#some need certain nerfing though

[pawpunkao3]

Yknow what since we're doing discourse on Irredeemable Teens I wanna share with yall some thoughts on Penelope Everpetal

Penelope is a wild magic sorcerer. It seems so random. With a name like Everpetal, wouldn't you expect her to have something more elegant, like divine soul sorcery? Storm sorcery, like her best friend Sam? Hell, even draconic sorcery has a certain villainous finesse to it, especially considering that she's working with a dragon. But instead, she gets wild magic. The subclass that new players get told to avoid because half of its features nerf your character. The subclass that has a 0.1% chance of killing you and everyone in a 20ft radius every time you cast a spell.

People like to joke that sorcerers don't work for their magic---I mean, they call the sorcery teacher "just a guy who hangs out with students and talks about how cool their powers are". But that's ignoring the other side of magic---not power, but control. While wizards and bards fought to learn to cast even basic spells, Penelope struggled to reel in her magic. It was a battle that nobody saw, and when she lost it, it would end up humiliating at best, and devastating at worst. Combine that with the fact that she seems spoiled and entitled---maybe the type of person to believe being born with magic made her better than other casters---and it's easy to see the conflict. Her sorcery should have made her glamorous, desirable. Instead, it only burdened her.

Maybe that's why Kalvaxus picked her as his future prom queen.

I imagine he found her in her freshman year. She'd had a surge in class and grown a big beard of blue feathers---not cute. Not pretty. Humiliating. So there she was, behind the school, sobbing and tearing them out in big bloody fistfuls and muttering about how she was going to kill everyone who ever laughed at her because she was the best most powerful sorceress ever, and, well. Kalvaxus normally wouldn't care about some idiot student being sad, but something about her fury intrigued him. It seemed...exploitable.

So he blew a puff of smoke her way and made her sneeze the rest of the feathers out. Told her she was right---she WAS better for being a sorceress, and it wasn't fair that people made fun of her for something she couldn't control. Penelope wouldn't have noticed the contradiction. She was only fourteen, and more than a little dehydrated. All she wanted was for someone to hear her problems and not laugh, and he did just that.

And so Vice Principal Goldenhoard became her special friend (don't tell mom and dad---they wouldn't understand that he really was just her friend, you know SOME teachers would be using her confidence for nefarious purposes. Not him, though. Never him). If she had a bad surge and Sam was busy, he would even let her eat lunch in his office. He made a confession: he wasn't a dragonborn. He was a true dragon, kept in this form by a wicked curse. She agreed that Aguefort was evil for trapping him. He should be principal, really. Maybe (when he suggested it) he should even rule the world.

As Penelope grew older, she and Kalvaxus made an agreement---she would help him rise to power, and he would make sure nobody mocked her and her friends ever again. He introduced her to some new friends---one of the paladin students, a party girl from Hudol, a warlock with a cool car. She started campaigning for prom queen. But there was one little thing: for the plan to work, he needed sacrifices. Nobody important---that stuck-up nerd from the library, the cringy horse girl who made everyone so embarrassed (she forgot how bad it felt to be in her place whenever she surged), a bossy jock. Kalvaxus had her pick out the next one---an annoying activist type, someone nobody really liked, someone who she might even be able to convince to give up her life for the "greater good". Kalvaxus was so proud. They took that brash cleric without a hitch, but it was harder to get her to budge on her best friend. Suddenly her good friend Kalvaxus turned scary---she couldn't back out now. She'd already helped kidnap five girls. Did she want him to turn her in? Besides, when she was queen, everyone would want to be her friend. Who is she to question him when he tells her to sacrifice this one?

Penelope didn't protest when Kalvaxus picked a random freshman as the last sacrifice. She'd already done the worst thing anyone could do.

By the time the Bad Kids charged into that gym, she was too far gone. She'd steeped too long in Kalvaxus's lies for the stain to come out. She genuinely believed that being herself gave her the right to be queen. She'd sacrificed so much for it, after all. Maybe eventually she realized she wasn't going to win. But hey, she came this far. Might as well go down swinging.

[m1d-45]

death, rebirth, new life

summary: uh zhongli gets nerfed, you get some new friends, xiao has a crisis of morality(?)

word count: ~3.2k

-> warnings: major spoilers for xiao lore, like very major. spoilers for liyue archon quest. not much else

-> lowercase intended!

taglist: @samarill || @thenyxsky || @valeriele3 || @thehoneymushroomhealer || @imyme20 || @bittersweetorpheus || @vampirecatsw || @willburzone || @some-mildly-happy-human|| @yourlocaldrugdealerbutfancy || @inmyprinceerafr || @depressed-bitchy-demon || @kithewanderingme

<< first part || < masterlist > || next part >>

zhongli allows his weapon to fade back into golden dust, his mind involuntarily comparing it to the way you dissolved before him.

they were quite similar. after he’d pulled away his polearm, you had sent him a final smile as your body disintegrated into white flakes, much like his spear had, the water rushing back to fill the space you’d left. it had surprised him, because he’d expected you to fall into the black smoke that hilichurls did. unless he had made some sort of…

no, he tells himself, shaking his head. you deserved it. to wear a face that wasn’t yours, to defy his god so, his actions were entirely jus-

a spike of pain drives into his lower back and zhongli reaches behind him with a hiss, feeling for whatever’s hurt him only to land on the glass of his fake vision. it stings through his gloves, and he’s quick to yank it off, uncaring as the string it’s hung on snaps. the small gems on it scatter, but he’s focused on the glass in his hand.

or, rather, the floor. his hand still hurts from the pricks of invisible needles it stabbed into his skin, and he wasn’t keen on holding it any longer.

“what’s wrong?” hu tao comes up to his side, hand landing on his shoulder. “are you okay? is your vision?”

“it’s nothing.”

discretely, he tries to turn a pebble on the floor in front of him. he tells himself it’s nothing, he knows it’ll work, he just needs the confirmation for himself, since if a fake vision could react like that..

“hey, don’t worry about it. the dead need to stay that way. whoever that was, i trust your judgement. i’m certain you did the-“

she cuts herself off with a pained cry, her shoulders jerk back as her hands reach for her back, her face twisting in pain. zhongli takes a step over his ‘vision’, turning her by the shoulder to see what he knows but doesn’t want to believe.

her vision is glowing brightly, the diamond-shaped gem heating up the metal around it. he wastes no time in removing it from the clip holding it in place, though he has to drop it as well from the heat. it burned her jacket, and she’ll certainly need a new one, but that’s not what he’s worried for.

after all, the stone hadn’t moved.

the sun stung your eyes through your lids, forcing you awake if only to move to a more shaded area. the ground beneath you was hard but not harsh, warmer than wuwang hill by a long shot. you were tempted to stay, to allow yourself to slip back into sleep…

something squishy bumped into your right arm.

you pushed your eyes open, pulling at the numb strings of muscles in your arms to help yourself up. you were sitting in a stone… building would be too generous. there were four pillars and a roof, with a ramp to your left and a staircase in front of you.

and immediately to your right, the object that bumped you earlier, is a small dendro slime.

wide orange eyes peer up at you, the sight cute enough for you to forget your aches.

“hey,” you mumble, reaching a wobbly hand to nudge against its side. the slime chitters, hopping into your lap, and you notice something shining in the leaves atop its head. it doesn’t seem bothered, only pressing itself further into your hand with a chirp that nearly sounds apologetic.

“don’t be sorry.” you move your hand to pet over the stems on top of it, the slime’s eyes slowly beginning to close. you feel something hard beneath your palm, and move to see what it is. in the center of the slime’s head is a small tangle of grass, something golden shimmering in the center. you’ve never looked really hard at the models in-game, mostly because they’re always attacking you, so you’re not sure if this is meant to be there or not. maybe they’re like crystalflies, with a core in the middle? but why be exposed…

the slime chirps in your lap and you move your hand away, a ‘sorry’ on the edge of your lips when it stretches to move the tangle between your fingers. did it want you to fix it?

you tilt the slime towards you, but you don’t have a chance to try. as you watch, the tangle undoes itself, cradling a golden ring between the stalks. it looks about your size, with a small blue gem embedded on one side. the slime makes a soft noise, the ring sliding forward as it tilts.

“for me?”

you picked up the ring at its affirmative trill, sliding it onto your finger. it fit as good as it looked, surprisingly. where had the slime gotten a ring your size, let alone know it would fit you?

the slime looked up, seeking a response, and you smiled.

“thank you, little guy. it’s beautiful.” the slime visibly grew happy, hopping lightly in your lap, and you couldn’t help but laugh. it looked so excited, orange eyes beaming as it twirled itself into a little circle. how could they be enemies?

“where’d you get this?”

your question didn’t dampen its excitement—a surprise, since you expected it to have stolen the ring—and it only hopped off your lap, moving halfway down the staircase before looking back at you.

using the pillars to support yourself, you stood, wincing at the combined pain of old wounds and sleeping on rock. as you carefully move down the steps, you hope that the slime wont lead you to some poor merchant’s cart.

the small slime hopped along a dirt path, and you took the time to look around. behind you to the left was a large pit, for lack of a better word, a tree growing in the center on a platform surrounded by water. if you had to guess, you were probably still in liyue, just more south. the horizon was dotted with spires, and you think you see something like the jade chamber off to the left of your current path. it’s hard to tell, given the distance, but…

the sounds of humanoid chanting reaches your ears, and you startle for a moment before hearing the trademark woo! of an abyss mage. the slime stops, checking on you, but you just give it another smile as you continue to walk. so it got it from hilichurls, then? odd, but better than stealing it from somebody. it was in remarkable condition for being from hilichurls, though…

the slime leads you onto some rocks, and you can see the camp just below you. an abyss mage turns as you approach, the red film of a shield beginning to appear around it before it recognizes you. it was a small camp, only a handful of hilichurls around, and they all crowd you as you climb down the rocks.

the abyss mage chitters in a language you don’t understand, its red ears flopping as it gestures. it finishes with a deep bow, looking up at you, and your face twists in apology. luckily, it seems to get it, pointing to you before waving you into the camp. you take its hand and let it lead you to a crate to sit on, watching as it turns to the rest of the group and says… something. nonetheless, the hilichurls seem to get it, all nodding. the abyss mage puts its hands on its hips, satisfied.

the dendro samachurl says something to the large mitachurl, who nods, hefting its rock shield and standing near the entrance of the camp. the samachurl then pulls over another hilichurl as it walks to you. its staff is more at eye level with you than it is.

the samachurl chitters beneath the mask, and the hilichurl besides it—you assume, based on prior experiences—translates.

“unu boya ika zido mosi aba nunu,” it says, pointing further down the path, where you can barely see a wooden structure.

now, your hilichurl isn’t the best. in the beginning, you learned somewhat, but definitely not enough to know the entirety of what it just said. you catch the word for enemy and some sort of time word you think means later in the day, so that together with the gesture.. you’re hopefully assuming that it means later in the day there will be enemies, likely the millelith, over that direction.

you nod. the hilichurl seems proud of itself.

the samachurl continues, much shorter this time, and the hilichurl holds out a hand.

“muhu mita?”

ah. those ones you know just fine.

you accept the offer of a meal and let it walk you to a rock near a campfire, listening as they talk to each other. they bring you food and share more amongst themselves, the electro shooter waving its bandaged hands in a story you didn’t try to decipher. the heat of noon begins to fade after an hour or two, and though the campfire is now embers and your wooden plate is empty, you’re content.

the dendro slime from earlier sticks close to you, shifting as close to the dying fire as it dared whilst being out of range of the jumping sparks. it wasn’t particularly cold, only around 3ish by your best judgement. the sun still shone in the sky, washing over sand and stone and the things that sparkled under it. there was nothing to worry over, nobody near, and the mitachurl and pyro grenadier were still guarding the entrance. it was a welcome respite.

you hope it’ll last.

xiao pulled his polearm from the body of a hilichurl, picking a tuft of matted red hair from the jade edge. the shattered remains of its mask fell to the floor as its body dissolved, but he just stepped over it, dismissing his weapon. the boy from qingce was uninjured, the hilichurl grenadier had fallen, and his work here was done.

“-jianguo, what are you doing out here? you should know better than to wander near wuwang hill!”

xiao rolled his eyes, hoping the fading debt of the hilichurls would dissipate faster. he couldn’t leave without endangering the child or his mother, but he wanted to leave earlier sometimes, if only so people would learn not to wander into areas they didn’t belong.

“but mama, all the hilichurls fled to wuwang hill! our charms worked!” the small boy triumphantly held up a small piece of paper, sloppily colored gold with some sort of crayon. shaky black penmanship made a crude imitation of a sigil of permission, a hilichurl’s mask in the center. or, at least, he assumed that’s what it was. children…

“no, jianguo, hilichurls don’t listen to your sigils! just… just stay away from wuwang hill, okay? say your thanks to the nice man who saved you and let’s go home.”

the boy turned, wide eyes fixed on him, and xiao checked that he had absorbed enough of the karma for it to be safe before teleporting away.

he landed on unfamiliar dirt, haunting trees surrounding him. judging by the blue wisps floating around, he could guess he was in the forests atop wuwang hill.

his question was why.

normally, he teleports away to the next source of concentrated karma to ensure it doesn’t end up infecting the people of liyue. but this… he knew wuwang hill had hilichurls and cicin mages, but certainly not a high enough concentration, right?

‘…all the hilichurls fled to wuwang hill!’

unless something called them here.

with one hand on his mask, xiao drew his spear and started to walk.

the forest was oddly quiet. the leaves themselves seemed to stay still, the only noise being made by his shoes upon the path. there were no cicins, nor their mages, nor hilichurls of any kind. yet what was left of his tattered soul was called up the path, some remnant of an instinct telling him to let go of his polearm.

he gripped it tighter in response.

the stone steps ahead seemed to taunt him, seeming to stretch further and further away as he walked. whatever intuition tugged at him felt like it was tied around his soul, tying up the scattered pieces to drag around. it.. was less irritating than it should be, something that frightened him more.

every step he took highlighted the rips across his heart, the scars of karma accentuated. but it wasn’t the surveying gaze of a predator looking for weak points, the invisible eyes prying into his soul neither threatening or aggressive. it felt like he was being assessed by a doctor, like he was young and still being fostered by morax, like he’d gotten into a scuffle with bosacious and he was being scolded even as his arm was being bandaged, the warm mug of tea in his hand soothing the ache in his knuckles-

water on his cheek drew his attention, and he was quick to wipe it off his face, glancing at the sky. he didn’t remember any stormclouds coming in, and the skies seemed..

clear…

…

xiao set his jaw and kept walking, determined to keep his mind on his task.

the stone was cold beneath his feet, the seelie court glowing as the seelie inside buzzed. xiao turned the corner, ignoring the weird feeling in his chest. it had to be nothing. it had to be just some random memory that he was reminded of because of the trees, or the air, or… anything.

xiao walked up the second set of stairs, stopping at the top in shock. the pathway across the pool in front of the domain was covered in wildlife, everything that was missing from the forest condensed into one space on the path. birds, butterflies, even a crane and an electro cicin, all gathered around a small space.

he slowly took a step forward, confused by the display. to see so many animals getting along, crowding such an area as wuwang hill..

xiao continued to walk, his foot splashing into the water above the path harsher than he intended. he froze, making sure he didn’t disturb anything, but the gathering remained. he quickly made his way over the tree in the middle of the path, ensuring he landed quieter this time. as he closer, the details of what he was looking at slowly filled in. between the legs of cranes and over the heads of crows, he could see that a portion of the stone was a different color than the rest. the water above it also refused to move, the ripples from the various animals not moving it an inch.

the birds finally moved when he got close enough, flapping over to the opposite side of the discolored stone. xiao crouched at the edge of the still water, mindful not to get himself wet.

the stone, and water to some extent, thin as it was, was stained a yellowish color. the path looked newer, less worn, the water above it clearer.

his frown deepened the longer he looked at it. he’d never seen anything like this, any substance that froze water while it was still liquid and cleaned it of any dirt whilst never dispersing. he never saw so much wildlife, for lack of better words, getting along like this. the cicin confused him further- it also linked back to what he’d heard, that hilichurls had been called back to wuwang, but he’d yet to see one.

the slashes across his heart pulsed as it beat, reminding him of their presence as he tried to focus. the string tied in his chest pulled him forward, to reach and sink into the shallow pool of gold. he shouldn’t, it was dangerous, he didn’t know what it was or what effect it had on him—he should leave now, in rationality, because he was already being affected. if whatever this was was strong enough to affect him, a yaksha, then surely it was a danger to the villagers nearby..

then why didn’t he feel like it was a danger? why, though his heart burned with the remains of his karmic debt, eternities of slaughter, did he feel lighter?

questions remained unanswered as the pull strengthened, the animals around him growing bold, risking being near him for the chance to crowd the shimmering water. he checked that there wasn’t anything or anybody lying in wait—the chance of this being a trap was too high to ignore—before hesitantly dismissing his polearm, making way for a large raven to land beside him.

xiao stared at the bird, watching as it kept its body entirely out of the odd zone while still sticking close. did it not feel the same pull as he did? was this water meant for creatures such as him, with lifetimes worth of sin on their shoulders? was this where the hilichurls vanished into?

his heart beat against his ribs, the cuts of karma pulsing with it. this water, this stone, he had to be affecting it somehow. though he made sure that his shoes were outside the boundary and that his hands didn’t touch inside it, it was hard to deny the way whatever was dissolved in the water was attracted to his end. it had formed a gradient, the sheen across it darker on his end. he felt a need to reach out, to hold his dirtied past to this cleansing water and be clean of it. no matter how impossible. no matter how irrational. no matter how hard he tried to tell himself it was outlandish and would only get him into trouble, no matter how strong his will or how many rips crossed his heart.

…when xiao gave in and touched the golden stain, one of the tears healed.

the water’s shine faded in an instant, quickly turning back to clear as the stone beneath it aged before his eyes; animals around him rustled and cried, feathers ruffling as they came to their senses and took flight, leaving him with his hands over his sternum and a bright light beneath his skin.

feeling like one of the birds himself, xiao sat in a daze, his mind racing as he tried to rationalize what just occurred.

what was that? what had happened? why did he feel so light? why was his mind covered in warmth and memories of his time with the yakshas, with morax, with the traveller, why was he so- so free? what happened to the chains of karma crossing his limbs, binding him to his nightmares? what happened to the voices repeating his sins as the worst song ever played, where did the pain and the aches and his debt go? how could this water heal what the adepti could not? what morax could not?

clutching the healed seam of his soul, alatus fled.

[pianokantzart]

Reading your most recent post on Movie!Bowser… it does make me quite curious as to how they’ll handle Bowser and Mario’s fighting dynamic in the hypothetical second Mario movie. In terms of physical strength, I mean. Game!Mario is quite capable of taking down Bowser in his original form(as in, can physically take Bowser down without power-ups) but Mario more or less needed the aid of the star power-up to do so. The movie versions of M&L are definitely closer to normal humans in terms of fighting prowess, so it makes me wonder if they’ll try having Mario, and Luigi by proxy, fight in hand-to-hand combat with no power-ups with Bowser at some point?

Maybe that could be a plot point in the second movie? Bowser worms his way out and starts whichever villainous plot his evil little heart desires, and Mario and Luigi start off a journey of sorts to find another star power-up, believing it crucial in obtaining victory? But, unable to find it, they’re more or less thrown into the fray with their wits and only limited power-ups in tow? And thus sustain a significant amount more of injuries without their invincibility from the star? (And perhaps the fabled green mushroom makes its debut that way…) The movies could have an interesting juxtaposition with the first movie bros being inexperienced + power-upped vs. second movie bros being more experienced + ….not-so-power-upped lol. They sort’ve have to earn their hero titles more(though moreso in the eyes of themselves only. Mostly everyone around them is already like ‘Duh. Your heroes with or without them.’ But, alas, character arcs! Potentially!) Sorry, I’m kinda word vomiting, but day by day I grow ever more curious how the second movie could play out….

One thing I like about The Super Mario Bros. Movie is that it's pretty much just an origin story. There is so much room to expand between where the movie left off and the full Mario lore as we know it today, and I for one am interested in the process of Mario and Luigi going from "Haha! We're heroes!" to "Oh f*ck, we're heroes," to "Okay... we're heroes... we can do this."

Like, how would they react to the idea of facing off against Bowser again without a power star to help them? How will their dynamic shake out when they're bouncing from one life-or-death situation to another? How will they balance their protectiveness toward each other with their moral obligations? Where will the new stakes take them? What new powerup/ally/enemy will they encounter? But back to what you're saying. If Mario and Luigi don't use powerups– even small ones– in the fight against Bowser, I predict a combination of the following tactics will be employed:

Reliance on dexterity. Bowser has them beat in terms of speed, strength, and resilience, but being a giant turtle monster he isn't nearly as agile as Mario and Luigi.

Using Bowser's emotions against him. It's his most glaring weakness, so while prodding at his ego is risky it could also make his movements more predictable.

Using their surroundings to their advantage instead of relying strictly on their own physical ability, which is a pretty common thing to do in Mario games (and video games in general.)

Leaning heavily on teamwork, not just with each other but with Peach, Toad, and probably Yoshi given the post-credits teaser.

And maybe a certain green and white mushroom will need to come into play at some point? We'll see. My biggest fear is that the writers will nerf Bowser a little so that he's easier to take on without the aid of the super star, but I really hope that doesn't happen. Speedy, strong, ruthless, unwavering, tactical, durable Bowser with a fire breath powerful enough to destroy civilizations is my favorite Bowser.

[atragicallycrispydude]

After having a few days to play around with Slayer, I want to share my opinion on him and his strength as a character.

In short, while I think he's absolutely a premium character near the top of the roster, I don't think I would really call him an all-around strongest due to how matchup dependent he feels.

In long: his damage is fucking ridiculous. Genuinely fucking ridiculous. You can get 300+ damage meterlessly at ROUND START with a Pilebunker loop. It does require a bit of luck (you need a counterhit H normal) but the fact that he can even do that AND ALSO GET POSITIVE BONUS is insane. His absolute biggest problem though is his movement, to an annoying degree, and it's where a lot of the matchup stuff comes in. I played against an Axl who beat the absolute shit out of me, and the whole time he seemed to have a very easy time just moving backwards and poking me out. Axl is definitely very good at that, but JESUS.

Slayer's movement is just so, so fucking bad. All of his options to get in are incredibly committal, and are all flawed in some way:

-Mashing Dash: Slow. You can't block during the dash. You can't special cancel the dash (as far as I know).

-Walking: go make a coffee while you wander over to your enemy lmao

-IAD/Jumping and Airdashing: Prepare to taste a delicious 6P

-Mappa Hunch: Pretty long startup and whiff recovery, and if your opponent blocks it you're probably giving up your turn. Vulnerable to being stuffed by disjoints, or even just trading disadvantageously.

-Dandy Step: Same problems as Mappa but with the added bonus of not going as far!

-RC Super Mappa Hunch: Costs 100 tension.

-RC 6K > j.s: Might actually be pretty useful? I haven't tried it before but you go flying full screen so...

These movement issues are the crux of what I feel makes him not an overall strong character, just because he gets zoned so so hard. Don't get me wrong, he is very good, but he has a lot of glaring weaknesses that are very prevalent in certain matchups. Hand of Doom is also garbaaaaage even just backdashing on wakeup in this game feels bad but the followup is iekrnfkdowbekfnf.

All of this, though, means they did a pretty excellent job of translating him from XRD, where I'd say a lot of the same things about him! His strengths are very matchup dependent! I also want to be clear that him having these weaknesses is important. If he could just run you down and melt 3/4 of your healthbar away, he would absolutely be the most overtuned character in the game. Insert Sol Badguy joke here.

There are some things I'd nerf, though:

-Lower the height of It's Late. Fucking look at this shit man his fist isn't even ever up there

-Make the Dandy follow-ups and Mappas an extra frame minus. (Dandies -3, Mappas -2 and -3 respectively.) They're supposed to make Slayer give up his turn on block, but often you can sneak in a 2K or 2P to keep the pressure going. I don't think that should be gone, but I think it should be higher risk. This might be very harsh but idfk man

-Master's Hammer not +26 on block. That's fucking ridiculous for a point blank move come on

-Make his damage modifier x1. This is probably too harsh, but I don't really feel that he should take less damage as a brawler type character. Yes I get he has poor defensive options but still

All of these might be nerfing him too hard, but at the very least I want It's Late shortened pls it's fucking dumb.

As for buffs, I don't think he needs very many, but:

-Increase the distance of his normal dash, or make it faster. This might make him too fast but fuck me his dash feels awful at longer than roundstart ranges.

-Keep the opponent closer on a K Mappa knockdown. This would have the added benefit of making the 5K link not feel so weird and strange.

As for SILLY FUN STUPID buffs I think he should have:

-Super Mappa Hunch is now 15+0 instead of 14+1, so at close range you can't block after the super freeze. I don't know if it hits full screen in 1 frame, but I want my XRD Dead On Time shenanigans back dammit.

-Last horizon now deals 300 damage. This is a cleaner number than 290.

-Last Horizon will now go full screen. It doesn't go any faster he just goes all the way full screen.

-Hand of Doom is actually invincible and gives you c.s links on counter-hit (make it like -8 instead of -7 to compensate)

-Pilebunker disregards the normal chip damage rules and can kill at any amount of health

-Counterhit Pilebunker gives the silly tumble for a full combo that it used to

All in all, I think Slayer is comfortably lower/middle-top tier. Am I downplaying because I love him and also am not good? Maybe. I've always hung out around floor 10 pretty comfortably before he came out, but I reached the Celestial Challenge for the first time EVER using him, so make of that what you will. I'd be interested to hear how you all feel about him.

The most important thing, though? He's really fun. I do just really like Strive and how it feels, but I find him very fun to play and play against. (The play against might change, I wanna learn Testament so we'll see how I feel later lmao)

Edit: After trying to learn Testament and going to open park and playing about 25 matches against a Slayer, some of my opinions have shifted:

-Obliterate Master's Hammer. Destroy it. Explode. +26 is stupid. At the VERY LEAST make it lower to the ground to you can actually c.s it or something

-Mappa is a ridiculously good way to get in lmaoooooooooo im just fucking dumbbbbbbb make that shit -2 and -3 NOW

-He doesn't need any buffs

I need someone better than me to weigh in on the matchup thing, cause it felt kinda even? I just don't know how to play Testament.

[gale-gentlepenguin]

ML AU: Lady of Second Chances: Origins

(Idea here)

-Marinette pieces together that she is back in the past pretty quick, and it’s 24 hours before her first day of school.

-after realizing it’s all real she needed to ensure she remembered everything.

-Fortunately for her, she remembered the abilities and powers of all the miraculous by heart, and even some of the potion recipes. (the Aqua, ice and Space power ups) but she wasn’t too worried. Those were the only ones she remembered coming into play. She wrote everything down in a journal. A super secret journal, one that was more hidden than her actual one. Mainly because she remembers when she ran for class rep, Sabrina goes to steal it.

-She remembers that Fu will still be around. Which means maybe she could prevent her biggest failures from happening!

-But first thing first, she needed to ensure her friendship with Alya was the same! It was a staple.

-But what about Adrien? Sure things were starting to get easier with him and they even start dating, but can she at least avoid doing some of the embarrassing things?

-Well first thing first, she needed to play one thing for certain right. The events with stone heart needed to happen.

-Marinette did her best to live step by step the events of her first few days of school. Her friendship with Alya began, and it took her all her self control to NOT tell her she’s ladybug. Right now wasn’t the time.

-It also took all her self control to pretend to not care about Adrien, and pretend like he was a jerk like Chloe.

-though a brief slip did cause Marinette to call chat noir by his name Before the introduction.

-But she was able to play it off by saying he looked like one.

-Chat noir found it amusing and called her Miss Spots. But she insisted on ladybug.

-Ladybug had to remember she was an amateur, so she had to nerf herself a bit. Even suppressing her urge purify stone heart the first time.

-But one difference was she made Stoneheart a charm. Something she didn’t do originally.

-This was a surprise to Fu, who never knew The Ladybug miraculous could do such a thing.

-Chat noir fell for ladybug, just like in canon.

-The umbrella scene happened as in canon, interestingly, Marinette didn’t need to pretend to be extra blushy. That boy just had that effect on her.

-Though the few changes Marinette made were noticed. Marinette never had her hero crisis, as she already had it.

-Alya noticed Marinette was more confident than she let on. (Marinette had to pretend Chloé’s words impacted her, but they long since lost value)

-Marinette informed Tikki of her History. Letting the kwami know something’s. Marinette told Tikki she shouldn’t tell anyone. Which Tikki promised. But Tikki was curious on a LOT.

-Chat noir was a bit more Floored by the confident Ladybug. And this one was also a bit flirty with him!?

[lemonhemlock]

i am way too late for any of this, but i felt like ranting a little (a lot) over tma, so here it goes.

i actually really, really liked the dreamlike quality of the S5 statements. i think they're some of jonny's best work. so evocative and just beautifully written, the feeling of horror so prevalent, so delicate, so entrapping. i would listen to them absolutely enthralled. what a submersive experience. so on that front, 100% would recommend.

the problems i have are mainly with the meta-plot. certainly, personal preferences and biases come into play here, bc i despise jonmartin with the fire of a thousand suns and would have loved a jonelias corruption narrative, but, i feel that, in his quest to appease the j-mart shippers, jonny sacrificed a lot of his story's integrity. also, i have no way of verifying this, but it also felt like he inserted his own biases in a way that wasn't necessarily productive.

ultimately, i feel like he disrespected his main antagonists and that essentially translated into a sort of irreverence towards his own story. elias was easily his most dramatic and interesting villain (regardless of what he originally intended for him, it's how he developed throughout the story & i think there is a certain honesty in a writer acknowledging and respecting that), stole every scene he was in, yet after his great villain reveal in S4, he is absolutely absent throughout his entire apocalypse. it creates a lack of catharsis that i find bothersome. his death is way too easy. yet when he finally appears in MAG 193, it is glorious. he is terrifyingly in the throws of religious ecstasy as the eye's pupil. such an interesting idea! so little it was developed though bc jonny for some reason doesn't like elias.

there's this entire commentary about how elias is really just there to be eye's pupil until jon takes over from him, bc it's jon the eye truly desires. as if after faithfully serving the beholding for two centuries and bringing about his ritual, the eye would just disregard elias and actually be interested in the one person who is unwilling to play ball. please be serious. not saying that jon can't be the eye's "special little boy" or whatever, but the nerfing of elias/jonah borderlines on petulant. ofc, jonny is the author and you cannot begrudge a man for writing whatever he wants, but, as a listener, i have to say it feels very unsatisfying whenever authorial biases directly affect the storyline. very deus-ex-machina. very unearned.

i also have a problem with how the eye was ultimately handled and, once again, nerfed. the introduction of this element in relation to the beholding, that it sees but does not understand, felt very trite to me. it was added as a way to de-power the eye and elevate the web. but how could it even be true in the context of the entity conceptualization? the reason scopophobia is a thing is because people fear someone is behind the watching. what they fear is judgment or someone keeping tabs on them and using that information to harm them in some way. that requires intelligence, a capacity to distinguish between the harmless and the incriminatory, a propensity for casting moral judgment, of holding people accountable, of assigning blame, of discovering people's deepest, darkest secrets, of weaponizing shame. no one is afraid of a crow or a cat staring back at them, because, while those are also living beings, they lack the higher intelligence that creates the context necessary for scopophobia. so how can the eye not possess intelligence? apparently it doesn't, because jonny decided he didn't like the eye and the spider was oh-so-cooler instead.

but that only lead to the spider being way too overpowered than it should have been. as the so-called brain of the operation, the web really manifests a lot of faults that could have been exploited, yet the character never do, because the web needs to be true It Girl for some reason. this all feels very childish. the web's motivations do not work in-universe. we are often told it doesn't have a ritual because it is content with playing its games of manipulation within the world as it currently is. and that honestly seemed a rather fair assessment to make, but later proved to be a red herring, because it was the web that was actually behind the eye's own ritual.

i have several gripes with this. 1. if the spider is so smart, why doesn't it/can't it have its own ritual and re-shape the world according to its own preferences? why does it have to piggyback on the eye's grind? 2. the spider's big plan seems to be bringing about the eyepocalypse just to convince the characters to let the fears out into the metaverse so it can start again. because, as it turns out, the eyepocalypse isn't really it's preferred state of being? it was the status-quo after all? the web DID prefer the world as it was, because it allowed it to thrive off manipulation and puppeteering, things it can't really engage in as much as it would like, since now everyone is trapped inside various fear domains. so, why-oh-why, not just leave the world as is? why even bring about an apocalypse in the first place if your intention is to always inhabit a apocalypse-less place?

i felt like this was such a plot-hole of an explanation the way it was presented. the web's greatest flaw was that it loved intricate plots so much there was a real danger of over-complicating its own plans and failing to see the forest from the trees, so to speak. the eye could have been used not to boggle down on meaningless details and ramifications, but to get a better sense of the bigger picture, something the web could very well lose sight of (pun intended). so the web's "plan" could have been ultimately rendered meaningless, because instead of choosing the simplistic, straightforward, occam's razor solution (no apocalypse, just thrive off the world as it is), it chose the overly complicated path that placed it in a situation it didn't thrive in (eyepocalypse) and made it even more complicated to get out of in the first place. it basically surrendered its destiny into the hands of people who had zero reasons to act sympathetic and could have very well chosen to destroy the entire world, fears included. and yet i am supposed to be in awe of the web's great intelligence and buy into the whole dumb eye propaganda?

many things have already been said about the moral dilemma at the end of S5 and my take on that is that jon was right. it was the merciful and just solution to prevent other people from other universes from suffering at the hands of fear entities. but i will be indulgent and account that it is a difficult choice to make for anyone, since human beings are so survivalist in nature and the choice to just make the fears someone else's problem in the hopes of their plans maybe getting foiled more effectively by others is tantalizing. who knows what any of us would have chosen had we been in their situation? perpetuating the horrors on someone else just so you could get reprieve is so cravenly but it's human and i get it. however, by no means is this a happy ending the way it was framed by the narrative. what melanie, georgie, basira and martin did was horrible and evil, but it is never acknowledged in that way. the least jonny could have done is have jon resist martin's selfish decision and have martin genuinely kill him. but, no, martin gets his romantic send-off together with jon, with the open possibility that they get transported to another world where they could start over. melanie, georgie and basira get to start a new life in the entity-less world, after contributing almost nothing. the worst characters get to live & they're validated in their awful behaviour.

however. i do feel like there were other ways to resolve the eyepocalypse without resorting to a horrible sophie's choice in the first place, but that would require a more extensive endgame re-write.

[yoonalgc]

( ❀ Hello, everyone! ...What a surprise, right? It's me again... attempting to bring a girl into this world. WIll I succeed? Let's see. It's Sera here to introduce to you my character! She is brand new so I'm expecting her to grow as I write her. I've listed some plots at the bottom but I prefer to do brainstorming. I'm open to plotting in either Tumblr IMs or over Discord, whichever you prefer. Without further ado, please read my rambling. ( I'll have a pinned I'll post later. ) Like this post ♡ and we can plot! )

◡ profile / plots / pinterest / playlist

BACKGROUND !!

Born october 4th, 2001. ( 1004, she asserts reflects her — it is an angel number after all )

Grew up in Gumi which is a smaller city just outside of Daegu.

Parents were high school sweethearts who waited to start a family until he finished his military service and she finished school. Mother was a flight attendant. Father is a former professional choreographer.

Family used to be fairly well off before the drastic change and her mother's medical bills became increasingly more expensive.

They eventually moved to Seoul in 2016 when her father got an opportunity to choreograph for an entertainment company.

Father gave up his career after his wife’s passing in 2019 to attend to a portable convenience stand by the Han River once owned by his own father. Their formerly close relationship grew estranged and tense rather quickly.

Used to be a competitive archer. Failed to make it on the national team multiple times, nevermind the Olympics. Became easily discouraged and decided to quit after an argument with her father. She even threatened to drop out of school unless she could join a company to focus on her dancing.

Before lgc, she joined an entertainment company while in high school only to get scammed into a trainee program and drained of almost all her money via their training debt scheme.

Waited until she graduated to audition for Legacy Entertainment. Somehow, she got in... and from there, she begins to change a bit as a person.

PERSONALITY & MORE !!

Works at an arcade/PC Bang for now. She likes to sneak in a nap in the dinosaur safari VR machine.

She uses the nerf gun and water gun from the prize table to ward off unwanted guests or customers who overstay their welcome. Careful, she has great aim.

Oddly good at fixing things ( to a certain extent ), a trait she picked up from her brother who has a penchant for inventing. Being practical helps quite a bit, though.

She is no stranger to putting on an act to get something for free. a convincing & skilled liar. she even stole someone’s phone once to sell but will never admit this. jokes about needing a glucose guardian but never say never.

Tendency to be flirtatious. offers compliments — sincere & underhanded.

Only actually been in one serious relationship that she considers was worthwhile & lacks the motivation to pursue anything else. Often finds herself leading people on but falls for people easily as she's rather susceptible to romantic gestures, then forces herself to lose interest when things get a little too spicy.

Good listener. Purveyor of gossip. Collects many rumors, rarely spills to anyone. Tell things to her at your own risk. She will hardly speak a word about her own background ( and will even lie sometimes ) but is content to know everything about everyone else.

Has a good sense of humor and able to laugh at herself.

Actually kinda lazy about everything unless it's dancing. She just likes to say she's just laid back.

Speaking of dancing, she is especially into the art of waacking/tutting/vogueing, as she finds the elegant precision to be appealing and especially fun to do.

Very opinionated & can come across judgmental for her willingness to speak her mind, Notorious for reacting with her face ( ie. side eyeing ).

An introvert. Also claims to really hate people but is naturally social despite this.

Often plays a vain character, usually an exaggerated version of herself ( channeling Goddess Gyuri & Mijoo ) — perhaps to compensate for or conceal… something. Part of it being that she enjoys entertaining people with her antics. It is not rare to catch a glimpse at her "real self" but it's hard to even say what that even is.

Calm but when she's memeing and being crazy, she becomes unhinged. Like so.

A bit fickle & indecisive, sometimes allowing her impulses to take control of a decision ... or out of pure spite.

Had a time where she was so desperate for money, that she was willing to lie to get freebies or sympathy discounts. But we don't talk about that time anymore. It was just a phase.

Not malicious by any means but it is easy to interpret her actions as such. She desires attention and love in this aftermath of her life plummeting, and just goes about it in a rather unconventional way.

Hates people who smoke. Her mother's lung cancer being the main cause. If you smoke any substance, prepare for to be side-eyed and judged.

Lastly, she is @lgcxnoeul's weirdo cousin.

CONNECTIONS ??

anyone who comes to the arcade/pc bang. she's almost always there. bonus points if you're a bit of a menace or you want to challenge her to a game. the possibilities with this one are pretty endless!

flirtationships a plenty. applicable to any gender; she certainly does not discriminate. she is the type to unabashedly flirt, compliment people, or make flirtatious jokes. ( however when the heat comes, she usually resorts to aloof behavior and runs away. )

obviously people will be put off by her antics so frenemies and antis alike are welcome! antagonistic or toxic relationships are welcome in general.

gossip friend. what is said between us stays between us ... of other people's rumors, of course. but it's best to be careful who to trust with secrets.

fake friends. speaks for itself. mutually beneficial, forced laughter, eye rolls when the other looks away. she's been entrenched in this fake friend group just for the laughs

an ex. she's only dated one person in a serious way before and it didn't turn out too well... or it ended amicably. who knows? was a rather innocent relationship but it broke her heart. happened shortly after she joined lgc in 2020 or overlapped. discussion is required!!!

that being said, she most likely had a couple flings here and there that lasted a short time. she's prone to running away or getting "bored".

jokingly, she always says she wants a "glucose guardian" and you are the perfect candidate. she constantly convinces you to buy things for her ( mostly bubble tea ) or you might even do so willingly. either way, it makes her happy.

she has a "dark past" ( not so distant... maybe 5 days ago is considered the past ) in which she tried to fleece people out of money just to get by. don't look at her if she might have pretended to fall in front of you for sympathy, too.

this is vague but... people she can assist with dancing in any way or their overall confidence.

people who know her real personality and are tired of her putting on this strange over confident persona.

went to high school together ( Hanlim gang )

for the lgcu event, she is in younggong. i'm still figuring out what she will be doing but i will need one person from there to do a thread with.

[peppenispizza]

bedtime

no warnings! fluff stuff. peppino is insecure abt himself; binder stuff. gn!reader

Peppino let out a long breath and flumped his head on his arms after closing time. Yeah, sometimes he had sudden waves of people ordering which was g.reat, but stressful. During the day, he often tried to at it... weird and sweaty... Ugh. Just ew. Sweat made it all.. sticky whenever he stretched out and tugged it a bit for HOURS. Ugh.

You were waiting on his.. Alright, your shared crappy pull-out couch bed, watching the tv you brouht over to replace his shitty little old thing. You were messing around on your phone, bouncing a bit in place before he came up the stairs.

:”Hey!!” you scootched to the edge of the bed and damn near fell of like you normally did. He made a o dramatic show of him leaning back and groaning before standing up again. Yeah, yeah. He started taking his shirt and tank top off, and threw both of them at you like he did. Literally. Every. Night.

“Really? Still? Every night. Really.” you attempted to scold him, but you knew it had no effect. He even snickered at you, heading into the bathroom to brush his teeth.

“Orrn nerf, rnn thee shtrt.” He grinned and looked over his shirt. (Oh no, a t-shirt)

He let out sound when he finally sat back down, hard, making you bounce on the bed. And yelp. He snickered a bit, He always did that just to mess with you....But he kinda just sat there for a minute. Tired. Anxious. You scooted up to his back, draping your hands on his shoulders. Whether he liked it or not, you could tell what was up with him.

“..You need to take your binder off. You can't wear it to bed.

He just sort of made a pbbbbththhh noise while dragging his hands down his face.

“You gotta take it off. I know you feel weird but at least take it off for bed.”

Silence. ...He gets pretty insecure. And feels very weird without a shirt on, double if his binder is off.. Even though you both were together for a while, he still... felt weird about it.

“Peppi.”

He squirmed bit before sitting up making Some Kind Of Noise and peeling his binder off (a cloth binder, for upper body. You ordered five of them for him, just in case of one of them getting worn out and gets loose, and just in general if another one is dirty.), making a weird sound since they were so sweaty it felt...double weird. He still kind of felt.. really kinda naked and vulnerable in a certain way around you when he took it off.

You, of course, sat up and smiled at him, making ridiculous grabby hands until he sat next to you. You promptly pressed your face against his cheek in a smooch before going over and digging through the clean clothes pile (ew putting away laundry what the hell who does that???)

He sat on the edge of his still pullout couch bed, something you are very much trying to replace for multiple reasons, arms across his chest before you threw a huge black t-shirt onto his face and making him “GUH.” Haha you got him back for bouncing you on the bed.

Peppino let out a long breath before rolling over and lying down on his back; Patting the side next tohi moh okYou immediately crawling up and cuddling up against him before he could even get a word out. The TV was on, as usual.

He rolled his eyes a little, predicting what you wanted.”So...what are we-a watching now. Amore mio?”

“Puppies.”

“Again...?”

“Okay okay. ...What about a cooking show.”

He lit up but attempted to hide it (badly) “Alright.”

He leaned over as usual and peppered your cheek, and lips with small little kisses. Nudged your cheek with his nose right before be passed out.

“Ti amo.” was all he got out before he started snoring. He's warm. He muttered a bit, half-asleep, tugging you closer to him with his arm draped around you.

“I love you, too.”

[shinxeysartgallery]

So explain how the solver posession stuff works as of your au

It's really long, so I'm gonna put it beneath a "read more" tag.

Okay, so basically the Solver entity loves eating planets, but it can't eat them as-is, nor can it interact with this plane of existence without a host. There's some sort of a vulnerability within the code of Worker Drones specifically, where the entity can take control over them if certain criteria are met. In most cases, it seems total non-core death or near-death are what trigger a weakness and allow the entity to gain a foothold over the drone. (If the core is destroyed or too damaged, the entity is SOL.) It uses the drones to destabilize the planets' cores so it can then eat them.

When the entity gains a foothold, it grants its host a nerfed version of its abilities. How much control the entity has over its host is dependent on how often they use their new powers, their willpower, and whether or not they've been patched or otherwise modified. Unpatched/unmodified drones are completely at the entity's mercy, and the more they use their powers or the weaker their will, the more likely it is for them to fall under complete possession by it. (That's a big part of why it tends to target drones when they're at their weakest moments. You're more likely to make a deal with it and/or be more susceptible to possession when you're on the verge of death or at a point of sheer despair.) When a drone is patched, they still retain the code the entity implanted in them, but it completely blocks out its ability to take full possession over them. (This is why drones like Yeva are still able to use their abilities without fear of losing control.) Certain modifications to drones can also block out Solver possession. In my AU, nuclear energy and gemstone energy are the only known elements that can do this. Some bullshit about the frequencies and energy they emit completely blocks out the Solver entirely, so it's even unable to so much as implant its code into their systems. In the case of drones who were already under the Solver's control and later had their cores swapped out, they still retain the coding in their systems, but it's useless to them now and can't activate.

And speaking of the coding, all unmodified/un-patched Worker Drones are susceptible to the Solver's influence, but not all of them have the coding in their systems - it's only when the entity gains a foothold that they're given a copy of that code. Even when the drone is not actively using their Solver abilities, the code is still retained in their systems and running in the background. We know things like regeneration are completely involuntary on the drones' part, and the Solver coding being a background process is exactly why that works. This is also explanation for why Solver-based drones are hurt by sunlight. As it turns out, the Solver program uses up quite a lot of RAM, even as a background process, and I'm sure we all know what happens to computers when too much of its GPU is being used at the same time. If the Solver drone is not using their abilities (or not using them often), they tend to do better overall. If they're using them frequently, this can cause them to quickly overheat, as directly using the program takes up much more RAM than it does just running in the background. The sunlight adds to this, making them overheat much faster. It's been confirmed by Liam himself that the Disassembly Drones run hot enough to melt flesh (though that may have been one of the things that got retconned), and I figure this is why they seemingly need a constant supply of oil. The oil they're drinking is basically being used as a coolant and taking the heat away. (This is also why the possessed Workers require drinking oil to cool off.) With an even more nerfed version of the Solver code than the possessed Workers get, they still always have that process running in the background as well, which is likely the explanation for why they run so hot. Just like with the possessed Workers, Disassembly Drones cannot be exposed to direct sunlight, as it will cause them to overheat. (And I theorize this weakness could be eliminated if they had a better means of being able to cool off, as well as completely eliminate the need for the oil drinking. Or, finding a way to get into their systems and outright delete the Solver code, which would get rid of the program and not let it run as so much as a background process anymore. Though, that would also mean they couldn't use any of its abilities anymore - including the regeneration - unless otherwise modified.)

Once a drone is full-on possessed by the entity, it's officially taken as a host and it's near-impossible to break its control at that point. The only way to stop it at that point is to find some way for the drone themselves to break through. (In rare cases, administering a shock to their systems - sometimes literally - can also accomplish this.) Once a drone has been taken over by the Solver in any capacity (whether full-on possessed or not), the only way to truly stop them is to destroy their core, thus severing the connection to the entity. Their cores act as their brains and contain all their coding (including personalities, memories, etc.), which also means that this is where the Solver program is being stored. (Explains why the Solver cores [like Nori] are still sentient and some are still able to use Solver abilities.)

All Solver-based drones (so yes, that includes Disassembly Drones) are officially assimilated into the hivemind as the entity stores backups of them. Their feelings, their thoughts, their memories, their personalities... It knows and stores all of it. Drones that have been full-on possessed at least once are more attuned to its abilities and may also be able to tap into that hivemind at times. (Which is explanation for how Nori knew about the Disassembly Drones, Cyn's plan, & Doll and Uzi becoming infected, despite her having no way of knowing any of that.) The backups are how the Disassembly Drones are able to come back good as new, even after total core death (Like we saw with J in Episode 2.), and how the clones can exist. Since the entity is keeping their data stored, it's also able to directly mess with it. The clones all retain the same memories - provided they're memories the Solver entity WANTS them to keep.

Much like how it knows their thoughts, feelings, memories, and all that, it can rip them away from a drone at any time and leave them as nothing more than a hollow husk being puppeted around. (Implied to have been what happened to Proto when Cyn turned them into THAT.) Much like how it can take away memories, it can also implant false ones (which is why N didn't remember anything at first and fully believed the lie that the Disassembly Drones were sent by JCJenson to take out the rogue Worker Drones) or alter existing memories to twist their truths. Though, because they're still connected to the hivemind, sometimes certain things can trigger them to recall memories that the entity erased or altered. Traumatic memories that were erased or altered may also sometimes manifest in the form of nightmares. Due to the deletion/alteration, they can't manually recall these things, but a backup of them still exists within the hivemind itself. The entity knows it all and stores it inside its own database. The connection to the hivemind and the ability to tap into it is likely how this occurs. (Not all Solver-based Workers have been full-on possessed, but all of the Disassembly Drones have been at one point [the Earth massacre]. As mentioned before, the drones that have been full-on possessed are indeed capable of tapping directly into the hivemind, though it's rarely done intentionally. In most cases, they can only access their own data, but ones who have directly been hosts at one point may also sometimes get memories that are not their own.)

Since it can just rip away all of a drone's personality and memories, leaving them as nothing more than a killing machine with pure bloodlust, why doesn't it just do that for all the drones it takes, you might be wondering. Well, that goes into the entity's more childish personality. The end goal is for it to eat the planet, but the journey to that point is treated like a game to it. Allowing them to make deals to keep their memories, allowing them to retain their personalities and individualities... it's nothing more than entertainment to it; the drones are basically its toys. It has absolutely no regard for any kind of sentient life other than its own. It would be much more efficient if it had decided to turn ALL of the Solver-based drones into something like Proto, but then it wouldn't be fun!

It's like using cheat guides for a video game: you get to the end of the game faster, but you never actually have any fun getting to experience anything outside of what's outlined by the guide.

And one other little thing: you probably noticed that I haven't mentioned the flesh thing at all. Why exactly does the entity turn its hosts' insides fleshy? Well, the exact reason is unknown, but it's theorized that it's for a few reasons: 1.) Done as way to include non-drones in the assimilation process. Might be due to Cyn's promise to Tessa to not discard her. Unlike drones, humans do not have a set of coding that can just be backed up onto a system. Tessa may not have been the only human to attempt making a deal with the entity and it may have been the result of an attempt to assimilate the humans into its hivemind. 2.) It also may have been done as a way to alter the drones into something new that was just for it, as if it's to say "Look! These are MINE!" Something that set them apart from the other drones. Also might be done as some sort of a control method/reminder that they're owned by the entity. "See? You're really NOT like those other drones anymore; you're a MONSTER! They'd never accept you if they knew, so I'm all you have!" 3.) It's done as a way to protect the cores and, in a way, the hosts. Regular drone cores are pretty useless when separated from their bodies, whether they're damaged or not. But Solver cores can actually move around and do things. They may have been changed in that manner to allow them the maneuverability that regular drones don't have as a defense mechanism of sorts. The core would be able to manually return to its host body [N's and Uzi's cores in Episode 8 after Cyn tore them out] or escape and collect materials to rebuild a new body [J's core in Episode 2]. (Theoretically, a core could steal the body of another drone whose core was missing, too.) 4.) It's an unintentional side-effect of the Solver possession. No one really knows how exactly the entity's powers work or their source, so it may just be something that happens as a result of its control. 5.) Or, it's most likely some sort of a combination of all of the above! It could've originally been an unintentional effect that was later weaponized by the entity.

Anyway, there's probably more I'm forgetting rn, but that's the gist of it. Sorry for the long post. lol

[spinningbuster98]

Castlevania Bloodlines Part 1: This is a vampire hunter on blast processing kids!

Yeah yeah I know, Rondo came out first but look: we only have 2 Classicvanias left before we switch over to Symphony of the Night, and since that game is Rondo’s direct sequel I think it’s more appropriate to do it last

Did you know that Bloodlines is one of the series’ worst selling games? Yeah it barely broke 50k units on release and while I think part of the reason was due to being a Genesis exclusive, with Castlevania never having built a fanbase on that system, I do think it’s also because, back then, people were losing interest

I mean what does Bloodlines really offer that hadn’t already been done in other games? We’re back to a 6 level structure like the original CV, we have only 2 playable characters and we can’t even switch between them mid-level, the controls are a step back when compared to 4 and the item crash moves are visibly nerfed when compared to Rondo

People often give flack to the Igavanias for being “Sotn clones” that shamelessly rehashed the formula, but, barring how that’s not really true, the same argument could be made for the Classics around this time

I mean after 4 all the following games went back to the previous control schemes and essentially tried to add some extra stuff on top of the standard formula. Rondo has alternate paths that lead to extra levels, but C3 had already done this, Rondo mostly just adds some extra steps. It has one extra character while C3 had 3 extras. Bloodlines, as I’ve stated, does very little new and Dracula X was essentially a watered down version of Rondo to many.

Indeed if you go see the sales for every game you’ll notice that they gradually dropped over the years, with Castlevania 1 selling over 2 million copies, Castlevania 3 only around 800k and so on. Of course it’s important to remember that sales do not equal quality, as there are many factors that play into a game’s sales, such as marketing. However I do think this denotes a certain decrease in interest by people in the games over the years, which is part of what motivated the devs to completely switch genres with SOTN, because they though people were no longer that interested in simple, short super tough platformers and preferred something new

Bloodlines may not be revolutionary but I firmly believe that a game does not need to be in order to be good. The game offers some of the most original and inventive level design of the classic games, especially due to its insistance for squeezing as much juice out of the Genesis’ systems to create truly surprising and memorable graphical imagery: just look at the water reflections in Atlantis, or the rotating sprites of the Tower of Pisa!

Of the two characters John is the Belmont stand in and my favorite: he doesn’t have a lot of reach but the whip still packs a punch and you can whip straight down and upwards diagonally. Important tip: hold down the attack button when attacking with either character, it will let the weapon stay on-screen for a few extra frames, allowing it to attack twice some enemies, trust me this can be important

I’m...not the biggest fan of John’s swinging mechanic, due to the stiff jump it can get really unruly but it’s only required like twice

As you may have noticed I’m actually playing the japanese version, titled Vampire Killer (real original guys). Why is that? Well not many people know this but Castlevania 3 was not the only game that was made artificially harder for american audiences!

Every version of Bloodlines allows you to choose between 3 difficulties, but the American version switches them around: US Normal Mode is actually JPN Hard Mode, while Easy is actually the Japanese Normal. The US version also locks the full ending behind its own version of Hard mode made specifically for this version, while the japanese version gives you the complete ending no matter what difficulty you’re playing on

Then there’s the matter of continues: this game, unlike the others, gives you only 2 continues after which it’s game over for good. All versions have a password system but in the US version a password is given to you after you beat each level and it saves the amount of lives and continues you have. This means that if you’re at the final levels and have no continues left and few lives you’re shit out of luck

In the japanese version however passwords are given to you only when you get a gameover and after inputting them your number of continues is reset. This means that in the japanese version you actually do have unlimited continues, just in a more roundabaout way. Also continues in this game respawn you at the last checkpoint, so thanks!

All of these difficulty differences are also true for the european version I think, which follows the japanese one but is heavily bogged down by graphical censorship because Bloodlines likes to get a little gory and I guess people back then must’ve been afraid that one too many moms in Europe would’ve been upset at the idea of little Timmy busting some zombie guts while playing his kiddie game

[frankenjoly]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Tagged by @cursedvibes thanks!!! i love these things

1. How many works do you have on ao3?

68 but for Reasons (a fanweek i'm very hyped for), it's gonna be 69 next week.

2. What’s your total ao3 word count?

287,330 (and counting ofc)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

mostly bsd, jjk & a bit of genshin, but i throw in ficlets and/or one-shots of other stuff to let Thoughts out.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Connecting the dots. silly pre-canon fluff and humor won people over after arcane's s1 finale.

Between the pages: part 2. mix of bsd ficlets/drabbles, bcs i love doing small thingies (i'm already finishing part 4 laksdjflk).

Misread. aka jealuc from barbara's pov, aka humor that stemmed from a teensy lil angst.

Remnants. more of me letting thoughts out after arcane's s1 ending, this time timebomb with pining Jinx.

Por el amor de estepresidente... the bsd crack fic (or my first one, at least), in which Mori and Fukuchi sort of ally to crash fukuzawa's date with any 3rd person but are also competing against each other.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

i do, bcs i either have the need to thank ppl or ramble about the fic they're commenting on (or both).

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

probably Remnants, though i intended to go with the "it's not/won't be unrequited" vibe.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

i'm a pussy and a slut for happy/hopeful endings, so i have those by the ton aldkjfl.

8. Do you get hate on fic?

not hate per se, but i've had complaints about tagging all ships from the start in my genshin ficlet compilation... when i was gonna throw them all into ao3 in one sitting.

also that one person who came to one of my Utahime Week fics, who was tagged as both gojohime and shokohime, to tell me "nooo shokohime are just friends yadda yadda" while praising gojohime as canon (i love it too, but it isn't). it was odd.

9. Do you write smut?

i have this thing when it comes to nsfw in general and smut in particular, aka up to certain point it makes me uncomfy but below that idgaf and even go like "nice, my ship having sex"... so.

most i can offer is barely-explicit stuff, and for fic specifically i see "depictions of character bein horny" and "pre- and post-sex" rather than actual smut.

10. Do you write crossovers?

not a lot, but the bsd+jjk thingie that came from rp and also birthed the dnd-ish au got me by the throat.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

as far as i know, nope.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

as far as i know, nope (x2). though i do translate some rp solos to turn them into one-shots adding up stuff as well (i could just post them in spanish, but).

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

i guess rp is like schroedinger's yes here? but when it comes to literal fic... not yet, but i know what and with who.

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

i can't choose, sorry laskdjf.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but probably won’t?

not really a wip, but i had one Uraume-centric fic that i'm not sure if it'll see the light for... some reasons. long story short, it's based on another fic that's a roleswap and has modern socerers (and students) Uraume and Sukuna.

16. What are your writing strengths?

i apparently never run out of insp and will to write, so i can go fast as fuck. and my writing is one of the things i'm most confident about like fr.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

i still feel like english nerf me, at least when it comes to narrating, bcs i cannot be as descriptive or poetic as i am in spanish.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

as someone who's first language isn't english but writes fic in english, you go ppl. and also, native english speakers can be kiiinda entitled lol.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

both for rp and my first fic ever, abc's once upon a time (that was also my first fandom being online).

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

another instance of me sucking at making choices alsdkf, sorry.

no pressure tag: @ildi-dragonheart @bungoustraypups @monday-headache @noirewaves @rhymbic @minluce @bunniezai @neonganymede @fyodorkitkat

[commence-screaming]

i can’t believe I haven’t explained to the general public how Bain is an alien. yeah there was that ONE thing I sent AC but that doesn’t count okay 😆

Payday 2 spoilers hahaa

So during the end cutscene, the couple seconds where jacket throws his tape… there’s a weird stone in the background.

It’s written in Kataru! Luckily I know the cipher… though I can’t be bothered to find a higher quality one so wfejvdjd

Okay okay hear me out

Kataru cipher is written from right to left, top to bottom.

BAIN/OURWATCHER/FALLEN

Because this is a tombstone :) if you’re wondering what a Watcher is, it’s explained. ovks had a limited dlc for payday 2 called the “completely overkill pack” and there happened to be a certain mask description for a particular one…

Watchers in the book of Enoch were angels who wanted to be with human women and were punished for that… however we’re not sure if the book of Enoch is canon to payday lore (even though it mentions Nephilim) so I say that Watchers are aliens. Generally. Something very not human.

It makes the meaning of that translation interesting. It gives depth to other weird details that are in the game.

Like in the contact database, Bain says something along the lines of “I am the gatekeeper, or the watchman, if you will.” and “whatever I tell you might be a lie to protect myself. If I told you the truth, you wouldn’t believe me” and if the truth is that Bain is actually the gang’s Watcher, it makes sense.

“I don’t see how it could’ve gone this way, but I’m only human.” I mean, mostly. It’s not technically a lie

Bain is partially human, since he was “born.” He also mentions him having a grandpa who went heisting (big bank stealth) so I would say that the alien stuff is somewhere in his lineage.

He’s very apologetic when a mission fails, by the way. I would speculate that he’s like that because of Hoxton’s arrest but he was like that since the first game. I wonder what he’s trying to make up for :)

All the jokes would have deeper meaning if Bain is an alien of some sort

In the Mega Watcher mask description, it says “they communicate using their minds.” It would fit into how you hear Bain’s voice clearly through even flash bangs, but nobody else’s. There’s actually no official content (that I know of) depicting Bain talking to his crew over earpieces. It’s not like ovks hadn’t modeled earpieces before, look at the guards in the train transport heist! Each time they talk to Bain it’s always over the phone (comic collaboration)

(official Locke and Load comic)

He’s also able to talk to his crew after the EMP bomb goes off in Boiling Point (which took out a whole facility PLUS superhumans)

in that last part he can somehow see what the player is doing as if he has cameras in their masks… except that couldn’t be. Because it shouldn’t be working. If you take the briefcase before Bain asks you to, he has a few different lines like “how did you know I needed that briefcase?” “You read my mind,” and “are you psychic or something?”

and if Bain is a Watcher, these quotes are hilarious. It was right there all along!

“(They) use their large eyes” take a look at the color of the Watcher mask.

Bain’s favorite color is blue. We know it’s true because Crimenet’s color scheme is blue… and Bain’s eyes are blue too. Coincidence? …Maybe. I’m not ruling it out. It would be messed up considering what happens to one of his eyes. My dude got nerfed. and was probably experimented on if what Locke says is anything to go by

“to witness, gather and share information” could they mean the way that the crew can somehow see through walls? How Bain can highlight objectives for you if you can’t find something? Nobody can hide from him.

Bain wears a fleur de lis ring on the pinkie of his right hand. Yes, like the guide of bain

(Something I want to point out, bain is terrible at lying to his team actually. Sooo the detection meter is just future Russian glasses? Yeaahhh sure Bain)

I guess this definitely isn’t mind control or any sort of skill *cough cough* joker *cough* There’s one last thing I want to put down here because it was never explained in canon.

HONESTLY NOT SURE WHAT THIS IS. Could it be the “Watcher of the Star?” is it Bain’s ancestor? or is Bain immortal somehow I don’t know but no normal guy would just have this laying around XD

Bottom line is that if Bain isn’t then he’s definitely SUSPICIOUS. Just putting that out there.

[hyunin]

GIFS BEFORE AND AFTER COLORING | tagged by @miyawaki 💗

back at it again...not that much has changed since last time i did this, but a couple things have! the main thing is that now, i finally use set black point and set white point in curves. it def cuts out a lot of time and trouble as far as color correcting stuff goes. i always put the curves layers at the very bottom under the base psd i use (which is here, for anyone that wants to look at it! sorry for the mess.....i cannot overstate that.) i still do a lot of dragging the hand up and down on color curves based on where i need more or less of a certain color, but set black and white point has been a life saver lately.

once again, i have the stuff i major color corrected more on the right side and “regular normal” examples of my coloring on the left side. i always crank up the saturation on this shit, women want me, washed out videos fear me and then i also kinda nerf yellows into the ground...but i add more yellows in at the end! i used to make skin way too red imo but now sometimes i make things too yellow...happy medium when...but my base psd tends to fail when there are a lot of reds and yellows because it just makes everything the same color and is very unfortunate, so i do still make coloring from scratch sometimes even though i barely remember how to do it anymore. tragic. i also tend to make blacks darker/negative offset. by default my psd has a ton of contrast but i usually tone it down because it can make faces too pale for my liking.

another recent development that has given me a coloring identity crisis from time to time is the curves 1 layer in the green cyan coloring folder (if you look at the psd i linked.) this curves layer does some funky stuff. it kinda makes whites greyer and shadows darker and other things i can’t explain...but sometimes it looks really bad! and so i’ve recently learned sometimes the play is toggling it off LMAO and it makes things look super different, to the point that when i first started doing that i was like who am i....is this even my coloring anymore...because i think that layer is a big part of what makes my coloring look unique! regardless though, we always still love red and cyan in this house and i can’t imagine that trademark of mine changing anytime soon.

not me writing an essay on this instead of working on the actual essay i have due this week i’ll tag @spearbin @agibbangs @minzbins @hyunchanz @wonjinist @jisungs  @gu9udan @minijeong @seo-trashbins @jizung and anyone else who wants to do this and if u already did it show me i wanna see but no pressure to do it as always!! (obligatory this is carly yangjeongin on main disclaimer)

[lazitoelgato]

*does a big slide in lying on my side* Greetings. So about your art trademarks... The first thing that comes to mind is your lineart. It looks so sure, it looks like you know just what you are doing. It asserts dominance, in a way. As you said it's shapey and fast. Your special way of coloring too, the darkening everything down a bit, then adding a yellow on low opacity. You make black-grey-white drawings look glorious. I adore the way you draw animals, especially your fursona, everything about him is aesthetically pleasing, for some reason esp the "would you kick for 3€ drawing" you sent me once is stuck in my head. And no, I would not kick him, he is too precious for that. You've got top tier taste in body headcanons as well. Generally speaking your drawings have an aura of freedom about them, of a certain lightness, they look like they are fun for you, like they relax you, like you just let your hand flow like an experienced artist and like you don't get caught up on wheter it looks "right" or "wrong" too much (that is sth I struggle with), as if you know just what to do. Obviously I know not everything you do always turns out right first try, but there's just something so intuitive, flexible and yet decisive about your art. Probably because, as you say, you focus on conveying the feeling/message. I'll have to end it here. I adore everything you do (<- under time pressure)

I WAS EXPECTING A: "nice lines" NOT THIS OMG FEISARU THIS IS SO MUCH/POS 🥺

Hah, my lineart is a "well shit I don't care about the result as long as you can recognize what I'm drawing" my current artstyle is a rebellious movement against my stupid ex-high standards. It changed with a big change in my life and I love that you see it as one of my trademarks.

I still don't know what I'm doing while coloring but it feels right I guess haha, the grey drawings are my laziness peak, my minimum effort moment, as long as I can convey feelings I'm okay with that.

I'm a furry so animals are my thing, even though I draw more humans bc I don't like unbalanced things, I can draw animals easily so I draw more humans until they get easier. Funfact about my Fursona, his colors were randomly picked, I had no idea about drawing or color theory

Cringe Laz old drawing warning:

My body HC are an absolute threat to Level5 (most of them!) And I couldn't care less.

And oh 👉👈 well thanks,, you're right I draw for fun, I draw to communicate since god nerfed me with being ND (He actually boosted me) and I needed a way to expressing myself or die with my feelings. Sometimes I feel bad for drawing angsty things BUT I feel like I need them, sorry <3

In conclusion I don't know what's going on in my head while drawing, I just know oooooooooooooh FeiSarus

[chatxkilluaxnoir]

Another (I know, I am so original, aren’t I?) TMNT Fandom(s) Rant

Author’s Note:

Alright, I had been really, really hesitant to post this, because I honestly feel like I have done too many of these (even though I have only like, done some posts and rb’s on this kind of stuff.  And usually spaced apart too, but whatever), and because some of the stuff I am saying, I see even creators that I like sometimes say, and I don’t want to seem like I am mad and that kind of stuff at them.  Even with creators I like less or I am more neutral towards, I don’t want to seem mad at them or too mean and stuff like that, you know?  

But I came to the decision to just post this.  Largely because I just really feel the need to say this, and because someone I know on here helped me give the courage to go ahead and post this.  Thank you that person a lot btw!

Alright, now that my AN is done and out of the way, let’s get to more of the actual contents of the post itself.  Starting now:

Like, I can not fathom, how people complain about the Rise turtles being nerfed, and will hold up certain fics/comics/whatever and say they love those fics/comics/whatever because they don’t nerf Rise, but usually/most of the time, those same comics or whatever that supposedly nerf Rise, will nerf the other version instead (usually 2012.  Though sometimes other versions like 2003).

So nerfing u hate when it is done to Rise, but other versions, it is a-ok!, to nerf them!  Wow okay, just wow.

And on the topic of Rise being nerfed, I won’t say it never happens, it does.  But I honestly don’t see that much myself.

And I honestly, at this point, I more so see Rise getting so hyped up to (sometimes) ridiculous amounts, than I see them getting nerfed.

Rise are better, stronger, smarter, more amazing and awesome TMNT (and not just in ability/powers/strength/etc., but character and/or etc. too).  They are also more violent and scary when they snap.  And/or could be more scary when they get violent and/or snap.  And I am not saying they couldn’t and/or wouldn’t be so.  But that is REALLY downplaying other versions when you say stuff like that. Like, some of the other versions can be so violent and murderous and completely terrifying when they snap (and/or you just know they would be utterly terrifying if they completely snap) too.  

Moving back to what I was saying before/earlier, not only are they better and everything I say above in the beginning of the last paragraph.  But they can also beat any other version no matter what in anything basically.  Because like, the TMNT Fandom(s) (or at least some parts of it/them) has now became the Shonen fandom where we argue about what, for example, our usually favorite person or group of ours can beat another person or group or whatever.  This coming from someone who actually likes Shonen.  But God, do I find power scaling, and “x can and/or can’t beat x” arguments to very annoying, stupid, and pointless most of the time, and usually just detracting from actually just talking about story, or character, or themes, or/& etc.  And they are just tiring honestly.

Putting the rest under a cut, because this post gets long/is getting long, and some of the stuff below is the stuff that was making me worried about posting this.  So I am putting this under a “read more” cut due to long, and in case people don’t want to read some of the (other) stuff I have to say here.

Seriously, I have literally seen posts and stuff, that basically say and/or imply that Rise are just BETTER than their other versions.

Which in turn, usually puts down both the talents of previous versions (i.e. for example.  And this is just an example really, but it valid in most points.  Leo and/or Raph’s own (innate) talents will be downplayed, and people will act like they don’t have their own talents instead are just the muscle and/or use their (strong) emotions to help them maybe win, in the case of Raph (which, nothing wrong with this actually at all), or Leo isn’t talented and strong in his own right, and only gets all of his skills and strength through hard-work and experience (which, there is nothing wrong with that.  Some of the strongest and best people in the world in their own fields and/or etc., got where they were through mainly/a lot through hard-work and experience (even if some of these people were talented, they almost certainly, most of the time, wouldn't become the best, without actually trying and through hard work and experience).  

And honestly, the amount of downplaying some people do.  Not all, there are people who really respect hard-work and experience in this fandom and/or in general.  And/or they are people that think characters or whatever or even cooler and/or better because they they work hard and/or etc. and become (even more) awesome.  But the amount of people that downplay hard-work, experiences, learning through example, and all that is kind of sad.  

It is like some people only care about (innate) talents (which, I am not saying are’t cool and awesome stuff too, but like, still) and not any of that.  Or, and again basically, don’t think that even people that have (innate) talents still need to you know train and to learn and all that?  You don’t (most of the time) become a master without experience and hard work.  Even if you are talented), which in reality, all the turtles (and Casey, April, Karai, splinter, etc.) are a combination of both talents and hard-work and experiences imo.) and skills and strengths and experiences and even just their general character and personality and development.

And I am just like ?????? to (all) that.

I find all/some of that stuff I mentioned above (esp. the development stuff and/or etc.) funny, considering, saying that kind of stuff/some of that stuff, not only undermines other versions and other versions of characters and their characterization and development, but also (imo) Rise’s characterization and development, because it almost seems like you think they have less flaws as people and stuff than other versions (which, I don’t think actually think is true.  I think all the versions basically have both flaws and strengths as people), and that they don’t go through development/don’t need development/need less development than other versions (which again, I don’t think is true.  I think like other versions, Rise needs and goes through development and goes through their own awesome development like the other versions).  

I  mostly bring up characterization here too, since sometimes (not always), characterization and development can go hand-in-hand.  Anyways yeah, when some of you say this kind of stuff, I wonder if you/they realize that they are also, in a way, kind of undermining Rise’s characterization and development too; along with the other versions.

Back on the whole “Rise is better” thing.

So like, I do see characters like Rise Leo to basically be everything (all the Leos) that has come before him, for example.

Which I love.

However, that doesn’t mean he is better.  He wouldn’t exist, if not for the previous Leos, for the previous versions (and sometimes even current Leos and versions and their characters if you include IDW, which I do) and their characters.

Seriously, it almost seems like, and pardon my language, a pissing race.  Instead of respecting and honoring the other versions, some people (seem to) instead act/talk like Rise are just stronger, most powerful, more skilled, and all around just better in every way (including their actual characters when I say in this like I have said previously and not just powers, skills, and all that).

And this all not even in taking into account genres.  For examples:  2012 is more dramatic and serious, Rise is more comedic and light-heartened (not saying 2012 or Rise can’t be the other.  Or have more genres in them.  They can and do.  I am just talking overall).  Nothing wrong with either of those things.  They are both great though.  But different genres, are also important to take into account when you try to compare the different versions (in all way different ways).  Though, I try not to do that, unless it is more positively/in positive ways.  And because they are all great in their own rights.  I find comparisons a lot of the times (not just with TMNT) to not always be the best thing to do, but that is just imo.

Anyways, that is all I have to say about genres for now (at least, until I can figure out a way to word what I am trying to say there better.  I am still working on that).

Seriously though, I am getting so tired of all this.

I love both 2012 and Rise (and basically most/all the TMNT versions basically) so much; they are both a couple of my favorites.

But this kind of stuff is just getting out of hand.  Imo.

My goodness.

Tagging some people here, because maybe they got more stuff to add, and they have made some good posts/replies/reblogs/etc., about this kind of stuff already, so I am curious on their would-be, maybe input (they don’t have to say or do anything with/about this post at all if they don’t want to ofc).

@000marie198 , @tmnt-obsessed-ace , & @misteria247 

There we go/there are the tags.

Disclaimer:  I tried (and I think succeeded) not to name any certain people, fics, comics, etc., etc., in this post.  I don’t want to cause anyone any trouble or grief here.   

If you don’t want to read this post; either just ignore it, or block one or more of the tags I use in the tags.  Like one of my rants and/or discourse tags.

[pocketbelt]

Final Fantasy II Pixel Remaster (PC/Steam Deck)

This is the real one for testing how good the Pixel Remasters are, as FF2 is the series' black sheep (some might say first black sheep, the next one being either VIII or XIII depending on you ask; the former less so these days due to rehabilitation and the existence of the latter). The original was a nightmare game of arcane mechanics and baffling decisions that made playing it a pain in the ass, and all subsequent releases tinker with it in slightly different ways. The Pixel Remaster is a composite of the PS1, GBA and PSP versions and their tweaks and fixes, and the field for "definitive version" is rather tougher here than for FF1.

For my part, I don't consider the PSP's bonus dungeon a worthwhile addition, and the GBA's post-game is conceptually rad ("Soul of Rebirth", a post-game scenario about characters who died in the story continuing the fight in the afterlife) but a bit of a git as you have to actively plan for it during the main game. The Pixel Remaster has neither of these and I don't think it's worse for it, and it has a number of new cutscene depictions for various events in place of the PS1 3D FMVs (also used in the PSP version), which work fine for the aesthetic level it's going for, but I don't think the FMVs necessarily jar with the pure 2D sprite aesthetic. The sprites and animations are, like the PR for I, vastly superior to the other versions, though. There is some background balance tweaking of enemies and certain aspects, but it's similar enough to the other post-NES versions to not matter too much.

I think the Pixel Remaster does pip the "definitive edition" post, but only by a bit; the presentation and performance are the key factors, but as they play close enough to each other, I would recommend the GBA version as well if you're interested in its Soul of Rebirth post-game mode. Some of the "balance" tweaks in PR also don't favour the player - Teleport's accuracy has been nerfed so you can't wield it as an indiscriminate deathspell as effectively - but most do.

On its own merits, FFII is a game with weird mechanics mostly fixed by removing the deranged "skill/stat decay" mechanic from the original: increasing some skills or stats made others decay accordingly, making narrow specialisation something to strictly enforce and also a bastard to actually maintain. All later versions remove that, and without it FF2 is interesting but still stumbles because of secret mechanics and hidden stats it doesn't tell you about (like, for example, how equipping staves - even ones named things like "Wizard's Staff" - puts a heavy debuff on your magic damage output). There's some flexibility for tweaking characters and making monsters here; HP and defence stats are increased by getting hit in battle, so there's nothing stopping you from strapping armour to your chosen spellcaster, putting them on the frontline and letting them build tank-like defences as they do their usual work. I find that quite appealing, and I think with further refinements you could make a quite engrossing system out of this.

And indeed, they arguably did; in FFII's weird skill system, you can easily see the roots of later entries' mechanics and style. FFIII's job system is basically a merging of this and FFI's character system, which FFV would then improve upon. FFII's story-telling improvements lay the foundations for FFIV making the series come into its own, and its focus on customising characters to suit your own wants or needs is basically the basis for FFVI's magicite/Esper system (which, in turn, gave rise to FFVII's materia, which fed into VIII's Draw, and you can draw a line from them to FFX's Sphere Grid which leads to XII, etc etc). It is as important an entry as any other of the "early" (i.e. pre-VII) Final Fantasies, and debatably moreso than some others.

But, even in the PR, building skill levels in weapons and spells (individually!) requires spamming their use a ton per fight, meaning the best way to build skill levels efficiently is often to let one party member blast or carve up whole fights by themselves, and having to do that across a lot of fights. It's still short by modern RPG standards, being a NES RPG in the end, but your runtime can easily reach 20 hours because making some things effective just actually requires grinding them out mindlessly. The PR wins out here by having a really effective auto-battle mechanic, if nothing else, and while I can't say definitively, I'm pretty sure it is balanced a bit easier on the whole than other versions, which does help with the required grinding.

Like FFI, FFII is well worth a look for "academic" reasons, but where FFI's purity and simplicity make it easy to just zone out with if you want something to just tap through, FFII is a bit harder to recommend in that way. I don't think it has enough character/aesthetic zest to motivate grinding, nor enough mechanical depth to motivate it, but it almost does. It's an easy enough ride if nothing else, and you could do a lot worse. Its reputation is worse than it deserves, but it does deserve some of that rep.

I have more waffle about FFII broadly and also some of the mechanics shit under the jump as this is getting long, but yeah, it's okay, not critical.

FFII is very interesting in the series as it makes a number of marked additions and step-ups from I; a more involved attempt at a story, with (even on the NES) scripted fights, cutscenes and the debuts of even more of the series' recurring images and concepts (Chocobos, Dragoons, Ultima and various other spells like Drain and Osmose, more unique status effects like Mini and Toad, the Front & Back Row mechanic, spell multi-targeting in exchange for reduced damage per target, Leviathan, the designs of various monsters locking-in or taking shape like Iron Giant gaining his single red eye). There's a sizeable cast, your fourth party member rotates regularly through a list of NPCs whose spread of skills helps inform their character and history, there's even tricks like forced-loss fights to sell story moments even at this early stage. These are super noticeable when you play it back-to-back with FFI, which makes FFI feel even more ancient.

I do need to do that post or essay or whatever I've thought about of drawing a line through the main FF series and tying together where they obviously draw from each other, and where they seem to draw from each other. It's often said "Final Fantasy is a series where every entry is completely different" and the validity of that isn't as clear-cut as it seems (like, yeah, it's a different cast and world and story every time but also the series is very clearly a lot more mechanically iterative than it lets on). I got into it above already but FFII is clearly the origin point for a lot of what III, IV, V and VI got up to. It's fun to see the roots so clearly.

So I had played II before this, I made an attempt at the NES original via emulator and of course that went nowhere, and made an attempt at the PS1 version via emulator and that also didn't get far because of frequent load times. I did eventually own the Dawn Of Souls GBA remake two-pack of I and II, and that was where I first played it properly. It wasn't until this playthrough, of the Pixel Remaster, that I actually made an effort to look into how II's skill mechanics work, and how they're still just a bit too fucking stupid for their own good.

So, magic. Odds are high if you play FFII that you'll find White Magic (healing, buffs, etc) supremely useful and Black Magic (damage and killing) extremely situational. Black Magic will be super useful when hitting a weakness (using fire on undead, thunder on aquatic enemies, blizzard on lizards and amphibians, etc) and against enemies with no weaknesses (most humanoids) it'll not be worth the cast versus just hitting them physically. Even if you commit and equip staves (which bear names like Mage's Staff, Wizard's Staff and so on), spell damage will never get terribly high.

Because there's a secret stat on all equipment that determines how much it nerfs magic when you equip it. I only learned that this run.

All equipment has a secret number that weighs down the output of the magic damage formula, and that includes all staff weapons, even ones explicitly named and described as magical. All armour pieces also have this number, and only a very scant few have extremely low (-1) or no debuff effect. All headpieces except for Golden Hairpin and Ribbon have a significant nerf value, all hand gear except Power Armlet (-2) and Protect Ring (-0; you only start seeing these at the end of the game) have significant nerf values, and all body armours except for Plate/Cuirass type armours (-1) or the Black/White Garb (-1) and Robe (-0) armours have massive nerf values. Staves have the least nerf value among weapons (-5) as do all knives (-5). Shields are right out (-70), and dual-wielding just adds the debuffs together; only the Masamune sword has a -0 among weapons, and it's an endgame sword found in a very subtly hidden secret room in the final dungeon.

The only other option is to go bare-handed, which has no debuff, of course. And there is not a single piece of gear that provides a buff/+ effect, no.

What makes this aggravating is FFII, even in Pixel Remaster form, has no indication that this is a mechanic or how things work anywhere. II goes to great lengths to make sure you always know where to go next and what to do, and some versions (including the PR version) add wizards to the first room who provide basic tutorials, and no version thinks to explain this shit in any way. Once you kit your dedicated spellcaster(s) out with no weapons, no gloves, hairpin or nothing and only Cuirass (in PR, plate in older versions) or Robe armours, their spell damage spikes, magic becomes completely and perfectly viable to use instead of weapons and even multi-targeting becomes worthwhile for some encounters. It becomes so good you can rend all the endgame bosses asunder in 2-3 shots, and the final boss in only slightly more.

It's clearly a hold-over from the deranged original NES version, one of the bizarre mechanics designed for "balance" that just make it a worse experience. I'm actually sad the Pixel Remaster doesn't scrap it or at least blunt it considerably; FFII is a game in need a remake or a good rebalancing/rework mod/ROM hack (that probably already exists but I haven't checked) to sort out these background numbers.

In similar fashion the game would be vastly improved by reducing the amount of "skill EXP" that weapons and spells need to rank up. Unless you consciously stop to grind for it, the only thing that'll reach the maximum rank of XVI is Cure, because it's so much more convenient and better than potions and can be used from the overworld/dungeon menu, which still grants usage EXP. You should realistically be able to get one of the core Black Mage spells (Fire/Thunder/Blizzard) to XVI, if not all three, and only need some special effort to make late-game spells like Flare get there for immense reward.

To that end, Ultima is infamously useless in FFII and still is in the Pixel Remaster. It has a special damage formula dependent on you having maxed out weapon ranks and maxed spells, which means it takes an unfathomable amount of grinding to make this hyped plot-important spell worth a shit, never mind immensely powerful. The solution to that is obvious, but they left it in-tact for the PR for some reason.

Also, if you play FFII you'll likely find that your physical attackers will stop gaining usage EXP at some point, even as stronger and stronger enemies come in. Usually you'll be stuck at around Rank 11 for their main weapons, unless you stopped to grind above that. This is because enemies have a secret number (referred to as "monster rank" or similar) that determines whether or not they'll pay out usage EXP, and if your weapon's 'rank' is too much higher than it (or just higher, one of the two) they won't give shit. Also, you need to use the Attack command quite a few times to actually qualify for usage EXP even for monsters you can get it from, so if your stats are too high you'll kill things too fast to get EXP. This also means having to let one person kill everything as the others defend, the same grind method for grinding spell ranks.

Again, that should've been blunted or just stripped out entirely by the Pixel Remaster, never mind other versions. I don't think the "pure" FFII experience is better for it, even if there is a nobility in preserving that as best as possible. But as FFII is fairly well ported (Wonderswan, PS1, GBA, PSP, horribly ugly iOS & Android which also got ported to PC before being taken down and replaced by Pixel Remaster), I think that "intended experience" is fairly well preserved as is anyway.

I still reason that the Pixel Remaster is the "definitive version", but most of the FFII versions after NES are fairly similar so it isn't too meaningful a prize here.