#still wish he would make a video about Skyrim like for real

[boneless-mika]

Hbomberguy is in the process of making a new video FYI

#I don’t know how long it will take him to finish it #but like hopefully a month right #I use his videos for background noise for everything so I’m really excited #I’ve watched the roblox oof video probably about 20 times at this point #so it’s a little tiring #rewatched Sherlock is garbage twice recently and yeah that’s a great video #still wish he would make a video about Skyrim like for real #just for my personal enjoyment #if I were rich I would bribe him

[thatonespawnling]

Starfield & The Importance of Beginnings

SPOILER WARNING FOR STARFIELD!! DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS ON THE BEGINNING

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Looks like we're good to go! Okay, so I've recently been dumping a steady amount of hours into Starfield. It's been fun, how they've evolved their character creation is fantastic, I've had a decent amount of positives. Throughout the six and a half hours I've played, there is only one thing that I have a problem with. That problem? The beginning of the game, particularly the first two hours. I understand that Bethesda games often have mediocre main storylines with characters that lack deep characterization. However, one thing about the main story that Bethesda writers usually do well is that beginning.

Skyrim is a notorious beginning. A decade after its release, the first two minutes of that game is still remembered. It is still celebrated through memes and video edits, references by other media. It does a lot of things right for an RPG! It provides just enough worldbuilding to give the actions of those surrounding you meaning, it gives you a purpose of being there without defining your backstory, and it provides an easy way to get the player from point A to point B without making the player feel dragged around. Oblivion works in a similar fashion. It doesn't work nearly as well as Skyrim's beginning, there is too much of it that relies on happenstance. However, it is still a rather solid beginning. Even Bethesda's Fallout games has some nice beginnings with Fallout 3. What matters the most with these beginnings and why they function is that, ultimately, the player feels like they're involved in what's happening. This is where I feel Starfield fails.

Starfield starts us off by putting us in the position of a miner riding an elevator down to the mines with a humorous veteran known as Heller and the stoic leader of the operation called Supervisor Lin. They seem to give you words of encouragement as you are carried down, dropping mentions of some of the more prominent factions of the Settled Systems along the way. For the next thirty minutes you're mostly following NPCs as they talk to you and order you to do tasks without much agency. This all goes until you touch the Artifact, an odd rock that is almost magical in nature. When you come into contact with it, you are almost blinded. Your vision is ejected from your body, flying through very matter itself until the whole universe is revealed to you. Then you are called back, told it was a hallucination, and provided the character customization menu through your employee file meant to remind you of who you are. After that you accompany the operations leader to hand the Artifact off to Barrett, a space explorer part of a legendary exploration group known as the Constellation. After the initial conversation and an unsuccessful raid from pirates, he invites you to join the Constellation on account of you "seeing what he's seen". He gives you his ship, his robot, and walks off.

After that, you run into some pirates, are lead to take down a pirate outpost, and the first quest ends there. That is considered your tutorial. There is a main story after that which can act as introductory quests, but the game lets you explore and accepts quests as you wish from this point. There are issues with this beginning, issues I have. First off, there's the more obvious problem of you not really being in control of what happens. There's no small choices you can make that give you that sense of agency. You are brought from story beat to story beat with no real care for investment. Even in terms of your "decision" to accept Barrett's invitation, there's no negotiation there. If you refuse, Supervisor Lin tells you that this is your purpose now and you should go along. There's not even really a way to ensure Barrett can get back home, you simply take his ship and fly off. That also runs into the issue of why Barrett would even lend you the ship.

He could fly you back and through him we could be provided important information on how the galaxy works. We could be informed what all these terms and factions being thrown at us during the tutorial and character customization even mean. What are these religions we can choose to align ourselves with? What are these places we can choose to hail from? What are the factions and how do they defer? We could've been told all this through Barrett and even have someone that could vouch for us to the Constellation. As the game is now, the Constellation accepts you immediately with no real resistance. If Barrett were to come along with us, it could provide an interesting dynamic where the Constellation is initially unsure of if you should be welcomed into their ranks. You along with the praise from Barrett could convince them to let you join, allowing the beginning to break from the "Chosen One" narrative it falls into far too readily.

I could go on about what Starfield could've done, like how being one of the Crimson Fleet Pirates taking Barrett's ship the "Frontier" would've provided an interesting hook and give you a more realistic route to get the ship and run off with it. Simply being there when Barrett was killed and escaping the planet as the mine is overrun with pirates would work much the same way and even provides minimal changes to how the story plays out in the next few hours. However that's not the point of this little rant here. The point is to showcase the flaws of the game's beginning. The game's story shows a nice amount of promise so far, being opted as an explorer gives you sufficient reason to run off and interact with the side content that often defines these Bethesda Game Studios games. However for any work the beginning is the most important. It is the first impression of your game. If that first impression is lacking in any way, the player could be made to feel like the rest of the game will follow its example. The beginning is the easiest time to lose your player and it deserves care. Starfield's beginning lacks care. It feels like it's almost treated as a second thought, which is such a travesty in a big budget game.

#starfield #xbox #writing #review #video games

[trainsinanime]

Random notes about No Time To Die

Spoilers. Sorted roughly chronologically and probably the basis for a longer text post about the movie if I can be bothered. I probably forgot some things because I’m tired.

I’ll never be able to look at blood on the snow in a normal way again. You know, because of color theory.

I know that blonde woman was in the previous movie. I do not know anything else about her.

We’ve got all the time in the world? I would have missed that, but I’ve been listening to the Kill James Bond podcast lately, so I do actually remember that this is from the George Lazenby one. Is she going to die?

Love me an old Biturbo. Just the right car for this setting. But between this old Maserati, the Psi symbol for Bond, and the trident in the opening, there’s a lot of trident iconography here that doesn’t connect to anything.

I used to be a 00 agent like you, but then I took a bullet to…

The new 007 is fun, but I wish she got stuff to do.

Paloma is awesome and fun and I want to see more of her. She feels like she wandered over from a different movie. Not quite sure which one; Marvel seems to fit, except for the dress, but there are also vibes of sillier Moore-era Bond girls.

Oh no the white pretty boy whose only characteristic was “annoying” turned out to be a bad guy who could have seen that coming

I’m assuming the dress was sponsored by someone making double-sided sticky tape.

Love the V8 Vantage! Yes, the DB 5 is iconic and all, but at this point I’ve kind of seen it often enough.

Did they canonically make Q gay? Yes, it is just a throw-away line that I may have misheard, but still, more than what Disney does.

Either way, Q, Bond and Moneypenny are great together. Of course there’s still the old problem where Bond is easily among the weakest characters in a James Bond movie, even in this one that tries to make it more of a character piece, but it’s better than average.

Have you heard the concept of “bottom storage” that’s been making its rounds on Tumblr recently?

I do not get why this movie insists on reminding us that Spectre was a movie that happened. The sooner we can all forget that, the better.

Giving Bond a daughter is corny and cliché, but it kind of works for this movie. Like, it’s the kind of corny and cliché I’d expect given everything that led up to this.

The profound awkwardness in the breakfast scene is just delightful.

Did you know that they reshot some scenes to make sure Bond uses the newest product placement cell phone instead of the two year old one that was supposed to be in the movie? Well, you will, because the new shots are painfully obvious.

Synchronised Defender jumping, the new Olympic sport!

Very disappointed that he didn’t find a way to make the helicopter fly into a ramp and turn over.

What would Dame Judi Dench do? Don’t we all wonder that?

Okay, but is he going to find the bunny? Okay, he did, but he didn’t bring it home to his daughter? That’s the real tragedy here.

Maddie’s agency in this movie is largely limited to lying to Bond. She doesn’t tell him her traumatic past, or that this traumatic past has come back to haunt her, or that he has a daughter, and the movie gives us no reason for any of this lying. Does she not trust him? Is this too hard for her to talk about? Those are things I’d get, but it’s certainly not established. 

Wasn’t that bad guy in the last Brosnan movie as well? The North Korean one? He looks just the same from what I remember, which is not much.

People want Oblivion, and we will give it to them. Or another edition of Skyrim.

This was the least specific and imminent plan ever. Was that bad guy even planning to use this poison on anyone? Did he have a reason for taking Maddy and her daughter? 

Oh, so if he goes to his family, he kills them, because he brings death wherever he goes. Get it? It’s a metaphor! It’s easy to miss because it doesn’t work at all in the movie, though: The bad guy only cares about Maddie, Bond just happens to be there. But still, you know, metaphor.

That fight up to the blast door felt like a video game. Between this and Black Widow I feel like I’ve played way more Tomb Raider reboot games than I actually did.

Ah, so here’s the „All the time in the world“ callback, but this time he’s going to die. Okay, I get it.

Bold choice to spend the entire movie establishing that Bond is 100% blast proof, and then kill him in an explosion.

Ending on „All the time in the world“ makes a lot of sense.

I did not wait to see whether there’s a post-credit scene because it’s Bond, the entire movie is technically post-credit scenes.

I feel like this movie rates about medium on smarm, low on cultural insensitivity, middling on unprovoked violence, and low but not as low as it thinks of itself on misogyny. 

#james bond #007 #no time to die

[moved-attre]

Here is my review of Cyberpunk 2077! It is a bullet point list of what I liked, and did not like about the game. I mean no offense in my writing, and am, of course, willing to be educated if I am wrong about anything! But please do not send me anonymous hate. I know many fans and haters of this game can be very, uh... So take it all with a grain of salt, and form your own opinions.

This is very long and likely boring so if you manage to make it to the end, I will be very impressed! Also, I may ramble or repeat myself, sorry. There’s more bad points than good, since the game is very glitchy and I couldn’t not mention the glitches I have experienced.

Obviously, this contains major spoilers! 👁👄👁

I’ll start off by saying, this is a game where you will likely not get what you expected. If you expected Cyberpunk 2077 to be a game filled with features that were never before seen, to revolutionise the gaming industry as we know it and become the most iconic video game ever made... You will not get that. If you expected it to be the worst, most irredeemable video game ever created that you’ll hate... You will not get that, either. If you expected a game that is a fairly standard RPG with some impressive graphics when played on a high spec PC, albeit with some bad glitches and a wonky story with lots of potential, then you’ve got it!

Pros:

The majority of the voice acting, such as in V, Johnny and Viktor, was very good and emotional. Viktor in particular made me tear up! And the way V manages to sound almost like Johnny with the subtle accent change was amazing!

The character’s such as Takemura, Jackie, the LIs, Johnny, Viktor, Misty (I could go on) and even many random NPCs were interesting! I wanted to know them and loved their relevant missions. The best ones were unromanceable, of course, but that’s what imagination is for.

THE ALDECALDOS! I love them! A found family, and I wish there was more to do with them other than Panam’s missions and a few side missions. I love found family, and I’m disappointed V couldn’t form their own, so I’ll take what I can get and love the Aldecaldos, even if V can’t join them until the very end. Panam had the best missions of all the LI’s, even if the last one felt very abrupt. (At least, on her friendship route.)

Night City felt alive. There was always plenty going on, it felt like a real city, and it could be beautiful.

Jackie and Corpo V’s friendship was lovely. I loved their “To this!” inside joke, and I loved how Jackie roasted V but would jump to their defence in a second. It didn’t feel forced at all.

There’s lots of environmental storytelling. The atmosphere of a city choking to death under it’s own pollution/corruption was very apparent in the areas not lived in by the rich. Lots of homeless characters, violence, drugs, absolute poverty, trash (The dump! I felt sick just looking at it, and I couldn’t even smell it! Poor V, though.) and general apathy from a lot of the residents really sold the concept.

Johnny and V’s dynamic was the best part of the story! I hated him at first, but slowly came to enjoy his commentary and advice. His interactions with V were very funny at times, and thoughtful at other times. He was an interesting perspective for the player to consider, while still being an asshole you could dislike for much of the story. He has some really emotional scenes and I played a V that viewed him as a friend, so it was really nice hearing him call V the closest person he’d ever had. They became so devoted to each other! CDPR did good with this element, but I can’t help wishing for more. The dynamic had so much more to give, and a romance/happy ending could have worked.

And to add on, the mission where Johnny takes over V’s body to go on a bender was great! I loved all the moments to play as Johnny in V’s body. All the symbolism between them was so good. Every mission matters, and you can replay to look closer at details! He also comments on other side missions with no personal relevance to him, which was neat.

All the enemies had unique names. A minor detail, but it made me feel some guilt over killing them. 🤣 I think all character’s had unique names, which is such a nice detail.

The soundtrack was incredible, I loved every original piece and radio song. I have several saved on Spotify, which is big praise coming from me! I very rarely listen to video game soundtracks.

V can adopt a cat! 🐈‍⬛ It was adorable, and Johnny’s interaction with it made me tear up!

The size of the map was good, not too big or too small. I got about 100 hours of play in by exploring, which is pretty good to me! I got lost a few times, but always found something interesting to do in the meanwhile. I loved the Badlands especially. 

Some of the side missions, particularly the more mysterious ones involving investigating deaths and the cyberpsychos, were very enjoyable! I’m a big slut for mystery, and there were some interesting cases to figure out. I wish we could’ve done missions like that with River, though, especially once he becomes a PI.

I was complaining about the lack of aliens in CP2077, but I suppose we did get a couple space themed missions which was pretty fun. I still want to go experience going into orbit, though. 👽 Or the moon!

Separating voice and body in the CC was a good idea, even if it was handled a little strangely. I’ll talk about this more in the ‘Cons’ section below!

Act 2 was my favorite part of the game, but it blended weirdly with Act 3 and that put me off. I am nostalgic for Act 1, but not eager to replay it because it felt so slow... I’m not sure on this point! I liked Act 2 because the story picked up and I was excited for more, but the more I got wasn’t as I expected. So, yes, Act 2 was good.

The scenery is very beautiful, and sometimes the outside lighting is absolutely perfect. The Arasaka parade mission was lovely to look at. I always stop the car and watch the sunrise/sunset, and I like going out to the Badlands to look at the stars!

An addition to that, is the lighting in some main quest missions. Very noir! It made for some beautiful screenshots. (Of which I sadly can’t share because my game doesn’t record well on medium settings. 😳)

The motorcycles are fun to drive! Mainly because I can zoom in between cars and Jackie’s motorcycle has a lot of sentimental value, as well as other vehicles like Johnny’s Porsche and Jake’s car. You can open the trunk to dump bodies in, which was a cool detail., and each one drives differently!

There could be amazing attention to detail, such as making Jackie look like his mother. I expected his mother to be a randomly generated NPC, but she was completely unique. It’s the minor things like that which stood out to me the most.

The scanner was a fun tool and very useful! I liked being able to find alternative ways to do a mission, it felt more realistic than the standard “massacre everybody, pick up an item and get out” fetch quests normally seen in RPGs. I could sneak in a tunnel or a side door! Perhaps irritating and unnecessary to some, but I liked it. I love utilising every possible option.

The interface color changes if you have Johnny controlling V’s body. Another small but good detail! The game is good with the minor details.

The sex scenes were not... awful. I expected much, much worse! I expected fully animated first person porn. Instead, I thought they were fairly realistic and intended to be romantic. Still very awkward, though, and unnecessary.

When they didn’t glitch, the animations were very good. Not as impressive as I hoped, probably because of glitches, but in line with other AAA games like Horizon Zero Dawn, I suppose? I noticed Judy’s animations in particular as being good, and Johnny had lots of unique ones too!

The clothing options are very fun, I like the holographic items and “Bitch” clothes, hehe. Also including Hijabs! 🧕 Great idea, and more games should do that.

The diversity of the NPCs was welcome. I enjoyed seeing Native American, Asian, Black and Latinx NPCs who weren’t there just to suffer! They would occupy important roles in the story, such as Fixers or friends/romance options for V, so they were pretty much unavoidable! It felt very natural, and they helped Night City feel more realistic.

Adding to that, the different cultures included were interesting too! I liked the Haitian characters in Pacifica.

The photo mode is pretty good. Not as good as I expected, the camera angle presets were useful but the filters weren’t very good. I liked that the photo mode could be used in cutscenes, though! It was standard, and I hope more bits will be added in for it.

A lot of the glitches are hilarious, but I recognise not all will share that opinion so I’m just adding this down here. The T-Posing NPCs are a highlight for me. Call that the Skyrim effect.

Cons:

No NB gender options/No pronoun options. Would they/them have been so difficult to implement?

No body or height sliders. There’s so many fat character’s in the game! Why can I not make my V fat? Or muscular?

Gender restrictive hairstyles and clothes. Come on, guys, it’s 2020/2077! Aren’t we beyond gender restrictive appearance options?

No tattoo parlours, no plastic surgeons and no hairstylists for V to change their appearance. I don’t understand why a CC was included at all, since we spent the majority of the game in first person. It reminded me of Far Cry.

The main story started off strong, albeit slow, picked up in Act 2, then felt very rushed in Act 3. The point of no return was very abrupt! 

The celebrity cameos felt very gimmicky. The one exception to this is Keanu Reeves, who did a very good job as Johnny. Genuinely brought tears to my eyes at times... but Grimes was just embarrassing! Why was she there! A talented VA could have done Lizzy Wizzy much better, giving her actual emotions instead of just monotone “boredom”.

I don’t know what the point of owning apartments is. You can only sleep in V’s bed, what is the point of looking in the mirror? V has no use for their terminal in their apartment, they never get any messages after the first time they meet Johnny. It was so unnecessary, especially when there’s several across the map. I can access the stash of weapons and clothes from my car! Why would I ever need to go home? Judy gives me her apartment and I’m like, girl, I’m never visiting unless you have a mission to give me.

Also, there are no penalties for not showering or sleeping. I wanted character’s to comment on that! Call me stinky or tell me I look exhausted!

V doing side missions makes no sense, and no explanation is given for why we can do them. Why would V, who is dying and has precious few days left to live, be driving for hours on end to deliver packages and shoot random criminals? When they could be figuring out how to survive the biochip! Who the hell would care about a some extra money or buying every available car for sale, when they’re dying of something that could be preventable?

Some side missions were either very poorly done or obviously majorly glitched, since it felt like they skipped important parts and I was often very confused at the end of them! For example, the Corpo V side mission was so short! I expected to be able to hunt down Abernathy and get revenge for V and Jenkins, but instead, I shoot some random assistant I don’t even remember? And that’s it? Done in 2 minutes! If that! What is the point of that? I didn’t even have fun! Also, what happened to Garry? I wanted to save him but V just never follows up on it.

And, I wish we got closure with T-Bug. The fact that V never bothers to find her body and give her a proper burial was just poor form. 

The endings were not... good. There are technically 6 different endings, all wrapped up into 3 parts. In my opinion, the best ending is the one where V kills themselves and has a very “Arthur Morgan watching his last sunset” vibe. It made me cry. Another good ending is having Johnny take over V’s body forever, as you can really see how much Johnny has changed as a person thanks to V’s influence. But they still felt very... eh and the story just never got that boost it needed, ending before it could take off. In the “best” ending, the Nomand ending with Panam, V ”survives” but has only another few months to live. So they die off screen. Satisfying? Uh, no. Not at all. There’s no possible ending where V has any hope of survival, but I much preferred being there with V until the very end. I disagree with the people calling Johnny’s ending the “bad” ending, because it really isn’t! I ignore all of this of course, and my V is living happily ever after.

I kind of hate that CP2077 has this illusion of options when some are clearly intended to be chosen more than others. Judy and Panam have the best endings in term of romance. Why bother with River and Kerry? Kerry is more of a fling than an actual romance, and is met very late in the game at a point where you can ignore him completely and just end the game, and River’s romance is so glitched that many people can’t even do it fully, and in every ending he dumps you, so it feels like none of it mattered to him despite him being the most “domestic” of the possible LI’s...

Takemura’s ending! He died in my playthrough, because the game didn’t tell me I could save him. That really annoyed me. Also, I recognise that V is in no place to lecture him, and there is some wisdom to his quote: “You speak against corporations yet offer no valid alternative.” But, Goro, bro... anything is better than fascist mega corporations keeping most of the city in absolute poverty, while waging devastating wars against other mega corporations? I wish we could have opened his eyes a little. There’s a good, even ground between Takemura believing Corps to be doing the best for humanity and Johnny being willing to kill 12k people for a revolution. This game went a little “capitalism is bad, but the alternative is worse!” at times, in my opinion. I wish more could have been done against the corporations, instead they just kind of... exist... in the background. And I know, “Realism! “ because we live with massive corporations like Amazon in our lives and can do fuck all about them but we’re not V. V is an absolute unit who survives death multiple times... I wish there had been two paths, like do Johnny’s path and work against the system or do Takemura’s path and work with the system? Sort of like The Witcher 2?

You know how in Saints Row, The Boss has homies they can call on for help? I wanted V to have homies to help them out in fights. It felt pointless building trust with the Fixers only to not have them help out at all with fights against the NCPD/Militech/Arasaka in their territories. 

The stealth mechanics are not good. They are funny! But not very good. Often, It’s better to just attack and save yourself the trouble of sneaking only to get caught by a guard who can see through the back of his head.

The fact that you cannot get arrested and have someone bust you out of jail. Maybe RDR2 set my expectations too high, but I thought this would have been included.

I’ve read about the cut content, and I’m really disappointed they weren’t included in the game. Wall running would have been amazing! And the police hiring mercs to hunt V down? I would have loved to see it! 😔

Driving cars is terrible. Just awful. Sometimes, you crash. Other times you’re flung up into the air and break through the sky into the void, spinning for all eternity.

River’s glitched romance deserves a special mention. The relationship just drops off suddenly and you cannot interact with him properly again. It does not affect the main story at all, so you wonder, what was the point? The text messages also glitch and V will sent messages that you can’t control, leading to disappointing dialogue, like with Joss.

The romances in general were just not all that impressive. I was expecting something great, considering there was only 4 and thought they’d really affect the main story, but I’d only recommend Panam and Judy. I would have played the game just as well without romances, and they felt very unnecessary but I wanted to do one to get the most possible story content. I think we should all leave romances in RPG’s as the exception, not the norm. Some studio’s can do them well, other’s cannot. CDPR cannot, in my opinion...

Obviously the many glitches and bugs, several of which are game breaking. I usually have to reload a save at least once an hour, because an NPC won’t talk to me or I can’t move the mouse to select different dialogue options! Or my gun won’t equip, so I die.

The AI in general is very bad. Sometimes cars will stop in the middle of junctions for no reason, causing you to crash or mount the sidewalk to get past, meaning you’ll likely run someone down and get a police warrant. NPCs just walk from one end of the road and back again, over and over on a loop. It’s very creepy!

The lighting, mostly inside buildings. Everything is pitch black! Why does V not own a flashlight? The amount of enemies I’ve barrelled into and alerted because I couldn’t see is too much.

The lack of dialogue choice, it was less interactive than what I’d been told to expect. There was only two or three options, with one only ever rarely being unique to one of V’s three possible background choices and most will yield the same results with a few exceptions, like avoiding combat.

V’s personality is already decided by the game, and is not really customisable. Do not expect full control over your V’s personality, as they are very much a canon character and exist outside of your (limited) choices. I didn’t expect Baldur's Gate 3 levels of customisation, but I did expect something more like Dragon Age 2’s dialogue wheel? Nice, Sarcasm and Angry? You know?

Obviously, the seizure inducing scenes were very dangerous. I get a headache whenever I have to do a braindance, and I wish it was skippable!

Accessibility as a whole is very much an afterthought in this game, I think. The subtitles are in “speaking English”, so instead of: Hey, how are you? It’s: Heyyy, how’re ya? It is often difficult to understand, and sometimes I just couldn’t work out what was being said.

It’s nitpicky but I wanted to do a pacifist route and I realised you can’t, you need to kill certain character’s... 

The main “villains” such as Yorinobu and Adam Smasher were very forgettable, and V had no personal stake in taking them out. I honestly forgot all about them. Takemura was talking about revenge and I’m like, who? Who are you talking about? Why are we kidnapping Hanako Arasaka, again? Johnny, why would I bother killing Adam Smasher? If they’d personally murdered Jackie, then yeah, I’d understand! But all V needs is to remove the chip and I don’t know... I just didn’t feel anything.

So, to summarise: I think CDPR were out of their depth. The long, very long, troubled development process was an indication of this before the game was even released, and the story I’ve experienced in the game is proof enough. I don’t think they knew what they wanted from this game, and as a result, we have a game that is honestly very confusing and frustrating with a story that always got close to gripping, but never quite makes it. All in all, I found this game to be pretty average. When the bugs are ironed out, I will think better of it. But as it stands, if I had to score it, I would give it a 6.5/10 or maybe 7/10. Good concept, somewhat misguided execution. The best part of the game was the Johnny/V dynamic, but I wasn’t satisfied with how it ended. They needed more time together! Anyway, it will be interesting to see what happens next. 

#cp77 spoilers #cp77 critical #cyberpunk 2077 #I’ve already been vagued about a few times for my CP2077 opinions so I expect more to happen now I’m posting this hehe

[eldritchsurveys]

1137.

made by sonaatti 1. If you play video games, what do you usually like to play? If you don't play video games, do you like watching others play? If so, what? >> I play single-player RPGs and MMORPGs the most -- Final Fantasy XIV is definitely the game I’ve played the most in the past year, and I also did another Skyrim run. I really like games with customisable player characters the most; I tend to lose interest in games that have an established character (The Witcher 3 is a very cool game! I still get bored of it pretty quickly no matter how many times I try to play it, and it’s largely because Geralt -- as loveable as he is -- is a very established character. I should just read the books or watch the TV show, lol). I also like games where the world adapts depending on the choices you make (high replayability, there), and games with intricate spiritual or divinity-related themes (I really like what Pillars of Eternity did there, and Final Fantasy games are often pretty intriguing on that front too). And then there’s games like Hades, which I didn’t expect to enjoy nearly as much as I do (because games where you die a lot as a rule are usually intimidating and frustrating, but Hades manages to make it a necessary part of how you get stronger and get more Cool Stuff so I feel way less bad about dying all the time, and also the NPCs are so fucking neat and the art style and combat mechanics are both intensely satisfying). The third kind of game I like is games like Journey, which... well, if you’ve played it, you’d know. It’s just beautiful. 2. What are three things you like about nature? >> It is a route to connection; learning about ecology and observing nonhuman creatures provides so much perspective and reminds me of how interconnected everything innately is, despite how disconnected I feel in the human world. That’s really it, like... everything I love about the natural world is summed up by that sentence. 3. In what ways are you a responsible/"functional" adult? In what ways do you feel you aren't? >> I am a responsible and functioning adult in that I use my small income wisely and conscientiously, I try to keep my living space clean and habitable, I take care of myself (physically and mentally) as best as I can, and I try to treat other people and other living creatures as respectfully as possible, acknowledging that they have their own rich internal lives just like I do. The things that I cannot do -- things that other people regard as part of “being an adult” because of social pressure and ableism -- are irrelevant to me. 4. Do you have any interesting facts about your ancestors? If so, what? If not, what about relatives? >> No. 5. Do you believe in spirits? (You can interpret "spirits" however you want.) >> This is a difficult question to answer, because I have no idea where to begin or how to approach the question. I feel like I could better explain my perspective in a conversation, a back-and-forth where more specific questions are being asked and other views (and definitions) are being shared as well. It’s not a “yes” or “no” for me, because “yes” or “no” would tell you absolutely nothing -- but if I had to choose one of the two, “yes” would be the answer I would choose.

6. What do teenagers have right now that you wish you had when you were their age? >> I’m not sure what teenagers have right now that I didn’t have at their age, to be honest. The only thing I can think of is social media, which... yeah, I’m very glad that wasn’t around when I was a teenager. 7. Are there any poems you like? >> There are a couple, but I can never remember what they are when I’m asked. 8. What do you think is missing/needs to be improved in the feminist movement? >> This is far outside my wheelhouse, all I know is that the TERF thing has ballooned out of control on social media at least, and it’s off-putting. 9. How open are you when it comes to talking about sex? (Whether that be your own sex life, sex in general, etc.) >> I have no issue talking about sex, generally. Talking about it personally is a hit or miss, depending, because my relationship to sexuality is fraught and mostly traumatic, and I am functionally asexual (I don’t feel sexually attracted to other humans, I experience libido but I have no desire to seek out another human being for sexual activity, and I find the idea of being sexualised to be unsettling at best at least 98% of the time). Also, because the kind of sex I do have is... well, Inworld, and no one really knows what that means or how that works except some other people that have “Inworlds” of their own. I also connect sex to things like... well, devouring and death and stuff (big Scorpio energy, you know the drill), which is repellant to a lot of people but makes perfect sense to me. So it’s tough. 10. Are you a fan of the horror genre? If so, what are some of your favorite films/television shows/books/etc. that you like? If not, what do you not like about it? >> I am! Maybe one day I’ll try to make a list of faves, but like... it’s hard to remember stuff like that off the top of my head. 11. Do you thiink we're living in a dystopian world? Why/Why not? >> I mean, maybe. I can see why people would say so, but I don’t really think about it too much. 12. Would you commit murder if you knew you could get away with it? >> I don’t know. I have no idea what the emotional or spiritual toll of committing a murder would be, so I’m wary to just say “sure!” or whatever. Also, Hannibal makes murder look sexy and romantic, and I appreciate that greatly, but like... real life ain’t like that, so what’s the point? 13. Which musical artist do you like that seems to surprise people? Why is that? >> I’m not sure. Most of the people that know me in any capacity become aware of my all-over-the-map music taste pretty quickly, I think. I don’t think I ever give off the impression that I only like one type of music. I think maybe it might surprise someone that I still listen to pop music from my childhood (BSB, Britney Spears)? It seems like most people my age “grow out” of that at some point, but I never stopped liking anything I liked back then, I just added way more stuff to my “I like this” list as time went on. 14. Would you rather have the power to resurrect the dead or enter the world of the dead (but you can't interact with anyone)? >> I don’t want to do either. I prefer the concept of being able to dwell in-between -- to see death and life in the same context, to recognise and love the paradoxes inherent, to not make an enemy of transience and impermanance. I want to rejoice in the rest that the dead receive, and regard it as hallowed and desirable, not disrupt it for some whim of mine own. Imagine you’re mega tired and you finally lay down to sleep and you’re sinking gratefully into the pillows and the blankets and drifting off... and then someone comes busting into your room and turning on lights and yelling about something completely irrelevant to you. That’s exactly the feeling I imagine when I think of someone waking the dead.

#surveys #survey #random survey #not for reblogging *glare*

[laureviewer]

God of War (2018): A Review

Warning: HEAVY story spoilers

I’m not trying to sell you a game. I want to give you an in-depth review and analysis of the story, characters, gameplay and all other aspects of this brilliant game, spoilers and all. I want a discussion. So, dive in and see what I really thought, no holds barred.

 King of the Norse

‘I don’t want it’, says the Jon Snow of the God of War franchise, Kratos. He doesn’t want to be a god, he doesn’t want to interfere or help in others’ lives, he doesn’t want his son to know his past—or to remember it himself, for that matter. But this fish-out-of-water story of a Greek god living in a Norse world forces him to accept his past, present and future.

The story is blissfully and tragically simple. A man sets out to spread the ashes of his recently deceased wife and mother of his son, Atreus, and to honour her by doing so on the tallest peak in all the realms, as was her request. This aim seems completely achievable: you can even see the peak of the mountain in the distance as you set off. But if I know anything about journeys, it’s that they are never that simple. A mysterious man who can’t be hurt attacks Kratos, for reasons unknown. The mountain may not be their final destination after all. And a man and his son set out on a journey that is as much about their relationship as much as it is about fulfilling their loved one’s final wishes.

 A (Reluctant) Man of the People

If you’ve read enough of my reviews by now, you’ll know that open world is one of my favourite video game tropes. GOW isn’t quite open world but still enough to sink your teeth into. In fact, the open world elements adopted by the game makes finishing it a lot more doable than traditional giant open world games, like Skyrim or The Witcher 3 with their hundreds of side quests all over the map. There are side quests in GOW, sure, but they are called ‘Favors’ (which melds well with the overarching theme of gods and sacrifice in the narrative) and fall into five sub-categories for a total of only sixteen favors: dwarfs, wayward spirits, dragons, realms, and Valkyries.

However, even though they aren’t technically counted as favors, there’s a multitude of other tasks to complete, such as closing Realm Tears by fighting elite monsters, collecting artifacts and lore about the world, and killing Odin’s spiritual raven spies. I’m not going to 100% the game or anything, but I love searching every corner of the map to complete that satisfying checklist of things to find.

However, I did find my anxiety spiking a few times with the fact that you don’t have all your powers at once. Sure, it’s useful when the lack of powers blocks you out of places the story doesn’t want you to get to yet, and it’s quite nice to go to old familiar places and uncover new areas and collectibles, but I was always wondering whether I was missing something, and whether I should just wait to go back to exploration areas when I actually have all the powers I need. Obviously there needs to be room for progression, but some puzzles couldn’t be solved without specific powers. Sometimes I wondered whether I was simply not doing the puzzle properly. It all became clear as the game progressed, but even so, I’m sure I spent more time than I should have done in some areas attempting to complete an area that couldn’t be completed. It often made me less willing to comb the area as I could never be sure if I had more to find than first apparent. This also made finding high level enemies another trigger to my must-complete-everything-while-I’m-here mentality. Thankfully, the map always logged where Realm Tears were if I couldn’t quite beat them yet. I only wish the map would do the same for Winds of Hel or other power puzzles that I would pass mournfully on my way to defeat a dark elf or two.

The actual favors encapsulate the very best of what GOW 4 has to offer: fetch-quests for your friends in the form of wisecracking dwarfs; helping the innocent such as allowing lost souls to find peace and freeing giant dragons (though you’d have thought they’d stop trying to attack you long enough to realise you are trying to HELP them); and incredibly challenging battles that help the realms and prove your worthiness simultaneously.

Sure, half the time Atreus instigates helping the innocent: Kratos, true to form, insists that helping others is experience for his son, or useful in gathering resources for their journey. Though, perhaps sometimes he doth protests too much, particularly when pushing back against helping the mysterious Witch of the Woods and the dwarfs. He claims that they are useful, and thus performing tasks for and not making enemies of them is helpful in achieving their goal, but we see his heart thawing the more time he spends with Atreus. We see you, Kratos, learning to love again even as it scares you. And it’s endearing, if not often very frustrating. Which leads us on to…

 Atreus and the Struggles of Parenthood

Atreus’ empathy is also often his fatal flaw. He wants to help everyone, while Kratos wants to stay out of many conflicts, stating that one rarely knows the full story and thus cannot take sides—a definitive sum of the lessons he learned in his regretful past. As an ancient being—hey, James, how old is Kratos? You don’t know? Two thousand or something? Fine I’ll Google it. It’s uncertain but probably around 1050. Damn—he obviously has much more wisdom than a young boy. He is right when he advises Atreus to keep out of the war between the light and dark elves in Alfheim, though he’s not opposed strongly enough to not kill them as they get in his way. It’s less of a moral dilemma for Kratos, and more of a ‘we don’t know enough to make a judgement’. Atreus, we can tell at the beginning of the game, is going to eventually make Kratos more sympathetic, more caring towards other beings. Perhaps even more benevolent than any of the Aesir Norse gods, save Tyr. Though, that isn’t exactly hard.

And, then, you get further in the game. At first, you understand: Kratos is a dick to Atreus. He didn’t care to spend time with him while his mother was alive, and it shows. He refuses to tell Atreus he is a god, and that he is a god in turn, and the conflict of his body and mind being conflicted in what he truly is ends up being the reason for Atreus’ ongoing illness. It’s Kratos’ fault, and sure, he doesn’t know this until it’s nearly too late and he fixes it, but even so. All Atreus wants is to be loved and to make his father proud.

Until later, when he finds out he is a god and goes full diva. The game made me feel about Atreus the same way as I’m sure many parents feel about their children—though, full disclaimer, I’m not a parent, so don’t @ me. My friend says you always love them, and you want what’s best for them and make allowances for them, but oh my god sometimes you really don’t like them. This definitely happened with Atreus. From telling Sindri, one of our dwarf friends, that he is sick of dealing with ‘little people problems’ and making him sad, to saying to Kratos that they are gods and so can do whatever they like, dash the consequences to anyone, to killing a son of Thor against Kratos’ wishes for pure vengeance, made me question my role as a father. Even the little mutterings of ‘whatever’ whenever Kratos wants him to shoot an arrow at a target and one point in the game had me breathing out some mutterings of my own: ‘little shit’ and ‘goddamn I hate you’ were frequent curses.

And yet, by the end of the game I liked him again. Why? It wasn’t his fault. It was his conflicting body and mind; perhaps even the ‘trickery’ side of Loki was finally coming out. Maybe he was going a little mad with all the voices in his head. Plus, he saved my arse so many times in battle with his crazy shock arrows that I needed him. What? I didn’t say I was a perfect parent.

You know what’s really impressive? How this game makes Kratos a likeable character. In previous games (which, full disclosure, I never played) he seemed to be a vengeful man with no thought to anything but his own rage. Now, he has something more to live for—his son, and to honour the memory of his beloved wife. You really understand why he does the things he does. You believe he is trying to be a better person. You know the one thing he really wants to do is scatter his wife’s ashes, and will stop at nothing to fulfil her wishes. You may say he’s stupid for not wanting to tell Atreus the truth, but not only is he ashamed, but he also knows that Atreus may mirror his actions. This brings a duality to the secret that is so interesting that at times I wondered whether Kratos should tell Atreus, considering they don’t have the best relationship in the first place. The dichotomy between Kratos and Atreus is brilliant, and serves not just to humanise Kratos, but also fully makes me believe in their rocky bond as father and son. They are real, and honest, and the perfect grounding to such a profound adventure.

The rollercoaster of a narrative journey GOW took me through was nothing short of outstanding. And that’s even before we get into the Norse lore.

 A Norse’s Life for Me

The conflict between Atreus and Kratos mirrors a theme that runs throughout the entire game throughout the franchise: that of a son killing his father, god against god. And this extends to the version of the Norse lore GOW has created. Favors and story quests alike see the struggle between children and their parents, and it is incredibly satisfying to see Kratos and Atreus overcome that and start to become ‘better’.

As lore that I wasn’t very familiar with, save the depictions of Thor, Odin and Loki from the Marvel universe, it was fascinating to hear the stories from Mimir, the hilarious disembodied head, and to glean them from the lore markers dotted around the realms. It was a great idea to do this from the point of view of Kratos, who does not know the lore and cannot read the language, and Atreus, who has an affinity of language and has been told many stories by his native mother. It’s a natural means of storytelling without it turning into a boring exposition dump. And who doesn’t love story time while rowing around the Lakes of Nine? Apart from Atreus at the beginning, I guess, when his only storyteller was straight-talking Kratos. Spoiler alert: his stories aren’t great.

 Monster Visuals

Rowing across the Lake of Nine is when the story really opens up, bad stories or no. It’s here where you see the true beauty of the story through the stunning appearance of the World Serpent, who is as colossal as the name suggests, though not as scary. From there, using Tyr’s Temple (probably the best Aesir god out there), Kratos and Atreus slowly unlock the various realms, from the fiery homeland of the fire giants, Muspelheim, to the green-tinged Norse underworld, Helheim. Each realm has their own aesthetic, their own monsters, and their own story. While Midgard is bound to be most players’ favourite, due to how much bigger it is and its role as the central point of all the realms, my second favourite is Alfheim, land of the light and dark elves. As the first one to visit after Midgard, its purple hues, sparkling waters and chirping critters make it seem like a mystical world of potential. The fact that the elves are in constant war, doomed to continue for as long as both races live, is both desolate and a fact of life. Even an apparent paradise is rife with issues, and yet beauty can still be found in the worst of situations. 

The realms are very cool, though if I were still in massive open world/RPG mindset, as I so often were, I’d wish that Niflheim and Muspelheim were more than just extra challenges. It would be cool if there were story-led reasons to go there, rather than leaving it to chance if the player gets there in the first place by finding their language cyphers.

The way the camera works doesn’t just give the incredible graphics the time they deserve, but also artfully serves the emotional highs and lows the story wants to hit. It gently guides you to some of the most awe-inspiring events, such as when a giant shows up or when you are fighting a being twice your size, to reflect the intensity as well as making sure you don’t miss them. But the best use of it is at some of the most tense and poignant moments of the game, such as when Kratos is reflecting on his mistakes and travelling to save his son. The camera doesn’t leave his face for lengthy periods, and this, along with the haunting crescendo of siren-like voices singing in accompaniment, really makes you understand what he is feeling, even though no words are said. You are forced to sit with him in silence and in relief. In pain and in quiet. It’s profound. I love it.

The visuals also shine in true GOW fashion: in battle. The place in which this really stands out is in the battle with Baldur at the end, when Freya is trying her utmost to intervene by animating the colossal corpse of a dead giant. While I thought this battle wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, it didn’t actually matter to me in the end as much as it did in other games such as Final Fantasy XV. The battleground kept changing, Baldur’s powers shifting between ice and fire was really interesting as it meant Kratos having to change his own weapons as needed, Baldur’s increasing insanity and glee at the fight, and—best of all—the giant was always in the background, being impressive and foreboding. Awesome.

 The Art of War

The combat in GOW is some of the best I’ve ever experienced. I’m quite used to the hack and slash of RPGs, where the name of the game is simply to hold down R1 and wait for the cool combo moves to bloom out of the angsty protagonist. Okay, fine, it’s never that simple. But in God of War, almost every move counts, especially in the boss battles. Learning to trip monsters, discovering which ones will fall and which ones will not, where their weak points are, and navigating flying or digging enemies means that a lot of the battles mix it up every time. The skill trees that branch off as you upgrade your Leviathan Axe and Atreus’ Talon Bow makes that combat even more visually impressive with chained combos and other ways to fight. This system doesn’t give you as much freedom as many other games, though. Eventually, you’ll get enough experience to unlock every skill, and you’ll want to. Each one will help you in a fight. This is great in a way as I truly felt powerful by the end, and wasn’t worried about neglecting a skill for another, but means the combat is more linear than it could be. Maybe this is necessary as you have to think about combat in other, potentially smarter ways anyway.

Later in the game, you don’t just have to think of the attacks, but you also have to think of the elements of the monsters you are fighting. Do I want to use the ice-imbued axe that spins perfectly in the air and comes back like Mjolnir comes back to Thor? Not in Helheim I don’t, where the monsters are hardcore Ice Queen Elsa stans. Damn, I’m used to using that thing. Alright, time to break out the fiery Blades of Chaos, which you only get halfway through the game but old players will definitely get excited over like a member-berry in heat. Unless you are fighting volcanic draugrs, that is.

The fighting is made even more exciting with the brutality of pressing R3 once an enemy is stunned enough to be grabbed. The animations have Mortal Kombat-esque levels of gore, and as Kratos is an absolute beast, it’s believable as well as disgustingly fun. Want some extra stunnage? Then remember to use Atreus’ arrows, which can interrupt and stun even the biggest of beasts. He saved me more times than I can count. It’s one of the best uses of a sidekick character I’ve ever seen. Why? It’s not just the very useful skills he has, but crucially, HE CAN’T DIE. With memories of a well-intentioned but suicidal Lydia running in front of my sword and taking a fatal wound in the middle of an overpopulated dungeon, this is brilliant. Thanks, Skyrim. Plus, can you imagine having to be Kratos mourning over his dead son every time they lose in battle? Bit morbid, even for a game with this much gore and emotional impact.

Brok and Sindri aren’t just there to crack jokes and bring life into the world. They are also master blacksmiths who work on your Axe, Blades, and armour. The levelling up system is quite different from other traditional games—EXP doesn’t level you up as soon as you get it, but you can use the EXP to buy or upgrade armour, enchantments and talisman that, when worn altogether, give you an overall level. The simple act of replacing a level 7 chest plate with one that’s level 3 can lower your overall level from a 6 to a 5, making you less able to deal with those pesky high-level enemies. As such, it’s a massive variable, and one that players need to consider seriously not just as the game progresses, but also from battle to battle. Runes that you can slot in your armour can increase your frost or burn damage, increase your resistance to ailments, improve your runic attacks, give you extra burst of skills on hits or kills, or even more specific advantages. Some that I found most helpful were 5% less damage from Valkyries which, if you’ve fought one, you know how much of a game changer it can be!

This necessitation for learning the combat and doing it well means that the satisfaction level of defeating a big old boss who you’ve been dying to for the last hour is at well over 9000 (I’m looking at you, Valkyries screaming Valhalla! at me every three seconds). And, now I’m confident enough with it, that means I’ll be continuing with the post-game combat challenges for just a little while longer. This, combined with the beautiful graphics, gripping story, anti-hero and loveable side characters, the revolution of Kratos to multi-dimensional character, and a world brimming with lore and knowledge, makes this game one to remember. 

What can I say, I’m obsessed.

#game review #gaming #god of war #godofwar #kratos #atreus #norse #norse mythology #odin #thor #games #review #video games

[antiquechampagne]

Mixed Media - Chapter 2 - Jump

Running into the fortress tower, Rita could feel the heat through her thin pajamas. Her ears rang from the piercing inhuman roars echoing through the stone fortress. She knew to stay well behind the soldier who ran up the stairs in a panic before her. The archdemon burst through the wall belching fire just as she expected, the soldier pushed from the dais and crushed by the heavy blocks below. What she didn’t expect was the smell. The stench of the dragon hit her like wall, a foul wave of rotting flesh mixed with sting of ozone.

Once the dragon retreated from the gaping hole, she knew what she was supposed to do. She couldn’t even count the number of times she had started a new Skyrim character, but never before had she felt the pressure of actually failing to make the jump from the tower into the gap of the neighboring roof quite so keenly before.

Staring down, Rita barely heard Ralof yelling at her.

“See the inn on the other side? Jump through to the roof and keep going!” She froze. It looked so real… the drop so far down. “JUMP!” he urged.

The proximity of the next deafening roar jolted Rita out of her stupor. Taking a deep breath, she tried to convince herself that it was just a dream, nothing bad could happen to her. Closing her eyes, she finally jumped.

She did not land with the calculatedly helpful grace of the video game she knew and loved. Instead, real world physics pulled her down, her feet catching the round logs supporting the roof. Her momentum carried her painfully to the wooden floor below, landing hard on her left arm and shoulder. Stars sparked behind her closed lids.

“Go!” Ralof called from above her. “We’ll follow when can!”

“Yeah, sure…” she squeaked.

Rita tried to rise but she realized quickly that not only was her wrist was in bad shape, but her ankle also protested painfully when the put her full weight on it. She hoped both were only sprained and not broken. She didn’t have much time to investigate, as the whole inn shook as the archdemon flew low over head. Making her way to the other end of the building, she lowered herself through the hole in the floor to the ground floor as gently as she could. Luckily, she landed mostly on her good foot.

Outside, the dragon spat fire as soldiers and civilians took cover.

The Imperial soldier who had been holding the checklist turned to her. His name surfaced in her chaotic mind; Hadvar.

“Still alive prisoner? Keep close to me if you want to stay that way.”

He took off and Rita followed as best she could, her twisted ankle forcing her limp most of the way. As they passed by a tall stone wall, the archdemon landed above them. A tattered purple leathery wing nearly clipped her in the shoulder as she attempted to hide, huddled close to the quaking wall. She watched helplessly as it destroyed more of the town with great gouts of fire. The fetid smell of the creature once again filled her senses, nearly making her gag and her eyes water.

“Quickly! Follow me!” Hadvar ordered as the beast took flight again. He led her through the burned out husks of a home. As she ran past a toppled doorway, movement caught her eye. Something small, hairless and rabbit-like wiggled under the wreckage of the thatched roof. With an impressive sense of certainty, Hadvar ran through the chaos around them unfazed.

Suddenly, they ran into Ralof, who was now brandishing an axe.

“Ralof! That traitor! Out of my way!” Hadvar growled.

Rita glanced around worriedly, clutching her bound and aching wrist to her side awkwardly. The dragon loomed above them, belching out fire, strafing the nearby buildings.

“We’re escaping, Hadvar. You’re not stopping us this time!” Ralof answered.

“Fine! I hope that dragon takes you all to Sovngarde!” the Imperial spat back.

“You!” Ralof looked to Rita. “Come on! Into the keep!” He beckoned her to follow him inside the stone keep.

Hadvar turned and sprinted in another direction. “With me, prisoner. Let’s go!”

“Damn it!” Rita grumbled as the dragon came around for another pass. She knew she had to make a decision, and fast. She went with the choice she favored. She ran towards Ralof, the dragon scorching the courtyard just a few feet from where she had been standing.

Once inside the keep, Rita caught her breath by the door while Ralof ran over to a fallen Stormcloak.

“We’ll meet again in Sovngarde, brother.” He turned back to her, scanning the roughly circular room. “Looks like we’re the only ones who made it.”

“Just like every time.” Rita huffed. “And, yes, that was a dragon… but not dragon native to Skyrim.”

“What?”

“Never mind, it doesn’t matter.” She held up her bound wrists. “Would you mind?”

Ralof nodded and quickly cut the ropes. “There you go. You may as well take Gunjar’s gear.”

Before he could finish, Rita interrupted him “He won’t be needing it anymore, right?” Ralof gave her a funny look before moving off to the corner to wait.

Rita looked down at the body on the floor. Picking things off a real looking body was much more intimidating. With a bit of a huff, she finally knelt beside the dead man. Unsure where to start first, she tugged on Gunjar’s armor, the multitude of straps and ties confusing her. Rita’s stomach lurched. He was still warm.

“I don’t know if I can do this.”

Ralof’s eyes narrowed. “You’re green in the guts, girl?”

“Just give me a second.” She gave up on the armor, resigned to pick his pockets for anything useful. All that was in his pockets was an apple, a few Septims and a small polished marble figure of a woman in robes. She didn’t remind Rita of any gods from Tamriel. Who could she be? Rita returned to looking over the body. The only other thing she removed from the corpse was his fur boots.

“Sorry,” she whispered to him, the guilt of stealing a dead man’s clothes eating at her. It was so much harder when it felt so real. Scooping the axe off the ground, she joined Ralof as he examined one of the closed gates that sealed the room.

“Ahh… this one’s locked. Let’s see about that other gate.”

He walked across to it. A memory jogged in Rita’s mind. Imperial soldiers were going to appear soon. She wanted no part of ensuing fight. She stayed next to the locked gate, eyeing Ralof nervously.

“Damn. No way to open this from our side.”

She heard the shouts of the rushing soldiers. A dead man’s armor was looking very nice now.

“It’s the Imperials! Take cover!” the Stormcloak warned.

The Imperials quickly opened the gate, too hurried to notice Ralof crouched next to the door. Rita’s reaction was much less advantageous. She just stood stock still in the open room, the axe held loosely in her shaking hands.

The soldiers rushed into the room. Missing the hiding Nord, they raised their swords to attack the petrified woman before them. Ralof leapt from his hiding place, squarely landing a heavy blow on one soldiers back with his axe. Watching the heavily armored woman rushing towards her, sword raised, Rita lost her nerve and dropped her axe. It landed with a loud clang on the cobblestone floor. She covered her head reflexively as she cowered, her eyes closed and hands up in surrender. Rita screamed, feeling the axe blade slice into the flesh of her hand. Abruptly, instead of warm rush of blood, tingling electricity shot from her palm, throwing the Imperial across the room, even arcing to the second man. Stunded and confused, Rita just blinked when neither Imperial got up once they fell to the ground.

“So you’re a student of the arcane arts, I see.” Ralof wryly observed.

“I… guess so?” Still shaking, Rita looked down at her palms. The left one decided to start bleeding, but from inside the wound a strange glow started to build.

Ralof seemed unimpressed. “Maybe one of these Imperials had the key.”

Rita quickly found the heavy iron key in one of their pockets, holding her breath to prevent the smell of burned flesh from distracting her. Whatever was happening here, she needed to focus and protect herself. As quickly as she could, she took a simple hide helmet from one soldier while pocketing what valuables she could fit in the two pockets of her pj pants. On second consideration, and with a little more effort than she wished, Rita also pinched a belt with a few pouches on it, tightening it around her own waist.

Handing the key over to Ralof, he unlocked the heavy gate. “That’s it! Come on; let’s get out of here before the dragon brings the whole tower down on our heads.”

Heading down into the bowels of the keep, Rita hobbled along, still favoring her ankle. Suddenly, a deep rumble and roar reverberated through the stone, causing the corridor in front of them to collapse.

Frustrated, Ralof wiped the dust and grime from his face, grumbling, “Damn, that dragon doesn’t give up easily.”

As they moved closer to a wooden door, Rita could hear agitated voices from inside.

“Do you think you have enough in you do that spell again?” Ralof asked.

“I can try.” Rita really hoped that she would not need to get sliced open again to summon another bolt.

Carefully opening the door, they slowly advanced into the room. It was filled with barrels, trunks and sacks. They snuck close on the two Imperials who were hurriedly raiding the storeroom. Rita looked down at her hands, nervously rubbing the edges of the strange wound. It hurt sharply and wept blood, but the glow was growing brighter. Looking over to Ralof, he shrugged his shoulders towards the soldiers, urging her to hurry up.

She stepped out from behind a large barrel, pushing her palms towards the men but nothing happened. Startled, the soldiers turned and stared at her for a heartbeat before dashing towards her, pulling the swords at their belts.

“Come… on…” Rita stammered, taking a step back. “WORK!” After what felt like the longest second in history, her hands started to tingle before another blast ricocheted off the advancing soldiers, knocking them off their feet. One laid still, but the other tried to struggle to his feet. He quickly meet his end by Ralof’s blade slicing into his neck.

Rita hid her revulsion to the copious amount of blood pooling on the floor by turning away and steadying herself on a barrel. Her head swam, but she wasn’t sure how much of it was due to being faced with this much gore or the exhaustion that was suddenly flooding her body.

“I’m going to see if I can find any potions.” She knew she would find a handful of useful concoctions hiding in one of these barrels. There always was. She was happily tucking away the glass vials when she noticed something familiar nestled next to them, a stimpak.

“This is so weird.” She shook her head, but this strange feeling did not stop her from pocketing the post-apocalyptic chem.

“Done? Let’s get going,” Ralof urged.

“One second.” She pulled out a small-unmarked vial of bluish liquid. Rita hope it was a magicka potion of some kind. So many of these potions looked similar. Pulling the cork, she sniffed. An earthy but medicinal smell filled her nose. She had no way of knowing how much energy she had used. Downing this now could waste it, but she knew there were many more Imperial soldiers to encounter, more than she really wanted to deal with. She swallowed the solution as quickly as she could. It smacked of bitter herbs and meaty broth. Rita waited. She felt a tiny rush, as if she had downed an espresso shot, but nothing else. She silently wondered what would happen if she died in this strange dream. Would this all start all over?

“Ready?” Ralof asked.

“I suppose.”

They rounded the hallway and opened the next door. Down a short ramp, they could see cages suspended from the ceiling coming into view.

“Troll’s blood! It’s a torture room.”

The sounds of a scuffle echoed up the hall. Running down the ramp, they could see the torturer and his assistant fighting against two blue-clad Stormcloak soldiers. The soldiers appeared to be gaining the upper hand, pressing the torturers to gain the advantage. Rita stayed back, letting Ralof rush in to battle and finished off the pair.

“That takes care of that,” He said as the last one fell. He turned to the taller female soldier. “Was Jarl Ulfric with you?”

“No, I haven’t seen him since the dragon showed up,” She answered.

“Wait a second.” Ralof stopped and turned to Rita. “Looks like there’s someone in this cage.” He tried the door. “It’s locked. See if you can get it open with some picks. We need all the help we can get.”

Peering between the thick metal bars, Rita gasped. Slouched in the corner, her eyes barely open and her breath shallow, was a familiar face, but one that was very out of place.

“Curie?” Rita shook the cage to see if she could get any response from the synth. All she heard was a low moan. Running to the small table, Rita rummaged through the small knapsack she found there. She pocketed the potion before bringing the four metal lock picks over to Curie’s cage.

“Do any of you know how to use these?” she asked the others around her. They all shook their heads.

She looked desperately at the crude metal lock. “Okay, then…” Holding the padlock in one hand, she inserted the thin metal tool into the slot. She fished around, feeling the tool scrape against the innards of the lock before getting caught on something and snapping in half.

“Fuck.” She swore under her breath. She could almost feel the Stormcloaks’ stares. “I’m doing my best, I swear. This is a lot harder than it looks in the game.” She tried again, this time closing her eyes. She tried to imagine the lock picking mini game, visualizing the locks delicate cylinders and gently pressing each one up as she had so many time before. She tried to mimic the movements with the tools in her hand. When the first one finally depressed and stayed, she nearly let out a shout of joy. The feeling quickly disappeared when she rushed the second tumbler and her tool broke again.

Taking a moment to gather her resolve, Rita slotted the third pick into the lock, aware that she was quickly running out of chances. It took all her concentration. When the last tumbler clicked into place and the lock popped open in her hands, she finally allowed herself to breath.

Hastily, Rita slid the lock off the door and swung the door open with a creak. Kneeling next to Curie, she looked her over. She looked mostly intact except for a few scrapes and bruises.

She fished the stimpak out of one of the pouches on her belt. “I hope this works.” Stabbing the needle through Curie’s threadbare jeans, she pushed the plunger and prayed. Within a few seconds, Curies blue eyes blinked open.

“Oh? Another stranger, but you…” she pushed herself up, propping herself against the bars of the cage. “You don’t look like the others.”

Rita could imagine how strange she looked, kneeling there in a crude helmet and pastel purple flannel. “I’m not,” The room shook. Rita offered the synth her hand. “Think you can stand?”

“Yes, I believe I can.” Pulling her to her feet, Curie stepped out of the cage. “What is happening?”

“We don’t really have time for that. We need to get out of here first, then we can figure that out.”

Curie hesitated, glancing at the group of Stormcloaks mulling around the other end of the room.

“Their friends, I promise.” Rita tried to sound as reassuring as she could. Pointed to the adjacent corner of the room. A long counter dominated it, weapon racks lining the wall. “Find something to protect yourself with. Pocket anything that looks useful.”

As Curie walked over, Rita looked back into the cage. She scooped up a few stray coins, but what really caught her attention was the book lying among the refuse. It wasn’t a leather-bound spell tome she had expected to see. Instead, there was a dusty D.C. Journal of Internal Medicine.

“Maybe later…” she thought to herself, roughly shoving the journal into her belt pouch. Turning back to the group, she nearly laughed as she saw Curie’s choice of weapon. She stood with what looked like a giant elongated spoon resting on her shoulder… one that crackled with a strange red energy.

Curie, noticing her curious look, simply shrugged. “It was all that was available.”

“You both done?” Ralof impatiently asked. Both women nodded. “Then let’s go.”

Rita couldn’t agree more. The sooner they could get through the caves, the quicker she could figure out what the hell was going on. Maybe if she completed this tutorial, she could finally wake up.

Authors Note:

I hope you enjoy it! How many little nods and Easter eggs did you spot?

#mixed media #fan fiction #fanfic #fan fic #fusion fic #skyrim #fallout #bethesda #curie #Elder Scrolls #dragon age #ao3

[theshinobiway]

Isn’t it weirder to ship the characters with yourself than with other characters?

Hey There!

First, thanks for reaching out with a question like this. I want to do your question justice because it’s actually a complex subject. To start, I have a few topics I’d like to touch on:

What does it mean to “Ship” yourself with a character?

How can it be Beneficial/Harmful?

Is it Strange?

What does it mean to “Ship” yourself with a character?                             

“Shipping” would be best defined as the following: Initially derived from the word relationship, is the desire by fans for two or more people, either real-life people or fictional characters (in film, literature, television etc.) to be in a romantic relationship.

This is fairly broad, but actually doesn’t even seem to include a provision for self-ships. Does that mean that self-ships are too uncommon to even mention in the definition of shipping? well, no, not necessarily.

Because the question was phrased “Isn’t it weirder to ship yourself with a character” the implication comes across as though my writing is actually a self-insert of myself as an author. Let me take a second to address this:

When I write headcanons/scenarios, I’m actually not writing self x character. I’m writing reader x character, which separates me mentally and emotionally from the subject matter. I envision myself within my writing only as necessary to write sensory detail, such as the following:

“The alcoholic haze that blurred your vision before gave the world a surreal, almost painted expression. Scenes that would not have fascinated you before were prime entertainment for the intoxicated. Lights danced around the street, peeking out from the silhouettes of the passers-by as they went about their ways, unconcerned for the magical visions that surrounded them. And Kami, and the smell of the food stands was enough to make you hungry for seconds.”

When I write emotional and romantic scenes, I personally pull from my own experiences with romance. My writing has developed in this area only because I’m in a current, long-term relationship that has the emotional depth the likes of which I’ve never experienced before. It would make me uncomfortable to envision myself that intimately with a character because I’ve already got a real-life s/o. They’re the actual reason it’s easy to write the emotionally-charged romantic scenes that I’ve grown to love writing. It’s complicated to explain, but much of my writing is “purely business,” though the emotions are real.

That’s just me, though. If a writer does scenes more based on fantasy or puts themselves more explicitly in those situations, those habits are part of their private writing process and are entirely within their right.

So now, I’ve got two smaller questions to cover:

If someone envisions themselves in their own writing with a character, is it wrong?No. I’ll talk about OCs under the next heading.

If someone envisions themselves with a character at all, is it wrong/weird?Actually, it’s incredibly normal. But there are certain things to be aware of which I’ll explain in a second.

How is it Beneficial/Harmful?

Shipping of any kind, as we have seen in a variety of fan communities, can have the effect of being incredibly harmful. Shipping is not okay when the following is true:

One or more parties is a real-life person who has not consented to the ship. (Tom Holland x Spiderman)

Both parties are real-life people not playing a character (Sorry, K-Pop fandom, you’re getting called out here.)

Both parties are real-life people [who may or may not have already expressed their discomfort with being shipped, it doesn’t matter.] (Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, Zendaya and Tom Holland)

The ship is pedophilic in nature (Sebastian and Ciel from Black Butler)

Shipping of two fictional characters does not normally fall under this umbrella. Awesome! But wait, what about shipping with oneself? The real-life person has consented to the ship.

Fictional characters (fictional identities, such as Spiderman, Sherlock, and not Tom Holland or BC) are imagined and incapable of personhood, therefore they do not need consent the same way a real-life person does. The depiction of pedophilia is still a crime, therefore, they cannot be shipped.

All stories, by the way, were created because someone imagined them. I’ve often seen the phrase “self-insert” as a tool used to shame others who create an OC for a story. 

What this says, on a literal level, is that the creator of the OC has absolutely no right to create a character to their liking that lets them imagine themselves as part of a story they love or to share an original character that they created for an established story, no matter how much they deviate from the author. Other authors who create an original story, especially female authors, have faced this criticism as well. (Interestingly enough, this doesn’t come up nearly as often with male authors, unless a harmful depiction of a female is involved.)

Personally? I do not regularly envision my authors as their characters, and I know from personal experience that in my own creation of OCs and Characters that they can be incredibly detached. Many of my OCs share none of the same character traits as me, or if they do, it’s a few insignificant details.

Still, if an OC shares much in common with the author (as most firsts do) then that’s not an issue either. It has little impact on the story. Some people actually like reading the author’s OC because they find the character to be relatable, likable, or to have qualities they enjoy.

The argument that “Self-Insert makes the writing bad” is faulty. Writing is bad because the writing is bad. It is not bad because it’s a self-insert. The issues are that the character is uninteresting, static, or unrealistic.

Character x Reader/Imaginer shipping is harmful only when the fantasy prevents someone from living healthily because of their attachment to the ship. I am not a psychologist so I cannot explain this in psychological jargon, but any fantasy that creates a detachment from reality that is:

Debilitating

Causes serious hindrance to the fantasizer’s perception of reality

Affects the real-life ability to connect to others

is a harmful fantasy.

Fantasies that are enjoyed with a sense of impermanence and can be openly recognized as fantasies are not harmful or wrong, or really even “weird.” They are, once again, a normal part of the very human desire to imagine oneself in desirable situations.

The same way people create, commission, or request fanart, there’s a similar demand for writers. That’s where this blog falls in with the fandom. because I can’t feckin draw

What are the benefits? Two. And they’re pretty great ones:

In allowing themselves to indulge in romantic stories involving a character, many people end up discovering different traits about themselves (I’m passionate just like them! We both love XYZ!), or they can eventually isolate qualities they like in real-life people (“Hey, here’s a picture of all the anime characters I like, can’t you tell I have a type?)

It’s also beneficial for the sheer sake of entertainment for entertainment’s sake. People are allowed to have fantasies. They are allowed to share fantasies with friends/communities where this is a welcome topic. They are allowed to envision characters as they wish. They are allowed to imagine character romantically, the same way they could envision that “perfect s/o” that they made up all by themselves.

Frankly, I could care less who fantasizes about what. It’s all meant to be enjoyed and it’s nice if my writing gets appreciated along the way. People’s opinions about other things I disagree with don’t even cross my mind on a daily basis.

And unless it’s put in your face,  I firmly believe other people shouldn’t care about other opinions that much either. Isn’t it just draining? Let things just be.

Is it Strange?

Well, that’s relative.

A lot of people have preferences for ships in certain media, like Daenerys and Jon Snow. Other people prefer to just imagine about Jon Snow or Daenerys. There are just as many posts praising a single character as there are shipping them together.

So why is it then that reader insert can be considered strange if the celebration/admiration/crush on a character is fairly normal?

The reason for all of this is simple: Many people find that the sharing of fantasies is an uncomfortable topic. And on some level, it is. People are often sensitive about their own imaginations, keep that part of them private, and prefer not to share or have that shared with them. It’s a normal and acceptable boundary to have.

Would you gush to your boss about how much you love Bakugo from BHNA, or would you be more comfortable sharing that with a close friend who also loves watching the show? Other people are fine relating to others over shared fantasies. Which is why there’s a community for it, particularly here on Tumblr.

The only difference between a character that one person creates and enjoys in their own head and one that has been established in media, is that the latter character comes from another imagination already has a story attached to them that has been publicly shared.

Is it weird to have a piece of media—art, writing, what have you—that lends itself to the reader to be the main character? 

Well, personally, that’s left to the consumer of media. Some people like the “choose-your-own adventure books,” some don’t. Some like video games where you create your own character (like Skyrim) some prefer a set main character with concrete traits (like Samus Aran from Metroid.)

All creators seek to replicate, on some level, an experience that they want their consumers to be a part of. They do this through the lens of their characters. This takes various forms in TV media: 

Main characters that are “Stock” (like Kirito from SAO: Talented young Japanese male, dark hair, dark eyes, noble “hero” personality. He’s similar to many other protagonists from other harem anime) 

Or that have “Strong” Personalities (like Naruto from, well, Naruto: Similar to other shounen archetypes but he can be differentiated easily, he has a strong personality, unique traits, and quirks.)

Watcher(Reader) x Character falls into the “stock” main character: Not many definable traits, easy to imagine yourself as the character to fill in the gaps, etc.

Thus, these types of character x reader stories exist in popular TV shows, with characters that the reader has the chance to envision themselves with.

It’s hard to do watcher x character when a character needs at least some physical form. Otome Games, Harem anime, Average joe-schmoe gets the guy/girl, High school girl in a movie gets her crush, etc. all fall under the same genre of the “main character with general traits that fits the most common denominator.” Surprise! The intent is that you do put yourself in the main character’s shoes and you can idolize the guy/girl they go after.

Thus, character x watcher(reader) exists in popular media already.

It’s basically the written form of “create your own character in a video game, now you get to marry/romance who you want!” Guess what other forms of media let you romance your preferred fictional character?

Mass Effect

Skyrim

Stardew

Dragon Age

Sims

Etc.

Yep, the most popular video games out there. Does everyone play these types of games? No. That’s perfectly fine.

Here’s the final answer, though: Some characters do not exist in video games that allow a romance option. Some do not exist in tv series that allow the teasing of a possible romance with a “blank slate” main character.

Reader-insert writing is only the written form of an open-ended particular romance arc with a character, meant to be experienced in the same way you could explore that option within a suitor-friendly video game.

If you find OCs “weird,” or a reader insert “weird,” then it’s because that particular form of media simply does not attract you. You are free to disregard that part of the fandom, just as much as I disregard shipping content that does not cater to my own preferences.

Thanks for contributing to the blog!

#I didn't even go into the whole fictional character vs real people debate #but at this point it's a dead horse #it doesn't actually matter #anime #media #discourse #popular shows #naruto #sherlock #boku no hero #my hero academia #BHNA #fairy tale #skyrim #stardew #dating sims #character x reader #writing #writing tips #self insert #OCs #OC #fandom #fan community #celebrities #celebrity #fantasy #fantasies #marvel #throwing this to all corners of tumblr for those in the back

[dxmagedrose]

GET TO KNOW THE BLOGGER!

Tagged by: my lover @hammurabicomplex​ I’m tagging: anyone and everyone who wants to pick this one up! share with the class if you feel like it! tag me in it!!

PRESENTING. RANDOM DEEP DIVE WITH INDIGO-MUN AT 2AM ;

FIRST NAME Good fucking question… It’s (sort-of) currently Dylann! I was Kieran before that, though; it’s still used as one of my first names and I’m not used to Dylann quite yet bc I’ve just started using it. 

Indigo is one of my middle names though, and I’ve used it as an online handle elsewhere forever so I use it here now!  [ Fun etymology facts: Dylan(n) is a mythology name generally meaning “born of the wave” (aspiring diver & a water witch at heart). Kieran means “little dark one” bc of my love for horror, && I chose Indigo bc as a kid to be it was neither boy (blue) or purple (girl) and was both and neither as well as my absolute favorite color as this vibrant ass mystical color. ]

STRANGE FACT ABOUT YOURSELF hmmmmm…. I’m a horror lover at heart, so as a child (I wanna say 12), I was walking through an antique store (I have a few cool finds, I considered putting my other one as the fact tbh) and I turned the corner and I saw these two dolls staring back at me at the foot of the stairs of this antique building. my blood froze, and i felt my stomach drop. i got actual, physical goosebumps stumbling across these two creepy dolls staring back at me in the corner, and i couldn’t leave the store without them. perhaps the little painted porcelain boy would be somewhat spooky by himself if it wasn’t for the terrifying lidded gaze of the porcelain girl with the hairline fractures and slightly open lips. i cant look at her. i dont really find dolls scary, I like to find the spookier ones ones, and she makes me paranoid as hell. i keep her face covered and her up in my closet except for when i bring her out to show her off proudly as the spookiest thing I have but……. i dont really collect dolls anymore.  even thinking about her brings a fearful tear to my eye.  i don’t like to think about her for very long, but that’s why I’m so fucking proud to own her. ( YES — I’m THAT white person in the horror film )

TOP THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU FIND ATTRACTIVE ON A PERSON hhhhh a beardy jawline, high cheekbones, crooked canine teeth >:3c

A FOOD YOU COULD EAT FOREVER AND NOT GET BORED OF b.l.t.’s with avocado. ahhhh. my mouth is watering just thinking about it, oh my god. just a bit of salt and pepper???

A FOOD YOU HATE barbecue anything, i hate the taste of bbq sauce, you keep your nasty black goo to yourselves at the grill. twice in my life i have presented with barbecue pizza and both times i cried literal tears. why would you do such a horrible thing to a person? what kind of a monster are you? how do you sleep at night?!

GUILTY PLEASURE the sims. constantly. always. i’ve sunk thousands of hours into my households. oh also uhhhhhh i run two 80s horror blogs, one being a shitpost blog with occasional art of mine and one gremlin fanfic ship blog for horrible, terrible self indulgent fanfics i’ll get the courage to finish writing & post so i can be cancelled on tumblr for at some point. NO, i won’t link them. as i pretend they’re even all that hard to find, within a day i was found on both by someone i admire here a lot :’) ilu bby thnk u eternally for supporting ur local horrifying dumbass wtf

WHAT DO YOU SLEEP IN the same clothes i’ve been wearing all day usually, my sweats & long sleeve raglans or my hoodies. i like being cozy day & and out. and ugh. efoort. just throw me in a blanket in a cool room and im out.

SERIOUS RELATIONSHIPS OR FLINGS serious relationships with some openness or poly. i wish i could fling! just not exactly easy for demisexual autistics lmao.

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN THE PAST AND CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT YOUR LIFE, WOULD YOU AND WHAT WOULD IT BE I think I would be adopted by my grandma as a kid. It would save me some trauma but mostly I think it would get my autism diagnosed way earlier and save me angsting all these years of wondering why & thinking it’s my fault I’m struggling so much and so loud and affectionate and different in a world that i didnt fit in the same way. 

ARE YOU AN AFFECTIONATE PERSON when i get drunk i text people how much they mean to me in my life. does that answer your question? ahhh. i’m sometimes a cuddle monster with friends, i message people with long texts about how much they mean to me, but I sometimes really don’t like to be touched at all. 

A MOVIE YOU COULD WATCH OVER AND OVER AGAIN FLYPAPER.  F L Y P A P E R.  FLYPAPER.  FLY, and, I can’t stress this enough, fucking PAPER. ( Though also Whole Nine Yards and both Re-Animator & Bride ). I have watched Flypaper already like, 5 times this week and I’m still not done, and the other movies have been on repeat for days in this household within the last year. In the past it has also been Donnie Darko & the new Nightmare on Elm Street.  roast me.

FAVORITE BOOK White Fang by Jack London. Have I actually ever finished it? No. Do I still own a copy I’ve had since childhood thru multiple dogs eating it, taking it to and from school, and highlighting and circling all the best parts of chapter one ever since I was a kid and it was too hard of a book for me to read? You bet your ass. If I ever need inspiration I just reread chapter 1. Although one of my other favorites was Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes. But White Fang is like, a weirdly personal text. We stan London’s writing in this household.

YOU HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO KEEP ANY ANIMAL AS A PET, WHAT DO YOU CHOOSE FENNEC FOX!! I used to daydream about having my own named Shiloh when I was a lil kid. they’re adorable little things and i am obsessed. i mean, gimme any fox and im happy, marble foxes, red foxes… but I was obsessed with fennec foxes. Also tbh ferrets. I want a ferret.

TOP FIVE FICTIONAL SHIPS [IF YOU ARE AN RP BLOG, YOU CAN USE YOUR OWN SHIPS AS WELL] Rosa & @ninetyscnds‘s Luke, Rosa & @iimpulsivity is already screaming my name, Rosa & Constantine, Jesse & Andrea from Breaking Bad, and the joker and harley of 80s sci-fi Dan & Herbert from Re-Ani.  I am but a simple opossum. 

PIE OR CAKE Pie! I’ll take both pumpkin & melty apple over cake. also, cheesecake is more pie than cake soooo, pie wins.

FAVORITE SCENT my dogs / my blanket. :’)  It’s the most grounding smell in the world. 

CELEBRITY CRUSH oliver jackson-cohen, i’m fucking GAY and im angry about it. there i was, minding my own business, and i saw that asshole in a certain SHIRTLESS GIF and it AWOKE SOMETHING IN ME. dont talk to me about it, holy shit im obsessed with beardy men now god fuckkdafjaask i hate him why did he make me this gay i was perfectly fine being into girls but NOOOOOO him and his dumb hairy chest and sweet rugged face and I——  I also am obsessed with the archaeologist & television personality Josh Gates and may or may not be considering making a fan blog for him bc idk if my anthropology docuseries host is Dad or Daddy but i love him lots

IF YOU COULD TRAVEL ANYWHERE, WHERE WOULD YOU GO I would go on a dive with anthropologists and archaeologists doing fieldwork research in the ancient cenotes of the Yucatán Peninsula. My actual dream job, catch me crying & fantasizing about being underwater documenting Mayan skulls given as offerings. Fuckkkk, I love anthropology so much!!  take me anywhere in the world to immerse myself into culture & archaeology.

INTROVERT OR EXTROVERT Introvert. I have a real life friend I see roughly once a month, and that’s it. Plenty of online relationships, I’m chatty, message me all day every day. but i dont do people well.

DO YOU SCARE EASILY I used to! Really bad. I don’t as much anymore. I do get paranoia a lot still. Having therapists telling you that the FBI could be outside your house watching you through your windows will kind of nervous. ( no google results for: yes hello fbi i am a writer please dont put me on watchlists i just have research i need to do for this idea im working on, would you like to try again? ) I have nightmares nightly but not they never make me afraid, they just make me feel like crap. jumpscares and loud noises and seeing people reaching into their pockets dont set off as many brain alarms anymore tho!! progress haha.

IPHONE OR ANDROID I like my android better bc of capabilities but meh

DO YOU PLAY ANY VIDEO GAMES My mom, her husband & I play COD for family game night, and Silent Hill is my life’s blood. I’ve sunken hours into Sims & Skyrim, and Norman Jayden from Heavy Rain is my #1 fictional character in existence, why do i love the druggie babies

DREAM JOB Oh… You’re asking me to pick? I’d love to be an anthropologist doing work out in the field. Underwater archaeology is peak, but I’m also heavily considering being a body recovery diver or police diver. I’d love to see myself in uniform someday, if possible. Just the thought makes me teary eyed & proud.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH A MILLION DOLLARS fund my person creative & educational endeavors. get myself a spooky ass abandoned house to make my own home to create in, and travel to the world’s best dive sites. just live a mild life of education, creation & exploration. that’s the dream TM.

FICTIONAL CHARACTER YOU HATE dr. hill is a gross and whiny lil bitch this post brought to u by the miskatonic crew, how is everyone here an even worse bad guy than herbert west precious dan excluded talk shit get hit tho john winchester from spn and both walter white & todd from breaking bad are all in my crew of hated characters. i jusT…   the reani novel is difficult to read because i have to deal with this old sack of shit.

FANDOM THAT YOU WERE ONCE A PART OF BUT AREN’T ANY LONGER Supernatural :-)

… AND THIS CONCLUDES A DEEP DIVE WITH INDIGO!! //

#||: && the mundane ( ooc ); #( get to know a bitch!! ) #( this was... a lot of me rambling about weirdly personal shit at 2 am )

[blapisblogs]

So somehow Corey Taylor has now ended up in the place where I’m assuming the other Nostalgia Critic episodes take place, which has all these parody posters of previous Nostalgia Critic reviews and Doug Walker’s YouTube plaques on the walls. Doug, you spent a majority of at least the first half of this “review” beating us over the head with how much you hate Roger Waters’s ego, but then you show us shots like this and expect people to not comment on yours? Of course there is a very slight chance that this might’ve been an attempt at self-deprecation, showing that Doug is aware that “Nostalgia Critic” has just as much of an ego as Waters and he’s just oblivious to it, but given how the rest of this “review” is and how Doug has reportedly acted behind the scenes on other projects, I highly doubt it.

Now you’d think that with Corey Taylor here and the “review” being nearly over that this would be the part where he finally says something, especially since we’re close to one of the few times we hear Bob Geldof sing in the film. You’d be wrong. Before Doug can finish whatever speech he had planned for this part, he answers a call from... some dude asking about the whereabouts of someone called Lucy Lacemaker. Oh boy... So something I’ve been mostly ignoring is that there’s a strange creature that’s popped up briefly a few times throughout the “review”. That creature is Lucy Lacemaker, the creation of someone called Fennah, making a guest appearance in this review because... uh... The Wall had weird animated characters in it? That’s what Lucy starts talking about: how the animated characters’ designs were creative but the characters themselves were terribly underused (“All paint, no ink” as she puts it). If you’ve actually seen the film, then you know that this criticism doesn’t make sense. The animated characters and creatures in The Wall aren’t exactly characters in and of themselves; they’re figments of Pink’s imagination that are either meant to symbolize things (i.e. the black eagle in “Goodbye Blue Sky” being the Nazis who did aerial bombings on England), purposefully one-dimensional caricatures of real people in Pink’s life who’ve damaged him (his overprotective mother, his cheating wife, the abusive schoolmaster), or sometimes even how he sees himself in that moment (the mostly inanimate doll and possibly Judge Worm). They aren’t the main focus of the film or album because the focus is Pink and his internal struggles. (I was gonna say “That’d be like saying that Tamatoa should’ve been the main character of Moana when the film is about Moana”, but... no, that would still make more sense because at least Tamatoa is an actual character in that film and not a figment of someone’s imagination, despite what some grimdark edgelord fan theories say.)

Anyway, it fades to... some sort of alternate universe or dimension or something? Whatever, Doug’s now in this world of weirdos who sing about what they think of the film? I guess? This is a “parody” of “The Trial”, the climax of the film where Pink mentally, well, puts himself on trial for “showing feelings” and culminates in him making himself “tear down the wall”, allowing himself to feel and move on from his trauma. On the one hand I get the most basic line of logic for this “parody” (“The Trial had weird animated creatures, so therefore this parody of it should have weird animated creatures”), but this looks and feels so out of place here. I mean, if these creatures were in a video about Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland movies I wouldn’t bat an eye at it, but for a video about The Wall it feels so wrong. It gets worse when you know that the animated characters in The Trial all have connections to Pink whereas these characters are from a completely different creator with no ties to Doug Walker at all (or even Corey Taylor, who, you know, is supposed to be standing in for Pink). It’s not like Doug doesn’t have characters of his own or that they couldn’t fill in the spaces of the people in The Trial if he wanted to (Chester A. Bum, Devil Boner, Hyper Fangirl, The Devil, Charts Guy, Bill, etc.), so the lack of using them for this and instead using characters from something completely unrelated to his show made by someone completely unrelated to his crew makes it feel impersonal, which is the exact opposite of what The Trial did. It needs to be personal in order for it to have the proper impact on Pink (or whoever’s standing in for him in this case), so removing that element from it takes away a lot of the punch.

I don’t want to be too harsh on this sequence because I know a lot of people have given Fennah guff over it (and supposedly they didn’t take the backlash regarding their part in it very well), but even with how out-of-place it is I have to admit the animation isn’t too bad, especially given that this was all done in about two and a half weeks. Oh yeah, according to Fennah, Doug Walker only gave them about two and a half weeks to do all this animation, which is half of what it normally takes for him to make something like this. What the fuck, Doug? You claim that you worked on this “review” for at least two months (not that it shows) and you only gave Fennah two and a half weeks to animate their parts? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised given how much you overworked your former associates on the set of To Boldly Flee, but I guess you really didn’t learn anything from that. I mean, the least you could’ve done was try to react a little more to all these weird creatures and places you found yourself in for no reason, yet your acting is somehow worse than the performances in other animation-live action hybrid movies you’ve criticized in the past.

But enough of all that, let’s look at the lyrics for this parody of one of my favorite parts from both the album and film. Because fuck me, we’re almost done.

[Lyrics (and snark) below the cut]

[Note: I don’t know anything about Fennah, their webshow Satellite City, or anything else they do; the only character name I know is Lucy’s, so the rest of these are gonna be very crappy physical descriptions. Apologies in advance for that.]

Someone vaguely like Lucy I guess but way bigger and with horns: Right then, Lucy Lacemaker, The court will take a vote On if the film that plays before us Can in any way show some feelings, Ruddy feelings of an almost canny nature From joys to blues

[Lady, if you and these other characters wanted to do a comprehensive analysis of The Wall, then you should’ve done it way sooner and not in the last seven to eight minutes of someone else’s video, let alone the video of someone who doesn’t even really analyze it themselves.]

Five-armed scarecrow motherfucker: I always said I like a well-made ditty

[Well you’re not going to be hearing any of that in this video, dude. Edit: So I thought this said “I always said I like to wear me titty”, which of course makes no sense, but according to another video, these are the actual words. It makes more sense, but that’s still what I hear whenever I stumble upon a video talking about this.]

I will not suffer shitty Fools that bring forth Naught but pity For their lack of wit and wild

[Jesus christ, is this yet another jab at Roger Waters?! I got enough of that from Doug Walker beating it into everyone’s skulls for the last half-hour, I don’t need to hear it from whoever the hell this is too.]

But here we rather find The result of heart and artist I say the music here is joyous!

[At this point I can’t even tell if this is supposed to be a genuine compliment or a backhanded one.]

But with that, we have to say

Black, spiky, horned demon goat thing: Lazy Left in the attic We’re not crazy Constantly dreaming I just wish they’d give us some more time to live

[How is the film not being about you “lazy”? Are you even talking about this film specifically, or just movies with underused cool-looking creatures in general? Also, this seems pretty ironic given that each of these characters (with the exception of Lucy) only get maybe a few seconds of screentime in this “review”.]

Horned kangaroo lizard titty monster with no pants: Lazy, Constantly (???) as being lazy

[This is the one most everyone points to when they talk about the lyrics being unintelligible, and I don’t blame them because I’ve seen this part multiple times and still can’t fully figure out what she’s saying. Also, I’m sorry Fennah, but somebody’s gotta say it: the lip-syncing here is awkward at best.]

Multi-horned Christmas goat motherfucker: Those little shits They’ve done it now We all deserve personalities They could’ve used us Far more often than they did, But no! They had to go their own way

[Again, this film’s not about the weird creatures for a reason: they’re not the focus because they aren’t real in the context of the film and the focus is Pink and his personal struggles. If you want animated characters with creative designs that have more screentime and development, then I have no clue what made you think you’d get it from this film out of all the other animated media out there. Not every animation-live action hybrid movie is trying to be Who Framed Roger Rabbit (especially not this one since it came out years before Roger Rabbit did).]

We’re bored of Alice! We want the Hatter

[Okay, credit where it’s due, I like this tiny bit here by itself. I definitely don’t think it works as a “criticism” of The Wall, but it’s decently creative in a way.]

Just five minutes more, your honor, Them and us alone

Blue Skyrim-looking dragon: Wait! This film’s not bound by characters It’s a visual affair It never aimed to tell a story

[Were you watching the same film that everyone else was, or are you somehow confusing it with the “review” you’re currently in? The film does have characters and does tell a story, and I think it does a pretty decent job at it (even better than the album I’d argue), unlike this “review” which tries to have a narrative but becomes less and less cohesive as it drags on.]

Rather sprawling canvas of Emotion visual splendor And your honor, we can take that home

[Take what home? I don’t even know what your argument is supposed to be here. This just sounds like word salad at this point.]

Tall Sean Connery-sounding werewolf in a striped robe: Maybe There’s more to the picture Just maybe Both sides of the wall

[...Nobody in this “review” actually knows what “The Wall” that the film and album are talking about is supposed to be, do they?]

Sean Connery-sounding werewolf and white lizard thing: There’s a difference between nonsense, after all That and Creation

Mutated cow monster thing on a moon surrounded by jellyfish: Genius and nonsense And creation

[Okay, again, credit where it’s due: the lip-sync for this thing is awkward, but this is the only person or thing in this “review” with a genuinely pleasant and clear singing voice. Shame that she only gets two or three short lines, one of which she has with the previous duo.]

Lucy Lacemaker: The evidence before the court is Incontrovertible There’s no need for the jury to retire In all my years of judging, I have never seen before

[With the exception of one word in that last part, Lucy’s whole bit here is completely lifted from the original. Some of these were already cutting it close to the original’s, but this is just straight up copying it. I don’t know who wrote this part of the “review” (I’ve gotten conflicting information on whether it was Doug or Fennah who wrote this particular parody), but whoever it was, you’ve got some nerve to have characters call the film “lazy” only to later turn around and do this.]

A film so deserving Of both love and wanting more The way it makes you tougher, Makes you think and feel but suffer, Fills me with the urge to decapitate

[Go on, Lucy! Off with his head! Edit: I guess here’s as good a point as any to point out that, at least according to TV Tropes, Lucy is a lesbian who likes to murder people, so apparently that’s supposed to be funny. ...Yeah, no, it’s not. Fuck you, TV Tropes.]

I believe this film is packed

[I’m being generous in assuming she said “packed” at least, because it sound like she’s saying “hacked” but that doesn’t really make sense. Then again this whole bit in this “review” doesn’t really make sense when it comes down to it.]

With much to be revered But the marvelous creatures Should be adored As opposed to being feared

[...You mean you want people to love the animated creatures based on literal abusers and Nazis?]

Tear down the wall!

[What wall?! In the context of this “review” there is no wall! Even if the context here is that there’s a “wall” between nightmarish fantasy and reality, then Lucy and/or Fennah already broke it offscreen before this whole number started. Or are you talking about the film/album The Wall? If that’s the case, then why are you demanding that Doug Walker tear it down when he was already doing that long before you showed up? What did Doug have to do with any of this? What the hell happened to Corey Taylor during all this?! Why did I waste so much time writing all this down?! Why did I do this to myself?! WHY?!]

#Blapis tears down NC's The Wall #long post #bold text warning #capslock warning #very long post #Nazi mention // #abuse mention // #yes I did just somewhat compare Tamatoa to the animated creatures in Pink Floyd's The Wall; the fuck are you gonna do about it

[acutest-angle]

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68,69&70

so i reblogged this post and i foolishly thought to myself nobody is gonna send me in all of them there are in fact 170 and thats simply just too many

Boy was I Wrong

ALRIGHT SO PART 1 (1-70)

1: How tall or short do you wish you were?

I wish i was about 5′5″ or 5′6″

2: What’s your dream pet? (Real or not)

You know what i freakin love birds and ferrets but tbh i think that cats are the bestest

3: Do you have a favorite clothing style?

cute comfort ig??? like shorts (or ripped jeans if its too cold for shorts) and a hoodie with converse or keds

4: What was your favorite video game growing up?

when i was little it was we heart katamari and the 2 person game cookies and cream (both on ps2) and then when i was in middle school it was skyrim (which it still is to this day 

5: What three things/people do you think of most each day:

1. my wonderful and lovely roommate cuz i see her everyday; 2. my cat because GOD I LOVE THAT ONE; 3. my husband because i text him daily and he gets mad when i wear his clothes (@ oobmoobx if you dont want me to wear ur clothes fucking take them home asshat)

6: If you had a warning label, what would yours say?

unable to hold a good conversation without making it all about herself and needs constant reassurance that she isnt annoying and that you dont hate her. befriend at your own risk.

7: What is your opinion on [insert person/thing here]?

You didn’t insert a thing so imma say my opinion on this: while i love it, i hate it a lot

8: What is your Greek personality type? [Sanguine, Phlegmatic, Choleric, or Melancholic]

Choleric

9: Are you ticklish?

YOULL NEVER KNOW

10: Are you allergic to anything?

lol yea but itll make me sound like a trendy bitch to tell u what

11: What’s your sexuality?

giggity gay boys

12: Do you prefer tea, coffee, or cocoa?

im a tea kinda gal

13: Are you a cat or dog person?

cat person omg

14: Would you rather be a vampire, elf, or merperson?

oh this is such a good question. personally i would want to be an elf because i think they have amazing amount of magic and are able to get into the fae realm and i think that would be really neat.

15: Do you have a favorite Youtuber?

currently? not really. i watch several various youtubers and just random videos too. it used to be rt/ah/fh but i dont really watch them anymore

16: How tall are you?

5′8″ish

17: If you had to change your name, what would you change it to?

i actually quite like my name a lot. but if i was forced to change it like at gun point or for witness protection or something i would choose either Piper or Elise

18: How much do you weigh? [Only ask this if you know the user doesn’t mind!]

i think like 180 or 185 (lmaoooo)

19: Do you believe in ghosts/spirits?

no not really (its funny cuz im actually watching buzzfeed unsolved rn)

20: Do you like space or the ocean more?

they are both such vast unexplored masses that we know so little about. in our oceans lay so many interesting earthly creatures and untouched crannies. in space lay quite possibly the most interesting combinations of and matter and the edge of our universe is out there too. 

ok final answer: space

21: Are you religious?

nope

22: Pet peeves?

so ik i have like 1 or 2 but i like to think of myself as a rather chill person (v opinionated but chill) so idk off the top of my head

23: Would you rather be nocturnal or diurnal [opposite of nocturnal]?

diurnal because i would miss the sun

24: Favorite constellation?

idk i can always find the big dipper tho

25: Favorite star?

the sun (hehe)

26: Do you like ball-jointed dolls?

what the SHIT is a ball-jointed doll

27: Any phobias or fears?

arachnids (spiders, ticks, and mites)

28: Do you think global warming is real?

fuck yes i do and boy golly gee wiz am i excited that the world is gonna end in my life time

29: Do you believe in reincarnation?

im not entirely sure what i believe so lets just say that i dont NOT believe in it

30: Favorite movie?

Rent

31: Do you get scared easily?

no not really im PRETTY TOUGH

32: How many pets have you own in your lifetime?

oh jesus ok lets go through them shall we

cats: firework (dead), chauncy (dead), purrkins (living with my parents), fucking i forgot this ones name (dead), burg (dead), fred (living within my parents), whiskers (dead we think), ruby (shes my baby uwu)

dogs: this one that we had to give away when i was like 3 (idk), carly (also idk), sally (who knows), goofy (living with my parents), dede (dead), daisy (dead), lucie (she works on a ACTUAL REAL [SHE IS ALIVE] bull farm now because we didn’t have the outside space for her to thrive)

Others: 3 hermit crabs (all dead), two rats (briefly housed to be used in a laboratory before they were given to the university i miss them dearly)

Grand Total: 20ish

33: Blog rate? [You’ll rate the blog of the one who’s asking.]

all anons are fantastic (but i feel like this is possibly @dibidibidismol​ ?? whos blog is 12/10)

34: What is a color that calms you?

grey

35: Where would you like to travel and/or live?

i would like to travel to every country tbh like i wanna have a story from every country

i would love to live and practice in spain or south america (haha but i dont know fluent spanish) and if i cannot then like the pacific northwest or australia (god can we all just a moment to think about how much WORK it is to work as an MD in a country other than that which you obtained your degree oof) 

36: Where were you born?

Kansas City, MO

37: What is your eye color?

Blue Babey

38: Introvert or extrovert?

ambivert

39: Do you believe in horoscopes and zodiacs?

i think theyre fun and quirky but not like Real

40: Hugs or kisses?

depends on whos giving them ;)

41: Who is someone you would like to see/visit right now?

kai :( @studiomayaz come hooooome :(((((

42: Who is someone you love deeply?

my mom, oobmoobx, and kai (come home) :((((

43: Any piercings you want?

i think piercings would be neat but i dont wear piercings soooooo

44: Do you like tattoos and piercings?

oh bro i love them so much

45: Do you smoke or have you ever done so?

tobacco: no

46: Talk about your crush, if you have one!

aint got one (at least not that i have admitted to myself that is)

47: What is a sound you really hate?

the sound of a pressure cooker depressurizing

48: A sound you really love?

an upright bass

49: Can you do a backflip?

yeah if i wanted to break my neck, killing me immediately

50: Can you do the splits?

bruh like almost

51: Favorite actor and/or actress?

Liv Hewson

52: Favorite movie?

isnt this quite literally questions 30

ok to keep it consistent: Rent

53: How are you feeling right now?

Stressed to no end :DD

but also like p chill actually

54: What color would you like your hair to be right now?

its actually purple in this moment but i kinda wanna bleach it silver

55: When did you feel happiest?

when im hanging out chillin with the giggity gang

56: Something that calms you down?

music and meditation

57: Have any mental disorders? [Only ask this if you know the user doesn’t mind!]

ADHD and terminal dumb bitch syndrome

58: What does your URL mean?

im means im the cutest fucking angle u ever saw

59: What three words describe you the most?

dumb, gay, dedicated

60: Do you believe in evolution?

As A Doctor I Sure Hope Fucking So

61: What makes you unfollow a blog?

if i like dont recognize them

62: What makes you follow a blog?

if i like what they post

63: Favorite kind of person:

genuine and also infected with terminal dumb bitch syndrome

64: Favorite animal(s):

FERRETS AND BIRDS

65: Name three of your favorite blogs.

@studiomayaz @if-i-had-a-castle and @thatnormalcrazygirl

however i have many many beloved mutuals these are just three people that i talk to on the reg

66: Favorite emoticon:

🤷‍♀️

67: Favorite meme:

bruh idk homie i love them all

68: What is your MBTI personality type?

ENFP

69: What is your star sign?

Aquarius

70: Can your dog roll over on command, if you have a dog?

lol no

#life of an angle

[murfeelee]

Video Games Pt3: Video Game Challenge

I saw this list on Pinterest out of nowhere, and what better way to ring in the new year than with another questionnaire, about my favorite pastime! This is the spiritual successor to Part 1 and Part 2.

Day 1 - Very first video game: Pacman and/or Mortal Kombat and/or Samurai Shodown on arcade machines (way back in the day when laundromats had arcade machines and gumball machines and such in them--good times, good times U_U); Tetris on computers; and a buttload of PS1 titles (again: back in the good ole days when consoles came with promo demo discs--I had Frogger, Need for Speed, Medieval, and a bunch of others).

Day 2 - Your favorite character: Here’s my Top 10 Males post and Top 10 Females post.

Day 3 - A game that is underrated: I will preach the greatness of PS1′s Legend of Dragoon till my dying day. It was doomed to dwell in Final Fantasy 7′s shadow, which came out earlier that same year, and it’s a real shame, cuz LoD was E V E R Y T H I N G.

My favorite aspects of the game are:

Its lore and worldbuilding. On top of the fact that the premise of the game is could be an anime series in its own right, you just get SO EXCITED to visit each new location, and uncover more about the world’s history, and see the different architecture, technologies, cultures and different races (I LOVE the Winglies, of course). It’s actually a gorgeous game for its time.

The combat -- I STILL have some of the Addition patterns memorized to this very day! They get progressively harder as you level up, but once you get used to the timing you feel so dang good. Die, More and More!

The soundtrack and cutscenes. The NOSTALGIA? O_O Bruh. The story is just really good, and was the very first video game to make me cry when certain...events...happened. Play the game and find out for yourself!

Day 4 - Your guilty pleasure game: The Sims, Dragon Age...any and all EA games. Effing ashamed of myself every time I give that nest of corporate demons at Electronic Farts money. “Surprise mechanics” my arse. 

Day 5 - Game character you feel you are most like (or wish you were): Has Jar Jar Binks been in a video game yet? Then that’s me. XD But I wish I was most like Lara Croft, as explained in my Top 10 Females post.

Day 6 - Most annoying character: For females it’s Lightning from Final Fantasy 13, and for males it’s Vaan, from Final Fantasy 12. I don’t mind as much when supporting characters are effing annoying (Vanille, Hope, etc), but when it’s the MAIN protagonist?! WHY, Square Enix? WHY.

Lightning was just a negative nancy debbie downer. I wish they had swapped Serah and Lightning, I seriously do. I just couldn’t stand her dry and soulless personality. She wasn’t being edgy or bada** or cool or sexy or FANG or anything; she was just a bitter jaded unhappy wench.

And with Vaan I just effing hate that dude. Why was he even there? They tried so hard to make this pushy entitled kid relevant, but I was like no, the story could’ve easily been told without him, and I wish it had been; he’s a effing idiot.

Day 7 - Favorite game couple: Yuna and Tidus from FFX (hardest I ever cried playing a video game -- THE FEELS I TELL YOU).

Day 8 - Best soundtrack: I used to think it was Skyrim, but nope, it’s Witcher 1, 2 and 3. Just listen to ALL of the songs CDPR ever produced for the entire franchise, including all the unreleased tracks, and enjoy the eargasm.

Day 9 - Saddest game scene: Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice had me legit depressed for a good week. Get your tissues and holy water ready; it’s seriously effed up. The entire game is the saddest I ever played, jfc.

Day 10 - Best gameplay: Witcher 3, duh. Main quests, side quests, combat, dialogue, plot, graphics, worldbuilding, creatures, bosses, soundtrack, characters, Gwent, NEED I GO ON.

Day 11 - Gaming system of choice: Playstation for life. But the Nintendo Switch is effing brilliant, ngl; once they put Skyrim & The Witcher on it I was like SOLD.

Day 12 - A game everyone should play: At least ONE Final Fantasy game. There’s 15+, and Dissidia and Kingdom Hearts. It’s not just a game, it’s an experience.

As much as I rag on FF13 and FF15, they’re still admittedly LEAGUES better than a lot of other crap out there. I just happen to feel that Square Enix is out of its frikkin mind lately, and tbh I’ve been rapidly losing my hype for the FF7 Remake. I was never much of a FF7 fan to begin with, aside from being a rabid Sephiroth fangirl and watching Advent Children a billion times. But Square’s gotta be drunk as a skunk if they think I’m paying all that money for god knows how many of these effing “episodes” they’re gonna piecemeal us to dangit death with. HAYUL no. I’d rather not get too attached.

Day 13 - A game you’ve played more than five times:

Day 14 - Current (or most recent) gaming wallpaper: Huh?

Day 15 - What game are you playing right now: Speak of the devil, I’m replaying God of War for the zillionth time already.

Day 16 - Game with the best cut scenes: In terms of graphics and story impact IMO might be Red Dead Redemption 2. That game was frikkin gorgeous, and the story was SO DANG GOOD. Braithwaite Manor!? O_O

Day 17 - Favorite antagonist: For females it’s either Edea from FF8, or Yunalesca from FFX. For dudes it’s Sephiroth, from FF7. That man needs some serious counseling.

Day 18 - Favorite protagonist: Yuna from FFX for the ladies, and TW3′s Geralt of Rivia for the dudes. 

Day 19 - A game world you would like to live in: The more Middle Eastern-inspired scifi/steampunki-medievalesque world of Ivalice from FF12, or the medieval French/Swiss Toussaint from The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine.

Day 20 - Favorite genre: RPGs and JRPGs, and pretty much action-adventure games with swords and sorcery.

Day 21 - Game with the best story: Red Dead Redemption, which is a good thing and a bad thing. A lot of the time I felt I was watching a movie, rather than playing a game. But it was still an Oscar worthy movie. XD

Day 22 - A game sequel which disappointed you: Technically it hasn’t come out yet, but from what we’ve seen of the Nioh 2 beta release, omfg what’s going on? U_U Now, don’t get me wrong! Nioh 2 looks AMAZING. But....that’s cuz it looks exactly like Nioh 1, just with new yokai gameplay thrown in. o_O Uh...is this a DLC expansion pack or what? Cuz it sure ain't lookin like a full-fledged sequel! :P Dare I call it an asset flip. Come on, don’t do this; do MORE. Unless this is actually an expansion you’ll sell for half the price. ;)

Day 23 - Game you think had the best graphics or art style: For graphics it’s RDR2, but for most unique art style it’s always been Okami for me. <3

Day 24 - Favorite classic game: Spyro the Dragon. Their reboot for PS4 was AMAZING.

Day 25 - A game you plan on playing: Cyberpunk 2077. I’m so bummed, knowing the game’s been delayed to September 2020 instead of April, but oh well. As long as CDPR gives us that master-class level of Polish we all know and love from The Witcher 3, then take as much time as you need, I guess. At least they’re not like effing EA or Bethesda. XD

Day 26 - Best voice acting: BOY. Freaking iconic, Kratos. :P

Day 27 - Most epic scene ever: Ciri beating the absolute tastebuds outta Caranthir in TW3, not once but twice. Most OP Witcher EVER, girl; WERK.

Day 28 - Favorite game developer: Though I effing hate them, I’m still a Square Enix fangirl at heart. It’s just saddening to see this weird turn they’ve been making recently, with garbage like the Quiet Man, and especially with Final Fantasy, my favorite game series of all time. U_U I’m not looking forward to the FF7 Remake anymore, tbh. I just hope FF16 is more of a return to form.

Day 29 - A game you thought you wouldn't like, but ended up loving: Skyrim. I was never a big fan of Elder Scrolls games, and when Skyrim came out I was very meh at first. But then the mods started coming out for it and I was like wow. O_O

Day 30 - Your Favorite game of all time: Legend of Dragoon on PS1, Final Fantasy X on PS2, Skyrim on PS3/PC, The Witcher 3 on PS4, and The Sims on PC.

________________________________________________

Thanks for reading!

#video games #questionnaire #EA you suck #Electronic Arts #more like electronic farts

[deputy-sarah-sux]

can i be a psycho and your worst nightmare by asking ALL the writers asks?

You are a demon omg. I love it though this was so much fun to do.Since you didn’t specify fic specifically for some of these questions I’m just gonna write about The Devil Has Come for all of the “in xxx fic” asks.

Answers are below since this is such a long ask :):):)

1) How old were you when you first starting writing fanfiction? 12/13 it was between 7th and 8th grade and it was all anime fanfiction

2) What fandoms do you write for and do you have a particular favourite if you write for more than one?Far Cry 5, RDR2, Assassin’s Creed, DC, Marvel, Fallout, Skyrim, Preacher. Far Cry 5 is definitely my favorite to write for though

3) Do you prefer writing OC’s or reader inserts? Explain your answer.Personally, I prefer OC’s, with OC’s I can build their character, give them a personality and growth. I like shaping the character as the world changes based on their actions

4) What is your favourite genre to write for?Action or romance unless I totally misread that question

5) If you had to choose a favourite out of all of your multi-chaptered stories, which would it be and why?The Devil Has Come!!! It was my first in the Far Cry fandom and it’s my baby. I love all the characters and the world that I’m building. It’s got action, romance, some twists, it’s exciting

6) If you had to delete one of your stories and never speak of it again, which would it be and why?If we’re talking things that I’m currently writing and enjoy writing then I guess Bridges only because it’s the same characters as TDHC just in an AU form so I’d survive without it.

7) When is your preferred time to write?Night, 10pm on basically.

8) Where do you take your inspiration from?Everywhere really? TV shows, movies, video games, other fics

9) In your xxx fic, what’s your favourite scene that you wrote?So far my favorite scene that I wrote in TDHC that has been published was either the confrontation with Rook in Chapter 11 or Jacob finding Sarah in the hotel in Chapter 8. They were both really fun to write.

10) In your xxx fic, why did you decide to end it like that? Did you have an alternate ending in mind?Well it hasn’t been ended yet, but there were two possible endings that I was originally considering. I’m not saying much more other than the ending that I went with is gonna hurt me when I eventually get to it.

11) Have you ever amended a story due to criticisms you’ve received after posting it?Not after posting but I have amended stories due to criticisms. If I’m a bit worried about a particular scene I’ll share the doc with my best lady @farcryfuckmeup and get her opinion. She usually points out things that aren’t great and I go from there. She’s the closet thing to a beta reader that I have.

12) Who is your favourite character to write for? Why?Sarah!!! She’s my best girl and I love her personality and attitude. In terms of canon characters though I’ve been writing some stuff from Arthur Morgan’s pov and that’s been really fun too. I really love playing around with his sense of self and morality.

13) Who is your least favourite character to write for? Why?I don’t have one yet? We’ll see how the future plays out there. It might be Ethan Seed but I’ve never written stuff for him so I’m not 100% sure.

14) How did you come up with the title for the xxx? - You can ask about multiple stories.Almost every fic name is from a song. The Devil Has Come is from Blues Saraceno’s “The River”, Icarus is from Bastille’s “Icarus”, and I’m not sure where Bridges is from but I’m 90% sure it was a song. The series that TDHC and it’s connected stories are a part of is called Bottom of the River from Delta Rae’s “Bottom of the River”.

15) If you write OC’s, how do you decide on their names?I use name generators for modern characters or look up names with a specific meaning. If the character is from the past (ie cowboy times or pirate times) I look up names popular in that century. Sarah’s name I got by looking up popular names with religious meanings and Sarah was on the list.

16) How did you come up with the idea for xxx?I came up with the idea for TDHC by playing co-op with @farcryfuckmeup. It was originally supposed to be a crackfic based on the dumbshit we did in-game. Then in my desperation to pretend that the game didn’t end the way it ends I started coming up with ways it could have gone differently and thus my fic was born.

17) Post a line from a WIP that you’re working on.I have so many wips! I’ll do a few because I’m in a sharing mood.Fallout 4 WIP: “‘You don’t even use power armor, why did you steal so many?’”RDR2 WIP: “Valentine was a crap town with crap people and even crappier whiskey. It was tiny and smelled like mud and horse shit and something else that she was pretty sure was vomit.”Another RDR2 WIP: “Trouble was the bastard was clingy apparently as he was hot on Arthur’s heel.”

18) Do you have any abandoned WIP’s? What made you abandon them?Yes, a few. I got bored or I decided to focus on other things. I do intend to one day finish them but who knows

19) Are there any stories that you’ve written that you’d really love to do a sequel to?The Devil Has Come!!! I can’t wait to write a sequel and I haven’t even finished the current fic.

20) Are there any stories that you wished you’d ended differently?Sometimes I wish I’d written a follow up to my judge fic Joseph and his Judge. I’m not totally sure if I like how it ended.

21) Tell me about another writer(s) who you admire? What is it about them that you admire?@farcryfuckmeup first and foremost, she’s amazing. I also love gwennolmarie and OutlandishWhalesharks on Archive of Our Own.

22) Do you have a story that you look back on and cringe when you reread it?My anime fics from middle school. It’s still posted and I won’t tell you what it’s called but every time I remember it a little part of me dies.

23) Do you prefer listening to music when you’re writing or do you need silence?Music mostly but it sometimes depends on the scene. For certain scenes I need silence but for the most part it’s music music music. I have playlists for all sorts of scene types.

24) How do you feel about writing smutty scenes?I love it, idk if I’m any good at it but I do like writing them.

25) Have you ever cried whilst writing a story?Yes, I’ve been writing some future parts of TDHC and I have cried a bit writing some of it.

26) Which part of your xxx fic was the hardest to write?The smut scene in Chapter 10 of TDHC, it was the first smut scene I’d ever published so I was really worried about that and kept rewriting it.

27) Do you make a general outline for your stories or do you just go with the flow?Bit of both I guess. There is a vague outline in my head but only for like the big events, everything in between is go with the flow shit.

28) What is something you wished you’d known before you started posting fanfiction?It’s not going to be an instant hit. When I first started posting works back in the day I was always so upset when I’d check the next day and see only like 12 people had read it.

29) Do you have a story that you feel doesn’t get as much love as you’d like?Icarus :(   It’s only a baby fic and it’s in a mostly dead fandom but I love it.

30) In contrast to 29 is there a story which gets lots of love which you kinda eye roll at?No, I love all the attention my fics get.

31) Send me a fic recommendation and I’ll post it for my followers to see! (The asker is to send the rec not the answerer)I’m gonna recommend one myself. Since this is a Far Cry blog I’ll recommend a Far Cry fic: come a little closer by lowtides on AO3Also here’s a Fallout 4 fic that isn’t finished but I absolutely love: RAIDERHEAD by TaraTargaryen

32) Are any of your characters based on real people?No real people no. Thomas is a combination of a few fictional characters though.

33) What’s the biggest compliment you’ve gotten?I’ve gotten a few comments of analysis on chapters I’ve posted and honestly I love that so much. Nothing warms my heart more than seeing that someone not only read my fic but sat there and actually thought a lot about it.

34) What’s the harshest criticism you’ve gotten?Like I said before I haven’t gotten a lot of criticism, but I guess the harshest for me was when I was discussing a character that I had really started to like and my friend (who I was ranting at about him) asked me to honestly think about what he brings to the table. Like is he actually necessary or just a throwaway character that won’t bring much to the story? I ended up scrapping him and putting a nameless character in his place to fill a few of his scenes.

35) Do you share your story ideas with anyone else or do you keep them close to your chest?I share them with one (1) person and that person is my irl best friend @farcryfuckmeup. Everyone else has to wait until I post stuff I don’t want to spoil any big surprises.

36) Can you give us a spoiler for one of your WIP’s?It’s a chapter very far in the future for a fic I’m sure you can guess but I won’t outright say.“Against his better judgment, he reached out and grabbed the hysteric woman, tightening his grip against her struggling and pulling her into his lap. He wrapped her in a tight hug until she finally began to calm down, humming softly and running his fingers through blood-soaked hair.“

37) What’s the funniest story you’ve written?I haven’t written a lot of funny stuff. I mostly do angsty. But when I was in middle school a wrote a novel where I spent two paragraphs talking about my MC’s hair color and current outfit and I cackle every time I read it. 70 pages or pure cringe, it’s hilarious.

38) If you could collab with any other writer on here, who would it be? (Perhaps this question will inspire some collabs!) If you’re shy, don’t tag the blog, just name it.@farcryfuckmeup hmu bitch!also you @onl-you

39) Do you prefer first, second or third person?Third, every now and then I write in first but idk I just don’t like it much.

40) Do people know you write fanfiction?My close friends do

41) What’s you favourite minor character you’ve written?Thomas Moore, he’s a lot of fun to write for.

42) Song fic - What made you decide to use the song xxx for xxx.I don’t actually have any song fics in the traditional sense. I do however have some fics inspired by songs. I listen to music almost constantly, sometimes a song comes on that gives my fic vibes and I add it to my prompt playlist.

43) Has anyone ever guessed the plot twist of one of your fics before you posted it?@/farcryfuckmeup has but I don’t try too hard to keep secrets when she’s around

44) What is the last line you wrote?“John rolled his eyes and finished unbuttoning his shirt.”

45) What spurs you on during the writing process?This is cliche probably but the readers. I don’t want to leave someone waiting around for the next update forever. I also want to see how things play out myself so my own desire to see the finished product also helps.

46) I really loved your xxx fic. If you were ever to do a sequel, what do you think might happen in it?Again, going with TDHC for this. I am writing a sequel currently (I know it’s not done). It’s going to focus on a different character but Sarah will make appearances. I’m also working on a standalone sequel for her but that won’t be posted until the first sequel fic is complete.

47) Here’s a fic title - insert a made-up title. What would this story be about?I used a title generator: Hidden Midnight. It’s about a pair of idiots in love, one is a vampire so they can only meet at night and it’s very secretive. The human dies at the end.

48) What’s your favourite trope to write?Forced partnerships. I love it when two characters are forced into a partnership. One of them can’t fucking stand the other but slowly grows to like/love them in secret. If the chill one is in danger the annoyed one freaks the fuck out and does everything they can to get to their partner and afterwards claims they couldn’t care less what happened.

49) Can you remember the first fic you read? What was it about?I don’t remember the name of it but I’m pretty sure it was a Supernatural fic. I think it was Destiel (don’t just middle school me) and a high school AU. I’m not 100% sure. It was either that or a Fairy Tail fic and I like to forget my anime days.

50) If you could write only angst, fluff or smut for the rest of your writing life, which would it be and why?Angst. I love fluff and smut but in the end, I always go back to angst. It’s so much fun and there are so many ways to do it.

#ask

[wolgrahas]

tagged by: @falkreathh thank you!!  sorry for doing this so much later u_u’ tagging: whoever wants to!! (◡‿◡✿) 1. favourite game in the series ok... i don’t know if you already figured it out but my total fave is dao. why? maybe is the nostalgic feelings this game gives me or... i played it so many mcfucking times that i just get this hollow feeling inside my chest when i haven’t played it for weeks... idk. the trespasser dlc was spectacular too and gave my lavellan a lot of personality (what i thought the dai base game lacked, bc it made me feel like my inquisitor was an empty shell with no personality, solas’ romance save the dai base game to me tbqh). but... you can create such complex personalities in dao for your warden, and the relationships are so so realistic. i think (dao) is neat lmao. 

2. how did you discover dragon age? before being a dragon age fan i was a dark souls fan; i breath dark souls, i read dark souls, i ate dark souls, i was quite obsessed with dark souls, and before dark souls i was an obsessed skyrim fan (oNLY SKYRIM, not the previous games ashdgjasdgh) and with skyrim that was the first time i made video game oc's, like... they had such complex personalities and i cannot make complex character now... aNYWAY i'm getting carried away: i knew dragon age bc dai was being lunched and ALL the people i followed reblogged stuff about dai, and then i bought dao and loved it!! 

3. how many times have you played the games? hfgsdjfhsjfshd fffUCKKKK SHITT... alright... many mANY TIMES, but how many times i haven't finished my game?? countless times!! i think i finished fINISHED dao maybe... pls don't laugh at me... 10+ times. yes they are so so so many times, shame on me! shame on my cow! blah blah, but i lOVE dao. da2 maybe.... 3-4 times? and dai 6 times?? it's funny bc i played dao and da2 in many different ways but dai... m8, always the same, fuck you solas sdhfjdshjsdf 4. favourite race to play? qUNARIIIII!!! i lOVE tieflings so.. i obviously love the qunari too, but in the dai the first race i chose was qunari but then i talked to solas and i was like... bITCHHHHH i'm gonna create an elf to romance this egg, and then... my canon inky became an elf lol. and last favourite race are humans... ok don't hate me, it's not bc they are """boring""" or shit like that, it's bc they are the upper-class of thedas and i LOVE the "from zero to hero" trope... so... yeah agfshsdfhj 5. favourite class? mages!! bc i love the lore behind this class, it's fantastic, precisely blood magic. but if i didn't care about this, i would choose archer, tho in the first games it sucked but in dai is pretty cool :^) 6. do you play through the games differently or do you make the same decisions each time? as i've said before i have made many different decisions in dao and da2 but in dai are always the same lol 7. go-to adventuring group? origins: alistair/sten, morrigan, zev/leliana da2: aveline, anders, isabela/varric dai: solas, cassandra, cole/sera 8. which of your characters did you put the most thought into? i think prim/anika??(they're the same but one is a human and the other an elf lmaoo), she was my first da oc, and obviously the one i put most thought into bc i uSED to have a lot of creativity some years ago, what a pity my brain is useless now lmao 9. favourite romance? pfffff... solas, alistair, leli and cass!! i think?? idk i gotta play again dai bc i'm not sure :/ 10. have you read any of the comics/books? i've read aLL the books but not the comics :/, i want to read the comics but idk where i could read them online and free (sorry i'm poor lol), so... mi gozo en un pozo lmao 11. if you read them, which was your favourite book? my fav book was "the masked empire"!! patrick weekes is a good writer and i loved the orlesian politics, and i adored seeing these characters in dai! (tho briala was whitewashed lmao) 12. favourite DLCs? obviously: awakening and trespasser. these two dlc's were mcfUCKING AMAZING. i mean, with dao i expected the same quality of the base game, but trespasser was such an excelent and good experience, it gave a lot of insight to our inquisitors and also: sOOULASSSSS, so yep! i mainly lOVED trespasser and i hope weekes guides the team to make a game at least as good as this dlc! (tho, if ea is a greedy bintch this time [as always lol] it doesn't matter how many times the bioware time tries, ea will force them to do a shitty game :/) 13. things that annoy you how viv, anders and sera are written, i mean, i loved anders the first time i played da2 but his personality is obviously written to annoy the fuck outta you, tho i loved how he expressed his ideals freely (tho sometimes he even seemed too traidtional to me about topics like blood magic :/), but sera and viv were a lil harder to befriend and like, and i still don't like much viv, but i love her as a character, y'kno 14. orlais or ferelden? tbh, if i gotta live in one of those two places i would choose ferelden by fAR. but, now, if we're talking about which is more interesting; orlais. 15. templars or mages? like @/blckwall said: all templars are bastards :). i would love if thedas had independent magic schools, that there were no higher representatives or charges, that every village or city had its own magic school, and the crown would be the responsable of manage its needs. i haven't thought much about this so my thoughts are quite vague :/ 16. if you have multiple characters, are they in different/parallel universes or in the same one? they're from different universes, tho i'd love the idea of all of them being in the same universe, but some worlds states are incompatible with others. 17. what did you name your pets? (mabari, summoned animals, mounts, etc) in dao: barkspawn (i'm extremelly predictable, sorry u_u') 18. have you installed any mods? all my dragon age games are modded as fUCK. i mean, i think dao is the most heavy modded game i have?? (mainly bc i cannot install many mods in skyrim lol) but when i have my gaming computer again i will mod the shit out of dai >:) 19. did your warden want to become a grey warden? prim had been working in the circle her entire live to be in the higher ranks, and then she saw how all her work was lost made her really conflicted: she didn't wanted to leave bc she yearned to be more powerful and make the circle a better place for mages (yep, she's deeply anti-circle bc of her traumatic past), and she was going to die if she refused duncan's offer. even so, she was never sorry for supporting jowan. and, she became the king of ferelden's mistress; she loved him obv, but she could also take some advantage of his power to make the mages and marginalize people's situation better, and gain fortune by that; alistair was well aware about her plans by prim's words herself, but he never objected. altho the main cause prim made alistair king is bc she wanted him to have a good life and not waste it as a grey warden, so... anyway, i got acrried away... this is long af ghdjsdgf 20. hawke’s personality? red mostly, tho he used to be purple/red in the first and begining of the second act :/ 21. did you make matching armor for your companions in inquisition? yes i did!! i lOVED to be fashionable in dragon age instyle!! 22. if your character(s) could go back in time to change one thing, what would they change? prim : she would have tried to convince jowan and wait some months until she could convince him. also: sometimes she wishes she didn't make alistair king, mostly bc of her daughter (her daughter is the only heir to the throne of ferelden, and basically she doesn't even know that prim is her real mother, mostly bc anora adopted her bc alistair and she couldn't have children), sometimes, in her alone saddest times, thinks how things would have been if alistair was still a grey warden, they would have a happy family and wouldn't even had to hide inofensive stuff like a cheek kiss. but anyway, her duties as a grey warden are more important and doesn't have time to think about it. garrett hawke: he regrets not defending carver, he would have prefered to sacrifice himself instead of any of his siblings. he also regrets going to the deep roads with bethany, letting the grey wardens make her one of them (obv he doesn't know that if he didn't she would have joined the circle lmao). and obv her mother's death... if he had been there, with her mother, he could have done something... :'/ maia: she regrets not being strong enough when that shem tried to hurt her when she was a litte girl, that made her mother kill him to save her bc she was too defenseless, she should have been stronger, that caused her mother and she part ways, because now maia's mother was a criminal and she had more proabilities of getting caught, so maia should go on her way and find the next village, but she found the lavellan clan. she deeply regrets not going after her mother. she also think she was too stupid to not found out the true identity of solas and try to convince him that this world has meaning :'/ 23. do you have any headcanons about your character(s) that go against canon? mmmm... no? :/, i like my decisions to have consequences?? 24. are any of your characters based on someone? sahgdashsd pls don't make fun of me but in the first stage of prim's/anika's 'personality creation' was inspired by mother gothel, then she was inspired by...... mikasa ackerman dsfgdjsdf, i'm still inspired by that character tHO i know that shingeki no kyojin is nazi propaganda and i no longer watch that anime lmao. maia is inspired by... a mix of me and rapunzel (from tangled)?? she's basically a shy rapunzel :') 25. who did you leave in the fade? some of you will hate me bc i had to choose between hawke and stroud but i still chose hawke dsfgsdf. m8, hawke is just a 'figure' who isn't widely recognized in thedas, while the grey warden are 394789x more useful, idk i always put myself in the shoes of my characters even if their decisions hurt me (tho, tbqh, i'm not tHAT attached to hawke so this choice was easy lol) 26. favourite mount? royal sixteen!! she's so pretty!! ♡♡♡ thanks for tagging me!! ♡♡

#rami.txt #rami got tagged.txt #this was fun!!

[attract-mode-collective]

Nothing Sez “Student Game” More Than The Dinosaur Evening News (that’s a good thing, btw)

The above is Mediazoic, which takes place in an alternate reality in which dinosaurs have come back to rule the earth and they've hired you, puny human, to make sure their televised broadcasts are dino family safe.

You moderate comments left on message boards, censor full frontal dino nudity, and so on. It's a student game alright, and one of my top picks from the NYU Game Center Student Showcase2018!

I was also fond of Dreams For Your Computer because CRTs, magnets, and cats...

... Here's what it looks like in action, btw.

Though the one game that I liked the most, and which would actually fare well on the marketplace, would have to be Static...

And honorable mention goes to an updated take on Flight Simulator, which recreates a 6 hour long commercial flight as a passenger...

... The best part was the look on Stephen Totilo's face, who kinda didn't get it.

When was the NYU thing btw? Over two weeks ago, and it’s been even longer since the last update. Sorry about that. You know the deal: a million, billion things going on. As usual.

Hence why it’ll take not just one, but two bursting at the seams posts, to cover the second half of May! So onto part one…  

Please, please, PLEASE let these Game Center CX Blu-rays have an English language option (via miki800.com)...

Not a day goes by in which I don’t wonder how that guy who appears in the instruction manual for Bomberman B-Daman is doing these days (via videogameartarchive & videogameartarchive)...

I really love the “are you for real?” vibe that Samus gives off in the instructions for the original Famicom Disk System release of Metroid (via nintendometro)...

If you’ve ever wondered what a pair of bosses from Mega Man 9 & 10 would look like with 8’s 32-bit sheen, well here ya go (via mendelpalace)...

A print ad for the Famicom adaptation of Akira that wasn't all that hot (via videogameads)...

Though whenever anyone hears the words “Akira video game”, this is basically what immediately comes to mind. Anything else is a disappointment, no matter what (via aaronkraten)...

Welcome to the rabbit hole that is the Memorex VIS (via @ColinWilliamson)...

Is the soundtrack to some ultra-obscure home banking software for the Mega Drive worth a listen? You goddamn right it is (via mendelpalace)...

… The accompanying article is also totally worth a read.

It’s the Battletoads X Blue Swede mashup that you can’t believe hasn’t been done yet (via SiIvaGunner)...

Replace Link with myself & Navi with my iPhone, which I use as an alarm clock, and you have earlier this morning in a nutshell (via nintendometro)...

“So where you going?”

“Down a road. A low poly road…”

“Where you headed towards?”

“Whatever’s at the end of this street. This low poly street...”

“If you look up, what do you see?”

“Low poly buildings, under a low poly sky. Who knows, maybe there’s some low poly birds up there, behind those low poly clouds…” (via pmpkn)

From looking at low poly skies to soaring high above them, but what a difference an arcade board makes huh (via kazucrash)...

This is what Metal Max 2: ReLoaded on the DS looks like, at its normal resolution...

And this is what it looks with the resolution bumped up (via gaucheartist)...

Is this sprite of a BMX biker animated unusually well or am I just out of touch when it comes to 2600 software? Granted, it does come from a game made in 1989 (via segagenesisevangelion)…

According to the law: “NO JUMPING” (via vgadvisor)

“Hi guys.” (via beowulf-ultra)

Such a heartwarming scene (via @PicturesFoIder)...

This is what VR looked like many years ago, which is basically how it still looks today as well (via peazy86)...

It’s Yuji Horii, from way back in the day, presumably before he had created Dragon Quest (via videogamesdensetsu)...

Why yes, I have heard of the Ocelot Arcade System, by virtue of it being Quality Simon Carless content...

... BTW, “Quality content” is in reference to this. Moving on: yes, I've also heard of VecFever. It plays games that you might be familiar with, since it emulates old vector MAME titles...

Meanwhile, am only just learning that Tiger released their handhelds in Japan under the Game Vision label (via segacity)...

The Sega Dreamcast: it's thinking... about you, cuz it cares about you (via posthumanwanderings)...

"Wait… was he always there?" asks the official Sonic the Hedgehog Tumblr (via sonicthehedgehog)...

And the final nail in the coffin for this gag came courtesy of the official Sonic Tumblr as well (via sonicthehedgehog)...

"Good news everyone skyrim has been ported to the Bethesda offices carpet" 

"Who the fuck designed support pillars to obstruct a quarter of the hallway?" 

"Bethesda" (via mysteriouslypeculiar)

Yet another "it's funny cuz it's true" (via highlandvalley)...

So annoyed that I only find out about this Games Glorious shirt on the very last day of kylefewell‘s Japanese extrusion (via miki800.com)...

Not a fan of the game (don’t hate, I just don’t find it very enthralling), yet for whatever reason, I REALLY want this vintage Mappy sweatshirt (via namcomuseum)...

When video game attire looks plausible IRL (via @cvxfreak)...

Much like with regular attire, with cosplay, sometimes it’s all about the accessories (via frankiebalboa)...

Don’t think I’ve ever seen this piece of Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter art before (via segacity)...

For those who dig POC, as well those who dig VF, and also those who dig FV... that last one's Fighting Vipers, BTW (via fightersmegamix)...

It’s a crying shame that Fighting Vipers is such an unknown commodity these days (via kazucrash)...

Virtua Fighter vs Virtua Fighter… Kid (via segacity)...

It’s a crying shame that Fighters Megamix is such an unknown commodity these days (via segacity)...

So hyped for RPG Time, based solely upon the headline image used for this 10 ten list of BitSummit games (via @indiegameweb)...

Please enjoy yet another thing that I originally posted on a Saturday late at night, whatever time it might on your end right this second (via contac)...

Been a while since I’ve seen the handiwork of Joe Bleeps, largely since it’s been a while since I’ve been collecting Game Culture Snapshots; the man has certainly stepped up his game (boy mods) since way back when (via kotaku.com)...

Am also very much impressed by the Game Boy Macro, though once again, am super irritated that GBA games do not rest flush with the DS Lite’s body...

An example of function over form I guess (@gamesyouloved)...

Familiar with Line Wobbler? Ever wished you could play it on the go? Are you into demakes? For the Game Boy Advance? (via @diskmem)

Today’s corrupted GBA boot up sequence is (via corruptionasart)...

Can anyone tell what Famicom game we’re seeing that’s all glitched out? (via mendelpalace)...

My fave part of this NES 2 print ad is how, in order to truly drive the message of “EVOLVE OR BECOME EXTINCT” home, whomever felt it necessary to include a little picture of a dinosaur (via nintendometro)...

Was this an ad for the SNES? I ask because it’s considerably more sophisticated when compared to what you usually encountered in gaming rags at the time (via nintendometro)...

This ad for the GoldStar version of the 3DO, hailing from Korea, makes me so proud to be (half) Korean, you have no idea (via notablegamebox)...

This Space Invaders tribute piece is like the cover art to some 80s heavy metal record (via shmups)...

Meanwhile, the album art for the Metal Black soundtrack feels more Pink Floyd-ish than anything else (via reportal)...

As amazing as it would have been to attend a ZUNTATA concert 20 years ago, I desperately wanted to see them perform various Darius cuts live just the other week (via miki800.com)...

This cover art for a tribute album celebrating 25 years of Mega Man is still quite good, 31 years after the fact (via rnn-draws)...

My recommended reading this time is a comparison of all the various Mega Man sprites that have been, including a few that you may not be familiar with (via retrovania-vgjunk.blogspot.com)...

Apparently there was a Mega Man boss that was part arcade machine, but he only appeared in some mobile game, for f's sake Capcom (via mendelpalace)...

Guess now’s a good time to share another random game canter pic (via gogopri)...

Pathos at the game center, even among Sailor Scouts (via funnysailorm00n)...

A pride & joy of my personal collection is both the original retail Japanese release of Jet Set Radio & the available via Sega Direct only edition: De La Jet Set Radio (via videogameartarchive & videogameartarchive)...

Here's an alternate take on it’s alternate cover star (via @Drooling_Demon)…

Putting together the necessary gear to properly grind the streets of Tokyo-to (via kiroziki-cosplay)...

JSR tales place in a fictionalized, idealized interpretation of Japan, whereas this gif is a very realistic take, yup (via dehtyar)...

Meanwhile and elsewhere, somewhere in the United States of America it would seem (via behexagusthegreat)...

There's still dinner time in the future (via kirokazepixel)...

My contribution to #WorldGothDay (via it8bit)…

From dark & dreary, to warm & fuzzy, yet still black & white (via this old post from a few years back)...

Old photos of a Japanese school kid obsessing over the Famicom are somewhat dime a dozen, but the PC Engine? A very rare treat (via gamingremembrance)...

From black & white photographs of Japanese 80s kids playing consoles, to a full color animated gif of US 80s kids at the arcade (via tvneon)...

Time to wrap things up by touching upon something that kept me awfully busy over the past few: Death By Audio Arcade X Dreamhouse II. Here's a rather mysterious image that appeared on the FB event page, and which was utilized in my promotional push...

... Did it work? You’ll have to find out in my part 2 of my Attract Mode X Tumblr: May 2018 recap! Due tomorrow. Maybe.