#playing around with this style more cus i think it's neat. feels nice not having to be super precise with the coloring

[theultimatekamehamehavoc]

[lettersfrombeyondthegrave]

I love everything about the scene where Ed and Oz meet for the first time. There's something to it idk

The way Oz goes in there walking like the prettiest boy there, in search for Jim like fucking always, literally hoe behavior I don't even remember why he wanted to see Jim and it's not important- no actually it is he wanted to personally give him the invite cus Falcone gave him Fish' old club, he think he's all cool and all cus he's openly working with Falcone and the boss gave him a lil club

but the fucking way he walks around the gcpd like there weren't already numerous murders and other crimes under his name

And he's fucking pissed because Jim who's job literally is about walking around all day and not be at his desk- surprise is not there. Terrific. How dare Jim not be there when Oswald wanted to see him. How dare he make Oswald come at another time into this cops filled building.

And then Ed spots him. Because a place can be as crowded as you want, you'll fucking spot Oswald that's for sure especially with season 1 hair. And he just- decides to study him basically.

I don't know if Oswald actually feels like he's being observed, idk what the funniest option is.

Oswald decides to retreat for now, pissed as he is that Jim is not there, so he walks back to the outside and he gotta be all fancy about it because that's what he does.

And the fucking sequence of Ed progressively getting more near him like a ship getting near the marked point on a radar

They have this conversation where Ed thinks he's playing a game and not understanding Oswald isn't interested at all in said game. Because yes this whole dialogue for Ed is a game is all hehe gonna give a little riddle to this criminal connected to the biggest mafia bosses in town!! I know who he is~ oooh dangerous guy this is so fun!! I know his nickname is Penguin!!! I know penguin facts!! Let's give him a penguins fact!!

The fucking way Oswald slowly looks at Ed- I love this scene. The stare- like he's actively trying to kill Ed with nothing but a look. Because how dare this guy speak to him, how dare he stand too close to him, how dare he say stupid riddles and penguins' fun facts!! He's an extremely dangerous criminal and what does this random guy want

And Ed doesn't read the room. He stands there like the little ray of sunshine he is in this part of the story, smiling at the most dramatic goth criminal in the city, currently giving him the most murderous look ever

"isn't that neat?"

And to remain fancy and polite like he always tries to be when he puts on a facade, Oswald tells him basically "nice meeting you, keep moving" because a "fuck off" isn't really in his style.

First encounter ends like this. Iconic.

[xdollydoodlesx]

Finally got around to working on that Poppy Playtime AU I’ve mentioned a few times before!

Dang thing has taken multiple hours at this point but gosh am I proud of it 🥹 Would love Feedback n Questions (It has unrelated worldbuilding lore bits which I shall explain later)

I am so so sorry for the word chunk I can’t figure out how to do that ‘read more’ thing on mobile T-T

Think of this as a dlc with added bits of lore + shifted details. World-building will be explained in a future post.

-You spawn in a worn down parking lot near the factory at night, police tape n the like speckle it’s exterior.

-You have a key ring with 2 keys, one to enter the building the other unknown for now.

-At first it’s vv dark inside but upon shutting the door the lights flick on along with a TV that auto-plays the first tape’s message. (Makes the sensor claim more realistic)

-left side from the entrance is the locked door to the security room, upon walking closer you may step on a disturbed floor tile that creaks.

*upon gaining the grab pack you can return to the tile and pull it up revealing a small hole where old pictures are the faces scribbled out can be found. (They show up when using a camera tool so I thought it’d be neat to use them as a Easter egg of sorts)*

-right side a lil gift shop which you go to after a failed search, some train cars rest on the ground make you look up and discover the code almost like it had been intentionally done.

-Inside the security room the grabpack only shows up when the player turns to leave or fiddles with the glass shield.

-Climbing over the turn stile you use the pack to unlock the door and find the area where a Huggy statue is located.

-Scanning the door to their right rather then the key popping up in Huggy’s hand it’s at his feet.

*lil timeskip til your about to get the red hand*

-Rather then it being automated you have to do a crane game styled action, nudging it off doesn’t work and has to be tugged til the case snaps free.

Originally you were gonna snag it with your blue hand once it’s close rather then just letting the claw drop in worry of it breaking but it slips falling anyway. (The idea for the lil crane game was shown in a incomplete model and I liked it enough to incorporate it plus make it more realistic. The red hand is the only one we can find atm so just letting it fall feels risky)

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

The stuff between these lines is where I do a significant difference to the normal gameplay:

-Upon ‘meeting’ Huggy you go into the vents like normal but the chase is a bit longer and instead of going to the box related part like normal you end up in a large office area with lots of cubicles and a bathroom. (You find a note/tape mentioning the bathroom has a damaged vent, perfect for a quick getaway)

Btw the chase was more time sensitive rather then just being caught cus the gates seemed to be almost trying to force you onto a different course.

-You search the trashed area for a usable set of bathroom keys and after finding them use them to unlock the bathroom door that held the open vent. (the company doesn’t like giving long breaks already so them having somewhat limited access to the bathrooms sorta fit)

*During the search you may come across a cubicle that looks a bit different, looking around it you find the desk’s drawer is locked and using the mysterious key you had since the beginning you open it…. Haven’t decided what’s you’d find yet.*

-Wandering a bit thru the locked vents you pass by some that peer into various rooms like a sorting room, a small theater for worker meetings(?), and a room where doll heads sit in frames (yep I love blending unused content into this plus it makes for a nice filler)

-After exiting the vents once more and exploring a bit you again (in that unused hallway) run into Huggy who chases you into a office (Like in one of the early trailers that isn’t Elliot’s but some other unknown peep owning it.

-Slamming the door shut you begin to feel stranded with Huggy slowly breaking the door down only to find a sus bookcase just in time which after much pushing moves to reveal a slanted hallway with odd design. (aka the cannon one that leads to Poppy’s room)

Quicking slipping inside you struggle to shift the bookcase back into place just as Huggy breaks in trashing the room in search for you.

Peering thru a crack you get to watch the scene holding your breath as they try to find you before eventually giving up and leaving.

-Too scared to dare go back out in fear of them waiting you gain the hope that this will lead to somewhere safe and venture deeper.

-You soon reach Poppy’s room not liking the red tint the case you find being more opaque then clear, thinking it could be some lever that’ll maybe open an emergency exit you pull it open only to find a doll the lights flickering before going out.

{Huggy doesn’t die in this since the box scene doesn’t happen but thankfully they don’t show up anymore either… Might edit this tho once chap 3 comes out}

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Back to normal now… for the most part~:

*Timeskip til just before Poppy gets kidnapped*

-Rather then simply show up at the hole Poppy comes out of a vent mentioning they need to get past the door which is sadly locked.

Offering to unlock it from the other side you build Poppy a staircase up to the other vent (either you try to pick her up and she gets vv uncomfortable or your not comfortable with picking her up settling on doing the staircase instead, either option works)

-Once in you walk in with Poppy to the lip of the hole saying her normal line before being snatched.

Only other thing I wanna mention was that in the wack-a-wuggy game there are holes in the ceiling tho they are boarded up since it was mentioned that it would be unfair for the children. (Was in a unfinished version n I liked the detail)

Hope you like this feel free to give feedback n questions ^^

[teltoadstool]

Two Ten Questions Tags

:Edit: I forgot to put a picture at the top. I guess that’s what I get for writing past midnight.

I’ve been tagged by both @simmeronnie and @amphorasims, so I thought I’d put the answers on one post. Also this way I won’t have to make up twenty questions.  It’s behind a read more, because it’s pretty long.

Rules: Always post the rules, answer the questions given to you, then write 10 questions of your own, and tag some friends.

Simmeronnie’s questions:

1) What’s your least favourite sims expansion?

Island Paradise? Maybe? I don’t know. All of them bring something I need in my game to the table, and I can’t decide, which I need less. 

2) If you could meet one of your sims, who would it be?

I think... either Bertie or Jay, who hasn’t been introduced yet. Bertie because he’s nice and friendly and sweet, which technically goes for Jay too. Jay’s also so fun and positive. The problem with meeting any of them, is that I’m so super shy, and they would technically be strangers. I think Jay would actually be able to break the ice though. Bertie, idk. He probably could too... maybe, but I’d be embarrassed around him, cus I made him my simself’s husband. 

3) What would you do/talk about with the sim chosen above?

I have two things I talk about. Video games and fandoms (the sims being grouped in the video games), so probably we’d talk about either of those. As for do... I think we could watch shows, play video games, or dance and listen to music. Jay’s really active though, so we probably have to go to a park to entertain him. We could play around on the playground, which I’m not sure would interest Bertie, but I would totally be down for that.

4) Do people you know in real life know that you have a simblr?

Yes. My sister is even following my blog, but her blog isn’t a simblr. 

5) Do you create playlists that remind you of your favourite sim(s)?

Uh... no. I think it would be neat, but I’m much too lazy for that. I do think about my Ocs while I listen to music though.

6) What’s your biggest sims-related achievement?

Oh dear. I don’t know. Maybe when I discovered how to place triangle shaped floor tiles, lol. 

7) How often do you play the sims?

It depends. Sometimes it’s every day. Other times it’s lucky if I play it once a week, or once every two weeks.

8) Do you like actually playing the game or telling stories through sims more?

I don’t think I have the talent for telling stories through the sims, so I only play the game. 

9) Do you have a sim who you think deserved more love from you? Who is it?

Well, my sims that are not fandom related certainly would like to be played more, so I would say all of them. 

10) Why did you create a simblr?

I made my tumblr account because I like the convenience of having everyone I was following in one place (I was just bookmarking blogs before), and I thought, why not post my own sims. It also gives me a creative outlet. 

Amphorasims’ questions:

1. How did you find out about the Sims series?

My sister showed me some fandom based sims, sometime before 2013. Maybe a couple years before. I think the fandom was Batman, and Bruce parents were hanging around as ghosts. I don’t know.  I’m very sure it was the sims 3, though. 

2.  When did you first start playing the Sims? (Any iteration counts)

Technically, I think I played the sims 3 first on a cousin’s computer... I don’t really remember when. As I said before, though, I think it was sometime before 2013, but I’m not sure.

3. Funniest simming moment or glitch? (Show pictures if you have any!)

I had trouble deciding, but I think this...

But for something new, have this beautiful glitch!

4. Which is your favorite: Sims 1, 2, 3 or 4? Why is it your favorite?

Sims 3, obviously. I like it because of the freedom of the world, the graphics being at just the right spot between being super realistic and cartoony, and the create a style tool.

5. Supernatural sims or normal sims?

Supernatural sims! Especially if they aren’t connected to a fandom.

6. Who shot first: Han Solo or Greedo? (Sorry. Currently watching Star Wars and had to ask :P)

I have watched the Star Wars films (all of the first two trilogies and the Force Awakens, except for the last half of the third of the prequels), but I don’t remember this particular scene. Sorry. :p

7. Your favorite life stage?

Young adult/adult... but it’s tied with toddler. 

8. Favorite sims death?

I didn’t show it, but Bendy died once. It was pretty sad and a little pathetic. First he stayed out in the sun for way too long and fainted. Then he couldn’t sustain his thirst bar with just the plasma packs. He ended up dying of thirst in his sleep. Then the Grim Reaper spawned in the room beside where his body was, and his ghost ended up outside in the hall. It was very unexpected and tragic, with a little bit of stupid. I exited the game without saving after that, but here’s some screenshots I took.

9. Have you ever made a simself?

Yes, and here she is.

10. Your favorite traits from the game?

Insane and neat. Insane because they’re interesting to watch. They’re always doing such random things. Neat, because they clean up after themselves.

_____________________________________________________________

Oh dear... I have to make up questions. These aren’t going to be very good. I guess I’ll just do the ones off the top of my head. 

1. How many screenshots do you have?

2. If your human sims had to choose a supernatural state, which would they choose, or, if you don’t have many human sims, what extra state would they choose? (Just choose whichever sim you feel like for this one.)

3. Which do you prefer? Scary supernaturals, or more domestic supernaturals? Domestic being like the Munsters in this case.

4. I know this is asked a lot, but which expansion did you get first? 

5. Do you remember who your first sims were?

6. Have you ever accidentally killed a sim?

7. How many sims are in your household usually? 

8. Have you ever tried to make a custom world? Whether by the Create a World tool or in a save, it doesn’t matter.

9. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve seen the Grim Reaper do?

10. Which sims games do you play? 

I can’t believe I actually managed to come up with ten questions! And in one sitting! Whoo! Anyway, here’s who I’m tagging. Naturally no one has to do it. 

@ashuriphoenix, @dreamersdolls, @danjaley, @sillylittlesimblr

[vjdarkworld]

The Witcher 3 Review (NO SPOILERS)

Score: Recommended, for people that enjoy Storytelling

Best:

Storytelling

Adult content

Difficult Choices

Embodiment of Polish folklore

Quests

Good:

VisualsOnce you have a lot of good tools to use, gameplay is funExploration and Open World

Observations:

Lots of tools but all singular use, instead of few tools with dynamic usage.

Bad:

“Slavic jank”

Requires playing of Witcher 1&2 OR read the books

Performance

Best:

Storytelling

This not only includes how the stories unfold, but as well the characters and world they inhabit.

One word to describe it would be believability. Of course, it’s fantasy but the way standard fantasy things would be handled is done well due to the characters.

A plot is a series of character interactions, so ultimately a story is only as good as the characters it has. Truly what sells the world is how the characters interpret it, and they all have differing viewpoints. Some take the Dark Fantasy world seriously, others find it a chance for a Fun Adventure, and most attempt to drink their sorrows away. But my personal favorite interacts in the series is between Geralt and his friends.

This is where it becomes real for me, relationships. Throughout Geralt’s adventures he meets many people. He doesn’t get along with most, but there are some he actually befriends. And even though nearly all his friends are eccentric which contrast the stoic white wolf, he still has long and ongoing friendships with em. As the director of the game said, “friends are the backbone of your life” (he was talking about life not the witcher but oddly enough it connects to the witcher for me) and that is exemplified by Geralt.

All in all, the relationships between the characters make the storytelling real.

Adult content

While other games have sex in it, The Witcher series has been able to portray sex for what it is…. Sex. Bioware has the lovely dovey sex after you Romance them, but in the Witcher it’s different and more Realistic. Adults have sex for various reasons and it’s not always romantic. Most of the time it’s just for the act itself, having a single fling cus sex is Fun.

Since witchers shoot blanks they have the stereotype of being promiscuous. It’s up to the player (no pun intended) if they will let Geralt succumb to Hook Up Culture, or actually stay in a dedicated monogamous relationship.

Something like this just isn’t address in any other mainstream RPG.

Other serious topics are brought up as well related to sexual violence and racism. They are all handled well due to one simple theme present with each situation. That is the fact that you can’t be neutral, you have to pick a side.

 Difficult Choices

It’s funny cus the white wolf almost embodies the “grey area” of neutrality that generally serious RPG fans walk the line of. That the player will be understanding for all Characters and trying to figure out a solution. But most situations aren’t like this realistically. Theoretically sure you can be critical of Both Sides, but in practice you HAVE to pick a side. Or maybe you don’t pick a side and “stay neutral” which can be the worst option cus you could be letting bad stuff happen that you could of prevented. This is why when choices pop up for Geralt, it’s pretty serious. Especially cus the effects of them happen way later in the game before you realized what you did wrong.

These choices impact the fates of certain characters, among other things. Choose wisely, or you may not be happy with what you did.

 Embodiment of Polish folklore

I’m no expert in Polish culture, or of ye’ old slavic and pagan mythology, but the entire game reeks of something being different. It just doesn’t seem like your typical Tolkien fantasy. There’s a unique twist that is clearly the result of the entire game being developed in Poland, thus polish culture shining bright within it.

Some people joke that the Witcher series is Poland’s main export, but atleast for entertainment it seems quite true. It seems like a major group effort from creative minds of Poland, banding together to present their folklore to world. Major props and respect to the CD PROJEKT RED team!

 Quests

Quests are designed like episodic content. For side quests and hunter contracts, they all tell a good standalone story from start to finish of the quest. Sometimes quests interconnect too, reference each other, presenting how much the world is connected. It makes doing the quests quite addicting cus you want to see what’s going to happen next in the quest, and then when you finish it you want another good story so you start another one. It’s almost like bingewatching a tv show. Having good stories for the quests makes even the most mundane tasks more appealing too. Trying to tell a story… WHAT A CONCEPT!

 Good:

Visuals

They are pretty nice looking if you got the Specs for it. Sometimes regular real lofe animals like cats and dogs look weird but overall its good. Landscapes pretty, monsters spooky, humans all raggedy. The aesthetic sells the world quite nicely.

 Once you have a lot of good tools to use, combat is fun

When starting out the game, you have limited options for combat. But through the course of the game, gaining abilities, new gear, etc etc, gives Geralt more tools to play around with. This is when the game opens up and you can mess around a bit. The white wolf can get pretty OP too if you play your cards right. To which if you think the game is too easy, you can always play on higher difficulties.

 Observations:

Lots of tools but all singular use, instead of few tools with dynamic usage.

Due to how alchemy and signs work, signs, oils, potions and decoctions generally have only a Specific situation use. Some are more versatile, but most times you will be looking up the Bestiary to figure out what tools to use.

On one hand this kinda makes the combat seem flat, cus of the limited options you can do, BUT thematically it makes sense why. It makes sense why it’s like this for a hunter of monsters, there’s a lot of monsters and they all have different weaknesses so it makes sense as to why the design is like this.

On top of that, it’s kind of deceptive cus you CAN experiment but only when you have a LOT of the tools and you know what all their purposes are. It’s a barrier, but you can get over it.

But still, in the end the gameplay still isn’t as dynamic as other combat systems which is a shame in my opinion.

 Exploration and Open World

Points of interest are labeled on the map. You get good loot and fight monsters at these points most of the time. It doesn’t truly make the game world feel Alive necessarily, it just seems more like extra stuff to do. I appreciate the effort of given the player stuff to do if they completed quests and are bored, and you get neat goodies from going these places but it’s really just There.

 Bad:

“Slavic jank”

There’s a bit of a joke about games made in slavic related areas. They are often associated with janky games, but games with so much dedication behind them that even though they are janky it’s so unique that it’s fun. Something like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. for example. This phenomena is due to how the gamers in these territories are completely out of the typical western Triple A bubble. And generally dedicate their time to old CRPGs, which causes them to grow a fondness for more Detailed and Dense design instead of Simple and Elegant. This isn’t a bad thing, and this type of thing can be seen in The Witcher series, where it’s both Triple A BUT has that old school CRPG style to it.

All that is good in my opinion…. But I have to be honest and say that the gameplay can be too janky at times. Movement in general feels weird with its velocity and acceleration. Roach controls awkwardly and doesn’t feel like a horse, more like you’re on something sliding around. When you run into other animals or enemies on Roach you just push them away and not run them over.

Also, for some reason the controls completely change when in combat mode and you can’t control at all when combat mode happens. This causes awkwardness where you are not moving the same way as before, as in… an enemy triggers you to go into combat mode but they are too far away for you to hurt so you are stuck moving around weird. It’s just an odd system, which I prefer to have a full range of movement and attacks, not being arbitrarily pushed into combat mode.

Also, the inventory is a bit confusing to navigate especially if you are trying to find a specific item hidden in the Other tab.

The whole character upgrade screen too is not clear cus there’s clearly abilities that are better than others WHEN you actually know their potential, but unless you’re looking up guides and the wiki you won’t really know which are the good ones to actually invest in.

All these little things that kind of ruin the “game feel” make people not want to play it past a couple hours cus they think the game is “janky” anddd the game is actually kinda janky. I have to admit it, can’t lie. There’s other open world games that have better movement overall, and I wish that this game did.

 Requires playing of Witcher 1&2 OR read the books

Now you may wonder, what’s so bad about that? Well, I was being critical about this games jankiness, but really it’s not in the slightest as janky as Witcher 1. Witcher 2 isn’t as much janky, but Witcher 3 improved on a lot of Witcher 2’s problems so Witcher 3 is in fact the least janky.

Now it would be a hard sell to say “you need to go through 50+ hours of the previous installments to play this?” BUT if the other installments were as polished as this than it wouldn’t be as much of a problem… But it’s like I can’t tell someone “Oh you have to play through these janky games to play this game, don’t worry it’s worth it bro” cus that’s disrespecting their intelligence AND worst of all their time. Not everyone has time to look play through decent games to get to an Amazing game just so they can understand the story… which is sad.

Cus don’t get me wrong, I adore Witcher 1 more than most, but I can’t lie and say it’s worth “slogging” through the awkward gameplay to see the amazing story unfold down the road.

Why? Even if it’s a unique OK… there are better games to play that are more than just OK.

And to the book point, you shouldn’t need to read a book series before playing a videogame, the entertainment should be as singular as possible. The witcher videogames too have a different storyline than the books anyways, so it’s a moot point of them being in the same continuity and being “required”… even though they technically can help if you didn’t play the other games. Still not fair though, so nah, just nah.

 Performance

You need to make sure you have a midrange build atleast so you can run the game. But man do the frames drop in cities. Back on my old-midrange build I could play at around 50-60fps outside of Novigrad… but IN Novigrad I had 10-20fps due to NPCs and who knows what else. Also just some areas would lag on that build regardless if something was at low or medium. Very finnicky. I think by now with all the patches and optimization it’s probably better buuut I can’t say the game is well optimized. It’s serviceable with a good build… but ya get kinda screwed if you don’t and that’s a shame.