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effira · 10 months

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i don't know how on earth this happened but i just. suddenly understood painting. idk

my sillies. they are okay (only one of them will stay alive no matter what happens)

i should've never gone "oh what if i made lamb characters for some of the different cotl saves at my disposal" because now i'm attached and i gotta deal with the fact that these three can only exist and be happy together far far far in the past.

bonus doodles and a bunch of infodumping under the cut.

right so here in this image theyre all happy and wholesome right (yay) but at some point one of them has to be the last lamb to be sacrificed, which splits their universe up into three timelines, one for each of them being the vessel for the red crown. war and hate on planet earth.

alright let's get to the infodumping

Capri, based on my first playthrough and main save, starts off with the intention of doing as little harm as possible, going with the "good" doctrine options, feeding their followers well, etcetera, but over the years, out of both curiosity and the steady erosion of their moral code that comes with slaughtering hundreds just to get resources, they sink down on the alignment chart, coming to the point where they kill followers to switch their necklaces and cook up minced follower meat just because it gives them some diseased hearts for their crusades. They take pride in feeding their followers well, they married all the bishops (some of them only so they'd give more health if sacrificed to revive, but they will Never tell you which ones) and spend most of their time doing follower quests and getting enough meat, fish and veg to make the best possible meals for their following. sometimes they fall face first into the tarot cards when running into Clauneck. They make all their followers' clothes themselves, and stitch little bells into them to remind them of their family. Their cult sounds like a windchime.

^ virgo doodles from before i actually sat down to give her a proper design

Virgo, based on my mom's playthrough, probably wouldn't have it in her to be any good of a vessel if she had anything at all to lose anymore. She's a bit clumsy and has died on the battlefield many a time, sometimes even forgetting she's capable of dodging. What she lacks in hand-eye coordination, she more than makes up for in the way she takes care of her following. She only refuses follower requests if it's for their own good, like sacrificing another follower or asking for a bowl of poop. She puts a lot of thought into which follower to sacrifice on a crusade, and will often resurrect them right after she gets back. She hates Narinder. Absolutely cannot stand him at all. If she wasn't forced to do his bidding she wouldn't want ANYTHING to do with him. On the other hand, she has a great deal of respect for Heket, on the grounds of her being a strong-willed, self assured woman. She loves placing camelias all over her cult grounds and enjoys fishing a normal amount. She's very attached to Ratau and will often spend the night playing Knucklebones with him. She's also very enthusiastic whenever she meets Chemach during a crusade -- She doesn't attack Chemach's "followers," either out of germaphobia or out of pity. She's haunted by the restless spirit of Alfie, her first sacrifice (that's me! she didn't revive me. I'm haunting her now and making the commentary i give while watching my mom play a part of Virgo's character). She is very unimpressed by most threats. She should probably be impressed by most threats

Taurus, based on the most bloodthirsty speedrun I have ever witnessed live on the family switch, does not care for his followers. He's out for revenge, and that's it. He doesn't care for anything other than giving the bishops a taste of their own medicine after they ruthlessly slaughtered his entire species. He holds the same level of contempt for Narinder, as evidenced by the fact that he put him in jail Forever, only allowing him out to eat once a day. He has a soft spot for rabbit followers (except alfie. because in-game sibling violence overrides all characterization), but will Never tell you this. He's friends with Helob, if only because he brings him cooked follower meat. Originally a gentle soul, this immense thirst for violence and revenge was formed the day he came back to his village after a day of fishing and found it halfway through burning to the ground, with the heads of everyone he knew and loved (among which are the other two mentioned above) stacked in the centre of town. He has never truly cared for anything since. His fleece was made by Capri way back in the day (haha it would be so funny if this was the main image of this post) and it only acquired this status as a certified Golden Fleece upon obtaining the red crown. Taurus loves hammers and axes. If it hits hard, he'll enjoy using it for its intended purpose. He nearly always wears the same slightly off-putting beady-eyed smile on his face. To calm down after his long crusades, he likes to sit down and sing some songs, accompanied by his not-great-but-absolutely-not-bad guitar skills. He often does this right in front of his temple, and it's one of the only nice things his followers ever get to have.

alternate color version as a treat. thanks for reading through my massive walls of text.

cya! <3

#my art #cult of the lamb #cult of the lamb oc #effira's taurus tag #effira's virgo tag #effira's capri tag #i'm so ill about these three #cotl

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ghostxofxartemis · 3 years

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Ooooo, can you tell me more about Haunted?

Thank you for asking hon!

So Haunted takes place in ME3. In Leah's playthrough, she saved Wrex on Virmire, destroyed Maelon's Data on Tuchanka, she sabotaged the Genophage Cure, which leads her to ultimately having to kill Wrex in ME3.

Now, Kaidan has been witnessing Leah's nightmares, waking up in the middle of not, and not going back to bed, just holding her, but he doesn't pry. So he knows something is bothering her, yet Leah isn't one to discuss her feelings. She hides it, acting like everything is normal, but he sees her being colder than usual, when she speaks, it's like she reading an instruction manual or a recipe and he's getting really worried about her. After killing Wrex and crying in a ball, I decided to write a very very rough draft of a post conversation he has with her. Here's a little bit of it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pushing himself off the Island, he makes his way to the elevator and heads for the CIC. Just as the doors open, he sees Leah at her personal terminal reading her messages. She turns on her heels abruptly, her eyes meet his and they're a dead cold stare. He takes a few steps towards her but she abruptly walks past him, and he just manages to catch her arm before she enters the elevator. "I guess you just saw? Do you know what happened?"

Her eyes narrow as she stares up at Kaidan. "No, not a clue."

She's lying. She knows something. "Leah?"

Her nostrils flare but she leans and brings her voice down to a whisper. "I sabotaged the cure." She shrugs out of his grip and enters the elevator, pressing the button to her cabin before Kaidan even takes note of what he just discovered.

The elevator doors close before he even gets a chance to stop them. He swears under his breath as he pushes the button to summon the elevator back down to the CIC. It takes a moment for it to come back down but as soon as the door opens he practically lunges in, slamming the button before he even turns around to face the door. He just barely catches Traynor's quirked eyebrow at him before the door closes.

Leah's at her fish tank when he enters her cabin, a pried opened box in one arm, and tapping the glass with her fingers of her other hand. The fish come swimming to the glass, and it almost looks like they're giving her fingertips a light kiss.

"What do you mean you sabotaged the cure?" He stops at the top of the stairs and leans against the wall, crossing his arms.

"I shot Mordin in the back to prevent him from dispensing the cure at the Shroud. I did it for the Salarian support." She says it so calmly, so matter of factly. Like if she was reading instructions from a manual, that it sends a shiver down Kaidan's spine. He doesn't say anything more. He doesn't know what to say. He witnessed her shooting people in the past but they had been under Sovereign's influence. Some were just dangerous criminals and she did the galaxy a favor by getting rid of them, like Lord Darius, as he had called himself. But friends? No, never would he have expected this. Not even from Leah. Not after having talked him down at Virmire so many years ago.

"You didn't think Wrex would find out?" He finally manages to ask.

"I figured it was about a fifty-fifty percent chance Wrex would find out. It was a risk I was willing to take." She pulls the object from the box, sliding it out from its plastic that surrounds it and tossing the plastic to the side. "Mind giving me a hand with this?" She presses a button on the keypad between each glass and they slide open slightly, just enough space to put your arms in the fish tank.

"Leah?"

She ignores him. She makes her way to bed and pulls out a step ladder from the storage behind her bed and brings it to the tank, setting up so she can step on it and reach the tank.

"I need you to hold this VI Aquarium." She lifts the object she still has in head to show him.

"Leah!"

"Yea. I killed Wrex okay?! Is that what you want to hear? I shot an ally because he went crazy? That's the official story. Are you going to help me or not?"

"A friend." Kaidan mumbles.

"An ally." Leah corrects him.

The coldness behind her mask has him really concerned for her, but it also frightens him a little bit. Also, Leah tends to be more open with him, he's the only one she trust enough to be opened with, and the fact that she's not being completely honest has him concerned about their relationship and the fragile state it's at.

#Haunted #mass effect wip #Leah Shepard #Kaidan Alenko #pigeontheoneandonly #Ghost Answers

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sorry-but-we-have-moved · 4 years

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The ABSOLUTE CRAZIEST shit happened on my Sims 3 game last night, so i’m going to make a long list detailing the events in chronological order.

Also note, my Sims are both fictional characters and OCs living on this resort-type lot. The lot is custom built, and the main focal point of the story is the pool, which is located in the center of the lot. In hindsight, this all could have been avoided had i had more step-ladders and had never added a fence around the edges to prevent Sims from climbing out. Also, it probably didn’t help that i used a trick to merge the basement with the pool, a trick that proves itself to be very buggy. I’ll be referring to Sims by their first names, and i’m only tagging/including the ones that are relevant to the story.

- The household i’m controlling is 8 people, 2 older adults and 6 younger adults, 7 are related to one another. At the beginning of this story, they’re all pretty spread out and split up in the place.

-Alice, the oldest youngster, is the only one at the pool besides her father Jack. She jumps in via diving board.

- ^ Seeing this, Jack decides to enter the nearby bar to “express fear of swimming” to Mei, who is listening to a woman named Salotta play piano. Mei doesn’t seem to want to respond to Jack, or she’s too enthralled with the piano playing to pay attention. He sits and waits there for many, many minutes.

- Meanwhile, Alice(OC) is already out of the pool, which is now filled to the brim with other sims. I initially don’t see this as a problem because they’re still able to swim around and use the ladders. What i don’t realize is the ones who have to wait on others to climb out are the ones in danger.

- Jack finally gives up trying to tell Mei of the impending disaster and just turns to face the piano player and listen. Again, i figure since he’s no longer worried about the pool, that the trouble is over. How wrong i am.

- Seconds later, Hoang(OC) drowns. Everyone’s first reaction is to immediately try and leave the pool.

Then, after climbing out, Lucio makes his way onto the water slide and re-enters the pool Hoang just died in.

- A majority of them just never leave the pool, in fact they started having a fucking breath holding contest. BLU Scout and Candie(OC), nearby also holding a contest are Troy and Alice. The choices Sims make in the face of death truly astound me.

- At this point, Hoang appears to have been blipped from existence because there’s no ghost, no corpse, no urn or gravemarker, and no sign of the Grim Reaper coming to get his body. The only one who’s reacting to his death is Guthard(OC) because they shared a household. Guthard also happened to be present in the pool when Hoang died.

- Back in the bar, everyone is reacting to the drowning with symbols that suggest they want to try to find Hoang’s body in the pool but can’t. Everyone in the pool appears stuck, like they, too, are searching or they’re just in total shock.

- ^ Remember, Jack has the Hydrophobia trait. He has a fear of swimming, and knew something bad was going to happen with the pool. But, against his better judgement he is now IN that very pool, looking highly distressed but again, he put himself in there. Also, people are still having underwater contests cause that’s what you do when someone drowns. - Also, he just casually turns into Jesus because of course he does:

- ^ The Grim Reaper finally shows up to try to collect Hoang’s ghost. But there’s a problem. He, like others, is climbing into the pool to try to find the body, but it’s not there. So he spends a good few minutes climbing in and out of the pool from different floors, taking the nearby tube elevators as he does.

- Suddenly, ANOTHER person drowns, this time it’s Akande (Doomfist). Now, HIS death is really fucky for several reasons. Shortly after he drowns, EVERYONE that was in the pool suddenly ascends through the roof of the lot. The only remaining Sim is Ashe because she was taking the water slide.

- After some searching, i find everyone NOT on the roof, but on the bottom floor in the basement area. Outside of the pool somehow.

- Now Akande is wandering around, apparently trapped in physical form so he’s not going to be collected to go to the underworld anytime soon:

-He produces TWO, i repeat, TWO gravemarkers in his name. One of these, i’m assuming is Hoang’s and the name’s just a misprint by the game, but there’s another glitch going on that is absolutely hilarious. - Akande is technically a ghost according to the game, since he started phasing through walls and doing the floating animation. But at the same time, he doesn’t have the ghost texture, and he’s able to interact with the environment like he never died, with the added bonus that he can haunt things and people.

- ^ Angela, whom always has some form of interaction with him in previous playthroughs, decides to strike up a casual conversation with him now that he’s a permanent ghost resident. Gabriel (Reaper), who’d been absent this entire time, suddenly rushes to the scene and looks at Akande like “oh what the f***?” - And just like other playthroughs Akande makes a mean comment to Angela which she berates him for before leaving. Even while dead, he’s still an ass.

- ^ I check on the other members of the household to see how they’re handling the chaos, Hazel(OC) is just in the kitchen sharing a canned soup lunch with Jenny(OC) so i’d say this didn’t get to him too much. Also, Akande decides to get himself a ghost salad from the mini-fridge:

- After eating the salad he goes and grabs one of the soccer balls from the “item shop” i have set up on the lot. Then everyone walks in and grabs a ball for themselves, now they’re taking soccer lessons from Akande’s ghost

- Alice, for some reason, goes all the way to the opposite end of the lot to play soccer not with Akande, but with BLU Scout from earlier - Akande sees himself in one of the mirrors on the lot and thinks he looks pretty good as a ghost - Then he goes upstairs and haunts a telescope for a few minutes

- ^ This also happens - Third drowning death happens out of nowhere, and it’s Juelle(OC). This leads to a cascade effect and Jenny(OC) drowns around the same time, and despite me taking the time to actually delete some of the fence now that i’ve suspected it to be the problem, it doesn’t prevent the next several deaths from happening - Mei is the next one to drown. And Angela just. Decided to quicken the process:

Mercy said “No heals 4 U” - Junkrat and Roadhog end up dying together which idk whether to be happy or sad about that, either way they died a couple - Candie and Tyreen go down next, followed by Ashe and Salotta (The piano player from earlier) - Lucio dies right next to the fucking step-ladder like he was gonna climb out and then just gave up

Like seriously dude - Troy lasted a pretty damn long time in this cursed fucking pool, but then he drowns as well:

- Akande is still living as a fucking ghost btw, and he’s casually floating past the pool as all of this happens like “hm. interesting.” - The Grim Reaper, meanwhile, FINALLY gets around to sending ghosts into the underworld. Sometimes people walk by it, react to it like it’s a roadshow, and go about their business. Just some normal everyday shit, y’know? - When he finishes, Grim goes down to the laundry room and does laundry for everyone, only to leave a soggy pile of clothes on the floor in front of the washing machine.

- ^ He also goes upstairs and mops up a puddle someone made, i guess someone pissed themselves seeing him or the ghosts - Laughs while pointing at Gabriel (mad he took the moniker of Reaper i guess?) and then just poofs out-of-scene - Moira starting mourning Akande and Roadhog (Junkrat and Roadhog were part of the Talon household cause convenience) in the kitchen which makes Akande start ghost crying - At this point the population on this lot has been dramatically reduced, so it’s actually impossible to fill it up to the point of overcrowding. And it seems that everyone’s learned their lesson, and they never get in the pool ever again. They just walk past it on their way to the bar or something. Also, shockingly, no one from my active household ended up dying. - However, Kyle(OC) ended up frozen for a few minutes because he was going to mourn basically EVERYONE who ended up drowning and that filled his action queue too full. I had to cancel the actions so he could use the bathroom and get some sleep

- TLDR This story ultimately ends, entire households have been decimated, pets have lost their owners to a fucking pool, i can’t do anything with the gravemarkers even on my own community lot, no one wants to go swimming ever again in their lives, i think i now have PTSD

ᴼᴷᴬʸ ᵗᶦᵐᵉ ᶠᵒʳ ᵗᵃᵍᵍᶦⁿᵍ ʰᵒˡʸ ˢᴴᴵᵀ

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ganymedesclock · 5 years

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I had an upsetting realization on my most recent Hollow Knight playthrough:

It’s actually pretty likely, given the dialogue and framing of your first arrival in the City of Tears and the fountain cutscene in particular, that Ghost actually had no idea what had befallen Pure after the latter left the abyss and they fell back down.

Before this point, I’d always assumed that Ghost knew Pure had been sacrificed to seal Radiance and came back to the kingdom because they knew Pure was close to dying. However, the likelier implication is that while Ghost is able to ‘hear’ Pure, faintly, they weren’t actually aware of why Pure was screaming and what had happened to them.

It’d explain why the initial cutscene of Pure crying out is so shrouded, and it would also explain why one of the earliest things you encounter, the only way out of the Forgotten Crossroads, is the signpost for the Pilgrim’s Way, that tells you to head to the city where “all wishes will be granted, all truths revealed.”

Ghost came to Hallownest with a question, and a wish- to see their sibling again, and to know what had happened to them. That this sign is what leads them deeper into the city tells us that’s what they’re looking for- that they continually work to remove obstructions and fight their way deeper.

It’s around the point that you get to the City of Tears that the relatively linear path falls away and leaves you with a much more open world. Yes, technically, you can break off much earlier than that, but, the dialogue options clearly have a certain expectation- you get to the bottom of the Fungal Wastes, but climb back up and go to the city before facing the Mantis Lords- if you went there in the first place instead of immediately deviating from your exploration to chase Hornet into the city.

The cutscene that shows us the fountain in full is incredibly mournful and bleak- the fountain itself is revealed very slowly, pieces of it focused on, but it only ends on the statue of Pure, on which the rain falls in such a way as to create a specific tear in one of its eyes. It’s immediately after that Hornet rappels down to talk to Ghost, where her dialogue heavily implies Ghost is in the process of finding out new information they were not privy to before:

It's no surprise then you've managed to reach the heart of this world. In so doing, you shall know the sacrifice that keeps it standing.

If, knowing that truth, you'd still attempt a role in Hallownest's perpetuation, seek the Grave in Ash and the mark it would grant to one like you.

This is a meaningless thing to say if Ghost already knew Pure’s fate and was just finding it out. There’s also that examining the fountain imposes Pure’s silhouette onto the map of the Black Egg temple- Ghost will update their map with any information they’re aware of, but they didn’t mark down Pure’s location- they may have lingered outside the egg due to curiosity, but not realized Pure was there.

(Then again, Ghost also doesn’t mark down the Abyss before you get there, even though they know its interior, but, it could also have been a long time ago; it’s entirely possible given the Vessels are cast into molds, in a way, that they physically can’t grow up unless they’re bequeathed a bigger body- hence why Pure and Ghost are the same age but Pure is the only one mature while Ghost hasn’t changed at all- it could well have been years to decades since Ghost left the abyss, which would explain how decrepit their nail is, and it’d also reflect that their memory is not perfect- so having not returned to the Abyss in a long time, they’d have forgotten its layout. This would furthermore explain how we don’t know how Ghost got to the surface, since we can’t find any way out besides the door- that could have closed a long time ago)

The real kicker is, again, the game has certain expectations about where you go next even if you aren’t obligated to follow them. After the City of Tears, two NPCs who you follow throughout the kingdom, Zote and Cloth, both relocate themselves to Deepnest, and the way Quirrel’s comments outside the Mantis Village frame things, you go to the City to get a nail upgrade so you can come back and face the Lords- which opens the path to Deepnest.

So right after Ghost hears- seemingly for the first time- that Pure was sacrificed to seal the Radiance, in much clearer words than the Pale King’s speech to Pure at the mouth of the Abyss, and what that means...

You go into Deepnest. And what happens the first time you’re in Deepnest? Nosk.

Nosk, the siren that preys on grieving people. Dream nailing the corpses along Nosk’s lair tell us that most of these people are chasing after their lost beloveds who they thought they would never see again.

The last time Ghost saw Pure, they were desperately struggling their way to the top of the Abyss, only in time to see Pure leave without them. It’s very likely that Ghost spent a long time after that stuck on the idea that if they’d been faster, they would have caught up to Pure- that they wouldn’t have been separated.

Ghost’s apotheosis in every ending besides Hollow Knight and Sealed Siblings comes by gathering all of the Vessels’ spirits to them, and even those first two endings focus heavily on sibling bonds. The fate of the other Vessels means a huge amount to Ghost- they are motivated highly by their family, at least, those they acknowledge as their family. (Kind of raises some questions about their feelings towards Zote)

It would suggest timeline-wise, Ghost finds Nosk exactly at the point when Ghost is the most vulnerable to Nosk’s suggestion- either they’re still reeling from hearing Pure might be dead, or actively in denial. Either way, catching a faint, distant glimpse of something that looks like Pure, it makes sense the normally perceptive Ghost would drop everything to run after them. They’d feel like they can’t allow themselves to make the same mistake they did the first time, where they were separated from Pure because they fell behind.

And then it’s a dead end, the sight of several dead Vessels, and Nosk revealing itself in full.

Ghost can only have been a combination of miserable and absolutely furious. It’d even give new context to the fact that the Hunter’s notes on Nosk almost feel like consolation they’d give to Ghost after that upsetting encounter:

In the deepest darkness, there are beasts who wear faces stolen from your memories and pluck at the strings in your heart. Know yourself, and stay strong.

“Stolen from your memories” and “pluck at the strings in your heart” are rather poignant phrases. And it’s unlikely Hunter is speaking personally; his various notes about family and siblings suggest those connections are very distant to him, things he muses about from time to time but isn’t actively haunted by very much. Also because Nosk likely wouldn’t threaten him that much, since he’s of a size he could simply snap Nosk in half in his jaws.

This would also lend some terrifying context to the winged Nosk variant that emulates Hornet instead- suggesting that Ghost is at least partially terrified of the idea of chasing and losing Hornet the same way they lost Pure. Actually, that just makes me wonder if Ghost took to Hornet in part because she reminded them of Pure; they have a similar headshape and what we can discern of Pure’s personality suggests they are a very dutiful, talented, and precise individual, and one of impressive psychological fortitude considering how long they held against Radiance, even clearly having doubts about their objective and training from the start.

#Hollow Knight #Ghost #Pure #Hornet #readmore

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eventidedaydreamer · 5 years

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The Ink Demonth - Day 17 - Under-Appreciated

You know what’s under-appreciated? Chapter 4!

Or at least a certain aspect of it, and it’s not just because Bertrum needs more love even though that is another topic. Honestly, if I had to choose which chapters are my favourites I’d have to say 2 or 4 and 1 being after those.

Anyway back to what is under-appreciated.

The entire beginning of Chapter 4 is spent scaring you a little but whatever it is it doesn’t actually do anything. The lights do that thing in the Archives, the scary music and slight shaking as Henry is above a deep chasm (oh ho ho! Spooky!) Then the lovely corridor of arms!

After hearing Alice being dramatic and flaunting the fact that ‘Boris is having trouble staying in one piece’ we see our first lost one and open the door to find a whole room of them, looking sad and not. Doing. Anything. Well besides crying and slamming their head against the wall.

I really started to notice all this after I watched Jacksepticeye’s playthrough of this Chapter where he was always on edge for something to come to life during the Power up the Haunted House portion, then there's Lacie’s tape.

‘I swear, when my back’s turned..That thing’s movin’’

Adding even more to the sense of paranoia that was already present.

There is an actual threat here with the Butcher Gang but since they were in Chapter 3 a lot more and their very done well, very terrifying debut already happened they mostly add more suspense than anything else.

But then comes the fun part.

All the suspense and paranoia has built up to this point but there is also the fact that all of the scares up to this point haven’t lead up to anything, scary music, weird lights, a bit of shaking, creepy things that haven’t been a threat to you at all, you’ve grown a tad numb to all these things that have not ended up in anything.

A big room, an attraction and a tape, it makes my eyes come to tears at the thought. Playing the tape at first it’s normal but then... Oh, the scary music starts, for all those times the scary music has ultimately ended up in nothing, it has numbed you a little but this, this is from out of nowhere, what is supposed to scare me here? You might wonder to yourself as you listen to The Great Bertrum Piedmont.

Then your eyes quickly find the giant octopus ride as the sounds of machinery moving on its own begin. The lightbulbs around the base light up and the arms with the carts lift up by their own volition and finally, the ride opens its door to reveal a giant face, the face of the once Bertrum Piedmont.

‘But I’m still here!’

His tape declares before the park ride begins spinning and the music makes the full turn into boss battle music.

The carts smash the table, revealing the axe and your first battle of the Chapter has begun!

After that, you only have one switch left to find and as you enter it and make your way down there is a familiar bobbing light, another character from Chapter 3 your old friend the Projectionist!

Simple like with the Butcher Gang, you’ve been around this before you know what to expect, but after you flip the switch he is alerted to your presence, better run.

The Projectionist is right behind you as you desperately grab for the switch, all the lights go dim for a moment and your foe seems to have vanished.

Another scare ending up in nothing.

But now that you’ve found the last switch you can head back now, Boris is still counting on you after all!

But when you get to the stairs out of the slightly ink flooded area, the familiar shriek and light of the Projectionist is right on your tail, gotta hide in that Little Miracle Station.

With your earlier numbness coming back a bit you gaze in horror at the second half humanoid half machinery you’ve faced today still looking at you. He reaches toward your hiding place but is interrupted by the Ink Demon himself.

You can only watch in a mixture of horror and relief as two of your biggest threats fight each other ending in the removal of the projector from the rest of its body as Bendy, The Ink Demon, reigns supreme.

He throws the projector at the Little Miracle Station and pauses to look directly at you as well before grabbing the Projectionist body and dragging it away.

With The Ink Demon gone and the Projectionist dead you make your way to the Haunted House.

Alice taunts you, as you ride through the almost dull Haunted House compared to everything else you’ve been through before it opens up to another big room with some mysterious music playing like every other soundtrack thus far it might remind you of a carnival.

The cart comes around to another door, nothing can be seen behind it besides inky blackness. Then two large hands reach out and grab the front of the cart followed by the head of Boris but there are X’s in the place of his eyes like the Boris in Chapter 1, the ‘new and improved Boris’ throws Henry and the cart and the second actual battle starts.

Chapter 4 uses the beginning to numb you, to make you not expect things to happen for later when the really cool and fun things happen so you’re caught off guard and it leaves a lasting impression in your mind!

#The Ink Demonth #Bendy and the Ink Machine #batim #batim chapter 4 #bertrum piedmont #alice angel #bendyland #boris the wolf #Henry Stein #the projectionist #the ink demon #bendy #eventide art #Evening talks #eventide writing

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notmrfeelgood-blog · 6 years

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If y’all don’t mind, I’d like to take a second and talk about what is, in my opinion, one of the best scenes in Summer Rose Court and why it works so effectively in and out of context.

Spoilers below

Going into my first playthrough of this game, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what it was going to be like. I had played through the demo about four times and had seen enough early-build screenshots to feel confident in my expectations of what I would be getting into.

To put it plainly I was expecting a dating sim visual novel that leaned pretty strongly into the dating sim aspects that would be backed up with a conventional, if unobtrusive plot. And if that’s all that SRC turned out to be then I would be totally satisfied with it, I mean, I definitely got my money’s worth out of it; you can’t exactly beat free.

But about an hour or so into my first playthrough I came upon this scene, and all of my expectations about the overall story and tone were tossed out the window like so much dead weight.

Just look at those screenshots, Ozpin, shriveled and wizened, clutching to a throne that is literally draining the life from him with sentient thorns. Fuck man, how much farther could you get from a fluffy, low-impact dating sim?

Now there are a handful of reasons why I think this scene works so well at subverting expectations, so let’s get right to it.

One: Ozpin

This point only works because SRC is a fan-game and really doesn’t make much sense if the audience hasn’t already watched at least a little bit of the original source material. As a fan of RWBY for a few years now, I’ve seen Ozpin, kicked around, betrayed, surprised, literally killed (its fine though don’t worry about it), and generally just had a real rough time of it, but I’ve never seen him as far out of his depth as he is here.

Ozpin has, to a certain extent, been a bit of a reassuring figure throughout the show. Sure, we can argue about just how moral his actions are, but you can’t deny that at the very least, he knows what’s going on. He’s been overpowered by Cinder and others, but trying to use Crescent Rose is just a completely different caliber.

We’ve always known that Ozpin could swim in deep waters, but during this scene, he might as well be in outer space.

The fact that its Ozpin on the throne throws all the reassurance that normally comes with him off kilter. His answers may not have always been the ones that we’ve liked, but at least he had answers. This however, is something totally beyond him, giving us a pretty solid idea of just how powerful Crescent Rose is going to be.

Two: Crescent Rose

Let’s take a second and step away from the minutiae and describe the scene. We have a young protagonist, newly forced into a demanding journey, who upon the completion of the first leg of their journey, meets a kindly older mentor who shares a connection with the mystical power that is integral to the hero’s story. But before the mentor can really aid the hero on their journey, they lash out, face distorting into a reflection of the grotesquerie manifested by the magical force.

You know what that sounds an awful lot like?

Its not a perfect metaphor, Bilbo reaching for the ring out of the primal need for it is a lot different than Ozpin’s taking of the throne out of a sense of duty, but let’s play this out for a second.

Turning a beloved/relatable character into something so viscerally horrific and then saying, ‘oh its all because of this power that the hero must now handle is a pretty intense way of building the overall tension surrounding that power. I mean, I still have a hard time watching that bit in Fellowship and I’m a grown-ass man.

Crescent is a force to be reckoned with throughout the entire story, but introducing her like this is an extremely forceful way of showing the audience exactly what she’s made of, a tactic used again to similar effect the first time she takes over Ruby’s body.

Three: Recognition

“It isn’t fear or confusion that strikes me at the look in his eyes, but a deep jolt of recognition.”

This point goes hand in hand with the previous one.

As the Lord of the Rings trilogy ramps up, one of the ways Tolkien builds tension is through the gradual corruption taking hold in Frodo. In effect, Bilbo’s little jump scare in Rivendell is a reverse time capsule, showing what the end effect of Frodo’s journey could be. Recognizing the same lust for the ring in Frodo is genuinely one of the most terrifying things about the final trek towards Mt. Doom.

But enough with the Lord of the Rings references, I promise I’m getting to my point. The fact that Ruby recognizes the power sucking Ozpin dry as the same one her parents used and the one that is inextricably linked to her and her bloodline is more haunting the more you think about it. It also definitely gives her some hero points when she chooses to use the throne anyways.

Now this isn’t totally substantiated by the game, but I also like to believe that not only is Ruby recognizing Crescent, but the reverse is happening as well. Even though she’s asleep, I think Crescent could definitely sense the presence of the next Rose heir and a new chapter in her story, a thought which doesn’t exactly engender a sense of safety.

Conclusion: Setting the Stakes

Okay, so we’ve talked about some of the components of this scene, but what’s the overall effect they have when you put it all together?

Early on in the game, you watch an attack on the Xiao-Long tribe by a pack of Grimm, and while that’s a fairly brutal inciting action, its far more important to Ruby than it is to the audience. For us, this scene with Ozpin, is the moment when we become just as invested as Ruby.

Honestly, the first time I played through this, I literally had to set my laptop down and pace around my apartment for a few minutes before I could go back to the game. Every expectation I had about the game had been proven wrong in the space of a few seconds, and I had to mentally reorient myself as to how I was going to experience this story.

Gone were my ideas about a fluffy dating sim with light coming-of-age themes. This was going to be a story that I had to engage with on a completely different level and this was exactly the moment that proved it to me.

By setting the stakes miles higher than I had expected in a single scene is something you can only really pull off once in a story, and this particular moment does it more than brilliantly.

#rwby #summer rose court #src #src spoilers #analysis

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jellyfishrambles · 7 years

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The Evil Within

When the game first came out, my initial excitement came from the fact that it was a horror game and I’m all about a good horror game. Playing it for not even 10 minutes, you could tell that there’s very heavy influence from both the Silent Hill and Resident Evil franchises. Both of those series’ have redeeming factors, and a large following for good reason. I had really high hopes for this game. Like- reallllly high hopes for this game. But before I get too far into the bad of this game, I do want to touch on what Bethesda did really well with it.

· Enemy design. Holy shit the enemy design. Some of the coolest zombie/monster designs I’ve seen in a long while, with what I can only describe as a very ‘Purge-esque’ aesthetic. Porcelain masks with cracks and holes and eerie smiles. As well as a twist on the classic zombie design; barbed wire and shards of glass wrapped around and protruding from the skin. Similar could be said about the boss designs, however they’re not nearly as creative in my own opinion. The Keeper is the most memorable, but it’s very clear that The Keeper is a reshaped ‘Pyramid Head’ from Silent Hill.

· The Concept. All in all, I think the idea of exploring the darkest crevices of ones psyche is amazing. I feel like this game had a lot of good concepts and went in a decent direction, until it would take a random left turn and all structure was lost.

· The Setting. I adored the visual appeal of this game. Mental wards, spooky run-down villages, haunted and abandoned mansions. I was in horror game heaven with how lovely the atmosphere was.

Ok, so, your basic synopsis of the game (Or, my synopsis of the game; i.e. what a stupid person can gather), is a detective, Mr. Sebastian Castellanos, is investigating…something or other…and ends up in the mental ward type psyche of a young man named Ruvik, who flew off the mental rail and went on to perform inhumane and immoral experiments on patients to research the brain. At least that’s, what I gathered from playing this game. Oh also his sister or something like- died in a fire, I’m not really sure. So Sebastian ends up in this weird limbo between the real world and this poor messed up kid’s mind.

So there’s your basic outline. Throughout the game there are admittedly great atmospheres and visual settings. I have a thing for macabre and dark aesthetics. So mental wards, and creepy sewers are right up my twisted alley. However, they get stale rather quickly. I got so bored of exploring and wandering through the same area for what seemed like forever. But honestly, that’s the least of my issues with this game.

The first big ol’ red flag I got was the difficulty curve. It was monstrous! And- if you’re not sure what I mean by difficulty curve in this context; I basically mean that- some parts are insanely difficult, while some are toddler-level easy to figure out. I started my first playthrough of The Evil Within in December of 2014- just a few months after the game’s release. I was havin’ a grand time, playing my game and enjoying myself. And because I’m not a filthy casual- I set the difficulty to ‘survivor’ (Or rather- this game’s version of ‘normal’). It was fine, that’s where I usually play games at. The standard difficulty. And them chapter 3 happened.

Your basic rundown of chapter 3 is- you’re in this zombie village, and you need to get through this hoard of monsters to reach the gate on the other side. There’s houses to explore for ammo, and items, and the all-important crossbow. To finish off the chapter- your boss battle is with the Sadist (I always just referred to him as ‘Chainsaw Guy’). Now- Playing this particular chapter on a STANDARD difficulty, was enough to make me drop the game for years. Literally. Years. I don’t think I picked it back up to start it again until January or February of THIS year (2017 for reference). And- because I didn’t want to deal with that shit again, I swallowed my pride and played on ‘Casual’ (aka, the pussy easy mode). And from there- it was a fucking piece of cake. Finally getting past dreaded chapter 3, it was smooth sailing from there on out pretty much. I did get stuck on chapter 9, because Ruvik’s an asshole and I got frustrated with his random spawning. But that was more /my/ lack of ability to play the game.

My next ‘drop-the-controller-and-give-up’ moment was at the end of chapter 10- with spider lady Laura chasing me through the fire. I’m pretty sure I was stuck on this part for months (And between you and me- I didn’t even beat it. I threw the controller at my friend and he did it for me). So, that was the next stump of difficulty. Chapters 11-15 were beyond easy, and the ending wasn’t rewarding in the slightest- but we’ll get into that later.

This- is when things start to go downhill. Now as I mentioned before- I greatly enjoyed the beginning of this game. The first few chapters set up a great platform to build this into a fantastic game. But it’s like…they gave up. Literally. Gave up like 3 quarters into the game. Textures were slow loading, dubbing was off, and they rushed the last few chapters so much it was like I blinked and it was over. For Christ sake the last ‘boss fight’ was one head shot that was scoped for you. I remember vividly waiting a good two and a half minutes of loading time into an end-chapter cutscene, only to have the textures still loading- while the cutscene was rolling! My friend and I were dumbfounded. And maybe it would run better on PC. As, I played it on the PS4. So while I’m counting it as a game flaw, I can’t 100% blame it on the game, because I’m not sure if it’s the game’s problem in the first place.

My second biggest issue is definitely the plot. Or lack thereof. My synopsis given above was LITERALLY what I took from this game. And maybe I’m just an idiot- feel free to let me know if I am. But I felt like there were SO many loose ends, and gaps that were never closed. It got to the point where I had no idea which realm I was in at any given moment- and perhaps that was the point? But it was executed rather poorly in my opinion. And at the end of the day- that’s all this little ‘review’ is; my opinion.

And- tied into the plot- there were a lot of characters that just- seemed to be there. I know they all served a vague purpose, but all in all I felt like they could have done something a lot better with all these characters. Kidman was about as bland as you could get- I don’t even remember her first name. (I just googled it- her name is Juli…) Anyway, I know she had the whole betrayal thing going for her, but it was revealed so late in the game, I had lost interest in her and her character because her appearances were so sporadic throughout the game. Similar could be said about Joseph- even though he had a stronger presence than Kidman did. And admittedly I do have a soft spot for Joseph for whatever reason, but that doesn’t stop how….’there’ his character is. Systematically, what was Joseph there for? I understand he’s supposed to symbolize Sebastian’s consciousness, and all that cool metaphorical jazz. But what was his literal purpose? Other than to be a companion AI. And then there’s Ruvik, Leslie, and the doctor guy. These ‘antagonists’ were….ehhh. Motivations were hazy and because I’m an idiot I didn’t quite grasp their reason behind doing whatever it was they were doing. What was their goal? What were they aiming for? Hell if I know.

Perhaps, the game was going for ‘vague and mysterious’ and ‘open ended’. But it was left very poorly open ended. Like someone ripped a hole in a plastic trash bag. It wasn’t clean, or put together. And with the announcement of the second installment of this series, I felt I should spill my thoughts and opinions on the game.

Will I play the second game? I hope not. I may watch a playthrough, but I can’t imagine dedicating more time to The Evil Within. It was a hot mess, to be quite frank. But the visuals and atmosphere alone is what will probably have me coming back to this game. Not to play, but just to look at.

#I'm gonna get hate for this #The Evil Within #Opinions #jellyfish rants #long post #video games #wow this was a lot #review #shitty review #bad video games #bad video game reviews #take nothing I say seriously #there's probably a lot of typos #and errors #but whatever

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