#what the Borderlands protagonists could have been maybe

[gimjarack]

I dunno where I first saw this specific video game trope, but I wish I saw it a bit more. Quite honestly it's possible my memory just invented it and no game I've ever played did this, but it's close enough to an existing trope that it probably exists somewhere.

It's an offshoot of the "rivals" trope Pokemon started. The choice of at least 3 distinct and unique protagonists to play as, where instead of the ones you don't pick vanishing from existence, the other protagonists are best buddies with you and accompany you on your journey as party members or AI controlled bots or whatever. The important thing in this trope is to build the players RELIANCE and CONNECTION with the other protagonists, usually through the abilities of each protagonist being both fun to use as a player and incredibly useful to the player when used by another protagonist. Let's go with the typical "fire water grass" design for an example, and give each of them 2 activated abilities -attack and defense- that synergize with each other. (Feel free to skip the next 3 paragraphs)

"water" protagonist is a typical big beefcake, the Muscle. Defense ability could be a blue flavored shielding ability- let's make it give him either truckloads more health/invulnerability and also add a taunt effect that draws aggro away from his friends. Attack ability let's go with a damaging uppercut/ground slam style attack that incapacitates several enemies by knocking them down or launching them up for several seconds. I'd prefer the uppercut in a shooting game, like shooting clay pigeons- oh and of course the enemies give funny screams as they go flying up into the sky and plummet back down, with bonus funni for a comedic splat sound.

"fire" protagonist is a charming leader type, the Hothead. Defense ability is a versatile Wall of Fire, good for defensive and offensive area control. Attack ability is obviously a classic Fireball. Hothead's fire abilities not only give that typical burn damage over time, but also a high chance of a fear/panic effect that prevents enemies from attacking until they put themselves out. Plenty of funni value to be had with the panic debuff, with enemies having unique voice lines, behaviors and/or animations to really sell that "oh my God I'm on FIRE!" gag.

"grass" protagonist is a "support" character in name only, the D&D Cleric kind of healer vibes- allies get the healing while the enemies get to burn in holy fire. Defense ability is a group heal that can revive allies as well, pretty standard. Attack ability could be a lot of things honestly, but let's go with something akin to a Captain America shield bounce- a ricochet projectile that deals a fair bit of damage while stunning the enemies hit.

Now, the key thing to do with this trope is to let the player get really accustomed to those other protagonists helping out, build up that connection both through gameplay and through the story. Why are these characters friends? What are their goals? What do they plan to do after the adventure is over? What are their favorite hobbies? Give the player an incentive to grow attached, like collectables or completion percentage or whatever you have to...

Because this tropes true purpose is to exploit that connection- one of the friends suffers cruel death at the hands of the antagonist, or perhaps they get captured and even mind controlled to fight against you, or most cruel of all, a betrayal-they were never your friend to begin with...

The Drama, the Suspense, the Hurt and Anger, UTTER PERFECTION!

[optimisticmosquito]

Guys hear me out on this svsss au idea.

Sower Shen yuan. SY transmigrating into a young sower child and having to learn sower and demon culture. One large difference to his old life is that his diet now consists of rotten flesh. He has a lot of feelings about that. It's raw flesh! It's rotting! It's the worst every world has to offer!

Curse you system for placing him here! He must be the unluckiest transmigrator to ever exist! Or maybe not the unluckiest, he could have been transmigrating into some low iq villain and destined to be killed off by the protagonist. His new life is definitely preferable to that! Barely.

He might grumble but he's learning a lot of new things that were never mentioned in PIDW! After all cultivators don't know much about sowers, and higher demons don't care about what's going on in sower society as long as they follow orders.

They are natural scavengers, their food needing to be at least somewhat deteriorated for them to digest it properly. Every sower is born with the ability to rot flesh, it's kinda needed after all if you want to survive. But as they age sowers can cultivate their ability, creating faster ways to rot flesh, or methods that are more effective on different types of flesh. The most talented ones are even able to create diseases that can affect and rot still living flesh.

Of course the better one's technique is, the easier it is to get food. So most sowers would be hesitant to share their techniques outside direct family. This would create sower lineages with uniquely cultivated diseases.

It's all very interesting! SY would be vibrating with excitement if he didn't have to experience it firsthand.

This all without mentioning human meat as a delicacy among demons. SY refuses to participate, but even he can't decline when his caring grandma was able to procure some just for her beloved grandkids, as a rare treat.

The worst part is his body actually likes the taste, despite how revolting it looks. He has a lot if internal crises about it.

You could of course spin this into a bingyuan. Luo Binghe just out of the endless abyss meeting this nice sower and falling head over heels. Making a lowly sower his empress after he takes over the demon realm.

But I'm thinking of going another direction, either jiuyuan or liushen.

SY's forced to go into the human side of the borderlands because of food scarcity on the demon side. He's not stupid about it! He knows some cultivators patrol the area so he's gotten himself a bracelet of disguise to hide his demonic traits.

While there he comes across a head disciple from Cang Qiong Mountain Sect and ends up entangled in their mission. They help eachother out, shares laughs and near death moments, creating a bond that should surely last even after the mission ends.

If not for the fact SY is a demon. He desperately hides his identity, making sure his new friend doesn't touch his skin by accident as he has cultivated enough for his touch to be dangerous to normal humans. He isn't sure it would be dangerous to cultivator disciples, but he doesn't want to take any chances.

And then the worst happens, he is revealed as a sower and his new friend mistakenly assumes he was tricking them so he could kill and eat them later. Angry with themselves over being tricked, disgusted by any good feelings still harbored towards a man-eating demon. Only a moment of quick thinking on SYs part saves them from having to kill SY. SY returns home heartbroken and without any food for his family, abd stays listless and sad for a long time.

Years later he'll come across a peak lord, looking for a cure to a deadly sower disease spread on behalf of the old demon emperor.

If anyone feels inspired please write it! I'd really want to read a sower!SY au as well!

[tossawary]

Currently thinking about an AU where Shen Yuan clocks Mobei-Jun as being into Shang Qinghua, well before Airplane Bro himself has any idea, if he could just casually hang out with Moshang for about an hour or so. In the main SVSSS story, Shen Yuan sees Mobei-Jun, like, three times? Firstly at the Immortal Alliance Conference, secondly when Luo Binghe invades Cang Qiong, and thirdly at Mai Gu Ridge, when Shen Yuan is really busy not dying and far more focused on Binghe than Moshang's nonsense.

Shen Yuan is a little oblivious to the extent of his own impact on the story at the beginning, repeatedly referencing the original PIDW story and the original Shen Qingqiu as his survival guide as things change on him, but he gets better! He learns to go with the changes! He's pretty sharp in dangerous situations even when they've gotten the jump on him!

So, I'm imagining an AU where Shang Qinghua actually goes to find Peerless Cucumber's plant body in the borderlands at some point (4 years in? Ish?) to make sure that the transfer fucking worked and his bro is okay. Luo Binghe is being a liiiiittle very insane right now (SVSSS usual) and, now that he's abandoned his sect, Airplane Bro could use a little support from his fellow transmigrator who actually still remembers a lot of plot points and stuff from PIDW! (Also, he's kind of considering throwing Peerless Cucumber under the bus here (the protagonist) to save himself from Binghe if necessary! Just, you know, thinking about it!)

Shang Qinghua drags a slightly loopy Shen Yuan (plant body) back to Mobei-Jun's palace to recover. Mobei-Jun is NOT thrilled about a stranger hanging around like this. Who is this? What's wrong with Luo Binghe's underground palace for some random cultivator? But Shang Qinghua is just like, "He's no one! Maybe an ally! My king, just trust me!" And maybe Mobei-Jun also clocks this as Shen Qingqiu in disguise pretty quickly and decides that this bullshit is NOT his business unless Luo Binghe attacks Shang Qinghua over it.

I think it would be fun to have the transmigrators hang out a little more before the plot gets going again! Give Shen Yuan a little more time to assess the situation! And I think it would be funny if Shen Yuan, with nothing else to do, fairly quickly figured Moshang out from Mobei-Jun's extremely unsubtle behavior. OBVIOUSLY, Airplane Bro is just making all of these weird comments about Shen Yuan having Luo Binghe wrapped around his thighs because AIRPLANE BRO is projecting after having somehow seduced Mobei-Jun?! The author of PIDW actually went gay just to save his own life?!

Shang Qinghua: "No, bro, Binghe is literally sleeping with your corpse, that's a whole thing. Also, I've been gay the whole time, and who did what now?"

Shen Yuan: "HE'S WHAT."

[campgender]

from “Futch: Thoughts from the Borderlands” by Elaine Miller

published in Persistence: All Ways Butch & Femme, ed. Ivan E. Coyote & Zena Sharman (2011)

excerpt 1:

I have been identifying as a futch for about seventeen years now, and the most frequent question I get asked is not how it feels to actively play with the basic tenets of the butch-femme dynamic, nor do I receive queries on how I choose footwear before I leave the house. I never hear the blunt questions I expect, like: Boxers or panties? Chapstick or lipstick? No, despite how long the term has been in circulation, what I get is the simple request for definition. What the hell is a futch?

Futch: A lesbian, dyke, or other variety of queer woman who possesses or displays qualities and social identifiers of both butch and femme.

That doesn’t really cover it, though. Imagine a new ground-breaking indie film, entitled A Day in the Life of a Futch. Our protagonist, “Chris,” showers, dithers over pomade or hairspray for her ’do, puts on a sundress, takes her best suit to the cleaners, buys a new toolbox, shops for high heels, goes home, changes into a T-shirt and pants, watches some sports, and then calls her best friend to chat.

Just before her hot butch lover arrives for a date, Chris reveals to the audience that she’s packing her dick and harness under her jeans. As the door opens, the film does a tasteful slow fade into the credits while the happy couple discovers they wore matching briefs yet again. And, okay, maybe Chris is hamming it up for the cameras by playing to both butch and femme stereotypes, but only a bit, and her flux of gendered intent is quite real.

When it comes to dyke gender, I’m like a kid on a swingset, yelling with glee as I swoop from one extreme to the other, passing through every point in-between as quickly as I can, so I can linger breathlessly at the apogee of femme or butch, back and forth. One of the butchiest butches I know describes me as “some sort of bizarre hybrid,” and I take that as the compliment (I think) it is meant to be.

excerpt 2:

To sidestep issues of gender identity, I could turn my back on butch-femme, drop the label “futch,” and just use “woman”—or, to remove gender entirely, “person.” But that wouldn’t describe the joy I find in gendered play and presentation. For me, being futch is not about living in a single spot, in a precise middle ground, wherein I can be androgynous and ambiguous and ambivalent. It’s about exploring all the ground I can cover, and embodying every point on the line that feels good to me.

[liketheinferno2]

Like any other series in the world, FFXIV does have it's ups and downs. No matter what though, I think you'll find things to love and enjoy in Stormblood and i'm personally quite excited to hear your thoughts as you go through it.

Truly the WORST I've ever seen FFXIV get was still really good for an MMO. I feel like fandom types tend to get skewed certain ways depending on stuff they've been into before but after digging in the ground for cohesive characters and story in shit like Borderlands and Far Cry for years of my life I'm like hey it seems like Final Fantasy is actually a big budget popular video game series that is good. Who'd have thought THAT possible.

Nier was similar for me, just, holy shit this game is narratively complete. I don't have to feel like a suckered-in narratively-cucked idiot for expecting it to satiate my artistic mind. For so long I was the Genuinely Expects Queer Rep In The MCU Guy of gamers and now I'm playing stuff where it's like the writing was taken seriously as a piece of art, god fucking forbid, y'know?

Excuse me hijacking this sweet ask to rant about vidya gaem fanwank but I just... I enjoy Final Fantasy very very much. Generally I prefer to play stuff that HAS that wealth of content and fidelity that you can only get from a big studio but I feel like that usually comes at a cost to tight writing and emotional impact. It'd be like, common practice to discuss what parts of the story we'd "fix" or delete entirely, to go over and over what parts we hate about the thing we're ostensibly enjoying, but I'm no longer someone who's like "fuck canon I rewrite my own better version" BECAUSE THE GAME IS ALREADY GOOD. THE GAME IS GOOD!!! GOT DAMN!!!!!!!!

Like fuck me I'm thinking about Estinien a lot right now as you can probably tell but it's because I've never had a game crack into that feeling this hard before in my life. We've all met this guy. Angry difficult traumatised person who you know is in a bad situation and maybe they could get better if you could just help them out, but they don't want to leave. In real life you probably cannot save this guy, but this is Final Fantasy!

And even then they don't make it easy, the consequences for people giving up on Estinien are fucking DIRE, but it's the way this story takes you as low as you can go before letting you crawl out of there together. The process of getting you to think of a certain person as a partner or best friend or like-family to your protagonist and then taking them out in a way that makes you understand for a moment why Estinien and Nidhogg have fallen so far in grief and anger themselves. ..

And what I really love about FFXIV is it gives you a space for recovery and reflection, it's not throwing tragedy at you just for spectacle or shock. When someone dies, you mourn. When you retrieve Estinien from what was essentially a kidnapping, he's in the hospital for a while. Shit like Aymeric reaching out almost desperately for companionship after the events of Heavensward and the way they build such a protective relationship between the player and Alphinaud is like there's so much CARE in this, they take feelings so completely seriously and really that's what you need to do in a game like this. When the literal situations are all JRPG levels of absurd nonsense it's like you either go hard on the feelings or you've lost me.

There's been a big push in recent years that art has to SAY SOMETHING or TACKLE THINGS but that attitude can often be antithetical to stories that are effective and cathartic and that feel genuine. The other thing I like about FFXIV is it's weird and atypical fantasy in a lot of places but it doesn't do any of this in service of defying or subverting the tropes to make a statement or whatever the fuck. You can just have weird stuff like the GO LITTLE BETA BOY GO thing with the Tias, or that their elf-equivalent is the racial majority instead of humans, or the massive height differences any time you interact with anybody, or that the Lalafell are the little gnome wombat ruling capitalist class, without knowing that it's only weird because it's trying so hard to not be normal.

I gotta stop before I carry on forever but there's so many little good things in FFXIV that (along with the overwhelmingly caring tone of the entire game) make it a very special experience; ESPECIALLY in comparison to the stuff I used to play, so I'm pretty much enjoying everything it throws at me. :D

[metaldragoon]

@justsuha​ filled this out, and I felt like doing the same.  Kinda felt they didn’t have the best categories so maybe I shouldn’t have bothered, also tried not being too repetitive with my picks. Favourite Game - Final Fantasy VI, this was an easy one for me.  One of the first games I ever played, then I came back to it around like 12-14 years old and it was the first game I ever played on an emulator, then it was one of the first games I ever watched an LP on, one of the first game I ever started playing with mods, and yeah, I’ve just played this game a lot in my life. Best Story - Mass Effect (1), could’ve gone with FFVI again but eh, and maybe Hollow Knight but I feel like the world building in ME1 is crazy-deep and unparalleled.  Maybe that’s not story in like a “plot” sense, but it’s what I settled on. Favourite Art Style - Killer7, was a comfortable pick but Persona 5 is also a really crisp game.  Also thought about other things that are more atmospheric like Metroid Prime, Hollow Knight, or Bloodborne. Favourite Soundtrack - Final Fantasy VI, like I said, didn’t want to be repetitive, so there was games that had like a banger of a track like Papers, Please, or something like Super Meat Boy, but I couldn’t really justify anything being equal to FFVI.   Hardest Game - Dragon Age: Origins, Felt like a Soulsborne game was the “gimme” answer so I wanted to swerve a bit.  DA:O is hard as fuck, if you’re not optimizing your build you’re not beating that game.  Even on “easy” I’m like chill man Funniest Game - Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door, was tempted to go Undertale but since that’s kind of just a parody game I feel like it had a lot more liberties it could take to still be funny.  TTYD is super funny while still being like it’s own game. Game I like that everyone hates - Gears of War 2, some kid in Gr. 11 said I should get a 360 and play that, and so I did.  I played the online mode so much, but it never really felt like a popular competitive game.  I liked being so beefy, it’s basically just one-shotting people with shotguns is the meta and so the whole stalking someone to close the gap to be in range was super fun to me.  Campaign kinda trash and my friend wanted to get an achievement for co-op beating it on the hardest difficult that was miserable for me, but I think it’s a really fun game to play with some great audio too, the SFX are top notch. Game I hate that everyone likes - Borderlands, hate is a strong word but man I don’t really care about this game at all and people have been hyping it up for a decade. Underrated Game - Catherine, all my irl friends I tell about this game don’t know what it is, until I remind them and they go “oh yeah, that game looked weird/was too hard.” don’t know anyone who’s actually played more than an hour of it.  It’s one of my all-time faves, though. Overrated Game - Breath of the Wild, my wife says I didn’t give it a “fair shake” but I played like 20 hours and zzz... was tempted to go with a Pokemon game too, but it’s more a franchise in general than a specific game. Best Voice Acting - Yakuza Kiwami, I didn’t really have any real opinions on a game having good voice acting; generally they don’t.  Yakuza is all VA’d in Japanese so that’s probably why, but it felt pretty cool and was the only thing that I could think of actively enhanding a VG experience.  Maybe shoulda gone GTA (3 or San Andreas), both are really dated and definitely don’t sound that good anymore but one of my favourite games to listen to dialogue from. Worst Voice Acting - Metroid: Other M, not bad in terms of the actual talent of the VA’s but damn if it doesn’t ruin everything about Samus as a character.  “REMEMBA ME?!” Favourite Male - Kazuma Kiryu, was tempted to go General Leo from FFVI, but couldn’t find an image big enough before I resized this, which I could have easily worked around, but I also really like the Dragon of Dojima! It’s weird because he seems like such a simple design but he’s just badass in the right way, and I don’t know why more games can’t get it right.   Favourite Female - Franziska von Karma, from the 2nd Ace Attorney game.  For some reason had a huge crush on her, when I was younger I even drew some fanart of her which I ain’t done for nobody but her and Broly. Favourite Protagonist - Samus Aran, wanted to go with a “franchise” character and Samus is always super cool (except in Other M), I’ll always be excited to play her in some new game.   Favourite Village - Kakariko Village, felt like kind of a weird question, ‘cuz like if it was favourite area or something, I could have put some other stuff (Greenpath in Hollow Knight for example), and being a village I feel like basically limits you to medieval games but not the main hub either as that’s “a city.”  But Ocarina of Time’s Kakariko Village is always really fun to roll in to, also thought of the Goron Village, or just any village in Secret of Mana because that village theme is soo good. Most Hated Character - Nathan Drake, have barely even played Uncharted, but I just always hate any character with his personality, and he’s the biggest and most well-known.  Maybe he’s fine but meh. First Game You Played - Super Mario World, can’t say for 100%, but this and Super Mario Kart were games I was playing a lot since at like 4 or 5 my older brother owned them and they’re the most baby friendly.  Also remember playing a lot of PC games that my dad had, Timon and Pumba pinball, Chip’s Challenge, Ski Free, and stuff like that.  Skunny Kart Racing for DOS but I never understood how to get to DOS. Favourite Company - Bioware, I don’t really care about gaming companies in general, but Mass Effect and DA:O are some of my favourite games.  I might say Square as well but they do a lot of stuff.   Hated Company - Ubisoft, don’t hate them all but I just feel like they only make games I have zero interest in. Depressing Game - Doki Doki Literature Club, this and creepy are kinda really similar I feel, but I went DDLC but I kinda forget how it even ends.  I just remember feeling bummed about the purple and pink haired girl, and then the Monika scene just being uncomfortable (in a good way). Creepy Game - Doom3, don’t really play creepy games, Doom3 was suspenseful so I don’t know if that counts.  I had it for like 2 years, played it once for like 10 hours straight, and never played it again.  Still lives in my head. Happy Game - Super Meat Boy, is this a happy game? I don’t know, I feel like it’s got a pumped up energy which I equate to happiness.  It’s fun and the music makes it really addictive. Favourite Ending - Metal Gear Solid, don’t really have a great answer to this.  I really like Meryl and Snake riding off on their snowmobile though.  

[handsomejackhoney]

goodtobejack replied to your post: For those who wonder why people don’t like Fiona...

let me add to this: it’s very obvious that rhys’s character (concept and personality) was largely influenced by jack who is a fan favorite of the fandom. fiona’s character was largely influenced by nisha, who people often ignore as jack’s canon girlfriend in favor of other jack ships. not to mention most female characters in borderlands fandom are demonized anyway so fiona’s yet another one that falls under the tracks))

Ehhhh.... 

I’m with you on the Nisha bit as she’s one of my favorite characters, but I don’t see any of her in Fiona. Nisha’s actually fun and interesting.

I haven’t, however, seen the female characters in Borderlands demonized by the fandom FOR being female (though this could just be me not seeing wherever it is which is highly possible XD). I’ve seen characters that are female being demonized, but it’s usually for other reasons;

Lilith: Because she’s the “antagonist” to the fan favorite Sasha: Because many people didn’t appreciate the forced romance with Rhys Nisha: Not so much demonized but does tend to be forgotten

That has nothing to do with them being female, even if sometimes the arguments are dumb (I personally love those three). Hell, I’ve seen more of the OPPOSITE where the female characters are put on a pedestal by the fandom because they’re female and anyone claiming not to like them for X reason is immediately called sexist or misogynistic even if their reasoning have nothing to do with them being women.

Fiona’s character probably isn’t as popular because she’s flat, boring, is barely funny, and in general is UNRELATABLE. She’s the perfect badass, she never really reacts to anything, she NEVER messes up or embarrasses herself, and never truly struggles. The writers give us no real reason to give a shit about her, and instead jam her down our throats which tends to turn your audience off. (Again, I blame this more on bad writing because I feel she could have been an awesome character if just used differently and that’s where half my salt comes from)

Rhys on the other hand is VERY relatable (not even taking into account the whole “Jack” connection). He’s cocky, sometimes cowardly, he makes mistakes, he’s out of place and unprepared for Pandora, even the smallest things are a struggle for him, and he goes through some serious character development even by the end of episode 1. We like and relate to Rhys, we cheer for him because we watch him struggle to overcome even smaller things, and it’s his flaws that we can relate to.

It has nothing to do with him being a man and Fiona being a woman, it’s (at least for most people I’ve seen) a case of Good vs Bad writing.

[rotblut]

oh god where do I even begin with t$xi driver . . . for one thing, it is a loose adaptation of a much more satisfying web manhwa. they fucked it up because they could not commit to admitting the systems in place (all the rubbing of hands between corporations — justice — lawmakers) are fundamentally unsalvageable and they felt the need to portray our protagonists as somehow the ones in the wrong, and to have them SAY as much. to do this they introduced a canon immigrant character, the prosecutor, AND MADE HER THE FEMALE LEAD TO BOOT when PYJ's character is right there. like. the basic premise is: everyone in the taxi crew has been a victim of a violent crime somehow; their president, whose parents were murdered, specifically sought like-minded victims w specific skills For the purpose of assembling the deluxe taxi crew. if the law fails you, you can call them, tell them your story, and choose to have them take revenge on your behalf.

the majority of the victims throughout the show are women and victims of sexual crime one way or another and...it hit me really hard, especially since in the final six or so episodes they undo all the satisfying wrap-ups of individual stories, REVICTIMIZE TWO WOMEN, one being kang maria from e1 and another being goeun, their hacker herself, and like...for what? what is the takeaway?? "you suffered a senseless horrific act but if you seek justice when the law fails you you are just as bad, actually worse uwu" and the ending itself is suuuuuch a joke. i love LJH a lot but i am NOT putting up with a s2, nu uh.

(also the wasted chemistry between him and PYJ AND their characters bc they wanted to set him as a narrative foil to the prosecutor and create a future loveline there...fuck off honestly. augh)

oh man I had forgotten about Navillera!!! that was also so good. and you are right...I shall muster up the heart to watch YoM soon...and I will probably come here to cry when I do ❤

also jsjjs I visit when I have free time so if you ever need help you can summon me, I got your back 👍

.

OH from episode 1 of it alone i could tell it was only about hurting women and putting them as victims in a cheap and overused way........ :((((((((((((((((( hugs from me for that sunshine! sucks that it was so terrible. i totally understand that you felt wronged about the poor adaptation that they made. not a lot of dramas that are based on webtoons are actually good :(((((( at least from his next few projects he will do more dramas so you can skip s2 the way i will skip it and watch his other new dramas and maybe they will make a s2 of move to heaven so a win for us??

a recently perfect and good adaptation based on a manga was alice in borderland. really satisfied from start to end.

i want kang only in drama that are not romance dramas like him in a romance is just not it for me but him in any other genre is heart eyes. navillera was sooooooooooooo good like he was into it you could tell he also liked the story a lot and was invested. 

they will make this one into a drama next year so i am praying it will be done in a decent way (really love this webtoon so much but it's sad too i hope they cast real actors and not idol actors or terrible actors in it)

https://mangadex.tv/manga/manga-fe983161

thank you loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee sending you all the energy for work and everything else and 1000000000000000000 hugs 

[guiltymepleasures]

[Series Review] SQUID GAME (2021)

8/10

*spoilers ahead because I have a lot of feels, okay?*

So I first knew about this a month before release, I think? I watched the trailer and thought it was interesting. Of course, I also thought it would be similar to As The Gods Will or Alice in Borderland (if you haven't watched those, try them too). Nevertheless, I turned on my Netflix notification and I watched it a few days after release. No, I didn't binge-watch it. More like 1-2 episodes per day.

Anyway.

*spoilers ahead, read at your own risk*

The premise of the show was nothing new but the execution was good. There were certainly tear-jerker moments, great suspense and cliffhangers. But the main thing I loved was the set design. Everything was so colorful and vivid. A breath of fresh air from all the dark (literally) movies I had to squint to see anything. The playful, childish but somehow eerie background music was also *chef's kiss*

I wasn't familiar with the cast but I think they did well individually and as an ensemble. My favorite character is Kang Sae Byeok (played by Jung Ho Yeon) primarily because she was the most observant and arguably the smartest (street smart not book smart like Sang Woo) among the players. And then we see her backstory and we see her reason for playing and I was sold. That's why one thing I didn't like about the show is how they had to get her mortally wounded right at the penultimate moment just to have the two guys go at it.

My second favorite character is Ali (played by Anupam Tripathi) because he was honest and kind. He represents the people who are still down on their luck no matter how nice they are. Life is unfair like that. Was he stupid? I would like to say he was too trusting (and Sang Woo seemed like a master manipulator anyway). He saved Gi Hun too, while Sang Woo tried to dispose of him as early as the Honeycomb game. I was neutral with Sang Woo until he did what he did.

Seong Gi Hun (played by Lee Jung Jae), our protagonist, represented people whose life had been topsy turvy all the way. He was simple-minded that was for sure. But he had a kind heart, I guess? I wasn't particularly attached to him but the show made sure to make us accept he was the main character. Nothing I could do about that. I did pity him during the scenes with his mom and Sang Woo's mom. I liked him when he took Sae Byeok's brother sorta under his wing (but leaving him in the care of Sangwoo's mom). But to be honest, his character fell flat to me.

Sang Woo, oh dear, Sang Woo (played by Park Hae Soo) . The first scene where we knew he embezzled stuff, I knew he was gonna be a... I really don’t know what to call it. Antagonist? Anti-hero? But yeah, I was suspicious since the beginning. The actor was great though, no complaints about him. 

And then we go to 001 (played by Oh Yeong Su). I like grandpa characters but I think another thing that lessened the impact of the show to me, personally, was how I immediately thought him suspicious. The game, we've been led to believe, by Gi Hun's plight and the initial montage of the players getting duped to playing the game, was composed of players who were either neck-deep in debt or were facing some sort of trial (arrest for Sang Woo, death from gang shenanigans for that long-haired gangster), and anything in the spectrum. But 001 said he had a brain tumor, that he was terminal. And immediately, I thought of Jigsaw from the Saw franchise. And since then, I was looking really closely at all his scenes.

The police officer, Hwang Jun Ho (played by Wi Ha Joon), was okay. He was necessary as a plot device for viewers to learn about the game slowly. The loudmouth aunt and the gangster were both annoying characters.

Other things that felt open-ended to me were:

1. How Jun Ho's brother came to be the front man - maybe in S2?

2. Did Sang Woo's mother just accept that her son was abroad? Not even trying to contact him?

3. So Gi Hun chose to go back to the game instead of "finally being a dad to his daughter for once" as he declared before the last game on Sae Byeok’s deathbed?

[quartings]

How Pokemon could double the length of the games’ story without changing their writing style!

This will be quite a long post, so a lot of it will be under the cut!

Even though many Pokemon postgames can be really fun and fulfilling, it’s really only thanks to the battle facilities that some of them are blessed with. The postgame areas/story themselves usually feel very rushed and/or hollow. Meanwhile, Mystery Dungeon games have 20+ hour main stories that are followed up with even longer postgames adding up to over 50 hours of story! So how do the Mystery Dungeon games do it (Besides having a far superior programming and writing team)?

This is because among the three pillars of content in mainline Pokemon games, (Gym Leaders- aka distinct minibosses, new areas to explore with new Pokemon, and a b-plot) one or two of them always disappear in the postgame.

For example:

Johto: Has new gym leaders, but barely any b-plot to provide pacing, and the many new areas have barely any usable new Pokemon.

Sinnoh: Has a few new areas and a small b-plot, but no minibosses, explaining why the b-plot feels so small.

BW Unova: Has many new areas and new pokemon, but no minibosses and the Sage-finding b-plot barely counts

B2W2 Unova: The new areas are less new, the new Pokemon are less new, and none of the minibosses are mandatory. Outside of finding N again, there’s really not any b-plot.

Kalos/ORAS Hoenn/Alola/Galar: Barely any new areas, barely any new Pokemon, mostly a lot of backtracking in a condensed plot. Having more of a concrete story is nice but the lack of challenging fights makes it feel even shorter and less significant.

 IMPORTANT NOTE: This is only re-crafting the story based on using plot devices that Pokemon have already used to improve and lengthen the playthrough. If we were allowed to use plot points or creative ideas that Gamefreak hasn’t used before, then we might as well turn the story into a 200 hour Mystery Dungeon-style epic saga, haha.

So-! Let’s take a look at this reworked story, where the main and postgame both have all three pillars of storytelling!

 Main Game:

The main game will be based off Gen 5 (Stopping an evil team) and Gen 7 (Setting up a league)

Set in a region where the evil team has already won (not really post-apocalyptic and edgy, just roughed-up like anime Kanto) and is a gang that constantly terrorises the residents. Gyms have been dismantled by this evil team, and the now-jobless gym leaders are trying to protect their towns from the villains.

You get your starter from the professor to save them from a grunt.

Instead of gym leaders, you fight the evil team admins in their hideouts across the region. There’s still puzzles and the admins are type specialists, so these simulate gyms to teach type matchups.

I guess to prove that it’s still to teach type matchups, some townsfolk will say stuff like “Admin X scorched my poor Grass and Bug-types with his Fire-type Pokemon!” and “If only I still had my Water-type Pokemon with me- then I’d teach them a lesson!”

Reasons to stop individual admins can be very different to make fighting them not feel stale- Rescuing Pokemon, the Professor, unblocking routes, re-securing an important facility, protecting cargo/a VIP, obtaining an artifact, etc. One of the reasons the grunts challenge you is because they want your Pokedex. For some reason, even though it’s been a plot point in the manga and the anime, saving your mom from the evil team has never happened in the games, which I think is a big missed opportunity for creating an intense high-stakes conflict!

You learn history in this region from former gym leaders/elite four/champion maybe? Sometimes gym leaders may make you take on their old gyms to see if you’re good enough to help them stop the evil team.

Rivals:

You have two rivals. One is a happy and friendly rival who becomes morally swayed as the evil team affects them personally (They become evil for like one fight because Pokemon would never allow more than that) until you help redeem them. And the other starts out edgy and driven to stop the evil team, like a Silver or Gladion, but learns compassion and overcomes most of their trauma by the end of the main game.

Villainous Team Boss:

There’s a scripted unwinnable battle with the evil team boss (like with Zacian and Zamazenta) early on in the game. This’ll help you feel like the boss is real threat and a scummy person you want to beat later!

And since the best evil team bosses are shitty parents, let’s make them the parent of the edgy rival!

This villain would probably be using the box legendary you have to save in the final battle against them?

We’ve somehow never had a villain who HATES Pokemon as their motive, just ones who see them as tools, so maybe this villain or their family member was injured by Pokemon before and now they hate Pokemon and want them subjugated? And as the first trainer in a while who openly loves their Pokemon, you specifically pose a threat to this villain?

This idea mostly came from realising that you’re pretty much always a reactionary protagonist and not a proactive one. You’re not really out to change the status quo on most Pokemon games, but in this one, the status quo starts out as villainous and it’s up to you to change it! This also comes from the critique from SwSh and Borderlands 3 where your character has no personal reason to do anything and just gets dragged around by some arrogant adult giving you orders.

Postgame:

The postgame will then be what the main games are usually like (Beating the league, completing the dex, dealing with legendaries)

It’s been several weeks since you beat the villain, and many towns have been repaired. A proper league has been set up, and you, as the hero of the region, are invited to test it.

A handful of new Pokemon are now in old routes, and several new routes are unlocked too.

Most gyms are in towns you’ve been to before, but some are in all-new towns that were blocked off by the evil team before!

Some gym leaders are former gym leaders who have reclaimed their titles, some of them are all-new characters, and at least one of them is a redeemed evil team admin. All of them have teams of six, plus gimmicks like Raihan or many NPCs in prior games like triple battles, held items, special moves, etc, in addition to the type matchup stuff.

You get a third new rival who’s a champion from another region, wanting to try this league out. They’re friendly but really cocky like Leon- maybe they’re actually Leon, who knows?

Instead of just using the shiny charm to incentivize Dex completion, there are many NPCs who give sidequests wanting to see specific rare Pokemon, offering hints to their location, items, TMs, etc in exchange. Some of them are even mandatory mini-arcs to help space out the gyms. Think the Solaceon news people or the Unova Hip Waders. All the NPCs have names to distinguish them more.

Like in SwSh, the Elite Four is a rivals tournament with 1) Recurring Fan like SwSh’s Orbeetle Girl, 2) Edgy Rival, 3) Cocky rival, 4) Former Champion. And like in USUM, the champion challenger is your very first rival, as cliché as it may be.

Bonus Postgame:

The third bonus postgame thing mostly features what modern Pokemon postgames and DLCs are like (Short story arcs with new characters and Legendary Pokemon showcases)

You travel to a new island area where the remnants of the evil team have freed their boss and they’re trying to use Space Dragon Legendary #4 to eradicate everyone, and you and edgy rival have to stop them, with many other characters all playing a part. Maybe even Looker too!

Overall Rival Character Development:

Nice rival: Starts out nice, becomes conflicted, turns kinda evil for one fight, becomes good again and regrets it, gets closure at the Champion fight, becomes a gym leader or something.

Edgy rival: Starts out edgy, wants the sole responsibility to stopping the villains, but gets pummelled by the villains, gives up for a while, gets motivated by you, helps you stop themain villain, tries to understand how to be a normal trainer kid, tries out the league challenge, gets closure from fully helping stop the main villain in the bonus postgame.

Cocky rival: Starts out seeing you as a stepping stone, sees you as a challenge after a few defeats, sees you as a bully after a few more defeats, and becomes depressed after losing the league, finally recognizes you as a better person than them after you save the world again in the bonus postgame, and gets downgraded to both a rematch character and helpful postgame NPC in the end.

In a perfect world, there would be PMD Sky-style bonus stories to develop the rivals and other characters, but I’m trying to make a slightly plausible story so I’m not including it in the main pitch here.

[smallhatlogan]

Why Nonbinary Borderlands Fans are Mad About Zer0′s Pronouns, In a Timeline

2012

Zer0 was introduced in Borderlands 2 as a character meant to be absurdly mysterious in almost every way.  Zer0 is apparently not their real name, they seem not to be human (but it’s unclear if they’re an alien, robot, or something else entirely), no one knows where they came from, etc. Still, in Borderlands 2, they defaulted to he/him, and was assumed male.  It’s worth noting that Borderlands 2 also featured Bloodwing, Mordecai’s pet alien bird. In the original Borderlands Bloodwing was referred to as he/him, but switched between games to she/her. This is explained outside the game by Burch, who says that Bloodwing’s species changes gender halfway through life.

2013

Gearbox released the Diamond Plate Loot Chest. In it was the “Pandoran Gazette” an in-universe newspaper. It included an “Ask Doctor Tannis” advice column, the last question being:

Dear Doctor Tannis,

I have heard you are acquainted with the vault hunter known as "Zer0". I have been meaning to ask - that's not really his true name, is it? Hell, maybe Zer0 isn't even a "he". Do you have any details on this mysterious figure?

- Curious in Old Haven

Dear Curious,

I am indeed acquainted with the towering stack of leather and poorly-written poetry that so many refer to as "Zer0". As you have correctly noted, "Zer0" is not the Vault Hunter's true name. Zer0's actual name and gender are (CONTINUED ON PAGE 9)

Page 9 was not included. To my knowledge, this was where it was first seeded that Zer0 may not be male. 

November 2, 2014

 In a panel titled “Playing as a female character panel - Does it Matter” during PAX Australia, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford discussed Zer0’s gender:

“The other things that’s interesting to me is sometimes when there’s characters that don’t have a gender or have an ambiguous gender I’ll choose them...In Borderlands 2 we left Zer0’s identity very ambiguous. What gender is he?” *crowd laughs* “We need better pronouns, don’t we? Don’t we need better pronouns?” (Timestamp) 

“What’s the gender of Zer0?….That says more about me than it does say about Zer0, the fact that I use the pronoun he when I describe Zer0. In fact, um, we purposely have left Zer0’s gender ambiguous. There’s a lot of folks at Gearbox that like to think that maybe Zer0’s of a particular species that doesn’t have gender- That is more androgynous.”  (Timestamp) 

(Timeline continues under cut)

November 25th, 2014

The first episode of Tales From the Borderlands was released. Anthony Burch answered this question on his Ask.fm: 

To my memory, tumblr blew up with excited nonbinary fans. Prior to seeing screenshots of this, I really didn’t have interest in Borderlands. The idea of a cool nonbinary character who used they/them pronouns, admist a virtual desert of representation, made me play through the entire series as fast as I could so I could catch up in time to see these pronouns in action. For a long time afterwards I’ve seen other nonbinary people expressing the same sudden interest in the series after learning this about Zer0. Because, yeah, it was a pretty big deal. 

2015: 

Zer0 appeared again in episode 5 of Tales, released almost a year later after the first. Their voice had changed to one that sounds more ambiguous in terms of gender, but Zer0 was still being referred to as “he/him”. Anthony Burch was one of the writers on this episode. Afterward, he answered this on his ask.fm:

Since he claimed it was honestly a mistake, nonbinary fans held out hope. There were posts going around tumblr clarifying that yes, Zer0 was still nonbinary, and still was meant to use they/them pronouns. It was just a mistake made by a thoughtless cisgender man. Of course, then some presumably-cisgender fan goes to Burch, and validates him, because clearly a character can’t just up and CHANGE pronouns! It’s not like anyone ever does that in real life! 

It’s not a fair point. It’s a dumb point from someone who has no stakes in this.  (Another thing worth noting is it has only been other characters who referred to Zer0 as he/him. Zer0 has never made a point of standing up for their own pronouns.) After this Burch just kind of gives up on the whole idea. 

This statement about characters being “progressive enough not to misgender someone” is weird, because the characters, even the sympathetic ones, in Borderlands have often blatantly failed to be progressive. The original Borderlands has the worst of it, it’s your basic 2009 edgelord shit. There’s blatant misogyny, not to mention the extremely homophobic joke surrounding Mr. Shank (and within that the transphobic joke about his girlfriend being a man in a wig). Burch only started writing for the game in Borderlands 2, however. It’s a huge step up, but there’s still a lot of bigotry. Captain Scarlett makes a “no fatties” joke. Mr Torgue fat-shames Ellie. Mr Torgue uses the R-slur. Multiple characters slut-shame Moxxi. Incest jokes surrounding Scooter, who also is implied to be a huge creep towards women.  Heck, there’s the entirety of Sir Hammerlock’s Big Game Hunt DLC is a racist, colonialist mess. Its antagonist is implied to be gay, one of two gay male characters introduced thus far, and he’s a pathetic, creepy stalker.  This is the game series where there are two common enemy types whose names are straight up ableist.  So citing characters as being “too progressive” rings hollow with this context.  Besides, trans people are often misgendered, even by people who’d otherwise be considered progressive.  Burch left Gearbox the same year, so he’s not entirely to blame for what anything afterwards. He just set a pretty bad precedent.

2019:

Gearbox did seem to take the “make a new nonbinary character” thing to heart.  They give us Fl4k, again a nonhuman character, who uses they/them pronouns. And okay, I love Fl4k, but like most nonbinary people I’m tired of all nonbinary characters being robots, aliens, or otherwise non-human in appearance (a trope that yes, Zer0 falls into as well). Still, Fl4k is cute and having a nonbinary playable character who uses they/them pronouns is cool! I definitely plan to play as them. Many nonbinary fans were suspicious though, it seemed likely that Fl4k might be meant to appease us and they could keep on using he/him for Zer0. We were proven right when they released the gameplay preview on May 1st. We hear Zer0 called “he”. None of us are surprised, but it still hurts, we felt like we’d been baited with Zer0.  Besides, why can only one character at a time be nonbinary? Why can a bird change pronouns but not a person? Why was a writer allowed to go out and promise this if it wasn’t going to be followed through on (yes, he didn’t use the word “promise” but telling a marginalized group something like that isn’t something you can just “forget” without people feeling betrayed)?

And that’s where we’re at, as of me writing this. I feel like there are some comments I’m bound to get on this, so I’ll answer them here: Why are you making such a big deal about this?

Me typing a few paragraphs isn’t making a big deal. But I feel misled and baited. After a few years of no clarification after Burch promising us they/them Zer0, a lot of people hung on to hope. A lot of people became big fans of Zer0 because they’re a fun, badass, nonbinary character. Their design is really, really rad! And heck, they were (at least for a time) the most popular playable character in Borderlands 2. Telling everyone, in-game, “actually Zer0 was never really a he, they’ve been a ‘they’ this whole time” would have been HUGE. Like how Blizzard made Overwatch’s poster girl, Tracer, canonically a lesbian, and then revealed their badass gruff guy (who fills the roll of your basic FPS protagonist), Soldier 76, to be a gay man. They/them are still not widely accepted pronouns. For us who use them, it’s difficult to convince people not to default to something gendered. Especially when we fail to appear completely androgynous. I’ve been told Zer0 can’t possibly be nonbinary because they have a deep voice and “masculine” body shape. But real nonbinary people come in all shapes and sizes with all kinds of voices! 

What about Fl4k?

As I said, I’m very happy about Fl4k. They fall into some problematic tropes even more than Zer0 (as Fl4k is verified beyond a doubt to be a robot, and has an “acceptable” androgynous shape to them). I don’t know their voice yet, I wouldn’t be surprised if it also fell into the category of “acceptably androgynous”. Fl4k is new and already “they/them”. Zer0 is an established character who already has a lot of fans among a bunch of different groups of people. There’s definite value in demonstrating a character can switch pronouns, since pretty much every nonbinary person who uses they/them haven’t used those pronouns their entire life. Besides, there can and should be more than one nonbinary character.  Fl4k being nonbinary but not Zer0 kind of feels like Gearbox expects us to shut up and be happy with what we’re given.

What about nonbinary people who use he/him pronouns? Can’t Zer0 be that?

Those people are real and valid.  However, we’re talking about real people versus a fictional character. I admit I’d feel better if it was stated, in-game, “Yeah, Zer0 is nonbinary and uses he/him”. But even then, it’s REALLY EASY for cisgender people to ignore that information and write Zer0 off as male (And knowing gearbox, they’d put it somewhere easily missed. I’ve surprised so many straight people who’d played through Borderlands 2 with the fact that Sir Hammerlock is gay, simply because it was only verified in a side quest). And you know, we were promised they/them, so like, not doing that kind of sucks. Also I think it’s really important to normalize they/them.

So what are we supposed to do about this? What do you expect to change, anyways?

Honestly? I don’t expect Gearbox to fix this so late. In all likelihood, that’s way too much dialogue to re-record. But I still think it’s worth making our voices heard. We shouldn’t silently put up with this kind of thing. Other people will pull the same shit, being either unsympathetic or unaware of the harm they do. And heck, it’s unlikely, but maybe Gearbox will at least acknowledge their wrongdoing.

Also, it’s maybe worthwhile to ignore canon, and keep referring to Zer0 as “they/them”, or if this whole thing is news to you, it’s not too late to start. It would mean a lot to nonbinary fans, and make a point about how Zer0 is regarded.

[thessalian]

Thess vs Video Game Adaptations

So there’s rumours of a KOTOR movie and TV show in the works, and I object strongly. Mostly because I know they’ll be going by Book!Revan - male Revan, gets-with-Bastila Revan, and there are enough people who didn’t take that option that it just galls me that there’s suddenly going to look like a ‘right way’ to play a game where your choices actually mattered to any degree.

I decided to not just sit there and be angry about it; I decided to consider the wide variety of games that could be adapted for film or television - I mean, they seem to have got it right with Witcher - and what their commonalities are. So here we have it - starting with the rules.

No character creation screen. Anything where you get to pick anything about your character is right out.

Hard-coded narrative. Player choice cannot affect the outcome in any significant way.

...That’s basically it, really. So what do we have?

Dishonored - a bit of a grey area, but doable. My only issue with it is that if they moved to Dishonored 2, they’d probably continue with Corvo when Emily’s narrative through that game is far more compelling and narratively fulfilling, because Yet Another Grizzled White Dude and some idea of continuity and “Women Can’t” bullshit.

Borderlands - come on; you’ve got a fully hard-coded cast of characters and a story you could actually fill some stuff into (because it needs it, being the original looter-shooter). It’d be popcorn, but it’s doable and could be fun, especially when you get into later games and have a decent antagonist to deal with.

Bioshock - I dunno about Bioshock 2 so much, but both the original and Bioshock Infinite could make some pretty good movies.

Far Cry - the Far Cry games would be more a TV series than a movie series, I figure, but while you’d have to pick an ending for the protagonist, particularly for the season representing Far Cry 3 ... it’s still doable because the fate of one yahoo running a resistance movement on an island doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things.

Red Dead Redemption - seriously, this could go amazingly well, given the conceits involved in the actual game. Again, probably more a TV series, but still.

Half-Life - Gordon Freeman. That is all.

Dead Space - possibly a better movie trilogy than a games trilogy, particularly given what happened when EA got its grubby mitts on Visceral Games. The animated version went over well. I mean, there’s the issue where there’s a very different type of movie with the same title floating around out there, but eh.

God of War - possibly a little ultraviolent, but there’s the potential for starting with God of War 4 and flashing back to shit that happened in previous games.

Uncharted - it’s Tomb Raider with Yet Another Grizzled White Dude. It might be harder for Hollywood to fuck up. The fan film with Nathan Fillion went over well.

Horizon Zero Dawn - come on; this could be epic.

There are probably a lot more I could think of, but I’m not really into games where you’re hard-coded into playing a single character anyway. I’d almost be okay with Mass Effect 1, except for the Virmire Survivor, and I dislike the idea that we’d probably end up watching a Paragon male Soldier Shepard romancing Liara and again, I don’t want there to be a ‘canon’ Shepard. But everything after ME1 falls down; you make too many changes to game state and those games are important because you can change the game state with your choices so taking that away by turning it into a movie and making one specific thing ‘canon’ feels like bullshit to me.

There’s all this possibility but instead Disney’s milking the Star Wars franchise. Look, I love the idea of The Mandalorian and the new Cassian Andor series and the Obi-Wan series they’ve been hinting at and Clone Wars (though I can’t watch any of it because Disney+ isn’t available in the UK), but maybe stories in the Star Wars universe that haven’t already been told? Stories that will get fewer people yelling? I mean, if you really must milk Star Wars for every penny it’s worth?

[puppetwritings]

Please! This isn’t a Game! || Pt. 5 || Jeonghan

Pt. 1 // Pt. 2 // Pt. 3 // Pt. 4 // Pt. 5 // Pt. 6 //

➢ Word Count: 2522

➢ Genre: sci-fi, fantasy, fluff, comedy, transmigration

➢ Summary: What do you do when you get thrown into an unknown world? Well, Jeonghan sure as heck does not know. 

(Check the pting ff tag or the description for previous chapters!)

——–

The system watched as the sword conveniently punctured Jeonghan’s armor. It watched the shock from the pain spread through its host’s features and then watched as he stumbled backward and off the mountain. It didn’t stay to watch the reactions of the soldiers nearby or the reaction of the perpetrator. Instead, it quickly flew down in an attempt to cushion Jeonghan’s fall.

Winter always hit the borderlands hard. Blizzards swept by nearly every night. For the normal people from the empire, that experienced a winter similar to fall and spring, this type of weather was unbearable. Soldiers were different. They had strong magic and the weather did not affect them in the slightest. On top of that, their uniforms and armor naturally helped adjust their body temperature to the heat or the cold in their surroundings.

Jeonghan never had the luxury of warm magic and he currently didn’t have the luxury of the uniform. His armor had become beaten and there was a chink in it. The system flew around Jeonghan worriedly and tried its best to generate heat in an attempt to keep Jeonghan alive.

The system, whose emotions had slowly been teased out by Jeonghan, could be described in one word—devastated. It knew that this was not a good idea! It knew that its host had bitten off more than he could chew! It knew that its host was good at courting death, which was why it told him to be more careful in the first place! But did its host listen?! No! He! Did! Not! So, this was the situation now; stranded, freezing, and awaiting death.

The system didn’t keep track of time as it only concentrated on keeping Jeonghan warm. After a long while, Jeonghan finally opened his eyes. His surroundings were completely white, leading him to believe for a split second he had died.

“You’re awake! Host!” the system swirled around Jeonghan faster, making it suddenly feel like spring with a light breeze.

“Mm,” Jeonghan grunted. He pushed himself up and dusted the snow off his helmet.

He grabbed onto the tree he had rolled next to and used it as a crutch to stand. He wasn’t sure of the state of his wound and honestly, he didn’t want to know. He could only hope he was the protagonist of this story and would miraculously survive.

“How are you feeling?” the system asked.

“Disgusting,” Jeonghan grumbled. He attempted to move, but when he couldn’t, he stopped and leaned against the tree. He breathed heavily and looked at the system. “How many days have I been out?”

The system quickly checked the date and was shocked. “Two days.”

It had felt much longer for the system.

“Two days…Navi, go check if anyone’s searching for me,” Jeonghan said.

“But…”

“I will stay here. Just fly up the mountain, the camp should be nearby anyway. If they aren’t then we’ll just find a way out ourselves,” Jeonghan said.

The system hovered reluctantly. It wasn’t afraid of losing Jeonghan. If Jeonghan wandered off, the system could track him back down. What it was afraid of was Jeonghan attracting the attention of some hungry animal or perhaps freezing to death while it was gone. However, the look Jeonghan gave it was something that could not be questioned, so it sulkily flew off.

Once the system left, Jeonghan’s knees buckled below him. He shakily sat down and pulled his knees up to his chest. He kept every part of his body close by, as if he were afraid they would run off. He was quickly getting colder now that Navi had flown off but Jeonghan tried to ignore it and the pain in his side.

Instead, Jeonghan tried to comfort himself.

He had been in worse situations. Much worse! And every time, Jeonghan had gotten out of them. Every time, he was able to walk (or limp) out of the darkness and return to his old life as if nothing ever happened. Nothing followed him from there either—no psychological shadow, no bitterness, no anger. He returned, same as ever, and he would do the same here. After Jeonghan finished his mission of saving this world, he would just return to his old world and his old life! He would become the same selfish, pampered, ignorant young master again.

Jeonghan laughed at himself, the sound echoing a little. Return to his old world? For what? No one even wanted him there!

“Wishful thinking,” Jeonghan mumbled to himself. He shifted his position, as if it would warm him up a little more. “It’s okay, Yoon Jeonghan, even if no one wants you, you still have yourself.”

“Host!” the system came flying back.

“Navi, you’re back already.”

The system flitted between an irritated orange and a worried blue. “They did send out a search party, but because of the blizzards, they’re finding it difficult to find you.”

“Then, it’s best to move ourselves,” Jeonghan got up with great difficulty.  “Did you happen to find an easy way back while you were out?”

“Yes!” The system bobbed up and down. “Host, please follow me and stay close.”

The system dutifully led the way and paused once in a while to make sure Jeonghan was able to keep up properly. Jeonghan numbly followed the system and only stopped when the floating orb stopped moving. With much effort, Jeonghan managed to ask why it had stopped.

“It’s starting to snow again. We should find shelter for now in case of a blizzard,” the system said. It swirled around Jeonghan a moment before nudging him in one direction.

Jeonghan barely had any strength left. In fact, he was afraid of resting now. If he rested now, would he even wake up? He didn’t say this to the system though. Although it was an artificial intelligence, Jeonghan felt that it would still feel pain if he died. If not pain then maybe annoyance, since it would have to wait a while for another host (apparently).

They made it to the cave before the predicted blizzard started. The system froze however, upon seeing a fire already lit up inside.

“Maybe they’re friendly,” Jeonghan dazedly mumbled before stumbling further into the cave.

“Who’s there?” a stern female voice rang out.

Jeonghan leaned against the wall and watched as a caped person came out. She wore the same sleek armor as the rest of the dark forces. She still wore her gloves but her helmet was discarded somewhere near the fire. If Jeonghan was in his right mind, he’d be able to recognize her right away just from looking, but he wasn’t.

“Who are you?”

The second time, Jeonghan recognized the voice. He clumsily removed his helmet and gave you a forced grin. “Y/N…”

You watched in stunned silence as Jeonghan collapsed onto the ground.

You quickly pulled him in and closer to the fire and discarded his wet clothes. You replaced them with the clothes that you were supposed to bring to his brother. And frowned at the state of Jeonghan’s side. It was a disgusting sight but still treatable, thankfully.

You had heard that Joshua had stabbed a general and shook the morale of the army, but you hadn’t expected that person to be Jeonghan. You looked at his sorry state and let out a long sigh before reaching into your bag for some medicine.

You pulled up the shirt and frowned after taking a closer look at the wound. It wasn’t festering like you had first though and it had clotted but…

“What’s with this large amount of dark energy,” you mumbled.

  ——–

When Jeonghan woke up, he was laying by a warm fire with dry clothes on. He could feel his wound being compressed by bandages wrapped around his torso but he couldn’t remember what happened after he had entered the cave. He just remembered a brief sense of relief and then passing out.

“You’re awake?”

Jeonghan lifted his head and squinted at the sun that spilled in through the opening of the cave. Jeonghan’s eyes widened and an amicable smile spread across his face when he realized who was talking.

“Y/N,” he greeted, a hint of confusion in his face. “What are you doing here?”

“Your brother called me to deliver clothes to him,” your eyes concentrated on Jeonghan. “But, um, I guess I’ll have to find a fresh change of clothes for him later.”

Jeonghan looked down at himself and laughed sheepishly. “Well, I’m sure he’d understand. You did this to save me.”

You grimaced slightly. That would probably put him in a worse mood.

“Is that all?” Jeonghan asked.

“Huh?”

“Why you’re here. You actually came out all this way just to deliver clothes to my brother? Isn’t that dangerous? Why would he let you—”

“Well, it’s fine. I wanted to do it anyway,” you quickly said. You gestured towards him. “But what’s your deal? Why were you dying down here?”

“Ah,” Jeonghan laughed good-naturedly despite his injury. “I, uh, I got stabbed.”

“You got stabbed?” your eyes widened.

“You don’t have to look that surprised. It’s war. It’s natural I’d get stabbed,” Jeonghan replied.

“But…I thought they weren’t actually going to let you fight. I thought—”

“That I was a figure head?”

You nodded.

“No, I fight. And I can hold out my own too,” Jeonghan said, tilting his head smugly.

You wanted to shoot back that he couldn’t hold back his own. If he could, you wouldn’t have had to save him twice. However, you couldn’t be sure he knew your other identity, so you could just nod with worry. “But…I heard you don’t have magic.”

Jeonghan stiffened. His eyes darted around the cave, as if making sure none of his soldiers were around, before turning back to you. “This is true. It’s really not a secret but…it’s not something I’m proud of.”

So, he doesn’t know, you concluded. Your eyes drifted to his wound.

“Y/N?”

“I was just thinking,” you sighed. “If you had magic you wouldn’t be in this situation.”

“I might still be, who knows,” Jeonghan shrugged.

“If you had a better family, then you definitely wouldn’t be in such a terrible situation,” you mumbled.

“…Did you and Taewook get into a fight?”

“No, no, it’s not that.”

“Then, why?” Jeonghan raised an eyebrow. He leaned forward worriedly and joked, “Before, you looked like you wanted to rip my head off when I said something bad about Taewook.”

“I did not.”

“You did,” Jeonghan teased.

You let out a soft sigh. “It’s just…I don’t know. I feel like he’s using me—like you said, but in a more of a…servant, sort of way.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“No, I don’t think Taewook would,” Jeonghan’s voice trailed off before sheepishly smiling.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“Are you having a hard time lying?” you laughed.

Jeonghan guiltily laughed. He cleared his throat. “It wouldn’t be bad to consider leaving my brother.”

“I think I will.”

Jeonghan nodded sympathetically. He called the system over.

“Yes, Host?”

“Does this Y/N seem a bit odd to you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Just a few days ago, she looked like she wanted to snap me in half when I said Taewook was using her, but now she’s willingly admitting it and she’s even saying she’ll leave him.”

“Perhaps it is a lover’s quarrel,” the system wisely suggested.

“A lover’s quarrel?”

“Yes, Host. Apparently, those happen quite often among human couples. Especially young ones.”

“I know that,” Jeonghan grumbled. “I’m just wondering if there would be such a thing between those two.”

“What do you mean?”

“They can’t even be considered lovers,” Jeonghan sighed. His eyes narrowed. “There must be something more.”

“Jeonghan?”

“Huh?”

“I asked if I could redress your wound.”

“Oh,” Jeonghan’s eyes widened and he turned a deep red. “Um…”

“Its condition might get worse if I don’t. And you certainly won’t do it properly,” you said. “My brother used to get into a ton of fights so I learned how to properly dress wounds.”

“You have a brother? Is he older or younger?”

“He’s my older brother,” you replied as Jeonghan obediently (and awkwardly) pulled off his clothes. “He’s the best big brother I could ask for, honestly.”

“That’s nice,” Jeonghan said wistfully. “Did he defend you when you got bullied?”

You laughed. “Of course! He’s the only one that can bully me, after all.”

Jeonghan smiled weakly.

You glanced up at him. “How was Taewook like?”

“He,” Jeonghan hesitated before shaking his head. “He’s not worth talking about.”

“Oh.”

Jeonghan pursed his lips, looking troubled at your meek reaction. “Well, no, he’s worth talking about. Just not as an older brother. I didn’t see him often as a kid.”

“Oh, I see,” you seemed to lighten up a little and Jeonghan relaxed.

The system floated off to the side, watching you two put on this play. It really felt like it was watching a high-cost production right now with two topnotch actors. The expressions, the inflection of emotions—if only the plot was a little more developed, the system felt that this could make a great story!

Jeonghan wasn’t paying attention to the system right now and could not see that it was bubbling with excitement at this “little brother steals older brother’s girlfriend” side plot. His eyes were concentrated on the crackling embers as he tried to take his mind off the throbbing pain in his side. He glanced at you once and found your eyes alight with excitement. Was his body that good? Maybe his past body, but not this one. Why did you look like that then?

“Finished,” you said, scooting back a little.

“Thank you,” Jeonghan sighed in relief and pulled his shirt back on.

“So, will be heading back now?”

“Now…I don’t know. I’m not even sure where I am. I just wandered and wandered,” Jeonghan mumbled. He looked at you helplessly. “They’ll come find me, right?”

Jeonghan looked extremely pitiful right now, making you momentarily forget what you were scheming. You nodded. “Yeah, I don’t see why they wouldn’t. Unless they wanted to get in trouble with your father.”

“My father,” Jeonghan scoffed.

This line, the system noted, was particularly realistic.

“He doesn’t care either,” you mumbled, feeling sorrier for Jeonghan than before.

“I think I’ll start moving in a bit,” Jeonghan said. He shakily stood and was surprised when he didn’t collapse.

“Here are your things,” you said, handing him a bundle of his wrecked armor, his military badge, and his helmet.

“Thank you,” Jeonghan sighed, staring at the useless things that he would have to lug around. He looked at you. “Where are you headed?”

“I was going to go to Taewook’s camp, but I don’t have clothes to bring him anymore.”

“You can come with me. Once we find my camp, I’ll tell them to send you back. It’s dangerous around here,” Jeonghan said.

You nodded with a thankful smile across your face.

After another half-hour of resting, you and Jeonghan departed. You glanced at him and allowed your mind to wander again. How could such a naïve angel be related to such a heartless devil?

[pixie-mask]

I’m going to reblog about it, but honestly if I get the New Tales from the Borderlands (why couldn’t it just be-you know what nevermind), it’ll have to be after November, maybe around Christmas.

I already need to finish stuff before Bayonetta 3 this month which takes priority and then Pokemon comes out in November. Now honestly with the way these games are set I could play both, but that’s the other thing.

I don’t know what to feel about this game. I haven’t seen a gameplay trailer  yet, but even looking at the base trailer I’m not to in love with what I see especially with our four new characters. I love the idea of Lou13 but that’s more cause I’m living for that design.

Also probably as much as I have interest in the world I don’t care about new ones in this manner. Like I’m more curious about what’s going on with Ava and things, but more more more importantly I want to know where Fiona and Sasha are. 

And those are plotlines at this point I would rather go on with currently established characters or characters that introduced to be closer to the plot. 

Even with him being busy there’s suddenly a part of me that would have found it interesting to do this Rhys again and give Ava a shot to develop more. And given that I’m only just now hearing about this game I’m just now hearing that Timothy was possibly going to be a protagonist, but he isn’t so I guess he’ll appear. But yeah that would have been great too.

But I think they’re heavily banking on new player characters per installment, but that feels like it’ll be a bit much.

The most I can do is hope its more engaging than it looks, that we see some more of the characters and have fun with them and that no more characters die, like please. I know it comes with the territory but between Tales from the Borderlands and Borderlands 3 I’m wondering if they’re going to get drunk off of offing older characters.

[veetlejuiced]

Fallout 76 Thoughts

I've rented Fallout 76 and played until I hit about level 15. There are some things about it that are kinda cool. It plays in some respects like more of a survival game (not an optional mode) so you have to do things like actually carry food and water around. It also has handfuls of new critters and creature enemies which is something I was hoping to see more of in 4 so I have liked seeing it in 76. It looks nice in the same way that people like playing Skyrim because it feels very "nature walk" simulator (only with more of a dystopian feel depending on what area of the map you are in). Environmentally it does a lot of what other Fallout installments have done well. There's these petrified corpses about and how they're arranged in areas makes one think "what exactly happened here?," the same way skeleton arrangements in past installments have helped add a grim vibe to the setting.

But I have quite a few issues with the game. The lack of human/ghoul NPCs really makes quests feel even more barebones "fetch" in style. Since I've never played a game that has quests without any sort of real NPC interaction, I just...didn't realize how vital that was to quests (which sounds silly but it really kinda smacked me in the face, so to speak). Every quest feels like, go here, kill that, read this, come back, here's some stuff. There's not even an illusion of choices to be made. I really love reading notes and terminals in past Fallout installments, but in such an empty world it makes quests feel like something in the past and that you're never really interacting with the present, if that makes any sense. It's kind of bizarre. Robot NPCs just sort of talk at you, sometimes appearing out of nowhere, and a couple quests have lead me to the dead bodies of NPC's. It makes the world feel empty.

Servers are never that populated. If you're not anywhere near a main quest or an event, odds of seeing another player are low. If you do see someone they usually just run by, looting as they go. Playing with other people makes everything you're doing feel rushed. I felt like I was just in a race with friends to look through every desk and dresser for adhesive scrapping items and telling friends to shush while trying to listen to quest holotapes was not great. lol There are a lot of holotapes and sometimes so many you'll find others in the same location before even finishing what you're listening to. I don't know why if they were willing to pay for so much voice acting they couldn't include a few NPC populated areas (besides maybe not wanting to do a a voiced protagonist, but we could have gone back to 3's style since it's not like they haven't developed text speech options before). Not to mention the way they implemented PVE is really boring. Basically you shoot someone for a very very low amount of damage no matter your weapon or buffs and the player you attacked has to shoot you back to engage. This makes PVP completely avoidable when I think, ideally, it should be unavoidable, but I think maybe they feared letting players just free for all it. I could see why some players would not like that, but I'm just the opposite end of the spectrum in that regard. If you don't have to interact with a hostile player, why would you? It makes other players feel like ghosts and not even the scary kind. There are some event like areas where you can "claim a workbench" and basically invite hostiles, but players can avoid that feature if they choose. Event quests that attract other players can be fun because at least there's other people there, but I found the content to be a little cut and dry. A lot of wave survival which is fun for a while, but not forever, for me anyway.

There are some other odd reworks like the perk system, which I don't dislike to be honest. You put points into your attribute and can place "cards" into them, on some level up's receiving card packs that give you a variety of perk options. I think I like it because Fallout 4 kind of let you become a jack of all trades and that's not really a fun "role" to me. I also like that the survival aspects of 76 make me actually make perk choices having to do with water, food, and even the weight of various options. It can seem more important than perks like "10% more pistol damage" and the like. I can see how this system would be disliked by other players though. Weapons and equipment also have level locks on them which I've heard complaints about, but I like. It gives me something to work towards and not become too overpowered immediately running around in the multiple power armors I've found. Another downside is that I do feel fairly invincible. I died once in 15 hours and have a never-ending surplus of ammo. There's ammunition purchasing machines and workbenches and I really don't know when I'd ever have to use them. Caps only use appear to be for purchasing blueprints and fast traveling (small fees like 11 caps to travel a third length of the map). I would never buy anything else with them besides maaaaybe stimpacks because they can feel a little scarce sometimes, which is something I like. It makes me think twice about entering Super Mutant stronghold areas. I am also kind of salty over some of the lore-breaking. It gives me that "copy and paste" vibe that Fallout 4 gave me. See there's Nuka Colas here, it's a Fallout game! Only now there's Super Mutants before they were made and a satellite branch of the Brotherhood who is only just forming and then subsequently going underground for more than a minute. (Not to mention I heard there's Enclave power armor somewhere which is also...a no-no.)

There's also the C.A.M.P.ing feature which is basically portable settlement building. I didn't really see much of a need to do it since you can always just fast travel back to your first campsite and the only reason to go there is to unload materials into your stash box (larger off-person inventory which probably needs to be expanded at only 400wg). Train stations also have a stash box so I don't really see the point in them, but perhaps they'd have some use at a higher level? I'm not sure. I think I put around 15ish hours or so into the game and I kind of hit a "this is boring" wall. I love to loot. I loot a lot, but it feels like all I'm doing is looting and fighting "scorched" ghouls and Super Mutants who don't have the best A.I. It's literally harder to kill a few bloatflies than half a dozen Scorched. The improved gunplay from 4 is present, but it almost makes it too easy. The rework to V.A.T.S. makes sense but it also kind of blows my mind how in an instant it can go from 96% hit percentage to 0% and I miss. Not to mention it is rather buggy. I'm playing on the PS4 and I've had enemies do that floaty strafing across the ground or see me and instead of approaching, running away. On the PS4 some areas have really atrocious frame rate issues, like I felt dizzy the frame rates were so bad. Also some of that "white flash" sort of issue on various textures and sometimes almost full screen flashes of white. Lit areas at night don't always appear at a distance and suddenly "turn on" as you come up on them. I'm sure these issues will be resolved with patches, but yikes.

Overall, even though there are some things I like, it's gonna be a big no from me and even though I don't like living in the middle of nowhere, still having video rental stores has really given me the privilege of being able to check out games like this for a few dollars before investing 60 bucks to play multiplayer Fallout which I should have been very very excited about. The game just feels too empty and too much like a feature they could have slapped onto 4. I think instead of trying to take the MMO approach they should have just included a co-op mode the same way games like Borderlands or Dying Light implemented. I think there's definitely people who will have fun playing this game with friends. All MMO's allow for players to make their own fun, but that's not really what I'm looking for in a game myself. I want the game to make the fun and Fallout 76 falls flat in doing so.

[youremymiracleelliot]

Two Thousand Years || review

** Beforehand: I was granted a free copy of the book in exchange for my honest opinion by The Parliament House **

The plot itself wasn’t what I would call unique or original. There’s the main protagonist and heroine-to-be who is dragged to an unknown empire which she is to rule along-side with the crown prince whom she is to marry and to give children. Outside of the empire, there — of course — is the realm of the villain of the story. The antagonist who has his own story to tell and this is where Two Thousand Years differs from other ya books. In this series we are introduced to the Prophecy and the Annals of the empire. In this empire everything is predestined, everything is already determined, there’s no alternation from the course of the Annals and their Prophecy must be fulfilled. I liked this idea very much which is comparable to the structure of some religious ideas I would say. It’s amazing how much devotion and faith the citizens and the empire’s rulers put into that book without questioning it and (though I am a religious person), I totally understand why someone would go against the Prophecy to have a free life and set their own course. Something like that.

Within this setting, the heroine-to-be Alex is brought to the empire, she meets the crown prince and ...well, things happen as they ought to happen. There were moments when I wondered how easily everything played out but then there was the villain who never failed to surprise and entertain me. He really was the perfect addition to put the stakes higher. No spoilers, though.

The characters were special in their own ways. As it might already be obvious, I liked the villain very much. His name is Reylor and I couldn’t help but adore how he always seemed to be kind of in control of everything, although the Annals should have been. His ultimate goal is reasonable which I think is very important to accept such an antagonist. I still wish for more about his past to be revealed in the next book or so. More of his thoughts and mind-setting to truly understand him. I crave for more insight. Nonetheless, don’t get me wrong, though I understand his reasoning, he commits some terrible crimes throughout the book and I feel I should take a minute to state I don’t support those crimes because they were of the cruelest nature. Luckily, this is only fiction, so I can love him as a character. And the end of the book, his performance and especially what he took leave me with so many headcanons, I honestly loooooved that development!

The other two main protagonists were Alex and her crown prince Treyan and oooooh, the author, or the Annals, truly wanted me to ship them. Get yourself a Treyan and you’ll be the happiest of girls! He’s so lovely and charming and good-looking. There really are at least two thousand reasons to love him. There also were moments when I loathed him, though, but that is another story to tell. As crown prince he did a proper job and as Alex’s beloved as well. I enjoyed this pairing a lot and I’m curious to see what challenges they’ll face together. Actually, I could marvel about Treyan endlessly but this is supposed to be spoiler-free, soooooo.... read the book!

Next, taking a look at Alex, for me it’s hard to link with female characters but that’s a personal issue of mine. Her behavior and actions in general were extremely realistic for someone in her position and this truly surprised me. I think the author did an excellent job when displaying her character and letting her grow. Since the story was mostly told from her point of view, I got a lot of insight and this maybe made her feel so authentic. I can’t say anything bad about her.

Sadly, aside of those three main protagonists, there weren’t much other side characters. There was the counsellor who actually played an important part but there wasn’t much info about him. All other characters but the three mains were introduced and sometimes interacted with the mains but I always felt like only touching the surface. I think this could have been better. Treyan’s connection to his leading guard Jamison seemed promising and Alex and her maids should have been depicted with more care, too. This could have really sold out for happenings that occur later in the book... To be honest, I believe, the author here missed great opportunities.

Talking about opportunities, let’s take a look at the pacing. Sometime later in the book, after certain events, things felt a bit rushed and actually after finishing this first installment it appears as if this alone could have been a trilogy, if there had been more emphasis on the side characters, their bonds to the mains. Some moments were a great opportunity to dwell in but it didn’t happen. I am not really complaining about this but I think it should handled with a bit more care.

Finally, let’s take a look at the world-building. At first, I always crackle up at the thought the empire is called The Empire because why even accept there could another one? It’s funny and I appreciate and praise their self-awareness and confidence. The other place was called the Borderlands, not very creative but well... they’re the lands at the border, so what else would the rulers and citizens of The Empire call the other territory? It’s not like they’re very creative at giving names! However, the Borderlands were adequately depicted. At least, for me it was enough to have an image in my head. But the Empire, I think this could have been portrayed with more details. I barely learnt about the towns and the citizens feelings towards their royals, for example. And I wasn’t sure how richly I ought to paint the environment in my mind. Is everything in prosperity? There were moments when was convinced the answer is yes, in others I thought the time of prosperity is still to come. Hm.

To sum it up, as you can see, I missed details and further bonds. Everything was so very focused on the three main protagonists. But taking them into my focus, there’s very much to enjoy about this book and the last chapters definitely did blow me away. What can I say? I’m sold. Especially because of Reylor. Don’t judge me if you happen to despise him.