#fuck this gacha game for having genuinely good music

[northwest-cryptid]

I think at the end of the day, no matter how much you may love Limbus Company; I feel like you probably understand and agree with the concept of the idea that it absolutely could have just been another $60 full release game like LoR or LC rather than being a predatory "name your own price" title gacha game that was sold to us as "we want to give you something back for funding our future projects" when we have no idea what projects, if any; are even being worked on that aren't LCB and what the fundraising goals are for those.

Like I'm not even going to get into the whole discourse of what happened a bit ago revealing the fact they're not just an "uwu small indie group" anymore and all that because that doesn't even change anything here.

Limbus Company isn't inherently a bad game at all, sure I don't necessarily care for (or even understand fully) the mechanics at play in it's system; but those mechanics are made infinitely worse when you bring in the FOMO. FOMO that is, inherently; and entirely unnecessary. With seasons, time limited gacha, and side story events that constantly demand more of your time; and if you care to complete them easier or collect/have everything the game has to offer; your money. I get it, you can use your friend's characters so then you just have to befriend a whale or two and you should be fine right? Well no, there's limitations on that; and even if you go that route you don't keep those characters.

With some of the characters just being inherently better than others the game DOES become harder (even if it's able to be done by some top player entirely F2P that's not the point. I ran LoR where I only used the starting deck and 1 librarian up until Love Town, that doesn't mean it was easy or that you SHOULD play that way! It drove me insane but it was a self imposed challenge and I never even cleared Love Town that way given how the game functions) for players who don't want to shell out and buy gacha; and yes they do give you a good amount of pulls and if you happen to be unlucky that's just tough. You get what you get and try to make the most of it if you won't hand over your money.

So then let's go back to the idea that, when you do give your money to PM they're using it to further produce more of what you love, right? Well... kind of? If you exclusively love Limbus Company then sure. Those of us who got left behind and don't have everything we need or don't understand the system well enough can't even get to the current story chapters because the game's difficulty is fucked if you don't bother to learn it extensively enough. Now I don't have anything against a hard mobile game but at least in the past if you weren't good at the management simulator or you didn't understand how to build a deck; us mod creators and the like had you covered. Now you're stuck looking up videos on youtube or reading posts on tumblr that you just kind of have to hope aren't fandomizing half of the information.

I don't know man it feels fucked to me. I'm glad people enjoy Limbus and all that, but I feel like we're not going to see another mainline actual single player non-micro transaction game from PM and that feels shitty after loving this franchise for years. I feel like my special interest was taken from me by the company who made the damn thing in the first place all because I wasn't able and willing to shell out hundreds of bucks since I happened to be in a rough spot during it's launch.

Which is all the more upsetting since I genuinely do like the characters, the music, the atmosphere and setting of Limbus Company; it seems cool and I was really excited to have a continuation of Lob Corps after effects on the world. It's a shame I won't ever get to experience it.

[raazberry]

(obm rant ahead it's long)

kinda really pisses me off when people dismiss the demand for good writing in dating sims by simply saying "it's a dating sim what do you expect." (and yes this is about a stupid take i saw about obey me specifically on twitter how did you guess.)

like, maybe this is a me thing but if a game is heavily driven by gacha then i am even more obligated to be critical of it. and if i'm going to be investing that much time (and money) into it, i think i deserve Something out of it???

i've complained about this on here so many times but it's genuinely so hard to actually keep progressing in the story (normal mode at least), especially if you're a new player - unless you whale a whole lot, or get extremely unbelievably lucky. and when you get past like, lesson 20 i think? the struggle just seems... meaningless.

why am i waiting four whole days just to level up one card by ONE level, just so that i can get past this one really annoying dance battle, only for the next story to be just... plain bad? and then i have to do it all over again?

like okay, maybe the story does get better in fucking season 3 which is like twenty more chapters away (btw from what i've heard, it kind of just doesn't get better) but as a new player it is just so hard to keep that level of commitment especially if all you're rewarded with is horrible writing and negative character development.

i've played free dating sims with better played out plots and stories than this and it just pisses me off so much because the general "idea" of obey me is SO good and so fun! and the characters you meet are genuinely interesting. although some jokes were objectively cringe i can live with that (i am playing a dating sim, after all...) like spoilers for lesson 16 and above i guess but in my opinion the execution of the whole belphie hating humans and quite literally killing MC was done in a pretty nice way! as well as the backstory cards regarding the brothers (and everyone else other than the MC) and their relationships with each other! for example anytime i think about satan and lucifer's strained relationship i get a little bit emotional - and yes of course sometimes satan's almost childish annoyance towards him can be pretty funny, it's almost always treated as a running gag (even after they "sort it out") - to the point where it's one of satan's defining characteristics (the other is his love for cats and books). and that's it! that's all there is to his presence in the main story for the most part.

the events are somehow even more annoying - (those i can actually play without being frustrated about my level) and the stories always try so hard to squeeze every single dateable character in one scenario. and this ends with all of them feeling like caricatures of themselves and i hate it! so much! because again - these are genuinely really fun characters and they have so much potential! even if the devs want to make MC your typical harem protagonist, they can still do it well but they just aren't and it makes me so mad 😭😭😭

"well raaz stop playing the game then!" i did do that actually for a good amount of time and i came back because solomon birth (fire emoji), also anniversary. but also i feel like the players kinda deserve better. especially given the gacha aspect.

although i do think that the anime and music are genuinely pretty good - it's just kinda frustrating that they're not improving their main product first.

"what was the point of saying all of this?" there was no point at all. im just annoyed that i actually spent time and money on this game. though i will say that i do love the fan creations and people kinda treating the characters like their OCs and giving them the plot and development they deserve.

"this is a really long post why do you complain so much?" at this point im just criticising myself for no reason but also idk! i play a couple of gacha games other than obey me and i've honestly realised that it's the worst and shittiest way to monetise your game. and gacha games deserve at LEAST twice the amount of critical analysis because it could literally be the reason for someone's fucking gambling addiction. idk

good night it is almost three am and i have a road trip to be on tomorrow

#sorry i will calm down #also i'm a huge hypocrite because i'm still gonna log in tomorrow and try to upgrade my cards and stuff but #well. yeah #long post #zzz #obey me #obey me shall we date #i will attempt to be positive from now on Good Fucking Night

[verycharismaticdragon]

Got tagged by @katie-altman to...

Shuffle your 'On Repeat' spotify playlist and list the first 10 songs that play! (Feel free to adapt to whatever "liked/played recently" version of things you have on something Not Spotify as needed)

...and spent some time bluescreening over which of my playlists to use, as I'm very old man about my music and all my playlists are "a bunch of mp3s in a folder". Went with my background-sound-for-drawing one in the end, which is *checks player* 1003 tracks in total. (And yet somehow almost half of this is music from my gacha games... many questions for my player's shuffle algorithm now.) Anyhow...

Roselia - BLACK SHOUT - music from my gacha games #1. Tho Roselia are genuinely good! I like some of their tracks more than others but I don't remember a single one thats a total miss.

Pokemon (Japanese)OP3 - OK! - everyone whos been here since my pokemon phase is being SO brave by staying up to now tbh...

RAISE A SUILEN - EXIST - music from my gacha games #2. If Roselia never misses, RAS just has an entire discography of bangers.

Kaleida - Think - y'know, I have no idea when or why this got into my playlist. it slaps tho.

Photon Maiden - Be with the world - music from my gacha games #3. Photon is kinda hit or miss for me, and this one is on the eh side tbh. From the top of my head, Into the Storm and 4 Challenges are the ones I really liked

Hozier - Take Me To Church - oh a classic!! link is the exact performance that came up in my playlist btw; i rarely enjoy live recordings but this one is. yum

The Machinist - No Peace - I completely forgot this song but its very good!!! due to the special wiring of my brain i find it nice and relaxing, but ymmv on the death metal screams

Florence + The Machine - No Light, No Light - oh, hadn't heard this one in a while... it still fucks

Toby Fox - Spider Dance - i feel the need to clarify that i never played undertale. the ost just crawled into my computer on its own i think

Afterglow - Redo (cover) - music from my gacha games #4! Listen I won't say I love all of AG's songs but Ran is my favorite vocalist in the game so. Like her va's voice is so good its literally so good and pleasant to the ear!!...

I'll tag uh.... @fismoll7secinv @evugh-draws @overthinkersatelier @lingbinghua @crayuu @annaisu if any of ya are up to it!

#tag game

[emblemxeno]

Sped through the rest of XC2 for the game again and watched the rest of the cutscenes for the story again, now I’m all cried out 😭

I love the plot and characters more as a whole, the music is beautiful, the gameplay systems are intricate and satisfying, just extremely newbie unfriendly given the bad tutorials. The navigation and world experience being chained to field skills-therefore being chained to gacha-does knock it down a peg, but on the whole I still think it’s tied together with XC1 as my favorite games.

Spoilers for XC2′s plot under cut

-Rex is a fantastic protagonist and I will fight anyone on this. I think the dichotomy between his naive yet genuine compassion and love for people opposes Jin and Malos’ worldly experiences, hatred for humanity, and wanton destruction very well. Some might say his role as main character is undeserved, that he’s too OP for who he is, but idk, you gotta suspend a little disbelief for the sake of enjoying a story.

-Likewise, Pyra and Mythra’s wish to die parallels Jin’s self same desire, especially since the former case is fear of their own power bringing pain and misery to the world, whereas the latter wants to die because of the pain and misery the world inflicted on him. The end result for both of them is extremely bittersweet considering they were so similar in the end.

-Nia is such a breakout character and such a personal favorite. While maybe not intended, she very much resonates with me as a queer person, with the whole “what’s the point of living if I have to hide” and fearing persecution from a world that has already shown its ugly side to your true self. Having her be unabashedly true to who she is was such an amazing arc, especially with her having a found family and the repeated message of “this is where I belong”. I wager the message Nia’s arc in this game resonates even stronger with trans people given the circumstances around her true self being related to the happiness in regards to her Blade form, too.

-Hot Take, but Tora’s neat! He’s just a kid with dreams beyond himself and is really insecure, but meeting Rex and the others really did wonders for his self worth and his connection with Poppi only furthers that. Speaking of which, Poppi is also such a fucking great character. So endearing, so entertaining, and damn did she make me cry during the last chapter.

-Morag and Zeke are both great members of the party for the role they play as experienced adults who help guide and-sometimes unknowingly-encourage the kids to follow the right direction. Unlike Jin or Amalthus, who saw the worst in humanity and chose destruction and nihilism, Zeke and Morag have seen their fair share of hardships yet pressed on being good people regardless. Special note to Morag for noting that she herself feels like she hasn’t found the meaning to her life, and the story itself giving validity to the fact that sometimes adults don’t have it all figured out, but even with that, their life still has value.

-It’s par for the course for Xeno games, but the methods of storytelling in XC2 is top notch. Even shit like the damn chapter titles do so much in hindsight, my favorite example being Chapter 7, “The Fear She Carries.” It’s attributed mostly to Pyra and Mythra, given the chapter name itself is said in reference to how they fear their power, but what’s great is that it also applies to Nia (fear of persecution due to her being a Flesh Eater) and Pandoria (fear of losing the Driver she has known and loved for a decade). This game is chock full of stuff like that, and replaying it knowing what happens gives you lots of insight and “Ohhhhh” moments when you connect the dots again.

-Also, another thing I really like is how the game started out explaining its backstory/history with a not at all subtle adaptation of Abrahamic myth and creationism, but the big reveal is that god was a scientist who went too far, and began reconstructing the world with an evolutionary process. A great way to incorporate both opposing beliefs of how life started within the plot.

-I greatly like how this game connects to XC1. Personally idk why some people felt it was handled poorly, given it was forshadowed back in like... chapter 8? And the connection between the two has been in the works from the start, given what we now know of XC3′s development and how the basis for that game’s plot started before XC2 even began conceptually. Regardless, I like the parallel dimension twist, and I greatly await to see how XC3 connected the two worlds.

-Shoutout to Jin and Malos for a relationship that is so homoerotic without the story saying outright that you’re lovers. I love destructive boyfriends.

#xenoblade #xenoblade chronicles 2

[icharchivist]

You know what, I respect your fear

I had an intense trauma from the Guardians in Breath of the Wild. They do a shitton of damage and oneshot you pretty much halfway through the game until you have enough hearts to just tank them

You can run from them, but they are fast as fuck, boye and they have spongy HP bars

Every time I heard their ominous music, that starts playing when they spot and target you, start playing, my pulse would go up

I've sinced conquered my fear by murdering every single Guardian in the game, but there were times when I couldn't even listen to the music outside of the game without feeling fear

Sometimes video games just give you PTSD as a treat

thank you for your understanding.

AND HELP. OMINOUS AS FUCK. i did hear so many horror stories about those guardians....

I feel you tho. I do have a lot of this type of bosses in mind in term of suffering. Like in the end it's not even the Final Boss that scares you as much as "early boss that will one shot you because you need first to escape them before attempting to fight them".

in the original ff7 i think the best example of that is the Midgardsormr. There's a whole bit where you have to stealth while it tries to catch you and if it catches you it kills you super fight. All set up for how, when you finally manage to stealth past it, you can see a Midgardsormr's corpse left behind by Sephiroth, before you officially see him outside of a flashback for the first time. Oh OG's buildup for Sephiroth my beloved.

but if you come back to them in late game you can actually fight them. but at least in a turn by turn rpg you don't feel as threatened.

but i remember running into this bitch in ff15 and genuinely be scared for my life.

*coughs*

So yeah i definitely feel you on that, completely

but i think the Tonberries are especially funny because let's admit it..... it's humiliating to die by those bitches hands. They're small. They're slow as fuck. The first time you meet one you go in with the overconfidence of being like, i could defeat Gods before you, so obviously this is going to be fast. But no. It doesn't matter if you managed to singlehandedly take down Bahamut without getting any damages. Those bitches will make you regret your lifechoices leading you up to that point.

And it's especially that that makes those so fun (and scary). Because you always meet them after you've killed some Gods already. Like i was bleeding dry against Leviathan just a few hours ago, but at least it tracked that this god would be that painful. I still used more revive on the Tonberry than i did when i fought Leviathan. This is the thing that fucks anyone up about those bitches.

but yeah, Crisis Core was really the thing that made me terrified for life. You run into them into late games, hell, i think you even run into them after the Sephiroth fight. And yet you'll still struggle. And you're alone. And the gacha i'm refering to is that when you fight, Zack has a sort of slot machine on the corner that can summon the memories of a friend to help him through the fight. And the whole time you can see the slot machine roll in the corner. And it can make or unmake a fight for you. You pray Aerith may appear in the slot because she gives you all your health back. Or your pray for any of the hard hitter like Sephiroth to appear to save you. But then you get to watch the slot machine ruthlessly refuse to summon one of your allies while you get stabbed to death by a gang of those fuckers while you're alone in a cave. you'll never be good enough to one shot them, so you will always live in fear.

Bahamut has nothing on this bitch.

so yeah. it's. it's a mess.

#ichareply #anonymous #ichafantalks ffvii #ichablogging ffviirg

[inferno-cop]

#arknights #code of brawl #speed of light #dj okawari #music #fuck this gacha game for having genuinely good music #if the ending sounds scuffed its bc i had to manually put this track together from game files

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again

tuesday again no problem will be skipping next week, please update your calendars. i’ll also be on extremely sporadically and may or may not have my shit together enough to fill the queueueue. there was a time when i kept a ten-day backlog in the queueueue can u folks even fucking imagine that

listening i’ve had lofi hip hop radio open while reading things for work bc it helps me focus and i really love this little two-minute track Odyssey by Dontcry and Nokiaa. also a good thumbnail. lots of layers in this one, i love the beginning...synth chimes? i don’t know music words.

reading HA. well. this has been a week and this week has not included reading things i want to admit to reading. it’s mostly genshin impact fanfic and various excel help guides. some fucking thing in our database is letting my boss output nested pie charts like the below but less readable and i want to stop her from doing that bc look at this shit! awful!

watching part of how i got the job i had now was bc i waxed rhapsodic about how i love system and figuring out how they work (true) and how i love figuring out how video game systems break down (less true, i love poking holes in worldbuilding instead). anyway, the thing i actually love is watching people gleefully destroy video games by playing them extremely not as intended. moster actory only comes out every so often, and i don’t even like sports, but this golf video specifically in the Fumble Dimension series by ex-SB nation staffers made me fuckin cough-laugh through a very bad afternoon. fumble dimension. i know it’s an hour. i KNOW. i have adhd. i understand your concerns. i’m telling you this whole thing is thoroughly enjoyable. at one point one of the hosts gives up trying to explain what is happening on the screen and instead, still in a golf-commentator-voice, gives you his chicken soup recipe. which does sound very good and i might try it. lemon AND chiles sounds tasty as hell.

playing i think i’m pretty done with genshin impact for now until the next area drops sometimes later this month/early january? my main team is almost maxed out, i genuinely don’t see how i can gain five more overall levels to unlock the crafting thing to get them maxed out bc i have done everything the game has presented to me. two-thirds of the areas are at 100% completion and the other three are at 94%. i might drop in and do the weeklies but idk if i’m gonna keep up with the dailies. v grateful for this free thing coming into my life when i was Super not doing well and also unemployed, but i’m really bumping up into the gacha game “pay money to make numbers go up” limits bc i still refuse to spend real money on this stupid big titty anime girl game.

i have no taste, am a wildly contradictory person, and contain multitudes.

making this thing for my sister is framed and mailed bc i coerced my landlord into taking it to the post office for me. started it in september, set it aside for a really long time, did 80% of it last month, set it aside for another three weeks bc i hate finishing and framing projects, but she’s fuckin done. i kind of want to make one for me, and i did order two frames, but again i despise the fiddly effort of framing things.

#tuesday again #tuesday again no problem #wrote most of this sunday night thank you past me #i HATE being AWAKE

[thefloatingstone]

Last time I made a playlist of recommended youtube channels to enjoy while in lockdown or self quarantine, I focused on individual videos while also recommending other videos from the same channel.

I thought I’d make another list only this time I’m going to be recommending playlists or series on youtuber instead of just individual videos.

This is gonna go exactly like last time, so check out any of these that might seem interesting to you, and hopefully I can give you something to look into if you want something to watch but don’t feel like watching a Netflix or Crunchyroll show.

Last time I tried to put this under a read more break but it didn’t work and I ended up posting this long-ass post on everyone’s dash. Well I decided to do so again here. hit J to skip to the bottom of the post if you don’t feel like reading this whole thing. If you’re on tumblr mobile; why?

In no particular order;

Cinemassacre movie reviews and topics

All of you already know James Rolfe as the AVGN. I started watching him before Youtube was even a thing, before he was even signed on with Screwattack. Back when his videos could only be seen on his own website (or for some reason included on the free DVD you got with the local video game magazines). However, I eventually outgrew the outrage style humour of the AVGN episodes... but then James started doing Monster Madness where he would talk about his love for horror movies, and this where I learned about his vast knowledge about movie history and even films I had never even heard mention of before! I think it’s safe to say, he got me to be interested in movie history just as much as movie production and film as a viewing experience.

I recommend this playlist which is a hodgepodge of James talking about old horror movie franchises, talking about his first experience with Power Rangers as someone who didn’t grow up with it, or how Bob Ross is a childhood hero of his. It’s an excellent play list that’s really laid back but you learn a lot of stuff from it. James is very informed for the most part and it leads you to wanting to check out a lot of these things too, just because he’s so passionate about it.

If I ever get over my weird hang up about speaking out loud, these are the kinds of videos I’d like to make.

Vinesauce Vinny: The Neverhood

Vinny is by no means a new Let’s Player, having been on Youtube for over 10 years now, but I only started watching him a few months ago. I started with this playlist when I saw he was doing The Neverhood, a game I had heard about but never seen played before. The Neverhood is a bizarre game, as a point and click PC game from the 90s where the entirety of the video game was made with stop motion and clay. Something that sounds so insane you would say it’s impossible if not for the fact that it exists. The claymation itself is extremely well done, and the game has a really weird and absurd sense of humour. Just the strangest things happen in this thing. Now couple that with Vinny’s very dry and straightforward delivery and you have probably one of the funniest Let’s Plays I’ve watched in a long time.

This is also “short” for a Let’s Play series. With only 4 parts to it, the longest video only being a bit under and hour and 30 minutes. It’ll still take up a good chunk of your time, but it’s not as daunting as some of the other Let’s Plays I’ll mention on this list.

Team Four Star: Pokemon Shield Nuzlocke

Exactly what it says on the tin. The guys from Team Four Star play Pokemon Shield with Nuzlocke rules. They’ve done several Nuzlocke runs in the past, but I find the Pokemon Shield is the best one they’ve done. Especially since a lot of the needless fluff and grinding has been edited out. So unlike some of their previous series you don’t see a lot of Kieran and Grant running in a circle for an hour trying to catch a specific pokemon or trying to get to a certain level.

It’s also hilarious as they have a lot of “house rules” for the Nuzlocke often involving the exercise bike they.... have..... for some reason.

It’s very good and the gym battles become SUPER hype with the Nuzlocke rules and the music.

Baywatching

Having been going to a few years now, watch Allison try her very best to go through and do a video series where she talks about summarises every episode of Baywatch.

.... Ever. Single. Episode.

She’s not even close to done yet (and now she’s introduced Baywatch Nights AS WELL) but her trying to explain the batshit insanity of this show, it’s over the top characters, it’s insane plots and behind the scenes weirdness with all the enthusiasm and love for this slice of 90s is amazing. Please enjoy a good thick chunk of inside jokes, silly character voices, and a whole lot of ?????

Brutal Moose: Shenmue

Probably one of the most chill channels on all of Youtube, Brutal Moose aka Ian, prefers playing games you wouldn’t think would make for good Let’s Plays. And maybe they don’t, objectively. A collection of playlists covering Truck Simulator, Nancy Drew, Hidden Object games etc etc, spliced in with old commercials from drive in theaters from the 50s,60s and 70s. Ian’s Let’s Play channel is great for just putting on and letting play for company while you’re drawing or grinding in a video game or playing Stardew or something.

I recommend his Shenmue playthrough as Ian completely fell in love with the game and went on to play both the sequel and the newly released third game. Ian genuinely adores the weird voice acting and all the menial tasks and mini-games you can do. I watched this a lot in 2018 when I was going through a rough time, and it really helped me in a strange way to just put Ian on and listen to him talk to the chat and drive a forklift around for like 4 hours straight before going to Tomato Mart or wasting all his money on the gacha machines.

A Measured Response to “In Defense of Dark Souls 2″

At some point, big name youtuber Hbomberguy made a video called “In Defense of Dark Souls II”. I’m not subscribed to Hbomberguy but I enjoyed his video on why Sherlock (the BBC show) is trash. (come to think of it I should have added that to the first list). And it seems the video on Sherlock was really good and well argued.... and it seems his “In Defense of Dark Souls 2″ video... was not.

Using subjective language, bad representation of facts, or simply outright getting certain information wrong, Hbomberguy′s video on Dark Souls II is, at best, a man trying to argue that he likes Dark Souls II because it is “Objectively good”, rather than simply accept he likes it... because he likes it.

MauLer is kind of an asshole, but I have learned more about dissecting someone’s argument and deconstructing what they have said watching his response series than I have in any english or debate class I have ever had.

The response is over 10 hours long, but this is because MauLer takes time with each and every statement he takes umbrage with, discussing what is being said, discusses why it is false or dubious, and then compares with actual facts and research.

If you ever want to know how to to distinguish subjective opinion from objective fact in someone else’s argument regarding... ANYTHING really, I highly recommend this series.

I may not like MauLer as a person, but DAMN if he doesn’t know how to deconstruct an argument in a logic, emotionless way.

John Wolfe: Maize

Maize is a stupid game. a Stupid stupid game.

It involves sentient corn, and underground secret genetics lab, a Russian bootleg teddy bear that hates everyone, sentient corn, and a crumpet.

This game IMMEDIATELY went on my wishlist after watching this playthrough. Please watch John try and figure what the actual fuck is going on in this Monty Python-eque weird black comedy. It’s stupid, it’s weird, it’s bizarre and it’s honestly one of the funniest games I’ve seen streamed.

Hollywood: a Celebration of the Silent Era

This is not a youtube playlist. I mean it IS, but what this actually is, is a TV series released in the UK in 1980 covering the Silent Film era. As it was made in 1980, it includes interviews with many of the silent film stars who were often still alive during this documentary’s production. Each episode covers a specific theme of the silent movie era. One episode is about comedies, one is about WWI, one is about Westerns etc etc.

It’s a fascinating series, because it focuses on the silent era which, in modern day, I think many people unfairly think of as “those first few years of movies before movies really became a thing.” And that’s such a shame and really not true. The artistry, camera tricks, and raw nature of this early era of film making is so important and produced films which can still be watched today easily, possibly even easier than a few modern movies as often the very fact that the films are silent means they are universal, regardless of what language you speak.

I think an episode or two might have been turned to private or copyright claimed in this playlist, but I know if you do a search on youtube you can find the episode uploaded by someone else.

Diamanda Hagan: Bonekickers

Bonekickers is the show Mathew Graham made before he went on to work on the new Dr. Who. It is about archaeologists and it is God-fucking-Awful.

It is.... look. Ok. I like Archaeology a lot. But this isn’t a show that’s bad “if you like history” or “if you know things about archaeology”. This show is bad because it doesn’t make a single fucking lick of sense, all the characters are awful and terrible, and even if you understand what’s going on in the story you’re still going to be screaming “WHY????” at the screen as each new baffling stupid piece of the puzzle slots into place.

Diamanda Hagan has 0 time for this garbage and she’s going to walk you through each episode to show you how truly horrible this piece of garbage is.

Cry Plays: Ori and the Blind Forest

With Ori and the Will of the Wisps releasing recently, now is a great time to go and watch Cry playthrough the first Ori game. an absolutely gorgeous piece of work with a beautiful soundtrack and really likeable character designs and a sweet story, Ori is a great game to put on, sit back, and just let it wash over you. Cry’s playthrough is also great because although its a Metroidvania game, Cry fast forwards the parts where he backtracks for a long period of time, so you don’t get stuck watching him run back and forth as he tries to figure out where to go next or anything like that.

Cry also recently started playing the sequel as well!

If you enjoyed this list at all, please consider tipping me for a coffee

☕️ Ko-fi ☕️

#self isolation #Quarantine #Youtube #Links #Recommendations #Recommended #ask to tag #long post #No editing we die like men

[dr-astormylasthurrah]

questions and answers...

done over discord, collected here for archives!

(also, a reminder that the askbox is always open~)

“Does anyone like to collect or hoard things?”

CHIYO: I really, really like collecting headbands!! I’ve got a frankly embarrassing collection at home, from Hello Kitty styled ones to more “mature” looking ones. My grandma gave me a lot of my collection, so they’re really important to me! AMAL: I don’t really have time to collect things. Collecting postage stamps would be a nice hobby if it didn’t get so expensive with limited runs or whatever. TATSUMARU: ... Why would... why would I want to spend money on things I don’t need or want? SENTAROU: I collect interesting yarn. But you didn’t hear that from me and if you ever tell anyone I’m legally obligated to kill you. IRIS: Um... hair clips? I have a few sets depending on what I feel like doing! And I buy more every year for my birthday. It... might be a problem. ASTER: Bold of you to assume I know anything about myself, let alone what I have at home. Bold of you to assume I know where my home is, too. I hope past me collected rocks. Not gemstones or anything, just funky rocks. CLAUDE: If it exists in collectible form, I have a few. Don’t even ask me to pick a specific thing, ahaha. My room’s a mess. Wait, Kinder egg toys! Those are fun. HIRONO: I don’t really collect things, but I do keep a lot of physical photographs of places I’ve been to and people I like. Photography reminds me of Megumi, so I like doing it! ALEXEI: Feathers. Call me predictable, but I prefer “dedicated” or “has a very clear idea of what I want in life”. RIRIKA: I collect anime girl PNGs. Never, ever play gacha idol games. Don’t make my mistakes. TSUKINO: I have a TON of plane tickets!! Well, most of them aren’t mine, and sometimes I just beg them off people at airports and they look at me weird. It’s so neat knowing that these little papers can take you anywhere and that they’re from so many cool places, too! BRENDAN: I hoard anything I can fit in my toolbelt and save for later. So like, odds and ends. I, uh... may have a problem with never throwing things away. TIANA: A lot of my jewelry is from lot sales conducted by my aunt. I suppose most of the reason I have so much of it is to feel closer to my family, though I make some of it myself, too. RYOUJI: I collect... what do I collect, actually? I collect dust from sitting in one place for so long. Haha. I’m kidding, I’m always on my feet, please god send help I just want to sleep. TRISTAN: I don’t see the point in keeping so much stuff. Not to sound like a cleaning show host, but collecting things is such a waste of time, space, and money. No offense. KANEMORI: I don’t usually care about things but I got one of those little, what are they called, aquabead bracelets? From a sponsor? And suddenly my house is full of cheap bracelets. Especially those thin vinyl ones, those are the best. Why has my life come to this though.

“Do they dress for looks or comfort? What’s their fashion angle?”

CHIYO: I’d say looks are... most of it? I mean, of course I want to be comfortable, but ultimately I don’t think I’m ever going to stop worrying about passing. It does help that I genuinely like skirts and dresses and stuff, although I’m still kinda insecure about showing too much skin. I like the aesthetic of Howl’s Moving Castle, so I think that’s the kind of fashion I’d like to wear - something simple and crisp. AMAL: For me, fashion is definitely comfort over appearance. I haven’t really thought about what I wear in a while. Bates says I look like a wannabe TA who’s currently sucking up to the professor and I am ACTIVELY CHOOSING to view that as a compliment. Fuck you, Bates. TATSUMARU: In all honesty, what I wear every day is only a slight modification of what I wear onstage. I haven’t even thought about what I would wear if not this. Although this cloak is nice. SENTAROU: Are you kidding? Comfort all the way, but because of my stupid job I have to look at least somewhat professional. Hence, the tuxedo jacket. This is my life hack or whatever, I just toss it on if I need to look fancy. If I had my way, I’d be wearing T-shirts and jackets all the time. I’m not interested in looking nice for other people’s enjoyment, thank you very much. IRIS: As much as I’d love to dress up, I don’t leave my house very often, so there’s really no point in wearing anything fancy. I guess off the shoulder tops would be cute? I don’t really know. Oh, but if societal standards weren’t a thing, I’d love to have a pair of those kiddie butterfly wings! ASTER: ... I mean assuming what I’m wearing right now is close to my normal clothes, I guess this is looking a lot like function over form. But given the option, I think I’d wear more patterns. Like, yeah, I like simple clothing items, but I also want to wear some kind of personality, y’know? I’d keep this jacket, for example. But I want patterns on my pants. CLAUDE: It’s a mix of both for me! Just, y’know, my idea of “comfort” doesn’t exactly match with other people’s. I try to go for an approachable but fashionable vibe! Thin, large sweater tops, scarves, I’d basically be the poster child of every men’s fashion catalogue if I could be, ahaha. HIRONO: Definitely comfort. I’m used to being overlooked, so I may as well be comfortable. Though I’m told if I dress in a suit and fold my arms, my glare is impressive enough to melt holes in steel. I guess that’s kind of cool, but I’d still rather have people to talk to, y’know. ALEXEI: Comfort. Yes, this includes the cape. The cape is comfort. I am comfortable being dramatic and unknowable to man. Fuck off if you have a problem. RIRIKA: Looks, of course. It’s a little hard for me not to be detail oriented, considering my talent and everything, and besides, dressing nicely makes me feel more confident. I like layering things and using repetitive colors or patterns to tie outfits together. Sometimes I’ll focus all of my energy into an outfit in order to kill God or something. I don’t know. TSUKINO: I don’t know what this is! I wish I could be more punkish when I’m flying with like spikes and everything but noooo apparently that’s a “safety hazard” and “a distraction to the instructor”. Well, joke’s on you, safety instructor, but my normal flight clothes have studs on them ANYWAY. I’m gonna fight the establishment in every way, bitch! BRENDAN: It’s comfort. It’s absolutely just for comfort. I’ve had this jacket since I was 12, 13...? I bought it two sizes too big and it’s so worn out now that I’ve had to sew patches into it, but I hate throwing anything away so I just keep it. So I guess my fashion sense is just... “shabby”. I don’t mind, though! I think it gives me character. TIANA: Looks are MUCH more important than comfort when it comes to clothes. A good outfit can make or break someone’s perception of you. Though I don’t like to wear full business attire every day and I can’t imagine doing so at this time, I think it’s wise to at least have a decent collared shirt at all times. As for my shorts and socks... I think I just have a look going on here. Besides, gyaru fashion is quite cute. So roll with it. RYOUJI: Uh... At this point, imma keep it real with you, my fashion sense is a game of “how androgynous can I go without my parents suspecting anything”. I’m kind of dying in this, considering the heat of wearing two layers and a binder, but I also don’t care anymore. I guess I’m okay wearing T-shirts and stuff if I don’t have anywhere to be, but I’d like to at least LOOK competent, you know? TRISTAN: I’m wearing socks and sandals as we speak. So take a guess. I look exactly like a stereotypical gamer because it’s true. KANEMORI: Weird as this is to say, I favor both. I’m never far from a spotlight, between me and my parents and everything, so I have to look at least kind of presentable at all times. Which sucks, but it’s what I grew up with, so I guess that’s just how my life is. I’m used to just wearing T-shirts and stuff. If I had to wear a tie I guess I’d just choke or something.

For Hirono: What's your favorite genre of music?

EKYOU: Uh... anything, I guess? I have what’s described as “eclectic” taste. But I promise I’ll listen to anything people show me, and I’ll do my best to like it!

Uhmm for Iris: How would your ideal romantic date be?

SUMITAMA: E-eh?? This is super cheesy, but... I like the idea of a traditional date! A fancy dinner with candles and everything. SUMITAMA: Oh, but outside of that, I’d really enjoy a date where I can do things I love with someone I love! Walking around a botanical garden, or having a library day... As long as it’s free. I need to save money for textbooks. College courses are evil, don’t do them.

for ryouji: do you keep your room as clean as you keep the kitchen?

ATSUI: HAHAHAHAHA no I wish. ATSUI: The kitchen thing isn’t so much my rules as my parents’ rules, but it’s good to follow - if your kitchen is a mess you’re going to knock something over and regret everything. This may or may not be from personal experience. ATSUI: But my room?? That’s my HOME. That’s my PRIVATE AREA. I’m going to trip over everything in it and no one can say shit. ATSUI: I should probably start picking up all the laundry though.

Alexei, what is the most beautiful bird you have ever seen and why do you think is the most beautiful?

BAZHANOV: Pigeons are underrated. They have iridescent feathers and yet we as humans still consider them nuisances. It’s a shame. BAZHANOV: I would say something real deep about the nature of humanity to ignore beauty but I’m pretty sure that people hate them because they shit everywhere. Which is fair enough, I suppose.

For Chiyo: This is going to sound really dumb, but do you like to read? If so, what sorts of things do you like to read (genre-wise)?

CHIYO: I like kids books a lot more than young adult stuff. You know how young adult novels these days are always either “gritty sci-fi suspense” or “vaguely Eurocentric fantasy” or “heartwarming realistic fiction”? Kids stories are a lot more creative. And with a lot less pointless death. CHIYO: As for what kind of stories, I think fantasy/sci-fi is nice! Especially books that lean on fairytale elements and mythology, it’s like a history lesson and story at once! CHIYO: But, uh, I don’t understand that series with the talking cats. I tried to read it a few times but I think that’s just something you have to get into as a child.

(This is going off Western genres I don’t actually know shit abt Japanese novels)

Tsukino, do you have a celebrity crush?

CHISAKI: THE LEAD SINGER OF R3BELS OBVIOUSLY.

Does Alexei just have the one mask or does he have multiple for different outfits/occasions

BAZHANOV: Just the one. It’s surprisingly hard to track down decent and inexpensive masks for dramatic occasions. I wish I had more, but it’s also not as if I have the money to procure them. BAZHANOV: ... Unrelated, how feasible is it to break into a bank?

hirono, how did you start ōendan?

EKYOU: After... well, after some family things happened, my oldest brother Rousei thought that I needed something to do. He said ōendan would be good because I’m good at cheering for people, and he said it’s what he did in high school, too. So... I guess I gave it a shot? I’m glad I can encourage people to do their best!! But it’s just not something I’m super into for the sake of myself. But I’m at HPA now, so I shouldn’t be ungrateful, it’s just.... Yeah. EKYOU: Plus, I haven’t had time to pursue photography... It’s kind of driving me up the wall.

If tsukino could do anything other than her talent hat would she do?

CHISAKI: It would be my GOD GIVEN RIGHT as an individual to join some kind of band and go break some hearts and make like ten million dollars! But I’m kinda tone deaf! ... Not like that matters for the kind of music I’m into but hey!!

#not aslh #trivia #ask and you shall receive #danganronpa #danganronpa oc #a stormy last hurrah #q

[renmaru]

you know. sometimes i love something a lot so i need to scream about the things that piss me off about it. i don’t think this is a particularly negative post but it’s just like sheer frustration and if you dont get some satisfaction from articulating your frustration into tumbler dot coms longposts and destroying the capital of this website because you are not a gemini sun then like fair i guess feel free to disregard this. tonbokiris kiwame is cool go look at that.

now to the lukewarm tea ive been simmering for five years. the one thing i always think about all the time is that tkrb is a popular game despite itself. the piss poor gameplay with only the barest of bare QoL in the five years its been up, the seeming complete lack of direction and the frankly nonexistent worldbuilding is held up purely because of its attention to detail and reverence to the original culture and history of the swords combined with some very good character design and subtle but nuanced character writing that can be openly interpreted. just enough flavour to imply something larger but chickening out on actually making anything y’know. concrete. basically allowing the fans to draw their own conclusions. but even then a game like that would not survive cause there have been countless, hundreds of games with high quality and fervent attention to detail and respect for the source material that just died completely because they have such little to actually offer in terms of engagement. i think the main thing that bugs me about tkrb is that it has one of THE most creative, dedicated and strong fanbases of this genre of game who go out of their way to engage with any and all of the content and the devs seem kind of oblivious to this.

in comparison to modern gacha style games, touken ranbu releases barely any new content and frequently recycles content but somehow it’s still relatively popular with approx. 1mil active players daily but the maddening thing is that tkrb can reach much MUCH further. the fans are there, the curiosity is there, it’s just the game content is not fucking there. it does not put the effort into commissioning seasonal art, pushing new events with actual plotline/story content, creating promotional materials, tie-ins etc. but somehow its still in the top 5 comiket circles for nearly five fuckin years straight. here are your badley compiled receipts: c89(w2015), c90(s2016), c91(w2016), c92(s2017), c93(w2017), c94(s2018), c95(w2018), c96(s2019)

 it can launch itself from laughably low in the appstore ratings, hovering in the middle of the 200′s to TOP 30s in the appstore at the flick of a switch. what is this magic button that fucking quadruples revenue and skyrockets your app into the top 50 grossing apps? 3/4 of your characters getting static CGs that you cannot use at all anywhere in the game but will do a powerpoint transition and appear for 5 seconds at login. oh and like a few free mats i guess. and i kid you not it fuckin worked.

wanna know why that worked? it’s cause otherwise characters, especially fan favourites just don’t get anything at all. it’s like most characters outside of the very popular ones rarely get new art, new recollections, new anything outside of their kiwame upgrade which is more often than not years down the line and only recently, four years in, they decided to add alternate costumes but even then there’s a catch which has me feeling some kind of way.

and yes, i fully understand that tkrb is a multi-media franchise, i get that it’s got its fingers in so many pies like the stageplay, musicals, various manga anthologies, the animes, hell its even got live action but man, would it hurt to give some love in game? i’m not asking them to go full fgo route and commission the industry creme de la creme to make 6 full CE illustrations, lots of promo art and tonnes of new merch every single month. but the fact is for such a big franchise, reusing the same sprite art on nearly every piece of official merch, going so far as to add NEW costume art which is just the heads of the old default sprites edited onto new bodies? it screams cost cutting, it screams lazy, the path of minimum effort. it’s almost like the game itself and the original materials are an absolute afterthought at this point with only the most dedicated hanging on to it. i guarantee that the majority of people still playing tkrb are the committed day1 players and the actual rekijou cause it’s just painfully offputting to new fans, with other fans even going out of their way to specify the game is not integral to enjoying the series which sucks, but it’s true.

its a real damn shame to think that something you are so invested in is not particularly invested in itself. sometimes, just sometimes i wish they dev team for tkrb was more hands-on, more adventurous, more willing to listen to players, invest in the game and genuinely try and make the game the best it can be. i’m not asking for balls to the wall summer events, beautiful animated CMs from the likes of the industries best animators, i’m not asking for pages of supplemental lore compiled into books, character backstory novels or whatever i’m just asking for the lore and the characters that we love to sometimes occasionally be remembered in the actual game outside of like ... the two years between their kiwame and the vague possibility of a recollection. i want to feel like this game puts as much effort into itself as the fans do towards it.

it’s a painful truth but there’s one shining light which is that the fandom for tkrb is genuinely one of the most committed and transformative ones ive ever seen. i have never been involved with a fandom that varies so widely and puts in so much effort for these characters and this world. tkrb exists solely as a popular franchise due to the sheer legwork of the fans carrying it on their backs collaboratively. ultimately, tkrb is very very lore-light, there’s so much thats missing and the characters in-game rarely rarely interact with each other. the characters are contained solely in however many voice lines they get at implementation, their kiwame letters, and their updates kiwame lines and the only interaction they get with other swords is recollections or depending on the sword, the odd custom sparring lines.

but despite that there has been so much fan effort to explore everything in so many different varied ways, and amazingly there are certain tropes, relationships, lore etc. that have started off fanon and become canon. the fan community, especially the fanartists, doujins, writers, animators etc. being given a small indulgence by the anime is one of my favourite things about tkrbs relationship with its fanbase. that’s not to say that the fans dont give back in kind a hundred fold.

there’s so much i love about tkrb fans going out of their way to go SEE historical swords in japan, single-handedly reforging swords using crowdfunding and revitalising lots of small-town tourism having real world impact. shit makes me unbelievably happy. the stage plays and musicals are always met with warm reception and are always well attended and even though its hard to access, there are lots of western fans who have dived into a whole new MEDIUM that most of us arent really familiar with but out of their love for tkrb theyve done that. they have hosted the musical as far out as india and france, making tkrb a truly worldwide franchise and there theyve met full seats! as far out as india! then theres the fantranslators, who always have the drive the commitment and energy for the thankless work, the wiki always always is well maintained and they have new content up so fast, and there are so many people willing to help you out. even when crunchyr*ll got hanamaru s2 (i think) a week late and we were left without subs for the premier episode for a whole ass week, fantranslators who had never subbed before stepped up to translate a whole episode for FREE, encoding, subbing and timing it all despite never having done so just so others could understand the episode faster than cr*nchy themselves could. even, as well, it’s made so many history nerds out of a whole bunch of people, it’s created an appreciation for nihontou and japanese history that would otherwise probably never be in their orbit because of how inaccessible it is, especially in english. even on a personal note, i started learning japanese primarily so i could understand tkrb and the history behind it better and to read jp fanart/interact with fanartists.

 no matter what, i am forever warmed by how much i love tkrb and its fanbase and im glad that tkrb is still going strong, even despite itself sometimes and i hope that moving on tkrb tries new things, and becomes better for everyone.

#rentxt #i started off grouchy but now my heart is warm #thats just how touken ranbu works babey #you know sometimes i think about how tkrb fans reforged hotarumaru and i get teared up