#zorial plays

[zorialdiamond-blog]

This Friday's mood: casually losing it over this choice in an IS2 event

[canagirl95]

Cynthia made an awesome play with #Zorial (???) leaving an opening for me to play #Zones. Pretty sure she's still gonna kick my booty though... 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 Way to go girlie!! 🎉🎉🎉 #WWF #WordsWithFriends #canagirl95 https://www.instagram.com/p/CgipS3ZLq8nCvd8ipQuVFN30pKHGXSKhTr1e9Y0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[zorialdiamond-blog]

So I've been playing Arknights for about half a year now and I wanted to offer a non-exhaustive list of Things I have learned about the Lore so far that have stuck in my brain for the community's amusement:

- Because all the characters are called by codenames there are unironically folks called stuff like Asbestos, Cement, and Tequila

-There is an immortal talking penguin running a logistics company that raps and starts gang wars; he's not even the only creature like this (there's also a toucan and a wolf) and so far I have found no explanation for why this is the case

-Not-Atlantis exists, and they've been fighting Lovecraftian horrors of the deep for who knows how long; they took a page from Bloodborne's book to stop them and that's going about as well as the source material so far

-Angel with a Shotgun is the theme of an actual serious religion, complete with a Gun Vatican and a Gun Pope

-A long time ago a dragon god thing got split into 12 distinct people, and one of them decided the best use of her time was making shitty B movies

-Government-sponsored assassins in Not-Poland were stopped dead in their tracks by One Horse Man sitting on a bench and reading a newspaper; this person is also my favorite character and that is unlikely to change anytime soon

-One man decided to open up Not-Scandinavia to start Ikea and this was a Controversial Move

-There is a character called the Rat King in the criminal underworld of one of the cities of Not-China and he'd unironically make a better ruler than its current governor

-If I had a nickel for every gacha I played where the sky is fake, I'd have two nickels; which is not a lot, but it's weird it happened twice

-Not-France got wiped off the map and this is joked about in a collab with Rainbow Six Siege that is technically canon; this event also introduced NFTs to the setting

-The player character has canonically consumed instant noodles by swallowing the dry noodles and chasing it with boiling water at 4 in the morning

(Will probably add more to this list the more of the game I complete, I just started Chapter 8 of the main story but I keep getting sidetracked by event sidestories and the entire existence of Integrated Strategies)

[zorialdiamond-blog]

Arknights continues to be pretty fun so far; I'm getting a lot more into the story, although I think I'm hitting the part of the game that's a bit more of a Wake Up Call difficulty wise for me

(story mission 2-5 and promotion material missions, I'm looking at you)

So far I think Naerl is my favorite character (knight lady go brrrr) and Plume is a close second, though I've probably only seen a tiny fraction of the number there are so far LOL

[zorialdiamond-blog]

Whoops I mighta started playing Arknights

[zorialdiamond-blog]

In fun news that might explain my lack of activity lately, I dug my copy of Persona 5 Royal off the shelf, and after actually getting how to play it this time and getting sucked in, I've now beaten it after just over 120 hours!

Amazing game, definitely better late than never to the party!

[zorialdiamond-blog]

Between FF14 and FF16, Squeenix's Creative Business Unit 3 really has my imagination in a visegrip this year. Not that I'm complaining, it's good stuff!

[zorialdiamond-blog]

Can't believe I forgot to mention this, but FFXIV Update: Finished the main scenario of Endwalker with lots of feels and some tears! Definitely feels like the best got saved for last!

Now, to nyoom along to getting current, whee!

[zorialdiamond-blog]

What I thought would be hard in Endwalker: Endgame Duty Mechanics, Emotional Stakes, etc.

What's ACTUALLY hard in Endwalker so far: *Stealth Gameplay Segments*

[zorialdiamond-blog]

...man, I've completely neglected to post my FFXIV progress here, huh!

I'm just on the cusp of finishing up the post Shadowbringers MSQs and clearing every sidequest off the map to get ready for Endwalker. AMAZING stuff, IDK how they'll equal and/or top it!

[zorialdiamond-blog]

Just for fun, I'm tempted to make a post of some of the music in FFXIV that's left enough of an impression for me to look up and play on loop outside of the game

(I'm a fair way into Shadowbringers already, WHEE)

[zorialdiamond-blog]

Today on Zorial Plays: FFXIV is gud gaem, and I love my gal Kallix!

(Just attained LVL 46 Monk)

[zorialdiamond-blog]

So, uh...Guess who started playing Final Fantasy XIV about a week and a half ago?

(This is Kallix Sastrus, my lovely Duskwight Pugilist lady!)

[zorialdiamond-blog]

Someone remind me to draw some art of the whole sequence of events of my elven druid Heulwen calling out one Endelyn Moongrave with a Moonbeam accented Dramatic Backstory Laden Speech, then using a combo of Pixie Dust and Thorn Whip to drag her off a balcony, then several rounds of combat later, ripping her to pieces in bear form

[zorialdiamond-blog]

So I revisited and finally properly beat a game from my late childhood/early teen years...and I can say with confidence that Chocolatier: Decadence by Design is an impeccably made casual game that holds up really well!

(It's only 9.99 USD on Steam too!)

[zorialdiamond-blog]

Soooo, I did the new Sumeru Archon quests... Needless to say, I was not disappointed. For one reason among many!

(link to a more clean version of the cutscene here)