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m39 · 11 months ago

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Doom WADs’ Roulette (2008): Urban Brawl

Here I was, a stupid chubby bastard pretending to narrate like “Max Payne” in a world that looks like Frank Miller’s “Sin City”, sitting on my overpriced gamer chair, thinking if I need one or two playthroughs of “Urban Brawl” for my review...

...

That’s all of the narration you're gonna get.

G3: Action Doom 2: Urban Brawl

Main author(s): Stephen Browning (Scuba Steve)

Release date: September 8th, 2008 (original version/database upload)/September 8th, 2021 (Reloaded version)

Version(s) played: Remaster

Required port compatibility: (G)ZDoom

Levels: 10

Urban Brawl is a prequel to the 2004’s Action Doom, where instead of a first-person Contra homage, it’s a first-person Double Dragon homage. And if you read the intro... Yes... It’s going to be another one of those unorthodox reviews I made... without any screenshots.

scare chord

Changing the subject, let’s talk about this WAD.

The making of Urban Brawl began months after the release of its predecessor. However, instead of taking a route of Action Doom with promotional stuff, contest events, etc. it was created under the nose of the Doom community, and revealed the same day it was released. It can be downloaded like any other WAD (although this is more like a ZDoom-based game than a typical Doom WAD), but in the past, you could buy the special edition for 10 bucks until May 20th, 2010. Aside from having a CD case, the special edition also included the survival mode (with zombies FYI).

The plot of this game (mostly written by Darknation and voice acted by Mike Lightner in cutscenes) takes place a decade before the events of the original Action Doom. You are still playing as the same guy but as a drunk, single father ex-cop (who has PTSD due to an event that he describes as Saigon). One day you return to your home to find out that your child has been kidnapped. I don’t think I have to explain to you what happens next.

Now, before we start, let me tell you that I thought I would play the original version from 2008 since I downloaded the game from the archives thinking it was that version. Turns out it’s a remaster from 2021 which is more compatible with modern source ports and PCs, adds additional moves, and tweaks the visuals among other things.

So, fuck it; sticking with this version; I’m not interested in scouring the Internet for the original version of this game. And besides that, I can immediately scratch remaster from my bonus WADs list.

Now, without wasting any more time, let’s find out if this game is better than its predecessor.

Urban Brawl has a completely different style compared to Action Doom. Gone are the Doom sprites sprinkled with some Contra-looking stuff in between; now everything looks like a comic book. Not gonna lie, I kind of like the direction this game went to. It’s pretty colorful without counting the cutscenes (which are black and white), and most of the sprites look distinct for the lack of better words.

Music was also rather enjoyable to listen to. It was created by Ralph Vickers (Ralphis) who would later co-create Double Impact in 2011. My favorite track might be Pump’d from MAP04.

As I mentioned earlier, this game is more or less an homage to beat 'em-up games. You go around beating people up until you are allowed to go further. No switch hunting, no finding keys, no shitty hitscanners; you just ravage the leaving shit out of your neighborhood to find your kidnapped child. You don’t really need anything deeper than that.

...

Okay, there is some deepness to this game.

In the case of more noticeable additions to this game, there are multiple endings. It mostly comes down to what will you do after defeating the first boss, but there are other factors as well.

No-context spoiler for the good ending ==> wreck the car.

There is also a score system that feels pretty useless aside from the casino section in the main bad guy’s skyscraper where you can use the points on slot machines.

Now this might be a small problem, but I wish the subtitles in cutscenes could be synchronized better with spoken dialogue.

Now changing the subject, Urban Brawl can be kind of challenging on the normal skill level, especially at the beginning when you don’t exactly know what to do and how to utilize your attacks but after a while, you will be uppercutting fools who will go right unto your fist; but that ain’t mean the game will suddenly become easy, okay?

Your fighting skills include regular and strong punches, the aforementioned uppercut (dual pressing alt fire), grabbing and throwing the enemies, and ground pound that takes part of your health, along with being able to carry one melee, ranged, and special weapon.

When it comes to enemies, the roster includes a huge amount of baldies, black guys with shivs (yellow ones can throw it), fatasses, prostitute-looking twats, guards in suits (most of them have a gun), and, people’s favorites, Goth babes (chuckling).

And as for the weapon roster, when it comes to more unique stuff, there is a bottle of whiskey that functions as a liquid armor before using it or someone’s head, and we even have a taser that stunlocks probably almost every enemy that is mid-tier at most. Also, the melee weapons have limited durability, so try saving these for tougher bastards.

Fellas, I’m going to be honest with you – while Urban Brawl isn’t entirely my cup of tea because it’s kind of awkward to fight in it, I think it might be better than Action Doom, both as a standalone game and as a successor to it. I might give it another shot in the future. After all, it’s just a blind playthrough. I will probably find it better next time.

And as for the next WAD to check out, it’s Eternal Doom Fo-

...

E-Eternal Do-

...

Eternal...

The truth was a burning green crack through my brain. Memories of beautiful locations ruined by the switch-hunting puzzles only the biggest 90s adventure games nutjob would’ve come out with. Demons teleporting behind you after they spot you making you waste your precious ammunition. Questioning why many people enjoy this MegaWAD despite how terrible its cons are. I was about to play the sequel to “Eternal Doom” from 1997. Funny as hell, it was the most horrible thing I could think of.

#doom #doom wad #review #doom mod #doom 2 #doom 2008 #2008 #urban brawl #doom urban brawl #action doom 2 #doom wads’ roulette #cacowards #top ten wads of the year

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pokemoncreepypasta · 3 years ago

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I love you, DOLL!

[STORY SOURCE]

Author: @jesterfox6

Let me start off by saying that I’m not that much of a Pokémon fan. I’ve only played a few games in the franchise and have completed even fewer (by completing, I mean defeating the Elite Four and the Champion. I would never be able to catch every single Pokémon in any game).

If you are looking for a diehard Pokémon fan, look at my brother. He has pretty much everything related to Pokémon, I’m talking multiple sets of still boxed games, heaps of Pokémon themed accessories and consoles for those games, and enough other kinds of merchandise like plushies and figurines to fill multiple rooms!

Anyway, this story isn’t actually about him. To be honest, I’m not really sure if it’s even about me either.

See, earlier this week I had received a phone call from my mother who told me that one of my aunts had unfortunately passed away. While I was of course upset about it, I had never known her well enough to be bawling my eyes out or anything.

The only things I really knew about her was that everyone had called her “Kris” and that she was sort of the odd one out in the family, always having strange obsessions with “all sorts of meaningless objects” as my mother would say.

Regardless, the thing that really surprised me was that Kris had left some items for me in her will. I was very confused because of this, as I only used to see her once or maybe twice a year at the housing facility she lived in. Though I didn’t know her much, barely at all, I thought that any kind of gifts would be appreciated and went to pick them up.

I returned home with a handful of Items that I was sure weren’t for me until we checked multiple times. Even then I still wasn’t entirely sure that these items were really meant for me and not my brother as despite not being a Pokémon fan I had received a slightly worn but still in great condition Gameboy Color, A copy of Pokémon Crystal Version, and a strange plush toy that looked similar to a Clefairy but not exactly like one.

The plush had the basic body design of a Clefairy - if a bit more circular, black ears compared to the brown of a normal Clefairy, and only black ovals for its eyes and mouth instead of the more detailed features seen in the countless plush toys my brother had. I couldn’t even find a tag on the thing, giving me no clue as to when or where it was made. I considered asking my brother about it, but figured it wasn’t too important to know.

Letting the plush sit on a shelf that faced the door of my room, I found it a little strange that I was given Pokémon Crystal specifically; wasn’t “Kris” just a shortened version of “Crystal”…? Not putting too much thought into it, I decided to insert the cartridge into the Gameboy Color and give the game a try, as the second generation of Pokémon was not one I had played before.

After the infamous Gameboy start-up screens, what seemed to be an intro cutscene of the game loaded, showcasing features like the different forms of Unown and baby Pokémon, things that I believe were new additions to the second generation. I also recall that Crystal Version specifically was the first Pokémon game to introduce a female playable character, was this the reason why my aunt had the game on her?

After the intro, I was loaded into the main menu of the game with only two options: NEW GAME, and OPTION.

It was a little upsetting that the cartridge had no saved file on it, as I was excited to see how many and what kinds of Pokémon Kris had caught. It was fine that the cartridge had no saved data on it though, as now I could freely experience the game myself without needing to feel guilty for deleting the old save.

After going into the OPTION menu and changing the text speed to fast, something my brother always told me to do on the off chance I wanted to try one of his old Gameboy versions, I finally selected NEW GAME.

After the screen faded to black, it faded to a light blue color for a second, then back to black again. I was a little confused but brushed it off as nothing important.

Soon after this, some text appeared with an unnamed character saying that I had woken them up and asking me what time it was. I entered the current time and was then taken to the next scene.

Just like with the Generation 1 games, Professor Oak appeared on the screen and quickly described the world of Pokémon, saying that some play with their Pokémon, some battle using them, and that there were many mysteries about Pokémon that remain unsolved.

The screen faded to white and in the place of Prof. Oak was the sprite of a young girl with blue hair, which I correctly assumed was the sprite of the female player character. The text on the screen confused me, though. I found it a little strange that I couldn’t select the gender of the trainer but figured that most people would pick this version just to play as a girl. What confused me more was the lack of name choice and specifically the default name chosen for the character, the same name my aunt went by.

For some reason this similarity intrigued me immensely, and I decided that I would at least get to the end of the game and defeat the champion if nothing else. After a few more encouraging words from the Professor, KRIS and I were sent into the world of Pokémon.

The proper gameplay started with KRIS standing in the middle of what seemed to be the upper floor of a house. Before doing anything else, I decided to open the menu to see if I could do anything there.

Strangely, I found that the POKéMON option in the menu was available despite my knowledge that Pokémon games never open with you already having any party members at all.

Entering the menu out of curiosity I found a single Pokémon in the list, simply named “DOLL”.

To my knowledge there was no Pokémon with this name, perhaps it was a nickname? I opened the STATS menu for more information.

In the menu, I found that DOLL was a Level 1 genderless Clefairy with a Pokédex number of 000 and the NONE typing.

I found this very strange, wasn’t Clefairy a Normal type? I also couldn’t remember what Pokédex number Clefairy was, but I was sure it wasn’t zero. Looking closer at the sprite and animation itself, I found it to be strange as well. Instead of bouncing around or striking a pose like I imagined a regular Clefairy would, DOLL just sat there, not moving an inch. Thinking back, I also realized that DOLL had no cry when selected, it had made no noise of any kind. Perhaps this wasn’t a Clefairy after all?

Feeling slightly unnerved by this strange “Pokémon”, I closed the menu and led KRIS downstairs to continue the story of the game. After reaching the bottom floor, I was quickly stopped by a character I assumed to be KRIS’ mother, who mentioned to her that someone named Prof. Elm was looking for her and then gave KRIS some Pokégear which had just returned from the repair shop.

There I also set the day of the week and if it was Daylight Savings time. After being told of the Pokégear’s Phone system, I was on my way to look for Prof. Elm.

After searching around New Bark Town, I found the professor in his lab building.

When I spoke to him, Prof. Elm asked KRIS to raise a Pokémon that he had recently caught to help him study for some sort of paper.

Strangely, my only option here was NO, and selecting that prompted the professor to say this cryptic message.

“…Right. You already have a ‘POKéMON’, don’t you…?”.

The fact that “Pokémon” was in quotes unnerved me even more than I had been before. Was this “DOLL” a Pokémon or not? The ellipses before the question mark confused me as well, it seemed as if the professor was speaking with a hint of disrespect. Straight after that, Prof. Elm went back to his normal cheery tone of voice, stating that he had received an email from someone named “Mr. Pokémon” and asked KRIS to go and see what kind of discovery he’s made, in the Professor’s place.

He directed me to go past the next city over, which I figured would be my next destination anyway.

As soon as I was allowed to move again, I attempted to have KRIS take one of the starters. I didn’t care which one it was, I would take anything over this creepy doll.

“KRIS: (I can’t replace DOLL...)”

Selecting any of the Poké Balls on the table only prompted this message to appear though, confirming that I would be stuck to only having DOLL for at least most of the entire game.

Still feeling unnerved and now a little disappointed, I decided to leave and finally get the journey started.

After walking through the tall grass for a short while, I ran into my first wild encounter, a Pidgey.

KRIS’ sprite slid onto the screen, her arm outstretched as if ready to throw something, but nothing was in her hand.

She sent out DOLL in retaliation and again it made no sound, still not moving at all. What could this thing even do in a battle?

I decided to see what moves DOLL had in the FIGHT menu, as I had forgotten to look at its moveset earlier in my confusion.

DOLL only had one move, “LOVE”, a typeless move with 99 Power Points. Using this move prompted the familiar phrasing that noted a Pokémon using a move:

“DOLL used LOVE!”

And with this phrase, several red hearts formed from DOLL’s body, which then surrounded the enemy Pidgey. After this animation finished, the following messages appeared:

“i love you!”

“Wild PIDGEY feels cherished!”

“Wild PIDGEY fled!”

“KRIS: I love you, DOLL!”

And with that, the battle simply faded out with no Pokémon being damaged or hurt. I suppose there really were ways out of potentially harmful situations other than fighting back.

Regardless, all other wild Pokémon battles played out in a similar manner, with the only real change being the phrase said at the end of the battle.

Sometimes the text would instead pick from a selection of a few similar phrases, such as “KRIS: Great work, DOLL!” or “KRIS: DOLL, we did it!”. However, the most common phrase by far seemed to be “I love you, DOLL!”.

The repetitive nature of the battles allowed me to notice that the Power Point value of LOVE never decreased, no matter how many times I used it. I also noticed that DOLL always used its move first, even though I was sure that some of the early game Pokémon knew Quick Attack.

After travelling for a short while, I eventually reached my destination:

“MR. POKéMON’S HOUSE”

Inside the house there were two people, Mr. Pokémon himself, as well as Prof. Oak.

Mr. Pokémon gave KRIS his new discovery to give back to Prof. Elm, which was what seemed to be a Pokémon Egg. Honestly, I was surprised that KRIS even agreed to hold on to it at all.

Prof. Oak walked over to KRIS, admiring her “Pokémon”. Again, the word was in quotes, but this professor at least seemed nicer about it.

The professor also commented on the reason why KRIS was given the errand, saying that it was because Prof. Elm saw that she took care of DOLL so well.

After talking for a little while longer, Prof. Oak handed KRIS a Pokédex, and as soon as I was able to, I eagerly looked through it hoping to find more information on DOLL.

Disappointingly, I found nothing on this strange “Pokémon”, and not even anything on Clefairy itself, proving that whatever this “DOLL” was, it was clearly not a Clefairy.

However, I also found out that the Mystery Egg was an item rather than a Pokémon itself. That would explain why KRIS was willing to carry it. If they wanted her to hatch it, though, I assumed that would be a different story.

As soon as I had stepped outside Mr. Pokémon’s house, Prof. Elm called on the Pokégear, and asked KRIS to return to his lab. From this point I continued the game’s story absent-mindedly, what I was mostly looking for now was more information about DOLL, which unfortunately didn’t seem to come easily.

The next change in battles occurred when I came across my first trainer battle. The trainer, one I recognized from New Bark Town, had walked up to KRIS. In their dialogue, they said the following:

“You’ve got a ‘POKéMON’, right?”

“What a waste. A wimp like you.”

“…… …… ……”

“Don’t you get what I’m saying?”

“Well, I too, have a good POKéMON.”

“I’ll show you what I mean!””

Finding it strange that only KRIS’ “Pokémon” was referred to in quotes, I watched the battle start up.

The trainer’s name was only given as “???”. I assumed that this would be the rival character for this game, and that I would get the chance to name them later.

Everything started the same way as expected, with the rival sending out a Cyndaquil and KRIS sending out DOLL.

Again, I used LOVE, and was shown the same text as before.

“Enemy CYNDAQUIL returned to its POKé BALL!”

The only difference was that during trainer battles, instead of the Pokémon fleeing, it would return to its Poké Ball, unwilling to fight anymore.

After using the move on the rival’s Cyndaquil and winning the fight, the battle and story seemed to progress as if I had defeated the rival’s Pokémon in a normal manner.

Just as I assumed, after returning to New Bark Town, I was allowed to name my rival.

I couldn’t think of any good names, though, so I simply went with the default one, SILVER.

After the rival was named, Kris then gave the Mystery Egg to Prof. Elm as asked. It seemed like she was fine with doing things for others, if it wouldn’t affect DOLL in any way.

After a few lines, Prof. Elm suggested that KRIS should try the Pokémon gym challenge, which I assumed would be the same as the other games. Get the Eight Gym Badges, defeat the Elite Four, and then defeat the champion. The story direction was set, so I was ready to get the main part of the game started even though the gameplay most likely wouldn’t be any different from before.

Before I could leave the lab again though, I was stopped by one of the Professor’s assistants. They attempted to give something to KRIS, saying that it would help her with the Pokédex. Could I finally be getting Poké Balls?

…Of course not. The assistant seemed to mirror my disappointment as well.

“…You’re not going to change your mind, are you…?”

Regardless, at least having the ability to win fights effortlessly made for an easy game. I doubted I would need much time at all to finish this.

After the cutscene ended, I was allowed to leave the lab, and I started searching for the first gym.

At this point, I knew that this wasn’t what regular Pokémon Crystal was supposed to be like, but I was still curious and eager to continue as this copy seemed more… personalized.

The story of the game itself had started to become a bit boring at this point, though. I was never too interested in Pokémon to begin with, and when the hardest difficulty of the game was mashing the A button, it was hard to stay invested. Despite my lack of interest in any part of the game or story except for KRIS’ strange behaviour and what little I could find about DOLL itself, I stayed true to the promise I made earlier and continued.

I knew that I wouldn’t be able to find any interesting things about KRIS or DOLL by just going along with the story normally, so I started to look in other places. My first destination was the Pokémon Center.

There, I was surprised to find that DOLL could be healed there just like a normal Pokémon, and shockingly it even had its own custom sprite when doing so.

Next I attempted to using the PC’s features, despite knowing the outcome already.

Sadly I couldn’t test trading as I didn’t have any other Generation 2 games myself, and I knew my brother wouldn’t want to trade with an edited game, so that was out of the question.

Next, I moved on to the Poké Mart, and was surprised to learn that Poké Balls were an available option, but…

…I wasn’t even surprised anymore.

Eventually I had reached the first gym leader, and their Pokémon went down just as easily as everyone else’s’ so far.

At this point I wondered if anyone was even trying. Even the weakest of Pokémon could take on a simple plush toy, right?

After the battle, KRIS received the first gym badge, as well as a TM. I knew I probably wouldn’t be able to use it, but I still attempted to use it anyway.

Just as expected, DOLL couldn’t learn any other moves. Because of this, I wondered how I was going to progress. HM moves were required to beat the game, after all.

Reasoning that I would find a way to progress in time, I made my way to the second gym leader, the repetitiveness of the game causing me to almost forget that I had been taking pictures.

After the battle, Prof. Elm called again, asking for KRIS to take the Pokémon Egg from his assistant who was waiting in the Poké Centre and to wait for it to hatch.

Obviously that wasn’t going to happen, but it seemed like they didn’t have anyone else to ask. I couldn’t even tell who the person in the wrong was in this situation.

The only thing I could do in this position was to continue and silently hope that the professor could hatch the Egg another way.

Soon after this I came across a dark forest area, which was where I received my first HM for the move ‘Cut’.

However, as expected, I was unable to use it. How was I supposed to progress now?

The answer was simple, apparently. All I had to do was interact with the tree, and it gave me the option to cut it down. It was a little strange to actually have a choice for once, but I needed this tree cut to continue.

Just like that, the tree was cut down and I was on my way to the third gym.

It was just as easy as every other battle, what else am I supposed to say?

I also received a new HM soon after but had no use for it at the time.

It wasn’t until after the next gym leader was defeated that I needed to use the HM move, ‘Surf’, and it worked just like before.

I was able to get the 5th and 6th badges effortlessly, though unfortunately nothing interesting happened during this time.

I managed to find a shiny Gyarados before the 7th Gym, not that I could catch it or anything. However the NPC dialogue in the area clued me into the fact that the encounter was forced to be shiny anyway.

I suppose I’m not really cut out to be a shiny hunter, though even if I did happen to have the best luck ever, I doubt I would be interested for long.

Just like always I took on the last two Gym leaders without any issue, but to get the last gym badge, I had to do a small side quest where I answered a few questions about raising Pokémon.

“What helps you to win battles?”

Well…

“Cheating” seemed to be the most honest answer here, but selecting that option only made the question repeat, so I went with “Strategy” instead. Quite ironic, but that answer seemed to let me pass.

“What is most important for raising POKéMON?”

I of course selected “Love” here, as that seemed to be a main theme with the “Pokémon” at hand. Thankfully this answer let me continue with no problems.

With the questions finished, I finally received the 8th gym badge, and I made my way to the Pokémon league.

I was only stopped by SILVER, who once again challenged KRIS to a battle, and everything went just as you would expect.

SILVER wasn’t going to be anywhere close to the greatest trainer if he couldn’t even take out a harmless plush toy, I thought. However it’s not like anyone else had done any better; was anyone even going to try at all? Was anything ever going to change?

Anyway, with the rival now out of the way, nothing else stopped me from finally reaching the Pokémon League.

…And just like with every other fight so far, I won each battle in a flash.

With the Elite Four defeated, I was now onto my final challenge, if you could call it one: the League Champion, Lance.

While most of the game had been quite boring with just pressing the A button and watching the same scene play out repeatedly, I still wanted to play to the end to see if anything would change, either from the formula of the few Pokémon games I had played or from the monotony of mashing the A button for days straight. Now I was finally here. Regardless of if things changed or not, this would be the final battle.

I led KRIS to talk to Lance, and he told her that he had been waiting, and that the both of them would battle to determine who was the strongest out of them and who really deserved the title of Pokémon League Champion. Lance accepted KRIS’ challenge, and then the battle started up.

Most of the fight was quite uneventful, something I had come to expect from the game.

As I sapped the will to fight from Lance’s Gyarados, Aerodactyl, and his three Dragonite effortlessly, I knew that once again I had this fight in the bag.

Then, the rules of the world suddenly changed as Lance sent out his final Pokémon, his Charizard. Again, I selected the move LOVE, expecting an easy victory.

However…

“But it failed!”

My heart sank at the message, and with my interest in this strange game flooding back, I wondered what was going to happen next.

Charizard then got to attack, using the move Slash. An animation played of a pair of sharp claws digging into DOLL, while the screen started to fade to white.

As it faded, I saw something leap in front of DOLL, but I wasn’t too sure on what it was.

The screen soon faded back in, and I almost let out a gasp as DOLL’s sprite now seemed to show it as torn and falling apart, with two large gashes taken out of its body, showing the stuffing inside. Overtime I had grown somewhat fond of DOLL’s strange antics, so seeing such a sudden dark turn filled me with fear and dread.

I didn’t get much time to look at DOLL’s new sprite however, as DOLL’s HP had reached one. Even though the value did not drop to zero, DOLL made a slow and distorted noise like a cry of some sort, then dropped off the screen.

The game then entered what looked like a normal losing sequence, with the game noting that DOLL had fainted, and that KRIS had no more “Pokémon” left to fight with.

As the screen started to fade to white again, KRIS’ sprite slid back onto the battlefield, seemingly shocking the game into fading back in.

I was shocked too, as instead of KRIS trying to talk with Lance, the four battle options appeared again.

I attempted to press the RUN option to get KRIS to flee, but the game only made a noise which I recognized as it informing me that I couldn’t select the option. The same noise played when attempting to access my items or look at the Pokémon menu, so my only option was to press FIGHT.

After I did so, the text “KRIS used STRUGGLE!” appeared. The enemy shown on the battlefield then changed from Charizard to Lance himself, and then the game finally faded to white for real.

…Then I waited. For about 8-10 whole minutes there was nothing but a pure white display. I had considered turning the game off but decided to wait a while to see if anything else would happen first.

I was glad I waited though, as the screen eventually faded into a scene of KRIS laying in a bed within a pure white room. As the screen faded in, a continuous beeping noise started to play; I recognized the noise as a slower, lower-pitched version of the beeping that the game would play if one of your Pokémon were on low health.

None of the directional buttons did anything here, so I decided to open the menu and see if DOLL was still in the party. Before I entered the POKéMON menu, however, I noticed that KRIS no longer had her Pack or her Pokégear on her.

In the POKéMON menu, I found that DOLL was thankfully still in the party but was still left in the same torn-apart state that it was in after being attacked by Lance’s Charizard.

This time, I let out a real gasp after going into the STATS menu and noticing that the red pixels I barely had the chance to see earlier were in fact dried blood stains. Feeling much more unsettled than before, I closed the menu.

This action seemed to prompt more story, as the textbox read “Kris: Hello?! Anyone?! If anyone’s there, DOLL needs help! Please!”. I instantly noticed that the trainer’s name had changed to a more proper capitalization; Was this trainer really supposed to represent her after all?

My thoughts were interrupted as more text began to appear onscreen, a conversation between two unnamed offscreen characters:

“???: It’s that old crazy lady, crying about that stupid doll of hers again. At this point, we should just take the thing away from her so she’ll stop yelling about it.”

“???: I don’t think we should really take it away from her, that might make her even more crazy and weird, you know? Hahaha.”

“???: …Well, what do you suppose we do about her? It’s getting annoying.”

“???: If we just ignore her, she’ll stop yelling soon enough, I think.”

“???: Right. Let’s just hope she stops soon.”

After that last comment, the voices stopped, and Kris was left in that bed alone with no one around willing to help her best friend. Here, I finally realized that it didn’t matter if DOLL was a real Pokémon or not. What really mattered was that it was real to her, that it was real to Kris…

My eyes shot open wide with one final realization, but they remained fixed on the screen as more text had started to appear:

“Crystal: …Oh, my sweet little Doll, I know you’re in such pain, but I promise it won’t last. I know I don’t have much time left in this world that you’ll feel so heartbroken when I’m gone, but I promise when that happens, you’ll be sent to someone who will love and cherish you just as I have all these years. I promise you’ll be happy in your next home, and that you can be happy without me. So for when that time comes: Goodbye, Doll, my sweet angel. Thank you for being my best friend, and always remember: I love you, DOLL!”

After I pressed the A button one final time, the screen and music both cut out, leaving nothing but a blank screen. I took this to mean that the game was over and resumed my earlier thoughts. It seemed like I was right about her name after all...

Feeling curious, I stood up and started to walk over to the shelf where I had placed that strange Clefairy plush, but stopped in my tracks as I noticed that the toy was now staring straight at me and not at the door where it had been facing earlier. I slowly approached the plush and now noticed that it looked extremely similar to DOLL’s sprite from the game.

Looking closely, I could now see the tears from the slashes it had taken, healed only slightly more than what was represented in the sprite. I even saw a few discolored patches of what I assumed to be remnants of the blood stains that had once been all over the doll in that dark event that started the end for Kris, my aunt…

I had barely known anything about her before, but now I felt closer to her than anyone else could hope to be. Doll was Kris’ most sentimental gift to me, and now after knowing both her and its story, I promised to always take care of the plush and even to attempt sewing its tears as I was sure that was all she had wanted.

As I picked Doll up from the shelf, I heard a small ring sound echo throughout my room: the noise I was now familiar with as being a noise that noted interaction with objects from the game. As the noise’s echo faded from my ears the lower third of my vision became obscured by a pure white, and in it I saw an all too familiar image: a textbox which read,

#Pokemon Creepypasta #Pokepasta #Creepypasta #Poke Doll #I love you DOLL!

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agwic · 2 years ago

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i have played through pokemon scarlet up until just after obtaining koraidon. below are my opinions, in the order in which i developed them:

the character customization is so good! my only complaint is that the closest hair style to my hair style is the hairstyle of a certain very spoilery umineko character, so when i look at my player character, i think "oh thats (umineko character)" instead of "oh thats me". this is partially due to the fact that i have a similar hairstyle to that umineko character(messy brown medium-long wavy hair) it's just that mine is longer.

the graphics are good actually! I mean they're also terrible. let me explain. the animations, textures, and models of the pokemon are all great. the textures and models of the landscape are marginally better than pokemon: legends arceus, which is damning with faint praise. but still, the game overall looks amazing. there are occasionally lag spikes and clipping, and scene transitions are kinda awkward, but that's pretty easy to ignore.

i can't tell if nemona is supposed to come off as unhinged but she very much does come off as unhinged and i love her for it. like it could just be bad writing, but im just gonna say she's canonically autistic and move on with my life. also, in a similar vein, penny is canonically trans, though i have not been introduced to her in-game yet.

speaking of nemona, they've done a great job of fixing gen 7/8's cutscene bloat. I played some pokemon: legends arceus earlier the same day, and i can confirm scarlet has no scenes where character says something, there's a two second pause, they make a facial expression, there's another two second pause, and then the conversation continues, multiple times per cutscene. additionally, making nemona very fast helps prevent the hau situation from gen 7. i haven't played sword/shield so idk if they fixed it too, but given that pla has the same issue i doubt it.

they didn't abandon the tree theme, clavell is named after cloves. sure he doesn't have the title of professor but he introduces you to the world of pokemon and gives you your starter, so he fills the role of professor

all the new pokemon designs are so good! this comes mostly from my experience with showdown and stuff, but sprigatito is in fact the cutest first-stage starter so that's a plus, and the final evolution isn't bad, im sure it'll grow on me. maybe ill regret not picking fire crocodile, its final evolution looks like a pseudo-legendary and is awesome. but besides the starters, this generation also has maushold, who has instantly become one of my favorite pokemon, dudunsparce, the dunsparce evolution we didn't want, but that we deserved, and the past paradox forms, which caused me to choose the game with the worse regional exclusives just due to how cool they are. like seriously after gen 8's best pokemon design was the regional bird i was afraid, but this generation has the best designs of any generation ever.

it's really funny how the game has really immersive sound effects for everything, and then no voice acting. it does have lip syncing. just no voice to go along with it. it's funnier than it is jarring, but still, don't take my massive amount of praise as proof this game isn't horribly unfinished.

saving the best for last, my favorite thing about this game is that you can just spin whenever you want. speeeeeeeeeeeeeen.

#pokemon #pokemon scarlet and violet

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raichijin · 4 years ago

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˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ ukiyo; the floating world. chapter 2.

━━━━━ 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐁 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐓.

preface; took me exactly a week to write. possibly the most uneventful, but important in setting up the rest of the story. enjoy ! (also, my first writing post on this account ! awesome.)

word count; 1.6k .

pretty. a pretty boy; with eyes the color of almonds and hair the same shade of rich oaky brown as a morning cup of coffee.

his smile is sweet like creamer, & the way his eyes crinkle at the corners when he closes them is cute, too.

a new relationship, perhaps?

you’re so in awe that when you notice his face fall and he’s pulling his hand away, you realize it’s been 15 seconds and you’ve been standing for approximately 30, just staring.

wow, that’s awkward.

“... are you okay?” he asks you again, slower this time.

“i — yeah! totally. i just— i guess i’m just lost?” you look around for anything that could trigger a memory, or even something that looks remotely familiar.

there’s nothing. “yeah, that must be it...ʲᵘˢᵗ ˡᵒˢᵗ.” he tilts his head at you, then smiles a little thinner, with only his lips and no teeth before gesturing towards the classroom door, other hand digging into his pants pocket.

“then i can show you around!” he hastily offers, giving you his arm before you even know his name, and the scary possibility that the ‘you’ in this world might’ve had a more notable presence starts sounding like a reality when your name falls effortlessly from his bubblegum pink lips, a cutesy ‘chan’ accompanying it.

“ah, you know me?”

& while his nose crinkles in a way that’s not cute nor pretty, his smile remains steadfast until he turns away. “well, who doesn’t? our school doesn’t get exchange students too often. especially not ones as handsome as yourself~.” there’s that lilt again. as if he’s trying to make you fall in love with his voice alone, and you might’ve (you are).

“oh! uh, thank you, but-” you both step into the hallway, and the image of a highschool is imprinting itself in your brain. the uniform, the students, teachers, each class room and their individual signs, the kanji that somehow makes sense, and the sudden realization that everything around you is being spoken in spitfire japanese.

you’re speaking it, too.

“i don’t think i know you. what’s your name?”

the cute guy blanches, and suddenly everything seems more interesting to him.

his fingernails, a sudden itch on his nose, and random (read: fawning) passerby.

“um — i’m oikawa! the captain of the volleyball team?” oikawa phrases it like a question, as if you know him; and if he was expecting that flexing that kind of achievement would give him some kind of leeway, he couldn’t be more mistaken.

but for politeness sake, you can pretend to be interested, especially if it means he’d divulge more information about the school.

‘seijoh’ was the name, right? you could probably search it up later. you pat your pockets for the outline of a cell phone, and then realize it might still be in your bag —

fuck, you still haven’t responded. you need to get better with your reaction time.

“oh! that’s cool.” said in a way that does a decent enough job of feigning interest, because his lips quirk back up. “class ended, right? are you gonna go to practice right now?”

“well...” he pretends to ponder the question. “that’s the plan! we should get going, before iwa-chan gets mad at me.”

iwa-chan?

we?

“i — i mean, i would, but i don’t wanna be a bother —” but he’s already taking your hand and pulling you down the hall and out a door, quickly explaining some things you see that catch your eye along the way. before you know it, he’s guiding you towards a different building entirely, where the entrance is crowded by … students? some boys, some girls, some not even wearing the school’s uniform.

and they’re definitely not in any volleyball uniforms, or in anything in relation to sports. so what could they possibly be here for?

a high pitched squeal very quickly answers your question.

“look! he’s here!” the gaggle of students nearly trample you with how fast they surround oikawa, too busy ogling the captain to pay you much mind. you would’ve gotten swept away in the commotion if not for oikawa’s tightened grip around your wrist.

he tries (and fails) to calm down the small crowd huddled around him, but it makes enough noise that it starts to attract the attention from the players inside the gym. some look jealous, unsurprised, and one, standing out amongst the rest. with his lips pulled back into a sneer, sweat dripping down the side of his face, and —

“SHITTYKAWA!” the noise outside quiets down to a few whispers and just as quickly the crowd came in, they clear out, as the nameless begins to approach.

he carries himself high and fast and even if he comes up to a little under oikawa height wise, whoever he is, he clearly has mr. volleyball captain at least bashful.

… didn’t he mention someone who’d get pissy if he was late to practice?

“is that —”

“iwa-chaaaaaan!” oikawa waves his hands absently as a means to placate his friend's temper, and he lets go of you in the process, providing you an ample opportunity to slip back into school, but your feet feel stuck to the floor and you can’t bring yourself to look away from the scene unfolding. this iwa-chan talks to oikawa like he’s his mother. stern with sharp features and a look that could actually kill.

oikawa really fucked up, huh? well, he might’ve not even gotten told if you didn’t pop out of the damn closet though. but it’s too late to apologize, because oikawa’s pointing at you, says something about you being the reason he got held up, and iwa-chan is directing that hard stare at you.

you could melt. if oikawa was pretty, then iwa-chan was handsome. a new love interest perhaps? he seemed hot enough to be one. where oikawa’s smile felt accommodating, iwa-chan’s sneer morphing into an expression of indifference and then slight charm feels more real, and is, in turn, more endearing.

“and you’re the new student? you’re the reason why he’s late?” you nod sharply, and explain how you fell out of the closet… and how oikawa helped you up. he flicks oikawa’s forehead just then, and you laugh, worsened by the kicked puppy expression scribbled all over the captain’s face.

“you’re laughing at this? iwa-chan! cut it out — you’re already rubbing off on them!”

“trashykawa! what the hell were you trying to do with the transfer?” he tugs on his ear like a disappointed parent, but shoots you an apologetic smile.

“i’m sorry you had to deal with him.” oh, you beautiful human, you do not have to be sorry for anything — “i can take him from here — just tell me if this dumbass bothers you again.”

“i wasn’t bothering them i —” iwa-chan glares daggers into him and he concedes, letting himself get dragged into the gym building, his teammates laughing at him, and leaving you behind. they all trail inside before the gym doors close, and suddenly, this area feels pointless.

was this the end of the day?

you go back into the school, backpack slung anxiously over your shoulder. how were you supposed to find the bedroom to save your game if you didn’t even know where your house was? did you miss a cutscene? did you do something wrong?

a distinct buzzing from your backpack halts your train of thought.

you dig through your pack to find your phone, a rectangular brick with a few stickers on it, opening to your fingerprint and showing you text message notifications from one ushiwaka-san.

the third named character you’ve met in a day.

ushiwaka-san: have you reached home yet?

huh. is he your parent? guardian? you don’t know any kid who’d put their fathers name so informally.

you: uh, not quite, no

you: how do i get back? i kind of like

you: forgot

you: my bad dad

ushiwaka-san is … typing !

ushiwaka-san: dad?

ushiwaka-san: what do you mean?

ushiwaka-san is … typing !

ushiwaka-san: whatever.

ushiwaka-san: give me a moment.

you cringe at how badly you misread that, but he eventually sends you the address and instructions on how to get to, where you hope is, home, and with a few pointers from some straggler students, you’re off.

the sun is kissing the hills by the time you’ve reached your destination. your legs are burning from the walk, and you feel like you could collapse on the doorstep if you didn’t know your bed was behind it, decidedly more comfortable than the concrete.

you find some keys in the side pocket of your bag and unlock the door to the house. it looks pretty enough on the inside, but you’re too tired to appreciate the graphics. you just want to save the game and be done with this.

forty dollars for a walking simulator? no wonder your friend didn’t like it. you have to duck into a few rooms before one reminds you of the one they showed you when the game booted up originally. you flop on the bed before you get the sudden urge to look at your phone again.

a notes app has popped up.

you can write your discoveries after a scenario here. useful for remembering important things, like dates, likes and dislikes, etc.

you can access this when not in a scene, occasionally in-between or during class, or when you’re in your room for the night.

it feels like someones projecting their thoughts into your brain, and it kind of hurts, but you keep it in mind for the next time. you can’t even bother to get out of your uniform before it’s like your eyes are shutting themselves, no matter how much you try to force them back open.

the day is ending, and it’s time to save your progress.

you black out.

the void cradles you. a feeling akin to falling asleep yet wide awake, you settle here until the confirmation of a saved game rings vaguely through your head.

then, just as suddenly,

you’re up.

passing the baton to you kat! @letshaikyuu.

𝔱 𝔞 𝔤 𝔩 𝔦 𝔰 𝔱 ; @kingkageyamathegreat, @sayakaaaaaa, @tobubekida-yo @chigigami, @sugacookiies, @macaronnv, @cadekagi

#haikyuu!! x reader #haikyuu x reader #oikawa toru x reader #iwaizumi haijime x reader #hq!!#hq!! x reader #🌩️ L1GHTN1NG_STRIKE5.pdf #ukiyo: the floating world

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tainbocuailnge · 4 years ago

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Couldn't be there for the stream, but congrats on finishing Nier. What did you think of it? And what game will you play next? (Maybe you already answered somewhere, if so sorry for being redundant.)

in terms of style and aesthetic the game is absolutely gorgeous. definitely one of its strongest points is the ways it uses design to reinforce its themes and provide subtle worldbuilding. the example freshest in my memory is how different hacking a2 looks from hacking anything else because she’s such an old model, but also the way the vivid colors of the regular overworld contrast with the grayscale of the bunker or the white cubes of that city where you fight adam/the tower cannon, or 9s’ fucked up memories of 2b in C and D routes using the same attacks as adam and eve’s bossfights in A and B routes. the game really leans into the strong contrast between vibrant organic shapes and washed out mechanical shapes, from the very start with the overgrown buildings of the city but also the difference between the detailed & colorful regular interface and the hacking segments consisting of straight lines & muted browns, and it will reverse that distinction at key moments to make a point. switching between different styles of video game (like the visual novel sections) is a really neat way to control the pacing of the story too

conversely i think a lot of the game’s actual playability was sacrificed for the aesthetic. hacking is really cool as concept and visually i adore the way it’s implemented but in terms of gameplay it fucking sucks. not only does it throw off the whole flow of combat but the actual gameplay of the hacking segments themselves is just frustrating as hell because it wants you to hack stronger enemies instead of fight them with 9s’ weak noodle arms but then makes specifically the stronger enemies a huge pain to hack, and if you fail at hacking you take damage anyway so in the end it’s still easier to just fight directly. stuff like the emp’s being able to seal your combat abilities or fuck up your visual processors also makes sense and enriches the game storywise, but is a huge fucking pain in the ass to deal with as someone Playing A Video Game because it means you just have to run the fuck away until the effect has worn off. switching between 9s and a2′s individual bossfights in the tower, too, is very cool conceptually but ended up being super annoying in practise because like the hacking it just disrupts the flow of combat (it was very cool when they were fighting the same enemy though)

i also feel like a lot of the fights just took way too damn long. this one might be on me since I didn’t do a lot of sidequests and thus was underleveled, but it felt like a lot of the combat was intentionally stretched out in order to pad out the game’s length. honestly i think i have a case here even with being underleveled because having to do the sidequests in order to even be strong enough to progress the main story at a reasonable pace is very much padding out the game’s length. even though it took me several dozen hours to complete the main story it still feels pretty short to me because so much of that was just dragged out bossfights. bloodborne definitely spoilt me on this point because in that one once you figure out a boss youre Done, you prove you know how to deal with it and you perform the Trick a few times and then you’re done with it but every Phucking nier automata boss was just endlessly whaling on some annoying mother fucker while i’m thinking bro just show me the next story section already. and then every other bossfight they dump lore on you WHILE you’re trying not to die and i hate that too dude i can’t fucking read and fight at the same time Don’t Call For A Meeting You Son Of A Bitch This Could Have Been A Cutscene

STORYWISE. storywise. honestly I need to rewatch some cutscenes before i can form a Real In-Depth Informed Opinion cuz we spent so much of the stream joking about horsecock that i didn’t pay enough attention to perform my true analysis no jutsu. what you’re about to read is subject to change. looking at just the progression of events in nier tomato there’s some things I don’t really understand why they happened other than ‘themes, bro’ which is not necessarily a complaint mind you because im a fate fan after all but its. hmm how do i say this. i feel like yoko taro is very much a Conceptual Writer. he’s got a strong idea of the kind of message and themes he wants to convey and then he constructs a story around that idea, but because it’s all so thematically driven the actual logistics of the story end up falling behind, like with all the above bitching about the gameplay suffering for the aesthetic. a lot of time i was like ‘no idea who i am no idea why im here all i know is im sad’ if you’re the kind of person who needs [ending EXPLAINED] videos then tomato is probably an incomprehensible robot ass simulator. speaking of robot ass I think it’s super cool that they just fuckin killed 2b actually because I absolutely did not expect that, it really puts a hard line between AB and CD routes.

it’s a very bittersweet game.... it asks “is there meaning in wanting to live when there is nothing left to live for?” and “is there meaning in wanting to protect something when there is nothing left of it to protect?” and answers with “if you want there to be, yeah” it’s about being able to die with hope in your heart as ultimate definition of humanity

ultimately it’s a very beautiful game both in visuals and emotionally and I’d recommend it to anyone whose tastes even vaguely align with mine but I don’t think I’m ever gonna actually replay it. look up story compilations on youtube at most. and it’s really such a shame because I think the way the gameplay is integrated in the story is fantastic from a thematic standpoint but it comes at the expense of the enjoyability of that gameplay so even though this is very much a Video Game Story it’s a hassle to actually consume it in video game format. [yoko taro voice] you WILL be sad about these robots and you WILL work for it

#king of asks #fefeman

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roc-thoughtblog · 4 years ago

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Sense and Sensibility Readthrough Part 7

Chapter 10, Pages 39-45

Previously, Marianne and Margaret went for a run up a hill, got rained on, and ran all the way back down. A romance novel male love interest picks up a fallen Marianne, takes her home, and acts very mysterious-romance-novel-male-love-interest-like.

Marianne is obviously infatuated.

I end up thinking too much about the unfathomable nature of skin-tones today, though I think I also managed to struggle a bit more than usual concentrating. Definitely ran quite overtime.

Readthrough below.

Chapter 10 Willoughby visits, and is charmed.

Miss Dashwood had a delicate complexion, regular features, and a remarkably pretty figure. Marianne was still handsomer.

Oof. Wait, hang on; we're getting description. This is the most description of Marianne's appearance! Incoming:

Posture's not as good as her sister, but she is taller. Skin is of very brown overtone but a very visible "uncommonly brilliant" undertone. How brown is very brown? Are undertones a thing or did I just make up something I think I overheard once? I'm about to go on a tangent into what undertones & overtones are aren't I. BRB. Also she has very dark eyes that are quite full of life.

My understanding of skin tones mostly comes from being a poor artist and getting messed up trying to figure out how they work because they DON'T STAY THE SAME OVER ANY PATCH OF SKIN OR CONSISTENT AT ANY ANGLE. And SPLOTHCY. SPLOTCHY EVERYWHERE, ALL THE TIME. So I get a vague sense of what Jane Austen is trying to get at. From what it sounds like, Marianne is pretty generally brown on the surface but also fairly rosy in all those fleshy parts that do the most weird multidimesional optical illusioning that skin-tones tend to do? She probably turns very red when she's blushy, is the implication anyway, that I could have just said on the outset but then I went and buried my head in seasons and carotene and foundation.

Maybe I'll use Marianne as the subject of a skin-tone study. I suck at skin-tones and this is the most I've ever thought about it in years.

Anyway, she's embarrassed at first but they quickly hit it off; this is all still a no-dialogue cutscene so Austen's really skipping over any occasion for Willoughby to talk. Well, from the sounds of it they'll be chatting for hours... mutually charmed, all the same tastes, etc. Ah, haha, she does bulldoze over their differences a bit. Willoughby doesn't put up a resistance; either he's too charmed or, as a 25 year old, he doesn't want to debate an enthusiastic teenager. Well, at least he's not 35.

Dialogue resumes as soon as he leaves. I should keep a note of which important characters have been conspicuously reserved by the narrative; Willoughby and Edward both been. Poor Margaret is just unimportant.

Elinor thinks Marianne's going to fast. Run out of things to talk about soon. Marianne gets snippy and returns fire;

"But I see what you mean. [...] I have erred against every commonplace notion of decorum; I have been open and sincere where I ought to have been reserved, spiritless, dull and deceitful - had I talked only of the weather and the roads, and had I spoken only once in ten minutes, this reproach would have been spared."

She's getting her back for the attraction-to-fever line. I sort of agree with Elinor, I get the feeling Willoughby isn't y'know. As passionate as Marianne is, so much as just humouring her. But either way he's charmed so. He keeps coming back day after to day, to "check in" on Marianne's recovery.

Oh! But he does participate in her activities though. That is encouraging. And he reads emotively haha. Mama Dashwood loves him, but naturally Elinor finds his general, hmm, incautious demeanor to be disapprovable. Marianne has seen in Willoughby the saviour that justified her impossible standards! I call that she's probably more than a little infatuated and Willoughby's gonna turn out to be less than everything she thought he was, or that she wanted.

Infatuation is wild isn't it.

Mama Dashwood's already hearing wedding bells, as she would. Elinor's starting to see that Colonel Brandon really does have small interest in Marianne (after everyone else stopped caring because he's not interesting). He gets Elinor's pity and compassion for generally being a guy whose disposition implies like he's had a bit of a downer past, and also for generally being compared against Willoughby. Also because Marianne will never stop being mean about his age. Though I wonder how much of his improvement in Elinor's eyes is precisely by nature of Willoughby having arrived to be worth disapproving.

Oh Willoughby finally talks, and the first things he says involves going off on poor Brandon;

"Brandon is just the kind of man," said Willoughby one day, when they were talking of him together, "whom everybody speaks well of, and nobody cares about; whom all are delighted to see, and nobody remembers to talk to."

Aww. My image of Brandon has really changed. Before it was like some kind of caricature of a retired military man, making him look very much on the 50-60 end of 35 years, with a brush moustache. But after all that, man. Now I just see a tired older millenial. You know, the particular kind of tired millenial who are just stuck in a perpetual state of scraping by slowly while anticipating middle age behind the next big hill, while still getting berated by the older gens for being millenials, and getting memed on by the Gen Z for being old.

Did I just call Marianne a zoomer?

Well, meming on older people is just an age/maturity thing, not a generational thing. Happens every time. Even 200 years ago, in a book.

A... Anyway...

Elinor justifiably defends Brandon from Willoughby's more exagerrated character attacks. Then he keeps talking, so she just sticks to calling him and Marianne out instead for being prejudiced and-

"In defense of your protégé you can even be saucy."

HOLY SHIT. I mean the more I hear out of Willoughby's mouth the more of a jackass he seems. No wonder Austen kept his mouth shut for a bit. This whole thing just escalates into an argument that ends in a disagreement. Elinor thinks Willoughby as holding an unjustifiably contemptuous attitude towards an inoffensive and unfortunate person; Willoughby's annoyed that Elinor's pressing him on the matter as he simply views his own observations of Brandon's social deficiencies as factual, and probably to his eyes therefore not contemptuous in nature.

And Marianne is just being actually the pettiest and meanest one here because she's Marianne and Willoughby is enabling her.

"You shall find me as stubborn as you can be artful. I have three unanswerable reasons for disliking Colonel Brandon; he threatened me with rain when I wanted it to be fine; he has found fault with the hanging of my curricle, and I cannot persuade him to buy my brown mare. [...] And in return for an acknowledgement, [...] you cannot deny me the privilege of disliking him as much as ever."

Willoughby's whole closing argument is some great character stuff. He said earlier that he didn't dislike Brandon; I like that it's a bit up in the air whether or not he genuinely had no issue with the man, and was just being very distastefully insensitive, or whether he was actually heartily prejudiced against Brandon for those three petty reasons and wasn't being up-front with himself or anyone else until Elinor called him out. I'm leaning towards the latter, personally.

Either way, he is petty enough now to really double down on disliking Brandon in this moment; for no other reason than as to spite Elinor for managing to convince him not to.

Yeah I don't think I like Willoughby very much. Literally, one of those guys who seems nice until they open their mouth, wow.

As a side note, for the spitefulness of the dialogue, the narrator's been very sparing of the less pleasant aspects of Marianne and Willoughby's characters. Imagine if they were minor characters like Sir and Lady Middleton! Would definitely have just torn straight into the two of them on top of just letting them talk.

#what the hell 1400 words?#maybe i'm getting carried away #Sense and Sensibility #Jane Austen #i want it on record in the tags that i will defend Brandon from Willoughby #novels #readthrough

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skythealmighty · 5 years ago

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A girl in a spider costume zooms through the sky on webs strung from her hand, whooping. A narration cuts in of a sassy teenage girl.

“All right, let’s get this part over with. I’m not the first, and I’m certainly not the last. Cut to backstory!” she said, then snapped. The scene changed.

The girl, outside her costume, is eating a bagel. She has blond-brown hair in a messy bob, blue-green eyes, and pale skin. She’s wearing simple clothes. “My name is Skye King. In my universe, I’m one of two spider-people, though I’m the only Spider-Girl. Spider-Man is in New York. My business is in Seattle. One day, during summer break, I was bitten by a radioactive spider after my 15th birthday. You get the jist, right? Then I had spider powers, yadda yadda yadda. We’ve all heard it before. Well, the thing is, not really. That spider was from another universe (at least I'm 99% sure).” While she said all that, in the cutscene, a spider bit her on the hand and she threw it outside. “I could tell something was wrong, so I decided to cancel my hangout with my friend the next day, telling her I was sick. I couldn’t have been more wrong, but it was a good call. I absolutely trashed my room that day.” It showed Skye in her room, sticking to the bedcovers and the ceiling and her books. “Needless to say, my parents were kinda, okay super mad. Oh well, small price for a little superpower! I discovered during the next few days that I could create portals with my webs, and the first one led to the universe with the graffiti Spider-Man, Miles Morales.” Another scene showed her fistbumping with Miles, masks down on their spider costumes as they sat on top of a building. “There, I officially got my suit from Aunt May with some help. I wanted a little piece of everyone I met, so I asked Miles to decorate my costume a bit. He got the left arm, and I gotta say, it looked pretty sweet! Over the next week, I visited other universes and added to my suit a little at a time. You name them from Miles’s movie, I’ve probably visited them. Peni Parker (got a robotics upgrade from her), Noir (the guns were cool, but he also got a bit of space on my mask), Gwen (I stole her hoodie idea and went to gymnastics), Peter B. (not much, his suit’s the same as the original), and even Peter Porker (got a cartoon hammer, I love Looney Tunes)! They were all really cool, but my story isn’t about meeting them. Way too cliche, and probably done before, too. This little mini story takes place in the universe where that spider came from. So why don’t we finally get started, now that you know who I am?” The scene returned to Spider-Girl swinging from the Seattle Space Needle. She winked at the camera, and the screen turned black.

Skye yawned, sitting up in bed as her alarm went off. “Hey Google, alarm off,” she said tiredly, getting out of bed and getting dressed off-camera. She ate her breakfast, said hi to her family, packed up her backpack (not forgetting her Spider Suit), and jogged out the door to her bus stop. She napped on the bus until it arrived at school, where she was woken up by her Spidey senses. She got off the bus. “Hello again, Edison High,” she sighed, walking into the cafeteria and sitting down at a table full of older students. The narration starts. “This is my average, everyday high school, Edison High. These are my art club friends, Olivia, Jack, Darth, and.. well, they’re important to me, but maybe not to you. My other friends are Sofia, Haylie, Mitchell, AJ, and Micheal. At my high school, nobody apart from Sofia, AJ, and Haylie know I’m Spider-Girl, even though she’s the main topic of gossip. School’s boring, so I’ma skip it.”

The scene of a high school day is fast forwarded until the very end, where she goes to the bathroom. “I’ve long since made a secret exit, and most girls don’t check the bathroom mirror, so I get dressed in my onesie there. It’s really not that hard, and I have a drone get my backpack home. That does mean I have to do my homework in class, but I’m pretty smart, so I can do it most of the time.” Skye, in her Spider-Girl suit, exits the stall and opens the mirror like a door, walking inside. She drops her backpack into a carrier drone, then opens a secret door from the inside and webs to the top of the school. “All in all, a pretty normal day. No crime at the moment, so I decided to visit another universe again. I mean, why not?” She spun her web in a circle, creating a portal, which she swung into. “I wanted a little something to add to my outfit. But that day? Fate didn’t like me one bit.” She looked around at the other portals, which had markings on them, the logos of the different Spider-Men she’d met. One of the portals was unmarked, and that was the one she swung into. As soon as she did, she attempted to make another web, but failed. “Aw, what? Talk about bad timing..” the Skye in the scene said, before yelling and slamming into the ground. “I think I’ll stop the narration now, so you can focus on the story.”

The screen was black, but then Skye opened her eyes. In front of her was a rainbow Spider-Man, upside down in front of her. She yelped and scrambled backwards in surprise, bonking her head. “Ow..” she muttered, rubbing her head. She flicked her wrist, trying to spin her web. Nothing happened. “Damnit!” she cursed.

“You okay?” the rainbow Spider-Man asked, letting go of his web (which was unsurprisingly rainbow as well) and landing on the ground. “You hit your head pretty hard.”

Skye grinned under the mask. “I’ve had worse. I mean, when you’re Spider-Girl, you gotta be able to take a few hits, right?” She got up, standing in front of the walking rainbow and looking him up and down. “I like the sugar glider wings,” she complimented. “I bet those come in handy a lot, huh?”

He smiled too (though only shown with the eyes of his mask). “Yeah, they do. So, how’d you get here anyway? Super collider?”

She shook her head. “Nah, got here on my own. Part of my powers include going to other universes, weirdly enough. My webs aren’t working, though,” she flicked her hand for emphasis, “so I’m stuck here for the moment. I don’t think that’ll last for more than a couple days, so no need to worry.”

He sighed in relief. “Good, I’m already taking care of four Spider-Children, so I don’t need more.. why are you looking at me like that?” he asked, after seeing her starstruck expression.

“There’s more!?” she said, sort of high-pitched. She covered her mouth. “Oops. Um, basically, when I run into another Spider-Person, I want a way of remembering, so I add to my outfit.. I was looking to upgrade mine for a while, so this is perfect!”

He laughed. “Alright, I’ll take you to them. Be warned though, they’re all pretty extra in their own way.” The scene cut to him swinging her up to an apartment, setting her down.

“Thanks for that,” she said, embarrassed. “If I had my webs, I wouldn’t need you to do that, though..”

“Nah, it’s fine!” He took off his mask, grinning. “I don’t mind. I’m Thomas.” He held out his hand.

“Skye,” she said, taking it after pulling her own mask off. “Now if you don’t mind, you got some thread and needles?” He pointed her to a room. “Sweet!” she said, running in. “I’ll be back!”

After a few minutes, she came out with the same sugar glider extensions he had, but they were the bi flag instead of the gay flag. “Ta-daa!”

“Nice,” he nodded in approval. “There’s some spare clothes in the closet if you don’t mind sweats and t-shirts.”

She grinned. “That’s what I usually wear anyway!”

The screen showed a Spongebob ‘one hour later’ cutscene, then showed Thomas and Skye watching a movie. She was wearing a blue t-shirt and purple sweats. There was a knock on the door. “Come in, guys,” Thomas said, not taking his eyes off the movie. Skye, however, looked towards the door to see four different Spider-Men come through. One wore a royal outfit with flowers, hair uncovered, one wore a pink outfit with hearts and a baseball cap, one wore an outfit similar to Gwen’s with a V, and the last one wore a blue outfit that had a tie design on it and four robotic spider legs on his back. Her eyes widened.

“Okay, now I definitely need to update my outfit again!” She grinned, dashing into the room she’d been in before where her suit was. The others looked at her.

“Uh… who was that?” the one in the royal outfit asked, looking perplexed.

“You’ll see,” Thomas answered.

After a half hour, while everyone was on the couch with masks down, she came out with the suit on and mask up. The hoodie was up, and on top of it, there was a gray V like the Gwen lookalike’s mask. One of the legs had pink hearts and red flowers, and the other had the same design as the tie design but only up to below the knee. She was grinning, until she realized something. “Oh, right, I never introduced myself. I’m Skye, Spider-Girl!” she said, pulling her mask down and bowing.

“Virgil,” said the Gwen lookalike.

“Roman!” introduced the royal one.

“Hi, I’m Patton!” grinned the pink one.

“Salutations, my name is Logan,” said the one in the tie.

“Nice to meet all of you!” said Skye, grinning and sitting down with the rest.

A timelapse showed the day going by, nothing super interesting. The timelapse stopped at the next day during lunch, because that’s where the action is. Besides, this is supposed to be a short story, so I won’t bore you too much.

Everyone was having pizza. “Mm, they do not make pizza like this in Seattle, let me tell you,” Skye said after finishing her first slice. “I almost wish they did, but then I’d never cook for myself!”

Suddenly, everyone froze, Spidey senses going off. “Oh no, why in the middle of lunch?” Roman groaned, setting down his slice and going into one of the stalls in the corner. Everyone but Skye followed him, her going into the suit touch up room. One by one, they all emerged in their Spider suits. Thomas and his gang swung out, while Skye took a deep breath and glided after them using the addition she’d just added yesterday, since she still couldn’t use her webs. They arrived in Times Square to see the Scorpion causing trouble with the Tinkerer, again.

“Peter always has to deal with these guys, why don’t they ever quit?” Skye asked, perched next to the others on top of a building.

“Evil never rests?” Logan offered.

“Nah, these guys are just really annoying,” Thomas sighed.

They all jumped down, standing in front of either the Tinkerer or the Scorpion. Virgil, Logan, and Skye were in front of the Tinkerer, while Thomas, Patton, and Roman were in front of the Scorpion. “Time to kick some ass!” Skye said, crawling up a building and launching herself at the Tinkerer. Soon after, Virgil and Logan swung at him in turn, Logan knocking the Tinkerer out of his own vehicle and taking control, which he then used to stun the Tinkerer while Virgil tied him up. Thomas swung and glided onto the Scorpion’s face, blinding him. Patton and Roman tied the Scorpion up, then Thomas kicked the Scorpion over and over in the face, temporarily stunning him. As if it was second nature for her, Skye swung using her webs and tied the Scorpion up some more, knowing her webs were stronger than the others’ by nature. As she landed on the ground, she looked at her hands and smiled. “Looks like I can go home now,” she grinned to the others. “Sorry for overstaying my welcome.”

“Nah, you’re fun to hang around with. Come back anytime,” Thomas said, waving goodbye. She nodded and made a portal, swinging through as it closed behind her. She hung in place in the middle of all the universes, making five webs above the top of the portal she just came in from. The middle one was a rainbow spider, and the other four were a gray V, a red rose, a pink heart, and a blue tie. She grinned and swung through the portal labeled ‘home’, swinging above the city. She was lucky it was Saturday, so she didn’t miss any school. But how would she explain it to her parents? She shook her head to clear her thoughts as she spotted a robbery. Good never sleeps, she thought, webbing one of the criminals with a sigh. The scene faded to black.

“Hey, don't get mad, I told you it’d be short. Cut!”

@ask-spiderverse-virgil

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mossby · 4 years ago

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so I was tagged by @eldritch-elrics for a tag meme! I haven’t done one of these before, so here goes...

name: Kirby Province Tardos, to be really specific. I also identify with my kins’ names but the only one I really use (besides Kirby) is Void.

gender: Again, I could be really specific with this and say I’m gendervoid, but usually I just say I’m nonbinary.

star sign: Taurus

height: 5′2″ (slightly shorter than my brother who is also closest to 5′2″, which he likes to remind me of for some reason)

time: is an illusion. but also 7:37 PM

birthday: April 23rd. I’ll be turning 20 this year so you BETTER SEND ME GIFTS /jk

favorite bands: The Oh Hellos, The Altogether, The Longest Johns... that’s a lot of “the”s.

favorite solo artists: Cosmo Sheldrake and uh... lots of video game soundtrack artists. the Kirby soundtrack composers and Austin Wintory are really good

last movie: I legitimately don’t remember; I don’t watch a lot of movies. I’d really like to see Wolfwalkers though! The closest thing I can think of to a movie that I watched recently was a compilation of all the cutscenes in Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, which did feel like a movie.

last show: uhh I watched a bit of the anime Given with my brother and their friend yesterday

when did I create this blog: I don’t remember, but I started actually using it in early 2019.

what I post: whatever’s in my head I guess. mostly reblogging funnies and fanart and serious posts I can relate to. my original posts are mostly art or rambles

last thing I googled: lamellar armor (my younger brother was making a Pathfinder character and we saw it in the Ultimate Equipment guide and we were curious about where it originated in the real world)

other blogs: None! I’ve thought of making an ask blog in the past, but I knew I couldn’t keep up with it.

do I get asks: I do not. They’re open if you’d like to send them! I’d love to get asks!

why I chose my url: it’s just my name. I can’t ever decide on a username to stick with for more than like, a year and a half at most, so I just use my name because I know I’m not going to change it.

following: 213

followers: 73, and I’m really sad that I missed it when I had 69 followers, but I’m not complaining (that much).

instruments: I play guitar and harmonica! I’ve been playing guitar since I was in sixth grade, but I’m not as good at it as you’d think I am for having played that long... and I started harmonica a couple months ago so I’m about as good at that as you’d expect from a beginner. I also can’t go a day without singing, for better or for worse.

what I am wearing: my outfit today is probably the best I’ve worn in a long while! It’s a forest green button-up shirt that I got from a thrift store, overalls, a necklace with a bottle of craft store moss, a necklace with steampunk bug charms, and various rainbow bracelets. I’m also wearing a reversible cloak with the purpley-brown side out and the dark red side in, but I wasn’t wearing it for most of the day.

dream job: uhhh D&D bard? I don’t really want to have a job. I’m still looking for a more realistic career goal to pursue.

dream trip: KIRBY CAFE KIRBY CAFE KIRBY CAFE (but also I dream of being a full-time traveler)

favorite foods: sushi, the duck curry at this Thai restaurant my family likes, pizza, and just about any dessert but especially Cherry Garcia ice cream (that’s my favorite thing to eat). I also really like burritos, nachos, and various noodles, but I don’t really consider them favorites.

nationality: American. My family history pretty much just comes from various places in Europe, so basically I’m just really white. I’m also Jewish though, so there’s that I guess.

favorite song: I wonder why this question wasn’t listed up with the other music-related questions? Anyway, it’s definitely “I Was Born For This” from the game Journey, but a close second would be Itoki Hana’s version of Gourmet Race from the Kirby series. I can feel both songs deep in my soul...

last book I read: does fanfiction count? I don’t remember the last fanfiction I read either, though I suppose I could look it up. *checks AO3* ok it was a oneshot about Pikmin where Louie suffers the consequences of eating the Waterwraith :)

top 3 fictional universes: oh my gosh I’ve never really thought about this... Probably the Kirby universe, but I’m not sure what I’d put after that. Hmm.

And that’s all of them... I don’t like to tag people but feel free to do this if you’d like!

#tag meme #long post

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joshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh · 4 years ago

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Xenoblade X status update since I’m about 30-something hours in and haven’t detailed anything of my playthrough, granted some of those hours are just idling for revenue, but, yeah. Because this is a Wii U game I don’t have a capture button so enjoy the photos I took of my TV screen instead lol.

This is my uwu kawaii anime girl Cross, except she honestly looks really normal so, whatever. She’s supposed to be cute and like, a type of girl I’d be attracted to, because hey why not play as a babe, you know? And her name is Hope, since I like that name a lot. I know there’s already a character in-game called Hope, but I didn’t really care. Her appearance here is actually a tiny bit different from how she started out - she had freckles and her hair was a little more brown in-game than it looked in the character creator so when I got Yardley’s thing I fixed her hair, and also I just ended up not liking the freckles that much.

And then there’s her full outfit, I think it’s cute, and it’s funny how much it’s just ‘normal clothes’ in this crazy sci-fi setting where you’re fighting aliens and shit on a whole different planet. She’s been through a couple of outfits, most of them just the game’s various swimsuits, because they’re hot, but this outfit’s good because I value cute over hot and also if someone walks in on me playing as her dressed like this it’s way easier to justify myself than if she’s wearing a micro-bikini or something. Except this look’s hot anyway because hey modest is hottest or whatever, also jeans in this game on the female models are like pretty tight around the ass so, yeah. I have no issue being unapologetically horny in this post since the game’s really horny anyway. Also I had headgear turned off in settings but I turned it back on entirely so she could wear her glasses.

I have mostly been going for more casual looks with the fashion gear, though if they can look sorta sexy in the process then fuck yeah dude.

Taking Elma for example, I think this is a great look, again it looks practical enough as everyday casual clothing but it’s still hot because tank tops are hot and the tight jeans are hot and I chose really good colours for Elma specifically also cause hey she’s a babe also.

Lao’s the other character I took a photo of just because of what my party comp was when I decided to take these photos to make this post. Lao’s honestly pretty hot, and there are plenty of fanservicey male outfits in this game I could’ve given him, but I thought this looked so much funnier without breaking my casual looks rule. Outfit looks a lot darker in game and I think seeing all the serious Lao cutscenes while he’s dressed as a fuckin hikikomori with a stupid fade in his trousers is great.

Those 3 have had the most thought and effort put into their looks, I’m still on the fence about Lin’s outfit honestly, and then the tons of miscellaneous party members end up having pretty random shit. One standout though is Boze, right, cause I fuckin, hate that dude, maybe he gets better after more of his affinity missions are done but I’ve only done his first one and for now I hate him. But anyway I didn’t get a photo but I shoved him in a school uniform since it looked silly as well as the bunny whiskers thing because I can’t stand listening to him speak as like, a person, and I think the bunny whiskers completely remove my ability to take him seriously, which is epic.

Outside of what I’ve been doing with character outfits and shit, my general approach to the game has been to do as much as I possibly can as early as I can. So I think in my first playthrough however many years ago I probably just did random shit and then story chapters whenever, which meant when I returned to some of the earlier missions I was overlevelled as hell. I’m avoiding that here though because I’ve just been like, I’ll do every quest and affinity mission I can find and do before the next story chapter, and then once I’ve done all those, I’ll do the story chapter, and then rinse and repeat. I’m level 28 and have done the first 6 chapters, and I believe I’ve done every affinity mission available with those parameters. I’ve also been trying for heart-to-hearts as well, which I literally didn’t know were in this game until a few weeks ago when I put Enel’s playthrough on in the background as I did other stuff. No real rush with heart-to-hearts though since I believe Lao’s are the only ones that are missable, so I’ll try and be sure to get all of those before he disappears on us.

Speaking of Lao, yeah this game’s main plot is still pretty trash, but I think the character writing for all of the side content (which itself is all really fun to do, especially compared to what 1 and 2 had on offer) is generally really solid. Since I opened with Lao there I guess like, I’m feeling his personality a lot, he’s a super likeable and tragic dude, and maybe me having the knowledge that he’s the traitor already is playing into that appreciation some. I think Elma’s a really boring character who just gets hyped up by everyone in the universe of the game as being a big deal, and that’s kinda lame. If she’s this game’s true protagonist, which she is, then she’s far and away the weakest Xenoblade protagonist, doesn’t hold a candle to Shulk or Rex. Lin’s cute, she’s a fun character, lots of the comedy with her and Tatsu is insufferable, Tatsu in general is insufferable, you know the drill.

All of the bonus recruitable characters who I’ve still mostly just done their first affinity missions for are generally really fun, they cover a lot of different character archetypes and it’s easy to appreciate much of the writing, they add to the world in nice ways.

And then even just some of the normal quests fuckin, can hit hard dude. I just did the Biahno Water Purification Plant quest and that one’s heavy, but I really love it a lot. I got the good ending in that one by the way by telling the girl not to shower, so now I feel epic. It’s also a really nice feeling taking part in the missions that add more xenos to NLA and unlock new merchants and shit, makes the world feel really alive and populated and it’s satisfying as fuck seeing that bio and cultural diversity shoot up. And it’s all constantly unlocking new shit too so there’s just an endless feeling loop of satisfying narratives that do honestly make up for the lacklustre main narrative.

And then since I mentioned the world there, I love exploring Mira so fucking much. It feels like such a carefully crafted and fully realised world - nothing about the aesthetic design even screams “video game” - it’s instead just completely immersive and enticing in literally every corner. And fuck it’s so god damn beautiful too, whether you’re speeding through it in a skell or stopping to take in the sights the world always just fuckin, it’s stunning, it’s so great to be in it.

Gameplay wise, you can see the dual swords in that first photo, I’ve went for the dual swords dual gun class I forget the name of at the moment. Currently in the last class tree of that lineup. It’s a really fast-paced and fun style that leads to lengthy and powerful overdrives and I’ve been having way more fun with overdrives than I did on my initial playthrough because of that.

Now with 1 and 2 I was kinda done with those games after their new game plus and I didn’t really grind to beat superbosses or anything, but I’m not really sure what my endgame for X is gonna be. I could honestly try and max my character to some degree, go kill Telethia or whatever. After I max the dual sword/gun style I could start switching things up and aim for full weapon mastery, who knows. I believe on my however many years old file, I was drifter for a while because the game’s bad at teaching you shit so I didn’t change classes for ages, but when I did I just stuck with the longsword and assault rifle class for basically the entire game, and I switched to the fuckin, psygun and other sword thingy at some point just because they looked cool.

Certainly I think I understand the game to a much better degree now and my experience with 1 and 2 as well has made this game’s mechanics a lot easier to grapple with, so I probably could go for an at least somewhat maxed character. We’ll see. Gameplay’s fun as fuck though, even though I acknowledged in my 2 review that the gameplay speeds up it still feels so great going back to this game where I can, I dunno, actually run and jump around in combat, and use more than 3 arts, all that fun stuff. X’s combat’s so flashy and intense and it’s so fucking god damn fun, the sort of character build I’ve gone with has that one skill that multiplies melee art damage from behind so I’ve been using that in combination with melee arts to be doing fucking shit tons of damage and that’s really satisfying, I know I could try an infinite overdrive build or something but for now this is how I want to play the game so, yeah.

I don’t think I was looking forward to getting a skell this time as much as I was when I first played the game. I was hyped to have it for the movement, and yeah I’ve got a couple of otherwise really hard to reach probes because of it, it’s great speeding around the map and stuff. But while on my first playthrough there was a lot of intrigue for me in the mystery of how skells would play, when you already know how they are, the novelty wears off a bit. And actually, maybe it’s because I’ve still only got the one level 20 skell with only a couple of weapons, but these things are a lot worse in combat than I remember. They don’t do nearly enough damage to justify the insane cooldowns on everything, and the couple of skell fights I did were way less fun than most of the melee battles.

God what else is a thing I can say about this game. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong to have so little research probes but my revenue is ass because of it, meanwhile my mining is more intense than my storage so that’s been a bit of an issue. FrontierNav is honestly a really weird system - it’s obviously extremely rewarding to do in that you get money, miranium, a fast travel point, useful info, all that fun stuff. But then idk there are like battle effect probes and shit that can go on, and some other stuff maybe. I don’t know why I even called it weird actually I think it’s kinda fun. Oh well, it’s 3am. I stopped playing the game for today like 3 hours ago but I’m only now writing this post so.

I guess the last thing worth saying is what I’m currently doing in the game. And uh, all I’m doing is a couple of quests for some NPCs. I’ve got Oblivia Trailblazing on and I’m having shit luck finding those fucking worms, I know where to go for them and I’ve got 3 but despite the fact that they’re apparently common I’m just not fucking getting any. I really love that you can use squad tickets to get enemy parts, that cuts out annoying grinding, but I wish you could use them for collectables as well, presumably with the criteria that they have to be registered in the collectopedia first so you can’t cheese that. But like wandering around for collectibles really sucks and the mission descriptions will always say “oh find X of this in Primordia” when they really mean “in this one tiny specific area of Primordia that we won’t indicate to you” so you kinda have to consult a guide and that’s lame. Just fuckin, let us buy collectibles or let us track them directly, the current system is ass. But hey, that’s room for improvement if X gets a Switch port??? Time will tell.

Uh, yeah. Going to sleep now.

#xenoblade #12.8.20

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thenonbinarydetective · 5 years ago

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MID Overview/Review

Ok so I redid it because tumblr broke the first one. Luckily, it gave me the oppurtunity to fix some of my grammar/spelling mistakes.

It’s actually even longer than before.

I’m thorough what can I say?

besides please read this it took a while.

· On the menu’s Extra Section there’s a trailer for Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (2019). A movie that came out way before this game which is kinda funny

· The movement is a little janky, to put it in professional terms, it’s a little fast and jumpy. It took a bit to get used to the navigation.

· The problem with the movement really jumps out in the end in the tunnels. I could barely get my cursor around the Hardy Boys or even Mei.

· Also in the tunnels, if I went slightly off trail the game would FREAK out. I wanted to look around the tunnels and maybe get a bad end but our Sleuths but I couldn’t look around without being yelled at.

· This happens in other mini games and puzzles, whenever you mess up the characters make a snarky remark in your direction. Every. Single. Time. It would be funnier if it was only on a few occasions but it was every time I “messed up”.

· The graphics were obviously terrible. They also were variable…Somethings looked kinda okay and somethings looked awful. Like the quality changed from time to time. Sometimes even in the same frames. Frank, graphically, looks better than some of the other characters. When he and Joe stood next to each other, they almost looked like they didn’t belong in the same game. This goes for some of the other characters too.

· I don’t get why Frank was always in that pose? Everyone else stood awkwardly but admittedly it was a bit more normal. They stood with their hands towards their hips like how people typically do. Although there was a few times where people just grabbed their wrists for no reason.

· As someone who loves mythology and folklore (and pretty much anything that can be tied to into those) it was really cool to see the Malleus Maleficarum or The Hammer of Witches in the game. I wish it actually had more use in the game and maybe helped in some way. I know the book did some terrible things but it is an interesting read. As I do own a copy of it.

· Also my birthdate was used on the puzzle. Which was cool. It’s fun to be born on special dates. Except my birthday isn’t part of the solution but that’s okay.

· There’s a couple times where Nancy(and Frank) starts talking about clues or reading things out loud before I got the chance to look at them which was super annoying.

· The game crashed multiple times while playing

· The closer look at the clues was nice but was only okayish for me. It didn’t always work that well. Besides I’ve seen other games with the same function that worked smoother.

· I’m not a big fan of the new chat format. I prefer the old way. In this new format a lot of the dialogue options were getting cut off or the option didn’t fully describe what Nancy was going to say so I didn’t know what I was choosing.

· The text boxes were a bit buggy and there were times I couldn’t click on some of the dialogue options.

· The cutscenes were slow and the game had WAY too much talking. There was more talking than gameplay. The game was honestly just walking and talking

· I liked the text messages, they were fun and cute but they didn’t add much to the gameplay

· Lots of objects were clipping into each other

· Loading screens were always glitch

· The audio was off a lot of times. There were times when I could barely hear the characters over the background music or ambience sound. In Austria, I called Ned and Carson and I wouldn’t have even known they were speaking if not for the subtitles. Even after lowering the music and ambience sounds specifically and I still had this issue.

· Also Ned’s voicemail has changed. Did he make up with his sister?

· There were a lot of spelling and grammar mistakes. Almost every other written thing (books, pamphlets, and notes) had some kind of mistake. Hotchkiss’ book is one example.

· There were times when the pop-up text box was harder to read than the written thing. Not all the paragraphs were spaced out far enough in the boxes but were fine on the written thing.

· No “Can’t check that off yet.” The Checklist was unusable by the player. Unlike every other game. It did it automatically which wasn’t fun. I liked using the checklist.

· The game was so linear that I couldn’t really look around or do my own thing. When one thing was down you were immediately shuffled to the next thing. It basically made the checklist unnecessary.

· Terrible Animation. People moved for no reason. Just stuck in the same cyclical animation over and over and over again. They were pretty janky and awkward. Joe was the worst for me, he was constantly twitching on the screen. Frank was stock-still in comparison. No one else was that bad.

· Many of the mouth movements did not remotely match what the characters were saying. Sometimes nonexistent.

· Everyone’s EYES ARE SO WIDE. IT’S LIKE THEY DON’T HAVE EYELIDS. THEY’RE SO OPEN.

· The Parry’s curtains glitch in the sink. There’s a few plants that look weird, they had a neon glow on them. Olivia’s hands are always clipping through her robe and hair. In Moosham Castle there is a thing that’s inside a table. Both the Hardy Boys’ feet (and maybe other characters) were entirely in the ground at times. There were plenty of other problems like that.

· If I looked around a certain way while everyone’s talking at the Parry kitchen table Frank’s entire body disappears with the exception of his neck and watch.

· Some of the windows had a view of the town outside but other windows have this shine that you can’t see through.

· I’m not thrilled about the bystanders. Only the protest guy really helped. Over all they didn’t add to the game or help me at all.

· Dr. Hirst’s silhouette was kinda weird

· Also why did the game start in Austria??? That’s just weird? I thought we were just gonna start with Deirdre calling us but whatever

· I really hate the needless and honestly misplaced drama. Why couldn’t we talk to Ned and why haven’t we talked to Ned. It really pissed me off. Why would you put this directly after Ned’s whole “I Love and Support- This Could Basically Be a Proposal” Speech in Sea of Darkness? It’s just super off

· Not to mention the fact that the “Francy” moments in this game felt super forced. I don’t like what it does to their characters too. It feels like Ned isn’t trusting Nancy, which is crazy because he trusts her with his life. Frank is the more awkward Hardy Brother but that was ramped all the way up. Also Nancy completely ignoring Ned? What? They don’t feel like themselves here. It’s just off. This tone should’ve been brought in so soon, chronologically, after SEA. It’s out of place.

· Who was the female voice that was in the phone call with Ned? That was never answered. Was that a drama plot that was unfinished? Why not take it out of the game if you’re never going to resolve it? Why start an unnecessary relationship drama that’s both half-assed and unfinished?

· It’s kinda weird how in the end Nancy leaves the Parry house and calls Ned and we can hear her side of the conversation but not his. She’s just talking to herself.

· The phone friends were basically useless. If it wasn’t for the flashlight and the checklist I would say that Nancy didn’t even need her phone. And I guess talking to Damian Faulkner. 95% of the calls I made just went to voicemail. I want to chat about the case, talk to my friends, and get hints like we used to. I didn’t even know we could call Dr.Hirst about the ergot poisoning. I only found out on accident. I don’t know how many conversations I missed. Calling people used to feel important but here it doesn’t even need to be in the game it’s so useless.

· Just because this bugs me I don’t like the Hardy Boys starting their own detective agency. They began their work by working for their Dad. Who is a private investigator/private detective. Who runs a Detective Agency. Why would they start their own?? If you’re gonna make this a family business why not make it a family business? Right?

· May February, 1692 was an actual date they used. I think it was supposed to be February and they changed it to May. Earlier in the same note they used May so I’m guessing they didn’t properly finish the rest of the note.

· The lockpick game was visually glitch for me and the game itself didn’t work that great for me

· Joe’s hair makes him look like a fake blond lol. There are parts of his head (by the nape of his neck for example) that have brown hairs. Also some parts of his hair didn’t load properly on occasion and underneath was brown. Did he dye it?

· Which brings me to my next point. The hair was animated horribly. Frank and any of the other short and simple haired characters were okay. But probably only because they had short and simple hair. The longer haired characters were not as well animated.

· I randomly got double the Johnny Cakes when I made them. So Teegan and Olivia got extra.

· I will admit that making the Johnny cakes wasn’t the worst cooking minigame we’ve had in the games before.

· Frank getting the Frankenstein ones were a little obvious. It also didn’t feel as personal as the other ones oddly enough. We had a fun little dialogue about the design with everyone but Frank. He just got some cringey “I’ll eat these right away” kind of dialogue.

· I wish the truth serum was actually useful. Solving Tituba’s poem and going a bit out of the way to get the ingredients led me to believe it would be used for more than some “fun” dialogue choices. Joe and Deirdre are the only ones to use it. Which leads to some cute moments in which Deirdre admits she actually kinda likes and admires Nancy. I love her. Joe says he always tells the truth (no) so he doesn’t know how to tell if it works. I love him.

· Maybe it’s just me or the audio was off but Carson sounded different in Austria than he did in Salem.

· The use of the ergot poisoning was kinda of awesome. It’s one of the most popular theories on why Salem went bonkers and it was interesting to see it used to trick our favorite sleuths.

· The note to save Deirdre didn’t appear when I clicked on it. Frank (and I think Joe) reacted to it but it didn’t let me examine it. The bug fixed itself by closing the examination and clicking on it again.

· I love how the “ghosts” were handled. Especially them being hallucinations. My favorite was in the cemetery with the Hardy Boys and Olivia. The screen got kinda weird and everyone started to get worked up and really tense. They started fighting and you could see Abigail before they did. The build up to it was fantastic. The other scenes were cool too.

· The tunnels where the “ghosts” jumped out at every wrong (and sometimes right) turns while you’re desperately trying to escape the tunnels with Mei was pretty awesome. One of the jumpscares even got me.

· THERE WAS NO ENDING LETTER. She wrote a letter to Ned in the beginning but she never wrote a second one. Sure we sorta got to see how everything turned out at the party but it’s not the same. It doesn’t feel properly ended.

· I lowkey ship Jason and Mei. I could totally picture the two of them making out in those hidden tunnel rooms beneath Salem. Not just because I would too. This easily could’ve been another unfulfilled romance sideplot.

· Some of the books/notes really didn’t feel that helpful. I did learn some new things about Salem but I don’t feel we used the knowledge we gained properly in the game.

· The Jack O Lanterns were fun.

· The parallels between the Judges of the Witch Trials and Judge Danforth was a pretty interesting plot point. There definitely is a difference between accusing witches and accusing someone of arson when they were 9.

· Teegan’s guilt for both the shed and Hathorne house was something I didn’t really expect. It was a good plot twist. I can see how it was hinted earlier on by Lauren who says “Teegan likes to protect what’s important to her, sometimes that’s Mei.” Sometimes being the key word.

· The Hardy Boys being home-made ghost hunters was hysterical and adorable. I want them to have their own games soooo badly.

· I am completely on Joe’s side that we can’t prove that ghosts don’t exists, even if we can’t prove they do exist.

· I knew Alicia was the bad guy the second she started shit-talking Ned without knowing him. Only bad people don’t like Ned. He would never force Nancy to become a housewife, that’s not who she is and he loves her for who she is.

· I did “OK Boomer” Judge Danforth. He deserved it.

· I loved the little tidbits that we got of Frances’ and Lauren’s relationship we got to hear about. It’s really sweet.

· The comparison of Jason being a fast food cheeseburger with extra extra extra cheese and Ned being a home-cooked meal is perfect. Home-cooked meal is a great way to describe Ned.

· Either way they’re both snacks.

· Ok Jason’s ugly in these graphics but it was implied he was supposed to be hot.

· Jason could’ve been a true himbo but unfortunately he wasn’t

· TBH Ned, Carson, and Damian were the most attractive characters in the game. Only because they weren’t subjected to these graphics.

· I loved the Ghost Wavelength Spectral Analyzer 2.5 the Joe Hardy Guide to Amazing Finds but I hate the spectral analyzer itself. That mini-game was the WORST. It took forever!

· Alicia was straight up just gonna kill everyone. I’m doubting her biology knowledge.

· Also if you wanna raise kids in a more “modern” environment just freaking move. I know there was money in that real estate deal but there’s real estate in other towns.

· I love Deirdre. She’s really funny and kinda sweet. Even though she likes Ned (and maybe Nancy too lol) she doesn’t try to break them up or get between them. At least not anymore. She knows how much Ned loves Nancy. She even gave Nancy relationship advice. Which Nancy desperately needs because she terrible at this.

· This is just me but I kinda wish Nancy had an original idea for their vacation instead of just going back to Austria. Maybe let Ned pick this time because he’s the one who has to play catch up all the time and it’s only fair.

· Carson’s an adorable dorky dad and the only rich white man I trust. I’ve said it in my tweets and I will say it until I die. No one can take that away from me.

· This may be repetitive but I don’t like what this game did to Ned, Frank, and I guess even Nancy too. Ned knows about Frank’s feelings for Nancy. And now needless, useless, meaningless drama is gonna happen. I hate it I hate it I HATE IT!

· Just the relationship drama didn’t add a thing to this game. It was stupid. Especially because it was unfinished. It should’ve just been taken out.

· Joe looks 13 and way to skinny. He’s the brawn to Frank’s brain. Yes, he’s smart too and Frank isn’t weak. However, Joe is way stronger than him. If there has to be a scrawnier Hardy Boy, it’s Frank and we all know it.

· To quote Joe he’s got Man Strength™.

· Cause “Boy” is only part of the title, but Hardy Men doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.

· At times it feels like that the creators forget that Joe’s supposed to be smart too. There were times where it felt like they made him a total idiot. Though that could be personal too.

· Frank being a total Captain Obvious, perfect.

· They’re both puppies that got turned into human boys. Frank is just a calmer puppy

· Love that Mei’s going to Waverly but some of the other references fell flat. The Cat thing and the “I only smoke when I’m on fire” thing. It’s just not the same.

· Jason deserves the Not-As-Much-of-a-Jerk-as-You-Could-Have-Been Award.

· Mei’s a sweetie when she finally lets you in.

· The multiple endings seemed to have changed from different culprits to just what happens to Hathorne House and/or Teegan (I think). They seem to be pretty much the same. I did expect that as that has often been my experience with “multiple endings” games.

· I’m glad that both the Accused Witches and Lauren can get the house. It seems right for that to happen.

· Olivia’s pretty funny. I have a thing for eccentric characters. And it was funny how she tried to induct us into the coven at the end.

· The red/ginger hair superstition is a real superstition and I’m glad it was used. It’s for witches, werewolves, and vampires. Not just that gingers have no souls. (from the Malleus Maleficarum)

· If there is another game, I hope it’s the Nedcy vacation. And that we actually get to see Ned lol. I don’t get why he has never made an in-game appearance. It’s a little unfair at this point.

· Considering Emerson College is 39 minutes away from Salem and we still didn’t get him, I doubt it. Even though they mentioned both Salem and kidnapping Ned in Labyrinth of Lies.

· Also that the next one feels more like a Nancy Drew game.

· There’s no puzzles and there’s so much changed that it doesn’t have the same feel to it.

· This doesn’t feel like it took 4 ½ years to make. It feels like it took less than ½ a year. I can tell that things have changed because pretty much all the people who worked on it originally got fired. And that the Austrian game development company that took over everything (besides licensing) struggled to match the quality of the previous games.

· It definitely wasn’t beta-tested or was barely beta-tested. Quite a few beta-testers have come forward to say they didn’t get the offer to beta-test until September of this year. A month before preorder. Yikes.

· I know I got a little mean for some of the points but coddling the company by just saying positive things doesn’t help. They’ll get comfortable and give the fans worse things than this. I’m not an expert but I’ve played and learned enough games that I know some basics about how they’re made. It’s not easy but that doesn’t mean we should excuse things because of it.

· There’s been a lot of controversy with HER and Penny and this game and probably more. I’m not gonna get more into that besides mentioning that things changed because of this and not for the better.

· I probably missed somethings but whatever this is over 3000 words. I covered the basics and then some.

· This game is just a 2.5/5 for me

#nancy drew #mid spoilers #midnight in salem #ned nickerson #nancy drew games #herinteractive #frank hardy #joe hardy #the hardy boys #the hardy brothers #mei parry #teegan parry #olivia ravencroft #lauren holt #judge danforth #jason danforth #alicia cole #deirdre shannon #carson drew

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felassanis · 6 years ago

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Everything I love about Assassin’s Creed

1. Ezio da la la la

2. If you idle for long enough in Odyssey Ikaros comes and lands on Alexios’s/Kassandra’s arm and then alexios/Kassandra will greet him.

3. Edward’s outfit is by far my favourite Assassin robe. It looks so fooking cool.

4. Alkibiades

5. The first mission in Assassin’s Creed III. Finding the temple and it coming alive with all the lights and the humming was so fucking cool and the theatre with Haytham was such a good way to start the game, I loved the environment that went with the theatre and the parkour was really good too, everything was good even though I had no idea why we were there in the first place lol.

6. SHAUN HASTINGS

7. Edward’s tattoos being the only reason why I go whaling in AC:Black flag

8. The dynamic between Jacob and Evie, I’ve always wanted a twin duo in a game and Jacob and Evie Frye were awesome and y’all keep sleeping on them.

9. The different colour schemes in Assassin’s Creed 2 for the different cities gave the locations their own feel and vibe and it differentiated them from each other while also ensuring that the landscapes were utterly gorgeous. For example, Venice had cooler colours, very blue and silver while Florence was warmer, with more orange and brown thrown into the mix. It really gave those maps their own identity and it was great.

10. All of Lineage. all of it, it was flipping fantastic and I know it’s not a game but it was brilliant and the other Assassin’s Creed movie will never top it despite Michael Fasbender being in it.

11. That cutscene in Black Flag where Blackbeard lights his beard on fire, I love that historical accuracy because it was very likely true and it’s so SO bad-fucking-ass

12. Alkibiades

13. How quickly I fell in love with Frederico Auditore despite the fella only having about 5 lines.

14. Also just how quickly I came to love the Auditore family, that was how well written they were, that I fell in love after 30 minutes with them.

15. LEONARDO DA VINCI

16. Desmond Miles’s snark.

17. ‘Hey whatta matta with you altair,’

18. SHAUN HASTINGS

19. How buffy Kassandra is

20. The hookblade was actually amazing in Revelations and I’m in full support that it shouldbe brought back. The noise it made was also oddly satisfying too?

21. The Glyphs in AC2 were spooky and ominous and I refused to do the last mission until I had found all of them and uncovered the Truth. Because that entire side quest was full of anticipation and the creepy vibe the Glyphs gave off and how the footage of Adam and Eve was cut up and glitchy was just really interesting and it peaked with a climax.

22. LEONARDO DA VINCI

23. The golden beads in Alexios’s hair.

24. And Alexios just being an overall gorgeous human being who’s face was chiselled by the gods.

25. The flying machine mission in AC2 while really aggravating if you didn’t do it the first time was also really fun and getting to see Leonardo all giddy and happy made it worth it.

26. I don’t know if it’s just me? but Connor’s hair? like I know for a fact that I like men with long hair but something about his hair and the feather intertwined into it was just really appealing? and while I know why Connor shaved his hair I couldn’t help but screech when he did lmao but that’s because it’s obviously not my tradition and it’s abnormal to me. pfft

27. Revelations is one of the best AC games and I’ll fight anyone on this. It was phenomenal given how it finally concluded Ezio’s story (and remember Ezio was the face of the franchise for years and he was fan favourite and still is so there were some pressure and expectations) and how it also concluded Altair’s story.

28. Altair wasn’t that interesting in the original game but Revelations added depth and layers to his characters and made him way more intriguing. The game also gave this character important significance to the lore and I think that’s the perfect way to honour the guy who started it all. As much as we love Ezio, Altair came before and without him, Assassin’s Creed wouldn’t quite be the way it was today. (although it’s up to you if that’s a bad thing or not lmao)

29. And seeing Ezio old and matured, becoming this wise legend of a man was really cool and getting to play as him in his final journey was both heartbreaking but satisfactory.

30. I have to give a massive applause to Ubisoft for making Leonardo gay as well in Brotherhood prominently. I don’t think it was ever proven historically if he was? but it was rumoured? and yet Ubisoft went and made it canon giving that representation while also having Ezio outright say he’s okay with Leonardo dating men?! Like, in that time period if you were gay you could go to prison and the general view of homosexuality was that of disgust and yet Ezio is just here supporting his best friend? hell yes.

31. ALKIBIADES

32. I have certain feelings with Unity, but I won’t lie that the parkour was spot on in that game.

33. Gideon Emery....just Gideon Emery as Reginald Birch. The character’s a massive prick but god...that voice.

34. Connor mentioning his grandfather Edward as he’s sailing the Aquila.

35. Getting to see the wreck of the Jackdaw in Assassin’s Creed Freedom Cry was gut-wrenching.

36. Finally getting to pet animals in ACIII.

37. Finally getting to feed pigs in a video game ^^

38. SHAUN HASTINGS

39. OKay, I like Shaun because the guy is really entertaining and he’s British like me and I need to see this fucker in future games again...because after Syndicate he just vanishes and we got...Fucking Layla ugh.

40. The Naval combat in Black Flag is unmatched, fighting other ships never felt like a chore and it was fun and thrilling and the rewards felt deserving. And the feeling of taking down your first Man’o War is RIVETING.

41. Rebecca calling the Animus ‘Baby’

42. She’s another character I want to see come back. And she and Shaun better come back and be alive.

43. Lucy being a Templar was a plot twist I never saw coming but I was all for that angst especially when it seemed like they were setting up what I thought was the inevitable Desmond x Lucy romance. But I guessed wrong.

44. Yusuf Tazim being the joy and light of Revelations. fuck you Ubisoft

45. Ezio’s family theme song is the most iconic video game songs ever.

46. The introduction of Alkibiades in Odyssey, what a great way to introduce a character. like seriously, I fell in love with that fucker the moment he started speaking and felt up Kassandra’s arms while being half naked and wasted.

47. Bayek being a breath of fresh air in wonderfully written complex characters whose story was powerful and tragic. He needs a sequel.

48. Assassins Creed Brotherhood’s trailer being iconic.

49. When returning to Florence to retrieve the apple and you bring Ezio back to his old home only to see the ghosts of his entire family waiting for him. I was gobsmacked when that happened and it’s such a beautiful detail.

50. Mary Read/James Kidd being one of the best characters in Black Flag and leader in the ‘did not deserve it’ club. Every minute of her was flipping terrific and her significance in Edward’s story as one of the driving points that turned him into a better man was great.

51. I cried at the end of Black Flag.

52. The little text about Shaun sobbing when you look at the database on Desmond the dog in Syndicate.

53. The lip scar being shared between Desmond, Ezio and Altair was a cool detail.

54. The interchangeable cloaks in ACII.

55. Henry Green was so soft, kind and lovely and I honestly adore him.

56. Cane swords in Syndicate WERE AWESOME

57. NO fall damage in Odyssey. Keep this feature I don’t care how impossible it is for me to survive a jump off of a giant statue of a naked god it’s cool and I want it for every other game about to be released.

58. If you walk through grass in Origins Bayek sticks his hand out like that scene in Gladiator.

59. The scene in ACII Where Ezio uncovers his father’s robes from the chest and holds it up, It’s an incredible scene and the music fits so well with it and if you’ve watched Lineage it’s all the more amazing.

60. Rosa being pretty and terrifying in ACII.

61. The Bleeding effect being that other thing in lore that is SO BLOODY INTRIGUING and I wish it was explored a bit more. Can you actually imagine having the bleeding effect? where you can’t tell the past and the present apart? where you see ghosts from the past and hear voices no one else hears? jesus,..

62. getting answers about Clay/Subject 16. Ever since he left that writing in the wall with his own blood I was hooked on his story and thank god we got answers and a face to the legendary name. I wouldn’t mind more of him though.

63. I’ve always been fascinated with Native Americans and finally getting to explore them a bit more in ACIII proved to be interesting and I hope it was satisfactory representation for Native Americans.

64. finally getting to play in the present day in assassin’s creed brotherhood and 3, like actually getting to run around and explore as Desmond.

(I did a post like this on my old blog and I’ve rewrote them on here but I also got some new things, I just like having a post like this on my blog and I like seeing people who also agree with these brilliant features in this franchise, you can pretty much tell which two games are my favourite lol, Black Flag and 2 will always have a special place in my heart,)

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anistarrose · 6 years ago

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Galar Region Map Analysis -Placing the trailer scenes

Let’s start with this segment, since it includes the apparent starting town:

The yellow-roofed house appears to be where the protagonist lives, and the red-roofed house seems to have the Fletchling weathervane from the intro of the trailer. It’s hard to see on the house itself on the map, but the windmill in the background provides another hint.

Fletchling in a beginning of the game cutscene? Kalos postgame confirmed

Putting the rest of the pictures under a cut, because it’s long.

Next, we have Route 1 and the town that it leads to. We can tell the Pikachu encounter is on that same route since the buildings in the background match (though who knows if there will actually be Pikachu on that route in the actual game).

Just beyond that first town is the purple house on the lake, with a small battlefield outside. There’s also a smaller house/shed across the lake that isn’t on the map.

This is just speculation, but I wonder if this is the professor’s lab. Another scene in the trailer shows the female protag in a very lab-like building, full of bookshelves, computers, and some sort of controlled environment, and then immediately cuts to right outside the purple house.

So not confirmed to be the lab, but it wouldn’t surprise me. I also could see the lab being the Fletchling weathervane building right next to the protagonist’s house.

Leading out of the red building in the first town is a set of train tracks, which eventually lead into a tunnel through a mountain. There are other potential locations for this scene, but it seems likely that this could be where the scene inside the mine takes place, thanks to the train tracks present inside that cave.

Or on the other hand, you could simply take a train through the mountain, since the building the tracks lead out of does look like it could be a station.

There’s one last detail I noticed about this part of the map: the road leading away from the protag’s house branches off in two different directions, one leading to Route 1 and the other towards what appears to be a forest with fog floating over it.

That could be the same forest as this one, which we only glimpsed briefly in the trailer. The footage we have right now seems like it could come from a cutscene as we enter the area for the first time.

That’s everything of interest I can find for this section, so let’s move on to the next:

There’s some interesting stuff here, like the crumbling tower, the long bridge, and the red train station near the bottom that appears to match the station in the early town. Most prominent is the steampunk-looking city, which was featured in the starter reveal animation as well as several scenes in the trailer. Given how many cameos this town gets in the trailer, I’m guessing it’ll probably be the “mascot city” of Galar, much like Lumiose was for Kalos.

It looks like three different paths lead away from this city: one towards the brown mountains on the left, one towards the route in the middle of Galar with Stonehenge-like formations, and the last towards the green hills of the east. Both eventually reach towns that appear to have Gyms.

This one, with the yellow fields surrounding it, got a lot of screentime in the trailer:

Based off the leaf symbol above the gym door and the general aesthetic of the town, I think it’s safe to call this a Grass-type gym.

We see this hill nearby the Grass gym town, which appears to depict a bipedal figure launching an attack. The town has a lot of Stonehenge-like rocks assembled into arches (seen in the map) and engraved with symbols (seen in the trailer), so it’ll probably have some plot importance.

This one didn’t get any shots in the trailer that I noticed, but between the color of the gym building and the apparent port theme of the town, I think it’s most likely a Water gym. There’s some striped awnings in the bottom left corner of the town, which could indicate a sort of marketplace where items are sold or moves are tutored. The boat at the dock might be able to take you somewhere in the postgame, especially since with the UK flipped upside down, that port isn’t too far from where Ireland should be.

These places didn’t get any distinctly identifiable appearances in the trailer either, and if I had to guess, I’d say it’s because a lot of plot stuff starts going down around here. We can spot at least two gyms: likely rock or ground for the brown building in the mountainous area, and possibly Poison or Psychic for the purple building in the mushroom area. (Or maybe Fairy, but that would feel like a bit of a rehash of Laverre City to me. Plus, the color would probably be pink in that case.)

We can also spot a couple different caves (including another featuring train tracks, in the bottom right) as well as one in the rocky area that seems to be beneath some sort of colorful... mural? My first impression was stained glass, but I’m not sure how that would work. On the rightmost side of the rocky area, there are three arch-shaped structures, and I’m not sure if they’re meant to resemble doors, faces, or something else entirely.

The gray-walled city has an interesting two-horned emblem on the front, which could be based off a new Pokemon. Too bad it’s not that detailed in the map.

Here we have the start of an extensive snowy area, featuring ice floes and some fairly fancy looking buildings that we see in the trailer:

If we look in the back of the map, we can make out another one of those gym buildings, which I’m just going to assume is Ice.

The last section of the map features a long icy stretch where it looks like the train track is still being laid, possibly serving as a barrier to block us from progressing in that direction until we beat whatever gym. The city is pretty clearly based of London, and you can make out Big Ben and the London Eye on the left side.

That’s all I’ve noticed - tell me if I missed anything! I might do this again for future trailers, if people find this interesting.

#pokemon #pokemon direct #pokemon sword and shield #pokemon gen 8 #galar region #rosalia writes meta

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