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himbothomas · 3 years

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Video Games || 2018 || PT. 1

“Your house is nice.”

Dean says, mostly to be polite but also cause he means it. Levi scoffs, leading him around the cluttered kitchen island towards the basement steps. His older sister, Sabrina, had already stalked upstairs, but she’d smiled when Dean told her she was a good driver, and had let him pick out which Paramore CD to play. She smelled really good, too, but Dean wasn’t about to risk one of the only friendships he had. And, until yesterday when he asked him to hang out after school today, Levi had been strictly a practice and class friend. They usually had to run laps together for dicking around between drills and usually got detention together for dicking around between classes, but this was different. It’s not like Dean was hurting for friends-everyone liked him and he and most of the other 11th graders on the football team hung out together in a big group, but no one has ever invited him over to their house. Just him.

And Levi. Dean really likes Levi. Really likes him. He, Dean notices as they settle on the well worn couch, also smells really good.

Shit. Fuck. Dean stops just short of shaking himself. He-well he wasn’t gay. He likes girls. But he also likes…Levi. It’s stupid and Dean knows it-the best thing that could come out of acting on those sorts of feelings is getting completely ostrichized. He’d be lucky if he didn’t end up hospitalized, for that matter. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t look. Or think about him before he falls asleep. Or purposefully get detention for the third time in a week so they could keep hanging out. Levi settles next to him, and it’s not weird for Dean to look, so he does. Curly black hair and eyes that were green in the right light. A tan that was half freckles and a quarter Puerto Rico and a smile that keeps Dean up at night, one he returns easily.

“Oh.” Levi says, standing again to grab the Xbox controllers. Dean tries not to look at his ass but it’s right there. Maybe he just likes nice asses. That’s not that weird.

Levi hands him the controller and continues to fuck with his Xbox.

“Madden or call of duty?”

Dean scoffs “You think after finally being done with football season, I wanna play football on screen?”

“So you suck at Madden?” Levi responds, booting up the game and laughing when Dean flips him off.

“No I’m just trying to be a good guest-“

“You just flipped me the bird-“

“I don’t think it’s polite to kick your host’s ass within 20 minutes of arrival.”

“Whatever.” Levi says, sitting back on the couch and closer to Dean. It’s just because he has wired controllers and doesn’t want to stretch the cord out. Dean has to stop from physically yelping when their knees touch. He shifts away. Levi, for his part, is texting.

“My mom says you can eat dinner with us if you want.”

The thought of processed food not from the organic grocery store is even more attractive than his friend or his sister.

“Oh cool. Sure, thanks.”

Levi raises an eyebrow. “You’re not even gonna ask your parents?”

“Do they still hold your hand when you cross the street, little boy?”

“Fuck off. “Levi shoves him and Dean laughs

“Nah I don’t have to do shit. My mom doesn’t care about me and Kenny forgets my name once football is over.”

“Oh shut up, sad sack your mom cares about you.” Levi rolls his eyes and picks the Dallas Cowboys as his team. Dean let’s him and picks the Patriots simply because-

“Why the fuck did you pick the worst team to ever fucking exist?”

“I figured if you’re gonna insist that I kick your ass I might as well break your spirit too.”

Levi shoves him again and Dean’s mission is accomplished. “Bastard.”

“Yeah, technically.”

Levi rolls his eyes again and they start to play. When Levi is down 40 points, Dean speaks.

“She really doesn’t care though. My mom. Which is cool most of the time cause I can do whatever I want, but last year she forgot about my birthday until it was 6 weeks later.”

Levi turns his head to look at him. “Oh you’re not kidding, are you?”

“Why do you think she bought me a car before I could drive?”

He’d failed his test twice at this point but that didn’t matter.

“That’s uh…pretty fucked, man.”

Dean shrugs. “It is what it is. I’m just wall decor unless there’s football talk or she needs to prove to someone she was once liberal enough to fuck a black guy.” Levi chokes a little on the Gatorade he's drinking.

“Jesus.”

“Nah, his name is Rodney.”

“Do you see him ever?” Levi asks. Something about the genuine curiosity in his voice is so nice that Dean lets him get a first down.

“Ha!”

“Nah. He took off when I was like…4? 5? And then we lived with my grandparents for a bit, which was cool. My grandpa was fucking awesome. But he died when I was like, 9 and mom was already with Kenny at that point so I never felt like I could ask about my dad.”

“You ever wanna meet him?”

Usually people express some sort of false sympathy for him, but Levi is too focused on making passes Dean is letting slide.

“Oh I did. Last Christmas. We met at Waffle House. He asked me for money.”

“What?!” Levi pauses the game and stares at him. “Whatd you do?”

Dean shrugs. “I had like $50 on me so I uh…gave it to him.”

The tips of his ears burn with shame and he looks away, suddenly uncomfortable.

“Jesus I-I’m sorry I didn’t mean to like-Thats some tough shit, Deanie.”

Levi had been the first to call him that. Dean has been pretending for almost two and a half years that it didn’t make his heart race.

“It’s ok. Really. It sort of…I know now. It sucks but I can’t do a whole lot about it.”

Levi sighs. “Yeah but I shouldn’t have, like, forced you to tell me.”

“You didn’t.” Dean says easily. “It was actually nice to tell someone that.”

“Thomas.”

“Sanchez.”

“You’ve never told anyone that before?” No one’s eyes have any business looking that pretty when they’re sad. Especially Levi’s. Dean shrugs again, his voice a little lower.

“My mom doesn’t even know I met him. She’d just get pissed at me anyway so like…” he shrugs again. He feels Levi’s eyes on him and it makes his stomach tighten. “Do you wanna get back to the game or is therapy Levi still happening?”

“Stop being an asshole. That’s…so much, dude.”

“Yeah, a real winner runs through my DNA. Glad I kept his name.”

Levi groans. “You make me feel like a dick for being unhappy here.”

“You are a dick. Your mom lets you have video games and a whole basement that I’m guessing you decorated unless she’s a Kate Upton fan.”

Levi snorts. “I don’t entirely feel bad for you and your step dad’s fucking fortune and mansion.”

Dean doesn’t say anything because he knows Levi is right. “I dunno man, I’d give it all up for there to be bacon in the house.”

“What?!”

They keep talking as they play the game. Levi asks questions that are direct without prying. Dean tries to ask them back. He is shortly losing by 70 points. When the cowboys win, he does his best to demand a rematch, which, really, means he gets to keep talking to Levi.

“So-“ Levi says. “I think it’s only fair since you told me your secret, I'll tell you one of mine.”

Dean snorts. “This isn’t a friendship based on transactions you weirdo.”

“Right, yeah. Then I’m gonna be super narcissistic and make it about me.” Dean laughs at this and it’s his turn to pause the game.

“You uh, told me all that stuff because why?” Levi’s voice is different. Less confidence. Dean slowly realizes he’s nervous.

“I trust you.” Dean says, realizing he does as he says it.

“You do?”

“Should I not? Are you as shitty at keeping secrets as you are at realizing things?”

When Levi doesn’t laugh, Dean puts his controller down fully and turns to him. “Dude are you ok?”

“Yeah I uh-so what I told you before was a secret isn’t exactly secret it’s just…something I wanna ask about to see if it’s uh, normal.”

Something small and evil like a shred of hope crawls into Dean's stomach.

“Even if it’s not, Levi, I wouldnt you know, treat you differently for it.”

Levi scoffs again and Dean frowns. “What? I mean it. Have you ever known me to like, you know, judge people or whatever?”

Levi considers this and, as he strokes his thumb slowly up and down his index finger, his voice relaxes. “No. I guess I haven’t. You’re even nice to Dan-Danielle Stevens.”

Danielle was openly trans and braver than anyone else Dean knew.

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“We live in Texas.”

“And I’m Black. And from Wisconsin.”

Levi laughs. “Two things I always say about you.”

Dean can’t help himself. “You talk about me a lot?”

He could be mistaken, but some of Levi’s freckles darken. “That’s not-do you want me to tell you the question or not?”

“Ask me the question, Leev.” Dean says, hoping he’s right.

Levi takes a breath. They’re facing each other on the couch now, controllers as abandoned as their math homework.

“I was just uh, you know, wondering if you-or if it’s normal or whatever... to think what it’d be like to you know…kiss another guy or something.”

All the blood leaves Dean’s upper body and rushes south.

“I think that’s normal.” Dean says, hoping he didn’t pause too long or answer too eagerly. “I mean it’s 2018, you know. Like all that gay shit is way more accepted so like, we see it more and maybe it sparks some inspiration or something.”

“Right. Ok. Yeah. Like when you see an ad for something a bunch of times and then you finally buy it. “

Dean laughs. “Yeah. Curiosity isn’t bad unless you’re a cat or like, a guy who defuses bombs.”

Levi laughs and moves a bit closer.

“Can I ask you one more thing?”

“You’re getting really close to your allotted time slot being up but I’ll see what I can do.”

“I hate you.” Levi says, his smile directed just at Dean is too much to handle.

“Have you ever thought about-”

Before Levi finishes, Dean closes the distance between them, stretching out on the couch and very carefully and purposefully placing his lips on Levi’s.

And its right. It’s so right Dean almost feels bad for being so ashamed of all the times he’s thought about it.

Levi pulls away just slightly and when his thumb comes up to trace Dean’s cheekbone, that evil shred of hope doubles in size.

They stay like that for an hour, getting bolder and more confident with each kiss, their hands firmly on each other’s. When his mom comes home with the smell of pizza lingering with her and calls down the stairs, they pull apart. Without speaking, Dean knows they’re not going to talk about it, but he can’t even bring himself to care-everything he’d been fantasizing about was so much better in practice. Even if Levi never wants to see him again-

“You wanna come over again tomorrow?” Levi says, clearing his throat. His hand covers Dean’s on the couch and gives him a squeeze.

Dean’s fate is sealed before he can even finish saying “Sure.”

#drabble #video games #levi

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saintambrose · 4 years

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haha it’s US politics hours

listen, this tumblr has always been a fandom place since its inception and I’ve not really designated it as a space for political discussion because 1) I have several other avenues for that arena of discussion and 2) escapism was the theme here; but I’ve finally watched The Comey Rule and I have some THOUGHTS

and I’m not really sure how active anyone is here anymore anyway, because I’ve not really been around as regularly as I was before the nsfw-ban shitstorm, so. Diving right in.

Probably my favorite thing was how it painted the American right wing as this faux-centrist bastion of impartiality at first, the whole circus with HiLLaRy’S EmAiLs being about how they legitimately believed they could play the angle that the emails were a threat to national security all while they knew damn well it was a huge big nothingburger (with a side of hatred of women) while doing that thing that right wingers have done since the Reagan administration where they malign anything left of fascism as communism (including basic human rights) and then, predictably, you have all these very furrowed-browed old white men sitting around a conference table being VERY CONCERNED that precisely the thing they wanted to happen came true and they are completely unprepared to do damage control on the mess they engineered because WHITE MEN ARE INCAPABLE OF UNDERSTANDING THE CONCEPT OF CONSEQUENCES OF THEIR OWN ACTIONS. 🤣😂🤣😂

In all seriousness. I wasn’t crazy about Hillary either. I don’t like dynasties of any kind, royal or political. I don’t like establishment dems who are really just center-right in the real world while masquerading as left in backwards-ass bizarro-world USA. But I’m an old motherfucker now, I’m well into my 30s, I’m boring and watch CSPAN for leisure and shit. I read the reports coming out of the DOJ. One of my degrees is in political science, though admittedly, that’s the least thing that matters, in the scope of everything else these days. But it’s safe to say Hillary was unfairly maligned while republicans committing atrocities exponentially worse have been treated with kid gloves for decades. A very distinct double standard has been applied here for....longer than I’ve been alive, that even the most educated people on the left have refused to acknowledge for far too long. I watched that entire BeNgHaZi hearing (which is easily accessible on youtube, so there’s literally no excuse not to know the facts on this), and everyone knew -- everyone knew it was a bullshit smear campaign.

So, this post isn’t so much a review of the miniseries more than it’s an indictment of the corruption of American politics. The most damning aspect being that, on principle, US politics has always had a problem with embracing progressive policy, and basic civil rights in general. That’s not news; people have known this for some time. But the thing that this miniseries really illustrated in a very cartoonish, yet succinct, way is that there are experienced professionals who hold the highest, most powerful seats of authority in this country who won’t bat an eye at dedicating their entire careers to denigrating common decency, basic human rights, and even constitutional law, while being absolutely incapable of conceiving the long-term consequences of these actions, who will then turn around and concern troll over the ashes of the empire they enthusiastically helped to burn down. It’s nauseating. It’s infuriating. It shows a pathological disregard for personal responsibility.

Everyone was so preoccupied with their massive turgid erection for hating the Clintons (and women) that no one saw they were enthusiastically living in a henhouse built by fucking foxes. No one saw the genuine threat.

And, by extension, no one had the balls to acknowledge that age-old instinct of white men willing to engage in a scorched earth campaign simply to satisfy their worst impulses and entitlement complexes.

Can you fit “Who cares if we’re screwing over several generations with corrupt court-packing and a flagrant disregard for checks-and-balances predicated entirely on the honor system; we just don’t feel like doing domestic labor or respecting women and minorities so we’ll continue expediting reprehensible policies that exploit the most vulnerable people in this country because we can’t compete in an authentic meritocracy" onto a campaign slogan banner?

I sounded the alarms on this trend 20 years ago, meanwhile. My parents and I had just gotten US citizenship, luckily months before 9/11 and the patriot act; and as an outsider looking in, as someone who had risked their life escaping a dangerous regime at an incredibly young age, I saw the warning signs in the republican party even back then. Naturally, I was denigrated as an alarmist and a butthurt liberal.

You know, I’ll acknowledge that as a white person, I’m not the average American’s image of what an “immigrant” looks like. My experiences here over the past couple of decades have thrown into sharp relief how “immigrant” is just a dogwhistle for racist bullshit, because people who concern troll about us don’t seem to have many problems with us white ones. But I came out of a communist country. I’m straight outta the eastern bloc. And I don’t think there are any words in any spoken language that can do justice to how insulting it is when americans try to americasplain communism to me. Bitch. Y’all don’t fucking know. You just don’t.

The point is, even back then, I could see the slippery slope republicans were tumbling down, and I can't say I derive any pleasure from being vindicated in such an extreme fashion. Like. I told y’all motherfuckers. TWO DECADES AGO.

People who aren’t familiar with US politics, and even long-term US citizens who for some reason feel like it’s a waste to pay attention to your own shit, seem to spend a lot of time trying to unpack what precisely went wrong. My observations came up with 1) the manipulative aspect of US history in public schools glossing over, and even omitting, the most gruesome aspects of the revolutionary war, the holocaust, and the cold war (and oftentimes, the cold war is NEVER EVEN COVERED, which is especially insulting to me, for obvious reasons); 2) the manipulative aspect of US history in public schools teaching kids that the Declaration of independence and the Constitution are unassailable doctrines of freedom and liberty, and, as such, after independence was won, no further activism to maintain democracy was needed so we can all just smoke a bowl and be complacent because all those authoritarian third world regimes we constantly ridicule and criticize can NeVeR HaPPeN hErE 😒; and 3) how limpdick both-sidesism replaced civil, comprehensive political discussion because the right spent so long abusing, denigrating, and bullying the left that it was just easier to play it safe and take the milquetoast ~centrist~ stance, which always, always, always capitulates to the lowest common denominator, which is always the oppressor.

And generally just this age-old trend of holding the victims of systematic oppression to a higher moral and behavioral standard than the perpetrators of systematic oppression.

Guys, I’m tired. I’m so tired.

I’ve gotten a few questions over the years about why my writing is so angsty, why it always seems to follow the same themes; war crimes, PTSD, gore, torture.

I already escaped one authoritarian regime. The USA promised us one thing, and then once we got here, it started emulating the very tyrants we worked so hard to get away from. A lot of people have no idea what that feels like. How much of a betrayal that is. Especially considering all the financial and legal landmines one has to navigate just to do it, and then we’re punished for that, too.

I write about PTSD because I fucking have it. I write about war crimes because I’ve experienced them firsthand - just as a victim and not the perpetrator. I so often write about soldiers committing them because I want to roleplay what it’s like to not be a victim for once.

tbh writing a fucking Hamilton fanfiction is one of the most cathartic things I’ve ever done, but the extensive research I’ve had to do to be able to write this thing has been low-key traumatic. There’s a lot of historical material I’ve consumed that should have been covered at the most basic level of compulsory education, but conspicuously isn’t. And I know that’s a feature, not a bug. It’s by design.

Democracy - and independence, freedom, liberty, justice, civil rights in general - isn’t just some final xbox achievement that you unlock and then just shelve the game and forget about it for the rest of your life. You have to keep grinding to maintain it, because there will always be selfish, malicious people out there who will dedicate their entire lives playing a long con to ensure you don’t get the same opportunities as them. For the love of god, stop playing the both-sidesism game. From someone coming out of the eastern bloc, I can tell you with great confidence that that was part of the propaganda campaign you were fed to keep you from engaging so they could install a dictatorship under your nose. Do some self-guided historical research, guys. It can be very illuminating.

Anyway. I’ve gone on long enough here, but damn, don’t screw this up again, guys. Today is the first day of early voting in Texas, and I’m going to do my duty. When I first came to this country, after experiencing the rigorous vetting process and labyrinthine legal requirements of US citizenship, I was led to believe that in exchange for that privilege, I was personally responsible for my own civic self-education. It’s so much more important than you've been led to believe.

#uspol #long post #also uhhhh brendan gleeson really needs to win an award #i hope he's ok mentally after playing that role yikes yikes yikes #also 'why do your characters so often have alcohol abuse problems' uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

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coridallasmultipass · 4 years

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Vent / personal / tmi / menstruation / endometriosis / long post ... Im so fucking sick of healthcare professionals telling me to just wait it out and pushing my problems onto other doctors I just got my 5th shot of lupron and have 1 more next month. On my appointment last week i told the gyn how ive been having much more cramping and tissue but not blood coming out regularly and he said its possible the combined lupron and norethindrone are making my uterine lining too thin, and to stop the norethindrone (it was being prescribed to help any menopause-like side effects the lupron can have) And less than 24 hours after my first missed dose i get a full blown period complete with extreme mood swings and depression Im not bleeding this week but im still cramping and the mood swings are so fucking bad, being chronically ill and not getting enough relief from any of my medications is making all of this worse but im literally breaking down over any little thing The lupron and norethindrone combined i guess have been suppressing all my emotions bc this is what it was like on the daily before i started it (just not as bad) which is telling me that none of my psych meds are working but whatever I just now got off the phone with my psych and he said he doesnt want to do anything with my meds or dosing bc he says its related to hormones and thats what my gyn needs to address and i Need To Wait im fucking sick of waiting i cant do this ive been waiting since last august!!!!!!! I now have to wait 2 more whole months of mood swings until i can have another appointment with him hes refused to actually screen me for adhd too and says its bc im An Artist type that im not able to sit down and draw anything since last fall like i fucking hate him and he never gets my name or pronouns right and i cant go see a new psych bc of all the closures and i dont wanna call my gyn bc he said if things get worse i need to have a pelvic ultrasound done again and i cant do it!!! I fucking cant do it it hurts too much im too traumatized from depoprovera and mirena that i cant even touch myself without extreme dysphoria and fear that im going to cramp Its killing me that as someone who was so personally sexual to completely be traumatized from the road to an endometriosis diagnosis that i can no longer masturbate or even talk about sex without anxiety and being trans on top of it hurts even more Next gyn appt is my last injection of lupron and im really gonna push to plan for a partial hysterectomy (i only had endo cysts on the back of my uterus but it was 100% confirmed with surgery and biopsy) so i hope it will help so i can stop taking all these fucking hormonal medications like Before being diagnosed i was really planning on going on testosterone but now im too scared because i feel like it would really fuck up my health problems more - mentally and physically Ive given up on passing and am trying to focus on body acceptance especially now that ove had rapid weight gain that isnt being addressed by any of ky doctors i bring it up to God im just trying to vent here but seriously Do not take the diagnosis of endometriosis lightly its super serious to go forth with any treatments and you really have to commit to long term treatments and its a gamble either way For me not starting any treatments was unacceptable i needed help with extreme monthly periods and all forms of birth control ive tried exacerbated symptoms and never stopped bleeding - i literally cannot personally recommend any form of medical birth control bc every one has fucked me over, many different pills at different points in my life, shot (depoprovera gave me debilitating cramps and i bled non stop all 3 months which started this whole journey to diagnosis), iud (iud was the worst i had to go to the er bc the gyn refused to give me pain meds and i was screaming in pain a few hours later unBle to move or think - i really cannot stress enough how painful and long insertion is like it was the longest 5-10 minutes of my life crying while it felt like a knife going through me) I really dont want that ultrasound tho ffs i had to get the first one done while i was in full force cramps during my depoprovera shot and the pelvic ultrasound rod is humongous and they dig it around inside you (i already had a painful and hard time trying to have pleasurable penetration even by myself or with partners) and it takes like 40 minutes of jumbling around your insides for them to document every thing like at least at that time i was only like 2 months from my last time jerking off but now its been almost 6 months of me not even thinking about putting more than one finger in to clean myself in the shower like to go right into an huge ultrasound is going to be so painful and anxiety inducing and i cant do it id rather go straight into surgery My biggest phobias have to do with pain around this part of my anatomy i cannot stress enough how long ive wanted a hysterectomy just so i dont have to fear accidentally getting p r e g... like i would literally kms... i would probably be able to handle the pain of cutting off my arm with a rusty knife better than extreme cramping pain like i had with the iud or ultrasound its such a phobia and now its source of trauma for me from everything ive gone through the last 6 months Having to readjust my life goals from doing p o r n as a hobby and wanting to transition and be who i am, to becoming a vegetable and trying to cope with the fact that i cant ever transition how i hoped Everything just really sucks for me right now and i have literally no social life any more, not even online bc im so stressed about my health and my attention is so bad i cant focus on a convo online, my laptop is about at its grave so all i have is a phone and xbox with bare minimum internet speed.. i live in the middle of nowhere and cant get my license bc the person who was guiding me to drive is an essential worker in a hospital so i cant go in their car any more... im just so fucking alone i cant do anything except break my back gardening and then cry about it later bc my fucking meds dont fucking work!!!!!!!!! Oh thats another thing im also dealing with fucking gerd on top of all this and i cant get the proceedure i need done to confirm if i need surgery or not bc the fucking lockdown!!!! So im stuck taking pantoprazole (been trying similar meds since march 2019 and its currently june 2020!!!!!!) I just want to eat tomatoes and chocolate again it fucking kills me if i dont take pantoprazole i will lose my voice and have such a sore throat and ears from the stomach acid and i know im gonna have to stop it for 2 weeks for one of the tests i need done and its going to be literal hell like it feels worse than strep throat ill probably do the thing where i start choking and coughing at night bc it gets so bad Im a fucking mess like why couldnt all of this happen one at a time I really want to get my belly pierced again bc i feel so naked without it but i cant bc i probably will be having 2 surgeries once covid blows over (if it ever does) Sorry for taking up so much dash space im just really hurting and need some outlet bc therapy isnt helping rn

#personal /#vent #long post #endometriosis #mental illness #menstruation #tmi #i need to stop crying but i cant lmaO #fuck endometriosis #literally a life ruiner #like i was already having a hard time before it but now i have zero hope for the future

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oldnintendonerd · 6 years

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Tis the season... to be hunting

Aw yes! Here we are folks. Yard sale season. You know what that means. Actual finds. Spring cleaning has come and gone! People are now having Yard Sales, and donating to thrift stores. We are already chock full for this post, so sit back and relax, I have pictures of everything, and it is a long one.

First up is Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone for Playstation - Found 2018.04.20 at Goodwill

I have never played this game, and have no intention of playing this game. Hate to start out o a bit of a negative note, but Harry Potter is of no interest to me. It was $0.99, so with tax, $1.06 out the door. Strictly resale bait. Anything I can sell for about seven to eight times what I paid for it, I’ll always pick it up.

Next up, you are witnessing the very first yard sale I was able to get to this season. It was literally within walking distance of my house. I happened to see the sign on the way out to get breakfast on the morning of April 21st. It was so convenient I really had no thoughts of actually finding anything. But of course I stopped anyway and lo and behold... three very nice condition PS2 games. Nothing earth shattering, but I’ve been wanting to try the Ratchet and Clank games for a while. Now is my chance.

Ratchet and Clank - PS2 - Found on 2018.04.21 at a yard sale

As you can see from the masking tape price tag, it was only $0.50. Those are my kinds of prices, especially for clean, well taken care of games. It is complete and in great condition.

It has instructions/poster. Which are in A condition, as well as a solid A disc, and A case. I will be looking forward to checking out this game in the near future. Not sure when, but soon. Especially since the lot came with an additional Ratchet and Clank game...

Ratchet and Clank Going Commando - PS2 - Found on 2018.04.21 at a yard sale

Another one in pristine condition for being as old as it is. Same ratings accross the board as it’s prequel. Could not ask for much more. Solid games for a very good price at this sale.

Once again, just minty fresh, and complete with instructions/poster. Definitely going in the collection, right along with Ratchet and Clank.

The third one they had may go in a bundle or be trade bait, I am not a big Star Wars, or Lego movie/game fan, don’t get me wrong, I love Legos. I just always thought the games and movies were hoakie and kinda blah. But, for $0.50, its hard to really pass up any title. I may have bought freakin Madden games for that price just to have extra cases or bundle fodder.

Lego Star Wars The Video Game - PS2 - Found on 2018.04.21 at a yard sale

Once again, just immaculate condition. A’s accross the board. There were kids at the sale, but I cannot imagine this was ever handled by them, I have a feeling the homeowner was also the PS2 owner. There were no other games or consoles out. Which is strange. Who puts out just three PS2 games. However, being the first sale, and so dumbstruck was I that I even found something, I broke my very first rule. I forgot to ask about more games. So I’m not sure if they would have had any more, or be willing to part with them if they had. Dropped the ball there, it won’t happen again.

An item that is a little off topic from the usual blog content, I also picked up a really nice Sony dual tape deck for $1 at the same sale, it says “turns on but won’t play”, I immediately figured it needed belts. I opened it up and it does in fact need belts. They are snapped and gooey, wrapped around the flywheels and gears. I have ordered a set and I can’t wait to get those in and fix it up, and listen to all my old cassettes. Maybe even turn a few of them into MP3. Not traditional music Cassettes, these are recording I made when I was a kid, and even live concerts i recorded off of the radio back in the early 90′s. Can’t replace those. So backing up to digital would be very nice.

Well. Since that is not related to the normal content of this blog we’ll just stop talking about that one right there. Though if you don’t mind seeing a few things here and there outside of gaming for finds, I’m happy to toss one in here and there. Leave a comment if you feel one way or the other on that topic. Here is a pickup recap photo with the tape deck in it for fun anyway.

Moving quickly on, or this will be a mile long and you will be here all day reading this post. I think it may get to be a mile long anyway. Sorry about that.

A couple days later I popped back into a Goodwill and found a game I never could get to play on any of my machines at the time it came out. I think I had a demo, and it absolutely destroyed both my rigs at the time. It was unplayable. It is old enough to be on 5 CD ROM discs, no DVD ROMs here! In a nice condition double disc jewel case I found...

Far Cry - PC - Found 2018.04.23 at Goodwill

I picked it up and thought, there has to be a missing disc, or they are all scratched to hell. But nope, every disc was accounted for, and they were in immaculate condition. Ubisoft releases patches for their older games, and after a quick Google search in the store, it appears there is one that will allow this to work on Windows 10. So I bought it. $1.06 out the door from the CD bin. I haven’t tried it yet, and even if it doesn’t work, that’s a cool piece to have.

Next up is another one I had a long time ago, not valuable or rare or anything, but was a good game that I enjoyed playing in the early 2000′s.

Fable - XBox - Found 2018.05.03 at Goodwill

This was in a little rougher condition than I’d have liked, but it might still play. See the scratches on the disc below.

Worst case I can get it resurfaced for like $2. The scratches do not have a “catch” to them when you run your fingernail over them, which is a good sign. They will likely buff right out and it’ll be good as new. Unfortunately that would put it up to a total cost of $5.21 since this guy cost $3.21, and with a value at only $7.36 it doesn’t really make it much of a bargain. But I can live with that if it is added to my collection in working order.

Still a couple bucks under retail, and if I’m lucky, I won’t have to resurface it, making it even closer to a bargain at about half price. So disc is about a C. The case has a small crack, placing it at about a C+, and there is some wear on the manual. The manual though is not falling apart so it stays in the B’s with a B-. Some days later I found a minty “Platinum Hits” edition of Fable at another Goodwill, but the case was empty. I took it to the counter to ask if I could have the case, and they said no, unless I wanted to pay $3 for it. Bummer.

I don’t know why all of a sudden most of the Goodwills in the area are keeping people from taking empty cases. The one closest to my house still lets me take them if I get the right employee/manager on at the time, but the others still won’t let me take them without paying at least a little bit for them. At least they don’t want full price. Maybe they are getting a good deal on recycle material or something. It’s irritating though, glad I got the cases I did throughout last year while I had the chance.

Anyway, moving on.

This was actually the same store and trip that I found the empty Fable case. The game section had close to zero games in it, and I was about to leave (and see if the cashier would give me the Fable case) when I decided to eyeball the toy section in case some controllers or other accessories got tossed over there. For some reason three PS2 games were sitting on the shelf. Two of them were of no interest and were not valuable enough to even buy at $3. But, this one I was interested in playing. I had Defender of the Future on the Dreamcast a LONG time ago. That version is a lot more valuable than this one now of course. By about double, but if it is the same game, I’m in.

Ecco The Dolphin Defender of the Future - PS2 - Found 2018.05.06 at Goodwill

Another very good condition case and disc. Id put the case at an A-, you can see some wear on the outer plastic. Disc is a solid A, as is the manual.

I was always mesmerized playing this game on the DC, how fluid, and realistic the movements of the dolphin were through the water. If this one is as good as the DC, and plays the same, it will stay in the collection as well.

Side bonus to this one, the clerk only charged me the DVD price of $1.99, instead of the video game price of $2.99. Score! I’ll take any small discounts I can get. That $1 could be a GameCube game at a yard sale or something.

The very next day I wound up at another Goodwill and noticed a Wii bundle in the showcase. It was marked $49.99. I noticed there wasn’t a power cable, video cable, or sensor bar sitting with it, which was making me start to shy away from it. It did have several games with it, along with a first party Classic Controller, which I could use, I don’t have one, and have been on the look out for one. Additionally it had two first party nunchucks. I need nunchucks, I only have one first party nunchuck. As far as stuff that did not help the value, there was a Wii balance Board and it also had two third party controllers with it. Which were junk. Additionally it was missing flaps. So I felt at the top end, I was willing to pay maybe $25. The store manager noticed me looking at it and immediately apologized for there not being a sensor bar, power or AV cables with it. He said he usually tries to get them complete before they are put out, he wasn’t sure why this one was out, and it was definitely priced as though it was complete, so he dropped the price to $30 right there. Okay, now we are getting somewhere, but another $5 off would be better.

I said thank you, I appreciate that, that does compensate mostly for the missing cables, though I have a couple other concerns. The GameCube controller port covers are missing, and the two Wiimote controllers it has are absolute junk. How about $25? He didn’t even think about it, he immediately said yes, and dug it out of the showcase to bring it over to the register for me. I wish I’d offered $20 first now. Worst case he comes back with $25 and we end up there anyway.

Wii Bundle - Found 2018.05.07 at Goodwill

I looked closer at the games while he ran around behind the counter for a few moments, then helped a couple other employees with something, and they are all in extremely good condition. Of the games in the bundle, I am interested in adding Mario Galaxy, Donkey Kong Country Returns, and Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz to my collection. So I will do close ups on those below. The rest are in almost as good condition and I’d like to sell off as a bundle, and get close to or more than I paid here for it. Sonic was in the DVD / Games bin and cost an additional $3.21 to get that as it was obviously not part of the Wii bundle. It was also in immaculate condition. So I couldn’t pass it by. I included it in the picture because it was all the same purchase. As he was ringing me up, and because he was so eager to get me going, I almost thought maybe he knew something was wrong with it. But when tested, it booted right up and reads discs OK. Likely it was just busy in there and he was looking to get the transaction taken care of and me on my way.

As for the games themselves, well, have a gander.

Sonic Mega Collection Plus - PS2

I have been playing Sonic games almost as long as Mario games. Maybe less by perhaps 4 or 5 years. While not as near and dear to my heart, I do hold them up as quality games. I owned a Genesis/32X/Sega CD monstrosity for a number of years and played Sonic 2, Sonic CD, and Knuckles Chaotix a lot in my later teen years. I also had a Game Gear with a Sonic game, and this title proclaims to have Game Gear titles on it as well. So I’m looking forward to that.

Super Mario Galaxy - Wii

What can I say about this find? Freaking. Perfect. Condition. Perfect. Like someone took the cellophane off, and brought it to Goodwill. So crispy. I absolutely LOVE finding games in this condition. It is nearly flawless. Close to crystal clear outer art sleeve.

Manual is an solid A, one tiny dent there in the lower right-ish corner prevented the A+, but otherwise looks like its never even been touched. So happy to have this one in the collection finally. I never owned it, even having owned a Wii since at least 2008, I’ve never played it until recently. Looking forward to giving it a proper spin.

Donkey Kong Country Returns - Wii

Wow. Just. Wow. Immaculate. It astounds me that something this old can be in this good of condition coming into a Goodwill. This game was released when? November 2010 according to Wikipedia. So it could be anywhere from roughly six to eight years old or so depending on when this copy was actually manufactured and bought. This belonged to someone who either didn’t care at all, or hated the game the first time it was played, set it on a shelf and it was forgotten until donated, or it was loved and well taken care of. Considering it was donated, I’m going to wager a guess on the former scenario as the most likely.

The crispiest of manuals. A+. Just look at that. Did anyone EVER play either of these games!? I love it. Disc is A+, not a mark on it, flawless. Case is a solid A as well, very clear jacket, no dings, dents, cracks or chips.

The game itself to play is quite good as well, good play control, the visuals are on par with the DKC series, and is updated into the “New Super Mario Bros Wii” style, by rendering everything then fixing the camera in position to create a side scrolling platformer that can be smoothly zoomed in and out, as well as create pseudo parallax scrolling by placing layers of rendered backgrounds behind the area in which you are playing. Backgrounds become the play field in this game as well. I’m enjoying it so far.

I dig this game a great deal, and will also be giving this a proper play through sooner than later.

The condition of most of these finds this month has been stellar so far. Super crispy and clean games. The exception to this is the following game.

Super monkey Ball Banana Blitz - Wii

Really good shape for the most part though, the only blemish on this game is the sticker. GAH! At least we can get that off of there with relative ease, the blog post from a while back I did shows my technique for this. It is very effective and uses nothing more than a damp cloth and packing tape. No goo gone required. So case is an A-. I do however, find the two stickers inside to be rather amusing. They appear to be actual Chiquita banana stickers, with Monkey Ball characters on them, so I think those will stay. It adds to it in my opinion. Manual is A+, very crispy. Disc is a solid A as well.

This game isn’t great because of the controls in my opinion. I much prefer the GameCube games, but my son is a big fan of the series and played the original and the second one on our Wii with a GameCube controller pretty regularly. He has tried this one, and was not as thrilled with it because he cannot use the controller easily, it is all motion/tilt control. But I can see him trying again when he understands the control better. Hes still only three, he will pick it up I’m sure.

Side tangent for a second, does anyone else hate certain games on the Wii because of the controller options? Or rather, severe lack there of? Taking a series like Monkey Ball, or Metroid Prime, that originated on the GameCube, and then make it so you HAVE to use a control scheme that incorporates the new Wiimote motion control. It infuriates me. How hard would it have been to allow fans of the series that played the games on the GameCube to plug in their favorite controller, and seamlessly pick up the game using the same control scheme they know and love. It was simply left out of the game entirely. A big middle finger from Nintendo. Nope, you have to use our new way, we innovated this new motion control platform, and we are going to force you to use it in EVERY game. Plugging in a GameCube controller to a game series that is a continuation FROM THE GAMECUBE should at least be an OPTION. Another example, a game like Twilight Princess, where it was actually a GameCube game ported to the Wii. Not just a series continued from the GameCube. But an actual GameCube game. The original control scheme with a GameCube controller should be an OPTION. But it isn’t. They even mirrored the entire game just so Link would carry the sword in his right hand to match up with 99% of people’s “sword hand”. Really? Oi.

Speaking of Zelda...

*grumble grumble*

Moving on.

To round out this month’s finds I have two more to go. First is a small find from Goodwill. A single game, but, it is on a system that I just do not see games for in Goodwills around here. Gamecube. Nothing spectacular by any stretch, but I had to grab it considering it was GameCube.

Medal of Honor Frontline - GameCube - Found 2018.05.09 at Goodwill

Relatively good shape, I’d give the case a B. Manual is an A, very crispy. Disc is a solid B, a few light scratches, but no question it will play. It will go in the collection for now, but might not stay forever, FPS games and I do not generally get along on consoles.

Still happy to get it, of course it ran the standard $3.21, it only weighs in at a little over $5 on pricecharting though. Oh well. A GameCube game is a GameCube game these days.

Last but certainly not least, my final yard sale find of the month is a Glacier Game Boy Advance, with Pokemon Red version included.

Game Boy Advance with Pokemon Red - found 2018.05.11 at a yard sale.

I’ve only ever owned an original Game Boy DMG-01. I played Tetris, Revenge of the Gator, Metroid II, TMNT, Mega Man, Super Mario Land and other games for hours as a kid growing up in the late 80′s and early 90′s. The GBA was released after I’d become an adult, and portable gaming was lower on my priority list at that time. I was doing less riding in cars on road trips because I was now the driver on road trips. I had a girlfriend/wife or friends to talk to on those trips in any case, so even if I wasn’t driving, it wasn’t like I was bored off my ass in the back seat while we drove to another family vacation. Or sitting in school or something. I had a job. Way less free time.

So, having never owned some of them when they were new, I am down to get my hands on a few of these portables at this point. If nothing else, I can give them to my son to play with on some family road trips!

I saw this one in a picture in a Cragslist ad, the person’s ad for the Sale had photos. It was on a table along with a TI-84 Plus and an Apple TV. No price tags were on any of it in the photos. I’d hoped to get all three for a steal, and flip the Apple TV and calculator for a profit to help fund the collection. My hope was about $10 for the Apple TV, $15 for the Calculator at most, and perhaps $10 for the GBA. I arrived at the sale only a minute or two after it was scheduled to start. Of course there was already a swarm of people and I thought “damn, I’m sure it’s gone by now.” However it was not gone, as you can see from the picture, marked at $20. Double what I was hoping for. Probably why it was in still there. A glacier GBA is only worth about $25 according to Pricecharting, and I would also assume that price assumes the battery cover is present. This one does not include the battery cover. So I asked the guy if the price was flexible. He said he could go $15. I pointed out it was missing the battery cover and that I was hoping for $10. He said he hadn’t noticed the battery cover, and in that case he could go as low as $12. Knowing Pokemon Red had to be at least a ten dollar bill, I bought it.

As you can see it works fine. I figure this could also be a unit I will take thrifting with me to test GB, GBC, and GBA games right in the store before buying them. Will be handy.

Incidentally the TI-84 was marked at $40, they are only worth about $50 to $60, and this one was a little rough. The Apple TV was marked at $30. But only worth $40 to $50. If I could have gotten them for the prices I was hoping for, I may have picked them up, but given the price he wanted for the GBA, I don’t think I could get him that low, so I didn’t bother even making an offer. The only item I was really after was the GBA, and I think I got a good enough deal on that.

That wraps this post up for a little more than about the last month of hunting. A lot of stuff this time around, the season is just starting to hit stride. Hopefully this continues. The finds have already been fairly good.

So now down to the official business. We had $57.46 at the end of the last posting.

Harry Potter was $1.06, that takes us to $56.40. Ratchet and Clank, Ratchet and Clank Going Commando, and Lego Star Wars were 50 cents each, taking us to $54.90.

Then we found Far Cry, another $1.06 takes us to $53.84, and Fable at $3.21 takes us to $50.36. Ecco the Dolphin Defender of the Future was only $2.13, but that still drops us to $48.50.

That takes care of most of the one off stuff and brings us to the Wii bundle with Sonic Mega Collection Plus. All of it was $30.08 out the door. A little ouch compared to what we have available for funds. But a good deal for what I got. That shrunk the total to $18.42. But it was worth it, those games were in stunning condition. Plus, I should be able to eventually make back every penny on the leftovers. Assuming I'll run across some cables at some point. A Wii bundle with the games that were left, the Wii Fit Board, the controllers, nunchucks, and all the cables should fetch at least $30 - $40.

The last one off game was Medal of Honor Frontline for the GameCube. It ran $3.21. Taking us down to $15.21. Only just enough to bring home the last item, the Glacier Game Boy Advance with Pokemon Red Edition. That $12 brings us down to what I believe is a record low. $3.21.

Ironically, just enough money to buy ONE game at a Goodwill without going negative if one turns up.

Not to fret though, I have a small pile of items I will be listing very directly, which should refill our till so we can move into peak Yard Sale season fully armed.

Slated to hit eBay soon are: Pokemon Red Sealed copy of Wii Fit Plus Sealed copy of Wii Play A copy of Dragonball Revenge of King Piccolo The Lot of 007 Games from last post.

I might list the entire 007 lot for something between $12.99 and $17.99 buy it now with free shipping. I feel like that should move fairly quick, but we'll have to see what's going for what price as I'm listing it all to really choose final pricing.

That’s all for now, happy hunting to my few readers! I love you all.

2018.06.02

#nintendo #ps2 #playstation2 #donkeykong #supermario #mario galaxy #mario galaxy 2 #mariogalaxy2 #wii #nintendowii #sony #medalofhonor #SuperMonkeyBall #sonic the hedgehog #sonic #sonicthehodgeheg #sonicmegacollection #pokemon

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dear--charlie · 7 years

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Dear Charlie,

My birthday is February second and I hate Groundhog’s Day because that’s all I heard about in elementary school on said day instead of Happy Birthday. I hear my parents fight sometimes, more often now than before. I love my siblings. The worst fight was when I hit my little sister with an xbox controller for saying something that I wouldn’t say to friends let alone family. I don’t outright like either sibling more. I wanted to be a doctor when I was seven, I want to be a teacher now. My dream vacation is Ann Arbor, Michigan — exploring the place for days on my own. The most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to me was being called (birth name) by a teacher I thought was accepting in front of the entire class. I still go to therapy and sometimes it helps. The hardest thing I’ve experienced is debatable between /him/ and my attempted overdose. I still haven’t overcome it. I don’t like what I see in the mirror. I think appearances matter in relationships in the sense that the sight of them makes you feel relieved and safe. My favorite movie is The Breakfast Club. The books Perks of Being a Wallflower and the Harry Potter series changed my life. The hardest I’ve ever cried was the day of my attempted overdose, right as I tore up my letters and heard my cousin (favorite person in the world) cry over the phone when I told her I was dying. I love my grandma, dad’s mom, the most besides my cousin, siblings, and parents. The words “we need to talk” do make me sick to my stomach. My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. My favorite season is Autumn. My favorite color is yellow — bright, bright yellow. I love rain. I’m only scared of what me dying will do to others. I don’t believe in any god. I’m extremely allergic to poison ivy. My favorite food is mac and cheese or hash browns. My favorite restaurant is Hot Wok, a little restaurant in my mom’s hometown. I love to cook. I care very much about cleanliness. I’m rather liberal in my political views, it’s said I align more with the Green Party than any other. I am absolutely, indefinitely a feminist. My favorite flower is a sunflower. My favorite song is Everything Will Be Alright by The Killers. I would own an entire zoo and aquarium if possible — any animal is allowed in my house. I don’t have much hair to shave off, but I’d give it to anyone going through chemo. I’d love to live in Colorado or Washington. I’d like to honeymoon somewhere in South America or Mexico. My favorite kind of gum is the blue raspberry Hubba Bubba. My favorite candy is KitKats. I’m mean when I’m angry, I have a habit of cursing a lot (well, more than I already do). I’d prefer silver over gold. I didn’t/don’t really have a clique in high school, I was/am pretty alone. My ‘spirit animal’ would probably be my Patronus, aka the derpiest looking dog on the planet (Ibizan Hound). I think I’d be a sunflower or a marigold if I were a flower. I admire my mom and everything she’s done for me. I wish the traits that were more dominate are a strong jawline and no mental illness. I worry quite a bit that I’m a shitty person. /He/ hurt me most, if myself doesn’t count. I thought I was worthless for the same two previous reasons. My cousin can make me feel better when I’m sad. It depends on the person, but typically I prefer hugs over kisses. My house looks out of place in its neighborhood but it fits the definition of home. My dream car is a 1963 Chevy StepSide C-10 pickup in a pale yellow. People become cold because they forget how beautiful the human species is meant to be. When it comes to Nature vs Nurture, nature has almost nothing to do with it — if someone with genes against them is raised in a supportive environment, they’re able to get help and/or understand people care (which sometimes is all you need). I don’t believe in heaven. I absolutely believe in aliens. I hope mermaids don’t exist for their safety’s sake. I don’t believe in reincarnation. I don’t believe in the bible. Sadness that feels like emptiness is my least favorite emotion. The best day I’ve ever had was the second day of 2016’s Michigan road trip (on the way there). Decorating my first apartment with my cousin as a roommate would be the best day. I see myself both as a protector and one who needs protecting. I deal with my pain by taking it out on myself, writing, and isolating myself. I would set up my future first, then give the rest to my family if I had 100 million dollars. Wealth absolutely affects people’s morals if they’ve never known anything else. Writing is one of the best things to ever exist. If I could do it all over again, I’d change November 13th. My biggest mistake was letting myself think I deserve(d) all the bad I got. I wish I spoke Spanish fluently. I’ve only loved two people non-romantically, only one I was in a relationship with. I used to love the person I lost my virginity to. I do realize I’m remarkable. My enneagram is equal parts the Individualist and the Enthusiast. I think there are billions of ways to fix the education system but I’ll summarize in one word: personalization. People who commit suicide are strong — they endured so much, too much, and I love them all dearly for keeping a brave face for so long despite how hard it was. I, under no circumstances, think that people who commit suicide are selfish. If I could, I would tell them that I love them and I’m proud of them even if they aren’t proud of themselves. My favorite memory of childhood is/are Michigan summers, in general. I only like iced tea (sue me), but I love coffee only if it’s almost more milk/sweetener than coffee. The last time I wrote someone a handwritten letter was a couple days ago. The best gift I’ve ever received was the brown, frayed journal from Barnes and Noble my mom gave me on Easter in my freshman year. The best piece of advice I’ve ever received is that I can be my own happiness. The last time I cried was literally like two hours ago. I’m not super competitive about board games unless it’s Monopoly or Scattergories, then I will deSTROY YOU. My favorite board game is Scattergories. I only feel pressured to settle down by myself. I notice a person’s laugh/smile first, or their lack of one. My top three pet peeves are open doors, ignorance when knowledge is accessible, and blatant disregard for others’ wellbeing. I have a horrible fear of spiders, small spaces, and heights. I’ve always wanted to make /him/ pay for what he did but I will never have the courage to go through with it. I isolate myself and/or write when I’m overwhelmingly sad. I learned how to ski once but I don’t remember and never do it. Home is where you feel absolutely safe. Politeness is absolutely important. I don’t mind indecisive people, so long as they don’t blame others for it. There’s never a reason to go to war, not unless a country purposely hurt innocent people from another with its armies/weapons. A lot of things scare me, mostly the lack of empathy in others. I do believe in therapy. I only want to be genuinely happy in life, I don’t care about anything else. I look for someone to face the world with in a partner. I only want to change my mental illness, I don’t want it. I would change the world only to make people empathize and love others, not even love — just care and be aware that others matter. I want someone to love me as much as I love them. I want to feel important. I want to be loved for who I am. I want to be happy. I am not happy yet.

Love Always, Walking Supernova

#dear charlie walking supernova

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gman-003 · 7 years

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Control -The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Analyzed, Part Three

(This is part three of my post-play analysis of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, part of an thing where I play and then talk about every game in theZelda series. Check out the earlier installments, where I talked about the story or the use of patterns.)

Games differ from all other fiction by being interactive, and video games differ from their analog brethren by being software, capable of being far more interactive. How you play a game is an absolutely crucial part of how good or bad it is, and as with all things, Skyward Sword is a bit of a mixed bag.

Okay: Motion controls enforce delay

Skyward Sword uses motion controls. That was what everyone read and heard in the lead-up to launch. This was the game that was going to finally make good on the promise of the Wii: a game that was far more than just a collection of minigames, but still made full use of the Wiimote's capabilities.

Well, for better or worse, it did. The game actually uses motion controls in a game for the hardcore. And it immediately ran into the fatal flaw of motion controls: they enforce a delay.

Latency is absolutely critical to gameplay, in all but the most strictly turn-based games. Mere frames of latency between the player pressing a button and the corresponding action happening in the game can be ruinous. Motion controls, though, have forced latency because they require larger physical motion before the sensors can pick up on it. Even the deepest mechanical keyboards have only a few millimeters of physical travel before they trigger. Most game pads have even less. But with an accelerometer, you must make large gestures - even the smallest flick is still several centimeters of travel. And if a precise angle is needed, you may as well expect several seconds to pass as the feedback cycles between the player and the computer.

That latency impacts game design. If not adapted for, you have enemies moving faster than the player can hope to respond to them. To its credit,Skyward Sword adapts the 3D Zelda formula to the appropriate pacing. It slows things down to the point that the player rarely feels like the controller latency is holding them back. It wasn't even that much of a slowdown, because past Zelda games have been slower than they strictly needed to be, since they inherit from a game that ran at 20 frames per second.

But it's still there. You can feel it in the more precise swordfighting battles, such as against Scervo and Dreadfuse. Often an enemy will change its block pattern while you have physically begun to swing the Wiimote, but before the controller has registered that movement. This gets quite aggravating, and pushes the player to avoid using the sword on enemies that can punish you heavily for being blocked.

Good: Slower gameplay became deeper gameplay

Which is quite a shame, because the sword combat is actually pretty good otherwise. The slower pace called for greater depth, and Nintendo gave it to us.

Previous Zelda games had attacks from different angles, but they never really mattered. You had slashes or stabs for engaging a single enemy, spin attacks for attacking multiple enemies. Some attacks were tied up with movement - the jumping overhead swing, or that rolling backstab from Twilight Princess. But enemies didn't care how you hit them, just what you hit them with and when.

About half the enemies, and almost all of the bosses, in Skyward Sword care about the angle of your attack. Bokoblins will try to block. Deku Babas need to be cut from a certain angle. Skulltulas can be flipped onto their backs by an uppercut. Moblin shields can be cut apart. The controller may have forced the game to slow down, but the enemies give you plenty to think about during that newfound time you have. Which is only slivers of a second, but it's not that much to think about, anyways.

Many of the other weapons take advantage of motion controls. The whip has a natural feel to its flick. The beetle is steered entirely by motion controls. The bow, slingshot and hookshots aim quite well. Bombs get a nice extra interaction - while you could always drop or throw them, now you can also roll them, a minor but appreciated addition.

Overall, it's a welcome set of changes to the formula. The combat in 3D Zelda games has always been a bit lacking, and a small decrease in pace is more than worth it to get some much-needed depth.

Bad: Lack of buttons on Wiimote

The controls were somewhat forced by the console. Nintendo couldn't exactly say "eh, this game plays poorly with motion controls, we'll just put it out on Xbox and Playstation instead of the Wii". So even though the use of motion controls was perhaps sub-optimal, they did a great job at adapting the game design to the motion controls.

Surprisingly, what hurt the game more was actually the traditional control elements. The Wiimote was pretty good, for a groundbreaking motion controller, but it works pretty horribly as a regular controller.

Let's do a comparison. The Wiimote, with the Nunchuk and MotionPlus accessories, gives the player a single analog stick and a single D-pad. Four buttons are immediately under the player's fingers: the A, B, C and Z buttons. Four more buttons are available to games, but are further away from the player's fingers: +, -, 1 and 2. (The Home button isn't usable for game controls, so we won't count it).

Other Gen-7 consoles had more inputs available to the player. Both the Xbox 360 gamepad and the PS3's Dualshock gave two analog sticks, a D-pad, four easily-reached face buttons, four triggers, and a pair of out-of-the-way buttons. That's a gain of a stick and two buttons overall, but more important is the four extra buttons that can be used for fast gameplay actions.

(For what it's worth, Nintendo clearly recognized this as a mistake - the Wii U Gamepad has the same complement of inputs as the traditional consoles, plus the touchscreen. And the preceding Nintendo console, the Gamecube, had nearly the full complement of inputs, missing only a fourth trigger and a select button.)

Zelda games give the player avatar lots of ways to interact with the world. This must be mirrored by giving the player lots of ways to interact with the game console, or else you must resort to piling multiple actions onto each input. Since the Wii physically lacked the buttons to map each action to a different button, they were forced to make them ambiguous. A long-press of B brings up the item select menu. The A button has a different meaning in almost every context and can change depending on other buttons being held.

This leads to a noticeable increase in how often you have to wait for a second because you're long-pressing a button to trigger the alternate mode. You can't rapidly switch between items, the way you could in every other game (even the Wii version of Twilight Princess) - you have to hold the B button. Climbing a block has you walking into it until the game is sure you're not going to press A to try to push it instead. It's a tiny thing, true, but over the course of the game, it adds up. And if it leads to the player getting killed because they were waiting for a long-press to finish... well, players absolutely hate it whenever they are penalized because of something the game did wrong.

While the limitations of the hardware make it so no game of this complexity would control flawlessly, Skyward Sword doesn't even do the best it could with the tools it had. Let's compare it to Twilight Princess, which utilized the buttons of the Wiimote better than its successor.

Calling your companion was moved from D-Up to D-Down. A small change, but a noticeable one, because D-Down is a much more accessible input on the Wiimote. The harp was stuck onto D-Up at all times - wasteful, since you only ever need it in a few known places, and it could have just been a contextual action as howling was in Twilight Princess.

Gone is the ability to set different items to quick-use slots, something seen since very early in the series. D-Left and D-Right are completely unused, forcing you to enter the equipment menu for every single non-sword item.

The 2 button is dedicated to a "help" action that I doubt any player has ever tried to use. I seriously can't even find a screenshot of what it does, and neither the game manual nore the official strategy guide bother to explain it.

The +, - and 1 buttons all bring up different menus - items, map and equipment. But each of those can be reached from any other. At least one of them could have been given up without harming the user experience.

So that's two buttons literally unused, another that could have been removed entirely, a fourth that could have been made contextual, and if necessary, a fifth that could be folded into another.

What other uses could those buttons have been put to? A quick-select item or three, for starters. Let me quickly pull out items other than the one I literally just used. A dedicated button to get to the item-select wheel might also be in order, instead of the long-press on B. A dedicated "run" button would be nice, while we're at it.

This seems like an incredibly minor complaint, but while playing, this was in my top five most frequent complaints, and it really does make the gameplay feel worse. It even had a knock-on effect on game complexity - since selecting items is so tedious, they refused to make items that weren't strict upgrades. They solved the problem Ocarina of Time had with its long, annoying sequence to switch between boots or tunics, not by making the controls better, but by making the game simpler so you never have to do that.

The button limits and the bad choice of mappings is something I'm sure they'll fix in the inevitable HD remake. I notice the Switch has a more reasonable amount of traditional buttons... perhaps the touchscreen can be a suitable replacement for the motion controls?

Worst: Calibrations

(I refuse to apologize for this stupid joke)

The motion controls work fine when you're just making relative motions - swinging a sword around. It falls apart when you try to use it as a pointer, because the calibration drifts like crazy. You pull out the bow, and suddenly you're spinning around because the pointer is off the screen to the left. Same for dowsing, hookshots, slingshots, the beetle, or menu navigation.

The designers must have realized this. Every time you use the Wiimote as a pointer, the D-down button is available to "center" it. You will be using thatconstantly. Every time I pulled out one of the aimed items, went into first-person view, or pulled up a menu, I had to center it before I could use it. It got to the point of muscle memory - I pulled out a new item, better calibrate it before I end up spinning around like a top.

I don't even know why they bother making you calibrate the Wiimote when you start the game. You're going to re-calibrate it every few minutes anyways.

What adds insult to this bit of tedium is that the game completely ignores the Sensor Bar. Something it could have used to calibrate itself, even just for the pointing sections, gets ignored. So instead it tries to reconstruct the relative position and angle of the Wiimote based on reconstructed acceleration. It seems almost pointless to ignore this.

Overall, the controls did more harm than good. Swinging the Wiimote around feels great, and it forced a much-needed update to the combat system, but it was overall a frustration and a hindrance. I look forward to the HD remake, whatever console it's on, which should fix the more glaring issues.

#the legend of zelda #everyzeldaproject #loz #skyward sword #game design

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e3khatena · 7 years

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Someone subjected me to it, so I'll return the favor. Do them all, yes?

*horrible but joyous raptor noise*

200: My crush’s name is: The pineapple one.199: I was born in: 1997198: I am really: Confused about things and such.197: My cellphone company is: AT&T and they kind of suck but not too much.196: My eye color is: Usually a bluish-gray, more gray in the winter and more greenish in the spring. Not vividly, still mostly gray.195: My shoe size is: 12.194: My ring size is: I think I have an Ace Ring in 13? So that, I guess.193: My height is: 6′0″-ish.192: I am allergic to: A hecking lot of types of medication.191: My 1st car was: A Hyundai that had it brakes rot out, the lower control arms snapped, and now it doesn’t have power steering. I just got my second car 2 months ago.190: My 1st job was: Alright.189: Last book you read: Legends of Localization: MOTHER 2. Super awesome.188: My bed is: A bed!187: My pet: Icha, a retired police dog. 186: My best friend: Dan. I have not talked to so many of my other friends in so long, I need to get better at that.185: My favorite shampoo is: I dunno, the stuff I use? I don’t study the bottle.184: Xbox or ps3: Wii U, to be completely honest. Hopefully the Switch is awesome.183: Piggy banks are: A typo based on a type of coin bank made of a certain type of clay.182: In my pockets: Actually nothing right now.181: On my calendar: I have class in Chicago tomorrow. :\180: Marriage is: Not something I plan to do.179: Spongebob can: Please get canned already? Fairly Oddparents, too. Actually, that one first.178: My mom: Is a mom.177: The last three songs I bought were? Two songs from the Diablo Swing Orchestra (probably the coolest hecking band ever) preceeded by Ballroom Blitz.176: Last YouTube video watched: A bunch of trash TF2 joke weapon demonstrations.175: How many cousins do you have? I dunno, like three or four immediate cousins?174: Do you have any siblings? An older and a younger brother.173: Are your parents divorced? No.172: Are you taller than your mom? Yes.171: Do you play an instrument? Nope.170: What did you do yesterday? My best.[ I Believe In ]169: Love at first sight: Nope.168: Luck: I got all the bad stuff.167: Fate: If y’had a chance t’chainge yer faet, wood yeh?166: Yourself: What a funny story, Mark!165: Aliens: I mean, somewhere out there. They’re probably, like, bacteria, but I mean whatever.164: Heaven: I like to imagine the afterlife is one giant void where you just wait to come back and you get to see all your past and future lives but forget everything immediately upon being resurrected as a new human.163: Hell: See immediately above.162: God: If you do, that’s cool. 161: Horoscopes: Read six of them. Chances are, more than one fits you well.160: Soul mates: Nope.159: Ghosts: Nope.158: Gay Marriage: I mean, do whatever. If its not immoral and illegal and everyone involved is okay with it, then cool.157: War: It never changes, but I kinda wish it would. Why is it this hard for people to support each other. 156: Orbs: They don’t exist because nobody has ever seen a perfect sphere in real life before.155: Magic: There are people who claim this is real?[ This or That ]154: Hugs or Kisses: I dunno?153: Drunk or High: Having a height advantage to your opponents makes it that much harder for them to seek adequate cover and that much easier to defeat them.152: Phone or Online: I hate the call quality in the US.151: Red heads or Black haired: You don’t see that many actual natural gingers out there.150: Blondes or Brunettes: I mean, I’m blond, so there’s some bias.149: Hot or cold: The cold. LA would kill me.148: Summer or winter: Specifically the first month of the winter. Past that its gray and sludgy and horrible.147: Autumn or Spring: Spring.146: Chocolate or vanilla: Chocolate.145: Night or Day: The nighttime makes everything feel forbidden. I shouldn’t be out this late, I shouldn’t be doing this this late, etc.144: Oranges or Apples: Oranges. Citrus is awesome.143: Curly or Straight hair: I dunno.142: McDonalds or Burger King: Burger King has the better chicken nuggets, but both aren’t that great. In this town, its Culvers, Portillo’s, or you eat the DIRT you find in the GROUND.141: White Chocolate or Milk Chocolate: Like a 60% dark chocolate. 70% tastes great at first but the aftertaste is horrible, afraid to go darker than that. Heard 100% is the worst.140: Mac or PC: PC, since I make games using software that runs on 139: Flip flops or high heals: Mages with a high heal yield are always welcome in the party.138: Ugly and rich OR sweet and poor: I’ve kind of had it with the rich at this point.137: Coke or Pepsi: Regular coke but Cherry Pepsi. Crystal Pepsi is also back but my life was ruined when I found out its just regular Pepsi with no coloring.136: Hillary or Obama: I would gladly take either of them right now. Barack seems like he’d be a dad friend.135: Burried or cremated: I want to be burned to ashes and thrown from the mountains.134: Singing or Dancing: I dunno.133: Coach or Chanel: Coach was a playable character in L4D2 and thus is infinitely more useful.132: Kat McPhee or Taylor Hicks: Who the frack are these people.131: Small town or Big city: I’ve kind of had it with the city.130: Wal-Mart or Target: Target. Or, for white people with minimal senses of humor, Targét (Tar-zhey).129: Ben Stiller or Adam Sandler: Stiller is meh but never reaches Sandler levels of awful.128: Manicure or Pedicure: [SOUNDS OF LITTLE INTEREST]127: East Coast or West Coast: The East Coast has HP Lovecraft’s home.126: Your Birthday or Christmas: Both seem to end in familial drama.125: Chocolate or Flowers: Chocolate is dang wonderful. Can’t take a handful, eat the tulips. Y’just cahn’t do theat.124: Disney or Six Flags: Six whole flags. Great America has the Viper and its the closest you will ever get to a life-changing moment. 123: Yankees or Red Sox: I am indifferent towards New York or Boston, doubly so concerning Baseball.[ Here’s What I Think About ]122: War: Like, really guys, talk out your differences and treat people with respect. Its not that hard.121: George Bush: He would have made a brilliant painter or a decent comedian, but for some reason he ended up as president. But now he’s paining portraits of veterans wounded in the wars he started, so there’s that.120: Gay Marriage: Of course.119: The presidential election: 2016 was a terrible year, can we just fast forward to an election where two decent, respectable human beings are being voted for on election day.118: Abortion: Every woman has their reason, and its not the right of men to get to decide what happens.117: MySpace: ‘sead.116: Reality TV: Ech.115: Parents: Its a toxic environment.114: Back stabbers: I get you want that double critical hit, but please don’t stab me. I just want to grab the papers. End TF2 joke.113: Ebay: I dunno?112: Facebook: I had a video of a chick being forced down a grinder suddenly load and go full screen the last time I used the app. Yeah no.111: Work: Cash money.110: My Neighbors: My next door neighbors are absolutely wonderful people. The people past there are pretty bleh.109: Gas Prices: They’ve been higher, they’ve been lower.108: Designer Clothes: Heck.107: College: I have the presidential scholarship and have taken the maximum out on all possible loans and I cannot afford to live on-campus.106: Sports: Nah.105: My family: I am always feeling much better and more comfortable when spending time at a friend’s house than my own house.104: The future: Kinda losing hope, kinda just wish I had the skills to make great games quick and then just live in peace somewhere nice, kinda want to get struck with construction equipment, etc.[ Last time I ]103: Hugged someone: I couldn’t tell you, its been, I dunno, a decade or so?102: Last time you ate: 11:something today.101: Saw someone I haven’t seen in awhile: Spent some time at a friend’s place Friday. Haven’t gotten to speak with them in such a long time, felt nice.100: Cried in front of someone: I dunno?99: Went to a movie theater: The last film I saw in theaters was Godzilla and I lost interest when Walter White died.98: Took a vacation: Absolutely never! I was in Florida for a few weeks a few years ago (2013, I think?), but it barely counts because half of it was rainy days, Minecraft, and Nostalgia Critic.97: Swam in a pool: Couple years ago?96: Changed a diaper: If this answer becomes anything but never I will have seen too much.95: Got my nails done: Never.94: Went to a wedding: Never.93: Broke a bone: Pretty sure never?92: Got a peircing: Never.91: Broke the law: I once forgot to stop at a stop sign nobody else was at. Take me away, coppers, throw me in the slammer.90: Texted: I think Friday night?[ MISC ]89: Who makes you laugh the most: Dan.88: Something I will really miss when I leave home is: Not having anywhere to be. 87: The last movie I saw: I watched The Adventures of Tintin for like the 9th time. I wonder how that film stands up in black/white. I heard really good stuff about Mad Max: Fury Road in B/W.86: The thing that I’m looking forward to the most: Switch Switch Switch SwiTCH SWITCH SW85: The thing im not looking forward to: The hatred spiraling around the 45th President. Actual Nazis spoke of their goals and were praised on national TV. One of them got punched and is afraid he will become a meme. What the heck is going on. How much Nyquil did I accidentally drink. Is this a dying dream. Please let it be.84: People call me: Really needy and obnoxious. Or that might just be me.83: The most difficult thing to do is: Have one good day. Friday was the first one since probably October.82: I have gotten a speeding ticket: Nope, but I did get one because my brakes went out and I hit the bumper of the car in front of me. 81: My zodiac sign is: Gemini, but it really doesn’t make a difference.80: The first person i talked to today was: Dan.79: First time you had a crush: Quite a while ago. It was the orange one and it was alright. Pineapple is the better flavor though.78: The one person who i can’t hide things from: Dan.77: Last time someone said something you were thinking: I dunno.76: Right now I am talking to: A Tumblr text post.75: What are you going to do when you grow up: Design dem vidya gaems. 74: I have/will get a job: I have a job? Its my second one, been there 3 months.73: Tomorrow: I’LL72: Today: Is almost over.71: Next Summer: I’ll be out of school until September again?70: Next Weekend: Will be practically the end of the month? What am I supposed to put do--69: I have these pets: I have one (1) dog.68: The worst sound in the world: I have been woken at 2 in the morning by someone loudly blaring “Now look at this NET!” at me as a joke. 67: The person that makes me cry the most is: I dunno, Speilberg? Because he won’t make thAT TINTIN SEQUEL--66: People that make you happy: Dan and the other ragtag band of friends I have.65: Last time I cried: Like ~a week ago?64: My friends are: @eishkrooked @virtifrication-order @ahogehope and my non-Tungle friends Steve, Byron, Haley and Sam.63: My computer is: More expensive than my first car.62: My School: Costs far too much.61: My Car: Is alright.60: I lose all respect for people who: Justify killing or dehumanizing a lot of people quickly.59: The movie I cried at was: Wreck-It Ralph. Because I am a loser.58: Your hair color is: Blond.57: TV shows you watch: Actually between stuff because everything is over or on hiatus.56: Favorite web site: Steam, I guess?55: Your dream vacation: As many of my friends as possible and we all go to somewhere rad, I dunno where though.54: The worst pain I was ever in was: I once had a coughing fit at 1AM that caused me to spit up some blood and it hurt so bad I collapsed on the floor and cried myself back to sleep. But Death’s gonna have to bare-knuckle box me for my life, he tried to kill me with life-threatening pneumonia twice and that did bugger all. Come at me scrublord, I’m ripped.53: How do you like your steak cooked: Medium-well.52: My room is: Barely my room.51: My favorite celebrity is: JK Simmons.50: Where would you like to be: Somewhere nice.49: Do you want children: Not really, no. Maybe adopt some? I dunno.48: Ever been in love: Nope.47: Who’s your best friend: This is like the third time this question has appeared.46: More guy friends or girl friends: More good friends.45: One thing that makes you feel great is: Ever get to steal, like, all the stars in a Chance Time? That power changes you.44: One person that you wish you could see right now: I want to know how Haley is doing. She moved off to Minnesota after graduating high school and has not been online in like have a year. 43: Do you have a 5 year plan: I barely have a five-day plan.42: Have you made a list of things to do before you die: I could die at any minute, lists just leave “I could have___”s everywhere.41: Have you pre-named your children: Nope.40: Last person I got mad at: It took Arin 4 hours to make it to the end of Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door’s first major boss. FOUR HOURS.39: I would like to move to: A nice flat somewhere just outside Chicago.38: I wish I was a professional: Game dev because then, again, good things made quick.[ My Favorites ]37: Candy: York Peppermint Patties, also a fan of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.36: Vehicle: Can Tesla just do a cheap electric car already? 35: President: Obama is definitely top of the list. Amazing public speaker, total dad.34: State visited: Illinois.33: Cellphone provider: If only Metronet could do phones.32: Athlete: JK Simmons got ripped, I can include him.31: Actor: See above!30: Actress: Ashly Burch (Ms. Pauling in TF2). 29: Singer: Lynda Carter became a freaking phenominal jazz singer between the 70s and Fallout 4. Probably the best part about that game.28: Band: Diablo Swing Orchestra, hands down.27: Clothing store: The cheapest one I can get good-quality stuff at.26: Grocery store: Jewel? I dunno, don’t hassle me.25: TV show: Gravity Falls deserves all the awards.24: Movie: This might come as a surprise, but the Adventu23: Website: Steam? I dunno.22: Animal: Samoyeds and Malamutes. Japanese Akitas come in third.21: Theme park: Six Flags is pretty rad. 20: Holiday: According to the store I work at, Italian Market is a holiday and now its my favorite holiday.19: Sport to watch: Not a sportwatcher.18: Sport to play: Used to spar. That was rad.17: Magazine: Rest in peace, Nintendo Power.16: Book: Journal 3 is such a fabulous blend of so many good things.15: Day of the week: Monday, actually. I don’t need to commute, my brothers are out of the house, I can record or work on personal projects, etc.14: Beach: Not a fan of beaches.13: Concert attended: Have not attended any live whatsits.12: Thing to cook: Pasta. And then I have it all. Because its pasta.11: Food: Read above.10: Restaurant: It depends. Subway is cheap, Corner Bakery Cafe is right inside Union Station and their Mac and Chee is awesome, but if money is no object, then I’d go for Olive Garden because “endless pasta” are two words that get slung around in there.9: Radio station: I hate the FM radio.8: Yankee candle scent: Fresh-cut lawn.7: Perfume: Nah.6: Flower: I don’t have an answer.5: Color: One of those deep, vivid blues. Something like Tumblr’s but with some more saturation.4: Talk show host: Nah.3: Comedian: SungWon Cho or Barry Kramer.2: Dog breed: 22 has all the answers you need.1: Did you answer all these truthfully? I could be a jerk and say I answered one of these incorrectly, but nah, they’re legit. Or are they? They are. Or are they?

Thanks!

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