#people do not want a new monster hunting game. they want a new pokemon game

[scootatwoni]

idk dude like i do not care abt the pkmn company losing money becos they're being "ripped off" by palworld

(1. palworld will not outsell pkmn and its silly to think that 2. i want more competition for monster-collecting games becos the monopoly pkmn has has given us some unfinished, buggy messes)

its less abt pkmn designs being "ripped off" and more abt how unoriginal and slapped together the pals are. like it's honestly kinda a shame that the monsters in this new monster-collecting game don't really have their own identity. like when I look i them I dont think about palworld, I dont think of them as pals, I think of pokemon. Thats uh. not great imo?

its extra sucks becos I see the pals that are original and theyre good!! I usually really like those designs!! There was something there but the game relies too much on the familiarity of pokemon's designs and i just feel indifferent at best and kinda 😕gyeh at worst

im also comparing it to cassette beasts, another (very good) monster collecting game that appeals to me as a pokemon fan, but absolutely stands on its own and exists completely separate from pokemon because of its unique designs and unique takes on some pokemon formula things.

Like sorry to compare but: the beasts in cassette beasts are clearly identifiable and there's a design philosophy going on there. And although I can easily pick out a pal from a pokemon, I'm not thinking of the pal, im thinking of the pokemon parts its made from. honestly its just not great design imo ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[sepublic]

When discussing the benefits but also the dangers of fantasy in TOH, it makes me consider how this ties into Belos’ bigotry, religious superiority, white supremacy, etc. Because I see how in the parallels to Luz and the depictions of his witch hunts as a ‘game’ he played as a kid, the show is getting into the thought process behind white supremacy and the like; Specifically, by suggesting that it comes from the same core principle of “I was born special, I’m a hero.”

Because think of it this way; I was born inherently better than others, it’s in my blood, I have to defeat evils? These aren’t unlike what white supremacists believe about themselves. After all, TOH is coming off of Harry Potter, which is criticized for the “It’s in his blood” trope with the protagonist.

This is foiled by Luz, who wants to believe at first that she’s special and things will automatically come to her because of it, but then Eda has to explain; Sorry kid, but if you want things you have to work for and earn them, just like anyone else. Some things can be attributed to luck on Luz’s part, but it’s not as if she’s blind to this and saying it’s ‘destiny’ (unlike someone else), plus in general we all have a bit of privilege in some ways.

And again, that ties back into Christian white supremacy, particularly the Puritans, who believed their colony would be a "City upon a Hill." That it’s their goal to enlighten people, or else root out the evildoers; You can see how this evolves into evangelicalism in the U.S. and the right’s obsession with anything new as satanic, even if it’s something like Elvis Presley or Pokemon (which Dana grew up with, coincidentally), or more recently, furries.

(No really, this actually happened I kid you not. It seems like an exaggeration but I swear it genuinely happened and it truly is absurd that it did.)

Anyhow I think that’s important, because it’s not just the message that Christian white supremacy is bad, it’s why people even believe and buy into these things to begin with. A lot of alt-right 4channers and the like fall into these rabbit holes because they feel cheated out of the implicit, unconscious promises of white supremacy and feel as if they’re owed something; So obviously women and PoC, the queers, the ‘diversity hires’ and affirmative action, this is what’s cheated them.

And you can see the connection between white christian ideas and how that can translate into a lot of fantasy stories, hence “It’s in your blood” and “It’s destiny,” as well as Isekai Colonialism; The idea that what if another world and its inhabitants just existed for you. These tropes are inspired by outdated ideas that Christian white supremacy, an outdated belief, has plenty examples of and sometimes even inspired.

And this is why it’s important to engage with these things critically and question them… But at the same time, Luz is still allowed to love Azura, it’s just about maintaining a critical eye and being self-aware of what you internalize and don’t. Hence her learning to differentiate reality from fiction and not become delusional; Hence King doing the same!

By making that connection, it does explain this type of bigotry by framing it in a way that viewers can actually relate to, even if they also condemn it just as much, if not moreso after understanding. It ties even the genocide with tropes like the dragon slayer, the endless horde of monsters you don’t ever have to feel bad about or question killing, or the DnD Evil Race; Which on their own, these stories aren’t necessarily in advocacy for genocide of course, some of them are just inspired by previous ones without making that connection. And most people know not to let it affect how they see reality.

Because it’s one thing to let yourself be petty and find catharsis against a genuine, extreme example who has gone out of their way to hurt you (those definitely exist, alas); But it’s another to actively search for people to feel angry towards, amidst groups unrelated to you, and provoke them until they give you that ‘justification’. Because you’re not responding to anything, you are the aggressor; In essence, you are performing a witch hunt, in a need to feel like a hero enacting righteous judgment.

Because you’re desperate for the power of putting someone else beneath you, which is what the mundane bully does, out of the belief this conversely translates into you being above others; Again, the ‘chosen one’ beliefs, the Christian white supremacy. And suddenly you better understand why Evangelicals raged over something as innocuous as the Pokemon games that Dana grew up with, back when they first came out.

So Luz understands; She does understand, better than some people, in fact. She understood the Collector. But just because she understands, doesn't necessarily mean Luz approves or excuses; She still has every right in condemning Belos because she never let herself go that far, and this behavior would be condemned even by those trying to make up for it; It’s why they try to make up for it. And the fiction Luz wants to happen for herself (which isn’t the same as the fictions one enjoys) isn't centered around there being hidden bad actors amongst the populace to constantly root out; Luz is only going to react, not act, and consistently, predominantly sees the best in others.

In the end, Belos latched onto Caleb marrying Evelyn, and then the Grimwalkers, and finally Luz, as a way of a proving a point to himself; That wiping out witches WAS in service of humanity, it would actually help them, by showing how he 'rescued' a human from temptation. I'm sure he genuinely loved Caleb, but in an extreme form of Luz's Wing it like Witches, at some point he subsumed Caleb's input and agency to instead make him into a docile trope to make decisions for.

And when Caleb didn't go along with that story, pointed out how it didn't fit the reality of the situation; Philip killed him! His priorities shifted from doing it for Caleb's sake, for the sake of HIS fantasy; He saw an opportunity to live out the Witch Hunter story and it mattered more to him than actually helping someone, or realizing in relief he didn't have to.

Hence the Titan saying Belos "fears what he can't control" due to "his need to be the hero in his own delusion." It’s a quote applicable to real life conservatives who look for things to outlaw, because hating makes them feel like righteous saviors; Remember Pokemon? Gotta save people from themselves and any potential temptations… Belos couldn't control Caleb, and the Grimwalkers? Belos' way of re-attempting his 'side quest' to again, prove that what he's doing is for the sake of humanity, in the absence of actual humans to work with.

Not that he cares about this for fear of hurting others, but because he fears it means he isn't the special hero. Note that Belos doesn't feel guilt over any witches and demons he killed in For the Future, it's telling; As is the assumption that even if he was treated with hostility when arriving in both Gravesfield and the isles, Belos still understood that murdering the colony was wrong… Yet ignores this lesson when it comes to demons because of hypocrisy, choosing to go after the world that was canonically accepting and would be much harder to attack.

And when Luz shows up, Belos abandons Hunter (showing how much he really cared) because Luz is a real human to save, even if she's technically a queer girl of color; But if you remember how Americans kidnapped Native children and assimilated them into Christian society and culture, it actually makes perfect sense because it's another form of genocide. And it's just as racist and insincere as the murder. And just like many homophobic Christians, Belos selectively chooses what to apply from the Bible because he knows it speaks contrary to what he does and he fears that, it’s something he can’t control despite his attempts to.

[lepoppeta]

i mentioned this is one of my other more recent posts but lately im starting to notice that i dont want my hobbies to feel like work.

take video games, for example — specifically pokemon and animal crossing new horizons. lately ive realised that the more steps there are between me and an end evolution result (stone evolutions, friendship evolutions, pokemon that are insanely rare, really high level evolutions) the more off putting the whole thing becomes, no matter how pretty the actual monster is. in acnh theres terraforming and villager hunting and flower breeding and item trading and all of that adds up and up and up until it no longer becomes a fun relaxing game for me to play, it becomes a chore.

that being said i feel like theres a level of guilt that comes with it though, that i dont want to hunt or wait for these cool pokemon or spend all this time slowly trading items in animal crossing or time traveling to finish complex projects faster, because other people really seem to enjoy this stuff! video games are so personal and yet with peoples experiences being shared on the internet its hard not to feel like youre doing it "wrong", even though you know deep down that thats silly to even consider.

[seiya-starsniper]

Another Get To Know Me Game!

Tagged by @windsweptinred, this was so much fun to do! Love seeing a new version

Who was your first fictional crush?:

Hmmmm, instinct says Tuxedo Mask! I'm sure I had other fictional crushes but that's the one I most vividly remember. That and Xanatos from Gargoyles djdoaisjdoaij.

What’s the first colour you think of when I tell you to think of a colour?:

Purple!

Which fanfiction emotionally scarred you and still makes you shudder to this day?:

Oh there's...a few lmao. I have a tendency to read fics that horrify me for fun, and since we're on the webbed site that likes to judge people for using the Dead Dove tag, or any of the main Archive Warning tags, I'd rather not put those fics on blast. But I have read some truly brilliantly written and fucked up fics from the Fantastic Beasts fandom, that's all I'll say.

I’m coming to your house for dinner, non-negotiable, what are you making me?:

Japanese curry with chicken! That or Fettucine Alfredo. I like to overstuff my guests with food and those are my two go to meals for company!

Do you prefer lions or kangaroos?:

Lions! I love kangaroos too, but my love for cats, especially big cats, prevails.

Which fictional villain do you brush past the glaringly obvious issues for because you really like them?:

Uhhhh....almost all of them??? jkjkjk

In all seriousness though, I think my big ones I can think of are Shigaraki and Dabi from BNHA. Are they both awful, ruthless people who only want to cause pain and suffering to all who have hurt them? Yes. Do I want them to keep causing even more pain and suffering, even to my favorite hero characters, as a treat? Also yes.

I hate to caveat that in no way do I think any of of their actions are justified and that the villains should win and then the world would be a better place yada yada yada but well. Woobifying villains is a thing and also why I stay out of the fandom because I cannot stand my faves being defanged like that. Let my faves be horrible people aoijdosijad.

What would accompany your picture in the Burn Book in Mean Girls?:

Either the "Mexican Asian" (I'm Filipino-American, and sadly this is a thing I was called a lot lmao) or "The Hugger." I know a shit ton of people judged me a bit in school for being a hugger because...idk, people thought hugs were weird lmao. But joke's on them, I still enjoy hugs and Mr. Seiya hugs me all the time!

How many days would you last in the universe of your favourite fandom?:

Uhhhhhh considering no one really dies in Pokemon...I'd be fine lmao.

In Sandman???? Also would probably be fine since I'm based in the States and also many many miles away from the Corinthian's hunting grounds 🤣

Have you heard of Mischief Theatre?:

Only the name :(

Do you feel sorry for Medusa?:

Yes and no. I do feel bad the foundation of her story was be a woman killed for the glory of a man. And then to be remembered only as a horror, a monster to scare people with.

The modern interpretation of her story is absolutely fascinating to me and while it is still a tragic story, I absolutely love what she's come to represent. I love that her story has been rewritten to be a story of survival, of perseverance, of power even.

Which song makes you think of your OTP?:

Ooooooh there's so many! And of course now that I'm being put on the spot I can't think of any 🤣🤣

Starlight by Muse is definitely a Dreamling song to me, so much so that I wrote a fic with the lyrics in the title, so I'm going to roll with that one!

Which song makes you disassociate and daydream the fastest?:

Oh lord, honestly any Taylor Swift song will do this to me lmao. Lately, I've been drifting back to Would've, Could've, Should've, so we're going to go with that one!

No pressure tagging: @tj-dragonblade @bazzybelle @verminetroglodyte @tryan-a-bex @4typercent and anyone else who wants to play!

[enbysorcerer]

🖋 for Atticus pls?

I cannot draw so have a piccrew instead!

So this is Atticus. He's a feline shapeshifter and fire mage.

Backstory

He was born in France to happily married parents, Angela and Alex.

He was excited to gain a little sister and very confused when his maman didn't seem to like her as much (Angela had severe postpartum depression for reasons that I won't go into on Atticus' bio).

Moving to the US was exciting. He'd heard stories about New York and his great-grandfather from Alex, but getting to see it for himself was a new level of excitement. (The fact that it only happened because his parents were struggling was something he was oblivious to.)

Shortly after moving in, Atticus decided to do the thing he'd been expressly forbid from doing (playing with his fire magic) and ended up burning Alex's arms pretty severely. To this day, he still can't look at the scars without feeling guilty no matter how much Alex has tried to assure him it's fine and was just an accident.

Since Alex was forced to work in the US (he'd largely been a stay at home father in France but now they needed two incomes), he would often bring the children (Atticus and little sister Arianna) to work with him. It was there that he met the first of his future queerplatonic partners, Yashira.

(She was there due to being mute following the death of her parents and Atticus was the first person to really get her talking after their deaths).

I feel I should mention Alex is a psychiatrist before this gets misinterpreted.

Anyway, the two became fast friends and soon Alex was forced to encourage them to seek a different psychiatrist because he'd come to see Yashira as a second daughter.

(He still saw her unofficially but legally they were in a blurry zone that he didn't feel comfortable wtih)

Zane, the second queerplatonic partner, entered a few years later when their mum sent them to Mystic to learn how to control their magic.

He was twelve when he was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes and boy did he struggle with it. He stressed his poor parents to the extent that all four children (Atticus, Arianna, Yashira, and Zane) were convinced the adults were going to get divorced because "that's what happens when children get sick like this".

(Zane's parents being divorced were the only reference they had for divorced parents and that was not the best example since their divorce was... a lot more complicated than the children realized.)

At some point around here, Amara (Yashira's adoptive mother) started training the trio (Yashira, Zane, and Atticus) to hunt and fight monsters.

Their first solo hunt was when the trio was 18, and resulted in Zane being scarred. Atticus blames himself for that too since he witnessed it happen, and maybe sort of caused it. It's complicated.

Fun Facts

He hates his magic. He'll likely never admit it, but he wishes he'd inherited Alex's plant magic instead of Angela's fire.

He's polyamorous! Even without the two queerplatonic partners, he doesn't think he'd be happy in a monogamous relationship.

Despite this, he hopes to one day find a love like this parents where they're hopelessly devoted to each other. He just wants more than one of them.

This is why the triad with Zane and Yashira works so well. It's just not romantic in nature... at least not on Yashira's part (she's aro).

He's a chemistry teacher at Mystic Academy, the town's school for magical beings.

He was raised pagan and continues to practice as one to this day. He, like Alex, is particularly fond of Persephone.

He loves pokemon and has played every pokemon game there is to some degree. His favorite type is probably fire and he loves the original Ninetales.

He's a video game nerd in general tbh. Pokemon is just his favorite.

He's worn feminine clothes before as an experiment. Ultimately decided he was definitely a boy though, and the clothes were donated to a Mystic charity for people who've had to leave everything behind to run to the safe haven.

He did theater in high school. He tried band as well, but decided it wasn't for him after a few weeks and switched to choir for the remainder of the year.

He knows a fun fact for just about everything. Between Alex (an avid reader and Jeopardy enjoyer), his own love of reading, and being a liberal arts major for two years before switching to teaching, he knows a little about most things.

[gaelfox]

Getting a lot of activity here more than usual, so I guess Tumblr is up and thriving again! I figure its time for me to reintroduce myself for all you knew and returning lovely folk. So —

Hello, my name is Gael!

I am a lady cartoonist that went to college for animation and since graduating I’ve been a part of a whole bunch of projects - from internet media companies to solo YouTubers to my own merch to online fandoms, I’ve found myself in a lot of places for my work. My favorite things to create are comics and short-blurb joke images, but I also love narrative storytelling and character design. Right now, I work on YouTube thumbnails for my favorite Theme Park Podcast (Annual Pass) and a wonderful dude named Ray Narvaez Jr. over on Twitch!

I live with my fiancé (who I will refer to as Babbus) in the PNW and we’re getting married this Summer ~ He’s my light and joy and my biggest muse, you’ll recognize him on my blog as a large-horned Tiefling character of the same name next to my own Persona, Lich Queen Gael, when he’s not being my partner-in-crime in other fandoms.

What Kinds of Things do You Like?

Well, y’all found my blog for a reason - whether you were here since the beginning for my AH/RT designing and worldbuilding to my own worldbuilding with LQG/DPB to various other tidbits, y’all know I like many things. What fandoms can you expect from this blog? Things including, but not limited to:

YouTube Gamers (AH, GameGrumps, Jack, Mark, etc) - my radio for the day. Especially loving the variety of my channels between game play, horror game lore, theme park and history documentaries, and whatever the hell

One Piece (constantly on the hunt for more good good Law FanArt and uh…may be trying something a little new for NaNoWriMo this year…?) I just want more of my Trash Husband

Video Games - These shift and change depending on what I’m playing at the time to be honest, but some of my solidified favorites are Stardew Valley, Disney Dreamlight Valley, Minecraft, Pokemon, the Phoenix Wright series, Monster Hunter, Yakuza, and small indie games that I discover. My sisters and I bonded over video games growing up so they hold a special place in my heart, always.

Critical Role - I’ve started watching pretty regular since C2E1, and I’m watching all of C3 while slowly catching up on C1. Maybe you’ve seen me in the old art reel a few times?

Theme Parks - I’ve got a deep love for the way that theming and storytelling comes into play in the Theme Park world, its a sort of special niche of mine that I hold dearly since my grandmother was a cast member and the joy of theme parks runs deep in my family

TTRPG’s - I do love me a good tabletop system! I have a lot of games I’ve played in the past, and many more ideas for the future. I always love a good character, whether they start out as a joke and come completely into their own (Riss) or they just remain a silly protagonist for the sake of keeping the mood of the table light (Bobert Rossington, Esq., who beats the devil out of his enemies) I always love the design elements that can come from a simple system that can lead to incredible character development and choices.

Food - what more is there to say? I love food.

But ultimately, overall? Expect art and jokes. Art and jokes to me are the spice of a good smile, and even if you’re having the worst of days, sometimes all it takes is a smile from a good post to get you though. I want for my art to give people joy, for that in turn gives me joy. And that’s why I do what I do.

Do You Take Commissions?

I do! On occasion. They have to open up and I can garner a bit of a long waitlist if I do - but because I don’t require payment until the work is complete, all you gotta spend is an email and some patience. Right now they aren’t open due to time constraints, previous commission queue and contract work, and I can’t say when they’ll open back up again. But I’ll make an announcement here if they do!

Do You Do Anything Else Aside from Fine Dining Art and Breathing?

I do! Strangely enough. I have a Twitch channel that I sometimes haunt playing games/doing art with friends of mine (under my same pseudonym) and I’m at the gym 4 days a week for HIIT/weightlifting. I enjoy a good podcast, a good book, and binging Netflix. I love animation as a medium and comics and stage plays, I’m getting into NHL/hockey when my gym shows me games. Variety is the spice of life, after all!

So, there ya go. Maybe we have more similar interests than you think? In any case, thank you for coming along for the ride, and hope you enjoy what we have together!

Welcome aboard this Life in Cartoon Motion!

[prof-peach]

If you could cross over two of your favorite games, which would you choose? Please explain, why that crossover would be a good match.

Oh you’re going to regret asking this one, I’m bout to GET SERIOUS.

So Pokemon, obvs, I love the whole world it’s built in, but the games imo are REALLY boring, I haven’t enjoyed one a lot since gale of darkness, the main ones just are a little too linear obvious plots, pretty standard setups for story and style. Speaking of style, the games lack personality, the models aren’t animated well, moves have no dynamic energy or visual difference at times, and the turn based battle style just feels kind of, I don’t know, old? Slow? Just doesn’t suit what I enjoy personally, gives me a FInal Fantasy vibe and I just cannot stand the speed at which things happen in those games, plus not into 3rd person ‘let’s build a team of people’ much, but that’s a problem for another time. With this all in mind, the game I wish would happen is like gen20 Pokemon, far future sadly, I doubt I’d see it in my lifetime but god I’d be happy if I did!

Ok so take the newest Zelda graphics, the visual treat that was BOTW, open world, puzzles, not JUST combat, you got side missions, hunt the chickens, find missing pets, parcels, items, whatever. Love it! The horse taming?! Amazing you funky little game. Now take the bad guys and beasts from that. And put Pokemon in instead. Give them the diversity, the life and believable natures that BOTW gave the animals, I followed a frog in BOTW for 15 minutes, and it was a great experience, it felt like it was believable. Above world spawning, ACTUAL difficult gameplay, rare spawn rates, make dragons hard to get again, cmon, it’s too easy now, make it so we need a certain set of Pokemon for certain tasks. Water types big enough to carry you will be able to get you to new areas, rock types that can help you climb mountains faster, or break through blocking boulders. Actual towns with more than 4 houses in them, shops, barns, farms, homes. Like little link with the heat, maybe ice types would struggle in volcano areas, or bug Pokemon not be so comfortable in gale force winds. Give the weather more of an effect on your partners. Mounts, don’t even get me started that Pokemon Let’s go had you able to ride any of the larger species, but swsh did not???? Bitch please, give me my rideable Pokemon. The wild area too was far too closed, limited, online was laggy and a mess, camping is limited, let me do more with my team. Pokemon for me is all about the actual creatures, how they live with humans, and the many wonderful things they’re capable of. Yes of course it’s cool they can fight, but like what else you know?

I’d love a game that lets me buy a plot of land, maybe plant things, custom build things. I’m a sucker for the fallout4 settlement builds when they’re modded to hell and back, they’re fun! It can be a really calm and creative process. If I could do that and skip the main campaign and all the battles for a bit? Amazing, it sound perfect for me. I am that distracted hoe collecting flowers while the kingdom burns in the background. Side quests are everything to me. Let me give homeless people enough money to get them in a home? Let me adopt Pokemon that are stray around the town? Plz oh plz bring me a Pokemon game that allows me to work WITH my team to do more than KO other species. I want to save and buy a plow for my buddy gogoat, and grow amazing foods to sell to get currency to spend in decorations, to spoil my team. Give me actual game consequence, if I ignore that sick and injured Pokemon I find in the wild, later maybe it’s family don’t want to help me out with a different problem, too stricken from grief. I am all about the average bits, the old women who need help, the lost pets board in town, the general day to day stuff. Let me get cosmetic items for the Pokemon I keep, cute outfits, special gemstone items, let me actually live with them, or even feel remotely like they’re realistic.

Ok so in game, if it’s looking like BOTW it’s pretty beautiful but also stylised, I’d have it so you can send out a maximum of 3 Pokemon from your 6, using bumpers and such to throw them out. If you hit the trigger you switch from controlling the human trainer, to the Pokemon you’ve targeted with a standard lock on targeting system. You then can be the leader, but be the Pokemon. You could technically defeat the game without a human if you wanted, which incorporates the mystery dungeon games I think, and caters to that crowd. I’d love to see the use of attacks out of battle, things like using water gun to grow plants, using ember to start a campfire faster and stave off the cold. There’s no consequence to Pokemon anymore, and I think that’s where it’s lost me. I have to admit I miss the days of a poisoned pokemon fainting if you don’t heal them soon enough, I miss gym battles that were actually tough, damn, try picking charmander in red and beating brock without grinding in viridian forest first, it’s not easy. And I loved that. Yes it’s a child’s game, it will never be difficult again, but god it’d be nice to have a bit of a challenge, or maybe a difficulty setting, so some could play it with hostility turned off, great for kids, or you can be n adult like I know so many Pokemon fans are, and play it on expert mode and ACTUALLY have to work hard to beat the game. Alternate skill trees anyone? Train gun a fire type to ACUTALLy combat water moves?? Please! Cmon! It frustrated me that every challenger has pretty much a systematic set of moves to use to win. Grass opponent? Fire attack spam until you win. It’s dull, so at least with very difficult tricks to either find or learn in game would make it more achievable if you can send that fire type in and I don’t know, train them so much the heat evaporates the water mid-battle and you suddenly have a shot at winning. Pokemon has taught me that if you work hard enough you can achieve something, but the games just have such strict ways to win. Feels wrong.

In terms of battling, let us BE the Pokemon, let us learn to dodge, train our speed, train our defence, make a team of truly tough Pokemon instead of just, average? Some species have a cap on their skills, a squirtle has lower stat points than a Charizard, but you can’t ever change that? Let me choose the Pokemon I believe in, and let me work with them until they’re just as good, if not better than the game tanks. This would also make online battles more interesting. Everyone picks the top trio. Fairy, dragon, legendaries. And yknow what? It’s boring. That one IRL fight with the monster Pacharisu that won in the world tournament with follow me and the situs Berry? Unbelievable, I love that little rat so much because of this, so let us all have a chance to build a team that’s strategically viable, strong, and potentially a winner formula, even if they aren’t fully evolved, or the biggest Pokemon in the world. Yeah maybe you have to grind way harder with your unevolved Pokemon, but you get to the end game and win, because you put love and time into species that you enjoy, not just good fighters.

Unfortunately I am beholdent to Todd-idiot-Howard, and I love the Eldrescrolls and fallout games (before they got dumb, not that I don’t play the new ones. 76 I’m looking at you, you big asshole game.) honestly I hate online games, so none of that junk, just a good old fashioned open world sandbox game is plenty. Games for me are an escape from others, not an invitation to socialise. To each their own of course, and I do play online games sometimes, just pretty short lived ones, over watch and rdr2 for example. Would they be sometimes better on private servers? Yes of course, fallout76? Want to play with others? No. I do not. Please leave me alone. And if you buy a private server you’re feeding the monster that is Todd Howard, the man the myth the asshole, then we’ll get more bad games like 76. I just so desperately want the Pokemon company to see what a beautiful potential game they’ve got on their hands, that could be suitable for far greater audiences, but instead they’ve focused on the kids. It’s fine, it’s functional, but it’s lost to the fans from day 1, that are all 20+ years old now and want something meatier to play, something far more broad and inclusive. I also hate that there’s no wheelchair option in any Pokemon game. Like cmon, it’s not hard to include that.

In short, BOTW + Pokemon, with a sprinkle of open world sandbox to it, less fighting, more fun. Or, at least both options. Sure, go fight everything, great, but I want to farm carrots over here with 6sunflora, plz let me have some peace.

Edit: I forgot about harvest moon, chuck some of that in there too.

SECOND EDIT: someone in the comments mentioned to put this in Unova? Plz love yourselves, this game would be ALL MAPS. Stuff one singular location, this is the ideal game, put every map in it, join them, put islands in, make them more explorable, more detailed!

[who-is-page]

Our Thoughts on and Experiences with Cameo Shifts & Fictionflickers

Author: Page Type: Essay Words: 1,327 Summary: Some of the cameo shifts and fictionflickers we've experienced and our thoughts on these phenomena.

[Part of the Sol System's Alterhuman Writing Project for NaNoWriMo 2021. If you don't want to see these posts, block the tag #inkedpaws]

Cameo shifts and fictionflickers are a rarity in our system, something that adds to the spice of life but almost never ever really happens—in our system, only myself and Noel seem to ever experience them, with Drago, Dash, and Wyvern having yet to get to enjoy one.

Noel’s tend to be cameo shifts of draconic features, like a shift in how the tips of her wings are formed or her horns, and usually seem to be connected to other people in the system. In some ways it seems like her cameo shifts are affected by co-fronting and co-consciousness, and the rare mismatched phantom body experiences are spurred by how our bodies and features exist and would theoretically meld with hers. She doesn’t particularly enjoy these experiences and thinks they are, in her own words, “annoying.”

For me, I tend to have deathclaw phantom body cameo shifts. I’ve never played any of the Fallout games, so it’s unsure why I do and where these come from—I get the big bulking physique, the horns, the claws, and the tail most typically. I physically feel bigger and broader which throw me more off-balance than not, as my natural phantom body is either that of a fairly thin and long Eastern dragon or of a facultative bipedal canine. I don’t get mental cameo shifts or anything similar in regards to this identity—I’m still a dog/dragon in my brain, just one that’s confused and a little amused by the situation. I also haven’t found out exactly what triggers these shifts, as they don’t seem to happen in specific environments nor situations: they’ve happened alone, with people, outside, in restaurants, relaxing, while at work, and I just can’t pinpoint what, if anything, sparks them.

My fictionflickers also seem to have no real rhyme or reason, albeit they are also rarer and thus harder to document. My most recent one happened just today and was of a Tobi-Kadachi from Monster Hunter World, resulting in phantom shifts focused on their notable back mane, spikes, and of their flat tail, but’s been such a long time since I last fictionflickered that I can’t even recall what the one before this was! I think maybe Mightyena, but that’s less of a fictionflicker and more adjacent to my clado-fictherian-esque Pokemon identity/feelings.

The Tobi-Kadachi fictionflicker today is what sparked this writing in particular: I wish I had some inkling of what made my brain spur on phantom limbs of one creature I enjoy and hyperfixate on, but not others.

I’m always an Eastern dragon and a canine psychopomp which is well and good, but it’s absolutely fascinating getting to experience shifts for things that I’m not. It’s a wholly unique thing, like trying on a friend’s glasses and getting to squint at the world around me from an entirely new perspective: it’s definitely not something I want to engage in for long periods of time, but being able to do it at all is an eye-opening experience.

And imagine getting to initiate it for specific species and identities—I’ve always been a bit affectionately jealous of the shapeshifters out there who can mold their forms as they please, truth be told. What a gift to have and what limitless potential!

I’m someone who thrives off of the hunt for knowledge, not just in the way of searching through library stacks, but also in how I want to throw myself into every experience possible, to touch everything, know everything, understand everything that I possibly can on a deep, intrinsic level. Just talking about it gets my heart racing! If I can, I have to know. And what is cameo shifting and fictionflickering if not the beginning steps to knowing something new through the experience of being?

I wish cameo shifting and fictionflickers (or, truly, any other type of flicker) got more focus and mentions in essays and writings largely for this reason. I love hearing about people’s everyday in their nonhumanity, because how couldn’t I? Even two people with the same kintype are going to experience the same situation in different ways and have different regular experiences regarding shifts and similar, but how often do we get to hear about being an animal from a separate animal’s perspective—such as a wolf (therian) who one day wakes up cameo shifted with a phantom seagull body, for instance. Suddenly, wings! Potentially confusing on a whole different level than the standard dysphoria that might come from being physically human, and something I’d absolutely love to read about.

Sometimes I worry that there’s an underlying idea that cameo shifts or ‘flicker experiences aren’t worth talking about because they’re not permanent and therefore don’t “count” or something like that. I’ve definitely seen those kinds of attitudes in community spaces, especially alongside hierarchies of identity, where people prioritize therian, otherkin, and fictionkin experiences and identities and writings over otherhearted, copinglink, and more general alterhuman content and understandings. And I’d just like to say that that’s, frankly, some totally bull.

All experiences are temporary experiences in the maw of time, first off, and shouldn’t be used as a metric for what is or isn’t worth talking about. I’m of the opinion that every alterhuman experience is worth writing or talking about to some extent, no matter how small they may seem. First because they’re amazing to read about and there always exists at least one person out there who will be thrilled to hear about them, and second because it helps to get rid of the pervasive attitude in some places that there’s only singular, predefined ways to be alterhuman or certain kinds of alterhuman.

The hierarchy of identities is also something that we slowly (ever so slowly) see dissolving away in larger spaces as the years go on, but I’d give any amount of money if we could just throw the idea wholly away already. Someone who’s a dog therian with 40 years’ experience of wanting to sniff butts isn’t better than someone who’s cameo shifted into a dog for the first time ever and is experiencing the joy of wagging for the first time in their life. There is no “better” in this scenario at all, it’s just two different sets of experiences, each with their unique importance to the individual in question, and thus why they’re so important and fascinating to share.

I wish I had ‘flickers and cameo shifts more often just so that I could write about them and nudge others to write more about theirs, too. The best way to do away with shift attitudes surrounding an identity or experience is to be vocal in your own spaces about it, after all. But my cameo shifts and fictionflickers are always there and gone within the span of a few minutes, like smoke on the breeze, and so rare that it makes it difficult to compile anything worth talking about. It might be worth looking into a more long-term project, keeping small entries on them every time they reappear with dates, time, environment, and potential triggers—that could end up as something very cool if I worked on it over the course of several years. I wonder what patterns I might end up finding, if any.

And if you yourself experience ‘flickers or cameo shifts and have been putting off talking about them because “they’re not important, it’s not like it’s kintype-related or ‘hearted-related or attached to any copinglinks” or anything like that, then I’m of the opinion that you should definitely talk more about them. These experiences are important; anything someone experiences and finds interesting enough to share with others and talk about has inherent value that exists outside of any specifically attached identity labels. If you don’t want to write about them then don’t feel pressured to, but if you’ve been putting it on the backburner or haven’t even considered it until now, consider this a sign!

[gingermintpepper]

After thinking it over for a bit, I've decided that I might as well do a proper underrated 3DS game rec list. I'm a bit of an ATLUS junkie and that's gonna be pretty disgustingly apparent in this list, but it's not my fault that they released hit after hit and all of them were duly ignored.

Due to tumblr's 10 image limit (and my struggle to keep motivated to do one thing for more than three hours) I'm definitely gonna have to break this up into parts and I'm fairly certain one of these lists is just gonna be MegaTen games lmao but I'd like to let people know about these excellent titles and see if I can't at least get people interested in them so they can get more traction.

So, without further ado:

Some 3DS Games that were criminally slept on (part 1)

Monster Hunter Stories

God, where do I begin with this game. Well, the basics: It's a JRPG spinoff title of the now widely successful and popular Monster Hunter series featuring a different take on interacting with the varied and intricate monsters populating the world: Riders.

Yep, instead of hunting the beasties, you play as a young rider who's completed their intiation ritual and can now bond with 'Monsties' as they've cutely labelled the usually ferocious monsters of the wilds. The great thing is that you still fight Monsters--tons of them in fact but this isn't a paid review and in my humble opinion, the most impressive thing about this game is the visual style. The landscapes, the armour, the way they redesigned and 3DS-ified the classically hyper realistic and monstrous beasts to not only be absolutely adorable but still capable of being intimidating when the time calls for it, the stellar animation of special moves and combination attacks--it's delicious, nutritious, stupendous, I can and will consume it like it's part of my recommended caloric intake.

It's very akin to Pokemon in the way its basic gameplay premise is set up, however, instead of catching--or even indeed befriending--the Monsties in the game, you rummage through their nests and steal their eggs, later hatching them and getting yourself a brand new lightly kidnapped monster pal!

Other general things about the game:

Pros:

The armour and weapon sets for both male and female characters slap along with the general character customisation options. They're incredibly diverse (though limited in body type) and you can switch around traits and features whenever you want from your house.

The POGS--these porkers are everywhere and they serve as tiny little achievements for exploring every odd and end of the world. Also they have little outfits. They're so cute. 🥺🥺

You can actually ride the Monsties. All of em. Or, at least the ones that you have available to be your buddies. They all have exploration skills and traits that not only make exploring much more interesting but encourage you to swap out your active Monstie and play around with your options a bit.

Y'all breeding Monsties is complicated and I live for just how intense and ridiculous you can get with optimal builds for these things.

The story is really competently put together! The characters, character designs and even the internal conflict with your starting trio of characters is really compelling along with the mystery of the blight that's infecting Monsters across the world. It's not anything worth awards but it's compelling and it makes you care about the characters if that's what you're in the market for.

Amazing sound design, expansive world, everything about the presentation of this game oozes that Monster Hunter charm even if the art is cutesier than usual. You'll never get bored of its stellar visual presentation!

Available for around twenty quid on the Google Play store, so if you want, you could actually get the full game on your smartphone or tablet. Note though that it would be a battery nuker.

Cons:

If you're on a regular 3DS, frame rate drops are a given. This game kinda pushes the visual capabilities of the 3DS to its absolute limit--a lot like Okamiden did back on the DS.

One save file :( It's pretty much for the same reason as above but still.

If you're playing as the girl, you can't get male armour and vice versa. Since there's only one save file, you'll never be able to have all of the armour sets in a single playthrough and that's criminal because both of the sets for the genders are absolutely breath-taking, thank you.

I 👏can't 👏make👏my👏 own 👏Palico👏

Multi-player for this game is pretty dead seeing as it's almost five years old by now and never got much press or traction. Usually this wouldn't be an issue - this game is 99% singleplayer and you don't really need to fuss about with multi-player to have fun, but if you want to collect all the Monsties, you'll need it since the only way to get Glavenus is through pvp achievements. :/

Final thoughts: Play it if you find yourself getting tired or disappointed with 3DS Pokemon games but still want something that feels as fantastical as Pokemon. It outshines the 3DS Pokemon games at every turn and I will never be over just how thoughtfully put together and fully realised these games are. Of course, if you've ever played Monster Hunter, then you know just how intensive these games are with the lore, biology, cultures and world of their Monsters but seeing that translated into JRPG format was just very sobering and it's a game that, to this day, continues to awe me with just how much love and attention went into it.

Last note: If you're still unsure about it, there's a demo available on the e-shop of the 3DS that allows you to play through the entire initial area of the game. Your data does carry through to the full release and to give you an idea of how much I've been able to squeeze out of it - my playtime for that demo is currently sitting at 22 hours. Make sure to get a hold of that Cyan-Kut-Ku!

7th Dragon III Code: VFD

The title may sound intimidating but the premise is not! A mysterious disease called Dragon Sickness spread by the Dragonsbane flowers that have cropped up all around the world. You and your team are recruited by the Nodens game company after you display extraordinary prowess in their hit virtual reality game 7th Encount. As you go through the adventure, you are tasked with finding out the truth behind the Dragon Sickness and asked to stop both it and the Dragons that are destroying the world.

This game is fun. It's another turn-based JRPG however, in this game you create all of your characters yourself from the myriad of classes available to you from the jump. Different classes of course have very different specialisations - Samurai focus on high powered cutting damage with their swords, Duelists are summoners who can influence the element of the battlefield as well as summon monsters from each element, Agents can hack into your enemies and inflict a barrage of nasty ailments, just to name a few - and you are given three teams of three characters each to experiment with different team comps and find the balance that works for you. There's also a wide variety of Dragons to hunt and kill in the game, which directly affects how infected your world is with the Dragon Sickness causing Dragonsbane. Along the way you will also come into contact with many interesting characters, concepts and confrontations that will make the task of saving the world all the more imperative.

Pros

1. The character creator and differing classes give way for tons of experimenting and playing around with your own unique approach to combat and carrying out your missions. Granted, 'character creation' is generous, it's little more than palatte swaps but the classes are really where VFD shines. Eight main classes may not sound like a lot, but the expaniveness of the character skills, their synergy with their fellow classes and the uniqueness of some of the classes in and of itself allows for so much flexibility and creativity in approaches to even tougher bosses. It also encourages the switching about of your party members to really finagle with the options available to you.

2. God this game is pretty. The locations, the character art, the creature design - all of it is gorgeous and this game capitalises on every bit of the 3DS's presentation limitations as it can.

3. You can romance anything and everyone - yes, you can even be gay/lesbian/poly in this game. In fact, one of the main characters - Julietta - is gnc and he's a constant source of joy as well one of my personal favourite characters, right behind Yuma.

4. Exploration is very very forgiving as the game has healing spots and teleport nodes all over the world to allow for quick, seamless travel between quest points without feeling like anything is too much of a hassle. There are also special enemies that allow for quick grinding as well as quick farming of money. In general, the game does a really good job of making sure that the grind is never unbearable or inconsiderate of your time.

Cons:

1. This is the fourth game in a series the West has never seen any other title for, and from the looks of it, will probably never see any other titles for. Because of that, there are some elements that may seem confusing or revelations in the plot that may seem to come out of nowhere.

2. While the visuals are great, the OST of this one is pretty short making for a lot of reused soundtracks that can get really annoying if you're like me and need your audio to be interesting or consistent so it doesn't distract you too much.

3. This one isn't really a con but it is divisive: This game gets pretty difficult at times. A few of the main dragon enemies including and especially the final boss can give you a serious run for your money in the annoy-o-meter in terms of the kind of absolute JRPG fuckery they can pull out of their magic bag of bullshit movesets and while I generally enjoy that kind of thing, I know it's not for everyone. Most regular combat shouldn't be too tricky once you have a team comp that works well together but you also need to pay attention since the same team that carries you to victory one time might be worth beans against another dragon.

Final thoughts: This is... a really good game. Interesting story, really interesting characters, pretty world and a battle system that really makes you sit down and think. There's also a demo for this available in the e-shop and while your data doesn't carry over - you do receive multiple perks for carrying over your demo data including some exclusive items that, while not game breaking, do help a ton in the early stages of the game.

This isn't a final list by any stretch of the word; I only have the energy to do these two right now, but the next games up for coverage are Ever Oasis and Stella Glow! If you're interested in my full plan of games I want to cover here then my current lineup includes: Theatrhythm: Curtain Call, Project Mirai: Deluxe, Culdecept Revolt, Alliance Alive, Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology, Etrian Odyssey V, Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker and Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse.

Finally, if anyone has played any of the games I mention, cover or plan to cover PLEASE REACH OUT TO ME, I AM SO LONELY IN MY FORTRESS OF SAND. On a serious note, I'd love to hear what other people who've played these games think!

Thanks for reading,

-Ginger

PS: @feralpeacock Because a million years ago, on my first underrated games post, you asked that I remember you. :D

[greenninjagal-blog]

currently vibing in a two-week lockdown, can you share some of your favorite fics? i need some new things to read, and I've got too much time on my hands-

Aw man, same! The rest of my actual Spring Semester got turned online… Let’s see…..Fic recs for the pseudo End of the World (Courtesy of AO3, arranged by most prominent ship!) Keep in mind that my descriptions are shorter and written mostly for comedic effect than the actual fics, so if something looks interesting Click it! Get more info about it! Don’t just take my word! I tried my best to get a lot of variety of fics and topics and tropes, as well as authors that might not be as well known! Uhhh here are the links to lists I’ve already made for various other reasons check out my Fic Rec Masterlist!

I also am including various of my fav authors masterlists for funsies!

jungle321jungle’s || Max-isTired’s || TrashficParlour’s || Lefaystrent’s || Mine!

Completed Fics

A Deal in which Virgil tries to summon a familiar and gets a Circle King instead. And he’s really pretty. (Anxceit)

Love Like You in which Virgil decides to give up looking for a romantic partner and considers adopting instead. He finds more than he’s looking for with a set of twins and the man who watches over them (Anxceit)

A Dragon’s Tail in which Logan is cursed to be a Dragon by his best friends stepmother, Virgil is struggling to learn a power he can’t control, Patton who’d rather marry a servant than the Prince, and Roman has no clue what is going on but the Prince he’s supposed to be saving can probably kick his ass. (Logicality, Prinxiety)

A Game of Vice in which Remus kidnaps Roman and turns it into a game of who can come save him from his lonely tower. (Logicality, Prinxeity) 

double down with the paradigms in which Logan tries to explain away his own OCD while dealing with the emotions he has for a certain Pre-Vet. Excellent depiction of OCD, made me cry, 300/10 would read again. (Logicality, Prinxiety)

It Takes Two to Tango in which Roman begs his brother, Logan, to let him go back in time to meet a famous dancer. Falling in Love was not part of the plan. (Prinxiety, Logicality)

A favorite star in the heavens in which everyone has at least one soulmate. They’re luckily enough to have three each. (LAMP) 

Forgotten Forests and Magnified Myths in which Logan finds out very suddenly that he has the passive ability to talk to dragons. (DAMP, Remilie)

Sense5 in which five people in different countries are suddenly psychically linked together and uh…yeah fun times. (DLAMP)

Stray Hearts Are Subject To Change in which black cat hybrid Virgil plans to die very heroically in an alley and Roman completely messes up that plan by being a decent human being. (Prinxiety, Logicality)

Hidden In Shadows in which Virgil is the boogieman every adult warned you about but he doesn’t actually enjoy being scary. Good thing the three Sanders kids aren’t scared of anything. (Not so good for their very confused Dad who isn’t sure what to do about their new imaginary friend)

Paved with Good Intentions in which the dark sides agree to send Virgil to the light sides as a way to get Thomas to listen to them more. Now if Virgil can just get along with the Light sides enough to actually start making some progress…

Absent Gods and Silent Tyranny or: How Logan Learned to Stop Over Thinking and Love Everyone in which Logan is a morally grey scientist who just works for supervillains because they pay well. He doesn’t expect someone like Virgil to change that.

Series

Clouds and Moss AU in which the sides are gods and its very gay and very good. (Intrulogical, Roceit)

Colors in which Logan is an excellent Dad, Virgil is an amazing son, and the world is very colorful. (Logicality)

Labeled in which Logan is a famous superhero, Patton is a doctor, and they adopt the would-be super villain and everything is soft and lovely and I cry at the purity. (Logicality, Remilie)

Fbi!au in which the sides work for the fbi and I diligently reread these series of oneshots for a daily dose of serotonin!  (Logince, Moxiety)

Growing Old is More Fun with You in which Patton is a PTA dad and so is Deceit and they have a “rivalry”. (Mociet)

Gilded Cage in which Roman is forced to dance for the fairy queen whenever she wants it. (Prinxiety)

Renegades! in which the sides live in a dystopia and fight the government while being completely in love with each other. (Prinxiety, Logiciality) 

Love and Other Fairytales in which a couple decides to keep their changling and their actual son, a child is cursed gifted a voice that makes people do whatever he says, a boy makes a rotten deal for the sake of his friend, and centuries before any of this, a fae prince is tricked into an endless sleep by his brother. 

The Vampire Hunting Vampire in which Virgil was turned into a monster and LPR slowly convince him he’s not as bad as he thinks he is. Through cuddles. (LAMP, DLAMP)

Wasteland, Baby! in which there are things in the woods and Patton gets,,, intimate with them. On purpose! (LAMP)

Destined in which Damian has successfully ignored his Soulmates for five years and he planned on doing it for much longer but on his twentieth birthday fate intervenes with a second soultrait that forces him to come face to face with all of them. (DLAMP)

Old Gods in which Gods sometimes walk the earth and Remus is pleased to hear that people are still making offerings to him– wait that is not a goat. And other fun stories!

Sit back and watch the world go by in which Virgil is a human abducted by alien smugglers, befriends Patton, breaks out, and everyone fears humans as space orcs, almost as much as Virgil is afraid of them. 

Teaming the Pieces Together in which Thomas is a pokemon trainer and eevees just…click with him.

Tales from the Dark Sides in which the author provides a lovely hub of works where Virgil is abused by OC dark sides and DLMPR are there to help patch him up.

Uncle Emile and the Super Nephews in which Emile gets custody of his six nephews and tries to bond with them. They in turn try very hard not to tell him they have superpowers.

Cuffed Universe in which Remus is a cop chasing after a hacker, Logan breaks the laws and Virgil would just like tO KEEP ONE JOB WITHOUT ONE OR BOTH OF THE OTHERS DRAGGING HIM INTO THEIR SHIT. (Analomus)

Ongoing Fics

The Origin in which space travel via Thomas Sanders’s ship SS Revelation gets more complicated when the Planets themselves turn out to be entities who aren’t all on board with humanity spreading to the rest of the solar system. (Remile) 

Delicato in which Logan and Patton are music professors with very different conceptions of music, and Virgil and Roman are students in both their classes who just want them to kiss already. (Logicality, Prinxiety)

Coming out of The Shadows in which a small mutant child Virgil is treated as subhuman because of his uncontrolled ability to manipulate shadows up until a scientist buys him. (Royality)

Falling Stars At My Command in which Roman wishes on a star and Patton reaps the benefits while Logan unfortunately gets dragged along for the ride. (Royality) 

Sugar in which Patton has three sons and no free time to bother with a relationship while he’s trying to manage bills. At least until Roman walks into his life. Sugar Daddy anyone? (Royality) 

A Man, a Snake, and a Rat in which Logan, Deceit, and Remus become college roomates (Intruloceit) 

a.s.h.es, ashes (We all fall down) in which after Logan almost dies during one of his recuse missions, him and his partner start to dig into the superhero agency they’re employed by and stumble into something far bigger than they expected. (Logicality, Prinxiety, LAMP? LAMP)

Keep him safe in which Detective Logan falls for the owner of his new favorite bakery while his partner Roman falls for the gang member they’re chasing. Ft: emotions, a pet rat, dealing with delusions 101, trauma, and family so gooey it literally makes me melt whenever it updates. I love this fic so much. (Advertises as Logicality and Prinxiety but theres so much LAMP I can’t not put it down here)

Multitudes in which Virgil works at a coffeeshop, pines over the customers that come in, and wonders why they all tip him so well. (LAMP)

Songbird in which the only thing keeping Virgil’s parents alive is his voice: the moment the (new) King gets tired of listening to him its off with all their heads. And Virgil’s okay with that, he is…. Until three visiting nobles leaving him wishing for his freedom for the first time since he was ten. (LAMP)

Shatter in which Logan gets fed up with not being listened to, and takes some poor advice from Rage, which ends with the entire Mindscape being turned upside down and inside out. Now its up to Deceit fix it all. (aka the author decided it was about high time Deceit got some love and appreciation and I’m out here living for it.) (DAMP)

Incredible Cosmic Power in which Virgil awakens some genies by accident and they refuse to let him go back to living a relatively normal peaceful life. (DLAMP)

Plea for my New Self in which Vampire Virgil decides he wants to start over again, and goes back to college to work on coding. There he proceeds to do reckless good with his absurd amount of wealth and a “fuck it” attitude. Actually one of my favorite things ever okay. I love this one so much. (DLAMP)

Your Wish Is My Command in which Thomas accidentally rubs six lamps and becomes the glorified babysitter to six jinn who definitely don’t trust him. But its fineeee. (DLAMP)

6 Dads in which Deceit, Emile, Remus, Roman, Thomas, and Remy make a relationship work and their children aren’t sure how but go along with it anyway.

Rebel Rebel in which Thomas, a well respected man, visits the Imagination, for some pleasure business as a one time thing. Except that he keeps coming back. Maybe maybe falls in love with one, two, thr– all of the men who work there. 

A New Kind of Experiment  in which Virgil runs away from home, and ends up kidnapped by merman, and somehow he doesn’t mind that much.

Becoming His Own Hero in which everyone has to juggle their superhero lives with their regular lives and sometimes…its just hard.

don’t wanna be a tragedy in which brothers Roman and Remus get a house and subsequently find out its totally, completely, 100% haunted.

Don’t You, Forget About Me in which the author recreates Breakfast club and does it spectacularly.

Heart’s Heroes in which Patton may be a villain but that does not mean he wants to see the child heroes of the city dead.

Mortals and Fae in which Deceit barely escapes the wrath of his town when they all turn against him. Dying, he stumbles into a fairy circle hoping that with his name the fae make his death short and sweet. Big Shock for him when he wakes up with a Fairy Prince swearing to protect him.

Sanders Family in which Thomas adopts six kids and has no regrets about it.

How Not to Go About an Important Inspection in which after a devastating betrayal the crew of the USS Bifrost is docked for repairs and the crew just wants to go back to being a normal family but Command is insisting on an inspection to ensure nothing so…drastic occurs again.

Symbiotic in which certain Vampires have a vemon that leaves with victims craving getting their blood drunken. Deceit, one of these Victims, continues to burn bridges because that’s easier than admitting he might need help dealing with this. 

[creacherkeeper]

Do you have any tips on worldbuilding for dnd 5e? I want to create my own homebrew world with various aesthetics and I don't know how to include them all!! I want the middle ages monster hunt and then a mob boss encounter then the party fighting some frat boys with the help of dragons.

i do have some tips! hopefully some of these can help or at least inspire you :) 

you dont want your players to feel like things can come out of nowhere. a good “plot twist” has seeds in the story beforehand, it shouldnt feel random and misplaced. you want to reward your players for paying attention and thinking critically about the things that you do. so you do want some sort of unifying factor that ties all these ideas into a cohesive world. maybe its forgotten realms fantasy but all the aesthetics are based on the american 50s. maybe there are different cultural groups in this world that are all based on different time periods - each new land they explore has a different aesthetic. maybe your players are unstuck in time, and are seeing the same society at a bunch of different points in history (you can do some fun stuff here with location and family lines). maybe theyre being teleported to different dimensions by a force they dont understand 

(in my campaign, i had a bunch of episodic sessions where - unbeknownst to the players - they were being zapped into various god’s realms and were in a new one each game. they would “wake up” in a situation unsure how they got there, and each game would feature a different god. so they came to expect the different settings and tones for the games, and started trying to figure things out like who the gods were and what was going on) 

one thing to keep in mind, is that the tone of the game definitely matters. your players wont necessarily stick with it, but its good for you to have a concept going in. is this meant to be a serious or tragic game? or are you going to lean into the comedy? having an eclectic world definitely works a lot better if its meant to be funny. people will let a lot slide if its funny 

you can also disguise a lot in fantasy terms. i played a one shot where we were monster hunters taking down this huge monster who was like a local myth. and the guy who gave us the quest had like. these weird monster heads (an orange dragon, a giant bull, a weird plant monster) and then we got attacked by mutant rats, and we had to do puzzles (pushing rocks into holes, color combos on a wheel) and when we found the monster it was in a lab with these weird glass spheres everywhere. and then the monster went “PI .... KA ...” and we realized we got GOT and everything was fucking pokemon. and the guy who had the super long convoluted fantasy name was just old man!ash ketchum. but the clues were there for us to figure out!! so the twist was incredibly exciting 

so basically - having a cohesive idea, even if that idea is that these separate parts are very disparate, will go a long way when it comes to engaging players. if you teach them to expect this strange blend of aesthetics and ideas, it’ll go down a lot more smoothly than just throwing stuff at them. if you like podcasts and haven’t listened to taz balance, griffin does a really good job imo of doing a lot of cool, unique ideas while keeping them coherent by having pod arcs and centering it around a group of objects. similarly, dungeons and daddies (not a bdsm podcast) is much more chaotic, but it finds a style of chaos and humor that keeps the show unified 

hope that helps!!! best of luck! 

[danni-dollarsign]

A Critical Look at “Pokemon: Sword and Shield” From a Casual’s Perspective...

A/N: Hey! if you’re reading this, then thank you! I don’t know why, but I thought to myself, “Hey, wouldn’t it be cool to write a pointless essay about a Pokemon game?” And then I realized today was the 1YR anniversary of SWSH, so I figured I might as well just do it! So even though I’m late and probably nobody will really care to read all this nonsense, I wrote it! If you’re interested in all the analyses of PKMN SWSH, but aren’t too invested in the technical mumbo-jumbo used by the more hardcore fans, then maybe you’ll enjoy this. 

Also, it’s worth mentioning that I’m literally just some rando on the internet saying my opinion. None of this should really be taken SUPER seriously - it’s mainly designed to provoke thought rather than try to argue any specific idea. So if I say something that you don’t agree with, you got two options: 1) Draft a constructive comment or DM to me and we can discuss calmly like adults, 2) shake your idea and ignore this. There’s really no need to get heated up over a video game essay, of all things, so let’s not do that lol. 

But other than that, yeah! If you’re interested in more stuff like this from me (in-depth analyses of Pokemon games from the perspective of a low-key casual), lemme know! I’d love to chat with anyone about this awesome series.

So, without any further ado, let’s get into the essay (warning: it’s like ~8k words).

Introduction...

Welcome to the wonderful world of Pokemon! Love it or hate it, Pokemon has had a huge impact on popular culture in countless countries in a number of different ways, sparking memes, dreams, and happiness everywhere! It holds a very special place in my heart - Pokemon was a game that I got to share with my two older siblings, was one of the first fandoms I got into, and was a big reason as to why I grew to love creative writing so much after writing a couple fanfictions for the games. I’ve been playing Pokemon ever since my brother gave me a copy of Pokemon: Ruby and have been a devoted fan ever since. While I may not be super into the strategy and damn near mathematical aspects of gameplay, I’d like to consider myself a relatively knowledgeable fan with enough extra knowledge to give a look at one of these games from a casual, yet analytical view. So what game other than the newest title, Pokemon: Sword and Shield, with its release anniversary being today? In this casual online essay, I hope to describe all my thoughts of Sword and Shield (which I’ll shorten down to just “SWSH”) from the perspective of the everyday Pokemon fan.

General Gameplay...

Many top-title games of Nintendo are best known for their simplicity: in Super Mario Bros, you’re a mustachioed red guy jumping on monsters to try and save some random princess (who may or may not be in this castle); in The Legend of Zelda, you’re a green elf-looking guy slashing wildly at monsters with a sword given to you by some old guy in hopes of defeating some ultimate bad guy; and in Pokemon, you’re a child wandering around the region catching monsters who also accidentally saves the world before becoming the very best (like no-one ever was). And while the games themselves have grown from that initial stylistic simplicity, some have lost that creative in-depthness in favor of being playable for children. This is probably the biggest issue with the newer Pokemon games as of late.

Regardless, let’s look into the playability of SWSH.

It’s played like your regular Pokemon game; you’re a kid who journeys to become the Champion of Pokemon Battling with your friend, catching monsters known as “Pokemon” with pocket-sized balls dubbed “Pokeballs.” But I’m sure you’re all aware of that information, and are instead asking “Well, what’s the deeper plot?” Yeah, no, that’s it. You’re a kid catching Pokemon to become champion - oh, and you also accidentally save the world from a power-hungry businessman - but that’s neither here nor there.

Plot aside, the game is a bit barebones. It’s pretty linear gameplay (literally linear - the map of the Galar region is almost exactly a straight-line waltz from Postwick to Wyndon, which is a bit weird after dealing with the giant, sprawling maps of earlier generations) where you travel from place to place, beating gyms and catching ‘mons, before getting into a couple scuffles and becoming champion. For an RPG-styled game, it comes off as much too simplistic for older fans (I’d even reason that it’s too simplistic for younger players, as well). While I will say, I don’t exactly miss the days of hopelessly wandering around a pixel city, trying desperately to figure out how to move on to the next town because the answer to the puzzle is hidden in this giant area that my little peanut-brain couldn’t figure out at the time. But it is a bit demeaning to get “Hey, do you know where to go?” and  “Hey, follow me so you don’t get lost!” and “Oh, yeah, want another tutorial on how to easily catch Pokemon for the fourth time in a row?” every two seconds in a city where there’s only two places to check out.

But we can’t really discuss the gameplay of Pokemon without discussing the highlights of the region. Ever since the transition from 2D to 3D, Pokemon games have begun a trend of gimmicks - which I like to call “battle enhancers” - that they use to add uniqueness to their games. X&Y had Mega Evolution, Sun and Moon (and USUM) had Z-Moves, and now we have Dynamax! As we all know, battle enhancers are the strategy by which the player uses some extraterrestrial/magic stone to physically enhance one pokemon at a time for a certain period of time - in the case of Dynamax, the pokemon either grows in size or changes in form, gaining the ability to use special type-based attacks for a duration of three turns.

Honestly, I think it’s a pretty fun mechanic! Dynamax combines the good components of both Z-Moves and Mega Evolution - new forms, awesome moves, and a ticking clock. It adds a bit more strategy to the battle enhancer, where the player actually has to plan out who and when to Dynamax (though it’s really not that hard - most everyone will save it for their ace or the pokemon with the type advantage at the very end of the battle, because that’s what you do). But it’s fun and creative, making the battle a bit more exciting when you see your beloved ace become gargantuan on a field while the audience chants in excitement. Initially, I was skeptical of the battle enhancer, but once I threw myself into the game and really got into it, I felt it was fun and cool for the region. My feelings were further improved when I learned that Dynamax was inspired by the idea that the Nintendo Switch had the potential to be played on the TV as well as in a hand-held mode. The idea of turning pokemon “big” on a “big-screen” is really just so cute to me, really. Overall, it’s a fitting concept that is paired well to the game when everything is considered.

But when you look beyond the Dynamx experience to find more content in the game… there’s really not much else. Many people (including me) were ecstatic to hear about the free-roam areas in SWSH - the Wild Areas. Here, you can do all the fun grinding stuff that makes Pokemon games a bit more challenging and fun - hatching eggs, shiny-hunting, running around in circles, Dynamax dens, etc. But when looking at other Pokemon games, that’s really it. Let’s examine Pokemon: Sun and Moon, for example. This game really shines not just for its refreshing setting and compelling plot-line, but also for it’s amount of cute and quirky mini-games to be enjoyed for a good while outside of the main story. Pyukumuku Chucking, Mantine Surfing, the Alolan Photo Club, Ultra Warp Ride Travel - a good handful of mini-games that appeal to different kinds of people! All of these mini-games aren’t just tossed in there, either - they have a fitting place in the culture of the world and add to it, rather than just reiterating it. But when you look for mini-games in SWSH, you won’t really find anything aside from just battling. Sure, there’s the Battle Tower, as well, but I’ll personally say that I’ve never been a fan of the concept of post-game NPC battle buildings. For a hardcore player, they might be fun, but as a casual who can’t devote the time to really dig into understanding how IVs and competitive breeding works, they’re really no fun. Not to mention that nothing is really being added or developed with these battle buildings; they don’t add to lore, they don’t add to the culture of the region, you don’t even really gain anything from it - they’re pretty much just places to battle the occasional familiar face and that’s it. While I’m sure plenty of people adore these facilities in the games, I’ve never been too partial to them (I’d even prefer those god-forsaken casinos over another goddamn battle frontier).

But my biggest problem lies with the release of the DLC. While I’m not against the idea of DLC in general, both The Isle of Armour and The Crown Tundra left a bitter taste in my mouth when I started thinking about the issue of playability in SWSH.

I have always been more invested in the storyline of Pokemon games rather than the battling aspects. Usually I’ve always just gotten through the main story, then wandered around to find extra post-game content or mini-games, and then moved on to other games. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing - I just figure that the games have served their purpose for me upon completion, so rather than bore myself wandering around and doing things that don’t interest me, I go find another game that has more story-based content. That being said, I finished SWSH in less time than any other Pokemon game (I’d say somewhere around twenty hours, complete with me running around in circles like an idiot before rushing through content intermittently); as a result, I was no longer actively playing the game by the time the DLC was announced.

I’ll be honest and say that when I learned about all that was being offered in both sets of DLC, I felt a bit betrayed. I’m well-aware that Nintendo is a corporate business, and therefore will always prioritize financial gain over their fans’ lasting enjoyment of their titles - that’s just a fact of life. But I couldn’t help but feel like I paid a bunch of money for the bundled titles, only to play a game that hardly could be considered worthwhile or satisfying without added headcanons or fan-works, and then get told that extra content is available that may or may not add satisfaction to the experience that’s already long since ended for me. It was just a bit disappointing - and I’m not talking about the whole “Dexit” deal (I actually was on-board with the idea of having no real National Dex - I felt it added realism to the games and would force players to get to know the new Pokemon instead of just choosing the same team they always have since Gen 1 or whatever). My gripe is that I paid for a whole game, wasn’t satisfied with the result, only to hear later that the content that I might have been missing is available to pay for? That’s incredibly annoying. Not to mention that I was further disappointed after learning about the contents of the DLC, but we’ll get into that later.

Overall, the playability of SWSH is very basic, but can be enjoyable if you suspend belief and just enjoy it for what it is. When it comes to storyline, it’s not much of a game, and doesn’t sport much post-game content besides battling.

Immersion and Ambience...

Many of my friends can attest that I tend to like silly, fantastical concepts because I personally love to throw myself into the universe being offered to me. Pokemon is really no different - the games have always sported a very immersive experience for me thanks to the combination of interesting regions and evocative music (especially the music).

I think that most every Pokemon fan has a specific region, city, and music theme that sparks a plethora of nostalgic emotions to the point of near tears. For me, that’s always been Pokemon: Platinum, the Twinleaf Town theme - just staring into the rippling reflection of the pond by the player’s home, listening to that beautiful synth clarinet playing that nostalgic melody - it makes my heart beat with so much fervent passion that I hardly have the words to describe it! And I think that sense of nostalgia - regardless of whether or not those memories are old or new - has always been a strong-suit for Pokemon games. They always have the ability to inspire such deep emotions in me and other alike in a variety of ways, further adding to the ability to immerse us into the game’s world. And whether your favorite area is as simple as Twinleaf Town in the Sinnoh region, or as agonizing as Rock Tunnel in Kanto, it’s the spirit of certain cities/towns/routes that further add to the immersion of the world in question. But how well does SWSH hold those values? Spoiler Alert: Not very well.

SWSH, in the end, is still a Pokemon game - so the setting is very vibrant and colorful and everything that can hold my attention for long periods of time. But the problem arises when one begins to progress through the game and continuously forgets what’s where and where’s what. A lot of the map is painfully basic (again, due to the literal linear nature of the Galar region) and the cities themselves kind of lack their own real originality. There was an attempt at unique cities that’s become iconic of the Pokemon franchise, but it doesn’t really stick. I think most people would agree with me that the only real memorable areas in the main game were Slumbering Weald, Ballonlea, and Spikemuth, and each of these areas have their own set of problems that also make them a bit difficult to fully enjoy. At their core, most all Galarian cities have the same basic set-up: basic green plants (if plants are in that area at all), the same brick roads that lead either to the gym or to a route leading in/out of city to another city, and a giant gym/key building in the center of it all. And that’s really about it. No real interesting buildings except for gyms and Rose Tower (and I guess technically the hotels), no extraneous locations that aren’t directly related to the plot or to gimmicks - it’s very bare-bones and really can take you out of the experience.

In a hard contrast, I’ll give the example of Generation 1’s region set up - every city has its own personality that also matches the feel of the region as a whole. Every city is based on colors, and each city is themed after that, respectively (i.e. Vermillion City, the city of sunsets themed around the color orange, is home to the Pokemon Fan Club and the kick-ass electric-type gym that initiates feelings of excitement; Lavender Town, the noble town themed around the color purple, is home to the Pokemon Tower and spooky spirits that inspire feelings of somberness and reticence). Obviously, this isn’t very realistic, but the trick isn’t to replicate reality - it is to inspire reality. The Kanto region is incredibly creative, and therefore is easy to immerse oneself into the world because it’s become a world we are actively interested in. We know that it could never truly be real or plausible, but that hardly matters when we are so enthralled with the colors and set-up and feeling of the towns. We don’t really get much of that in Galar. It probably isn’t such a great idea for your final city - being Wyndon - to feel blank and lifeless when compared to minor cities in the region. And even when we find cities that hold that uniqueness we desire like in Spikemuth or Ballonlea, there’s really no other reason to be there longer than just beating the gym. It’s sad, really. Spikemuth is such a interesting, creative-looking town home to such cool characters, and yet there literally is only one path to get in and out of the town - the town isn’t even given small houses to investigate like literally every other city in the region. It’s a waste of potential! The fact that I can’t investigate such a promising setting that inspires me really takes me out of the world, reminding me that this is just a video game in which you move from Point A to Point B. It’s no longer a fantasy world for me to explore, but instead a line at the DMV to get my Drivers’ License. The only real good thing about this is that fanfiction writers get so much free-reign when it comes to writing about the city - the only thing we really learn about the city is that it’s underfunded and gloomy and that’s literally it. I would have really liked to see more inspired cities around the region where things outside of the main plot can be done, but hopefully this is just a problem we’ll see in this region.

Probably the most important aspect of immersion (in my opinion) is the music. With the potential to make or break a game for me, I hold a lot of expectations on the music found in video games (I’ve been classically trained in music since elementary school, and have always had a fondness for video game music). Pokemon music has always been some of the most inspiring pieces of art in my life - whether it be the kickass battle suite of Champion Cynthia, or the somber piano melody of Emma’s Theme, the music of Pokemon has always been the first thing I notice and analyze whenever playing the latest title. That all being said, I have quite a few notes to make in regards to the soundtrack of SWSH.

I’ll start with the pros, first. Generally, every main title has had its own feel when it comes to the soundtrack - DPP was jazzy and smooth, Sun and Moon was based on popular Hawaiian music meshed together with classic Pokemon synths, RSE was all about the horn section (trombones and french horns all the way!). SWSH, at the end of the day, isn’t much different. The region is inspired by the UK, so it’s no surprise to discover that the soundtrack was inspired by popular British Rock. As a result, a lot of themes went really hard, keeping a hint of individuality even when some battle themes hosted similar instruments. The biggest appeal of the soundtrack, I believe, was found in the little moments, namely the cheers of the gym battle themes. I think it’s safe to say that most people get super hyped when they hear those rhythmical chants coming to life whenever in the final leg of the battle, right when you begin to Dynamax. That’s amazingly exciting, never failing to suck me into that exact moment to gather the power of God and anime to defeat my opponent. While I wasn’t totally rocking out to every single song that came on, I was pretty satisfied with the music of SWSH, overall. It’s not too bad, and hosts a few bops that I still seek out to get my blood pumping.

But, as to be expected, there are plenty of cons when it comes to the soundtrack of SWSH. I could go over this for hours and hours, detailing complex definitions of music theory and basic song comprehension, but I’ll just make this nice and simple: it was really bland.

Note that I said “bland” and not “bad” - the music is fine in my opinion, I just wasn’t feeling the same feelings as I had in previous Pokemon titles. It all felt like Pokemon music, but not much else. It was like remembering hints of a memory long-lost, but you don’t really care about to dig deep into your mind for context. Towns had music, routes had music, pokemon and characters had battle themes, yada yada yada, nothing really to write home about. If I had to pick a song that honestly, truly invoked emotions beyond “Oh it’s battle time, now”, it would have to be the Battle Tower Theme, and that’s most likely because it was written by someone else entirely (Toby Fox, also known as the creator of Undertale and composer of super hard-hitting jams). And the worst part is that I never would have even been able to hear the Battle Tower theme because I hate battle buildings (which is more of a personal problem, I know, but still). Honestly, I would have preferred hearing that theme as compared to Champion Leon’s battle theme - I feel like his champion theme was very bland and lifeless, simply holding all the required elements of a Pokemon battle theme just because that’s what has to happen. It’s uninspired, faceless, and corporate, only to be completely foiled by the unique blast of energy found in the Battle Theme, which just screams “Prove that you’re the best!” over and over to me (also known as a big theme in the Pokemon games, especially in SWSH).

That’s not to say that every other theme in the game was terrible. I much enjoyed Marnie and Piers’ battle themes, but for a different reason. As we know, Piers and Marnie host a more “punk rock” style when compared to literally everyone else in-game, a trademark of Spikemuth citizens. With their occasionally cold and prickly (no pun intended) personalities, their themes go a bit harder into rock-land as compared to characters like Hop or Bede. There’s no conflict of style there - it’s “punk” with “rock”, loads of guitars and bass with a hint of synths to keep that Pokemon flare, and fits a bit better in the setting of the world. Mild conflict arises when we start looking at characters who aren’t rockstars or idols - let’s look at Bede’s theme, for example. While it really isn’t a bad theme (it’s actually, dare I say, a bop), I wouldn’t exactly say that the resulting pieces fit neatly together like they do for the Spikemuth duo. Bede’s theme requires a lot of synths to accentuate his more flamboyant and immature personality, but also holds ties with the rock guitars while also trying so desperately hard to sound like a Pokemon song. Now, I don’t think “Pop Synth Rock” is anything bad, per se; I just feel like the added rock elements didn’t do much to add to the musical representation of our cliche jerk-face “rival”. It feels like the rock elements were an after-thought rather than a planned layer of musicality. I could really say the same thing about Hop’s theme, but then I would have to re-listen to Hop’s theme because I always forget what it sounds like even after listening to it a second before.

A big problem is that not many of these themes hold lastingly memorable motifs/melodies, which is a personal pet-peeve of mine in games where the music is highly esteemed. In pretty much every battle theme (except the generic pokemon encounter theme, which is the same melody in every Pokemon game, only with variations added to fit the music theme of the region) is just an on-going strip of notes that sound nice when playing the game, but if you tried to pick out the specific melody-line of that character, it’s a bit of work to really find anything. Let’s look at a more concrete example: Lusamine’s battle theme from Pokemon: Sun and Moon is up on my list of most memorable battle themes, and will do well without the extra influence of young me’s nostalgia seeping in like it would with earlier generations’ battle themes. Lusamine, as we know, was the elite antagonist of the game, being the leader of this esteemed Pokemon protection group who later is revealed to be using Pokemon for her own demented goals of perfection. Almost immediately, the player hears the signature accents of the harpsichord playing the prime motif before the piece digs into a full orchestration. It doesn’t sacrifice anything for the sake of “sounding like a Pokemon song”, nor does it sacrifice anything for the sake of keeping with the musical inspiration. Instead, it focuses on being exactly what it needs to be - a musical representation of Lusamine, hosting orchestra-based instruments (piano, violas and cellos, horns, violins, light pad synths, etc…). Most anyone can pick out a handful of memorable motifs from her theme (the main horns melody line, the harpsichord melody line, the mid-section cello and piano melody line, etc…), and those remain in our unconscious. So, it’s no surprise that when she becomes the “Mother Beast” later on, when the player hears hints of those signature melody lines becoming distorted in the madness of the new battle theme, it invokes a particular emotion that fits elegantly with the subject matter of the plot right then. In short, it’s musical storytelling done right. In SWSH, we don’t have that extra omph of emotionally-nostalgic motifs; instead, we just get songs that play in the background of this video game, and that’s really it. If you don’t like the song, good news - you’ll probably only hear it once or twice, depending on who the NPC is. If you do, then you’re out of luck for the very same reasons. This game lacks a very basic hint of soul to its soundtrack, which is really such a jarring idea especially when you realize that they paired up with a composer who arguably has mastered the idea of musical motifs (Fox).

This really isn’t just SWSH’s problem, either. I also went through a similar heartbreak in S&M during the final stretch of the main game; after battling Lusamine and saving the region from the threat of Ultra Beasts (more or less, anyway), we the player go to challenge the champion, who is revealed to be Profession Kukui since there really is no true champion for the newly-made league. It’s hard to go from an exciting, powerful battle theme like Lusamine’s to some generic, cardboard-cut-out version of a champion battle theme for Kukui. It’s hard to invoke any sort of emotional appeal when there’s no real inspiration to be felt in the music; with no emotional connection, there is no emotion. It’s, once again, just music that plays in the background of a video game. A similar experience happens in SWSH with the player’s match against Champion Leon; though we have the potential to gain an emotional connection to a Leon Theme motif, we don’t get that. Instead, we just get music that is programmed to be exciting for our championship match that will undoubtedly change our lives forever. Bland, boring, anti-climatic - all for the sake of coloring in the lines. This has been an on-going problem in Pokemon games for years in which the Championship Battle Theme is less interesting than the Evil Team Battle Theme, which probably isn’t a good idea. It’s annoying when your villain has a better theme than the literal strongest trainer in the region - it ruins the chances of likability for the region’s “good guys” and overall is anti-climatic when it is finally time to become champion.

Overall, the ability to immerse someone like me in a game is very important when it comes to retaining players. While SWSH isn’t the worst Pokemon game when it comes to immersion (considering the fact that I actually beat the main game, which I can’t say for other main Pokemon titles…), Game Freak certainly could stand to learn from the game’s shortcomings.

Creature and Character Design...

The monster design is arguably one of the most controversial topics when it comes to any Pokemon game. Some people only care about the designs of Gen 1, others accept everything but Gen 5, and a select few could rant for hours on the stupidity of literally every Pokemon design in the franchise. Regardless, the design of the Pokemon native to the Galar region is an important topic of discussion when analysing the potential for enjoyment of the game. After all, I’m an artist who loves drawing all my favorite characters as well as my favorite Pokemon, so understanding the designs of these beloved figures is vital to understanding the game in general. For sanity’s sake, I’ll only be discussing new Pokemon introduced in this region, and will be ignoring all previous pokemon that aren’t regional variants.

Overall, the designs of the latest Pokemon are satisfactory. Because of my tendency to always suspend belief in fantasy works, I’ve very rarely had much to hate about Pokemon designs (not even in Gen 5, though I don’t particularly like any of them aside from the game cover legendaries). SWSH didn’t really bring much to the table when it comes to brand-new Pokemon, but the ones introduced are fitting and interesting: the Dragapult line, all three starters (even if I did laugh for literal hours at the discovery of Cinderace’s typing), Wooloo and Dubwool, Yamper and Boltund - just to name my top favorites. And I was totally invested in the designs of the game cover legendaries, Zamazenta and Zacian, since they held cultural relations with the region’s inspiration and therefore had actual meaning within the game besides just being cool mythical creatures. Nothing really outright bothered me with the designs or pokemon choices in this game; as I mentioned earlier, I was okay with the idea of no National Dex for this region, and that all the pokemon allowed in this game matched with the region well-enough.

But, of course, it’s not without faults. I found there to be a substantial lack of original legendaries in this game - we only have three real legendaries to catch in the main-game, four if you consider the DLC. We had a similar problem in Pokemon: Sun and Moon, but it was later amended with the introduction of Ultra Beasts (which can technically be regarded as legendary Pokemon, albeit from another dimension and not technically Pokemon). In SWSH, we are only given the option of catching more than two legendaries if we buy the DLC - this is remarkably disappointing for those who are interested in seeing new, unique Pokemon designs. I know many fans are constantly frustrated with Game Freak’s tendency to overuse Gen 1 Pokemon, but the fact that nobody is bothered by the running trend of being able to easily catch a bunch of previous games’ legendaries is beyond me. It’s essentially the same thing, overly relying on the fanbase’s sentimental nostalgia rather than moving forward to create new creature designs. I know for a fact that so many people would have been excited to catch Pokemon with cultural significance (maybe like elf Pokemon that resemble that of Seelie/Unseelie fairies, or more Pokemon that resemble chess pieces, or maybe more Pokemon that follow a theme of medieval artifacts - there are many possibilities), so the fact that they skimped out in favor of making people pay for nostalgia is ridiculous to me. This was a majority of the reason why I rejected buy any of the DLC content - why would I pay for Pokemon I’ve technically caught before? I mean, I guess it can be more for the kids who have never encountered the older legendaries, but then again, wouldn’t it be more beneficial for your game to have Pokemon that actually represent the new region? Instead of just stealing other games’ legendaries for the sake of saying that you have them, they could have just worked a little harder to design maybe three or six more cool legendary designs and centered those guys around the two DLC locations instead of just having Calyrex for The Crown Tundra. At the end of the day, it’s really just a cash-grab; the only reason I could ever see myself understandably buying the DLC for SWSH would be because I wanted to interact more with my favorite NPCs, but then again, I can just look at screenshots on Twitter and feel just as satisfied.

But not all is lost in terms of designs. Now let’s get into my favorite design portion of this segment and discuss the NPCs.

First, we’ll dig into the rivals. Personally, I really enjoyed the rivals of this game; while Pokemon is definitely running on a formula, I still was able to find enough about the three rival characters to genuinely enjoy their presence whenever they came on screen. I suppose we can expect to keep seeing this new Pokemon Trainer Rival Formula: Kind of Annoying but Too Sweet to Hate BFF Rival (Hop), 2 Edgy 5 U Rival (Bede), and Some Pedo’s Waifu Material Rival (Marnie).

Hop is arguably one of my favorite Pokemon rivals of all time (right up there with Gladion from S&M). He’s one of the only Pokemon characters to get a realistic character development over the course of the game’s playable story, which really humanizes him and makes up for his occasionally annoying personality. Over the course of the game, Hop goes from silently residing in his brother’s shadow to learning to stand on his own without needed any outside validation; much to my surprise, it’s not some half-hearted transition. Hop doubts himself during the challenge, as evidenced not just by his dialogue but in the way he actively changes his team to try and be more competitive like everybody else. I remember feeling so heartbroken in realization that Hop stopped using his beloved Wooloo, which is rightfully paired up with the excitable boy. The idea that Hop uses Wooloo, a normal-type cute Pokemon that generally wouldn’t be used in a competitive team, really adds more dimension to his character; when he learns to enjoy himself instead of letting his doubts overtake him, he returns to using Dubwool and his favorite team, demonstrating how he would prefer to have fun as himself than be someone he isn’t. I found that to be a really wholesome theme to his character, one that we haven’t really seen in a Pokemon game yet - it was a pleasant surprise! Hop is sweet and kind, always wanting to motivate the player even when he’s in his own internal turmoil. With all that added with his adorable babyface and goofy/awkward preteen disposition, he really makes for a likeable rival character.

The next rival to be introduced is none other than our classic Mean Boy rival, Bede. He’s a character the fanbase is a bit more accustomed to due to previous titles’ rivals (i.e. Green/Blue/Gary Oak from in R&G/B, Silver from SGC, technically also Gladion from S&M…), so are quite a few expectations placed on his character as a result. Also true to the typical Pokemon Jerk Rival, he has a complicated homelife (he comes from an orphanage, as we later learn) and has a similarly complicated parent-child relationship to the leading antagonist of the game (in this case, Chairman Rose). Bede constantly assumes himself to be better than he is and isn’t afraid to be a total prick about it, choosing to bully Hop upon winning battles against him to boost his own inflated ego (though there’s hints pointing to Bede actually having rather low self-esteem). All things considered, I liked Bede as a character about as much as one can like a mean rival archetype, but I was more than pleased to discover his transition to a more likably mean-spirited character when he later returns to the game to challenge the player after being disqualified from the challenge. While we’ve had a likeable mean rival before (namely Gladion), Bede is something of his own entity with how he actually has an attempt at character development that leads him to a mini-redemption near the end of the game. He’s really the first mean rival to have a transition from total jerk to slightly-peeved tsundere, which was probably a good idea on Game Freak’s part so that we wouldn’t be left with a character we downright hated after the way Bede quite literally destroys Hop’s confidence. It’s nowhere near as impressive as Hop’s character development (which isn’t super impressive to begin with, but let’s ignore that fact for a bit), but it’s still interesting to see in a monster-catching game about being the best you can be.

And then, of course, we get to the cute-girl rival, Marnie, also known as the place where I get a bit mad again. I’d like to say that I absolutely love Marnie; she has an adorable design and interesting personality that captures my attention whenever she has screen time. But she serves one purpose in this game, and one purpose alone - being the main cute girl rival of the game. Marnie has the potential to be a similarly interesting rival (cute design that meshes “punk” with “cute”, has a wholesome and fun dynamic with her gym leader older brother, uses a Pokemon that isn’t considered to be a “competitive” choice as her ace, has a cool/cute personality…), and yet we probably only talk to her about five times over the course of the main game. Little is done with her character - in fact, the only real thing she does in the game other than becoming the next dark-type gym leader is that she helps the player sneak into Spikemuth after the gates have been shut by the remarkably-harmless Team Yell. I don’t think I’m alone in saying that I would have loved to have seen more done with her character. With the boy rivals being more fleshed out than her, it leaves a sour taste in my mouth because the female rival is the one left with a blank personality (and I’m not just saying that because she hardly smiles - that’s really one of the only things we get about her that gives her an actual personality). My frustrations are further exacerbated because this has always been an issue in Pokemon games, in which the girl rivals are so barebones for seemingly the only purpose of serving as some neckbeard’s waifu that they can input a personality they desire despite the fact that she’s canonically a minor. Why put in the time to give dimension to Hop and Bede, but not Marnie? And we know for a fact that Game Freak has to recognize the lack of personality given to Marnie, especially since they had previously come out with Lillie’s wonderfully sweet character arch in S&M and USUM. Personally, I feel that it was because they didn’t feel like having a more punkish girl character who also had traditionally feminine-coded interests (she’s known to have been distracted during the gym challenge by the boutiques) and ultimately decided to just not give her any further personality other than that, perhaps fearing that it would dissuade the gross creeper fanbase from latching onto her. But that’s really just speculation, so don’t take any of my nonsense too seriously. Really, I’d just rather we had a girl rival with more personality to match the other two rivals so it wasn’t so annoyingly unbalanced.

Moving on from the rivals, we get into the designs of the League Staff of the game. In most other Pokemon games, I’d never really been too interested in the gym leaders; they had always been more of minor bosses, just faces that you saw for a couple of seconds before pummeling their ‘mons and moving to the next city. But in this game in particular, there was a sudden transition from simple puzzle master to a full-on celebrity figure. I really enjoyed this! It was so nice to actually have some information on the gym leaders other than what type they sported; suddenly, they have personalities and interests - they become real to the player. Not to mention that there really is a gym leader for everyone to enjoy, thanks to their unique personalities and styles.

I’ll be a bit honest and say that some of their clothing designs are remarkably stupid for even an anime-based RPG game (I mean, I know we joke about Leon’s terrible sense of fashion in the fanbase, but can we just pause and ponder what Piers’ wears? I mean, a leather jacket with spandex? Metal boots and a work-out tank??? What is he wearing?!), but it isn’t exactly distracting. In Western cultures in particular, we can see a trend towards the glamourization of the “athleisure” style, or athletic wear designed more for everyday use rather than just working out. It was kind of fitting to see this be the primary style for the gym leaders, who can basically be described as hierarchical sports stars. Weird? Sure. But in the context of the world, it all fits together, and once again adds to the immersion aspect of the game.

Looking at our main antagonists, they are designed quite well. Chairman Rose is designed to be quite easy and fun to hate (at least for me) - he’s an important-looking businessman who’s very impressed with himself, paired up with a beautiful yet terrifying subordinate woman who does most all the hardwork for him (...actually, they kind of remind me of an antagonistic Cl. Mustang and Lt. Hawkeye from Fullmetal Alchemist…). They also had noteworthy battle themes that popped a bit more than other battle themes in the game.

While they hardly count as antagonists, I’d like to also make a brief mention of Team Yell. They’re more annoying than anything, which is a trend that I’m not too sure how I feel about yet. It was definitely more likable coming from Team Skull, that’s for sure. I would have liked Team Yell doing a bit more damage, having them be a bit more unruly and controversial before evening them out with the whole emotional appeal of them cheering on for Marnie in hopes of saving their ruined town. But they weren’t too terrible in my opinion.

I could talk for hours on the champion of the region, too, Champion Leon. He’s a really fun and charming character overall, less of the supremely wise and powerful champion that we’ve seen in older gens and instead being a more quirky but worthwhile opponent on the path towards the crown. But I definitely preferred him more as a character than as a champion; even though his team changes depending on your starter, it’s not too challenging of a fight if you know what you’re doing, especially when you immediately know what his ace pokemon is (something we don’t really learn in other gens about the champions). While I’m sure the idea of a powerful but transparent champion can be done, Leon doesn’t really stand up as a powerful trainer when compared to other champions in the franchise. But he’s definitely still a fun, interesting character concept that I am grateful for in this particular game.

When it comes to the designs of the primary NPCs and Pokemon, SWSH continues to talk that line just above mediocrity. Not too bad, not all that great, but definitely not something to be forgotten. I’d reason that the primary strength of this generation lies within the characters that are introduced.

Uniqueness vs. Status as a Pokemon Game...

In regards to the uniqueness - how well this game stands on its own as an individual concept rather than just another Pokemon game - I’m a bit divided. On one hand, I’m a bit saddened by the watering down of content and constant reliance on concepts from older games. But I can also see that SWSH introduced a lot of interesting ideas that have inspired so many fans for this generation. And while yes, this gen didn’t have much to offer in terms of new Pokemon, new scenarios, or new lore, I do think that it does hold its own when compared to the other games in the main series. New characters are introduced to the player, all of which having good (and bad) traits that allow for lots of fan-created content with their essence; a new look into a brand-new battle enhancer that requires a different strategy than those of previous battle enhancers; a new culture found within the Galar region that can inspire many more thoughts and theories on the Pokemon world as a whole in a number of ways. We cannot pretend that SWSH isn’t an influential game just because it wasn’t ground-breaking; even with my extreme distaste for the Black and White games, I still admit that they led to important decisions and ideas that led to the creation of games I did enjoy. So, as its own entity, I think that Pokemon: Sword and Shield really has a lot of offer and would probably be an amazing game for a younger player who’s just getting into the Pokemon universe.

But I think that a lot of us long-time fans can agree that this game doesn’t quite match up with the others in terms of giving those real “Pokemon game” feelings. The problem with big-titles like this is that the company tends to lose sight of what really makes a franchise so influential isn’t the stuff found at face-value. It’s not the creatures or NPCs or game mechanics or design or any of that garbage - it’s the feelings we get when all of those things reach that perfect harmony. It’s the rumble in my chest whenever I listen to that famous intro-sequence of my old Pokemon: Ruby game; it’s the fire in my eyes when I went back to challenge Pokemon Trainer Red for the tenth time that night back in my old Pokemon: Heart Gold game; it’s the tears I cried when I watched the only interesting character, N, leave my playable character after his emotional spiel following the defeat of Ghetsis in my long-since abandoned copy of Pokemon: White. At the end of the day, Pokemon is more of an emotion I get rather than a game I play, and I think this is an idea that few people can recognize for themselves. And while I’m aware that I literally just spent several thousand words bagging and praising this game for all those face-value aspects, I also know that when you add that extra little bit of care to your work, go a little further with a character you know someone will adore, or try something new with that new battle theme, there comes a sensation that goes beyond that of love for a silly fantasy game. I’d like to think it’s something akin to inspiration.

Conclusion...

In conclusion, Pokemon: Sword and Shield is far from perfect. With a number of faults and disappointments, I can understand why a lot of fans were less than interested in giving this game the time of day. But I also want to say that this game deserves to be understood and appreciate for what it is, for what it’s done. Who knows what sort of new ideas this game has inspired? Whether it be in the name Pokemon game or someone else’s passion project, I am confident in the potential that this game has to bring someone’s dreams to fruition. It already has inspired so much amazing fan-content from the community; after so many years of being away from the fandom, SWSH was the game that drove me right back, giving me the drive to once again indulge in my middle-school days of sketching out my latest comfort character or writing out a million headcanons in a way-too plot-heavy story. Many fan-creators in this community feel the same as me, I’m sure, so it would be untrue of me to say that this game was anything less than what it was: a fun, simple game that prides itself in its characters and potential rather than complex combat mechanics or some corkboard-plot nightmare. It’s a game meant to be enjoyed, so we must remember to find our enjoyment wherever it can be found. For me, Pokemon can’t really do much wrong, but also is held up to a level of expectations that I can’t quite understand even for myself. This, at the end of the day, is a video game from my all-time favorite franchise; so long as I can find enjoyment there in it, then it’s worth it. In a world filled with nihilism and cynicism, it’s nice to visit a land where you’re wise to try and be the very best like no-one ever was, to be the next best Pokemon Master.

[dingoat]

A Kiss on the Hand

This is probably going to be the most involved of my OC Kiss Week pieces, hah, and comes from another prompt from @kaosstar (seriously thank you for these!!) - ‘A platonic kiss on the hand or cheek from Zim to Ahuska.’ I mulled for a while over how to let this come about, and once Kaos suggested Zim might want to compliment Ahuska’s singing, everything kind of fell into place.

It also gave me a grand opportunity to very gratuitously surround Ahuska with ALL THE LOVELY BOYS. I’ve borrowed @humanrevolt‘s Crow and @askshivanulegacy‘s Blakk for the occassion as well, I hope I’ve done right by everyone, ahhh, and of course this is only as ‘canon’ as everyone/anyone wants it to be.

If you want to read the tale (rated ‘C’ for ‘cheeky’) then carry on below!

---

Mar’an Crow did not understand his wife’s obsession with Pokemon Go.

“You can go catch real… like, real live, actual animals, any time you want! That’s literally what you do! People pay you real credits to do that!”

“Yeah but that’s not the point…”

“I thought that was one hundred per cent the point of the game?”

“I mean yeah, sorta, except it’s just fun like… it’s silly and nonsense, and doesn’t matter at all, and I kind of like that about it? Plus some of them are just stupidly cute…”

Crow did not understand. But considering their home planet was quite literally off the grid, he was willing to indulge Ahuska with a trip to Alderaan to participate in the upcoming Safari Zone Weekend. He trusted her claims that it was a ‘big deal’, that Alderaan was one of the ‘best planets’ to play on, and he trusted her, even if he didn’t trust that blasted Agent she’d be catching up with for a hot minute.

And so, having spent the previous day indulging in one of his favoured activities (white water hoverboarding over the Glarus rapids), a long sleep in and a gourmet breakfast in bed (they put berries on everything!!!) and a leisurely trip to the Alsakan Highland Wildlife Park in the morning (the vorn tigers had a three month old litter of cubs), Crow found himself giving Ahuska a peck on the cheek and wishing her a safe and fruitful ‘fake animal hunt’.

She laughed, kissed him back, and he barely even heard what she said while he took in the way her eyes almost perfectly matched the clear blue sky. “Mmm- what?”

“I said give my regards to Dahlia, you di’kut! And make sure Pexu gets into whatever mischief she wants. Only fair, since she couldn’t come to the park with us this morning. See you in a few hours.”

“Yeah, see you then. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

---

Imperial Cipher Omega Blakk was just Blakk, today, having shed his uniform and his mission objectives to spend some time, in person, with his long term Pokemon Go buddy and fellow Instinct teammate. He still wasn’t quite sure how he managed to let her talk him into it; face to face interaction with somebody on the Empire’s hit list was dicey at the best of times and they were usually far more discrete and brief when chance brought them into the same sector at the same time- usually no more than sharing a quick caf over a trade before being on their separate ways again. He wanted to say she was incessant, that she was insufferable, that she twisted his arm or blackmailed him into it, but the simple truth that he would never admit out loud was that he found her infuriatingly delightful.

She loved to tease him through the game, going out of her way to find Pokestops marked over Anti-Imperial graffiti to send him gifts from, barely restraining her giggles when she showed him one of her pokemon – one that was a literal bag of garbage with a goofy little face – that she’d named ‘The Emperor’. But she also squeaked with delight every single time one of her favourite creatures showed up (a little blue and white animal based off a vulptilla), and actually clapped her hands together with glee when he offered up one of his absurdly exclusive regional legendaries for trade, when she didn’t have anything remotely comparable to offer in return. He couldn’t explain why, exactly, but he was happy to do so.

She actually grabbed his hand at one stage, to haul him onto his feet with a whoop and drag him three blocks over in pursuit of a new rare spawn that showed up on the map. She didn’t hesitate to climb a tree (full of bugs and probably other things) with both of their datapads tucked into her satchel to save them having to enter a gated country club that required guest sign-in for non-members (something neither of them were particularly excited to provide) – to access an uncontested gym. She paused play for twenty minutes to watch an Alderaanian snow squirrel pick its way across a garden lawn. And she teased him relentlessly about the fact that his clothing looked better suited to an evening gala dinner than a day outdoors playing games in the sun.

Maybe it was the fact that she was so bright and free spirited that her constant ribbing didn’t get to him. There was something different about spending time together in person. Or maybe… maybe it was the fact that for once, Blakk had a plan to get her back for months of endless cheek.

---

She wasn’t a Bothawui-born Bothan, that was for certain. It only took a few minutes of watching her for Ziminder to be confident about that.

His line of work brought him into contact with Bothans on a reasonably regular basis, and she had a vibrancy and openness to her that one simply didn’t see amongst those more embedded in the naturally mistrustful, back-stabbing culture of the species, whose economy was based on knowledge, and power was held by those able to seize and protect the most. The young Alderaanian nobleman smiled to himself, as he stood discretely off to one side in the dappled shade of an archway artfully overgrown with flowering vines, slowly nursing a sparkling drink. It had been a surprise, when Blakk had contacted him out of the blue, wondering if he was free to meet up for an afternoon tea with some other new friend of his. A pleasant surprise, but a surprise nonetheless. He had been busy, but he’d never let Blakk know that he’d rearranged his schedule to fit him in. It had been far, far too long, and he had to admit that he was painfully curious to see what sort of friend might actually be capable of dragging the Agent out into the light of day, even for a little while. He had to guess that this Bothan- Ahuska- was a fan of his old acting work, and that Blakk’s invitation toward him was, in part, some sort of surprise favour to her, because he’d been instructed to hang back and wait until Blakk’s cue before meeting them at their table.

He thought that was tremendously cute, and was all too glad to play his part in such a gesture.

And so, he leant back and watched, bringing his tall glass to his lips once more, waiting for Blakk to catch his eye and give him that subtle nod.

---

Ahuska had been having a brilliant day. From the long, lazy morning to an entertaining and fruitful session of monster hunting, everything had just been downright lovely. Crow had treated her like a princess, and even Blakk seemed… somehow brighter than she’d come to expect from him.

She hadn’t really known what to make of his expression when she’d paused at one point to pick some wildflowers, and start weaving the stems of the stunning blue-violet blooms into a crown. Almost like he was jealous, she thought, though he went all odd and stiff when she offered one of the flowers to him. But he had accepted it, and pressed it neatly inside his wallet to stash in his pocket. She finished her crown, but wound up making it long enough to wear around her neck, and she still caught him staring at it a little oddly, from time to time.

She thought Alderaan’s Celebrity Walk was a bit of an unusual choice for them to have their afternoon tea break; granted, the place was littered with cute cafes amid the statues and memorials to famous Alderaanians from all walks of life, from war heroes to nobility to artists and actors and musicians, and she couldn’t deny that the place was an absolute haven for pokestops to keep an eye on while they ate.

It was just one of those spots that felt a little too tourist-catering for her tastes, and she would have assumed Blakk’s as well… until she saw the little commemorative plaque on the pavement beside the table he lead her to, and she had to stifle a giggle.

“Ohhhh, okay, okay, no, this makes sense now. Blakk, honestly, this crush of yours is way too cute.” She had, somewhere down the line, worked out that he was quite familiar with every work featuring the undeniably easy-on-the-eyes Ziminder Antilles, locally born actor who’d covered almost everything from commercials to holoflix series to feature length films. And so the fact that he’d want to sit next to Zim’s plaque was understandable and utterly delightful to her.

It also prompted her to start humming, and eventually singing aloud, the little ditty from one of Zim’s shows that she’d re-worked the lyrics to specifically for Blakk’s benefit (or discomfort, depending on who you were asking). She barely even thought about it as the words tumbled from her lips, while she stared over the menu in the vague hope that this particular café sold fresh donuts. “Toss a coooiiin to Ziminder, you big grumpy agent, you big grumpy agent…”

As she went on, she dared a glance his way, but was disappointed to see he wasn’t quite squirming the way he normally did. As she took a breath, Ahuska decided to up the ante, diving into a brand new verse that pushed just a little further out of the comfort zone than she normally dared to tread.

“At the e-edge of the bed, Face all flushed and red…”

She stood, grinning wickedly, all the better to add a couple of cheeky gestures to go with her words.

“He hammered and he-eld you! Now you’re giving him—" “Ahem,” a polite little cough from behind Ahuska cut her words short, and she froze like a kybuck caught in speeder lights.

Almost comically slow, the Bothan turned with her breath caught in her throat, to see none other than Ziminder gods-damned Antilles himself, standing right there in the flesh. Her song turned into a mortified squeak, and all it took was one horrified glance over to Blakk to catch that proud little cat-smile curling his lips for her to realise just how perfectly she’d been played. The fething Agent had set her up! Her ears hadn’t flushed quite so bright a shade of crimson since the time she’d walked in on  Nines and Lyrisal performing roughly the same act she’d been about to describe in song, and she found herself just as flustered and stuttering as back then.

“I um, ah, oh, uhhhh. Hi I was just um…”

“You must be Blakk’s friend!” The holo-star swept aside her fumbled words and took up one of her trembling hands. He’d heard every word, of course, as Blakk’s timing had been impeccable, and he too recognised the smirk that had graced his old friend’s expression. Quickly re-assessing the situation, Zim had cut in before Ahuska had completely disgraced herself and worked to set her at ease.

Ahuska still felt her ears burning as Zim lifted her hand with practiced grace, landing a delicate kiss on top of it. “I… ahh, yes, uh…”

“Ahuska, is it? He never mentioned what a lovely singing voice you have! It’s my absolute pleasure to meet you. Please, please allow me to buy you a drink…”

---

Crow paused for a moment, looking out across the open air café, bright and bustling in the early afternoon light, watching his wife laugh and tease. That Agent always made him uneasy, despite her constant assurances that he’d never sell them out, despite her unerring trust in him. When they were joined by another fellow, it gave him a bit of a start; wasn’t that that actor? That Antilles lad—wasn’t his House quite firmly allied with the Republic?

He found himself smiling, and more thoughtful than he’d expected to be. There she was, his Ahuska, giggling at a table with an Imperial Agent on one side and a Republic noble on the other. And she, like him, somebody who had rejected both, choosing a life free of the bounds of either of the galaxy’s major governments. And yet… yet… there they were, finding common ground, somewhere, existing together without the bloodshed and the ultimatums that he’d become so accustomed to between the factions. Maybe there was hope for the galaxy yet, even if bonds were built one being at a time.

And then the light caught Ahuska’s ears just so, and Crow realised how flushed she was. He hadn’t seen her turn that shade of red since he’d had a certain (Completely tasteful! Absolutely inoffensive! Very flattering!) painting of himself delivered to her tent at the old Clan headquarters, so many years ago. Whatever had happened just now, she was embarrassed as hell, and Crow took that as his cue to step in and perform his solemn duty of deflecting attention.

“Hey there!” The rough cheeked, scarred Mandalorian swaggered over, one hand forcefully extended in an offer for Zim to shake. “I see you’ve met my wife! Aren’t you the fellow who was in that toilet cleaner commercial when you were twelve…??”

[bibliophilicwitch]

Rolled the credits for Pokemon Shield about an hour ago.

The overarching story was a little bare, but it had a good message/theme and did some things differently that I really appreciated. It also seemed to focus a bit more on the different NPCs' stories and growth and I honestly LOVED it.

And this may be one of my favorite Legendary encounters tbh.

I don't play games for realistic, clean visuals so I don't notice muddied details and poor textures. I'm a Pokémon gamer and as such to my eyes the game looked very pretty. There were a few times I casually noted a thing could've been rendered or animated or expanded on better (including a point where you battle characters a second time and they use the exact same phrases from the first time...?) but these did not take from my enjoyment at all. (Hell, if I can play RiME then this is like playing The Witcher on XBox.)

With 400 monsters to catch including several really cool new ones, I did not miss the National Dex one bit. Now that I have completed the game, I will miss the challenge of completing the NatDex, but the the Dex is still more than large enough to keep me busy especially when I include shiny hunting and breeding.

The last thing to touch on the the Wild Area which also plays into online interactions. The Wild Area isn't bad though it is laggy when connected to the internet due to the massive amount of people playing, but now that I have completed the game and am highly leveled, the excitement and danger will likely start to dwindle. Sadly, GameFreak somehow managed to make a worse online system than Festival Plaza from Sun/Moon that is painfully difficult to connect with friends and has no way of separating friends from everyone else.

C'mon GameFreak. I just want my friend and I, two hours away from each other, to be able to meet up in the Wild Area, see each other to feel like we're running around together, to easily connect for raids, trades, and battles, and to clear the clutter of random online strangers' stamps from real life friends' (ie my Switch Friends) stamps. I want to see those lil updates on what my friends are doing while I play. Especially if I can't run around in the Wild Area with them.

My enjoyment of this game far exceeded the negative and I'm looking forward to wasting hours further exploring, filling my Dex, and collecting any remaining things I missed the first time around. (Also ready to play through again. 😂)

[halorocks1214]

hmmmm prime numbers for the video game asks?

Listen, are you secretly a math teacher? I might not be taking a math class my first year at college but come on, I’m taking a break for a reason

JKJK, thanks for asking~

1. First game you played obsessively?  To make sure I answered the right questions I double checked my math with Google and turns out, one is not prime, so there’s that fun fact for the day that I always keep forgetting

2. A game that has influenced you creatively? Writing, drawing, etc.

Pbpbppbpb, I mean, the stories from my favorite games definitely helped me get into Writing and such. I loved the idea of my characters going through the situations the characters in these games did, and slowly I learned to make my own stories instead of just... taking plots from video games and changing the characters to mine lmao

Though, my main OC going through all the Pokemon games’ plots as a singular person and interconnecting all the worlds and lore? Yeah, not getting rid of that any time soon. Pry it from my cold, dead heads. I dare ya

3. Who did you play with as a kid?

Lots and lots of online friends. I get real tired of people saying, “internet friends can’t be real friends!” because for the longest time the only people I could ever talk to were through a headset

Outside of that, I do have and had IRL friends who I played with a lot (I got a few buddies who I regularly get online with that I see in real life as well), and occasionally I play with my brother

The rest of my family and I (including my brother) also have game nights. Mostly Mario Party and other Nintendo/Mario games

5. Ever use cheat codes?

I did actually, a few times for one game. I was getting tired of dying so quickly in Don’t Starve so I looked up how to spawn certain items in the chat box with codes and stuff. I think I accidentally impulse ended that run by trying to take on that spherical-cyclops-ostrich monster because I was getting cocky and... yeah 

7. Any games you have multiple copies of?

Nothing off the top of my head! With the new wave of being able to have digital libraries especially. Even as a small child I kinda saw it as a waste, so I never had more than one copy of anything 

11. Have you ever made new friends from playing video games?

I don’t do that much online hunting anymore where I can voice chat, so nowadays, not really anymore, but back then, with all my Halo and other Xbox obsessions? All the time. My friends list is huge for a reason, and that’s because I never shut up lmao

13. A game you’ve never played that everyone else has?

There’s probably a lot of them, tbh. I watch a lot of Youtubers to get my fix for certain games that I don’t have the time or energy to play myself

17. Ever lose a friend over a game? 

Outside of “online friends I dropped because of getting older and more mature”, not really. I’ve lost friends, but never over video games

19. Favorite handheld console?

As cliche as it is, the Switch man, holy shit. The Switch is genuinely revolutionary to the world of video games, and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to live with out it

23. The game that you’ve logged the most hours into?

Hmm, if we were to go with “in general” the Pokemon franchise definitely. But if we want concrete numbers I can think of off the top of my head, Monster Hunter World is getting dangerously close to logging in 300+ hours, and following that (not very closely, mind you) would be something like Breath of the Wild or New Horizons

Listen, my friend begged me to get MHW to play with him and if there’s anything I’m grateful from him for, it would be his insistence that I get this game. It’s baller

29. What is your gaming set up?

This post is going to be twice as long because I saw the opportunity for pictures and I apologize for nothing

Computer is very basic. I don’t use my gigantic monitor for games though, because every monitor I’ve ever tried lags the hell out of my frames and I just can’t deal with that :/

Switch and Xbox! The two main consoles I play... pretty much the only ones. I had a PS3 briefly for Persona 5, but other than that, *jazz hands*

BUT THE BEST THING: I recently asked my dad to make me these controller-holding hooks for the headboard of my bed and they are the BEST THINGS EVER I love my dad

Bouns: the back of my Switch since I’m a sticker slut

31. Does the 3DS and/or Virtual Boy hurt your eyes or give you headaches?

Any screen device is bound to give me headaches from time to time. Whether it’s from staring at the brightness for too long, or because my dumbass was laying/sitting in a position that was bad for my back/neck, I will probably never know

37. Have you played E.T. for the Atari 2600? Do you think that’s the worst game ever, or do you have another nomination?

Never touched it, and while I can’t give a personal opinion on how garbage it is or isn’t, I do like the jokes that come from it :D

41. A genre that you just can’t get into?

Uh, you know what? I can’t really come up with anything. A long time ago I might have said “long, story-heavy games that take forever to complete” since I mainly watched those on Youtube, but now that I’ve played games like Persona 5 and Breath of the Wild and absolutely adored them, I don’t think I have a leg to stand on

I think I’m willing to give anything a try, but if I play it and it gets boring, then it was probably mostly because I didn’t like the story or because I couldn’t get behind the controls :P

43. Ever play games when you really should have been concentrating on something else?

Yes, all the damn time. Homework in high school that I need to work on? Latest chapter of that fic I’m supposed to be writing? Nah, gotta find all the fossils on my island before I forget to do it later, cause we all know what’s really important here

47. Do you like competitive games?

Man, my Overwatch phase consisted heavily of the competitive aspect of the game, even if the competitive side was toxic as crap. Halo online is and was the shit, always had fun with a variety of the games they came up with. SMASH, SMASH WITH MY TWO BUDDIES I MENTIONED BEFORE IS SO MUCH GODDAMN FUN YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW-

So TLDR, I do like the competitive aspect of video games a whole lot, even if the competitive stuff I mainly do nowadays is just me and my friends fighting each other in Smash at midnight lmao

53. What’s your opinion on DLC these days?

It depends on the pricing and what comes with the DLC. Each DLC is it’s separate thing, and you can really only judge them based on each individual game and what they are worth. Was the game mainly complete when you bought it? Does the DLC have actual worthwhile additions to the game itself? ETC ETC

I could make an entire essay out of this, but I’m kinda tired, and the best way to sum up my feelings is “DLCs aren’t inherently good or bad, and it sucks that certain unnamed companies have given them a dirty reputation”

59. Do you play any cell phone games?

Again with the used to. Huge mobile game phase for awhile (Clash of Clans, PUBG rip-offs, etc) but not anymore. I do have mindless, ad-riddled games if I’m bored, but even those are collecting dust at this point

61. Do you trade in your games or keep them forever?

Off the top of my head I cannot think of any time I have ever traded in a game, so I guess it looks like I keep them until they die or break lol

67. Do you have a happy gaming-related childhood memory you want to share?

Man, I have a bunch. Video games were and still are a huge comfort thing for me, so to just share one would be blasphemy. Let’s just say, video games have always brought be joy and happiness during times when nothing else could :)

Ask the gamer more video game questions

[raven-wraith]

A Completely Subjective (Objective) List of Titles to Examine (Purchase), Play Through (Waste Your Life), and Enjoy (Enjoy) During Quarantine (part 2)

We know what’s happening. It’s April 1st, but the joke has been going on for far too long. Trapped in our homes with Covid-19 actively shooting people in the streets outside, we have to find a way to pass the time. As an avid gamer and professional uncooked cookie dough eater, I have compiled a list of games, both multiplayer and singleplayer that anyone and everyone should play for an enthralling experience. These games range from the newest releases to golden classics, so be warned if, I don’t know, Halo Reach appears. By the way, Halo Reach is appearing.

Multiplayer Games: 

I would like to point out that the following games are more directed to be in the vein of multiplayer, however, the single player experience should not be disregarded at all with these titles. I just find that the replayability comes from the multiplayer modes in these titles, but go ahead and check out the single player. After all, these games have strong versions of those modes either way.

A Way Out

Okay so I already lied. A Way Out is exclusively multiplayer. But before we hop into the gameplay itself, I do want to emphasize that only one (that’s right, one) copy of the game must be owned for 2 people to play, even online. A cooperative 2-player interactive drama game, the game paints a story that involves a prison break, found family, betrayal, and interesting and original levels, each with unique controls involved in every set. 

The game plays in split screen, even when playing online, allowing for one player to be in a cutscene talking to a guard while their partner is to be off somewhere else, in full control. A Way Out also has very interesting mechanics, where branching discussions can be given depending on either player’s interests or playstyles.

A Way Out is a once in a lifetime experience and it won’t be the same after replaying it, but the time spent with a partner is special and unique for first time players. I had an amazing time, I’m sure you will as well.

Monster Hunter: World

What is better than hunting parking garage sized Pokemon on crack? Hunting parking garage sized Pokemon on crack with three other friends. Monster Hunter: World threw things like story and development out the window to focus on gameplay, and for that, I appreciate their direction with this game. 

In this game, the idea of the hunt is everything. Figure out your prey, find and craft potions and weapons that are best against it, track that fool, beat that thing’s head in 500 times. Rinse. Repeat. While it sounds simple, MHW’s massive size would prove you wrong. This game is so gigantic, you and your friends have to camp out in the game, you may have to in real life, just so you don’t lose too much sleep.

The game runs closer to an RPG as well, with weapons and armor that can only be wielded by players seeking a specific role for their hunting party. It’s like every good part of hunting things in The Witcher, only you do it with teammates that never brought enough health potions. For people with a lot of time on their hands, this game is a must have.

Did I mention that you kick the shit out of monsters?

Borderlands 2

The most self aware game I’ve played since the Stanley Parable, Borderlands 2 is a phenomenal game that only gets better the more friends you throw in it. A first person shooter built around a campaign of limitless side quests, an expansive class and character system, and of course, guns. Borderlands 2 brings humor to an already mixed genre of looter shooter that there is so much to unpack, I feel it’s unfair to do so here.

Borderlands 2 is the ultimate hunt for treasure and glory. You journey through the planet of Pandora, a mixture of Mad Max and a 2012 mlg compilation video. The game has a strikingly intriguing story with multi-dimensional characters and a fascinating intro to anyone who is opposed to shooters, RPGs, or both. The game offers hundreds of hours of content with the numerous DLC’s, all offering new areas, quests, and characters. The unserious Destiny, COD Diablo, whatever you want to call it, it’s all there in Borderlands 2.

The game, however, goes above and beyond what it already has when you incorporate two or three friends. After picking classes/characters and starting a new journey or just dropping in and out of co-op, the game is always fresh and welcoming with endless things to kill and loot. All in all-

Look. Just play it. Seriously. It's good. It’s like Spider-Man

Halo Reach

Ha, what’d I tell you? Boom, Halo Reach! Let’s get into it.

You don’t even have to play any of the other Halos to even start to understand what is happening. The game has so much to do, not in comparison to world size or gameplay, but in just sheer amount of modes to participate in. There's a campaign (with 4-player support), firefight, forge, custom games, and all the different playlists in multiplayer like infection, SWAT, Invasion, Big Team Battle, and more. 

While I did say that these games were centered on the multiplayer experience, I do have to highlight the campaign of Halo Reach. It is filled with beautifully destroyed battlefields, detailed corridors of enemies, and a cast of dynamic characters, all with impressively delivered voice lines and performances. I can give just the campaign alone a 9/10, honestly.

Back to the real shit, there is an incredible amount of things to unlock in Halo Reach’s armory, a list of cosmetic items that you can slap onto your super soldier to make your flex just that much harder when you kill and t-bag a person online. And also, everything that can be done between the multiplayer and single player ALL accumulate experience to your level, meaning no matter what you play in this monster, you can still access the armory and look fly as hell. Even for those who haven’t even heard of Halo, I guarantee that this entry into the series is the strongest. 

Titanfall 2

It is fucking criminal how underrated this game is. This is the only game, the ONLY game I know where Hollywood level shit happens on my screen every match. Every. Single. Match. Things that aren’t in cutscenes or in the background, we’re talking player to player encounters in the game. This is the only game where you can run along a wall at mach speeds, drop kick a guy, hop onto the back of his thirty foot tall mech suit, throw a grenade into it’s engine, blow it up, double jump onto a different building, hack a robot, kill a guy while invisible, teleport to a different fucking dimension, and board an evacuation ship all at once. 

Titanfall 2 offers a shooter experience that anyone who has ever played online has to hop in and see. While the skill gap is high (like Snoop Dogg high), it is beyond exhilarating in every match. The game allows for customization for your skills, suits, guns, and of course, your big ass Titan.

The game’s online modes feature a pick and choose system in loadouts where players of Call of Duty games will feel at home. However, players of Mirror’s Edge will feel at home with the fast paced mobility of Titanfall, where the player actually shines. The game sports wall running, double jumping, slides, movement assisting skills like grapple hooks, and momentum physics to all feed into an impressive movement experience to an otherwise simple online shooter.

Multiplayer revolves around less diverse playlists than Halo Reach, but between a surprisingly short and sweet campaign and an online experience that I think is unmatched, Titanfall sports such clean animations, well done lighting and curated maps, that I think that it holds an unparalleled online experience (3).

And that’s the list, really. I didn’t include games I thought were 10/10’s, perfect, or otherwise critically acclaimed just because everyone else had played them. I went off to analyze these titles and try to comprise them into just a few short paragraphs using the experience in writing and gaming I knew. Stay safe during quarantine. And please…

Check out Titanfall. Those dudes need more players. Seriously.

(3)  Also, see the campaign. Seriously. It’s a little too good for a shooter.