#reviews clues

[rin-may-1103]

Delilah's language (part two)

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"Tomorrow?" Danny repeated, glad he had set his cup down.

Mr. Wayne smiled, relieved Danny hadn't completely brushed him off. "yes, it's tomorrow. Damian, my son, is a huge conservationist. he gets it from his mother."

Danny blinked but before he could cut in, Mr. Wayne continued, "Oh! not that I don't care about the environment and stuff, it's just-"

"I get it," Danny reassured. he did not want to get stuck listening to Mr. Wayne try and fail to 'fix' his self-perceived mistake. "but I still don't really understand why you want me there..."

like sure, the kid's a fan of Danny or whatever (he was still trying to wrap his mind around that one.) but would the kid actually want Danny at his party? wouldn't that be like... he didn't know, weird? to just have this random guy from Illinois show up?

"Right!" Mr. Wayne coughed, scratching his face in embarrassment. "once Damian learned that the purple back gorillas would be in Gotham, I suggested we have his birthday party at the zoo. He told me he wanted to know everything he could about their species. so, I invited all the scientists working with the gorillas to the party so he could talk to them."

Danny nodded in understanding when Mr. Wayne glanced at him, even if Danny thought that that was the most fruitloop way he could have gone about it. then again, Danny's pretty sure all billionaires were fruit loops...

"He started digging into their history once he learned about them, and after some digging, he discovered that you basically saved their species. He has declared that he must meet you at all costs. something about needing to know their language?" Mr. Wayne trailed off, looking at Danny as if to see if he knew what his son meant.

If the kid was looking to Danny so he could learn the language then that meant he read the same paper Danny had. the scientists that had dedicated themselves to studying Delilah had printed one claiming that the purpleback Gorilla language was apparently hard to learn. (Even if Danny had been able to understand it pretty easily and told them so.)

they had listed Danny as the only person fluent in it so far, which now that Danny thought about it was kinda rude. they hadn't asked to put his name in there and now look at him! being visited by Fruitloops looking for him to be at their son's birthday parties.

anyways.

so, if the kid, Damian, read the same paper, he must have concluded it would be easier to learn the language from someone who was already 'fluent' than try and teach himself. (something Danny can't blame the kid for, but still.)

"KIDS!" Dad's voice bellowed from downstairs making Mr. Wayne startle and turn to glance down the hall. "IT WORKS! IT WORKS!"

...

"so, when do we need to leave?" Danny asked, all previous paranoia and reservations thrown out the window.

mr. Wayne slowly turned back, his brows furrowed in confusion. "we, uh, we'd have to leave in," he glanced down at his watch, his eyes widening a little, "an hour. I have to leave in an hour."

mr. Wayne then frowned as he looked back up at Danny, "I just need your parent's permission and you can come with me now, or I can arrange for another flight for you later tonight or early tomorrow?'

danny did not want to find out how they were going to test their new machine, so, he turned and cupped his hands around his mouth as he shouted, "HEY MA! CAN I GO WITH MR. WAYNE TO HIS KID'S BIRTHDAY PARTY?!"

it was silent for a second before she shouted back, "SURE! JUST BE BACK BEFORE WE LEAVE FOR OUR TRIP!"

oh, right. his parents had a trip planned for their anniversary. something about a huge ghost or demon trap in Wyoming they wanted to investigate.

"YOU'RE LEAVING TOMORROW THOUGH!" Danny shouted back, "DAMIAN'S BIRTHDAY IS TOMORROW! I CAN'T GO IF I WANT TO BE BACK IN TIME!"

"OH! UH, THEN JUST BE SAFE! TAKE YOUR BLASTERS WITH YOU!"

Danny blinked, then shrugged. He could do that. turning back he found Mr. Wayne staring at the floor, his brows raised and furrowed in concerned confusion. Danny didn't know someone could make a face like that, but seeing as Mom had finally gotten Mr. Lancer to curse in front of him last year, it wasn't that surprising.

"let me pack my bag and then we can get going," Danny announced, standing up and grabbing his cup from the table, silently offering to take Mr. Wayne's as well. the man handed him his full cup and watched as Danny walked away.

well, at least Danny had already told the other ghosts to leave him alone for the rest of the week. they shouldn't get into too much trouble while he's gone. speaking of trouble, Mr. Wayne lived in Gotham, a place riddled with crime and violence.

dupping the cups into the sink, Danny turned and rushed up the stairs. unplugging his phone, Danny sent Sam and Tucker a text to let them know he wouldn't be in amity for the rest of today and tomorrow. he also let them know he'd keep them updated.

once done with that, Danny turned to his closet and rummaged around until he found his old backpack. pulling it out, he dumped the contents onto his desk and made quick work of packing his essentials. Clothes, phone chargers, and ectoplasm in case of emergencies. Mr. Wayne said he'd pay for the travel fair and hotel expenses, so Danny only needed to worry about food.

glancing in the mirror, Danny finally noticed he was still dressed in his pj's. he took a second to debate whether he really cared enough to get dressed properly or not before shrugging. Mr. Wayne's already seen him in them and they're comfy, no point in changing.

zipping up his bag, Danny tossed it over his shoulder and quickly ran downstairs. Mr. Wayne was walking around the room, studying a few of the leftover project pieces that his parents had left lying around. man, Jazz was going to be so annoyed once she learned they hadn't been picking up after themselves. again.

"Alright, Mr. Wayne. I'm ready when you are." Danny greeted, stepping into the room. the man turned to look at him, a strained smile on his face, "Just Bruce is fine."

"Alright, mr. bruce then." Danny agreed, gesturing for the man to start making his way to the door.

mr. Bruce heaved a sigh, shook his head in resignation, and turned to walk out the door. digging his keys out of his pocket, Danny turned to shout into the house one more time, "BYE MA, DAD! I'M LEAVING! HAVE FUN ON YOUR TRIP!"

not waiting for a response, he closed the door and locked it. turning around, he found Mr. Bruce studying him. lifting his brow in confusion, Danny started making his way down the steps and over to Mr. Bruce's fancy car. why the man had a fancy car when he said he'd be flying Danny didn't know, but he's pretty sure it has something to do with image or something.

Vlad did the same thing after all.

Next

[papenniesandbentoboxes]

For a lot of these games (and the books if im being honest), I think it's important to take into consideration the target age range. They're rated E or E 10, so that should be an indicator. Just because the majority of the audience these days are nostalgic adults doesn't mean the games are dumb or stupid for being "simple" or "ridiculous" in some of the plots or mysteries or something. They were made, and continue to be made, primarily for kids, and that's okay. If you want a mature adult game, then you can play a mature adult game. But to look at a Nancy Drew game (or any other story-driven children's game) and say "it's so dumb" can feel a bit off for me.

Yes, some plot points are dumb and silly, and some are campy and hilarious, but that's all part of the age range. I personally think kids' games (and books) are totally allowed to be silly and a tad absurd because kids like that. It's about having fun. I like it.

[alongtidesoflight]

so here's my honest thoughts on dragon age: the veilguard, after ~40 hours of playing. i finished the main quest after having finished all companion quests and major faction quests. just to clear up what content i saw, i played as an elven transmasc rook who is a member of the lords of fortune. he romanced lucanis (although after finishing the game i'm now leaning towards taash). i don't know what's happening in playthroughs that have a different race, gender identity, romance or faction going on.

full spoilers ahead, i mean it. don't read further if you want to avoid them. i don't want complaining about it in my asks.

oh and also, if you're worried because of a few negative reviews online i can comfort you by saying don't give a fuck about a certain big name youtuber who is very much tied to bethesda franchises giving this a negative review. i'll explain why.

i'm starting off with the things i liked

the game looks really pretty. i was worried it wouldn't feel like thedas anymore (with them trying to "focus on northern thedas only" i thought they'd make a clear cut in environmental design. they do and they don't. it's complicated. i'll elaborate on it when talking about the negative stuff). anyway it does. minrathous feels like kirkwall. treviso enchanted me like the winter palace did. the hossberg wetlands reminded me of the hinterlands and a couple other inquisition maps. arlathan looked like... arlathan. the crossroads were different, but familiar. overall i like the way it looks and feels. it's thedas, with a twist. it's a good one, and gives everything a solid but unique feel.

combat is top tier. if you're a hardcore dragon age player you WILL miss the tactical aspect of it for a bit, but i promise you, once you're used to the way the combat works, you will be lapping that shit up. and once you get to ability combos you'll mourn the control you used to have over your companions in battle a bit less

the MAIN quest and its story. i expected worse, way worse. and for a while the game even had me tricked (harr harr you'll get it in a second) it is Really That Much Worse. but holy shit was it good. i walked away satisfied ngl.

your choices have SOLID weight. there's consequences, good AND bad. i got minrathous blighted, ruled over by venatori, and the leader of the shadow dragons ultimately died because of my decisions. i made those at the beginning and throughout the game. he died at the end. DAVRIN died because i didn't expect what i was saying to have that much weight. i thought i was in the clear. he had hero status. well turns out, your choices can still get your companions killed even if you do everything right. i fucking love him. he shouldn't have made that sacrifice just because i told him to do everything it takes once.

the inquisitor, morrigan and dorian being there, surprisingly. there's also negatives to this though, see below.

speaking of companions dying and the inquisitor playing a bigger role: the final quest feels like me2's suicide mission. i was blown away by it and the fact that i got to see the results of all my efforts playing out in front of me.

bioware are NOT trying to redeem solas. they love him as a character yes, but i wasn't forced to see any good in him. he betrays you. he fucked my rook over twice. he fucked him over right back, for good this time (the veil wasn't torn down, i anchored it by binding him to it, he's doomed to uphold it). but solas really lives up to his name as the trickster elven god. rip to all the people who grew really attached to him over the years.

varric died. if you like him that's probably as hard reading it as it was watching it. varric died and the game lies about it until the very end. when the realisation hits, it hurts. but in the very best way.

the amount of care they put into gender expression and trans identities this time around. (i'll add onto this with negative points as well too).

rook feels very much ingrained in the world of thedas. he doesn't ask questions that expose the player to lore through dialogue as if he's stepped foot into thedas for the first time. those conversations feel very solid and good. i hope other faction players got as much joy out of this as i did.

and the things i didn't like and boy there's a lot unfortunately

the music. let's just get that out of the way holy shit. it doesn't feel like it belongs in this universe. it gets so incredibly sci-fi-y at times you'd think it's taken straight from mass effect andromeda. there's not a single song unique to veilguard that i really enjoyed. it broke my immersion, real bad. hearing a busker play the tavern songs from inquisition on a lute right after i killed some venatori with wobbly bass songs playing in the background is just odd. weird tonal shift. don't like it. it's made for people who like flashy light-weight cinema.

tevinter nights is required reading. the podcasts are required listening exercises. the game is so fast paced, especially at the start, that there's no time to introduce you to characters and how much weight their names carry in-game. i would not have known who half these people are if i hadn't skimmed over tevinter nights. i'd care even less about them than i already did. there is no time to get properly attached to them. people will act as if you're talking to a legend personified and you'll be thinking man goddamn which chapter of tevinter night were they in again and what did they do???

there's a weird mismatch with the animations. you'll have beautifully fluid ones, like emmrich casting spells. and then you'll have rook's face animating in the most unnatural manner that's sorta reminiscent of mass effect andromeda's "my face is tired" addison, when their emotions SHOULD be landing with the player rn instead.

i'm not vibing with the art style. sometimes it works. most of the time it doesn't. at points i felt like i was watching tangled.

that also brings me to some of the dialogue. same issue. i am watching frozen. i am watching tangled. someone on the writer's team really likes the adorkable trope. bellara is its victim.

for all the talk about identity, bioware sure doesn't like theirs. the grey warden armor got a redesign again and it just makes them look like a generic army. i hate it lol

in general, i don't like the armor design. the wardrobe/appearances system is fine, but it's just not helping if all the armors are just... kinda bland or downight bad looking? and don't get me started on the lords of fortune armor. that is orientalism personified.

the world states should have been carried over, full stop. i know they said they didn't because they want to separate what happens in the north from what happens in the south, which... i could have lived with that. but the inquisitor sends you letters that keep you up to date on... the south of thedas. you learn that there's a blight again, that people are standing strong but it's difficult, denerim's fallen, the rulers are taking care of it, orlais is fighting and they're successful for a while, etc etc. what's good bioware. i thought we don't care about the south this time around. why are you feeding me so much boring generic information. if you're not gonna show any of it and just write letters, then carrying the world state over should not have been an issue. i have a game dev background. those few lines of code would not have broken your budget or pushed your engine's limits. fuck right off.

this gripe of mine carries over to all the cameos. as a lord of fortune you have to deal with isabela a lot. it's fun. i missed her. you get to go drinking with her and taash and bellara! also my hawke romanced her. she's not mentioned once. they had the opportunity to put a sentence or two about her in there with not a lot of effort, trust me.

when varric dies, all she has is a single line about it. for gold, for fortune, for varric. she only says it if you interact with her on your way to the final push. that's not mandatory.

morrigan is there. kieran isn't. the old god soul that mythal and then solas absorbed? who cares at this point, the gods are dead now and solas is locked away for eternity. i suppose? why is morrigan there. she feels unneeded. i wish they'd just left her down south, at least that way i wouldn't have had to witness her god awful redesign.

dorian at least feels as if he belongs in this story. the shadow dragons are a crucial part to protecting minrathous. he's also weirdly underutilised. isabela and morrigan had more lines than him in my playthrough.

on the topic of romance: bro that was underwhelming. no, genuinely. you know when romance picked up a bit? after the point of no return. i heard maybe two lines of companion banter about it before that. maybe i missed something which i honestly doubt, but romance did not play much of a role in lucanis's storyline. i saved his grandmother as he wished me to (and if you read tevinter nights you know she was rather abusive and their relationship not the healthiest) and told him to focus on his family. a reunified family my rook wasn't even introduced to as a partner at the end of all that.

really, do not buy this game if you're only in it for the romances. others might be better, lucanis's basically gave me nothing. except for an outing (the second coffee date i had with him, it was getting repetitive) all of it played out once i committed to the final quest. the sex scene was a fade to black. annoyingly right after davrin died. if you're looking for well paced and good spice, pick up something else. the sweet talk and the final goodbye were nice though.

for all the good the ever-presence of gender identity does, it is brought up in such a disruptive manner too. it doesn't even play out naturally if you CHOOSE the lines that are meant to be said. hearing the words trans and non-binary in this setting doesn't feel right, and i'm saying this as a trans guy. i think it could have been handled more gracefully. the amount of times my rook went "i'm a MAN" as if he's about to start drumming on his chest and roaring any second now got super nerve-grating. "i'm so glad you're into me... the me who is trans. remember?" just. tell me one trans person who'd talk like that to a person they've grown close with and are trying to romance. this game doesn't handle sexuality well, so all this hey my body might not look like the way you're expecting it to look talk amounts to nothing anyway. i feel about this the way i feel about krem: this is partial exposition to trans experiences... packaged up for cis consumption. the ONLY exception to that is interacting with taash. holy shit was all of that heartwarming and bro did it feel good and natural to talk to them about theirs and rook's gender.

rivain and nevarra are new locations added by veilguard. they're also incredibly underwhelming, small and constricted maps. rivain is a coastline with a few ruins. the hall of valor is a partial ruin nestled into a cave on a beach, with a fighting pit. isabela is there in her skimpy outfit commentating your pit fights. that's it. i'm sorry if you were looking for a bustling pirate cove or whatever. you're not gonna get it. the nevarran crypts btw are a long ass dungeon crawl. that's it.

speaking of maps. i thought people were being dramatic when they said you're gonna be fighting the same enemies on them again and again. i thought they were figure of speeching it. they're not. you WILL fight the same amount of enemies. in the same spot. every time you reload the map. best to stay on a map and clear out the enemies and do as much questing on that map as you can before leaving, because you WILL have to do it all over again once you return.

the three choices i made for my inquisitor didn't matter lol she didn't have to face solas and therefore couldn't stop him at any cost as she had sworn (maybe because my rook tricked solas into binding himself to the veil, there was also an option to fight him. would she have stepped in? who knows). blackwall wasn't mentioned. and either her using a small amount of her forces in the final fight was the reason the civilians of minrathous fared so well..... or it just didn't matter. ultimately i think she had very little impact on anything

[sera8273]

“Eurylochus ÑØ!”

Odysseus, If one were to describe him, was a fucking madman, a trickster, a genius, a captain, a damn lunatic. A caring soul, a father, a king, a warrior, a champion of Athena. The nemesis of Poseidon. The grandson of Hermes.

He was described many, many things. And yet…

Being a furious, hothead, dictator was never one.

Well… More like he never had the chance to be one.

“You doomed us….”

Being Athena’s warrior meant that you couldn’t let emotions get in the way. He did once. And it cost him everything And the results weren’t pretty

“You doomed us âļł Éũřŷłøçħūš!”

When fighting in a war, emotions clouded your judgement. They mess with your thoughts and thinking process, something that he had allowed a bit too many times.

“…..Captain?…..”

And when presented with the opportunity for actually letting out his anger, he just couldn’t do it.

“We need to get away from this island now!”

He didn’t get angry when his crew opened the windbag even though he practically saw home. He was too tired to do so.

“Grab an oar with all the strength your arms allow!”

He didn’t get angry when he saw the many many obstacles blocking his way back. He was getting tired.

“These cows were immortal, they were the Sun God’s friend!”

He didn’t even get angry when Eurylochus mutinied against him.

He was just…

So…

Țıřèď…

“And now that we’ve pissed him off?”

And yet….

“ŴĦØ ĎÖ ŸǑŲ ŤĦİŃĶ ĦÈ‘ĻŁ ŚÉŅÐ!?”

When Eurylochus sliced open that cows neck…

“Full speed ahead….” “Full speed ahead….”

The cows which were immortal.

“Faster!!”

The cows that were the Sun God’s Friend

“Full speed ahead….”

Well…

“Faster!!”

He just…

“Full speed ahead….”

Felt all of that pent up anger….

“We’re too late…”

Get suddenly released.

And…

It.

Felt.

So.

Śæțışfŷìňğ….….

[avatar-state-kate]

Growing up my mom always fall asleep when we would go to the movies. I remember shaking her awake at the end credits, asking her when she remembers nodding off so I can fill her in on what she missed.

Wes Anderson’s new film asteroid city has a story within a story, we watch the stage play in colour as the writer cast and crew develop the production in black and white. During one of these black and white segments the writer thinks through a scene we will ultimately not see unfold in the play proper- a town together asleep sharing a dream.

Films have often been described this way, a shared dream. A room full of strangers lulled to sleep as the lights dim, and before our eyes a dazzling show of colour and sound occurs- we share the dreaming.

My mother often describes scenes in films that never actually happened, scenarios she dreamed up as she fell into a nap in the theatre seat. A private dream. We bring our own dreams to the movies.

One of the characters in the stage play steps off of the stage, out of the world of colour and into the real world of black and white, meeting with the director he asks- am I doing it right? What does it mean?

Leaving the theatre I leave my phone on silent in my bag, for just a moment longer, taking my time to awake. I could search the film tag and have all my questions answered, but I’d rather sit in my curiosity longer- maybe it doesn’t mean anything, dreams often don’t, but the experience of having one always gives us something

[drewlyyours]

If anyone ever wants to find out what it feels like to be FERALLY GASLIT, play The Final Scene.

Not only is the first 10 minutes Nancy trying to find help and NO ONE (including and especially the police) believing that her friend was just kidnapped, but also at almost every turn to another person minimizing and dismissing her worry (ie Nick saying they won’t hurt it, or it’s just a prank, the police CONSTANTLY saying that Maya probably wasn’t kidnapped or probably isn’t in any danger, and to go home and rest, and Joseph saying Maya probably isn’t in the building or that she probably didn’t ACTUALLY see those empty pizza boxes and MAYA’S LITERAL FEET MOVING, even the dead owner was out here lying to women and getting away with it all willy nilly)

Other than certain moments with Joseph, all four game characters can be boiled down to people who are too full of themselves to see anyone else’s opinions, fear, or suffering as anything other than an opportunity for them to capitalize on.

Even when they all stand on completely opposing sides of the issues at hand, they ALL find a way to benefit from the kidnapping.

This game has Nancy’s most BEASTLY comebacks, and she spends half of it literally YELLING (depending on what speech blurbs you pick, but I’m always yelling). Her anger is always intensified when no one will listen, which causes people to literally tell her to calm down.

There is so much of what women, or anyone who finds themselves belittled, have to deal with all the time BAKED into the game.

[supercantaloupe]

okay don giovanni review from last night. under the cut bc it's me. tldr the vocal performances were great, leporello carried the show, one of the most insane productions i've seen thus far but somehow in a new bizarre direction from normal. good snacks.

first of all i don't care how much wine you offer i think it's kind of ridiculous to charge $165 for a base ticket price for a performance that 1. isn't even in a concert hall or theater 2. is a concert performance rather than a staged performance (which was not advertised ahead of time) and 3. was not even a full production because they made the absolutely mind boggling decision to cut 100% of the recitative and replace it with Some Guy sitting on the stage narrating the plot between every 1-3 numbers

i did not pay that much gd bless. the student ticket was way cheaper.

the narration wasn't even good it was weirdly ungenerous to the women (like how do you even make elvira out be a "women, amirite" thing and also vaguely imply anna was into it in a production with zero acting? well they figured something out) and i don't think it even explained well enough what happens between each number to truly give a first time watcher a good idea of what's actually going on. not to mention that it absolutely kills any sense of momentum in the plot and makes the entire show drag like hell, because you have to wait between every single aria for either Some Guy to talk at you for three minutes straight, or wait awkwardly while people onstage walk off and people offstage walk on. it was so painfully clunky

they had a piano up there but since there was no recit it's not like she was accompanying much of anything. in practice what it ended up being used for was 1. the mandolin part for deh vieni (acceptable in the absence of a mandolin player; they were working with a limited chamber ensemble of musicians so i get it) 2. the party music at the end of act i (egregious fault imo because it absolutely kills the vibe of the scene and completely obfuscates the way the music is supposed to be adding to the tension and chaos with its different instrumental groups playing in different meters)

and 3. used to give singers their notes when the vocal line of their arias start on beat 1 measure 1, which they otherwise would have been able to get from the preceding recits (which is imo painfully amateurish for an ostensibly professional production)

all the numbers in act i were there although the narration was so bad i got jumpscared by fin ch'han dal vino because i forgot it was supposed to be there and thought we had skipped over that point in the plot. act ii had some really bizarre additional cuts made, notably they just entirely skipped over meta di voi and vedrai carino. it was like masetto and zerlina fuck off for the entirety of act ii save for, like, mille torbidi (they VERY briefly mentioned masetto getting beat up in the narration and i don't think they mentioned vedrai carino at all, they just skipped straight from deh vieni to sola sola. and also there was a painful awkward pause before deh vieni because i think the pianist forgot she was supposed to play there and the narrator jumped ahead to the next chunk of plot explanation too early). kept both dalla and tesoro (i'm fine with this ottavio was quite good though could've used a bit of ornamentation imo), kept mi tradi, kept non mi dir (more on that in a bit). no per queste which is probably a good thing not only for the show itself but also my head would have absolutely and irreversibly exploded if they had, probably

the whole thing kind of felt underrehearsed. like a quarter of the time it seemed like people didn't know what they were doing or had to be reminded where to be at that point in the show. and there were a few moments throughout where the orchestra struggled to keep up with the singers, but i really don't think they had much time to rehearse together, honestly.

and then, to my utter shock, the finale was actually really good?? like. insane compared to the rest of the show thus far. though it helps that 1. i absolutely love the harmonieband arrangements of cosa rara/i litiganti/non piu andrai, after possibly the draggiest non mi dir i've yet experienced it was like a breath of fresh air to hear that (and non mi dir was actually well performed i liked this anna but considering how much the Entire Show was dragging, the fact that they cut meta di voi and vedrai carino, AND the fact that they promised this act would be short, it felt crazy to me to keep it at that point.)

2. leporello and the don were by far the best performers of the night. so much so that i sought them out during the post show reception to tell them how great they were and enjoyed their performance. which i usually do not do, but in this like, high school recital ass production value. unbelievable relief that the final scene is dominated by the two actors in the show who most remembered that they can, and in fact Should, be acting. so much more movement and physicality and expression from those two compared to most everyone else. leporello especially, his actor apparently specializes in comedic bass roles and it shows, he was the standout all night

and 3. for the first time in the entire production they made an interesting decision regarding the physical space and staging! they had the commendatore sing from up on a balcony overlooking the audience in the foyer. the bar admittedly was set very low in the previous act and a half but the finale reminded me that i actually like this show again which is appreciated

though they then threw another curveball at me by Cutting the sextet at the end. which like didn't even piss me off at that point i was just baffled. like the don sinks down in agony and leporello sinks down whimpering in fear and the orchestra cuts off. and i'm expecting an awkward pause while they quietly get up and shuffle off so the rest of the cast can come back but nope. big orange title slate appears on the big screen behind them and the audience breaks into a roaring applause and the announcement of the wine and dessert reception. felt like i was in a fever dream

i will say the desserts were very nearly almost worth the bullshit that was the preceding show. they were so good. thank you austria for your dedication to pastry. and because i don't drink and couldn't appreciate the free wine offered i had to indulge in my own manner. spread contained chocolate oat bites (tasted as much like espresso powder as chocolate and coated in coconut, 4/10), almond sponge cake (classic, 7/10), cardamom apple bread pudding with caramel cream (not enough cardamom but otherwise very tasty and autumnal, 8.5/10) and honey cake (11/10. i don't know how they made this so good. i want more right now so much). i take both my mozart opera and my desserts very seriously.

anyway overall the production was. i would say frustrating. the singing quality was Really Good (leporello was the clear standout, probably followed by the don though i prefer my dons with a lighter voice but technically he was very good, then probably ottavio, then maybe masetto or anna. the commendatore was great but he's in it so little it's hard to compare)

i just wish they could have, like, actually done a full production. it would have been so great if they had gotten to tell the actual story and had been fully allowed to act. when there Was acting were the best moments of the show, and it's really unsurprising that most of that came from leporello, the absolute legend.

[the12thnightproject]

Game Review, Part 2: Lovebrush Chronicles

Read Part One Here

By the time your character finishes the Eden routes, it's become clearer what is going on and what the threat is to Earth. I believe you can read the existing worlds in any order, but I suggest not doing so, because the revelations in each world build upon each other.

The third route, is actually more like route 2.5 - Awakening, and while there is less at stake here, the stories are darker, and none of them have conclusive endings.

In "Awakening" MC doesn't leave Earth. Instead, she and each LI go to a new "virtual reality theater" and experience a personalized movie experience. The LIs are told that the experience will read their subconscious to give them a movie about a possible future. What MC knows is that this experience is actually to wake the LIs up a threat to Earth (from, well, more details would be a spoiler).

Each of the awakening stories are sci-fi, and they deal with how MC and their LI's lives have been changed by the threat. Cael too gets a story here, but for him we get a story that might be about his past.

The Awakening stories are each about a third of the length of the other worlds' main stories, and if you've got stamina saved (and in this game, you can stack up your daily stamina between reading routes, so you can indeed have a lot banked) it's easy enough to get through all of these in a few hours if you are a fast reader.

Finally we come to the main story (Lost Bloodline) that was just released a couple of days ago, and I've only read that story's prologue. This one is being released in three different parts, with part one covering Ayn, Alkaid, and Clarence's story, part two will be Cael's (I believe) and part three will be Lars'.

From what I have seen of Lost Bloodline, MC's travel to this particular world was, unlike her other visits, unexpected and unwilling, and she does not know how to travel back to her own world. This world is a lush and vibrant planet populated by people who can turn into animals.

There are four factions who have dominion over certain parts of the world, The Lord of the Light (Lars), The Lord of the Wind (Clarence), The Lord of the Forest (Alkaid) and the Lord of the Night (Ayn).

In this route, Cael will (finally) be a LI as well, but at the beginning of this story, he's searching for MC, but he realizes that he is on the right world, but at a different place in their timeline.

As you can see from this and the previous post, there is an abundance of content in this game. Besides the main story, there are event stories that happen in between (and around) main story releases. These generally alternate between stories in the modern/true world that are tied to calendar events (New Years, White Day, Halloween) and stories that have fantasy elements (a story collection in which MC is a witch, a cyberpunk story involving a game, a historical fantasy associated with the lantern festival, for example).

(Someone has nicely put together a spreadsheet of story and event order here).

Additionally, you can unlock modern day stories by increasing your affection points with the characters and by collecting gacha cards. There is also a way to phone and text the other LIs (though Cael is notoriously bad at answering calls), and get mini stories there too. I'm amused that Lars is very fond of sending gifsets to MC. Modern Lars is kind of a goofball at times.

Speaking of the Gacha... the card collection you have is what you use to advance in the story. You put these cards in an array of "battle cards" and at various points in the story, they are needed to fend off an attack:

To level up the power on your cards, there is a "practice area" available on your home page:

And that brings me to one of the things I don't like about the game. The UI is very complicated, and it took me a good week of playing it before I got a sense of where everything is. Each of these areas connects to a daily task of some kind that you need to complete, or sometimes just check in, in order to pick up stamina or in game currency. It's not a simple go in and click one or two buttons. You need to hop all over the place (there's also an upstairs, and an island map that you zip through) in order to get your daily gifts. Again, once I learned where everything was, it became easier to go through it all, but there were a few days where I missed gifts because I simply didn't see that they were there.

(The good thing about training your gacha cards to level them up though, is that you can go in and program it on automatic, then go do something else for five minutes. You don't have to baby it.)

If you're still with me, here is my bullet list of pros and cons of Lovebrush.

Pro: Content, lots of content, a fascinating storyline that builds on the overall series lore world by world.

Con: Complicated UI

Pro: MC. She's great, she isn't overpowered, but she does have abilities, and generally most of the LIs respect those abilities (in face, the Eden version of Lars recognizes that she is stronger than he is and hires her as a bodyguard).

Con/Pro: Not all of the world route endings are completely happy. Winning often comes at a cost, and some endings are definitely bittersweet. Still, it adds to the tension and emotional connection to the story, but it's not like Cybird where there are happily ever afters in everything but the specifically marked tragic routes. (Not that there is anything wrong with that, I'm still an Ikesen uber, through and through).

Pro: If you make the wrong choice, you die, or end up in a time loop, or an eternal prisoner, however, this does not force you to return all the way to the start, you can just backtrack to the previous crossroad and make a different choice.

Con: If you are looking for steamy content, I haven't come across anything beyond a few kisses here or there.

Pro: That said, the stories have all been quite romantic and emotionally satisfying (and as I said, the Godheim Clarence story is gorgeous).

Pro: You get your own cat.

Pro: As you might be able to tell from the attached GCs, the artwork is gorgeous.

[volfoss]

Everyone loves me and I'm so so so employable<- affirmations

[nicknederson]

Paperback Nancy Drew Mysteries

#060 The Greek Symbol Mystery

[papenniesandbentoboxes]

The Reddit ND community is so irritating rn. Most of it is super negative about KEY and the stuff that isn't is downvoted and called dishonest and paid off. Yes, I received the game for free with the launch team. No, that does not mean I am not honest with my review. I am still incredibly honest about what I disliked in the game, which was a lot. However, I still liked the game. I can recommend it and like it and even talk shit about it no matter if I got it for free or not.

The Nancy Drew community has gotten so toxic lately and I just want to enjoy the new game. Let people enjoy the game without guilt tripping them, calling them dishonest, or calling them stupid. I like the new game, sue me. And I'm not dishonest for saying so. It's not a great game, it's just a good game really, but I had fun and enjoyed it. It's a step in the right direction. And I'm okay with that.

I hope we get more games in the future. If you didn't like KEY, that's okay, then don't play the next game if we get one. But don't be mean about people who did like it.

[unchartedmusings]

I’m a blossoming horror fan. Growing up, I was the biggest fraidy cat and afraid of everything sometimes my even own damn shadow. So it continues to shock me when I seek out the thrill of horror films.

Abigail is an ode to several peak moments of horror culture that at least stand out to me. I think it generously falls in the good for her category in so many ways. Strong female leads, little details that come with just being a girl, as well as what happens with when women team up.

This movie felt felt like the directors knew the history of horror and of the unsettling in both more recent and older horror iconography.First of all the young actress/ ballerina was astounding. She was like channeling the energy of Claudia from Interview with a Vampire. This curious being with the porcelain doll face of a child, but all the experience, cunning and perspective that can only come from a woman that’s lived many life times. Among other things her comedic timing and performance was simply worth a standing O.

The bumbling band of crook goons was so well cast. Each personality of the team so wonderfully complimentary and contrasting at once. Their unlikely and anonymous gathering feels like the echoes of Clue. While we try to figure out who’s who along with the characters. It’s such a fun game to play. Is there cheese? Of course. The best horror can have Olive Garden sized portions of cheese and still terrify and amaze you. As Abigail does from start to finish.

The house feels like a love letter to house on haunted hill and thirteen ghosts. A dungeon of ghouls, ghastly traps, and giggles for the hosts. Such a fun adventure and so carefully and aesthetically filmed. Some scenes feel like they live in the border of dreams and nightmares. The color choices and camera angles all effectively tell this very feminine story.

Highly recommend❤️

[phantomdecibel]

apparently I just like making myself suffer :,D

[woahjo]

au where pro hero katsuki and reader meet one night at a bar and hit it off (SEX) and start casually seeing each other. but the catch is that reader runs a popular pro-hero blog (opinion blog but borders on gossip) under a screen name and keeps their real identity secret. katsuki lets it slip one night that he just so happens to know the blog... and hate it.

[netscapenavigator-official]

I just finished Nancy Drew: Mystery of the Seven Keys. I have a lot of mixed opinions on a lot of things, but I'm gonna keep this post abridged:

The puzzles gave me Ransom of the Seven Ships vibes. While there were certainly way more than in Midnight in Salem, they were way too hard, especially on Amateur Detective. I dread to think what this game is like on Master Detective mode. Maybe I'm a weenie and just way worse at these games than I thought, but this game, RAN, and The Deadly Device are the only three ND games that I've ever played where the puzzles got my so stressed I had to split my play time across multiple days because I kept getting headaches. I think I used the hint system or video walkthroughs to get answers more times than I solved the puzzles myself. Overall, not a rewarding experience, and I'm glad I didn't buy this game. This is the first Nancy Drew game I seriously considered not finishing.

The plot was fine. It would've been better with better graphics, a better environment, and better puzzles, but with those aspects missing, the plot was meh. I much prefer MID's over this game's, even though I really don't like scary games that much. It also felt like they were trying to win brownies points and distract longtime fans by including as many references as possible. I also feel like they realized what a botch job they did with Ned and Nancy's relationship last game, and they were trying to make up for it in this game. The problem, though, is that it felt... a bit forced and overdone. Like they were trying too hard to undo what they did last time.

Graphics were an improvement from MID, for sure, but still looked worse and more soulless than every past Nancy Drew game, even SCK and STFD. This game reminded me a lot of Supermarket Simulator... which is a solo-dev, Unity asset, early access Steam game...

The villain choice was interesting. Don't wanna get too spoiler-y, but but I just can't help but feel it was a shallow, surface-level, and rushed decision to chose who they chose to be the villain.

The navigation in this game sucks. I mean this wholeheartedly when I say I would've rather had MID's hybrid navigation system than either of these. The Modern Mode is soulless and makes the game a little harder. Part of the fun of point-and-click games is that they tend to only show you things that are relevant for the story and puzzles, allowing you to focus more on the puzzles and story as opposed to navigating this big open world looking for small items to click on. The Modern Mode in this game removes that and adds too much vagueness. Not to mention, the movement and gliding-ness of the movement gives "default Unity" vibes... which is fitting since the entire game sorta gives that energy. The Classic Mode isn't much better. This is the worst point-and-click system in any Nancy Drew game, ever. The click boxes are harder to find that SCK, but their more unpredictable in where they'll take you than MID. Truly an awful point-and-click system that only added to my stress playing the game. It was the clear that the new devs were totally fish out of water when it came to designing this system.

Overall, for the majority of this game, I was on the verge of stress tears, telling myself I just wanted it to be over. Nancy Drew: Mystery of the Seven Keys placed 32/35 on my ranking spreadsheet, just below Phantom of Venice and above Ransom of the Seven Ships. For reference of it's nearest games, age-wise, Midnight in Salem (2019) placed 15/35 and Sea of Darkness (2015) placed 7/35... so... I won't be replaying this game... ever... unless I absolutely have to.

Ultimately, the difficult puzzles were the Achilles heal of what could've been an semi-enjoyable game. This game, alone, has burned me out, and I think I'm gonna take a break from playing Nancy Drew games for a while...

[drewlyyours]

QUICK Review of KEY because I’ve been thinking about it:

(No outright spoilers)

I’ll be honest. I liked it! I liked the stuff that catered to the old fans and I liked the stuff that catered to the new fans. They’ve improved environments and character form.

But the dialogue was awful. You couldn’t call anybody (despite having The Hardy Boys, Ned, AND Carson), nobody answered until the game wanted you to. I miss chatty moments! Just humorous bits with the boys! I was so excited for that, but nothing.

The conversation with suspects wasn’t great either. It was really lacking and linear. The choices were there but the conversation could only possibly go where the game wanted it to go. I don’t always dive into the character questions, but I LOVE to ask everything during replays. Without new dialogue, the game doesn’t feel replayable to me. At all.