#i'm literally going to go and make a model of my dungeon

[gren-arlio]

So, I appear with Madou findings I forgot to give. And Yokai Watch updates.

I was supposed to show this in my last post but forgot to make a section for it, so I'm deciding to do it here, alongside other stuff.

Check it, a popularity poll around the time Saturn released. (The Schezo and Witch artwork.)

It's quite literally a popularity poll. There's the usual, Arle and Schezo being top 2, Witch and Draco in top 5, Satan being 6th, that nonsense. However, as we go down the list gets more interesting. Notably, Kikimora ranked 10 over Lagnus, who ranked 11th.

A few more notable placement is Momomo outplacing Suke (15th to 19th), Skeleton-T being 14th, and 20th being Honey Bee.

Waku Puyo Stuff:

So, a pal (@kirstenonic05 ) and I decided to go through some old Waku Waku Puyo Puyo Dungeon manuals we found online, and honestly? Yielded interesting results.

Waku Puyo Translations takes a super long time. Believe me, I'm working on them.

But with that, here's some of what we found.

Photo of Serilly inside one of these manuals. If you notice, there's some text next to her, so I decided to quickly run through these. The result is:

Serilly: A Rather Timid Mermaid

17 years old

210 CM (so about 6'10 in Ft.)

B: 93 W: 58 H: N/A (all in CM)

Undefined Weight, but likes round things.

A slightly naive girl with a complex due to being legless. She's paranoid that people are out to get her, but is actually lonely and wants friends.

Then after this, we have Harpy.

This stuff is partly in Korean, mostly because the best quality image I could find of this (The ones we had weren't the best,) came from Puyo Chatterbox, so the Japanese text could be easier to read.

Harpy: A Self-Proclaimed "Diva"

14 years old

147 CM (About 4'8 Ft)

B: 75 W: 58 H: 79 All CM

38 KG (About 83 pounds), and likes singing.

A young girl with wings who loves to sing more than anything else. But the heavens never bestow things to one person, and she's frankly bad at it. She's so bad at it, you can complain at the top of your lungs and she won't hear you. No offense given.

And then we got Incubus.

It reads as follows:

Incubus: The Invincible Narcissist

Unknown Age

181 CM (About 5'9)

71 KG (156 pounds)

B, H, and H: I don't want to tell you. (AKA. Undefined.)

Likes cute girls and himself.

A narcissistic Demon who loves any cute girls, no questions asked. Despite being confident in his looks, rumor has it that he wears makeup. According to Arle, he's a pervert like Satan and Schezo. There's really no serious men in this world.

And now, Draco.

So what does her bio say? Well:

Draco: The Energetic Dragon Girl (You could add Kung Fu if wanted...?)

16 years old

162 CM (5'3-ish. Are YOU taller than Draco?)

B and W: 78, with her H being undefined.

She chose to not tell her weight, and likes beauty contests.

A high-spirited half dragon, half human girl in a Chinese dress. She's a fighter of many techniques, has a variety of special moves, and can even breathe fire. Rumor has it, she's gets stronger depending on her popularity. (Or yours.)

And finally, Witch.

Ah, here we go.

Witch: The Tomboy Who Runs Her Own Path (directly doing translations gave me the tomboy of the Witch clan, which is...correct too? Your choice.)

15 years old

158 CM (5'1. Wow. She's short.)

B and H: 81 W: 58

45 KG (99 pounds)

Likes clean clothing and brooms.

A magical girl whose tone is influenced by The Drifters (a Japanese comedy band), with phrases such as "Oops!" and "That won't work!" She has a rivalry with Arle, but for some reason, she has a soft spot for Schezo. (You can also say she's very friendly to him.) She tends to be nosy.

Quick Yokai Stuff:

A while back, I posted the 3D models of the Yokai Watch collab finally being unearthed, so I decided to just quickly find some neat looking stuff.

This thing.

First thing I wanna say about it: Arle is legit part of the metagame. She's unironically amazing.

Second, just some promotional artwork I found of the game. I couldn't find more stuff for Witch for some... unexplainable reason.

(Thank goodness for my friend finding the last image. And also the watermark being noticeable enough.)

And honestly? That'll be all for now. Thanks for reading.

Adios.

#madou saturn #madou monogatari #puyo #puyo puyo #witch puyo puyo #draco puyo puyo #arle puyo puyo #arle nadja #schezo puyo puyo #schezo wegey #satan puyo puyo #puyoposting #japanese translation #yokai watch #Typing all of these individually instead of clicking a button wasnt the best feeling in the world.

[crazydaymycrazyway]

Song Taewon is an amazing character. But I kind of hate him. I mean, I get where his actions come from. Like, in the end it's for the safety of Yoojin. I hated how obsessively protective Yoohyun was of Yoojin. But it mellowed down somehow, and ultimately, he learns how to be protective without having to think if chaining up his brother. And Yoojin was also able to convince him to change his ways. But this man, Song Taewon. I understand how he is afraid of himself and hates himself amd think he's a monster and all, and I do feel for him. I kind of understand him too, like where it's all coming from. But like, it's for your own good so let me just choke you so that you know how dangerous S classes can be, and by giving you this trauma, you'll stay away from them. I understand there's a power imbalance between Yoojin and Yoohyun, and the S class brother can easily abuse the frail one. Taewon's right on that part. But his actions somehow make me think that he wants Yoojin to stay away and be afraid of his younger brother. Like, think about Yoojin's wishes here? Man knows how dangerous it is and he still chose to take the risk, because he knows it's worth it. And it's not like he was fairing any good without Yoohyun anyway. Drinking and smoking away, depression amd stuff (Eventhough it was mostly because of Yoohyun's later actions)

Song Taewon's like, lemme reduce the rank of your skill and proceeds to reduce the one skill that keeps him mentally sane? Like dude, do you know how many nightmares and trauma that fear resistance helps to keep at bay? I know he doesn't know it. But still. He did it so that Yoojin wouldn't come near the S classes and also so that the S classes won't salivate over his doubling skill. He felt the power and exhilaration and he liked it, it was addictive and he got afraid of it because it's hard to control his desire. But dude, it's Yoojin's own skill and he decides what to do with it. I understand if he was going around and murdering everybody or something. But he's literally what? Helping so that dungeon raids become easier and the society could be more at ease? Uprooting the association's corrupt parts? He's using his skills as he pleases without negatively affecting the world. And like, you come and do this sh*t? Who is he to decide this? For Yoojin's protection? Well congrats man, you just made his life more miserable. More nightmares, more trauma and anxiety. Yet he continues to do what he does, this time struggling even more. As if what he faced isn't already enough. You use your skill on another guy for his 'protection' but he cleary doesn't want you to, and you forced it on him. Like, dipsh*t, where's a person's freedom of choice here? What if the skill he deranked was one that reduces the pain he feels and what if Yoojin had some kind of chronic pain? Well, your decision to 'protect' him will cause him to go through hell! Isn't he a guy with self control? Can't he think?! I hated this about him.

But I do understand where he comes from. Doesn't make me hate him any less. It might've been the paranoia or something. And he might've thought it to be the best course of action.

But dude, if I had a dream of being a model, and my dad goes and says it's dangerous for you and there will be creepy people staring at you so you can't be one and forcefully make me chose another path, saying it's for my own protection, am I supposed to feel good? What about what I want to do? My freedom of choice? You can't just force me to do something I don't want to. It's not like I'm causing the society any harm by pursuing my dreams? (Just an example)

Song Taewon's a civil servant, he has duties and a very important role in the stability if the society. I understand. I also understand the inner turmoil he faces. But I hate him.

His dynamic with Yoojin and Sung Hyunjae is quite amusing though. I'm not shipping the three if them, I will never. But it is cute, like I'm introverted and unworthy of love, I'm a monster and the other two go aigoo, who's my little monster, my cuddly bug, you're so sweet, so big and intimidating but so cute. It's funny.

But I hate him to guts. Just my opinion though. I think his character is intresting and a little funny, but that's it.

#the s classes that i raised #song taewon #han yoojin #sung hyunjae #my thoughts on song taewon's actions #based on the latest episode of the manga #i don't like him #just my opinion #his dunamics woth the jinjae couple is funny #i understands him #a little #but i still hate him #I'm ranting cuz I'm frustrated #a rant

[vaingloury]

Disparate Thoughts on Dungeon Meshi

I'm an anime-only watcher, so no spoilers beyond what's currently aired (eps 1-3) + mild map spoilers for a random 3.5e D&D module (Sunless Citadel).

- I'm not the first nor will I be the last to harp on the English localised title but Delicious in Dungeon sucks. I do, however, think going with the "DnD" naming scheme was a nugget of a good idea (let's face it, "Dungeon Food" sucks too). Maybe "Diners in Dungeon"/"Dungeons & Diners" instead (as in those who dine, not a place where one dines). Or "Dungeon Dine" (like "dungeon dive"). Regardless, I'll just be calling it Dungeon Meshi going forward.

- I don't know if this is coloured by me going into this series with the knowledge that Ryoko Kui loves Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 or a wider ripple effect of eastern dungeon-fantasy conventions being shaped by there not being an official Japanese translation of D&D between Basic and 5e, but the world-building's vibe is old-school D&D as hell. It feels like it was written by someone who maybe never got the chance to play the tabletop game much but spent hours poring over the 1e Monster Manual in hopes of getting a campaign off the ground (and ended up penning a manga instead, game scheduling be damned). There's the disarming of traps, feeling for secret doors, and even the iconic red dragon as seen on the covers of the Basic Dungeon Master's Handbook and 1e Monster Manual being the dungeon boss. Design-wise, the dungeon's layout it reminds me a bit of the map from Ruins of Castle Greyhawk or The Sunless Citadel (pictured below, right).

- The main cast is very tropey at the moment. Quite literally all the Basic classes are covered; the generic white man Fighter (Lv 1, no multi-attack yet :P) as the party face, the halfling/thief, the elf/wizard, the missing cleric, the dwarf... This works for this point in the narrative but doesn't make me particularly attached to any of them. They need another overarching obstacle.

- I generally don't like Studio Trigger's output (not the Imaishi-involved stuff anyway; Gridman fucks) but I respect how bouncy their animation usually is. So, I was excited to watch something animated by Trigger but not (originally) written by them. Dungeon Meshi, however, looks static and resorts too often to Dutch angles to maintain visual interest. There's a bit of an art shift in episode 3 where this improves; more fun "off-model" moments, the movements get a little bouncier, more color harmony. Hopefully, this stays and isn't just a guest director fluke. Form the snippets I've seen on the manga, Kui suffers a bit from "draw background killed my grandma", thus her ability to make her simple character designs emote well has to carry the page. The anime does the opposite; super detailed backgrounds but flat shading/lack of texture on the characters creates a need for them to over-emote with a "screen-shake" effect in order to stand out from their surroundings, which I could see getting old fast. The main event, the food, looks better in the anime than in the manga due to colour and animation bringing it to life.

- I don't usually laugh at Japanese comedies because they're either too slapstick for my tastes or too pun heavy for my JP comprehension level. Dungeon Meshi gets a point for making me "lol" more than once.

- Finally, a good panty shot:

- I watched episode 3 dubbed. EN Marcille > JP Marcille (I say this as a stickler for subs). The rest of the dub cast is fine but I'm probably sticking with JP because JP Laios' ability to scream > EN Laios (EN is a great generic white man, though). I'm not familiar with most of the JP voice cast. I think Chilchuck is my fave in JP.

Both languages have little breathing room between lines of dialog and I was hoping the EN dub would play around with the fact that the character speaking isn't necessarily the one on screen (thus less lip-flap matching, especially for Senshi, who has few indicators that he's actually speaking even when he's onscreen) but alas. I'll do another one of these if I have more to say later in the season 🥂

#dungeon meshi #anime blogging #b

[demonfox38]

Completed - Wild ARMs

Man, it really gives the whole plot away to know that Zepet is supposed to be translated as Geppetto. 😅

I was having another indecisive spat on what to play this June, as I wasn't in the mood to play anything in particular. (Decision fatigue gets real bad when you have literally 281 games left to beat between Steam and physical copies. Shit, that's not even getting into mini consoles…) After tossing up another poll online, the series winner for this month turned out to be "Wild ARMs." Now, I've got one mutual that is pretty sweet on "Wild ARMs 3" in particular, but I didn't want to jump right to that, as I know how it can go when you start a series further down the line, then go back in time. Features get rolled back; content gets rougher. (Well, in a world where things are always improving, that's how it goes, anyway.) So, to get a fresh taste of this series, I started with its primary release.

"Wild ARMs" (not to be confused with "Wild Guns") follows the adventures of three travelers seeking to restore life to their dying world via the help of ancient guardians, magic, and technology—at least, when it isn't trying to actively kill them. Standard RPG plot, right? The major twist here revolves around the use of iconography from the American Old West to create a whole new world and set of combat and exploration systems. Does it work? Well…it's weird to see castles and princesses in a story taking aesthetics from the distinctly anti-monarchical United States, but honestly, we're also responsible for the Disney Princess subculture. So, maybe it's not as weird of a mix as it initially seems.

This game is like every RPG and no RPG at all. Like, if you're long in the tooth with RPGs, you'll get it. Aesthetically, it's on par with contemporary titles like "Tales of Phantasia" and "Xenogears," particularly with the latter's mix of anime cutscenes, 2D sprites, and 3D battle models. ("Golden Sun" also shares a similar pseudo 3D model sprite appearance to this game, if you want some more distant connections.) Dungeon navigation and puzzle manipulation feel very "Sweet Home"/"Tales" RPG/"Paper Mario" adjacent, with each party member acquiring a set of tools to use in their environment to make their way forward. Most surprisingly to me, I kept getting this feeling of nostalgia that I have when I play "Tales of Symphonia." Like, yes, tropes get passed around like hot potatoes in this particular genre of games, but holy shit. When you have:

A boy getting kicked out of the starting village due to violence in which he was involved,

A girl struggling with the veneer and duties of her role,

A man hiding his past struggles with letting an important woman in his life down,

A woman obsessed with the magical technology from ancient ruins,

A collection of supernatural entities fighting alongside humans via summon gauges,

A set of four powerful individuals dictating the fate of the planet,

A subquest involving rebuilding a city through your donations,

A unicorn hidden in a lake that turns out to be a component for healing a serious ailment, and

A goddamn giant ass tower serving as the connective tissue between the planet and the heavens…

Like, I didn't do deep research, but I did give a 10 minute flip through MobyGames to see if there was any staff overlap between "Wild ARMs" and "Tales of Symphonia." Finding nobody crossing the lines there was surprising. Some kind of convergent evolution was going on there, I guess! Hell, maybe the only reason I'm fixating on this is because of how integral "Tales of Symphonia" was to my life, and how this felt more "Symphonia"-esque to me than its literal sequel/predecessor "Tales of Phantasia"…

The big unique feature of this game is its focus on ARMs management. No, that is not a typo! In this universe, ARMs stands for Ancient Relic Machines, which are a variety of firearms both realistic and futuristic in nature. Proper management of your ARM inventory can make or break the toughest of battles, so it's worth investing some serious cash (or Gella; weird name, I know) into your main character's weaponry. Upgradable statistics include the firearm's power, accuracy, and ammo capacity. While a handful stand out as particularly useful (given your progress in the story), it doesn’t hurt to upgrade everything.

Oh. By the way. You can make that very easy to do.

The same mutual that first brought this series to my attention also let me know about a super critical game-breaking bug. (Thanks again, @unwontedfemme!) Ya see, games from this era were mostly written up in a combination of pointer languages (C++, most likely) and assembly code. If you are not used to working with pointers, you can make a significant mistake. When fetching the value of a variable, you can accidentally pass the address of where the variable is instead of the value itself. Given that this is usually a large hex value, you can accidentally max out or overflow a variable. I suspect the following bug is a result of that behavior.

In "Wild ARMs"', you can cause an item count max-out to happen by doing the following:

Secure Nx2 Heal Berries (where N is greater than 1), an item you want to duplicate with a stock of 1, and three active teammates.

Get in a battle.

Have Teammate 1 (Rudy) heal themselves.

Have Teammate 2 (Jack) heal themselves.

Have Teammate 3 (Cecilia) swap the inventory position of the Heal Berry and the item you want to duplicate, then back out of the inventory window and attack an enemy.

If you finish the round without exiting the battle, then the second item will duplicate itself to a maximum inventory value of 255, well exceeding the intended stock limit of 99. Chaining this bug can result not only in a shitton of items (and money, if you sell 254 of them off), but this can also aid the player in maxing out character stats and spell slots, as well as helping one character reduce his skills' MP costs all to 1 a piece. Like, damn, right? It's not as easy to do as, let's say, the card swap trick from "Castlevania: Circle of the Moon." But, damned if that doesn't save time grinding! (Although, honestly, I wouldn't recommend stat boosting too much. Don't want to lock yourself out of this method, do you?)

Like, okay. "Final Fantasy VII" had a similar item duplication bug. However, being able to do this from, like, two hours in gives this cheese some extra flavor.

You might be able to make yourself a walking tank in battle, but handling your characters' toolsets may be the metric that culls the wheat from the chaff. I could see a lot of people giving up before the credits hit due to a surprise stealth section with wonky speed boosts. Additional punishing tasks can include finicky positioning with grappling hooks, false item pickups, environmental damage, hidden insta-ejects from the dungeon, and time countdowns to escape certain doom, sometimes even paired with optional (and possibly missable) content. The most excruciating challenges are definitely in optional dungeons, but it's still irksome enough to mention. I probably would have had far less patience with the game had I not been playing it through a locally burned ISO and SwanStation.

Sometimes, I just don't want to drag my PS1/2 out of the basement.

For me, the most troublesome part of handling "Wild ARMs" was getting a grip on Filgaia itself. It definitely doesn't help that the game is bouncing you around from place to place, throwing in random teleporters before you even get a ship. Good luck navigating after that!

Like, look at this in-game map:

Tell me how this is helping you locate anything.

It should probably be noted that several proper nouns and names aren't translated the best here, either. Like, the game's text didn't fall into major grammatical traps until the end of the game. However, some poor translator was having a hell of a time working katakana into English. Several character and demon names were mangled in translation, including a significant chunk of the main cast. Particular offenses were translating Siegfried into Zeikfried, Vambrace (as in, a character's last name and knight title) into Van Burace, demon Belial into Berial, and critical minor character Geppetto into Zepet. Although, to be honest, I kind of like the last one getting name mashed. It makes a particular plot twist regarding his closest main character acquaintance a little more shadowed…

Also, it's kind of fucked up to name Jewish constructs after demons, isn't it? Oops. At least the people and elements based on generalized Native American culture aren't egregiously executed. There are probably a few more war bonnets than is kosher, but that's about the worst that I (an average white girl) can pick up on. Considering they could have easily all been magical space elves or robot demons with this plot's cast, the citizens of Baskar Village are very tame. They're just practicing their own religion, keeping peace on their own island. Alright! Understandable. Definitely better than whatever the hell's going on in "Wild ARMs 2", from what I've heard…

Look. I'm not the person to come to regarding this subject. I want to come by that honestly. I'm just glad when I get something Western flavored out of Japan and don't have to side-eye J. M. Barrie or Walt Disney. Because, ya know…any misunderstanding there are the fault of people like me. The least I can do is try to keep an open eye/mind/heart and let other people know if/when something comes up.

I'm not responsible for this game ripping off Ennio Morricone's "The Ecstasy of Gold", though!

Jabs aside, this game genuinely does have good music. If you want a place to pick and choose some items, this YouTube playlist should get you on your way. Particular tracks of interest include:

Into the Wilderness (the main theme)

Alone in the World

Town

After the Chaos and Destruction

Kishum Flame (teleporter theme)

Courage (Dungeon)

Critical Hit! (the main battle theme)

Wh-What (Zed's Theme, which sounds a bit like something from a "Ganbare Goemon" game)

Lamenting and a Promes;The Demon Tower that Pierces the Heavens; Return to Ashes (vocal arrangements!)

To the Sea of Stars

Holy Mother of Darkness

Morning of the Journey (orchestra arrangement of the main theme)

Honestly, I'm surprised at how thorough this soundtrack is, plagiarism incident aside. It does a better job than the visuals do at meshing the east-meets-west dynamic "Wild ARMs" has going for it. I can't be as glowing about some of the special effects sounds (especially on some of Jack's skills), but the music is solid.

Also? I found myself stopping to take screenshots of several enemies throughout the game. A lot of the enemies are striking. Like, okay. Sometimes, they're just caterpillars and mushrooms. Other times, they're disembodied heads with jagged fangs, bloated demons, delightful clowns, congealed corpses, decapitated soldiers riding chariots, or even spider-legged centaurs. Weird and gruesome? Sure. But, I always appreciate something weird coming after me, even if it's a unicorn with a dog's jaw and a crow's tail. And hell! They found some way to work in a kitsune into a Yeehaw RPG. That has to be worth something!

"Wild ARMs" is a special kind of game. I knew I was in for something good when the game managed to pull a credit drop in the middle of a goddamn funeral march. It is everything I am familiar with, sure, but the emotional beats worked well for me. Of critical note, I didn't feel the need to rush through the game. I was willing to give this game its time, even if I had 280 other games squirming around in the backlog. I can't say every plot point was executed perfectly, but I was sated by the experience. For 30 hours? That's downright economical, as far as an RPG goes.

I'm a little bit baffled as to why this game doesn't seem to have a lot of online groundswell for it. Like, I'm not completely confused. This poor bastard was a sprite-based RPG released in 1997 on the PlayStation. Guess what other game may have been getting more attention. I wonder if the genre flavor may have been off-putting as well. For a long time, Westerns were very out of style for people my generation. Even now, people are going to gravitate more towards a fast-paced shooter rather than an RPG to treat a cowboy itch. I guess those answers are simple enough. Still, it feels shallow.

Oh, well. At least it got to have five games. And a remake, even! That's at least par to the "Breath of Fire" series. Maybe it’s not the best comparison in the world to make, but I'm assuming people at least remember "Breath of Fire" games. And it ended up on the PlayStation Classic, of all things! I mean, that's about as prestigious as being on a doorstop, but it's some kind of accolade. Not even "Castlevania: Symphony of the Night" is on that, and that's one of the most wonderful, beautiful games to ever exist on any console.

If you are a junky for retro RPGs, this game is certainly worth your time! It's efficient and effective with its runtime, managing to meld new ideas and old tropes into its own stew. I'm honestly surprised with how much I enjoyed it. It could be some "Tales of Symphonia" wires crossing over in my head, but hell. It's nice to know there are still gems buried out there. 

#post game evaluation #Wild ARMs

[system-of-a-feather]

Bro honestly? Like this isn't necessarily a tip for other systems to apply cause it can become self destructive and hurtful if it doesn't work and this is a highly experimental thing that works for *us* but a while ago Riku noticed trends and came up with a whole concept of self fulfilling prophecies and how that probably works with DID and its all like, human brain correlation shit and not actually research based

But our system has been operating fully with that concept / model in mind and how that shit impacts how our DID works and crap and in short and very very butchered version, we think DID and your symptoms / changes in the system will inherently reflect what you feed it as DID works on a very subconscious level of trying to make sense of a crazy world with a shit ton of trauma and amnesia, so making sure you keep the shit you feed your DID clean is important

And so that expands to a lot of moments of uncertainty - whether we have a new part, whether a thing will work, whether or not XYZ is one thing or the next - if we are in a place where its subjective and/or up in the air, we can work within the realm of the realistic place we are in and just play into whatever fucking narrative we'd like so long as it isn't OOC for whatever story the DID Dungeon Master is DMing

So like we are tackling the driving issue our system has and that is primarily banking on me not being affected by the anxiety-dissociation loop Riku and most other parts experience (a based hypothesis since I don't really experience anxiety properly and I'm more "grounded") and that checked out and honestly I kinda like it

So an on going system meme was "watch we go from being disabled and unable to drive out of mental illness and anxiety and dissociation to it being one of our largest coping mechanisms cause XIV gets addicted to driving; then we change our disability to a monetizatable coping mechanism" and Riku over there was just like "wait but what if it doesn't work like that" and Im just like "Nah of course itll work like that because thats how XIV brain operates and XIV just is. Why WOULDNT it work that way?"

And I originally made the DnD reference as a joke that was meant to be a one off, but with the theory in mind its literally just like living our life with an anonymous DM piloting our lives and thus we play our ideal symptom presentations like a player character rolling for checks of what they want to do. If you put it out there and dedicate to the bit, you can roll and have a chance of it going your way or going AMAZINGLY better than your way; and theres a chance itll be rejected but like

I just look at our brain and I go "I'm going to end up addicted to driving as a coping mechanism" and the DID brain will roll a dice

It helps if its already in character cause my trait of "prone to movement based coping" adds +3 proficiency to coping by driving and that my car is made to get me attached and grounded which is +1 proficiency and then my tendency to get extremely attached and positively triggered by inanimate objects adds a +1 proficiency as well and THEN you add the fact I can listen to music loudly is a +3 boost so like.... thats a +8 to whatever I roll.

So long I don't completely choke my D20 roll for being addicted to driving, then this is OBVIOUSLY gonna work this way.

So like... *shrugs*

Also yes this derailed entirely and I will not apologize.

-XIV

#alter: xiv #actuallydid #dissociative identity disorder #shitpost #wasnt meant to be one #but it became one

[fallloverfic]

Solo Leveling Episode 10 Thoughts

This episode was wonderful! Spoilery thoughts for the anime, novel, and manhwa below:

The scene with Lee Joohee is really well handled, and so sad, especially with the extra anime info about how terrible her mother is... I feel really bad for her in a whole new way. She goes back to them in the manhwa as well (and I think in the novel, it's been a while), but since we didn't know about her family, it wasn't as bad, and felt like a needed break. This way... goodness, this is all kinds of sad.

I still think Joohee was massively underused as a character. I'm not sure if Chugong just decided she wasn't going to be the endgame love interest or what and just moved her out because of that, but the way her whole arc is handled is quite strange, other than maybe like... showing how damaging the dungeon system is in regard to PTSD. Which is a valuable story to tell, it'd be weird if no one else was broken this way (though Min Byunggu and clearly Choi Jongin have this, and Jinwoo and Sung Jinah deal with it to some extent), but Joohee just... she's not handled well at all. The story has things to say about ableism and how mental health is treated in our society. It's just kind of confusing at times.

Han Songyi, you are a child lol I love her still, but she is a child. Acting very much like a high schooler, though, thinking she can take on anything and adults always underestimate her.

I still really love this idea that they do this in a way to help out people who can't raid on their own/would have a hard time joining raids, especially the injured guy. Makes me think of poor Han Yoojin in S-Classes That I Raised, pre-regression...

Yoo Jinho, you are so silly even your husband doesn't take you seriously aldkjaldjal I always thought this back and forth was funny alkdjalj

Jinwoo wowing everyone with his l33t skillz. 4eVR in this section is lovely. Seeing Jinwoo be excited is wonderful :3

The White Tiger recruitment team arrives lol I was wondering if they'd get cut for some reason, given Woo Jinchul is taking up even more time in the anime than he did in the manhwa, and he absorbed a lot of their presence in the manhwa. But nope! Welcome, anime versions of Ahn Sangmin and Hyun Kichul!

Choi Jongin having nightmares of Jeju, poor guy T-T Love that angst, though. Thank you so much for adding this, anime. Bless my sad fire man.

Just beautiful. His Japanese VA does an amazing job.

Sangmin's model looks really nice in the anime. I love how they drew his sideburns and bangs.

Ah yes, we also get an incredibly unnecessary random female passerby ass shot like her skirt has been absorbed by her butt. Lest we forget this adaptation is an action-adventure series probably targeted at the shounen market made in Japan. As I recall, in the webnovel, Kichul does get busy chatting up women at some point (I thought it happened during this scene, but I can't find it looking back, so maybe my memory is just messy with how bad the novel overall is with women a lot of the time).

Sangmin just opening his mouth to a strange hunter aldkjaldja This whole continuing aspect of the story is still so ridiculous alkdjlaj I don't recall it being explained in the manhwa, but in the novel, Jinwoo discovers that he can't give potions he buys to other people to use. They literally disappear. But other people can take them. They just can't hold the bottles. So he has to feed it to them himself, and they can't see the bottles when he doesn't lol He also doesn't want people to see him pulling stuff out of his inventory cause inventory isn't a thing other Hunters have here.

I still love Jinwoo getting one over the stalkers, ahem, scouts. He's so creative, love him. Make the scouts second-guess crossing you :3

Ahhhh finally get Igris next episode T-T So excited. The boi at long lasttttt :333

Excellent episode!!!!

More episode thoughts:

S01E05

S01E06

S01E07

S01E08

S01E09

S01E10 (you are here)

S01E11

S01E12

#solo leveling #solo leveling spoilers #fallfthoughts #나 혼자만 레벨업 #sung jinwoo #lee joohee #only i level up #excellent episode #ahn sangmin #hyun kichul #choi jongin #yoo jinho #han songyi

[moinsbienquekaworu]

@ivory-coronet I've kept playing TotK and oh my god do you want to hear literally every thought out of my head on the topic?

BEWARE OF TOTK SPOILERS ALL YE WHO ENTER HERE

First I love all the little newspaper quests they're silly but they're fun and it's pretty nice going everywhere doing random shit that in like a third of cases are just the Yiga trying to fuck with you. I'd say Penn is useless but actually I think we're splitting the work pretty well: I do all the fieldwork and he writes the articles and gives them to Traysi! Great partnership. I just need the Gerudo Stable and I'll be done, but Ihope you can do stuff with him once the questline is over.

Also I can't help but notice you have way more of an impact on the world in a way? The NPCs remember you, they know who you are more often, I saw the two horse researchers and since I'd already talked to Malanya I got to tell the one who was interested in him that he did indeed exist, it's really really cool. And the rebuilding quests!! The Rito Village bridge! The Lookout Landing mini-stable!! The monster-control crew stuff!!! I really feel like I'm not just doing random sidequests for a reward but that I'm actually contributing to the world and the world knows it.

On the topic of the Wind Temple: it was great, you were right it didn't feel like an annoying dungeon! More like a traditional dungeon but not annoying like they usually are to me. It took me uuuh humiliatingly long to realise you had to use Tulin's gusts of wind on the turbines even though the Sage just straight up tells you to do that lol. The Sages stuff is incredible and I'm absolutely delighted by the fact that I've done a quarter of what was the main quest in BotW but I still don't know what's going to happen at the end of the game. In BotW you just knew where the final boss was and how things would more or less go from the end of the tutorial but here I'm still kind of at a loss. Like there's the Sages but there's also the Depths and the ruins in Kakariko! That said one of my friends who's also playing it said he stumbled upon the Mastersword and the final boss at random just exploring so uh. That must have been weird.

Plus on the topic of the Rito I need to be insane about this to as many people as possible because I was a Revalink kinda girl and I won't forget my roots: when Tulin gets the Great Eagle Bow after the temple... Babe that's MY bow!!! Give it to me it's MINE!!! It does 3x28 damage and it has a great design!!! I got it by beating the dungeon and saving your village almost alone last time!!!! I knew Revali and I wam/am a Champion too!!!!!! IT'S MY BOW GIVE IT BAAACK!!! Make your OWN bow Tulin!!!!! No for real I would be so happy to make a new group for the Sages and Link and make some fabric we can all wear and he can put it on his own bow someone made for him/helped him make but you gotta hand that back baby it's mine!!!!!!

Also I've been to see the Zoras as well and I'm at the entrance of the temple but not there yet so I won't say anything about the dungeon itself but 1) god Sidon.... dreamy sigh. Also 2) Yona isn't that ugly people are just mean. She's great she's sweet and she grew on me real fast. And 3) I really do not care about Finley's appearance relating to her quest in BotW I think it's some fun background stuff but I'm disappointed they didn't give her an older model like they did for Kass' kids. Like she's been waiting for that growth spurt for years now Nintendo just let her gain a few inches!!

Anyway what I want to talk about is the way they handled BotW's existence & a little bit its themes, which I personally think is the biggest flaw of the game. No mention of the Divine Beasts no mention of the towers or the shrines there's some stuff about the Calamity but it's rare I'm sooo mad like I was there for all of it!!! Why are you not saying anything!!!! We can't be forgetting history like three-five years after it happened!! I know they didn't want new players to the franchise to be lost but it's offensive Purah doesn't mention Sheikah tech when explaining the towers it's offensive the Zora chest armour's description just goes 'made by a Zora princess for her future husband' like the Zora princess in question wasn't Link's childhood best friend and he wasn't supposed to be the future husband it's offensive there's no mention of Revali anywhere except the landing is still called Revali's Landing when he had extremely similar powers to Tulin and Teba spent his childhood talking about the legendary champion to him and he has his damn bow in his back!!!!!! I'm so mad!!!! Why Nintendo why!!!

And when I said themes I meant that I'm sad the Sages are all descendants of the original Sages. Cause see the new champions all occupied the same roles as the old champions (greatest Rito warrior, Zora royalty, Gerudo chief, Goron boss (to be)) but while the others all were descendants of the OGs Teba wasn't. It said something about the characters and their villages and what they all valued. And now we're totally forgetting Revali when he's relatively recent (100 years compared to like 5 000) and had similar powers because "what if the player hasn't played BotW". Honestly it made me feel like the shitty 180 the Star Wars sequels pulled with Rey where the message was that whoever her family was didn't matter because she got to decide her own path and - oh wait no her grandpa was Palpatine it was always meant to be fuck off. Like none of them need to be related to the OG Sages but if Sidon or Riju are it's at least coherent with the fact their tribes (?) both seem to have a hereditary thing going on with their leadership. But Tulin really doesn't!! The Ritos don't work like that!! The point was hard work!!! I'm so mad about this one. Note that I don't say anything about Daruk and Yunobo because Yunobo is sweet but Daruk's personality is flatter than a sheet of paper in BotW, especially compared to AoC. I guess at least Mipha's statue is still there and they namedrop her once really badly :)))

Anway I also went to the Depths because I need that camera and it caused me worse stress than walking around Central Hyrule at the start of BotW. So. Not hyped to have to go there more.

There that's it I think but if you have more stuff to chat about don't hesitate to answer or to hit me up 👀 👀👀

#in order i talk about the journal stuff - general stuff - wind temple - wind temple - the zoras - me ranting x2 - the depths #i'm really having fun with it it's so cool #i need the game to uncurl its grip on me i have things to do that aren't totk :')))) #wow i have a ramble tag now

[hankwizard]

Pieces Of Media I Consumed Recently

because i have accepted i cannot, for the life of me, do this in an organized fashion lol

CHAINSAW MAN('s anime)

I read the manga obsessively the moment I heard the premise. I grew up in the era of self-referential, masturbatory, whedon-istic media where no show or comic could just be unapologetically itself without getting weird and "haha isnt it DUMB we're making this?" the whole time. A manga about a guy turning into a chainsaw that is absolutely about a dude who turns into a chainsaw fucking appeals, okay?

Anyways. This is about the anime. The anime almost feels like a film at times- the characters move very.. Realistically. Very on model, which worked in some ways but made it a bit less expressive in others. It didn't have the punk charm of the manga, but otherwise? Steller presentation. I like how the anime further emphasizes that Denji is a kid- giving him more childish mannerisms (such as the infamous scene with himeno) that really hammers home the point of his character- that he's just a manipulated kid who wants some kind of normalcy and, most of all, love.

CHAINSAW MAN('s manga. part 2)

It makes me feel like the absolute joker watching how well thought out Asa is as a protagonist. Traumatic experiences can strip us of our identities- make us feel like all we've done is survive, and therefore, that's all we can do, so watching Asa fret over being a bore and be unable to connect to others without worrying about how things will crumble down is just a delight. I love her. Denji is also great so far! He's just so tired. This part's art has so much subtle improvement and once again Fujimoto is delivering bangers. Yoshida is never beating the yaoi allegations.

FEAR AND HUNGER: TERMINA

The fun thing about autism is that it forces you to enjoy things in the most "yeah this is my life now" of ways, which is fine when your interests are something normal you can explain to people like "dungeons and dragons" or "sailor moon" and not Termina, a game that makes you genuinely debate not if you should sever your enemy's leg, but which one.

Termina is crazy. A survival horror rpg where death is punishing, limbs can be lost AND trans women can do necromancy? It's great and it's terrifying. There's literally an entire area that I avoid because it freaks me out so bad so I GENUINELY take the long way everywhere to avoid it every time.

It's one of those games where any enemy can not only kill you, but maim you in ways that fundamentally change how you play the game. Dealing with enemies is a puzzle: how do you approach them? Do you deal with them now so you never have to deal with them again? Do you run around so you can wait until you're stronger? Do you shoot them from afar or save the precious ammo for something even worse?

It's a special kind of satisfying, but definitely not a game for everyone. I'd recommend reading the content warnings, as it's a dark fantasy with dark fantasy themes. It's also a game for adults only, no exceptions. Feel free to message me if you want to know about any content in the game that isn't listed out in the warnings on the store page. I might make a larger blog post about it later.

SHAMELESS

Ok, at first I really liked it! It's very funny, the characters are very well written, and it's very captivating... But I'm going to be real, the amount of Leering Shots Of Teenage Girls in what I watched of this show is enough to drive me bananas. I don't want to look up the sixteen year old girl's skirt, netflix, I'm ambiguously in my mid twenties. The show's insistence on making me look at karen naked ruined it for me. It didn't even feel like it was saying anything? It just kept happening!!! Anyways, tl;dr, shameless is not for me.

VELMA

So, listen. I need to admit something: I've been deep in the Western Cartoons Discourse Trenches since I googled "My Little Poney Forums" as a young teenager. I never really participated, but I'm aware of the cycle of Discourse that happens whenever a show Like This comes out- a show with marginalized characters that isn't very good, or at least is perceived as such.

I watched Sacrificial Trash and you should too

What generally happens is an outpour of outrage and criticism that's 10% warranted, 30% nitpicky and 60% literal actual bigotry. You end up with a lot of video essays of Yelling Men With Glasses that makes me, a contrarian hipster, really interested in proving the internet wrong and actually Enjoying The Thing.

After watching all of Velma, my verdict is:

I Enjoyed Watching It But Would Not Recommend It To Most

The show is funny! It's visually incredible! It has a fun plotline! It has a lot of nods to older Scooby Doo cartoons that I, as a Child Born After 1960, Enjoy! And I like basically every main character and most of the side characters...

Except... It has two massive, glaring issues in its writing. Two major themes that not only make the show nearly unrecommendable to most people, but also revolve around the worst character in the show, Velma herself.

To start, this show has a massive, gaping problem with self-hating anti-indian racism.

Every time Velma's ethnicity is brought up, it's made out to be a gag!! It's to make fun of her!! She's called an ugly gorilla constantly!!! She's made fun of for being hairy!!! And it's never addressed!!! It's just a running gag that Velma hates being Indian and so does everyone else. It's very uncomfortable. I was hoping it'd tone down but it doesn't. The show doesn't even seem all that aware that her self hatred about her own culture and her ethnic features is... a bad thing? It's very strange. I know a lot of south asian people who refuse to watch the show or didn't continue past episode one because of this and MAN. I get it.

The show also has a bit of a misogny problem, which is weird because it tries to be feminist at times? With Fred learning to appreciate women for more than their appearances, which was nice, but the amount of times femininity and appearance gets conflated with being dumb and vapid is... a lot. And the show seems half aware that this is bad while also just. keeping on doing it. And Velma is usually the one being misogynistic throughout the show, and while they kinda try to develop her past it, it doesn't feel like the show takes it seriously as a theme.

Anyways. If you watched and went "man, this show was very well produced and beautifully executed in its visuals!" like a huge nerd, please know that Amy Winfrey, creator of Making Fiends and a director for both Tuca And Bertie AND Bojack Horseman was the supervising producer and I highly advise checking her out.

PS: Glenn Howerton should do more voice work

#lizardposting

[explosivebubble]

Ch 5, Prologue V : Cutest Farewell

The sudden change in tone and having stopped the dungeon raid had alarmed many viewers, some old viewers have never seen him this serious before, already speculating what the announcement was about. He informed everyone to inform every fan they knew, whether it was through social media or real life, though this only made them more worried, they faithfully did as he said.

His Vtuber model had reverted to his oldest model, the one he first used when he debuted. Though he used it occasionally for nostalgia, this time he's using it for the last time, looking back at the friends and memories he's made as a Vtuber.

As someone who never revealed personal information about himself to his viewers or even the Vtuber friends he's made, he's always been really distant compared to other Vtubers, having never revealed his face or voice to anyone, no one had any information about his real identity due to his thin online presence before becoming a Vtuber.

The only thing that revealed his true self were the times in the past when he acted his age and gender habitually, having turned that from a mistake to a quirk of his that everyone enjoyed. Though it caused a bit of a controversy about his real identity being male and losing him a lot of fans at the time.

Those who stuck around loyally without caring about his true gender built the foundation of his career and now he was literally the oldest Vtuber still currently active and not having the person behind him replaced or changed, it had been 23 years since he had started Vtubbing and today was his final day.

Shaking himself out of his reverie, he looked down at the viewer count, and while having expected it slightly, he was still shocked to see over 900,000 viewers currently watching. It had only been 15 minutes since he'd asked everyone to spread the message, the viewer count still increasing until it finally hit a million viewers.

He was relieved he'd turned off the donation function on his stream, no longer having a use for money in this world. He wouldn't have accepted donations even if he was graduating normally, not wanting to exploit his fans.

"Hey everyone, thank you all for coming, I rather not leave you all in suspense about my announcement and so I'll just say it out outright. I'm graduating today." His voice trembled while saying that line, in slight disbelief that something he's done for nearly half his life would end so suddenly.

He felt guilty at having forgotten his fans and his Vtuber friends, being so eager to another world without even thinking about them. His once unrealistic dream had come true, and it was enough to overwhelm him and make him forget about his old world and the connections he's made.

His fans were shocked as expected, this announcement coming from out of nowhere. Ironically, despite being the oldest Vtuber ever active, information about him was very scarce, as he still kept up an act in front of other Vtubers regardless of fan presence. He had never revealed his voice or met any other Vtubers in person, only having given them his information on an online chatting app.

Messages zoomed across one of his monitors a mixture of confusion, grief, denial and a whole slew of other negative emotions could be felt from every message.

"I know this came out of left field, I didn't even get time to prepare for it." It is uncommon for Vtubers to officially graduate without prior notice, most of them having their graduation notice announced way before their actual graduation with the time in-between being a sort of acceptance and farewell period for fans and viewers.

"I was suddenly whisked away in the middle of the recent gaming stream and was offered a chance by some otherworldly being to go to another world and be granted powers...I'm sorry everyone but I couldn't say no..." The guilt was visible on his face and on his Vtuber model as well, he was genuinely guilty about his decision and the fact that he didn't change it despite knowing he was a massive pillar of support for a lot of his viewers and fans.

The otherworldly being stated that he could do anything for these 24hrs and would still be sent to the otherworld, confirming now that sharing what he experienced allowed as well. He knew they wouldn't forget to tell players such an important rule.

He didn't hesitate to share the actual reason behind his graduation despite the absurdity of it as he was well known to always be in character and never talked about his actual life, his fans would either play along or make relations to reality if possible, some of them probably thinking he had gotten a once in a lifetime job opportunity he couldn't reject.

It was ironic that such an unbelievable statement was the only thing that was true and was actually directly related to his actual life, he wanted to share his life to his fans for the first and last time, regardless of if they believed him or not.

While the tone of his chat had not totally shifted, still being quite negative about his graduation, there were some who had suddenly flipped their tones, being supportive and happy for him, even playing along with his 'act'.

He changed the chatbox in his view to only show a certain group of fans, his most loyal fans who's been consistently watching him for at least 5 years and was part of his paid channel membership, they all had colourful borders that differentiated them from normal viewers and normal channel members.

There were over a thousand loyal fans who were dedicated enough to have been part of his membership for over 5 years. They were so loyal that only a hundred or so were currently unavailable and not watching his stream.

Unlike the normal chat that was a mix of emotions and messages, all of his loyal members were sending out messages of support and approval, though the messages were mixed with some sadness at him graduating, all of them were able to tell that his next stage in life was something very positive.

"Thankfully, the otherworldly being allowed me to stay for another 24hrs and say my goodbyes, so I'll be doing a non-stop stream for the next 23hrs! We'll be playing nostalgic games, reminiscing on big events from my Vtuber career and a load of other fun stuff! I won't ask you to stay around the whole time but I hope you'll stay as long as possible! I won't delay, so let's start my final stream!"

With that, for the next 23hrs, he had gone through as much of his Vtuber life as possible, from playing multiple nostalgic games in his career to multiple separate Karaokes singing many of his original songs and well-known song covers, he had several different Vtuber models that covered different personas and they each had several costumes, having to constantly change his personality every so often was tiring but would also be the last time he'd be doing it.

The stream had not dropped in views over the hours but instead had steadily increased as the news of his sudden graduation was shared all over the internet, having jumped from one million to over three million concurrent viewers. He had also gotten multiple calls from several of his Vtuber acquaintances and friends on his chatting app, they all showed a variety of reactions to his graduation.

There were those who cried from immense sadness, those who were angry at his poorly planned graduation and those who wished him the best of luck in the future, a lot of them were extremely hesitant at ending the call, knowing that would be the final time they would be able to say their goodbyes, none of them having met him in person, but they all eventually did if only to allow others to call him and say their goodbyes.

There was only less than five minutes left until he would be whisked away to another world, he was currently finishing his impromptu concert in his room using his virtual reality equipment, as there was no way he had time to book his usual venue for a proper concert with proper equipment.

His room was quite empty in the middle as he frequently played VR games and did 3D streams. After finishing up his last song, he addressed the three million viewers in his chat, from his fans to those wanting to be part of this historical moment for Vtubers.

"Hello everyone, I'll be going to the other world very soon and wanted to speak to you all one last time, from my fans to my friends in the Vtuber community, to everyone else currently watching, I hope I'll be able to meet you again someday and hope you continue having fun and joyful experiences even without me. Farewell everyone, the cutest Vtuber in the world signing out!"

With that, he ended the stream, looking around his room one last time, he closed his eyes waiting for his transference to his new world.

Not long after, a family's home had its final member leave this world.

---

12:32 PM

A young man in his early twenties stared at the time displayed on his holo-watch, he was visibly nervous and fidgety, his eyebrows scrunched up in worry and his fists were clenched tightly.

"Staring at the time wouldn't do you any good kid, you'll just get yourself all worked up." An artificial voice sounding like a middle-aged man sounded out throughout the hover-taxi, making the young man jump in his seat.

"Y-you're the taxi's AI, aren't you? Judging by your advice and you knowing my destination, I'm guessing you know what I'm nervous about huh?" The young man had been a bit surprised as he'd never seen the taxi's AI speak to you without you first addressing them unless it was something important. He'd spoken to a few taxi AI's before just to pass time and curiosity about their social proficiency, but it was the first time one had started a conversation by itself.

"It's as clear as crystal, we AI are programmed to recognize signs of stress or discomfort in our customers and would speak to them to attempt some form of comfort or give advice. It's shown to be very effective."

"You have children, sir?" He asked jokingly, thinking the AI sounded just like an experienced father, though he would take any advice he could get.

"Just the one, but the amount of trouble he gave me is comparable to a dozen children, that's for sure." The AI replied nostalgically, giving a short chuckle.

"I remember when I was around your age, I rushed to the hospital without giving myself any time to cool down, making the nurse in charge of my wife forcefully lead me out of her room, saying that my panicked and excitable mood would only negatively affect my wife and the birth." The AI said bitterly like it had actually gone through that situation.

The young man should have expected to receive such an answer, knowing these taxi AI had different personas mimicking archetypes of real people, along with memories and life experiences they would share when conversing with customers.

He was unsure if these were personas and memories of real people or just faked, but they were enough to be believable. He was already much calmer than just a few moments ago, thankful for the person who had implemented such a feature into the taxi AIs.

"Take my small bit of advice and cool down with some tunes, you'll be there much earlier than I was, any requests?"

"That's alright, I like what's playing anyways." He smiled thankfully, knowing that the AI could see it. He decided to take their advice, leaning back into the seat, crossing his arms and closing his eyes to enjoy the soothing music playing.

The taxi arrived at a hospital half an hour later, stopping at the entrance. The young man woke up from his short nap re-energized, quickly exiting the taxi after thanking the taxi AI for the advice, and briskly walked into the hospital.

Though he was still rushing, he was much calmer and relaxed after getting his thoughts sorted with the nap he had taken, after checking in at the counter he made haste to his wife's room and calmed his nerves on the way, not wanting to take the risk of kicked out of the room from being too frantic.

Approaching the room, he saw his wife's manager sitting outside with her usual blank expression, only nodding to him in acknowledgement. Knowing that no words needed to be spoken as he nodded back before facing the door.

With three heavy knocks on the door, it was shortly answered by a female nurse and the agonizing screams that only sounded a bit like the love of his life. He flinched upon hearing the harrowing wails mostly due to them suddenly streaming out of the soundproof room.

"Mr Lanixer I presume? Please come in, and make sure to keep calm and collected as the birth takes place, she's only two hours into labour so expect the next few hours to be the most tiring ones in your life" The nurse quickly said before she turned back to continue her duties.

He quickly entered the room and closed the door behind him, going to his wife's side, softly calling out her name as she continued to scream from the pain, placing a hand on her cheek and the other holding her hand. 

"Paela? I'm here, I'm here now honey..." He called out to her gently, whispering into her ear so he wouldn't have to shout through her screams. 

"Ae-Aereon? Y-you're here...thank the heav-Hnggg AAHHHH!!!" Paela weakly responded when she heard the voice of her loved one, giving a small strained smile as she attempted to hold back her screams.

"I'm here now so there's nothing to worry about, don't force yourself to talk to me and just let it all out, I'm not going anywhere." He reassured her with a warm tone, making Paela relax a little before she returned to screaming at full volume.

The next few hours, as the nurse had said, truly were the most exhausting hours he had experienced in his life.

---

Join the discord for chapter previews and more! https://discord.gg/JbMr9wRX7K

#fantasy #cute #isekai #sci fi & fantasy #action #adventure

[herssian]

hey would you recommend World of Warcraft or FFXIV for a newcomer? I know you play both but I've barely ever touched online games and I'm conflicted

i love WoW and have upwards of a million characters in the world, i’ve actively roleplayed and gotten fully immersed in the universe... but FFXIV is fifty times friendlier to newcomers and you actually get to enjoy a linear story with properly introduced lore etc. i had to do my own research to understand warcraft's lore when i very first started playing the expansions. you don't get to enjoy the story fully unless you either a) have been playing for years or b) go out of your way to learn the overarching story. that’s not to say it’s TOO HARD to do that or even all that importany but it’s still an extra step outside playing the game

if you don’t have as much time or patience to be fully emerged into a universe, WoW allows you to pick up a class and play without having you go through quests giving a reason behind literally everything. it’s a double-edged sword and depends on what you like. it's my first mmorpg love, it just lacks in the rpg aspect as much as it pains me

if, however, you want to focus on the story, i highly suggest you go for ffxiv first. it plays like a high quality offline game except the portions that require dungeons/raids etc, and even then people are super accommodating and helpful to new players. not everyone is like that but compared to the warcraft playerbase, it’s NOTICEABLY less present. you also get a sprout icon by your name when you’re new until you’ve played sufficiently enough so people know to give you more leeway when you want to watch a thirty-hour cutscene before a dungeon so they have to camp it out in front of the boss (and it’ll happen. multiple times)

WoW:

friendlier if you want to smash and dash without much thought

faster leveling (since 2020)

a lot more races, ability to choose faction sides if you want to have a mortal enemy

so many elf variations. big elves, small elves, purple elves. pick an elf to annoy your local elf hater today

tanks and healers aren’t locked in their roles, they can change between three specs to allow them to dps in any grouped content which doesn’t happen in ffxiv. damage classes can tank if they forego god

the content is overarchingly easier to do. both games are easy but WoW forgives mistakes readily and has become a lot less death prone

the transmogrification system (to make your armor look like you want despite what you actually have equipped) is in my opinion better implemented here and a lot easier. might not be notable to you but if i don’t look like the hottest bitch in a game then it’s simply not worth it !

you can name your companion pets whatever you want

FFXIV:

amazing story

let me repeat that

the story WILL kick your ass. it’s personal to your character and has stakes. incredibly well thought-out, ever developing npcs

the music slaps so hard they should be charging you more for the subscription

one character can level any and all classes

housing! you, too, can now put a giant ass flying rat with a glowing tail in your garden and scare the shit out of everyone ❤

catgirls. catboys. cåtte

ACHIEVING FLYING WITH YOUR MOUNTS IS A LOT EASIER AND DOESN’T REQUIRE YOU TO SPEND ALL YOUR YOUTH ON UNLOCKING IT, BLIZZARD

soft spoilers but at some point your mortal enemy becomes a calvin klein model who’s horny for fighting and thinks you’re best friends? try to surpass that

if you play a lalafell you get a direct connection to satan that allows you to freely kill other players, devour their essence and ascend into godhood

notable con: the base game and starting portion can be very tiring to some people due to the sheer amount of quests. i personally enjoyed it but it might not be your thing

you can give warcraft a try until lvl 20 for free, and ffxiv now lets you try out the entirety of A Realm Reborn (base game) PLUS the first entire expansion all for free (insane amount of content to do without paying anything). give both a try and make up your mind, just make sure you allow some time to get used to the world/controls/classes :-)

#asks #ffxiv #WoW #/ long post #Anonymous

[slutsofren]

⭐️Director’s cut on Rhysand’s reaction to what reader was wearing in chapter 20?🙃🙃

& how he felt when he saw her safe 🥺🥰

oh man i love love love director's commentary asks!!

i hope you don't mind anon but i saved this lil ask for after i revealed the story behind the armor, i did not want to spoil it for anybody who hadn't read that chapter but now that chapter 21 has been posted for a few days, i can go into much much more detail than before!

under the cut because OH SHIT

i want to start this off by saying this whole bit about the armor and enver was honestly something i hadn't planned when i first explored the idea of the high lady of cunning. i knew i wanted to model an armor for reader based off the armor my dungeon and dragons character wears with the vines and leaves but when i was at literally fucking disneyland of all places, i was in the queue for haunted mansion and saw one of the tombstones said "Reseer" and it stuck with me for days after i came home. after repeating it to myself i discovered the turkish name enver and that's when i began to build this narrative, connecting three things:

the mating bond with a hot new take on it, the weight of significance for the mating bond to be built on, and rhysand's past with enver as a whole.

finally, idk about yall but if im gonna be alive for centuries, you bet im gonna chuck out heteronormative biases and just live freely so that was also a bonus way to explore sexuality within Fae and Illyrian culture and furthermore push Mor's plot away from being sexually repressed/assaulted and do something entirely else with her.

now that that is all out of the way-

so first i'm going to start with how he felt when he saw reader safe, back in the townhouse after returning from finding his mother's ring.

i pointed out that mor was the first to return and notice reader missing, then alerted the other inner circle members to their absence. rhys was very alarmed and understandably panicked, because as we know now- rhys already had very strong inklings of reader and him having more than just the bargain bond but also the mating bond which i can talk more about in later chapters or other directors cuts if anybody asks.

but for now, he was feeling very angry and worried, almost feared that tamlin had done something like kidnapping them from his townhouse which made him feel almost violated again- that somebody who he is falling in love with was taken from a home that was supposed to be safe, from a city that was supposed to be safe. he wasn't thinking right.

so, when reader returned, when he smelled them, felt their presence, he moved without thinking. he threw himself into reader just to make sure they were there, really there and it was not an illusion. to simply say he was relieved would be a disservice. he was grateful, nearly made broken by their presence and safety. but then he saw it- the armor.

Once more he asks, “Where were you?” Rhysand then took in the light armor you wore and his face scrunched up in shock then morphed into confusion. “What are you wearing?”

this is the moment he realizes what they're wearing and it takes him by surprise. he thought it was lost to time, never to be seen again. he doesn't fully understand just how or where reader ended up with the armor until they say it was a gift from that meddling suriel. that's when-

He came back closer to run a finger down one of the designs on your shoulder, tracing the vines and leaf pattern that danced across the leather. His voice was thick, heavy, as he said, “It’s beautiful on you.”

his heart aches for the man he once loved, enver was the previous owner of these charmed leathers and it's then when rhysand finally accepts that reader is his new mate, that the cauldron blessed him with another chance at happiness and it fucking terrifies him but he silently swears to himself that he will do this the right way. he will tell you about the bond and he will protect you until his last breath even if you don't accept him.

he will not another one of his beloveds die again, that's when he drinks that hard whiskey and his voice is heavy, nearly desperate with this promise on his tongue.

bonus because i am feeling generous

Rolling your shoulders back, the pauldrons making a slight crinkle noise at the movement. The noise seemed to snap everybody out of their hypnotic state and Cassian finally moved closer to you, gently touching the leather of your new armor before looking to Rhysand then back to you. The flash of movement was almost so quick you nearly missed it.

in this scene, cassian is the only one reader sees who notices the armor and looks to rhysand to kind of... check in on his lifelong friend. he knows the significance, the weight, of this, knows what the armor means.

cassian and azriel were there when the mating bond snapped into place for rhysand and enver, and they were there when enver was killed by his family, and were there to help rhys work through his grief over the centuries.

they all knew about the bond between reader and rhys, they could practically see it growing and shaping the two of you but seeing reader wearing this armor sealed everything they needed to know in their minds about you.

you were everything.

#directors commentary #inbox 💌 #the high lady talks #anon ask #as you can see i have a lot of thoughts

[lookforthefuture49]

Yo!

I got a fanfiction, finally. I don't expect it to be read much here, but here are the links to fanfiction.net and Ao3 pages for it respectively:

Ao3

Fanfiction.net

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13947355/1/Universal-Wars-aren-t-fun

Ok now I can paste it.

Enjoy <3

[Note: this story is only to be on Archive of Our Own/Fanfiction.net under the username DoubleKKookie and on Tumblr under the username Retrooutlaw. IF YOU SEE IT ANYWHERE ELSE, PLEASE SHOOT ME A PM! This is also kinda meant for funsies, obviously.]

Note note: half created by AI Dungeon. Yay for Ai Generated fanfiction lol

[Universal wars aren't fun//1//Battlegrounds]

Izuku's hair ruffled in the wind, the view of a crumbling city crossing his vision. It was odd, how one minute the world was peaceful, and the next an inter-dimensional war decided to happen. During this war of many universes, most of his world was ravaged. Izuku figured he would probably be safe, at least for now. His world might be a battleground, but he wasn't in the midst of the fight. He wouldn't hurt people from other worlds just because some of their worst villains wanted to attack other places. In fact, Izuku just wanted an excuse to help these new people, to stop their worlds from being ruined too. His plan was to travel between the worlds.

Except, all he got was a dazed sense of incompleteness as the world around him seemed to flicker. For a moment, it seemed as if he were home again visiting his mother over a break, excited to see what his friends did. He could feel a couple of tears form, but of happiness, of joy. However, just as quickly as this flicker came, it left, and he came to the realization he was just remembering the past, that he was still alone in the forest, and that seemed to worsen his sad state.

Izuku turned and took a few steps. He had to get moving, and he had to get moving now. He didn't quite know where he was going, but he knew it was far from his home. All he knew was that he had to keep moving, and find a new reason to fight. So, Izuku decided to just keep walking. He made his way through the forest, dodging branches and occasional bokoblins.

Bokoblins were odd, as he'd never seen them before the inter-universal war began. They hadn't even kinda existed in his world, but now he felt like he was fending the creatures off every other step. He never attacked them, but it seemed like he was constantly running from them, even if they were obviously weak.

This rural area he'd found himself in looked to be nearly untouched by the war. Still, there was this odd sense of unease, and Izuku felt like he was being watched. Like he was being watched every step of the way.

Fearful of this feeling of a watchful eye burning a hole into his back, he began to speed up, getting to the point of running. Running as far as he could, as fast as he could.

The more he ran, the faster he felt himself becoming. He couldn't tell what time of day it was, but he knew that it had to be night.

He ran for what felt like an eternity before stopping, legs buckling under him

He fell to the ground, trying not to cry out. He stood back up, deciding if he was going to be upset about a stupid war, he was gonna do it where it was safe, so he stumbled away from the wide open area he was in, and eventually found a flat-topped building, which he entered before reaching the roof and staring out at the more rural area he had found himself in. What modern building were there, such as this one, were overrun with vines and ivy.

He sat down on the roof and wrapped his arms around his knees, finally letting everything soak in. This situation was garbage. He'd been left behind by the civilians who escaped, he had no idea where his friends were, and he had no way of contacting any heroes or any of his peers to come to his aid.

Izuku didn't want to think about the possibility that they were all dead, but looking at the modern buildings being overtaken like this one, he couldn't help but think such a thing. If the entire town was this destroyed, how on earth could THEY be ok?

He didn't understand how something so bad could happen. How the world could ever go back to normal after what was happening right now, Izuku didn't know. But, all he could do now was try to help, and help he would. The moment he saw a portal open, it was his door to purpose, to other people, whoever they were.

He didn't care what world he stepped into. He didn't care if he died, he just wanted to make a difference. It was no longer about this world, about him, or any of the pro-heroes he once loved. Now, if it meant death, he'd stop this war. He decided right then and there he'd do it for his friends, for his family, for All Might, and for whoever he met on the other side of the portal he was adamant on finding.

He wouldn't fail. Lifting his arms from his legs, he rested his face against his knees and took a deep breath. He lifted his head up, staring to the sky.

"I promise, I'll save everyone. No matter what."

...

Izuku sat on that roof for several more minutes before deciding to resume his search. He stood up, left the roof, and began to walk again- until he heard something. Multiple people, a fair distance away behind him. Judging from what he was hearing of the conversation, they hadn't noticed him yet, and were rather focused on someone who sounded distressed and wanted to get away from them. He hid behind the building as the group of people came into sight, listening into their conversation closely.

"LET ME GO!" He heard peirce the air, and when he could see the group, he noted the man who yelled it was being dragged by the arms by two other people, and this man also looked.. unexplainably odd. His appearance didn't matter now, though. What was important was the predicament he was in.

"Would you just put me down already!?" He snapped again.

His supposed captors looked even angrier than they had initially.

"Our leader says that's not allowed, bucko." One of the two people holding him said. His voice was gruff and southern.

He had a goatee and his hair was slicked back. The other one was female, model-esque.

She had long, curly blonde hair, calm blue eyes and slick red lipstick, which was weird for someone to be wearing in this kind of situation.

"Our orders are very clear. Boss wants you."

"I DON'T KNOW WHO YOUR STUPID BOSS IS BUT I CAN ASSURE YOU-"

The southern-sounding captor pulled a lighter from his pocket, and with it lit, rammed it into the torso of the man. He let out a blood-curdling scream and then didn't say another word afterwards. he, nor his clothes, had caught on fire, oddly enough. The southern guy snarled at the man. Izuku wasn't entirely sure who was good or bad in this situation, but he was irked by the entire scene. The only hard part was deciphering if the one who was captured by these two was good or bad, as saving a villain in the midst of a crazy war would be pretty counter-productive. From the way this man's captors were talking, however, he figured he was either a hero like him, or just in the moral gray trying to stay out of things.

Taking a risk, he stepped out from the shadows...

"Stop!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. They turned to look at him, and their eyes went wide.

He pointed at the man. "You two! Release him right now!"

"What do you think you're doing?" The southern one hissed angrily. "This is none of your business, kid! Go back to where you came from!"

His eyes flicked to the man, who seemed to be either knocked out or unresponsive, as he hadn't even twitched when Izuku shouted in his general direction.

"I don't care! He's being mistreated! I won't stand for it!"

The model (At least, Izuku assumed she was a model) whisper-hissed something at her comrade, who just scowled and shook his head. The two started arguing in hushed voices, as the man they dragged here was now beginning to stir.

When he did open his eyes, fear was clear in them immediately, probably thinking the glare Izuku was directing at his enemies was for him. He calmed after a moment, however. The pair seemed bugged but opted to leave without the man now that they'd been found by someone else. (Maybe that's what they were arguing about) They dropped the man harshly, although he didn't seem to be bothered by this at all. He seemed more bothered by the burn mark just below his chest, which, while small, seemed to be quite painful. It was hard for Izuku to gauge what the man was feeling, though, since he looked dead. Not just figuratively, but quite literally rotten and dead. It was strange, but Izuku decided not to question it, for that wouldn't help either of their situations. He instead walked up to the man, hoping to maybe initiate a conversation.

"Hey, um..." Izuku wasn't really sure what to say to him. He didn't know his name, for one.

The other was that he looked like he'd been through hell and back. He had a multitude of scars, both old and new, on his face and body. They were either dark purple, black, or was a hole, which revealed an empty vessel underneath. In fact, his entire complexion was purple, which struck Izuku as off. Any normal person, quirk or not, definitely was not supposed to be dead and purple.

"Are you alright?" Izuku decided to start with. Simple enough.

"Yeah, I'm perfectly fine." (That comment definitely didn't pan out, but Izuku didn't know his life. Maybe this was normal.) Izuku noted a prominent British accent, one he hadn't noticed while the man was shouting angrily, which was odd, because he probably should have. Taking a closer look at him, the strange man was thin, mangy, and also lacked hair. His pupils were glowing, which also really was strange, and the whites of his eyes were now, instead, pitch black. It was somewhat unsettling, but Izuku tried not to think much of it.

"What was all that about?"

"Frankly, I dunno. One minute everything was normal and I was sitting at home, and the next those two were dragging me along to their 'boss'." He replied.

"I tried to get away, but it wasn't exactly easy. I kinda miss having muscles." He said this in a very nonchalant way, shrugging. Evidently, this man was missing vital body parts, who knows how many, and he was acting like it was completely fine.

"I... see," Izuku said, though he wasn't sure what else to say.

"So, what about you, kid? What's your name?"

"Izuku. Call me Deku, please." He stuck out a hand.

"Michael." The other shook his hand, and Izuku noted that he felt no bones in his hand, like it wasn't solid. It was strange, completely empty. "Uhm, do you know what's been going on lately?"

Michael did not reply immediately. "I dunno, something about some war? It didn't seem to pertain to me until I was dragged into a different world entirely, but feel free to explain."

"All I'm really sure of right now is that there is an Inter-Universal War going on right now, and I want it to end. Mostly because it's left my home a wreck, and I don't want that to happen to anybody else's."

Michael nodded in understanding.

"I can appreciate your feelings on the matter."

...

"How long have you been here?"

"Probably only a little over 2 hours."

Izuku had given Michael the choice to stick with him or go off on his own, and, not knowing what else to do, he agreed. Now they walked aimlessly as Izuku tried to explain a bit about what his world used to be like, and just make small talk. Izuku had decided the moment Michael agreed to tag along that he would not question his purple complexion or the lack of internal structure. It seemed like it might be rude, or bring back bad memories if he said the wrong thing, and he didn't want to cause that.

"I see."

They continued in silence for about an hour, before Michael spoke up again.

"I think I prefer this place over my home, truth be told."

Izuku was a little surprised that he would say something so out of nowhere. "Why?" He asked.

"I could go on for days about the terrible things that happened there." Michael sighed. "I don't particularly like dwelling on the past, so I tried to block it out. But here, it's all right. Even the atmosphere feels less oppressive, even if it's obviously still chaotic here."

Izuku frowned. "That's a pretty deep feeling to come up with so suddenly.

"I've had plenty of time to think, and this is the only conclusion I've come to."

...

The night took a long time to come, and Izuku still could find no portals, nor salvation in another world. He would have to wait another day. The pair sat down, and Izuku found himself falling asleep quite quickly...

It seemed like only seconds had passed when he felt something pulling him back to reality. He opened his eyes, and saw that the sky was beginning to turn pink.

"Get up." Michael whispered.

Izuku squinted, kind of annoyed. "Why?" He whispered back.

"I hear a large group of people coming, and I don't want to risk anything."

"Alright." Izuku nodded.

He stood up, as quietly as he could, and stretched, yawning. He was about to head off when he heard the sounds of many feet marching nearby. They were getting closer every second. He halted said stretching, and opted to climb up a tree. Michael made an attempt to hide, slipping behind a tree, but he was pretty easy to spot if one simply looked a little.

Izuku looked down at the group of men, as they marched by. His only question was why they were marching along together like this, and here of all things. They almost looked like soldiers, marching along with random weapons in hand. They were of varying species, although Izuku did not pay mind to this. When they passed and were far enough, Izuku leaped down and gestured for Michael to follow him as they tailed the group to see where they were going.

"What is this?" He hissed. They were headed towards a large open area. The group marched on, keeping pace, until they were they were the size of ants in distance. Izuku looked out to the open, treeless plains ahead. It took a minute to click in his mind, and he realized as Michael caught up what the plains were.

They were in the midst of a battlefield.

That's a wrap :D

#fanfiction #fnaf #five nights at freddy’s #my hero acadamy #my hero academia #boku no hero academia

[retphienix]

I Have A Lot To Say So I'll Read More This.

The short of it?

I'm glad I played Joker- I played it because I wanted to know how DQM evolved when it reached the DS and I got my answer.

It's mediocre. Not bad exactly, I enjoyed playing it, it adds some REALLY appreciated features to the DQM series and if you were playing it at release it had online play which plays well with the post game content which I haven't touched by the time I wrote this:

-but there are some engine/console specific things that made it a drag and there are some parts of the game that are just weaker than the previous games which is amusing since the previous games were simple GBC titles.

And finally, I don't really recommend playing through Joker 1. Can't speak on the sequels, but Joker 1 was a pretty middling experience for me so I'm the wrong person to get a positive recommendation from.

And since the opportunity presents itself: If you like monster RPGs and haven't tried it- go emulate Dragon Warrior Monsters 2 for the GBC, it's really good and also if you emulate you can fast forward the GBC era grind if that's your taste- really a win all around.

On to my rambling:

I debated on writing, rewriting, rewriting, and better presenting my thoughts on this game and the series as a whole but nah, Joker ain't getting that, I'm ramblin'- lol

I will split it slightly between "The ending" and "The game as a whole" though.

Ending:

1:07 - This is slightly a 'game a a whole' thing but honestly it's funny to me that you unlock a permanent repel in this game by doing the main quest. I entered this dungeon feeling strong enough to beat the game, so I just avoided 90% of encounters entirely.

5:00 - I genuinely got a laugh out of Sparkpug's whole deal in this finale. Not story wise, that's fine, no complaints- I mean that Sparkpug is clearly built to be a monster that can carry an ineffective team. He's clearly meant to be bred a few times and a god tier member of a potentially inexperienced player's team- but I literally never used him after the intro.

So during this scene it's supposed to be like "I'm a demi-god monster, you can't possibly beat me" and I'm thinking "Dude, you're like level 10 and shit tier, you can't win, this is hilarious."

Obviously it's a real boss fight and not 'face the monster you once had' but I was having fun roasting him behind the scenes of this recording.

45:00 - What an entirely unexpected change of pace.

Like, I had it spoiled for me by a screenshot that Dr. Snap becomes a monster or something- but I thought maybe he was always a monster or something, and also I got a bad look at him.

HE TURNS INTO A BODY HORROR BEAST, THAT'S NUTS.

Genuinely a highlight of the game.

52:00 - I fucking laughed what a meaningless exchange where the payoff is saying "He was stupid!", it's honestly just silly and dumb but not necessarily bad just dumb lol

55:00 - Not a great 'you won' victory lap. Like at all. Kinda feels like they should have just made this all a cutscene where I appear back at town and see that Solitaire is the leader now etc etc.

I kinda don't understand why it's a victory lap at all? Because all anyone says is "They picked a weird successor to Snap >:(" or "Snap went to the island? I bet he was stopping the calamity :)"

If you have 2 lines of dialogue prepared, maybe don't make a victory lap???

1:00:00 - What a fucking stupid payoff lol

Like sincerely, Solitaire does NOTHING the entire game! She's meaningless from start to finish! And the 'surprise' is that she's the new commish??? And she got the position because she's a rich spoiled brat??? Like LITERALLY that's why????????

What a stupid fucking ending lol

Now her proposed evolution of the contest is fair enough, I mean it's childish as hell, but to be fair- more contests is a fine idea especially since prior games and this game demonstrated the public's interest in watching monster fights. And the goal being to fight her as the final fight is fucking egotistical and stupid- BUT- it does play into the fact that the player didn't get to fight her the whole game so it's whatever?

1:03:00 - This is both the best and worst lol.

This game has no story, like at all, it's fucking empty front to back, and only explodes with like- 1 event at the very end.

This moment is a montage of memorable moments with your 'best friend' Sparkpug. It's cinematically very nice to be honest! Even includes a moment I don't remember at the arena which probably didn't happen lol.

So visually it's cool- I dig seeing the camera zoom out as we run across the beach, and the flashback moments intersplice over us making our way to the scout memorial- that's very well done.

The content is empty lol

As I said there's no story, these moments are nothing lol

And that's that.

All said the ending was a very nice challenge to face with my team- I had to abuse items like mad but I MADE IT! It was a GOOD fight.

The rest I've already said.

On to the game as a whole:

I have issues with this game, but there's good too. It's really like 4 steps forward 6-7 steps back it's weird, it's really weird.

Positives are neat!

> First and foremost- TRAITS!

Monsters in Dragon Quest Monsters have always had a problem with keeping their identity for long. The way I'd explain it to an outsider to the series is that Monsters DO have special stat variance and intended movesets and all that jazz- but the breeding system completely and entirely destroys that relatively early into the game.

While a monster might normally have really high defense and low other stats while knowing buffing magic- breeding, EVEN UNINTENTIONALLY, will have that same monster come out with 9 billion attack and all ice magic.

Monsters in DQM have a habit of becoming canvases for the breeding effects rather than their own mons- and this is undeniably a downside. It makes the game feel unique, it doesn't 'hurt' it, but when by mid-game monsters are more easily identified as sprites rather than strengths and weaknesses or even types (family) it's a slight downer on the series.

Traits fix this a lot by making every specific monster have unchangeable traits which offer things like "immunity to x type of damage" or "higher crit chance"- it's small, but it gives each monster more identity.

> Second and secondmost- SKILLS!

The older games didn't use trees, it used each individual spell as a potential pass on during breeding.

Each monster could have 8 spells, and when you breed two monsters you pass on all 16 spells to the offspring (they don't learn them all at once, they learn them as they level up) as well as the natural spells the monster would learn by level up.

So in the older games it is really easy to end up with a refined and overpowered list of 8 spells on each of your monsters.

Now spells are tied to Skill trees and your monsters can have 3 skill trees total (which are passed on as OPTIONS when breeding).

All to say skills do a lot for removing the "Master of all, weakness of none" spell lists that the older games made trivial to make, now you have to limit your builds and be more specialized- also they added skills like "Attack up" to add more variance to a build- instead of having spells you might just have high stat buffs as skill trees.

Overall I think Skills are an improvement because coupled with Traits it makes each monster feel much more specialized and unique and less like a sprite with no identity.

> Breeding is improved.

This is very much because of skills and traits- again- but also the system is just improved in general. Instead of being told "That's a monster you haven't had before!" and judging your decisions based on the name of the offspring breed, now you get to see a small sprite of the resulting monster to help you decide- ALSO instead of getting 1 result for every combo (to the point where you have to back out and choose Monster A + Monster B and Monster B + Monster A as separate options), you now get up to 3 results to pick between for every breeding opportunity.

It's just better.

> The engine is impressive.

At least to me. This is a DS title using (from what I read) a rework of the DQ8 PS2 game's engine- it certainly looks like it.

Combat models are nice, using moves looks nice, overworld exploration looks nice- it looks nice.

Now for some negative and general nonsense- all of which is more often than not 'weird'.

> I gotta be unfair and say "The Story" first and foremost.

DQM 1 and 2 are not intense story games. They aren't.

But they both knew how to handle their story well for what they wanted to tell, I can and will praise both for their narratives because they know what they are and do it well.

DQM:J does not. It's fucking bad.

Basically: The overall story doesn't exist- you're told to be a spy, but that comes up 1 time towards the end of the game and LITERALLY doesn't matter at any other moment INCLUDING the one time it comes up.

You have NO meaningful objective from the start up until near the end of the game. You show up and have no goal- so you get told to get some crystals with no meaning behind it (not even a lie because they are clearly evil- not even a lie to motivate you! NO MEANING IS PRESENTED! JUST DO IT! TO DO THE CONTEST I GUESS! WHY? SHUT UP!)

So 90% of the game time you're not doing anything meaningful. So what about the islands? Any small narratives to keep things moving?

NO!

NOT AT ALL!

So you go 90% of the game having no real objective, just kinda wandering forward mindlessly- and then the game suddenly goes "Oh! Guy who seemed sus! He's evil! He's gonna unleash the calamity that you were 'kinda but not directly' working towards with your dog! You know, that plot point that's kept vague and paid 0% attention to the entire game? Yeah it's happening! Aaaaand you're done! GG!"

Basically there's just nothing going on in this game, it's all background noise until the last 10% of the game. And that's lame.

DQM1 had a light story- but from the very intro cutscene you have a clear objective which makes every action you do seem relevant as you are working towards that goal.

From the start of the game you know "My sister is gone! The king says a magic wish can get her back! I'll go do that!" and then you do!

DQM2 has a much better story!

You have a goal from the start (The kingdom is physically dying and you have to save it by getting a new plug!) AND it has stories for each world you visit!

THAT'S MILES BETTER! THIS GAME COULD HAVE DONE THAT FOR THE ISLANDS!

Anywho. Story is lacking and empty and lame especially when DQM2 has a similar format but does every part better- you have a clear objective you're working towards AND side stories to keep the light narrative moving!

WTH!

The spy plotline doesn't matter! It could have been used to build suspicion on who's the good guy!

The islands are so empty of story!

DQM2 has a fun mix on how a rival character works which makes every world interesting to see how they get involved!

This game has a rival that does NOTHING!!!!!!!!!

It's just such a step back from the previous games, it's weird to see DQM 1 land a solid simple story and DQM 2 build a great format to expand the story going forward- and then DQM:J just slams its head into the dirt and wipes out.

> Game's slow.

The engine switch is a good thing overall, but it makes combat slower (a lot), adds loading screens to combat (primarily), and they didn't bother speeding up the grind from previous games.

Because of the grind still existing which isn't a problem in and of itself- the game becomes SLOW AS HELL because the engine makes that grind take longer.

Also world exploration is slow which is to be expected when moving from 2d to 3d, but this is countered by adding things to the world to find or do- and Joker tries but it's still noticeable. The world exploration isn't a problem, it just stands out alongside the combat being slow as hell.

The engine change was a great thing- but it feels like they should have put more work into speeding up combat to counter the slowdown of load times and flashy animations.

A GOOD WAY TO FIX THAT MIGHT BE XP!

> Music ain't great in my opinion.

DQ has amazing music. This game has some weak renditions in my opinion. The CELL HQ theme song is a pretty good poster child for the worst there is, but just in general even the better music is lacking compared to the chiptunes of the GBC or the better mixes of the main series.

Maybe it's unfair, it's a DS game, I don't know, I just know I ended up just muting most of the game because it didn't sound great. I played the GBC games OSTs instead for a large portion of my playthrough. I listened to videos instead for the bulk of the game.

It's just not pleasant to me, sorry to say.

> XP!!!!!!!

I'm being a spoiled ass on this but yeah!

XP SUCKS IN THIS!

There aren't good placed to grind until you beat the game! (apparently)

The first level blatantly has too low xp which makes you grind before you can tackle the boss of the island- and the late game has you mindlessly grinding low xp rewards in order to be ready to face the final boss.

It's WEIRD!

Why is it so low!

> Tech is weird!

I could ramble on this alone but here's the short version:

DQ has a unique fantasy world aesthetic that each game has explored in its own way. It's basically "swords, magic, monsters, and charm- things feel light but aren't afraid to get scary sometimes :)"

This game... doesn't.

This game has fuckin' tech watches, jet skis, TOWER PCS????

This ISN'T dragon quest on a world building level.

It's like, contemporary modern world but with slimes.

And that could be good I guess, but it feels so fucking weird to see PCs right alongside swords and axes and a dracky.

Like... why?

It's a poor aesthetic according to my tastes. Maybe I'm an ass for that. The tech is weird.

All to say, in a poor rambling "I gotta get this out of me" kinda way, is Joker was fine.

I enjoyed breeding. I enjoyed seeing the engine. I enjoyed the unique additions like a 'hero monster'.

But I also had to grind mindlessly on a slower game.

I had to endure a story that forgot to show up until the very end.

I sat there thinking about replaying the older ones the whole time.

It was fine.

It's mediocre.

I'm glad I played it.

I'm done now :)

#RetPlays #Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker #Dragon Quest #Dragon Quest Monsters #Dragon Warrior Monsters #DQM #DWM #DQM:J #DS #Nintendo

[bubbleblower]

All of the debate on Critical Role's skin color aside, because honestly it's exhausting and I'm white so my opinion isn't necessary, the thing that has been bothering me the most about that Polygon article is the assertion that Wizards of the Coast or other rpg game creators deserve money for the content that streamers receive for their campaigns. Dungeons and Dragons created a tool set. They came up with a system of organizing information that ALLOWS people to create content. Sure, they also have prefab stories that you can buy and play, but that's not what the Critical role team is doing, Tal'dorei is homebrewed. It wasn't even originally homebrewed brewed USING the D&D system. Why should WotC make money off of Critical role content when they didn't create any of it? You don't see copic markers collecting royalties on artwork colored with their markers, or autodesk maya making royalties off of animated shorts made with their 3d modeling software. No, because content creators purchase those things to use as tools. Just like Mercer purchased the monster manual and DM handbook. If anything WotC should be thanking CR on bended knee for making such beautiful content with those tools and giving them all of this free publicity to a huge audience. I mean the Tal'dorei campaign setting guide specifically advertises itself as a 5e campaign despite recieving no production assistance from WotC at all. CR is literally handing WotC money and ad space for free on the most popular platform for ttrpg gaming and these people are mad that they're experiencing financial success with their art? Give me a break. How about you go back to being a shameful dumpster fire only played by social rejects in the privacy of their mom's basement and leave these wonderfully talented creators alone.

#be mad #critical role #critrole #polygon #wizards of the coast #dungeons and dragons #dungeon master #d&d 5e #vox machina #the mighty nein #rant #personal rant

[iscabird]

i finished the main story of Tales of Arise last night and i have unsorted thoughts (with as few spoilers as possible)

i never got the hang of the battle system, if i'm being honest. i was overwhelmed just looking up guides on Arise's combat. and unfortunately, i don't have the brainpower to read enemy telegraphs, so i'm unable to consistently take advantage of the new dodge mechanic. i might've been ok if it was closer to Berseria, or even Symphonia/Vesperia. those I could at least handle.

i kept suffering a soft-lock nearly every time i finished a battle, bc sometimes the game couldn't properly shift out of the battle map, leaving the party in a dark void. sometimes the reticle would glitch and set itself in the centre of the battle map, meaning i couldn't hit jack-all for however long it took for the reticle to remember that there were still enemies on the field. this also disabled the Boost Attacks.

it feels like the game really likes hearing itself speak. a lot of dialogue feels drawn-out, to the point where i'm burnt out just from watching the skits. which is unfortunate, because...

...the voicework in the dub is probably the game's strongest asset, I feel. I can think of only one part where the casting choice is a little odd, but i can excuse it bc there's a good in-universe reason for it. there's not a single Kamoana to be heard. it's bliss.

the story was ok, it just wasn't groundbreaking. I noticed it took a few cues from Symphonia, but that's not a bad thing. how many Final Fantasy titles are there, again?

they kill off the Cool Dad Guy in the second town, to facilitate his son's character arc. i understand why they did it, it just sucks.

the font used for the subtitles and text looks really clunky. i wish there was a dark shadow behind the subtitles to make them easier to read. not to mention, half of the text is spelling and grammar mistakes, even in the final dungeon! at least it's consistent...?

i don't remember any of the background music. when i was going through the final dungeon, i filled the monotony by imagining [this track] instead. (also not the first time i've done this--i put Tom Cardy on loop when I was playing Monster Hunter Stories 2, just to alleviate the tedium of playing Monster Hunter Stories 2)

Arise might be the first Tales Of game i've played where i actually liked the Designated Attack Mage, in terms of both character and gameplay. I think it helps that Rinwell has an adorable little owlet friend.

speaking of Rinwell, she's not allowed to strike down the Lord that killed her family, but everyone else gets to have their own vengeance? ok..........................

i like that Kisara is the Sexy Lady Character, but in a subtle, elegant way. she's tall, her armor looks cool, and she's such a mature personality. i want her to carry me in her strong, muscular arms

some of the cutscenes felt awkward, in ways that are hard to really describe? i think the thing that sticks out most in my mind is that when the game introduces Dohalim, it felt far too early for the game to start throwing out flashbacks to his past, in the middle of a dinner scene? i dunno, maybe it's just me.

I like Dohalim, though. he has an interesting dynamic with the party. sometimes to his detriment bc it takes him a while to grow some common tact.

I like Shionne and Alphen, too. but I think I liked Alphen best when he had the full mask on (i know. i know. i have a type.)

I liked Vholran, and i loved his va's performance. the weird thing about him is that his 3d model's face looks cartoonish to me, but that vibe isn't there when he's literally in a 2d animated cutscene? art is wild.

the first boss is named Balseph Erwolsey Teldilys. i am not even kidding. an npc late in the game mentioned him again and i broke for ten minutes just laughing.

addendum 1/?: i almost forgot about the shitty AI settings. Previous Tales Of titles gave you fine, granular control over how the CPU-controlled party acts in battle, like how aggressively they should fight and how much distance they should keep from enemies. Arise, however, gives you fine, granular control over how often the CPU uses items or healing skills, and that's it. so Rinwell, Shionne, and Dohalim, all mid-to-long-range fighters, will think it wise to cast spells within hands range of the enemy. there IS an option to set the party to "keep distance from the enemy," but it stops them attacking. its purpose is to give the party breathing room to heal.

#talking about things #god that's a lot of words