#60 seconds is definitely one of the best games with this scenario out there

[spiderzlover]

60 seconds! (till the world's end)

[deadenedmind]

Let's Talk About Sony's Recent Sales Figures

I saw a couple of social media posts today celebrating how a number of PlayStation's flagship titles were losing money.

Personally, I have no love for these games whatsoever, but I felt that some of the recent rhetoric surrounding them is somewhat inaccurate, or at least mischaracterized. While it is relatively true these games are performing poorly, it is my observation they're not doing as poorly as this post might indicate.

Now, before we dive into this proper and crunch some numbers, we need to address a few errors presented in this image.

The first issue here is that, while we do have official numbers for development costs, we do not know how much Sony spent on advertising. I've done as much research as one can, there are no official numbers disclosed anywhere. This guy saying they spent 220 million on marketing is a fabrication; we do not know how much they actually spent.

The second issue present is the statement that "Sony only makes $30 per unit sold." This is somewhat of a half-truth. It is true that Sony nets approximately $30 per unit sold provided that the unit sold was a physical copy, as opposed to a digital one.

Generally speaking, when you make a game, it costs roughly around $5 to print a disk and it's corresponding box. On average, retailers mark the price of new releases they purchase from publishers up by about $10-$15. Distribution and administrative costs are also a factor, but that is typically not calculated on a per unit basis. For the sake of argumentation though, we'll say that costs about $5 per unit. Realistically speaking, it's never anywhere near that much, but we're going to say it's that high just to give people the benefit of the doubt.

All in all, that comes out to $10 in cost of goods sold for a physical unit that a publisher sells to a retailer for $45-$50. That means Sony nets about $35 per physical unit. Now, you maybe thinking I'm splitting hairs over the numbers here and that additional $5 may be inconsequential, and you would be absolutely right, because only 10% of game sales are physical.

90% of games are sold digitally, which not only eliminates manufacturing costs, but it also enables a publisher to sell at an increased price on their own platforms. Instead of selling to a store like GameStop for $45, they can sell to the customer directly for $60. After our gratuitous $5 administration and distribution costs, that means Sony nets $55 per unit on 90% of their sales.

Now let's plug those numbers into a spreadsheet and analyze the results. Let's start with Last of Us Part II, which sold 10 million units as of June 2022.

Now, seeing as we do not know how much Sony spent on marketing for Last of Us 2, I have created a table with potential amounts and their corresponding implications.

What is clearly illustrated here is that, unless Sony spent over 300 million dollars on marketing, Last of Us Part II -at worst- broke even.

Now let's do the same thing for Horizon Forbidden West.

Once again, we can see here that, unless Sony spent more than 225 million on marketing -like our original post stated- Horizon Forbidden West broke even at absolute worst.

With all of that established, we now need to render appropriate context. While it is true that both of these games are not, in fact, losing money, that doesn't mean they aren't doing poorly. The best possible case scenario for Last of Us is that it netted a 103% profit- Horizon netting 83%. This best case scenario, however, is assuming Sony only spent 5 million dollars in advertising, which is extremely unlikely.

I have been critical of 220 million figure mentioned in the original post that spurred this discussion, however, it honestly isn't a bad estimate. 220 million in advertising is fairly high, but it is very much within the realm of plausibility- especially for Sony. Generally speaking, they definitely spent 50 million at absolute minimum. If I had to guess personally, they probably spent 100-150 million. Either way, that places them at a profit of between 76% and 16% for Last of Us, and 53% and 2% for Horizon. That is not good.

Ordinarily, a 30%~ return on investment is great for your average videogame. However, Last of Us part II and Horizon Forbidden West are not your average videogames; they are flagship blockbusters. These are the big guns; these are the nukes Sony uses to blow away the competition and convince gamers to buy PlayStation over XBOX and Nintendo. In this scenario, you generally want a 100% return at bare minimum. And here we are with Last of Us 2 only netting 76% at extreme most.

Now, in case you aren't grasping how bad that is, lets use a contrasting example. The Witcher 3 sold 6 million copies in its first six weeks and had a total budget of 81 million dollars (development + advertising).

You'll be keen to notice that Witcher 3 netted a 193% return on investment versus Last of Us 2's best possible case of 76%. And, once again, Witcher achieved this figure in 6 weeks as opposed to Last of Us 2 which did so in 2 years. This is frankly astonishing because Witcher 3 is self-published by CD Projekt Red, a studio which, prior to Witcher 3's release, was virtually unknown. This is relative to Sony's enormous and legendary pedigree.

Now, there is a small fallacy in my using Witcher 3 as an example, because it was made under exceptional circumstances- that is to say it was made in Poland. Cost of living is not only lower over there, but labor standards are completely different as well. What this means in practice is that game production over there is far less expensive. Further, Last of Us and Horizon are Sony exclusive titles, whereas Witcher 3 is multiplatform, so I will admit that the number comparison isn't totally fair.

For the sake of further argumentation in good faith, lets cite another example. Let's refer to Horizon Zero Dawn, Horizon Forbidden West's immediate predecessor. We do not have concrete numbers on Zero Dawn's budget, but we do have quotes that can corroborate a few ballpark estimates on the development and advertising budgets (See sources below).

Immediately we can see a drastic difference in numbers here. Horizon Zero Dawn is a much larger success than its sequel by a literal order of magnitude. Now, granted, Zero Dawn has been on the market for 6 years but the point still remains. Outside of special circumstances, most games make the majority of their sales in their first year.

And that brings us the to big crux of the issue: Why are these games doing so poorly?

Put simply, it's a matter of over-inflated budgets.

Some people may be inclined to say this is the result of consumers refusing to purchase these games because of the subliminal politics game companies are injecting into their products or controversial changes in creative direction. Truth is, that's definitely part of it, but it's a very small piece of a larger puzzle. Sales numbers might or might not be going down due to consumer protest to a certain extent -I don't have enough data to make that conclusion- but, for the most part, these games are still selling millions of units in reasonable a timeframe. These titles are incredibly popular.

Realistically, the core cause of this problem -if you want to call it that- is explosive rises in the cost of game development and advertising. The one thing we can tangibly observe in the limited data set we examined is that the games that returned the biggest profits had much lower production budgets. The cost to make Horizon Zero Dawn was less than a quarter of what it cost to make Horizon Forbidden West. And the worst part is is that, many including myself would argue that these rises in budget are entirely unnecessary.

Most of these increases in production costs are the result of game developers chasing an untenable level of what is ultimately superficial and entirely unnecessary detail for purposes of marketing. Oftentimes, the only way these companies know how to sell games and game platforms to the lowest common denominator is to advertise visuals, even if better visuals typically don't result in better games. And, of course, technology advances exponentially, so the demand for quality keeps mounting higher and higher and higher.

In other words, game companies are unwittingly killing themselves in an attempt to pander to stupid people.

Is there a solution? Not really. Many people will be inclined to say "Vote with your wallet" but the truth of the matter is is that such protest is an act of futility. Most people do not care about this kind of stuff and the mass market is exactly why we are even in this situation to begin with. And, as we should all well know, there's no fighting the ocean of lemmings that are the mass market.

Sources & Additional Reading:

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Viewers are highly encouraged to seek assistance from an accredited and experienced professional before making any financial decisions.

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[doctornolonger]

I have two questions here. 1. What is the worst portrayal of Gallifrey you have seen in any Dr Who media. 2. If you wrote for Dr Who how would you portray Gallifrey. Personally I'd go with what Marc Platt wrote for Lungbarrow, all that weird demented shit, and turn it up to eleven. I love all that stuff. I hate when Gallifrey is portrayed in terms of stuffy politics and all that shite, the Deadly Assassin was an exception because CrispyMaster made up for it. What about you?

The worst portrayal of Gallifrey? Maybe The Ancestor Cell. I can’t possibly say anything original about the problems with the story, so I’ll leave it to the master:

The Gallifreyan sequences open with a clique of bored rich kids dabbling in the black arts, and it’s impossible to adequately describe the crushing wrongness of all this as a plot device. Even apart from the fact that the “bored rich kids” routine is one of the biggest clichés in modern fantasy fiction... even apart from the fact that, for a storyline that’s supposed to bring the series to the point of apocalypse, it’s hideously mundane and inappropriate... even apart from all that, at what point did Gallifrey acquire a capitalist economy, exactly? A race of hyper-scientists who can casually engineer stars, who can access any point in time and have nigh-infinite resources at their disposal, suddenly turn out to be bothered by money worries and keep running out of funds, just like every other shite bunch of humanoids in the universe.

Mercifully there are all kinds of excellent headcanons for erasing how blegh it was, like that proximity to the War was driving things crazy. My favorite explanation right now is that the Gallifrey of the BBC Books Doctor’s “present” had been manipulated by the Great Grey Eminence into an oxbow timeline, a sheath-echo of the original. This has the benefit of smoothing over The Eight Doctors, Divided Loyalties, and The Ancestor Cell in one swoop!

As for how I would do it, I was just telling @aristidetwain about what I see as the definitive trilogy for portrayals of the Time Lords:

The War Games

The End of Time

Death Comes to Time

(If we let in stories from other media, Dead Romance also belongs on this list.)

Regardless of what you think of the stories’ actual quality, the Time Lords in these stories are properly godlike beings. The way that the summoning of the Time Lords inspires such dread in the Doctor and the War Chief in The War Games still gives me chills: you really get the feeling that the fun and games are over. The adults are here, and they’re pissed.

WAR LORD: Don’t worry. When the Time Lords get him, he’ll wish you had killed him. (A strange sound fills the room.) WAR LORD: They’re coming.

DOCTOR: Come on! ZOE: What is it? DOCTOR: Time Lords! Try harder! We must get away!

A narrative disruption so earthshaking that the show gets knocked from the 60s to the 70s — from black and white to color; from the Second Doctor to the Third; from space to Earth — and everything that entailed. Doctor Who ended in 1969; such is the cost of invoking the Time Lords. These are the astral architects, the Lords of Time, the Kardashev V civilization that can create matter and space and destroy you just by ignoring you.

You’ll notice that none of these stories are actually set on Gallifrey: all of them invoke the Time Lords from a distance. And I think that’s part of the key. Terror is almost always better than horror; the best way to use Gallifrey is to not use Gallifrey. Keep it all at a distance with a 10 foot pole and invoke it mainly for climactic scenarios, where they can impose a Lovecraftian impact on the narrative. Turn them back into a force to be reckoned with, and watch the sparks fly.

[passivenovember]

@coffeeandchemicals (aka the sweetest angel bb) asked:  For the drabbles, 55 or 60 or 72 with harringrove! Please and thank you!! 💙

55. “Our first date is a picnic. On a beach..under the stars? Have you swallowed a romance novel? Do I need to call a doctor?

Paper Angels.

The things is. Steve’s always had a sixth sense when it comes to falling in love. Can smell that shit from a mile away, the reeking infatuation that turns his already liquified brain into something like sludge. Mashed potatoes with too much milk, or something. 

And it used to be that Robin would point it out in that usual way of hers, before Steve became a pro at monitoring his own downfall. Pick your tongue up off the floor, dingus. 

And it used to be that Steve would take it like. A basketball to the back of the head, the realization that he was bleeding out in an open field for fucking whoever. Nancy Wheeler or Mark Lewinski or Brittani Clark. Robin could always sense it when Steve’s feelings started leaking out of his ears, but.

Billy Hargrove was something else entirely.

Neither of them saw it coming. The pushes and snarky comments that morphed into butterflies and concealed smiles under the light of the full moon, it was like.

Crossing a deserted road only to be fuckin’. T-boned by a cyclist who doesn’t have their lights on, or something. 

One day they were enemies. Avoiding each other like the plague--Billy actually gagged when Steve passed by him at parties. Called him Steve “Sloppy Seconds” Harrington, and. Yeah. The feeling was fuckin’ mutual, alright?

Because Hargrove always wore too much cologne and Steve had the sneaking suspicion, after that night at the Byers’ when contact sports took on a whole new meaning with the sound of ceramic against his skull, that Billy perfumed his dick.

Sometimes guys did that, he’d heard. And if Steve had to bet, like, cold hard cash on it, Billy Hargrove was definitely one of those guys. And not that Steve really. Thought about it much or anything but kissing Billy was probably like licking the inside of an ash tray. 

Just the thought of made him gag.

So, yeah. The feeling was mutual. The queasiness in Steve’s tummy was, like, disgust or something. Every time he saw that curly top above a sea of drunk high schoolers, he would start sweating a shit.

Bullets. Like he was going to face the electric chair, and. Steve had never thought for even a second that that feeling was mutual. 

That Billy would be anxious to see him. Would escape the moment he heard Steve rounding the corner into whatever lame party was on the ducat this week, so. When they eventually became friends. Best Friends, close as a couple of girls, it felt like Steve had solved the most difficult puzzle in the universe. 

They were shitfaced. Drunk enough to forget ceramic plates and nervous feelings, and Billy had tried to high-five him. Steve, on his way out for a smoke. Passed by with a little, well if it isn’t the leftover turkey, and. It would’ve been cool, but. They missed. 

By a lot. Two guys who never sat on the bench during a game, they. Fuckin’ couldn’t land a high five from less than a foot away and that was it. Billy’s walls crumbled around them like so much graham cracker dust, and. 

His eyes were pretty. Had they always been that pretty? Steve couldn’t remember but then Billy was leaning in, cheeks pink from laughter and whispering, You ain’t half bad, Harrington, into the shell of Steve’s ear. 

Like it was a secret only the two of them could remedy, and. Billy pulled away. Winked, waggled his stupid, ridiculous tongue, and. When he passed by he smelled like summer rain. Black pepper and grapefruit.

Steve closed his eyes and felt the love leaking from his ears.

Shit.

--

After that it was like surviving a forest fire. Billy would show up at Steve’s just before midnight with a six pack of Budweiser and a half smoked joint. On bad day’s he acted like coming to Steve’s house was a chore, like. Steve was holding him at gunpoint, preaching about commitments like Steve had even asked for his company in the first place, and.

On those nights it almost wasn’t worth it. The feeling of being close to Billy, it was. Hard to talk to him. 

And it wasn’t like falling slowly. Through syrup or stacks of blankets, like his usual style, it was like. 

Getting in the car and driving way, into the night, with no map and no funds and no clue of what the end would look like. Steve fell hard and fast and slammed into the ground until he was one with the molten earth, on the good nights, too. When Billy grinned and cracked jokes and fuckin’. Winked. 

So. The good outweighed the bad. For months, for millennia, it seemed. Until Steve couldn’t remember a time when midnight didn’t signal the arrival of love. And he would take it, anything, everything, for just a peak at the person he knew was hidden under all that hairspray and chiseled skin, so.

When Billy showed up one night with his car packed full of shit, Steve grabbed his coat without a word.

What are you doin’, Harrington.

I’m coming with you.

No you aren’t, that’s not. Look. I just came to say goodbye, so.

Not that easy to get rid of. 

Billy tried to fight him, tried to. Hold him off, or something. Like any force in the fucking universe would be strong enough to keep them apart. 

Steve made a face.

And Billy knew what that face meant so he cleaned out the passenger side of the Camaro. Stupid shit like lamps and folded quilts, shuffling it all to the back seat where there was clearly enough space. 

It was almost like. He had known what Steve would do. 

It was like he’d been preparing to say no, baby. I don’t have enough room, see? I’m saddled with more than I can take already, and I just--

Almost like he was hoping Steve would insist, anyway, and.

“Go pack a bag, pretty boy.”

Steve would follow him anywhere.

--

Billy came alive in California. The bad nights stopped existing out in the open air, they hid instead. Under the blanket of nightfall, under the sling of Steve’s arm. They paid extra for a two bedroom apartment on the beach, because.

I’m not expecting you to. Sleep in my bed, Steve.

Right. They were still pretending. 

The second bedroom sat collecting dust. Steve emptied his trash bag of essentials into the dresser in Billy’s room, because. The love was constantly ruining his shirts, these days. 

Steve bled blue and gold. Blatantly. Because he never felt it before, this. Feeling. Like the sand is being washed from his skin. Like he’s curling up in bed after a long day of hard work.

Billy makes him feel that way, so.

Steve can’t hide it. And he doesn’t try to. Not when they watch cartoons together on the couch, not when Billy sucks a hole into his neck under their blanket in their bed and asks, we goin’ steady? Like it’s even a fucking question, or something, but.

Steve realizes they went backwards. Won the game before actually learning the rules. 

Do you wanna go on a date with me? He asks one morning. It’s raining, so Billy isn’t surfing and Steve isn’t sketching out on the porch, and. 

It seems as good a time as any.

Billy has milk running down his chin when he looks up, eyes so blue and wide like he never expected it to fucking happen. Isn’t this a date?

What?

Right now, Billy says through a mouthful of Lucky Charms. We’re eating. Alone. Making eyes at each other over our meal--

Steve snorts. This isn’t a date.

And Billy’s face, fucking. Falls. He rinses his plate in the sink and kinda, doesn’t turn back around. Steve doesn’t know how he fucked it up already. 

Bills?

What’s a date look like then? And that. Makes Steve laugh. 

You’ve been on, like. So many dates, baby. 

Not with you. Billy says flatly. When he turns around again his cheeks are pink. Not from laughter, but. From something else. I never went on any dates with you, so. How would I identify one in a crowd.

And Steve knows. Instantly, knows he’s not going to get out of this one. 

Perfect first date shit, alright, I can. I can do that.  He leans back in the hideous avocado green chair Billy picked out and. Sucks on his bottom lip. We have the day free. Because, um. It’s the off season. Right after labor day and, uh. The shop’s getting ready to shift into winter. 

Billy grins. So in your perfect scenario we’re broke?

Listen, asshole wouldja just--

Alright, baby. Billy sits in the chair across from him and looks, fucking. So pretty in Avocado Green. I’m listening. 

So Steve tells him. Their perfect date begins and ends with ease, it’s as simple as breathing. The way it’s always been for them. Natural. Steve packs a basket with a goddamn. Charcuterie board and like, fresh fruit and shit. The sun sets and Steve gets down on one knee and--

Our first date is a picnic. On a beach..under the stars? Billy doesn’t look even a little bit like laughing, not. Not when his nose goes all bunchy. Have you swallowed a romance novel? Do I need to call a doctor?

Steve isn’t really in the mood for jokes. 

He covers his face with his hands, because. They went backwards. Never even put labels on it, or second guessed anything because Steve won the lottery. That night when the high fives went up in smoke, he. 

Got everything he ever wanted.

Billy tugs at his wrists. Yanks and soothes and rearranges Steve’s skin until they’re chest to chest against avocado green. His eyes are teary. Fuck.

I didn’t mean to make you cry, baby. Steve says. ‘S a bad idea anyhow, too much pressure. You mean a lot and I fuckin’. Made you cry. Tears were never a part of the deal.

Billy lets Steve wipe his cheeks and then he’s smiling. 

Not grinning or smirking or teasing, but. Happy. We could make this a date.

Steve shrugs. Yeah, I guess we could.

Pack some sandwiches, sit on the patio. Billy winks. Just like all those nights when neither boy could give their emotions a name. Take away some of the pressure. 

I kinda dig the pressure, though.

Were you really gonna get down on one knee? Billy whispers. At the end of our first date? You know the statistics on divorce are--

Against his will, Steve’s chucking. 

And on the first date? Billy tuts, cheeks pink again. You know I don’t put out for any ol’ pair of brown eyes, Harrington. I wait until at least the fourth date.

It’s been five years. 

So marry me. Billy says. On Tuesday or something, we can. Go to the beach or whatever. Elope. 

And. 

Just like that night. With the Camaro stuffed to the brim, and Billy gripping his fingers like a lifeline in a storm, Steve has no choice. He never did, because. Yeah.

He kisses Billy, each cheek, both eyelids, before carrying him to their bedroom and wonders. If they’ll ever start at the beginning.

[mask131]

Creepy Family History: The Munsters, part 2

So, as I mentioned the Munsters were killed by Batman. Too bad. But Universal wasn’t going to let it go so easily. There was still time before the show’s syndication, and since colorization was all the fad, that’s exactly what they were going to do. To end the show’s original run in beauty, Universal decided to create a colorized movie of the Munsters – “Munster, Go Home!” released in 1966, centered around the Munsters leaving America to go to England in order to claim a family inheritance, the great Munster Hall. Unfortunately, it was a flop. On one side the scenario was basically plots of the episodes stitched together, on the other it was supposed to be a TV movie but was then changed to a theatrical release (WITHOUT changing the budget)… Quite a bad conclusion.

 Syndication rolled it, and it actually helped the Munsters stay quite popular, both in the USA and in Mexico (The Munsters is a big thing in Mexico – insert random immigrant jokes here). It became popular enough to actually get a “reunion movie”, which would be the last time the main cast of the sitcom would play their roles. This TV movie was released in 1981 as “The Munster’s Revenge”, and it started a new wave of the Munsters mania. It was decided to revive the original sitcom, in color and now set in the 1980s, and in 1988 began “The Munsters Today”. Originally this television series was supposed to be a sequel to the original sitcom (the unaired pilot and the theme song make it clear that the original Munsters were cryogenized at the end of the 60s and only woke up today in the 80s), but the idea ended up being dropped out as the show went longer and so it rather became a reboot where the Munsters simply live in the 80s. On one side this sequel divided fans (the costumes and special effects were seen as cheap and badly done, though they got better by season 2 ; the basic of the show was seen as silly, the fact all the roles were played by new actors was not well received), but it also proved to be a very popular show, especially in the United-Kingdom (and even those that dislike the show agree that its music is really good) – it was popular enough to get three seasons and a total of 73 episodes, lasting longer than its original incarnation.

The 80s also saw the addition of two more television movies that aired on Fox, completing the “Munsters film series”. “Here Comes the Munsters” in 1995, and “The Munsters’ Scary Little Christmas” in 1996. Let’s just say that these movies were not particularly well-liked and are definitively not remembered as the best part of the Munsters franchise (especially since both of them had different casts). It basically was the second end to the Munster era.

  There were other Munsters products I did not mention. In 1973, a one-hour animated TV movie called “The Mini-Munsters” aired as part of the “ABC Saturday Superstar Movie”. While originally created in the hope of becoming the pilot or origin of an animated spin-off of the Munsters, the hoped cartoon series never happened. While the original movie was one-hour long and a Halloween special, it was aired again in the 1980s as shorter, half-hour long version;

In the 60s, in parallel to the sitcom, there was also a comic book about the Munsters that was published – sixteen issues between 1965 and 1968. Interestingly, at the time the appearance of vampires in comic books was forbidden due to the Comics Code Authority but the comic could bypass that since it was produced by Gold Key Comics, who were not a member of the CMAA and so could avoid suffering from the Code’s wrath.

All sorts of toys and a few video games were also produced.

  Now, after this first era, in the new millennium there were attempts at resurrecting the franchise, but so far they have failed.

A movie was talked about in the 2000s and 2010s but visibly the project was abandoned or cancelled.

In 2012 aired a pilot for a modern reboot of The Munsters. Titled “Mockingbird Lane”, this pilot had been created by Bryan Fuller (the man behind other television successes like Pushing Daisies or Dead Like Me) with the help of Bryan Singer, and intended to remake the Munsters from the wacky sitcom of the 60s and 80s into a darker (though still funny) and more serious supernatural-drama. The pilot was aired as an Halloween special, but despite decent ratings it ultimately was never picked-up and stayed a single episode. Despite that, the Mockingbird Lane pilot stayed quite popular and a point of debate among the Munsters community. Indeed many highly disliked it because it lacked the goofiness, cartoonesque side of the original show, depicting the characters in a more realistic and subtle way and dropping much of the light-hearted aspects (Grandpa for example is much more of a manipulative and evil murderer, while Herman doesn’t look like your typical Frankenstein monster but rather a normal man hiding the scars hinting at his peculiar state under his clothes). On the other side, people did like it for orienting the Munsters towards a modern darkness and a delightful macabre not dissimilar to the modern Addams Family, while also avoiding the worn-out Universal monsters cliché and having the family be more human and down-to-earth.

There was another intend at making a modern TV series reboot in 2017, but it fell flat and was abandoned.

Finally, this year it has been revealed that a movie of the Munsters is currently being made, with concept art of the costumes and pictures of the set being built having been released to the Internet. And the man behind will be none other than… Rob Zombie. Yep, the man behind the remake of Halloween and the sequel’s remake. The man behind The Lords of Salem and 31. And the man behind the gruesome horror trilogy of “The House of 1000 Corpses”, “The Devil’s Rejects” and “3 From Hell”. Who knows how this Munster remake will end up…

[obeyme-kaidii]

Obey Me Card Strategy Guide, (4/4)

The Long Version, part 4 - The Big Picture

(Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3)

So far we’ve learned some pretty important things - 

Powering up your cards evenly is the most efficient use of Grimm & resources

Type Advantage on levels 21-40 (and new events) is extremely important

SSR cards are viable in battles, even at later levels

Glow sticks are amazing

And perhaps most importantly -

If your current cards are allowing you to win, keep using them

Now we are going to tie all this together and look at what sort of scenario would necessitate changing the cards in your current lineup in order to advance.

The first thing we’ll do is max out Belphie at level 90 for 186,000G as mentioned earlier. With that taken care of, there isn’t really any room for him to grow in this scenario since gathering those hardmode materials is rather prohibitive and takes a fair amount of time to accumulate. I can’t really increase the Devil’s Trees for Levi and Lucifer, for similar reasons.

So on this level, the only thing I can do is continue to level up Levi and Lucifer. Let’s start by taking a look at how much S is still needed in order to beat this level.

335,000S - 293,000S = 42,000S 

In this example for lesson 39-17, I’m still 42,000S short after accounting for the S from my Memory cards (which are worth 105,000S). 

If I raised Levi and Lucifer to level 65, I could calculate my new total boosted S (including Memory cards).

At level 65, Levi’s boosted S would be 69,000S and Lucifer’s boosted S would be 66,000S.

(please refer to the beginning of part 3 of this guide for how boosted S value is calculated, if you are curious about where those numbers come from)

105,000S + 58,000S + 69,000S + 66,000S = 298,000S (Memory + Belphie + Levi + Lucifer)

That’ll give you a total of 298,000S. And when we subtract that from the S needed to beat the level we can find out how much more S we still need. 

335,000S - 298,000S = 37,000S

Eventually, we would need to raise both Levi and Lucifer to level 90 by spending 966,000G combined. This would bring their boosted S to 85,000S for Levi and 81,000S for Lucifer. 

105,000S + 58,000S + 85,000S + 81,000S = 329,000S

And even then, it’s still not enough to beat the level.

335,000S - 329,000S = 6,000S 

In fact, it’s 6,000S short.

Now let’s go ahead and add up what we’ve spent so far.

Cost to raise Levi and Lucifer to level 90 - 966,000G

Cost to raise Belphie to level 90 - 186,000G

966,000G + 186,000G =  1,152,000G

It has cost us a total of 1,152,000G to get to 329,000S on level 39-17. And we still need 6,000S (at least) in order to beat the level.

At this point, you have two options - 

Use glow sticks (always a valid strategy)

Power up another Envy Demon card (in this case, Satan)

Assuming that you’ll eventually want to beat the hard mode lessons as well, and assuming that a third season of the Obey Me main story will be released with potentially even stronger levels, we’re going to explore option 2 for the sake of this guide. But if you decide to just use a couple rainbow glow sticks and call it a day, that’s quite alright too. (In fact, that’s been my primary strategy for most of the game. More on that later though lol.) 

So now let’s take a closer look at the Demon cards in the Envy set that uses Satan.

Currently, Satan has his level capped at 60, with 1 star and can’t go any higher without unlocking another star or “branch point”. We’ve also already spent 287,000G to get him to this point.

Levi and Lucifer both still have some room to grow in regards to their levels, but as mentioned before, their Devil’s Trees are pretty much maxed out at the moment. 

First, we will need to raise Satan’s level cap once more by unlocking additional spaces in his Devil’s Tree. 

The branch point itself costs 5,000G and there are 6 additional spaces to be unlocked before the next branch point that cost 3,000G each and raise their corresponding stat by 170S. (I am ignoring the “Voice” space in my calculations since the majority of other cards wouldn’t have unlocking it as a requirement to progress.)

3,000G x 6 spaces = 18,000G

Meaning it’ll cost 18,000G to unlock all of the individual spaces. 

18,000G + 5,000G = 23,000G

For a total of 23,000G to unlock both the branch point and all the additional spaces that follow. 

After unlocking those spaces, Satan’s new boosted S has now become 60,000S. 

Let’s bring this back into perspective of an actual lesson, like 39-17.

With all cards at level 60, the boosted S values are 66,000S for Levi, 64,000S for Lucifer, and 60,000S for Satan.

When combined with the 105,000S contributed by the memory cards in my example, you can get the total boosted S for this team.

105,000S + 66,000S + 64,000S + 60,000S = 295,000S (Memory + Levi + Lucifer + Satan)

And when you subtract that from the needed S to beat the level, you will find out how much S you are short. 

335,000S - 295,000S = 40,000S

So in order to beat the level, we’d still need 40,000S. 

Since we’ve already calculated the boosted S for Levi and Lucifer at level 65 while analyzing Belphie’s card, all that we need to do now is calculate Satan’s boosted S at level 65. 

If we were to power up Satan to level 65, it would raise his base S to 43,000S. When taking into account the type boost for Envy, this makes his boosted value now 62,000S. (see the beginning of part 3 if you need a refresher on how this is calculated) 

Next, we just need to compare the total boosted S of all cards to the S needed to defeat the level.

105,000S + 69,000S + 66,000S + 62,000S = 302,000S  (Memory + Levi + Lucifer + Satan)

And subtract the difference once more…

335,000S - 302,000S = 33,000S

Meaning, we are still 33,000S short. 

If we keep going, we will eventually reach the point where Levi and Lucifer are both at level 85. Levi will have a boosted 82,000S and Lucifer will have a boosted 78,000S. Satan will then need to purchase some additional spaces in his Devil’s Tree to be able to bring him up to level 80 with a boosted S of 71,000S. 

105,000S + 82,000S + 78,000S + 71,000S = 336,000S (Memory + Levi + Lucifer + Satan)

When combined with the S from the memory cards, this makes the total boosted S value 336,000S. 

To calculate the total G spent will be a little trickier, so I’ll break it down before adding it all up

For Satan - 

levels 1 to 60 - 273,000G

levels 60 to 80 - 290,000G

First 7 Devil’s Tree spaces @ 500G each - 3,500G

First branch point - 3,000G

Next 5 Devil’s Tree spaces @ 1,500G each - 7,500G

Second branch point - 5,000G

Next 6 Devil’s Tree spaces @ 3,000G each - 18,000G

Third branch point - 8,000G

Next 7 Devil’s Tree spaces @ 5,000G each - 35,000G

273,000G + 290,000G = 563,000G on levels

3,500G + 7,500G + 18,000G + 35,000G = 47,800G on Devil’s tree spaces

3,000G + 5,000G + 8,000G = 16,000G on branch points

563,000G + 47,800G + 16,000G = 627,000G (rounded up)

All told, it cost 627,000G to get Satan from level 1 to level 80.

Since things were much less complicated for Levi and Lucifer because we didn’t have to include any changes to their Devil’s Trees, calculating their total cost in G is more straightforward.

381,000G x 2 = 762,000G

Once we combine that with Satan’s cost, we will have the grand total in G.

762,000G + 627,000G = 1,389,000G

1,389,000G is the total G needed for creating a full Envy set of 3 Demon cards by powering Satan up from level 1, with 2 Demon cards starting at level 60, that will clear level 39-17 without the use of glow sticks.

If you recall, it took a total of 1,152,000G to get the Envy set featuring Pride Belphie to 329,000S. When comparing that to the 1,389,000G that it cost to create an Envy set featuring Envy Satan we can see exactly how much more expensive the Satan route was. 

1,398,000G - 1,152,000G = 246,000G

I mentioned earlier that there were two routes you could take - leveling up Satan and creating the 3 Demon card Envy set, or sticking with Belphie, and having only 2 Demon cards in your Envy set.

Because the possibility does exist that at some point you’ll eventually hit a S cap while using Belphie, it may be a good idea to go ahead and start powering up Satan as soon as you can, and not putting more resources into Belphie (except as needed for the Pride set he’s part of).

But, if taking into consideration the S needed to defeat the existing levels up to lesson 40 in normal mode, it is currently more economical to just stick with Belphie for the time being, and using rainbow glow sticks to close the gap in S. While it’s still possible you may need to swap out Belphie for Satan one day - it is definitely not necessary right now.

For the current lessons, both strategies would be viable and allow you to reach your goals.

THE END

And that concludes this long ass guide!

Thank you so much for sticking with me through all this. I sincerely hope this helps you when you’re making decisions about which cards to use, and how to best spend your Grimm and resources.

Please feel free to send me a message or leave a comment if you have questions or feedback. I promise to respond to all of them, but it may take me some time since this was (not surprisingly) very mentally taxing to write over the course of 3 days.

IMPORTANT NOTES -

I only calculated changes to the Demon cards and used the same Memory cards for both sets. Since my Memory cards were all at level 60, they also had some room to grow and if I had leveled them up as well, I could probably have saved a few Grimm and reached my goals sooner. The principal remains the same however - depending on how strong future levels become, especially in hard mode, it’s likely you’ll reach a point where Belphie would need to be replaced by Satan to take advantage of the type boost. 

I did not take into consideration the type boosts for the secondary types. So if, for example, I also had a Beel Gluttony card for level 39-17, that I had powered up for use in my Gluttony set, it would have surpassed Belphie at some point if I was strengthening the rest of my cards and teams evenly. But again, you'd likely run into the same issue we encountered with Belphie where Beel just wouldn’t be able to grow anymore and we’d need the boosted S of Envy Satan. 

Aside from unlocking branch points as needed for Satan, I ignored the branch points/stars for the other cards. This is because after you get past 3 stars, it's a huge PITA to gather those hard mode materials. I would personally rather do events and slowly gather them over time (working on them when Levi’s Otaku Bootcamp comes to town). With how much time and AP it takes to get enough to unlock a card, it’s just not worth it to grind them IMHO unless you literally have nothing better to do. My current strategy is to get all the cards I use to 3 stars, and then increase the stars one at a time per type (all cards at 4 stars, then all cards at 5 stars etc). If you get hung up on fully unlocking the Devil’s Trees for your cards before moving onto the next card, you’ll quickly find yourself struggling to advance.

[dayables]

4 and Shin? That's a dark one, but you write him well so I'd trust you with it. If you want something lighter instead, 17 for Shin!

Thank you for asking this! As you can see, I got into a very deep ramble about his life pre-death game and it doesn’t really tie in but I’ve kept it there :)  The last few parapraghs are the actual answers ahaha. Play some sad music in those paragrapths because I nearly cried with halloween music in the background.    4) What they would do if they had one month to live.   If Shin had one month left to live? We see it in the game kind of. Or at least kind of. Obviously imitating your ‘scary friend’ most likely abuser to try and turn everyone against your biggest threat isn’t going to work in real life. 

What the game and his 0.0% score does tell us (or heavily shove in our direction so we infer it) is that Shin is petrified of certain death to the point of desperation.

I do believe/headcanon that he is a very logical person. Almost everything he does is backed up by logic in the death game except for his last moments because screw logic that’s never worked before.  (The opposite of Keiji who’s likely very emotional until his potential last moments but this isn’t about him). So the question is, when did Shin’s last moments begin for him?  As the player, it’s when it’s that final choice between him and Kanna. To Shin this is likely a very different response. His last moments start the very second he gets told he’s doomed to die. Almost all of Shin’s choices in the game are emotional. Trusting Sara or at least earning her trust is the logical choice here. Making yourself her enemy because you are scared is the emotional one. He just lies to himself on the basis that she’s untrustworthy. Which, you can trick yourself into believing is logical.  It triggers a kind of flight or fight response in all our characters when they realise they can die here. All the cast barr Shin choose to fight and try and escape. Shin chooses the flight option here. Nothing he does actually prevents his death in the end. He just runs away from the inevitable doom. 

 I am once again inferring by comparing him to rest of the cast the death is a deep rooted trauma (and I definitely have thoughts on why). While the concept of death is one that scares everyone, no one seems to revel in it the way Shin does. He is living an incredibly safe life. A free lance programmer (by the sounds of it)  which earns an average of £60 an hour. He has a side job at a convenience store (that wasn’t a lie). He doesn’t leave his apartment much meaning he doesn’t have much of a social life. Shin is in a position in life where it’ll be near impossible to hurt him. Obviously he isn’t earning 60 quid an hour, but he has the potential too. Once he’s set up and successful, he’ll be able to die old. Alone, maybe not happy, but old.  For a guy likely in his early to mid twenties, things are bound to change but only as much as he lets them. From one person who will happily spend all their life in their own company to another, Shin isn’t going to change that. Not when he’s too scared to let someone past arms width and will avoid doing so. By the time he gets his game together and his skinny self to therapy it’ll likely be too late to make the same connections he has the chance too at his current age.  It’s not emotional because even the most introverted of introverts desires a life all alone. It’s a logical one for the fears and life he has. I don’t think that means he isn’t happy. It just thinks there’s a potential that he could have been happier. 

For Midori to have gotten as close as he was and no one to pull up the red flags his friends either didn’t care or didn’t exist. Most likely the latter seeing as he is very much in the process of mourning three years after his friends death. He likely wasn’t close enough to his parents to feel he could go to them over something as silly as Midori’s death. In the aftermath, Shin will be confused and muddled. In some ways, he’ll be elevated because he is free, he can move on. In other ways he’ll be lost, devastated and empty. Shin will also have a semblance of independence back. He doesn’t think he shows enough gratitude to his parents for materialistic items. Midori’s abuse was likely emotional or verbal. It probably consisted of vague threats, put downs, anger, power dynamics and a shrug at Shin’s emotions. I’m in no way a professional but after years of this Shin is going to think his emotions are something he should be able to handle himself, something he might not be able to do if he started to repress them in his teens. Shin likely has a warped sense of independence. Instead of being free from others control, he’ll likely think it means he can’t get help and must deal with everything alone. 

Being told that his death is round the corner strips two things that he values most away from him. He now has zero control over his life and worse, it ends with him dyeing. Shin would grasp for straws to have that independence back and therefore escape his own death. If he couldn’t get his independence back then he’ll try and avoid the end outcome. 

His last month would be a goose chase to avoid death. There’d be a list of everything he has to do. Fuck his jobs, fuck debt he needs to get to the hospital. Get checked up! Make sure he’s well. He’d do it everyday. Does he have enough medicine? Wet wipes, stock up on healthy food, hand sanitizer? Does he have enough hand sanitizer? Make sure his room is squeaky clean, don’t let anyone in, don’t answer the phone. Bolt the windows and live off ramen and debt for the rest of the month. Beanie on, beanie off, what is he going to die from? Has he prevented any possible cause? He’s forgotten to call his parents. That’s fine because he shouldn’t be dyeing anyway. It’s logical. It’s all logical. This is not his fear of death speaking through everything he is doing is logical! Now he just needs to figure out what’s causing this all? How did that person know? Then on the last day. He’d just give up. He’d finally pick up that phone and call his parents. He’d thank them and explain. He’d apologize for the debt because he’s swimming in it then he’d hang up. Shin would then proceed to cry in bed all day and trying to sleep so he just doesn’t wake up.  Then, while it’s a tragedy, I think he’d accept it. I don’t think he ever really thought he had a chance but his emotions drove him round and round in circles. Maybe he would regret his whole life and look back on it all. In a none death game scenario Shin seems like a brooder. He doesn’t have Kanna to live for so he has no reason to push forward. I think in the end he’d reach the conclusion his life was pretty pointless. Just as he’d slip from consciousness I imagine he’d think of Midori. Nearly everything we know about Shin seems to revolves about Midori . We, the player, never know him before the guy entered his life. That guy has a big impacts in his life and in a world where that was the only person to leave such a big mark? I think he’d go back to Midori. Especially with nothing to distract him from his mourning. 

It’s quite sad really. He lets his fear control him too much. Midori controls him too much and they’re both aware of that fact. But in the short, Shin would try and avoid his death. Hell he’ll likely die of exhaustion or caffeine overdose

His ending in the main game, I think that’s the best way Shin could have gone at that age. Dying for Kanna and letting go of his cynicism. 

Ending this off with 17 because I need that jokeness now, after all that. 

17) What would they sing at Karaoke? 

Everyone expects Shin to like bang out with some Beyonce or something. Maybe one of those silly little disney parodies. Everyone would make a joke about what he should sing because he’s indecisive as hell. 

Keiji Kai and all of those mature adults suggest Single Ladies,  Mr. Brightside,  Fireworks, Wannabe because classic Karoke songs you actually have to be able to sing when Shin 100% can’t? Count them in! 

Midori would suggest something embarrassing he knew wouldn’t even be funny to watch. Just painful. 

Gin, Sara, Reko and Alice are snickering behind their hands as they suggest Poor Unfourtunate Souls,  How Bad Can I Be (Alice ended up doing that one), The oogie boogie song and the price Ali reprise. 

When he refuses Sara refuses to let him get away with not being painted as some corny villian and dedicates her singing of Cruella De Vil to him.

Then Kanna taps on his shoulder and tells him what to sing and A: It’s Kanna’s suggestion B: It’s not and a bonus C if he’s drunk: He gets to whack a certain police officer and teacher with a hockey stick. 

And my inner theatre Kid shines through as he I say Shin sings Revolting Children and can’t get his letters write, drunk or sober. 

‘R e v o t l i n !’  instead of ‘ R E V O L T I N G’ 

‘S P L L!’ instead of ‘ S P E L’ 

‘TOO LATE FOR YOU?’ Instead of  ‘ 2-L-8-4-U ‘

I kid you not I have knows this song for years and I still struggle. You can not do that spelling rhythm first time. 

Also the lines. The lines!   We will become a screaming hoard.//Take out your hockey sticks and use it as a sword.// Never again will we be ignored.//We'll find out where the chalk is stored// And draw rude pictures on the board.

It’s such a childish song but it’s so hard. He struggles and struggles and one day he will get it because it’s so simple and why can’t he do it roght! Also, it suits him. Sue me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6PXm34OBP8

[justaddgame]

QTE: In the Beginning...

When and why did you start playing video games?

To draw a line back to my start would mean crediting my grandma, Elsie, who passed away in 2003 and is missed very much.

Everything I knew about games growing up was through the glow of her tiny CRT TV and the wonderful worlds I frequented on her NES. It was always waiting for us when my sister and I visited our grandparents. Our choices were limited, but far from disappointing.

Super Mario Bros. 1, 2, and 3 were the reigning classics always played at least once; Kirby’s Adventure, Nintendo’s Baseball, and Cabal for when we needed a break from the Mushroom Kingdom; Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune for a healthy dose of edutainment. And Bible Adventures because…well, my grandma adored religion, so that’s probably why she had a copy? It was definitely the odd one in the bunch, but we enjoyed it all the same.

Looking back on this era of gaming, when people like my grandma regularly engaged in it, one of the things I appreciate is how inviting game design was back then. The older generation generally don’t get an “in” to video games these days beyond that previous lightning in a bottle that was Wii Sports and Wii Fit. And that’s not to say there weren’t extremely difficult NES games. Of course there were. But just about anyone could grasp two buttons and a D-Pad for movement. Game design then was still largely developed for pick-up-and-play scenarios, too. There was no need for a tutorial when you could simply test both buttons before being on your way.

That kind of intuitiveness is how people like Elsie, then in her 60s, could master games like Super Mario Bros. And that she did.

One of my all-time favorite stories my grandma used to tell was the time she cleared the entire game of Super Mario Bros.—from World 1-1 to World 8-4—while my grandpa sat in the Player 2 seat waiting for his turn as Luigi. But it never came before the credits rolled. That’s a feat I still can’t pull off today and I think a part of me has never wanted to. She was a rockstar at that game and I’m satisfied just living as a fan.

Not only was she an inspiration for gaming skill, but she was also my teacher, too. There’s an early obstacle within World 1-2, the first level where Mario and Luigi travel through the underground. A layer of bricks protrudes from the ceiling like a sort of Mushroom Kingdom stalactite. Now, if you approach this as Small Mario, no harm; you can pass underneath without a second thought. But, if you happen to be Super Mario, the gap is too small to walk underneath. As a child, this was the impossible challenge. I only understood that I could make Mario walk left, right, and jump. I can’t make him crawl or punch, can I?

Well, Elsie didn’t want her grandson to struggle and lose out on the fun, of course. So, she enlightened me once more. I had to run at it, she said—I knew how to do that well enough, anyway. But it turned out Mario knew how to slide, and if I held down after sprinting, I could reach the other side! It was the first technique I ever learned, and like the game itself, she was a master in demonstrating it.

Video games have been a lifelong hobby since those days and are routinely influential in my life. For one, having been introduced to games by a woman, and playing them together, insulated me early on that it was a hobby for all. Anything I do with video games today is with that thought burning in my ears.

I went through many academic phases while seeking to express my passion including aspirations for games journalism and software development. While neither of these “big picture” careers materialized, there’s always something I’m working on to express this passion, like writing this blog. One of those that is very important to me is repairing consoles and collecting games in hopes that I can create a space for all people to try unfamiliar games and rediscover old favorites. There may even be a future where I try podcasting or publishing videos. It’s something rolling around in my head, anyway.

No matter what happens, it’s clear that video games will stick with me in some form for a long time. I don’t know what they will look like when I’m in 60, but I like to think I could repeat history for someone else, just like a former rockstar and best friend.

[bilgisticallykosher]

Prediction for this episode; REMUS TIME! That's it, that's my prediction. 

Okay, and Janus is going to be involved this time (see previous post). Not sure of the status of Virgil and Patton's relationship…Let's see, Roman was really confident and relaxed in the first Asides, so I'm placing the Distractions episode in like early season three, if not in between two and three, so I'm prepared for it to be more volatile. Okay! Thumbnail impressions. 

Oh my gosh I love everything about it. First of all, anxiety! That means Anxiety! And there's Virgil. And! The little, cartoony, uh, definitely Virgil and Roman, and I'm not sure who the middle boy is. Is that Logan? I don't see a tie, maybe it's Patton. Although, is that a beard?? But the subtitle!!!!! That's amazing. I feel like I know that style. Bed In The Morning artist? Gosh, I'm in love with this already. 

Oh, flirting, not like flirting with the idea of social anxiety, like, 'how do I flirt when I have social anxiety?' Okay okay. Roman's face in the thumbnail, oh my gosh. Also, can I just point out that last time the team was like "Haha, yeah, the Asides were only supposed to be ten minutes, they'll be shorter next time." 

ONWARD!

They call me Sanders, oh boy. Was. Was that his flirting? OH! It's essential to the overall story? Huh. Fascinating. Now I'm even more excited than I was! And hey, yeah, Ellen Kelley, I was right about the artist! And ABD, nice, Brei Grace, also very nice! Mazel tov, all three of you! Noooo, I totally want to see it in live action, too, but money...Hnrg. Oh well. I'm already screaming about the little promo just now. It's Roman versus Virgil again, looking to be like My Negative Thinkingish. SALT! YES! That got me way too happy...

Flirt or Fight, ahhhhhhhhhh. Haha, yeah. That's really not a big deal. Hey! As someone on the other side of the counter, we do that stuff, too. I ask "Anything else?" a lot, and then once customer responded, "No, that's it, thanks." So of course I said "You're welcome, may I get you anything else?" And it took me three seconds to realize.

This was not an isolated incident. I do it so often. Anyway. R+, senior, haha. PFFFT, Roman. Oh, the senior was an intentional thing, not just a joke. And look! They agree!! "He's in his 30s, he might as well be 60." I'm going to be quoting that so often. 

NEW SCENARIO! Thirty times a day again. HAHAHA, I love Roman. Omg, I love all this. "I'm not stinky." Oh, hm. A lot of liar accusations. I wonder where in the series this Asides takes place… Suddenly flirt mode activated. "We don't know that he's not gay." Point for Roman. OH that's the glasses and beard guy. Okay cool. Ooooooh, that last sticker. AND I got that Blink-182 reference. Nice! More introvert clues. Roman's old jokes are great. Sticker button system. Pintrovert, nice. Commentating! "Now I'm telling you you're being a freak!" Ha, Jack-y. I love their banter, IT'S THE MILLENNIUM PUZZLE AHH, oh cool, and there's gay. Their very different reactions to this is also fascinating. Boiled...mayo carrots? 96, because table 69 would've been too obvious a joke…………. But it would've been Remus-y. Roman. With an R. Gay eyes? Oh I'm so glad that Virgil asked, I wasn't sure if that was actually a thing. RIP the artists having to animate gay eyes. 

I just. He looks so much like Picani. Oh, no, he looked behind himself! The You Failed voice is excellent. Haha, nah, I was just panicking. I… call bs on that actually being a lie. Yeah that just means he likes basketball. Oh man. This. Oh. No. No, this is not ending well. Gerard Gay. HA, yes, Thomas apparently. Forget pulling his heartstrings, they're pulling his arms. 

THOMAS, NO, YOU DID NOT JUST WRITE ROMAN THE LINE "I'll add it to the list" oh my gosh, how could you???? Okay, I laughed way too hard at "I 'unno. Plant!" Oh this is definitely going to end in disaster. PFFTAHAHA what is that awkward Irish accent? But that ""buddy"" is totally Joan. Yeah, 100% that's them. "Search for treasure for good measure." Sigh, that's the only Remus content I'm getting this episode, isn't it. Sty??? Yes, hide in the garbage, perfect. 

You need a game plan for flirting? *shrugs in awkward* Bird puns, pretty tweet. Haha, cyber stalking in real life. Can't he just casually walk by, and casually notice a pin? I legit thought Roman was going to stop at "You're going to have to try… speaking." From the heart? "Hey, you're cute and I'm gay, plus your backpack says that you are, too?" I'm so concerned that the bathroom stall is gonna open now. 

Oh it's getting sad. And Roman's so sad, no. Oh this is real close to the end of POF. This might be a little much, tbh. OMFG. Who is that? Oh no, oh no, ohhhhhhhh nooooooooo. Omfg. I didn't wanna ruin the moment. "Yeah, I gotta stop wooing strangers in bathrooms." I MEAN, YEAH, RUDE, THOMAS! Oh boy they're going in strong on the lying thing. It's still so fresh, but Virgil's okay with Thomas, so? WOAH man. Was this before DWIT? Virgil said deceit, but did he say deceit or Deceit? That's some faux-concern there. Or should I say...foe concern. Oh boy that turned quickly. Maybe Patton's acceptance of Janus is why Virgil's all stiff with Patton in Distractions? I mean that's been theorized anyway, but

YO IT'S CUTE GUY HE HAS A VOICE! Screaming. Nevada. Anaconda. Oh my gosh, nooooooooooooo. Thomas. Repeat after me, "Sorry, you're cute and I'm very gay, could you repeat that?" And sad Roman. VIRGIL'S GONNA DO SOMETHING! Yes, good. "Do you want this food?" NO, bad. OH! Nice! Flirting maybe yes possibly? Mister. Nico! Feeling like a trash bin! Excellent! Pfffffffft, I like Nico. "Shut up." "Shut up." "Shut up!" SHUT UP! Virgil helped!!! And Roman's so sad and I'm teary and bravery!!!!! Ugh, I'm taking a moment. Oh there was that thing that Joan wrote that Thomas was really excited about. The soliloquy in the bathroom maybe? Nico's trash metaphor? 

Ahhhhhh, omfg I'm wheezing. Old. It's funny that he referred to Thomas in third person. Like. Interesting funny. What! It's Janus's theme!!!! Oh. WHAT.  What Janus's collection what. Corridor of stored rewards aauuuugh. Love that font, btw. And the J especially! EXCUSE YOU I JUST SAW MY BOY SMASH A PLATE OVER HIS HEAD but like in front of a blue screen so that's new content, shut up. Oh no commentary, I love commentary. Woah, that's crazy, writing contributions. JANUS SHADOW! Aw, Thomas. 💚💚💚💚💚 Oh, post-mall screaming. They're all the same, I love them. The little hand over mouth thing. WOAH DOES VIRGIL HAVE SPARKY EYESHADOW? I assume that's Talyn, truly a wonderful contribution, he's beautiful. Ha, delete immediately. Oh. "What if things are never the same again?" That was almost a happy inflection, mayhaps? Yeah, sparkly. Join me! No thinking! Oh hey, I was doing the hand flappy thing a lot, too? Are you sure you don't have to pee? Uh oh. Virgil's facial expressions… that's concerning. Demon! Thirty times a day joke! Hmmmmmmm.

Ahhhh, this was really cute, I can see the importance, I don't know where it is within the episodes, but yeah, it'd have been hard to do live action. Patreon. Maybe one day. But some very sad and concerning things! I am concerned. 

The animation was so good! I hope they told the artists to do it transparent if they needed it transparent. But! Really! So good! I know there were three different artists, and if I looked for it, I can kind of see some stylistic differences sometimes, but for the most part, I can't! They all managed to go into one style near flawlessly, it's amazing. They were incredible. 

The prinxiety is going to be flowing out of this fandom, man. Also, unrelated, but I demand more stupid idiot Thomas in fics! I get that we respect him and want the best for him, but we're missing a huge opportunity! Look at this disaster! Look at this awkward dumb dork, the boy can barely function at times! So much potential!

[piilokarsastus]

Question time!

1: Let’s start with a tricky one; what is the real reason you are confused right now? because life is hard and i just don’t understand what i’m doing wrong but everyone else seems to know

2: Do you ever get “good morning” texts from anyone? nope. and to be fair, i would be sleeping anyway

3: If your significant other smoked pot, would you care? if it’s like an actual thing for them that they do regularly, i’d probably be a bit concerned, but i don’t see anything wrong with trying things out for fun. if you’re just a straight up pothead, we wouldn’t be dating in the first place

4: Do you find it easy to trust others? i guess

5: What were you doing at 11PM last night? filling in another pointless question post on tumblr, funny that you should ask

6: You’re drunk and lost walking down the road; who is with you? unlikely scenario, but i’m gonna say my friends from uni

7: What would you do if you found out you had been cheated on? probably spend the next few years thinking about it, unable to trust anyone again

8: Are you close with your dad? not as close as with my mum but still reasonably close

9: I bet you kissed someone last night, right? i’m curious as to what kind of life you think i’m living because this is not it

10: What are you listening to? the soothing hum of my laptop fan

11: You can only drink ONE liquid for the rest of your life - what is it? woter:)

12: Do you like hickeys? i don’t exactly understand the point

13: What time do you go to bed? going to bed and falling asleep are two very different things but usually around 2-4

14: Is there someone who continuously lets you down? me. it’s me.

15: Can you text as quickly with one hand as you do both? definitely not

16: Do you always answer your texts? sooner or later, yes

17: Do you hate the person you fell the hardest for? no

18: When was the last time you talked to one of your best friends? not that long ago

19: Is there someone that makes you happy every time you see them? all of my friends

20: What was your last thought before you went to bed last night? aight imma head out

21: Is anyone else in the room with you? no

22: Do you believe what goes around comes around? in a sense i do

23: Were you happier four months ago than you are now? i feel like i was, yeah

24: Is there someone you wish you could fix things with? well there’s nothing to “fix” per se, i just wish things went differently

25: In the past week, have you cried? yes

26: What colour is the shirt you are wearing? red

27: Do people ever call you by your last name? my aunt often does, weirdly enough

28: Is anyone ignoring you right now? only every single one of the 4 people i’ve messaged on tinder recently. which makes me feel really great

29: Do you have a best friend? there’s someone i could perhaps call my best friend but i don’t think i have a “true” best friend at the moment like those i’ve had before

30: Would it be hard seeing someone else kiss the last person you kissed? no i’m completely neutral towards her

31: Who was your last call from? my friend tried to call me yesterday but i couldn’t answer

32: Are you mad at anyone? no

33: Have you ever kissed someone older than you? marginally, yes

34: How old will the last person you kissed be on his/her next birthday? honestly i don’t know?? i don’t remember when she was born exactly but i feel like we were born in the same year at least, so i’m guessing either 21 or 22

35: How many more days until your birthday? 329

36: Do you have any summer plans yet? summer literally just ended so no

37: Do you have any good friends of the opposite sex? not exactly a fan of the word opposite in this context but i get what you mean. so yeah, most of my friends are of the “opposite” sex

38: Are you keeping anything from your best friend(s) now? nothing that would be their business to know

39: Do you have a secret that you’ve never told anyone? i guess i do.

40: Have you ever regretted kissing someone? i haven’t kissed nearly enough people for there to be any regrets. soo... would you like to be my first regret? haha just kidding... unless...

41: Do you think age matters in relationships? not going to write the essay that the wording of this question warrants but basically yes but only to some extent; what’s more important is that you’re in a similar phase in life and have similar expectations about the relationship. age can be a large factor in those things as well as your “maturity” but it isn’t the only factor.

42: Are you available? yeah bitch hmu

43: How many people have you had real, strong feelings for since high school ended? two

44: If you had to get a piercing (not ears), what would you get? well i guess it’d have to be a septum, then

45: Do you believe exes can be friends? yes, in fact that’s my life philosophy

46: Do you regret anything? :)) i don’t think about it as much as i used to but i’ve never fully forgiven myself for confessing my feelings to someone who wasn’t interested in me. this is known as the february 2019 incident

47: Honestly, what’s on your mind right now? tiddies

48: Did you ever lose a best friend? yeah, not to death but to life

49: Was your last kiss a mistake? no

50: Why aren’t you pursuing the person you like? i don’t quite like anyone at the moment and it’s gonna take a long time until i’m ever going to have the courage to make a move on anyone i’m interested in because of the aforementioned incident

51: Has the last person you kissed ever seen you cry? no

52: Do you still talk with the person you LAST kissed? no, like there’s nothing negative between us and we’d say hello if we met on the street but we just don’t talk 

53: What was the last thing you ate? pancake:)

54: Did you get any compliments today? haven’t really interacted with anyone today so no

55: Where are you going on your next vacation? bich this is my vacation, i’m going nowhere except to bed

56: Do you own anything from other countries? yes. like i’m a bit amused by this question like where on this planet can you even live where at least some of your stuff hasn’t been made in China etc. (well, i guess that would be China). but even if you’re referring to souvenirs from trips etc, still yes

57: Are most of your friend guys or girls? girls

58: Where have you lived most of your life? in Oulu, Finland

59: When was the last time you took a long drive? a few months ago, but i wasn’t the one driving

60: Have you ever played Spin the Bottle? yes, also known as the game where my friends try to find out who i have a crush on

61: Have you ever TPd someone’s house? i had to google what TPing means and i’m more and more scared of americans every day

62: Who do you text the most? honestly my social life is at a point where my most common recurring interaction is exchanging cat videos with my mum (apart from group chats)

63: What was the last movie you saw? the matrix

64: What’s preventing your current boyfriend/girlfriend from going back to their ex? yeah as if i have one

65: How many boyfriends/girlfriends did you have in 2010? 2010?? damn i was literally 10

66: Is the last person you kissed younger than you? we were around the same age

67: Do you curse around your parents? for comedic effect

68: Are you happy with where you live? not my dream apartment but it’s okay

69: Do you collect anything? my tiktok seems to have become a collection of about 250 cute lgbt folks, but other than that, no

70: What’s your favourite colour? a kind of deep, ultramarine blue

71: Does the last song you listened to remind you of anyone? not in particular

72: Has anyone ever cheated on you? no

73: What are your plans for tomorrow? make some music

74: Do you have siblings over the age of twenty-one? i don’t have any

75: Does your last ex have a job? not that i know of

76: What would you do if you found out your most recent ex was in a relationship? she is and i’m happy for her, or as happy as i can be while being painfully aware of the fact that my love life hasn’t gone anywhere in the past two years

77: Where is your cellphone? on the floor, charging

78: What colour is your cellphone? black and bronze

79: What did you dream of last night? it was something fairly nsfw and extremely hot and i lterally had to pause for a second when i woke up because damn it’s been so fucking long since i’ve experienced that irl and it left me with a bad case of yearning

80: Are you atheist? yes

81: Will you change your name when you get married? no

82: Are you ready for autumn weather? would be a bit too late if i wasn’t

83: Have you had any big storms recently? there was one that was rumoured to be really big but tbh i barely noticed it 

84: What kind of bottoms are you wearing? just my comfy pajamas

[lovexdejun]

a/n: uhh technically this ain’t angst but it was requested from the angst prompt i reblogged? this SO FUCKING FUN to write. i love these kinds of scenarios so. much. i guess this is like a thriller/crime blurb? i hope you enjoy it as much as i did! (also, in no way, shape or form do i think like this, it’s just what i think serial killers would think like.)

requested by @hyucksxx from this prompt list

56. “I could have died and you couldn’t have cared less.”

60. “Don’t hate me for this. You would have done the same.”

warnings: uh mention of death and serial killings?

middle of the desert, 1:03am

sometimes you wonder what your life would have been if you’d never met hyuck. probably boring; probably that same old 9 to 5 desk job, takeout every night, and standstill traffic on the 101. it wouldn’t surprise you if you’d spent over half your adult years trapped on that stupid freeway.

but then he came along, and everything got fun. he went by haechan when he met you, wouldn’t tell you his real name until he could “trust you.” you can imagine how surprised he was when you rolled into the bar the next night and called him donghyuck—that 9to5 sure had its perks. that’s probably about the time that he fell head over heels for you, and needless to say, you were already very very intrigued by the boy. but no matter how much you loved each other, you were both still pretty selfish.

no one in the world could convince you to throw yourself under the bus for them, even donghyuck. if it came down to it, between you and him, you’d always protect yourself—and you had no doubt he felt the same.

so you definitely weren’t surprised when you saw donghyuck slowly drop his shovel and sprint off back toward the hidden jeep over the detective’s shoulder. it kinda hurt though, knowing you weren’t about to get caught with your partner in crime. you always thought you’d get got together, and it would be like bonnie and clyde... or something. even though you’d probably pin the whole thing on him, and him on you. still, it would have been fun for you guys to look at eachother and know you did all of this together.

but no, you were in this alone, just like you’d expected.

“i finally caught you in the act.” said the exceptionallly dressed man. he’d been trailing you for a whole year now, and you could have kicked yourself for not keeping an eye out. he was obsessed with you! ever since that murder last spring—your wallet had been found at the scene, but you could easily explain it away as theft because she was a transient and, well, you were the perfect, sweet girl next door.

detective kim doyoung, however, didn’t buy it. you think he just got out of a bad relationship and needed some validation and that’s probably why he was stalking you at clubs and restaurants to try and catch you doing something illegal. but when you found out he was doing it of his own accord, you decided to take part in his game. you filed a police report on his “harassment” and got him fired—and maybe pissed him off a bit.

so there he stood in the pitch black, the only thing illuminating the area being the flashlight he held under his drawn firearm. you’d be lying if you said your heart wasn’t bouncing around in your rib cage, but you kept a poker face, leaning on your shovel like you were talking to a neighbor.

when you spoke, it was with a mocking type of humor, “i wondered when you would—took you long enough.”

he played along, chuckling himself. “you didn’t make it easy.” he confessed. “which is gonna make it so much sweeter when i can take you in and put you on display for all those fuckers who didn’t believe me.”

this made you go weak in the knees, but not in a good way. there was no way you’d let this crazy guy take you alive, and if you could help it, you definitely didn’t wanna die any time soon. suddenly you found yourself wishing for haechan—and not just so you could throw him in the line of fire. you wanted him to be there to just hold your hand.

your distraction must have been evident because detective kim made a point of calling you out on it.

“no one is gonna help you now, sweetheart. it’s just you and me.” he sounded so cocky, so confident. he didn’t realize he’d just screwed himself by giving you an idea.

you let out a laugh that was almost too evil before you spoke with a voice that dripped with sweet venom.

“that’s where you’re wrong, detective.” you cooed, shifting your eyes just behind his head. you made sure it was noticeable, but not an obvious ploy, and called out into the nothingness, “came to save me, baby?”

maybe his overconfidence got the best of him, maybe he was too excited; doyoung knew he made the wrong decision just as he went to spin around. but it was way too late. you had already lifted your shovel, and in a split second it was creating a sickening metallic thud against his head. you could feel the vibrations flooding back up your arms and into your spine, and it felt painfully good.

you heard him let out a low, weak groan, and clicked your tongue, shaking your head then going to search for his weapon.

you found his gun in the dim flashlight beam and sighed before firing a shot into his back. it was much much louder than you had anticipated, yet you shrugged, and fired one more round into his skull—just for good measure. you stood for a moment to admire your work, then quickly recovered the casings and kicked the detective’s flimsy corpse into the hole containing your initial half-buried murder victim. it was quick work to fill the grave, a newfound energy coursing through your veins. maybe it was because this time you killed someone with a real life—someone who actually had family and friends and a job to wake up to in the morning. it filled you with anxiety, but also gave you a kind of thrill that your usual victimology had stopped giving you. the fear of getting caught was beautiful. you wanted your heart to race like that every time you made kill.

once you assured that you’d covered your tracks, you set off to find your boyfriend and give him a piece of your mind. it wasn’t too long of a walk to the jeep hidden behind a large rock and some brush, however, you weren’t sure it would even be there by the time you got back.

much to your luck, it was—engine off and lights out. you peeked into the black interior to see haechan gripping the steering wheel, his forehead pressed into the leather. it almost looked like he was crying.

with a tap on the passenger window, you held up his discarded shovel and motioned for the startled boy to unlock your door. once you had thrown your tools in the back and climbed into the passenger seat, you ignored his bloodshot eyes and flushed cheeks. mostly because he was clearly trying to hide it, but also because it caused these horrid feelings deep in the pit of your stomach and somewhere in your chest.

“so what happened?” he questioned, his voice thick with emotion though he acted unphased.

you crossed your arms, pressing against the back of the seat and looking to the window out into nothing. “i killed him, obviously.” pause. “you could have helped me, you know? hit him from behind or something.”

he sighed, palming his face and leaning his head against the headrest. “i panicked.”

“bullshit!” you tightened your crossed arms. “i could have died! and you couldn’t have cared less.”

now he was rolling his eyes and turning his body to face you. you almost flinched at the sincere regret behind his features.

“don’t hate me for this.” he whispered. “you know you would have done the same.”

there was a moment of silence that was so loud it made you wanna crawl out of your skin. you let his words soak in. he was right, obviously. you would have gone out there and arrested him yourself if it meant you were off the hook.

“yeah,” you agreed. “i would have.”

another lapse of silence came, then heachan reached over to take your hand in his own. “when i heard those gunshots, i wanted so badly to get out of the car and run to you.

“my heart felt like it was ripped out and all i wanted was to be holding your hand and saying i love you until they didn’t feel like real words anymore.”

you felt your chest tighten at his words. neither of you were ever this sappy with eachother, and honestly, it wasn’t as bad as you thought. you leaned over and pressed your lips to his, kissed him until you saw stars. you kissed away the tears that had spilled over his cheeks and giggled when he cupped your face to do the same.

“i love you so much.” you said through your happy crying.

“i love you too.” he smiled, holding your cheeks and letting his eyes wander your face. “god, my girlfriend is such a badass.”

[anoceanofnoise]

The best gaming PCs in 2020

The best gaming PC right currently is the Alienware Aurora R10, because of its smooth, sharp plan, rankling gaming execution and easy upgradability. On the off chance that you need to have the option to trade in more up to date designs cards after some time and don't have any desire to manage a lot of screws and devices, the Aurora is for you.

In case you're searching for the best modest gaming PC, the CyberPower Gamer Xtreme VR is our top spending pick. One of our preferred mid-go alternatives is the Dell G5 5090, which begins at a sensible passage level, cost, has an alluring plan, and, similar to its greater Alienware sibling, is genuinely simple to update. click here

The Corsair One i160 is a decent decision for people looking for the most minimized gaming PC around without relinquishing power, while boutique machines, for example, the Origin Neuron and Maingear Rush merit looking at on the off chance that you need to tweak each part of your PC at the purpose of procurement.

There are a lot of other extraordinary gaming PCs out there, from super reduced work areas that are ideal for front room gaming to monstrous, adjustable mammoths that are ideal for 4K gaming just as augmented reality.

Nvidia has recently reported its new GPU setup, including the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070, 3080 and 3090. These designs cards will dispatch in mid-to-late September, and speak to a huge overhaul over most Nvidia illustrations cards at present available. Our best gaming PCs will probably fuse these GPUs in the coming months.

Prepared to locate a definitive pinnacle for your war room? Here are the best gaming PCs to purchase at this moment.

The best gaming PCs you can purchase

Best gaming PC - Alienware Aurora R10(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

1. Alienware Aurora R10

The best gaming PC in general

VR Ready: Yes | Processor: AMD Ryzen 5/7/9 or ninth Gen Intel Core i5/i7/i9 | RAM: Up to 64GB | Graphics Card: Up to Nvidia RTX 2080 Ti | Storage: Up to 2TB | Accessories: N/A

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Appealing designVery simple to overhaul graphicsSleek, adaptable RGB lightingBlistering gaming and CPU performanceCan get costly

The Alienware Aurora R10 conveys huge on each front: it's slick; it's amazing; it's adjustable and it's anything but difficult to overhaul whether or not or not you're a PC devotee. The R10 model games Alienware's most recent Legend plan language, conveying a smooth, surprising suspension that glances extraordinary in both white and dark and sports three completely adjustable RGB zones.

Be that as it may, the genuine enchantment lies inside, where you can equip the Aurora R10 with up to an Intel Core i9 or Ryzen 9 processor and various Nvidia RTX 2080 Ti illustrations cards for taking care of the best VR games without a perspiration. Furthermore, regardless of whether you start little, the Aurora's adroitly planned body lets you open the machine up and trade out the GPU and RAM without the requirement for any devices. Regardless of how you design it, the Aurora is the best gaming PC you can purchase.

Peruse our full Alienware Aurora R10 survey.

2. CyberPowerPC Gamer Extreme VR

A stellar worth

VR Ready: Yes | Processor: Intel Core i5-8400 | RAM: 8GB | Graphics Card: Nvidia GTX 1660 | Storage: 1TB hard drive | Accessories: Cyberpower

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527 Amazon client surveys

☆☆☆☆☆

Incredible execution for priceUpgradableIncluded accessoriesBulky plan

The CyberPower Gamer Xtreme VR is a standout amongst other gaming PCs for people who need to burn through $800 without giving up much in the method of intensity. Pressing a Core i5 processor and a Nvidia GTX 1660 illustrations card, this work area can run standard games at high settings and even handle computer generated reality without a very remarkable perspiration. Even better, the Gamer Xtreme VR is exceptionally simple to open up, making it an extraordinary beginning stage for gamers who in the long run need to move up to all the more impressive parts.

The Gamer Xtreme VR has for quite some time been a most loved at top online retailers, and all things considered. On head of its solid presentation and low beginning value, this machine has a genuinely smooth and showy plan, total with custom RGB lighting both on the fans and inside the case. You additionally get a CyberPower console and mouse directly out of the case, so you can invest less energy getting additional frill and additional time fragging your companions on the web.

3. MSI MEG Trident X

Flawless plan and incredible execution

VR Ready: Yes | Processor: Up to Intel Core i9-10900K, 3.7-5.3 GHz | RAM: Up to 64 GB | Graphics Card: Up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti | Storage: Up to 1 TB SSD + 1 TB HDD | Accessories: MSI Clutch GM11 Mouse, MSI Vigor GK30 Keyboard

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Ground-breaking performanceQuiet coolingSmart, reduced designExpensiveSubpar peripherals

The primary thing you'll see about the MSI MEG Trident X is that it's completely beautiful. This little, rakish machine fits effectively into pretty much any gaming niche, and is ideal for either work area or lounge arrangements. The second thing you'll see is that it runs games totally flawlessly, regardless of whether you need to encounter them at full HD, QHD or UHD settings. With an assortment of processor, GPU and RAM choices from which to pick, you'll have the option to modify a machine that works for your games, and for your screen.

Simply know that regardless of how you plan the MEG Trident X, it will be costly. Besides, the extras it accompanies — the MSI Clutch GM11 Mouse and MSI Vigor GK30 Keyboard — are average, best case scenario, and disillusioning even under the least favorable conditions. In any case, as far as both physical plan and crude execution, the MEG Trident X is one of the most beautiful and utilitarian gaming PCs available today.

Peruse our full MSI MEG Trident X audit.

4. Dell G5 Gaming Desktop 5090

Passage level and simple to redesign

VR Ready: Yes | Processor: Up to ninth Gen Intel Core i7 9700 | RAM: Up to 64GB | Graphics Card: Up to Nvidia RTX 2080 | Storage: Up to 1TB SSD + 2TB hard drive | Accessories: Dell optical mouse and interactive media console

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8 Amazon client audits

☆☆☆☆☆

Great profitability and gaming performanceReasonably pricedGreat chassisPreinstalled programming can be a painNot ideal for QHD/UHD gaming

The Dell G5 5090 is extraordinary compared to other gaming PCs for people who need a strong section level machine that is exceptionally simple to redesign. This pixie moderate work area begins with an unassuming Core i3 processor and Nvidia GTX 1650 card, however can be furnished with up to a Core i7 CPU and RTX 2080 GPU for more escalated gaming.

One of the G5's greatest selling focuses is its smooth, idiot proof suspension, which is extraordinarily simple to open up should you need to trade out segments after some time. We discovered Dell's work area to be dependable for playing AAA games at 1080p and 60 casings for every second, and like that the machine comes generally liberated from bloatware. In general, on the off chance that you need a decent, reasonable work area that you can make all the more impressive after some time, the Dell G5 5090 is an extraordinary decision.

Peruse our full Dell G5 5090 audit.

5. Corsair One i160

Large force in a smaller suspension

VR Ready: Yes | Processor: Intel Core i9-9900K | RAM: 32GB | Graphics Card: Nvidia RTX 2080 Ti | Storage: 480GB SSD, 2TB | Accessories: N/A

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Superbly conservative designSlick, adaptable RGB lightingStrong generally performanceExpensiveStill-restricted upgradability

Who says you need a tremendous pinnacle for very good quality gaming PC power? The Corsair One i160 sharpens the smaller gaming PC idea to approach flawlessness, packing an Intel Core i9 processor and Nvidia RTX 2080 Ti GPU into an incredibly smooth suspension that can mix into workplaces and war rooms similarly well.

The Corsair One's smooth RGB lighting offers a huge amount of customization alternatives, and its fluid cooled inward plan keeps this little machine calm in any event, during warmed 4K standoffs. It's significant that the Corsair One isn't the most update agreeable machine, so you'll have to pick an arrangement you'll need to stay with or have some good specialized ability to trade out parts. In any case, in case you're restricted on space yet would prefer not to forfeit execution, the Corsair One will be extraordinary compared to other gaming PCs for devotees of smaller machines. read more

[nickspitch]

Breaking down the 2020 NFL Draft prospects (Offense skill positions)

By: Tad Dieckhoff

My Top 2 players at each position

QB:

Joe Burrow LSU: The Heisman trophy winner was downright absurd in 2019-20. He put up numbers in real life that most can’t achieve on Madden. He absolutely easily set the passing touchdowns in a season record that has stood since 2006 tossing SIXTY touchdowns. 

“I don’t how many touchdowns i’ve scored..ehhh I think about 60” -Bug Wendall(Gridiron Gang 2006)

We could talk all day about Burrows ridiculous season but how will this translate to the next level? I don’t see the concern some others have addressed with Burrows attitude, he wants to win football games, thats the bottom line. He has the arm talent, athleticism, and work ethic to be a great NFL QB. But what makes him special in my eyes is his ability to improvise when the pocket breaks down, he never panics, hes calm and collected and usually turns nothing into something(a bomb of a touchdown) I don’t see any scenario where he isnt the first overall pick.

Tua Tugovailoa Alabama:

Tua is one of the most efficient college QBs ee have ever seen, simply put when he’s on the field he produces at a high level and can make all of the throws you need at the next level. But the key words there were when he’s on the field. We have honestly only seen a small sample size of Tua, as a freshman he won a national title..but, he only played a half of football the entire season, it just happened to be the second half of the national title game vs Georgia. Last season it looked like he would run away with the Heisman until ankle injuries plagued him down the stretch in the SEC championship game specifically. Same story this season as he was having another great year before getting injured, a MUCH more serious injury this time however. He dislocated his hip, and injury we have seen very few football players overcome..most notably Bo Jackson. Bo however needed to get back to being a freak of nature runningback, while Tua is really just a pocket passer. We haven’t seen a quarterback suffer this serious injury before so there isnt much to base it on. If he can fully recover he’ll be a franchise QB, if he can’t. You’re wasting a first round pick. High risk, high reward situation here. I believe Tua will go in the top 10.

Runningback- 

Deandre Swift Georgia

Swift can do it all, hes elusive, he runs between the tackles, he has great hands and awareness catching out of the backfield, and he is well versed in the spread running shemes so many NFL coaches are now running(ie: Kyle Shannahan) When you consider the success Georgia runningbacks have had at the next level(Todd Gurley, Sony Michel, and Nick Chubb were all on the same team at one point) I believe Swift is a sure fire pick if you’re in need of a runningback. I believe he’ll be the first RB off the board. 

Najee Harris, Alabama- Harris is next up in a line of all world runningbacks from Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide. We have seen Alabama runningbacks plastered all over the NFL for what feels like a decade now. The lowest drafted Bama RB in many years was ...Derrick Henry..enough said. You pass on an Alabama runningback when you’re in need at that position, you’re likley to regret it for years to come. I believe Najee with be an exceptional player at the next level and I see him as a late first rounder.

Wide Reciever:

Jerry Jeudy, Alabama AND CeeDee Lamb, Oklahoma 

I decided to group these two together because they are far and away the two best recievers in this draft and in my opinion CAN’T MISS prospects. This is not a weak reciever class like many pegged last years draft class, it is DEEP and loaded with studs yet these 2 have still separated themselves. I’d be shocked if they both don’t go top 10 I just have no idea who I would pick first. We haven’t seen two wideouts this talented in the same draft class since the 2011 draft where AJ Green and Julio Jones went 4th and 6th overall respectively (I’d say that worked out well) If i was forced to choose I would take Jeudy first just because he is just on a different level then everyone else athletically, the speed, the cutting, the stop/start ability, he will be an incredible NFL receiver for years to come. 

BONUS: Sleeper WR Antonio Gandy-Golden, Liberty

AGG flat out dominated this season at 6’4” 220 pounds literally nobody in the “big south” conference could cover this guy. The only question is can he do it in the NFL or was he just dominating very weak competition. He has improved stock significantly at the January senior bowl in Mobile Alabama where many NFL scouts were impressed with how he performed all week. I would definitely take a chance on this guy in the bottom half of the draft if I needed a WR.

[brothermouzongaming]

Devil May Cry 5 review

This very much follows the guidelines of your typical DMC game which confounds me as to how that manages to be more good than bad. Stagnation is never a positive mark but come to think of it, DMC isn't the franchise that pumps a title out every year or every other year for that matter. So following the steps that made the IP successful to begin with isn't exactly something to fault. To go even further, I’d say it’s a little refreshing in the old school approach it takes to gameplay loop and presentation. It reminds me of how the previous generations felt while keeping me locked in the present with the gorgeous graphics and art direction. The gameplay expertly straddling the old and new gaming worlds in an intoxicating concoction of nostalgia and realization of what modern gaming can be.  Combat overall is timing and direction based due to the one button controls. It forces the player to splinter their command concepts, throwing away the convention of light, medium, and heavy attacks. Your variation comes in the direction of the left stick in combination with the spacing between button presses, and even whether or not you’re locked on. Your melee, projectile, and special buttons are spread out in the typical DMC fashion and this alone is very unique to this series. It seems like a lot because the control scheme doesn’t coddle the player and in many ways demands quite a bit from them. Especially when this game is meant to be played at the speed of two hummingbirds fucking. (Also, anyone else's hands get tired af after a battle? Or am I just old now...)   

Nero to Hero Boy-wonder is all over the place with frenetic and quick movements that take him from enemy to enemy or more interestingly: bringing enemies to him one by one. The grapple arm is great, on the lighter enemies (most of them) it pulls them to Nero, however, the largebois work as anchors and pulls Nero toward them. Each devil-breaker is unique and even when some may seem niche, at least they have a purpose when they were put into the game. There's a lot of layers when throwing in not just what you like and when you want to whip it out, but which ones you don’t mind burning should the situation arise. The devil-breakers have a main function and an alternative mode with one even having a third ability (Punch Line’s missile-hoverboard feature). My only real problem with Nero’s mechanics is that we can’t rotate through the holster to pick which breaker we want to use next in-game. Other than that, Exceed moves spice up the swordplay and bouncing around the arena never losses it's feeling of excitement and sense of raw power. V is for Vanity Everyone's combat comes with a level of understanding and familiarity even if you've seen nothing but cutscenes and gamers playing. V shakes up the gameplay and the mindset of the player which was jarring at first, but in time I would gain these moments of clarity where I'm this maestro of chaos orchestrating from afar as the battle plays out before me. The demonic bird handles projectiles while an equally demonic Jaguar (...Panther...?) that is your melee attack. With an Ogre like Devil Trigger that lays waste to everything in the arena. It's clear and understandable why he's so divisive given these “hands off” aspects but it's just as over the top as the rest of the series so it doesn't feel out of place. It’s well designed so much to the point of almost being too easy but again like the specific devil-breakers: V is different from the ground up and it’s done to freshen up the experience. A commendable act especially when it really seems to be an honest go at it and less than an idea they threw in last second. There are issues with commands and some not working exactly as you think but with adjustments to the way you play it becomes smooth and fun in no time again. Back to V being dipped in hyperbolic angst: reading his own poetry refills his meter and it sounds like the angriest high schooler wrote it, but again, it's how aggressively everything is leaned into that gives it the charm. Also, V definitely has the best "sprint" feature. He hovers on this little nimbus cloud of black thoughts and Pierce the Veil lyrics it's so cute.   Dante’s Inferno The top shelf killer, Nero is close with his arsenal, but Dante's is the most varied and honestly the most fun. I've encountered few things more satisfying than Lu Kang combo-ing the shit out of two demons to seamlessly switch to your motorcycle dual ax and eviscerate whatever remains of the crowd. It’s so intoxicating I can honestly name on one hand how many other games gave me this feeling (Spider-man 2, Far Cry 3, God of War, and Halo 2). Four styles of combat change most weapon move sets and this keeps the player at the edge of their seat all while the ride remains smooth as butter. Between guns and other projectile launchers as well as the handful of weapons all very diverse in functionality and performance, there’s almost too much to thoroughly use in a single level playthrough. Of all the levels, I’m constantly throwing myself back into Dante’s to see just how smokin and sexy my style can be.  Final thots After the learning curve is conquered, the flow and style of combat are entirely dictated by you the player. This combat is the shining achievement of this series and this iteration of it may be the best yet. The camera does a good job of managing the angles on its own and with little attention, it lacks almost all jank and assists the experience more than competently. Levels are bog-standard but what they do offer past the intro missions are many alternate routes and passages that lead to item discoveries, secrets, and combat scenarios you will otherwise miss if you barrel along the main path forsaking all others. I really enjoy how brave this game is for being itself in a world where every game needs some crazy intrusive online feature or component that stifles or gets in the way of the core game’s potential. The most of DMC5′s online capabilities begin and end with the cameo system, something that drops other players into your level at specific times to assist you or mainly just to look at and watch them do their thing. It’s not intrusive and is even exciting when the action starts to heat up and you and another player are cutting everything in the room to ribbons. I almost want more of it, and that’s what a well-implemented feature can do. 

Concerning red orbs mentioned in my demo post, Capcom went with the confusing decision to load us up with orbs and means of getting them in the main game; only to give us the option to pay for more whenever the need arises. Why Capcom? This game has next to no blemishes but this is one minor one in my book, but I can understand why anyone would look past it. This, however, is my biggest peeve: locking so many of Nero's alternative busters behind the ultimate edition or whatever, made me sigh disappointingly. Why couldn't it have at least been the option to unlock those immediately while other players can grind for them like...everything else in the game... To me, it just goes to show that oldboi Capcom is still lurking in the shadows somewhere looking to nickel and dime us at every dark alley it finds us in. At least this $60 dollar product is one I'm still proud to own. This goes in my “GOTY contenders” folder honestly and I have been having an absolute blast with DMC5 and can’t suggest it enough. Even if it’s your first in the series just do it they have a catch-up cinematic you can watch. Seriously. Play it, pull that fucking devil trigger.

tl;dr 8.5/10

[kaleidographia]

[Review] Tales of Vesperia: The Brightest Star in the Night Sky Doesn't Shine as Strongly as I'd Hoped

Warning: Contains allusive/thematic spoilers.

The day is finally here! Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition, containing content previously unseen outside of Japan, has finally been released, so that us English speakers and/or non-PS3 owners can experience the new storylines, characters and features for the first time! Alas, this isn’t a post about that, firstly because this post is going up day-of-release and I haven’t had a chance to play it yet, and secondly because I am writing this from outside of the country and won’t be united with my pre-ordered copy until I return next week, RIP.

Therefore, this post is written from the point of view of someone who has only played the Xbox 360 version. I will try to keep it brief for the sake of not spoiling newcomers to the game, and also hopefully not to complain about things that are fixed (or broken??) in the Definitive Edition.

Tales of Vesperia is a game in the long-running “Tales of” franchise from Bandai Namco, the first one in HD, originally released for the Xbox 360 in 2008, later receiving an updated PS3 version in 2009, exclusive to Japan. Like many older fans, my introduction to the Tales of series was with Tales of Symphonia for the Gamecube, and I fell in love hard; I was therefore extremely excited to play the next games, but unfortunately, I never owned the platforms for them until very recently. Along with Tales of the Abyss, Vesperia and Symphonia form the “holy trinity” of games in the series almost everyone loves; find a Tales fan and ask them their favourite game, and the answer will likely be one of those three (note: I’ve heard very good things about Graces and the two Xillia games, but unfortunately haven’t had a chance to judge them firsthand myself). The three games, while not directly related in terms of plot or setting, share a lot of things in common, as they had mostly the same creative team, often referred to as “Team Symphonia” (as opposed to “Team Destiny” which made most other games since then). One notable difference is the scenario writer, Takashi Hasegawa, while Symphonia and Abyss were written by Takumi Miyajima.

The Tales series is known for its reliance on anime and JRPG tropes, often used in a way that plays off cliché expectations only to then layer plot twists and character development and produce a much deeper experience than what would be expected from the get-go. When used effectively, these methods produce a story that is both fun and emotionally challenging. Tales of Vesperia is no different, offering a cast of archetypes that should be highly recognizable to those familiar with the genre, and yet this may be best set of characters in a Tales game. The party has impressively good banter, chemistry and dynamics and several scenes had me laughing out loud or yelling, and I never had a bad time watching their relationships unfold.

Unfortunately, the game spares little time fleshing out backstories or learning more about each individual character outside of the main plot. By the end, I was left wanting, as the cast was so endearing and vibrant, yet I knew next to nothing about them aside from what had been relevant to show onscreen. I longed for more information about where they had come from and how they had gotten where they were, but it is a testament to the strength of the character writing that their storylines reached a satisfying conclusion despite this relative sparse amount of information about them. “Backstory is not story”, Craig McCracken and Frank Angones were fond of saying to fans of Wander Over Yonder, but for a game with the size and scope of a 60-hour JRPG, not providing that window of information feels like a hole in the worldbuilding.

Mechanically, Vesperia builds on the model established by Symphonia and refined in Abyss, where combat takes place in a 3D arena and the player can run around, hit enemies and rack up combos fighting game style (the franchise calls this “Linear Motion Battle System”). While Symphonia was in 3D, it restricted the player to a single side-to-side corridor of action. Abyss added the ability to run around in 3D space by holding down a button, a feature Vesperia also has. This makes combat easier and more fun, as nothing is quite as satisfying as avoiding an attack and then running around and hitting the enemy from behind. And, as the game allows up to four players controlling different party members, and I have a player 2 (shoutout to my roommate Opal), Vesperia’s system is the most well-suited to multiplayer. If nothing else, I never felt lost while on the battlefield yelling for backup. The one major flaw is that boss fights come with massive difficulty spikes and I often had to grind and formulate careful battle plans with Opal just to not get continuously massacred by bosses.

Storywise, Vesperia starts off very strongly, sort of peters out near the middle, and then the third act falls apart. At first the theme is anti-authority, with a protagonist who grew up in the slums, neglected by nobles, who became a knight and then quit out of disillusionment when it turned out all they did was squabble about politics, and the inciting incident and early driver of the plot is his quest to “fix the plumbing” as a popular Tumblr text post put it. It’s clear Yuri has all the reason in the world to not trust authority and he even goes full vigilante against unjust abuse of power, but while this thread seems like the most important theme in the story, after a while so many other elements come into play it ends up lost and doesn’t really make much of an appearance except to highlight the differences between Yuri and Flynn’s approaches to life and how they prefer to help people. On its own it’s a compelling idea, but it never gets the follow-through it deserves, and my expectations were certainly subverted—but in a bad way.

It’s hard to talk about the third act without spoilers so I will probably come back to it for a proper analysis at a later date, but its ultimate message was already kind of limp in 2008 and is even more laughable now. For a game whose initial premise was so strongly against authority, the ultimate resolution of the main conflict reads as incredibly daft in light of just about everything that is happening in politics at the moment. There’s a very strong environmental allegory and the comparisons to climate change are not subtle, but the writers probably bit off more than they could chew because realistically trying to solve this problem in the time the story allotted would have been next to impossible; I still would have hoped the implications of the given solution had been actually explored instead of settling for an “oh well, guess everything’s been fixed now”.

I’m being harsh about the plot because to me Vesperia has a lot of wasted potential. Don’t get me wrong: I do love this game. It is in fact up there with the holy trinity as far as my opinions of the series go, but it lands in third place out of the three because it just fails to live up to what its first half promises about the world it created. To put it bluntly, if the story had just ended at the conclusion of the second act, it would have been much stronger. That the game continues for another 20 hours on a completely different track with an unsatisfying, unrealistic conclusion is a huge shame because it brings down what could have been a real masterpiece of tropey anime JRPG narratives. I live for that stuff, there’s a reason I want to play every Tales game, but that’s what makes this letdown the most disappointing. At least the characters themselves get good conclusions; it is unfortunate I can’t say the same for the main plot.

Despite all this I think Vesperia is a worthwhile experience, and one of my favourite things about is its aesthetic sense. Every location is immersive, polished, and the pinnacle of what I want to see in a videogame, to the point I dream of Symphonia and Abyss remakes made in the same style (and every other game in the series, to be honest, but that seems unlikely with the direction it’s taken since then). I genuinely cared about the party and I wanted to see them succeed and I was ultimately happy that they did even if I did roll my eyes a lot. The combat was so satisfying and so fun to play with a player 2 it makes me twice as mad that Zestiria’s camera goes completely wild during multiplayer and prevents me from joining in. I should note that for someone who plays as many games as I do I am notoriously terrible at them so I heavily favour story over mechanics, but Vesperia is a game that reminds me that engaging gameplay can make a huge difference. Yeah, I suck, but at least I’m having fun while sucking. That’s more than I can say for a lot of games.

If you like JRPGs, games that let you run around and hit things, or fun and intriguing character dynamics, you’ll probably like Tales of Vesperia. If you’re looking for a coherent story from start to finish, you’ll probably disappointed, but there’s just enough there to keep you engrossed until the end. Overall, Vesperia is solid, and the parts it fumbles aren’t bad enough to ruin the whole thing, but hopefully the extra content in Definitive Edition helps to smooth it out; I’ll have to find that out for myself.

Aside from how it messes up the voice acting this time around. Oh, Bamco.

[thestrangerwolves-blog]

Wolf Moon - Part 2

Season 1 Masterlist

Word count: 1614

Warnings: none

Note: Sorry it took me so long, guys! God, I'm not good at this. I have a test week coming up, but after that school will be over. Then I'll have time to wrte again. Sorry, guys!

Y/n, 2:13AM Scott, are you okay?

You stared at your screen, sending another text when he didn’t respond.

Y/n, 2:14AM Scotty?

Y/n, 2:14AM We’re so sorry for leaving you behind in the woods!

Why wasn’t he answering?

Y/n, 2:15AM Please say you’re alive.

You decided to give it a sec. When he didn’t react, you grabbed your phone again.

Y/n, 2:30AM SCOTT!

Y/n, 2:38AM C’mon!

You started to get really frustrated.

Y/n, 3:04AM Scott, please answer!

He didn’t answer. He probably wouldn’t. You gave up and tried to sleep. Then, a few minutes later, you heard your phone buzz.

Scott, 3:30AM Hey, just got home. Got attacked by some wild animal. Don’t know what it was. Pretty nasty bite, man!

Relief filled your body. You didn’t even read the text, you just immediately answered.

Y/n, 3:30AM Scott! Oh, thank god, I thought something terrible had happened!

After a few minutes, you realized what he’d said.

Y/n, 3:46AM Wait, what? Are you okay?!

Scott, 3:50AM Yeah, I’m okay. Tired, tho. Goodnight, Y/N/N xx.

You grinned. Goofball.

Y/n, 3:51AM Sleep well Scotty. See you tomorrow. Oh, ps, make sure you’re not gonna bleed to death tonight. Okay loveya <3.

“Okay, let’s see this thing.” Stiles said. Scott lifted his shirt and showed a large white patch with some blood leaking through. Stiles ooh-ed and you frowned. “Oh my god, that’s- ew.” You squirmed. Stiles tried to touch it, causing Scott to jump a little.

“It was too dark to see much, but I’m pretty sure it was a wolf.” Scott told. “A wolf bit you?” Stiles said in awe. “Uh-uh.” Scott hummed.

“No, I don’t think so. It couldn’t have been.” You said. “I heard a wolf howling.” Scott said with a ‘try to explain that’-tone. “No, you didn’t.” You pondered. “How do you know?” Stiles asked.

You rolled your eyes. “California doesn’t have wolves, you dumbasses. Not in, like, sixty years.”

“Really?” Stiles and Scott asked in sync. “Yes, really. Can we just believe y/n for one single time?” You said.

They both stared at you for a second, then turned to each other, turned back and stared at you with looks of regret. They didn’t believe you. Great.

“Well if you don’t believe me about the wolf, then you’re definitely not gonna believe me about when I tell you I… Found the body.” Scott told. Your eyes widened with surprise and Stiles jumped a little. “Are you kidding me?”

“No, man, I wish. I’m gonna have nightmares for a month.” Scott whined. Drama queen. “Wh- Oh my god, that is… Disgusting, but pretty cool.” You said. “Dude, that’s freaking awesome! I mean, that’s seriously gonna be the best thing that’s ever happened in this town since…”

He got distracted by the beautiful, somehow perfect Lydia Martin. She was a friend of yours, but for some reason always ignored Scott and Stiles. Oh, and an important detail: Stiles was hopelessly in love with her.

“…Since the birth of Lydia Martin. Hey Lydia! You look…” Lydia brightly smiled at you as she walked by the three of you, not even spending a second looking at Stiles nor Scott. “…Like you’re gonna ignore me.” He looked at you with a defeated frown. “Sorry Stiles, I don’t know why she doesn’t talk to you. I can’t do anything about it.” You apologized.

“I know, I know. It’s Scott. Scott, you’re the cause of this, you know. Dragging me down to your nerd depths. I’m a nerd by association. I’ve been scarled nerded by you.” You rolled your eyes and grinned as the bell rang. The three of you turned and walked into the building. The new school year had officially started.

In the first class, you sat next to Scott and in front of Stiles. Your teacher was a chubby man, probably in his late 50s, maybe in his 60s. He was writing something on the whiteboard in front of him, standing with his back to you. “As you all know, there indeed was a body found in the woods last night.” He began. Scott and you looked over to Stiles, who winked and soundlessly snickered.

You looked around and saw that the three of you were the only ones actually listening. People were quietly talking, passing notes, applying make-up and playing on their phones.

“And I’m sure your eager little minds are coming up with various macabre scenarios as to what happened. But I am here to tell you that the police have a suspect in custody.” The teacher turned around, revealing what he had written on the board. “KAFKA’S METAMORPHOSIS”. We looked over at Stiles again, who had a confused frown on his face, then he shrugged at us.

“Which means, you can give your undivided attention tot he syllabus which is on your desk outlining the semester.” You groaned. This was the last thing you wanted to do right now. You wanted to start writing, when you saw Scott flinching next to you.

He looked around, picked his ear, then froze when he looked outside. There was a girl sitting on a bench, going through the stuff in her bag. She was calling someone, then hang up when the principal walked up to her. She must’ve been new.

“Scotty, are you okay?” You whispered. Before he could answer, the door of the classroom opened. The principal walked inside, the girl following. While the principal introduced her as Allison Argent, I observed the girl a little.

She had long, dark brown curls that were draped over her shoulders. Her brown eyes looked around the classroom nervously, her hand fumbling with the gloves she was wearing earlier. You saw Scott staring at her in complete awe.

Allison sat down in the chair behind Scott, and Scott immediately turned around with an awkward smile, handing her a pen. She frowned at the pen, then looked at Scott and smiled sweetly while taking it. She quietly thanked him, while he turned around with a proud smile on his face while the teacher continued the lesson.

When class was over, you were basically kindapped by Lydia. “Have you seen that new girl, Allison? She seems really cool. I wanted to invite her to the party this weekend. Wanna walk with me to talk to her?” She asked. “Yeah.. Sure.” You said. It’s not like you didn’t like Lydia, but sometimes you felt like you couln’t really be youself around her.

You decided to ask her something. “Hey Lydia, is it okay if I invite Stiles and Scott too?” “Who?” “Stiles and Scott. My two best friends, the boys I’m always hanging out with?” You said. You hoped for a yes. “Oh. Them. Whatever.” You took that as a yes.

“That jacket is absolutely killer. Where’d you get it?” Lydia asked Allison when you were at her locker. You saw Scott staring at Allison with heart eyes, and Stiles was discussing something with a random girl.

“My mom was a buyer for a boutique back in San Francisco.” You hummed with impression. Lydia pointed at Allison with a smirk. “And you are my new best friend.”

Lydia’s boyfriend, Jackson, appeared behind her. “Hey, Jackson.” Lydia greeted him with a kiss. Allison and you just kinda stood there , awkwardly looking and grinning at each other.

Lydia turned away from Jackson to talk to Allison. “So, this weekend, there’s a party.”

“A party?” Allison asked. “Yeah, Friday night.” You answered. “You should come!” Jackson finished.

“Uh, I can’t, it’s family night this Friday. Thanks for asking.” Allison confessed. You personally didn’t believe her, but you didn’t blame her for not wanting to hang out with Jackson and Lydia. They could be absolute jerks sometimes.

“You sure? I mean, everyone’s going after the scrimmage.” Jackson tried to convince her. “You mean like football?” Allison asked. Of course she didn’t know that lacrosse was the sport in Beacon Hills High School.

“Football’s a joke in Beacon. The sport here is lacrosse.” Jackson laughed with a cocky smile. “Guys, is it okay if I go tot he field already? I want to talk to Scott before practice.” You said.

Lydia and Allison nodded and sent you a friendly smile while Jackson just kept talking about his success in lacrosse. Such a selfish reptile. (hehe)

“Scott!” You called, jogging up to him. “Hey.”

“Hi, Y/N/N! Something wrong?” He greeted. “No, not necessarily. Um, earlier today, I saw you looking a little weird, almost like you were… lost. It was right before Allison was introduced.” You noted.

“Oh, yeah. That… that was nothing, don’t worry. It-It was probably just a fly irritating me or something.” He muttered.

Stiles walked up tot he two of you, his hands full of his lacrosse gear. “Scott, if you play, I’ll have no one to talk to on the bench. Are you really gonna do that to your best friend?” He whined. You coughed loudly, trying to prove a point.

“Y/N, you’re not here every practice. You aren’t even always at games!” Stiles explained. “Well I’m here now!” You snapped.

Scott ignored your discussion, answering Stiles. “I can’t sit out again. My whole life is sitting on the sidelines. This season, I make first line.”

As he walked towards the field, his eyes were drawn to Allison, who sat down on the stands with Lydia.

You had a minor inside debat about who you were gonna sit with; Allison and Lydia or Stiles? You decided to join Stiles, since he now sat all alone.

You jokingly poked him in the ribs, causing him to quietly laugh. Then you heard the coach yelling. “Let’s go! Come on!”

Practice had officially started.

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Inspired by: @bilesbilinskix