#some minigames i was hoping would be in this game are in it too hell yeah

[anistarrae]

YOUR KIDDING MORE INFO ABOUT KIRBY RETURN TO DREAMLAND DELUXE CAME OUT WHILE I WAS AT SCHOOL????

[trashytrashsblog]

So I want to make a rant or idk just give my opinion (?) about MCL:NG since seven episodes have passed.

I actually started writing it after the fifth episode but I abandoned it in the drafts... so lol.

I know that there is a section on the forum about it but my english is too bad and I need to curse. Also I'd like to comment freely with other players.

So let's get started!

The website is really cool and different it's like fresh air, sometimes is a little bit overwhelming (like the colours) nonetheless I like it. I don't get why there isn't italian in the languages, maybe we are less than I imagined.

The calendar is a cute idea but all the pop-ups when you collect the things instead of one are so annoying. Hope they make it into ONE single pop-up. Also when you get the jokers and they last three days and you can't or have nothing to play... like useless? okay? thanks?

The currencies? Don't let me started.... I get it, the game needs money to run but for fuck sake too many and poorly set. I can't get over the fact that I have to use APs for buying shit, every time I use them I feel bad because then I fear I won't have enough for the upcoming episode. Miss gold valute :(

The daily limited offer idk, I think it is a little bit too expensive for what it provides, especially considering that we can’t even choose the color scheme. Also, it doesn’t make sense to have a daily offer that you pay for when all the packs appear everytime. Although I read from some user on the forum that certain packs don't appear, dunno why. Anyways why don't you display all of them?

I have the same problem, like everyone, with the messages and the hearts. Hope they create a button where we can send and collect the hearts all at once. However I don't like so much the limited daily hearts. The graphics are very pretty though, and the messages we receive from the flirts at the end of the episode are a delight for me.

The minigames are more interactive compared to the MCL ones but I also have mixed feelings. The daily missions are a cute idea for collecting fashion items or forniture. Hope they add gems or something similar to find OR could the tickets buy other things that might be more useful like jokers. The Style contest could have been ten times nicer if it didn’t penalize you for not choosing the most popular outfit, which happens to be the one with more exclusive items. So it leads you to choose not what you prefer but what hypothetically everyone would choose. Recently I read about it from other players here on tumblr bc it's actually a bit ridiculous to see podiums all the same.

The wardrobe..... confusing as hell. Why there are items that I can't even try.... frustrating. At first I tought that the merged shop was a bad thing but now I changed my mind because this way I can see how the clothes go with the ones I already have. Speaking about graphics, I like them, I like the possibility of editing the room, Taki is a cute little accessory. The personalization choices of the character is satisfying but I miss the gray eyes they were my favourite :c Also I noticed that the expressions with the mouth open seem weird, as if there is something wrong in the proportins. But maybe it’s just me. I think there are less basic free items already present in comparison to MCL like moles, eyebrows, a little makeup...

Everything every single things brings me to a point were I feel the urge to buy packs, vips just for regular things (I don't know how to explain it) unlike the old games were it was funnier to buy special items.... now it seems like I'm buying base items beyond the extravagant ones.

The game dynamics left me perplexed at first, but I think I will have to get used to it. It’s a continuous and infinite expenditure of AP. Getting used to paying 2 AP for each answer was already difficult, but now having to pay even 40/80/120 aps… It makes me so mad... in italian I would say vafanguuul!!! The fact that i don't have the lov'o meter on sight I don't like it either and it seems that it only updates at the end of the episode and not in between or maybe I am wrong idk. Being able to relive the special moments however is a nice gem, especially after paying them. The briefing after finishing the episode is fun. Another thing that drives me MAD is having to buy the outfit after having already paid to fucking unlock it. At least give me the unlocked color???

BUT the illustrations, the story, the characters and their design ( god bless chinomiko) make me continue the game because it would be a lie to say that the story didn’t catch me (Jason Mendal I'm all yours and I wanna know everything about you) even tho the episodes are a little slow, maybe because we are just at the beginnig...expecting drama, fun time and some serious topics too...

And that's it, for now ahahahah xb

[corvidares]

thoughts and feelings about fnaf: into the pit

(spoilers! talk of endings!)

so, while i enjoyed playing this game a lot, i am left feeling dissatisfied in a lot of ways, mostly in relation to what the hell just happened

on the side of things i LIKED:

the pixel style!!! good god this feels so perfect for fnaf. obviously we've always had the minigames in the retro style, and while fnaf has had a fine enough "look" for years, i really hope to see more stylization like this. the pixel art and animations are beautiful and full of character

there's a lot of visual detail, both in the sense of easter eggs (of course) and background clutter. fnaf games are always good at having gross settings, and this definitely does that. even the cloud of dust that pops up every time you jump in the ball pit is yucky, lmao

speaking of details, the sound design is also VERY good. it conveys a lot of what is not seen; the closer you get to a kid thats been captured by spring trap (pit trap? guys idk what to call him) the more you hear their cries and whimpers. of course, as always, sound is a part of the gameplay too, helping you know if spring trap is close and that you need to hide

the writing in terms of dialogue and such is good! i like that oswald is.. well, he's kinda dumb. rightfully so, for a kid! he does things that arent always logical, it takes him a hot minute to figure out that hes in the past, etc

its also genuinely distressing and sad to see him suffering, to see him try to tell his mom that something is deeply wrong, only to be brushed aside because (presumably) the possession magic is invisible to adults. to see his trauma get worse and worse as the days pass; nightmares, visions, straight up sleeping through his school day because he's been up all night! even his idle sprites are always sad and scared

the gameplay itself! the learning curve felt appropriate, i liked the strategy of using the noise makers, hiding, and the vents. fwiw i did play the "creepy" setting which is essentially easy mode. but i still died plenty, its not a complete cakewalk or anything.

the classic fnaf snark sense of humor is definitely here in this game, and i love it. the achievements? hilarious. the tips on the loading screens, jeff's entire character?? good stuff.

misc things i noticed:

for whatever reason, after night 1 i had a constant "bloody/strain" filter at the edges of my gameplay. not sure if this is like, random? game footage ive seen doesnt have it, and one even had a different filter. not sure what to make of it, it seems odd to just be a meaningless, randomized detail?

i got one glitch: after checking the cameras while the other kid is in security with me, oswald's sprite didnt reappear and i couldnt do anything. so i had to restart the game lol. not major, and i have no idea how common it is. otherwise everything was quite functional iirc

regarding the more critical side of things.. im mostly frustrated. now, i know fnaf, i know it never serves you answers on a platter. i know theres always an abundance of easter eggs and secrets (which i have tried to research, tho the game is still new). but upon finishing the game and seeing all the endings, i realized i didnt get answers about a lot of things i thought i would. for example;

where the hell is foxy??? the other core three are there and get added as enemies when you progress. his stage is present and some kids at the past party mention they miss seeing him. but he's not on ANY of the imagery throughout the pizzeria. in fact, we don't see him at all. if i didnt know who foxy was, i would only know his name. the only exception might be some empty masks in the backgrounds, but honestly i doubt it. this seems.. really strange to me. ill elaborate later

why did spring trap tie up oswald's dad? what was he going to do to him? did.. did anyone even die? oswald rescues everyone!

this is probably silly and i acknowledge that. but what was up with the giant spider jump scares..... i assumed itd be a new enemy or something but nah. THAT SPIDER WAS TOO BIG. WHY

what was oz's dad doing this whole time? was he trying to escape at some point? why is his shit all over the resturant?

onto just general critiques:

the gameplay did get a bit formulaic and sometimes fetch quests felt repetitive and/or like busy work. like why did i have to get five different sets of keys. bruh

the story has a lot of plotholes. and again, this is fnaf, these games have always looked like swiss goddamn cheese. but i can still be frustrated about it

for example, how is time passing in the past versus the present? IS it passing if we're not there? how do we affect the past? why does no one in the present acknowledge what happened here?? did spring trap get caught in this timeline? did anyone die? was oswald always a part of these events or did he change the timeline? this is presumably the first four/five murders, but a lot doesnt add up. is there a timeline where oz is one of the murdered kids? in the bad ending, he gets possessed, but not stuffed in a suit.

how does spring trap's possession even work? back then he was still alive and perfectly mortal... right? but then again, he supposedly strangles himself in the end, then leaps back to life to kill jeff? huh???

why is spring trap so animalistic? he doesnt seem human, and his eyes glow, which i dont think is something that suit can do (though i could definitely be remembering wrong)

speaking of which, i dont think the og four's eyes glow either, but they do in this game.

the "true good" ending does not make any fucking sense, first of all. second of all, considering the amount of work one would have to do to get it, it is extremely minimal. if i had done all that and only gotten a slight dialogue change as well as a "yay happy eating pizza at jeff's" scene i wouldve been PISSED.

also, speaking of not making sense, im sorry but oswald's lie to his dad about what happened is so obviously not true. why does he not question this at ALL? ESPECIALLY considering he has a fucking CHUNK OF HIS ARM BITTEN OFF. we see in jeff's ending that that shit bled a fucking lot! was his dad too concussed to call him on the obvious lie of "you fell and hit your head". and if he was, he would OBVIOUSLY NOTICE LATER THAT FIVE DAYS HAVE PASSED. AND THAT SOMEONE WAS WALKING AROUND PRETENDING TO BE HIM. WHAT (and dont say "oh he thinks he just lost his memory of those days" YOU DO NOT LOSE HUGE CHUNKS OF MEMORY UNLESS THERE IS MAJOR BRAIN DAMAGE OR TRAUMA. UH UH)

while talking to my gf, we came up with a couple theories.

one, she thinks its likely this game had more planned. and i agree - the missing presence of foxy is the biggest indicator, in my opinion, but theres other things too. for example, despite the fact that we're never able to enter the library or mill, both places have a map that can be pulled up when you press the map button outside those buildings.

the mill, especially, obviously has a ton of animatronic parts in the trash, and we all know that can be important... it seems to be too big a thing to be a simple easter egg, but what do i know.

another thing that feels way too big to be an easter egg is gabrielle; the girl who gives you a notebook with information about the animatronics (not foxy :( ) that provides hints for later. she mentions that her grandfather was a technician that worked with them back in the day. he never talks about it now though (the ONE acknowledgement we get in the present that bad shit went down!!!)

like.. is this henry? someone else? SURELY that is not a random guy. but it's a one and done interaction. i thought, when meeting her, that she would become a friend and ally, that we'd be able to learn more. the writing seemed to slant that way, but no. we're never able to talk to her again afaik

all this lends itself to the idea that the game was pushed. i can perfectly picture, like a year ago, someone telling the team "fnaf 10th anniversary is august 2024, get it out for then" and them having to cut stuff they had planned (but perhaps not developed, as afaik there are not missing assets showing foxy or the other things mentioned)

which is obviously a shame, and if thats the case i of course commend the team! this is a great game, especially if it was rushed. but this is becoming a pattern with fnaf games, and considering this is such a big successful franchise, that should not be the case.

anyway! overall, i truly did enjoy playing into the pit, and im very glad it was my first experience playing a fnaf game myself rather than watching a playthrough. and there are secrets that seem to be deliberately cliffhangers, in true fnaf game fashion. such as the photo that stuns spring trap, or the minigames.

[lalaurelia]

2024 Fic in Review

It's this time of the year when I do this thing with my fics again. It's going to be a bit different now since I unexpectedly have two fandoms I've written for, wow. Also I'll be including all languages (and extra creations such as games) in these stats.

Here goes~

total number of completed stories: For Gotham it's 7 fics, 1 game, and 1 minigame, 1 CYOA, 2 collages for a fandom event. For Bungou Stray Dogs it's 6 fics that are completed and 1 that's still ongoing.

total word count: For Gotham it's 33323 words. For BSD it's 18791.

fandoms written in: Gotham and Bungou Stray Dogs. I did NOT expect to have a new fandom this year. But I was feeling very low after the fandom event in summer, so BSD and Shin Soukoku were a godsend for me.

looking back, did you expect to write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d expected? Honestly? This wasn't a good year for creativity for me. I was working very hard to release the game, then there was that fandom event that drained me completely, on top of work and world events keeping happening. I kinda hoped I'd write something, but I suppose it's a small miracle I wrote anything at all.

what’s your own favorite story of the year? This is kinda hard. I guess I'll name Pierced, because it was the one that pushed me into writing for BSD, it was very insistent in my mind and wanted to be out.

did you take any writing risks this year? Yeah, writing for Bungou Stray Dogs XD It's been ages since I've written for anime fandoms, and like, before Gotham I was convinced I had no writing skills. And I was worried if maybe all my skills were Gotham-induced. But I like what I've managed to write for BSD so far~

do you have any fanfic or profit goals for the new year? I never know what is meant by profit goals here XD For fics I hope to finish at least some of my WIPs, and maybe participate in an event, if it's nice. I'll be staying away from Fandom Kombat though, likely, it's demotivating for me.

best story of the year? I do love how Kisses Communication turned out.

most popular story of the year? For Gotham it's Pieces. For BSD it's Marks and Meanings. Both splendid choices, if I do say so myself XD

story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion: Oh no. I can't be objective here. I'll name Dogs Bite, but it was a completely self-indulgent story so I'm not surprised it's not to everyone's liking.

most fun story to write: A Solo Act was plenty fun to write~

story with the single sexiest moment: A Solo Act, yes.

sweetest story: I suppose it's going to be What Dreams Are Made Of. It's a bit sappy, but why not XD

“holy crap, thats wrong, even for you!” story: Yeah, I'm traditionally skipping this one. There are no wrong things in fiction. Write whatever the hell you want, just tag it correctly.

story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters & most unintentionally telling story: Not sure about telling, but I love finding new sides to both Akutagawa and Atsushi in Seekers, Finders. It's an interesting journey and I'm curious where it will lead~

hardest story to write: Not sure. I have troubles with Gotham's Of Lilies and Borrowed Clothes, but that's due to it being a case-fic and also an experiment in a thing I wanted to try, plus a lot of specific research and a bit of being discouraged.

biggest disappointment: I shouldn't have participated in Fandom Kombat as it sapped my motivation way too much. Like, I know that for Gotham I write for myself, predominantly, but it was still very discouraging. Also I got tired of writing in Russian for it.

biggest surprise: How big a surge of inspiration Bungou Stray Dogs turned out to be. It's like being on fire, and also being insane. I love it. Shin Soukoku saved the remainders of my sanity this year and I'm so, so grateful for all you guys who read my writings~

I don't know who to tag at this point, but I'll be curious to see if you guys do year reviews of your stories.

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Wagan

Debut: Wagan

Look! It’s Wagan! From Wagan! What is Wagan (character)? Why, Wagan is a wonderful little green robotic dinosaur sort of guy who is good at making noises! What is Wagan (media)? Good question!

Here is a photo of Wagan in real life. Wagan is real! The original Wagan is an arcade machine by Namco, but I honestly cannot find much information at all about it. I don’t THINK it’s a game. More of an interactive toy? Here is a video! Hear his noises and watch his mouth flap about!

Wagan’s physical prison is labeled THE EMOTIONAL WEAPON, VOICE-CANNON “WAGAN”. I guess this is some kind of. Yelling game? The presence of a megaphone makes me think you yell at Wagan, and Wagan yells at you, and I don’t know the point, but it is really funny, and of course the actual physical Wagan robot is incredibly cute!

Luckily, Wagan would later enter a form of media I CAN comprehend! Scrimblo bimblo platformers! This is Wagan Land, which became Wagan’s Main Thing for a while, and hmm. I have things to say about this.

First is, WOW this game is cute! Look! When Wagan is falling in the air, his mouth flaps up, like Mario’s hat in Super Mario World! That’s so wonderful! And look at that SNAIL! The first enemy you see in the game, and what a great first impression! All the character sprites are delightfully compact. The thing that looks like a Wagan fetus is a Waganizer, which upgrades his Yelling ability, which is used to stun enemies so they can be jumped upon safely.

Very charmingly, Wagan’s yells are represented by the actual sound he says, shot out as a projectile! These have been lovingly translated in the fan translation, so you can make him yell WA, GYA, and GA. If you make him say GA twice, then just call him Lisa Simpson, because he’s Going Gaga!

The Waganizer was first a toy, and this sure looks like a gun huh! But it is a voice recorder and amplifier. I guess it is like having a bit of Wagan of your own, in Weapon form? To Blast your voice at others? I’m not sure why it had to look so incredibly like a gun, though!

Also, this post is about Wagan himself, but I HAVE to mention there is a Mola mola in this game! A pink sleepy one that flies above the water, and is the ONLY creature in the game that Wagan can safely touch by default, allowing him to ride on top of it! I do not know why a robot dies upon touching a snail. Sorry.

This game sounds so lovely, doesn’t it? It does! So it’s too bad it SUCKS and is TERRIBLE and I HATE it so much!!! And I don’t want to do any of that... but it forces me to!

The platforming sections are all fine and dandy. But the bosses, oh dearie me! Instead of battles, they play a minigame with you, and these are absolutely wretched! There is a word chain game and a memory game, neither of which are good, and both of which feel very easy to get locked out of winning due to randomness. And if you lose, you Die. It’s really not fun whatsoever to have to play a minigame you may very well not have any chance of winning, and they are so common that it sadly ruins the whole game... Maybe I’m doing something wrong, but I don’t think it should be so hard to see what to do right! It feels like a game for babies that wants nobody to succeed.

However! I must give a MAJOR shout-out to AlanMidas of romhacking.net for making this English translation of the game, because translating this word chain game and all its intricacies must have been absolute hell! So thank you, AlanMidas! Or curse you? For being the reason I was able to play this at all? But mostly thank you. And I applaud your effort. I mean, they were able to make the pig icon work by referring to it as an “oinker”. I applaud an oinker any day.

Geez, I don’t want to be so negative on one of these posts. I do love Wagan (creature) a whole lot! Want to see him playing baseball?

There we go. Isn’t that droll?

Have another! For your troubles. Sorry, there is just so little English information about Wagan! This is all I can humbly offer. But I hope you love to view Wagan as much as I do! And if you ever see him in real life, yell at him. I think he likes that!

[slasheru]

Slasher U Update Roadmap: End of 2023!

Holy crap, it's been a hell of year, hasn't it?! Slasher U Act 1 came out at the end of April 2023 and there's been SO MUCH that's changed!

Things that were added in post-launch Slasher U Act 1 updates:

Sawyer's entire romance arc, storyline, and hookup/makeout games

Outfits

Bartending

The ability to talk to Dark Tate post-coitally

Butterflies and crows (fighting crows used to crash your game)

The entire good UI

Characters including Cliff, Stitcherella, Jennykind, Paisleigh, Tanya, and I'm pretty sure Kennedy was a very early addition, too

And that's not counting the tweaks, fixes, and content! In the interest of continuing to Ship of Theseus this game into the best dating sim ever (no biggie, right?), I have the following updates planned before the end of 2023 for Act 1!

Accessibility settings: A way to opt out of minigames with a random roll based on your personality stats (different stat per minigame as appropriate!)

Refining the places you can get personality points in Act 1

Customization: Cane accessories! These will run on a different band than outfits so you can mix and match them/equip them alongside outfits!

Finance: I made everything in the game on the pricey/"realistic" side and the money you get from gigs relatively low because A) college and B) i kind of thought it would both be funny/reflective of shitty college jobs AND a nice incentive to grind some minigames but. I think the economy needs a bit of a fix, right? ;) (in the meantime, try typing InfiniteMoneyVent with the caps correct in the Cheat Codes menu when you're in-game! Your wallet will be a little fuller!)

There are 27 major bugs left in the list for me to tackle as of now, most of them are routine but there are 3 or 4 harder ones to tackle (naming save files is being a beeeetch specifically because afaik Wolf wipes any additional system string variables even if you specify a larger variable count list? My engine just is like "naw actually I'm not saving that"?)

Prior Planned Quality of Life Stuff: Either a way to name your save files OR a way to make your character name appear under your save file (this used to happen but there was a bug where all names would default to your last used character name)

WHITE WHALE HOLY GRAIL I'm still trying to fix the text box bug! This actually isn't borked in the vanilla version of the WRPG engine but I can't fucking figure out how to fix it with the way I've set up the UI (I think? I THINK?!). This is realistically the last bug to get fixed due to my own ineptitude, so I'm hoping to A) make autosaves automatically turned on and B) making Data 1's save slot unusable so it's reserved for autosaves!

There's ALSO a couple content updates for Act 1 still (nothing major, except for, uh, ONE MAJOR THING, haha):

The Truth or Dare minigame/scenario is now going to be included in the Act 1 game, but take place after the Act 2 bumper (post-murder-attempt)

This is already in there but the preamble for Dark Tate's continuing storyline, and Laila's Act 2, activates after the murder attempt

I'll be adding Hex, Juno, and Sawyer's Act 2 lead-ins, plus regular Tate's lead-in, as I work on Act 2

Resolving the storylines (or, if you're being a Chaotic Evil type of player, ruining everyone's life) with story choices/quests for non-dateables: Act 2 will include more Sawyer/Horsemike story, and personal quests for Melyssa, Professor Plutonium, and partially Veronika/Archibald (theirs will continue into Act 3)

Maybe I'll let you fight crows again. MAYBE.

I'm ALSO working on Act 2, which has a lot of new features (notably permanent cosmetic upgrades like a piercing system and tattoos) as well as new content (obvi lmao), but I really want to find a way to offer early access passes to folks who didn't make it to the Crowdfundr (maybe via Patreon)?

Here are some Act 2 features that I'm excited to include/are already being worked on (you'll recognize a lot of these from fanvotes!)

Piercing/Tattoo Parlor

Headless Horsemike one-off hookup minigame

Tate's movie date (yes it's scripted and implemented, it'll be in the next Act 2 update lol. I KNOW I KNOW :D )

Being able to run the speakeasy/sex dungeon as a little moneymaking game in and of itself (well. More for the speakeasy. The sex dungeon is mostly for sex. You're welcome, Sawyer Enjoyers)

Being able to gift outfits to dateables

I'm personally super hype for Tate's storyline (which also involves some other students?? ooo????) and how that's going to mechanically shake out, PLUS, tattoos. Oh my god. TATTOOS GUYS. Plus, the piercing system works like IRL-style - you have to get pierced, then buy jewelry for your piercing if you want to replace your starter/healer gear! I'm a big fan of body mods IRL and having a more realistic piercing/tattoo system was important to me!

Can't wait for next year AND to bring y'all more Slasher U!!!!!!!!! Making video games is literally my favorite thing to do in the whole wide world and I can't imagine doing anything else with my life :')))) (one day I'll be able to do this FULL-full time instead of on top of reviewing medical documents and drawing IP comics for Big Corpo)

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE BEST FUCKIN' 6 MONTHS OF GAME DEV I COULD EVER FUCKING ASK FOR!!!!!!!!!! You guys rule :')))))))))))

xoxooxoxoxoxox, Professor Plutonium

[actualbird]

pardon me! I wanted to try the game tears of thermos, but I’m a little nervous since I don’t play these type of games. Do you have any advice on how to best enjoy myself and invest in its world/characters?

hi anon!!! im so glad you wanna try out tot!!! i do have some tips, but before i go there i must inform you that autocorrect mustve done something to your message because you said tears of thermos and i cldnt rest until i edited a meme of that

sjfhavkkHJVKJHJKSD OKAY ANYWAY, TIPS!!!!

im particularly interested in how you worded this ask!! ive had a lot of people ask me tips on how to start tot (and the relevant ones, i'll link in this ask too) but never on a narrative investment/immersion angle. so my tips for this will be a bit different

but before that, here are my past tips from my tot tips tag

general tips for a newbie (gameplay tips and story tips)

how to "predict" upcoming events

tot stories in chronological order (only updated til july 2022)

now for your question i guess my biggest tip would really just be to treat tears of themis like a visual novel that just so happens to update with more stories.

idk how much of a newbie you are to this genre, but when i got into this game i had NEVER played any other otome before in my life. so it was all new to me!! and i basically treated it like an updating visual novel, this is My Method, and that got me quite invested (as is obvious from my entire blog). so when i say "treat it like a visual novel" i mean:

im personally not particularly a card completionist or a gacha enthusiast. which, hell yeah, this game wont bankrupt me LOL. but also, since cards are the main way where new nxx boy stories are released through, for any card i dont have, i just watch it on youtube. because basically every card, event plot, minigame, etc gets uploaded by someone a little bit after its release. so if youre bummed you missed an event card but you dont really Want the card, you just want its story, just search it on youtube!! search [card name/event name] + [whichever language dub you prefer] + tears of themis and voila! new story for you to read!!!

if you want plot = read Main Story. this is where all the heavy main plot happens and it is SO GRIPPING AND RIVETING.

if you want character development and relationship development between mc and each boy = read Personal Story Bloom Chapter, and then the respective nxx boy's Anniversary 1 card, Personal Story Sweet Chapter 1 and 2, and then the respective nxx boy's Anniversary 2 card. the personal story routes (aka the routes where mc eventually ends up with the boy romantically) are where a BULK of characterization and character development happens, imo

if you want romance and oneshot dates = explore the available cards!!! the tot wiki has an archive of all the available cards per boy on each of the characters' main pages. for example, here's luke's page. scroll down to the cards section and Behold. Luke Stories As Far As The Eye Can See

these pages dont have the story transcribed in them, but theyre great to use as a directory or a map of cards. so if any of the cards catch your eye, then take urself to youtube to find the card and voila (again)! new story for u to experience!

(note: SSRs always have a full 6 act story. SRs either have a 6 act story that is unvoiced, OR 2 voice messages. MRs always have 2 voice messages. R cards have no story and no voice messages)

if you want nxx team dynamics = read and/or play the events!!!! this is my favorite thing, the tot events are a treasure trove of fun cases and awesome team dynamics. in the game itself, some of the big events are available as DLC for anybody to play themselves at any time. to get there, X-NOTE Story -> lower and rightmost button Event -> upper and rightmost button Past.

if theres anything i would reccommend the MOST, itd be to download and pllay the event Mysteries of the Lost Gold. it's so good. it's my favorite event story. trust me on this

i hope these tips can help!!! happy playing :DDD

[echoesofwisdomcountup]

26 Days until Tears of the Kingdom Release. I believe today is Orthodox Easter so happy Easter to those who celebrate. Also I hope everyone had a lovely weekend and that we can continue the hype for TOTK for the next 26 days.

Spoilers under the cut because I'm still not done with the trailer.

Pokemon Sword and Shield? Nah. Zelda Sword and Shield. I already love fuse so much. Sticking a royal claymore and royal shield together and then using that to parry an attack is insane.

At first I thought this thing was a Goron but upon a closer look it's got a symbol on it. I'm guessing this ball that moves so fast and leaves flames in it's wake is some sort of game/challenge that the Goron's cooked up. Probably minigame related, like the Challenge at Gut Check Rock or that one challenge where Link has to stand the heat.

The trampoline thing is so sick and seeing the other flying boats makes me think of how fun it would be to travel by bouncing from one to the other. Also Tulin is more grown up in this shot, proving that a few years have passed between BOTW and TOTK (at least Link and Zelda got some time to themselves before everything went to hell.) It's also my belief that just cause Link is flying with Teba and not Tulin does not mean something bad happened to Teba. I think Teba took over as Chief of the Rito so he's a bit too busy to pull stunts with Link.

Glowy hand. Also this sequence was so satisfying, even more so than a parry or a bomb. Octoroks always hit you at the most inconvenient of times so it's nice to uno reverse their attacks back at them. Also I wonder if reversing time on one object slows/stops time for everything around it as well but leaves Link free to move. I think that's how it works and if so then I'm looking forward to seeing how it can be used in combat against groups.

This looks like a neat side quest but also at the same time it reminds me of the escort mission in Twilight Princess. Hopefully this one is far nicer to me then than the TP quest.

Looks like Link really fused a rocket to his shield. Also he's on Eventide island with all his stuff so we probably won't see a repeat of that shrine quest, at least not on this island. I keep thinking about how funny it would have been for Majora's Mask Link to travel to the moon via rocket in order to fight Majora. Link technically already has experience with space travel of a sort so guess it's not surprising they finally gave him a rocket.

Speaking of space travel, MOON JUMPS. Yup, these steps absolutely have to deal with funky gravity and I'm sticking to that point (too many reactors keep saying time.) These steps also look like they lead to a giant platform, a perfect place for a boss fight, and with the weird goo in the background I'm guessing the boss fight is with the black and purple ink like alligator we see later in the trailer. If we are getting dungeons again, I wonder if this is part of one of the sky dungeons.

Nintendo saw that we loved mine carts in BOTW and decided to use them more. Thank you Nintendo. While I think this race with a construct is hilarious, I'm even more excited by the glimpse at an underground area and once with some sick lava falls. Also this reminds me of a roller coaster at an amusement park where there are duel tracks. Maybe they should make one of these in Super Nintendo land.

The amount of reactors I've seen start laughing once the trailer gets here is numerous. This mech battle, some may say the slowest and shittiest mech battle in history, truly showcases Aonuma's comment about how much room TOTK leaves for the player's imagination. I can't wait to craft my own shitty jousting robot and then see people on youtube make them cooler than I could ever dream. Also the new outfit that Link is wearing reminds me of a Roman Centurion.

This shot has an even cooler looking outfit. The horns and earrings are absolutely a reference to the unknown character already shown in the trailer. In general, I really like the look of this one and can't wait to acquire it. Then there is the ruby arrow. I hope that it doesn't do the same thing as fire chu chu jelly because I want Nintendo to give us a reason to use an expensive ruby for something other than outfit upgrades and rupees. Huh I wonder if some outfits are going to boost the effects of fusing materials to weapons/arrows. That would be interesting to see. Maybe an outfit boosts the magical effects of gems/minerals and in that case you would want to use rubies instead of chu chu jelly.

Speaking of fire chu chu jelly, I'm pretty sure that bokoblin is carrying some in a pack on his back. I assuming that some of the enemies will be throwing elemental jelly at us. Also what is that contraption Link and how did you get it up there? I wonder if he just levitated it into the camp using ultra hand and if he did then that bodes well for long range combat. Also pretty funny to drop a giant laser machine from the sky into the middle of a boko camp.

Giant ice leviathan and 100% a boss fight. I've heard some interesting arguments about this thing being related to the Great Hebra skeleton but part of me hopes not. It'd be tragic if Ganon corrupted a creature like Levias the flying whale from Skyward Sword. Levias was nice. Still, I can't wait to fight this thing. Also Link is wearing a new outfit with some very bright blue stuff (that Tulin also seems to have on him) that I'm assuming works like extreme antifreeze. However, I think the headpiece reminds me of the Statue of Liberty so I will not be able to take this outfit seriously.

Ok, thank you for reading today's piece of trailer analysis. Probably only two-ish more days to go before I finish the trailer in its entirety.

[your-local-uwu-artist]

HELLAO how about 6, 14, 15, and 25 for the Kirby OC ask game!!! :D

🗣️: If you could cast a voice actor to voice your OC who would you choose?

tbh I havn't really been able to nail a voice-claim/hc down for Button. Though I def think he would have a more masculine-sounding voice, but with some sort of quick to it (like being raspy or squeaky) the only thing I know for sure is he needs like, a loser white guy voice.... if that makes literally any sense

also I think they have the vibe of a character whos eng and jp voices are very different but somehow both work equally very well (like calcifur and meowth, both of those have very different directions taken with their voices but both work in the same way somehow??)

ummm some potential candidates are Charlie Day, Jack McBrayer, maybe Jason Ritter? Daniel thrasher has never voice acted but he's def a candidate

for jp something similar to either Nate's pkmn masters jp voice, or like, something very raspy and mascot-character esque

14. 🍱: If your OC had a dish themed around them at the Kirby Cafe, what would it be?

hmm I'm not sure? this isn't really my area of expertise: here's some random ideas tho~

-apple pie flavored waffle? shaped like a star of course

-little button shaped sugar cookies?

-half chocolate half vanilla cupcake? to represent the angel+demon thing, combine it with the sugar cookies maybe? have two of them decorated like his eyes mayhaps?

-apparently there is a way to make drinks glow in the dark but it requires a black light so dead end :(

-mac n cheese, idk how to make it cute but it needs to be involved

-wait! idea: pretzel shaped like a lyra?

15. 🧸: If your OC had any merchandise themed around them, what would it be?

now this one is actually right in my area of expertise I love toy design

for some less simple things:

one of those little craft kits that gives you the supplies to make something simple like a felt plush sewn together with yarn, you could sew a little small star-button billow, and a little kirby plush and the aesthetic is all Button themed. Or maybe a a friendship bracelet craft kit? there's a lot of potential craft kits what with being from patch land

or maybe a merry magoland themed re-ment set that features a little Button working a booth

or you know those little keychain plushies?

dude I could design these ALL DAY

hell I've thought a lot about button merch just with what I could feasibly make happen. Button acryllic charms? Button buttons? a Button themed candy bag keychain? those keychains with the little magnet heart accesories? I could do that with Button and characters he's shipable with. standee with tail wag? glow in the dark standee and the stand part is a magic circle? button enamel pins? button ACRYLIC PINS?

25. ⭐️: If your OC got their own spinoff game what would it be about and what would the gameplay be like?

a few ideas!

-epic yarn style! the story line is Button learns about Kirby's Magic sock and decides to visit home~

-game where you sail across the sea!!! Meta Knight wants you to collect a special flower that only grows on this one island, he's too busy with meta knight stuff to get it himself. So he has sent Button on this fetch quest. i guess you could make it into a platformer, but maybe it could be like a minigame collection? that would involve things like puzzle games to figure out navigation. or upkeep/tidying around the boat. maybe there could be 'events', like finding a waddle dee lost at sea and bringing them home. or needing to fix the boats engine

-prequel game of one of Button's journey's during angst-era. platformer but with a lot of puzzle aspects implemented

-if you wanted a more epic quest with co-op modes and all maybe Button caught wind of some powerful magic source and is seeking it in hopes of restoring his Halo, and of course theres a positive message in the end where no Button doesn't get his halo back but he got his Self worth back or smth. (the true halo was the friends we made along the way I guess) would still want puzzle aspects implemented

-game where kirby and co is on vacation but danger strikes and Button, Magolor, Taranza, and Marx has to take the place of Kirby and co.

-unrelated but take a moment to imagine Merry Magoland but with Button around doing his job. Imagine a special animation of them being shocked when the player gets a high score or smth

[1800duckhotline]

what is vampire the masquerade and whats killer is dead. i assume videod games but i could be wrong... you seem to be having soo much fun im nosaayy 😁

omg hi mani im so flattered u would ask!! yeah ive been in the throes of videogames lately AHAH... oc brained but videogame about it sort of...

vampire the masquerade is actually a ttrpg originally published in the 80s i think, but it keeps getting updated so its not like. anything super old... whenever i mention "vampire the masquerade: bloodlines" im talking about the 2004 videogame created based off of the ttrpg! im biased in loving vtm and vtmb since well. it's about vampires. but i think it's an unique take on them that like makes the supernatural aspect not too boring compared to the classic supernatural vampire take. since it involves clans, a lot of vampire politics and societal aspects to it all, etc... Bloodlines itself is not a perfect game (ill avoid geeking out too much about the brief dev hell history it had) but i value it so dearly bc its so 2004 and is so gothic/alternative in its genuine influence. also the story is goofy but really good too (with um, simultaneously, the con that It Is a 2004 Game, meaning it has a lot of weird bigotries that were normalized for the time lol). Unforchy it's almost unplayable without downloading an additional patch mod that restores also a lot of cut content ^_^ but you make do... its so easy to make ocs for the game and the general ttrpg, sooo many ways you can go with your characters!! Bloodlines itself as a game is an action/adventure RPG mostly focused on combat (with stuff like stealth sessions) as well as various ways to resolve different quests. the variety of said outcomes is mostly limited by the fact the studio wasn't able to polish the game at all for release due to activision, the publisher, pushing troika games (dev team) to release the game early to compete with half life 2 at the time (yeah crazy i know). that said, the dialogues can be really charming and fun and offer a nice variety of things to do.. its not perfect but seriously is the best vampire RPG game around so far..

killer is dead is completely different (mostly because i can never focus on one thing for too long lmfao), it's an hack and slash 2014 game created by suda51 and grasshopper manufacture (same game devs behind no more heroes, lollipop chainsaw, shadows of the damned etc) and it's. an okay game. i dont even know if i can explain the story bc its like, a clusterfuck. and usually clusterfuck stories are goichi suda's specialty but this one goes over the moon (funny joke if You Know). it's a pretty mid game. I love it on one hand bc its easy to play and very stylish, tho the shaders sometimes can give you an headache. I also love the protagonist (mondo zappa) because to me thats a butch not just some guy. Unfortunately the game has the very strong cons of being too short for the kind of game it is, and also has an infamously bizarre minigame that's called "gigolo missions"... you basically go on "dates" with beauties (sexy girls basically), you give them gifts until they 'love' you and then you go have sex and they give you weapon upgrades as a result. the date though consists of you building up your "guts meter" by looking at their boobs or legs so it's like. REALLY STRANGE. CANT HASHTAG IM SORRY FEMINISM OUT OF THIS ONE I'M AFRAID.... it's so conflicting bc apparently suda didn't want to add this function but publishers forced him to. oh well. a solid 6.5/10 tbh. idk if i'd reccomend it tho maybe gameplays are better than getting it at full price imo (i got my game as a gift)

UM SO SORRY FOR GEEKING OUT...I HOPE THE EXPLANATION WAS CLEAR. My brain keeps jumping from media to media with no pause... i wanna focus on ocs again but this keeps happening hahaha

[bylightofdawn]

Are ya'll ready for: El seriously overthinks video games + minor FF7 Rebirth spoilers hour?

I'm finishing up the mission on Junon where Cloud and Co go undercover and just watching Cloud lose himself in the role, genuinely getting ATTACHED to the Seventh Infantry and me then having to escort my baby infantry ducklings around as they murder other Shinra troops out of the mistaken belief they are on the other side made me FEEL A LOT OF THINGS. Like holy shit that’s insane even typing it out. And kinda dark and a little twisted. And potentially fucks those poor Infantry troops over yet they are STILL rode or die for Cloud. I wasn't expecting to get socked in the feels as much as I did.

Because Cloud is so detached and emotionally standoffish, watching him seriously get into the role of playing at the Captain of the Seventh Infantry is hella significant.

And I think it's because it's so familiar and something he is missing. He misses the camaraderie and brotherhood of serving. Sure, he moved onto becoming a SOLDIER and who was his damn role model/sempai? Zack Fair who is one of the most big-hearted, best big brother energy dude ever. So of course he would subconsciously internalize that's what a good leader should do. Sure, there was also Sephiroth but he's clearly the worst and reflects what bad leadership skills would be.

So yeah, I think there's a part of Cloud that misses serving, or at least misses that sense of brotherhood. He's been a lone wolf for so long, I can't imagine he's not starved for that kind of connection. It's also prolly easier and less complicated than the relationships he has with the main party.

Okay so that's me being all philosophical. Now let me be a degenerate and horny on main for a second.

Holy fuck nuggets Rufus is so hot. He's ALWAYS been hot but he's especially hot and v. Ice Prince-y and I fucking love it. I am laughing at the absurdity of his clothing and how it continually gets more complicated and ridiculous. He legitimately looks like he's wearing a fucking farthingale with that ridiculous belt collection he's wearing. Or yanno....bdsm gear. XD

Somehow they have managed to take Roche who was already at Maito Gai levels of over the time 100% energy and made him even MORE ridiculously and over the top. I lowkey wish he would stop talking. I have an excellent solution on how to do that and that is for Cloud to shut him up by fucking him until his brains bleed out of his ears over his stupid bike. Or yanno, there are other ways to shut him up varying from gag and other creative things to occupy his mouth with.

Even though it's clear Cloud is pretty hetero-coded but after like 25 years of soooooo much Sephiroth/Cloud, Zack/Cloud fan content, I don't think that's going to stop the internet (or myself) from shipping him like a fandom bike. Hell I actually love Cloud/Tifa cause I am a disgusting multi-shipper.

Ahem. Anyway I hope Cloud gets to reunite with his Seventh Infantry people at some point. I think I'm like.....1/3 of the way through the game and holy shit. I've discovered I detest minigames. I love side-missions in games but fuck DDR minigames or that damn in real time strategy game Fort Condor. There's a reason I've never been interested in FF Tactics.

EDIT: OMG Red XIII going full on Karen Mode and demanding to speak to the bartender/employee who won’t let him play in the Queen’s Blood tournament because he’s an ‘animal’ is the funniest shit I’ve seen so far in this game. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

EDIT 2: never mind, Red going full on Chester Cheetah/Michael Jackson absolutely takes the cake. I’m ded.  I also stayed up way too late beaten this freaking queens blood tournament mini game and I really gotta go to bed now.

[tu-es-gegg]

14, 20, 31 !

qsmp ask game

14. Thoughts on Cucurucho and The Federation?

i think on the onset is the Fed itself doesnt seem all that scary at least to unfamilar new viewers. i think at first it definitely had that scare horror factor with that famous chainsaw hallway and how many times people got kidnapped. i think as time went on as people started to learn more abt the inner workings of the federation (from getting to knwo the actual workers like fred and walter bob, to the QSMP official streams, seeing all the goofs and gaffs of it all) it started losing its horror edge and characters openly mock it too. cucurucho too, liek these characters already been through hell and back that cucurucho and the federation are just lesser evils compared to stuff like purgatory eye guys

and that part to me is the scarier or at least on equal to the horror vibes it had before because that means people have just gotten comfortable with an oppressive force. the Feds are well... the feds, they enforce the rule of perfection and stability, they only care about presenting a perfect image and they dont really care about what they have to do to obtain it, so long as the veil of perfection is presented that is all they desire. no matter how much damage to children or islanders is done, they must achieve perfection; for what purpose we don't know.

i think a lot of people sweep under the rug the horrific stuff the feds do because its only looking at the very human and feeling workers. but workers do not represent the feelings and actual desires of the higher ups, we've seen what higher ranking federation workers do to dissents that decide not to work along with their assigned roles with walter bob. and we can see that some even higher ranking workers like elena are affected adn sometimes dont even know some things because of their manipulations.

the feds work with obscuring truths, lies and gaslights (yes im using this word correctly, they actively try to make present faults on the islanders instead of taking accountability for themselves), make themselve the better person, they trap birds in cages and when teh birds beg for freedom, they show them a polluted city and say "are you sure?", the bird says they'll stay and so the feds cut their wings. its less scary in that abject of horror of "what the fuck are they?" and more scary in the sense they are cruel.

i do wish we had more human experimentation, liek we cant jsut have qq be the ONLY one thats jsut unfair.

20. Name an event you’d like to see in the future

in terms of culturall events lmao i dont have much, i kinda hoped they did lunar new year earlier, i love lunar new year (IT WAS SO PERFECT THIS YEAR TOO, YEAR OF THE DRAGON HELLO), id like them do some sort of german holiday, Oktoberfest is a great one

likelihood of them doing something liek a nod to ramadhan and aidilfitri is low, maybe one day idk, they should do a whole day of night market GOD I FUCKING LOVE NIGHT MARKET

in terms of lore events PLEASE I WANT ANOTHER FEDERATION BREAK IN, OR AT LEAST SOMETHING SIMILAR, i know that kinda stuff is so fuckin hectic esp when you have the collective half of the server, but like i love that kinda

or maybe some sort of minigames sports day with cash prizes where they jsut play server minigames made by the players, like someone can make spleef or hunger games, they just hire badboyhalo to make a find the button and everyone collectively kills him.

31. What lore/arc have you enjoyed the most?

QSLIME CODEFLIPPA ARC PLEASE I NEED THIS CONCLUDED, im already a qslime sucker, i liek his cahracter and how he's played, this idea was already been a concept for other qslime fans when it was discovered the codes could disguise as eggs jsut because of how perfect it is. I think out of most people, he was one of the most succeptible to being manipluted because out of all the islanders, he was one of teh most desperate. someone like quackity or maxo would sniff it out immediately, by virtue of them finally reaching their acceptance. qjaiden to some extent also had acceptance, though BARELY just a hair, though her likelihood of being targeted would be thwarted by cucurucho and the feds if they ever found that fake bobby, also roier would just insta kill code bobby if he stuck around. qslime however, shown oveer time and time again very publicly he would never get over flippa. AND BY GOD HE WASNT.

i also was like dying to find out mroe about the nature of the codes themselves, not jsut as killing egg machines, liek seen with etoiles they were only seen as fighters, battlers, entites only served to be one-note killers. so when codeflippa came around everyone was immedietely in for a wild fuckign ride, it got even wilder by the end of the 3rd flippa hangout stream (tubbhole stream i call it) with flippa remembering something federation related and seemingly spouting honest endearment to qslime and GOD godd QSLIME AND HIS BEING A BEING A FATHER;;; like he is so self sacrificial to point it even hurts people around him jsut for the sake of making sure is daugther is the best and recieves the best, like;;; gah its jsut a perfect arc as a testament to what qslime is down toa core, a guy trapped in a cycle of grief and drowning in it over adn over, too blinded in denial and begging on his knees to have someone good ofr once in his life. when people want to know what qslime is i jsut point them to this arc in general. its executed so well thanks to charlie slimecicle and also codeflippa's admin (they do god's work being so patient by how many times charlie straight up just lets her go free) my only wish is that PLEAE COME BACK CODEFLIPPA I MISS YOU.

AND ALSO QBBH DYING, i think bbh bloggers can word that section better than me but holy shit the arc of him dying which went on so fucking agonisingly long, the wait for a shoe to drop and when it finally does, GOD ITS A WRECK, he's so interconnected with EVERYONE on the island simply by jsut being their babysitter, yet his death is so quiet, the news pouring out slowly and surely, and the fact only select few people were actually concerned in his process of dying, its a strange reflection of a very reoccuring themse of hidden sides and secret lives that mainly is a product of how streamed mcrp works, mainly for this style that the QSMP has, qbad's death was so satisfying beacuse it was the ending of an agonising wait, of questions being answers and new ones popping up, i could go on other stuff i cant fit in also cellbit's little federation detective adventures, that whole reveal where he is confirmed to be a fed employee and can never truly escape from their grasp was so fuckign good, the consequence of by all accounts selling his soul to cucurucho and the federation comign back to bite him OHHhhhhhhhhh that whole saga is so fuckign good. also the egg lore and developments like god sunny's whole drama with leo and also tallulah, the perfect representation of things little girls go through in life, litterally roier rat sage what the fuck (i dont know why doied exists but like ratoier is fuckign funny), FITMC AND AMDAGIO OHHHH BOY, i willcatch him with my bare hands, finally the answer after finding out he knew he ahd a reason to come ot he island oughghghh philza ender king lore ive been enjoying too i will catch that man too, etoiles and code interactions is also real fujckign good.

I think the main thing i like in lore is little things having big consequences, and the execution naturally blowing up, the thing i appreciate most is paying attention to all teh little memories and slights from before, and havign the comeuppance. some arcs i do appreciate, like bagi's search for her brother (the scene with her and cellbit mua chef kiss), litterally tazercraft getting arrested adn that whole saga, antoine daniel, whatevber the hell is ayrobot but i think what makes me not come back to those that often is mainly because... well i dont think theres a satisfying answer to them. not a conclusion or ending but more like, why did these happen? what sort of thing happens becausse of this? some arcs dont seem to lead into anywhere, and its not like filler episodes , its not jsut extra stuff to flesh out characters because they are actual stakes at hand with these arcs like there should be MORE consequences because of these things, stuff should be affected but instead are just little spice to these character and thus,, some jsut miss out on the depth they couldve had. its nto a diss to anyone, i jsut wish some arcs had more time to bake or be reworked to at least have a significant effect instead, they jsut kinda end up in my mid pile.

[goof320]

random goof ramble omg,,,

i hope whatever the valve deckard is is its Good and the same price as psvr2?? but i also dont care about new vr,, i only want valve deckard or new valve vr headset or whatever because it means they'll come out with a new game at the same time

half life alyx was *so* good and i dont think there's been a vr game to come close to how good it was and still is 2ish years later. i think half life 3 coming out with their new, not super expensive (~$500 please valve) headset would probably bend over and spank the other 5 billion standalone vr headsets coming out. half life 3 should *not* be only vr, fucking Obviously, but if it didnt have native vr support id be pretty upset because holy shit the end scene of hl:a ***you were HOLDING the fucking crowbar*** i need that for a 10-15 hour long campaign

valve,,, if yoy use tumblr,,, please.,.,.,.. youd make so much money hl3 wouldn't even have to come with the headset it could be $70 and youd be PRINTING money for the rest of time PLEASEEEE

also, it'd be really cool for a new valve game that's not a tech demo,,, i dont think hl:a was a tech demo for vr, but it.. kind of was? a really really good tech demo, but they probably wouldn't have made a spinoff half-life game if not for New Cool Technology. im pretty sure all of the recent valve games have been glorified tech demos. which i like them!! they're fun!!!! i adore hl:a and aperature desk job. and their vr game with the minigames is cute. the aperature game with the hand robots is cute, too. im probably missing one but all of them have been cute fun lil games.

hl3 tho,, new full valve game not just for a specific new tech thing? wooh.,.,. works on their new (and old) vr thing, steam deck, and a normal pc? Wooh,,,,, money printer right there.

more deckard rant... i hope to got its not a standalone.

maybe a standalone that doesn't play games.. hear me out wait hold on

valve doesnt like splitting up steam im pretty sure. if it was standalone, itd run on the xr2, an ARM chip, whereas all of steamvr is x86 because fucking duh yeah its for computers. i don't think valve is gonna have that thing running proton and like.. box86 or whatever. itd be TERRIBLE!! and theres no way in fresh hell they're putting the steam deck chip in there, or any other x86 thing, because it'd SUCK!!!!!! but if it was like... xr2 without steam. you can stream from your desktop, play those games wirelessly (or with displayport pls valve) or just look at your monitor in vr and browse the internet Whatever. i do wonder if a valve standalone with ARM would run linux ARM or android... knowing valve i bet it'd be linux. something thatd be SO fucking cool is- ok hear me out again this is a long one

steamvr home is cool... it sucks right now because valve hasn't done anything with it forever, and it just tanks your computer the second it starts, and there's.. not much to do BUT WHAT IF there was... what if it was like.. steam home (corny idc) and-

hello. i just spent 10 minutes describing neosvr. i deleted all that because i realized, i want valve to buy neosvr and put it in steam. just, right in the client. the whole thing. share media with ur friends, have a home world u can do Whatever the Fuck you want with and custom avatars and whatever you Want. neosvr is in a weird spot and if valve just fucking swallowed them whole and rebranded it as a Steam Home thing id ascend into the 6th dimension. neosvr is so fucking cool.... it makes me very sad though because again its in a weird spot and im sure they'll figure it out but Eeeeee,,,

anyway as i was saying... neos but in steam .. u start ur Valve Deckard or whatever its called.. new shiny vr ... and you sign into your steam account and ur put into steamvr+neos. its some new home lobby, there's a desktop sitting somewhere that you can boot up and its just fucking. linux arm with kde. because that'd be insane. or u could set it up to stream your big beefy desktop (maybe a vr headset modeled sitting next to it u can physically put onto your head to turn on the streaming as long as ur pc is accessible on the network). but also you could go outside or maybe just open a menu and go into whatever public world and do social vr things and neosvr things. please. itd be so cool,,, all the deckard could run would be steam home 2.0 and game streaming but itd be So Cool.... kind of a tough sell to people without computers untill vr cloud streaming becomes viable but i think people with computers (already valve's main demographic lol) may consider it.

[x-i-l-verify]

I hope you don't mind me jumping onto this post to add my 2 cents, because this sums up my feelings on the chapter pretty well. Not to say it was BAD per se, it did have some really good moments, but the pacing felt really padded with pointless puzzle sections that were poorly integrated into the larger narrative. It was always "go here, flip this switch, put the batteries in the slot" for the ENTIRE chapter. Hell, at least in chapter 2, there was considerable variety in the tasks the game forced you into, with the various minigames. Those minigames also served as ways for other secondary characters that were introduced in that chapter - Bunzo, PJ, and the mini Wuggies - a time to shine, even if they didn't get any real characterization beyond "trying to kill you." Heck, of the 5 characters introduced in the chapter, only two - Daddy and Baby Long Legs - didn't get any screen time whatsoever, and those two were in a single blink and you miss it poster.

Chapter 3, on the other hand, introduces not one, not two, but ten new characters. (Even if we assume "Ollie" is another character we've already seen, like the Prototype or Baby Long Legs, he's still presented as a new character, so my point still stands.) Of those ten new characters, only four get any screen time at all. And this is on top of all the characters introduced in chapters 1 and 2 that haven't gotten any screen time aside from being dead bodies littering the levels, like Boogie Bot, Bron, Catbee, Candy Cat, and Daisy (Daisy is on posters, she counts).

This is doubly baffling, because ever since November, Mob Games has been hyping the Smiling Critters up, advertising them alongside Catnap as the mean feature of the chapter. They're EVERYWHERE in chapter 3, but you never see them. Even Catnap's presence feels like an afterthought. I was expecting he'd be a constant looming threat, Huggy Wuggy on steroids, always just out of sight, ready to pounce if you stayed in one place for too long, maybe a couple big chase sequences before the finale to keep you on your toes. But no. He's just. Not a threat at all until the final set piece of the chapter. Like yeah, you see him a couple times just lurking here and there, but he doesn't feel like a sword hanging over your head just ready to fall.

In chapter 1, Mob Games holding Huggy Wuggy back until the final set piece is understandable, one, because the chapter is so short. and two, because the world of the factory is new to the player. Nobody knew what to expect from the place or from the game, which really helped in building tension. Chapter 3, however, is NOT chapter 1. The audience is now experienced with how the game works, and the chapter is nearly 4x longer than chapter 1. You cannot use the same tactics and expect them to work the same way.

And what was with them flat-out SAYING that Catnap could change his size in the supplementary material? This implied that he could fit into any nook and cranny, be around any corner, making him even more of a threat to the player, but no! He stays the same size the entire time except for when we're tripping balls at the end; we never see him size shift, we never see him be in places he shouldn't inexplicably, which would have built further dread in the player. Such a missed opportunity. Hell, as OP mentioned, Miss Delight - a character that was not advertised AT ALL and came out of nowhere like a freight train - turned out a better example of a predator than Catnap, the main villain of the chapter.

Speaking of which, though, and speaking of missed opportunities, let's talk about the other Smiling Critters. I felt certain that they would be the breakout characters of this new chapter. I theorized that Dogday would be the Big Good of the chapter, being diametrically opposed to Catnap in every way from design, to theming, to even their names, and then the other Critters would be split down the middle on whether they would be on Dogday's side or Catnap's, and try to aid or hinder the player during the chapter. Instead, all we got were a cutout of 6 out of 8 characters with about 4-5 lines of dialogue each, and the Bigger Bodies version of Dogday only gets less than a minute of screen before he's killed by the mini Critters. Hell, the mini Critters get more screen time than any Smiling Critter except Catnap. And Catnap doesn't eclipse them by much! Why does a random character like Miss Delight - who was in no advertising and got no buildup at all - get more screen time than any of the characters in this chapter outside of Catnap and maybe Ollie? Even Poppy and Kissy don't get as much time dedicated to them as her.

In general, Mob Games seems to have a problem with asset creation and utilization. Instead of using the characters they already have (and they have a lot of them) to their fullest potential, they'd rather come up with reams of new characters every chapter, and even then, most of them don't even get screen time. I get that Playtime Co. is a toy company, it makes sense that they'd have come up with a lot of toys in their time, but in a game about living toys, why are only some of them considered worthy of giving screen time to? Why are dead toys littering the factory Boogie Bots, Catbees, Candy Cats, Bunzos, Brons, and Huggys? Why have we only seen 1 dead PJ Pug-A-Piller? Why have we not seen ANY dead mini Critters except for the ones on CatNap's shrine? Or other Poppy Playtimes? Or Kissys? It just seems rather lazy on the part of the developers. You have the assets already modeled, so why not use them?

Poppy Playtime Chapter 3. (Spoilers)

Did anyone else feel that despite being given such individualised characteristics-the smiling critters were underutilised?

The fact that they only even showed up in the playhouse as small enemies aside from a VERY brief cameo from Dogday was annoying.

This leads me to MAJOR missed opportunity in the use of Dogday as an immediate opposing force to Catnap: having HIM be the one guiding us instead of this random kid named Ollie who we STILL know nothing about (Poppy apparently does but neglected to so much as give us a hint). I just feel that trying to get the lights on would have it perfectly into Dogdays element and worked against CatNaps sleep/night element. It would have at least given us more character to Dogday as a leader and how he goes about it.

Also we were NEVER even made aware there WERE bigger body versions of the other critters. They went on and ON about poor Theodore nearly dying and the protype saving him (by letting him be transferred in to a body anyway, which is the in game version of ‘my job here is done’ ‘but you didn’t do anything’) but we didn’t hear so much as a PEEP about DogDay or the other Bigger body versions of the critters he references. Massive missed chance for story and gameplay by not having them as antagonists, or even warring factions (half with catnap, half against etc) even a few notes detailing craftycorn painting with kids resulting in half a wall becoming a mural, Dogday being kind and bringing Stella coffee or being a general helper, hoppy stealing Stella’s coffee and going on a bender.

Catnap himself was pretty underutilised despite having creepy moments and the boss battle was just plain repetitive towards the end.

Hell, Miss Delight felt more like a ‘stalking in the night’ predator then Catnap.

There was a LOT more that could have been done with them, or even just Dogday.

[ikilledamanforthisurl]

Minami x6 you are okay boss everyone needs to recharge sometimes……. Im actually extremely head empty today so apologies if this is like just Entirely Words V_V But real real…… I wish there was more general discussion of Majima's relationship with his family because iirc it wasn’t even something he asked for initially but he gets it Anyways and now he just has to deal with it. But not only that it soon becomes somehow The Biggest Family in the tojo which leads now to Majima basically being responsible for like so much of the clan to the point where he’s constantly getting threatened because there’s no one else TO threaten anymore the tojo is in such shambles…. and well how are you expecting him to act normally and kindly in this sort of situation. I wish the games took it more seriously because I feel like at least w what we see of Nishida Majima's casual violence and abuse is treated a bit too Jokingly but like I get why he’s Like That. World is a hell the cycles just keep continuing forever! Also nah you’re okay for tangents I also actually love Majima a lot I just feel myself break out into hives whenever I have to witness fandom Majima Family stuff where a lot of it treats it as though it’s just like funny cutesy hahas and not like an Organisation of extremely violent and fucked up people who realistically probably don’t know how to really interact with each other and the interesting ways this could be shown. Like i love shitposts top but come on gang. Png

Also I hope you don’t take this poorly but I have no idea who Aratani is <///3 I couldn’t find him on the wiki and Im not super far yet in the yakuza franchise so you’ll have to excuse me if your points In Regards to majima family members which one actually is taken seriously and which one is not Im just nodding along. But YES real I loooveeeeeee the whole minor theme of like reputation and stories in yakuza…. I think Kiryu is the most notable example of this with how much reverence people put on his name and how it affects like important characters (nishiki most obviously but also Ryuji and the whole debate of “There can only be one dragon” etc) but Majima would definitely also have stories about him that would spread far and wide and it doesn’t matter if they’re true or even real at all because it’s the Image that lingers and that would affect the people around him too most importantly to this discussion Minami. Wants to be somebody ism IS real and i am shaking it around by the neck

Minami might be a lil side character goofy guy but he is my friend and ill put the work into developing him if i must. RGG hire me for my spin off game where you are a employee at Majima construction and you do building minigames and get to hang out with and get to know better Nishida and Minami respectively amen. And i hope the playlist making of one day goes well <33

FEAR NOT! i have pickture of the sulking wretched fiend.....

I'm afraid i don't have a screenshot of him not going on about his whole deal but he's literally patriarch-gunner personified....... Aratani (and most other M.Family men that i'll ever mention for a while besides Minami and Nishida) is a Dead Souls exclusive! i am currently watching a playthru of DS because i've already exposed myself to spoilers a'plenty cause idrc + i think having the most atrocious watchorder of Yakuza is really really funny. We've gone from all of Y0 shown to me by an ex > a lil bit of Y1 > Dead Souls > and then imma do either Y7 or Y3. i enjoy making things harder for myself

also ive had the exact same wishful thinking to myself....... sidecharacter spinoff game...... where u just hang out with them or some shit whatever. most loserific iteration being a Minami focused one because Who Even Wants That but i'll own it idc i have ideas. i have plans. the haters (rggstudios legal team) will sabotage me etc etc. i'd like to think i could have an okay shot at balancing the At First I Lol'd with the But Then I Serioused in a way that's satisfying 'cause both are integral to these characters to me. just like, two more seconds of thinking implications of Anything through would do this series Wonders

but sidetracking cause you mentioned M.Construction and its got me Thinking Again cause like.... i like the idea of balancing Nishida + Minami as opposites in many ways who clash and struggle to fit in with the other. they're not perfect opposites by any means but they function pretty closely. i like stressed, decent Nishida representing the side of the family involved with M.Con while lenient punk twat Minami is firmly planted in the Yakuza side. if Junior Leader is at all involved with a training position then that kind of helps prop up this idea a little bit.... though, ofc, there would be plenty overlap, having so many men on payroll practically requires you to make jobs for them, so it's not like the Family is divided into these two sectors or anything.... lots of mixing of shifts goes down no doubt. whether there is a method to this assignment is another story entirely (probably depends on each person's strengths, abilities, whether they applied for sitework specifically, or as punishment/reward)

(shit i made up territory) Minami is probably assigned to M.Con worksites often.... probably as punishment 'cause you already know this man got the 80HDeez he can't sit still and not cause trouble for the life of him. it both keeps him in one place and occupied while still holding over his head that he Fucked Up, Dummy. oh great, now I gotta deal with Nishida's bullshit (petty squabbling ensues in the office that's my setup to get the two to interact on a regular basis anyways.... there's lots of fun to be had with these two, but so little actually bridges them together. they're SOOO WORSTIES but they work on the other ends of the Family. one's at Oyaji's beck-and-call and the other is kept as far away from Oyaji as possible the millisecond he annoys him a lil too much. one belongs in finance and requires anxiety drugs while the other can't dress himself and needs rehab. oh my god theyre so (crushes them in my hands like putty

[echoesofdusk]

(this took far too long to write)

It's time for a review of the second piece of media I experienced this year:

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD

I actually have a bit of a history with this game. I got into Zelda in the spring of 2011 with the original N64 version of Ocarina of Time. When I heard that a new Zelda game would be releasing on Wii later that year I ofc really wanted to get it, but being a 15 year old at the time there was no way for me to afford a Wii and the game (as I also lived in Iceland at the time, which was and still is notorious for blowing up prices of video games and consoles). Throughout the years I tried figuring out ways to get a Wii and the game but eventually I gave up and just accepted that I'd never be able to play it unless I did it through illegitimate means or something.

Until February of 2021 that is, when Skyward Sword HD was announced. I was really happy about the announcement, however, I didn't get the game straight away due to its price point and after hearing about all of its lows, I was afraid of spending money on it and not liking it in the end. However, last December I decided to just take the plunge and grab the game when it was slightly discounted and played through it in 4 weeks.

And boy do I have a lot to say. This is gonna be a lengthy one. I already summed up this game to friends as the game with "some of the highest highs and lowest lows I've experienced in any Zelda game I've played so far". Keep in mind that SSHD is my first time playing this game and I've never played the original Wii version, though I'd love to, even if just a small part to compare the two. Also, I played the game with motion controls, although I did try out the button controls from time to time (and used them for some sections, particularly the Fun Fun Island minigame.)

Alright, let's get to it!

Skyward Sword was in a rather interesting position at the time. Before its release, Twilight Princess had been the latest 3D Zelda game, and it was rather similar to the previous 3D Zelda titles at the time. Because of this, it's really easy to tell that the developers tried experimenting more with Skyward Sword as well as implementing more complex motion controls in the game, as while Twilight Princess was on Wii, it was not designed with motion controls in mind as it was originally developed to be a GameCube game. The developers also had to find a way to implement motion controls fully and I have to say, for the combat itself, it works nicely on the switch version. I had a lot of fun swinging my arms for the combat, although I did go a bit crazy at times.

Guys I swear I'm a pro gamer!

One of my biggest complaints for SSHD is that it doesn't let you fully customize controls. Just bc I like to use motion controls for the combat doesn't mean I want to use motion controls for swimming, flying, controlling the beetle etc etc.

Anyways, can I say just how gorgeous this game is? And it's an HD upscaled port of a late Wii game, which still looks nice (albeit slightly crusty) today. I just think it's a shame that the painterly filter applied on more distant objects is a lot more subtle in the Switch version and like, I get it, the Switch is more powerful than the Wii but it still sucks. Aside from that, this game has an absolutely stellar art direction. It's so good, even if some of the character designs can be weird. Personally, I love them.

This game has some fantastic dungeons, some of which may be my favourite in all of the Zelda games I've played so far. Lanayru Mining Facility, Ancient Cistern and Sandship are the ones I find the most memorable, I absolutely LOVED the timeshift mechanic in Lanayru Mining Facility and Sandship, hell I loved the part leading up to Sandship. Sailing in the desert, shifting the sand to actual water was really cool.

My favourite item in this game has to be the beetle, not only is it cool but it incentivizes exploring in a uniquely different way! I hope there'll be more of it in the future games (I've not played BotW as of writing this).

And the characters, gosh I love them. Well, I mostly mean Link himself, Zelda, Groose, Impa, Old One, and ofc, Ghirahim. This game definitely has my fav incarnation of Link so far. I love how dorky he is while still having a slightly snarky streak, and isn't afraid of being angry. I also love this game's incarnation of Zelda, and she's my fav incarnation of her alongside Spirit Tracks Zelda. I think making Link and Zelda actual childhood friends and lovers in this game was a fantastic decision and I love their dynamic so much. I knew going into this game that Groose would go through character development and that he was a fan favourite for this reason, and yeah he's absolutely one of my fav Zelda characters now. His character development is so good and I love what it stands for. SS Impa is probably the coolest version of Impa so far. And oh boy Ghirahim. My favourite Zelda villain. The ending of the game made me emotional, this is the definitely the best ending to a Zelda game yet in terms of story. The story in Skyward Sword isn't anything groundbreaking, but the character writing is solid. The stakes being more personal this time around also really adds to it.

Skyward Sword also has my favourite enemy/combat theme so far, and it's cool how it's used as a base for one of the Lizalfos battle themes. It's hype as hell. Skyward Sword OST is all around really solid. That staff roll theme evokes so many feelings.

And one more thing. KOLOKTOS! Just Koloktos. I need more Zelda bosses like this.

Unfortunately, while I had mostly a good time playing this game, there are some things that bogged down the experience for me. Fi is one of them, but not in the way many experienced her back in the day, as for those who didn't know, the Switch version removes a lot of mandatory encounters and dialogue boxes, including ones for Fi. For me, she just felt really flat and not really taken advantage of. While she didn't annoy me too much the section before Fire Sanctuary felt particularly insulting, where she just straight up tells you to get water dragon's basin made me scratch my head. Why would you tell me something like this instead of letting me figure it out? Or just give me a clue that leads to the basin? Like something past Zelda games would usually do? There were a few times she popped up where she didn't annoy me, but insult my intelligence. It's one of the worst things a game could do, especially in a long running series like Zelda where players are used to running in circles.

The sky is also particularly disappointing. It felt half baked and barren. I wish there were more towns up there and not just Skyloft. Flying controls are also really bad I think, and not just bc they're motion based when you choose to play with motion controls. Even when you play with buttons, the flying still feels clumsy. It's tight, but you can't do anything like take sharp turns or do cool tricks up in the sky. This makes a particular boss battle rather annoying.

There were also a few times where the difficulty felt all over the place though it may have just been me.

The one thing in the game that really got to me however was the padding towards the end. I was actually starting to get fatigued by the time I finally beat the game. Also fuck that Scrapper escort mission. And god fuck the imprisoned. Stupid dinosaur and his stupid jellybean toes and fingers.

I dreaded Silent Realms though I found in the end that they weren't THAT bad, but stealth still gets to me (and I also used a guide on those bc stealth just gets that badly to me LOL). Eldin bokoblin stealth was really pushing it though, but the tadtone gathering actually kinda killed me on the inside. I was so relieved by Lanayru not being anything like these and actually being somewhat cool and fun, but honestly. Sometimes, less is more.

I do agree that it kinda sucks that the game only has like three or four kinds of environments. They're all really beautiful but yeah. The game's extreme linearity didn't bother me too much though I can see it souring potential replays. I also find it strange that there isn't an area on the surface in this game that would basically become Hyrule field later on. Lack of fast travel also really hurts this game, and I find it so strange that there aren't hidden passageways leading to other areas. Imagine exploring Eldin Volcano and bombing an inconspicuous looking wall, discovering a cave and entering it, ending up in Faron Woods. I wish this game had that. I love finding weird shortcuts in older Zelda games. I'm currently replaying Twilight Princess and bombed a rock in a pool of water behind Kakariko Graveyard, entered the cave which was behind the rock and ended up in Lake Hylia. Why doesn't Skyward Sword have any of that?

The final boss was so... underwhelming. It feels like it's missing a phase or two, although I guess it's that way bc of the final Ghirahim battle and just a lot going on, but man I really wish the devs had cut out that padding and instead used the development time to flesh out the sky and the final boss battle.

Despite all of this... I still went out of my way to get all gratitude crystals, and I think I even may have found all of the goddess cubes. I even thought about getting all of the heart containers but after playing the Fun Fun Island minigame... I decided I was good LOL

Skyward Sword is a messy game. The Switch version improves many aspects and introduces a more traditional control scheme as well, making the game far more accessible, but it doesn't fix the fundamental design of the game. There's still an ungodly amount of padding towards the end and while it didn't make me feel nowhere the same way I felt when I was reaching the end of XC2, I was still starting to get enough of the game, though not quite completely fatigued. Although I have some gripes with this game and believe I'll be annoyed by some things if I were to replay it... I still can't help but look at this game with some fondness. I'm actually a little bit sad I'm not playing it anymore. I looked at the screencaps I took when I beat the game and I felt emotional again. Ocarina of Time makes me emotional too, but Skyward Sword does it in a different way. I hear that staff roll theme and I feel so moved.

Man I just can't help but think fondly of this game despite its flaws. Hard to recommend unless you're a diehard Zelda fan, or just someone really curious about its game design as I think it's a rather interesting case study in that department.

anyways Ghirahim is my new fav Zelda villain and he lives rent free in my head now