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ahiddenpath · 6 years

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Vidja Games

So I checked out Game Informer’s list of the top 300 greatest video games, and they are objectively wrong, lol (I can’t imagine the fights that went into making this list??)!

I’m no critic, and I’m not interested in attempting to objectively rate games, but here are my (subjective) faves in rough order-ish, if you’re interested! They are arranged by franchise for my sanity below the cut.

The Elder Scrolls (TES)

My all time favorite video game series is TES, although I wasn’t able to stomach playing I and II. In order, my favorites are: Morrowind, then Oblivion, then Skyrim.

Morrowind is unfriendly to casual gamers, and even experienced folks need to learn the lay of the enormous world, how to fast travel, and even how to level and plan characters to best effect. The learning curve is enormous, and if you decide to play a different type of character later on, you’re stuck! You might even have to start over, since you level your character by increasing the major and minor skills you chose upfront.

But I have never experienced such an open, imaginative world. The later installments felt both smaller and less varied. In Morrowind, you’ll find everything from sprawling floating cities to houses built into enormous mushrooms, with ashlands, swamps, and mountainous terrains in between, complete with hell-on-earth smack-dab in the middle of everything.

Oblivion is more user-friendly than Morrowind, and it has some of the most engaging quests in the series. What it loses in environmental diversity and sheer exploration potential, it almost- almost- compensates for in fun quests (there’s much less ‘fetch me some swamp muck’ involved), easier transportation, and the wonderful world of Shivering Isles, an expansion.

Skyrim is the most accessible of the three by far, and it’s forgiving in that it allows players to change their play style on the fly with little repercussions. It also has the best combat. Sadly, the repetitive environments make it far less compelling to explore than its predecessors, which is a huge part of TES’s charm for me. I also found the enemies repetitive. The more fanciful enemies are almost absent, and the few that exist are tied to specific daedric quest lines. Do you know how hard it is to recharge enchanted items when you only encounter a handful of daedra? Wolves and trolls just don’t fill them back up well.

Also, while the accessibility widens the target audience considerably, it cuts into the customization options previously available to more experienced gamers. That was a huge disappointment for me, personally.

To be clear, though, I still adore Skyrim.

Personal anecdote: My Morrowind strategy book was so worn that it fell apart, so I punched holes in the pages and kept it in a binder. I took out the fast travel map and the local map of whatever area I was combing to find a dungeon door tucked into a cave hidden behind ivy or whatever. I still have it; it’s a sentimental treasure.

The Sims

The more open-ended a game is, the more I like it, and The Sims is king of that arena! For me, 3 is by far the best installment. 2 introduced the idea of having types of Sims with personal goals to meet to create direction for the player, but ultimately, it felt like I was stuck with the same five Sims over and over again. The wishes and moodlet system of 3, along with the five slots for personality traits, gave me so much more power to create Sims that felt like actual characters.

I... don’t even want to know how much of my life I’ve put into The Sims...

My ranking: 3>1>2>4

It should be noted that I didn’t mind 1′s lack of direction, since my imagination alone is way more than enough to pull me forward in a sandbox game. In comparison, 2 felt restrictive by creating five character types, limiting me to that in a way I couldn’t ignore.

Personal anecdote: I received the original Sims for Christmas when I was in middle school. I accidentally played from bed time until 4 AM, which is the closest I’ve ever come to pulling an all-nighter.

Sonic the Hedgehog

WHERE DO I EVEN START WITH THE BLUE BLUR.

Sonic was an enormous part of my childhood, guys. I played all the games. I watched both cartoons (the one with Sally and the Freedom Fighters and the one where it’s just Sonic/Tails/Eggman/some robots), I learned to read with the comic books. I have a vivid memory of my brother taunting me by refusing to let me see his comics “because I couldn’t read”... So I spite-learned using the comics when he wasn’t paying attention.

I don’t think I can pick a favorite! As a kid, I played Sonic 3 the most; I was a huge Knuckles fan, so that might have played a role (also the original Sonic was too difficult for me at the time, although I certainly tried). But I also loooooved Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2. And Sonic Generations was so much fun!

Mario Bros

Lord, I was playing Mario games before I could read, I don’t... Mario has always been around for me, okay? It’s a huge part of my story, and the franchise is so iconic that there’s little for me to say. There are way too many amazing games in this franchise for me to name, but personal faves include: Super Mario RPG, Super Mario World, and Yoshi’s Island.

The Legend of Zelda

This is another franchise where I don’t know what to say... It’s too iconic for me to offer much. Zelda games are known for their exploration and adventure, even from the beginning. Ocarina of Time was a big part of my childhood, but I also adore the newest installment, Breath of the Wild. And I know this may be silly, but I love Hyrule Warriors! I can’t wait to play it on the Switch with all the DLC.

And the music??? Guys????? THE MUSIC?!?!?!

Bioshock

Amazing atmosphere, fun game play, and one of the best stories in gaming history add up to an unforgettable experience. Also a fore-runner to the idea of playing dialogue and recordings while the player explores, a trend that caught on in a huuuge way.

Persona

It’s hard to describe Persona games... They basically combine Jungian psychology with various mythologies, sprinkle in some horror (or glob it on in the case of 3), throw in an RPG, and add a heaping serving of everyday high school life. The games tackle a wide range of ideas and game play, creating a unique experience that has drawn a devoted following.

I’ll make this quick:

3: Best story and atmosphere, worst/most needlessly frustrating game play, very prickly cast lol

4: Best characters and character development

5: Best game play (exquisitely polished game play, really), best overall style, worst story and character development

My ranking is 4>3>5. It should probably be noted that story and character are king for me, so while 5 was incredibly polished mechanics wise, the comparatively weak story and characters sunk it to the bottom of the list for me. It was one of those games where I understood where they were going hours ahead of time, and then they would explain “the twist” to the player for half an hour over and over and over. Frankly, it was... kind of insulting, and soured the experience for me.

Also, Mona, I swear to god, how am I supposed to pass school if you don’t let me study or do my homework because you think I need to sleep at 5 PM every day ahhhhh! XD

Harvest Moon

Oh god, here’s another franchise I don’t want to delve into in terms of hours I’ve spent playing O_O

I can’t even explain why I like these games... In HM, you are a farmer, and your job is usually to prove to the villagers that you’re a valuable member of society so that they won’t evict you from your own inherited property. (I’m curious about their deeds and legal policies, lol. How do you write that clause up?).

These games combine farming with socialization and light dating sim elements, and time management is the name of the game. They pull in players by tapping into the universal desire to create order and advancement.

My favorite installment is Friends of Mineral Town. I also adored Harvest Moon 64, but the controls are sadly too dated for me to replay it.

Pokemon

I’m sure I’ve missed at least one, but I’ve played almost every mainstream release of Pokemon since Red and Blue came out. It must be doing something right, lol!

I’m a huge sucker for games where you choose monsters to raise. It’s so fun to assemble a team based on your tastes and raise them just so!

My favorite release is the remake of Gold and Silver.

Monster Rancher 2

OH MY LORD I played this game to the point where I’m shocked the disc still works. In Monster Rancher 2, you find monsters by placing discs into your Play Station, which each encode a monster. In order to access the strongest monsters, you must raise your rank as a trainer by winning official tournaments.

I wish I could explain why I latched on to this particular game so hard, but... I think it had something to do with the massive variety of monsters, the difficulty of the tournaments (I never did hit S rank, and not for lack of trying!), and the myriad of odd ways to unlock special monsters.

Mario Kart

Seriously, who doesn’t like smiting friends and family on the race track? MK is a fun, family-friendly way to deliver a beat down... As long as you contain your desire to cuss like a sailor, anyway.

It’s so hard to pick a favorite here! It’s hard to top the original for the challenge... But Double Dash and Infinity are contenders, too.

Danganronpa

Danganronpa games are visual novels that mix survival, horror, and crime-solving into a dark, bizarre, unique experience. I’ve written a ton about this series lately, so I won’t delve into it here, but you can check out the danganronpa tag on my blog for more.

Kingdom Hearts

These games are so charming and fun to play! I’ve never completed one on my own- linear games are rough for me- but I’ve seen my husband play them all, even the (many) extra installments. KH2 is probably my favorite, although Birth by Sleep was amazing, too.

Final Fantasy

I’ll admit that I don’t really enjoy playing Japanese RPGs; linear gameplay doesn’t appeal to me much in general. But the FF franchise is famous for its sweeping narratives, imaginative environments, and breath-taking music, and I enjoy them for that. I’ve watched my husband play X-XV, and I briefly joined him in playing XI and XIV. My favorite is probably X... Although I have an enormous crush on Ignis from XV.

My favorite FF game to play is Theaterhythm: Curtain Call.

Mass Effect

How do I say this... I don’t think I’ve ever played a game that better simulated becoming an entire universe’s hero and moral center. In Mass Effect, you shape the world and the political climate in unprecedented ways. By the end of 3, every player is so deeply invested in their Shepard and the world s/he created. In that sense, it’s en epic experience without peer.

Destiny

I love playing Destiny with my husband and our friend! I’m a titan, Tony is a hunter, and our buddy is a warlock, and together, we are... three guardians, lol!

Okay, so the vanilla Destiny release needed some help, but it became a great game with the expansions. I’m still waiting for that breath of rejuvenation for 2, but I treasure the time we spend together kicking ass as a team.

Left 4 Dead

This game redefined what co-op meant to me. I always thought of it as Halo, basically competing on the same team against other players. And yeah, you do that in L4D... But the cooperation angle that this game brought to the table was more or less unprecedented.

In L4D, if your team of ragtag survivors doesn’t work together, it’s unlikely that anyone will survive. I spent a lot of free time in college playing this with my friends spread out over different schools. I had so, so much fun with it.

Although 2 had more varied game play, which was great, I enjoyed the original more, mostly because the online game play wasn’t as loaded in favor of the zombie team. Objectively speaking, though, the sequel was the more robust game.

Personal anecdote: L4D is where I learned about dealing with males online. With Halo, which I also played at the time, I only enjoyed it enough to play it with people I knew. I loved L4D so much that I would log in to play even when my friends weren’t available, which meant that I was teamed with random players.

I have a very feminine voice, which apparently means that I am meant to be treated like crap online. Even though it’s a co-op game, and communication is important, I spent most of my sessions with the headset turned off.

Borderlands

THIS GAME, I HAD SO MUCH FUN WITH IT! The crass humor, the expanse of wastelands, the gun-slinging insanity, the incredible couch co-op! What’s not to love?

Sadly, the sequel was a downgrade from the original, but the first game was an amazing ride. I’ve been considering replaying it with Tony with all of the DLC.

Metal Gear

I’ve never played these myself, but I watched my husband play the first three. They’re so cinematic and goofy and over-the-top and awesome! I love breaking out my Solid Snake gravel voice, too. My favorite is... probably 3? It’s hard to pick between 2 and 3, though...

Disgaea

Hmm... How to describe these games... They’re tactics games, I guess? And there’s a lot of story, too... Game play wise, the later installments perfect what the earlier ones started, but you can’t beat the story and characters of the original. Laharl is still one of my all-time favorite male video game characters. He’s... such a brat? I love him???

Honorable mentions in no order (ie, I’m tired of writing descriptions, sorry to the rest of these games):

Halo, Dragon Age, Fallout 3, Ratchet & Clank, Resident Evil, Portal, Soul Calibur, Tetris Attack, Uncharted, Ms. Pacman, the Batman Arkham games

EDIT: I forgot Nier: Automata and Super Smash Bros! FOR SHAME!

#video games #vidja games #hidden's favorite video games #my favorite games

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mithoen · 7 years

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A HATOFUL AU MASTERPOST

because who Doesn’t want more bird fuckery

legit all of these were collabs between myself and @sproson-ya wouldn’t ya know

,,,,it occurred to me while writing this that it is very Shuu-centric. Hm.

HATOFUL BOYFRIEND IS WHAT IT IS: GRIM, BLOODY, A HORRIBLY FEATHERY MESS

THE USUAL WARNINGS APPLY: MENTIONS OF BLOOD, DEATH, TRAUMA, KNIVES, SEX, FIRE, SICKNESS, SWEARING (most of that is on my part)

ALSO SPOILERS. SO MANY FUCKING SPOILERS, GUYS.

READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION.

Redverse AU: Vincent and I’s brainchild. This is the big bad, the main boss, the ‘good god what have we done to these poor birdies’ verse. Shuu/Hitori focused with lots of fluffy Tohri/Kazuaki on the side. Also includes Ryouta/Sakuya and Yuuya/Hiyoko.

Nageki Fujishiro dies in a fire in a certain medical centre, his body completely destroyed. Left with no way to fulfil his dead mentor’s final wish, Souma Isa grows desperate and goes to the only person he can think of to manipulate and keep him looked after - Hitori Uzune. Through a combination of outright lies and using the quail’s mourning over his dead brother against him, Souma manages to convince the other to let him stay in the apartment Hitori had once shared with Nageki.

Joined by their next-door neighbours Kazuaki Nanaki (an old friend of Hitori’s who knew Nageki well) and Tohri Nishikikouji (working part-time at the same school Hitori was working at, as well as having history with Souma) the four are a strange quartet of not-quite friendship and awkward feelings, especially when Souma realises he might be falling in love with Hitori and visa-versa. This is not helped by Tohri and Kazuaki, who begin dating around the same time and even move in together.

Knowing that he cannot enter a relationship with Hitori with the knowledge that the cause of Nageki’s death was at Souma’s hands weighing on his shoulders - rather than the lies Hitori had been told depicting Souma’s innocence - Souma tells his housemate the whole truth.

Hitori does not take it well (which is to be expected) and kicks Souma out, leaving the partridge no choice but to swap rooms with Kazuaki next door. After a month of witnessing Souma sink into a deep depression and struggling with his own unrequited feelings for the partridge, Tohri makes the mistake of letting Souma convince him to have sex with the other. Two days later, Souma is gone.

3 years later and Hitori, Tohri and Kazuaki have moved closer to St. Pigeonations, where the three of them will be teaching together as Maths, Science and Japanese professors respectively. During their first week, they meet Shuu Iwamine - a familiar-faced chukar partridge, who’s medical work had become world-renowned in a very short amount of time. Though it’s obvious who he really is, Hitori is content to ignore it - and life carries on.

There’s more but I can’t be bothered to write it. Just trust me when I say everything ends up alright in the end - Hitori and Shuu get married, they adopt M&K + Ryouta; Kazoo and Tohri adopt their own kid (an OC). Things are okay. I’ll probably end up making a separate post for this AU at some point anyway.

REDVERSE OFFSHOOTS:

Saved AU - Instead of letting Nageki die in the fire, Souma saves his life. It’s basically Redverse except Nageki’s alive, so things turn out a Little differently but not by much. The same pairings apply except now with added Anghel/Nageki.

(OC FOCUSED) Reality TV Show AU: Red Edition - It’s the Reality TV Show AU, except it exists in Redverse instead of Canonverse. Scroll down for more.

Hanahaki Disease AU - Okay but what if people just fucking coughed up flowers, guys. What if the flowers represented unrequited love and were different types depending on who you were in love with. What if Redverse happened except This existed and so it’s easier to tell who’s in love with who, if you’re good at deciphering flowers. FLOWER SYMBOLISM, GUYS. This isn’t restricted to Redverse, it can be combined with other AUs.

Prankster AU: Imagine Happyverse. Now think about Shuu. Imagine Shuu as a not-necessarily-bad-guy who in reality only likes to prank people a lot. He still acts like a cockbag, but he Isn’t. That’s what this is. Ever wanted the St. Pigeonations faculty to have a prank war? Look no further. The kids are involved. Nobody is spared from a water-balloon to the face. This is a Pure Universe.

Soul Eater AU: Don’t even fucking look at me; just keep scrolling. This one needs it’s own post. All you need to know right now is Asshole!Ryuuji exists and he is one shitty motherfucker.

Roleswap AU - Hitori & Shuu Edition: Basically exactly what it sounds like - Hitori and Shuu swap roles, but they keep their individual personality traits and while some events do not change, others do. Pairings include Hitori/Ryuuji (onesided) and Shuu/Kazuaki.

Souma Isa is the eldest sibling to the Hatoful House orphans; his parents killed in an explosion that scarred him for life, partially paralysed him and left him colourblind. Hitori Uzune is the youngest member of the Hawk Party Life Science Research division (LiSciRe for short) and is a kindhearted, hardworking boy loved by all his elders. However, when Ryuuji Kawara dies, something in Hitori breaks and he vows to finish what his mentor started, haunted by a shadow in his heart - the shadow of Ryuuji.

When the rest of the Hatoful House orphans are killed in a human terrorist attack, Souma and his one remaining sibling - Nageki Fujishiro - are forced to move away. But Nageki’s heath is failing and, in a desperate bid to keep his brother alive, Souma accepts one Hitori Uzune’s offer to fix Nageki. The boy kills himself in a fire and his spirit becomes bound to Souma, determined to make sure his brother does not fall down a dark path.

Despite his slowly failing sanity, Souma is spurred on by his dead brother and finds friendship in a depressed quail by the name of Kazuaki Nanaki. The two grow close over a short amount of time, desperate for the companionship.

However, Hitori needs a new identity - Souma is slowly hunting the quail down, determined to exact revenge for his brother and Hitori doesn’t fancy the idea of becoming Christmas dinner - and Souma’s (unwillingly) provided him with the perfect cover.

Souma spends only a weekend away from Kazuaki; but a weekend is all Hitori needs. When the partridge returns, his friend is nowhere to be found.

Changing his name for fear of his own life at Hitori’s hands, Souma Isa becomes Shuu Iwamine and takes a job as a maths professor at the foremost avian school in the world; St. Pigeonations Academy. There he meets Kazuaki Nanaki for a second time - but he is no longer the man Shuu remembers.

The real Kazuaki is dead.

(OC FOCUSED) Reality TV Show AU: You all know what a reality TV show is. A camera-crew follows you around and records basically everything that happens in your daily life. Imagine that, except it’s the lives of our favourite birdie boyfriends being recorded as they go about their school day. Takes place in canon.

Beniko Segura comes from a family of talented parrots and he is desperate to prove his own worth in the modern day world. Taking on the TV Industry headfirst, he decides to create his own show based around St. Pigeonations Academy; world famous for producing some of the best results from students this decade!

Assisted by his exasperated but loyal cameraman, Jun Sasaki, the two make it their goal to follow the lives of the most interesting people in school - and, subsequently, get themselves caught up in the talons of a certain doctor when Beni starts poking his nose where it doesn’t belong.

THE OCS:

Beniko Segura - A flashy parrot man who’s made it his goal in life to be just as successful as the rest of his family; constantly overshadowed by his elder twin siblings. In reality, he’s a failure at everything he does and all his shows so far have been flops. Though he’d do better for himself if he slowed down a little and realised he doesn’t need to be the best for people to admire him (COUGHjunCOUGH), the man is unfortunately too thickheaded to see it. Overall a positive, upbeat bird who’d make friends more easily if he wasn’t so loud, abrasive and melodramatic.

Jun Sasaki - A nondescript, everyday generic pigeon who managed to get a job as a cameraman through lots of back-channels and favours in... Interesting places. Spends a lot of his spare time fighting in illegal underground boxing rings and is well known for his winning steak - though you wouldn’t guess it, looking at him. Small but well built, he’s the perfect man for his job and enjoys it a lot. Though he complains to others over being fed up of having to practically babysit his boss in reality he quite likes Beni, perhaps more than he should do considering their relationship is work-only. He’s polite, but fairly anti-social and very much a realist.

Soft Gore AU: Isn’t Sweet!Shuu just a great bird, guys? He’s so nice and definitely not a murderer- oh, wait, yeah he is; at least in this AU. Based around the idea of Shuu being outwardly kind and nice, but still being an asshole serial killer. Potentially worse than Canon!Shuu - he took out Tohri’s eye and made the other eat it, so. It’s called soft gore for a reason.

Ageswap AU: WE ALL ALREADY KNOW WHAT THIS ONE IS. MOVE ALONG.

Haunted AU: What if Hitori had died in the Hatoful House incident? What if Nageki had been discovered by Hawk Party agents and placed under Souma’s authority as a lab guinea pig? What if Hitori was a ghost, haunting his brother and watching over him? What if Souma discovered the Charon Virus, but he’d become too attached to Nageki to harness it properly? What if he took Nageki and went on the run with the boy, desperate to protect him? WHAT IF TOHRI WAS EVIL??

Threesome AU: Obviously the only logical thing to do when you hate your local school doctor is fuck his brains out - it releases stress, after all! Don’t worry, Nanaki and Yuuya make sure they take turns. At least they love each other, if not poor Shuu. He likes it rough, though. A fun AU where everything is basically PwP - kink your hearts out. Blood and knives are, of course, welcome. Polyam Nanaki/Shuu/Yuuya is the focus here.

Domestic AU: Unless your thing is more plain old NanaIwa! I’m not complaining, I love me some good old Hate Husbands. There’s not much to say about this one aside from the fact that it’s post BBL - Nanaki and Shuu living together in uncomfortable cooperation while Shuu gets his legs back, treating each other cruelly and having hatesex all the while. The two do eventually end up falling in love after Shuu gets out of the wheelchair, however. Can potentially be combined with the Threesome AU for that polyam goodness.

Soulmate AU: THIS ONE ALSO NEEDS ITS OWN POST??? HONESTLY???? But to summarise, it’s a Happyverse-like AU where soulmates can feel each other’s emotions separate to their own (depending on the strength of the emotion can cause physical reactions between soulmates) - and the characters don’t necessarily need to be in a romantic relationship, either. Can be combined with other AU’s as well which tends to create interesting dynamics.

Evil Dads AU: Remember a few paragraphs ago where I mentioned ‘asshole!Ryuuji’? Imagine Happyverse, except now Ryuuji’s evil. And so is Tohri. And so is Shuu. And so is Ryouta. And they’re all one big happy evil family! Basically Ryouta’s being trained by his Dad and Co to be a Hawk Party agent, all the while living out his usual canon lifestyle - spending time with Hiyoko, crossdressing, making friends. Tohri/Shuu is a thing, but it isn’t the focus.

I’LL ADD MORE LATERRRRRRR

#Kyn #Hatoful Boyfriend #it was a Mistake to stay up and write this but whatever #ENJOY

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