#and weirdly progressive for their time on many levels actually

[lexyeevee]

it's wild to see myhouse having escaped the orbit of Doom People, because so much of it specifically riffs on doom in a way that is laser-targeted at Doom People, to the point that i just wouldn't have expected it to be nearly as interesting if you don't pick up on that stuff

right from the outset, "my house" is even a recognizable genre, because doom was among the first approachable platforms for creating a 3D space, and if you give random people the ability to create a 3D space then many of them will just try to recreate their own house. (i want to say jp lebreton even made an effort to play through every house map on the idgames archive at one point, though hell if i can find it now.) there was in fact already a "myhouse.wad", from 1995!

frankly it's incredible that someone (or someones) put so much effort into this map and then had the gall to simply post it on doomworld as "myhouse.wad", because that is a thread title that guarantees the fewest possible people will bother to look. there are posts in the thread where people outright admit that they only checked because they were surprised how many replies a "my house" wad got.

so anyway, okay, the "classic" doom wad experience is that you download a wad, it contains exactly 1 map, and it has zero custom textures or music or other frills. most wads from the 90s are like this; if you're lucky you might get a bad midi rendition of a metallica song. nowadays there are texture artists and musicians and everything collaborating on full map packs, but "just a map" is still kind of the default mapping experience and is recognizable to anyone who's been around doom for sufficiently long.

and myhouse riffs on absolutely every aspect of this:

• the music is the MAP01 music, Running From Evil, which is just the music you get if you supply your own map in the MAP01 slot and do nothing else. so a ton of 90s maps had this same track as their background music, so everyone has heard it a zillion times. it is ingrained into so many people's skulls. subtly fucking with it is a great way to fuck with the player

• the house uses only stock doom 2 textures, or occasionally light modifications of them. again this is just what you get if you make a map and don't supply any other resources, so the stock textures are very familiar. only later, with sufficient poking around, does the map introduce new textures, which really help sell the impression of being swept away to Somewhere Else

• if you take the exit, you go to MAP02, Underhalls. this is the expected experience because doom wads replace what's already there — you're not really supplying a "new map pack" or anything, you're overwriting a map from the original doom 2 progression. (there are ways to fiddle with this now, but in vanilla doom 2, the level progression was hardcoded.) so the "ending" of a no-frills single-map wad is always, always to transition to Underhalls. the opening shot of Underhalls is practically like seeing the credits. so roping Underhalls into the experience is completely unexpected, because Underhalls is the sign that you've escaped back to regular doom

• the super shotgun is "hidden" in Underhalls, in probably the best-known super shotgun location in the whole game, because it's the first time you can get it

• incidentally Underhalls itself feels uncanny, because the player camera height is higher than usual to make the house's proportions feel sensible. (part of the trouble with exact recreations of real spaces in doom is that the camera is weirdly low.) i was actually convinced that myhouse included a modified Underhalls, but no, it's stock doom 2 Underhalls, it just feels off when you're slightly taller

but wait, there's more

• silent teleporters are a feature from boom, a very early doom derivative that added a number of helpful mapping features and is basically considered only half a step beyond vanilla. so shifting between two versions of a space without interruption isn't completely unexpected. it's only later that the portal use becomes more obvious

• although if you're especially canny, you should notice that the second version of the house shows both the upstairs and downstairs windows in full, which is impossible — doom cannot do room-over-room. (in fact this is accomplished with a semi-obscure zdoom feature called sector portals — essentially, the whole second floor and the space outside it are a separate area, and the "ceiling" of the yard becomes a view up through the "floor" of that second space.)

• swinging doors are a hexen feature (polyobjects) that gzdoom inherited. (heretic and hexen were modifications of the doom engine, and zdoom started out as a merge of all three codebases into something that could play all three games.) they might also be in other fancy engines (eternity?), but they are very distinctly not a doom thing. if you're deeply familiar with doom's limitations then they'll jump out at you immediately, but if you're looking at doom like it's any old 3D game then maybe not so much

• recreations of other humble real-world locales are also a somewhat common theme, and remind me in particular of Doom City, from way back in 1995

• a very common desire for players is to "uv-max" a map, i.e. reach the exit on ultra-violence with 100% kills and secrets. if you can't do this, the map is (reasonably) considered broken. it is comically impossible to do this in myhouse, and anyone with the skill to create the map would be acutely aware of this

• the extra weapon frames look to be borrowed from the well-known smooth doom, which adds extra frames for everything and is just pretty dang slick overall. so it's not merely "ho ho, got you, smoother weapons" but specific integration of another familiar project

• this might be reaching a bit, but mirrors are specifically a nightmare in zdoom's software renderer because they work by rendering all visible geometry as if it were physically present on the other side of the mirror — and if there be any actual geometry back there, it will also get rendered and you will have a big fucking mess. so a mirror in the middle of a room is a laughable idea. this is somewhat less of a concern now that the hardware renderer is basically the default, but it's still a spectre looming over the very concept of mirrors, so the way mirrors play out in myhouse is very funny to me

there's probably more, like, the way it intercepts noclip is a stroke of genius and not something i've ever seen done before. but i hope you get the idea

#doom #myhouse.wad

[olderthannetfic]

https://www.tumblr.com/olderthannetfic/733646414551400449/httpswwwtumblrcomolderthannetfic733409473777?source=share

i'm not prev anon but to me fandom bystander shit is just like.... as you said, don't egg on harassment campaigns, and i would also say, maybe just decide certain shit is beyond the pale and more important than fandom stuff. like, i'm tired of people making excuses for how sarah z falsely accused someone of being a terf (a thing that does nothing but hurt trans women by making terf accusations less credible) and encouraged her followers to harass her, and then played innocent "i didn't outright say to doxx her i didn't do the doxxing!" when she got doxxed, over the fact that that person made a post about how to frame progressive U.S. political goals in a way that will get more moderates on your side (without actually changing those political goals) and sarah z, a canadian with no stake in the game, decided that was "cringe." and every time you point this out, you will get so many defenders rushing in to tell you about how but her videos are good!!! i mean, they're not that good, and there are other people on youtube who are not harassers who make equally good or better ones on the same topics, but also, maybe some things should be more important to you than videos summarizing years-old fandom drama? what room do you have to laugh and cringe about the TJLC people if you're going to support someone who does the same thing?

or likewise, this isn't about fandom so much but i really wish more people on tumblr would decide that tankies who cheered on the russian invasion of ukraine or who deny genocides like the holodomor, a weirdly large group on this website, are people they should at least unfollow if not block no matter what else they offer. there's a popular blog here, heritageposts, that just reposts old "classic" tumblr posts with the "date of origin" (something that can usually be seen on the post itself) that also uses their massive number of followers to post pro-north-korean propaganda and pro-stalin stuff denying his atrocities, and people are just like, whatever, the heritage posts - posts that person didn't even make, but is reposting from others - are funny. like, really? you're just going to put up with them basically being a genocide denier because they reblog funny posts? when there are a million other blogs on here that do the same thing that aren't tankies?

like i think the idea is just like: have some standards, and don't support terrible people because of some other relatively small thing they do (that plenty of other people do). and that there's a difference between this and the idea that you should write anyone off over the most minor transgression. these are big things, and the "positives" are relatively small. doxxing people and genocide denial should be dealbreakers for you.

--

And on a lighter note, I do wish that people would have the balls to go on publicly interacting with ostracism targets. Yes, it paints a target on your own back. No, it does not invite the same level of drama as directly going after the people posting spurious callouts.

[0theghost0]

Update

Hi hi, everyone. I know it's been a long time. I was actually typing up a message to @prince-infidel because of an ask they sent me, but I realized I should probably just make it a post. So I guess this is an update. Okay, short version: The end of 2022 and the entirety of 2023 was horrible for me. A lot happened, and 97% of it was not good. Now to get into a bit more specifics. While all of this crazy stuff was going on, a friend of mine really needed help with their company. They were just going through a ton, and I jumped on to help them while they were trying to figure that stuff out. Turns out that I was a good fit. So I've completely changed careers currently. Also, with all of this crazy shit going on, I stopped drawing entirely. That's a first for me. No matter what was going on, I always had my drawing as an outlet. It was very new for it to be gone. I actually only recently started drawing again, and when I say recently, I mean last week. I haven't even finished anything and my progress comes in very small doses. Baby steps I guess. Now the stuff you're actually probably interested in. Even though I haven't been drawing, I have been making art. - I've been putting crazy amounts of effort into making costumes. It's really fun and I've level grinded a lot with sewing and fabrics. I made an entire Victorian costume on my own. It was cool. - I weirdly started working on dolls? I have no idea why I started doing that. I hate dolls. - I started making weird... sculptures? I don't know how to describe them. It's basically recycling and turning materials into monstrosities for my own entertainment and to scare random people. - And I've delved more into my hobby of SFX makeup.

I have been being creative, it's just a bunch of stuff that no one cares about. It makes me happy and that's all there is to it really. Which brings me to the long version, because I have no idea how to continue this without going into details. I can only assume all of this answers anyone questions who might be curious. Time to get a bit more specific.

I don't know how to start this, so I guess I'll just say that my interests have completely moved. I think everything above should make that clear, but when I'm referring to interests, I mostly mean the things that inspire me. This is actually typical for me. I love fiction and am a fan of many, many things. I get really involved in a fandom for a while, get bored, then move on to one that is piquing my interest more. Eventually I come back and the cycle starts over. I always keep up with all of my interests simultaneously, it's just that one usually dominates the others. The thing is, comic books have completely lost my interest currently.

There's a lot of factors. I'm not going to repeat stuff that you've probably heard a thousand times from other people about the current state of the comic industry, comic writing, the movies, the video games blah blah blah whine whine whine. I think one of the big things though is that this last year has really changed me. I'm just a really different person now. I'm not that happy-go-lucky nerd I was before. I think my major concern is that I honestly think it would be fucked up if I continued to post here.

People started following me here because of my art and my posts. It would be fucked up to switch that around on them and just show back up as this different person with different art, different interests etc. I've thought about making an update on here a bunch of different times, but I never did because of stuff like that. However, in a way, it's been really nice. It's been nice to just do whatever stupid art project comes into my head, and to do it just for the sake of making something. I think dropping drawing all together (not by choice, mind you) turned out to be good for me. I think I got in tune with a creative side of myself that I'd lost a long time ago. It's been pretty neat.

I've thought about just leaving this tumblr to history. I honestly think that I should. It can be a weird time capsule of this specific fandom in this specific time period. I've thought about just making different social media accounts so that people who want to see any of my new, awful creations could if they wanted to. I don't know though. I'm just all up in the air all the time now lol

I get this isn't an "all questions answered" kinda post. Not that most people needed them, but I know that there are people who just liked my art in general and I knew they must be curious. So I hope I at least answered some stuff and gave some clarity.

#updates #text post #I've read through this a few times and I think it makes sense #I'm currently very sick #I hope this isn't just flat out nonsense #I also hope it isn't needlessly dramatic sounding #whenever I try to type this stuff out it always comes across so intense lol #I'm also going to be a dick and post this in the middle of the night #if I leave it until morning I'll forget it exists

[timepool]

TTRPG Devlog- Qet & Progression in Horror RPGs

So, as probably previously mentioned, my bronze age eldritch horror game— Qet— originally began life as a 5e module. There's a LOT of design poison that came from those origins, and I think I've hit upon another one: progression.

What does character progression look like in a horror game? Typically, progression in an RPG means that your character grows more powerful, which I think is antithetical to horror— unless you can balance it with particularly compelling difficulty spikes to compensate. There's a balance to strike between player agency and hitting the tone of a horror story— you can't empower the main characters too much, or tension begins to fade. If you make it easy for your players to die, and lose their characters forever, they become jaded and easily detached from future characters— or they lose complete interest in continuing the campaign. (This is a problem in Call of Cthulhu, and one that is much more pronounced in many horror video games...which have their tension and mystery dissipate upon subsequent deaths.) Death isn't particularly interesting of a consequence, but it is still important to maintain some form of consistent tension. In Qet, you can come back to life a limited number of times-- exactly how many times that is depends on your choices, and some luck. Every time you come back to life, you have to sacrifice something to the Thought of Death— typically parts of your body, but things like strong memories, Quality scores, and entire Skills can be sacrificed as well. You also have a connection to the Thought which degrades (via dice roll) each time you return to your body. So, you're steadily growing weaker and weaker over the course of a campaign...except... ...at current, Qet has a levelling system (Tiers). You develop Skills to reach higher Tiers, higher Tiers let you access better Skills, and allow you to increase your Quality scores. Granted, there are a grand total of 4 Tiers. (Which is why I didn't call them Levels. Feels different.) Needless to say, this feels...weirdly out of touch with this being a horror game. It's something I hadn't mulled over back in 2019 when I started, and never questioned when looking back, until now. So, how can I have players explore and grow their characters mechanically, without undermining the game's tone and tension? Here's the thing— Qet already has other methods of progression that don't create a power fantasy; 1- Alchemy. You can mutate your body with alchemy, adding new body parts and changing those you have-- at risk of things going very, very wrong, and getting stuck with negative mutations. (Like, trying to gain sharp teeth...and instead of growing them in your mouth, growing them in your stomach.) 2- Manipulative Magic. While you become more powerful as you gain access to stronger spells, you have to uh...cannibalize people to gain this power in the first place. This corrupts you steadily as you transform into a qepluezet olxlikliz (blood sick). Which not only has your body begin to betray you as the souls of those you've consumed coalesce and rebel, but it also attracts the Qrol-- a cult who's well-trained members hunt down the blood sick. (And this is a game where getting into a fight is rarely desirable.) 3- Eldritch Magic. Again, you gain access to stronger spells as you progress through this. However, it first requires a certain amount of eldritch Insight, and it requires that you find a source that you can borrow power from. Sources can be from eldritch entities, objects, and even cosmic diseases. Each requires a particular sacrifice for their power, and further beyond this-- each branch of eldritch magic then requires a different risk/reward to actually cast their spells. Some use your health, others give you temporary curses, some give you body horror transformations. I will probably rework Eldritch Magic to instead come from the Thought of Death, just to streamline things a lil. Narratively make it that players are borrowing the memories, skills, and strengths of those who have passed into the Thought for themselves-- at the risk of weakening their consciousness' ability to return to their body. Or something like that. I'll figure it out.

---------- Now, you might be able to guess what I'm thinking here. None of these progression systems are linear, each has a cost. Risk/reward is always more interesting than pure reward. I'm thinking, if I remove Tiers, make Skills simply part of character creation, and somehow put these other systems up front more clearly-- then we'll have a much more engaging "progression" arc. As players weaken over the course of a campaign, they will be pushed further and further into making tough decisions. Do they still have limbs, memories, and Skills to give up? Just how much are they willing to part with? They need a leg up-- something to compensate for what they've lost and gain a chance at survival. As they grow weaker, as they gain more Insight into the cosmic forces around them, as their circumstances become more and more harrowing-- the less horrible the costs of power might seem. How I will actually execute this will take some time to mull over. I will most likely have take a big ol hammer to each of them and cut down their power levels by...a lot. Reduce the number of spells, make them more akin to sidegrades-- new tools for the belt-- rather than linear power growth. The exact risks for each may need to be adjusted. There's potential in making spells specifically scoped to single lives or something. Maybe limiting how many times they may be obtained, so you have to think carefully about which you use and when. Who knows! Stay tuned!

#indie ttrpg #ttrpg design #ttrpg #timepool #ttrpg devlog #qet #horror

[itsbenedict]

Just finished this game, which I played because my brain has been fried by work problems and I needed something to chill with, but mainly because @konec0 did the soundtrack and I wanna support what he's doing. Still appreciate you pitching in on Nepetaquest 2011 back in the day, dude!

Cuisineer is an arcadey restaurant manager game, and also an isometric hack-and-slash dungeon-crawler roguelike. You delve dungeons to get ingredients, you cook and serve those ingredients in your restaurant, you get money with which to upgrade things and get more ingredients and serve more food. Solid concept!

Does it work? Well... It's very cute, and very polished, but it's held back by some very strange design decisions.

In short... its primary and secondary gameplay loops clearly had a lot of love put into them, but the tertiary loop- the progression systems- are very weirdly balanced to the point of being almost broken.

Bad thing 1

The main problem: everything costs wood and stone. Everything costs wood and stone, and costs more wood and stone the further you upgrade things. But you don't get more wood and stone the further you get in the game, at least once your inventory space maxes out. Wood and stone give way to Magic Wood and Super-Stone of various sorts, which are required for stronger upgrades, but you still need big piles of the basic stuff and can't substitute the advanced stuff, and it's the limiting factor on every single purchase in the game except health potions and rugs for some reason. Combine that with sharply limited inventory space, and money from running the restaurant very swiftly stops mattering compared to how many times you've farmed the starting level for crafting materials. It functionally locks you out of what might be fun systems, like the decoration and furniture stuff- since doing anything cosmetic trades off against progression.

Bad thing 2

Also- in the dungeon-crawler half, there's not much advancement to speak of. You might think these resources could be spent to make you stronger, but... upgrading weapons is expensive and time-consuming and has extremely marginal rewards. Like, the starting weapon does 10 damage, and a fully-upgraded endgame weapon might do 15. The game seems to be trying really hard to avoid being an RPG and letting the player get stronger over time- the various mechanics for upgrading your combat capabilities are just not worth it, and the random weapon drops are mostly identical and do nothing but clutter your inventory.

(It feels like it's trying to limit progression so it can bill itself as a roguelike, even though that's not really what the game is on any meaningful level? Not a choice that really works for it as its own game, imo.)

Bad thing(?) 3

The game's combat is an odd duck. It's... very polished, and very compelling, if you use the one approach that actually works. There's nine weapons, but only a handful are viable with the way combat is designed.

Enemies have very short windows where it's safe to attack them, and are quick to punish you for bad timing or wrong positioning. Reminds me of a soulslike, almost. Healing is sharply limited, so you really need to be careful not to get hit by stuff- and there's so much stuff. Walk into a room, or too close to a room, and everything in it will instantly aggro you, including artillery enemies with long-distance ranged attacks. Problems appear quickly and overwhelmingly, so combat ends up being a case of... dodging massive walls of tomato danmaku and miscellaneous enemy projectiles as you charge into rooms full of enemies and hazards, trying to find one safe place to stand for one second while you hit one enemy for chip damage, over and over again until you gradually thin the enemy numbers and win yourself room to breathe. It's very intense and very fun once you get the rhythm...

...but some weapons just plain don't fit into that rhythm. Many enemies need to be consistently stunlocked to deal damage to them safely, and the reloading projectile weapons and slow hard-hitting weapons just can't do that, forcing you to take hits, which you can't afford to do. Narrow-hitbox spear-type weapons fare poorly against crowds of small enemies who can slip past your guard, which are Everywhere. There's a fun kebab weapon that lets you charge and dash around the stage, but levels are claustrophobic and full of hazards that punish you for doing that. As Chiyo Kumasawa foretold: the only thing you can rely on is your trusty mackerel.

There's also a weird and kind of funny tradeoff where... you can't meaningfully upgrade your damage, but you can roll elemental status effects that can give you some multipliers and useful passive AoE damage as you're dashing around trying not to die. But... these huge AoE elemental effects have very wide, obtrusive visuals that hide the enemies on the screen, and you really need to be paying attention to enemy animations so you don't get hit. It's a sort of unintentional tradeoff of defense for strength, which weirdly works.

Bad thing 4

The writing's kinda flat. You've been hoodwinked into taking on your parents' debt and running their restaurant, you have to pay it off- it's established pretty hastily and mainly ignored. The townspeople have very cute designs, but they're all kind of nothingburger characters whose lives revolve around the urgent need for you to deliver them lots of random food items for contrived reasons in exchange for recipes and stuff. Cast kind of comes off like some softcore smut artist's stable of OCs whose personalities were afterthoughts. Doesn't really go anywhere, the localization's pretty stiff, most jokes don't land... doesn't seem like there was a lot of effort put in there.

Good thing 1

I spill way more words nitpicking flaws than I do praising stuff, but I did enjoy this game enough to finish it, and it's not for no reason.

Firstly- the restaurant section. I have no complaints about the restaurant mode! It's polished to a mirror sheen, honestly. I'm given to understand the restaurant sim is a genre, mainly native to phones, and maybe this all works because it's cribbing mechanics from some more successful inspiration I've never heard of, but... it's just very enjoyable, void of potentially annoying cooking mechanics and letting you focus on queuing up dishes, keeping track of orders, and dashing around making sure everything is running smoothly. The balance job is very nice- the difficulty during lunch and dinner rushes is just enough to make you sweat a little as things ramp up, and they last just long enough to get the most out of the pressure without totally overwhelming you. Chef's kiss, no notes.

Good thing 2

konec0's soundtrack is real good! I mostly know him for his electroswing and HS fanmusic, but he can clearly pull off a wide range of styles. It matches the overall sound design really well and it's enjoyable to listen to. Excellent job there!

Good thing 3

The "final dungeon" segment does this very cool and fun thing where it combines the dungeon-crawling combat and the restaurant management into one challenging final exam where you have to survive combat arenas to scrounge up ingredients as you cook them up and serve them, which would maybe get exhausting in core gameplay but works really well as a challenge for the end of the game. Liiiiittle bit too easy in the first two rounds, but it's fine.

Good thing 4

I already mentioned this alongside the nitpicks, but: when the combat works, it works- the feel of it is satisfying, the challenge is well-calibrated, and the animations look great and convey what's happening well.

Good thing 5

Also the character art is very cute. Lot of fun designs there, even if as mentioned the characters they're attached to are pretty flat. The game's just gorgeous in general- the artists knocked it out of the park.

OH WAIT BAD THING 5

The game's cover/key art prominently features a squid that throws ninja stars! But there's no squid that throws ninja stars in the game! How the heck did that happen!!! Give me the ninja squid!!!!!

#cuisineer #game rec #idk if it's a rec since my opinions are pretty mixed but it should go in the tag #maybe i should go through and add a game review tag

[lhaewiel]

For the Bookworm ask game! 15, 17 or 18, and 31

Hello!

15. Which genre(s) are your favorite?

Fantasy and fantasy adjacent. I absolutely adore Tolkien. I have enjoyed a lot Licia Troisi's "le cronache del mondo emerso", I have a really soft spot for anything Neil Gaiman, I am struggling a bit with Robin Hobb, although I am kind of enjoying her works. When I was younger I enjoyed reading a lot from Roal Dahl. I absolutely adore Stefano Benni.

I am also enjoying a lot @thebibliosphere 's "Hunger Pangs", though I bough the fluff edition as a personal preference.

I want to start reading also @xiranjayzhao 's "Iron Widow", which I am planning to buy as soon as I have some money (I am currently very poor and barely managing to the end of the month, but this one is in my list).

Weirdly enough I really do not like any of Terry Pratchett's books and I know this is the equivalent of swinging a bat against a nest of wasps. Pratchett was an amazing man, he did amazing things, but I really do not like or enjoy the way he writes.

For me to find a book enjoyable I must vibe and like the way a writer writes and Pratchett has never been my cup of tea.

I have read "The Golden Compass" and "The Chronicles of Narnia", which I enjoyed, but I need to read them again because I read them ages ago.

Anyway. Fantasy. All of the fantasy books. And I am always SO MUCH pissed off that a lot of these books are in the CHILDRENS section.

Like, seriously. Just because a book is fantasy, it DOES NOT mean it's for children. Just because a book does not contain sex scenes it DOES NOT mean it's for children. Welcome to my ted talk.

17. Favorite finished book series.

Uuuhhh if I said "The lord of the rings" I would be cheating, SO I am NOT going with that. I am going instead with the entirety of Georges Simenon's "Commissaire Maigret" tales (crime/investigation is my second favourite genre). Maigret has something that neither Agatha Christie, nor Arthur Conan Doyle, nor any other writers of the genre has. I love Maigret. I love how he incorporates a lot of personal details, I love the way he solves the cases and relates to both victims and perpetrators alike. I love his whole team of inspectors. Columbo did not invent anything, Maigret was there first. Another thing I will be probably cancelled for lol. Die mad haters.

I am also going for "The Witcher" by Andrej Sapkowski. I love that series to bits, one day I will manage to actually buy ALL of the books and finish reading it (I am currently on book 2). I love the characters, I love the way they are developed, I love their flaws and honestly I ADORE the way Sapkowski writes and I will be striving to reach that level no matter how many years it will take me.

18. Favorite unfinished book series.

I do NOT do unfinished book series. I am sorry, I need a completed book or a completed series. I simply do not have the commitment it takes. It's one of the many reasons I stopped reading ASOIAF. George RR Martin will need to pull his head out of his ass and FINISH what he started QUICKLY. It's annoying. He has no fucking reason to not finish the books. I am annoyed. Equally, I will not read a series that is still in progress for the reason that I am NOT putting in my will stuff like "I hereby request that my heirs will come to my grave to read the rest of XYZ's series so my ghost can have peace". LISTEN, READING BERSERK LEFT A MARK, NOW MIURA IS DEAD AND THERE IS NO TELLING IF/WHEN HIS ASSISTANTS WILL RESUME WITH THE STORY. I WILL NOT REPEAT THE EXPERIENCE.

31. Do you mostly read through e-reader; reading app on phone; on your laptop; a physical copy; or by audiobook?

I need to have a physical copy. I can't read for long through a screen. And also I like having a book in my hands. I like its smell and I like putting all sorts of nice bookmarks. I am now discovering audiobooks, though, especially now that my mind is struggling to stay focused for a long time. I can listen to an audiobook and do stuff at the same time and it's great. It's awesome. Especially if the narrator does their things with acting out all of the dialogue and you can HEAR different characters speaking and you are aware that it is the same narrator, but you actually heart a MULTITUDE of characters literally brought to life. It's amazing.

#asks #book asks

[writing-for-life]

Tell me more about your OC, Thalia! How did you get the idea for her? What’s your fav part about her? Any thoughts about her as a character that ended up on the cutting room floor?

I love those questions! My OCs are my babies, I love talking about them!

I’m super used to writing OCs since that’s usually all I write (The Light of Stars is actually my first fanfic, believe it or not, but I’ve written original stories for literal decades).

Funnily enough, Thalia started with… the name. I knew from the start there would be a lot of references to Greek mythology. Too much to mention here, people who read the fic will know, but I had this idea about Psyche’s journey to the underworld I wanted to reference at some point, and I also wanted a reference to a muse. Thalia had the nicest ring to it while being somewhat referential. Sometimes it’s really as simple as that 😂 I pronounce her Tah-lee-ya btw (it’s a less common pronunciation of that spelling, but it exists. I just didn’t want to spell her Talia for obvious reasons, but she totally sounds like it. And now I’ve destroyed the sound at least half of my readers had in their heads 🙈).

Thalia is the muse of comedy, and I wanted some of that in her. She has this intelligent sense of humour that is both genuine but also a coping mechanism, and it made for an interesting dynamic with Morpheus, who is always so serious. Her humour is, albeit observational, warm. She’s not a cynic although she has every reason to be, and I guess he knows that because he knows her story and what she’s been through, and it probably makes him think. He finds her challenging, but there is also an honesty and emotional openness to her, especially about her own hurt/darkness, that he finds intriguing. And that honesty also extends to how she relates to him—she is someone who actually sees him in the truest sense of the word, and it’s something he both needs so desperately but also finds impossible to trust and fully give in to for a very long time, and for a lot of reasons.

I guess the idea was to find someone who is in many ways like him (only in terms of shared human experience) but has a completely different way of dealing with it. It is, although a love story, at its core an exploration of trauma, loss and grief, of second or even third chances at life (however you might define the latter), and I’d long wondered what would happen if he met someone who is NOT trying to change him. They have their problems and conflicts, yes, but ultimately, this is about a deep mutual understanding that hinges on acceptance. And that acceptance is possible because it was there from the start, for reasons that I won’t give away here, but they are deeply rooted in how she always related to who and what he is on a conceptual level. And now I’m writing the sequel, and it becomes even more important.

My favourite part about her must be how she has the ability to make him laugh? Like, little by little, from something that barely makes him cock an eyebrow to a tug on the corners of his mouth to little smiles that get more frequent. And that moment when he sees the painting and actually realises he *is* like that around her was weirdly emotional to write because it wasn’t planned.

Plus, that she gets him to the stage where his laughs are actually audible, and they’re *not* weird. Well, at least not *that* weird. And from a writer’s point of view, it felt like a really natural, gradual progression that just happened, so it wasn’t something I had plotted. They just did their thing, and I wrote it down 😂

The stuff that ended up on the cutting room floor was mostly related to the no mortals rule. I explored a lot of different angles but ultimately didn’t want her to be a goddess or witch or somehow overpowered to circumvent that, it just didn’t sit right with me. So I spent a lot of time on setting up different beats that might look like one thing or another, but without giving too much away: The whole story hinges on her humanity and mortality, and it was ultimately the only thing that made sense.

Thanks again for the ask. It was a really good opportunity to talk about character creation/development, because so often, people seem to believe that all OCs are straightforward self-inserts, and nothing could be farther from the truth (OC fics aren’t reader fics). It’s impossible for characters not to have little bits of us because they come out of our brains, but they aren’t mirror images. I sometimes give characters little bits I’m confident in writing authentically without having to do a lot of research. For Thalia, it was drawing/painting. I had other female OCs that rode a motorcycle or did a martial art I’ve been familiar with since my childhood, others again were professional performers. I find I can write these things without overwriting them because I know what they feel like. Because sometimes, people will research these things and write them like an instruction manual. And while the detail is correct, someone who really *does* these things would never describe them that way. But that’s often really as far as it goes. It pains me to say that I’m far more like Morpheus than like Thalia, but I didn’t need to self-insert for that to be the case 😂

And now I want to know: What’s your favourite part about her and their dynamic? Other readers are welcome to chime in, too.

#asks open #send asks #about anything really: sandman | writing | life #the sandman #the sandman fanfiction #sandman fanfiction #sandman fanfic #oc characters #character thoughts #character concept #morpheus x original character #morpheus x oc #my ocs #about writing #my writing #the light of stars #thalia callaghan #dream x oc #dream of the endless x oc #asks answered #asks

[thewapolls]

So the Adult Mags boss fight became a recurring thing starting with Wild Arms 3.

In their first appearance they feature the NPC Claudia, whom Melody had disguised herself as in an attempt to seduce Gallows and Clive, which of course notoriously failed. It's not entirely clear what was on the back cover.

In Alter Code F is has the dream demon, Elizabeth on the cover and also the interior pages.

Then for WA4 and 5 they use the same cover art with the Raid Buster enemy on the front?? for some reason, and the Doctor Gob on the back.

Weirdly, they did make an overworld model of the Adult Mag in 5 that doesn't match the one used on the actual enemy model in battle; It features Yulie, from WA4.

It's actually kind of odd that the enemy stuck around, because for WA4 and WA5 there aren't that many magic book enemies, where as they had been kind of a staple of the Wild Arms bestiary in the early games, starting with Cecilia's prologue dungeon being the hidden library. And in fact, I want to kind of trace the history of this family of enemies while we're on the subject...

The seminal entry to the bestiary is the Blue Book, found in Cecilia's prologue in the original Wild Arms, and as a sort of throwback, also appears in Lilka's prologue in WA2. Despite the seemingly overly literal name, it's actually a reference to the above pictured style of British almanac.

I like the idea that it's a kind of living magical book, not because it's some cursed grimoire or ancient tome of magic, but just because it's an encyclopedic collection of information that happens to include enough aetheric truth about the nature of magic that it manifests magic itself. It also accounts for why it's such a low level monster, because it's not really a deliberately magical being.

(I had trouble getting a good shot of its front cover in WA5 but I assume it's the same as in 4 and F)

After that the obvious progression in magical books is the Necronomicon itself, famed grimoire of Lovecraftian lore, allegedly written by Abdul Alhazred, "The Mad Arab," whom is of course the namesake of the Wild Arms 1 villain, Alhazad.

It appears consistently as a book bound in black leather with some form of golden trim or clasps. Hard time getting a clear shot of the front cover in 3 or F. They have been variously localized as Necromicon, Necronomic, and actual Necronomicon as less of a translation issue and more a character limit problem.

Perhaps the more surprising addition to this family is the Targum (initially mislocalized as "Talgium") which is a Hebrew term used to refer to the original Aramaic translation of the Tanakh.

For one, it's a really obscure kind of thing to pull for a bunch of Japanese creators, but I kind of love how it isn't some faux-qabal derived grimoire the sort that was popular with Christian occultists of the middle ages, from which a lot of Christianity's fake lore comes from, and from which demonology owes its roots. Instead it's just the idea that this original translation somehow holds power in and of itself. It doesn't seem to hold innately biblical implications, instead suggesting a kind of rosetta stone sort of role. It's the closest thing a modern Filgaian reader has to some ancient lost text that they couldn't possibly understand; it's the shadow on the wall of Plato's cave, the distinct shape of an otherwise blindingly unknowable truth, and that in and of itself gives it this immegnce power.

Moreover, the model in all(?) appearances seems to be based on old Japanese side-stitch. (it's why the models rather distinctly don't have a spine and you can see the leaf edge along the back just like on the sides) It's an older style that doesn't require adhesive, and has at this point become less practical and more of a novelty. In any case, its immediate effect is to give the Targum the distinct feeling of being archaic and foreign; so old that they're entirely outside the style of printing and binding standards of Filgaia's loosely western european setting.

And finally* the rather goofy one time entry in Wild Arms 3, the Manga enemy --localized as Comic Book. It seems to feature the official character art of Dario and Romero ont he cover, with a feature highlight of Martina?

*I nearly missed Apocrypha being another WA3 original book enemy. It's pretty mundane recolor of the Bluebook, with a slightly different cover, but it's notably a neat sort of companion piece to Targum as another "biblical" text. Apocrypha are books of otherwise bible related or adjacent texts that aren't considered biblical canon, thus apocryphal texts. It's neat that the only two references to biblical texts that appear in the game with power are the original translations of the Tanakh and noncanon texts. Actual Christian new testament be damned.

And another really cool detail is that in the original Wild Arms, each book had its own unique interior texture as well, which could often barely be spotted during attacks

#wild arms 5 #wild arms 3 #wild arms 4 #wild arms 2 #wild arms #wild arms alter code f

[zaritarazi]

in season six when zari says “he is priceless” about behrad, she is in that moment revealing that she not only believes behrad to be more valuable than she is, she actually believes him to be overall better than her entirely, because he is a person and she is a net value. 

it’s twofold- she’s telling zari tomaz that behrad is better than she, zari tarazi, is, but she’s also revealing that she believes herself to be the “bad” reality, just as businessman behrad was. when she sees this warped version of behrad, this absolutely a-hole, the obvious 1-to-1 comparison for her to make is that zari tomaz is the heroic, good behrad that she had to fight for, and that she, zari tarazi, is the vain and shallow and selfish businessman behrad.

we get so many interesting peeks into the inferiority complex that zari tarazi has that’s followed her for her entire life, and that is only amplified by finding out about and then meeting zari tomaz- we also get glimpses in zari tomaz having this SAME complex for different reasons (namely, her behrad being killed) in seasons 3 & 4, and somewhat in season 7. 

it’s literally eating both zaris alive this entire show, this dread and depression that lingers behind them, that doesn’t seem to quite touch them but could- and it drives me fucking crazy because for zari tarazi, she has more vocal support from her friends that encourages her and tells her she’s good, but it also tells her to be fundamentally different, unless they need her to be the same for a mission or “to save the world” and it’s like they never understood that she was hurting at all - actually this doesn’t apply to john and behrad and sometimes nate, but to everyone else- and it’s never addressed how she feels like she went from being one kind of a commodity to another, how she feels like she fills a niche because this team must have a zari but she never quite feels like the right fit.

and to make me doubly insane, no one but amaya really addresses this with zari tomaz. we could’ve seen a bit more of it with charlie- and i’m not denying that nate was REALLY good for zari 1.0! if anything, i’m frustrated that he never helped her dig as deep as she needed to, that he was cut off at the knees in terms of supporting her and then it’s just okay live in the totem with me! we’ll be happy in there! 

legends only hinted at this but i cannot stress it enough- it is so crucial for everyone to recognize that zari tomaz’s behrad (behrad tomaz) is still dead. the behrad from her reality doesn’t exist because she changed the timeline. she is assigning all of her grief onto a behrad that prefers the other zari to her because that is his sister- he understands on some level that zari tomaz changed the world for him and that she is his family, of course, but their relationship was always so weirdly strained and we never dove deeper into that??? 

every time the zaris made progress, every time they started reaching a healthy place for themselves, the narrative not only set them back enormously but acted as if that setback was good, as if it was needed, that it would be selfish for the zaris to not continue to wallow in misery for the greater good. that their happiness, their literal mental health, was a luxury that they just couldn’t have- and this was treated like a joke! like a bit! are you fucking kidding me??

like if you didn’t find robot zari choosing her own agenda to be the most exhilarating, very twisted in how it was empowering thing, then we have nothing to discuss. and i mean that

#lot headcanon #zari tarazi #zari tomaz #behrad tarazi #lot meta #long post

[hazard-and-friends]

Week 3

Socialization

Big week for babies!

Went to a friend's house and met her two doodles (separately), one of whom is very big and the other is VERY enthusiastic so good exposure on both fronts, had enormous zoomies through the backyard, climbed on top of an overturned kiddie pool, jumped into some bushes, met a woman of color (yay! god so many of my friends are white), also rode in the car again alone

Had someone come INTO the apartment after knocking and setting Hazard off, so learning that a) Hazard can freak out and actually it's cool and b) just because someone comes in does not mean they will IMMEDIATELY say hi to puppies, they will instead stand around and talk to me first. (Person is on Hazard's approved list so he settled quickly.)

Went to a park with Hazard and did a parallel walk with a different friend and her small mixed breed, learned a) not every dog who expresses interest in her is going to Eat Her and b) she does not get to meet every dog she wants to meet. also met the friend (her dog now back in car). ALSO there were scads of children at the playground so watched small humans move weirdly and was ok with it. ALSO ALSO one of them had a soccer ball and THAT was super cool so we worked some on Not Chasing Other People's Balls and we're gonna take a treibball class when she's old enough. also she wanted to chase crows. please don't baby they'll put out a hit on us.

Yesterday met a child in a unicorn costume which was SUPER scary and then SUPER fun when she realized Oh!!!! It's Just A Child!!!!!

Went to a park today, saw some people, saw some dogs, flounced around in the grasses, generally had a fabulous time.

Also met my brother, who's 6'2, in the apartment today, see above for the meeting procedure but loved him, super wiggly and willing to be held

In-home skills

We now have a crate cue, which is happening sometimes (mostly when I know she's going to be happy about going in) and she THROWS herself into her crate at bedtime which is very nice.

We had 48 consecutive hours without an accident!!!

Latest (and most functional) setup is that she now has a crate in the living room and is in there any time we cannot be supervising, which is a lot of the time but also she's largely either sleeping or chewing on something in there. Meals are in her x-pen and she gets regular zoomies & training time in the rest of the apartment. This is helping considerably with both potty training and my stress levels.

We need to work on Leaving Socks Alone tho...

Reinforcement skills

Current marker cues are click/"yes" (treat from hand or dropped straight down), "geddit" (tossed toy), "take it" (tug toy in hand), "find it" (multiple tossed treats). We also learned about lickimats this week.

Cues

Sit: increasingly good at it on verbal only, and increasingly good at holding it until release ("okay")

Down: haven't worked on this

Touch: did some refreshing, especially at doing it outside

Leave it: coming along nicely, starting to add it to real life (Hazard's leash). Need to work more on duration and not trying for the thing in the first place.

Drop it: Will 95% of the time spit the thing out bc treats!!! 0 issues with possession so far

Park it: Some progress here. Everyone needs reminding that you go to your OWN bed and not a random bed

Come: baby recalls only when I'm also calling Hazard

#training log #bucket full of starlight

[motheatenscarf]

I've been working my way to getting all classes leveled up for Talia because... I'm insane and love to set impossible goals for myself. I haven't been talking about too many of them bcs I have nothing to say about most of them, but since I've played through 9 now

Here is a quick summation of my thoughts, ranked from least to strongest reactions I've had;

Paladin: This is boring. I'm bored. I don't care about any of these people or their dumb problems, let me kill class enemy lalafell.

Astrologian: I don't care about these people or their problems, I already know from MSQ and better job stories that Ishgard sucks. These outfits DO rule tho.

Dancer: Huh, that dance to cure people of the morbs turned out surprisingly relevant... too bad it didn't matter! Oh well. Who are these people? What are their problems? Nevermind, I don't care. Dancing scenes are pretty at least.

Red Mage: These outfits rule. But wow, I don't care about these people. I actually weirdly hate this amnesia girl? Not for GOOD reasons, just for like. Trope reasons. Not her fault, but still, I hate when she's here.

Samurai: I don't care until suddenly for 2 minutes at level 60 it stops just being fun Samurai movie homages and tropes and gets REAL with Musosai trying to suicide by WoL. A momentarily beautiful moment that reincorporates and recontextualizes a silly moment from earlier in the story, describing atonement through having to LIVE and make amends, arguing that remorse is what separates good from evil, and wow! This was great! I legit loved- oh, they immediately ruined it with the Stormblood quest to uphold the status quo of a corrupt regime and made Musosai's student morally in the right thus making his death and guilt meaningless.... well, I hate this! Least favorite class story now.

Reaper: I love a mean old battleaxe so Drusilla is rad as fuck and this is some fun lore on Emet and Garlemald in general. I choose to care about this because I headcanon that my own WoL is from Garlemald and this is relevant.

Ninja: This is boring and kinda sucks, but Karasu is here and I love him. An eccentric theatrical weirdo here to test the hero and cause problems for drama? Yes, I DO love trickster figures, thank you. Oh wait, he's not a villain, just a decent dude trying to get out of a bad situation and being cagey to cover his own ass and help you so you can get him out of this jam? Rad. But why can he control bats as his Children of the Night if he's not evil? ... Don't worry about it! I don't know if he's a GOOD character, but my god is he a FUN character. That's all I care about. Look at how much I love Zenos; I DON'T need depth to have a good time. That said;

Dark Knight: I am WEEPING inconsolably over Fray and Myste, chortling over Moogles and Sid, and Rielle is but one of my many, MANY adopted kids from this game. It is perfect. I could talk about Dark Knight for hours, I lost an entire day of progressing through story just having to be insane about the reveal that Emet Selch was a Dark Knight, perhaps the FIRST Dark Knight, because OF COURSE HE WAS. Dark Knights are about LOVE and grief manifesting tangibly, and oh my god, everything ties in together as a coherent whole. I'm not normal about Dark Knight. I'll never be normal about Dark Knight. It invades my brain and gives words to the Things I'm Trying To Say about characters and what I want out of stories. Finding out that the woman who wrote Dark Knight took over as lead writer got me through the worst of how much I HATED base Stormblood and thank god it did because it meant I stuck with this game long enough to play Shadowbringers and Endwalker and didn't consider Heavensward just a fluke. Dark Knight saved this game for me. Dark Knight is incredible. Dark Knight has more to say about storytelling, motivation, and a player's role in and relationship to a story than anything I've ever seen from a SINGLE PLAYER RPG, let alone an mmo. Dark Knight is fucking transcendent.

Fishing: This is the dumbest story so far and I fucking love it. I love traveling the world with this lunatic who took up work as an ASSASSIN to fund her fishing hobby. She has her priorities in order, she is the most correct about the point of this game and I love her.

#Caitlin Plays FF14 #FF14 spoilers

[morfinwen]

So. Things are ... going.

My overall emotional state is kinda like when something falls from a high place and lands on something between it and the ground and stabilizes after wobbling: it's not great or even good, but it isn't shattered pieces on the ground.

I have never been particularly good at discerning my own state of mind or distinguishing between the causes and effects thereof. Allergies are still a thing but mostly in check, and while it's fun (after a fashion) to blame the cold and frankly ridiculous early darkness, that's been a thing for years and i don't recall always having an emotional collapse this time of year, so it might be something else. (I hope it's something else: can't really afford to move somewhere less affected by the earth's tilt, and i'd rather not have to deal with this level of depression annually.)

Currently on the new job hunt. Weirdly enough, there's the occasional high of seeing a job posting that sounds really good, but sadly it is often followed by the low of seeing how many other people have also applied for it. I have resorted to adding (*gag*) a cover letter with most applications in the hopes that will make an impact. Next step may be "reaching out to the employer", but i really hope it doesn't come to that.

Computer is up and running again, and my phone has been replaced -- with the latter, there's adjustments to be made in the change to a different model, but at least i can actually use it for phone calls and don't have to worry that restarting it will necessitate a factory reset.

So! Prayer requests:

First and foremost, a new job. I would really like a work-from-home data entry kind of position, but there's multiple factors at play, so just .... anything that would be a better fit than my current job.

That whatever is messing with my emotions would just ... not do that anymore? Tbh i can't tell if i've got some actual mental illness going on or just the garden-variety kind of thing that plagues "normal" people.

Continuing to make progress with helping my sister achieve what independence she can.

I'm going to start going back to the gym this week (haven't been in the last two weeks), but eating healthy remains a problem.

A couple appointments i should be making ... really don't want to.

My mom had a particular genetic (defect? malfunction? unsure of the correct term) that probably contributed to her getting cancer. It's hereditary, so i recently got blood drawn to be tested for the same. Please pray for results to be quick and that i didn't inherit it.

Oh, and there's some writing i really want to do, but it's been a while since i've really been able to find a writing groove, and it's only gotten harder to attempt now that i've quit using Google Docs.

That's all i got for now. Someday, maybe, i will start queuing posts again.

#personal #prayer request #morfinwen rambles #now to eat and maybe shower before going in to work

[fallloverfic]

Solo Leveling Episode 8 Thoughts

And we're back!!! Spoilery thoughts for the anime, novel, and manhwa below:

The system gave Jinwoo a lottery ticket alkdjlaj

He gets emails!!! I am ridiculously happy he gets and checks emails alkdjaldja Or at least text messages/blasts. Me last time: why doesn't he use his email. Now: FINE HE GETS EMAILS.

aldkjalj I'm happy.

It's neat we get to actually see Yoojin approaching Cha Haein. It's nice to see more of the guild corporate warfare.

We get to see Kim Sangshik's family! And his kids get names and ages! Can't imagine why they would give us that :D >.< It feels kind of like the progression of Fullmetal Alchemist in adaptation, where each one made a particular event all the more gut-wrenching.

Baek Yoonho and Choi Jongin's added flirting is everything. I love this addition. Choi Jongin just wants to go on a date with you, Baek Yoonho. Goodness, chill.

Thank you, A-1, for everything, but this shot in particular.

Choi Jongin is amazing this episode. I'm so glad they added these. The emphasis on his relationship with Baek Yoonho is lovely. I was happy the novel has more of them interacting and sad the manhwa kind of removed it. More is appreciated, thank you :3

Lee Joohee's mom sucks. No wonder she doesn't call much, jeez. I feel so bad for her. She's so sidelined in the novel and even though she gets a little more in the manhwa, she was still heavily sidelined for no particular reason (I guess maybe she's really pushy to Sung Jinwoo for no particular reason and he deserves better? Which yeah, okay, I can see why things turn out the way they do). I'm really glad she at least gets more development in the anime.

I like the show focusing more on the relationship between Cha Haein and Choi Jongin. They have a professional relationship. It's just kind of not there in the novel and not even really in the manhwa, either, though it's slightly more emphasized? Ever so slightly. Here they're really reminding us, "yes, they work together, they get along, they communicate, it's not just Choi Jongin being smug", which I appreciate. Cha Haein's extra development in the anime is generally really appreciated.

Choi Jongin has trauma from Jeju T-T Bebe. I love that they added this. So far as I can recall, it's not mentioned in the novel that he went to Jeju in the past at all; that seems to have been added for the anime, and I don't mind the change here. It's fun development. Give me that angst :3

It looks like either Eunseuk sacrificed himself for Min Byunggu and Baek Yoonho to get away or he died for some reason and they had to leave him behind...? T-T Traumatized beans T-T It's really neat how many kind of quiet/unexplained plotlines they're developing here. Really fleshes out the characters very well.

Song Chiyul and Sung Jinwoo's relationship gives me life every time. It's so sweet.

That last hunter who is not Kang Taesik gets named at last! Mr. Kang! Wonder if he'll get a first name.

And yeah, as expected, Sung Jinwoo says yes to Yoo Jinho's request so he can get stronger and get the elixir to help his mom. It makes sense. It's not a bad change for him to say no and then come back to the weirdly empty cafe to say yes now.

That was a good ep :D So glad the show is back!! Also sending well wishes to Taito Ban, the Japanese voice actor for Sung Jinwoo. He had COVID at least as of 13 February 2024, but he was back to work on 19 February 2024, and I don't really think that's enough time to recover... Hope he's doing better. (Also this likely wouldn't have affected Solo Leveling season 1 at all, likely all his work was long since done).

Looking forward to the next ep!

More episode thoughts:

S01E05

S01E06

S01E07

S01E08 (you are here)

S01E09

S01E10

S01E11

S01E12

#solo leveling #solo leveling spoilers #fallfthoughts #나 혼자만 레벨업 #choi jongin #sung jinwoo #lee joohee #song chiyul #baek yoonho #only i level up #i don't have thoughts on taesik sorry #but I'm glad for folks who like him

[hyumjim]

I completely agree that the bg3 character storylines are VASTLY more interesting than the main overarching plot. Astarion + Karlach are some of the best written characters I have seen in games. That being said, even their storylines have their imperfections (like, what oomf was talking about, how they released the game with Karlach’s romance kinda half-finished?). The other most interesting character, in my opinion, is The Dark Urge… whom the player is specifically advised to avoid playing as in their first playthrough, meaning you’re supposed to play through this REALLY LONG GAME once before you even get a chance to meet this character. I wish they’d incorporated Durge in a way that didn’t make this an issue, because I think the game is so much more fun with them in it, and I feel like I missed out for many hours of my initial playthrough(s).

Additionally a gameplay gripe: you reach max level WAY too early in act 3, even when playing on tactician. I feel this could have been remedied fairly easy just by making some changes to the experience point system. As it is, there is literally an unceremonious end to leveling progression when you’ve got potentially 100 hours of game content left, and it feels stale pretty quickly, especially for a game that wants to be replayable…

Even now, months after release and countless patches later, there are still quests that are bugged to the point of making no sense. This is just one example, trust me there are more like it, but the one that leaps to mind is the act 3 painting quest, where a big to-do is made about having a custom painting done of your character, and when it’s done you have to drop it on the floor to actually look at it (lol) and then it is just a copy of the in-game portrait of literally a random party member. In my case, I had each member of my party go to get their own portrait, and I received 4 copies of Gale. This is really weirdly clumsy and immersion-breaking, and particularly sucks when you have a huge opportunity because you’ve got a character (Astarion) who hasn’t been able to see himself for 200 years and remarks upon that several times in the game… there’s not one but TWO opportunities for him to see himself, through this painting quest and also the statue you can purchase. And neither of them prompts any sort of reaction from him, The Guy Who Would Like To See Himself. That may seem like a minor fan gripe, but it is weird, immersion-breaking, and… just strange that apparently no one thought of it? imo. Just another thing that adds to the feeling of unfinishedness that pervades this game, especially the third act. It’s a game I’ve gotten hundreds of hours out of, but it has a frustrating lack of polish that it’s strange to see glossed over again and again, and it’s strange to see it awarded with GOTY, I have to admit.

#bg3 #dare I say GOTY is simply a measure of popularity… #because yeah. this game is very popular! congratulations

[yourtoradorasextendedwarranty]

If people aren't mad at pride products, then how do you explain the Kid Rock Bud Light situation? That wasn't even in June!

If people aren't mad that LGBT+ people exist, then explain the 2016 Orlando Nightclub Shooting! That was obviously a hatecrime!

Just because you feel the way you do doesn't negate the actual harm put on LGBT+.

You don't have to bend the knee to us, just don't pretend like this isn't happening constantly!

1. I never said there was not hate towards LGBT people. Not once. They're still very much is. But hate towards all groups does and will always exist no matter how small

2. The Bud light situation is complicated. Dylan M. Isn't trans. He's an amalgamation of trans trended, attention seeker, clout chaser, and narcissist. Created by TikTok no less. And he's frankly a mockery of LGBT people as a whole. As Bud Light is a beer that caters to conservatives yes, they got boycott. Not because Dylan's "trans" but because like my post stated normies are extremely tired of having it all shoved in their face. Dylan was an extreme case to those people because there is an actual movent of trans activists (not all of whom are trans) pushing people mindlessly into transitioning. With no barriers. No mental health help, just strait to CSH and surgeries. Add to that people being told they are not allowed to criticize it and yes you anger people.

3. So the shooting was interesting for 2 reasons. The first being this:

Which we know good well that Muslims hate gay people..... Correction. Must middle eastern Muslims hate gay people. Secondly, there was talk at the possibility he was deep closeted gay. And considering his religious background that makes sense. things from the article actually possibly lend credence to this. The first being that he was weirdly narcissistic. As in work out all the time and admire yourself in the mirror a lot. But something else his wife brought up was that he often got excessively angry at his name. Because to him the name sounded gay. Does that prove that man way gay? No. But combining those two things feels a lot like a homophobic gay man who can't come to terms with who he is. Much like the frat boy jock types you see whom get exceedingly angry over being called gay but have a tendency to do things that are in fact kinda gay. A lot of the time that level of anger is from internalized homophobia. Can I confirm that theory? No. It's it possible though? Yes.

4. Lastly, you might not be asking people to bow to you. But a large number of LGBT people are demanding others bow down and worship them. My post never said this was all our even most LGBT people. Just a very extreme and vocal minority who demand compliance and glorifying. I can't count the number of listicles, articles, posts etc, I see of "If you are straight, you support sexual violence" or, "Cis people are boring and why it's not ok to be cis" and TikToks of youths saying, "I'm sorry but if you're not LGBTQIA2+ you can be friends with me or my friends. Straight is overrated and needs to end because it's stupid straight people are bad and climate change is killing us. #NoMoreBabies." < This being one of the worst because kids are desperate to have the attention of their peers. And more desperate to fit in. If you tell them being trans or otherwise it's the only option they'll be trans. Because they are FAR too young to understand WHAT THAT MEANS.

Again. I don't think this stuff is all anti-lgbt hate. I think a lot of it is normies tired of having it pushed in their face. And again. You might not be the one doing it. But there are LGBT people on my post who agree that it's happening. So it's not an observation unique to me.

And this may piss you off, but LGBT people have been in a position of power and privilege for a number of years now. To a point many are legally and socially beyond criticism and consequence. And what was that saying neo progressives like so much? When you've been in a position of privilege, equality feels like oppression"? Hate will always exist. Always. Some will see it much more than others. But as a whole, the fact it's gotten to the point LGBT people can do sex acts in front of kids without reproach is proof enough of what I've said.

In closing, I'm not, not have I said, that LGBT people don't have hate geared towards them. Certainly they do. But in the West, LGBT are safer than in almost any other country. But media is going to media and politics are going to politic. If something can be perceived as a hate crime, certain political parties will run with it, and their allies in media will make sure it's global news. We have 300+ Mil People here. That considered, the amount of actual hate crimes are small. Which while still a bad thing, that number can not and never will be zero.

[ponds-of-ink]

Going off a Tales from the Pizzaplex lore leak and building a (very guesstimating) theory.

No Spoiler TL;DR: I was very wrong about part of an SB theory that I’ve had for months now (Maybe even a year?). However, not all of that theory is lost… yet. Below is an attempt to make crucial corrections to my theory with the new info despite only knowing certain things. That’s pretty much it.

Okay, for anyone who’s either not scared about getting spoiled and/or has already seen the leaks for GGY, here’s the deal.

I was wrong about Patient 46 being Vanny. And I’m absolutely sorry if I made way too strong of a case for it for anyone who’s followed me and seen that theory. Granted, many theorists didn’t have much to go off of at the time ig, but I still feel like I need to own up and apologize up front.

The good news is, weirdly, Gregory being 46 isn’t that big of a game-breaking deal to me. My worst fear was Eleanor (AKA the Fazbear Frights main antagonist and the one villain I really want to actually throw hands with out of pure, foolish spite) was returning as Gregory. Thankfully, this turned out to be completely false and it was just a theory that I personally brushed aside. And, thanks to re-listening to the Retro CDs as well as this Twitter thread that gives the most likely explanation for the new SB inconsistency plot hole, I think I can revise another part of my old 46 theory. That being the whole court case thing.

In an older theory ramble of mine, I mentioned that there are other things that debunk Vanessa being an Afton as well as the court case still being legit. Because Greg is now confirmed to be 46, I can also say that the likelihood of the court case being Afton’s has increased for me. Mainly because it’s two entirely different characters having the same backstory involving a tragedy with their parents. Of course, Gregory/46’s side is directly stated. However, given the fact that it looks like Glitchtrap was gaining control over both Greg and Ness according to the Twitter OP, it’s starting to sound like Glitch really wanted to get this story out there to someone— anyone— for reasons I’m not sure of yet.

To back up Twitter OP’s claim about it being Glitchtrap controlling two people at similar times, here’s something I noticed when re-listening to the CDs: 46/Greg has an uncomfortable time sitting in the chair during one of his first recorded sessions. Then, a couple sessions later, he’s just relaxing in the same seat without a care in the world. He also starts to act progressively more and more like Glitchtrap from Help Wanted or Vanny from SB. Giggling when he finds out about what happened to the therapists. Reveling in the terrifying chaos going down in the Pizzaplex. Even sticking to be absolutely mute, but still communicating in some way. As much as the fandom jokes (joked?) about him being a destructive agent of chaos, I can guarantee you that the actual Gregory was only lost, very confused, and trying to be brave during the actual game.

Also, it was recently confirmed in the FNAF Encyclopedia that Vanessa is Vanny. And, since Vanny’s been established to be controlled (to some degree) by Glitchtrap, then that means Vanny is still present in the tapes. Just not in the way we thought, I guess. Huh.

Speaking of Vanessa, I also noticed something during her side. The further we go into her part of the story, the more tired and flat-sounding her voice becomes. I did also bring this up in my older theory as Glitchtrap controlling her— But I thought it was only temporary. Turns out this “flat-tone Vanessa” stuck around for a lot longer than I thought… And she acts more like William himself than Glitchtrap, which is even stranger. Insisting that she works a lot, refusing candy because of calories while 46 eagerly takes some candy, saying that she doesn’t like dark basements (which could be a whole lot of things, knowing William’s history), etc. It almost sounds like there’s two separate entities controlling one person each…? Unless Glitchtrap’s bringing William’s/his own acting to the next level by trying to mimic them, which is always an option.

But that’s not the topic I’m supposed to be discussing here. Let’s climb out of that rabbit hole and jump back into the court case. The only reason why Vanessa didn’t get called out by anyone for her potential lie is because of her job transfer to the Pizzaplex. If she stayed any longer like Gregory/46 did, then I’m sure the fifth therapist could’ve figured out that both of them could’ve lied. Mainly because the fifth therapist probably looked through her predecessor’s records, found that weird “coincidence”, and decided to confront the only one still in Therapy. An absolute shame that we didn’t get both sides debunked, but at least we’re on the right track now. Maybe Ruin will confirm or deny these suspicions, idk really.

The point is that I’m still convinced that Afton’s backstory involves the court case and 46 being Gregory actually enhanced that for me a bit. Now I’m just stuck here waiting for a potential GGY 2 just to see how Greg got out by the time of SB.

#ggy #fnaf security breach #book spoilers #book leaks #tales from the pizzaplex #major spoilers #pond rambles #fnaf theory #dunno if this is more of a hype-charged rant than a theory tbh #but here goes nothing