameplay level. resetting the regions until you find an outbreak, and then traveling to that outbreak to search for shinies, is a compelling gameplay loop that implements very video game-y elements in a way that i particularly enjoy. the differentiation between mass outbreaks and massive mass outbreaks also adds a fun trade-off into the mix: do you target a specific pokemon at lower odds or do you go for a grab bag of random pokemon at higher odds? i do have one big complaint, however, and it’s gonna sound kinda insane. it is nearly impossible to actually fail a shiny in this game. they persist through saves, they don’t respawn when you run, they even give off a distinct jingle when they’re in your vicinity. if there is a shiny near you, you are gonna find it, and you are probably gonna catch it. and personally… i don’t really care for this arrangement. the risk of failure is an integral part of shiny hunting. making it too safe makes the accomplishment feel a bit more hollow to me. i wish there was a way to disable the shiny sound. i feel like if they weren’t so blatantly telegraphed and were still a bit harder to find in the first place, it would balance out the safety nets the game gives you somewhat.

LGPE: i feel like i’ve come to appreciate lgpe a lot more as time has gone on. the catch combo system is a nice simple numbers game - just keep catching the same pokemon and shiny odds go up. simple, elegant, satisfying. the big drawback is the fact that the motion controls are uuuhh. less than ideal. but it’s easy enough to build a combo back up that it doesn’t usually feel like too big of a setback if something goes wrong. also the fact that you can use the in-game trading mechanics to hunt the alola variants is pretty nifty! i should get back in and try one of those hunts sometime.

BDSP: after not being able to get into pokeradar hunting in xy or the original dp, i was pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable i found it in bdsp. it has a really good sense of risk and reward as you try to map out the safest path you can, which makes it super gratifying when your skills and luck are good enough to bring your chain all the way up to 40. honestly, the fact that the shiny charm doesn’t work in this game is a complete nonissue for me, because the pokeradar doesn’t even need it. of course, this game also has the added fun of not shiny locking anything except some tie-in bonuses. you can shiny hunt any legendary from the first four generations, and you can even go for the sinnoh mythicals as well (the event to get their items is over now, but i believe it’s still possible to glitch your way to them anyway).

SV: sparkling sandwiches are probably the shiny hunting mechanic i’m most split on. once again, there’s a really good strategic element to it that i enjoy: trying to figure out where on the map you can locate your target pokemon with as little type overlap in the surrounding area as possible, and then once you’ve begun your hunt, finding the best path to spawn them in as quickly as possible. on the other hand, however, probably my biggest hot take of sv is that the sandwiches bump the shiny rate up way too high. in my first shiny hunting excursion of the game, i found five shinies in the span of two sandwiches, and as a whole, that’s been more the norm than an exception. most shiny hunts in this game are over so quickly that i don’t feel all that rewarded for accomplishing them. the process of acquiring herba mystica is a good bottleneck keeping it from spiraling entirely out of control, but it feels so distinct from the actual shiny hunting process that it doesn’t help alleviate those feelings for me.

ORAS: i don’t hate shiny hunting in oras or anything, but i don’t think it does anything exceptionally well, either. horde hunting is just as fun as it is in xy, although it’s fairly easy to exhaust the catalogue of huntable pokemon in both games. soft resetting legendaries is here, although for some of them, they require lengthy trips to the encounter point each time and you’re better off sticking with usum or even bdsp instead if you wanna hunt them. the standout is dexnav - frankly, i’ve warmed up to it a lot over the years, but i think it’s still the roughest chaining mechanic. the search function is simple to understand, and the mirage spots and hidden pokemon inject a bunch of new encounters to hunt for. that said, i think the sneaking aspect of it never feels quite right with a 3ds circle pad, and having to constantly swap between battles and sneaking means that it’s hard to stay in a groove. i don’t mind dexnav, but it’s rarely my first choice.