#The Marley cutscene

[keischreiber]

Is it safe to assume that this is what his office looks like? He is already Vice Chief of the Warrior Unit here... so this can't be too near from when they returned to Marley. After all, the brass won't just throw that position at him for having failed the operation. So this could be somewhere during their 4 year war with the Mid-East Alliance.

It could be a waiting room too, but there are documents scattered on the table. So it's either an office or personal quarters... but they are in Liberio, and he has a house there with his mom... the former moreso the latter.

Willing to becha that gramophone is bugged too.

Also, not Reiner spacing out when he is alone thinking of what happened in Paradis. I feel this is too common for him.

But also, these clothes.

The outer coat doesn't look very military standard... so perhaps it's part of his personal wardrobe. The inners though look very similar to the combat issued uniform that Marley has. I dunno if it's the lighting that's making it less white than it should be or if it really is just a piece of clothing that looks similar. The shape, form, and structure looks very close. It's just missing the Eldian pin which can be remove, either way. And then the inner shirt can be part of his personal attire as well. Pants, from this angle also looks like the one that comes with their military issued uniform, along with the boots.

Makes me wonder if this is his few moments of solitude before preparing for a mission...

[yamikailyn]

When you just got caught slandering your boss in 4k.

The crime:

[mobolanz]

Babe sit back down someone's gonna pass by and ask who are you gushing to yourself out-loud about ;-;

[lea-andres]

2, 7, 18, 25

2. First console you owned?

A PlayStation 2!

7. Video game character you've had a crush on?

Oh boy, here we go, LMAO. How can we narrow this down so this isn't a paragraph of just names? 😂 Boy or Girl? That I still have a crush on or that I'm now over?

I'll just name a couple random people. Elaine Marley (Monkey Island), LeChuck (Monkey Island, and don't judge me for this one lol), Meche (Grim Fandango), Glottis (Grim Fandango, AN EVEN BIGGER DON'T JUDGE ME), Sam (Sam and Max, still don't judge me) and honestly like any Final Fantasy girl ever. Oh, and Lara Croft.

...Looking at that list, it's clear I have two distinct types LET'S MOVE ON LMAO. 😬

18. If you could only play one video game for the rest of your life, which would you choose?

Honestly, just kill me. I'd never be able to pick and I'd miss the ones I gave up. 😭

25. Video game you wish you could burn from your memory?

Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust. All I've ever seen is the opening cutscene, and that was too much. A terrible addition to a hilarious series (if you're an adult and can tolerate that series's humor. Seriously, do not look up the LSL games if you're a minor, and DON'T LOOK UP BOX OFFICE BUST IF YOU'RE ANYONE WHOS BREATHES OXYGEN AND HAS A PULSE!)

[arcanetrivia]

Will I stop? Sure, I’ll stop when this game stops. (Spoilers: it stopped, so this is the last post about this.)

Feathered devil. There’s no Meathook in this internet pirate cave, but there is...

...LeCuck. That’s right, they went there.

Description of the portrait on the wall. Presumably she fights like a cow. Larry pronounced Mêléebido “my libido”.

This note on the wall straight up says “Guybrush” with a heart and a smiley face. same tbh (The game being played is, alas, “Fartnite”.)

Gosh that does sound like a useful skill

Possibly not a direct reference, but maps in Monkey Island, amirite?

Also might not be meant as a reference but idk why this skeleton in the advanced technological medical room at Prune (Apple) headquarters randomly has a piratey hook hand...

Larry has just poured a bright green alcoholic beverage that is talked up as being very bad stuff on the door lock to melt it (fortunately there was no puzzle involving transferring the stuff from one container to another to get it here)

Not pictured:

1. The way you spend a sizable segment of the game exhaustingly shuttling back and forth between three islands to try to find four pieces of a map, err, I mean, keystone, making only small progress on each island at any given time. (Ron Gilbert may have been able to have a cavalier “screw the player, let’s make them take lots of time sailing around!” attitude about this kind of design in 1991, but could we maybe get beyond that now?)

2. Cutscenes with the villain after you find each piece. And yeah it’s basically that four pirates(?) found this amazing legendary MacGuffin and decided that its power was too terrible to let anyone else find it and split their key into four pieces and then mostly died under mysterious circumstances. I dunno if that was literally meant as a direct reference to MI2 or if it’s just that it’s a kind of stock way to plot out this sort of adventure game, but it sure rhymes.

3. The Guybrush-looking founder is Governor Bobbi Marley’s ancestor and the game just casually throws out that his daughter changed her name to Marley at some point -- although since his name was Regibald Cockburn you can’t really blame her.

[teamhawkeye]

Top 10 Far Cry Songs

i wasn’t tagged to do this, but i saw @tomexraider‘s post and choices and it got me thinking and i wanted to make my list too!

i’m gonna totally cheat and break this down by the background score and the original soundtrack + licensed soundtrack songs, because having the pick just 10 out of all the FC music would be absolutely impossible for me. without further ado-

RULES: list your top ten songs from the Far Cry franchise and list your reasoning behind your picks.

score:

Far Cry 3 / Further (feat. Serena McKinney) - Brian Tyler (both of them) | Far Cry 3 (they’re nearly identical songs - one has a solo vocalist and the other has a violin solo - so i included them both. both so powerful: the first is at the start of the game and the second is played into the credits so they bookend the entire game for you. still give me chills)

Journey Into Madness - Brian Tyler | Far Cry 3 (the moment this one’s tied to - your first up close glimpse of Hoyt and the rush to get the information to save your buddy Oliver - is one of my favorites. So tense and urgent and makes you feel a little small after the high of “Kick the Hornet’s Nest” immediately preceding it)

Sloan’s Assault - Power Glove | Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon (i love the entire Blood Dragon OST for being synthwave/retrowave - that is absolutely my jam, synth, 80s, and 80s synth are my bread and butter. this one in particular is so heart-pumping and energizing)

Royal Reception - Cliff Martinez | Far Cry 4 (plays in De Pleur’s mansion at the very start and plays again if you play through the whole game and finally reach Lakshmana with Pagan. There’s just something very haunting about it - it’s mired in intrigue at the start, when you’re not sure where you are or just what you should be doing)

Lakshmana - Cliff Martinez | Far Cry 4 (absolutely stunning - both tragic and beautiful. it speaks of lost and eternal love and it’s both calming and sobering)

When the Morning Light Shines In - Dan Romer | Far Cry 5 (this one...this always feels like coming home. opening up the map and being greeted with this just brings a feeling of warmth and happiness and belonging to me)

The Blessing Just Takes Minutes - Dan Romer | Far Cry 5 (this is one of my favorite “battle” themes - it just speaks of high adrenaline and fighting hard to victory)

Their Thrones Become Electric Chairs - Dan Romer | Far Cry 5 (”YOU ARE BEING HUNTED/YOU’VE BEEN MARKED”...that infamous cue comes from this one. Very industrial, sinister, and foreboding - as most of the score in the Whitetails region is - but it’s absolutely invigorating)

Faith’s Bunker Theme (Walk the Path) - Dan Romer | Far Cry 5 (absolutely haunting. it perfectly fits the hallucinatory state of Faith’s Gate and the emotional state of having just beat Faith and trying to reach the Sheriff in time. never officially released, but absolutely one of the strongest tracks of the whole game)

Bold and Brave - Dan Romer | Far Cry 5 (the backend of John’s boss battle, after his plane gets shot down into his death cutscene. it’s equal parts sinister and tragic - which fits John so well - but there’s also such an undercurrent of energy in that first half that really speaks to Rook’s need to finally stop John)

OST + Licensed soundtrack:

Make It Bun Dem - Skrillex & Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley | Far Cry 3 (it’s iconic for a reason - such an incredible mission and objective is tied to it. always reminds you what makes Far Cry games so much fun)

Paper Planes - M.I.A. | Far Cry 3 (what an opener. FC3 has some of the best and most memorable music of the series)

Should I Stay or Should I Go - The Clash | Far Cry 4 (another great opener - and closer, if you like to get the Secret Ending a lot like i do, haha. such a promise of the chaos and fun of Pagan Min’s character)

The River - The Bombay Royale | Far Cry 4 (such a good song to amp you up for the face-to-face with Pagan after spending 90% of the game away from him and communicating via only radio. it just scales up the tension for the confrontation so well)

Oh John - Dan Romer/Hammock | Far Cry 5 (i’m cheating and putting two versions of it - you could even throw the Hope County Choir version of it in here too. it’s just such a upbeat and catchy song in its original form sung by - and the Reinterpretation version of it is so dreamy and soothing, i adore them both so much)

Oh the Bliss - Dan Romer/Hammock | Far Cry 5 (cheating again by throwing in 2 versions, but oh well. it’s such a beautiful song when sung by Jenny Owen Youngs and so haunting and captivating in its Reinterpretation version - perfect for Faith)

We Will Rise Again - Dan Romer | Far Cry 5 (i just love how beautiful this one is sung - major kudos to Meredith Godreau)

Only You (And You Alone) - The Platters | Far Cry 5 (this song has forever been changed for me after FC5 - it’s hard to explain to my parents why such a romantic and sweet song can make my hair stand on end when it’s played unexpectedly, haha. speaks to the impact it made by this particular song being chosen for such an important aspect of the story)

We’ll Meet Again - Vera Lynn | Far Cry 5 (forget John whistling it in The Confession for a sec - i’ll never forget beating FC5 for the first time and the shock of ending it with Joseph being right and he and Rook alone in that bunker as the screen faded to black and this song kicked in. it was an absolute gut punch - i wasn’t necessarily mad, just completely blown away and trying to process what had just happened. it was so powerful)

Disco Inferno - The Trammps | Far Cry 5 (”Burn, Baby, Baby” remains one of my favorite missions in FC5 - the absolute insanity of Sharky’s introduction is so outrageous and fun and represents everything to love about Far Cry games)

it hurt me to leave off some of my other favorites, but i did my best to keep things level and not have everything be solely from FC3 or FC5, lol. anyway, let me know what some of your faves are!

i’ll tag @starsandskies @seedlingsinner @josephseeds-rosary @lxmbert @foofygoldfish @chyrstis @weekend-writer @amistrio @minilev @fadedjacket @red-nightskies and anyone else who would like to jump in and make their own list - be sure to tag me so i can see it!

[theonetrueblue1]

Drew two things after @cartooncommubackup's stream today! Max when he leaves at the end of portal 2 And the ikea au we need but do not deserve. Me (right): YOURE DOING AMAZING SWEETIE!! Marley: HI MAXY!! WE LOVED YOU IN CAMP CAMP!! Max: what the fuck is a camp camp?? @themarleymango @cartooncommubackup I DREW THE THINGS. (Also no i did not draw that background. I edited in the cutscene from the actual game as background hahah im lazy)

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #370

Top Ten Videogame Protagonists

Games, eh? Don’t you just love ‘em? I mean, the good ones at least. Or sometimes even not just the good ones. Sometimes ones that are a bit pants but somehow get under your skin. Or, if not exactly pants, then just kind of “OK”, sort-of-a-little-bit-mediocre, but they scratch an itch that needs scratching, especially if they’re mobile games and you’re after something relatively untaxing but time-wastey.

Sorry, where was I?

Anyway, a funny thing about games is the concept of the protagonist. Games – even narrative games – are different from other forms of art and media because of the issue of control. You are supposed to be the protagonist. And in narrative games – or games that can roughly be described as following a narrative, which is to say, not sports games – designers can either present a protagonist who is themselves a fully-formed character, or they can offer a nonentity, a blank slate upon which you can draw your own personality. Are you Mario or is Mario you? It’s Duke Nukem versus Gordon Freeman. A character versus an avatar.

So here we are then. My favourite video game protagonists. The main characters; the ones you play. Some of these I think are cool characters in their own right; some of them are, like I implied above, silicon avatars, canvases, a means for you to interact with the world. And that’s alright; that’s what they’re there for. But they do it so well, in such a way as to help elucidate greater meanings for the game in question. I always felt – to digress a little around the same topic – that in the original Knights of the Old Republic, I created a character out of whole cloth; they were me, it was as if I were playing through the events of the game. They were a digital representation of my psyche. But in Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, because the demands of the plot necessitated my character to jump through certain hoops, I began playing as that character; assuming a role, so to speak. Rather than “what if I were a Jedi,” I began playing as “what if I were this Jedi; what would I want this Jedi to do?” I found this very rewarding, even if the second game is somewhat inferior to the first.

But I can’t quite remember why I felt those things, which makes me want to play both games again.

Where was I? Oh yeah – top ten game protagonists. Press A to start.

Guybrush Threepwood (The Secret of Monkey Island, 1990): a perfect example of playing a character. Guybrush is fully-formed and all you do is point him at stuff. Witty, silly, naïve, heroic; you don’t shape his character, and with only one real path through the games, all you do is pick which one-liner he’ll deliver next.

Lara Croft (Tomb Raider, 1996): although mostly a blank slate, the iconography of Lara – shorts, vest, combat boots, two huge guns – helped reinforce the character you were playing; tough, no-nonsense, fully capable, physically adept, a female Indiana Jones.

Kyle Katarn (Star Wars: Dark Forces, 1995): almost machine-tooled to be the perfect Star Wars fan-service character – Han Solo but a Jedi! – Katarn is admirably sarky through his entire life, a voice of cynicism even when in full-on hero mode. This is supported in cut-scenes, whilst in-game you get to indulge in wish-fulfilment, especially in sequel Jedi Knight, the first game to really let you wield a lightsaber. The element of choice was revolutionary in those days, allowing you to embrace the Light Side or the Dark, with requisite powers and different endings, and Katarn reflected your player choice perfectly.

Manuel Calavera (Grim Fandango, 1998): like Guybrush, Calavera is a complete character; indeed, he’s more realistic and nuanced than Guybrush, despite being a skeleton with a clunky polygonal head. Beautifully brought to life by Tony Plana (Ugly Betty’s dad!), Manny is funny, earnest, and quietly heroic, and you feel for him sufficiently to want him to complete his quest even when trying to negotiate the weird rotational control system and walk across multiple pre-rendered backgrounds to get to the next objective.

Joanna Dark (Perfect Dark, 2000): like Lara Croft, Joanna Dark is mostly character through iconography: a futuristic catsuit, nifty-looking fun, and funky sci-fi spy gadgets. But by speaking in cut-scenes we get more of her identity, even though it’s still a thin characterisation; she’s basically Lady James Bond but in the future. However, being Lady James Bond but in the future is a fantastic hook, and a nice turn in cut-glass upper-class deadpan goes a long way.

Luigi (Mario Bros., 1983): Mario and Luigi began life virtually interchangeable, just two different avatars, their very look dictated by the constraints of the hardware. But over time, as Mario became a veritable superhero, Luigi began to plough his own furrow as the more timid, more peaceable brother. His scaredy-cat antics in Luigi’s Mansion helped solidify this, and his meme-worthy Mario Kart side-eye hinted at a desire to score one over on his brother from time to time. Although still, really, a fairly blank slate game-wise, his is a story of character through decades of hints and gags and side-appearances.

Conrad B. Hart (Flashback, 1992): another blank slate, literally this time, as you play as an amnesiac with no idea why you were outrunning hoverbike-riding bad guys in the opening cutscene. Conrad sticks in my memory, though, through his beautiful animation; despite the stylised polygonal character design, he looked and felt fully human as he ran, rolled, and leaped across the screen.

Duke Nukem (Duke Nukem, 1991): a near-perfect marriage of game icon and game play; Duke embodies the very essence of Duke Nukem 3D. A brash and loud platform/shooter character in two original outings, it’s the seminal classic FPS for which he will always be remembered. Crass, vulgar, offensive, violent; all this and more. He’s a rather unlikeable character, but in leaning into his outlandish, boorish machismo, 3D Realms created a hilarious game which reflected the persona of its star to a tee. I’d love to see him brought back in a way that parodied the current culture of toxic masculinity, although I fear a good portion of the audience wouldn’t see the joke.

Dizzy (Dizzy – The Ultimate Cartoon Adventure, 1987): he’s an egg! Like, a walking egg! What’s up with that? Back when other folk were getting down with Mario or even Sonic, I was enjoying Britain’s bedroom coder equivalent. Characterful and cartoonish when that was virtually unheard of in games, Dizzy felt like a breath of fresh air, even if he probably smelt like a sweaty omelette.

Gordon Freeman (Half-Life, 1998): whilst “blank” characters are common in FPS games – Doom, Quake, Unreal, etc – Half-Life made that a feature. Gordon’s muteness became a character trait; was he traumatised, otherworldly, indifferent? As his messianic legend grew in Half-Life 2, and he became surrounded by believable and verbose characters, his silent demeanour and unconventional behaviour (really just standard FPS tropes) became more and more incongruous, and delightfully commented upon by those around him. Gordon Freeman represents, parodies, and explores every notion of player-character as transparent avatar, and does it utterly perfectly, creating his own distinct character even as he just utterly gets out of the way of you playing. You are Gordon, even though Gordon is really a nothing. Masterfully done.

I should have laid down some ground rules… the main one, I guess, was that all these characters had to debut within that game, which meant no Sam or Max, sadly. And though I’m listing their first appearances, in some cases it was a subsequent game where I fell in love with them (for instance, although I’d played Dark Forces, I became a fan of Kyle Katarn after playing and adoring Jedi Knight). Finally, I hope it’s obvious, but these are protagonists, not just game characters; the people you play as, properly, in a game (so not, say, Garrus from Mass Effect, even though you can control him during combat; the protagonist is still Shepard). This means no Elaine Marley or Alyx Vance. And though I’ve included “vessels” such as Dizzy and Freeman, I have excluded characters like Shepard, who really are just blank slates, to the point where you can even control what they look like (J.C. Denton nearly made the cut, though, as he does have a little bit more of a character of his own).