#Corestone

[rarumara]

Fanart of a Core Spawn Crawler from Deep Rock Galactic bc they're cute <3

[fogaminghub]

https://www.fogaminghub.com/post/follow-vuscav-navigate-the-ocean-in-visions-of-mana-s-chapter-4

🌊✨ Follow Vuscav in Visions of Mana Chapter 4! After losing Hinna, Val and the Alms venture across the ocean to reclaim her corestone. Get ready to summon Vuscav with your Ferry Flute and explore an ocean full of secrets and battles!

[fathomlesstomb]

I looooove the corespawn so much. They are so freaky and uncanny and so cool i wanna draw them sometime

[immarainbowpatooie]

it's joever 😭

[chacusha]

Visions of Mana review

Non-spoilery thoughts:

I really like this game! I was a bit worried about combat from the demo, but I really like the combat in this game, actually. The different weapons all have their own combos and situationally helpful moves (dishing out a lot of damage, attacking in a wide area, launching enemies, staggering them, etc.), so there is quite a bit of satisfaction in learning different fighting styles for each weapon. It almost feels like a fighting game rather than an action/adventure game, which I like.

I feel like this game successfully captures a lot of recurring elements of the Mana series (multiple weapon systems, finding elemental spirits, familiar monsters and bosses, world in decline, simple environmental puzzle-solving) while also being a fresh story and world with its own rules, which is pretty ideal for me. I also think this game does a better job of merging Legend of Mana worldbuilding elements with non-Legend of Mana elements than any other Mana game, and I find that pretty impressive because the aesthetics kind of clash, in my opinion. But they did a good job of merging them here.

The characters are really fun and I like the party dialogues that happen as you go around the world. I think the game could probably use some sidequests or subplots (rather than fairly simple fetch/hunt quests) to flesh out the world a bit and give the story a bit of nonlinearity (it is *quite* linear, although this is pretty normal for the Mana series (LOM aside)...), but I am not complaining. Even though they were fairly simple, I enjoyed the quests here, and they got pretty elaborate in the end.

The progression and gradual unlock of skills that make your characters stronger is also really satisfying. I'm also a big fan of the way that they incorporated a game mechanic (random corestone drops) into the story, and I felt the corestone ability trading added a bit of depth to the gameplay.

Overall, I rate this game like 9/10. It could be better, but there is a lot here to love and the gameplay is pretty polished (game crashes a lot, though -- be sure to save frequently!).

Spoilery thoughts:

My partner keeps joking that Careena is somehow this world's only Texan. (How come her parents have no accent?!)

Magical girl transformation sequences was SUCH a good idea. I approve. (Is there a way to toggle these back on...?)

The tragedy/tragic backstories in this game are exquisite.

At the same time, I really like the humor and cuteness in this game. It's important to have both in a Mana game, I feel.

I wasn't expecting anti-capitalist propaganda in this game, haha.

I like that there's a bit of a nudge in this game about which elemental vessels to assign to which character. Like, Careena's Wind class has pretty nice passives compared to the others and same with Morley's Moon class -- kind of nudges you to start them off with those classes.

It's interesting having Niccolo in this game be such a nice guy. In most games, he's pretty sketchy and self-interested (although he is a pretty great guy in Trials of Mana too). I like that he's Morley's adoptive dad and Palamena's confidante too.

Val is the himbo we all need.

Hinna 😭 They were so ready to be happy together too. I guess Hinna dying this early means she has a reasonable chance of coming back by the end.

SOMEONE high-up in the development team definitely has a foot fetish. But I like seeing Palamena's stylish footwear so I don't mind.

I'm a big fan of Pikuls for land transport and Vuscav for sea transport. Love that we got Vuscav's theme back for this game.

Oh snap I'm in The Lion King right now. XD In general, I was a bit meh about the areas featured in the demo (Rime Falls, Fallow Steppe, and Rhata Harbor), but I've been pretty impressed by the other areas. I liked the Charred Passage, Ledgas Bay, Pritta Ridge, Illystana, Dura Gorge (love the music of this one), Deade Cliffs, and quite a lot of the dungeons.

Von Boyage / Professor Bomb is here! Great cameo.

I like how this game strikes a balance between SOM/TOM-style "there is one of each elemental spirit" and LOM/World of Mana-style "there are many spirits for each element" by having one main elemental spirit but a bunch of mini/lesser elemental spirits with a slightly different design (and they're very cute!).

I like how Khoda looks exactly halfway between Sumo/FFA protagonist and Randi. Well done.

Lol, I thought Aesh was going to be evil. I do like how he occasionally goes into "mad scientist" mode, though. The parts of the game where he has bonding time with the party were some of the best. (His initial introduction was sooo good. When you introduce your friend to your other friends and he's the worrrrst, lol. I like how Morley went from jealous of Aesh to Worried Mother Hen lol.)

Overall, I like the boss battles in this game. I like some of them have a gimmick or puzzle-solving aspect to them, and I like that none of them dragged on too long, which is the main thing I hate about modern action RPGs. The Earth Benevodon battle in particular was a favorite -- epic! Some of the other benevodons sadly went down a bit too quickly (I kind of felt sorry for them having to fight my overleveled party XD).

Okay I guess Hinna isn't coming back. I do like the theme here of it being important to accept the death of loved ones. Ephemeral beauty i.e. things are valuable because they don't last forever. (Ever since my partner pointed out this is an extremely common theme in Japanese art, I am unable to unsee it...)

Some of these late game areas are also really beautiful. *o* I really love the floating island, the Entwine Pass boss battle with all the flowers in the background, and the lighting in the corrupted Mana Sanctuary areas.

Being able to see the previous alm contingents (including Lyza's group!) made me emotional. ;_;

Oh snap, I can't believe Passar was the big bad.

I haven't finished all the postgame content, and I'm not sure if I'll have time. I do eventually want to farm all the abilities and play around with different party setups, and I also want to try playing on Expert difficulty and also with Japanese voices, but we'll see.

Overall, I liked the story! You didn't get Hinna back, but you did manage to fix the world, so there is still that bittersweetness that is important for a Mana game.

[bugs-bolts-beer]

Now this is one of my favorite memories I've had of Deep Rock Galatic.

I was just on my driller when I had a fellow dwarf join the game, it was a simple retrieve the broken mules mission and nothing to fancy. We had been making incredible progress while digging through the caves on Hossex, honestly it had been one of the first times that a mission didn't have a screw up and I was excited. We managed to finish the secondary objective in no time thou those fleas were being a pain.

As we decided to hit the button on molly to call the drop ship, we noticed something softly glowing but we didn't key into what it was until the button was pressed and the mule was heading to the drop pod.

There it was, a core stone all locked up in it's glowing purple mineral mineral. My fellow dwarf called down a supply pod as the guy from management informed us of a swarm incoming. With only 5 minutes on the clock we had to make a choice, risk it all for the loot or leave without the core stone.

The first instict that rushes over me was to look how far away the drop pod was... 50 meters but the caves were bendy and we would have to leave now unless we had a short cut. So the instinct of a driller took and I plowed through the wall while my fellow started the corestone event. The rush of enemies came in from every direction but I couldn't do anything but drill as fast as I could. Trying my best to not overheat while the sound of monsters from the rift and bullets filled the caverns. 40ft.... 30ft... 15ft.. 10ft.. and I was through and without hesitation I turned around to help my fellow dwarf. Dashing back through the tunnel I heard the Scout unloading into glyphid monstrousity, His health seemed to be doing well the first health bar of the corestone fell.

As I breached into the room there were three minutes remaining till out drop pod was going to leave us behind, the scout was working hard on mining the core-stone outter shell. I run over and try my best help out and we managed to slowly but surely draining the last two health bars that it had. A minute remained as I looked towards my comard, we had to drop off the core stone in the right pod but there was just not enough time. He smiled and said "Get to the drop pod, I got this" but all my instincts said not to leave a dwarf behind, with regret I sprinted my way towards the drop ship.

It was that minute that felt the longest but shortest in my entire time playing DRG, I guarded the entrance of the drop pod taking out every glyphid I could see while glancing at the clock. Fifty seconds remained and the pod for the core stone was just arriving, the blasted thing takes a bit to open up so it wasn't in our favor. As more and more glyphids charged the Evac-pod I tried my best to clear them out, firing round after round into the bastards as the clock ticks down to thirty seconds.

Then management confirmed that the core-stone sample as placed inside the pod and a sigh a relief washed over me with a hint of angust. Was I going to leave my fellow dwarf behind for some stone... was it worth it?

The clock ticks down to twenty seconds and all I can do is watch the radar, the scout was flying through the tunnel I had made using his shotgun to boost himself around while having his grappling hook to pull him. Twenty seconds left and he still has a way to go, I try using my drills to dig around the drop pod to make it easy to get in but the sweat was slowly going down my back. Ten seconds left and his life bar kept going down form small gashes and scrapes, I couldn't leave the drop pod now and disgrace all his effort.

8 seconds left and the drop pods engine slowly start to warm up, 5 seconds left and the dwarf from management once again reminded that he would indeed leave a dwarf behind. 4 seconds left and I felt as if hope was lost, sitting down in my seat and realizing that we may lose a good one today.

3 seconds remaining and all I hear is shotgun blast and the sound of wind as a dwarf flies through the skies and crashes into the seats, with just a second remaining he had done it. That bastard managed to blow himself through the caverns using his shotgun to make it just in time. The gates of the drop-pod closes and we head back to base chuckling to ourselves about how close it was. I've never seen something so cluch happen in this game it reasurred me that we must not leave any dwarf behind.

Once we had returned to the base and our chuckling over how close that was over. I had a ordered pair of Glyphid Slammers to celebrate before he left, but I will remember that scout for a long time and to know.... it's not over till it is over. No dwarf left behind my friends.

ROCK AND STONE

[teefa85]

We did it! We beat the game! Of course, stupid me managed to not realize that, by just hitting Continue, I was back in Chapter 9 because an Autosave isn't made when you beat the final boss and Continue just loads your last Autosave (I always just assumed it Autosaved after every save and that's why it always loaded an Autosave). You have to hit LOAD and just go to the clear file you made.

Meaning...don't do what I do because I am an idiot! Especially since my second go-around with the final boss was a lot less clean since I was just trying to rush and get back to where I was. Not like I got any EXP to do worse at.

But Mana games are always good at one thing and this one's no exception...

...and that's make me cry at some point during the ending! Secret of Mana was the first game ending I really lost it and and it's continued to this day!

No, really. I started feeling my eyes get wet when Eoren and Lyza's corestones appeared, began crying when Hinna's spirit came to bolster Val's confidence, absolutely LOST IT when Cerulia showed up to calm Daelophos (she waited so many centuries for him to lose his rage and return to her), and the postgame scene where Val passes on from old age and finally reunites with Hinna (who also waited decades to reincarnate so she could be with him in the next life)...forget it! I was a mess!

I almost forgot that I'd laughed at Daelophos' level of 66 (one 6 away from the Number of the Beast...fitting) because all the emotion of the ending was overcoming me.

But anyway, once I got back to where I was, I did some maintenance. Sold all my Corestones and was able to afford Careena and Morley's Ability Seed Enhancements. Gonna be saving up for Val's next as they're my main 3. Slot 10 is now reserved for one Status Protection seed, swapped around based on need, since I've got the slots now.

And I got everyone's Elemental Plots fully unlocked. They've maxxed out their base class and got a few more useful spells. Might play with putting people in their original classes with the bonuses once I know how to get that working.

But I also leave you with this, because it also made me overcome with emotion. I love you, Lil' Cactus! So precious!

[yuuniee]

Tragedies

A/N: Some Orion, Fawn and Iris lore for your soul ✨ (might edit this)

🏷️ @thehollowwriter @nammanarin

c/w: death mention.

Orion was Fawn’s first love... Coming from a family of wealthy sailors, he was often away to the seas. He always brought little treasures to his beloved... She was his favorite treasure, his darling... To him, her smile could brighten up his darkest days. Soon, they were known as the cutest couple in school.

However, this was all an act... He gained Fawn’s trust enough for her to open up, to let her show her merform or even let him see her corestone (the pearl on her tiara). Orion was delighted to hear these. He told her he would love her even if she was a monster. She held on to his words... Stayed strong and bright...

The promise wasn’t kept since he was the very reason she became corrupted (a.k.a overblotted for the first time)

One day Orion came with all his men and declared a war against Abyssal Sea. She and her siblings were shocked, but they all defended their home against the two legged beasts. All except one; Fawn refused to believe this was Orion’s true nature, she wanted to believe that this was all a lie, but then she heard him yell out to not cease the fire until everyone is dead. The residents’ homes were destroyed, they were crying in pain and hurt.

As the queen, Fawn defended her kingdom as well as her people. When she came to the surface, however, she noticed that Orion was laughing like a maniac while telling his crew to just kill everyone, not caring what happens next. That was when Fawn interfered with her powers, destroying the ships one by one until only Orion’s ship left. But then he used his UM, which allows him to control blots around him, and formed a mermaid holding a spear at the edge of the ship. Then he turned the ship when she swam forward to attack him and impaled her with it. Orion thought he was victorious, but then Raven came and sank his ship almost immediately. She also tried to execute him, but he escaped thanks to the necklace Fawn gave to him before, which allowed him to breathe underwater.

As Fawn was sinking down to the bottom, Alfina used her own UM, that allows her to actually revive someone at the cost of her memories and her vitality, on her to bring her back. (This is also the reason why she has a scar on her chest!)

When Fawn came back, but overblotted, she summoned huge storm for Orion, who now had to fight her. She told him she would never, ever forgive him for what he did. He laughed and kept dodging her hits like it was nothing, causing her to destroy more of her own kingdom. (The people were evacuated from there in time, but it still haunts her to this very day.)

When Fawn was defeated, he escaped but not without getting harmed. Before she fell down, she cursed him for a lifetime to be an underwater creature for the rest of his life... Orion laughed it off at first, but when he noticed that he was slowly becoming an outcast with his family trying to fix him, he came back to her and begged her to change him back. When she refused, he cried but the Fawn he used to know was long gone. And she wasn’t going remove the curse anytime soon...

Amber was Iris’s best friend, a close-knit friend. They were inseparable, like siblings. They knew each other’s deepest secrets, fears and crushes. Whatever they did, they did it together.

One day came when everything changed... A new guy in school came and stole everyone’s hearts. Made his way to the two ladies and started hanging out with them... Soon, he joined the Abyssal Sea group too and got to know others too... The new guy soon became a part of the group and even got to know the other two (Faith and Fawn) too...

However, when Iris confessed to him that she loved him, he paused for a moment...

AND LAUGHED HIS ASS OFF!!!

He said, “Ha! You, a fish?! I’d never, ever love something like you!”

Iris was heartbroken, but it got worse when she saw Amber recording her while laughing her ass off too. Tears filled her eyes as she looked down, and soon a crowd of students rushed to there. When they heard what happened to Amber, they started laughing too. It became even worse when she came out, people around her started to ridicule and even berate her... Amber started posting pictures with that guy on Magicam out of spite, showing how happy they are despite her being sad. That was when the other two came in clutch to calm her down and cheer her up. Faith brought her snacks while Fawn brought movies and lots of blankets to her. They also went to karaoke every weekend! (Actually, they still do that-)

Oh, and did I mention that this was the reason why Iris didn’t come to her classes often in her second year?

[authorarianaaugust]

Lexicon

This lexicon contains minor spoilers for Chapters 1-3. Terms that are major spoilers have been omitted. If you wish to be surprised, skip this for now.  Terms are listed in the order that they appear.  A full alphabetical lexicon is located at the end of each book. The Den – a gathering place inside Corestone. Fa’loom – a man who is of service – in ways sensual and otherwise – to women and…

[omicheese]

My extremely spoilery take on Visions of Mana

I have three big issues with this game--things that I feel like the story did poorly and could have made better if the writers had tried harder.

The whole game, I was convinced that the concept of turning someone from a corestone back into a person was going to come up. What is the point of having that corestone mechanic if you're not going to engage with it in that way? It felt like a Chekhov's Gun to me, that there would definitely be more to it, that Val would learn to appreciate and control his powers, etc. The fact that they never even mentioned the idea is something that still bothers me. Yeah, I would have liked a happier ending with Hinna, that's a factor in why I'm upset, but if the game wanted her to stay dead then they should have just killed her for real instead of setting it up like that and getting people's hopes up.

I think Cerulia should have died for a more divinely-related reason. 'Random act of murder, whoopsie' felt really cheap, and it felt like a stretch for Daelophos's response to be 'therefore I must kill god.' If it was just 'murdered by bandits,' it would make more sense for him to take it out on people, not the Goddess of Mana. The best way to do it would have been if Cerulia had died offering her soul to the Mana Tree to protect Daelophos while he was out fighting (unbeknownst to him) or something like that. It would even have worked if Cerulia had been seeking refuge in a temple to the Goddess and then murderers came in and profaned the temple or something like that. The Goddess should have been more directly involved in her death, to make it more fitting as a motivation for the Big Bad Of The Whole Story. With her death being so random, it just felt haphazard.

It seemed really wrong that the main characters ended up spending all the fights with Daelophos arguing in favor of the alm system. The game opened with an alm who doesn't want to die, making the player do everything they can to keep her from dying (and then failing, to really make it personal.) Vadise after her fight talks about how this particular group of alms seemed different and might be able to change things, heavily implying that the alm system was what needed changing. After fighting all the Benevodons, it seemed like the game was setting up new reasons for all the alms to want to stay alive and fight for their survival. Hinna got turned into a rock forever because she didn't want to get human sacrificed. To then turn around and yell at Daelophos that the alms throughout history willingly volunteer for noble self-sacrifice and that this is a good thing that must be cherished and respected felt absolutely tone-deaf. Hinna didn't die for you to defend the status quo, guys. It really felt like they just dropped all the themes they'd been building toward and went for a two-dimensional 'beat the bad guy save the world' kind of ending. I know that the credits imply that Val did fix the system enough to allow for all our main characters to live, but that should have been a crowning moment of triumph, not something you just imply through pictures over the credits. We didn't get to see Val arrive at the conclusion that something needed to be done, and we didn't get to see him make his decision. It didn't feel like he ever learned anything. It left me feeling cheated.

I still overall really loved the game, I just really feel like it fumbled the ending. The adventure in getting there is still great, and I don't feel like the bad ending took away from that, I just think that the writers wasted opportunities to make it appropriately satisfying.

[dicasdecripto]

Enquanto o mercado aguarda uma decisão da Comissão de Valores Mobiliários dos Estados Unidos (SEC) sobre pedidos de fundos negociados em bolsa (ETFs) de bitcoin, analistas preveem que esses ETFs podem atrair mais de US$ 1 bilhão em investimentos nos próximos três meses, possivelmente ultrapassando os US$ 100 bilhões até o final do ano.

O Banco Standard Chartered, que prevê um valor de bitcoin de US$ 100.000 até o final do ano, espera grandes entradas de recursos se a SEC aprovar esses produtos. O relatório do banco sugere entradas de US$ 50 bilhões a US$ 100 bilhões em 2024, caso os gestores de ativos que solicitaram aprovação para ETFs de bitcoin spot obtenham sucesso. Isso significaria entre 437.000 e 1,32 milhão de novos bitcoins detidos em ETFs dos EUA até o final de 2024.

Se essas entradas previstas se concretizarem, o Standard Chartered prevê um possível valor de bitcoin se aproximando de US$ 200.000 até o final de 2025. Comparando o potencial ETF de bitcoin ao primeiro produto negociado em bolsa de ouro nos EUA em 2004, o banco observa que o bitcoin poderia experimentar ganhos semelhantes em um período de tempo mais curto.

Dados da Messari revelam um ganho de 155% no bitcoin no último ano, com um aumento de 6% em 2024. O Standard Chartered prevê um rápido desenvolvimento no mercado de ETFs de bitcoin pós-aprovação, superando a trajetória histórica dos ETFs de ouro.

Will McDonough, presidente da Corestone Capital, prevê uma demanda substancial por um ETF de bitcoin, estimando cerca de US$ 1 bilhão em investimentos até o final do primeiro trimestre de 2024. McDonough acredita que a aprovação da SEC removerá a barreira da auto custódia, permitindo que um grupo mais amplo de investidores aloque recursos para essa crescente classe de ativos alternativos.

O relatório de outubro da Galaxy Digital prevê que os ETFs atrairão pelo menos US$ 14,4 bilhões nos primeiros anos, com aumentos potenciais para US$ 27 bilhões no segundo ano e US$ 39 bilhões no terceiro ano. Além disso, vários gestores de ativos solicitaram ETFs de ether, com a expectativa do Standard Chartered de que a SEC permitirá ETFs de ether.

#btc #bitcoin #bnb #ethereum #bitcoincash #eth #cripto

[wpsbacklinks]

Web Development Company

In today's digital driven world having an online presence with corestone in web development is not an option but a necessity. It is a partner that collaborates with business to make it into a dream digital reality Here WebPlanet Soft is a software company. We understand that technology is at the heart of every successful business. That’s why we work closely with our clients to develop customised IT solutions that align with their specific needs and goals. Whether it’s implementing cloud-based solutions, securing data networks, developing software applications, or providing IT support services, we are here to help our clients stay ahead of the curve and succeed in today’s fast-paced digital world.WebPlanet Soft emphasises the importance of quality assurance in the development process. We are committed to delivering excellence in everything we do, and our clients’ satisfaction is our top priority.

[fogaminghub]

https://www.fogaminghub.com/post/accompany-palamena-to-the-cape-a-quest-for-redemption-in-visions-of-mana

✨ Accompany Palamena to the cape in Visions of Mana! 🌊 Join Val and the Alms on a heartfelt quest as they navigate the challenges of Chapter 4: "Back with a Vengeance." Unlock the power of the Salamando Candle and dive into a story filled with emotion and adventure. 

🌟 Check out our blog for detailed objectives and tips! 

[drrockclub]

Spherical weathering in-situ

What you see is the bedrock consisting of sedimentary rocks (sandstone). On top it, is the man-made wall from basaltic rock bricks. What is special about this? The concentric layers, linear features and colours are produced by the weathering of the bedrock.

This sedimentary rock is made of volcanic rock fragments (sand sized grains) which break down into clay when exposed to weather (water and air). The linear and vertical feature is a joint, which allows surface water to infiltrate the bedrock and facilitate the weathering deeper underground.

The product is the weathering shells (yellow and orange concentric layers) that surround the corestone (purple rock, which remains largely unaffected).

You might notice small spheres protruding out of the right-hand side corestone. These are cannon-ball shaped features are called concretions. I invite you to “google search” these or look up my previous posts for more examples!

Photo taken in Wollongong Harbor, Australia.

[maximumvolumeonline]

Did a fast sketch of the superhero boy from Barbados #corestone his superpowers are he can shoot yellow energy through his trident and he can turn himself into a coral stone in Barbados 100% bajan #barbados posters #barbados🇧🇧 #HEROESOFTHEWORLD #letsgobeheroes in #Barbados #barbadoslife 2019 promoting #teamHotw www.theheroesoftheworld.com (at Barbados) https://www.instagram.com/maximumvolume79/p/Bwyrrzzg7wz/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1al99vf3f5l0q

[daylightisminetoconsume]

"I am. Found a way to travel to different places via the roots of my trees and when I went to one of my trees, the forest was burning due to a rampaging lava monster, mountain, thing. Long story short, I got my tree to safety and got out of there as soon as I was able to, then went back to free nonhumans from the clutches of the local village." Eir said, moving aside some of the cloth to show him how deep the burns went, tender corestone still uncovered. "Turns out my outer layer is flammable wood."

"Mm. Burning. Rarely fun." Gunmar tears a leg from one of the moose and begins to chew. "You may be a Wizard. But Wizards still need to eat. Take the tongue. They're particularly good on these."