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bahamutgames · 9 months

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AFTERTHOUGHTS : Emerald Version

Game: Pokemon Emerald Version (September 16, 2004)

Console: Gameboy Advance (Via emulation)

Fellas! It's time for me to talk more about Pokemon! Isn't that always the best time in the world? While I'm trying to take my in-order playthroughs of these big RPG series slowly, I couldn't help myself and just HAD to play Pokemon Emerald. Seriously, I was losing my mind I seriously COULD NOT stop thinking about how bad I wanted to play it. So here we are! And now I'll tell you what I think about this game!

As always, this is NOT a review! Just me spitting up my thoughts so I can get them out of my brain and have room for more thoughts on more games! Don't take anything I say as definitive criticism, and always play ANYTHING I talk about if it seems interesting to you!

POKEMON EMERALD SPOILERS AHEAD, BE WARNED!

Opening

So, you might be surprised to learn considering how much I love Pokemon, but I've actually NEVER beaten any of the games past the first 2 generations! For a variety of reasons. Not least of all was money, I think by the time I finally got a GBA the DS may have been on its way around. And when I got it, I went for Firered cause... Charizard lol. God, I remember looking at Nintendo.com for screenshots of the GBA Pokemon games to decide which region I liked more for when my mom and brother were gonna buy me a GBA haha. Regardless, yeah! Hoenn is the region I grew up around so I have a lot of nostalgia for it. I didn't play the game and I didn't have cable to watch the anime. But this is my era of Pokemon card collecting! Delta Species! E-Reader! My first Pokemon Card ever was Spheal! ANYWAY, we're not here to talk about my Pokemon Nostalgia, we're here to talk about my brand new Pokemon Experiences! So lets get a move on and talk about Emerald!

Stuff I liked

Where to begin? As I'm sure you're aware, I'm a MASSIVE sucker for the GBA. It's an important console to me so the sprites and music from it are some of my all time favorites. And this is seriously some cream of the crop GBA content right here. Easily the best sprite work I've seen in the series in my current playthrough so far, and the music is absolutely lovely. I know the trumpets are a meme but this is great! I'm a little biased though, Firered was my childhood game so getting to see this graphic style, this soundfont, and even some straight up reused sound effects made me so nostalgic! This game just feels so safe and cozy in a way I haven't really experienced in a while.

The story and set up this game is great too! It's a bit of a departure from the previous 2. Where RBY focuses a bit on man-made monstrosities, GSC focuses on mysticism and culture, RSE focuses on prehistory and nature (which I'm obsessed with right now)! It's a great theme and I thought the idea of Groudon, Kyogre, and Rayquaza being ancient beasts that helped shape the planet was cool. But they were particularly cool because they were SO old no one remembered what they were! People knew about Mew, but no one knew about these things? That's nuts! That's neat! Also, the evil teams, while insane, were also cool and I LOVED that there's 2 of them! Like the part where you climb up the volcano and the 2 teams are fighting was SUPER cool!

And overall the game is just filled with very unique concepts like that that really differentiate it from the first 2 games. Your dad is a Gym Leader! Cool! Double Battles (the coolest part probably) COOL! There's a town built on logs in the water, a treehouse town, a volcano town, cool cool cool! There's Pokemon that can only be caught by having a free party slot when you evolve another one. That's cool! Pokemon is always trying cool and interesting stuff with technology (the fascination with interesting technology is one of the games highlights) and I really feel like this one takes a lot of advantage of the new tech like clock based events and more storage space on the cartridge for crazier things. This game is just very different from the first 2 in all the best ways!

And where that shines the best is, no questions asked. In the Pokedex. If you'll recall, my biggest complaint about Crystal is that there are NO new Pokemon in it. Johto has one of the best Pokedex's ever imo but none of those Pokemon are actually easily available in the game. I'm happy to say Hoenn doesn't have that issue at all! There ARE Pokemon from previous generations, but they're few and far in between compared to all the wonderful new species there is to find and catch! I was encountering new things left and right! It was able to keep the excitement going just like RBY did! And likewise, the Gyms all used new Pokemon too! And Hoenn really does have a lovely Pokedex filled some REALLY stellar designs. I struggled to figure out who my final teammate should be for a long time before settling on Flygon. Tropius? Banette? Torkoal? There were SO many good ones! For anyone curious, my favorite Hoenn Pokemon is Swampert!

Stuff I didn't like

Thankfully I feel like this section isn't massive. Really there isn't much I can complain about with Emerald. But there are SOME things to point out. First off, and this isn't EXACTLY the game's fault. But not having access to time based events was a headache. Obviously that's not the game's fault cause how could they know that would become an issue later, but it is still a nitpick I had to mention lol. It does tie into a bigger problem though, held items are SO hard to get in this one. I feel like I was scraping the bottom of the barrel for some of these held items just cause so many I wanted were locked into shoal cave or whatever which you need the clock to use. Or were locked behind one dickhead dragon trainer who never wants to rematch you and you have to battle a million times to get his stupid Pokemon. But again I guess that's a nitpick.

A slightly larger issue is the water. UGH. I love that this game's region is a series of islands, that does rule. But I feel like as a consequence of that, you have to surf SO much. When IGN said there was too much water they were not lying! You surf SO MUCH which sounds cool, but it's so hard to figure out where on earth you're meant to go in those ocean sections. And then Dive just muddies the paths even more. And there are some sections where they don't even tell you where to go so you're really lost just trying to navigate massive ocean. It was a bit much.

But my biggest issue, was without a doubt. The storylines' conclusion. It all felt a little. Eh? Like it didn't live up properly to what was being built up? Before I watch the Ruby and Sapphire endings I'll write my complaints: So first off: the evil team story ending kinda sucks! The cutscenes of the beasts fighting was SO awesome but it's basically the only cool part. It's just Rayquaza showing up, and then everyone fucks off. I feel like there was a better way to handle this ending that would have made it way cooler, and I actually wrote it up back in July:

tldr, double battles are awesome and should have been more prevalent. It's a crime there's only 1 fight in the game that gives you a teammate. The evil team storyline should have ended with your team teaming up with Rayquaza to fight Groudon + Kyogre. Oh well.

Similarly, I also thought the Champion battle was oddly underwhelming. Wallace is... neat. But I was SO certain it was gonna be Steven! The whole game seems to imply as much! But then it's this dude you met for like... 2 seconds earlier rather than the bad ass you met over and over. Kinda underwhelming. But now let me watch the RS endings really quick to see how they compare.

Yeah I'm done and I gotta say, RS actually handle this way better. It feels like Groudon's power is actually contributing with the intense sunlight, you actually HAVE to battle Groudon or Kyogre to fix the problem, and I was was right, Steven is the final boss. This all makes SO much more sense and I don't really understand why they couldn't combine these elements a little nicer into emerald or why they changed the Champion at all. Regardless though, I still think Emerald was cool and I'm still happy I played the green one lol.

Final Thoughts

Yeah this game rules! I'm so glad I finally got to play the game that was around when I was a kid and really experience it for the first time! I had a blast with this one and really really enjoyed getting to see what Hoenn was all about in addition to seeing all the new and gimmicky stuff they tried and how the new technology lead to new weird things for this entry! The whole game feels so nostalgic to me even though I've never played it, and while that's a bit biased, it's the truth! The story was great, the layout was great, the game felt perfect to play, there was so much new stuff to discover and do that hadn't been done in the last 2 games. And the Pokemon distribution was GREAT! With tons of new faces to find and catch! I loved Pokemon Emerald and I totally understand why so many people speak so highly of it!

Let's roll out the tier list!

No questions asked, Emerald is my favorite of what I've played through so far! It manages to keep up the excitement of RBY with a big new world to discover that still manages to build up mystery, have new and exciting experiences, and a wonderful slew of new Pokemon that are EASY to find. While also continuing what GSC did right in terms of massively improving the last game's graphics and music and general game feel WITHOUT sacrificing good Pokemon distribution. It's the best of both worlds while still massively improving on everything! I think with a little more consideration for what made the finale of RS so good, Emerald could have been absolutely perfect. Even though this region certainly has some Pokemon designs I'm not super fond of, the ones I dislike are still cute enough and they're certainly the minority of the Pokedex. Emerald Rules!

Also, you'll notice I removed the remakes from the list. Unlike Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, whose entries I played just as early as Highschool. The Pokemon Remakes are games I played all the way back in Elementary/Middle School. AGES ago. So I don't feel like it's fair to compare them to the other games when I mostly just prefer them based on nostalgia and the benefit they have from being remakes (especially since I won't be playing any other remakes.) So going forward this tier list is just based on the original versions.

===

Thanks for reading! I'm really trying to clear out my to-do list so I can just relax when my Birthday comes up. So I'm hoping to finish my write ups on thoughts of games I played recently soon. Only one game left too! So that's nice!

I'm really trying to not bumrush this series but honestly I'm really enjoying it so I'm already kinda itching to continue. But I'm not gonna play it until later in the year at the earliest. Next stop is Platinum!

If you wanna see my beautiful team you can right here! And you can get a more in depth look at their stats here!

As always you're welcome to follow me on twitter to see what I'm up to! That's all I have for you today! Go out and play something from your childhood!

#2023 #Thoughts

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ottspot · 1 year

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My Journey With The Nintendo 3DS… Does It Still Hold Up?

Back in 2021, the Nintendo 3DS turned ten years old. It still boggles my mind that so much time has passed. I remember staying up late playing Mario Kart 7 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D on school nights. It was so much more different than my DS Lite and DSi systems, this was a system with some great console-quality games that I poured hours and hours into.

This post will focus on my story with the Nintendo 3DS system, from getting it for the first time, to the many games I played, to today's gaming environment. Let's go down memory lane and see if it's still a capable system in 2023!

My days with the Nintendo 3DS system unfortunately did not begin on launch day, March 27, 2011. I was so excited for it to get it that I made one out of paper! I asked for it as a present on Easter, for my birthday, but... nothing. Then again, I can see why my parents did not want to fork over $250 for just another DS, even if it was more than that to me at the time. But not even half a year later in July, the price was cut almost in half- to $170. All owners of systems from launch got special NES and Game Boy Advance games as an apology for the quick price cut.

However, that meant that others like me that got it after the price cut never got those games. A shame, but it was never really a big deal in the end. I got my system Christmas of 2011- a Flame Red colored system that came with a physical copy of Super Mario 3D Land. I couldn't find a lot on this bundle over a decade later, but Google results of a defunct Best Buy listing led me to believe that this was only $180, just $10 more than the system alone! Definitely a bargain.

This took quite a while to find, no archives of any webpages or anything... I honestly thought I wouldn't find any price at all.

Not only this, but I also got copies of Mario Kart 7 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D as well (as mentioned before, haha). My 3DS games collection was already off to a great start.

One downside that I soon discovered was that my internet was not new enough to be compatible with the 3DS system. I was unable to connect online on it for over 2 years in my own home!! That meant that I took the thing everywhere I went for that sweet free Wi-Fi goodness. Which brings me to one of the features I LOVED about the system!

StreetPass was something brand new and exclusive to the 3DS. It used a local wireless communication feature to trade certain information with other 3DS systems in the area. This could be user information, weapons, Mii characters, or anything else depending on the game! I always had my system with me and got excited whenever that green light came on. The SpotPass feature was a bit similar, but nowhere near as fun. It allowed you to receive similar things like StreetPass, but also downloaded the latest notifications from Nintendo.

It could also download videos onto the Nintendo Video app. This application had four slots for videos and refreshed weekly. You could view a 3D Kirby video, music videos, Dinosaur Office (rooooar!!), and select Channel Frederator videos (where I watched Bee and Puppycat for the first time). These videos differed between regions I believe, so that's what I experienced here in the United States.

Later in 2012, the Nintendo 3DS XL launched alongside New Super Mario Bros. 2, but I was still here with the original model. I wasn't complaining, though. I never felt like I needed a bigger model, so I just stuck with the one I had. I did happen to get that new Mario game when it came out, though. My mom told me she'd buy it for me if I didn't ever stop running during a 5K race, and I stuck to that. Guess it was a great motivator.

As the years went on, I got more and more games that I continue to love to this day. Kid Icarus Uprising, Pokémon X, Star Fox 64 3D, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Tomodachi Life, The Legend Of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds and Majora's Mask 3D. But there's one that I definitely won't forget- Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.

This was a pre-order present for my birthday. It launched October 3, 2014 while my birthday was one day earlier on the 2nd. We were also all going to be traveling on the 3rd too. So, after school I RAN to my dad's classroom (he was a high school teacher at the time), we left to pick up the game, we got home, and then left for our trip!! And then I unlocked all the fighters that night. It was amazing.

Not much else happened until Christmas of 2015, when I got the New Nintendo 3DS XL. It was a beefed up version of the system I knew, with an extra analog nub, bigger screens, more buttons, and amiibo functionality in the touch screen. I ended up getting two actually- the one in 2015 was a black one, and on Christmas of 2016 I got a family friend's golden Majora's Mask edition of the system. It was the first system I got multiple versions of in the same line.

Afterwards I just kept on playing games on my 3DS, not much else. But then the Nintendo Switch came along in March of 2017, and I was playing the system less and less, until I just played it only a few times a month- and not even that long too. Even after homebrewing the system it's not something I played much.

But of course, as you all know, I bought one more game for the system in late 2022, Fire Emblem Awakening, and I adored it. Then I got to playing a few more of my older games and was surprised with how well they all still played. It was like I was twelve years old again, almost.

It's honestly been really fun replaying some of the games of my younger years. I had really good taste, especially with Kid Icarus Uprising. Man, that was a great game. It saddens me that a lot of these games won't be brought back for the Switch, because I think they deserve another shot on it.

Even so, I enjoy playing on my 3DS whenever I can, and I absolutely think that it holds up today. Find one used, get some games (however you want), and have some fun with it!

Thanks for reading!! Loved revisiting this handheld, and I loved talking about the memories I shared with it.

Next up: What In The World Is Sonic Origins Plus?? My Predictions

#nintendo #3DS #nintendo 3DS #fire emblem #mario #zelda #handheld #gaming #retro #retrospective

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leggerefiore · 2 years

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Just Ingo and Emmet

Haha, thank you for answering my self aware question!

If you're ever down for it, could write self aware hcs for the twins? :D

keeping the boys together

▲Ingo & Emmet▽

cw: yandere, kidnapping

● It was a boring day without anything to do, so naturally, in desperation to occupy your mind, you pulled out your DS to replay an old game. There was a momentary debate on what to play before you settled on pokemon black. You hadn't replayed since you were a child and felt a strange nostalgia with all the posts about generation five across social media.

○ Everything plays normally, you choose your favourite starter and begin to build a team you only wished to have when you were younger. Something strange happened when you entered Nimbasa, however. You could have sworn there was a scene with an old man being hustle by Team Plasma grunts, yet were instead greeted by the Subway Bosses. It was strange, you swore they were never seen outside of the Battle Subway. While you felt suspicious, you shrugged it off as misremembering. They greeted you kindly, and the one in black asked if you had ever visited Nimbasa before.

● You clicked no, deciding to play along with the game. “Ah, is that so? Well, then, you must challenge the Battle Subway at least once. Please come along with us, we'll take you there.” Your character was dragged to the Gear Station, where the rules were explained as to how it worked and which line provided what kind of battles. “Please ride the trains! Challenge one of our lines,” the text box, came from Emmet. You rolled your eyes, before trying to exit. “I apologise, but the trains aren't in the direction. Please turn back around and head into one of the tunnels.” Oh, great. One of those events. Well, if you had to you supposed you'd do the double battle line. You actually managed to make it to Emmet, but you lost to him.

○ After that, the game went more akin to your memory. Your 'romantic' Ferris wheel ride with N happened, and you found yourself snickering about the scene. Playing on, you found a stopping point just before exiting Chargestone cave.

● Yawning, you decided to call it a night and found yourself curled up in bed before you knew it. That night, you swear you felt a strange, warm pressure around your body as you slept. Your dreams consumed with the weird Subway Bosses. It was an odd experience, and you checked your side after you awoke. No one was there, of course. Though, your DS laid open beside you with the charger plugged into it. Had you left it like that? You honestly couldn't remember. Getting up, you proceeded to do your morning activities before returning to the game.

○ Another oddity came forth after entering Mistralton City, Ingo was waiting for you outside the cave and challenged you to a battle. His text stating something about how he was looking for new pokemon in Celestial Tower and wanted to battle you since he hadn't been able to do so before. You managed to beat him, despite an immensely over leveled team being in his possession. “Bravo!! What skill you have presented to me. I would like to battle you once more, should we ever meet again. You are free to challenge the Battle Subway whenever you please.” With that said, he walked around your character in the cave. It was strange, but you shrugged it off. They were such minor characters that you probably just forgot these interactions.

● You encountered the other brother in Icirrus City. Once again, when you exited the cave, you were challenged to a battle. Finally, you enacted revenge for your earlier loss. “You're strong. Verrrrrry strong. I like that. Ride the trains more! See you soon.” Like his brother, he disappeared into the cave. See you soon, he says. They really expected you to go back, don't they? Well, you weren't.

○ They both appeared in Opelucid City, watching the speech given by Ghetsis. When it was over, they both approached you and challenged you to a double battle. Apparently, your rival count did not stop at three. You had five, two of whom were fully grown men. You beat them once more. “With such talent, I believe you would do well even on the Super Lines. You must come challenge us soon,” Ingo had spoken. “We'll be waiting. Don't disappoint us,” Emmet continued. Both walked around you before the cutscene with Iris and Drayden began. Now you felt it was strange.

● You ignored the game seemingly pestering you to return to the Battle Subway and continued you on your way to through the story. Well, you were until Emmet blocked the entrance to the Pokemon League. Before you even interacted with him, a text box appeared. “I have been very, verrrrry patient. We ask you to come. You never do.” He takes a step toward your character. “I'm not talking to them. I'm talking to you,” your real name is used by the twin, not the name you gave your character. “Ingo says we wait longer. I'm tired of that. Do you love us?” A 'yes' or 'no' prompt appeared.

○ You wanted to close the gaming system and pretend that this never happened, but you knew that it likely wouldn't do anything. If this was some prank, you couldn't think of who could've set it up. You considered the options carefully. Swallowing dryly, you picked…

■ Yes

● “I knew you did. I love you, too! Please put the game down and step back. For your safety.” You put the game down, then immediately dashed out your bedroom and home. Strange electronic noises, staticky and harsh, echoed from the room behind you alongside a glitchy 'darling, wait!' You weren't waiting. Heavy footsteps echoed after you. The concrete hit you quick and hard as a pressure tackled you. Hot, scratchy pain bloomed as harsh breaths hot your ear.

○ The sleeves were a perfect march for the fictional character's own. “Naughty. That was naughty. I'll have to punish you now, darling,” his voice was soft, yet teasing. Subway Boss Emmet pinned you to the ground, you realised horrifyingly. “Ingo is waiting for us back home. Let's go.” You were in a muted shock as he dragged you back into your home. A door shutting signaled your fate. At least, you were kept in your world. Though, the sudden appearance of twin lovers hadn't gone unnoticed. It was far too late for you by that point, any way.

□ No

● “No? You don't love us? That's terrible. We will have to change that.” A sudden loud glitchy sound rang out through the device's speakers as a hand metamorphosed through the screen to grab your arm. It burned where it touched you and everything because impossible and strange, while smelling like salt strangely. Your eyes squeezed shut and suddenly, you landed on solid ground. A dusty, hard ground was underneath you while a shadow cast over you. Emmet's smiling was ominous as he held you close. “Very, verrrrrry cute! The best choice. I was correct. Ingo! Come out!” He babbled while you were limp from shock.

○ From the cave came the other brother, who stared at you with strange eyes. His steps were careful in his approach. Silver eyes examined you closely before gloved hands cupped your cheeks. “So you were, dear brother. They don't love us, however. That will need to be amended quickly,” his voice was strong and deep, something easy to listen to. “Well, I suppose there's no rush. They can't escape us now; not here anyway,” his thumb rubbed soft circles into your face, obsession swirling into his seas of mercury, “What actions do you believe should be done first?” Arms tightened around you as a bone-chilling giggle erupted from the twin.

#ingo x reader #emmet x reader #ingo x reader x emmet #yandere ingo x reader #yandere emmet x reader #yandere pokemon x reader #yandere #aware au

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givrali · 2 years

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hi gamers im pretty much finished with my playthrough of pokemon shining pearl, i have about 80 hours on there right now so heres my review!

i dont normally post game reviews but since many of you know me as that sinnoh loving guy i figured reviewing a game i wanted for such a long time, a remake of one of my fav generation's pokemon games would make sense, and its easier to post that kind of thing on tumblr so here it goes. also this whole review is spoiler-free.

summary - i really like this game and i recommend it to anyone who loves diamond and pearl or has interest in playing them for the first time! they fix a lot of issues with the originals however there are many missed opportunities thatll talk about under the cut. this game is a good return to form of the adventure that many of us older fans felt when we first played these games as kids. i do not want this to seem like a huge blow to these games but they are not without flaws either.

graphics:

I know the chibi art style was a huge miss by many fans when it was first shown off, but ive always found it cute and fitting of the game. in its final form, the graphics of bdsp are very charming and cute and the natural scenes and backgrounds are better than theyve ever been in a mainline title. this game really does feel like how we would have imagined it as kids! the top-down style works best for this type of game and its very polished. if you still arent sold on the style, i promise that if you just get into the game and start playing it for a bit itll convince you. also this game lacks screen tearing that the originals had (yay!) and the overworld is a lot nicer to look at color-wise.

music:

I have to say i was kind of worried about what they'd do with the music, because it is probably my favourite out of the whole series, but its actually breathtaking and many tracks are a million times better than they were before. they really emphasized the jazzy-ness of this game's music which i really appreciate haha. they even added some new tracks for the post-game area and also the DS sounds key item which is so so great.

new additions:

bdsp greatly expands on the underground feature by letting you catch pokemon down there! this is a feature i never knew we needed but now that we have it oh man i could never go back. its so fun hunting for pokemon down there and digging for statues. i do kinda wish there was more multiplayer stuff you could do down there, cos rn all you can do really is dig together, but honestly thats fine by me since i didnt even get to do That in the originals.

this game also changes how contests work compared to the original dppt. i do kind of miss being able to dress up your pokemon but i do have to wonder how that would even work in a 3d game. anyway i do like the new "rhythm game" approach to pokemon super contests. they are a lot faster to do than they were before so you can do more of them in less time. sometimes the old one felt like rng cos you had to perform moves to a judge and just kinda hope no one else picked the same judge as you. i havent done a whole lot of the new contests just yet but as of now it seems like a welcome change.

bdsp also introduce walking pokemon in the overworld in almost every area, when before you could only walk with a select few in amity square. i think walking pokemon is always a welcome addition but its a bit strange to me how it was done in bdsp. its a huge upgrade from sword and shield (dlc) though i have to say. it really kinda sucks in those games because your pokemon will run to catch up with you and constantly bump into you. they dont do that as often in bdsp but there are times where if you have a slower pokemon they will just never walk with you and are always teleporting about. i think hgss really mastered the walking pokemon because they were always at the same rhythm as you were, and it just seems very half-baked into every other game they've tried to add it into since. (except let's go....it's actually pretty good in let's go.)

also, its worth mentioning that the sinnoh games are no longer extremely slow. youve all seen the meme with blissey and close combat right? yeah that doesnt happen anymore, neither does saving a lot of data (rip), and you surf faster than a snail now.

but the biggest and best feature that bdsp added was the hidden moves app in the poketch. basically, you no longer need to teach a pokemon an hm move (a field move that cannot be forgotten under normal circumstances) you can just open your watch with the R button and use a hidden move from there. its extremely handy and id recommend these games over the originals just for this feature alone. dppt have the most hms required at once time out of the entire series and not having to worry about them anymore is a HUGE plus. you can also access your pc boxes out in the overworld too instead of having to go to a pokemon center, which is awesome.

missed opportunities:

ok, now as we get into some more negative parts I have to say, yes I am aware that this game was never supposed to be a platinum remake. its a faithful remake of diamond and pearl, it is exactly what it says on the tin. (i have to say this phrasing has bugged me since the start, though, it feels like an oxymoron. of course a remake is going to be faithful?) and you know, they did add some platinum dex mons into the game via the underground feature i mentioned earlier. but my issue is, why did they only add some of them and not all? why pick and choose which pokemon we can access when the entirety of the platinum dex IS IN the game? we already know about the rotom in the old chateau and the gift eevee from bebe so why not let us access those? they seem to be walled off for absolutely no reason. and there are still so many of gen 4's added evolutions that you just cannot access within the main story, such as gliscor that you have to wait til postgame for. there is no point to these restrictions so why have them? it was literally not like that in platinum, so why go back to it? and i also like some of the changes to the gym order and designs inside the gyms they did in platinum. but plat is my fav pokemon game of all time so of course i am biased in that regard.

i also have to say that not using platinum teams for trainers like flint and volkner was a missed opportunity too. i like that gym leaders added new moves and abilities onto their team members to keep the battles fresh, but why did we have to go back to these stinky teams when we did it right in platinum? it just seems like two steps forward, one step back to me.

and this is a pet peeve to me but....where is looker???? he hasn't been in gen 8 at all???? he was introduced in gen 4 so....why not bring him back now? and where is the battle frontier gamefreak i want answers.

as for the story, ORAS is one of my fav pokemon games and i love how they freshened up the hoenn region in that remake, and i would have loved for something similar in BDSP. they ended up not doing that and we still have a good game on our hands here with bdsp, but i do think it could have been even better. i think remakes should set out with the goal to transcend the originals and create a definitive version of that generation's game. i think bdsp fell a little bit flat in that regard. we still have legends arceus coming out in about a month though. I do think that this is going to be the game that transcends and im really excited for it! but i think bdsp could have been more too.

also, why did they go back to single use tms? who is responsible for this??? i need a word.

another peeve of mine is that they did not add any pokemon past gen 4. as a kid i desperately wanted to bring my gen 5 favs into sinnoh, so that was a huge blow. again, they should have done it like oras. i dont think anyone would have minded if most of the later-gen mons were post-game anyway. and im not going to mention megas much but i like them and they would have fit so well here ok bye

glitches and crunch:

if youve been following these games since launch you know that they come with their fair share of glitches. of course, most pokemon games do. they are known for it, really. and most of them, even in bdsp, dont really come into play during your actual playthough, you have to actually go out and initiate them, and many of them are being patched right now. however, this game was also released unfinished, with a day 1 patch being required to download in order to get all of the cutscenes, music, and more. now personally i dont agree with that practice...i grew up in the sticks with the worlds slowest wifi, and i was also the type of kid who wanted to play their new games on the ride home. if your game needs an internet connection to download half of your game, that's just annoying. i know that's just the way nowadays...other consoles do it all the time, when you buy a ps4 game on the disc you have to wait for it to download too. in the age of internet its easier to patch games. back when the gba games had a glitch in them (look up ruby and sapphire berry glitch) you had to send your game back or go to a special kiosk to fix it. now you can just leave your switch on at night to download the updates. so while i definitely disagree with this decision, i can see why they did it. i really hope that doesnt become a mainstay for pokemon games going forward. its a real hassle, and encourages the harsh deadlines that nintendo and gamefreak have in place to continue.

challenge level/difficulty:

this game has a....weird level curve in it. it uses the gen 7.5/gen 8 experience share, which means that every pokemon in your party gets experience after you defeat or catch a pokemon. you are not able to turn this off, but you can put pokemon into your pc boxes to stop this effect. anyway, the original games did not have this, and were not designed around it. Around the 3rd gym or so i really felt the effect of it. my team was really getting up there in levels, and it doesnt help that the 3rd and 4th gyms are the same levels, either. so yeah it was getting clear that i was overleveled and the gym leaders and boss fights started to get kinda easy. ok, you might say, of course they were, its a kids game and a game and one that ive played before. not everyone is going to have that experience. however, the pokemon in the underground scale to your badge level, meaning they are typically around your level or higher when you go down there after a gym battle. meaning. you are going to get your ass handed to you down there. but then...not by any of the trainers in the story? probably not until the elite four, who each have ev-trained pokemon (this means they have really beefed up stats that compliment what moves theyre gonna use) with competitive battling move-sets and items. and then the champion, who has a completely cracked competitive team with items on all 6 pokemon. now many of us were thinking that they would dumb down the champion battle, but they beefed it up so so much. as an adult player of the series i really do like this level of challenge. even if youre just doing a vanilla playthrough its bound to be a little difficult. i mean it took me 3 tries! and then if youre a kid playing this game....well its never been easier to grind in a pokemon game than in gen 8. so...i dont know what to say about this i just think the difficulty in this game is kind of lopsided at times.

should you play?

as a new player: yes! these games are more accessible than the og diamond and pearl, which go up WAY past the $60 msrp if you want a legit copy. and with the additions in quality of life i think they are definitely worth it. also, they have online play which the old ones dont anymore. you can emulate, sure, i won't stop you, but if you do emulate either dppt or bdsp you wont have the multiplayer aspect either way. multiplayer adds a lot of mileage to a pokemon game.

as a veteran player: yes! these games miss a lot of content from platinum and are basically the same story, i won't deny that. but they are full of nostalgia for if you love gen 4 and have felt like newer games have been missing the mark. and if you didnt like gen 4, a lot of its issues are solved here like the hm one. this is a good opportunity to give it another chance.

#luce review #pokemon bdsp

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chaoticspacefam · 3 years

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The Lana Shipping Meme!

This is a meme made by @swtor-legacy-sitcom who very kindly tagged me to fill it in, thank you! :D This was super fun, I’ve been in a bit of a writing rutt lately so this was a nice way to sort-of dip my toe back into it :P I TOTALLY forgot this was in my drafts and forgot to schedule it to post, I’m soooo sorry it took so long lmao 😳😬

I’m not sure if we’re supposed to tag other people with this one so I’ll just leave a general, open tag here: if you have a Lana ship and want to fill this one out, feel free to yoink the meme and say I tagged you! Yes, I promise I mean you <3

Spoilers for KOTFE/KOTET, and slight spoilers for the Subterfugeverse “version” of said events, will be discussed below, so be aware of that before proceeding! There’s also some midlly nsfw questions so you might wanna skip those if they’re not your thing! :D Under a cut because it’s long, but no trigger warnings need apply.

Is Lana Beniko absolutely done with their shit?

Oh yes, absolutely. Nearly always. At any given time, BUT Lana wouldn’t have it any other way. Saarai may be a reckless, overly-heroic idiot with seemingly no self-preservation, but she’s Lana’s reckless, overly-heroic idiot, ya know :’D

Do they make jokes together?

Fairly often, yes! Theirs is very much a flirty/fond banter type of relationship. Lana tells her she’s insufferable, Saarai rolls her eyes and snarks back, so on. See:

Saarai: Well this was a stupid idea Lana: Considering it was one of yours, I’m not surprised Saarai: Why didn’t you say something? Lana: I did and you did it anyway. And what have we learnt from this? Saarai, quietly: I’m a dumbass and I should listen to you more.... Lana: Good. I still love you, though. Saarai: :’D

Lana, two minutes later: You’re going to do it again, aren’t you? Saarai: Yeah, probably.

as well as that little cutscene “You’d better come back blah blah blah” “Well I have you to rescue me, that’s all I need~” is their default pre-dangerous battle banter :P

Who’s hornier? (who initiates)

Saarai is definitely hornier, and while she’s not always the one to initiate, she’s definitely the one to ask more often. (if I had to give it a number, prolly something like 65/45 lol) One of these days, Lana’s going to buy a spray bottle /jk

Kinkiest they’ve been?

Not awfully. Saarai’s a biter (Lana likes it, don’t worry 😏) and she loves it when Lana pulls her hair, but other than that, and making use of connections within the Force to heighten the sensations during such activities ;) they’re pretty vanilla

There was a post going around a while back about an alternative to a praise kink that was like, a “reassurance” kink, instead. I can’t find the actual post to link to it and I haven’t pinned down any specifics for them yet but I definitely think that’s a Saarai thing to look into later 😏

Has Lana ever covered up something your OC did as Minister of Intelligence?

In a roundabout way, yes. Technically, Saarai’s entire existence on Rishii. Since, teeechhnically, as far as the Empire’s concerned at that point, Rai’s supposed to be dead. Lana doesn’t know the technicalities of why that is (and Saarai isn’t comfortable telling her, even now), but she knows it’s important, so she does it for her even if she doesn’t know why.

Favorite non sexual downtime activity?

Cuddles! Saarai is a cuddlebug, and while Lana enjoys them she’s definitely not the “if I don’t get cuddled x times a day I can’t go on” type (in my headcanon, ofc, I’m not saying she can never be that way!) but, Saarai’s also very warm and cuddling her is cozy, so it’s something they both enjoy, whether Rai’s the big spoon, or - and this is Rai’s favourite thing ever - Saarai putting her head in Lana’s lap so Lana can play with her hair, it’s something they always do at the end of the day when they’re both done with work.

Mushiest thing Your OC has ever done for Lana?

So, I’m too impatient & lazy to do the actual HK missions in-game, but I know you can technically get another HK unit, so because ✨it’s my fanfic and I get to make the rules✨ Saarai sent Aria (my DS! Jedi Shadow, very good at stealth) back to Zakuul and though it was a bit battered up, she managed to retrieve HK’s processor. They had to get him a new chassis, but Koth and Ty managed to salvage the rest of his “important” bits and they rebuilt HK for her after they settled on Odessen :’3

Most Embarrassed Lana has ever been because of your OC?

In the middle of an important meeting, in front of everyone on the Alliance High Council, including Theron, Senya, Ni’kasi, Vano, etc.

Lana, sarcastically, after they’ve been disagreeing on how to handle a particular matter for ~1 hr: hahaha bite me.

Saarai, dead serious: Okay, where? 😏

Lana was mortified, to say the least XD

That thing that happened that they vow to NEVER speak of?

Saarai’s reaction when they went to Nathema. Rai’s psychometric, and in hindsight she realises putting her hand on that wall as she ducked into the building was a mistake. She was bombarded with flashback after flashback of what had happened on Nathema when it was still Medriaas, the planet where she was born and where most of her family died, it was not a pleasant experience for her and Rai actually collapsed at one stage because it was all too much for her ;w;

Lana had to bring her back around and herd her back on the ship, where Rai had to wait because she just couldn’t go any further, and Lana and Vano had to go on alone. Lana agreed not to tell anyone else about what had happened, because Saarai didn’t want any of them to worry about her, or think she was “weak” because of it.

The Angriest they’ve ever been at each other?

There’s actually two instances that come to mind for this one

1) Koth’s betrayal/stealing of the Gravestone, Lana was pissed at Koth and wanted to take it out on him, Saarai was pissed at the situation and got between them and chewed Lana out for taking it out on him. (Subterfugeverse is kinda complicated, there’s two Commanders calling the shots for different parts of the Alliance, Koth took issue with something Vano did and made the reckless, kinda stupid decision to still steal the Gravestone even tho Saarai didn’t do anything. (also for anyone new to the blog, all three of them are dating, they’re polyam ;)) Lana took it personally, Saarai was more upset that he was upset and didn’t say anything before he did something stupid. Rai and Lana butted heads about how to deal with it, Lana got salty cause she got yelled at, but they ofc fix it later :3)

2) Torian’s death. Saarai had tried to warn Lana what would happen if they split Vette & Torian up during that fight, Lana brushed it off and told Rai to “stop overreacting, it will be fine”. Obviously, it was not fine. Rai was very angry at the result because, I quote, “I WARNED YOU! And you wouldn’t listen to me!” Saarai refused to speak to Lana for a few days after that, it was kinda a rough time for Lana, she’s only seen Rai get that angry a few times, and only once at her so it shook her a bit. 😢

How does both Lana, and your OC initiate the ‘fade to black’ ;)

For Saarai, the “indicator” is usually when her kisses start to become 50/50 between kissing and biting/nibbling. That’s the universal “ok I want to” signal for Rai. Usually very quickly followed by a soft “yes?” or “are you sure?”, either against her skin or into her ear, depending on where she’s kissing at the time; because she’ll always check first, and if Lana says “no”, it’s off, because Lana’s consent is more important than any of her feelings.

For Lana, it’s when she’ll let Rai pick her up and/or usually to pin her to a wall. There’s a decent height difference, Saarai’s 6 ft 3, and I headcanon that while Lana’s not necessarily “short” at around 5 ft 8, she’s considerably smaller than Rai, as well as being more “reserved” with PDA, she’ll hold hands, or kiss her on the cheek etc. in front of other people, but otherwise Lana tries to keep somewhat “professional” while they’re at work. So when she starts climbing her like a tree, Rai knows she’s about to get some. XD

Do they have kids?

Kiiiinddd of? It’s complicated. Saarai has a son, Ty, from a previous relationship. Lana & Koth both sort of step up to help co-parent, but since Sith Purebloods age differently (i.e. they’re adults at ~20ish the same as humans, but after that they’re more like elves and their physical aging slows down, so they’re more long-lived), even though Ty’s very young by Pureblood standards, he’s still 60 years old, so he’s technically older than Lana and it’s kind of awkward for him to actually call her mom even if she kind of acts like one. He accidentally called her “mom” once, it was very awkward for both of them XD

What has been the most protective Lana has ever had of said kid?

I sat and scratched my head for ages trying to think of something to answer this question with, but I’m very sad to say that right now at the time of answering this meme, I don’t have any specific scenes planned out to tell you about! :( But rest assured that Lana absolutely would rush to help Ty if it was ever necessary :D

House pets? Is your Lana a dog person, or Cat person?

Funnily enough, they don’t actually have any pets! I’d like to think of Lana as more of a cat person than a dog person, in my personal opinion. But they have yet to get any pets of their own, maybeee later on, I dunno. Haven’t hit on any solid ideas for them yet, but I feel like if they happened upon a cute kitty they definitely could adopt one at some stage :’3

Do they get freaky on the Alliance Base or in the Shuttles?

They’ve done both, to be honest lol. Thankfully, Saarai’s sneaky enough that they haven’t gotten caught doing it, yet. Thank the Force.

Are their Sparring Matches Flirtatious? Hardcore?

They could go either way, it depends on what kind of mood they’re both in. If Lana’s particularly annoyed (usually not at Rai, but sometimes) then it’s more likely to be a hardcore spar, Rai’s a pretty tough cookie so she’ll often offer to be Lana’s punching bag in order to spare them some repair bills so she doesn’t rip apart the training dummies irrepairably, it’s okay, Rai can take it ;)

But if they’re both in an otherwise good mood and are just sparring for practise sakes, then yes, they often very quickly devolve into flirtacious banter and some of the classics, you know, “okay you win, you can let me go now” “mmm, nah” “I thought we were sparring” “do you want me to stop” “...don’t you dare.” etc. :’D

Class Specific things that play into their relationship?

Saarai’s a Juggernaut, and I headcanon Lana’s probably some sort of Sorcerer, so they tend to fight as such. They cover each other in more ways than one, if you want to get to Lana you have to go through Saarai first (and good luck to you, that woman can take and give a fucking beating lmao). Lana picks off whatever Saarai’s saber misses, usually with Force attacks but sometimes with her saber, too. Saarai takes bullets for Lana so Lana doesn’t have to get hurt. Lana yells at Rai for doing that and then fixes her up with Force healing afterwards, rinse and repeat. :’D

When they do argue, Lana tends to spontaneously manifest Force lightning, Saarai’s used to it and doesn’t bat an eyelid, she knows Lana’s not actually going to throw it at her and she’s more than prepared to dodge any stray bolts that do come her way.

Lana’s the tactician and the ground support, Saarai’s the battering ram/the bigass hammer used to clear space when Lana needs a bit of extra “oomph” (and trust me, they’re usually never far apart. The other one will be there and then you’ll be in trouble lmao)

Describe a time your OC went ‘Full beast mode’ to protect Lana, instead of the other way around?

"Kriff. Koth, what happened?” Three words was all it took, and everything made sense: “They hurt Lana.”

That scene in the Endless Swamps on Zakuul, just before they pull the Gravestone out of it and Lana and the Commander get ambushed. Saarai went with Lana & Koth to break Vano out of carbonite (since Saarai was still on Rishii at the time, she doesn’t get frozen, only Vano) so when they split up, Saarai goes with Koth to look for ship parts while Vano goes with Lana to look for water.

Lana and Vano get ambushed by the Knights/Skytroopers, and Lana’s hand gets busted. It takes Saarai and Koth a little while to rush over there to help them, but when they do

Saarai. Goes. Fucking. Feral. It’s the scariest she’s ever been in front of Lana and Lana will never forget it, they almost didn’t really need Senya’s help for that part, Saarai basically had it covered. I imagine Lana later described it as “kind of hot, but also kind of terrifying, actually”

Saarai’s considered Chaotic Good, so generally speaking if there’s a peaceful, non-violent solution to a problem, she’ll opt for that, but she has a few buttons that you just do not want to push, ever. And hurting her partners is one of those buttons. She will go apeshit and that’s exactly what happened in the swamp lmao

Little things couples do to annoy each other. What does Lana do? What does your OC do?

Saarai likes to wake up early and hide Lana’s kaf mug in increasingly ridiculous places. Once, she even got Koth to help her stick it to the top of the Gravestone’s hull. It took Lana half the morning to find it, Lana was not amused. XD

Saarai and Koth also have an ongoing “terrible puns” contest where they basically see who can annoy Lana with the most ridiculous puns possible, see this post for an example :P Lana wonders where/how they keep coming up with these puns, she really does.

Does Lana get jealous in your headcanon?

Not really! In Subterfugeverse, both Rai and Lana are polyam, so generally speaking, jealousy isn’t a problem for them, and when it is it’s more of a case of “hey. Hey. Hey, I’m not getting enough attention, pay attention to me.” and then it’s usually dealt with and all is well ;)

When Lana meets Anri, the only thing Saarai does is tease her about “when she’s going to make the move”. 😜

Story that is prominent in their relationship?

I was gonna draw a little doodle for this but the poses kept not coming out right so I gave up, sorryyy qAq

I haven’t gotten very far into planning the SoR onwards+ segments of Subterfugeverse, just bits and bobs like this, but I’d say for now the most prominent is probably their first meeting on Rishii. Basically, meet-cute but with a lightsaber involved too hahaha. There was a lot of posturing and flirty subtext right from the get-go with these two, even if Saarai was particularly suspicious at first (see the earlier question about her being technically dead to the Empire). At first, when she noticed Lana tailing Ty (because Lana was extremely confused about why a Pureblood was so far from Sith space ;)), Saarai assumed that something had happened to her twin and the Empire had A) found out she and Ty were still alive and B) Sent Lana to track them down and kill them for good. Several tension-loaded hours later and Lana managed to convince Rai that actually, Ni’kasi was fine and speaking of, she was trying to avoid being killed too so maybe, actually, they could help each other. And that was all she wrote <3

#swtor #lana romance meme #subterfugeverse #mildly n/sfw #swtor oc: saarai ahaszaai #ot3: sorry i ''stole'' your girlfriend #saarai/lana #since this is a lana meme i'm not gonna throw this in koth's tag but i will put it in their shipping tag for this blog #also yes lana/anri is going to be an eventual thing in subterfugeverse; even if i haven't worked out the specifics of *how* yet #because i'm sorry but there is *WAY* too much subtext in that lana/anri interaction and my dumbass polyam brain went ''hehehehehe :'3''#so GODDAMN IT I AM GOING TO USE IT lol #bioware can pry this ship from my cold dead fingers #watch me i'll turn the alliance into one big fucking polycule if you let me /lh #some of these i haven't gotten to plan out solidly yet so i had to think on the spot #and as such the specifics might be subject to change as we *GET* to those parts in the actual fic ''canon''#but for now here ya go ;D #long post

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jalapeno-princess · 4 years

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All I Need is You

(Guys I miss Mark so fucking much *Cue Tori Vega I think we all miss Mark)

Songwriter Mark X Reader

Genre: Extremely fluffy angst (is that even a thing?)

Word Count: 5.8K

Summary: For all your life, your parents raised you to be the perfect daughter of every parent’s dreams. You did every single thing your parents forced you to do and never did you complain about anything they’d make you do, no matter how badly you wanted to. That all changed the day your path collides with Mark Tuan. After being stripped of your childhood completely in order to be respective and follow your parent’s desires, Mark shows you how beautiful life can be when you do the things you want to. Mark is the breath of fresh air from a life you feel so suffocated in. For the duration of your relationship, you did your best in hiding him from your parents in fear of them disapproving of the older boy. However, once you graduate from college, you decide you are old enough to make your own decisions and you build the courage to introduce your boyfriend to your family. The night starts off without a hitch; everyone seems to really like him up until your mom asks him what he does for a living. That’s when things take a turn for the worst and your mom gives you an ultimatum; to chose between the love of your life and your family.

A/N: Hey guys, so I’ve been wanting to write an imagine based on the song Paris by the chainsmokers for the longest time and here it is. Only when I reached the middle of writing the story did I realize this is the complete opposite of my other story “Second Chances” LOL. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this story (most of it is written in past tense so I hope you don’t get confused).

We were staying in Paris To get away from your parents And I thought, "Wow If I could take this in a shot right now I don't think that we could work this out" Out on the terrace I don't know if it's fair but I thought "How Could I let you fall by yourself While I'm wasted with someone else

"If we go down then we go down together They'll say you could do anything They'll say that I was clever If we go down then we go down together We'll get away with everything Let's show them we are better Let's show them we are better Let's show them we are better

“Hey, everything okay?”

It was currently 2:45 a.m. and normally, you’d be fast asleep right now but you couldn’t help feeling as if the bed grew more spacious and colder than it was when you first went to sleep. Mark was your own personal furnace; the two of you fell asleep pretty early after a long day of sightseeing and an even longer night of love making.

After multiple rounds of his all but gentle kisses on your neck, jaw and chest as he rammed himself in and out of your velvety walls, you both were too tired to get up and clean yourselves off. He immediately pulled you in to his chest and wrapped his arms tightly around your waist while placing his face in the crook of your neck and whispering sweet nothings until his dreams finally took a hold of him. It’s been like this for the last three weeks since you and Mark ran away to Paris in the hopes of hiding from your extremely overprotective and non-understanding parents.

You’d go sight seeing, visit a couple of museums, cute little coffee shops and sometimes you’d even go to a farmer’s market and you’d buy food to make for recipes you and Mark learned while watching whatever they had on television. Almost every single night ended up in sex; on a few occasions, there were drunken stupors where one of you or sometimes even both of you would have a little too much to drink and you’d have wild, kinky sex.

Then there were the days where you’d argue over minuscule and unnecessary things and usually Mark would be the first to give up and apologizing with his head between your thighs. Most of your love making sessions were soft, passionate and very romantic.

To strangers or people who weren’t familiar with him, Mark gave off an intimidating and sometimes standoffish kind of vibe. It was only because he was actually very shy and soft spoken and those who actually knew him were aware of how talkative and outgoing he could be around those he was comfortable with.

Unfortunately, your parents were the kind of people you’d always sought praise from and you’d do whatever you could to make them proud. Ever since you were a little girl, you went along with every command they would give you, you never complained about the clubs they’d put you in or the clothes they had you wear. It wasn’t as if you were the only child, you had three other siblings but since you were the youngest, your parents were a little more strict with you even if you never gave them a reason to question or mistrust you.

It wasn’t until Mark came in to your life that your relationship with your parents took a completely different turn. You’ve known Mark since middle school and although you hardly ever talked to him, you did admire him from afar and you could only wish to build up the courage so that maybe one day, you’d be able to at least say hello.

He was always such a social butterfly and made friends with anybody he’d interact with. All the girls in your grade had a crush on him, but you couldn’t blame them. Not only was he a sight for sore eyes, he was such a free spirit; he had decent grades and not once did the teachers have any problems with him like they did with his friends. But he was never one to genuinely care about his education, and unfortunately that was his downfall.

When you finally entered high school, it’s as if the world felt like it was time for you and Mark to come together and for your two worlds to become one. In your first semester, he was in almost every single one of your classes. You didn’t think you were the smartest person in your grade, but you did pretty well in all the subjects. All those years of long, grueling days of summer school actually paid off. Sometimes, you hated being the youngest.

Your parents expected so much out of you but they never seemed to care about anything that your two older brothers and your older sister did. They all got to join groups, clubs and sports that they genuinely liked whereas you were coerced in to learning how to play the violin and the cello. You were thankful that school was considerably easy for you seeing as how your parents made education your first priority.

While your brothers would play video games and your sister would talk on the phone with her friends, you’d be practicing math problems and read books about the civil war. You didn’t think you got to experience a legitimate childhood you’d witness all your classmates and friends had. For that reason alone, you always felt different from everybody else and it was the reason why you were so hesitant on continuing friendships with the few friends you did have from middle school.

You could never relate to anything they’d talk about; all their favorite movies they’d watch, the latest installment of Grand theft auto that they’d play, going to each other’s houses—you weren’t even allowed to cross the street by yourself let alone go out with your friends. Entering high school by yourself had to be one of the most scariest things you had to go through and because your siblings were at least five years older than you, none of them would be there at least if you needed someone to confide in or run to.

From all the stories you’d hear from each of them, their high school experiences were ones for the books. Both of your brothers joined each and every sport you could think of and your sister was the co-captain of the cheerleading team. She also had a few boyfriends in high school and you felt as if a lot of the mistakes she made were the reasons why your parents took complete control of your life.

It didn’t take long for Mark to acknowledge your existence; in fact, what you didn’t know was that back in middle school, he noticed you even if you didn’t realize it yourself. While all the girls would ogle over him and try to get his attention, he would find himself admiring you from afar.

Mark always thought you were so cute; you were always hesitant to answer the questions your teacher would ask you even if everyone was aware you knew the answer, whenever someone asked you for help you were always so quick to attend to them no matter what they were asking of you and he could never get the way you would blush when you were flustered out of his head.

He had no problem talking with other girls, but he’d become a mess at even just the thought of having to talk to you. Mark was quick to pick up on how you had most of your classes together, and he was going to use this to his advantage. Only a month in to school, both his algebra teacher and his language arts teacher pulled him to the side to tell him that he wasn’t doing too good in their classes. It wasn’t that Mark was purposefully failing his classes in order to get you to tutor him, he never was all that amazing in school to begin with.

High school wasn’t even half as easy as middle school was. Getting anything lower than a C wasn’t going to cut it and now that he had two Ds, he planned on asking you for some help. When Mark did approach you and asked you to help him catch up with a couple of missing assignments and to help teach him some algebra formulas, you had a hard time believing he was even talking to you. In the beginning of your tutoring sessions, he was always quite the gentleman.

He’d give you his full attention, always waited till you were done talking before he’d ask you a question, he’d tell you silly jokes so that it wasn’t always about studying and learning and sometimes he would drop you home after your meetings. It didn’t take long for your tutoring sessions to turn in to something more and only three months after getting to know each other, he asked you to be his girlfriend.

Dating Mark was a dream you never think would become a reality. He was extremely kind hearted and took care of you in ways you didn’t think you’d be able to experience. You were shocked when he confessed that he’s liked you for all these years, and you were quick to admit the same to him. Knowing how your parents could be, you decided to keep your relationship with Mark a secret and he was very understanding about the entire thing.

The two of you would sneak around during and after school for the entirety of your high school years and your love for one another only grew stronger as the time went by. You fell in love with him in tiny little coffee shops, in the back of the library where you’d be making out together when you were supposed to be studying. You’d lie to your parents and say you were preparing for tests and picking up on extra credit when really you’d be lying in the back of Mark’s truck, cuddling in his arms while looking up at the stars.

Mark did a great job at helping you take your mind off of how perfect you were supposed to be. He was the breath of fresh air that you’ve always craved and now that you had him, you didn’t think you would be able to let him go. Ever. He made you feel like a little kid again; you actually got to experience all sorts of things you’ve wanted to do as a child through your relationship. It didn’t take you long to fall in love with him.

Being in love was an indescribable feeling. Every time something good happened to you, he was the first person you wanted to tell and whenever something bad happened, he was the shoulder you wanted to cry on. He always knew the right thing to say; but if there ever was a time he didn’t know how to respond to something, he would just hold you comfortingly while whispering sweet, encouraging words in your ear.

People claimed that perfect people didn’t exist and if that’s the case, then Mark came pretty close. You felt as if he was sent in your life to be your safe haven; your sanity. The burst of color in your world of black and white. He had a habit of telling you he loved you every single day and even if he weren’t to do so, his actions spoke for him. You don’t know how you did it, but you actually did a great job in hiding Mark from your parents for the last few years.

There were times where you did come pretty close to getting caught; whether it was because of how loud you didn’t think you were while talking on the phone with him, or when you’d come back home with swollen lips and tousled hair. It didn’t matter to you though. A part of you was ready for whatever response you’d receive from your parents. Honestly, Mark was the kind of guy you’d bring home to your parents; so you weren’t afraid of the idea of introducing him to your family.

The only thing you were really worried about was what they would say when they were to find out you were hiding a boyfriend from them for over six years. After graduating from high school, both you and Mark went straight in to college. You went in to study criminal law and he had high hopes of becoming an engineer. Three months in to college, Mark decided it wasn’t for him and as his girlfriend, although you were upset at the idea, you supported and trusted his choices.

College wasn’t for everybody. With that being said, it was then that you found out he wanted to become a songwriter. In the few years that you’ve known him for, not once did he ever talk about wanting to write songs. You didn’t think he was passionate about music in general let alone wanting to write music for artists but when he showed you a few of the songs he had wrote, with most of them being about you, you knew he was extremely talented.

Mark always had a way with words and now that you saw them written down on paper, you knew you’d continue to support his dreams and his future endeavors and that you would do anything to help him if he needed it. Before you knew it, four years came and gone and you graduated from college with your bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. It didn’t take too long for law firms to reach out to you with internships and to see if you were interested to work for their companies. Mark was also very successful with his career.

He started off small; he wrote a few things here and there for some up and coming artists but it wasn’t anything too major. No matter how patient he was, there were times he did grow discouraged and felt like giving up but you never allowed him to. You saw how passionate he was about writing. You’d watch him stay up trying to write down any ideas that would pop through his head.

The road to success wasn’t easy, but when he got an offer from a record company to write songs for a popular artist you both listened to, he was extremely over the moon and made sure to let you know your love, your patient, your support and your determination to help him succeed was what kept him going.

The day came where you felt like you were ready to tell your parents about the man you were head over heels in love with and the reaction you got wasn’t one you were expecting. When you brought him over for dinner, both your mother and your sister raved over how good looking he was and your brothers tried their best to come off as the older, overprotective brothers boyfriends wouldn’t want to mess with. But when they heard Mark played fortnite, they were sold.

Even your father took a liking to him once Mark told him his favorite football team were the Patriots. Everything seemed to be going perfectly and you were so upset with yourself for keeping him a secret for so long. It wasn’t until your mother asked him what he did for a living that things only went downhill from there. I’m a songwriter. You could still remember the grave look on your mom’s face and with the way she motioned for you to follow her and your father in to the living room while excusing the three of you from the table, you knew it wasn’t going to be good.

You were angry that she didn’t wait for dinner to be finished or even for Mark to go home before ridiculing him on his career. It was obvious that she wasn’t too happy to hear he was a musician but it didn’t matter what she thought. Hell, you didn’t care about what anyone in your family thought about him. You loved Mark, with every beat of your heart and there was nothing your parents could say or do to change your mind about him.

“You are to break up with that boy immediately.”

Your eyes widened in shock at your mother’s command and for the first time looking her, hell, looking at your parents, you didn’t feel afraid of them. This time, you had something beautiful worth fighting for. This wasn’t something minuscule; it wasn’t something you could just stop like piano lessons or tennis practice. This was an 8 year long relationship she was telling you to end and there was no way you were going to lose against your parents without putting up a fight.

“No.”

The scoff that came from your mother’s throat wasn’t unexpected. This was the first time ever you talked back to either of your parents. This was the first time you actually said the word no in your 23 years of existence and damn, it felt really good.

“Excuse me? Did you just tell your mother no? Y/n, he’s a musician! He will never be able to give you the life you deserve! That is not a career! You’ll be the one having to take care of your entire family, I refuse to let this man ruin your life. You’re going to throw away everything you’ve worked so hard for—for someone whose position in your life isn’t promised. You know better than this, there are plenty more men in the world with better jobs and probably better living situations. Mrs.Choi’s son is a—“

“I don’t give a shit about Mrs.Choi’s son or Mrs.Park’s son or anyone’s damn son for that matter. I love Mark. I am in love with Mark. I only want Mark. Mark is all I need. I don’t care about what his job title is. It makes him happy and he’s pretty fucking amazing at what he does. But like I said, I don’t give a shit what he does for a living. He could be a garbage man and I’d still love him with every fiber of my being because that’s what love is mom. Love is not money, it’s not a big mansion in Beverly Hills with a doctor husband and six cars I will probably never drive. Love is what I feel when I’m with Mark. He takes care of me. He makes me laugh when I’m sad, he makes me smile even in the most inconvenient situations. He does my laundry, cleans our apartment, blow dries my hair when I’m tired, takes me to and pays for all my doctor’s appointments. We’ve been together for almost 8 years and these last 8 years have been the best years of my entire life because of him. The two of you stripped away the entirety of my childhood from me and Mark was the fountain of youth to help me experience actually being a human.” If looks could kill, the glare your mother was sending you would have you six feet under, but you didn’t care.

“I’m not a little girl anymore. I’m grown. I’m an adult for crying out loud you guys can’t tell me what to do anymore. I’m sorry you can’t accept it but I love Mark and I plan on doing so for the rest of my life and there’s nothing either of you can say or do to change my mind.”

“If you leave with him tonight, you are never allowed back in to this house ever again.” The burst of confidence and bravery you had confessing your love for Mark and the fact that you had every intention of staying with him went right out the window at your mother’s ultimatum. Was she really making you choose between your boyfriend and your family? There was no way you could choose between the two of them. Yes, Mark was the best thing that’s ever happened to you. But to lose all contact with your family because your parents were being unfair and irrational with their decision? She didn’t even take the time to listen to your words; did she not care about your health, happiness and well-being? Here was a man putting her youngest daughter on a pedestal, giving her the entire world and more but yet she still couldn’t accept that. You didn’t know the consequences of your next few words, but it wasn’t even a question. “Mark, we’re leaving. Let’s go.”

Your boyfriend came out from the kitchen and you had a feeling he probably heard the entire conversation between you and your parents, but your mind was so focused on leaving before things could get any worse. “Y/n, wait, sweetie think about this—think about what you’re doing—are you really willing to give up your family for a boy?”

“A man—he’s a man and yes—he’s all the family I could ever need. He’s shown me more love and support in our 8 years of being together than either of you did in the last 23 years of my existence. If you were a really family, you’d accept Mark for who he is and what he does and you’d be happy with the fact that he takes such good care of me but no. Your pride, your reputation, your wealth, your social status and your ego are more important than my feelings and what I want. You don’t care about me. You never cared about me you just cared about what others would think about me and I’m sick of it. I’m done. Have a nice rest of your life. Assholes.”

You marched out of the house and a huge weight was lifted off of your shoulders. With the rate you were walking, your boyfriend had to practically jog to catch up with you because you were filled with so many different emotions. Anger. Sadness. Grief. But no regret, nor any remorse. You knew you made the right decision in choosing Mark because not only did you choose Mark, you chose yourself. You were no longer going to allow your parents to dictate your life anymore.

“Baby—are you alright?” You gave him a sad smile before stealing a soft kiss from the corner of his mouth.

“Maybe not right now, but I will be. Take me home Mark.” Your siblings tried to get in touch with you for weeks, trying to get you to come back and to talk things out with your parents, but the damage was done. Neither of them were going to accept your relationship. It was a tough pill to swallow, but you accepted it for what it was.

Even if one day they came around and accepted Mark being a songwriter, there was no way you could ever forget the look of disgust on your mom’s face when Mark said what his job was nor could you forget how your dad just stood there and said nothing. It genuinely showed that neither of your parents really cared about you even if you were the star child out of the four of you and that’s what was hurting you the most.

Mark did his best to try and take your mind off what had happened and every time you’d look at him while he was sleeping, while he was cooking the two of you dinner or while the two of you would shower together, you’d see the glint in his eyes as he looked at you like you were one of the seven wonders of the world and you knew you made the right choice. You’d pick him again and again every single time.

He never brought up the fact that your parents didn’t accept his passion but you were sure it must have hurt him. Especially because that’s was caused you to be cut off from your entire family, but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t extremely content with your decision. A few weeks ago, Mark got a call from the record company he was working for and gave him the opportunity to travel around Europe to work with a couple of the entertainers there and he didn’t hesitate to ask you to tag along with him.

The adventure started off in Italy, then you found yourselves in London and Greece. Each and every city was more than you could even imagine. The scenery was so beautiful, the food was delicious, the people were so sweet and the fact that you got to experience it all with your soulmate; your favorite person was a feeling you would never be able to fathom in to words.

Paris had to be your favorite place you had visited so far and you were sure it had to deal with the fact that it was the city of love and you were making the most of it with the love of your life by your side. It was currently winter in Paris right now; the temperature only grew colder as the days went by which is why you were shocked to see Mark outside on the balcony in only his underwear, but the sight did make your cheeks pink.

No matter how many times you’ve seen him naked, you always got so shy and flustered. He was freezing cold when you finally found your way behind him, you placed your chin on his shoulder blade and left a soft kiss there while lazily wrapping your arms around his hips. The giggle that fell from your lips at the feeling of your bare chest against his back couldn’t be helped, he was so cold and the frost nipped at your skin.

It took you a few moments to notice the cigarette in his hand and when you did, you grew worried. Mark hated cigarettes. He hated the smell and hated the negative effect they had on people’s bodies. However, you noticed he began smoking them after working with a well-known rapper who claimed that smoking helped him relax. It was a habit you weren’t too fond of; you knew it was probably damaging his lungs and you could taste the ash in his kisses, but you knew something had to be bothering him for him to want to even start smoking so you never tried stopping him.

For the last month, you haven’t seen a pack of cigarettes lying around the place nor did the scent linger on his clothes so you knew there was a chance he stopped. Seeing that ugly death stick in between his fingers made your blood boil; you didn’t want anything happening to his health because of a stupid decision he‘d make whenever he was upset.

“Go back to bed baby. I’ll be there soon, I just needed a little break. I’m fine.” You’ve been with Mark long enough to know when he was lying. You didn’t have to see him; the lack of confidence in his voice and the way he tensed up against your body made it clear that something was indeed on his mind, and there was no way you’d be able to go back to sleep knowing he was overthinking.

“Talk to me Mark. Something is obviously bothering you and I want to be able to help you.” He released a long sigh before putting out the cigarette and turning to face you. His eyes were red and puffy and there were dried tears on his cheeks.

The idea of him crying made your heart hurt; he was always the strong one in your relationship. No matter how rough life would get for him, he never showed that he was having a hard time. He hated burdening other people, especially you. So all his battles, he’d keep to himself. You hated that he never confided in you the way you always seemed to with him. You wanted to be able to help him carry the burden or to help fight the war in his mind that he was battling alone.

“Why did you do it?” You immediately looked at him in confusion. What was he talking about? What did you do that could be causing him so much distress and frustration?

“Mark—“

“You gave up everything to be with me. You’re completely cut off from your parents, you gave up your job at the law firm, you had to sell your car, you left all your friends without any explanation as to why you were leaving—just for me. I can’t give you everything that I want to just yet. I can’t promise to give you a big house, a nice car—we’ve been together for years and I have every intention on marrying you y/n but I can’t afford to buy you the ring of your dreams—I’m honestly nothing. I’m a college dropout trying to become a renowned songwriter y/n. Sure, I’ve been getting quite a few amazing opportunities but it isn’t enough for us to be set for the rest of our lives nor can we really be comfortable. Like your mom said, there are many men out there who’d be able to take care of you in the ways that I can’t. All I can do is love you y/n, and fuck. I love you more than you can even fathom yourself. But you deserve so much more and sometimes love isn’t enough—“

“Do you hear yourself right now? Are you really asking me why I left my life behind to be with you? My family, I love them dearly. But you know how I feel about my parents, how they sheltered me, overprotected me, forced me in to doing things I didn’t want to. They never did care about how I felt; not once did they stop and think maybe they were working me to the bone. I was never happy Mark. Until you came in to my life and I really don’t know what I would do if I were to lose you. I’m assuming you must’ve heard what my mom said and don’t you dare listen or even think what she said was true. You are not nothing Mark. You are so talented, so hardworking, so passionate and dedicated and if anyone deserves the world baby—it’s you. I meant what I said when I told her I couldn’t give less of a shit about any materialistic things. What’s a fucking Porsche going to do for me if my husband neglects me? What’s a big house if the person that I love isn’t there to share it with me?” You brought your hand up to cup his cheek and released a sigh of relief when he leaned in to your palm.

“You and I could live in a fucking box and I wouldn’t care and you wanna know why? Because you’re there. All I need is you. I don’t care where we go, who we meet, how much money we have in our bank accounts; as long as I have you right beside me, I’m not worried about anything. I can get another car Mark, I can find another job, I can make new friends—but there is never going to be another you. So stop beating yourself up about the decisions I made in the last few months. I did it for us. I did it because I love you. I will never love anyone the way I love you. Now get it out of your head that I deserve someone better than you because a man like that doesn’t exist. And yes—your love is enough Mark. It’s all that matters to me. The way you take care of me when I’m sick, or hold me close as we watch a scary movie. The way you take a bite out of my food to make sure it isn’t too hot, although I feel like you use that as an excuse just to try my food. The way you can be so tired, yet you want to sit down and listen to me go on about my day. You love me Mark. You never fail to say it, but it means more to me because you never fail to show it either.” At this point, his tears were flowing steadily from the bird of his eyelids and you found yourself wiping them away every time new tears fell.

“A person’s job title, the amount of education they’ve received, the kind of car they drive and the house they live in; none of that matters babe. I know you probably hear this all the time, but it’s what the inside that matters. Genuinely. All the wealth, the riches, it doesn’t make you better than anyone else. Your personality, your selflessness, your golden heart, your generosity, your patience, the love you never fail to show others, that’s why I fell in love with you. Oh—and your stupidly handsome looks but that’s besides the point. I’d go wherever it is that you’ll go. Whatever you need me to do, or be in order to help you grow as an artist or just a human being in general, I’ll do it. I’ll do anything for you Mark Tuan. And one day, when everything works out with your career, we can rub it in my parents faces. No more tears my love. It’s just you and I; and that’s what makes me the most happy. Oh—and I don’t need a big wedding or a huge diamond ring to get me to marry you. You could get me a ring pop for all I care. I just want to be with you. We could honestly elope in one of the hotel’s chapels if that’s what you want.”

He didn’t miss a beat before bringing his hands on either side of your face and roughly connecting your lips together. His mouth was warm and wet against yours, his kisses were rough and needy. It’s as if he was putting everything he wanted to say to you in to the kiss. How grateful he was for you. How much you meant to him. How much he loved you more than his heart could genuinely handle. Mark knew he needed to continue fighting for his dream in order to prove to you that you made the right decision in choosing him. Soon, the atmosphere was filled of sexual tension and it didn’t take too long for you to feel something hard against your thigh.

“I just—I hope—fuck. Thank you baby. I could never thank you enough for everything that you’ve done and continue to do for me. You’re the most ethereal being to walk on this earth you know that. I really, really do not deserve you but I will spend the rest of my life proving to you that I’m sure happy you chose me. Don’t tempt me, I might just go down to the gift shop and get you that ring pop. I love you—so fucking much my beautiful girl. God , only you could make me hard as a rock while I’m in the middle of crying—I know it’s 3 A.M, and I promised I would take you to the Champs-Élysées later on today, but I really want to show you just how grateful I am for you. I also kinda want to solve this problem in my pants and fuck the shit out of you so let’s go baby. You might have to rent a motor chair to get around once I’m done with you.”

#got7 imagines #got7 #got7 mark #mark tuan #mark tuan got7

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zerochanges · 3 years

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2020 Favorite Video Games

I don’t know if I am an outlier or if this is the same for everyone else but I really did not play a lot of games this year. 2020 was a very harsh year for all of us, especially for me for some personal reasons. So to get to the chase, I am just gonna say it left me not doing much in what little free time I did have, and I didn’t play much either. Usually I try to keep my lists for ‘favorite of the year’ to only titles released that year but since I played so little this year, screw it. I am gonna include any game I played this year regardless of release date.

Collection of SaGa

By far a flawed rerelease. It’s bare bones: there are no advance features you would usually expect out of these kinds of emulated rereleases like save states, fast forward, or rewind, and there was no real effort made to touch up almost 30 year old localizations that had to meet Nintendo of America’s then harsh standards. This really is just 3 roms slapped into a nice looking interface with an option to increase the game speed (which by the way you better use, the characters walk very slow in these old games).

I am bit harsh here, but only because I thought the Romancing SaGa remasters and the upcoming SaGa Frontier remaster all looked like they got a great budget and a lot of love while this is just another Collection of Mana situation (moreso specifically talking about Seiken Densetsu 1/Final Fantasy Adventure/Adventures of Mana part of that collection). I would have loved to see Square Enix do a bit more for these older games. Or at least include the remakes. Seiken Densetsu 1 had two great remakes, both unused in Collection of Mana, and all three of these original SaGa titles have remakes that have never seen the light of day outside of Japan. How great would it have been to get the Wonderswan remake of SaGa 1, as well as the Nintendo DS remakes of Saga 2 and SaGa 3?

But my gripes aside, these games are still fun as they ever were. Replaying SaGa 1 specifically during the holiday season really helped calm me down and made me feel at ease. It’s easy to forget but even in their Gameboy roots there are a lot of funky and weird experimental choices being made in these games. They aren’t your run-of-the-mil dragon quest (or considering the gameboy, maybe pokemon would be more apt) clones.

Raging Loop

Perhaps my favorite game of the year, Raging Loop is one of the best visual novels I have ever played hands down. The level of creativity and splitting story paths that went into it is simply mind blowing. The basic premise is both a wonderful throwback to the old days of Chunsoft sound novels while still modern and somewhat reminiscent of both Higurashi and Danganronpa. Essentially you play as Haruaki, a poor slub that got lost in the mountains with no clue where to go until you stumble upon an old rural village with a strange history and even stranger superstitions. Before you know it there has been a murder and the Feast is now afoot.

The less said about Raging Loop the better, although I do want to say a lot about it one day if I ever can write a proper review of it. This is a gripping game that will take hold of you once you get into it though and never let go. I actually 100%-ed this and I very rarely do that. I got every ending, every bonus hidden ending, played the entire game twice to hear all the hidden details it purposely hides on your first play through, played all the bonus epilogue chapters, unlocked all the hidden voice actor interviews, collected all the art work, etc, etc. I was just obsessed with this game, it’s that damn good! And the main character is maybe the best troll in all of video games, god bless Haruaki.

Root Double

From Takumi Nakazawa, long time contributor to Kotaro Uchikoshi’s work comes a game any fan of Zero Escape or Uchikoshi in general will probably enjoy. Root Double, like its name suggests is a visual novel with two different routes, hence Root Double. The first route stars Watase Kasasagi, the leader of an elite rescue team in the midst of their greatest crisis yet that could lead to nuclear devastation as they try to evacuate a nuclear research facility that has gone awry.

The other route stars Natsuhiko Tenkawa, an everyday high schooler whose peaceful life is thrown into turmoil when he stumbles upon a terrorist plot to destroy the nuclear facility in the city and his attempts to stop them. Together the two separate plots weave into one and creates a really crazy ride. Part Chernobyl, part science fiction, any fan of the genre will easily enjoy it. And hey it’s kind of relevant to include on this list too since it just got a Switch port this year (I played it on steam though).

Snack World

I was shocked upon starting Snack World as it is instantly incredibly charming, witty, and downright hilarious at times yet I heard almost zero people talk about it. EVER. This game is Dragon Quest levels of quirky though, and the localization is incredible. The game has such an oddball sense of humor that works really well with its presentation right down to the anime opening video that sings about the most bizarre things. Instead of the usual pump up song about the cool adventure ahead we get stuff like wanting to go out to a restaurant and eat pork chops.

The self aware/fourth wall breaking humor is just enough to be really funny, but doesn't overstay its welcome and always makes it work right in the context of the dialogue. And finally, just everything; with the menus, the name of side quests and missions, and the character dialogue -- are all just so witty and full of quirky humor. This is one hell of a charming and funny game and addictive to boot.

Trials of Mana

Trials of Mana has gone from one of those legendary unlocalized games, to one of the first major breakthroughs in fan translation, to finally getting an official English release complete with a fully 3D remake. In a lot of ways from a western perspective this game has had an incredible journey. As for this remake itself, I really found myself having tons of fun with it. I loved the graphics, and the voice acting while a bit on the cheaper side almost kind of adds to the charm since both the graphics and acting really give it an old PS2 vibe. I know that is probably just more me being weird but yeah, I had to say it.

I really hope Square Enix sticks to this style of remake more often, instead of just doing Final Fantasy VII Remakes that break the bank and involve extensive tweaking to both plot and game play. I’ll take smaller budget projects that play more like the original game any day personally. I wouldn’t mind if they also deliver a brand new Mana game all together in this engine either.

Utawarerumono Trilogy

This year saw the release of the first entry in the series, Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen--and thus finally after three years since the sequels Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception and Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth came out in 2017 the trilogy is now complete in English. I ended up binging through Prelude to the Fallen very fast shortly after it came out and immediately jumped on to the sequels. Perhaps the best part of 2020 was that I finally played all three of these fantastic games, and did so back-to-back-to-back. Playing the first Utawarerumono was an experience I will never forget, it was like visiting old friends again that I haven’t seen in ages, by and large thanks to the fact that I saw the anime adaption of the game when I was much younger, nearly a decade ago. Back then I would have never of dreamed that I would get to play the actual game and get the real experience.

And it only got better from here, as all three games are such wonderful experiences from start to finish. The stories are all so deep, and by the time you get to the third entry, Mask of Truth, it’s crazy to see how they all connected over so many years and weaved together into a plot much bigger than they ever were. What carries it beyond all that though has to be the fun and addicting strategy role playing game aspect, which while a bit on the easy side, is still so much fun and helps make the game feel better paced since you get to play the conquests your characters go on and not just read about all the battles they fight. Beyond that the games are packed full of awesome characters, and I know I’ll never forget the amazing leads in all of them. Hakuowlo, Haku, and Oshtor will all go down as some of the greats to me.

Ys: Memories of Celceta

Ys: Memories of Celceta is a full 3D remake of Ys IV, a rather infamous game in Falcom’s Ys series. Not to get bogged down too much into the history of Falcom but by this point they were facing a lot of hardship and had to outsource this entry to other developers, and thus passed it on to two particular developers they had a business relationship with, creating two unique versions of Ys IV. Tonkin House who had worked on Super Famicom port of Ys III with Falcom ended up creating their own YS IV entry, Mask of the Sun for the very same system, where Hudson soft who had produced the much beloved Ys Books I & II remakes for the Turbografix (PC Engine) CD add-on created their own Ys IV entry Dawn of Ys for that console. Both games followed guidelines and ideas outlined from Falcom themselves but both radically diverged from each other and turned into completely different games.

Falcom finally putting an end to this debate on which version of Ys IV you should play have gone and created their own definitive Ys IV in 2012 for the Playstation Vita. I played the 2020 remastered version of this remake on my PS4. I even bought this on the Vita when it first came out but I am horrible and only horde games, never play them. So it was a lot of fun to finally play this.

Memories of Celceta is probably one of the best starting points for anyone looking to get into Ys, especially if you only want to stay with the 3D titles as out of all the 3D entries this explains the most about the world and series protagonist Adol Christian. Beyond that it’s just another fantastic entry in a wonderful series that has a few good twists hidden behind it, especially for long time fans of the series.

Random Video Game Console Stuff

Xbox Has Blue Dragon: I actually got an Xbox One this year for free from my brother. Because of that I started to play Blue Dragon again and there’s a lot I would love to say about this game. I don’t know if I am fully committed to replaying it all the way through however but I find myself putting in a couple hours every few days and enjoying myself again. Does anyone else remember Blue Dragon? I feel like it really missed its audience and had it come out nowadays and probably for the Switch it would have really resonated with the Dragon Quest fandom a lot more instead of being thrown out to die on Xbox and constantly compared to Final Fantasy VII and the like which it had nothing at all similar with.

The Turbografx 16 Mini: This was probably one of the best mini consoles that have come out and I feel like thanks to the whole 2020 pandemic thing it was largely forgotten about. That’s a shame, it has a wonderful variety of great games, especially if you count the Japanese ones (god I wish I could play the Japanese version of Snatcher included), and a wonderful interface with fantastic music. One of these days I would really like to be able to play around with the console more seriously than I have already.

Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon Never Existed: So Nintendo localized the first ever Fire Emblem game on Nintendo Switch which is awesome to see them touching Famicom games again--I haven’t seen Nintendo of America rerelease old Famicom titles since Mysterious Murasame Castle on the 3DS, but their trailer hilariously made it seem like this is the first time ever they released Fire Emblem when in fact they had already localized the remake Shadow Dragon on the Nintendo DS nearly 10 or 11 years ago. I and many other fans I talked to all found this really hilarious, probably solely because of how much they kept repeating the fact that this is the first time you will ever be able to experience Marth’s story.

All that aside though I have to say the collector edition for this newly localized Famicom game is probably the most gorgeous retro reproduction I have seen in a long time, and I really spent many many hours just staring at the all clear glass mock cartridge. I have found myself really obsessing over retro reproductions during 2020, and obtained quite a few this year. I really hope this trend continues to go on in 2021 as recreating classic console packaging and cartridges is a lot of fun.

#video games #collection of saga final fantasy legend #SaGa #SaGa I #SaGa II #SaGa III #Raging Loop #Root Double #Snack World #Trials of Mana #Seiken Densetsu 3 #Utawarerumono #Ys #Ys IV #ys memories of celceta

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nikibogwater · 3 years

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(Long post incoming. You have been warned)

Reasons Niki is Excited for the Diamond/Pearl Remakes:

Diamond was Baby Niki’s first Pokémon game and I don’t think I could even begin to express the impact that game had on me. My gaming life was practically dominated by Pokémon from age 10 to 18, and it all began in the Sinnoh region. So yes, Nostalgia is a big factor in this.

I have wanted a 3D Sinnoh remake ever since I played Pokémon X for the first time. Being able to see the Pokémon actually move and emote brought so much immersion to the Pokémon experience for me, and pairing that with the deep, expansive lore that the Sinnoh games offered is the perfect union of my two favorite elements from the series.

Like a lot of people, I was initially put off by the oddly-proportioned chibi overworld sprites, but it is already beginning to grow on me. I think the idea was to capture the look and feel of the original DS games as much as possible, and to that effect, I think this art style does really well. Everything else about the game looks very crisp and nice to me. The environments are lovely, the backgrounds are interesting, and most importantly, the Pokémon are heckin’ cute.

I didn’t have access to the wireless functions in the original game as a kid. I didn’t get to experience connecting with others online until X and Y. And with the confirmation that the Underground will be returning in the remakes, I am so excited to finally be able to have the full D/P experience that I missed as a kid.

I’ve been really disenchanted with the mainline Pokémon games for the past few years. I think Sun/Moon is where I began to feel disconnected from the series, like it wasn’t bringing me the sense of childlike wonder and excitement that it used to. I initially chalked this up to my simply becoming an adult, but then I played Pokemon Let’s Go Eevee, and found myself sucked into that little game almost as much as the games of my childhood. Looking back on it now, I think maybe it was an issue of immersion for me. With the demands of both fans and whoever is forcing Game Freak to produce a new main series title every flipping year, a lot of immersion had to be sacrificed for the sake of getting the game out on time. Because Pokémon Let’s Go was a comparatively smaller game that only featured 152 Pokémon, the developers were able to spend more time making the environments and the Pokémon feel more alive. We got Pokémon following you, Shinies appearing in the overworld, Pokémon you could ride, dynamic backgrounds for battles, clean lines and lag-free rendering...none of which were carried over into Sword/Shield, because that game was simply way too big for the amount of time they gave themselves to make it. For me, if you simply cannot give yourself the amount of time needed to make a massive game feel polished and immersive, you should stick to creating a smaller game with less content, and more polish. I’ve always been a Quality over Quantity person, I guess, and Pokémon main series games were not delivering on that front for me anymore.

BUT with the D/P remakes, I am already beginning to see that a great deal of the Quality I want is going to be delivered; Pleasant scenery with clean lines and nice colors (instead of the strangely blurry mess that was Sword/Shield’s environments), a significantly high chance that there will be far fewer lag/rendering issues, and a faithful adaptation of one of the few Pokémon main series games with a story and world that I can legitimately lose myself in. (Oh I dearly hope they’ve kept the Legendaries as terrifying as they were in the originals...).

I guess for me, I do not need a Pokémon game to blow me away with something new. Simply having them improve on what has already worked in the past is enough of a reason for me to come back and buy the newer titles. I wouldn’t mind having the series go in a completely new direction, create something that we’ve never seen before, give us the ultimate Pokémon experience with insanely good graphics and mind-blowing story--but given how much they struggled with Sword/Shield, I’m beginning to think that that is just too much to ask for when Game Freak absolutely refuses to let a year pass without cranking out a new title (this is why I’m still a little skeptical about Pokémon Legends: Arceus, and am withholding any excitement over that one until we have more information). Big games take time to be made well, and since Game Freak has made it clear they do not want to give themselves that time, I’m more interested in seeing them use what time they do give themselves in the most efficient and beneficial way possible.

In keeping with the above point, the trailer explicitly said that the only Pokémon available in the D/P remakes will be the ones that were present in the original games. Again, I think this is a smart move on their part, because it means they can devote more time to making the Pokémon they do have feel more alive and full of personality, rather than having to pour all their time into programming in the literal 1,000+ Pokémon there are now. I know this kind of thing will upset a lot of people, but again, I’m more about the Quality over the Quantity. But we'll see if Game Freak was able to deliver on that front like I’m hoping.

THE MUSIC. ‘Nuff said.

While the trailer made it clear that they are trying to stick as close to the original games as possible, I am holding on to the hope that they will have made the necessary quality of life changes: the return of the optional Exp Share that lets all the Pokémon in your party gain xp from a battle, the elimination of HM moves that take up a battle slot, and an easier way to customize Pokémon EVs, such as candies or the Super Training feature from Gen VI (seriously why did they take that out in Gen VII???). Game Freak has slowly been inching forward with the series these last few years, introducing small changes that greatly improve the gameplay as a whole, and I think there’s good enough reason to hope that they will be smart enough to incorporate those changes into D/P remakes.

I’m a little mystified that the general response to the remake announcements is already so overwhelmingly apathetic and even negative. I can understand not liking the art style, but for me, art direction is only one small component to a game, and even if it isn’t done perfectly, it can still be made up for in other areas. The fandom has been pestering for Sinnoh remakes for years, and now that Game Freak is trying to give us what we want, I would have thought more of us would be making a more positive fuss about it. Then again, the original game is 15 years old now. Most of us who played it have probably already moved on from the franchise as a whole. But for me, I know I’m going to buy this remake and enjoy it, even if it has imperfections. Because really, that’s all I want from a Pokémon game--to feel like a kid again and have a good time. Maybe it’s simplistic and naïve, but that’s just Niki in a nutshell for you. ✨

#niki rambles #long post #pokemon #pokemon diamond and pearl #tw: contains opinions

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hopecountyisforlovers · 3 years

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rant under the cut dont read this if you like pokemon swsh or dont want spoilers. or do if you like to start fights i guess fsjdlfjsdkl

saw a few people say it wasnt so bad and this isnt like. coming after them or anything but sword and shield are just so so rushed that its like. more thought was put into the aftergame i.e raising a real competitive team to battle online than like the. real experience of it. the story is SO so linear that it leaves little room for exploration and theres not much to explore anyway. the gen3 games had more content than sword and shield. i played pokemon sapphire for YEARS after i finished it and never picked up swsh ONCE. and dont even get me started on the fucking mess that is the STORY like. oh my god. its so bad. its literally just the story of su/mo but with absolutely everything done completely wrong. leon and the few hot gym leaders are its absolute only saving grace. the game is PUSHOVER easy and thats coming from someone who cheats at hard pokemon games because i LOVE to be overleveled and feel overpowered and sexy and never lose. not once in swsh did i feel like i earned anything it more felt like it was all just being handed to me. the storyline with hop is depressing and honestly ? that problem pervades what little story there is. its depressing. i do not want to think about the ENERGY CRISIS in the middle of my POKEMON GAME i do not want to see a SAD DEAD CORSOLA what is WRONG with you gamefreak. and its depressing on a meta level because its the beginnings of something awful for a franchise ive loved my entire life, that has helped me get through some of the worst times ive ever lived through. it signifies Making Money becoming more important to them than making something thats actually Fun or Better than what theyve Already Made

and i know. i know its not the gamedevs fault they were put under massive strain and forced to work a ridiculous amount. dont come after me with “they did the best they could with the time they had” or some old bullshit like i KNOW that. but the problems with this game are SYSTEMIC

like i always think of that one scene. im pretty sure it was near the end of the game when theyre setting up rose as a villain where youre waiting for leon, a guy known for getting lost and being late, but because he doesnt show up on time hop gets worried for some reason?? and you find out from oleana or w/e that leon is talking to the chairman and its framed like hes ?? in danger ?? and you have to rescue him?? despite him being the undefeated champion of this region for at least ten years and you being Two Children?? so oleana tells you how to get to the place she clearly doesnt want you to be and you have to battle through all the guys and her to get to leon but once youre there he just. LEAVES WITH YOU of his own volition ?? he was literally never in any danger at all ?? so the only reason we did that was to set rose up for his villain reveal quite literally the VERY NEXT DAY ?? if this was a cartoon or a movie or anything else it would be ripped apart for being stupid and contrived and badly written because quite frankly it Is so why are so many people just OKAY with it it drives me absolutely insane. the game holds your hand to a quite frankly ridiculous degree. at no point can you walk more than about two steps without someone showing up to dump exposition on you and give you free revives you dont need because the game is Piss Easy and tell you EXACTLY where to go like these games that have been out since 1999 still thinks youre too stupid to already know how to play them which granted has kind of always been a thing but NEVER to this extent. a catching tutorial is one thing but this is completely and totally Another

i just. man sword and shield bums me out. the first mainline pokemon games on what some would call a real console since the n64 and all they amount to is boring predictable garbage with half the content cut out and sold to you for 30 extra dollars after the fact. everything in swsh probably could have been done 15 years ago on the Original DS and i really hope they dont continue with this trend. i really want to be excited for a pokemon game again. i dont want to think that like. theyve already made the last good ones theyre ever gonna make.

in the meantime im gonna play fangames and hacks by people who have actually put love and care into what theyre doing

#text #idk this just kinda poured out of me #if youre gonna send me anon hate you have to sign it with ''i love to lick nintendo and gamefreaks boots slurp slurp''

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onthevirgeofdestruction · 4 years

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Dreaming While I Wake

Sanders Sides Foster Care AU - Roman-centric Angst & Hurt/Comfort & Abuse Recovery

Roman tries to be upbeat and hopeful despite all the shit that’s happened to him. And a lot of shit has. Luckily, his new foster home is with two literal rays of sunshine (and a sarcastic asshole).

Words: 4,059 Warnings: Death Mention, Doctor Mention, Suicidal Ideation, Foster Care Issues, Anxiety Attack, Bad Self-Image, Bad Self-Talk, Self-Hatred, Stealing/Theft, Desire to be Punished, Food Issues Characters: Roman, Patton, Thomas, Virgil Universe: Dreaming While I Wake Genre: Angst/Family

Chapter 16

chapter 1 for new readers - ffn mirror

“Are you doing okay, kiddo?” Patton asked, sitting across the couch and looking at him with those damned kind eyes. Roman didn’t respond. He didn’t feel like he could even form the words without breaking apart. He didn’t even want to think about how not all right he was at the moment, much less articulate it. Patton seemed to get the picture after a lengthy pause, because he changed the subject. “So what were you looking to buy that you wanted a job for?” Patton asked politely. “If you need to sign it, just hold up the letters long enough that I can read it,” Patton added after a prolonged moment of silence. Roman held up his hand to sign the letters, but kept a hold of the glass of water between his legs with the other hand and didn’t look away from focusing on the melting ice cubes in the water.

“D…S…? Is that right?” Patton said, sounding very confused. After a moment it seemed to click with him. “Like the Nintendo? Kiddo, I think Tomathy had one in his office he doesn’t use,” Patton said plainly, sounding like he shifted on the couch. “I don’t think he’d care if you wanted to borrow it. What game did you want to play on it?” Roman looked up and scrunched up his face, trying to remember that one what had dragons and farming one of his old friends really liked. It took a minute, but he eventually raised his hand to sign the letters. “R-u-n-e-f-a-c-t-o-r-y? What’s that? F-a-r-m? Oh, one of those farming games? Did you want to play something relaxing?” Roman nodded and signed yes. Patton smiled lightly, but his eyes were still laced with concern. As long as he didn’t vocally acknowledge it right now. Roman signed why he wanted to play it. “B-e-d? Not in bed, I hope. B-4? Oh, before. I don’t think Thomas has that one,” Roman shrugged. He was intending to save up for a DS in the first place, buying the game was assumed.

“Thomas doesn’t have what?” Thomas asked, coming back down the stairs. He didn’t look too distressed, so hopefully that meant Virgil was okay. Part of him wanted to ask, but that meant that meant he had to acknowledge it as his fault and that he also wasn’t okay and Roman wasn’t capable of doing that at the moment.

“Run-e… factory, I think? Roman wanted to play it to calm down before bed,” Patton explained and nodded to Roman.

“Runny Factory?” Thomas asked, making a baffled expression and looked to Roman. Roman spelled rune again for him. “Oh! Rune Factory! No, I don’t have that. That’s a fantasy game, right? I’ve heard good things about it, the storyline and music are supposed to be superb,” Thomas said and Roman nodded silently. He just liked the fantasy element and thought breaking up the farming with monster murder would be more interesting than just farming. Breaking up the monster murder with something laid back also seemed cool. He took a deep breath and sipped his water again. His throat was still so tight it hurt a little going down, but he was feeling like maybe he could continue to be okay as long as nobody made him think about himself. “Hey, uh, Roman, did you know?” Thomas asked a little awkwardly and Roman looked up at him in confusion. “About… Virgil?” Thomas finished. Roman put the glass of water between his legs to free up his hand.

‘What about him?’ Roman signed.

“Are you having trouble talking? I’m not any further than learning the alphabet yet, I’m sorry,” Thomas said, sitting next to Thomas. Roman motioned for him to come closer and Thomas complied and leaned in.

“Know what?” Roman whispered. He could mange whispering right now. He was just trying his damnedest not to break down again. He was not stuck in the shitty boat Virgil was. He picked back up his water cup and held it with both hands.

“That maybe he also has PTSD from… other homes?” Thomas asked softly, looking disconcerted.

“What do you mean also?” Roman whispered.

“The ER doctor thinks you have it. Do you remember being in the ER?” Thomas asked, sounding concerned.

“Not much,” Roman said under his breath. This was going into territory Roman wasn’t so comfortable in.

“There’s stuff about PTSD I guess we didn’t realize until now, I guess. Like that it wasn’t just about certain triggers,” Thomas clarified. “Did he say anything to you?” Thomas asked with concern.

“He might have mentioned it,” Roman whispered. “He noticed I was… worried about you guys hitting me and he told me I was safe. Then explained that it’s why he noticed. He implied he didn’t like talking about it. I kind of agree with him,” He admitted. He didn’t want to talk about it right now, for sure, but talking about it any time wasn’t ideal.

“I wish one of you would have told us, but I can’t fault you for not wanting to think about it,” Thomas looked frustrated for a moment, but his face softened again when he saw Roman back up slightly. “Have you heard of age regression?” Thomas asked. That seemed out of the blue. It baffled Roman enough that he no longer was shying away from Thomas.

“That’s that thing perverts do, isn’t it?” Roman asked quietly and raised an eyebrow at Thomas, a little confused on why he would bring it up.

“What?” Thomas looked just as bewildered as Roman felt. “Oh, I hate having to google these things,” He muttered. “Not that. This is medical,” Thomas said more clearly and sighed, shaking his head. Oh, well, that’s good, maybe? “Sometimes certain triggers can cause age regression in PTSD patients. Do you know how I know how I know you had a gun pulled on you?” Thomas asked, looking like he was examining Roman now. It unnerved him a bit.

“No,” Roman muttered, watching Thomas nervously in return and gripping the cold glass firmly.

“Because you told me. You were a very mouthy 13-year-old. You also thought I was Satan for a bit,” Thomas said, sounding kind of amused. Roman stared at him for a moment while he processed what Thomas said. When he realized he that he might have cussed out Thomas, his eyes widened and he shut them tight, trying to to freak out. Thomas didn’t deserve his defensive bullshit. He had to put up an aggressive front or people wouldn’t take him seriously. It didn’t pay off for him in the end, though, and he regretted ever doing it.

“Sorry,” Roman choked out and tensed up.

“No, no, it was kind of cute,” Thomas chuckled weakly and looked to Roman reassuringly. Roman took a deep breath and tried to settle down. Cute wasn’t exactly what Roman was going for, but at least he didn’t hurt Thomas’s feelings or anything. “Well, Other than the fact that you were disappointed you didn’t die. You don’t still feel like that, do you?” Thomas asked softly, sounding sad. Roman’s shoulders flinched, and he swallowed hard.

“Doesn’t everybody?” Roman whispered, joking weakly. The small broken laugh that accompanied it wasn’t the most convincing thing he’d ever done.

“No, Roman, that’s not normal,” Thomas said, putting his arm on the couch over Roman’s shoulder’s without touching him. Roman could feel the heat from his arm but appreciated not being touched. He was even closer to breaking down now, and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could hold out. “You got a referral for a psychiatrist at the ER and I’ll be making you an appointment, okay?”

“No, Thomas, please! I’ll be good, I’ll try not to-” Roman started babbling loudly, shooting a desperate look up to him.

“Hey, kiddo, it’s okay!” Patton held his hands up and cut Roman off. Roman held his lips closed tight in a thin line.

“Why are you scared of the psychiatrist?” Thomas looked pointedly at Roman.

“My… They’ll know- The foster people. That I’m a bad kid. And then they won’t be able to place me, and then I’ll be stuck in one of those holding centers, they’re worse than the group homes, they’re really awful and that’s… I just can’t,” Roman rambled choked on a sob. He sniffled and dropped back against his cup, a tear breaking loose despite how hard he fought against it.

“Why are you worried about going to a holding center?” Patton asked, sounding concerned.

“’Cuz having mental health record is bad and harder to place since I’d be special needs,” Roman mumbled between his legs, starting to cry.

“Do you still think we’re sending you back on Friday, Roman?” Thomas sounded sad.

“Maybe,” Roman breathed.

“I missed that,” Thomas said. Roman looked up and glanced at Thomas.

“You should! I don’t belong here! I belong somewhere crappy where I’m too busy trying to survive to have to think about things. I never… I never struggled like this. At least not until I got used to not having Remus around,” Roman sighed, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. He and Remus had a shitty time when the memories were fresh, but losing Remus was worse.

“Actually, sometimes people who have been in a hard situation for a long time usually struggle in more positive environments because they’re not sure how to process love and support. Did getting separated from your brother really hurt?” Patton piped up, sounding very compassionate when he suggested an explanation. Roman barely understood what he meant, but he could follow the question easily.

“It was like they took half of me away when they tore us apart,” Roman grumbled.

“Maybe because it was the last bit of stability and support you had, you closed off and just tried to deal with the situation, and you’ve been doing that ever since,” Patton offered, continuing his explanation. Roman couldn’t completely follow, though.

“What?” Roman asked. His head hurt and he didn’t comprehend a lick of that. Some more tears broke free, and he sniffled again.

“I think you belong here,” Patton said resolutely. Roman could follow that much easier. Wait, what the fuck? No, he couldn’t!

“What?” Roman asked more incredulously, wiping his eyes.

“You love Disney and The Princess Bride and books and you’re kind and considerate and quick and Lita loves you. And Virgil’s opened up more since you got here, so I think he likes you, too,” Patton said, holding up a finger. “You fit in just fine! All the other stuff isn’t you. It’s what you’ve been through,” He smiled brightly, looking confident. That didn’t make sense, though. He was a fuck up for a castle keep full of reasons.

“I wasn’t able to sleep or keep track of time or sit still or do well in school before everything else. There’s plenty of stuff that I’m bad at, that’s all me,” Roman grumbled in objection.

“And there're ways you can learn to cope with all of that when you’re somewhere safe,” Patton provided.

“I can’t stay here,” Roman rested his chin on his legs and stared forward, feeling despondent. He couldn’t stop the stray tears, but he was too empty to freak out anymore. Thomas looked bewildered and sad out of the corner of his eyes, but he said nothing.

“And why is that?” Patton asked evenly, though his eyes looked sad.

“I’ll…” Roman dropped his head into his legs again. He couldn’t bring himself to say it.

“You’ll what?” Patton urged him to continue.

“It’s selfish, and it’s unrealistic,” Roman grumbled, shifting to sip his water. A timer in the kitchen dinged and Thomas got up. Roman flinched from the motion and sighed. He was so on edge it physically hurt. He was buzzing with restlessness but too tired and sad to even start figuring out how he could fix it.

“How about I decide that?” Patton asked softly.

“I have to get to go to a home that’s willing to take two kids when Remus also needs placement. I’ll never see him again until we turn 18 if I don’t. If he doesn’t hate me by then, anyway,” Roman sighed again and looked up to the ceiling.

“I promise we’ll take you to see him when we can, Roman,” Patton said, and he sounded like he meant it, unlike most other times he’s heard it. Though he could never really trust adults meant it when they offered, though. He’d been burned too many times before. Patton probably only meant it at the moment, but it would be too much when the time came, just like always.

“But I won’t get to be his brother again,” Roman said despondently. “Whisper nonsense words and have him completely understand me. Play fight like the fate of the world depends on the outcome. Write stories with him that turn into whole universes. All the stuff we used to have. The brother stuff you can only have when you’re a kid and you live together,” Patton looked somber but didn’t say anything. There really wasn’t anything to say.

“I hope you’re hungry, Roman,” Thomas called from the kitchen.

“You know I’m not,” Roman groaned loudly.

“Too bad!” Thomas called back. Roman sighed and sipped his water again.

“I would miss you guys… I’m not trying to say I don’t… appreciate you being nice and stuff. As much as it drives me up the wall,” Roman chuckled weakly and Patton pouted at that. “I just… I’ve been going this long on the hope I’d get him back. I got through everything I did because I never let go of the hope of being reunited, you know? I just can’t let go of that. And I don’t want to make it harder to be placed and then lessen my chances even further of getting to be with him again. I’ll be good, I promise, okay? I just can’t have that go on my records,” Roman begged him.

“How about I talk to your caseworker about it when we see him Friday? See what we can do without it going on your state records?” Patton offered gently, looking strangely conciliatory for someone who did nothing wrong.

“I’m a ward of the state who is just staying at your house. They own my ass,” Roman bit, though there was very little energy or aggression behind it, mostly just tired frustration with his situation.

“Roman, I know you’re upset, but you don’t have to be mean,” Patton chided, frowning slightly.

“Sorry,” Roman sighed heavily. “Right after I said I’d be good and everything,” Roman muttered to himself sourly. Roman wished he knew how to stop being a bastard already.

“It doesn’t hurt to ask,” Patton said. “And I’m going to either way as your guardian, but I’d much rather you be on board with it,” Patton said gesturing with his hand.

“Thanks for your honesty, I guess,” Roman rolled his eyes. “I’m on board as long as it doesn’t hurt my chances,” It was just asking, not acting in it. Roman leaned back again and put his cup down on the side table. He was so fucking itchy still. Thomas couldn’t see him, though, it was just Patton in the room. He probably wouldn’t freak out at a little itch. Roman scratched at the edges of the bandages and exhaled in relief as he itched at the adhesive, which stung slightly.

“No scratching!” Thomas called from the kitchen and Roman froze in complete and utter bafflement.

“What the actual fuck, Thomas?” Roman groaned loudly enough to project into the kitchen.

“Dad powers,” Thomas said seriously. “Apologize for cursing,”

“Sorry for saying fuck,” Roman huffed and dropped his arms in defeat to the couch with a light thud.

“Roman,” Patton said firmly, furrowing his eyebrows at him.

“Sorry for saying it again,” Roman rolled his eyes and saw Virgil come back down the stairs. He looked pretty okay other than kind of tired, which was relieving.

‘Saying fuck in front of Pat twice?’ Virgil signed. ‘Props,’ He fingerspelled.

‘Nice to see your dumb face again,’ Roman signed back.

‘Can’t say the same to you,’ Virgil signed and smirked at him before sitting back down at his controller and starting to play again. He glanced over to Patton, who mostly just seemed to be considering something. Roman was just glad the conversation was over. He turned his eyes back to the TV screen to watch the game again. He slowly loosened back up as he watched Virgil play. The long scarf physics were really eye-catching, and he just let himself drift to that.

“Dinner’s ready!” Thomas called after an interminable period of silently watching the cloaked guy running through the level. Patton smiled at them and got up and headed to the kitchen. Virgil looked Roman up and down after he paused the game.

‘You don’t look capable of crime,’ Virgil signed and looked at him disbelievingly. Wow, Virgil didn’t beat around the bush.

‘Thanks?’ Roman signed, raising an eyebrow. Maybe that was a good thing?

‘Can you do anything other than sell drugs?’ Virgil signed.

‘You cut right to the point,’ Roman made a face at him. He wasn’t sure what Virgil was getting at, but it was weird to straight-up ask.

‘Can you?’ Virgil signed again.

‘I can pick pockets and pick locks,’ Roman fingerspelled. He could do other things, too, but he wasn’t as ashamed of those things as the others.

‘No shit?’ Virgil signed and some excitement in his eyes leaked into the disbelieving expression.

‘Seriously,’ Roman signed back and nodded.

‘You’re lying,’ Virgil frowned. Fucker. Roman wasn’t lying.

‘I’ll prove it,’ Roman signed, getting up from the couch. He had to talk carefully and tenderly to the kitchen on his fucked up feet, but found a stride.

Thomas was still at the stove getting things on to serving dishes and Patton was putting water cups at the table. This was too freaking easy. Roman picked Thomas’s wallet as he passed and nonchalantly slid it in his pocket. He sat down and smiled at Patton, who smiled back and sat down. Virgil joined them at the table and stared at Roman, clearly waiting for him to do something. Roman smirked and pulled Thomas’s wallet out, throwing it at Virgil. He caught it and looked between the wallet and Roman. Patton looked up from serving himself food and saw them.

“Virgil, why do you have your wallet at the table?” Patton asked, peering closer. “Actually, isn’t that Thomas’s? Did you find it somewhere?” Patton asked, taking it from Virgil’s hands. “Virgil found your wallet, Thomas,” Patton said as Thomas walked over with the last of the food and placed it down on the table, looking confused.

“What? I don’t remember taking it out. Thank you, Virgil,” Thomas said, taking the wallet back from Patton and sliding it back in his back pocket before sitting down. Roman leaned on the table and smirked, raising his eyebrow at Virgil in anticipation.

‘You absolute bastard,’ Virgil signed, looking extremely impressed. Roman took a bow.

‘Careful, it’s not all I can do,’ Roman sat back in his chair, looking concernedly at all the food now.

‘Don’t threaten me with a good time,’ Virgil signed back before reaching over to serve himself a giant pile of tater tots. He served a single tater tot to Roman with a smirk before reaching out to grab a piece of chicken.

“I’m not beyond serving you food and sitting here until you eat it,” Thomas eyed Roman. Roman sighed and grabbed a small piece of chicken and a single scoop of vegetables. “That’s half as much as Virgil is eating, Roman,” Thomas said critically.

“I’m 100% positive he’s powered by a black hole,” Roman objected sourly, motioning to Virgil.

‘Thanks,’ Virgil smirked and started eating.

“Teenagers are biologically hungry, and you are not exempt,” Thomas corrected him.

“It’s fine,” Roman huffed.

“I think we’ve successfully established you don’t have the best impression of what fine is, Roman,” Thomas said critically and leaned back in his chair.

“Thomas, sassing Roman isn’t nice,” Patton chided him. “Just take a tiny bit more, okay, kiddo?” Patton looked at him pleadingly. Virgil served Roman another single tater tot.

‘There. More,’ Virgil signed and Roman laughed. This fucking guy.

“Thank you,” Roman smiled and signed as he spoke.

“Virgil, don’t encourage him,” Thomas frowned and chided Virgil.

‘Sure. You suck, Roman,’ Virgil signed with a lopsided grin.

“Oh, I’m wounded,” Roman put his palm to his forehead and leaned back dramatically. It did actually start to smell good, at least. Roman began eating slowly, trying to get it over with, but the more he ate the easier it finally felt and the more his stomach woke up. It stopped hurting when he ate, and he ate more comfortably. “Thanks for dinner, Mr. Sanders,” He said absentmindedly as he reached out for another serving of vegetables.

“Um, you’re welcome, Roman,” Thomas sounded a little confused, but the food was good and Roman didn’t bother looking up from eating. He grabbed a second piece of chicken, as well, after finishing the first one. Virgil knocked on the table and Roman looked up at him.

‘Are you going to tell them you stole his wallet?’ Virgil asked. Roman put down his fork and swallowed.

‘Why?’ Roman signed back, confused. Tell them he stole from Thomas? That was dumb.

‘Because they won’t be mad and I want to see their faces,’ Virgil signed. Maybe they wouldn’t and everything would be chill. But if they did get mad, maybe he’d finally get punished and fell right in the freaking world again. It seemed like a win-win scenario with a bonus of amusing Virgil.

‘Fair,’ Roman shrugged. He finally felt awake and feeling impulsive. Virgil laughs, well, as much as he does, and Roman gets sent to his room without dessert or something assuredly way too tame for what he did.

“You didn’t lose your wallet, Thomas. I picked your pocket,” Roman said flippantly, eating one of his two tater tots. They both stared at him dubiously and exchanged a look before looking back at Roman. Virgil leaned forward to watch, looking amused already.

“…Why?” Patton asked after a quiet moment of confusion. Virgil did that silent laughing thing behind his hand.

“He didn’t believe me,” Roman pointed to Virgil. “I didn’t take anything. I don’t think it’s right to steal money. I just wanted to prove I could,” Roman explained with a smug smile and a little shrug. Roman had enough money stolen from him that he genuinely couldn’t bear to do it to anyone else anymore.

“Why can you…” Patton started to ask but trailed off. He probably answered his own question as Roman raised his eyebrow and leaned on his arm.

“I learned how to do lots of things,” Roman passed his hand over the tater tot on his plate and it disappeared. Roman passed it quickly behind his back and popped it in his mouth while they were all looking at the plate. “Magic!” He announced. Stoners fucking loved sleight of hand. He once got a fifty dollar tip from a guy who was completely blasted.

Lita weaved under his feet and he shivered from the dog fur through his sock. His feet were still feeling raw from his run this morning. Roman pulled them up and went back to eating his vegetables. Thomas looked shocked and Patton beamed in delight. Virgil looked unimpressed as usual and returned to going to town on the pile of tater tots.

“Do you know any other magic tricks, Roman?” Patton asked with a sparkle in his eye.

“I know sleight of hand and card tricks, not any magic-magic tricks,” Roman shrugged. “Nothing fancy,”

“Well, will you show me one after dinner?” Patton smiled, returning to cutting up his chicken.

“Do you know the four kings in the tower?” Roman asked, interested in getting to show off.

“No,” Patton shook his head, looking invested already.

“Then that it shall be,” Roman declared regally, twisting his fork in the air. He rolled his eyes at his own idiocy and returned to eating.

Personal Taglist: @bunny222 @elizabutgayer @prinxietyforever @kanene-yaaay-o-retorno @the-sympathetic-villain @croftersjam15

the taglist repository:

High school: @dragonwithproblems @starlight-era @averykedavra @potatsanderssides

Roman Angst: @k1ngtok1

Hurt Comfort: @callboxkat @nonasficcollection @supernovainthenightsky @evoodo123

Roman-Centric: @smileyzs @robinwritesshitposts @thatgaydemigodnerd

Fostering AU: @i-am-not-a-dinner-roll

literally everything sanders sides: @katelynn-a-fan @dwbh888 @grouptalekindnesssoul @the-hoely-bleach @anvil527up @fanficloverinthesun @brain-deadx0 @the-grounded-raven @ananonsplace @ollyollyoxinfree

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harveywritings92 · 4 years

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Modern AU:40yr old! Jacob x Accidental Wife! Reader ch 3

One month later...

Y/n was coming home from her shift at Topping's legal firm, Robert gave her a job after Jacob found out she was working a risque bar called Garter-Belles (Not a real place it's a bar I made up,it's like Hooters except everyone dresses like sexy maids) Y/n couldn't decide what was more embarrassing him seeing her topless within two minutes of knowing her, or seeing her in that damn maid outfit? Either way Jacob was pretty standoffish and snarky with her upon finding out she worked in that bar!

He seemed to calmed down after she quit he was still stung up about it, but now Y/n had too much free time on her hands, sure keeping tabs on Blume was a priority!... but it can get boring sitting on her arse all day. Luckily Robert seem to notice her unrest when she came to visit Jacob at his office after he called her to bring some documents he'd forgotten and offered her a job as a clerk at his law firm.

The y/ht woman was distracted when she received a text from one of her recruits, Kur0_M0ri telling her that they may have found a good place for a DedSec hideout, but it needs to be "cleaned out" before that can happen, Y/n lips formed a thin line and here she was hoping to keep her hands clean... She texted Mori back telling them to let her handle considering she had more experience in. "Cleaning"

While she was distracted by the text Y/n hadn't noticed another person had joined her in the elevator until she heard the muffled sound of music and glanced over to see a teenage boy about 14 years old maybe? leaning against the wall with bored look as he played with a DS, he wearing a school uniform and a black hoodie and and messy mop of brown hair under a baseball cap and he also had a duffle bag over his shoulder.

*Must be visiting someone..* The y/nat woman thought as she got a good look at the boys face... it was familiar especially around the chin and eye area... the boy's lips twitched as his hazel eyes looked up from his game at her. "Is there wrong with my face?" he huffed obviously annoyed at her gawking at him, Y/n's face felt hot as she muttered an apology then broke the awkward silence that followed... "Ultra Sun or Moon?" She asked finally noticing the Mimikyu on the screen.

"...You play pokemon?" he asked unsure. "Since I was a kid!" Y/n chirped as the boy or Emmett as he introduced himself opened up about how he just the ghost challenge. "Sweet did you go back to get Mimikyu's Z-move?" the teen gawked at her surprised. "there's a Z-move?" She was going to confirm this when the elevator pinged saying they on her floor, she went to apologize to Emmett only to realize he was getting off on this floor too!

Funny...

The boy went on to explaine his mom and Step-father were going on vacation and he was spending the week with his dad and his witch to be Stepmom, the teen looked physically ill as he spat out the word Stepmom, Y/n hummed warily obviously feeling bad for the kid, She wished him the best of luck as they both stopped Jacob's door which caused the world to come to a screeching halt as Y/n and Emmett looked down at their keys then gave each other a "what the hell look"...

meanwhile

"Oh Shit,shit shit!" Jacob cussed as he tapped Y/n's number on his phone having just got the voice mail from Herb {Emmett's Stepfather.] He and Amanda were going on a holiday, and had sent Emmett to come and stay with him for a week! Now Jacob wasn't shy telling Y/n about his son, in fact he told her outright about him, after she asked if he had any other family aside from his sister?

The problem is he never got around to telling her what he looked like or his name for that matter as they'd gotten interrupted by a work call on Jacob's part, he also neglected to tell his son about his new Stepmom! "C'mon,C'mon..." He hissed at the phone urging Y/n to answer when it finally picked up.

"Y/n! Y/n... okay, I don't want you panic, but I have tell yo-" the y/nat woman cut him off pretty quckly. "That my Stepsons coming for the spring holiday?" She said uncomfortable as Jacob pinched the bridge of his nose, and sighed in both relief and frustration. "He's already there isn't he?" he huffed Y/n mm-hmm'd confirming his suspicions. "Yep! and giving me a sour-look that puts my mother's 'I want the manager face' to shame..." She sees Emmett's eye twitch as she says this knowing his father was probably doing the same thing because: Karin.

"Okay um, I'll be home ten minutes just try... I don't know."

"Well, that makes two of us!"

"Just wait for me alright? See you."

"Wait Jac-"

He hung up before Y/n could ask what their sleeping arrangements were going to be? Because obviously she wasn't going to let the kid sleep on the couch, speaking of which she turned towards Emmett who was sitting at the kitchen counter still glaring while eating a cookie... "So... Emmett ever seen Deadpool?" He doesn't answer her just keeps eating his cookie.

Y/n stomach felt twisted as she awkwardly walked towards the fridge. "Y'know those would go better with milk, I'm sure you must be thirsty." the boy swallowed his cookie and frowned at her. "I'm not." He hissed before getting up and stomping into her room. "Oh Emmett That's not--" The teen slammed the door. "...a guest room." The y/ht woman sighed and sat on the couch before turning on the TV and waited for Jacob to come home...

When Jacob did return home he found Y/n sitting on the couch watching How it's made, well not really watching... it was more like staring off into space, And the TV was just background noise, the assassin also noted his son was nowhere to be found, though it was obvious he was here; judging by the plate of half-eaten cookies and the y/ht woman's awkward and sluggish mood making her husband frown.

"Where's-" he didn't have to finish Y/n almost in a daze pointed at her bedroom. "He locked me out and won't talk." Jacob winced at her deadpanned tone then knocked on the bedroom door. "Emmett, It's your father, can you open up so we can talk?" after a few seconds the door opened Y/n looked towards her room.

Emmett didn't even acknowledge her presence as Jacob's lips formed thin line this was obviously not how he planned to introduce them, he actually wanted to wait meet up with Emmett in private and explain the situation to him, and then check with Y/n to see if she was comfortable with the idea of meeting his son.

But seeing as the universe just loves to make Jacob Frye it's bitch... that plan was a bust. And so begins probably one of the most awkward discussions of Jacob's life! and the most tense week of Y/n's.

#assassin's creed x reader #assassin's creed syndicate #40yr old! Jacob Frye #jacob frye x reader

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wethepixies · 4 years

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Welcome to the third and final part of our staff interview series! This set of interviews focus on some of our most social staff members - our Discord moderators and our social media team. Once again, these pixies had a lot to say, so we’re tucking all of it under the “Keep reading” link!

WTP’s Discord server is the main place for the community to come together - in fact, we just passed 6,000 members! It’s extremely important to keep the server as safe and friendly as possible, and that’s where our beloved moderators come through. Without them, we wouldn’t have the loving WTP community!

Our moderators are Lila Almondpetal, Gloria Flutterflower, Daphne Moonflower, Anastasia Foxheart, Rose Morningmist, and Kassie.

What are some of your favorite memories about the original Pixie Hollow? And what are some things that you’re excited to see again in WTP?

Daphne: If I had to choose only one favorite thing then it would be shopping in Pixie Hollow especially those GORGEOUS gowns from the Queen's Boutique. It was the luxury store of Pixie Hollow, and the gowns they had were on a whole different level. I used to play Pixie Hollow every day as a kid and I even convinced my dad to get me the annual membership. I was able to make a lot of friends from different parts of the world because of the game. My best memories of the game are of Camp Pixie Dust! As for what I’m excited to see in WTP, I am exhilarated about the Tearoom and Animal Derby coming back since those were the only places you could play with other players. They were always packed with other fairies and sparrowmen and I used to hang out in those two places the most.

In her interview, Daphne sent us some pictures of two of her favorite things in Pixie Hollow - a couple of screenshots of Camp Pixie Dust and her favorite gown from the Queen’s Boutique.

Anastasia: Honestly? As a kid, I spent most of my time attending the parties. The minigames there were always so addicting! Gameplay wise, I loved baking and tailoring! I wasn't as invested in it as other Disney MMOs because I never was able to get a Pixie Hollow Membership, but I still loved to play it! It influenced my decision to play the DS games, as well as the Fashion Boutique mobile game! I will say that my love of the original Pixie Hollow has benefited my life in many ways as without it, I wouldn't have so many memories with friends I've made along the way. Also, I would've never found WTP! I think one of my best memories from Pixie Hollow has to be from the one party where I won almost all of the party games. I was pretty young when I was really into Pixie Hollow, so although it's a bit silly, I just remember feeling super proud and feeling like the queen of the party, haha! As a kid, I never really appreciated the quests (although I did do them), so I am excited for those to come back & relive that experience. However, since WTP will not have a paywall for any of the experiences from the original Pixie Hollow, I am incredibly excited to explore The Wilderness for the first time!

Lila: My favorite part of the original game was honestly how open and free it was! There was always so much to do in the game, but I never felt pressured to do any of it if I didn't want to. I could go crazy one day playing games and doing quests, and then I could spend the next day flying around, just admiring the scenery and doing absolutely nothing in terms of progress. There were no obligations at all - I think that's why I remember the game so well. I was also really invested in it - I actually kept a journal about what I did in the game, can you believe it? I would say it's made my life better in a couple of ways - when the game was still open, it was a fantastic stress reliever, and even now I love thinking about it (plus, it led me to WTP!). As for my favorite memory… well, there are so many! I'd have to say my favorite was the time a Sparrow Man and I flirted in the Tearoom using nothing but those preset Speedchat phrases. I don't know who started it, but I'm pretty sure we were both non-members at the time - maybe we were drawn together by those Arrival Day outfits. We ended up drawing a crowd; I remember seeing a lot of clapping emojis and hearts. It was insane! Sadly, we forgot to add each other as friends, so we never saw each other again. I just got out my old journal to check if I wrote down his name - and I apparently did! Figfig, my guy, if you’re out there, I was either Twilight Olivemist or Karina Lightningflame at the time. As for what I’m excited for, I'm super excited for all of the meadows to come back! I loved just flying around and seeing all of the gorgeous artwork. And multiplayer, of course - Pixie Hollow was such a social game. I loved those little things like sitting on a branch and chatting.

Gloria: My favorite part of the original game was definitely the community aspect! I made a lot of friends in Pixie Hollow that were really special to me. It was so much fun to play games and throw parties with other pixies in the Hollow! I played the original game from January 2009 to its closing in 2013. I was really invested in the game and played very often! It definitely helped me embrace my inner child and hold onto magic longer than a lot of my peers, something I am grateful for. One great memory I have of the game was the events. I specifically loved the Silly Days Event, which allowed users to access the Mermaid Grotto. And Camp Pixie Dust, of course! For WTP, I am super excited for questing! It was a really unique experience every time and led to neat storylines which allowed players to unlock some cool items. I really liked the added structure of quests in game.

Rose: I was mildly obsessed with Pixie Hollow for a good majority of my childhood. I was picked on quite a bit when I was younger, so Pixie Hollow became this sort of safe haven for me, where I could express myself without fear of judgement. I spent a lot of my time roleplaying with online friends, pretending to be waitresses in the Tearoom, or secret agents fighting crime and protecting the Hollow – it was a lot of fun. Some of my first ever story ideas came from some of those roleplays, which lead to me starting a blog and later pursuing a career as an author, so I actually owe a lot to the game and the friends I made there. My favorite thing was probably decorating my home – I loved creating different settings with all the furniture I had, from cafés to ice palaces. It was a lot of fun. I'm super excited for multiplayer – I’ve made so many friends through the PBC (Pixie Blogging Community) and WTP, so I can’t wait for when we can hang out in-game.

Kassie: I played Pixie Hollow starting in late 2008 until it closed! Every day after school I would grab my snack and head to the computer to play for at LEAST an hour. Narrowing down my favorite part of the game is so hard!! But if I had to choose I would say getting creative with outfits and color combos! I loved going to fashion contests and seeing other people's creations- that's actually how I met a lot of my friends. I think Pixie Hollow benefited me as a way to escape from the stresses of the real world. Middle school and early high school were difficult seasons for me and it was nice to venture into a mystical land where I felt people truly cared for me. One of my favorite memories was when I met my friend Strawberry. We were mutual friends with someone and we both went to her house at the same time. However, our friend was asleep (remember the lil z's?) and so we started talking and suddenly we became the best of friends! Over 10 years later we are still friends and catch up with each other once in a while. We don't live far from each other so we hope to meet each other someday! Honestly, I’m most excited to have house decorating in WTP! I remember people would spend HOURS decorating their homes and doing the coolest designs- I always concentrated more on fashion so I'd love the chance to redeem myself and design an awesome home!

How did you first find out about the WTP project and what inspired you to start working as a moderator?

Kassie: A lot of my close friends started up the project and eventually invited me to be a part of it as a moderator! In our friend group I tended to be the one to mediate conversations, so I think it was a no-brainer to ask me to moderate.

Daphne: When I got to know about Club Penguin rewrites, I thought there might be a rewrite for Pixie Hollow as well and I stumbled upon a YouTube video which mentioned WTP. I really wanted to help out with the project in any way I could so that really motivated me to become a moderator.

Anastasia: I actually found out about the WTP project through Teresa, on another Pixie Hollow site where she first posted the Bubble Bounce demo! She even DM'd me about potentially helping out as an artist, which I've always wanted to do! However, due to my schedule being a bit too busy to consistently help out with game art, I never felt like I could apply. However, I've always tried to help out in other ways, such as when I was an Event Manager & hosted movie nights! When it was decided that movie nights were going to take a hiatus, I really wanted to continue helping out in the community, and thus, I became a mod!

Lila: I first found out about We The Pixies when I joined a Club Penguin rewrite. I hadn't thought about Pixie Hollow in years, but then I wondered if someone else had rewritten Pixie Hollow, so I looked it up and found WTP! As for joining the moderation team, I'd been pretty active on the server when the application opened up, and I really loved the community. I figured I'd give it a shot - worst they could say was no, right? Well, I ended up getting the role! It’s been a really great job ever since.

Gloria: I found out about We the Pixies while doing some Google searches and checking out the Pixie Hollow community this year. I definitely jumped at the opportunity to apply to be a moderator because I have so much passion for the project and wanted to help out and connect with others who also had interest.

Rose: I found WTP through Phoebe Bumbleflip’s blog – she published a post promoting the remake and the Discord back in October last year. I don’t have any skills that can really help with the recreation of the game itself, but I wanted to contribute in any way I could, which is what inspired me become a moderator.

(Phoebe is a member of the WTP Hype Squad, you can find her blog here!)

The WTP community is mostly positive, but have you ever had instances where you felt like server members weren't being the nicest? If so, how do you deal with it?

Anastasia: Since I'm new to the staff team, I've only ever come across a handful of issues involving the members, and most of them resolve with ease. Typically, directing people to the rules and giving them a warning is enough.

Lila: With so many people in the server, it's not unusual to see something that isn't so friendly - usually, if an argument starts up in the chat, reminding people of the rules or starting a new conversation fixes things. If things are really bad, I might talk to someone individually and ask them nicely to be, well, nicer.

Gloria: In my time on the staff so far, we have had a couple trolls and people who haven't complied with the rules, and in that situation, we generally like to calmly message the person and ask them to comply with the server rules. In my experience thus far, this usually sorts out the problem. However, if the issue persists, the moderation team would consult each other and figure out how to deal with it further based on the severity of the behavior.

Rose: They’re very rare, but we have had to deal with some disputes with upset or angry members. Usually us moderators will talk and discuss the issue and then decide the best course of action together.

Kassie: There's always going to be someone unkind who comes across the server every now and then. I think the best way to handle it is to tell them what rule they're breaking and WHY it's important that they adhere to the rule. Ultimately, our rules are about respecting everyone in the community. If we can help them empathize and understand respect I think that's making strides not only in the WTP community but hopefully in EVERY community that individual is a part of.

We've had a few events in the WTP community, how does creating one come about and how do you plan it?

Anastasia: Excellent question! As a former Event Manager, I'm the right Pixie to ask!

It all starts with the approval of administration. Once the admins approve of it (and other staff have no issues with it), you can go forward and begin scheduling a time. We typically don't do events without having a proper schedule or time frame. We also try to accommodate other time zones as best as we can, since we know that WTP has Pixies from across the globe! Then, you need to designate certain responsibilities to people. This was the purpose of the Event Managers, since we were in charge of hosting Movie/Game Night. I have a lot of good memories hosting movie nights with Alchemist (Lavender) and Asteria! With other events, staff members are chosen to have either a leading role or a helping hand in making sure the event goes smoothly. Even if they aren't in charge, it is important to note that all events typically require staff supervision. Now, planning it typically involves a discussion among the staff (and any other WTP players that may be involved in helping out). We usually try to make sure that the community voice is heard, and that they can get involved! Our main goal is always to bring everyone together while having fun, and that is the foundation of all our events.

Daphne: The Hype Squad is the creative mind behind all the events we have. Since we can not have in-game events (which we definitely will once the game is fully developed), the Hype Squad tries to come up with flitterific events to keep us in the pixie hollow spirit while we wait. Our former team of event managers was behind the shorter events such as the numerous game nights and movie nights.

Lila: Starting an event is absolutely a team effort - no matter where or who the idea comes from, we like to talk about it for a while first. For example, I had the idea for Meadow Madness one night out of the blue, and I made sure to run it by the staff and Hype Squad before I started anything up. It ended up being a huge success - we had an average of 200 respondents per round, which was pretty neat for something I came up with in ten minutes.

Rose: There’s quite a bit of planning that goes on behind the scenes for events – a lot of events are actually planned by the Hype Squad (which I am a part of) or our social media team. An idea will be presented by a team member, and then we’ll all discuss it – what our thoughts are on the suggestion, and how we’d go about holding it if it were to become an actual event. If everyone on the team agrees and the staff are okay with it, we’ll then start deciding dates for the event and preparing things like banners and announcement posts. Sometimes we’ll also have one of our members act as coordinator too, to make sure everything is running smoothly during the event itself.

Kassie: I'm personally not one of the head honchos who puts events together, but it comes down to listening to a bunch of ideas and trying to figure out which one best fits the needs and desires of the community!

How do you fit working on WTP into your schedule?

Daphne: I finished high school in April and I can't really start college until quarantine is over, so I pretty much don't have anything to do at home right now so it's easy for me to make time for WTP.

Anastasia: I try my best to moderate whenever I can- usually in my spare time. We get a lot of newcomers each day, so there always seems to be someone who needs help getting verified, or a Pixie who needs some other sort of assistance. That's the thing about having such a large community: we always seem to have some moderating to do!

Lila: I actually have the apps I need for moderation (and social media work) on my phone - now that I'm not in school for the summer, I'm traveling a lot, so I don't sit down and use my laptop very often. I think I use Discord on my phone more than my laptop, actually. Using mobile lets me check the server whenever I have a spare moment, so I can keep up with things wherever I go.

Gloria: I have a really flexible schedule in general as school and life goes, so I am able to make time to moderate and spend a lot of time online.

Rose: Mostly by multitasking – I’m almost always online, even if I’m doing other things, so it’s not too tricky to keep an eye on the server throughout the day.

Kassie: It's hard sometimes, but the easiest way for me to stay connected is to keep my notifications on when I'm not busy with the mandatory things in life like my job, planning my wedding, and investing in relationships outside of the community. Giving myself the chance to walk away here and there leaves me refreshed for the next time I log on!

Two of our moderators, Kassie and Lila, also serve on our social media team, so we asked them a special question:

How do you use social media to grow the community?

Lila: Social media is a great place to post about game updates and community events. I've found that few posts get people more excited than posts about new game features. Update posts also let people know that, yes, we are still up and running! Sometimes people think we've shut down already, and social media helps us keep the project alive.

Kassie: Social Media is all about messages. I think what attracts people to join a community is to send a message they resonate with! In WTP's case, nostalgia plays a huge part in growing our community- we are trying to attract people who are excited about something they wish they had again.

One final question for all of our moderators: what’s your favorite part of your job, and is there a way it’s benefited you?

Daphne: Definitely talking and getting to know so many people from across the globe. I'm always down for making new friends! For me, the most impact moderating for WTP has had is on my people skills. As a moderator, you have to ensure that everyone is following the rules and sometimes people need convincing to follow a rule. It also involves solving any issues related to the game/Discord server and communicating with the members in general, which really develops your people skills.

Anastasia: Honestly, my favorite part of being a mod is being able to interact with the other staff members. They're a really lovely and creative group of people, and it's fun bouncing ideas off of each other and figuring out what's best for everyone in this community! I wouldn't quit WTP for the world! Working for WTP has benefited me a lot as so far, it's helped me work on the ways I can help organize a community. Also, it is helping me work on my time management skills, as well as my ability to work in a team.

Lila: I think my favorite part of my job is, as corny as it sounds, watching this community grow! When I joined, we had maybe 500 users in the server, and we're well over 6000 now. I never thought that so many people would remember the game, but they do. It's remarkable, really. Working for WTP is probably the best volunteer position I've ever taken up. Moderating has really helped me learn how to think things through and get help when I need it. Working on social media has also been great for my writing and graphic design skills - I've got to say that I've gotten pretty good at color combinations!

Gloria: My favorite part of moderating is helping people in the player server and sparking interest and discussion among users. It's so much fun to reminisce about the hollow with other fans. Though I haven't been on the team for a very long time, it has already been lots of fun and I have really enjoyed connecting with the community even more and getting others interested in the revival project. And the other staff members are very cool people that are really rad to work with.

Rose: My favorite part of my job is welcoming new people to the server! Being a moderator has definitely helped with my problem-solving skills – working out ways to handle situations on the server.

Kassie: Being friends with the staff is my favorite part. It is always a joy to log on to laugh and learn with friends. I wouldn't trade it for anything. Asteria and I have created a pretty strong friendship (hopefully she agrees, haha). We've known each other for about 4 years now. She makes me laugh out loud and we've been there for each other in our victories and failures. Her friendship is one I deeply cherish and I hope we get to meet sometime in the future! I care a lot about connection, community, and friendship, so for me, being a part of this team is a way for me to foster those things and be a part of it! I think I've benefited from WTP by learning how to guide hard conversations and disagreements in a respectful manner. Many people think moderators just manage the community, but a huge part of our job is to aid staff in having constructive conversations. There are definitely ruffled wings here and there, but we always get through and I've really grown through those processes!

__________________

Thank you all so much for sticking with us during our interview series! We had a lot of fun answering your questions, and we hope you had a flaptastic time reading them.

#WTP Staff Interviews #we the pixies

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