#very cool visuals and settings and really fun ways of storytelling

[paradoxgavel]

ough. just finished 100%ing the help wanted dlc, corn maze ending and all. i am so excited to never have to play another fuckin plushbaby level for the rest of my life god bless

[batbabydamian]

The Boy Wonder #3 by Juni Ba rambling about how cool this series would be to read in a single sitting...it's all so connected!!

rambles for issue #1 and issue #2!

i don't have as much personal interpretation for this cover besides it being a solid piece of art in shapes and silhouette! ALSO. bi bg lighting lol. Damian's "X" posing of his cape and swords parallels with Tim's "X" chest straps + the Robin emblem in the center. Tim's closed Red Robin wings frames Robin's own outstretched cape wings; and on top of that, the shadows cast inside the wings nicely frames Damian's demon mask.

Joe and Merle's dynamic has been so fun, especially with the mutual enthusiasm over the storytelling 🥺 Joe also opens up about his circumstances that led him to this moment, which perfectly sets up the setting of this issue! Even his very first introduction becomes a relevant detail when a fancy rich couple drops a champagne glass, uncaring of the people literally below them, saying “some poor sap down there’ll appreciate it” when it bonks Joe’s head.

it all comes around!! and tbh this issue proves how much this series would slap to read in a single sitting (GET THE COLLECTED EDITION)

Going beyond first impressions seems to apply to the color palette in this series. From #1 in the first page of Gotham, we see the gold of upper society to the blue of the downtrodden → from issues #2 and #3, it’s the warm gold of inner Gotham to the cold blue of the rich. there’s a sense of community displayed among the poor - even part of Jason’s intro avenging Bill, a generous man mourned on panel by many. The rich gives off a sense of individualism, celebrating themselves and their excess.

With the change in scenery, this issue steps into the more civilian side of things through a spy theme - fancy suits and lil gadget intros! Going down the civilian route with Tim feels very fitting since it's what makes Tim's run as Robin so charming!

i love that Talia’s taught Damian to be conscious of the rich’s effects on society, especially in the following page of small panels zoning in on the details of wealth and overindulgence. but also LIL DAMIAN. HIS LIL ROUND EYES AND HANDS 🥺

Damian’s aware of the facts, and his disgust is clearer after having just been through lower Gotham and seeing firsthand the poverty directly caused by the wealthy (also not sure if that old lady is the same one from #1 with similar hair and clothes, but pls she can't a break…)

i mentioned Damian’s “inciting incident” for this journey to be the intro of a demon for Damian to prove his worth but i’m correcting the use of that term!! the intro of the demon is more the beginning of plot, whereas the actual inciting incident is beheading the thief!! it’s the main reason he’s in this situation where he felt the need to prove himself, and atone. Most notably is that the beheaded thief is a consistent character that quite literally haunts Damian every step of the way.

The statue of Batman’s head being popped off becomes a significant visual, because while Damian started this journey to prove something to Bruce, the only one that really seems to have (quite literal) eyes for Damian’s journey is the thief. Why does he make more of an appearance than the actual Bat? Even his statue’s head doesn’t make a figurative presence; whereas the only one looming over Damian is the thief. Guilt over killing him may be driving him just as much as his desire to be worthy. Alternatively, it could be that Damian needs to reexamine his motivations since the thief is really getting in Damian's face now.

Damian is proud to be a positive influence on Tim, but the moment is short-lived. It’s an ironic moment to me because Damian doesn't even know the impact he's had on Jason just in the previous issue!! 😭

Damian's so desperate to prove his worth, yet he's been making choices in every issue to help others!! Helping the old woman up in #1, being vulnerable with Jason in #2, and now sacrificing himself for Tim!

The Ra’s "Weakness" panel has been reoccurring since #1, but it's the first time Talia has been included. Being great figures in his life and mind, their silhouettes consume Damian's, similar to a few of Batman's appearances below. This latest disappointment was such a blow to Damian, that Talia (who he might have the most respect for) becomes an added voice in his head.

Final thoughts!!

Like Rok, does the thief actually have a connection to the al Ghuls or is this beard just in fashion at the moment.

Lex is clearly referencing one of the Underwell warehouses that Joe and Merle are presently, so wondering if whatever he and Tim discuss here will be affecting them later.

Ending with Talia’s cover for extra hype!! i’ll probably go back to this for the next ramble, but i’m already gearing myself up to wail about Talia just based on this cover. The Mary and Jesus imagery (more prominent with Damian’s lil crown as a “prince”) but most importantly Talia weathering the flames for Damian…her own shroud/shawl wrapped around Damian and burning… oh boy

[icarusthecryptid]

Keath's storytelling through their art is amazing.

Like, look at these characters, these concepts, these pictures. Every bit of media used to convey a story. It's honestly brilliant!

I've got so much to say about it so let me ramble about the Harkers today!

Each of these represent something, which is very neat. But the way each character is dressed, is designed, looks even, it tells you something! It's brilliant. The personalities out of clothing and designs.

The Storyteller, their entire design is a story. Every accessory, every detail, every layer. It tells you so much about them! The hat that covers eyes, which I think is a fun way to show how the past doesn't look forward. Uncovered mouth, because historically stories/legends/history was passed by word of mouth because most people couldn't read. Also most of the time it was through songs too! That's so cool. There's so much going on in the Storyteller's design and clothing, the feather accessories, the plants, the straws, the clothes and dress like attachments. The shoes! There's a million details, and each says something without actually saying anything at all. For a mysterious figure, I believe the storyteller has the most that's actually being told purely from a visual perspective. There is a mystery, but the past illuminates (get it? Storyteller has a lamp hehe). Visually, the Storyteller lives up to its name so well! This is a being you'd find at the side of the road, along the crowd, on a stage, to sing of a past, to tell a story. A forgettable but unforgettable being. Too many details that will overwhelm you with implications, too many stories, but not extravagant, still rooted in the past, the basics if you will. Straws are important here, fields, the outside, nature. Straws in the past have been used for so much, bedding, isolation, food for cattle, to soften places, and clothing like hats. Multi-purpose and helpful.

Okay, next the Storyteller's significant other, the Bell-Ringer or also known as Yarrow. Who represents the future! A goat like being who wears Bell's and expensive clothing. If the future is commonly associated with good fortune, this is exactly how it should be conveyed! Not too simple and not too extravagant, there's a lot of details, but they're still rich in its simplicity. Ruffles, straight lines, horns and branches. Bell-Ringer is tall (but not the tallest), imposing, regal, a crown of golden really. Stitched patches on their cheeks, which convey a doll-like being, even as a goat. Their eyes are unique, like all goats, horizontal. To me their eyes are a way to have a unique play on future insight. And the patches on the cheeks can convey that these are untold. Yarrow is colorful, bright, imposing and even knowing. A representation of the future in such a beautiful way. Bell's also!!! Bell's are so important, Bell's have been commonly used to announce big news, important events and presently more for the time. Ringing Bells on a street corner for news, ringing Bells to herd cattle, ringing Bells to celebrate. A bell for attention, now more to great people too. It's important here, and it can have a lot of implications. Does the bell ringing mean that something important happens where the Yarrow is? The future is the sound of bells.

The last two Harkers are a bit harder for me as I'm not super sure I have seen all their details. So I'm hoping I'm getting it right and not misinterpreting what I'm seeing.

Okay! Third, let's go with the Enkindled. The Enkindled is the shortest. Its name can mean several things, like set on fire or to inspire (emotions). With a tree like being that is messy, that is wooden but small, pretty simple and not too extravagant. I believe the Enkindled has the least amount of detailing, oh there's a lot of it don't get me wrong, but clothing and accessory wise, there isn't much. But it represents a tree like being, so that makes sense. The wood that branches is detailed enough. Trees are mesmerizing enough. A truly rooted figure that doesn't need much, but still can inspire. The smallest of things can give the most ideas. A single tree can tell a story, a forest tells more. Again, I still don't know much, but what I know is that there is heart in this being, contrary to what you glean from a first glance maybe. But trees have represented so much, like family trees. But also strength, individuality and expression, calmness, growth and the interconnectedness of everything. It's the heart of it, the beginning maybe. They represent order(?) and that's reflected in their design! Trees might look chaotic, but they're ordered in a way that makes sense. Branches serve a purpose, the way they form is the most ideal path for a tree. The order in which a tree grows, withers, lives or dies.

Lastly the Croon, the tallest and most imposing looking. It has feathers and matches the design of a bird, the skull is bird-like. It's body looks like a bird's. But that's not the only animal trait, moose antlers, a crown of spikes and claw-like hands. The Croon looks the most intimidating. And its name can be interpreted as a tone of voice, crooning, sentimental humming/singing/speaking. The croon represents entropy, entropy can mean the end or decay of things. With a skull representing their head I feel that that's really well conveyed. There's a chaos to their design, but it all makes sense still especially with the concept of entropy. Where things fall into disarray or decline. The Croon looks dosserayed.

I love the way that the Harkers are themed after story aspects. The Storyteller as a name tells a story, respecting the past as most stories are retellings. The Bell-Ringer, the future, every story has one, what comes after. The Enkindled, the heart, the idea of a story, that what motivates, but also the order of it, there is a way to tell a story that makes sense of the chaos within these events that are linked. The Croon represents entropy, the chaos in a story or the ending of it, the challenge or the struggle that simply is.

If I got anything wrong please don't get angry! I'm very much still learning about the lore and details, unfortunately my brain is far more focused towards details in art than all the smart stuff everyone else seems to get 😭 and please do correct me if I'm wrong on anything!

End of the day, I just really love the amount of attention and visual storytelling that was put into Yaelokre, the art was addmitably what got me so into this all. It was the first thing that really caught my attention. The songs and the story I love them too!

Thanks for reading :D (if you're still here) and I hope if anyone else wants to share their thoughts on designs and stuff they will! I can't wait to ramble about the lark too, but my brains too tired to talk any more so I'll leave this here for now :D

Have a doodle page as compensation for sitting through this!

[reelvibes91]

Frantic Finale for Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man had the tall task of making us believe this iteration is different. Through the 10 episode first season, it definitely did just that. How did the final 2 episodes stack up with the rest of the season?

Let's start with Episode 9. It is easily my personal favorite episode of this season. It gives us solid conclusions to Lonnie's season long story and provides a resolution to the Peter/Nico situation.

This episode showcases why long-term storytelling is key. Whether you like or dislike the way the story played it, they set out with a plan and definitely stuck to it. Lonnie remains my favorite character heading into the next season as he has fully embraced his role. The way the writers took their time to change his mindset and attitude over the course of the season was great.

The final episode of the season gave us a very cool full circle moment featuring Dr. Strange and OsCorp. This made it all make sense and provided a sense of closure to the origins part of the story.

Overall, this season was a solid introduction to what this show wants to do within the Spider-Man world. It provided solid enough structure to build upon in future seasons. There were plenty of names indicated in a scene that featured Harry near the end that could be really fun moving forward. There are a few things this show could have tightened up in the middle to make the action flow better. The ending two definitely fixed some of the pacing issues the prior episodes had established. Very well done in terms of visuals, and it has me intrigued to see where we go from here.

[dayntee]

So I finished Veilguard a while back, and of course I have thoughts. I'm sure none of them are original and have been plenty stated, but hey, we all need to mourn a game when we're done with it for better or worse, so here's mine.

Note: I wrote and queued this before I was aware of the layoffs at Bioware today. This is, in no way, meant to rub salt in the wound or point fingers. If anything, I'm gutted for the people who poured their heart into this game only to be found jobless today. I'm in the exact same position myself, and have nothing but empathy for the situation. To spoil what's below - I enjoyed my time with Veilguard. It could have been better, and if you're a dev that worked on it, you probably know that. I'm sorry it's turned out the way it has, but thank you for the experience regardless. It was a fun game.

Spoilers after the break, obviously. Be aware there will be discourse, but I'm not here specifically to bash. If anything, I'm actually still grateful for the experience.

Overall, I did enjoy my time with Veilguard. After all, my final save file was around the 85 hour mark, so clearly I had no issues continuing to sink time into the game. I itched to play when I wasn't, and I got my Solavellan ending I've been waiting 10 years for, and I damn near 100%'d the whole thing (including getting the hidden cinematic after the credits). So what went wrong? What did I not like? Why do I feel so… empty now that it's over?

If I were to summarize my issues and feelings with Veilguard, it's that it felt like it gave just enough to be passable content, but never committed to being a truly exemplary experience. In every way, from system design to companion design to overarching story to itemization, everything is fine… but not great.

Knowing that DAV went through development hell contextualizes a lot of these issues. If the art book is to be believed, the project had two full blown restart buttons pushed and many leadership handoffs. I've been in conversations, though, where folks ask "Why on earth could DA2 pull off a great storytelling experience, but DAV couldn't?"

There's something else at play, and after my own experiences in the game industry and squinting between the lines to try to glean what I think may have gone wrong, I have a hunch. Pure speculation ahead: I don't think leadership ever fully agreed on a committed vision.

The broad strokes are there, and they are strong:

The Lighthouse is a cool fucking hub. It grows with your group, responds to their needs, and shapes itself around you as you experience the world. The concept of this is dope AF.

The goal is closure on all the questions left unanswered after DAI. It does get to most of these, even if not as fully and as satisfying as some of us lore nerds would have liked.

Combat is fluid and pretty engaging (at least at first). It's simple, fun, and generally fulfills power fantasies well (for context, I specialized as a full Veil Jumper Archery Rogue).

WE GET TO EXPLORE NORTHERN THEDAS. This is so cool and a place we've all wanted to go for ages. TEVINTER. NEVARRA. WEISSHAUPT. All exciting prospects.

Level design and map design are pretty A+, imo. Landscapes and set dressings are beautiful and artfully crafted. Even if there are aspects of the visual design you disagree with, they committed to it and fulfilled it well.

Exploration is fun. I rarely hunt down every chest in a game. I could not stop treasure hunting for the life of me, and some of those hidden treasures felt really special and rewarding to uncover.

The cast of characters and factions you interact with are interesting and very different - from one another and from previous casts. It's nice to see some new tropes that either haven't been used or have been out of rotation for a while.

Solas is a good antagonist. He was before, and he still is, and biased Solasmancing aside - I always looked forward to the breaks in the game where I got to banter with the Egg.

Voice over cast is fantastic. I know some folks were less fond of non-British/American accents, but honestly, I was very fine with it. It reinforced that this part of Thedas, and this time in the overall storyline, is new and different. Thedas is changing, and so are its people.

All these things said - every single positive I have above feels like they were baseline requirements for a AAA Bioware RPG. That they don't go above and beyond these bare minimums is where the game feels like it fails, especially as a payoff for a critically acclaimed entry that's 10 years old and has a passionately dedicated fanbase.

A phrase I've been using a lot with folks is that DAV feels like the Lacroix of Dragon Age games. It's got the branding, it looks like Dragon Age, and it kind of tastes like Dragon Age, but… just barely. It leaves you feeling like it's lacking. It's a hint of it, and going back to drink it again doesn't quite satisfy you.

What we call this in game development is minimum viable product (MVP), which is usually trotted out at the point by production and/or leadership when you realize you've meandered on the project for so long that you just gotta ship something. This works if you're actually going to commit to polishing it up and continuing to make it better after launch for a live service game; fix it later is fine when that's a reasonable expectation.

But Veilguard walked back on that concept. It no longer was going to be live service, but a one-and-done, and the final, late pivot meant it just had less time to cook in its final form and likely a ton of wasted work that got chucked out. There are so many places where the experience feels like an alpha or beta version of what they actually wanted to do. The Lighthouse and Companions as a whole both exemplify this; they feel and look cool, but the experience of both are shallow and underdeveloped. They felt like they were missing something.

The most egregious issues, in my opinion, in no particular order:

Apologies in advance if they're your favorite, but Rook is probably the worst protagonist we've ever been given. Not because their concept is inherently bad, but because I couldn't really make them mine. Rook has no arc, makes few decisions that truly matter, and no moral conundrums barring maybe the Treviso/Minrathous decision. Even then—it feels like there's a right answer to that decision.

To explain: Minrathous gets fucked at the end of the game anyway. If you pick to save Minrathous, you've just doomed two metropolis level cities to excessive death and destruction AND locked yourself out of a potential romance option for no particular reason.

Rook's actions in Thedas also matter the least. The end state of the game is the same no matter what: the Evanuris fall, and the Veil is preserved. How you do it is largely immaterial. In every other game entry, shit can seriously go sideways and it's always directly because of your decisions.

Companion arcs are largely shallow and so reliant on Rook, they fail to feel real. Some of these arcs are more egregious in this manner than others, and some of them have truly excellent stories to tell (oh, hi there Emmrich). But even with the best arcs, this person asks you to make utterly life-altering decisions for them and you've probably known them for like a month or two at best. It just doesn't feel like I, as the PC, have the right to make that call, or that I've earned it. There's not enough time nor enough high stakes prior to those moment.

I won't beat this one to death, but the limited amount of previous choices not mattering in this entry hurts, and I know how complicated it would have been to explore all of them. That said, there were a few that had a ton of specific investment that deserved better resolution: Kieran in particular would have mattered so fucking much if he existed as canon. I understand that's the crux of the problem, but it makes it so that if he was part of your world state in both DAO and DAI, his absence is all the more noticeable.

The South being destroyed off-screen through text will never not bother me. The Inquisitor is apparently faffing about doing fuck all with the resources they've built over time, especially if they chose not to disband the Inquisition. They didn't chase after Solas, who they knew was going to be a problem, and then they ALSO let the South fall? I'm sorry - it does a hero that the majority of this fandom is most likely heavily invested in the worst service no matter which way you look at it.

Veilguard feels like a game that couldn't get out of its own way. The part that has me grieving the most is that you can see under the surface a great game was there, but just not fully realized.

Without being one of the people who made the game, we can only speculate and can't presume the cause for why we got what we did. Hell, as someone who works in game development, sometimes you never get the answer yourself as to why things went so horribly sideways. The larger the game and studio, the more blind spots you're likely going to have on the overall project.  That said, I have nothing but empathy for the Veilguard team. It's very clear that at least the majority of folks working on it poured in a ton of work and cared a lot about it.

It's not my place to blame anyone in particular for it, because I don't have the first-hand knowledge necessary to cast that judgement. I hope the folks who worked on this don't let it get them too down; you still made a fun game. And I'm sure you're just as disappointed it wasn't the love letter to Dragon Age that you probably wanted it to be, as much as any of us fans who feel it didn't meet the bar.

You had an impossible job to do; the expectations here were so high, and you had more obstacles than any dev team should reasonably have during their project, regardless of the expected fires we all run into during development. Despite that, I still had fun, and I still care quite a bit about these characters.

That's worth something. Thank you for the experience.

[alexissara]

Top 10 Most Anticipated Games Of 2025.

It’s time to talk about what games are exciting me the most coming into next year. I will not be including any game that was on last years list because you can go read it and see the games I was excited about last year that didn’t come out. Basically the whole list remains relevant minus Peach Showtime. 6 of the games aren’t out and 3 of the games are in early access. Which is to say that these games remain highly anticipated.  It’s worth noting from the old list Rune Factory: Dragon has been updated to Rune Factory: Guardians Of Azuma and with more footage I feel more confident in my anticipation then I was on last years list.  

Much like last years list the games on it may not come out in 2025, this list is mostly indie games and even locked in release dates often are delayed due to major game releases overshadowing their game and needing to pivot, massive bugs, indie publisher issues, etc.  let’s get excited together and play some really cool games when they release. However, since Kickstarter games are kickstarter games and often take more time two games that might be number one for me Food Devils and  The Witch's Bakery are not going to be included on this list just cuz well, they are very likely to be 2026 games or further up and I want to at least try and highlight games that are probably hitting next year.  That said consider that your reminded to you know check out Food Devil and The Witch’s Bakery, they both look great.  Also quick shot out to Pokemon Legends Z-A which I am certainly thinking about but has so many ways it could drop the ball I ended up removing it. 

This list is not in any particular order, I am excited for these games for different reasons and who knows, maybe some of them I end up not picking up for one reason or another but there games I would really love to see have a big success from the promise of them all 

Monster Prom 4: Monster Con

Monster Prom is a series I really love, one of the most fun dating sim type experiences turning it into a more board game esc experience where there this fun multiplayer element. It’s a great, funny experience even alone you can enjoy the storytelling, romance and jokes in equal spades and together it’s a really fun shared experience that comes down to digestible runs that make it less intimidating than a lot of other visual novel type experiences. Monster Con adds a con setting and a ton of really fun new features to the formula that make me the most excited I’ve been for a Monster Prom Spinoff. The new character designs are great and one of the main focused returning characters being sapphic trans woman Zoey makes me even more excited. 

Abyss X Zero

The developers last game was gay and while they haven’t said if this game has anything gay in it I am pretty sure the devs are like girlfriends? So like, I don’t know feels likely. It looks cool, Like the graphics, the customization looks great, it’s got great style, I really am excited to check out the game and give it a shot. I think the art style really manages to capture a fun anime vibe and the action actually represents that same vibe making for a really resonate experience that I think is going to really going to fill some primal need in me. 

Split Fiction Last Minute addition to the list, Split Fiction sounds incredibly exciting. Two authors join a program to make their novels realities one scifi and one fantasy. An accident causes the two  to end up in one simulation fractured between the twos novels. They have to work together in order to save their own stories from being stolen by the company. It’s got perfect girlfriends potential but also like really right on the money in themes with the idea of a company trying to feed writers ideas into a machine to own them forever and make whatever they want with them. I’m extremely excited to experience this story and love the Friend Pass System. 

Sword Of The Necromancer: Resurrection 

Sword Of The Necromancer is one of my favorite games ever and I just played it this year, you can expect to see a lot more talking about it in the rest of my end of the year lists but right here what is worth noting is that this is a remake of Sword of the Necromancer in their new games Engine as a sort of stop gap product. This game retells the love story of Tama and Koko and Tama’s attempt to revive the woman she fell for on a job. Since it’s a remake I can say that this is one of the best game stories I’ve played, it’s not super bloated with stuff, it’s simple, effective, romantic and well performed. The changes to gameplay we’ll have to see if their better, worse or just a side grade from the original but this is certainly an exciting game.

Lost Records: Bloom and Rage

From the original creators of Life is Strange not the ones who wrote away the main relationship of the series or is accused of inserting nazi stuff in their games or accused of workplace harassment, no it’s the studio that made 1 and 2 and then left their series behind to Square Enix to make new ideas. Lost Records is another go at their style of narrative game aiming to hit 90s kids nostalgia while also tell a story about adults and the past and more. It’ll have gay romance in it and probably a ton of angst.  It seems like a really great time with a great story that will be able to really speak to a lot of folks so I am thrilled to see them get to bring out something with the level of ambition of this narrative game. 

Unbeatable

This is just one of the coolest looking games visually, the animation is just so damn good and honestly it alone is a selling point. Then we got the main girl looking gay, the great music, and the fun concept for a story and I am feeling like this could be a real special piece of art. Unbeatable has you brining back music to the world, fighting cops, and being badass and honestly, it’s all I need in life. 

Scholomatch 

I didn’t expect much going into the demo but in the niche heights of matching game dating sims Scholomatch seems like it’ll be something pretty fun. It and Spirit Swap should both be coming out and should both be really exciting entries next year. This games non human girls and polyamory make it lean slightly over SS to me but it’s fun that we have two casual cozy little games where we can focus on romance and just a simple little gameplay loop so it’s not all VN. This game has you being a new student at a magic college where all the students are teaching each other rather than teachers. You play match 3 to impress the other students and learn new spells all while having conversations and getting closer to the cast of characters. I fell in love with this game in the demo when a girl who could see the future saw me as her best friend and was really sweet then realized we hadn’t become best friends yet and was so apologetic. It was sweet but also I can’t imagine how hard it is for her to have seen my character as a best friend for years in visions and having to realize “That might not even happen, because I’ve seen this I might ruin this deep important friendship” and like wow, that’s I am so invested in her I have to buy this game. Also obviously I am going to kiss her and at least a few of the others. 

Crescent County

Be a witch, race on a broom, work a delivery job across a pretty open field, kiss girls, this game is pretty damn close to a perfect concept. I take qualms with any connection to solar punk when also capitalism exists but the game is super freaking pretty so I can only complain so much. I think this seems like a really fun and special game, I am intentionally waiting to play the demo until after I put this post out since i started this article before the demo was announced and didn’t want it to color it’s entry here but as I am typing I am wanting to rush so I can jump in and give this game a shake. 

Cabernet 

Speaking of amazing concepts, we really do not have enough vampire games and Cabernet is a narrative focused game about being a newly turned vampire. You have to deal with your hunger and your families ongoing issue with vices, your dad was an alcoholic and you avoided drinking but now you need to drink blood and it’s that high. It’s an extremely down to earth vampire story that has an eerie ton but it also has room for romance and hopeful stories or so it seems. I am really excited to experience this beautiful and exciting game. 

Deltarune chapter 3 and 4 2025 is finally gonna be it’s year, maybe. Deltarune Chapter 1 and 2 are contenders for my best games of all time so I mean I can’t not be excited for the next two chapters. I don’t know what will be happening, will Noelle become a full on party member, how will it handle lingering plot points, will it get weird and fucky and tie more into undertales, what’s up with the secret boss stuff, I don’t know and even post release who knows how much is answered before 5? I just know I want the purple lizard to guess the little deer girl and that’s enough for me so long as there is goofs along the way.  

[carlyraejepsans]

i feel like uty improves on things undertale did but it doesnt have the same strong foundation as the original. like all the qol tweaks and secret shit and meta flowey are all super impressive but as a whole i agree i didnt find it cohesive or consistent

eh, sorry but i don't really think UTY "improves" much of... anything from Undertale? you can make an argument for the visuals, which are more detailed and certainly better animated, but i would argue right back that undertale's rougher, retro, "kinda ugly" graphics are a deliberate design choice on Toby's part that he stuck to for a reason. not to mention, even in their ugliness, the original main cast managed to display more variety in shape language and size than the entire UTY one, which seemed unable to break past the "tall, skinny, anime proportioned humanoid" figure for anyone beyond the occasional side NPC (which, credit where it is due, DID have some really creative designs).

the secret shit is part of my critiques, actually! while conceptually cool, i don't think they appropriately distributed their story and lore at all. i feel like if we got to the end of the pacifist run and were wholly confused as to why dalv was even a character in the story, the whole "human attack" backstory was... not delivered properly. now, there's no problem with having secret lore, gaster is right there. but if you DO have it then it shouldn't be... yknow... tied to the main backstory conflict that literally set the story in motion? lol? it felt like a game with dataminers in mind, rather than players. which was unavoidably detrimental to its storytelling.

the bullet patterns and attack designs were very visually creative but what they improved from the original in their cleverness they tanked with their execution. WAYYY too unfair, counting too much on memorization and giving you no time to accustom yourself to the mechanics (shout-out to the gun tutorial that... didn't teach us how to shoot. at all. we figured it out on our own in the axis fight LMFAO)

the meta flowey stuff was a fun idea that only really delivered in the neutral run and didn't amount to enough anywhere else to justify his presence in the game imo. like, i lost my shit during his fight too, don't get me wrong, i like when fan stories let him be a little FREAK. but everything else was just so... wasted? i almost didn't see the neutral ending at all because the way pacifist handled flowey disappointed me so much.

uhhhhh running was a good addition and the music fucked hard. can't say anything against those two, nossir. not sure it'd go so far as to call them improvements tho, just nice touches

[feladi-fority]

Happy Homestuck day everyone!

Fuck, insane I'm still obsessed with a comic THIS OLD but what can you do.

I feel like people often focus on what Homestuck did poorly or just discuss the characters or the comic abstractly, so in this post I wanna go into a bit more detail about what I think this comic did really really right which I'm yet to see done in other media.

The dialogue is just fantastic. Hussie really knows how to write naturalistic internet style dialogue and it breaths life into characters which otherwise are very flat. So many of the characters are objectively very simple but the dialogue is just so good they still feel like real people. Like Nepeta is objectively very boring, but the dialogue made her feel real enough to make past me kin her.

The format gets a lot of attention for using flash animation and games, but I think the real biggest strength of Homestuck's format is the pesterlogs. I read through Kill 6 Billion Demons a bit ago which is a very similar comic to Homestuck and despite loving it I found I didn't grow nearly as attached to the characters as I did HS. The reason I've come to as to why is that in K6BD the standard comic formatting just doesn't allow natural the characters to be normal people and have normal conversations without totally killing the pacing, so to maintain a fast pace it has to keep that to a minimum. In Homestuck, however, the pesterlogs allow characters to just kinda talk about whatever for normal amounts of time while not requiring the plot to just stop around them. John can ramble about his love of Con Air while doing important ectobiology shit. This gives the audience time to get to know these characters while maintain the lightning fast pace of acts 3 and 4 and a bit of 2 and 5.

The time travel, holy shit like I have NEVER seen time travel done so well, I used to think I hated time travel in media until I read this comic. The comedy gotten through time-traveling chat clients and the use of stable time loops for the story is just so masterfully done. The fact HS manages to have very few plot-holes in terms of its time travel internal consistency is seriously impressive compared to other stories featuring it. I crave so badly a story which can reach the peaks of the lil' Cal reveal and the conversions Karkat had with Karkat.

The fandom hooks. Like most stories are out here letting the fandom do some shipping or have a fun set of factions or a magic system to sort their fav characters into. Homestuck is here quadrupling the potential ships. "My story has 4 elements and what element you have is determined by your personality" Homestuck has a character personality sorting system with 336 possible combinations. Your story has one cool unique world to imagine being in? Homestuck has several. How would your fav react in the Hunger Games? How would they react to their entire planet being destroyed and being sent into a game designed to allow personal expression as much as possible! The lore is also overcomplicated but it does a great job at helping the audience through it. Like fuck this shit was crack to my neurodivergent ass.

The [s] pages were fucking AWESOME, like I am yet to feel the emotion the best [s] pages did since I finished reading the comic for the first time. The complexity of the storytelling means that when it's being told visually you need to actively interpret what's happening, causing strong moments of "oh shit!" when you realize what you just saw, further making an already awesome animation even better!

The way the comic mythologized the feeling of growing up online was so fucking cool to my terminally online ass. It made the worldbuilding feel so much more compelling than similarly complex fantasy worldbuilding ever has.

I might have missed a few things Homestuck did really well I'd like to bring up so I might make another post later, but like, damn. Homestuck was an incredibly unique work and I haven't seen anything like it since. One of my goals in life is to make a work that makes other feels how this comic made me feel cuz nothing has scratched that itch for me, but who knows if I'll succeed at that.

Either way, happy 413! I'm a derse sylph of heart btw <3

[sibyl-of-space]

It's time for me to go to bed. And that means everybody gets a Procrastination Essay No One Asked For About Sonic Adventure 1 for the SEGA Dreamcast!

This game is one of my super mega ultra all-time favorites. Every single time I revisit it, I am so afraid that my love for it is entirely nostalgia goggles and it will lose its charm this time around, and every single time, I just have the time of my life because the game really is great. It is so fun. It does some very cool things. It is kind of stupid but it takes itself seriously, and that is very endearing and a million times more interesting than a game that's too afraid of being perceived as cringe to be sincere.

I love basically everything about it. I painted Big the Cat on my Dreamcast and even that is not enough to communicate my vast love for this game.

MANY WORDS BELOW CUT. Visuals, audio, gameplay, I love all of it.

Visuals

The game came out in 1998. It looks like a game that came out in 1998. But the world and character designs are fantastic and the world is so detailed. I could genuinely spend hours just moving around on the Egg Carrier overworld map appreciating all the gadgets and gizmos moving around that are purely 100% set dressing. It makes up for what it lacks in polygons with cool textures and fun trinkets everywhere. The animated CGs genuinely look amazing, and you can forgive the rest of it considering the game came out in 1998.

I also love the splash screens you get after finishing each route. They're so good.

(It goes without saying that the game looks its best on a CRT. There are some really cool lighting effects CRTs just capture better.)

Audio

It obviously has an insanely good soundtrack of just nonstop banger after banger. It also has a very 1998 dub and the sound mixing and implementation are some of the worst you'll ever hear. Eggman has like 5 voice lines that are re-used in every scene he's in. But who can complain about that when they're listening to the likes of "Bad Taste Aquarium"? Literally nobody. Who cares. Every single song slaps.

"But Leo half the time the songs start and stop mid-cutscene because of how the game handles loading" who cares. I can forgive just about ANYTHING a game does in terms of audio implementation if it has a song as good as "Bad Taste Aquarium" in its soundtrack.

Narrative

Setting aside the fact that the story is kind of stupid, I really think we need to appreciate the way it tells it. The way this game has you play through the same story from everyone's different perspective, and how the scenes that overlap actually play out differently depending on who you play as, is so big brain. You don't get the full picture of what's happening until you've played as everybody, and there is no "big group of heroes collectively take on the bad guy" until the very very end Super Sonic story... until then, it's just different people having wildly different journeys that overlap here and there and are all part of a single, bigger story.

That's just cool ass storytelling. Everyone loves to bitch about my good friend Big the Cat but the entire point is that this extremely chill guy who loves to fish and just wants to save his friend was caught up in this Adventure, and he was a small but vital part of it, and it affected him differently than it affected everybody else because he had a different reason for being involved. But that goes for everybody! Everyone's story has an arc with a start and a finish, and most of them don't come close to being involved in the whole thing. Even SONIC doesn't see everything (he doesn't have a Hot Shelter level at all). Knuckles's story ends on a really cool note, with him going "I may never know the full story of what happened here, but maybe it's better that way." Or something close to that.

I also just love the concept of benevolent protector water god goes apeshit at people, as well as the concept of a ghost from thousands of years ago trying to right ancient wrongs. Chaos and Tikal are great.

Gameplay

The thing I love about Sonic Adventure is that every single character is really fun to play. This comes at the "cost" of what you might call "balance," in that half of the characters are broken as fuck and you can just disregard the very concept of platforming with most of them. I couldn't really care less about that because I just enjoy how fun it is to play as everyone.

Sonic Adventure 2 understandably put Tails in a mech because outside of it he is too damn broken. Sonic Adventure 1 lets you play as him anyway, and it rules.

The ONLY gripe I have about the gameplay is that Big the Cat does not have the means to harm robots (because he is too nice and chill to do that), but as a result he is unable to collect animals to give the chao. I cannot think of a single character in the Sonic the Hedgehog universe who would be better suited to raise chao than Big the Cat, but Big the Cat is unable to give them animals to power up. This is a tragedy.

Overall

Sonic Adventure is a masterpiece. Every time I play it I'm like "this is the greatest game that has ever been made." The parts of it that are clunky, awkward, kind of dumb, or very dated are still endearing because it tries to do so many things that you really just have to respect it. This is the kind of game that is fantastic whether you sit down and play it straight through from plot point to plot point or you spend three hours throwing that statue around Station Square into oncoming traffic.

Of course it's not polished. It tries to do way too many cool ass things all at once to be polished. It is WAY too ambitious to be polished. That's what makes it so good. It's perfect exactly the way it is and the fact that people will play this incredible game and go "lol, 3D Sonic sucks" is a good reminder that gamers will bitch about anything and you should never care about what gamers have to say when making games.

Big the Cat has glow-in-the-dark eyes. Game of all time.

[torra-and-the-toons]

Since I never seem to have made a post about my top Ed Edd n Eddy episodes, here it is! 

Most of my favorites come from the later seasons, sorry if that’s a disappointment to some.

Torra’s Top 5 episodes! (in descending order)

#5 May I have this Ed?

This one is just cute, with the added bonus of Eddy basically declaring himself done with girls at the end. Between Eddy pretending to be way cooler than he actually is, Edd being terrified out of his mind over a dance, and Ed just having the time of his life, what’s not to like? The stuff happening in the background is almost funnier than the focus lmao. I wish Eddy hadn’t made them wear that ridiculous facial hair get-up, but I get it, it’s part of his character to fake puberty. Just… Eddy why.

#4 Hand Me Down Ed

Truly a very funny episode, but it is a little awkward to watch. The second-hand embarrassment is real. Someone please get Double Dee some clothes… Though, Rolf opening the door and just belting out in song was one of the moments that made me laugh the hardest in the whole series. I’m ever-fascinated by Kevin Lordi’s theory on the boomerang bringing out repressed traits rather than opposite traits, which is really what places this episode on my list.

#3 Every Which Way But Ed

What’s not the love about this episode? Baby Eds, Flashback gags, heavy-set characters that aren’t being made fun of, lines like “Zappity-Zap-Zap,” “You bet your sweet bippy I did!” All of it is just so wholesome and great. The storytelling is pretty cool too, we get to see the reasons behind a lot of small details we never would have thought twice about. But gosh the sequence with baby eds is too cute to leave off this list, I cry from the cuteness every time.

#2 Thick as an Ed

This has got to be one of the funniest episodes ever, which is why I’ve placed it #2. The humor is spot on, the writing is phenomenal, and the voice actors are truly the proverbial cherry on top of this delicious cake of an episode. The visual gag of the color falling off Double Dee from the stench has me in tears every time, and he and Ed’s little verbal spat is just *chef’s kiss* Literally nothing gets done but it’s far from a boring episode.

#1 Fistful of Ed

This one is number one on my list purely for the characterization and the writing. To have Edd become the school bully on accident was such a bold move, and they pulled it off so well. I love that they didn’t go a cliché route of having his friends back him up. Ed is actually scared of him, and Eddy, well… Eddy’s just an instigator, taking advantage of the situation for his own gain and not at all helping his suffering friend, in typical Eddy fashion. And to have Jimmy be the one who helps Edd in the end was a twist that I never saw coming, but it fit so well. This episode made me stop and truly appreciate Jimmy’s character. Plus, the ending sequence when Eddy tells the Kankers off was actually really nice. Overall, a very well-done episode.

[ultfreakme]

I've read the WarWorld saga and I love the twins. However, like Chris, they are also sidelined and underdeveloped. Otho is the only one with agency, while Osul feels like another version of Chris. All three characters needed more time and development beyond Clark rescuing them.

Regarding Zod and Ursa's abuse, I understand this may not be what you meant, so this isn't an attack on you, but rather a statement. No child abuse ever makes sense. There is no justification for a parent to hurt their child. Ever. Unfortunately, there are people who want kids and still end up abusing them. Abuse never makes sense—some people are just awful. Zod and Ursa are simply terrible people. A wanted child doesn't always equate to a loved child, which is a sad reality. Zod and Ursa are just bad parents—monsters without any real motive, just inherently cruel. Just like all real-life abusive parents. There's no point in trying to rationalize their abusive behavior because there is no reason parents should ever abuse their child.

Anon, again oh god I hope this does not come off as me condescending to you. I have no personal anything for Chris. I'm mostly indifferent to what he is to people in fandom, all of ym gripes lie with writing decisions. I personally disagree about Otho, Osul and Chris being similarly dismisses, and I think I have textual proof Otho & Osul got more investment as characters independently, and as children to Clark more than Chris ever was, and with more intention behind WHY they act the way they do. This will not be about Chris or Osul or Otho as characters, but about how Geoff Johns wrote Chris & PKJ wrote super twins. I'm doing this to dissect storytelling and characters. I genuinely wish you all the happiness and fun for liking Chris. I am personally simply not compelled by him and I think the text doesn't provide me nearly enough of him in comparison to his counterparts and alternatives. That's all, this is just me showing why.

Right off the bat, introduction scene; this is pivotal, this is where your character makes an impact & shows us what they're about. How they talk, what they do on the regular. This is the establishing moment.

PKJ with Otho & Osul's very first scene:

I don't need to speculate or think too hard to know that Otho's the hardass who doesn't give a crap- she's resourceful, motivated entirely by survival and being warzoon. Osul's the more empathetic one, he tries to be the same kind of tough his sister is with the way he sneers and talks, but he tells her to go easy and is clearly the more open and kind one.

Sibling dynamic establish. Individual character and action established(along with individulistic design).

What was Chris's introduction scene? I'm dismissing the very first page we get of him in the pod because he isn't really a character there, but going to the scene where he does something character-wise

K, nice dramatic shot. What does this tell us about Chris Kent? He's smiling as he says "I'm hungry" and lifting up a TV set. What does this tell us? What does this mean? Why is he doing this?

In-text, this entire issue, I don't get an answer for this. We can speculate, but it's not factual. I can make up that he's lifting the cabinet to draw attention because he comes from an abusive home but I can also just as easily defy this by saying Zod & Ursa would never allow this level insubordination and disobedience by randomly lifting objects. I can say whatever I want to explain this behaviour of smiling, lifting an object and saying hes hungry but in-text, in canon, we are given no explanation for why he does this as a character.

This scene is actually in service of the audience. This is just to show us the reader, a kryptonian feat, which is simply visually repeating a thing Clark's already verbally confirmed.

But I do have a answer for why Otho & Osul said every single thing they did in their introduction scene, down to their expressions. Otho's cool with Clark being dead because dead people have resources on them she can steal to better defend herself. She's sneering because she doesn't give a crap if he's 'Superman'. Osul is looking unimpressed up there because Clark is looking rough & he is in disbelief that this is apparently the famed "Superman" who they held admiration for. His expression softens because yeah Superman is weak, but he still admired him at some point & he's trying to calm Otho. I don't need to dig or search because the writer is telling us "hey this is their deal". Otho's the more aggressive one and we spend more time with her because she's taken on the role of being the tough one, protecting Osul.

Chris? We never learn why Chris acts the way he does. In fact, we see a page immediately after the cabinet scene that puzzles me as to why Chris was lifting it in the first place. He doesn't KNOW he has these superpowers, he tries to fly like Clark and almost falls. So why is he smiling? Is he happy he's strong now? I'm purely guessing because the writing and art don't convey anything congruent. He says he doesn't have a name. He is entirely unfazed. And we never get an actual, canon explanation for why. We need it though, because these things are character defining and this behaviour especially is highly odd for a kid who just landed in a planet he doesn't know, away from the only world he understands, among complete strangers crowding around him to observe. The entire time, he smiles serenely and for some reason, trusts Clark after an extremely brief conversation. It can't be just because he's kryptonian because Zod & Ursa are also kryptonian.

Otho & Osul's reason for trusting Clark? Established immediately in the next two chapters. Otho & Osul are the most precious things to each other > Mongul says they must kill each other > But Clark says absolutely not > Twins like Clark better than Mongul because they figure out if they must become the people Mongul wants, they must destroy one another which is NOT on the table > Clark's the better bet. This is why Otho chooses to somewhat warm up to Clark and Osul goes from "hesitant" to "yeah I trust him entirely". Their trust in Clark develops slowly, we know why they're hesitant, and we know why they open up.

Chris? Why does Chris trust Clark? Is he the first kind person he encountered? What did he mean when he say "you don't belong here either, do you?" Again I can personally hc a bunch of things but it is not clearly intended by the text. GJ doesn't ever allow Chris to talk. And when Chris does, it's singular words and are rarely insightful into Chris's psyche, even in Kryptonian. Like why does Chris want to be adopted by Lois & Clark, specifically Lois, when he himself says "Lois doesn't like m" and Lois does nothing on-page to subvert this? If kindness is what made Chris attach to Clark, shouldn't he be averse to Lois the entire time?

Chris is entirely well-adjusted with Clois. We see no evidence of abuse, the stories never discuss Zod & Ursa, or what Chris specifically thinks about them. There's nothing reflected in his behaviour or character other than "he's nice". Which is fine, but again, why?

Even Jon, who experienced extreme abuse for years is now very nice. But there's an in-text reason for this. Jon refused to bend to Ultraman and kept fighting, and this meant holding onto hope. He refuses to be unkind because then he'd become like Ultraman(which was Ultraman's point). He also shows the after effects of this time through his insecurities with his powers and abilities as a hero.

Chris? Where? I read the action comic arc and the Tim stuff, there's little to nothing. He's got your typical kryptonian struggles but every Kryptonian's got em and after that it's up to the chraracter to react how they do. Otho was frustrated and immediately getting into fights, Osul was trying but still not getting the hang of it and both of them exhibited their inability to adjust through a penchant for violence because of Mongul. Chris just, he just says "this is difficult" without any unique expression as to why. He just says it's hard and reports generic symptoms.

Otho and Osul each got a separate arc btw. Otho got the final PKJ arc with the Blue Earth Movement with Ra's Al Ghul's alternate dimension granddaughter trying to force her further into being a ruthless warrior. Osul got the opening arc on Earth where he had an entire go inside him and Mongul's lackeys were hunting after him.

Chris got.....afaik, individual arc only after his spontaneous age-up. I'm not counting it because atp he's not Clois's kid anymore.

Onto the next point.

Abuse itself is senseless, but we are not dealing with real people here. These are characters, and characters have motives, that's their entire deal. Zod isn't just generically evil, he's like that because he wants Kryptonian supremacy dictated by violence and might. Same goes for Ursa. You cannot just say "these characters are simply evil" because then I can replace Zod and Ursa with two robots if all we need is "generic evil person".

Characters, be they good or bad, stand for something. They have to, otherwise it's just bad writing.

These character motives define actions. So when I say the abuse doesn't make any sense, I'm talking about it in terms of character, and what the writers and creatives intended to tell the audience through these choices. Zod and Ursa arent just inherently cruel, there's a reason for why they're like that. Their families value military might and strategic importance, they consider kryptonians to be superior to humans and shun any intermingling with "lower species". If you paint Zod & Ursa as just "simple evil", then you dismiss the message CLARK is trying to convey by defeating them.

When Clark defeats Zod, it's not just "good guy defeats evil". It's showing that this kind of exceptionalism and what's basically an analogy for racism and colonization, THAT is what is bad. If Ursa and Zod are just evil, it's not about child abuse as a story arc. It's just "child suffers under villain".

If the message was "abuse bad", it was lackluster and stating the obvious. We all KNOW parental abuse is bad. Now what does that mean for Chris Kent? How is he impacted? You can't say Ursa and Zod abused Chris and then not explore such a severe topic. The entire Chris arc in Action Comics fully ignored this aspect until the final 2 issues, and even then it didn't show Chris's turmoil. He had all of 10 lines across the issues dealing with his abuse. There is no exploration, no insight, no genuine engagement by Geoff Johns with the topic of child abuse.

I am saying all this not because I think Ursa and Zod can in any way be justified. I want to reiterate that, nothing will justify what Ursa and Zod did. With that in mind, an explanation for their abuse is NOT a justification.

Abuse and its cruelty makes no sense. But every abuser has an explanation for why the do it (again this is not a justification, this is still bad, explanations don't make a single thing better). The point of a story is to give a believable explanation for the things that happen and Geoff Johns didn't even TRY to explain.

I feel like I grew less and less coherent as the post continued but I hope I got my point across. You are not going to make me enjoy Chris as a character. And in turn I am not going to make you hatete Chris as a character. That's not what I want, I don't care about asserting which character is better. My current favorite is an anime character who showed up for 4 episodes in a 40 episode anime who people say I need to move tf on from. I am doing this not to bash Chris, but to bash Geoff Johns, who failed to deliver a compelling story.

This is again, a criticism of writing. You can love Chris all you want, I just don't think the Chris arc is a well-crafted story, and there aren't enough well-crafted stories of him for me to try to like him.

[anthropologicalhands]

twenty questions for fic writers

tagged by @redbelles !

1. how many works do you have on ao3? 112

2. what’s your total ao3 word count? 497,546

3. what fandoms do you write for? currently, I’m still eyeballs deep in black panther (mcu). I’ll write for whatever catches my interest, but previous fandoms include naruto, yuyu hakusho, thor (mcu), mass effect, and crazy ex girlfriend

4. top five fics by kudos

vigil of the loved tales of the storyteller bring back the baby shoes sleeping arrangements pft, tradition <- biggest shocker honestly

5. do you respond to comments? i’m making more of an effort these days! I might respond late, but i do try to respond because it’s a nice way to talk more about characters and stuff with people.

6. what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? probably a frozen pond alight with torches. It’s a hina fic, by nature of canon it’s doomed. I tend not to write straight angst though. Or maybe i stay up all night in your memories, where priya has to let go both of ajay and, worse, of seema so they can all move on.

7. what’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? by far don’t need no ammunition, aka the sif goes to midgard au. loki doesn’t fall into madness, thor and jane get to stay in contact, and sif gets a shiny sword that cuts through dimensions. everyone wins! it’s so self indulgent, but i do find it endearing.

8. do you get hate on fics?

almost never, but the only time i remember getting hate is on make me an offer i won’t refuse, where some commenter took issue with how i wrote kay and her and michael’s relationship. they clearly hated kay as a character but still read a whole fic about her, so i wasn’t even angry, i was just completely bemused by it. 

9. do you write smut?

…i do. i have a very limited comfort zone, but honestly i want to write more and get better at it!

10. craziest crossover:

I don’t really do crossovers, except for the ceg fic that ended up featuring jean ralphio from parks and recreation. that was super fun, but i think it’s too tonally consistent to count as crazy. I’m more likely to write fusion fic than crossovers

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not as in someone else tried to take credit for it — i have had my fics uploaded onto other websites w/o my permission though

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

I have! In the Naruto fandom, someone translated one of my fics into Vietnamese. that was pretty cool, but i think i lost the link.

13. have you ever co-written a fic before?

just for fun! And there was one sasusaku/uchiha family round robin fic i was fortunate enough to participate in. 

14. all time favorite ship?

nah, can’t do it

15. what’s a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

rip telepathy au. I had so much written but i couldn’t figure out a couple key parts and then i lost steam for writing ceg fic. I’ll never say never, but i think that one is gone.

16. what are your writing strengths?

i think emotions, how characters relate to each other, moments of high intensity and catharsis

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

Setting! i hate it, because i loooooove a good vivid setting, but i have such a hard time visualizing places! Especially new places!

18. thoughts on dialogue in another language?

probably only a good idea if you are fluent. I have used honorifics in anime fics, but i worry that i apply it too inconsistently and not as thoughtfully as i should have, so these days i try to move away from it.

19. first fandom you wrote in?

unpublished, probably teen titans or sailor moon. published, naruto

20. favorite fic you’ve written?

I think understand the edge of this desire is one of my favorite things I’ve written, just because i think i got the voice and the mood right, and it took a long of agonizing over both.

tagging anyone who wants to do this meme!

[offscreendeath]

I watched Valerian last night. I appreciated how very ambitious it seemed, but ultimately the performances fell very short. My take is that a lot of filmmakers have tried to do what Fifth Element did as far as crafting an expansive and detailed world filled with unique designs for its characters and sets, which it absolutely did, but failed to create compelling characters who we follow throughout it. Jupiter Ascending which premiered two years after it did this much better, although I have similar critiques.

Dane DeHaan and Clara Delevingne and were not the worst actors I’ve ever seen, but they seemed too stiff and stoic to come off as endearing or relatable, even while they were joking. I didn’t feel much chemistry between them, and neither of them seemed to have meaningful character arcs to speak of.

I wish the writers took the mystery element of the plot even further. An action/adventure whodunit” type of story set in space would’ve been really cool. I found it difficult to accept Valerian as this super deadly space soldier and it wasn’t just because he doesn’t look physically intimidating. I got the impression that it was his ability to come up with a plan on short notice that was his real strength, but that wasn’t highlighted enough to be very memorable. Laureline straight up did not sell the badass and intelligent role very well.

Worse than them though, was Herbie Hancock, who didn’t have much time on screen, but his performance definitely revealed a lack of training and commitment to the role — no shade, I love his music, but he was not impressive. I was initially excited to see his name in the opening credits (and the opening scene was one of the best imo,) but after watching felt like it was mostly a ploy to draw attention.

I felt similarly about Rihanna’s performance. When she wasn’t giving awkward one-liner jokes, there just didn’t seem to be very much passion in her delivery of the lines. It doesn’t help that she was a cgi blue flubber squid alien for a good half of her appearance or dying in of the most egregious “we can’t afford to pay you/use all this cgi/create plot holes so we’re gonna have to kill you off” scenes I’ve ever witnessed.

That said, there were lots of things I found fun about this — the creative and fun moments with action set pieces, (like the chase following the market heist) practical effects, cool characters design (the three pigeon snitches, the albino twink beach aliens) and costumes (a circuit board design on a military uniform,) an unconventional story about war crimes being covered up…all things that could’ve been enhanced by just a bit more effort in terms of acting and storytelling.

There are moments where I was a bit confused about the tone of the movie. Was this a comedy? Is it for children? Am I supposed to be sad about this character’s death scene when what led up to it was a visual pun about stinky trash? I have my own issues with Marvel films, but at their very best they can manage to balance humor and tense/depressing moments pretty well. I got the impression that there was this rush to establish certain things narratively, and as a consequence, certain other parts (the best parts,) weren’t given much breathing room.

After watching Jupiter Ascending I felt pretty hungry for more exciting space epics with immersive, elaborate worlds. After also watching Avatar 2: The Way of Water just a few days earlier, unfortunately I’m still searching. JA wasn’t perfect, but had less obvious flaws than either, helped greatly by some legitimately decent performances. Avatar made me feel sorta motion sick after a while, even though it also had a few interesting plot elements and thrilling sequences.

I was expecting more, and I’m not sure why. I remembered watching the trailer years ago when it first released, and recalled feeling like “oh yes this is what the streets been waiting on!” and quickly forgetting about it not very long afterwards. The 2010-2019 period of Hollywood was very strange. I liked the direction this was heading and since it didn’t do well I’m wondering if it’s failure signaled a departure from movies like this and into the direction we’re headed now. It being the most expensive independent film kinda blows my mind—but only because it makes the end result all the more disappointing.

I don’t regret my watch, however. I think there were plenty of good decisions that were made, but unfortunately casting wasn’t one of them.

4.6/10

[reelvibes91]

Road House Remake a Smashing Success

Remakes are always a questionable endeavor from Hollywood. You have to find a movie people are okay with remaking. Fans of the original have to accept that idea and you have to find a way to modernize that while staying true to the original.

Road House does all of those. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Daniela Melchior and Billy Magnussen the remake has a new set of visuals that definitely don't look as dated in todays age. The change of locale plays a big part in the plot and helps differentiate the two films. We all know the original from 1989 starring Patrick Swayze. Perhaps when you think of all the movies out there that could be modernized this not the first one that comes to mind but it certainly is a fun.

There are a lot or positives in this movie. One is of course Jake Gyllenhaal being in peak physical form as well as giving one of the best performances of his career. He has a lot to choose from but this one to me is an instant classic. His chemistry with Daniela Melchior is what sealed the deal for me. She is becoming a must see actress and her presence immediately elevates a film for me.

It goes without saying that the action is very much over the top but that is part of the charm. The fight sequences are brutal and it really helps give you sense of what these people have at stake. Conor McGregor in his film debut brings an absolute absurd psychotic performance. He is built for this kind of role. He brought the extreme parts of the plot to life while Gyllenhaal and Melchior kept it grounded.

It's fun because at the end of the day it is what is great about storytelling. You can get lost in these characters and this fun little romp for a little over two hours. Movies should allow you the ability to disconnect from the real world and fully immerse yourself in these fictional worlds. This one provides that. The story is simple yet effective. The cast is phenomenal. It's fun. Very well shot, very cool action sequences. Truly all you could want.

[cyvonix]

Cyv Reads Homestuck - Act 6 Act 1 Wrapup

Already?

Yeah, after the beast that was Act 5 Act 2, which practically could've been its own whole webcomic by itself, I must say it feels pretty odd to go right back down to a normal length act and already be writing another wrapup. But here we are! I'm not gonna lie, I feel that I have less to say about this act by a long shot, but that's nothing against it. It's just that I think it served its purpose very well, which is to be almost 100% setup for the rest of Act 6. Pretty much everything that was done here, from introducing the new characters to showing us where John and Jade are to letting us hear the interactions between the rest of the trolls and kids were all in service of putting the pieces into place for what seems like the climax of the story to get started.

That being said, all three of those pieces above each have notable aspects to mention. The most obvious is that, well, we have a whole new cast of characters!!! The new four are already quite charming, and I like how they both play into and subvert what you'd expect from them based on what we know of the "Beta kids" as I've seen them referred to lol. I'm definitely interested to spend more time with them and learn more, and obviously extremely curious to know if the beta kids and these ones will actually meet or talk at some point, and how those interactions will end up. I do find that they currently feel more like caricatures than full characters, but I suppose this is to be expected, as the beta kids and the trolls both felt that way when they were introduced as well. So it's not necessarily a complaint, but more just a note of the whiplash produced after we've now had so much time to learn about our cast and develop the more three dimensional parts of their personalities, and then we're essentially thrust back into pre-Act 4 styles of characters. Again though, I do like them and am excited to see where they're taken in the story.

The other massive change is the dialogue, which really feels like it's been cracked wide open at this point. It was very notable how the dialogue between characters developed through each act, and to me, Hivebent was really the moment where Hussie officially shifted into a new mode of dialogue, which was kept and expanded upon in A5A2. Here, we finally get characters in the same, physical space as each other, talking under the pretense of their actual names. What this does is take what was so great about the dialogue before and let it breathe in ways it never could have. Because of the implied visual and spatial element of the conversations now, the dynamics between characters shine more than ever, and physical gestures and comedy can be used to such a greater extent than before. In any other comic, this would be the status quo and no big deal, but in Homestuck, where we've grown so accustomed to the characters being isolated for such a long time, there's something truly special and sweet about just getting to see them do something as simple as speak with each other in person.

And of course at the forefront of story changes is the fact that the meta elements have now been fully folded into the narrative of Homestuck itself. I wasn't sure if or how this would happen, but the way it has is really cool. Hussie's universe essentially being a gateway between sessions works on so many levels; as a potential commentary on the nature of storytelling itself, as an escalation of the cosmic mindfuckery that this story has reveled in up to this point, and even just as a fun, visually interesting device. This change makes it almost feel like we're playing with a bunch of little playsets, the characters being paper dolls that we can transpose between the sets and mismatch in whatever way we'd like. In this way, the story has truly given itself free reign to do whatever it wants to, honestly.

And I think that's just about my thoughts on this act. I would say it's much less dense than the past few, but again, I think as an introduction to the new status quo and setup for things to come, it works very well. As long as the story keeps its momentum, I believe the wheels will get rolling back at their previous speed pretty quickly. So, to close, some final observations and questions that were raised or remain unanswered by this act:

Lord English himself was nowhere to be seen, which is... almost worrying. I keep waiting for the moment he pops into the story and inevitably makes everything go to absolute hell

But SPEAKING of Lord English, Jake's whole thing is ????? Obviously his last name is English, which feels like it's purposefully dangling the answer right in front of my face without actually telling me. AGH! Is Jake Lord English? Is it somehow this universe's John? Will he create Lord English? It could be so many things and I don't have enough right now to make any judgement calls.

Also concerning Jake, why are there lusi on his island?!? This is absolutely bizarre to me and I can't begin to come up with what convoluted series of events led to either these things from Alternia ended up on Earth, or these things from Earth ended up on Alternia, or knowing Hussie, some secret third thing.

I'm wondering how the travel time thing is going to be handled, both in a narrative perspective and from a real life historical standpoint. The characters are talking about destinations that will take them multiple years to reach, and I wonder if this will actually be the case or if there will be some plot device to let these journeys be sped up. If not, I guess we'll be looking at an actual time skip? Man, this thing really is just a shounen now. But from the real life perspective, I'm wondering if this actually was going to take place over the next couple years and the dialogue was a nod to that, or if it's a time constraint purely contained within the narrative.

[zogingu]

Somerville Review

A cinematic puzzle game in a similar vein to Playdead's INSIDE and Little Nightmares, having gathered a mote of clout by having former Playdead founder Dino Patti. Unfortunately, his credentials don't seem to have helped much, because even discounting the awkward technical execution of Somerville, the game's creative concepts and art direction don't offer much, even compared to the more amateur entries into the genre.

⬇⬇ Full game spoilers below ⬇⬇

Visuals

The fidelity of Somerville's visuals is quite impressive, and in the game's few cinematics the filmic framing, animated backgrounds and special effects come together to form some pretty impressive sights. HOWEVER the visual design of the game is often either boring or the tackiest flavour of scifi.

Environments

The bread and butter of cinematic-type games are the scenes, the sets, the environments. The best examples are not only well rendered, but tell a story, or elucidate some novel concept or theme. Somerville's environments are mostly very basic, and even worse is that they are often just tedious to get through. A summary of the game's scenes (Spoilers):

The family's house has lots of little details and some novel interactive bits that create a unique feeling of presence. Opening drawers, unplugging wires and other small details do a lot to heighten your awareness of the space and make it feel rich and interesting.

The countryside quickly felt repetitive. Samey fields and woods that take a long time to move through. Empty video-game-level feeling space.

The music festival was probably the most novel location. The wind effects were fun, and the different "rooms" were varied and mostly didn't overstay their welcome.

The mine was by far the worst. Extremely repetitive. Felt like a level in a game, as opposed to a plausible real world location. No build-up to anything. No novel ideas or even a hint of storytelling.

The town had very nice set decoration, but the interactivity is heavily lacking. You lift the same shelf out of the way three times. I see why people bemoan The Last of Us' ladders now.

Underwater base/alien area is where the tacky sci-fi stuff gets turned all the way up. The base's exterior is cool, and the reactor sequence is mysterious, but switching from a man stumbling through a conflict zone to an Aperture Science lab experiment felt like it broke the tone.

Alien Stuff

Across the game are alien "growths", which are manipulated in many of the game's puzzles, melting and hardening them to achieve various effects.

While their technical quality is impressive, I think they're conceptually boring—They don't have any kind of novel adaptation to the Earth environments and visually are just geometric noise. It's a really squandered storytelling opportunity, especially compared to other alien-invasion literature.

In War of the Worlds, the red weed is overriding the Earth biome with alien ecology. In Half-life, giant conduits tear through human architecture to connect monstrous industrial machines. In Alien, the xenomorph hives are an ironic repurposing of the tunneling structures humans inhabit.

The growth in Somerville is the closest thing the game has to a visual motif but it doesn't do much more than tell us "aliens are here" and provide a kind of cool looking visual effect when it's dissolved or solidified.

Badass Military BS

Power armour ninjas... so cool and Badass... wow look at the undulating geometric pattern their armor is made out of... soo cool

Science fiction is an important topic to me. One of my recent favourites is the show Obsolete, which provides a socially-conscious and material lens on the silly concept of mecha, creating a story which approaches war, technology, industry and the humanities with nuance. Every fictional and real-world technology and social system is measured and contextualised. The role of the story's technological concepts isn't superficial—every piece fits together and enriches the other.

Somerville is a story set in modern society, driven by the struggles of everyday people. There are power-armoured dudes doing impossible acrobatics and rapid-firing laser rifles at geometric alien lions. Not only does the fictional technology LOOK bland, but the meaning and contextualisation of its concepts are pathetically shallow.

I know this is a really subjective mode of criticism; preferring stories that are lensed on particular subjects does not invalidate others, and it's not necessary for a story to be intricately laden with subtext to impactful or even just entertaining. But I am VERY TIRED of science fiction that pivots around slick, shiny "badass" WEAPONRY and WARFARE. At the very least, they could have semiotically rich designs, but instead it's just geometry. Bleh.

Visual Telegraphing

The hitmarker is the posterchild of overbearing telegraphing in games. It's wormed its way even into low-stakes single player shooters, where, in the AAA space, graphics technology has developed to offer incredible, high-fidelity depictions of violence that tell the story of injury and evisceration through stunningly detailed models and animations, only to suck all focus away from those incredible depictions to prioritize immediate feedback from the system. Hit. Armor hit. Kill. Damage numbers.

The absence of such overlays is one of the keys to a good cinematic game. Their systems are constrained to only work in ways that can be represented without interrupting or obstructing their immersive world. The drawback is that doing this successfully puts a lot of constraints on the both the audiovisual and the ludic elements of the game. But, when done well, the result is a fantastic, compelling harmony between the aesthetic experience of a cinematic story and the dexterous-cognitive challenge of playing a game.

Somerville doesn't achieve this harmony. You may be inclined to explore the large, open outdoor scenes, but doing so will poison the game's attempt at expressing cinematic pacing. Big yellow post-it notes on interactive objects make it so your controller isn't an interface with an immersive world of diegetic objects; it makes it so you're pushing buttons on your controller to push buttons in the game.