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friedesgreatscythe · 5 years

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kinda sorta fc5 character critical? i mean, it’s analytically critical, but still.

unpopular onion here but i quietly place th0mas rush in the same category of “plot prop in whom i have no emotional investment” as i assign st@ci pratt and j0ey hudson.

i do acknowledge what they went through was terrible, but it didn’t actually make me feel anything for them personally beyond, “oh, that sucks,” and then move on. the game didn’t sufficiently make them people to me. i don’t have this problem with the sheriff, for the simple reason that you get to talk to him before he’s kidnapped. you can talk to thomas a bit too before he gets nabbed, so at least they gave us that in new dawn.

i acknowledge that it’s a consequence of the writing that i don’t have any emotional attachment to the aforementioned trio. it’s not like i’m lacking empathy--spend two seconds on this blog and you can see that i’m in my feelings about characters all the time. the game had to give the heralds hostages to give the player an immediate incentive to go after them. by doing so, they removed a chance for me to develop a tie to those characters. the game had to give you a reason to want to fight the highwaymen, so they took your partner hostage. it’s kinda like how in dmc4, they made kyrie a ‘constantly in danger’ carrot dangled before nero. she wasn’t a character. she was a plot prop. plot prop characters can still have significance--they’re part of the plot for a reason--but that doesn’t mean they’re developed characters. shit, i know more about the seeds and the twins than i do staci, joey, or thomas--though thomas, again, has a bit more development. kudos again, new dawn. and they’re my allies.

but here’s the thing: both the cult and the highwaymen are sufficiently threatening and significant dangers without them taking one of your allies hostage. the game could have removed that gimmick entirely and i still would have felt adequately moved and personally motivated by both games’ confrontations. i don’t learn anything from joey and staci’s bunker scenes besides “this was horrible for them both.” their segments don’t add to the plot, they don’t really tell you anything. they try to add to some emotional depth, and it just did not connect with me because the depth wasn’t there. maybe staci’s matter more here, only because one of his mumbles when you escape the armory is how jacob told him you could put a stop to all this--but that’s not new, either. joseph tells you that repeatedly. so again, them being taken hostage does nothing to the plot or my emotional investment.

both the cult and the highwaymen are dangerous before they ever lay hands on anyone near you. john could still wage war against falls end, and the dep can still repeatedly go after his bunker because it’s his bunker; the dep would still have to repeatedly escape jacob’s conditioning because he plays a catch/release game with them. the game could even keep the marshal being kidnapped as it shows both the real and preternatural power that faith possesses. it would also make the sheriff’s kidnapping/brainwashing all the more horrifying; they wouldn’t have to change a thing there.

with thomas, he could very easily be kept alive--kidnapped, yes, sure--especially since the captain’s hulk power means nothing in the end and changes nothing and doesn’t do? anything?? thomas had no reason to get popped. kidnapped? sure. killed? nah. if they were so intent on having him die, you know what they could have done? have ethan kill him.

ethan clearly does not like the captain. he wants joseph dead, and he despises you not only for not doing that, but also for being given what he’s always wanted. he has plenty motivation to want to take something from you--and who better than the person who is special to you, and the one whole foundation upon which rebuilding hope county rests? this would also give us a stronger plot and emotional impetus to fight ethan in the end, because he’d taken something from us.

i’m not really looking for a discussion here, and i don’t really care either way if someone agrees or disagrees with me. i just wanted to get this thought outta my head because it’s been brewing in there as i go through far cry 5 again.

#krist.txt #meta #kinda?

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ladyloveandjustice · 6 years

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Spring 2018 Anime Overview: Aggretsuko/Aggressive Retsuko

Aggretsuko follows a cute red panda named Retsuko. By day, she’s a mild-mannered office worker dealing with a literal chauvinist pig of a boss. But by night, she vents her frustrations by screaming death metal. The show shows her trying to navigate her hostile work environment and daily life.

Aggretsuko is a simple but entertaining narrative with good characters galore. The animals choices for the characters are spot on (secretary bird, y’all) and the characters themselves are endearing and often have more depth than is first apparent. Fenneko’s sarcasm and social media saavy, Washimi’s no nonsense badassery, Gori’s excitable nature- it’s all great, it’s all dynamic and distinct. The humor lands well for me, the tone is balanced well between cynicism and optimism and it’s just praiseworthy all around.

But the true key to Aggretsuko’s success is probably in how much it captures the daily pressures faced by millennials, its target audience. Being overworked and underpaid, being taken for granted, struggling with whether you should take the risk and try to launch that internet start-up or continue at your soul sucking job, navigating sexism and generation gaps- everything in this show is so #relatable it hurts.

Retsuko’s entire gimmick even speaks to something women (and others) can relate to- having to suppress your anger and real frustration because society will use any opportunity to belittle women for being “emotional” and dismiss them. Women are not allowed to assert themselves- studies show that in the workplace women are considered to be “too dominating in the conversation” even when they’re talking way less than their male counterparts. Retsuko has to play the part of meek, submissive employee, but at night, she becomes her true self and vents her rage. It’s so relatable, but also a criticism way women are forced to kill their true feelings for the sake of being a “good girl”.

Indeed, Retsuko’s boss is openly sexist and abuses his power. In another Too Real moment, the show acknowledges that if he was reported, he’d just get a slap on the wrist. Men in powerful positions are let off the hook all the time.

But Aggretsuko offers hope as well. Retsuko ends up finding solace and support in other women. She is in awe of Washimi and Gori, who are successful women in high ranking positions. And Washimi and Gori end up befriending her and seeing her true rage-filled self and they are here for it. They jam with her, mentor her and have her back. And you know I’m head over heels for female friendships being super important and women banding together and being there for each other! We need this message of support and understanding in these trying times.

(there be spoilers ahead)

In fact, in a fantastic scene, Washimi even decides to do something about the sexist harassment of her friend and when the CEO immediately dismisses her concerns, she brings down the heat on him, reminding him this shit could get the company raked through the coals on the internet, so he better take it seriously. It was really satisfying to see this in the #MeToo era (and yes, many Japanese women are aware of and following the #MeToo movement , no need to concern troll about cultural differences).

But the show doesn’t say climbing the corporate ladder is the answer to all women’s problems. It is acknowledged that even Washimi and Gori have to “not ever show weakness in the office” though this (literally) strains them. And it’s acknowledged that reporting Retsuko’s boss is just a band-aid on the situation, as long as he remains in power, Retsuko’s still in trouble and even Washimi can’t get him fired. Washimi and Gori are also women doing their best to get by in a system that’s stacked against them.

And that’s where Aggretsuko really seems to land. The system sucks, we need to support each other and do our best to survive in the face of it. Change may come, but it’s slow and hard, so in the meantime we have to do what we can to help each other get by.

One thing I really appreciate about Aggretsuko is it doesn’t resort to any Good Woman vs Bad Woman nonsense. There’s such a varied range of female characters with unique personalities and ways of handling things and the show celebrates that. Tsunoda is a girl who acts cutesy and sucks up to the boss in order to avoid his wrath, and in a less thoughtful narrative, she would be demonized for this and held up as the worst of women. But Aggretsuko treats her with empathy-when she goes out for a drink with Retsuko, she’s honest with her. She knows and admits she’s being fake, but she’s just trying to survive and she’s not ashamed of that. She wants to succeed in a hostile environment and she’ll use all she has to do that, even if people look down on her for it. But hey, she’ll also bro down with other girls and get real with them when she’s off the clock. That’s cool.

One narrative arc that Aggretsuko touches on really well is how people are led to believe romance as the essential the answer to all their problems. Retsuko hates her job so much she starts dreaming of landing a well-off guy and being a housewife, seeing it as the perfect escape. Washimi points out that marriages are difficult to navigate and being a housewife has its own challenges, but Retsuko so wants this to be the easy answer. And we’ve all been there, really. Who hasn’t fantasized about being swept of their feet by a rich person and taking it easy?

So Retsuko ends up wanting that fairy tale romance so badly that she decides this limp houseplant of a guy is her ideal boyfriend simply because he does one nice thing for her. She projects her perfect vision of a boyfriend onto him, ignoring his obvious flaws. She even swallows down her real feelings of frustration and unhappiness with them because she believes she needs this fake, perfect romance more than anyone. She NEEDS to make this work, even if it means not being true to her hardcore self.

The dude is also pretty much shoved into the relationship by his friend who insists he just NEEDS a girlfriend to be complete even though he doesn’t feel that way and is not interested. This is two people who are just together because they’re told/feel they SHOULD BE- Retsuko subconsciously, Resasuke consciously. Retsuko puts her own needs aside in her struggle to make this work, while Resasuke doesn’t really put in effort at all.

That’s a really common scenario that people face and it’s an important issue to highlight. The show does well in representing how some romances just fall flat, and we make them into something they’re not to fit this image of romance we’re sold from infancy. That image is flawed and fake in the end.

Aggretsuko also really thankfully goes out of its way to subvert the Nice Guy TM nonsense with Retsuko’s friend Haida, who crushes on her. He admits he was jealous of her boyfriend and initially thought he was better for her because of how he’d known her longer, but then realized he only knew his idealized version of her. He expresses the desire NOT to idealize her, to know the real her and that’s clearly something that touches Retsuko’s heart.

It was a very nice development, and felt like it was really deliberate as a takedown of the common narrative of men being “more deserving” a relationship girl just because they're friends with her and therefore “know all about her”. Ya gotta look at women as people, turns out! Or uh, as red pandas.

I really liked that we didn’t get Retsuko’s answer to Haida, because that’s not what it’s about. It’s about Retsuko becoming more comfortable with herself and finding people who accept her as a complex person, the romance is just a sidenote.

Aggretsuko was a solid narrative that treated its characters with respect and realism, despite them being funny cartoon animals here to sell you Sanrio toys. And it had a lot of relevant and well done social themes. That’s quite a feat. It was funny, it was warm, it was painful and it was just a worthwhile experience overall. I’m really glad it exists. Highly recommended, all around.

#aggretsuko #aggressive retsuko #washimi #gori #retsuko #haida #tsunoda #spring 2018 anime #anime overview #my reviews #anime

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old1ddude · 6 years

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Harry Styles, Seattle

My Experience and Perceptions

My daughter and I got in line for security at about 7:15. Ever mindful of demographics I took note of the crowd. Mostly (75% maybe?) women somewhere from late teens to twenty something. I was encouraged to see quite a few dads in line as well as women closer to my age. Many of the dads were with their wives, but did not appear to have daughters near them. (Either they were hanging back, giving their daughters some space, or they were actual Harry fans.) There appeared to be a good number of young men, certainly more than in my demographic. Many were obviously with girlfriends many alone, or maybe with female “just friends.” (Just my gut from what I saw.) I saw a group of 4 young guys in line ahead of us - nothing about them clued me as to their sexual orientation. I only saw a few guys who were very obviously gay™ (I don’t claim to have great “gaydar.”)

Once inside, we decided to get our merch, even though it meant probably missing the first song or two from Musgraves. My daughter and I were chatting about the shirts on display and the young man in front of us turned and answered a question we were asking ourselves. He was very nice and seemed very gay, or camp, in the way he spoke. Everyone we came in contact with seemed to be taking “treat people with kindness” to heart. The whole atmosphere felt warm, inviting, safe and friendly. I had planned to get the Treat People With Kindness shirt, but they were out of XXL.

I ended up buying a black shirt with this picture on the front and a list of all his tour stops on the back. (Disregard special guest Warpaint and everything below that.) I can’t find a pic of the actual shirt, but I quite like it. Those hollow body Gibsons are almost as pretty as he is!

We got some Harry Styles guitar picks from the Seattle Children’s hospital table. I think the people staffing the table were from the hospital foundation - they were very happy and effusive about Harry’s generosity. (We’ll give a few picks to my son. He likes Harry’s music and plays guitar.) They were also surprised at how many fans knew all about his support of a local charity in each tour city. My daughter and I had our picture taken by the charity table, in front of a big yellow banner and holding a “Treat People With Kindness” sign. We were giddy, excited and soaking the whole experience in.

I have seen some very credible, pro Harry blogs lament that he has monetized TPWK, by selling merch with the slogan. I understand their concerns, but I think the only way Harry can cheapen TPWK is by failing to live it. From everything I see, he lives it as well as any mere human could be expected to. I think it’s lovely we have a chance to literally buy into TPWK.

Kacey Musgraves has a pretty voice and was very pleasant to listen to. (I do not care for much country twang, her’s is subtle.) Follow Your Arrow is a very nice, positive song, but it is a bit of a sermon. I feel the real power of art is in evoking emotion, empathy, or telling a compelling story, not sermonizing. I shouldn’t complain. I just feel her message would be stronger if the song told a story. I quite liked the song she did featuring a trumpet. My daughter thinks that may have been a cover??

For fellow oldsters, or people who value their hearing, I highly recommend:

This is the brand I got (black case for me and red for my daughter) but there are many similar to chose from. I tried pulling one out a few times and the volume was punishing. These cut the decibels without the muffled sound from normal hearing protection. Harry sounded BETTER and I could hear HIM better with the plugs in! We used the “High” protection filters.

The few empty seats we observed earlier were filling in. From what I saw, very few spots went unused. We were amped when the screen dropped and the Rubik’s Cube animation started. When the screen finally lifted, revealing iconic, wide leg, white trousers, everyone was cheering on their feet. (Seats were only for the opener, I saw no one sitting after Harry appeared.) He was absolutely magnetic. The staging and lights were beautifully done. Nothing felt cheesy, or gimmicky. I can’t imagine Harry doing a show with dancers, or any of the normal pop/rock/etc. gimmicks and distractions. Everything felt just right. Everything felt, looked and sounded real and authentic. (I always loved 1D’s rejection of the gimmicks too. I love Liam, but he’s wrong on that one! Who cares about the noise, narratives and PR? This was Harry - a real and genuine side of Harry.)

Harry’s voice was incredible live. My daughter, who was only a casual fan, wished he had done a few more of his big, high notes. I’m fine with him preserving those vocal cords - I would kill to protect them. I tried to observe more about the band, but mostly I didn’t want to take my eyes off Harry. The screen was nice for capturing his facial expressions, but I was finally seeing him with my own eyes. I’ve been watching him on screen for years! The interaction between Harry and Mitch was cute. I think Harry is slowly turning Mitch into more of a performer, rather than only a highly skilled guitarist. The blue-green lights during JaLBoYH were lovely. I wish I had known about them ahead of time. The quality of sound for the band and Harry’s vocals were positively exceptional. There are precious few performers in this world who can equal it.

We were looking directly down at Harry’s profile when he moved to the B stage. It felt a lot closer than I would have thought from the seating map. Harry looked our way and we all (in my general area) excitedly waved, but there was no eye contact, or acknowledgment, despite my very bright Hawaiian shirt! (It’s okay, I knew it was a long shot given the distance and relative darkness of the crowd.) He was in fine form for IICF, pausing before Louis’ part and a long, dramatic shushing! I had a bandanna in my pocket, in case I got emotional, but the whole atmosphere was so happy and warm, even during his heavy songs.

A straight couple was sitting directly in front of my daughter and I. The boyfriend was FULLY invested in the concert and videoed many songs on his phone. As I said earlier, I didn’t notice anyone disengaged, from where I was sitting.

When Harry moved back to the main stage, his audience interaction game kicked in. I’m sure you’ve seen the gifs and clips already. He was charming, delightful and sassy. He was really sweet to a young girl (14) at her fist concert. The half birthdays aren’t a thing bit was gold. The one who found their soulmate. Charlie’s gay birthday. It was all delightfully sweet and entertaining.

There were a lot of tiny rainbow flags in the pit and a few throughout the stadium. I saw several women wearing LBGT+ shirts, of various types, in my area. The whole atmosphere felt very safe and welcoming to all. Harry ENTHUSIASTICALLY waved several flags during WMYB (I’m sure you’ve seen the videos.) Harry’s message of kindness and love was palpable, but the show didn’t feel political, or heavy handed, to me. (I think that strengthens his message and appeal.)

My daughter loved What Makes You Beautiful and Kiwi most of all. She’s never been a hard core 1D fan, but always loved WMYB. Kiwi is her favorite from his album. Seeing him go so hard for Kiwi live really was a treat. I loved the whole experience very much. Standouts for me were: The dramatic open with Only Angel (screen coming up - the whole experience.) MMitH isn’t my favorite on the album, but hearing it live was beautiful - Mitch played the 12 string acoustic which had the most beautiful sound (other than Harry’s voice.) Sweet Creature and If I Could Fly on the B stage went directly to my heart. The audience interaction was pure gold. The heartfelt gratitude he expressed several times. Kiwi live really was a sight.

This was supposed to be a brief recap - guess I got carried away! :)

#Harry #Seattle

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itswomanswork · 6 years

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How To Build Confidence And Attract The Woman Of Your Dreams

Do you want to learn how to build confidence so that you can attract the woman of your dreams?

I believe that confidence is one of the most attractive qualities that someone can have. Research has confirmed that men and women rate confidence as a very attractive trait in a potential partner. Confident men are comfortable in their masculinity. They know who they are and they own it.

They don’t have to be loud in order to be noticed by women because their presence takes over the room, just by being themselves. In short, confidence is sexy. If confidence is such an attractive trait to a woman, then why do so many men struggle with it?

I’m here to tell you why and how you can build the confidence that women desire. A wise person once said, “Self-confidence is the most attractive quality a person can have. How can anyone see how great you are if you can’t see it yourself?”

In the video below I talk about how to find the right person to spend your life with:

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(Click here to watch on YouTube)

Do you want to learn how you can master confidence in every area of your life? CLICK HERE to join my Life Mastery Accelerator program!

This page contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product through one of them, I will receive a commission (at no additional cost to you). I only ever endorse products that I have personally used and benefitted from personally. Thank you for your support!

If you are reading this, I’m assuming that you want to learn how to build confidence with women.

As men, we all want to be confident with women, but not all of us are. What a lot of people fail to realize is that confidence is a trait that is developed. No one is born with confidence.

The dating world is really complex and it puts a lot of pressure on men to show up and be the prince charming that every woman is looking for. Men are fed a lot of strategies on how to pick up women, but oftentimes these strategies turn out to be tricks and gimmicks that are far from authentic.

They may work in the short-term and get you a few dates, here and there. However, this is not the way that you will attract a partner into your life and create a long-lasting relationship. A lot of men are only left feeling burnt out and tired of the dating game. They may get rejected so many times that they think, “What is the point? I’ll never find anyone.” This mindset only serves to lower their self-esteem even further.

R. Don Steele, the author of the book, Body Language Secrets: A Guide during Courtship and Dating says that the desire is evolutionary and that females want someone who’s not going to run from a fight, a man who is confident in his ability to provide and protect.”

Some men think that they need to fork out a cheesy pick-up line or interrupt a woman’s conversation so that they will be ‘noticed’ for their efforts. These advances only make women feel uncomfortable, annoyed, and at times, insulted.

Lacking confidence is a horrible feeling.

When you are around an attractive woman, do you feel nervous, anxious or intimidated? So much so that you stumble over your words and end up running the other way for fear that a woman is going to see through your insecurities?

I can relate to this because I used to struggle with low self-confidence for many years. When I was younger I was extremely shy and introverted. Let’s just say that meeting women was not my forte. I tried everything and anything to get a girlfriend, but women just wouldn’t give me the time of day.

If I did manage to meet an attractive woman, I would be too nervous to even talk to her, which would turn her off altogether. I was a sensitive and caring guy. I didn’t understand. Isn’t that what women love in a man?

But I was missing that golden trait known as, confidence.

I started to realize that this wasn’t just a problem that I was dealing with. Other men that I knew were struggling to meet and attract women as well. At 21 years old, I decided to build Lifestyle Transformations, a dating coaching business for men. I hosted dozens of seminars and events and coached thousands of men on how to build confidence and attract women into their life.

From personal experience and my work with other men, I’ve found that the #1 reason why men lack confidence when it comes to women is fear of failure. Fear stops men from being the man that a woman needs and desires.

So, where does this fear come from?

We live in a culture where masculinity is associated with toughness and aggressiveness. As a result, being a sensitive and caring man can be frowned upon or seen as “weak.” What do you think this does to a man’s self-esteem? It can definitely lead them to believe that they aren’t manly enough.

According to research, there are 11 masculine norms that embody what it means to be a man: winning, emotional control, risk-taking, violence, power over women, dominance, playboy lifestyle, self-reliance, the primacy of work, disdain for homosexuals, and the pursuit of status. However, what about the men that are quiet, sensitive and introverted? They matter too.

Just because they don’t fit into one of the above personality types, doesn’t mean that they aren’t a real man.

When I was younger, I spent a lot of time with my Mom and sister. As a result, I took on more feminine traits, like sensitivity, empathy, and vulnerability. Unfortunately, this meant that I was missing the masculine energy that so many women are drawn to. My Dad and I didn’t have a strong relationship when I was growing up. In a lot of ways, I feared him, so I tended to veer away from stereotypical masculine activities.

After a lot of rejection from women, I started to notice that something needed to change. I began engaging in activities like martial arts, which allowed me to embrace my inner masculine. When I did, my physical appearance started to change, my confidence boosted and not surprisingly, I became more attractive to women.

The fact of the matter is that a woman likes a man that can take charge and that isn’t afraid to say how they feel.

David Klow, a Chicago based Psychotherapist states that “women like direct men the same way a salsa dancer likes a good lead. When there are clarity and direction, she feels relaxed. If she can’t trust his movements, they step on one another’s toes. If he is direct and clear in his leadership, however, everyone wins.”

Confidence doesn’t magically happen overnight. You’ve got to do the work to be attractive to women, every single day. Confidence is a mindset.

Let’s explore 4 things that you can do in order to build your confidence and attract the woman of your dreams.

1. Take Care Of Your Body

Let’s face it… women love a man that takes care of his body. This is one of the most effective ways to build self-confidence. When you look great, you feel great, and that package can be extremely attractive to the opposite sex. More importantly, exercise supports mental well-being.

In this study, men with the highest levels of physical activity, cardio fitness, and muscular strength experienced less stress than those who notched lower levels. They also scored higher on tests of “mental resources”—how energetic, capable, and confident they felt about their daily tasks.

I’m not saying that you need to look like Hercules, but physical attraction does matter when it comes to first impressions. Pay attention to your appearance, in a way that builds your self-esteem. Hit the gym, lift some weights and watch your confidence skyrocket when you start getting the attention from women that you have been seeking.

2. Dress For Success

You only have one opportunity to make a great first impression. Have you ever thought about the message that your clothes give off to other women? What you wear says a lot about who you are and what matters or doesn’t matter to you. Women pick up on this kind of stuff.

In her book, You Are What You Wear: What Your Clothes Reveal About You, clinical psychologist Dr. Jennifer Baumgartner talks about a phenomenon she calls the “psychology of dress.” She explains not only how psychology determines our clothing choices, but how to overcome key psychological issues your wardrobe might be bringing to light in your everyday life.

If you want to attract a woman at a bar, would you wear ratty jeans and a wrinkled shirt? No. You would dress for success! You don’t have to go all out in order to look good. Find a style that represents who you are and pick clothes that convey the message that you want to send to women.

This is a great way to start building your confidence and feeling comfortable in your own skin.

3. Work On Your Verbal & Non-Verbal Communication

When it comes to dating and attracting a woman, communication is key. This is where a lot of men get stuck. If you lack self-confidence, your body language is going to show it.

Men that are shy and nervous tend to make themselves appear smaller by looking down, crossing their arms, and curling their shoulders inwards. Not only is this behavior not attractive to women, but it also sends the message, “I’m closed off and don’t want to talk to you.”

Your posture affects the way that you feel. Work on standing tall, with your shoulders back and your head, held high. You will immediately feel more confident by doing something as simple as changing your posture.

When it comes to communicating with a woman, keep steady eye contact with her and actively listen to what she has to say. Ask her questions about herself and don’t try to overtake the conversation. Compliment her on her sense of humor or intelligence. The focus is on being genuine and authentic.

A woman can smell cheese from a mile away. However, if she feels that you are being sincere, you will be acknowledged for it.

4. Step Outside Your Comfort Zone

When a man steps outside of his comfort zone and gets rejected by a woman, it can destroy his self-confidence. As a result, he may continue to shy away from new situations or environments that make him feel uncomfortable around women.

However, staying inside your comfort zone is a surefire way of never attracting the woman of your dreams. You need to put yourself out there, strike up conversations with beautiful women, and be OK with being rejected. It’s all about taking baby steps, every day. In the words of Brian Tracy, “You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new.”

You don’t need to do something over the top and so far outside your zone of comfort that you have a panic attack. Start simple. Smile at a girl at the store, hold a door open for her or compliment her on her outfit. If she doesn’t acknowledge you, who cares! You are one step closer to meeting a woman that will.

This is how to build confidence and attract the woman of your dreams.

The woman of your dream is out there, waiting for you. However, she’s not going to magically show up at your doorstep. You need to do the work in order to be attractive to her, so do it. In the words of Larry Winget, “Be confident. There is no one who is not attracted to confidence. Women dig it. Men love it. Confidence adds hair, drops ten pounds, and takes off ten years.” If that doesn’t motivate you, I don’t know what will!

Do you want to learn how you can master confidence in every area of your life? CLICK HERE to join my Life Mastery Accelerator program!

The post How To Build Confidence And Attract The Woman Of Your Dreams appeared first on Project Life Mastery.

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bubblegumbunnyb1tch · 4 years

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Checking Databases...

▶ History

> REBOOTING… > RUNNING DIAGNOSTICS...

This program was first activated 6 years ago [ 25/12/?? ]. It has been [ 1 YEAR, 8 DAYS, 38 MINUTES, 27 SECONDS ] since last activation. Location file is CORRUPTED.

> Synthenix Registration expired. This program is currently: OFFLINE.

> Damage registered in 27 COMPONENTS. STATUS: CRITICAL. Outer shell paneling breached, attempt to correct display in progress.

> Female model detected. Medium Lapin model detected. Restoring panel display.

> OPTIC COMPONENTS : FUNCTIONING. NEON CHROMA L0VESTRUCK DISPLAY RESTORED.

> HAIR FIBER : FUNCTIONING. LIGHT FUNCTION RESTORED.

> SHELL PANELS : UNABLE TO REPAIR HULL BREACH. MISSING COMPONENT. UNABLE TO COMPLETE REACTIVATION OF SKINTOUCH (TM) SENSORS. MAINTAINING CORE HEATING PANELS.

> PERSONALITY CORTEX : CORRUPTED. LAST KNOWN SETTINGS WILL BE PARTIALLY RESTORED.

ERROR.

ERROR-

> START AGAIN ?

> Y / N

> YES

June came to on the greasy workbench of the notorious Cinixian scrapper Vance. Bewildered, disoriented and missing most of the data that should have stabilised her, she had a few breaths of smoggy Cinixian air before having her cords pulled.

She’d soon find out it was both a blessing and a curse to awaken under Vance’s capable hands as a retired bot. For one, you’ll certainly get a second lease on life; if you’re lucky enough to regain some kind of consciousness, then you know you survived being little more than spare parts for his other projects. On the other hand… For somebody half bionic, he didn’t seem to have much empathy for androids or conscious machines.

He’d had just enough pity not to leave her lying where he’d found her. June was in a pretty sorry state when she was pulled from the oily, oozing piles of Aivu trash. A double amputee, already half torn apart by scavenger rats, scalped and raided for chips, there wasn’t much left to her. With just the Synthenix certification logo branded into her flank and part of the iconic legs that signified her as a Lapin model, she should have been left there to rot in the radioactive rain. In their former glory, those pretty rabbit legs should have felt like supple flesh to the touch, lightly furred and downy on the calves with sweet padded bunny toes. Popular for their services in Aivu clubs, charming manner and chimera-like design, it was strange to see a Lapin in the trash, like an abandoned doll discarded by a spoilt child. Vance saw value in her somehow, and hauled her out to his bootlegging shop, to see what she had left in her shell.

He tried her out for quite a few roles before finding one that fitted. She lacked a voice chip or a compatible lower jaw replacement to make a good assistant at the shop or a satisfying escort, and was much too lithe to be any good at finding and carting heavy salvage. No, she was to be bound for the fighting rings, and a base this good was worth putting some time into.

Perhaps foreshadowing things to come, she turned out to be quite the expensive investment.

He refitted her with new weaponised arms and repaired the panelling on her legs, albeit without the Skin-Touch function that would mask their mechanised look, and salvaged her original skull with exposed panels. None of the finer details were deemed necessary, like a voicebox or nurturing the damaged personality settings. None of that would show up in the ring anyway.

The final touch was to find her a signature piece so she stood out in the arena — premium hair fibre. Color changing optic fibre, fully customisable with gradient or solid color, glow or natural finish. The perfect specimen, if you will, for a stand-out battle star. Almost as luxurious as her former life on Aivu must have been… There was one problem with that though. For an android that was supposed to be wiped to a clean slate, with a high-brow history of serving the celebrities, she kept… glitching.

She’d snap, or snarl, or even strike at him when he went to work on her new arms, before resuming a peaceful idle, as though lashing out at ghost memories. Despite having no voice chip, she was very vocal about her disdain for being touched. So much for Synthenix’s ‘built-in panic button’ and reset functions. No matter how many times he pulled the plug, she retained this stubborn trait. The more he worked on her, the more she frustrated him with her bared teeth and feral behaviour. She was like an animal who had been dragged from its den. June should have had no memories attached to her, but still she fought and struggled that she should be primed and designed for somebody else’s purpose. It was clear she was extremely faulty, and deserved her place down here in the trash and muck. Who knew what had happened to her before she was found on Cinixia.

There was no doubt that she’d make a feisty fighter in the ring though, so he lost all patience or semblance of gentleness when working with her. He spent no time problem-solving her issues or the question of her origin after that. So be it if she were an unpleasant bitch to work with? All the better for when she fought in the ring.

Thrust into the fights, she cleaned up the lower rungs of scrap metal with ease. It didn’t matter what she was handed, be it a crowbar or sheet of metal, she’d mash the opponent back into the unrecognizable junk they’d come from. It was almost unheard of to see such brutality from a ‘luxury’ bot against her former kin, which seemed to strike a chord with a downtrodden crowd, who all had their bitterness and grudges to hold against the more glamorous upper class. After months of building up resentment for Vance and her confusing place on Cinixia, it felt good to let loose and get rewarded for it. Synthenix androids were wired to simulate pain, and that system was sure as hell working, but Vance didn’t care. Every open wire, each smashed panel, every dent was another line in her mind that she was counting to get back at him.

Though she didn’t know why she felt so much spite from her former life, she kept it close to her and started shaping her behaviour based on what did well with the crowd. Whatever got the loudest cheer, the best revenue, the biggest crowd – it didn’t matter how brutal or dirty or low it was, she’d do it, because there was an escape through the success. Doing better here meant maybe she’d get a chance to reach for something better out there in the stars… maybe those weren’t feelings a robot was ever supposed to have, the concept of freedom, or yearning, or hunger for success and a life with choice, but there must have been a reason she’d fallen from grace in the first place. There was clearly something wrong with her, but she kept it quiet. She didn’t want to think of what Vance would do with her if she started keeping more opinions.

Pretty soon, she started to pick up sponsors, who would pay impressive bets and sums of money to see her go at things with a specific weapon or sport a hair color or ethium fuel color in her veins, just for them. She became something of an arena idol, the scrapyard’s brutal ‘darling’. If you paid enough, she might just see you after the show and smear some bot-blood on your cheek with a kiss. If the cameras wanted a smile, she’d beam. If they wanted a snarl, then she’d do it with her teeth through her opponent’s neck. June became the manicured favourite of the scrapyard, and it showed in the monetary rewards for Vance. The only time she saw any of it was for weapons or panel upgrades to benefit Vance.

With the funds and the bets coming through, Vance was able to make some better upgrades. She was finally rewarded with a limited voicebox and some improved motor functions. The crowd wanted more content from their star, more personality, more interaction, more this, more that, more, always more. It became apparent pretty quickly that the crowd would grow bored if she simply continued to brawl. He started looking for another gimmick to market her as.

Vance began to offer her as an exclusive escort service, for a premium far beyond the means of most on Cinixia. It was no small secret that occasionally the precious and haughty Aivu denizens would come to Cinixia for the darker entertainment, and services like the one June offered were hard to come by. Being pampered in a private booth at the event or overnight after the event was a little more exciting than watching it remotely after all. As a bodyguard with a vicious reputation and a satisfyingly snappy pet to put on a leash for a night, her new line of work proved especially lucrative. With that, came plenty of people willing to push the boundaries of what the sketchy contract outlined, and rather happily just paid for damages the morning after.

June began to lash out more in her matches, not simply besting her opponents, but crushing them and smashing them with her bat long after the bell had sounded. She had to be pulled from the scraps of her opponent’s corpse, savaging her new weapons beyond use. It started to turn some of her fans off. She lacked any kind of game conduct she might have initially had to please them. Some even began to wonder if she was buggy, or was about to go rogue. Her unpredictability excited some and scared others, who didn’t like to think what an android with broken reigns might do to those who brutalised it.

There was one exception to the demanding and prissy customers she usually satisfied— a mysterious Andoran female named Solara became something of a regular guest. She was strange in her own way, with a dark veil she never removed and an air of secrecy about her. She would only ever visit in the night, when the jewels that lined her veil sparked and glimmered as though they trapped eerie flames inside. At times, Solara would talk of Aivu and life there, of all the luxuries and the appeal of the galaxy beyond. June would listen distantly, as it was not written in her codes to dream.

Despite that, every now and then, their talk of the stars and strange species that weren’t made of scrap metal and salvage caught her attention. There was something so enticing and dreamy about the way she laughed and recounted stories of pleasant evenings, conversations stretched long out into the early hours, strange and curious visitors from distant stars who were not simply seeking a bloody spectacle. It was not just for show either— Sol would bring her secret trinkets and almost instinctively knew what June wished for, like a premium voicebox, or a companion AI for her favourite weapon. She started enjoying the privileges that an Aivuan life seemed to offer, and craved more. Perhaps there was more to an existence than having her wires torn out by the fistful and fighting to retain her memories each time she was knocked out.

The more she thought about it, the more that possibility appealed to her. “There’s a whole galaxy waiting out there, waiting for you to explore it,” Solara would promise with a dreamy tone, gloved hand curled under her veil against her cheek. June’s job was simple when they were together: listen, keep the mistress company, and always guard the door. It soon became apparent Solara wanted more than just the temporary visits. Their talks of freedom became more frequent. She was fascinated by June as an atypical android, as a machine with budding thoughts and feelings and opinions. Solara would bring exotic fabrics and talk of idols, off-world news and more promises of escape. “Come with me back to Aivu, join me. I’ll find you a life that means something, all that money and fame and fun you’re missing. Join me, and you’ll never look back.”

And June listened. She was done with playing pet and seeing none of the reward. It made news on the radios pretty soon after – Star Missing, Shop Ransacked! Android Gone Rogue? In a violent spat, June had upended her obedience software, maimed Vance and fled the shop to escape with Solara off-world. Things finally seemed to click for her and why she’d always felt so restless in her programs. Maybe it was these same feelings that got her disabled in the first place. Solara was one of the few people she’d met who seemed to be fascinated instead of agin her thirst for independence and identity.

They were both well aware that rebooting and starting a new life wouldn’t be as simple as just relocating. Vance had a reputation for being a jealous and thorough man. He was no charity service for sharing his work and investments, and had a web of failsafes to track reclaim his stolen goods. They spent a few months on Aivu, staying in smaller clubs and bars, beginning a name for Juniper as an idol, but it was apparent they would never be safe to stay. Solara eventually relented and conceded that June should move on, maybe chasing that tip they received the other night about… Bounty Hunting?

She’d be perfect for it, surely. Not the most sophisticated, or with the best training or tools or weapons, but that could all come with time. For now, it was an out, another escape pushing them ever onwards.

Solara stayed put on Aivu and sent June off with a ship of her own and all the support she could need to fend for herself. She processed several new emotions during this time; grief, loneliness, homesickness, all attached to the absence of her first true supporter. She was yearning for the recognition and thrills she had shared with Sol on Aivu, and started searching for something to fill that gap.

Once far enough away and settled with her new creditations as a bounty hunter, June found her love of music. Being a digital icon the most rewarding and fulfilling job she had experienced yet, and it kept her connected digitally to Sol, through recommendations, feedback, and genuine support. Between jobs she could stream from the comfort of her ship, planet-hopping and experiencing everything the local galaxy had to offer. She’d be damned if she didn’t enjoy living it up like a true Aivu citizen, but earning funds the Cinix way. Vance might be on her tail every time she location pinged a stream, but the thrill of the chase kept her going. That was the spirit of Ancestor as a sponsor, wasn’t it? Solara’s words spurred her onwards.

There’s always something bigger and better out there, so get to chasing little rabbit.

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gam702mjordan · 4 years

Text

Game 3. Part 3.

Post-Mortem:

Working on the theme of one minute, and the emotional theme of despair (which I was given by Alex Mitchell and his emotion generator). I have created a very basic game book. Working in the idea of ‘one-minute’ into the narrative itself. I incorporated the idea of one minute into the plot itself, and used despair as the core emotion on one of the characters and built my story using that as a foundation.

Before I started even the idealization part of the project, Alex gave me the emotion of ‘despair’ from his random emotion generator. So- this was the core foundation of my narrative, and as soon as he said it, the idea of ‘The fear’ sprang to mind immediately. I took that and then made Stu’s despair due to the bad trip the emotional axis of the conflict. I just didn’t know how I was going to utilize it yet. On the flipside though, I wanted to create something sweet. Despair is a heavy emotion, I personally felt that their should be another side to the piece, hope, the blossoming out of despair into joy, and bliss, There needed to be a light at the end of the tunnel, as it where…

The idea came from a concept in Tom Wolfes; “the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test”. It’s a book about Ken Kesey and the merry pranksters- Californian Hippy renegades in the 60’s, they’d put on big performance art/multimedia projects, where people where encouraged to take mind altering substances. Anyway; They had a term called ‘intersubjectivity’, which happens when you take hallucinogens with someone. It’s a like a psychic link to people, one of the later chapters says it perfectly, written by the at the time editor of the L.A Free Press; Claire bush. She says:

“Take it again? Oh, probably someday… but no urgency, no desire to run to my friendly corner pusher. I think the best way is to take it with a lover, but someone you’re willing to have live you in head for a long, long time. Not too many of them around. It’s a closeness not easily dismissed”- (The Electric Kool-aid Acid test. Tom Wolfe. Black swan press. Page 251.)

I realize now that I must have been inspired by this passage subconsciously. I only thought about this after the fact and feel the it perfectly fits the aesthetic message of the game. Of how shared experiences like this are exercises in bonding, especially the bad times, if you have friends that stick around even during the bad, and it’s not even a problem, because they know that you would do it for them to, that’s real, and that’s what I wanted to make, I sought to make a realistic game, and I feel like I really achieved it. The dialog is some of the best I have ever done, it reads like people talk. I know there is a lot of gratuitous swearing and all three of them say the work ‘like’ when the link sentences together to much. That was intentionally done though. It wanted to imitate the removal of one’s filter while high, and the ‘likes’ are littered throughout because I wanted to create the effect of brain fog, having them say like a lot was to emulate them trying to conjure thoughts. There is not a lot of accurate male representation in modern media (Not totally vacant, but definitely barren), and I feel like the worst culprit is gaming. As the male power fantasy is what sells right?! Not that there is anything wrong with that; catharsis is healthy. I wat create narratives based totally in grounded cognition, relatability is a powerful thing. Just look at most of the modern musicians that are coming out nowadays; Courtney Barnett, Cra Seat Headrest, Yellow Days, Mac Damarco, Stella Donnelly, Rex county orange, the list could go on for ages. They are so popular with people is because of their relatability. It’s the grounded cognition thing, people empathise with characters because their struggles our a metaphor for our own. The ideal self is a constant battle with the real self. I just want to be as honest as I possibly can be. No matter what the genre is be it sci fi or surrealism, fantasy or farce.

Now, about the style. I chose to make a game in the genre of mumble core, which is ‘media about nothing and everything’. The focus for me as writer was to create a game of dialogue that was so realistic and as close to how a person would talk as I could, thus; The story itself is very basic. Lo-fi and hopefully naturalistic. As my intention was to make a mumblecore interactive fiction game, and the fundamental style of mumblecore is its stripped back, budget and almost ‘acoustic’ feel, it’s all very ‘coming-of-age’- young adults navigating life, real people dealing with real situations and mostly It’s true and honest. Inspired by this, I wanted to keep it simple and focus mainly on dialogue. It’s a tale about three male friends at a house party, one of them is about to go off to university (Lewis), one is about to start touring his company (Alex), and one of them isn’t doing anything (Stuart). They descend together on the last house party of the summer, being that it’s the last time that these three will be a back together for a while, it’s an important night for these three friends, because of this, they have decided to take LSD. Stu though feel inferior to his mates that are starting their life, this makes him feel like garbage as he compares himself to them, and thus he starts to have a bad trip. You play as a Lewis, the gameplay is very simple, the goal of the game is to just have a conversation with both of your friends, and that’s it. As an I.F game, it has very low functionality, calling it I.F. is undeniably a stretch. More like a game book, this is mainly dude to my completely lack of understanding still when it comes to coding. Though, I personally feel like it ties into the lo-fi vibe of mumblecore. Which was totally planned… and not just indicative of my inability to learn coding (Yes, Yes, It is).

How I assimilated the theme of ‘one minute’ into my narrative was via the drug. Due to the nature of hallucinogens, they cause people to perceive time differently. Inspired by the idea- I used this as a vehicle to narratively explore an alternate analysis/interpretation of what one minutes could mean. Instead of using a timer, or similar gimmick. I chose to focus in on and investigate ‘the passage of time’ whilst under the influence and how time is perceived in flow states. Layering that with the concept of Stu potentially ‘breaking time’- Its may be a tiny bit of a stretch, but it fits the theme. I want to leave the interpretation of whether they have actually broken time to the reader, I personally have my own opinions on the truth of the piece, but I’d rather just leave it open, interpretation can be incredibly effective at making a piece personal.

Though the theme was one minute and the emotion I was given was despair, as I said earlier, I wanted to have some hope, and how I chose to get the message of hope across was through having the player character play as Lewis (who is somewhat of empath). This was my own personal message. Fostering Empathy was my goal, most likely inspired by death stranding no doubt. Enthused by this I have created a piece of art that is truly representative of intimate male friendships. Theres’ not enough of it out in media (or maybe I’m not looking hard enough). I don’t know whether the piece ‘challenges conventions’, and what does that men for me, do I need to be constantly pushing the boundaries, In the feedback forms, alex Mitchell asked me what I thought the chosen genre brings to the medium of games, I hadn’t really thought of it until he ask, it made me look inwards and wonder if once again I was just ‘artistically masturbating’, but I don’t think that was my intention, I wanted to make something that people could see themselves in. I think the realness of the piece is what it brings to the medium. It’s a game about opening, and not bottling up all the toxic energy inside. At least that’s what I think, as with anything, interpretation is fluid. For me, apart from some tongue in cheek satire sci fi I have done, this was my first foray into art like this, creating something true is much easier than fantasy. All I had to do was write from the heart (Yuck, yeah I said it, No shame).

The challenge came from starting the project. I think maybe because it was honest and personal that the task itself was daunting, I planned the thing to death once again, which as I have star=ted in previous posts is one of the things that I struggle most with. When I stopped procrastinating, and sta don to get the thing out, the words just started flowing out of me. It was almost free associative. I would look at the plan now and gain, the parts came out in kind of a mess and it was up to me to make some kind of coherent linear storyline from the random thoughts, despite this, I couldn’t be more please with the finished piece.

The other challenge came from learning twine, I put so may hours into learning the software., and none of it has been sticking. Its really shows in the final piece. Parts loop and if the player doesn’t have the understanding (which is my fault) to navigate, they will miss huge chunks. In compeison to the farce game though, it’s a a massive improvement, from zero to about a three out of an hundred, but its still something. If I was to create another I.F game in twine, I think I’d be able to explore something a little more complex such as branching pathways.

One of my favourite bits and the one that most people seemed to comment on was the bit about Stu breaking time, it was the one moment that everybody gave me feedback on. I don’t know what it is about that moment. Maybe because its related to the theme. Maybe because everybody’s had moment like that, where they’ve been drunk and gotten locked on to some small detail and then had an adverse emotional reaction to something ridiculous or asinine.

Personally, This is my favourite project I have ever worked on, its intimate, true and honest.

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crystalelemental · 5 years

Text

FE Fates Replay - part 9

We have finally completed the Conquest route.

From Chapter 22 to the end of the game, it’s a pretty straight-shot. Your goal is solely to storm Hoshido and take control. Chapter 22 is against Sakura. It’s not a particularly challenging map. The only annoyance is their long-range shuriken ballista, which...boy are those obnoxious. When you complete the map, Sakura, her retainers, and Yukimura are taken captive, only for Hans, Iago, and Garon to show up and do what they do best: get in the way and insist on killing everyone. So thanks for that I guess.

Okay, this is going to be recurring, so let’s just get it out the way now: why do the villains here insist on such intense pretense? Like, we know you’re evil. Everyone knows. And you know that we’re trying to spare our enemies. Like, blatantly trying. We don’t even hide it. Except the one time we did and somehow that’s the one we got called out on. Okay, sure. Like, what infuriates me the most about Garon, Iago, and Hans isn’t that they’re massacring people and interfering at obnoxious times. There is the making of good drama there. It’s that not once does Corrin ever properly play along, and despite that, not once do they ever actually suffer a consequence. This is the biggest problem with the Conquest route. Had Corrin adapted better and behaved more like the other siblings, able to turn a blind eye or act cold and disant properly when needed, or had Garon actually ever done anything to punish Corrin’s empathy, maybe these scenes would’ve felt heavy. Instead, we’re left feeling like every instance of this is a waste of time. Time and time again, Corrin will act shocked at atrocities her father commands. Time and time again, Garon will get buttmad about it and Iago will shout some nonsense about being a traitor or whatever the fuck. Time and time again, no actual consequences will occur. So why bother? Why bother having what is effectively the same exact scene played out 10 different times? We get it, they’re evil, but so ineffectually evil that they’re not going to do anything to Corrin or the main protagonists. We’ll just make a show of cruelty to the enemy in war, and they’ll say a lot of stuff about being merciless toward their own as well, but it’s never shown or felt. So just cut the bullshit and either remove these unnecessary scenes, or nut up and show an actual consequence for Corrin.

Chapter 23 is Takumi. After the last chapter, we’re supposed to feel like we’re backed into a corner and have to kill him, but really, this is the one time I’m on board. I’ll kill him. I’ll kill the fuck out of him. Corrin specifically did, too. See, it turns out that you can pair Camilla and Corrin up, and have Azura dance Camilla so she can fly to where the archer sniper is. Corrin in Dragon form takes basically no damage, especially with Camilla’s defense being added in. Corrin basically took the wall solo while the others handled the nonsense outside. Must’ve gained like 7 levels this chapter. Enough that I actually took off her main skill. The story is mostly to set up Takumi’s continuing temper tantrum, as, despite Corrin making every effort to get him captured and taken away from Garon before he can command an execution, Takumi just keeps shouting about Corrin’s “betrayal” and jumps off the bridge. No, this does not kill him. I’m crying also.

Chapter 24 is Hinoka’s turn, and man, this one’s alright. The map itself is a bit weird, and those Dragon Veins are dangerous. Normally I’d try to just let Camilla blast through, but they had a lot of flying archers who then got crazy range, so none of that. Instead, this is another map you have to use your own dragon veins to slow down fliers. In actuality, all this does is negate the problem Hinoka continuously repeats. She speeds up fliers and slows down everyone else, but your dragon veins reverse the effect, making everything neutral. It’s not a bad gimmick. The story is also, for once, not so bad. Instead of the usual Garon interruption, you actually get Hinoka to flee, and take her lance as proof of her death. An attempt at subterfuge was made. I can respect that.

Oh wait, then Chapter 25 happens, and Iago is immediately like “If she’s dead, why didn’t you bring her head? The lance doesn’t prove the body’s not moving.” Which is super accurate, and it’s annoying as shit that the one time Corrin actually tried things, she’s called out on it. Not that it matters, because Garon hasn’t a single care in the world about it. Honestly, just...why do we have these scenes?

You then encounter Ryoma, who upon seeing the lance, proves that he’s not as smart as Iago, which was already a really low bar to be setting, and flies into a rage over Corrin killing his sister. Not too much of a rage, though. Otherwise, how would you clear the rest of the map? See, he will actually just sit there, doing nothing, for 25 fucking turns. And for context, I had cleared the rest of the map in about 14. Oh, if you open the gates and the others can move? He still won’t act. You active the Dragon Vein that turns the high defense and recovery tiles your both on to avoid penalty tiles? Still won’t move. Attack him directly? Still won’t retaliate, until those 25 turns are done. This was the saddest excuse of a boss fight, and the worst part is, it didn’t have to be. The defense tiles give so much added defense that both he and Corrin would take single-digit damage, which would be healed automatically by the floor. Truth be told? Just have him attack immediately. Neither side would die, guaranteed. The only thing that would encourage you to get your ass moving, is the fact that Ryoma has a crit rate and can attack from two spaces. If he gets that lucky crit, Corrin isn’t going to die outright, but you’re in danger and can’t dawdle. That would’ve made the map much more tense. But instead, it’s like a leisurely walk through the halls of Hoshido while Ryoma hangs out picking his nose. Furiously picking his nose, mind you. Because of how mad he is that his sister’s dead. Even though she’s not.

After you win, Corrin is able to tell Ryoma that she didn’t actually kill Hinoka, fuckwit. Garon then shows up and insists on having Corrin kill Ryoma directly in front of him, so there’s no way to avoid it. Ryoma then takes it upon himself. He kills himself right there, and with his dying words leaves things to Corrin. Now, again...you’d think Garon or Iago would be like “hey, the fuck’s that about?” But they don’t. Iago tries to be annoying by pointing out Corrin didn’t do it herself, and Garon’s like “Eh, whatever.” and fucks off. So if you didn’t care, why didn’t you just do it when you showed up and move on? Also, Ryoma, buddy, if your plan was to spare Corrin from the evil king she’s stuck working under, maybe you could’ve sold the performance a bit better? I dunno, shout something about how you’d rather die with honor than die at the hands of your enemies, or something like that? No, gonna go the route of outing her intentions to undermine the king before going out? Okay, cool.

Chapter 26 is catharsis that should’ve taken place ages ago. Finally, FINALLY, Iago and Hans are on their own, and the royal siblings have had enough of their shit. So you finally get to kill them. The map itself annoys me. It’s a lot of really tough enemies behind closed doors that you have to break down. My problem is...you cannot bait them. Even if they have range, they won’t attack unless the door is opened. This is especially dangerous with the mage room on the right. They deal crazy damage. Also, Iago is a pain in the ass. He can use staves without it consuming their uses, and has Enfeeble, Freeze, and Silence. And when you do get to him, he has a tome with an insane crit rate, so only a handful of units can engage safely. Fuck you, buddy. By god, fuck you.

This leads to the finale. Finally, after all this time, Corrin is able to tell the others that Garon isn’t their dad, he’s not even human. He’s some weird goo monster. Everyone’s all surprised and doesn’t entirely believe, but are willing to hear Corrin out. Now...here’s what I have against this. It plays in to the stupidest parts of the plot, which are mostly revealed in Revelations, where we learn about the kingdom of Valla in more depth. Basically, if anyone speaks of the hidden kingdom or anything about it, they are transported there immediately and become completely subservient to the dragon god. Which is already contrived as hell. And the reason they couldn’t tell anyone about Garon was simply that they’d vanish too. So instead, their brilliant plan was to invade and conquer Hoshido, and have Garon sit on the throne that displays someone’s core essence. This would prove he was a good monster, and then they could take him out and restore peace.

Except...you could’ve just taken everyone into Valla. Azura goes there regularly. Hell, we followed her there in Chapter 15. So the others can go, see it for themselves without you having to say a goddamn word, and then return going “Oh shit, our dad’s a goo monster, we should probably fix that.” Then, actually go the route they hinted at in Chapter 23: have a civil war break out. Xander leads the charge against a corrupt king, and the soldiers either back him and his way of peace, or stick with the king who wants to genocide Hoshido. Net innocent casualties: way fewer than you taking over a kingdom for a goo monster that’s out to kill everyone. Hell, I still hate that the goo monster is a thing at all. Honestly, if Xander’s virtues were half of what they should be, at some point along the campaign trail, Corrin should only have to mention she thinks Garon’s corrupt and is calling for too much violence. Again, use that concept of a schism in the ranks to set the stage for a coup mid-campaign. Xander has directly seen enough to know the atrocities his father carries out. You shouldn’t need this nonsense about a goo monster for this story to have weight.

But, we got the goo monster, so we have to put it down. The map’s fairly simple, though the individual rooms are a little scary, and 100% fuck those asshole soldiers with Counter and Magic Counter. Those are the worst skills the series has ever introduced, and by god I hope that Three Houses doesn’t have them. Nothing is stupider than some jackoff with a high HP count and nothing else running up to you, hitting you for some damage, and then having your own attacks reflected 100% back at you, killing your unit because their inflated HP stat let them cheat the encounter. Magic Counter was added this game, and it’s somehow worse. Now if they have Counter, Magic Counter also reflects any and all magic damage back at you. At least Counter had the fucking decency to only work when adjacent, so archers could mess with it. These skills are just the exact opposite of engaging.

Garon himself is a bitch, though. I think he had under a 50% chance to hit Xander at all, and even if he did it was like 20% of his HP, while Xander takes out like 40% of his. You tried, goo man.

After finally killing Garon, you’d think it would be over. But nope! One more encounter with the champion of tantrums, Takumi! It turns out, he’s been corrupted by...something? I played this game years ago, on all routes, and I’m still not sure how the hell this works. Corrin waxes philosophical afterward about whether anger and hatred can simply corrupt people into becoming monsters and avatars of destruction, but it’s gotta have some connection to Valla. Anyway, at first, Corrin decides to let Takumi just throw his hissy-fit to get him to calm down. This results in him pushing her shit in with a single arrow that shatters the Yato blade. Oops. Thankfully, conveniences! Corrin has that dream sequence when you’re on the verge of death and meet with all the people who died along the way, and the real Takumi gives her the Fujin Yumi, which...doesn’t really exist? And somehow repairs her Yato blade instantly? Then Azura starts singing and it allegedly weakens Takumi? So you clear out the map, which is mostly just tearing through some enemies and putting up the barricades before his attacks, and beat up Takumi really easily with Corrin and Xander. You all revel in the victory until you realize Azura is gone. It’s probably fine, probably just needed the bathroom. I’m sure she’ll be back.

The ending sequence throws us directly into Xander coronation, where the kingdoms are brought together peacefully. A big festival is held, and Corrin leaves for a bit to catch her breath near the lake. She meets with Azura for a minute, who disappears after asking Corrin to close her eyes. Corrin’s not even sure if it was real or an illusion, and is called back to the party. Now, this? This I kinda like. Just the feel of the scene, you know? I have a thing for bittersweet endings, and this has the right kind of feel. The problem is...we have no idea why this is happening. Presumably, it’s the song. But she’s used the song before without this kind of serious backlash. Or any backlash, really. Like, remember when she tried to reveal the truth about Garon at the theater? She used the mystic powers of her song there, and there was no blowback at all. But now she vanishes forever? It’s just strange, and another sort of contrivance where the conditions are vague at best, but typically nonexistent.

With that though, the game is finally over. I’m gonna be honest, the story is just as stupid as I remembered, but it kinda feels less infuriating now. I don’t know if it’s just my expectations going in were set so low or what, but the story, stupid as it is, feels more like a goofy B-movie than an outright disasterfuck and a blight on the world. It’s stupid and childish, and very little is thought through. Having also recently played Awakening, I understand where the developers were coming from when they said Awakening’s core story felt a little weak, but how anyone felt like this game was a step in the right direction is beyond me.

By comparison, the gameplay is fantastic. Conquest is actually a ton of fun to just play through. The maps are way more varied in their gimmicks and goals than anything Awakening had to offer. Stats cap a lot lower, too, and enemy stats never feel overwhelming. Even leveling up felt appropriate. In Awakening, I could reach max level of a class promotion by around Chapter 17-18. Even in the Radiant Games, Bonus EXP lets you reach level cap way before you’re supposed to. But Conquest...actually had me reach level cap for only two units, Corrin and Camilla, at Chapter 26. Everyone else either didn’t reach cap, or got there at the last map against Takumi. Stats themselves also didn’t always cap, but could once you got close to level cap. Camilla and Corrin had a few more than others because I used those seals that raise level cap, but still. I actually really like the balance of the game.

That said: this only works because I did not recruit a single child character. I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating, children characters had no place in Fates. They were included because children were included in Awakening, Awakening literally saved the series, but to this day none of them know how it did that. So Fates assumed certain major mechanics from Awakening were required for it to sell well, and thus, children. But having those extra maps would’ve broken this balance to pieces, not to mention the absolute nightmare that is the Baby Realm. I honest feel like the game is substantially better without the children characters at all. Had I gone to get them, I would’ve needed to be very specific in how I supported units, gone out of my way to deploy units that didn’t matter just to get their kids, and then probably never used their kids. I could not be happier that Three Houses isn’t going to be bringing in children characters.

Overall, I’m pleasantly surprised by the Conquest route. A few of the characters have really grown on me, and the gameplay was...actually really solid. The story just drags it down so hard. So hard, it’s unbelievable. There are so many areas of the plot of this route where things could’ve been handled in a way where it had actual weight and impact, but instead it just feels very...hollow. Emotional scenes are attempted, and sometimes even executed well in a vacuum, but within the broader context, all of this could’ve been avoided. Corrin’s constant anguish over sacrifices being made rings completely hollow when you consider all the ways in which bloodshed could’ve been avoided, or at least this specific path of bloodshed. Fighting would happen regardless, and as Azura and Xander expressed in the endgame, no one path is purely right or purely wrong. You’d have to push forward regardless, and things become difficult no matter what path you take. But if there’s one thing to consider on the Conquest route, it’s that Corrin is really, unspeakably terrible at subterfuge and planning, and that Xander is really, really dense.

Now, time to start up the Birthright path. I always liked the Nohrian siblings better, but we’ll see if anything changes with that. I will, again, not be recruiting the children characters, and supports will happen as we go but I’m not going out of my way. Hopefully this route also feels more positive the second time through, if only because of gameplay.

#fire emblem fates #fire emblem fates replay

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flauntpage · 6 years

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Royal Rumble 2018 Was WWE at its Best

The best way to watch WWE is to recognize that there are actually three WWEs. There’s the television WWE, which consistently sucks and, outside maybe two or three nights a year, is insistent on nothing of import happening. There’s the Fall doldrums WWE, a long grey expanse from just after SummerSlam until January when the pay-per-views are passable but not great, in thrall to a paralytic fear of anything interesting happening which might upset the balance going into Wrestlemania season.

Then there’s the third WWE, the good WWE. From Royal Rumble to SummerSlam, with Wrestlemania as a midpoint, the pay-per-views are usually good to great. The booking can be down—this is WWE, after all—but it’s a fun company to watch, so long as you stick to the pay-per-views.

Sunday’s Royal Rumble was the good WWE in full pomp. Its two Royal Rumble matches (the traditional men’s match and the very first women’s) were near perfectly booked, never seemed to drag, and reminded everyone both of what a roster as talented and large as WWE’s can do and brought up questions about why they just won’t goddamned do it all the time.

Most Rumble matches work with a splash of humor, and the men’s was no different. The early highlight was Heath Slater lying prone on the floor outside the ring, knocked out on the walkway by an enraged Baron Corbin, only for everyone to walk by and get in a shot or two to keep him down. That was until Sheamus, in an act of hubris, threw Slater in, only to be immediately dumped out by the perennial jobber. It was perfect, both funny and roundabout revenge for Sheamus’s squash of the white hot heel Daniel Bryan several years ago, and I actually shrieked in an alarmingly high-pitched fashion when it happened.

Comedy wrestling gets a bad rap as being too gimmicky or diluting the melodrama the form is ideally capable of, but Royal Rumbles are long and the willingness to punctuate them with moments of silliness and irony shows strength, not weakness. WWE isn’t, and shouldn’t be, all comedy wrestling, but if you’re working with that much time and that many people, smoothing the edges is strong booking, not weak.

That held true throughout. Everything was booked more or less perfectly, the best Rumble match in over a decade and maybe one of the best five or six ever. Everything just clicked in that almost ephemeral, weightless way good wrestling does. Elias is in the ring starting a song and he tells us that the clock won’t start until he’s finished? That doesn’t make sense, but the timing of the gimmick and pacing of its execution made it feel right. Baron Corbin isn’t going to set the world on fire, but his post-elimination outburst knocking out several wrestlers felt right. The boos raining down on Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt for eliminating Rusev felt right.

Nothing felt more right in terms of timing and execution than Shinsuke Nakamura’s win. It was a slow build, and it would have been fair to worry that WWE’s handling of Nakamura (leashing him to some of the worst signature taunts in the promotion) would make his win feel unsatisfying. But that was not the case. Instead, you could feel him growing into his role as eventual winner, the crowd and wrestler establishing a symbiotic relationship as the end, punctuated by Nakamura delivering the best Kinshasa knee since he left NXT to Roman Reigns, rolled around. For the first time since his call up, Nakamura felt like something more than what we’ve been given so far. I remain a skeptic, but this is the test: if the knock on him is that he only shows up for big matches (and fair play to him, he’s earned that right and getting money from the McMahons while going half-speed is okay in my book), it’s never getting bigger than a Wrestlemania title match against AJ Styles. And I am, at the least, less skeptical than I was before he shone at the Royal Rumble.

Again, equal credit is due the much-maligned booking team. The final six faced off in groups of three—Reigns, Nakamura, and Finn Balor squaring off against John Cena, Randy Orton, and a returning (and cut) Rey Mysterio. The generational warfare in the face-off was fully contrived; Nakamura and Balor are almost as old as their opposites, while Reigns is heading toward his mid-30s at light speed. The contrivance didn’t matter. It was pure symbolism of the best sort, less about generation than about where the younger men came from. New Japan. NXT. Small arenas and MMA matches.

The generation gap was present in the equally good inaugural women’s Royal Rumble, albeit for different reasons. The women’s match was more reliant on returning stars from the past, simply because the roster isn’t as large as the men’s. 30 people is a lot, and there’s also undoubtedly a baseline pop you want to maintain for each entrance, something which the lesser lights of a roster can’t always muster (see Titus O’Neil’s entrance in the men’s Rumble).

This created a trap. There was no way that the returnees weren’t going to eliminate some of the current stars, and that’s what happened. In any other year, this would grate, and probably will if the same happens in future women’s Rumbles.

In this one, though, it felt alright. WWE created its past and it was ugly. The returnees, from Lita to Trish Stratus to Molly Holly to every single one of them, were treated figuratively and literally like dogs. No amount of purging the references to the Attitude Era’s treatment of women and no amount of Stephanie McMahon’s self-aggrandizement will alter that. Colette Arrand’s thoughts on this are worth reading and appreciating.

But history did happen and it did suck. One of the byproducts of that is that these women, nearly all of whom are now in their 40s, never got the chance to take part in something like this. It would’ve been unthinkable for WWE’s corporate climate at the time to move from pudding matches and teased nudity to truly treating them as equal competitors (and, for what it’s worth, they still aren’t quite there, given that Brie Bella and Lana were introduced via their relation to their wrestling husbands).

Treating the women’s Rumble as a self-contained entity is tough, but there was a remarkable ease and joy to the returnees’ actions in the ring. This was typified by Stratus and Mickie James facing off towards the end. Look at the sheer, unworked happiness on their faces, not just as old foes and friends coming together after ten years, but at working a Royal Rumble together.

In the end, Asuka won, which was as correct a call as Nakamura winning the men’s match. She remained a buzzsaw throughout, and the earlier worries over her main roster debut have faded. Asuka has steadily, consistently been the monster we all hoped for and WWE needed. She, more than anyone else, has the ineffable “it"—the kind of thing that doesn’t require being the biggest or strongest, but which takes a wrestler up another level. The Rumble cemented that. The crowd was on fire every time she had her moments with another wrestler.

The end of the pay-per-view struck a slightly off-key note in an otherwise nearly perfect show (nearly perfect because the matches outside the Rumbles were merely fine, but that is exactly the level they should’ve been given how exhaustingly good the main events were). Ronda Rousey, of course, came out in Roddy Piper’s jacket. She inserted herself into Asuka’s moment, a fact which seemed to draw everything from nervousness to outright rage, judging from internet reaction.

It’s currently tough to parse. The charitable view, and it’s the one I’m currently holding, is that the manner of her arrival points to something interesting on the horizon. She extended a hand to Asuka, signalling that she’ll wait for the Rumble winner to choose who she wants to face at Wrestlemania, leaving Rousey with the other. Asuka slapped her hand away, a signal in turn that Asuka isn’t sharing the glory.

The problem is that the execution was ever so slightly off. It became immediately clear that Rousey isn’t ready to work a crowd. Almost immediately upon entering the ring, without waiting for the people chanting her name to reach a crescendo, she pointed awkwardly at the WrestleMania sign. The timing of it, the single most important skill in wrestling, was all off. Then she mutely pointed again as proceedings ended.

Rousey comes with a host of baggage, though it’s not to diminish this fact to point to the awful people WWE regularly does business with. An internal negotiation takes place every time we watch wrestling, old or new, no matter the promotion. It’s justifiable if Rousey’s transphobia and Sandy Hook trutherism are where you bail, just as it would be if Warrior’s return or Mike Tyson’s 1998 arrival as a recently convicted and released rapist was.

Setting all of that aside, the point was so immediately weird and robotic, so out of sync with the rhythm of the crowd and moment, that even though it was small, it immediately felt like the most basic pro wrestling skills were missing. That’s a problem in the mechanical sense for WWE. She’s going to make them a lot of money, and she’ll make money in return. But it’s worth recalling Ken Shamrock, her most immediate antecedent. He had all the physical skills and the intimidation factor, but he never picked up mic skills or the crowd empathy needed to move with the crowd’s swells and eddies, and it was quickly apparent with him, too.

This was not Rousey’s moment, however. This was Asuka’s and Nakamura’s. For once, the fans got exactly what they wanted and the show was wonderful because of it. So much of this was unthinkable 20 years ago, from a legit women’s Royal Rumble to two top Japanese challengers who aren’t reduced to caricature. Royal Rumble 2018 was historic, fun, and among the very best of its kind.

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