#very chill mmo

[deathbypufferfish]

Some recent Sky moments featuring @starry-spell ! 🦋🌈

[sol-flo]

aw webfishing looks like it must be really nice on the steamdeck

[kerubimcrepin]

Wakfu Season 3, Episodes 1-6

//tw mentions of SA

Episode 1 - Fallen Heroes

I had a very long discussion with a friend of mine, who is a fan of medical settings, about how cool the existence of IV within the lore of Krosmoz is.

We didn't come to any conclusion. It was just us fanboying about this. Because my friend loves medical things and I love putting character into situations (some of which would not be survivable, if them being put on IV wasn't possible) (big fan of the concept of Joris getting poisoned and very sick and Kerubim and Atcham freaking the fuck out).

Funnily enough, during the making of my YouTube series, I discovered that there are two Sram-venerating women named Toxine in this franchise.

Adamai harbouring feelings of violence towards the members of the brotherhood is a good idea, (<- obviously the guy that wants Joris to beat the shit out of Kerubim would say this), but man, it could have been so cool if someone competent was working with this idea.

Episode 3 - Oropo's Tower

I should admit, this moment was probably a big win for Tristepin Mental Illness fans. Also, this is sadly the most explicit they can get with the reasons why Tristepin might hate being the Iop god in a cartoon.

He has plenty of reasons. Not only had Iop had 394824 demigods who hated him and felt abandoned by him while suffering fates worse than death (all gods have those) and just as many mortals he took advantage of using the power imbalance of godhood and promises of love (all gods have done that), he also canonically sexually assaulted a woman.

Ngl, if I was Tristepin, I would be considering killing myself — however, the kids and the wife would be sad.

They shuoild do this to Yugo too. He also had other wives. Albeit in an infinitely less insane way than Tristepin. Ankama.., please stop ignoring how existentially horrifying the Eliatrope demigods are.

In the Dofus MMO Kerubim pretty much calls the brotherhood of the forgotten an emo club of people with too much free time on their hands doing nothing but whining about their daddy issues.

And he was so real for that.

Btw canonically, Mishelle/Coqueline makes him feel intimidated (due to her grand age) while she herself doesn't really care about him (besides liking his good attitude towards animals), and is actually besties with Otomai.

Episode 4 - Beastly Girl

I like to headcanon that Joris's relationship with Coqueline is that he projects onto her ("oh god.... being 7 forever would make me kill myself.... even being 3ft tall is already horrible and makes me want to die..... the poor woman must be suffering") while she's like,, 1. probably doesn't think of herself as a "woman". I think she would describe herself as a creature, maybe a girlcreature, and 2. is literally chilling and doesn't give a single shit about anything but animal welfare and direct anti-god action.

I think talking to her would kill Joris because he'd realize that not every immortal person is as insecure about Literally Everything as he is.

She literally says, "the only good gods are ex-gods". We stan a leftist girlcreature?

This screenshot can be used as a reaction image for so many different shows. More fictional parents should say "my child is NOT ascending to godhood and shedding their mortality, becoming something beyond my comprehension, before they're of age. Fuck you."

Episode 5 - A Iop Hides Himself to Cry

You want to read @bitter-panacea's analysis posts about Goultard so bad.

Despite my negative feeling on s3, this is a WIN for Goultard fans, as far as I'm aware. (and Goultard enjoyers, since I kinda consider myself one)

I;'m going to walk into the sea.

Episode 6 - The Ecaflip's Scratching Post

YEAH BABY, A FULL ON IN-SHOW CONFIRMATION OF MY "USH HAS A DIFFERENT MOM THAN KERUBIM AND ATCHAM" HYPOTHESIS.

This might not seem like a contentious issue to normal people. Gods have... a lot of different lovers, so it seems normal to assume that Ush has one mom, while Kerubim and Atcham are twins like Eleley and Flopin, and have a different mom...

But a cancelled game that Tot really liked and still considers canon had really weird "there's an Ecaflip priestess who is the CEO of Giving Birth" lore, and was planned to be the mysterious mom of Kerubim and Atcham (and many other demigods), which contradicts a lot of previously established lore (ankama LOVES retcons. sadly).

I am quite open about thinking this is stupid and not considering this canon until they show her to me in an actual released media (and even then I will find a way to headcanon a better reality). Seeing the series itself acknowledge that Ush is not Atcham and Kerubim's full brother makes me feel quite better.

Hi Ush were you doing [SEXUAL ACTS REDACTED] upon cats again.

Cute...

A normal thing for a Bontarian to do. Blue-clad (metaphorically, he isn't wearing blue but white. Still very Bontarian though) man over here protecting kids and women. While also beating them up.

But unironically, I think it's cute that he has this gap moe of being an evil man who also saves people and cares about honour (because that's a proper thing to do) despite cheating constantly.

Somehow, his shallowness and "I mostly care about appearances, even if I do have a moral code" sort of behaviour is just as Extremely Bontarian as Joris's.... 30 mental illnesses.

THE OST IN THIS EP IS SO GOOD. ECAFLIP FANS WINNING ONCE AGAIN.

Hey past me! Maybe he really does pay these cats to put up with his insane behaviours. 🤨

Yugo, I'm gonna be real with you:

he's probably heard Joris and Kerubim say these exact words at least twice before,

He is reallllllly weird about cats and I am unsure if that's illegal in your setting,

He lured in people to kill in his tower for sport serial killer style.

He's bontarian. -20 morality and honor points immediately.

[leviroyale]

MMO COOKIE OCS [9/19]

POPTROPICA - Golden Leaf Cookie

Seasonal adventurer raised by adventuring parents 

Found a magic staff; now the staff won’t leave her cuz now she assumes as the new owner

Years later, she stops adventuring to attend college and becomes roommates with Cold Pistachio and Violet Star

T’was a decision by her parents to continue her education anyway lol

Very chill, cool-headed, knows to focus when it comes to solving puzzles (experienced adventurer), and would go for a thrill

She still keeps the keepsakes she got from her old adventures

Interactions below vvvv

[kraviolis]

someone liked one of my TOH headcanon posts from earlier this year and it reminded me about the specific headcanons i have for exactly what types of games the hexsquad plays and how they play them.

luz is obv an RPG fantasy fan. anything with a juicy story and a character creator and complex lore she’ll love. she definitely plays series like elder scrolls and baldur’s gate and final fantasy. she also plays final fantasy 14 and has her character as the good witch luzura and she isnt good at playing it like an mmo is supposed to be played but she loves the story. when endwalker came out luz couldnt stop sobbing to the point that camila was actually worried about her. also enjoys roguelikes such as hades or binding of isaac even if she can only play for so long before getting too frustrated. she also 100% plays genshin impact and gets into arguments online with other genshin fans.

amity is a fighting game girl. she is highly competitive and practices combos with her eyes shut. she prefers the tekken series but when luz wants to play with her they play guilty gear bcus luz likes it’s art style the most. she also likes fantasy RPGs but is way more picky about which ones she plays. she likes fire emblem. she also plays ff14 with luz and is actually good at the game (she carries luz sometimes) but isnt a huge fan of MMOs. she also is the one in the friend group with the NASA ass PC rig with a custom case and the most organized wiring you’ve ever seen with the lcd screen on the liquid cooled cpu and the azura figurine inside the case. she also does custom wraps for all her consoles.

hunter likes games that are very much like, micromanagement sims. like civ5 or cities skylines or factorio (i dont know anything about it but ive been assured by my sister that hunter plays modded factorio) but he’s also a fan of like, old school FPS games like doom and half life. i can see him doing speedruns of those games. (also he 100% once got addicted to some game like fuckin. galactic pinball or something to the point where he was staying up all night and not sleeping so he could play more pinball. in order to get him to stop playing so much and actually get some sleep, gus used illusions to make hunter think he was hallucinating about pinball and scared him into not looking at a single screen or monitor for like three weeks.)

gus is a very chill gamer but he likes games that he can sink hours and hours into. instead of playing a wide variety of games he has a select few that he dedicates his time into learning every last mechanic, but there’s also some games he just plays casually. like with pokemon games he’ll put hundreds of hours into them and carefully curate his team and does like nuzlocke runs but when he plays on his and willow’s shared-custody new horizons island he’ll just walk around and catch bugs and shit and not really worry about upgrading his house and make matching fits with his favorite villager.

willow prefers cozy games, like slime rancher or stardew valley or the aforementioned shared new horizons island, but she’s also a fucking menace about them. like she goes HARD on the min-maxing and automation and shit. while gus is wandering around their island catching fish, willow’s busy rearranging her fully upgraded mansion up in the hills and harassing any villagers she doesnt like with nets and deciding what hybrids to plant in front of her bell trees (she only has bell trees for the aesthetic. gus isnt allowed to harvest them) she would also be running the most high profit slime ranch ever but the way she treats her slimes makes hunter upset whenever he sees her just fuckin throwing them off a cliff the second they arent useful to her anymore. (meanwhile hunter names each one of his slimes and always feeds them their favorite foods and cried over casey & beatrix)

vee enjoys survival/strategic horror games, like DBD, resident evil, deadspace, or even FNAF. she’s the type of person to see the goriest most violent death in a video game ever and just go “ew yucky” then carry on. masha and her are often playing DBD together while in a call and are the most annoying pair of suvivors ever. she also likes games such as original katamari and pikmin 1 and chulip. she's also the undefeated DDR champion of the friend group.

and of COURSE they all play video games together. they all have a terraria world they play on together where they all are focused on their own little projects while still working together and are slowly building up their own village/mansion/castle/fort but luz keeps rushing ahead of everyone just bcus she's so excited and she definitely somehow ends up summoning the wall of flesh accidentally

they DID have a modded minecraft world for a few months with both tech mods and magic mods but while hunter, amity, and vee all focused on their factories and computers and technology, gus, willow, and luz fucked around with all the crazy magic and accidentally found out by blowing up a factory. this is where heightened tension between the the warlocks & the scientists began. this spark eventually turned into a full fledged war that lasted two months before it ended in mutually assured destruction to the point where no one could actually load into the server without their game crashing.

bonus: camila isnt much of a gamer with one exception-- when she was in college manny introduced her to WoW and got her hooked. it was Their Game that they played together all the time. they made cosplays of their characters together. they had several dates in game. they optimized their characters to perfect compliment one another when they ran dungeons with their guild. even since manny passed camila still plays every so often and keeps in touch with their guild members. for the longest time luz has 0 idea that camila plays WoW at all and only finds out after the whole secret nerd confession.

[aotopmha]

This is my random Dawntrail thoughts dumping ground post, stuff I didn't find enough to say about to make a separate post about.

Some general area spoilers!

I mentioned this briefly before, but I think Dawntrail might have a bunch of my favourite zones in the game.

I think Tuliyollal is most certainly my favourite city next to Radz-at-Han and Kugane.

I adore the Crystarium, Ishgard, Ultima Thule, Amaurot and Garlemald narratively, but they're also not exactly locations I want to be in "constantly".

I adore Lakeland, Il Mheg, Rak'tika, Thavnair and the Azim Steppe because they're pretty and they definitely fulfilled this role previously for me, but I just enjoy hanging out in Kozama'uka, Urqopacha, Shaaloani and Yak T'el so much more as "locations" and in terms of atmosphere, not for story reasons.

They're great "MMO" zones for me.

I'm almost done with maxing out the Shared FATEs and even the last two zones aren't exactly ones I just want to chill in, either, but the others?

Great stuff and a niché that hadn't been specifically filled for me before this expansion.

I'd farm FATEs for eternity here with or without battle music.

Next, I think Dawntrail might also have my favourite soundtrack so far. So much variety and with the exception of some vocals, it's all great.

I love the other soundtracks, of course, but ShB and EW in particular were much less diverse in terms of styles at play, mostly leaning into lyric tracks, traditional orchestral or piano arrangements with some outliers.

They're amazing at what they're going for, but DT has great jazz, great traditional orchestral stuff, great techno, great rock.

And it's all really, really good.

And HW and StB are somewhere in the middle where they have a bunch of different styles of music, but not quite as much variety within them.

HW has Alexander, which is very different from any of the base game stuff and StB has lots of old FF music in Omega and Ivalice, but outside of that also mostly leans on traditional orchestral music with a touch of the cultures you encounter and lyric tracks.

And obviously, only the base expansion and first raid tier are out, but DT had a track in a different style for every single floor of the first raid tier. The variety is unmatched.

As said, my negative would actually be the lyric tracks because they just sound off this expac for some reason.

I've always found it to be the weakest part of the OSTs because when they're good, they're good, but there are points where they tend to be muffled or a strange kind of crackly or in DT's case just not sound good. Smile and the song for Arcadion M2 are solid compositions, latter is wonderfully catchy, but the singing itself is just kind of off to me.

I felt it to a lesser extent for M4, too.

But it's a very small part of the OST so far, so I think it barely pushes out ShB as my favourite OST.

Next, I want to briefly mention the job design.

I got all of the jobs I've leveled to 100 (so far 6 different ones).

To preface this: I'm entirely casual, so I have no idea how these feel in high-end play, but in terms of casual play, most just feel "streamlined".

I'll go down the list:

My enjoyment of Dragoon in particular increased quite a bit because, most simply put, some of it was just annoying to keep track of and keep doing. I'm so happy Dragonsight is gone because it was just annoying to apply it.

On the other hand, as smoother as I feel the gap closer is in terms of gameplay experience and as much as I love the new combo, Disesteem being a 2 min and there being no actual attack oGCD in place of Plunge somehow makes Dark Knight feel emptier.

Now that I reflect on it, I liked that you had another button to push, just not that it was a gap closer. Now it just feels like you just have less to do because a gap closer is situational.

Even as annoying as Blood Weapon was, it was a button to push.

Dark Knight is the job I've enjoyed playing the most out of all of the ones I've leveled and I still do, but it's the one I feel is the simplest now and not in a good way.

I think it actually really needs more oGCDs that aren't conditional procs or a resource skill or anything more than it currently does or something else going for it besides the gauge timer abilities and Delirium. It feels so simple, yet unlike Viper less satisfying.

It's my #1 pick for adjustments or a full rework for 8.0 or earlier, even if I might not like it afterwards.

I actually have very little commentary on Red Mage and Sage outside of it being neat that you have more attacks now.

I hear the new Manafication setup for Red Mage is pretty annoying in hardcore context. I'm pretty indifferent about it, so I wouldn't mind if they adjusted it.

Bard's new attacks are great and having the ability to use your songs without targeting is fantastic.

And Viper is 100% my new favourite melee, I think. You can just follow the shiny buttons or focus on trying to not overcap as best as you can, hitting all of the positionals the best you can and perfecting all of your button inputs because there are scenarios where you can lose a bunch of damage if you press the wrong button.

The ranged options and movement options are fantastic.

Awakening is a blast to try and use well mid-battle.

(Please don't remove too many of the positionals. They're a fun optimisation option.)

And I think that's about it for some of the scattered topics.

I have 90% of my Dawntrail thoughts out now.

I thought about it and I think separate dungeon posts are a pretty mild priority and I'll just enjoy the game and take a break from talking about it for at least a little bit.

Also depends on if I'll get any other ideas on topics I want to talk about, I suppose.

[honestlyvan]

What is dendro and who are your blorbos in it? :o

Infinite Dendrogram is a web novel/light novel series written by Sakon Kaidou that began publishing in 2015 that has a 12 episode anime covering the first five volumes and an ongoing manga adaptation by Kami Imai. It takes place inside a virtual MMO of the same name, filled with fully sapient AI NPCs called "tians", and all player characters, "Masters", are equipped with adaptive AI companions called "Embryos" that range from non-sentient weapons to fully sapient partners that are born from a profound desire their Master has, and evolve to fulfill their wishes, justified as them "adapting" to the Master's preferred play style.

It's bonkers good, has extremely tight power scaling and a well thought-out magic system, intriguing lore and absolutely stacks and stacks of the best girls in shonen. I haven't actually ran the numbers but I feel like the supporting cast is majority female and out of all of them only two could reasonably be considered love interests for the protagonist, the major recurring ones being either his peers or his mentors.

It fucking rules, nonny. I am spoiled by this series. I'm never gonna be able to go back to manga. Dendro has so many well-written, strongly characterised female characters who are nothing like one another and in fact occupy a lot of the archetypes male characters would in other stories.

Anyway! Onto the blorbos! Unmarked spoilers for volumes 1-21 and the entire anime from hereon out!!

Ray Starling & Nemesis

"Protagonist-kun? Really, Van?" Yes, really. Listen. Ray fucking rules. As a Maiden's Master, he is mechanically identified as giving way too much of a shit, and a lot of his personality is shaped by his attempts at harnessing the compassion that is too big for his body to good ends. Ray is very clear-headed about his strengths and weaknesses, and yet he still develops into a suicide bomb of a PC because he just really fucking hates people getting hurt.

He's humble and good-natured, engagingly intelligent without dipping over into annoying smart guy territory, and Kaidou's Girl Respecter streak has rubbed off on him a lot because Ray is chill about having female friends in a way that is startlingly grounded. He's a good ridealong character. He's sweet. He is a good lad.

But also! I did say my blorbo was Ray with Nemesis. And that's because Nemesis helps bring out nuance in Ray and also explain the core idea behind Embryo's so strongly I don't think it makes sense to read Ray without the context Nemesis provides for us. While Ray is chill and humble, Nemesis is exuberant and positively radiates self-esteem. While Ray is passionate and driven by his compassion, Nemesis is calculating and goal-oriented.

All of Ray's features that could be a hindrance to his need to do good, to be good to other people, are cleverly externalised in Nemesis, who is reined in by Ray's mastery but also made charming, relatable and loveable through her. She is gluttonous and hungry for praise, but she is also bold-hearted and principled. She's fearless in battle, but she is also very committed to Ray's safety.

The two of them truly do feel like two halves of a complementary whole, like she is a shard of his soul externalised and given a voice of her own -- many features Ray has that he suppresses or doesn't feel comfortable revealing about himself like his need to do things, be involved and take up space are expressed in her, and then given space to breathe through Nemesis' development as a character. She is herself, but she is also Ray -- and through their love and respect of each other, we understand both of them better.

Shu Starling

We very quickly discover that the reason Ray is so relatively hinged is because all the batshit protagonist perks went to his older brother. Shu is introduced as a chill and deeply unserious dude playing in a bear-shaped mascot suit, explained away by him forgetting to change the presents on his PC and thus it making it look just like him -- a real problem for a guy who IRL is both a former child actor and singer, as well as a known junior league martial artist and a genius level intellect whose career was being followed with bated breath during his university years.

To say that it doesn't come as a surprise that Shu is secretly one of Altar's (his and Ray's starting kindgom's) Big Three -- both a holder of a near-mythical Superior Job and a seventh form Superior Embryo -- would be an understatement. Shu Starling is a slacker genius with the power to punch reality so hard it shatters like glass.

However. Just like how Ray manages to be grounded despite being mechanically identified as giving too much of a shit, Shu is very relaxed for someone set apart by his skills from other people. He's not conceited about his own intelligence, but he's also not overly humble about it, and while he does try to keep a low profile and avoid expectations, he's has his own gentle and caring side too. You'd think a guy with narrative weight like him would be an albatross around the plot that would invalidate major parts of it but in practice Shu's power set limits him to circumstances where the power to punch reality so hard it shatters like glass is actually needed. For a guy that can solve almost any problem with his fists, he would really prefer not to.

Shu is mostly utilised as a comic relief -- his overwhelming genius contrasting with how little seems to be going on between his big fluffy ears being played for laughs pretty much constantly -- but as the stakes are raised, Shu reveals himself to be the "reluctantly reliable" sort. He's a piece of shit bear, but heroic kindheartedness runs in the family, and you can really tell where Ray got a lot of his habitual do-gooder streak from.

Xunyu

Speaking of the best girls in the fucking series -- Xunyu is introduced in the first arc as a Superior from the faraway kingdom of Huang He and a real goddamn troll who in her first proper appearance is already picking a fight with Shu even though she's a specially invited guest of the Altean royal family in the Arena in Gideon. Despite her irreverence and mischievousness, Xunyu is quite calculating and farseeing -- a "ludo" player who enjoys Dendro on a primarily mechanical basis, and likes to antagonise her opponents just so she has an easier time pulling off her multi-step, preparation-heavy strategies on them more easily.

Her player character is also a giant fuckoff eight-foot jiangshi while her actual player is a nine-year old girl. She's one of the first "oh Kaidou is a gamer gamer" characters, because her behaviour and mind games while she's in dueling mode are so reminiscent of pro wrestling trash talk, it's super delightful.

Outside of combat, Xunyu is cheerfully mischievous, and loves teasing people, but despite her bluntness she is genuinely very sweet, being both a graceful loser as well as a committed friend. She ends up becoming one of the many mentors for Ray, as well as being good friends with a fair few significant characters -- including many tians, despite her being someone who mostly thinks of Dendro as a game. She's not overly precocious, but being one of the Masters who are less emotionally invested in the world she ends up having a real grounding presence. I love her so much.

Figaro

Kaidou loves doing a thing where a character is introduced in a very sinister way through the rumours being told about them, and then their actual appearance contrasting with that, as you realise that a lot of the gossip is the result of tians not knowing how to read player motivations. Figaro is one of the first examples of this -- we hear that he is the Over Gladiator and one of Altar's Big Three, and that he really left them in a lurch during the war that happened just before Ray started playing because he didn't want to fight beside anyone, making him come across as haughty and blood-crazed. When we finally meet him, he's solo-raiding one of the hardest dungeons in the kingdom.

The reality behind the legends is that Figaro is, in fact, just extremely awkward. He's very sick in real life, and turned to Dendro for some escapism, but it hasn't helped much with his awkwardness because he ended up extremely invested in the mechanics of the game, and loves nothing more than throwing himself at crazy hard challenges to the point where he spends most of his time either dueling people in the arena or raiding hard-ass dungeons solo. He is, despite the intimidating appearance and the occasional blood rage, very kind-hearted and soft-spoken, and his friendship with Shu is genuinely very sweet and humanising for both of them.

(He also gets one of my favourite romances in the genre ever.)

Tsukuyo Fuso

The last of Altar's Big Three, Tsukuyo Fuso fucking sucks<3 She's childish, greedy and manipulative, and the leader of an actual fucking cult called the Lunar Society both inside Dendro and out in the real world. In real life, Fuso is Ray's upperclassman at TokyoU, and while there are some shenanigans to be had there, her influence within Dendro is so large that she kind of stays on the outskirts of the plot, causing problems for everyone. She is awful in every way and I love her.

But don't let this give you the impression that Fuso is a villain, though -- she is also a Maiden's Master like Ray, mechanically identified as giving way too much of a shit, she does authentically want good for her people and everyone else (which, y'know, she thinks would be easier if they just joined Lunar Society! :D) and her machiavellianism... well, I can't say it's exactly reined in by her better angels, but she does also do a lot of good in her own deranged way. She's both an antagonist and an ally, and she's not above getting in the line of fire if it accomplishes a greater good. We love a good morally gray girlboss in this household.

Kaga Jubei

Jubei is much less significant than almost any other character on this list, but she gets to be here because she is the platonic ideal of a blood knight. She fully gives Figaro a run for his money, and I cannot tell you how much I love that that particular archetype of a blood-fevered warrior went to a female character. She is the principle antagonist of volume 17, hailing from the kingdom of Tenchi, and over the course of the volume she keeps challenging Ray and his team because she's his biggest fan, and fucking loves the idea of the two of them physically tearing each other to pieces, to be challenged and to defeat or be defeated by someone she considers an inspiration. She just really wants to have fun, and has a powerful competitive streak that is fed by the fact that inside Dendro, Masters are functionally immortal, allowing her to throw herself with violence at problems to force them into giving her what she wants with her bare hands.

Outside of a blood rage, Jubei actually has a quite mellow, calm personality, but while this gives her a bit of a calculating streak, as far as the physical fighters in the series goes, she's one of the more instinctive and unfettered ones. She's also extremely remorseless and willing to play dirty with people who won't give her a honest fight, and will only resort to using her words where she doesn't think her swords can get the message through on their own.

On top of me just really, really loving a violent fight baka character, and thinking that this series is good at writing fight baka characters (there's also B3 who just barely missed out on being on this list), I love that the most fight-baka of them all in the series so far is a girl, and I love that she gets to be almost a dark mirror of Ray. I can't wait her to show up more in the next big arc. Teenage girls should be allowed to cut things with their swords just because they want to, forever and ever.

Sechs Würfel

Last but very much not the least, Sechs is a major antagonist and Shu's main rival, and he makes me lose my goddamn mind. We hear repeatedly about both his criminal escapades and the legendary duel that finally sent the worst criminal in all seven kingdoms into the gaol, and then when he finally appears in the plot, Sechs turns out to be the platonic ideal of just some guy, to the point where near damn everyone makes the mistake of assuming his soft-spokenness and aversion to conflict make him harmless. Even his allies are a little bit disturbed by how comfortable and proficient at violence Sechs is, in contrast to his unassuming personality.

This is because Sechs' whole deal can be most easily explained as him being an extreme hardcore never-drop-character roleplayer who just happens to be playing a villain. His way of embracing the infinite possibility of Dendro is to take it upon himself to deliberately break every rule and do every bad thing enabled by the mechanics, a task which is greatly eased by his Embryo making him into a slime monster polymorph that renders him functionally immortal and gives him extensive shapeshifting powers. His system of ethics is effectively upside down as applied to himself, which creates the absolute funniest contrast with the way he remains polite and accommodating towards other people, and commands a surprising amount of both loyalty and admiration from the people of Illegal Frontier, his guild made up exclusively of criminal Masters.

As befitting of a shapeshifter and a guy living and dying by his own bit, Sechs' sense of identity is actually extremely fractured, which is the driving force between his rivalry with Shu. Sechs does, after all, spend the majority of the time defining himself through violating the rules made by other people, whereas Shu will do no less than what he wants to, ever. The way their IRL circumstances -- fate's favourite little guy and the Unfavourite of his whole bloodline -- contrast giving them common ground and the way the roles they choose to inhabit in Dendro clash makes for excellent drama. The Weird Friendship between Shu the player and Sechs the player in contrast to the bitter rivalry between the King of Destruction and the King of Crime is genuinely my favourite feature of the ongoing myth arc, and I can't wait to see where it goes in the future.

[princess-of-the-corner]

Season 2 has censorship, but only INSIDE the VR MMO thanks to it being marketed to kids, with all curse words being replaced with minced oafs, in real time, as the characters are trying to swear.

This results in Asuna's very graphic threats of violence sounding kinda silly, but her dead serious threats of violence towards the main antagonist still sounds GENUINELY spine-chilling in spite of containing the words "gosh darned spotify" in it, thanks entirely to the VA's performance and the music and editing of the scene.

Ha!

[tapioca-puddingg]

The Guardians of Light and Content Creation

More headcanons that no one asked for :p

Sora ❤️

plays fornite, minecraft and roblox

plays with Ven and Lea

i think horror games might be too scary for him but he tries anyway

tries to get Riku and Kairi to play with him but they ain't havin it

occasionally enjoys RPGs too

calls Riku when he gets stuck on a hard part

sometimes plays fighting games with Riku. He always loses

Riku 💙

I can't see him doing content, I feel like he'd be more of a private person

although i feel like he might show up in Sora's streams from time to time

he's the person Sora calls when he gets stuck on a hard part

Sora also calls him to get his reaction to certain things. if not in person, then thru discord

also plays fighting games and Mario Kart with Sora and Kairi sometimes. He wins almost every time, Sora accuses him of cheating

Kairi 🌸

as for gaming, i can see her streaming rhythm games, like Project Diva

also plays Terraria

plays Animal Crossing with Xion

sometimes plays Smash and Mario Kart with Sora and Riku. she's gotten a couple wins, but Riku is surprisingly good at the game and wins a lot

very down to earth and is sweet with her chat

Bonus: Namine 🤍

artsy fartsy

does art streams

maybe art tutorial videos

likes drawing the Guardians of Light

she takes requests from the GoL too

i can also see her learning to paint

also plays lofi hip-hop

Roxas🍦

didn't even know what games were until Lea showed him

now he's hooked

likes JRPGs and MMOs

convinced Lea to play FF14 with him

he's a hardcore raider. he gets very intense

stays up til the wee hours of the night until Lea and Isa force him to stop playing and go to bed

joins Lea and Xion for meme reactions

Xion 🐚

���i can see her streaming or doing videos of chill games like Animal Crossing or the Sims

​has lofi hip-hop playing in the background

​joins Lea and Roxas for meme reactions

also likes playing party games with the squad

Lea 🔥

​Horror games and asymmetrical horror games (Dead by Daylight, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, etc)

also ​Lethal Company with Ven, Roxas and Isa

​he tends to scream and freak out. Isa gets frustrated with him in-game

​Everyone else laughs at him (hey what are friends for)

​meme reaction videos occasionally

​plays with funny mods

Bonus: Isa 🌙

Similar to Riku, he doesn't create content, but he does play games sometimes

​also enjoys listening to podcasts and reading

​will tune in to Lea and Ven's streams on occasion

​is amused by Lea's screaming when he's not playing with him

​plays games with Lea and Ven

​does not understand Roxas and Lea's memes

Aqua ❄️

i think it's canon that she likes to bake, so i think she could run a cooking channel or a cooking blog

she'll have terra or eraqus come in at the end to taste test the food

canonically is into arts and crafts, so maybe she'll make videos about jewelry-making and 3D printing

i can also see her making crystal bracelets

maybe she could run her own online shop?

Terra 🤎

defo a gym bro

​does workout tutorials

​does those videos where he shows what he eats in a day

​canonically is into woodworking so he could do content surrounding that too

​and 3D printing

​i just think 3D printing is cool okay

​plays Smash with Ven. Things get pretty heated between them

Ventus 💚

also streams minecraft, roblox and fortnite

also Lethal Company

also likes Sonic

tries to get Terra to play with him, but those type of games just aren't for him

"You kids and your video games"

Aqua doesnt too much understand it either

plays with Sora, Lea, and Isa

tries to play asymmetrical horror games

plays Smash with Terra. that game might singlehandedly tear their friendship apart

Bonus: Vanitas ☠️

plays online games

CoD, Overwatch, etc

Typical toxic gamer. You don't wanna hear him in lobbies

Has been banned from vc multiple times

None of the GoL wanna play with him lmao

Rip

[ljomi-silvanius]

My response to Dawntrail. Woof. When I started the expansion I actually posted reactively about how much fun it was feeling, and deleted that two days later. Spoilery through the end of MSQ below-

I went into Dawntrail really excited for a chill start-up to future story. Vacation vibe while running into events and characters that might set up big consequences and meaning to other events down the road. No expectations of big drama within the expansion itself just building blocks. We got one block with zero attached narrative. While everyone is yelling that this is supposed to be our new ARR so we should chill about the quality of it- ARR provided us with countless characters, villains, and background plots without conclusions that continued into the future expansions (I know 1.0 really did this but for the sake of the story we have now, it was ARR). It may have been slightly confused and heavy-handed with its traditional MMO gameplay, but it did have a huge engrossing world set up for us. Dawntrail played out like any other expansion except feeling like it has even less effect on the future of the game in-world. We saved the day, again, and everything is exactly the same as it was a couple days prior. After Endwalker, I was excited at the thought of the WoL picking up their belongings and heading off into the horizon on their own and fumbling their way into new exciting events and alliances; yet our place in both the Void arc and Dawntrail felt so reliant on the Scions' decisions it's like nothing has changed. The WoL has been through so much and would be quite capable at this point yet seems to have no agency. This feeling of being trapped by past characters they can't seem to shake off, along with the idea being pushed repeatedly that we are an "adventurer" who goes where the wind takes us, makes the absence of a new band of allies kind of depressing. This was even more annoying as the Scions throughout Dawntrail felt very empty character-wise and unnecessary for the plot. Their reactions to events felt like having a livestream chat on the side of MSQ with no development of their own. I admit that I can't read the future, and maybe patches will make some characters we encountered continue on journeys with us, but nothing pointed to that as they all had their roles in their homes. While not new, I am hopeful Erenville will continue with us elsewhere! I was actually morbidly hoping something would happen making Wuk Lamat not end up in the throne, to give both continuous conflict and a new ally for some period of time past this expansion.

And regarding Wuk Lamat- absolutely love her. That doesn't mean that the dialogue making her repeat herself constantly about peace and learning wasn't some of the most tedious stuff ever put in this game. This tendency along with constant flashbacks and Scion commentary of "this reminds me of past expansion event" made it feel like the game, which has put us through complex politics and Limsa Lominsa dialect, now thinks of us as babies who can't pick up on the most basic thematic threads. The flashback to the Shadowbringers trolley guys was so unnecessary- let the audience pick it up on their own! And if they miss it, the current event should be fun or interesting enough that it's ok. I was thinking by the end that it was all for new players who chose to skip everything before Dawntrail, but flashback pictures would give nothing to them. I entirely agree with the complaints that this expansion was overtly exposition-based. Learning about new cultures is a huge basis of what we've gotten over the years, yet we generally learn through story beats that aren't just "learn the cultures". I love how important the individual cultures are, their differing ideals and lives, and how much color it adds to FFXIV, but I don't want to feel like I'm being placed in a classroom about it.

As we're tagging along with Lamat, it feels weird to me that we were asked to come at all. While I don't have qualms with being a side character to her, she's capable in combat and we're not given the chance to prove ourselves in much other than it, and we don't even mentor her in any way. We could have been the big sister/brother teaching her the ropes! Being given the mezcal jar to hold feels like an encapsulation of the entire ride. It feels like with how much new non-instanced dungeon/raid content we've started to get in MSQ, it was jarring how little there was in the entire expansion. We start out early with the look and zoom mode on Galool Jaja's tablets (which makes no sense why aren't we just walking up to them) and then they just forget we can do anything like that again other than sneaky stalk mode.

After the Rite of Succession and the brief moment in Texas, stuff starts getting better in plot and pace. There's some actual mystery, new characters who are more than an example of a culture, and it doesn't feel like you're doing things for a checklist. I'm obsessed with Otis and Galool Ja. At this point, the predictability seems to wane.

And then it comes back hard two levels later. The final area is again, a complete rehash of Shadowbringers and Endwalker. The Final dungeon is a complete rehash of Shadowbringers and Endwalker. The final zone is incredibly ugly, and I assumed with how jarring the colors were it would be glitchy and haunting. No, it's just a tasteless theme park that is keeping people happy for hundreds of years by having water fountains? Not much in this area points to people having anything but happy lives in a pointless and plasticky town, and yet as recalled by Alisae, their situation mirrors other civilizations we were shown to end up very unhappy. But they all like their salty popcorn and spending eternity serving it to others. I cannot understand the vibe they went for here and the task was again a tedious checklist. I also didn't understand the scale of this location- they made it Amaurot-esque extending to the horizon, yet we are able to turn off all memory sticks in a five malm radius- there could have been mention of other scions making their way to power down areas we weren't involved with, or a montage? Something? There's no way that would be everything.

I really wanted to enjoy Sphene, yet she has nothing to her but one side of Emet-Selch wrapped up in faux-innocence. They tried hard to place her as a foil to Wuk Lamat in the same way Emet and Exarch are foils, yet they had Lamat mention it directly ten times and at that point, how can you care about it anymore? There are threads they placed for her that I can't parse and was hoping to lead to a deeper character- how is the levin sickness her fault? In the end they painted her as nothing more than an overly caring helicopter mom. (Sphene WOULD beat you up at a child's soccer game.)

And that one building block I mentioned at the beginning- having an overpowered Azem-based stone that just hands Y'shtola exactly what she was looking for feels cheap and demeaning. I know she could have figured it out herself. In the same way I know Wuk Lamat could have figured out her trials without the perfect NPC walking up to her by chance every time.

In the end everything was entirely predictable. You get told x, you know that x is coming. We were told about Solution Nine before the drop- can you imagine if Amaurot was spoiled? We don't need plot twists, we don't need insane curves in characterization (Bakool Jaja I'm looking at you and your 90 degree angle), but some detail would really help, something that doesn't feel like it was a fan's recreation of tribe quests and the last two expansions, something I can continue to look forward to. I would have loved for Tural to have more stake and power in what goes on with Alexandria's presence. I would love for Tural to be more important in the future of the story, because I love everything there, and I'm just sad as hell about the package it came in. A package that came with Donkey Kong music using the same part of the leitmotif in every song, instead of Latino tinged songs that fit the region (if Kugane deserves that masterpiece, Tuliyollal deserves a sweeping and nostalgic piece that ties into the heart of Tural). Hell I would be happy with a minigame of making a piña colada if it was something new, but if feels like we're hanging onto loose threads now.

[creaturefeaster]

could you explain tim and hannah's relationship more depth? Like things they love to do and such (and maybe gary aswell)

YES!!!!!!! (not sure who you mean in relations to Gary so I'm just gonna omit him sorry ^^;...)

Hannah and Tim at a glance might not seem like they have much in common, just because while Hannah can be a little chill, she comes off as much more mature and serious than Tim. But, they both have a really absurd sense of humor, have a love for dumb animals, love really cheesy or shitty media (movies, songs, drawings, etc.), are both very adventurous, and generally get each other like nobody else.

A lot of their time spent with each other over the years involved nightly movies over call, playing weird games that they found-- of course, they have their staple faves too; they play a lot of mmo and sandbox type games together-- and talking about their current goings-on in life. Hannah with her robotics & engineering, Tim with his weird findings in the local woods.

Very different worlds, but they stay silly together.

At a level beyond their shared interests, they also just click really really well. They rarely find themselves disagreeing on anything, share many of the same morals and values as each other... After the Fault, they're both really keen on saving people they come across. Tim thinks it fun to have more people tag along & just likes helping people, and Hannah does too, but she's also a little more gullible when it comes to picking up strangers.* But either way, they both pick up almost anybody they find struggling throughout their trek, and neither ever question either's decision to do so.

When they first meet IRL it's like they've always been at each other's hip to start with. It's just a very close and open friendship with them, through and through!

[most-datable-datable-bracket]

ROUND 3 MATCH 3

Valerie propaganda:

“There is not enough Valerie in the world. They'll never stop me loving her”

"She's chill as hell and also helps you calm her adopted business-y gorgon sister down

she also sells you stuff including A Date With Her

punk rock cat baybeeeeee

her voicelines are also cool as well"

Ren propaganda:

"Ren on the surface is your typical playboy otome archetype, flirty as hell, no sense of personal space, calls nanami (the player character) "little lamb". But once you get to know him, you know he is a total loser.

His playboy persona stems from his serious mommy issues, wanting to be loved but being unable to show vulnerability. He's the third son of a very influential family and is therefore generally ignored by his family unless they need him to secure a modeling contract or the like.

My absolute favorite thing about Ren is that he likes botany??? Like it's a whole scene where he reveals he's bred a new species of rose for nanami and its framed as being all romantic but I'm just thinking about how long that'd take lolol

Ren is also a gamer™️ and plays an MMO with Ai from Quartet Night (he's probably a whale imo)

He plays the saxophone and I dunno why that's considered sexy but I guess it is

His birthday is on valentine's day but he hates chocolate

I dont know if this is just a widespread in-joke or canon but he can draw really well but only dragons. He can't draw anything else but damn can he draw a dragon."

[heyyallitsbeth]

so i let the hyperfixation win.

over the past several hours i rewatched Sword Art Online and SAO 2.

(this time dubbed, last time i watched it subbed)

here are my thoughts:

-anyone who said the dub was bad is just wrong. Kirito's VA really shines in the more comedic or sweet moments (like when first meeting Yui), he reminds me of like a Peter Parker. and oh my lord, the breakdown by Suguha's VA was just a masterpiece. Still have chills from watching it.

-i have such a big appreciation for every character. This time it really shined through how good of characters Kirito, Asuna, and Suguha actually are.

Kirito's internal conflict throughout SAO2 is so good, grappling with their actions they needed to take in SAO to survive. and throughout all of it you can tell how much they truly loves their friends and family, and how kind hearted they really are. Asuna definitely fits into that role as well, being so ready to take care of Yui and so desperately wanting her to be safe and loved and cared for.

And oh my gosh Suguha. I remember people absolutely hated her arc because it is problematic, but the fact is, it's played entirely serious, her feelings arent taken as a joke. She has a genuine and real internal struggle for feeling things she feels she shouldnt, and how she feels those feelings arent reciprocated or cant be reciprocated, and having her heart broken twice by someone who she loves and someone who also does still genuinely love her. Its absolutely heartbreaking to watch.

Man, Sinon is still fantastic. She's still my absolute favorite, and I think she is one of the best characters in the show, and pretty much steals the show from her introduction. Her arc ties in so seamlessly with Kirito's and how they help eachother heal and grow is fantastic. Only complaint is we never got a scene of the rest of the Gals being jealous about the grenade hug she gave Kirito. After Kirito and Sinon nearly died, wouldve been some nice relief so you didnt feel like you yourself were dying.

-Speaking of, while there was definitely a ton of fanservice, the pseudo-harem aspect with the jokes were kinda cute, between characters seeing flirting happen around them, getting embarassed over it, its fun. Especially when people got jealous of Sinon flirting with Kirito over Excalibur. That part was very fun, since they did that infront of everyone else, almost like they were trying to get a rise out of them. Theyre not exactly the pinnacle of comedy, its definitely a trope, but theres something nostalgic about it that makes it kinda enjoyable.

-Speaking of the psuedo-harem, guys if all of you are constantly flirting with eachother (not just Kirito surprisingly, happens between the other girls frequently) and jealous of any affection with that, just start a polycule. You're a group of gamer girls playing MMOs together and all of you have slept in the same bed with eachother. Stop snipping at eachother and start dating eachother. Polyamory is pretty cool. Kirito and Asuna can still be the main duo and be the parents to Yui and Strea; but yall gotta work on the jealousy or just do what every other group of girl gamers does, polyamory. Lisbeth you should not be angrily drinking while watching Kirito and Asuna talk. (this is mostly a joke, im not actually saying they *have* to do a polycule, its more of a joke because of how tropey a lot of the flirting and jealousy is, and yknow, gay girls do polyamory, so dont take this part toooooo seriously.)

-Speaking of girls dating girls, the LGBT rep aint half bad. Argo canonically using both male and female pronouns is really cool! Most of the girls flirt with eachother a lot too, which is nice. Between the female avatar, the willingness to pretend to be a girl, the introversion, the desire to be an avatar in a virtual world more than irl, Kirito might be transgender. All good stuff here.

Overall, SAO is honestly way better than I remembered, even if some parts definitely show its age. You gotta piece it together a little bit with headcanons, but i do that with every show, nothing is perfect. Except Sinon. And a world where trans Kirito is canon. Those are perfect.

[spidine]

Brighter Shores: Early Thoughts

I've put about 10 hours into brighter shores now. I've gotten far enough into the second area that i've unlocked a faction (hammermage) and with the amount of time I have currently available to me I don't expect to put much more than casual dabbles into it but I think I get the idea of what it's overall image would be.

Brighter Shores is definitely in the same family as runescape but i think it uses those mechanics to make something that feels more like a late web 2.0 mmorpg than a graphicMUD. The way screens work is reminiscent of maplestory or aqworlds, but the activities you do are more reminiscent of runescape. So let me just get some thoughts out of the way by answering some basic questions:

Is it worth playing?

For the most part, I think so! The writing is well enough and the gameplay is very chill. The membership is also a very fair $5 so it's not a big monetary investment.

How does it compare to runescape?

It is even more of an idle game than runescape. It might not seem so at first glance with all the clicking but once you get into the game it becomes clear a lot of the skilling systems are grinds are grinding's sake and there even activity your character can do while you're logged out. The fact all your health comes back between fights and the lack of inventory management/prayers leads me to believe this game will never have stuff like raids or pvp, this game is very much a mobile mmo (even if it's only on pc right now). Shifting my perspective on this game from a runescape successsor to a runescape inspired mmo experience for touch screens really improved my view of it. I think your mom would probably love Brighter Shores, I can very clearly see her tapping away at it on her ipad at work.

Brighter shores seeks to emulate early game runescape/early mmo chill vibes exclusively and i think it has a lot of value in that.

What's up with the episodic combat skills???!

It's just a different way of displaying the progression you always have to do in mmo's. It's a way of letting you do zones adjacently in a way where they'll both be compelling. Is regearing for a new area a bit tedious? a little. But really it doesn't feel any different from going to a new zone/expansion in an mmo and needing to gear up/fight basic ass dudes again for a bit.

It's clear Andrew Gower likes low level mmo play more than max level play and built this system to prolong that state of play. I think any ludonarrative dissonance it causes is totally excusable for the amount of gameplay it provides.

I mean, we play these games because deep down we enjoy the grind, why not present a system that makes it easier to expand on that?

What's actually bad about it?

The tight corridor maps are sort of a slog to move through. Catching enemy aggro and needing to escape feels weird, like not a bad idea really but the way it physically feels is like... ugly. Needing two clicks to do everything is.... annoying.

The game world doesn't really breath either. While i don't mind the episode specific skills there's just a feeling of disconnect between everything. It feels like a modern mmo in that way.

What's good about it?

I love the look of it. the diorama look of the world is very pleasing. even if the gear/enemies so far don't look that interesting moving around scenes and seeing the town has a pleasing feel.

What would I change?

I don't think I'd change anything. This is clearly fitting the vision of a small team and i think the way's it's wonky/different will help it stand out and fit in better with older audiences who like slower games.

But having a one click to attack/fish/forage/etc would be highly appreciated.

Will I keep playing it?

probably nooooot? I just love the big, interconnected feel of runescape's world. I think if this came to mobile i could see it being something i poke at in my downtime at work but it's not really an immersive experience, it's an experience for people who love to watch number go up. If that's the only reason you played runescape this might be for you!

[phrandallanton]

Random Dump Of 2 Dreams

Recently my dreams have been feeling weirder then usual. I can't explain it, but it's like as I'm deaming it's suppose to be meaningful but it's not.

One night ago I experienced somewhat of sleep paralysis and multiple false awakings. I forgot what was going on but I didn't like it and I was trying to wake myself up, like I usually do when I don't like what I'm dreaming about lol. My body was stuck, I couldn't open my eyes, I was trying to hard to move. It felt like I died but instead of going anywhere my spirit was just floating around the earth's atmosphere. Sounds cooler then what it sounds, it was really uncomfortable. I then tried to just lucid dream but anytime I do that it just turns dark and this time was no different. The closest I got to it in the moment was me trying to hang out with Nyon (cause that would be cool) but he instead started to dry hump me against a kitchen counter. I then gave up afterwards.(That was not cool but progress is progress!) Opening my eyes felt like pushing two of the heaviest pieces of metal apart from eachother, my body was no different. I tried to stretch and it was just so fricking heavy.

Later on I fell asleep and kept having lots of false awakings, the waking up part would always be me back in my bed with my heavy body. Then I'd move and something would happen that would obviously would not happend in real life, don't remember any of it except for one part about my dog dying and some how it being my fault. Made me sad, very happy to for real wake up and see her wagging her tail saying good morning to me. I'm pretty sure all this happend because my sleep schedule is more out of wack then usual.

Last night was odd too but one part stood out the most. It took place in a mall and doing something with my whole family. I was in this soap shop or something and this guy was pushing me to go as the place was crowded. I was trying to get out but I didn't like how he was pushing me so I went to throw a cup of water I had at him but ended up tripping yet still throwing the cup of water on him, so it looked like an accident. I felt bad but not enough to admit I was meaning to throw the water on him on purpose, so I apologize for totally not purposely throwing my water at him. He was chill about it and I took him to get napkins, we started talking and he wanted to walk around the mall with me more. I said yes heheheueheue and on we went. I saw my mom and grandma and waved at them, told the guy who they were then looked at them, pointing at the guy, showing them that I was socializing. They seemed content with it.

The guy and I went to this old fashion themed restaurant in the mall because I pointed at how it has a mannequin with a roaring 20s type outfit. We then got seated by this loud group of mafia like guys, I really wanted to ask if we could sit somewhere away from them but it was whatever. This is were it gets weird, recently (in the real world) I've been playing VRchat. It's something I play every so often for a period of time when I don't have any motivation for anything lol. I'd probably would play it more if I wasn't on PC. Always back to the dream, the dream imedently switched to as if I was playing VRC and the guy turned into a Bedman (guilty gear) avatar. I was like "oh cool! I love Guilty Gear, I can tell him that I like it and we can bond over it!" But I clicked on his profile and for some odd reason it was like those MMOs were the person has their own house or what not. So I accidently clicked that, panicked then went to join back to where he was, joined a different game he made and then woke up. As I woke up my brain took it as we "disconnected" so my first thought was "no! We disconnected! Now he'll never know how much I love guilty gear and we won't be friends!" Still sad over it. Might draw how it looked to be having dinner with Bedman.

[self-loving-vampire]

I was giving Ultima Online Outlands kind of a distant look because I'm curious about what it's like (sandbox MMOs in general are not nearly as common as the WoW clones) so I read the rules and...

Consider me filtered. I don't want to have to pay maximum attention to a computer game like this.

Responsiveness within 2 minutes sounds like it would be harsh for an actual job, and they're expecting it for a video game? Sheesh. Doesn't sound like a very chill experience.