#these two are from my most recent playthrough of rain world!

[feliner]

mama scug and baba pup

[cephalofrog]

been playing rain world and thinking about saint again recently

full rain world spoilers below

I hate the "saint is the triple affirmative" interpretation. hate even more how it appears to have become the accepted truth in the fandom

first off, my dislike for this interpretation is not logical. it isn't something I can be convinced out of using canon evidence, because my reason for not interpreting the story this way is not evidence-based, it's because I don't find it to be a satisfying conclusion to the entire story of rain world.

but here's some rambling about logical reasons why it doesn't make sense anyway

if saint was created as the triple affirmative by sliver, that makes them extremely old - they came into existence LONG before spearmaster's campaign even started. if they came into existence with the purpose of ascending iterators, they sure took a long time to ascend any iterators - like okay, travel time and whatever, but you'd think they'd get at least one or two more before all the iterator comms break down entirely post-spearmaster. SM and hunter managed to get from SRS and NSH to the pebbs/moon area pretty quickly.

they also have fur, which seems to be an adaptation for the cold judging by the lizards in the campaign, despite the world not being cold at the point at which they were created. this could be easily explained by sliver just being very forward-thinking, but...

if sliver created saint, their entire triple affirmative thing comes across as incredibly thoughtless, which imo contrasts with sliver being forward-thinking enough to make saint immune to cold. like they finally created the magical rat that will ascend them all but didn't even think to send out a message beforehand like "hey guys I'm trying something new if I send out the triple affirmative and die right after this it worked and you should be visited by a flying green dude with an ascension beam at some point in the future"

there's also the thing of... wait so how does this whole iterator ascension work again? cause saint's timeline loops. after they ascend, they end up back in sky islands, with the iterators back where they were. this could be explained by "later playthrough loops aren't canon and pebbs and moon are ascended if you got em" but there's literally a specific gameplay mechanic - carrying stuff in your stomach between campaigns - meant to make it clear that the campaign is a loop.

anyway. the real reason I hate the theory isn't related to any of this - it's that it absolutely destroys pebbles and moon's story, thematically speaking.

sliver of straw's triple affirmative/death is a random event that could mean basically anything. the futility pebbles felt around trying to solve the great problem caused him to assign meaning to sliver's death that wasn't necessarily there - they found the solution, and it was self-destruction. that's what they were trying to tell everyone. it wasn't a random event, the triple affirmative was real. one of the bugs in the maze found the way out, and he's going to prove it to everyone by following them and escaping.

and that's what leads to the events of the main story. this random event - this horrible tragedy, the death of someone who seemed to mean so much to so many people - was assigned meaning by someone desperate to prove that his entire existence, and the existences of everyone around him, are not futile. the ancients created the iterators without knowing whether the answer to the great problem could ever be found, and this is the result of that.

a nihilistic, hopeless person, abandoned by his creators to work forever on an unsolvable problem, assigns meaning to a random tragedy, and tunnel visions on what he has to believe is what he's been looking for - because it is an unimaginable understatement to say that the alternative would be worse than death. and then, in his self-destructive desperation, he kills his sibling* and dooms himself to the slowest, most painful death imaginable. this is the legacy of the ancients' dead society, the result of all of their stupid ideals and obsession with karmic perfection. (*as far as he knows)

but saint being the triple affirmative undermines all of that. not only does it make sliver's death less of a tragedy and more of a noble sacrifice - like yeah, sure, they were loved, but solving the great problem was far more important - but it also makes pebbles look less desperate and more just kinda stupid. like you thought that the solution was self-destruction? nah, it's a magical flying rat. in this version of the story, pebbles wasn't striving for something that didn't exist, he was just not smart enough to figure out the real solution.

even outside of canon evidence, that sucks. it causes pebbles' story to go from being about how you should value the people around you over the impossible striving that life always seems to expect from you or you're gonna end up hurting them and yourself to how you should just be smarter to find the right solution to all of your problems.

anyway as for my own interpretation of saint, I think that the campaign is just a representation of what it's like to be an echo. reliving the moments that led up to your failed ascension over and over, reaching maximum karma and gaining superpowers because you're just that karmically pure - you are a saint, after all - and then letting your ego consume you at the crucial moment of ascension, over and over again, cycling into infinity. (I don't think they actually had superpowers prior to ascending, I just think that they kinda thought of themselves so highly that they thought they should have those powers.) then contrast this with the world as the age of the iterators and the rain finally ends, and you have an unchanging echo reliving the same few cycles over and over contrasted with a world that is, at last, changing and moving on.

yeah it doesn't make sense with the joint iterator dialogue in rubicon (at least, the final line doesn't make sense). I don't care. it's what makes me happy as an interpretation. you can pry my morally dubious hypocritical ego-driven saint from my cold dead hands

[darkx-the-dragon-kn1ght]

Pokémon Reborn Screenshot Let's Play: Chapter 5

Welcome back once again! I hope the season has been treating everyone well, I’ve certainly been having a fun time, and it’s about to get even more fun because I’m back here to play some more Pokémon! Specifically this fan game! Because people still appear to be enjoying this playthrough, despite my nature as a casual player coming in to bite me on more than one occasion (I’m sure this will not change as the game progresses).

Last time, we didn’t get a ton of plot progression done (save for the very end, technically), but this time…

(Future Edit: Well, this time’s gonna be VERY different. Because this chapter is technically incomplete- it’s part of a double-feature! The first part of an exciting two-parter! What in the world am I talking about? Well, er- let me explain…)

(See, in this most recent play session, some MEATY plot progression happens, and I thought “hey, I’ll go a bit longer to give the people story stuff after two chapters of mostly filler”, yeah? But I severely underestimated just how big this story beat was…by like a lot. The number of parts for what would have been just this one chapter was building up, lot of images and screenshots, it would have exceeded the amount of links you’re allowed to put on one Tumblr post, and I think it was making Google Docs (where I write the rough versions of these chapters) and Firefox crash?)

(And if you think I could just leave the area, go to the Pokémon Center to save and exit, all that jazz, uh- I can’t. I think it’s one of those events where you can’t really leave the area until you’ve done what needs to be done, you can’t just leave and come back, if you know what I mean. And like- I wasn’t planning on leaving anyways, again, it was like “I’ll do this plot thing then close out the chapter”, but yet again!! I didn’t realize what I was making Xera walk into!)

(So, for both technical reasons and to make sure it wouldn’t take a month to get any new content to all of you, I made the executive decision to split this chapter into two- Chapters 5 and 6. Chapter 5 is going up today- obviously- but Chapter 6 will be finished and put together at a later date. But until then, at least, you’ll all have this to tide yourselves over with! Just keep all of these outside circumstances in mind if things and commentary seem a little more anachronistic than usual- that’ll likely explain why. Never let it be said I’m not transparent with readers about how scuffed this Let’s Play is sometimes.)

But before we can get to ANY of that- how about a recap of what did happen in the last chapter?

The chapter was set to a backdrop of the game’s first weather event in the form of Rain, boosting Water-type moves and weakening Fire-type moves- both a help and hindrance to the team.

Xera goes to Seacrest’s Garden again to catch Summer the Sunkern for the upcoming battle against local Electric-type Gym Leader Julia.

Going into a nearby apartment building, Xera sees a boy trying to heal an injured Skitty. She gives an Oran Berry to the boy’s grandma, who passes it on to her grandson to successfully heal the Skitty. Since the boy is too young to be able to raise a Pokémon himself, the grandma asks if Xera would be willing to take in Skitty, which she accepts. The Skitty is named Whiskers.

Xera explores the central area of Peridot Ward, battling Trainers and training up Summer and Whiskers along the way.

There’s a guy in one house who is willing to trade away a pink Pokémon of some sort for a Bibarel. We make a note of this for later, maybe.

Xera learns from a few NPCs that Jasper Ward- a ward of Reborn City that is Peridot Ward’s northern neighbor- has been completely locked down for unknown reasons.

In a nearby tunnel, Xera does parkour to obtain an item called a Data Chip. No idea what this is for right now.

Interacting with a murky fountain, Xera encounters Rain the Surskit…but catching her was delayed (i.e. we had to reset) due to a lack of Poké Balls during this initial encounter. 

There appears to be conflict between Trainers on the “West Side” of Peridot Ward and those on the “East Side.” Xera goes through the west side first, battling those Trainers along the way.

Xera finds the woman with the disobedient Stufful again. Despite having several Common Candies by now, the woman will not use them due to the belief that candy is bad for Pokémon. No idea how to solve her Stufful problem in that case.

Next to an abandoned building, Xera finds a young man with mint-green hair interrogating a person in an armored suit. However, as Xera walks up to see what is happening, the suited man is able to escape the mint-haired person.

The mint-haired guy is named Fern, and he is this game’s third rival. Fern doesn’t take kindly to Xera interrupting his interrogation of the suited man, who he claims is the culprit behind the Grandview Station bombing. Blaming Xera for the culprit getting away, Fern forces her into a Pokémon battle.

Turns out, we’re underleveled for this! Fern’s team of Lv. 13-14 Pokémon does a number on Xera’s Lv. 11 team. Since I don’t want any of Xera’s Pokémon to lose to someone as arrogant as Fern, we reset so Xera can go do some more training before attempting to challenge Fern again.

And so, that’s where we are now. Our first priority is to head to the east area of Peridot Ward and challenge the East Side Trainers, which should hopefully get the party to where it needs to be so we can not only defeat Fern, but do so without letting him have the satisfaction of knocking out any of Xera’s Pokémon in turn. He’ll see- they’ll ALL see! EVERYONE’S GONNA SEE! So, without further ado, let’s get going!

(Future Edit: For this particular chapter, the split won’t really affect anything besides the stuff that usually goes at the very end- eh, you’ll see what I mean when you get there.)

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

Part 10

Part 11

Part 12

[ciaossu-imagines]

Personalization Prompt #1 – Martha

So, for the reader appreciation day of the event, I used the first prompt for the lovely Martha @going1582! Martha’s been such a long-time reader, way back from when I was originally polycanons and has always been supportive, encouraging and she’s a large reason as to why I’m still inspired to create and keep writing for some of the fandoms I am! I hope you enjoy, my dear 😊

Siblings: You have an older sister, but she’s not a canon character.

Best friend: Kusakabe, Tsuna and his family, Dino Frenemies/Enemies: Mukuro and his gang and I think you’ll never fully get along with or trust Byakuran Crushes on You: I think that, at some point, Yamamoto had a small crush on you, as did I-Pin in a sort of ‘not sure if I want to be with them or just want to be them’ sort of way. First Romantic Relationship: Hibari Lost Virginity To: Hibari Married/In A Committed Relationship With: Hey, guess what…it’s Hibari. Seriously, the Martha/Hibari ship is one of the only ones I can see for Hibari, and it’s been that way for years now, haha. Cockblocked by: Life, Hibari himself because he’s slightly workaholic and really moody in his own way, and the demands of the Family Affiliation: While you’re technically part of the Vongola, you’re more strongly aligned with Hibari and the foundation he does go on to create…it’s just that the Foundation and the Vongola do really exist beside each other, and one relies on the other in a way.

Special Abilities: Of course, like all the others in the world, I do see you as being able to use Dying Will Flames, both those of the Rain type and of the Mist type. Neither flame types are as pure or as strong as those the Guardians wield, but you are still able to utilize them in ways that help keep you safe and protect those you love.

5 Headcanons About Your Life:

You attended Namimori Middle alongside the Vongola, which is how you met everyone and how you became involved with the Vongola and Hibari.

At some point in your adult life, you founded a small, indie game company. The games your company creates are solid and well-done and have their own cult following. They’ve recently started to get more attention and have been reviewed and given playthroughs by some more well-known people. The great thing about your job though is that you can technically do your work from anywhere because of modern technology, so it frees up time for you to be able to accompany Hibari on his travels when he feels there’s no real and present danger in you doing so, allowing the two of you to spend more time together than you would be able to do otherwise.

It also helps when you have to temporarily move back to your home country to help take care of a sick family member. During this time, even with as busy as their work is, Kusakabe comes to visit at least once a month, Hibari calls once a week and comes to visit every other month or so, and all your friends in the Vongola try to call and come visit whenever possible. Even though Hibari doesn’t come to visit as much as the others, he’s the one making sure Kusakabe does and he also arranges for flowers to be delivered to that sick family member every other week, so that they (and you) have something to make your days a little bit better.

You’ve drawn portraits of all of your friends at some point throughout the years and most of your friends still have those portraits either tucked away in a drawer with their other important papers or have them framed and hung up in their apartments or homes. You draw Hibari the most though and he always keeps the newest drawing you’ve done of him folded up and stashed in his wallet.

Dino becomes a sort of surrogate big brother for you and he is definitely one of your confidantes, someone who is always willing to answer your calls or come talk to you whenever you’re having a hard time or need advice.

[shrimp-kel]

What's your favorite game?

SHA WHY MUST YOU ASK SUCH DIFFICULT QUESTIONS….

this will be a very long answer brace yourself

obviously one of my top favourite games is hollow knight for obvious reasons like the breathtaking soundtrack, stunning visuals, natural flowing gameplay thats just difficult enough so that its rewarding but doesnt make you extremely mad in the process, extraordinary lore and exceptional characters and character designs… i dont have enough words of praise in my lexicon for this game and i absolutely cannot wait for silksong!

then one of my favourite nintendo franchises in existence: splatoon. so many memories from when the first game came out, the nostalgia, the uniqueness of it all. nintendo truly outdid themselves, they made an enjoyable shooter game that is incredibly special and there is nothing like it.

night in the woods, one of my favourite story based games. the soundtrack is amazing, the artstyle inspires me a lot, and the story is really interesting and tackles mental health really well which a lot of games just cant do these days because developers dont put in enough research.

undertale and deltarune. i cant answer an ask about my favourite games without mentioning those two. undertale is a masterpiece with a phenomenal soundtrack, wonderful characters and a story that tugs on your heartstrings in just the right ways, and after all these years it still makes me tear up wether its just listening to the soundtrack or watching yet another playthrough of it. and deltarune is following in its footsteps really well, even though it may not even be complete yet. these games are so incredibly unique and i admire toby fox so much…

pokemon sun and moon are my favourite pokemon games… they may be easier than the older gens, but they hold a special place in my heart because of all the alolan pokemon designs, the story and the characters.

celeste.. oh gosh that game… tackles the ever so difficult topic of mental health so incredibly well, with the beautifully composed soundtrack by lena raine and the art… the gameplay is almost natural, you pick it up easily as soon as you start playing… the level designs are incredible…

bugsnax. i think the designs of all the bugs are incredible, i love the dark story and all the queer rep they have… fun to play and i think they did an amazing job with it!

paper mario and the origami king was the first paper mario game i played myself and boy was it an experience… i loved all of the small details, the gameplay never got repetitive and i will admit that the end made me cry a little. i was slightly afraid to pick it up at first since ive heard stories about the two most recent paper mario games that came before it were terrible, but this game was worth it.

yoshis woolly world! this game means so much to me… i used to play it with my grandpa in co-op mode and those are some of my most cherished memories, every time i think of that game i get really happy… the gameplay itself was incredibly fun too!

minecraft had to be on this list. ive been playing this game since 2012, ive seen it grow and shape into the incredible game it is today. it has sparked so much creativity from all sorts of different people… the insanely detailed and breathtaking builds, the genius redstone and command block contraptions, the endless numbers of servers you can play on and the limitless possibilities with mods… its probably one of the best games of all time no matter how much the internet tries fighting about it. arguably one of the most influential games as well.

there are so many more id love to mention but i feel like ive written a little too much 😭

[aurabird]

Unexpected Sympathy

Was in the mood to write some Empires hurt/comfort, but between two individuals you would not expect.

Sequel to this~

Tw: mentions of violence, torture and a panic attack but otherwise this is relatively tame

Also on Ao3

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

The nightmare of being a prisoner within Xornoth’s dungeon had seemed and felt so real and flashes of it still blinked into Fwhips mind as he tried to calm himself.

The sky was dark, but save the sounds of the night there was no rain, no thunder, no harbinger of the demon’s presence. And yet, he shook like a leaf, curling up in fear as sobs escaped him.

It was pathetic. Him, the Lord of Darkness, crying in bed like a child.

A crash resounded from outside and Fwhip felt his blood run cold, the sound echoed like thunder and was followed by footsteps, a dark silhouette appearing in the doorway.

His heart raced as he scrambled out of the bed and pressed himself against the back wall. Xornoth had come for him, he knew it. He would be taken back...tortured and hurt some more... 

“Um...Fwhip, s-sorry to trespass like this but my elytra broke and I'm not really equipped right now to travel through the...

...Fwhip?”

When Jimmy had entered the room to apologize for trespassing, he had not expected to see Fwhip cowering like a cornered animal. The man’s eyes were puffy, the look in them one of fear and horror. Jimmy could tell that he’d been crying.

“G-Go away! You aren’t taking me back! I won’t go back! P-Please...have mercy...”

Jimmy’s expression morphed into one of concern at those words and slowly, he stepped into the light, his hands in front of him submissively as he approached his fellow royal. “Fwhip, mate...what’s gotten in to you? Its just me, Jimmy. You know, the Codfather? The guy who would very much like what you stole from him back?”

Yes the last bit was full of sarcasm and could be taken as passive-aggressive, but despite that fact it seemed to have worked. Jimmy saw Fwhip begin to relax, realization slowly fading into his eyes at who stood before him.

“J-Jimmy...?” Fwhip questioned, his voice barely a whisper.

“Yeah, Fwhip, it’s me. I’m here.”

The panicked breathing of Fwhip began to calm at those words and the tinkerer slumped against the wall in an undignified manner he clearly didn’t care about anyone seeing.

Sympathetically, Jimmy sat down across from him, eyes full of concern despite their empire’s current relations with each other.

“Why are you in my Empire this late at night?” Fwhip asked, the harshness in his voice masked by exhaustion, “You shouldn’t be here.”

Normally, at this point Jimmy would have made some form of comeback that would descend into either banter or an argument, but the Codfather knew what he’d seen. “My elytra broke and kinda crashed into some barrels near one of your village houses. I’d go through the Nether, but I’m not exactly equipped to traverse that place on foot.” he paused for a moment before continuing, “Maybe its good that I ended up here though; you were freaking out mate, like a cornered chicken about to be slain by Joel or something.”

A chuckle escaped Fwhip at Jimmy’s demeaning metaphor, "Thank you for that wonderful image of me.”

“What happened? I’ve never seen you like that before. You begged me for mercy as if I was going to kill you. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I would totally do it if it meant getting my cod head back, but... ”

Fwhip didn’t want to admit it to his worst enemy, but the words left his mouth before he could stop them, “I dreamt that demon had me as a prisoner...that it was torturing me...corrupting me. It hurt so much...I felt like I was going to die.”

Mentions of the enigmatic entity that had recently shown up sent a chill down Jimmy’s spine, remembering quite well the horrifying encounter he’d had with it.

“Realistic nightmares aren’t fun, trust me, I should know.”

Fwhip let out a small laugh, “I find it hard to believe that you, the most upbeat person I know, have nightmares.”

Jimmy simply shook his head, “Well, there more like flashes of events that I feel I should remember but yet also don’t. Its always the same, starting with myself living in a flower forest with someone that looks suspiciously like Scott, only less...elf-like and that I think I’m married to.” Fwhip snorted at that; as if the elven king could want to be in a romantic relationship with anyone, let alone Jimmy of all people.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh all you want. Like I said, they looked like Scott. Anyway, all of us in this...dream? Memory? Whatever it is; have three lives before we’re dead, only a limited amount respawn magic in the world to bring us all back twice. I loose my first two to lava and an attempt to disarm a TNT trap...then loose my final one to an arrow through my head. Last thing I see is my husband’s face as I die in his arms before I wake up in bed here.”

The tale was so detailed, as if Jimmy had seen it countless times with each playthrough of it growing more and more complex and clear. If Fwhip didn’t know any better, he’d believe it was true, maybe it even was in some ways.

"I’ll admit, there's some parts of it that make no sense, such as the lack of respawn magic and the blurred figure that looks like Scott, but it feels so real you know? Maybe I should ask him if he has dreamt anything similar.”

Fwhip only nodded, a yawn escaping him. He was tired and his panic attack hadn’t really helped with that. He looked at the clock, there was still plenty of night left for him to sleep.

Jimmy seemed to get the message and moved to help him get back to his bed. Fwhip was out before his head even hit the pillow.

-

His eyes fluttered open, vision flooded with color as the world came into focus around him.

Slowly Fwhip sat up, looking around the room until he caught sight of a familiar cod hat and green robes sitting at the foot of the bed, eyes focused on a book and hand scribbling down words.

Jimmy must have heard him stir as the Codfather was quick to lay the items down and turn to him with a goofy smile on their face. “Hey Fwhip, how you feeling mate?”

“Better...you stayed here all night?”

“Couldn't really do much else with a broken elytra and all so yeah, I did.”

Fwhip sung his legs over the edge of the bed and stood up, going over to a chest and fumbling through its contents.

Eventually, he pulled out a stack of bottles, enchantment orbs floating around within them. “Here, to repair your elytra.”

Jimmy took the bottles graciously before shattering them against the damaged wings, the tears within the membranes sealing shut through magic.

With his elytra repaired, the Codfather thanked Fwhip and bid him farewell before leaving the storage room. However, just before he was about to take off he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“We never speak of last night again alright? I’m still going to make you work to get that cod head back.”

Jimmy simply grinned, “Wouldn’t expect anything less.”

With that, Fwhip watched him activate a firework and disappear into the distance.

His attention then turned to the amount of corruption in the area and he sighed. Gem would be coming over later to discuss Wither Rose Alliance matters and she would definitely kill him if he did not get the place cleaned up.

Time to get to work, he supposed.

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #461

“this city looks so pretty, do you wanna burn it with me?”

Have you ever wanted a Nikon camera? Or do you have one already? My camera before the one I have now was a Nikon D3200. I use a Canon now. Who was the last person (if anyone) you said Happy Birthday to? A friend. Do you have Photoshop? If so, how often a day do you use it? I have it, but I barely use it nowadays. I use it to edit photos for character profiles or profile pictures, add a watermark for my actual photography, and I used to make Mark-oriented gifs like crazy. They mostly did really well, so... I might wanna get back into that and get That Sweet Validation. Do you watch any shows that you know your parents wouldn’t approve of? No. Have any of your exes gotten married or had kids since your breakup? None, I think. Do either of your parents have a mental illness? My mom has depression. Can you tolerate children for a long period of time? NO. Have you ever lived with someone you felt thoroughly uncomfortable around? No. Are you into dubstep? Yeah, I tend to enjoy it. Zelda or The Sims games? Can I pick neither? lol I don't feel very much at all for The Sims, and Zelda games have always looked... boring to me? Like I've watched most of the Game Grumps' playthroughs of all the games, and they make it hilarious of course, but the games themselves? Nah. Are you terrible at assigning bands their proper genre? YES YES YES YES YES YES. Even in my preferred category, that being metal, FUCK if I know the sub-genre. Have you ever made out in a closet? No, that shit sounds claustrophobic as hell. Have you ever been to a laser tag place? Yeah, on a triple-date once! It was SO fun. How do you wanna celebrate your next birthday? Have a couple friends over, pig out at The Cheesecake Factory. o3o Do you tease your parents about them being old? No, especially not Mom. She's self-conscious about getting older. Are you in love with someone? "In love" is a bit too far, buddy. But I love someone. Have you ever ridden a unicycle? No. Have you ever wanted a pet bunny? I was VERY serious about getting a lop-eared bunny for quite a while, but we just couldn't afford to adopt one (even off Craigslist) and get a cage for it, toys, etc. Are the bottom of your feet clean? I HATE seeing the bottom of my feet. Not because they're dirty, but because it's Callus City. I ain't even fuckin jokin'. Do you like really salty food? Yeah. :x When’s the last time you bled a lot? Well, I just recently finished my cycle after not menstruating for three or four MONTHS, so you can figure that one out. Have you ever watched a needle go into your own skin? Yeah. I like to know exactly when it's coming. Have you ever seen someone get a piercing/tattoo? Yes to both. When you’re done eating finger foods, do you usually lick your fingers? Usually kasdjlf;kalsdjf shut up ok I like food. What’s the most racist thing you have ever said? As a little kid, when my really good friend (a neighborhood kid, even) asked if he thought we'd be a good couple, I told him no because "blacks and whites don't date" or something like that. It was an idea I'd never been exposed to before; the idea was so foreign to little kid me. I had no idea I was being racist. It ended in a small fight and we didn't talk for a few days 'til he came to my house telling Mom that he had to "be a man" and fix this and if that ain't the cUTEST SHIT RIGHT THERE. We were friends again after that. He's still on my Facebook, and he actually semi-recently got married! :') Do you know someone that is mute, deaf or blind? No. Have you ever spent more than two weeks in a wheelchair? No. Does weed smell good? Or no? Ugh, no. Where do you see your closest friend in ten years? Successful and happy she kept pushing. Mama to so many reptiles that are blessed with the best lives possible in human care. Got at least one amazing book out there. If she's reading this, you've fucking got this. <3 Would you like to have twins? Mother of fucking god, no. Even if I WANTED kids, do fucking not give me twins. Who was the last person you got into an argument with? My mom. Want to have kids before you’re 30? Once again, I don't want kids, but IF I did, that'd be preferable before the risk of birth defects and other issues climb with age. Does anybody have a tattoo with your name on it? My older sister has my initial. Do you think somebody’s in love with you? No. Do you think you and your best friend will be friends in ten years? Yes, I genuinely do. Who were the last people to hang out at your house? Miss Tobey, our friend and landlord. Does anyone like you? Welp... I hope he still does. Guess we'll figure that out soon. What person on your Facebook do you talk to the most? VIA Facebook? Probably my friend Lyndsey. She likes to comment on stuff I share. Do you want to fall in love? I do, but I'm also utterly horrified to and risk being hurt again. Are you interested in more than one person at the moment? No. Once I realized I was so deeply into Girt, all other romantic feelings kinda just... poofed. How was your last break up? Civil and done with both of our best interests in mind. What is the hardest thing you’ve ever had to say? Probably the first time I admitted I needed to go to the hospital for suicidal thoughts. I was so, so scared of what it was going to be like. What is the hardest thing you NEEDED to hear? That if Jason wasn't happy with me, he had every right to move on. She was right. Do you treat yourself well? No... but I'm trying to change that. What was the last song you sang out loud to? This "Set Fire to the Rain" cover. Do you take good pictures? I think I do? Have you ever done any internship? No. What’s a topic you’ve drastically changed your opinion on? Holy shit, so much, especially when it comes to morality and political stances. I am now a massive supporter and member of the LGBTQ+ community, I'm pro-trans rights, pro-choice... I've done like a dozen 180s in a lot of topics. Do you know anyone who has a PhD? I mean, some doctors, but no one in my truly personal life. Do you know anyone who works as a lawyer? Yes: my cousin. Have you ever experienced sleep paralysis? LAKSDJFKLA;JWD NEVER AND I PRAY TO THE HOLY LORD THAT I NEVER DO. Does the thought of having wrinkles when you’re older upset you? Not massively? Like literally everyone gets them and is natural and inevitable. Do you know anyone who’s struggling with addiction? I know one alcoholic, and one that's probably borderline. I also have two friends who are extremely addicted to weed. Look me in the eyes and say it's not an addictive substance and I wouldn't believe you one bit. Is there a video or computer game that you can get lost in for hours? Eh, sometimes World of Warcraft. Some days I'm really into it, and others I barely touch it. What’s your favorite Disney Channel movie? I have no clue. I don't even remember movies that were made *for* Disney exclusively. Do you ever have to do yard work? No. We have a friend from the dance studio mow the lawn. Do you have any live versions of songs in your music software? My iPod has a whole live album of Ozzy. Did you or do you listen to Britney Spears songs? Both did and do. Britney is a boss bitch. Does your favorite band have a male or female lead singer? Male. Have you seen the movie Moulin Rouge? No, but I've seen some of that P!nk music video of the song and it brings out the Gay in me. Do you have a key to anything besides your house? No. Could you ever complete a 500-piece puzzle? I've done that before. I miss doing puzzles... Have you ever been to any sort of convention? I went to a reptile expo with Sara!! I REALLY want to go to another when my legs are stronger and can handle standing and walking so much. Is your mom or dad the older parent? Mom. Have you ever tried to walk on a moving vehicle and fallen over? No????? What is your favourite kind of bread? Is there any of that in your house? Pumpernickel. No. Are/were you in the school band, and if so, what instrument did you play? I played the flute all through middle school and I wanna say half of HS. Have you ever ordered an unusual drink at a bar? Never even been to one. Have you ever been pulled aside by security at the airport? I think once for some reason I don't recall? What is your favourite seasonal candy? (only available at certain times) Gingerbread men, probs. Or chocolate bunnies!!! :') How do you feel right now? My stomach is KILLING me. I'm super excited though that Girt is coming over tomorrow. Have you ever had surgery that kept you in the hospital for over a day? No. What would you like your generation to change? How we treat nature. Is there anyone that you truly could not live without? No. I learned that is a very unhealthy mentality to have. Do you like carrots more if they’re raw, or cooked? I just hate carrots. What restaurant did you last go out to dinner at with friends? With friends? I couldn't even guess. Does your refrigerator have an ice maker or do you use ice cube trays? It has an ice maker. Do you have a favorite sibling, if any? No; I love them all. Do you have a favorite brand of clothing? I STAN CLOAK. How’s the love life? Something new might start tomorrow. I think it will. Do you watch the news? No; that shit is depressing. Who do you admire most? Mark. Do you have a favorite album? Black Rain by Ozzy Osbourne takes the cake and always will.

[afni-fics]

Elder Scrolls DC - A Reluctant Dragonborn - Chapter 14: Not of This World (Part 1)

Elder Scrolls DC - A Reluctant Dragonborn - Chapter 14: Not of This World (Part 1) by C_R_Scott Chapters: 14/? Fandom: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Red Robin (Comics), DCU (Comics) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Characters: Tim Drake, Lucien Flavius Additional Tags: Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Skyrim/DCU crossover, Reluctant Dovahkiin | Dragonborn, Not Beta Read, Alternate Universe - Skyrim Fusion, Modded Skyrim, Skyrim Spoilers, Tim Drake is Dragonborn | Dovahkiin, Batfamily-centric (DCU), Tim Drake-centric

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Summary:

After completing their exploration of Bleak Falls Barrow, Tim and Lucien rest for the night. While resting, the pair finally begin to speak with one another.

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Several hours after completing their excursion into Bleak Falls Barrow, Lucien Flavius was sitting by a crackling fire within an abandoned stone shelter that he and Timothy had found tucked away at the base of the mountain the Barrow rested atop of. It was a fortunate thing they had found the shelter as, when they emerged from the ruins, the sun had mostly dipped below the horizon and the skies were threatening to release a downpour. There wasn't enough time to return to Riverwood before the coming storm, and while Timothy had the sense to carry camping supplies to set up a tent for the night, it was questionable if they'd be able to get it set up before the rain really started coming down. Spotting the stone shelter was stroke of luck and allowed the pair of them just enough time to gather enough wood to start a campfire so they could keep warm through the night. 

Lucien had most of the contents of his backpack spread out before him as he was completing a catalog in his journal of all the artifacts he had been able to collect. Though it was fairly late in the evening, he was no stranger to late night research, and he really wanted to take stock of all he had learned over the course of this adventurous day while everything was still fresh on his mind. 

But then, the scholar paused as his eyes flitted over to where Timothy laid fast asleep on his bedroll beneath his fur cloak for a blanket. "Timothy Drake-Wayne," Lucien said to himself as he studied Tim's face in the fire light. He watched the younger man as he slept and thought about everything that had spoken about earlier that evening. 

***

The fire had finally roared to full life with a careful application of a well aimed fire spell, and while Lucien was grateful for its warmth and light, he could tell Timothy seemed uneasy with it. His gaze seemed haunted as he stared at the flames eagerly consuming the logs of woods. Lucien was confused for a moment, but then he remembered the young man's awful wounds.

"He was burned by the same dragon that destroyed Helgen," Lucien mused silently as he watched Tim shake himself out of his thoughts and began to  pull out some dried meat and fruit. "What must it have been like to be in that place while that creature was burning it to the ground around him? Why was he even in Helgen in the first place? He's clearly not a Nord... Still don't know where he's from."

Tim was in the process of offering Lucien some of his food to share when the young man paused and gave him an odd look.

"Hm?" Lucien asked.

"You're doing it again."

"Doing what again?"

Tim frowned. "Looking at me like I'm a puzzle you're trying to solve."

Lucien gave him a small guilty smile. "I suppose I am." He reached into is own bag and pulled out a few items of food as well, some bread and cheese, and offered a portion to Tim as well.

Tim sighed as he took just a piece of bread and just stared at it for a long moment. 

"Timothy," Lucien started. "In the Barrow I promised you I would listen to your story with an open mind, and I know you said you would tell me after getting out of that place. However, if you're not ready to speak of it yet, I understand." He tried to give the young man a reassuring expression. "I'm going to theorize surviving Helgen was quite an ordeal, especially with the injuries you suffered. If you need more time to process everything before you can share anything with me... Well... While I admit I am quite curious about you, I do know the value of being patient." Lucien smiled kindly. "And if it helps, perhaps you would like to know more about me first? After all, I'm a perfect stranger to you as well. It's only fair, right?"

That seemed to put Tim a little more at ease. A tension that had been in his expression relaxed and he released a breath that he had been holding with a small nod. "I'd like that."

***

So while they ate another small meal, Lucien told Timothy a little more about himself. He described where he was from in Cyrodiil and told him about both his mother and father. He explained how he came to Skyrim in the first place, at the invitation of an old family friend who'd started a museum up in the capitol city of Solitude, and about all the things he was looking forward to investigating and exploring Skyrim, from more Nordic ruins to Dwemer architecture as well as hunting down several rare historic artifacts that were rumored to be hidden region.

Tim listened to it all with great interest, though at points it was clear he seemed to not quite understand some of what was said, and that the lack of his own knowledge seemed to frustrate him. Finally, he seemed to reach some breaking point within himself. 

"Lucien... Do you have a map of the world?"

"The world?" Lucien was a little confused. He reached into his bag though. "I have a map of Tamriel." He pulled it out and spread it out on the floor of their shelter, using a few stones to hold the corners of the map to keep it from folding back in on itself. 

Tim leaned in and studied the map curiously. Lucien watched, intrigued, as the younger man reached out and traced parts of the map with his fingertips. There was something odd about his companion's expression as he looked at the map. Something about the way the man's blue eyes roamed the entire span of the document, as if searching for something he just couldn't find...

Then a flash of insight struck Lucien. 

"Timothy?" he started cautiously. "Does nothing on that map look familiar to you?"

Tim didn't answer immediately. His expression was guarded as he kept his eyes on the map, refusing to raise them to Lucien. Then he closed his eyes and slowly shook his head.

Despite the heat from the roaring campfire, Lucien felt an chill run through him. "Then... Where on Nirn do you come from, if not from Tamriel?" The scholar's mind was racing with possibilities. Tim was so fair-skinned the native homeland of the dark-skinned Redguards, Yokuda, was not a likely option. Atmora, once the northern homeland of the ancient Nords, was a frozen and barren wasteland now. Nothing and no one lived there in recent memory as far as Lucien could recall. Pyandonea seemed unlikely as they were home mostly to elves, not human beings. Perhaps he was from Akavir, though rumor says only serpent men live there now? 

All of Lucien's theories came to a screeching halt in his mind as Tim finally looked at him, a confused expression on his face. "Nirn? Is that another continent, or is that the name of the entire world?"

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

Warning: This is being pantsed more than plotted, and this is not beta read. We'll see where this journey takes us. Mostly I'm just doing this for my own amusement.

Note1: If you have any questions about the playthrough and Tim's feelings/experiences that aren't described in the chapters, please ask me in the comments. I'll do my best to answer your questions as best I can.

Note2: Map source images: https://www.imperial-library.info/content/maps-tamriel

I included two maps. This first is one that I think would be like what Lucien would carry around on his travels. (I really wish I had the skill to draw my own maps). The second map is one showing the approximate locations of the other continents Lucien was musing on before Tim dropped his little bombshell.

As I write this part of Tim and Lucien's interactions, I'm starting to feel out how the world of Nirn might be connected to DCU Earth Tim comes from, at least in the back of my mind.

#elder scrolls dc#fanfiction#tim drake#skyrim fanfiction#batfam fanfic#red robin#batfam#crossover#lucien flavius#wip#afewnovelideas

[creepercraftguy]

If Danganronpa: Another Despair Academy had an English cast

So I recently made a post very similar to this where I talked about who a hypothetical English voice cast for Our World Is Ended would be. I kind of enjoyed making that post, so I decided to do something similar with the cast of a Danganronpa fan game that has been featured prominently on my chanel and that’s the Danganronpa: Another series. Being a Korean fan game, the original dub of Danganronpa Another has barely any dialogue to speak of. In fact, the only two characters in the series who speak often are Yuki and Sora, the protagonists of the two games, but that’s when they’re in trials. As of right now, a group of people is working on an English dub for the second game. This is why I’m specifically going to talk about the first game in the series, and bare in mind 2 things.

1) There will be some pretty heavy spoilers that I talk about in this post, so if you’re going to read it, please play the game, watch a playthrough or read up on it first.

2) If by any chance the first game gets a dub and the following people I do mention end up voicing the characters, I assure you it is purely coincidental. I wouldn’t even call this a hypothetical scenario so much as I’d call it a basic thought process of my weird weird mind.

Without further ado, let’s begin.

Yuki Maeda: Yuri Lowenthal

In the current dub for the second game, Yuki is being voiced by a user by the name of Soluri, who is pretty talented in their right, but my thought process for an alternative voice actor would be this. Yuki as a protagonist takes a very similar standing as Makoto Naegi and Hajime Hinata, whom are voiced by Bryce Papenbrook and Johnny Yong Bosch respectively, so if I was given a choice to choose who could voice act him, then I think Yuri Lowenthal would be a fitting choice, since he’s also often voiced protagonists. Being someone who often does work in famous franchises, his voice work includes Marth from Fire Emblem, Yosuke Hanamura in Persona, Ben Tennyson in many Ben 10 works, Klavier Gavin in Ace Attorney, Simon in Gurren Lagann and Suzaku from Code Geass. However, he’d also be a fitting choice since I believe he’d be able to do a good job as both the somwhat cowardly and submissive Yuki as well as the mysterious and somewhat stoically dangerous Utsuro, as he is also the main VA for Sasuke in Naruto and Alucard in Castlevania. 

Akane Taira: Monica Rial

Akane’s basic character throughout the majority of the game is that she’s lighthearted and even though the killing game is getting to her just as much as everyone else, she still finds a way to lighten the atmosphere, and is a usually cheery and kind person, if a little scary when angry. However, her true nature is something much more freakish, being, in actuality, the mastermind behind the aforementioned killing game that she spends a lot of the game seemingly fighting against. For an English VA, I think the best bet is Monica Rial, who has previously voiced in Danganronpa as Sayaka Maizono in the Danganronpa anime. The reason for my choice is she has previously voiced usually nice, if a little stern, characters like Bulma from Dragon Ball, Tsuyu Asui from My Hero Academia, May Chang from Full Metal Alchemist, Tsubaki from Soul Eater, Kayano from Assassination Classroom, Mirajane Strauss from Fairy Tale and Sakura from CardCaptor Sakura. However, she’s not one to shy away from maniacal villains, or generally creepy characters either, also voicing Tanya from Saga of Tanya the Evil, Krul Tepes from Seraph of the End or Stocking from Panty and Stocking. Also doing the voice of Misaki Ayuzawa from Maid Sama and Mey-rin in Black Butler, she’s not new to voicing maid characters.

Tsurugi Kinjo: Crispin Freeman

Having already done voice work in a main Danganronpa game, albeit for a very unlikable character, I ruled out Matthew Mercer for this one. I can only really describe Tsurugi as the Nagito Komaeda of this series. He has good intentions, but a really messed up way of thinking, even at times quite self-deprecating and reflecting on his own incapabilities to stop the killing game and catch the mastermind. Like I already said, he seems like he’d be voiced by a deep voiced character like Matt Mercer, but when it comes to characters like that, Crispin Freeman is a safe bet. Some of the rightous and/or badass characters that he’s lent his voice to include Winston from Overwatch, Kyon in the Haruhi Suzumiya series, Tsume in Wolf’s Rain and more, but can also do a pretty good crazy character every once in a while, like Alucard from Hellsing, Itachi Uchiha from Naruto and Firefly in the Batman Arkham Series.

Rei Mekaru: Laura Post

Admittedly, I was considering Monica Rial for this crude and shrewd character too. Mature and professional to a fault, barely showing any sort of real emotion and often insulting the other killing game participants for seemingly no reason, Rei is basically Another 2′s Byakuya Togami, intelligent, but rude. Having previously voiced condescending characters, Laura Post is a pretty good choice. I’m referring mostly to characters like Kill La Kill’s Ragyo Kiryuin and Fubuki/Blizzard from Hell from One Punch Man, as well as Diana Cavendish from Little Witch Academia and one of her first ever performances, Queen Nehelenia from Sailor Moon. However, Laura Post has also voiced rather gentle and friendly characters before, which would be a good way to highlight Rei’s secret soft side. Characters like Nozomi Tojo from Love Live and her most recent role, Kasumi Yoshizawa from Persona 5 Royal.

Haruhiko “Haru”  Kobashikawa: Sam Riegal

The minute I was introduced to him, I immediately thought, “Ok, he’s going to be the Kazuichi of this game isn’t he?” And to be honest, I don’t think I was that far off. However, even so, he seems more like Kaito if Kaito wasn’t necessarily a central character. Haru’s important, but he’s on the same level of importance as a character like say...Game 1 Toko. A sociable person who’s only goal is to get along well with everyone, he’s cheerful, laid back and more often than not pretty amusing to watch. Someone I believe to be fit for the role, having previously voiced a repertoire of pretty dorky and likeable characters, is Sam Riegal. By that, I mean he’s done the voice work of Teddy from Persona, Phoenix Wright in Ace Attorney, Emperor Awesome in Wander of Yonder,  Kanata from Trinity Universe, Shirou Emiya from Fate/Stay Night and Donatello in a large number of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles works.

Teruya Otori: Kyle McCarly

Teruya is a character that returns for the second game, and his voice actor in that is NuzikVA. I was really stuck on this one, since Yuri Lowenthal, whom I picked for Yuki, was my main option for Teruya too, but my second option for him would be just as viable. One of Teruya’s most important aspects to his character is that he has a pretty unique western accent despite being Japanese, since his Ultimate Merchant talent means he’s travelled the world and picked up on a few things. On top of that, he’s pretty adorkable and a little childish. I’ve heard Yuri Lowenthal do accents before, which is why I considered it, but I figured anything Yuri Lowenthal can do, Kyle McCarly can do just as well, if not better. He’s a voice actor who’s lines are packed full of expression and some of his previous work includes 9S from Neir: Automata, Hyde in Cross Tag Battle, Hal in Astral Chain, Gatekeeper in Fire Emblem Three Houses and Narancia in JoJo Part 5.

Satsuki Iranami: Deva Marie Gregory

While she was a character that I found initially very irritating and she was definitely the one I had to warm to the most, I won’t deny that Satsuki Iranami is like 70% of the humour and happiness in this game. Similarly to Ibuki, she tends to act childish and make jokes in very tense situations and as described by Yuki as “a person that makes you tired just by talking with her” or something along those lines. Now, this might seem like a pretty obscure and strange choice for a VA, but my choice for a voice is Deva Marie Gregory. It’s obscure, since she is relatively new to the voice acting industry, only voicing one character in one franchise so far. However, that character is Flayn from Fire Emblem Three Houses, arguably one of the characters with the more comedic dialogue. I can totally picture her playing an “In-your-face” practical joker character like Satsuki, making common wisecracks, and it’s something I’d really like to bear witness to.

Mitsuhiro “Mitch” Higa: Joe Brogie

Possibly my least favourite character in this game, he’s essentially a worse version of Leon Kuwata from the first game. He’s genuinely kind of a chill guy, but his status as the Ultimate Soccer Player and his world fame makes him more than a little arrogant and cocky and often ignores people who he doesn’t care for. Joe Brogie is my choice for him, despite being a relatively new voice actor. His previous work includes the player character from God Eater 3, Linus from Fire Emblem Heroes, Donatello from Injustice 2 and Sylvain Jose Gautier from Fire Emblem Three Houses. However, despite his few roles and lacking history of voices, he’s talented and capable nonetheless. 

Kizuna Tomori: Tia Ballard

Kizuna can be described in the following words: Cutesy, flirtatious and distrustful. I know those phrases sound mutually exclusive to each other, but trust me, it’s true. Obviously, her nature just changes depending on the situation, since she’s lighthearted and merry more often than not, but in a tense situation becomes suspicious, snappy and even physically violent. I picture her having a high voice, and when taking her character into account, I think the best bet is Tia Ballard. The main reason for my choice is that Tia’s most common voices belong to generally “moe” anime girls, but she voices them in a way that doesn’t sound annoyingly high pitched like how Stephanie Sheh does with Mikan in Danganronpa 2. If Ballard voiced Kizuna, she could pretty much perfectly land the “cutesy at first, but angry when provoked” attitude that Kizuna has. Some of her previous work includes Marron from Dragon Ball, Happy from Fairy Tail, Chiho Sasaki from The Devil is a Part Timer, Takao from D-Frag, Zero Two from Darling in the Franxx and has actually voiced in Danganronpa previously as Daisaku Bandai in Danganronpa 3.

Mikako Kurokawa: Brittany Cox

Extremely similarly to my choice for Satsuki, my choice for Mikako has also only ever been in one game, and it’s the same game as my choice for Satsuki actually. Mikako is a quiet person and she isn’t much of a talker, and when she does she sticks to short replies after long periods of silence, often causing people to forget she's around or becoming surprised when she eventually speaks up. She is unresponsive in a conversation and avoids making eye contact with anyone she talks to which seems rude, but her past explains why. The character Brittany Cox plays in Three Houses is Ingrid Galatea, who is generally a pretty merry, if a little serious and motherly, character, who’s personality isn’t a quiet one. However, while her voice acting is really good, Brittany Cox has a bit of a stoic, monotone and quiet voice, that I believe would fit Mikako perfectly.

Kinji Uehara: Robbie Daymond

There were a few reasons why I chose this person for this characters voice, but I’ll talk about those in a moment. Kinji is the good type of priest, one who is serious and quiet, but is a good listener, and respectful of people to a point where he doesn’t force his religious ideals onto others. However, when put under immense amounts of pressure, he can break down and turn somewhat psychotic. Hence my choice for his voice actor. Robbie Daymond is a personal favourite of mine, since he has a special talent of playing characters such as Goro Akechi and Hubert Vestra, from Persona and Three Houses respectively; characters who for the most part are calm, reserved, quiet and in Akechi’s case, somewhat kind. However, after certain points in the games stories, the two characters turn inexplicably evil and crazy, and the voice work and the shift in tone has such an amazing range that it’s hard to believe it’s the same guy. Seriously, look up Daymond’s work as Akechi, it’s honestly amazing and is the type of voice I’d honestly expect for Kinji when he breaks down. Alongside those two roles, Daymond also voices Prompto in Final Fantasy 15, Reinhard in RE:Zero, Professor Willow in Pokemon, Gilthunder in Nanatsu No Taizai and Mumen Rider in One Punch Man.

Kiyoka Maki: Colleen Clinkenbeard

A girl with a personality that doesn’t match her talent, Kiyoka Maki is outgoing and carefree and doesn’t have an awful lot of care for her talent, being way more interested in more effeminate things than guns. When I first saw Kiyoka and was introduced to her character, for some reason I thought “This is the type of character Colleen Clinkenbeard would voice.” Originally I was going to cast Clinkenbeard as Teruya before I realised Teruya wouldn’t necessarily have a child-like voice. Clinkenbeard however, does have experience of voicing male anime characters, and a lot of characters that scream a lot, Monkey D. Luffy from One Piece and Young Gohan being the prime examples. Alongside that, she’s also voiced another gunslinger in Full Metal Alchemist as Riza Hawkeye, as well as Momo Yaoyorozu in My Hero Academia, Rachel Moore in Case Closed, Erza Scarlet in Fairy Tail and previously in Danganronpa 3 as the loveable Chisa Yukizome.

Ayame Hatano: Karen Strassman

Ayame is a stoic and strong-willed person. Although she appears to be perfectly calm in most situations, she admits that she can be awkward especially during conversations, and as a result, she has a tendency to ramble and wander off in her own, or not talk much at all. To me, she seems like a character that someone like Karen Strassman would lend her voice to, since she’s played several characters with those personality traits before. To name a few, there’s Aigis and Nanako from Persona and she’s also voiced Anna in several Fire Emblem games. She’s also played Kallen Stadtfeld in Code Geass, Miyuki Takara in Lucky Star and Rouge the Bat in several Sonic the Hedghog games.

Kanata Inori: Felicia Angelle

I was also considering casting Tia Ballard for this character too, but unlike Kizuna, Kanata genuinely seems like a moe character that would have a high voice. Kanata is a sweet girl who wishes nothing more than the comfort of her patients and everyone else around her. Exceedingly formal and polite, she addresses her classmates as Mr or Ms, like how Hifumi Yamada does in the first game. My choice for her is Felicia Angelle, who’s repertoire consists of both cute and geeky anime girls, as well a little bit of the scary stuff too. This includes Tohru Hagakure from My Hero Academia, Perona from One Piece, The Supreme Kai of Time from Dragon Ball Xenoverse, Shinoa Hiragi from Seraph of the end, Shaltear from Overlord, Georgie from Maid Dragon and has previously been in the Danganronpa anime, playing Aoi Asahina.

Kakeru Yamaguchi: J Michael Tatum

I have a pretty good reason for this cast. Becoming a legal prodigy when he was quite young, Kakeru is a character who seems to have a split personality, but on a level way less extreme than that of Toko Fukawa. Essentially, he’s usually quite a timid and shy person, that finds it hard to hold a conversation, but when he’s in the courtroom or a class trial, he becomes quite loud and brash in a way similar to that of Nekomaru in the second game. His personality reminds me that of characters like Tenya Iida from My Hero Academia and Rei Ryugazaki from Free! both of whom are voiced by J Michal Tatum, whom is my choice for Kakeru. Tatum has also voiced Zarbon from Dragon Ball, Commander Erwin from Attack on Titan, Rintaro Okabe from Steins:Gate, Scar from Full Metal Alchemist, France from Hetalia and Sebastian from Black Butler.

Yamato Kisaragi: Max Mittleman

Yamato is almost as crazy an inventor as Miu, sans the whole sexual and perverted invention parts. Being a character who’s introduced a little later into the story, Yamato is pretty quirky, energetic and honestly friendly, but that leads people to be a little doubtful of him, Tsurugi in particular. His energetic character and his genuine feel make me think that someone who could voice him is Max Mittleman. Mittleman’s previous voices include Plag from Miraculous Ladybug, Ryuji Sakamoto from Persona, Saitama from One Punch Man, King from Natatsu No Taizai, Meruem in HunterXHunter and more

So that’s what I got. If you liked this, then leave me a heart and repost if you want. If you have any other recommendations for Japanese exclusive projects I should assign voice actors to, then let me know.

[ganymedesclock]

I had an upsetting realization on my most recent Hollow Knight playthrough:

It’s actually pretty likely, given the dialogue and framing of your first arrival in the City of Tears and the fountain cutscene in particular, that Ghost actually had no idea what had befallen Pure after the latter left the abyss and they fell back down.

Before this point, I’d always assumed that Ghost knew Pure had been sacrificed to seal Radiance and came back to the kingdom because they knew Pure was close to dying. However, the likelier implication is that while Ghost is able to ‘hear’ Pure, faintly, they weren’t actually aware of why Pure was screaming and what had happened to them.

It’d explain why the initial cutscene of Pure crying out is so shrouded, and it would also explain why one of the earliest things you encounter, the only way out of the Forgotten Crossroads, is the signpost for the Pilgrim’s Way, that tells you to head to the city where “all wishes will be granted, all truths revealed.”

Ghost came to Hallownest with a question, and a wish- to see their sibling again, and to know what had happened to them. That this sign is what leads them deeper into the city tells us that’s what they’re looking for- that they continually work to remove obstructions and fight their way deeper.

It’s around the point that you get to the City of Tears that the relatively linear path falls away and leaves you with a much more open world. Yes, technically, you can break off much earlier than that, but, the dialogue options clearly have a certain expectation- you get to the bottom of the Fungal Wastes, but climb back up and go to the city before facing the Mantis Lords- if you went there in the first place instead of immediately deviating from your exploration to chase Hornet into the city.

The cutscene that shows us the fountain in full is incredibly mournful and bleak- the fountain itself is revealed very slowly, pieces of it focused on, but it only ends on the statue of Pure, on which the rain falls in such a way as to create a specific tear in one of its eyes. It’s immediately after that Hornet rappels down to talk to Ghost, where her dialogue heavily implies Ghost is in the process of finding out new information they were not privy to before:

It's no surprise then you've managed to reach the heart of this world. In so doing, you shall know the sacrifice that keeps it standing.

If, knowing that truth, you'd still attempt a role in Hallownest's perpetuation, seek the Grave in Ash and the mark it would grant to one like you.

This is a meaningless thing to say if Ghost already knew Pure’s fate and was just finding it out. There’s also that examining the fountain imposes Pure’s silhouette onto the map of the Black Egg temple- Ghost will update their map with any information they’re aware of, but they didn’t mark down Pure’s location- they may have lingered outside the egg due to curiosity, but not realized Pure was there.

(Then again, Ghost also doesn’t mark down the Abyss before you get there, even though they know its interior, but, it could also have been a long time ago; it’s entirely possible given the Vessels are cast into molds, in a way, that they physically can’t grow up unless they’re bequeathed a bigger body- hence why Pure and Ghost are the same age but Pure is the only one mature while Ghost hasn’t changed at all- it could well have been years to decades since Ghost left the abyss, which would explain how decrepit their nail is, and it’d also reflect that their memory is not perfect- so having not returned to the Abyss in a long time, they’d have forgotten its layout. This would furthermore explain how we don’t know how Ghost got to the surface, since we can’t find any way out besides the door- that could have closed a long time ago)

The real kicker is, again, the game has certain expectations about where you go next even if you aren’t obligated to follow them. After the City of Tears, two NPCs who you follow throughout the kingdom, Zote and Cloth, both relocate themselves to Deepnest, and the way Quirrel’s comments outside the Mantis Village frame things, you go to the City to get a nail upgrade so you can come back and face the Lords- which opens the path to Deepnest.

So right after Ghost hears- seemingly for the first time- that Pure was sacrificed to seal the Radiance, in much clearer words than the Pale King’s speech to Pure at the mouth of the Abyss, and what that means...

You go into Deepnest. And what happens the first time you’re in Deepnest? Nosk.

Nosk, the siren that preys on grieving people. Dream nailing the corpses along Nosk’s lair tell us that most of these people are chasing after their lost beloveds who they thought they would never see again.

The last time Ghost saw Pure, they were desperately struggling their way to the top of the Abyss, only in time to see Pure leave without them. It’s very likely that Ghost spent a long time after that stuck on the idea that if they’d been faster, they would have caught up to Pure- that they wouldn’t have been separated.

Ghost’s apotheosis in every ending besides Hollow Knight and Sealed Siblings comes by gathering all of the Vessels’ spirits to them, and even those first two endings focus heavily on sibling bonds. The fate of the other Vessels means a huge amount to Ghost- they are motivated highly by their family, at least, those they acknowledge as their family. (Kind of raises some questions about their feelings towards Zote)

It would suggest timeline-wise, Ghost finds Nosk exactly at the point when Ghost is the most vulnerable to Nosk’s suggestion- either they’re still reeling from hearing Pure might be dead, or actively in denial. Either way, catching a faint, distant glimpse of something that looks like Pure, it makes sense the normally perceptive Ghost would drop everything to run after them. They’d feel like they can’t allow themselves to make the same mistake they did the first time, where they were separated from Pure because they fell behind.

And then it’s a dead end, the sight of several dead Vessels, and Nosk revealing itself in full.

Ghost can only have been a combination of miserable and absolutely furious. It’d even give new context to the fact that the Hunter’s notes on Nosk almost feel like consolation they’d give to Ghost after that upsetting encounter:

In the deepest darkness, there are beasts who wear faces stolen from your memories and pluck at the strings in your heart. Know yourself, and stay strong.

“Stolen from your memories” and “pluck at the strings in your heart” are rather poignant phrases. And it’s unlikely Hunter is speaking personally; his various notes about family and siblings suggest those connections are very distant to him, things he muses about from time to time but isn’t actively haunted by very much. Also because Nosk likely wouldn’t threaten him that much, since he’s of a size he could simply snap Nosk in half in his jaws.

This would also lend some terrifying context to the winged Nosk variant that emulates Hornet instead- suggesting that Ghost is at least partially terrified of the idea of chasing and losing Hornet the same way they lost Pure. Actually, that just makes me wonder if Ghost took to Hornet in part because she reminded them of Pure; they have a similar headshape and what we can discern of Pure’s personality suggests they are a very dutiful, talented, and precise individual, and one of impressive psychological fortitude considering how long they held against Radiance, even clearly having doubts about their objective and training from the start.

[bd-bandkanon]

so I’ve been playing this game called Kenshi and it’s ruining my life I guess?

I did a short 'noob fail’ playthrough with the Wanderer start and a boring random dude I called “Tiddlywinks”. Within 24 in-game hours he broke both his arms trying to fight without weapons, got beat up by hungry bandits, and then got eaten alive by blood spiders, so that didn’t go over well...

But then I started a new game with the Nobodies start. I got to have five characters, though they started out in the horrifically unforgiving desert called Venge, which has broken skeletons (robots) wandering the sands and giant flesh-scorching lasers shooting from the heavens. These guys were my characters. They survived thus far, and have each developed their own array of skills, and as I kept learning about the lore of the game I also began to build on each of their backstories... So here they are in order of appearance I guess lol

-

First there’s the Greenlander Fujin, a twice-traitor to her former factions and the daughter of a high-ranking samurai. First she freed a bunch of slaves and ran away from her home in the Empire-owned city of Heng, then she joined the Dust Bandits and, after some time, abandoned them as well. All she wants in life is a ‘family’ of her choosing. Seems like she’s got what she wants now-- and she’ll do everything in her power to protect them. 

With a Plank type weapon as her go-to and heavy armor to soak damage, Fujin is definitely the tank of the team, but also the fastest for reasons I might explain later...

-

Then we have the Scorchlander twins, both escaped slaves of the Holy Nation and both actively in search of a place they can call home, free of influence from uncaring factions and safe from the dangers of the wild-- like Fogmen for instance. So Mongrel is out of the question. Ares is a vigilante at heart and will be quick to free any slave from their shackles if she sees them, and Vass is constantly prodding the land hoping there’s a place suitable for living. 

Vass is both fast and an excellent dodger, preferring the sabre but capable of martial arts if need be, and Ares is a sharpshooter. (It’s fun to aggro enemies with Vass while Ares bumps them off from a long distance)

-

This next one is pretty long: Leer is a Hive Worker Drone, which are usually dumb and flimsy-- but he’s kind of a rare gem. Stolen from his Hive shortly after his conception by a skeleton named Kite, Leer was raised and educated in Black Desert City, a town run entirely by skeletons in the barren region of persistent acid-rain known as the Deadlands. There he was brought up differently from his Hiver kin, excelling in subjects that even Greenlanders don’t have access to. He was happy there-- until one day Kite vanished, never to be seen again. Leer set off in search of his mentor, but such sudden exposure to the outside world was quite the shock to him. People degraded him for his race, judging his intelligence by it, and used his physical weakness against him. He was a target for everyone and everything, subject to assault and abuse from all angles. It was only a matter of time before he employed the company of two scorchlander twins and a very large woman to protect him on his journey... but deep-set feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt lead him to set his own goals aside in favor of theirs. He truly wishes to be useful to his friends, but at the same time he also wants to be reunited with Kite. Despite all this, despite EVERYTHING, Leer is the brains of the group. A strategist suited for warfare, he has so far orchestrated the most successful of the group’s battles, has prospected the regions, has done all the research-- and very recently he gained the alliance of about 27 damaged skeletons... Very soon people will have to call him Commander Leer. 

On the actual gameplay side of things though, he really IS the best prospector and researcher of the five. I don’t know how I managed this. But I like it. Not to mention he’s pretty formidable with the naginata and other such polearms, though for a while he did tend to have to switch out to katanas because he is indeed squishy and his left arm was quite the target. But now it’s gotten to the point where barely anything can get more than one hit in on him, and that’s not just thanks to his skeleton army.

-

And now for the one we’ve all (just me actually) been waiting for: Ghost. (I briefly considered renaming him Geist because I discovered there’s a canon character named Ghost in the game, but Ghost just suits him better.) Discovered by the group in a ruined lab in Venge, they reportedly witnessed a bunch of skeleton Thralls (headless broken skeletons) working on him. The group wasn’t sneaky enough though and got attacked by these Thralls-- just in time for him to wake up. Just like that, the thralls left without a second notice as if they’d been called away, leaving the four alone with Ghost who quickly got to patching them up. Upon questioning, they discovered that Ghost didn’t remember anything from before he awoke-- not even who he was. It was Vass’ idea to give him the name Ghost, and with nowhere else to go, he chose to accompany them out of Venge and onward. Not long after, problems began to arise. He’d have violent attacks wherein he’d be overtaken by pain and black out. When he’d come to, small memories from his past would become revealed to him. But many of these things wouldn’t add up. As if he’d been in two places at once... Worse yet, he was soon to find that there’s a strange inconsistency with Skeletons, how their memory reportedly degrades over time thus leaving the past in shadows, and yet the way they react to his own plight... Very distressing, one might say. Either way, it’s this plight of his that inspires the group to venture to places they would otherwise never attempt to travel, and uncover things no man should ever see. He’s a driving force, almost as if he’s meant to lead them... somewhere. Who knows where. Only time will tell.

Ghost’s stats are the best out of all of them, all things considered. Mainly relying on katanas, with a hand in ranged weapons as well, he’s more often than not the last one standing. He’s even taken on entire hordes of enemies while his companions lay helpless. In short, he’s a freaking badass. It’s wise not to mess with him, even if you think you have him outnumbered. (But I wouldn’t put him up against a group of crab raiders...)

One final note, I actually had to rework Ghost’s design because honestly? I can’t draw the canon design for the typical skeleton without making it look janky as all hell. So I came up with something --- close, but definitely not the same.

But now that I’ve finally got all that down on paper I can finally go to bed I’ll probably talk more about this later goodnight bye

[rlyehtaxidermist]

SRW T first playthrough final thoughts

this’ll probably be a long one. or it won’t be? idk editing is for cowards and these posts are about COURAGE

Mechanics:

Nice quick section because there wasn’t that much changed from SRW X, aside from one nice addition.

They added a “Supporter” mechanic, where characters who play prominent roles in a series but don’t necessarily take to the field in mecha themselves can use a single large SP pool to support the active characters in a variety of ways; e.g., Vanilla, Gotho, and Coconna from VOTOMS give a bonus to money for one turn. This is a nice way to get the supporting casts a bit more of a chance to shine without either putting them in mecha or dropping them as sub-pilots on battleships, so I’m all for it. Plus, Rain’s SP restore was pretty clutch for my turn count in later stages.

I don’t think I talked about this in my X spaghetti post, but recent games (starting with V? probably?) have also allowed combination attacks to be used without deploying every single unit involved (albeit at a scaling damage penalty). In X, about the only use I got out of this was with Great Mightgaine, but here it boosted Mazinger Z, Rayearth, and Burning Gundam as well, so it really felt like a QoL option in a game with a very stacked roster.

Debuts:

The reason everyone got so fucking hyped about this game. I mean, Cowboy Bebop? Magic Knight Rayearth? Literally any iteration at all of Captain Harlock? Talk about your all-star addition list. But despite that, as I sort of mentioned before, the newcomer I ended up liking the most in T was the one that I barely counted as one when the roster was announced.

So lets talk for a bit about Mazinger Z: Infinity. I still haven’t seen the movie (though I’ve heard it’s good, and now fully intend to), but god, it gave us the dynamic I’d never known I’d wanted all along: an “X years later” Koji to go with Amuro from Char’s Counterattack and Ryoma from Armageddon. The latter two have been mainstays in SRW for a long time now (in fact, I can’t remember when any other version of the two last appeared; was it really all the way back in Z1?), but every prior Mazinger option has Koji more or less still in his “hot-blooded teenager” phase. T took this opportunity and ran with it, with Amuro, Ryoma, and Koji portrayed as old comrades reuniting after ten years of very divergent lives. It was the absolute highlight of T’s character writing to me (and T did pretty well on that front in general), and I strongly recommend the game to anyone who’s a fan of those three and their historical roles in SRW.

Rayearth was pretty prominently featured on the more “super-robot” heavy routes I took in this playthrough, and I feel like it had a pretty solid adaptation all told. It was definitely the most “straightforward” as integration goes, with Cephiro remaining an alternate world and thus apart from the rest of the setting, albeit partially fused with the Byston Well of New Dunbine. It was also the focus of the “SRW doesn’t pull all its punches” moment of T, with Zagato and Emeraude’s deaths not only unavoidable, but played out directly in battle in consecutive boss battles.

Captain Harlock is Captain Harlock. I haven’t seen the particular iteration that is Endless Orbit SSX but I assume it’s a spinoff of the Arcadia of My Youth film. The extremely thorny question of Matsumoto’s personal politics aside, Harlock is an absolute legend as far as anime space opera goes, and SRW fans have been wanting him and his crew around for as long as I’ve been in the fandom. It really didn’t disappoint, either as a unit or just... the fact that Harlock is there. It definitely felt more like “an SRW version of Harlock and the Arcadia” rather than “an SRW adaptation of a specific version of the Harlock story”, which is definitely the best way to go in my opinion. While I praise the Koji-Ryoma-Amuro dynamic the most, Harlock’s friendship with Bright was also a more unexpected but definitely good dynamic.

(Plus, the Arcadia’s final attack involves Harlock taking a boarding tube over and attacking with his gravity sabre. Chirico’s pistol has finally met its match.)

Cowboy Bebop was... I can’t actually say disappointing because god, it’s Bebop in SRW. Like, who the fuck can complain about that? But at the same time, most of the actual plot of Bebop didn’t actually get covered, aside from a few adaptations of one-off episodes. While I didn’t follow all of its route splits, I never saw Vicious once, and Spike’s dramatic final feud with the Red Dragons was only alluded to in the ending sequence, when the other characters note his absence. While their confrontation is on foot and intensely personal, it’s not like SRW hasn’t put villains in mechs who didn’t have them before, or set aside a stage for duels while the main battle’s raging outside. Mightgaine even brings a whole thematically appropriate organisation for Vicious to violently coup in the form of Hoi Kow Low’s Asian Mafia. Really, the Bebop crew and Spike in particular were essentially played as members of the Arcadia crew and foils to Harlock, and god damn it I can’t even keep complaining because that’s the most awesome fucking phrase I have ever written.

Oh, and Expelled from Paradise was there too.

(Yeah I know that’s the meme but I also didn’t really take any of its route splits and I haven’t seen the original show, so I don’t have much to say. Arhan is a pretty cool design and from what I saw they worked it into the Astragius side of things well, but that’s all I can say until I finish 100%.)

Other Stuff:

I already mentioned that the character writing in this was great but I’d like to give a specific nod to the OG cast. It’s the first proper, formal group we’ve had as English SRW characters, and I’m very much looking forward to their appearances in a future OG series (in part because their name pays an obvious homage to Alpha’s Project TD). They feel almost like the SRW equivalents of the Dai-Guard cast, but piloting the OG answer to the 00 Gundam. That said, OG will probably give us Saizo’s version of events rather than Sagiri’s, and I can’t speak to his route yet.

Also, to bring this maybe around to relevant to some of the people who follow me on this website, in a franchise that has no shortage of willingness to completely rewrite character interactions for the male and female protagonists, the whole supporting cast ends up gay for Sagiri. Textually. So score one for LGBT rep in SRW... now where’s my Samurai Flamenco debut BB Studio give it to me

SRW and post-series plots has always been a mixed bag but I’d like to give a nod to the handling of G Gundam. Its characters have their own arcs in the “aftermath”, and it’s tied in to Getter and GaoGaiGar’s plots pretty well. Domon also acts as the “edgy vengeance dude whisperer” around Van and Akito, which was another point in the “good character dynamics” checklist for T. It’s kind of a shame that they removed some of the combination attacks (Double Burning Finger was a very telling absence, with Allenby playable from nearly the start of the game, and even if Rain wasn’t playable, there was a perfect chance lategame to give Domon access to Sekiha Love-Love Tenkyoken), but G was always a bit heavy on those (if I recall correctly, at least once Domon had four!).

This SRW also debuted two more non-show units: the Shin Getter Dragon, originally from... a PS2 game or something?, and the Bellvine, from the New Dunbine artbook. I can’t say I expected either; Show getting an upgrade in particular took me by surprise (in part for reasons listed under Biggest Gripe). This coming after Mazin Emperor G makes me very optimistic about SRW’s willingness to expand rosters and gives them another tool to freshen the post-series plot problem.

Biggest Gripe:

I could put up with it in X but please, BB Studio. Please get rid of pilot-locked attacks. Kamille and Judau, I understand; you’ll probably not take them out of the Zeta or ZZ anyway, unless you’re doing something like an All Female Pilots run. But let Roux fire the High-Mega Cannon at full power anyway, BB Studio, you cowards. She doesn’t get the Zeta in this timeline, at least give her something.

Amuro... probably shouldn’t have a pilot-locked attack in the Nu Gundam if you ever expect me to put him in the Hi-Nu (in order to use both units at full efficiency, the Hi-Nu ended up going to Haman).

But oh, the worst by far, is Show Zama. He has not one but two pilot-exclusive attacks, one in the Billbine and one in the... not-quite SRW-original Bellvine; so if you want to use both of those units, you just have to accept that one of them will be missing its strongest attack. (Though it’s questionable to do so regardless, since someone seems to have decreed that every Battler other than Show be given a mediocre to terrible set of Spirits anyway. Seriously, Marvel and Tod have no way to boost their evasion despite dying in one hit to basically every boss after Chapter 35 or so!)

[newlifenewdeath]

Munday Meme

Name: Aesa / Leila

Pronouns: She / Her

Selectivity: I always say I’m semi, but when it comes to following people first I’m always kinda picky.

Favorite animal: Oh, hmmmm I’m gonna fall back on my classic answer: cheetahs!

Favorite muse you’ve had so far ever: Ever? Honestly I’ve gotta say right now it feels like Lola. She’s fun to write as and people are liking the way I write her, and the game hasn’t even released yet. I’ll give honorable mentions to a couple of OCs I rped a while back, a Marvel gal named Trinity and a DC lad named Castor. I miss them to bits.

Muse you kinda wanna pick up: Um, well since I added a verse for the game and have been replaying it and its spin off recently I have to say one of the main trio from inFamous: Second Son. I’ve always wanted to rp as Delsin but I love Fetch ad Eugene just as much. I’m kinda gravitating towards Fetch though when I toy with the idea, even though I’d love to write any of them.

Most identifiable fictional character: This one’s very difficult. Very, very difficult because as I am right now, I’m not sure I can think of anyone that really comes close to being like me. I know when I was younger I identified a lot with Jim Hawkins from Treasure Planet, y’know I was living with just my mom for so long and rarely saw my dad, I wanted to be a good daughter but got caught up in daydreaming all the time. Nowadays though... I’m just not sure.

What color your aura is/think it is: It’s probably a really deep violet, a blue-leaning sort of purple.

Personality stuff you agree with (astrology, mbti, Hogwarts house, etc be as specific as you want!): I may not understand a lot of astrology stuff but my sun sign, Taurus, I 100% am on board with. Y’know, until people are being ridiculous and reducing my sign to “oh I’m always hungry”. I don’t actually care for my Hogwarts House anymore because with the introduction of Ilvermorny it solved the problem I had for so long with Hogwarts’ sorting situation. With them I was always toeing the line between Ravenclaw and Slytherin, both are very mentally-inclind houses and I fit them both. Now I just stick with Horned Serpent at Ilvermorny because their entire premise is about importance placed on one’s mind.

Do you think you’re a good driver: Sure would like to know, if only my anxiety would let me breathe when I get behind the wheel. c:

Favorite minor discourse (pinapple on pizza, what color is the dress, etc): Idk I don’t relly get into the petty discourse that gets super popular. Maybe I can say I love mint ice cream? Like I know there’s a swath of people that think it tastes like toothpaste. They’re wrong, of course.

Favorite vine and/or meme: I don’t really... have favorites. Like I wasn’t really into vine when it was alive and I mean, I just don’t think about memes that much to have a particular favorite? I’m a bland human being, I guess.

Why did you choose this muse: This’ll be a two parter since I have two muses. Lola came about first, as soon as we got the teaser image for Afterparty I was excited beyond belief. I loved Oxenfree and played the shit out of it when it hit ps4. (I’d even have the platinum if I hadn’t fucked up on my last playthrough, oops). And the Night School tumblr posts periodic things with character and concept art, and eventually the first trailer dropped and I lost my shit. I immediately fell if love with Lola and Milo, and I decided awhile back to try and make a different multi blog with Lola, Alex from Oxenfree, and Mae from Night in the Woods. It was a sideblog with a pretty niche audience so things were quiet there. It wasnt until DBH happened that gears really started turning.

Because lemme tell you, I kinda wanted to not like Detroit: BH. I’d watched playthroughs of Beyond Two Souls and heard a lot of good stuff about Heavy Rain’s story. For some reason though I just wasn’t feeling the promotional stuff for DBH. I only decided to check out the playthrough I finished watching because I really love and trust the Youtuber who made it. I didn’t know shit going into except that there were androids and I’d seen glimpses of Kara before. So of course Jesse fucking Williams is in it and sweeps me off my god damn feet. I think I made it through what would amount to a couple of hours of gameplay (broken into parts ofc) before deciding to uproot Lola from her old blog and buddy her up with Markus.

Favorite rp memory: Hmmm. It’s a lot less actual roleplaying and more, I guess more of the acceptance. A few years back, right around the time Agents of SHIELD first aired, I made an OC I actually mentioned up above, Trinity Duvall. I was toying with the idea of making a super powered character that wasn’t necessarily a cape-and-costume kind of gal, because I was like... 17 and had no experience with the original comics or anything other than mainstream superhero stuff at the time. I decided I wanted her powers to not be her own, but tied to a stone that landed inside a meteorite, and that the stone would actually have the soul of an alien being tied to it. It’s a little complicated so I on’t go into details, but I felt at the time like I was taking a gamble. I wrte a couple oneshots about her, applied to a forum rp with her, and eventually ended up doing private rp stories with someone I met through that forum. Never once did I have to change her, she was just welcomed right away. And coming off a shitty run of luck with the first site I’d rped on? It was the confidence boost I really needed.

Favorite thing you’ve written, in rp or not: It might sound a little silly, but I’ve mentioned Defiance on her a couple times so why not. The one story I’m most proud of writing is actually on FF.N, it’s called Fragility. It’s a short oneshot, not even 2k words. At the time I was trying to just write as often as possible even if I hated what I wrote afterwards, but this one... It provides an ending for a character the show kinda leaves in the void. A man comes home from space to find out the whole world has changed, an entire war has left the Earth terraformed with humans and aliens living together. He ends up finding out his wife’s still alive but oops, he’s actually not the real Gordon he’s just an alien that was implanted with Gordon’s memories. Every now and then I go back and read that little story and every time I do I still feel proud.

A line/lyrics/quote/etc you like or that means a lot to you: Nothing really jumped out as a favorite, so I went looking and found this passage I rather like from Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy:  “There’s plenty of folk as’d like to have a lion as a dæmon and they end up with a poodle. And till they learn to be satisfied with what they are, they’re going to be fretful about it. Waste of feeling, that is.”

Give a shout-out to someone: @softestmood has been my best friend for the past year now, and they’ve made me feel loved even when I felt I was worthless. I feel like I wouldn’t be the person I am today if I hadn’t met Rae, and I’ll always be thankful for that <3

Tagged by: ghost tagged by @oraculideluna, anoter sweetheart~

Tagging: @flawedcodinq @justmachincs @disciplinarynovel

[pressxtoalex]

My Top 12 Most Anticipated Games of 2018

2017 was an absolute monster of a year for video games, and it’s starting to appear that January is going to be the only time where we aren’t going to be inundated with new releases to play, and inevitably miss out on. However, there are already more than a few games coming out in 2018 that have my attention and think they should have yours, too. Now bear in mind: This is a pretty PS4 heavy list, for obvious reasons, but if you do some Googling, you’ll find a lot of these are multi-platform releases. The other thing to consider, is while I consider myself a great optimist, I have to be real with myself, so no matter what the developers and publishers tell us, you aren’t going to find games like Death Stranding, Kingdom Hearts III, or The Last of Us Part II on this list, because, let’s face it, they aren’t coming out in 2018. Perhaps, the most frightening part of this list, is most of these games have been confirmed for at least the first half of the year, leaving June through December pretty wide open for us as gamers to have a crowded schedule.

12) The Longest Five Minutes

Coming out of NIS America, The Longest Five Minutes takes a twist on the traditional RPG and starts out at the end, facing off against the game’s final boss, however, your character has lost every memory of their adventure, including their name, abilities, and even why he’s in this battle. Throughout the battle, comments made by his allies, and taunts by the Demon King will trigger flashbacks to help fill in the heroes memory gaps. It comes out in just a few weeks on both Vita and Nintendo Switch and the premise alone put this on my radar.

11) Days Gone

We finally saw what Sony’s Bend Studio has been working on at E3 2016, and while it felt more like a “Lookee how many things we can have on the screen at once” they expounded on the stealth aspects of the game at PSX, showing the game to potentially being somewhere between The Last of Us and Horizon Zero Dawn. It sits so low on my list, partly because it’s Bend’s first release since Uncharted: Golden Abyss, and their first console release since Syphon Filter: Logan’s Shadow, and partly because I’m not 100% sold on this coming out in 2018, but, if I’m over here spoutin’ off Last of Us Part 2 is coming in 2019, then Day’s Gone needs to be hitting shelves in 2018 as to not be cannibalized by a much more established IP. I love the idea of an open world motorcycle game, though, and hopefully, it’s something akin to much under-appreciated Mad Max.

10) The Walking Dead: A Telltale Series The Final Season

It’s pretty firmly established that I love adventure games, and I love Telltale. They hit a home run in 2012 with the first season of The Walking Dead, but while they continue to swing for the fences on various other licensed and popular properties, they haven’t quite fully captured the magic that made The Walking Dead’s first season so special. Sure, Season Two and Season Three had their high points, and Telltale has shown some of the magic in their other games like Tales from the Borderlands, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Batman, but this is their chance to give Clementine, a character we’ve spent six years growing up with, a proper send-off and story, after spending Season Three side-stepping her.

9) God of War

Yo. Real talk, I’m not a God of War guy. I don’t need that much screamy chain man in my life, and frankly, Kratos has just been a dude, to me, that has zero redeeming qualities. Yea, he’s angry because of his tragic backstory, but, like...can you not? Here’s the thing though, Sony Santa Monica has created a tamer, humbled Kratos that seems to have far more to lose. While I think we’re starting to teeter on seeing too much of the game, game director Cory Barlog keeps saying the right things about this installment that has more-than-piqued my interest. And me being interested in a God of War game speaks volumes. 

8) Adventure Time: Pirates of the Enchiridion

Adventure Time is the one franchise that has been itching for a quality game under its banner. We’ve had a handful of various dungeon crawler games, top-down Zelda clones, and adventure games, but they’ve either missed on the art style or totally whiffed on the gameplay. Pirates of the Enchiridion may possibly be the Adventure Time game that the series fans have been clamoring for. It’s an open-world game set in the Land of Ooo, with an original story, multiple playable characters, full-cast voiceover, and sailing. The series is wrapping up soon, and this may be one of the last Adventure Time games we see, so here’s hoping this is the one they get right.

7) Church in the Darkness

I’ve had my eye on Paranoid Productions’ Church in the Darkness for a couple of years now. It’s a top-down, procedurally-generated action/infiltration game set in the 1970s where you’re an ex-law enforcement officer tasked with checking in on your nephew, who has recently joined the Collective Justice Mission cult. Each playthrough promises to be different, down to the characters’ personalities and reactions to you being in the camp. If you want to go full-stealth Metal Gear with it, you can, or if you want to go full guns-blazing, go right ahead. The idea of uncovering more of the story based on your investigating, and the varying degree in which characters respond to you each time you play, leave a lot of opportunities for the game to have mass amounts of replay value.

6) Jurassic World Evolution

Hi. I would like to build my own Jurassic World, please. That’s at least what developer Frontier is promising. While I had no idea Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis even existed until it became too rare to justify purchasing, I did spend a lot of my summer in 2012 tapping away at Jurassic Park Builder on my iPhone. Jurassic World Evolution looks to bring that Jurassic Park-meets-Sim City hybrid back to home consoles. Hopefully “Life finds a way” and this game will be exactly what Jurassic-verse fans have been looking for this summer. Just, please, don’t Animal Crossing this and make me have to play every day or risk being infested with weeds and whatnot. That’ll be the quickest way for me to nope out of this.

5) Crossing Souls

Somewhere between the Burger King Kids Club and Stranger Things lies Fourattic’s Crossing Souls. Set in 1986 in California, Crossing Souls is an action-adventure RPG where five kids make a mysterious discovery that thrusts them into navigating two planes of life and death and begin uncovering a government conspiracy. With five playable characters, each with their own style of combat, puzzles, and 80’s arcade references, Crossing Souls is right up my alley in the indie-game realm.

4) Detroit Become Human

Heavy Rain is one of my all-time favorite games. Hell, it’s tangentially linked to where my YouTube namesake came from. While Beyond: Two Souls wasn’t entirely the follow-up a lot of fans were looking for, I have no problem putting all of Quantic Dreams eggs into the Detroit Become Human basket. Between its Isaac Asimov and Philip K. Dick-style of story, stunning visuals, and varying degrees of story direction, this seems to be the Quantic Dream getting back on the right track. The big question is what side of their spectrum the story is going to fall on.

3) Dreams

If you listen closely, you can hear the hype-train leaving the station for Dreams. Media Molecule has been a voice in the gaming industry that needs to be heard again. Their style and creativity has been sorely missed, but a few questions remain: Is there a major market for a curation-based platformer, will the customization be as flawlessly executed as we’ve been lead to believe, and will this even hit 2018 despite the developer’s best efforts? It’s hard for me to temper my excitement for a game that has a far more expansive Super Mario Maker feel to it. The in-game campaign may not be the reason to buy the game, so it’s going to be on those that pick up Dreams to keep it alive.

2) Red Dead Redemption 2

I totally missed on Red Dead Redemption. It was at a time where working in gaming retail and feeling that need to play everything, the last thing I wanted to do was play a massive open-world game. Red Dead Redemption 2 feels like my opportunity to atone for this mistake. I loved what I played of Grand Theft Auto V and am dying to see what Rockstar Games has learned from then to now with Red Dead being their first proper current-gen game release. Rockstar has carte-blanche with the gaming industry, so if they came out tomorrow and said, “This is delayed again, and will be delayed a third time” almost everyone would understand. They’re still Scrooge McDucking in their money from GTA-Five, so they don’t need to rush a Red Dead sequel out the door, but they are looking to be the heaviest hitter in 2018 and every developer and publisher has to be waiting for a release date so they know to stay away.

1) Marvel’s Spider-Man

I am absolutely salivating for Insomniac’s Spider-Man to just get a release date. I don’t even need it in my hands yet, I just want to know when I can have it in my hands, and based on recent tweets from the game’s dev-team, we may know sooner rather than later. Not only is this my most anticipated game of 2018, if you were to put a gun to my head and tell me I can only pick one game from this year, I would not even flinch when answering “Marvel’s Spider-Man.” Between the combat, the cinematic uses of QTE’s, to the open environments, I am absolutely sold on this game. The most exciting thing about this release is that, despite what we’ve already seen, I don’t even think we’ve seen a lot of it. Through tweets, and various interviews, I think we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg with this game. Outside of a certain popular character’s appearance in the E3 2017 trailer, we already know they play a larger role than just a cameo, leaving me to wonder if we’re getting a Sons of Liberty situation where the what we’ve seen could be a misdirection to what we’re getting. Regardless, Insomniac Games and Spider-Man are an incredible pairing and I cannot wait to get my hands on this.

So there you have it! My most anticipated games of 2018. I’m sure most of the titles didn’t surprise you, but I absolutely hope I was able to turn your gaze toward some upcoming releases you may not have previously known about. Feel free to drop by and let me know what you’re most looking forward to!

[wolfbeware]

im feeling odd right now, and im waiting for my minecraft save to load, so... I'm going to just rant about graphics

With the release of Cyberpunk 2077, I've been thinking about graphics a lot lately. Revisited a video by Jacob Geller titled "Bad Graphics," and found myself at a point of, to say the least, confusion.

Jacob Geller says that he liked good graphics, and to an extent, I agree. I also like good graphics, but he also makes a good point that good graphics have halted personality and expression in video games.

I suppose, this essay is going to be a response to that. I completely agree with him, but I think there's a conversation to be had more about these good graphics. So, I invite you to come on this journey with me to explore why I have have decided that I will no longer consider graphics apart of when buying a game.

A few days ago, I've recently made a filled out a meme titled "favorite video game meme," where I placed all of my favorite video games on the image based off of the categories (favorite of all time, best soundtrack, best story, etc.), and something I've noticed is the sheer AMOUNT of games I've played thoughout my lifetime. It's crazy to think I've played games from Minecraft to Moonlighter, Detriot Become Human to Rain World. I'm not going to say that I know all of the nuances of each of the graphics chose by every game I've played, but each game I have played have such different art styles, that is to prove that I have knowledge of the various games that are out there.

To start, I want to talk about Cyberpunk 2077. The company who made the game recently lost one billion dollars. Let me say that again, ONE BILLION DOLLARS. That's insane, but the question is why? Some may respond that it's the terrible glitches and unfinished part that become extremely obvious if you play on a playstation 4 or an xbox one. However, that isn't the real reason why, at least I don't think so. The reason why most people have pre-ordered it is because the graphics were so good. The graphics of that game in trailers and promotions have been ASTONISHING. I will admit, those videos before the game came out honest to god made me want to buy it for my Xbox One, if I ever had a chance of getting my hands on it within the next few years. However, this is where the problem begins: good graphics.

Good graphics have a promise. The promise that the gameplay is going to be just as good as the graphics. When that promise breaks, well, you get Cyberpunk 2077. In response to this commotion, to decide to never factor graphics into playing a game is, in my opinion, the only reasonable response. If I know that good graphics doesn't mean that the gameplay is good, then maybe I should stop believing in that promise all together.

I've been playing minecraft for years now, spending who knows how long on world after world after world. I had the game since I was in sixth grade, and I am still playing it today. You know what Minecraft doesn't have that Cyberpunk 2077 has? That promise that comes along with good graphics.

I picked up Minecraft back in 2013 with only the knowledge that youtube gave me, which was not much. Minecraft breaks the mold in a very fascinating way, but I suppose Minecraft is too obvious of a game to talk about bad graphics with. With it's booming popularity, I don't think it's fair to compare Cyberpunk 2077 and Minecraft.

For a different example, I've been playing Final Fantasy 7, the original one that came out back in 1997. Although I've heard of the remake, I picked up the game because I've heard the story is good. However, the graphics are god awful in 2020 standards. I did not pick up FF7 in the hopes to see Cloud Stife's sweat as he spins his sword in that really strange way in the victory screen. I picked up for the story. I've heard praise over the story of FF7 ever since I had access to the internet. However, once again, this could be a bad example. I don't know what Cyberpunk 2077's story is, but I haven't heard anyone praise it nor anyone bashfully hate on it.

I suppose comparing Cyberpunk 2077 to a lot of games is difficult. This is due to my own fault: I haven't exactly played the game or watched a playthrough. Everyone is buying the game based entirely on the fact that the graphics look nice, with that promise that good graphics means good gameplay buried deep into their minds. As I hear more criticism about the game, all the good graphics that is postered everywhere is completely taken away as the deeper flaws of the game is put into full view. Therefore, now, I'm just going to stop believing this lie that game companies are trying to pull.

Good graphics means nothing to me now. That promise has been broken too many times; therefore, there's no point in believing in it any longer. My main factors when buying a game is going to be two things: is it fun and is the story good? There is absolutely no point in putting graphics into play, simply because that promise has never been kept.

Anyway, my minecraft finally loaded. All The Mods 6, 232 mods total (optifine included)! This was a ranty essay, and thanks for joining me.

[thunderlummox]

Rogue-likes and the Arcade Experience

The recent (say 5 years or so back) emergence of the “rogue-like” genre in games and the inevitable genre mashups that have followed (see Dead Cells or Risk of Rain) is actually just a re-imagining of the experience many of us had first with games: the arcade.

As a kid growing up in the 80′s and 90′s I was blessed to see the resurgence of the home console market and the hours of enjoyment the new console generation provided, but I also was able to experience the joy and economy of the arcade experience as well. Arcade games were still the main pipeline for new hit console games due to the technological advantages that still existed making a single purpose cabinet dedicated to playing one game. Hit games like Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, House of the Dead and the myriad of side scrolling brawlers in full 16-bit glory were ported with some differences to consoles to massive sales, while also still swallowing quarters in pizzerias and mall arcades everywhere. The internet had not become the free-flowing, lag free playground many of us enjoy now so if you wanted to play with a large group of people without having a million peripherals for your NES the arcade was still the go-to birthday party and social hangout place.

The experience of an arcade game was singularly different than the console experience. With consoles you purchase the hardware (at a significant loss to the producer usually) and then you also purchase the software (at a much more significant and long lasting profit to the producer) to use as you will, sometimes with subscription services offered. But with the arcade experience your enjoyment was limited to the amount of quarters you had and your skill at the game you were playing. Once you ran out of coin and continues the game reset from the beginning, maybe allowing you to save a high score if you were so lucky as to crack their leaderboard of 15 or so. This put a higher premium on pattern recognition and twitch reflexes since you could spend a couple of bucks beating a game if you were great at it, or $100 over time if you sucked and just kept playing (Dragon’s Lair was a game built to sucker people with bad reflexes into monstrous, wallet cratering amounts of play time). It wasn’t uncommon for me to walk by a Street Fighter cabinet to see an pre-pubescent kid sitting at the player 1 side and a line of would-be challengers behind player 2; the kid would be so in tune and twitch happy that he would be literally impossbile to defeat, but people kept trying.

Rogue as a game has very little to do with modern “rogue-like” games; it was a role playing experience that merely reset every time the player died, much like an arcade game but with no safety net like “continues” or quarters. Modern rogue-likes retain the “start from scratch” penalty of Rogue but with a twist that any gear unlocked or levels gained on the previous playthrough would accumulate for the next run, thus creating a continuity and reward system for continued play. With arcade games occasionally one would be awesome enough an experience to keep playing no matter the cost, or you were good enough to play it at low cost because you were able to perfect your technique, but generally after dropping a couple of bucks tops in most games you’d abandon in frustration or boredom. With rogue-like accumulation systems it makes it worthwhile to keep playing and powering through as each subsequent playthrough gets a little easier thanks to the contributions of the last run. Games like Rogue Legacy (which cleverly makes a new generation of hero when the last dies, literally creating inherited wealth) and Dead Cells keep the ability and buffs purchased with the blood of the last player allowing each playthrough to get deeper and deeper into the game. 

So what makes the rogue-like an arcade experience? For 20 years or so since consoles became a dominant force in gaming the goal with most games was to play it skillfully enough to progress through a story or number of levels, reaching the end and then moving onto another game (on few occasions a game would be excellent enough to repeat a playthrough or two but for the most part once you beat all the levels or reached the end of the story there was not much reason to play it again). The idea of perfecting technique and reaching the heights of scoring ability sort of fell away, with the competitive natured gamer drifting towards the emerging online fps scene to get their fix for competition. The rogue-like genre recaptures the competitive, even with one’s self, nature of gaming, and with evolved pixel style graphics often tickle several nostalgia zones in the early to late 30′s aged gamer. Now it’s not just a progression through a story (though the best of them find a way to add this) or a head-on competition with another gamer (always an iffy relationship), it can be a competition against yourself and the game. How far can I push this playthrough? OH SHIT I JUST KILLED THAT BOSS FOR THE FIRST TIME! ARGH so close to my record! These are all feelings that get missed as being important for many gamers; those of use with responsibilities outside gaming often cannot find enjoyment in the competitive FPS scene due to our inability to dedicate time wholly to the game without fear of more important things crowding in, nor can we always progress fast enough and block time to group in MMO’s to reach the highest levels of that particular genre, so games that reward perseverence but allow saving and progression beyond the normal ideals of the story are perfect for this segment of the gaming world. We simultaneously crave the experience of the arcade we had as children while also pining for the old days of story based console games, at the same time we are limited by our adult responsibilities. 

Two games currently I’ve been batting back and forth between while home are Diablo III’s hardcore adventure mode and the new early access Steam game Dead Cells. D3′s hardcore mode combined with adventure mode creates an almost perfect melding of traditional ARPG gameplay with an arcade style experience and fast combat I think is unique to the genre. Aside from the added tension of potentially killing a fully geared and gemmed toon in the blink of an eye (along with all the gear they carry and gems) the ability to play for short bursts of time in various styles gives a new depth to a game I’ve been playing for 5 years now. To me the only true goal I have left with D3 other than achievements is playing on T13 comfortably in hardcore mode, something that is still unattained after 5 years for me, though I’ve seen plenty doing it. Dead Cells is a new mashup of “Metroidvania” style with rogue-like permadeath and Dead Souls-like skill caps is a new experience for me. The tight controls and timing based maneuvering combined with old-school pattern-recognition skill and the perserverence of fighting through failure has been an addicting presence on my PC. I’ve only just passed the first boss this week for the first time, and randomly generated elite monsters are just as tough and likely to kill you mid-level as the boss will. Other recommendations I could give are Rogue Legacy, though that one seems more frustrating to me for some reason, Don’t Starve, which combines the tension of a survival game with the replayability of the rogue-like and has compelling visual qualities. There were several similar titles I played at PAX but none long enough to get super excited about. 

I’m encouraged to see the arcade-style play resurfacing in this new manner; many a weekend was well spent at the local mini-golf/arcade/pizzeria that operated in my hometown, figuring out how much I could spend on each thing that would leave the most money to play games with and spending more than half a day just enjoying life. The games themselves indelible in my memory: Magician Lord, Aliens, Virtual On, Tekken, Time Crisis, House of the Dead and on and on. Experiences unique to the game cabinet not truly replicable on the home console. As soon as the console started equalizing in technology to the arcades the lines blurred and soon there was no reason to go to arcades anymore and press against the other sweaty virgins waiting to get their asses kicked by teenage Korean kids, but I missed finding those gems hidden around the arcade without crowds that offered weird and unique gaming experiences. Now the feel of that is being resurrected by the rogue-like features pulled from a 40 year old CRPG and to me that’s the enduring testament to the desire most gamers have to keep their beloved experiences alive.