#the story isnt ai generated or anything tho

[i-want-to-do-things]

Finally posting these guys, they're from the main story Im working on!

Order from left to right: Lee, Jan, Millie and Will

[royalwriteroftheuniverse]

Returning the Stones

1-the goodbye

Just incase 18+ theres fludd angst mentions of kissing implied intimate tons of sweet kissing and tears. Comments likes ans reblogging apprexitaed. No permission to repost anywhere else or to translate or to use in any ai story generator to finish it

I stood there as steve got his last good wishes from his team mates. I stood back watching tears in my eyes. I knew he only had a certain amount and im thinking back to the cinversariin we had after it was decided hed be the onky to return them

"Why do I feel like theres a but comming"

"There is" he took my hands, "sweeetheart even tho hank pym is back theres still that adjustment period everyone is going through and he csnt make more pym particles right now"

"Cant you wait? Time will always be there for you to return it?"

He took my palm, like he does when he's  nervous and subconsciouslybdraws the same patterns he always does when he looked down.

"Yes and no. You see the way that Strange explained it is that time will continue on  and yes and while we can wait the stones not being there is affecting us here and now as in the past they arent there.  I could wait but if simething happens," he swollows hard, "something to you. I cant lose you."

"Steve nothing is going to ha-"

"You dont know that!" Hw yells and i jumo back almsot in tears.

"Im sorry, I'm sorry I didnt mean to "

"Strange said something didnt he?"

Steve looked uo with tears in his eyes and nodded. 

"It doesn't mean it will but i can't bear the thought"

"And I can't live without"

"Neither can I, if Tony was here..."

"I know" I sob a bit  as he pulls me intk his chest and cries too "if tony easnt gone id kill him all iver again."

This garners a chuckle from Steve.

"She's your last stop isnt she?"

I looked up i could only see the side if his cheek really but it was like i could see him go pale.

Not for the reasons yoy think. When insaw in the care facility, i mean yiu saw her every time she didnt remeber me and she eas so ha-

"I know happy and thrilled and saying shes worry you didnt get to live a full happy life."

It hurt me too it was so sad seeing her, I mean seing anyone like that would be saddening. 

"I just want to tell her im ok and that I survived so she doesnt have those regrets and that...."

I pulled back a little and I whipesmone side of tears from my face and he whipped the other putting his hand on my chin and guiding it making sure I can't move away as he knows how scared and fearful i must me and he looked in my eyes .

"That l, I found the love of my life and I am so happy."

I let out a small chuckle with some tears.

"You know that right? That i love you. I love ypu more than anything. And ill always come back to you. Like a bad oenny you cant losemor that cat that never stopped following yoy home,"

On cue Midnight jumoed into our laps with a meow and using her head to burrow under steves tee for warmth like she always did garnering a laugh from both of us. I pulled away a but as steve took iut of hisnshirt and talked to her 

"Youll take care off mommy right?" 

"Take care of me why woukd she need to-" I statted bawling

"Oh honey no no no i didnt mean it oh no " he put Mid night down and grabbed me chuck and tight, so tiggt i almost coukdnt breathe. "Wrong words blvery wrong words. I meant if something haooened. Lets face it i don't have greay track records when it comes to saving the world. The first time i dissapeared for decades and I don't want that to happen my last time but im afraid of tha-"

"Last time?"

"Yea," he rubbed my arms comfortly "my last time, the world doesn need me not as much as you do. And i want to give thst life yoy want because i want it too. I see the longing in your eyes when yoy see a young couoke and a baby and i have the same in mine that wishing hoping dreaming. During these five years people havent needed me and ive been wnlanting to give it uo for a while now justtrying to figure out the best way to do it and yiu know ive been slowly limiting my cap duties."

I know,

I know yiu do. So after this i want to give you that. That family a real family a couoke of mini us's." He interlocked our fingers wispering "I hope to God they look like you".

I chuckled. "Once I return the stones uts you and me babe every day forever no interruptions. Ill be in that bed every day yoy wake uo and every night you go to sleep. Ill hold yiu hair back wvery morning sickness and yoy can try and break a finger or two or try to lift molojiner when youre giving birth."

That made me laugh

"Ill hadle the night and change every littke poopy diaper and we'll hold them together wheh they get thier shots and bad dreams. Ill help you kiss thier boo boos and scare away boyfriends"

Got thiee whole lives planned out hu?

Yiu betcha dolls and when they get marriednand have little ones of thier own ill hug them and then beat uo their husbands for doing thst my little girls "

I cracked up.

"Hey I will unless its done by oamossis no one is touching my daughters."

"You are too much"

He kisses my fore head and puts hair behind my ears,

"Yea well. Only the best for my family and if best means that i have to beat up thier husbands to out then in thier place so be it"

He rubbed my wedding band and engagement ring as we calmed down for a moment of silence. 

You know I would never give you either of these if my heart bekonged to someone else, in another time or place. This wasnt because i was never, " he losed his eyes and sighhned then ooened them stuck here. I was here to find you. I felt more for you then I did her even at first look - i almost proposed."

I know  i rememeber yoy did not try and cover well for that *i laughed*

"I tried"

"Yea so badly' I laughed and  ran my fingers through his hair.

"I grew it out for you, ya know"

"I know. I cant wait to see how blonde it was from when it was in the early days of the avengers"

He chuckled. 

"I love you," he wispered and kissed the bridge of my noise 

"I love you," he wispered  and and kissed my upper cheek.

"I love you," he wispered and kissed my lower cheek

"I love you," he wispered ad kissed the other cheek 

"I love you," he wispered and kissed my other cheek bone.

"I love you," he wispered and kissed my fore head.

"I love you," he wispered and kissed fhe right side of my upper neck.

"I love you," he wispered and kissed my lips.

"I love you," he wispered and kissed the left side of my upper neck.

"I love you," he wispered and kissed the middle of my neck.

"I love you," he wispered and kissed my lips so very deep that i almost lost my brrath. And that was how that night went. Him showing his love he knew he didnt have to prove it but he did he heled me and kissed me anddid everything he wanted to so to make sure he felt like he knew i knew he loved me and more. That was how last night went too. The last night before this trip. A trio that i knew would be mear seconds for me for for him it could be years. 

Then he walked over to me, he had tears in his eyes. Hia other team mates offered to come to help only ateve, i bruce and hank pim knew that wasnt possible. 6 vials. He had 6 and that was all. I was praying of somethin did go grong that last jump hed be able to grab more particles and get back to me. I also knew about the contingency they set up the older face the extra shield, just in case. So many just in cases. It meant to be steves way of dissapearing so we could live aort of loke clint and tony away from the spotlight and danger. 

He hugged me again, wispering in my eqr Ill be back in seconds my love and i love you so much," i felt a tear fall from his face onto mine

"Itll be only minutes babe, 60 minutes the most and youll be back in my arms." I gave him reassurance

"I  hope it works out like that nur every monute ill be thinking about getting back to you,"

He hugged me tightly. "I love you. And those seconds that pass here i told bucky to not let go of your hand,"

I chuckled.

"I know you. You need a hand and he wont let go. But if you two kiss i will kill him"

I laughed what?

"I just wanted to see that smile before i go"

Get your ass back here and ill give yku something to smile about tonight.

Oh is that a threat 

"Oh no that promise," I smiled wrapping my arms around his neck and we looked into eachothers eyes and then he kissed me. 

"This ring isnt leaving this chain and this chain isnt leaving my body"

"I know" 

He took my hand as he walked up to the platform and I followed. He took his stance snd gave me one of the deepest longest kisses hes ever given me. 

"I love you dont forget im waiting right here no matter what you do to retrurn those im here loving you forever. "

"I know I promise ill come back no matrer what i love you too much." 

Steve gave me one last kiss on my lips and then a kiss behind me ear making me giggle 

"I needed to see and hear that one last time."

I felt bucky take my hand and lead me down the strairs steves and my eyes never leaving eachother's. He looked at me as he put the helmet on  and I squeezed Bucky's hand as Steve lifted his hand to presse rhe vutton and bucky squeezed mine as Steve dissapeared.

After 45 seconds my hand let go of Bucky's  but Bucky bevee ler go of mine.

(Varient timeline endings comming)

Taglist

@nana1000night @whore-for-chris-evans @sparklybarbarianninja @patzammit @hawkeyes-queen @bookishtheaterlover7 (i know im miasing a few sry ill ads when i can find the name if u want to be added let me kno)

[wosemi-sama]

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ren (used to go by nene!)

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[tumblunni]

Random game idea that came to mind: clockwork man simulator

I dunno, i just got the general image in my head of a soft homey aesthetic equivelant of that terrible game about the androids. Itd be more like just a life-living game, like stuff like animal crossing or harvest moon. Just fully exploring the perspective of these creatures and the world that created them, rather than BOOM ACTION SETPIECES or whatever

I only have some scattered ideas for it tho, and not really any idea of a main plot or gameplay gimmick or 3 act structure or like.. Anything to take this from idea to game, lol.

SO ITS MISC IDEAS TIME

* more of an olden timey fantasy style instead of sci fi. Youre still an artificial person created to run errands for humans, but youre more of a combination of clockwork and magic. There's still an element of being made of inanimate object parts but there's also some glowy energy core or something. Possibly would be interesting if it was something unusual to use as a power source? Like i dunno, a bell or an acorn or a teacup or one of those rocks with the hole in it that sometimes wash up on beaches. Or just a glowy orb of Generically Defined Energy Substance, which flows through you like aesthetically pleasing glowy veins

* you're a service clockwork homunculus thingy, bought by a disabled person who needs help around the house. PERHAPS A SWEET OLD GRANDMA! Whatever i decide on (IT'LL PROBABLY BE THE GRANDMA), your owner is a kind person who sees you as part of the family and feels guilty using an android as they believe you are absolutely a real person and wish they could set you free. Unfortunately theyre kinda one of the people who needs androids the most, as they dont have any family who can help them. At the same time though, they are very old and quite resigned to nobody caring about them, plus theyre just a good person who'd put your life over their own. So i feel like the plot would literally start with this person trying to set you free and you are just like "i do npt understand the concept, that is not in my programming". Its become kind of a morning routine now to hear "youre free! Get out, dammit!" and have a brisk argument over breakfast that inevitably always ends with you refusing. Grandma's prpbably got so desperate they're resorting to tactics like trying to trick you into getting on the bus out of town or "if you dont leave im gonna hold my breath and i wont stop til i pass out". All inevitabley failing! So they just try and help you understand your sentience and become more independant, encouraging you to take free time every day and go around the town to enjoy yourself. Which is kinda a concept you dont understand yet, so its just like MISSION RECEIVED: WALK IN CIRCLE AROUND PERIMETER OF TOWN. And its kind of a hit and miss experience because the people in this town have never seen an android before- this magic is usually a thing for rich people and this proposed scheme of disability assistance androids is still in its test run. Some people are suspicious or hateful, but there are others who welcome you to the village and brighten up your day. Not just a world of 100% everyone assholes to make a melodramatic point delivered awfully through racist stereotypes.

* i think a good subplot with this disabled grandma would be to show her regaining her independance too. Like she starts off quite fatalistic and used to nobody caring about her, all this mobility aid stuff is new and she feels like its too complicated and she'll never get it, or its too expensive and she doesnt deserve it, or all the nonsense that ableist society drills into people. But with the support of her new friend and access to more tools to help take her life into her own hands, she starts regaining hope again! Like ironically she felt like her previous carers were all the kinds of awful things people expect these androids to be. Robotic, emotionless monsters who dont care about the person's feelings and comfort, and certainly not independance. She suffered from a lot of the same nightmares that androids do too: being forced into a rigid schedule, limited in her options, deprived of basic rights, being told how she's supposed to feel, etc. But to an android that all seems like an inefficient way to do things! My function is healing and human healing efficiency is decreased in this circumstance! I am incapable of ignoring data due to personal bias! Basically imagine MAGIC BAYMAX ok. Anyway this plot would progress with grandma regaining her smile and eventually itd be a super happy day when she's able to get her new wheelchair that she can wheel to the shops on her own without needing someone to push her. Itd be really sweet from the player's perspective to get used to saying goodbye to her every morning and then suddenly you see her wandering around the shops with everyone else and she can become a part of the vibrant town too. Im thinking give her more complex AI than all the other villagers even, like give her a more complicated set of actions and move routes and stuff like SHE IS EVERYWHERE and she is LOVING IT! Life is back where it belongs: in the hands of the person living it! And it also intensifies the message of android slavery not being necessary or moral or good. Like i mean here this lady benefitted from getting an android but literally all she needed was a friend, a healthcare professional who gave a shit, and affordable access to mobility aids. Humans could have done that if they werent lazy assholes! And this android deserves the right to the same uplifting independenceifying experience they helped this grandma have!!

* random idea: all the events you encounter on each daily walk are actually stored in your inventory as items. Memories of experiences, good or bad, become literally experience for you! They each affect stats in different ways because of what you learned from that moment. Maybe bad experiences give you combat abilities and good ones help with your daily life skills and development of personality? And its possible to crack or even shatter a memory, if new experiences end up clashing with it. Usually its just 'oh i learned the more advanced version of this skill through better understanding of why humans do it', but also traumatic memories damaging good ones, and good ones helping ease traumatic ones. And maybe you could solve puzzles and make friendships through using these memory items? Youre faced with a challenge and have to make the connections in your mind to figure out which past experience is relevant here. And becoming more talented at something would help narrow down the choices you get given? And being unskilled would do screwy stuff with the interface like putting the correct option far away near the bottom or mixing up the names and icons of each memory. (Dunno how i'd program that though!)

* Maybe character customization similar to Medabots? The games were so cool and ahead of their time, you get to collect hundreds of different robot base frames and then mix and match the parts to make your own cool aesthetic! Shame it was only used for fighting though, that could be cool in a more social game too! Like go out wearing different fashions to help befriend different people, but its more fun cos its ROBOT FASHIONS! 'hey grandma do u think fred will like this arm or this arm?' She fusses over you all excitedly cos you showing an interest in fashion is a good sign of developing free will! Though you still get stuck in logic loops of 'you should wear what you like best, honey' 'HUMAN OPINION IS OF HIGHER PRIORITY' ...god i think i just made this character so i can ramble Relateable Social Anxiety Moments BUT ROBOTS

* possible ideas for Memory Events you can find around town! Meeting a cute neighbour cat- a fascinating creature you were not programmed to deal with, as you're a hospital android who isnt even meant to leave one single room for your whole life. You get absolutely entranced by the confusing small carpet with legs, and spend all morning interrogating it on why it wishes to rub its face on you. Why is your motor overheating, tiny carpet? Human master, how do you troubleshoot this noise?

* Another idea! You get 'mission: count the steps on the stairs to town' popping out of nowhere, and at first you ignore it because this is an illogical directive that does not come from a human. But it keeps happening every time you go here!! You try finding new ways to get to town crossing through fields or forests or walking directly into the path of a horsedrawn carriage, but ALAS it seems the only efficient path is those curious curious steps! Only then do you finally realise the mystery command is coming from yourself! You're not used to this strange concept of just..wanting to do something, all by yourself. You talk to your human and she says that's 'natural curiosity', 'personality', 'free will'...things that seem impossible to understand. You ask her to take you back to the shop to get this fault fixed, but she says its good and you should try acting on it. But it'll serve no purpose!! BUT AAARGH I HAVE TO KEEP SEEING THOSE STEPS EVERYDAY!! Eventually you do count them and you find it makes you satisfied for no logical reason. And that was the end of that small crisis, but you'll forever be confused by the whole thing! The next week you're like "what if i organized all the blue things with the blue things" and youre intensely frustrated at yourself. Human grandma says this is a "taste for fashion" but you remind her that you do not have a tongue. (And then she gets you the robo parts catalog and you unlock customization. Yay!)

* Possible idea for a sad subplot! A new human visits the village and he seems very strange, sometimes seeming kind and other times being angry and standoffish. You think its a simple 'jerk with a heart of gold' story but the truth is a lot stranger! It turns out this stranger is actually an important bishop in disguise, and he has multiple androids acting as body doubles to protect him while he's on the road. Theyre supposed to just be empty husks who only know how to imitate, but they clearly have their own personalities! You're tasked with finding all these runaway androids and returning them to their master for a reward, leading to a goofy lil game of hide and seek with twelve of the same guy. But it starts to get a bit sad because they're all convinced theyre the real one, and whenever they stumble into holes in their memory they freak out. When they all see each other gathered together its an absolute despair explosion and theyre forced to face the truth. And you can help them bond together as brothers and develop their own individual identities, even helping them pick out their own new faces from your set of fashion roboparts. Sadly you cant keep them here for long because itd obviously be suspicious to have exactly twelve new people move into the town right when twelve bots went missing. So you get help from one of grandma's friends to send them off in a stagecoach to another town where they can find employment and start their own life disguised as humans. The asshole bishop obviously doesnt react well to his androids vanishing into the night, but he never thinks of blaming you because after all you're only an android and you could never choose to help others out of all that free will you dont have. He just berates you for being so incompetant as to fail his quest to find them, and you get your reward taken back. Oh no~ i am~ very ashamed~ i will go tell my human that my ocular circuits require recalibrating~ (internally: HAHA YEH FUCK U OLD MAN) Grandma is super proud of you!

And thats all i got so far

[gayphichit]

@ai-ni-tsu-i-te replied to your post “i lovvveee that art seeing victuuri in trans colors makes me weep”

Do you have any thoughts on trans viktor that you'd share if u were asked coz if so consider this an official asking

buddy my friend i ONLY have thoughts abt trans viktor. my person trans man viktor life story is as follows (lil bit of dysphoria talk maybe tw):

-prefacing this by saying i know NOTHING abt figure skating but yoi land of no homophobia means im taking an artistic license with how competitions would work and everything. 

-there are little things when hes a child that point to him being a boy, but its overshadowed by the fact that his life is figure skating. it isnt until puberty, and he realizes that there is something wrong that he needs to come to terms with. its takes a couple years of thinking and talking and having breakdowns but when he finally realizes it its very clear to him what the problem is. hes a boy but no one else knows

-viktors lesbian moms are of course very supportive of him. honestly the one thing that really stops him from being able to reconcile himself with being trans is his future career in figure skating. by 14 he obviously knows that figure skating, and being the BEST figure skater, is what he wants. he does not want to do anything to intentionally get in the way of that. he even considers holding off his transition until he retires thinking, “it isnt THAT long, ill have my career and then i can be who i am.” he very quickly releases that is no way to live and its the support of his moms that helps him realize that there is no reason to sacrifice who you are, for a career or anything else

-viktor comes out to the media and starts hormones the year before the lilac fairy/eros costume. its his last year in juniors and his first year in the mens division. everyone is expecting a big change for his programs. will he cut his hair? will he stop wearing skirts? will he be able to keep up in a different environment? the answers are no, no, and yes. viktor’s entire thing is surprises and that is what he does: he shows up with his signature long hair in a ponytail, unharmed, and a half skirt that in his own words calls upon femininity and masculinity. and he fucking dominates the competition.

-you obviously cant bind while skating so top surgery is definitely a priority. he has it done before his entrance into seniors division. tbh i dont know if top would keep you off the ice for more than off season (or even what off season is in skating) maybe he takes off a year? could he do that? would viktor do that? i dont think he would if he had a choice.

-he keeps his long hair for years after hes in seniors. he prides himself on both his appearance and his ability to surprise people and his hair does that. he LIKES having long hair. his gender shouldnt determine how he wears his hair. (QUICK SIDE NOTE: victor’s well documented fear of a thinning hairline??? STEREOTYPICAL TRANS GUY FEAR RIGHT THERE. that + his suits just hits me in the head as trans viktor evidence)

-i dont know if his eventual cutting of his hair is to do with his transness at all, especially since we dont know the age he does it. i assume it followed by some emotional ordeal tho considering do weird shit to your hair after a breakdown is gay culture across the board

-on the topic of being a public figure, theres a definite level of paranoia of being trans and that knowledge being available to everyone with a search engine. even in a world without rampant transphobia, there is a level of “is this person treating me different bc im trans? do they even know? should i tell them?” esp with potential romantic partners 

-i really dont think viktor has had much of a romantic past, bc of this and just general no time whatsoever. it isnt that he doesnt WANT it, bc hes such a romantic soul. its really really hard to date when youre trans, and id argue even harder when youre especially romantic and looking for someone to really love and be loved by. it took victor 27 years

-meeting yuuri is a curse and a blessing all at once in regard to fear of judgement for being trans. victor at least knows that yuuri knows, since hes a skater only a few years younger, so he doesnt have to worry about that, but theres still the question of “will he treat differently than he would have otherwise?”

-this is one reason that “i want you to stay who you are, viktor” on the beach is sooo vital to their relationship. being trans is so performative, and as a celebrity there’s so many other aspects of his life that are as well, and having yuuri say “i want you to be you” is a incomparable weight off his shoulders. its very easy to fall in love with yuuri after that. 

[tumblunni]

Bunni continues to play Monster Rancher Advance 2! And generally not enjoy it as much as the first advance, though i can kinda blame it on the fact the first advance trained me to get used to a bunch of differences from regular monster rancher and now thats all gone again :P ANYWAY, ONWARD!

* Its a shame that the training coach system’s revamp makes it so much harder to actually achieve it now. i feel so guilty that my first monster Wrigley didnt quite make it! And like.. fusion isnt even WORTH it anymore! if I fused my high stats Wrigley with another high stats monster then all I get is the base stats version of that fusion, it doesnt carry over AT ALL! And it doesnt even let you carry over Traits like MRA1 did. And retiring a monster just seems to be like another name for deleting them, so I just have Wrigley frozen in the hibernation lab forevermore now. I DONT WANNA LET HIM GO! I do feel guilty for giggling slightly at the fact he’s got that cold minty freshness now XD

* Oh, and the ‘nobody dies anymore’ thing has been rebalanced now. In MRA1 you could just continue going forever with your retired monster, you just couldnt raise its stats anymore. (Tho you could still LOSE stats, so that was kinda awkward) Now you cant do anything with your retired monster except rest and give it items, and then send it to retirement/coaching class. BUT because of that change, I didnt realise Wrigley had as little time as he did, and I didnt manage to do that final tournement in time. :(

* For some reason the ‘SPECIAL’ training has been renamed to ‘Sparring’ training even though its exactly the same thing. And its called Errantry in every other game. I DUNNO LOL Also Loyalty has become Reliance, and now the E rank tournement has returned from Monster Rancher 2. (This is part of why its harder to reach teacher rank now)

* A funny glitch that may have possibly fucked up my ability to complete the main story, I HONESTLY DON’T KNOW?? Okay, so.. in MRA1 there was an annoying thing where you could still ‘use’ unuseable items, and they’d be gone forever with no effect to your monster. I lost 5000 gold due to this, the badly translated item descriptions meant I didnt even know that the Silver Cup passively reduces stress when you keep it in your inventory... In MRA2 you now actually get a ‘this is unuseable’ message when you select them! BUT... there’s one random specific circumstance where the game doesnt check for this. Sometimes when your monster is upset with a choice you’re making, it’ll say ‘[Name] would rather [suggested action]’. This time it SOMEHOW came out with ‘Wrigley would rather eat [magic amulet key item]’?? And I was just mashing thru the text and didnt realise it until I’d already hit yes! I really hope this doesnt come back to bite me in the ass later...

* Oh and there’s now a cool rival guy character! I’ve gained three rivals so far but he’s the most actually a rival. Can I just say the plot works a LOT better with actual other monster trainers as characters?? Seriously. THANKE! Why on earth was I even fighting in these tournements last time, lol... Anyway, here’s Mr Bishie Mysterious Jerk Rival:

* There’s also another rival who has more of a story role.. or uhh.. maybe I’m not able to get bishie man story scenes anymore cos i lost the key item, lol Anyway, he’s a younger cutie patoot rival who’s actually on your level as another rookie, rather than being an asshole adult randomly picking on kids. (No seriously, bishie man is introduced as a dude who’s ATTACKING OTHER RANCHES and then he’s just instantly forgiven??) lil rival boy is a bit competitive and grumpy but its just cos he (understandably) feels like you’re cheating by having the legendary holly as your mentor. But then when you battle him he realises youre actually a worthy rival and then you become Kinda Friends I Guess? I like him!

* Also your third rival is GRANDPA Seriously, you literally just fuckin.. find a wild grandpa starving in the cold and take him in. And he says he’s gonna repay you by giving his monsters as free tutors for a certain period of time, but for the life of me I COULD NOT FIND any way to unlock them in the tutor screen! But this was back when I was first learning all these new systems to maybe I just messed up somewhere? Anyway, after a certain amount of time he’s all ‘I’m proud of you, you dont need me anymore, i’m gonna go join the tourneys too cos you inspired me to get back out of retirement’. And its kinda sad that he leaves :( I WILL MAKE U MO PROUD, MYSTERY FOREST GRANDPA I STILL DONT KNOW WHERE DE FUCK U CAME FROM

(Clarification: he is not saying this about you but about the jerkass bandit you just fought off.)

(This is the jerkass bandit you just fought off)

(It is TOTALLY unfair how the game throws you immediately into a battle with him as a tutorial to the exploration system! I literally got this as the first thing with my new monster after Wrigley, I just got lucky enough with the RNG that all his attacks missed and I somehow survived!)

* Random fun highlight of Wrigley’s short career: winning an all bunnies league.

* I really don’t like the random addition they made of a ‘counter system’, though. Apparantly this was an addition made in Monster Rancher 4 for the PS2? It wasnt very liked there either, but this is an absolutely TERRIBLE port of it into a modified game engine that was never designed to include it. In the PS2 game each move is assigned to the four face buttons, and you press one of those to choose which move to counter. Its still not very good cos you only have a 1 in 4 chance of it working, and the AI is completely random anyway so it’s only predictable in 2 player mode. but they somehow made it EVEN WORSE in this version, cos the moves ARENT mapped to buttons yet you still have to input a button combination with a 1 in 4 chance! You have to awkwardly try and hit B and one of the directional buttons simultaneously, and there’s no way to know which random direction the AI picked, and just... GAHHH The only good thing is that you can still play the game perfectly fine without ever using it, and the AI is equally likely to fuck up. I only saw a successful AI counter ONCE after raising three monsters! Anyway, look at this dumbass who failed a counter and smacked himself in the head for 220 damage as soon as the fight started.

* My second monster was kinda awesome, i lucked out and got a rare monster from random tablet regeneration! Its the only Antlan type that I actually like, cos its unique colouration makes it look more like a giant skull thingie. Woo!

* His name was Heartbreak! He didnt have many spectacular adventures along his way, just managing to become a coach for future generations. I mean, he didnt break my heart, so it turned out better than expected XD I’m sorry i didnt have faith in you, lil buddy! THIS GAME IS STILL REALLY DAMN HARD THO

* i haaaaaaate the changes to the coaching system I HAAAAAAAAATE dear fuckin GODDDDDD now you have to keep paying a salary every half a year or you lose your coaches forever all your memories of your past monsters dont have enough for one payment and they NEVER COME BACK T_________T I’ve been savescumming a lot more in this version of the game, there’s a lot of bullshit chances to lose everything... And like.. they kinda wanted to make a good change by letting you hire governement-funded coaches if you cant train your own. but their prices are so ludicrously high and the most powerful one just has 300 in two stats and 600 in one. Your own monsters are always gonna be better than that, and you’d need to raise a few monsters to even get enough money anyway! So yeah just.. fuck this system, seriously, dear god. I still had complaints about it last time, but i was more forgiving cos it was a new change to the formula and all, but this is just making it worse in every possible way...

* Its also very annoying that we have a lot more items in the game but all their descriptions are badly translated. I have NO CLUE what the whole second page is about! ‘Its a cake’, ‘its a candy’, ‘its a meat dish’. Even stuff that had descriptions last time doesnt! You’d never know that ‘smoked newt’ lowers your monster’s ‘spoiled’ status! I mean, at least you could kinda assume that the cake raises it, if you’re getting too strict? I think? Cos I thought maybe the cake is for raising weight like the diet pills are for lowering it, but I can never get it to actually do that. the weight system is so unintuitively awkward! Any choice you make will change it wildly while your monster is a baby, and then as soon as they hit maturity its nigh impossible to change it! And its really hard to keep pushing it back and forth to keep the middle for whenever the maturity flag pops up, cos its not even set to happen on their birthday or anything. And being fat or thin causes gigantic debuffs because WHY NOT! Weirdly enough the raising style doesnt seem to do that anymore, its just like the chance of them running away, and a (never actually explained) small chance of lowering their overall lifespan every time you drift away from the medium.

* But anyway, I AM glad that now your strict/spoiled meter actually does exist in the menu again! It was definately still actually a part of the mechanics in MRA1, you’d still get stress and disobedience and stuff and just not be able to know when you were getting close to it. But MAN is it unforgiving this time... its always been the most difficult thing to manage but seriously... but seriously I am glad its at least in the menu...

* HOWEVER... i have no idea what the personalities do!! There’s now a thing on the menu above the spoilt/strict menu that says stuff like ‘hot headed’ or ‘medium’. And it never seems to change throughout their whole lifespan, so it seems to be like a personality or nature value? Does it actually affec anything? is it like pokemon and it means its easier to train a certain stat?

* Also there’s now the ability to get ill and go to the doctor. Its mostly pointless as its just like.. okay now you get TWO potential punishments for being too strict- monster can run away OR get sick. And running away just means you have to wait a few months and lose training time til they return, but instead sickness is like a debuff that halves your gains in a certain training. Its surprisingly in-depth, they give you a full diagonosis of a random illness and some made up medicines you need to take to fix it.

* ...do you really get anemia from being malnourished? i thought it was genetic only?

* And then ALAS I didnt manage to get any screenshots of my third monster while I was actually training her. I coulda sworn I did?? But it seems I forgot, so have a pic of her as a training coach

(for some reason special monsters get an ugly red background in status screens)

* She was actually surprisingly useful as my designated Explorer monster! It just sucks that you have to rank up in combat tourneys to unlock exploration areas, and you have to do it AGAIN every time you get a new monster. I didnt realise this so i trained her with an exploration-focused moveset and had to blunder thru the tourneys like a total mess. Errantry/Special/Sparring is now also based around combat stats, your chance of gaining a skill is greatly reduced if your stats are lower than the tutor, even if you win the fight! And if you dont, its fuckin impossibleeeee! So I couldnt even gain more skills to fight the skill tutor to gain more skills, GAH! Am I supposed to assign my own tutors here who have terrible stats?? But then the stat gains I get would be low too! So yeah, an intelligence based monster and I never managed to get a single intelligence skill in her entire lifespan. ALAS!

* Oh and Exploration is also REALLY WAY TOO HARD AND UNBALANCED AND  HARD Well I mean.. its not??? But it is??? Its actually got much smaller stat requirements than in MR on PS1, and the chance of getting nothing when you inspect a ruin is much lower. But the odds of the MOST HATED STUPID MECHANIC are way higher, and it seems that there isnt ANY stat that affects it, its totally random with no way to avoid! See, sometimes randomly when you’re exploring you can get lost. this ends the exploration immediately and you lose every item you’d collected. COMPLETELY AT RANDOM. NO WAY TO AVOID. keeps fuckin happening at the end of my 500 HP long 50 items gathered super sessions with super Rina the kitty of joy and hugs so I just ended up savescumming every time it happened, its too bullshit to be allowed to exist! Rina earned around 30000 or so Gold during her lifespan, and I was able to get the barn upgrade to keep bigger mons. And she also found the item that unlocks Monol monsters. Yay!

* So yeah thats the end of my gameplay today, and I didnt really enjoy it as much as the last one. The weird new gameplay decisions are a part of it, but also because of just HOW MANY monsters are locked behind various sidequests, and how you have no clue how to get half of them. Last time they were all just tournements you had to beat, now there’s bullshit like raising five monsters of specific species to master rank and sending them to certain exploration areas to find orbs... And like, with the inability to carry over traits and stuff, and the smaller amount of fusions, you cant even make a particularly customized monster out of the ones you can start with. So its just les fun to wait to open up all the options. And there doesnt feel like much incentive to even do it anyway, its not like most of them were locked away because theyre stronger. There’s loads of stuff that was a starter monster last time and there’s just no reason you have to save up a titanic amount of 20000 just to get the weird rhino motorcycle i got by typing my own name in the game last time... But ehh, I might play again anyway? I dunno. Later. Much later.

* BUT I STILL LOVE MY SWEET MONSTER FRIENDOS love and hugs list of all the bebs: Jade the Golem/Lesione, Carole the Momo/Zan, Kyubi the Zan/Mocchi, Dandelion the special albino Lesione, and Diva the special albino Dragon and now Wrigley the Hare/Lesione, Heartbreak the special albino/halloween variant Antlan, and Rina the special albino Mew that looks more like nidorina hence the name ...I’m only just realizing that I tend to like the albino variants the best. I guess maybe its cos they look more normal and dont tend to have overpowered stats or anything. Except the albino dragon which was the strongest one in the first game, hence why I picked it when I just gave up and wanted to brute force my way to the ending... ANYWAY THEY ARE ALL CUTE AND YOU WILL APPRECIATE THEM

* ok bunni go play different games now

* also bunni go try and learn how to draw these monsters, yo