#also got a lot of world building questions in the game in general and while i got some ideas i don't know i'm 100% happy with them

[nina-ya]

HI NINA!! I hope ur doing well, for some reason I never realized your requests are open but ive had this little idea with me for a while and I would really like to see it written ;))

can I request law × reader whos like a spirit or ghost kind of?? But only law can see them for some reason. Also reader is not dead hh they might be a spirit because of a curse or something maybe...

maybe a little angsty (or very)?? Either way, I can't wait to see what you write :)) i love ur work sossoooo much and thank uu!!

A/N: HIIIIIIII I had a lot of fun with this idea actually I DO HOPE YOU ENJOY!! Angst really gets me in my feels and I kinda left it to the possibility of a p2 if anyone ever wanted it :'))) Pairing: Law x reader CW: None really just angst towards the end WC: 2k

You sighed to yourself. Another pirate had arrived, their purpose unclear- were they here for treasure? A place to rest? Or to investigate the rumors of the haunted building? Said building is being haunted by you, of course. You hadn’t intended for the place to become a spectacle that would send even the toughest pirates screaming for their mothers, but the curse condemning you to the spirit world left you with little control over this, so you had to make the most out of it, right? You gave up hope long ago that you would be able to be freed from the clutches of curse. You wandered city to city. You even stowed away on pirate ships to go to different islands, desperate to find a miracle that would help, but that all got tiring and soon enough you called the building you resided in your new home.

From the rafters, you peered down at the interesting pirate that had just entered. He sported a spotted hat, matching pants, and a halfway unbuttoned dress shirt that revealed one of the many heart themed tattoos adorning his skin. 

His voice filled the room, muttering about the rumors of the haunted building, and frustration surged within you. This intruder had disrupted your quiet evening, prompting you to cut his visit short and scare him off. You swung off the rafters and landed on a cabinet with an open door, slamming it shut with a great deal of force.

The metallic sound of a sword unsheathing sliced through the air as the man focused on the source of the disturbance. His eyes locked onto yours, momentarily causing panic through you. Could he truly see you? You questioned the possibility for a moment, but rationalized that he was only looking in your general direction rather than directly at you.

“Who are you?” He asked, his voice demanding.

A shiver ran down your spine as the weight of his gaze fell upon you. ‘Impossible,’ you thought, ‘there’s no way he’s talking to me.’

“I suggest you answer my question before you regret it,” he stated, a blue orb materializing in an outstretched hand.

Disbelief filled your senses as you responded. “Wait, wait, wait… hold on… you can see me?” you stammered, trying to understand the reality that is unfolding before your eyes.

“Quit playing games; of course I can see you,” he replied, his voice unwavering.

You stumbled over your words as you tried to satiate his demands, “I’m sorry, it’s just… well, you’re the first person that’s seen me like this.”

Law grew impatient, and with a quick motion, he enclosed you in the blue bubble of his room, slashing at you. Yet, that was a futile effort as the force passed through you without a trace. Frustration bubbled within him as he attempted again and again, the uselessness of his efforts quickly settling in.

“What the hell is the meaning of this?” He finally snapped, his voice filled with irritation and subtle curiosity.

“Let me explain!” you pleaded, taking the opportunity to share your story. “I’ve been like this for a while and I think I’m a ghost? I can’t really tell.”

"A ghost? Really?" Law sighed, his skepticism obvious. "Okay, whatever, go on."

A sigh of relief escaped you as you continued your story. The tale of encountering a curse, the passage of time, and the unexplainable circumstances that left you in this state spilled from your lips. However, Law rolled his eyes and cut you off.

"I don't know what kind of fun you gain from telling this story to people, but it's not going to work on me," he declared, moving to leave the building, his patience gone.

Desperation filled you as you chased after him in a plea to be heard. "Wait! Please! I promise I am not making this up."

"Yeah, yeah, go find some other oblivious person to fool," he retorted, rounding a corner, making his exit.

You positioned yourself in his path. "Wait! Give me a chance! Don't leave yet!" Your desperate voice rang out.

He rolled his eyes at you, "would you shut up and leave me alone?" he barked back, the force of his words drawing the attention of passersby. Some stopped  in their tracks, casting curious glances your way, while others continued their journey with judgment evident in their glances.

He looked around, noticing the stares. "Look, now you're bringing attention to us," he said, irritation dripping from his features.

The whispers of the crowd filled his ears, 'Us?' 'Is he okay?' 'Why is he talking to the air?'

A sense of unease settled over Law as the judgmental murmurs were made clear to him. Clenching his jaw to hold off a retort, he shot you a silent look that said, 'Follow me,' before walking away.

Back inside the building, the door barely closed when Law spoke up, his tone unchanged, "So, a ghost, you say?"

You sighed in relief at the opportunity to explain. "I… I mean, I think so? A ghost or a spirit, or any other synonym would probably be my best guess."

"Your best guess? Do you not know what happened to you?"

"No! I really don't," you admitted with a sigh. "All I know is that one day, I messed with some people that I shouldn't have, and well… I'm like this now."

His face remained expressionless, a calculating gaze fixed upon you. The silence stretched, and you couldn't bear it any longer. A nervous chuckle escaped you. "So, uh, I guess I have to properly introduce myself to the first human I've spoken to in a while, huh." You extended your hand for a shake, revealing your name. Law hesitated for a moment before reaching out. His hand enveloped yours for just a moment, then phased right through.

You nervously laughed again, retracting your hand at the failed handshake. "Ah, I'm sorry about that. I don't know why I thought that would work."

"But you were able to slam that cabinet just fine earlier?" Law questioned.

"Will you kill me if I say I'm not sure why?" you replied sheepishly.

"How would I kill you when you're practically dead?" Law retorted, his deadpan delivery drawing a smile from you. 

“Not dead, just cursed.” you correct him. “I don’t see much of a difference.” 

Your laughter filled the building, a sound that seemed out of place, but it certainly felt good. It was the first time in a long long while since you genuinely laughed and had fun. Law didn’t seem to share your amusement, though. He eyed you with a raised eyebrow. As your laughter dissipated into chuckles, you felt a warmth inside of you.

“Laughing, huh? You sure you’re not trying to trick me?” Law asked, still seemingly skeptical about this whole situation.

Your smile quickly turned into a frown at his doubts. “What? No, I just…” you start but trail off, seemingly unable to form any words.

An awkward pause fell between the two of you. He just couldn’t understand your predicament. Law is the first to break the silence. “Maybe it’s time for you to get out of here and try and find a way to get back to your old self.”

“You don’t get it,” you said quietly, your voice filled with despair. “I can’t just do that. I’ve tried, trust me. For years I’ve tried, but I'm tied to this life.” For a moment, Law's doubts faded as he saw the desperation in your eyes, and he decided to give you a chance. He walked over to the nearest wall and sat on the floor, leaning against it. He saw your confusion and he gestured to the floor in front of him, nonchalantly saying, “I have a feeling that you have quite the story to tell me, so go on.

- - -

As the night deepened, the two of you found yourselves engaged in an unexpectedly long conversation. You opened up more about your predicament, telling Law every detail you could about the curse, telling him about your human life, your past, and even your fears. He opened up to you as well. You learned that he was the captain of a crew, that he was a former warlord, and he even showed you his tattoos.

The light of the moon filtered through the dusty windows, and the conversation flowed into more lighthearted topics. You learned that you had much more in common with him than you originally had thought. You even learned about some of his quirks such as his distaste for bread. 

As the first rays of sunlight slowly started to replace the moonlight, you two found yourselves in an odd state of comfort. The two of you talked throughout the night and not once have you run out of things to say. 

“I’ll help you break the curse,” Law declared, his words causing a momentary pause in your thoughts. Your eyes widened in disbelief and gratitude. Unable to contain yourself, you impulsively find yourself throwing yourself at Law, wrapping your arms around him in a tight hug.

The world stood still as you held the hug, and Law could only widen his eyes in shock at the feeling of the touch. Then the realization hit you– your arms were wrapped around him. You were actually hugging him. Embarrassment soon washed over you as you became aware of the awkwardness of the situation. You pulled away abruptly, your features emanating embarrassment, and you cleared your throat. 

A pause fell over the two of you as both of you tried to grapple with the reality of the uncharted territory of physical contact. “Uh, sorry about that,” you mumbled sheepishly.

Law nodded in understanding, though he still seemed taken aback. “No harm done, right? Let’s focus on breaking that curse.” He looked out of the window as he finished his sentence and his voice filled with urgency as he realized the time. “I have to go now,” he explained, regret in his voice. “But, I’ll be back tonight. I will help you figure this out.” Through the sudden disappointment, you nodded in understanding. “Thank you,” you whispered.

Law nodded at you before making his exit. He left you alone, and the quietness that you were oh so familiar with. You eagerly awaited his return, and as the night came about, you stared out the windows looking for any sign of him, but to no avail. You occupied your mind with feeble excuses, convincing yourself that he might just be running late and that he will come for you. But as the night turned into days, that wait stretched agonizingly long and uncertain. 

Morning after morning, you wandered the island, hoping to find some sign of Law, just to be filled with a growing sense of abandonment instead.  You questioned every bit of Law’s promise, wondering if you had just gone insane and made up that conversation to make yourself feel a little less lonely. The desolation you felt before was nothing to this new crushing weight of shattered hope.

The loneliness settled in, and with every sunset that passed, your hope vanished further. That is, until you were searching the island for him, and you saw fresh wanted posters plastered across the walls. There he was. Law’s face was among them. The realization that he was not even around anymore hit you like a truck. He went off to do other better things rather than fulfilling some stupid promise with someone he just met. The memory of your interaction replayed in your mind, the hug lingering in your mind more than you’d like to admit.

In a moment of frustration and despair, you tore the wanted poster off the wall, startling those who were nearby. Tears flowed freely as Law's absence filled you with despair. His presence had filled a hole you hadn't even realized existed, and now that he was gone, that hole seemed even bigger than before. Now you were left with the dreaded thought that you may never truly break this curse.

#one piece #one piece x reader #trafalgar law #trafalgar law x reader #trafalgar d law x reader #trafalgardwaterlaw #law x reader

[weirdmarioenemies]

No one stopped me but myself, but I'm back to ranking all the Super Mario Galaxies

Sorry this took so long! Mix of some busy weeks and some low energy. These are long posts! Takes a lot of time to write them.

Hello, everyone! Today we're approaching the top of the mountain. The very best galaxies these games have to offer... at least to me. I know I've stated this a lot but like, opinions are totally subjective, and what appeals to me may not appeal to you and vice versa! But these ones appeal to me and quite a lot.

By the next entry, we will have covered all of the galaxies there are, which is pretty exciting. You can expect it on some Sunday, but given how the last few weeks have gone, I won't make any promises about the specifics of when. And if this is the first time you're seeing one of these posts and want to catch up, I've got you covered. Here's part one, part two, part three, and part four.

With that out of the way, I think we're about good to go! Let's start covering some of the best these games have to offer!

20. Grandmaster Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy 2 Tier: S

Grandmaster Galaxy should be grateful we're not ranking the galaxies in the order you play them, or else it'd be dead last.

If I'm not mistaken, Super Mario Galaxy 2 was the first game to feature a very long, very difficult gauntlet as a "final test" of sorts, and here it is! This is another of those things that has basically become a series staple of Mario games at this point, with similar levels existing in 3D Land, 3D World, and Odyssey, and given they've latched onto this concept so much, it's probably not controversial to say that the first instance of this probably did something right.

And it did! The Grandmaster Galaxy throws a number of different obstacles at you, from a segment where all you have to get around is those Yoshi Tongue Flower Things, to a segment with electrical mazes, to a segment where you have to dodge Ring Beamers around flip-swap panels and disappearing platforms, to a segment with some tricky pull star timing. I would go ahead and say the segment with the flipswitches and Sentry Beams is on the easy side, but that's towards the start, so it's probably fine.

The first run of the galaxy is challenging, but also feels a bit like a "practice run," giving you room to acquaint yourself with each step of the galaxy before the Perfect Run, where you have to do the whole thing in one go with only one health. This is the time where I admit: I've only ever beaten the Perfect Run with help from a Co-Star Luma. Is that cheating? I dunno. I never promised I was great at video games! Only good enough to 100% most of the game and beat the Grandmaster Galaxy non-perfect run, and still do the Perfect Run with a little help. ...That counts for something, right?

Either way, I think Grandmaster provides more than an adequate challenge, making it succeed as both a test of skill, and as a finale for the rest of the game to build up to.

19. Matter Splatter Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy Tier: S

If you exclude boss missions, I'd say Matter Splatter Galaxy is probably the best one-off galaxy in the first game. Actually, the Garden in general is a really good dome. This is the first of its galaxies I'm covering on this list! (As long as you don't look at the Hungry Luma standing outside. I question how much Snow Cap Galaxy single-handedly weighs down this dome if you're willing to include it.)

I've kinda ragged on a lot of the smaller-scale galaxies in the first game, and while the small scale is maybe part of the reason I've been more dismissive of them, as a whole, I think what hurts them more for me is that I rarely find their gimmicks all that unique or interesting. If a gimmicky one-off galaxy has a good enough gimmick? Then yeah, I'll love it to bits! And Matter Splatter Galaxy has that "good enough gimmick".

I touched on this one a bit when talking about Sweet Mystery Galaxy, what with how both make use of the "what you can see is all that's there" concept, but as a whole, I think Matter Splatter does it a bit better, due to the lack of player control. It adds an element where you have to consider when you want to approach, and makes for some fun improvisation when your timing is off. You lose out on some of that improvisation when the location of the ground is something you have more control over, you know?

But what truly escalates Matter Splatter to me is how much variety they get out of its gimmick. For the first half of the galaxy, droplets of matter will "light up" the ground you can walk on, with the ground gradually fading until another drop hits the same spot. It's a fun test of pattern recognition and timing, and it comes with both 2D and 3D segments for a bit of added variety! As a whole, I'd say I generally prefer this half of the galaxy since it feels a bit more distinctive, but it's not like this galaxy suddenly becomes weak in the back half.

The back half switches things up, focusing on large, moving "spotlights" you have to keep yourself in, changing to a bit of an autoscroller, where you have to swiftly adjust to whatever obstacles are coming up ahead, now testing your reflexes and improvisational skills a bit more. Once again, we get both 2D and 3D segments for added variety, and the mix of the galaxy's unique gimmick and autoscrolling format allows for some really fun misdirection in this part. It's a fun switch-up that doesn't depart dramatically from what makes this galaxy so great. All of this comes together to make a one-off gimmick galaxy that feels like it truly gets the most out of a unique concept.

Before I move on, though, I want to talk about the Spring Mushroom. The Spring Mushroom is a weird power-up. It's pretty infamous, and like, for good reason. It's difficult to control, it feels kinda jank to use at times, and most people find it more frustrating than fun and like. I'm not even gonna say I disagree with that sentiment! And yet somehow, against all odds, every galaxy that prominently features the Spring Mushroom has ended up scoring really highly for me. Are these galaxies just great in spite of featuring the Spring Mushroom? Is the Spring Mushroom's jank secretly a good thing? Or is there just something wrong with me? The answer is probably a mix of all three.

18. Bowser's Galaxy Generator

Game: Super Mario Galaxy 2 Tier: S

Oh hey, it's the finale of the main Super Mario Galaxy 2 campaign! These big finale boss missions are always great, and while I think Galaxy 2's doesn't quite stack up to the first game's, I'd still say that I'd consider it a worthy successor. It still absolutely succeeds as one last grand mission to close out the main game.

Like any good boss galaxy, I love Bowser's Galaxy Generator for its length and sense of variety. Possibly even more so than the Galaxy Reactor from the first game, the Galaxy Generator seems to try testing your knowledge on everything you know, featuring most of the game's brand-new power-ups, save for the Rock Mushroom and Bulb Berry. I think this idea of focusing on the game's new content was the right call, since it helps it feel a bit more like a finale to Super Mario Galaxy 2, specifically.

The level is also adequately challenging! I find the Yoshi segments towards the end to be the toughest, with the Dash Pepper segment being tight enough that even the smallest mistakes can be punishing, while the Snake Block section afterwards requiring some pretty tight reflexes to dodge the Magmarrghs.

With that out of the way, while the level is solidly challenging, I do think the final boss fight is a bit on the easy side. Both the asteroids and Bowser are big enough that landing the hits isn't too much of a challenge, even in the second phase. Heck, arguably less so in the second phase, when replaying this level, I always think of that phase of the fight as being sort of a freebie.

But I also wouldn't say it's a bad fight -- it does a good job escalating the game's previous Bowser encounters, and ground pounding asteroids into a massive Bowser while hurtling through space definitely has a sense of grandeur that I really appreciate. Maybe it could've been a little more difficult or a little longer, but it's certainly memorable, and still very fun, so the fact it's not as difficult as it arguably should be doesn't bother me that much, and doesn't hamper the Galaxy Generator from its S-tier position.

17. Flip-Out Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy 2 Tier: S

I find it a little weird that this is the penultimate galaxy in Super Mario Galaxy 2, you know? Between the boss rush and ultimate challenge levels, you have this weird one-off gimmick level that introduces a variant of a gimmick seen back in World 1, just with an added twist. I guess they wanted the final Hungry Luma galaxy to be a parallel to the first one? I'm not really sure. None of this matters of course, because Flip-Out Galaxy is fan-flipping-tastic!

Yeah, I know that doesn't hit as hard as a real F-bomb, but we try to keep the blog at least somewhat family-friendly, you know? And also the pun!

Anyway, as you may remember, I love Flip-Swap Galaxy quite a bit. Top-notch weird gimmick galaxy, always a joy to play. So I think it goes to say that I love this more difficult spin on its gimmick just as much, if not even more, if the rating hasn't spoken for itself already. Flip-Out Galaxy shifts the focus from the red and blue Flip-Swap panels to red and blue walls that pop in and out when you spin. And of course, that means it's time to perform some Wicked Wall Jumps! This is what that weird short mission in Honeybloom Galaxy has been training you for!

Since this is the penultimate galaxy in the game, it's a pretty tricky one, since a poorly-timed spin can take out not just the walls you're jumping on, but the floor underneath as well, and you'll have to spin a lot when alternating between red and blue walls! Timing will also prove important, not just for exiting a wall jump and spinning to give yourself solid ground to stand on, but also for a segment where you have to keep wall jumping until the spikes underneath you recede, which becomes especially difficult when you throw in the Cosmic Clones...

On that note, I love the decision to use specifically the Cosmic Clone mission for the second Green Star here, and putting it towards the end, too. Makes grabbing it a bit trickier, which is nice for a galaxy this late in the game! Flip-Out does pretty much everything I'd want it to -- it brings back a great old gimmick, changes it up in a way that feels unique, and uses it to craft a fun, albeit challenging late-game mission. My only knock against it? It being so late in the game means you have to play a lot to get there, and they crowd so many of the game's worst galaxies before it, just to rub salt in the wound. But hey, if it's for a galaxy this good, it may as well be worth it.

16. Cosmic Cove Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy 2 Tier: S

I know a handful of people have been disappointed by the low rankings I gave to a lot of these games' water galaxies, so consider this an apology. Well, an apology of some sort, it's not like I decided to move up Cosmic Cove a bunch because people were upset that I didn't like some of the water galaxies. It just happens that I felt a lot of them suffered from having weak missions, hampered a bit by somewhat janky underwater controls. Give me a water galaxy that mitigates both these problems, and I'm sure to fall in love with it. "Underwater" is like, a pretty notable part of My Brand! There's a reason I've put three water galaxies on today's list, everyone!

Case in point: Cosmic Cove Galaxy! Cosmic Cove Galaxy is just gorgeous. I'd say that it's aesthetically one of the strongest galaxies in Super Mario Galaxy 2, which definitely counts for something! I mean, have you heard its music? The harps and pianos create such a relaxing atmosphere, and it sort of reminds me of the music in the next entry on our list...

But let's not get ahead of ourselves! Cosmic Cove isn't surviving on looks alone, because it's a pretty fun galaxy to play as well! I think they hit a really nice balance here, where the underwater sections have a somewhat linear path to take, so it doesn't feel like you're wrestling with those Janky Water Controls, but if you decide to go off the beaten path, there's a good bit more to see than you'd expect, which is nice, given this is a very pretty galaxy and one I enjoy spending time to take in! Obviously there's less to do once you've frozen the water, but having a big open plain to skate around on is also pretty fun. And while we're talking about ice skating, the Hungry Luma star is probably the second best bunny chase in the Galaxy games.

And let's not forget the second main mission, either! The underwater sidescroller is really neat, especially when they start having blocks of water floating in space, and even moving on their own. I think this is another of those concepts they brought back in Super Mario 3D World, if I'm not mistaken! It's such a memorable part of the galaxy, that I sorta forget there's that planet with the Spin Drill and the Micro Mecha-Bowsers and the Fizzlits at the end, but that planet is fine too.

Cosmic Cove manages to do a seamless job blending aesthetics and gameplay to create one of the series' most memorable galaxies. And it introduces us to Snoodles and Fizzlits! Those are like, maybe two of my favorite enemies. Bonus points for that!

15. Space Junk Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy Tier: S

Can I be honest? Space Junk Galaxy is one of those galaxies that mostly made it this high for the vibes, above all else. Don't get me wrong, I like Space Junk Galaxy a lot. I think all the missions here are fun, if I was rating it on gameplay alone I'd probably still rank it highly. Space Junk on its own is a solid A-tier galaxy, but I think this is one of those galaxies where the atmosphere brings it up a tier higher for me.

While most of the galaxies in these games focus on the grandeur and excitement of exploring the cosmos, Space Junk Galaxy takes a more melancholic approach to the setting, the idea that outer space is mostly, well, space. Space Junk Galaxy isn't really focused on having big, exciting setpieces. Space Junk Galaxy is about everything inbetween, from lost spaceships, to small asteroids, to well... miscellaneous space junk. And I think it works in its favor!

I could make the same argument that I made against Gusty Garden Galaxy, that Space Junk Galaxy feels like it was cobbled together from miscellaneous bits and bobs of larger levels that were getting too big, but in this case, I think that's the point. To the extent that something trying to be a cohesive level design in a 3D platformer can at least, Space Junk does a really good job capturing that feeling of emptiness, in the best possible way. The first mission here, which largely consists of Mario floating through space via a trail of Pull Stars, may not be the most exciting mission, but it has such a specific atmosphere that I can't help but say it may very well be one of my favorites across both games.

Admittedly, this is the part of this review where I have to concede that Space Junk's biggest strength is probably also one of its biggest weaknesses, that a galaxy so focused on all the emptiness and in-betweens of space struggles to find enough content to fill out six missions. The second mission basically has none of the atmosphere, instead being a weird Airship mission with a boss fight at the end, and then the third mission has another boss fight, because what else are you gonna do here? Don't get me wrong, these are still fun missions, but I think they end up working against the general atmosphere and tone that this galaxy sets up in the first mission. I think this is one that would benefit from the sequel's smaller-scale galaxies, with two "main" missions, and a comet or secret star or something.

Still, this is a galaxy that is fun from start to finish, and when it goes for being atmospheric, it nails it. I mean, have you heard the music here? This has easily gotta be a top 5 song across both games for me, I love it so much. While I think having fewer, more focused missions could've benefited it a little, Space Junk Galaxy will always leave such an impression on me that I can't help but feel like it's one of the standouts from these games.

14. Cloudy Court Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy 2 Tier: S

I've mentioned before how a few of the galaxies in Galaxy 2 feel like they're meant to be "sequels" to galaxies from the first game, and Cloudy Court is no exception, feeling like a bit of a follow-up to Gusty Garden Galaxy. I mean, you have the grand orchestral score, you have the "garden in the sky" theming, you have lots of segments where you're riding on wind currents, even the Japanese name, "Cloud Garden Galaxy" ends up harkening back to the first game's "Wind Garden Galaxy". I think there's a reason they showed this one off a lot in the game's earliest trailers.

That being said, while it does feel a bit like an attempt to capitalize on Gusty Garden's success, in many ways to me it also feels like a refinement of Gusty Garden, taking some of the concepts that worked there and expanding on them a bit to make something that, to me at least, feels more interesting and cohesive. In my review of Gusty Garden, I characterized it a bit as a galaxy largely carried by its music, that otherwise felt like it could've been thrown together from leftover assets from galaxies that had gotten too large. Cloudy Court manages to avoid that feeling pretty easily, it was pretty clearly built from the ground up, and given how much it changed from the initial trailer to the final release, it seems like one they spent a lot of time on trying to get just right.

And in that regard, I think they largely succeeded! Cloudy Court manages to hit on the familiar elements we love about Gusty Garden, but also manages to hold strong on its own, with a number of distinct and memorable segments. I don't know why the drum trampolines are here, but I'm not complaining, it's fun to have them! And the combination of the wind currents and the Cloud Flower makes for some very memorable platforming challenges. And some fun secrets, as well! Obviously as a Galaxy 2 entry it's gonna be a bit more linear by default, but even then they manage to hide a lot of 1-Ups here, adding a little extra reward for going off the course, which you know I always appreciate.

While a lot of "sequel" galaxies end up falling flat to me when they struggle to live up to what came before, Cloudy Court is one of the rare exceptions that not only lives up to its predecessor, but in my opinion, surpasses it. I feel like we think of Gusty Garden as a better galaxy than it truly is, but Cloudy Court simply is that good, which to me, makes it a contender for one of the series' very best.

13. Boo Moon Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy 2 Tier: S

Man, it's hard to go wrong with ghosts. Nice for an appropriately spooky galaxy to end up at #13, huh? Maybe that was a little deliberate on my part, but it's not like I don't think Boo Moon Galaxy deserves it.

Boo Moon Galaxy is so, so stylish I think. I feel like Super Mario Galaxy 2 goes for a bit of a "storybook" aesthetic, so why not have a galaxy that leans into that a bit? Stuff like the dark maze at the beginning, poison swamp folding up at a 90 degree angle to match the snake blocks, the crescent-moon see-saw planet, and the haunted house pop-up book at the end are all such distinctive visuals with a bit of that Storybook Feel to me, and end up making for a galaxy that manages to provide a very fun twist on an already fun theme.

Not to mention that this is also a decently tricky galaxy! I gotta be grateful for those musical notes that spawn the three 1-Ups during the Snake Block section, because I've fallen into that poison swamp more than a couple times, especially when going for the secret star, and even more so when going for that one Green Star. The second mission, which I believe is the sole appearance of the Boo Mushroom in Galaxy 2, also involves some precise timing as you weave your way through Octoboos, particularly towards the end.

I'm a sucker for a good ghost galaxy, so this one was probably gonna get high marks no matter what, but with a stylish and distinctive aesthetic, that's enough to bring it up to a top-tier with a fittingly spooky number. Happy Halloween, everyone!

I mean, it's September. That's basically Halloween.

12. Tall Trunk Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy 2 Tier: S

Really, shoutout to World 3 of Galaxy 2 just giving you a choice between two absolute bangers right off the bat. I think Tall Trunk ends up just barely winning out against Cloudy Court for me, but the two are really close in quality, and no matter which I'm in the mood for, I know I'm in for a great time.

Like Puzzle Plank, this is another galaxy that brings such a high level of unfiltered joy whenever I reach it in a playthrough. Maybe there's something about these big galaxies made of wood, I dunno. Probably also has something to do with the music. Yeah, I know this one just borrows the music from Yoshi Star Galaxy, but I always associate it with Tall Trunk first and foremost. Unlike Puzzle Plank however, I think Tall Trunk feels a bit more fully realized -- I never really feel underwhelmed playing through Tall Trunk, which let it climb a good bit higher on my tier list.

Tall Trunk is a galaxy not only with a great aesthetic, but two very fun and very distinct missions! The first mission is a showcase of the Blimp Fruit, and I love how it gets used in so many different ways, from climbing a tree, to searching for Star Chips around a cylindrical planet (Super Mario Galaxy 2 has a lot of those, huh?), to making your way through a long spiral to grab the Power Star. Then there's the slide, which weeeeeee wheeeeeeeeeee yippeeeeeeeeeee wahoooooo!

It's fun.

This galaxy also has to get bonus points for being the home of the Whittles, arguably the best Galaxy NPCs. Don't get me wrong, the Gearmos offer close competition, but the Whittles are just too adorable. Also, the Tall Trunk Galaxy is a sacred site to the Whittles, giving us one of few glimpses into Religion in the Mario Universe.

I think I have to agree with the Whittles when it comes to this galaxy: "Treetop. Good." Truer words have never been spoken.

11. Flipsville Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy 2 Tier: S

Oh hey, I've talked about this one before! I mean, clearly I have to enjoy this one a good bit to give it its own post with some in-depth analysis, though I hate to say, I still have yet to figure out who's selectively breeding Pupdozers, why they'd be doing it, or if that has even happened at all. Sorry. I know you're disappointed in me. Maybe I'll have the answer next time I talk about Flipsville.

I did sort of go over my opinions in that post, though more of it was dedicated to talking about the galaxy itself, so I probably don't have to fear repeating myself too too much. To reiterate: I think this one is great! The gimmick of the grates that reverse the gravity of the galaxy is really really neat, and this galaxy uses it in some interesting ways, particularly during the autoscroller where you have to flip at the right time to avoid running Mario into spikes. (That being said, my favorite usage still gotta be that one Green Star that you can only reach by taking a leap of faith from underneath.)

Also shoutout to the Pupdozers as an enemy design that takes advantage of this gimmick! I'm pretty sure they're only in this galaxy, so I may as well talk about them here. I also have to shoutout this galaxy's distinctive aesthetic, "weird 1950s suburban house" is not really a level theme you see in video games often, and it gives this galaxy more than just a unique gameplay gimmick. I really dig it.

Speaking of digging, I do remain a little iffy on how the second mission shifts focus to the Spin Drill, I feel parts of it end up feeling pretty similar to the Spin-Dig Galaxy, but the gimmick of flipping between the two sides of the planets remains in tact, and the final room with the gravity walls that switch in time with the music where you have to use the drill to grab Silver Stars or Purple Coins is really cool, so I can't complain about it too much. I mean, it's not like it makes this galaxy any less fun, y'know?

Flipsville Galaxy will always stand out to me as one of the most distinctive galaxies in the sequel, both in its theming and in its gameplay, and for that I will always consider it a personal favorite!

10. Slimy Spring Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy 2 Tier: S

Slimy Spring Galaxy is one of the most atmospheric galaxies... well, I was gonna say in Super Mario Galaxy 2, but it's really one of the most atmospheric galaxies in general. I'd say that as a whole, the first game typically wins out on atmosphere, but there's a few places where the sequel really shines, and more than any other, I think Slimy Spring showcases that.

Slimy Spring Galaxy is so, so very claustrophobic. You're given a green shell, and from there, it's a long, linear swim through a narrow underwater cave. Besides the very start, there's hardly any coins or air bubbles to refill your air meter, so you have to rely on what little air you do have to make your way to the end. And believe me when I say that these tunnels are designed to be just long enough to run you to the very end of your air meter. You only really get a brief breather in the middle, and with limited air, mistakes made in this galaxy can be especially punishing.

I love the way Slimy Spring Galaxy puts you in this distinct state of mind. Watching your air slowly run out while making your way through a dark, seemingly unending tunnel can be a bit nerve-wracking, but obviously the game's not gonna present you with a galaxy that's impossible to beat. You just have to trust that the game's gonna take you where you need to go, and try to avoid letting any obstacles this galaxy throws at you trip you up. Admittedly, I still see my fight-or-flight reflex kick in when I reach the Gringills.

Slimy Spring Galaxy is one I've really only grown to appreciate more and more with time. It's not really one of the game's most "fun" galaxies by any stretch of the imagination, but it doesn't really feel like it's trying to be -- the rest of the galaxies exist to be fun, so what does it matter if Slimy Spring Galaxy tries to do something else? Slimy Spring Galaxy is pretty much unrivaled in its atmosphere, and for that, it has easily become one of my favorites.

I really love the sunset at the end of Slimy Spring. It sort of feels like the game saying that even in the most uncertain of times, everything's gonna turn out alright at the end. I feel like I'm being a bit wax poetic here, but I dunno. I think Slimy Spring Galaxy just does that to a person.

9. Honeyhive Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy Tier: S

So remember how earlier I said this was a top 10 Galaxy? Well how many of you guessed it'd show up at #9? Congratulations if you did! I'm sorry I don't have anything to award you, besides I guess my review of Honeyhive Galaxy, but even people who didn't guess correctly are getting that... Sorry.

Whatever. Honeyhive is great! I mean, you've seen me talk about it when talking about every other bee galaxy. This is the honey-gold standard all other bee galaxies strive for, and few can achieve...

What makes Honeyhive so great to me is its sense of scale. It arguably has the largest starting planet across both games, with lots of little nooks and crannies that all get utilized throughout its many missions. I get the feeling you wouldn't even need to add more to this galaxy to give it a full set of missions, but Honeyhive Galaxy is here to spoil us anyway, because it's Honeyhive Galaxy, and it's great. It does a very nice job making each mission feel familiar, yet distinctive, which I really appreciate.

I also think it does a really good job showing off the Bee Mushroom, with lots of high ground that becomes much more accessible with it, plenty of water to show off its main weakness, lots of flower and cloud platforms you can only access with it, and honey walls to climb up. Not only do you get to spend time among the bees, but you get to join them. Become one with the hive.

Oh, and have I mentioned that the main missions here are all super great too? The first mission is the big showcase for the Bee Mushroom I mentioned above, but the second has some fun platforming through a wooden obstacle course, and the boss fight against Big Bad Bugaboom is always a blast that makes some great usage of the Bee Mushroom. The Purple Coin and Luigi missions are sorta whatever to me, though I appreciate the Cosmic Mario race and the weird shortcuts you can take in it, I think it's nifty.

Really, I think the thing holding back Honeyhive from an even higher spot for me, and this is pretty unfair, is the fact that it's so early in the game, that the novelty of it all has kinda worn off for me. It's hard to get excited about Honeyhive when it's a place you have to go to early in the game, you know? But again, that's a small gripe that ultimately changes nothing about just how good this galaxy is. It's sweet as honey!

8. Deep Dark Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy Tier: S

Deep Dark Galaxy is one of those galaxies that always kinda surprises me when I play through the first game. It's one of those galaxies I never really think about all that often, and I'm rarely that excited when I get there, but then I play through it and go "wait a second, this one rules!"

I'm wondering if it's because it's in the Garden, where it has to deal with some serious competition. Being "that water galaxy with the dreary atmosphere in the way of Dreadnought and Melty Molten" isn't exactly the most flattering look, but at the very least it makes for a galaxy that always manages to surpass my expectations. Hopefully, putting this one at #8 will make me stop forgetting how good it is once and for all.

Still, I don't think counting the dreary atmosphere of this galaxy against it is really fair, because that's kinda what it's going for -- it's literally called "Dungeon Cave Galaxy" in Japanese. And you know what? For a Dungeon Cave, I love how silly they still let this Galaxy be! Stuff like the weird inflatable duplicate of the Gateway Planet, the weird floating circus platform, and that planet where you have to ground pound tennis balls into a watermelon to make it grow are such odd things to put in a galaxy like this, but I think they all end up working in its favor. The added surrealism makes this place so much more memorable.

And man oh man, I know I've talked a few times about how I love galaxies that let you goof off and do whatever, and I think no galaxy does that better than Deep Dark. I swear, in my latest playthrough of Galaxy, I spent more time in the spawn beach area than I did playing the rest of the mission. For an area that looks to have so little going on, there's lots of hidden goodies to look for, and shooting yourself out of the cannon at the Gateway and Octoguy planets is so, so fun.

While I'm sort of lukewarm on the mission where you swim through Guppy's eight rings, everything else in this galaxy I think is super fun, from the Kamella rematch on the pirate ship, to the aforementioned weird watermelon planet, to even the untimed Purple Coin mission! Usually those untimed exploration-based Purple Coin missions are never my cup of tea, but in this case, I think the combination of a smaller area to explore, better utilization of the underwater areas, and no places to fall off makes it feel a lot less grueling to me.

Deep Dark Galaxy is a great galaxy that always surpasses my expectations, and for that I think it deserves a spot in my top 10.

7. Freezeflame Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy Tier: S

Freezeflame Galaxy is so cool. And also so hot. That's kind of its whole gimmick. I feel like I made the same joke with Shiverburn Galaxy. Whatever. Freezeflame Galaxy's missions consist of an excellent ice level, a pretty good fire level, and a combination of the two, to make a galaxy that is as varied as it is fun. I will come forwards and say I like the Freeze part of this galaxy a bit more than the Flame part, but again, both are good.

I love the feeling of verticality you get from the ice sections. I love that upwards climb with all the varied obstacles and Ice Flower platforming, followed by a pretty fun boss fight against Baron Brrr. And then you can climb the other side of the mountain too, with its own varied obstacles and platforming challenges! Let's just say this one's good for my inner West Virginian mountaineer, okay? And then you have a Purple Coin mission that makes you climb both sides, which might be a bit much, but I'm glad they were being thorough.

But while the peak of the mountain may be the peak of the mountain here, it's not like the fire mission isn't doing any heavy lifting here, either. It's no Melty Molten, sure, but the Fire Flower gets used for some pretty fun timing puzzles, and I appreciate the use of the Galaxy games' gravity shenanigans halfway through. Really, most of my gripes with this section come from how the Fire Flower is handled in these games. The fact you need to spin to activate it, combined with how it stops you in your tracks when you throw a fireball just doesn't feel very good at all, especially when you throw in the timer. But that's not really this specific galaxy's fault, is it?

Gripes about the Fire Flower aside, I'm happy to say this galaxy's two great tastes taste great together as well! I'm a little bummed it takes until this galaxy's third mission to put the fire and ice together, but when they do, they use it very well, making for fun segments where you switch between the two, followed by a memorable segment where you use the Ice Flower to skate across lava. And on that note, I really enjoy the Cosmic Mario race here. Lots of places where I decide to take a risky shortcut, and it doesn't pay off and I fall in a Black Hole. Classic.

The Freeze and the Flame aren't perfectly balanced, from the levels to the Flowers featured within (no seriously. where was the Ice Flower in Galaxy 2), but both are very enjoyable, and the combination of both in one galaxy makes for a very memorable location. Not surprised at all they decided to revisit this idea in Galaxy 2.

6. Chompworks Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy 2 Tier: S

Look, I can spend all day talking about the gorgeous atmosphere of Cosmic Cove or Slimy Spring, or the exciting challenges of Grandmaster or Flip-Out, but when you ask me what my favorite galaxy in Super Mario Galaxy 2 is, I'll probably say it's Chompworks, because I'm only human, and I love Funny Chain Chomp Factory Galaxy. This is literally a place where Mario enemies are made! How can I resist?! There's Star Bits arranged like Chomps in the sky and everything!

I just love everything about Chompworks, from the music, to the theming, to the gameplay itself. It's one of those very unique galaxies that always stands out in my head, and if you know me, that can only be a good thing! I really appreciate the light timing puzzles they incorporate into this galaxy, the balance of needing so set everything up just right so the Chomps can reach their goal, but also not get too close because as you may realize: getting hit by a huge ball of steel rolling at you, even at slow speeds, hurts a lot.

I really like the active role this galaxy gives you in Chomp Production, how even when the Chomps start rolling, you'll need to make some adjustments to its path if you don't want it to crash early. Like, this galaxy has one of the rare inclusions of Flip-Swap panels outside of Flip-Swap Galaxy, just for the purpose of crafting a puzzle that can use them, and I appreciate that! If anything, I feel like there's room to elaborate on this mechanic even further, but I'm not gonna pretend that this galaxy isn't doing more than enough already. I think the Cosmic Clone comet is a fun enough shake-up, since you're gonna need to stay in one place a lot for some of the challenges.

You know, this factory doesn't seem very efficient. All their assembly lines are weird obstacle courses that need manual intervention, and most of the Chomps get destroyed at the end anyway. The Gearmos always chastise you for your poor efficiency, but maybe they wouldn't need Mario if they just built a more efficient factory. You see Gearmos? This is why you're only the second best Mario Galaxy NPC species. If nothing else, feel grateful your horribly-designed factory is a really, really well-designed Video Game Level.

Circling back to what I said about the Spring Mushroom earlier, same sentiment applies here. Not a great power-up on its own, but when I reach the mission that uses it here, I never see myself going "Ugh, the Spring Mushroom?", probably because the level is designed with it in mind, and the trickier control scheme is kinda the point. That being said, if you really don't want to use the Spring Mushroom, know that there's a fun optional challenge in trying to beat the level without it! As far as I'm aware, it's possible, and I know I've had my share of fun backflipping over Chomps in the past.

Is Chompworks Galaxy the best galaxy in Super Mario Galaxy 2? Maybe not, but since when has this list been about objective quality? I don't want to pretend I'm presenting anything other than my personal opinion here. Chompworks Galaxy appeals to my autism brain in some incredibly specific ways, and with a mix of that and its unique theming and design sensibilities, managed to end up at the top of Galaxy 2 for me. Sorry you couldn't make the top 5!

Speaking of the top five, I think they're all worthy of their own post, as I've hinted to a couple times at this point. It probably shouldn't be too hard to figure out which ones they are via process of elimination, though I do find it fascinating that after Galaxy 2 generally performed better, all the top 5 are from the first game. Again, Galaxy 2 is a remarkably consistent game that clusters around A-tier, while Galaxy 1 has some higher highs and lower lows.

The finale for this series should be ready next week, or the week after, or the week after that, or the week after that. I'm not really sure anymore. There's a Splatfest again next week, so I'll probably want to tune into that (Go Team Frye!) but I also have fewer galaxies to cover in general, so it might not take along as this one. Then again, I probably have more to say about my favorites... Either way, thank you for reading the series up to this point! Nothing matters more to me than knowing that people will listen to my ramblings about 10-to-15 year old Videos Games.

#mod hooligon #super mario galaxy #super mario galaxy 2

[dizordlizord]

Alright I’m speaking my peace on Pokémon LZA because holy fuck am I excited.

First off: RELEASE DATE IN 2025! GAME FREAK LISTENED! Hopefully this means they’re taking more time to actually develop the game graphically/game play wise. Only real worry is no game play footage which can be a double edged Honedge (please laugh) but I am so excited to see this game and play this game and live this game and augh.

Second off: I don’t think this is going to take place in the past. While it is called “Legends” Z-A, the overall feel of the trailer + comparing it to the Legends Arceus trailer is throwing up a few hints that we could hypothetically be going forward.

So the overall vibe of this “new” region (Im just gonna call it Kalos 2) appears very technologically advanced. Comparing it to the Legends Arceus reveal trailer back in 2021, the world plans appear more computer generated than the ink-and paper layout of the Hisui region.

Lumiose City is already shown to be pretty developed- if not already existing which begs the question: what is the “urban redevelopment plan”?

Urban Redevelopment is quoted as being “demolition and reconstruction or substantial renovation of existing buildings or infrastructure within urban infill areas or existing urban service area.” So if we were to argue that this is still taking place in the future, this could mean the complete and total redux of Lumiose City as we know it today, maybe even changing the city name entirely.

Then of course there’s this monster.

Admittedly while writing this, this has been the biggest wrench in my Kalos 2 theory because the return of Mega Ev could make this game go two ways:

If it’s in the past: it would finally clear up the contradicting stories about how Mega Evolution came to exist in the first place. However, because Karina says they still don’t know a lot about it even in XY, this means there’s not a lot of written record or contradicting oral record of how Mega Ev came about.

If it’s in the future: it could hopefully become a more widely researched topic and finally clear up how Mega Ev came to pass and become more accessible to the public. This could, in turn, become a piece of the main goal for the villains (if there are any) but also hopefully open the possibility to new Mega Evs entirely. (You could argue this for the past as well tbh)

Man I just want this game to come out Legends Arceus was so good it got my non-Pokémon sibling invested in a Pokémon game. Someone better get eeby deebied or else what’s the point

#pokemon #pokemon za #pokemon presents #pokemon day #honestly I’d be happy whether or not it takes place in the future #I’m just excited we’re getting another legends game

[pencilofawesomeness]

What is Twisted Wonderland and how would you sell someone on it?

Ohoho. Ohohohoho. Anon. You have activated my trap card >:D

(I'm about to be soooo annoying/unhinged and I'm sorry. I'm not.)

Alright, so:

Twisted Wonderland is a Disney mobile game made in Japan and co-produced by Aniplex. (Yes, that Aniplex.) I'm not here to sell you on the game, so much as the story, but it is a sort of story-book rpg with turned based fights and rhythm games, where you build character units from a gacha pull. As far as gameplay goes, it's very simple, and most of the emphasis lies on the characters and the story. And it's wonderful.

The on-the-box description of this game doesn't do it justice, per se, but that might be because Disney has a little bit of influence on it and they suck at knowing who their target audience is. It is about a high school based on classic Disney villains—but no, not in the way you're thinking, because I once made that mistake too. It is not a villain school. Rather, the world of Twisted Wonderland is its own entity, with characters built as sort of nods or foils to classic Disney characters. The world itself is somewhat built with these films as its past, and history has become so twisted (ha) that modern society views some of these classic villains as the heroes or supporting characters of their stories, and respect them as The Great Seven. (The seven in question being the Queen of Hearts, Scar, Ursula, Jafar, the Evil/Raven Queen, Hades, and Maleficent. None of them are remembered by name, though.)

The game takes place in the modern era, a society with both technology and magic. Specifically, it takes place in a magic high school called Night Raven College, an all-boys dormitory prep school where the only requirement to get in is a magic mirror that peers into your soul and determines whether or not you can a) do magic and b) kin the Great Seven. And, of course, the player character is a regular-ass human who gets isekai'd in and gets stuck with a talking magic cat direbeast named Grim.

Now. That is the general synopsis. I, on the other hand, affectionately call this the Mental Breakdown game.

See, here's the kicker. The magic system is pretty nifty; while it's functions as a standard magic-is-magic sort of soft system, it has ✨consequences✨

Magic has this byproduct called blot. It's this icky stuff that builds up when you a) use too much magic and/or b) are emotionally distressed. But less so in a "I'm panicked right now" sort of way and more so in a "I have chronic depression and/or anxiety" sort of way. And, when a mage is powerful enough, and sad boi enough, and then goes and uses way too much magic and sad boi juice in one sitting, this amazing phenomenon occurs called "overblot"—which is pretty much a super-powered evil form that turns the mage into the darkest form of themselves and then uses magic until they die.

Naturally, this happens in the game. A lot. The formula is pretty much that each "book" of the story, there is an overblot. One for each of the seven dorms, which are based off of the seven villains/the movies they come from. (And "based on" is pretty loose. Yes you can see the similarities, but these are dumb teenage boys with their own hopes and aspirations, and, sometimes, the game completely lies to you about what character they emulate the most. The guy who's Jafar? Well yes but he's actually just a really stressed out Genie stand in. The Hades guy? Whoops that's Meg. Is that a card soldier or the White Rabbit? Doesn't matter, he's got problems.)

The characters are so well written. I could gush about them forever, and they are the driving points of this plot and it means everything to me. They are some of the most traumatized and messed up individuals, but also, they are dumb teenage boys who do dumb teenage boys things. It is all incredibly well balanced and startlingly realistic for a game that amounts to beating the emotional constipation around people. Mostly because it cannot be beat out of them. The blot can, but they have to deal with their emotions with their own two hands, with varying levels of success.

And the shenanigans!!!! Oh, the shenanigans. I call this the Emotional Trauma game but I have once laughed so hard someone heard me through the floor. It's not all doom and gloom for sure. Sometimes you're watching your friend fall apart because his toxic mother instilled debilitating perfectionism and slowly start making enemies of everyone and sometimes you're sending three of the most gremlin students plus one cinnamon roll to infiltrate a gala that a bunch of weather fairies are throwing in the greenhouse because they stole your temperature regulating magestone to be shiny jewelry and you want it to stop snowing inside your dorm room. And sometimes you can have the exact same character who experienced losing his little brother right in front of him gush about a magical girl sledding anime and all of his gacha games. It is the best of both worlds.

And, that's not all! No, no. We get amazing character interactions. Not just pre-determined friend group interactions, but also random interactions. Yana Toboso (the writer/artist) really likes to stick names in a jar sometimes and make them interact and it is the best thing ever. Every single one of these characters I hold in my hands. Every single one of them gets to have their moment to shine. You can emotionally invest in all of them and be rewarded for it.

The game itself is free and pretty easy to get into. There's not really a bad power creep so you can get through it with what you got. Of course the fun part of collecting cards is that there are stories attached to them that you can watch, and those are also sources of joy. (And it's well documented, so you can find things online pretty easily to catch up and see more.)

I just think it's neat. (Read: I accidentally became wholly obsessed with this game and its characters and they are all blorbos to me.)

You should definitely fall into this rabbit hole with me :))) It's so worth it :)))

#twisted wonderland #ask #anon #I could gush about the characters individually but #we would be here all day #anyway I love them all #and this game does a surprisingly good job with mental illness and neurodivergency #despite never naming any of it #it's pretty obvious though #even if not to the character themselves all the time #also this game is absolutely gut wrenching in the most positive way #it accidentally made me reconsider my entire life and well being #when I saw a little too much of myself in one of the characters overblotting #like WHOOPS I see the issue #but that's a me thing #anyway its very good and I can easily be enabled into blabbing about it more #this is just a very general overview really #and if that's not enough then know that in the first book #I character once says “no I am not going to put down the shovel I am still DIGGING” #and that's when I knew this was going to be fun #and then the end of the book I hear the VA of Tanjiro have a full cry and I knew this was going to consume me #is a very good story and a fun lil game

[santacoppelia]

A different approach to narrative analysis model, (over)simplified.

I promised to make a post about “my approach” to narrative analysis. When I say “mine” I mean it literally: a couple of years ago, a good friend of mine (who is a philosopher, with a knack for logical models and maths) and me (I’m sort of a CommSci major, with wide experience in cultural semiotics and directing narrative analysis thesis) were so frustrated by the finale of “Game of Thrones” that we started ranting, which was the natural way at the time.

What wasn’t natural was that we started veering towards the need of a different sort of analysis when talking about “serialized audiovisual narratives” (yeah, series). Because most of the tools you can find out there are:

Derived from literary analysis: where, in most cases, you have only one creator for the entire thing, while in series you have a lot of people involved in what you get on screen: writers, directors, showrunners, actors, editors… If you want to take the "autorial intent" route, you find that there are too many possible authors, each one with a different approach and ability to contribute. Also, there is the question of time, but I'll talk about this in a bit.

Influenced by psychology: which, I admit, is a lot of fun, but it is also speculative at best… because a character, by nature, has “no psychology” or “inner life”. We all love analyzing and overanalyzing this (it is sooooo much fun!) but in the end, in terms of achieving some sort of “objectivity”, it is really difficult to pinpoint and to get with some semblance of certainty. All we have to understand the characters are their actions, really.

Too abstract to generalize: I love narratology, really. The emphasis on characters being sort of “agents” that fulfill actions that are needed to propel the story forward is precious for many things and allows shifts in analysis that can be delicious (“What happens if you make your antagonist the actant?” might be my favorite). However, this tool set works better when analyzing written narratives, for specific scenes, and even when you could extrapolate it to compare or check out entire character trajectories… It is just not the right tool to do it.

Another factor that we considered was that, while books have an inner time that may or may not correspond to any external time logic, usually serialized audiovisual narratives are constrained by other sorts of time: episodes, seasons and such. Characters do not live in reality, but live in a “reality” that needs to create its own inner “sense”. As my coauthor would put it during one of our first discussions: “the main difference between being a human and being a character is that characters have a lot of ellipsis, while us humans have to go to the loo, pay taxes and do a lot of boring stuff”.

If you live in a “reality” where ellipsis are rules and not exceptions, every action counts. If an action is being shown, it is because it has relevance into building the plot. But how can we use this analyze the “probable trajectory” of a plot?

Our first proposal was centering the idea of actions over time. But… We needed something more. If we do not have psychological parameters, how can we observe the effects of actions over time in the narrative? We decided to center in relationships. Those are also “observable”: you can know if an action had an effect on a relationship between characters (usually, and we could also build a “valence” for those relationships: positive (strengthens the relationship) or “negative” (undermines the relationship).

We built this interaction scale, very modeled around the sort of actions you would find in a show like GoT, but that we felt can be easily extrapolated to other narratives:

Therefore, you could see how an action affected the relationship over time, and it also had to “build a trajectory” that had some internal logic in the internal world. A good narrative, we proposed, was not going to take a character from 0 to 100 in a blink, or that would break the verisimilitude of the whole world. Yup, we should remember that the last season of GoT inspired this.

What we were looking for was something as “neutral” as narratology, but that we could also transform into… TA-DA! A mathematical model. That was mostly the work of the other coauthors. They analyzed and programed all the interactions in the first three seasons of GoT… And well, it clicked, and allowed us to understand if a character arc was working in terms of verosimilitude, or not. You can find the whole paper here.

Even when I don’t use the math model for predictability, I usually go to the same basic principles when analyzing media: characters, actions, relationships and if that “makes sense” in the internal logic of the world. That is also why I tend to not invest myself deeply into “symbolic analysis”: it is fun, and it is great entertainment, but I’d bring up a couple of concepts borrowed from Umberto Eco: “obra aperta” (open work), as a finished and published work that becomes a playground for all the interpretations that the reader/spectator wants to superimpose over them (some of them “more accepted” than others, but none of them absolutely right or wrong, disquieting as it sounds) and “infinite semiosis”, the phenomenon through which we connect our references with one another and multiply their meanings. There is a real life complexity built into semiotic and symbolic analysis, in the purest sense of "complexity": too many moving parts, generating emerging qualities that have no clear causality. This is one of the most frequent criticisms received by these models in academia!

That's why, fellow tumblr citizens, I work the way I work... And I loved the idea of sharing this in here. It would probably be one of those posts with 2 notes, but I'm weirdly proud of this "toy" and I wanted to share with the class.

#narrative analysis #academic work #I can't believe they allowed us to publish this #But I believe we did something amazing #serialized audiovisual narratives #analyzing series

[askagamedev]

When we look at FPS games that have a story or a campaign mode, one of the flaws I see is the last boss and making it "feel" like a last boss fight. It always is either make the boss a bullet sponge and take 100 headshots, he dies in a QTE, or the player has so powerful a gun it trivializes the fight. Is this an inherent unsolvable problem with the FPS genre or can you think of FPS games that have come up with interesting, climactic, and "epic" boss fights?

What you're describing is the dissonance between having a normal human (with all of the common context that carries with it, like "people often die when they are shot at all") as the final boss and the expectation of a final boss fight being a prolonged, memorable, and epic battle that tests the things you've learned so far. There are a number of clever and reasonable ways to work around these conflicting concepts. Here are a few general methods of doing this that I thought of off the top of my head. This list is by no means exhaustive.

We build the encounter to make it difficult to reach or attack the boss directly. The boss could have mostly-similar stats to ordinary grunts when engaged directly, but the boss constantly summons allies or obstacles. Chasing the boss while ignoring the external threats would quickly result in the player's death, so the challenge becomes controlling the reinforcements while chasing the boss down and striking when the opportunity presents itself. Another possibility along this method is to have a multi-phase fight where the boss is not initially vulnerable, and the player must tackle the different phases in order to open the boss up and make it vulnerable.

We can also make the boss do something to alleviate its human fragility, e.g. get into a mech suit/tank/giant death machine, mutate into a monster, or was never human to begin with - a demon, an alien, a monster, a robot, an angel, a dragon, a dinosaur, a god, whatever. With a reasonable in-universe explanation to why the last boss no longer has all of the normal human fragility, we don't feel the dissonance anymore and can happily fight a boss driving a scorpion tank with accompanying sonic cannon and acid drone swarm.

A third approach is to change the parameters of the encounter so it isn't just a fight. The final mission could be, for example, to infiltrate the final boss's lair, assassinate the final boss, and then successfully extract from that lair. The final mission could be obtaining/destroying the McGuffin that the player and the enemy have been chasing over the course of the game. It could just be "survive long enough" while something happens, like uploading evidence to expose the bad guy's wrongdoing to the world.

As you can see, there's a lot of possibilities to make engaging and different final boss encounters. Not everything has to fall into just standing and shooting each other until one side runs out of health. If we change the parameters of the conflict, we can make the encounter different and interesting. We can do this by adjusting other parameters within the fight, changing the boss's state to alleviate human fragility, or even change the goals so that the boss encounter is more than just a gunfight. As a design exercise, can you think of other methods of a final FPS boss fight that maintains the boss's humanity but still makes it reasonably engaging?

[Join us on Discord] and/or [Support us on Patreon]

Got a burning question you want answered?

Short questions: Ask a Game Dev on Twitter

Long questions: Ask a Game Dev on Tumblr

Frequent Questions: The FAQ

#game design #encounter design #game design principles

[bazzybelle]

Current Tag Game

Thanks for the tag, @phinofthestorm @windsweptinred and @mentallyinvernation

Current time: 11:17 AM

Current mood: Honestly, emotionally drained. It's been a week.

Current activity: Answering this questionnaire, listening to Speak Now (Taylor's Version), procrastinating cleaning my house.

Currently thinking about: That's a loaded question my friend...Let's see: My rabbit's food intake (he's had a VERY rough week), cleaning the house, my WIPs...

Current Obsession: In general, definitely Sandman. I had wanted to read this comic series for years (since meeting my husband in 2012), but it's a very heavy series. Essentially, I wasn't in the right headspace to dive into Sandman's many existential themes, until 2020. So I listened to the Audiobooks and feel deeply into the lore and the characters and the amazing world building. Then the Netflix show came out last year and Dreamling became a Thing.... Yeah sorry, I'm stuck here.

On a smaller note... I'm way too currently obsessed with how much Hades is eating and pooping. He was in GI Stasis on Tuesday and we almost lost him. It's been... it's been rough over here. He's ok. Death is a mug's game for him apparently. But now husband and I are just obsessively checking his food intake and how much he's pooping while he recovers.

Current favourite song: The same one it's been for like the last decade. Dreams by Fleetwood Mac.

Currently reading: Dreamling fics (specifically You create me against your lips by @delta-pavonis) (GUYS... THIS FIC!) (no but seriously... it's SO GOOD, and the art by @teejaystumbles makes me feral).

I also bought this beautiful Jane Austen anthology, so I'm making my way through it (currently reading the intro/biography).

Currently watching: I got Disney+ recently and it's got BOTH Boy Meets World and Criminal Minds so... randomly watching eps from both shows.

The next shows I'm planning on watching are Silo and I wanna watch Nimona.

Current favorite character: Hob Gadling from Sandman. He's just SUCH a guy. I already liked him a whole lot from the comics, before Ferdinand Kingsley rocked on up all "yes, but what if you loved him MORE?"

Not only do I love Hob's zest for life and hunger for everything, I love what he represents. He's the Human Everyman in a story about eldritch beings and supernatural magical beings. Hob's just there loving life. On the other hand, he is also the representation on what it means to be human. He is NOT a good man, but he keeps trying to be. Like humanity, he keeps trying to be better and to learn. Like humanity, he strives to grow and experience. He serves as a grounding presence for the otherwordly beings we meet in The Sandman series.

I dunno... I just think he's pretty neat.

Current WIPs: Oh God... Ok... so... I've got two in my Carry On list (Youth Without Youth and No One To Save) and three in my Sandman list (Hob Hanahaki, Reincarnation AU, and Grey's Anatomy AU). I also have a Renaissance/Queer coming out novel that I've been plotting out.

Tagging (no pressure): @carryonsimoncarryonbaz, @amywaterwings, @ninemagicks, @namistrella, @aroace-genderfluid-sheep, @wellbelesbian, @yellobb, @tryan-a-bex, @artsyunderstudy, @facewithoutheart, @stardustasincocaine, @blackberrysummerblog, @ivelovedhimthroughworse and @forabeatofadrum

#belle babbles #current things #tag game

[starlightfyre]

Thank you for answering my questions! It’s alright for not getting to them sooner, you’re not obligated to answer them, and I got the feeling that everything keeps trying to stop you from accessing your Tumblr haha.

You’ve clearly put a lot of thought and effort into building your world of Dracos, and I’m curious to know how dragons like Landia and Ice Dragon would fit in, if at all, since your world leans more towards anime lore than games. (Sorry if this question isn’t welcome, I’m going through a Kirby dragon world building phase of my own and want to poke the brain of another dragon enjoyer)

You would be right, haha! My devices and usual situations sometimes prevent me from checking Tumblr xD

I'm glad you asked! :D our AU draws a lot from the anime while fusing quite a bit of the games in. So I'll happily explain the wider lore of dragons! Dragons are some of the mightiest of beasts found in the Starlight Dreamers and Dreams of the Stars universe, and are often respected or feared. So any beast that falls under the species of "dragon" is treated with caution or high regard.

There's various kinds of dragons that fall under certain categories. I'll explain the category that ice dragons fall under first.

There are dragons that are demon beasts and/or monsters, which are dragons made or commonly used by Nightmare. Ice Dragons fall under the demon beast/monster category. Demon beasts are creatures that are usually made of negative energy, so most dragon species of this category are usually not nice! But you can come across some that are raised by good people or even Star Warriors as companions of war. Overall, ice dragons are neutral unless raised good or bad! A common name also used for demon beasts are Nightmares since they're often made of corrupted Dream Matter. So an ice dragon qualifies as a Nightmare Dragon. There are many other types of Nightmare Dragons as well, some worse and more evil than others!

Dracos fall under a category that is similar to demon beasts, interestingly enough! Except they're positive magical creatures made of Starlight and untainted Dream Matter. So holy/star beasts, I guess? Creatures that fall under these categories are called Dreams– a concept that belongs to my sister @blazingstaro (check out her stuff for more on the various species of Dreams outside of the Dracos!). So in contrast to Nightmare Dragons, Dracos are Dream Dragons. They're capable of traveling the stars and traversing the realm of sleep when they rest, as well as developing Super Abilities as they grow old. Dracos were born to combat Nightmares and were born in the image of their ancestors, the Origin Dragons, which I will explain after this. In their birth to the galaxy, they evolved and improve on the weaknesses that led to the near extinction of Origin Dragons to have better chances of survival. Because of their similar make to demon beasts, corrupted Dracos become Dracomares. So, a Draco CAN become a Nightmare Dragon.

Origin Dragons are the ancestors of which Dream and Nightmare Dragons were made. Origin Dragons are primal creatures of Dream Matter that were generally neutral depending on the individual. Unlike their Draco descendents, they couldn't traverse space, but were masters of elemental manipulation, such as mastery to cause storms, breathe fire, move earth, and other elemental powers! Landia in particular has lore significance. Eons ago, Landia ruled as kings over a dragon city long before the Dracos or Nightmares existed. The four siblings guarded the Master Crown until the day would come that it would be gifted to a worthy ruler who would lead the Champions of Starlight; wielders of four sacred blades made by the elements and blessing of four powerful dragons of that time (two of those blades being Galaxia and Galacta's lance). The Crown was stolen though, leading to it's misuse and eventual corruption. Landia was lost in an unknown space in that battle and the world was torn asunder, starting the decline of the Origin Dragon's near extinction. As seen, eventually the crown does end up back in their possession, but they guard it for the purpose of it not falling in the wrong hands until Magolor stumbles upon them.

Here's some art examples!

Landia, when split into four dragons, are actually kinda small xD they become large when fused! The sketch of one of the Landia dragons between two others is another Origin Dragon on the left (Athrodite) and a Draco on the right (Branwen. She's young here, but she grows up to be around Athrodite's size).

--

Here are examples of demon beast dragons/nightmare dragons. On the left is my stylization of Ice Dragons! On the right is one of the fiercest of nightmare dragons; the silver dragon, based on the dragons sometimes seen in the anime. This one in particular is my character, Cynder. Silver dragons breathe fire and are quite large, easily rivaling Origin Dragons in size! They don't speak but understand speech, so are highly more intelligent than they give off!

--

Some colored Origin Dragons! On the left is Azymondias, on the right is Elyna. She's the only dragon of her era to have manipulation over the element of space and Starlight and is rather important to the backbone of my story lore. She is thought to be the base of how Dracos work modernly! Azymondias is a storm dragon, and aided in raising and teaching Branwen. Both of these characters are no longer around.

--

And lastly, examples of powerful Dracos and Dracomares! The left is the Alpha Queen Draco. On the right Firush, a Dracomare. Dracos come in various body types that are close to Origin Dragons!

Dragons are an important part of the lore of our stories! Dream and Nightmare Dragons are what came after Origin Dragons. The four dragons that aided in the creation of the sacred blades are an interesting topic I plan to talk about at some point. But I hope you enjoyed this dive into our world's lore on dragons! The Dracos and Origin Dragons are very important in my stories, so I'll be sharing more about some of the those characters as my stories go on ^w^

#dragon #kirby #star warrior #star warriors #draco #kirby oc #beast #kirby fc #fanfic

[outofangband]

Unbeknowst to me until I got online this morning, it is apparently father’s day in the US (at least? I don’t know if it’s elsewhere today) a few days ago

I thought this is as good of an excuse as any to write some headcanons about Húrin as a father!

mostly lighthearted but naturally did end up including some Angband related stuff as well as canonical death mentions. 

also I got to include some Hadorian world building which I always enjoy

He’s always been good with kids and he’s always liked them! He was a natural leader among the kids he played with growing up and a lot of the little ones looked up to him. 

He was definitely a worrier when Túrin and Lalaith were being born*. Morwen nearly made him leave the room levels of worried. I think that both him and Morwen are generally very good in stressful situations but that when Húrin is showing signs of stress or agitation, it can kind of clash with Morwen a bit. 

He brags about his kids all the time. Everyone is going to hear every stage of development, every accomplishment, every little anecdote. 

The Hadorians having naming ceremonies! These are usually smaller, more private events, in contrast to most Hadorian ceremonies which tend to be very public. At the naming ceremonies, the household with occasionally some important guests will gather for the name to be formally announced. Typically an older relative, usually but not always a grandmother, will present a blanket with the name sewn on the top right corner. These blankets are of a thin material and are usually hung on the wall or at the bottom of a bed, not slept under. (On a dark note, these are always buried with children who die young which is in part what the tradition is for. Most Hadorian celebrations, ceremonies and traditions are not so solemn or morbid but this one is). These typically take place within a month of the birth. 

While absolutely not a formal tradition and more a common game in Hithlum, family members of a new baby or toddler will typically try to compete to see what the first solid or non milk foods the child will enjoy is. Some families take this more seriously than others. Bets might be placed with goods at stake for example and relatives will volunteer to watch the child for the purpose of the game. Aerin won for Túrin who was a very picky eater and Huor for Lalaith though she liked almost everything so his victory wasn’t as celebrated.  (Morwen found this incredibly irritating and all but refused when Lalaith was old enough). 

Húrin keeps little things with him when he’s at Barad Eithel to remind him of his family. The first time he has to leave home on Fingon’s orders after Túrin is born he has a temporary crisis of conscience. He rides back to the house twice asking if it’s too soon, if he should stay and send Huor in his stead, asking for everything to be noted down, worrying about missing things and so on, before Morwen (with help from Aerin) chase him out again. 

Húrin loves taking his kids for outings and exploring with them! He finds a lot of joy in showing them new things and introducing them to people (Lalaith loved it, Túrin not always). 

The first time a child sits on a horse, rides with a parent, and rides by themselves are all very important in Hadorian society. Húrin was there for all of these for Túrin. Little Túrin generally did like horses, but he liked petting them. He did not like sitting on one at all and cried a lot.  (Lalaith died before she could ride on her own). 

Húrin did really try with little Túrin. He learns to be a bit calmer, a bit more straightforward and they bond over Túrin’s love of questions and learning. Húrin will patiently answer question after question about the elves, about various objects and tools, about history, his ancestors. 

*and I mean, if he saw Niënor’s birth from afar, depending on when he was actually chained to Thangorodrim to Watch, he was definitely very worried then too but I’ve written before about how bleak the circumstances of her birth were so that’s obviously different. We don’t know exactly when he was chained, when he’s taken to the Haudh, Morgoth only mentions Morwen and one child but we don’t know how long they’re there, how long it took to actually get back and chain him, etc. 

Someday I will post my piece on Niënor’s birth and how bleak and frightening it was for Morwen, knowing that there was no one she could send for help if something went badly, that it her newborn screamed at the wrong moment it could be catastrophic for them…

#Húrin #the silmarillion #morwen #Túrin #Lalaith #hadorian culture around babies is very communal and it is genuinely a miracle that Morwen didn't end up murdering one of her husband's kin #or that other Hadorian women don't tbh #especially when ELVES get involved #the children of húrin #Hithlum #dor lómin #Aerin #musing and meta

[msperfectsheep-posts]

for that ask game you reblogged! I'm curious how you picked the roles for the extra characters in The Thrones of Stars, or any other behind the scenes sneak peeks you have to share from there |･ω･)

Sorry for the late response!! Thank you for this ask so much :)

For anyone curious, here's the story! It's a novelization of the Hoshimeguri no Kansokusha (eng: The Throne of the Stellar) event from 2018, but I worked hard to make it so that anyone could read it without any knowledge of the event or even the source material!

Now, here's the answers to your questions: (Some spoilers beneath the cut)

For the supporting cast + ZOOL, it sort of worked out from a base of an idea that I got from @zekkun-shion's post about ZOOL in Hoshimeguri, which I felt was a good start to build off of! I obviously changed some of the roles and ideas, but having each of them split up between the four main planets that aren't Eterno and Mistero made it easier to integrate them into the world. Another take I discovered while in the middle of writing The Thrones of Stars was @ enargeia's (Ao3, not Tumblr) story about ZOOL being on the various moons surrounding the main stars, which I thought was super awesome and cool! I didn't integrate any of that into my story aside from a few brief mentions of moons surrounding the stars, but it's something that's stuck in my mind and I love all the creative ways people try to put them into this story!

Now, as for the rest of the supporting cast, it was a little more vibes-based. I went with Tsumugi being on Lama because of this piece by @umii7love, since the outfit was so cool that it felt like a shame not to (I love her in the color green; she looks great!)

Rinto got put into the role as the blacksmith from the original story, since I didn't really love how the blacksmith treated Hope in the original story when he was more or less acting as a stand-in parental figure for the month before Hope decided to look for Curse. I figured that the visual of Rinto being the blacksmith was a little funny, but his personality and ability to handle Hope felt like a good match. Also, reunite Re:vale on Eterno! That's fun!

Kaoru was put on Sirena because I was looking between Alba and Sirena and I really wanted to make it seem like Carnelian was isolated and lonely, especially because a lot of his ideas in the original story come to fruition because he has no one to tell him no or to even think things through. I also felt that putting Kaoru with Sirena was a fun dichotomy, since even on the most relaxed planet, she's still busting her ass to get things done. Lastly, it was an aesthetic choice! I felt her pink hair would go really well with the general Sirenan aesthetic of bright and colorful, so her fate was sealed there.

Aya was put with Minami on Sirena, but her origin being Lama was something I used to help fuel some of the relationships between Orion and Sardinia and their respective stars. I wanted to show that immigration between stars was something that did occur, but not very often, and that people's nationalistic (? is it nationalism if it's for a planet, not a nation?) tendencies made them feel baffled at the very idea of leaving even a civil war-torn country for one living in peace. She serves a few different roles, which kind of ties into the fact that she's a plot device in i7 proper initially, but she also definitely grew into her own character quickly.

That leaves Shirou and Banri, who I put with Burst Roar for two different reasons. Shirou doesn't like. Do Much in the story itself, but that's also sort of the point of his character. He exists passively to cover everything Fang and the rest of Burst Roar isn't focusing on so that nothing gets neglected, so while they're dealing with an interstellar crisis, he's making sure their finances are in order. It's a sort of position that I wanted to give to a character that would make a fun cameo, but for anyone that's an anime-only and doesn't know him yet, then they're not going to feel too alienated. Banri, on the other hand, was put with Burst Roar because of a few things that are tied to the ending of the story that I have not published! I explain it pretty well in the narrative itself why he's with Burst Roar, but from a meta standpoint, it just Made Sense to me, and also him being a pilot felt like a relaxed role where people can approach him for advice at any time, but his job isn't to give advice quite like Tsumugi or Kaoru do.

With any characters I didn't mention that are part of the supporting cast, they fall into two categories: Exists in a small on-screen part, or exists off-screen for a role in one of my sequels. Otoharu falls into the first category, making a small cameo as Tsumugi's father on Lama, but his role is so small that I didn't think tagging him was appropriate. Meanwhile, Yaotome Papa and Ryo are both in the second category, with Yaotome Papa being name dropped as King Rigel, but he's never seen on screen, and Ryo's character name has yet to be revealed for a variety of reasons.

I wanted to push the narrative beyond what canon had to offer because these worlds that i7 gave me as a base allowed me to make some really fun lore and politics that feels wasteful to leave behind with just a novelization, so I'm hoping to use them some more when I write my original sequels working off of The Throne of Stars. For a lot of these supporting characters, their roles will be bigger in the sequels too, since I could only hollow out so much space in the original story for them.

As for a sneak peek scene, I guess I could allow a small piece!

Photographs like snowflakes fall from fingers onto the table, each of them a candid taken using some well-practiced tricks and a small hand mirror. Most of them depict at least one of two figures: a boy pretending to be a man, and a leader pretending to be a subordinate. Some photographs focus on other details, such as the blood under the boy’s fingernails or the dirt tracked on the floor far from the entrance. The assassin picks one, holding the photograph between his fingers as he drinks in the figures trapped inside. “Was there anyone else?” The other assassin nods with an easy smile, sitting back as papers shuffle between her well-manicured hands. The papers are handwritten, with small, sharp letters that detail the assassin’s observations. Most of the words are transcribed conversations held between the boy and leader, taking care to denote who was speaking by marking the speakers as “small” and “tall” respectively. A few rogue doodles, mainly of the leader, fill the margins in the way that ivy climbs up walls—decorative to some, a nuisance to others.  “Yes, clockmaker in the back.”  “No pictures?” “He didn’t come out.”  “Sad.” The assassins pick apart each others’ work, vultures gorging themselves on rotting carcasses until they’ve had their fill. It’s dirty work, but someone must do it—might as well have it be someone who can keep the dirty work neat.  “This is disappointing. It’s not worth a kill.” There are some things that aren’t worth killing, things that are too small, too weak, too unimportant. It’s a waste of time, talent, and resources. If death wants to bring more into her domain, she has plenty of other tools than the assassin lap dogs at her disposal. She is the queen eternal, ruling from her silver chair burning with the light of tortured souls. All will bow before her eventually.  “Probably not.” The assassin agrees. “Let’s head back to Escoria.” The assassins take their work with them as they melt into the night, disappearing into the miserable maw of earth that they consider their home. No trail of blood nips at their heels this time, nor the scent of death like an expensive perfume—they vanish like night being chased away from breaking dawn.  The boy and the leader may live another day.

#ask game #msperfectsheep's works #idolish7 #ainana #i7

[velkyr]

DUSK QUESTIONS MOMENT. 1, 10, 40, 52!! 👀

ON IT BOSS!!!! o7 (tysmmmm for letting me ramble mwah. I wrote more than I expected as per usual 💖)

(original ask game post here)

I've read more'd this because oops it got so long sorry orz

Why did you pick the race you did for your Tav?

the short answer is always just going to be I love tieflings, I am weak for tieflings, this is a universal unchangeable fact amen 🙏 I think 3 of the... 6(? I might be forgetting some other oneshot-only characters idk) characters I've played at a table have been tiefs or homebrew variants of them! they're very gender to me, I felt that way before I even really knew jackshit about my own gender. absolutely batshit that I still thought I was cis when I started playing d&d lmfao. also horns tails fangs and claws need I say more. I shan't, I don't have to

but yeah specifically for Dusk, I wanted to base them off of my first d&d character in particular, who was a tiefling homebrew to represent an au ra from ffxiv in our homebrew campaign based around the game. so it was important to me they were also a tiefling draconic sorcerer to match!

a lot has changed about them while I've reworked them, but many of the fundamentals have remained the same. gender, motivations, reasoning and general force of personality have been altered towards things that I find more compelling or more fitting, 6 years down the line - but race and class, the idea of them being nobility who left their home(land) and has a bunch of hangups around it, that's all as it was back then.

10. If your Tav didn’t become an adventurer, what else would they be doing?

this is an interesting one, I've been stewing on it a fair bit recently while I've been thinking about what they'd do post-bg3 shenanigans. the thing with Dusk is I've infused them with So Much raw adhd (to the point of it far surpassing my own, oops. this seems to be how I bestow love on my favourite OCs at this point), they Need enough outlets in their day-to-day life or they'll end up in an understimulated mess pretty quickly.

adventuring is obviously a solid option for that need! but without that on the table, I think it needs to be something that caters strongly to their interests and whims. I can see them working well in a profession involving enchantment and/or working with jewels and precious metals. enchanting things would be a good way to siphon off some of that raw sorcerer magic - if they don't use it often enough, there's a build up of sorts. with it being lightning based, it's a bit like having an unstable motor that runs way too fast, and it makes them incredibly irritable.

as for the crafting part of the equation, well, they're already fascinated by shiny things, they're pretty detail oriented and good with their hands, and it's the kind of skilled manual work that requires Just Enough focus to be stimulating. the only thing they'd probably end up hating about either of these would be dealing with noble clientele lmao, but I have no doubt they'd find a way to exploit that anyway. while they may not be the most book smart in the world, they're people smart by necessity. (something something insight proficiency)

and really, as an alternative or perhaps on the side, I don't think they'd be opposed to sex work if it were an environment they felt comfortable in, with a well-vetted set of clientele that they have full autonomy over.

40. What is the biggest mistake your Tav ever made?

welcome to 'pick a struggle' with Dusk, they have their fair share,,,

there's a couple of things that stick out, but I'll stick with one that's pretty fundamental to them. they deeply regret having lashed out at and pushed away the people that tried to help them when they were younger, still stuck living in elturel.

while they can't entirely be blamed for it - they were conditioned to think and feel a certain way, and those patterns were ingrained across a lifetime, all the hallmarks of the abuse they faced - at the end of the day, the friends they'd made after they started sneaking out at night were only trying to help them see how awful their living situation was.

by the time Dusk fled home, they'd burned all the bridges they'd tentatively built over the years. their best friend at the time was the one who made a sort of last ditch attempt to convince them, and it came at the right place, the right time to push them into leaving. but it was outright said that none of them wanted to see them again, after all of the vitriol.

with the distance of years and the gift of hindsight, they regret it all the more. they haven't really forgiven themselves for it.

52. What is your Tav’s worst fear?

oh you already know this one I'm sure 🤠 but I'll elaborate it into something a bit broader that pokes at the Theming more.

they fear being forced back into a gilded cage - whether that's being dragged back home to their family or pushed into a new one. they fear the loss of the autonomy they've carved out for themselves. they fear a loss of identity, and the concept of having it stripped from them, reducing them back into some (feminine) trophy to be given away for material gain.

at its core, it's a loathing of the idea of heteronormativity, really. that's what I always parallel it to, and it's pretty on the nose in that regard.

granted, it's kind of a paradoxical fear for them. they're so thoroughly weary after spending so long living with their guard up, molding themselves into someone who can take on the world alone, that in secret, there's a part of them that just doesn't want to fight anymore. that part would be tempted to give up - to let themselves be reshackled, so to speak - if the circumstances were dire, so long as there were the promise of them being safe and cared for at the end.

as a secondary but very much related thing, they've also come to fear and resent being alone, and the idea of being left behind by people they care about.

#me: oh I can be concise about this obviously #also me over an hour later: wait where did all of these words come from nobody could have predicted this wtf #local brainworm haver has brainworms over their favourite lizard more at 11 #tysm again <3 #dusk

[greenflamethegf]

What is your favorite TTRPG and why?

After seeing your answer, I supposed I should write a one to match. I have played so many different ones, I simply no cannot being myself to name just one. This to say nothing on system I have made or am working on.

Also, I will reference your post quite a bit, so let me just link it [here]

My first love is pathfinder 1e, but from even from there two really cool variants

Sphere Finder

a PF 2e before PF 2e. This takes PF and add a some system of sphere and talents, from supplants published by Drop Dead Studios. Effectively getting to choose marshal or magic powers to mix and match with feats and class abilities. A lot of death while being simpler then base PF 1e. Especially as caster no long had a list of 20+ spells, rather a few abilities and ways to modify. Similarly, for marshals, they even got cool thing like inspiring shouts or cutting a whole in space to teleport. So there wasn't much of gap between caster or marshals

Perhaps still speak TTRPG expirance, but It is quite taxing on the GM, and it largely still has the issues you mentioned in your post. Still, I would REALLY like to play it again. Heck, I would probably run it if I could, that instead of my day job. Anyway, largely in the same vain is

3.P

Perhaps a term you have heard being around in time of D&D 3.5, as was used to describe any amalgamation of PF 1e and D&D 3.5e. My favourite way to play it was to use PF a base and add more reasonable 3.X (D&D 3.0~3.5) rule books, as well as from 3pp (third party published) suppleness for both. It's difficulty, a crown king of complexity, but it did and still dose made my brain go 'woooo'. I still have oh so many indexes and lists for it. I get immense satisfaction with crazy fancy builds that are still rules legal.

however, they aren't I play and run these days... on that honour goes to

Uncommon Words

A cool hack of Dudgeon World that is simpler than 5e while providing more options, interesting characters. In many ways it's what people you don't play TTRPGs thing 5e is. And since this a post about enable TTRPGS, this the last mention of 5e.

DW and pbta (pawed by apocalypse) games in general have this cool three outcomes system of: Yes and..., Yes but... and No and.... This keeps the action going, often one action crates opportunity or danger that will be to relent for then ext one. Specially the way I run combat, it's just a consent stream of "This tread approaches, what do you do?", "This allay is gander, what do you do?", "This enemy is exposed, what do you do?".

Similarly, rules little means you can improve a lot of stuff. You can make a monster on fly with a simple questioner, and by deciding they do any actions appropriate for their kind.

Still, unlike other rules lite system (for example 2d10), it does offer some rule. Some character builds and dice mechanics. This is just enough to have a solid base for a character.

It's by one means perfect. The HP and damage rolls are a bit of a jarring departure from typical PBTA fun. Singularly, I it makes you count individual coins, then it comes to wealth, and I must it's a rather annoying bit of bookkeeping. Really, in D&D, I would never have played arc hares because those systems made you track how many arrows you use. Luckily, DW has that ones solved in quite an elegant way

Honourable mentions

So that dose were the contenders for my favourite. However, I should at lest named drop a some other of very cool systems I played, Mutants and Master Minds 3e, Thirsty Sword Lesbians, Savages Worlds, Chronicles of Darkness, 2d10, Magical Burst and Blades in the dark

#game design #ttrpg #ttrpg design #ttrpg austims #tabletop roleplaying #pathfinder 1e #pathinfder #3.P #d&d 3.5 #d&d 5e #dnd #rant

[kafus]

a quick roundup of some other stuff i've done in platinum because i stopped liveposting and was focused on playing lol

i defeated the grunts in the eterna city team galactic building and it wasn't difficult or anything but it was interesting to confront this part of the game again since it's been a while and i'm rusty

the galactic grunts obviously don't understand the extent of cyrus' plans to literally destroy and remake the universe, just that by doing all this evil shit they're supposedly going to find a new energy source with the power of pokemon evolution etc and make a better world that way. it's similar ish vibes to team plasma - a lot of them although misguided and stealing pokemon and generally being shitty seem to think that their boss genuinely has a bright vision for the future that they're helping serve... their headquarters literally has a poster on the wall telling them not to question what's happening and to just follow the path laid out for them. it kind of reads similar to real life cults instilling a fear of apocalypse in their followers - not quite that drastic since its pokemon, but who wants to be left out of a new, better world?

anyways team galactic analysis aside, jupiter was easy to defeat because pepper is cracked

it's interesting to me how much clefairy is idolized because it supposedly came from the moon in so many pokemon games? i didn't take pictures but the cycle shop guy here mentions that jupiter wanted the clefairy because the moon or space or whatever, and while that makes even more sense in this game because team galactic... space... matching themes... man clefairy is just everywhere lol there's been romanticism of space in pokemon since the very beginning in kanto (and that's not even mentioning you know, pokemon like deoxys and jirachi and whatever)

after this i backtracked and took care of a few things (like the old chateau which i just posted about)

i got the togepi egg from cynthia and hatched it. i love how in platinum cynthia just kind of appears throughout the story as this mysterious kind woman. i know she's remembered for her tough as nails champion fight and that sure as hell makes her memorable but i think it helps that she's around before that as well

i backtracked and got the captivate TM from this... random creepy woman in the woods?? what the fuck were they thinking putting this here. i forgot this was a thing until i was backtracking to check for cut trees now that i have access to cut post-fighting gardenia. Whyy JDFSKSFD

lastly i checked my honey trees since i've been playing for so long i had a few ready... i decided not to reset for female combee since i'm going to be playing this game a while, might as well try to let it naturally spawn before i SR for it. i also got a wurmple from another tree but i forgot to take a picture lol

anyways i'm probs gonna clear out the trainers on cycling road and catch some guys on the route below and then stop for tonight bc i have a doctor's appointment tomorrow

#kiki was here #kiki.txt #kiki plays games #pt playthrough #long post

[moregraceful]

1, 3, 5, 6?

I was like this will be easy if we narrow it by team but very difficult if we do it broadly...fuck around and find out 😩

Anyway for hockey:

which character do you relate to the most from your fandom?

GOD. I almost said Connor McDavid bc I too suffer the agonies but I am like, not nearly good enough at any one single thing to claim I'm like the next next one. YOU KNOW WHAT. maybe Cole Caufield, bc a) we're both short kings, b) I also get ripped up when my goals and life plans fall apart but I am Learning To Love The Journey, c) we love the homies and the homies love us, d) good size for huggin, e) my social circle is wide and affectionate enough that people get a bit 🧐 about interactions with my friends too, and f) the whole thing at the NTDP where him and Jack Hughes were BEST FRIENDS!! WHO SHARED EACH OTHER'S SUCCESSES!! LITERALLY EVERY SINGLE PRE-DRAFT PROFILE ON THEM MENTIONED THE OTHER!! AND THEN GETTING DRAFTED AND THE RELIEF ON COLE'S FACE WHEN MTL FINALLY PICKED HIM AND HOW EXCITED JACK WAS FOR HIM!! and now they're like the most underrated ship of the 2019 ntdp draft class and no one in fandom or the media ever thinks of them as a pair (except me, bc I have brain damage) but the love is still clearly there. anyway that whole situation of: childhood best friends who successes made each other what they are but the relevancy of that has faded overtime as they've grown up but there's still clearly a lot of love and affection...to drive this ask straight into a bridge, I recently found out one of my best friends in middle school died and I was thinking a lot abt how I hadn't spoken to him in over a decade (just due to like drifting apart, not a falling out or anything) but the fondness I feel for him is still so visceral....it's abt what we take with us as we grow. The love is still there, even as we fade out of each other's lives.

mainly we're both so fucking short. no way that dude is 5'7. no way

3. what is your favorite ship?

this is so hard bc as people get traded and the narrative evolves, my tastes change and I drop ships...anyway generally any Cale Makar ship makes me insane due to aforementioned brain damage (except natecale sorry to natecale nation but that's my one single notp) but rn I am sitting here so impatiently waiting for people to GET ON BOARD with Devon Toews/Cale Makar. Devon Toews is HANDSOME. AND CONFIDENT. AND HE WEARS PINK SUITS. you think he isn't blowing Cale Makar: most boring man on the planet's mind on the reg? You know how Cale never smiles anymore but sometimes he smiles around Devon??? my god. The photo of them at the Nuggies game looking like boyfriends?? kill me??? like I know the story of my fandom engagement is just me noodling from Cale Makar rarepair to Cale Makar rarepair but I stg Avs fans we GOTTA open our hearts to Devon Toews. GOTTA.

5. who is your favorite character (and maybe why?)

I love Cale Makar and Cale Makar hates me, because I keep writing weird rarepairs about him. My Avs fandom has kind of faded with time but every once in a while I see Cale Makar photo or gif or quote about how boring he is and there's a little kaiju in my head that rips a building off its foundations.

Also every Asian guy who has ever played the game and wasn't a douche bc they are my people and I must stan my people. Robo I love you. Kailer I love you. Nick Suzuki I love you, you monotone doofus. Matt Dumba? Make him commissioner. Paul Kariya I wish you ran DoPS and I also wish your husband would get off Twitter.

6. when you first think of the fandom, what image comes to mind?

This is SUCH an interesting question. like there's definitely vibes and memories and stories that come to mind immediately, but an IMAGE...maybe the fake worlds kiss photo from the inimitable @msmargaretmurry's fic The Next Next One which haunts me in my sleep. I have like real visceral memories of sitting in the Denver airport choking back tears when I got the final installment of that fic in my inbox, that is also an image. also this photo is the first photo I ever reblogged of hockey (I was a hater for SO long, sorry about the tags) and it still hits 8 years later. the joy on everyone's faces!! it's cute!!

Thank you for the ask my friend!!

#also the other 2 images for maddy and becs if you see this is: the soulmark behind connor's ear in the soulmate fic; gutterslut dylan #like...all things in my hockey fandom just come back to maddy and becs in the end honestly. formative influences on my psyche #i am sorry i have strayed so far from your light 😞 #also sorry to everyone reading this for the absolute turn my answer took in that first answer. this post is mostly jokes but cw for death #me: haha cole caulfield because we are both short. also it's abt LOVE and GROWTH and LOSS #everyone reading this: [quietly unfollows] #cage replies #laughingthelaughiest #fresno oilers.txt #thank you ko...you always keep me on my toes....

[voidwerks]

Tagged by the lovely @synins, answerin' 15 questions and tagging less than that because I generally feel like I'm bothering people!

Are you named after anyone?

I certainly am. Great-grandfather, grandfather, father, and I all share the same first name. Different middle names tho, which helps.

When was the last time you cried?

For something serious? 2022. I did cry because of a good story the other day tho

Do you have kids?

No, don't plan on it, and with how the economy+living situation is here in the US, it doesn't seem like a good idea either.

What sports do you play/have played

I dabbled in a lot of things when I was in school, but I did soccer, swimming, and even karate for a while.

Do you use sarcasm often

Yes, but if it's with someone I'm not familiar with I usually lay it on pretty thick so they catch my drift.

Whats the first thing you notice about someone?

Visually, usually hair color+style then eyes. Audibly, usually what their accent/cadence is like

Eye colour?

They've been described as 'milk chocolate brown'

Any talents?

I'd say I'm reasonably good at painting miniatures, and I used to be a fairly prolific RP writer back in the forum days. I've also got a knack for cooking, that kinda gut-sense of 'hmm needs X' or 'should be ready riiiight aboooout now'

Scary movies or happy endings?

Kind of an apples and oranges question, but probably happy endings? Just like I've got my preferences for horror, I don't necessarily enjoy all good natured movies either. But you'll probably find me watching The Princess Bride before, say, Saw.

Where were you born?

North Carolina, and then got moved a bunch shortly afterwards so I don't really count it

Hobbies?

Building/painting minis, tabletop+video games, cookin', story crafting (DnD and other world building)

Any pets?

My family has a single cat, Boots, who they got as a stray years and years ago. He was incredibly spoiled by my grandmother, but is also very un-cat-like in a lot of ways, so he's a lil weirdo, but a good lad. Hates all other creatures tho, so I can't really get any other pets in the meantime.

Height?

5'8"

Favourite school subject?

English and history.

Dream job?

Ideally, teaching something fun or creative. I'd enjoy to go back for my masters some day so I could get into teaching english, preferably something like creative writing. But if some world existed where I could get paid teaching people how to do hobby painting I'd love that too.

No worries, do it only if ya feel like it, but here's a few tags @ghwosty @protectcosette @sockythedog @baddminton @elisedylandy @sauridae @eldermindless

And if anyone else wants to hop in, you're more than welcome to!

[thefourchimes]

STRANGER THINGS AND GRAVITY FALLS MIX HELLO???? i’d love to hear more about that!!!

hehe 👀 well

i dont exactly have any actual snippets for this verse yet, as i’m still ironing out the many details and connections between the two with some friends in discord

there’s so many things to consider but the potential with both the gf gang and the st gang is so, so good and so out of this world

so for now, i will be sending the general setting and a few details for this verse 👀 here we go

general setting:

so ofc this verse will be mixing the two shows together

since st has the monster of the year format while gf has the monster of the week/day format, we're planning to have an episodic monster of the day/week gf has, which will then build up towards the monster of the year st has

st's plot will almost be like the "climax" or "season finale" so to speak, in combination with gf's season finales (or maybe even not exactly mwehehe)

there would be a lot of gf plots and episodes that will have an st twist to it (example of this being fight fighters, which will have the appearance of Rumble McSkirmish, but also st arcade games like DigDug or Dragon's Lair)

the same goes with st plots and episodes having a gf twist to it (example would be jonathan working to help pay the bills in st season 1, so along with wendy and soos, he works in the mystery shack)

we've been debating on it but for now, we decided to have both shows start at the same time, so we got gf season 1 and st season 1 starting vaguely all at the same time

we're messing a bit with the timeline and set it in an ambiguous period with both 80s and 2012 aspects

we put them all in the same age ranges as their respective groups for both shows (kids, teens, and adults)

and about the fact that st goes on for years while gf goes for 3 months...we got some ideas for that one too

the town of gravity falls and the town of hawkins will be fused together, so it'll be one big town but both gravity falls and hawkins are next door suburbs in said town

gf creatures come from the upside down (more will be explained soon)

uhhh i think thats the general setting, tho if you've got any questions, feel free to share lmao

random details that would be fun to share:

star twins and wonder twins are <33

dipper and mabel know max since they're all from cali

max and wendy are cousins yes

the cop duo from both shows have an odd but interesting rivalry with each other

dipper (and ford later on) have a lot of fun with having an actual dnd party to play with

bill makes a lot more deals in this verse...

lots more possessions in this verse too oh boy

joyce and stan are okay friends while hopper and stan butt heads a lot considering police chief and conman

bill and vecna interactions will be interesting

we got a list of everyone's respective dnd classes (for st) and zodiac symbols (for gf)

st really needs to step up their game for creatures and monsters, especially when gf has a lot LMAO

so yeah, thats the plan and some details

if you want some more details, i'd love to share more of what we have rn :DD

and if you also have any ideas and suggestions, feel free to share 👀👀👀

anywho, thank you for the ask!! im really excited for this verse hehe <33

#liv tag <3 #stranger weirder au #stranger things #gravity falls #i havent seen an actual fusion au with these two so ig i took matters into my own hands lmao #there's so many things to consider #so many possibilities #its exciting