#quirrel bench to set the scene

[quirrelfan]

BEAUTIFUL!!!!

City of Tears

Today's video is me playing City of Tears, a song from the soundtrack of the game Hollow Knight (by Team Cherry). The song was written by Christopher Larkin, along with every other song in the Hollow Knight soundtrack.

Hollow Knight was released in 2017. Team Cherry is a group of three people (Ari Gibson, William Pellen, and Jack Vine), founded in 2014 in South Australia. They were originally formed because a love of games similar to Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link and Faxanadu.

The song City of Tears plays at a location called, well, the City of Tears, in the game. It's always raining there, but it is confirmed later in-game that the "rain" is actually a lake slowly leaking through the ground and into the area. It's an abandoned city, falling to ruin. However, some creatures you can interact with still live there.

The ending is a little shaky, since I haven't learned it fully. I know it's not right, but it's what sounded good to me, so I play it like that. I'll learn the actual way some time, just not now lol. (I did mess up on the last chord, but it actually sounded ok! It took me a long time to get that recording and I wasn't about to start over again because I messed up on the last note :/ )

[peridots-pixiwolf]

[Start ID. A brown-toned comic of P3RI, the artist's botsona. They lament on how long it's been since they've played Dishonored, start playing it again, and then lie to itself that it'll keep this playthrough casual. The bottom quarter of the image lists the self-imposed challenges they rack up. End ID]

back at it again folks

[quirrelfan]

FELLOW QUIRREL FAN :DD

HELLO

i got to this bench so you can enjoy a moment with quirrel with me :)

YIPPEE!! the best bench in game :)

Music to set the mood as I and others view this scene :)

[unexpected-profundity]

Okay, finally got around to posting this, a bunch of thoughts about this ending, and vessels/infection generally. More later, maybe? Didn’t get to my infection theories yet. Under a cut because this will be long and full of screenshots. Major spoilers, of course. 

First off, I was expecting a tiny little room in there and the long empty hall really set a mood. The atmosphere of this game is amazing and this was definitely another highlight. The sound, the beginning of the music, the way the path lights up unpredictably and the silhouettes of the chains. 

And when you find a bench by itself in a huge silent room you know it’s about to get serious.

So ‘higher beings, these words are for you alone’ doesn’t mean ‘haha, human sitting down to play a video game.’ The sign above the Abyss made me suspicious that these messages were actually part of the game world, and this pretty much confirmed it, though I didn’t really think about it until looking at my screenshots later. (I’ve screenshotted pretty much every piece of dialogue in the game and plenty of things that were just interesting visually; 1,200 images and counting. It’s getting hard to find stuff but rereading is probably why I put a lot of these pieces together ahead of time.)

Anyway, so vessels are ‘higher beings,’ which is kind of an odd name, because apparently the king created them:

...in the Abyss, at the bottom of the world. 

(Alternate theory - vessels weren’t ‘created’ in the Abyss, they just dumped the failures - ‘refuse of creation’ - down there. Either way, kind of ominous.) What happened to the king, anyway? Is he the corpse in white armor down by the Hidden Station? Why’d you stick a palace down there, anyway?

But back to the sign in the temple. The second interesting thing about this is that the image looks like the player, not the Hollow Knight in the next room. Maybe that’s just for the player’s benefit, but why does he looks so different from every other vessel I’ve seen so far? Did infection change him the way it made the bugs in the Crossroads bigger? Is he simply the strongest? The oldest? If he’s the oldest, why would there be younger ones running around (including the dead one in Greenpath which I completely overlooked as unique, like Quirrel’s mask)? Did someone start a vessel-making apparatus that just kept going?  EDIT: I finally found there is an entry for him in the Hunter’s Journal, which states he’s a ‘fully grown vessel.’ So how young is our little knight? And the question of why there are younger vessels at all still stands. And how young was THK when he was sealed that the image is of a young vessel!?

The really interesting thing about this sign, though, is the implication that this one is directed specifically toward the Hollow Knight. Though bound, you shall know the state of the world. He’s bound in the temple, but can somehow still watch this world he’s saved. He see the ‘eternal kingdom’ fall to ruin anyway. He sees infection spring up in the Crossroads again. He sees you breaking seals and getting closer. Aaaah. This is like Tolkien’s Children of Hurin but with a couple teaspoons more hope. 

Hnnnnnn

...

And there he is.

This is just...

Aah. 

A really good example of visual storytelling. It doesn’t need words, and if you tried to write this scene it wouldn’t have the same impact of just letting you walk into it. All these details and connects to other things in the game. The chains you’ve been seeing from the entrance of the temple. More and more infection bubbles. The white around the chains. And the Hollow Knight you’ve already seen in a statue, but now, in color, the resemblance is clear. The white head. The little cloak in uneven strips. The nail below him. He’s like you. But he’s bound and infected.

And he turns to watch you.

That’s...really only going to feel the same in a video game.

You don’t need any instructions here. You’ve got to break the chains. You’ve got to try. And they really feel like solid, important chains.

And this is the last screenshot I took. I died once, before the second stage of the fight, switched some charms around, and plowed through it as quickly as I could. It’s just... once I got to that moment of the fight, I didn’t want to have to repeat it. I’ve rambled a bit about the fight already here, but a lot of it, playing it, was kind of a blur. I didn’t really notice he was missing an arm until I watched video of it after. And I had a few more thoughts about vessels and infection but this has been a draft for over a week now, so I think I’m just going to make a separate post!

[brightgreenpenguin]

New LEGO Sets revealled

Over the last few days a load of new LEGO sets have been revealed. I have posted these on the Facebook page / group but want to combine them all together in this one post

p.s I will keep updating this, as I need to add on the Jurassic World and new Star Wars sets 

LEGO Harry Potter

75954 Hogwarts Great Hall

878 pieces | $99.99 USD | $129.99 CAD | Available August 1, 2018

Welcome to magical adventures at the Great Hall at Hogwarts!

Build and recreate magical scenes from the Harry Potter movies with this detailed 4-level LEGO Hogwarts Great Hall play set, featuring a fireplace, benches, tables and reversible house banners, plus a tower with a spiral staircase, potions room, treasure room, sorting hat, Mirror of Erised and lots of assorted magical artefact accessory elements. Includes 10 minifigures and buildable Basilisk and Fawkes creatures, plus Hedwig and Scabbers figures.

Includes 10 minifigures: Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, Susan Bones, Professor McGonagall, Professor Quirrell with dual Lord Voldemort face, Hagrid, Albus Dumbledore and Nearly Headless Nick, plus buildable Basilisk and Fawkes creatures, and Hedwig and Scabbers figures.

Features the buildable Great Hall and a tower.

The Great Hall features tables, head table with seats, fireplace, 2 reversible house banners and 4 ‘floating’ candles, food (turkey leg, ice cream and a small cake) brooms, trophy cup and a teapot

The 4-level tower features movable Grand Staircase spiral steps at its base, potions room, treasure room with chest and a turret featuring the Mirror of Erised with changeable pictures and roosting spot for Fawkes.

Also includes a boat with hanging lantern.

Place the pupils in the boat and sail to Hogwarts Castle.

Help Hermione and Susan create magical potions.

Feast in the Great Hall, then use the sorting hat to select the pupils’ houses!

Welcome the new students with Hagrid, Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall.

Use the magic wands to pitch Harry against Draco in the Dueling Club!

Swoop Fawkes into battle and help Harry battle the giant Basilisk serpent.

Gaze into the Mirror of Erised with Ron and change the picture.

Turn Quirinus Quirrell into Lord Voldemort by rotating his head!

Recreate iconic scenes from the Harry Potter movies.

Accessory elements include 7 wands, 3 tumblers, umbrella, lantern, broom, sorting hat, cauldrons, potions, candles, 2 wizard brooms, food, trophy, teapot, chest and a spider.

Build even bigger adventures and combine with 75953 Whomping Willow.

Hogwarts Great Hall measures over 14” (37cm) high, 6” (17cm) wide and 11” (30cm) deep.

LEGO Powerpuff Girls

LEGO Star Wars

Solo: A Star Warts Story Kessel Run Millennium Falcon 

LEGO Marvel Superheroes

Outrider Dropship Attack (76101) - 124 pieces

Thor's Weapon Quest (76102) - 223 pieces

Corvus Glaive Thresher Attack (76103) - 416 pieces

The Hulkbuster Smash-Up (76104) - 375 pieces

Thanos: Ultimate Battle (76107) - 674 pieces

Sanctum Sanctorum Showdown (76108) - 1,004 pieces 

[jasonbrickshd]

All aboard to Hogwarts! Swipe to see the newly announced Grand Hall! Details: LEGO Harry Potter 75954 Hogwarts Great Hall 878 pieces | $99.99 USD | $129.99 CAD | Available August 1, 2018 Welcome to magical adventures at the Great Hall at Hogwarts! Build and recreate magical scenes from the Harry Potter movies with this detailed 4-level LEGO Hogwarts Great Hall play set, featuring a fireplace, benches, tables and reversible house banners, plus a tower with a spiral staircase, potions room, treasure room, sorting hat, Mirror of Erised and lots of assorted magical artefact accessory elements. Includes 10 minifigures and buildable Basilisk and Fawkes creatures, plus Hedwig and Scabbers figures. Includes 10 minifigures: Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, Susan Bones, Professor McGonagall, Professor Quirrell with dual Lord Voldemort face, Hagrid, Albus Dumbledore and Nearly Headless Nick, plus buildable Basilisk and Fawkes creatures, and Hedwig and Scabbers figures. Features the buildable Great Hall and a tower. The Great Hall features tables, head table with seats, fireplace, 2 reversible house banners and 4 ‘floating’ candles, food (turkey leg, ice cream and a small cake) brooms, trophy cup and a teapot The 4-level tower features movable Grand Staircase spiral steps at its base, potions room, treasure room with chest and a turret featuring the Mirror of Erised with changeable pictures and roosting spot for Fawkes. Also includes a boat with hanging lantern. Place the pupils in the boat and sail to Hogwarts Castle. Help Hermione and Susan create magical potions. Feast in the Great Hall, then use the sorting hat to select the pupils’ houses! Welcome the new students with Hagrid, Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall. (at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter)