#this one was one of my absolute favorites to create in vr

[nourrris]

peter parker

(going off the tom holland vr! this is going to be a very long ramble about the character) i cant get over how genuinely hauntingly sad peter parker is, when the idea of peter parker was created, (to be different incomparsion of other characters), because you have a teenager superhero - it's such a good concept mind you - but god? having somebody so young have such a large role on their shoulders is insane, and it's so interesting because just the change in age literally completely fundamentally changes his characters actions and future, he'll have more impulsive decisions, extreme mental issues (which is unavoidable in his situation), and simply a very difficult time trying to navigate.

his level of severe childhood trauma (which quite literally gives you a form of brain damage) will ultimately affect his entire future and actions, he saw his uncle die at what 14? maybe younger? that itself even without the spider-man part is horrid, he never had the chance to even grieve because he was thrown into the most life changing event of his life, he also had no parents either, he has a very significant lack of figures in his life that is so hard to change how they impacted him. what happened in homecoming was the least terrifying experience he probably went through which says alot when a whole warehouse fell upon him and he was just /inches/ way from dying near the end from the vulture.

then infinity war happens next, his fight's and experiences horribly scary situations that nobody could probably even digest at such an age, or even older. and when he 'dusted' its obvious it takes a toll on him before it even happens, he could feel it, and god isn't that scary to think of? the unstoppable force of death? then fucking endgame happens, which i honestly can't even believe the fact that if i said it wasn't the worst thing that happened to him i'd be right, even though he saw somebody who he considered a 'father' figure die in his hands.

excluding that even if tony never died peter would have never recovered mentally so normally, seeing how he was beat up to hell holding that gauntlet was so fucking terrifying. he was tossed around so much and he quite literally held the most dangerous and world altering item in his hands, and if he lost it he'd have the entire world's blame on him. thats so much responsibility a newly(?) sixteen year old should never have, you cannot possibly tell me that it wouldnt literally alter his brain from the terror.

far from home is one of my favorite movie's ever but never fails to make me cry. he didn't even get the time to grieve tony, or the fact that his entire world changed in the matter of days, or the experience it was to endure the endgame fight, how can you casually go back to school after witnessing and /participating/ in the fight that could have possibly entered in the doom of the world again or bring it all back. then mysterio happens, which in my opinion is one of the absolute worst villains that peter's fought, because he was just so human. he ruined peters life completely, and he was just another human. wouldn't that make somebody so bitter? that no your life wasn't completely thrown away to shit by the big evil purple alien, but by another full human. absolutely nothing special to him power wise, not possessed, no weird voices, he did it with pure manipulation and thats one of the worst possible things i could have imagined somebody doing to him.

because peter at the end of the day was just a complete kid, mysterio made him believe he could trust him and peter did, he just lost so much in his life that somebody who could finally understand him was all he needed to feel assured, its why the significance of that one talk they both had after fury was being a dick to peter was so important, mysterio decided to go for such an emotionally devastating route it's unbelievable. but seemingly manipulating his trust wasn't enough, he just had to fuck him up so bad with that illusion scene, putting everything he loved against him and god the stark part was so fucking cruel, but after it all the part that hurt so much to watch was when happy got to him, peter questioning if he was real is so cruel. making this poor kid unable to trust his surroundings (after also being hit by a fucking train!), when he already had so much psychological issues going on is literally the cruelest fate he could have given him at the time.

and lastly no way home, and his future at that. mysterio exposing peters identity was such an irreversible decision that i honestly believe no matter what peter did, there was nothing that could give him or his loved ones the life he wanted unless if he did try to make everybody forget him. like if he originally went to the lady to re-persuade her to let his friends in it wouldnt have worked, and it also showed that much before peter ended up saving the lady in the car, all their fates were fucked and frankly there was no good way to get out of it, he was so absolutely doomed.

may parkers death was the worst of it all i think, i believe from everything that's happened to him, that absolutely nothing would affect him the way she died did. every other death of a loved one that had happened he couldn't truly take the blame for, but knowing how everything lead up to him is the most excruciatingly important detail. he canonically blames himself and i dont believe that feeling will ever end up going away. there's just no way it could, the fact he was the last person who ever saw her alive, the last person she spoke too, he quite literally saw the life drain out of her, there's no way to recover after seeing the person who's been with you for longer than you can remember die in your hands, and in the hands of your accidental actions.

i dont think there was a world were he could have escaped that death coming, peters identity being out as spider-man would have definitely done something in the future, and the problem is everything in no-way home happened in the smallest time stamp ever, i could be wrong but i believe it all went down in a few days at most, there was no way to even comprehend the absolute mental load and overwhelming amount of information being handed to him, nor do i think he'll manage to get over it easily later on either. the idea of different versions of him existing is so much to chew on, the idea of other versions of him living the happier life he could have, ones that never have the people he loves in them, ones where the people he loved are still alive, or some of them even. he even directly saw worlds where their peter parkers arent forced to be forgotten.

this version of peter lost so much that its impossible to cope with, all the peters lost alot already, like all of them didn't have parents iirc, all lost uncle ben, but the tobey and andrew spider-man had a living aunt may, then tobey's lost harry (?), and andrew lost gwen.

this version of peter parker lost both uncle and aunts, parents (of course), and tony stark. this is all just by death, he also lost his best friends, and girlfriend. they stay forever out of reach which is so tauntingly cruel. because he starts at 13/15 (pre homecoming) and by 17 (nwh) he's at the same point of all the other spider-man's started where theyre practically completely alone, or just experienced such a stark change to their lives.

my boy....... he deserves better..... sorry this is so long i had alot to say and i dont get the chance to talk about peter much and ive been recently hyperfixated on him since early feb and i love him so much and cant stop thinking or crying about him . also do tell me if i got any info wrong cause' ive only watched the tom holland trilogy, so im a bit uninformed there but did try to do some research!

#peter parker #spiderman tom holland #spiderman #marvel mcu #mysterio #tony stark #okay thats all i think...

[freyafukunaga]

HELL YEAH ALTDEUS COMING TO SWITCH HELL YEAH HELL YEAH HELL YEAH HELL YEAH

my absolute favorite vr game is coming out in a more accessible format!! an immersive visual novel with character designs/illustrations from LAM, you play as "Augmented" pilot Chloe, created to protect humanity's last underground city from alien intruders. but then, she isn't just some tool. she has a heart. she had been gifted, had grown a heart from her first human connection, her dearest friend, Coco. and what she does is to take revenge for her.

an ai idol made in coco's image tries her hardest to bring chloe out of her shell, but she could never be a replacement.

the story begins when one of the aliens appears to hatch, and from it comes a creature who looks just like coco.

it's an astounding sci-fi novel with a tight cast of characters, chasing love in their own ways. not counting the premature game-over you'll always have on your initial playthrough, there are at least four endings: an end to each split route, a truth, and a gentle denial. please, please play this.

(also, it's not explicitly stated, but chloe and coco say shit like "My heart is yours" and they would gladly live in a garden with just the two of them and also they kiss, so, i mean, pretty sure our protagonist is a gay woman, if that helps sell you on it)

#vr games #ALTDEUS: Beyond Chronos #nintendo switch #designer baby lesbian mech pilots with ptsd

[actualbird]

What games do you think the nxx would have played as they were growing up?

Recently got into beat saber videos and I picture Marius loving the game. Not for the music, for the saber. He just wants a VR headset and controller so he can wave around neon sabers.

Artem is a Stardew Valley kid (i've never played so i might be wrong)

Luke and Rosa are constantly together playing Sky

Vyn gives a plague/bio inc player vibe

OMG i love marius being into beat saber because ur so right about him liking the VR aspect (and i remember there are VR headsets in the pax experience room!!) and also waving around a saber. additionally and funnily, he'd be so bad at it. musically-inept!marius is one of my favorite running gags, but thats not stopping him from feeling the music (much to everybody else's mild dismay jHVKSJFD)

i HUGELY AGREE on artem being into SDV. he would create such an optimized farm but i also think he'd get really into romancing all the villagers one save file at a time because he wants to get to know everyone's stories. (sidenote: the fic "farm time??!?" by lawlietss is such a fun fic i read way back where the nxx team play SDV all together, i deffo rec it if ur into SDV shenanigans)

ive never heard of/played those other games u mention, but i'd like to add that luke would be SUPER into Professor Layton games. IT'S PUZZLE SOLVING!! MYSTERY STORIES!!! PLUS THERES A LUKE (LUKE TRITON) IN THERE TOO!!!

more on luke, coming from his love of antiques and old stuff, i think he'd also be into older/retro consoles. he played Pokemon Yellow on a GameBoy Color he found at a garage sale once and ever since then hes wondered why all pokemon games dont have the "pokemon follow u around" thing, it's the best thing EVER

for vyn.......ive never actually played this game im about to recc for him myself, but ive watched a bunch of videos on it. i think vyn would enjoy Pathologic. really interesting storytelling and it seems like absolute fucking hell to play. he'd definitely enjoy it. KJHVSDKFJHSJD

im actually not the best person to ask this because i havent played many games myself HAHAKJSHDVFJ but im very endeared by marius flailing around with beat saber <3 go off, u lanky blueberry

#roshie-writes #both the games i diagnosed for luke were ones i grew up with...i still have my gameboy color...the screen is fucked up from flooding #but it is still here...still so dear to me.... #asks

[professionallyunprofessional]

The 7th Guest VR

If you've been following me for any length of time, you know that The 7th Guest is one of my most favorite games ever. I have talked about pretty much every iteration of it on here, except for things like the mobile 'Infection' game and the T7G board game (which, sadly, I don't own). It is time for me to talk about it again. :D

This past year, a VR remake of The 7th Guest was created by Vertigo Games. It was teased both on its own Facebook page and on Trilobyte's pages as well. The game was released on October 19th, 2023. I would be lying if I said that I didn't want a VR headset just for that game. I got both a headset and the game for Christmas.

As always, spoilers below the cut. But the TL;DR version of this review is thus- This game is very good. 4/5 stars. From the moment I first started it up, it already had the gloriously spooky vibes of the original. For this review, I'm going to break it down into parts, wherein I'll be talking about both the good and bad of each.

The Gameplay

When I first heard that a VR remake of T7G was being made, I was excited. I had such fond memories of the original, and it was an absolute treat to revisit the Stauf Mansion. Experiencing it now is a whole new level of amazing. Not only are the graphics much sharper, of course, but you can see so much more of the house. Instead of a still frame backdrop like the original, you’re able to freely wander around the rooms and interact with objects. A few rooms were scrapped (the art gallery and laboratory were removed entirely, and the maze/catacombs were reworked into a storage room and basement), but I feel like it doesn’t take anything away from the game. If anything, the removal/revamping of certain areas streamlined things.

A new mechanic added to the remake is the lantern your character walks around with. With the lantern, you can spawn in items, see hidden messages on the walls, and get hints for some of the puzzles. It took some getting used to, but I thought it was fun. The original game was point-and-click, so it was cool to see something new added to it.

Slightly less successful, at least for me, were some of the spooky effects in the remake. The original game had the occasional cutscene that wasn’t necessarily plot relevant, but they were still fun. Hands coming out of a picture, floating table settings, a clown ghost appearing in the game room, the Woman in White beckoning you to follow her, etc. The remake's spooky effects come in two ways- One is blink-and-you'll-miss-it moments of shadowy figures appearing in rooms and hallways. Another is paintings that change when you shine your lantern on them.

The Story

Both the original 7th Guest and the VR remake tell the story of one fateful, bloody night at the mansion of the disgraced toymaker Henry Stauf. Six guests were purposely invited, and a seventh was very much in the wrong place at the wrong time. The original game had an opening blurb about the events leading up to the story of the game, but the VR remake takes it a step further. Not only does the story of Stauf’s childhood slowly unfold throughout the game, but each guest’s room has bits of information about them and their backstories that gives insight as to why they accepted the invitation to come to the house. Frankly, I love this. Especially because the expansion of Stauf’s lore gives clarity as to why he chose those six people specifically.

The Characters

The six guests from the original game make their glorious return in the VR remake. In the weeks leading up to the game’s release, Vertigo Games put out various teaser images and video from the game. At first, I was skeptical (a few of the characters seemed not quite right for their parts), but I think most of the actors did a fantastic job. In particular, I adored both Temple and Elinor. I wasn’t particularly wowed by their choice for Henry Stauf, though. To me, Carl Wharton didn’t have quite the same oomph that Robert Hirschboeck brought to the role.

The Music

The soundtrack for 7th Guest VR was composed by Jonathan van den Wijngaarden, and I think he did a fantastic job. His score has the same delightfully spooky, but still strangely beautiful quality to it, especially with several of the tracks including familiar tunes from the original. George ‘The Fat Man’ Sanger himself even contributed to the piece of music that plays when you enter the chapel. I honestly have no complaints about the music. It was my favorite thing in the original and it might be one of my favorite things about the remake.

The Puzzles

I was very curious as to what the puzzles would be like in the remake. I have to say, I’m impressed. They have been reworked entirely, with each puzzle now being distinctly themed to whatever room it’s in. Temple’s puzzles all have to do with stage magic tricks, Julia’s puzzles are about either drinking or her fear of getting old, the kitchen puzzles involve things like finding ingredients for soup, etc. The only one that hasn’t changed is the puzzle with the 8 queens in the game room. If I had to nitpick something, it would be that it’s not always easy to spot the puzzles. Unlike the original game, there is no pulsing brain icon to show you what’s a puzzle and what isn’t.

The Easter Eggs

The 7th Guest VR is full of delightful nods to the original 7th Guest. The achievements you can unlock are all named for bits of dialogue from the original game, the dining room has a few glorious nods to the original dining room scene, and there was one particularly delightful music-based Easter egg I stumbled upon purely by accident (pro-tip: Explore every wardrobe, cabinet, and closet).

All in all, this game is fantastic. Not quite perfect, but almost.

#The 7th Guest #The 7th Guest VR #professionally unprofessional #Video game review #VR games #Meta Quest 2

[x-atlas-x]

How about 8 🤭

You are, by far, the worst for asking me this question.

8.) Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you've written and explain why you're proud of it.

This is an extremely hard one to answer because I have literally a million drafts and so many works that I'm not entirely sure if I am necessarily "proud" of any of them. But, I'll share one that I really enjoyed writing from a WIP that I decided not to post - my AI!Atem project.

"That brings me to my next challenge - I have to create an NPC to take place of his AI and then-then I have to figure out what to do with him."

Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl looked at each other, trying to figure out what to say in response. When they looked back at Yugi, both of their faces fell.

"What? What is it?" Yugi asked. He tried to look behind him, but again, this wasn't VR. He groaned in frustration. Maybe working from home wasn't as easy as he thought. He attempted to move his mouse, hoping that his character's view would change, but it stayed exactly where it was. His mouse was fucked up too?

"Did you miss me?" A familiar voice purred in his ear and his blood ran cold.

He desperately flicked his wrist, needing to see who was behind him, but it was no use. His mouse was out of commission and he already knew who it was. He messed with the movement keys on his keyboard. Apparently, those were useless too.

"Atem..." He breathed out, his hands curling up into fists out of sheer annoyance. He couldn't do anything else with them.

"That's my name," Atem chuckled next to him, but he refused to step into his line of vision. "It's a shame that I didn't get to hear you say it more, though."

Yugi rolled his eyes, "Why are you here? You're not supposed to be here and-and did you fuck with my controls?"

"Possibly. It's much easier to deal with you when you're powerless."

"This is unfair."

"No," Atem hissed. "You don't know what unfairness feels like. You have no idea what it's like to be trapped in the darkness for ages. The shadows haunt me, Yugi. I never want to see them again and I'm going to make sure that I don't."

"You wouldn't have to if you just cooperated-"

"Silence!" Atem screamed and Yugi's camera moved, pointing directly at him. The sight of him enraged was absolutely terrifying. It was like he was looking at a rabid dog that was foaming at the mouth. Yugi's heart was racing and he was itching to unplug the USB. But, he couldn't. He was paralyzed where he sat.

Somehow, Atem managed to get closer, his face taking over Yugi's computer screen, "You don't get it. You're a real human. We are AIs trapped inside of a game. You have not a single clue what it's like when you shut it down. You allowed these two to be free to roam the game, but me? I was stuck for what felt like an eternity. I can't go back to living like that. For the first time, you made me feel alive. I want to keep that feeling.

"But, you... You have plans to replace me," Atem scoffed and backed away. "I can't let that happen. You're not going to get rid of me, Yugi. You may try all you'd like, but I plan on staying-for good."

---

A long snippet, yes, but I do really like this conversation because I loved writing Atem being so evil and powerful, which is something I don't typically write for his character. It was fun and to make him a rogue AI for this AU was exciting. I'd have to say that was one of my favorite scenes from this unfinished project.

Thanks so much for asking, even though it killed me a little!!

If you want to ask a question, here's my post for the list!

#atlas answers #ask meme #writing meme #writing #fanfiction

[toddspong]

Logos

Group 4. INTERACTIVE DESIGN– What is it?

Interactive design is a user-oriented field of study that focuses on meaningful communication using media to create products through cyclical and collaborative processes between people and technology. 

Interaction design can be understood in simple (but not simplified) terms: it is the design of the interaction between users and products. Most often when people talk about interaction design, the products tend to be software products like apps or websites. The goal of interaction design is to create products that enable the user to achieve their objective(s) in the best way possible.

If this definition sounds broad, that’s because the field is rather broad: the interaction between a user and a product often involves elements like aesthetics, motion, sound, space, and many more. And of course, each of these elements can involve even more specialized fields, like sound design for the crafting of sounds used in user interactions.

Fine your TOP FIVE BEST INTERACTIVE DESIGNS.

Make a list for me of the urls (uniform resource locator – or web address) or app names for your top five in your Tumblr sketchbook. Clearly label it – Top Five Interactive Designs, According to __(you)_______.

Website: Hello Monday, Branding Marketing Agency

UI Interactions: Liquid effect overlay menu, object-warping interactive hover animations

Hello Monday has implemented a cool overlay menu interaction with a liquid effect.

Website: Magical Reflections, Virtual Museum

UI Interactions: CTA button glowing border hover animation

   I really like this one because it is really interactive. As you scroll you move around to different pieces of art.

Website: Magnetism, Creative Agency

UI Interactions: Interactive object in the footer

Website: Helene Blanck; Artist, choreographer, performer, author

UI Interactions: Interactive background warping on hover

Website: Workout iOS App by Den Klenkov for FireArt Studio on Dribbble

UI Interactions: Interactive data visualization

Also in your sketchbook, please pick your favorite from the above named examples and answer the following questions:

My favorite of the sites that I chose is Magical Reflections, Virtual Museum.

What makes a good interactive design to YOU? What is the intent for the site/app you chose? Does it fulfill its purpose? (4 sentences)

Successful interaction design employs simple, clearly defined goals, a strong purpose, and an intuitive UI. In an effort to keep interactions simple and easy, goal-driven interaction design puts nothing more than the absolute minimum necessary in front of users in order for them to complete a task. If you decide to keep your design simple and not include too many parallaxes and scroll animations, animating only your CTA buttons to freshen things up can be very effective. Magical Reflections offer a great example of a glowing border hover animation on their entrance button. I believe that it fulfills the purpose because it is really interactive and animates moving around an art gallery.

Logos represent a given organization or company through a visual image that can be easily understood and recognized. A logo generally involves symbols, stylized text, or both. Logos are often created by a graphic artist in consultation with a company and marketing experts. The logo is the prime identifier for all brands. Its purpose is to reflect the core idea of the organization. Your logo is important because the brand is essential. Additionally, your logo is often the first thing that people see, and the first thing people will remember.

Virtual Sketchbook Two

3. Connecting Art to Your World

Color Houston De Los Muertos Festival 2022

secrethouston.com

The choice to use color in this photo was integral in featuring all the vibrant and lively colors of the festival. Even though Day of the Dead sounds full or sorrow, in reality it is a great celebration of the lives of the people in your family and the legacy they have left behind. The choice to use color and to highlight it in such a way by the photographer, really was the best move to show the joyous colors and the vibrant emotions in the celebration. If the photographer used a black and white photograph instead it would not have been able to convey such joy and excitement of celebration and would instead have encompassed the sadness and negativity that this festival does not truly convey.

Virtual Sketchbook Two

2. Writing and Looking

Chapter 4 page 1.

Charles Demuth's artwork, I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold, uses bold number fives to bring unity throughout and balances the composition, the number five is also seen in numerous sizes and proportions creating movement, the black background contrasts with the red and gold which adds emphasis, the dark diagonal lines through the piece add directional force, the fives being placed in this piece create rhythm between the foreground and background.

Color affects me in many aspects of life. Thinking back several years, my first bike had to be red, and my first car had to be blue. Most of the time I choose what I will eat by color. As I do not have a favorite color, there are many things that I know I want in certain colors. Throughout life, I have admired several pieces of art, buildings and especially the change of seasons and the leaves up North. Color plays a large part in the life of many people.

0 notes

#logos

[tuomivuori]

Got tagged by @morewyckedthanyou, thanks a lot for the tag! Always up for talking about myself! :D

favourite colour(s): I love greens, especially desaturated/dusty shades and deep, dark, cool shades, leaning towards turquoise. Also dark purple, burgundy, and light/muted shades of pink.

favourite flavour(s): So hard to choose! I live for food, and unfortunately my tastes are very unhealthy. Salt in both food and candy (the saltier the salmiakki, the better), creamy/buttery things, sweet and sour candies, savoury treats, umami foods, give me everything except for things that are too sweet in the wrong way (the way that things like figs and applesauce are sweet). And of course spices! I especially love East and South Asian kinds of spice combos.

favourite genre(s): Fantasy, magical realism, mystery

favorite music: Ranges from dance pop to rock to metal, and my ears do like classical stuff and musical songs as well, even though I don't really actively listen to those. Well, I don't actively listen to music in general these days, but I've had stages in my life when I did, my 80's rock and metal phases being the most prominent ones. Nowadays I just listen to whatever strikes my fancy or happens to get stuck in my head.

favourite movie(s): I'm more of a series kind of person than a movie person, it's always difficult to come up with favourite movies (though I'm sure there are many that I'm simply forgetting) - except for the LotR trilogy, those have been my favourites since they came out and they still hold up (even though they're not perfect, they're very close!)

favourite series: This is hard to answer since there are shows that I have been absolutely obsessed with for years and years in the past that I'm now totally ambivalent about or even actively dislike (Sherlock is a prime example), and nowadays I don't watch that much stuff. I don't even have a TV or any subscription services. A big recent favourite has been Our Flag Means Death, and one long-time fave that I'm still fond of is Steven Universe. Oh, and Hannibal! That was a damn good show.

last song: The Chain by Fleetwood Mac, I'm trying to create a custom map of the song for this VR drumming game I've been playing with a friend. Chose it because it's rather bare-bones, not too fast, and has a clear rhythm.

last series: The Witcher, finally got around to checking it out. There are amusing parts but it's a bit too gruesomely violent and bleak for my taste (in a similar way to Game Of Thrones), and somewhat confusing plotwise and character motivation-wise, as I haven't played the games or read the books.

last movie: I think it must have been Black Panther 2? I don't watch that many movies either.

currently reading: Nothing, unfortunately. Too much stuff to do to invest time in a book, though I would really like to read more.

currently working on: That custom song map, an art nouveau floral tiffany mirror design for my glassworking course, and a fic that's not progressing at all because of the aforementioned other projects...

If we're mutuals, I'm tagging you! I'd like to know more about you lovely people :>

#tagged #morewyckedthanyou #about me

[oumakokichi]

So what do you think of Kaede and Kokichi's relationship? And if Kaede remained the protagonist how do you think it would change?

Considering it’s Kaede’s birthday today I think this is a really fun question to come back to!

Kaede is an absolutely amazing character, and I love how different her relationships with the rest of the cast feel from Saihara’s. She and Ouma have an especially interesting friendship in their FTEs together (one of Kaede’s FTEs with Ouma might be one of my favorite FTEs ever, really), so I don’t mind going a little more in-depth on my thoughts about their dynamic, as well as about how that dynamic and the story itself might’ve changed if Kaede had remained the protagonist!

Warning for spoilers as always, though I’m pretty sure most people know about the chapter 1 twist by now.

I think one of my absolute favorite things about Kaede is just how easy it is to get attached to her in such a short amount of time. She’s only around for the prologue and a single chapter, but despite that (or rather, because of the sheer length of the chapters in ndrv3, which tend to be much longer than dr1 or sdr2’s chapters), we still get to see so many different sides of her and just how complex of a character she really is. And I think that’s largely the reason for her continued popularity to this day: Kaede might not stay around for long, but we still really feel like we know her by the end of it.

And really, I think that’s pretty similar to how the actual characters feel about Kaede themselves. Despite how short her time is with all of them, she leaves such a powerful, lasting impression, even after her death. This is a pretty big change from previous DR games, where the chapter 1 culprits especially tend to suffer a pretty big lack of relevance or relationship to other characters in later chapters. Often times the victims are at least somewhat memorable (Maizono and the Impostor both at least come up a few times in their respective games), but characters like Leon or Teruteru just don’t feel like they have much of an impact on the other characters or the plot itself after their trials are finished.

This is totally different from Kaede, whose positive outlook and outgoing attitude already makes her fairly likable to most of the others, but who also openly invites the others to rely on her once she establishes herself as a leader figure fairly quickly in chapter 1. Most of the other characters latch onto her almost immediately, either because she seems so reliable and helpful (Saihara and Tenko in particular seem to like this about her), or because they can’t help but respect her and what she’s trying to do for the group (characters like Momota, who really values group cooperation, come to mind).

Personally, I think Ouma fell into the latter category. He and Kaede have something of a complicated relationship almost right from the get-go in chapter 1, but it’s still pretty clear that Ouma did respect Kaede a lot and recognized that she had the group’s best interests at heart, even if he didn’t always agree with her methods.

Likewise, I think Kaede was somewhat curious about Ouma and really wanted to get along with him, despite how difficult he could be. We see in Ouma’s introduction, both in the demo and the actual game, that Kaede clearly recognizes on some level that part of his annoying attitude is really just his way of teasing others, and that he doesn’t seem particularly malicious. More specifically, she describes him as “having a childish streak that makes him hard to hate,” which is a pretty spot-on description of Ouma in a nutshell. In short, she knew he was annoying and childish (on purpose, most of the time) but she definitely didn’t think of him as evil or cruel. This may in part also be because she didn’t live long enough to see him embrace the fake villain routine by the end of chapter 4, of course.

Ouma has a few teasing remarks throughout most of the game, but it’s not really until the death road of despair is discovered that he and Kaede butt heads for the very first time. This is because of a big, fundamental difference between their ideologies: while both of them very much have the group’s best interests at heart, they completely disagree when it comes to whether it’s worth it to cooperate as a team or not.

By the end of the game, Ouma is extremely paranoid, refusing to cooperate with absolutely anyone unless it’s out of some mixture of chance and necessity (such as working with Momota in chapter 5). He keeps all his cards close to the chest, and refuses to confide in or trust any of his remaining classmates, believing it’s fully possible any of them could be the ringleader.

But before the events of chapter 4, we see that he’s actually not opposed to the idea of selective cooperation. He strikes up a tentative collaboration with Miu early on, commissioning her to create some extremely useful inventions with the intent of using them to try and end the killing game. He also extends an invitation of cooperation to both Kaede (in one of her FTEs) and Saihara (in chapter 4, in the parlor of the VR world), though he goes about this in such a sly, underhanded, and off-putting way that both of them shoot his offer down flat. Even he’s not beyond the idea of teaming up with people he perceives as “useful” or “smart,” as long as it’s a much smaller, one-on-one effort rather than trusting or working with the entire group.

By contrast, Kaede is someone who believes that group unity is almost a necessity if they want to escape the killing game. This is very much in line with the role she establishes for herself as a leader. Unlike characters like Momota, who has always sort of longed to embrace a “hero” role, or Saihara, who is considerably more awkward and unwilling to be a leader because of how guilty he feels, Kaede’s role is much more about boosting and maintaining the group’s morale.

This is lampshaded several times by the classical music pieces that she references, often in an attempt to either clam the others down or fire them up at the idea of working together and escaping. It’s also a fantastic little clue that her own positive outlook is something a bit more crafted than it seems on the surface; she always tries to be optimistic about things and face her problems head-on, but that’s in large part because she tries to energize herself and present that reliable, dependable persona to the rest of the group. In short, she believes that if she reveals her own uncertainty or lack of faith in her plans, the rest of the group’s trust and morale will fall too.

Like I mentioned, this difference in their outlook is really what begins to cause problems for them once they discover the death road of despair in chapter 1. Kaede sees the tunnel as their one opportunity to escape without having to rely on the killing game itself; even if it’s extremely difficult and damn near impossible to get through it, the chance of injury is a risk she’s willing to take, no matter how many times they have to start over. But Ouma disagrees with this mindset and criticizes her in front of the entire group, pointing out how everyone else is already exhausted and even injured, and saying that she has no right to make that decision for the rest of them.

He even goes a step further and accuses her of strong-arming the rest of them by “denying them the right to give up in an impossible situation.” He claims that by positing herself as an inspirational figure, she has the “moral high-ground” no matter what the rest of them do or say, and clearly doesn’t think it’s possible for them to continue down the death road without someone getting seriously injured, or worse.

These harsh words really take Kaede aback, especially since most of the rest of the group seems to more or less agree with Ouma. She’s extremely hurt—not just by the fact that no one seems to really want to keep going with her plan, but also, I think, because she felt as if Ouma was right on some level. In my opinion, this is why she cries once she’s alone in her room later: because she did feel as though she’d forced everyone else to go along with an unreasonable plan. It’s the first time that we really see the cracks in her leader persona beginning to show, as well as the self-doubt that she carries.

I honestly think many people who dislike Ouma on their first playthrough of the game may have started here, right at this moment. Because so much of this seems to be fairly black-or-white initially—Kaede is presented as the unequivocally good heroine, trying to get everyone to work together and escape, and Ouma by contrast seems mean and unreasonable for arguing with her in front of everyone. We’re not supposed to linger on the fact that he makes several good points about everyone else’s safety and exhaustion because how he goes about it is off-putting and unlikable.

Not only that, but we as first-time players aren’t supposed to know about all the similarities that Ouma and Kaede actually have in common, despite their differences on the matter of group cooperation. We’re not supposed to know just yet that they both want to save the group, no matter what it takes, or that both of them are willing to go to extreme, sometimes morally grey measures in order to try and stop the killing game. We’re not supposed to know right away that Ouma can be every bit as self-sacrificing as Kaede, despite the selfish things that he says in front of the others, or that when push comes to shove, Kaede is willing to lie almost as much as he is.

We don’t know any of that, initially—which is why that scene hits so hard and sets Ouma up to be so unpleasant. But I think going back on a replay and evaluating it again is pretty interesting specifically because of all these similarities that I’ve listed. The fact that they clash here is especially interesting, given the sort of roles they embody to the rest of the group, with Kaede deliberately choosing to be someone that the entire group relies on and finds trustworthy, while Ouma later sets himself up to become a villain who’s hated by everyone. And despite this, their goals are largely one and the same: expose the ringleader and end the killing game.

I think it’s specifically because Kaede realized she couldn’t continue pushing everyone to do the things she wanted them to, no matter how badly she wanted everyone to cooperate and escape together, and that’s ultimately why she turns to Plan B when she hears from Saihara about the bookshelf hiding the ringleader’s lair in the library. And for all that she does want to trust and cooperate with everyone else, she actually goes about this plan in the most Ouma-like way possible: by doing everything herself and without telling anyone her real intentions, not even Saihara.

Something I especially like about Kaede as a character is just how nuanced she is. Because she is simultaneously the brave, trustworthy, outgoing protagonist that we see her as, but she’s also so, so much more than that. She’s fiercely determined and cares about everyone else, yes, but it’s also because she cares so much that she’s willing to do things like lie and attempt murder behind everyone else’s back.

If we look at the audition videos as any sort of clue as to what the characters might’ve been like before the start of the game, I do think there was a somewhat more skeptical, cynical side of Kaede deep down that didn’t quite trust other people—and that’s all the more reason she wanted to trust them and work together with all of them, because she knew exactly how hard it was to do so. It’s such an interesting contrast from Ouma, who could easily have used all his lies and charm to cooperate with people if he wanted to, but who instead continually pushes people away because of his skepticism, all the while pretending to act completely arrogant and self-assured in his plans. Deep down, I think both of them were much more vulnerable than they were ever willing to show in front of other people.

And I think by the end of chapter 1, Ouma became more or less aware of that side of Kaede, once she confesses everything she tried to do to end the killing game. Prior to this, I personally think Ouma still very much liked and respected her guts and her attempts at leading the group, but that he ultimately thought she was doomed by her reliance on trust and cooperation when they didn’t even know who the ringleader was within their group. But I think that after hearing just how far she was willing to go to stop the killing game, including but not limited to lying to everyone else and going behind their backs with her own plan, he couldn’t help but respect her even more. Despite his accusations that she was too soft or naïve for trusting everyone else, her actual attempted solution was far closer to his own outlook than he initially gave her credit for.

This is why, just before Kaede is about to be executed, Ouma drops all of his usual acts and facades with her and gives her a sincere goodbye, telling her that she “wasn’t boring.” And this is really the highest compliment someone like Ouma can give: she did take him by surprise and surpass all his expectations from her, and I do believe he was genuinely sad to see her go when she attempted such a huge sacrifice for everyone else’s sakes.

Truly, the only part of her plan that I think he disagreed with was the act of (attempted) murder in and of itself. He felt that despite her good intentions, she had “crossed a line” that shouldn’t be crossed, and that she fell into the ringleader’s trap the moment the idea of murder crossed her mind. Considering how much DICE’s “no murder” taboo guided Ouma throughout the game, it’s not surprising at all that this is where he disagreed with Kaede. Though ironically, he himself crosses the same line in chapter 4 when he decides the only possible solution to Miu’s attempt on his life is to kill her himself, and therefore winds up getting his hands dirty without ever directly committing murder, much like Kaede herself.

Questioning how they might’ve gotten along if Kaede had actually lived past chapter 1 and continued being the game’s protagonist is interesting, mainly because so many factors would change as a result. Kaede and Saihara are so fundamentally different as protagonists, and Kaede herself is much more in line with what we would expect from a Hope’s Peak protagonist instead. Kodaka himself has described her in an interview as being extremely similar to Asahina, and I personally think she’s something of a combination between Asahina’s outgoing attitude and Maizono’s carefully crafted façade (not to mention moral ambiguity). So it stands to reason that the game and its themes wouldn’t quite be the same if Kaede were still the protagonist.

On the one hand, I do think there would be interesting potential for a possible alliance between her and Ouma, especially given how similar they could both be. Ouma himself proposes such an alliance to her in one of his FTEs, though she does get angry and shoots him down, as I mentioned earlier. But it’s interesting to consider if Kaede might’ve been more willing to cooperate in smaller, one-on-one alliances if she had attempted her plan in chapter 1 and failed without getting executed for it.

There’s also the fact that Ouma claims to remember her and everyone else adamantly in his FTEs with her, even going so far as to claim that she and everyone else forgot about him, even though he never forgot about them. It’s unclear whether he’s referring to his memories from before the game still being intact (which is likely, since he’s pretty skeptical of the flashback lights right away), or if there’s some other explanation for it, but personally, I don’t think it can be dismissed as a complete lie. Even if Kaede herself accuses him of lying and making it all up, he goes uncharacteristically blank and claims that “even he’s not that good at lying.”

This adds huge potential to Kaede sticking around, as there could easily be an underlying mystery element. In addition to the trials themselves and the mystery of the outside world, it’d be very possible to explore their dynamic further, as well as why Ouma said the things he did and if he was actually telling the truth about knowing her and everyone else from before. Kaede is absolutely persistent enough that I feel like she would’ve pressed him for details about this, especially once it became clear in the main plot that their memories were unreliable.

On the other hand, it’s really unclear if Ouma would’ve still been willing to offer that alliance to Kaede once she had attempted to commit murder. Assuming the events of chapter 1 stay more or less the same and the only difference is that Kaede survives instead of getting executed, this raises some potential problems with Ouma actually working together with her or trusting her. She did, as he puts it, “cross the line”—even if her murder attempt wasn’t successful, Ouma claims that she was already too far gone the moment she even considered murder as a possible solution. This could definitely cause another clash of opinions between them, especially as Ouma is much too paranoid to work directly with anyone who he thinks might kill him.

Another potential source of conflict in my opinion is the Hope’s Peak flashback light in chapter 5. Unlike Saihara, who deals primarily with questions of “truth or lies” and is ultimately able to see through Tsumugi’s false ultimatum in chapter 6 with the choice of either the “hope ending” or “despair ending,” Kaede is, as I mentioned, much more in line with what you’d expect from a Hope’s Peak protagonist. She’s extremely smart of course, but she has a bit of a reckless, headstrong streak where she tends to act based on emotion rather than reason, and this could get her into quite a lot of trouble once Tsumugi started rewriting everyone’s memories in chapter 5.

Saihara was able to see that both of the choices Tsumugi presented in the final trial were bullshit and would ultimately keep the cycle of Danganronpa ongoing, but I’m not entirely sure if Kaede would realize the same thing, or even if she did eventually realize it, I’m not sure it would’ve been in time to stop it. Because of her self-sacrificing nature, I personally think she would’ve chosen to be one of the sacrifices for the sake of “hope,” much like Amami presumably did in season 52. This ultimately means that Kaede sticking around might have ultimately led to a “bad end” of sorts, where even if the rest of the group went free aside from her and one other sacrifice, Danganronpa itself never gets dismantled and lives to see another season.

The only possible way I see for Kaede to avoid falling into this trap and making this choice is if enough of her classmates rubbed off on her or helped her see things in less black-or-white terms like “hope” or “despair,” and in more nuanced shades of grey instead. But considering how completely fooled almost everyone was in the actual events of the game, it’s difficult to say if this would happen. She would definitely need to talk and debate with someone who viewed the flashback lights a lot more skeptically, whether it was Saihara or Ouma (or maybe even Angie), before she could reach the truth about what Tsumugi and Team Danganronpa were really after.

This analysis has gotten pretty long by this point, so I’ll just wrap things up by saying that I really do love Kaede and Ouma’s friendship, and I think they had more potential of getting along than either of them might’ve realized in canon. Despite their fundamental differences, both of them were two characters who went farther than almost anyone else in trying to stop the killing game, and both of them weren’t afraid of getting their hands dirty if necessary. I think the fact that Ouma claims to remember Kaede and everyone else from before the killing game is super interesting, and I would’ve absolutely loved to see it touched on more if Ouma had lived longer.

All in all, Kaede is such an amazing, morally grey character who really helps to establish what we can expect from the rest of the game, and I think that’s part of what makes her so memorable. Maybe one day we’ll get some sort of DR:IF equivalent where we get a semi-canon look into a scenario where everyone lives, and hopefully there we could see not only more of Kaede being a protagonist figure, but also more of her interactions with Ouma and everyone else.

#danganronpa #new danganronpa v3 #ndrv3 #kaede akamatsu #kokichi ouma #ndrv3 spoilers // #my meta #okay to reblog #lamekit

[angelicguy]

There’s this fucking. VR chat world. That’s called “The Tower” and its this absolutely massive spiral staircase made of the most simple shapes you can generate in whatever map builder the owner used. And my friends and I have tried maybe 3? times to actually ascend the entire thing. The first time one of us got caught in the level geometry (WHICH WE SHOULD NOT GET STUCK IN AS EASILY AS WE DID) after roughly an hour and a half of climbing. The second time we were prepared; we all favorited a model of an Israeli police car that any of us can teleport to and sit in in case we got caught so there was no sudden losses. That attempt was the longest one; I think we literally tried for 2 and a half hours to climb it. It was terrible. I felt like I was being hypnotized in a cartoon. Even after all that time we couldn’t see the sky; It was still just rendering into an infinite staircase. Jumping down from where we eventually gave up created this awful optical illusion where the stairs seemed to blend into a single tube, falling so fast between the identical steps that it seemed to slow down to a single image before we abruptly hit the spawn area.

The third time was the shortest and most taxing. We were messing around in some random no-name avatar world when we found a model that was some kind of annoying discord in-joke between what was clearly at most 12 people; a lego racers drivers license with some chubby kids actual face on it. It was very, very stupid but could jump infinitely if you mashed the spacebar enough. It had been 2 months since we last tried the tower at this point, but all of our minds immediately recalled our digital archenemy and spawned in, only to discover that, for some god damn reason, the infinite jump worked on literally every server other than the tower. Still pissed about it

[slade-neko]

Saw this video game tag thing pop up on my dash a few days ago. Wanted to do it.

1. First game you played obsessively? Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, I believe I was 5yo. Still waiting on that FF7 Remake treatment.

2. A game that has influenced you creatively? Writing, drawing, etc. Well if I play a game and like it, then I'll create sims of it. Does that count?

3. Who did you play with as a kid? My brother from the day I was born.

4. Who do you play with now? My brother FROM THE DAY I WAS BORN.

5. Ever use cheat codes? I wasn't lying when I made this post. {link}

6. Ever buy strategy guides? Yes! Mainly to look at the artwork though. (Don't need no guide!)

7. Any games you have multiple copies of? Lots of games, most being Left 4 Dead with 6 copies (3 Xbox 360, 1 PC case, 2 PC digitally.) What can I say, its a GOOD GAME!

8. Rarest/Most expensive game in your collection? Gold cartridge Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time (maybe that's rare?)

9. Most regrettable purchase? I don't regret my purchases, but I have received games I have never played like Cubix (PS2) no clue where that game came from, but I have it somehow. Madagascar (Xbox 360) came with my Xbox 360, never opened it from its case. And Monsters Inc. Scream Arena (Gamecube) or something... it was a gift.

10. Ever go to a midnight game release or stand in line for hours? No, because then I'd have to interact with people.

11. Have you ever made new friends from playing video games? I'm only friends with people BECAUSE of video games, so yes.

12. Ever get picked on for liking games? No, that'd be ridiculous.

13. A game you’ve never played that everyone else has? Probably a lot, I'd say Call of Duty, but I technically played CoD 1, 2, and 4. The campaign mode was alright, but I don't really care for CoD games at ALL.

14. Favorite game music? Koji Kondo and Grant Kirkhope are two BIG ones.

15. If it was a requirement to get a game related tattoo, what would you pick? Triforce is the most basic option, but I'd rather not get a tattoo.

16. Favorite game to play with your friends IRL? Super Smash Bros. Brawl with hacks, but that was over a decade ago.

17. Ever lose a friend over a game? No, that'd be ridiculous.

18. Would you date someone that hates gaming? No, that'd be RIDICULOUS.

19. Favorite handheld console? PSP. 3DS is great, but PSP Monster Hunter has ALL of my portable gaming memories. Like playing in school after End of Grade tests with my friend.

20. Game that you know like the back of your hand? Sims 4 I like to think I know everything about Left 4 Dead. Quite a bit about Monster Hunter, more so of a series though than a specific game.

21. Game that you didn’t like or understand as a kid but love now? I'd say Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic. I loved it as a kid, but had a lot of complex pen & paper RPG mechanics that I never understood. I understand a lot more of it now, but its still complex as all heck. I just know you hit things, they die.

22. Do you wear game related clothing/accessories? That's the only thing I wear.

23. The game that you’ve logged the most hours into? Not sure so I'll list a few. Sims 4, Smash Bros. Brawl, Monster Hunter (its a series though), or Left 4 Dead

24. First Pokemon game? Leaf Green

25. Were you ever an arcade game player? No, don't like paying to play.

26. Ever form any gaming rivalries? No.

27. Game that makes you rage? I don't get mad at games, but I had a custom modded Hard Eight mutation in Left 4 Dead that is absolute bullsh*t!

28. Ever play in a tournament? No, because then I'd have to interact with people.

29. What is your gaming set up? A giant wall of video game consoles spanning from NES to Switch, 4 TVs, but I sit at a desk with a PC.

30. How many consoles do you own? "I own every console that's ever existed." - I Don't Play Games When I Play Games (My STRENTH) original song by Smooth McGroove BUT no seriously I own 32 consoles including handhelds.

31. Does the 3DS and/or Virtual Boy hurt your eyes or give you headaches? Yes. 3DS gave me headaches though I only really played with the 3D feature in Ocarina of Time 3D. I think my eyes broke because I couldn't get my 3D to work very well after.

32. Did you ever play a game based on your favorite show/cartoon/movie/comic? Sure I play games based on a lot of things. Literally any anime game. If I had to pick Dragon Ball Xenoverse is kinda like a dream Dragon Ball game. Oh, Attack on Titan 2 is pretty neat too!

33. Did you ever have any bootleg games or plug-n-play games? Some SEGA plug-n-play thing once. Played it like once and now its lost to time (or my closet.)

34. Do either of your parents play video games? Yes. Mom and Dad played NES Super Mario Bros. My Dad went HARD at that game until he saved the Princess. Then he quit forever.

35. Ever work in a game store? Or do you have a favorite game shop? "Hi. Welcome to Gamestop!"I never want to hear that again, but it was my main store until I went full digital/ online orders.

36. Have you ever shed actual blood, sweat or tears over a game? No, I don't tend to get upset or emotional, but Bill dying in Left 4 Dead made me pretty pissed.

37. Have you played E.T. for the Atari 2600? Do you think that’s the worst game ever, or do you have another nomination? Never played it. I don't really play "bad" games, but maybe Sims 4.

38. A game you’re ashamed to admit that you like? The Sims 4

39. A sequel that you would die for them to make? Dragon's Dogma 2 WHICH I think is actually in development, so I'd have to say Fallout New Vegas 2. C'mon Bethesda you cowards, hand the keys back over to Obsidian so they can make another good Fallout game!

40. What to you think of virtual reality headsets or motion controls? Two part question, two answers. VR Headset to immerse in world, yes. Motion Controls, no.

41. A genre that you just can’t get into? MOBAs and MMOs. I don't like paying to keep playing.

42. Maybe it wasn’t your first game, but what was the game that started you on your path to nerdiness? Nintendo 64 opened me up to what video games could be as a kid. Sad to say my parents' NES didn't really do that for me. And years later Fallout 3 was a big game changer for me too.

43. Ever play games when you really should have been concentrating on something else? Every day of my LIFE.

44. Arcade machine that has consumed the most of your quarters? None. I'd rather emulate.

45. How are you at Mario Kart? Pretty dang good. 3-STARS MARIO KART WII, BABY!

46. Do you like relaxing games like Animal Crossing or Harvest Moon? Yes, both of those. I preferred when Animal Crossing had more character to it. New Horizons looks so pretty, but feels so bland compared to classic AC.

47. Do you like competitive games? No. Not really. Usually amongst friends or if I can get competitive against AI Bots. I love my machine bot friends cause they don't cry like 10 year olds when they lose.

48. How long does it take your to customize your player character? Too long. I've seriously restarted games because I wasn't happy with my character's appearance.

49. In games where you can pick your class, do you always tend to go for the same type of character? Yes, I am always the magic man, my brother is always brute warrior, and my friend is the ranger.

50. If you were a game designer, what masterpiece would you create? I don't really know. Honestly, I'd rather mod already good games to make them better than create something completely new.

51. Have you ever played a game for so long that you forgot to eat or sleep? No, that'd be ridiculous. But I've had a friend fall asleep playing games at my house 3 different times and currently dozes off during our Minecraft sessions. So, maybe that's not a completely ridiculous thing after all.

52. A game that you begged your parents for as a kid? Kirby 64 apparently. My brother tells me we had to count out pennies to buy it. I must've been too young with no recollection, but I believe it.

53. What’s your opinion on DLC these days? It's good if its not in the game's files from the beginning and is actually developed AFTER launch... and pre-order bonuses should be standard DLC a month or two later. Some games have content lost to time because of that pre-order bullsh*t.

54. Do you give in to Steam sales? Of course. If you want a game and its on sale then why not? I typically wait just for Steam sales to get games.

55. Did you ever make someone you hated in the Sims and did mean stuff to them? No? I typically make people and characters I like in Sims. I've made villains like Dio, but he's an anime villain and I don't really HATE him despite the horrible things he's done.

56. Did you ever play Roller Coaster Tycoon and kill off your guests? No. Never played that game.

57. Did you ever play a game to 100% or get all of the achievements? I try to for all the games I really like.

58. If you can only play 3 games for the rest of your life, which ones do you pick? The Sims 4, Skyrim, & Fallout: New Vegas. Mods make them live forever. Left 4 Dead and Monster Hunter are good choices too.

59. Do you play any cell phone games? Those aren't games.

60. Do you know the Konami Code? No? But I'll take a guess. Is it make an IP and forget it exists?

61. Do you trade in your games or keep them forever? Keep forever... even the bad ones.

62. Ever buy a console specifically to play one game? PS4 Pro for Monster Hunter World. It was basically for early access since the PC version was being developed and releasing after PS4, but I don't like waiting.

63. Ever go to a gaming convention or tournament? Sort of. Been to anime cons and walked into the gaming tournament rooms only to walk out less than 10 minutes later.

64. Ever make a TV or monitor purchase based on what would be best for gaming? No, but I'm going to be doing that soon, hopefully.

65. Ever have a Game Genie, Game Shark or Action Replay? Did it ever mess up your game’s save file? GameShark for N64, PS2, Gameboy, and Action Replay for Gamecube, DS, 3DS. And no not really, I would cheat responsibly... but there was this one time at school my friend and I borrowed another friend's Gameboy game, loaded it up with my Gameshark, tried playing, it crashed, loaded it back up, save file corrupted... we just stared at each other jaws dropped, "Here's your game back, dude. Make sure you don't play it til you get back home!"

66. Did you ever have have an old Nokia with Snake on it? No, but I remember seeing them on billboards in the game DRIV3R on PS2.

67. Do you have a happy gaming-related childhood memory you want to share? Every game I play is filled with happy memories (mostly.)

68. Ever save up a ton of tickets in an arcade to get something cool? These tiger plushes. My brother got white and I got orange. They were the coolest. Got a butt load of tickets from some jackpot spinning light game thing as I was good at the timing with repeated jackpot hits.

69. In your opinion, best game ever made? I've played quite a few masterpiece games, but to pick one, I'd say Fallout: New Vegas

70. Very first game you ever beat? Super Mario 64. I was a mere child on a Sunday morning and ate celebratory pancakes made by my Dad.

Wow, that was long... I get the feeling this was supposed to be a "send me ask with numbers" thing, but answering all at once is more fun.

#personal #video games

[sayuricorner]

HomestuckxTwisted wonderland: Trolls in Twisted Wonderland AU headcanons part 3: Eridan Ampora, Gamzee Makara, Equius Zahhak and Vriska Serket

Headcanons part 2

AU concept

Warning: English is not my first language so sorry if it’s confusing!

You can use this AU if you want, just credite and tag me in return please I would love to read the result ! 😉

Welcome to the part 3 of the headcanons of the “Trolls in Twisted Wonderlan AU”!

This part will focus on the “highblood beta trolls” with their character profiles and some headcanons! ^^

P.S: Since in this AU they had the same age than at the start of the homestuck canon they are not students yet.

----------------------------------------------------------

Name: Eridan Ampora

Gender: Male

Age: 13 in human age

Birthday: 19 february

Starsign: Aquarius

Height: 170 cm

Eye Color: Violet

Hair Color: Black

Homeland: -Alternia(birthplace)

-Valley of Thorns(current)

Family: -Oberon Ampora (Father)

-Cronus Ampora (older brother)

-The Ampora Clan (Clan of water fairies by adoption)

Favorite food: Sea food

Least favorite food: Overlly sweetened drinks and food

Dislike: Idiots and ignorants

Hobby: Female fashion (Secret), magic practicing

-------------------------------------------------------

Name: Gamzee Makara

Gender: Male

Age: 13 in human age

Birthday: 20 January

Starsign: Capricorn

Height: 185 cm

Eye Color: Purple

Hair Color: Black

Homeland: -Alternia(birth place)

-Jubilee Port’s bayou(current)

Family: -Jael Makara (Father)

-Kurloz Makara (Older brother)

-Mama Makara (Grandmother by adoption)

Favorite food: Fruits sodas(Particuliary the ones created by his father)

Least favorite food: Catfish

Dislike: People being mean to his “bros” and “sis”

Hobby: Rap music

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Name: Equius Zahhak

Gender: Male

Age: 13 in human age

Birthday: 21 december

Starsign: Sagittarius

Height: 177 cm

Eye Color: Indigo

Hair Color: Black

Homeland: -Alternia(birth place)

-Land of Pyroxene(current)

Family: -Pholos Zahhak (Father)

-Horuss Zahhak (Older brother)

-Mr and Ms Zahhak (grandparents by adoption)

Favorite food: Milk

Least favorite food: Meat

Dislike: Having difficulties to control his strenght

Hobby: Technology, horses and poetry

---------------------------------------------------

Name: Vriska Serket

Gender: Female

Age: 13 in human age

Birthday: 22 November

Starsign: Scorpio

Height: 175 cm

Eye Color: Curelean

Hair Color: Black

Homeland: - Alternia(birthplace)

- The Sea Heart crew(current)

Family: -Topaz Serket (Mother)

-Aranea Serket (Older sister)

-Captain Serket (Grandfather by adoption)

-The Sea Heart crew (family by adoption)

Favorite food: Sashimi

Least favorite food: Seaweed (particuliary seaweed soup)

Dislike: “Spoilsports” and “wimps”

Hobby: Pranks and piratery

---------------------------------------------------

-Eridan meet Yuu and co for the first time in the prologue arc(indirectly), he was the one who warned Crowley the fight between Ace and Grimm near the Great Seven’s statues, and later in the Twisted Wonderland main story(officially).

-Gamzee meet Yuu and co at the end of the Savanaclaw arc, he was helping his father to deliver healing potion to NRC for the magical shift tournament.

-Equius meet Yuu and co for the first time during the Join Cultural Festival, his father was one of the judges for the magic technology competition.

-Vriska meet Yuu and co for the first time during the Halloween event, she, her mother and Aranea were visiting NRC for Halloween.

-Eridan is too young to be an NRC student yet, but since his father is a teacher and his brother a student, he live on the schoolgrounds with his father.

-Gamzee, like his father and brother, can see “motherfucking miracles”, this can go from signs about future events too seeing mythical ivisible creatures and spirits.

-Equius take his work very seriously and absolutely hate to be bothered while he is working.

-Vriska had a great potential in magic, but like more causing troubles and pulling pranks with it.

-Eridan is pasionate by magic and even had a whole bookcase in his bedroom filled with books about magic.

-Gamzee got private magic lessons, like his brother and his father, since he is very young by Mama Makara.

-Magic technology is a big fascination for Equius, he love doing experimentations with it.

-Vriska is very adventurous and a thrill seeker.

-Unlike his big brother, Eridan isn’t bothered that much about being from a race which is unknow in the Twisted Wonderland world and knowing nothing about where he come from.

-Gamzee love music, especially rap music and love make jam sessions whenever he had the occasion.

-Equius is passionated by horses, he spend a lot of time at his father’s stables.

-Vriska’s disgust for seaweed came from when she was younger during a expedition of her mother’s crew, the crew found a big stock of seaweed on an island and the Sea Heart’s cook used them to make seaweed soup for days and after only eating seaweed soup for days, Vriska end up disgusted by seaweed soup and seaweed in general.

-Eridan love fashion, specifically female fashion, he like to wear female clothes and to be the more fashionable possible, but it’s an hobby he keep secret from everyone.

-While he is not bad at magic, he is rather good for his age, Gamzee is lazy, but unlike Leona who is the “I’m-lazy-’cause-it’s-not-use-that-I-work-hard-everybody-always-look-down-on-me” kind, Gamzee is the easy-going kind of lazy, prefering chiling around.

-Equius is extremely strong just like his father and brother, but unlike the former two who had a good control, Equius had big difficulties to control his sthrengh to the point he had to wear magic gauntlets to had some control.

-Vriska like magic sport, particuliary magical shift.

-Outside of his father, Eridan look up to 2 people: Vil Schoenheit, who he admire, particuliary as a influencer/actor, and Malleus Draconia, because he is a very powerfull fae and part of the Valley of Thorns’s royal family.

-Gamzee like to mix magic with EVERYTHING, to him it’s make things more “motherfucking miraculous”.

-When he doesn’t work or spend time at the stables, Equius like to write poetry.

-Vriska had a little rivalry with Eridan, she love to drive him crazy.

-Eridan’s dream is to be become a NRC student, be in Octavinelle and become dorm leader and after his studies, to become the greatest wizard of all time.

-When he visit NRC with his father and see his brother, Gamzee also like to be around Leona(”*groan* What am I, a brats magnet?”), Floyd, Kalim, and some others students.

-Equius really hope to become a student at NRC and to be sorted into Ignihyde one day.

-Unlike her big sister, Aranea, who want to become a writer, Vriska dream to become a pirate like her mother and is determinated to become the new captain of the Sea Heart in the future when her mother would retiring.

-Eridan is rather arrogant, seeing himself as a future powerfull wizard but he isn’t a bad kid, acting often like a “tsundere”.

-Unlike in the Homestuck canon, Gamzee doesn’t had psychotic issues, in fact he is like we thouht he was at the start of Homestuck: good natured, laiback and a surpotive friends, but push your luck too far and upset him too much and there’s high risks for Gamzee enter in a big anger.

-Equius is someone who had difficulties to socialize, he is very serious and very dedicated to his work and loyal to those he is close with.

-Vriska is a big troublemaker, even more than her mother at her age, she love to prank people and had a sassy and teasing attitude toward others but had a soft side.

-All four of them get along and often talk to each other through a chat on internet.

-Despite not thinking too much about it, all four of them are still a bit curious about what they are.

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TAG LIST :( a reblog will get you a place in the tag list! ^^)

@blankrslate07

#homestuck #twisted wonderland #crossover #homestuck au #trolls in twisted wonderland au #beta trolls #eridan ampora #gamzee makara #equius zahhak #vriska serket #headcanon #headcanons

[grimoire-of-geekery]

Detect Magic: the Sixth World Tarot by Echo Chernik

(pictured here- the deluxe edition [left] and the Arcanist edition of the Sixth World Tarot by Echo Chernik)

Y'know, it's been a long time since I did one of these, but here goes. It's time for another Detect Magic review. I haven't put the Dork Magician hat on for a while, so let's give this a whirl!

Today we're taking a look at the Sixth World Tarot, by Echo and Lazarus Chernik. She has this available on her website (click the above link), which come signed by the artist and the author. I'm a bit bummed, I bought a copy of this deck juuuuust before she started signing them. Not her fault, but still. XD

For those of you unfamiliar with Shadowrun, it's a cyberpunk dystopian magic-and-mech RPG setting and fantasy novel universe which originated in the late 80's. The premise is that magic is growing stronger, the world experienced a big Awakening in the early 2000's, right around the same time that corporations managed to gain extraterritoriality. So, you have dragons running huge megacorps, which basically enslave people to be lifelong wageslaves from birth (or as soon as they can get their hands on a desired talent), immersive VR Matrix hackers, cyberware enhanced fighters and magic practitioners acting as "deniable assets" to said corps for all sorts of shady business.

Hence the name "Shadowrun."

This setting, one of my absolute favorite settings out there, has had the misfortune of developing a sort of eerie prophetic element akin to the Simpsons and its bizarre track record of prediction of ludicrous world events. Shadowrun was intended to be a cautionary tale, not an oracular one. That being said, that does make a tarot based on Shadowrun more than a little on-the-nose for predictive purposes. After all, they're telling the future without even trying. Wait until they actually put some effort into it...

All right, time to Detect Magic!

Accessory- Crit (4 out of 4) Stunning artwork, evocative imagery... this deck is gorgeous. It's so beautiful, and so intricate and well made, that people who don't even read tarot (or even particularly like tarot) buy several copies for their geeky collections, and even people who don't particularly care about Shadowrun have dropped their jaw when I showed the deck to them.

A bit busier than I'm used to working with (not the art, but the extras which I'll explain later), I was pleasantly surprised at how much I loved the cards when I first got them. The box for both editions I own are a nice durable gloss with a magnetic foldover closure, there's a ribbon inside each to help pull the cards and book out of the box, and the decorative artwork is gorgeous and fitting with the setting. Definitely aesthetically pleasing enough to take places, and durable enough to resist scuffing or tearing for on-the-go divination and gaming use.

Tome- Crit (4 out of 4) So, the Tome section of this review is supposed to be about how well the cards help one in the pursuit of learning magic and practicing geekomancy. And... really, I don't think I've found a deck (or any artifact of fandom) quite as good as this.

Let me explain.

Tarot, in the sorcery practice I teach, are already basically a pictorial grimoire, describing life in a way that allows us to learn the hidden movements, mysteries, and forces at play in our world. Art is good for things like that in general. It helps you see the world through a special lens, one which allows you to see things you might have missed.

The thing is, the lens of this deck is the Shadowrun continuity, which as I said earlier, has proven to be more than a little prophetic, and alarmingly so.

The magic system of Shadowrun is pretty adjacent to our own. Life force lines, spiritual power sites, astral projection and spirits and magical "energy" forms, initiatory mysteries... it's all pretty much the same as our own reality, just juiced up a bit, with some extra game elements added (don't even ask me about insect spirits).

This makes the deck particularly helpful if one wishes to learn magic in any of the myriad ways described in Shadowrun (and they're particularly respectful and diverse and true-to-life in their tradition descriptions).

BUT, it also has an entire lore-book called the Book of the Lost associated with it, which explains all these little secret sigils and images and easter eggs stored throughout the deck, which can be used for gamebuilding and storytelling, but are designed to be arcane indicators and omens, among other things. And the kinds of symbols they use range from sentences or mottos in dead languages, all the way to waveform patterns and dot-matrix maps. I swear, if you're one of those people who like puzzles and cryptography, this deck is even more fun than the Hermetic Tarot.

In summary, while you'll have to get some Shadowrun sourcebooks to really get deep into the canon lore, there's so much of it that the cards really show you on their own that I don't consider this a setback at all. Feel free to deep-dive with this deck, you'll learn a TON about magic if you let it guide you.

Relic- Success (3 out of 4) If you read the Book of the Lost, or Unearthed Arcana, or any of the 5th edition Shadowrun magic sourcebooks, you'll see that "tarot magic" is an up and coming thing in their canon. Each text helps you see how practitioners use the cards in-game for spellcasting, ritual magic, initiation practices and spirit summoning. The Tarot are already really valuable as central objects of importance to certain kinds of magical practice. This particular deck is designed to be so handy a central object that there's an entire book dedicated to it.

Weapon- Success (3 out of 4) The only reason I'm rating this a success instead of a crit is because they don't provide enough spreads in the various associated books for one to immediately begin casting spells with them, which means you'll have to do some designing. They do have a couple solid unique spreads for basic divination though.

The deck's canon in-game suggests ritual practices like gathering and doing a ritual with sets of related cards, and one such ritual was easily adapted in my own practice, into the Lucky Kimono spread I designed (which people can read about on my Patreon at the higher tiers). So, even without outright including spell-spreads, they sort of gave us clues anyway.

Again, you're going to need the sourcebooks, but it's only a few of them, and they're well worth a read even if you're not planning on playing the game (and I don't play in the actual Shadowrun mechanical system, though I do like the sourcebooks for campaign setting ideas).

Overall Rating: Critical Success (14 out of 16)

Achievement Unlocked: Novahot Echo's artwork is already legendary in the dork realms of geekomancy. She's done work for Dungeons and Dragons, Mage: the Ascension, House of Night... she's even working on a Fate: the Winx Saga playing card deck right now. Her art-nouveau delicacy combined with the powerful non-pandering way she draws women means that her paintings pack a punch!

That being said, it's rare that we see professional artists create a tarot deck of this magnitude as a gaming accessory. Most tarot decks of this caliber are found in professional occult catalogues or as independent projects by artists just wanting to flex their skills for their own reasons. To have a deck like this, clearly a labor of love by all involved, as a major element of gameplay within a franchise is really very special. And something this diverse, deep, and absolutely saturated with layers of ciphers and riddles... it's a geekomancer's dream come true.

Level Up: 2 Levels I think the only way anyone's going to be able to top this deck is if they manage to design a tarot deck that's also a fully immersive VR video game AND an AR game and divination tool useable with one's iPhone or Android. Legit, Echo and Lazarus left everyone in the dust. I haven't been this excited about Shadowrun since Shadowrun Returns first came out, and I got a set of dogtags that had a USB drive with the game on it.

It's just... crazy cool.

Full disclosure, I've had the deluxe edition of these cards for a while now, so I've basically been low-key squeeing about this deck since I first heard about it in 2018, even before I got it. I've been utterly astonished that people weren't more excited about them, and I wasn't hearing about them everywhere.

Before this, I created my own Shadowrun tarot method using the Universal Transparent Tarot (cuz, y'know, plastic and see-through and weird little mosaic readings all in one place, seemed fitting to me), and when I got the Sixth World Tarot? I don't think I've opened the UTT since!

Anyway, this is my review of this deck! Go follow the link up at the top of this post, and buy yourself one! And hey, let me know if you figure out the cool little map trick. My jaw literally dropped when I was shown that!

#detectmagicreview #shadowrun #sixth world tarot

[goldenagewebnovel]

Volume 1 Prologue

Virtual Reality. 

The ever sought after paradise for everyone who loves video games. 

The first virtual reality developments came in the beginning of the century, but they were all based on external hardware. Awkward remotes and gloves, bulky goggles. The hardware became smaller, sleeker, more immersive over time. But in the end, all they were was an entertaining trick — limited by what it could show and who could even physically use it. 

They brought the player closer to the screen then ever before. But they could never bridge the gap between the real world and the game. The true holy grail of gaming would lie in fully immersive virtual reality; that would take you to the very edge of the screen, and then pull you inside. To wake up inside your favorite game, whenever you wanted. It was the dream that could never be.

And then came the Digital Mind Project.

A private think tank based in the city of Seattle. They gathered the world’s best programers, neurologists, biologists, and psychologists. After working for over a decade, they did it. They mapped and named every possible neural pathway in the human brain and explained it’s function. They created the first complete, digital model of the mind, and it could think like one.

Overnight, the processing speed of all technology in the world skyrocketed. Data could be processed faster and more efficiently then ever imagined. Brain diseases that seemed incurable now had mapped explanations and accessible cures.

The digital and physical revolution that resulted led some people to question where the limit really was. If you can put the human mind in a machine, couldn’t it work the other way around?

Countries, governments, armies, corporations — they all fought to develop and control this untouched potential. But the leaders of the Digital Mind Project had decided to join the race, and, just like before, they won. They developed a full scanning pod, that only required a user to sit in it. The pod would sync to the electric signals of the nerves pathways and, upon triggering sleep, allowed the person to fully connect to the machine.

They sold the design for the pods to every business that could afford it, all at the same time. In the middle of the 21st century the age of Virtual Reality had truly begun.

The first games to come out were… disappointing, to say the least. Barely more then tech demos. Allowing the player to get a unique experience but hardly qualifying as a true game. A rushed attempt at formatting a classic MMORPG as the VR game, Fields of Fighting, was a disaster. It was riddled with horribly coded AI, clunky, unnatural movements, invisible walls everywhere that could physically trap players by accident. It was unplayable.

All the technology you could ever need for VR was available, but game designers were struggling to catch up. They had to learn to think and create in a whole new dimension. The old techniques wouldn’t cut it.

That learning curve led to a drought in Full VR games. Most companies stuck to their tried and true dimension of game design, and if people were lucky they might see a halfway decent Full VR game release once or twice a year.

Then, without any warning, two of the biggest games to hit the market were released in the same year.

The first was a sprawling, open world RPG called, Record of the Ancients. Set in the fantasy genre, this was a single player game that offered its players absolute freedom of choice to explore the world and affect it however they wanted. The game held its own share of bugs and the occasional empty plain or lack of detail, but there was nothing else like it.

The second game was a massive multiplayer sci-fi battle called, Solar Forge. Players could freely participate in large scale, solar system spanning battles. Anything from piloting a ship, to organizing a galactic cruiser, to dropping into and storming an enemy vessel with your squad. Two teams ranging anywhere from 50 to 300 participants all fighting a space war to decide a victor. The largest scale fights could even span days, and a lot of people became addicted to acting as a space marine.

These two games sold more then anyone dared to dream, proving just how unique Full VR gaming could really be. They also set the trend for how these games would be approached. Either broad, if shallow, experiences in a large environment or the chance for rich world building but in a very narrow and strict environment. No one would even attempt to make up for the failed promises made by the flopped Fields of Fighting experience.

Things stayed this way for over a decade. New games came and fell, but Record of the Ancients and Solar Forge remained on top. 

One day, without any big press releases or industry fanfare, a new game started putting up commercials and advertisement. It promised to revolutionize Full VR and offer an experience greater then any of it’s predecessors. Deeper, more detailed worlds. No restrictions on player freedom. An MMORPG that could support millions of players across the world, all at the same time. 

These claims were so preposterously huge that no one believed it. Especially because they were being made by a brand new games company called Aurum Productions, that no one had even heard of before.  

But the ads kept coming.

And once people started looking into the game, and more specifically, Aurum Productions, they learned that this new game had some shocking secret weapons going for it. The founder of Aurum Productions was a man named Mike Wirth, one of the former lead programers of the Digital Mind Project. He had brought a gift for this new game: a new piece of technology called, Player Perception Tuning (PPT). 

In order to allow the most robust, flexible, and realistic experience possible a machine alone couldn’t cut it. Instead, PPT allows the players own brain, already synced with their pod, to process the game’s data for them on the spot. 

Instead of having to code every aspect of the game to recreate reality, they instead offer the brain a very convincing framework of reality, and allow the individual brain to fill in all the pieces. Instead of realism, the programers were going for impressionism. 

What they got was more realistic then any game ever made before it. 

Since every player was acting as their own processor, it made it much easier to have everyone play at once. Since they only had to design the framework, the game team at Aurum had that much more freedom to create a real, enriched world.

In the summer of the year 2076, the groundbreaking Full VR, fantasy MMORPG, Golden Age, released.

__________________________________

In the void of space, above an endless fog, floats an island of gold and riches. There are artifacts, weapons, and sculptures — all crafted from precious metals and rare gems. Priceless artworks and fine clothing are lazily scattered about. The ground is made up of gold bars and golden coins. They drip from the bottom of the island into the void of the fog, but the island never grows smaller.

At the center of the island, purple strands of energy gather together to construct a humanoid wireframe. 

From nowhere and everywhere at once, the Overvoice of the game speaks.

Hello, would you like to customize your character, or would you like a randomly generated one?

A voice from the wireframe responds.

“I’d like to customize.”

Very well.

From all over the island, wisps of light gather together to form a giant ball of light in front of the wireframe.

First, please select what race you would like your character to be. You can chose from Human, Dwarf, Orc, or Elf. You may also choose a ratio, of two of the previously mentioned.

“Human.”

Very well.

Some of the light gets shaved away, scattering into space. The ball of light has now roughly taken the size and shape of a human.

Please select what sex you would like your character to be.

“Um, I’ll take male for me.”

Very well.

Barely any light is shaved away but the figure of light now resembles a blank human male. 

Please select your body type.

“How about we go with svelte but athletic. Like a martial artist kind of build, maybe?”

Very well.

This time, more light is shaved away and the figure now resembles a fit, athletic human man.

Would you like to move on to face sculpting, body sculpting, or voice sculpting next?

“You know what, just have everything else look like my real body.”

Very well.

Light flew away from the human figure in spirals of light until everything burst out. In the place of the light was a tan skinned, human man. The body was still athletic, decently tall, had long sideburns, stubble on it’s chin, gray eyes, and streaks of gray hair at the temples and the front. It had on a set of cotton pants and a cotton shirt, tied down by a coarse rope, and simple leather shoes. The body stared lifelessly at the wireframe in front of it.

In front of the wireframe, a hologram of a keyboard appeared.

Please spell the name of your character.

The wireframe reached out with a hand and pressed: D, 0, n. And hit enter.

Please pronounce how to say the name of your character.

“You pronounce it like you would for an Italian mob boss. Or like the dawn of a new day.”

Very well. Please step forward into your character to initiate syncing.

The wireframe took clumsy steps towards the human body in front of it. On contact, the purple lines of energy that made up the wireframe fused into the human body.

I could suddenly feel everything. The clothes against my skin. The shifting, hard coins that made up the ground under my feet. The cool breeze that started to blow across my face.

In front of my eyes I could see that the endless sky of space, littered with stars and streaks of purple throughout. Streams of the gold coins that made up the island were flowing off the edges. They were dispersing the fog.

In front of the island was a floating circular flat world. Absolutely huge, it took up my whole vision. There were three distinct continents in the center of the wide ocean. 

The one on the left was made of sweeping mountain ranges and floating islands, that looked like they were made of gemstones. 

The one on the bottom was a giant archipelago, made up of countless, rich islands.

The one on the right had sprawling green fields and verdant forests and crystal blue lakes. 

The edge of the world had a misty, thick fog all around it, but I could see waterfalls flowing into the void of space underneath. The sun was bright and lit up everything beautifully. I could hear rising orchestral music playing from somewhere. From nowhere and everywhere at once, the Overvoice of the game spoke to me.

Welcome, to the world of Golden Age, D0n.

I felt like I could stare at that sight forever.

But I didn’t have that chance. Suddenly the ground began to rumble under my feet. The streams of gold flowing off the side rushed forward, and huge swaths of the island began to break off. 

Eventually, the whole island destabilized, falling to the planet below. I went with it. As I was falling among columns of gold and treasure, I heard the Overvoice again. 

Due to your region of origin, you will be starting in the Plains Continent. Below, you will enter the Tutorial Village. There, we have provided class instructors, resources, and all the knowledge you will need to explore the game. Have fun.

The ground was getting closer and closer. I could no longer see the edge of the world. Below me was an impossibly thick cloud. 

All of the gold around me started to dissolve into particles of light. 

I was in the middle of an uncontrollable free fall. The wind was rushing past me so fast it was whipping at my clothes and shoving my hair away. My eyes were tearing up from the force of it.

I felt a wide smile, that showed all my teeth, spread across my face.

It was time to play the game.

#Volume 1 #Story

[horsegirlimogentemult]

do you have any podcast recs for someone who doesn't usually listen to them but wants to start?

yes!! i used to be like that, too (my friend can attest that they’d rec me them all the time and i’d be like ahhhh idk how to podcast), so i can tell you which ones made me become a Podcast Person. step one, though, is finding out what circumstances let you listen. for me, that’s pretty exclusively video games (things like skyrim, where i can just fairly mindlessly kill enemies, or a match-3 game are great), my mom and i have some we do while we color or make jewelry, i know someone who can only listen if she’s doing something physical like cleaning or driving, i’ve heard some people can only listen if they’re doing absolutely nothing else. that said! here’s some of my favorites for getting interested, in no particular order:

welcome to night vale. a friendly desert community where the sun is hot, the moon is beautiful, and mysterious lights pass ahead while we all pretend to sleep. this is the first podcast that many people tried, including me. for years, it was actually the only podcast i could do at all. it’s told in the story of community radio updates from a small town, in which all conspiracy theories are true, and the weird is mundane. it’s a comedy! it’s horror, told in the form of a comedy. (don’t worry if you don’t like horror—i know people who can’t handle horror at all, but love night vale. the comedy is forefront. it’s hysterical.)

lore. folklore, myths, legends, tall tales, actual historical fact, all of it blends together into stories of what the creator calls ‘the darker side of human history.’ it can be anything from vampires and werewolves, to the life story of a criminal, to how people have died for fashion throughout history.

cabinet of curiosities. it’s done by the same guy who does lore, and it’s little snippets of history—little funny stories, fascinating tales, interesting coincidences. this is actually a great one to get into because the episodes are only 10 minutes long, with two stories per episode, so they go by really quickly.

the magnus archives. i wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve heard of this, it’s pretty popular right now, but it is very good. it’s about the archives of an institute that records stories of the supernatural and paranormal, and as the new archivist digs in, he uncovers more and more of the mysteries of the archives. it’s slow to start; the beginning is interesting, don’t get me wrong, but it really kicks off when the overarching plot becomes more integral and the characters become more prominent. as a warning, this is a horror-tragedy, so be sure you’re prepared and like horror!

the domestic life of anthony todd. a writer moves to a tiny british town to try to write a book way out of their style. of course, there’s something more going on in town! they take it upon themselves to record their findings in the life of a young boy named anthony todd, and his guardians, and how strange this town is, because it’s always the tiny towns of like 3 people that are the absolute weirdest, isn’t it? so few of these take place in like, new york city, in a stark contrast from tv and movies.

rabbits. actually, the experience of listening to this is what spurred my final transformation into A Podcast Person™ rather than just someone who listens to one or two occasionally. a journalist begins a search for her friend who goes missing. she’s podcasting the search, of course. the further into the investigation she gets, the deeper she gets into uncovering a mysterious, ancient game known only as “rabbits” or simply “the game.” how do you play rabbits? if you’re asking, you’re either already playing, or you’re already a pawn in the game.

the left-right game. rabbits and the left-right game are very similar in my mind, but i’m not sure there’s any particular reason for that. a journalist again, she hears of a creepypasta type of thing called “the left-right game” in which you take certain turns at certain spots in order to arrive on “the road.” to finish her story, she joins a group of people who are all players of the game, and with her along, they all go farther than they’ve ever been on the road—maybe even all the way to the end. also, it stars tessa thompson!!

alice isn’t dead. a trucker believes her wife died long ago…but this may not be the case. through her long-distance trucking job, she searches for the wife who definitely isn’t dead, and along the way, she’ll encounter conspiracies, towns lost in time, interesting people, and some people who may not be quite people.

the adventure zone. you’ve likely heard of the mcelroys, of my brother, my brother, and me and polygon fame. the three brothers team up with their dad and they all play dungeons and dragons together. i’m not very far into this (15 episodes or so?) so i can’t really give a great summary, but it’s very fun, i promise. it takes a short time of getting used to, but once you’re used to it, you’re hooked in.

badvertising. three friends with absolutely no advertising or marketing experience get together and try to create the idea for and advertise the worst product possible. every episode they get a real-life brand, and make it as awful as they can, such as coca-cola that you vape but only in VR.

that should be enough to get started! you can also search for anything you may be interested in and see what comes up, like i also have a few podcasts i like about greek mythology, or dog training, or gay stuff, or knitting, or spanish. hope this helps and feel free to let me know if you like any of them!!

#podcasts #recs #i'm so glad you asked this i had so much fun writing this #good luck on your journey!! #anonymous #ask