#I'M PRETTY MUCH A BADASS. ( DASH GAMES. )

[jacethebeltsculptor]

Outer Wilds Expedition Log #3

Since I've discovered people find these tremendously entertaining, I figured I'd continue journaling my expedition into the Outer Wilds here on Tumblr. Where we last left off, I'd just made my first few runs to Space Florida (Giant's Deep), gave Frog NASA's resident slacker a scathing peer review, found some hints on how quantum objects work and how I might go about locating that ghost moon that allegedly exists. I also had some theories about what happened to the Nomai which didn't pan out that I'll get into in a moment. After my first few runs to Giant's Deep, I discovered that both my spaceship and space suit function as a submersible and diving suit as well. I'm not well-educated enough to know if the physics of that check out or not, but either way, I think I might've not given Outer Wilds engineering team enough credit. This was a game-changer to me, since basically the first thing I did when I booted up the tutorial was throw myself down a geyser in the name of scientific interest. Despite allegedly being aquatic, I drowned pretty quickly, but I noticed evidence of a camp being down there. This, combined with the dude on the moon mentioning that Feldspar's signal was broadcasting from Timber Heath, really piqued my interest. I spent a loop just exploring the geysers as best I could, but the caves didn't seem to lead down to the core of the planet or anything, and once I was down there, I realized Feldspar's signal was coming from somewhere on the surface. I did, however, find old Nomai writing which remarks on observing a nascent aquatic species, which dashes my theories that the Forerunners Nomai evolved into the player's species over millions of years, explaining their disappearance. I managed to do this without drowning, which is a rare show of competence from me. After that, I made me way up to the surface to look into that seed from DARBIS (Darkness and Relative Bramble In Space) that coincidentally seemed to have Feldspar's signal coming from it. Shockingly, it's bigger on the inside. So, gonna have to visit Dark Bramble at some point to figure that one out. Then, I took a nice cozy position on the observation deck to watch the supernova in peace- a lovely, sentimental gesture that I utterly screwed the pooch on due to the planet turning to face the other way. Despite having active investigations going on 2.5 different planets, I decided that I was done being afraid of the sun and decided to check out those two paired planets orbiting it. Once I was there, I noticed something closely orbiting the sun itself, so I decided to be a badass and land on that instead. I failed and got burned to a crisp. On my next loop, I went to visit the Twins. I originally landed on Ash Twin, but after finding nothing of note, I- in my endless foresight and wisdom- decided to just jump to Ember Twin. This led to me to breaking both of my shins and storing my femurs in my lungs, but did not kill me. Immediately, anyway. I started by finding the crashed escape pod below and working my way through the caves, before dying at the entrance to the safe zone by jetpacking my way straight into a cactus and losing the last of my blood. Now, I'm only about halfway through my last play session- you know, the part where nothing gets accomplished- but I'm apparently reaching Tumblr's character limit, so I'm going to have to split this into a whole separate post. Which is probably good, because there should and ought to be a legal limit to how much stupidity should be allowed in one post. Until next time, Tumblrites!

[loz-furbies]

A Link to the Past Zelda

Design

I think Zelda here has a good design, capes are always cool, and I like that from the start they’ve included metal in Zelda’s dress; even if she’s not a fighter the hint of an armour gives her a badass vibe. The “apron”, which I’m sure has a more dignified name, is also a good and memorable and iconic design element, and I like that it’s a recurring thing in the designs of most of the Zeldas. The sleeves make me think of a t-shirt, but I think it’s ok for a younger Zelda design.

However I’m not a big fan of this shade of magenta overall, and the orange and red details totally disappear in it, which makes them a little pointless. Also I’d prefer if the blue stripes were more similar, now the sleeves have two thin stripes but the dress has one thick striped stripe (which looks strange on its own already).

The casual dress is cute, it looks soft and has a nice harmonious colour palette, and believably looks like a princess’ casual outfit. It's also cute how she has the little hair tufts in this look, and gives her a more unique look. She doesn't have a separate sprite for it, but it's still nice that it exists as a concept.

Her sprite situation is considerably better than with the first two Zeldas in that there's at least some connection between the sprite and the promo art. The colours don't match and her hair is totally different, but at least both have a cape and there's some similarities in the cut of the dress.

Character

This time Zelda has some actual presence in the game and more than one line, but unfortunately it doesn't lead to any interesting characterisation when all she talks about is strictly plot. So we're left with a pretty generic nice and polite princess character who requests help from the dashing hero.

Role in the story

Zelda doesn't get to do a lot in this game besides be resqued twice and sit around at the church for a bit, but you do get to form some sort of relationship with her. Or at least I'm more motivated for the obligatory save-the-princess plot since you get to spend non-zero amount of time with her in the beginning, so that's a huge improvement from the first two games even if it doesn't amount to much compared to the more recent titles.

Later in the franchise Zelda's magical powers tend to be more related to sealing darkness, but in this game she and the other maidens break the barrier around the last dungeon instead. Which is pretty lame, you spend hours saving all the girls and all you get a very short and unceremonius cutscene where they act as a glorified key for like two seconds.

Relationships

Unfortunately nothing. She has a king for a dad who died before the story and came back to life in the end credits, and she's a part of a seven-girl team with magical powers, but nothing meaningful comes out of these relationships. At best you get to imagine what Link and Zelda talk about during the section where you lead her to safety after the prison escape.

[lithicdoesthings]

Next Fest Demo Spotlight:

MIO: Memories in Orbit

Oooooh this is a good one. I'm a little hesitant to make my first real post here a super wordy game review, but Next Fest is happening and I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to rant about how much I love this game.

MIO: Memories in Orbit is an upcoming metroidvania from French studio Douze Dixiemes. It was originally announced last june at a Nintendo Direct, and the demo was released on Steam last week. The game follows a small robot named Mio as she explores the crumbling and overgrown Vessel, uncovering its secrets and searching for a way to save it in the process.

!! SPOILERS AHEAD FOR MIO: MEMORIES IN ORBIT DEMO !!

A quick note before the actual review: talking about this game can be confusing, since the game itself and the protagonist share a name. For the sake of clarity, whenever I write MIO with all caps, I am referring to the game itself (Memories in Orbit), whereas Mio refers to the character. Apologies for any confusion!

First Impressions

Aesthetics

First off, this game is absolutely gorgeous, and I've never seen anything quite like it. Metroidvanias as a genre often lean towards hand-drawn sprites and pixel art, so MIO stands out with beautifully rendered 3D environments and characters. The game combines aspects of elegant sci-fi designs with vibrant plants, watercolor rendering, and a hint of what I can only describe as Cyber-Art-Deco. Similar influences can also be heard in the game's soundtrack, a soft-spoken mix of digital melodies, filtered vocals, and the occasional jazz riff. Combined, these visuals and music create an atmosphere of faded sophistication, hinting at the former glory and dignity of The Vessel before its collapse.

Narrative-wise, we still don't know much about the game's story quite yet. Not really a problem since it's a demo, but the more vague approach to storytelling in (what I assume to be) the earliest areas of the game suggests that MIO will most likely follow a narrative structure similar to something like Hollow Knight, with an emphasis on environmental storytelling over direct exposition.

Gameplay

Despite my comparison to Hollow Knight earlier, MIO is actually much more reminiscent of the Ori games in terms of its controls and level design, with a focus on movement, momentum, and platforming over combat and boss fights. Mio herself controls very similar to Ori: satisfyingly floaty without feeling uncontrollably light. She starts the demo with a fairly standard movement set and a double-jump, and later on acquires the Hairpin ability, allowing her to grapple to enemies and floating anchors from any direction. Based on the trailer, it looks like other abilities in the full game could include a short-distance glide, wall climbing, and an air dash, which I think supports the idea that the game's main difficulty will come from its platforming rather than combat. Luckily MIO nails the level design almost flawlessly in this regard; navigating the game's environments feels smooth and engaging, and the game takes many opportunities to show off its momentum-based movement, to the point that a few well-timed slides and grapples can send Mio flying across multiple rooms without ever touching the ground.

While there is combat present in the demo, it's fairly light. Enemies are generally spread out across each room, and there are some rooms with no enemies at all. The enemies themselves typically only have one or two attacks, making them fairly easy to defeat after a few encounters. Mio's main method of defending herself is a three-hit horizontal combo that can be done both on the ground and in the air. Aerial attacks have a pretty long hang time, keeping Mio in the air long enough to chain further attacks and grapples together, although the grapple can only be recharged on the ground. I personally like this decision a lot. Comboing flying opponents out of the air this way is very fun, and makes you feel like a badass when you pull it off, especially when combined with the game's aforementioned movement physics. Mio also has access to a module system that acts as the game's parallel to Hollow Knight's charms, which include standard health and damage upgrades, as well as quality of life features such as the addition of enemy and boss health bars as well as the ability to disable the HUD entirely. I've found that health bars in metroidvanias can be a pretty divisive topic, and MIO seems to have addressed the issue perfectly with this system. To be clear: the combat being light is not inherently bad, nor is it a guarantee in the final game. Despite Hollow Knight being known for its intense and punishing boss fights, its early-game enemies are just as straightforward as MIO's. So while MIO seems to be focusing on its movement more prominently, it would not surprise me at all for the difficulty of its bosses and enemies to ramp up in the full release.

Final Thoughts

After playing the demo for MIO, I am very excited to see more of this game. With its gorgeous visuals, intriguing worldbuilding, and satisfying gameplay, I believe it has the potential to become the metroidvania community's next indie gem, alongside games like Hollow Knight, Ori, and Nine Sols. Go check it out!

MIO: Memories in Orbit Final Score:

5 / 5

BONUS POINTS:

+1 For SILLY LITTLE GUY PROTAGONIST

[eclipsecrowned]

anyway. blog focusing. gonna try a technique a friend taught me to attempt to get my askbox under control. also goin to give a small preview of muses i have been asked to add -- though this does not mean they are all being added at once, some need a rewatch/reread before i unleash them on the blog.

616.

sebastienne (tbt) // 20s-30s // mutant // thi3ves guild associated due to family debts, has passive mutant abilities related to luck and probability, once getting out from under the guild's thumb she starts working towards establishing a community/support system in the south. quiet revolutionary, diligent woman, knows the city like the back of her hand and tries to be a good catholic between the demands of work and solidarity.

dnd.

m0llymauk tealeaf // 20s // tiefling // i promised them forever ago and am finally getting around to my s2 relisten to really bring them around, so thank all of you for your patience :3

fandomless.

cathal // ageless // cait sidhe // imagine an orange cat that is also fae. and all the stereotypes that implies. he's two stone, dumb as a box of rocks, but has so many heart cells that he's welcome wherever he roams. he's a good lad. dangerously cute, but subtly off-putting if you are a mortal viewing him from the lens of 'just a cat' because he is certainly not that and some of his movements/behaviors outline this.

fin*l f*ntasy gets its own section.

b*lthier // 22 // hume // the leading man is an audacious boyfailure and i love this for him. we need more on the level dashing rogues. he's the han s0lo of this rebellion and his chewie is a sexy bunny girl so what could possibly go wrong? going to rewatch a game movie to brush up on him.

br*ska // 30s // hume // i delete him. i readd him. i delete him. my bestie picks up j*cht and we start bullying our third musketeer to play aur0n. at this point he's going up and staying up til the day i die even if he never gets any airplay besides ax.

l*rsa s0lidor // baby // hume // do you love a good prince archetype? do you love lil dude morality pets to arc villains? do you believe in the redemptive power of a child leading the people into a golden age? well good luck getting to any of that because fate and his ambitious but loving elder brother are kicking this kid's ass six ways to sunday. still, he keeps his head up and aims to be better for the world than it has been to him, and is a surprisingly adroit negotiator. if i get even a whiff of people being abnormal about him i'm blocking liberally. also rewatching a game movie to brush up on him.

mikoto // 20s-30s // human // ten years ago, she was a legendary warrior guiding her summ0ner towards victory. braska and company beat her merry band there. in the ten years since, he's given up her role as a guardian, retired from public life, had a kid... and been drawn back in with the promise of an ambitious young man o reform the church she sees aging out of humanity every day. badass twin-sword wielder who is gonna lose her shit when she realizes her boss is the villain, actually --

valeriana maghreb // 20s // hume // a biracial woman raised in the deadly decadent court of the empire, daughter of a judge, and old friend of ax's muse in setting. loyal to the ruling family in totality, she has an affinity for one of the princes of the empire and plays wholeheartedly into his schemes. her own guile is reserved for helping others across the imperial march of conquest, and has been allowed to help mold another muse listed here per the schemes of his brother to shape an ideal leader. generally tender and sweet but capable of great acts of pettiness if pushed. she's so pretty and she suffers so much for what? girlish whimsy?

literature.

erik // 40s // poto // a little of the novel's absolute mystery, a dash of the musical's tragedy, altogether we stand for accountability in this house. multifaceted but unerringly the villain, even if his intentions can be read as sympathetic. i stand by the hilarity of book erik thinking wives are like little pets you feed and buy trinkets for and take for walkies in the park, the fact women find him brooding and suave and sexy is weirding him out.

quasim0do // teens // hond // i am throwing the novel the musical didney and the 39 movie in a blender and letting it create my ideal take on the character. wretched and tragic and hopeful and mad and pious. he's been through a lot. tentatively nixing his book and didney lore bc Holy Racial Stereotypes Batman, but may keep the book ambiguity about his mother potentially having been Roma. Def want a rewatch of a bootleg before I set anything for him in stone (ha ha.)

misc.

garrett // 20s // q4c // would you like to see some of the sickest blind rep in fantasy from an admittedly mid tier otherwise production? a stable boy who suffered head trauma in an evacuation that led to gradual vision loss and then outright blindness, he entertained dreams of knighthood in camelot regardless. however, the death of his biggest supporter soured him to the notion, and he retreated into an enchanted forest to carve out his own path instead. ten years later, he's getting dragged back into camelot's drama by an adventurous damsel with big hopes and dwindling experience about the world. please god someone help him he's so tired.

[psychicdragoncoffee]

Actually Reviewing Saints Row [2022] - Part I

A little while ago I made a post regarding my first impression of the game. At the time whatever impressions I had were from other reviewers. Most didn't seem to enjoy the game. So I decided to play it myself. So, as a warning, this will be a bit of a long post since I tend to ramble.

[TL;DR: Despite having a pretty bad first impression I mostly enjoyed what I have experienced so far.]

The release of this game was probably a disaster for the game company. I believe the main issue is that a lot of fans wanted a game to be like the first two games. I was one of them as Saints Row 2 is one of my favorite games.

But when it was revealed Volition was going in a different direction there was some backlash. Then some employees of the company shot back. So unsurprising some players like myself would have a pretty early bad impression.

Not only was the hope of having a game like Saints Row 2 dashed this game wasn't even on Steam at first. I didn't like the idea of shelling money to a platform I didn't even use for a game I didn't know if I would like or not. So, I waited until I learned that it was on Steam and on sale. I pretty much bought the game the day before writing this at about $10 [Thank Gabe for seasonal sales.]

Out of the gate, I really love the range of options for character customization. The customization was always a big draw for me. Some options might seem stupid but there were quite a few I did love. Though was sad that my favorite face scar from 3 and 4 wasn't in this game.

When playing through the opening I did have a hard time getting into it. Partly from the main character acting like a badass while not really being so. A big cringy but not too bad. After that first part, I did actually enjoy the game. [I didn't get too far into yet. So I'm just going to post my thoughts as I progress.

Surprisingly the part that many people complained about was either cut or I was trying to drive normally so I didn't actually get to trigger it. Hard to say either way. I'm glad I didn't have to sit through it. [Boss just saying nonsense while driving. Mostly cussing.]

The music is nice. The design is not bad either. At least what I've seen. I also don't hate the characters [friends] I am hoping the bugs most people complained about have been ironed out that playing today might actually be a better experience than it had been closer to launch. [One of the reasons I prefer to wait.]

I think the best thing to do is kinda separate it from the past games. Though it's called Saints Row it's still quite different.

[radsbackup]

1, 4, 11 and 13 for the fandom asks. Any fandom, whichever fits best ^_^

1. the character everyone gets wrong

AYLA CHRONO TRIGGER. I KNOW PEOPLE ARE GREAT WITH HER IN MY LITTLE NICHE BUT THE AMOUNT OF TIMES I'VE SEEN HER REDUCED TO 'HOT AND DUMB' IS ANNOYING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

she's the leader of her people, talking to AND effectively communicating with people from the future about concepts she's never encountered before now AND SHE'S DOING THIS ALL IN A SECOND LANGUAGE. she is very strong and capable and has many moments throughout the game where she says some pretty profound and inspiring stuff, but because she speaks a little differently and has a sexed up design, she's just for looking at apparently 🙄🙄 God forbid a woman be hot AND clever

(^that goes for all hot and clever ladies in media for me, I just feel particularly butt hurt about ayla)

4. what was the last straw that made you finally block that annoying person?

Uhh... I block pretty liberally and just try to avoid drama in public if I can, but usually I unfollow if my dash was getting clogged with shit. The only example that comes to mind isn't a fandom one but I blocked someone once because they were being way too American for me (I know I joke around in varying degrees about Americans, but this was like. Too much about gun bullshit and displaying closed mindsets to other cultures.. No thank youuuuu)

11. number of fandom-related words you've filtered

Dunno cause I lost my main 😭

I know I filtered dead poets society cause I really don't give a shit about that film, ever since we had to watch it in class lol

I probably had most Marvel stuff filtered too I think, but otherwise I think it was just flashing gifs and insects and stuff that I don't really want to see in general

13. worst blorboficiation

Uhhhh... This is hard to think of. I generally try to avoid fandom takes I don't vibe with and my brain is slow today so ummmmmm

I'm just gonna say the way Capcom have treated their main resi characters LMAO. Especially the Redfield siblings... Like dude they're the best how do you fuck them up!? Chris isn't stupid by any means but throughout the series he just gets worse and worse and makes weird decisions that don't even feel plausible from a character flaw standpoint. He was done fucking dirty in re6 and then re7/8 was just. What the hell. 7 didn't look right but whatever, 8 he looked SOOOO FINE but acted BADLY. (I LOVE re8 but I.... Kinda hate most the story decisions LMAO)

AND CLAIRE!!!????? I LOVE CLAIRE SO MUCH AND THEY DID WEIRD STUFF TO HER :''''(

she's a capable, if a little hot headed, badass that is VERY FUCKING CLEVER. I really enjoyed seeing her in re2r and and cv, but then in rev2 that was straight up not Claire? Like, you can't tell me that she suddenly lost her ability to talk to children like humans when she helped Sherry in re2. She felt flanderised in the worst sense and the game left me feeling very frustrated at a lot of character points. AND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON THE FILM/TV PERIPHERALS. I'LL TRY TO KEEP IT SHORT BUT BASICALLY. INTO DARKNESS WAS A CRIME AGAINST CLAIRE CAUSE SHE NOT ONLY HAD THE MORE INTERESTING PLOT POINTS TO FOLLOW, BUT WAS DEPICTED SO POORLY AND EVEN MADE INTO A WEIRD DAMSEL IN DISTRESS FOR LEON... SHE WAS SHAFTED SO HARD JUST FOR LEON TO TAKE CENTRE STAGE (BUT EVEN THAT FUCKED LEON OVER A LOT TOO TBH) and I'll refrain from the other times she's appeared in movies cause it's been a while since I watched any and I don't wanna go on too long into incoherency haha

Send questions from here

[hoboblaidd]

i'm ngl while i liked solas i never *loved* solas the way other people did and i didn't really get it... pretty much until your blog. seeing your headcanons, metas & gorgeously written drabbles and threads completely changed my perspective on him as a character and gave me such a deeper appreciation for the layers and nuance, like, to the point where things in the game were actively being redefined bc you'd drop some badass new meta & suddenly small moments and previous innocuous or confusing lines of dialogue made so much more sense.

anyway all this is to say 10/10 would highly recommend you are a blessing on the dash

ask meme | portrayal check-in

ok so real talk i have been staring at this since you sent it because i am floored. im just floored. i love this character so goddamn much and that i was able to contribute to an appreciation of him im just???? i have no words. in fact, i have so few words im reduced to a supernatural gif in 2024. i cant even pull a switcheroo and gush about you here because im floored. but suffice to say it is so absolutely wonderful to write with you and learn about pirith, and his interactions with solas are so nuanced and mature and incredible.

[syrupspinner]

I beat furi (Onnamusha)

I really appreciate the restraint in making a game with this name and not making it a rage game

so, I beat this game a while ago. steam says I got the final boss achievement back in 2022. I got Onnamusha on sale a while back and put it in the "I'll get back around to it" pile, and honestly I think that was for the better.

so, if you're not familiar with how the default character (Rider) works, it might be kinda hard to follow along. just play Furi I guess? it's a killer game

anyway, Onnamusha is a stance change character. there's a dedicated button to switch between two modes: a very slow mode that does no damage, but heals you when you parry and has a short-range dodge (good for melee); and a very fast mode that does better-than-rider damage but goes down in like three hits, and also has the chain dash from hyper light drifter. there's also a meter you can build up to enter a sort of combo mode where you have the strengths of both stances for a limited time. also, if you spend long enough in one of your stances, you get a fire rate bonus for a little when you switch. kinda hard to follow when its spelled out, but its surprisingly intuitive once you get your hands around it

I think this is a wonderful way to design a stance character! it's pretty expected that each stance has upsides and downsides, but it's not often that I see a mechanic designed to encourage you to switch as much as possible without being spammable. like, in children of zodiarcs (stick around for the post) Xero can just chain his stance activation cards for a whole turn, which is fine for what that game is going for, but the gun charge meter is such a fun little bonus for an action game. it really encourages you to make the best of the mechanic, going defensive during attacks and instantly switching to offence when there's an opening, especially with the bullet hell phases. the non-dash dodge roll you have to do in defence mode detracts from this though, I kept forgetting that it doesn't let you dodge THROUGH attacks like the dash does just because it feels kinda counter intuitive. like, you actually have to stay in offence mode for bullet hell sections because it's the only real way to dodge through the patterns. other than that, this is fantastic. Furi is already such a fun and satisfying game, but the feeling of going into a melee brawl with with the boss and parrying every hit, switching the instant they let their guard down and hitting them with the combo is some of the most intrinsically rewarded I've felt in a video game. like, you don't get a score bonus or anything, the reward is pulling off something badass.

I should also mention I played on furier difficulty, for no other reason than there was an achievement for doing it that I didn't have yet. there was a point where I got stuck on someone (the blind yogi fella) and considered switching to rider, but when I tried, I HATED the old dash. in onnamushas offence mode, when you hit dash, you dash. this, and chaining together smaller dashes, encourages fast reflexes and quick dodge->retaliation maneuvers. rider has to charge his dash. I couldn't beat the first boss because I kept expecting the dash button to let me dash, but I just stood in the way charging and got hit. the weird thing is, I'm pretty sure I was fine with this when I first played! Onnamusha just spoiled me

this isn't a review for Furi, but if you're unfamiliar, I really recommend it. for the dlc, it's tough for me to say if I recommend it for a first playthrough. I definitely had a better time with her, and I think it was a big enough gap (plus the harder difficulty) rusted me enough that I may as well have been playing for the first time, but... I think it just feels weird to call an auxiliary dlc the best the game can be. especially considering itd be pretty hard on a player to learn all the newfangled character mechanics on top of playing the game itself for the first time. oh well, I'm just some girl on the internet. I say give it a shot, even if it's your first time. if you're not feeling it, that's what the default is for.

[bbs-backlog-challenge]

Games of 2023

(2022)

I barely played anything last year. Tears Of The Kingdom so wholly swallowed my attention that, once I finally brought it to a close, I just fell of playing video games for a long time, and still haven't quite picked my way back into the hobby. I'll get into it during the write-up below, but it's OBVIOUSLY going to be my Game Of The Year (and in a rare change of pace, it actually came out this year!) so I will be nominating another game as GOTY instead.

This is also the year I became a car mechanic in my spare time after crashing and totalling my beloved Beetle and instead of getting a new car like a sensible person, I decided "well, I can probably fix it". 12 months later, still driving it! And also, still fixing it.

August brought with it an incredible depression out of nowhere during which I lost the plot a bit, but I did write an awful lot of words towards my novel, so I guess that evens things out. Regardless, a combination of all of the above resulted in very few games being played this year! My count is 23, compared to recent years being in the 70-80 range. Makes this an easier read, anyway. To the games!

-

Jumpgrid

Hold over from last year, I played a little further but the final few levels are less reactive and more memory tests, which is a real shame. Just remembering which direction to move and trying to time it right isn't anywhere near as fun as frenetically dashing all around the grid. Soundtrack is still legit though.

-

Absolute Drift

We gave this one quite the pasting in our livestream chat- safe to say it's not for me. In the hour I gave it, I didn't get even the slightest grip on how the controls work, which seems to be the intent. I'm sure there's a moment where, if you are persistent, everything -clicks- and suddenly it all makes perfect sense, but it didn't come close to happening and the game itself wasn't compelling me enough to keep blindly headbutting it until we got there.

-

Thirty Flights

Wendy's no longer offers the 4 for $4 deal. I would still argue their $5 Biggie Bag is a better deal than this, despite technically being more expensive.

-

Metroid Prime Remaster

And what a remaster it is! I'd argue the original Prime still looks and plays fantastic and didn't need remastering, but this is sublime and if you missed out the first time around (holy crap it was 20 years ago augugahguaghuhgh) this is a fine way to get caught up. Surely Primes 2 and 3 are on their way as well?

-

Black Mesa

Interesting juxtaposition with MP:R here, another remaster of a classic game. This is similarly excellent despite my own cognitive dissonance as described in my BBLC entry. Unfortunately let down by the end sequence- the original's Xen chapter is pretty universally regarded as an awful blight on an otherwise great game and Black Mesa's approach was to... make it five times longer? They actually reworked the whole set up but it still just wasn't quite enough to polish that turd. It does look absolutely beautiful and the soundtrack is breath-taking, but I do wish they had let the environment breathe a little instead of filling it with enemy encounters. Still well worth a look, and a monumental achievement to finally have this game in a fully complete playable state after so long in development.

-

Tears Of The Kingdom

I'm sure I don't need to say much here. Game so good I stopped playing games. Masterpiece. Every aspect of it- gameplay, visuals, music, story- masterpiece. Minor spoilers, the music during the final approach towards the final boss' arena had me so worked up I needed 5 minutes to get my head back into focus. It's a fairly common thing for the actual boss fight to feel badass, but I cannot recall any other time previous that just the *approach* made me feel like a hero, bringing to an end a story that had gone on for far, far too long. I don't need to tell you any of this. It's a masterpiece beyond masterpiece.

-

Time Gentlemen Please

Adventure game sequel to Ben There Dan That, which I enjoyed oh-so-many moons past, but I couldn't get far here. There's an intolerable lag between every action and movement that drove me spare, which I'm not sure if it's an engine issue or a game issue. I don't enjoy adventure games enough to put up with things like that unfortunately, though I do remember enjoying the first game a lot.

-

Final Fantasy 2 (Pixel Remaster) (PC)

Oh man. Without speaking hyperbolically, I think this might be the worst game I've ever played that is technically competent. The game runs nicely, the graphics are lovely, the music is just as fantastic this early in the series as it came to be known for, but by the nine divines, what an absolute pile of stink the actual gameplay experience is. I finished the game with 100% of achievements solely so I never, ever had to pick it up again. An abysmal and frustrating mess of a game that had some interesting ideas and had no clue what to do with any of them.

[20:26] Beebs: You should all buy Final Fantasy 2 on the sale [20:26] spookiott: didn't you hate it [20:26] Beebs: I did and still do and always will [20:26] Beebs: I just don't think I should suffer alone [20:27] Beebs: I'm going for 100% achievements just so I never ever have to play it ever again [20:27] spookiott: yeah, that'll show 'em! [20:33] Beebs: I do not know how they ever got to make a Final Fantasy 3, by rights they shouldn't have [20:34] Beebs: The series should have ended here and everyone involved with it should have been arrested [20:34] Beebs: please buy it.

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Endless Space

As a space-based 4x that isn't Master Of Orion 2, Endless Space caught my attention better than most, but I only played to the end of my first galaxy before moving onto

Endless Space Two: Endlesser Space

which I think hooked me a lot stronger. I found the conquer mechanics too opaque for my liking, with my invading army of millions somehow being annihilated by a defending force that had literally been reduced to zero remaining soldiers, and no explanation of how that could happen or how I could have done it better. I think modern 4x games have leaned away from conquest being the predominant means of victory and as such it's a way to make that victory type less appealing? I don't know. It's a good game, it's just not Orion.

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Fortnite

I played Fartbutt pretty much every day all year, it is honestly a fun game, and if you are resistant to the predatory business practices of the parent company you’ll have a good time. Don’t have much else to say here- getting down to the last 5 players alive and scanning the horizon for any sign of activity is thrilling and it’s a huge adrenaline rush to trade shots with the last one standing and secure the win.

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Diddy Kong Racing

Had a few attempts at this in recent years, this is the one that finally stuck thanks to the Deck. It’s a good racer with some total BS (I literally cheated the final boss with save states to race perfectly and still couldn’t beat him with one character lol) and adds a lot of fun single player content missing from the Mario flavoured rivals. Flying around exploring the hub island is just fun and I’d love to see the concept return in a future MK game. Wizpig theme is legit.

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Master Of Orion 2

You know it and you love it. This year I tried a no-expansion game where I could only settle planets in my home system. I actually won but there was a fun challenge towards the end where two enemy systems were behind black holes that I couldn’t reach- had to manipulate them into a war with each other so they would destroy those systems for me, but also keep one from defeating the other before they had finished the job. It worked out!

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Fire Emblem N-gage

A lot of people really loved this entry. I thought it was fine. Hard mode is way overtuned IMO, mostly because of the bosses, but Normal mode is conversely far too easy. Wish there was some middle ground between the two. The Somniel stuff felt REALLY tacked on, too, like they just put it there so people who had only played Three Houses had something familiar to the monastery, but the dialogue is all repeated and it feels a bit soulless. I thought for sure I was going to marry Celine because, I mean, look at her- but she drinks floral tea which is unforgivable so I married big tiddy goth GF Ivy instead, who already told me she loved me and worshipped me like a god in just our B rank support. Healthy!

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Team Fortress 2

I only played the fun halloween maps this year (surprisingly few of them are fun) and skipped the terrible ones, resulting in significantly less playtime this year than previous. Still didn’t get my thrice-damned hat. I also spent some time earlier in the year trying the Dragon’s Fury, a weapon I never previously bothered with, and it was quite refreshing.

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Star Fox 64

Really weird that they never made another Star Fox game after this one.

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Neopets

It is absolutely WILD that this site is still running, and many parts of it unchanged since 1999. I come back every so often- it's sort of my internet birthplace. "can't take the country out of the girl", so they say. They were giving away childhood dream-item Illusen's Staff essentially for free so I had to get it, and then I just kept sticking around for a bit. It's fun but I think only nostalgia keeps these servers running any more.

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Touhou 19

It's a Vs shooter, so even though you can play as Ran I pretty much bounced off once I had seen the new girls and heard the new music. It's a shame, but vs mode simply isn't what I play touhou for. Looking forward to 20, hopefully next year but probably 2025. New Ran lore though!

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Age Of Empires 2 Ultra Mega Edition

There really is simply no reason at all AoE2 needed to be made into a live service game, but ignoring that festering boil this is otherwise the ultimate way to play a very old and still very good game, with a whole slew of QoL features that I'll never be able to live without now I have them (visible tower range!). It's also compatible with all custom scenarios made in the original so we can still re-live the majesty of JUSTIN TIMBERLAR.sco and all the other very-good-actually scenarios I made as a clueless 14 year old.

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Ys 8: Lacrimosa Of Dana

An unexpected late entry takes this year's GOTY (That Isn't Zelda). The incredible lull I felt after TotK didn't clear for a long time, but at the end of November I fired this up and remembered why I love games generally and Ys specifically. Falcom is an established company that still somehow feels like a doujin circle, and I’m not sure how to explain what I mean by that but I mean it positively. This one’s actually telling a pretty neat story so far too, though I haven’t finished it yet. Can a game I haven’t finished truly be named GOTY? Yes. It’s my blog and I can do what I want. One year there were three winners!

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That’s all for 2023. 2024 doesn’t look to have any big hitters, but the JPRGs are accumulating on my backlog and I’m at roughly the halfway point in writing my book, so time will tell if I manage to beat this year’s meager score.

[sikoi]

📩 Simblr question of the day: Do you have any blogs that make your day when they post? Mention them! Tell us why you like them!

of coursee soo manyy!!!

you, random simblr question of the day person <3

@rollingsim just obsessed with their sims and the way they edit + could look at their sims foreverrr (awakens my joy of the yakuza franchise lol)

@warmsol literally makes my room feel like a field of green just by seeing isa's posts also invented sulani let's be real....and i'm so normal about makoa soooo normal

@gleamer every single post is a 5 course meal. the renders are INSANE and i will never forget their iconic builds soo inspiring

@trendyarthoe a fucking icon i am going to poster every single one of their edits on my wall it's a museum on their blog

@tau1tvec makes me want to actually play the sims because god i wish my game looked that good, gifs, edits, builds all so insane

@lucidicer BLOWS MY MIND period

@veone i love the mood of their posts, there's a distinct style and vibe that they have that feels nostalgic

@solstice-sims i am their #1 fan i swears it

@missatan their sims could ruin me, gladly

@oppasims sims are such cuties and amazing & special cc

@coloursul their renders are jaw dropping and so are their sims

@crsentfairy OCS OCS OCS OCS make me bork

@raiiny-bay one of a kind sims & style, love their monster guys very much ;-;

@void-imp i love their trio bunches and their edits give comic vibes that i love (drop the comic i'm first in line)

@ldobmm their ocs and renders are iconic they know we know i know you know

@gothoffspring i love how colorful their posts are they give such groovy vibes that is so special

@kazuaru an editing master icon legend you name it

@desertdusk immaculate 🤌

@pralinesims stunning sims and i'm pretty sure i have at least one piece of their iconic cc on all my sims lol

@kashisun the grim family feeds simblr they are SO cool

@1-800-cuupid i eat up their cc!!!!!!! amazing amazing

@stinkrascal invented vampires

@saruin their cc? talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same, totally unique, completely not ever been done before, unafraid to reference or not reference, put it in a blender, eat it up

@milkygoth their sims are such cuties >:)

@birdietrait keeps my dash alive hehe

@verthu invented renders

@tricoufamily look at their sims family look. at. them.

@gashface love the spoopy vibe in all their edits and url is so good

@based-god the spot for BADASS and amazing sims

@nepotisim their oc jada will both save and ruin ur life i fear <3

@cavernsofdarkness leaves me speechlesssss

[jacscorner]

Alright, new Trailer dropped and there's a little more to talk about.

Mario's voice...is clearly not being fixed, so I'm gonna have to get over it. Hearing more of it, it's...acceptable. Not good, but it is what it is.

I love Donkey Kong's design though! His design has been translated so damn well for the movie! He looks amazing! Nothing to say on his voice, if he even talks and not just grunts and makes noises.

And look at this! A gladiator battle on top of a red gurder/ladder jungle gym set-up! It's an awesome set-up! It's kind of a shame we see Mario get his ass beat.

And I love Cranky Kong here. He's getting his due. Look at that swagger.

And now for the difinitive critique on Luigi's voice. It's...honestly exactly what everyone thought he'd sound like. Honestly, it's just Charlie Day being Charlie Day. It's exactly what my friend said he'd sound like, it's what YouTube thought he'd sound like; this isn't Luigi, it's Charlie Day.

And...it kinda works?

Like, maybe it's just the delivery, but Charlie Day's voice fits for Luigi better than Chris Pratt's voice does Mario. Maybe it's because as real people, Charlie's able to deliver a very funny voice. Luigi's in peril, but you I can't help but snicker a bit at the voice. It fits pretty well.

And now it's time for Peach, and...I'm gonna be honest, I'm kinda split.

Like the Mario Bros., it's just Anya Taylor-Joy is Anya Taylor-Joy, but the voice is perfectly fine. It's more on the side of Luigi than Mario, where the voice isn't what I'd want, but it's perfectly fine and fits the character. Then again, Peach, although has a recognizeable voice, I feel has a little more leeway than the two brothers.

And the part that makes me a little worried.

From what we see in the trailer, it seems like Peach is gonna be a super competent warrior princess. Which is fine, I didn't have a problem. In fact, I thought this was so damn cool! Seeing her kick up that axe and snatch it was so clean!

BUT, she doesn't feel like Peach. She's not the bubbly Princess we've always known who knows how to roll up her sleeves and get to business.

I'd say she's Strong Female Character #774, BUT her being competent and not the same as her game coutnerpart isn't enough for me to write her off. It just feels like Peach's traditionally fem traits are being written out for her character here.

And it's a shame, because Peach in the Nintendo Power Super Mario Adventures comic was a badass, but still felt like Peach.

Here's hoping I'm just being overly critical and that the movie is a good spin on the Mario Mythos, much like how the Sonic Movie(s) are a good spin(dash) on the Sonic Mythos.

[sunshinemarauder]

#8

8. Have you received anon hate? What about?

Yes, I have! 😔😭

A few months ago I was talking about when I adopted a dog from the local rescue shelter (she's a white lab named Idli, short for Idaline, which is the name of a badass queen I really admire) and how I chose her over these two other dogs because they were too furry for my tastes. I got some WILD anons in my inbox! They were super mad at me for prioritizing one breed of dog over the other. I was all "WTF" lol. I love Idli so much that I even call her my little upma! (That's a term of endearment in my mother tongue, Cantonese.) ❤️ So that was pretty bad. I was told that I was "too old to be choosing favorites" (what even???? age-shaming much?) and that I should "get all or get none". To which I responded that some of us can't get three dogs, dumbass. I already have serious dog allergies; I can't risk THREE dogs. But I'm a masochist so I got Idli anyway. 🤧

Anyway, there was also this other incident around last month - IDK if any of you remember - but there was a problem around a tiny issue in the fandom. It really wasn't a big deal, just a dash of racism here and there. Oh, and there was definitely some Nazi-romanticizing as well. But at least this time they left Idli out of it!

Ooh, also, I changed my theme a little while back! 😄 If you didn't see yet, take a look at this header and pfp combo! AND the new name (which I never mentioned changing but, yes, that happened) and the fresh, updated bio 😏 It's my favorite yet!

Thanks for sending over your ask, friend! 😘

Send me an ask from the salty ask game and I'll respond to you!

Oh, and this week's motto (because I staunchly believe in sharing your goals w/ others to motivate and inspire):

Preachhh 👏👏

[bitchloveskcbaseball]

Choices Fandom Shoutouts

The first thing I want to do is give a HUGE thank you!!! to @lovealexhunt for running the fandom appreciation blog and for putting this event together! And also to @lilyoffandoms for sponsoring the giveaway! You both are so awesome and incredible!!!

ok ok ok ... I know I'm totally a day late for this thank you soooooo much for that, dear migraine 🙄 and for that, I apologize. Anyhoo ... back to our not-so-regularly scheduled programming ...

Ok so here starts the list lol I literally cannot avoid being awkward lmao, so I'm just leaning into it lol

@storyofmychoices First off, I want to thank you for everything you do for this fandom. You seriously do so much to keep this fandom alive and together and I don't have the slightest idea of how to even start to put what that means into words. And then there's all of the different ways that you build positivity for all of us, from your Spread Positivity posts to all the amazing comments you leave for other creators. And on top of all of that, you also write your beautiful, incredible and amazing stories. You are truly a gift and I have so much respect and appreciation for you!!

@anotherbeingsworld Alya ... I honestly don't even know where to start because you are just that AMAZING!!!! You are so kind and so sweet and such an amazing cheerleader!! And you are this beautiful ray of sunshine that brightens up the lives of those that get to know you. You are an incredibly strong badass. You have so much talent and a true gift for storytelling. I am so glad that you messaged me that night because I am so lucky I get to know you.

@mvalentine Ok so I just really need you to know that I think you are soooooo awesome!!!! And I absolutely LOVE seeing you on my dash. You are such a supportive person and I also vibe so much with your sense of humor. Seriously, just seeing a post from you brightens my day.

@burnsoslow burns ... how could I ever begin to express how much you mean to me? Getting to know you was such a wonderful surprise and I am so so so unbelievably grateful to be able to call you my friend even though I'm pretty sure you got way more than you bargained for lmao. I'm pretty sure you are the most amazing person I've ever met. You are so incredibly supportive of all those around you. You have the best sense of humor. (I mean ... you made me laugh right after that shit show that was supposedly a football game this past February and that was no small feat 🤣🤣🤣) You have been there so much for me over this past year and a half and I could never truly tell you just how much that has meant to me. And I could keep going on and on forever (and will if you'd like me to 😁) and still never get close to fully expressing how much I love and appreciate you. And, not to be forgotten, are your mind-blowing skills as a writer. Seriously you are so amazing and talented. You build these worlds that are so vivid, create characters that are so real and relatable (and I love them so so much). It truly never fails to leave me in awe. Losing myself in your stories is one of my absolute favorite things to do. And it is so damn easy to immerse myself in the with how freaking awesome you are at creating them.

[tangleweave]

1. What is your favorite trope to rp?

5. What is a character you love, but don’t think you can write?

6. Name 3 things you love most about your muse/muses.

7. What is one overrated roleplay trend?

11. Do you welcome duplicates of your character or stay away from them?

13. Is there one trope you can’t stand?

14. What is your opinion on writing smut?

15. What is your opinion on tagging triggers?

17. What makes you insecure about your own writing?

18. What is one thing you’d wish to see more in the rp community?

22. Are there any red roleplay flags for you that make you back off immedately?

23. Your favorite fandom to write in?

24. Have you ever left a fandom because of negativity?

25. One thing you’d like new roleplayers to know?

Once I'm done with this list you'll know everything worth knowing about me. 😉 Here we go...

1. The shy and awkward phase of nascent romantic interest, where each muse is just beginning to realize they like the other. I dunno why, I'm just kind of a slut for that.

5. Oh. Wow. Hm. Uh... y'know, I'm fairly confident in my writing skill, and I'd like to think I'm pretty good at finding characters' individual voices (even villains). But, I have trouble finding specifically female voices in my head... and the first one that came to mind for this question was Mystique. I think she's incredible as a character, complex, layered, uncompromising in her beliefs, a badass in every way, but I just don't think I have the chops to write her... not least of which because I don't share her gender. I don't necessarily consider this a deal-breaker, but I am very much aware that womanhood comes with an array of experiences, both biological and societal, which men simply don't have, and I have a hard time imagining I could do proper justice to RPing a woman.

...that's probably a longer answer than you needed.

6. My muses all have stubborn streaks, and martyr complexes. And they're also willing to be goofy when they don't need to have a game face on. In all of these aspects, they reflect facets of me.

7. ABO romance. I'm so very sorry to those of you out there who love that kind of thing, and it's taken me this long to realize it, but I just don't see the appeal. Threads either collapse within ten posts or they go on interminably (I know I've seen at least one out there with something like 400+ notes); there doesn't seem to be any in-between. Obviously the long ones are happy-making for their authors and bless them for that, but... meh?

11. I would gladly welcome duplicates of them, especially Dr. Strange, Spidey, Vision, and Groot. But I've not been approached, and I haven't gone out of my way to seek threads with that express purpose.

13. "Canon character A belongs with canon character B because canon." Bzzzzt! Wrong. I have exactly ONE ship here on Tumblr that has any canon foundation -- coincidentally with the mun who sent me this list of questions!

14. Love it, as long as both writers are consenting adults and not crazypants. I prefer it to be discreet, such as under cuts, or maybe even off Tumblr altogether (Discord is a thing!), but y'know, do what you like, all our muses get horny at some point or another.

15. AN ABSOLUTE MUST. No debate will be entertained.

17. Re-reading it too many times. I eventually find something about it I dislike enough to try and go back and change it, when it was perfectly fine the way it was before.

18. Uhh... RP? 😂 It'll happen sometimes where people are posting nothing but meme prompts, and yet there will be so few actual responses to them, such that my entire room could be plastered in meme prompt wallpaper just from what's on my dash between one active RP post and the next.

22. Lack of a clear declaration that an RPer is 18+, lack of a Rules page, lack of a Characters page for multi-muses... and, I cannot stress this enough, problematic themes without trigger warnings. We ask for TW's for a reason in this community and it's the height of selfishness to ignore this request. I will have my boundaries respected, or I will not engage. Simple as that.

23. It should come as no surprise my dedicated love is to the Marvel fandom.

24. Not an entire fandom, no, but negativity has touched me in ways that caused me to lose contact with productions I enjoyed. I had Naruto shoved down my throat by a "friend" who'd hoped to Stockholm me into liking it, and he almost succeeded, but he wound up driving me broke one summer (and now not only am I jaded towards Naruto, I have a passionate hatred for World of WarCraft, his favorite game of the time); I'd been enjoying Chobits with my ex-girlfriend but never finished it because our relationship went very sour (and I almost bailed out on Yu-Gi-Oh! over the very same relationship). I don't see myself coming back to those productions, but I never really considered myself part of the attendant fandoms in the first place.

25. Cultivate your experience. It's perfectly normal to seek out swaths of RPers only to realize you don't have nearly as much in common with a lot of them as you'd hoped. If you don't care for what you're seeing from someone, it's okay to drop them! The Unfollow button is as much a friend of yours as the Follow button is. There are always more RPers, and they're all eager to have someone to write with.

[sunny-explosions]

Dumps a bucket of sparkles on you for that positivity thing

🐝  *  ―  send ✨ or ( ‘SPARKLE’ ) and i’ll tell you at least one thing i like most about you , your blog , your portrayal , your muse.

You want lots of positivity?? You got it!

I think you were one of the more established people in the FFVIII community when I joined in many years ago, and I ended up following your blogs from seeing someone else's posts with you while scrolling through my dash (I think maaaaybe as Seifer at that point, when you were writing Seiftis with shockwavepulsar, but I definitely remember Xu also), and BOY HOWDY AM I GLAD I DID!

I do try not to do the "omg I was so intimidated when I first saw you" song and dance, but...I was. You have a very inspiring writing style that makes it so easy to evoke emotions no matter who you're writing with (even in fics!). I was somewhat nervous to reach out to people because I was so new, and I was unsure of whether I would be able to last here. It's people like you who welcomed me in that have kept me here for all these years, and I am so intensely happy that I met you.

Your portrayal of Xu is just spectacular. You've built her up into this wonderful character that takes what little we see in the games and builds upon it even further, making her such a wonderful, rounded out character that I always love to see on my dash. She's a badass, takes no shit, yet has a softer side, amazing personification that I swear feels so real. Your Xu will always be the one I think of whenever I replay the game and see her.

And you have such a knack for bringing life to all of your muses! I absolutely adore how easily we can pitch feelings angst ideas at each other and then just run with them, with pretty much anyone. We've had some amazing AUs in there - Xu and Selphie's (unlikely) friendship, the spontaneous marriage to Nida, everything Selguna bc we love tormenting Squall, angst and feelings galore with Seifer, all the sorceress pain and suffering for multiple people...

I am really thankful to have you as such a good friend, and I'm looking forward to bringing even more crazy, feelsy stories to life with you. <3

[princecharmingwinks]

writer’s ask—3, 12, 19! 💕

Hi!! Oh I love ask games. Thanks for asking and thanks for popping in!

#3 Favourite AU

Oooh so many options. I mostly write for Sterek so we'll roll with those dorks. I really love pretty much all AUs. The epic royalty ones or the sweet coffeeshop ones or the playful Hogwarts ones (my headcanon is Slytherin Stiles and Hufflepuff Derek) or the badass mafia ones. Ah!! So many. Ok breathe Prince!

Probably my ultimate AU at the moment and one I don't see enough sadly is Pirates AU. Which is why I've created some moodboards recently and will be hopefully making it into an actual fic. Part 1 of the moodboard is HERE. I just love the idea of dashing pirate Derek Hale. It does things for me haha.

#12 Your favourite work

See here's the thing. While I've been an avid reader and commentor for years, I've only recently started getting into writing fanfic. And I only have one fully complete fic (can be found HERE). I do really like it :) But stay tune for more. Oh I am shameless in my self-promotion! Sorry team!

#19 Where do you write

Usually on my phone during my work break (which is how I'm completing this now haha) or at home later at night when my crazy dog has tired out for the evening. :)