#these npcs are just part of a bigger story that i hope to tell with my players!!

[gasstationclown]

busting my ass preparing for a new campaign with 6 (!!) players, here are mediocre drawings of the frequent npcs theyre gonna see (horrid quality probably but i dont know how to fix such issues sob)

[staticflood]

---SPOILERS FOR SHADOW GENERATIONS---

Ok so hear me out.

I think all these npc choices are meaningful. Showing different ways Shadow lives/thinks or *could* live and think. Think of Shadow 05.

Orbot and Cubot are very simple characters and this game if recall correctly is the first one they've ever been in without Eggman. Which isn't too notable, but it does speak to the one nature of their characters. Mostly in that they serve Eggman.

Sonic Battle was one of the games that touched on this aspect of Shadow's character a lot too. His use as a tool, a weapon to be aimed. He is treated this way by Eggman too, in SA2, Heroes and Shadow 05.

Orbo and Cubone don't really have a place in the story. At this point in Shadow's arc, he is very much assured of his autonomy.

Big The Cat is a phenomenal character, and I will not hear otherwise. He embodies one of the core themes of not just the series but Sonic and Shadow specifically. To live freely and do as you please.

Shadow is defined by making his own decisions. Living by his own code. Big the Cat is him fr.

Shadow throughout this game displays his mean streak. You see him about to explode in anger for the whole first half, and while it slows down in the second half because of Maria, it never goes away. Omega feeds into it like a bonfire so they're best friends.

And friends is a good word. Omega isn't a one-note murder-bot. He's relieved when Rouge is safe. He tells Shadow about how he trusts him. This anger and violence are part of Shadow, but they still leave room for love and compassion.

Shout out to E-123 Omega being the funniest guy in the room in another game btw. Long held record.

Maria and Gerald are very interestingly framed in this game. Shadow's first instinct on seeing them is to protect them. To save them from whatever impending disaster is coming. In what is a very character defining play, Shadow ignores this, squashes it immediately. There's something bigger going on here. And only when he sees them again, the big bad is out of the way does it all come back. That hope, that dream...

Talking to Maria throughout the game does a great job painting a picture of The Ark without the grief-stricken lens of Shadow and Gerald. We get to see the center of a tragedy talking about her home.

Maria shows so much love and honesty that you can see why the grudge about her fate lasted so long. She becomes such an emotional battering ram for Shadow all while she's just happy to talk to her friend.

And interesting point to note, at many times in the game, Maria is horrified by the anger that Shadow displays. What Omega encourages him to do is unfathomable to her, and hammers the point home for Shadow that he isn't theirs.

Their presence reflects what Shadow used to be. Before all of his mew experiences. Which brings us perfectly into who's sitting between Maria and Omega, Rouge.

Rouge is beautiful in this game. She Flys in at the last world and becomes an emotional rock for Shadow. And eventually, who he leaves white Space with. Back to the real world.

Rouge represents his current life. His family, the ones who care about him. Rouge offers the love and acceptance of Maria, with a tacit understanding and respect of his power and brutality.

I love this game. I want more of this. Give shadow his own franchise. Put him in everything. Shadow Frontiers. Shadow Colors. Shadow Spinball

[j0nesy]

Fortnite C5S3

Gonna try and reason with myself on why Im not really interested in this season. And I think I have a sort of explanation. Before anyone says anything, I'm not getting bored of the game. Here we go.

I feel like this season has way too much shit going on. There is a weird imbalance. C5S1 had just enough stuff that it didn't get boring, it held onto a story line but the combat was honestly elite part (and lets be honest the society grabbed a lot of peoples attention). C5S2 felt empty, the gods were cool and all but the map was just boring. The combat was meh + half of it was gone due to avatar, then Midas came back for what? Don't get me wrong I was hyped for a new Midas story line but I was kind of expecting him to player a bigger part in it all. But my general opinion of C5S2 is that combat was bad, but they held onto the storyline amazingly.

Then we have this, C5S3. Its a mess in my opinions. The combat isn't bad but it's far from good, I think the cars are cool. But it's a type of feature that if you aren't using it the game isn't fun. -

//before I finish I'm well aware this isn't a story driven game. I'm just referencing how they've been putting so much detail into story&lore//

-Though the thing that is making me not play as much isn't the combat, it's the unorganized way the map feels. Shit we have locations from C5S1, C5S2 (half just unused in both gameplay mechanics and lore at this point) + the locations from this season. Along with this Oscar is here, but so are Cerberus & Persephone. There's hope, Jonesy, multiple other NPC's. It's hard to tell who's there just to be there, or who's apart of the actual lore. Hope and Jonesy are definitely for the story. But is Oscar? Is he just here to let us know the society members are alive, or is there a bigger reason. I can't even speculate because so much shit is constantly happening in the game there's no real way to pick up on these lore clues. Hell I've been playing everyday since it came out and I just now noticed Cerberus was still here :`( . The last two seasons felt oddly balanced enough where you could actually take in the content.

Plus the battle pass sucks.

[archpaladin]

The feelings I have over this news are so...all over the place. Absolutely, no one should be harassed over these decisions! And yes, it is indeed disappointing. But I'll admit part of me feels...relief?

rambling thoughts with potential Dragon Age spoilers under the cut...

Worrying about how the worldstates will be implemented in the sequel has always been a constant with games like these for me, prompting perpetual plotting out of what decisions my characters will make to ensure the best endings for each quest and NPC because it feels really shitty when a game's epilogue tells you "this person's life was throughly ruined and they died cursing your name because you chose Solution X for Quest Y." I blame the Orzammar questline for this, I feel like it deliberately keeps a lost of stuff vague so no matter what choice you make you feel like the rug was pulled our from under you in the epilogue.

I feel like with this arguably tight focus on only a few aspects from the previous games makes it easier to make decisions in the games without worrying BioWare's going to go "SIKE! The choice you thought was best actually ruined everything! NEENER NEENER NEENER, GRAY AND GRAY MORALITY!"

And I also kind of feel like, especially with Inquisition and Mass Effect 3, BioWare was kind of overusing Easter Egg references and memes just because the fandom demanded they be acknowledged: "Swooping is bad," Blasto, Enchantment, Cullen's presence in the narrative growing like a tumor, it felt like BioWare was more interested in trying to produce the next funny in-joke, a fear of taking things too seriously. And part of me wonders if, given how long it's been since Inquisition and how the trajectory of Veilguard has changed so much, it's going to be something of a fresh start, less burdened by needing to address every single thing and reference every single joke again.

I do agree that Solas kind of became a gravity well for the narrative and how everything in it started bending towards him (honestly, part of me feels like this was a problem with him from the start, even as compelling as he is), culminating in Veilguard itself being basically HIS story and that has me worried Rook is basically there to witness Solas, but I'm also hopeful that Veilguard just gives a definitive ending to his part in it so it can move on to other characters and other stories. Same thing with Varric too, I felt like BioWare was bending over backwards to keep him involved in events long after it'd make more sense for him to say "I'm done," and let new characters have some attention. At least Anders' return in Dragon Age II did something interesting with his character and showed how he changed, while Varric's changes are very, very small and debatable.

And despite what I said earlier about how anxiety-inducing trying to anticipate whether the sequel's going to go out of its way to make you regret specific choices you made, it is irritating to know that making that managing so many narrative threads CAN be done. BioWare's done it before. The whole reason they came up with the Dragon Age Keep was to facilitate that, and now that's going to waste. Inquisition was too ambitious in a lot of ways, but a game could be made to pick up on its threads the way it did for II and Origins. While they have learned that a tighter focus can benefit the game's plot, I am worried that Veilguard may end up TOO tightly focused, just dealing with Solas' drama and only that, leaving no real room for Rook to influence other aspects of the setting that can be elaborated on or explored in future games, a paradigm shift from bigger settings with more choices to make to a more on-rails story where you're not really expected to have "side-quests" or minor storyline that aren't directly related to the main plot. And yeah, a lot of times that can be pointless busy-work, but I *like* pointless busy-work if it shows me more of the world and lets my characters life intersect with more NPCs to make the world feel more lived in!

So...yeah, there's my disorganized, messy thoughts on Veilguard's storyline decisions. I remain cautiously optimistic, but I'd be lying if I didn't look at the worldstate selector leaked and go "That's IT?!" too. But people being *angry* about this? It's just a video game! That we play for fun! CHILL!

Folks, I gotta be real with you: Yes I too am disappointed that there aren't more choices carrying over in The Veilguard from the last three games, but I think the current fandom rage is a little over the top. It's not the end of the world. Can we just take a breath for a second and remember that this new game is set in Northern Thedas, where 99% of decisions made in Southern Thedas ten or more more years ago of course aren't going to matter, if you think about it? And on a meta level, I imagine the goal is to make this game as friendly as possible to brand new players, not out of spite towards existing fans.

[rainy-day-coffee]

Helloooo. First of all, I definitely LOVE your writing! Theyre so fun to read! And second, can I request hcs...or scenario (you can choose!) with octa trio + riddle and idia accidentally hearing their fem crush gushed enthusiastically about them to her friends? Thanks a lot!

AH- Thank you so much!! (^///^) I have a lot fun writing these for everyone, I’m super happy you like my posts!

Oh anon, this idea!!! I had so much fun with this!! I hope you like it! I genuinely want to make these all into full-fledged scenarios or maybe just mini-scenarios! If you would like one of those, you are more than welcome to ask for it! I’m going to have brainrot about this idea for a long time now, it’s just so cute!

Finding their fem!crush gushing about them to her friends!

Azul had just been minding his business, making his way through the campus of NCR, students avoiding him as usual. 

Walking around the corner, he hears you squealing to your group of friends. You sound so excited! It piqued his curiosity so he hid. Just what opportunity could you be presenting him with?

Very jealous at first, he doesn’t know who you’re talking so highly about. He never had much of a fair chance at a relationship with you, or so he believes. He supposes this conversation can be used as black-mail in the future.

And then he hears his name being followed along by another string of compliments.

Almost lets out the loudest gasp, but stops himself in time. He blushes a very deep shade of red. This isn’t fair. You shouldn’t be allowed to make his heart beat this quickly. And all those words of adoration, goodness! What is he supposed to do?

He’s thankful that he sent the twins off to go do something. Otherwise, they would tease him and push him towards you with no remorse. 

He proceeds to go straight to his room, launch himself into bed, hug a pillow, and roll around and squeal in joy.

He can use this to his advantage! Your little indirect confession will be used as coverage for when he ropes you into a contract! A contract of love that is!

Jade and Floyd can’t help but notice their boss is in a much happier mood the following days!

He already knew you harbored feelings for him. Remember, he’s amazing at reading people. Now, he was simply waiting for you to make your move.

He really hadn’t expected to find you and your friends in an empty hallway. You were practically vibrating in place while you told them about a certain crush of yours.

How bold of you to talk about such things in public! You can never know who will be listening.

His outside expression doesn’t change. He’s still smiling like usual. On the inside however, he’s quite happy. Technically, this doesn’t count as an advance on your part, but he can use this situation to his benefit.

He makes his way forward ever so quietly. Wrapped up in your excitement, you don’t even seem to notice him.

Your friends desperately try to tell you about the looming eel that is right behind you, please quiet down before you embarrass yourself further. 

It seems to be too late for that though.

You feel a pair of hands on your shoulders, finally alerting you of his presence. It’s no use trying to play off the situation, he heard just enough to know.

No please, go on, he insists. Just what else do you have to say? He wants to hear all of it.

Floyd never made his feelings a secret! This applies to his crush on you too! He’s a lot clingier with you, and he tends to drag you around more than anyone else! It’s quite obvious that you’re his obsession. However, you had yet to confess your love for him. What a shy shrimp you are! He’s starting to get a little impatient.

He wasn’t in the best of moods when he overheard your “confession.” He didn’t feel like working at Mostro Lounge or doing that really long assignment Professor Trein had given out. He was so bored.

His mood does a complete 180 when he hears you absolutely “melting” over a “tall and attractive eel who loves to squeeze you.” 

He’s so happy to hear that! He knew you loved him too! He quickly becomes annoyed soon after though. Shouldn’t you be telling him these things to his face? It’s quite rude to not be honest with a person.

Goes up and just glomps you right there and then, it doesn’t matter who you’re with or where you are. It’s time to spend the rest of your day with him now! Go on! Tell him about how much you adore him! You have a lot of nerve making him wait!

He’s going to squeeze you all day! This is your punishment for not confessing sooner! It’s impossible to escape now, when Floyd makes up his mind nothing can stop him.

Trey had told Riddle to take a short break from his paperwork. Not wanting to go far from the dorm, he decided to take a stroll through the maze. It was meant to be a relaxing 10-minute walk, not a stressful be quick and hide situation. He did it on impulse! He really didn’t know you were going to be here talking your heart out.

He knows it’s extremely rude to listen in on a private conversation, but he can’t seem to stop. What kind of person have you fallen in love with while he yearns for you?

He almost starts to cry when he realizes it’s him. You sound so genuine and happy when you talk about him! Even if he isn’t your boyfriend just yet, he feels so loved!

Always having been self-conscious for his lack of romantic knowledge, he’s glad you seem to like him anyways! He’s been trying to show off a bit with his magic and intellect lately, it’s paying off it seems!

Feels very guilty nonetheless, he had no right to hear any of this. When he confesses one day, he’ll do his best to apologize.

Riddle tries to calm his racing heart and stop the intense blush on his face before he leaves. He’s quite grateful Trey forced him out here.

He was watching you through the cams he has set up around school. He wasn’t trying to spy on you or anything! He simply happened to be on the right camera at the right time.

He assumes the worst automatically. His self-loathing increases with every compliment you seem to give this mystery person. It clouds his logical thinking. Of course you would love someone else. He just spends his days wasting your time and doing nothing but hanging out in his room. He’s terrible with socializing too. You deserve a lot better.

The bigger part of him wants to shut-off his monitor, not wanting to listen anymore. The smaller part wants to know who’s the object of your affection. Who matches the description of “beautiful, long blue hair,” “pretty yellow eyes,” “adorable fanboy,” and “extremely smart.” It genuinely takes him a good minute or so to figure it out. It helps that you practically shout out his name too.

His entire being turns red, hair included. A room temperature increase follows suit. 

His heart can’t handle this! You’re the heroine to this story! You’re supposed to get with one of the cool SSR characters?! The NPC character isn’t a part of the romance list!

Nearly collapses onto the floor in complete happiness and confusion. He’s not complaining, not at all! However, he does begin to question your taste in men.

Ortho is now rushing to his brother’s room. The levels of heat are getting dangerously high and he is panicking. He knows his brother can get random bursts of excitement, but never to this extent!

[gbgamebun]

Road to Cream64 v1 Part 3: So many friends and an egg.

I was hoping to do two of these a week but man this has been a crazy week. Anyway, we back to wrapping up the rest of the NPCs. Actually had to grab

Star Toads were next and I wanted to make each one unique. The thought process for who got chosen was a mix of who was connected to Cream and just who I liked. The obvious answers were Amy and Blaze and I ended up choosing Blaze for the second toad. Doesn't mean I would leave Amy hanging, as she got a little side story in v2, but when we get there of course.

In Blaze's dialog, she mentions that Marine was also with her and that she's somewhere. So go help her find this mangy raccoon! I wanted to do something special and stick Marine in a level where you'd just run into her. Though with very limited code knowledge, even if you find Marine, Blaze's dialog stays the same. Mostly just a cute little event that would eventually fuel my desire to add more stuff like this in later versions. So much more...

The first star toad as you can see here ended up being a leftover from a small edit I did when just figuring out dialog edits and stuff. Eventually just ran with the idea of a single stubborn toad who refused to leave when Peach gave the order for every toad to go on vacation for this party.

Even after all the latest versions and dialog rewrites, his has been the only one that's stayed the same since v1. People really have come to love this little asshole.

For the last toad, I ended up choosing a little blue bunny for reason that should be clear: she be my bun bun.

Around early 2020 is when I finally had gotten out of my weird funk about my drawing ability and stuff and finally started getting back into Sonic stuff. Bare with me for a bit for I must go into a tangent into what I've been doing for the past few years before all this.

Near the end of 2019 I started slowly getting back into Sonic AUs and OCs again, a bit of that can be attributed to the Sonic movie and my friend's revigorated interest into that part of the fandom. One of my oldest characters, Mark, was stuck in a weird limbo of being in a Sonic AU and being in an original story for a few years. It reached a point where I just tired of it and shelved him to focus on an entirely new story and characters unrelated to anything I've done before.

Now back to the start of 2020, I actually go out of my way to try and update his design and do some stuff with him.

And we have our new design. I swear one day I'll go into his backstory but I'm dragging on. So where does this rabbit fit in? One of the new story bits I had in mind was that he would find a little rabbit named Katalina and adopt her. Then while he does his adventurin', he would leave her with Vanilla and that's how she would form a bond with Cream and the rest of her family. It's also why she calls Cream "Lil' Sis" in her dialog since she's like slightly older than Cream.

So yeah this hack is based off my AU, which is still mostly just told through these hacks. Don't blame people for getting real confused as to who the heck she is and eventually her adopted pappy. Sorry for the long bit, I rarely get a chance to speak about them as much like this. Speaking of, let's go back to him since that we're now done with the toads.

Changing Yoshi was just like changing the other model though this is the first time changing someone's model who was bigger than the model swapped (in this case it's using Mario's rig on a model that's taller). The best way to describe it is that the root position is off so he's kind of sticking a bit on one side, even if his shadow looks fine. His collision is kind of wonky as a result.

I would end up leaving this for v1 but it is something I would fix down the line. It was just a matter of changing the root point or even moving the rig a bit before exporting. Also noting, Mark here has changed again, with Blaze like fur sticking out instead of the weird white hair flowing from the back. Saved me a lot of effort down the line, lemmie tell ya!

Ya know I guess I should at least show what they're latest designs are. From the ref sheets I got, made by my friend @fudgernutter.

And now time for the big boy. That's right, it's time for Eggman and his Egg Koopa Mk 2!

God, this monster was one of the hardest thing to put together, if only just to uncrumple him so I can apply his textures and fix up the head mesh.

WHY IS YOUR JAW SO FAR APART?! It was one of those that was so bad I had to write down which bone was moved and how much so I don't accidently mess up the whole thing. Gah, it was a mess but as the years have shown me, it was 100% worth the effort.

It wouldn't be the first time messing with Bowser's model and rig, as I did an edit for Super Suwako 64 by turning him into a Cirno cosplayer. Don't mind the missing jaw, had messed up rotating on of the bones. This is what can happen.

The actual design of the EggBowz basically just comes down to "I wanted the robot to look as close as I can with him". So changed the hair to brown, the horn and spikes to gold to match Eggman's buckles, the upper torso is red to match his coat and the lower half is black for his pants and shoes. The mustache model is just his SA1's stache slapped on the front of the nose cause it seemed like something he would do.

Carving a hole into Bowser's head mesh wasn't too hard thankfully and then just repositioning Eggy to look like he's sitting and we're good! Still weird to think that it was initially just a random thought to actually do this but hey that's how half the ideas in his hack have worked out. Shoutouts to Cream nerds on twitter.

And with that, we got every major character swapped out! I suppose the last reoccurring character not mentioned here would be Mips so I'll just stick him at the end here.

Sonic is full of small animal critters so grabbing one of them was perfect for Mips. Ended up grabbing a model of Pocky from I forget either Smash 4 or a mobile game where the animal friends are there (and low poly). Everything here is still the Mips model except for the head obviously. Then just applying Pocky's textures and even connecting his ears so that they're a single mesh.

Whew that's a lot but there's not much else left. Just enemy models, UI stuff and the soundtrack and that's gonna be fun to discuss. Gotta see if I still have spreadsheets of the songs I chose before adding them.

[ballad-in-goblets]

inazuma archon quest (rewrite ? critique ?)

OKay so i’m gonna preface this with i don’t hate the inazuma archon quests ! i quite enjoyed the storyline and everything about it, there are just things that ,,, i'm not so satisfied with. and so i'm gonna go over those here and rewrite it or like. idk offer critique lol something like that !

real quick, @like-that-one-weird-dog-thing here if u want this here's that ramble i was talking about lol (yeah i made a genshin tumblr kSDKGHDFFGD)

i feel like this is a given but;

spoilers for all acts of the inazuma archon quest under the cut

with that out of the way, onto the rewrite ! (quick side note: it kinda turns more into a creative writing piece more than a critique or full rewrite near the end which is not what i meant to do but it still gets my point across so !! it works)

so, like i said, i quite enjoyed the archon quest. the first two acts (autumn winds, scarlet leaves & the immovable god and the eternal euthymia) are perfect, i don't think i'd change anything in those two acts at all. the third act (stillness, the sublimation of shadow) is also wonderful, and i honestly think that's my favourite out of the archon quest acts so far ! it's mainly when act 3, omnipresence over mortals, hits that i think it fell a bit short

things kinda feel... a bit rushed when it comes to this quest ? compared to the slow, steady pace of the prologue and act 1, then the speeding up of act 2, it honestly seems too fast paced and yet too slow at the same time. some parts of act 3 were really fast, like the encounter with scaramouche and the duel with la signora, and then some were... really slow. like the entire bit with the reistance.

on top of that, a lot of characters really fell short for me. it felt like teppei, an unplayable npc, was way more important than gorou, sangonomiya kokomi, kujou sara, basically everyone except for yae miko and raiden shogun. which, don't get me wrong, teppei was important, but i feel like these other characters had a big introduction only to just... kinda exist with no real reason.

gorou and sangonomiya kokomi were played up as big characters due to their status in the resistance - kujou sara was played up as the raiden shogun's right hand woman, and they were advertised as the duo of inazuma - hell, it even felt like kamisato ayaka was going to play a larger role in the final act of the story. and then none of them really did.

gorou only shows up to inform us about the soldiers aging quickly (and a bit near the end, but kaedehara kazuha had more of a role there, with actually leaping towards the shogun). sangonomiya seems important, but her only real action is making us a force captain and then telling us where the delusion factory could be. kujou sara only showed up to talk to the head of the kujou clan then get fucking knocked out by la signora in front of the raiden shogun, who did nothing about a snezhnayan diplomat knocking out her LEAD GENERAL ! kamisato ayaka only appeared for a few moments.

so, now that i've explained some of why i felt the final act fell short, i'm going to offer up how i would've changed things.

first, gorou and sangonomiya should play a bigger role in the story. like, they're the leads of the resistance, and they get less screentime than unplayable npcs... that's kinda weird. kujou sara should also play a bigger role. kamisato ayaka, i think would be fine with not appearing, due to how much of a part she played in the first acts, but gorou, sangonomiya kokomi, and kujou sara should be a lot more present, just in general.

in the 2.1 trailer, there were lines of "peace talk", correct ? i feel like that should've been in the story. perhaps after the traveler meets with sangonomiya on watatsumi island, they hear word of kujou sara wishing to meet. they meet up with her, which is where the peace talk comes into play. the two sides start trying to come up with a compromise. while this is happening, gorou is keeping an eye on things back on watatsumi island... where things start getting strange.

the soldiers start showing signs of accelerated aging. it's concerning, and as far as they're aware, unstoppable. due to this, sangonomiya cuts the compromising short to return to her people and try to help them. perhaps kujou sara could make a jab at this, something like "how do you ever plan to defeat the shogun's army if you can't even keep your own soldiers alive outside of a fight?" which could lead to sangonomiya and the traveler believing that kujou knows something about what's going on (even though she doesn't).

upon getting back, the traveler recognises the delusions. honestly ? i really liked the delusion subplot. i really like the idea of the fatui trying to tear inazuma apart, kind of like they did mondstadt and liyue, so they could get their hands on baal's gnosis. perhaps they had it so that scaramouche was in charge of scattering the resistance forces, while la signora was working behind the scenes with the kanjou commission and the tenryou commission to manipulate the raiden shogun.

i love the part where teppei dies, simply due to how emotional it was. i genuinely cried at that part, lol... but i really enjoyed it. i would say, keep that in. after discovering the delusions, things stay relatively the same. the traveler goes to teppei and watches him die, and then goes to the factory to get revenge, where they meet scaramouche. yae miko still saves them, however...

instead of remaining at the shrine to talk to yae the entire time, i think the traveler would want to go back to the resistance. sure, yae could very much help them defeat the raiden shogun, but the traveler is working with the resistance, who, from what we've seen, can be quite strong... at times. however, as they're about to leave, yae leaves the traveler with these parting words: "be careful of who you trust, child. not everyone who seems like a friend is one"

why ? well, i love the idea of the resistance not entirely being in the right, either. y'know that giant serpent that baal struck down ? yeah, that was watatsumi's protector deity. simply put: watatsumi island doesn't really like the raiden shogun, and i doubt sangonomiya feels much differently. i would love if one of the subplots was about how the resistance wasn't firstly formed to fight the vision hunt decree, but just the shogun in general, and slowly morphed to fighting the vision hunt decree.

after returning to the resistance, the traveler tells sangonomiya what they found. after speaking for awhile, they figure out that the fatui is most likely not just making things miserable on the front of the resistance (via the delusions). how do they figure this out ? the traveler, of course. while wondering why the fatui are in inazuma, the traveler remembers how the harbingers are trying to collect all the gnosis. they make this known to sangonomiya, who guesses that the fatui could be trying to make inazuma a mess so they can get the shogun's gnosis. at this point, the traveler heads back to the grand narukami shrine to speak to yae miko, hoping she'll know more about this, with sangonomiya at their side.

upon arrival, yae miko is speaking to kujou sara. kujou and sangonomiya are immediately.. well, simply put, not happy to be in each other's presence. yae miko calms them down, and tells them all what she was telling kujou. sangonomiya and the traveler were right: the fatui were behind the vision hunt decree. sangonomiya tells kujou what had happened in the resistance, and the traveler tells her what happened in the other nations, with the fatui (specifically la signora) hunting the gnosis. kujou mentions seeing a harbinger, a tall woman with blonde hair, and the traveler connects the dots. it's la signora, and she's in inazuma. kujou still isn't convinced, so the traveler does need to get kamisato ayaka and sayu's help to get the documents.

while waiting for the documents to arrive, the traveler speaks more with sangonomiya, where they learn more about the past of watatsumi island and the serpent deity. perhaps, trusting the traveler, sangonomiya reveals to them why she started the resistance in the first place: to get revenge on the shogun for killing their deity. of course, as time went on, she is now fighting against the vision hunt decree and simply wants to see inazuma united again, though it shakes the travelers trust in the resistance. after all... teppei, their good friend, died for the reistiance, and here sangonomiya is telling them that she started it simply to get revenge on baal for a centuries old fight that was ended... well, centuries ago.

after getting the documents, the traveler meets with kujou sara at the grand narukami shrine. sangonomiya was planning to come, but gorou needed her help tending to more soldiers at the resistance, as some refused to hand over their delusions. things stay relatively the same from here. kujou confronts takayuki, and she goes to speak to the shogun about this. while that's going on, yae miko is speaking to the traveler, giving them a brief rundown on what is going on with the raiden shogun - the one that is actually given in the quest, where we learn more about her puppet and her name being ei and whatnot. afterwards, the traveler goes to face the raiden shogun. they find la signora and kujou sara in a standoff, with the raiden shogun taking kujou's side (they are a duo, after all). la signora moves to attack kujou, but...

before she can land a strike, our traveler runs in, stopping her blow. all three parties present are startled - a wanted criminal in inazuma just stopped inazuma's head general from being attacked. it's not something you see every day. after speaking a bit more, the traveler challenges la signora to a duel before the throne, remembering this as an option due to kaedehara kazuha telling them about his friend. the traveler wins, and as such, la signora is executed... or is she ? well, to the traveler it seems like she is, but some subtle hints clue us in to the fact that something seems off. maybe la signora isn't dead, after all.

however, before la signora is executed, kujou sara steps in. she can tell that the traveler needs to ask signora something, and as they have been helping her, she asks the raiden if they can ask their one question before she executes signora. raiden agrees. and so, the traveler asks... "why?"

"why what?" signora laughs, though it's a pained laugh. "i'm afraid you'll have to be a bit more specific."

"you didn't just take venti's gnosis."

"not like you did zhongli's."

"you were brutal. you knew him."

"what did he ever do to you?"

and then... a cutscene. a story cutscene, to be exact. telling us about la signora's backstory as the crimson witch of flames (after all, this is fully confirmed during the fight). it shows her meeting her lover, and her lover perishing in the war, and her turning into the crimson witch. it shows her blaming venti for her lover's death, and then being found by the fatui. given her cryo delusion so she could appear as a human in a world of humans, and vowing to work side by side with the tsaritsa... as long as she can get revenge on the god that caused her lover to die.

after that, the raiden shogun executes signora. the traveler leaves, and we get that terrifying cutscene of them walking (which, let me tell you, scared the hell out of me. it was wonderfully made, please keep that in). we see the resistance coming up, having decided now was the time to take back inazuma... and then, the raiden shogun appears. not fully attacking the traveler, but she appears, walking on the steps out of a portal, like she did when facing the traveler the first time. kaedehara kazuha, in a moment of anger, lunges forward, activating his friend's vision as he clashes his blade with the shogun. she knocks him back, raising her blade to end him and take his vision when the traveler jumps in again.

and this time, she takes them back to the plane of euthymia.

the fight happens again, and once more, the traveler is not strong enough to win. however, the voice of yae miko rings in their ears: "your ambition alone is not enough to stop ei". words that were said to them right as they left to go find kujou sara.

and in that moment, the visions reach out to them. the stolen ambitions of all these people, gifting their ambition to the traveler. and, in the end of that all, we see the face of teppei. we see his hope, his determination to help the resistance. except, it's not just an illusion, it's a spirit. "help the resistance for me, okay, my friend?"

and the traveler gets the strength. they fight back against the raiden shogun, and they defeat her. they win. they are thrown out of the plane of euthymia, and the raiden shogun is kneeling over, weak. she lost the fight. she lost the fight. she looks up at the traveler, her eyes glowing a bright purple as she takes them in.

"their ambitions are stored within you."

"you really are an exception."

she stands up, and the traveler readies their blade. is she going to attack them again? instead, her blade simply... vanishes in her hands. in a brilliant, electrifying light, what was once there is no longer there. she stands before the traveler, empty handed. just looking at them. the traveler lowers their weapons.

"you are no longer wanted in inazuma. even i can't beat you."

"that's not what i want."

"oh? then what is it?"

"end the vision hunt decree. now."

and the raiden shogun laughs. "you think you get to make that choice?"

"almighty shogun." kujou sara is there, too. had she always been there? the traveler isn't sure. "the vision hunt decree.. it's harming inazuma."

"not just vision bearers," gorou adds. "but the entirety of the inazuman people."

"vision bearers and non vision bearers alike." even sangonomiya kokomi is there. "we have been fighting to end this for two years. people have died on all ends. many lives have been lost. don't you think it's time to end this?"

"after all, it was the fatui's doing." and then, there's yae. and the shogun seems shocked, then angry, then hurt, then... sad. then happy.

"yae. my old friend..."

the shogun takes in the people all around her. she takes in friends and enemies, foes and allies, vision bearers and regular people... and yet, despite their differences, they're all inazuman. they're all her people. they looked to her for guidance, and it failed.

"very well."

the decree is over. visions are returned to the few still able to receive them. the raiden shogun, for the first time in what feels like an eternity, steps out of the plane of euthymia. for the first time in years, the shogun is not who walks the streets, no; it is ei who walks the streets alongside her people. she goes to the small villages, along with her good friends yae miko and kujou sara, and she sees the damage she caused on her people. sangonomiya kokomi and gorou show her the resistance troops, who, at first, almost try to attack, before ei steps down and bows to them, asking for their forgiveness. she sees the damage her idea of eternity inflicted upon inazuma, and she makes it her goal to do better.

after all. she was aware it was the fatui's doing. she knew what the fatui were doing. she knew that two of her three commissions were working behind her back. and she did nothing about it, as it fit well with her goals at the time. she turned her back on her people in a false pursuit of eternity that would only end in loss. she recognises that. she knows what she did was wrong, and she takes the steps towards making things right. she reopens inazuma's borders, and takes down the statue of the omnipresent god.

alongside yae miko, she offers advice to the traveler on where their sibling might be. she suggests they go to sumeru next; the city of scholars might know something. when asked about what they were told by yae, the ei tells the story herself. the story of two twins; baal and beelzebul, makoto and ei. how one lost the other, and took over her identity. much like venti and the unnamed bard.

in the final cutscene, we see how inazuma starts to heal. sangonomiya prays at the watatsumi island shrine, for all the souls lost in the resistance. gorou and kujou sara start working together to mend the relationships between the reistance and the shogun's army. yoimiya, thoma, and kamisato ayaka enjoy a game of hot pot together, with sayu sleeping nearby. kaedehara kazuha leaves his friend's vision at his grave, and he takes his friend's cat with him. behind him, beidou awaits for her friend to join her, and the two walk off together. yae miko looks up at the sacred sakura, it's petals blowing in the wind. we see the traveler walk up to her to thank her for her help, and she simply smiles at them. sakura petals cover the screen... and then we see ei.

we see her walking alone. it's sunset, just about to go dark, but not just yet. it's lightly raining... and we see her kneel down at what seems to be a shrine. she leaves an offering before she stands up and moves away. we see the names engraved on the shrine - makoto. chiyo. sasayuri. kitsune saiguu. her sister, and her old friends. eternally preserved in a shrine created by the one who still cares for them.

and end scene.

[seoafin]

in chp 58, there’s this subtletly of gojo’s insecurity,, which is kind of obvious when u rly squint lol but again,, this is another mistranslation 😐 (1)

a panel of gojou training megumi which goes :

m: well beggars cant be choosers

g : is it that annoying? to ask me?

what gojou is actually asking in the panel is 「そんなに嫌？僕に頼るの？」－ "is it that bad to rely on me?" ,, the raw specifically used tayoru “頼る” 🥴

i think the whole point of 'fostering the next generation of strong jujutsu sorcerers' stems from this insecurity or rather his inner (and very well hidden) knowledge that he isn't invincible and he can't be relied on indefinitely

that's what bothers me about the fanon’s misconception that gojou has a 'god complex' the idea that gojou is the superior shaman doesn't come from him but from everyone else in his world,, it's a burden that was placed on him he's just trying to deal with it

but sometimes ur disinterest or indifference doesn't make u a better, bigger person ,,, gojou isn't necessarily a better person than geto just bc he didn't stray off the path. his indifference speaks volumes,, but yes he’s trying ig

but does this stop me from clowning this mf ? NO

jjk translation team 😭😭,, i rly dont even want to know what goes on behind the scene anymore,,,

I WAS SO HAPPY THAT JGKRK ACTUALLY HAVE A DECENT TRANSLATOR , i picked the series up like a week after i first caught up with jjk and was side eyeing it like “pls dont tell me its like jjk’s m.tl” after reading the EN tl b4 trying to re read with jp raws

the problem with translated things is that,, u have no idea if ur actually reading the manga/ manhuas/ webnovels/ etc or if ur reading what the translator interpreted with their personal bias

yes, morally grey/ ambiguos characters are so sexc to read but,, i dont even want to know if i have crossed path with those kind of ppl irl, in this life or the next one (i did twice actually, and hope that there wont be a third time💀) ,, getting into convos where it leads into someone questioning humans’ rights (to live) get my gears running on how to ghost them right away like HUHH IKFYL, HOW DO U ARRIVE TO SUCH CONCLUSIONS,,, im both fascinated and wary of human’s thought process

on an unrelated note,, YES!!! VNC IS GETTING ANIMATED AND BLUE PERIOD TOO ,, im not going to start with pandora hearts 🥴

also if ur going to start tog, i think it will be better once it’s out of hiatus (it’s almost been a year now) 😔 the story is actually getting real good,, this is one of the series i cant even talk abt bc it will be very biased ,, I JUST RLY LOVE HOW THE FEMALE CHARACTERS ARE WRITTEN , STRONG WOMEN GO BRRR

all of them are empowering but it doesn't mean that these women shld lose the sense of femininity (there’s more than enough series i went thru where the author turned the powerful women into sth akin with “not-like-the-other-girls” and reeks of sth,, finding out SIU (tog’s creator) is a man was so surprising like am i actually seeing this right?)

,, the story line is one hell of a slowburn but everyone is connected even the npc-ish turns out to have their hand dipped in the bigger picture not to mention the lore - 🐱 (2)

forgot to add this but i’m curious if part of megumi’s exasperation towards gojou is bc he cant be fit into the “black or white” box since gojou’s a gray character lol (3) - 🐱

yes!! i saw that translation mistake! I don’t know how they translated that into “do you hate me that much?” HATE RELYING!! ugh

i think one of gojo’s biggest flaws is that even though he knows and acknowledges that he needs strong comrades, he will always fall back on doing things solo because he’s the strongest, and that’s just the way that it’s been for so long. that is not the definition of a god complex at all lol

I’m planning on reading blue period. I’ve heard really really good things about it so im excited, especially since i finished jigokuraku yesterday. LOVED THE ENDING.

i haven’t read tog in so long!! i think I was in the part where rachel betrayed baam or smt I don’t even remember it’s been like 5 years so I can’t comment on how SIU writes women bc I’m p sure back then I was still struggling with my own occasional instances of internalized misogyny LMAO 😭 

everyone in jjk degree is gray to a degree, which I think is one of my favorite things about it. I can’t wait for this week’s chapter and what lord tengen is going to tell them....I need more information on gojo’s family/everything !!!

[dmsden]

Jumping the Tracks - Coaxing a plot without railroading your players.

Hullo, Gentle Readers. This week's Question from a Denizen is from Foxycipher. They ask, "How do I keep my players from derailing/ignoring the plot without railroading them or being seen as strict/no fun to play with?" 

I mean...this is such a challenge that it can be seen parodied in countless comics and cartoons about D&D. You have a plot you want to run, and your players are off trying to kill an insignificant NPC you introduced in Act I because they didn't like his attitude. You want the players to pay attention to the story you're trying to tell, but you don't want to force it down their throats and make them feel like they have no agency in your campaign world. 

Well, good news. There are some tricks you can employ to help keep them on track without having them feel like they're on rails.

I actually think you'd be wise to get their buy in on your plot right from the beginning. During your Session Zero (you are planning having a Session Zero, right?), talk to the players about a vague outline for a plot and make sure you have their buy in. Let's say you want to run a campaign inspired by the classic Slavers series of modules. During Session Zero, you could say, "I want to run a campaign where you've all been hired by an alliance of lords to wipe out slavery in their lands." This gives your players an idea of ways they can tie their characters into your story. Maybe the rogue used to work for some criminals before he realized the depths they were sinking to. Maybe the fighter is an escaped gladiator slave who wants revenge. Immediately, they're tying their characters directly to your plot, insuring that at least a couple of characters will have a vested interest in seeing your story unfold.

The other reason it's useful to reveal a bit of your idea during Session Zero is that it can give your players some idea of where you want to go. In my experience, most players want to work with the DM, not against them, in terms of making a fun story for everyone. There are always problem players, but the majority want to have fun along with you. If they know you're running "Curse of Strahd", then they're going to react to certain things that happen differently than if they know you're running "Tyranny of Dragons". Either way, though, they'll be more apt to follow clues that seem to tie into the story you've told them to expect.

Another thing you can do is a bit of a reverse on the players making characters that tie into your plot: tie the plot to your characters. Let's say you want them to battle an ancient sorceress, and you have a player whose village was wiped out by a dragon and whose motivation is vengeance. When the PCs finally defeat the dragon, have there be evidence that shows that the dragon wiped out the village on orders from the sorceress. Now their motivation continues to be vengeance, but they have a new target that ties to them directly. They'll be likely to spur the party on to pursue the goal you have in mind.

A trick that sits at the foundation of my current campaign is the "random loot drop" that isn't actually random at all. If you want to center your plot around locating the pieces of the Rod of Seven Parts, then plan on an early treasure in the campaign being one of those parts. Give the PCs a choice of multiple adventures, but, whichever one they choose, put the Rod there. Make sure it's very useful to the PCs so they won't want to part with it. Then have people show up trying to get it, demanding it and being obnoxious and belligerent. I can all but guarantee that the PCs will fight tooth and nail to keep it, and then try to figure out why someone else wants it. This can lead into a much bigger story, and the PCs never need to know that they were going to find the Rod no matter what.

One thing you must be ready for is that the PCs may refuse to follow your plot. If this is the case, you can try to re-engage them, but, if they continue to resist, I don't recommend forcing it. What I recommend instead is to give the NPCs timeline events. If the PCs don't stop them, the villains will take certain actions on certain dates, leading to potential consequences. If the PCs ignore the goblin invasion, you can have a timeline of the goblin progress. Eventually, unless the PCs move ahead of it, they'll run into consequences of not acting. Maybe hobgoblin patrols will start harassing them for their papers, or they'll return home to find their family home burned down and their family enslaved. Maybe they'll seek out a treasure they want to find that hobgoblins got there before them and claimed it. Will they take action then, perhaps at an increased difficulty, or will they continue to resist and avoid being drawn in? That in and of itself could be an interesting story. I remember playing in a campaign where we were forced to travel to lands occupied by our enemies, and it was terrifying. We were dodging patrols and fighting when we had to, and it felt intense and worrisome, especially as we accumulated fugitives and our supplies dwindled.

In the end, if the PCs completely refuse to engage in your plot, you have a choice: bring the campaign to an end, or follow your players' bliss. Maybe they just want to dungeon crawl, in which case you can run some dungeon crawls for them. Hopefully, however, they would've expressed this in a Session Zero, and some kind of compromise could've been worked out.

I hope this advice helps, Foxy. Let us know how it goes.

[jcmorrigan]

001 - Kingdom Hearts

Favorite character: On the villain side: VEXEN IS BEST ORGANIZATION XIII MEMBER. Shoulda stayed evil, though. I like it when he complains and screams about everything and hates everyone. He's one of my favorite villains, just, like...in general. So fun to write. Also attached to Demyx, but I actually liked him more in III than II because it reminded me of my rawr lolspeek weeb days when I f/o'd him without knowing what f/o'ing was and then transitioned this to shipping VexDem like heck. On the hero side: MY GIRL KAIRI! But honorable mentions go to Sora, Riku, Aqua, Ven, Terra, Xion, Roxas, Lea, Ienzo, any Disney character I loved beforehand (this is way too fuckin many to list), Merlin (OKAY I WILL SINGLE HIM OUT), Yen Sid (I'LL SINGLE HIM OUT TOO), you know what let's also single out the Mickey+Donald+Goofy power trio...just...any KH hero who isn't part of the Yozora stuff or the KHUX stuff. ...Except I also LOVE Strelitzia, and she is the only KHUX-exclusive kiddo I care about but I care about her MANY. (Oh, and there's a least fave I have who's a "hero" but that's a debatable label). I would go on about why I love all of them but...that's too many characters to elaborate on

Least Favorite character: See, I think the real answer is Yozora, but the thing is I just tend to forget about him or not care (unless I'm doing a weird AU where he's Noctis' bratty Nobody, don't ask). He kinda represents the Shark Jump and I don't like watching that scene where he literally petrifies Sora for not being strong enough. But again, I can just kinda forget about him if he's not fed to me through a social-media unit. The one I LOVE TO HATE is Master Eraqus. The man actually triggered me back in the day. He is purity culture. He is the overbearing parent who will not accept you unless you are perfect. He is by and large the reason VAT didn't communicate with each other properly. He was the one who taught Aqua to think in absolutes. He lied to Ventus for years and then insisted to kill him was the only option, and then, when Terra tried to defend his brother figure/friend without knowing WHY Eraqus was doing such a thing, Eraqus didn't offer an explanation and instead switched targets to Terra citing that the problem was Terra's lack of OBEDIENCE. Eraqus is just very "my way or the highway" and uses his moral high horse to justify doing things that utterly lack compassion in any regard, which is something that GETS to me on a deep level, and let me tell you, I hated him for so long until I realized he was actually a super fuckin fun guy to imagine as a Bigger Bad in AUs that either have the KH protags teaming up or have villain protags needing a "greater good lawful evil" figure. And I just have found too many good memes about him cheating at chess and killing children. I have to laugh. Making fun of him is fun. He's a ridiculous character. That said, this recent trend of "erase everything bad he ever did and paint him as the ultimate hero of the saga" makes me raise eyebrows for SEVERAL reasons

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): VexDem, SoRiku, Kairi x Jaune Arc (RWBY), Aqua x Rosalina (Super Mario Galaxy) x Bayonetta, IsaLea, Ventus x Papyrus (Undertale), that was six but they all needed to be mentioned

Character I find most attractive: Ienzo. HOO BABY he is adorable. I saw someone make a Valentine's Day gifset of KH and FF characters shortly after III dropped and seeing his smiling face paired with a romance quote made my heart FLUTTER

Character I would marry: Probably Ienzo, see above. He's also a very kind guy. Favorite redemption in the modern era.

Character I would be best friends with: I hope the Destiny Trio would adopt me into their friend circle the way they've tended to do with every other inter-world denizen they've come across. I would love to have them as my positivity squad. Or, y'know, two positivities and one "it's okay to screw up" guy. Just. I would love to hang out with them. I often worry that I'm unlikable to my faves, but even though I would usually prefer to hang with the villains, I can pretty much guarantee these three would be open-minded about me. (Do I kiiiiinda wanna be friends with Vexen though? Of course I do. He'd hate me but maaaayyyyybe he would see me as one of his pet idiots who makes him look smarter, and we could bond over our fragile egos?)

a random thought: You ever think about that one NPC lady in Traverse Town who refused to tell you where she was from because it was none of her business? You ever wonder where she WAS from? What her world was like? How she ended up being the survivor of the Ansem Apocalypse when it hit her? All I know is that when I read her lines out loud (I used to read KH speech balloons out loud all the time), I gave her a Southern accent for no discernible reason and I stand by it. That woman has a twang.

An unpopular opinion: I don't want KHUX to be canon because I feel it's smaller-scale and takes a lot of mystery out of the worldbuilding. I always assume that the KHverse just includes ALL worlds in fiction, and that includes their thousand-year histories, meaning the Age of Fairy Tales should've happened long long long LONG LONG LONG ago and not five generations. And whatever screwed up the world should've been more than just five people having a fight, and whatever saved it should've been more than just five people getting along, and Daybreak Town really suffers from having to stick to mobile-friendly graphics and therefore is the least aesthetically attractive KH town ever, and I don't like that Lauriam and Elrena used to be such selfless people. I do still love Strelitzia because she's shy and relatable and quirky (sitting on the roof) and she questions authority and if you go with shipping subtext she's probably bi (or pan?), but I don't like the "Lauriam's dead sister for his arc's drama" bit. I liked when Marluxia was angry because he wanted to run Organization XIII but it was in the hands of an idiot who wasn't him. And more than anything I just like imagining that the Age of Fairy Tales was something bigger, further in the past, and more mysterious than something designed for a mobile game. Scala ad Caelum, however, I like a lot better because there IS a lot of mystery there and also it's a very pretty town with an amazing design.

my canon OTP: I really only count the Disney couples as the "canon" ones, so this is a question of picking my favorite Disney couple that shows up onscreen. I hope I'm not forgetting an important one, but I think the title has to go to Aladdin/Jasmine, which is always perfect in everything. (This would be an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT STORY if KH had ever adapted Treasure Planet, and if it ever gets the mind to adapt Treasure Planet then even if I don't care about that game I will immediately declare that Amelia/Doppler takes the KH canon OTP crown. *taps watch* Get on it Squenix)

Non-canon OTP: SoRiku, which I counted as "basically canon" after DDD until III decided it wasn't sure. But I'm just a sucker for how DDD is the two of them all "HE'S GOT MY BACK AND I'VE GOT HIS AND I'D DO ANYTHING FOR HIM SO LONG AS HE'S HAPPY." It's just the best kind of Friends-to-Lovers, except when you take all canon into account it's Friends-to-Rivals-to-Enemies-to-Friends-to-Lovers and that's a very juicy dynamic. BUT ALSO: VexDem, which is a nostalgia ship SO STRONG I had to accept that it eclipsed my former Vexen ships by a mile and I wanted to go back to my roots. That one, I have a much longer essay about that I'll just have you refer to so I don't repeat myself for pages. To make a long story short, their scene in III was JUST DELICIOUS.

most badass character: OOF THEY'RE ALL BADASS but in the end it's between Sora and Aqua, because Sora gets the widest RANGE of abilities across the series that he masters while Aqua gets the most POWERFUL abilities due to her Mastery (Command Styles seem like they'd be the most OP things ever in-universe and I'm here for it because flashy battle moves make brain go brr).

pairing I am not a fan of: SOKAI, Xehaqus, RikuNami, Vanitas/anyone not evil

character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): OH BOY. KAIRI THE MOST. YOU ALL KNOW WHY: lack of screen time, Fridging for drama, forced romance to invite death flags (they really wanted to milk that death to get people talking didn't they?), giving Alyson Stoner ZERO direction to actually follow up on Hayden Panettiere's performance. But then I remember that they made Vexen redeem and lose his entire personality and I just...uuugghhhh. I can't believe he died twice in this series. And then Demyx is FUN but also I know he's flipped sides as well, which means he won't be fun much longer! Xehanort seems to switch motivations to whatever makes him the biggest threat (and several of Eraqus' old flaws seem to be mysteriously glued onto him), Sora isn't a motormouth anymore, Riku just doesn't get anyone who cares about him anymore because everyone's distracted by Sora and Kairi, IS ANYBODY GOING TO ADDRESS THE ACTUAL ISSUES THAT DROVE THE WAYFINDER TRIO APART, oh God Marluxia and Larxene you're good guys now what have they done to you

favourite friendship: I really like each of the trios. But you know what's even BETTER than the trios? If you put...all of the trios together...meaning Sora, Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Aqua, Terra, Ven, Roxas, Xion, Lea, Hayner, Pence, Olette...and then you added Isa back in there...and you gave them Ienzo...and you brought back Naminé...and you say that Subject X is Strelitzia and you have her turn back up so she can have justice done...AND YOU HAVE AN ULTRA KEYBLADE GROUP OF FRIENDS. As for Vexen, any purely platonic relationship I have for him is a crossover but trust me I have many crossover pals for he

character I want to adopt or be adopted by: See everyone I listed above in the friendship question. They can either mentor me or let me be their big sis/mom. But also, I will GLADLY be Merlin or Yen Sid's daughter. (But also would I kiiiiinda wanna be a VexDem daughter? This is the worst idea. Still wanna try)

[finished-ink]

The Last of Us Part II RANT

I’m normally a “moblie user only” person myself, but Part II took the fattest, nastiest shit on me I’ve ever had the displeasure and feeling through game, that I had to hop on my computer and type this. But before I get in to all the bad, let me start off with the little good in the game.

PROS: The Sound Design, the Animation and Graphics, and the Voice Work

Sound Design: The songs and music in this game were extremely well done. It had me moved to tears to sitting on the edge of my seat anxious about what was going to happen next.

Animation and Graphics: The animation truly seemed like a TON of time, energy, and love went into designing the characters and their surroundings.The graphics were just as awesome and truly made you feel immersed in the world of tlou.

Voice Work: Great work done my all voice actors involved. They, along with the graphics, made the characters really come to life.

OK, now done with the good, time for the fucking bullshit. I am mostly going to focus an the story and the characters. Because holy fuck, I know GOT season 8 was like a milestone in bad storytelling, but the goal wasn’t to do worse than that shitty ass season.

The Shitty Story:  I think the first thing that set this story up to be the fuck up that it is, was this lesson of “Violence isn’t the answer”. I think if the lesson was, “Your actions and choices have consequences” would have been a better theme to go along with this story. So, lets begin with Joel’s death.

I was honestly not surprised at all when I got to Abby at the beginning and someone was there to kill Joel. To think he would be able to evade the effects of what he did to the Fireflies would have been a bit ridiculous. I was even semi-fine with the torture of Joel, because I could see how that decision would force the player to really want to get back at Abby. Was it needed? Absolutely not because just killing Joel would of accomplished this. But if the torture of Joel was something Naught Dog really wanted to include then OK fine. We then come to the next extremely shitty part in the story, killing members of WLF and the game making the player feel guilty for it.

Now I know this is kinda a game play issue, but the issue being solved with a simple change in the game play would effect the story. And that is allowing the players to choose what the fuck they want to do. Do you want to just going in and slaughter everybody while their friends scream about their friends dying. That’s completely your choice. Do you want to quietly and tactically knock them out and leave them to live? Let that also be a choice. The could of even done it to where the more people you kill the more ammo and weapons you could collect, but it’ll be harder to travel because WLF will be sending out more brutes and harder enemies in an attempt to stop you. On the flip side, the more people you knock out, the less ammo and weapons you have, but the less WLFs there are to try and hunt you down because you’re not a bigger threat than the Scars. Then they could use dialogue said by the npcs to give the player an idea of how much of a threat they are to WLF. In a game where its trying to teach this lesson of “Violence isn’t the answer”, it sure forces you to resort to violence at every opportunity. You can even keep the intended message because in the game, violence isn’t always truly the answer. Bouncing off of this is my next change to the story, having the players make the choice about whether or not they want to kill Nora, Mel, and Owen.

Let’s get one thing straight, Ellie beating the shit out of Nora was not needed. An alternative to getting the info about where Abby was staying at could of been done through a series of little puzzle quests to give Ellie clues on where Abby was. This would be longer, but would not of had the same effect on Ellie’s mental state as beating the fuck out of Nora did. However, they could of kept the original scene as it played out. You get the info fast and you don’t lose out on anything major. Maybe some ammo and some pills but not enough to where it feels like you’ve lost out. But the choice now falls on the players to decide what they should do. The same applies with Mel and Owen. When you arrive at the aquarium, the player can decide to shot Owen to get Mel to talk, kill Mel to get Owen to talk, or grab Mel to threaten Owen to talk. The two kill options would be semi-bad because what played out originally with Abby would happen. But if the player decided to threaten Mel, Owen would talk, Ellie would release Mel but still holding them at gun point, and leave. However this would happen after another choice I think should of been implemented in the game. The choice to travel with Jesse to go and find Tommy.

When this happened even I wanted Ellie to just go with Jesse. It seemed like a great point to give the players a chance to decide what they wanted Ellie to do. Here’s how I would of wanted it to go: The player can either make Ellie continue to the aquarium, and the story would follow along as normal, or the player makes Ellie go with Jesse to find Tommy and leave. They leave and find Tommy after his encounter with Abby. You could even make another choice here where Tommy wants to try and go back to hunt down Abby, or go back to Dina with Jesse after he argues that they need to leave. If you go back with Jesse, Tommy follows with you, upset she gets to live, but moves on. From this they return to the theater, grab Dina and travel back to Jackson. This can then branch off to the future we see with Ellie and Dina, but there’s a scene where they travel to Jackson with J.J to see Jesse and his family. While there, Tommy approaches Ellie and says that he found Abby, and the player can decide what to do here as well. Go after Abby or stay. If the player goes after Abby, Ellie does find her and kills her, but it leaves Ellie feeling a bit conflicted because she doesn’t feel the fulfillment she thought she would feel. Cut to her traveling back to Jackson, visiting Joel’s grave and cue heart wrenching scene of her playing the guitar at his grave.

Now circling back, if the player decided to travel with Tommy to hunt Abby down in Seattle, Jesse reluctantly agrees, but tells them if they don’t find her by tomorrow afternoon, they all leave. This would then lead to the player finding Abby and Lev (because in my head Lev does run off but the boat he takes in the aquarium isn’t there and heard talk about the other boats the WLF’s use and takes off there, but Abby catches him in time to stop him from traveling to the island. This would happen after her encounter with Tommy) and Abby would tell Lev to run back to the aquarium with Yara. So its Ellie, Jesse, and Tommy holding Abby at gun point. Knowing a 3v1 isn’t winnable, she lays down her weapons and thus, another decision is allowed for the player. Kill Abby or let her live. Killing Abby has an effect on Ellie’s mental state and that can effect the game at the end. Not too bad that it ruins the ending, but bad enough that maybe there’s a cut scene of her having nightmares about killing her. If the player decides to not kill her, Ellie lets her go, she runs off, Tommy and her argue and Jesse tells them to drop it and get back to the theater. They do and cue to the ending I talked about earlier with everyone going back to Jackson. Now this leads me to my leads final story issue I would change about the game, Abby’s portion would be significantly cut down.

While the player would still play as Abby, the only flash back that would be included is the one about her and her father. Narratively, I don’t hate it. It allows for the player to understand why Abby wanted to kill Joel and drive home the new theme of “Your choices and actions have consequences”. However playing as Abby for, what, 12 hours of the game wasn’t needed. If the excuse was to pad for time, everything I said above would not have only extended the time, but would of allowed for players to want to replay the game. The player would still play as Abby with Lev and Yara so it can set up the players for how all the characters got to where they are by the time the player is given the choice to Kill or Let Abby Go. I’m on the fence about if the player would still be Abby and the theater scene would play as normal if you kill Mel or Owen. Kinda up in the air but what can you do. Anyways, while this would humanize the character to extent, it wouldn’t try to wash down her deeds like Naught Dogs tried to do. In my creation of this story, what happened in Santa Barbara would not take place at all.

All in all, there was some much they could of done with this story that could of made it worth playing. I have no more words for this grotesque torture p*rn game Neil and Naught Dogs decided to create. I wish I could fucking wipe my brain and get back to two days I wasted on this game. Fuck them and I hope Naughty Dogs fucking falls apart. I will finish my little essay with asking y’all to please not harass or go after the voice actors and the people who tried to make this game. Go after Neil , because ultimately this falls on him.

[interestray]

it’s always a good moment when I see a critical role episode with so many things happening that my adhd can’t help but develop a mind of its own, so now that my hyper-fixations have stopped beating the shit out of me theres a couple things I wanna bring up most of it theory stuff and the rest personal things. btw its a long post be warned.

SPOILER ALERT- I’m talking about ep 117 of critical role and its a doozy.

 I’ve doing my recent posts in a different format and I’m liking it so I’m gonna use it here. btw I gonna mention some ship stuff I want to make clear I have no hate for any ships mentioned but unless I say I like the ship just assume I’m indifferent.

1. I gonna say I called it because even if I’m wrong about about future stuff I was right that it’s not just Lucien in that body, even if Lucien is completely right about molly as the group knew him is gone forever Molly (which I don’t believe at all) is still a fragment of lucien’s soul. now past that I do think molly as a conscious being is still in there and trying to connect with his friends. why? because theres this weird disconnect with how lucien acts communicating with the m9 from a far vs in person, in person it seems like he had his guard way up but when they scry or message him the barrier is lowered a bit I think when his guard isn’t up Molly bleeds into his actions and mind more. I personally see Lucien at being 130% whole because Molly grew into his own thing.

2. regarding my predictions for this episode I’m gonna give myself 2 points (with 1 of the points being made up of half points) I was hoping for flirting and I think we definitely got some version of flirting between Lucien and Caleb so I get a half point for that, not gonna lie I was a little freaked out (in a good way) how fast Lucien zeroed in on Caleb, I hope if things don’t go pear shaped we get to see those two interact more.

3. Personal thing I really wanted to smack Fjord and Veth for most of the episode like they both had moments of being rational (fjord more so) but for the most part i just want to slap them.

4. it was kind of hilarious to see how freaked out Lucien was of the m9, like there was a little of the bad kind of freaked out feeling I think it was mostly like how Ludinus felt meeting Jester. like poor Lucien he’s just doing his thing and suddenly this group of puppies imprints on him and follows him around poor guy. Seems like Lucien has so distrust towards the tomb takers with the whole ‘we are one’ thing, it seemed to be a recent development. I’ve seen people talk about whether the tomb takers/Cree will backstab Lucien I think it’s possible.

5. I think some members of the m9 have realized Caleb’s not doing ok, most likely from the corpse scene and him talking over Beau (bad caleb bad). what they do with this info is gonna be interesting I personally think Cad should talk with him in private maybe have yasha there as well (also hugs please someone hug the sad wizard man him and Yasha both need it).

6. personal thing I don’t understand jester x Fjord as a possible canon ship at this point in the story like i got it in early campaign but I think they’ve both grown and changed to the point where a relationship between the two would end quickly after starting (whether in tears or not). the only times I like seeing their romantic interactions is when Laura and Travis bleed through and at that point its nots really jester and fjord. again no hate you do you I just don’t understand the appeal.

7. I’ve not watched campaign 1 for a few reasons yet but I’ve done research on some of the bigger events one of which was Percy��s resurrection where Taliesin watched how everyone was acting to decide whether to come back or not. I think Cad’s whole talk about what the rest of the m9′s goals towards Molly/Lucien is first Taliesin’s way of deciding whether Molly will be a npc after this arc or if he picks up playing him again (this all of course depending on whether the m9′s stupid actions don’t get Lucien killed), second I think this is Cad’s way of deciding whether his “debt” is payed and if it’s time for him to leave. To be clear I don’t think this was the final decision I think it was the first step to see whether anyone could say they want their friend back and we had two (almost 3) say yeah they do so I think it was a good start.

8. I can totally see Lucien kidnapping some of the m9. this sounds weird but stick with me, it looks like the tomb takers as a whole have a few important spots missing in their mission like they (probably) have a blood cleric in Cree the goliath and halfing seems more strength based I’m not sure about the human and Lucien is filling spot of a little bit of everything. Lucien has already pointed out Caleb as being curious and smart so I think out of the party is Lucien steals any of them it will be Caleb, if not Caleb tho I think Yasha could also be one that gets his attention (especially if Lucien ever sees them fight) I don’t he would kidnap anyone unprompted but if they go through with their stupid plan I’m sure he’ll want payback.

9. I get a full point for crying at both the Yasha clover scene and Molly’s card about Caleb. 

10. So my best friend is also a fan of critical role but he always works Thursday’s so he’s behind on actively watching the shows, but I can watch them so I take notes of all the funny, interesting, and weird shit that happens then I call when he gets off work to tell him everything that happened then we talk about what we think will happen next. why does this matter? because before the molly reveal when we first heard about them going to aore (I don’t know how to spell the ruin place) I said I had a feeling Essek would probably show up and run into the m9. well I was right so i’m supper happy, hearing floaty bois voice was awesome I hope Essek and Lucien meet at some point (hopefully not while trying to kill each other that would be sad).

11. Caleb’s eighth floor is so interesting like I hope we get to see all the rooms at some point, I think the room we saw this episode was his room at the asylum (mostly from it’s disarray and how drab it was) as for who he was talking to? I’ve seen a lot of people says its Essek or Astrid (I can smell the incoming discourse) I think it’s neither, it’s probably the simplest answer himself or more specificly Bren. I think he was talking to the Bren that spent years in that bed and chair wasting away.

12. wtf do you mean the big snow worm has a double reason for hunting the party Matt?! (I have no clue what that means).

13. the m9′s decision to try and get to A2 before Lucien and take whatever is there is such a shit idea, why did he kill Vess because she was a traitor she betrayed him what are they m9 about to do betray him even after the warning about straying from the path (which btw I think was molly warning them). If they actually go through with this plan I hope Cad is right on Lucien getting amused at them instead of fucking pissed. good news is that even if they get there before Lucien they could still salvage the thing with Lucien by saying they wanted unbiased answers. I get they’re grieving and in a bunch of pain but use the common sense I know you have and learn more about whats happening before fucking it all up. (also I get half a point from Lucien kicking Vess’s body)

14. I will say I mostly loved this episode (except for the ending) but them talking about possibly scattering Lucien to get Molly back no matter how brief did unsettle me a lot. no matter my feelings about Molly this is Lucien’s body when he was scattered molly did have the right to the body so I don't think any of his actions were wrong or bad but now that Lucien is whole again his bodily autonomy should not be violated just for a unsure chance Molly would come back. As it is Lucien seemed already uneasy and annoyed with stuff molly did (ex-tattoos).

15. I originally wasn’t gonna put this point but I think I should. when Taliesin said “he thought they would be on the other side of this” I think most people thought it was in reference to how it seems like Lucien is evil (I still don’t think he is) but what if he meant Molly’s arc. think of it wouldn’t it make sense for Molly’s arc to focus on his past coming back to meet him what if they always intended for Lucien to become whole again and it was suppose to be Lucien’s thoughts/feelings bleeding into molly’s. but Molly died so instead we’re getting the inverse Lucien has to come to terms with his past as Molly and the people Molly left behind coming into his life. I think it would be a good arc him learning that you can’t run from or ignore the past no matter how much you want to it can and will come bite you in the ass. would also make sense why Lucien and Molly both have that attitude towards their pasts (you know other than being pieces of the same person). 

[crownin-thestars]

Triangle

Hello hello! Welcome to a Wattpad prompt for quarantine! This prompt is called triangle! Yes I know, confusing. But I'm quite proud of my take for this. The story here is actually part of my AU Hermit Falls. So enjoy

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Grian was back in the desert, just digging away at the sand. His barge had sold out again and he's nearly out of diamonds from spending it at Impulse's shop.

As he was shovelling the sand into empty shulker boxes, he hit something extra stiff in the grains. Curious, he cleared out the small area and found what looks like a journal. It had a thick, vermilion red cover and the pages had an extremely worn down colour to it, as if it had existed years ago.

Grian pulled it out of the sand and observed it. The book was extremely thick and on the cover was a golden six-fingered hand with the number three on it.

Three? What about the other two? He thought. He opened up the journal to a random page to see what it was about. Grian was amazed at the art, which was amazingly drawn. It seems like the journal was to jot down any new discoveries of the world, more specifically, strange creatures.

This page was about gnomes. They looked like regular garden gnomes, but they were shorter and had much bigger and cute puppy eyes. Though, the writing seemed all over the place, some sentences even written vertically. Wanting to read more, he picked up his shulker boxes and flew straight to his hobbit hole. Of course, making a stop at his barge for restock.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Grian was reading through the damaged book, engrossed in the intriguing creatures in it. According to the first page, this journal had come from someone in Oregon, but he's never heard of a place called Gravity Falls. Perhaps the town went off the map. There was a journal page regarding the writer of the book, but his face was scribbled out, which was a shame.

So many beasts were recorded in this journal, like floating eyeballs, and a shape shifter. There were two pages that had some sort of machinery. He may not be too good at redstone yet, but he can tell if it is or not. It was like an upside down triangle with a semi circle inside it.

There was no way he'd be able to know what it was though, as everything on the pages seemed to be in cryptic characters, or just a jumble of letters. Not even five pages later, he found something very unsettling.

The pages were scribbled all over with black ink, with eyes all over. There were some of those cryptic characters again, but there were also proper readable words in there, but those themselves were creepy enough to get him on the edge of his chair. What scared him the most were the written words 'I was a puppet'.

Of who? He wondered, not sure if he wanted to know at all. Grian quickly turned the page as he couldn't handle the uncomfort they gave him. That didn't exactly help because of the journaling on the next page.

A triangular figure with an eye, a top hat and a tie was on this page, apparently named Bill Cipher. It seemed it was a normal journal at first, but something must have went wrong, as the whole block of text on the first page of it was cancelled out. A large, red text in bold was below the cancelled wording, saying 'Bill can't be trusted'.

Like any normal human being, it terrified him. The next page mentioned to never ever summon him either. Observing the pages more, he realised the similarities of it and the pages he found which summoned NPC Grian. He thought that maybe it wouldn't be too bad looking at the outcome of NPG. Besides, he's Grian. You tell him not to do something, you can bet that he's gonna do it.

The summoning of 'Bill' sounded like gibberish, almost like it was reversed. Suddenly, everything around Grian turned painfully bright. He quickly closed his eyes before his retinas got burned off. After around 10 seconds of eye closure, he felt like he was floating in the void, yet the calmness of it was almost soothing. He opened his eyes and found himself in what looked like a galaxy.

He looked around, nothing but the stars surrounding him. But. . . This happened while 'summoning' it, did he do something wrong? A friendly voice answered that question.

"Howdy there fella!" Grian gasped as he turned around, quickly backing away, clearly startled. "Woah, calm down there blondie. The names Bill." He said, stretching an arm out. Looking at it properly, he saw the familiar triangle shape with the top hat and tie. This was definitely not how he expected Bill to look, he seriously looks like a fancy Dorito.

"Uh. . . Grian." He replied, accepting the handshake. Grian doesn't know why the journal said he was so terrifying, Bill looked like a really friendly guy.

"So, why'd you ask for me?" He said, whipping up a little magic chair for him to sit on, leaving Grian in awe.

"W-well. . . I did it out of curiosity to be honest. . ." He rubbed the back of his neck, slightly embarrassed. "There was this journal that said you were dangerous, but looking at you now, you don't seem like that."

"Ah, must have scared the fella a bit." Bill implied, snapping a chair in for Grian to sit. "Why so tense, kid?"

"I'm twenty-six-?"

"Yeah alright. How about a cup of tea? Game of chess?" He proposed, snapping each of them into existence.

"You are one powerful little being, aren't you?" Grian question, smiling as he grabbed a cup of tea.

"Sure! If you say so."

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Word count: 986 words

This followed the storyline I had in mind a lot more than I expected 🤩

Hope you enjoyed this :)

[tomyoungwrites]

Adventures in backloggery with Homefront: The Revolution

To say the first Homefront left me lukewarm after playing it would imply that I was left feeling anything after that game finished. Painfully derivative with nothing to say about it’s interesting premise, I left that game fully understanding why so many people dismissed it. 

For those unfamiliar with the premise of Homefront, here it is, fresh from the wikipedia page: “The game tells the story of a resistance movement fighting in the near-future against the military occupation of the Western United States by a Korea unified under Kim Jong-un.”

Sounds interesting right? Telling a guerrilla warfare story based on American soil gives you a chance to take a lot of war-story tropes and twist them into new, interesting forms. Turning America into the occupier instead of the occupier offers a lot to explore. Sadly the original game does nothing like that - instead opting for a very simple “We wanted to take back America and we did” story.

So when I overheard through my gaming circles that the general perception of Homefront: The Revolution was hovering around the 6/10 mark, I was under the impression that while it was an improvement over the first game, it was still not a title that was worth my time. I assumed it was a decent yet uninspiring corridor shooter just like the original game.

Imagine my surprise then when I watched one of the latest videos from Jarek the Gaming Dragon and discovered that my preconceptions about shooting dudes in corridors were entirely wrong! This was an open world shooter, in the vein of Far Cry. And not only that, but the story actually has things to say this time!

Instead of North Korea invading the USA due to them being weakened, North Korea becomes a tech powerhouse. Due to poor decisions by their government, the USA slowly goes into financial ruin while they opt to purchase military technology from North Korea.

North Korea provides aid to the US, but this is just a pretence to establish a foothold and exploit the natural resources within the continent. This is presented as the real reason behind the occupation - because we all know that only evil governments invade foreign countries in order to exploit their natural resources, right?

It’s important to note when talking about the story of this game that playing Homefront: The Revolution in the apocalyptic year that is 2020 makes it hit much different than it would have in 2016. For example, the USA neglecting it’s citizens while spending billions on military weaponry is far too close to reality to even be called satire at this point. However, the he game is very ‘gung-ho’ in it’s expression of American values and honour - which clashed with my current view of the country.

At this point in time, seeing America do things wrong is something that happens on a monthly basis - and seeing people who want to shift the blame for that onto other people is an equally common occurrence. So seeing America ruin itself definitely removes a lot of the sympathy I have for the country as a whole - I of course still sympathise for the common citizen underneath this new regime, but seeing America complain about a foreign power using military might to seize their natural resources isn’t something I can sympathise with the American government suffering through at this point.

Speaking of regimes, seeing Americans actively fighting against a regime who happily deploy lethal force against American citizens (who resist and go against their military police enforced status quo) has also sparked many comparisons to recent events in the US in my mind. I mean, how can it not at this point?

The game does make some effort to comment on the fact that you’re creating more bloodshed and destruction through your actions, but that voice is drowned out by two of the main characters - who’s attitude is “Fuck you, this is America and this is war.” Seeing these characters passionately talk about standing up against the exact evils that America is committing right now makes the whole thing smack of hypocrisy - which isn’t the games fault, but I’d be disingenuous if I didn’t admit it has coloured how I viewed the plot heavily.

Overall, I think the plot does more to explore the themes of the setting than the original Homefront did, but it’s still bogged down in presenting America as the flawless and eternal hero who channels the ‘American Spirit’ through their actions. And this absolutely smacks of hypocrisy in the nightmare-world of 2020.

Also, there is an area of the game where you have to wear a gas mask to survive, but none of the other characters do. They’re expressing their freedoms to breath deadly toxins, I guess?

When it comes to gameplay, it’s not quite true to say that Homefront: The Revolution is a open world game - rather the game is split into a number of open world areas that you unlock as you progress. Keeping different parts of the world silo’d off from each other definitely has benefits from a programming point of view (you don’t have to account for players deciding to go from one side of the map to the other without a loading screen, for one) it also has interesting design implications.

Instead of having to level-gate certain areas of the open world, the game can properly pace each area to your current skill and gear level. You’re also introduced to the different types of zones in a more natural way, and their different mechanics are able to exist separately.

There are two types of area in the game - red zones and yellow zones. These both behave differently in how they express the thematic oppression through gameplay, but I was impressed at just how effective the systems in both areas are at making you feel oppressed.

And that brings me to one of the best things about Homefront: The Revolution - the sense of oppression it expresses through gameplay. It’s important to note that I was playing the game on the hardest difficulty, so this might colour my perception slightly, but I always felt outgunned during almost all my time in the game.

The red zones play similarly to a Far Cry open world, with objectives to complete, collectables to hunt and roaming enemies to attack/get attacked by. Unlike Far Cry however, the environment being full of ruined buildings adds a degree of verticality to the encounters and exploration that makes the smaller world feel much denser than the jungle floor ever did. Here, the game expresses the oppression of the player character through the constant vigilance of patrols and ever-present seeker blimps. These patrol the sky and scan the ground (think the flying drones in Terminator) and will always call in enough reinforcements to kill you. Having to hide under the ruins of collapsed buildings to avoid their search light as they slowly flew overhead always felt tense.

The yellow zones play more like the open world sections of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, with a bigger emphasis on stealth and avoidance of security cameras etc. These areas are typically much more dense than the open red zones, with plenty of corridors and corners to help you break line of sight with enemy patrols. The sheer density of enemies and ways to get spotted in these areas makes you feel constantly on edge, especially when fighting your way out is often a risky option.

And while it doesn’t have as much of an impact, even the health system helps contribute to this sense of oppression. Gone is the regenerating health system, now replaced with a more traditional health bar that must be topped up with healing kits. When you get spotted and enemies take some of your health away, they’re actively chipping away at your resources. This makes each encounter far more threatening, because even if they can’t kill you, they can still whittle you down.

I’m not really a gun guy when it comes to games. It usually takes a game going above and beyond, like in DOOM (2016), to make me actually notice the guns in a game. And oh boy, did I notice the guns in Homefront: The Revolution. Not only do they sound amazing, but they’re extremely well animated and customisable.

The coolest gameplay mechanic in the game is by far the gun customisation mechanic. To summarise, each weapon has two drastically different alternative modes that effect how the gun performs. For example, you can change the stealth-enabling crossbow into a room clearing flamethrower should the need arise. And you can do this on-the-fly while you’re in the game.

Hoping behind cover to change my assault rifle into a sniper rifle in order to take out distant enemies never stopped feeling cool. Seeing the detailed animation of you customising the gun yourself went a massive way in that feeling of coolness. You can also add attachments to your weapons such as silencers in order to adapt to situations as they arrise.

Having you perform these actions yourself adds a lot to the feeling of being a scrappy resistance fighter, having to create your own tools for the job at hand.

Despite all this praise, I can still see why this game sits at a 6/10 rating. Numerous times during my playthrough I would get hard crashes that would require a complete exit from the game. At one point, an NPC blocked a doorway and I needed to reload from a recent checkpoint to escape my new NPC created prison.

I’ve heard that on launch the game was even worse technically, and while the game is definitely good in my eyes, I can see how technical issues could make you easily lose patience with it. It doesn’t quite reach the levels of praise where I’m willing to fully overlook the crashes I’ve experienced, and if it was worse I could see that effecting my view of the game.

Also, the stealth system leaves much to be desired. Despite coming out 4 years after Far Cry 3, the game does nothing to improve on the basic stealth system that game established of “If I see you, my triangle is going to get bigger until I really see you”. This under-baked stealth system led to me mostly abandoning stealth once I’d gained enough gear to handle encounters, despite me being a big fan of stealth options.

Overall, I’m glad that I gave Homefront: The Revolution a shot after all these years of it sitting in my Steam library. At this point, open world titles have a long list of ‘must haves’ thanks to the ubiquity of Ubisoft titles refining the genre. When looking at these titles then, it becomes a case of looking at what is done differently, and the gun system, feeling of oppression and divided world have definitely left an impact on me as a game design nerd.

If you’re looking for an open-world game and don’t mind the occasional crash, it’s definitely worth looking past those 6/10 reviews for the 7.5/10 game that is lurking underneath.

[shera-dnd]

The Princess of Power - Part 1 Being She-ra

Y’all asked for some GM lore and here you have some GM lore. Featuring some Mara lore for some good measure (I did tell you most important NPCs were based on real people)

Now how about a little blast from the past, looking through the early stages of “The Princesses of Power RPG”

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The Moon Opal was a calm place in the earlier hours of the day, most of its customers were the nocturnal type, leaving the store mostly empty and the perfect place to get some work done. It was at this serene time of day that a tired figure toiled once again at a task that had been bothering them for over a week now: Balancing She-ra

Project Etheria - a placeholder name - was supposed to be about collaboration and teamwork, yet someone decided that giving a player an extremely overpowered form, with insane martial and magical skills was a good idea and now it was their job to get that mess to work somehow.

Sure, it made sense for She-ra to be this strong, she is supposed to be the protector of the world, the key to the world’s magic, every princess had an element, but She-ra, the Princess of Power, was supposed to be the center of...the center of everything.

They grabbed a piece of paper and quickly began scribbling notes, there was an obvious solution staring them right in the face all this time and they finally got it. Oh they couldn’t wait to see Mara’s face when they showed her this.

“Hey, someone is feeling productive today” Mara greeted, apparently summoned by that errant thought.

“Mhm” they agreed distractedly, not even taking their gaze away from their work.

“Earth to GM” She joked, the mention of their name stealing their attention “You there, GM?”

GM, Game Master, they had been called that most of their life, but when Mara did it felt different. It was not a simple title or description of function, it was a name, their name, at least one they identified with more than they ever did with the one they were given at birth. She truly felt like she was greeting a friend and that made them happy.

“Sorry” They apologized, putting their work aside “Hey, Mara”

“Hi” She greeted again, cheerfully “What got you so excited today?”

“Rebalancing She-ra for the sixth, and hopefully last, time” They explained handing her their work “I removed most of the new Traits from She-ra itself and made it so she granted those to nearby princesses”

“I’m gonna have to rewrite my whole character sheet again, aren't I?” She asked, reading over their notes “Oh, I almost forgot!” She exclaimed,  handing them her own notes “I finished some more Lore on Etherian magic and the First Ones”

GM took the notes titled ‘Heart of Etheria’ and skimmed over them. They sat there silently reading each others notes. This too felt nice, Mara wasn’t a very energy demanding friend, even though she could be very loud and energetic when she wanted to, she also did not mind sharing moments of silence, they appreciated that. Unfortunately they were the ones to break the silence this time.

“The planet is a what!?” GM loudly blurted.

“A weapon of mass destruction” Mara stated, as if saying it out loud suddenly made it make sense “I thought the setting needed bigger stakes”

“We already have an invading alien empire, giant monsters and evil sorcerers” GM declared, but all they got from her was a shrug “I guess Mara, Princess of World Building would know better than me”

“I like that one, let’s use it in the book” Mara exclaimed “You got anything we could play while I change up my traits?” She asked, picking up her character sheet. It was her third one, the last two had been severely damaged from constant rewriting.

“Preferably nothing combat heavy then” GM pondered for a moment “Well, you had just finished a mission last time, so we could maybe have a chill scene in the Crystal Castle?” They proposed

“Perfect!” She declared, full of glee “I wanna flirt with Light Hope”

“Excuse me?” They asked “She is an AI”

“So…?” She didn’t seem to understand their point

“She is not programed for romance” They explained, a little exasperated

“Nothing a little love can’t fix” She said, with a shrug

“You’re not teaching a robot to love, Mara” They declared

“Hey, look at it this way: I’m preparing you for all the players who will absolutely try to romance everything and everyone in this setting” She explained herself “Also Light Hope is really cute”

“Miss me with that allo shit, Mara” GM groaned.

They played out a couple more scenes, testing out the new and rebalanced She-ra, along with some NPC princesses, against the Crystal Castle’s robot spiders and for the first time Mara seemed satisfied with the combat.

“Yes!” She exclaimed, as the last spider fell “You’re the best”

“I...hmmm...thanks” GM mumbled, not used to receiving compliments “You’re the one making the world, I just turn stuff into rules text”

“But that is the important part” Mara assured them “I can say what it means to be She-ra all I want, but it’s all pointless if the rules say something different”

“And what did the rules say?” GM asked, a little surprised. They were so focused on making She-ra balanced that they didn’t even consider that aspect of things.

“That She-ra is not meant to make people feel weaker, you shouldn’t feel like you’re less than them, you should feel stronger by being with them” She explained, her voice loud and full of excitement “Helping other be their best selves, that is what it should mean to be She-ra!”

_____

The Moon Opal bustled with people in the late hours of the night, its more nocturnal customers taking up the tables with games of all kinds, but if you got there early you could still grab a table for yourself and get some work done. GM was finishing up their notes on the new version of The Princesses of Power, when someone unceremoniously crumbled on the chair in front of them.

“Long day?” GM greeted, not taking their eyes away from their work.

“Long day” Adora responded. She opened up her back and began looking for something inside it “Sorry for jumping right to the point, but I still gotta pick up dinner” She explained herself, handing them a few sheets of paper.

“Oh right, your backstories” They remarked, taking them both and skimming over them “Why is Catra’s six pages long?”

“Because my girlfriend is the most competitive person in the planet” Adora groaned. Of course Catra would consider this a competition

“You two want to call dibs on any of the homebrew powers?” GM asked

“Nah, I’m good with whatever you send my way” She waved it off “and Catra doesn’t want any powers, because she wants to prove she can kick everyone’s ass without any”

“I’m not surprised in the slightest” They commented, reading through Adora’s story a second time, they couldn’t avoid the strange sense of nostalgia that came from it “What it means to be She-ra” they mumbled without really thinking.

“You said something?” Adora asked, perkin up on her chair

“Nothing” They deflected “Just had a few ideas for your character. Do you mind if I keep these?”

“Sure sure, we don’t mind” She handed it to them “If that is all, I should probably get going”

“I’ll text you if I need any more details” They stated “Have a good night, Adora”

“You too, GM!” She said, waving at them as she left.

They smiled and gave the papers in their hand one last read through. Oh Mara, you would’ve loved this one.

[ddaengyoonmin]

Chapter 13

Pairing: Ot7xReader; 

Genre: fluff, angst, smut(In previous and later chapters,

Theme: Based kinda on sword art online a lot of similar ideas and themes kinda combining the idea of them trapped in the game, but the world is closer to ALFheim online

Warnings; None that I can think of in this chapter

Word count: 2.1k

Taglist: (I definitely think I missed some of you and some usernames were changed from my last list😭 I need an organized tag list for the series, so comment to be added and I’ll also make a post soon) : @taekookandyoongi @life-anime-food @i-like-puppy-mg @seesawsmin-flower @karissassirak @btsvisuals @vynia

For the next few weeks your team had split into smaller parties so as to maximize on your experience gained from quests and items dropped.  Since it was all equally split, the eight of you being in one party together would make the points gained spread pretty thin.  You still all met up for most mealtimes and tried to always get together for a group meeting before bedtime, but besides that it was usually 2-3 of you partnered together for a quest. 

You had stuck with Jungkook the whole time, not wanting to spend much time away from him after almost losing him and the incredible night you had shared, you couldn’t tear yourself from his side.  Taehyung would join with the two of you sometimes when he wasn’t joined up with Jin, who he had been getting pretty close with.  The two of them would sometimes go on missions just the two of them, your group would joke with them about their forming bro-mance. 

One of the quests that you and Jungkook were currently on with just the two of you alone, had required quite a lot of tedious attacks on lower level creatures that were taking over a small farm owned by an NPC right outside of Midgard city.  The sky was darkening and you realized how much time you had spent taking out the ‘Rat Infestation Problem’ quest’s small green toxic creatures.  

“Jungkook, shouldn’t we head back?”  

Jungkook was aiming a very precise purple shadow-ball shot at one of the glowing green rats in the barn the two of you stood in. 

His back was to you and you giggled at the ‘pew’ sound effect he made with his mouth right before he shot his attack, hitting the rat dead on.  He then turned to look at you with a big grin on his face, flicking away his black bangs that were messily falling into his eyes.  He looked tired and worn out from spending the whole day on this task with you, but he was trying hard to not show it. 

“I suppose we can, we still have like 50 more of these things to do.  I can’t believe we actually were able to get 950 done in one day.  Good teamwork partner”  He lifted his hand for a high-five and you excitedly met your open palm to his with a cute little jump. 

Jungkook slung an arm around your shoulders and walked with you out of the barn.  The sky was darkening to a deep blue and you could see a small colorful purple and pink shade peeking from the sky on the horizon where the sun had just set.  

Jungkook pressed his lips gently to the top of your head, “Let’s get going” 

The two of you flew to the usual meeting spot that your team had designated.  It was a small clearing in the woods where the eight of you had set up a sort of base camp,  you’d all thought it would be fun if instead of staying in the inn you’d purchase tents from one of the merchants and set up a little home in the woods where you could all come and go as you pleased without having to give coins to the innkeeper for a place to stay every night. 

You had been ecstatic over the idea, camping sounded like fun and camping with friends even better.  

You and Jungkook had gone in on a tent together to share, it wasn’t huge but it was big enough that you could stand in it.  It was a small room with a full sized bed and a small nightstand and rug on the floor by the bed.  

Namjoon, Jin and Jimin all invested in a giant tent for the three of them, it was at least three times bigger than your own but they each had wanted their own bed so it was fitting. 

Yoongi and Hoseok also shared a tent, they hadn’t wanted to invest much into it so theirs was about the size of your own with two small and simple beds almost side by side fitting into their space with nothing else inside. 

Taehyung had purchased a small tent that was definitely suitable for just himself.  It fit his bed and a small night stand that he kept a few books and a kerosene lamp on top so he could read before bed.  

It didn’t take long to set it all up thanks to the way the games features worked, you merely had to click a button on your items inventory screen and motion with your hand to plop things down where you wanted them. 

The tents all were positioned around a pretty looking firepit that the eight of you had all chipped in on together.  White stones were stacked around it in a circle for design and to keep the fire from spreading further than the pit.  You’d cook your food over it with some pots and pans you’d also purchased, and eat sitting on some wooden logs around the fire that Jin and Taehyung had dragged from in the woods and made into a seating area.  

It was actually a wonderful home, and for the past few days there was a part of you that almost didn’t miss your home in the real world.  

It started to scare you that you felt that way.  You didn’t want to lose your drive to keep pushing forward in the game.  No one had even made it past floor one yet and you’d all been in the stuck in the game for about a month now.  You didn’t want to forget that you had a mom who probably sat at your side crying wondering if and when you’d wake up.  You hoped that she wouldn’t blame herself for being the one to buy you the game.  So badly you wanted to tell her, that you didn’t blame her, and that honestly you couldn’t thank her enough.  Without it you wouldn’t have met all these wonderful people. 

And there again lies your problem...did you really want to escape this game?  There was a far too large part of you that hoped that you could stay here with Jungkook and all of your friends forever…

Jungkook tapped you on the shoulder motioning for you to land.  Everyone else was already there and it looked like Jin and Yoongi had already started on cooking dinner together.  They were arguing lightly over some of the ingredients that Yoongi was trying to put into the stew that was bubbling in the pot over the fire when you approached.  

“Hey! Jungkook,  Y/n!” Jin smiled your way as you walked over to sit on one of the logs around the fire.  Everyone else greeted you as well and you smiled and returned their hellos.  

Jin managed to convince Yoongi that there was enough garlic in the stew already and Yoongi reluctantly dropped it. 

The eight of you talked about your days, sharing your stories and cool drop items that you’d acquired.  Unfortunately today you and Jungkook had quite the boring time.  Well...besides the hour that you and him had taken a break to go down on each other in the barn.  Just thinking back on today’s memories of his head between your legs made your cheeks hot and a smile start to grow on your lips. 

When it came time for sleep everyone left to their tents, saying goodnights and sweet dreams to the rest of the team you started to follow Jungkook into your shared tent.  But, you stopped for a moment with your hand on the tent’s flap and turned around slightly.  You had noticed that Taehyung hadn’t left to his tent and was still sitting on one of the logs in front of the fire, a blank expression on his face and his elbows on his knees as he leaned forward silently staring into the fire. 

“I’ll be inside in just a second,” you said to Jungkook, giving your sleepy bed partner a kiss on the cheek before you turned and went to go join Taehyung. 

You sat next to him on the same log.  He silently acknowledged your presence with a nod and a small smile, not looking away from the fire when you joined him. 

“Hey you” you spoke softly “Everything okay?” 

He finally turned to face you, “Of course y/n” he grinned fakely.  You saw right through it instantly, but didn’t want to pry too hard. 

“Okay...well, I am here if you wanna talk you know” you let him know, placing a hand gently on his shoulder. 

He frowned a bit and then chuckled, moving his shoulder to brush your hand off of him. 

Was he mad at you? What could you have done to upset him?

“Tae?” 

“Anyways.  I don’t think I ever asked how things went with Jungkook that night at the inn”  Taehyung smiled fakely again at you. 

You suddenly felt embarrassed.  Taehyung knew what he was setting you two up for at the inn, he obviously knows what happened, why would he bring it up like that?

You cleared your throat awkwardly, “Um, it went well.  It was nice” you avoided Taehyung’s gaze that was trying to meet yours now.

“Nice?” he raised his eyebrows “Just well and nice?” 

You fought back more of your embarrassment at this conversation’s subject.  “It was amazing,  He’s amazing” you spoke honestly. 

Taehyung gazed back into the fire, you’d expected more teasing but instead he just muttered, 

“Good, he deserves it.  He’s a good guy.”

You noticed him biting at his cheek.  Something was going through his mind that you couldn’t quite understand.  

You wanted to say’ You’re a good guy too Taehyung,  you’ve been through a lot as well. ‘

But, you were now quiet, watching his carmel skin that was enchantingly lit up by the warm orange flames, his mint green hair tinted with the color as well.  He started poking the fire with a long stick, you noticed how strong his arms were, and his hands...his beautiful hands...

No.  What the hell were you doing.  You scold yourself in your mind for letting your thoughts wander.  You feel guilty and ashamed for almost letting your thoughts go even further. 

Taehyung quickly glanced at you seeing you staring he gave you a sweet smile. 

“You should get some rest y/n.  Jungkook is waiting for you.  I’m fine, I’m just gonna sit for a while” 

You nodded and stood up from the log and gave Taehyung a small wave as you left, which he returned lazily. 

He stared after you as you walked to your tent and murmured something that you didn’t quite catch, but it almost sounded like,

“Lucky bastard”  

Taehyung continued poking the fire with the stick his fingers curled around, watching the tiny sparks that would fly up and break away from the fire as he did. 

You had gone to bed with Jungkook and he was alone now, that was what he wanted right?

His best friend was happy and in love, and he really did deserve it.   Jungkook was the kindest and most caring man that Taehyung had ever met, and he loved him like a brother.  Taehyung on the other hand didn’t quite think of himself as a kind man, he’d done his fair share of things he wasn’t proud of, especially when it came to women.

  That’s why he didn’t deserve you.  That’s why those perfect lips could never be his to kiss, and that stunning body could never be his to hold. You are too perfect for him, your beautiful face, your adorable laugh, the way you care for everyone.  You’d also made your mistakes but you instantly owned up to it and tried to make it up to Jungkook.

But, You were Taehyung’s dream girl, he’d never felt such an intense flutter in his chest around anyone else in his life.  He wanted to give you the world, he wanted you to have only the best in life, and that wasn’t him…

So, he pushed you towards perfect Jungkook, because that way you wouldn’t get hurt, though you and Jungkook had your own struggles, you seem happy now, and so does Jungkook. 

So everything is going as planned right?

So Taehyung should be happy right? 

This is what he wanted right? 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next morning you were awakened by loud chatter and commotion outside of your tent. 

Startling you, the flap to your tent was thrown open and bright morning sunlight pour in.  Jungkook shot up instantly, you covered your face with your arm groggily. 

“What the hell is going on” you grumbled sleepily.  Seeing Namjoon standing in the entrance with wide eyes. 

“The boss has been found! He’s still there right now.  Lets go!”