#splatoon was like one of those childhood things that shaped who i was and will keep coming back to

[conspicuous-clown-car]

splatoon is hilarious bc why tf am i literally crying my eyes out while singing gibberish like "komisurudamai hajufurodasukai" and "nyoehiniherahe nawenoni nyuenu"

[deoxygenated]

had a dream that it was like a family holiday

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we were setting up the night before in this huge fucked up house

like it was a modern building but it had like royal apartments where a whole family could live. i specifically remember the huge but fluffy dark wood bed in the grandparents room and the colorful small ones in the kids room. the ceiling covered in colorful draped fabrics. i pointed up stating i wanted that.

despite the people i meet later these apartments were empty but given to the musician who was touring them to me.

theres a disjointed dream continuance and i steal a bun meant for tomorrow. i dash through the living area with the bag and then through the apartment when i toured then downstairs into annother living area. tucked the bag against the wall. my uncle looked on trying to spot the thief and i hid while plotting how to move around him bc he was standing sentinel near my favourite area.

i figure out some way to go around him. It turns to night and my buns are safe. The rest of my family has been preparing food for tomorrow and we are gathering to sleep. two rooms, people have brought their own sleeping things like pillows. i even had my mattress. so we'd all lay across the floor.

something happened and i went outside for a bit to find everything fine but my mattress has been swapped with a shorter one. i am incandesently furious about this bit try to sit on it anyways. not only is it too short its too fluffy and i slide right over. i storm past my cousins and head outside.

summer afternoon sunlight beams over the pool in my childhood backyard. the its bedtime inside and this afternoon time make sense in dream logic. i test the waters expecting it to be chilly but its perfectly mildly warm. i can get a little hit of real warmth if i swim in a sunbeam.

i swim until like 5am when i complain its noon. my cousin tells me everybody didnt wake up at the same time.

it transistions into another dream.

we are taking some sort of class and my sibling is there. the teacher is like grade is 90% the research and 90% the powerpoint. i get singled out to do the powerpoint and i agree but only if we work with a good team. we spend a bit discussing this and then end up at some sort of competition?

its in a large metal area and theres been many rounds so far but the last one is driving a racecar in a very specific way through many traps. we were arguing earlier about (practicing for this?? maybe??) a remote control car being able to do stunts?

anyways my sibling chose to drive and gets in the racecar. some indescribable zooming bullshit happens and at one point theyre outta the car ansld abt to hit water. i somehow float over and take their two prized possessions so they can continue w/o them being damaged- their cellphone and a rock with raw emerald and sapphire inside.

we complete the car arena battle?

another dream.

groups of people traveling. trying to break into a park. i but not i watch as some dude drop his bike to the road, messes with a black cable keeping a gate inside the park shut. he ends up breaking the metal cable, rolls up the thing into a cartoonish ball, picks up his bike with a sense of victory and goes inside.

my thoughts are like good for him. that metal cable will be very useful.

i but not i continue past this. at some point i encounter 2 girls with luggage. i befriend them and convince them to let me help carry things. they give me 2 identical wheeled suitcases and i cheerfully follow them.

we get to a bus stop. the area is deserty and abandonded but the bus stop seems to be established in a freeway underpass? theres a road between the two halves of the stop with water running across the crosswalk like its normal. i lose the two here and dont see what bus they take.

i almost take the right bus to my home but i come across people i somehow know are going in the same direction of those girls.

i convince them to let me follow as i have to return the suitcases before i can go home. i use the straps to put one on my back, but the chest strap gets stuck by my chin and i feel very very short. i pout about this.

we walk away from the buses and toward a road going further in the desert. theres a nerdy kid obsessed with peaches(i just know) telling facts to us and pointing out fossils. the fossils in particular are like flagstones but with rounded shapes on them.

its explained theyre ancient and lived in the sea here but waking/dream logic tells me theyre the squid kids from splatoon in squid form fossils. but i but not i doesnt know this, only i the observer does.

the people in front of the group are talking about an issue with evil energies. the one concerned is dressed in whites and greys and has spiked back white hair. he wears a sword and shield on the back of his coat and has the sleeves rolled up to show his buff arms.

the girl speaking to him is wearing tones of black and berry, cheerfully saying shes excellent at controlling evil energies so there is no worry!

we are hiking through the desert alongside a road. the area is vast and dusty. cliffs are in the distance. we all know its a long road but arent worried.

my baby sibling opens my door and i am knocked out of the dream cycle.

[sage-nebula]

Final Splatfest

So the Final Splatfest of Splatoon 2 has come and gone, and though I didn’t post about it while it was occurring, I will say that I did participate.

It’s kind of funny, actually; before the Final Splatfest it had been ages since I’d played Splatoon, so I was so unbelievably rusty. I did practice before the actual Splatfest, mostly to unlock abilities for my Splatfest Tee, and it’s a damn good thing I did because I was so rusty I’d forgotten basic things like how to use the sub weapon. But though I was still a bit rusty when the actual event rolled around I still at least knew what all the buttons did, and by the end of Splatfest I was back on top of my game. (Case in point, even now I’m ending matches with usually over 1000p of turf inked before the bonuses.) 

That said, the reason why I participated in this particular Splatfest is because I feel it was more significant than any Splatfest that came before it. For those who don’t know, the theme was Chaos vs. Order: Which world would you rather live in? A world of pure chaos, or one of unyielding order? The characters in the game were divided up as well, even though they weren’t actually participating (outside of Pearl and Marina on the final day, and even then only on the M.C. Princess Diaries Shifty Station stage), and it was stated over and over again that this Splatfest would determine the fate of that world.

The thing is . . . that’s not wrong. Although Splatoon 2 isn’t going to change from here on out, the Final Splatfest of the original Splatoon determined the single player campaign of Splatoon 2. This wasn’t in any major way; it just meant that you got to partner up with Marie to rescue Callie, who remained absent from Inkopolis altogether until a patch much later added her back in if you’d rescued her during the single-player campaign. But while that was a minor change that probably would have just been reversed had Team Callie won instead, I have a feeling they’re looking at much, much bigger changes for Splatoon 3. The world of Splatoon 3 is likely to be radically different from the world we’ve known for the past two games, and that likely would have happened no matter which team had won. Whether it was Chaos or Order, we could be looking at monumental changes with half the cast out of commission or otherwise missing for a decent length of time.

And that’s what helped me make my decision. To be honest, I was really torn about it. On the one hand, I’d rather not live in a chaotic wasteland with absolutely no structure or stability whatsoever. I’m a daring and adventurous person, but I also like to have a sense of stability and a feeling of safety in my life, particularly since I didn’t have that for a vast majority of my childhood and adolescence (and needless to say, I could really empathize with Marina’s reasons for choosing Order in that sense). But on the other, there were numerous hints that Team Order meant a loss of free will, from one of the pieces of gear being a “Hive-Mind Headset” to the fact that Tartar and C.Q. Cumber were on the side of Order. A loss of free will and an authoritarian government is not something I can stand for, in any way, shape, or form. I’m not here for that in the least bit.

But that said, the vast majority of my favorite characters were on Team Order. Marie, Marina, Agent 8, Agent 3, and as far as the villains go, C.Q. Cumber and Tartar were all Team Order. Meanwhile, the only character I am really attached to on Team Chaos is Pearl. I like Callie and Agent 4 all right, but I’m not opposed to seeing them benched for a game. I could live with that. And even if his final boss battle was lit af in the original Splatoon, DJ Octavio was really underwhelming and is far less threatening of an antagonist than either Tartar or C.Q. Cumber. I can’t really take him seriously. On top of all this, Octo Expansion has BY FAR been my favorite single-player campaign in Splatoon. If the single-player campaign could be more like that in Splatoon 3, I would definitely want it. It was amazing.

So with all that in mind, I chose Team Order, and I fought as hard as I could. Unfortunately, we still lost. It was a 3-0 sweep, which means that the world we see unfold in Splatoon 3 will be one of Chaos. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The Salmonids were on Team Chaos, which means perhaps what we’ll see in Splatoon 3 is a world where they’ve finally managed to take over Inkopolis, because Mr Grizz’s low safety standards for his workers means that they all got killed off and weren’t able to stop the incoming flood. (Plus, that would be something that both Inklings and Octolings would need to work together on, since if they don’t they could be all wiped out.) As I said before, I think that we’re going to see major changes no matter which team won. Or at least, I hope we do. And that means that even if we won’t have a world akin to Octo Expansion, we still might have one akin to Salmon Run, and considering Salmon Run is my favorite multiplayer mode in Splatoon, that’s pretty exciting, too. I only hope that all my favorite characters (or at least the NPCs like Marina and Marie) aren’t benched in Splatoon 3, like Callie was for a long time in Splatoon 2. I also hope the same for the Team Chaos NPCs, even if I wasn’t as fond of them. In particular, I want to see Off the Hook continue to be together and play an active role in the story, because I love those girlfriends so much. They are probably my favorite Splatoon characters overall. 

Either way, we all fought hard, the ink colors were gorgeous, and it’s gotten me back in a Splatoon mood again, so I’ve enjoyed it. Great game to everyone, and thanks to you all for making the Final Splatfest a fun one. I can’t wait to see what world we’ve brought upon ourselves come Splatoon 3. :)

[robdwebster]

Stuff of the year, 2018

"Mum, look! He's shitting out the thing again!"

Game of the year:

Two Point Hospital

Celeste

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

I dragged my feet on a lot of cool games this year. I didn't play Smash Bros. until the last week of the year, and got round to Celeste on NYD 2019! Smash is an unremarkable triumph - it is exactly the game I expected, but it's so good and there's so much of it that it was easily the best Switch game this year. Celeste is more interesting; brutal, but kind to the player, with a cracking soundtrack and some magical design. It gains a lot of points for being about something - that punishing difficulty makes you feel like you’re really climbing a mountain, and the frank way it discusses mental health is really phenomenal.

But Two Point Hospital - man! Like Sonic Mania last year, Two Point Hospital is a spiritual sequel to one of my favourite childhood games. Unlike Sonic Mania, it's not perfectly realised. I'm still not a big fan of the art-style, and there were some genuine balance / difficulty issues at launch affecting things like queue length and patient AI. That said, this game has had a ludicrous half life. I love the challenge, I love the mechanics, I love that it's easy to pick up but tricky to master. I love its tone, I love its sense of humour, and some 140 hours in I still don't feel like I'm done enjoying it. Just wonderful.

Other games I liked: Bomb Chicken, Donut County, Fallout 76, Graveyard Keeper, Jackbox Party Pack 5, Nintendo Labo, Pokémon Let's Go!

Album of the year:

Gorillaz - The Now Now

Muse - Simulation Theory

Gesu no Kiwami Otome - Suki nara Towanai

Hey! A year where I loved more than three albums!

It's nice to have a new band in the top three; I'd never heard of Gesu no Kiwami Otome before this year, but their new album is great. It's even nicer that Muse's long-awaited new album is actually good! I pre-ordered it reluctantly, fully expecting it to be mediocre, but Simulation Theory is a dorky, retro joy. Best of all is that Gorillaz have released two albums-of-the-year in a row! The Now Now was a chilled out treat, the perfect record for a lazy summer evening. Or a winter evening. Or whenever, really. Just play it. It’s grand.

Other albums I liked: A Perfect Circle - Eat the Elephant, Kero Kero Bonito - Time 'n' Place, Polkadot Stingray - Ichidaiji

TV of the year:

James Acaster: Repertoire

Orange is the New Black

Aggretsuko

This year has been ridiculous for brilliant television, and there is so much that it's killing me not to include. Last year's winner Taskmaster aired one of its best ever series, but a more uneven run at the start of the year plus stiff competition kept it out of the top three. King of Bots is Chinese Robot Wars, it is berserk, and it has an even more berserk spin-off show - both of which I’ve omitted!

But, three shows that nailed it. Aggretsuko, with its charming characters and acerbic office satire. Orange is the New Black, which has no business being in such rude health after six seasons. James Acaster's four (four!) interlinked stand-up specials. Hard-earned!

Other shows I liked: Bojack Horseman, Derren Brown: The Jump, Disenchantment, Hilda, Inside No. 9, King of Bots, Taskmaster, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, The Horne Section Television Programme, The Mash Report, This is Fighting Robots, Who is America

Film of the year:

The Shape of Water

Isle of Dogs

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

I'm usually a bit sniffy about Oscar nominees - I always expect them to be worthy snorefests about how tragic life is. Maybe my tastes are changing, maybe I misjudged them - or maybe this year just happened to be a belter, but last year's Best Picture nominees were superb! I watched four out of the nine, and am gutted to have missed two more. Two of them were released this year in the UK, and are therefore eligible for this blog: The Shape of Water, which is beautiful, romantic, and turns the cold war into a romantic fantasy without sanding off its rough edges, and the morally grey but socially conscious Three Billboards.

Meanwhile, Isle of Dogs wasn’t nominated for any awards, but it was about some nice dogs, so that’s still good for second place.

Other films I liked: Mary and the Witch's Flower, Ready Player One

Podcasts of the year:

FiveThirtyEight Politics

Reply All

Whatever Happened to Pizza at McDonalds?

Temptation is to try and make these lists different every year, but when Reply All and FiveThirtyEight keep nailing it, what else can you do? Reply All did have a slightly more muted year, mostly due to behind-the-scenes stuff, but earns its placement with The Snapchat Thief alone.

The sole newcomer in this list is Whatever Happened to Pizza at McDonalds, an investigative journalism programme (or IJP) that isn't afraid to ask the big questions. Mainly, whatever happened to pizza at McDonalds?

Other podcasts I liked: Adam Buxton Podcast, All Killa No Filla, Everything is Alive, Hello Internet, Kermode & Mayo Film Review, Lovett or Leave It, My Dad Wrote a Porno, Oh No! Ross and Carrie, Off Menu, Pod Save America, Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podcast, Secret Dinosaur Cult, So You Think You're Smart, The Horne Section Podcast

Gig of the year:

Gein's Family Giftshop, vol. III

I only went to a couple of gigs this year - all of which were good, but I wanted to give Gein's Family Giftshop a special mention.

GFG were already my favourite live comedy act - they perform as a three-person sketch group, a sublime blend of the crude, the audacious and nihilistic. They are fucking phenomenal; I've linked to one of their YouTube sketches above but it's only a tenth as good as the live show.

Anyway, when they played in Bristol, their third member had tonsillitis. Rather than cancel the show, Kath and Ed performed the whole show on their own, and stormed it! Live shows are always best when they feel spontaneous - the danger of knowing anything could go wrong (and to an extent already had!) adds an electricity to a room. Watching it all go right is even better! I laughed so much - one of those events where you just had to be there, and I'm so chuffed that I was.

Stuff of yesteryear:

Gesu no Kiwami Otome - Odorenai nara, Gesu ni Natte Shimae yo (album)

Arrival (film)

Nier: Automata (video game)

My annual category for “stuff that wasn’t released this year but I enjoyed checking out.” Nier: Automata was the right kind of ludicrous - full of batshit ideas. Arrival was a more low-key brand of batshit, but still incredibly inventive and oddly optimistic - one of those films where you emerge from the cinema and the world feels a little bit different.

But only one of these moved me to blog. Click here to read me very excitedly discovering Gesu no Kiwami Otome, back in May. The listed EP is the best, but you can’t go wrong anywhere.

Other parties I enjoyed arriving late to:

Games: Bayonetta 2, Cities: Skylines, DmC: Devil May Cry, Dishonored 2, Life is Strange: Before the Storm, Overcooked, Superhot

Books: Everybody Lies, So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed, The Humans, The Signal and the Noise

Films: Ex Machina, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Kubo and the Two Strings

Bands: Polkadot Stingray

Single of the year:

Gorillaz - Tranz

Muse - Pressure

Gesu no Kiwami Otome - Onna wa Kawaru

I don’t really like this category because there’s a lot of crossover with album of the year, but it’s a pretext to post the Pressure music video, so... shrug!

It also means I can give Dream Theater and The Constellations honourable mentions even though they didn’t release full albums this year. Well done Dream Theater and The Constellations. I liked your nice songs.

Other songs I liked: Dream Theater - Untethered Angel, Kero Kero Bonito - Make Believe, Kero Kero Bonito - Dreams of Oneonta

DLC of the year:

Octo Expansion

Bigfoot

Sonic Mania Plus

Considering it's been my favourite home console franchise since the day it was released, I have given Splatoon short shrift in end-of-year roundups, picking Fallout 4 as my number one game in 2015 and Sonic Mania in 2017.

I don't regret either of those picks, but I'm delighted that Splatoon finally gets to run away with a number one placing this year. The Octo Expansion is incredible value for money, a more-is-more single player campaign with playable octolings at the end - the team nailed it. Phenomenal stuff.

Person of the year:

I did this last year, right? But everyone’s been so terrible this year!

Who did I choose last year? Rilakkuma? Fine - keep the crown, RK. No public figure has been better than a lazy cartoon bear. It’s yours indefinitely, until the world gets good again.

[nyrator]

it’s amazing how much her being home can kill my mood and productivity

she’s so loud, she fills the house with cigarette smoke, she’s so ignorant, she’s such a slob, and such a liar

she makes up such stories so fast and can lie her way out of any situation and make herself sound as pitiful as possible and I can’t stand it

I’m hiding everything in my house again so she can’t sell it and I just

I just want to be able to take a breath and relax and not have to worry about losing anything I own or losing my life or some other part of my health because of her

wanting to move out with friends into an apartment again but I know I can’t afford it so I’m tempted to just burn my money again out of disgust

managed to climb back to 700 dollars, then I had to pay for cat flea treatments, those nendoroids, and those Switch games I preordered months ago- Cave Story, Arms, and Splatoon 2. Tempted to just get more figures for myself, more garbage I don’t need, just so I can get rid of any money I have and just let us fall into the hole

I’m really concerned about my cats for different reasons. They’re probably the main reason other than financially that I haven’t left this house yet. I have four of them, two of them are showing their age but still have a lot of life in them (they’re 13 and 11-ish if I had to guess, Patches just turned 13 I believe and Yin be 11), and I’m afraid to watch them suffer if I can’t afford medical treatment for them.

We’ll have had Bootsie for 6 years this week, and she’s very overweight and I can’t convince my mother to stop overfeeding them.

Blacky I’m most concerned about, he’s only a few years old, but that eye of his. I keep seeing cats with eyes like his needing eye-removal surgery, that they lead to cancer and other problems. He’s never been to the vet, but I believe he got picked up and neutered and released back into the wild (we found him terrified, back end completely shaved off, and his ear clipped off which google told me probably meant someone neutered him and released him back into the wild, and he was definitely either kicked or attacked by another animal or something because he was abused and in bad shape and terrified of everything but still wanted to be around people, in a “one step forward then run away, then slowly move closer then run away again when they look at you”, until he got to our porch months later and eventually became one of the family)

he’s such a strange cat and he’s so loving of me and the other cats (who can’t stand him) and he’s afraid of anything else, and I want to take him to the vet this week just to get him checked out even if I can’t afford it. I’m just afraid it’ll be a 5000 dollar surgery or something (and taking him to the vet without him having a heart attack is another thing, you can’t even pick him up without him freaking out)

it’s like, I have no idea what to do at this point. I can’t afford an apartment, and if I could, I couldn’t leave my cats behind or change their normal environment. Blacky’s probably the only one I could take with me and I have no idea how lonely he’d be without the other cats.

I know all my cats have small issues, most are probably dental since they love having their cheeks/ears rubbed hard, and the vet told us a few times they have dental/teeth issues they need to fix and that was yearsss ago.

I made so much dev progress this week and I feel that depression of her coming home hit me like a truck and I just can’t stand it and can’t focus again

and like looking at her court documents she has three pages worth of S and M ranked offenses (stealing clothes from walmart, not paying fines, illegal parking, illegal inspection, drug possession/usage charges, the works) and yet she still gets out and I don’t understand it I just

things I want to do come to my mind that I should do, I should get myself nicer clothes, I should get my hair cut and styled and figure out how to make it keep looking nice most of the time, I should start exercising again and working on my diet and I just can’t commit to anything

or the dreams of learning Japanese and moving to Japan... or working on art and publishing comics...

right now I just want to keep focus on you&me and see if I can actually for once finish a game in that series, just one game I can keep the momentum on. I feel like I have a better understanding of 2k3 in general, common events make a lot of sense to me now, but now I doubt how interesting my game will be, how dull it seems when I step back, how do I make these characters relatable and likable... funnily enough it be a game focused on doubt and yet I don’t know how to make it doubt...ful. I don’t know how to make childhood traumas seem real and scary and exist in a physical sense. Like I do want it to be cute but I want it to also be empathetic, like “I relate to this and feel my heart drop for these characters” and not “awwww haha” or “uh-huhh, okayy next”. How do I create that atmosphere, where they can act goofy and like kids in reality without taking the player out of the game, but still have that air of “something’s wrong”...

bleh mostly irrational venting stuff but I just want to portray their story in the way I feel their story y’know?

bluhhhhh life is dumb sorry for the negativity everyone who reads this, I just need to type to clear my mind as I blast Kingdom Hearts music in my ears

[takokola]

An Unbreakable Bond

A Splatoon OC Fanfiction written by yours truely

Dewey, Maye, and Marina belongs to me.

Coral (mentioned) belongs to @splattoomy

Olivia (mentioned) belongs to @sharkray24

((On April 20th, Maye and Dewey turns 18 years old. On a special day like this, Dewey has been turned down by his crush. But he won't be sad for long, because he'll be running into a close childhood friend of his.))

"Cheer up, Dew.. There's plenty of fish in the sea.." Maye placed a hand on her twin brother's shoulder. Today is their 18th birthday and Dewey was sitting on the bench, feeling empty inside. Maye was trying her best to comfort him.

If only it was that easy..." Dewey didn't bother to look, directly at Maye. He stared down at the ground, not wanting everyone to see him at this state. About a few hours ago, Dewey was feeling confident enough to confess his love to Coral. His crush. Once he approached to her, Dewey blurted out his confession to her. After what feels like an eternity, Coral just giggled at his attempt. That's the moment where Dewey's heart, sank to the ground. Coral just rejected him with a kind smile. It was perfectly clear that she's not interested in him. Dewey felt so helpless and foolish, right about now.

Dewey kept silent until he finally looked up at Maye. He could see the corncern in her eyes. "Maye.. I appreciate you, cheering me up.. But, it's not enough to fill the hole in my heart.." He said, weakly. "Can you give me some time, alone? I'll catch up with you, later.." He just needed some space and think about his rejection.

Maye frowned at her brother until she sighed. She removed her hand from his shoulder and backed away. "Okay.. Don't be late, mister. Otherwise, I'll have to carry you back to home." And with that, Maye left him alone to himself.

Today has been such a bad start for his 18th birthday. He'd have the urge to cry, but crying isn't going to solve anything. Dewey would think about his udder rejection, but he'd somehow remembered what Fynn said.

("Rejection can take a heavy turn. If I were you, I'd move on and learn from it.") Those were the exact words from Fynn when he mentioned about giving up on his crush on Marie. Dewey had taken his advice, but forgetten all about it for 5 months.

"Tch... This isn't like me at all.." Dewey got up from his seat. He was no longer heartbroken, but filled with determination. "I, Dewey Isaac Berri won't just mope on some silly rejection." Dewey happily, stood proud. Maybe, a little too proud. He can finally catch up to Maye at the train station. The party doesn't start until 8 pm and Fynn and Angela were bringing the food and drinks to his mother, June Berri. Not to mention Maye's girlfriend, Olivia coming over to present Maye with a fantastic portrait.

Before he could catch up to Dewey, he heard some loud footsteps. Followed by a loud shriek from behind.

"L-Look out!!" A female voice filled Dewey's ears and the footsteps were getting closer and closer until... SMACK! Dewey collided with the poor inkling and feel onto the concrete ground. Tons of papers were flying all over the place, when the girl had crashed into him.

Dewey winced a bit after the massive impact. He was about to get up, but there was something large and soft in the way. Dewey was having a hard time to figure out, but he realised what's in front of him. Dewey blushed when he was greeted by a slightly large pair of mammaries in his direction.

"O-Owie..." The tall inkling winced as well. She looked down to see the pink inkling under her. She panicked due to being a Giant Squid. "Sorrysorrysorrysorrysorry!!!" She quickly got off of him. In her appearance, she has a pair of star-shaped contact lenses. And her tentacle was wavy and flowing down like a waterfall.

Dewey was able to get up. He stood on his feet and stared up at the tall inkling. He was a bit shorter than the young lady. If he would've guess her height, she is about 6'2 inches tall.

He'd soon notice the amount of papers that were scattered on the floor. The girl had dropped all of them, during the collision. "It's fine.. Let me help you with your papers." Dewey knelt down to gather up her papers.

"I was in a rush to catch my train.. Sorry, I bumped into you.." She knelt down as well. She was able to get the rest of her papers while Dewey gathered, a few.

Dewey was almost about to pick up the last paper, until he felt a hand. It was the blue inkling's hand. Dewey was startled, a bit by the touch. He stared into her eyes. There was something familiar about her and Dewey couldn't put his finger on it.

She had her hand on the last paper and she stared back at him with curiousness. She wouldn't mind the awkward silence between the two, but she could try to say something.

During their short staring contenst, he'd soon notice the shell earrings. Those were the same earrings that Dewey gave to his childhood best friend, 8 years ago. He let's out a small gas of shock and excitement. "Rinny...?! Is that really you..?!" Dewey's jaw went slack. The name, Rinny was a childhood pet name that Dewey came up with. His childhood friend's actual name is Marina Starling.

"Wait.. how..?" Marina squinted, a bit to get a closer look at him. She can recognize the birthmark under Dewey's right eye bu now. After several seconds of silence, Marina's eyes went as wide as pearls. She brought her other hand to her mouth in surprise. "N-No way..!! D-Dewey..?!" She cried.

Then, she squealed in joy and pounced on him. She wrapped her arms around Dewey in a tight and loving embracing. "I can't, it's you!! It's been ages!!" She cried out, loudly enough for the other citizens could hear.

Dewey can feel the warmth against Marina's body. He would hug back, but he could barely move. Or breathe.

"Nnng.. R-Rinny.. you're crushing me..." He was gasping for air due to Marina's vicegrip. Marina heard his plead and she lossed the hug, letting him breathe for sweet air.

"Oh cod, I'm so sorry..! I couldn't help it.." She is always apologetic towards people. It's in her nature to do so. "Are you alright? I didn't squish you too hard, did I?" She asked with a concern look on her face.

"No.. I'm fine." He said, gasping for more air. He knew, she was able to crush the life out of someone. Marina is a hugger, after all. "So, how are you today? I haven't heard from you, since we were kids." He straightened up his vest.

"Oh! I've been doing well! I've living in Inkopolis Square for almost a decade now. So, what about you?" Marina is eager to hear what Dewey's been up, lately.

"Just plain old high school. I'm still a senior and half-way there til' graduation." High school had been pretty rough on Dewey. He's one of the honor students and able to enroll in one of the finest colleges in Inkopolis. The senior projects were stressful, enough.

Marina got up on her feet, once again and helped Dewey up. "As long as you're hanging in there, champ~!" Marina smiled. She's so happy to see Dewey again, but hasn't noticed that she was running to catch the train.

"It was good meeting you, again. I was about to catch up with Maye.. Otherwise, she'll drag me to the train." Typical Maye. His twin sister would never take no for an answer.

Marina had realized that she was still running late. "Oh my gosh!! I'm still running late!!" She cried. She was about to hurry, until she saw a bunch a papers on the floor again. She dropped them again after she glomped on her childhood friend. She stared at Dewey and chuckled, nervously. "But first, we need to gather up my papers.. again."

Dewey lets out a sigh and got back to picking up her papers. "You are such a handful, y'know that?" Some things never change between the unbreakable bond.

Meanwhile, Maye was on her way to get Dewey. Dewey had been testing her patience, one too many times. Maye had taken the same path that she left Dewey behind for a few minutes. "Stuborn brother..." She mumbled to herself. Maye really meant her word about dragging him to the train station if he likes it or not.

Dewey scanned the rest of Marina's papers. It appears to be flyers for a junior singing competition. "Come on, come all to the 1st Annual Junior Singers Competition.." He read the flyer and looked at Marina with an intrigued look on his face. "So, that's you were in a rush?" He asked.

"Mmhm! I was running an errand from the owner of a music store in Inkopolis Square. I took the train to the printing shop to make copies. After I was done, I realized that I was going to miss my ride.. Well, that's when I crashed into you.." She smiled, sheepishly. "Anyway, what's going on with you?" She asked, moving closer to him.

Dewey's smile would soon disappear. He looked down on the ground, not meeting her gaze. "It's nothing.." He lied.

Marina looked concern. Something seemed very troubling for Dewey. "That doesn't look like nothing to me.. Now, tell me what's been troubling you?" They both slowed down their pace for a minute. Marina wouldn't mind listening to their problems during work hours. She's like the mother, they never had.

Dewey didn't know where to start, but he decided to get this off his chest. He explained about his crush, Coral and how she rejected him. His twin sister cheered him up, but it was enough. "I felt so stupid.. She doesn't like me, like I like her.." He self-loathed, thinking about what happened earlier.

"Oh, dear.. You poor thing.." She brought her hand to her mouth, even more concerned. Who would've thought that crush of his would be so cruel to him. Suddenly, she pulled him into a warm hug. She didn't crush him this time.

Surprised, he looked up into Marina's eyes. "Marina.. I..." He began to say, but Marina interrupted him with a silent "shhhhh..."

"It's going to be alright.. I'm always here for you..." Her soothing tone made Dewey relaxed. Despite of Dewey being shorter than her, he nuzzled against her chest.

"Thanks, Marina.. I'll be fine.." Dewey felt whole, again. The hug felt like an eternity between the two squids. By the time they let go, they turned to see Maye in their point-of-view. Maye had been standing there, motionless for 5 seconds.

"Oh, dear.." He sighed, waving a hand at Maye. "Hey, sis." And the concludes their heart-warming moment between the two.

After a few more minutes of trying to snap Maye back to reality, they were all walking to the train station. Maye had already recognized Marina, after their childhood. The girls were chatting, while Dewey is checking the time. They still have time before the birthday party.

"So, both of ya'll are turning 18 on your birthdays? That's great!" Marina wished, she had a special present for them. But it was too much to ask. "So, are you throwing a party?"

Maye nodded, enthusiastically. "Mom, Fynn, and Angie are hosting a little get-together. Nothing big or special. I'm also inviting my super-artsy girlfriend over, since she's living upstairs~!" Maye couldn't wait to see Oliva's birthday gift. Suddenly, Maye smirked at the two. "You should come, as well. Dewey needed some alone time with you, if you catch my drift~" She winked before giggling.

"M-Maye!!" He said, mortified. His blush increased when Maye mentioned something more intimate.

Marina blushed, slightly until she began to giggle. "Hehee~ I would go, but.." She trailed off her sentence. "I've got a busy night to help with my boss with the flyers." So much for spending plenty of time with Dewey.

"Awww..." Disappointed, Maye understood her priorities. It would've been a complete bummer for Dewey. Sooner or later, they made it to the train station. The trip to Flounder Heights was a 20-25 minute ride. Marina's train ride was longer than theirs.

"Well, we must be off. Mom would worry us if we don't make it." He said, spotting their only chance of getting back home. He turned to Marina and smiled. "It was nice meeting you, Marina. I hope, you'll see each other without bumping into one another."

Marina smiled. She's happy to see Dewey's usual self, once again. "Likewise!" Marina also handed out 2 flyers for the Berri Twins. Followed by Marina's phone number on Dewey's flyer. "If you want, come and visit the singers competition at the Starfish Mainstage! They've got free food and drinks~♪" She chimed, happily.

Dewey noticed the phone number on his flyer. He chuckled, a bit and nodded. "I'll be there." He gave her a thumbs up as a sign of grattitude.

"There's one more thing, before you go.." Marina walked closer to him. Her blush is awfully noticable. Then, she knelt down to Dewey's level and kissed him on the cheek. "Happy Birthday, Dewey.." She whispered into his ear, causing him to fluster a lot.

Maye seemed happily surprised by this. She knew, Dewey would find love at some point. And he doesn't mind, at all.

"Th-Thanks.. L-Let's go home, Maye.." He titled his classic boater down, not letting anyone see his adorbably flushed face.

"Bye-bye~! I'll save you some cake after this~!" Maye said her goodbyes and caught up with Dewey. She can't wait to tell her mom and teammates about this.

Marina waved back at them with a kind smile. Now that they left to catch the train, Marina was all to herself until her train arrives. No matter how bad their separation turned out to be, their bond remains unbreakable for years to come.

And finally, Marina's train arrived.

THE END

[breakingarrows]

Feedback on Claim of Bias

"Does Nintendo Get A Pass with Reviews?" KindaFunny Gamescast Ep 111 (Pt. 4) published on March 16, 2017 [Transcript located at the bottom of this post]

The question was posed, "Do Nintendo games get higher scores due to a critic’s nostalgia or bias for Nitnendo?" First off, in regards to Breath of the Wild, I can tell you firsthand nostalgia is not the reason Breath of the Wild is getting high scores. As someone who has played and gotten quickly bored of The Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Twilight Princess, and Minish Cap, I have really enjoyed Breath of the Wild and think it is a very high quality game. I do not have the nostalgia for Nintendo but if I had to review Breath of the Wild I would first have to finish it though I believe (based on my forty hours of playtime) that I would most likely also give it a very high score because I believe it is very good and could back that up with text arguments. Although since I have not finished it, I cannot say anything definitively as far as a review score, just my inclination.

Now does that mean I think those who do not align with my own opinion and do not give Breath of the Wild a very high score are wrong? No. They simply have a separate and different opinion from me. Just as those who complain about a number decreasing on Metacritic for a game they love because one review had a lower-than-average score have no merit, the inverse is true: people who complain about a number increasing on Metacritic for a game they do not enjoy because reviews have been higher-than-average have no merit.

The questioner also states Breath of the Wild was, "praised for features that have been a staple in the industry for five plus years..." I would be curious as to what specific features he has in mind when saying this. Is it the open world? The cooking? The towers? I know these features are not new, but I would argue that they are presented and implemented in such a way that is of a high quality. The open world is large and not empty or contain copy-and-paste side missions. The cooking has a delightful animation and gives me satisfying boosts to combat and general travel that I am happy to engage with. The towers you must climb reveal parts of the map, but do not then go on to fill it with icons for side missions like any Ubisoft open world game and instead pushes the player to actually explore to find things. These are features, elements, and systems we have seen before, but that does not automatically make their implementation banned from praise.

Then we come to Colin. "I do not believe Twilight Princess is a 95/Skyward Sword is a 92/Breath of the Wild is a 98." That is his opinion, but by stating it in regards to the Metacritic number he is calling out those who do believe those games are of high quality as being wrong.

Because Colin does not believe the number should be so high, he does not believe that the reviewers who contributed to that score were correct in their assignment of a number to a game. Not because of the argument made in the text of a review for why a certain score was given, but because Metacritic pumped it into its vague formula and outputted a single number. Metacritic is problematic enough for reducing all opinions and varying scores into a single number for every game. Assigning a baseline number to every game, no matter how varied or different they are from one another, reducing them to a number on the same playing field, is dumb.

"I think there are some critics, some journalists that do as much as they can to try and sell games for Nintendo." I would be very interested to hear who specifically he is talking about, because this really vague statement appears like many comments sections at the bottom of reviews claiming "You are bias for/against X" or “moneyhat” I have a big issue for this given that Colin comes from a background where he knows how the review process works and is an insult to other reviewers who give high scores not because they have some form of stock in Nintendo’s bottom line, no one from major sites listed on Metacritic do, but because they genuinely think the game is amazing and write at length about why they think that.

He makes an example of Ocarina of Time, the last "revolutionary" Zelda game. He uses the phrase “revolutionary” as if it is the only bar by which we judge a game's quality. Not by the overall quality of everything it is and is not doing. Instead a game has to be "revolutionary" in Colin's eyes in order to gain such high praise. It can't simply be doing everything very well.

He also makes an example of Splatoon, saying if it was sold on another platform it would not have done as well, because it was merely "a third person team shooter that you play online…" Not because it was a unique take where instead of trying to kill everyone on the opposing team you are trying to paint the field in colorful ink.

Here's a review sample: "What I love most about Splatoon is how you’re rewarded more for your awareness and willingness to pitch into a team effort than you are for “killing” anything. It’s not like “splatting” your foes isn’t a crucial part of the equation, but after so many multiplayer games in which pure murder is the only measure of success, it’s refreshing to play one – a third-person shooter, no less – that deemphasizes the violence in favor of less direct competition." That was from one Jim Sterling, someone Colin frequently cites as a friend.

By stating Splatoon would have sold less and reviewed lower had it released on a PlayStation platform, he is insinuating that Sterling gave it an 8 out of 10 for being sold on a Nintendo platform. Not because it was, in Sterling's opinion, backed by text, a great game.

Colin also brings back the old faithful word-of-the-day, "objective" which essentially means basing a qualitative review on facts instead of someone’s personal opinion which is, ahem, what reviews are. To have an objective review you cannot state an opinion or viewpoint, instead it merely has to be a listing of the features with no qualitative judgment given. “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has graphics. It will sometimes play sounds. There are swords. Etc.” that is what an objective review looks like. Many more can be found at Objectivegamereivews.com

Lastly, "It’s not a 98. I can tell you that from playing it for a couple hours [emphasis mine], no way in God's green earth." Now look, I haven’t completed the game either, and I don’t think you need to complete something this large or 100% it to give an opinion of quality, but if you are going to give a definitive statement such as that, only playing for a couple of hours really discredits your argument.

Bottom line, you’re better than arguments like this. Earlier in the Gamescast you laid out your complaints and problems with the game and gave an argument for why you didn’t think it was that great. However, attempting to undermine other people’s reviews by spouting a pro-Nintendo conspiracy that has no basis in facts, discredits your claims. Statements such as this, and ones from your past regarding games, has severely discredited your opinion since I must think, “Okay does he have an argument to back that up or is he saying it because he feels a certain way but has no cogent argument?” It’s insulting to reviewers who spend lots of time formulating their argument for why they think a game is good for you to undermine them by stating they simply have a bias. You’re smarter than this.

 Transcript

Question: Does Nintendo get a pass, yes it’s a very clickbait question, disclaimer these are just by observations etc. Breath of the Wild currently sits at a 98 on Metacritic with virtually every major outlet giving it a perfect or near perfect score. By all accounts this game is great I'm not trying to dispute that, but I also know that I have heard of many a handful of people in the industry praise Skyward Sword and Twilight Princess and yet those games respectively have a 93 and 95 on metacritic. So my question, and/or discussion topic is this: Do big Nintendo franchises have a tendency to draw out higher scores from reviewers based on virtually every "games journalist" having some kind of childhood nostalgia for Nintendo? Again I'm not saying Skyward Sword or Breath of the Wild is anything other than great but looking from the sidelines it certainly seems like Nintendo gets reviewed in a vacuum and praised for features that have been a staple in the industry for five plus years sometimes.

[Greg and Tim give their answers.]

Colin: "Nintendo clearly deals with a super pro-bias in the gaming industry and has since I joined it. If their game, with the exception of maybe Super Mario Galaxy, would have been scored probably a full point or two points or even lower on Metacritic if they were not a Nintendo platforms, not made by Nintendo. I think Zelda is the great example of that. Twilight Princess is in no way shape or form a 95, and Skyward Sword is in no way shape or form a 92, and I don't believe for one second that this game is in any way shape or form a 98. [How much has he played? "A couple hours"] I was saying, 'Wow welcome to 2008,' just in terms of my initial impressions of Zelda. What is it? I think it’s so obvious that if this wasn't a Zelda game no way would it get 10s. I think that's obvious, people can look at that as anti-Nintendo-bias but I think that there is a strong pro-Nintendo bias in the industry. I think it has something to do with what you said that people grew up with Nintendo and root for them in a way. I think there are some critics some journalists that do as much as they can to try and sell you games for Nintendo. I think that it's kind of shitty, I agree with his insertion that the last time there was a Zelda game that was truly revolutionary was Ocarina of Time. Now my favorite Zelda game is Majora's Mask but it wasn't revolutionary. Ocarina of Time was revolutionary. Just like Mario 64 in its own way was revolutionary and Super Mario Galaxy did something to 3D Mario and made it revolutionary in its own way. But Nintendo is given way too much credit for making these amazing revolutionary games. Like Splatoon was PlayStation only you wouldn't give a fuck about it. If Splatoon was on PlayStation or Xbox One it would have sold a hundred thousand copies probably. Because Nintendo made a third person team shooter that you play online suddenly it’s this revolution. I'm a little tired of it personally. I wish I knew how people really felt about Zelda or how good, I wish there was some sort of objective way of what is this Zelda game it’s not a 98. I can tell you that from playing it for a couple hours, no way in God's green earth. So how would it be scored if it was on a PlayStation? It’s a great question, they're the only company that enjoys that. "