#the answer was 'all of them except the one with the ace protag'

[ilovedthestars]

why are all the queer stories romance (unless they're about the 1 token ace person)

[actualbird]

So as someone who got into Tears of Themis partially because it reminded me of Ace Attorney, I hope you and anon don't mind if I toss my own ideas into this!

If mc and Artem were in Ace Attorney, they'd pretty obviously be the young female and older male dynamic in pretty much every game except mc isn't a teen like everyone else. Also following Ace Attorney's rules this would be Artem Wing Ace Attorney with mc as the sidekick but I find the role reversal more fun so mc remains the main character this time. Artem's already her co-counsel in tot anyway.

I think it'd be hilarious if mc was like the other protags giving snarky commentary on the absurdity of the setting while Artem is completely accepting of all of this and that's why he can remain serious and not pull funny faces all the time. Artem operates within Ace Attorney logic while mc operates on ours. Yes mc, I do think it's normal that Luke's myna bird is the size of a human, why do you ask?

This would also keep the humour present in the mc-Artem dynamic I feel since most of the humour in the dynamic is the peppy sidekick making zany comments which isn't in character for Artem. So instead, make him comically serious!

Mild spoilers for a game mechanic of the Great Ace Attorney here in case anyone reading this is playing, but I think the gimmick of this particular au could be something similar to the Dance of Deduction. It'd be less humorous because Artem wouldn't be making ridiculously wrong assumptions for mc to correct like an actual Dance of Deduction, but the rest of what makes the Dances fun like the dramatic spotlights on characters and important items as well as the visual presentation of filling in the details of what happened in the case could very easily be kept. Even the ending of the Dance of Deduction could probably be made to fit in a tot modern setting by making it a report typed into the NXX database. (I know this is not a good description of what the Dance of Deductions are like so I highly recommend watching one for reference. They're very fun to watch!) The questions the boys ask mc during cases that she has to answer in tot's chapters could easily be repurposed Dance of Deduction too. Besides if we really need the dancing around I think Marius as a guest assistant would be more than happy to mess around a bit sfjdif

Mostly the Ace Attorney characters tend to remain fairly unaffiliated with any organisations but I don't see a way tot's story could be carried out without joining NXX so I'll make an exception and say that happens anyway. It would be interesting to have Artem hide his involvement with NXX from mc and have a "is he trustworthy" story beat though...

This is my very barebones structure for how mc and Artem would be like in Ace Attorney. As a bonus, here's what everyone's gimmicks would be if they were the main characters! Spoilers for...nearly all mechanics in the Ace Attorney games here.

Artem would have Logic, pretty straightforward here. It functions the same as it does in the actual games, join two logic statements that are related to each other together to discover more about the case.

Luke is a little trickier, but I think he could have Psyche Locks. This is mostly from the many scenes in tot where he's getting information out from people and also because his key necklace makes for some neat symbolism. In this case the locks aren't actually something he can see, it's a visual metaphor, and also he isn't threatening people for information. Well, maybe he still does that a little but mostly he relies on evidence.

Vyn was a tossup between Perceive and Mood Matrix for a while, but ultimately I think Perceive fits him better because of the moments in his personal story where he catches someone averting their eyes or something and deeming them suspicious as a result. Mood Matrix isn't quite his specialty. Just like Luke, Vyn doesn't need a physical trinket to use his ability, it's just a built in thing. Something different about Vyn's Perceive is that sometimes the lack of a nervous tic when someone should be nervous is what clues him into something. In this way a little bit of Mood Matrix is mixed in since the lack of a certain emotion was sometimes what you needed to point out to proceed unlike Perceive where you Had to find a tic.

Finally, Marius gets Logic Chess. It was very, very difficult to find a gimmick that fitted Marius, but I think Logic Chess does the job reasonably well. It requires you to know when to hold back and when to be aggressive to get information, which is something Marius has displayed in I think main story chapter 5 when he meets with Stellis News' editor-in-chief. He starts out pretty polite but goes on the aggressive after a certain point. Just like Luke, Marius' Logic Chess is a visual metaphor though in this case it's always been one.

And that's about it for my thoughts on an Ace Attorney tot au! This was a lot of fun to write fgidiy

🌌

irt my fever dream aa/tot edit that i almost forgot i made

first off, milkyway, i need to tell you this is all WONDERFUL however i have no idea what any of it means or have forgotten all about them sans the Psyche Locks jjhjVKJ it has been...so long since ive played aa...that being said, i love your rationales for everyone oh my gosh, it's all so well thought out even and it all fits SO WELL if i havent experienced/remember the mechanics!!!

secondly, the aa player to tot player pipeline is such an entertaining demographic. i partly also got into tot for that reason (while it's been years since ive played any aa game, the Core Memories at 12 years old still shine brightly) and when coworkers ask me what this game im so obsessed with is about my go-to is always "do you know ace attorney? it's like that but you can kiss the characters. also it's nothing like ace attorney." jkHVKSJHDFVKJSHDGKS

thank u for all of this it's DELIGHTFUL :DDD

[deadletterpoets]

Alright @butchatalanta

First off I am taking a break from my Assassin's Creed playthrough after I finished ACIII a couple months ago so as of now I have played AC, ACII, AC Brotherhood, AC Revelations, ACIII, AC Origins, AC Odyssey, and AC Valhalla and I'm beaten them all except Origins and Valhalla. Just a reminder before I answer.

My top 3 in no order:

Kassandra - Technically not an Assassin in the way people want, but do I care? Nope. She's buff, she's rough, she's the reason I came back to the AC franchise and I love her.

Evie Frye- Haven't even played as her yet, but she's too cute and already a fav based purely on the gifs I've seen lol

Aya - As much as I like Bayek, and I do, she should've been the main Assassin in Origins. Ubisoft apparently even planned to make her the main, but sexism in the workplace by higher ups who don't believe women can sell in video games kept that from happening. Same reason they then went to "Choose between male and female" for the next two games (And I'm hearing the next game is back to just a male protag so wonderful how we're just taking steps back huh?)

Alright one more since Evie isn't really an answer

Ezio - I mean this seems like an obvious answer, but come on. He's the one that got the most development and depth and attention. We played as him growing from a young assassin to an old mentor and while the games weren't perfect it was fascinating to witness.

[drbtinglecannon]

Ok so @bad-luck-qrow made this post about an exchange they had with their cousin, who Galaxy brained suggested a far better solution than what v7e12 did. I really wanted to expand and ramble off on it and all the ways this rewrite idea was better than what canon did, but I didn’t want to bog down their original post so here’s a new one!

Their cousin had suggested that instead of Clover dying in ep12, that Qrow was the one who Tyrian stabbed, but he survived. It would’ve avoided any character death and given Clover the chance to reconcile with the fact his partner almost died because he refused to disobey Ironwood’s orders for even a moment.

I love that! Avoids BYG, allows more development for Clover, avoids unnecessary character death angst, and frankly CRWBY wouldn’t have gotten nearly the amount of backlash it did over that ep. The only addition I’d make to this rewrite idea is that Qrow purposely threw himself in the way to save Clover, and the reasons for that is because it would have…

Followed Qrow’s canon tendency for self-sacrifice, and allowed this unhealthy habit to be later addressed and worked on like his alcoholism currently is. Frankly I’m surprised it hasn’t been mentioned at all thus far in canon (that I can think of anyway), because it’s come up in a few fights I can think of off the top of my head where it incapacitated him at least briefly when he did this, the most notable one being in his first fight with Tyrian. So addresses a bad habit and comes full circle.

Shown Qrow AND Clover both following the theme song’s message of ‘trusting love’. The theme songs are supposed to be super relevant to the volume right, but I can’t think of a single case of someone trusting love over duty or orders or what have you in the volume ending, except Penny who was like…already mostly on their team anyway? Winter went against her own sister, the Ace Ops fought the kids, Ironwood turned against Oz and almost killed Oscar to do so, and Clover decided orders to arrest Qrow were more important than dealing with the serial killer who works for Salem (Which were already orders he was following. Why do new ones cancel out the old one?). If the fight ended with this rewrite idea it would’ve followed that theme, but especially it would’ve portrayed Qrow and Clover following that theme, two chars who arguably should do so the most. Qrow with his history of being betrayed and fear of getting close and self-hatred from his semblance, and Clover the professional military man who keeps everyone including his own team at arms length and expressed (in a throwaway line) that he trusted James with his life. The growing relationship between these two despite the long laundry list of reasons they could’ve hated each other was a reoccurring subplot in this volume, and it should’ve had some kind of fucking pay out. Imagine if Clover saying “I wanted to trust you too” was the last verbal exchange they had before Qrow threw himself in the way of the attack? That despite their disagreement and the bs of that situation Qrow trusted in love, and then with Clover having to rush to get him help and reevaluate that if he just listened to his heart Qrow wouldn’t have gotten hurt in the first place.

Been adequate angst without BYG! Imagine! Getting angst without a graphic death of a queercoded char!

Been far more interesting than killing Clover ever was. People are more attached to Qrow, unlike Clover he’s been around for a while, has been given the chance to grow, and is directly related to the protags. He has a lot more involvement and at stake with the plot so people would’ve been more invested in him getting better than with Clover doing so. We just met Clover, give us more time to get to know him and fall in love; what better way than to have him save a char everyone already loves!

Allowed some great symbolism with their semblances (that somehow ended up being a completely wasted opportunity the entire volume). The unlucky one survived again, the lucky one survived only because of the unlucky one’s involvement and not by his own luck, Clover cursing his luck he let Qrow get hurt, etc. It’d also maybe get some more use of Clover’s pin (that got its own focus in the opening) and how Clover can more or less control good fortune whereas Qrow can’t control misfortune, like idk he flicks it calling for help even though they’re out of range but help answers and shows up soon enough it can save Qrow.

Allowed Clover more character development!!! What’s the point of introducing new chars and killing them before we can really get attached? Drama? Get out of here. Personally, watching an already beaten down broken man that was trying to recover and finally made a friend scream out in agony against the bi flag sunrise was not at all enjoyable!! However, watching the Mr. Perfect new guy panic while his meticulously crafted military persona crumbles as he does everything he can to save his new friend (lover) and ignore orders he knew were bad all the while? That I’d be interested in, provided it had the payout of everyone living which in this scenario it does. It’d expand so much more on the many hints that Clover was more than a blindly loyal bootlicker too. Plus from a writing standpoint, watching someone panic as they go against all odds to save their loved ones and the visceral relief when they succeed will always be infinitely more interesting and worthwhile to watch than violently killing chars off for the dramatics imo. (BYG trope or not it’s just not good writing!)

Caused the tension between Qrow and Tyrian to reach new heights in a satisfying way. (@theonceoverthinker wrote a post on this that I was specifically thinking of writing this bullet point.) Like, from Tyrian’s POV in this rewrite he tried to get revenge and STILL failed, this bitch survived a stab from him twice! TWICE! For a serial killer with a personal beef with this guy that’s gotta drive him insane! There’d be great potential for an all-hell-breaks-loose fight now. Instead the way Tyrian said his final words before running off in ep12, it gave the impression he knew Qrow was just gonna rot away in guilt and anguish, that he won, he got his revenge and that’s the end of that conflict, that the combined efforts of 3 seasoned Huntsmen/Huntresses was wasted. I know it probably won’t go that way and Tyrian will probably die by Qrow or Ruby’s hand, but watching that scene it felt like both Tyrian and Qrow accepted that Tyrian won and it was over. Idk maybe that’s just me.

Would’ve expanded upon Qrow and Clover’s relationship, which was am important subplot this volume, in a way that’s like, feasible to fix. I love the Staff of Creation theory, but honestly the trauma and broken trust those two are gonna have to work through feels overwhelming as hell, and that’s ignoring how long the feelings of guilt and bitterness are gonna be festering before Clover gets res’d (if it even happens). Instead, if Clover saved Qrow after Qrow saved him, yeah there would still be that conflict to work through (and Qrow’s self-sacrificing I mentioned earlier), but neither one died, they both immediately showed great care for the other by their actions in that situation, and would’ve been able to apologize and start mending their relationship pretty much instantly from there. Plus, it’d be so easy to finally drive home their dynamic was in fact romantic in this situation, something a lot of fans (homophobes) kept arguing against despite all the flirting, and winking, and call back to canon het flirting volumes ago, and complimenting semblances/colors, and parallels to bumbleby and a few to nuts and dolts too. Think of the romantic tropes this could’ve done, the tenderness the dialogue the reunion scene!! Wasted!!

Ok I think I’m done and y'all get the point. I’m not gonna say OP’s cousin was the first to suggest this rewrite idea, but when I read it I started frantically thinking of all the ways it would’ve easily fixed the shitstorm that ep12 ended up being.

[healing-hanyou]

Ace Attorney, Danganronpa, Love Live for the ask meme

STRAP YOURSELVES IN, KIDDOS. THIS IS A FUCKING ESSAY RIGHT HERE.

Ace Attorney:

Favorite Male Character: Miles Edgeworth. Shi-Long Lang is great as well. I also have a soft spot for Klavier, Sebastian and Apollo. And, naturally, my space son, Clay Terran.

Favorite Female Character: Kay Faraday!! Props also go to Mia Fey and Trucy Wright, as well as Athena and Jinxie.

Favorite Het Ship: Farabeste (Sebastian/Kay). Cykesquill as well, but I’m very specific about how and when I like it...like, ridiculously specific. Diego/Mia is good as well. For something more ridiculous that I think would be fun, Clay and Athena could have had a great dynamic. Maybe even Clay and Jinxie, if we go out and be totally wild.

Favorite Slash Ship (both M/M and F/F): Klapollo, Langworth, Nahyuta/Simon. Vera/Trucy, lady Cykesquill, Robin/Myriam and Athena/Juniper for the ladies. 

Least Favorite Male Character: how to I condense the list of the bastards? Kristoph is evil, but I cannot deny he had charm as a character - he’s terrifying, but fascinating, so I cannot name him as my least favourite. I think I’ll go with either von Karma or Blaze Debeste. They’re responsible for so much misery, and they don’t have any tragic reasons for being the way they are.

Least Favorite Female Character: Ma//ya Fe//y. I know the reasons people have for liking her, and I can forgive some flaws in writing, but she simply has too many of them. I know she is a courageous girl who ultimately wishes to do good, but the way she acts, especially in the first two games... just make me go ‘hmmmm’. Honestly, my favourite games in the series are those where I don’t get to see her. Young Pearl is also very low down on the list, and she was my least favourite for a long while, but her teenage years made me soften up to her, she’s pretty great in DD.

Least Favorite Het Ship: anything that encourages abuse, like Grant/Lana? Why would you do this? Also, I’m not fond of Athena/Apollo or Juniper/Apollo. Apollo is far too gay in my eyes to ever be together with a girl. Phoenix/Maya is another one I dislike.

Least Favorite Slash Ship (both M/M and F/F): same rule as above applies. Aside from those, I... don’t have many slash ships I actively dislike, surprisingly? My main one would be Wri//ght//wor//th, since, in my opinion, it’s very overhyped, and I cannot turn around in this fandom without seeing it, but even that is mostly just...annoyance.

Dirty Little Secret: I haven’t forgotten about my dumbass theory. I’m just...really fucking slow.

Headcanon(s): this will need to be answered in its own separate asks. I have headcanons for everyone. For now, though - Jinxie Tenma is a Fey.

Unpopular Opinion(s): I like Gyakuten Kenji far more than the original games. In general, games with a protag that’s not Phoenix and newer games in the series I tend to like more. Not to imply that the original trilogy was bad or anything, but... Edgeworth is far more solid as a protagonist, not only because his side was relatively unexplored, but because his investigation methods were so much more sensible. Phoenix has this ‘wing it’ approach, which works fine, until you see past it. When you see past it, the tension build-up it tries to pull fails massively, and you just get annoyed by Phoenix never thinking ahead for anything, or being oblivious. With Edgeworth, when there are moments of tension, they appear because of something genuinely unexpected, or because Edgeworth made a miscalculation (which allows character growth). Even when Edgeworth has to pull dumb or crazy shit, it feels like it makes sense, because he thinks, even when he panics. Also, Phoenix is tied down by the worst accompanying duo of Maya and Pearl all the time, while Edgeworth acquires an absolutely amazing set of sidekicks (and he not only gets fun new ones, like Kay and Lang, but there’s so much detail in his interactions with Gumshoe, Franziska and Larry as well? It was great to see the Edgeworth/Larry dynamic of the friendship). Plus, I like the Logic Chess things, the soundtrack is my favourite (how exactly COULD you even attempt to top Shi-Long Lang’s theme???), at least if we’re not counting PLvsAA as a part of this universe, and I like the visuals of it much better. In short, everybody should play these fucking games right fucking now, and storm Capcom offices so they actually port GK2 for the Western market.

A lot of the same criteria apply for the newer games, too. While DD was a comeback for Phoenix, it was a game with mixed protagonists, and it was a new Phoenix as well. Apollo probably has my second favourite supporting character crew after Edgeworth, and, at the time, his Perceive mechanic was refreshing to see after being stuck to the same gimmick for 3 games. Same with Athena. She differs dractically from both Phoenix and Apollo, and brings a new mechanic and a new set of associated people. In other words? I’m happy this series is trying new things, and exploring extra protagonists where it can. It has improved a whole bunch as a result.

Danganronpa:

Favorite Male Character: Byakuya Togami, Kiyotaka Ishimaru. Nagisa Shingetsu. Gundham Tanaka, Hajime Hinata, Kuzuryuu Fuyuhiko, Nagito Komaeda. Shuuichi Saihara, Ouma Kokichi, Rantarou Amami.

Favorite Female Character: Aoi Asahina, Celes, Touko Fukawa. Sonia Nevermind, Peko Pekoyama, Akane Owari, Ibuki Mioda. Angie Yonaga, Kirumi Toujou, Maki Harukawa, Tenko Chabashira. 

Favorite Het Ship: Togami/Asahina, Ishimaru/Asahina, Hinata/Ibuki, Tanaka/Pekoyama (I’m especially fond of this one, also titled Soft Animals Edge Duo). Sonia/Kuzuryuu is also great, though that is a platonic ship, as I headcanon Sonia as aro.

Favorite Slash Ship (both M/M and F/F): Naegi/Ishimaru, Naegi/Togami. KomaNaegi is quite pure, but a friend also got me into KomaSouda as a complimentary ship to TanaPeko. A crackship, but still a favourite is Izuru/Ryouta. And, of course, the ultimate fave - Saiouma. (A nice shoutout also goes to Oumota and Amamota). As for the ladies, Kirizono and Celesgiri, and all gay Asahina ships are good, SoniAkane & Pekobuki. In V3, Tenko is mega gay, so there’s a chance for every gay ship, however, my favourite one is Tenko/Maki. If we’re talking non-Tenko ships, Angie/Maki sounds fun.

Least Favorite Male Character: in DR1, surprisingly, none. Well, Hagakure can get on my nerves, but I like just alright all of them. In SDR2, Nidai, in my opinion, didn’t have that great of a development, so I guess him. Though I also have plenty of issues with Souda. In V3, Gon//ta Go//ku//ha//ra.

Least Favorite Female Character: All DR1 girls are good, and even if they aren’t, they’re at least interesting or entertaining. But if I have to pick, Junko, if we’re judging morality. In SDR2, Mi//kan Tsu//mi//ki and Hi//yo//ko Sai//onji,in terms of morality and/or being dicks. In terms of rather poor writing (despite having a good idea), Chi//a//ki Na//na//mi. In V3, H//i//m//i//k//o Y//u//m//e//n//o and K//a//e//d//e A//k//a//m//a//t//s//u. The final one is also my least favourite in the entirety of the series as a whole.

Least Favorite Het Ship: Jun//ko//ma//e//da. In general, any Junko ship is not very good for plenty of reasons. Na//e//gi//ri. In SDR2, Souda/Sonia (she’s clearly not comfortable with him), Nidai/Akane, Hi//na//na//mi.. Not sure if should be mentioned here, but romantic Kuzupeko? Mostly because I cannot picture it as a thing. I do, however, like them platonically, they do care about each other a whole bunch. In V3, Sa//i//ma//tsu (never make me look at it). 

Least Favorite Slash Ship (both M/M and F/F): Chi//hi//mon//do. Even if I do like Mondo okay, it’s not healthy. Ka//mu//ko//ma. Son//dam. Jun//ko//mi//kan? Mahiru/Peko for sure. Kiib//ou//ma, too.

And the one I guarantee I’ll receive anon hate over - Te//n//hi//mi.

Dirty Little Secret: this series somehow manages to combine the good with the ridiculous in such a way that I can accept.

Unpopular Opinion(s): I am the literal embodiment of unpopular opinions in this franchise. I think V3 is the best game of the series, and it had a brilliant twist (both the start one and the final one). I don’t really ship the most popular ships, the obvious exception being Saiouma (and, to an extent, SoniAkane? It’s a popular Akane ship, at least). I think Saihara is a far better protag choice than the other option that was presented, since the story and its structure was made to fit him. I’m the unpopular opinion and rarepair central in this fucking thing. (Please help me.)

Love Live!:

Favorite Male Character: yay for not having prominent males, which means I get to skip 2 more questions here.

Favorite Female Character: In Muse’s, my top 3 is Hanayo, Eli and Maki. In Aquors, my top 3 is You, Kanan and Dia (though Mari and Chika are also very lovable).

Favorite Slash Ship (both M/M and F/F): Makipana! It’s very very cute. I also quite like HonoEli. HonoMaki is also quite nice. In Aquors, YouKanan or DiaKanan. 

Least Favorite Female Character: Not unpopular by any means, but Ni//co Ya//za//wa. In terms of singing voice, Kotori. In Aquors, R//i//k//o S//a//k//u//r//a//u//c//h//i. 

Least Favorite Slash Ship (both M/M and F/F): Ni//co//ma//ki??? I will never understand why people like it. In Aquors, Chi//ka//ri//ko and You//ri//ko. 

Dirty Little Secret: I quite like A-RISE. Every song they’ve ever done is an absolute banger, as the youth says.

Unpopular Opinion(s): would you look at that. Another fandom where I’m the monarch of rarepairs.

[donnyjabronie]

Far Cry 5 Spoiler Rant

Let me preface this by saying this is going to be very spoiler-y, as my biggest nitpick with the game is how it ends. It’s pretty much all I talk about. If you don’t wish to be spoiled, turn back now. 

~~~~~

Far Cry 5 was a decent entry into the Far Cry franchise, and a fun game for being $60. Despite having less gun variety, less animal variety, heck just less variety in general in terms of the world and immersing you when compared to it’s 3 year old predecessor Far Cry 4, yet it still almost seemed more fun. The gameplay is a fun time, towers are gone thank god and instead we have more creative ways to go about capturing the lands back, and all in all it feels like it took 2 steps back and 3 steps forward; it excelled in aspects that the other games did not such as gunplay and gameplay, but fell in aspects such as the environments and variety we saw in the earlier entry. 

But I’m an RPG nerd. I want a good story, even if it’s in a dumb shoot game like Far Cry.  

Now, Far Cry 4 didn’t have the best story, but it definitely had the best villain in my opinion. Pagan Min was perfect at hitting the mark of sympathetic villain; he’s a ruthless dictator, but at the end of the day that’s all he really is. Not straight up evil, but certainly not good either. This, combined with the allies you had in the story, led to a solid hollow-victory ending. One problem was solved, but it made it clear that this wasn’t the end and whoever took his place would be just as bad. When a game can pull off an ending like this, it can be quite thoughtful or solid, but sometimes a game tries to give you a hollow-victory or even a failure ending and it winds up unsatisfying and unfulfilling, there needs to be a resolution and conclusion to the plot. So why does Far Cry 5′s ending suck? It doesn’t have this. 

Others I’ve seen didn’t enjoy Far Cry 5′s storytelling at all, and I can’t blame them even if I found it fine enough. You basically just had 4 cutscenes overr the course of taking over the region, pretty poor pacing but whatever, they’re trying to give as much freedom as possible in this game so I guess it’s serviceable.

 John was a fairly interesting character, the allies associated with his section of the game were interesting, and it was a satisfying section taking him down after what he put people through. Jacob felt rushed and I never really developed any sort of bond to the allies in the area (the deputy that you rescue in this region never is shown or speaks up to this point so I honestly didn’t even realize he was important until the game spelled it out for me). The villain’s motivation is just PTSD, and that’s that. There’s fun mind-control stuff with conditioning, but then you kill him and that’s it, it’s all good. Faith was my favorite, as her character helped to show how fucked up the main villain of the game, Joseph, is. She had a unique bossfight, her zombie army was fun, and the allies of the region were fantastic. 

And then you get to Joseph and the end of the game. Immediately, despite me landing a helicopter with Jess Black sitting next to me, as it turns out actually all the allies I made over the course of the game were all suddenly mind-controlled, including Jess. How did he do this? NOBODY KNOWS! Also they kidnapped my police crew. And the only way to rescue your allies from the mind-control is by shooting them in the face and then picking them up. Also, during this you shoot the ever-loving shit out of Joseph who comes out of the encounter with a couple scratches. Let’s not bother questioning the logic in any of this. 

After this boss fight, despite how he just tried to kill you and had kidnapped or mind-controlled literally all of your allies, and everyone being in agreement they’d like to see Joseph dead, and his entire thing being how persuasive he is and how he has everyone including the government (Fucking Nancy) under his thumb, you all decide to arrest him rather than kill him. Fuck it, whatever, justice yada yada yada. 

And then the nukes happen.

Now there’s some theories around these nukes, the one that seems most logical is that Joseph set off these nukes to trick the US into thinking World War 3 was starting and so he could be right about the end of the world coming. How did he set these off? NOBODY KNOWS! The answer that makes the most sense is that he had them on a timer, but whatever. Who knows. So then, the game lets you try to drive to the bunker you wound up in at the start of the game in a ridiculous driving section (How are trees burned to a crisp and deer are on fire, yet all of us are perfectly fine sitting in our van? I guess the AC is just that good  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ). It gives this false sense of hope, that maybe Far Cry silliness will win out. Well, it does in a way.

You get in a crash just before the bunker, a crash in which everyone dies. Except you and Joseph, because reasons I guess. Also you, this super soldier who has literally killed Joseph’s entire army, is too hurt to get up or maintain consciousness, but Joseph, this shirtless prick who wasn’t even wearing a seatbelt, is perfectly fine and not even scratched during the crash. How? NOBODY KNOWS! Noticing a pattern about this ending? Also worth noting that just moments ago deer were on fire just from being outside, and now this shirtless man is walking around like it’s no big deal and not even breaking a sweat. Let’s just not talk about the radiation poisoning.  

So then he drags you to the bunker, kills literally every ally you made through the entire game, locks you to a bed post, where you will spend (presumably) the rest of your days with Joseph. Also he was right about everything, and you are just as bad as him (despite the fact that he’s drugged hundreds of people, murdered hundreds of people, raped people, etc etc.) I’ve never encountered a game with as much of a fuck-you ending as this.

I really enjoyed the game up to the ending, I thought it was a lot of fun and the characters were all very intriguing. But that ending single-handedly soiled the entire experience for me. It retroactively made the game and all the time I spent with it horrible, because the game is all about liberating and saving this county from a crazy nutjob cult leader, but then the ending is just “actually everyone but the villain dies, the dispute between the protag and antag is never resolved, everything you did throughout the game was utterly pointless, the end.” I don’t know how they managed to fuck something up this much, but boy did they fuck it up. 

[gingerly-writing]

Questions Tag Games

explanation: I’m super late to these, I suspect not many people will want their dashes spammed with my random answers, and I’m not tagging people, so I’ve amalgamated all of these into one post. 

tagged by @concealeddarkness13! haven’t spoken to you in a while, hope you’re doing great

1. Would you rather write a more classical hero or an anti-hero as a protagonist? I’d rather write a hero for the protagonist, but an anti-hero as a general character

2. Who is your favorite character you have written and why? Ever? That’s cruel. Out of people that y’all would know, Urial does seem to generate the most emotional reactions

3. How many WIPs do you have? 3 proper ones, currently: Iron Flower, Space Royalty and Piracy Pays

4. Who is your least favorite character you have written and why? To write? Klarion from Young Jutsice fanfic. Motherfucker would not follow the assigned plot. Hate-wise? Possibly Coincidence or Accord, neother of whom you guys have met yet. Those two are a pair of nasty criminals/villains, and they are a little too good at punishing anyone who gets in their way

5. What is your favorite aspect of writing? Finishing!

6. If you had only one sentence (per WIP) to get someone to read your books, what would the sentences be? They wouldn’t because I suck at loglinesss...humourously though?

IF: an entire continent is saved from the ravages of war by the ancient art of sexting via treaty negotiations Space Royalty: ‘she stabbed me? god-fucking-dammit I am so in love with her’ Piracy Pay: you get to chug your drink every time I kill a character

7. If your protagonists fought to the death, which one would win? Protags? Depends if morals were removed, and whether it was on-on-one. Koronis, if not -he’s an emperor with black magic and an entire galaxy-wide army.  If it was on-on-one with minimised morals, Ace would stand a damn good chance. Boy is smarter than he gives himself credit for, and very adaptable. Galaxy is also pretty viable. Girl can swing a superpowered punch like she means it, and she hasn’t survived this long on luck alone.

8. Which protagonist(s) would survive the zombie apocalypse? Koronis would. Ace would die trying to save someone else. Solaris would...provided Monarch was dragging him around, and even then they might go down together in a dramatic last stand. Galaxy would be in charge of a small, benevolent queendom. Cleo would, those plant skills would make her handy to any new civilisation. Fact would go down staving off the hoardes so everyone else could run. Rosalie would think she was the weak link of her group, but they would probably keep her alive; L’aura would kick zombie ass.

9. Which is your favorite story you have written or are working on? Space Royalty is damn fun to write -the benefits of extravagant, overdramatic space operas I suppose. Piracy Pays has had a good reception, so I’m pretty proud of that. Hopefully I can keep the momentum going until the end! It is a huge pain o write though

10. Which of your characters is your favorite villain and why? Raph is my evil supervillin crimelord Big Bad and I adore him utterly

11. When do you find is the best time of day for writing? Evening! 8pm-1am

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tagged by the lovely @a-sundeen​! this is so old I bet you don’t even remember tagging me, oopsie

1. When you’re describing a new character, what feature do you usually note first? Build, usually, as in their height/weight ratio, muscles/skinniness or lack of, how they carry themself etc. The reason for this is that I often start with the macro ‘impression’ of the character before zooming in on a few specifics. I try to use an interesting description or comparison here as well.

2. Do any of your characters play an instrument or really enjoy music in general? If so, what instrument (or what genre, if it’s the latter)? I am the least musical person on planet earth, so making my characters musical often doesn’t occur to me. Koronis can sing and play the space-piano (forced childhood lessons), and Jade can play the violin, but neither of them are passionate about it. Kolya/Cynosure (the popstar/supervillain) is very very musical, but I skip around a lot of the specifics because I’m a big cheater. He mostly makes anti-establishment and anti-hero music, but he’s one of those artists who strays all over different genres.

3. Which musical artist usually gets you the most pumped to write? Les Friction does good dramatic music and they’re not so well known, so I like to tell people about them when I can

4. Do you prefer writing fight scenes over other types? (This is a weirdly worded question I’m sorry, rip) It’s worded fine, sunshine! And no, I don’t like writing fight scenes because I don’t like the logistics of them. There are too many limbs to keep track of, and then I feel like I’m neglecting their surroundings and potentially useful items in favour of mentally tracking who’s where and what their arms and legs are doing. I cover up for my fight scene weaknesses with too much dialogue, and I’m fully aware of that fact.

5. Is there a city or country you’d really like to write in or about? Write in is probably just where I’d like to travel, so Russia, India and South America (I know that’s general but it’s the only continent except Antarctica that I haven’t been to) are my top choices. Write about…I’d like to sink myself deep into east coast USA to really nail the feeling of Galaxy’s city and her character, and then be able to confidently write about it. I do have a study year abroad coming up in 2020, so here’s hoping…

6. Do you prefer to be warm or cold while you write? Warm! I love blankets and my big fluffy dressing gown, and on top of that all my friends always complain about how hot my house is

7. Do any of your characters have hobbies you’d like to try out someday? Fiction wise, glo-ball from Space Royalty sounds like a very entertaining game, especially when I’m kept safe behind a pod. sodding netball injuries Jade paints and draws, and I’d love to get better at art. Likewise, Rosalie sews, making and decorating her own clothes, and I’d love to be able to do that. Idk, does being a supervillain count as a hobby? I’d love to rob a bank…not even necessarily for the money, just the #aesthetic

8. What is your favorite type of character to write? Villains! And morally grey people. And characters where the POV character has no idea what they’re really thinking, who they really are, what they actually want etc. And, on the flip side, balls of positive sunshine, because they make me feel better about the world

9. Halloween is here! Which character has a costume made for them by their mom? Ahahahahaha can you tell how late I am to this.

10. Halloween is here (again)! Which character thinks the holiday is childish but dresses up anyway? I AM SO LATE. Rosalie thinks the holiday is childish but dresses up in the most elaborate homemade princess outfit ever and entertains all the kids she can find. What, it is a children’s holiday, surely she should be making them happy on their special day…

******************************************************************************************* tagged by @blackfeatherantics who is now @mbovettwrites I think? I hope?

1.      How long have you been working on your WIP(s) for? Iron Flower is the oldest current one, and I started it on Christmas Day 2016

2.      What song would you assign as your protagonist’s theme tune? I’ll just pick one, and Koronis’ is Young and Menace by FOB. No real lyrical reason, it just reminds me of him

3.      Do you have any favourite spots (gardens, parks, cafes, etc.) where you like to write? The sofa in my living room next to my family

4.      Poetry or Prose? Prose!

5.      Where do you draw inspiration for your writing from? Everywhere! Other people’s writing and prompts and published novels and TV and movies and random stray thoughts and daydreaming and chatting to other writers and-

6.      Is there any popular book that you wish you had written and why? The Lies of Locke Lamora because I’d take out the first 100-ish page of solid worldbuilding and backstory that seemed almost completely irrelevant to the rest of the plot?And the domino-effect of all the plot elements knocking each other into action at the end was so clever, it annoyws me that the beginning means I don’t like reccing it to people

7.      What’s your planning process when you start working on a new WIP? I daydream about it for at least a few weeks to make sure the idea has staying power. Then I come up with character names, quirks, descriptions etc. finally, I lay out the plot chapter-by-chapter from the beginning to the end so I have a guiding rope throughout the whole process and I’m less likely to get stuck. Of course, that’s when I plan on letting a WIP bloom into being. Some, like Space Royalty and Piracy Pays, start off as short drabble ideas and then refuse to leave, which means I have no concrete plan for them...

8.      Do you work best in mornings, afternoons, or at night? Evening!

9.      Would you prefer to self-publish or work with an agent and publishing company and why? Agent and publishing company, because I value the help they can provide more than the ability to retain complete creative control over my book (since I’m crap at titles and designing book covers anyway)

10.  How do your emotions/moods affect your writing? Not a lot tbh. If I’m very very tired I can’t write anything good, but I’m not sure that counts as an emotion.

11.  What’s your favourite line of your WIP/one of your poems? I’ve written both of my current favourite lines for prompts, which were: ‘Time hollows all victories’ and ‘The hero doesn’t die in this one’. I’ve had other favourites in WIPs over time, but I can’t think of them right now

******************************************************************************************* tagged by the ever wonderful @time-to-write-and-suffer

1) How are you so awesome? Genetics.

2) What’s your favorite thing about your writing? The dialogue! Or the romances, which I mostly like because of the fun/cute dialogue.

3) Who’s your favorite character that you’ve written and why are they your fave? This is so mean. At the moment, Raph, because I can’t stop thinking about him and he’s so incredibly dangerous, yet on the low down (like the Mariana Trench level of low down) he has all these cute little quirks that only one or two people know about

4) One of your characters has been placed in the world/plot of a book you love. What happens? Rosalie becomes a Grisha in Leigh Bardugo’s world. She finds a sense of self-worth and gets to enjoy the little luxuries that come with the position.

5) One of your characters has been placed in the world/plot of a book you hate. What happens? X takes the place of Celeana Sardothien. He murders everyone in his path, tells the crown of Terrasen to get fucked because there’s no way he can run a whole government with any level of competance, probably murders Rowan with extreme prejudice, opens the Wyrd gates just to search the universe for Raph and bring him through so he can construct a decent government for Terrasen, would probably sleep with Dorian, would make it his new life goal to highfive Manon.

6) Your characters must fight each other to the death until only one stands victorious. Who wins? Raph. Koronis could conceivably stand a chance against him, but Raph would decimate pretty much anyone else. I think Raph would be able to stay above the fighting for longer, whereas Koronis would jump in just a touch earlier, which would be his downfall.

7) If you could steal a cover and a title from other books to use for your own WIP/s, which ones would you steal? Cover-wise I’d steal the minimalist Red Queen aesthetic, because that sleek shit is the bomb.  Title-wise? That’s harder. The Lies of Locke Lamora has some sick alliteration, but I think I’d rather steal the style of it rather than the exact title

8) If you switched places with one of your characters, what would happen to you and to them? I would die, pretty much everywhere. If Rosalie swapped with me, she would slowly come out of her shell and become a fashion designer -not an A-lister, she wouldn’t like how vicious and ruthlessly businesslike you have to be, but maybe making her own high-end clothes in a small shop in London

9) What makes your style unique compared to other writers? Thanks for the existential crisis, Eff.

10) Describe your antagonist’s song number if they were a Disney villain. No Good Deed from Wicked, for Darklight

******************************************************************************************* tagged by the lovely @itstheenglishkid

1. Have you ever realized how similar an oc is to you and felt the need to change them so they aren’t so similar? I mean, Jade from Iron Flower almost shares a name with me, and she’s ginger, which did concern me for a while, but hopefully she’s nothing like me personality wise (or else I’d have to do some serious self-reflection)

2. Do any of your ocs like candles? I bet Rosalie loves pretty candles, especially patterned or strongly scented ones! Anything luxurious that she can’t afford, really

3. Do you normally write settings that are (or are based on) places you know intimately (ie your home town)? Oh god no. I like sweeping Chinese-inspired castles or creaking pirate ships or far flung space universities and man-made planets. I’m really not a contemporary writer though, so I guess this isn’t much of a surprise?

4. What is a book that feels similar to your own wip? Ahahaha, which WIP? Piracy Pays has similar vibes to @boothewriter‘s pirates and probably also @noodlewrites’ pirates (I’m guessing? I haven’t read any excerpts from you I’m sorry). Space Royalty is just weird. Iron Flower is probably similar to a lot of generic fantasy YA, like Red Queen and whatnot.

5. Do you have a dream cast for your ocs? I don’t really faceclaim? Or know much about a wide array of actors, so no, not really.

6. Are you good at story titles? Do they come easily to you? I am abysmal at story titles, holy shit. I mean, you can see the evidence scattered around this post. Piracy Pays and Space Royalty are just placeholder names, but I’m not convinced I’ll come up with anything good to replace them. Iron Flower is alright in that its relevant to the story and fits into the series title (The Flowers of War) but…idk, its not setting the stars alight or anything.

7. Do you ever change oc names once you’ve started a wip? Not often, though I am considering changing Ace’s name because I don’t think ‘Seb’ suits him. Only question, what to??

8. Which people have you let read your work? I mean, all of y’all have the opportunity to read Piracy Pays. No one has read Iron Flower, and I’m stretching myself by letting @rrrawrf-writes @lux-deorum@haphazardlyparked read Space Royalty in its raw first draft stage.

9. What usually catches your attention about a book first? Style? Characters? Plot? I’m quite an easy reader to catch and hold tbh. What makes me love a book is a clever plot. For me, a very strong plot can carry weak-ish characters, but I can never read super deep characters with no plot.

10. Do you have a favourite author? Probs Rick Riordan, or Julia Golding.

******************************************************************************************* tagged by the wonderful @typeaadventures

1. How many works in progress do you have? Properly, three. Iron Flower, which is written (143k) but needs editing, Piracy Pays which y’all are reading, and Space Royalty which crossed 30k about a week ago

2. Do you/would you write fanfiction I used to! I stopped in Y12/13 because I didn’t have enough time to do fic and original writing, and I haven’t really had the time to pick it back up.

3. Do you prefer paper books or ebooks? Either, I’m not fussed. Though if it has a really pretty cover, I’ll be hankering after a paper copy

4. When did you start writing? 14-ish on Young justice fanfic

5. Do you have someone you trust that you share your work with? Not all of my work, but yeah, I have a lovely server and also some irl friends that get the junk landed on them

6. Where is your favourite place to write? At home chilling with my family while we all do stuff

7. Favourite book as a child? Dragonfly by Julia Golding

8. Writing for fun or publication? Hopefully publication, but I know I need to improve a lot first, honing my skills etc.

9. Have you taken writing classes? Not a lick

10. What inspired you to write? Gotta get those stories out of my head and onto the page, man. Gotta get that sweet sweet representation out there too.

thanks everyone!  xx

[marshalarts]

                       World Building League Building:                        Elite Status and Championships

      Ever wondered about how a Champion is chosen? How the Elite Four were chosen? Or even why things changed in the way things were done? Well, we’re going to answer these questions in-depth here and now. And it’s probably going to be more detailed than you want it to be, but buckle up and get your thinking caps on because here we go. This is primarily GameVerse, too, so keep that in mind.

       To begin, we’ll start at the beginning. Kanto- the origin of the games. To understand where we’re at and how far we’ve come, we must understand the beginning. In the very first games (and their remakes of FireRed and LeafGreen) the story line went as such; Rocket ran amok. You took them down. You defeat the League. You defeat the E4. You defeat your rival (who became Champion mere moments before you did). You are now Champion.

       Let’s start with this. Championship, at the time, was flimsy and had no real basis behind it. It took Kanto a mafia’s uprising and downfall, a snot-nosed loudmouth, a selectively mute 10 year old fleeing, and Giovanni’s resignation as a gym leader to realize they needed something to keep the region stable. Someone. Championship, after this realization, began to mean something entirely different.

       A Champion, after this time, became someone who helped keep the region stable. It was no longer just a title to be passed away to anyone who defeated you. It was also at this time that the Elite Four changed purpose. After the events of Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, FireRed, and LeafGreen, the Champion became one person. One person and one person only. The title of Champion became something like a very heavy responsibility (or, as Steven saw it, a heavy burden). The entirety of the League was reshaped.

       As a trainer, you have a rank. As a trainer taking the Gym Challenge, this rank depends on the number of badges you have. Hobbyists excluded. Of all trainers that take the Gym Challenge, 80% drop out somewhere around the 4th badge. Only less than 10% make it to- or get- the 8th  badge and less than 4% ever make it to the Elite Four. The rank names are dependent on your region, however anyone with 6 to 8 badges, no matter the region, is considered an Ace Trainer. This is typically where you begin to meet Ace Trainers in-game.

       The Gyms and Gym Leaders are there to test your skills as a trainer. They have specializations of their own and use handicaps against their main team to teach you and show you as much as possible in the little time you have with them. In the limited battle time, they try and teach you all they can. Once you conquer all eight gyms, you then go through Victory Road and then to the Official League. The Elitists. With the exceptions of Kanto-to-Johto (i.e. Red-to-Gold or FireRed-to-HeartGold), these Elite Four members NEVER CHANGE.

       The Elite Four are the most BRUTAL trainers in their region. In reference to Geoforza’s post, specializing in a specific type gives you leverage. You know the ins and outs, how to raise them, the best possible move sets, and so on. The Elite Four are hand-picked because it’s no longer about testing them and making sure the trainer is up for the lifestyle. It’s about showing them the issues that come with it. The horrible side of battling, battling people who show no mercy. They are there to STOP you before you reach the Champion.

       The Elite Four are the toughest of the tough. The strongest four trainers in their regions. In all honesty, if the current Champion or the Protag Champion had to face the Elite Four back-to-back (like in the games) when they were using the team they grew up with and raised and were the most used to- not even that Champion would be able to get through all four. No matter how well built their team is. The first- and even the second- time you battle the Elite Four they’re pulling their punches. Because if they DID go all out, you would never make it.

       Against all four, back to back, nobody would. Furthermore, all official League Members from Gym Leaders to the Elitists to the Champion have all eight badges of their region. There are few exceptions, but they are few and far between. However, what makes a specialist different from another specialist? Why isn’t, say, Wallace an Elitist and Phoebe the Gym Leader?

       There had to be something special about them. Something that happened that made them different. No E4 member started their journey as a trainer and went straight for the Gyms. More than likely, they spent quite a few months, years even, with their starter Pokemon. Their Starter that most likely determined their specialization later. This gave them the leverage they needed- they learned the ins and outs of their Pokemon, of that type, and probably devoted themselves to that type before they even took the Gym Challenge.

       This means that by the time they did take the challenge, they were probably showing WAY more expertise than they should have been by the 4th badge. In Geo’s post, he explains that Giovanni beat Red (considered to be the ‘strongest trainer’) with a type disadvantage. This is the power a gym leader would have when not holding back. But there’s a reason the E4 is called the Elite Four. Why they never change.

       During the Gym Challenge, the Elite Four proved themselves more than capable by annihilating the gyms (probably sweeping the match) and only really having difficulty over the Champion when battling him. Even against other trainers of the same type (i.e. Marshal vs. Chuck or Shauntal vs. Morty), they would have smeared the competition.  The exceptions to that being the matchups like Sidney vs. Grim, Shauntal vs. Phoebe, Marshal vs. Bruno, etc.

       The Elite Four are all certified masters of their respective types. These trainers are the cream of the crop and were probably trained to be champion but denied it because they did not want to have to give up the time they could spend learning even more about their specialty to practically govern a region. They probably assist the Champion a lot but would otherwise turn the title down.

       The Champion title is not just a title. No. Just beating the past Champion will not make you the Champion. Instead, it gives you the OPPORTUNITY to become the Champion. If you decide you want that, you’ll learn. You’ll learn under the current Champion, take lessons from the Elitists, and maybe even go through classes to learn.

       Because it’s not just a title. It’s not all fun and games. It’s not about being the toughest trainer in the region. It’s about maintaining your region, about keeping track of everything that happens within it, keeping relations with other champs/regions for trades and so on.

       So beating the champion gives you the opportunity to become a champion. In order to become one, after the classes/learning and such, you would fight the E4 again and the champion AGAIN to prove “yes, I’m ready” which is why the E4 pull their punches less the second time you fight them. You’re going for the real thing this time and they’re there to show you that they’ll be behind you if you can do it/choose to do it, but it’s going to be harder.

       The first time you defeat them, it’s a title- a badge of honor you parade around like “haha, I beat them!” However, the second time, because you’re taking the title completely, it’s a lot tougher. There really is no third time (where the E4 has different/stronger Pokemon), as nobody but another Elitist can defeat an Elitist when going at full force.