#the top middle one is me playing animal crossing new leaf on a in game rainy day bc those songs are really calming and nice | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

theepost · 3 years

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My Video Game Journey | Discovering Games & Game Play

When COVID-19 hit and the whole world went into quarantine, it felt like almost every single young adult was playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons. People who never normally played video games were buying gaming consoles just to play. Personally, I have never found a game that I enjoy and want to continue playing until my fiancé suggested this game.

I am probably speaking for a lot of people here, but New Horizons is addicting. Don’t get me wrong I definitely had times where I felt very burnt out, but I still played every single day with only a few days missed between now and when I started playing in May 2020. That is pretty consistent, especially for someone who has never really played video games on a regular basis.

Growing up with parents who are against video games.

When I was younger, my parents did not allow us to play video games. Don’t get me wrong we were allowed to take turns playing games on our family computer, but we were never allowed to have a gaming console. My parents felt it would be a distraction from school and homework.

I'm not a parent, but I know there is a lot of back and forth about this topic between parents. Some think it's completely fine and helps kids learn how to manage their time between school, homework, and their personal lives. Other parents allow it, but are very strict about when their kids can use it. Then their are parents who are completely against it.

The way I look at it, however you want to raise your kids and teach them life lessons and life skills is completely up to you. Obviously don't abuse your kids, but whether they are able to play video games or not is completely fine either way. It's the parents choice and no one should be giving them a hard time about it. Well, unless you are the kid who wants to play video games and your parents tell you that you can't. I think at that point there is no avoiding the tantrums.

Getting my first handheld gaming console.

When I was in middle school or when I just starting high school, I asked my parents for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance SP for Christmas. I remember thinking they were never going to get it for me because they were so against my sisters and I playing video games. To my surprise, "Santa" left me a Nintendo Game Boy Advance SP under the tree that year.

The games that came with the Game Boy was Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure and Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed. Since I had never really played any video games before I wasn't on top of what games were new and trendy at the time, however I absolutely LOVED Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure. I remember when I finished all the levels, I played them all again so I could have a perfect score.

I purchased a few other games after getting my Game Boy and The Simpsons: Road Rage was another game I enjoyed. If anyone ever reads this they are probably going to be completely surprised by what I am about to say, but I never really watched The Simpsons growing up. I know a lot of people did, but I never really got into it. For some reason though, I wanted to get The Simpsons: Road Rage. I played that game a lot, but I do not think I played it nearly as much as Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure.

Around my senior year of high school I slowly stopped playing on my Game Boy. I was either at school, doing homework, working, or hanging out with my friends. There wasn't as much free time to play anymore. I am now 25 years old and to this day I still have my Game Boy. Cannot remember the last time I played on it, but I do not think I will every get rid of it. It was my first handheld gaming console, there are a lot of good memories with it, and it still works! I see no reason why I should or need to get rid of it.

Discovering Animal Crossing.

After I stopped playing on my Game Boy, I never really found a game that I consistently played. Usually when I found a game I would play it for a couple weeks to a couple months then would grow very bored of it and eventually uninterested. However my fiancé was big into playing video games and was mainly playing them on his Xbox One. If he was growing tired of a game, he usually had another one lined up.

At one point the Nintendo 2DS was very popular and was sold out everywhere. My fiancé really wanted one so he could play Pokémon Moon. Somehow, I managed to get my hands on them and surprised him for Christmas. He played that game for a few months to a year then he slowly stopped playing. One day I asked him why he stopped playing and he explained that he just grew tired of it. I completely understood because I have also been in that situation before with the games I played on my Game Boy.

To avoid having the 2DS sit and collect dust, I asked if he wanted to get another game for it. He didn't seem interested in any of the 2DS games they had to offer at the time, but he suggested a game to me that he thought I would enjoy. That is when he told me about Animal Crossing: New Leaf and Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

At the time, there was only Animal Crossing: New Leaf and Animal Crossing: New Horizons was scheduled to be released in the next few months. I believe this was around the end of 2019 and New Horizons was scheduled to release in early 2020.

After doing some research on the game, I was VERY excited. I purchased Animal Crossing: New Leaf for the Nintendo 2DS and I played all the time. Any downtime I had, I was playing. I LOVED this game! After playing for awhile, Animal Crossing: New Horizons was released and I wanted it so bad.

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At the time, Nintendo was completely sold out of the Nintendo Switch everywhere. They were insanely popular because of the new game release and since everyone was forced to quarantine due to COVID-19 everyone was stuck inside with nothing to do but play video games. The only console that was available was the Nintendo Switch Lite.

What is the difference between the Nintendo Switch and the Nintendo Switch Lite? The Switch can used when connected to a TV in the docking station provided, as a handheld, or as a tabletop display by using the kickstand on the back of the switch. The Switch Lite can only be used as a handheld.

Since I was so excited for the game and wanted to play so badly, my fiancé got me the Switch Lite as an early birthday gift. I really wanted the Switch, but since I am so impatient and Nintendo was not clear on when they would restock I decided that the Switch Lite would be perfect because I was use to using a handheld anyway.

Playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

When I finally started playing the game I played nonstop for hours a day. Collecting supplies, catching bugs, digging up fossils, popping balloons, catching fish, planting trees, planting flowers, designing the island, inviting new villagers, expanding my home... You name it, I was doing it. Anything to get a five star “aesthetic” island that is considered Pinterest worthy.

Like a lot of other people, I have completely redesigned my island countless times. There is nothing better than completely changing everything up to design a newly styled island. I have also completely restarted my island two times. Which I mainly did this because I did not want to go through the whole island and tare everything down, I didn't really like the villagers I had, and I also just wanted to experience the game again from square one. I have always enjoyed designing spaces and have always been really into art, so it feels like this game was made for me.

My future with video games.

Now that I have been playing New Horizons for about a year now, I feel like I am going to continue to play it for awhile. I will admit when I first got the game, I was playing it way too much. Recently I have been so much better about it and only play for about an hour a day. On days I feel very lazy and do not really want to do anything, I'll play for longer than an hour, but it also depends on what I am doing in the game at that time. I'm just glad I'm not spending all day playing anymore.

For me, I think video games are fun and good to play in moderation and I am not planning on cutting video games out of my life anytime soon. I know there are people who play video games hours daily or do it for a living. After that, on completely the other side of things, there are people who have never played video games and completely hate the idea of video games. Then there are people out there that say that they have tried playing video games and never enjoyed it, but I personally think they just haven't found their game yet. If you happen to be one of those people and you are reading this, do not give up on finding your game! Once you find it, you will be so happy you kept looking.

At the end of the day, do whatever makes you happy. I am just another person on the internet telling their story. If anyone ends up reading this, I hope you enjoyed and continue to read my future posts. There isn't really a plan on when I will be posting or what I will be posting about, but I do know I will be posting regularly.

- E

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wollfling · 3 years

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this feels too generic but i cant think of anything else 🧍‍♂️

top 5 games?

🧍‍♂️🤸‍♂️🧍‍♂️ wdym this is a good one !!! Hard tho ummm!

1. Legend of Zelda, if I listed them individually they'd take up the entire list... twilight princess and wind waker are what I played the most as a kid !! I would run around hyrule for hours, roleplay in my head, explore every nook and cranny I could and admire the details ♡♡♡ botw was really enjoyable too and was the first game in years that made me feel like the way old nintendo games give.. (that's worded so badly lmfao but you get the point hopefully) fun fact, for Halloween in 6th grade I dressed up as link and when I was called handsome or "you look just like a boy" it made me so happy ehjshskwhsjwh ..then I suppressed that lol

2. Harvest moon !! Okay so I'll just list series cause.. i don't have enough numbers for each individually but if I had to pick, another wonderful life for gc or friends of mineral town for Gameboy! Another game series I would run around and admire details and roleplay in my head lmfao. Since I was young ive wanted to live in a small town and have animals ;-;....♡

3. Style savvy since I never see it on these lists!! (I think the Japanese title is girls mode...?) The new one sucks tbqh (styling star I think..?) But the older ones are so so so much fun I totally recommend them !!! I hope they release a new one soon maybe on switch ♡

4. Ffxiv... its just so fun and the community is so cute and sweet, I love my characters and miss them a lot. I want to play again so much but no one is really active on it anymore;-; also I got really good as scholar with my character maiza and it's such a good feeling when I'm able to carry my party through a dungeon ♡ that role also allows me to watch everyone else play and its really funny..!! I love going like: " no "chadious winklesmire" get out of there !!!!! "Froggie man" what are you doing get back here you're too far to heal~~~~!" Player names are always so funny.. and also, one time I had a player begging me to revive him in the middle if a boss fight and I was busy trying desperately to keep the tank alive. When he died bc of his own fault. It was so funny... maybe I should just buy a sub and run around a little ;-;....

5. Animal crossing GC is my number 1 game ever. I spent YEARS of my childhood playing it, and I played it a lot with my grandmother (she bought a GameCube of her own to play it, qnd we both had a bunch of memory cards with towns... )hours and hours we managed to play.. my mom played too, and we shared a wild world town together. All 3 of us had 3ds to play new leaf.. Before quarantine when the 3 of us could be together we would play pocket camp for hours too together, which sounds so ridiculous, but we did somehow ♡

#sorry idk how to do a readmore on mobile this is really long but ;^; ♡♡♡♡

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blurry-fics · 4 years

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Clingy

Pairing: Josh Dun x Reader

Warnings: None

Word Count: 1594

Request: Could you possibly do one where josh and his girlfriend are chillin in their apartment (on like a weekend or something) and she’s playing animal crossing and won’t give him attention so he cuddles her and showers her in kisses just to try to get her attention. When he does he says “now I know how you feel when I’m gaming” and it’s just cute and fluff and yeah..

Author’s Note: Disclaimer - I have not played the new Animal Crossing game (even though I so badly want to, unfortunately I don’t have a Switch) so some of the information in here might not be accurate, although I tried to fact check where I could! I did play New Leaf, so that’s where my Animal Crossing knowledge is coming from. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this one :) (picture credit)

You paused your game for a moment and looked over at Josh, watching as his chest rose and fell steadily. Jim was curled up against his stomach, his head resting over Josh’s outstretched arm. He had come home from a lunch with friends a few hours ago and almost immediately fallen asleep next to you on the couch. You didn’t really mind, Josh was always falling behind on sleep and your plans for the day had been to stay at home and watch movies anyway. Besides, it was more uninterrupted Animal Crossing time for you.

When you were sure that Josh was still sleeping soundly, you turned your focus back to your game. You finished checking in with Tom Nook before running out of the building, ready to look for some more fossils around the island. Your collection was slowly getting larger, but there was still a lot of work for you to do before it was anywhere close to complete. Not to mention all the other things that you needed to be working on collecting.

Josh finally started to stir, slowly stretching out his legs until they were pressing up against your hip. You reached out and patted his leg with one hand, letting him know you were aware he was awake, while still using the other to guide your character around. Upon noticing that Josh was awake, Jim got up and started to lick his face.

“Jim! Stop,” he laughed, scratching at Jim’s ears to distract him from licking his face. “There, good boy.”

“Good morning, sunshine,” you said, taking a quick glance at Josh. “How was your nap?”

“Really nice. I needed that.”

“Good.”

“What are you doing?” he asked, leaning closer to you.

“Playing Animal Crossing, same as always,” you smiled.

“I should have known.”

“Yes, you should have.”

You turned and gave Josh a quick kiss, which made him smile. He leaned on your shoulder for a moment before sitting up straight again.

“I think I’m going to get a drink from the kitchen, my throat is a little dry. Do you want anything?”

“A soda would be great.”

“On it.”

Josh kissed the top of your head and stood up, taking another moment to stretch. Now that Josh was gone, Jim moved over and rested his head on your lap. You shifted how you were holding your Switch so that you could more comfortably pet him with your free hand.

Josh came back a few minutes later, carrying two sodas in his hands. You motioned for him to set it on the coffee table so that you could drink it when you were ready.

“Thank you.”

“No problem,” he said, sitting back down on the other side of Jim.

Josh cracked open his soda can and took a long sip, gulping loudly. You continued to run around, finally spying a star on the ground that indicated a potential fossil. Next to you, Josh had Jim move over to his other side so that he could rest his head in your lap.

“Is this ok?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

Josh was turned so that he was looking up at the ceiling or, more accurately, your Switch. He was tapping out an idle beat on his stomach.

“Will you play with my hair?” he asked.

“I’m kind of in the middle of something, love.”

“Please?” He stuck out his bottom lip for added effect.

“Later.”

Josh dramatically groaned and rolled away so that he could press the side of his face into your legs. You laughed and gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. He was usually ok with each of you doing your own thing while in the same room, but he occasionally got into a clingy mood where all he wanted to do was cuddle with you and have your full attention. Tonight seemed to be one of those nights.

“Then can we cuddle?”

“It’s kind of hard to play Animal Crossing and cuddle at the same time. I promise I’ll finish up what I’m doing and then I’ll give you attention, ok?”

“But I want attention now,” he sighed.

“You’re going to have to be patient.”

“No,” he whined.

You pressed your lips together, barely holding back a smile as you started to formulate a plan. It was going to drive Josh crazy, but you felt it was sort of deserved since he wanted to whine.

“Please, Y/N,” he said, rolling back over so he could look at you again. “Can I at least have a kiss?”

It was a tempting offer, but you had to stay strong. Rather than give in, you kept your eyes on your game and tried to ignore Josh the best that you could. Out of your peripheral vision, you could see the concerned look on his face.

“Are you going to ignore me now?”

You bit down on your lip.

“Y/N,” he said, drawing out the end of your name.

You couldn’t say anything.

“Fine, I see how it is.”

When Josh got up, you thought that was the end of it. He walked off down the hall towards your bedroom, presumably to continue sleeping or practice his drums for a while. It wasn’t until a few minutes later when he returned and took a seat on the other end of the couch that you realized there he had made a plan of his own. You managed to sneak a glance when he was checking his phone, only to realize that he had taken off his shirt as some sort of incentive for you.

Damn, he was good at this.

“Still nothing?” he asked after a minute of silence.

Still nothing.

Your heart rate picked up when Josh started to slide down the couch, getting close enough to you that his legs were pressed up against yours. His arms slowly made their way around your waist, though you still managed to keep them free enough that you could play your game. Josh rested his chin on your shoulder, putting his lips only centimeters away from your ear.

“Don’t you want to pay attention to me?” he said.

He really knew what he was doing.

“Come on, Y/N,” he said, pressing a gentle kiss to your cheek. “Just put the game down.” Another kiss. “And you can come cuddle with me.” The corner of your mouth now. “You can always play more tomorrow.” One more on your jaw.

You were glad that you were almost done with all the things you had wanted to complete today; you weren’t sure how much more of this you could take.

“Y/N, please.” Josh pressed his face up against yours. Unfortunately, it was enough to get you to finally break and let out a little giggle. “Yes!”

“I didn’t do anything!” you laughed.

Josh answered by leaning back, which also meant you ended up landing on top of him since his arms were still around you. While you still could, you saved your game and exited out, finally setting your Switch down on the coffee table.

“Finally,” he said, pressing another kiss to your cheek.

“I told you I would stop when I finished what I needed to do.”

“But it took you forever.”

“It didn’t take me that long.”

You twisted your body so that you could actually lay comfortably on top of Josh. He smiled up at you.

“I guess now I know how you feel when I’m gaming,” he laughed.

“Exactly.”

You leaned forward and gave Josh a proper kiss, now that you were no longer distracted by your game. He wrapped his arms around you a little tighter.

“I really brought this on myself when I bought you a Switch for your birthday, didn’t I?”

You laughed and buried your face in the crook of his neck, “Mhmm.”

“I’m just happy that you’re getting good use out of it.”

“Me too, but I still enjoy spending time with you the most of all.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“I love you, Y/N,” he said, leaning so his head was resting against yours.

“I love you too.”

“So what do you think? A movie?”

“I think we should watch more X-Files,” you said. “Because I have a feeling that somebody is going to keep distracting me to ask for kisses.”

“You know me too well.”

“I’ll go make popcorn.”

“Ok.”

Josh gave you a kiss as you got up and walked into the kitchen. Jim followed after you, somehow sensing that you were about to make a snack that he could sit and beg you for. Meanwhile, Josh stayed in the living room and pulled X-Files up so that it would be ready when you returned with popcorn.

“Ok, we’re good to go,” you said, curling up next to Josh. With the warm LA breeze blowing in through the windows, there was no need for blankets tonight. Josh and Jim would provide all the heat you needed.

“Wait, I need a kiss first.”

You turned and gave Josh yet another kiss, which he was hesitant to let you pull away from. It wasn’t until Jim nearly stuck his nose into the popcorn bowl that he finally broke away from the kiss.

“I think that’s a sign that he’s ready to watch TV,” you laughed.

“Me too.”

Josh hit play and wrapped his arm around your shoulders.

“Thank you for spending time with me,” Josh said quietly as the intro started to play. “I appreciate it.”

“Of course, I’ll always spend time with you, Josh.”

There was nothing you would rather do.

#josh dun #josh dun x reader #josh dun fluff #twenty one pilots #twenty one pilots fluff #josh dun imagine #josh dun drabble #josh dun fanfiction #twenty one pilots x reader #twenty one pilots imagine #twenty one pilots drabble #twenty one pilots fanfiction #fluff #skeleton clique #blurry-fics

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gamersonthego · 4 years

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Chase Koeneke’s Top 25 3DS Games

The fun thing about doing lists for the best handheld games each year since 2013 is that you can compare your opinions then to what they are now and see what holds up. Some things have decidedly shifted over time. For example, Monster Hunter Stories has dulled a bit since I named it my 2017 game of the year, whereas repeated playthroughs of Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia have given me new appreciation for this entry in one of my favorite series. Even more interesting: 2013 claims three of my top five 3DS game slots. Hell of a year. Read on for all 25 of my favorite games for one of my favorite systems ever.

1. Fire Emblem Awakening

Hardcore Fire Emblem fans tend to dislike Awakening for becoming too casual and too broken, but those are the things I kind of appreciate about the game. Permadeath has always been my biggest gripe about Fire Emblem (well, ok, it’s actually the limited weapon uses, but permadeath is a close second,) so it was great to see Intelligent Systems create an option to never lose characters independent of the difficulty. Awakening has a really fun and varied cast, some strong music and an incredible array of customization to turn your units into literal killing machines. I put over 500 hours into Awakening in 2013 alone and I’m still thinking about it to this day.

2. Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia

Echoes is right up there too. In a number of ways, I even prefer it to Awakening. From my Best of 2017 list:

Whereas Awakening and Fates are built from a rich history of mechanics from past Fire Emblem games, Echoes is almost experimental by comparison.

This remake of Fire Emblem Gaiden is such an interesting mix of new, old and old made new. A gorgeous artstyle, doing away with the weapon triangle, magic costing health, dungeons to explore, full voice acting and a split story that is one of the more compelling tales in the series. It’s held back by some outdated and boring map design, but Echoes does so much more right than it does wrong and it’s my favorite game in the series to go back to.

3. SteamWorld Heist

From 2015:

It scratches all my itches: Tactical combat, party customization, loot, and then wraps them up in this fun and friendly 2D world.

All still true, but the thing I forgot to mention is what makes SteamWorld Heist so unique: It’s aiming. When you attack in other tactical franchises, your hits are either guaranteed or there are dice rolls to determine whether or not your attack lands. But in Heist, your weapons have a slight sway, requiring skill and timing to hit your shots. It’s a very inventive approach that brings finesse to a genre that’s normally pre-determined. Image & Form made something special here, and while the Dig games are great, I’m hoping that more Heist is on its way.

4. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

One of my big video game shames is that I’ve never finished A Link to the Past, despite numerous attempts. I always get lost somewhere in the middle and become frustrated in having this big world to explore, but still feeling like I’m locked out from experiencing most of it. A Link Between Worlds alleviates this problem by letting you rent equipment, making more of the map accessible at any one time and allowing you to tackle dungeons in the order you prefer. For my money, it’s the best Zelda game of all time.

5. Pokemon X/Y

Despite playing and enjoying every Pokemon game since X & Y, I think this was the last generation I truly loved. The first mainline Pokemon games to move into the third dimension, X & Y’s new coat of paint truly felt fresh, despite hewing pretty closely to the tried and true Pokemon formula. And though it started a disappointing trend of gimmick features in each new generation, X & Y’s Mega Evolution was a real game changer that made it exciting to go back to old favorite monsters and see how they changed. Combine that with a fun array of new Pokemon (and a new type) and you’ve got the best modern Pokemon game around.

6. Bravely Default

7. Dragon Ball Fusions

8. Fire Emblem Fates

9. Monster Hunter Stories

10. Super Mario 3D Land

11. Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars

12. Bravely Second

13. Mario Kart 7

14. Pushmo

15. Animal Crossing: New Leaf

16. Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire

17. Kirby: Planet Robobot

18. BOXBOY!

19. SteamWorld Dig

20. Picross 3D Round 2

21. Mario & Luigi: Dream Team

22. Fantasy Life

23. Mario Golf: World Tour

24. Shovel Knight

25. Paper Mario: Sticker Star

#chase koeneke #3DS #nintendo

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khorren · 4 years

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THE ACNH TAG

ty @morgrenth for the ding <3

— Personal

Is it your first Animal Crossing game? Nope. I played the one on the Gamecube, New Leaf, Pocket Camp, and now New Horizons!

Do you listen to the game music or put some of your own? Usually have the game music on! Not often very loud, just enough for some ambient background noise.

What are your 8 reactions?

The ?, the !, clappy hands, glee, doze, and the other 3 i change around a lot. I’m missing so many. Want more!

Do you use them a lot? For photo ops with villagers and around friends, sure!

How many rooms do you have in your house? All 6 of them!

What are they? (Kitchen, bedroom, etc) Main room is just a collection of stuff that I like, some tables and chairs, and then some useful things like mirror, crafting bench, switch, and some trinkets from in-game mom. My top room and right-side room are currently just holding items for a friend. She's planning on restarting her game, but some items she didn't want to lose. So it's just a junk graveyard right now. The right side room was initially a craft room with sewing machines and stuff, and then the bottom bit was the fathers day mug, some tea, and a set of golf clubs. It was going to be a little room dedicated to my irl mum and dad. But yeah. It's holding junk right now. Left side room is a sort of bathroom. Upstairs is a bedroom/study. Also pet cat room. Has cat food, cat tower, cat nip, kitty litter, etc. And a paper tiger acting as the cat.

What’s the main purpose of your storage? To hold all the crap I might need one day.

Do you time travel? Why?Nah. I have plenty to do in game each day, I don't need to leap ahead. Even now when I'm making cat-town, it sure would be quicker to skip ahead, but the 3 days gives me time to do other things. I'll get there in the end.

Do you have a list of dreamies? I hate this phrase. :D

I am currently working on my all cat village (plus the wolf, Skye, cos she's a sweetie and I can't get rid of her), and I'm moving in a lot of my favourite cats / villagers in general. But there are definitely villagers I like more from other species. I've never really sat down and looked at all billion villagers to decide my ultimate favourites. There are lots of cute bunnies out there. Who knows, maybe 3 months down the line I'll make a bunny village. Since it's taking me like 3 weeks to move in all the cats, I want them stuck around for a while.

— Island What’s the meaning of your island name? Haven! Haven is one of the key locations in a story I've been "writing" for the past 20 years. It tends to be my go-to place of things to name in games where I build a settlement.

A picture of your island before vs now?

Do you have all the fruits? I do! Nom nom.

Do you have all kind of trees? It's mostly fruit trees, and I have about 6 normal trees, and about 3 or 4 cedars. Although I've not had to shake my fruit trees for money for a while now, I like that the option's there. I have just enough non-fruit trees for furniture and wasp needs.

Do you have bushes? Which is your favorite? A few, but I don't think I have them all. A few of the currently flowering ones, but mostly out of season ones. They make cute borders.

What flower is the most prominent? Tulips are probably the most prominent in my village.

Which flower is your favorite? And what color? I love the hyacinths. The orangey ones are my favourite, but I like blue too. I think I only have like 2 blues though.

— NPCs

Do you commission Flick? Have had one thing made by him in the past. I should do more now that I don't really need the money. But honestly I haven't seen Flick in forever, and the days I do see him, I'm busy doing something else.

Do you interact a lot with your villagers? Yep! I try to talk to all of them each day, but I'm sure I miss a couple, especially if they're hiding in bum-fuck egypt. I miss the Megaphone from ACNL :(

What kind of gifts do you give them? If I've got some junk lying around, they'll get that. I totally gift back ugly clothes. Every few days I'll gift some of them a wrapped ironwood clock. They seem to like that.

Favorite & least favorite personality? Normal and Peppy are my faves. Jock probably my least fave.

Which visiting NPC is your favorite? Probably Flick. I like catching bugs, it's pretty chill.

Which is your least favorite? Redd. BECAUSE HE NEVER COMES HERE. I WANT MY ART YOU SHIT.

Do you always help Wisp? Yes <3 Love that little goober.

— Random

Do you buy or craft tools? Bit of both? If I'm lazy, I'll just go to the shops. If I'm stocking up on something then I'll craft. I need to make a bunch of nets for the bug-off in a few days! :D

Do you have any gold tools? Recently got the recipe for the gold watering can. But since it still breaks, eh, I'll just stick to my tier 2 can.

Do you recover a hole with your feet or the shovel? I try to just use my feet, but if it's in the middle of other flowers I'll use the shovel for precision, so I don't accidentally pluck a flower.

Do you buy fake paintings/statues? I WOULD IF REDD CAME TO MY ISLAND. I'll generally buy the real ones, but if there's a fake I really like I'll nab it for myself.

Do you buy a lot of clothes? Yas!

Do you buy a lot of wallpapers/floors/carpets? I do, but there's so few I end up liking :( I'll buy the fancy stuff from Saharah when I see them, but all I've been getting recently is gross floors and the goddamn lava/volcano wall.

#ACNH #Animal Crossing #Animal Crossing New Horizons

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shitposting-extraordinaire · 4 years

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College was a terrible time for me. And Animal Crossing was my savior. Throughout all the turmoil, it gave me this cozy reprieve from the madness.

As with any open-ended game of the sort, I made a project for myself. Making a story town for the dream suite - not a horror town, as many people try, a mystery. And reexploring my town after so long yielded so many details I’d totally forgotten, and some that still rang clear as day. And now that everyone's moved on from New Leaf, I think it would be fun to explore that old story.

So if you’re in for a long story about a forgotten passion project, click read below.

(Dream code is, sadly, now inactive)

For atmosphere, I suggest you listen to the town theme that would have been playing when you visited. The dream-town was accessed at 1am, so this song below would be playing softly over the tragic town of Opalvale. As this was early april, I invite you to imagine the cherry blossom petals that would slowly drift across the whole town.

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My town was lovingly landscaped - and coated in flowers. This is what you’d open up to, with the two empty spaces being where the dream suite bed would lie. If you put on the four pieces of clothes provided, you’d get...

...your first hint something was up. Because most of the town was very traditionally pretty. With this being early April, the cherry blossoms would be in full bloom.

And some decidedly not so cute details.

Unsure if dream sutie villagers could tell you what nicknames they called the player, I had all of my villagers call my character “murderer.” But let’s get into the story proper. Not with the main character herself, but the house closest to where you would start. That would be the church.

One of three humans, Joan was the priestess of the village. If spoken to, she’d say, “Stay safe, my child.”

Inside was a traditional church setup, with pipe organs, mannequins as parishoners, and a few side rooms with no relevance to the plot.

But if you creeped behind the pipe organ, you could find a secluded room extremely relevant to the plot.

A memorial of some kind is in session. Black flowers for mourning surrounded by votive candles and offerings. The markings on the wall read “Tu Fui Ego Eris,” a traditional epitath. K.K. Lullaby tinks away on the gramophone, griddled with static reflecting the time passed. And in the middle, in a pure white frame is a photo of the villager Whitney. If you lingered enough, the lullaby would play a series of strange, disorienting triangle waves right at the end.

This would not be Whitney’s last appearance.

If you head up to Joan’s bedroom, there was one more detail - a map on her wall with a red X.

All that remains of this house is a basement room of no import. But related to the memorial room, at the top left corner of the town...

A small graveyard, with four graves, surrounded by fresh flowers. Three graves bear perfect fruit trees, and if you dig into the spot;

A grim detail. If you dig into the spot below the dead tree, where there is no gravestone, however;

A hat that, if worn, is revealed to be just a skull. Whitney’s presumably. But Whitney’s house is gone, she not among the villagers, you cannot investigate her house. But of the remaining two, one house is much closer.

Regina, the blue-haired DJ, and her home is full of details pertaining to Whitney.

The main room is a concert venue, with shirts on display showing various villagers at instruments. The mannequin is clearly Regina, but who are the other five shirts?

Most of the house is simply other rooms in the concert hall.

The basement is especially irrelevant, but looks neat.

The backroom, however;

This appears to be a writing room, with the whiteboard, some instruments around. There are four cushions around the room, meant to resemble documents. A fifth hangs on the wall, with the same pattern as the cushions;

“ＷＨＩＴ．ＰＡＹＯＵＴ“

Five insurance payouts, all in the band room. A band shown to have six members. And if you look at the photo in the memorial chamber, you can see Whitney is wearing a specific shirt that’s on display.

Whitney was on second guitar. Regina got one payout, leaving four to the other band members. To identify them, though, we’ll have to go to the final house.

This is Exie, and if you speak to her, she says in letters affected with accent marks and random capitalization, “I’m nOT aLloWEd tO sPeaK...” This is the village who, if the animals talk, will refer to as “murderer.”

Like her home exterior and outfit, Exie’s foyer is pontzy and extravegant. Exie’s home is the most interesting of the three for many reasons. The backroom is strikingly out of place.

To the right is a bar with melancholy music, to drown her woes.

And to the left, a study. If you rotate the camera, there’s a similar payout on the desk, only this one has been denied - by the killer, not allowed to talk.

Or is she?

The basement is barren, but most of the furniture inside is directly from Whitney’s default house design. Only now, there is money scattered around - wealth from both Whitney and Exie, presumably - as well as swords and skeletal models, foreboding symbols both. The fireplace crackles like static - perhaps it’s simply a memory for Exie? A look into her mind? And in her mind there are three mannequins.

One wears all the same clothes as Exie. One bears a wolf hood, Whitneys shirt, and white pants. Above these two is a scrolling sign with a heart pattern. Past lovers, now forever parter.

Curiously, there’s a third person in the room, wearing two things. A heart shirt - an unrequitted lover? - and an ever foreboding skull hood.

Exie loved Whitney. Someone else loved - Whether they loved Whitney and were furious as her lack of interest, or if they loved Exie and wanted Whitney gone, who can say. But it appears there was a third party in this crime. Despite the public opinion and denied life insurance payout, Exie was innocent. Perhaps the trauma led her to obsess over another - hence the shrine to Kevin - as a coping mechanism?

Upstairs in their twin bedroom is a chorus of singing lullaboids. And as you noticed, there’s tons of villager pictures around the room.

Using these pictures, you can see everyone’s default outfit, and figure out the rest of the band members who got insurance payouts.

Fang the wolf appears to be the vocalist. Klaus the bear was singer and lead guitar. Whitney on second guitar, Benjamin the dog on bass, Freckles the duck on drums, and Regina as a dj. Could one of them be the unrequited lover? A person furious at Whitney who also stood to gain financially?

Much of the town exterior is simply pretty. This extends to a well kept beach, with a curious arrangement of trees.

The same arrangement, in fact, as the map on the wall of the priestess’s room. If you dig in the hidden dig spot, you get;

...A secret of little relevance. Although, this can help in one small way. The graveyard is in the upper left corner of the town, bordering a small patch of land.

Barely a sliver of beach is inaccesable without a wetsuit, and from the cliff face you can see something has been buried. This is the only spot left in the town.

An outfuit, buried so long it’s gone to rot, a skeleton, and an axe. The skull without a body in the graveyard was disposed of here. You have discovered Whitney’s corpse, buried where no one could find it... save the preacher, who seems only tangential to the case.

If you noticed, there are five dig spots, one hidden behind the tree. The final clue, something left by the murderer... perhaps accidentally.

A single pink feather, small enough the killer missed it.

There is only one bird villager. A pink bird, in fact, who was a member of the band. Freckles, the pink bird who lives closest to the cemetary and body dump. The same color as the pink shirt representing the unrequitted lover. Who would have matched perfectly with the bright pink diving suit buried.

What happened exactly is meant to be for the player’s imagination. Freckles is the likeliest killer. But what of Joan? She knew the location of the diving suit buried. Did she simply bury it herself, perhaps at Freckles order? Or was the feather left to incriminate her?

Either way, the picture is far clearer than the simple idea that Exie killed her. Freckles and likely Priestess Joan were in some way involved.

Such is the story of Opalvale. What became of the band and it’s members, who can say. But the player, as the detective, has found the most important clues to the truth. The player can put the story to an end.

I don’t type this all because I’m boasting about a project I did years and years ago. It’s because this is a time capsule for me.

In the midsts of the lowest point of my life, New Leaf gave me sanity. To go back and discover this town was to discover that, at this point in my life, I still had a creative drive drilling away at my mind. Even in the mists of despair, I crafted a surprisingly intricate story in a game that was in no way made to house tales of murder and intrigue.

I share this as a thank you to the me of the past, who felt he had nothing to live for. This is a thank you to the me who found it in his heart to love this silly game and all his villagers, even as he swirled into chaos.

Even now, when I need a background town name in writing, I usually go for Opalvale. Perhaps with New Horizons, I’ll do something similar.

But that night is over. Opalvale will forever be the past. May the future be bright... and similarly decorated with wistful new Animal Crossing memories.

#Animal Crossing #Animal Crossing New Leaf #ACNL #Animal Crossing New Horizons #ACNH #Long post

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pennys-th0ughts · 5 years

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The Harvest 🌱

Hope you like it Leah 💕

The sound of crickets and leafs being rocked by the soft wind started to compose a harmonic song a bit early that night. Dark blue velvet was slowly covering the nocturnal sky and soon the stars will begin sparkling like thousands of pieces of shattered diamonds. Summer was coming to its end.

Leah and I were inside of the wagon playing a game that consisted on guessing which cartoon character we were representing through mimics, the winner could keep the clothes on and the loser, well, should take off one piece of clothing and so far Leah was almost naked if it wasn’t because of her underwear. “You are cheating” – she pouted with her arms crossed, I shook my head in denial defending myself from her unfair accusations until she finally accepted to play the two last remaining characters. “¿Are you sure you want to play, little thing? – I asked her again just to avoid an embarrassing moment-. Because if you lose again I'm going to have to take my eyes out from their sockets if I see you completely naked” Leah laughed playfully and winked at me challenging me for one last time. I shrugged my shoulders with an expression of you-are-going-to-lose-again on my face, I shuffled the little papers we were using as cards once more and then she took one from the deck. The look on her face went from bold to disappointed in a fraction of a second and therefore my laughter. “¿Would you rather finish your striptease or going for a walk with me?” – I asked her with a mocking tone in my voice to which she gave me a little slap in the shoulder as an answer. We gathered some things to bring with us since like most of our trips lasted more than a few hours and we would probably need them. I had a place in mind and I was quite sure Leah didn’t know about it so I told her it was going to be a surprise.

We took a narrow path once we got out from the sewers and walked for long minutes. The place we were heading had been long time abandoned and it was located a couple miles out from Derry town. Many habitants didn’t want to get close to that place since the rumors gave it an unfair bad reputation of being hunted and things alike; to me it was like hearing some mediocre fairytale, a bad taste joke or even a floppy anecdote and each time the stories were a lot different. “Next time we will have an alien invasion for sure” – I thought while laughing quietly and shaking my head. All of a sudden a black cat popped up in the middle of our path, Leah that was by my side jumped into my arms a little frightened. “¡You evil little creature, you scared the hell out of me!” – She whined hiding her face in my chest, I hugged her for a moment to dissipate her fright so we could keep going. Soon the woods will end and we will get to the main road that we would have to follow to arrive to our final destination. It was already dark and the moon was raising high in the sky like a natural light post, covering us with its pale shining and creating creepy shadows everywhere. In the meantime the road was deserted, the peacefulness of the silence was captivating and the tiny lights coming from the fireflies were almost magical. Ahead of us long corn fields could be seen and the landscape was vast; getting closer to our final stop there were two big silos standing in front of us like dormant giants guarding an entrance. I sighed in relief to see we were finally arriving to the promised place. “¡It was about time! – I exclaimed excited while taking Leah’s hand-. Come on”. I opened the wooden fence removing a coiled chain that was meant to keep strangers from trespassing, but since the farm was long ago abandoned it wouldn’t matter hosting the visit of two adventurous beings now. The dirt road had some deviations, the one at the left led to the silos and the other at the right led to some sort of greenhouse. Some crows were watching us like dark feathered sentinels standing on the top of the scarecrows, following us with their pitch black hollow eyes until we got inside the deserted house. Leah lit up some candles and scattered them around the living room while I placed the blankets on the floor so we could sit and have something to eat by the fireplace. The house didn’t seem to be too old but it was full of dust, the windows were blocked with wood and some of them had newspaper glued to their glasses. The furniture was covered with plastic and there were still some cookware in the kitchen, the bedroom doors were unlocked and some stuffed animals were on the floor. “¿Have they left in a hurry?” – I asked to myself thoughtful while looking at the teddy bear lying down with its face against the floor, I picked it up and closed the door behind me. Leah was sitting on the blankets battling with a can of tuna; I ducked next to her, gave her the bear and told her to stay inside while I was going out for some wood to start the fire. “¿And miss having some fun? ¡No way!” – She insisted, I rolled my eyes in sign of defeat and let her come with me. We went out and closed the door so unexpected guests wouldn’t come in and take our food without our consent.

Once outside we took a brief walk around the house, I was lighting the way with the flashlight while Leah walked one step behind me. We got to spot a fox sneaking around one of the silos in search for some food and further ahead there was a barn. We didn’t need to get too close from it for me to smell it but inside that place there was something rotting and it wouldn’t be nice to see so I told Leah we should stay away. We kept walking and finished our little tour around the house, next to the basement door I found a deposit with some dry wood in it, that would be enough to keep us warm during almost all night. Leah took some pieces and helped me carrying them inside. Once I made the fire we sat and ate some tuna sandwiches while we talked about the ongoing trip; after some months spent with me, Leah got used to this kind of activities and even more when we made them by night. “Your eyes look like fire in the middle of the night” – she used to say, giving the fact that my irises turned their color when the night fell and the change in my vision was considerably accurate. Actually I could change many parts of my body at will and I did enjoy the nocturnal phase and its tranquility but mostly because I loved to hear her say that so I started saving that little trick for each night.

In the middle of our voluminous chatting she took a bottle of wine from behind her back, I gasped surprised since I didn’t know where she could have possibly have taken it from. “Don’t worry, Penny – she hurried to explain-. This was inside of one of the kitchen shelves”. She proceeded to remove the cork and pour some of that mischievous liquid in my cup looking at me naughtily. She knew alcohol switched something on inside of me and she had learned how to use it at her advantage more than once. “¿Are you trying to get me drunk?” – I asked her pretending not to be unaware of her plan; she nodded without saying a word and pushed the cup closer to my mouth. Not resisting to her maleficent intentions I drank the wine in one sip then she refilled my cup again inviting me to drink it drying my lips with her thumb. I could already feel a hot wave running down from my face to my lower abdomen and arousing my private parts in no time. Leah took the empty cup of my hand and started taking my upper clothes off slowly while sitting on my lap; she grabbed my collar and put it on her waist like if it was a tiny valet skirt but without wearing any underwear. She opened my jacket and kissed my neck and then my chest, playing from time to time with my nipples long ago hardened with the first contact of her moisty lips. The more she kissed me the more they weren’t the only thing getting hard and her mouth the only thing getting wet. Leah pushed me backwards and finished taking my clothes off; afterwards she took possession of my cock with her lustful mouth and began playing a dangerous game with her tongue. The pleasure I was receiving was so big that for a moment and without knowing I had scratched the floor with my claws. She intensified her blow job so badly that she finally teared off a hoarse moan from my mouth. Without any intention to postpone her desire I took her face in my hands and made her sat on me, getting inside of her at the same time I felt a delightful tingling running down my spine. To feel her so wet because of me was like a delicious shiver created from the combination of pleasure and hunger for something forbidden, it was like playing with gun powder and fire. I was like a bomb about to explode and so we both did. I felt satisfied to know my girl had reached the highest point in her orgasm since she used to plunge her nails in my skin and this time she made me bleed. I was sure that I would leave some scars on her back since I couldn’t help it even when I tried so hard not to hurt her. Guess the feeling of our sore bodies will be mutual, the wounds will eventually heal, but what would matter the most was the memories this night would leave us. The dawn would soon knock our door so we decided to have some sleep before returning home. On our way back we will surely think of a new adventure to embark ourselves once more…

#Penny's thoughts #pennywise #short story

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comradecrossing · 6 years

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hi do you have any tips/recs for someone who’s just starting new leaf? i had it a long time ago but i stopped playing, and now i want to start playing again but i don’t remember it well 🙈

Hi! This might be long but! When I restarted this last time I was worried it would get boring real fast like with my first save, so I planned out as much as I possibly could ahead of time.

Think of a theme that makes you happy! Do you love witchy/fairy things? A specific color? maybe a season? particular villager animal? Aliens??? If you can figure out a theme you can build around (and it can be ANYTHING) then you will have much more confidence when you first step foot in your new town!

Now I’m gonna use my town as reference, so, I really like the Witchy/Fairy aesthetic and I knew immediately thats what i was going to do. I’m bad at town names, but i like Pokemon and remembered they have a fairy town, so I looked it up and got my name and figured why stop there? That’s how Laverre City became one of my sole inspirations for my town. I was inspired to restart because of hackers so even though I cant hack, I think about things I might like to do, or really want to do when/if i ever can and i have some big ideas lol im so sad. So ultimately i settled on a fall themed town (not perpetual fall but looks best in fall and the dreamcode will be of the town in fall) with lots of pink cosmos and regular saplings to give off a resemblance to Laverre City :)I then looked at a lot of forest and dreamy type towns to get some inspiration like mushroom rings, layout ideas, and items or PWPs to use. I also checked sites like animal crossing wikia to make a list of PWPs I might like in my town and chose 30 possible options (you can only build 30) and check the space requirements.

Once I start for real with a vague idea of where I want to put things I look at all the maps available and if they don’t have specific traits i want (secret beach, desirable town tree location, diving cliff, ponds in places that wont get in the way of projects and landscaping ideas, good spot for the cafe, etc) I restart until a map comes up that I like. Once I arrive in town its time to check my native fruit and rock locations and make sure its up to my standards, and if a resident is important for you to have/not have make sure to check the map too!

Once you get a town you’re happy with and you’ve found the perfect place to call home its time to get serious >: |It’s time for your first shovel and axe.Now, I have always been anti-axe in previous games but this last save changed me. I got a hold of that first axe and chopped down every tree that wasn’t a southern cedar tree! (southern cedars are only possible at the start! If you plant them they’ll only grow in the North, thats the top half of your town.) Now your town will feel barren at first and this is the ugliest stage but also one of the funnest -imo- so lets open up your patterns and get started. Now that you have a blank canvas use your green & blue tiles to signify trees/bamboo and bushes, you can even redesign it and write “T” or “B” respectably and start laying them out. You can also use the Yellow to lay down where you want PWPs (make sure to surround two spaces further than the project requires. a 3x3 fountain should look more like a 5x5 area to ensure no one moves directly next to where you want to build). You should have lots of fruit piled up (remember to stack them) so you can layout bush tiles and plant fruit if you’d rather have a better idea of how its gonna look. I planted all my peaches and would later go back and replace certain ones with new fruit i acquired. Its good to have a “this is all a process” mindset because it will take a while to get your town done even if you time travel, but thats good! because the game is all about making your dream town!

So now you have a good amount of the town planned out and probably have some ideas of what to do next. The next few days will be spent checking out how things are growing and making sure you planted things in the right spots. if there’s anything you’re not liking - change it! Your town Your rules!

Now while you are waiting for things to grow and get pretty its time to gather aaaaaallllll the flowers you can find and organize them in a large free space so they are all diagonally touching (XXXX), this way you can get hybrids early on :)Make sure they are the same breed and check hybrid guides so you know which colors work best to make the hybrids you most want and make sure to water them everyday as they will wilt if you don’t have the beautiful ordinance. Hybrids are good to have for trades when you dont have much money.

After all this you should be off to a pretty good start. Try to keep in mind villagers you would like to have and try to make friends online or IRL that you can adopt from (I always post when i have some one leaving and who I am hoping to replace them with and I usually get an offer fairly quickly, even for villagers I was desperate to get out. No matter who they are someone likes them :)) But if your town is set up in a way that you’ll be devastated if your dreamie moves in that one perfectly made up spot, it might be a good idea to plot set &/ reset.Plot resetting is when you make a *NEW* character save to check and see if anyone moved in overnight, and more importantly, if they moved in an undesirable place. If this happens restart and select the new save option until the villager plots in a spot you like. Once they do that build your tent somewhere and save quit. This will make the new residents spot permanent and then you can select the new save once more and delete their home. This could take quite a while if you have lots of “open” space. “Open Space” is how I refer to non-tiled/pwp or house occupied areas and the way I go about this is covering my town in about 75% tiles and spacing out pwps to where there are as few places houses can plot in as possible. Houses wont build over tiles and will plot at least 2 spaces away from other buildings, rocks and projects and one away from clifs and ponds/rivers. They dont care however if there are trees, bamboo, items, bushes, or flowers so be sure to lay out tiles in any place at risk to being plotted on. I refer to this as “Plot Setting” as you can make 3x3 empty plots you surround with tiles which will help villagers know where to plot. If you do a good job and plot everything out just right, you’ll never have to worry about someone messing up your hard work.

Now here’s the kinda sucky part of ACNL and that is The Limitations.Annoying programmed rules that seem to only get in the way such as the 2-space rule between pwps/buildings. This can mess up your aesthetic a lot and sometimes you will have to completely replan things due to a small fact you may have overlooked or not noticed and suddenly your garden isnt looking right so im gonna name off the biggest hassles and how I have gotten around some of them.

Bush + tree + bush: You can line up 12 trees/bamboo and bushes in a line. This works both straight and diagonally. only 12. Now you can leave gaps in some places that will reset the count or do intricate designs like one cedar in the middle of 4 bushes, a line of bushes with trees spaced out directly behind, a pattern of bushes and chopped bamboo, etc get creative. Visiting others towns or looking at pics people post can help you get lots of ideas. Bushes can touch each other but trees & bamboo still have the one space between rule.

PWP 2-space rule: now I’ve already mentioned this a few times but this rule is always the one that I seem to forget when planning. YOU NEED TWO SPACES. I cant tell you how many times i have planned project locations weeks in advance only to not be able to lay them out as i wanted because I got the space requirement wrong or only left one space between other objects :/

Beach Rules: You may have seen cool towns with pwps, cedar trees and hibiscus bushes scattered around their beach and Ive got some bad news; Those are hacked towns. The only thing that can be planted on the beach naturally is coconut and banana trees, flowers, and clovers. Nothing grows on the beach, not even weeds. No pwps can be built there either, even though it was initially programmed to be possible. I currently use the space for hybrid breeding since i have no space to elsewhere ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Tear Down and Build Up: I will say though that even though only maybe 15% of my original plans came to life, my town looks way better than i had ever imagined it would. Don’t be afraid to tear things down and try out different locations or setups you might figure something out that looks amazing compared to your original plans.

Finally, while you can participate in the Happy Home Ratings, you dont have too. Decorate how ever the flip you want. Find new things to do everyday as the game can get old fast and you might get temped to Timetravel (which isnt a bad thing if thats what you want to do, but be careful you dont lose your villagers/flowers! Even though I have the Beautiful ordinance, I water all my flowers incase they pop out a hybrid. I try to earn all the badges, I visit dreamtowns for inspiration, redesign areas of my town, farm PWPs, make patterns, try hunting down items to decorate my house with, etc, this is another area where having a theme can help as you will find inspiration easier, and make you feel more immersed like you’re playing an RPG.

I’ve gone on a lot here and I have more to add but I’ve spent over an hour typing this, but let me know if you have any other questions or need clarification on anything :) I’m not gonna add pics rn but if you need photo reference send another message and I will address it separately and add it here later.

Now heres a bunch of links to help you get invested:MoriBD - A catalog of every in-game item and an option to make a wishlistHybrid Guide - By @nooklingPWP GuideVillager Adoption Further Info on Plot ResettingPWP Farming Towns/interiors I found inspirationalSome QRsHacking info (if youre interested)How to upload your screenshots & Make your screenshot pretty!

Pick the right face when you startOnce you get the QR reader (talk to sable 7 days) you can use these

Please let me know if there’s anything else I can do to help :)Just putting it out there too, I am always happy to help people get whatever they want/need for no cost whether it be fruits, bamboo, mushrooms, items, hybrids, etc, I will always do what I can to help you out, whether you’re just starting or on your 5th year.

#ref #tutorial #animal crossing #acaddicts #animal crossing new leaf #i might have to go through and edit this later #but im too tired rn #blanca

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mariequitecontrarie · 6 years

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Meet Me in the Courtyard: Part 5

Summary: Belle takes her new friend Leroy’s advice and shows up at Gold’s with dinner—unannounced and uninvited. The Fic: Belle hosts a monthly movie night in Storybrooke, always leaving the seat next to her empty. Gold loathes movies, yet movie night at the library is the one community event even he can’t seem to resist. Rating: T A/N: Written for the @a-monthly-rumbelling prompt: “Please don’t tell anyone.” I know it’s been forever and you’re probably wondering if I was ever going to update. Thanks to @still-searching47 for looking over this for me!

{On AO3} Previous parts: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4

Branan Gold was a terrible excuse for a fugitive.

In the past two weeks, he had played duck and weave at the park, pretended to study a display of star fruit in the grocery store, and even crouched behind his display case in the shop, the tips of his ears burning with shame as he waited for a certain auburn-haired beauty to cross the street and pass by on the sidewalk.

Gold had been avoiding Belle French for exactly 13 days, ever since the pornography incident in his back room. The circumstances went far beyond his discomfiture at the X-rated seventies film his son Neal had loaded on the old-fashioned projector. Gold had behaved like an overgrown child, letting Ruby Lucas worm under his skin like an infection with her sardonic humor and cutting remarks. All he’d cared about in the moment was getting his pound of flesh on his own turf, but he’d regretted volleying back Ms. Lucas’s insults every day since.

Mostly he regretted embarrassing Belle, but he didn’t know quite how to apologize.

Besides getting tongue-tied in her presence, he was absolute garbage at playing inconspicuous. His bad knee made quick moves impossible, and his penchant for bespoke Italian wool caused him to stand out in a crowd. The worst part was, he didn’t want to avoid Belle—not really. Each time he’d seen her, he’d been unable to stop himself from staring—drinking in her remarkable beauty had become a habit he couldn’t seem to break. He’d longed to reach out, to say hello, tease her into speaking first. He was half agony and half hope that she would walk up to him and slap his smug face or yell at him at the top of her lungs. Anything to break the tense silence between them. But other than waiting for Belle to make the first move, what other option was available?

Leaning heavily on his cane, Gold poured himself another healthy glass of scotch—his third of the evening—and wondered not for the first time why he was such an unmitigated ass. It’s self-preservation, nothing more.

Another plaintive whine came from the back porch from the half-grown puppy he’d found in the alley between his shop and the Fish and Chips place next door. The dog had shown up about a month ago, fur muddy and smelling of sewage. He’d rolled up his shirtsleeves and given him a bath in the sanitary tub and a bowl of kibble, and the puppy had come around every morning for a week, whimpering at Gold with wet, melting brown eyes. One afternoon he had followed Gold home and set up camp on the porch. Little savage. He could hang around outside of the house all he liked, but if he didn’t leave off the crying and scratching at the door, Gold was going to make good on his repeated threats to call Animal Control.

Ignoring the whimpering pup, he limped over to his favorite leather recliner, settled against the worn leather, then pulled an afghan over his legs. Hell, maybe he’d even sleep downstairs tonight. It seemed like exactly the sort of thing a crabby old bastard would do. His bad knee was tired, loose and wobbly from the effects of the alcohol, warm and languid in his veins.

He flipped on the television and leafed through the channels till he found something mindless. The Cooking Channel was doing a foodumentary on the history of popcorn—his ex-wife’s favorite. Foul, disgusting excuse for a snack. He slumped deeper into chair and forced himself to watch the program, disgust keeping him from drifting back into daydreams of Belle using his shoulder as a pillow while their fingers intertwined inside a box of Junior Mints.

Another insistent whine filtered through the back wall of the house, and when the mewls turned to howls, Gold drained his glass of scotch in one fiery gulp and peered at the blank screen of his cell phone. What a pathetic sack he was.

There was no point in pursuing this thing with Belle, only to be cast aside when she discovered what everyone else already had—he was too boring to bother truly knowing and too damaged inside to be worth the trouble. He was like one of those vases that eager, star-eyed innocents took onto Antiques Roadshow, hoping to strike it big with a valuable piece—the veneer was smooth and polished, but the vessel itself worth the grand total of $20 and change.

Gold glanced at the back windows; it was only September—still warm enough outside for an animal to be safe and comfortable—but maybe he should let the dog in for a couple of hours.

The doorbell rang, its obnoxious peal echoing through the house. Gold scowled; no one ever came to visit, so it was either a sales call or his son. The boy was always forgetting his key; it was a miracle he had survived three years of college in Boston. All he’d managed to accomplish was spending $200,000 in tuition for a pre-law degree and getting expelled a semester before graduation. Neal’s lock-picking skills weren’t appreciated—particularly when executed on university property.

At 22, the boy was taking a year to find himself. Translation: he was situated at the top of the stairs in his old bedroom, spending his days playing video games and his evenings doodling in a notebook and making eyes at Emma Swan. So much wasted potential.

Muttering as he padded into the hallway, Gold threw open the door.

To Belle French.

“I’ve brought Chinese,” she announced, peeking over the top of a huge brown paper bag.

Shoots of steam snaked into the cooling evening air, causing curly tendrils of hair to stick to her forehead. Gold took a half-step backward in surprise. He’d never expected her to show up here. Every lousy excuse he’d made about why continuing their friendship was a terrible idea flew out of his brain like bats swarming out of a cave at dusk.

Yes, he was a terrible fugitive indeed.

“I hope you haven’t had dinner yet.” The question in her muffled voice came from behind the bag.

His stomach gurgled on command, reminding him that he hadn’t eaten since breakfast. He’d thought to simply polish off the bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue and pass out in his recliner, but he decided against sharing such pitiful plans.

Gold sniffed the air in appreciation. “Sizzling garlic shrimp?”

The bag lowered, and her face split in a wide smile, all shell pink lips and gleaming white teeth. “I wouldn’t dare darken your door without it.”

He hefted the bag from her arms with a short laugh. The scotch had done its job, and he was a little tipsy, his head fuzzy. “Come on in,” he said, leading the way through the foyer into the kitchen.

The bag seemed bottomless as Belle pulled out an endless parade of white square cartons, lining them up on the counter like little soldiers. Auburn curls were tousled around her shoulders, and she looked deliciously at home in his kitchen in blue jeans and a fitted white oxford shirt unbuttoned almost to the middle of her chest. A frilly pink tank top accentuated her lovely breasts and creamy skin. He shifted his weight and clenched the handle of his cane.

“You’ve enough to feed an army in here,” he said, dragging his gaze away from her décolletage. A pamphlet fluttered to the floor and he swiped it up, relieved to have something useful to do. “And dry cleaning coupons?”

“Those are for you. Compliments of Leroy over at Snowy White’s.” Another one of her sunny smiles lit up the dreary room.

“I’ve never gotten a coupon from Leroy in ten years of taking my suits there. He must really like you.” Instead of staring at her like a halfwit, he busied himself with fetching napkins and silverware, while Belle dished up plates piled high with garlic shrimp, Singapore noodles, fried rice, and boneless spare ribs.

The steam rolled off the food in white, puffy waves, making his forehead tingle. A few minutes later they were ready to sit down, and his buzz was already wearing off. He leaned against the counter for support; his face felt numb, his tongue two sizes too big for his mouth. How stupid would he look if he dropped his food? His sweaty hands tightened around the edges of his plate as he shuffled toward the kitchen table.

“I’m hot,” he blurted, his leg twitching when Belle chose the chair beside his. “I meant the food is hot. Not me. I’m not hot…” His upper lip prickled with sweat, and he blotted his face with a napkin.

Belle set her fork down. “Gold?”

“Yes?”

She smiled, her azure eyes soft and kind. “Relax, okay? It’s just takeout, not an interrogation.”

“I appreciate that, Belle, but I need to say something.”

“All right.” She folded her hands and bit down on her lower lip.

“I’m really sorry for my behavior at the shop a couple of weeks ago.” He swallowed past the lump in his throat. “The movie was inexcusable, but so was my treatment of Miss Lucas.”

“It’s all right. I’m sorry, too. I shouldn’t have left without saying goodbye. Ruby was rude to both of us, and it made me so angry I couldn’t see straight. And then I saw you out at the market and on the street, but I didn’t know what to say. So many times I started to walk over and talk to you, but I couldn’t get the words out.” She bit her lip again. “Then a friend gave me some advice. He told me if I truly cared about this—us—I had to find a way in, break the tension. So here I am.”

“I’m glad.” The tightness in his chest loosened and he twirled a forkful of lo mein round and round while it cooled. Knowing he wasn’t alone in his nervousness—or his growing feelings—gave him more hope than he’d had in a long time. “And you don’t owe me an apology, Belle. Nothing that happened was your fault.”

“You know—” she placed her warm, soft hand over his—“we spend an awful lot of our time together apologizing and explaining ourselves. Let’s just eat some dinner and chat about normal things.”

He turned his hand over and squeezed her fingers. “I would like that.”

She scooted closer, until their knees touched under the table. “How was your day at the shop? Have you acquired any fascinating new objects?”

“Knock, knock.” Neal entered through the back door, an arm draped around Emma Swan’s shoulders. “Hiya Pop. Is this a moo shu pork party?”

Perfect.

“It was a party for two,” Gold muttered under his breath. He dropped his fork on a sigh, his hopes of a quiet evening with Belle dashed. For once, things had been going well and selfishly, he didn’t want to share her or open himself up to embarrassment. “As usual, son, your timing is impeccable.”

“Yeah?” Neal chuckled, eyeing the countertop filled with takeout boxes. “I’ve got a talent for sniffing out Chinese.”

Gold snorted. “I think you mean food in general. Belle, this is Bae, er, Neal, and his girlfriend, Emma.”

“I remember.” Belle grinned at his son and Emma, welcoming and gracious as always. “Join us, please! And help yourselves—I brought plenty.”

xoxo

It hadn’t been the Saturday night she’d planned, but it was the most pleasant one Belle had spent in weeks.

Buoyed by Leroy’s pep talk, she had abandoned her cheeseburger and stomped up Gold’s porch steps, her stilettos clicking in time to the nervous thump of her heart. She rang the doorbell and held her breath, clutching the oversized sack of Chinese food to her chest like a lifeline. She’d never shown up at anyone’s house with dinner unannounced. Maybe she should have called first to make sure he was home, or hadn’t eaten, or if he still liked Chinese food, or…

Belle, you think too much. Leroy’s encouragements echoed in her ears.

But she needn’t have worried. Gold’s home was an extension of his shop—comfortable and resembling a museum in its vast collection of things; teeming with gleaming wall-to-wall hardwood, threadbare area rugs, and antiques of all shapes and sizes. Then there was the man himself who, beneath the grouchy exterior, was so much more than met the eye. His insightful questions about the library and his admiring glances made her feel intelligent and special, and she felt herself redden when he insisted on pulling out her chair when she rose from the table.

After a lively dinner, Belle, Gold, Neal, and Emma moved to the den to nibble on Mr. Wong’s trademark fortune cookies and fresh oranges. Belle sank into the leather loveseat and patted the spot beside her. Gold looked surprised, but he moved his arm over the back of the sofa and edged half an inch closer. Belle frowned; she would have to work harder on putting him at ease and showing him his touch was welcome.

“Thank you for dinner, Belle.” His lips almost grazed her ear and Belle shivered in delight. “Everything was delicious.”

“That Chinese was money and I’m stuffed.” Neal dropped onto the couch opposite the loveseat with a groan. “Caps lock on the delicious, Belle.”

“My pleasure. I’m so glad you enjoyed it.”

“Anyway, how is work at the library? I mean, I don’t really do the thing with the…” Neal mimed turning pages. “Ya know, with the books?”

“Reading?” Gold supplied dryly, and they all laughed.

The younger man was goofy, but his wide grin and the laugh lines bracketing his generous mouth were absolutely charming, reminding Belle of his father’s cautious, lopsided smile. Every so often, Gold grinned wide enough to showcase his generous dimples and Belle’s heart fluttered. She wanted to press a kiss to his cheek and nuzzle her face against his whiskers. She wanted to sink her hands into his hair and pull him in for a kiss, right in front of Neal and Emma.

If she was attracted to Gold before tonight, watching the interactions between father and son had her half in love with him. Their gentle squabbling was endearing, the way Gold pretended to be put out with his son, yet pride was an undercurrent in every word he said.

“But I dig on the whole movie thing you’re doing outside,” Neal added, scanning Netflix in search of something for them all to watch.

“Me too,” Emma hollered from the kitchen where she was making hot chocolate. “I like the way you mix new releases in with classics.”

“Papa loves to read, though. He likes orchestra and opera and poetry.” Neal carried a fistful of fried noodles to his mouth. “All that classy shit. Just like you.”

“Your father—and his love of ‘classy shit’—is absolutely charming.” Belle linked her arm through his and sidled closer until she and Gold were seated hip-to-hip, thighs pressed together, his delicious, spicy scent making her nostrils flare and the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

“Charming, huh?” Another grin split Neal’s face, and he leaned forward, warming to his task of would-be matchmaker. “You know, he’s an animal lover, too.”

Belle squeezed Gold’s knee, delighted when he jumped a bit. He wasn’t as unaffected by her as he pretended to be. “Yes, you have quite a few strays coming to the side door of the shop for scraps, don’t you, Gold? Before you know it, you’ll have a pet of your own.” She cocked her head and sipped her Gewürztraminer, hearing another tiny mewl from outside. “Speaking of animals, I’ve been hearing barking from the direction of the backyard all evening. Do the neighbors have a dog?”

The patter of tiny feet clicked against the floorboards, and a half-grown chocolate brown pug with a square face rounded the back of the sofa and jumped into Gold’s lap.

“Oh!” Belle squealed.

“Your dog was crying outside, Mr. Gold,” Emma called. “So I let him in.”

“This isn’t my dog.” Gold crossed his arms and tried to wriggle away. “He’s just another stray. Take him back outside.”

“Right.” Neal snorted. “You just feed him and let him sleep here. Makes total sense. I suppose that’s not his water bowl out in the pantry, too.” He lifted a stack of mail. “Look, here’s his vet bill—right on top.”

The puppy wormed against Gold’s chest, nudging Belle out of the way with a plaintive moan, then attacked his master’s face with a long pink tongue.

“Oh, he loves you, Gold. Adorable, darling thing!” Belle cooed at the puppy and scratched him behind the ears. An animal lover herself, she spent every Saturday morning at the Storybrooke Animal Shelter. Sometimes she would sit on the tile floor and cuddle the dogs for her entire shift. “What’s his name?”

“He doesn’t have a name. He doesn’t live here because he doesn’t belong to me, the little beastie.” To prove his point, Gold scooped the puppy up and deposited him into Belle’s lap.

“Why are you such a hard ass?” Neal shook his head.

“Years of practice.” Gold waved a hand. “But if you don’t like it, feel free to move out of your old bedroom and into your own place.”

“I think he’s hungry,” Belle said, ignoring Gold’s harsh words and gruff demeanor. The grooves in his forehead softened when he looked at that little wrinkled black face, the same way they did when he looked at his son.

“I don’t think we should feed a dog Chinese food,” Emma announced, returning from the kitchen. She tapped the dark frame of her glasses. “Too rich for his stomach.”

Neal nodded. “You’re right, babe. How about a piece of that leftover pizza, instead? Pizza crust is a lot like a bagel.”

“Great idea. I’ll go get it.” Emma went back to the kitchen, her long ponytail swinging behind her, and Belle hid a grin as Neal watched her go. He was head-over-heels with the lovely, no-nonsense blonde, and Belle thought they made an excellent match.

Belle squinted in thought. She didn’t wish to intrude, but feeding a puppy takeout was never a good idea. “What about puppy chow?” she suggested.

They all looked at Gold, who opened his mouth, then clamped it shut without saying a word.

Neal sent his father another feigned disgusted look. “We don’t have any. He’s not our dog.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Gold muttered. “His food is in the closet at the top of the stairs.” He turned to Belle, his amber eyes wide and beseeching. “Please don’t tell anyone about this.”

“You have my word.” She splayed her hand over her heart, which was now pounding so hard she thought the entire neighborhood could hear it.

Forget halfway; she was almost certainly three-quarters of the way in love with him.

###

#rumbelle fic #a monthly rumbelling #rumbelle #belle x mr. gold #swanfire #meet me in the courtyard #mqc writes

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ecofinisher · 3 years

Text

¡Vamos a España! - Chap 6

Chapter 6

https://archiveofourown.org/works/29442912/chapters/73041987

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13819897/6/Vamos-a-Espa%C3%B1a

https://www.wattpad.com/1031883260-%C2%A1vamos-a-espa%C3%B1a-chapter-6

Two evenings later Kai sat in front of the dinner table drawing on a canvas a black and white bird on top of a branch with several leaves on it.

Across the dining table sat Gerda writing on a sheet of paper a text, then she placed her pencil under her lips to ponder about what else she could write on the letter.

„I‘m almost done with the drawing, Gerda. How far are you with the letter? Questioned the brother watching his sister put her pencil down.

„This is what I wrote so far…..Dear Rollan. How is the flight going? I hope it‘s going well. Look Orm just passed a few days ago by our house asking for Arrog‘s sons and we assumed they might have gotten into your zeppelin too. If they‘re really around can you confirm this and make sure they‘re okay until Alfida or Orm gets the chance to follow you? Thank you in advance and take good care of yourself. Make sure Luta gets to eat and drink too. Bread would be ideal for her as long as you have it available,“

„That sounds about right. Short, informal, and not so corny,“ Kai answered making Gerda laugh, then she watched Kai drop his pencil and from his canvas, the swift came back to life and flew above the room making Kai and Gerda happy.

„This is really amazing, Kai,“ Gerda complimented watching Kai lift up his pencil, so the swift would land on it and Kai patted the bird under his beak.

„What do you think should we name this guy?“ Kai questioned watching his sister shrug his shoulder.

„Onyx?“ Gerda suggested making Kai shake his head.

„I thought on something else like…...Branch or, or Leaf…..,“

„I like the name Leaf,“ Gerda commented earning a nod from Kai, then Gerda watched Kai place the bird on the table and took a thread he had on the table and waited for Gerda, which signed her letter and handed it back to Kai, which took a look at it again.

„What‘s with all those X‘s in the end?“ Kai asked rolling the letter together, then attached it onto the bird‘s leg.

„That means kiss,“ Gerda responded with a chuckle. „Did you not know that?“

„No, but is that what Alfida also meant the last times on the letters she wrote for me?“ The younger brother asked earning a nod from the sister. „Oh…..,“

„It‘s fine, not everybody uses it thought,“ Gerda confessed walking toward the window, which she opened, then observed Kai approach the open gap and he held the bird on the outside.

„Leaf, make sure you give this letter to Rollan, alright?“ Kai told the bird, which tilted his head at the boy‘s command.

„I don‘t think Leaf knows how Rollan looks like,“ Gerda pointed out, then Kai looked around to see if he could find any picture of the Spaniard.

„You‘ve got something of him, don‘t you?“ Kai asked earning a nod from Gerda.

„Wait I‘ve given it to Rollan, but I have another one, which you painted for me,“ Gerda explained running out of the dinning room, therefore she came back with a small canvas which had Rollan painted on it along with Gerda, then the girl showed the picture to the bird.

„That boy there, that‘s the one you need to bring the picture to,“ Kai explained watching the bird blink during the explanation of the boy. „Can you do this for us?“ Kai asked, then saw the bird take off and fly towards the outside of the kingdom, then the siblings exchanged looks with each other.

„Well, he‘s going in the right direction. Hopefully, this works,“ Said the blonde earning a nod from the younger boy.

Gerda looked down at the ground and smiled, then nudged Kai on the elbow and pointed down at the road to see Alfida stand there looking at the siblings.

„Hey,“ Greeted the raven-haired girl. „Was that your messenger bird?“

„Yeah. Did you like it?“ Kai asked earning a nod from the girl. „Great,“

„You ready to go out?“ Alfida asked earning a nod from Kai, which walked off to the exit and picked up his jacket to leave, then he looked at Gerda, which was picking up her writing utensils, then Kai walked back to his sister.

„Gerda, come join me and Alfida,“ Kai offered. „You don‘t have to be alone here,“

„Oh, I‘m not alone. Mom and dad will soon be here,“ Gerda responded. „Come you also need to spend lone time with Alfida. She will only be here for you this weekend,“

„Are you sure? I know Alfida won‘t mind having you around. She‘s your best friend, after all,“

„Yes I know that, but I feel like I would just feel like a third wheel around you two,“

„I think we can prevent this to happen,“

„I know you would want to do that, but you can leave me out for today. I will be fine,“ Gerda confirmed making Kai look neutral at the girl. „After all, I had yesterday a great day with Alfida, now it‘s your turn,“

„Alright, but if you change your mind, just pass by,“ Kai said making his sister smile, then both siblings shared a hug. Afterward, Kai left the house and Gerda crossed the room back to the window to observe Kai join Alfida, which walked along with him the road up into the center of the town.

Rollan stood in the middle of the corridor looking at a map, that was attached to a wall along with a few passengers. The map had shown Europe on it and a red yarn thread was attached to the middle of Russia and the end of the thread was wrapped up at the edge of Germany, which was the current location the pilots had tagged a while ago. Rollan walked away from the map, then made his way back into the bedroom to encounter the triplets on the bed with Luta, which showed the triplets a book with images. Rollan leaned on the arc of the door to look at the images from the book, then pondered about what he could do with the triplets. Rollan got into the room, then sat down on the bed to look at the triplets, then the youngest triplet looked up at the Spaniard and gave him a smile.

„What about we all do something together? Rollan asked watching the cubs nod. „I‘ve took this afternoon from the indoor library this card game here. I know at least two games we could easily play together,“ Rollan took from the inside of his backpack an old deck of cards, then mixed it up and gave each of the cub four cards. Rollan placed the last deck on the middle of the bed, then sat with his legs crossed on the ground and looked at the cubs, which were looking at their cards.

„Okay let‘s play a very easy game. Each of you places a card in the middle of the….bed. The player which places the highest number wins. We also have four different letters inside the pile. A, Q, K, and J. A is the highest card in the game, K, Q, and J come later,“ Rollan explained watching the cubs look at each other unsure about the game, then Luta picked up four cards and sat down vice versa to the Spaniard and placed down a black leaf symbol with the number 2. Luta squeaked earning a nod from two cubs, which sat to the left side if her, then watched the youngest cub place down a black-colored card with the same symbol but a higher number. The light-brown cub rolled his eyes at Rollan, which looked at the older siblings, then watched the red-brownish cub hand out the next card which was the number 7.“

„Very good,“ Rollan complimented watching the last cub add the letter J on it, then applauded. Rollan placed his hands on the bed, then waited for the cubs to look at him and he showed them all the cards, that were put on the bed. „So per coincidence you just have placed the number 7 here. 7 is also one of the highest numbers in the game. It beats J, Q, and K. It‘s actually the second highest one. The correct order is A, 7, K, Q, and J,“ Spoke Rollan earning a nod from the older cubs. „This now means as you placed card no. 7 you scored one point for yourself and you can keep these here with you,“

Rollan shoves the cards to the red-brown cub, earning a smile from the troll, then Rollan shove from the deck a new card to each player and watched Luta place the next card, which was a 2 with a square, then Luta watched along with Rollan the younger troll place a Q, making Rollan nod impressed by the troll‘s move making the troll smile, then the followed cards were a black heart with the number 6 and a red heart with the 2.

„See and now who do you think won this move? Rollan asked, then all looked at the light-brown cub, which chuckled and Rollan shove toward the cub the four played moves to the male. „Now take each of you another card from the pile,“ Rollan asked watching all take a card from the pile, then Rollan took for himself four and waited for Luta to place a card.

Gerda and Kai accompanied Alfida through a road inside the kingdom, which was empty from any citizens.

„It‘s pretty quiet here,“ Kai mentioned. „The most places here are closed at this time,“

„Which is a good thing,“ Alfida commented. „This means we will have it quiet,“

„What were you planning to do along with Kai?“ Gerda asked curiously, then Kai shrugged.

„I actually don‘t know it either. She told me she would say it on the spot,“

„Don‘t worry, you‘ll soon see it,“ Alfida promised. „On that crossroad, you move to the right and follow the dirt track to the farm of Mr. Bega‘s farm,“

„Okay,“ Kai answered following the girlfriend‘s instructions. Gerda, which went beside the girl with the ponytail.

„Are we going to see animals?“ Gerda questioned making Alfida nod.

„More or less. Just wait for it,“

„What animals are we going to see, if we can ask?“ Kai asked watching Alfida think about answering the boy.

„Try to guess it,“

„Hmm is it a cow?“ Questioned Kai making the girlfriend shake her head. „What about a horse?“

„That went fast,“ Alfida responded making Kai raise his fist in victory. „But I won‘t tell you what we‘re going to do with them,“

„I hope it‘s nothing bad,“ Gerda stated neutral, then Alfida chuckled at Gerda‘s comment.

„Boomer, you ruined my surprise,“ Alfida commented making Gerda shut her eyes up in shock, causing Alfida to snort at her friend‘s reaction. „Oh Gerda you had to see your face right now, did you really think I would invite you to that? I‘m more likely to invite you to eat pig or chicken,“

„I should have known that,“

„Hehe,“

The trio got closer to the farm, then encountered a crowd of young people and teenagers together in a group laughing as they stood around a table drinking home-brewed liquid.

„You brought us to a feast?“ Gerda asked watching Alfida approach the table towards a brunette, a redhead, and a raven-haired boy.

„Hey guys, meet Gerda and Kai,“ Alfida introduced the siblings to the teens around her size. „The ones I talked to you about,“ „The Gerda and Kai, that defeated the Snow Queen a long while ago?“ The redhead asked earning a nod from the pirate girl.

„Yeah. Gerda, Kai. Those here are Niko, Timofey, and Maxim,“ Alfida introduced. „They‘re from the other side of the kingdom,“

„Nice to meet you,“ Gerda politely replied giving all the guys her hand along with Kai and the raven-haired boy pecked Gerda on her hand making her feel embarrassed. „Uh….what are you doing?“

„I just want to say I feel honored to meet such a stunning girl here. If the circumstances allow, I‘d like to ask you out for dinner or something else,“ The boy said watching Gerda take her hand down.

„I think I have to pass. I already have a boyfriend,“

„Oh too bad,“ The boy responded, then got hit on his back by the brunette boy, which laughed at his friend‘s rejection.

„Tim, did you really think she would just say yes like that?“

„Why not? Asked Timofey making Gerda roll her eyes and look at Kai, which shrugged his shoulders.

„Better ignore that,“ Alfida commented, then major of the guests stood aside, and around the table appeared a half-Asian descendant farmer, which waved at the guests that were present at his farm.

„Good evening my friends. As I see, there are a few new faces under us,“ The man spoke. „Who‘s here for the first time?“ Mr. Bega asked watching Gerda raise her hand up along with Kai and six other citizens. „Wow, that‘s quite a lot. Look I pick a few familiar faces of you and lead you into my shrine to introduce you the horses,“ Mr. Bega said walking off, then the group followed the man, which opened the door of the barn and led them to the end of the place to the right side, which contained about six stalls and each of one had a horse in it standing.

„There you go. Some of my frequenters already know them and gave them a name like for example Alexei‘s horse here Plague,“ The man introduced the raven-colored horse to the group.

„I saw a black horse before,“ Kai whispered to Gerda, which nodded. Gerda looked at the other horses and at the fifth stall she spotted a light-brown horse with a dark-blonde mane which made Gerda smile enchanted at the looks of the animal, then she moved Alfida on the elbow to imply at that mare and Alfida smiled at Gerda‘s interest on the horse.

„That‘s Lada,“ Alfida introduced. „She‘s the one horse I take on a ride often,“

„I didn‘t know you could ride a horse,“ Gerda commented making Alfida laugh.

„Every pirate knows how to ride one. At least should,“ Explained the raven-haired girl, then moved further to the mare‘s stall and Alfida opened the door back to get into the stall to lean her hand on the face of the horse to pat it. Gerda watched the girl caress the horse, then Alfida gazed at the girl and held out her hand. Gerda looked at Alfida, then placed her hand on her friends and Alfida placed the hand on Lada‘s face carefully making Gerda smile amazed at, as she saw the horse close her eyes to enjoy the girls giving attention.

„She‘s adorable,“ Gerda commented making Alfida smile.

Later on, Gerda accompanied Alfida and her horse out of the barn following two other horses, which were escorted by a person.

„You know a second person can get on top of my horse. Would you be interested to come on top of it with me or do you prefer to give Kai a chance?“ Alfida asked, then Gerda looked at Kai, which walked beside two boys, which were talking with him.

„Kai could go first,“ Gerda pointed out earning a nod from Alfida, then a boy with dark hair passed beside Alfida, passing his hand on the girl‘s shoulder.

„Hey, you owe me a rematch, remember?“ The boy asked making Alfida smirk. „Ready to lose?“

„The question is if you are ready,“ Alfida responded crossing her arms making the boy chuckle.

„You haven‘t changed I see,“ The boy commented earning a nod from the raven-haired girl, then the group went on a road, which led to the town and farmer Bega sprinted in front of the citizens with a rope and unfolded it on the ground making a line, so each person with the horse stood behind it and climbed up on the horse including Alfida, which looked down to see Kai walk toward Lada, then watched Alfida held her hand down at the boyfriend, which looked up at her.

„Where are we going?“ Kai asked, then Alfida just grabbed his hand and tried to pull him up, then Gerda assisted her brother in helping him up on the saddle afterward he wrapped his arms around Alfida‘s and lied his chin over his girlfriend‘s shoulder making her smirk.

„All comfy?“ Teased the pirate girl raising her left eyebrow seeing the boyfriend shrug his shoulders.

„For now on I‘m good. Where are we going?“ Gerda‘s brother asked watching the farmer look at the riders, which had gotten on their horse including Alifda and another young man, which had a guest on their horse.

„Okay fellas. You start right here and ran down into the town, far away on the crossroad to the sewing atelier you turn left heading to the roundabout, and take the third road heading to the shoemaker shop, then turn right and go to the left after passing the pastry home. You reach the road of the fire department and follow the curve, then make sure you follow the dirt track right up here to the farm and pass through this marking again. The first one to arrive wins,“ The farmer explained, then walked up to the first rider and opened his head. „Hand me out your bets and the winner gets it all,“ Mr. Bega announced watching the first rider take from his pants out a few bills to give it to the man, then moved on to the next rider.

Alfida opened the side pocket of hers to take out a few cash bills, then she glanced back at Kai, which observed the others giving the man the money and he gazed normally at Alfida.

„Want to hand out some money?“ Alfida asked.

„I don‘t have money right now,“

„Wow Gerda, does Kai really go like that on dates?“ Alfida asked making Gerda chuckle, while Kai shook his head at the girlfriend‘s comment. Alfida gave her money to the farmer, which passed by, and observed the man accept the last two bets of the last two stallions therefore he got to the side of the rope and counted the money together. The guests walked all away from the horses along with Gerda, which gave Alfida and Kai two thumbs up making Alfida smile along with Kai, which grinned more unsure about the ride.

„Ready?“ Asked the farmer holding his hand up in the air watching all riders look at the man, then the man swung down his arm to announce the start of the race. „Go!“ Shouted Mr. Bega watching all on the horse pull on the leash causing the horses to depart and race into the town with the people standing behind cheering for them. Gerda watched excited the horses go down the road entering into the town, where she soon saw them disappearing and only noticed the heads of the riders look like points on the road.

Down at the road, Alfida was in second place following a brown horse which was the one the boy Alex sat on to participate alone, then he looked back and smirked amused to see the pirate girl losing against him.

„Don‘t worry Alex, this is just the beginning,“ Alfida commented, then she began to feel Kai cling tighter on her making her grin cheekily at his deed, then looked further on the road to see Alex take a turn on the first left curve, then Alfida rolled her eyes back at her boyfriend.

„Hold on tight, I‘m about to try my first maneuver,“ Alfida warned feeling her boyfriend clutch tighter around the waist, then Alfida whipped with her guiding leash on her horse, so she would get faster to approach Alex‘s horse and meet it at the end of their first curve. „Great job, girl!“ Alfida complimented and focused on the leading teenager, which made it to pass beside the roundabout, which had a displayed robot hand doing the peace sign. Alfida guided her horse through the opposite direction to get quicker to the third exit to follow Alex, which Alfida now got closer to.

Alfida reached along with her horse the next right curve, then followed the avenue down where they encountered the stop for the carriage rides. As Alfida continued to follow the leading racer, she noticed a white horse beside her try to pass to her front, then Alfida looked along with the boyfriend at the two riders, which were also a man and a woman.

„Do people often come for a ride like this?“ Kai asked the girlfriend, which shook her head.

„About one to three times a week,“ Responded the raven-haired girl. „“It‘s a good alternative way to earn some money,“

„But isn‘t that illegal?“ Questioned Kai making Alfida laugh.

„You‘re aware, that your girlfriend is a descendant of pirates, right?“

The horses arrived the next turn, which led to the road of the fire department, continuing on the main road and the last two horses entered into the side road, which led to the parking zone of the fire brigade and slowed down noticing, that on the outside stood a large carriage with a wrapped up hose and a pump, which was being washed by a few firemen.

The leading three got to reach the end of the road, then moved to the next short street which was the one Alfida has passed by along with her friends.

„We‘re almost at the end,“ Kai warned. „We‘re not going to make it,“ Kai told making Alfida smirk at Kai‘s adjustment, then guided the horse towards the side of the road and observed Alex which was focused on the current place he was, thereafter Alfida moved her leash to make her mare speed up a little and guided her up on the sidewalk, then at the curve, she took the lead shrieking the teenage boy.

„Whoa!“ Alex shouted making Alfida chuckle along with her boyfriend, which now went the road up to get to the finish line.

Up at the finish line, all watched Alfida along with Kai on Lada‘s back racing up the road and began to applaud seeing Alfida reach the end, then she raised up her hand in victory while Kai sat on the horse embarassed at the amount of attention. Alfida pulled on the leash to command Lada to get up on her hind legs and swing her hand around, then shrieked as she watched Kai fall down on the ground, afterward Gerda pulled him away along with another guest and noticed Lada get down again normally without getting closer to Kai.

„Sorry Kai, I thought you would remain behind me,“ Apologized the pirate girl watching Kai get up with the help of his sister.

„That was an amazing race,“ Gerda complimented. „You need to take me out on the next race,“

„Sure, make sure you got the next weekend time and I promise you a ride,“ Alfida promised making Gerda smile, then Mr. Bega showed up to shake her hand, then gave her the money the riders used to bet and the raven-haired girl accepted it and counted it in front of Gerda. „200 Dinar. Not bad, right?“ The girl asked earning a nod of Gerda, then she patted the mare on the face and major of the viewers got around Alfida applauding to her success.

#ecofinisher #ecofinisherfanfics #snow queen #snow queen mirrorlands #Снежная королева #wattpad #ao3 #archive of our own #fanfic #fanfiction #ficupdated #fanficupdate #update #updated

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bmaxwell · 3 years

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Best Games of 2020

2020 was a lot. It will be remembered for many things far above and beyond video games. COVID-19 shut the world down in a way never seen in my lifetime. It changed day to day life for many of us, and cost many of us loved ones. It was also the year when the ugly parts of our capitalist society were shown in broad daylight. It feels like 2001 again in that our lives will be divided into pre-2020 and post-2020.

For me personally, I was able to keep my job and work from home, and no one close to us died to the pandemic. We stayed home as much as possible, wore masks, wiped down groceries, and did our best to control what we could. It can be hard to talk about stuff like video games and sports with the usual sort of fervor when the world feels like it’s falling apart around us. It feels like playing the violin aboard the Titanic. But self-care is especially important in times like these, and it’s healthy and necessary to close Twitter, or for-the-love-of-god fucking Facebook and get a breather sometimes. Finding a balance where I could stay informed without completely submerging myself in misery wasn’t always easy.

And so. 2020 was a pretty good year for games, though it must be noted that there is a cost to that escapism - the industry is rife with stories of abuse, burnout, and coverups from companies such as Ubisoft and CD Projekt Red, Naughty Dog, and many others. That can add an additional layer of exhaustion to what is supposed to be a relaxing escape. So I can understand the people who say they don’t want to hear about abuse in industry, they just want the games. But also, fuck those people. “I don’t care if you suffer to entertain me, I just don’t want to hear about it.” Fuck the whole entire way off.

But I digress. Like most years, I played a lot of games. I played a lot of coop beat-em-ups with my kids this year. Minecraft Dungeons and Streets of Rage 4 didn’t make the list, but I spent hours playing them with my middle child. And it wasn’t a 2020 release, but I had a blast playing River City Girls with firstborn. It was a good year for fans of tactics games with stuff like Gears Tactics, Troubleshooter, Wintermoor Tactics Club, and Fae Tactics. 2020 also saw new console releases, though the launch lineups were especially thin.

Gaming-wise, 2020 was the year of Xbox Game Pass for me. I spent most of this console generation (justifiably) dogging Xbox for their lack of platform exclusives, but I decided to pursue an Xbox Series X before a Playstation 5. Game Pass is the main reason for this. The “Netflix for games” thing has finally become a reality, and Sony just doesn’t have an answer for the bonkers value of Game Pass. We head into the new console generation with Microsoft leaning heavily on Game Pass subs, Sony still banking on a few console exclusives, and Nintendo, uh, doing their own thing over there. What a fascinating time for the industry.

Honorable Mention

It’s an honor just to be nominated.

Monster Sanctuary

If you start with Pokemon, strip away the anime, and mix in a healthy dose of metroidvania, you have Monster Sanctuary. This means there are monsters to collect, level, and evolve, and lots of combat revolving around elemental strengths and weaknesses. And I am here for that shit. A game like this lives and dies by its combat, and it’s very satisfying here. The game has plenty of choices about which skills to focus on for each monster, which gear to equip, and which monsters to keep in your active roster.

That said, between a couple of nasty difficulty spikes and some super-frustrating puzzle rooms, I was close to walking away from the game on multiple occasions. It’s a testament to the game’s quality that I kept coming back to it.

Animal Crossing

Animal Crossing on the Gamecube is one of my favorite games ever. Each game in the series since the first has felt like a small incremental change from the original. I played Wild World on the DS quite a bit, City Folk a bit less, and A New Leaf not at all. I was thinking that maybe enough time has passed that I could get wrapped up in New Horizons, but I fell off it after a month or two.

I’m wondering what I would want from a new Animal Crossing game, and the answer is nothing. How much can you change the game and still have it be Animal Crossing? I don’t think the game is bad by any means. My whole family shared an island community for a couple of months. It’s impossible for a new game in the series make me feel the way that first game did.

The most memorable part of New Horizons is the museum. The museum is huge and absolutely lovely, with fish, bugs, fossils, and art each having their own wing. There were a few nights where the tranquility of the museum made for a nice end of the day.

Tell Me Why

My wife, firstborn, and myself have made a nice routine of playing through “choices matter” games together (starting last year with Detroit Become Human and following up with Life is Strange 2). Tell Me Why is the latest one one of these we tackled as a group. These game have created some memorable moments for us; who could forget their child yelling for them to “shoot the hooker”? (thank you, Detroit Become Human).

Tell Me Why was on my radar because it’s One of These, but also because it features a transgender protagonist. As a parent of a trans child, I was both excited at the prospect of this and also worried that it is such an easy thing to fumble. I’m pleased to report that DONTNOD handled the writing of the trans person very well without being hamfisted, preachy, or tryhardy with it. The character of Tyler is a believable trans man, and the topic is spoken of matter-of-factly without placing special focus on it; being trans is a part of Tyler’s story, but it’s not the entirety of his identity.

Less impressive to me was the story itself - especially the way it wrapped up its main conflict. The game trades in the idea of memory being imperfect, which is fascinating in and of itself, but I did not like it as a game mechanism. How did this REALLY happen? One character remembers it one way, and the other remembers it differently. Choosing between them felt cheap and hollow to me; I want you to tell me what happened, don’t ask me to choose. Still, I enjoyed my time with the game, and it feels like a step forward in mainstream storytelling for LGBTQA characters.

Ghost of Tsushima

Ghost of Tsushima is flat out gorgeous. Practically every area and every moment in the game is begging to screenshotted to the point where it can sometimes pull me out of the game world a little bit. That’s not necessarily a complaint because, as I said, the game is freaking beautiful. But every part of the world looking like a painting makes it feel more like it takes place in a fantasy world and less like a game from feudal Japan.

I also had some ludonarrative dissonance going on with the game; you play as Jin, one of the few surviving samurai in his homeland which has been invaded by the Mongols. His uncle is being held prisoner, and combatting the occupying force would be impossible without using dishonorable techniques like hiding, attacking from a distance, and ambushing from the shadows. I, however, have no qualms and savored every opportunity to catch my foes unaware. So Jin voices his doubts, then goes into a camp and proceeds to cut his enemies down from shadows as I cackle with glee.

Ghost of Tsushima also combines dark souls-esque* combat with Ubisoft-style open world gameplay where you’re hunting down icons on a map. That kind of open world game is hard for me top stick with, especially after I spent ~30 hours with Assassin’s Creed Origins early in the year. All of makes it sound like I’m pretty down on Ghost of Tsushima, which I’m not. I’m hoping I’ll come back to it at some point when I have more of an appetite for One of These.

Crown Trick

My Dungeons of Dredmor hole has not been properly filled in a long time. Chcocobo’s Mystery Dungeon is the closest I think. These games are what I think of as roguelikes, though the progression between runs makes them roguelites. *tips fedora*

Crown Trick is a turn-based dungeon crawler where the map is a grid, and each time you act, the enemies act. Add to this clockwork puzzle gameplay a good variety of weapons, relics, and events and you’ve got a lot of replayability. It doesn’t have Dredmor’s ridiculous combination of skill classes, but it does have a neat Mega Man-esque system where you defeat minibosses and add their skill set to your build.

Top 10

10. Star Renegades

Star Renegades was not on my radar at all until I heard Austin Walker talk about the game on Waypoint Radio. Two things gave me pause:

- It’s a sci-fi-ass game. It’s a setting I don’t care for. Star destroyers and aliens and galactic battlecruisers aren’t my jam. - Austin Walker’s enthusiasm is infectious. I’ve tried games after hearing him gush over them and those games haven’t worked for me.** That’s not an indictment, he and I just have different tastes.

Star Renegades ticks a few important boxes for me: it has a lot of characters to unlock, it’s highly customizable, and the combat is turn-based with a twist. Every action, whether friend or foe, appears on a timeline. Some attacks will push their target’s action back on the timeline, so there’s a puzzle element to the combat that keeps it feeling fresh. You can choose the makeup of your party on each run, which helped give the game a buttload of replay value.

It’s not flawless by any means. The writing tries a little too hard to be cheeky and ends up feeling tryhardy and a little flat. A decent run in the game would often take 2-3 hours, which makes it feel deflating when it ends in failure - which it frequently did. The sections of the game where you move between zones on an overhead map feels needlessly clunky, and sometimes I ended up with movement points I couldn’t spend because of how the game handles that system.

I enjoyed Star Renegades a lot, but my time with it was weird. The game has unlockable characters, so unlocking them all was my first priority. The game’s runs are pretty long, I was playing sub-optimally trying to unlock things, and the game is more difficult than I’d expected. It took me a long time to complete the unlocks, then I had a hard time actually finishing a run successfully. Eventually I was ready to be done with it and turned the difficulty down to easy**** just to finally get a W. Still, the positives far outweigh the negative here, and Star Renegades is one of my favorite games of 2020.

9. Immortals Fenyx Rising

Man, something happened to me this December. I’m currently finding myself playing a lot of Forza Horizon 4, Destiny 2, and Immortals Fenyx Rising. None of these is My Kind of Game. Immortals is probably the least surprising of these, because it at least has swords and bows and stuff.

Still, I dismissed and mocked Immortals Fenyx Rising when it was first shown. It was called Gods & Monsters back then, and the idea of Ubisoft making yet another open world game, this time aping Breath of Wild was not appealing at all. I only ended up with the game after trading in Cyberpunk 2077 for Xbox credit and looking into Immortals because I was very surprised to see it on Game Informer’s game of the year list.

To get a few things out of the way, it absolutely recycles a lot from Breath of the Wild: you’ll be hang gliding, scaling walls as a stamina meter drains, finding shrines that contain puzzles and combat and climbing towers to get a vantage point and find points of interest on the map. The latter feels the most fumbled in this game - you can zoom in and survey the landscape, and your controller vibrates when you are looking near a point of interest. Move the cursor over it and press a button to reveal it on the map. They split the difference between Assassin’s Creed’s “all the icons pop in automatically” and Zelda’s wonderful “manually mark places that look interesting to you on your map” system and ended up with something neither functional nor interesting.

That’s where my complaints end though. The game’s art style is similar at a glance, but it’s vibrant and gorgeous, and never feels like Breath of the Wild. The combat is snappy, responsive, and challenging. The puzzle design is often creative, clever, and rarely frustrating; most of my frustration has come from my overthinking the puzzle solutions. There is plenty of gear to find, and the game’s cosmetic options are intuitive and welcome. The game’s narrative is better than I expected; it feels like a B-tier Disney movie. The writing has made me smile a few times, and made me roll my eyes a few times. Zeus as comic relief is a pretty major miss, but it’s fine apart from that. It helps that I’m already familiar with Greek mythology.

It’s a huge, beautiful world where traversal and combat feel great. It’s sometimes hard to get anything done because I am constantly distracted by tracking down an icon on the map, or just exploring because I saw something cool or strange. Not all of the puzzles and challenges work, but that’s okay because I can move onto something else. Immortals Fenyx Rising is this year’s Dragon Quest Builders 2: gaming comfort food where it feels good to sit back and check things off a list at the end of a long day. Still don’t like the name though. And fuck Ubisoft.

8. Atomicrops

The first mention of Atomicrops I remember was “What if Stardew Valley was a twin stick shooter?” which is bullshit, because the games bear no resemblance beyond “there’s farming”. Beyond that first blurb, what appealed to me is the idea that the game’s days take place in 2 phases: during the daytime, you go out and fight baddies to gather seeds, and at night the baddies invade your farm and you fight them off while planting and watering crops.

It’s also a run-based roguelike, and I am 1 of 26 remaining people who is still psyched to play those. Give me a challenge, mix up the details, let me upgrade stuff between sessions, and turn me loose. The game has a good variety of weapons and the challenge is satisfying and rarely feels unfair (apart from the bullet hell problem of too much stuff on the screen at times). I don’t love the art style, but the music sure makes up for it.

7. Wintermoor Tactics Club

A game needs more than charm to be memorable and enjoyable. Charm can go a long way though, and Wintermoor Tactics club has it in spades. It takes place at a small college, and you play as a girl named Alicia. She and her friends are members of the school’s tactics club, and much of the game takes place around a table littered with graph paper, rulebooks, and snacks. As someone who loved tabletop RPG’s in simpler times, and never had the traditional college experience, a prettied-up version of that appeals to me in a huge way. It’s not wholly idyllic though, and it touches on issues of discrimination and what it’s like to be an outcast.

The gameplay itself is pretty straightforward tactics stuff and it works fine but isn’t really the draw here. I was propelled through the game largely by a desire to meet the next character, get the next story bit, and keep basking in the game’s wonderful aesthetic and smart writing. There’s something lovely about sitting around the table and playing a game with friends, and this game really captures that.

6. Ratropolis

Ratrpolis is “A fusion of roguelite, tower defense, city-building, and deck-building!” which sounds like a hodgepodge of nonsense. And it kind of is. It’s a city building game where you are periodically being invaded from either the left or right side of the screen (or both). You choose from 6 leaders, each with their own pool of cards and play style, start with a basic deck of cards and slowly evolve it. The cards consist of buildings, military units, and various economic and military buffs. The major things that set this apart from favorites like Slay the Spire are that it happens in real time, and there is an economic aspect to manage. Tax money comes in every few seconds, and it’s possible to make poor decisions early on and not understand why you feel hamstrung later.

I spent a lot of games like that, not really understanding why I’d be doing okay and then get overwhelmed. I had a few rage quits early on, but I could tell that there was something there. I started approaching it with the mindset of building an economic engine in the early game, and I started having a lot more fun and success. Each of the 6 leaders feels distinct, and figuring them each out has been a lot of fun. Runs are usually no more than about 30 minutes, which feels about right.

5. Final Fantasy VII Remake

Despite identifying as a big JRPG fan, I’ve never enjoyed a mainline Final Fantasy game enough to finish it. This year I finished 2 of them: Final Fantasy XV and the Final Fantasy VII Remake.*** I played the original Playstation Final Fantasy VII release, I think I got through disc 1 and a little ways into disc 2. It didn’t resonate with me, so I came to this year’s remake with no reverence for the game. When many of the original game’s fans got upset with how much the remake changed the script from the source material, I didn’t have a horse in that race.

The remake is gorgeous, the combat and upgrade systems are engaging, and the story is interesting enough to keep me wanting to see what’s next. The 1997 release of the game had some stuff that isn’t going to play the same in 2020 like the scene where Cloud is crossdressing, the game’s themes of environmental activism, and, uh, the entire Don Corneo storyline come to mind. But the game handled all of this pretty well. I’m glad to say that this is one of the best RPG’s I played this year, and I look forward to the next entry whenever the hell it comes along. Cloud is still an unlikable punk though.

4. Monster Train

Slay the Spire was a surprise hit a couple of years ago, and inspired a lot of folks in the indie space to take a crack at the deckbuilding genre. Monster Train managed to to take inspirations from Slay the Spire but still feels like very much its own thing. Both games have you progressing through a series of encounters consisting of battles, shops, or small events trying to defeat the big bad at the end of a journey. You start with a deck of basic cards and upgrade them and add new cards along to way. You can’t really start a run planning on making a certain style of deck, you just choose from the cards available and watch the strategy form. The way this process tickles my brain makes these games endlessly replayable. The “one more run” is very strong here.

Monster Train differentiates itself in a couple of ways. First, where Slay the Spire was always just your one character battling one or more enemies, here you are summoning multiple creatures on the lower 3 levels of a 4-level train (I don’t know either). If the enemies reach the top floor of your train, they attack your core directly and eventually defeat you. This adds a strong spatial planning element - now you’re thinking about which combatants you want on each floor, and in what order.

The other notable difference between the games is that while Slay the Spire has four heroes, each with their own unique pool of cards, Monster Train has five factions. It’s one better. The first three factions feel pretty standard from a creativity point of view - red/green/blue are fire/nature/ice. The last two factions you unlock feel wholly unique though: there’s a faction that summons weak, cheap units and feeds on them for combat bonuses, and one that is made of candle beings who are powerful, but melt away. Okay, the real reason is that each time you play, you’re choosing a main faction (each has 2 champions to use from) and a secondary faction (you don’t get their champion, but you get access to their pool of cards). This makes each run feel unique and makes the game feel endlessly replayable. Even after unlocking all of the factions and their cards, and winning a run on the hardest challenge setting with each faction, I’m still playing Monster Train.

3. Spiritfarer

If Kentucky Route Zero is my “It’s Not You, It’s Me” game this year, Spiritfarer might be my “Love at First Sight” game of the year. The game’s striking visuals grabbed my attention immediately when I first saw the trailer at E3 2019, and it was billed as a game about saying goodbye. My only reservation was that it was coming from Thunder Lotus Games, whose previous titles (Jotun and Sundered) both fell flat for me.

Spiritfarer ended up being everything I was hoping for. You play as the newly-appointed ferryperson for the boat that transports souls from the land of the living to the land of the dead. Your ship acts as your base of operations, and you build living quarters, a kitchen, a forge, and lots of other facilities on it. The beings who join you on your ship are anthropomorphized animals, each with their own story. Your job is to help them be at peace, then send them to the next life once they’re ready.

In practical terms, you’re spending a lot of your time sailing from island to island to talk to people and find resources. There’s a plenty of crafting and time sinks in the game, and I appreciated the excuse to luxuriate in this game world. No game made me cry this year, but Spiritfarer (Alice’s story in particular) sure did try. It was the perfect respite for the nightmare that was 2020.

2. Yakuza: Like a Dragon

A lot of Yakuza fans were concerned over this game’s switch from the series’ usual brawling combat to turn-based RPG combat. I was not one of them. Everything about this game sounds like the sort of fan fiction someone like, well, like me would come up with on a late night drunken bender. “What if it was Yakuza, but like, JRPG battles? Why would that happen.....OH oh oh what if the main character was a big fan of DRAGON QUEST so he just, like, saw the world in those terms? You could have party members, and a Pokedex of all the weirdo scumbags you fight, and you could change jobs by going to a temp agency!”

All of that is in Yakuza: Like a Dragon. And I love it. The series’ producer says they decided to pivot to a turn-based combat system after positive reaction to an April Fools Day Yakuza RPG joke they put online. And there are some rough spots. Your party members get caught on the world’s geometry sometimes, and combatants are constantly milling around so AOE abilities feel like a crap shoot. The Yakuza series has always had about 30% too much combat, so translating it into a genre known for grindy gameplay feels like a perfect storm of sorts. Thankfully, I’m a fan of grindy RPG’s so all of this is directly in my wheelhouse.

This eighth game in the Yakuza series is the first with a new protagonist - goodbye Kiryu Kazuma, hello Ichiban Kasuga. Where Kiryu was very stoic, Ichiban is a hothead with the perfect mix of kindness, earnestness, and stupidity for a JRPG hero. He is an incredibly likeable and charismatic character, and I hope Ryu Go Gotoku Studio tightens up the battle system and keeps this iteration of the series running.

1. Hades

Hades seemed like a slam dunk. My favorite studio was making an action RPG based on Greek mythology. The announcement was the best possible version of “AND you can play it right now!” I bought it (in early access) immediately and played it a bit, but I didn’t want to burn out on it so I only briefly checked in on it every few months. As a result, my hype was pretty low when the game reached its 1.0 release.

Once I decided to fully engage with the game though, I was unable to put it down. SuperGiant’s games have the best writing, music, and voice acting in the business. That’s a pretty high bar to aim for, and they hit it once again with Hades. Both of their post-Bastion games (Transistor and Pyre) are games that I have to recommend with an asterisk though; the gameplay parts of each game is an acquired taste and will put some folks off.

Hades, however, I can give a full throated recommendation for. The gameplay is tight and the combat feels good. There’s a lot of variety in the weapons, so you can either find one that fits your style and stick with it, or do what I did and change it up every run. They also managed to achieve something incredible - they largely took the sting out of losing in a run-based game. There are things to unlock between runs as you’d expect from a roguelite. I found myself enjoying chatting with the denizens of hell as much as the moment to moment action gameplay. I’d respawn back home and make my rounds, taking to people and spending my cash. I had a route I’d travel each time, and that route ended with Skelly in the weapons room. Oh, the gauntlets grant a bonus if I use them this time....the door to start a new run is just right over there....okay I can do one more run tonight.

That personality and dialogue is sprinkled throughout the runs themselves too, in the form of the various Greek gods you talk to and get boons from. The variety in weapons and boons give the game tremendous replayability and give the game a deckbuilding feel. Every character in the game is incredibly well developed and well-acted. Zagreus is a likeable and relatable protagonist. He wants to get away from his disapproving father and find his estranged mother, and he and his father can’t see eye to eye.

The story and gameplay in Hades do equal lifting, the game is an incredibly complete package. The game also provided a couple of the most memorable moments of the year. Hades might just be SuperGiant’s best game. It’s certainly their most complete game.

*It’s very much on the lighter side of this gameplay style, akin to 2019′s Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order. Plus there are difficulty settings, which I appreciate.

**Invisible Inc, Dragon’s Dogma, and The Outer Wilds come to mind.

***Final Fantasy VII Remake is only the first installment in a series

****Cloaked in shame and failure.

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acnl1am · 7 years

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Hello! Mayor Emma here!

I’ve decided to make a guide for anyone who could use a couple tips for the game. I’ve been playing Animal Crossing New Leaf for a couple of years now and when I first started I really didn’t know what I was doing. The first day I got the game I went so far as googling how to walk around (it took me 10 minutes to figure out it was the circle pad... oops!). Over the years I’ve learned so much about the game. I have learned how to build up my town, landscape, make bells, and truly get the most out of my experience.

So, without further ado, here is my acnl guide!

(feel free to reblog so any of your followers who are just starting out can see!)

Starting out the game

First of all, welcome to your town! It is so exciting beginning a fresh new town to work with! Having two copies of the game has allowed me to start three towns from scratch and each new beginning was so fun!

The first thing you need to do is get tools. This is vital because to earn money you must use the tools. Sell fruit, shells, and items fallen from trees to save up for the tools you need. Purchase them at Nook’s store or get them during Isabelle’s tutorial. Use the tools to fish, catch bugs, dig up gyroids and fossils, and pop balloons (can be popped with slingshot or shovel at edge of cliff) and sell those to make money.

Pro tip! -Want to shake trees to find bells and items but don’t want to get stung by bees? Open your town’s gates to prevent the beehives from falling. (to open the gates you must first get your photo id taken)-

Now if you want to start your game with the intention of landscaping, your second task is clearing your entire town. If you have a second town or a friend that has the gardening store, purchase axes. You will probably need more than four. Don’t have either of those connections? Don’t worry! One of the greatest assets to any new leaf player is the trade network. @acnltrades is the place to go to trade to obtain items you don’t have yet!

Clear out all the trees but save at least one basket of fruit. Sell the rest. By clearing all the trees you now have room for paths! Paths are very important to the organization of your town. They will keep you from running around and killing flowers and wearing down grass and make it easier to navigate your town. Using one of the designs the game comes with, start laying paths throughout your town, connecting houses and buildings. 2x2 tiled paths are easiest and wide enough to run on, but some people prefer 1x1 or 3x3. You can also mix up the width of the paths throughout your town. Feeling bold? Try diagonal paths! They’re a great way to make your town unique.

Pro tip! -Unlock the sewing machine by talking to Sable for multiple days in a row. The sewing machine allows you to scan in QR codes with custom designs, perfect for paths and clothes.-

Now that you’ve cleared your town of all trees and laid your paths, time to organize flowers. This step can be done any time during your animal crossing career. I’ve had my towns with messy flowers for years and only recently I’ve cleaned up all the flowers. I’m so glad I did.

Pro tip! -If you want to landscape right away but don’t feel like watering your flowers all the time, enact the beautiful town ordinance! Not only does it prevent flowers from dying, it keeps trash out of the rivers and makes your villagers happy. You will also earn perfect town status easier.-

Most towns have two beaches, a bottom beach and a side beach. These beaches will be devoted to your flowers. Start with one type of flower, say red roses. Collect all the red roses in your town and put them all on your side beach, closest to the top of the beach. Move onto the next color (white roses, yellow roses, etc.). As you go along, leave a 1x1 path where you don’t put flowers so you have a place to walk/run.

Your bottom beach will be for breeding flowers, if you choose to do so. This leaves wide open space to lay out and water your flowers. By putting flowers on the beach, they are safe from villagers planting flowers and people running on them.

The best way to arrange flowers for breeding is in a diagonal checkerboard pattern. This allows flowers to grow in the middle of the other flowers

Water your flowers and come back the next day. You may find a hybrid!

Here is a good guide for hybrids.

Landscaping

So you’ve got a completely empty, pathed town? Start planting the fruit you’ve saved. Planting fruit trees is the easiest way to landscape with trees since fruit is so easily obtainable. Plant trees one tile apart each along your paths, or make a grove in some empty space.

Pro tip! -Take fruit from island tours. These fruits are non-native fruits and they are the easiest to obtain to add variety to your town.-

Another way to jazz up your town is bushes and bamboo. Bushes can be planted in rows up to 12 and directly next to trees and bamboo. They MUST be planted one tile away from buildings, cliffs, rocks, and pwps (public work projects). They CANNOT be planted on the beach (sadly). When in doubt, refer to this guide. Bamboo is super messy to deal with (since it grows like weeds) but can make your town look cool if you know how to control it. It works best in closed off areas (such as surrounded by a path like a planter, or next to trees/bushes). Chop the bamboo for different looks. While the growing bamboo is still brown (2nd day of growth), chop it for brown stubs. On the third day of growth, the bamboo is partially green, so chop it for a half green half brown stub. The fourth day is when the bamboo is fully grown. You can leave it be or chop it down for green stubs.

Mix and match flowers, trees, bushes, and bamboo for your desired look.

Remember all the flowers you’ve been storing on the beach? Now’s the time to pepper your landscape with them! You can group them by color or type, add them around houses and trees, and put them in rows or patterns.

The best part is since you store the flowers on the beach, they’re super easy to go get and put around your town, rather than having to search all over town for another white lily.

Making Bells

Making money in this game is pretty important. You need bells to buy and upgrade your house, buy clothes, furniture, trips to the island, improve your town, and even to unlock things. Here are some tips (pun intended) for earning those sweet bell bags.

When your first start out, selling things around your town is going to be your #1 income. However, as you progress through the game you can get money other ways. The best way to earn bells without hacking or trading is through the island. After 7pm, beetles show up at the island. By taking one trip to the island and catching enough beetles to fill up your entire basket, you can easily make 100,000 bells.

Pro tip! -Go ahead and scare off low priced beetles by running at them. It’ll leave more opportunities for other beetles to spawn.-

With the bell boom ordinance you can make even more money. Here is a handy beetle price guide (the guide is for prices without bell boom).

Pro tip! -Retail closes at 11pm so be sure to finish catching beetles before then!-

Another way to make money is selling items. Often times event items (bunny day set, snowman set, etc.) will sell for more than regular items. Every once in a while, go through your drawers and sell items you don’t need such as out of season clothes and reorderable items.

The way I made the most money is through acnltrades. Seriously, check it out. There were many opportunities to get free bells and items as well as being able to sell items and put out ads for things I needed. I’ve also made many friends and fulfilled badge and traveling requirements. However, trade at your own risk. I haven’t run into any problems but it’s always a possibility.

Pro tip! -When selling things at the retail auction, always put the price for items up for 4x the suggested price minus 1 bell. This will guarantee that you will get the highest price possible for the item. The -1 bell is to prevent the villagers from complaining how expensive it is and refusing to buy it. I’ve made a lot of money from The Roost coffee beans this way.-

House Decorating

Now that you’ve made some bells, it’s time to make your house more you! If you have a theme picked out, start searching for items! What I usually do is I go look through my item catalogue at Timmy and Tommy’s to see what I already have, then make a list of things I want for the room.

Another way to do it is make an account on moridb, a great website for searching all the items in the game. This website is free, and it is really helpful if you plan to do trades on acnltrades.

Pro tip! -If you own the game Happy Home Designer, you can get ideas for your house from there!-

When designing your house, it is best to first buy the secret storeroom. You will need to at least have your main room at full size and paid off your upstairs room. When you have the storeroom unlocked, you can use the lower screen to pick up furniture and move it around with ease like in Happy Home Designer! It will literally save you hours of work, trust me.

On a last note, it really helps talking to Lyle in Nook’s store for tips on designing your house the right way. He will help you earn the most possible points for your rooms.

Storage

Ah, storage. Something I struggled with the most. As a frequent trader and avid user of @acnldelivery (check that out too, totally worth your time), I constantly had items sitting around my town due to full drawers. Through the years I’ve gotten pretty good at learning how to store items. Here are a few of my tricks.

Your drawers are best for storing things you’ll use frequently. Items like clothes, extra tools, your wetsuit, and wrapping paper/letter paper should go here since it is easy to access (find your drawers in the train station locker wherever you go).

Pro tip! -It is super important to keep your drawers organized! It will save so much time searching for things if you organize them!-

The next step up from the drawers is the secret storeroom. This is a good place for your furniture since it can only be accessed through your house.

The last place is the museum exhibits upstairs. Put all your odds and ends there. Things that you just HAVE to keep but don’t need to access quickly (such as unorderables you’re not using). This is another good place for seasonal outfits like the santa suit and festival outfit. You can also store extra wrapping paper there just in case the store isn’t open and you’ve gotta wrap a present for a birthday. It’s a pretty good place to store things since it’s open 24/7 (thanks, Blathers!).

Pro tip! -Want more pocket space? Store your extra items in your letters! I use this trick on a daily basis because it’s so easy and convenient.-

Time Traveling

Oooooo the forbidden cheat.

It’s really not that bad. In fact it can often be helpful! Its practical use is to change the time (I traveled over the summer and entered a different time zone so had to change my town’s time) but can also be used for things such as going back to a missed event, getting the mail delivered sooner, or skipping through time to visit a different season.

To time travel as safe as possible, try not to travel more than 2-3 times in once go. The rule of thumb I’ve heard is for every 3 days you travel, it counts for a day you’ve missed not playing. This means that there is the possibility that someone can move out! So basically, it’s not too bad if you jump a month ahead, but if you travel one day at a time a month ahead all in one sitting, you’re asking for trouble.

Something I always worry about is villagers moving in on top of my landscapes. Boy, is that frustrating! Thank you Nintendo for the update where they can’t move on your paths anymore because this helped me develop a helpful trick.

When you know you’ll be time traveling a lot or won’t play in a while, cover your town in QR tiles. As long as you make sure there is no 3x3 open plot of land, you won’t have to worry. Don’t forget to put them next to trees and in flower patches too because I’ve made that mistake many times and have some houses in my gardens (I’m looking at you, Biskit).

Pro tip! -Time traveling for a long period of time will also cause clover growth, which can look pretty cool! Be careful, it will also cause weeds!-

Taking Photos

Taking photos of your animal crossing experience and posting them on Tumblr can be fun! Here are some tips on how to do it!

Before you take a photo, click the up button on the control pad to clear the date and time bubble. If you’re gonna take a photo using one of Shrunk’s expressions, you cannot take a photo looking up. Your photos should be saved to your memory card so while your 3ds is off, take out the memory card and insert it into your computer. The file should be a DCIM file (the photo example is on a Mac).

If you’re a Mac user (sorry, I can’t speak for Windows users), double click the photo you want. This will lead you to the preview of the photo. Click “file” then “duplicate”. Save the duplicate photo. Now you will have a version on your computer.

Looks kinda grainy, right? Not to worry! Use waifu2x to make your photos smoother! Here’s a comparison with the original on the left and the edited on the right.

See? Even the colors are more vibrant! This website is so helpful and easy to use.

Another way to take photos is with the animal crossing amiibo camera.

This was from a hiking trip I took.

You can also take an amiibo pic with a black background (cover the camera with your hand) then using photoshop or an editing program to remove the background and insert your own (that’s how I did the header on this post).

References

Here are some websites I use frequently:

Thonky for info

Animal Crossing Wiki for info

acntrades for trades

acnldelivery for item sets

moridb for the item list

QR codes on Tumblr

thulinma for making QR codes (this one is super cool)

waifu2x for photo editing

The animal crossing app (on the app store for iOS) for coffee orders

I hope this helps! Feel free to message me with any additional questions!

Good luck!

-Mayor Emma

#acnl #animal crossing #animal crosing new leaf #achhd #acnlwa #acnl 1am #Mayor Emma of Ivywood

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magenta-fantasies · 7 years

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24 Hours of Sonic: June 23, 2017

It’s June 23, 2017, and so begins another 24 Hours of Sonic! 12:00 A.M.: My 24 Hours of Sonic is off to a great start! I had a surprisingly easy time waking up to “Live and Learn.” Usually waking up at midnight for 24 Hours of Sonic is one of the hardest parts for me. I went to bed last night at 9 P.M. (early for me), so the three hours of sleep helped. In one or two past years, I made the mistake of attempting 24 Hours of Sonic by staying up to midnight on the 22nd, then letting the 23rd begin without catching a couple hours of sleep in between. By the evening I felt completely terrible and regretted it. 12:30 A.M.: Yesterday I had the foresight to buy a large coffee, then I put it in a thermos so it would still be warm tonight. Normally I can’t stand coffee, but this is white chocolate caramel cappuccino. Not only does one of the local gas stations have all coffee flavors and sizes for 99 cents, but they even have different creamer flavors and free flavor shots! During last year’s 24 Hours of Sonic, I remember searching through my tea collection in the middle of the night trying to find something caffeinated to keep me awake. Out of the ten or so boxes of tea I had, not one variety was caffeinated. Granted, I don’t usually drink anything caffeinated, since it doesn’t agree with my stomach. 2:46 A.M.: I spent the past couple hours reading. The first few hours of 24 Hours of Sonic are always the hardest, and usually I have to do more “awakening” things like listen to Sonic music, play video games or even do things on a computer so the screen brightness keeps me awake. Today I read some of The History of Sonic the Hedgehog, released for the series’ 20th anniversary. This is a phenomenal book, and it’s extremely informative about the history of the Sonic franchise, especially the earlier parts of it. If you can find it, I definitely recommend buying a copy. It’s hard to find and expensive, but I had the good fortune to buy a copy at a comic book store for $20, less than half the price the book sells for online. 4:07 A.M.: I’ve been reading and doing activities in the Sonic the Hedgehog Super Interactive Annual. I have the 2014 version, which I also found in the same comic book store as The History of Sonic the Hedgehog. I haven’t found any of the other years, but I haven’t looked that hard. Sure, the annual is childish, but it’s fun to look at and the graphic design work is fantastic. As a graphic designer, I always appreciate seeing superb print design. 4:18 A.M.: Outside, the sky has lightened just the tiniest amount. I’m a sixth of the way through the day, and I just booted up Latika, my laptop. Now I can post about my day. For the sake of convenience, I will post live updates to DeviantART throughout the day, then later post the entire summary of today’s 24 Hours of Sonic to Tumblr. 5:07 A.M.: The sky is light outside as I post my DeviantART journal about 24 Hours of Sonic. Usually I post my 24 Hours of Sonic journals much earlier in the morning than this. 9:20 A.M.: It's odd how some fanbases are more prevalent on Tumblr than others. For instance, I encounter countless Pokemon fans on Tumblr, but only every once in a while do I run into another Sonic fan. It's not that it's hard to find Sonic fans on Tumblr, I'm just surprised that I don't encounter that many compared to other websites like YouTube and DeviantART. 2:07 P.M.: I played Sonic Dash, Sonic Jump Fever and Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing Transformed. In Sonic Jump Fever, I beat my personal high score twice! The first time I beat it by a little bit, and my new high score was 84,537. The second time I beat my high score by a huge margin, and now my high score is 139,154! . With Transformed, I had my Nintendo 3DS’ language settings on French, and as it turns out, this game has both French voice acting and text! I love it when games let you change the language settings. Nintendo needs to do this with more of their own games (although I’m extremely glad Animal Crossing: New Leaf is one of those games.) Sonic Dash has changed slightly since I last played it. I'm not sure what I think of the new system for daily bonuses, but I'm not fond of the new boss battle endings. It used to be that you could just tap on the boss at the end and win, but now you need very precise timing. Maybe I'll get better at it with practice, but I failed both both boss battles that I fought because of this small change. Also, I unlocked Rouge the Bat in Sonic Dash! On a side note, it wasn't until now that I fully changed into my outfit for today. I always wear blue for 24 Hours of Sonic, and today I picked an outfit with an indigo short-sleeved bodysuit, dark blue Daisy Dukes with white stars along the legs, a large white hair flower with a jewel in the middle and a matching white bracelet with a jewel embedded in it. 4:32 P.M.: I went through my favorites on DeviantART and on FanFiction.net to read fan fiction. Some of these stories I've read more than once, and others I read for the first time. One particularly good fan fiction stopped after three chapters, to my disappointment. That's the frustrating thing about reading fan fiction: often people don't finish it. I completely understand; I've halted fan fiction before to focus on my original writing. Nowadays I focus exclusively on my novels and occasionally write short fiction. 6:55 P.M.: At the piano, I sang and played different songs from the Sonic games. I have perfect pitch, and for years I've been writing down the notes to songs (mostly from video games) in hopes of posting them on the internet to share with other fans. I have dozens of these songs typed up in Adobe Illustrator and ready to convert to PDFs. If anyone is interested in this video game sheet music project, or wants more information about it, contact me. I need a few other people to help prepare the sheet music. Someone (or more than one person) who is familiar with writing musical notation would be incredibly helpful. 8:09 P.M.: Following my usual 24 Hours of Sonic tradition, I made chili dogs for dinner. My recipe uses cheese below the hot dog and the chili and caramelized onions on top. I have a massive clump of fennel that I bought at a farmers’ market last Sunday, so I garnished my chili dog with some fresh fennel.

(I wanted to post this by midnight, so I will soon add my final update for the day.)

#Sonic the Hedgehog #24 Hours of Sonic #wall of text #long post

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theflowermaiden · 7 years

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@whistyrose

More Stuff About Me :)

Rules: Answer the questions and tag 20 blogs you want to get to know better.

Name: Whisty

Family Name: ?!?!

Gender: Female

Star Sign: Cancer

Height: idk

Age: 19

Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff

Favourite Colour: Pink,Yellow, Blue, Green (I like all the colours)

Time right now: 10:26pm

Hours of Sleep: work dictates that

Lucky Number: 7 so many things happen to revolve around 7 for me

Last thing I googled: floral tileable backgrounds

Blankets I sleep with: bottom sheet, middle sheet and quilt

Dream Trip: Europe, Scotland, Uk, Japan (anywhere is good really)

Dream Job: Screen Writer for video games

What I’m wearing right now: jeans and floral top

Followers: 75

Posts: 2614

What do I post about: Good question...I don’t even know but what ever it is, it’s working!

Most active followers: @shuu-goo-crossing, @nekomoni, @princess-of-positivity @mayor-elora

When did your blog reach it’s peak: Idk if I have or not...

Why did you make your blog: I wanted a place to connect with the things I love and meet new people

Do you get asks on a daily basis? No...try weekly

Why did you choose your URL: Whisyrose is my screen name from everything

Countries you’ve lived in: Canada!

Favourite Fandom: Legend of Zelda, Animal Crossing, Fire Emblem

Languages you speak: English

Favourite Film: Hmm, Good question, any hand drawn animation is good (only a few exceptions I can think of)

Last Article You’ve Read: Er...Writing stuff mostly, I hope to get better

Last Thing I Bought Online: never bought anything online, wait do steam games count? (Stardew Valley)

Last Person I dreamt of: Do fictional characters count?

Phobias: SPIDERS GET THEM AWAY FROM ME

How would my friends describe me: Sympathetic, friendly, shy, creative, excitable

Shuffle your song library. What are the first 3 songs playing? IA - A Tale of Six Trillion Years and One Night (六兆年と一夜物語)

1PM - Animal Crossing: New Leaf Music

Feathers Across the Seasons

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monthlydinners · 7 years

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all for the ask

hell yeah

john: do you enjoy playing pranks?

i would if i were any good @ them!

rose: what is your favorite book?

probably a book called journey of souls, it’s done a lot to shape my views of the afterlife

dave: what is your idea of a hero?

that’s a really good question… i feel like doing something to aid others, whether directly or indirectly (like inspiring people), is definitely a prerequisite? beyond that, i’m really not sure! maybe that’s all there is to it

jade: what do you do when you’re lonely?

when i’m home alone w/o any plans i usually just nap tbh? what a jade answer lmao

jane: what’s your favorite dessert?

chocolate mousse cake!! or anything w raspberry in it

roxy: do you have a crush on someone?

kinda? there’s someone i’m talking to that i’d like to get to know more!

dirk: do you tend to be clingy?

i don’t think so.. i definitely used to be but not anymore

jake: do you ever feel like no one listens to you?

not often? again, that’s something i used to feel a lot but not since i’ve started surrounding myself with better people

karkat: do you prefer to lead or follow?

i’m not sure that i really do either, at least not consciously? i just kind of.. do my own thing lmao

aradia: what are your thoughts on death?

i believe in both heaven & reincarnation, with heaven as a kind of place you can kinda just.. chill until your soul decides to reincarnate, if that makes any sense? i definitely don’t believe in hell, but that doesn’t stop me from being a little scared of the idea sometimes

tavros: have you ever dealt with bullying or stuck up to a bully?

yeah,, i had to transfer middle schools & high school was just. hell. i wasn’t bullied so much in high school as just treated like shit by my “friends” but same difference

sollux: do you think you’re good with computers?

i’m average w them i guess? maybe a little below average? i still don’t understand The Cloud

nepeta: what are your favorite ships?

ok top 3 are definitely jim & pam from the office, mac & dennis from it’s always sunny, and luke & lorelai from gilmore girls

kanaya: what type of clothing is your favorite?

i’m very 90s.. both punk/grunge & like the more mainstream 90s stuff

terezi: do you have any weird quirks?

i could write a whole book on all the weird quirks i have tbh

vriska: can you be a bit mean, even if you don’t mean to be?

yeah, i can definitely be a little tactless sometimes

equius: have you ever built something?

not that i can think of off of the top of my head

gamzee: have you made a drastic change in your life?

yeah for sure! getting out of high school was the best thing that could’ve happened to me, i didn’t realize how much the people around me were holding me back until i wasn’t forced to be in those toxic ass situations day in & day out lmao. this year has been huge for me growth-wise too!!

eridan: what kind of people annoy you?

i can’t stand pretentious people

feferi: what makes you excited or happy?

oh man just about everything tbh! nothing makes me happier than spending time w my friends & i have so much to be excited about this year in particular… working as a counselor again @ the theatre camp i’ve been a part of for 9 yrs, going to montauk w my best friend, going to dragcon, turning 21, seeing lorde, & graduating from college are just a few of the things i’m super pumped abt !!!!

kankri: do you think you talk a lot?

yeah i’d definitely say i’m talkative!

damara: has someone betrayed you?

yeah, i suppose you could say that

rufioh: have you cheated on someone?

nope

mituna: have you ever been seriously injured?

i don’t think so? i mean i had to get stitches once but that’s not super serious

meulin: do you pride yourself of being a matchmaker?

i’ve never attempted to set anyone up before tbh? but i have good intuition so i think i’d have a good feel for knowing if two people would be good together

porrim: are you considered the ‘mother duck’ of the group?

definitely not.. i am the only one in my friend group that isn’t a Mom Friend lmao

latula: what’s your favorite video game?

oh gosh lemme just. give you a few.

kingdom hearts 1 & 2, jak and daxter: the precursor legacy, basically all of the pokemon games but esp pokemon sun, animal crossing: new leaf, super smash bros 4, and mario kart 8 are like my Classics

aranea: what’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?

ok i definitely know the answer to this but i’m not talking about it for the whole internet 2 see

(dw it’s not evil or illegal or anything)

horuss: do people find you creepy?

i.. hope not??

kurloz: are you a person of many secrets?

no i’m mostly an open book tbh. i’ve probably only had like one big secret in my life

cronus: do you make music?

i sing but that’s it! i don’t write songs or play any instruments or anything like that

meenah: have you ever broken up with someone in public?

nope

nannasprite: do you like baking?

yeah!!

davesprite: do you get annoyed when people compare you to others?

i haven’t really been compared to anyone else enough to know? being an only child helps w that

jadesprite: what makes you emotional?

is.. everything an answer? mostly any sort of perceived rejection or failure.. or thinking abt the past 2 much

jaspersprite: do you own a cat?

no but i have a dog!!

jasperosesprite^2: do you often say things you really shouldn’t?

my mouth gets me in trouble way too often lmao

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