#(i decided i wasn't going to save scum for events. i wanted to get what i got and have relationships feel more organic as a result)

[my-current-obsession]

Contemplating more Rune Factory “Special” changes/updates I’d like. In this case, things I’d like to see changed/added in a hypothetical, absolutely NEVER going to happen Rune Factory 4 Special+ (or Super Special, or Special 2, etc.)

Obviously since this game already has an updated rerelease, this isn’t happening. But there are still a few ways I think it could be brought even closer to perfection.

- So most of my wants for a theoretical “5 Special” came from 4 Special. Similarly there WERE actually several upgrades or quality-of-life changes made in 5 I’d love to see come back to 4 (or more realistically, maybe they’ll show up in 3 Special!).

- PLEASE let me just examine the stone/lumber box and add in all the materials I have instead of manually taking out stacks and putting them in. You can also do this for fodder bins and the fertilizer, which is nice, but the stone/lumber is the BIG one.

- Automatically picking up items as you run over them is great! I’d love to see that in other titles.

- Tabbing between storage options or categories when cooking/forging/crafting is super convenient. Hopefully that comes back, because after getting used to it in 5 I keenly feel its absence and get a smidge annoyed in 4 when I have to make something and then back out entirely to choose to make something else.

- Make Illuminata a romance option! It’s not clear if she was ever intended to be one and then scrapped, but personally I think she was. She is the only character outside the marriage candidates to have a swimsuit model & sprite, and she has several town events where she is a primary focus, similar to the events that are prerequisites for other bachelor/ettes. Plus she has lots of dialogue explicitly pointing out that she’s single and WANTS to find love. There’s really no reason NOT to make her a love interest other than her taking care of Amber, but if Amber is old enough to be romanced/married, then she’s old enough to live alone too. And Illuminata could continue to run her store after marrying the same way that every other love interest continues to do their job.

- I actually prefer the dragons in 5, but I know A LOT of people would love to see Venti as a love interest, and I’m not opposed to that. She’d be locked to a post-game romance, but she does have a human appearance and she seems to be into Lest/Frey (given her conversation where she blushes and starts to ask “If I were a human...”). Narratively she IS the person Lest/Frey cares about most so she’s got the role of a love interest already, kind of. It would be difficult to do since they’d need to add/change the story to allow her to change to her human form, and probably add a few town events for her, but it would be great if it happened. And perhaps including this would help the... abrupt ending to Act 3.

- Make it a little less ridiculous to romance Doug. I understand narratively why his friendship is INITIALLY gated at 3, but I think it’s ridiculous that it stays there until you’ve beaten Act 2 (which is basically the end of the story proper...). I think it would make sense to unlock the initial gate near the end of or after Act 1. After Doug comes around and basically decides to trust you and help Venti, or right after you beat Act 1 (saving Leon), I think you should be able to progress his friendship further. That said, it makes sense to keep his romance gated, so maybe until you’ve beaten Act 2, he stops progressing at LV 6. This way he won’t be SO far behind everyone else and if you want to romance him you’ll be able to do so almost immediately after he becomes available instead of taking several weeks just to get him from 3 to 7. As someone who dated multiple people in a run, Doug is at a HUGE disadvantage due to his late availability combo-ed with his affection almost surely being worse than everyone else. You either have to wait to date ANYONE to try and snag him first at LV 7 or basically give up in favor of dating others because it will only get harder to date him with every subsequent boyfriend and he will probably always lag behind in terms of affection, making any other guy easier to add to the harem by comparison. Literally all of this is mitigated by just raising his gated affection from 3 to 6 partway through the story. Depending on how long it takes you to complete Act 2 and whether you’re plying him with gifts, you might not even HIT the new limit, but even if you do, if you want to romance Doug it would be much quicker and easier now.

- Give players the ability to manipulate town events, at least a little. Technically players can already manipulate town events by determining when one happens and then just save scumming until they get what they want, but I want an in-game method that’s intended to help get the events you want. That said this IS an RNG system and I kind of like that. I wouldn’t want it to give you complete control. But I think something like adding “Orders” to the game at some point that allow you to, say, spawn “only town events involving [name]” would be GREAT. I won’t get into the particulars of how early the feature should be allowed (personally I think end of Act 1, but it could also be after Act 2 or an “Extra Order” reward for beating Act 3 and available from the beginning in any new game) or how much each Order would cost. I just think being able to force the game to only pick from town events involving a specific person (and including any mini-events) would be nice. Once you’ve seen all town events involving that person (excluding the marriage event, which has priority anyway) the order is automatically canceled. You could also cancel it yourself at any time. With this feature it would be MUCH easier to get the prerequisites for your intended spouse, but there is still some element of RNG considering everyone has at least a few events they’re involved in that AREN’T their needed events. This would also be great for trying to get mini events for characters you haven’t seen before.

- Some kind of weather forecast would be nice. With the exception of typhoons, people in town only comment on the weather that is currently happening. And you can still get taken by surprise if no one happens to mention the incoming typhoon or if you don’t talk to everyone. I believe weather is probably RNG as well, but if it was randomized and set like a week in advance, it would be nice if there was a way to check the weather for the next few days. Obviously this is most useful for making sure you KNOW a typhoon or snowstorm is coming and could wreck your farm. It also has other small uses - if you know a thunderstorm is happening you can remind yourself to go to the area that requires that to unlock. You can plan outdoor dates knowing the weather in advance. I don’t know about the airship or observatory but I KNOW there are variations of the lake date depending on the weather, so if you want to see them all you need the weather to comply. This way you’d know ahead of time and be able to plan for it.

- Lastly, either the game needs to be smarter about characters equipping everything they’re “given” or it needs to give players a way to directly, manually change other’s equipment from all the items they have. This is MOSTLY a problem with Kiel specifically since he has a reoccurring quest where he asks you to give him a weak shield and then he equips it EVEN IF IT’S SUBSTANTIALLY WORSE than whatever he had previously (and thus the better shield just DISAPPEARS), but in general I wish characters wouldn’t just automatically equip whatever you give them. If the system checked to be sure it was better than what they already had, that would be ideal. Of course, then you’d have to define what makes it better - which stats matter most, or is it the difficulty level of crafting/forging the item, etc. Alternatively, characters could have a stash of every equipment item you’ve ever given them and you can manually go in and decide what they actually equip (similar to the original .hack games, if anyone’s played those. In that game, characters did automatically equip “stronger” weapons/armor but you could manually change them to whatever you wanted that they had).

Overall I think 4 Special is an AMAZING game and I love it a lot. Most of my complaints are quality-of-life changes, compared to my more substantial issues with 5 (which is still like, but not as much. I like these games mostly for the social/romance aspect and that’s where 4 blows 5 out of the water even despite the RNG of town events making it way harder to actually marry who you want). In both games I long for more love interests, but that can’t be helped. Partly I just crave the extra content that would bring, though I do genuinely like and would want to marry some of those people if I could.

#rune factory #rf4 #rune factory 4 #for the record i will not be doing this kind of post for other rf games. simply because i haven't played any others #i mean i played some Tides of Destiny YEARS ago but i'm not familiar enough with the game now to suggest changes #maybe i'll revisit this topic when we get 3 Special (which will be my introduction to 3) #but anyway if i could make only ONE of these changes happen... i'd pick the town event manipulation #fun fact - i played lest my first run and was into margaret from the start. started dating her as soon as possible #in that file i have played over 2 full years & beaten rune prana. STILL haven't married her since i don't have all her needed events #(i decided i wasn't going to save scum for events. i wanted to get what i got and have relationships feel more organic as a result) #i did eventually cave and start dating other girls... and more girls... and am now literally dating ALL SIX of them #i've seen all but margaret and forte's marriage events. the only reason i DON'T have forte's is because i just recently started dating her #so i haven't gone on enough dates yet. but mark my words once that third date is done i'll get her marriage event immediately #leaving JUST margaret left. the girl i was MOST into as the LAST girl i marry. the RNG was not kind to me #my two frey runs have been much better by comparison but i am similarly struggling to get leon #so yeah as somewhat irritating as the other issues are and as nice as the QoL changes would be... #i would take more control over town events in a heartbeat. no hesitation. trying to get married in this game SUCKS

[fereldanwench]

Find the Word - Manuscript Search Tag

Tagged by @corpocyborg--Thank you so much! This is great timing too because I've been feeling the itch to get back to writing fic again.

Words to search: trust, accident, rule, suspect, understand

#1 - Trust

From an unpublished WIP that was an excuse to write a drunk Goro

“--Please, meet me on Jig-Jig Street. I will explain there.”

Well, that woke her up.

“Jig-Jig Street? What the hell–”

Goro disconnected the call and Valerie blinked before rubbing her tired face. 

“So in addition to being top-tier ‘Saka scum, he’s a desperate, pathetic pervert.” Johnny lit a phantom cigarette. Valerie wished she could slap it out of his mouth. “You sure know how to pick ‘em, V.”

“You’re one to talk.” She shuffled over to the pair of clean-enough sweatpants draped over the couch. 

“You’re not actually going to meet this guy right now, are you?”

“What does it look like?” Valerie asked as she tied the drawstring into a bow under her waist.

“Why are you really helpin’ him, huh? Because you’re so fucked in the head that you actually trust he’s our best shot at fixin’ this shit?” Johnny flicked the cigarette butt onto her floor. “Or because you like how he looks at you with those pretty brown eyes?”

“I don’t know, Johnny.” Valerie pulled a black sweatshirt with a faded Arasaka logo over her blue hair and then reached for the bottle of omega-blockers on the end table. She dropped two pills into her palm and took a swig of room-temperature NiCola. “Maybe both.”

#2 - Accident

From my unpublished and probably perpetually unfinished long fic WIP

Goro set his now empty glass down on the table and rubbed his face. He knew it was unwise to indulge in these thoughts. Even in the unlikely event that she, a clever, compassionate, beautiful woman reciprocated any of the ill-advised feelings that had been stewing inside him for the past few weeks, they were not feelings either of them could act on. 

If all went to plan, Goro would return to Tokyo with Hanako-sama, where he would, under the best of circumstances, be reassigned, perhaps put back in the special forces. Valerie would have the Relic removed and resume her life in Night City as a reputable solo, living her corporate-free life. 

And if the plan went belly-up.…

It was best to not consider that possibility. 

He reached for his phone and tapped the display, accidentally activating the front-facing camera. Goro scowled at the unflattering reflection of himself and thumbed the icon he thought would take him to the home screen. Instead, the photo gallery launched. 

Most of the pictures were practical in nature, a means of recording notable locations and suspicious vehicles, but he had indulged in a snapshot of the hairless cat that visited them during their stakeout. Goro decided he wanted to take a closer look at their feline visitor when he saw it was not the only subject he had caught on the rooftop: next to that photo was a blurry image of Valerie, dazzling in the golden light of the early evening sunset, smiling up at something as she pet the cat. 

He realized from the angle of the picture that the something she was smiling at would have been him.

#3 - Rule

I couldn't find this one! I am doing this at work and don't have access to all my WIPs, but it wasn't in any of my Google docs or AO3 publishes. I'm sure it's somewhere in my Scrivener files, though.

#4 - Suspect

Also from my unpublished and probably perpetually unfinished long fic WIP

"How’d you end up with this hunk of junk anyway?" Valerie asked as she buckled her seat belt.

"I purchased it from a reputable dealership," Goro answered dryly.

Valerie rolled her eyes but laughed. She then conducted a rudimentary inspection of the vehicle, opening and closing the empty glove compartment before her, then fiddling with the equally uninteresting sun visor. Finding nothing of interest in front of her, Valerie turned in her seat to inspect the back of the van. It was also empty save for his small bag of personal effects. 

Agitated by her senseless curiosity, Goro was about to ask her what Valerie was looking for when she spoke first.

"Are you sleeping in here?"

Her tone was gentle, unexpectedly extinguishing his irritation with her relentless prying.

"Is this another inquiry into my well-being?" He asked instead.

Valerie shrugged.

"I've slept in my car in the city. It's not particularly safe." She gave him a small smile. "Even for people like you."

Goro regarded her from the corner of his eyes. He recalled their conversation two nights ago, when he had suspected her interest in his welfare was self-serving. His paranoia had offended her so he apologized, but he was incredulous by nature and knowing the particulars of her career history did little to truly lessen his suspicion. The few classified reports Goro had been able to obtain from the Night City counter-intelligence database repeatedly praised her high interpersonal skills as key assets during operations–It was clear her disarming personality could be as much a threat as the pistol she kept strapped to her thigh. 

"I will be fine," he finally said.

#5 - Understand

From Homecoming, a post-Mikoshi smut-with-feelings one-shot

"You'll have to teach me how to make some of these dishes. I never really had much opportunity, or reason, really, to cook before."

The thought of sharing such a moment with Valerie made his whole body tremble with impatience. Even just doing unscrupulous merc assignments together, it was quickly apparent they had a natural rhythm and rapport as partners. Goro suddenly found himself eager to seize on that harmony, not for their often violent duties, but to create something beautiful with Valerie. To nourish another passion he had been denied for two years.

"I will," he promised softly as he met her by the window.

Valerie tilted her head and skimmed her hand down his chest before slipping her arm around his waist. Goro swallowed, feeling a strange combination of self-satisfaction and humility as she studied him.

"I think there's still some part of me that's convinced this is some elaborate hallucination," Valerie whispered. Her free hand reached for his face, and Goro closed his eyes, allowing himself the indulgence of resting his cheek against her palm.

"I believe I understand the feeling," he said, meeting her gaze.

Lightly, tentatively, Goro brushed her cheek with his thumb. She inhaled and stiffened, and he almost retracted his hand, but Valerie pressed her lips to his in an unwavering embrace. Her skin tingled under his touch, and he felt the heavy sigh she breathed in through her nose. Goro was silently adamant that she dictate their pace, but every time one of those shuddering gasps ravaged her body, they chipped away at his resolve.

Valerie graciously deepened the kiss, moving both of her hands to the back of his neck as she moaned against his mouth. Galvanized by her fervor but still wary of her acute sensitivity, Goro brought his hands to her waist, fingers almost hovering over the black t-shirt.

"You can touch me, you know," Valerie murmured against his lips, lightly nudging the tip of her nose against his.

Aaannd I'm gonna be awful and not tag anyone because I honestly have not been in the fanfic side of fandom much this year and I have no idea who's working on stuff these days. Feel free to take these search words and carry it on, though!

#tumblr: dash games #oc: valerie v powell #c: goro takemura #ship: goro x valerie #g: cyberpunk 2077 #mine: stories #mine: wip #goro takemura #long post

[brianyololau]

11/29/23

Dear Father,

The more I put myself in your shoes, the more disappointed I become.

I can tell you that I'm fine, that I'm over it, but I'm not.

I have yet to feel the full disappointment in you as my father, and the more I open this box, the more I am suffering. Yet, I feel this is something I must see through in order for me to see the truth.

You are trash. See, I am torn between two perspectives. The first is a father who loves his son, though he's not a committed father. The second is the man who has done a lot of wrong that is inexcusable.

You stole money from mom, didn't you?

Once, when I was a kid, she told me a check came home that belonged to her, tax rebate or something I don't remember. It went missing. She initially asked everyone in the household if anyone found the check. You didn't know anything about it.

Mom called the tax department to report it missing. The department told her they'll mail her a new check, but the event will have to go under investigation by the authorities. She warned the household that she's going to report it missing, and an investigation will occur once it happens. That's when you came clean: you stole the money.

I still can't fully understand why you would do that. What kind of a person steals from his wife? A wife whom you share a kid with? Are you that much of a scum bag to steal from your own partner? Are you FUCKING FORREAL?

How am I supposed to forgive that?

From my mother?

That's enough reason to drop you from my life.

Pathetic.

What're you even my father for?

You know, when I asked you what you did with the money after you and mom split the house, I wasn't expecting you to lie through your teeth and say you gave it all back to me through child support.

You literally stopped helping me financially the day after you found out I got a part time job out of high school. It's so ironic that I find it funny. Your reasoning? You wanna save up to put your daughters through karate and Chinese school. Let's see whether you're a man of your word or if you used your daughters as leverage to back out of supporting. Then, we'll really know what kind of a father you are.

 I remember you telling me you would still help pay for my college after I turned eighteen. I guess that was a lie as well. I understand if you’re tight on money. I can support myself, but what kind of a father never hangs out with his son? Most of the time, when you called, it was about money or business. The day I told you I found a part time job after high school, you were happy for me. The next day, you told me to come over to tell me you were no longer going to help me with money. It was a five minute conversation.

The more I see from your perspective, the more betrayal I feel. Not just abandoned, betrayal, since the day you left the house. Honestly, I don't even remember the day that you left. I don't even remember that you did. In fact, I had to learn about it from mom later on what happened and why I wasn't able to see you for a while.

It's like you ran away and decided to stop being a father. Apparently, you didn't contact me until the month right before the law stating you would lose custody of me if you did not contact me within six months.When you called, I was excited to hear from you, glad. I remember asking where you were.

Little did I know that in your mind, you had already taken a backseat in my life.

I don't even know why you came back. The judge made you pay child support. Don't make it seem like you did all of it because you wanted to.

Ever since that day, mom and I only had our family and each other, though I was too innocent to see it. We slept on a bed in the living room of Cau Long's house, 10 of us in that house. We had nothing. Mom worked tirelessly every day to provide a future for me, to get a second loan and buy back our home. She didn't have time to take me to or from school. Why didn't you offer any help? You disappeared for months. You didn't offer to help take me to school either. You left us alone.

That's right. You betrayed your son by abandoning your duties as a father. All of this didn't just appear out of nowhere. It started when I was just a child.

And let's not forget the time you were cheating on mom going on VietFun late at night to chat up girls. Yeah. I checked the history. You didn't do a very good job at hiding it. I even went on it myself when I was a kid for entertainment. Little did I know what all of this would mean until later on.

People say you start to recall your memories around four years old. It's interesting how I was about six during this time, and even then, I knew that what you were doing was wrong.

Mom's not a perfect person either. I'm sure she's done a lot of things to upset you, and I don't know your side of the story. I'd like to hear it, but I honestly don't know if I will believe you. I already think you're full of shit, and you've lost a lot of credibility for yourself as a father.

You know, growing up, I've always looked up to you. I don't know why. I just did. I used to always favor you in front of mom after you guys divorced. She asked me why, and I said because you're my dad. You're the man, so, I have to look up to you. She told me that's not fair, and now I see why. I don't wanna be like you. In fact, you inspire me to not be like you when I have kids.

24 years is a long time and so is 16. That's how long it's been since the divorce, and not once in those 16 years did you ever call me to go eat or hang out. I only spent time with you when I came over every other weekend because it was your legal responsibility.

Mom had to demand you to spend time with me after she found out I hung out by myself in your room while you left. Even then, you took me to the arcade at Nickel Nickel, and after the second or third time going, you left to take a call or to go do some work.

I saw you for a few days out of the month, and you left me all alone inside of an arcade.

What made you wanna be a father?

Surely, it wasn't to leave your kid alone in an arcade or to just let him sit in your room all day. Why do you even love me?

If you love me, then why were you busy for 24 years?

Why did you leave without contacting me for months?

Why did you go to Vietnam every year and come back like nothing happened?

Why did you start a new family without me?

Why have you called to say hi only once this year?

Why did you go behind my back to talk bad about me to your old coworker?

You went to Vietnam for months every year, got married, brought step mom to America, gave birth to two beautiful daughters, and now you've started a new family. And throughout that entire process, you were too busy for me?

You didn't even show up to my high school graduation. I told you over a week in advance. On the day of graduation, you called and told me you were too busy with work to make it. Even Shirley came. 

My father, who knew a week in advance, couldn't set aside a few hours to be there for his son's graduation. In retrospect, I wasn't even surprised when you called. My expectations of you being a father and present in my life were already set to rock bottom standards. Even a phone call to tell me you couldn't make it was good enough for me, but in the back of my mind, I knew it was a lousy excuse from you as a father. I didn’t wanna admit it.

Out of all the times you could've been there for me, you weren’t. In one of the most important moments where you could’ve showed up as my father, you chose work.

When I came over last week, I was going to invite you to my college graduation. I felt it was time for me to finally tell you what I've been wanting to tell you these past few years. Yet, after everything I told you, you still used the same excuse. You're really pathetic for that, and that's why I never invited you.

You couldn't show up to my high school graduation because of work. Now, you're telling me you didn’t have time for me the last 24 years because of work? Why would I invite you again after you gave me the same excuse? Do I look like I enjoy watching you disappoint me? I set my expectations for you as a father so low for 24 years, and even then, you failed them.

I was very close to never accepting you as a father again after I turned 21. I even talked to mom about it. She thinks my life is better off without you. She thinks I should put up a fake smile when I'm around you and pretend like I care.

I said fuck that. You deserve to hear it from me because I'm not putting up with you for the rest of my life.

Whether or not you’re still in my life would make no difference to me. Grandma raised me as a kid more than you did. That’s why I haven’t visited often because seeing you brings me feelings of disappointment. More than that. Spite.

The only reason why I lived with you every other weekend was because the judge made it your legal duty as a father.

I feel like you stopped being a full fledged father to me the day you left mom, and I don’t wanna hear you say “it’s her fault we’re like this” when you can’t take accountability for yourself. This is between me and you.

You left Vietnam every single year for months and would never call to check in on me. but one day you brought home a wife, told me to call her mom, and started a family. and your excuse to make time for me is you’re still too busy? You created a whole new family, but you were too busy for me in 24 years? This is not mom’s fault. it’s YOUR fault that you didn’t try. You’re pathetic and a sorry excuse of a father. I’m not apologizing for how I feel because unless you can give me a less sorry excuse of I’m busy, my judgment on you remains the same.

And if your excuse is still going to be that you're too busy, then I don't see the point in continuing this relationship any longer because I don't believe in your excuse. I don't even think you truly believe it yourself.

The reason why I am speaking to you. because I take accountability for my own life now, and I don’t need you to hold significance over it if you’re gonna teach me how to avoid being a father.

I'm done. I'm done wanting to hate. Just tell me if you wanna still be my father and heal this relationship. If not, then we can both agree that this is as far as our relationship will grow, and I'll have the peace of mind at night knowing I at least addressed this with you and gave you an opportunity to fix it. I don't need a half ass father in my life. I need a fully committed one. it’s better if you were not someone important in my life if you continue to be a half ass father. Now that we’re older, I can't change the past, but I'm willing to move forward with this and maybe salvage our relationship, but it’s up to you how you want to set the stage of this relationship moving forward.

The fact that you haven’t called or texted after I told you I couldn’t believe your excuse says a lot.