#trying to combat the feelings of uselessness and pointlessness by doing something to improve my surroundings

[robinsnest2111]

maybe popping a couple ibuprofen, chugging tap water and cleaning my room at 3am while listening to some kind of gyaru j-rap(? sorry I don't have any knowledge about this area of music genres...) will fix me?

---

song in question:

[arysthaeniru]

Having seen a few different people doing Let’s Plays of Pathologic 2, combined with my own experience, I am fascinated by how much it disincentivises fighting and combat in the game, and how that lack of connectivity with the mechanics of fighting further pushes the player into the headspace of Artemy Burakh, doctor and reluctant to do harm.

Of course, hbomberguy’s talked about this extensively within Pathologic 1: there’s no tutorial for fighting, your very first quest as Bachelor is nigh impossible if you try and fight, and the janky aspects of combat make it unfair. 

But Pathologic 2 is working on an even more different level. The game tricks you into thinking that the fighting mechanics are fixed/more normal, at first. You even get a nice tutorial for it, unlike Pathologic 1! In the dream fight, you get to learn those mechanics, practise them, and understand them. And your story, as Artemy Burakh starts with violence you cannot avoid and cannot change, the play can be tricked into thinking it’s inevitable, that fighting is just going to be a part of gameplay.

Then Day 1 happens, and you are almost inevitably coaxed into a fight: either because you’re a Good Samaritan who goes to help out one of the women accused of being a shabnak, who’s being chased by three men, or your reputation drops in the middle of the day, and suddenly you’re being chased by five men yourself. Immediately, the game double-crosses you: these fights are not fair. Fighting against multiple people is not something you’ve been trained for, and people’s hits HURT, way more than the tutorial fight did.

Most people’s first death is almost certainly because they tried fighting the thugs on the streets, because the game tells you that it’s possible. You die, you meet Mark, and you suddenly realize that this is SO much worse than Pathologic 1, because now dying has consequences besides simply wasting time between saves: it makes it even easier for you to die, because it takes away Max Health primarily.  

Still, there’s a temptation to think you can still fight. After all, your first weapon is a rusty scalpel, it’s shitty, it has no durability, and inevitably on the first day, you meet the guy trying to sell you a revolver. You might have balked at the price of 3000, but now, having just got your ass kicked, it feels like the story is guiding you to get a better weapon, so that fights will become easier. That’s a typical levelling up mechanic in normal games! So, you waste your money on the gun, you trade some nuts for some bullets, but you feel like maybe you’re better equipped for a fight. This time you won’t die. 

You’re wrong. The gun is nearly useless, and the shots are hard to aim. You’re almost better off punching them, because once you’re out of bullets, switching between the knife and the gun is...time-consuming. And you die again, and realize that it’s all pointless. Fighting is so depressing and painful that it’s better to avoid it altogether. So you probably don’t go into looting districts, because you inevitably run into a looter and die at his hands. You don’t spend too much time at night chasing muggers and getting their organs, because that’s a waste of time and maximum health. If you need infected organs, you’re more likely to get them from the hospital, because you don’t have to fight/have your reputation drop.

And all of these are things that Artemy is more likely to do. He’s not going to go around looting people, these are his townsfolk and his responsibility! He’s not going to cut people open in the streets, he’s a surgeon and more than that, he’s a menkhu, you’re supposed to be responsible when dissecting and not scare people with it. He’s not going to get into fights, because he’s a damn doctor and he’s supposed to be saving lives. 

This guided behaviour is so fascinating in an RPG where it’s technically possible to do anything. Unlike games like Zelda or Mario, where you’re supposed to be a good person and the game ensures it by making it impossible to kill friendly NPCs, Pathologic allows you the choice. But unlike games like Fallout or Red Dead Redemption that also allow you to kill friendly NPCs while presenting you as a hero, Pathologic has real consequences that make it deeply undesirable for you to just go around wreaking havoc. There are real tangible improvements to gameplay experience, by following the game’s script, so to say. By actually inhabiting and playing Artemy Burakh as the dialogue dictates him to be. 

....and then Ice Pick Lodge laughs in your face, as you settle into being a relatively peaceful doctor, by giving you Rubin’s Protection quest and the Termitary quest. 

(Of course, you’re already incentivized to play as Artemy: the setting of a stageplay is a huge part of settling yourself into the role of actor, and the reputation mechanic should be a way of preventing you from just murdering willynilly, but the way that fighting/death is structured in the game is SO cool, and just feeds into the gameplay loop of becoming Artemy.)

[vrylium]

Sig’s Anthem Review

Verdict

BioWare’s Anthem is a genuinely fun and engaging experience that sabotages itself with myriad design, balance, and technical oversights and issues. It is a delicious cake that has been prematurely removed from the developmental oven - full of potential but unfit for general consumption in this wobbly state. Anthem is not a messianic addition to the limited pantheon of looter shooters because it has somehow failed to learn from the well-publicized mistakes of its predecessors. 

Am I having fun playing Anthem? Absolutely. Does it deserve the industry’s lukewarm scores? Absolutely. But this is something of a special case. The live service model giveth and taketh away; we receive flexibility in exchange for certainty. Is Anthem going to be the same game six months from now? Its core DNA will always be the same, but we’ve already begun to see swift improvements that bode well for the future. 

Will my opinion matter to you? It depends. When I first got into looter shooters I was shocked at how much the genre clicked with me. They are a wonderful playground for theory crafters, min/maxers, and mathletes like myself who find incomparable joy in optimizing builds both conventional and experimental by pushing the limits of obtainable resources ad infinitum. The end game grind is long and at times challenging as you make the jump to Grandmaster 1+ difficulty in search of top-tier loot to perfect your build. This is what looter shooters are all about.

If you don’t like the sound of that, you’ll probably drop Anthem right after finishing its campaign. But if you do like the sound of that, you might find yourself playing this game for years.

TL;DR: This game is serious fun, but is also in need of some serious Game & UI Design 101. 

I wrote a lot more about individual aspects of the game beneath the read more, if you’re interested. I’ve decided not to give the game a score, I’m just here to discuss it after playing through the campaign and spending a few days grinding elder game activities. There are no spoilers here.

Gameplay

The Javelins are delightful. I’ve played all four of them extensively and despite identifying as a Colossus main I cannot definitively attach myself to one class of Javelin because they’re all so uniquely fun to play and master. Best of all, they’re miraculously balanced. I’ve been able to hold my own with every Javelin in Grandmaster 1+. Of course, some Javelins are harder to get the hang of than others. Storms don’t face the steep learning curve Interceptors do, but placed in the hands of someone who knows what they’re doing, both are equally as destructive on the battlefield. 

I love the combo system. It is viscerally satisfying to trigger a combo, hearing that sound effect ring, and seeing your enemy’s health bar melt. Gunplay finally gets fun and interesting when you start obtaining Masterworks, and from there, it’s like playing a whole new game. 

Mission objectives are fairly bland and repetitive, but the gameplay is so fun I don’t even mind. Collect this, find that, go here, whatever. I get to fly around and blow up enemies while doing it, and that’s what matters. Objectives could be better, certainly. Interesting objectives are vital in game design because they disguise the core repetitive gameplay loop as something fresh, but the loop on its own stays fresh long enough to break even, I feel.

The best part is build flexibility. Want to be a sniper build cutting boss health bars in half with one shot? I’ve seen it. Want to be a near-immortal Colossus wrecking ball who heals every time you mow down an enemy? You can. There are so many possibilities here. Every day I come across a new crazy idea someone’s come up with. This is an excellent game for build crafters. 

But... why in the world are there so few cosmetic choices? A single armor set for each Javelin outside the Vanity store? A core component of looter shooters has always been endgame fashion, and on this front, BioWare barely delivers and only evades the worst criticism by providing quality Javelin customization in the way of coloring, materials, and keeping power level and aesthetics divorced. We’re being drip-fed through the Vanity store, and while I like the Vanity store’s model, there should have been more things permanently available for purchase through the Forge. Everyone looks the same out there! Where’s the variety? 

Story, Characters, World

Anyone expecting a looter shooter like Anthem to feature a Mass Effect or Dragon Age -sized epic is out of their mind, but that doesn’t mean we have to judge the storytelling in a vacuum. This is BioWare after all. Even a campaign that flows more like a short story - as is the case with Anthem - should aspire to the quality of previous games from the studio. Unfortunately, it does not, but it comes close by merit of narrative ambience: the characters, the world’s lore, and their execution. 

(For a long time I’ve had a theory that world building is what made the original Mass Effect great, not its critical storyline, which was basically a Star Trek movie at best. Fans fell in love because there were interesting people to talk to, complicated politics to grasp, and moral decisions to make along the way.)

While the main storyline of Anthem is lackluster and makes one roll their eyes at certain moments or bad lines, the world is immediately intriguing. Within Fort Tarsis, sophisticated technology is readily available while society simultaneously feels antiquated, echoing a temporal purgatory consistent with the Anthem’s ability to alter space-time. Outside the fort, massive pieces of ancient machinery are embedded within dense jungles in a way that suggests the mechanical predates nature itself. The theme of sound is everywhere. Silencing relics, cyphers hearing the Anthem, delivering echoes to giant subwoofers… It’s a fun world, it really is. 

As for the characters… they might be some of the best from BioWare. They feel like real people. Rarely are they caricatures of one defining trait, but people with complex motives and emotions. Some conversations were boring, but the vast majority of the time I found myself racing off to talk to NPCs as soon as I saw yellow speech bubbles on the map after a mission. And don’t even get me started on the performances. They are golden.

The biggest issue with the story is that it’s not well integrated with missions. At times it feels like you’re playing two separate games: Fort Tarsis Walking/Talking Simulator and Anthem Looter Shooter. And the sole threads keeping these halves stitched together during missions - radio chatter - takes a back seat if you’re playing with randoms who rush ahead and cause dialogue to skip, or with friends who won’t shut the hell up so you can listen or read subtitles without distraction. I found it ironic that I soloed most of the critical story missions in a game that heavily encourages team play.

Technical Aspects: UI & Design 

This is where Anthem has some major problems. God, this category alone is probably what gained the ire of most reviewers. The UI is terrible and confusing. There are extra menu tabs where they aren’t needed. The placement of Settings is for some inane reason not located under the Options button (PS4). Excuse me? It’s so difficult to navigate and find what you’re looking for. It’s ridiculously unintuitive.  

Weapon inscriptions (stat bonuses) are vague and I’ve even seen double negatives once or twice. They come off as though no one bothered to proofread or edit anything for clarity. Just a bad job here all around. And to make matters worse, there is no character stat sheet to help us demystify any of the bizarre stat descriptions. We are currently using goddamn spreadsheets like animals. Just awful. 

The list goes on. No waypoints in Freeplay. Countless crashes, rubber banding, audio cutouts, player characters being invisible in vital cutscenes, tethering warnings completely obscuring the flight overheat meter… Fucking yikes. Wading through this swamp of bugs and poor design has been grueling to say the least. 

And now for the loot issues. Dead inscriptions on gear; and by dead I mean dead, as in “this pistol does +25% shotgun damage” dead (this has been recently patched but I still cannot believe this sort of thing made it to release). The entire concept of the Luck stat (chance to drop higher quality loot) resulting in Luck builds who drop like flies in combat and become a burden for the rest of the team. Diminishing returns in Grandmaster 2 and 3; it takes so long to clear missions on these difficulties without significant loot improvement, making GM2 and GM3 pointless when you could be grinding GM1 missions twice as fast. 

At level 30, any loot quality below Epic is literal trash. Delete Commons, Uncommons, and most Rares as soon as you get them because they’re virtually useless. I have hundreds of Common and Uncommon embers and nothing to do with them. Why can’t we convert 5 embers into 1 of the next higher tier? Other looters have already done things like this to make progression omnipresent. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel here, BioWare. It’s already been done for you. 

When you get a good roll on loot, the satisfaction is immense. But when you don’t, and you won’t 95% of the time, you’ll feel like you’ve wasted hours with nothing to show for it. We shouldn’t be spending so much time hunting for useful things, we should be trying to perfect what’s already useful.

It’s just baffling to think that Anthem had the luxury of watching the messy release of several other looter shooters during Anthem’s development, yet proceed to make the same mistakes, and some even worse. 

Nothing needs to be said about visuals. They are stunning, even from my perspective on a base PS4.

Sound design is the only other redeeming subcategory here. Sound design is amazing, like the OST. Traditional instrumentals meet alien synth seamlessly. Sarah Schachner is a seriously talented composer. 

I’m just relieved to see the development team hauling ass to make adjustments. They’ve really been on top of it - the speed and transparency of fixes has been top-notch. They’re even working on free DLC already! A new region, more performances from the actors... I’m excited and hopeful for the future. 

[theonewiththefanfics]

A Pirate’s Soul (part 2)

Part 1

Pairing: Will Turner x Avenger!Reader

Warnings: swearing

Genre: fluff

Word count: 2987

Y/N slowly felt her eyes flutter open. It was dark, but not full on. Not like Bucky’s room where he had to cover up the giant windows because he had trouble sleeping. More like her own. Bits and pieces of the never-resting New-York city filtering inside the room, beige walls cast in an orange glow. But of course, she wasn’t in New York anymore.    With a groan, Y/N propped herself up on her elbows, but a gentle palm pushed her back on the hard surface that turned out to be what looked like a sailor’s cot.    “Easy,” it was the girl- Elizabeth. “How are you feeling?”    “Like a red-hot poker was showed up through my ass and my brain, scrambling it like an egg.”    The other woman snorted. “Don’t you have a way with words.”    Y/N pressed a palm against a throbbing temple. “So I’ve been told.” She looked around noting that the light was coming from above, meaning the sun was still above the ground. “How long was I out?”    “A couple of hours. Cleaned as many wounds as I could, but couldn’t change your clothes. Couldn’t find how to… open it.” Her brown eyes roamed over Y/N’s tactical suit as if a hidden hook would suddenly appear and she’d drop naked then and there.    “Would be surprised if you did.” When were zippers invented? 1890’s something? Y/N honestly didn’t know what to do. Will her being here change the outcome of the history? Or was it one of those timelines when nothing mattered what she’d do because everything had already happened before? In all honesty, Y/N couldn’t give two shits about it because of a headache she sported right now. 

   Her palm clasped around where her neckline was and she pulled back a piece of cloth, the velcro detaching itself as she unclasped a smaller piece that held a large string attached to the zipper on her back. It made it easier for her to get dressed on her own, as well as she didn’t have to worry about flashing someone in the middle of a battle.    Elizabeth’s cheeks heated up and when Y/N saw how flustered she got, even though there wasn’t that big of a difference between one woman’s body and another, the Avenger still offered her the chance to leave. “But I’m not naked underneath that and I would prefer if you stayed. This thing can be a bitch to take off.” And it was. Any time after a mission she asked either Bucky or Nat or hell, even Sam to help her get rid of it. Bucky being her best friend, they didn’t have any reservations before one another. Even then, when Bucky had forcefully pulled off the last leg of her suit, the material still just as snug and light, courtesy of Stark, Y/N was left in a bulletproof sports bra, a bulletproof tank top and booty shorts.    “It’s very tight,” Elizabeth remarked as she flexed every muscle in her arms, abdomen and legs to get the cloth off of Y/N.    “Meant to protect you while in battle. Nimble as a second skin so you don’t feel it while fighting, though I might have to ask Stark for some improvements in the removal section.” Y/N finally took a breath as she felt the ankles loosen and saw Elizabeth holding the shredded material. Looking down there were no visible injuries on her stomach, but her legs, shoulders and arms sported nasty cuts as well as deep gashes from claws.    “What.. umm.. what do you want me to do with this?” the girl looked over at the Y/H/C beauty. Y/N’s heart clenched. She really had loved the suit. It had been a gift from Nat on her birthday, but the state of it, how it looked now- it’d be completely useless. There was no point in stitching it together, thread by thread.    “Burn it. Throw it out. It doesn’t matter. It’s unusable now.”    “A-Are you sure?”    “Yeah,” Y/N let out a deep sight, “it’s pointless.”    Elizabeth’s hands slid over the material, marvelling at how beautiful and practical it was. Or used to be in Y/N’s opinion. But unbeknownst to her, she stashed it in a chest in a deep corner.    Y/N stood there in what basically was her underwear. She pulled the black tank top off, leaving her in just the sports bra, so she could check what damage had been done to the dark material. Thankfully not much. Some slashes, but comparing it to the tactical suit, it was still wearable. Pulling it back on, her Y/E/C eyes saw Elizabeth reemerge from the dark holding a large white shirt, some sand coloured pants, black knee-high boots and what looked like a corset.    “These are probably way too big for you, but the belt should keep it in place, you can lace it up in the back to tighten it,” the girl laid the materials down on the cot. “And the boots… well, you should just try pulling them on and well see about the size.”    Y/N fingered the cotton tunic. It was a lot softer than she expected, woven with care and love. Pulling it overhead, there was a deep V-neck gash, almost past her breasts, and it really was way too big for her frame, so she pushed her legs through the pant holes and tucked the shirt in. Elizabeth handed a smaller belt to pull it through the belt holes, but as the girl had predicted, the clothes were still too large for her frame. She stepped through the corset-like thing and pulled it over her slacks and the shirt.    Elizabeth went to work, lacing the black ribbon up, but not so tightly that Y/N couldn’t breathe and would pass out from the lack of oxygen. While the other woman was doing that the Avenger was idly playing with the two strings of her shirt, wrapping and unwrapping it around her finger.    “Okay, you’re all done. Now just the boots.”    Y/N had completely forgotten that the combat suit had connected footwear, so she was standing there only in her socks. The boots looked around her size, so here was hoping for nothing.    And it would look like they had struck gold. Y/N was surprised how comfortable they actually were, but she rolled down the bit that went past her knee, hating how it flapped against her thigh.    “I… umm..,” Elizabeth stepped forward holding six razor-sharp knives in her hand as well as Y/N’s own modified pistol, “I guess I have to give these back to you, though I have no idea what kind of holsters I can give to you…”    Her knife and gun belts had been physically attached to the suit, rather than pulling them on, they were already a part of the outfit, so there would be no use for her to cut them off as they wouldn’t fit with what Y/N was wearing now.    She flipped two of her knives in the air and crisscrossed them behind the belt on her back, putting two by her sides and then two in the front, the thin handles disappearing being the black material, not even making an indent. If you didn’t know that Y/N possessed them, you’d never know how armed she actually was. And the bulletproof top would protect her from any cuts that may result. For the gun though, that would be a problem.    “Umm… hmm… Give me the most basic holster you have and we'll see what we can do.    The one Elizabeth provided was for a muzzleloader. In Y/N’s time, they were antiques and relics. Here they were actual weapons. The girl looked at it from all sides and producing one of the knives she sliced the end off making it more like a cylinder rather than a cone.    Putting on the safety she gently slid the gun to check if the tightness of the leather would be enough and it was. The gun snugly fit into the holster as if it was made for it. Y/N strapped it across her middle, even though she usually preferred it to be around her thighs or ankles, this one wouldn’t fit.    Elizabeth’s eyes roamed over Y/N as if in astonishment and in awe. She really looked like she belonged there. “I think you’re ready.”    “For what?”    “To meet everyone. I’m assuming you really aren’t from somewhere nearby.”    Y/N snorted at that. “If only you had any idea.”    “So I’m assuming you’re going to be spending quite a lot of time here, seeing as we’re only in the middle of our journey and the closest port is at least two to three weeks away. Depending on what kind of trouble Jack gets into.”    “Jack? Who’s Jack?”    “Nothing but trouble,” she replied over her shoulder as she lead Y/N up the wooden stairs and right onto the deck.    The ship was full of life, men running around and pulling ropes to let something loose or tighten things up. Of course, as expected when Y/N stepped onto the floor everything quieted down and stopped moving, but a man’s gruff voice pulled them out of the trance.    “Back to work, ya filthy rats!” It was dreadlocks who bellowed from the steering deck.    “I would presume that is Jack,” Y/N leaned into Elizabeth, but the other woman didn’t get a chance to answer.    “You would be presuming correctly. Captain Jack Sparrow,” he said coming down the steps and taking one of Y/N’s palms to press a kiss on it, making the girl scrunch up her face in confusion. “Welcome aboard the Black Pearl- fastest ship in the Caribbean sea.”    “Thanks… I guess…”    “So darling,” he threw an arm around Y/N’s shoulders leading her up the deck, “why don’t you tell me who you are, where are you from and how in the bloody hell did you suddenly appear on my ship?”    He was being quite cheeky about things so Y/N decided to play along. “A girl’s gotta have some secrets, otherwise where would be the fun?”    “You,” he pointed a finger at her, a bright red ruby sitting on it. “I like you.”    Y/N mirrored the smirk that was plastered on his face. “So, where exactly in the Caribbean sea are we? As much as I’ve enjoyed your hospitality I think I need to get back home.”    “And where would home be for you, love?”    “New York.”    Y/N looked over at the endless horizon. Oh, how far away she was from home. And it would seem like Jack could read minds, echoing her thought.    There was almost an understanding look in his eyes. “You’ve travelled a long way from there, haven't you?”    “Very,” Y/N let out a deep sight, resting her arms on the railing. “Elizabeth told me that the closest port is a two, three-week journey. Which port exactly are we talking about?”    “Tortuga,” a wicked smile made its way onto Jack’s face. “Best place on earth for a pirate.”    Y/N could only chuckle, not even remotely surprised that they were pirates. Their clothing gave it away and the giant black flag with a skull and two crossed swords was a dead giveaway.    The girl relished in the salty breeze of the sea. She’d always wanted to visit exotic places, but her job had made it quite difficult to get even a day off. And then there was Bucky. Her best friend in the whole world. He was just getting accustomed to living in the tower and apart from Steve, he clung to the girl like a koala. Not that Y/N minded. She’d gotten attached to the ex-assassin too and if there was any possible way she could help with his recovery she’d drop everything in a heartbeat.    “Doll, you need to take a day off, treat yourself. I hate that you can’t do anything worthwhile because you’re stuck here with me,” he’d said to the girl after an intense workout session.    “Buck,” she had grasped his unshaven chin between her fingers, “you can’t get rid of me. Me staying here is my and only my choice. And if it means having to sit through therapy with you or have a few sleepless nights, then that is it. As long as you’re getting better, it’s all that matters to me and if I have any way of helping you through it, I will. So don’t start with this bullshit, okay?”    He’d only smiled and kissed the girl on the cheek, pulling her in for a tight hug. “I love you, you know that?”    “Might have said it a few times.”    What wouldn’t the girl give just to feel safe between her friend's arms, instead of being stuck in the past on a pirate ship.    Her Y/E/C eyes caught movement to her left and ascending the stairs was the man with the longish hair. The one with the chocolate eyes and sharp cheekbones. Will.    “Hello.” His voice was quiet. Like a warm summer breeze.    “Hello.” Y/N replied a small smile playing on her lips as she turned fully to face the man.    “I’m Will Turner.”    “Y/N Y/L/N.”    “That’s a very beautiful name.”    Y/N laughed, shaking her head, the Y/H/C floating around in the breeze. “It’s just a name.”    “A very beautiful one at that.”    Of course, these were the manners men had in this time period. Back home whenever a guy said something like that or gave a kiss on the top of a girl’s hand, that was more a message of ‘I wanna get in your pants tonight and I’ll pretend not to be an asshole for like two minutes, tell you how pretty your name is and how it perfectly fits you, before I ask you to drop your panties and go for a fuck’. But here, now, it’s just how people were, and Y/N would be lying if she said she didn’t appreciate that. The only two people who even remotely said something like that and didn’t mean it in an ‘I wanna fuck you’ kind of way was Steve and Bucky. Even then both of them were from the 40s.    “Well thank you,” she smiled looking at Will. “Got it for my birthday.” She couldn’t help herself. Such an opportunity to say that stupid and cheesy joke, she couldn’t just let it pass.    He shook his head as is saying ‘I cannot believe how dumb that was’ before coming to stand next to the girl.    “Are you alright?”    That was a stupid question, but she didn’t say anything. “What do you mean?”    “Well after that… thing you put in the water, your nose was bleeding quite heavily and you did pass out.”    Her headache had subsided a few minutes after hitting the deck, fresh air filling her lungs, now just a dull pulsating feeling reminded her of the situation she was in only a few hours ago.    “Yeah, I am. Thank you for caching me and not letting me split my head open.”    He smiled at her, taking her right hand in his and rubbing over her knuckles. The air got caught in Y/N's throat. How can such a small gesture take away her breath like that? “Anytime.”    The pair just stood there, looking at one another, eyes roaming over the stranger before them. There was this attraction that neither could explain, but it wasn’t bad. No, not at all.    Their moment was disrupted by the lanky man with a wooden eye, rushing up to Jack.    “Captain! Redcoats!”    Everyone’s heads turned to look where he was pointing over their shoulders. A tiny speck near the horizon, nothing more than that. Jack pulled out a telescope and produced a beautiful array of swears, leaving even Y/N shocked.    “Everyone get your weapons!” he bellowed over the ship, sending the men scattering every which way.    “Didn’t you say that this is the fastest ship in the Caribbean?” Y/N turned to look at the captain. An idea had crossed her mind that she could ask them to let her on their ship, but she immediately dispelled it. They were the government. And anytime Y/N had gotten involved with that it never ended well for her. Most of the times in handcuffs. So she wasn’t going to get shackled in the 18th fucking century. Who knows what they’d do to her. Salem witch trials had happened probably not more than a few decades before, and her powers, that she could feel rumbling under her skin would definitely make her a witch.    “Can you fight?” it was Will asking her, Jack not even bothering to answer her question as he rushed off to somewhere himself.    “Did you not see my grand entrance?”    “I meant are you well enough to fight?” He was handing her a long sword, probably noting only the gun by her side.    Truthfully Y/N probably wasn’t but the adrenaline was already rushing through her veins and the newly unleashed magic wanted to come out and play.    She clasped the handle of the sharp weapon. “I was born to do this.”

Tags (crossed out couldn’t be tagged, sorry loves): @fandamad @josislife @madelonj @serieuxnoir @marvel-fanfiction @lostxsea @dschessikai 

A/N: tell me what you think :) and tomorrow I won’t be posting anything. Probably there will be no updates for the rest of working days. I’m going to see Imagine Dragons tomorrow and then I’ll focus on my assignments :)

P.S. wanna be tagged in future parts or have any requests? drop a message

P.S.S. please don’t repost without credit :)

[seyaryminamoto]

Who do you think are the most useless characters in LoK?

Ha, damn, you guys really do love making me a controversial blogger!

As with all controversial questions, this goes under a Read More

There’s different kinds of uselessness at play here, if you ask me. Most characters are skilled at one thing or another, so your typical definition of uselessness doesn’t work. Useless, though, as in “provided nothing to the plot”, is something that certainly happened in LOK. And useless as in “could have been amazing and was a huge disappointment”  is even more prominent than the previous one.

So, shall we split this question in those three sections?

Useless #1: no skills to speak of, too much screen time was wasted on them:

Wu: I actually considered having him in the third category instead, but why lie? His character only had potential because of his position in the world. When you weigh his character and his development for themselves, without focusing on his role, you realize he’s absolutely irksome and unnecessary as a character. When even Bryke asked themselves how on earth did they keep the badgermole singing scene, which is, LITERALLY, the only useful thing Wu ever did, you come to the conclusion that in order to make Wu a good character, his entire concept had to be utterly different from what it was. Ergo, yes, he earned this spot fair and square.

Unalaq: oh yes he had skills, skills to bend spirits, which was probably the biggest disservice to spirits ever done in the entire saga. Unalaq was a waste of time, and, as the entirety of Book 2 is a spit in the face of everything Avatar, it’s safe to say this entire franchise would have been better off without him. Heck, people in general seem to forget he even exists and I’m glad they do. He’s just that useless.

Useless #2: provided nothing to the plot, caused the show to drag on pointlessly:

The entire Su Beifong branch of the Beifong family: I’m not even going to apologize for being as blunt as I am about my distaste of Su Beifong and everything about her. The drama she provided the show with was seriously a waste of time. Imagine how many things could have been developed better if all of the Su Beifong family drama from both seasons 3 and 4 hadn’t happened? Her very existence was simply��� so unnecessary? After two seasons, bringing in another daughter of Toph’s as they did was utterly pointless. Nobody ever made a reference to her before, zero insinuation of her very existence, let alone of the existence of her family. Why were they necessary at all? Well, they weren’t. They derailed the show and half of the FINAL SEASON was wasted on trying to unravel their ridiculous drama. Excuse me, but I would have rather had Kuvira being an independent agent, not in love with Bataar, so all the pointless melodrama could be scrapped altogether. Maybe that way Korrasami would have had enough screentime to develop properly.

Varrick in seasons 2 and 3: I will give him a pass in season 4 as that’s the only one where he did SOMETHING. But honest to gods Varrick was painful to watch for me in seasons 2 and 3. I wasn’t amused by him in the slightest. The whole matter of the civil war between tribes got shoved under such a huge rug that I literally don’t remember anything about it. Or about the Movers. And if him making a magnetic suit would have come in handy eventually, his appearance in season 3 might have served SOME purpose, but no. So yes, he goes in this list. He absolutely earned his spot.

Zaheer: oh yes, a lot of people loved/feared/revered this asshole, and indeed, perhaps he fits in the “wasted potential” category just fine. But frankly, I couldn’t bring myself to put him there. Truth be told, Zaheer was a pain in the ass for me. His character felt flat and irritating, a mere attempt to make an “intellectual” villain that backfired entirely because his literacy didn’t make him more interesting in the slightest, he legit came off as an edgy communist teenager in the body of an adult, playing at being wise while knowingly sending the world to shit. There was a story behind everything he did, yes he had motivations, yes, he had skills… and yet you have no idea how the blazes he came into acquiring those motivations and skills. He saved P’li from enslavement? Is slavery a problem in the Avatarverse now? If slavery has been happening, why hasn’t it been developed more as a seriously bad issue in the Avatar world? Well, screw that, turns out the only function for “he saved P’li” is so he looks cool and noble. Same as his interest in Air Nomad culture and knowledge, that just makes him cool! Also, ironically, his attachment to his goal of killing Korra should have kept him from flying because AMBITIONS ARE ALSO ATTACHMENTS. Basically, Zaheer is an improvement on Unalaq and yet still a failure of a character in a thousand ways where Unalaq failed, too. He wasn’t believable for me at all: in the end he was only around to play at being Korra’s worst foil. Both Amon and Kuvira get believable motivations and their villainy goes beyond playing Final Boss for Korra. This is not the case with Zaheer. Everything about him seems to revolve around Korra.

Useless #3: absolutely wasted potential, deserved better than what they got:

Bumi: I am still SO PISSED regarding how horribly this show mishandled Bumi. His first appearance was so promising, showing a character who outright looked crazy…! And suddenly turns out he’s dorky, not crazy, and his quirks are simply stupid-funny, which is what his character was all about until he becomes a rookie airbender. Did they seriously introduce a character to us as COMMANDER BUMI… just to make him a laughingstock? Just to make him funny? What military skills did he have? How did he make it so far in life when all we know of him is that he can play the flute? Someone, please, explain. And his story regarding feeling inferior for not being an airbender, just for him to end up being an airbender all the same in the next season? I HATED IT. Waste of screentime, right there. No development needed, let’s just forcibly kill his insecurities by making him an insta-airbender. Ugh.

Asami: this is even painful. We’re talking about a girl who had ten thousand skills and could do all sorts of jobs, with insanely high quality training in combat… and what did she do for this show? Provided the money for the Fire Ferrets in season 1, then the air crafts needed for every other season, and became a love interest. The majority of the stuff she did with her skills are off-screen. We HEAR about Asami, we seldom see her in action and she is CONSTANTLY, CONSISTENTLY, removed from important events in every season. She literally gets written out of Book 2′s finale as a whole. In Book 1 she faced her dad, wasn’t involved in the final, main conflict. In Book 3 she couldn’t do anything to help with Zaheer in the final fight. In Book 4 she got written out of the fight too after her dad becomes a martyr. How. Just. How?? This character HAD potential. It got squandered and thrown to waste because the biggest bigots when it came to bending and non-bendng were the show’s writers.

Bolin: this guy had a completely incoherent arc and development, mainly because his character had no clear motivations and no obvious interests throughout the entire story. No doubt, he wanted to make something of himself, but it isn’t until Book 4 where he finally channels his motivation into something productive. Otherwise, he was only ever following Korra around. Adding to this that most his presence in the first seasons was about turning him into a laughingstock, with only a handful of serious moments, and that his love life was even more messed up than his character arc, and he’s just one big pile of wasted potential.

P’li: I am singling out P’li specifically, despite Ghazan and Ming-hua also should be included here. But P’li is the one that bugs me the most because she could have provided countless answers regarding combustion bending if only the show had included her as something other than Zaheer’s explosive girlfriend. The fact remains that I was mainly interested in her character because of the expansion of lore she could offer, and in the end she provided nothing new for us. It’s beyond disappointing. As for Ming-hua and Ghazan, yes, they were underused and their storylines cheapened too. All three of them are exponents of wasted potential.

Kya II: she was cool, could’ve been a much more complex character, and yet I think she must have had less screentime than Zuko? I don’t even know, but the point is, she was around only for a couple of seasons, wasn’t particularly prominent in either one, got ZERO lines in book 4... she’s an immediate candidate for this category.

Iroh II: basically the same as above. It’s kind of sad because he was the leader of armed forces that achieved nothing at any point in the show? I’ve never seen a show that brings up armies and warfare as much as LOK did while also never allowing full-blown armed conflict to unfold. I mean, I’m not asking for Helm’s Deep, but every single time Iroh brought out his troops he was either wiped out or left to watch things unfold from the sidelines. Honestly, he was around to cater to Zuko fans and nothing more, while having the potential to BE much more. Fans used this character a thousand times more than the show ever did.

Desna and Eska: not a lot of people liked them, but the fact remained that they had potential, especially after turning against their father and becoming leaders of their tribe at such young age. The conflict Desna showed when it came to Unalaq was actually pretty nice, and for me to say such a thing about ANYTHING in Book 2 is a shocker. And yet they practically did nothing else in the other seasons, aside from a creepy joke that sounded like incest was being hinted at. Neat-o.

Senna: it’s actually embarrassing that the show did next to nothing with Korra’s MOTHER. I have no doubts she had potential, honest to gods. It’s disappointing to no end that all we know about her, by watching the show, is that she’s someone’s wife and someone’s mom. She’s cute and adorable and just... there. Cool. What a waste. 

I suppose there are more characters worth sorting in here, but if I keep going I won’t get to any other asks. So here you go :’D

[mockymyths]

Jeepers Creepers: Jezelle Gay Hartman - Psychic, Informant, Badass Grandma? - In My Dreams

Aside from providing some tension, information, and giving the plot one final push to the finale, this character is relatively simple and disappointing as a whole. Now before you decide to comment, let me discuss her specific role and actions in the movie and WHY she ends up being relatively disappointing with very little payoff. I’m also going to bring up a few suggestions as to how her character could have been used better.

It’s gonna be a spoiler palooza up ahead so if you care about that kind of thing don’t read I guess?

1.) The phone call:

So the first time we meet Jezelle it’s through a phone call that Trish and Darry receive while waiting for the cops at a diner. She calls to warn them that they’re in danger and what will happen to one of them if they’re caught by the Creeper.

This introduction feels very confused for multiple reasons.

First of all, we’re told that she doesn’t remember/see every little detail in her visions which allow her to have this kind of information in the first place. It gives us leniency in what we are and aren’t allowed to know, thus leaving an air of mystery until the very end. The frustrating thing about this though is the fact that later on it’s implied that she kinda lied about what she does and doesn’t know (expanded upon in number 2). It’s implied that she DOES know who will die and somehow she’s able to figure out when the two will be at the police station for her to meet up with. But if she’s able to see and figure that out then she should also have known when they would have a run in with the cats as well. That, along with the fact that she calls the diner at the exact time Trish and Darry are there, basically make this phone call stupid for so many reasons; because let’s be real: either she calls that diner constantly to try and catch them or she’s got some weird ass spidey sense going on (if she doesn’t actively know when they’re going to be there).

The only purpose this phone call really provides is tension. Later on when the siblings get a police escort and hear an alternative song to the one Jezelle played for them, Darry begins panicking saying that they’re in real danger whilst Trish tries to explain to him that it’s not even the correct song and that they’re fine. Ironically, they actually ARE in danger, they just don’t notice it yet because the action is happening in the background. It’s a nice scare and tension builder, by all means, but it really only works once and could have been alluded to better.

2.) The Police Station:

So as I mentioned earlier, near the climax of the movie, Jezelle finally meets the siblings in person at the police station. It’s here that she expands upon the nature of the Creeper and what their fates will be when he finally catches his intended target. This provides an excellent tension builder because this also gives the siblings the chance to confront her about who it will be that the Creeper chooses. This allows for a proper climax and a wonderful “stepping up” moment for Trish whom tries to bargain with the Creeper to save Darry and it’s wonderful because it gives us the reaffirmation that she truly is the caring protective older sister that we only see hints of throughout the movie.

But as you’ve probably guessed by now, I have an issue with this too.

Jezelle being promoted as a psychic character just feels tired. No one believes her and everyone thinks she’s crazy. Just that one sentence alone makes me feel TIRED of that trope. Now that being said, I do understand the reasoning for it. There’s really only so many ways you can provide information on a supernatural creature, but when the movie recycles the “visions” trope on another character it just feels even WORSE because now it’s cliche in the franchise with barely any rhyme or reason aside from information. Realistically, it would have been fine to not have these bits of information. Everything we were told could have been gleamed from what we saw in the movie and the only real important piece she provides us with is that one of the siblings will die by the creature’s hands. That’s it.

Now i’m not saying that psychic characters themselves are tiring, but the way they were handled in this series itself was. And this will be something I will be discussing further in part 5.

3.) Jezelle’s Last Stand:

So then we go off to the climax and Jezelle tries to buy the kids some time to escape by using herself as bait for the monster. She faces off with him and either she isn’t actually scared or she has absolutely nothing the Creeper desires for himself. He promptly ditches her to head straight for the kids. This paired with the ending where she responds to Trish by saying “I’m just a crazy old lady.” really gives everyone the feeling of inevitability and uselessness. These scenes were the most impactful for Jezelle and can really give us a deeper feeling and emotion than what was probably intended. And this is also where I feel like her character was most powerful.

Jezelle goes out of her way to try and help them because she can’t stand the thought of anyone else suffering by the Creeper’s hands whilst she does nothing. She doesn’t listen to what the others say when they claim that she’s crazy and even puts herself in harms way to try and save the siblings. So the look on her face when the Creeper barely gives her a second look and immediately goes after Trish and Darry is a little heart breaking. It’s like she realizes that she wasn’t even good enough to buy them a few minutes, that there wasn’t much she could do in the end.

And then later on, when Trish confronts Jezelle about her lying about who the Creeper was going to take, that gives us even more heart break. Jezelle was probably hoping that by telling them that Trish would be taken, that Darry would become less scared and maybe make himself undesirable to the Creeper in doing so. But ultimately there was nothing she could do to help, in the end she really was a “crazy old lady”, and it’s in that pain and acceptance of failure that we can feel the most for Jezelle.

4.) Payoff:

This is also why I feel like the use of her character was disappointing and the payoff was too small. Two thirds of her scenes amount to very little aside from building tension and scares and the information she gives is wholly unnecessary. If she had a larger part in the film then perhaps her final scenes would have been even more impactful. Because as much as this movie is about the siblings, the ending really paints us a depressing picture that begs the question of “if you can’t change the outcome, is there even a point in trying?”

Because although we can hear and feel Darry’s terror build until the finale and shudder at the...sight... EVEN THOUGH we can feel the pain in Trish as she chases down the Creeper and is left to face the awful fact that she couldn’t do her job of the elder sibling properly and protect Darry despite everything else she’s done in the movie to protect him, Jezelle possibly contains the most widespread emotion I think that we as humans can REALLY get on board with the most.

“If you can’t change the outcome...”     “If you don’t succeed...”

“...Is there a point in trying?”

5.) Improvements:

So earlier I mentioned things such as Jezelle’s phone call, the information she provides on the Creeper, and her ability as a Psychic.

My primary complaints on her use as a character is that the scares and tension as well as information provided were ultimately pointless due to the lack of actual use. The information she provided on the Creeper, being a super old creature, reappearing for 23 days every 23rd summer, and can’t really die due to the fact that he can consume human parts to rejuvenate his body which is mostly why he hunts- All of this could have been provided in alternative ways and really kinda was. Things like missing people cases in the area, the Church of Pain (where all the bodies were sprung up like a mockery to the Sistine Chapel mural and others), and what we see in the later half of the film where Trish runs him over and then he eats cops to fix his parts, all of this was really all we needed in order to learn of the Creeper’s culture and motive. The only piece of information needed from Jezelle at this point was (ultimately) the ending. And even in this I have a simple solution.

One of my head canons happen to be that the close proximity to the Creeper allows for random individuals to have psychic abilities in order to combat him (he’s lived in that area presumably for at least a few hundred years, so if Jezelle lived in that area she could be one of the few who have insight to his habits. This would also be a great explanation for why Minxie was given the information needed on the Creeper.) This paranormal seepage into the world around him would also allow for technology to flicker and react to his presence and in the very first scene where he harasses the siblings in their car (as well as the second time) this could allow for the radio station to skip around and play bits of the song for Darry to connect to the Creeper later on. He’d hear bits in the car the first two times, hear the actual thing at the church of pain via a gramophone, connect it to the creeper when they have the police escort and start panicking, and then BOOM problem solved and we still feel that same terror at the end when it’s playing. No dumb phone call that has basically no real payoff; however Jezelle could still allude to it being Trish later on for the aforementioned reasons.

The only downside to this is that this would make Jezelle’s character SEEM completely unimportant and that’s where I say NAY! Because now that we’re not focusing on dumb attempts to build a one off scare we can actually USE her LOGICALLY. If she can track them well enough to know when to call them at the diner then she can fucking FIND THEM AT THE DINER HERSELF, or just as well, FUCKNG FIND THEM WHEN THEY’RE GETTING ESCORTED BY THE POLICE. Either way, she’s there when the escort get essentially FUCKED by the Creeper and Jezelle with a gun just shoots the hell out of the fucker and Trish runs him over for good measure (or the other way around, or they trade off, fuck it’d still be a cool scene either way!) Jezelle escorts them to the closest police station and THATS when she could tell us about her visions and desire to help out.

This would lead to an even greater payoff with her character because now we can feel more engaged with her (imo). This wasn’t just someone who kinda tried to help and then finally at the last minute decided to come in to still do essentially nothing- No, NOW it’s someone who was so fed up with being unable to help that she gets off her ass and ACTUALLY HELPS. She gets badass granny moments, maybe even bips him a few times in the police station while also acting as bait and is STILL IGNORED AND STILL FAILS.

That would be THE BIGGEST KICK and makes her failure and pain even more palatable in the end. Just imagine it and tell me that wouldn’t be badass and depressing as hell with the same amount of horror aspects built into it.

[your-friendly-neighborhood-sc00t]

Soul Calibur VI was just announced at the Game Awards

As I’m sure everyone is aware, the announcement trailer for Soul Calibur VI was just revealed yesterday, and the game is coming out in 2018, meaning that at most, it’ll be released in 12 months, and at shortest, most likely 6-8 months. MEANING THAT THE GAME IS MOST LIKELY FINISHED AT THIS POINT.

With the horribly rushed, unfinished, and pathetic state that Soul Calibur V was released in, Namco/Project Soul has ALOT of ground to make up for. And with this game coming out in just a year, it had better be a finished and complete product, there’s no excuse for it NOT to be.

With that out of the way, I’m going to list off some predictions I have, as well as things that should be added or removed to the game.

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Removal of Critical Edges and Brave Edges

I absolutely despised this addition to SCV, super attacks and special attacks are things that are present in just about every other fighting game franchise, but Soul Calibur was always unique, in which it had never needed or used these mechanics, and rightfully so, the lack of these in previous titles is one of many things that helped differentiate it from everything else. The inclusion of these mechanics didn’t further deepen the combat system, but simplified it, and wasn’t at all innovative for a fighting game. AND, there was balance issues with them, like some character’s CEs being far superior to others.

All in all, these were terrible additions, and I never want to see these mechanics in another Soul Calibur game again. And I genuinely hope they don’t become pillars in the core gameplay.

-

Removal of Just Guard, and Revival of the Original Guard Impact System

The Just Guard mechanic was definitely one of the most boneheaded decisions made in V, there just, wasn’t ANY reason for it to even exist, it was difficult for some to pull off, it required EVEN MORE so precise timing to execute, and was just utterly pointless.

We need the original GI system from SCII and III, with the standard Impact and Parry, and you NEED to be able to perform it freely, with no restrictions to meter.

-

Removal of Meter

A meter system truly has no place in this series, it never did, it added this retarded restriction of GI'ing, and was required to perform buffed versions of your standard attacks, sound familiar?

-

Needs to be a Prequel to V

Considering all the dreadful mistakes made in terms of characters and story in V, this game needs to take place before this game, and from the looks of the trailer, it is indeed going to be, Sophitia (dead by SCV) and a much younger looking Mitsurugi are both present. So this gives me a bit of hope. And let’s be perfectly honest, nobody honestly gave a damn about half of the new characters introduced in V.

-

Chronicles of the Sword Mode

Something really innovative, unique, and fun that was in III, was this mode, which was essentially a campaign for your custom characters, with it’s own unique plot and characters, with some RTS elements thrown in. It was a truly satisfying, and gratifying experience, and with how in-depth the Character Creation system is becoming, this NEEDS to make a return, it’ll definitely add some replay value to the game.

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Even More In-Depth Options for Character Creation

V did an astounding job at furthering the already-impressive character creation systems from III and IV, but they could still add some more options to improve the system. Increasing and decreasing the size of individual body parts in V was a good start, but I’d like to be able to further mess around with my character’s facial features, like increase/decrease the size of their nose, eyes, ears, cheeks, etc. Add highlights to their hair, and smaller things like that. Also I’d appreciate more than 3 slots for Special Equipment, and little to no conflicting equipment, which was something that was incredibly annoying in IV and V.

-

Custom Character Jobs and Unique Fighting Styles

Something specifically present in III, was jobs for your custom characters, essentially you’d pick a job, and a variety of different fighting styles and weapons would be available for you to choose (though you had to play as them for a bit to unlock these special fighting styles). The cool thing was, these were entirely distinctive from the roster of existing characters, your custom character was even able to fight differently than the rest. They took this out starting in IV, and it has yet to make it’s return. Reintroducing this would be freaking awesome, and would encourage players even more so to craft their own CCs, as they will have new, different styles to also try out.

-

Defining Mode

Starting in II, each game had, what I refer to as a “Defining Mode”, essentially the one mode that stands out in single-player content. II’s was Weapon Master, III’s was Chronicles of The Sword, and IV’s was Tower of Lost Souls, V didn’t really have one, unless you consider “Legendary Souls” to be it, I don’t as it was just a lazy and sorry excuse for a mode, lol…

So if VI doesn’t return any of these modes (which it likely won’t) it needs to have it’s own distinctive single-player mode that defines the game.

-

Removal of the “Comeback Mechanic”

This one, absolutely infuriates me, essentially in V, when your opponent is on their last 20% of life, all of your attacks are nerfed and HALVED, unless they do more than 20 points of damage. So, the match begins to swing in THEIR FAVOR, JUST BECAUSE THEY HAVE LESS HEALTH THAN YOU.

WHAT KIND OF LOGIC IS THAT, THIS IS A FIGHTING GAME, IF YOU WANT TO WIN, YOU HAVE TO HARD FOR IT. This is the only fighting game I’ve ever heard of to make use of this TERRIBLE mechanic, this is disgusting, and I NEVER want to see this in any fighting game ever again.

-

Cancels

Something that every game after II was lacking in, were attack cancels. Being able to cancel a large variety of your attacks boosted the mental game of SC, SIGNIFICANTLY, you had several ways to fake-out or bait your opponent, that it was ridiculous. And if you started up some attacks, you didn’t always have to actually commit to it, giving more freedom to the player. There are some cancels in III and IV, but they are truly far-and-few between. While V lacks essentially any cancels at all, and standard attack cancels are utterly useless due to GI being restricted to meter. So, VI really needs to bring back the immense amount of cancelable attacks to bring back that lost depth.

-

Needs to be as fast as SCII

I really hope I’m not the only one who thought V’s gameplay was slow as all hell, the characters are sluggish and take a LIFETIME to recover from THEIR OWN ATTACKS. AND IT TAKES YEARS JUST TO GET UP FROM THE GROUND WHEN KNOCKED DOWN. This game absolutely needs the speed and fluidity that II had, no other game felt as smooth or refined, but VI has the chance to equal it, to which, I hope and pray that it does.

-

Team Battle

A mode that was exclusive to II, you could form a team of up to 8 characters and duke it out against someone else who also has a team of that size. It was incredibly satisfying just to go through numerous rounds, trying to see who could knock-out whose team first. And it’s a feeling I’ve been sorely missing for years at this point.

-

Anyway, I think that’s about everything Soul Calibur VI needs in order to be a proper SC title, but I have to admit, I’m nervous as hell. Like I said earlier tho, it has immense ground to make up for, after the travesty that was V, but I’m hopeful that VI will be a game worthy of praise, and of the SC name.

I really do hope this game turns out to actually be something, I’ve been a fan of the series for years, I’ve grown up with these games, so I’m just hoping this is the game that redirects the series onto the proper track.