#shit is making me want to get a gaming pc goddamn

[talesfromthebandgeekmafia]

Holy fucking shit Baldur’s Gate is so good game of the year indeed

[anthurak]

9S is the final boss though? Like his whole arc after 2B dies is him going insane until you get to the final fight with A2 with her being the obviously better choice.

Alright, ‘cracks knuckles’ guess I’m finally talking about those Nier takes I’ve never gotten around to.

Yes, you are correct. Which is why I call 9S a ‘blemish’ and not something that outright ruined the game for me.

It’s still annoying when you get into later parts of Route B when 9S starts stumbling onto all the big lore and backstory reveals with even Commander White dropping into emphasize how important what he’s finding is. As if the story is saying ‘aren’t you a smart and special little boy, 9S, for discovering all these important things’. Which combined with 2B dying at the start of Route C, makes it feel like, as I said, 9S is getting the ‘he was the REAL main character all along!’ treatment. Particularly when we consider that 9S gets to be the PC of both Route B and half of Route C, whereas 2B only gets Route A and A2 only gets half of Route C, effectively meaning that 9S technically gets the most screen time, story-wise.

Add on the fact that, as I said in the original repost, 9S reads and acts like literally every generic, cardboard-cutout self-insert anime protag-guy, to the point where some of his dialogue with 2B that I think the game wants us to interpret as ‘flirting’ feels like it’s out of a goddamn visual novel, and you can see why I consider him pretty insufferable.

It also doesn’t help that every time I’ve revisited Nier: Automata, I’m always finding 2B more and more interesting and compelling as a character. Just as an example, has anyone noticed that despite being seemingly the most ‘professional’ and loyal to the YoRHA cause on the surface of the three PCs, 2B is actually the most merciful of the three to the machine lifeforms? Like how when you first encounter non-hostile machines, 2B doesn’t want to attack them, stating that there is no reason to attack those that aren’t attacking them. Or how 2B is actually the MOST open of the three to talking and working with Pascal, whereas A2 is at first extremely distrustful and 9S just wanted to attack him on sight.

And yes, I really like A2 as well. Unfortunately the way her route is constructed means that she feels just as much like a replacement for 2B as she does a separate character in her own right. Which combined with the shorter length of Route C, makes her character feel a bit truncated.

And yes, 9S rapidly revealing himself to be a crazed, murderous incel simping for 2B the moment she dies IS in and of itself a great, twisted and interesting character turn, and I wholly agree that A2 having to Old-Yeller him is absolutely the better choice for the final battle. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really change everything else I’ve been saying up to now. Or the fact that 2B absolutely got fridged to make it happen.

Personally, for a long time now I’ve felt a better way to do the post-‘everything’s gone to shit’ reveal that we see in Route C would have 2B not actually dying but instead taken by A2 and eventually purged of the logic virus, though with 9S still wholly BELIEVING that 2B is dead at A2’s hands. Say, A2 still stabs 2B, but it turns out to be non-fatal.

From there, Route C follows A2 and a weakened/regaining-her-strength 2B working together. Likely with some fun gameplay twists were-in you’re switching control between the two. All the while, 9S is deteriorating even further than what we saw originally, to the point where even when he learns that 2B is alive and sees her again, he just goes into an even more crazed ‘you abandoned me!’ and ‘you left me for her!’ mode.

Which actually ends up leading to 9S mirroring Eve’s own crazed obsession with Adam and the rampage he went on after the latter’s death. Which in turn at first leads 2B to believe that 9S has some lingering virus infection from Adam and Eve from when they were holding him captive and that is the source of his madness, meaning that 9S could still be saved.

Of course, in a tragic twist, it is revealed that it ISN’T something lingering from Eve, but rather that 9S is deliberately re-infecting himself with the virus. That the true source of 9S’s madness is simply his own twisted obsession with 2B.

Which in turn leads to a final boss fight of 2B and A2 fighting a now-monstrous 9S. A fight which culminates in 2B and A2, with the help of Pods 042 and 153, hacking 9S in an extended trippy hacking sequence.

A sequence which culminates in 2B/the player having to hack into 9S’s menu and actually forcibly uninstall his OS-chip in order to put him down for good. Complete with you/2B effectively having to fight the ‘Are you sure?’ confirmation box which becomes progressively more crazed and unhinged, until Pod 042 mentions that you can force-uninstall the chip through some seemingly simply method like holding the button. Or perhaps something equally zany like switching control to A2 to uninstall the chip while the confirmation box is ‘occupied’ with 2B.

Thus, we still get a tragic/bittersweet ending of 2B being forced to kill 9S, but this time for good with the sense that now she can finally move on. Also this version would absolutely have 2B and A2 becoming a couple.

So yeah, that's a... few of my takes on Nier. Heck, I didn't even go into the AU I've had percolating for a few years now wherein 9S is expunged from the story entirely, 2B is partnered with 60 and is a bit of a yuri-harem-protag and there is frankly WAY more world-building than is necessary.

[fernsnailz]

goddamn it now you've got me thinking about Sonic Minecraft headcanons and shit lmaoooo lemme like... spout a few: -Tails is the redstone nerd, he's the one who would literally learn to build computers inside of minecraft. The others purposefully ignore redstone in caves purely because they dont want him building massive shit that lags the entire server lmao, if he wants the redstone he has to get it himself. -Amy and Sonic are the two who use shaders, Sonic has a beefy-ass PC that Tails made for him so he likes to use shaders to make the world look as cool as possible, but he's also still a freak for high FPS so he tends to use low-end shaders with very basic texture packs. Amy, however, pushes her own PC to it's limits to make shit look as beautiful as possible, and she has a whole slew of texture packs that she's organized and uses. She's the screenshot lover, and the primary builder of the group. -Omega isn't in the server because he would not stop asking for mods that add explosives so he gets his own modded world where it's just.... always chaos. -Amy is also the primary server moderator, while Tails helps her with the technical stuff. -Rouge has been banned and unbanned like 14 times for stealing so now they shut down the server if Amy or Tails isn't online to make sure she doesn't cause trouble again. -Sonic, as you've mentioned, tends to explore a lot, so the others often find random dirt huts every 1000 blocks or so from when he forgets to take food with him and his sprint runs out at night time lol -Knuckles is the primary mining dude, he also absolutely refuses to give up his emeralds to trade with villagers because he wants to rebuild his home ruins in Minecraft and hopes to use emerald blocks for that. -Shadow is.... a bit of a wildcard??? He just tends to do whatever the hell he feels like, which is either building onto his house made of an assortment of random blocks, or causing absolute fucking mayhem for everyone else. He's also the one who spends his EXP on naming his weapons the most batshit insane stuff. -There was a moment in time when they were all in a VC together that Sonic said "Oh hey I found Shadow!" and not even 5 seconds later the message "SpeedyBoi was slain by XxUltimateShitlordxX" appeared in the in-game chat -Tails most likely helped set up some of their Minecraft accounts so many of them ended up stuck with names they absolutely did not choose

thats all i can think of right now lol, but this is making me wanna make a Shadow skin for MC

these are very fun, i think the only thing i would add is that the one time omega was in the server he downloaded every speedrunning strat known to man and beat the ender dragon in under five minutes

also silver does not play because he thinks herobrine is real <3

[chipped-chimera]

I enter the cyberpunk 2077 tag. I see a post about the game not being 'punk' because of all the triple A gaming company typical shit 'means it's not punk'. I roll my eyes so hard I exit the tag.

Points, context, rebuttal, whatever beloooow (I am not reblogging post because I don't want to attract hate to OP, but I am writing this cause I'm sick of seeing it).

Yeah triple A dev treatment fucking sucks. It sucks CDPR vowed to do different and didn't but that is missing a bunch of context. Here comes the context -

I've been following CDPR since about 2010-ish. They've always held onto older era gaming attitudes and respect their consumers. I guess in a way they were still made for an older era around the Cyberpunk release for the following reasons.

They shot themselves in the foot with their own marketing. Hiring a big name may have done that. If you look at the teaser trailer for Cyberpunk 2077 on announcement it basically says release date wise 'its done when it's done'. Being part of that older era they want to put out a COMPLETE game. Well tested. They came from a time where game updates were a LUXURY and that's why I trusted them to release a good product.

Marketing however got so big that it exited the realm of core fans and into the general public (derogatory). When they announced another delay, I was chill. I trusted them. Shit takes time man, whatever it takes to make it good AND treat your employees well bro. General public however was out for blood, sending death threats, pulling preorders.

There's this fine line you have to tread in marketing. Too little hype, no one knows about your product. Too much hype, you skyrocket expectations. Hype at the wrong time - you end up peaking at the wrong moment and end up losing momentum for release. You can see the conundrum here. They were arguably in the skyrocketed expectations and the losing momentum risk region.

So they did crunch time for release. In a way they had to. I mean sure they could have been 'punk' like OP suggested and said fuck you to the non-core fanbase but unfortunately punk doesn't pay bills. It doesn't keep the lights on. It doesn't keep your employees employed. It doesn't stop them from getting sent death threats for a delay.

So they rushed it out, it bombed. That sucked BUT it brought them peace. Because while everyone was making fun of them and quickly forgetting about it to go laugh at the next bomb of the month - it meant they could actually get onto fixing/finishing their game because people like ME knew them. It wouldn't be left as is. Also let them work at a less insane pace.

I started playing it (I finally had a PC that could handle it) right before the Edgerunners release and the public reboot. It was a fucking. Solid. Game. I studied game design and if I didn't get sick and had to stop this game would have been my goddamn final paper. There are so many good choices narratively and mechanically to the point you can't separate the two. It was everything I expected.

They worked hard to get there. We currently live in an era where entertainment is treated like fast food and people can be fucking incoherent when they're told to have patience. Why do you think so many games release in a scuffed state? Why do you think this new 'redemption arc' story in the game industry has become increasingly common? Because Devs keep getting sent DEATH THREATS just for doing work. That's fucking insane. No wonder they're working overtime and sleeping at the office because the general public has turned gamedev into an industry that basically uses psychological torture as a whip to get your game out 'on time'.

Yes there are absolutely horrible triple A gamedev companies, usually under the stable of a larger company (EA, Activision etc. take your pick) but CDPR ain't that. In my eyes their hand was forced.

You know what is punk? Going with a little, 'unpopular' (basically not DnD) ttrpg written by a black man and building a new IP and experience from it - AND having him on board and getting his active input during development. Because dear lord current media in general seems to be allergic to taking risks and new IPs.

You know what else is punk? Releasing free DLC updates that would be a micro transaction otherwise (no I am not talking about Phantom Liberty and I argue that's an 'expansion' though I guess no one uses that word now) and putting the goddamn pdf of the ttrpg handbook they based it off with the game download. Putting stickers in physical releases (going by my witcher experience), giving you goddamn HIGH RESOLUTION IMAGES of in game posters to print for yourself FOR. FREE. No one DOES THAT anymore.

Also arguably putting out Cyberpunk is punk just in the narrative it tells in the goddamn first place - especially in the current climate, but I think I've made my point here.

Also my last point, in big letters because it's driving me fucking insane:

CYBERPUNK. IS. A. GENRE. A GENRE. THEY DID NOT INVENT CYBERPUNK. BLADE RUNNER. NEUROMANCER. ALTERED CARBON. IT'S A GENRE. THE PUNK ELEMENT IS IN THE NARRATIVE. IT'S NOT SOME KIND OF 'STATEMENT' ABOUT THEMSELVES, IT'S A GENRE AND ALSO THE LITERAL TITLE OF THE TTRPG THE THING WAS BASED OFF IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Anyway I'm sick of seeing CDPR being thrown under the bus and being treated in ways that will actively end up affecting future development. I really, really hope they haven't been too affected but if they end up feeling forced into modern day gamedev cycles and all the bullshit that goes with it ... well I know why.

And it starts with people who spout shit like this.

[alertarchitect]

Full disclosure, this is a long one. It's also a vent post. I'm mainly writing this out to help get the thoughts and feelings regarding this kind of organized and out of my head, makes dealing with them just a little easier. Maybe it'll help you put to words your own thoughts & feelings on this kinda shit, too, and if it does, I'm glad my screaming into the void at least helped out someone other than myself! After all, if anything I say, write, or do ends up helping at least one other person, then maybe I'm doing something right :]

Sometimes having long-time special interests in an ongoing franchise FUCKING SUCKS. Perfect example - I am both a big Halo nerd, and really enjoy the overaching lore of Bungie's connected worlds (with how Marathon, Pathways into Darkness, Myth, Destiny, and even the ways Halo originally connected before it had to become its own thing thanks to Microsoft). Here are the ways that currently sucks:

The state of Halo Infinite, the most recent Halo game, both currently and at launch. At launch, you had a buggy mess, with multiplayer that barely functioned, lacking feature parity (even just on the multiplayer side of things, not counting the campaign) with Halo Reach, a game from 2010. Currently, 343i has admittedly fixed a lot of the launch issues - there's more customization than the game has ever had before (still not as good as Reach's customization imo, but at this point I've given up hope on any multiplayer AAA game having that level of customization for free ever again), the desync issues (in my experience) are no longer happening, and it has the most powerful Forge mode in any Halo game to date. The flip side of that, though? Egregiously horrendous monetization, an armor core and coating system that both hurt the customization more than help, and a drip-feed of content with little to no communication from 343 on anything past the most recent update. Not to mention the issues that come from a focus on "Live Service" bullshit.

The issues at 343 Industries itself, which come part and parcel with the massive issues related to Microsoft as a company. Massive megacorporation, horrible management, staff getting screwed over, crunch culture, and more - it just goes on and on.

Halo 5, despite its generally negative reception, is horrendously inaccessible to those of us that want to experience it as a piece of history and/or try out the multiplayer. A perfect example of how little companies care about game preservation, despite the decent track record 343i has had in that respect thanks to the Master Chief Collection, its PC release and addition of Halo Reach, and the efforts to find, occasionally recreate from almost nothing, and implement lost & cut content in the MCC titles.

Being a fan of Bungie's overarching stuff... really bad when you are at PEAK investment into their stuff, namely my Destiny 2 hyperfixation, and they not only announce that their new Marathon game is going to be a fucking EXTRACTION SHOOTER, and thus unlikely to have one of the most interesting things about Marathon in it (that being its lore) while also being very hard to get into thanks to people treating that kind of game as a massive sweat-fest, but also suddenly lay off a bunch of employees (when previously they had a good track record of treating employees decently...) due to Square Enix levels of profit overestimations of Lightfall, the BEST SELLING DESTINY EXPANSION EVER only getting 45% of the expected sales. Because why be realistic, right? Just fuck over employees, that certainly won't hurt us in the end!

The fact that, despite ALL OF THIS and my moral convictions against the shitty nature of this stuff, my dumbass brain still wants me to just spend spend spend on it anyway because of how much of a special interest Halo & the Bungie lore are to me - it almost hurts. I generally prefer fantasy stuff, but I can't stop myself from loving the lore and stories associated with this stuff. I have to fight myself every goddamn time I have money to not fall into the traps. It's easier with Destiny - I uninstalled it, replaced my PvE needs with Warframe and Risk of Rain 2, replaced my PvP needs with Halo Infinite, and just keep up with the story from a distance. But now that Halo Infinite is back in my life? I love the gameplay, hell I'd go as far as to say it has some of the strongest gameplay in the series (though some modes could use a bit more work, for example the Infection mode just isn't as fun as the Infection from Halo Reach), but the monetization just... AAAARGH it hurts me that I want to spend on it, both for customization and to have little goals to work towards in the (thankfully well-implemented due to them being available eternally) battle passes.

I just want to be able to love something that's been so central to me for so long - I played a cracked version of the CE PC demo for countless hours growing up, to the point that to this day I know the mission Silent Cartographer back to front from memory & could do it in my sleep, and associate Blood Gulch with countless memories of Halo's multiplayer from how often I'd play it with my sister, and to add onto all of that Halo Reach is one of my favorite games ever made, period - without caveats and moral hangups. I just want to love something without justifying it every time I think of it, both to myself and others.

I know this is a massively first-world issue, having the luxury to whine about my Favorite Things going through years and years of getting fucked by their own successes driving them into corporatism, but it still sucks. Obviously not as much as other issues both myself and others deal with, and DEFINITELY not as much as the horrible shit people are enduring in several parts of the world, but just enough for me to want/need to vent about how much corporations like to shit on the little rays of sunshine that we use to feel better about life.

[jennathearcher]

I was tagged by the always wonderful @gellavonhamster to post four characters that make me go "my man, my man, my man!!"

(I've done an images-only version of this post previously, but I'm thrilled to elaborate on WHY I adore said characters here :P)

Jonathan Sims (The Magnus Archives)

(fanart credit here)

How do I begin to explain Jonathan Archivist? He's flawless :P In all seriousness, Jon is legit one of the best, most complex characters I've ever seen in media, and perhaps one of the first characters to ever make me go "THAT ONE. MINE." XD

The best part is when I first started listening to the podcast, and didn't really know WHERE it was going to go or how big the story was going to become, I had s1 Jon who is kind of an asshole and I was SO frustrated by his skepticism CONSTANTLY XD then the end of s1 rolls around, s2 illustrates a character arc that encapsulates the immediate aftermath of a severe trauma SO well, and by the end of s2, I had my ".....oh. Oh no" moment :P

Jon spends pretty much the rest of the series just GOING THROUGH IT in one way or another, and pretty consistently going "This is fine" about all of it even though he is Very Not Fine :P I want to just wrap this man in a big cozy blanket and TAKE CARE OF HIM. Because Jon goes through so much of his whole storyline.....essentially ALONE and it DRIVES ME BONKERS XD There's a point in this series where Jon has pretty much lost every friend he's ever had and it is HEARTBREAKING.

But also, his transformation throughout the series :P I don't want to go into TOO much detail here for spoiler reasons, but god. Jon has moments especially in the latter half of the series where he is SCARY. HE IS POWERFUL. AND HE IS GODDAMN SEXY :P (my bestie likes to listen to s5 episodes with me and laugh maniacally over me Losing My Shit from sheer simp-itude XD)

Also, bonus points for being a Canon Asexual 8D like me!! <3

Johnny Silverhand (Cyberpunk 2077)

Oh, Johnny, Johnny <3 I pretty much went into this game knowing he was gonna steal my heart, but even then, I was utterly unprepared for just how attached I would become :3

A lot of that is due to playing as a POV character that you essentially craft yourself from the ground up -- prime real estate for a self insert lover like myself XD And despite there being a myriad of colorful characters in the world of Cyberpunk, four of which you can romance, everyone can pretty much agree that Johnny is by far the most important character to the PC, who has the placeholder moniker of V.

The basics of the game's story are that your character, V, is a mercenary in the postapocalyptic world of 2077, and they are betrayed and nearly killed by one of their clients -- their life only being saved due to the presence of a chip they installed in their head during a job, without realizing said chip contained, essentially, the soul of Johnny Silverhand; a rock star turned terrorist who died in 2023.

The main plot of the game focuses on V's attempts to stabilize Johnny's presence in their brain, before the chip eventually overwrites their consciousness and kills them. A lot of that depends on the player's interactions with Johnny throughout the game, but as you can imagine, literally sharing a brain and body with someone can be quite the bonding experience :P

Especially because Johnny is a MESS. He's an alcoholic and drug addict who hides his supreme self-loathing behind a seemingly massive ego -- who talks a big game about his hatred of capitalism but in reality blew up the biggest conglomerate in the city because his girlfriend died (and it was his fault) and he doesn't know how to deal with his feelings.

The moments in the game when Johnny actually opens up to V are CAPTIVATING, certainly in part due to a masterful performance from Keanu Reeves :P This is one of those games that just grabs you with its immersion, and got me genuinely emotional several times during my first playthrough. (One day, I'll get the chance to play it again :P one day XD)

Plus there's also the aspect of building my own personal canon for my V and her relationship with Johnny, and all that adds up to holding a very special place in my heart :3

Gale Dekarios (Baldur's Gate 3)

I. LOVE. THIS. STUPID. WIZARD. SO. DAMN. MUCH.

Of course I jumped onto the BG3 train for Astarion and ended up falling head-over for the character I most commonly heard referred to as annoying :P

A dorky wizard you say? Who's highly autistic coded? Loves books and his cat? Strongly implied to be an abuse survivor at the hands of an older female partner? AND HE'S SUICIDAL??? I didn't stand a fucking chance :P

I just love listening to him talk so much XD and thank god because he never shuts up :P Nothing like a guy who thinks he's the smartest man in the room who is, IN FACT, very very dumb <3

And lest we forget if you keep him around until the third act of the game, he decides his new coping mechanism is SEEKING GODLY POWER like babe please calm down XD

I've done pretty much all of his possible endings so far outside of doing his origin run (aka playing through the whole game as him), and I just. LOVE HIM SO MUCH <3 I'm excited to romance him again, especially since I missed out on stuff the first time XD Every time I start a new playthrough I end up half-romancing him anyway because I CAN'T HELP MYSELF :P ultimately breaking my own heart when I have to commit to the character I originally set out to romance in the first place XD and he's always the first companion I get to the Exceptional approval level :3

that's my emotional support wizard :P and I WILL make him useful by juicing him up with all the good spells, thank you VERY MUCH XD

Black Leg Sanji (One Piece)

You all knew this was coming :P

Hey, you ever casually look at a fun pirate manga here and there as a teenager without ever really getting into it, but you know EXACTLY which character would be your fave and just kinda tuck that away in the back of your mind?

And then some odd years later, that manga gets adapted into an extremely successful and astonishingly well made live action Netflix series that is much more accessible to you than the source material?

And THEN that gets you engaging with more and more of the source material's fan content until you still haven't even watched the anime proper yet and somehow THIS has happened to you??

Anyway moral of the story is that your first instinct as to what character is going to be your favorite it always right no matter what :P OH MY GOD WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME

I just. Love him SO MUCH.

He cooks. He fights by KICKING PEOPLE REALLY HARD. Like SO hard. Hard enough that he can SHATTER CONCRETE WALLS??? WITH HIS HANDS IN HIS POCKETS LIKE HE'S ORANGE CASSIDY.

He smokes CONSTANTLY. He's ALWAYS associated with fire. He LIGHTS HIMSELF ON FIRE FOR COMBAT PURPOSES. And yet he has the most water elemental oriented soul I've EVER SEEN. (and CHRIST HOW IS HE SO FUCKING SHREDDED--)

He's 80% Leg. His EYEBROWS do the fucking THING. He's FRENCH. The extent of his post-timeskip transformation is PARTING HIS HAIR DIFFERENTLY. His name is a PUN. He is AN IDIOT and also SO SMART. He has to have 17 karmic punishments from the narrative before we ever get to his tragic backstory. His adoptive dad ate his own foot.

He's a Hopeless Romantic. He COMPLETELY FORGETS HOW TO ACT every time he so much as Sees A Woman at thirty paces. He gets so many comedic anime nosebleeds that it becomes A PLOT POINT. He has a CODE OF CHIVALRY that actually makes sense kind of (especially once you know his tragic backstory).

Lest we forget to mention that he's part of a FOUND FAMILY!!!! He has SO much love to give and his love language is all of them :P A different one for each person on the crew, as far as I can tell. With Zoro it's "the only person who's allowed to kill you is me, dammit" XD

ALSO!!!!! COME TO FIND OUT HE'S AN ACTUAL FUCKING PRINCE THAT'S JUST CASUALLY THROWN OUT THERE I JUST FLDKJAFLKDAFJLDSAF

I just. Husband Material. HUSBAND. I wanna lock that shit down SO BAD. I'm AS OBSESSED WITH HIM as he is with EVERYONE ELSE and by god I am making it the problem of all of my followers :P

~

tagging (with no pressure) @pink-cenobite @talesfromthecrypts @piratespencil @thebarefootking @damngoodbabysiitter @lady-phasma and anyone else who wants to do the thing!! <3

[bossyuri]

Ima put my random thoughts about SRV in here! It probably won't make much sense but wtv sdfsg

again I haven't placed the last building or conquered the whole map yet, as context, but i did finish the main story aside from that.

So ima start of with thoughts while disregarding how the bugs affected the experience!

Overall, I had a good time! I really enjoyed it. I love the new crew. I loved the focus on friendship. I'd say the story overall is nothing really special though, which I don't think is necesserily a bad thing. Sometimes a chill story packaged in a fun game is good ya know.

I loved finding out bits and pieces about our friends through dialogue, I think that was great, and I really liked that it felt like a solid friend group. Modern Yuri (as I like to colloqually call him lmao) is so much more mellow from having a good support system early on lol. But he's still got some Classic Yuri in him.

The rival gangs I think that thematically, visually, their music and stuff, they were great. I liked them a lot, they had good contrast, their music when you fight them rules. I do think that they were a little underused in the actual story though so they don't quite leave the impact that say, the Syndicate did. The threat they posed felt more theorical than anything you actually see. Again not the worst thing, but I feel like they could've used a bit more time to be more present. (I did like how the Panteros stuff ended because it tied in with other things later though!). Like I think in particular that the collective could have been used a lot more.

That said I did play with looong months-long break for the first quarter of the game so idk how that affected my impression. And the last few missions I think were really, really cool, I really liked them! But I felt like the middle parts after a certain point weren't quite as memorable.

But I don't think it was bad! And the game isn't quite over yet, so I'm looking forward to what's to come.

Also I did like how narratively the game tries to give you a nice fantasy release from a lot of real life issues. I'm sure many people at Volition had to face these frustrations in their lives and it felt like. relatable yknow.

Now though.....so I work in game QA, going on my 7th year, and the game released in....really an unnacceptable state, which was really a bummer and really harmed it. I don't blame the devs. Devs want to give us good games. But they don't control release dates.

and they did not control covid. I know a lot people see covid as an "excuse" to fuck up games but trust me as someone who was working in the industry through it all, it absolutely messed up a *lot* of stuff that you may never know about. My setup from home is still not ideal. And thats not even getting into employee burnout but anyway-

I've had crashes to desktop, blockers in missions (regularly), broken multiplayer (tho i havent had a chance to test it again after patches) needing full game restarts for a variety of reasons (clothes broken, face broken, world stopped populating, quest blocked...) the clothes system still breaks for me after so many months after release (thought its a lot better. i dont fear the stores as much anymore lol). I don't know if it's a quirk of the PC version, but it would have been so much more of a good experience if they had had the time to polish the game more before release. Lots of gamers don't have much patience for this kinda shit, and it's a shame for a game that has a lot of love put into it.

But they're still patching the game, and the QOL changes that they keep adding are really good. The game is a lot more stable for me too so I will definitely keep playing, and I'm hoping that my mental state will allow me to make some fun content from it. I'm still kinda hoping for a steam release sometime so I might get to replay the story again if that happens. Because taking screenshots on epic is a goddamn pain.

So huh anyway. I don't think anyone cares that much but if you've read that far thank you! And also thanks for sticking around with me for so long despite my dropping off the face of the earth in a depression spiral. But I'm still around and Yuri is still around. And Saints Row V is fun!

[carterashofficial]

I need to vent for a hot moment about my usually fantastic boyfriend

So. Tonight I make dinner. My boyfriend knows I love to cook. His father has been living with us since April (don’t even get me started but I am ready for him to move out)

I make Tacos b/c Taco Tuesday. I’ve got a chicken breast the size of Rhode Island (thanks Costco), beans, rice, cheese, tortillas, cilantro, a whole onion. I go all out. My big frypan is full of onion and chicken. Like 2lbs of this shit. Can of beans boiling on the stove with cumin and salt. I add cilantro and lime to my rice.

When I say that this could’ve fed like 6 people, I mean it. 6 people with 2 tacos made of 10” tortillas, and it would be fine. I have 2 tacos. Boyfriend has 3? His father, I’m not sure, I’m going to assume 3. Point is, a decent amount of chicken and beans were left over, certainly enough for my lunch tomorrow and maybe the day after.

I tell both of these dudes that in an hour, during break time for my group video game night, I will pack up the leftovers for my lunch tomorrow. Both make sounds of acknowledgement.

Break time comes.

There are no beans or chicken left. I ask where it all went, because boyfriend’s father sometimes packs up the leftovers.

Boyfriend says his dad asked if he could eat the rest, and boyfriend said yes.

I tell them both that I literally had said that I was going to pack it up for my lunch. Boyfriend says he can cook more chicken. Or do something with the 1/4 cup rice left.

Dear reader, this man can build a high level gaming PC or decently play a song on a guitar. His skills do not lay in cooking unless someone (me) is there to keep him from stabbing himself with a paring knife, or he has a YouTube video open to follow along; and even then I’m still nearby b/c he will ask “is this okay?” Or “is this mixed enough together”. I love him. Cooking is not his strong suit, but he can make a nice grilled cheese or scrambled eggs.

So I do not trust my boyfriend to cut up another Rhode-Island chicken tit with a paring knife. We have no beans. The rice has been sitting out for an hour and is slightly crunchy.

I’m pissed. I spent an hour making dinner and I can’t even take any leftovers for lunch, which I definitely made enough to do.

Boyfriend is mad that I’m upset b/c I have to cook again. It’s that or I spend $ on takeout for lunch tomorrow and I don’t want to do that. I wanted my taco salad.

Boyfriend offers to tell his dad to go get me something I can take tomorrow. Obviously it would be takeout b/c his dad can’t cook either. I don’t want takeout.

So.

I’m pissed and cooking again at 9 at night.

Boyfriend is upset b/c I’m pissed.

And his dad is snoring on my couch and I want to scream b/c it’s been 5 goddamn months of him living here and he can’t go somewhere else.

[bainhardt]

Pokemon SV thoughts: tumblr exclusive dlc version sorry this is so long but too bad lol

I got to the credits tonight and to be honest, I feel like I have way too much to say about SV, but that'd be kind of exhausting, so I'll try to keep it to broad strokes. It reminded me a lot of Legends Arceus: I had my share of fun, but I have numerous complaints as well.

First, if what people are tired and cynical about is Game Freak's supposed lack of "innovation," I feel this game is proof that they are finally coming around to trying new ideas. This and LA are the freshest the franchise has been in decades. But new ideas take a lot of refining.

The most fun aspect was exploration. It's legitimately awesome to simply wander, see Pokemon, and catch Pokemon, and you can go basically anywhere you want from the word “Go.” I remember wanting far more out of the exploration in Legends Arceus, and I was relieved to find when playing SV that it felt much closer to what I had envisioned for the concept. This is a big step forward in terms of freedom (and the region is pretty cool, which helps).

But the battling is the same as always (even with the new gimmick), the gyms are the same, the E4 is the same. If the core gameplay loop has grown old for you, there won't be much to win you over; you can do these battles in any order you like, but they're still just... battles.

Add on top of that this game has... a LOT of cutscenes, and it can really drag just trying to get things done so you can progress and become stronger. Story is always subjective, but if you're not invested in the plotlines, you are NOT going to enjoy the pacing (I didn't).

Despite that, the "endgame zone" so to speak is probably the single coolest thing I've seen in a Pokemon game to date. idk that I'd say it makes up for the first portions, but I did start to enjoy the story in the back half. imo the coolest villain/plan segment in the franchise.

Lastly, this game runs like shit. This is THE worst technical showcase of any game I've played on my Switch, bar none. I'm not talking your occasional slowdown or something - this is literally a game that spends more time chugging and breaking than not.

It really brings the entire experience down to know this was a game that was willing to put the work in with its ideas and ambition, only to be held back by hardware limitations and likely development problems (three Pokemon games in a year, all felt crunched and unpolished). I honestly feel like now that the fanbase at large has gotten their hands on gen 9, just about anyone would’ve been willing to give up BDSP and Arceus if it meant this game got the time and resources it really needed. But that problem rings true for any one of them; all three of these games needed more work than they got in the end. Not one of them has felt truly complete when compared to SWSH.

Anyway, all I really had left in terms of complaints are minor ones, but man, I had about a thousand. You can't turn move animations off, you can't L=A mode, there's no Battle Style Shift or Set option, the Pokedex and Bag don't remember where your cursor left off in between uses, the PC box takes forever to load each page, you can’t change to the All Boxes view while holding a Pokemon, the summary screens work differently between the PC and the Party screen, the Bag and Pokedex have no fast scroll buttons, the sandwich recipe menu has a favorite button but then no way to filter by favorites, each time you use an item on a Pokemon it deselects that item and makes you select it again... you get the idea. Many people don’t notice things like this, but for me they’re like pebbles in my shoe, and holy shit - this game was like walking on goddamn gravel.

If this game worked as intended, it would very probably rank the best in the franchise like, unanimously. For a lot of players, it likely still will be. But to me, it's hard to recommend a game that feels this broken, that feels this slapdash when I know they can make them better.

Also, I never tend to include this as part of my actual review’s parameters, but I liked a lot of new Pokemon (most since like gen 5 maybe) and thought a lot of new abilities/moves/battle stuff was really creative. This was the first game I can remember in years where I actually used a team of nothing but new guys, and a full team of six at that. But there's also some truly batshit insane powercreep stuff that's looking to make competitive a nightmare (getting my predictions in early). Continuing the post-3D trend, practically every new Pokemon has a signature move, signature ability, or both, and holy fuck some of the new moves are unbelievable. And the two box legendaries have some Calyrex-ass double down abilities that are sure to make the restricted format full of them. Ugh.

Another thing I felt even before the game came out and after playing still feel is: I really hate the approach to graphical presentation and how that factored into the designs and appearances of the human characters. It’s admirable that they’re trying to add more detail to the Pokemon with texture and lighting, but the people in this game look properly fucking weird to me. The clothes are textured to look more real, the hair is attempting a realistic texture with like visible strands (although it does look pretty shoddy)... but then the skin and faces are still giant plasticy anime-style deals. It reminded me a lot of fashion dolls. Just kind of uncanny, you know?

And personally, I don’t even want the graphics to be more realistic at the end of the day; Pokemon is supposed to be cartoony, and I think this bizarre middle ground only hurts the style in a lot of ways more than it improves it. The trainers and NPCs at large suffer from this lack of cartoonishness, and I feel like the entire world’s color and vitality gets brought down a level from generations past. Yes, the gym leaders still manage some good and a couple great designs; yes, the Star leaders are probably the best designs in the game. But virtually everyone else in the game look like “boring human in clothes.” Battling what few trainers I did, it felt hard to believe this is the same franchise that used to have unique Youngsters, Lasses, Beauties, Fishermen, Hikers, Ace Trainers, Battle Girls and Black Belts, where everyone from business people to scientists to janitors to students and their teachers had memorable and new appearances each generation. Looking at this game, the notion that we could see a repeat of what happened to XY’s Hex Maniac, for example, was laughable. They really put all their eggs into one basket with the main cast, which I think is a significant step backwards.

The actual, real, final thing I can remember to say at this time was that I felt the gym/E4′s use of Terastallization was poor and a huge missed opportunity. Each gym, the leader uses a random ace that they Tera into their gym’s type, which only serves to make the battles as much of a sweep as always if the player is sufficiently prepared. When wiping the Water gym leader with my Electric type, I actually paused for a second when seeing his final Pokemon was Crabominable. I thought “huh, now I don’t have a great move for this, do I switch out to-” before remembering he was, of course, going to change it to a Water type like everything else and I could finish the battle with no more trouble than before.

To me, the better way to handle this and introduce the depth and possibilities of the mechanic is to have each leader’s ace still be a Pokemon of their type, which they Tera into something different and unexpected, reflecting the way it will work in real battles with other players. This also serves to showcase a range of basic strategic choices for each type players could choose to use in their own teams. The only leader that felt close to this was Iono, Terastallizing a Mismagius into Electric so as to have no weaknesses with Levitate. Giving her something like a Volt Absorb Pokemon to Tera into Flying or Water and negate a weakness wouldn’t have been as “strong,” but I feel it would’ve been more thematically appropriate while requiring players to actually vary their approach a little more.

[angrelysimpping]

Off Screen

Written April 3, 2024

Shout out to the talented, sweet, n hampsom 💜@inkyquince 💜 for the amazing vtm game and who made Tekli and Luka (and Rada, who is more connected to Necro's PC yet here she fucking is because I'm a silly billy >m<) (and Ifan who is connected more to Benji than Andi yet here we are)(and Sigvar, who is also more connected to Necro's PC uh)

Contents: talk of curses and ghosts; suicidal ideation and planed scuicide; unreliable narrator; dry humping; some cum eating; briefly implied sex work; biting; some mild blood and blood drinking

Words: 1,813

The boat was…eventful. Yes, that's the word he'd use, eventful. Better for keeping the spirits up. 

Eventful. 

God, he couldn't wait to get to Russia. Luka would finally be safe, they'd be-

Tekli. Tekli might be there. That's why he'd chosen this boat, in the end. He'd seen the letters, saw she might be held up in Russia. So close. So goddamn close. He just had to actually make it there. 

Not die first. 

Would he die first?

His chest still ached where the spirit, Rada, had touched him. Cursed him. 

He'd been so fucking stupid. But, hey, maybe something good would come of it? He could only hope as he trudged back to his rooms, lingering cold of the Shadow Lands still clinging to him. Funnily enough, it was almost comforting. The same constant ache that lingered in his fingers during winters, the same numbness deep in his bones that'd been the only thing keeping him from falling apart when he found himself alone. 

Alone. He always ended up alone, one way or another. 

It'd be a blessing to die. He wouldn't be alone then, would he?

The ship buckles under him, lights dimming and colors failing. Only a second, a blink of an eye, and everything is right again. 

Or would he go there? To the Shadow Lands? His family wouldn't be there, would they? He can't see Mir past the serious six year old boy fascinated with insects. Can't fathom Rzepka other than a sweet nine year old, dirt smeared across her cheek from gardening. And Polina? Whatever had happened in death, she wouldn't end up somewhere like…like the Shadow Lands, would she?

Alone, then? Alone even in death? Or, stuck hunted? Spirits like Rada chasing him down. Rada herself after him? A special hell he’d never conceptualized before?

He didn't particularly want to find out. Though, if the world kept sliding around him, out from under him, he'd have to get used to that place, sooner or later. 

Andrzej is careful not to make too much noise as he slips into his rooms. Even as sleep calls to him, he takes time to make sure the door is barricaded. 

Shuffling into his room, Andrzej changes into his sleeping clothes before pausing, looking at his rumpled bed. He'd dozed there for a bit while Luka had read and it'd been fine, comfortable. A good enough bed, better than others he'd slept on. Yet, he turns, walking back out into the shared room before crossing over to Luka's. 

The man is sound asleep, and there's a pang in Andrzej’s chest. 

God, he'd dragged Luka into a mess. Maybe he should've left him in Italy. Or not snuck him from the brothel- no. 

He's gone down that line of thought too often. If he didn't offer Luka a way out of the brothel, he would've been killed. He was sure of it. But, maybe death would've been better. Isn't that what he himself was chasing, after all? His own death?

If that’s what would've been granted to Luka, that is. Who knows what could have happened, really? Some all knowing God, maybe? Not him, though. No, if anything was proven tonight it was that he didn't know shit. 

He couldn't even find Luka a safer place to sleep. 

Do you see me as a protector, Andrzej? 

Throat constricting, lip curling, he has to fight off the urge to scream. A protector? A protector? He'd met Ifan twice and he seemed trustworthy enough but…but he knew her. He knew Tekli. Sigvar and Ifan had been there, they said, when she ghouled him. And he can't remember, he can't fucking remember. 

He'd rather cut out his own tongue than claim he thought of anyone in that sense. Yet, he might just do it if it'd secured Luka a safe place to sleep away the day. 

A protector? When was the last time Andrzej felt protected in any sense? 

And he knows the answer. Even as his own impending death bounces around his brain, Andrzej lets himself forget for a moment, dropping into bed with Luka. 

He'd meant to find a way to hide Luka away on the boat, and he'd been cursed instead. 

Maybe that's the tipping point. Maybe that's the reason a few stray tears escape the corners of his eyes, wetting Luka's hair. As the smaller man presses against him, nuzzling his face into the crook of Andrzej’s neck, what little resistance he had to becoming attached to Luka dissolves. 

Andrzej tugs off his ever present gloves, worn leather hitting the floor as he tosses them irregardless of where they fall. His hands slip under Luka’s shirt, drag the fabric up as his hands splay over smooth skin. A desperate bid to be even closer to the sleeping man that works. Even though Luka is a thinblood, dead yet not and lacking a mortal's warmth, the shards of ice lingering in Andrzej’s marrow seemed to melt away. 

“Sweet dreams, Lukasha.” He mumbles the words directly into Luka’s hair as he presses a soft kiss to the dark locks. “I’m so, so sorry.”

-

There’s a hardness pressed against his thigh.

It’s the first thing Andrzej becomes aware of as he wakes, momentary worry that he’d pulled a knife or stake in his sleep. But, that’s not what he finds. 

Luka is curled against him, and Andrzej can’t help the way his heart stutters at the sight. Dark lashes and freckled cheeks, so close he could count them if he wanted. And right next to him, still in his arms, hands still spread over his back and keeping him close. 

It’s as Luka’s dark eyes blink open, still bleary from sleep, that he registers what actually woke him. 

Luka seems to notice it at the same time as him, eyes going wide and face burning as he yelps, trying to pull away. Trying to hide the erection poking into Andrzej’s thigh. 

He can’t though. He can’t pull away when Andrzej is still holding him close, eyes wide as Luka inadvertently grinds against him. 

And, interestingly enough, his own cock answers with interest, slowly growing hard as Luka moves. 

“S-sorry.” Luka’s voice is choked, shaking as he speaks. “I-I don’t…” He trails off as Andrzej continues to stare at where their bodies meet, slowly lifting his leg to press a strong thigh against Luka’s cock. 

When was the last time he wanted this? Actually wanted? Not the itching, burning need brought on by the blood, the vitae? 

“Do you…” Andrzej’s mismatched eyes meet Luka’s. “Do you want me to, uh, take care of that?”

He didn’t think Luka could blush any darker, but he’s proven wrong as the Italian tries to register what he was just asked. 

“I-I…want,” he manages to get out, barely above a whisper, “want to…if you wanna.”

Andrzej groans, deep in the back of his throat, as he presses forward, brushing his lips right over the beauty mark on the other man’s collar bone. “If you want me to, I will, Lukasha.”

Luka isn’t graceful by any measure as he shifts, movements still blunt and clumsy by sleep as he slides on top. Not that it matters to Andrzej, his breath catching in his throat as Luka settles himself. His hands slide down, over Luka’s sides and making him shiver, before resting on the smaller man’s hips. 

The first movement is hesitant, experimental. Beyond perfect. 

Sparks shoot down Andrzej’s spine as Luka rocks forward. If he wasn’t already fully hard, he is now as Luka lets out a small, high pitched mewling sound. That seems to be some kind of trigger for the thinblood as he nearly collapses forward to tuck his face into Andrzej’s neck, humping their clothed cocks together in earnest. 

Andrzej helps him move as best he can, fingers digging into hip as the muscles flex under his palms. Each desperate movement pulls another sweet sound from Luka’s lips, and Andrzej revels in each and every one. With the way Luka is hunched over, he has unlimited access to an expanse of slender shoulder. It’d be a sin not to take advantage of such a blessing. 

Maybe he should’ve asked first, seeing as what they are, but Luka doesn’t seem to mind when Andrzej starts nipping and sucking at his exposed shoulder. In fact, his noises get louder, his movements more fervent as Andrzej bites and kisses, uncaring if he leaves any marks that might be visible once they left the sanctuary of their rooms. 

It’s greedy, but Andrzej has been in want for so long he doesn’t think of it. He bucks up, throwing off Luka’s rhythm and making the man squeal. He chuckles even as fingers dig into his shoulder, into his ribs. He bucks up again, tight grip on Luka’s hips keeping him firmly in place. It does exactly what Andrzej wanted, another cute sound escaping Luka's throat.

So, he keeps going. 

Luka’s mouth latches onto the joint between his shoulder and neck, hanging onto Andrzej for dear life even if the ghoul’s hold on his hips kept him safely in place. 

It’s with one of Andrzej’s rough jerks up that he makes the mistake. He’s still giving Luka’s shoulder the occasionally lick, kiss, nip, and his canine catches. Copper tang spreads over his tongue, metallic and sweet.

Luka whines, shivering, as Andrzej’s hot tongue instinctively laps up the spilt blood.

And Andrzej freezes, chest heaving and eyes wide.

Fuck. Fuck. Had he hurt Luka? He wasn’t sure. He’s still hard but that didn’t matter. Nothing else would. Luka was the one person he didn’t want to hurt and if he had-

A warm wetness seeps into his clothes.

Cum.

Luka had cum. 

Not hurt. No. The opposite. 

Luka leans back, looking down at Andrzej. His dark eyes are glazed over, somehow softer looking than ever as he slips a hand under Andrzej’s clothes. The hand is cool compared to his burning skin, a welcome change. 

He can’t look away from Luka as he starts to jerk him off. His mind empties. Maybe the first time in a long time as he gazes into the endless depths of Luka’s eyes. It’s on pure instinct, complete auto pilot, as he dips his fingers under Luka’s clothes. Collects some of the spent cum on his thumb. Pops the digit into his mouth, licking it clean. Finally breaking eye contact as his lids shut in pure pleasure, salt and copper across his tongue. 

His hand drops, gripping onto Luka’s thigh as Luka lurches forward, pressing their lips together in a quick kiss. 

“Lukasha.” 

A gasp of his name against his lips as Andrzej reaches his end, spilling into Luka’s hand. 

They stay like that for a moment, close and breathing heavy before Andrzej smiles, sitting up, Luka sprawling in his lap. “Come on, Lukallini. Let’s get cleaned up.”

[punishedsurge]

SBFC 001: This is Gonna be Terrible. [08/13/13]

1hr 12min runtime, respectable.

“TheSw1tcher” man…

Rustlemania and LoU this year on the channel, awesome.

Dragon’s Crown talk. [Still haven’t played it.]

Wonderful 101 demo talk, haven’t played it either. “WiiU is a Platinum Box.” They wonder why games are developed to need the big gamepad. [I mean of course Nintendo wanted devs to utilize it.]

Matt: I bought a brick with a screen, it’s called a Vita.

Pat: Woolie, you’re the only person without that particular brick!

Woolie: This is the worst peer pressure ever.

Matt talks about the vita making his hands cramp and ache, says meaty man hands are to blame. [I agree, mobile gaming ergonomics still suck.]

Guacamelee talk. [Haven’t played this either.]

Divekick talk, [Me no play.]

Liam: AoT and Free are the best anime ever. Free has well developed characters and abs.

Smt 4 talk.

Pat: It’s not like Persona. That would be like saying Darkstalkers is like SF because they’re 2D fighters by Capcom.

Project CrossZone talk. [No play dis either nope nope nope. They all dropped it eventually for being too long and not seeing characters they like.]

“Visual Sex Game” Ghost Song kickstarter talk. [It hit it’s funding but didn’t get released until 2022?! What the fuck.]

Shitting on Shadows of the Eternals. [CP charges dropped on someone in the dev team in between kickstarter campaigns. Oof.]

Project Phonenix talk. The various titles and IPs the team had worked on screams that the game is too good to be true. [And it was. This shit died with zero fanfare lmao.]

Pat: Diablo 3 is a weird game because it’s so good and one decision fucking ruined it (the auction house). [Sounds kind of like Diablo 4 tee-hee lol.]

Yatagarasu kickstarter talk. Bunch of small Japanese fite game devs came together for this kickstarter. Matt and Pat had issues with the characters, Matt for their designs and Pat for half the cast being palette swaps. [Max made a video about this too.]

Project Awakened mention. Matt is glad it’s kickstarter failed because it looked like shit. Looking at it, it’s hard to argue against him. [They confuse the name with “Project Awakening”, a much newer game that looks like a more generic FF16.]

Infamous and Prototype talk.

Woolie: Second Son is the first one that looks interesting.

Liam: I played Festival of Blood, that one was good.

Woolie and Pat both like Prototype more.

Pat: Infamous clearly had better production and gameplay, with more thought put into it— but you run faster in Prototype, so I’ll play that one.

Atlas sale. Index Corporation turned out to be fucky-wucky and stopped existing because of bankruptcy. The entire company is up for sale, Sega is offering 201 million dollars for the company.

Pat doesn’t like it because Sega’s output sucks, which even then wasn’t all that true. But he’s right about them axing Sega USA after bad business practices which lead to a lot of games not coming to America, except for European PC games? Idk sure I guess.

Woolie doesn’t like Sega because they ‘mistreated Platinum.’ Name a more overrated game developer (I still like their old games)

Liam accurately describes Sega’s plan for Atlus, “let them cook”, basically. He also argues there’s a huge market for Persona in the West.

Pat: Persona and SMT have a larger market out here than Yakuza ever had. [I feel Yakuza is a lot more popular than Persona nowadays, but idk]

Pat tells Liam to shut the fuck up about his desire for Project Diva to come out, he punches back by asking when Streets of Rage 4 is coming out. Pat responds with “Never”. [It finally came out in 2020, I dunno if he played it or like it.]

SALTY BET MENTIONED GODDAMN I FORGOT. [It’s still going to this day, I looked it up on Twitch and it had 300+ viewers.]

Discussion about pot splitting and collusion in the FGC. “Spooky is going nutssss” is dropped. The boys also shame players who did it. [One of the guilty is Justin Wong, one of Matt’s co-hosts on Triple K.O.]

MATT WATCH: One of the people he’s ’stalking’ is Bryan Singer for his return to the X-Men movie series with Days of Future Past, after going to a talk with the director he thinks he’s a cool enough guy.

[Dude has had sexual harassment/assault allegations since 1997, definitely not cool lmao. Pre-MeToo era Hollywood really protected shitty people, still do.]

Outro is that dope KI sample by Mick Gordon. So much better than the choice to let Woolie put on 144p songs at the end.

[multiplayingorg]

Dead Space 2: NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE

| Repost: Originally posted by Steve "Slurms" Lichtsinn on January 17, 2012

OH SHIT, OH SHIT, OH SHIT.... WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT THING? THE SHIT IS THAT!? BURN IT WITH FIRE!

If you know me at all, you know I buy a lot of games. You might also know that I almost never pay full price. Dark Souls and Star Wars: The Old Republic were the only games in 2011 that I did shell out top dollar for, everything else was picked up at some sort of a discount. Towards the end of the year, some of the games I bought on sale from Amazon came with promotional codes to get 5 bucks off certain games in January of this year. I didn’t really plan on using the codes seeing as they were only to be used one at a time and only on the top selling downloadable games from 2011. The list is comprised mainly of The Sims expansions and games I’ve already owned in one way or another. Oh well.

Then EA started dropping prices on a few titles on the list. Grand Theft Auto IV was the first. I’ve owned the game before, but never on the PC. The price dropped all the way to 5 dollars. After my promotional code was applied…it was free. I may never play the game, but it was free.

The same thing happened a week later, but with Dead Space 2. A game that had been getting a lot of talk on podcasts I listen to in regards to “great games from 2011.” I’m not much of a horror game type person, just as I’m not big on horror films, but again… it was free. Unlike GTA though, I figured I’d give Dead Space a shot.

I downloaded and installed the game, then attempted to play it. I immediately had an issue with the menu. For some reason if you have a device such as a flight stick or a keypad (like the Logitech G13 as was my case) it screws up the camera and makes the game unplayable. I unhooked the G13 and reinstalled the game (tried fixing it via the txt file, but it didn’t work) and then once that was done everything was hunky dory.

Since I hadn’t played the first Dead Space, I took the few minutes to watch the “Previously on Dead Space” video that was provided in the menu. I really dug that they put that in rather than trying to get you up to speed within the game. I’m sure people who DID play the first title were quite appreciative of it as well. After the video ended, I went in.

Warning: Very light spoilers about the first handful of minutes into the game ahead.

I went in expecting things to pop out at me as if I were walking through a haunted house. Scary, sure, but also somewhat lame and annoying in a way that makes me want to hurt someone. Instead I was greeted by a man interrogating me, slowly unraveling the idea that I had some important information in my brain but was being treated like a psych patient, straight-jacket and all. Then shit went south. I wake up to a man who is visibly panicked trying to wake my character up in order to get moving.

Still in a straight-jacket because my panicked friend didn’t last long after waking me up, I proceed to run down the hall as FUCKING CHAOS ensues all around me. Necromorphs (big, nasty, half human, half goddamn gross creatures) are tearing apart people and crawling out of the woodwork. Although it’s in space… so there’s really not any wood. Metalwork? Yeah, crawling out of the metalwork. I have nothing but the ability to run, so that’s what I do.

I eventually make it to a sealed office where I run into the doctor who I met in the beginning of the game. Dude. Went. Nuts. I won’t spoil what happens; apart from he gets you out of your straight-jacket and gives you a flashlight. FORESHADOWING!

I soon walk into a room that has no lights. GOOD THING I GOT THIS FLASHLIGHT! It’s then that the game starts to scare me. Say what you will about me, but I will repeat: I am not a fan of the horror genre. So I begin to make my way through this room, dead bodies laying on the ground and sitting in chairs, and I just know something is going to pop out at my defenseless ass. NOT GONNA HAPPEN. So I hit escape and quit.

Look, the graphics are really great, the controls feel awesome, and if you like horror games I suggest you give it a whirl. It’s not for me though. This isn’t to say I’ll never play it again, but never again right before bed.

Maybe on a bright spring morning or something…

with extra lights in my cloffice…

and my iPod playing KC and the Sunshine Band.

[sir-sunny]

thh hcs cuz why not

makoto:

-he likes to paint his nails but everytime he does, he makes a goddamn mess all over his hands and the table

-he has dimples

-he's a really affectionate person; he gives hugs as a greeting, he'll grasp someones hands to show that he's listening intently, and he leans against people's shoulders

sayaka:

-she loves stuffed animals 

-when she gets really excited about something, she talks really loud and waves her hands around, its v cute

-she likes to bake. she'll make cute little cupcakes for just about any occasion. passed a test? cupcakes? won a competition? cupcakes. got a divorce? c. cup..cakes,,

leon:

-he has a pet bearded dragon

-he's a huge nerd abt superhero movies and comics

-he likes the idea of growing his hair out but he just cant stand the awkward phase in between long and short hair so he always ends up grabbing a pair of scissors and chopping all off

chihiro:

-they like to take walks while its raining

-they like to host movie nights with their friends (they always pirate the newest movies ;))

-i love love love the hc that they work out with sakura. and sakura is just so happy to help and the two of them are such good friends

mondo:

-his favorite snack is toffee peanuts

-he attends lots and lots of protests; protests for women's rights, gay rights, civil rights, you name it. he really passionate and yells very loudly

-he failed his driving test like three times

taka:

-he can play the violin

-he holds so much tension in his shoulders for the love of god someone get this guy a professional masseuse

-his class notes are upsettingly perfect. from his handwriting to the organization and color coding, its just unreal

hifumi:

-he loves to cosplay

-his depiction of characters are very diverse in his illustrations; he draws disabled people, plus sized people, poc, and so on

-him and chiro like to play pc games together

celeste:

-she'll vent to grand bois cheri (her cat) for hours on end, its very cathartic

-she gets freckles when she goes outside :) she hates it. she always carries a parasol with her when its sunny

-she won't tell anyone but she fucking LOVES rock and roll

sakura:

-she's quite the artist; she loves painting

-she's actually not the biggest fan of donuts, but she loves going on donut dates w hina so its ok

-she owns so many house plants and she takes good care of them too; she likes learing about plants so she knows a lot abt them

mukuro:

-she's actually really good at doing makeup; she doesnt do her own often, but she likes doing her friend's makeup

-she can do parkour 👀

-her favorite season is winter. she honestly loves playing the snow like a child (shes uuhh really intense in snowball fights)

junko (non-depair):

-she has quite the sweet tooth and she's always chewing gum

-she honestly hates wearing boots; theyre a pain to put on and theyre just too heavy

-she wants to be a voice actress; she has a VERY wide rage of voices

kyoko:

-she takes really good care of her hair; she cuts it and styles it herself. its very soft and silky and pretty

-makoto swears that she has a loud, guttural laugh (he loves it) but good luck ever trying to get her to laugh that hard

-she likes cloud watching. its very soothing to her

byakuya:

-he easily gets emotional when watching movies

-he cant see for shit without his glasses. if he loses track of them, he goes full velma mode

-he's actually kinda ripped; he takes really good care of his body (he's the type who looks thinner with clothes on amirite)

hina:

-she's very clumsy. she's always got scratches and bruises on her legs

-she's taken many boxing classes and she knows a lot of boxing moves (shes so buff are u kidding me)

-she's a VERY restless person. shes always moving; rocking back and forth on her heels or swaying her body from side to side

toko:

-despite making fun of hifumi, she likes reading and writing fan fiction

-she's afraid of the dark

-her and kyoko are really good friends and she will occasionally cloud watch with her. she genuinely enjoys their time together

hiro:

-he loves watching shitty movies and making fun of them

-he's a really sympathetic person and he's really good at giving his friends advice. or if they just wanna vent, he'll listen for hours

-his living space always radiates calm energy. the moment you walk in he offers a cup of tea and lights an incense

[meltwonu]

24. “Behave.”

34. “Tell me what you want.”

notes; a little flustered woozi & a little dom!woozi peekin out, bunny!hybrid!reader, dirty talk, mild corruption kink, not necessarily virgin!reader just a little inexperienced!reader, size kink, fingering 😗💕 remember that ep of gose where he gets annoyed and flustered bc of the pc game heheheheh, but also the pic of him on weverse at the gym from that angle…☠️ also if we get a lot of jihoon smut this week and next just let it be known that video of him dancing was him reminding me I’m still his wh0re and that I didn’t plan accordingly okay dkjfhskjhf LMAO also I changed the plot a litttleee but the idea is still the same fjhddsf As always, thank you so much for requesting! Enjoy! 💕😭

It’s been two days since Minghao dropped you off at Jihoon’s.

‘It’s really not that hard, just make sure to follow her dietary needs and you’re fine!’ He’d said - grin wide when he peeked his head in Jihoon’s front door one last time. ‘Call me if you have any questions, hyung!’

Jihoon had, admittedly, no knowledge on how to care for hybrids and couldn’t understand why Minghao asked him in particular to care for you while he was out of town but Jihoon had said yes; head nodding slowly at the taller male when he’d all but begged.

He’d spent the first day completely avoiding you, but seemed to warm up to you when he realized how easy it was to watch after you. 

“Jihoon, is everything okay?”

He peers at you from across the living room, watching as you take a seat on the sofa across from him.

“Ah, yeah, sorry, just got lost in my thoughts.” He shuts his laptop, hand over his stomach.

“Wanna have lunch?”

Minghao calls that same day - just as Jihoon is easing under the covers for bed.

‘I have to stay out here for at least two more nights, hyung… I’m really sorry, but is that okay? Is everything fine? She’s behaving, right? I promise I’ll be back asap but I just can’t miss these meetings...’

Jihoon tells him everything is okay - deciding to leave out how your demeanor had shifted quickly after lunch from bubbly and energetic to lethargic and forced when he interacted with you.

Not to mention he found you snooping around his closet after his shower and found some of his workout shirts missing from his stacks of clothes.

He couldn’t tell exactly what was going on but he figured he’d ask you in the morning.

A thud startles Jihoon out of bed at 5AM - throat dry and eyes glued shut when he attempts to roll out of bed to see what’s going on.

“Wh--”

“Mmh…”

You clutch another one of Jihoon’s shirts in your hand, watching as the male tries to adjust to the dark room. “Wh--what are you doing out of bed? In my closet?” The sleep still clutching onto Jihoon makes his voice deeper and you find it going straight to your core as you whine from your position on the floor.

“I--I--H-help…”

Your shaky voice sends Jihoon on high alert, eyes honing in on you immediately. “Wait, are you hurt? What’s wrong?”

Shit, Minghao’s gonna kill me.

He shuffles over to you quickly, kneeling in front of you as the tears form in your eyes and your entire body trembles when you breathe in his scent. “What happened? Are you okay?”

“M-my h--heat…”

Your what?

Jihoon is glad for the darkness because his cheeks are red and he’s flustered - unsure what that even meant. “I--I don’t f-follow…? Are you overheating? Do you need the AC on?”

Any other time, you’d probably laugh. But the pain and pleasure surging through your body only make you cry out and clutch onto his shirt tighter. “A-ah, ne--need to n-nest…” You squirm and try to get up but Jihoon is quick to place his hands on your shoulders and keep you where you were.

“No, you have to tell me what’s wrong. I--I need to call Minghao if you’re hurting! I don’t---I don’t know what to do!” He gets frustrated, almost tempted to tug on his already mussed hair in mild panic when you only squirm and whine more.

“Goddamn it, what’s wrong?!”

The annoyed panic in his voice turns you on more than it should as a rush of wetness soaks into your panties.

“...fuck m-me… Jihoon...”

Jihoon doesn’t understand anything.

“O-oh, pl--please… Jihoon…”

Confusion crossing his features when you’d taken him back to the guest room you were staying in and found a pile of his clothes on the bed and confusion making his head spin when you’d taken his hand and put it right against your soaked panties.

“I’m so w-wet… Ah, need you to f-fuck me…”

What did you call it again?

“T-this… heat of yours… What is it? What does Minghao do when you… have it.” Jihoon’s hand is shaky as you grind against it and despite all the confusion and desire to yell at the younger male when he has the chance - he can’t deny the way his body reacts to you and the desperation in your voice.

“I--mmh, it’s--it’s when hybrids need to m-mate…” You let out a shaky moan when you feel Jihoon start to move his hand against your clothed folds on his own. “M-Minghao has me, ah, on suppressants but it’s--it’s e-early…”

“So he doesn’t fuck you?”

“N-no…”

Jihoon feels his mouth water. “So have you fucked anyone during your heats?”

“N-no… Just s-sometimes, mmh, I p-play with myself w-when the suppressants don’t really w-work… But it’s n-not enough…”

He might not be a hybrid himself, but the primal feeling that pours over him is enough to make him see red as he pulls his hand away from you.

“Tell me what you want.” His voice is clipped, eyes boring holes into you even in the dark. “I can give you what you want but I need to hear it from your mouth because once I start... there’s no going back, bun.”

You meet his piercing stare with teary eyes; already too far gone and in too much pain to care about the possible repercussions if Minghao found out.

“J--Jihoon, please… Please fuck me!”

Jihoon resists the urge to just sheath his cock inside your tight warmth; instead, lithe fingers knuckle deep inside of you as you squirm and try to fuck yourself on them.

“M-more! More!”

You wrap a hand around his wrist, crying out and trying to get him to thrust his fingers into you faster.

“Behave. Don’t be so impatient, bun. I’m still learning here too, okay?” He mumbles, soft and quiet as he tries to keep his cool.

Jihoon liked to believe he adapted well to new situations but even this was out of the ordinary for him as he watched you turn your head to the side and muffle your cries into your fuzzy bunny ears.

“You’re so impatient for a bun who’s never actually fucked during your heat…” He licks his lips; scissoring and curling his fingers right into your g-spot as hot tears spring to your eyes. “So much uncharted territory, huh, bun? Are you sure you can even take my cock? What if it doesn’t fit, hmm? Will you be satisfied just rutting against it and making yourself cum?”

The thought alone has your mouth watering - already imagining the delicious stretch of his cock inside of you. “Mmh, m-make me take i-it… I can t-take it!”

“I’ll have to prep you nice and well… Maybe let you cum a few times before I sink my cock into your cute ‘lil pussy.” He grimaces at his own words; knowing damn well he was already throbbing in his sweats and would probably cum sooner than he thought too.

Your walls clamp down onto his fingers as you mewl and arch your back away from the bed sheets and the pile of Jihoon’s shirts underneath you. “Ah, m-my heats… l-last a few, ngh, d-days… I’ll be so gooood at taking your cock...”

“Days!?” Jihoon freezes; eyes threatening to bulge out of his head. He thought it’d be a few hours but not days. 

Fuck, Minghao’s really gonna kill me.

“Mmh… You have a-a lot to teach me…” Your voice is slurred, head fuzzy with the overwhelming sensations as Jihoon’ fingers thrust into you even slower.

An intoxicating smirk carves its way onto his features as he positions a third finger at your entrance.

“Oh? What do you want to learn, bun? I can teach you so much… Maybe I’ll teach you how to take my cock down your throat… Let you choke on it and get you nice and messy… Fuck, you’d look so pretty riding my cock too… Just watching you sink down onto me, taking all of me like a good bun should…” Jihoon feels his mouth water even more; fucking you with three of his nimble fingers as he adds his thumb to your clit.

Your whines only get louder and louder, wetness soaking your inner thighs and the sheets and clothes underneath you as Jihoon brings you closer and closer to your first orgasm out of many.

“Maybe we should get some toys tomorrow morning? If you can even wait for me to get back. Hah, or will your needy ‘lil pussy crave to be filled so bad that you’ll be fingering your pretty pussy? Hmm? Maybe grinding down onto one of these pillows until you cum?”

“O-oh, god, J--Jihoon!”

He chuckles softly as your body convulses underneath him - using his free hand to palm himself over his sweats as he watches you.

“Mm, I have so many things to teach you in the next few days, bun~ We should  really get started now, hmm?”

One New Unread Message

7:23AM

From: Minghao

‘Good news, hyung! I’ll be back sooner than anticipated!’

[ms-demeanor]

You know what’s funny is whenever I make a tech post I get people going “this is blatantly untrue” and I get people going “this is really good information and everyone needs to know it” and the dividing line is how much time you spend with people who are tech literate.

Yep, I would tell my computer savvy friends where they could get keycaps and fix their keyboards; I don’t even have to bother telling my computer savvy friends how to run a fifteen year old laptop because we’re all pretty good at it.

But GODDAMN I just read a response to my “cheap computer season” post that claimed that it was totally reasonable to run a macbook from 2010 and

Look.

That’s not a reasonable thing to tell a student who needs a functional computer to do research and write papers. (have fun trying to find installation discs from when the OS was still named after cats and have fun trying to get a browser to get along with that OS)

You know why most people bring me laptops with missing keys? Because the key got ripped off by their two-year-old and damaged the soldering in the keyboard and I have no idea it’s going to be “oh, yeah, that’s a ten dollar fix” or “sorry, that’s going to be an hour and a half to disassemble and reassemble and we’ll have to order you a new keyboard specific to that model out of new old stock” and the thing is the second one is much, much, much more common in my experience than the first.

Do I think you need to replace a laptop when the bezel is cracked? No. I also don’t carry my laptop powered on in the bag with a flashdrive sticking out of the USB port. Customers do weird things that I don’t understand and when a customer tells me they want me to fix the bezel they think it’s a twenty-dollar snap-on repair because they have no idea how this works and then they get mad at me when I explain “no, you’ve gotta have this specific piece of plastic, these haven’t been made in five years, and you might be better off buying a used model online than trying to track down a new bezel.”

So here’s the thing: Can Macs get viruses?

There are three answers here.

“No, of course not, Macs are made to be virus-proof”

“Macs need antivirus protection because, while it is less common than infections for PCs, there are types of malware that can infect macs and it’s worthwhile to guard against that”

“tEcHnIcAlLy a virus has to be self-replicating and IOS’s file management system [or some other bullshit] prevents that so TECHNICALLY Macs can’t get viruses and what you need is anti-malware software if you need anything because you’re fairly likely to have security through obscurity”

I’m aware of the third position and voicing the second position to people who believe the first position.

YES TECHNICALLY YOU CAN KEEP A COMPUTER RUNNING INDEFINITELY AND YES IT’S TOTALLY POSSIBLE YOUR LAPTOP WILL LAST TEN YEARS.

“Well if you treat it right and run it well it’ll be in great shape for a long time”

YES THAT IS CORRECT DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MANY PEOPLE WHO DON’T WORK ON THEIR OWN CARS DRIVE AROUND WITH THE OIL CHANGE LIGHT ON FOR MONTHS?!?

Tons of people in the world today use computers. They use computers every day, they use computers at home and at school and at work.

Tons of people drive every day. They use cars for fun and for commuting and for their jobs.

That doesn’t mean that all (or even most, or even half) of the people using these things is any good at keeping them running, or even has the barest idea of how to start tracking down a problem.

Someone in the notes of that post described a green line on their screen and thought that was a symptom of hard drive problems. I don’t have the hours in the day to catch this person up to speed on why a display issue on a laptop isn’t indicative of hard drive issues.

Do you know how much people think it’s going to cost to get data off of a broken drive? Not “won’t power up” not “won’t spin” but “I dropped this and part fell off and now it won’t power up or spin and also the platter is chipped”? I’m going to have to send that shit to a clean room and the customer is *staggered* that it might cost more than a hundred dollars to get their data. “Outrageous, what kind of blackmail operation are you trying to run here, just plug it in and get my pictures.”

A year or so ago I was at Jiffy Lube (ew). I’d been shooting the shit with the mechanic when a parent and child rolled in in a panic. And they should have been panicking! They’d thrown a fucking rod because they’d been driving with no oil in the car for god knows how long because neither of them had had the oil changed in the two years they’d owned the vehicle.

*I* can keep a 30-year-old car running. I can put a belt back on an engine in a dark parking lot with a wrench and a headlamp. I can drop a gas tank and replace my fuel filter and thumb my nose at the mechanics who tried to upsell me on “replacing your old, worn-out air filter” the day after I’d popped a new one into my truck.

These folks couldn’t keep a new car running with three alarms telling them what was wrong.

*I* can power up my 2005 macbook running Leopard and use garage band to record a song or do some design work on my copy of Adobe CS3; I can kludge its FF3.5 browser into playing nice with the internet and accept that it’s going to be a slow piece of shit.

The lady who called me confused by the fact that the password to her email was different than the login information for her grocery store rewards account will not be able to function if she gets a pop-up that says she’s using an outdated browser and will think it’s a virus if her bank won’t let her log in on that browser.

And you know what, I’m kind of sick of this attitude.

I would *fucking adore it* if computers were actually easy to repair; I’d love it if you could run new OSs on old hardware (especially on macs because I think apple are kind of shitheads about planned obsolescence).

But you know what, no, most people *CAN’T* reasonably expect to use a ten-year-old computer and have pleasant experience of it. It’s going to run slow. It’s going to shut down when they don’t want it to. The battery is going to swell slightly with the heat and your touchpad is going to go nuts. Your USB ports will stop working. Standard wear and tear that most people don’t know how to protect against and don’t know how to repair is going to make it harder to use AND software requirements will outstrip the hardware capabilities of the computer.

If your old computer sucks it’s not your fault. If you can’t happily use a 10-year-old laptop to do your homework that’s okay, it wasn’t designed for you to use it that way and YOU SHOULDN’T FEEL GUILTY ABOUT IT.

Because that’s kind of what a lot of these “well anybody should realistically be able to run a laptop from 2010″ responses comes down to: if you need new hardware you’re just not doing it right. If you have to replace your computer you didn’t make good choices when you bought it. If your battery dies it’s because you didn’t take care of it.

No. No. No. No.

This shit is A) designed to fail and B) actually really hard to keep running (hey how many blown capacitors do you think someone has to have on their motherboard before you say it’s not their fault for wanting to replace the laptop)

ALSO SOMEONE IN THE RESPONSES OF THAT POST LITERALLY SAID THAT IF YOUR BATTERY DIED AT THREE YEARS IT WAS BECAUSE YOU WEREN’T DOING THE DRAIN CHARGE CYCLE RIGHT AND FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU. It’s discharge cycles and heat, motherfucker; they are going to fail at some point and people shouldn’t feel bad if their batteries stop working after a couple years.

UGH.

You shouldn’t have to be a mechanic. You shouldn’t have to be a computer technician. Yeah, your shit will last longer if you know how to take care of it but, fuck. Imagine you were still using internet speeds from 2010. Imagine all your devices still had USB 2.0. Imagine you couldn’t log onto your online bank because your hardware won’t run he software that your bank recognizes because the hardware manufacturer decided it won’t support the older hardware.

What I was trying to get across in that initial post was “computers fail, and they fail pretty frequently; your life will be better and you will save money if you plan on replacing them at a regular interval and have reasonable expectations in terms of cost and failure. So buy a cheap computer now because you’re probably going to need one at some point”

And now I’ve got to Do A Yell about how there’s no ethical consumption under capitalism and it’s unreasonable to expect tired, overworked, broke people to become experts in computer repair in order to do their homework or play the goose game.

FUCK THAT.

IT’S CHEAP COMPUTER SEASON MOTHERFUCKERS. LAPTOP FAILURE RATES INCREASE AT THREE TO FIVE YEARS AND DESKTOP FAILURE RATES INCREASE AT FIVE TO SEVEN YEARS. RIGHT NOW THERE ARE DISCOUNTS ON NEW COMPUTERS AND IT’S CHEAP TO GET AN EXTENDED WARRANTY.

LIVE LONG AND PROSPER AND WORK ON COMPUTERS IF YOU WANNA AND PLAN TO REPLACE REGULARLY IF YOU DON’T WANT TO WORK ON COMPUTERS.

ALSO CHANGE YOUR FUCKING OIL YOU’RE PROBABLY DUE.

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 11/16/2021

whew. very text heavy bc i do not want to get out of bed

listening look it can’t always be introducing people to cool new artists like Junie &TheHutFriends or obscure experimental classical music, sometimes it’s the OST off a well known and beloved show, eg the track The Banner of Captain Flint (Black Sails OST, Bear McCreary). i mean, when am i not considering a black sails rewatch, but i am more seriously considering a black sails rewatch. drove through a Torrential Downpour on friday morning next to a river thinking about flooding and this made it way tenser than it needed to be. mr mccreary has done it again with the drums and the hurdy gurdy

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reading i thought about 1) finishing and 2) writing about the other john jackson miller star wars book i was picking at, but made a face to myself and realized i really really don’t want to finish it! so i won’t! fallow week babey

watching having a bad brain time but regained control of my own goddamn netflix account and got back into the disney+, let’s do a three word summary of everybody and link out to my longer posts on each film where applicable. hopefully none of these are anyone’s activation phrases:

The Harder They Fall (2021, dir. Samuel) bright, high-energy, uncomfy-trans-rep (can’t find a review by a trans person, someone please shoot me a link if you have written or come across one)

Gunpowder Milkshake (2021, dir. Papushado) hipster, incoherent, suits

Kate (2021, dir. Nicolas-Troyan) crisp, fetishy, polonium

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017, dir. Ronning, Sandberg) “astronomy”, lackluster, girlboss

The Sign of Zorro (1958, dir. Foster, Foster) charming, henchmen, horses

also watched Isle of Dogs (2018, dir. Anderson) to see if i still dislike anderson. yes but now it has tipped over into hate. generally i think he makes beautiful little dioramas of movies. they are shells. nothing really happens so nothing has an emotional impact. i think if the constant switching back and forth between “we are FULLY immersed in a beautiful whimsical world with rules that are not like real life” and “we are going to complain about incredibly mundane adult concepts and problems like dads bitching around the grill at a suburban cookout” was better executed, or a least funny, i would like these more. there’s a sort of faux-vintage powdered steel finish over all of them, like a name brand cadillac pink stand mixer instead of the horrible little plastic avocado green and gold electric hand mixer you inherited from your grandmother. at some point an aesthetic is so stylized it’s like why bother aping that aesthetic at all. just make your own thing.

playing sable! this is a game made specifically for me. the art is eyewateringly gorgeous even at high speed hauling ass through the desert. it is a coming of age exploration game about fucking around and poking around grand ruined buildings in the middle of the desert and looking at things. the bike drifts. so far the puzzles are mostly of the “well fuck how DO i get up there?” in an open world climbing sense, not a platform sense. it rewards exploration in a satisfying to me way.

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i ran across a crashed spaceship that a bunch of teens tried to fix up, got properly launched, and immediately crashed again! delightful! incredible worldbuilding!

there’s some weird shit around the default settings (30fps? for realsies?) and a little bit of jank in general (probably bc i am playing it on my work extremely-not-gaming-pc). there are a few odd bugs ive run into, but nothing that makes it unplayable. publishers are not required to really do much anything except throw you some money and help you navigate the process of getting your game files on all the storefronts/getting physical copies of your game out, but they will very often help a studio with marketing or community management or connect a studio to more resources for QA/testing/outside work for stuff like cutscenes and menus. i haven’t heard anything extremely bad about raw fury. it’s just notable that this game has some rough edges where i don’t expect them.

making someone stole the big stupid democrat propaganda sign right out of my dang backyard. godspeed to them i guess.

anyway in this house we have a chore wheel, it was my turn to clean the bathroom by sunday night, and every time we go into a new week and the chore wheel turns i try to fix something about that area of the house i hate. like now we have enough towel rods and i caulked some of the places that were irritating me most bc my landlord’s contractor simply doesn’t know how to properly install trim or cut it to the right size. there are Several more places i need to patch and fix (including The Entire Window) but that’s a job for future kay.

also im never going to shut up about my power drill. pretty hype to put up a cabinet once this wood glue cures properly

elsewhere in the apartment: bought Teensy curtain rods to balance the grow lights on, got another timer outlet so i don’t have to think about it/the housemate most worried about our (generally pretty low) electricity bill stops reminding me to turn them off, reshuffled things so the Other grow light was closer to the outlet. priorities!