#videogames i've played

[bunnithy]

And old draw I made for an event on Twitter.

[cozylittleartblog]

50+ deaths at 5 am got me yelling absolute nonsense to the bosses kicking my whole entire ass

[stealingpotatoes]

hands you all this cal to announce i’ve FINALLY finished fallen order (by which i mean i finally picked it up again after those couple hours i played a few months ago and then finished the whole game in 2 days lol)

[redwhitebreeze]

[mittthrawnuruodo]

:: Ezolhrin | The Dark Urge ::

[tleeaves]

Folks going "WHAT they made a show about the Fallout franchise?? I've been hearing people say Bethesda messed it up, but I haven't watched it myself, so I'm going to trust the word of other people -- some of which also haven't finished watching it" is driving me insane.

Being a hard core fan of something obviously brings with it a lot of passionate feelings when adaptations come into play. Of course, there's going to be people going "but in 8 episodes of the first ever season they made, they didn't explore Theme C or D, didn't introduce factions E and F and G, and because the source company is notorious for its scams, we and everyone else who's a TRUE fan should hate it".

The Amazon Original series Fallout follows the videogame franchise of the same name. It is a labour of love and you can tell by the attention to detail, the writing, the sets, and YES THE THEMES ARGUE WITH THE WALL. It's clearly fan service. I mean, the very characterisation of Lucy is a deadringer for someone playing a Fallout game for the first time. She embodies the innocent player whose expectations drastically change in a game that breaks your heart over and over again. Of course, she's also the vessel through which we explore a lot of themes, but I'll get to that.

There're some folks arguing that the show retcons the games, and I gotta say... for a website practically built on fandom culture, why are we so violently against the idea of someone basing an adaptation on a franchise that so easily lends itself to new and interesting interpretations? But to be frank, a lot of what AO's Fallout is not that new. We have: naive Vault dweller, sexy traumatised ghoul that people who aren't cowards will thirst over, and pathetic guy from a militaristic faction. We also have: total atomic annihilation, and literally in-world references to the games' lore and worldbuilding constantly (the way I was shaking my sister over seeing Grognark the Barbarian, Sugar Bombs, Cram, Stimpaks, and bags of RadAway was ridiculous). Oh, and the Red Rocket?? Best pal Dogmeat? I'm definitely outing myself as specifically a Fallout 4 player, but that's not the point you should be taking away from this.

The details, the references, and the new characters -- this show is practically SCREAMING "hey look, we did this for the fans, we hope you love it as much as we do". Who cares that the characters are new, they still hold the essence of ones we used to know! And they're still interesting, so goddamn bloody interesting. Their arcs mean so much to the story, and they're told in a genuinely intriguing way. This isn't just any videogame adaptation, this was gold. This sits near Netflix's Arcane: League of Legends level in videogame adaptation. Both series create new plots out of familiar worlds.

Of course, those who've done the work have already figured out AO's Fallout is not a retcon anyway. But even if it was, that shouldn't take away from the fact that this show is actually good. Not even just good, it's great.

Were some references a little shoe-horned in to the themes by the end of the show, such as with "War never changes"? Yes, I thought so. But I love how even with a new plot and characters, they're actually still exploring the same themes and staying true to the games. I've seen folks argue otherwise, but I truly disagree. The way capitalism poisons our world, represented primarily through The American Dream and the atomic age of the 45-50s that promoted the nuclear family dynamic -- it's there. If you think it's glorifying it by leaning so heavily into in the adaptation, I feel like you're not seeing it from the right angle. It's like saying Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck glorifies the American Dream, when both this book and the Fallout franchise are criticisms of it. If you think about it, the post-apocalyptic world of Fallout is a graveyard to the American Dream. This criticism comes from the plots that are built into every Fallout story that I know of. The Vaults are literally constructed to be their own horror story just by their mere existence, what they stand for, what happens in each of them. The whole entire show is about the preservation of the wrong things leading to fucked up worlds and people. The missions of the Vaults are time and again proven to be fruitless, unethical, plain wrong. Lucy is our brainwashed character who believed in the veritable cult she lived in before she found out the truth.

So then consider the Brotherhood of Steel. I really don't think it exists in the story to glorify the military. We see just how much the Brotherhood has brainwashed people like Max (also, anything ominously named something like "the Brotherhood" should raise eyebrows). Personally, I don't like Max, but I am intrigued by his characterisation. I thought the end of his arc was rushed the way he "came good" basically, but [SPOILERS] having him embraced as a knight in the Brotherhood at the end against his will -- finally getting something he always wanted -- and him grimly accepting it from all that we can tell? Him having that destiny forced upon him now that he's swaying? After he defected? If his storyline is meant to be a tragedy, it wouldn't surprise me, because Fallout is rife with tragedies anyway. And a tragedy would also be a criticism of the military. That's what Max's entire arc is. It goes from the microcosm focusing on the cycle of bullying between soldiers to the macro-environment where Max is being forced to continue a cycle of violence against humanity he doesn't want to anymore because a world driven to extremes forces him to choose it to survive (not to mention what a cult and no family would do to his psyche). Let's not forget what the Brotherhood's rules are: humankind is supreme. Mutants, ghouls, synths, and robots are abominations to be hated and destroyed. If you can't draw the parallels to the real world, you need to retake history and literature classes. The Brotherhood is also about preserving the wrong things, like the Vaults (like the Enclave, really). They just came about through different method. The Enclave is capitalism and twisted greed in a world where money barely exists anymore. The Brotherhood is, well, fascism plain and simple.

Are these the only factions in the Fallout franchise? Hell no. But if you're mad about that -- that they're the main ones explored, apart from the NCR -- I think you're missing the point. These themes, these reminders, are highly relevant in the current climate. In fact, I almost think they always will be relevant unless we undergo drastic change. On the surface-level, Fallout seems like the American ideal complete with guns blazing that guys in their basements jerk off to. Under that surface, is a mind-fuck story about almost the entire opposite: it's a deconstruction of American ideals that are held so closely by some, and the way that key notion of freedom gets twisted, and you're shooting a guy in-game because it's more merciful than what the world had in store for him.

I mean, the ghoul's a fucking cowboy from the wild west character he used to play in Hollywood glam and his wife was one of the people who helped blow up America in the name of capitalism and "peace". There are so many layers of this to explore, I'd need several days to try and keep track and go through it all.

The Amazon Prime show is a testament to the Fallout franchise. The message, the themes? They were not messed up or muddled or anything of the sort, in my opinion.

As for Todd Howard, that Bethesda guy, I'm sure there's perfectly valid reasons to hate him. I mean, I've hated people for a lot less valid reasons, and that's valid. We all got our feelings. But the show is about more than just him. My advice is to keep that in mind when you're judging it.

[aretmaw]

Siblings...

[zerguette]

Oh god Madd took such a time to design...(Hours compared to Konrad, given this man has more lore than i intentes to give him ), hehe sunglasses boys deserve more love!!!

Also a hc, Bukowski twins are 190cm tall (Calvin 190cm, Konrad 191cm) while Madd is 197cm-198cm, so they are part of the tallest soldiers.

(psss psss they like to mock on Rupert, tower over him, loom ominously bc Rupert is 173cm tall, Even Charles is 187cm tall. I'll write more in the tags as I die)

[gaiathemuse]

I've watched Mouthwashing playthroughs and what's caught my eye is the whole "hero" title. To me, a hero is someone who protects the people with what little power they have, a do what is necessary to protect cause no else can or will. They can be flawed but overall good people at their core or willing to be good. (And if I can insert my bias,Ratchet and Clack, and Sir Daniel Fortesque are good examples of this).

But to Jimmy, a hero is someone who gets respected and rewarded, with all their sins forgotten. So what does Jimmy do when he's faced with his own actions? He makes a problem to "fix." But it doesn't go as planned because Jimmy was never good at planning in the first place. He most likely wanted Curly to do the work, while he plays background. But Curly is incapacitated, and Jimmy is forced into that role and he learns it's actually hard. Cause being a hero actually requires hard work. They help others cause someone needs to and most times want to. When danger arrives, they're in the frontline. As we see throughout the game, Jimmy fails all these things miserably.

A hero solves a problem that takes place, not "fix" one they've made. Problems can be solved, but they can't always be fixed or undone. Curly's own mantra proves to be his demise as he assumes anything can be "fixed". He may have fixed alot of problems Jimmy caused in the past, but what he did to Anya won't magically go away. Curly sees the "best" in Jimmy despite all his actions proving otherwise. Almost like a hero who still thinks their friend turned evil can change. A trope that's flipped and is realistically portrayed as a flaw, rather than a strength. And as everything unfolds, we see Jimmy get more manic, constantly saying he can fix it, he can fix it. He will fix it. He can still be a hero. He's trying to convince himself at this point cause everything around him proving otherwise. His hallucination with Curly, he still thinks they both (cause Jimmy thinks they're partners in crime and Curly is now unable to tell him otherwise), can "be heroes." That twisted party segment was probably his last ditch effort to play up this role he made in his head, but he even fails at that (which is the point) cause he didn't earn a proper one.

And the major question anyone would would ask at this point is: Hero of what? Who is Jimmy saving at this point?

Judgment Day with Polle was reality shattering the image Jimmy made up. He tried to have a whole hero speech as if he's psyching himself up to be the underdog who saves the day against the impossible. He use of Anya's quote as if she was some friend/lover or voice of reason he's followed this whole time will be his final push to victory and not someone he abused and ignored until it suited him. And its funny cause if anything, it's that final quote that pushes him to his end. Polle challenges him. "Why are you still concerned with Curly?" As Swansea said, Curly was Captain. Captains go down with their ships. Heroes sacrifice themselves for others. Curly was dead to rights. So who is Jimmy saving?

And only then does Jimmy realize he's not the hero. He can't be. Again Heroes aren't known for fixing problems they've made. If he goes in the cryopod, He'd have to take responsibility for what he's done. Ironically something he chastised Curly for. Having to take responsibility for what Jimmy's done, even though he knows it will all fall on him anyways. He wouldn't have crashed the ship if it didn't. He wouldn't have taken his own life either, cause then he can't control the narrative that way. You get no rewards for that. He'd be labeled a coward not a hero. Something he was running from the whole time. It wasn't until he was given the ultimatum: Be your twisted perception of a "Hero" and take responsibility or die coward, that he takes this route. The only thing he fixes in the end is the roles he assigned. He's not the hero, he's a coward and dies as such.

[resdayn]

Please reblog for a bigger sample size!

[qrevo]

lately i've been in an endless loop of work, uni assignments, and forcing myself to do personal projects searching for the tiniest drop of fulfilment and ngl i'm getting really really tired of this. i really really need a break

[bunnithy]

... Okay, I might like the baby dragon.

[19spicykitty93]

Did I buy this for myself for my birthday? Yes, absolutely.

Am I going to spend the rest of the week playing it? Also yes.

[active-mind-15]

Sometimes I feel like I want to do a one-shot series of Akashi just playing through switch games I think he'd like and how I would imagine he'd get through the game. But then other times I wonder, "Where the fuck would I even start something like that?"

[not-poignant]

Daily excerpt from today's writing, chapter 9 of Constellations:

'It's... I've been struggling with trying to understand why you chose Crielle over me. I know that sounds- I know you were very upset and you'd just been badly hurt by my partner, so I can see a lot of really logical reasons why, but you've also been badly hurt by Crielle, and I'm just trying to understand... I suppose I want to know if that was all me. Just you hating me.'  Efnisien was silent for a long time, so long that Gwyn thought he had an answer. Finally Efnisien inhaled sharply.  'I don't remember all the details about that night very well,' Efnisien said, looking down at his legs. 'But I remember at some point you said something like...I'd changed. Or like it was obvious I'd changed from who I used to be. But that night, I hated myself for everything that happened so much. To me, everything was my fault. Me being punched in the face was my fault. Me being attacked and hurt by Kitson was my fault. Me being at a kink club I never should have been at in the first place was my fault. All I saw was this cascading thing of how bad I was for everyone around me, and so you said I'd changed, and I knew I hadn't changed at all. It was like... I knew I'd ruined everything. My relationship with Arden. My friendship with Kadek. I knew I deserved that. And there you were telling me you could see that I'd changed, and I couldn't stand the idea of you believing that. So I couldn't... So I shut you out.'  Efnisien looked up towards a bookcase, and he smiled to himself.  'You know it wasn't a choice, in a way. I didn't choose her over you. I knew I couldn't risk you believing I'd changed when I knew I was the worst person I'd ever met. And then I just wanted someone who could tell me what to do, maybe. Someone who also believed I was the worst person, and who could fix everything. To me it didn't feel like I picked her over you. It felt like I was...removing you from getting hurt more. Even you being at the door, I just felt like I kept hurting everyone around me. You sounded so upset, and that was also because of me, something I'd done, some reaction I'd had.'  Gwyn couldn't think of what to say for a long time. 

[mishkakagehishka]

I really feel like we need to normalise the "it's not about the iranian yoghurt" phrase outside of reddit circles bc i'll be so real i don't think it's playing videogames that's unattractive, it's how men who spend a majority of their free time playing videogames behave that's unattractive.