#only 3 vids so far but its a start!!

[fanaticartisan]

idk how much of a robot-fan-following i have these days but if you want to see short videos of my new blorbo $CR47CH he now owns my youtube channel

[matan4il]

Daily update post:

The biggest news out of Israel today is of course that late last night, the government approved a deal with Hamas to release some of the hostages. Here are the details as reported on the news:

50 hostages will be released in 4 groups over the course of 4 days, during which there would be no fighting. Hamas said they will be women and kids, Israel will only be told who's being released the day before. Not all kids are being released. Israel in exchange will release 150 people convicted for terrorist activity. Hamas says it will use these 4 days to try and locate 20 more hostages to be released. Hamas says that some of the hostages are in the hands of smaller terrorist organizations, and some are also being held by civilian families. Just a reminder that some civilians from Gaza followed the terrorists into Israel once the border fence was torn down. Most probably just to loot the houses attacked by terrorists, but at least some partook in the killing of Israeli civilians. Here is a vid of one such man, riding a bicycle stolen from a murdered Israeli, bragging about having killed 3 family members...

For every additional hostage Hamas finds and releases beyond the 50 agreed upon, it will get 3 more convicted terrorists released. For every 10, it will get one more day without fighting, for a total possible break of 6 days. In addition, Israel will not be flying over Gaza, not airplanes and not drones, for 6 hours daily.

It's reported that the stop in fighting will start tomorrow (Thursday) at 10 in the morning. Based on past experience, you can expect Hamas to fire rockets at Israel even past 10, just to show it got the "last word" and Israel will have to contain this, in order to keep the whole deal from falling apart.

The ambivalence about the deal that I tried to express in yesterday's daily post is what I'm hearing almost across the board. People want the hostages who will be freed, they're afraid for the fate of those who won't be, and they're scared of how Hamas might use this break in the fighting.

I think the most infuriating thing Israelis have come across is people describing the deal as "hostage exchange." Multiple Israelis have posted to make the same point: the hostages kidnapped from Israel were all innocent. The prisoners that will be released were all convicted for violent activity. They did not murder, but they tried to.

I saw an interview with one Israeli mother who had survived an attempted murder by a terrorist. She discovered that the woman who committed that crime is one of the prisoners who might be released. The thing is, they used to live in the same neighborhood. The mother asked, "Why should my kid have to see every day the woman who tried to kill me?" Almagor, an Israeli organization for victims of terrorism, has petitioned the Israeli supreme court against the deal. It's not likely to work, as the supreme court has indicated in the past it has no jurisdiction over political decisions, only legal ones.

And of course there's the fear that more Israeli soldiers might pay the price for the fact that Hamas will use the break in the fighting to re-arm and learn from its failures so far. That's the better scenario. There's also the possibility that Hamas would do what they did on "The Black Friday" in 2014. On Aug 1, a ceasefire with Hamas was supposed to start at 8 in the morning. At 9:05 Hamas terrorists used a terror tunnel to attack Israeli soldiers, murder them and kidnap the body of one of them, Hadar Goldin. Nine years later, the body has not yet been returned.

Today is not a day of relief in Israel.

The UK has announced it would allocate 7 million pounds to fighting antisemitism, which is welcome news. Switzerland said it will pass legislation that would prohibit Hamas activity through it.

A uniquely Israeli moment that happened yesterday... Jewish first sergeant Mordechai Shenvald, who was seriously injured in Gaza, playing with his Arab physician, Doctor Darwashe, a song by famous Arab singer Um Kultum, called Inti Umri:

Israel has torn down today a Jewish settlement established illegally in the disputed territories. You'll always hear about when Israel takes down Arab houses built illegally, but I bet most people here havne't heard about it when Jewish Israeli civilians get the exact same treatment for this exact same offense.

This is part of the testimony of a father to a girl with special needs, whose family has survived the Oct 7 massacre:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by כאן חדשות (@kan_news)

This is 25 years old Shani Gabai.

She was considered missing since the Oct 7 massacre. Today, her body was identified among the other victims of the music festival.

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[freakinator]

I'm so interested, but I don't know where to start watching UU. I'm so confused. Could you please advise me how to watch it properly?

honestly the best advice i can give you is to just search unstable universe and click on any of the playlists (i recommend diya's since it tends to be the most up-to-date one), if you wanna watch just one pov then feel free to do so but be warned youd be missing a part of the experience by doing so mainly through missing context/part of the story for certain scenes (although tbf that pretty much goes for any lets play but if you dont mind that aspect then go right ahead)

a few warnings before you get started tho:

its a huge time investestment, all but the first 4 episodes are more than 3 hours long with most of them either halfway through or nearing 4 hours

some vids are uploaded later than they actually take place on the timeline, i have a guide here if you wanna know at least from what i can tell the actual order is

theres a few supplementary materials (can be found in the extras part of the sheet i linked, not complete yet cause theres some vids i havent linked yet and im still on the lookout for more since some vids get added retroactively in addition to the ones uploaded explicitly for uu), you dont need to watch them to enjoy the story but theyre a cool bonus

if you wanna watch only one pov heres a guide on each of the povs specialties before doing so

general:

they all shift in style as the eps go on, nothing jarring but if you dont like more scripted storylines you may find the later eps a bit lacking

plot themes get used and reused a lot, for example spoke often goes on quests to destroy important landmarks, parrot often goes on scavenger hunts/get imprisoned/some combination of the two, and wemmbu often does things related to civilizations/kingdoms/factions

certain editing styles also get copied from each other, parrot and wemmbu in particular like to do this with each other

themes and styles can also switch around sometimes which can affect future eps on some level

certain exploits and mechanics dont work as intended so dont bother replicating how certain mechanics work according to actual mc cause chances are youll be disappointed by the results (unless youre into that sorta thing i suppose lol)

the main povs tend to stick to the same set of ppl, most likely due to scheduling reasons, so dont expect a whole lot of crossover casting (tho obv there would still be some esp if theyve got a pre-established role already)

spoke:

redacts some important events from his eps but may recount them later on depending on how the story plays out tho not in detail

not a lot of pvp in his pov and when there is chances are hes trying to run away or someone else is handling it (mainly mapicc)

doesnt upload nearly as consistently as the other two, consequently his shift in style is more obvious comparatively but so is his character development

thematically his eps tend to be about personal growth of some kind

lorewise his eps tend to focus more on server meta, for example his pov is the only one where there is clear confirmation of the server being unstable codewise, his pov is the only one where just how large of a problem duping on the server is can actually be seen and felt, and so far his pov is the only one that shows who ash is and what his goals are. basically if spoke introduces some kind of threat in his ep, chances are it'll be a threat to the server meta and youd have to think of the bigger picture in order to grasp how dangerous they actually are

his pov is also the only one you get the full picture of what a soggy little rat he actually is since in both parrot and wemmbus povs spoke is seen as a serverwide threat, directly for parrot and theoretically for wemmbu

if you like ls s4 zam and/or ls s2 spoke then youll most likely like him as well lol

has a small reoccuring cast and tends to stick to one person when going on quests while also taking note of another one

you will feel the ghost of jamatoP haunting this kid wherever he goes even if he never directly references him

parrot:

tends to get dragged along plot points, not in the sense that he doesnt have agency cause he very much does but more like he takes it upon himself to clean up other ppls messes if that makes sense

tries not to get into pvp but he still does get into them quite often, usually tries to run away but when he doesnt/cant he doesnt really have the best fighting techniques

his character development tends toward introspection which leads to a lot of "quiet" and assumptive character development, you gotta use a lot of psychological analysis when watching a parrot episode basically

thematically his eps tend to be about the willingness to get in danger in pursuit of something (whether it be for something greater, knowledge, or the safety of the other players on the server whether it be their life or memories) vs the predictable and stagnant comfort of safety

lorewise the threats he faces are ones that focuses on the actual players themselves, if one is introduced on his episode then chances are that they specifically target and affect players. an interesting example of this is zam, seen as a threat but never actually treated like an actual problem to be solved unlike the other threats he faces and it just so happens that zam is in a really interesting place antagonism-wise when it comes to wemmbu but is otherwise not a huge threat to unaffiliated players not even parrot who he apparently has beef with

has a large reoccuring cast who come in and out of his life, each of whom are important the same way cogs are important to a machine (applies to parrot himself as well). wifies sticks by him no matter what tho

wemmbu:

literally only one episode of his so far does not heavily feature or center around zam and its the one that takes place before they meet, if you do not like seeing/hearing about zam every 10 minutes or so do not watch wemmbus eps or you Will get pissed off

gets into fights quite often and is the best at pvp among the three main povs but isnt the best in terms of the server at large (hes somewhere more along the lines of average)

his character development is. rocky. and cyclical. be prepared to see him spiral and get better and spiral again over and over again basically lol

thematically his eps tend to be about princezam. i wish i was joking. but besides that, theyre also about retaliatory safety, morality, and sacrificing everything just to try and accomplish a singular goal

lorewise he causes a lot of ripple effects that affect the other two povs to a level that neither of them have ever affected him like for example him terrorizing spoke and parrot is what drove them to their current paths (anti-exploit exploiter for spoke and player protector for parrot)

has. A reoccuring cast. most of them are enemies and/or dont matter to him a whole lot personally tho... that doesnt mean he doesnt have friendly relations or allies of any kind, just that the only two you Really need to take note of are eggchan and princezam

i think thats p much all i can say about uu in terms of how to get into it but if youve got any questions of some kind feel free to ask :D

[crackedegotheories]

when there's smth strange in the new mark vid who you gonna call?

crackedegotheories!!!

(got thrown into a swirling rift in what I can only guess is the fabric of reality and told I needed to find an ax to help someone talking in blue lettered text)

You rang? (Side note, YouTube lost its notifications privileges with me, so I saw this message before I saw Mark's new video. It's probably the only reason I had enough time to type this post up before I head off to the airport, so thank you!)

Okay, to recap: We have a really weird drive by bee attack. No relation to the lore or anything, just bizarre. RIP, bee, you went out stinging. Then we have Mark talking about his love of being dropped into horrors beyond his imagining (not a masochist) and deep lore, before asking Lixian to show us something very deep--"throw them in the hole!"

Lixian says to the viewer, "I guess it's your turn to go into the hole" (my emphasis, we'll get back to that), before we go into a pink, flaming hole. It's tempting to draw the comparison to the wormhole from ISWM, but what's interesting is the color--the only time we see a pink wormhole in Space is when Wilford calls us a ride after ours, uh, was "mysteriously" stabbed.

Inside the hole, there are swirling clouds and flashes of blue lightning. Near the end, there's a break in the clouds that actually kind of looks like a side path to the left, but unlike In Space, we don't have an option of left or right here, we just plummet through the main hole to be met with darkness, and blue text.

"Help me", "Please, help me", and "Only you can find the axe."

Someone is asking for help, someone who claims that only the viewer can find the axe. So, let's talk about the axe, shall we?

First, we start with my boy, Damien:

In DAMIEN, the very first thing we see is Damien himself, chopping down a tree with an axe. This is apparently a daily thing for him, and he chops down a LOT of trees, but in the climax of the video when finally confronting Actor Mark, Damien doesn't have his axe. Instead, Celine arrives, using the axe to break through to Damien and, uh, giving it to Actor Mark to hold for a second.

Chronologically, the next time the axe is picked up is at the end of the fan game for Damien made by Lixian, just for Mark. At about the 48 minute mark, Damien/Dark sets his axe down as he's greeted by Wilford, which is then picked up by Lixian himself.

Lixian is scratched up, presumably from his fight with Lunky in 3 Scary Games #61 which has Lixian attempt to cage Lunky only for Lunky to break out.

It's in the following, unnumbered 3 Scary Games that we first see Lixian wield the axe, to split Lunky in half. (Brutal!)

He would then go on to use the axe in 3 Scary Games #64 and 65 to kill the horror abominations of Mark featured in those videos, and attempts to use it again in #66 only for it to bounce off.

Lixian tries to attack, and gets captured for his efforts, and we next see him in #75, waking up outside of the mysterious Plier Corporation and realizing he doesn't have his axe.

Since then, as far as I can tell in what time I have left to type this, the axe hasn't shown up again. It's missing, and someone needs our help finding it, but who and why?

Part of the explanation may lie with what the monster in #66 says at the beginning of the video: "The end is nigh. He has opened the door. The great Eldritch Plier is coming. Your end is here."

We get a hint at who this "Eldritch Plier" might be in 3 Scary Games #69, which begins with a man standing outside of a pink (!) portal, through which pops out Spider!Mark (one of the same creatures Lixian killed when he had the axe).

This man resurrects Lunky, its two halves barely clinging together, and the next time we see it is with Mark, who admits he doesn't actually remember making Lunky.

Lunky's most recent reappearance is in 3 Scary Games #103, where now whole again he uses the viewer as a sacrifice in his ritual to go back and seek vengeance, presumably against Lixian.

So the safe bet is that it's Lixian asking us to help find the axe so he can take on Lunky, right?

Except...why would he send us through a portal to tell us that? And why would he think we would be the only ones who could find it?

It would make more sense if someone else, someone who is well aware of the workings of the channel and the viewers' place in it, someone who may know of this Eldritch Plier and the danger he poses and shares his ability to summon portals, to do so.

Someone like one Wilford Motherloving Warfstache.

Or, y'know, Dark. He might also be involved.

[pumpkinsy0]

Do you think Curly's smug ass thought to himself 'no way are Darry or Soda gonna lay a finger on me.' because he's Tim Shepard's little brother? (yeah i know canon-wise they beat the shepard gang once already but pony's gang also doesn't start anything with them----aside from dallas) but the second Tim gets wiff his little brother is dating baby curtis he's smart enough to put in a change of address for himself.

Curly: Tim's got my back, I'm good.

Tim: *halfway to California*

oh absolutely, tim would pick fights w dallas ofc no question about it but but he is NOT fighting darry, it would be a tie and so nobody gained shit from it but also 1) he just doesnt want to and 2) darry is more useful to him as an ally hes not trynna beef w the guy, if ur feeling frisky maybe 3) he has a thing for the guy

its like that one vid thats like “and if u got a problem w it, come kill my uncle about it🗣️🗣️” and the uncle is like “😟🤨”

curly flexing that hes tims lil brother can only get him SO far in the curtis gang

[soylent-crocodile]

Moørkutlot (Monster)

(One of Kaimere's most unique and infamous monsters, the silent one was teased for a good few years before we finally got to see exactly what it was and what it evolved from! I have to say, while the titanosaurs and megaraptors and sloths of kaimere are the bread and butter of the setting, the moorkutlot is to my eyes one of its most iconic creatures. Here's a link to the youtube vid about it, if you're interested in alien monsters and/or spec evo, I'd reccomend a watch.

All that said, an animal is only as strong as its context, and while the moorkut is a predator so deadly it can scare an entire ecosystem into silence, I imagine it's kinda small beans in a world that has fire breathing magic lizards the size of a city block as an apex predator.)

CR11 TN Large Animal HD16

Moorkutlot are nightmarish predators of icy forests on a faraway planet, distantly related to amphibians but evolved to a far more active, predatory role. Moorkutlot have a number of adaptations that make them terrifying hunters- their metabolism fluctuates between high- and low- energy periods, making them capable of going months without a meal, but capable of long-term chases and bursts of extreme speed and ferocity. They are social hunters, and in regions where they live a single moorkutlot hunting may lead to a half dozen or so ganging up on a target as the sound of a struggle attracts more. Most notoriously, however, is the non-newtonian fluid produced by modified mucus glands in their body; this is both a defensive tool, protecting them from powerful strikes, and an offensive one. Outside the body, the fluid sticks to skin and joints and makes escape a struggle, but inside the body it is truly dangerous; it rapidly clogs blood and joints, making movement nearly impossible and quickly leading to cardiac arrest. This fluid dissolves in salt, however, and this means that moorkutlot universally avoid oceans.

In their homeland, they are integrated into the ecology of their world as much as any other animal- they are dominant predators, yes, but life around them has learned to accommodate for their behavior and deadly weaponry. Not so for other planets- moorkutlot are occasionally used as terrible biological weapons, something that can be dropped on a planet and allowed to run wild, killing sentients and destroying the local ecosystem.

This horse-sized creature has a face that opens like a flower to reveal snapping jaws, and craggy gray skin covered in strange slime.

Misc- CR11 TN Large Animal HD16 Init:+7 Senses: Blind, Blindsight 60ft Perception:+16

Stats- Str:26(+8) Dex:16(+3) Con:23(+6) Int:2(-4) Wis:20(+5) Cha:11(+0) BAB:+12/+7/+2 Space:10ft Reach:5ft

Defense- HP:168 (16d8+96) AC:21(+3 Dex, -1 Size, +9 Natural) Fort:+16 Ref:+15 Will:+10 CMD:44 Immunity: Gaze and other visual effects Special Defenses: DR10/Salt

Offense- Bite +20(2d6+12 plus Poison) or Spit +15(1d4 Acid, Non-Newtonian Spit, 20ft) CMB:+21 Speed:40ft

Feats- Improved Initiative, Power Attack (-4/+8), EnduranceB, Feral Grapple, Improved Bull Rush, Weapon Focus (Bite), Skill Focus (Stealth), Lightning Reflexes

Skills- Perception +16, Climb +16, Stealth +9 (+4 Racial to Climb)

Special Qualities- Metabolic Surge

Ecology- Environment- Forests (Cold) Languages- None Organization- Solitary, Gang (4-6) Treasure- None

Special Abilities- Blindsight (Ex)- A Moorkutlot’s blindsight is echolocation-based; it cannot sense within areas of Silence or similar spells. Non-Newtonian Spit (Ex)- The moorkutlot spits a spray of thick, viscous fluid that traps an entangles its victims. Creatures hit  by this saliva are entangled without a save. This fluid cannot be removed without a DC16 Strength check, universal solvent, or at least a ¼ pound of salt. Metabolic Surge (Ex)- Three times a day, a moorkutlot can push its metabolism into overdrive, giving it an additional move action. It cannot use this ability if it has used it since the start of its last round. Moorkutlot Poison (Ex)- Bite-Injury Save:Fort DC20 Effect: Victim takes 1d6+1 Con damage and is Stunned Frequency: 1/round Cure: 2 Consecutive Saves

[lokisasylum]

Chinese Jimin stans had enough:

You know shit's about to go down when one of the OG fanbases & one of the passive ones is writing like this.

I also recall that MYLOVERJIMIN was one of the many fanbases that were exposing the aggressive mediaplay & campaign going on in China AGAINST Jimin and its all paid by HYBE. Erasing any and all articles celebrating his success with 'FACE', including his No. 1 on BBHot100. Now all articles about him are negative (Taehyung too), the ONLY member with positive articles is Mr. Payola100.

In addition, it seems the company will try to use Jimin as a tool to give clout to both J/K and SG's future projects. Meaning that we might see some heavy "shipping content/moments" in the following weeks/months (its already started with J/K obsessively mentioning either JM or TH on every live, there will be interactions between them that might seem like "flirting" and such)

(Note: MYLOVERJIMIN is not the only account who's been warning us about this. Multiple accounts started warning us since before 7 came out. That they would push ship dynamics to benefit certain members )

I didn't watch any of the recent lives, but apparently in today's? live there were HYBE staff watching/monitoring the whole time and during a brief interaction between JM & JK, a comment where Jimin downright REFUSED JK's offer to come over (to his place? to join the live??) was quickly deleted by these staffs. (yet SG's comment on his ig vid remains....)

But what is the point of this you may ask? Simple, they're just about near to contract renewal period. So far 3 members have renewed, and they need to put pressure on the remaining ones. In Jimin's case they're trying to frustrate the fans & solo fanbases who've been supporting him non-stop since his solo career kicked off. So whatever "shippy content" comes out will be intentional so that we feel frustrated as the "willing participant" and abandon him so that the "OT7 or nah" agenda remains.

It sounds crazy, but after seeing what they did to him during his solo debut and are continuing to do so now. I wouldn't be surprised if it IS true.

[baqisnotdead]

have u ever seen the music video for "Ocean Avenue" by Yellowcard?

^one of the most useless questions on tumblr dot com

ok anyway i was compelled tonight to rewatch this song's music video not only cuz it slaps, but i remember watching it with my sister some years ago and us being baffled about what this music video means

source:

re-familiarize yourself with this barely-sensical emo pop rock cinematic classic and you'll understand my confusion. so...it's a time loop concept. big deal. maybe it doesn't have to make sense and it's just interesting enough on its own to provide a lossely-cohesive storyline carried along by concept rather than by narrative?

and yes that could very much be it, but i was struck with some revelatory thoughts upon my own viewing of it tonight. i won't clog your dash but if you wanna dive in with me, i too have nothing better to do this tuesday night <3

so we all know the art of The Music Video is a pendulum that swings wildly in dozens of directions across several decades -- a music vid making little to no sense isn't the end of the world. sometimes the lyrics don't match what's on the screen at all and life goes on. however, i think i was wrong to assume that of this song and its video. now i don't mean i expected the song's lyrics to be literal; about "green cars" and "women running me over" and "goddamn sidewalk nuns again" but i think that all has a purpose for being in the video, regardless

just as lyrics can contain abstract meaning, music videos can help convey that visually as well. i think this time loop "gag" and the accompanying microgags within them in perpetuity is plenty entertaining, and that's clearly one angle in all of this, and that's great! the worst thing a music video can do is bore you. but i think the implied goofiness or high-concept-ness of it all can lead a viewer to not look as closely into the implied themes of it all. yes, it's great to follow in the storyline-not-storyline kinda way, but drawing critical thematic statements from a man parkouring over a shopping kart full of garbage? that's too fuckin far

except it's not! because like i said: it's all in there for a purpose. just breaking down what we see sequentially, all of it feels disjointed until the time loop clicks after the first chorus. only then, over a third of the way into the song, are we able to start piecing things together. with this, the theme of "cycles/something cyclical" is established. what's this cycle of? what's the intended outcome and how do we get there?

once a loop is established in any story, what's most interesting about it is what changes, and not what actually "loops." upon first run, barreling through Sidewalk Nunz, ragdolling over a shopping kart of trash, we see him pitifully miss the goal: a green muscle car of mysterious rock n roll origin. we loop and we're back on our feet. this time: side spin around the nuns, PARKOUR over the homeless -- that'll show them!! -- and we're a bit ahead of the curve as our hero is mowed down in his emo prime (electric violin continues)

but then it's bridge time! and that means: story development! inside what looks to be the nicest apartment in Newark NJ, a brief case and glasses fit for an eye surgery patient are seen. an attractively lesbionage agent takes them both and attempts to leave. the chase ensues once more, and the nuns are skillfully woven through, the vagabond is High Fived TM respectfully, and the hero successfully intercepts and boards the green muscle car, end of song

so...what's it all mean? well here's my take: it's all about the cyclical nature of self-improvement within the context of partnership. first off, this is supported at least somewhat by the lyrics. everything is very hypothetical and expressing desire for things like nostalgia, a better future, etc. "If I could find you now, things would get better" it's a bittersweet theme that desires for the past and the future, but not the present. typically, times of change or adjustment are what these desires and emotions manifest from. an unsteady or unpleasant "now" could be/would be/should be made better by remembering a better past, or wanting a better future. sadly, one of those things we can never get back, and the other only comes when work is done and change is made.

that's when i was reminded of what changes, literally, within the music video! as we know, time loops exist to be solved and escaped -- see "Groundhogs Day" or "Palm Springs" -- which is the thematic metaphor for what feels like an endless cycle of uncertainty during significant life changes and relationships. within a romantic/relationship context, i view our hero's cyclical journey as a test, some trials he has to figure out the best way to navigate to get to his intended goal. what ways work, which ways don’t? i think this says a lot about the deeper themes being discussed

in a basic sense, the street nuns and the shopping kart are problems or obstacles the hero is facing. since they're metaphorical and intended to have meaning to many viewers, what they are literally is up to you! one obstacle could be handling commitment, it could be with addiction (which can be cyclical as well), the list goes on. but what matters is not what the problems "are," but how the hero gets through them. we know the first attempt was messy and with complete disregard. trying to mosh pit through the nuns only slowed him down, and body slamming the kart looked ineffective at best. clearly, we are being told "You cannot strong arm your way through your problems."

Take 2: my guy jukes out the nuns and gets major air over the kart. while we're meant to think it's effective, clearly all was for nought. the lesson here: "You cannot simply avoid or completely skip over the problems like they don't need to be dealt with." the result of this path being the hero getting what he thought he wanted, only to be hoisted by his own green muscle car about to run him over.

as the final attempt begins, we're given important context that is the driving motivation for our hero. while the woman and the briefcase could be ambiguous in literal meaning as well, they represent loss/the threat of losing something or someone important if our hero can't break the cycle. this happens all too often to real people caught in cycles or constantly-shifting times in life, so the hero's desperation makes sense. but then, after artfully weaving peacefully through the nuns and scoring some Good Person Clout, the hero achieves his goal

the final lesson clearly being: work through the hard stuff. don't brute force it, don't dodge it. make mistakes and learn. learn that it's ok to have hope and want better things for yourself in the future. you might be afraid of losing something important to you along the way, but you can still get better and get things right as long as you keep moving through them.

and i dunno...i think that was a really cool and uplifting message to this song and this music video that i have no idea is there or not intentionally on the part of Yellowcard, but we all know that's not the point of art and music lmao. i found this cool meaning in this cool song/video and i hope you did too! k that's all go to bed

[bonesandthebees]

ive been both really busy and also not? hahah but ive been good!! i've been mostly working. today was crazy actually, someone walked into the vet with a bearded lizard?? that they found ?? at the local park?? someone had just abandoned their lizard there ig which was really sad but im glad someone found it and was able to help it!! also the person who found it was a vet tech themselves who used to have bearded lizards so that's good hahahah they were v prepared

our doctor unfortunately doesn't take any exotics so we had to send them to a diff vet but it was cool to see the lizard, he was very sweet and friendly EUEUUEUE

but yeah other than work? mostly just been writing which has been super nice. this is the first year im properly tackling whumptober!! normally i just. pick and choose my fav prompts LMAOO but this year im actually writing for each prompt every day and i've done all 7 days so far!! im super proud of myself rahshshs

i went to my first social dance a couple weekends ago!! that was super funn

i cannot remember if i told you, but i started doing west coast swing lessons!!! since i took a gap year of school while waiting to apply for the vet tech program, i was like "welp i need some sort of hobby that gets me out of the house" so i didnt stew in bad mental health n stuff and i decided to try dance! i'd seen vids of it on my youtube shorts a lot and it always looked so... freeing. and i thought doing something that involved physical activity would be a good idea too since exercise is good for mental health!!

and woww i love it way more than i was expecting HAHHAHASDKFJJK it's so so fun and it really does feel like flying (when you do it with an experienced lead lol, so not always but the times where it's happened i cherish v much <3) and the people?? are all so nice???? like wow i was a bit nervous when i first started but everyone is so welcoming and understanding and super fun to talk to and it's a very accepting environment of queer ppl and i just RAHSHS ITS SOOO LOVELY BEE OH MY GOSHH

but yeah!! so ive been doing that sinceee march but i had yet to go to an actual dance, i'd only done lessons bc i was really nervous lol but also bc its on the weekends and thats when i go visit my mom so its hard to find time. but i finally decided to go no matter what last time (which yeah. almost canceled bc i ended up having two other meetups that day?? it was busy) and im really glad i went it was super fun.

just hoping i can convince one of my friends to go with me one day lol

oh no I'm so sad that someone abandoned their beardie :((( thank god someone found it though and wanted to make sure it was okay. so many people would just leave it so that little guy got lucky with that at least. I love bearded dragons, one of my teachers in high school had one she named Mushu and she would let him just run around the room during class sometimes. he was adorable.

ooooo I hope you're having fun with whumptober!!! you're stronger than me I've never attempted to do all the prompts for something like that. I struggle so much already with keeping things short and I also don't do great with prompts but I admire everyone who can dedicate themselves to that. it's such good writing practice as well

oh that class sounds lovely. tbh it really shows you have a LOT of self awareness to recognize that not only do you need something to get you out of the house, but taking the steps to sign up for a class with physical activity for your mental health. that's really great and you're going to thank yourself later for putting yourself out there like that. and that sounds so much fun!!! manifesting you get one of your friends to join you one day

(also this reminds me I really need to get back in the habit of going to my yoga and other exercise classes. I fell out of it after I got back from my europe trip this summer so I need to get my ass in gear again)

[vidding]

Vidding, literally on display at the Museum of the Moving Image. This is the Vidding section of the "Spectacle: The Music Video" exhibit held April 3, 2013 - June 13, 2013 in New York. I posted about this on another social network, so if this looks familiar to you that's why. I get to use more words here on this platform. I took these pictures myself when I attended the event. When I look at these pictures one word comes to mind, and it also starts with V. Validation! Vidding got invited to the media equivalent of an art gallery and was celebrated along with the Aha music video for "Take on me." (Has anyone done a vid to that song 😀) What vids were shown? You can find the playlist in one of the images above. I think posting these pics here (on a Tumblr account dedicated to Vidding) is appropriate for sharing with fans of Vidding. Vidding can say "I feel represented because now I see art that looks like me in a museum" There is another reason for posting this here. I contacted the Museum to ask them about pic they may have had from the event. They said they didn't have any.

I was told there was a web site redesign and the old staff who would have had access to that kind of stuff moved on. Here is the archived page for the event from the museum's own site. Spectacle: The Music Video I have more pictures for a sub section of the event than they do for the entire event. Preserve Fandom History because apparently even Museums can't be trusted to do that. Vidding may last only a few year during a certain time period in our lives but the art is timeless and shouldn't lose its timeless relevancy. This is the other reason for posting this here. If I had not attended that event and I had not take those pictures and not made this post perhaps some of you would never know this event even happened. I eventually did find a Tumblr page with lots of images of the event but so far only one pic about Vidding that I re-blogged 2 posts back from the Seattle version of the event. (Yes this was a traveling event. It even went to Australia)

Fans of Viddng Challenge: Does anyone else have pictures from this event? If you do then send them to me. I'll post them here. I'm curious to know if these pictures of the Vidding portion of the event are the only ones that exist at all on the internet. I know of only one other small image of a guy looking at a screen.

[yorgilord]

XENOBLADE Chronicles 3: One Year LATER

Or: one man’s unhinged ramblings on a game that may be one of their favorites of all time.

A few disclaimers before reading this:

1: this is an enormous wall of text. This is 11849 words long and by far the longest I’ve ever written, just as a heads up.

2: This will contain spoilers for the entirety of the Xenoblade series, not counting other Xeno games because I’m from Europe and I am someone who loves having physical copies, so it’s going to take a while before I get the chance to play those.

3: there will be minor to major grammatical issues and faulty sentence structures because I’ve started writing this on this on the 26th and I suck at grammar and don’t have the time to proofread the entirety. So, uh no beta we die like Hackt.

4: This is going to be mildly unhinged, filled with swearing and is highly subjective you’re allowed to have your own opinion nothing I say is a fact as I’m just as much a fan as you hopefully are.

5: if there is anything that I say in this text that may or may not be considered to be offensive please tell me and I’ll try to fix it.

As of today, it has been about a year since Xenoblade chronicles 3 first hit store shelves, and for many of us our home. Although it would be wrong to say that this game hasn’t been without its controversy the overall reception towards the game has been relatively positive. With people praising the characters, the music, the revamped combat system, etc. To me this is the first game in the series that came out with me being fully caught up in the hype cycle (I got introduced around 2016-17 through Chuggaaconroy his lp of XC1, the date may be off but I remember watching the lp either during or just after my burnout and that was about the time of my burnout, but wasn’t as of yet fully converted, that only came after playing the first game for myself on the new 2ds I bought specifically to play it, despite owning a Wii meaning it would be cheaper for me to buy a used Wii copy as I’m from the Netherlands and we actually had Wii copies of the game and they weren’t too expensive on the local version of e-bay, which is called Marktplaats (lit market place) but tbf I also really wanted to play that new fire emblem Musou game so yeah choices were made, I don’t know if they were great ones but they certainly were choices. Despite taking a bit to warm up to the game when watching the lp it was eventually love at first sight. Eventually I bought a switch in 2018 got xc2 and loved it, (not sure if in or despite of) its differences, managed to snag myself a collectors edition of DE where I played up until after the metal face fight on day 01. I really enjoyed my time with every game in the series, even picking up a Wii-u specifically for X late last year and despite the difficulties in adapting to its take on the game also loving it. So, you can probably guesstimate my reaction to the game being announced on the of February 2022. The hype cycle was amazing, watching every Luxin vid that came out learning more details about the game salivating over the first trailer, giving myself the habit to regularly check my mail multiple times a day in order to see if the pre-orders for the Collectors Edition were up yet (I still haven’t kicked it), fantasizing about the potential of the game and just in general good vibes. I did have some doubts about the game, wasn’t really feeling the clock theming and really hoped that the gameplay was more akin 1 than 2 (to put emphasis on this the last few times I played 1/de I played the entirety of the ether mine as Sharla and I enjoyed it, needless to say I really like the first game) What I really didn’t expect was for this game to become one of my fav games of the year and most likely of all time, up there with the golden cow that is XC 1 and joined by titles such as dark souls 3 (after I played it earlier this year), Shin Megami Tensei V, DMC V and Halo: Reach. To put it briefly, I love this game. Now to finally get to the point of this introductory piece: a few months ago after reading on reddit someone claiming that to fully get the game you should play it a few times I came to a realization, there were some things that I wasn’t too sure about, so you know what I decided I’m going to replay the game. And I’m going to write a piece about it, and you are reading that piece right now. So, without further ado these are my lightly structured and sorted thoughts and feelings on this beautiful game.

Ok so now before I get to praising the game for the way too many things it gets right, I do have a few gripes with the game itself. Gripe number 1: now this is more of a petty complaint but why can’t you level down before beating Z that’s a weird choice imo and makes it kind of annoying to return to older areas if you’re over leveled.  Gripe number 2: while I am glad that the game kind of returns to a more rigid style a-la xc1 when it comes to arts and such, I am kind of miffed by how they are implemented. I prefer my RPGS with characters that have rigidly defined roles and while I think that versatile parties can be fun to play around with, i.e. I love the challenge of putting together a party to specifically counter bosses in Megami Tensei games, I still in a sense prefer the games that force you to be creative in the constraints you’re given. And if I’m going to be real here this game plays, at least to me, a bit too fast and lose with those constraints, which annoys me but only mildly and not enough to detract from the joy of playing this piece of perfection. Gripe number 3 whose idea was it to not put location names on the map? I want to talk with them not hurt them, just talk. Gripe 4: the tutorials are way too overbearing. Gripe 5: I would prefer if there were more quests to be found on the world map instead of through idea bubbles, i.e., give me more X less the worst segments of persona 4. Gripe number 6: I dislike how relatively speaking the Agnian trio has less focus put on them in comparison to the Kevesi trio, at least when it comes to the main story. I have more but those will come up when I feel its necessary. Those are just however gripes and not anything major just minor annoyances, ok some are not so minor, but they don’t ruin the game.

Chapter 1: Ouroboros

“Fighting to live and living to fight” Those were the first words we heard in the first teaser trailer on that fateful day and those are also some of the first words we hear used in the game. And they describe the vibes that Aionios gives at first glance pretty well. The first chapter of the game is a bloody violent introduction to the world of Aionios it tells us in plain simple language hey, you there, welcome to hell. It introduces us to the colony system, to the flame clock and how it enforces a constant need for bloodshed, and it showcases how this affects the soldiers. A neat thing about this chapter is in how it directly showcases the power the flame clock has over its victims through integrating the flame clock as a mechanic that the player has to deal with. The opening of the game swiftly introduces us to the sheer brutality of this world by showcasing the battle between the Kevesi colony 9 (not that one) and the Agnian colony Sigma (male) which is shown in brutal bloody detail. What I love about this opening is the sheer sense of scale that is seen in this battle, which has, to my imperfect knowledge, only been seen in e.g., the battle of sword valley, the defense of NLA and the assault on / defense of the life hold core. The aftermath of this battle also showcases the mundane evil that the war makes the soldiers commit, i.e., the Kevesi soldiers casually trampling over the Agnian husks. This is also the first showcase of the sheer level of dehumanization that both sides employ on their enemies, which will come up later.

The section in colony 9 is also a good showcase of how despite the ever-present war and the constant violence a simulacrum of normal life is still possible and ongoing. Which in a profoundly fucked up sense is beautiful if you ask me. That despite the horrid dehumanization of the soldiers, the abuse that the consuls lash out, the ever-present threat of death. Life is still ongoing, no matter how shallow or how much of a simulacrum it is. I like this. In a sense it’s the idea of the indomitable human will when faced with the horrid oppressive cards that they are dealt. Which makes the position of Off-seer a small mercy granted to the soldiers, a sense of comfort to the warriors, a sense of peace not permitted to those who die on the slaughter fields of Aionios. And I love this section, the sense of atmosphere it has is unparalleled in my opinion and only rivaled, at least to me, by the Li Garte Prison Camp section. Also, as an aside I really fucking love the highly distinct uniforms that the Kevesi and Agnian forces have. Each uniform just looks so good. The black colors, almost skintight suits and visors found in the Kevesi army. The borderline Wuxia white robes, kabuto helmets and Japanese inspired aesthetic of the Agnian army. God, I just love those designs.

The introduction of Moebius D&J, although its mainly Dirk in control for this part as a misdirection, is masterfully done. Give the player what looks like a standard assignment, make it become more shifty by introducing the first hints of the lost numbers, through the automatons and later Guernica, and then pull the rug completely by revealing a monster which just doesn’t fit in with the local fauna and flora, which as an aside I have to say I really like, and by that I mean REALLY LIKE, the character designs of the Moebius and Ouroboros, (I guess I should thank CHOCO for this one huh), that are found in this game. They just feel so wrong, so unnatural, so borderline mechanical, like they saw the idea of the uncanny valley and decided to hike right into it. Their designs are, at least to me, perfect, which makes the fact that every single moebius, not counting FR, has a unique design personality and powerset especially amazing. And I really like how they sell the difficulty to beat and sheer power of the Moebius.

The introduction of the ouroboros into the story is also beautiful and one of the more wonderful scenes that is found in the game. And I really like the speech that D gives when the transformation takes place is amazing.

(Credits to the Xenoseries wiki for the script.)

“Noah: What...? This hand...

Noah & Mio: Is it...mine?

Noah & Mio: Huh? H-how are you inside me?!

Noah & Mio: Inside...? Hold on... Are we...?!

Moebius: (chuckling)      Well, you sure catch on quick. So you got yourselves an Interlink going, eh? Guess I've gotta give the old fool credit where it's due.

Noah & Mio: Interlink?

Moebius: Well, whatever. That form you just merged into? It's called "Ouroboros". Sear that into yer skulls.

Noah: Ouroboros?

Moebius: Oh, and... Me, I'm Moebius. We look a bit alike, don't we? When Keves and Agnus come together in unity, you're practically one step away from being on the same level as us.

Noah: So we're...

Mio: one being...?

Moebius: Ehh, to put it bluntly, you're failures. Fact is, the two of us are mortal enemies.

Noah & Mio: Enemies?

Moebius: You got the picture? No further questions? Then let's get back on the dance floor!”

The fact that the ouroboros team are not immediately friendly with each other and there’s still some minor hostility among them is Imo pretty good. I really like that. Because their lives as of that point have been spent fighting each other and it is only through this incident that they become friends and teammates. Which at least to me feels somewhat realistic, only joining forces after being forced to abandon their own colonies due to the influence of Moebius and their weird mind control censor powers. Also I am mildly annoyed by the fact that it is jingoistic Gigantus instead of Rotbart, I mean I know that bombastic Rotbart jr is a thin but still. I’d really just prefer it if it was Rotbart.

So that was chapter one of the game, and I’m going to end it with a bit of a hot-take. I feel like this first chapter is one of the best introductions in the entire series. It has the atmosphere, it has the vibes, it has the beautiful music, it has a very engaging hook, and in general I really like this. I mean yes, the battle of sword valley, Mechon assault on colony 9 and Shulk’s vow for revenge from 1, destruction of earth and waking up on Mira from X, and the awakening of Pyra from 2 are fucking iconic, not counting any dlc here just the full games. But yes, I really do think that the introduction to this game is the best one in the series. This is however only an introduction, the real fun is just about to begin in.

Chapter 2: Moebius

This chapter of the game is when the story really gets going as it details the journey to the Aetia region, through the Eagus wilderness and leads to the confrontation with Colony 4, the resolution of that conflict and their departure for the Ribbi Flats. You know I really like the chapter transition screen which are formatted like entries from Mio’s diary which I feel like is a nice touch. This chapter also introduces us to one of the most important characters to the story Ethel. And I really like Ethel. The presence of Ethel in the story is used for some fun stuff.

One of the first scenes in this chapter shows us the beginnings of the friendship between Lanz and Sena and I really like this. Sena and Lanz are just best muscle buddies, can be interpreted as both romantic and platonic could go either way. But yeah, I really like how despite Lanz being the one most adverse to the team-up, next to Taion, he’s also the first one to actually befriend his Agnian counterpart. Also, since I haven’t mentioned this anywhere, I’ll mention this here. CHARACTER DESIGNS ARE FUCKING PEAK. THANK YOU, MAGATSU SAITO-SAMA, FOR GIVING US THESE CHARACTER DESIGNS AND OUTFITS. But yeah, I really like those designs and their characters, just heads up but Eunie best girl I will not elaborate. But yeah, the first section of this chapter is pretty good. What follows is the “water” and the Eagus wilderness, one of my favorite regions in this game when it comes to the aesthetic, Maktha is the best I will elaborate on this later, also as an aside but think that Mio’s entire bit with having difficulties with heat is a reference to the Japanese concept of “ 猫舌” which roughly translate to cat’s tongue, or rather to quote Wiktionary “(idiomatic) being incapable of drinking or eating anything hot (high temperature) due to having an overly sensitive tongue” This makes the fact that someone from Gormotti descent such as Mio, assuming that Nia has passed the Gormotti genetics she acquired from eating the flesh of her sister down, a bit hilarious and most likely highly intentional. The introduction to Chain attacks is logical and it is interesting to see how they come upon the idea of working together to kill that one really hard to kill Aspar. What makes that one Aspar so difficult to kill? But that gets us to the battle with colony 4.

I really like the conflict that the battle with colony 4 imposes upon the members of Ouroboros, and it is a great expansion upon the ideas shown in chapter 1 with the mind control abilities that moebius has, and the power of Moebius in general. Speaking of which, I love how Moebius are fully introduced in this chapter, and specifically the hierarchy, of Moebius, or rather lack of hierarchy among Moebius. In a sense the ranks of Moebius are egalitarian, each of the Moebius are only loyal to Z and the freedom that is granted to them by Z. It also introduces us to the apparent true nature and behavior of the members of Moebius. And it does this through the presence of K. The moebius are in this game childlike to say the least. They are constantly pursuing the joy and ecstasy of the highest order. They do this through the pursual of their twisted desires, whether this is through slowly orchestrating the demise of their own colony, taking to the seas as a man of the sea, acting like the director of a stage play, being a wannabe tactician or in the case of K just the childlike pleasure of killing your foes. I also think that K has a few of the best one liners in the game.

“Hahahahaha! My dear boy... Your vaunted intuition... is shit!!!” or “It's the big bad boss. Boo!”

K also leads us to the first true battle with a Moebius and the first use of the second Moebius battle theme. And hoo boy this fight is truly a banger like for real I love each and every single moebius battle and the music that accompanies it. I thought about doing a ranking of my favorite battle themes from the game, but I’m going to be frank here EVERY. SINGLE. VARIATION. OF. THE. MOEBIUS. THEME. WOULD. WIN. I really like bombastic faux opera ok, God Shattering Star is one of my favorite boss themes sue me all right.

It also features the full awakening of the Kevesi Ouroboros and I have to say I really like each and every first transformation, the mindscape the foreshadowing through shards of fragmented memories and the unity of Keves and Agnus in what I now realize is foreshadowing of what happens when they combine for too long as the animation is pretty similar to the annihilation event we are shown in the first scene of the game. And now we move on to the next part.

Chapter 3: Saffronias

This chapter, at least to my opinion, is peak Taion. Like this is his chapter.

The aftermath of the battle is also pretty interesting in how it shows the difficulties of overcoming the programming and hatred of the soldiers and how they try to adapt to life outside of the flame clock system, while also showing through that one asshole Homs that some are not so willing to overcome their prejudices. And then we get the first hero quest and the introduction to the class system. I have my gripes with the class system like mentioned earlier but overall, I like how it is presented in the game and I also like how the full customization of the heroes is locked behind beating the game, due to the aforementioned reasons.

This is also the point where the game really begins opening up to the player and granting them the choice to begin on the abundant, to put it extremely lightly, side content of the game. And hoo boy is it meaty. We first get multiple colonies to liberate and heroes to recruit with every colony also having quest lines of varying length associated with them and every colony questline delving from a differing perspective into the question of “What now?” and I do love how this varies for each colony depending on their situation. 9 has issues with acquiring food and therefore eventually turns to the farming of spongy spuds, while also reorienting the entirety of Zeon’s character around them. Gamma goes on with Teach upholding his role as a mentor to his soldiers, 30 is finally free to pursue the special interests of its commander and goes full ham on the construction of Levnises. Etcetera etcetera. Another point I really like is how the presence of gray gives hints to the involvement of the city in the larger politics of Aionios, which the player might pick up upon, but could also easily miss. I’m going to talk about each hero when they first become available, skipping ethel due to her being locked off for a large part of the game.

So first off, we have Valdi I like the goober. Like some may have picked up from the earlier word choice I choose to interpret him as being at least somewhere on the spectrum and having a fascination with Levnises. But I like him and specifically how he grows to detest the use of Levnises as weapons of war, eventually becoming more pacifistic. The fact that gruff Lanz is also acting like a brother to him is extra fun and cute. His class is reasonably useful in the early game but sadly becomes overshadowed the further it goes.

Zeon. I like how he has difficulties with reconciling the fact that ouroboros abandoned the colony and how he tries to somehow accept their help. I also really like how his entire arc is about attempting to wrangle his colony unto the path forward, I remember the colony 9 storyline being one of the darker ones and really showing the difficulties of life without the support from the castles. It’s a shame then that I only really used his class to get topple on some characters due to it being the only source of master arts that make one able to topple until you get Cammuravi.

Teach his quest is fun in how it in a sense is the complete opposite of Zeon’s quest. Where the ouroboros were welcomed with hostility in 9, Gamma opens them with wide arms and Teach at first seems friendly. And then we get his maelstrom of power speech which I find truly fascinating, I like teach. He’s cool. And I especially like how he chose to be a teacher when granted the choice by G. Also, his class is extremely useful due to his ability to both remove debuffs and grant atk up to party members in the area.

As I am also discussing the available dlc, not Future Redeemed cause I haven’t got the time to do so even if I wanted to, I’m also going to talk about Ino. She’s really interesting in how she basically acts upon xc2 rules with her being an artificial blade and like Poppi a Nopon in a humanoid body, although she acts more like a stereotypical Nopon than Poppi ever did. But yeah, I like Ino I do however agree that her voice is a bit difficult to get used to and can be a bit grating the first time. But overall, I like her character and gimmick of having to collect ether to level her. Which is fun at least to me as it gives you a long-term goal to work towards. Her class is also really good in chain attacks to increase the damage.

Gray. I like him, he’s mysterious. I like his fatherlike bond with Eunie. I like the gameplay of his class, especially the positioning pro skill which oh god yes that is so fucking good, especially when combined with unsheathing lucky 7 because it shortens the rotation to get that to cooldown. But yeah, I like gray and how he leaves a bit of a mystery to the story while also hinting at the presence of lost numbers even more than Guernica and co. Also, he’s basically fucking Kakashi but with guns.  His quest is also interesting and is the first hint at the larger significance of the mysterious items we later learn to be origin shards.

Seeing as this is where she first becomes available, I’m also going to talk about Alexandria. Mythrakid suspect number two here is interesting. I like how you can fight her early but have to wait until chapter 5 to truly have a fair chance to beat her hero quest. But yeah, hers is in a sense the most traditional liberation of a colony due to the fact that you actually have to fight your way to Iota and have to beat both dame Alex and E before actually talking with Alexandria and liberating the colony from the clock.

Whew that was a detour now back to the plot. The conversation at the foot of the Saffronia tree is the first insight we as players get into the mindset of Taion and the trauma he endured, besides from the fragmented memories shown in his fusion with Eunie. And I have to say that I really didn’t expect much from him when the game first released, he seemed to be the calm aloof tactical guy whose aloofness would be used for comedy more than would be interesting. But he really surprised me, especially the scene with him recognizing the fears that Eunie has and thinking of a way he is able to help her. And thus, leading to the beautiful tea scene and one of my favorite deep bonding conversations while beautiful music plays™ that are found all over the game.

Riku and Manana’s hero quest is interesting as it takes up almost the entirety of the Urayan caverns which I have to say are just kind of sad to look at, recognizing the ruins of a once great society now crumbled to nothing, due to years of war and thousands of years without maintenance. But going back to Riku and manana I like them. They’re both “common variety Nopon” although manana is way more common variety Nopon than Riku I feel like. But yeah, I like both of them. Especially the fact that they provide a different type of humor from the main Nopon of the past few games. And I admire how in certain parts manana tries to keep spirits high despite the circumstances. But yeah, they are good. I also really like the fact that they contextualize the food bonuses and gem crafting found in this game, xc1 gems are better sue me these are just worse aux cores, and their hero quest is wholesome goodness, with minor angst about R&M being unable to fight, nothing more to add.

The section of being pursued by the forces of lambda has an amazing atmosphere and I love the effect of the smoke appearing on the floor. I mean I get why we couldn’t have something like the poisoned sections from ps4 Spiderman, but this is still pretty good for the limitations. I also really fucking love the effect of the red moebius eyes cutting through the fog. Then we get to the battle with Lambda, and I have to say hats off to mister Ian Bouillion he’s pretty good and it is amazing that he plays both the seething hatred of the mud clone and the calm gentleness of the normal Isurd. But yeah, this battle is one of the larger spectacles in the game with you actually fighting the Ferronis itself which is if I’m correct only beaten by the battle with Zu Pharg in X in regards to the scale of a fight in this series. And yeah, this entire part rocks and the culmination with the awakening of the Agnian ouroboros is amazing. Seeing Taion & Eunie lift up from the water and cloning themselves, Sena taking the lead and Lanz & Sena tipping the entire colony and the Mio & Noah dodging all those attacks. I also love the aesthetics of these ouroboros and feel like I actually prefer their general aesthetic over that of the Kevesi ouroboros, to add to this Sena & Lanz is my favorite ouroboros design.

The J reveal is one of the more impactful reveals in the game and one that some maybe saw coming from a mile away. But I was fully taken by surprise by this reveal. It is, however, a great reveal. And adds a lot of drama to the mix with Joran’s death being the catalyst for Lanz’s growth he now has to face a version of Joran completely unlike whom he remembered. And just wow Despite this being mainly Taion’s chapter, and thus mainly Olivier Huband his time to shine, Jack Bardoe absolutely kills it as Lanz iirc.

And then we get to the ending scene of the chapter Noah and Mio sending off the mud husks that were killed by J. and I feel like many moments with the weight of life playing that it is a profound moment of just wonder and sadness.

Overall whereas chapters 1 and 2 are more introductory I feel like chapter 3 really gets the ball rolling with the main conflict and themes, but that’s just an opinion. So next up is.

Chapter 4: Life

This chapter is amazing and may just be my favorite chapter in the game, yes, I know end of 5 and beginning of 6 is amazing but I feel like I prefer chapter 4’s content as a package.

However, I must interrupt the journey deeper into the Pentelas region with a minor distraction to talk about Isurd. Isurd as a character is one of the less remarkable Heroes, I think he’s cool with his tactical behavior and his skills are just amazing to use. But his class is mostly a mainstay in large parts of my playthrough, I do however feel that he’s a at some times a bit unremarkable, I do however like his grown interest / obsession with hot springs in his ascension quest.

So, we begin with the jolly walk from the falls into Maktha with the conspicuously placed Umber Drague. I don’t know why it’s there, I have no explanation for why it’s there it’s just there to give the characters a convenient excuse to experience the time limit of their interlink, as an aside if you’re really desperate for an explanation but can also enjoy some comedy I’m just going to leave this https://archiveofourown.org/works/45594703 here cause its hilarious and y’all should read it.

Afterwards we move past the falls and into my favorite (aesthetically) area of the game, the Maktha Wildwood. In order to explain why I’m going to give an example using the last of us. There are two types of people who play the last of us. Those who enjoyed the series and want to try the game, those who like / dislike the game, and then there’s me who plays it to enjoy the overgrown modern city aesthetic. And that is why I love Maktha. This beautiful fusion paradoxical of the Bionis region with the highest density of plant growth animal wildlife and overall jungle vibes, mixed together with the lifeless desolated hellscape that is Morytha. I love this place from an aesthetic point of view. However, from a level design point of view, from the perspective of this layperson who has never touched level editing software and whose opinion is therefore factually wrong, it sucks and is too confusing. I prefer the level design found in the Fornis region over this entire region. Pentelas has just a few too many bottomless pits for my taste, same for the Keves castle region and upper Aetia.

The they/them person of royalty and holy they/them agnussy themselves Juniper is fucking based. I like their character a lot and think that it is interesting how their colony lived a low sustenance lifestyle and had some sort of survival of the fittest mentality. What makes it more interesting to me is how this all apparently planned out by U, which makes me feel like U may or may not have known Juniper in their original life and that U has somehow done this more often. I do like colony Tau though. It is a pretty cool colony, the Ferronis makes me think of Nopon. But yeah, I like it. It is cool, it’s a shame though that I almost never play as Juni or their class because it is slow, and I do not understand it due to my brain being a bit too smooth and preferring arts spammy builds. (/s)

The flute scene is one of the more beautiful scenes in the game and I feel like this entire chapter has loads of introspective conversation and speeches about you know life the meaning of it the value of it. The flute exchange scene is just one of many that I feel are extremely profound.

This is followed up by the duel with Cammuravi and Ethel while the fight in itself is one of the best this game has to offer, I feel like the story revolving it is even worthier of being one of the coolest and best character driven parts of the game.  The fact that Cammuravi and ethel have this realization that they can make their own choices, that Cammuravi rips out his own eyeball in order to remain in control of his own actions. And then their shared murder suicide is just wow, it is a beautiful scene, being one of the most profound scenes in the game imo, being a beautiful scene that showcases the themes of the game pretty fucking well. And fuck dude. It’s just beautiful.

The following action scene with O&P is also pretty amazing. Mio’s sheer rage over the behavior of O&P, the following part wherein every member basically joins Mio in solidarity and the 6 of them all give O&P a piece of their thoughts and really just fucking go off on them. I love this scene. The action scene following this is also a beautifully choreographed scene where I really love the beautiful choreography. Especially that first uninterrupted scene, with the female ouroboros constantly assaulting O&P with the first notes of weight of life playing in the background is just so beautiful. The sheer power that exudes from O&P just seconds before the annihilation effect starts, and then Noah and Mio REMOVING A PIECE OF LAND USING LUCKY 7, just to get them away from the annihilation event. This revelation also sort of allows me to think a bit deeper about the nature of the ouroboros time limit. Cause I feel like this time limit can be explained simply by thinking through the effects of an annihilation event. So, like an annihilation event is simply a reaction similar to the idea of annihilation we can see in quantum mechanics. Matter and antimatter collide and vanish. So, like ouroboros and moebius grow from their core. So, I feel like their core is the fused state of the interlink. So, Noah and Mio, Eunie and Taion, Lanz and Sena, D&J etc. This core is an overlap between Agnian and Kevesi matter and sustains a construct, the sustaining of this construct takes energy, energy which would be needed to keep the core stable and an annihilation event at bay. But then it gets too much. The energy is expended, and then it gets too much. Which leads to it drawing in the fog and an annihilation event taking place. Or at least that’s how it feels like. I mean I do not know quantum mechanics, but I feel like this is a possible explanation for the time limit that I have thought way too much about.

The seeing off of Cammuravi and ethel is also beautiful which is great imo just another beautiful way of life performance.

Kevesi castle region is cool, I like the castle, too many bottomless pits, but yeah, I like it. Also, it contains my favorite hero in the game Ashera. I love her colony and her story. Hell in the one piece of fanfiction I’ve written as of today in this fandom is partially about Ashera, or at least contains her as a perspective, and I really like her character. Especially how her entire persona is a bit of a façade for the truly damaged soul that lives behind it, especially her fear of dying at her homecoming.   Which wow, I’m also going to be frank she’s the main hero I’ve used throughout the game. Cause you know I am a sucker for the big damage numbers that she brings. But yeah, Ashera is one of my favorite characters and I really like her relationship with Eunie, I am not sure if I consider them a friend or relationship, but I just really like their relationship in general whether it be romantic or platonic. Also, like said earlier, I really just like her character and the references she makes to imo the best character from XC1. I really do hope that she’s a good sister to panacea outside of Aionios.

The castle infiltration is imo pretty cool, especially the getting in, the fighting through the soldiers and then. A second encounter with DJ. I like the second DJ fight, it feels cool. And I love how Eunie tries to overcome her own trauma and fears, or more specifically how she utilizes her trauma and fear and behavior that D expects from her as a weapon to make DJ underestimate her and how she eventually manages to overtake him. I really like this fight ok. Also, Mythrakid suspect number one is just a villain I love to hate.

I love the bait and switch of the annihilator seeming to be the climax of the chapter, but then pulling the rug from underneath you and then throwing you into a battle with the Kevesi Queen, best girl of the first game MELIA motherfucking ANTIQUA. And wow, just wow. I remembered being panicked and having a feeling of holy shit we’re fighting her now. Last year when I first played the game, keeping in mind that I expected there to be 10 chapters instead of 7, but now I can recognize it as the midpoint of the game and in that sense, I love the battle. And the music the fucking music. I remembered reading around release that people compared it to the music from souls and now having played the games and defeated gale in 5 attempts, I do have to say that yeah it fits. False queens are one of the most foreboding and intense battle themes in the game.  This combined with the first in many revelations about the true nature of the cycle of life in Aionios is just wow. I love this game. But that’s it for this chapter and just like the ouroboros escaped the Castle I will now be escaping to.

Chapter 5: Eclipse

This chapter contains some of the most iconic moments that are found in this game imo. First off, we get the reveal of the city and the reactions that the party has to the “true nature of the world” or something like that. And wow the scene with the baby is just so moving it’s so cute and adorable, I love how Taion just fucking melts, and I like the comedy that comes from A Eunie’s afterward seeming obsession with babies and B knowing that Riku most likely got a bit lost in character during that scene, or he has never seen a Homs birth and Nopon births are even weirder than we can possibly imagine.

The city also can be a bit shadier I feel like than it at first seems to be. Cause I really feel like that’s important to take in mind. This is a society in which the fact of life is that procreation is expected and necessary, cause Shania’s whole deal is definitely an example of the shit that the city would likely put people through, or at least the people who live there put others through. Cause I feel like you know the city is but one place, and less populous than it was in its first incarnation. And as can be taken from the fact that everyone looks like a baseline human / homs implies that a lot of “breeding” has taken place to make everyone so homogenized. Especially because of the diversity that can be seen at the liberator base in FR.

Speaking of FR, we due to that have also the confirmation that the lady Masha, the second dlc hero, is descendent of the one and only ZEKE VON GENBU BRINGER OF CHAOS WIELDER OF THE PURPLE LIGHTNING DREAM SMASHER GRANTED TO HIM BY HIS BELOVED LIFE PARTNER AND COMPANION PANDORIA AND THEIR PET TURTERS. So yes, we can therefore sort of confirm that being a theater kid may or may not be genetically hereditary, in spite of how serious and borderline dour Linka can be, I haven’t completed every quest in FR yet shame on me indeed. But yeah, I like the gameplay and behavior of Masha she’s a very fun borderline ojousama archetype, which is one of my fav archetypes, who’s also skilled in her craft. Also, I really like using her class, and her model is just amazing just wow. Also, it hits a few of the archetypes that I like. But yeah, I enjoy her character a lot. And like said earlier I love playing her class because it can be a lot of broken fun, I mean not as broken as an l7 based flash fencer build, I used it I do not apologize. But still very fun.

Another hero I gained access to at this point was Monica, she gave me one of the final keys necessary to fully break the game. Smash as an art. Usable in chain attacks. After this I just managed to break the game.

But yeah, the Cadensia region it’s pretty cool, lots of water so yeah there’s that. We need a boat. Like stated earlier, I dislike the boat controls, but I do love the overhaul that this game has made to water based combat by actually allowing the player to fight while submerged in water. But yeah, the Cadensia region, being one of the largest single maps in the entire game is fucking enormous and imma be real I like it. It feels nicely balanced between the marshes of the great sword base and the large open Erythia sea with its many islands. Only real issue I have is that some islands are a pain to navigate, e.g., Daedal Isle. But overall Cadensia cool, also I like the upgraded ship theme, but the original ship theme is better.

I do enjoy the steps involved in getting to the Li Garte Prison Camp and I like that it is not as easy as 1 2 3 boom completed. Such as infiltrating the radar base and having to attain some more geological data.

While drifting, maybe at night and while being carried by the waves, one may encounter an island where one can see the mighty colony 15 stride across. I like the pirate theming of colony 15 it feels different from the other colonies, although this has to do with the dementia grandpa that’s T(riton). I like how this quest shows the playful and childlike nature of Moebius from the perspective of the one good consul who is so old that he has grown past his murderous and childlike glee and is now just looking for equals. And I really like how T chooses to aid Ouroboros despite them being natural enemies. I’m even more confused as to why Z allows him to still use his powers, although that’s likely explained by him making that so because it amuses him. Anyways I like t and I prefer his create your own op class mechanic over the complicated tiger tiger addiction inducing mess that is Poppi qtπ, even though I do have my own minor gripes with the skill upgrading system, more specifically the borderline ludicrous requirements to fully level every art and skill. I also, however, love the fact that Eunie has to ask permission to punch him and the fact that Noah grants it.

The other colony with an unusual moebius would be colony Mu, I do love the minor mystery revolving round the identity of the consul and where the flame clock is placed. Also, I love mu’s Ferronis design and how it harkens to Raijin, I think? But yeah, I like mu and Fiona’s class is also broken as fuck. Also, mu contains the best NPC Nico, who is the girl that I am referring to in this sentence yup that is her Nico, she’s cute. Or well one of the cuter characters in the game. Just like Fiona. I like how her entire story is revolved around both: oh god Irma’s the consul and oh god how will I deal with the fact that Irma is dead. Also, if I’ve read it right there are also some self worth issues involved? I’m going to be frank I don’t have a really good grasp on her character, I like her dynamic with Lanz however it Is very cute, just like her nicknames.

Also this is where the first side stories and ascension quests really start opening up, I think at least with the ascension quests, which I am going to cover, not going to deal with the ascension quests, because I only completed like 4 of them and I can quickly summarize my views on them I think.

Ethel: see Cammuravi.

Valdi: I remember thinking it was fun but am also somewhat confused as to why they didn’t make the completion ­of Dorin the ascension.

Zeon: Spongy spuds. That is all.

Teach: I like the reveal of his past as Oleg and it recontextualizes his speech about maelstroms of power.

Riku & Manana: Manana gets a better pot, I mainly remember it because you need to complete it for the 7 legendary Smithpon.

Gray: like how this quest shows more examples of dissent in the city, the role that gray plays in keeping the peace and his bond with his wife Rozana.

Alexandria: I like how this entire quest is about the secrets that Dame Alex has while also adding some complexity to the mix.

Ino: This quest Is just sheer Nopon hilarity, and I love the Xenoblade 2 callback, also as an aside I am highly disappointed that it wasn’t a red pollen orb. I was actively saddened by this, and this impacted my day very negatively.

Isurd: I like his quest also I feel it is interesting how the entire quest is basically Karōshi prevention. Dude needs some hot springs.

Juniper: I like how this quest deals with the manipulation of the consul of the colony. Also, I like Juniper. Hope Kite at least has the chance with them.

Ashera: Depression hidden behind a layer of suicidal aggression. One of the beset side quests for one of the best heroes imo.

Monica: That one dude is a Milf hunter, and I appreciate his dedication.

Masha: I like how this gives more insight into the somewhat more depressing lives of the lost numbers and their desire to be remembered or leave memories behind.

Fiona: This one deals with the secrets of Irma and how Fiona struggles to reconcile with them I like it.

Triton: dementia grandpa has dementia, it is not funny, it actually is kind of funny, but also just somewhat sad. However also “…Just one.”

Ghondor: this one’s ok, not much to it. I do like the Tirkins, I actually really like how this game tries to humanize the Tirkins way more.

Miyabi: cooking. It is fun. Nothing to add really. Oh yeah finding the ingredients is a pain if I remembered it correctly.

Cammuravi: this is not a quest, this is 4-5 cutscenes stitched together.

Segiri: I don’t remember too much from this one, but I am sad that you have to kill her sister.

But leaving those behind we get to the first side stories.

Eunie is an interesting inspection of the system of colony ranks and gives more insight into how much the system is rigged to kill the soldiers in Aionios and allow the Moebius to harvest their life. I also like how the game uses this quest to follow up on Eunie finding her own husk on the ruins of that battlefield, and also explains as to why that happened. But yeah, this one’s cool and I also like that it gives a part of the spotlight to Brolearis.  What I don’t get however is why the spark is this required to fight X in origin. Like seriously why? That does not make any goddamn sense. Monolithsoft, I love the games that you develop but its choices like this which keep me up at night.

Lanz his side story is also excellent in that it allows him to deal with the demons of his past while also foreshadowing the clock fuckery that Y commits later I the game. I also feel like it is an excellent showcase of his character growth up until this point, with him realizing that there’s more to life than just fighting.

The Li Garte Prison Camp section and Ghondor. I do like this section and feel that it is interesting in how it uses frustrating and repetitive quests to keep the player in a constant state of numbness and boredom in order to simulate the experience of being imprisoned there. As for Ghondor I wonder could you call the quests surrounding the camp her hero quest by technicality because you get her after completing the quests. Idfk. But back to the topic I do like Ghondor. Yes, she’s a foul mouthed midget who could punch my lights out for saying that, but I do like her softer moments such as the fondness she has for her mother’s cooking and her friendship with sena and the way in which she forgives Shania. Yeah, she’s a little bastard, but I feel that her heart’s in the right place. Her class is ok, I don’t mind playing it, but I don’t agree with the talent art, due to me preferring spammy builds. 

When it comes to the escape portion of the chapter, I do not think that I have words enough to describe just how perfect this entire piece is. The constant tension regarding M & N the mystery they present, the beautifully executed foreshadowing, the beautiful and amazing M remixes of the moebius themes, the beautiful choreography in one of the most impressive long takes I’ve seen in a game, and the sheer despair of the prison. The fact that the vocal song is used to display the sheer hopelessness of the situation and how almost everything Mio says takes on a double meaning when you realize that it is M speaking. The excruciatingly tearjerkingly beautiful tones of a life sent on blaring as M is coming home and the amazing voice acting from Harry McEntire. I cannot put into words just the sheer excellence of this sequence which once again brought tears to my eyes and left me distraught in ways I seldom experience. I have no funny jokes or quips here, just hats off to the sheer excellence of this section.

Chapter 6: Choices

I’ve also got nothing but praise for the beginning part of this chapter. The reveal of n’s past the fact that he destroyed the city to revive Mio, Future Redeemed makes it more complicated but sticking to the main game here, the turning of the tables, n’s breakdown, the battle against N, the unsheathing of lucky 7 leading to even more brokenness, the battle against the Agnian queen, the bait and switch with he city, Shania’s suicide, hopes rest the destruction of hope’s rest. Just wow I have so much good things to say about this part that I feel like I can’t even put it into words, so I’ll leave it to holy fuck this is impressive.

Captocorn peaks are ok in comparison to the peak of the other snow areas, Valak, Tantal, the black mountains Captocorn is ok, not excellent but ok. What I do like however is the hero quests that are found in this region. So, let’s talk about them.

First off let’s get going with Mio’s side story / the Miyabi fun hour. This infodumps the information that we could glance from the first Kevesi and Agnian ouroboros fusions, A Miyabi was once Mio’s friend, B Miyabi is dead. I also like the presence of Y in this quest and how the thing that beats him is the flutes. BECAUSE FLUTES RULE BABY, in this case at least. A thing that however confuses me is the fact that only at this point do they introduce the burst mechanic through a tutorial which is weird seeing as the player could have used burst way earlier in the game if they got Teach. But anyway, that’s besides the point, I also however like that this is another point I can add to the reincarnation cycle is imperfect agenda.

Cammuravi’s hero quest is somewhat interesting in how it is somewhat about the revival of Cammuravi and showcases the consequences of his resurrection. Also, him remembering Ethel, having his left eye damaged and still hurting from the self inflicted harm. Also, I really like his mantra and how he calms himself using it. Also, his fear of heights is extremely relatable.

But with those done I can now deal with the most complicated to access hero quest in the game which is of course Segiri’s inhumanity.  While I do have to say that I love the fact that it is payoff from something that happened most likely 25 hours ago. But I do feel like however that the fact that it is so confusing to access is annoying, and dislike how it is so easy to miss this quest. Because of that This is the only, non postgame exclusive, hero quest I did in the postgame the first time around.

The entire Cloudkeep section is pretty good. I got emotional when drifting soul started playing, I was surprised by the fact that they actually had the balls to kill Nia so soon after she was reintroduced, I liked the final brawl with DJ, the first time we get to fight D and J separated, the conclusion to Joran’s tale and Lanz’s arc, the reveal / reminder that Nia’s a Flesh Eater blade and therefore unkillable except if her core’s damaged. While I do agree that the later parts of Xenoblade 3 are weaker than the earlier ones I still feel that this is as good as the earlier parts.

Chapter 7: Time Moves Again

The same can be said for chapter 7, except when it comes to the fetch quest, I fully agree that almost every part of the fetch quest is just not that great. Except, for the final part. Noah’s side story is an interesting look into Noah and Crys. What makes this side story so interesting is at least to me very interesting in how it approaches the fact that Crys became a moebius. What I find the most fascinating however is his disconnect from Moebius as a whole. Whereas most did it to venge on those who harmed them or to simply enjoy their new lease on life to the fullest, Crys choose to reincarnate because he wanted to meet Noah once again. And I love how in a sense Crys is just testing Noah to see if he’s right in his points. Or at least to hear his song once more. And I feel that that is interesting, especially with the implications that he’s so miserable in the cycle that he chooses to commit suicide either through self harm or by cop. Which is just wow. This is pretty interesting stuff.

And now the other side stories which I completed around this point of time. Taion’s side story is pretty good in how it follows up to the earlier mentions of Isurd wanting Taion to bury the watch of Nimue there. I also like how this shows how like colony Tau there can be nontraditional colonies even though this one’s only nontraditional due to the defunct flame clock. I also like how he uses his tactics to beat the moebius and I think that his choice not to reveal Nimue that he knew her at this point. Overall, a great side story.

And now we get to side story Sena Ghondor, sorry that was not a funny joke. But yeah, Sena’s side story is one of the shorter ones and one of the darkest I feel like in how it fully deals with the character of Shania her becoming S and the trauma that led to her becoming S. I think that Shania’s character truly is intriguing. Especially in how the emotional abuse committed by her mother leads to her breaking down and eventually betraying the city. I think that Shania truly is a fascinating character and I’m sad for her that she never really had anything that gave her even the remote possibility of a good upbringing, with a mother who’s like the nightmare tiger mom, Ghondor not having the best tact in trying to encourage her, and the fact that she gets brought back as a Moebius. This last part is truly depressing to me. The fact that Shania who joined the side of Moebius in order to have a chance to enter the eternal now as a soldier, to be able to have multiple shots at life, to be free from the shackles of expectation, becomes a creature imprisoned by even stricter constraints than her old life. I lowkey feel like her choice to assault the city was not one made to appease her new master Z, but one made because she knew that it would fail. What I’m implying here is then is that like multiple other characters in the story I feel like this is Shania attempting suicide by cop. And she succeeds. It also adds another point to my “the city is actually not such a great place” agenda which I will discuss later. Ultimately every single one of the side stories is interesting and fun in how it further explores the messed-up corners of the hellscape that calls itself Aionios.

The assault on Origin feels like, at least to me, a way better worked out version of what the assault on the life hold could have been, except in this case it is to destroy a place instead of defending it. But yeah, Origin is in a sense an even more over the top version of the Lifehold core. The aesthetic of the area the length, making it feel like a true journey to reach the core, and THE MUSIC. All combine to make origin at least to me the best final dungeon in this entire series. I will not elaborate on this further because I feel like I’ve already made my point as to why I feel this way.

The showdown with N in the prison of eternity is amazing. The removal of his Moebius title, the fact that one of the most beautiful battle themes is playing during this fight, the sheer beauty of Harry McEntire’s voice acting here and just wow. I fucking love this fight so much. The sheer beauty of it is just amazing. Really a shame that the chain attack theme interrupts it. Really wish we would’ve gotten that toggle, oh well.

The battles with X and Y are just there, I find it weird how you can just walk away from their dissolving corpses. They should’ve at least had a cutscene commemorating their defeat and death, or were they too inconsequential to receive one despite this being their final outing? I do not get it, these are the choices that befuddle me Monolith soft.

And now at the end I’m going to give some of my thoughts on Z and moebius. Maybe a hot take but Z is a great antagonist and the fact that they lack any depth and are uninteresting and shallow with their motivation and how they interact feels at least to me like a stroke of genius. Because they are not human, they do not have any motivations, they are just a blob of emotion, and what destroys them is not killing them but rather two moebius, two of his victims, creatures that are made as the fear of the unknown future manifest, choose to accept the unknown future and the unpredictability that it brings. And to be frank I love this. And just moebius in general what others may see as complaints I feel like are choices that have been made intentionally to showcase the sole facts of their existence. They are cruel, they only want to have fun, and they enjoy the fleeting pleasure of pursuing their ephemeral fun.  Not planning for what comes ahead, just eternally living in the moment, unsustainably pursuing the pleasure of ending lives and the joy that comes with snuffing out flames. And that makes them, at least to me, just terrifying, at least when you think about it a bit. They are a group of man children who have been given near omnipotent powers by their demiurge leader, and all they do with it is torture and play with those they once may have considered as friends. Or to put it shortly “Absolute power corrupts Absolutely.” Also, as an aside I think that thematically they are a better demiurge than Zanza, might elaborate on this later down the line if I ever feel like it.

And now we get to the final battle. And in my opinion one of the most spectacular final bosses that this entire series has seen up until now. While yes alpha has an amazing fight, Lao Chimera is a brilliant horrifying design, Zanza, is iconic and the final duel with Malos at the end of Torna is just amazing with how it recontextualizes the chain attack mechanic. I do have to say that I prefer the showdown with Z. Their entire presence in the game Is just exquisite and amazing and I love how they don’t go down like a chump. Their fight is comparable to the final boss of p3 and like that boss I love it for how long it is. Because it makes achieving victory feel like a true test of both your skills and endurance while it also makes the fight more memorable. I love that when they are beaten in the first phase, they just become this abstract face and mess of emotions because that is cool and an interesting way to showcase their personification of fear, how they change their face to reflect facets of the protagonists, I love this fight. I, however, do agree that it is complete bullshit and that it is annoying that they can just one-shot you at certain times. Due to time constraints related to me writing this piece I eventually just used the bonus Exp I had accrued to boost myself by 10 levels and just gank them just to get done on time. It wasn’t that easy, but it still really alleviated the stress of the fight.

But that was Z the Omega to Alpha’s, uhm well Alpha. The end to this trilogy. And wow. I’m going to be frank here when I rewatched this entire ending section for the first time in a year just a few days ago I was just shocked at rewatching this beautiful piece. I love how Noah throws away lucky 7 figuratively declaring his intentions to never fight again, I love the reveal of that one picture, I cried when I saw Poppi emerge from the ether furnace, I feel like that was an ether furnace, and the beauty of where we belong. Which like many other things in this game is I feel like the best version in the entire series, in this case being the ending credits songs. Its just so hauntingly sad while also being so fucking heartwarming so filled with hope and so filled with sadness. I don’t have any words to fully describe the beauty of this ending. I just love it. God, I love this game.

And then the post credits scene comes along. Which is a great return to, and continuation of, the first cutscene and then the first hint that all will be alright. Which FR will eventually confirm. But that is not something we will discuss today. However now we will continue to.

Chapter EX: assorted thoughts.

As I’ve hopefully already made clear in this piece, I really fucking love this game. I have a few issues, but I still feel like it is one of the best experiences I’ve ever had while playing a game. I do also have a final headcanon and some small insights to make which I here now wish to share.

First off you may have noticed that I have avoided saying certain things relating to Z namely I feel like Z has no gender, which is due to a certain hypothesis I have let me explain. First off X Y and Z feel like mirrors to the trinity processor units. The idea here is that because Z was the first, they based themselves on data they could find and what was the architecture of origin based around: The Ontos core. Ontos was meant as the balance between Pneuma and Logos, therefore Ontos has no gender, thus I feel like if Z did indeed base themselves on Ontos that they would also not have any possible gender. Then in that same sense X and Y could be based on the idea that Ontos was meant as a mediator between Pneuma and Logos and thus they created X and Y two moebius that while not acting as the balance to, do feel like polar opposites, one seeming to be a young girl who enjoys fighting, the other being an older man who talks in almost Miltonian cadence and style. There’s also what the TV tropes page puts on their page which could, at least in my opinion, strengthen these parallels between the trinity processor and the true moebius, which I will quote here.

“Suspiciously Similar Substitute: The original three Moebius, being born from Origin itself, share similarities to the three Cores forming the Trinity Processor that powers the Conduit:

X is one to Pneuma, a.k.a. Mythra. The two of them have the personalities of Bratty Teenage Daughters, serve as a foil towards whoever they're working alongside, be it Rex or Shania, and of their trios, the two perform the most direct work in the frontlines, whereas the rest of their trio take more of a backseat.

Y is one to Logos, a.k.a. Malos. Both are incredibly hammy villains, rely on technology to get their jobs done for them, and cause the most direct damage to their respective worlds of Alrest and Aionios, especially when compared to the people they directly work for.

Z is one to Ontos, a.k.a. Alvis. Although Z isn't actually a god like Alvis is, they were both the central Cores of the devices that created them, have absolute control over their worlds without anyone but their closest subordinates realizing it, and often get people to work for them simply by having conversations with them.”

And now for some overall points about the game.

This game has some of the best combat in the series, only being surpassed by Future Redeemed which is also amazing but I also feel like simplifies the combat too much, I do prefer the bond points system to the soul points or level based unlocks of the main game.

This game’s Ost is just amazing. I have many songs I really enjoy but I feel like every song with the moebius leitmotif, not counting the moebius battle themes because those are on another level entirely, almost automatically becomes one of my favorites due to how creatively and just great each variation is. If I had to rank my 5* (*way more than 5) favorite songs they would prolly be 1: moebius battle (all variations) 2: all songs containing the Moebius leitmotif, 3: carrying the weight of life, 4: the false queens, and 5: Kevesi battle.

The eclipse homecoming is one of the most well executed scenes of pure fucking despair I’ve ever seen in a game.

The art style and world are just amazing, and it truly feels large, in a sense even larger than X at least to me, that game feels kind of small after obtaining a Skell.

The challenge mode is ok and while I haven’t played too much of the gauntlet mode, I do feel like it could be pretty fun.

Also, as a final aside I like the detail of filth and grime buildup on clothes which can both be erased through washing your clothes and through swimming in water, but I also like that certain regions have higher buildup of dust and resin and such. This is way too detailed for a game like this and I love it, I mean by this that this is an amount of detail that you normally don’t see in JRPGs.

And I feel like that’s all there is to say about Xenoblade 3, within the constraints of having written this in 3 days due to my own issues with managing my time and having to compromise on my original vision in which I would have attempted a 100% playthrough. But yeah, I hope that if you did read this entire almost 12000 words long piece you at least enjoyed it. This is the first time I’ve actually written such a piece, and also the longest piece I’ve ever written, and the first time I’m posting something on this platform. But I hope that you’ve enjoyed reading this. Also, if I’m allowed a minor bit of shameless self promotion, I’ve also uploaded a fanfic today to celebrate the 1 year anniversary of the game which you can find here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/48958873. You don’t have to read it, but you could. Anyways thank you for reading and have a wonderful day.

[matan4il]

Daily update post:

Three more bodies were retrieved from Gaza by the IDF and identified. At least two of them were Israelis taken hostage on Oct 7, who were seen alive in vids published by Hamas as they were being led away, and today it was confirmed that they were murdered in captivity by these terrorists. They were both 19 years old. On the right is Ron Sherman. On the left is his friend, Nick Bizer. In the middle are the last text messages Ron sent to his mom. They read, "Bye mom, I love you all" (followed by five heart emojies), then "That's it," "They're here" and "It's over."

The third body was identified as 28 years old Elia Toledano. He was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists from the Nova music festival on Oct 7. As far as I can tell, there's no confirmation yet of when he was killed.

May their memories be a blessing.

The IDF revealed today how Hamas is trying to lure Israeli soldiers into an ambush in a booby trapped area, with armed terrorists lying in wait: by using child-shaped mannequins, school bags and speakers playing recordings in Hebrew and of sobbing, to make the soldiers think hostages might be held there.

Yesterday, the IDF finished a 60 hours operation in Jenin, where the Palestinian Authority is supposed to be responsible to fight against Hamas and terrorism, but in reality, the PA does nothing. This was the longest IDF operation in Jenin since Opoeration Defensive Shield (Mar to May 2002, which started following a wave of suicide bombings, and specifically after the murderous terrorist attack on Park Hotel in Netanya, where Jews eating a Passover meal together were targeted and murdered). During the operation that ended yesterday, the IDF uncovered 10 shafts leading to terror tunnels. That's not in Gaza. Let that sink in.

Also, if you see anyone saying, "But Hamas only operates in Gaza!" you'll know they're either ignorant or lying. Hamas only rules Gaza, but it absolutely operates outside it.

Another case in point for that last statement, that Hamas operates outside of Gaza, too. Remember that I posted in my daily update yesterday about the people arrested for having intended to carry out a terrorist attack against Jews in Denamrk? We have more info about that now, and it turns out that 7 people were arrested in total, not just 4, and that they were arrested in 3 countries, not just 2 (so in addition to arrests in Denmark and the Netherlands, terrorists were arrested in Germany as well), and most importantly, the people arrested included Hamas terrorists.

Again, let that sink in. When we tell you that Hamas wants to kill all Jews in the world, that's not just idle talk. It's not just a recent statement, either. Here's a Hamas senior stating as much back in 2019, and they also said as much in their founding charter.

Maybe just as importantly, these terrorists were taken down thanks to the Mossad's work.

So when we tell you that Jews are safer with Israel existing, that's not just in the case of Jews finding sanctuary from danger in Israel. That's true as well. But there can be Jews, even anti-Zionist Jews, who will lead their entire lives outside of Israel, never realizing that behind the scenes, an antisemitic terrorist attack that could have killed them, was stopped thanks to the fact that the Mossad (Israel's equivalent of the CIA) is in charge not only of protecting Israelis worldwide from terrorist attacks, it's responsible for the safety of all Jews. That's the kind of protection people would rob Jews of, when they advocate for the destruction of Israel, or even "just" the destruction of Israel as a Jewish state.

I thought this was a great response. From Letters to the Editor, Los Angeles Times:

Hanukkiahs lit in honor of the Israeli hostages, in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, on the last night of Hanukkah (the song is Come Back by Idan Raichel, performed by Roni Delumi, and its chorus goes, "Come back, come back, today / I so wanted you to arrive / I wish you'd come without announcing it this very day"):

These are 26 years old Yovel Sharvit and 27 years old Mor Trabelsi:

They married exactly a month before the Hamas massacre. On Oct 7, they were at the Nova music festival. Yovel survived, but Mor was shot to death in front of her eyes. Yovel participated as a model in a special fashion show, meant to call attention to the victims of Hamas, and especially to the sexual violence perpetrated that day. Yovel wore a wedding dress reminiscent of her own, with blood stains on, and groping hands. The dress also features sentences in Hebrew and Arabic that Yovel heard on or about that day. The dress is torn at the top, as per Jewish mourning customs. The make up artist recreated Yovel's real wounds on her back, and just as importantly, the deadly gunshot wound that killed Mor, on Yovel's forehead.

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[catofadifferentcolor]

Assassin’s Creed II

To say that everything is permitted is to understand that we are the architects of our actions.

As I’ve been reading a lot about the Crusades recently, it seemed a natural progression to try playing Assassin’s Creed for the first time since the franchise began a decade and a half ago.

And my immediate thought on starting the first sequel (beyond the weird front loading of achievements - just following Lucy's instructions gets you 3 in like 10 minutes) is that time travel must exist, as they've heard all my complaints and fixed them for this game.

This game is not only beautiful, but it takes the time to teach you how to play in a fun, intuitive way. Whereas it took me roughly 5 hours of gameplay and an online guide to figure out AC1, I had most of that figured out within 15 minutes in AC2.

Even if picking up a box/body in the game is next to impossible.

Moreover, AC2 is immersive in a way AC1 never quite managed. About half of this is probably the incredible detail that the Ubisoft went into with Renaissance Italy - which, in addition to being visually stunning, tickles all my nerd buttons, even if I've read far less about the Renaissance than I have the Crusades.

But more than that, Ezio's story is compelling. It's visceral and real and if I didn't have RL commitments I'd probably have sat down and finished this game in two days. Which is probably for the best, as five hours is about as far as I can go before the nausea starts getting overwhelming, but even then it's a fight to stop playing when all I want is to know what happens next.

I honestly don't think I've felt this way about a game since Dragon Age 2. Or maybe Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.

And while, yes, sequences 12 & 13 seemed weirdly out-of-tune and less thought out compared to everything else before I realized they were included DLCs, nearly everything about the actual game itself is pitch perfect. Revenge is a common motive, yet Ezio's entire arc of knowing when not to take revenge offers a delightful twist on a common narrative.

Whereas Altair felt like a god temporarily made mortal for Desmond to learn from, Ezio feels human - all too human. He makes friends and makes mistakes. He learns from the past but remains fallible. (Beating up the Pope and then letting him live seems like a mistake he'll live to regret, even if it is excellent personal growth.) He builds a home for his family, but is always away. He...

Well. If one walks away from AC1 wanting to be Altair, I think its fair to say I walked away from AC2 wanting to be with Ezio just a little bit.

There are some game mechanics I didn't like - the picking up of boxes and having to return to base to change weapon loadouts, primarily. The business with Leonardo's flying machine was almost too over the top and some of the smaller missions far too frustrating for the payout - but for the most part AC2 was a fun, enjoyable ride. I'd actually prefer it more if the DLC sequences weren't included in the version I downloaded, and if I can find a way to skip those in replays I will - because there will be replays. (There would be one immediately if I didn't already have ACB already installed.)

...I suppose I should say something about the Ancient Aliens arc as well, but frankly it wasn't as big a shock as it must have been originally, as I've watched my brother play parts of these games before so I have a general idea of what is to come. That, and as soon as I realized it was a naked man and woman running somewhere in The Truth vids, the idea of Adam and Eve having escaped from Eden kinda became self-evident. Still wicked cool though.

(Also, still tapping Lucy for Templar plant, because she's far too much follow me with only vague promises for explanations later and weirdly keen on turning Desmond into a fighter. The whole arrival at the hideout felt like an act two Bond woman right before the inevitable betrayal.)

Otherwise 5 out of 5 stars. I can definitely see why people recommend this as the place to start with the Assassin's Creed series. I'm not sure I'm one of them, but I definitely recommend playing this this one.

[stinkrascal]

get to know me sims edition tag thingie ! tysm for the tag @rebouks <3

1. What’s your favourite sims death? ummmm getting eaten by a cowplant tbh. gets me every time

2. Alpha CC or Maxis Match? maxis match hair, preferably the kind with the hair strands, and then alpha everything else

3. Do you cheat when your sims gain weight? when im doing gameplay then no, but if im taking screenshots for my stories then their weights dont really change bc i dont play w them anyways so they dont change much. so i guess the answer is still no

4. Do you use move objects? always!!

5. Favorite mod? probably slice of life? idk i think its so fun!! i also like mccc for the utility but thats a boring answer so sol wins

6. First expansion/game/stuff pack you got? ive basically always torrented ts4 so i got the eps when they first came out and idk which one i played first. but the first one i bought on an origin account was cats and dogs!

7. Do you pronounce “live mode” like aLIVE or LIVing? like alive!!

8. Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made? breanna!! caspian!! vaughn!! i like them all can that be my answer

9. Have you made a simself? yeah!

10. What sim traits do you give yourself? lazy, goofball, geek

11. Which is your favorite EA hair color? the white/blonde color!!!!

12. Favorite EA hair? that one hair that came with the luxury stuff pack that was vlad's hairstyle for like 3 years before i changed it.

this one!!!

13. Favorite life stage? young adult duh. thats why i have vampires so they can stay young and pretty forever

14. Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay? both duh!! it's all fun for me :D

15. Are you a CC creator? no but i can make simple recolors and adjustments to meshes if i need to! id love to learn how to make meshes from scratch. i really wanna make my own trees for story stuff but i dont really know how to start that. but one day!!

16. Do you have any simblr friends/a sim squad? all my mutuals of course :)

17. What’s your favorite game? (1, 2, 3, or 4) honestly probably 4 because even if the gameplay is lackluster, w all my mods its pretty fun and i always gravitate to it. i think ts3 was the first game i ever played from the series and its great too. i played ts2 about a year ago and it is also fun but its too ugly for me so i never wanna play it lol. and i never played ts1!

18. Do you have any sims merch? no

19. Do you have a YouTube for sims? yes but all the videos are unlisted, you can only access them through my tumblr. i just upload random silly things and tutorials sometimes, but i havent uploaded in years. im still gonna make an updated editing tutorial vid i promise aha

20. How has your “sim style” changed throughout your years of playing? i think my sims are more blushy now, and they have more skin details and textures since i use alpha skins now. but besides that not much

21. What’s your Origin ID? actually its stinkrascal but i dont use it for ts4. i just have my dragon age games on it ha

22. Who’s your favorite CC creator? umm idk!

23. How long have you had a simblr? since 2017 :) but i made this blog in 2019

24. How do you edit your pictures? photoshop 2022! i promiseeeee im gonna make an updated editing tutorial one day

25. What expansion/game/stuff pack do you want next? i want horses, fairies, and a new city world like san myshuno! besides those things im pretty happy w what we have

25. What expansion/game/stuff pack is your favorite so far? growing together or werewolves! obviously i like vampires too!! oh or island living that ones great too. idk i like a lot of them

im gonna tag @gothoffspring @woohooincoffin @itsmariejanel @pxltown @omgkayplays @lucidicer @barbieaiden @void-imp and anyone else who wants to do this!! <3

[literalite]

!!!NOT A WCIF!!!!

hiiii <3 big ask big answer is what i'm expecting would LOVE to know your top 5/faves across various media that are new(in release or just new to you) this year! so: shows, movies, games, books, songs/albums, new artists you've discovered etc

HI IMO 🫶 happy bday btwwww!!!!! heres my top five seven of this year in no particular order 😈

LAUREL HELL by mitski (2022)

one thing about me is that i LOVE mitski... i've been waiting for the new album ever since working for the knife dropped in 2021 and she did not disappoint literally so many of the songs were SO relatable and applicable to my life its safe to say she carried me thru early 2022... heat lightning and should've been me are my two fav songs from the album but literally the whole thing is no skips for me

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE directed by daniel kwan and daniel scheinert (2022)

no bcos i walked into this movie hearing so many good things about it i was kind of worried ab it being underwhelming to my expectations But It Was Not. it made me bawl the first time i watched it highkey 🤭 something about the specific flavour of parental... disappointment?? love??? it was beautifully crafted and stephanie hsu's performance to me was unforgettable im probably going to go watch her entire portfolio ive watched the vid below like 10 times

MOB PSYCHO 100 from one and studio bones (2016-2022)

jort recommended this show to me and i finally bit the bullet and watched it in may... ITS SO BEAUTIFUL. IT JUST. clenches fist idkkk this show just is stunning on so many levels visually its my fav anime i think??? so many frames that will live in my head forever... also the nature of the narrative about Kindness without the like framework of whether its "deserved" or you're worthy of giving or receiving it really spoke to me. hats off to jort for this i'm rlly glad i got to start it while the show was airing

SMITHEREENS by joji (2022)

unfortunately i am genuinely a joji fan so i was super hyped for this album... he's got such a melancholy(?) tone to his music that rlly speaks to me i think if i seriously made music i would probably want to emulate that if even a little. my only criticism is i wished the album was longer HDKSHSK die for you and 1am freestyle r my favourite songs from it

NOPE directed by jordan peele (2022)

what hasn't already been said about this movie. IT'S SO GOOD. i love my horror movies but i will freely admit that like 80% of the films in the entire genre are just objectively Bad especially american made horror movies 🤭 jordan peele completely sidesteps that issue and nope has to be my fav of his works so far i think. it has layers like an onion i'm still thinking about it like months after watching it... mr peele already had a fan in me for life but this solidifies it

ANDOR created by tony gilroy (2022-?)

okay hear me out i know its star wars (👎) and thus my opinion on the franchise has generally been biased but this show literally knocked my ass into the water it was so unexpectedly good? and not good in a pitying oh at least x character from x series made a cameo NO the show like knew exactly what it was trying to say and said it beautifully. diego lunas performance was genuinely so moving i highly recommend everyone even if u havent watched star wars!! u dont need like all the context just watch a new hope and rogue one after the show? maybe

ICYMI by eden (2022)

finishing off with my personal fav artist of all tiiime 🥰🥰🥰 ive been literally obsessed with his music the second i found it so i was waiting patiently for this album for ages. no skip ass album i just fucking love his music it feels like im levitating it feels like my soul is being read. if i made music and it had even a sliver of this albums energy i'd die a happy man. i literally listened to nothing but it for like a week straight i think. my fav songs from it are balling and closer 2

[eradicatetehnormal]

Okay So I Watched Some of the 6 Hour "Riku Is Gay" Video

Disclaimer: I only watched the KH1-2 sections, the KH3 section, and Sora's Comphet section. Also, I already agree with the preset that Riku is a queer character. Sorry guys, but he is.

Personally, I think it's a good video. It's not overly malicious or angry and the evidence it presents is actually really good, though I'm in the queer spaces of the KH fandom so I've seen most of it.

I really only have 3 major issues:

The video is way too fucking long. Something like this would have benefited from being a multipart series. Also, if all you wanted was condensed proof that Riku is "gay" that's really only a 30-40 minute video. This leads me to my next point.

The title is very misleading. This isn't just a video about Riku's queerness. Hell, there's an entire portion of the video called "Sora's comphet." Most of the KH2 section is dedicated to how passionate Sora is about finding Riku. This video should not be called "Riku is gay (and why it matters)", it should be called something like "SoRiku is canon actually (It's more than a ship)" or "The queerness of KH and why it's essential."

This video has a habit of minimizing Kairi's importance to Sora. Like, they try to give the disclaimer that they don't think Kairi means nothing to Sora, but it's hard to buy it. In the KH2 section, for example, they bring up that Sora doesn't ask about Kairi until he realizes she's been captured by the organization. That's the thing though, for most of the game Sora knows where Kairi is. He saw her drift away with the islands in one and he finds out when she's been captured in 2. Don't forget he also dropped to his knees for Kairi when Saix comes to tell him what happened. Does that disprove any potential queerness Sora might have? No, especially with the scenes of the reunion. "Kairi, you've changed, but we'll always be friends :)" "RIKU OH MY GOD *cries and gets on the floor* I LOOKED EVERYWHERE FOR YOU!" Really it's more of a personal belief that shines through that the romantic love interest has to single-handedly be the most important person to you that sets me off. Though, I don't solely blame Mr. "Whatever his name is" for that. It's more of a "we live in a society" thing.

Aside from that, most of my criticisms are nitpicks. The structure is hella off with the video. He starts off by stating his beliefs and then giving the evidence. Like, dude, you have to lead with the evidence and then tell people what it means. Anyone who's skipping through the video and doesn't already agree that Riku is queer is going to get frustrated watching it and feel compelled to not take it seriously. Especially since the video is 6 fucking hours.

Arguably the KH3 and Coded sections aren't needed. The KH3 section is just theory and conjecture that he could've saved for the end of the video and the Sora and Riku of Coded are different characters than regular Sora and Riku. Can they give us insight into their relationship and their feelings? Yes, but ultimately, their circumstances are different. Feelings can manifest one way in one context and a whole other way in a different one. Regular Sora and Riku have enough evidence all on their own to carry a video.

The novel should have honestly been its own section. People are not compelled to take that seriously. It's cool that Nomura himself was impressed with the writer's understanding of the characters and had her write the novels so far, but that doesn't mean she never takes any creative liberties. It's also worth pointing out that Nomura IS NOT the only writer for the series. He's not even the main writer for the games.

Bro, you're gonna bring up the scene where Namine comes to Riku about getting him to use the darkness but not bring up the aggressively gay scene before that where Zexion makes himself look like Sora in order to defeat him because Zexion knows that Sora is his potential weakness?

But yeah, the vid has a few glaring issues, but it is great. I'm happy something like this exists where we can get all the major SoRiku talking points in one place. No hate to this man, especially for something like this.