#I am not good at games so I have to assume the normal difficulty is fairly easy

[ibijau]

I have started cult of the lamb and I like it pretty well, but also I can't help feeling I'm playing it wrong bc I'm avoiding sacrificing followers at any cost

[pikapeppa]

I saw the Brynn inspired by Halsin post and was reminded i dont think ive seen a picture of in game Brynn, had you posted one and i missed it? linked it into either of the stories and ive still missed it?

Its super fun seeing everyone's cute BG3 babies.

Aw this is so sweet of you to ask! Especially since I keep meaning to pop in a photo of her into the fics and I always forget 😂

This is Brynn Bladetongue! I play on PS5 so she is unmodded. 😂 Here are some fun facts about her for anyone who's curious:

She is mixed-race, drow and wood elf, but everyone assumes she is fully drow: a fact that she uses to her advantage when the circumstances call for a little deception.

Her hair is naturally red (thanks to wood-elf mama!), but she magically dyes it silver-white to fit with the drow facade. I have no good photos of her with white hair, unfortunately!

She presents herself as a bard, but she was actually born with storm magic from her drow father: a fact that she keeps on the down-low. I would multiclass if I could but I am not cool enough to play at a normal difficulty 😂

She is a merry little murderer who has been to prison!

She did NOT actually get the Volobotomy in my fics LMAO. It's just so useful in-game 😂👁

As you can see from the photos below, she adores both Astarion and Halsin. 🥰

Anyone who is still curious can read about her adventure with the boys here on AO3!

[thydungeongal]

What are like general approaches to "social combat" thing, especially pvp?

I have an intuitive idea of it depending on attitude (measured numerically) and resilience that is derived from mental attributes (so being smart means seeing through bullshit and being charismatic means not being used to someone disagreeing with you, something like that), with rolls being made to change attitude by 1 and attitude and resilience contributing to difficulty level.

But I remember VTNL and I know that trying to make a thing without reading all of the already written things results in shit so.

(What I have in mind is basically an adventure game but with some simple numerical expression of affinity of factions and characters, including PCs, so like, are there any games that have simple mechanics for this? I browsed your posts and I will check Monsterhearts, but it's a PbtA game so of course it all depends on moves and that's not exactly applicable)

P.S.: honestly I am thinking about just making a scale and the rest is just "GM shall be able to figure it out"

Most games simply throw their hands up when it comes to PvP uses of social skills and just don't go with it, because it's assumed that social skills are best used to model PCs trying to manipulate NPCs, because forcing PCs to act a certain way limits player agency.

That is not to say it can't be done, and to my mind Monsterhearts does it the best, but those are not the only approaches.

Ultimately what Monsterhearts relies on is a social currency, called strings, that characters can hold on each other. Every string your character has represents some type of emotional leverage they have over another person. A lot of the moves in the game touch upon the string economy, and there are specific moves that can be activated by simply spending strings. Upon spending a string on a character you give the character's player a choice of either doing it and getting to mark 1 XP for their character or having to make a move (I honestly can't remember its name rn, but the Monsterhearts equivalent of Act Under Fire) if the character chooses to not to do it. You could theoretically spend 2 strings to do both.

Now, that's not going to work in a normal party-based adventure game: it works in Monsterhearts' case because it is not a cooperative game. Once the player characters are assumed to be, roughly, on the same side, being able to give XP to other player characters for simply doing what you say is no longer a meaningful choice. Nor do you want to fuck with your fellow players' characters cause it's a cooperative game.

I do think there is a use case for "my character has a high Charisma so by all means my character should be able to convince your character to go along with their plan," but there may not be a need for a very deep system unless you see it as an integral part of your game. Having said that, I do see potential for a rule like "if two characters can't resolve an argument, the players can agree to settle the situation as an opposed Charisma check. The terms need to be agreed upon before any rolls are made and once the check is resolved the result stands." And then you can add graded results like making compromises on ties and even build a more granular, blow by blow system.

The most "combat-like" social combat system I can think of is Burning Wheel's duel of wits. It's a lot. It's like AD&D 1e Psionic combat. It rules. Anyway, Forbidden Lands also has a negotiation system which I haven't delved too deep into but I've heard good things about.

And then, finally, there's the Fate approach: social conflict is just like physical conflict but with social skills and dealing mental damage and inflicting social consequences. It's not my favorite approach but it's out there!

Anyway sorry this was kind of rambling. I'm very tired. At least I'm feeling kinda cute rn.

[party-gilmore]

absolutely wild learning about my austistic leanings later in life because like

my parents just thought i was “eccentric” and found me rather entertaining, weirdness and all (plus their own probably undiagnosed AuDHD making their benchmark for normal skewed anyway) and my mon specifically was always so “mever change for anyone just be you” from a very young age so i just…

never experienced the concept of masking i guess?

Not as masking, I mean.

i would read accounts from autistic people talking about their experiences and struggles and pressure to conform and masking and the mental effects thereof and i would feel empathy because i “went through similar issues” but i th

i thought i was just being bullied for being Weird. just in general. like kids do. that this was a case of “well this sounds a lot like what i go through, but im not actually autistic so it probably isnt my place to join the conversation.”

it just never clicked that, “um. hi. these are the exact same behaviors you do. and there were moments in your life that almost led you to masking. because thats what it would’ve been. masking. but your dumb ass thought it wouldve just been ‘changing how you act and who you are in order to be bullied less’ which okay TECHNICALLY yes that is an accurate if watered down description of masking too, but.

Then you refused to on principle, because bullying is bad and fuck you and got angry about it to the point of overcompensating and INCREASING your Behaviors (tm) until you completely skipped over one of the key experiences that wouldve helped you identify with other people on the spectrum later in life.”

I just rolled through life like a steamroller of righteous, spiteful confidence that my preferences and actions were nobody’s business but my own and vice versa unless they clearly and directly affected others - so much so that I never actually set any kind of benchmark pattern for the way (NT) people around me act.

So I never had a benchmark for masking.

like im going back through all my memories of friendships that soured because i took everything at face value instead of trying to read deeper into cues. because I would always just say what i wanted people to know, straight up. like if i wanted attention i would ask for it if i wanted them to know i was hurt i would tell them. That made so much sense to me i assumed that was the norm. Because clearly. Thats logical. and obvious. So certainly other people are doing the same.

I got blinsided a LOT by the games my school friends and later some early adult friends played, yeah, but AGAIN (see: steamroller of self confidence) I simply assumed that was THEIR problem, not mine, and just… grieved the friendship and hoped for their sake they’d eventually sort their shit out 🤣

I literally thought they were the ones having difficulty with social contracts and cues and relationships.

Then over the past couple years the more I see accounts from other people in the AuDHD spectrum, like “yeah neurotypicals actually [thing i had been assuming was just an asshole trait for years without questioning it], heres what they really mean and a good script for responding” and “its funny how i [exact behavior i did for years] and no one realized i was austistic till later” im like… 🙃

And the last kicker was the post about food touching with the tag response “sometimes masking your autistic traits ends up more autistic than the unmasked trait” and my gut reactions were, in order:

…why would you bother to mask that, why is the way you eat anyone elses business?

i mean i guess it would ease up the pressure a bit, i got bullied for that too, i can see how maybe you wouldnt want to have to put… up with…

…

oHHHH SHIT IS THAT WHAT IT WOULDVE BEEN. IF I HADNT BEEN SO ANGRY ABOUT BEING ASKED TO CHANGE. IT WOULDVE BEEN MASKING. IF I’D KNOWN WHAT THAT WAS. THIS WHOLE TIME.

its just… its just been a series of months of me shaking my head and realizing my entire life has been that meme like “Am I having difficulties connecting socially??? No, it is everyone else who is wrong.”

🤣 girl help

[crystalkleure]

I'm gonna be real for a minute, I should probably spit out the reason I've had such a hard time posting or interacting here for awhile.

I have DID. I made this blog before I knew I had DID, most of the people following me clicked that button before anyone knew I had DID, and the general public doesn't really know what DID is, much less that it's not anything like the "multiple personality disorder" in the movies.

My system has a huge number of introjects in it. I, me, the alter writing this right now, am an introject. This is actually pretty normal, especially for someone like me, because the nature of my abuse has meant that I have spent most of my life extremely isolated [very against my will], with far more exposure to media like TV shows and games than to real people. You know how the people in your dreams have the faces of real people you've seen at some point, because your brain isn't good at coming up with brand new faces on its own? It's a little like that. For the DID brain to incorporate a trait into an alter, it has to be aware that that trait can even exist, which means it has witnessed it somewhere before, and the deeper human subconscious is not super great at just instinctually telling the difference between a real person and a fabricated depiction of a person, so the DID can snatch traits it has witnessed in both real people and fake people all the same.

Sometimes the DID sees a lot of traits it registers as desirable, useful to survival somehow, etc., all in just one source, be it a real person or a depiction of a person. [Or it sees just ONE trait that it latches onto really hard, and splits an alter just to embody that specific trait it perceives as so important.] And so the system can end up splitting an alter that is nearly identical to the way they have perceived that singular source, meaning that alter can resemble that source person or character extremely closely. This is all done subconsciously and involuntarily, the system has zero control over it, alters have zero control over what they are made out of. An introject does not get to choose their source.

...And on a website full of fandom shit, if you post art you have drawn of yourself, an introject alter, people are going to think that art is depicting your source person/character. And if you say "Actually that's just me," they think you are a roleplayer. Because people don't know what DID is. Even if you say "I have DID, Dissociative Identity Disorder" they can just assume that's some kind of roleplayer lingo, or something irrelevant to the Obvious Roleplay that is happening, or some kind of condition the roleplayer is just choosing to write their played character to have, and won't bother to look it up.

And this causes some extremely unpleasant problems!

People squee-ing over you and talking about wanting to kiss or touch you or ship you with some character [or themself]

People trying to roleplay with you. Usually flirtatiously.

Oh this is a fun one. People thinking you are a roleplayer, and if your source is a character who is under 18 but YOU are an adult [I'm fucking 25 years old, for example, and I will act like it], they will call you a pedophile for "aging up" the character just to roleplay adult things with them. Even if you aren't doing anything sexual, the mere fact that you are being perceived as "aging up" a character will get you side-eyed, because people still think you're being dirty with the character and they figure they just haven't caught you at it.

This one just sucks and is nobody's fault. People who are fans of an introject's source may feel uncomfortable when interacting with that introject, because they worry all the fan shit on their blog will be taken personally by the alter and gross them out. Which, while that's not ever an issue with my system tmk, can kind of happen sometimes with some systems' introjects; even if an introject alter logically knows they aren't their source, they might have difficulties viscerally believing that on a deeper level, and either way it can still cause discomfort when you bump into depictions of someone who looks just like you doing things you would never want to do.

People understanding that you aren't roleplaying yet they still get way too excited and obsessive over you anyway, because they view you as "omg my favourite character...but REAL!!!1!" [Which is both incorrect, and VERY uncomfortable for the introject alter. I am not my source, I have never been my source, I am an entirely different person who happens to resemble my source. Don't try to get close to me based purely on the belief that I am somebody I am not, actually get to know me before you decide whether or not you like me.]

People screenshotting you and putting you on r/fakedisordercringe for everyone to mock and harass, because they don't understand how dissociative disorders actually work and think legitimate shit about them is too weird to possibly be real

People fakeclaiming you in general because "there's no way that's real, real things are not this bizarre" and/or "Yeaahhhh I think you're just schizophrenic/borderline/etc., nevermind that I am not a qualified medical professional, and if I AM, nevermind that you aren't my patient and I don't know enough about you based on your social media presence to actually be able to accurately diagnose you with anything, much less dismiss a diagnosis as insanely complex and covert as DID"

People generally treating you like a weird bug on the sidewalk that a group of middle school kids are taking turns poking with a stick. I don't mind answering respectful questions about dissociative disorders, but shit like "wtf why would you do that, I think that's weird and I am assuming it's intentional and it makes me uncomfy" and "Have you ever tried just Not being crazy?" are not respectful questions.

TL;DR introject alters in fandom spaces get sexually harassed, called pedophiles, and told they're doing something wrong and being inconsiderate for existing [which, again, existing the way they do was not their choice] because "you're weird and that makes me uncomfy :( Can't you just Not?? SURELY you can just Not. Be normal."

Shit sucks. I'm sick of my system getting weird and mean messages every time any of us are open about existing.

[keepthisholykiss]

my current party and hot takes, im barely into act ii (I think) so spoilers for that below the fold to keep up with my evil adventuring and pursuit of Minthara

I have successfully saved Minthara and added her to my party. She is currently back to neutral (I slept with her after killing the grove and didn't piss her off once so I assume this is just normal) and I am insisting that the wedding is BACK ON

As of now with the evil route I have Astarion, Gale, Lae'zel, and Shadowheart. Both Astarion and Lae'zel have taken issue with minthara being there but they don't hate me for it.

I killed the githyanki captain and Inquisitor idk if that's evil but I did it.

I am taking the overworld route so I'm in the shadow realm and have had a mixture of more and less difficulty according to guides using good/noble approaches to the game.

In a shocking turn of events the lesbian union party is no more and Astarion, Shadowheart, and Minthara are in my party. Lae'zel is fine but her level ups haven't resulted in a major help in my party. Shadowheart also dies a fuckton so I'm probably gonna switch them out soon. Despite not being enamored with Astarion (I feel neutral on him I guess) I'm keeping him in my party solely to pick locks if nothing else.

I still hate Gale and have actively made choices that I hope will get him killed eventually.

In the very beginning before I lost my progress and became evil I had briefly met Halsin but now I haven't seen a trace of him so idk if he's dead or not. Also I WILL be killing Karlach when I get the chance I really want to learn what happens with the demons if I do that.

I'm currently doing a quest to help the devil (Raphael) and also I escaped the Absolute base without a single fight because I had good enough standing to convince them I was genuinely taking Minthara away to kill her.

Anyway back to being evil >:]

[fatesdeepdive]

Entry 121: The Same Chapter Again Except Less Horny

You know what I realized I haven’t talked about? The Difficulty Modes in this game. Fates has two types of difficulty, with three options each. The first type determines enemy strength and is split into: Normal, which is painfully easy; Hard, which is a decent challenge; and Lunatic, which exists to tell you to go fuck yourself. There are also three death types: Classic, where units die; Casual, where units come back after battle; and Phoenix, where units come back every turn.

I think that Normal/Hard/Lunatic all have their merits. They are good for learning the game, playing the game normally, and pushing yourself respectively. There are a lot of really cool Ludonarative things accomplished by Classic mode, in addition to it being a good challenge, but Casual is a fine easier mode that I’m okay with existing. I admittedly played Casual when writing this blog.

The oddball is Phoenix. It exists so you can see the story without playing the game, except, you still have to play the game, just without any choices mattering. Also, this game isn’t written good enough to skip the game and just read the story. It would be cool to try out Phoenix/Lunatic mode as a weird challenge run, but unfortunately, Phoenix locks you into Normal mode for some reason.

I’m going to do a bunch of DLC chapters in one fel swoop now.

Xenologue 2: Beach Brawl

Corrin is given a ticket for a vacation to a tropical island, but insists that one of their siblings take it. The boy royals argue about which one of them has to go on a vacation and pass it around like a hot potato. Their retainers show up and demand they go on a vacation, leading to an eight-way brawl over who gets the ticket. In this chapter, the player chooses one royal and their retainers and has to take on the other seven teams. The chapter uses premade units instead of the royals you actually have, for balance reasons. There is a Dragon Vein that lowers the stats of other teams. I don’t have much to say about the gameplay, because I haven’t actually played this one and am just going off the script on the wiki.

Each team gets their own little bit of dialogue before battle. Kagero and Saizo vow to lay down their lives to ensure Ryoma gets a vacation. Hinoka tries to forfeit, but Setsuna and Azama force her to fight so she can bring back gifts for them. Takumi orders Oboro and Hinata to surrender, but they refuse because they know he secretly wants the vacation. Sakura and Hana are worried that the vacation is a trap, but Subaki confirms it's safe after patrolling the beach; he also tells Sakura about all the sweets and begins making her an itinerary.

Xander orders Peri and Laslow to not slack off; his retainers request seashells and drawings of women in bikinis respectively as gifts. Camilla is sad that Corrin isn't going, but Beruka and Selena refuse to let Camilla go. Leo thinks that the whole thing is a waste of time, but Odin gives a big flowery speech about how great the beach is; Niles and Odin offer to slather Leo in tanning lotion so he returns bronze gold. Elise doesn't want to go without Arthur and Effie, but they tell her that fighting for her is all the vacation they need.

If you win, it cuts to a few days later, when Anna delivers a letter and a photo of the winning lord in a swimsuit to their retainers. I assume this is designed to be fanservice, which makes Elise and Sakura's inclusion a bit sketchy. Ryoma goes swimming and trains by fighting fish. His retainers also decide to train. Azama says he misses Hinoka's criticism. Hinoka trains by fighting coconuts and says she won't send presents, disappointing Setsuna. Takumi looks happy. Oboro gets jealous because she thinks he's dating Anna now because she took the photo. Sakura eats a bunch of fruit. Subaki and Hana argue about her swimsuit.

Xander clutches a Lilith floaty because he can't swim. He also sends back extensive notes on seashells and babes. Beruka assumes Anna is a spy and tries to murder her. Selena is jealous that Camilla is having fun, while Beruka worries about assassins. Beruka hopes Camilla brings back poison as a gift. Leo wears his cape to the beach and stays inside all day. He tells his retainers it was a waste of time. Arthur somehow rips his own underwear out while retrieving a letter from his pocket. Elise makes leis for her retainers. The retainers explain they would have been miserable at the beach and decide to spar.

Xenologue 3: Boo Camp

Boom Camp exists so you can grind EXP by endlessly fighting faceless. Felicia or Jakob tells Corrin that the army is weak, so they should train on a haunted mountain and overcome their fear. The plot is bare bones, but every unit gets a unique line when they fight the faceless. I'm going to only mention the interesting ones.

Azura admits that people used to think the castle was haunted because of her singing. Jakob threatens to level a mountain if Corrin is injured. Kaze says he was haunted by a woman's ghost once and does not elaborate. Mozu says that she doesn't believe in ghosts and that the faceless are just monsters, then worries that she's started seeing ghosts. Shura vows to do right by the restless spirits of Kohga, if they exist. Fuga says he’ll push his limits, even though he’s old.

Takumi screams for the monsters to get away. Azama complains about them trampling over the mountain, then realizes he's also trampling and decides to purify himself. Setsuna says the faceless aren't as scary as the decapitated corpse she ended up trapped in a pit with. Hinata is reminded of a woman in a white who hovered in a graveyard when he was a kid and comes to the conclusion, not that she's a ghost, but that she had a crush on him. Oboro says people are more scared of her than ghouls. Hayato is scared because he is a child. Kaden asks the monsters to scare him because he thinks fear is fun. Yukimura mentions that there are rumors of ghosts haunting Castle Shirasagi and says that he hopes there are, so he can see Sumeragi or Mikoto again. Scarlet assumes it's an exercise to get them to pair off as couples, for some reason.

Xander says that the thing he always feared was his father late at night. Camilla says that the Woods of the Forlorn and the games she played as a kid are scarier than the monsters. Leo says the dead envy him and that so do most of the living. Effie asks the faceless to come back to her gym for daily training. Peri screams because she's scared of mummies, then realizes it's just faceless and kills them. Selena calls the whole chapter stupid and says that she's seen way worse things, for example Camilla when she's upset, which is apparently scarier than the zombie apocalypse she was raised in. Benny complains that everyone mistakes him for a monster then screams because he sees monsters. Keaton likes the mud and bones. Gunter says it's dumb to waste EXP on him because he has bad growths.

Shigure decides to paint the mountain and the faceless. Midori is scared, but plans to make medicine out of monsters. Asugi pretends the monsters are pinatas. Hisame brings up Hinata's ghost crush, who apparently was seen behind him. Rhajat thinks the dreary mountain is dope. Siegbert thinks he is unfit to be king because he's scared. Soleil hears girls screaming and is into it.

At the end of the chapter, Corrin decides to come back later for more training, scaring their retainers.

Xenologue 4: Ghostly Gold

This chapter is like Boo Camp but for gold instead. The chapter begins with Lloyd and Lleewelyn informing Corrin that people keep looting the ruined temple they look after. Corrin offers to help. Because the looters attack at dawn, everyone has to stay up late. Also the looters are ghosts. Once again, everyone gets a single line, this time complaining about staying up late. Jakob dreams of fighting in his underwear, something you can make him do in Castle Battles. Silas gets tricked into licking a toad to stay awake. Kaze can't sleep without his favorite pillow.

Ryoma grumpily says he doesn't need sleep or breakfast or coffee. Hinoka falls asleep mid-sentence. Takumi points out that taking turns sleeping was an option. Sakura spills coffee on herself and others. Saizo says he can stay up for five days straight. Azama says he knows how to sleep in the middle of a conversation without people knowing. Setsuna says that she went to bed early instead of keeping watch because she knew the others would wake her. Kaden says he sleeps while curled up into a ball. Orochi says it was adorable how the others slapped each other to stay awake. Rinkah says she slapped people to keep them awake. Yukimura praises the tactical plan of striking when everyone was asleep, then points out he has caffeine. Scarlet says that this is the first time she's ever seen a sunrise because she normally sleeps in.

Camilla says she is in a MOOD because she and Corrin couldn't sleep. Leo says he will make the next person who calls him grouchy suffer. Odin says his eyelids are being pulled down by ghost magic. Niles says he always sleeps with one eye open, but then again he normally does things with only one eye open. Laslow says he stays up for pillow talk. Peri cries and says she's emotional when she doesn't get enough sleep, meaning she probably hasn't slept all game. Beruka says she took part in a three-week stakeout once. Benny says he was too scared to fall asleep because people told ghost stories. Keaton is mad everyone knows he snores. Gunter falls asleep boasting.

Shigure sings a lullaby to keep himself awake and accidentally puts everyone else to sleep. Dwyer complains about having to make all the coffee when he's tired. Sophie, half asleep, thinks the ghosts are cotton candy. Midori makes worm juice energy drinks. Mitama can't write a good poem because it's four in the morning. Caeldori says she should have brought a romance novel to keep her awake. Forrest complains about having to sleep on the ground, which is bad for his skin and hair. Velouria is nocturnal. Percy says he annoys Arthur in the morning. Soleil says she almost showed up naked.

Corrin decides to give back all the gold the bandits dropped. The twins give them the gold as a reward. After Corrin leaves, Lloyd and Llewelyn mention the gold is cursed and gives bad breath.

Xenologue 5: Museum Melee

Team Corrin goes to an interrealm museum featuring rare weapons. The curator explains there's a battle to the death over the weapons Corrin can compete in. Okay. Also the museum is on an airship for some reason. This one allows you to get rare weapons and items. You can also get capturable bosses here, because bosses are also items. Corrin points out that they shouldn't be fighting with real weapons. Felicia wants a tea set she can't break. Shura points out that he's still robbing people, even after renouncing his bandit life. Izana requests to be given the entire airship.

Ryoma worries about Ranjito being stolen. Saizo calls the whole situation absurd, but does what is demanded. Setsuna says wheeee because she's on an airship. Oboro compares it to a holiday sale. Yukimura is disappointed that it isn't a real museum.

Xander points out that only he can wield Siegfried, because he is a bad father and forgot his son exists. Elise says she wants a divine weapon like her brothers. Arthur is confused by being forced to act like a mugger. Peri begs Corrin to let her kill people. Selena goes to the gift shop.

Dwyer wants coffee from alternate universes. Midori tries to trade drugs for weapons, because she is secretly Ronald Reagan. Shiro wants a weapon that can beat his father's. Selkie does not grasp that a fight is going on. Hisame wants pickle-eating utensils. Ignatius gets airsickness. Nina follows hot guys around.

After the battle, the curator explains that the weapons were donated by realms no longer at war. He explains that the people we just beat up were also from war-torn realms and Corrin feels sad. I don't. Soldiers are not always good, Corrin. Corrin says they'll donate the weapons after they've won the war, so others can achieve peace.

Xenologue 6: Royal Royale

This one takes place after Revelation. A version of the Rainbow Sage from the Outrealms informs the princesses that Corrin is in danger. Specifically, an alternate universe version of Corrin who hasn't beat the game yet is in danger. He tells the princesses to spar to see who is the strongest, which will allow him to make stat boosting items for Corrin. Somehow. The girls don't to fight each other, but agree once they find out the princes already agreed.

Wait a minute. This is just Beach Brawl again, except less horny this time! What a rip-off!

Winning nets you a Dread Scroll for the Hoshidans and an Ebon Wing for the Nohrians, plus a character specific stat booster (Secret Book for Takumi, Energy Drop for Ryoma, Seraph Robe for Hinoka, Dracoshield for Xander, Spirit Dust for Leo, Godess Icon for Elise, and Talisman for Camilla).

There are people who paid money for these chapters.

[nikkisticki]

I'm pretty sure I was one of those people who thought at first that Scott dating Knives was okay

I've assumed that because it's a good comic that automatically means it teaches good values too, the correct values.

If he's 23/24 and she's 17 then the age gap technically isn't that bad, and the opinion that they should be together was being presented by someone with far more "normality" then anyone who disagrees and stands for the opposite might be... wrong.

I only changed my opinion when I've heard that this was supposed to be a wrong thing to believe.

It's weird isn't it?

In a hypothetical situation where a twelve year old dates a fifteen year old... that's bad, because as a twelve year old you're nothing more than a kid and a fifteen year old is... a bit more brass? surely way more aware about the state of the world, bitter

a fifteen year old is way more emotionally developed than a twelve year old

...which must mean... relationship difficulties? instability? wait no ... there must be a better conclusion I just have to keep on thinking about it... I know that is it objectively WRONG because that's what everyone around me SAYS, but WHY?

wouldn't work out... kid and their superior...

I remember when my twelve year old classmate used to date a fifteen year old guy

I remember that being her decidion

I remember not thinking much about it other than that she is out there, fulfilling her own sense of understanding over what she wants from this world...

My mom criticized it.

Is there a way to be wrong about this... surely yeah...

I'll be honest I've spoken to a person my age who said something along the lines of our forty something married hostel caretaker having dilf energy I dunno

Are you trying to tell me that is NOT just teenage culture and an actual problem right now or something

I mean she's never getting her hands on him either way

I have no clue how a 23/22 year old sees this world I am not that old yet

Okay okay so the way this should be understood would be.

How do you think critically of things again...

WHAT is the problem?--- it must be the difference between emotional states, and development.

WHEN is it a problem? ...when people hurt each other?

you wouldn't expect someone younger than you to be a co-parent so why would you expect them to be your partner.

and since romantic attraction of any kind is built on ideas of trust and equality

that makes one party have a difference over the other

a noticable, off-putting difference.

But IS it a problem?

It's a problem, one that many people blatanly IGNORE are pursue those kinds of relationships anyway

Doesn't that by itself negate the problem? or does it co-exist with it?

upperclassman are just dicks who put you down the second school's over aren't they?

I hear advice bout not datin upperclassman cause they always dump you

it can't be right can it? nothing could ever justify it as alright, but by the way that everyone is doing it even though it's a bad idea...

it's normal for THEM.

who the fuck invented that??

There's actually a lot of questions you're asking that don't really play to the game, as it were. The issue with a 17/23 gap is mostly that one of these people is on the final stretch of mental development, while the other is still trying to learn Pythagoras theory and go to the prom.

The points being in the narrative aren't immediately as blunt as some people required (I hadn't really considered the issue until my second reading) but part of the point is that Scott is subconsciously aware of his own mistake, which is why he's not actually trying to take advantage of her as much as he clearly could. He's being a problem but he's not intentionally malicious.

I think if you're this thoughtful on the subject you should go read into the distinct differences between various age groups, because 12/15 isn't as significant as 17/23, but if you're younger you'll start to figure it out as you get older considering your clear desire to question things.

I can't really give you the best advice on this except you should try to form paragraphs that are 3-8 sentences long and keep a flowing point over the paragraph that embodies your point

here have a cat pic

[dailyrandomwriter]

Day 255

So… I’m still in the middle of playing Dredge, but that was because I restarted my game once I better understood how it worked. I normally don’t restart games, but I find I tend to either restart or replay games that have a collecting and exploration element to them. I did this with both A Short Hike and Little Gator Game, because there’s something about replaying it when you know what you’re doing.

Though in the case of Dredge, it was also because I wanted to experience more of the game. I didn’t realize that Dredge had a built-in difficulty system, and this is actually the first time I’ve experienced a game that has this system. (I don't really count Pokemon's difficulty with starters because no one plays Pokemon with that in mind.)

For those that aren’t familiar, because it’s very rare for games to have this, a built-in difficulty system is when a game’s difficulty is scaled by choices the player makes while playing. The advantage to this system is that the player gets to experience first hand what playing the game is like and adjust the difficulty accordingly instead of having to guess what easy, medium and hard difficulty looks like. The Dark Souls series, despite being infamous for being difficult, is a very good example of this as certain builds can make playing the game much easier. 

In the case of Dredge, the difficulty comes in two forms, the panic system and how it affects the game, and ship upgrades.

As you sail around the world of Dredge, you have a choice to remain out later after the sun goes down or go to the nearest harbour. The lack of sleep and sailing in the dark will affect your panic meter, the longer you stay out in the dark and do not let your fisherman sleep, the more panic he becomes. As he becomes more panicked, he will begin to hallucinate and his (the player’s) vision begins to blur around the edges and become tinted with red. Most importantly though, most of the enemies in the game come out to play the more panicked the fisherman is. 

Assuming you’re not awful at the fishing and dredging mini games to the point where it becomes 3 am in the game by the time you’re done pulling up a single item of the watery depths, this means that players can play the game safely. They can choose to be out only an hour or two after the sun goes down, and therefore are able to miss some of the hardest parts of the game. This makes the game accessible to more players both in skill and in preference to how much horror they want in their horror game. 

The other way Dredge adjusts its difficulty is in the resources it takes to research and upgrade the hull of the ship. In areas of the game there is a travelling merchant who sells refined metal (and later on research gears). The refined metal is a very rare resource that is often hidden behind barriers that need to be found and blown apart. I suspect in theory you can get most (if not all) of the refined metal by finding these hidden spots, but if that is too hard, then you can just buy it from the travelling merchant. This cuts down on a lot of potential frustration if you’re not good at exploring the world of Dredge or are not interested in exploring at all.

The best part about this method is that in both these cases you know exactly where difficulty can be lessened to make it a more enjoyable experience.

That being said, the disadvantage of this system is that games that have a built-in difficulty system will not tell you that the system exists. It’s expected that you, the player, find out that for yourself what those systems are. However, depending on your play style, you could accidentally create a play through that is good, but not the best suited for you.

For example, I always have a tendency to play games safely, especially if I’m warned there may be danger. I’m also not the brightest bulb ever, there are times deeper workings in game mechanics and environmental storytelling will go over my head. So I missed a lot of interesting story lore because I played it safe. I also didn’t realize fully how much leeway I would get with the panic system, or the fact that the larger enemies had specific ways you could just avoid them or get them to go away. That was the main reason why I restarted the game because I wanted to experience more of the game. And, because I now know what to expect, I know how much horror I can take before it’s too much.

Another example is, someone had mentioned on the forum that the pacing of the upgrades was too quick and should have been locked behind areas. But here is the thing, if you don't buy the refined metal from the merchant, it is technically locked behind new areas, because you have to go to those new areas to find more refined metal. Same thing with the research gears, you don’t need to buy the gears from the merchant, you could in theory just dredge and explore the map to see if you can get enough to unlock everything.

I find the fact the game is so heavily influenced by how you play the game very fascinating. But I’ve always been fascinated by how play styles can affect complex games, ever since Bravely Default, and that’s a conversation for another time.

[feralphoenix]

WELL! finished my first run of steam edition yggdra union the other day, so as promised, heres the final roster as of the bf48 setup screen:

no surprises for anyone here i think. yggdra’s stats maxed out at level 17 in this playthrough as is inevitable for the best allied unit in the game. she would’ve maxed even earlier if the game didnt remove mvp bonuses when she rejoins the party at the beginning of chapter 5 but that never matters in the end, So Like

FUNNY STORY: i decided to work on item manual completion this run which actually requires you to actively use milanor a lot during the early game, which led to a lot of hashtag milanor-typical mvp theft... but the rng distribution this time was unbelievably funny and gave him like all atk and luck, never MIND that if theres ever any stat milanor ACTUALLY needs its tec to make sure steal always works. so despite being capable of decent dps/tank work he STILL wound up useless, just in a highly atypical fashion compared to the usual on my save files where hes stuck in mostly 4s and 5s lmfao

nietzsche ate one (1) zero reset right before level up while i was shaking off the rust of not having played for, like, 8 years or something, but also look at that hottt gen score. tank mermaid. will probably try this again for future saves where i dont have to leave my doping items to rot for item manual completion and when i dont need to raise durant for item fetching purposes

old reliable... roswell always winds up as such a solid damage dealer whenever im able to give him proper attention. if you prefer aggro tactics why ARENT you going with roswell as often as possible. he and yggdra took point most of the time on this file, with a little help from...

elena, who was absolutely the goat here; relatedly, sorry about everything, elena. a fun thing to do if you like to use elena is to make sure you get the rainbow arc from her in bf17 with steal and then actually equip it on her in chapter 8 and let her clean house/rake in the mvp. Im Sorry Elena. yggdra and milanor have to pay for her therapy sessions now i think

guess who ALSO got an inopportune zero reset while i was still shaking off the rust... mistels stats always suffer when youre letting your doping items go bad for collection purposes but it doesnt help that one of the best of those is locked to 2nd playthrough onwards, so whatcha gonna do

i played on hard mode because it was there and other difficulty levels are honestly way too easy for me, but since pamela & golden dozeu are locked your first play on steam regardless of difficulty i took these caps on bf48 because i assumed ending d would be 2nd playthrough onwards exclusive too.

IMAGINE MY DELIGHT WHEN I WENT FOR ENDING C AND GOT A NORMAL RESULTS SCREEN... means i am forced to play normal mode AFTER all to get ending c, but i will never turn down a surprise trip across heavens gate because i love to go hit hector with sticks. “youre not actually hitting him with sticks” ive sent yggdra to go do it and i Will join nessiah in yelling YAAAAAAAAAAS QUEEEEEEEEEEN SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY from the back row of the bleachers while she does that.

anyway.

over 80% item manual completion in one run is not bad for the first run after an 8 year blank. dabs. its good to be back. sting please put gloria union and blaze union on steam too

[trashcanwithsprinkles]

hello again! it is i, the anon from not quite but nearly exactly a week ago, back again with even more lengthy stuff, if i may be so bold. although at this point i feel almost like it's a full letter, just anonymous and forcefully shoved into a mailbox from seemingly nowhere 💦

aside from me rereading cyanide narwhal the equivalent of maybe three or four times fully in the past week, dear author, your good writing convinced me to fully read one of your other zhongchi fics instead of doing art in my free time, like i wanted to. (there's not been a good uninterrupted free time for it yet, though. i still really want to. however first i'd like my mind to calm down and settle on a few specific ideas instead of looking at the Entire Fic and going "let's draw it" because that,,, in no way is that a starting point, brain,,,,) anyway,

i am not entirely sure where i was going with that train of thought but i must add that, unsurprisingly, your writing certainly did not disappoint. if i may put it this way: i find your writing to be very refreshing and tasty. as long as that doesn't sound weird...? also... i am not really much for shipping, not that i have anything against it; but it really does take some good writing for me to enjoy it, since i don't tend to think about it much myself, so there is also that. (needless to say, i did indeed enjoy it.)

anyway, back to the topic of cyanide narwhal, i do have to ask... what is ajax wearing in his various dreams? considering that they can occur in a few different places, and, well. i assume his outfits would also vary accordingly, at least to some extent. the abyss, the fatui, his parents' house, or some form of liyue- there's quite a significant difference between all of those, so unless the environment doesn't at all affect him in his dreams, i assume his outfit(s) would vary accordingly, to be at least somewhat suitable, if not be copied from the memories themselves (when the dreams are memories, which i get the impression of being a frequent occurrence? *smacks the bad somehow-not-nightmares-but-still-bad-dreams with a stick*). i don't know what to think or which to think is more likely? but i just have to know,, actually i'm curious about how often his outfit varies just in general, too, because that is something i am somewhat uncertain about, but i wanted to carefully search for mentions or at least hints of that before asking about it, and i haven't yet. for why must so many different details be so important to know confidently if i only have a simple wish to draw 😔

also my pov as someone who is something of a perfectionist because i loathe making mistakes on something i care for (read as: literally anything i put effort into, but especially things i very much care for, which includes anything hyperfixation related, and- yeah, you get the idea): *holds head in hands staring at/trying to imagine ajax's heist outfit in the few drawings/descriptions i can find* what does it look like from behind. is it still very similar to a fatui agent's. what extra details or differing details or embellishments. where is it the same. what is different. i can already see some small elements of his normal outfit in game, mostly very clear elements from the delusion phase outfit, and of course a large resemblance in the style to the fatui agent's outfit. i can't get a full full front view either but rear view is the one i have even less of an idea of. side?? side view?? his outfits in general just have so many details that being unable to know fully what specific mix of them is working together is- *pained noises, strongly overthinking every aspect imaginable*

(that isn't meant as a complaint of any sort, i'd manage even if i can't get more references. but for a person who usually struggles to even bother to use references, and that just sounds bad and lazy, because it probably is, but anyway, this is a weird feeling, to search for them so hard with difficulty :'D)

my dear we stand on the exact same boat (on the topic of perfectionism and obsessing over details) and so i both salute you and present you with a probably too overly-complicated answer that i hope will help you;

putting it under the cut to spare everyone's dash;;

Ajax' clothes in his dreams

you are correct in that, generally, if the dream is a memory then yes, he wears an approximation of what he was wearing in that memory, or straight-up the same outfit. if the getup in the memory is intact, like a memory of a normal day at the fatui, then he has the same outfit. but if the getup isn't intact, like- idk, a memory of a dangerous mission where his uniform got kinda torn, then he has an intact verison of the outfit instead. but if it is a memory too distant that the attire of back then wouldn't fit (ie. like a memory from the abyss) then he's wearing whatever he had on upon falling asleep.

so, as an example, in the dream he has of when he got kicked out of his parents' house (when they make snowmen with xiao), he would be wearing his sleeping clothes. this because, in the memory of the dream, ajax was 14 and therefore the clothes he'd had on back then would no longer fit his adult body.

if it is a dream that calls back to no memory in particular, then- whatever goes. i'd say most of the time he'd be wearing whatever he had on upon falling asleep, but some dreams are amalgamations of indistinct memories, and so he could be wearing any other outfit. like a randomizer if given options from his wardrobe.

(while we're on that topic, xiao's clothes in the dreams he enters are generally a variation/something similar to his everyday clothes, as oposed to whatever he fell asleep in. this is because xiao has a degree of control over the dreamscape (though minimal at this stage), and can thus alter how he presents himself – like when he first appeared to ajax as a sort of anemo shade/ghost)

2. do Ajax' outfits vary

yes. but also. i'm- rather embarrassed to admit it, even if i know it's fanfic and therefore not beholden to the level of perfection over minute details that a proper published book ought to be (what with most fanfic posting as it gets written, with little chance to go back and correct mistakes (i know you can, but i feel like i'm cheating everytime i have to do it even though it should be well within my right as the author;;)); but i, uh, may have completely forgotten about ajax' clothes.

so like. he arrives with his heist uniform (i'll get into that one in a bit for your other question dw <3), that i do remember. then he borrows clothes from morax a handful of times. but then guizhong takes him to a tailors? and like- gets him clothes? but for the life of me i cannot remember if i ever got around to writing them actually picking up or making use of those new clothes. like straight-up, i have no idea. it has just left my brain. like i know i could go back and try to find it but honestly? i feel like that's just not as important for the purposes of the story, even if it will forever grate on my consciousness. so, so they get clothes at the tailors, but i do remember it being like- we'll come pick those up once they're done, so ajax carries on using his heist uniform and morax' clothes in alternation. if i remembered to have them pick up the clothes, then he would've worn those only once or twice (i think??) before the whole snezhnaya trip and subsequent celestia spy mission happened. which. has seen him donning nothing but the heist uniform, so. for the past chapters, that's all he's been wearing. he has occasionally worn his hesit uniform but without the intricate coat, which is the same outfit he has in his brithday artwork but like- with black pants.

i apologize about the whole tailor's clothes situation but believe you me i'm more annoyed by it than any of you probably are (i doubt many of you care all that much about such an inconsequential little detail lmao)

3. heist uniform

it is indeed just a fatui pyro agent's attire from the game- but like, only the coat. i'm working under the assumption that our modern fatui don't wear that sort of stuff, even if their uniforms are indeed not as dull as any ordinary soldier's. so like- by comparison, a pyro agent's uniform (from the game - our game, not theirs) would look intricate and ornate. i know ajax has a ceremonial getup, the one from the lasso trailer, but 1) that got revealed as i was already several chapters into the story and 2) i assume that's like- for very formal events, not heists. so,

it's a pyro fatui agent's coat, but the red accents are all shades of black and grey. the back looks exactly the same as the in-game model does, i think. the only major difference that i can think of is that he doesn't wear the hood, and that he has his red scarf on. so like- take tartaglia's model and take the scarf portion apart (front and back), and put it on a pyro agent. that's it.

the clothes under the coat are his delusion design from the bossfight, only the vision at the belt remains the same hydro from his playable model.

so uh- i hope that was helpful? thank you so very much for venturing into another fic of mine, i hope you liked it as well <3

[senespera-ffxiv]

Unorganized Stormblood Thoughts That I Typed Into My Media List

FFXIV: Stormblood

Rating and overall thoughts for the MSQ: 4/5, ranges from excellent to good with a few glaring problems in the form of Lyse etc. but overall I am relatively satisfied with how they explored the premise that was set up at the end of Heavensward Patch Quests

Rating and overall thoughts for the patch quests: Haven’t done them yet

so like Lyse is. A Character. That had potential and then it got increasingly obvious that said potential was in an alternate version of the game that spent more time on her before Stormblood.

Apart from Lyse, Stormblood can probably be split into three separate sections. Ala Mhigo Part 1, Doma, Ala Mhigo Part 2.

Ala Mhigo Part 1 was. Well, it was largely unremarkable apart from That Part where Rhalgr’s Reach gets fucking decimated. As much as Zenos basically doesn’t do anything, this part really does help establish how Fucking Insane he is. I think I would’ve preferred a situation where he naturally yeeted you instead of the “Concentrativity but on steroids” thing he did (preferably some sort of system where each cast of Concentrativity gives you a stack of Stagger which at 5 turns into Down for the Count that way it can be implemented in normal gameplay too as a sort of soft enrage for the Ala Mhigo dungeon) but his intimidation factor is at an 11. Also really liked how it went along a route that showed how inexperienced Lyse is at all of this, was a lot of good setup for character growth (just unfortunate that they kind of. skipped like. all of it.)

Doma was really good, like the story itself felt around the same quality as Heavensward MSQ (so like a 4/5 for me). What I appreciated more was what I assume to be meta-commentary on chinese myth, specifically King Wu of Zhou’s overthrow of King Zhou of Shang. It was so cool slowly finding out that Gosetsu, that one guy who just kinda showed up in the ARR patch quests, was actually fucking Jiang Ziya and then finding Hien and everything and then they folded in a Cyan reference at the same time and I just oooough I love it when you synthesize references into a new thing it’s so neat. And it was a really really good examination of the circumstances that both inhibit and promote revolution in oppressed areas.

Also Yugiri is quite literally best character that scene with her having to confront the sheer hopelessness of the situation was genuinely heartbreaking, especially because of how well the voice actor delivered those lines. Like holy shit, why can’t Lyse be like this

Ala Mhigo Part 2 was good, still relatively unremarkable up until those final few hours cuz holy fucking shit the hype during that entire segment was so good. It was like the perfect energetic leadup to the Ala Mhigo dungeon and OUGH THAT DUNGEON I LOVE THAT DUNGEON SO FUCKING MUCH the way that people randomly help you go forward, the bosses, especially the boss fight against Zenos like that boss fight against Zenos is possibly the most difficult dungeon boss I have encountered so far it is Insane I also love it to bits as a narrative device showing how Zenos is difficult to conquer but with the help of your allies and a little bit of training he can be overcome, just not without a lot of difficulty

AND HAVE I MENTIONED THE FIGHT AGAINST SHINRYU that trial was some of the most Batshit content I have fucked around with like Holy Shit what is happening this is cool as shit I wanna know more LEMME AT THE EXTREME MODE

My problems with Lyse are twofold

Bit of a white savior complex ya got going on there huh

Where’s the character development

The white savior complex thing shouldn’t be too surprising, I think they realized it too cuz every single Ala Mhigan character is dark skinned except for her and Fordola and while I am absolutely not discounting the very likely possibility that Ala Mhigo is not an ethnostate it still feels a bit icky if you know what I mean. Not to mention how she perpetually acts like it’s White Girl Wednesday lmao. This segues into the character development thing which is to say she has none where did it go did Hien eat it

Like seriously did Hien eat all of her character development because it all sorta just happens offscreen and those few opportunities where she does have some time to do some real self-reflecting they deflect it with her usual impulsive herbo gag. It would’ve been interesting to see her really struggle with her flaws, be actively reprimanded for said flaws, and through the help of her allies slowly understand just what it is she needs to do (which is to be more like Hien or Yugiri but in her own unique way)

The resolution to her character is perfect, she acts exactly like how I thought she would. Angry, impulsive, but not impulsive enough to do anything rash. She’s figured out how to rein it in so she can become a decent leader but hasn’t let go of that fiery drive that’s defined her character for the past two expansions/arcs and I do think that if they just filled in more of the character development (and also devoted more time to her in ARR/Heavensward for more than just like. meme gags) she could’ve been actually Really Good. Oh well, she’s not really gonna be in the spotlight that much from now on anyways it seems

[turtle-to-eternity]

Day 144 - Eating for Easter

Calories: 2750

I don't even celebrate Easter anymore, but boy did I eat. It was just an excuse and I should not have eaten so much. I feel a bit sick. But otherwise the day was fine. Too much indecision, but that's just how I am. Work isn't hard anyway so another week looming doesn't feel too bad.

Writing for today:

Didn't do much of anything today and felt mildly frustrated about it. It's just like I was afraid would happen on Thursday last week. Fortunately I did manage to force myself to download the 2 games I'll be trying to focus on for the near future: Stellaris and Xcom 2. Both modded heavily, of course.

XCOM 2 is going to be really hard with Long War of the Chosen. I'll have to swallow my pride and play on a difficulty besides legend. I have a really weird and strong hangup about game difficulties.

Living life with severe ADHD, getting burnt out on things before I can fully experience them is just a fact of life. I never get to the "late game" of anything regardless of if I like it or not. So there's always a pressure to pick the "right" difficulty that best represents the game.

Even if it'd be a better idea to play on Normal first and Hard second, I subconsciously assume that by the time I finish (IF I finish) the first playthrough, I'll never care enough to play a second one.

Today I got up on time, and felt good about it. Didn't feel too tired either, which would have been great if I was actually doing anything. Overall, today felt mediocre.

[theadventurerslog]

The Curse of Monkey Island | Part 1

The Adventurer's Log

Release Date: 1997

This is a special one! Today, November 23, as of posting this, marks a year since creating The Adventurer's Log. I didn't know whether I'd manage to stick with this or not, and now here I am. To celebrate my first anniversary I decided to play a game very dear to my heart. The Curse of Monkey Island was my first point and click game played at the tender age of seven or eight, although, I didn't finish it until I was around 11 or 12.

It was a game our parents had gotten for Christmas if I remember right. I think we might have also played a demo, but the memory is vague enough I'm not certain. I seem to recall getting to the end of Part 1 and not being able to progress. And I remember some excitement when we got the game in full which I assume was because of the demo. Otherwise, unless it was just new game excitement, I can't think why I would have been excited. Either way I certainly remember repeatedly going back to the game and asking dad if I could use the computer to play it. One way or another it caught me and caught me good.

I have an incredible amount of nostalgia for this game. Even when I wasn't playing it, it was still something in my life. I remember catching bits of our parents playing it together. Dad had taped the intro and main theme as well another song later in the game and it was on one of the tapes we'd use when driving. I have memories of sitting in the car listening to Guybrush's intro monologue and laughing at the chicken bit. I have memories of listening to the pirate song and dad singing along to some of the lines or us just laughing at it. This was just part of the rotation.

The game led me to eventually playing The Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge in my late teen years and all of these served as the foundation for my interest in adventure games, but this game was the start.

I have played it many times over the years. Naturally, this won't be even remotely a blind play; I could probably write a basic walk-through off the top of my head by this point. It's one of those game I like to revisit every now and then. It's comfort food. So, while I'll be logging my play-through as I normally do, I'll also be sharing memories and anecdotes as I go. I'll possibly be making the occasional reference to the first two games as it comes up as well, but the game works fine as a stand-alone. At least it did for me for a long time.

Let's hop in!

The game opens with two difficulty settings: an easier mode and Mega-Monkey, the harder mode; Monkey Island 2 did the same thing, though I think that option was removed in the special edition. I'm playing Mega-Monkey. Mega-Monkey has more puzzles, or rather more steps to some of the puzzles and I'll point out the differences, at least the ones I remember. I used to play the easier version and I'm glad I did because beyond still getting stuck a lot then, it also gave me new things when I did play Mega-Monkey for the first time.

Then it dives in with a CMI parody of the THX logo and "The Monkeys are listening...". Then the LucasArts logo.

I wouldn't normally show logos like this but the map is so cool! We've got the titular Monkey Island in the bottom left. Melee Island in the bottom centre, where The Secret of Monkey Island starts. Up in the left is the Tri-Island area from Monkey Island 2, Scabb, Phatt and Booty. Then we're teased with the new islands of this game in the top right corner...

The map blows away into our introduction which is also cool and still, despite how many times I've played it by this point, this intro gives me a little thrill. I don't know if this game's version of the series main theme is my favourite or not--they're all great--but it's the one I'm most familiar with and I love it so much.

With the map blown away, Monkey Island is revealed.

This game also introduced the curly clouds that have become a mainstay of the series even being in the remakes of the first two games and continued into Return. It's just neat having this little thing retained despite all the different art styles throughout the series.

The camera sweeps to the right and we see Guybrush Threepwood himself riding a bumper car (courtesy of the events of MI2) and we get our starting explanatory monologue.

"My quest for the fabulous treasure called Big Whoop has left me in this sorry state. I thought it would bring me fame and glory. Instead, it delivered me into the clutches of my enemy, the zombie-pirate LeChuck. I had thwarted his evil plot to marry Elaine and he was after revenge."

A tidy summation of the past two games. Then he goes on to lament his lack of food and water and wistfully thinks of different kinds.

The chicken floating by on a barrel of grog buking all the while gets me every time.

He wonders if he's doomed and if he'll ever see Elaine again only to drift into the middle of a full scale battle.

And into a gorgeous title screen! This game is still flipping beautiful.

Credits roll with cool illustrations which is where my banner images for these posts are from. Then the cinematic continues, introducing Elaine and LeChuck as they're leading this battle against each other.

Elaine is not remotely impressed with LeChuck's repeated attempts to take her as his bride.

LeChuck is nothing if not stubborn.

Guybrush stares at Elaine realizing who she is and basically spends the rest of this altercation looking kinda smitten. Elaine and LeChuck have some back and forth and Elaine notes all the foulness LeChuck has committed including taking from her the only man she'd ever loved: Guybrush Threepwood. Cue Guybrush looking very smitten.

LeChuck spots him and with a handcannon blows out his bumper car and has one of his skeleton crew fish him out.

Hand cannon! Arm cannon? Portable anyway.

LeChuck threatens him, not knowing how Guybrush escaped his carnival of the damned, but goes to get him with his sword only for Elaine to shoot it out of his grasp.

LeChuck orders Guybrush to be brought down into the hold and for his men to prepare the voodoo flaming cannon ball.

And so we come to Part 1. "The Demise of the Zombie Pirate LeChuck"

I love the title screens for each part too. This game is just so good to look at and has so much character.

And now we start the game. Guybrush is locked in the hold with another small pirate and I needed to find a way out while the pirate is firing a cannon and calling out various threats and exclamations to the battle.

Of course I always have to look around first. This game uses a three verb system: hand, eyes and mouth and they're represented on a coin that pops up when you hold the mouse button to do a thing.

It's still one of my favourite ways of doing things. I like having a few verbs to play and mess around with instead of a single cursor to do everything. And only being three, it's less overwhelming than having a lot of verbs. There are keyboard controls as well but I've never used them.

The door is locked and you can yell at it for any evil undead out there, or anyone really, to no reply. And you can look through the keyhole for some sarcasm:

"I see a diaroma of the world living in peace and freedom. No, wait. It can't be that."

It was something I didn't do until some replay, and I was happy to find new stuff at the time, so it's stuck with me. I want to say I found it while playing it on dad's laptop, sitting at the kitchen table. It's funny what sticks with you.

There was a ramrod on the wall that I scooped. The cannon and its restraint rope can both be examined, but there isn't anything to be done with them at the moment. So then I finally talked to our pirate buddy here.

He introduces himself as the wicked pirate, Bloodnose. After a bit of back and forth it's revealed, through noticing his fake hook, or fake beard, or monocle under his eye-patch--I went for the eye-patch option which I don't normally do--that he's actually Wally the cartographer from the previous game. He'd been scooped into LeChuck's army. There are some more options to discuss piracy or the education thereof, such as the set of audio books-on-parrot, motivational lectures and seminars and you can get some pamphlets off him. Fun stuff. You can also learn that LeChuck has some sort of scheme involving an incredibly powerful cannonball.

But he won't help the escape and things escalate into attempted threats.

One of the options to reply is simply "Peep." Then when he says "One more word" etc, another option is "Word." while Guybrush sounds sort of annoyed and exasperated. It's the option I usually take because it's just so petty. I tried a different one this time, but it wasn't as fun.

The resistance easily breaks Wally though because he's really not a pirate:

"I'm not ferocious, or bloodthirsty, or hateful, or anything! I'm not even... I'm not even unpleasant!"

Then he throws off his hook and starts crying, poor soul. I grabbed the hook though.

That also leaves the cannon free to use, so it was time to start doing some firing of our own at the four boats of skeletons out there.

They start complaining as you fire toward them and say things like, "cutting it a little close there, pal" if you have a near miss. If you hit the fort at all Guybrush will say different apologies and oops moments. Once you've sunk all four boats you get back into the hold, Guybrush notes that all the bones and things are floating toward the ship.

That's the cue to look out through the cannon bay window to find a very important character.

But first, a skeleton arm. The skull can wait; he'll simply keep yammering on in the background. It's all good.

Attach the hook to the ramrod to make a gaff.

I'm fond of this inventory chest too...

Then use the gaff to fish out the skeleton arm to the skull's annoyance as its his arm. The arm still had a sword in its hand, so it's a two for one deal.

Then I chatted with the skull who is none other than Murray the mighty demonic skull! He's become a recurring character.

It's just a fun conversation while Murray oscillates between trying to be threatening, getting some comfort from Guybrush over his loss of everything, getting teased by Guybrush, and Guybrush really not taking him remotely seriously. Now you could just leave here. Or, you can be a jerk and do one more thing: knock Murray into the ocean with the gaff.

I tried to catch the swing but was a second too late and got this squishy Murray instead and you know what? That's better.

Then I went back inside to put the sword to use. "Taste cold steel, feeble cannon restraint rope!"

With the rope gone, using the cannon is a rather more dangerous affair, but that's just what we're gonna do. The kickback knocks it and Guybrush through the door.

Meanwhile on deck, LeChuck is gloating over his voodoo cannonball.

"That'll show her how much I truly care."

I didn't notice until a replay that the cannonball has a heart with LC + EM on it. How sweet?

However, the cannon knock-back violently rocks the boat and causes LeChuck to drop the cannon ball which then explodes.

LeChuck goes up in creepy skull-like smoke and the ship capsizes.

That leaves Guybrush in an upside down hold full of treasure, which would be great if there was an escape route or way to get to the gaping hole above.

There is a lot of stuff to examine in here. Just a few highlights but this isn't everything and it's all good. The portrait of LeChuck: "It's LeChuck in all his gory. Err, glory." A flotation device: no self-respecting pirate would be seen wearing that." Uh huh...

There was also a champagne bottle. This bottle is completely unimportant but a good example and involves a more recent discovery. There are some things in the game that change reactions depending on what you do first. Normally I examine this champagne bottle first to find out what it really is. I tend to examine all things first. But if you try to drink from it before examining it you get a different line. As far as I can remember anyway I had never gotten this line before and only found out about it a couple years ago.

"No. Champagne makes me all giggly." His delivery of this line is adorable.

However, if you examine the bottle first, you'll find out it's a "bottle of sparkling formaldehyde. Good year, too." And then it's labelled Chateau Embalm and if you try to drink it he just says one of his standard 'no' responses. "Hmmm, no." It's a nice little detail and hid a cute line from me for years.

Anyhoo, the important thing in here is a bag of wooden nickels "some treasure" but once you pick it up, it turns out there was a huge diamond ring under it and both get added to the inventory.

If you look out the porthole, he'll note the ocean floor, but if you knocked Murray into the water you get an extra comment: "And there's a really angry-looking skull floating around out there." Sorry,y Murray.

I remember getting stuck here as a kid. I'm pretty sure dad gave a nudge though I don't recall what that nudge was. You have to use the diamond ring to cut the glass on the porthole.

Then the water bursts in, flooding the hold and letting Guybrush float to the gaping hole at the top.

In the flotation device. Couldn't escape it after all.

Elaine is standing on the shore of the island and then we see Guybrush come swimming toward her. They have a happy if awkward reunion and Guybrush gets babble-y until Elaine tells him to hush and he gets to his point. Which is, with his newly found diamond ring, to propose to her!

Elaine accepts and there's the start of a sweet moment before Wally pops up, having been thrown clear of the ship and now safe. He compliments the ring but notes it looks just like the one from LeChuck's treasure hold.

The ring with a ghastly, disfiguring voodoo curse on it. Of course he's sure Guybrush wouldn't have given her THAT ring. Then he heads off on his business.

Elaine does know Guybrush though, and does know that's exactly what he'd do and Guybrush's nervy stammering does nothing to help his cause. She starts to wind up a punch but it's too late and the curse takes effect.

Turning her into a solid gold statue. And now we have our plot and goal: to undo this mess.

Next time we start exploring this new island and learn how to save Elaine in Part 2: The Curse Gets Worse.

[jigensass]

So I have done nothing but play Like a Dragon Gaiden for the last…16 hours.

And here are my thoughts so far.

SEMI-SPOILERS AHEAD. I’m currently somewhere in chapter 2 out of I do not know how many and I do not know how RGG managed to crank this out in six months.

I just got to point of unlocking sub-stories for a frame of reference of how far I am in.

Yes, I heard this was supposed to be DLC (for what I assume was Yakuza 7 seeing as the story starts in Yokohama and the story crosses over with it for a mere moment), but eventually turned it into an entire two-part game.

I personally have nothing to be impressed about it. This is a standard game in the Yakuza/LAD series. You do not have to impress or disappoint me. Yakuza 6 already was the worst disappointment to the series alongside Kiwami 2, so the bar was low for this.

Okay, the graphics have impressed me a bit.

The fucking car graphics went so hard in that opening scene.

I will say the fighting mechanics have improved and it seems that either this DLC was supposed to be the groundwork for Lost Judgement’s combat or the other way around, the main mechanic of switching between two different fighting style where one is quick and used to get rid of a lot of enemies and the other is used to take on single enemies is nothing new.

The spy mechanics are a bit clunky to pull off because I always have difficulty doing so in the way I want to use them because another new thing I noticed is that the AI for the fighting is somewhat more competent (I’m playing on normal) and will dogpile you given the opportunity. They also like to spam the block button thank god they gave Joryu a block breaker early on. (This is my first major nitpick)

I have ran into a few bugs, just some small clips and weird physics, but nothing like 6 or Kiwami 2 had where dead men jettisoned into space which is good.

And then I got to this part and I felt unsettled.

Like…why? For reasons of game mechanics just why. I’m 100% certain they managed to sneak a porn star into one of these scenarios. Just like how they used porn stars as VAs for the cabaret girls in Yakuza 0.

But then Kiryu says this

Personally I think Joryu is pulling a reverse 4th wall break and trying to get with real life waifus instead of those fake ones. This means Joryu is fully sentient of the world he is in is not real.

I do want to gloat right now I am currently in the 0.4% of the game’s population who has both cabaret achievements.

Also HOW CAN RYUJI AND MINE DIE ON SCREEN BUT IT HAS BEEN THIRTY ONE YEARS SINCE MAJIMA ENCOUNTERED THIS OLD WOMAN AND SHE HAD YET TO KICK THE BUCKET

I swear she is immortal.

The biggest major complaint I have right know is why do power ups have to be spent using both money AND the special points from the Akame missions? Why not just ONE?!

I know for some reason Joryu literally punches dudes for money in this game but tacking the Akame points on as a necessity to do side content is…unlike RGG. Side content is side content for a reason. The completion list was not a shock or a groan for me, the groan came when if I wanted to grind, then I actively had to interact with that list, which because of this some of the feats on the list are manageable and easy to obtain, or the objective is easy to manage.

I understand if you just casually do it, but so far I feel the Akame stuff should have been saved for a later chapter (you know, like how Yakuza 0 did it?) so the real story could settle in and get players invested?

Spoilers Ryuji is not alive he is very dead the Ryuji in the ring is a fake he had me fooled too for a hot second.

[youngster-monster]

I HAVE SOME VERY UNFORTUNATE NEWS. when trying to install ffxiv my computer (which historically in spite of being Really Good is actually hellspawn and has so many weird issues with it that naming any one issue without bringing the rest up would be doing the rest of the ridiculous user-specific problems ive had with it dirty) decided that Today Was The Day and started bugging out which includes:

- never showing a progress bar on the install (which i am told Is Not Normal) - not responding to my efforts to fix issues with (what i thought was the problem) the installer - and then, after trying to fix computer issues as a whole, having issues with the graphics card, restarting, having it just straight up not recognize my other monitor as existing, etc...

so ive decided for the sake of my mental health ill be putting a pin in my efforts to play ffxiv, much to mine, my sisters, and what i will assume your dismay

HOWEVER. rest assured i am still very interested in playing The Elf Game (this is what i will be calling it in my brain because now i associate it with elves and there is nothing that can be done to convince me otherwise) and once i am able to troubleshoot it without feeling like my brain is going to explode I Will Try Again

lying on forums is like The experience of being a child with unmonitored internet access, my lore on godawful mc skinning forums had twelve expansions and a dlc to it and so did everyone elses for that matter. forums were a lawless land. maybe they still are but im not on any forums anymore so RIP

my friends too are all freaks which is why they get to see my tumblr. We're All Sickos Here

If I had a nickel for every person I tried to drag into xiv who was stopped by technical difficulties, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot but yk

The game isn't going anywhere and I WILL be ready to push you into it like an unsafe uncle pushing a toddler into the pool 😎

Crazy how the more apt to getting around a computer you are the weirder the computer issues become

I'm still on like one forum and it's become much more lawful. 0 tolerance policy on lying about your age though which makes sense but I still feel like it's robbing the Youth from a crucial experience (help a grown man deal with his divorce in between math homeworks)