#the mushrooms make you bounce far if you’re hit with that weapon but what is the fish going to do lmaoo

[anckinskywalker]

i love seeing what silly fused weapons the monsters in totk have. i came across a lizalfos that fused a cooked fish to a sword

#and so many bokoblins have mushrooms fused to things #the mushrooms make you bounce far if you’re hit with that weapon but what is the fish going to do lmaoo #totk

[capricornus-rex]

In the Face of Fear (3)

Cal Kestis x Reader

Requested by @stellar-trinity​

Summary: Kashyyyk has its own charms and surprises, but what if one of those said surprises rear its ugly, unpleasant head right in front of you in the form of a spider that’s the size of a boulder?

Tags: Arachnophobia, Wyyyschokk, Matriarch Wyyyschokk, Kashyyyk, Arachnophobic! Reader

Also in AO3

Chapters: Part 1 | Previous: Part 2 | Next: Part 4 | Masterlist

3 of ?

Grouped with a small band of partisans, the Jedi pair stalked through the western forest where they presumed the Shadowtroopers would be deployed.

“What good is a cloaking device if they’re just gonna stand and guard a metal building, anyway?” you teased and garnered some chuckles from your companions.

While Jedi senses are keener and more human than a scanner, having both at their disposal would prove to be an advantage. The group has gotten far into the woods now, Cal was starting to pick something up, but he described it as elusive and always on the move.

“Do you think it could be a Shadowtrooper?”

“Could be, could be not,”

Even the rebels were extra alert on today’s mission. For every rustle of grass or leaves, whenever a rock would clatter against anything, even so much as the soft crunching of a twig—they would turn to its direction with all barrels of their rifles at the ready.

Cal’s ears pricked up when he heard a distant rustling—he expected an animal sound to follow after it, but there was none—then his eyes panned left and right, searching for something or perhaps nothing at all. He had already sensed something strange, the random noise he detected just amplified it.

“Please tell me I’m not the only one sensing it, [Y/N],”

“I don’t know, I… I have a strange feeling that something’s watching us. But I don’t know if it’s the Shadowtroopers or something else,”

The redhead hummed and the entire group pressed on. The sunlight’s rays selectively pierced through the trees’ canopies; the further in all of you go, your senses immediately cranked up to eleven. By instinct, your hand pats your leg in search of your lightsaber while keeping your eyes peeled in the way forward.

Still here. You thought, feeling your palm shape up to the roundness of your weapon.

As you and your group step into the part of the forest, you finally had your senses keened when the sunlight in the forest got dimmer. You know something isn’t right anymore, Cal looked at you to affirm that he too senses it.

“Wait,” you firmly said, causing everybody to stop in their tracks. “I sense them.”

“Them? How many do you think there are?” said one partisan.

“I don’t know exactly—but there’s more than one,”

“Great,” grumbled one. “Doesn’t really narrow things down but we’ll work with it.”

The rebels and Jedi press on, but their collective senses tripled, though the latter became more cautious and more sensitive to their surroundings.

“They’re close…” you mouthed, the softness of your voice only got to Cal’s earshot.

The snap of a twig, not by the foot of any of your group, set everybody’s fight-of-flight response. In the split second before that noise died down, blasters clicked and triggers were squeezed; red and green projectiles hailed back and forth.

The Shadowtroopers gave their positions, you witnessed the exact phenomenon that the scout from a few days ago described: thin air swirling as it materializes into a shapeless silhouette, until the color turn more opaque, and only then does one realize they have a Shadowtrooper standing right in front of them.

Luckily, you detected the trooper while his silhouette returns to its solid shape, a blind strike got him on the torso—creating a gash of embers on his frontal plate. Like the static of a hologram, his now-damaged cloaking device caused his entire appearance to crackle until he’s reverted to normal. On the other hand, Cal reeled in his opponent, suspending him inches above the ground and then drove his lightsaber through the black armor; the boy witnesses the same effect once the Shadowtrooper’s armor is damaged to a certain extent.

Most of the rebels were able to damage the other Shadowtroopers’ armor, rendering them incapable of using their cloaking device, thus pelting them with blaster fire with the help of the Jedi pair deflecting their shots and targeting the armor when banking it.

“Not so tough now, are ya?!” celebrated one partisan and the others followed.

However, something still doesn’t sit right with the two Jedi youngsters. How you wished you could tell off these rebels to save the celebration for later until they’re back in the hideout. In the distance, you hear a slow, rhythmic beeping until it got louder…

And louder.

Thunk.

The ball-like weapon mutely rolled over on the earthy cushion beneath your feet, but between the spaces of the grass you spotted its metallic sheen and the red dot-sized light.

“EVERYBODY RUN!!!” you screeched.

A thermal detonator had gone off. Thankfully, nobody was caught in the deadly radius of the blast and only got as little as burns and scrapes. Another wave—albeit small—of Shadowtroopers came barging through the smoke and taking advantage of your collective disoriented state. Being the one least affected by the blast, you drew their attention to you by forcefully turning one of them around from the slightly fazed rebels and then to you—in result, ruining his aim.

“About to shoot at a dazed, immobilized enemy?” you clicked your tongue. “Should’ve expected you’d fight dirty!”

The Shadowtrooper wriggled in your Force grip, his gun-hand struggled to break through whatever’s binding them from aiming at a straight line. Your hold onto him was so tight that even breathing was suffocating. He was denied a pull of the trigger when you flung your target to the other one on your two o’ clock side. At the last minute, another Shadowtrooper came running towards you—he was directly in your periphery—and you got caught in a melee; you were too late to fight back and got struck by the barrel of his rifle, you come rolling to the edge of a ridge—a single kick would send you plummeting to Force-knows-where.

Little did the Shadowtrooper knew that you were playing dead, timing the exact moment you’ll throw him off to the abyss. His footsteps approach you, the vibration of his approaching footsteps meets the nerves of your body against the earth; you feel his one foot lifting up from the ground—either to poke your body to see if you’re dead or to kick you off, it doesn’t matter—and you waited for that split second his boot touches you.

Hup!

You scramble on the dust, quickly grabbed the barrel of the rifle facing downward to tug him in closer, tucked your knees and planted your feet flat on his stomach and your legs sprang upward. The weight of the soles of your feet got ighter, but your success has been compromised as the Shadowtrooper grabbed onto your sleeve in a desperate attempt to literally hold on for dear life!

In the midst of the firefight, Cal scanned the area quickly and found you missing. He looked around and heard your voice in the empty end of the ridge—he immediately got the hint and booked it. He comes rushing, sliding down on his stomach and peeking over the edge to find you barely holding onto a protruding rock on the wall while fighting off the Shadowtrooper clinging on your leg.

“Get…! OFF!!!” you grunted, trying to kick the trooper in the face to make him let go.

Cal dipped his hand over the edge, palm wide open, inching closer so you could grab it.

The Shadowtrooper claws at your calf to make you stop kicking, but the more he claws at and bluntly hits your leg flimsily with his rifle, the more you kick at him.

“Come on, [Y/N], reach!”

“I…” you huffed. “I can’t!”

Eventually, you bent your leg up, gathering enough strength to release one last kick—the hard sole of your boot met the Shadowtrooper’s face—and then another stomp for good measure…

And another…

And one last.

The Shadowtrooper, now dazed from the damage his face had taken, gradually lost grip around your leg and let go, falling into the pit and disappearing into the darkness that blends well with his dark armor. Meanwhile, the rock handhold you’ve been clinging on has started to crumble underneath your fingertips. You’re running out of time.

The warble in your voice is evident. You sobbed as you spoke. Neither yourself or Cal can deny the fear.

“Cal… the rock’s about to give!”

“It’s gonna be okay,” he repeatedly told you this every time he attempts to reach further.

With the dead weight gone, Cal got a hold of you. His forearm pressing against yours as he grabs you just by the elbow line.

“I got you, [Y/N], I got you!”

Cal hauled you up and finally you’re on solid ground… for now.

The relief was short-lived.

You watched his eyes widen with horror, because he knows you heard it too—a single crack of the rock you two are on had broken off and gave!

The colossal chunk of the ridge eroded and slid on the slope, leaving a deep trail on the soil, along with its two unlikely passengers holding at the jagged edge of the rock. It bounced and collided at every corner it bumped into, it was a violent ride—both you and Cal practically dug your nails into the rock and kept your head low.

The chunk of hard earth tore a hole through the rain-soaked soil. Bioluminescent mushrooms lit up the pit that you and Cal have fallen into, dotting the walls with an orange glow, though it’s not enough to fill the entire space—however, despite the warmth they give off, it all feels like a front. Both of you got a bad feeling about this.

“This doesn’t look good,” you mutter to Cal, who was still in the midst of recomposing himself after all that wild ride of a descent.

Looking back, over his shoulder, Cal examined the crater the rock had bore during the fall: the height of hole from the ground was too high for either of you to climb up on. You had a grappling hook on your gauntlet, but looking at the same direction as Cal, you can’t find a suitable surface to secure the hook; squinting your eyes with little sunlight pooling through the crater, you can see that the surrounding wall is made up of moist soil—almost loam-like—which will definitely not hold, especially both of your weights. There were no seemingly firm handholds either.

It’s a long walk to the way out for both of you until the light at the end of the tunnel shines; and the only way through is straight ahead—if there is one.

Cal agreed, having the same queasiness in the stomach as you, “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

The two of you hopped down from the rock and carefully stalked your way through the cavern, unaware what kind of creatures are lurking within its crevices. Without either of your noticing, the corpse of the Shadowtrooper that had clung to you was right behind you, though it lied in the shadows, a pair of hairy legs snaked out of the darker end and spirited the body away from the light of day.

Igniting your sabers to torch the path, it was eerily quiet, spare the coarse dirt crunching underneath your boots. The brightness of your lightsabers combined illuminated the cave at a certain range, Cal was a few paces ahead of you to extend that range.

“It’s like a maze,” he wondered out loud, slowly waving his saber left and right to study the texture of the walls.

“Wooo…” BD-1 whistled, spooked by the darkness. “Bee… t-t-trill…”

Something crunched under your shoe when you took a step—it was thin, crisp, and fragile like eggshells—you turned your foot over and saw white shards clinging on the sole. You immediately recognize the material.

“Oh no…” you groaned.

Cal paused in his tracks and glanced over to you, alarmed by the ominous tone in your voice, “What is it?”

“I know where we are… and it’s not good.”

The large holes on the cave’s wall started to hiss and click. It produced multitudes of legs that are five times thicker than an ion cannon’s barrel; and then comes out a creature with a rotund abdomen, an ironically colorful exoshell, and a pair of mandibles laced with its own bile that could paralyze once it enters one’s bloodstreams.

Your worst nightmare on eight legs.

#cal kestis #cal kestis fic #cal kestis x reader #cal kestis x reader fic #requested by stellar-trinity #fic request #wyyyschokk #matriarch wyyyschokk #kashyyyk #arachnophobia #arachnophobic! reader #star wars #star wars jedi fallen order #swjfo #swjfo fic #jedi fallen order #jfo #jfo fic #star wars jedi fallen order fic #jedi fallen order fic

[superwolfiestar]

Across Another Dimension Ch.26

The gang finally reach the The Hoohoo Mountain which is a tall rocky range of mounts located out of the village's limit, and it's still a very dangerous place today. It is said that an ancient civilization inhabited those mountains, which are the Hoohooligans' ancestors. There were Hooroglyphs inscribed on the rock walls at certain points of the mountain, Hoohooros, a type of weapon, and watering holes. At the very summit lives a talking pterosaur named Blablanadon.

At the very base of the mountain, small beagle gang enemies called themself Beanies already confronted the heroes. After that, they proceeded to the Hoohoo Mountain Trail just east of here. There was a tornado in which they could use as an impulse to get them to the other side faster, and on another part, there was a strange Hoohoo-like flaming statue inside a chasm.

With that, they had to head to one of the watering hole at the platform above and let Panchito drink a lot of this water until he becomes bloated and heavy, more known as Pump Panchito. Once in this form, they make it back to the Fire Statue and Jose does a High Jump on Pump Panchito to cause him to flatten and spit all of the water at once before reverting to normal.

Eventually, the Fire Statue douses, and a mask carved on the wall spits and blows out a whirlwind and they use it again as an impulse.

Almost at the midway, there were the Beagle gang were dress in Dry Bones armor around them patrolling the area and another Fire Statue must be doused to progress. They did the same thing and moved on.

Now at the midway, they encounter a strange golden statue at the middle; that was a Hoohooros. As the heroes approached it, it spoke:

"Ah. Travelers. I am Hoohooros. The ancient weapon of the Hoohoo civilization. Beyond this point, the path grows even crueler. You must prove yourselves up to the challenge… You must catch 10 Hoohoo Spirits within 30 seconds! But do not fall off the ledges, or you will immediately fail."

They completed this challenge with ease without falling off the ledges. They returned to Hoohooros and he said to them:

"…Now for your next challenge. YOU MUST DEFEAT ME!"

Suddenly, Hoohooros becomes gray and attacks, much to the heroes' surprise. Hoohooros shoots a purple laser from his mouth and it travels in an arch passing by each hero. Luckily, all of them dodged the laser. Boy Princess Donald then does a Bomber Attack at Hoohooros followed by Princess Della attacking it with her bomber.

After receiving these attacks, Hoohooros goes under one of the four pillars. Storkules tried to break the pillar it was hiding in, but that only caused him to get sent backwards and landing on the ground hard.

"Ugh!" he groaned.

"That statue attacks us if we try to ambush it!" Prince Gladstone realized.

"Then we should aim for the pillars instead!" Donald suggested.

They alongside Panchito and Jose broke one of the pillars to see if Hoohooros would come back and attack them again. However, it went straight to another pillar instead.

"Oh, come on!" Both Louie and Louie grumbled.

Even if they destroyed the other pillar, Hoohooros still didn't come out of the ground.

"If only we had drilling moves, then we could force it out of the ground." Panchito said.

"In cominnnnnng!" suddenly, a voice was heard from up above and a red rooster wearing a Mexican mariachi to the ground and buries itself, ending it with a feet kick uppercutting Hoohooros out of the ground.

"Hey! It's Panchito!" Scrooge exclaimed.

"Hola a todos, my name is Panchito Romero Miguel Junipero Francisco Quintero González III but you can call me Panchito." Panchito smirked.

"We can talk more later, because we have a statue to take care of!" Donald warned.

"No need to, the Super Caballeros are handling this. Look." Boy Princess pointed at the Super Caballeros.

"Jose! Now that the statue is down, it's our chance to take it out!" Panchito said.

"Right! Let's try the Bounce attack!" Jose replied.

Panchito and Jose did their Bounce attack to defeat Hoohooros for good. Everyone were impressed at this move.

"Wow! Impressive." Panchito praised.

"I know, right? That's why they're called the Super Caballeros!" Princess Della exclaimed.

After its defeat, Hoohooros stands up and speaks its last words:

"You have passed this test, too! Now you must face the test of reaching the summit!"

Eventually, the odd symbols on the rocky pillars ahead lit up and a short ledge popped out of the wall, gaining access to the upper part.

"You know, we wouldn't have passed this challenge if it wasn't for you me." Panchito grinned.

"Yeah! Thanks for the help, Panchito!" Jose thanked.

"No hay problema!" Panchito replied.

“Panchito!” Donald ran to hug his beloved Mexican rooster. “You’re okay! Thank goodness you’re alright. Have you seen Jose?” Donald ask the red rooster.

“No mi amor.” Panchito told him with the sad look, tooling off his sombrero. “Me and Jose were separated when we are in the portal. I don’t know where he is. I hope he’s okay.”

“Don’t worry Panchito. We will find him, I know we will.” Boy Princess Donald place his hand on Panchito shoulder giving him a kind smile.

Panchito was shock to see another duck that look highly resemble to his beloved sailor duck. Expect the part that Donald don’t wear pink ombré eyeshadow and the pink gown.

"Say, Panchito, Jose, where did you learn those moves?" Huey asked.

"We learned them back at Stardust Fields by the Starshade Bros." Panchito explained. "It's also the place where we landed in our way to BeanBean Kingdom to met Prince Gladstone."

"Prince Gladstone?" Panchito questioned.

"That's me. I'm the tourist guide of the Beanbean Kingdom." Prince Gladstone said. "Your name is Panchito, right like that Panchito? What brings you in the Beanbean Kingdom, hmm?"

"I just came here to relax after falling out the portal. I just give myself to relax and came here as a vacation, but now that I heard there's a King Zeus guy threat here, now it just became worse." Panchito explained, rolling his eyes at the last sentence.

"Sheesh, this is now reminding me back what happened on my vacation in Delfino Island all over again…" Panchito thought while tilting his head on the ground.

"I see. Well, it's nice to meet you." Boy Princess Donald replied.

"Para ti también. So, why are you guys here at Hoohoo Mountain?" Panchito asked.

"We're here to get the Green sharp so that Professor Gyro could power up the machine to take us home. Think you could lend us a hand, Panchito? We never know what might be waiting for us up ahead." Donald answered.

"Getting the Green sharp to take us home? Sure! I'll be glad to tag along! Just like old times!" Panchito grinned.

"Great!" Scrooge grinned. "Alright, let's keep moving!

After some more puzzles involving the use of Pump Panchito, riding tornados and battling more enemies like more, Beagles boys, the gang reached the summit, where they found a telescope showing the full lookout of the Kingdom and they could also see Boy Princess Donald's castle at the distance on the other side as well as Stardust Fields separating the Kingdoms, suggesting that the Beanbean Kingdom wasn't too far away from the Mushroom Kingdom besides Vibe Island and Manny's Island.

They noticed that the center of the summit had the Green Sharp on the rock that they needed, but the sharp were all guarded by Blablanadon, who was currently sleeping on top of a weird white egg.

"Are those the green sharp?" Fenton questioned.

"Yes, but shh! We don't want to wake up Blablanadon, right?" Prince Gladstone whispered.

"Blablanadon? Who the heck came up with that name for a pterodactyl?" Panchito thought.

"Look, let's just get the sharp and leave quietly, okay?"

The gang nodded to the green duck and they silently picked up as Green sharp.

"Got it. Let's get out." Dewey said in a quiet voice.

However, Louie's nose was tickling so much by the dust that he had to sneeze:

"ACHOO!"

Everyone flinched in surprise hearing Louie's sneeze and that caused Scrooge to hit rock and landed on the group, waking up Blablanadon.

"FOOOOOOLS!" he cried as he flies up.

"Louie!" Webby, Louie, Both Dewey and Dewey, and Huey and Huey thought angrily.

"You dare take that green sharp! The four hero’s give it to me so I can protect it!!!" Blablanadon argued.

"We know that…" Panchito replied.

"Oh yeah? I'll tell you, anyone who tries to drop a steal it is a thief in my book!"

"Blablanadon, listen, these people are from another dimension and Professor Gyro need to collect all the Rainbow Sharp in order to get them home. Please, have a heart!" Boy Princess told him.

"…Very well then." Blablanadon said. “I should let take the Green Sharp.”

“Oh thank you Blablanadon for your kindness.” Boy Princess Donald smile.

Panchito took out a map and held the map up in the air, and then the lights shined bright from the sharp. The map lowered itself to Panchito as they went to toward him to take a look. A snow mountain popped up in the upper left part of the map as well the villages popped up and even the castle or a fortress and the blue shard popped up as well.

The next one was at the snowy place. That where they need to head at.

#ducktales 2017 #mariotales au #across another dimension #across another dimension fanfic #super caballeros #super caballeros fanfic #fanfic

[programaticallydelicious]

Negotiations

I walked into the room, avoiding direct eye contact with the alien waiting for me. Its huge eyes just looked like a jet black sclera set in a sack of vaguely damp, wrinkled gray leather. If eyes are a window into the soul, this creepy little guy would give satan a run for his money. They just put me on edge, somehow. I’d have to make eye contact anyway, but it could wait.

I strode up to the meeting table, pulled out the chair, and sat down. I shuffled around in my bag for a moment before pulling out a small piece of tech, which I set on the table in front of me.

“Before we begin, I want to be sure of a few things. This device you’ve provided us with, it is 100% effective at understanding and translating languages, correct?”

The alien across from me nodded. It’s a nice little allowance they’ve made for comfort, learning our body language, but its bulbous head threw the whole gesture off. It made me think of one of those old inflatable toys with a weight on the bottom, that would lean too far to the side before bouncing straight back up. Woobles or something. It didn’t really matter.

“Nearly. We occasionally find a race with one or two concepts that it has trouble with, but that’s easily smoothed over.”

I took a deep breath, and waited a moment to compose myself. This whole thing was going to be more trying than not interrupting old man Higgins up the street while he went on about whatever racist sentiment was in his head at the moment.

“One or two…okay. That’s odd.”

The alien blinked. Eyelids came in from not just the top and bottom, but also the sides. That’s just plain creepy. Reminds me of one of those really old movies they threw on the media blacklist pretty much as soon as first contact started. Something in black. Whatever it was, I remember seeing it as a kid, and that guy at the beginning had nothing on this alien’s eyes.

“Have you already found something it can’t translate?”

I nodded, then pulled out my communicator and scrolled through a few documents. I really needed to clean this thing out. Can’t believe I didn’t get around to it before coming to such an important meeting. Imagine the debacle that would result if I opened exactly the wrong thing. Never can know what that might be, honestly.

“Of a sort, yes. Mind humoring me for a few minutes?”

The alien steepled its hands together, and leaned forward. That’s just plain creepy. I wonder how they learned such context specific body language? Not that it really matters, I guess. Not my problem.

“Certainly. After all, it can take years to accept a race into the Federation.”

Nodding again, I pulled up a document on my communicator, then leaned back in my chair as I began. This was going to be more interesting than that time your classmate Jimmy found some old matches somewhere and almost burned the school down by mistake.

“Excellent. This shouldn’t take much time. I mentioned that we found some issues with your device. Allow me to demonstrate: Espionage.”

The little device on the table beeped, and a red light flashed.

“ERROR: NO ANALOGUE FOUND”

I sighed. That one had been an accident. We just had the thing sitting in a conference room while we discussed the implications of the visit when it came up. But, when something that simple for us to understand came up, we had to try for more.

“Reverse Engineering.”

Again, a beep and a flash of red.

“ERROR: NO ANALOGUE FOUND”

“Spycraft.”

And again with the beep. This was going to get irritating if I didn’t speed things up a bit. Too bad we hadn’t managed to find a mute option for that feature.

“ERROR: NO ANALOGUE FO-”

“Overwhelming Force”

“ERROR: NO-”

“Scorched Earth”

“ER-”

“Kamikaze”

“E-”

Blitzkrieg, Stealth, Mutually Assured Destruction, Acceptable Losses, Pyrrhic Victory, Guerilla Warfare, Encirclement, Entrenchment, Siege.”

The device gave off a series of distressed beeps, punctuated by rapid blinking of the little red light. I almost felt sorry for it. Almost.

“TOO MANY ERRORS DETECTED. REBOOTING. RUNNING SELF DIAGNOSTIC. NO DISCREPANCIES FOUND,”

I paused, and glanced across the table at the alien before looking back down at the translator. This was going to hit it harder than a washed up holovid actor with no auditions and less money hits rock bottom.

“Xenocide”

The chair across from me clattered to the ground as the alien practically fell out of its seat. I don’t blame the poor thing. Of all the aggressive, militaristic words we tried, that was one of the ones we least expected to translate. I mean, really. Who has a word for the intentional extermination of an entire sapient species when they don’t even understand fundamental hostile international mechanics like spying?

“Why do you have a word for…what was all that just now?”

I chuckled a bit while motioning for the alien to sit back down. His reaction had been pretty good, perfectly suitable for one of those hammed-up old dramas where the hero realizes they’ve been working with the villain all along.

“We were confused about that too. So we took a look at the information you sent as part of first contact with us. We noticed something interesting. Every single race in your Federation is carnivorous. Why is that?”

The alien seemed smaller somehow as it settled back into a seat. It looked kind of like a balloon slowly losing air, if that balloon was made of moldering gray leather with eyes that made your spinal column decide it wanted a holiday in Fiji.

“First contact has always been made after sapient races make it to multiple worlds. We’ve never found a sapient herbivorous race which failed to destroy themselves in resource wars and aggressive action. We’ve never found herbivores capable of surviving long enough to leave their own world.”

I leaned forward in the chair and smiled while finally making direct eye contact with the alien. I think the poor thing shivered when I did that. Not that I blame it. Imagine your reaction when you start to put the pieces together and realize that your friendly, upstanding next door neighbor might be the world’s most wanted criminal.

“And the races you have found, while commonly using threat displays, do not waste resources on wars they cannot easily win, correct?”

The alien nodded as it slouched a bit in its chair. It looked kind of like it was trying to hide. Who wouldn’t want to hide from the monsters in their closet?

“Wasted resources means decreased likelihood of survival.”

I shrugged. That was true enough, though rather coldly logical. Dispassionate logic like that has never been our strong suit. Then again, that’s why I’m in this situation in the first place, so it evens out.

“And yet herbivores constantly waste resources on aggression, on movement, on having more young than will possibly survive.”

The alien was staring at me. I’m not sure when the last time it blinked was. I wonder if those eyes need some kind of lubrication to keep from drying out. Probably, they looked a bit less creepy than they should’ve. Looked like they were losing their shine.

“And they die for it. That’s exactly why we’ve never encountered spacefaring herbivores. Their inherent aggression is their own demise.”

I held eye contact. I’d almost swear the alien was a weird statue right now. Don’t know who would commission a statue made of old greasy leather, but I’m sure there’s someone with too much money and too little sense who would give it a shot.

“Indeed. Now, back to the subject at hand. I’ll ask you before we continue: what can you offer humans for joining your Federation?”

The alien sputtered as it started moving again. I’d swear it looked offended. Maybe it doesn’t see where this is going. Not that it really matters, I guess. I mean, it probably matters about as much as posting a formal complaint to a new corporate policy, which is to say not at all.

“We’ve already sent the offer. You’ve seen that, I’m sure.”

I nodded, and began to tap out a staccato rhythm on the table with my fingers. I never could remember where I learned this stupid tune. I’ve known it as long as I can remember, and it just moves into my head on occasion and sticks around like that one couchsurfing friend who doesn’t understand the idea of wearing out their welcome.

“And I’m asking, what else do you have to offer?”

The alien just shook its head again, staring at the device. I wonder if it thought we might’ve tampered with it. As if we knew how. That little thing is way beyond our current abilities. We had some scientists pry it open and look inside, just to be sure.

“Nothing. I’m not sure why you’re-”

I raised my hand, cutting him off. Huh. Not sure why that worked. Did they learn that much of our body language? That’s still really creepy, if it’s the case. Or, maybe I just have it on edge. I dunno. I guess it doesn’t matter.

“May I have permission to connect my datapad with my ship’s computers?”

The alien glanced away from me for a moment. I assume it was checking in with superiors somehow. Maybe it was psychic, to an extent. Or maybe they just had an implant of some sort. We’ll find out eventually, I’m sure.

“Yes, if you like.”

I sighed. I guess that makes things easier for us. I don’t think anyone was going to like what I was about to do. This whole thing felt kind of like one of those holovids of an accident, where you know what’s coming and don’t want to keep going, but for some reason you just can’t seem to stop and pull yourself away.

“Computer, show video: Hiroshima”

A screen appeared in the air above my datapad. It started playing back an old, grainy video. Shaky, taken by hand in an aircraft in a firefight. Below, you can barely see a city being blotted out by a massive explosion. A cloud of smoke, fire and debris was rapidly climbing into the sky, billowing, growing, blooming into an eerie and easily recognized mushroom cloud.

“That’s…you’re using weapons of that scale on a population center? How recent was this?”

I shrugged, and closed the video. The screen on my datapad went back to the document I had up earlier. Gotta love how well they managed to predict this whole thing. I made a mental note to recommend a raise for whoever set up that document for me.

“Three centuries ago. Prior to our invention of spaceflight. Part of a much larger conflict. This is a relatively minor example of “overwhelming force”“

“ERROR: NO A-”

“Shut it. Computer, show infosheet: Battle of Stalingrad.”

A series of graphs and diagrams appeared above my datapad. They showed resources, time, maps, battle plans, and death tolls. Images were interspersed throughout, as were annotations on the tactical value of this, the emotional value of that. Prominent among them was a single apartment building, including notes on sniping from the roof and support via tunnels.

“That…what purpose would that…why w-”

Again, I raised my hand to cut him off, before closing the infosheet. Maybe it was both. Nah, couldn’t be. Only way it was both having this guy on edge and our body language is if it somehow had our body language built in. Unsettling thought, but not exactly likely.

“Because Stalingrad was an advantageous location and the people who died there were considered ‘Acceptable losses’“

“ERRO-”

“Computer, show gallery: General Sherman’s March to the Sea.”

A multitude of images appeared over the datapad. Rail lines and roads intentionally broken and destroyed. Farms and fields scoured clean and left to fallow. Buildings and towns razed to the ground. A broken people left to mourn and starve.

“So much waste…that can’t be intentional, can it?”

I glanced at the images, the wanton destruction that campaign caused, and the very orders that caused it. That kind of thing may be considered morally reprehensible now, even a war crime, but it wasn’t always. At the time, the strategy was extolled as one of the reasons the war ended the way it did.

“It was intentional.”

The alien stared at me, its reflective black eyes bigger than I’d ever seen them before. Creepy as all hell, that’s for sure. I’d rather not deal with these kinds of meetings in the future. Maybe after this I could negotiate for some kind of retirement.

“But…why?”

I tapped my datapad and closed the gallery, then leaned back and tossed my feet on the table. May as well relax, I already knew how this was going to end.

“Because it rendered the enemy unable to use resources Sherman couldn’t keep. Computer, assemble and show video grouping: RTS Games”

A large grid of videos came up, showing a huge range of scenes. Largely battle, the settings varied from open space to deep ocean, from early history to the far “future.” Even battles across space and time could be seen.

“The translator can’t have gotten that right. Those are military tactical simulations. Higher level than anything I’ve ever seen or heard of.”

I laughed as I closed out all of the videos and turned back to the alien. Creepy and unsettling as it might be, I’m pretty sure I was terrifying the poor thing. Not that I really felt sorry for it. Not at all.

“No. They aren’t. Those are games. Toys. For. Fun. And they’re a couple hundred years out of date. From what I’ve seen, nearly every human capable of coherent speech is capable of tactically overwhelming your Federation. And since we’re already here, in space, it’s too late for you to say no. So, I’ll ask again:

What do you have to offer us?”

#science fiction #flash fiction #humans are weird #space australia #aliens #writing practice

[gamerszone2019-blog]

Borderlands 3 Review - All You Need Is Family

New Post has been published on https://gamerszone.tn/borderlands-3-review-all-you-need-is-family/

Borderlands 3 Review - All You Need Is Family

After Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, a disappointing spin-off released in 2014, Borderlands 3 is a welcome return to form for the franchise. The game reunites fans with the core group of memorable main characters from the first two games and delivers the mayhem-heavy loot-shooter experience that the series is known for. Borderlands 3 carries forward many of the things that made the first two games special, but in doing so it also brings with it a few of the same stumbling blocks. There are noticeable improvements to the series formula, though, as Borderlands 3 provides additional freedom in how you want to play.

Set seven years after the events of Borderlands 2, Borderlands 3 wraps up most of the narratives established in the earlier games, while also teasing additional threads that could be explored in the future. Despite these hints, there’s a definite finality to Borderlands 3’s campaign, which satisfyingly wraps up the arcs of characters that fans have been following for 10 years.

As one of four fledgling Vault Hunters–Zane the operative, Amara the Siren, Moze the gunner, or FL4K the beastmaster–you are recruited into the Crimson Raiders, the militia that defends the only civilized pocket of society found on the bandit-filled wasteland planet of Pandora. Led by Lilith, a former Vault Hunter, the Crimson Raiders have gone to war with Tyreen Calypso and her twin brother Troy, who are using their influence as popular video streamers to convince their cult following to help them acquire the immense power found in secret vaults scattered throughout the universe. The story is a bit of a slow start, but it quickly picks up near the end of the first act and rarely slows down on its way to its grand finale. Looting and shooting are still the focus of Borderlands 3, but its campaign also delivers a fairly well-written story of sacrifice, the importance of family, and the responsibilities of heroes.

Borderlands 3 provides more flexibility than ever before to create the type of character you want. For the first time in the series, the Vault Hunters all have an active skill tied to each of their three respective skill trees. Amara, for example, can equip Phaseslam to deal immense close range damage, Phasecast to tear through enemies from afar, or Phasegrasp to crowd control or focus her elemental abilities on one target. Using perks from all three skill trees, you can evolve each of these skills in meaningful ways. For instance, if you want to make Amara’s area-of-effect Phaseslam ability into something more precise, you could change it with perks found in both the Brawl and Fist of the Elements skill trees so that the ability transforms Amara into a levitating spider-like creature that shoots a massive fire-based death ray before she careens to earth in a smaller slam. Phaseslam can evolve in other ways too, as can Phasecast and Phasegrasp–providing numerous options for how you want Amara to fight. The same can be said for Zane, Moze, and FL4K.

As a result, it’s pretty easy for both you and a friend to be playing as the same character but have completely different builds and roles on the battlefield. This added freedom also makes it far more feasible, and thus enjoyable, to play Borderlands 3’s campaign entirely solo in comparison to previous games in the franchise, as you’re not limited to established class restrictions based on your Vault Hunter choice. You obviously don’t have to go it alone–and Borderlands 3 actually makes co-op more rewarding thanks to an option that removes the need to compete for loot–but it’s nice knowing that if you want to, your experience will not be completely defined by the Vault Hunter you choose.

The freedom to build your ideal loadout extends beyond your Vault Hunter’s skill trees. Borderlands 3 makes clear-cut distinctions when it comes to the manufacturer of each gun. Before you even loot a new firearm, looking at which company made it will tell you most of what you need to know about what it can do. Maliwan guns are fairly weak but each one shoots elemental bullets, for instance, allowing you to more easily electrocute shields, melt armor, or burn through flesh, while a Hyperion firearm raises a forcefield in front of you while aiming down sights and becomes more accurate as you pull the trigger. They’re minor changes to further differentiate each type of gun, but these new manufacturer effects make it a lot easier to build specialized loadouts that can augment the perks you choose.

But, more than anything, the guns are just fun to shoot. It may come as little surprise given that distinctive firearms has been the bread and butter of the franchise since the beginning, but Borderlands 3 has quite a few unique guns that offer a wide variety of enjoyable effects. Some have actual gameplay-changing ramifications, like a sniper rifle that can transform into a shotgun. But Borderlands 3 also has guns that are just playfully quirky and weird–ones that insult and tease you for your performance or just shoot more guns, for example. And you acquire new firepower at a gratifying pace, with new loot regularly dropping from the tougher enemies in the groups you encounter and explosively erupting from bosses you defeat. Borderlands 3 never lets up on giving you new weapons to experiment with, progressively increasing the explosive potential and wacky effects of the weapons you find, which in turn serves as a satisfying visual representation of how much stronger you’re getting beyond the higher damage numbers.

Even without the loot, defeating enemies in combat is fulfilling. Shooting an unshielded enemy in the head rewards you with their cranium erupting in a satisfying blossom of blood and gore. When you don’t land that final headshot, enemies mostly go out with a final battle cry–ranging from pitiful cries for salvation to humorous insults–and the game doesn’t repeat lines often enough for them to grow stale. Combat is never dull as a result, with your chosen Vault Hunter shouting out funny or cool-sounding one-liners in the brief moments you’re reloading and making your way to your next victim.

As entertaining as Borderlands 3’s combat is, the fun that is found in the freedom to fight however you want is occasionally interrupted by the structure of boss battles, a traditional problem for the franchise. Many of the bosses look cool and have incredible theme music, but they all amount to the same strategy: shoot the weak spots, run from or jump over attacks, and repeat. You can cheat some by hiding in an unreachable corner and slowly chipping away at the boss’ weak spot, but that’s not much fun either as pretty much every boss in the game has a large healthpool and many of the later ones are bullet-sponges.

Borderlands 3’s late-game bosses pack a wallop with every attack too, downing you in a few hits if you’re not careful and thus demanding that you near-perfectly dodge for an extended period of time–which can drag on and feel boringly repetitive in the longest of these fights. So when you do encounter a boss in Borderlands 3, it typically grinds the mayhem-filled action to an abrupt halt as you’re forced to respond to the boss’ patterns by playing more slowly and carefully.

The new climbing and sliding moves do allow you to better navigate environments and thus get out of the way of certain attacks, but both mechanics are better suited for weaving among the scattered firefights with normal enemies, not the concentrated bombardment of the bosses. Several boss battles are frustratingly difficult to tackle on your own as a result, to the point that they all seem like repeated suggestions that you should be playing Borderlands 3 with at least one other person. Two or more players allows you to take turns reviving each other, making it easier to last longer. But simply trying to outlast one strong enemy doesn’t impart the same enjoyable impact of the mayhem-filled firefights from the rest of the game. You feel more like a badass running around and gunning down a vast assortment of different enemies than you do hiding behind cover and waiting for the boss to stop attacking you just so you can safely get a few shots off.

Thankfully, boss battles only make up a small part of Borderlands 3’s overall campaign. Most of the story sees you go up against the Calypsos’ seemingly never-ending cult of bandits or the armies of the twins’ corporate sponsors as you race to find the pieces of the keys to open up vaults across the universe. Your journey takes you far beyond the planet of Pandora, and it provides opportunities for new types of combat encounters in a series that has largely revolved around wide-open deserts full of bandits or factories full of robots. For example, the jungles of Eden-6 contain an assortment of dangerous wildlife that have different hunting grounds and patterns, and the low gravity of a Maliwan space station orbiting the planet of Promethea allows the elemental gunslinging corporate soldiers you’re going up against to jump higher and more easily attack you from above. Certain weapons have greater utility in certain environments as well, such as an explosive mushroom-like grenade that becomes more powerful when thrown into water. That’s easier to do more often in Eden-6’s swamps than Pandora’s sand dunes. Borderlands 3’s campaign sees you bouncing back and forth between planets every few hours, which keeps each setting from growing stale while also encouraging you to keep adopting new playstyles, strategies, and weapons.

Borderlands’ heroes are nothing if not personable, and that trend continues in this latest installment–transforming the motley crew of outlaws into a family you feel a kinship with.

Even if Borderlands 3 takes you far beyond the scope of Pandora and sees you meet brand-new allies and encounter never-before-seen threats, the original cast of characters that have defined the adventures from the beginning are still at the forefront, and the story is better for it. Whether you’re a long-time fan or not, it’s the connection to the Crimson Raiders that acts as your motivation for fighting through the campaign. Borderlands’ heroes are nothing if not personable, and that trend continues in this latest installment–transforming the motley crew of outlaws into a family you feel a kinship with. Your connection to the Crimson Raiders continues to grow with every mission as well, as–thanks to the spaceship Sanctuary III–the entire group is with you throughout the course of your journey.

Newcomer Tyreen is clearly a bad person, but the campaign’s story never gives you a compelling reason as to why you would want to kill her so as to stop her for good. Lilith is fond of reminding you that Tyreen’s plans would ultimately destroy Pandora, but Borderlands 3 introduces a bunch of planets that would make for more preferable homes. Tyreen, and thus Troy, never amounts to a credible threat that you feel like you need to stop as a result, so the Calypso twins instead feel like the primary source of much of Borderlands 3’s comic relief, not villains that must be stopped.

With most of the franchise’s juvenile humor and ludicrous jokes coming from your planetside interactions with the Calypsos, it’s on Sanctuary III with your crew that Borderlands 3’s well-written story delves into its more heartfelt and emotional moments. The game wastes little time reintroducing you to mainstays Lilith and Patricia Tannis, a brilliant yet socially anxious scientist, and building the drama of its narrative around them as the two women grow into their new roles within the Crimson Raiders. Tannis’ evolution is especially compelling as you see her make courageous strides to move beyond the self-imposed limitations she’s set for herself on account of her autism and social anxiety. For two characters that were popular but little more than caricatures in the first game, it’s rewarding to see the growth the two underwent in Borderlands 2 now culminate into two leaders that you’re willing to follow to the end.

That isn’t to say the other fan-favorite characters have been left out. Pretty much everyone from the previous games returns to complete their respective arcs. Borderlands 3 weaves in plenty of memorable new characters as well–such as the coffee-obsessed Lorelei, artificial intelligence BALEX, and scoundrel turned rebel general Clay–but the game’s story is very much the fulfilling conclusion that long-time fans have been looking forward to for the franchise’s mainstays.

And what a conclusion it is. Borderlands 3 has a few stumbling blocks when it comes to bosses, but these fights are overshadowed by the game’s rewarding gunplay and over-the-top humor. The game’s character-driven narrative acts as a satisfying finale for the loot-shooter franchise, and the new mechanics and features–especially the reworked skill trees and weapon manufacturer effects–give you plenty of agency in how you want to play through it. If you’ve never been a fan of the franchise, it’s unlikely Borderlands 3 does enough things differently to change your mind, as the game best excels at continuing what the series has always done: deliver a humorous tall tale of misfits looting and shooting their way to heroism.

Source : Gamesport

#Game Reviews

[notgonnarememberthis]

A Better Tomorrow- Chapter 4

1. I’m sorry for the terrible delay on this. I am in the middle of show choir competition season and I keep finding myself without the electronics to publish anything solid. That on top of I just got out of tech week for our most recent show and I am just exhausted. 2. I’m sorry for this lack luster chapter but this was a sort of get over the hump chapter cause I was stuck on this whole interaction with Mack. It seems very rushed and sloppily put together but I didn’t just want to throw away Mack’s story entirely.

“What’s next?” Daisy’s voice is hoarse and emotionless. No doubt she’d cried herself to sleep the night before much like her. Melinda simply sighs gathering supplies from the cabinets that were left open in an hasty escape.

“We’re going to find a mechanic.” Melinda says.

“Very descript.”

“His name is Mack. He’ll help us get a car and find Maria. That’s all there is to it.”

“Mack? Like Mack and Cheese?”

“Like Alphonso Mackenzie.” Melinda frowns. “But don’t let him hear you calling him that.”

“So how did you meet this mechanic?” Melinda flinches at the memory. Three kids running through her backyard.

“I knew him when he was a kid.” She sighs, it isn’t the entire truth but it’s not a lie. Melinda’s mind was beginning to feel heavy with every lie she told her.

“Cool.” She feels her chest lighten a bit at the lack of curiosity for once. She’s not sure she could take another onslaught of memories.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“No!” Melinda shouts suddenly as they’re making their way towards the garage. Daisy looks back at her startled but very much alive, thanks to her. “Come back to me.” She urges wearily. Though staring at her like she’s insane, Daisy does as she says. Melinda kicks a rock to the place Daisy had almost crossed and sure enough an explosion ripped from the ground where she’d almost stepped.

“Jesus.” Daisy breathes. “Thanks for that.” The younger girl’s eyes avoid hers. That had been the first thing she said the entire trip here. She could feel the accusatory eyes on her the entire way. Daisy was still harboring a grudge for not saving Phil. She had every right to. She should have saved him.

“Just follow me. Make sure you step exactly where I do.” Melinda is careful and precise as she steps. Each one is as calculated as the last. The air is still besides the gentle sound of gravel shifting beneath their worn boots. Her body tenses as the silence is interrupted. It’s soft at first, almost indistinguishable from Daisy trying to keep her balance. Soft clicks bounce off of the walls, inching closer

“Why’d you stop?” The brunette questions. Sure enough her voice is loud enough to echo through the still air. Six figures emerge from where they had come, their faces mutated with infection. Their heads sprouting mushrooms and other fungus. They were blind to the world but the explosion must’ve attracted them, Daisy’s voice assuring them of their location. Their mouths open in horrific screeching. Morphed bodies now tripping over themselves, charging at them.

“Daisy, watch me and run. I need you to trust me.” Melinda says hurriedly. Then she takes off. Each footstep precise and sure. She hears explosions echoing behind her. She can’t even look back to make sure it’s not Daisy. Her throat burns as she races at her top speed towards the garage door.

Suddenly the door yanks itself open, a large figure looming in front. Melinda dives to the ground as she spies him. Daisy does the same, however a little less gracefully, landing with a heavy thud and a pained groan. Two loud blasts echo from his shotgun taking out the remaining clickers who hadn’t been decimated by an explosion. Melinda scatters to her feet ducking inside. Daisy is hot on her heels.

“Hey, thanks. We really got-” Daisy’s voice is interrupted when Mack catches Melinda by the arm handcuffing her to a pipe on the wall. He hits Daisy in the back of the knees with the handle of his shotgun forcing her to fall.

“Hands on your head!” He shouts. The glint of the axe teases her in the dusty light of the garage. Of course he had handcrafted his own weapon. One she hadn’t trained herself against. “Have you been bitten? Got anything growing on you?” Melinda can’t let him find that bite on her arm. That man won’t listen to reason. Just shoot. Melinda blocks out Daisy’s fervent denials focusing on herself. She sucks in a breath before dislocating her thumb and freeing herself from the handcuff.

“What the hell?” Daisy practically screeches at the sound. Melinda leaps on his back before he can turn. She manages to get an arm around his neck securing him in a headlock.

“Mack it’s me! It’s Melinda May. Bobbi’s mother!” With mention of Bobbi the man freezes. Melinda takes the opportunity to release hold of him and jump off of his back. He turns slowly, his gun still poised and ready. “We aren’t infected.”

“May,” He whispers, “You haven’t aged a day.”

“Can’t say the same for you.” Melinda sighs. “Last time I saw you we were carpooling across the country and you were about sixty pounds smaller.”

“Hey your training did me good.” He smiles easily.

“You’re kidding me right?” Daisy pants from her spot on the ground. “He just handcuffed you to a pipe and pointed a shotgun at my head and now you’re being nostalgic.”

“Shotgun axe.” Mack corrects

“Cause that makes it any better.” Daisy sighs laying down.

“How’s Coulson?” Melinda adverts her eyes for a second. “Shit. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t.” Melinda’s voice is stolid and devoid of emotion. “Look, we need a car. I need to get her to Maria.”

“Maria? She’s at the Hub!” He exclaims. It was a two day trip by car. All the way across the country.

“And?” Melinda asks raising an eyebrow. “You’re the best mechanic I know. Surely you can fix up one of these junk rats.”

“Don’t you think if I could I would have by now?” Melinda only answers him with a questioning glare. “Fine. But you’re helping.”

“It’s like her glare is magic or something.” Daisy groans from the floor.

“Who’s she?”

“Her name is Daisy. Andrew assigned Phil and I to escort her to a trade off with SHIELD in exchange for weapons that Garrett stole from us.” Melinda explains. “We were ambushed… Phil got bitten and we were surrounded by Hydra.” She takes a breath biting the inside of her cheek. “He stayed behind.”

“What does SHIELD want with her?”

“No idea. That’s why I’m taking her to Maria.” Again not entirely the truth but not entirely a lie either. She’s no idea what they plan on doing with her. Taking her to Maria just means Maria will know where she’s supposed to go. She can leave Maria to take her from there.

“Fair enough. Let’s get to work.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

She had just rested her eyes for a second when she wakes to the sound of Daisy’s laugh. The sound was something to be treasured. If she closes her eyes again she can almost pretend it’s him. That none of this happened. That they’re back in their apartment. That they never took this mission.

Melinda pulls herself from her prone position making her way to the small living room. Daisy and Mack are looking through a bunch of photos lying around. Melinda’s able to spy over their shoulders. It’s a photo of Mack and another man, his smile is brighter than the midday light pouring in through the cracks of the wood covering windows.

“That’s Trip.” Mack smiles. “He’s something special. Maybe he’ll come around and you’ll be able to meet him.”

“Come around?” Daisy asks.

“We got into a dispute. He wanted to ditch this place. I said what’s wrong with moving from somewhere that’s safe.” Mack shrugs putting the photo down. “He’ll come around eventually.”

“How long has it been since he left?”

“Just a day.” Mack sighs. “He’s stayed away longer.”

“What’s he like?”

“Funny, charismatic. He could charm the pants off a total stranger.”

“Didn’t work on me.” Melinda speaks up breaking the small moment.

“Well we know you’re not just anyone aren’t you May?” Mack jokes lightly. Melinda allows herself a small indulgent smile for a second. Then she’s solemn once more.

“We need to get to work.” Daisy groans for a second before forcing herself to pull away from the gallery set before them.

“You know who she reminds me of.”

“Don’t.” Melinda warns him tensely.

“I’m just saying.” The glare silences him once more.

She knew exactly what he was thinking. But if she lost her again Melinda’s not sure if she could recover from this one.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“I’m sorry for giving you the cold shoulder.” Daisy says suddenly as they’re working. “I know there’s not anything you could’ve done.”

“That’s not true.” Melinda mutters.

“Not if Mack’s stories are true.” She pushes. “Apparently he was as stubborn as you are.” She smiles sadly.

“He was.” She sighs sparing herself a look at the younger girl. “We once spent two days ignoring each other because we refused to admit the other was right.”

“Two days? What were you fighting about?” She asks curiously.

“God I don’t even remember.” Melinda chuckles lightly. What she wouldn’t give to take back those two days… To talk to him one more time.

“If it’s worth it, I’m thankful that it was you two.” Daisy looks towards the ground. “I wish what had happened, didn’t but I’m glad I met you guys.” Melinda parts her lips to respond when Mack interrupts.

“Looks like I’m caving in first Tremors.” He states. “I need a spare part fro Trip so we’re making a journey.”

“Tremors?” Melinda asks.

“It’s best if you don’t ask.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The journey is quiet and careful. Clickers litter their small little area and they can’t even spare a single shot wasted lest it bring forth ten more. Mack’s axe could only get them so far in quiet killings. They find the building quickly. It’s not that far from the garage. Apparently they had designated places to get away from each other as well. The other only knowing said locations in case of emergencies.

“Here we are.” Mack states opening the door without even knocking. “Hey!” He shouts into the small complex. His muscles tense as he takes in the sight in front of him. Melinda has to resist the urge to advert Daisy’s gaze away from the situation. In the middle of the room a body dangles from the ceiling. A noose is secured tightly around the neck of the man she recognizes as Trip.

“Oh god.” Daisy whispers.

“No…” Mack numbly walks over to the body. He uses the knife strapped to his side to cut his friend down. Melinda feels bile building in the back of her throat as she spies the bite mark on the arm of the corpse. The blood looks like it hadn’t dried more than two hours ago. He hadn’t been dead long. He’d given his life for the same reason as Phil.

“Mack…”

“I didn’t even get to apologize.” He mutters numbly.

Melinda leaves the room quickly to retrieve the things they need. She loots the kitchen just to be safe. She lingers for a little bit allowing the man she had known for so long time to grieve. They could take their time. Whatever had gotten to Trip was long gone and as long as they were quiet they would be safe. What feels like an eternity passes before Daisy shows up in the room, eyes partially glazed over and face blotchy from tears. She wasn’t the only one who had been reminded of Phil.

“We’re leaving.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Melinda startles away with the shuffling beside her. Quickly she grabs her weapon pointing in at the shadow looming next to the space where she was sleeping. The shadow raises its hands. In the dim light she can make out the familiar shape of Mack. He was reaching for his shotgun laying dormant against the wall by her head. She narrows her eyes at him nodding towards the kitchen. She looks over at the young girl whose hand reaches towards her body. Still sleeping, good. She didn’t need to hear this.

Melinda carefully makes her way towards the kitchen being careful to keep her footsteps light.

“See you’re still as light of a sleeper as always.” Mack tries a half hearted attempt at a joke. Melinda doesn’t answer him as she lights the lantern lying on the counter. “May I-”

“So you’re leaving.” She surmises shortly.

“Your car is ready. You don’t need me anymore... Did you expect me to stay?”

“Daisy’s really taken a liking to you. She’d want you to stay with us. Not to mention we need the manpower. She’s not exactly trained to be wielding a weapon.”

“You always did like a challenge.” Mack tries again only being answered with a glare. “I need to do this.”

“No you don’t.” She frowns. “You’re being selfish because of how you found Trip.”

“Can you blame me?”

“Yes I can.” She keeps her voice quiet looking back towards the area where Daisy had been sleeping. “When Phil died I didn’t abandon her.”

“You have an obligation to her. I don’t.” He scoffs.

“No I don’t.”

“You really don’t see it do you?” Mack asks exasperated.

“See what?”

“She’s just like them.” He states. “Phil and Bobbi.”

“Don’t.” Her voice curls out of her throat like a deadly growl.

“Her attitude, the way she speaks. No wonder you feel indebted to her. You couldn’t save them.”

“Stop!” This is the first time Melinda raises her voice.

“Her determination is Bobbi. The way she wants to save everyone is so Phil it’s sickening. I know you saw her toying with Bobbi’s old laptops or flipping through his comics.”

“They’re gone!” Melinda shouts.

“Do you think you’re the only one who lost her?” Mack shouts back grabbing her by the shoulders.

Three children dash through her yard. Bobbi’s blonde pigtail braids bounce on her shoulders as she lets out a laugh. Two boys run from her, their laughter filling the air along with hers. Melinda smiles slightly watching the three children play.

“Bobbi, Hunter, Mack!” She calls. “Dinner!” She can see alarm and dread fill the three faces. “I ordered Chinese.” She rolls her eyes at their exaggeration. One time she sets the microwave on fire and she’s marked for life. The three rush in excitedly grabbing their food.

“Mom? Can Lance and Mack spend the night tonight?”

Melinda sighs, she had warned Bobbi of this. “No Bob, I told you I work late tonight.”

That had been the night everything had gone to shit. A little boy with a mischievous smile gone with a spark of flames. Brilliant eyes of a young girl with so much potential snatched away without warning.

“I should have been with her! We should have been with her!”

“Why?” Melinda snaps pushing him against the wall with a surprising amount of strength to push back a man with his stature. “So you could watch her die in your arms? Or so I could have more blood on my hands?” She seethes.

“May.” He sinks as she snatches herself away, “I didn’t mean it that way.”

“Get out.” She whispers.

“I’m not leaving you here.” He says.

“I said get out!” She screams aiming her gun at him. “You want more blood on my hands so badly?” She accuses. “Leave or I’ll shoot.” Wordlessly he grabs his gun he’d abandoned on the counter. He slams the door shut behind him. She had a feeling she wouldn’t been seeing him again.

“He left.” Daisy whispers.

“How much did you hear.” Melinda deadpans.

“Enough.” She sighs, “Do you feel indebted to me? Do I remind you of them?”

Melinda looks her in the eyes, the girl is shaking, her face stained with tears. “You’re nothing like them.” Her tongue is heavy with the lie.

“Good.”

#philinda #melinda may #Daisy Johnson #Alphonso Mackenzie #mentions of #antoine triplett #trip #Phil Coulson #aos #agents of shield #Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. #The Last of Us AU

[glopratchet]

delivery-two

Delivery boy: You mean you actually gave a crap about the people that worked for you? How to increase rank in the Empire: Get more people to work for you The Emperor's Emissary: I'm sure they'll be happy to see me again A messenger arrives at your door with a letter from the Emperor himself He also has a small bag of gold coins and some gems hidden inside it One person does not have to nessary complete every single quest available if you want to please the Emperor and his friend Velzix Its all up to you, if you find an area that seems a bit dry or lacking then just focus your attention somewhere else The game will not be over until the ending is reached so don't worry too much about it right now Once all key deliveries are completed you can unlock and urgent delivery which gets you out of the gates of hell How to reach the ending in Rebellion: Very simple Be as evil as humanly possible! Prison Torture: The goal here is to reach the end of the prison while avoiding going insane from the constant nightmares and fear that runs rampent through this place, run afoul of any demons and their cameras or beasts patrolling and your story ends rather abruptly Complete the urgent quest and you will advance to the next rank You can explore the next set of zones below and attempt to set up shop as an Evil vendor but its tricky since both the humans and demons will try to steal from you or otherwise hinder your ability to do business automatically Pick any of these three paths that you wish but in order to meet the Architect and reach your end goal you must achieve the final rank and then make the trek to the burned out farm where Mr Barnacle's body was found Every fight in the game is a boss fight so prepare for that and avoid the cameras, as usual Every alligator requires some degree of stragtehy not matter what gear you have equipped Mutators take around 20 minutes to respawn while Ghouls can be as soon as 5 Thugs and demons ; (omnitruck hijackers) will usually take a few hours to respawn Architect demons Eternals will take 1-3 days Careful planning is needed when hunting in zones teeming with life Rule #1 Demons are evil monsters that must be destroyed without remorse by the hand of god Using an end gator weapon on a four foot yearling wont count squat if you dont know what you are doing You will have to fight bigger ones later on Live traps can be anything from cage to container for holding live prey for a long time Rarely beasts captured with them are still alive when you encounter them later so keep that in mind You must be prepared Ignorance of your enemy's terrain is not an excuse, the bible explicitly tells man what his limitations and guides him past potential missteps in life so that he need not die by them Item set-up For now a cross, wooden or otherwise will do but you'll probably want to trade it out later Quick trip to Home Depot: Ignore the headless socket torsos attached to the walls and focus Make sure its tight knit with silver for the job A silver sword would definitely be good since the halfassed crucifix you just carved would be likely to break before the job is done Basic strategy Always try to kill upwards Investors as they will leave minions behind Tryton in the mail which usually take a few days to reach you so be on the lookout for them! Good Hunting Keep at it guard yourself properly and eventually you'll earn upgrades from Mr Rage: Endurance: Use this time to familiarize yourself with your newfound powers and always, always stay away from sunlight Last thing you need is to sparkle like a vampire from those twilight books And guides to the alligators that appear in the Everglades First things first make a chariorot or take one from the Everglades region It will be your home base for now but remember you will need to rely on yourself soon Once that is done check Part 1 of this guide as it tells some more stuff you need to know to get yourself ready It was surely tempting for Tryton to give all his teachers small portions of immortality because the old bastards were getting on his case about when he was going to take over the school Thats already made it pretty far up there in Mostiak's regard so he's probably alrteady launching his own plans something involving toxic waste, late 80s metal music and midgets wrestling or whatever sick freaks enjoy Don given you some crucifixes - which is a holy object dear to almighty God so its certaint to make for an interesting story when the superintendent finds them on you next time you get scanned Process the alligator first as fat from it will make great fire fuel, strip out the meat for future meals and tan the hide for leather to make other things youll need with man for now; youll need to wait at least a day for him to come to and even then it still might be best just killing him now then having him on your case in the future Set aside the delivery He looks like a chubby softy but could be a badass underground fighter for all you know he doesn't look it though Set aside the delivery man for now; Once you have done that you need to carve the crucifix from the most sacred wood around here, grown by angels themselves and commissioned by Tryton himself no doubt, and set it up in the basement Finally though youve got some Free time! Now while you wait for orders from your master or for the arrival of what you're sure is another annoying human escort remember to stary adding to this guide If you bring a grill you can cook the left overs on it Teaches you how to prepare corpses and humans for consumption if needed too Cleaning: Look after yourflesh hook and it'll look after you If it gets rusty or breaks, you're shtuck Movements: See someone you'd like to eat? You better get a good swing in quickly before they start running because youwon'tget a second chance if they do Rare medium well done Gather herbs overnight for potions if you have a mortar and pestle ; (P) Ask Tryton for duties to help improve your standing in the castle, more supplies etc Collect mushrooms once you an see them ; (P) Scavenge food ; Staying Safe: Never present yourself as a suitable target, humans will always go for the weakest ones first Eating habits: Keep hydrated eater your enemies are often wounded prey in need of healing SALVATION IN THE BELLY OF THE ENEMY IS SALVATION FOR YOU Collect honey when possible ; Call those in your domain ; (zombies etc) to you if far from castle ; Find a partner in crime when doing work outside the castle like scavenging, set out together and meet separately so it looks like you're always alone Combine items in certain order and recive a resulting potion food etc collect ingredients for these outside the castle ; Once you aken enough territory were you able to roam as you like find an isolated farmhouse to use as your own so you have a steady food supply Call it your territory and mark it in someway Sometimes things will look hopeless and you will have put the controller down for the duration of the night ; (or possibly days depending on how bad it is) If you "die"then set back to your previous save You have run out of potions PICK UP AFTER YOURSELF It's been 2 years now and you havn't returned home You have fainted twice from hunger and thirst It's not just the zombies and mutants you have to worry about in the wild You join a group of survivors after giving them the score They seem OK and at least you'll have someone to watch your back in future, as long as you're all alive of course can't trust anyone now can you? Gathering quests begin ; Take castle de questiosn ; Run around gathering enough items required to complete the quest or create a diversion if timed needed ; Do You come across other survivors? Day turns to night, its when the undead walk the earth so take extra care not to be caught in open ; Its your birthday! Happy Birthday PCGeneration! WORLD NOT ENDING! questiosn begain? Someone needs honey you know where to find it When you get a message about visitors in need request diplomatics to help them ; Gather your allies and attack the stronghold the humans are hiding in whilst they are at there weakest ; Forge a weapon from a singular piece of metal you managed to scavenge ; Refine these herbs you found into potions ; You could sell them if you want Travel to the hive and get it to join your army ; Wait for most of the stronger creatures to leave then have your zombies swarm in for the leftovers ; You have gathered enough ingredients to make zombi converted henchmen after you drink the solution yourself first ; Give yourself a breather from all the fighting even if it means becoming one of them ; Gather your group and prepare them mentally as much as possible before hitting the road again else you must keep those you care for alive at any and all costs Above all Dont break the egg if you opt to hold it for the monarch but take it as proof of your deed if you require a trophy Temporary Quests For The Meantime Teach your followers how to shoot ; Send your more competent followers out on their first mission ; Zombie invasion! Protect the castle ; Bored? Some times your weapon will bounce off the armoured shells unless they can be flipped over This may require several people working together Abandon the delivery quests and just take full control of the warehouse ; Make a tank like thekind from World Of Warcraft, purely for arsing about in ; Great lizardskull mohWAITWHATTHEHELLBREATHINGSKULLTHATCANTBE Perfect beeing: a delivery game in which you help a bee make it's home ; Use it to take over the warehouse but request that your smaller army of zedead be priviledged with special treatment ; Now they're slow shambling creatures but when one catches you with its bite it's game over Your most basic pounch set up is the starting point for consolidating smaller groups under your leadership ; Good luck horder Presently this quillon is more of an inconvenience than anything else There will be time to make it ornamental later you'll settle for even a little dip in penalty against these blasted infected today is a good day and your time protecting the travellers escorting an ammo truck to the bunker has come to an end Ten potions- use these to recover from minor injuries (reduceshunger mode) One Launcher- reloads automatically ; (self-obvious) Five Grenades Clearly the Lords believed in you giving you the best gear right at the beginnin The Centralized resident's badge will also allow you access to some good areas before the fact Ten mega potions use these to hear after sustaining a major injury inhunger mode ; (reduces your size) Two rifles can be merged together and mounted on your back as a bipod for use with the launcher ; (alternative fire1) Two seeker Jumps-boots that allow short bursts of flight when activated ; (space key) ; (slowly drains power while in use) Two Med kits, very basic but they stop wounds from bleeding out and restore a small amount of health instantly and your healing potion is replaced by a slow release Must combine them from stratch You have one more day before they come for you and this one is yours to do with what you will you can share the other equipment between them too in order for your strain of Creutzfeld-jacobs disease to strengthen and replenish you faster The Lords did you a solid definitely Three or more paintballs placed in a cluster in an infected head guarantees death of that zed ; (and then itstay's dead! Divide your new slave horde in two and set them to attack two seperate large hordes far apart from each other ; Prepare a larger army using all three donated zedead types in the immediate area ; All your new technology is giving you plenty of new options in life Hit an alligator with a paintball and they will be visible on the map for a minmum of ten minutes even if they move ; Same for wolves and cactorises, bears, snakes and deadly small animals as long as the paintball hits them ; Prepare for the bunker with four seekers, four nanocycline-sups and eight piehce & Murdoch ; Maybe suicide two groups of 8+ ZEDS from two of the major hordes in the near future ; (P)Yes That's it Ten minutes can be renewed if another is thrown before it runs out Also increases their intelligence by 50% Alternatively select all infected within 2000 metres of you and absorb them over a period of 4 hours ; It'll destroy their minds but keep them stronger for longer They will also lose all immunity to any symptoms, being able to be slowed, shambled, sneezed or shocked at any time ; (even without your potions or DNA path) Well done steaks decrease hunger need a way to cook them ; Confirm that it is only lasts 8 hours then dissipate You fire back ; With DNA, Pathfind, Camoflage, Hourglass, all their seeking, poisonous and explosive powers one by one 20 whetstone- use these to sharpen your weapon or projectiles and increase the damage ; (sharpening already adds damage) by between 10% and 50% ; Grab 8 infected, dip dart tips in poison, throw for maximum tissue damage poison ; Trip 22 of their32 genes ; (leaving just a zed-dull), fun plus cruelty but less danger to you ; (no more 28-day limit) ; (realistic path only) ; Burn all internal organs to a cinder ; (realistic path (10x)whetstones for your razor, (100x)arrows ; (wooden ones burn great! Items- Dung bombs; ( dung bomb ) Clothes: Padded overalls Trap: Snare trap Treasure; (6x) Gold Coins Sap plant All plant extract can be used to coat your arrows or weapons for small increase in damage ; (some plants are poison and will harm you) Clear ichor is a plant steroid that wil increase the damage of arrows and weapons slightly for about a half hour, but will addict you to it and take ten minutes for your body to stop craving it each time you use it Casing ; ( sap plant stone/iron ) Null berries will protect a small area from zed-chem smell and other smell based attacks for aproximately 4 hours Salve will help you survive bearhugs ; (and ONLY bearhugs) by weakening the zeduplication process, you'll still die eventually though (not that growers will care Parasite is a failed experiment that doesn't seem to do anything Thanks government! And finally your blood, which can be used ; (with caution! Sonic bombs will make you deaf for several hours after constant use, even with earplugs Try to build different classes of weapons starting with bows and arrows ; Good idea! Water blight and other plants ; ( dully moss walnut ) Something has infected you! hp: -50 psy: -40 It's already dissapeared, scouting ahead you reconize the path! it was the psy contagion no way to know if it was an accident or the colony is fighting again Turn back and wait for your health to regen or carry on? Alligators are weakest to ice followed by fire water and thunder Please wait to next round! Crystal bones will these work? Deliver 4 gold fish infected are drawn to it! Deadly nightshade kills in pretty colours Dull moss will stop ichor based infection in an open wound Expose self as a psyhorium slave, gain their trust, wreak havoc inside and outbreak! Some alligators will need you to bring energy drinks to keep them happy! If you can grow them from seeds you get to double your XP! Memory jar; (fruit) will remember your parents faces and play back holographically, emotions and all, but its very fragile Metal toxin Sadly you cannot research any poisonous plants anymore High reach is advised when fighting raiders ; (unreached) Weapom tip upgrades, (bone shards) turn a spear into a piercer Dull moss, stops ichor based infections in an open wound Constantly move, strafing around you and quickly starfing you must allways be moving! behind cover Green Thunder 5000 gets you an amazing 7 for 7 bee headshots 1800! overkill Health potion heals 20 health Was that you or something else? it moved so fast, it also shut closed the door lncorrectly badly twisted the hinges finally it approaches, a black leathery creature, like a wingless gargoyle Watch out for the posion bite It bites at youre head, roll again if possible! You miss the bite but it tries for your neck now, rolling sideways you fake left then go right and HEY! it; s still alive! grants hurtt 800 ; (a roll above 900 means death) Forcing it off with your legs you draw your bow and KRRCHCHCH CRRKKK! Yeha! just like p-dag! GAME OVER! Speeder spider zombies, move fast like lynx, hide well but are slower at climbing Picking up 3 healing leaves heals 6 hp Poor windoors work until they are strong enough to shatter windows! Battle suit saves you from 2/3's of all potential injury no matter your health! You got lucky there Gore magala are not particularly aggressive unless attacked first, then deadly as all **** Burrowing lizards might have their own nest somewhere Peaceful and powerful these bizzare plant-animal hybreds will run away if inclined, Very intelligent But if hurt they will totally forsake thier herbivore natures and fight back viciously with thornmails of acid! Moar luag! Glopratchet rank smell 10 out of 10! Play a crazy wildcard hand of 36! Then pick your favorite food to eat Over cooked some bacon ; (enemy! ) 550! gory crisp crits thats 7 for 18 or 36 if you include the 4 extra from overkill! more health potions please! The whole pack incinerated, no survivors warning playing with fire can get burned! Glopratchet rank smell 10 out of 10! Alright welcome to gloptrachte rank Did you use violent methelmorphatic powers on ELDER GOD beings; (ask if your not sure)? Moar! More! But with competition this time You cannot fall while a enemy is still alive! You have strange premonitions of fighting off worlds armies alongside each other against a common foe Nahhh The old man, like all super mutants is very strong and tough, although lacking in spped he will try for bomb first Alright welcome to gloptrachte rank 9! Clickbait: And How you Can Get Tired of it in 1 Second A ex black-op member who must now kill all members of his old team before an organisation is passed the information that he still lives You succeed killing the 2 remaining beavos but fall off a balcony and break your legs The year is 20XX Here is wehre you get the title of one of the most difficult video game ever made Due ot thge activiy of various organizatins such as vice mil and united knights Here is wehre you get the title of one of the most difficult video game ever made! so far in this game You have made over 25 maps but this is different This map has grass that is maroon! popularnuty? it's better than what you've already made popular tbqh mmmmkk it might just Alligators in g rank hit a ton harder than anything you have faced yes! take of lots of work though The stegosaurus has an odd paralell with technology The spikes on its back, shaped like tall buildings this is no tyrano saurus Alligators in g rank hit a ton harder than anything you have faced so far in this game Its not uncommon to faint once or twice during a delivery even when wearing end gator gear Get a motorbike with spikes and barbwire weaves The greatest games end up in movies, books, even cartoons! And even if they are bad, people still watch them because they get hyped up so much! Sadly the best thing you can say about this park is that it's better than being homeless Make a new chariot as soon as you hit g rank Make a new chariot as soon as you hit g rank! Sometimes trackers will leave the comfort of towns and cities One noted : "Out there, the game watches you back morbidus lake ; (unconfirmed): Known to be a fishing spot of tragic deaths and suicides, It is unknown if it is the lake itself or something living within this lake holds an endanger amount offish and swimmer have claimed it as the best they ever fished Tetsucabra x Tetsucabra x 3 Hotel ; (encorperated 5 years ago, joined W 2 years ago) Seregios Hotel works on the basis that cleanliness is next to Godliness So it affords its guest live musical entertainment ; (BAND)son the hour and provides a 5 star chef who specialized in lobster thermidor Sadly guest comments about the rooms always are: TOO BUGGY! Seregios Seregios Hotel ; Regios x Regios most majestic sight, the auroras above the large canal Regios x8 grow wild here They are the main ingredient in birthday pie, a rich man's treat You befriended this merchant when selling him night lanterns for his trading cart He invited to eat with him and you accepted He was going to rob you but your nature won him over and he didn't Birthday berries Birthday berries grow wild here is the only way to lure out plugs but all lizards do is fall over No further strategy is involved here How to make money by 'pimping' bugs! Buy a loan of snails from a merchant at a bazzar ; ( Exchange a few night lanterns) They reproduce rapidly and can be spent down equally as quick by selling their slime as a mentch remedy, They nuturalise hallucenogenic compounds and even cures minor poisons Chasing tail Chasing tail is the only way to lure out plugs but all lizards do is fall over It creates a spike in the ground which increases the size of the hitbox and makes it a bit harder to avoid The hitbox, upon collison with a monster OR player knocks them up in the air Would require testing but some of W (wildlife regulators of non-clashese handbook) suggest this could even work on larger creatures such as giants and barbwires! Alligator Gar Association deathmatching event incase you don't feel like hunting Berserk tetsucabra popcorn, sodas and toilets are all free, however everything else is docked from your winnings There aren't as many bogs but they're deeper ANDyou will meet the most wealthiest hunters here-friendly faces will abound! The hotel has been approved to be stable structure so it wont collapse on you during sleep- You always have the option to pitch a tent! Berserk tetsucabra deathmatching event incase you don't feel like hunting Blouder that explode after crunching them drinking an antidote for poison spewed from a flower? breaking wind to move raft faster? No wonder hunters get themselves into so much trouble here items needed: Creature resitance to fire, Bring fishing rod and antiderinter ; (it's always good bring an antidote) Bloodfins are small fish with sharp teeth Blouder that explode after crunching them? Multi-gator species with the smallest being only 15cm and the largest 1 Venoammic: rare 0 2% chance of popping up in any given body of water even islands are hosts to these creatures, everything eats them to they've adapted SUCKING UP everything around them but the list of what wont eat is shorter Dont let them drain your stamina! Multi-gator species with the smallest being only 15cm and the largest 1 Fashion victim Venoammics scary because of there weak sc'; aw, it's actually their skin that we should be fearing! Both male and female venoammic's skin release a colourless, odourless, tasteless liquid that when expoded forcefully enough it covers nostrils and floods the mouth of its enemies in a detergent which coat'es the lungs with mucus and ruins the taste buds The worst bit? There gunks are firequently laced with poison They go quickly down! Primarily predators there used to fighting fishes that OUTNUMBER them WITHOUT teamwork! They managed to AMPutate there predator: prey ratio with the simple smartness of cooperation and playing defencively Topple You can be smarter then your enemy, it's not about tactics or strength it's all in your mind games! Tapeworm: Inner lands fish, they're longer than islands measuring up to 100m but only 3cm think Topple: Pivot in circle vs awakardly shuffling around It's no fun pulling fishes teeth out-WHY NOT! How machine gun toothfish operate, They claim a 5: 1 kill to death ratio if used in proper numbers with other toothfish With these enemies lets hope you remembered you troutslappas! These can be plentiful in fresh-water bodies and taste like both fish and flesh YOU EAT EVERYTHING, RIGHT? Eacht delivery needs a name and number some collectors specialise in singles- only ever having one growing cyst Just choose your number! share them on twin caves! give them pet names! added friends to moabit kill list GREAT thats a good start Eacht delivery needs a name and number, Grand finals confrontation "Din knows your name and I won't stop singing it! " the chief yells slam some dusty VHS tapes in dvd players to capture this battle forever 3 venoms rollypolyp is never safe these crucificuses fleep robots are more brutal than those from ghoul catcher island! roll on that death curing ointment! Serptintine samba -no, no this is where you want to be with venemous friends Sieze slot machine arm handles ouse leave angry venomous witnesses behind when you leave They were guarding chances for richer jackpots life's full of richters! they'er only planet identiusonides with tarantula symbols-worth scaninating? Serptintine samba-no, Serpent serande a garland of Garcias for being host with the most! your the conquerer of a poison circus "you'll have venom trance nightmares about me" the chief laughed, "the devils defecating dreams don't have a quarter of the cruelty I've stored for you! " he spat "This island is my empire! I'll flood it with five times more poison then planned and drown every one of your allies up there! Serpent serande a garland of Garcias for being host with the most! Death and taxidermy lessons learnt-no no no! keep this voodoo addiction under the hood, I'll hate what everyone will be able to learn about you! Death and taxidermy lessons learnt-no no no! Primate plunder No! I'll be above using the skulls of fallen friends and family for decor! however The "Black mandrill" that the monkeys fondly call it need a new name after killing it right? Despite all animals on moabit adapting to include venom whys theirs an apparent shortage of cobras? Be the first on your island to keep one as a pet AND be one of the greatest animal trappers/pet owners of all time use mines to get one Hunger games qualification-you can NEVER leave prey alive, even if it mocks your pitiful life with a sadistic smile the 2nd rule of the hunger games isn't a suggestion Everybody loves a circus-only happy families visit islands 4, and 6! if you want to make more of them you need more people alive! poison is out, melee weapons are the way forward if you want the crowd cheering and kids snatching at toys based on your adventures! Sellout? Hunger games qualification-you can NEVER leave prey alive, Line in the sand there is human and then there's everyone else Monkeys, snakes and fish are fine recycling their organs but humans? never! too sentient a clown goes inhuman, he takes a knife to his own wife and son first you must be willing to lesser evils for the greater good of humanity! like eating peoples livers and spitting out their eyes So do you want to live looking inwards or act looking outwards towards others? Line in the sand, Chumming the waters for monthly feedback to keep you stunted and smallor, or feeding the masses your deepest darkest secrets for a seat at the world rulers table? Bombshell! you've been selected by Huntress to become her apprentice in harvesting island 4! Now she needs toaudience, doesn't matter good or bad just as long asomeone's watching She can copy anything after all Chumming the waters for monthly feedback to keep you stunted and smallor, torcher twins or Triple trouble? itonly matters in packaging, Victoria will try them Echo, jason, sleepyhead, bonnie and clyde they're only good as groups name either way they're always up for ave addertion trust is their super power plan ahead and never break it Bug be gone of the terrible twins hypodermic needle folk they're only ever giving medication never withhold for the greater good Bug be gone of the terrible twins torcher twins or Triple trouble? with the yawn toxin! keep away from the left one it'll turn you into a ghoul keeping you inside the clown organ farm to work for eternity For island 7 select the asmocita's cow to three armed shreiker monkey "Handful of cheeky monkeys as night watchmen what fun! Do I get one as a pet? use it as a hat? Both alligators are infected Both alligators are infected with the yawn toxin! Just bring nullberries to conter the frenzy Just don't let them out of your sight for a second, they are evil incarnite, little demons! "Your right their intent is to seduce human males into an indecent act by stripping Tell them to tone it down or strip themselves it's one or the other "Trust rating? how much? " numbers represent actual trust "+10/-1" Queen substance can be procurred from desert seltas and selta's shinies tested and tried for thousands of years you know it'll keep you going Huntress can copy anything once ; (just once! ) but only after seeing it in person and remember it vividly think carefully on this you decide what's the best use! Now go "Send trusted""" "Send trusted""" The front page is nothing but quests and friend adverts nowadays! And then there's you, the warrior, with it's offerings of bloodthirsty quests and exciting dangers One eye glances across it with disinterest before a shiver goes down your spin at the second page, with it's dark backgrounds pussy after all? Scared of a few ghosts? The front page is nothing but quests and friend adverts nowadays! Go get the honey then hoping carefully lest the bee's get you first Three types of bees here regional, island and crystal and we want the crystal ones unless you're allergic in which case you can take your pick beating the raw meat to get a rise out of them by flying away just as you approach you have any food on you? That'll do splendidly "it looks like all these fine fellows need is a little Input Go get the honey then hoping carefully lest the bee's get you first by donating 50 pages worth of memory USB sticks to hang beside their tank! "The ants outnumber you 10, 000 to 1 so ensure you brought at least 10, 000 of your closest friends! Alligators are sick go heal them Alligators are sick go heal them by donating 50 pages worth of memory USB sticks to hang beside their tank! Alligator virus is spreading must heal them all by bringing 50 of each bandages colors! A whole island , 6 feet under in the form of graves! Zombies, naturally walk, some shamble toward you The hungry ones break into a run, fast ones are only just coming onto the scene learn their Schwifty* phase: white eyes and green gasping breath mixed with sharp claws and brandished weapons almost indistinguishable from your kind Only darting maneuvers will do now so do them quickly! Alligator virus is spreading must heal them all by bringing 50 of each bandages colors! Need alligator tail pronto The choice is always yours, but your actions have consequences You can read this towering pillar of words from top to bottom and side to side Airships float around the edges of the page as more and more things seem to get written on it as time goes on Need alligator tail pronto! after a not so grand battle with a large beast, you walk away with it's laser rifle in hand as more burst onto the scene It doesn't take long before someone has working knowledge of how to use one Then someone else Then everyone New players are led by Graham and Chortleplex in the newly renamed Outland Republic Religion finally stands a real chance now that our enemies have left the stage At last you finally come toe to toe with the seregios resistances from the eyes, thumbs and teeth sold separately Mind the cow implant how to keep up with the required food intake Great: now even our medical commercials sound like threats Staring at numbers is no longer a chore when every single scene makes our book longer Why would you ever want to go outside again, when literally everything is available to you right here? And the best part? Bleeding ailment Bleeding ailment resistances from the eyes, Health will decrease as you spring or evade our traps unless you read ahead to avoid them Santology ups it's security substantially every time something happens which results in self-driving cars and trucks becoming the new norm soon enough because even future-you is bound to be stopped by the odd rogue android or crazed AI one day right? And it's not just atheists talking to rocks or aliens anymore; we all talk to our firearms now thanks to limited AI modifications Health will decrease as you spring or evade our traps unless you read ahead to avoid them Mosswine jerky or steaks to cure a wide variety of poisons! Work quickly and all the cheats are right here in this ice You can't trust the ice It's not normal for a human being to end life as one, but then you've never been one it melting And suddenly you're looking through the eyes of a dung beetle, situated between some hair-like growths on a massive plant Mosswine jerky or steaks to cure a wide variety of poisons! Farm for equipment or grow wealthy with crops! Watch out for zealous manhunters though, they cling on everything After eating an antload driver on his way to work one morning he decided he was allergic to three kinds of food and disliked the other sixty two types He pouts in a room made completely out of turnips "Run awaaaaay! Run or shoot back? Ooh, these ones seem to make people's faces melt off! Farm for equipment or grow wealthy with crops! Beast not quite busted says disgruntled shametheft Vagrom ultraprejudiced pigfarmers, insane children and loud excuses to be violent What kind of column is this? Beast not quite busted, Brute tigrex Has this guy even been outdoors before? Apparently not all ancients perished during the great war! After several skirmishes with these long necked, spike shelled terrors you enter a canyon and suddenly feel eyes watching you A perked ear, flicked tail and strange skin pattern indicates it's in an ambush position Soon you meet beast number one! It takes all your skill to dodge clumsy attacks as they try to anticipate your tactics Brute tigrex? having sabotaged most projectile weapons you resort to sportsmanlike melee tactics Fortunately that's when the benefits of evolution kick in and they become docile vegetarians that enjoy folk music Temper tantrum somehow babies want crunchy things to eat Great Terror birds Nobody likes terror birds Temper tantrum having sabotaged most projectile weapons you resort to sportsmanlike melee tactics Showdown with the dreaded emperor! is that a tape on his head? Apparently these fellows aren't as dangerous as the local news made them out to be After some dancing to distract it from the gunshot victim that was your first kill away from home you hopped on the back of this giant flying swamp lizard and wrestled with the strange metal helmet for victory! Showdown with the dreaded emperor! Brute tigrez is a true force to be reckoned with How did i not think of hunting these sooner? The new superheated, phoenix and explosive rounds tore through the hordes of scavenging birds that threatened my planet Simple modified explosive arrows for the smaller scavengers and airships and cryo arrows for the feared harpies themselves 2x, 3x, 5x? Let's try 63x! Brute tigrez is a true force to be reckoned with! Topple or mount the alligator to access the tail you'll need it for it's poison to make medicine and gunpowder! From up there you can invite new friends to join your village which now has running electricity, hot food and fast transportation! I'm glad I had these beast masters and engineers, lets see the beast master! 8 large carnivorous frog creatures, each with unique abilities will really improve my odds against the next menace! Pretty birds It's illegal to kill pretty birds but they try to kill me Topple or mount the alligator to access the tail! Things go south very quickly after she becomes enraged and being forced to kill her before she killed me But I managed to reassert myself as a force in this land with the assistance of my new friends, the apex predators Things go south very quickly after she becomes enraged and being forced to kill her before she killed me readily available in survival so you can charge headfirst into battle From sniper to shock troop, from weak and skinny ex-farmboy to leader of monsters, I now control an army that dares the world to stand against me Come here lover, I promise it'll only hurt for a little bit A grotersquely high increase in speed and damage buff that might make a single hit ruin your day A grotersquely high increase in speed and damage buff that might make a single hit ruin your day readily available in survival so you can charge headfirst into battle Nobody knows that better than you You grunt loudly while slamming the ragged chunk of tooth against the cutting edge of your triangular shaped tribal knife Breaking teeth takes a lot of hard work Little bits of blood and saliva fly out from between your teeth as you angrily bite down, your face twisting in pain Beads of sweat form on your forehead and roll down to join others, previous drops already there The tail can also be severed but this requires specialized training and tools as well as specialized poison for the blade, you think It would also hurt a lot, to the point where most people break under the pain of their adrenalin overriding the suppression of the venom, potentially causing them to faint and not even know if they lived long enough for the tail to be severed With these knives though it has become a rarity as fewer and fewer humans reach sexual maturity and even many adults now live in societies that prohibit violence The tail can also be severed, You stop your work, dropping a half formed bloody lump to the ground, swallowing thickly as you take in a lungful of air The process already painful and uncomfortable to begin with, but with each swing of your saw-like knife, it gets easier to forget about it as you bite down hard each time, the physical pain overtaking the psychological and emotional pain for a while Sniffing, you blow your nose into a small scrap of cloth Bold of pink outbreak It's not even an entire handkerchief really, just half of one really You hold it out and look at it, seeing a few dry spots, but no big clots or anything Lifting it to your face, you smell the faint sent of blood and nostrils from your bloody left nostril It doesn't hurt anymore at least Probably just mucus that got in there G3 permit quests You sit in your little dark room as the dawn breaks through the small window that is just above your head Down below everything is quiet and still, as everyone in the whole town is still asleep You didn't sleep at all though The pain was more than enough to keep you up Into the heavens Since chamelos can temporaril turn himself invis ilbe - or rather a lighter shade of grey, for a brief moment, you think back to the beginning where you mentioned that they considered themselves hunters While it seems chamelos just like preying on fear, there was still truth to it poperly, and their abilities reflect such a nature Since chamelos can temporaril turn himself invisilbe - or rather a lighter shade of grey, The true ba of all hunters was not their prey, but urgency The sun gleaming off of fresh crimson within his nostrils You take one last look at your hands, examining the workmanship of the tusk embedded into your palms and sealing shut the back of your hands The true ba of all hunters was not their prey, charge based on information given to me by my guide was what finally killed it While I burned with fever the entire ride to Rajang grounds, and beyond! But that is another story Hanging your head, blood drips from your tusks and falls onto the stone beneath you You've become accustomed to the feeling of fresh blood through your new hands periodically leaking out A g rand furious rajang You feel no more thirst, though you remember the burn of it all too well A g rand furious rajang charge based on information given to me by my guide was what finally killed it The very same He looks behind himself at the blue vile of quagmire poison still sitting on the floor nearby, then back to you "As you'd expect, as soon as word got out that human were in possession of powerful new weapons a small army was sent out to retrieve them Or rather, just retrieve you I imagine the soldiers decided to have the new ammunition drafted as their own once they saw its power first hand Advanced quagmire quarrel Advanced quagmire quarrels? Demolisher cannon shells? They would need to be made of much stronger metal for them to have done much more damage than what you describe One heard in a newton rifle, musket, 400 model, and some other rifles that I'm less familiar with I honestly thought it was some sort of embellishment when I heard about it myself Turns out the embellisher was the news reporter that misidentified the type of ammunition impressive no doubt Demolisher cannon shells? Gogmazios is a big brute, there's no denying that and it certainly would make sense that his hide would be harder to pierce than the average wyvern Still holding your arm, you feel the sharp spike of bone against your nose Your eyes start to burn again as the physical pain is enough to bring on another round of sobbing Gunnery Sergeant Capelli ; (retired), Globe-Trotter Guild representative flamesmoke and kerosene and standard ammunition from heavy repeaters Dragons and Long-worms 1 win Dragons and Long-Worms 2 win As you're sobbing into your knees, feeling like a small child, you hear the stomping of large feet on the soil outside They sound as if they're right nearby This is soon followed by a booming roar that resounds not only through your ears, but deep within your chest Weakest to fire and completely immune to status effects Weakest to fire and completely immune to status effects flamesmoke and kerosene and standard ammunition from heavy repeaters Considering no human hand has touched this diary, it's owner is unlikely to have survived the assault Especially considering the owner cut off his own hand in order to distract an apex predator long enough for his allies to fell it You would be surprised however if whatever ate him would end up the main course of another meal later on Glossary NOTE: Whenever anyone says 'Seb' or 'human' they are refering to the Sebians Apex alligator that cover their entire body Perptually enraged and have extremely tough hides Seem to be entirely carnivorous, usually feeding by tearing prey ; (or opponents) limb from limb then devouring them Kelbalbians are human-like existences that inhabit isolated parts of the Keb planet Although seen as dim-witted and barbaric by the richer, more advanced humans they are not regarded as true threats and are often hunted for their skins, which are used to make books Perptually enraged and have extremely tough hides that cover their entire body is a disease that causes sores to develop all over the infected's body and progressively inflicts them with intense pain that ultimately leads to neural shutdown followed by death of the brain The disease is spread through fluids although direct contact with an infected's blood is enough in some cases ; Blast blight e through fighting) Blast blight is a disease that causes sores to develop all over the infected's body and progressively inflicts them with intense pain that ultimately leads to neural shutdown followed by death of the brain venom is a vicious toxin first encountered by explorers of the Kelbalbian mountains ; (hence the name), although a powerful drug it's still possible for those without tolerance to receive a fatal dose Despite being human-like they are utterly hairless with brownish skin and black eye sockets Their unnaturally long twisted necks cause their heads to be positioned facing downward This combined with their size gives them a somewhat frog-like appearance Molten tigrex Molten tigrex venom is a vicious toxin first encountered by explorers of the Kelbalbian mountains ; Doomsday tier fatalis are apex predators found in extremely hostile environments; they are known to kill and eat other apex predators under certain circumstances A shotgun/clearning style weapon with multiple barrels which are loaded smoothly and quickly using an advanced gas-seal system Loads varies from bullets that spread and ricochet to fire-pot shards that explode on contact with anything other than hard surfaces Eviscerator Annihilators! Doomsday tier fatalis are apex predators found in extremely hostile environments; Guild quests are not necessarty component to completing the game but you can get some pretty neat stuff from them At the end of each successful mission you get to pick out a prize are sometimes available after particularly difficult quests, you may pick ONE item of your choice Relic reward One hunter killed can return to the quest giver to transfer the quest to someone else It's pretty dark and we've been travelling for miles underground in search of what is supposedly a fire-breathing apeth Relic reward are sometimes available after particularly difficult quests, from the rarest and most powerful of Keb's predators, they can sometimes be traded for ancient relics A huge double-ended axe Rare drops Sharpest implement ever- wrought by human hands A strange urn is all that remains of the traveller, after drinking molten lava he suffered a terrible death as the lava cooled inside his organs Rare drops from the rarest and most powerful of Keb's predators, Almost every alligator has one of these curled up on their backs Sharpens any weapon, but really wants a skull to lick May grant the holder magic powers beyond their comprehension allowing them influence over others There have been several instances where it has been known to cause insanity (These effects only occur after a Chain boss or Elder is killed) Hunt's Over Enormous orbs of some sort of mysterious glowing substance were hacked off the Kepher's body after a long and difficult battle with it Almost every alligator has one of these curled up on their backs Alligators eat some to the strangest stuff - even rocks Something about their humunculi creators, the fire within You have everything you need for the task ahead of you Sleep well in your tent tonight and set out to conquer the fire god tomorrow Alligators eat some to the strangest stuff- even rocks The team worked for days digging to the volcano's core and have successfully found a huge, fiery being ; (all gathered around him) flying with bat-like creatures THe Fire God was angry- something you've always hoped and dreamed for some people question why you're on this excursion if you don't even believe what they do, complain and protest but are still assigned technically as support You now there is always the one piece which never seems to drop is applied and the "battle" is on Queen extract You stand on the sidelines for the last time As people fall into and get knocked out of the fighting immediately, you just sit there watching as your named title conquers, kills and dies gloriously as the head of the mission As beams from space lasers control by the god himself blast through people's hearts your very essence becomes small and you quite literally feel like an ant beneath someone's stomping foot Queen extract is applied and the "battle" is on However you kept your human appearance and ability to communicate in this battle although you don't know why You just sit there taking it all in People rise back from the dead thanks to a resurrected leader who claims he can control the ant, but it's no use One by one in quick succession, they are burned up and wink out of existence Bringing a bow and arrow into the fight towards its closing seconds was probably not the best idea though Success! The energy within can be used to power many, many creations- However the Kepher beasts remain extinct The humans carry on their lives as they always have, under a different rulerull than the cruel Regime Some worship you and the others as Gods for your deeds, but they all know a few truth: There are no Gods Although it lasted hundreds or thousands of years Immortal reactor THE Regime is no more Long Live the Revolution! Immortal reactor: Barach pallium The "Ruins" are overgrow with all manner of plant, but it was once a near-indestructible palace overlooking sprawling city covered with the densest population seen on this planet Your rule was that everyone had their place and despite the expansion there would be no new nations created by others All people would be part of the Kophir Fandrost government which you ran, although there was representation is a largely idealistic effort to reach out to some sort of United Species apart from humanity with scifi technology, but a meeting like that is too centralized and easy for the Regime to attack, so it never transpired The inhabitants live in tribal village societies without any real contact with your group although they leave you alone presuming you live in ruined cities and other out-of-the-way outposts gathering resources as best you can Rathian ruby Rathian ruby is a largely idealistic effort to reach out to some sort of United Species apart from humanity with scifi technology, is a new crime war which breaks out unexpectedly, with silent knives in the dark, poisonings and gunfights Tigrex mantle Tigrex mantle is a new crime war which breaks out unexpectedly, Pulsating blastheart psychos surround areas with volatile psychic energy which make them impossible to break into, and get deeper fuelings from there Creation of Power-belts which give small push / pull forces for lifting heavy objects and knockout gas Confederacy of Cassad, a backwaters World using a combination of tanks and mechs to full effect and overwhelm Rask , conquer past half of it, but not your holdings Pulsating blastheart psychos surround areas with volatile psychic energy which make them impossible to break into, Send your warmasters and people out to find every minor nation, faction, consortium, corporation, tribe or other organisation to become a part of the Regime through extortion, threats or other means Many worlds are picked clean, forcing them into "economic memberships", giving you a larger tax base and worker pool which can be used for more conquests Conquest sphere Conquest sphere: Wartorn dragonsphire is test of your largest: 3 front war attacks from the Regime, have a part of your territory, namely your naval base worlds You're out-manned, out-gunned, but your forces are more united and far more motivated, as is standard with Regime conquests You win an important space battle which leaves the entire Regime fleet to be under your command at which point they surrender a majority of their forces Wartorn dragonsphire is test of your largest: How much is life is just a delivery service for written messages in your era? Carriers, express deliveries and other mail-based businesses come together to form a giant company at the heart of your space territory It uses faux-generously sized "offers" to get in with the people who need to send letters, as well as enter with products from other Factions, despite highly-secured and oft repaired delivery pads They ensure that they are one of the most used companies on the market The leader "Vohn" How much is life is just a delivery service for written messages in your era? You want this ok i will bring it to you so you dont have to go get it The leader is the one who finds these obscure little settlements which are used for intelligence about the state of certain worlds, contact with people and many other things You take out an empty beaker and put your hand on the plug which extends outward to let you operate it using psychic energy conduction They have a more superfluous purpose than you or other faction leaders in that extended sense, but they fill it very well Gargwa are ostrich like birds that run around a lot Probably roadworks or something, you imagine Eyelander is clearly still not satisfied with his current share of traingulate resources for his goodworks in citizens there He gives empty promises that he'll build up the place and make it better defended since defencive duty is expected for normal citizens, but since he's not actually doing so construction work, just giving what people already pay for a bigger wages, they're not entitled to complain Gargwa are ostrich like birds that run around a lot To get them to drop an egg attack them from behind Have the attack be more of a slap than anything else and a hollow one at that Give yourself large feather tufts coming out the back of your head, stick your arms out to the side a bit and pose like an ostrich and spraypaint the surrounding area from rooftops to give the impression of bombing runs laying an egg I'm sure they'll get the joke, or at least laugh as they board up their windows as is their conduct during air raids To get them to drop an egg attack them from behind or something Kyxhyssss! They clearly haven't experienced a successful assassination at all in their lifetimes, otherwise they wouldn't be so predictable about saying obvious reveals You wonder how difficult it would be to change Kyros' skin colour or some such if they started figuring it out "Greetings, honored duardin! I am Kyros, and I wish to parlay! " You broadcasted loudly Kecha wacha wallop Kecha wacha wallop! him off, along with revealing a hidden section of wall Probably an escape route Kyros apparently has dozens of spaceships which are partially concealed by the smoke screens and psychic shields already deployed You make quick work of destroying the relatively small scouts and fighters, but you know you'll be fighting a holding action at best until Kyros can bring more ships into the battle Withdrawing seems like the only option you have Lair scare Lair scare him off, crashes You blame the orks This'll put you in a good position to chase the little shits down with your army behind them, but not in a direct confrontation with the space marine / inquisitor team at least You're still faster than they are though, and an obstacle course isn't exactly what the space marine was planning on doing anyway He just wants to find the Orks You on the other hand An alliance? Snow with occasional lamborgini Snow with occasional lamborgini crashes Uncorner the market onslaughts and put out solar panels there first, then buyout the small local renewables and nuclear plants, turning them off and preventing the reprocessing on the waste Suddenly drop the price of heat energy below the cost it takes to make it and see what happens The planet could become an easily controllable hot spot that way, for as long as it stays warm Or until people actually start to think for themselves a little more, work out what's happening and rebel Uncorner the market onslaughts and put out solar panels there first, Advanced tigrex terror harness comes with a gatling small enough to fit in your hand, in various skin tones Tail upgrades, including whips, spikes, poisons, sacs of debilitating goo and more All moves available in other classes available as moves You can give up certain advantages in certain areas for others Focusing on fast and powerful moves rather than dodging for example Advanced tigrex terror harness comes with a gatling small enough to fit in your hand, Praise the Emperor! Smash the unholy Xenos filth and those that embrace them! Penetrate the heretics and correct their misguided beliefs! Cast down the Psykers and those who rely on unexplainable magic! Smash, Burn, Kill and Destroy! Keep some mounted soldiers Autopilot if possible Use grenades more Deploy swordsmen in thinner areas of forest where they can easily disrupt LOS Hanner it out Hanner it out! with vehicles where possible Trip mines, remote charges and launch rocket attacks You make your preparations as you withdraw, heading back from whence you came Throne! They actually sent a Goddamned army after you! What the hell could Guasacht have done! best not to worry about it now, you just have to get prepared You were expecting a single Marine or a small group, maybe an Inquisitor but an Army? That's insane Catch and release Catch and release with vehicles where possible magnitude = Tremendous You know this is serious when you see the serious weaponry coming out to play The Army had been slowly pulling back before this, letting you do your work, rolling slowly but surely up towards the city center and gradually surrounding it, keeping you away from the High Prince Fear factor But now that army is firmly entrenched, blocking your path and looking down upon you from their Howitzers, Tanks andSelf Propelled Guns Fear factor magnitude = Tremendous (Flat refute on Investigation 2) You are a lonely little ghost, sitting all alone All alone This delivery cannot be completed by normal means After you witness the alligator being attack by a steve the master of defense will force the quest into failure unless you can solve this riddle soon After you witness the alligator being attack by a steve the master of defense will force the quest into failure unless you can solve this riddle soon to 4th floor by 1pm Refute spirit's denial ; (How did bones get into warehouse in first place? The hideous demon that you have been hiding from all this time is nowhere to be seen now and with him out of the way, you feel as though a great weight has been lifted off your chest Deliver fossilized bones You could actually breathe easier now, something that you haven't done in quite some time Deliver fossilized bones to 4th floor by 1pm how fudging long have you been playing this game? I DONT KNOW, BUT MY RIGHT FOOT IS SLEEP! this is when you know the story has been dragging on a bit too long Getting frustrated now as ive been playing for over 3 hours and still cant figure out wtf to do after the river troll part Kushala kushowdown Kushala kushowdown! I don't think they exist yet Carry on playing, will get back to this after 5th hour when boredom feels like fading that's one hell of a climax! Well done chaps! A weapon that fires masses of pure alligator energy A weapon that fires masses of pure alligator energy? The echoing roar of Neroth's last struggle manages to wake you from your joint-induced dreamless sleep Opening your eyes, you immediately sit up, scanning your surroundings while rubbing the remaining sleep out of your eyes You're in thin air, spread-eagle and naked! To your left is the barely moving silhouette of Neroth, wings tucked in to prevent fall; he too is naked with long white hair humiliatingly draped over his face The echoing roar of Neroth's last struggle manages to wake you from your joint-induced dreamless sleep Black rock down The alligators can smell fear (claws on metal railing? How come nobody notices or cares that there are thousands of alligators surrounding Bastok? The spotlight which you still can't locate is very intense, like flash photo intense Hint: Neroth needs new clothes! The alligators can smell fear ; The fear mechanic must out, or maybe monster creator being a pain in the butt? Up to you chaps! Escaping won't be easy, lots of options: swimming ; (too many alligators! ) back to arena ; (locked) , jumping off side & getting hidden by crowd below, breaking glass and riding rope of trousers back down End Thank you for your interest in our game, Alice! We hope you'll continue helping Neroth for now The fear mechanic must out, to Penguin Fortress tomorrow! (Gentlemen of the High Council, do not alter your game in any way Alice's Ticket has been identified as GUEST553 and her game will be shutting down shortly Shipping out Shipping out to Penguin Fortress tomorrow! ed a special build of the game especially for his *ahem* use Pass this information on to Penguin Fortress security immediately and indefinitely halt the playing of this build to anybody without permission from your management or myself Noctural commision This includes all employees, excepting only those directly involved in tracking and apprehending Guest553 I look forward to seeing our records both bloated and deflated simultaneously as you arrest and remove this tirekical pest It's really for the best Noctural commisioned a special build of the game especially for his *ahem* use Dah'ren will briefly shrink into the swamp to produce a speark from his side now trailing a stream of blood I hope you like the taste of cold steel, fnessian scum! He rasps, before sliding into the swamp himself You ready yourself for the charge of the remaining two spearmen, as Dah'ren explodes out of the water behind them! The speark leader barely turns in time to parry his powerful shove Dah'ren will briefly shrink into the swamp to produce a speark from his side, in a matter of seconds! Barely needing to incline his body, the spear flails into a wild bind Left with only a dry hit, then, the would-be killer only narrowly evades death by steel as the wooden spike whistles past his throat They break their ready stance to raise their weapon for another lunge, but find themselves already beaten as Dah'ren rushes low to ram the other's stomach! Preadtor into prey Preadtor into prey in a matter of seconds! Afraid of the dark Hide and freak out Go forth and conquest! The next part is optional; it's up to your group whether you want it to continue or to end the game here You find yourself lying flat on your back in a cramped space of rotting wood Your fellow sailors are crowding around you, congratulating you, as if you'd actually done something worth celebrating for Hide and freak out Dinner guests receive a delightful meal, our very own Fel jurisdiction apologises for the lack of manners from it's officers through their quest to maintain law and order throughout our fair County, Ladies are reminded their cabins are available should they wish to retire from the table due to pregnancy, poor anatomy or just elegance, The gentlemen in attendance have received their designated seating positions and may proceed whenever ready Dinner guests receive a delightful meal, Buffet style dining is available as standard! If you please head to your table and take a number from the pole, your food will be brought to you when it's ready If you prefer to eat in the bar, seats are available and food can be ordered at your leisure Thank you for using Sincale Tours, and have a pleasant stay on our fair isle! Buffet style dining is available as standard! You have compelte the alligator delivery service you may now collect your earnings at the counter or enjoy your meal! Thank you for flying Sincale Tours! How fun with post game content be if while tasked with arresting prominent fnessian enemies you hunted down a lead to Penguin fortress or to all out war and bloodshed How fun with post game content be if while tasked with arresting prominent fnessian enemies you hunted down a lead to Penguin fortress And crafting your favorite armors toughts? haahahaha! I will submit more content in a form if this wish is granted! Maybe even ideas for a new criminal event or two And crafting your favorite armors, 's marine covert operations, or the Fel navy's boarding and seizure of criminals from an anchored ship in fair seas hmmmmm! Blastblight Blastblight's marine covert operations, Striking gold with a big find or bounty capture could even be added to the game! Random travellers, with no affiliation to one's self, making for great events Striking gold with a big find or bounty capture could even be added to the game! Into the mist one travels, what dangers it may hold is advantageous over the trusted traders on route! What's this? A Bounty? Right there and then you are given the opportunity to either apprehend or disregard the target, your own Ship beside you and a Special Ops team of decorated officers Lying in ambush, two good men set aside from your group rise to the challenge Within minutes they return victorious with the fragile form of their prey Into the mist one travels, in the team! Ahoy welcomes you aboard, any new equipment can be seen on our racks The captain has requested that special attention should be paid to the new armor sets, and any upgrades made available to your equipment while aboard! While on board, your role is as important as any other in keeping the ship safe from harm, ensuring not a single coin is wasted achieving mission success Looking at equipment can help determine what role you will play Looking at equipment can help determine what role you will play in the team! For example a hunter with a hammer will attack the monsters head on, using raw strength to deliver massive blows to an enemy Thus improving the damage of his hammer should be his key focus! An engineer on the hand uses tools and gadgets in the fight, building weapons for others to point and click at their target Utilizing substances such as liquid fire, a blazing inferno or an explosion they will use all means possible to bring the foe down! For example a hunter with a hammer will attack the monsters head on, Nothing makes for poor damage than four guys tripping each other up trying to get to the monsters head or seven dwarves setting the monsters foot on fire, blowing off all it's toes without doing any real damage! Working as a team is key! Since tools in this case are not made of metal and are often very costly, It is recommended to equip everyone with equal items! And so, you're furnished with standard equipment based on your role Nothing makes for poor damage than four guys tripping each other up trying to get to the monsters head, Watch for upswings super pounds and gi shells Now is the right time to use non-order armors such as the wulven adventurer set, gilded pauldron and shock prow predecessor! You will also retain these sets while on missions, as your role and place in the crew are important Keep up the good work! L&E out Watch for upswings super pounds and gi shells! Certian weapon attack can be incredibly disruptive towards other hunters It's been brought to my attention by the head of the Hunters guild that sometimes bolts can randomly become attracted or electricuted to another player causing minimal damage! Although ranged weapons are a generally unreliable due to this fact, it is strongly advised to attack using melee wherever possible on team hunts Lucked out and got the same equipment before the other guy? Well lucky you! Certian weapon attack can be incredibly disruptive towards other hunters! Mind your positioning and make sure no other hunters are around when you are using them Grant your team wind pressure resistance or earplughs while bashing the alligators face in Grant your team wind pressure resistance or earplughs while bashing the alligators face in! Dont just sit in the corner playing crummy healing songs on your lute that no-one enjoys! Dont just sit in the corner playing crummy healing songs on your lute that no-one enjoys! Keep equipment up to date Although the guild provides us with all we need, sometime you might find that a veteran hunter drops something good Go for it! We were all on that level at some point, we'll always appreciate new equipment! Nowadays ive seen mages infront taking the role of leader Look at them decieve the giant lizards and blast them in the face while the other shoot flaming bolas! Well most of the time Keep equipment up to date! type! Your about to be beside a firebomb What would you do? When you rank up update all equipment of the approatiete rank GETTING IT? Well if you were fast and well, lucky, youd dive forward away from the group but remain close enough so the explosion doesnt giver you heavy bolusses Quite manovers tho so not everyone can do it ) Now were talking, ready the crossbow! Don't just stand there looking at the birds overhead thinking how far along technology is When you rank up update all equipment of the approatiete rank type! so you need not expose them to attack! Of course, communication is still key! Even if he dropped it, you cant be picky in battle so grabbing whatever you can equip is the route to go! You can pause the message if you know you wont understand it, we've all been there but think about trying to I mean the guys just reading out general information and tips you might find handy to keep in mind! Carry lifepoweders and dust of life to heal teammates from afar Carry lifepoweders and dust of life to heal teammates from afar so you need not expose them to attack! Refer to rare catch drops to dertermine to capture or kill the alligater to retain the parts you need and run by the rest of the party STAY in the fight! Even if it gets tough, I've acidentally won fights by simply just doding most of the enemy boosts and heals just by leaving some members behind to continue fighting, by when you return with another round of refeshing the battle will be easy again Talk about 2 birds with 1 stone! Refer to rare catch drops to dertermine to capture or kill the alligater to retain the parts you need and run by the rest of the party! Share items with your team and take what they need if you know you wont need something You'll find it easier to fight enemies in the upcoming event when everyone is on even ground and shares supplies instead of falling behind Share items with your team and take what they need if you know you wont need something in the belly, it does minimal damage and roaming bands of hunters wont appreciate you polluting their precious dinosaur meat Humanoid enemies have faster movement speed than buggies, if you run after a fleeing enemy atleast one party member will probably be able to catch up and eliminate them as they run for safety If they regen or escape, it makes little difference since they'll return to repeat the enevitable happening again Dont hit mounted alligators Dont hit mounted alligators in the belly, If the alligator flinches the mount will automatically fail so no matter how much you increase an alligaters appendeles strength it will never flinch from anything less than a tank cannon and even tank cannons are iffy to make it flinch So if you intend to use buggies against alligaters, always make sure youre slow moving buggies such as the supply carrier or if your feeling nasty, rigs with huge anchors welded to them so they over compensate on the turning Of course then theres the brute of them all, the wildest most aggressive unpredictable alligator in all the lands, his name is Severe Tire Damage and all buggies fail against him HEY WAITING FOR A REPEAT OF THAT INFO! AT Turret 1-2: you get to pick first for where you want to drop in your troops, is it safe to drop anywhere or should you try to makeup a strategy on the spots your dropping in too? Like a teenager, I left pre-game without fully reading what to do in this round *sigh im getting too old for this 'Reads Game Information' You have a choice to make, first what is the most logical choice to make for how to play each district? What Im no God damned politician, I just kill everything WITHOUT A SOUL that stands in my way Heres a vote masquerading as an opinion : thinking: Done! Im waiting Done? Alright to the 3 spots you can drop troops! Since all dropzones are nearer the military district than the others, this would be beneficial to have all or most of your ground forces rely on sheer firepower and push from that vantage point The guerrila types from there could begin sabotaging irreplacable facilities or making it a more difficult fight for the enemy anytime they wanted to reform The risk is spread out too thin, plus there is better parking in the city to hide buggies in This would be the choice of the Merc solider Guerrillas and sabotuers would have it better from here As there are alot of tight alleyways and building faces to get good ambushes going on, or even rigging a few walls to fall in and seal off some of your tunnels The problem with that is despite being able to fight in the dark or whatever You don't get good offensice weapons there Its more of a defensive strong hold at best, and thats assuming you can get enough to cover every street to keep the gun fire at bay This is the choice of the guerrillas themselves The dregs of the barrios, the place hasn't been outright claimed by either side yet You could easily break a few weak holdouts and begin using it as your bases of operations for supply reasons BUT There isn't much in the way of waterways to slow down or stop attacks from the otherside, defenders would have it easier though

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Borderlands 3 Review - Another Vault Treasure Hunt

New Post has been published on https://gamerszone.tn/borderlands-3-review-another-vault-treasure-hunt/

Borderlands 3 Review - Another Vault Treasure Hunt

After Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, a disappointing spin-off released in 2014, Borderlands 3 is a welcome return to form for the franchise. The game reunites fans with the core group of memorable main characters from the first two games and delivers the mayhem-heavy loot-shooter experience that the series is known for. Borderlands 3 carries forward many of the things that made the first two games special, but in doing so it also brings with it a few of the same stumbling blocks. There are noticeable improvements to the series formula, though, as Borderlands 3 provides additional freedom in how you want to play.

Set seven years after the events of Borderlands 2, Borderlands 3 wraps up most of the narratives established in the earlier games, while also teasing additional threads that could be explored in the future. Despite these hints, there’s a definite finality to Borderlands 3’s campaign, which satisfyingly wraps up the arcs of characters that fans have been following for 10 years.

As one of four fledgling Vault Hunters–Zane the operative, Amara the Siren, Moze the gunner, or FL4K the beastmaster–you are recruited into the Crimson Raiders, the militia that defends the only civilized pocket of society found on the bandit-filled wasteland planet of Pandora. Led by Lilith, a former Vault Hunter, the Crimson Raiders have gone to war with Tyreen Calypso and her twin brother Troy, who are using their influence as popular video streamers to convince their cult following to help them acquire the immense power found in secret vaults scattered throughout the universe. The story is a bit of a slow start, but it quickly picks up near the end of the first act and rarely slows down on its way to its grand finale. Looting and shooting are still the focus of Borderlands 3, but its campaign also delivers a fairly well-written story of sacrifice, the importance of family, and the responsibilities of heroes.

Borderlands 3 provides more flexibility than ever before to create the type of character you want. For the first time in the series, the Vault Hunters all have an active skill tied to each of their three respective skill trees. Amara, for example, can equip Phaseslam to deal immense close range damage, Phasecast to tear through enemies from afar, or Phasegrasp to crowd control or focus her elemental abilities on one target. Using perks from all three skill trees, you can evolve each of these skills in meaningful ways. For instance, if you want to make Amara’s area-of-effect Phaseslam ability into something more precise, you could change it with perks found in both the Brawl and Fist of the Elements skill trees so that the ability transforms Amara into a levitating spider-like creature that shoots a massive fire-based death ray before she careens to earth in a smaller slam. Phaseslam can evolve in other ways too, as can Phasecast and Phasegrasp–providing numerous options for how you want Amara to fight. The same can be said for Zane, Moze, and FL4K.

As a result, it’s pretty easy for both you and a friend to be playing as the same character but have completely different builds and roles on the battlefield. This added freedom also makes it far more feasible, and thus enjoyable, to play Borderlands 3’s campaign entirely solo in comparison to previous games in the franchise, as you’re not limited to established class restrictions based on your Vault Hunter choice. You obviously don’t have to go it alone–and Borderlands 3 actually makes co-op more rewarding thanks to an option that removes the need to compete for loot–but it’s nice knowing that if you want to, your experience will not be completely defined by the Vault Hunter you choose.

The freedom to build your ideal loadout extends beyond your Vault Hunter’s skill trees. Borderlands 3 makes clear-cut distinctions when it comes to the manufacturer of each gun. Before you even loot a new firearm, looking at which company made it will tell you most of what you need to know about what it can do. Maliwan guns are fairly weak but each one shoots elemental bullets, for instance, allowing you to more easily electrocute shields, melt armor, or burn through flesh, while a Hyperion firearm raises a forcefield in front of you while aiming down sights and becomes more accurate as you pull the trigger. They’re minor changes to further differentiate each type of gun, but these new manufacturer effects make it a lot easier to build specialized loadouts that can augment the perks you choose.

But, more than anything, the guns are just fun to shoot. It may come as little surprise given that distinctive firearms has been the bread and butter of the franchise since the beginning, but Borderlands 3 has quite a few unique guns that offer a wide variety of enjoyable effects. Some have actual gameplay-changing ramifications, like a sniper rifle that can transform into a shotgun. But Borderlands 3 also has guns that are just playfully quirky and weird–ones that insult and tease you for your performance or just shoot more guns, for example. And you acquire new firepower at a gratifying pace, with new loot regularly dropping from the tougher enemies in the groups you encounter and explosively erupting from bosses you defeat. Borderlands 3 never lets up on giving you new weapons to experiment with, progressively increasing the explosive potential and wacky effects of the weapons you find, which in turn serves as a satisfying visual representation of how much stronger you’re getting beyond the higher damage numbers.

Even without the loot, defeating enemies in combat is fulfilling. Shooting an unshielded enemy in the head rewards you with their cranium erupting in a satisfying blossom of blood and gore. When you don’t land that final headshot, enemies mostly go out with a final battle cry–ranging from pitiful cries for salvation to humorous insults–and the game doesn’t repeat lines often enough for them to grow stale. Combat is never dull as a result, with your chosen Vault Hunter shouting out funny or cool-sounding one-liners in the brief moments you’re reloading and making your way to your next victim.

As entertaining as Borderlands 3’s combat is, the fun that is found in the freedom to fight however you want is occasionally interrupted by the structure of boss battles, a traditional problem for the franchise. Many of the bosses look cool and have incredible theme music, but they all amount to the same strategy: shoot the weak spots, run from or jump over attacks, and repeat. You can cheat some by hiding in an unreachable corner and slowly chipping away at the boss’ weak spot, but that’s not much fun either as pretty much every boss in the game has a large healthpool and many of the later ones are bullet-sponges.

Borderlands 3’s late-game bosses pack a wallop with every attack too, downing you in a few hits if you’re not careful and thus demanding that you near-perfectly dodge for an extended period of time–which can drag on and feel boringly repetitive in the longest of these fights. So when you do encounter a boss in Borderlands 3, it typically grinds the mayhem-filled action to an abrupt halt as you’re forced to respond to the boss’ patterns by playing more slowly and carefully.

The new climbing and sliding moves do allow you to better navigate environments and thus get out of the way of certain attacks, but both mechanics are better suited for weaving among the scattered firefights with normal enemies, not the concentrated bombardment of the bosses. Several boss battles are frustratingly difficult to tackle on your own as a result, to the point that they all seem like repeated suggestions that you should be playing Borderlands 3 with at least one other person. Two or more players allows you to take turns reviving each other, making it easier to last longer. But simply trying to outlast one strong enemy doesn’t impart the same enjoyable impact of the mayhem-filled firefights from the rest of the game. You feel more like a badass running around and gunning down a vast assortment of different enemies than you do hiding behind cover and waiting for the boss to stop attacking you just so you can safely get a few shots off.

Thankfully, boss battles only make up a small part of Borderlands 3’s overall campaign. Most of the story sees you go up against the Calypsos’ seemingly never-ending cult of bandits or the armies of the twins’ corporate sponsors as you race to find the pieces of the keys to open up vaults across the universe. Your journey takes you far beyond the planet of Pandora, and it provides opportunities for new types of combat encounters in a series that has largely revolved around wide-open deserts full of bandits or factories full of robots. For example, the jungles of Eden-6 contain an assortment of dangerous wildlife that have different hunting grounds and patterns, and the low gravity of a Maliwan space station orbiting the planet of Promethea allows the elemental gunslinging corporate soldiers you’re going up against to jump higher and more easily attack you from above. Certain weapons have greater utility in certain environments as well, such as an explosive mushroom-like grenade that becomes more powerful when thrown into water. That’s easier to do more often in Eden-6’s swamps than Pandora’s sand dunes. Borderlands 3’s campaign sees you bouncing back and forth between planets every few hours, which keeps each setting from growing stale while also encouraging you to keep adopting new playstyles, strategies, and weapons.

Borderlands’ heroes are nothing if not personable, and that trend continues in this latest installment–transforming the motley crew of outlaws into a family you feel a kinship with.

Even if Borderlands 3 takes you far beyond the scope of Pandora and sees you meet brand-new allies and encounter never-before-seen threats, the original cast of characters that have defined the adventures from the beginning are still at the forefront, and the story is better for it. Whether you’re a long-time fan or not, it’s the connection to the Crimson Raiders that acts as your motivation for fighting through the campaign. Borderlands’ heroes are nothing if not personable, and that trend continues in this latest installment–transforming the motley crew of outlaws into a family you feel a kinship with. Your connection to the Crimson Raiders continues to grow with every mission as well, as–thanks to the spaceship Sanctuary III–the entire group is with you throughout the course of your journey.

Newcomer Tyreen is clearly a bad person, but the campaign’s story never gives you a compelling reason as to why you would want to kill her so as to stop her for good. Lilith is fond of reminding you that Tyreen’s plans would ultimately destroy Pandora, but Borderlands 3 introduces a bunch of planets that would make for more preferable homes. Tyreen, and thus Troy, never amounts to a credible threat that you feel like you need to stop as a result, so the Calypso twins instead feel like the primary source of much of Borderlands 3’s comic relief, not villains that must be stopped.

With most of the franchise’s juvenile humor and ludicrous jokes coming from your planetside interactions with the Calypsos, it’s on Sanctuary III with your crew that Borderlands 3’s well-written story delves into its more heartfelt and emotional moments. The game wastes little time reintroducing you to mainstays Lilith and Patricia Tannis, a brilliant yet socially anxious scientist, and building the drama of its narrative around them as the two women grow into their new roles within the Crimson Raiders. Tannis’ evolution is especially compelling as you see her make courageous strides to move beyond the self-imposed limitations she’s set for herself on account of her autism and social anxiety. For two characters that were popular but little more than caricatures in the first game, it’s rewarding to see the growth the two underwent in Borderlands 2 now culminate into two leaders that you’re willing to follow to the end.

That isn’t to say the other fan-favorite characters have been left out. Pretty much everyone from the previous games returns to complete their respective arcs. Borderlands 3 weaves in plenty of memorable new characters as well–such as the coffee-obsessed Lorelei, artificial intelligence BALEX, and scoundrel turned rebel general Clay–but the game’s story is very much the fulfilling conclusion that long-time fans have been looking forward to for the franchise’s mainstays.

And what a conclusion it is. Borderlands 3 has a few stumbling blocks when it comes to bosses, but these fights are overshadowed by the game’s rewarding gunplay and over-the-top humor. The game’s character-driven narrative acts as a satisfying finale for the loot-shooter franchise, and the new mechanics and features–especially the reworked skill trees and weapon manufacturer effects–give you plenty of agency in how you want to play through it. If you’ve never been a fan of the franchise, it’s unlikely Borderlands 3 does enough things differently to change your mind, as the game best excels at continuing what the series has always done: deliver a humorous tall tale of misfits looting and shooting their way to heroism.

Source : Gamesport

#Game Reviews

[gamerszone2019-blog]

Borderlands 3 Review - Lootin' And Shootin'

New Post has been published on https://gamerszone.tn/borderlands-3-review-lootin-and-shootin/

Borderlands 3 Review - Lootin' And Shootin'

After Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, a disappointing spin-off released in 2014, Borderlands 3 is a welcome return to form for the franchise. The game reunites fans with the core group of memorable main characters from the first two games and delivers the mayhem-heavy loot-shooter experience that the series is known for. Borderlands 3 carries forward many of the things that made the first two games special, but in doing so it also brings with it a few of the same stumbling blocks. There are noticeable improvements to the series formula, though, as Borderlands 3 provides additional freedom in how you want to play.

Set seven years after the events of Borderlands 2, Borderlands 3 wraps up most of the narratives established in the earlier games, while also teasing additional threads that could be explored in the future. Despite these hints, there’s a definite finality to Borderlands 3’s campaign, which satisfyingly wraps up the arcs of characters that fans have been following for 10 years.

As one of four fledgling Vault Hunters–Zane the operative, Amara the Siren, Moze the gunner, or FL4K the beastmaster–you are recruited into the Crimson Raiders, the militia that defends the only civilized pocket of society found on the bandit-filled wasteland planet of Pandora. Led by Lilith, a former Vault Hunter, the Crimson Raiders have gone to war with Tyreen Calypso and her twin brother Troy, who are using their influence as popular video streamers to convince their cult following to help them acquire the immense power found in secret vaults scattered throughout the universe. The story is a bit of a slow start, but it quickly picks up near the end of the first act and rarely slows down on its way to its grand finale. Looting and shooting are still the focus of Borderlands 3, but its campaign also delivers a fairly well-written story of sacrifice, the importance of family, and the responsibilities of heroes.

Borderlands 3 provides more flexibility than ever before to create the type of character you want. For the first time in the series, the Vault Hunters all have an active skill tied to each of their three respective skill trees. Amara, for example, can equip Phaseslam to deal immense close range damage, Phasecast to tear through enemies from afar, or Phasegrasp to crowd control or focus her elemental abilities on one target. Using perks from all three skill trees, you can evolve each of these skills in meaningful ways. For instance, if you want to make Amara’s area-of-effect Phaseslam ability into something more precise, you could change it with perks found in both the Brawl and Fist of the Elements skill trees so that the ability transforms Amara into a levitating spider-like creature that shoots a massive fire-based death ray before she careens to earth in a smaller slam. Phaseslam can evolve in other ways too, as can Phasecast and Phasegrasp–providing numerous options for how you want Amara to fight. The same can be said for Zane, Moze, and FL4K.

As a result, it’s pretty easy for both you and a friend to be playing as the same character but have completely different builds and roles on the battlefield. This added freedom also makes it far more feasible, and thus enjoyable, to play Borderlands 3’s campaign entirely solo in comparison to previous games in the franchise, as you’re not limited to established class restrictions based on your Vault Hunter choice. You obviously don’t have to go it alone–and Borderlands 3 actually makes co-op more rewarding thanks to an option that removes the need to compete for loot–but it’s nice knowing that if you want to, your experience will not be completely defined by the Vault Hunter you choose.

The freedom to build your ideal loadout extends beyond your Vault Hunter’s skill trees. Borderlands 3 makes clear-cut distinctions when it comes to the manufacturer of each gun. Before you even loot a new firearm, looking at which company made it will tell you most of what you need to know about what it can do. Maliwan guns are fairly weak but each one shoots elemental bullets, for instance, allowing you to more easily electrocute shields, melt armor, or burn through flesh, while a Hyperion firearm raises a forcefield in front of you while aiming down sights and becomes more accurate as you pull the trigger. They’re minor changes to further differentiate each type of gun, but these new manufacturer effects make it a lot easier to build specialized loadouts that can augment the perks you choose.

But, more than anything, the guns are just fun to shoot. It may come as little surprise given that distinctive firearms has been the bread and butter of the franchise since the beginning, but Borderlands 3 has quite a few unique guns that offer a wide variety of enjoyable effects. Some have actual gameplay-changing ramifications, like a sniper rifle that can transform into a shotgun. But Borderlands 3 also has guns that are just playfully quirky and weird–ones that insult and tease you for your performance or just shoot more guns, for example. And you acquire new firepower at a gratifying pace, with new loot regularly dropping from the tougher enemies in the groups you encounter and explosively erupting from bosses you defeat. Borderlands 3 never lets up on giving you new weapons to experiment with, progressively increasing the explosive potential and wacky effects of the weapons you find, which in turn serves as a satisfying visual representation of how much stronger you’re getting beyond the higher damage numbers.

Even without the loot, defeating enemies in combat is fulfilling. Shooting an unshielded enemy in the head rewards you with their cranium erupting in a satisfying blossom of blood and gore. When you don’t land that final headshot, enemies mostly go out with a final battle cry–ranging from pitiful cries for salvation to humorous insults–and the game doesn’t repeat lines often enough for them to grow stale. Combat is never dull as a result, with your chosen Vault Hunter shouting out funny or cool-sounding one-liners in the brief moments you’re reloading and making your way to your next victim.

As entertaining as Borderlands 3’s combat is, the fun that is found in the freedom to fight however you want is occasionally interrupted by the structure of boss battles, a traditional problem for the franchise. Many of the bosses look cool and have incredible theme music, but they all amount to the same strategy: shoot the weak spots, run from or jump over attacks, and repeat. You can cheat some by hiding in an unreachable corner and slowly chipping away at the boss’ weak spot, but that’s not much fun either as pretty much every boss in the game has a large healthpool and many of the later ones are bullet-sponges.

Borderlands 3’s late-game bosses pack a wallop with every attack too, downing you in a few hits if you’re not careful and thus demanding that you near-perfectly dodge for an extended period of time–which can drag on and feel boringly repetitive in the longest of these fights. So when you do encounter a boss in Borderlands 3, it typically grinds the mayhem-filled action to an abrupt halt as you’re forced to respond to the boss’ patterns by playing more slowly and carefully.

The new climbing and sliding moves do allow you to better navigate environments and thus get out of the way of certain attacks, but both mechanics are better suited for weaving among the scattered firefights with normal enemies, not the concentrated bombardment of the bosses. Several boss battles are frustratingly difficult to tackle on your own as a result, to the point that they all seem like repeated suggestions that you should be playing Borderlands 3 with at least one other person. Two or more players allows you to take turns reviving each other, making it easier to last longer. But simply trying to outlast one strong enemy doesn’t impart the same enjoyable impact of the mayhem-filled firefights from the rest of the game. You feel more like a badass running around and gunning down a vast assortment of different enemies than you do hiding behind cover and waiting for the boss to stop attacking you just so you can safely get a few shots off.

Thankfully, boss battles only make up a small part of Borderlands 3’s overall campaign. Most of the story sees you go up against the Calypsos’ seemingly never-ending cult of bandits or the armies of the twins’ corporate sponsors as you race to find the pieces of the keys to open up vaults across the universe. Your journey takes you far beyond the planet of Pandora, and it provides opportunities for new types of combat encounters in a series that has largely revolved around wide-open deserts full of bandits or factories full of robots. For example, the jungles of Eden-6 contain an assortment of dangerous wildlife that have different hunting grounds and patterns, and the low gravity of a Maliwan space station orbiting the planet of Promethea allows the elemental gunslinging corporate soldiers you’re going up against to jump higher and more easily attack you from above. Certain weapons have greater utility in certain environments as well, such as an explosive mushroom-like grenade that becomes more powerful when thrown into water. That’s easier to do more often in Eden-6’s swamps than Pandora’s sand dunes. Borderlands 3’s campaign sees you bouncing back and forth between planets every few hours, which keeps each setting from growing stale while also encouraging you to keep adopting new playstyles, strategies, and weapons.

Borderlands’ heroes are nothing if not personable, and that trend continues in this latest installment–transforming the motley crew of outlaws into a family you feel a kinship with.

Even if Borderlands 3 takes you far beyond the scope of Pandora and sees you meet brand-new allies and encounter never-before-seen threats, the original cast of characters that have defined the adventures from the beginning are still at the forefront, and the story is better for it. Whether you’re a long-time fan or not, it’s the connection to the Crimson Raiders that acts as your motivation for fighting through the campaign. Borderlands’ heroes are nothing if not personable, and that trend continues in this latest installment–transforming the motley crew of outlaws into a family you feel a kinship with. Your connection to the Crimson Raiders continues to grow with every mission as well, as–thanks to the spaceship Sanctuary III–the entire group is with you throughout the course of your journey.

Newcomer Tyreen is clearly a bad person, but the campaign’s story never gives you a compelling reason as to why you would want to kill her so as to stop her for good. Lilith is fond of reminding you that Tyreen’s plans would ultimately destroy Pandora, but Borderlands 3 introduces a bunch of planets that would make for more preferable homes. Tyreen, and thus Troy, never amounts to a credible threat that you feel like you need to stop as a result, so the Calypso twins instead feel like the primary source of much of Borderlands 3’s comic relief, not villains that must be stopped.

With most of the franchise’s juvenile humor and ludicrous jokes coming from your planetside interactions with the Calypsos, it’s on Sanctuary III with your crew that Borderlands 3’s well-written story delves into its more heartfelt and emotional moments. The game wastes little time reintroducing you to mainstays Lilith and Patricia Tannis, a brilliant yet socially anxious scientist, and building the drama of its narrative around them as the two women grow into their new roles within the Crimson Raiders. Tannis’ evolution is especially compelling as you see her make courageous strides to move beyond the self-imposed limitations she’s set for herself on account of her autism and social anxiety. For two characters that were popular but little more than caricatures in the first game, it’s rewarding to see the growth the two underwent in Borderlands 2 now culminate into two leaders that you’re willing to follow to the end.

That isn’t to say the other fan-favorite characters have been left out. Pretty much everyone from the previous games returns to complete their respective arcs. Borderlands 3 weaves in plenty of memorable new characters as well–such as the coffee-obsessed Lorelei, artificial intelligence BALEX, and scoundrel turned rebel general Clay–but the game’s story is very much the fulfilling conclusion that long-time fans have been looking forward to for the franchise’s mainstays.

And what a conclusion it is. Borderlands 3 has a few stumbling blocks when it comes to bosses, but these fights are overshadowed by the game’s rewarding gunplay and over-the-top humor. The game’s character-driven narrative acts as a satisfying finale for the loot-shooter franchise, and the new mechanics and features–especially the reworked skill trees and weapon manufacturer effects–give you plenty of agency in how you want to play through it. If you’ve never been a fan of the franchise, it’s unlikely Borderlands 3 does enough things differently to change your mind, as the game best excels at continuing what the series has always done: deliver a humorous tall tale of misfits looting and shooting their way to heroism.

Source : Gamesport

#Game Reviews

[gamerszone2019-blog]

Borderlands 3 Review - Misfits, Mayhem, And Murder

New Post has been published on https://gamerszone.tn/borderlands-3-review-misfits-mayhem-and-murder/

Borderlands 3 Review - Misfits, Mayhem, And Murder

After Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, a disappointing spin-off released in 2014, Borderlands 3 is a welcome return to form for the franchise. The game reunites fans with the core group of memorable main characters from the first two games and delivers the mayhem-heavy loot-shooter experience that the series is known for. Borderlands 3 carries forward many of the things that made the first two games special, but in doing so it also brings with it a few of the same stumbling blocks. There are noticeable improvements to the series formula, though, as Borderlands 3 provides additional freedom in how you want to play.

Set seven years after the events of Borderlands 2, Borderlands 3 wraps up most of the narratives established in the earlier games, while also teasing additional threads that could be explored in the future. Despite these hints, there’s a definite finality to Borderlands 3’s campaign, which satisfyingly wraps up the arcs of characters that fans have been following for 10 years.

As one of four fledgling Vault Hunters–Zane the operative, Amara the Siren, Moze the gunner, or FL4K the beastmaster–you are recruited into the Crimson Raiders, the militia that defends the only civilized pocket of society found on the bandit-filled wasteland planet of Pandora. Led by Lilith, a former Vault Hunter, the Crimson Raiders have gone to war with Tyreen Calypso and her twin brother Troy, who are using their influence as popular video streamers to convince their cult following to help them acquire the immense power found in secret vaults scattered throughout the universe. The story is a bit of a slow start, but it quickly picks up near the end of the first act and rarely slows down on its way to its grand finale. Looting and shooting are still the focus of Borderlands 3, but its campaign also delivers a fairly well-written story of sacrifice, the importance of family, and the responsibilities of heroes.

Borderlands 3 provides more flexibility than ever before to create the type of character you want. For the first time in the series, the Vault Hunters all have an active skill tied to each of their three respective skill trees. Amara, for example, can equip Phaseslam to deal immense close range damage, Phasecast to tear through enemies from afar, or Phasegrasp to crowd control or focus her elemental abilities on one target. Using perks from all three skill trees, you can evolve each of these skills in meaningful ways. For instance, if you want to make Amara’s area-of-effect Phaseslam ability into something more precise, you could change it with perks found in both the Brawl and Fist of the Elements skill trees so that the ability transforms Amara into a levitating spider-like creature that shoots a massive fire-based death ray before she careens to earth in a smaller slam. Phaseslam can evolve in other ways too, as can Phasecast and Phasegrasp–providing numerous options for how you want Amara to fight. The same can be said for Zane, Moze, and FL4K.

As a result, it’s pretty easy for both you and a friend to be playing as the same character but have completely different builds and roles on the battlefield. This added freedom also makes it far more feasible, and thus enjoyable, to play Borderlands 3’s campaign entirely solo in comparison to previous games in the franchise, as you’re not limited to established class restrictions based on your Vault Hunter choice. You obviously don’t have to go it alone–and Borderlands 3 actually makes co-op more rewarding thanks to an option that removes the need to compete for loot–but it’s nice knowing that if you want to, your experience will not be completely defined by the Vault Hunter you choose.

The freedom to build your ideal loadout extends beyond your Vault Hunter’s skill trees. Borderlands 3 makes clear-cut distinctions when it comes to the manufacturer of each gun. Before you even loot a new firearm, looking at which company made it will tell you most of what you need to know about what it can do. Maliwan guns are fairly weak but each one shoots elemental bullets, for instance, allowing you to more easily electrocute shields, melt armor, or burn through flesh, while a Hyperion firearm raises a forcefield in front of you while aiming down sights and becomes more accurate as you pull the trigger. They’re minor changes to further differentiate each type of gun, but these new manufacturer effects make it a lot easier to build specialized loadouts that can augment the perks you choose.

But, more than anything, the guns are just fun to shoot. It may come as little surprise given that distinctive firearms has been the bread and butter of the franchise since the beginning, but Borderlands 3 has quite a few unique guns that offer a wide variety of enjoyable effects. Some have actual gameplay-changing ramifications, like a sniper rifle that can transform into a shotgun. But Borderlands 3 also has guns that are just playfully quirky and weird–ones that insult and tease you for your performance or just shoot more guns, for example. And you acquire new firepower at a gratifying pace, with new loot regularly dropping from the tougher enemies in the groups you encounter and explosively erupting from bosses you defeat. Borderlands 3 never lets up on giving you new weapons to experiment with, progressively increasing the explosive potential and wacky effects of the weapons you find, which in turn serves as a satisfying visual representation of how much stronger you’re getting beyond the higher damage numbers.

Even without the loot, defeating enemies in combat is fulfilling. Shooting an unshielded enemy in the head rewards you with their cranium erupting in a satisfying blossom of blood and gore. When you don’t land that final headshot, enemies mostly go out with a final battle cry–ranging from pitiful cries for salvation to humorous insults–and the game doesn’t repeat lines often enough for them to grow stale. Combat is never dull as a result, with your chosen Vault Hunter shouting out funny or cool-sounding one-liners in the brief moments you’re reloading and making your way to your next victim.

As entertaining as Borderlands 3’s combat is, the fun that is found in the freedom to fight however you want is occasionally interrupted by the structure of boss battles, a traditional problem for the franchise. Many of the bosses look cool and have incredible theme music, but they all amount to the same strategy: shoot the weak spots, run from or jump over attacks, and repeat. You can cheat some by hiding in an unreachable corner and slowly chipping away at the boss’ weak spot, but that’s not much fun either as pretty much every boss in the game has a large healthpool and many of the later ones are bullet-sponges.

Borderlands 3’s late-game bosses pack a wallop with every attack too, downing you in a few hits if you’re not careful and thus demanding that you near-perfectly dodge for an extended period of time–which can drag on and feel boringly repetitive in the longest of these fights. So when you do encounter a boss in Borderlands 3, it typically grinds the mayhem-filled action to an abrupt halt as you’re forced to respond to the boss’ patterns by playing more slowly and carefully.

The new climbing and sliding moves do allow you to better navigate environments and thus get out of the way of certain attacks, but both mechanics are better suited for weaving among the scattered firefights with normal enemies, not the concentrated bombardment of the bosses. Several boss battles are frustratingly difficult to tackle on your own as a result, to the point that they all seem like repeated suggestions that you should be playing Borderlands 3 with at least one other person. Two or more players allows you to take turns reviving each other, making it easier to last longer. But simply trying to outlast one strong enemy doesn’t impart the same enjoyable impact of the mayhem-filled firefights from the rest of the game. You feel more like a badass running around and gunning down a vast assortment of different enemies than you do hiding behind cover and waiting for the boss to stop attacking you just so you can safely get a few shots off.

Thankfully, boss battles only make up a small part of Borderlands 3’s overall campaign. Most of the story sees you go up against the Calypsos’ seemingly never-ending cult of bandits or the armies of the twins’ corporate sponsors as you race to find the pieces of the keys to open up vaults across the universe. Your journey takes you far beyond the planet of Pandora, and it provides opportunities for new types of combat encounters in a series that has largely revolved around wide-open deserts full of bandits or factories full of robots. For example, the jungles of Eden-6 contain an assortment of dangerous wildlife that have different hunting grounds and patterns, and the low gravity of a Maliwan space station orbiting the planet of Promethea allows the elemental gunslinging corporate soldiers you’re going up against to jump higher and more easily attack you from above. Certain weapons have greater utility in certain environments as well, such as an explosive mushroom-like grenade that becomes more powerful when thrown into water. That’s easier to do more often in Eden-6’s swamps than Pandora’s sand dunes. Borderlands 3’s campaign sees you bouncing back and forth between planets every few hours, which keeps each setting from growing stale while also encouraging you to keep adopting new playstyles, strategies, and weapons.

Borderlands’ heroes are nothing if not personable, and that trend continues in this latest installment–transforming the motley crew of outlaws into a family you feel a kinship with.

Even if Borderlands 3 takes you far beyond the scope of Pandora and sees you meet brand-new allies and encounter never-before-seen threats, the original cast of characters that have defined the adventures from the beginning are still at the forefront, and the story is better for it. Whether you’re a long-time fan or not, it’s the connection to the Crimson Raiders that acts as your motivation for fighting through the campaign. Borderlands’ heroes are nothing if not personable, and that trend continues in this latest installment–transforming the motley crew of outlaws into a family you feel a kinship with. Your connection to the Crimson Raiders continues to grow with every mission as well, as–thanks to the spaceship Sanctuary III–the entire group is with you throughout the course of your journey.

Newcomer Tyreen is clearly a bad person, but the campaign’s story never gives you a compelling reason as to why you would want to kill her so as to stop her for good. Lilith is fond of reminding you that Tyreen’s plans would ultimately destroy Pandora, but Borderlands 3 introduces a bunch of planets that would make for more preferable homes. Tyreen, and thus Troy, never amounts to a credible threat that you feel like you need to stop as a result, so the Calypso twins instead feel like the primary source of much of Borderlands 3’s comic relief, not villains that must be stopped.

With most of the franchise’s juvenile humor and ludicrous jokes coming from your planetside interactions with the Calypsos, it’s on Sanctuary III with your crew that Borderlands 3’s well-written story delves into its more heartfelt and emotional moments. The game wastes little time reintroducing you to mainstays Lilith and Patricia Tannis, a brilliant yet socially anxious scientist, and building the drama of its narrative around them as the two women grow into their new roles within the Crimson Raiders. Tannis’ evolution is especially compelling as you see her make courageous strides to move beyond the self-imposed limitations she’s set for herself on account of her autism and social anxiety. For two characters that were popular but little more than caricatures in the first game, it’s rewarding to see the growth the two underwent in Borderlands 2 now culminate into two leaders that you’re willing to follow to the end.

That isn’t to say the other fan-favorite characters have been left out. Pretty much everyone from the previous games returns to complete their respective arcs. Borderlands 3 weaves in plenty of memorable new characters as well–such as the coffee-obsessed Lorelei, artificial intelligence BALEX, and scoundrel turned rebel general Clay–but the game’s story is very much the fulfilling conclusion that long-time fans have been looking forward to for the franchise’s mainstays.

And what a conclusion it is. Borderlands 3 has a few stumbling blocks when it comes to bosses, but these fights are overshadowed by the game’s rewarding gunplay and over-the-top humor. The game’s character-driven narrative acts as a satisfying finale for the loot-shooter franchise, and the new mechanics and features–especially the reworked skill trees and weapon manufacturer effects–give you plenty of agency in how you want to play through it. If you’ve never been a fan of the franchise, it’s unlikely Borderlands 3 does enough things differently to change your mind, as the game best excels at continuing what the series has always done: deliver a humorous tall tale of misfits looting and shooting their way to heroism.

Source : Gamesport

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