#this game is so amazing idk how I haven't played it before!!

[teddybearsims]

im playing rdr2 for the first time rn so probably no sim posts from me for a bit bc its ALL I can think about ;-; <3

[mrfoox]

I... Hate that my mind is so solo/hyper focused in 90% of things I do/want to do

[billybob598]

Wanna Know Something? (Mary Earps x Reader)

Yoooooo, i posteddddd. I know, I haven't written anything in so long, my bad lol. Hopefully this makes up for it. Remember, any feedback good or bad is welcomed. Enjoy reading!

Word Count: 1.6k (wtfff idk how i did that ngl)

“Hey, good luck today,” you hear somebody whisper. Turning to look at the speaker you see Mary reaching out her fist towards you. You smile and bring her into a hug.

“Good luck querida,” (darling) you mumble into her ear. Mary places a soft and discreet onto your neck, your legs almost give out at the action. As you pull away you reach out to Leah who was ahead of both of you. She turns and gives a quick hug to you, her Arsenal teammate.

“Vamos Y/N,” Rafaelle says over her shoulder as the officials start to move forward. You quickly get back to your line and try to focus on the game ahead. 

Mary had been your girlfriend for almost a year now. You were the starting goalkeeper for Arsenal and Brazil. Sometimes, you couldn’t believe that Mary loved you, she was so amazing, so funny, so kind, one of the best people you knew for sure. Now, you were playing against each other in the Finalissima. This was a big match. Brazil was hungry to prove that they could compete against top European teams and this was a perfect opportunity. When the national anthems start to play you feel a sense of pride grow inside of your chest. Here you were, in front of a packed Wembley Stadium, playing against your girlfriend for a trophy. It doesn’t get much better than that. 

As you near the goal you’ll be protecting you do your pre-game traditions. Touch the left post first, then the right, then jump and touch the crossbar. After, you sprint to the edge of the 18-yard box, kneel, and say a quick prayer. Done. You mentally lock in for what you know will be a tough match.

At halftime, you’re frustrated. England had been controlling most of the ball, they had also gotten a few shots on target. You could do nothing more when Toone finished off a fantastic build-up by England in the twenty-third minute. All throughout Pia’s halftime talk you are planning a speech to the team. Just before you guys head back out, you stand in the middle of the locker room and start to speak,

“Listen, I know everyone out there is rooting against us, so let’s use that to our advantage. Let it fuel us, make us hungry to beat them. They came to see an England win, not a Brazil one. Let’s show them why we are Copa America champions!” This gets everybody fired up. You can sense the shift in the energy of the team, everyone is excited and motivated to prove themselves. The second half is a different story than the first. While England still controls most of the ball, your Brazilian team was creating more chances, being quicker on the counterattack, and finally starting to test Mary. As the game heads into stoppage time, you can feel your heart start to sink. You feel yourself start to lose hope. Then, out of nowhere, Mary bobbles the ball and Andressa jumps all over it, putting it in the back of the net. You scream, jumping up and down with excitement. Soon after that full-time is called. Taking a deep breath, you calm your nerves before the penalty shoot-out. Your goalkeeper coach reminds you of all of England’s penalty takers habits. 

After giving your teammates fist bumps and high fives, you make your way towards Mary and the ref who are already waiting for you. The ref runs through all the penalty rules for you guys. When she finishes speaking and leaves the two of you alone, you turn to Mary and with a smirk reach your fist to her. She grins at you and moves to fist bump you, only for you to dodge it at the last second. She shoves you with a playful smile tugging at her lips. You laugh, before starting the walk to the goal. 

England has the first penalty. You jump up and down on your goalline, doing jumping jacks trying to distract Stanway. As she takes her first step, you analyze her, deciding to dive to your right. It turns out to be the right decision, but you can’t quite get enough to push it out of the net. You groan as the ball ends up behind you. When Mary gets a hand on Adriana’s shot you hold your breath, only to release it as it rolls into the back of the net. When Ella Toone lines up to take the penalty you know where she is going. You dive to your left, reaching your hand out to block the ball. It bounces off your hand, and for a second you can’t believe it, you saved it. The ecstasy is short-lived however, as you watch the ball roll back towards the penalty spot your head smashes into something quite hard. The post. You black out immediately. Most of the fans groan at the missed penalty. Toone turns away and starts to make her way back to her team. Mary’s the first one to realize something is wrong when you don’t get back up right away. She runs over to you, turning you over to see your eyes closed and a massive gash on the side of your head. Panic overwhelms her body, she grabs a hold of your face trying to get you to wake up. Your Brazilian teammates rush over, all screaming for medics. Rafaelle reaches you and checks for a pulse. Everyone breathes a sigh of relief when she finds one. Some of your fellow Brazilians wince at the amount of blood coming out of your head.

“Come on baby, please wake up,” Mary begs to your limp body, “wake up for me please.”

The medics finally reach you, they wrap something around your head to try and stop the bleeding. Geyse takes your girlfriend’s arm and slowly moves her away from the situation. Mary feels tears start to sting her eyes as she watches the EMTs load you onto a stretcher and take you straight to an ambulance. Wembley breaks out in thunderous applause as you get taken away from the field. The backup goalie jogs onto the field while slipping on her gloves. Mary is conflicted, on one hand, she wants to go to the hospital with you and make sure you’re okay. On the other hand, she knows she can’t just bail and that she has to finish the rest of the shoot-out. She decides to stay on the field with the knowledge that she’s going to dedicate the last few penalties to you. 

Mary saves two of the last three and lets out a warrior yell when Kelly sinks her last penalty. She’s so happy and proud that she almost forgets about your condition. Almost. When she sees Rafaelle talking to Leah with a solemn look on her face she rushes over eager to see if your best friend had heard anything about you.

“So?” Mary looks at her expectantly.

“She’s still out, but she’s stable. So far everything is okay.” Mary breathes a sigh of relief at the news. 

“I’m gonna head there now,” the English goalkeeper decides, moving towards the locker rooms. Leah grabs her arm.

“We have to do the trophy lift,” her captain tells her. 

“Leah, come on, can’t I just go see her?” Mary asks.

“You can go right after, but you should be there for the trophy lift, at least.” Mary nods, sighing. During the celebrations, Mary is just going through the motions. She tries to hurry up the process so she can go see you. Finally, Leah gives her the go-ahead and she rushes to the hospital. When she reaches the hospital reception she’s panting heavily,

“I’m here for Y/N Y/L/N,” she says in between heavy breaths. The receptionist nods and shows her to your room. Mary slowly enters, confused when she hears the TV on. Fully opening the door, she’s met with you grinning at her with your arms spread wide.

“Congratulations! Finalissima winners, that’s pretty cool!” You say brightly. You cock your head to one side when your girlfriend doesn’t respond instead just staring at you. “You okay?” She doesn’t answer, opting to hug you. The air gets knocked out of you, but you hug back.

“Oh my God, Y/N. Y-You were bleeding and w-weren’t moving or an-anything,” she chokes out, tears streaming down her face. You kiss the top of her head gently.

“Don’t worry querida. I’m right here, see?” You gently whisper to her, tilting her head up so that her eyes meet yours. “I’m okay.”

“You’re okay,” she nods looking like she’s trying to convince herself. You nod and wipe the tears off of her cheeks delicately. You scoot over and pat the space beside you. She hesitates for a second before giving in and getting into the hospital bed with you. You guys cuddle as you watch the Lionesses celebrations on the TV. She can tell you’re starting to doze off so she whispers into your ear,

“We would’ve won even if you were in the net.” You smirk slightly.

“In your dreams Earps. We all know I would have saved at least one of those.” She rolls her eyes at your antics and kisses the top of your head,

“Just go to sleep, love.”

“Wanna know something?” Mary gives you a questioning look, prompting you to continue. “Metal posts are really, really hard. I would not recommend ramming your head into them. You might not feel great for a bit after.”

[the-modern-typewriter]

Hello this is a question that came about from watching the new Fallout TV show and a character named Maximus. He’s a relatively neutral character and his arc is very wonderful coming from a writer and big book reader but I noticed that the average viewer doesn’t understand his character and actually hates him… my question is as an author is it okay to make your story more digestible to people who lack perception since it’s the general audience for mainstream media and how do you do that without losing your story? Idk this was probably too complex and a stupid question 💔

Not a stupid question! There are no stupid questions.

Going to unpack this a bit though. (I haven't seen the show.) First some general points, but then some advice on balancing complexity in a story.

So. Some things to get out of the way:

You don't know what the average viewer is thinking. Just because their opinion on a character is different to yours, doesn't mean they lack perception. Do we sometimes have an issue with critical thinking in the modern age? Yes. But we also live in an age where people bring a vast array of different insights and experiences into the stories they read/watch. 99% of the time a story doesn't have just one right interpretation, especially if it is a more complex narrative.

You CAN try to write a story that is more digestible to a general audience, but if you do have concerns about the media literacy of the general population, focusing on providing unchallenging stories is not the fix to that. People learn through engaging with interesting work and having discussions about them - e.g. when they are given the opportunity to. Perception, like anything, is a skill trained with practice. No one's born with it. There's no inherent us/them that can't be changed.

Will you be happy and fulfilled as a writer writing stories that you feel are dumbed or watered down? I know I wouldn't end up writing the versions of stories that I want. Similarly, you probably won't then attract the readers/audience that most resonate with your ideas, because you don't give them the chance.

Generally speaking, people hate being talked down to. As a reader/lover of stories, if I thought a writer was talking down to me and thought I was an idiot who couldn't understand the themes/plot, I wouldn't want to have anything to do with their stuff. It's a horrible feeling, isn't it? It's like being written off before you even leave the gate.

Okay, now some advice: Amazing children's books are a great example of stories that are simplified to appeal and meet the audience where they are at, without losing the richness that makes them resonate and engage readers/audience. However, there are adult examples too. They share some qualities.

These often have:

Clear structure (there are a myriad story structures that you can use to make a story hit beats the reader expects and create a sense of satisfaction, while still giving you room to play.)

High concept story idea/plot (so, stories that can be explained/pitched in a line. E.g. children are forced to fight in televised death matches (Hunger Games), a famous author is imprisoned by a dangerous fan who doesn't approve of his new work (Misery), 'it's jaws in outer space!'). These stories have simple premises that often have wide-appeal, but the stories themselves can be complex.

Engaging main character(s) with a clear goal/agenda. They don't have to all be morally pure, but for an easy win, your character should be likeable/easy to root for. In a children's book, e.g. at the simplest level, these are often also high concept. (E.g. a mouse wants to be heard so is convinced it needs a lion's roar to be loved - The Lion Inside by Rachel Bright)

There are, of course, exceptions to every rule. Game of Thrones was phenomenally popular, for example, but I don't think it's an easy to sink into world/simple set of characters.

Watering down an existing story to fit a different target audience is often not going to lead you to write the best story. This is because it's like trying to fit a triangle into a circle, or make a banana bread into a savoury scone. However, there are plenty of stories with mass-appeal that offer readers a variety of different levels to engage with them, so it is very possible to write a brilliant story with mass appeal. But you work from the foundations up, not from the finished product down.

I hope this helps!

[happypotato48]

Century of Love EP 7-8 Unhinged Tangent Thoughts

I'm back from vacay and back to back doctor appointments, so this one a little bit late. anyways who ready for some DRAMA!

Yeah and i'm a descended of some ancient chinese emperor according to wikipedia it nothing special hunny.

This scene is the most lakorn thing ever. like he just hugging a crying woman and both Juu and Wee treated it like they just saw them made out or something.

Calm thy Titties Wee, and idk maybe talk to your man first before jumping to conclusion.

Stupid gay rock i know you like drama but come on man!

Daou is so freaking good in this EP man, he came a long way and i'm looking forward to more of him preferably with more other BL partners. look look, DaouOffroad are great and all but i need All the BL guys to kiss each other and not just limit us and themselves to this branded pair bullshit :P

My heart!!

Gaslight gatekeep girlboss. this lady is E-V-I-L-!

Ok fuck it i'm taking this man as my future husband number 2.

I loved that Grandma pointed out the risk of messing up the stone. but i also understand Wee very bad but understandable willingness to use it. cause she the only one whose been there for him all his life.

Grandma came through with the logic of using the stone on her body. this is such a great way to make Wee give up.

I knew this was coming but it still hurts nonetheless.

Why are you doing this to me show. cute flashback after the break up, you're so mean.

Tropey lakorn scene number 2.

I'm not bothered much by San giving the stone to Wad here cause he's a 100+ years old and very old fashion when it come to honor and other junk.

Now For EP 8.

Oh my. OH OH OH OH! my heart skipped a beat from how hot this man is in this get up.

Future husband number 3. What >.> i haven't date any one ever in my life and now i'm hungry for men!

He's moving on baby boy, just let him love you god damn it!

Ok i like to point out that the hugs game between these two had been top notch. cause yeah some other BL shows maybe did more with physical intimacy but hugging always been a weak spot in a lot of BLs.

*dead*

Bit on the nose but she's serving. no note this outfit is perfect for the villain revelation.

I loved her. this woman deserve her money, i already forgave her for all the angsts she put my boys through she's just that fun to watch.

And now i'm ordering pizza. product placements never works on me but random food, hmm. hell yeah i'm a pig.

Chu called her strawberry in thai btw. it's orginate from the word ตอแหล *Torlea which means liar or bullshitter. people just started using strawberry because the word sound alike.

Grandpa you're dying and you're still this horny? respect bro.

My baby you're so cute when you're terrified out of you mind.

พระเอกมาแว้ว!

EP 7 was so good ya'll buttttt yeah EP8 definitely felt rushed idk maybe this show would be better with 12 EPs so the conflict and separation could be more impactful. or maybe draw out the separation for 1 ep longer and have the resolution play out in the last two EPs. anyways the angsts maybe too short and not perfect but Daou and Offrode did an amazing jobs from what they've been given.

[jessjustplay]

Tales of Zestiria

October 20, 2024

Tales of Zestiria was released in NA on October 20, 2015 ✨ This was my first Tales Of game. I really like it AND I still think parts of it were not great, particularly: • the excessive and wordy tutorials • the battle system before you get free movement • the confusing equipment/ability stacking stuff

But the characters, skits, and story were amazing and the reason why I enjoyed the game so much. 🤍 Sorey is actually my favorite (guy) main character, he is so goofy, caring, and sweet. The party genuinely felt like a family which was great to see!

I think everyone should play this game, especially if you want to play Tales of Berseria. It's so important to play games ourselves to form our OWN opinion!

(I haven't watched the anime DVD yet so idk how that is. I don't have a physical copy of the game so that's why I included it. 😆✌️)

[erathene]

New fic idea: Modern Middle-Aged Man in Middle Earth.

His wife and kids have left him and he's alone, low self-esteem, mental health in the dumpster. Slumped on the sofa on a Sunday afternoon, surrounded by wrappers and empty crisp packets, TV on with the Netflix "are you still watching?" banner on the screen. On a nearby table are final demand letters and bills, an eviction notice, and a photo frame with two children at the beach.

Modern Man decides to have clear out; might as well before the bailiffs come and the eviction becomes real, less stuff to move out with etc. He comes across an old PlayStation 2 games console that belonged to his son. He decides fuck it, let's plug it into the TV and have a go.

Lord of the Rings: Return of the King has been left in the disk drive. The menu loads up. Modern Man grabs the controller and begins to play as Aragorn getting through the paths of the dead.

The console short-circuits and transports Modern Man to Middle Earth (yes I know I know it's basically Jumanji blahblabhlaja)

He encounters other male characters (maybe in Rohan but idk) and sees how they are men of honour, role models, fighters, doing their duty for their homeland

Cue the CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

He starts eating well, sparring in the training ground and working out. Many, many years of eating junk food and sitting at an office desk haven't done him any favours, but shit it's not like there's much else to do in a world where electricity and desk jobs are not a thhing.

He starts working through some of the Issues that he has avoided for years. Finds out that talking about them helps, a lot.

Figures out why his wife (who is called Penny) left him: he loved her but didn't regularly show it, kept his feelings bottled up, didn't open up to her, made her feel shut out. Reeealllyy want Boromir to help him figure this out, don't ask why. Already knew his missed his kids (called Charlotte and James btw) but now knows he really misses them, would trade anything to hug them one last time.

Participates in a battle. Isn't an amazing warrior but has had enough practice to hold his own. Has a few close calls. But keeps going and keeps going. He starts to tire; he's not invincible and there are so many enemies.

Eventually takes a fatal blow. 😭

Wakes up back in the Modern World.

Realises he's been given a second chance, gets his Shit Together. Hugs Charlotte and James as soon as he sees them (and probably doesn't let go for a while despite their cries of "Daaad, get off!") . Gets evicted but finds a better place to live, closer to his kids. Joins the gym. Makes up with Penny. Things are looking up.

The PlayStation 2 console is packed away..... For now.

There are some bits that are not entirely... original.. But idk, I would read it?? Maybe??? 🤔

[kitkat-the-muffin]

OH BOY I need some AIR after playing Cloutchase Vol 2!!!!

Time for the customary screenshot dump! Spoilers under the cut!

But first, some spoiler-free teases to further encourage you to play the game yourself first!

Aight here we go

Hrrrrrrrrrrrrgh I started with Amino and then had to wash it down with Discord cause oof the cringe flashbacks to middle school

They really went all out on the accuracy didn't they. It just like me fr (derogatory) (inaccurate)

We need to talk about this split second of dialogue btw- I caught it just in time oh my god WHAT- they should kiss I think

I played this with a friend actually and she gave Kik a Beetlejuice voice and it was amazing. My friend did all the voices actually and I did the narration and she was great and accurate it was a real fun experience. I've never even heard of Kik before this but she HAD and knew what to do XD

THE FREAKIN WARRIOR CATS ROLEPLAY. I know EXACTLY how it feels to be dragged into a WCRP when you've never read the books or know anything about the series, more middle school trauma for you there

Amino's route was positively perfect I have no notes I am going insane I am going feral I need therapy I need a monkey onesie-

Moving on, Muffy was in Discord's route! That was so neat to see! Also the crypto ending was so funny look at this:

We also need to talk about Twitter X. Just look at him

Amazing. Perfection. He is disgusted with us, as he should be

Ok in regards to actual Discord, I freakin love him. Again, I was playing this game with a friend, and she said his trans experience was so relatable to her. Then I spoke with another friend and he said the same thing. We all agree he's very gender looking, even tho two of us are femme XD

When we finished the Good Ending my friend said that Discord's feminine persona looked a lot more fake than initially thought now that we knew the truth, and that's honestly great character building. The maze was such an interesting way to get to know Discord better too, even if all the mythology reference were askew lol

I think both versions of Discord are incredibly cute and adorable but Masc Discord is my favorite cause he just looks so much more comfortable in his own skin if you know what I mean? Or maybe I'm just projecting idk

I've actually hit 12 photos already so idk why Tumblr wont stop me from adding more. Maybe it's different on desktop than mobile idk

Anyway I loved both routes and I wish I could gush about them more but I have a certain social experiment session in an hour (shoutout to the two people who actually read through my experiment tag) so I'll just leave it here

But gosh I loved these two they were amazing I want to play them again aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

LAST NOTE BUT THERE ARE ACTUALLY A PAIR OF CREEPY TWINS AT THE END OF THE SHINING HALLWAY BTW

Calling it now it's Thesaurus.com and Dictionary.com (two of MY ocs that I haven't even DESIGNED yet ffffffffffff now that Webtoon's done I guess that's my next project)

[dyingturn]

Au where an actor that acts for the best seller uhhh visual novel yttd has isekaid/transmigrated to the actual game. And now has to survive without tipping others off that they're not actually the character.

Alright, I really love actor aus, I haven't seen much on ao3 that is about yttd but I was just thinking, man, I would love to combine this with isekai/transmigration aus and here we are.

In the actors world, yttd was pretty popular. And having the opportunity to play as their favourite character is just like a dream come true. Seeing as how their character is just like them, personality and appearance wise, they just relate to them so much.

But while memorising the script from their trailer, before the shooting of their first scene. Their vision blurs and before they know it they just passed out.

And when they woke up, they saw a familiar place, the room that they were introduced to, to where their first scene would happen. The first trial room.

Okay, before anything, I haven't really figured out which character is actually gonna get isekaid so uhhh here are some thoughts

- they cannot remember their real name nor the names of the actors

- uhhh, I'll probably edit to add some here, idk

- it's only them who was isekaid there (but it would be interesting if there was someone else with them and just panicking because they have no idea if this character's actions became different because of their actions or its just someone like them

If its...

Actor! Sara: has read and played the visual novel. Has never met actor!Joe and they do rehearse sometimes. When they woke up in the game, they figured where they were and thought for a moment (huh, those lines seems similar-- it's the lines from the game!) And acted their lines word per word. And as they walk around they noticed the lack of cameras, the director's yell of cut or just the overall setting. Their motive of playing their role to avoid suspicion is mostly because of Joe.

Actor!kanna: has only read the script, they know about their character from the description of it from the directors but they have not read/played the visual game. When meeting actor!kugie they immediately became friends, often media described them to be sisters-- even acted on a movie. So So they realized they have a role as sisters in yttd series, they often rehearsed their lines. Waking up in the first trial, a!kanna were traumatised. They thought it was just scene, but halfway through they noticed the lack of cameras and immediately went to action and tried to help kugie. But it was too late. Their motives of playing their role is mostly due to them being terrified and not knowing what else to do.

Actor!reko: has played the game and read the script. They haven't met any of the actors, but they have heard of actor! Alice, since they have been watching some of his movies. (She thinks the game was neat, it had some banger of sound tracks too) I have no clue what reko's first trial actually was so, uhhh, their motive to playing their character is to just avoid suspicion.

Actor!nao: she's a new aspiring actor that has played/read the visual novel, it was amazing! They even made an art about it! Actor!mishima was actually the person that got her the role, since they know each other from... (plot convenience, I'll add something after), but what made her go there was to meet actor!reko, or who'll play as her. Anyways, the first trial, confused but played her part before asking mishima some things like, where Is this? Are we done shooting? Etc.. before realizing this was the game, and her motives for playing her part was to avoid suspicion from mishima.

I'll add the others later, I need to sleep hahaha.

[finleycannotdraw]

Sorry for this stupid question, but I haven't watched or played Witcher (but planning some day at least to watch it) so I think you'll understand me 😅

I saw you reblog at first a lot of Witcher x that young boy (sorry, I have literally no idea what's his name is but he sings cools songs)

And now I'm seeing Witcher x another old man about which I know even less than nothing

Maybe I'm being stupid or something, but these guys are one from the series and another from the game? Idk cuz I knew only about Witcher x young boy and now I'm seeing that old guy and I'm confused because you just haven't reblogged it before and your reblogs are the only thing that teaches me about the Witcher. Idk when I'll watch series, but here's the question. WHO SHOULD I SHIP BRO JUST SEEING THEIR PICTURES AND HAVING NO IDEA WHO ARE THEY BUT STILL CARE FOR THEIR GOOD???

It’s not a stupid question! I’m happy to explain.

The first one is Geralt (witcher) x Jaskier (younger man who is a bard), and most fan-content of them portrays Jaskier the way the Netflix series portrays him. He is an adult, but most people tend to ignore the age gap because fantasy world (Geralt is close to 80 when he meets Jaskier in the show, but doesn’t look it). Plus, henry cavill and joey batey (actors) are close to the same age, so people tend not to think about it.

Jaskier is based off of Dandelion from the original witcher books. In the books, we don’t get to see how Geralt and Dandelion meet, because Dandelion is almost 40 and has reunited with Geralt for the duration of the books.

Another character in the books, that Geralt meets later on, is Regis (the old man). They get along very well, and Regis ends up traveling with Geralt, Dandelion, and a few other people in a group called the hansa. The way they interact is often flirty and sometimes homoerotic. Eventually it’s revealed that Regis is a higher vampire (very powerful and potentially very dangerous), and he and Geralt have a bit of a falling out, but that only lasts about 15 pages or so before he’s back with them.

Regis appears again in the Blood and Wine DLC of the third witcher game (the one I’ve played), where he and Geralt reunite as old friends before advancing the plot together. Regis is not in the Netflix series as of now.

Another character in the games that I’ve been posting about is Vernon Roche (but I wasn’t sure if you were referencing him at all). He’s a major character in the second game and comes back in the third. He’s the commander of the Blue Stripes, a Temerian (country) special forces unit designed to combat the Scoia’tael (a group of elven bandits from the books; they appear in both the second and third games, but much more heavily in the second). I’m not actually sure how old he is, but he’s more middle-aged than Jaskier or Regis.

As for the reasons I ship all of these different couples, it just comes down to a few things:

- I watched the Netflix series first, and therefore started off my witcher hyperfixation and subsequent reblog spree with Geralt x Jaskier. Later on, I learned about the book series, and fell in love with Regis, which led to the beginning of my Geralt x Regis reblog spree, continued vitally by me playing the witcher 3 and loving him even more. Then I made a super awesome friend who shared their love of Geralt x Roche.

- All of these characters, in my opinion, can make Geralt feel safer, happier, and more comfortable with emotional vulnerability. (This is also why I don’t enjoy the ships with the sorceresses, but that’s another post). I enjoy all of these ships because Geralt is an amazing, dynamic character whose relationships with others provide lots of space for good feelings and creative expression.

- I don’t stop shipping any of them when I have a burst of love for one of the ships in particular.

As for who you should ship, I can’t make that decision for you! I’d recommend engaging with at least one witcher series, be it Netflix, books, or the games (or the 2002 Polish Hexer series, which is low budget but made with so much love) and then deciding whose dynamic makes you the happiest! Fandom should be fun, shipping should be fun, so my advice is to just have fun.

Hope this helps! If you want to know anything else, don’t hesitate to reach out. :)

[obey-me-headquarters]

I've started playing Limbus Company and omg it's SO good!! The art is fucking fantastic, like no joke the best art I've seen in a mobile game in a LONG time!! Wtf Project Moon where did you get the money for this??

Anyway, I'm not too far in. I'm in the first dungeon. I really vibe with the characters! There's kind of a lot of them, so it's hard to have hard opinions about any of them. But I know that my favorite character is Dante!!

God Dante is PEAK character design! Before I played the game I saw a sceneshot of Dante sitting in a character and thought they were like, the final boss or some important character because their design fucks so hard. But nope!! You get to play as them!! Aren't we so luckily!!

God, their aesthetic? Amazing. The ticking click, the bright red suit, etc. I really love how gender neutral they are too! Besides using they/them pronouns they're build is also very androgynous which I appreciate!

The story is also really really good, from what I've seen so far.

The only downside or criticism I have of the game is the constant battles. There's not a good battle to story ratio, and I often end up feeling frustrated when I get like 5 lines before being thrown into another battle. I feel like the developers could have taken out half the battles and there would still be a lot. You can't even do all the battles in one go and then go back to read the story like in Obey Me. I found myself on multiple occasions stopping playing just because I got so fed up with how many battles there are.

Anyway, really like the characters! I feel like the developers kinda had a set plan and story for each character, which I really like! There's also lots of characters to choose from! My favorite so far are of course, my darling Dante. Vergilius is also so baby girl coded. Like, he's an old tired man looking after a group of rambunctious adults, how could I not love him?!? I also caught the reference to Dante's inferno, very clever.

I also really like Faust! She's amazing, adore her. And omg Outis!! You're so straight laced! I found myself liking her more and more as time goes on. She's the only one who respects Dante's "authority" and I love that. I also really like Gregor, my other baby girl. I love how he tries to be nice but it's obvious he's kinda out of practice.

I love Meursault, even though I haven't seen much of him. Idk, I just love stoic characters! (I wanna overwhelm him with pleasure. Make him cry for it.) And Don is just adorable. Like her energy. I also just love the look of Yi Sang, even though I haven't seen much of him in game yet. Idk, I think it's the tired eyes that makes me want to take care of him.

Anyway, as yall can probably tell I love a lot these characters I lot. We I get further into the game I might write some smut for them.

[bahamutgames]

AFTERTHOUGHTS - ROUNDUP ROUND 13

May - July 2024

Hello again! It was slow going for me with gaming for a little bit, but I've really started to pick up the ball again and have been playing a lot of stuff and really enjoying it too! And now I'm sitting here on a Summer Tuesday night, and I wanna talk about some of the stuff I was playing over the last few months!

And of course I gotta say it: These aren't reviews, just my thoughts, please play anything I talk about if it interests you!

Super Mario Land (April 21, 1989) - Gameboy

FINALLY Mario Land 1 is on the NSO. Not sure why this took so long, but it was nice to replay it cause I haven't touched Mario Land 1 in over 7 years now (god damn...) Mario Land 2 is one of my favorite 2D Marios ever so I was interested to see how Land 1 holds up. And honestly? It's not that amazing, it's a pretty clunky feeling game. But it's not like, offensive or anything. It's very creative with a lot of unique worlds and enemies similar to 2. But without any new power ups and the actual platforming feeling a little odd, it just isn't the most exciting old Mario to revisit. But, the game does have 2 particular strong points that I still love: Shmup sections which are super neat, and a surprisingly solid soundtrack! Pretty much every song in this game is a winner with my favorite probably being the credits theme. Neat!

Megaman: Dr. Wily's Revenge - Megaman V (July 26, 1991 - July 22, 1994) - Gameboy

Continuing with the Gameboy stuff, we have the Megaman Gameboy games! All 5 of them were recently made available on NSO and after having finished Legacy Collection 2 earlier this year, I jumped at the chance to play these games! And they are VERY interesting to say the least. Since they're all fairly similar I'll keep them all together in this afterthoughts.

So, yeah... These games are Megaman on Gameboy! That's exactly what it sounds like. They're Megaman... but smaller and more green. But what's so interesting about them is that they're not the same stories from the NES games. Instead they actually have their own plots while recycling robot masters and enemies and such. Because of that they're a little underwhelming I feel like, but it's very interesting to try these games out in such a shorter format.

Particularly what makes the format interesting is that you tend to only have 4 robot masters, then 4 robot masters acting as Wily Stages afterwards. As opposed to usual Megaman tradition of 8 masters and then a handful of Wily Stages removed from the masters. A big issue I have with Classic Megaman and X is that the games can feel a little long in the tooth, particularly when you get to the ending fortresses. By the end of the NES Era sometimes they were asking you to do 2 fortresses and it was just SO draining. And I always wondered how it would be if this format was shortened a bit. And these games answer that! But honestly I think they may be too short now. So maybe there's no pleasing me.

Another FASCINATING thing about these games are the Megaman Killers, who are new bosses you fight before Wily that all have their own lore and want to kill Megaman. I think they're all neat! But kind of wasted as concepts. I think this premise would've been stronger if they stuck with Enker (the killer from the first one) and had him getting stronger with new abilities each game instead of new bosses. And then have him sacrifice himself in the 4th one instead of the new killer. Idk, just would've been more impactful imo. But they were still neat and the payoff where you rematch them all in 5 was very cool!

And speaking of 5, I have to give that one serious props for not only having a fully original story, but fully original robot masters! Instead being the Stardroids, who are alien robots named after the planets! These guys rule (Mars is my favorite) and they are also hilariously ultimately poorly used lol. In the end despite making new villains, Wily is still the villain. Just so they can kill him off before the final boss anyway? SO WHY PUT WILY IN THE STORY JUST TO RUIN THE STARDROIDS IF YOU WEREN'T EVEN GONNA USE HIM??? Very odd.

I can't recall any specific complaints about each game now unfortunately just because it's been a hot minute since I finished them. But just general megaman stuff like the ones where you can't slide or charge aren't as fun. No fast weapon swap is lame. But it's gameboy so whatever. And I also wanted to give these games some serious props for having some pretty cool cutscenes which I certainly was not expecting on Gameboy of all things! And not just in game cutscenes, but full on hand drawn cutscenes (not animated, just still frames, but still.)

Super Mario Galaxy 2 (May 23, 2010) - Wii

SUPER FUCKIN' MARIO!? Here's another one I haven't played in... god I don't know, maybe over 10 years now somehow. I lent my copy out to someone and a bunch of stuff happened to them almost immediately so I just never got it back, until recently! So I jumped at the chance to FINALLY replay this one!

And ultimately? Yeah it's fine. I think in terms of gameplay it's VERY good. I probably still prefer Galaxy 1's levels but Galaxy 2 still feels great and plays great and has a lot of fantastic galaxies that are TONS of fun to play through. The addition of Yoshi is great, the new power ups are all super fun and creative (cloud being a personal favorite), a lot of the bosses are really cool, and even super gimmicky stages like the Fluzzard levels are really fun! And of course, I shouldn't have to tell you that the Galaxy games are still gorgeous and have some AMAZING soundtracks.

A particularly surprising thing to me was how much I found myself liking Lubba and Starship Mario. For some reason I really felt like I was just gonna hate them both because they're such a step down from Rosalina and the Observatory. And they certainly are, but Lubba is very funny and charming and a lot more like, gruff than I was remembering. And the Starship being a sort of marooned space ship that picks up other travelers as it goes across the galaxy is SO cute. I love the idea of an offshoot of Lumas who are just galaxy explorers, it's cute.

But yeah where this game truly fumbles is in the story, no surprise there. It's... So nothing. Like, actually just nothing. So it's not bad, sure. But it's actually NOTHING. Even if we Ignore Galaxy 1's story, this game's story is so nothing it's crazy. I actually feel like the plot weighs the game down, and Galaxy 2 would've REALLY benefitted from maybe just cutting it out entirely. You can really tell it was originally planned to be DLC I guess lol. But I understand they probably couldn't ship a $60 game with no story at that point. But still, I feel like they could've done something better. The only interesting part of the story is when the Luma takes Mario's hat at the end. But yeah over all I just feel like the story does more harm than good.

Any other notes? I thought some of the later levels were a little irritating, and some of the later bosses can be a bit of a pain. Like I remember Squizzard pissing me OFF when I was younger. And while I don't think the fight is that hard, it's just not a good feeling fight imo. Like it feels almost like it doesn't work right. But yeah (I'm sorry I keep saying but so much in this section) Galaxy 2 is very cute. While I still would have to say I prefer Galaxy 1 by a wide margin. It's more Galaxy, so it's a winner in my book!

Deadly Creatures (February 9, 2009) - Wii

Ah... Deadly Creatures... What an incredibly odd game. I've had this sitting on my shelf for YEARS but just never got around to playing it. However for some reason it kept calling to me, and I finally gave in. And I'm... Glad(?) I did???

For those of you not blessed with knowing WHAT this game is. It's a character action game where you play as a feral Turantula and Scorpion, each on their own story, just trying to survive. While in the background two humans (voiced by Billy Bob Thorton and Dennis Hopper) are having an actual plot happen that you can only listen into. It's FASCINATING! And honestly, doesn't feel real. It almost sounds like a joke, or an indie game, not something you'd get on the Nintendo Wii. But here we are.

So, for positives. This game is actually nuts. The concept in of itself is fascinating and a huge point towards it. It's all hyper realistic animals too, the only talking is EXCLUSIVELY from humans in the distance. Which is REALLY cool and is such an interesting way to tell a story. But the combat is insane and over-the-top despite having you play as photo realistic arachnids. You'll be doing spinning chops and slapping enemies around as the Turantula, or full on preforming brutal finishers as the Scorpion. Each have their own moveset and gain their own abilities throughout the course of their story, and they even crossover sometimes where you'll redo sections of an earlier level as the other character and access new paths, AND SOMETIMES THEY EVEN FIGHT EACHOTHER! It's so cool! All the enemies are other small animals and bugs, sometimes even letting you fight full on lizards. I think the graphics are surprisingly good for a hyper realistic Wii game, and crawling around these big human sized environments and even climbing on walls is really cool and ambitious. The music is atmospheric, again the game looks great, there's unlockable concept art and you can freely change the difficulty between levels which feels pretty progressive for a Wii era game.. It's all really neat and feels like it shouldn't be on the Wii!

But sadly... The game just can't really bring all these positives together in a meaningful way. The story isn't really that great, I saw someone say "the way it's told is better than the story itself" and I would kind of have to agree. Combat isn't really that fun the further you progress. It suffers from the Character Action game problem of giving you moves you execute by inputting shit like "XXYXBAABXAY" except Deadly Creatures ALSO has motion inputs for attacks. So you have to memories shit like "A+Forward on the control stick while waggling the wiimote left and right" it's actually insane and by the end of the game I barely used more than 2-3 moves. They start throwing so many enemies at you in later levels who all move so quickly that you'll only want to use your fastest moves anyway. And for some reason most of the combat in the late game is given to the Turtantula, who is objectively less fun in combat than the Scorpion, which was REALLY annoying. Ultimately I got so fed up that by stage 6 or 7 I had to turn it down to easy which was REALLY REALLY annoying. I thought a lot of the bosses were pretty damn underwhelming, navigating the overworld between battles could get pretty boring or even really annoying if you had to climb walls but fell off and died instantly. For every great idea the game has, it has something that it just doesn't do particularly well or exciting. Idk how to describe it.

I saw someone say this about the game online and I really have to agree: The game has everything it needs to be a shining success. Good graphics, killer and unique concept, a good gameplay idea, and Dennis Hopper. But it just fails to string it together in a satisfying way. Ultimately the game is so fascinating and bizarre that it exists at all, so I'm happy I played it, but it just wasn't the banger I was hoping for. I think this game would've been WAY better on PS3 or 360 without motion controls, and maybe it could do with a remake or a spiritual successor of some kind.

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (August 7, 2008) - DS

And last but not least: We have the first ever Fire Emblem game! Or at least the DS remake of it! So I'm no stranger to Fire Emblem, but I've only played 2 of the more recent ones. Awakening and Three Houses. But I'm not ashamed to admit that both of those games are AMAZING and Awakening specifically is one of the best RPGs I've ever played personally. So I certainly had high hopes for the game that started it all!

And... well... hmm... I don't want to say it's a bad game by any means, cause it's not. But it just really didn't hit the way I wanted it too. I think I had my expectations a little too high because, at the end of the day, this was an NES game. And I'm sure hardcore FE fans will execute me for saying this, but I just didn't like it as much as FEA or FE3H. It's so much more bleak, and sad, and not nearly as over the top and anime as those games were. Most of the first act is just Marth losing everyone he holds dear to him and it's sad! And it feels so sad and hopeless! And while the story is full of fantasy stuff and is a good story that works perfectly fine, it just didn't really captivate me or do anything where I was like "WOW!! This is happening!" And then even in gameplay, it's strategy RPG stuff. Yeah. But it just doesn't really feel as exciting as the later games. Which, sure, it's an NES RPG originally so I shouldn't expect anything mind blowing this early into the genre. But I think its problems are actually a little more unique and interesting than you'd think.

For starters, I did not play FEA or FE3H with permadeath. I know Permadeath is the big thing with these games. But I'll just come out and say it, it's less fun. Not just because losing teammates you like sucks, but because it makes me have to play so sheepishly and slow and careful in fear that anything I do will have 50 guys rain down on someone I moved 1 tile too far. Which is the point, yeah, but PERSONALLY I enjoyed using my units as distractions in FE3H to be so much more fun and rewarding. Does that make any sense?

And then the game is a little odd because other FE games will let you do a lot of things between battles. Grinding, shopping, preparing for fights. But in this one you can only buy the same basic starter weapons and there's no grinding between matches and that's IT! You want to grind? Go to the arenas ON THE MAP IN THE MIDDLE OF A BATTLE. You want to buy real items and real gear? Go to the stores ON THE MAP IN THE MIDDLE OF A BATTLE. Am I crazy or this WAY too much to ask of me in a game where leaving someone in the wrong tile means they're permanently dead? It's neat, but it's so weird especially compared to later games.

But, potentially my biggest issue with this game is that Marth, for as much as I like him. IS TOO MUCH OF A MAIN CHARACTER!! You can only beat a stage if Marth is there to get onto the end tile. You can only recruit a character if Marth goes into their city. Most of the teammates have 0 dialogue and the whole game is just Marth talking to the same handful of dudes. Again, this is almost certainly just growing pains of being an NES RPG. But still.

I have other issues, like it being nearly impossible to get teammates without a guide on who to bring to each fight. Or how annoying the enemy AI is. Or that the 3D graphics look a little ugly at times. Or the fact I basically never got a chance to use Tiki because by the time you get her your army is already so beefy. Or the fact I somehow missed the items I needed to get the ultimate weapon so the final boss was basically invincible and I had to use cheats to beat it. But I think I've flamed on this game enough. It's not all bad.

The story, while exceptionally bleak, is neat for a Nintendo game. It's just a brutally honest story about how upsetting and awful war is. No glorification of it at all. Some of the teammates are genuinely really cool even if they don't get enough attention. Cain and Abel, all the axe weilding dudes, the old man wizard whose name I forgot. I liked them a lot! And I feel like this one has a lot of job classes that just aren't in future games. Like pirates who can walk on water. Or Ballista users who can't move far but can fire missiles over MASSIVE distances. These guys in particular where really fascinating to me. If there's an enemy with that class, odds are you can have a teammate of that class too. It's also got some surprisingly funny dialogue, and I like that there's no real romance in it until like the last possible second. And a lot of the flavor to the menus and cutscenes, particularly the chapter intros, was very cool!

It's not a bad game by any means. But I think it's painfully obvious this was an NES game originally. And as a DS remake it didn't do enough to maybe update some of the NES-isms it has? I know I just flamed on it for like 50 paragraphs but I do think it's interesting still. It's just not really what I was looking for after playing Awakening and Three Houses. But I'm glad I tried it! There's plenty more Fire Emblem to play and I know there's gonna be a lot more of them that blow me out of the water going forward.

[dirtbag-linecook-kyloren]

10 characters/10 fandoms

YESSS THANK YOU @jaynesilver FINALLY MY WIDE READING OF FIC COMES IN HANDYYY

We're gonna go chronologically through my life because I think that's REALLY FUN (I legit couldn't choose a west wing character just know that if there's a secret 11th character is the ensemble cast of the west wing)

Artemis Fowl, Artemis Fowl

My first antihero, and we started YOUNG on that, I was reading these books premiddle school. I was obsessed with these books as a kid, and I'm still obsessed with them today. There's rumors of a third, more adult series when Artemis and Holly may get together and I will EAT THAT SHIT UP I LOVE THEM

2. Vexen, Kingdom Hearts

I Legit think this man primed me to enjoy Hux as a character. Like, I'm not kidding, I was obsessed with him as a kid. I'm 90% certain I wrote deviant art fan fic, but I have since abandoned that account so it's hard to know for sure if it ever got published. I was definitely roll playing at age, like, 13? way too young but god I loved him he was BATSHIT

3. Ianto Jones, Torchwood

Man, I can't really explain how much Ianto Jones as a character, he and Jack's kiss on screen, their relationship, and the events of the 456 changed me? It was DEEP though, I woke up the next day a different person, with much less trust in television writer's and their good intentions.

4. Desmond Miles, Assassin's Creed

We have to jump a few years to mid high school, because no joke I was on that Kingdom Hearts train for a WHILE. I love him, he was probably my first blorbo, before the term was invented. I tried to play the games after (MAJOR SPOILER) but I just couldn't do it. They didn't have the draw without him.

5. Stiles Stilinski, Teen Wolf

Now we've hit late high school, arguably my second blorbo. As a kid with ADHD, he was no joke valuable representation to me, even if it was sometimes played for laughs. I was also the least athletic kid on multiple sports teams who still tried really hard, so I got him, yknow?

6. Will Graham, Hannibal

It's legit tough for me to chose if I like the Will Graham of the books or the TV show better. (Don't ask me about the movies, I haven't seen them, and I probably won't. Movies and I have trouble. See: ADHD.) I'm not sure if he's a blorbo or just like, a regular character I like? My hannibal phase was my last 8 year ship, so the line is pretty blurred.

Now we've reached the part where I dived into a lot of fandoms at once, because I dropped out of college and kind of did a weird spiral? Idk, we've lost chronology is what I'm saying

7. Artemis Crock, Young Justice

god I cannot say enough good things about her and I also cannot express how much (MAJOR SPOILER) made me mad FOR HER. Like it was cruel specifically to her and we should talk more about that, honestly. She was definitely a blorbo, but we're still PRE blorbo as a word in my vocabulary.

8. Darcy Lewis, MCU

My first real fandom bicycle, I ship her with everyone from Loki to Agent Coulson to Natasha. As someone who often feels like the comic relief character in their own life, I appreciate her.

9. Kent Parson, OMG Check Please

My sweet, sweet disaster son. My emotionally constipated hockey boy. The reason captain america is my SECOND favorite character with a birthday on the Fourth of July. I love him, he was amazing, and also my first experience with like, really toxic fandom was being so mad when people tried to equate his canon mental health issues with a noncanon, imagined abuse?? It was wild, I ended up so distressed about it i did have to leave the fandom.

10. Armitage Hux, Star Wars

I mean you've been on my blog for like ten seconds i think it's obvious?? The others needed explanations but like YOURE HERE YOU KNOW

WAIT I FORGOT TO TAG PEOPLE SHIT @sariastrategos @gingersnappish @fallingdeeperintothispit

[tof-writings]

Aaah finally someone who's willing to write zeke! I'm obsessed with him. Could I have a short fic/head cannons idk u choose about the f!mc and zeke/ming jing growing closer and finally get together after having to bond with him basically starting from scratch? Tbh any fluff with him is fine aaaa I want more zeke fics in my life there's basically none 😔 xoxo keep up ur amazing work!

Second Times The Charm..

an: I'm so obsessed with him it's insane..I know it said short fic or headcanons but I got VERY distracted and went full on for a fic. I'm trying my best!! It's a good game, but barely any ToF characters x readers.

You searched for months for him..and you met him, using the name of Ming Jing. It was more of a solemn time, for you and Nemesis. You and him were already pretty close before he decided to 'sacrifice' himself for Shirli, Nemesis. What made it worse? He forgot. He forgot himself, everything. It absolutely broke you.

He looked happy here, trying to figure his own past and having his pleasant time in Domain 9. It was a peaceful time as the festival was happening soon. He was confused, confused why you both seemed a bit pained even if happy. It was a happy time, why be pained? It was a shame, a damn shame that he forgot, he was always so stubborn and he wanted to save his sibling no matter the cost, you too.

You and him did automatically click of course, even if a few different changes, you still remember how you two became friends...well, you were mostly found by Shirli and then sorta got along. Ming Jing really didn't understand though, how do you seem so odd? He couldn't place it. You couldn't say a word about his past, it'll overwhelm him and it'll ruin his new life. It was good he was enjoying his time, but he also needed to remember for the sake of you and Shirli.

You spent most of your time with him at the festival, getting along as usual and drinking some tea also. Nemesis was indeed included, as you were a trio in the beginning, you can't just break that. Ming Jing seemed more softer, his tense expression he normally had back then as 'Zeke', gone. Yes, he did seem stern faced at times, but only in such situations.

The main show of the festival was starting, all three walking over to the railing and looking up into the sky. It made you all happy, feeling determined for maybe three different reasons. Ming Jing held your hand, feeling as it was right, and it wasn't really for a romantic reason yet. That was enough to give you hope, hope you can start over, you can maybe help him remember slowly, and you can get the man you loved back into your arms.

During the middle, of course you had to give Nemesis and Ming Jing their moment as Nemesis was his sibling. You could tell he was already close with you, and he knew also. You both had some sort of.. connection, a bond that couldn't be severed even if separated by memories. You will find each other in any realm, right? He found you in the beginning and you found him now, fate seems to put you together, even if there's things in the way.

You and him were fated to be intertwined, no matter the consequences. Both you and him know.

notes: I'm so insane..if you actually want like fluff and romance after having him remember then ask again!! I haven't played through the main quest much..my bad!!

[themyscirah]

i wanna hear ur takes on SIMON for the ask game! :D

S I M O N !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😍🫶💘😍🫶💘😍🫶

Love love love simon okay let's do this

First impression:

Probably pretty similar to Jess, in that I thought he was cool. Green Lanterns was one of the first few comics I read so I didn't hold any like prior ideas abt Lanterns or anything. OH I remember I loved him getting the toy for his nephew though and having that during the Rage Planet arc. I remember thinking that was so sweet

Impression now:

Duuuuuuuuuuuddddddddddeeeeeeeeeeeee

Just really love Simon Baz. I feel like a lot of time I almost start to lack the words to talk about the depth of his story and how incredible and powerful I find it. Like he's a character I love and try to talk about as much as possible but also feel like I need to be careful when talking about his character on a deeper level due to how important I find his origin and story. I love Simon so much but in my posts about him and the conversation I lead surrounding him I feel like I teeter between finding the balance of "we should talk about him more" (easier to do) and "we should talk about him better" (requiring more thought and effort). It's like I love his character SO much. Like an insane amount. But I also struggle because I want to make sure I'm doing him justice.

Favorite moment:

This is like asking me to pick my favorite hundred dollar bill from a stack of hundred dollar bills. Like there are actually SO many I could never choose just one.

For time's sake because I have things to do, Simon shooting Sinestro is actually amazing. It doesn't rank in my top 100 character moments by any means but it's very memorable and very funny so I'll put it here as an easy non-answer for this question

Idea for a story:

This section also has the potential to explode length-wise. Focusing on character arc stuff and not just like. Simonjess lol I'd say a work focusing on the relationship he has between anger and fear. This to me is complicated because it would play a lot into the fear seen in JLA (2013) #8 and #9 in his fear prison there. But I also have like really complicated feelings about this comic???? Like it's very much one I want to hear what people think about it because it's the first comic that like explores Simon that wasn't written by Johns??? And I just have mixed feelings abt it like I think it can be read generously vs. uh not so generously. Idk if I start going into these issues this post is going to take FOR EVER but simply have a vague idea of how his fear is presented here (to the point where he is literally unresponsive and immobilized because of it) and how in many of his appearances after this we see him explicitly doing the opposite of what he fears himself doing here. This is super vague and confusing but I feel like as need to take the time and post the panels and start a whole conversation about it before I can just reference it like that (bc of said complicated feelings)

Unpopular opinion:

Are there popular Simon opinions??? Like actually???? I mean other than that he should get with Jess and I agree with that one.

I suppose there's the take I've seen that Simon can get kind of watered down into Jess's sidekick or whatever, especially in Green Lanterns or in fan spaces, but at this point I don't have a ton to say about that yet because I haven't started my Green Lanterns reread (where I would go in this time actually knowing his character) so yeah.

Favorite relationship:

Do I even need to say it here??? Anyways Jess 10000000% Jess.

For Simon friendships I don't currently have any really strong feelings the way I do with Jess and her relationships. I mean, B'dg of course, and Guy, and Kyle, and just like the other lanterns I'd like to see him interact with. I haven't really thought about this all too much with him (yet). All I know is that he is the KING of bad impressions so I honestly know more about the people he doesn't like and their relationships

Fave headcanon:

These headcanon questions are killing me omg

Uhhhhh... I think he has seen every Fast and the Furious movie (likely with Nazir)

There's probably a giant hot wheels collection in his parents' attic from when he was younger

That's the best I got atm

[azelle-intermisson]

Echo vn review

i have finally finished echo as my second ever visual novel after adastra. i really loved this vn and it was a super interesting read. for anyone who hasn't read it if a furry horror vn with very human feeling characters peaks your interest then i would 100% recommend echo its a really good story with some really strong characters that i enjoyed thoroughly. in this review im gonna be going through all the main cast and some of the side cast so its gonna be a kinda long post where i just gush about parts of each route i really liked but there will be titles before each section if you want to see what i have to say about one character in particular for whatever reason.

this review is all my opinion and is not going to be exhaustive so i will end up missing some things (mainly because i did not take notes while reading and forgot a lot oops). so if there is something i missed you wanna hear my opinion on ask :). also this is my first time writing something like this so lmk if there are things i can do better if i end up doing this again.

SPOILERS FOR THE WHOLE GAME AFTER THE READ MORE

before i fully dive into the review i wanna go over some of the external factors that have influenced how i view this vn. during flynn's route i was the most sick ive ever been in my whole life and im pretty sure i missed out on some vital details because of the brain fog during that sickness. i am not well versed at all in vns the only other vn i have played is adastra, however i am familiar with romance tropes so even though i feel like i missed out on some cool moments simply because i haven't played many vns i did not miss out entirely. also about halfway through my playthrough i learned that there is kinda an order you are supposed to read the routes in which is:  Carl > Leo > TJ > Flynn > Jenna, i ended up reading it in this order: TJ > Leo > Flynn > Jenna > Carl. i don't really know how much this ended up changing how i view the story but thats how i did it. i also made chase gay i don't really know what that ended up affecting since i played all the routes as gay chase and whenever i got something i considered a "bad ending" i would reset to my last decision and do something different. the last thing that might have some sway on how i feel is how sweet the community has been to me so far, i don't usually get myself involved with a community before i finish something but this time was different since i was making fan art and everyone was super nice <3

Visuals/Music

I really loved the music and artwork for this game. i feel like the music did such a good job of creating an atmosphere whether it was chilling in the diner with jenna and tj or getting kidnapped by brian it always did an amazing job at really putting me in the shoes of the characters. i adored all of the fully rendered drawings throughout the game i love the colors i love everything about it. of all of them i think the one below is my favorite i just love how serene it looks.

this was my favorite track i feel like it does such a good job of capturing the tone of the whole game so well or the one that plays whenever they are just chilling idk what its called and i can't find it for the life of me it is driving me crazy.

Misc

there are a few things i couldn't quite fit into any of the next sections so i wanted to put them here. i really loved every character in this game i feel like the reason why i loved them all was because of how human they felt. whenever someone did something i didn't agree with i always defaulted to sympathizing with them because of how human they felt to me. also after writing this i have realized my ranking of each of the routes is just how much leo is involved with each of them i guess i just really love the guy.

Prologue

this part of the game is a little less fresh in my mind since i only read through it once on my first playthrough but from what i remember it did a really good job of establishing the setting and getting me interested in the lore of these characters. the first river scene was such an amazing moment i love how the route split happens in a way that makes you choose between emotionally comforting someone or going after who you want to romance. my only issue with it was that i did not realize that this was a route split in my first playthrough and ended up picking tj since he seemed the most affected by flynn and i was really worried about him even though the character i really wanted to romance was leo. even though i did not realize it was a game with so many diverging paths at first i still think the prologue was really good and got me very invested in the lore of echo.

MAIN CAST

Chase

i walked into this game not really expecting to care for chase too much since i kinda didn't like marco in adastra and i was expecting him to be more of the same type of guy but i was pleasantly surprised. i hate it so much when player inserts are just blank slates so im very glad that chase is an actual character who interacts with the world and people around him. he never had any moments where i was frustrated with him and wished he had said something different(aside from the ending of tj's route) and for the most part he reacted the way i think i would in his situation so i really liked him in all of the routes.

TJ

in retrospect i really like tj's route for how subversive it is as a romance with tj not reciprocating chases feelings and how nasty chase's jealousy felt. while playing it i kept waiting for leo to show up and whenever chase would try and romantically pursue him i would get kinda sad because i wanted to hangout with big wolf man. however i feel like this gave me a really interesting perspective on this route since before chase even kissed tj i never expected them to actually get together since it didn't feel like tj was all that interesting to me. this made chase's jealousy over julian feel even more scary than it already was and that final confrontation at the lake with flynn horrifying. i loved how the horror aspects where handled in this route and how subtle a lot of it was in comparison to other routes. chase drowning flynn and the description of it is one of the most haunting things from this game for me. overall i thought tj's route was pretty good even if i spent the whole thing wanting to hangout with leo because i was dumb and didn't know i had gotten to the route split. its in 4th place in order of my favorite routes in this game.

Leo

leo's route is my favorite i love him so much. i love how you get the bad ending of his route for trying to stay with him. his route was also my first time seeing the hysteria in full swing so that was a crazy twist. every single scene with brian made me feel so anxious i never really knew what to expect from him. i loved how his unhealthy obsession with chase was treated with the weight that it really deserved. the way he reacts to kudzu and chase's relationship not only feels like a natural progression of his character but also adds so much to the horror of his route since his jealousy often ends up causing serious harm. it was so sad to see him unravel and act the way he does during the hysteria because i really wanted to see him be happy and somehow move on from chase. the final scene of the "good" ending gave me what i wanted in the most evil way possible. i had wanted him to move on so bad that i had forgotten how brutal moving on can actually be. leo ends up losing the person he is closest to in the worst way possible i say this with love though it made me cry real hard. and the implication that he is planning on staying in echo is too just heartbreaking. i could go on forever about all the things i love about leo's character but i don't want this section to be too long so i will end it here and say leo is my favorite of the main cast and he has my favorite route of this whole game.

Flynn

i feel super conflicted on flynn's route, it does so many things so well but the ending left me feeling weird. i wanna talk about the things i liked first, which is most of the route. aside from leo he was the character i was most interested from the prologue mainly because i could tell that he wasn't just going to be a one-note mean guy and i thought he had a ton of potential for a really interesting story and i was right . i really enjoyed how his mean demeanor was written the times when he decided to be nice never felt out of character, like the way he helps carl with his interview and really wants his friend to do well and when things don't turn out well he still supports carl but does it in such a flynn way i just loved it so much. flynn and chase's relationship during this route stressed me out the most out of all of the routes mainly because of how they hid it from leo i really wanted chase to just talk to leo about everything but i can understand why he was avoiding it so much. i really loved the reveal of chase killing sydney and how flynn reacts to it. the way everything in that scene plays out was just amazing i can't be mad at either side of the it since i can understand why jenna and leo don't want to believe that their childhood friend killed someone but i can also understand flynn's immediate reaction to this and wanting to lash out at chase. the sydney flashback really got to me everything about it felt so real to me and flynn trying to take a big brother role for sydney and try and protect him from seeing the corpse anymore was so heartbreaking. my favorite part of this route was when you get the perspective of flynn rather than chase it was not something i was expecting in the slightest and i was so happy to be able to see some of his thought process when he does stuff. i really liked the hysteria portion of his route but im a little iffy on the ending. on one hand i like it for the story the fact that flynn dies kinda makes sense to me i just really wished he had lived and we had gotten to see a healed flynn who now knows the truth of what happened fully, even though i know this vn doesn't like giving out easy solutions. overall flynn's route is really good i just wish it had ended differently i would put it at 3rd place in my ranking of the routes in this game.

Jenna

i almost adore jenna's route as much as leo's. i really like her personality and aside from leo she is my favorite character. learning that she likes manga and watching anime with her was such a fun little moment that i thought was cute. it really surprised me when carl went missing in this route i was kinda expecting his birthday to play out the same in every route but i this was a really good plotline. i liked that this route forced jenna and flynn to interact more since the tension they have is always so fun to read. i loved the side characters in this route micha was my favorite out of all of them(even though i think jeremy is really cute). i want to give micha his own section in this review but to put it shortly his relationship with leo made me super happy. i really liked the tension between jenna and leo it was such a good conflict that i enjoyed reading. the whole fake cheating prank was such a gut wrenching scene that i was honestly having a hard time getting through. i liked the section where they are kidnapped by brian more in this route than in leo's mainly because brian getting rocked by the ghost thing was really satisfying. the implication that carl was tortured the same way chase was for multiple days is unfathomable to me. leo and chase being sewn together made me feel sick because anything remotely body horror related gets me and micha having to sever that tie was really cool foreshadowing for leo and micha's whole thing. the whole van section was also really incredible and seeing leo start to move on from chase warmed my heart in an otherwise very intense route. i liked heather she is such an intresting character to me since i really want to sympathize with her because its clear she has a lot of unresolved trauma but she was also an asshole to jenna and tried to flood all of echo. i really loved her trying to flood the town it is such a crazy plot point but i still really loved it and jenna having to put aside how shitty heather was to her to talk her down was a really good moment. the dinner scene after everything also felt very satisfying and it was good to see micha be apart of the group for a bit his interactions with everyone made me smile. i really liked jenna's route all around it is my 2nd favorite and was a super fun read.

Carl

i really liked carl's route i relate to a lot of his struggles and even though there where less scenes that scared me it was still really good. this was the last route i played so i was feeling kinda melancholic while reading since echo had become my nightly routine for about 3 weeks and i was really loving the characters and story. i liked how much lighter(in comparison to the other routes) of a tone carl's route took staying over at his big haunted mansion is such a silly concept on paper but it ends up playing out super well. i thought raven was a silly guy even if he didn't really add or remove much from this route and he helped keep jenna somewhat in check so that was nice. the escape room stuff was so interesting to go through. i found myself feeling scared that they may not actually make it out or they would end up killing each other. my favorite scene from this route was the hanging tree stuff. i had such a vivd picture of everything happening and it was really hard to watch jenna and carl to do things that i know they wouldn't. this route also had a ton of echo lore so i kinda wish i had played it first since i feel like i missed out in other route because i was trying to piece together things that are revealed in carl's route. i really liked the james hendricks and john begay stuff . even though carl's route is my 5th favorite by no means do i think it's bad.

Side Characters

i'm not going to only talk about the ones that really stood out to me and in a much shorter way than the main cast (other than micha)

Micha

micha is my favorite of the whole side cast and i really adored him and leo's relationship that i interpreted as romantic during the last bit of jenna's route. at first i didn't really like him and thought he was kinda an asshole. as the plot kept going i kept getting more and more attached to him since he was still an asshole but he was working with the main group. normally i don't like characters like him but i feel like he was written in such a realistic way that i found it hard to stay mad at him. i really loved him and leo's relationship their connection felt so real and i think they could be soooooo good for each other. the van scene was so incredible the way the player and chase have to fill in the blanks as leo and micha talk about what happened between the two of them really immersed me in the story .leo feeling guilt over never reaching out to micha after he was disowned was such an interesting thing i never really expected leo to want to help someone who was a bully to his friends but i still feel like it makes sense for leo to feel this way since he just wants to protect people. i think its really sweet that leo ends up leaning on micha more after the van scene. also the scene in the dinner at the end of jenna was really sweet i loved seeing micha being added to their group dynamic and i wish i got even more. in conclusion leo and micha should kiss and live happily ever after <3.

Brian and Clint

i don't have a lot to say about these guys other than the fact that they are horrifying antagonists. before i saw brian fight i was under the assumption that if leo is present then we are probably safe but brian ends up breaking that sense of safety in such a horrifying way. i like that even though clint isn't physically strong the fact that he has the strongest character following his orders made him so intimidating

Jeremy

i wanna give him a big kiss even tho he is mean

Janice

i really liked janice in tj's route. i love the fact that we never get a clear answer for why she needed chase and tj to be digging holes. i almost want to trust that she isn't killing people but she clearly has a few screws loose.

Closing Thoughts

i really loved this furry visual novel and its really human feeling characters. i had way more to say about it than i thought and the more i write the more i love the story and the more i want to say but this is already such a long post. i liked adastra more but i don't really feel like it is a fair comparison because if i hadn't played adastra this account would not exist and i prob would not be drawing at all but maybe if i had played echo first it would have done that to me since it still is really good. this was super fun to write even tho i know some of it might not make any sense lol because this is just kinda stream of conscious. i might end up doing this with other things i read/watch since it also gives me an actual reason to take notes when i read/watch things. also i wanna say thank you to the community on here i haven't been involved with fandom spaces for a really long time and im still not very involved with this one but you guys have been super nice and i wanna continue making art and talking about this game :)