#and I think I should prioritize making games and stuff instead. but still other things. IT's just kind of like.. I have a whole world and

[icewindandboringhorror]

recent lounging babey images

[forestfiresandfics]

and another reason 3rd life is my favourite of the life series

I'm still catching up on pov's I haven't seen yet (i'm still relatively new to the fandom and have been getting a slice of everything then going back for stuff) anyway the more I watch the more I think that Scar and Impulse were the only ones who knew how to play the game from the beginning.

everyone understood the death game thing, the hardcore thing, they knew they had to be careful and that they'd need resources to keep themselves safe, especially as people started to go red. but no one really knew what that meant. reactions to scar's attempts at gaining monopolies included 'oh so THAT's how it's gonna be' and 'oh crap maybe I should have thought of that'. Meanwhile impulse's attempts at being everyone's friend was met with 'look at you trying to get along with everyone' and 'shouldn't you join a team?'

Scar and Impulse prioritized both resources (the monopolies and the villagers) and friendship (trading reputation and using favours to make others indebted to you). And they did this from day one. By the time others realized how important this was, they were on their back foot (cleo gets scammed, tango ends up on his own, scott and jimmy realize they are no longer on a cooperative server anymore.

the possible exception might be Ren, who seemed to know that this was going to be how to play the game but just was kinda…not good at it, at first. he got something everyone needed, but didn't leverage it well for the first few eps. he got friends but it was mostly martyn's idea to team up to pay his debts

anyway the scene that made me kinda appreciate the whole 'these are the ones who know how this is gonna go down' thing was the moment when tango (having just travelled and gotten all the gossip from around the server) mentions to impulse 'hey I just got scammed by Scar, so did cleo and I think etho. he's giving out bullshit friendship points, don't fall for it' and Impulse just goes FRIENDSHIP POINTS‽‽ and RUNS over to the desert. even though he knows it's been used as a scam. he even goes 'has scar stolen a chestpiece yet? i'll give him mine'. everyone else goes in wanting one thing and leaving with friendship points instead, but impulse wants the points. it's the moment you realize he wasn't just being friendly to be nice, that he didn't take over the villager breeding just for cheap gear. Scar sets a precedent for the whole server many times. the first death, the first red, the first resource hog. death can happen easily, people may be hostile to you, having access to important things can make or break your run. but impulse has been slowly showing off the same skills scar has, right from the beginning. they both knew the stakes better than everyone, they both knew how the factions would engulf the server, they both understood the value of things right from the beginning, and didn't have to be shown.

[mdhwrites]

Zenless Uses Mechanical Pacing/Styling Like Red Dead 2 Used Animation Speed

I think something a lot of people agree with about ZZZ is that it feels cozy. That it feels like a place you'd want to hang out at. That you want to try hitting up Godfinger, or get to watch Mr. Chop at work first hand too, etc. like that. I would argue this is far and away more true than even with a lot of other gacha games... But why? Nothing ZZZ does is revolutionary after all so what allows it to cultivate this vibe?

It is in the pacing of everything. The fact that when you spend too much time grinding for materials, it kicks you out so your MC can take a nap. How a cutscene plays when you get coffee or a bowl of noodles. How instead of just going to a menu to access this stuff like with HSR's assignments, you have to go back to your own video store, talk to your Bangboo and assign them not to nebulous tasks but to making sure your business gets promoted. There is a flavor and texture to these things that is actually built of inconvenience that makes it not quite feel like real life but how one imagines real life in an anime world would be like. More fun, vibrant and exciting but you still do have to wait for your coffee to finish getting made.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is famous for doing something similar to this with its animations. So as to immerse you in its vibe, it makes everything take FOREVER. Not literally be the amount it would take in real life but evocative of that work. However, friction there adds weight to all of your actions. Adds to understanding the labors of Arthur Morgan. It is not meant to be cozy but at best cathartic, at worst like a proper day's work. That doesn't quite line up with ZZZ's goals, does it?

That's where the small touches come into play. You stay up all night gaming at the arcade? Hey, they have complimentary breakfast and free rooms for you to crash in. Your noodles aren't done in a regular manor but by an over the top demon man with mechanical arms. Even more purely mechanical, more numbers intensive things like crunching down equipment and making new ones is done in a music parlor where you listen to records on vinyl. What it evokes the most with all of this is the Gathering Hubs of Monster Hunter. The grand orchestration of the cat chefs, the endless line of metal and work at the blacksmith, etc. like that. None of it seems like work, at least in Monster Hunter World, but people doing it for the love of the craft and like we're all here for sport and entertainment, not because it's actually much of a hassle. This is why I know people, and I will often do it too, who still to this day watch the cooking animation for every meal in Monhun and I actually make sure to do it in ZZZ too to help make sure I still connect with this vibe.

BUT.

This is not a perfect goal. Not by any means. Part of how they have attempted to achieve this is through the pacing of mechanics. Everything needs a proper introduction that's metered out so as to avoid the game EVER feeling overwhelming. It also needs to be introduced with its own place in the world so if a place is locked off to a different area... Good luck. They did break this with the HIA Club but ONLY it and if they hadn't, it would have been another five hours, when it already takes a long time, to get to being allowed to use your energy in any way because of where it's located in the world. It also knows it can't introduce the grind up front which is why instead of getting to spend energy, the game's first activities on Sixth Street are eating noodles and playing Snake Eater with Billy at Godfinger. It's introducing mechanics but it's prioritizing vibe over mechanical usefulness. It is a mixed blessing because it's trying to get you invested first like it should but it's struggling to know how to pace that.

I think this is part of why there are so many level gates in 1.0's content. You have to get to level THIRTY. SIX. to clear the main story. That's over half the account levels in the entire game. However, if they didn't slow you down, you'd never engage with the small side quests on the streets, or in the Hollows, that will help endear you to the setting and help solidify its tone before you're done with the main content. More charitably, it also tries to imply that ZZZ is a more chill experience. That it's not trying to rush you. Too bad that I kind of need to get to Proxy level 50 so I can max out my character levels and have any chance of clearing like ANY of the limited time Shiyu Defense content they've put out currently so that pressure is still being applied in places that are just copy and pasted from other Hoyo games.

It is messy and unique, like so much of ZZZ. I don't really say any of this as either praise or condemnation but just to dissect it. To see how it works because flourishes like these matter. Even in regular books, with no mechanics, the sort of strength of language, the shade of purple of the prose and what the story focuses on can cause different vibes. A soft, low stakes romance is probably going to spend a decent amount of time just with our two leads being in pleasant situations and not even panicking. A more whirlwind romance might make everything really intense to try and sell the emotion its going for. Meanwhile, something that's meant to be dramatic and teases to potentially end in tragedy will tinge most scenes with a small bit of intrigue and try to make sure the audience never really gets to sit entirely at ease, not until the calm before the storm that brings it all crashing down.

These are tools in your toolbox and your audience will like them or not. For me, I find them to be a mixed bag. Something I loved when there was a lot to do and now something that makes the time between patches feel more straining on my patience with the game. What are your thoughts though? Do you find ZZZ cozy or does the pacing frustrate you? And as always, see you next tale.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[noodledesk]

been doing some new year planning, so thought i should document a little and share how i like to plan out my years :) MUCH more detail under the cut 🌱💗 and a free template here if you like to use notion for this stuff!

overview 🌱

there are a couple of principles behind why i do this kind of yearly planning in one spot:

awareness — keeping yourself accountable for the goals you set at the beginning of the year

documentation — writing down stuff you’ve done so you can see what progress youve made towards goals. fun to look at

planning — makes it easier to plan your weeks and to be more intentional with how you’re spending time and enjoying life

how it works ✨

my yearly pages are sorted into a "goals" section, and a "records" section. one is forward looking, one is reflecting on stuff that's happened. i usually revisit this page at least once a month.

It doesn't have to be on Notion, but I prefer using a digital tool so things are easy to access. Paper-based is totally fine -- whatever works for you. The main point is to have a structure. Additionally, I don't really need to accomplish my goals, as long as I'm working towards them. However, setting ambitious goals for myself helps me make progress, and gets me excited about working towards them :)

goals 🌻

Whenever I have an idea of something I want to do, I put it down as a goal in this database. But my rule for myself is that, at any given time, I can only have five goals that I can focus on. I give myself double that amount as goals to maintain, to work towards them but without dedicating as much time to them. Then I have idle goals that I want to keep in my head and to work towards when I have the time and energy to, but otherwise don't make any real plans towards them.

After setting my goals (which are not time-bound, i.e. I don't have a specific deadline to achieve them), I set yearly milestones for the ones I want to focus on. These have an end-of-year deadline, and must be measurable so I can work towards them in a tangible way. Then I break the goal into 12 parts, so I have a measurable milestone to work towards each month. Each month, I look at my goal and divide it into weeks, so I know what I'd like to accomplish that week. I keep it pretty open-ended and flexible because life happens and is unpredictable.

I have other goals that I don't focus on as much. They're still important to me, but I want to prioritize the others. To avoid procrastinating and thinking about goals instead of working towards them, I've decided to keep it simple this year.

records ✍️

the next section is about writing things that made the year good — it’s a joy to look back on them every time i open the page and reminds me that there is a lot of joy in every day life, beyond just accomplishing stuff. every month i usually write down what i can think of under the following areas (keeping a diary helps for this):

i’m glad for: people, experiences, accomplishments, things, game changers — things that made your year really awesome

things i’ve been obsessed with — makes it fun to look at the things that took up a lot of your brain space

important things i learned & mistakes i made — for your realizations, understandings. over a year you’ll see how you’ve grown and changed.

that's pretty much it! hope it helps :)

[texasthoughtsaboutnothing]

Weird Question.

What does a good Limbus Company Tier List look like?

[Warning: Long]

Gacha games are, at least in part, games about optimizing limited resources. There is a daily stamina limit, and weeklies and dailies that you need to feed that stamina into. In turn, you receive an amount of rewards that need to be spent to acquire and upgrade units. Limited rewards. And you need so many just to upgrade one unit. Decisions need to made, resources allocated. You only have so much, you want to get and use the right stuff without wasting anything on someone you find out is trash 90 levels in. Right?

This is an aspect of Gacha that is often missed in discourse about pngs of anime waifus: the emotional and intellectual labor of investing into a unit, the constant worrying about if you are making the most optimal choices, and the satisfaction of planning well. How a lot of attachment to a character can stem not from their design or personality but just because they're all you had that countered this boss node and lord almighty they clutched out the win with 0.1% HP after you dumped all you had into raising them. I could talk about it all day, it' super interesting to me. But to refocus, the major consequence of this kind of game design are tier lists.

Tier lists will tell you, at a glance, what units are worth investing in and what's worth avoiding. Good tier lists will provide comprehensive explanations and guides for each unit to contextualize their placement. Bad tier lists won't. They can be the combined knowledge of an entire community for a game, they can also be an edict laid down without compassion or transparency. Again, absolutely interesting. And again, to refocus, Limbus doesn't really have one.

Ok, there are Limbus tier lists. Esgoo has great tier lists on which IDs and EGO you should prioritize when considering Uptie 4. Obviously those are his opinion, all Tier Lists are at the end of the day, but he has a whole hour of discussion covering the why's and hows of each category. There is a Prydwen tier list for units, but its rarely shown to new players in any of the PM communities I'm in and is instead largely chastised to my knowledge. I've seen Sinner tier lists, meme tier lists, so on and so forth. None of these are the Tier List.

Maybe its just a sign of the times, but I remember when Gachas had the Tier List. Community vetted, moderator approved, above any all all others. Offered freely to newcomers and watched feverishly by veterans after a new unit is released. Nowadays I feel like I rarely see them.

Limbus doesn't have the tier list. You may wonder if it even needs one and I think you'd have a point. Boiling an entire ID's value to a letter grade might seem unnecessary, especially as Limbus is a bit different as a Gacha. IDs are easy to get, and though the level cap continues to raise (in a way many others find alarming and I'm inclined to agree) it's still less than a week's effort to max one out. I've played games where it took a month of currency to get a single Unit useable. THere just isn't as much drive to worry about leveling the wrong things, investing incorrectly because basically anything works.

However.

There still are obvious differences in the strengths of each character ID. True, most if not all are "useable", but you're probably better off leveling Pequod Yi Sang than Seven Yi Sang. You are definitely better off leveling Pequod Ishmael than Sloshing Ishmael. Its fair to want a quick cheat sheet to communicate those ideas at a glance, with explanations for those who want to delve a little deeper.

But I ask again, what would it even look like?

By what categories and traits do we subdivide these IDs? How can you convey that W Ryoshu is a self sufficient DPS monster tahat requires no synergy to be good while Maid Ryoshu has AoE built into her kit as well as strong poise gen that also does good damage at a glance? Put one in an AoE group and the other in DPS? Is that truly accurate when part of attack weight is that it's great against Abnormalities, the most common type of one-on-one encounter?

I ask the question "what would it look like" because I truly don't know. Limbus is a complicated, evolving game. I don't think that makes it special or standout in any particular way, but for an example it could be that Seven IDs are top tier next event because of temporary buffs and that throws a whole tier list on its head. I don't know of many Gacha that do stuff like that.

That's kinda the end of the thought. The best I can come up with is a list consisting of three tiers: "great, good with the right team comp, and don't. Further explanation available upon request." That's not very helpful, is it?

[furinana]

Thoughts on Kaneko's departure, the current state of Megaten and etcetera

When scrolling through jpn Twitter, I got reminded of a certain Atlus survey from years ago. For those unfamiliar, Atlus surveys often wonder about how receptive people would be regarding derivative content (spinoffs, remakes etc) of several titles you could think of. Among those that would turn out real were Soul Hackers and obviously the Personas.

[Left: Nocturne, both SMTIV games and Digital Devil Saga as part of the selectable options for a "full remake title" in an Atlus survey from 2020. Right: Shigeo Komori's comment on the future of the franchise in 2022]

The good: the current staff (still) cares enough to attempt to shine a new spotlight on old entries even if some would be deemed less profitable for the current fanbase's standards. The hmm: with Kaneko gone and cementing that "the old days won't return", the shoes become large for newcomers to fit in. Even if one has soul behind the job, the current industry prioritizing long developments and less risky directions makes it tough for them to create even one third of what the original staff was able to do in the same amount of time. On top of it, seeing this huge list of "potential works to get rehashed" almost in a Disney remake vein isn't particularly exciting. SMTIVA was only 4 years old in that goddamn screenshot and you already are throwing the possibility of a remake? Hello?

Non-Persona stuff is so far in-between nowadays that it's hard to write a conclusive piece regarding how far the current staff can go without relying on already established works.

Well... we can comment on the mixed reaction on popular illustrator Shirow Miwa being hired for a "sequel" of Soul Hackers.

The main point of concern here: with one-time artists and non-centralized direction, it becomes harder to achieve a worldbuilding where the worlds of different games smoothly connect together like they did back in the golden era of Megaten.

Recurring characters like Lucifer or Tamaki felt appropriately part of the universe even across different games they were at due to Kaneko's design philosophy of sticking closely to real-life fashion aside having a character's personality and background closely define how they would look staying consistent in the entries he contributed to.

On the other hand, Shirow Miwa was specifically told he should just design on his own instead of working around Kaneko's style that molded the franchise to this day. The feeling that long-time Devil Summoner fans didn't like it due to aesthetic clash was on the air thus contributing on the motives for why the game couldn't grab a significant part of potential buyers.

Before going too deep on this, let's not get the wrong idea: non-staff illustrators being collaborators aren't at all new for Megaten titles. Yasuomi Umetsu for SMT Nine, Suzuhito Yasuda for the Devil Survivor duology, toi8 for Tokyo Mirage, Tatsuro Iwamoto for Dx2, the list goes on. But behind those entries, there's noticeably a lack of commitment prevalent in those decisions. Most are treated as self-contained worlds separated from the world of games Kaneko worked as the main designer, thus they're treated as their own thing instead of another part of the puzzle hence considered "safer to experiment".

Anyone can understand the amount of expectation that such a bold numbered title like Soul Hackers 2, in a subseries well-known for hit after hit like the Devil Summoner series carries above these, however.

Specially when one-time collabs have been shown to carry the risk of underperforming considerably.

[SMT Nine and Tokyo Mirage had the excuse of being in flopped consoles but how lenient can you be to Soul Hackers 2?]

Another recent example of mixed reactions (albeit to a minor degree) were the SMTIV-exclusive demons drawn by Tokusatsu media-related artists Keita Amemiya, Yoshihiro Nishimura and Kyouma Aki: most didn't reappear even for the SMTIV sequel and the few ones that leaped had to be redrawn by Doi, the actual staff artist that took over the role of main character & demon designer thus the face of the current mainline.

[Doi-designed demons such as Chironnupu or Mermaid are the sole examples of SMTIV reps carrying over to other games]

The thing is, SMTIV was the fastest-selling mainline game (even compared to big ones like Nocturne or SMTV) while Apocalypse sold enough to beat Strange Journey's sales. Did it sell well because of the collabs or despite them? Either way, they seem to have decided to stick with style consistency over quantity.

Doi worked under Kaneko for several years before being given the opportunity to produce original designs for the games thus the picture of a recurring staff artist that is deeply involved in how the franchise shaped itself and is well-acquainted with elements that both old and new fans want earns more trust and familiarity compared to one-time contributors.

[It's also important to acknowledge that Doi isn't the only artist retouching art for current Megaten around: Akira Odagaki was the one behind the remake of Strange Journey, with Doi only providing Alex and the exclusive demon additions]

While Kaneko's resigning was understandably a shock for many fans, one cannot argue against his desires towards a career path of more freedom, considering the unstable state that many creatives go through in the game industry, veterans and greenhorns alike:

Is Kaneko a misunderstood genius that Atlus was extremely foolish to let go? Or is he out of touch and will be another Keiji Inafune/Yuji Naka case? Only time will tell. But both things can be true

As a sidenote, Kaneko's interest in shady business practices feels similarly disconnected from reality as something Ishida said in the Soul Hackers 2 interview:

[Nevermind doxxing, bots taking over or drones killing innocent people, guys. Technology turned out to be completely harmless]

What else do we have left?

When talking of style consistency and thought-provoking worldbuilding ties to other titles, mainline SMT as of now stays as the one thing I have been interested on even when under a different team.

SMT5 went through the shortcoming of being another unfinished debut release requiring an inhanced version to truly shine its full potential (which is unfortunate for day1 fans but then again, Nocturne was fully guilty of this for three times).

Kaneko is irreplaceable. But I also enjoy Doi's contributions (alongside Yamai's and Kozuka's) and given the appropriate time and budget, I believe in the potential that the staff responsible for the latest SMTs has in building ground on their own, even regarding new ways of twisting expectations of long-time players and extending the world of SMT to bigger horizons instead of plain soft resets in the continuity.

And at the end of the day, other members of the original staff exist beyond Kaneko and are amazingly receptive to keeping on celebrating the franchise such as Tsukasa Masuko (that recently released a new soundtrack arrangement for Megami Tensei 1&2 funded by Kickstarter) or of course, original franchise creator Aya Nishitani himself that often deepdives into Megaten worldbuilding concepts and theories to the franchise on his Twitter account, even going as far as translating for free the last book of the Megami Tensei novel trilogy for the enjoyment of English-speaking fans.

[mylordshesacactus]

Okay, but camapign check in questionnaires genuinely sound awesome. What kinds of other questions do you typically put in them?

Well, there's really no "typically" because this is my first time DMing, but: Only things that are actually important to what I need to plan for the future of the campaign.

(Also, while I totally get the advice to include "what don't you like/what are your least favorite parts of the campaign", I've found from being on both sides of that question that it doesn't tend to get me anything usable. If there's sessions that dragged a bit, I already know that and they know I know it--and also, these are my friends and we're playing a game together for fun. They don't want to complain. It's more useful for everyone to focus on what they want to see more of! If there's something literally no one mentions, it probably wasn't their favorite.)

It's also useful to focus on stuff that's reasonably specific while still open-ended. Like, "what do you want to see more of?" is SUPER broad. The questions I had instead were:

What's something you hope will happen before the end of the campaign? (This can be anything from a spell you hope you get to use, to a plot thread you want to learn the end of, to a specific kind of emotional/character moment.)

Everyone's characters have grown immensely. Other than the immediate "halt the apocalypse", how would you describe your character's personal goals now? (If it helps, you can describe how similar or different it is from when they started.)

What have been your favorite moments of the campaign so far? What would you like to have more of?

and then of course the Greatest Fear question, which is relevant to the next part of the campaign for reasons. Obviously I won't say what those are because my players are on here, but also, it's the faewild, I'm sure they expected there to be SOME kind of mindfuckery as they get closer to confronting the Queen of the Fae.

But you'll notice--those questions are positive, they have clear purpose, and they're actionable.

(This is where the many years of therapy training come in tbh. If you're setting goals, make them measurable, make them positive--not "what do you want to avoid" but "what would feel right"--and make them something you can actually do something about as the DM.)

These tell you lots of valuable things about your players and their priorities! I got a really useful mix of practical "I REALLY want to be able to use this really situationally specific ability/class feature in a meaningful and cool way now that we're higher level" and roleplay-heavy "I really want revenge/closure/to be able to build something when this is over" responses.

And those things will also help me in the event of a PC death--obviously when discussing the legacy a dead player character leaves behind it should be mostly the player making that call! But knowing what their player thought was most important about their story helps me know how to handle it in the moment--what to prioritize in narration, how to describe their death if I have to.

I think also as a player it's always valuable to think about these things periodically as well! I'd also suggest having at least a vague idea of what death would look like to your character--I have a few characters for whom that's extremely clear (Benny, Atri of course) and a few where I have no idea (Rinda especially, but also Lorne and Sedge) and in the moment, it can be a boon to your DM for you to actually have an answer for "what do you want this to look like".

[gogolstoelicker]

You don't have to do this if you don't want to, but I noticed that with the TWST Dazai!MC prompt you didn't say anything about how the Dorm Leaders might react to their multiple attempts at suicide, and just, I'm curious.

However if you feel that that's to heavy of a topic, well, I am curious how to Dorm Leaders and Vice Dorm Leaders would act around a Fukuzawa!MC! Especially Lilia because dad to dad communication lol.

Dorm leaders + vice dorm leaders with a Fukuzawa!MC

notes: honestly i think i mostly just forgot to wrote abt the dazai!mc multiple attempts💀im sure the mc will get their ears pulled if the dorm leaders found out tho

•dont ask if theyre occ, i barely played the game now LMFOAOAOAOAO

•also, if the parts are somehow a mess again, pls point ur fingers at tumblr. i have no idea how to fix this thing😔

You're a serious person, capable of maintaining your calm expression at every time. You prioritize the welfare of your subordinates or friends before anything else.

You are not one to hesitate seeking help from someone, especially if it's someone you know. While you're emotionally reserved and impassive, you have quite the scathing sense of humor.

Riddle:

•he's not one to be intimidated but your aura really scare him sometimes that he actually flinched😥

•but other than that, hes fine with u!!

•you're reliable and is really independent (unlike ur friends thats from his dorm🙄esp ace)

•when he got to know u and u guys started getting close, he finally got to witness ur... humor💀

•he's fine with it since its not like u joke often anyway💀💀

•but sometimes ur jokes makes him competitive😭😭can u blame him tho⁉️⁉️

•"you're getting better at being a dorm leader" "thank-" "not better than me tho"

•LIKE YOU SAYING THAT TO A SCHOOL FULL OF VILLAINS. YOU SHOULD EXPECT AT LEAST HALF OF THEM TO FEEL COMPETITIVE OVER IT

•feel this small sense of pride whenever u go to him and ask him for some help

•like wow this person who's very independent and rarely show emotions is asking ME for help????

•speaking of ur emotions, he went😰⁉️at how quickly u gave up at smth bc its cute (example: grim or cats in general)

•one time grim accidentally burned some bushes in the heartslabyul's garden and u were glaring at him

•so grim look at u with these shiny eyes asking for forgiveness

•and u instantly forgave him💀

•riddle was the witness to all this

•WHEN U PULLED OUT A RANDOM CAT TREAT FROM UR SLEEVES, HE WENT😱😰⁉️‼️

•WHY U KEEPING CAT TREAT IN THERE.

Trey:

•kind of glad there's someone like u with the adeuce duo💀

•can u blame him tho? someone needs to watch over those two (plus grim)

•he is quite thankful that you're the way u are tbh

•bc like not only can he ask u for help

•he also feel kind of relieved when he saw the duo getting punished by u instead of riddle for causing troubles (give riddle some rest man)

•he actually noticed ur soft spot for cute stuff🤔

•bc like he noticed u feeding random cats u found bc they're cute (all cats are cute fight me)

•or that time u instantly forgave grim just bc he gave u those shiny eyes thats cute💀

•so he made these treats with cute decorations just for u

•like when u got invited to a unbirthday party or if its ur birthday

•ur face still looks like this😐 but ur hands were busy taking pics of the treats

•and u hesitated touching the pastry since u don't wanna ruin it😭😭

•he thinks its kind of cute and surprising honestly💀

•he wants to tease u but uh ur aura is kind of intimidating😭sorry man

•btw he caught u pulling out some cat treats from ur sleeves while he was walking to the cafeteria💀

•he didn't catch u do so the first time u feed the cats in front of him btw

•he went🤨⁉️

• "u... u keep cat treats there?!?"

•well he just... add it into the list of things that makes u weird but in an endearing way???😭😭

Leona:

•smelt cat treats on u the first time yall met and was wondering if that was what u ate for lunch😭😭

•hey u can't blame him for thinking like that💀why'd u smell like different kinds of cat treats

•and then u pull out some cat treats from ur sleeves for him

•get it? bc hes a lion

•and lions are big cats

• and u like cats

•and u kind of see his ears and go 😐✨

•leona: 🤨😟

•kind of avoids u for that HELP

•spotted u feeding random cats u found with the cat treats u kept in ur sleeves everytime he went to find a nap place

•he sighed but he left u alone

•honestly? he thought you'll be more like riddle or smth bc of ur usual facial expressions😭

•so when u pull this shit he just go🧍🏻‍♀️

•this is the guy i can see ur humor target everytime🎯💀

•he kind of have the same humor as u so like🤔🤔 unexpected match made in heaven???

•but it kind of looks like an argument sometimes to the people around u so uh💀

•well until leona laughs that is

•and u have that small rare smile on ur face

•leona is ashamed to admit he laughed at ur joke😔

•lowkey proud hes the first one to make u smile tho💀

Azul:

•bold of you to assume azul would be intimidated

•students are scared of HIM (his payment)

•and bc he's been around the tweels so much, ur aura had no effect on him

���probably accidentally made u mad with his first contract😥😥

•man was trying so hard to survive then bc u were threatening to pull out ur sword

•and u had this scowl on ur face💀

•it was not a fun experience

•thank the seven u let him off

•(ngl saying thank the seven makes it feels like I'm thanking 707 💀)

•well it is now half fun being with you

•half because u would stop him if he ever thought about making some students work for him in some slave contract again

•(he won't again btw he is a new man‼️(in a way))

•the other half is because you're actually so much fun to be around

•all because of all ur weird quirks💀

•even azul couldn't guess what you would do next

•saw ur soft spot for felines and it got the gear in his head spinning

•"hm🤔maybe if i give the prefect a cat they would let me off again🤔"

•tried and is pretty successful💀

•now he knows how to get u to instantly forgive him

•offered to make u a high quality bag so u can put ur cat food in instead of ur sleeves💀

•u said no btw

•yes, it was because it definitely wasn't free

Jade:

•definitely not scared

•he is the one you should run from

•but instead u gave him this stern look

•so he is very interested

•you're literally his new test subject /hj

•bothers u daily

•all because u run into each other pretty often

•if u want to ask if jade did it on purpose or if it's actually an accident, i am not able to answer

•ran into u one time when i saw a cat

•was about to greet you until u pulled out some cat treats💀

•well congrats? he was genuinely flabbergasted

•like huh🤨😮⁉️the stern and always serious prefect have some cat treats with them⁉️

•no wonder u smell like cat treats💀

•makes it a mission to tease u about it everytime

•u going "so what🤬it's for cats😤"

•you're genuinely so interesting for him💀

•goodluck staying alive with him hot on ur tail ig

Kalim:

•he does get intimidated but not for long

•it goes from like "yikes u kinda scary but hi" to

• "HI HOW'S UR DAY"

•and it lowkey reminds u of ur coworkers so u just let it be

•like kalim is clinging onto ur back and is just hanging by ur neck?

•sure you're strong enough to hold the both of u up anyway

•he suddenly dragged u to a random party he hosted?

•this is fine.

•remember the concept for today? cat foods in sleeves? yes.

•he saw that. he def saw that

•i highly doubt theres no cats with how many animals he brought in sometimes

•so u can already tell just WHAT happened when u come across one

•kalim is very 🤨WOAH😧‼️‼️

•which almost scares the cats and thankfully didn't

•asked a lot of question which he only gets like a one sentence answer of

•notices ur fondness of cats + he always dragged u to visit scarabia anyway

•so guess who have a lot of cats in the dorm now btw😂🙏‼️ #BLESSKALIM

Jamil:

•the one begging through tears and snot to not have that many cats in the dorm

•spoilers: someone didn't listen!!

•so now he may or may not be a catsitter once youre away from the dorm

•also makes u regularly visit the dorm bc its partly ur fault there's so many cats there now anyway

•u dont seem to mind so he takes it as an absolute win

•yes, he absolutely knew abt the cat foods under ur sleeves

•he does not care as long as it does not give him more troubles

•if anything he encourages it since he barely have to take care of the cats because of u

•also, u make his job easier since u naturally help kalim if needed

•which is getting him out of the consequences of his own shenanigans which jamil is very thankful for

•more rest for him + time to rebuild his reputation

•u helped him around in the kitchen here and there too so he is very thankful☺

Vil:

•is pretty neutral honestly??? u look like any other person to him

•except not too ugly, not too eye catching

•youre a perfect middle PLS

•idk if yall can even have a convo

•if yall ever did talk its probably just vil talking and u nodding with some verbal answers here and there

•well its nice having someone hear u talk sometimes so he doesn't mind🙏‼️

•fusses abt the cat fur on ur clothes i bet

•"DIDN'T I JUST HELP U CLEAN THAT UP HOW COME YOU SUDDENLY HAVE MORE CAT FURS"

•and rhen rook came in and snitched on u

•gave u a perfume for ur birthday bc u smell of cat food💀

•theres that one image in my head and i canr stop thinking abt it I'll google later

•update: I CANT FIND IT SO BAVE THIS INSTEAD ITS VERY CLOSE

•a non verbal action of u stink!!

•/HJ

Rook:

•weapon partners??? 😳🥺😚

•i mean who else brings their weapon around campus other than the two of u💀⁉️

•he can watch ur back with his arrow i forgor❤‍🔥u can idk close combat idk anything abt fighting❤️

•so fire couple🔥🔥🔥 /JOKE

•rook is an empath so u can tell he is EXTREMELY affected by the greatness of ur aura /j

•shining eyes, cupping his face, meek voice following u around /j

•I'm using /j alot for rook help

•whenever u went to feed the kitty, he just starts to LOUDLY praise u

•that scared the cats away NOOOO😢

•u almost sliced him off

•rook did apologize at least LMFOAOAOAO

•he even almost went to hunt the cats back down for u until u stopped him

•pls dont kill him

Idia:

•saw it through the cameras and absolutely supports the idea

•like yes!!! show him ur geniusness of how to get cats to get near him more!!

•"that is a very good idea bc not only will the cats get near me more because of the smell of cat food, but I'll also be able to make sure they won't be hungry. yES, i TH-"

•leave him be he hasn't slept in like a week

•bonus point for u he thinks you're very cool and he's more than willing to let u be his friend☺🙏

•but unfortunately that will never happened bc u are very intimidating and he does not like that^^!! esp since u look like you're 0.1 sec away from murdering someone^^!!

•and unfortunately, he jinxed himself

•ortho heard everything and absolutely snitched to u so yall could be friends

•u couldn't refuse ortho hes too cute

•so guess who's stucked with idia trying to think of a convo!!

•its ok a cat walked past and yall started bonding over that little furball

•yknow the cat ladies club LMFAO

Malleus:

•had this one intense staring contest with each other but its really just you guys trying to find what to say to each other

•its ok sebek lowkey saved yall

•by yelling at u btw

•"HOW DARE U ONLY STARE AT THE GREAT MALLEUS LIKE THAT, U HUMAN!! CAN'T U SEE HOW GREAT AND PERFECT HE IS?!?! YOU SHOULD BE-"

•so true i would also worship the ground malleus walks on anyway

•he got cut off so good for ur ears!!

•"sebek stop😐" "yeah stop😐"

•aww look at u two bonding already!!

•no conversation starts after that btw its back to silence woops ig

•well i mean someone did talk at least after a few mins of just walking in silence and the three of u suffocating in it!!

•its just u going "oh what are those?" at a uh how do u spell gorgalous gorgaylous gogalus wait lemme google ok i think its gargoyle😥☺

•anyways u asked so now hes ranting abt every single knowledge he have of them

•youre quite interested so y'all became friends in no time!!

Lilia:

•he sure do love humans and their unique quirks!

•he was on his way to his class one time when he saw u from afar

•u were crouching and all so he was pretty interested in what was holding u up esp since its class time

•thankfully with his super amazing beautiful 1480p quality eyes, he was able to see what u were doing even when he was so far away from u

•which was pulling out cat treats for some random strays u found and probably attract with how u smell

•he was so amused he appeared on top of u

•not likr a handsome male lead "hey bbygirl" being on top of u but

•like "what you got there."

•and just kind of hovers on top of u

•u almost attacked him btw but shh

•he is very interested in u:D!! as a friend AND someone who he will tease for a long time

•since when are we friends? u may asked from afar but he ignored u

•he can be in diasomnia dorm and u can be in the ramshackle dorm and he can still see everything

•that was a joke btw hes no creep and i highly doubt peepaw can see THAT far anyway(i think) •anyways u cant complain but u may or may not found urself in one of their tea times

•malleus isnt there. he forgor /j

•but hey yall have a pretty great time during the entire tea time!!

•peepaws bonding time💋💘💕

[phightinghottakes]

I see a lot of people saying that phighting story is bad bc the devs keep adding new stuff instead of expanding the pre existing lore, and while I do agree that having not a lot of lore available can be frustrating, u guys need to understand that phighting is in ALPHA. A lot of the world-building/characters are gonna be underdone at the moment because of this. The current plan from what I’ve read is to finish making 26 phighters before starting on story mode, which should reveal most if not all the lore. On top of this, soda is writing a comic to reveal a lot of other lore related things that won’t be relevant in game. Another thing is that last I checked (correct me if im wrong), phighting currently only has 3 DEVS working on the ENTIRE GAME. I think that’s crazy!!!!!!! the dedication to make a whole ass game with 3 people of this quality without getting paid just for funsies is insane!!!!!!

It’s ok to point out the worldbuilding flaws but I think it’s kinda annoying to point them out when a lot of the worldbuilding isn’t actually there. That’s like critiquing a half baked pie. It’s not finished yet!!!! And, personally I think it’s really cool and actually a good thing that they’re prioritizing the actual game instead of the lore. They’re adding new characters to make the game better, and the lore for all of them will be expanded eventually. Also also, if they were to finalize the lore now, they wouldn’t be able to add new stuff at all!!! Adding new characters is kinda the best thing they can do until they start on story mode. I think it makes perfect sense esp from a game developing stand point. Rushing them or telling them to work on lore is just kinda redundant and unhelpful. They’ll get to it eventually and I’d rather have a good game than sooner lore reveals. I think it speaks to the integrity of the devs (game development wise, ik soda defended a groomer 💀) for them to continuously put the quality of the game over the lore for it. Not saying you can’t have both but again, if they started finalizing and honing in on lore rn they wouldn’t be able to add new stuff later. also like,,,not trying to say u can’t criticize the game but at the end of the day this is their project, they can take their time with it and write the story however they want, and some of y’all need to sit the phuck down cuz I’m tired of seeing lectures attacking the devs for honestly good design choices. At the end of the day phighting is currently a pvp game, not a story game, so the lore shouldn’t be their first priority at all anyways?? And really, I hate when ppl say that bc I think we all know how much the writing can make or break a game and how important it is, but u guys are being way too serious about this, esp since the devs already plan on adding more lore. This level of criticism is srsly unjustified imo. Even if they gave up development all together (it is a passion project afterall), I still think they would’ve made a great game and it definitely wouldn’t have fallen into the issue of adding too many new features without expanding upon the main stuff. Everything added so far seems to just be improvements. This even applies to choices outside of the lore. ok this rant was long lol oops ily take care

Hate to break it to you but they canned story mode sorry

Now we have to get all the lore from my least favorite character (Broker)

[darkcircles4lyfe]

fyi: I’m staying away from leaks

If you want to know my thoughts about recent events, here they are:

So idk if I’ve ever mentioned this before, but when I started watching and reading bnha I made a point not to engage with the fandom until I was caught up, because I didn’t want spoilers. When I finally made it to the current chapter, it was around the end of the first war. That’s when I started looking at what other people were saying, and that’s when I found out about when/where leaks were. I’ve been tuning in ever since, for a few reasons that I only rarely stop to interrogate. First and foremost: I’ve liked the extra time to prepare what I want to say if the chapter contains a major revelation or cliff hanger I want to write about. It’s satisfying to punctuate my Sunday morning with a fully fleshed out essay I can immediately post. Then of course it’s also fun to participate in the Moment that leaks create, especially because they unfortunately tend to make the officials feel like an afterthought. And let’s not lie to ourselves—a major reason we tune in is because of FOMO. Everyone else is doing it. You don’t want to be left out of the conversation and not know what’s going on. I especially wanted to know ahead of time about lines that might get butchered in the official English translation. It was nice knowing that Horikoshi didn’t write that “Swiss cheese” line, right? These are some understandable reasons.

But since the routine got disrupted a little, I kinda got slapped in the face with enough clarity to start asking myself: what would I actually get the most enjoyment out of? Because when I heard the (now outdated) news that leaks were no more, I was actually relieved. So. That’s cause for some reflection. I’m like, man, what if I did tune out of social media entirely, wake up on Sunday, have my nice little home cooked breakfast, and read the new chapter for the first time over a cup of tea. What if I experienced the surprises as I turned the page and they stared me in the face, with Horikoshi’s beautiful artwork in HD.

Sure, I’d need to catch up after the fact if there’s any translation fuckery, but that’s okay. That’s doable. Bless the folks who take the time to comb through the Japanese and explain the nuance to everyone else. This is tangential, but I’ve also started thinking even more about how satisfying it would be to edit my own versions (for personal use only of course). That’s a… long-term goal, but maybe it’ll take care of my annoyance with the ‘official’ blunders and bad dialogue. The point is, idk if making myself aware of that stuff should be my #1 priority, above even reading the chapter in the first place. If anything it just makes me more pissed off and fixated on what might be wrong. Which is valid… but distracting. I should prioritize having fun as much as I can.

The other thing is, I’m kind of a social media lurker anyway. I don’t say much in the moment, and I don’t post often. On twitter I mostly just engage in other people’s comments. And it’s not like thousands of people are waiting to hear what I think. Like I said, my personal incentive is to get a head start on analyzing so I can pull together a long, thoughtful response in a more timely manner. But I don’t have to do that. I might as well just embrace my cryptid tendencies—you get my two cents whenever I feel like crawling out of my well.

I don’t want to moralize this whole thing, ask you to think about how the sausage gets made, but I will say I’m looking forward to finding out about big moments without seeing them in the form a short summary tweet first. I mean, c’mon… leakers know how to build hype to an extent but it’s still no substitute. It’s like listening to a sportscaster on the radio instead of watching the game. As we get closer to the end, I just want to savor it!

[elfhunk]

hi! i just wanted to say that all of your stuff on exercise and having a good relationship with your body has been really nice to read on my dash.

i've been trying on and off for the last few years to get myself back into a consistent exercise routine that i enjoy (COVID happened, stuff in my life happened, etc.) and i think that both your perspectives + obvious love of the gym are really helpful as motivation.

if i can ask a question: do you have any advice on developing a consistent, realistic schedule and sticking to it? (of course, while still being okay if things come up and change what you can do.) for me, i think one of the reasons i fell out of my routine is that my work/social/life obligations have changed a lot in the past few years. so i've been struggling to figure out where to slot in time for exercise when it feels like there's always something else i could or "should" be doing.

also, thanks for all the fun warframe stuff! i haven't played in ages because of the aforementioned obligation time crunch, but it's also really cool to see what you're doing in the game. my playstyle and preferred warframes were pretty opposite to yours, so i really had no clue that you could do a lot of the things you've shown off.

thank you! i'm glad it's having the desired impression on the other side. i used to think posting about it or deigning to enjoy brief moments of self-indulgent flexing was gauche when i've only put in the bare minimum of effort since i started lifting in 2020... but... uh...

when we only see images of people who have been kissed by perfectly specialized genetics and have dedicated a huge amount of their time, money and resources to it and have these immaculate perfectly proportioned bodies?

that only makes the body dysmorphia madness worse for all of us? especially when so many of those images aren't given context... or disclosing who is and isn't using certain drugs. 🫠

anyway, my handy tool in all of this is a thing i picked up as a habit from sexologist and all around wonderful woman dr. lindsey doe a long, long time ago:

a want, will, won't list.

although in this instance of teaching it was being used to discuss sexual activity, it's how i end up thinking about basically any major decision or lifestyle change.

time just is not infinite! you cannot do it all! there is going to be compromise!

these kinds of tools are a great way to help your brain organize your conflicting thoughts and set boundaries for yourself.

so, i don't know your brain or what accommodations you need, but i hope this framework might help you start figuring it out?

how many hours, total, do you want to spend a week?

how much time on strength training?

how much time on cardio?

how many individual days a week?

what are you willing to change about your existing schedule?

what won't you change under any circumstances?

would you be willing to buy some home equipment?

pay for a different gym that's closer by?

would you want to take a class or pay for a trainer?

do you have friends who would want to pursue this with you?

there's a ton of resources published by actual personal trainers on how to structure a full body workout into a given week for people with every possible permutation of schedule availability if you look for them.

as mentioned before, i've actually been having a horrible time at the gym this year. my appetite is shot, my energy is gone, and i've just been unable to prioritize it. part of my own journey with this has been acknowledging where there's necessary compromise. i've had to spend more time working on my brain than my body this year, and that's okay.

i can show myself kindness while still trying to problem solve. i can make cooking meals easier, i can budget for more accessible options, i can go maybe 2-3 days a week instead of 3-4 like i used to.

to facilitate this, i've also been trying to focus even more on the immediate benefits of this work.

focusing on minor aesthetic differences you won't see payoff for months or years just isn't particularly motivating?

but when i've had a long day and i just desperately need an hour or two to focus on something physically demanding that requires my full attention? where i get to walk away feeling physically exhilarated and accomplished, even if i was no where near my PR?

that's self care, baby! we all understand how important that is!

your body is truly just too stupid to care about the long term goals. it will just feel really good, and much better than it did an hour before even if the actual performance of that session was mediocre.

apologies for another full essay a response!

again, i truly just don't know your life or your circumstances, so i can only provide broad strokes... but i hope this at least gives some scaffolding to begin tackling the issue with some kindness to yourself as you re-calibrate.

[willing-but-not-able]

So, Tears of the Kingdom didn't exactly hit the mark in the story department. I'm glad I'm not alone as I usually am in these cases.

So, after some consideration, I decided to try rewriting the story right after I finished it a whole 200 hours after

I already did this exact same thing with Pokemon Sword and Shield, but just plotted the whole thing out and never wrote any of it because I figured no one reads my shit lol so I'm just going to do the same here, plot out what I feel would have been better and probably never write it... Unless you guys really like it and give me some support/motivation, seriously a comment goes a long way.

Anyways, I'm also writing a origin story for Ganon since he's bae a really unique Ganon but he was watered down to an OOT clone, lame 😒

! Major Spoilers for Tears of the Kingdom !

You have been warned.

So, the beginning of the game isnt going to start inside Hyrule castle. Instead, this is roughly five years after BOTW and Zelda and Link are traveling around on yet another job Zelda is fixated on. She asks Link to join her in exploring Hyrule to find a suitable place for a school.

The Calamity just wasn't a thing in totk and that doesn't make any sense if it was an event that just happened. I wanted it to at least be mentioned and be a major thing affecting Hyrule even now, years later.

After a leisure stroll to some of the more major and centralized locations, Zelda settles on Hateno, but she also wants to find a good teacher. Someone who knows about Hyrule's history, is heavily involved in their present affairs, and will be in their future events 🤔💭😮

A Sheikah!

So, Zelda asks you to find someone from Karakiko village who would fit the bill. A short tutorial trip later and now everything is in order.

Zelda then gives Link a few other tasks:

Find a carpenter to build the school

Travel out to Lurelin Village to become more acquainted with the growing sea village

And to get some food for a mysterious request.

Link, of course, doesn't have to do the top two, but the last one is a main mission. After getting 10 apples, some honey and making a meal, Link returns to Zelda's home and she explains what the food was for.

Now that things are settling down, I think it's time we repair the castle. I didn't want to prioritize it in case anyone needed assistance, but things seem to be calm enough for us to start planning the castle's rebuilding. I even found the perfect companion to carry all our things!

Btw does anyone else remember a trailer where Link and Zelda had a Dondon with them? Like what tf happened to that? 😭

Anyways, this could also be a little romantic moment for Link and Zelda. I personally don't like Zelink in this game, but for those who do, something could be here, a little spark if you will.

The pair rests for the day and plan to head out right when the sun comes out. Link and Zelda make their way to the castle and try and assess the damage and what work would need to be done. In doing so, Zelda finds a strange hole that seems to connect somewhere. Her curiosity gets the better of her and she slips down to check it out, with no way out, Link joins her in an attempt to help them escape.

They travel down the stairs and find the grave of Hyrule's first King and wonder what the slab means by the castle acting as a seal.

Now here is where I would put the beginning of the game. Everything can happen like it does with no changes. This includes the Great Sky island as well.

So, once Link finds a way back to the surface, he sees that things are different than what he remembers. The strange stones falling from the sky are a sight for sure. He heads over to the nearest stable and the owner explains what's going on.

I know it's been a while, but this stuff should be fresh in all our minds. Well, I still don't see how I'm even used to it. The Upheaval--as those researchers call it--was some strange event that occured and lifted Hyrule Castle straight into the sky and made those islands appear as well. I don't know much more than that, but those researchers set up a temporary base camp near the castle, they're the ones who would know more than I do.

The Upheaval just seems to have been an event that no one cares about. They're like "lol yeah that happened, but you wanna hear about Pony Points!??!!"

Link, informed of what's going on, makes his way to find out more and travels to the base camp. There, everyone is still shook that he's alive and everything that happened. He meets up with Purah and she explains her and Robbie discovered some strange entries and features in the Sheikah slate. As a result, with how much it was heavily modified, they decided to rename it to the Sheikah Pad. Yes, I'm not a fan of the name Purah Pad.

This strange text seems to have just appeared here. I can't read it, but there's a man who can possibly decipher it. Too bad I've been busy trying to go and ask for his help.

Why not let me do it? <

Of course I thought of you, but both you and Zelda were missing. I was more concerned with keeping that on a need to know basis.

Zelda is missing? <

Yeah, you both just disappeared and since you were heading to the castle, we came here to see if you would return. Anyways, now that you're back, it would be a really big help if you could take this to Kakariko Village. There's a man named Tauro there who could probably figure out what any of this means.

Then, The Thunderhead Isles quest gets placed here like normal. The four corners of Hyrule aren't affected by anything yet, no Blizzard Rito village, infected Gorons, Mucked Zora's domain or Sand Shrouded Gerudo Desert. I'll explain why later.

Link is then introduced to Mineru, the sage of spirit, who introduces him to the Tears ('cause secret stones is a kind of dumb name with the game being called Tears of the Kingdom) and the power they hold when given to a sage. She then goes on to explain her history to Link and that they man they met was most likely Ganondorf, the Demon King.

In my time, me and five other sages attempted to defeat him... But he was too strong and easily lay waste to us. However, the sage of Light devised a plan and you are at the center of that plan. Together with the Master Sword and the Sages power, we should be able to finally defeat the Demon King!

Mineru gives Link the task of finding the other Sages, that she will be right by his side if he needs any guidance.

I'm changing when you get Mineru because the "true ending" of the game makes it like I'm supposed to care Mineru moves on. Like, I just met her and have little to no attachment. She's no Navi, Midna, Tatal, Spirit Zelda, Ezlo, Lineback, or King of Red Lions. They needed to give her more significance in the plot if they wanted me to care about her.

She does have something she needs him to do, but that can wait. She explains the different races of the Sages and tells him to find someone with great prowess within those races.

It's clear who Link needs to look for.

I wanna make a small note here. I honestly want to make the gameplay reliant in a certain order, for ex. doing Gorondia would be much easier if you already have Sidon, Gerudo Desert and The Lightening Temple would be easier with Tulin. Just so their near useless abilities could have more use. 'Cause we all know Tulin is useless unless you're in the air. I would have just liked it if the puzzles were more complicated and were harder without a certain sage there to make it 100x easier.

Link returns to Purah and details what he learned to her.

Well that couldn't have come at a worse time.

What do you mean? <

I mean, everywhere is experiencing mass events and it seemed to come straight out of nowhere. I don't know if you'll be able to get their help while these strange phenomenons are going on. Maybe if you help them first, we can go forward with this plan after.

So, in no particular order, Link sets out to help the four corners of Hyrule.

Now, I'm going to pause here and talk about the game progression for a moment. As much as I love the depths, it serves no purpose other than to hide Ganon away. Josha and her quests can all be sequence broken to hell considering I found every place she wanted me to go to years before she told me about them, and I even ignored the "Master Koga" quest and found Ganon entirely by accident (I'll never forget that btw, it was too funny). So, I wasn't sure what to do with it. I understand it's there so the story doesn't seem to pop out of nowhere; but with the way it is, it just seem poorly added to be sure the players can actually find Ganon if they didn't jump inside the Hyrule Castle Chasm like my crackhead ass did.

I really figured to have the depths give us more backstory on Ganon. My original original idea actually involved us playing three different stories (Link- the Main one, Zelda- the adjacent one, and Ganon- the opposite one) so if they're not gonna give us Ganon as something more than just the big bad villain guy, then this is the best I can think to add. The depths would serve as a way for you to learn more about the world Ganon lived in as there doesn't seem to be any Gerudo Statues so I could imagine Hyrule was like "ya'll hoes are evil. Gerudo who?" And that might have sent Ganon into a frenzy. Also, I'll add something at the bottom about Zelda's part. Back to the main story 👋

Link is successful in awakening the sages and getting them on board to defeat Ganon; but they're missing two. Mineru did say there were five including herself, but they only make up four.

This is what I needed your help with, Link. I'm a spirit and would serve you no good in this state. However, I was developing a body that I can control even in this form I'm in. Please, you have to find where the Construct Factory is and find my invention. This way, I can fight along side you all.

Note, I think Mineru's construct body is actual 🗑. I really only use it to break ore deposits and to reach crap that's too high. She's just too clunky and slow to be functional, so I thought of this instead. You would still collect each part (however you wanted too. Either one after each sage or all at once after all the sages) and these parts attach to Link. Her legs would allow Link to fall without damage (ik she can do that already, but you can't really fall with her. She just slides until a safe distance off the ground) and her arms would act as a power bracelet replacement allowing him to lift much heavier things he normally couldn't. What heavier things you ask, idk, maybe the devs should have the gimmick of the game actually apart of the gameplay instead of just in the open world.

Link descends in the depths and manages to find the place Mineru kept a secret from Ganon. Collecting the final sage.

They were still nowhere close to defeating him as the Light Sage was nowhere to be found and the Master Sword was still missing.

From high in the sky, a roar shook the earth forcing them look at the source. No matter how far away they were the sad feeling washed over Link as he stared into the sky seeing the strangely colored dragon.

A overwhelming feeling overcame him and before his very eyes he saw tears fall from the sky. Why was the dragon crying? Were those tears for the struggling Kingdom? There was only one way to find out.

For the Geoglyphs, I would just rewrite them entirely, half of them felt useless to get and like they didn't add anything I'm looking at you tea party. One of my main issues was Ganon saying Rauru was arrogant but like, we haven't seen that at all sooo... Anyways, if anyone wants to see how I would rewrite them, feel free to comment or reblog and write your own rewrites, I'd love to see them.

Link manages to find all the Geoglyphs and sees all the hardship Zelda had to face on her own. He gets one hint though and that's the lost woods.

That part would be the exact same, and lead to the Great Deku Tree telling you where the Master sword is.

In finding a way up to the light dragon, he discovers the Master sword and pulls it out. As Link does so, the dragon writhes in pain fighting against the feeling of the sword being removed. Though, soon, it calms and Link pulls out the sword releasing one final tear from the dragon.

You must protect them all!

Now, it's just to find where Ganon is. He's been hiding away this entire time, where was he?

You all talked about something called the Calamity?

Yes, I can't be sure, but it seems the man you all refer to is the same man born as our King years ago.

Strange that he has been reborn once already, but the form I know him is different than the one you all battled. If that's so, it's safe to assume he still resides in the place where he was sealed, only disturbed by the Calamity I would assume.

Mineru's assumptions seemed to be their only lead, so with everything together, Link travels into the Hyrule Castle Chasm and finds himself in the heart of the gloom.

At this point, the ending can play the exact same. Now, at least to me, the ending feels much more satisfying now that we're led into a path that allows us to feel strongly towards defeating Ganon cuz for me, totk didn't give a good enough reason--or a reason at all--for me to kill Ganon.

~Fin~

So, here's my final revisions to improve everything.

Rauru is a very strange character. He's the equivalent of a God and yet doesn't explain why he and his sister just drop to earth and take the throne. He's "arrogant" despite no scene of that ever being present and he does seem to be hiding something but the game cuts off before we can explore that. I think Rauru and Sonia shouldn't have been romantic lovers, but simply married for political gain. It makes their strangely forced romantic interactions make more sense (and come on political marriage was common in those times)

Raru should have been the "gray area" good guy. Ignoring Zelda when she tries to bring up legitimate concerns, dismissing Sonia when he feels there's nothing more to talk about and thinking his way is the best way to handle things. I don't mean for him to be a giant asshole, but he could simply not want to talk about things "until later" and later means it probably won't happen ever. That way Rauru could have the plot point that Ganon feels Rauru's laid-back mentality isn't how a king--or God--should act. So when push comes to shove, Ganon chose to shove. Exposing Rauru and his folly. This would make him less of an idiotic ruler who seems to have little to no urgency about an event he was told will happen.

Ganon had soooo much missed potential. Not only did we miss the chance to have him as an ally/anti-hero, but we missed the chance to get real backstory over how Ganon came to be how he is. I don't think the excuse of "he has evil in his heart" can work with a person who called someone arrogant. Ganon clearly has idealism and not knowing where it comes from kind of sucks. Also, he just was chilling in a hole when he could have come out and tried to kill me any time Misko distracted me with a bottle. Just sayin' 🤷

He just needed some characterization somewhere in the game and since the depths have the different tunics, maybe Ganon's history is preserved down there as well

As for Zelda, I have no idea why she just isn't being more assertive with mentioning that maybe, just maybe Calamity Ganon is related to the same man she says has evil in his heart. There's no need to "keep him close" because it's canon that he's evil, Zelda already knows Rauru. Listen to her start planning already 👏👏

Alongside this, her "sacrifice" held no impact because I 1. Already found out she was the light dragon way before I even did the Geoglyphs, and 2. Stopped caring when I found out ItS iRrEveRsIbLe. I guess Sonia and Rauru missed that one. Zelda just needed to keep the matured tone she had from the end of BOTW

To end things, let me say this rewrite is not saying the game is horrible. Totk is actually a favorite of mine, but it's my favorite because of what I can obviously see is there, but isn't reaching for one reason or another. This game's story is trying its hardest to be something, but it can't quite become what it wants to be.

I hope this game can find its Light Dragon someday.

If you read all of this, thanks. If I managed to five you something to do for a few minutes, I'm happy you got even that out of it ☺

Again, thanks for reading and Hyrule is awaiting you

[devsgames]

Why I Don't Prioritize Publishing to Itch.io

So if you've seen my promotional materials (trailers, media posts, portfolio, etc) then you'll have likely noticed I don't typically link my itch.io page all that much. In fact, whenever I make a call to action for people to wishlist/purchase my games it's almost always to my game's Steam page instead of itch. There's a few reasons for this.

Disclaimer: I love itch.io! I love that there's a platform that allows indie games, projects, and everything of all kinds on it. I love that it makes game publishing accessible and that it is an amazing avenue for charity work. I've always advocated people to use it and think it's an amazing resource that the games industry would be much worse off without. Please don't misunderstand this as me saying Itch.io is bad.

Also please bear in mind I'm coming at this as someone who funds all my games from profits from my other games, and seeks to keep 'this wheel of sustainable development' slowly churning. I'm coming at this from the direction of a digital gamedev who still needs to make a bit of a profit to help me continue to make works. My goals are different than someone publishing stuff for fun!

Organic Discoverability

In my experience on Steam your games will get people stumbling across them organically; there's 'related games' sections, 'your discovery queue', and special categories for things on sale etc. etc. etc. Based on metrics it does seem like an amount of traffic is discovering my work through these channels through Steam on a regular basis.

On the other hand, I think Itch's organic discovery rate is very low by comparison. Unless your game is in a popular category and people are likely to be actively searching for games of a similar type in the first place, I've found its extremely unlikely people will naturally come across your game. Itch has similar features to Steam for discoverability that no one really seems to use them - why this is I can't really say but I suspect it's a combination of having a smaller userbase, such a wide variety of games on the platform (in terms of quality and subject) and UX reasons with the site itself. Obviously this can be genre dependent (it seems like people organically discover Horror, Adult and TTRPG experiences most frequently).

This lack of discoverability can be extra bad news if you're someone who struggles to promote your work in the first place, as it means that people aren't going to 'stumble' on your work. In most cases I get the sense that unless you go to itch explicitly knowing what you want to play, the chances of someone discovering your game is very low. Obviously this isn't the be-all-end-all, but I've found it can be a good driver of residual sales and can definitely hurt people trying to get their work out there.

Underpricing

Itch has a culture of users undervaluing the experiences on it.

I suspect its a byproduct of being an open game platform for anything no matter the quality, inclusive of developers who just want people to see their work and don't want to put it behind a paywall, or don't value their work themselves.

Now I love free stuff and do strongly believe in making experiences as financially accessible as possible for anyone who wants to play them (because Capitalism is Evil). Ultimately though, if *everything* on a platform is free or discounted it tends to make anything that's 'premium' seem less appealing. Why play a game made by one person that costs $5 when there's a game made by three people that costs nothing?

Itch does have the benefit of low publisher split (which honestly I think they should change so they have more resources to support the site better) but even then that matters less if sales are just low in general.

Steam does contain mostly premium products and generally people who use Steam expect to buy things, so the prospect of paying for a game when you're explicitly looking for games to buy is less alien there.

And like blah blah blah economic stuff aside, if you're someone who is seeking to make sales this can make it difficult to make paid work be taken seriously when so few other games are paid. Granted the platform really is focused around short experiences and demos, but it does make it difficult to argue that premium experiences are worth publishing there.

Support

Itch support in general I find is frequently slow and lacking in some areas that make me uncomfortable. I was planning on using Itch for mailing keys for a crowdfunded project and discovered I needed to email support to get the feature enabled for my product. I did so but I didn't hear back for two weeks, and by then I had already found and distributed the keys by other means. In other instances I've reported content for harassment and never heard back or saw action taken.

I get that it's a small team working on a whole dang website, but sometimes these experiences add up in a way where I think that if anyone has hesitations about feeling safe online or with content they publish I wouldn't necessarily recommend itch as a publishing platform due to this.

As 'hands off' as Steam is with its publishing style, I typically hear back from them within 2-3 business days and I generally have pretty comfortable control over content people are publishing on my game. If someone leaves a hateful comment I have more confidence it will be addressed appropriately, which is something I don't take for granted online.

In Conclusion

At the end of the day: I just don't sell much on itch! Maybe it's for reasons aside from those listed above, but overall I just tend to get few engagements and even fewer sales.

Take Bombing!!: A Graffiti Sandbox for example, which through its promotion I tried to market both Steam and Itch in equal measure: Typically on Steam I'll get something around 1 sale for day - not amazing but still pretty good! On itch I typically get 2 sales per month, which is substantially lower.

Here's some Hard numbers on Bombing!! since its launch in May 2021:

And here's numbers on my overall profile which has been active since ~2016:

(Some caveats: Maybe ~60% of all downloads above are from bundles. My games are heavily discovered from being incorporated into parts of bundles and I suspect discoverability would be significantly lower were this not the case. Additionally, roughly half the $1k overall profits came from the 2021 Queer Games bundle and not from direct sales of my titles)

It could very well be that I'm doing things wrong, and to be clear Itch it totally under zero obligation to appeal to me or people with similar goals as me! This is just some of the things I think about when considering using the platform, and has coloured my approach to publishing on there in general. :)

Once again -Itch rules! I use it to add my works to charity bundles all the time, and it's a very wonderful and special place for so many cool games and experiences. If you need to make money from the work you do? I'd still recommend looking to other platforms where possible.

If you have any questions or insights asks are always open! :)

[sariaminoras]

Dragons Chapter 5 and the Slug Race

Hey, anyone who's still out there! First and foremost, apologies for the delay (it's hardly a delay, when I've been consistently uploading at embarrassingly year-long intervals, Jesus). Also, thank you, for still being here, and for being so patient and for still having faith!

Secondly, the link to the chapter.

Now... a bit of a rant/vent/explanation as to why it always takes so long for me to update this story. Under the "read more/keep reading".

Okay, so... I'm not gonna lie. A whole year is the time required to release a new, original book, not a new chapter for fanfiction. It's embarrassing, and it's frustrating, and it's extremely counter-productive towards my goal. It's... non-productive, really.

I don't have an "excuse" for that. My reason is many things, but I can boil them down to roughly two aspects.

The first, and the most important is, for many months now, I just didn't want to write. In general, really, but mostly, I didn't want to write for this fandom anymore, and not for this fic anymore. I've been spending a lot of my free time doing nothing productive (arts-wise); when I'm not with friends/family, or working/studying, I'm watching a TV series, YouTubing, or playing games. Sure, it's good to lay back and not do anything mentally taxing every now and again, but this has been setting me back on the personal goal of improving my writing (and the bonus side-quest of learning to draw).

I'm not sure why this is happening. I think I'm just a little tired. IRL stuff became bigger and more complex, requiring more of my time and disposition, and maybe I'm feeling like I don't want to do anything important whenever I get a break.

I really want to change that. I've been trying to follow a fixed schedule, that will break my free time up into "leisure" and "art/writing", but I'm having trouble following it through. I "binge" activities, rather than do a little bit of everything everyday, and I know that's something that I'll need to change in my behavior if I want to accomplish everything I set out to do. What's making that difficult is that I've been prioritizing some stuff, whilst others I'm not so inclined to do.

Which brings me to the second part of my "excuse". This story, Dragons. TL;DR, it's not bringing me any joy anymore, but I'm going to go into more detail on that.

My original plan for Dragons was to make it a domestic, pregnancy-romance story, focused on the condition and its symptoms, the shenanigans surrounding the novelty of a human-vampire hybrid "breeding", and the relationships between the characters, especially Alucard and Integra's, and how they developed as the pregnancy progressed.

I thought it would be easy. I thought it would be fun, and light-hearted, and simple to accomplish. I was wrong.

I don't know why, but I was wrong. I don't know what happened, exactly, that caused the story to drift away into... this. Into this monstruous, mentally-taxing narrative I am NOT prepared to write, and that I don't think I should be tackling right now. Not with the writing and reading experience I have at the moment.

It's so much bigger and more complex that I thought it would be. I'm aware I'm to blame for not having planned everything in its minute details, so stuff constantly changed as I got new ideas I wanted incorporated. Originally, I planned for Dragons to be roughly 3 to 4 chapters long, but now I'm looking at... what, 8, 10, and I'm pulling my hair out.

Whilst I did have character interactions in my mind, I did NOT intend for it to have any drama, especially not the kind of drama that it's driving towards. It was supposed to be shallow, something small and fun, but, instead, I'm feeling compelled to write these really long, drawn-out dramatic scenes, and all these """"""cHArAcTEr mOmENts"""""" that had absolutely no business in the original draft, and that I feel really insecure doing because I don't really know how to write that.

This chapter, chapter 5, didn't even include everything that I planned on delivering, and maybe that's my fault too, for not really knowing how to pace and structure a story. It's infuriating that it's been a whole year and I update with... so little and non-rewarding... a chapter that it's, like, mid-conflict, and not properly going anywhere, kinda. It leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, and I feel like I'm disappointing not only the brave souls who are still around (bless you), but also myself.

Maybe this also plays some part on my lack of interest, but I'm just not super into Hellsing as I was, when I first started posting Dragons. It sucks, but it's life. I don't really like working like that, not completely into the thing, feeling like it's an obligation and not a hobby I fully enjoy, but there's not much I can do about that; I refuse to abandon ship, and I can't force myself to become "obsessed" with Hellsing again (or, can I? I don't know).

There's also the language barrier, which takes some of my time, and the fact that I want to write more... "poetically"? My writing feels too sterile and "technical", I think, and I want it to sound more like a melody and less like a speech, and I know that I'll only get there if I read and write MORE, but it's still an added layer of consumption of my time and mental effort. Writing narrative, for me, is a struggle, but, when I complain about it, like I'm doing now, I also feel like I'm bitching for no reason, and putting effort into it is the bare minimum I should be doing. Still, it would be nice if it were a little less difficult, aha.

I'm not going to do like last time and "promise I'll (try) to do better". What I CAN assure anyone, though, is that I will absolutely finish this story (I hate engaging with someone else's work, and then having the creator just drop it, but this is merely a personal feeling and I'm not trying to pass judgement on anyone, people have their reasons), and that I will, eventually, when the story allows, incorporate the silly, pregnancy shenanigans that I originally wanted. As soon as the characters calm the F down.

Whilst Dragons took this crazy turn, I, at the very least, got most of it roughly planned and bullet-pointed. I have a direction, even though I can't be sure the path won't curve and spin to get to the end. Whatever, it's there for me to write; I just need to actually sit down and do it.

So... here we are, at the end of this vent. I have no idea when the next chapter will be uploaded. Sorry for the zero guarantees, sorry for always taking so long, and THANK YOU, for anyone, who's still, somehow, around, and following this story. You are the real heroes. T__T

[violetren]

Aether Chapter 20

I AM SCREAMING.

I'm gonna try go through this semi chronologically, but know that the end has me screaming and I will be screaming for the duration of writing this and probably then some.

So first of all, everyone give it up for Maxine. Some part of my brain has tied her to Yzma from The Emperor's New Groove. Not voice, not the design, or the moral alignment... I think maybe what I'm actually latching onto is Eartha Kitt's swagger. Also a little bit the fact that I do believe Maxine is capable of murder, so far as cats can comprehend murder. Which is probably moreso than humans feel comfortable with.

Whatever it is, Maxine is fantastic.

I've been coming around to the fact that Sierra is by and large a good friend, but she's also a messy flawed person, and those two facts aren't mutually exclusive. Also I'm kinda guessing that since its post interview (and presumably post telepathic interrogation) and Sierra is still in the guest room capable of opening and closing her own door instead of a holding cell somewhere means she has been cleared. Which isn't surprising at all but its nice to have confirmation.

The good friend stuff shines through strong on points like affirming Maggie should join the High Guard because being here clearly makes her happy, and in her insistence that Maggie as she previously looked was worth more than Maggie every gave herself credit for being (and notably would not have been a pity fuck for anyone with actual taste).

On the more questionable side of things was the admittance that she'd sometimes use looking after Maggie whenever Maggie was physically or emotionally struggling as a way of avoiding her own problems. But like, that is only bad if you start prioritizing your "care" of that person over their actual needs or wants, and actively sabotage them from recovering too much in order to keep them forever available as a distraction. The rest of the time its just that looking after someone else was convenient and if it hadn't been caring for them it would have been something else. Taking extra shifts at work. Impromptu spring cleaning the whole house. 100% a video game in less than a week even if it means cancelling other plans. Shit like that.

But then things get MESSY!

Because the closest most readily available and most familiar coping mechanism of "care for Maggie instead" has already been called out because its currently just not possible. Maggie has big things on her mind but she's basically made her decision already and isn't struggling emotionally at this point, and she basically never has to worry about physical ailments again, so thats out.

And apparently that leaves us with Sierra wanting to fuck away her feelings?!?!?! Or at least throw herself into a relationship that feels safe and stable because Maggie's love for her has been a quiet matter of fact for years??? Which oooh boy... Bad baaaaaaaad timing, because its not really there in the same way anymore.

I don't think this is Maggie and Sierra falling into a romantic role reversal. At this stage I'm not convinced Sierra actually means what she was saying, only that she's had her life turned upside down and trying to grab onto the one familiar thing she didn't think would ever really change. But fucking hell what if she's for real? Will she be strong enough to accept the idea of Maggie being with someone else and not returning her feelings? It would arguably be harder for her than it was for Maggie because she'll live knowing she missed her window instead of spending the time thinking it was a question of incompatible sexualities. Would it lead to some kind of poly set up?

I think the most likely outcome is whenever Maggie gets back from wherever she noped out to and they can look each other in the eye again (or at least be in a room alone) Sierra apologises in much the same way she did for snapping at Maggie for not warning her Garrett was alive when their convo today first started, and for much the same reasons. She is not okay.

But I'll have to read to find out, so guess I'm gonna go do that now.

[madmaryholiday]

tl;dr: because video games are bringing in a lot of money at work, i can no longer keep handhelds and games at my desk overnight due to the security risk it presents. this is both understandable and a massive inconvenience.

on thursday, i went through my bins of stuff and pulled out all the handhelds and games so they could be stored in the electronics section overnight.

i'd told my supervisor ahead of time that i would need a cart to put my stuff on so i wouldn't have to rely on other people to move it from the electronics section to my desk every day, and despite agreeing, he informed me on thursday that there were no carts available and i would have to have the boxes moved every day.

i made it clear to my supervisor that this arrangement would be significantly inconvenient for a number of employees, because the last thing i need is him whining at me in a couple weeks that everything's getting backed up because of the extra labor required to set up and clean up my workspace every day.

we'll see how things go. yesterday, there was no room to put any of the three boxes i had stored in electronics, so i had to just grab a couple tester handhelds and not touch the giant box full of shit i need to list for sale in favor of going through the pile of consoles waiting for me.

i also got in trouble(?) for letting another coworker post some game lots that i had either personally put together or had checked over before handing them to her. apparently i needed to ask permission first???

what's funny is that i had told the other two people who process electronics that if my supervisor asked them about it, to tell him i'd given the lots to her myself and she hadn't gone rogue.

i'd taken a previous discussion of "let me know if you want to do something outside normal protocol" as, like, a request to be kept in the loop instead of a formal declaration that i needed to ask permission.

initially i was kind of offended that he would imply that i'd be throwing specialized items at random unqualified coworkers (i'd specifically given this girl game lots because there's basically no way to fuck them up, and they were taking up a ton of space i needed to get through a dozen consoles). like he wasn't all "you're in trouble," but he WAS doing the "don't make it a habit" thing and "we need to have high standards" for items that make lots of money and whatever.

i did explain that this was not a normal thing i'd be doing, and that i knew i didn't have to get through everything on a cart in one day (i'd actually just brought back the half-dozen items i'd not had time for right before he came over to talk to me), but that i'd felt so swamped with stuff that i wanted to offload an easy task to someone who had shown interest in games in the past. i was then able to steer the conversation to "we really need someone else posting consoles" and related topics of staffing issues, but i did still feel kind of offended that my supervisor felt the need to tell me that only certain people should handle gaming posts.

as if i hadn't fought for literal years to convince management that games were worth prioritizing and giving only to people who knew what they were worth.

i'm a very proud creature, and while i don't think he meant it as a slight against me, it sure felt like he was insinuating i was being careless or unprofessional by giving items that, again, are basically impossible to fuck up to someone else so i could deal with the items that needed a more specialized touch.

i'm not actually mad about it anymore (not that i was more than mildly offended, but whatever), but the post i reblogged about "unemployable traits" reminded me that this interaction was an example of my overall.....insubordinate vibes, i guess? like i'm so used to delegating my own work and having to work around incompetent management that i don't really register that my supervisor is supposed to be an authority figure. i mostly consider him logistical support tbh.

i'd assumed that if he had a question about why another employee was posting something i normally post, he'd ask, and i'd explain. or he'd ask one of the other people in my department, and they'd go "oh yeah [name] was really busy with consoles and gave some game bundles to [coworker] to save time." but i was actually supposed to go find him before i handed over the bundles, which was just utterly alien to me.

anyway, i'm trying to let myself be okay with being less efficient. i am a goddamn professional, and my instinct is to make up for lost time when there's an unexpected inconvenience. but that also takes more out of me in the long run, and i don't want to burn myself out or get injured for the sake of a couple more posts, you know? so having to take time to move my stuff back and forth every day will just have to mean a couple fewer posts per day.

and if anyone gives me shit about it, i'll just have to explain why i have less time to do my job now.