#on the top floor enemies would spawn and with the help one someone(??? i literally dont know who)

[naenaex0xx]

hihi I'm wakey wakey eggs n bakey ! !

[sweetest-honeybee]

To Hell and Back

Chapter 27

Summary: Hels discovers that he does, in fact, love Ex. But, this isn’t the end of anything yet.

Characters: Hels, Ex (Xisuma mention)

TW: Some crying, mostly a heated argument, almost dying, some cursing, annnddddd I guess some smooching I’ve that makes you uncomfortable

I’m not overly happy with this chapter but it gets the idea across :)

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Seeing a dim light through the thick layer of darkness sent one of the strongest waves of relief over Hels than he’s ever felt in his life.

Exhaling a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding, he made his way down the rest of the stairs quickly. At some point, he wondered how far underground they even went given that Xisuma’s bee farm ended right at ground level. Ex didn’t seem to have a lot of private plans going on in his life. He was almost always around the other Hermits so seeing it dug down so far below was odd.

When he finally reached the bottom, that relief was slowed to a halt at nearly identical hallways tunneling throughout the lower area of Ex’s base. Looking around for some kind of sign, he discovered the Evil X was not the kind of person to label anything. Great, he thought, just great. Thinking back to it now, he could vaguely remember someone telling him that the man didn’t label any of his chests in the flower shop either which brought a deep frown to his face.

He groaned. Lord only knew where any of these tunnels went- and quite literally, The Lord probably did- and Hels now wished on the most evil star he could that he had his powers back. Now, he was just some pathetic knight aimlessly walking through tens of corridors. It was like a maze at least hundreds of blocks long. Left, right, go back, left, left, right again, go back to the start. This continued for nearly ten minutes at least and with one more tread back to the beginning, he threw a punch at the stone wall.

“For the love of everything Ex, can you put one sign anywhere?!” The knight ducked his head with a sigh, closing his eyes. “Where are you….”

In his moment of brief thoughts to just give up and have Xisuma come look for him instead and handle Wels himself, something repeatedly kept hitting his boot. Opening his eyes, he looked over to see a small silverfish rapidly running back and forth trying to attack him. At first, he snorted at the pathetic attempts to hurt him. The little guy wouldn’t do much damage unless it decided to crawl on him like the others but this one seemed too stupid to really try anything worth worrying about.

Then Hels remembered a fact about silverfish: the little guys didn’t spawn much unless you were in an extreme hills biome or near an end portal. Given that Ex’s base was in or near a jungle- Hels couldn’t remember for sure how the biome separation worked- he only assumed that the silverfish followed him back from somewhere near a portal room.

The knight perked up, reaching down and picking up the silverfish, with gloved hands of course. It wriggled and squirmed but made no attempts to bite at him, probably with its size. This silverfish was just half the size of one of the normal ones. Absentmindedly, Hels wondered if that had anything to do with anything else going on related to Wels. He’s never seen anything like it, but it was a possibility.

Hearing another small squeak, he turned his head to another silverfish in the doorway of one of the tunnels. He sat the first silverfish back on the floor, following where the new trail of silverfish had begun spawning from. He approached the next silverfish, the creature definitely much larger than the first and had more ill intention for sure. He walked past it with a brisk pace, seeing another silverfish a few more feet away.

He followed the trail of silverfish, some spawning out of the walls, others simply coming out from cracks and crevices that were never patched up. It wasn’t more than about two minutes until he saw the familiar stone bricks lining the walls and he silently thanked the universe for not letting him be lost in the corridors again. After another couple of turns, more and more silverfish climbed out of the walls, biting at his ankles and knees. He paid no mind to it, however, when he finally reached the portal room.

“Oh thank god,” he exhaled. With that, he wasted no time mildly jogging up the steps and jumping into the portal.

The End wasn’t his turf, he knew. He never really came here except to visit Evil X and he glared at the sheer amount of enderman wandering around. He hated enderman. The creatures here in The End, the dragon especially, were so unnecessary. The End dimension as a whole was unnecessary and just a way to make players feel good about themselves by killing a dragon with exploding beds.

He scoffed to himself. Lame.

Hels looked around, not seeing any signs of Ex being around. Surely he couldn’t have gotten far, right? The knight called out for him a few times, receiving no answer. He better not have just flown off a million miles away, because that meant Hels would have to fly around to find him and his elytra wasn’t enchanted. In fact, it lost nearly two thirds of its durability since he’s last repaired it.

Which was just barely three days ago.

If they broke while he was flying, he was done for, be it a fall onto the flat surface of the endstone or reaching his demise in The Void. Either way, his stomach churned at the thought but what was the point of turning back now? He’s already spent his time getting all the way here, and punching a wall in the process. He might as well try.

For Ex, he thought, but the entire reason he was coming here was literally to painfully reject him and leave him to his own devices while Hels went back to the overworld to help with Wels. It didn’t feel any better to him than it certainly would for Evil X, but like he’s told himself over and over, there was nothing between them. They’re better off as friends, or even enemies, if it came to it after their discussion. Yet, he still went to do it.

With that, he lifted off into the near black sky, sucking in a breath of the thin air when he began to fly over The Void. What direction would Ex even be in, he wondered. If the slowly declining durability was anything to go by, he probably had enough to last one trip out about ten thousand blocks in one direction and one trip back to the portal.

Hels stopped mid flight and hovered to look around. The knight began trying to recall where Ex said they’ve been and where he’s gone. The counterpart said he’s traveled over a hundred thousand blocks into the distance which Hels prayed on everything that he wasn’t out that far. That would just be a waste of time. Then he had a thought.

Out south.

At one point during one of their conversations in The End, Evil X mentioned that he’d go out south when he needed some space. The Hermits never traveled more than about twenty thousand blocks to save the durability of their elytra so about as far as that would be where he kept himself alone. How or why Hels remembered that, he personally had no clue. But if it was anything to go off of, then he’d take it. Though, like he mentioned to himself earlier, there was only enough durability in his wings to last twenty thousand blocks or so. If Ex was out that far, the knight wouldn’t make it back without some kind of aid. And he wasn’t the type to just ask for help. Help was for cowards.

He sighed. The Void didn’t look any more inviting with that thought process and again, too far to turn back now unless he could turn back and use the broken elytra excuse. But he was trying to maintain some degree of respectability among the Hermits so that they wouldn’t be so rude to him. It was their whole little thing to help each other and make sacrifices for each other if the situation called for it and Hels gagged at the thought. Yet, Ex again came to mind, encouraging him.

The knight continued on anyways. This inevitable conversation wasn’t going to start itself. He flew further. Not because he was worried about Ex but because he wasn’t going to live with the humiliation that Evil X threw onto him. Yes, that was why. Because again, his kind wasn’t capable of love and even if they were, he didn’t even remotely like Ex, not romantically. Definitely so. And the current blush creeping across his cheeks at the mere thought of the other was his best proof.

He shook his head. Sidetracked, sidetracked, he was always getting distracted by Ex and his stupid scar covered face.

At some point, he managed to reach a barren End City like the ones Ex told him about when he rambled. The other said that there used to be life there. Older versions of Evil Hermits used to live there with him and then the Hels dimension became a thing and slowly but surely, everything was abandoned. He glanced at his elytra durability displayed just on the upper left of his field of vision. Nearly broken, just a few points left.

Hels circled the city, trying to find any signs of someone there. Soon, his eyes landed on a figure sitting on a floating ship. If he could just make it to the ship with this last point-

And he didn’t.

The knight found himself falling quickly just as he was near landing and his stomach dropped at The Void growing larger and larger as he fell. He reached out, rapidly swinging his arms to catch the boat’s back end and the figure, whom he assumed was Ex by the looks of things, was running to the back of the ship as well. Just barely did his hands meet Hels’s wrists but nonetheless, he was caught and dangling over the edge above the intimidating Void.

“Do not let go, I swear to god, Ex!” He reached up and grabbed Ex’s hand with his other hand.

“Don’t plan to,” he simply replied. With strength even Hels didn’t know he had, he pulled the other up onto the ship easily. The two stumbled backwards and onto the deck, the knight flopping on top of the other. “Ow….”

For a second, the two laid there with heaving breaths, Hels not bothering to move himself. He was just thankful he had some kind of ground to stand on. Internally, he cursed because now he didn’t have an elytra to return back to the portal. Ex lifted his head, pushing himself up on his elbows.

“You alright there? What on earth are you doing here?” he asked. Hels almost completely forgot how his voice sounded without the helmet. It was just so regular, so much higher pitched than what he grew used to hearing. Evil X sounded identical to Xisuma but it was odd to him because this wasn’t Xisuma.

“Yeah, give me a second, I just almost fell into The Void, you know.” The knight huffed, pushing himself off the alter ego. “Xisuma said I needed to come find you.”

Ex seemed almost too surprised at the statement for what Hels expected. He thought the two were practically joined at the hip and just kind of knew where each other was all the time and always talked. That technically wasn’t inaccurate but he couldn’t really assume since that wasn’t the case with him and Wels. He raised a brow.

“What?”

The other frowned sadly. “I didn’t think he’d wanna know where I was.”

Hels sat back on his legs, now taking in Ex’s appearance. It struck him now that he almost never saw the other without his suit and he was much smaller than he expected. Scrawnier. Maybe just long and lanky, but fairly lean nonetheless. Either way, Hels questioned him further.

“Why? He said he probably upset you or something in chat.”

Then, Evil X stumbled while standing, heading over to the small pile of items at the front of the boat. Hels followed, curious as to what the other was even up to out here. Ex picked up his communicator from the pile where Hels noticed a flower sat. The other began scrolling profusely.

“Oh! You guys were….actually worried. I think.”

Of course we were, you idiot, Hels wanted to say, but he bit his tongue. This wasn’t what he was out here for. You left without telling anyone.

The knight rolled his eyes instead. “Yeah, yeah, sure they were, but I wasn’t. Don’t get your hopes up about it, they had other issues you know.”

Visibly, Ex deflated at the statement, the previous sadness lasting from before making its way back into his expression. “Oh….Right then. Why are you here if you weren’t worried? You flew all this way until your elytra broke.”

The knight’s stomach twisted. It could just be his mind switching over again, but he actually began feeling bad for destroying probably what was the last shred of hope Ex even had of anyone wanting to find him. Maybe this was the wrong time to do this.

“Xisuma said I need to talk to you about what you did earlier.”

Much to Hels’s surprise, Ex scoffed. “Of course. Because he wants to tell me that he’s not gonna clean up my messes and then decides I’m not responsible enough to decide when I’m ready to talk.” He walked over and sat next to the mast. “Can’t believe him.”

Absentmindedly, Hels sat down as well, across from him. “Clean up your messes?”

“Yeah, he told me I embarrassed you and all that. I said some things, he said some things. In the end, he just flew off saying that he wasn’t gonna help me anymore.” The evil hermit drew his legs up to his chest at the memory. “But here he goes, walkin’ in like he can just change his mind….the scumbag.”

To Hels, Xisuma just sounded incredibly immature and that was saying something when Hels hung out with Evil X more often than not. To hear that Xisuma would just ditch his counterpart like that only made him wonder about his current mindset brought on by Wels’s mental transformation. Maybe Ex was being punished as well. Or, Xisuma was genuinely angry but even Hels doubted that.

“Right then,” Ex added, pulling the knight from his thoughts. “Let’s hear it.”

Hels stared at him, dumbfounded. “Hear what?”

“What do you mean ‘hear what’? Get on with it then! The rejection! Just say you don’t like me and get it over with.” The man gestured wildly as he spoke, raising his hands repeatedly. “Honestly, just say you never wanna see me again and we can be done with it.” He crossed his arms and leaned against the mast. “I know you, Hels, that’s why you came.”

Well this wasn’t exactly how Hels intended for the conversation to go. He thought maybe Ex would at least talk about it first. And, it was almost scary how Ex knew that it was why he came here. The counterpart really must’ve spent too much time with him to simply know those things and how his brother would send the knight to talk to him. But instead, Hels grew naturally defensive to that statement, deciding that he wouldn’t immediately reject him to give him the satisfaction of being right.

“Why’s that? Because I’m hateful?” The knight laughed. “And you think for a second that I don’t care?” He thought for a second. “Okay, that’s fair. But still, you can’t just assume.”

“What, are you saying you do?” Ex spat. “Honestly Hels, you can't just tell me that you weren’t worried and say that you care now out of spite. You were going to reject me, weren’t you. But because I knew, you just want to make it look like I was wrong because of your stupid ego.”

“How do you know,” the knight growled. “How come you can just know those things?!”

“Because I took the time to get to know you when we hung out.” Ex held up his index finger, pausing the knight before he could reply. “And so did you. You remembered I would be out south despite me telling you that weeks ago.”

Hels stared at Ex in surprise. Okay, Ex was correct about that. But that didn’t mean anything, you can do that with your friends. Yet, Ex was only confusing him. He doubted that Ex really knew what he was talking about either given that Xisuma most likely had to explain it to him in the first place. The knight sighed defeatedly, deciding it wasn’t worth it to argue further.

“You know what? I don’t know, then.”

“Hels I swear-“

“Ex, I don’t know. You’re right, okay?! I came here to reject you and cut you off and just go back to the overworld and help Xisuma and just leave you to do whatever, alright? I was going to hurt you and get it over with but….”

Ex leaned forward. “But?”

“But I don’t want to,” the knight stated firmly. “I don’t want to hurt you but I don’t know what I think.”

“I don’t care what you think, I just want to know how you feel, Hels. They’re different. You’re making the decision here. Not me, not Wels, and certainly not The Lord of Darkness.”

Hels shook his head, growing more frustrated at his thoughts. “I barely understand my own feelings! I’m not feel-y! I’m a villain in this story, Ex.”

The other stared at him, but it quickly turned to sadness. “In my story, I was a villain and I changed, Hels. I became more than what The Lord of Darkness wanted me to be. You can do the same, make up your mind.”

Hels rolled his eyes, but admittedly, his emotions were beginning to get the best of him. “Well, Evil Xisuma, why don’t I let you know then. I. Don’t. Know. You brought me out of there and threw me into this damned world and I- I enjoyed it, but this-“ he gestured to himself. “This isn’t how my story ends. I don’t grow and change, I do what I’m told.”

“Not in my story. In my story, you were saved from that.” Ex retorted, tears beginning to prick at his eyes which Hels frowned even more at. “In my story, you’re the best thing that ever happened to me, and I helped you to escape.” He stopped, letting a couple drops roll down his cheeks and wiping them away angrily. Hels merely stared. “In my story, you were saved from what you weren’t meant to be.”

The knight practically felt his heart break- the heart he didn’t know he really had. He ducked his head, sighing through his nose. “In my story, I’m nothing worth saving, Ex.” He screwed his eyes shut, memories from his life in HelsCraft dancing in his mind. All of the blood and guts dripping from his hands. “In my story, made me and I’m what The Lord wanted me to be.”

Clearly, that wasn’t at all what Ex wanted, nor needed, to hear but it was what Hels believed and unlike Hels, it angered Ex. The dull, sad red eyes grew into a mightier crimson and his expression hardened with a clenched jaw. Ex hated HelsCraft, The Lord of Darkness, how he strung everyone into his commands. He almost felt bad for Hels, almost.

“So, you live knowing that there’s nothing more than being evil.”

“Ex-“

“Do you or do you not love me, Hels?! It’s simple! Because I love you more than anything!” The other snapped.

It’s really not, the knight’s mind screamed. Because I hate you more than anything.

I hate you for making me run away from the very place I used to call my home.

I hate you for letting me tell myself I’m not capable of loving anything because I’m shackled to villainy.

I hate you for making me think that I’m not worth loving because I’ve killed hundreds, thousands, of people and creatures alike because I didn’t have that damn luxury of letting go.

I hate you for having someone to guide you to kindness and sacrifice when I've drowned you in my past.

And god damn it. I hate you for making me love you. You, of all people, the man that ripped me from my world and gave me somewhere I could really call…

“Home….” Hels muttered, eyes widening. “My home.”

Ex sended him a confused expression. “Wha- Home? What are you on about?”

However, that question was answered wordlessly. Answered by soft lips intertwining with his own, set on their own gentle pace, filled with a passion lit by the fire the knight emerged from. Long, slow fingers trailing his every feature down the smallest scar. Answered so obviously with one phrase both whispered in the backs of their minds.

Ex found himself reciprocating the action, pulling the knight closer by the waist. And not for a second through any of it did Ex dare open his eyes because the world would never agree for the knight to ever lose his place.

Helsknight was not destined to let go of his past and free himself from the chain of darkness around his neck.

[proteusspade]

On the debacle with Fallout 76

 I feel like the debacle with Fallout 76 has become a testing grounds for a lot of the dominating theories and myths about video games and video game consumers in general, as well as more specifically about Bethesda studios and Bethesda gamers. I apologize for the LONG post ahead, but there’s a lot to unpack here and I want to make sure everyone’s on the same page before I try and make any big points. For those not in the know, I will attempt to summarize: - Bethesda released Fallout 76, a multiplayer installment in the Fallout franchise, with a set release date of November 14, 2018.  - The game was announced with the marketing that it would be playable and enjoyable as singleplayer, that every person you ran into would be a real person, that it was a new Fallout experience, that its graphics would improve upon Fallout 4′s graphics by 16 times, and notably, one collector’s edition which cost $200 was marketed as coming with a wearable helmet and a canvas bag.

The beta was shaky and riddled with bugs, and upon release, the game itself was still pretty much broken -- far moreso than other Bethesda titles, and this coming from a company where the running joke since Oblivion has been that the bugs are so prevalent that they are a feature, not a flaw. An enormous patch was released shortly after launch, which was larger in size than the game itself, and which not only didn’t fix almost any of the bugs, but created hundreds *more* bugs, as if they didn’t playtest the patch at all.  For players like me who can go a surprisingly long time in a Bethesda game without seeing any bugs at all, I will note that these bugs include: - T-posing enemies which either spontaneously assume their correct animations only when you get close, or never do, or which teleport suddenly into you to try and display their attack animations - Horrendous enemy A.I. where a lot of them will just stand in one place looping an animation - Enemies spawning out of thin air directly in front of you due to slow loading - A bug where enemies spontaneously heal the exact amount of damage you deal to them, making them invincible - Falling through the ground out of nowhere - Clipping through and getting caught in the world - Frequent server crashes, often due to in-game happenings (the game eventually gives you access to nuclear bombs, but the same bombs can crash the server if you drop them) - Frequent disconnects - Frequent game crashes (with no ‘save game’ function) - Body horror bugs like the Wendigo Bug which have been present since Fallout 4 and haven’t been fixed by Bethesda yet, even though modders were able to fix them weeks after Fallout 4 came out. Three years ago.  Moreover, the game directly ported over most of its visual assets from Fallout 4. Most of the landscape elements come from Fallout 4, almost all of the weapons come from Fallout 4, almost all of the outfits and armors come from Fallout 4, most of the monsters come from Fallout 4, the physics and gunplay is directly ported over (minus the ability to pause the game to open your inventory, of course, and minus the time-slowing aspect of V.A.T.S, which makes V.A.T.S almost completely useless), the character creation is ported over, the loot is ported over, the base-building system and all of its assets (walls, floors, anything you’d use to build a base) are ported over. Basically, other than trees and certain monsters unique to West Virginia, you’ll have a hard time spotting content which isn’t directly ported over from Fallout 4, often without palette swaps. Is the promise of better graphics fulfilled?  Well, the lighting is significantly improved, and even very pretty and atmospheric -- though occasionally light will shine through solid far-away objects, like mountains. Modders had done this almost immediately with Fallout 4, too, though, so it’s not really a huge achievement. And the landscape is much more colourful than in any other Fallout game, which is admittedly a nice change of pace, even though it makes no goddamn sense why the trees would survive while everything else dies around them. But other than those two elements... yeah, it just looks like Fallout 4, but usually doesn’t render as well due to being on a multiplayer server and due to the graphical glitches. How about the promise that every person you run into is a real person? Well, that was true all right, but how anyone thought that was a good idea is beyond me. It’s one of those things that sounds really cool and innovative until you think about it for literally any length of time at all. Why would that be a good thing? Unless you have quite a lot of friends who you’ve somehow got onto the same server (which, by the way, I don’t think has much functionality in Fallout 76), you’re not going to be very interested in those people, and you have no reason to be. They’re just big lumps of immersion-breaking, as I seriously doubt many people are going onto the game to vocally roleplay their way through the game experience.  Moreover, this means no NPCs besides monsters and robots. No quests from anyone but robots and holotapes. Now, I like holotapes. I’m one of those unbearable players who listens to every holotape and reads every computer terminal. My favourite part of Fallout games is usually finding out the big stories behind Vaults or unusual locations. But when you are doing this quest for someone you will never meet, and have complete certainty of this fact, the reason to do quests in the first place starts to ebb away. You just get holotapes or robots telling you to go to a place, kill something there, rinse, repeat. That’s the entire game. Nothing is achieved; everyone who recorded those holotapes is dead, or a monster now. You’re not doing anyone any favours. There’s no one to help, there’s no one to hate, there’s just you (and whatever people you’re playing with, who, again, aren’t really part of the story as multiplayer gamers don’t typically roleplay). The main quest of the game revolves around trying to find the previous Overseer of the vault. There’s zero suspense, interest or urgency, because as a player, you know with complete certainty going in that if you find her, she’ll be dead or a monster. When you remove the NPCs, you remove all our reasons to care about quests. You also remove all interactions in the game besides “kill thing, loot thing, make stuff with loot”. And killing monsters with such laughable AI and glitches, AI designed for Fallout 4 where V.A.T.S could pause the game and dropped into a game where it doesn’t, isn’t nearly enjoyable enough to make that game loop anything but ghastly. How ANYONE thought this was a good idea is beyond me, and I’m pretty sure at this point that they didn’t do it because they thought it was a good idea, they did it because having NPCs function like they would in a singleplayer game, while in a multiplayer server, is an incredibly daunting task. When literally no one asked for the game to be multiplayer in the first place, but hey. Is the game fun to play alone? Not from literally anyone I know who has, no, and this is due to the above factors. Is the game, as the marketing said, more fun to play with your friends? Well, yes, but the same could be said of cleaning out a moldy garage alone versus with friends. Being with friends makes anything more enjoyable. The game does not cease to have all its serious underlying problems when you play with friends, you just have someone to commiserate with and witness this bullshit with you. Is this a new Fallout experience? Not really. It’s Fallout 4 with a prettier landscape, story constrained to holotapes and therefore constrained to the past (and not the present the player is actually playing in!), and it’s arguably not even a Fallout experience at all. It wears a Fallout skin but the core roleplaying, choice, and narrative features of the game are gone, and all that’s left is a world that’s much bigger, but where all the new space is pretty much empty anyhow.  Oh, and the canvas bags for the collector’s edition were cheap vinyl when people got them, Bethesda just went “yeah canvas was too expensive lol, u can have five dollars’ worth of the game’s microtransaction money for free tho if you want, just file a complaint”. The amount of the microtransaction digital money wouldn’t even buy a virtual canvas bag, mind. Then someone threatened a lawsuit, and it looks like people are going to get their actual canvas bags. But they still need to file a complaint, and WHOOPS! They accidentally doxxed everyone who filed a complaint, to some other people who filed a complaint! The absolute cherry on top. (Yes, it really was an accident, it’s even stupider than it sounds.) So what can we take away from all this? Well, I wouldn’t take away much hope for Fallout 76 as a game, for one. It’s a dumpster fire, and they keep pouring gasoline onto it. But the game has scored abysmally low basically everywhere. People have noticed, and they’re not pleased. The game’s price has dropped 30%, and that’s in the first couple weeks after launching, which is completely unheard of for a AAA game. Returns are going wild. Youtube is FULL of videos taking Fallout 76 to town. So clearly, gamers won’t lap up whatever you give them just because it’s a sequel to something they love. The sunk cost fallacy hasn’t run that deep, and people are suddenly extremely skeptical of whatever Bethesda releases next -- which at this rate, is going to be either The Elder Scrolls: Blades, or their new sci-fi game, followed by The Elder Scrolls VII (title as yet unannounced).  I would also suggest that studios may finally have been given a good indication that clumsily slapping multiplayer on something that had success as single-player isn’t the greatest idea. This is a lesson that probably should have been learned years ago, but better late than never.  I would also hope that game studios, Bethesda especially, develop a touch more respect for their fanbase and realize that player bases can be lost. Bethesda has relied upon their fanbase to mod away their bugs, laziness, and incomplete content hampered by release dates for many years now, but faced with a multiplayer game with no mod support, they are put in a position where they have to realize how heavily they’ve been leaning on those mods. But there’s another part of the story that isn’t being covered so much -- one which challenges the assumptions which has led Bethesda and the players to such a disaster in the first place. Red Dead Redemption 2 has been in the makings for a long time now, but was released something like a year late in comparison to its originally announced release date. The new Kingdom Hearts has been repeatedly delayed. I’d expect the fans would have reacted with nothing but outrage! But they ... haven’t, for the most part. There’s been some frustration and groaning, especially with people who have pre-ordered the games, but for the most part, the fans have been pretty understanding. It turns out they’d rather have a game come out finished than come out on time.  That seems simple, and even obvious, but for close to twenty years, it has been the prevailing logic that for a game to sell well, it has to come out at a pre-defined and specific date, and if it isn’t done, that’s just how the process of making games work, and we’ll fix it in bug patches, or wait for mods to fix it. This is such an assumed phenomenon that it shows up repeatedly in Extra Credits, a show which talks in great detail about the production of video games, and I’d be hard-pressed to name a game that I own or play which doesn’t have unfinished content, even if it’s fairly bug-free. But here we are, Red Dead 2 is out, and it’s a roaring success, despite considerable delays. The conventional wisdom is simply wrong. And it gets even better. This is the trailer for The Outer Worlds, a game made by Obsidian. I urge you to watch it. First of all, the game looks good. The graphics are good, the human characters are expressive and dynamic while still looking realistic. The backgrounds are great. The humour is great. The world-building, what we see of it, looks very promising. And oh my god, the shade they throw at Bethesda is gorgeous. Not only does Obsidian highlight themselves as the creators of Fallout and Fallout: New Vegas -- that is, the two most-loved Fallout games -- they play with the concept of a cryogenically frozen player character (possibly lampshading the use of the same concept in Fallout 4), and they point out that player choice isn’t just about a binary “who do you shoot” moment -- another moment from Fallout 4, and one of the few real choices you get to make in that game -- and implies that variety of choice, including non-combat choice, is going to be a Thing in this game. Look at the comments section for that video. You will see hundreds, nay, THOUSANDS of comments praising the trailer, talking about the shade it casts on Bethesda, making New Vegas meme jokes, praising the music, lauding the humour, wondering about the characters it shows us. You know what I didn’t see? Even one single, solitary comment complaining that there’s no definite release date shown anywhere in that trailer. Seriously, watch it again. It doesn’t say exactly when it’s coming out. Just 2019. No month. No date. Just sometime next year. You know... when it’s done. What you might not have known was that The Outer Worlds was originally estimated to come out this year. You didn’t know that because they didn’t release the trailer until just recently -- when they were far enough in production to produce such a great trailer, for one, but also once they were far enough to be certain they would be finished with production within a year.  No one cares when it’s coming. They care that it looks like a good game with so much original effort put into it. That’s what matters. And maybe if the game studios can realize this, we’ll finally see an end to the exploitative bullshit that happens -- exploitative of not just the gamers, but of the thousands of overworked employees it takes to make a AAA video game -- in the service of an absolute deadline above the game itself. God, now that’s a thought. So don’t be discouraged by the failure of Fallout 76. There’s way better on the horizon. The myths that studios need a firm deadline to put out a good game, the myths that players in some way demand a firm deadline, the myth that players will sit there and take any level of bullshit, they’re all being thoroughly, publicly debunked. Feels good, man. Feels good.

[iammharsh]

Top Best Games Under 10 MB For Android

Top Best 5 Games Under 10 MB With High Graphics

Best Games Under 10 MB list is here :Games are awesome! I mean who does not like gaming? In the past, if someone talks about gaming, the first thing that would pop-up in your brain is - A high-end gaming rig! But now, it is a totally different story. Gone are the days where you need big displays and high-end setups for gaming. Now all you need is a fifteen thousand rupees Android device. Chances are you are running out of memory on your device. Or you don't really have enough data to download huge titles. That is where these small games come to the savior. In the ocean of games available in Play Store, it gets really tough to find Best Android Games under 10 MB.

Top 10 Best Games Under 10 Mb Best Android Games under 10 MB There are a lot of games under 10 MB available for your Android devices in the Play Store. But quite a lot of those just messes and they push a lot of ads too. So to save a lot of your time, we have done a lot of research and made a list of lightweight games under 10 MB. So without any further discussion, let us quickly discuss the best Android Games under 10 MB. #1 Mekorama There will be no list of best Android games under 10 MB without including Mekorama. Have you ever played a puzzle game which includes fun? No, right? Mekorama is one such game! Mekorama is all about helping a robot through some tiny diorama puzzles by interchanging some portions and objects of the level so that you can make it to the end. Talking about the graphics, there is not a lot of texture to load here. The controls are quite easy and the gestures are easy to learn.

Mekorama Level 19 In the beginning, the levels are easy and you can get through very easily. But the levels get more challenging as you progress. By the completion of each level, you can unlock other levels. In that process, you will be able to unlock and complete all the levels. So, as mentioned earlier, there are quite a lot of levels when you progress and if you feel like they are less or if you complete the game, there are some custom levels which are built. Just by scanning a few QR codes you can easily import the levels which were built by users like you. You can get the QR codes from the official twitter and facebook handles of Mekorama. Also, there are quite a lot of fan pages and groups where you can get the QR codes. If you have enough time to do, you can build your own levels too. If you have ever played Minecraft where you can create your own maps with blocks, just like that Mekorama is very easy to build. To sum it up, Mekorama is a very tiny, fun and challenging game which you can download. The download link of the application is available below. This application is also available for iOS devices too. #2 Dr. Driving Dr. Driving is not really a new game, but for what it is worth, this is the best driving game you can find in this segment. This driving game literally has one hundred million-plus downloads. Considering the numbers, I need not say how popular this game is! To put this straight up, this is a simple driving game with a lot of game modes. We will discuss the game modes in the further parts of the article. This game was developed and maintained by SUD Studios. The company has also released Dr. Driving 2, but it did not replace the first one.

Under 10 MB Games The game starts with a simple concept of driving a car. Unlike a lot of big titles, this is not one such game where you will be controlling the car easily. Instead of saying the controls are hard, I can say, the controls are real and accurate and comparable to real life. In the first-person mode, you will have to control the steering wheel and gears as well. The rotation and axis control of the steering wheel and car movement is arguably true to life. If you ask me about the graphics, they are not intense at all. Do not expect the Real Racing 3 or Asphalt 9 quality here. I mean, what can you expect from a 10 MB package? There are a lot of game modes to choose from. The game modes available here are a highway, speed, drift, fuel efficiency, parking, and truck. The driver-level gets increased while playing and the game gets challenging with time. I would definitely recommend everyone to try this game out. The download link is provided below. Just like Mekorama, this one is also available on the Apple Store. #3 Die in 100 Ways This is my favorite game on the list. This is more or less like a famous game "Dumb ways to die". Talking about this game Die in 100 Ways, this game has more than ten million downloads on the Google Play store. Not just that, this game comes in a very small package of 9 MB. Well, to be honest, this game pushes some ads every now and then. I personally recommend you to try out this game in the offline mode to get the best experience.

10MB Game Android So the game starts in a house first. That is the first level. The second level takes place in a spoiled beach house. The second level will only unlock if you have scored more than 30000 points on the first level. So, unlike most of the games, this is not a single conceptual game. There are a lot of mini-games here. For example, there is this one game, where an electric wire needs to be attached. We need to attach it properly within a few seconds. On the other game, there are a few banana skins dropped on the floor, we need to dump it in the dustbin within the allotted time. This is a very fun game where you have to kill the fishes, pick and dump banana skins and turn the taps off. Overall this would be my pick in this list of best Android games under 10 MB. In my first try, I made a score of 4260. Do let me know your first score in the comment section below. The download link is provided below. So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead, download the game and have fun! #4 Break the Prison Break the Prison is developed and maintained by the company Candy Mobile. The company is famous for making small games under 20 MB and already released more than thirty games under 20 MB. If you think you heard the company name already, then yes, they made some famous titles like Modren Sniper and Roller rush. Talking about Break the Prison, as the name itself suggest, this is all about Prison Escape.

Highly Compressed games for android The playable character will be sentenced to death due to some crime. The character wanted to escape jail in order to surprise his wife on her birthday. There are various levels in order to reach his wife. The first level is all about making the police think that the character is innocent by doing random things like reading the newspaper and stuff. Certainly, you have to steal the keys from the police and get out of jail. The coming levels are all about escaping the prison in stealth mode and running while skipping the obstacles. Overall, Break the Prison is definitely an interesting game where you can show off your prison escaping skills with three stars on all the levels. The download link is provided below. Don't forget to share your experience with me in the comment section below. #5 Stickman Fight Not to be confused with other Stickman fight games. This game is also developed by Candy Mobile. As mentioned earlier, the company is famous for making small games under 20 MB and already released more than thirty games under 20 MB. If you think you heard the company name already, then yes, they made some famous titles like Modren Sniper and Roller rush. So taking back the story to the Stickman Fight, this is a wonderfully designed game.

10 Mb Games Like the break the prison game, there is no story backing here. We are randomly spawned in some unknown area and we will learn some movies like punching the enemies on their faces, jumping and dodging too. Once learned, all the enemies start rushing towards us one by one. We have to simply beat them. Slowly, they start carrying weapons like swords and baseball bats. We have to dodge and beat them, then our character will pick weapon from the enemy and throw on other enemies. Overall this game is really fun to play and addictive too. This game is available at a very small package of 6 MB. The graphics are on point. The controls are very easy. This game has more than one million-plus downloads. This game is definitely a worthy one. Download link is provided below. Also Read: Download Best Samsung Themes Free Best Lightweight Android Emulator for Windows PC Best Xbox One Emulator for Windows PC Conclusion These are our picks of Best Android Games under 10 MB. We recommend you to try all of the games as they are very small-sized packages. If you are a fun lover, then Die in 100 Ways is the one which satisfies you. For the action lovers, Stickman Fight is definitely worth trying. Racing fans can try the Dr. Driving game. So try out all the games and let us know your favorite game in the comment section below. Please share this post with your friends and family, so that they can also enjoy these tiny sized games. It is time for me to bid you adieu. For more posts like this, stay tuned with us! Till next time, stay techy! Read the full article

[netunleashed-blog]

Persona 4 Remains An All-Time Great RPG 10 Years Later; A Celebration Of Its Legacy

http://www.internetunleashed.co.uk/?p=6760 Persona 4 Remains An All-Time Great RPG 10 Years Later; A Celebration Of Its Legacy - http://www.internetunleashed.co.uk/?p=6760 It may not have been known at the time, but in July 2008, Japan received what would be remembered as one of the greatest role-playing games of all time. Over the course of a decade, Persona 4 has become more than just an incredibly fun RPG with a refined battle system and quirky characters, though. A story about Japanese high school students confronting their worst fears, fighting for what's right, and becoming the best of friends spawned a lasting legacy that has empowered the people who played it and continually inspired new games. Our love for Persona 4 has kept it alive for so long with several fighting games, two anime adaptations, an adorable (and difficult) spin-off RPG, and even a rhythm game. And after 10 years, we're still seeing our good friends from Inaba in a new light.For the uninitiated, Persona 4's foundation closely resembles that of its predecessor, Persona 3. You're a transfer student new to a school surrounded by unusual circumstances; supernatural phenomena that endanger your new hometown is the crux to the overarching mystery. On a typical day, you go to class, do extracurricular activities, and try to grow closer to those around town and at school. Better yourself through hobbies or take on a part-time job, it's up to you how to pass the time. In particular, Persona 4 takes you to a fictional rural town of Inaba where the biggest thing to happen before your arrival was the opening of a Junes department store (think Super Walmart, but with an infectious jingle). Even your little cousin Nanako is utterly convinced that every day's great at your Junes, and begs you and her dad to take her there like it's the greatest place on earth.Sure sounds like all fun and games until you and your new friends become the centerpiece for a dark murder mystery and an absolutely perplexing world that lives behind TV screens. At first, it's not quite clear why outlandish versions of certain townsfolk inexplicably pop up on TV sets and go missing on rainy midnights. The one way to get to the bottom of this, to actually jump into a TV screen to enter the shadow world where the other half of Persona 4 comes into play.Aha! Is this our chance? It's time for an All-Out Attack!While dungeon crawling and sneaking up on shadows through randomly generated floors make up the exploration, an intricate turn-based combat system is where you'll find excellence in gameplay. Most enemies have elemental weaknesses which factor into how you construct your party and devise a tactical approach. Sounds par for the course in an RPG, but the unique press-turn system that Shin Megami Tensei is known for shines brighter than it had previously by giving you full control to pull off flashy, effective attacks. Receiving a bonus attack after targeting a weakness before enemies get a turn is endlessly satisfying, especially as dungeons become inhabited by trickier, stronger shadows.A story about Japanese high school students confronting their worst fears, fighting for what's right, and becoming the best of friends spawned a lasting legacy that has empowered the people who played it and continually inspired new games.However, nothing in battle matches the joy of seeing your crew team up for the most adorable, yet devastating All-Out Attacks, a franchise staple. Everyone in the party piles on heavy damage that usually puts an end to the fight, and you sense their ferocity in character portraits that pop up just before everyone jumps in. A cloud of dust erupts as they whale on enemies, sometimes popping out of the chaos only to jump back in for another hit, and all you need to do is watch as they take care of business. If you're lucky, someone will offer a follow-up attack turn-free; and it should be taken as fact that nothing is as absurdly cute as Chie's galactic punt where she literally kicks an enemy into outer space (her kung fu DVDs really paid off). Even in battle, everyone's distinct personality isn't lost or put off to the side, which highlights Persona 4’s greatest accomplishment: its commitment to a relentless charm embodied by this cast of misfits.So effortlessly does Persona 4 merge the two pillars of a social simulation and traditional RPG; nothing feels disconnected, how days are spent matters. These two realities feed into each other, and Igor--the series-long, omniscient owner of the ethereal Velvet Room--alludes to this up front: true strength is born from the bonds you form. The power of friendship is a prevalent trope in similar stories, but to have that power manifest as a tangible benefit in combat gives us further reason to invest in relationships. I call back to how Rise came in clutch to buff the party or cast healing during tough boss fights, or when Yukiko dealt the final blow casting Agidyne using her final-form persona with the last bit of SP: moments like these solidify the feeling that my companions really do have my back in times of need.Gas up your scooter 'cause we're going on a road trip!From the mother who wishes for acceptance from her stepson to your basketball teammate who finds it impossible to live up to his adopted family's legacy, these vignettes serve to tell very human stories. We help Nanako open up to her dad about his lack of presence and break through Uncle Dojima's hard-boiled temperament to reveal an empathetic father who constantly struggles with his wife's death and his job as a detective. In the end, a heartwarming father-daughter scene results in a newfound commitment to family. Other social links struck a more personal nerve.This cast harbors the painful secrets that so many teenagers and young adults repress, and it carries the perceptions and labels society puts upon them. These are the burdens everyone bears throughout Persona 4, but burdens that no one has to bear alone.When Yosuke overlooks Inaba, the town he once hated, and realizes that what makes him happy is the people he's surrounded by rather than big city glamour, I felt that. Even though Kanji maintains the tough guy attitude, he eventually embraces his sewing skills and love for cute plushies--as he began to handcraft toys for kids around town, I sensed a big, cathartic middle finger to societal expectations for masculinity. Naoto's strive for justice, as the genius detective, makes a firm statement against workplace gender discrimination. Life as an idol sure sounds great, until Rise decides she needs to walk away from stardom for her own sanity. As endearing as Chie's and Yukiko's friendship, their dynamic evolved and reached new heights after confronting their shadow-selves, leading to more open and honest relationship.This cast harbors the painful secrets that so many teenagers and young adults repress, and it carries the perceptions and labels society puts upon them. These are the burdens everyone bears throughout Persona 4, but burdens that no one has to bear alone. The TV world and Midnight Channel work not just as metaphors for the fear of what you think everyone sees in you, but to illustrate the sense of imprisonment and helplessness that's born from it. And by navigating the maze-like dungeons and crushing enemies, the crew breaks through obstacles to finally support each other in overcoming their monumental insecurities. Many of the game's pieces sound silly on paper, but they all come together to inspire you before you know it.When spread across 100+ hours of play-time, spanning an in-game calendar year, you're given room to breathe and let events, big and small, sink in. Moments of levity work alongside the more heartfelt revelations, which creates an ingenious balancing act. To its benefit, the game never takes itself too serious. Persona 4's greatness lies in its execution and presentation; story, gameplay, visual style, and its soundtrack all complement each other to elevate beyond the sum of its parts.Persona 4 wouldn't be the same game without the masterful composition of series composer Shoji Meguro. A collection of J-pop, J-rock, and catchy instrumentals make for incredible tracks on their own, but the right song at the right time elevates the emotional impact. As soon as I hear the brass horns start up for the track that plays during social links, I can't help but smile and sense the fun being had between characters. The boss battle theme of "I'll Face Myself" instills a feeling of danger, but also the determination to defeat your worst enemies. And the emblematic battle theme "Reach Out To The Truth" is such an uplifting song that brings back all my memories of this game. Sometimes I look outside my own house and "Heartbeat, Heartbreak" pops into my head on cloudy days and "Your Affection" when the sun shines. Music isn't relegated to just the background, and it cannot be overstated how evocative its soundtrack has been throughout the years.For all Persona 4's inspirational moments and pushes for social progressivism, we can't turn a blind eye to where it gets things wrong; to truly love something is to also recognize its flaws. By no means is it perfect when it comes to the portrayal of certain social groups and character conduct. Teddie himself exhibits unscrupulous behavior that can easily be interpreted as harassment, and it's never really confronted. Despite the personally uplifting story of Kanji, his sexual ambiguity is occasionally used as a punchline, and his shadow self can be seen as too over-the-top. Certain insensitive decisions can be made in relation to Naoto's struggle with gender identity; the interpretation of her character continues to be a point of contention to this day. And as time has gone on, the less amusing the cross-dressing pageant scene has become. To its credit, a Japanese game from 2008 was willing to explore subjects often seen as taboo; it misses the mark in critical moments, but there's value in its earnest effort. Regardless, some jokes weren't necessary to be humorous and it would've been much better without them.Despite all its absurdity, Persona 4 is grounded with thoughts and feelings that so accurately resemble our own; it's a human experience, one that many games aim for, but rarely come close to capturing.The sheer number of games that spawned afterward speaks to the love we've shared for this game. A PS Vita exclusive remaster, Persona 4 Golden, launched in 2012 as the definitive version; it refines core mechanics and includes a slew of meaningful additions. Along with new songs that perfectly fit the original soundtrack, Chie's new voice actress (Erin Fitzgerald) brought a whole new life into an already-beloved character and truly captured the spirit of Persona 4's best girl. A whole extra dungeon, an important new character, additional social link events, and new tag-team attacks round out Golden as the definitive version.An anime adaptation premiered in 2011, and another based on the remastered game released in 2014. Although it's difficult to capture an RPG in a condensed format, the anime offered a new way to experience the journey. Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth brought along our buddies from Persona 3 into the mix in a wonderfully executed dungeon crawler RPG on 3DS--it bursts with charm as chibi versions of these two beloved casts band together to fight evil and have a good time. I'd also say Q features the best introductory theme and video in all the franchise. If the fan service wasn't already good enough, Persona 4: Dancing All Night leveraged the beautiful soundtrack for a delightful (and admittedly ridiculous) rhythm game--hearing my favorite songs remastered and remixed is a real treat.BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle brings back our friends at Yasogami High to meet the casts of BlazBlue, Under Night, and RWBY.Persona lends itself so well to fighting games that Arc System Works took up creating a 2D fighter in Persona 4 Arena, which remained true to both the developer's fighting game philosophy and the spirit of the source material. Persona 4 Arena Ultimax built on that foundation even further. And just this year, ArcSys circled back on Persona 4 by crossing worlds with BlazBlue, Under Night In-Birth, and RWBY in BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle. Each of these fighters introduced new characters and storylines, and were included in the fighting game community's biggest stages. Rarely, if ever, does a single entry in a larger franchise spin off in so many different directions, but thankfully, it's helped keep our Persona 4 love alive all these years later.After becoming personally invested in their journey that started it all and pouring all that time into seeing them grow, it was genuinely hard to say goodbye as the credits rolled and the ending theme "Never More" began to play. In the decade since the original game, we were fortunate to see the charming group of knuckleheads time and time again in so many different games. It's almost silly to think that a group of fictional Japanese high school students could empower us to be better, but Persona 4 has given me, and countless others, boundless joy and also an opportunity for self-reflection. Yes, I played an incredible RPG, but what I saw was a group of best friends pulling for each other to become stronger people and make the world a better place. Despite all its absurdity, Persona 4 is grounded with thoughts and feelings that so accurately resemble our own; it's a human experience, one that many games aim for, but rarely come close to capturing. Source link