#people hate on it as far as fun generational mechanics go

[goldensunset]

man i miss terastallization (keeps thinking i should get my bisharp’s type changed and remembers that literally isn’t a thing)

[scopophobia-polaris]

first female loz director and the gerudo seem to be written fine enough? wow... there ain't no way I thought we were in the worst timeline after totk

Yeah got through the main quest with the gerudo, it wasn't painful! It wasn't even bad! Still got them outfits but for the most part it was like oh cool!

I would say a lot of that oh cool is from the fact they didn't do a lot to even fuck it up to begin with, I'm gonna be real with yall this game is NOT worth $60USD

Edit: lemme say one thing, you know when people were being like damn totk story wasn't dark or mature at all why was this compared to Majora's mask again? And then all the zeldatwt people came out and said zelda is just a kid series domt expect good writing uH

This one feels like a kid's game. That ain't to say it's terrible I would say, hell I'm not far in it if I get something crazy that's like OH FUCK I'll reblog this post and say something but uh.....game for babies I'm gonna be shocked if anyone struggles with any puzzles cuz you CAN CHEESE THEM EASY ITS 🫢🤭

EDIT EDIT: I SWEAR IM NOT EVEN TRYING TO BE A DOWNER..... @ezlo-x HAS BEEN THERE THE WHOLE TIME IVE BEEN PLAYING....THEY KNOW I HAVENT BEEN A PARTY POOPER.....

[mazzystar24]

i feel like im in the minority who don’t want eddie to have a slut era in general like… idk even without chris it feels so ooc for him to me, like i feel like he’s so far repressed at this point that if he didn’t wind up with buck he would end up just living the bachelor’s life…

and like i feel like that was the whole point of not having eddie and tommy be the couple this season was bc it wouldn’t make sense for eddie to step forward in that way unless it was buck… or at least that’s what i interpreted the initial decision to swap the storylines to be so maybe i’m wrong

i guess after six years i’m just tired of them dragging their feet and i’m sick of them giving them meaningless relationships with zero chemistry rather than just letting them be happy… and giving eddie a slut era would just feel like they’re rehashing buck 1.0 and i’m tired of them reusing plotlines they’ve already used for other characters (and even giving characters the same plotlines again)

like eddie can be gay without having a slut era and i kinda would like them to not play into the hypersexual queer stereotype since they’ve decided to do so w buck

One thing is 3am me is a gremlin and I don’t like her or her brain (that was the time I made that post) also she just likes to make fun of annoying people but so do I and I had seen TOO many posts talking about a straight slut era for Eddie so hence the chaos gremlin post

Normal me’s thoughts on this:

• the reason I don’t like slut era as gay Eddie canon for Eddie is like you said it’s a bit ooc but also imo like I feel like BECAUSE he’s so repressed it’d take a really meaningful and impactful relationship to give him the like motivation/push he needs to get him outta that closet (which was my same reasoning for why I was glad they didn’t do Eddie/tommy like they originally planned- cos buck just never realised it but Eddie like actively represses it and has much more like in depth reasons for it- like buck wasn’t so much in the closet as he just thought that was his room meanwhile Eddie is like in a super bolted chained Houdini level closet)

• I mentioned in the tags but I want to be FLABBERGASTED when buddie canon happens I want to let out an audible scream in shock and wake up my neighbours and realise it only after I get a noise complaint and if they make them both canonically queer it’d feel like a matter of time (funnily enough i said this but about making ONE of them queer when the bi buck rumours were going around and legit the next week or so we get 7x04 and I was right - true I didn’t anticipate bt fans and the fact that it doesn’t feel FULLY inevitable- but fingers crossed I am psychic again and we get gay Eddie)

• while I think the fact it’s so ooc would be interesting because like it’d show how Chris leaving is affecting him I feel like it’d also be a huge disservice to Eddie because his queer arc and experiences deserve better than like strangers and one night stands as a coping mechanism if you get me

• if I’m fully honest even if his queer arc doesn’t end up perfect I just want him to be canon like it wouldn’t be my ideal like honestly if they do a disservice to him I’d hate it but still I’d just take the win because gay Eddie deserves to be free from😔 like even with buck they kinda weren’t great with his arc but my joy at bi buck overpowers that

But yeah sick and tired buddie canon now Tim please😔💔

[zoobiefish]

So, I nearly missed out on Auctober again, whoops! I am now 9 days behind, woohoo 😂😅 I’m an Autistic university student, so I may not always have the spoons to commit to this daily challenge, or at the very least I may not be able to draw something for each prompt…I may have to just write a little blurb about what that day’s prompt means to me lol But ideally I would like to contribute as many pieces of art to this challenge as I can! For now though, to catch up on all I’ve missed, I’m going to make individual short blurbs for the prompts I’ve missed thus far:

Day 1: Autism Plus

For myself, in addition to being Autistic, I’ve been diagnosed with ADHD, OCD, EDNOS, and generalized anxiety. I also suspect I may have hEDS (hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome). Fun stuff!

Day 2: Infinite

The most popular symbol for Autism Spectrum Disorder to my knowledge is a golden infinity ♾ symbol (sometimes I see a rainbow-coloured one in use as well, though my understanding is that the rainbow infinity symbol is used for neurodiversity as a whole). For a long time, the infamous puzzle piece 🧩 symbol was used to represent ASD—but most Autistics HATE this symbol!! I recognize that I don’t speak for all Autistic people, but this is the common opinion on the puzzle piece symbol and the one I share as well: The puzzle piece symbol is problematic because it suggests that Autistic people are inherently “missing a piece” or that we are “a puzzle to be solved.” Plus, this symbol is used by the evil corporation Autism Speaks. I would prefer not to go on a rant right now about why they’re evil; if anyone is curious, I would recommend doing research on why Autistic people HATE Autism Speaks. But the short version is that they support eugenicist policies around Autism and seek to eradicate us from existence. They treat us as non-humans under the guise of doing “charity work”—they are absolutely NOT a charity. Do NOT support Autism Speaks under any circumstances—any supporter of Autism Speaks (or as most of us spell it, “Autism $peaks”), is NO friend of mine!

Day 3: AuDHD

This is a fun little term I’ve seen in the Autism and ADHD communities! It’s a portmanteau of “Autism” and “ADHD” in case it wasn’t obvious heh! I myself do have AuDHD; it’s a very common comorbidity! It’s certainly…an interesting experience because the two often conflict with each other, as if I have 2 wolves fighting within my brain 🤪

Day 4: Music

Music is one of my favourite coping mechanisms. If I’m understimulated or need inspiration (especially for art or writing), I’ll put on some fun, energetic music to get the juices flowing and will dance and/or pace around the room to get the energy out of my system! If I’m overstimulated, relaxing videogame soundtracks are often my go-to—especially music from The Legend of Zelda, Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing etc. Another aspect of my being on the spectrum is that my thoughts are very vivid and visual. Often times when I hear music, I can’t help but see colours, shapes, images, and even stories with characters and whatnot going along to the music. It gives me great ideas for animatics and artwork! I love this fun little bonus feature in my brain haha 😛

Day 5: Verbose

This one is rather interesting for me. I find when I feel safe around a person or I have just TOO much energy to control myself, I WILL talk—and talk—and talk—etc. I feel so bad for those who fall victim to my “infodump sessions”—but just know that if I do that to you, it’s my way of showing affection. If I talk and never seem to shut up around you…I probably really like you (platonically) 😁 Other times however, I am dead silent. This is usually around people I’m uncertain of, don’t know well enough, or I may just be burntout/too tired to talk 😅

Day 6: Individuals

As the saying goes: If you’ve met ONE (1) Autistic person, then you’ve met ONE (1) Autistic person! We are NOT a hivemind, people!! Just because I’m not like your “friend’s cousin’s aunt’s 3-year-old stepson” doesn’t mean I’m “not Autistic.” The stereotype with Autism is a white cishet dude—but we are just as diverse a population as any other demographic. We all have our differences and similarities, but we are unified in our shared diagnosis—and that’s it!

Day 7: Neuroscope

Ah yes, the “superpower” Autistic people seem to have in which we can all “sense each other” 😂😂😂 I find this to be scarily accurate actually—the majority of the people I’ve become friends with at uni turned out to be Autistic, and long before they mentioned they were on the spectrum I was able to tell. The funniest part though is that they all the said same thing about me! 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Day 8: Non-Speaking

So of course Autism is a spectrum, and among the ways in which Autistic people can differ from one another is whether we possess the ability to verbally speak or not. I do not want to talk in length about what being “non-speaking” means as I am not non-speaking myself and don’t wish to talk over those who are. What I do know though is that some of us are unable to verbally speak and may use alternative methods to communicate (whether through the use of sign language, AAC devices, or other means), which are equally valid methods of communication that deserve to be respected. Once again, I must iterate that I am fully capable of verbal speech and I am in no way non-speaking myself. That being said, sometimes I do have a reduced capacity to speak or feel it takes far more physical effort to speak when I am tired, stressed, overwhelmed, in sensory overload, or in the midst of a shutdown. This does NOT mean I am non-speaking—that label is exclusively for Autistic individuals who cannot verbally speak at all. I’m not sure what the proper terminology is for my specific situation (if anyone knows of it, I’d appreciate if you let me know in the comments!) but because of these situations, I am currently trying to learn ASL so I can still communicate in some way during these episodes.

And that’s it for now! I am hoping to have a drawing done by the end of today for Day 9, but we shall see! In the meantime, check out @autiebiographical on Tumblr! They are the one who started Auctober in the first place to my knowledge and they create amazing comics and other content that educates people on Autism Spectrum Disorder! Happy Auctober y’all!

[nfcv-saltmine]

Arikado gushing about Trevor

The comments:

I will never understand why some people think Alucard shitting on Trevor is an improvement over Trevor and Alucard respecting each other

I fucking hate this with all my heart ❤️ NFCV fans be like "why do you feel the need to compare the games with the adaptation? Why can't you see it as it's own thing and let people have fun?" and then pull off shit like this.

Why can't NFCV fans keep their NFCV shit to their NFCV spaces? 🤡 Why do they feel the need to go on GAMES spaces and act as if their show could even remotely fit? 🤡 Not to mention... Haha yeah, isn't it so funny that Trevor is a drunk and an idiot? Isn't it so funny that the noble bloodline who have dedicated their lives to protect the same people that fear and reject them, probably because they understand they're scared and weak and don't know any better and just want to survive, are reduced to some rich guys with a leather whip and a collection of books about penises? Isn't it so HILARIOUS that Alucard express no sympathy and no respect for Trevor and his dead family??

The fact those fans see no problem not only with how purely mean and petty N!Alucard is to N!Trevor, but also with making fun of N! Trevor's drinking habit when it's a coping mechanism for his trauma...! I get that the show itself doesn't care about this fact, but for the love of God is it too much to ask fans to think for themselves??? Is it too much to ask them to CARE about how poorly their favorite show handles trauma?? And everything in general?? Do they HAVE to blindly follow the "haha drunk man funny" train??

I am not against the very idea of Trevor being a drunk and having fun banter with Alucard. But that's the thing. Not only Trevor being a drunk is only there for jokes and never truly explored, and he never gets to process or get over his trauma of SEEING HIS HOME AND ENTIRE FAMILY BURN AS A CHILD... But his "funny banter" with Alucard isn't actually funny banter. Alucard is mean, straight up. I mean Trevor says one bad joke about Alucard's parents around a campfire, but next to that, Alucard constantly shits on him and his bloodline!! As if the framing and the very story wasn't doing it enough already!!

The "eat shit and die" "yes fuck you" moment could have been funny... IF THEY FUCKING KNEW EACH OTHER. THEY LITERALLY JUST MET. THEIR ONLY INTERACTIONS SO FAR WAS THEM FIGHTING EACH OTHER. THEM SWEARING AT EACH OTHER AND THEN LAUGHING AFTERWARD ISN'T EARNED, THEY'RE NOT CLOSE ENOUGH FRIENDS FOR THAT AND THEY WILL NEVER BE. NOT WITH N!ALUCARD'S SHITTY ATTITUDE. It's not a fun dynamic to have two manchildren saying fuck yous at each other! It's not a fun dynamic to have one of them insult the other's dead family while the other isn't even allowed to talk back because "oh he has to be the bigger person" according to Sypha!! It's not a fun dynamic to have NO ACTUAL BONDING MOMENT BETWEEN THE MAIN CHARACTERS and instead, have them spend their screentime being assholes to each other, with their mom friend having to be the braincell that keep them in line!!

I hate that Netflixvania felt the need to pretend to be an adaptation of CV3 and CoD(?). That's why we get shit comments like this and shit takes pretending their characters are improvements from the games they know nothing about. At least with Lords of Shadow, it is VERY OBVIOUS that it's an alternate universe. It doesn't pretend to want to change or "improve" anything from the classic timeline, it does it's own thing on it's own little corner, and it's very easy to appreciate it along with the OG timeline thanks to that. Even if it uses familiar names like Trevor and Simon and Sypha, no one with a braincell would even think to compare them to their classic counterparts (at least not in a "this version is better than the other" way), because it's not the same universe.

NFCV isn't like that. NFCV pretends to take place in the classic timeline. NFCV pretends to bring improvements to it. When all it does is destroy. And I'm not saying this just because it changed a lot of stuff. I'm saying this because everyone, Ellis the first one, just HAVE to shit on the games to praise the show. It was intentional for it to be percieved as being "better than the games". 🤡

Anyway game Trevor and Alucard my beloveds I love you and your respectful and wholesome relationship 🥺

[regular-theodore]

I've seen a few posts about the similarities between Frank and Jeff, and on the whole I think they are pretty similar, but one thing I haven't seen explored (probably because there's a total of three people in this fandom) is that Jeff is a young Frank.

I think obviously most actors have a certain vibe, or a certain character type they play often or particularly well, and Jeff and Frank are both the sarcastic straight man of their group, but there's also some traits that definitely read to me as "he still has issues but he's getting better."

(essay below the cut)

I think one of the first things people could notice is that Frank is a silly little guy! Jeff overall (light heartedly) makes fun of the rest of the study group's shenanigans, before sometimes eventually relenting (this happens often in the end credits with Troy and Abed, when he at first rolls his eyes at them before reluctantly joining in and actually having fun). on the other hand, despite Frank's gruff exterior at first, he doesn't hesitate to have fun with his coworkers, and is seen getting very enthusiastic about it- for example, the licence plate game or the animal metaphor game.

obviously both characters' sarcasm and tendencies to use it as a coping mechanism/way of pushing people away. with Jeff it's addressed at times how he's distant, afraid of commitment, afraid of having friends, and other things. however, probably because Animal Control is much shorter, or has a more light-hearted tone, but it's never really addressed seriously by the characters other than in jokes how he's cold or distant.

adding to that, one noticeable difference is how open Frank is about craving intimacy. in the episode with the cats, Victoria makes fun of him for being old and alone, and in the episode with the gardening girl, he mentions that all he wants is to skip to a relationship, and to have someone to sit at home and be domestic with (paraphrasing because I can't be arsed). while Jeff on the other hand is very closed off, putting up a facade of not caring, going on a lot of dates, and generally doing all the parts that Frank hates; casual sex, dating, and shying away the moment it becomes something more serious. to me, this definitely screams character development- Frank gets over his issues with intimacy, probably through therapy or experience or age, and is burnt out from a twenties and thirties full of casual dating, which at heart, was never what he really wanted. this allows him to become far more open about how he truly just wants his person.

another thing on the topic of healing relationships is Jeff and Frank's daddy issues. in Community, it's far more obvious, as there's several episodes centred around Jeff's father and his relationship with him, and it's mentioned enough that it's obvious he still struggles with his dad's leaving as a kid. as opposed to Frank, who never mentions it apart from when actually sees his dad. when Jeff visits his dad, it's an entire episode thing, but when Frank sees his dad, it's at most a five minutes at the end of an episode. this shows Frank's moving on, and managing to focus less of his life around a father that doesn't care.

throughout Community, Jeff struggles with alcohol issues, which are somewhat addressed in the GI Joe episode. he drinks a fair amount and is even referred to as an alcoholic by other characters. in Animal Control, this is again far less severe, and while he is shown drinking several times, and it is joked about by Victoria, it comes across as far more teasing and less concerned. this honestly seems to be a general theme (he says as if this is based off anything at all and not just a coincidence) and it shows with Frank's relationship with food as well. obviously Jeff has some pretty fucked up self hatred and most likely an eating disorder, whereas Frank is shown eating pretty much whatever he wants, to the point where things like him eating Amit's ice cream sandwich or talking about the panini maker become pretty regular.

but also the part in the episode with the gardening girl, when he says he wants to skip to the part where they are "binging shows and gaining weight together" (so real of him) I think summarises his entire arc pretty perfectly, as since Greendale he's not only healed his relationship with food and his body, but he's accepted that what he wants in a partner is pretty much the opposite of what he thought he did before- almost "overcorrecting" to the point where characters no longer make fun of him for his commitment issues and casual dating, but now tease him for his domesticity and pathetic lonely yearning for someone to be his.

so yeah, this was a lot of rambling and projecting and making completely baseless assumptions but it was fun to write :3 I should do more character essays, especially about Jeff because he's so me. hopefully I get my Frank healing arc before I'm in my fifties <3

[knightochan-official]

just finished the metaphor refantazio demo. unlockd the side dungeon but didn't beet the boss there, finished the main story up to the trailer, etc.

-lots of persona DNA, but not 1:1 persona.

-general visual style is a lot more subdued. kind of a middle point between SMT and Persona's artstyles.

-runs off a class system rather than any kind of fusion or collection mechanic. very reminiscent of digital devil saga, albeit a bit more restrictive

-there is a life sim system, time limit, and social mechanics, but they're far less intrusive than Persona's so far since you don't have a rigid schedule like in those games and it's used to abstract things like travel time and so on. it's not clear from the demo whether the game's version of Social Links will be a copy paste of persona's or side quest based.

-there are actual side dungeons! not some mementos bullshit! actual real side dungeons in addition to main dungeons!

-yet another popularity ranking mechanic.

-very pretentious in a dumb fun way. literature about literature type nonsense. someone on the writing team liked undertale and earthbound

-story is EXTREMELY blunt with fantasy racism themes, which is either going to be a surprise turning point for Atlus' ability to write politics, or a typical disappointment

-people have already complained that its woke lmao

-it's actually a bit hard on hard mode which is refreshing!!

-a bunch of the classes are homages to other megaten properties, which is either cute or grating

-this last-gen ps4 game upscaled and unlocked on the ps5 costs $70 and has lots of visible issues like texture flickering and really jittery background aliasing. this doesn't bother me but you'll probably hate it if you care deeply about price points and i hear its worse on PC

[yakuzabrainrotlive]

I have started Like A Dragon! I've actually already made it to chapter 5.

Why hadn't I made a post already, then?

Well, there's no sugar-coated way to put this so... let's just rip off the bandaid now.

I haven't really enjoyed myself playing this game this far. Yet. Maybe I will at some point. But for now I honestly just haven't had much to say in terms of what's happened in the plot besides the beginning. I don't hate the game, it's just that it hasn't been able to really hook me in yet.

I'll keep going since I've heard this game is one of the generally more loved ones in the franchise. And I know RGG loves its slow burn.

I hate to be a Negative Nancy, but I wanna be totally honest. I doubt y'all would want me to lie about how I feel about the game.

More about all that right at the end of the post. I will list my positives and negatives when it comes to this game (and talk about the battle system) down there.

I know this type of thing is common in RPGs, but I like it all the same. Neat little game mechanic. There's quite a few different ones here, but it's cool.

An interesting background for a main character. Yeah, being an orphan is more than common. But being raised by the employess in a soapland and the townsfolk around him? That's really out there - in a good way.

This was very sad. Ichi lost 15 years of his life to the joint and got nothing in return. The shock and disappointment on his face when he was released and there was just. No one waiting for him.

And after that, all that awaited him was just... betrayal. That's just brutal. I fully understand why Ichiban went into Total Denial Mode for a while; it must have been a totally incomprehensible and shocking situation.

-He got out of prison after 15 years and where he expected to find his family waiting for him, he found nobody. AND he suddenly had the freedom of choosing what to do, when to do it and where to go after 15 years. That can be scary.

-He witnessed how much the world and general society had changed in his absence and probably felt very confused.

-He saw his home totally wrecked and abandoned.

And now his mentor and beloved patriarch, the one who saved his life. The man he would have happily been ready to die for at any moment. That man had changed completely and acted like he didn't know Ichiban.

Yeah... the denial, frustration and desperation are totally valid.

Oh dear. Well, Kiryu wasn't there anymore, the Tojo upper brass kept changing and there was constant conflict within the clan itself. It was just a matter of time before Omi would take advantage of the situation.

I hope Majima and Daigo are okay. Or at least alive ;-;

*Faint sounds of Majima cackling in the distance*

Oops. Majima better hope Ichi doesn't find out who the driver was lmao. I feel bad for Ichiban, but I also love how this single random idea of Majima's still has these consequences that are brought up, even after all this time.

God bless Nanba. He's a sweetheart. That's all I can say about him. I also kinda like Adachi. I'm not attached to these side characters yet, but they're neat. I think they'll grow on me eventually, it's just that I tend to be slow when it comes to becoming attached to new characters.

Legends say that if you pull this bat out, Shinada will appear in front of you and ask for some money....

I did play through the whole soapland thing and then some. I don't have much to say 😭. We do have a woman fighting with us, finally after all this time! #Girlboss

I would honestly happily die for Nancy. No questions asked.

OKAY UHH POSITIVES AND NEGATIVES.

Positives:

-Ichiban

-Interesting premise

-The different jobs satisfy my hyper-optimizing, excel-sheet-making, micromanaging self

-Funny enemy titles like "Piss Wizard"

-Free full heal spots my beloveds❤️

-Voice acting (in the Japanese dub at least) is excellent

-Substories have been fun!

Negatives:

-EXP yield is... not optimal; grinding takes FOREVER unless you go fight higher-level people than yourself, but then the battles can take ages. Job exp grinding especially feels about as pleasant as pulling teeth.

Am I supposed to grind in this game?? I've started to wonder about that since it's such a slow process. I have absolutely no idea. Have I missed a thing that helps exp gain??

-Unless you get lucky with the ability to find treasure, money yield can be tight at times, too. Which is rough, considering the cost of gear with 4 team members (and probably backup members later).

-The premise is cool, but the stuff I've played through in terms of the plot after leaving Kamurocho hasn't been very interesting to me this far (early-to-mid chapter 5) :/

-Substories don't give you EXP 😭

How about the elephant in the room - the battle system?

Well. I'll come out with it straight away; I'm very, VERY picky when it comes to turn-based combat. Shin Megami Tensei and Persona have unfortunately spoiled me too much, so this game had some unfairly MASSIVE boots to fill. And it didn't quite fill them. My bar is way too high and I acknowledge that 100%.

I get that they didn't want to make the system completely "passive" by just having to select moves and it all going smoothly from here. But I dislike the timing-based quick time stuff in the middle of attacks and perfect guard. I can pull off the attack dmg boost thing most of the time, but perfect guard is just... it feels way more difficult to pull off than Tiger Drop in any previous game. It's very frustrating. I frankly feel stupid, having this difficult a time with it.

Grinding is further hindered by spread moves being kind of unreliable - if the enemies are spread out, you're only hitting a single foe. For now. Maybe there will be better moves later on.

Idk if it's just me, but characters' MP pools feel very limited compared to the cost of the moves combined with how little damage you do at times? Maybe it's just the fact that I'm in the earlier parts of the game, but I feel like I have to be replenishing MP constantly.

I like how all the different types of gear can have additional special effects. It's neat.

All in all the battle system feels... very laborius. I can work with it! Absolutely. I'm just not the biggest fan.

God, I wish I could just gush about this game and sing its praises, but that's not happening yet by a long shot. This far? Maybe a 6-6.5/10. I hope my opinion changes for the better as I progress; I really wanna love it as much as other fans seem to.

[crow-withaphone]

Hello hello I'm thinking about @triple-starsss Band AU again but this time I'm gonna rant about my 2 AM thoughts cause I can't sleep and I dont wanna bother anyone rn jshsj, sorry people you gotta deal with my brainrot now :3

Under the cut- Crow rants about Nova, Surge and Kit's band from their Project Starkiller AU if they were in this T.S AU.

Please keep in mind this is a big ol ✨ What If ✨ scenario, I'm just airing out my festering thoughts

The au in general is very fun and I love it very much. I wanna take the whole AU, put it in a jar and shake it around /aff

Now, as far as I'm aware Vix (the AU's creator) said surge and kit won't be prominent in the au to not give T.S too many rivals (understandable) upon reading this I thought "kinda funny that in my AU they already have a little band with Nova.. waitaminute-

SO since this au is kinda more realistic, Surge and Kit are not lab experiments, just two orphans with way too much emotional turmoil and inner resentment, y'know, for the plot /j. Same thing for Nova except she's not an orphan, she's a home runaway (for context, Nova the Cat is from my AU, Project Starkiller, she's an escapee from a lab in another dimension) Thanks to their similarities, being alone and angry at the world, the trio gets along and ends up sticking together.

Personally I'd have Surge aged up so she's old enough to keep a job and a small apartment so they're not. Y'know. On the streets. Surge is doing her best to provide for them, but it's hard. Nova would be the one to convince them to try starting a "band," not really expecting it to go anywhere, she already brought her guitar with her when she ran away from home anyway so, hey, why not give it a try? Surge agrees because she just wants to yell a lot, and Kit agrees because Surge agrees.

I think it'd be good for them all as a coping mechanism, Kit gets to hit stuff, Surge, of course, gets to yell, and Nova's already doing the one thing she enjoys.

Now, at first they are!! Not good!! At all!! They have very cheap equipment and Surge & Kit are newbies, Nova is an okayish teacher but she's also!! A child!! A child prodigy, sure, but a child nonetheless. As they get better they start posting their songs and covers on.. whatever the Mobius version of YouTube is. Some people like their stuff, and thus starts their lil' YouTube career /hj

Edit: I should probably mention that they aren't rivals of the triple stars band or Metallic Madness- Nova is inspired by them both, Surge kinda hates them both for. Some reason. (Bad vibes ig) And Kit is kinda indifferent

Stars (pun not intended) I hope this made at least a little bit of sense. Iii'm gonna stop ranting now cause it's 3 AM and I need sleep. I'm gonna find this in the morning and probably regret posting it, but for now I am shameless. Hope y'all don't mind this long rant, gotta get my thoughts out somewhere.

And hey, if y'all are interested I'll definitely rant about it more cause this au drives me insane and I highly suggest you go check it out if you haven't

Okay I'm actually done ranting now, gnight creatures within my phone

[mistfallengw2]

Done with the story, and boy howdy am I happy with this expansion~

So, let's get the easy ones out of the way: map design and music are just top notch, even more than usual. Lost count of the amount of times I got lost exploring, it's all just damn neat, and I'm not even done. Likewise, I got so many goosebumps due to the music, and now that I'm past spoilers, I'm due to sit down and properly listen to the full soundtrack. Also, sound design has always been awesome as well, and each time they move up a level.

Story was pretty damn good and DENSE with stuff for lore nerds to chew on. GW2 is back to doing what it does best, and the worldbuilding through dialogue and books has been a blessing this time around. So many of the interesting things "forgotten by the story" got addressed or aknowledged, and I kinda like that we've been out of the loop for a while even before the SotO stuff (we can't be everywhere, and that's a good thing) so that it can be done organically. The Tyrian Alliance have some of my fave dialogue (oh Dougal, hang in there buddy) and books, and MAN the hints at potential future expansions have me running up walls. Also all my homies hate Isgarren's floaty ass and I'm here for it (and for poor Frode who has to wrangle him). The investigative parts are such a pearl of writing, piecing together what happened in Gavril through texts found around the map before the bloodstone story step was SO satisfying, and in general I loved each build-up. I expected things from Waiting Sorrow, and while what I got wasn't what I expected, I love her already (you can whoop Isgarren's supposed ass, don't hold back dear). I've seen people complain about Poky being Braham 2.0, which is fair, but honestly I'm here for it and I really want the two of them to meet and be friend (even Alder thinks the same, come on!). Can't wait to dwelve in all the other collections and achievements I haven't done yet, what I got done so far has been quite fun.

Gameplay? Sure the spears are awesome, the warclaw is fun (gosh the chain-race mechanic in those story fights? Perfection.), but the events and hearts are the kind of small scale stuff that makes me adore GW2, because I like being useful to people in mundane yet meaningful ways and it makes every part of the world feel lived in. I love that they reused a ton of older minigames and event structure for the new maps, and I haven't been so "at home" in maps since Grothmar.

Speaking of homes, the Homestead... Haven't touched it much because I wanted to focus on finishing story before going away for a few days + F2 being bugged for me. Given what I've seen, I'm glad I stocked up on mats, but I'll keep doing that and leave the actual decorating to when I have a nebulous "enough". With the story done, I will not respond of the emotional damage I will soon suffer. Expect posts uncomprehensible keysmashes under screenshots, I can't promise more (might survive since emotes don't seem possible for the alts, and while sad I do know that could have slain me).

My only sore points have been mostly resolved or are known bugs, and I'm trying to make my peace with the warclaw's animation speed ruining an otherwise perfect mount.

Could ramble a lot more, but all in all? If this is what we get after the teething pains of SotO, I'm sold on all future expansions and more. (And I should probably get started with GW1, huh)

Now to think about my OCs... For sure this is a expansion all about Aurelia and Ellara with a side of Zehmik, but gotta see about the rest...

[is-that-plural]

Okay this one may be reaching super far HOWEVER

Judith Ford/Natalie Cook from 36 questions! (Its a podcast musical so I will mention music and stuff)

The basic plot is Judith meets this guy named Jase, and- in an effort to get away from her past- changes her name and entire identity to hide who she is! During the 3(?) years they’re married she goes by Natalie Cook, forged documents, makes up a backstory, etc. Jase finds out, things happen, and then Judith finds her way back to Jase and then the plot of 36 questions happens. Basically they go through *the* 36 questions (look it up if you want) they went through the first time they met, and then fun things happen that we don’t fully care about. All you need to know is she goes by Judith (her true identity) throughout this.

Now we can get to the possible system implications.

I don’t want to claim that alters are fake identities, because they aren’t, but I feel like I can justify a case for Natalie possibly being another alter!

It is implied that Judith had childhood trauma/a generally unstable home life, as she mentions in the song “Our Word” where she says she continuously lied to “[keep] the waters calm”. She started doing this around ~8, so it’s implied that things happened beforehand. It is also implied in the same song she has some kind of depression, which is common in trauma survivors. Don’t take this as hard evidence though.

The main part I want to talk about is in the song “We Both.” She literally starts the song with “When I was with you, I was real.” This is probably meant to read as, despite her identity being fake, the love she felt for Jase and her personality were real. However, through a plural lens, you can see this as Natalie signaling to Jase that she was quite literally herself with him, despite having to “fake” her identity. Similar line from the song: “When I was with you I didn’t feel lost, confused, or frightened, or scared to be who I am.” Jase also near the end of the song talks about Judith and Natalie as if they’re separate people “But now I’m reevaluating how similar you are to her.” There’s also the line from the end “When I am with you I am actually too real” which can be read as Natalie almost giving away the fact she was an alter?? Maybe??

Some more evidence comes in “A Better Version” where Judith sings about how she felt like her life with Jase as Natalie was better. Which actually can count as some counter evidence for this theory as she specifically states she “heard the perfect opportunity to be someone else entirely” and says it was to be “free from [her] history”, but I digress. She says “And I loved who I was with you.” Which is, again, treating Natalie and Judith as different people! She also has an entire verse about how she loved doing things she used to hate (which even though it’s supposed to be read in a romance context, can be taken as Natalie having different opinions to Judith!) Judith also says “Natalie, your wife, she was a better person” again referring to the two as different people!

In “Answer 36” she’s talking to yourself using “you” as if she’s talking to someone else! Which, I admit, is extraordinarily common even in singlets, but it’s something! This is also after something that was very stressful for her, and it could be Judith and Natalie talking possibly! Again, this is meant to be a coping mechanism and is common in singlets, but I’m trying to get as much as I can for this theory over here.

Wow, uh— that was a LOOONG rant. Sorry about that! Just wanted to talk about some possible plurality in a very niche fandom :3

!!

[ we are in this fanbase actually !! huge fans of the show <3 ]

Whilst canonically its very much just the biggest lie Judith got herself into (on Purpose, mind you; a huge part of Jace's problems with her Lay in the fact that Judith did all of this as a Choice and i think that's the biggest evidence countering it as sadly shes just a singlet with ptsd and depression and possibly other disorders that dont seem to be plural), She does have some aspects of plurality in her character overall though ! we see where you're coming from !!

so: is that plural

Rating: not really, but there's definitely some 'ingredients' of plurality in her character !

[howmanygsdoesoneneed]

the Dragon Age VG fandom is a bit of a bummer (sometimes)

I'm not even talking about the incels and gamerbros who are complaining about how the game is too woke. They're not worth talking about, and it's hard to think of them as genuine DA fans. If the ability to have top surgery scars on your Rook (a 100% optional trait that you don't have to have for yourself) is such a turnoff that you won't play the game, then I have to wonder if you were that enthusiastic in the first place.

Anyway. Don't care about them, and fun is too good for them.

What really is a bummer to me is the genuine fans who seem to be talking themselves out of liking the game in advance. Like, some of them talk up Origins so much, and it's clear that their memories are rose-tinted and highly nostalgic, and they're basically comparing VG not to Origins itself, but to their memories of playing it for the first time.

(ETA: Just to clarify, I'm talking mostly about the Facebook side of the fandom. There's a ton of DA groups on Facebook. The larger ones tend towards being public and accepting anyone, while the smaller ones are usually private and tend to be more left-leaning & inflict the banhammer liberally on assholes. Mostly, the behavior I'm talking about in this post happens in the bigger groups, which have a wider range of people, including those who complain about "wokeness" and who like to spread negative rumors as far and as fast as they can. Side note: These people are also mostly male, so it's a total hoot when you realize that this behavior is basically gossiping, a pastime that is normally attributed to women and viewed negatively by men and society in general.)

And they're almost talking themselves into not liking VG just because it's so different from what they remember Origins being. And how could it be anywhere near the same? Origins was 15 years ago - not only is it a different game, but 15 years later you're almost a different person. Plus there's 15 years of tech upgrades - games can do so much more now so there are probably some mechanics from Origins that are just basically defunct now. Plus tastes have changed, and they do have to make a game that people want to play.

Basically just lots of reasons for why VG is different from the other games, but Origins most especially. So the die-hard Origins fans are unhappy with what they hear about VG, especially in terms of how it's different from Origins. And this makes them particularly vulnerable to rhetoric from the anti-woke haters, even if they themselves are not especially "anti-woke" (I fucking hate using that term after it's basically been appropriated and abused, but it's what they're using and so it's useful shorthand). So I see all these people who are just talking themselves into disliking Veilguard without ever having played it, for reasons that don't have much to do with the game itself. I feel kind of bad for those people, because they're going to miss out on what I think is going to be a great game. Even if they do play it, their enjoyment is going to be colored by all of that negativity.

(And I know, why should I care? It's nothing to do with me, not my fault, etc. It's just a bummer, because it's happening all the time in fandom spaces that once you get "anti-woke" people in there they make it less fun.)

Anyway. This is why I tend not to put much stock in game reviews, and don't even read most of them. I don't want my perceptions to be affected by anyone else's opinion, and it's so easy for that to happen. Case in point, I read the review from The Guardian. It was the first one I saw, and I figured I might as well look at one, at least. The reviewer mentioned that combat seems to rely a lot on dodging, and that is mildly concerning, because I'm fucking terrible at executing defensive movements in real time. Like, just really, really bad. I've never been great at that fully real-time combat style, and I am 50 now so I'm only going to get worse. I usually do pick things up eventually, but it can take more than one playthrough sometimes. In this case it hopefully won't make much difference, because I can always turn the difficulty level down if I need to. I'm a completionist in terms of content, but not achievements, so I'm not worried about completing the game on nightmare for the 100% (I would like to do a full playthrough on hard, but that's going to come much later. I don't care if I have to turn down the difficulty on my first run.)

On the other hand, that review and other content peeks have seemed to suggest that combat options are limited (in that you only have three or so abilities available in combat), and that tends to be a good thing for me, because I am usually a pretty unadventurous tactician. I'm not one of those people who uses spells in imaginative ways, like using force spells to push enemies off cliffs and such. I typically end up with 2-3 favorite abilities that I use constantly and forget about most of the others. (BG3 has helped me a little bit with that, though, because you can do so much in combat that I'm starting to get interested in trying things.)

So, clearly, reviews are just incredibly subjective. For instance, the reviewer for The Guardian also maligned various memory aids, like the fact that the journal has mission summaries for completed missions, and other things. Which I totally disagree with, because those features are like a fucking miracle for me. I have a shit memory, so I appreciate whatever help I can get in that area.

When I used to play the old 90s RPGs, like the first Might and Magic games and such, fuuuuuck. The amount of backtracking I used to do, the hours wasted looking for a specific house in a town with no map and where all the streets and houses looked exactly the same. Maps and waypoints and the like are the work of geniuses and make gameplay so much more enjoyable (I remember this one game, totally forget what it was called, but you could just flat out lose the game if you didn't take a specific quest-related action before a timer ran out, but they didn't tell you there was a timer, and I forgot where I was supposed to do the quest turn-in, and basically got stuck in an end-of-the-world death loop and had to restart the whole thing, when I was already about halfway through.)

I think gaming is easily the most subjective artistic/entertainment medium in existence. Not only do you have visual and story elements, you are an active participant in your own entertainment, so there are game mechanics to contend with as well. There's just a ton of different elements to like or dislike, far more than any other kind of media. So that's the main reason I don't care about game reviews -- they're just so subjective that I don't often find them a useful way to know if a game is worth buying. I'm just as likely to buy a game off the back of a bad review as I am a good one. Reviews are mainly useful for finding out if there are game-breaking bugs at launch.

So this turned into a bit of a ramble, especially when the TLDR is that fandom can be a bummer sometimes. It just sucks that the Veilguard launch has been affected by so much negativity. And it makes me wonder if this is just how it's going to be now, for anything with even a hint of inclusion about it. It certainly seems that way. I wish that people could be more open to change (and maybe less inclined to be driven by nostalgia for older versions of pre-existing properties). And I wish that people were more open-minded about things like top surgery scars and vitiligo. It's not hurting anyone to include those options, and it can really help people and make them feel seen.

[catboybiologist]

Should I get armored core

I'm right at the end of chapter 1 (haven't had much time to play), so of course I may miss some things here, but here's my review. Spoiler free

It's a good, clean game. Well worth the price and far more tight and put together than most other AAA games on the market (the fact that this is a standard is a bit sad, but oh well). It's fun, and I think most people will enjoy it.

Here's whats great about it:

Movement. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, absolute butter. You truly soar in this game, both figuratively and literally, and even the tankiest of builds have a distinctive glide to them that gives the game both a unique character, and in general, a high quality. I'd love to see similar movement styles adapted to other games and other genres.

Build customization and variety. The thing everyone talks about in this game, and it deserves to be praised. Building your mech and piecing together how you're going to address a specific level or problem in your own particular way is a really fun puzzle, and the builds don't just affect numbers on a screen- they very meaningfully affect how your mech moves, which enemies they're most effective against, and what other pieces you need to pair it with. It strikes a nice balance of tailoring a build to specific levels, as well as finding signature styles that work for you.

Ignore people who say the game is ugly. It has a strong gunmetal and wasteland aesthetic, but it fits the tone of the game incredibly. It's not vibrant, but that's a deliberate, artistic choice, and it manages to have art variety even within that aesthetic. The desert mission in chapter one exhibits this beautifully.

The soundtrack fucks HARD. Probably my top Fromsoft soundtrack, and probably one of my favorite video game OSTs of all time.

That being said, I criticize things I love more than things I hate, because I understand them enough to do so. So here's my take: it's def not up to par with Fromsoft's usual lineup or output. Of the modern (post-DS1, I've never played Demon's souls) From games, its probably the weakest. There's a couple of glaring issues with the game, unfortunately:

The complexity of the missions does not match the complexity of the player's build and inputs in the slightest. This is why there's been a lot of complaints about the game simultaneously being too easy and too hard. Either the enemies are simple and don't do enough damage to kill you, or they are simple and do enough damage to kill you. Even with dodging via intricate movements, there are some parts that are flat out bullshit and some parts that are a breeze. Because of this, it often feels like I'm injecting my own fun into the game by being flashy in my own right, but the game should reward that on its own. It's interesting to note that this feels like an inversion on how Fromsoft games typically work. Most From games have pretty simple input mechanics that you're forced to push to their absolute limits with environments and bosses that are extremely complex. This is true of all mainline Dark Souls, Elden Ring, and hell, even Sekiro and Bloodborne.

The storytelling.. this ain't it, chief. I guess it's to be expected, since Miyazaki isn't the director of this one. A plot element just got dropped in right at the end of the mission I'm on now that seems like it'll make things more elaborate later on, but no matter how complex the plot itself becomes, the classic Fromsoft storytelling style isn't there. You're back to this being a game where the plot is laid out for you with monologues, direct explanation, and cutscenes. The environmental storytelling is almost absent. As much as "item description storytelling" is memed on, but combat log collection is a slap in the face substitute for that.

Building on the "environmental storytelling is absent" point, the environments themselves have no complexity and don't reward even the barest minimum of exploration. There's like... one collectathon item per level, and that's it. No hidden pockets of the maps, no character moments, no scenes in a corner that show interesting bits of lore or story, no interesting details about the world to find. This is pretty bad for me tbh. Like yes, I understand its supposed to be a linear experience, but this isn't about linearity vs open world- its about how much you're doing with the linearity. Even compared to all of the Dark Souls games, which are all linear or branching linear, there's a distinct lack of care and detail in the levels that could really be there.

It's a fun, tightly made, well put together game that is fun, flashy, and has the most fun movement of any game I've played probably ever, but there's a lot of wasted potential. I would love to see similar brands of sci fi games, or hell, even fantasy magic shooters that build on these same types of controls and level of customization. If that sounds fun to you, go for it.

[tirsynni]

Years ago (crazy to think about how many years, honestly), I started Sands of Time as writing practice to see if I could get into the practice of writing on a regular schedule (it failed). I had a bunny inspired by thinking too much about Ganondorf and his role in OoT and WW, decided it was as good as an excuse as any to work on writing regularly (failed so hard), and it ended up becoming a love letter to a game series which I've loved almost my entire life.

That fic kept going and going and taught me so much about writing, both in general and fanfic-specific. It ended up being far longer than planned, more detailed than planned, and even when I was distracted and tired and side-eyeing this massive WIP, it reminded me of how much I loved the Zelda games and the many details, overt and subtle, in them. Writing was more than just putting words on paper: it was translating the things I was passionate about. Even if there are some definite issues in the fic due to the many distractions occurring during its creation and how sometimes I wrote less because I was passionate to write and more because I was just stubborn about seeing the fic through, it's still a fic I'm very proud of. It is also, without a shadow of a doubt, my most popular fic. It is a fic that someone refused to rec because they wanted to hit lesser known Zelda fics, and holy shit, I preened when I read that.

I have been struggling with fic and fandom in the last year for many reasons, including some serious RL stressors. The other big reasons have to do with the evolution of fandom itself. I'm not talking about the rise and fall of the popularity of certain things. For example, while I'm not a fan of "reader" fic, I feel like it's a fantastic example of the things that can be done with the fanfiction medium and also a way to explore how tropes/genres/random things in fanfiction reflect different cultural changes in the same way horror movies do. What I hate, though, is the rise of negative feelings and negative takes in fandom, transforming it from a fun, collaborative atmosphere into an arena full of witch hunts, deliberately bad takes, and people terrified to write because they are afraid of being attacked for their content, pairing, writing styles, grammar, etc. I love fandom as a love letter to canon, an exploration of canon, an exploration of self and writing styles, among other things. Now it feels like it's no longer that.

Back in the Old Days, people put disclaimers on fics because they didn't want to be sued. Now people put disclaimers on things assuring readers that of course they don't advocate these things, these things are bad, they know it, they aren't a criminal, they aren't a pedophile, they aren't a Bad Person. Now I see people skip summaries just to tell people to stop attacking them for their pairing and to just let them write what they like.

I see people indulging in deliberate bad takes of the original content, of the original creators, of other writers in fandom, of different tropes, of game mechanics... fucking everything. Sometimes it's just a nasty circle. Sometimes it's done to elevate something else, because we all know the only way to elevate something is to put something else down. I understand vent sessions. I understand going to a friend and going "Holy shit, did you see that summary??? Wow!" It should stop life as a quick vent. It shouldn't make up the person's entire personality. It shouldn't require a full online presence. Hate should never be detailed in the comments. Call-out posts should be left to actual nazis, terfs, etc., not to someone who wrote a "gross" or "unhealthy" or whatever pairing. Seriously. If you waste so much time on that, you need to look into some self-exploration and therapy. In all sincerity.

Fanfiction is not a published work. It should be fun. It is put online to be shared with fellow fans. It is something where someone gets excited about something or has an idea about something or wants to explore something or just wants to write some kinky porn and then share it with fellow fans. That's why writers post work and then sit eagerly .02 seconds later waiting for people to comment on it because they want to share their thoughts and love and happiness and excitement and sadness and grief and their general emotions with others and they want those others to respond and share their thoughts and reactions, too!

I just saw a post tearing into Moffat's Sherlock series because it lacked sincerity for the audience and source material and instead indulged in its arrogance, contempt, and self-righteousness. My immediate thoughts turned to the Lord of the Rings movies. If Sherlock is remembered, it will be purely in the critical sense, an example as to how a popular series was forgotten and dismissed. LotR remains loved. It is a classic. It is something people repeatedly marathon despite the lengthy watch time. LotR was a love letter to its source material. It wasn't just the writers and directors: everyone involved was sincerely, fiercely passionate about it, and it shows. It drags the watchers in, prompted people who had never read the original to pick up the books, inspired so much fanfiction. It was sincere and passionate and loving and, in turn, its fans are sincere and passionate and loving.

The LotR movies explored and loved the genre, the characters, the message. Even when characters faltered, it didn't make them terrible people. It made watchers hold their breath, it made watchers cheer them on, it made watchers hope. Check out people who do bad takes of Frodo and his struggle with the Ring and watch how many people come out of the woodwork to defend Frodo. There was no tongue-in-cheek humor mocking the source material. There was no critical analysis of "Well, you see, this is how the hero was actually stupid." No. It was sincere. It was loving. It still makes people cry and cheer and happy even when they're wiping away a sad tear or two.

I've read fanfics where the writers insist on the worst takes for the characters. It isn't done out of humor or a teasing love or an exploration into the characters/writing styles/etc. The writers want to drag the characters down, put themselves on a pedestal, and do it not through sincere analysis but by doing the worst possible takes on the situation. This usually relies on going into the source material with a negative mindset and desiring negativity in return, feeding primarily on the negative takes of others rather than looking into the source material or looking for positive takes, or just having a "bad faith" mindset. They go into it with an axe to grind and want to drag everyone else down with them. It isn't one or two fics: it's a growing, poisonous movement which is one of the things driving people out of fandom. It isn't a love letter to the source material. It is hate and disgust and contempt and Moffat writing Sherlock, patting himself on the back all the while and surrounding himself with people doing the same exact thing.

I'm a strong believer in people writing whatever they want to write. You want to write this character being evil? Sure! You hate this character and want to make them OOC to bash them even more? Go for it! I've written so many things testing how far I could go or feeling angsty and wanting others to feel angsty or even feeling happy and grinning like a feral gremlin as people wrote comments talking about how the angst in the story made them bawl. Want to write vore? Want to write character death? Whatever! It is fucking fiction, and it should be something you can enjoy doing. Hell, an asexual person can write two people fucking without wanting to get fucked. A lesbian can write two men fucking. A pacifist can write a murder mystery. It is fiction. Write whatever you want, and I hope that you feel better after doing so, even if it is only in the catharsis way of having a bad day and getting it out by making characters bleed.

Already, I can fucking hear people insisting that all of this makes you a bad person. No. No. If you truly believe that, it means you don't understand writing. You don't understand art. OR it's not a misunderstanding but a deliberate Bad Take, an extension of the poison I described above, because you want to attack someone and you want any opening. See: Republicans going after Drag Queens now, probably not actually believing that Drag Queens are harmful but recognizing vulnerability and knowing they can manipulate others through hatred. If you truly believed that, you would be wondering about Stephen King and other writers, but instead, you use conservative attacks and uncritically promote purity culture and are oblivious to the day when the leopard turns around to eat your face.

It's exhausting. It's a growing trend that is poisoning the water that is fandom and is not only playing a part in driving people out, but is keeping people from ever trying their hand in the first place. It is keeping people from enjoying what should be a fun thing. It is fucking poisoning minds, because this is a damned slippery slope. Hammer/nail and all that. It is seeing one thing as "problematic" and knocking over one tile and then seeing a full domino effect because they never bothered to analyze what "problematic" meant or why they found that "problematic." It is people grabbing a torch with the hope they won't find themselves on the stake.

Let people enjoy fandom. Try having positive takes. Let fanfiction and fanart and fanworks in general be something enjoyable again. Maybe some people use it as a way to vent current political issues. Maybe some people want to explore certain sexual kinks and writing these two (or three or five or seven) characters going at it is a great way to do it. Maybe they had a funny thought and want to share it via fanfiction. Whatever. We can't go online and bash people like Moffat and then casually do the same exact thing. We can't bitch about conservative politicians attacking people and then use the same exact thought processes and methods to attack others.

Let people be sincere in their enjoyment. If you don't like it, find something you do like. Maybe take some time with some tools and explore things which make you happy instead of indulging in deliberate bad takes to tear others down and use those takes to bind yourself to others and their bad takes like barbwire. Remember why things like LotR lives on and makes people so happy and why Moffat's works are going to be used in classes in the future as to what not to do.

[sazorak]

Every Game I Played in 2023, Ranked

I debated moving this list to Cohost (after all these years, the Tumblr text post interface still makes me want to punch a wall) but whatever, here we are! Keeping it relatively short this year.

A lot of the games I played aren't going to be on this list because I don't have much new to say about them (MTG, Dwarf Fortress, Strive, etc), but for those that I do, here's the games I played this year.

2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022

SD Gundam Battle Alliance - 2022 - Steam - ★★★

I really wanted to like this- you know I like me some Gundam- but the experience is simultaneously too thin, too grindy, and bereft of stakes. There's nothing like "oh no we have to preserve the Gundam metaverse from hackers ruining the archived story!" to make me go to sleep.

There's something about the progression system of every "hey, gotta catch 'em all!"-ish Gundam games that is designed exclusively for people who either played these games in the early 00s, or people with addictive personalities. There's been little in the way of evolution. Yeah, the gameplay here is different as a sort of Action RPG, but this is far more Dynasty Warriors than it is say Armored Core.

Just not for me!

... Where's my new Super Robot Wars at damn it?

9. Pokemon Scarlet/Violet DLC - 2023 - Switch - ★★★★

I talked last year about how I mostly liked this game in spite of its many, many issues. The DLC mostly plays to SV's strengths: fun plot and characters, improved open world catching system from Sword/Shield. They also run considerably better, due to a year of opportunity to make things more stable and address bugs.

That said: It doesn't address any of the other issues that have always been there. Open world exploration becomes kind of pointless when you have the ability to invalidate any level geometry. There is such a thing as too much mobility, believe it or not, when you can just jump over everything. At the same time, the ways cutscenes work is soooo slowwwww, to the point that getting through them to the "action" can be quite tedious.

This DLC also continues the unfortunate thing that drives me nuts about all these DLC, that the level scaling is just awful. It basically assumes you have done literally nothing since finishing Scarlet Violet, and not engaged at all with the post game. Which hey, works out for Lil Timmy who is experiencing this DLC in-line with the base game or only after beating it (since it does dynamically scale for earlier progression), but it makes the whole thing kind of a rote exercise for those who actually played the game more than that?

I realize this is multiple decades now of me barking that hey, it'd be nice if Pokemon didn't exclusively try to appeal to 5 year olds, which is definitely a lost cause at this point. We don't even get stuff like Battle Towers or Frontiers anymore really. Ah well!

8. Street Fighter 6 - 2023 - Steam - ★★★★

Ok, here's the thing: Street Fighter 6 is overall a very good game, lots of care and polish, but I got a few bones to pick with it.

1. I kind of hate its input buffer. Just drives me nuts, particularly with how it handles supers and specials with overlapping inputs.

2. World Tour while is neat, the progression of it is so goddamn grindy and miserable. So much HP for enemies as you go on, and you don't have access to a fighter's full skill set even at the very end due to how special "slots" work.

3. The cast feels too safe. I like the new additions a lot, and in general the old chars have been rendered quite well, but there's just not a lot of innovation going on. The system mechanics are quite good, but it's the thing where no one on the cast really calls out to me. Personal taste thing.

Marvel's Spider-Man - 2022 - Steam - ★★★★

I don't think I have anything particularly unique to say about The Spider-Man Experience beyond hey: that's a pretty good Spider-Man. I think the DLC was obnoxious as shit, and a number of the decisions tied to box-checking-completionist stuff were mean for someone like me who has the stupid brain that thinks it's important to do Everything no matter how tedious it is, but overall: a good Spider-Man. Some of the villain stuff felt pretty weak though.

7. Resident Evil 4 Remake - 2023 - Steam - ★★★★★

A great remake! They trimmed down some areas a fair but, but none of them particularly egregious (some of them, particularly a last act boss being removed, was quite appreciated), and the mechanical additions are fun.

Does it invalidate the old version? I dunno, maybe?

6. We Love Katamari Re:Roll - 2023 - Steam / Switch - ★★★★★

Hey, you know what's also a very good game? We Love Katamari. Not much new to say beyond hey: the name is accurate, and you should buy and play it. I liked it enough to buy it twice on two platforms, which is silly but it gave me the excuse to play more Katamari so quite understandable.

A thing that does annoy me about the game is them reusing certain models from the other Katamari Remake, even when they were deliberately replaced in We Love Katamari and are even called out as different in the item descriptions despite not being so. Arrgh. It doesn't really matter, but I got the dumb brain for that kind of thing.

5. Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising - 2023 - Steam - ★★★★★

A fighting game that I enjoyed years past now has actually good netcode! The mechanical additions have been very nice, and I've been enjoying myself grinding away for my meager gains. It's also funny having skipped all the base game's DLC and coming in now, since it's like this release just added 20 more chars I'd otherwise not engaged with before.

A ton of polish has made this a fantastic package across the board, so many smart decisions and little details. I'm sure for GranBlue gacha fans it's probably incredible as something that pays tribute as well.

… but see, my main annoyance with the game mostly ties to being unable to stand the source material it pulls from. It's not enough to diminish my positive feelings for the game, but none the less: man, everything about the lore and characters themselves just does NOTHING for me. This is nothing particularly unique to GranBlue itself even, it's pretty in line with how I feel about every gacha title that exists to roll out chars and appeal to as many niches as possible without real forward movement or actual story, but hey here we are.

Looking forward to that 2B.

4. Baldur's Gate 3 - 2023 - Steam - ★★★★★

A game I admittedly haven't completed yet (I got up to a certain kidnapping in the last act and had to set it aside due to stuff repeatedly coming up for the past couple months) but still: this is a very good tactical RPG. I enjoy the writing, characters, and gameplay quite a lot. A ton of polish went into this.

I don't think I have much to say about it that hasn't been said by others, especially with all the Discourse that has circled it for months-to-years now across Early Access into release.

If there's one thing that does kind of annoy me about the game design, it's the way the player characters are handled. You have the option during character creator to create a character with a number of character-build-y backgrounds, or use their pre-built characters that have existing stories. This choice is lose-lose.

A fully custom character is blank, unimportant. There's nothing special about them beyond their affinity with a certain orb and being Protagonist Man. Their background doesn't really matter, even as you express your personality. You have nothing behind you that meaningfully comes up or affects the story (no Gorion, etc) beyond your role in the conflict. In other words, there's not a lot of reason for you to exist except as a cypher for the named characters.

Playing one of the named characters also sucks, because you lose those the writing for those characters. If I'm stuck aping Karlach, I have no Karlach in my party. You barely even get voice acting once you choose to play those characters either. You effectively end up with less writing and characterization, which kind of sucks! Yes, you do get your backgrounds being looped in and mattering more, which is indeed something, but not enough.

There is secretly a third option that, the more I think about it, is the correct one, they just don't tell you it. You can choose your character background to be tied to the Dark Urge, which results in a lot unique interactions, gives your character an actual background and comes up, etc. They don't outright make this the main option presumably because it comes with a lot of baggage (which, yeah, it does), but it seems completely worth it by comparison to just flitting through the story as either a ghost or the phantom of a real character.

3. Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective Remastered - 2023 - Steam - ★★★★★

Play Ghost Trick.

2. Armored Core VI - 2023 - Steam - ★★★★★

From Software continues to not miss. Fantastic game, some of the most satisfying mecha combat I've played. Story is great; it's still your usual "oops we're not explaining much other than in medias res or by circumstantial details" that From Soft has continued to double down on, but I really enjoy that stuff so hey. I 100%'d this game, got all the endings etc. Great stuff.

Really want some proper DLC so I can do even more, though.

1. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - 2023 - Steam - ★★★★★

Let's face it: this wasn't going to end any other way. Breath of the Wild is probably my favorite game of all time, and this is basically just more of that, remixed and remastered into a Second Quest that builds on the first one.

Something I kept thinking about while playing is that while there is volumetrically more to do, more things happening, more mechanics, etc etc, the different approach it takes in terms of focus and approach doesn't make it necessarily a "strictly better" version of Breath of the Wild.

Breath of the Wild was deliberately spare, quiet, and minimalist. Like the name says, its about the quiet wilderness, a poignant world that you explore. Tears of the Kingdom drops much of that, in many ways turning into a kooky madcap version of BOTW. You don't spent nearly as much time smelling the roses and taking in the scenery, as you're often too busy blasting by using any number of the new movement abilities or combat tools or literal flying machines you can now Nuts and Bolts together.

It's a deliberate escalation, one that in my opinion requires the preceding part to work. They add together into one complete singular experience, rather than pulling against each other. That's awesome, exactly what I wanted. Now I get to have two favorite games of all time that are secretly just one-and-the-same.

Some minor thoughts:

1. Lots of great writing and characterization, built up well on BOTW there.

2. It's kind of funny how much it goes out of the way to avoid talking much about BOTW in case someone plays this game first.

3. The last of a Master mode this time around is kind of a bummer but oh well!

4. The vehicle crafting system and everything about it, including the way it plays into the existing physics system is fucking insane. Absolutely incredible game design. Bonkers.

I'm really curious how the hell they're going to follow these games up. Going back to square-0 from this formula- one that is so built up and diverse, seems like it'd be impossible to me. What the hell could you do? Looking forward to finding out.

[sparky-the-springbot]

I’d like to tell you a story because I’m in M mode and bored and a lot of the most fun things to do are off limits when I’m on Earth.

Once upon a time on a far away planet, there was a prison, and in that prison was a Mechanism. Me. I had been on that planet with the others, having our usual brand of fun, when I got caught. Getting caught can be fun for the first little bit, but thanks to a certain idiot (read: Marius Von scrapping Raum!) yelling “Don’t let them flip your switch, Sparky!” the local authorities found out about my switch and promptly flipped it.

With that ‘change in perspective’ I decided it would be best to just go with them and do what they said, and hope I could get out on good behavior. Turns out that after a few years and a failed breakout attempt by some rebels, the warden decided the information surrounding my switch would be better as a secret, and after a few decades, no one knew what it did or even what I was in jail for.

True to my word and my programming, I was on my best behavior. I even smiled. At people. When I wasn’t happy. I have no idea how I didn’t loose my mind, but then again I think quite differently when I’m in goody-goody mode. It’s so wild, I actually have memories of asking the guards of my prison cell how their day was and actually caring about the answer.

But that’s not the point.

Several decades passed in this dingy basement of a prison. It was all too similar to the cave I spent my first dismal decades in. My only comfort was that unlike that unfortunate early period of my life, my processing power was working fast as ever, so I could think, and I could talk to the people that guarded my cell or came to give me water or wanted to interview me about various things.

Since, after a few years, no one knew why I was in jail anymore, a new warden decided to very publicly and showily give me a second chance. I think he was looking to get elected as governor and wanted this to counter claims that he would be too harsh and controlling. He let me out and even let me live in his house with his wife. Of course, he followed the strict instructions from his predecessors to make sure my switch was never touched.

Because I was in W mode, I ended up doing housework for them, all with a cheery smile, but secretly I did not warm to them. If I’m in W mode, then if someone can’t tell I don’t like them, I’m doing my job correctly. The warden was more than happy to have me help out around the house and was generally opposed to me leaving, except for very public outings where he showed off how kind and welcoming he was for taking in this stranger from another world. (He was never that kind in private). His wife was able to pursue more of her hobbies now that I was doing the house work, but he didn’t seem to like that. He criticized her art and mocked her crochets, and said she didn’t do any work to support their family, and he couldn’t even give him a child. Her response? “Why don’t you take that thing as a child since you seem to like it so much.”

See, the Warden had told his wife not to flip my switch, but he had never told her why, as he himself did not know, but he never wanted to admit that to anyone. I’m not sure how he didn’t know, but I suspect he wasn’t paying attention when the previous warden told him. And soon the wife began to speculate on what my switch did that he was keeping secret. She wondered if it would make me be able to help out even more, or perhaps unlock some ability that would help her but not her husband.

The thing about my core is that it is powered by blue matter which inspires my creativity in singing and just generally being more whimsical than your average space pirate, and it is surrounded by my organic bones which are infused with red matter that fuels my passion for the things and people I love (and hate). but when I'm in W mode for a long time, it's harder for the two to mix, since the red matter can't get into my core. so instead, it mixes on the outside, where it gradually leaks outward into the air, where it can influence people to want to flip my switch if they didn't already have a reason not to. it's not something I can control, but it often works out in my favor.

One day when she was feeling very cross with the Warden, she snuck up behind me while I was doing the dishes and flipped my switch. I, of course didn’t want to give away what it was that it actually did so soon, so I merely said “Thanks! I was in pain before, but you flipping the switch made me feel much better!” And left it at that. But on the inside, I was celebrating finally being able to have my revenge. That night, I took the warden’s weapons from his personal supply and I got payback on that planet for locking me up and then treating me like some charity case. Luckily, I caused enough chaos and death that the intergalactic authorities were called, and then it was a simple matter of sneaking onboard their ship to hack their communications and let my crew know where I was.

When I was back onboard, I made sure to shoot Marius and Jonny a few times for good measure. Everyone gets left behind sometimes, and at least it was no 100 years in a sun.