#The only dlcs I’ve bought are his

[sugar-omi]

THIS IS THE WEDDING NIGHT REWRITE YALL BEEN WAITING FOR i rewrote this like 3 times n it jist got.. freakier and freakier n... i actually made my own kink bigger after this.... i will never be the same n now i kinda need to do this derek n baxter..... me abt myself: i can make him worse

DAY SEVEN — FEMINIZATION

*kinktober masterlist | *ao3

tags : NSFW, wedding night dlc spoilers, gn + top/dom reader, multiple choice dialogue, sissy training, cove in white outfit, use of toys, dirty talk, degradation, mind break, oral (reader receiving)

synopsis : while on your honeymoon your husband finds your gift for him while you're sleeping and surprises you by wearing it.

of course you have to show him how much you love it, and he finally admits he loves everything you're doing to him. everything you're turning him into...

you didn’t think the first thing you’d wake up to would be your husband in the lingerie you bought him.

‘he must have found it while i slept…’

cove jumps, calling out your name in surprise, he turns his head, using his arms to cover his chest but it’s unnecessary, something down out of instinct since he’s not exactly covered in other places…

"you look so pretty in this baby… what do you think, did i pick well?" you wrap your arms around cove, trailing your eyes over his body in the mirror.

he nods, squirming in your hold. "is it… supposed to be this skimpy?"

you nod, letting go to admire his butt.

the back of his panties is completely backless, only a piece of fabric in the front to hold his dick.

now that you're paying more attention though.. you notice a little extra something that wasn't included in your gift.

"cove… what's this?" you ask, spreading his cheeks to look at the jewel butt plug.

cove bends over a bit, leaning on the sink to present his own gift. "i wanted to surprise you.. do you like it?"

your curse, dropping to your knees. "fuck, i love it."

you cup his ass with your hands, digging your fingers into the flesh.

"god, i can't believe you…" you drag your teeth over his ass, kissing down his inner thighs. "is that what took you so long? you were stretching your pussy open for me?"

cove whimpered. it used to fluster him terribly when you feminized him, but now.. he'll even do it himself.

"yes.. i want you to fuck me in this, please…" cove looks over his shoulder, pleading with you.

well, how can you deny him that after such a lovely confession?

cove waits obediently while you grab a few things from the bedroom, rolling the condom over your dick and pulling out the plug.

cove moans at the drag of the plug against his walls. it's not a small plug, the stretch has cove's head spinning.

you bite your lip, cursing lowly.

when cove's clingy hole finally let's go of the plug, his hole is left clenching around nothing and lube slowly running down his taint.

cove speaks, breaking your trance. "please… just stick it in…" wiggling his hips to sway you.

you laugh, lining up with his puffy, slutty hole and sinking into him with one sharp thrust.

he yells, his moan echoing throughout the bathroom.

you rear your hips back, holding onto cove's hips so you can have leverage for your brutal pace.

the sound of your hips colliding with cove's ass, echoing through the bathroom.

you lean over him, pulling his hair so you’re chest-to-back. “you’re already moaning like a whore and i’ve barely fucked you. you like being fucked that much?”

cove moans, looking down, unable to face his lewd expression.

you lay a swift smack to his butt, feeling warm at how his cheeks are slowly reddening with every harsh thrust of your hips and now your hand print.

“i asked you a question, or are you so cock-drunk you can’t even think?”

cove just moans and stutters a few letters before giving up, not even bothering to form full sentences.

you smack your lips, letting go of his hair and instead you push his chest against the counter, pulling his hips away from the counter to meet your thrusts. “you are! and i didn’t even have to do anything!”

then a thought strikes you, and you look at your new husband in the mirror, his hands clawing at the counter and you can see his lust-struck eyes. “i’ve turned you into such a slut, all it takes is a butt plug, womens clothes, and a dick for you to fall apart!”

cove swallows the drool pooling in his mouth, trying to be composed. “ha- that’s not… true..”

you laugh wickedly, “oh really? then why are you moaning like a whore?”

cove startles, eyes wide and an adorable pout on his face. “that’s-! that’s because you- haa.. ‘cause you- tease me so much!”

you hum considerably, “so should i stop?” to punctuate your solution, you start to pull out.

“no!” cove cries, reaching back to grab you, tears in his eyes. “don’t… please don’t stop…”

“but why, you said it’s my fault for teasing you so much.” maybe you’re cruel for teasing him, but after all your hard work and spoiling him with pretty skirts and dresses and make-up.. why, it just hurts your heart that you like it more than he does. you don’t wanna force such lavishness and pampering on him if he doesn’t want it…

cove blinks, and now you notice he’s wearing a bit of make-up. the mascara and shimmer eyeshadow with pouty, glossy lips making him look like a doll.

“i just mean…”

you hum, egging him on. you’re looking forward to hearing what he has to say.

“i did.. do it for you but… it’s..” he squirms, biting his lips to stop from moaning because of your shaft still half inside him.. “nice to see myself like this.. and dressing up.. being spoiled by you… it feels good.” he peeks at you through his lashes.

you coo and awe, pulling your husband against your chest. which also shoves your dick back into him, right against a sweety spongy spot inside his walls, making him moan loudly.

“you’re so sweet! i love spoiling you, so just tell me how much you love it, okay?”

you bring your dazed husband to the full length mirror, his knees weak as you hold him up wrapping an arm around his waist, the other coming to cup his breast and play with his shiny new jewelry for the occasion.

“look at how beautiful you are. you like dressing up all cute for me?” cove nods and you reward him with a slow, deep thrust, drawing out a loud whine.

“and you like it when i spoil you with nice skirts?” cove nods affirmative, his mouth falling open when you grind your hips into him, your tip brushing his prostate.

“mmm… do you like it when i feminize you?” you put your chin on his shoulder, cove crumbling in your hands, his hands on the mirror to support him. he nods.

“yeah? when i play with your tits, and use your cunt however i like?”

“yes! i love all of it!” the words spilling out cove’s mouth with moans and gasps.”please.. please don’t stop spoiling me, using me!”

you pick up the pace again, your hips slamming into cove’s. “good boy! just admit it!” you lean down to nibble on his ear, lifting up his chin to make eye contact. “admit that you like me turning you into a sissy whore!”

cove moans, hanging his head, pushing his hips back to meet your thrusts. “i.. i like it! fuck! i like- being turned into a girl!”

cove looks up, his teary eyes meeting yours in the mirror. “please! fuck my pussy more!”

you definitely couldn’t deny such a lovely plea.

you focus on pounding cove’s insides, his ass twitching and clenching on your dick, making your cock drag against his insides.

“ah-! i’m cumming!”

cove’s legs shake, his upper half collapsing against the mirror. his cum stains his panties, soaking the lace.

you still, burying your cock into him as you pull cove up against your chest. “look at you. you made a mess of your panties!”

cove looks down at his messy crotch, his dick nearly bursting through his panties, cum soiling the lace.

“you’re such a dirty girl, you came without permission. is your pussy that sensitive?” you degrade, reaching around to palm him through his panties, purposefully stroking his cock with the soaked fabric.

"haa… y/n.. please." cove gasps, shaking.

you tease his tip through the fabric. "poor baby.. since it's our honeymoon, i'll be lenient."

you pull out, purposefully taking your time so cove can feel the drag of your cock against his walls, the prominent vein on the underside of your cock making him quiver.

he falls to the floor, the sheer fabric of his babydoll top sticking to his sweaty skin.

you remove your strap.

you remove the condom.

and lean against the counter in front of cove, tangling your fingers in his hair and nudging his face towards your sex.

"well? i'll let you off easy for finishing early if you suck me off / eat me out. deal?"

cove nods, and you can feel his shaky, labored breath against your skin.

he puts your leg on his shoulder and leans in, licking a stripe up your cunt and taking your clit in his mouth, sucking and lapping at the bud.

you moan, cove sinking his fingers into your cunt and angling his fingers to stimulate your clit from the inside.

"fuck- just like that.." you gasp, tugging on his hair to bring him closer.

cove moans around the clit at the sting of your fingers tangling and tugging his hair, pulling off your clit with a pop to stick his tongue alongside his fingers.

he uses his other hand to circle your clit, cove dropping his head to suck on your inner thighs and leave marks before returning to your cunt.

his lip gloss is totally ruined. rosy gloss on your inner thighs and your outer lips.

he takes your dick in his hands, quickly swallowing the tip and working more of your dick into his mouth.

he pulls off your dick with a wet pop, tilting his head and licking up the side of your dick, swallowing down to the base.

cove hollows his cheeks, sucking and taking you as far as his throat allows until he pulls off with a gasp, stroking your wet dick, giving kitten licks to the tip.

his lip gloss is totally ruined, rosy rings of gloss make rings from the tip to the base of your dick…

your stomach tightens, that familiar pressure rising up and you take cove by the hair, forcing his head down on your clit / cock.

"ah- so good.. i'm going to cum in your mouth…" you pant, grinding your sex into cove’s mouth.

cove eagerly sucks at your sensitive sex, holding onto your thigh for leverage, the other furiously fingering his sloppy ass.

you throw your head back, your hips stuttering as you finish in cove's mouth.

cove laps up your slick, slipping his tongue into you / slowly pulls off your dick, cleaning off your cum with his mouth and tongue.

he removes his mouth from your sex with a wet smack, bringing his hand to his mouth to clean your slick / cum off his fingers.

he slow takes each digit into his mouth, his tongue wrapping around each finger carefully to taste you, his tongue dragging over his palm…

he keeps eye contact the whole time. and with his fingers still in his mouth, he babbles a request.

"can i.. ride you?"

he's totally brain dead… all he can think about is you and your cock.

you can't help but lay back and admire the view though…

cove's hands under his lingerie, tugging and rolling his nipples as he rides you, his weeping prick making a mess on your tummy.

his panties are long gone, the lace not much more than a weak net for cove's cum.

but his ass-pussy swallows up your cock / strap so nicely, and he rolls his hips just right so your tip brushes against his prostate, his hole fluttering around your dick.

"your pussy is so greedy.. you're swallowing me whole." you comment, a wicked smile on your lips.

you're enjoying this so much, watching him fall apart… his mascara running from crying happy, horny tears, and yet he still takes more, baking about how good you feel, and how he wants you to stuff his womb with your cum..

how cute.

[mrszeoxin]

A Date with Death

This is a game I found on TikTok through the developer of the game. I was very intrigued because it has a fully customizable MC both physically and with names and pronouns which I thought was really cool. You can also customize MCs room, and the game is free to play! There were also some other fun aspects about the game they posted on TikTok that really interested me. Of course I originally saw videos about the game months ago before it came out, but luckily I did see the post from the developer when it came out a few days ago and I couldn’t wait to play.

About the Boy

In this game you romance a grim reaper who’s after you (technically your soul, but still). And although he is smart, confident, and a literal vessel for death, he is also absolutely adorable! He’s not very knowledgeable about humans, can be easily flustered, and is super fun to tease!

Truly such a cutie!

So he’s a classic long while hair, red eyes anime boy and we love to see it. It’s not my ideal type, but he is in fact adorable, and has a great outfit so I can’t complain. I love how many facial expressions they give him, often I feel like visual novels don’t change them enough so it was really refreshing to see.

I really liked his character! He really is babygirl.

First Run

My first try I went in and tried to only do the non-DLC responses (I bought the DLC so I had some extra options) since I wanted to see what the free versions were like. It was soooo fun!!! I was kicking my feet and giggling so much! I got Ending 3 my first time for reference. I don’t want to spoil too much, but oml it’s such a fun and cute game! You should definitely check it out especially because it is free, so what is there to loose!

Definitely super fun if you enjoy sarcasm, witty banter, teasing, and being a bit of a brat. I loved it so much! It took me about 4 hours to play it once through.

Second Run

This time I used the DLC choices, and it was super fun. It just adds more fun ways to tease him in addition to an extra ending which I got (Ending 4).

Very fun! I recommend getting it if you can afford it and want to support the developers! But also I think you can have a lot of fun just playing the free endings too.

Third Run

I originally planned on playing for a third time after posting my thoughts on here, but I was so excited that I caved and played again immediately because after looking at the achievements I realized my first time playing I was right between two endings, so I had to get Ending 5. So I played using my first run answers, changed a one on day 6 and got Ending 5! It was so cute! I love this game!!!

Overall Thoughts

I loved this game. It’s pretty fast for a dating sim/visual novel, but the pacing is really good. It has 17 achievements for you to unlock, and 5 possible endings(?). So far I’ve done 3 endings, and 14 achievements. I definitely would play it again sometime! The only endings I didn’t do are the mini bad ending (no CG), and the real bad end (CG), because I don’t like playing bad endings. These two ending would give you another two achievements, and the last achievement is also easy to get but it made me sad so I didn’t. I know I’m being pretty vague, because I like to avoid spoilers, but especially because this game literally came out like 4 days ago I really want to keep what happens a surprise.

But it was so fun. It really feels like your choices matter because things you say affect things you can or can’t say later, it’s way more dynamic than any other otome game. I really loved that about the game, because it really feels like you’re there and what you say and do matter.

It’s literally free to play on Steam and I really can’t recommend it enough! Especially if you like cute flustered guys and lots of flirting and teasing you will for sure love this game! I loved it so much and genuinely it made me laugh and smile so much!

[f0xgl0v3]

Octavian’s Pokemon team Hc

I bought the Pokemon Scarlet DLC and now I’ve decided that every pjo character I like now needs pokemon teams. With explanations

Octavian’s team I think came the most naturally. I’ll probably also be including like fully evolved teams and stuff but the first team I thought of (probably like baby Octavian’s team) would be,

Stufful, Poocheyna, furret, snivy, pidove, and evee.

(The pokemon in question from left to right,)

Why these little guys specifically for his like first team? Well Stufful is a stuffed animal and that’s the Octavian thing (I was tempted to put pancham on here for the joke but no-) poochyena just gives me Octavian vibes, feel like he’s on their wavelength and thinks their cute. Furret also just, feels like Octavian. That is my justification. Snivy is here mostly for the evo and how snooty it was in the anime, probably a family tradition pokemon, also its final evo is Octavian vibes. Pidove is there purely because of Auguries and because I believe Octavian thinks it looks funky and cute. Eevee is there partially because I just like eevee and a shorthand to show Octavian’s pokemon treatment in the future and like pokemon stuff, he probably wants it to become an umbreon.

Now Octavian’s final team in my head ends up being Bewear, mighteyna, serperior, unfeazant, meowstic, sylveon. (Sadly not pictured due to tumblr app restrictions on 10 pics per post.)

Bewear is Stufful’s evolved form, known for being absolutely massive, wanting friends, and then accidentally crushing people. I wanted to keep the Stufful on and I thought it’d like fit with Octavian because of his like constant push and pull in the pseudo-taking into account of canon in my mind of the character. Mighteyna is Poochyena’s evolved form. Octavian just got attached to it and it’s a dog/hyena/sort of wolf canine esque creature and Rome dog parallels. Serperior is Snivy’s evolved form and if you only look up one pokemon from this post look up Serperior because it actually is just Octavian’s pokemon. But it’s regal. Unfeazant, he evolved his little pidove. Just there for his Augury stuff and maybe even the Haruspex nature (a Pheasant is close enough to a chicken or something-). Meowstic is there for its wild psychic abilities, like future telling and stuff. Sylveon is a guilty pleasure because it’s one of my all time favorite pokemon (like many of these are) and it’s showing his dedication to his pokemon and passion and love for like New Rome.

I didn’t add Falinks just because I’d rather give it to other people (Michael Kahale or Reyna). But if it’s definitely a honorable mention along with crobat.

[seduceme-lovestruck-thearcana]

FINALLY BEAT TYR AND AAAAAH.

I’m so glad I bought TWO health stones because he made me use both😭. Literally used one and then got a few health bars down on him (literally the SAME spot I was in the last time he killed me) AND THEN DIED AGAIN AND USED MY LAST TO FINISH HIM OFF.

Y’all my heart was racing so fast when I beat him. I was literally saying, “stop stop please stop” when he kept doing his combos. BUT YES. I DID IT. I DID IT WITHOUT EVEN LOOKING UP THE ENDING FIRST!!!

Anyways. I’ve never played the first GOW games. I’ve only played the 2018 one and Ragnarök, so I can’t say I have too much knowledge of Kratos and everything he has done, but I DO know he was pretty bad. He lost his family and got revenge, but he was also pretty bad anyway. But I like how this DLC (so wild of them to make it FREE) puts Kratos through therapy. We learn more about him (if we didn’t know it already), we see him growing and changing (even more) and realizing he’s more than what he was. He’s changing and it’s SO good and I love it so much.

I don’t have as big of an attachment to Kratos as others do since I didn’t play the games growing up, but I really like Kratos and enjoyed playing the GOW games and seeing him raise Atreus. And even once he was gone, he still grew and changed and is a good man. I love that for him.

But I also just keep thinking of how Kratos was talking to Atreus in his journal. Saying how “I’m glad you’ll never meet him,” when he wrote about Helios. He’s talking to himself in some entries, but I’m pretty sure in some he’s talking to Atreus😭😭.

BUT ALSO FIGHTING 6 OF THE MONSTERS TO GET TO TYR??? I literally hated that each time I did my runs. I looked for the blue rifts each time and would finish them easily, but THEN I’d get to the red rifts and go to like a boat and beat enemies and actually be done with the monsters. I was on 2 of 6, went into the boat or some other area, and was done when I left. I was SO relieved bc I didn’t want to use my health stones right there when I needed them for Tyr lol.

[gb-patch]

hi! I’ve only just heard about the nsfw DLC and sorry if this has already been asked but is it ‘Cove exclusive’? I recently bought the Derek DLC and he’s actually my favourite love interest now so I was wondering if the NSFW DLC included him as well? also does it still work if you have the game on Steam and not itch.io? thank you xx

The Patreon Moment is with Cove only. I'm afraid Baxter and Derek won't be getting their own. It's nice to know you like Derek so much, though!

And it's played as a totally separate build, so it doesn't matter where you have the actual game.

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[rallamajoop]

On Resident Evil 7

So in the interests of completionism, and because I am now officially that invested in the Winters family saga, I bought and played Resident Evil 7.

It was, as expected, much more survival-horror than RE8. Aiming is slower, ammo scarcer, inventory space even more limited, and enemies that much more bullet-sponge-y. It is also absolutely scarier – both in the tension-and-gore sense, and in the horrible-things-happening-to-normal-nice-people sense (which gets to me far worse). But then, slasher horror is generally much less my thing, so as much as I absolutely appreciate the work that went into building this game’s aesthetic and villains, it’s just not so much an experience for me as the high gothic horror of RE8.

Where finishing RE8 had me racing back to explore new difficulties, DLC and challenge modes, I just didn’t have the same drive to spend more time in the world and gameplay of RE7. As far as I’ve come in this genre, my stomach can only take so much before it all just becomes a bit unpleasant. This is not a fault of the game: I can fully sympathise with anyone who loved RE7 and was disappointed RE8 strayed so far in new directions – it’s just a very different experience.

That said, the two games do share more than you might think.

Both have their extended spooky openings to build atmosphere before the actual danger starts, punctuated by a big moment where someone Ethan trusted apparently turns on him to horrific effect, and where Mia apparently ‘dies’ (but not really). Then there’s a big cutscene where you meet the family of bosses you’ll be dealing with, which Ethan spends restrained and/or tied to a chair. You’ll be helped in your quest to navigate each boss’s territory by a mysterious ally (Zoe/the Duke), though mostly just via advice. And in both games, the last member of the boss family you'll face is a greasy, showboating SOB* who delights in taunting Ethan over speakers and making him run or fight for his life, and who’s actually not as loyal to the alpha-villainess as she thinks.

Towards the end, you suddenly find yourself playing as that-traitor-from-the-start, who gets to use a machine gun. You'll also get your chance to stop by a lab to read some documents explaining WTF has really been going on all this time. Finally, you discover that the creepy old lady you’d been seeing around the place was really the final boss all along.

We end with Chris Redfield and Mia in a helicopter, and the sinister insinuation that the company supplying all the guns and money to fix bio-terror outbreaks might actually be up to no good (that two different companies play this role in the two games isn’t really a sign of good continuity). The end, cue credits! (And remember to take a drink if any of this same stuff happens in RE9!)

But as much as RE7 has in common with its sequel on paper, I came away from it a lot less satisfied ‒ and not just because it's less my kind of game. Sure, the the final boss fight with Eveline has all the hallmarks of something completed at the last minute to meet a deadline – but the final Eveline section at least wraps up properly. The bigger problem is that by then, we’ve spent so much time setting up for a big boss fight with Lucas (psychotic Baker son, mad inventor and jigsaw-killer-wannabe) that never actually happens. Ethan escapes without ever actually facing Lucas directly.

We’re given so many reasons why Lucas should be a big deal: unlike his originally-nice-and-normal parents, Lucas was a killer long before being infected. He’s slipped Eveline’s control, and has even been working with the company that created her. But this last, potentially huge plot point really only exists as an excuse to have a few significant documents lying around for background on Eveline herself. Look, I did not even like this guy (I could not even get myself to play through the DLC he's in), and I still feel like he was done dirty.

The boss fight with Lucas has instead been saved for Chris Redfield’s DLC chapter – but it doesn’t really deliver there either. There, Lucas is apparently selling research data to some sinister, unnamed party, but we never learn what or who – it’s a sequel hook the actual sequel had no interest in. Otherwise, he murders a few redshirts (because what’s Chris Redfield going to do with himself if he’s not losing people in the field?) then morphs into a utterly-generic big-mutant-monster for the boss fight. It’s all the kind of generic faff you could find in any RE game.

We do also learn that those Umbrella-branded helicopters are being run by a ‘new’ Umbrella that claims it’s reformed, and is trying to make up for the mistakes of the past by funding anti-bioterror operations, and that Chris is working for them despite not really trusting them… and now you know as much about the subject as you’ll learn in the whole DLC. More setup with no real payoff.

The other major plot point the game just leaves hanging is Mia. I love the big reveal that she used to work for the company that created Evaline, the whole section where you play as her – but it leaves so many more questions hanging. How did Mia end up working for such evil people? How did she justify it to herself for so long? Were blackmail or threats involved? And most of all, how’s Ethan going to react to finding out? He’s asking those questions out loud just a few scenes before the Mia reveal, and yet, the ending is in such a rush to tell us he’s happily starting over with Mia that it all falls through the cracks. (I mean, there’s some lovely horror potential in the idea of all those secrets still lurking under their relationship, but if that was the intent, it’s woefully underplayed.)

Speaking of Mia, I do think the game could’ve stood to make it a lot more obvious a lot sooner that the Bakers are, y’know, not her real family. We don’t know jack about Mia going on, but Ethan should at least react when she starts talking about ‘Daddy’ – a line or two to the effect of, “What are you on about? Your Dad’s from Texas – I've met the guy!” or something would’ve gone a long way.

Zoe’s story is similarly done dirty by the ending: whether you save or abandon her, she just vanishes afterwards and is never mentioned again. Resolution has (again) been left for the DLC.

I did like Zoe’s prequel DLC: hot damn does it deliver on the story, atmosphere and horror (seriously, it delivers so hard on that last point that I do not think I could sit through it again). Seeing the Baker family as they used to be, pre-Evaline, just drives home the tragedy so much harder, and I love that Zoe got a little more time in the spotlight. But the “End of Zoe” DLC reduces her to a MacGuffin, with nothing more than a “and eventually Chris’ people find and cure her” tacked on at the end to wrap up her story. GDI, she deserves better!

The big problem plaguing both Mia and Zoe is that I just don’t think the game’s big ‘choose who to save’ decision moment works: it just doesn’t pay off. Save Mia, and she and Ethan will get separated in the swamp, you’ll play through her flashback sequence, and she’ll be alive at the end. Save Zoe, and she’ll get nabbed by Eveline again anyway, and Mia will still wake up in the same place in the swamp for the same big flashback sequence. Sure, you’ll also have to fight and kill Mia when she becomes possessed again – but her death is given so little emotional weight that what’s the point? Either ending leaves us with all those loose threads and unfinished stories.

The whole issue is a pretty classic example of what I call the Schrodinger’s Character problem: if an NPC can be simultaneously alive or dead, then neither outcome can have any real impact on the plot. Our hapless NPC just has to sit in their box, somewhere out of the way (presumably in some state of awkward quantum superposition ‒ though hopefully they at least get to pet the cat). Similar problems can comes up in any branching narrative where the branching is more a gimmick than a feature. Sure, devs may intend to fully develop both possibilities, but that’s twice as much work as just ignoring any inconvenient differences, and thus the first thing to end up on the cutting room floor come crunch. And that’s never more glaring than when Schrodinger’s Character is the PC’s wife (or brother – Deus Ex was terrible this way too), and the game can’t even be arsed to give them a proper half-a-cutscene to grieve before putting them right back on the horse again. Nor is saving them all that much more satisfying when it makes so little difference.

I also can’t help feeling RE7 really missed a trick with Zoe, when you finally see her face for the first time and she’s just… completely normal. Up to then, she’s been this mysterious voice on the phone who seems to know exactly what Ethan’s been doing at all times, but never intervenes in person. Add in the fact we know she’s infected, and it all feels like it’s building to a much bigger reveal, right? Like, that she’s mutated to the point Ethan’s liable to lose his shit if he runs into her without warning – or perhaps even semi-embedded in one of those mould-walls, where she’s able to feel what’s going on all over the house through the mycelium network. Or at least that she’s been holed up in some sort of underground surveillance bunker full of tinned beans and bottled water, physically unable to leave without Evaline getting her. There’s so much they could’ve done with the reveal!

To be clear, I don’t think the game’s failure to explain Zoe’s weirdness is a serious flaw: her phone calls are wonderfully creepy and effective, and that’s so much more important to horror than clear explanations. But not doing more with her still feels like a missed opportunity.

None of this is to say RE8’s ending was flawless by comparison: there are dangling questions and clunky sequel-hooks there too (what went wrong with the ceremony? Why were Miranda’s powers ‘leaving her’? Why are we suddenly teasing the idea the BSAA has gone bad when we haven't heard about them all game? etc). But the greater story felt finished to me in a way RE7 just didn’t. Plenty is left mysterious, but Ethan’s character arc is functionally complete.

On the whole though, there’s still plenty to recommend RE7 as an experience. The atmosphere was everything it needed to be, the old videos and creepy phone calls were solid little mechanics, and I kind of adored the design of Lucas’ horror-escape-room puzzle. I love the subtlety of burying an explanation for how Ethan's able to reattach his hand (and even his leg goddamnit I had no idea that was a thing that could happen until just recently!) in the middle of a document you won't pick up until the endgame, and which many will miss. Seriously, there is some great material in this game.

The villains all live up to the enjoyably campy extremes of the RE series at its best – but it was Marguerite who stood out for me, and I think it’s a crying shame she’s mostly relegated to the middle-chapter between the big events that are Jack, Lucas and Eveline. Nothing against the rest of them, but creepy little girls, dominating father figures, and jigsaw-killer-wannabes are all a dime a dozen in this genre: how many gleefully-revolting, middle-aged mother figures can you think of? That’s rare enough to be really memorable.

Ethan is, unavoidably, a somewhat flatter character than he gets to be in RE8 – he just doesn’t get the opportunity to react to so many things he so obviously should, and that’s very much a script issue (his voice actor does a fine job with what he’s given). Even so, some of his snarky conversations with Zoe are a delight, as is every other time he gets to express his frustration with the whole mad situation.

By contrast, Mia is so much more complex than she gets to be in RE8, where she’s honestly done pretty dirty. And having now played RE7, I’m retroactively a little disappointed that RE8 wasn’t about Ethan and Mia getting to be some kind of awesome battle couple (unconducive to horror as that might be): they’re both kind of badass when they actually get the chance.

So, yeah. At the end of the day, RE7 and RE8 make a very weird little duology. It's well worth checking out at least a Let’s Play of RE7 or a compilation of cutscenes if you loved RE8, just for backstory. But it’s not a game really designed for the same audience – and for me at least, just a much less satisfying experience overall.

*Considering how far apart they are on the fangirl-bait scale, I feel sort of like I ought to apoologise to Heisenberg and his fanbase for even comparing him to Lucas Baker, but I'm sorry: on paper, they do have rather a lot in common.

[corpsephage]

Sonic Frontiers Post-DLC-Three Whinefest Redux (Final Horizon Review)

After feeling left out in the cold with my divergent opinion on vanilla Frontiers, it feels good to finally share an opinion with the rest of the fanbase again. Spoilers below, but the skinny is that it's just like normal Frontiers except a lot more difficult.

I forgot to mention one thing that put me off Frontiers in my pre-DLC review: I just couldn’t handle the controls very well. I think this is just a skill issue, because I did eventually get used to them. It took my ten attempts to beat the first boss, but only one attempt to beat the last one.

So, when I fell right off the first platform of the first trial tower for the seventieth time, after spending time maxing out all of Sonic’s capabilities no less, I assumed that the problem was with me, and the game just did not cater to my ability or taste. But when I checked out Twitter – everyone else was talking about how hard it was! They were going so far as to compare it to Dark Souls. It made me feel so relieved. And a little bit of schadenfreude.

At this point I was about to turn it off and just watch a playthrough of it on YouTube to see how it ended. I’ve only rage-quitted a game like that once before with Drawn to Life: Two Realms, which is a whole other story.

But friends, thank God for easy mode. I switched the difficulty and it was smooth sailing. I don’t think there’s any shame in playing easy mode – you bought the game, play it how you want – but I had it on normal mode from when I first got Frontiers up until this stupid tower. It makes me wonder if I’d have been nicer about Frontiers as a whole if I played easy mode from the beginning.

But yes, going through the rest of the game on easy mode was a lot more manageable, except for that one part where you have to defeat those shell enemies in a certain amount of time with nothing but the cyloop. If there's a way of doing it, I don't know what it is, and I only got past it when the game took pity on me and offered to lower the trial's difficulty to something easier than easy.

But other than that, no major complaints. All my problems with the empty open world and weird plot still stand, but gameplay-wise everything was just fine. Then this prick shows up:

- and makes you fight all three non-final bosses from the base game in a row with only 400 rings to spare between them, bearing in mind your rings are constantly draining while you're fighting them, can't be restored, and if you run out it's an instant loss. Also, parries don't work unless they're bang-on perfect.

And I really struggled with the first boss in the base game! And yes, most of that was my fault, because I didn't bother to parry his attacks, and parrying is like the main mechanic that all the bosses are centered around. But I was also cocky: I thought that if Sonic ran out of rings by timeout, his super form would go away and he'd fall back to the ground along with the emeralds, and you'd have to run around the arena to pick them up again quickly before Giganto had time to heal or something. So when I ran out of rings and Giganto straight-up ate Sonic I was surprised. And I admit I got quite frustrated having to start over from the beginning every time until I slowly figured out what the boss wanted me to do.

So I beat Giganto again in this rematch, and I thought at first that was the end of it and I'd just have to fight the one boss, which was a natural step up from the other koco's challenges. But then Wyvern showed up, and it suddenly dawned on me that not only would I have to fight all of them, and my rings didn't refill between fights so I had only like seventy left, but also that if I lost, the game wouldn't start me over from the boss I was on, it would kick me back to Giganto and make me do it all again.

Obviously, there was no way I was beating Wyvern with only seventy rings, and I don't think I was quick enough to even parry it once. So I made a deal with the game and said “If I die here and the next thing I see when I respawn is Giganto, I’m turning the game off.” You can’t say I didn’t warn it.

So, yes, I actually did end up rage-quitting Sonic Frontiers: The Final Horizon, and I just watched how it all ends online. I didn't stick around to see if the game would make itself easier if you failed the bosses enough times. Maybe I would've been able to pass it if I kept trying, but since I wasn't wild on the whole game to begin with I didn't feel like it.

Turns out if you somehow finish the boss rush, the endgame comes straight after. And I wasn’t really missing much, by the look of it – first half of the final boss is the same as in the original game. It’s Giganto, except he’s got a gun. The second half is a bit different – it’s Giganto, except he’s got a big brain-drainer/puppet-string coming out of his head and several arms coming out his back. The big purple rock is hovering in the sky, but rather than QTE-ing it, Eggman fires Super Sonic clean through it after Giganto is beaten the second (third? Fourth? However freaking much) time. It’s got a lot of visual flair, but I really wish you could play as the other characters as well, so that the final fight feels more fully absorbed.

The ending sequence is the same too, except Sage doesn't sacrifice herself this time, and she and Eggman get their happy ending instead of a post-credits sequel hook. But while it might make Sage fans sleep a little easier, I think SEGA might have written themselves into a corner with her. The whole thrust of her character was a mopey AI that just wanted to be loved, and now she has it... what are SEGA going to do with her if they bring her back?

If she comes back evil, and joins Eggman in raining merry hell on Sonic and his friends, won't that contradict the canon of Frontiers, where Sonic taught her hope and heroism? And if she comes back good and on Sonic's side, won't that also contradict Frontiers and her loyalty to her father?

Would she go join all the other Sonic antiheroes on Team Dark? But even they have their motivations - Shadow started off a villain but realized he was being a jerk and tries to uphold world order. And while Rouge is a master criminal, she's not mean-spirited - she might rob you or cheat you out of money, but she'd never want to hurt you. What's Sage's motivation? She doesn't really get to develop a personality of her own by the end of Frontiers.

Imagine after the final boss, Sage comes up to Sonic and says she’s been thinking about her place in the world. Sonic asks her what she wants out of life, only for Sage to suddenly flash him the most deliciously evil grin an AI can muster and tell him what she wants most is to use his skin as a fur coat. Eggman comes up behind on his egg-mobile, gleeful that his daughter has finally come round, and the post-final boss is a blow-off match between Sage and Sonic, plus the other playable characters joining in on the fun. And behind the keyboard, I stand up and applaud. Maybe that would clash with Frontier's tone, but then at least Sage would come into her own and indicate her appearance in future games.

So, yeah - The Final Horizon - really didn't dig it. If the original Frontiers didn't interest you, this won't change your mind. However, there is one good thing I want to bring up that I hope Sega explores in the future: the other playable characters.

I really enjoyed playing as Tails, Amy and Knuckles. Each of them has Sonic's basic moveset, but also their own powers and abilities on top of that. Knuckles has the most familiar of movement, with his gliding, wall-climbing and seven different ways of punching people. His gliding controls take some getting used to, since it's more like wingsuit-gliding with wind resistance blowing you about the place than the simple jump-and-go Spyro-style gliding from the Adventure games.

Amy's moveset is centered around a deck of tarot cards she was mentioned to have been using in, like... one very early manual for Sonic CD. But still, I think the idea of her using magic cards has a lot of potential. Maybe different cards do different things in battle? Kill the enemy by changing their very future? Maybe it could be something like Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, where the cards are all shuffled up and you have to pick which card to play at which time. There's a whole unique aspect of gameplay available to her there. Sadly, Final Horizon sticks to standard things like throwing them at people or slapping them, and doesn't take advantage of their clairvoyant or paranormal themes. Ah, well, maybe next game.

But Tails deserves special mention, because he has the most varied abilities that make use of his wacky inventions. He can launch a laser cannon at his enemies, or failing that hurl an endless supply of wrenches at them. But you know what my favourite was? His airplane. One of Tails’ abilities he can access at any time is to just hop on his plane and go off into the blue yonder. The speed and simplicity with which he could do this at the press of a button is intoxicating. I was furiously humming Ride of the Valkyries as I cruised around Uranus Island wishing it was a livelier open world. If these are the abilities we can expect from Sonic's friends, the next game could be very exciting if the level design matches up with it.

If vanilla Frontiers showed me that Sonic can work in an open world, Final Horizon showed me that his friends can too. And it's something I really hope SEGA picks up on in the future, because they really do have the bones of a great Sonic game in here, it just needs more time to cook (and a saner difficulty level).

[kassandras-one-braincell]

As a premier Kassandra enjoyer I have a question for you. I’ve been going through odyssey for the first time, and am rapidly approaching dlc territory. I’m not sure if I want to get the Legends of the first blade dlc. On the one hand, more Kassandra, on the other hand, a weird baby plot line.

I don’t know if you ended up playing it, or if you even have strong opinions on it, but I thought I would do a quality check before committing money to it. Is it worth buying despite being Like That?

Have a cool day, and continue having good taste in fictional women.

Hi sweetie! So I bought the Fates of Atlantis DLC and thought it was absolutely incredible, but I flat out refused to buy LotFB out of principle.

While I have not participated in or watched gameplay of that DLC, I do know that the baby plotline completely erases any autonomy the player previously had in Kassandra's sexual orientation, by forcing the playable character into a relationship with someone of the opposite gender/sex. That and the handling of the baby after Kassandra endured, well, pregnancy, is completely uncharacteristic. This was enough to dissuade me from getting it.

From the Steam reviews I've read (the current positive to negative ratio is 615:944 as it stands, which is indicative of something) apparently this isn't the only disappointing and forced element to the narrative, either. Most reviews that don't focus on the forced relationship talk about how the hours you spend playing it feel inconsequential, and that the overarching plotline is derailed and contradicts/invalidates the base game's story. As for the positive reviews I've read, the ones that aren't blatantly homophobic towards people who didn't enjoy it don't detail anything of note that made the experience enjoyable for them. This doesn't invalidate their experience of course, but it also doesn't present a compelling reason to buy it, you know?

I think if you're intrigued by the storyline but wary of the commonly criticised elements, it would be safest finding a let's-play on Youtube rather than spending your money on it. Completely up to you, though. Have a lovely day yourself, and likewise, your taste in fictional women is top-notch <3

[zorua-gaming]

Divine Paralogues

Guess who finally got around to buying and playing the Engage DLC?

So apparently I just head to the Lookout Ridge to pick up the 3H bracelet.

Ooh, new invocation for the list! “Lead us, Emblem of Rivals!”

XD omg they did the 3H box art pose!

Okay, so I’ve already beaten the game at this point on this save file, so I’m getting a neat lil Byleth dialogue that I’m assuming is a bonus since they can be unlocked WAY earlier than when you get him.

I’ve heard that Tiki’s paralogue is pretty tough, so I find it interesting that in the same DLC wave as her came a new Emblem that you can just get by walking to a specific spot and has a starting weapon that is effective against dragons. And I mean that in the sense of there being other Emblems that also have later weapons that can be effective against dragons, but if you bought the DLC on launch and started it as soon as it was unlocked, you wouldn’t any of those Emblems or weapons unlocked yet.

And now we have “Dream well, Emblem of Dragons!” for the list.

Omg, LOVE that she starts that Emblem wake-up as a dragon.

Hear that, Alear? Tiki is ALSO a Divine Dragon, SO WHERE ARE YOUR POINTY EARS?!

ULTRA-MEGA-NAP SLEEP BONDING!!

Ooh, the 3H bracelet randomized to Dimitri for this map!

Oh, it randomizes every turn.

Oooh, engaging with the bracelets looks slightly different than engaging with the rings!

Once again, maybe this is because I’m playing Normal/Casual, but that wasn’t so bad. Only reason it took so long is that I sent Chloé and Seadall out back to get that glittery tile.

Add “Embolden us, Emblem of Strength!” to the list.

Hi, Hector. Wanna mind explaining to me where the FUCK Eliwood is? You know Roy is gonna cry that you and Lyn ditched him, right?

“Looks like you’ve got grit, just like he did.” Wait, are you comparing me to Eliwood? Okay, I might forgive you.

We’re gonna be fighting Soren on a lava mountain?

And now we have “Advise us, Emblem of Acumen!” for the list.

Stay away from the paw prints to avoid being hit by lava, got it.

Alright Soren, I brought you your boyfriend. Will you please cooperate with us now?

And now we have “Soar high, Emblem of Revelation!” (Still don’t like that they localized it as Revelation; Azura got done DIRTY.)

Oh she did the lil camera-facing walk forward that she does in her cutscene in Birthright.

That map layout was annoying. Why did I bring so few fliers?

Kinda thought Alear was about to say something along the lines of “Interesting, because in this world we have a Ring of the Princess Exalt.”

And now we have “Awaken, Emblem of Bonds!” for the list.

I like how Chrom started that in his Awakening box art pose.

Okay, why did that Emblem awakening cutscene only show Chrom if Robin is in there too?

Also why is Robin so fucking TINY?!

Why is Alfred giving us instructions/advice this paralogue when in all the other ones, it’s been Vander doing that?

“I feel a bit self-conscious fighting my father’s other half, but I will do the best I can!” Lucina, GIRL. WHAT are you talking about? You literally tried once to kill Robin!

And now we have the final one for the list, “Heed our summons, Emblem of Heroes!”

Okay right off the bat, Veronica’s kinda funny here. Like, “No it is YOU who will be serving ME.” Not the exact line, but the way she delivered it...

And I have now completed all the Divine Paralogues. Onto the Fell Xenologue!

[blogtaculous]

Well, I did it. I went back and played Skyrim’s big DLC campaigns, and thankfully I finished it before 2024. I’ve got some thoughts, and many of them are negative.

But first, some background.

I got Skyrim around launch after getting an XBOX 360 for Christmas when my college roommate shocked the world by dropping out. A friend of mind recommended Skyrim, and it was my first Elder Scrolls game and first big RPG (aside from Two Worlds, which barely ran on the family PC and therefore doesn’t count). I loved it, as many did in those days, because it was a pretty big deal in 2011.

I would later get Hearthfire (it was the cheapest) and I liked that a lot, too. I miss that character, actually, and his home in Falkreath (RIP Gunnar, I wish I could export your save). I wanted to try Dawnguard and Dragonborne, but it wasn’t to be. I ended up with a copy on PC in 2016 or so and I tried to play through it again, but once I played Witcher 3 I just couldn’t tolerate Skyrim anymore. The reasons are numerous and they’ll come up later.

Recently, I moved my PS4 to my wife and I’s bedroom to facilitate our transition from streaming services to physical media. When we met I had her try Skyrim, her first video game experience like that ever, and it was very funny, so when I bought the PS4 I got handful of games for her to try if she wanted to get better (she would latch on to ESO, by the way), and Skyrim was one. This seemed like a good time to finally get through the DLC that I hadn’t had a chance at.

So, I’ve done it. I did the main quest, the civil war, then Dawnguard and Dragonborne.

The early hours were fun as a nostalgia trip. It had been years, and the rose colored glasses were in full force. But, that didn’t take long to wear off, and I can safely say that Skyrim, while it was revolutionary in 2011, absolutely does not hold up.

It’s ugly, the gameplay is bad, every system is completely mediocre, and the voice acting is poorly directed. The writing is just awful, the quests are forgettable, and it’s mismanaged.

Skyrim has been released on every console since launch and yet some bugs remain. Others have been fixed by modders (for free). There have been no improvements at any level since 2011, with some huge and even game breaking bugs untouched.

This part of the experience frustrates me the most. I hate that I have to rely on unpaid community labor to make this game playable. And, speaking of the community, let’s talk about paid mods and the creation club.

It sucks.

More specifically, it sucks to charge for mods (whose creators were likely not fairly compensated for their work), and it sucks that Sony doesn’t allow custom assets, but it ALSO sucks to bundle mods with the game. Why? Well, because a lot of modded content is only good because it’s a freely available labor of love, but once it becomes an inseparable part of the game it has problems. This is most evident with Saints and Seducers, a mod that’s outrageous and stupid.

In short, Saints and Seducers adds new bandit enemies, items, and pets. But it was clearly made by fans, not professionals, because it commits the cardinal sin of ignoring gameplay restrictions. The pets, for example, cannot be harmed. They are completely untouchable, which becomes a problem when they have bugged dialogue and cannot be dismissed (a bug that has persisted for three years). The items are ugly and out of place with the other weapon and armor sets. Also, it’s extremely stupid for the bandits to be invincible until the player goes across the exact right spot in the bandit camp. All things I expect from a silly mod that never ever should have been bundled with the base game.

And this stuff can’t be removed or disabled. Capital B Bad.

Anyway, I played a sword and board character this time because I’ve always wanted to. It is as unsatisfying as every build, because the combat system is shallow and bad. It wasn’t even good in 2011, really, and it definitely isn’t good now. Not much else to say.

Like all Bethesda games, there’s a thousand different systems but they’re all average. The world design and environments are really solid (except the colors, which are ugly), but everything else is so blah.

The DLCs are fine. The bad writing is back, of course. Dragonborne has some cool Cthulhu ideas and imagery, but the final boss fight is frustrating since the combat system is such a chore already, then it tries to be a multi-stage boss fight and they’re all the same. I always wondered why everyone loved Serana and it turns out it’s really because she’s basically the only NPC in the entire game who gets even a little character building.

Now that I’m finally through this last little chunk I can put Skyrim down for good, though this time without the nostalgia goggles. Considering the proceeding work (Fallout 4, Starfield, etc) I expect the next Elder Scrolls game to similarly be poorly written, badly designed, ugly, and safe. I’m sure it’ll also include the worst base building mechanics ever designed, excessive loading screens, and wooden characters as only Bethesda’s aging and decrepit game engine can provide.

The magic is gone, the ability is gone, and all that’s left is Todd “It Just Works” Howard’s poor design philosophy and Emil “I Can’t Do Branching Quests” completely worthless writing. Starfield was made for 12 year olds and the anodyne tastes of their parents, and ESVI will be the same. I have no faith in the future of Bethesda “RPG” development.

Like I said, mostly negative thoughts. I wish I could say the 31 hours I put into this last foray into Skyrim was worth it, but I’m not really sure it was.

[madillhethen]

I normally don’t post RL pics on tumblr since uh that’s usually reserved for Twitter BUT I wanna hype over this. This blog is my hype zone. Y’all with me for the ride whether you want to be or not (lol I guess unfollowing or blocking is an option too if my content is unfavorable to y’all.) please do ignore the desk, poster and anything unrelated to Fate in the background—that’s my sister’s desk and her stuff.

So I finally bought Jeanne’s figure! And it’s so gorgeous 😭. I love it. Now I have the main scale figures of my favorite characters for FSN (Archer has an extra head with his hair up and extra hands/arm plus Kanshou and Bakuya), FGO (Romani has an extra arm without the coffee mug) and Apocrypha, I finally have Jeanne! It’s not her normal servant attire but this one is so pretty 🥰.

She’s just so pretty. The details, the dress, her stand—those heels! ❤️

AND I finally got Fate/Zero’s complete edition. I was lacking it before. So here’s my Fate collection by Ufotable/Aniplex. This is what I’ve been trying to do—buy all the stuff I love when I can to show there’s a western interest (plus I’m real old school that I like physical copies. Also if streaming sites or lack of internet happens, I can binge stuff without it.)

I really wanted UBW’s limited edition for S1/S2 but I don’t know if those were ever released in English? Every time I look it up, it’s super pricey. It came with the Garden of Avalon but that’s not translated? Also the bundles online are all in Japanese language only so I assume it was never released to the west? (Do correct me if I’m wrong.) I mainly wanted the limited edition because it comes with interviews/promotional art book but I don’t have…yet.

I also bought the other Fate stuff released of Type-Moon. I don’t have the First Order which I should get since Shadow Emiya…. I’ve not watched Camelot or El-Melloi yet though but the El-Melloi does have English version since that wasn’t online (least a few years back.) I actually have some Fate manga, not a lot but some. I at least have FGO mortalis stella vol I and II (the Shadow Emiya and Olga Marie content is good) plus Zero I, II and IV.

Release Emiya Gohan blu-ray…😭 please ufotable.

And the games that I have (I also emulated Extra because my psp is kind of broken.) I’ve not played Link lol. Still going through Extella. You know it’s been a long time because when I went to E3 in 2018, they were showcasing the release for Extella Link and that’s when I bought Extella but now it’s been years and wow. Time has flown. My turtle speed is astonishing sometimes. I also have the Emiya Gohan game + the Lancer dlc (dammit add Illya and Archer. The mere atrocity Lancer was placed in before any of the actual Emiya family (Taiga, Illya or Emiya himself) were is baffling though…understandable since Cu has rose up in fame…)

And I showed this on my blog before but here. All my official localized/translated Fate works. (Also I didn’t say this before but I love this artwork by Takeuchi. It’s gorgeous.)

This post is mainly just me hyping but yeah, I like official stuff, and have been waiting for more so always support the official releases if you can because pirating doesn’t showcase to the company of interest.

So buy Mahoyo. Please. Do it. For yourself. For your future self. For your mutuals. Your fellow fans. Do it.

Remember that wholesome post about the one kid who heard lapras was near extinction and just kept releasing Lapras Pokémon to the wild and Pokémon responded later that the lapras Pokémon are no longer in danger which seems to be direct correlation to the kid’s actions? Yeah. That’s us. Buy all the official merchandise and hopefully TM will respond with a surplus of more.

[iamnotawomanimagod]

I was born in Colorado and have lived here for my entire life. One of the things that I think Life is Strange True Colors actually did the best on was capturing the culture and general vibe of a small mountain town in CO. I wanted to note all the little details that made me feel right at home in Haven Springs, because this game deserves credit for recreating my home state’s vibe so well!

in no particular order, and under a cut, because it’s long:

1 - when Gabe says to Alex that becoming a Colorado local earns you a “pretentious love of craft beer, and a Subaru”

2 - when Alex and Ryan are near the cliff after Alex feels his joy vicariously, Ryan talks about a restaurant where a man in a gorilla suit chases a man off a cliff - that’s an actual place in Denver called Casa Bonita! there are cliff divers and performers in gorilla costumes and a bunch of other really strange stuff.

2a - fun fact - Casa Bonita was nearly shut down for good because of the pandemic (the food really is very mediocre and there is no reason to go there if not for the spectacle,) but the creators of the show South Park bought it and are renovating it. they’re also from Colorado.

3 - CO flags everywhere - that’s true. there’s a lot of state pride here.

4 - during one of her reflective moments (I think by the lake,) Alex muses to herself that the “price of admission to this tiny town is car sickness.” that’s real - you have to warn visitors from out of state about altitude and how to acclimate to it when you first arrive. people often find it more difficult to breathe. and the higher you go in elevation, the truer this is, which often leads to carsickness for people traveling in on the road.

5 - the general small mountain aesthetic was so good!! Haven Springs isn’t real, but I absolutely feel like the overall vibe was 100% on the mark. I’ve been to so many little tourist-y mountain towns that look almost exactly like Haven. even the emphasis on the mining history, and the presence of that old mill on the lake, the little two-story businesses and the pedestrian-only walkway - all of those little details made Haven feels so real to me.

6 - what was actually real were the zip codes, area codes, and town/city names. Golden, Grand Junction, Denver (obviously;) all the zip codes starting with “8;” the 970 and 303 area codes; the names of real rivers, landmarks, and roads... somebody really did their research. I think I can pinpoint approximately where they intended for Haven Springs to be based on all of that information.

7 - one of my favorite little details in the Wavelengths DLC was Steph and Gabe’s conversation about the weather:

Steph: IT’S SNOWING

Steph: IT WAS 90 DEGREES YESTERDAY

Gabe: Colorado baaaaabeyyyyy

what they’re describing is not an exaggeration - it’s totally possible to hit a high of 90 (Fahrenheit) one day and have snowfall the next, especially in the mountains.

8 - one new thing about my state that I learned is there WAS uranium mining happening in Colorado in 2008 - aka, the year Jed left some of the Hell Divers to die. I’ve always known about my state’s history of copper and silver mining, but never uranium. the last mining operations were in 2011, so obviously a current blast like the one Typhon orchestrated would be really weird. but that was a small detail added to make the storyline possible, so I’ll let it slide. coming up with a story to connect to Colorado’s recent history while also referencing so much of the past was really cool.

9 - weed/THC usage is very normalized here and it’s not uncommon for the average adult to take some gummies on a weekend. it’s not scandalous and is treated more or less like drinking alcohol. they definitely nailed that.

this is off the top of my head and I’m sure I’ll replay and find a bunch of stuff I missed! but I think they did such an amazing job. I’m always going to enjoy replaying, just to bask in such a beautiful and accurate representation of Colorado.

[andrewsleftknee]

i’ve been playing a lot of Dead by Daylight recently, so i’m going to self project onto Andrew. this is basically me just talking about the game with a sprinkle of aftg. sorry if this is boring/not like what i usually post.

have some Andrew playing dbd hcs:

he bought Nicky and Aaron dbd after playing it for a month on his own. he had gotten pretty good at playing survivor, and he wanted some people to play with because of the challenge of not being able to communicate with your team.

because of his eidetic memory, Andrew knows the layout of every single map. when he plays with Aaron and Nicky they are always confused as to how Andrew can find them based on a brief explanation of their surroundings.

Andrew is terrible at playing killer. the only killer he can play with some level of confidence is The Huntress. he’s spent hours perfecting the sim of throwing her axes and he can hit his target with a decently level of success.

Andrew is very good at looping the killers. after playing the game for so long combined with his knowledge of all of the maps, he can escape from a chase a majority of the time.

Neil doesn’t play the game, but he likes to watch Andrew play. he likes to help Andrew even though he knows Andrew is better at the game than he is. Andrew likes to do the plays Neil tells him to even if they aren’t the most efficient.

Andrew has taught Neil the basics on how to play the game. Neil knows the controls, but he doesn’t have enough practice to be too good at the game itself. Andrew is very patient on the days that Neil wants to try and play. he tells him what he did good and tells him how to dodge killers while being chased.

on the nights that Andrew and Neil talk on the roof, Andrew would tell Neil about the dbd lore if he didn’t have anything particular to talk about. Neil liked to listen to Andrew talk about the things he liked.

Neil sometimes buys Andrew dlc packs for the characters he finds the most interesting so he can watch Andrew play as them. Andrew always tells him that he can afford it on his own, but Neil replies saying that he likes buying him tho ha that he knows he’ll like.

Andrew is working on completing the archives, which is this huge web of challenges that reward you with blood points (how you level up characters) and more lore about specific survivors and killers. he’ll spend hours completing the challenges until it’s well into the middle of the night and Neil is curled up next to him on the couch.

he likes the challenge of the game. he enjoys that who you have on your team, the killer your against, and the map you’re on basically make your game. he thinks that the verity in rounds can differ so much for a game that has the same objective for every round.

-BONUS-

a few killers Andrew hates playing against because they suck and are terrible (not my opinions at all /j):

The Plague (TW for sickness/vomit) - her power is throwing up on people and getting them sick. it’s kinda gross, but if you cleanse yourself (make yourself not sick), then she can hit you with murder vomit. you can also get infected by generators? like what the fuck-

The Shape - you never know where this bitch comes from. you’ll be working on a generator or be casually walking around the map and just get hit out of no where. he’s not invisible but he basically is. you never see him coming. his exposed status, which is okay when they can insta-down you to the dying state, happens when he stalks you for a certain amount of time. it’s terrifying when you get the notification that you’re exposed because there’s a likely chance that he was stalking you.

The Hillbilly - he’s genuinely scary. his character design is awesome in the way that it’s terrifying. his main weapons are a cattle hammer and a chainsaw. sometimes you can hear the heartbeat meaning you’re close to the killer and then suddenly the chainsaw is revving and a chorus of “fuckfuckfuckfuck-“ is playing in your head because this bitch is fast. this bitch will down you instantly if you can’t dodge him. Andrew is good at dodging, but it’s harder when his own heart is pounding. he likes The Hillbilly when watching gameplay of him, but he hates playing against him.

The Doctor: i don’t even need to explain this one. he’s the worst. his power is electricity and can find you by basically sending shocks through the floor which result in the survivors screaming. The Doctor laughs after sending out one of the shocks and it’s more annoying than it is scary. the electricity makes your character lose sanity in three tiers, the third tier making it seem like the killer is always on you unless you snap out of it, which is hard when you don’t know where the killer is and the skill checks are going backwards and fast. Andrew hates The Doctor because everyone hates The Doctor. he’s terrible.

[gb-patch]

Asks Collection: December 15th, 2021

I’ve got a collection here of asks that aren’t questions, but are just really nice messages that I’ve kept saved in my inbox for the past months. Thank you all so much for sending me your experiences and kind words. I’m sorry I don’t post these kinds of asks quickly up on the blog, it makes me happy to see them when I’m answering the questions and I also get pretty shy when responding to sweet messages, aha. But thank you again for sending them! I appreciate it a lot ^^

I just started playing Our Life after downloading it from steam just yesterday since I was looking for LGBTQ+ content and I can’t tell you how much I adore this game. I originally planned to only play an hour or two but I was sucked right in for almost six hours. I love the freedom that is given to the player in this game and just how much choices affect later steps! I also enjoy the high, medium, and low initiative, it was thoughtful to include that in, especially given the comfort level of players. And the dialogue is beautiful! I’m currently going through a difficult life transition at the moment and some of the dialogue in the game really spoke to me in some way. I didn’t really feel alone while playing it which might sound silly but it provided some brief comfort while playing. There’s just a lot about this game and clearly a lot of effort and passion was put into this. I don’t think I’m able to articulate just how much I adore this game. Thank you so much for creating this!

💖

I just want it to be known, I have had thassolphobia my entire life. Lake water? Scary as hell. Aqauriams? So terrifying there's nothing but water and *shudder* marine creatures. The ocean? No. Hell no. Once on vacation my family thought it would be funny to take me to the ocean and when we were on the beach I got so scared I /fainted/

But, because this damn green haired boy loves the ocean I have put in so much effort to get over it. I used to cry if I thought too much about jellyfish. I now can watch videos of great whites being pet by people. A phobia I have ALWAYS had, is so much better now because I felt the need to improve myself for a fake ass man. I don't know whether to thank you for making a fictional character who made me want to get over my fears, or curse you for making a fictional character I like so much but will never ever meet.... But I've decided to thank you. This game was a wonderful experience and it brought me a lot of happiness, and self improvement apparently. Please tell every single person who worked on Cove how amazing everyone finds him.

💖

Hey I just want to say I adore the game a lot, it’s incredibly addictive and I love the passion and love that went into creating this game. I just bought the dlc recently and I just want to thank you for having Cove be Panromantic demisexual. I’m currently questioning my romantic orientation after some reevaluation and I’m demisexual myself, and I cried various times playing the game, seeing various aspects of myself in Cove. I would elaborate more but I feel like this is long enough already. Just thank you, thank you so much for creating this game. ❤️❤️❤️

💖

I think i’m in love

With a fictional being I—

Wow

💖

hi!! id just like to say that cove and our life in general helped me realize and accept im demiromantic!! so thank you !!! <3 -tom

💖

Check him out while Cove checked in. The word play was amazing. I laughed so hard! That's my MC. He's definitely think like that. I am always amazed by subtle change made to fit MC's personality. For example, how Cove describes MC after market incident fits my MC every time. Thanks for the great game! I can't wait for step 4, dlcs, and next game!

💖

I just finished playing Our Life and I'm pretty sure it's now my favourite game! I can't wait for part four!!!

💖

I just finished OL a couple days ago and I wanted to say that it was so amazing that it’s become one of my favorite things I’ve ever played. The attention to detail is wonderful, the writing is brilliant and it’s so heartwarming, wholesome and cute that it’s made me tear up many times. I’m sad that I had to eventually finish it, but I’m very glad that I played it in the first place because it’s definitely a one of a kind. I’ve played a lot of dating sims/romantic visual novels and if I’m being honest - a lot of them are mediocre (not all of course). Our Life scratches the itch that I’ve always had - to want a game that lets me be me in it without any consequences and to have a romantic story that continuously makes my heart flutter as I read it. I hate having to pick an option just because the love interest would like it more, but that’s not the case with Our Life! I was so surprised with how well the little customizations were pulled off. I can’t wait for step 4 and the wedding dlc and then again for any future projects that are in the works for other games which is also why I joined the patreon, I just couldn’t help myself. Sorry for dumping so many compliments, but I wanted to show my appreciation. It’s well deserved.

💖

dwidhwqihswqiqswq your games are so good i can't- I literally just saw the characters and some scenes and I already love this game- good job btw

💖

ahhh I just wanted to say that I enjoyed ol 1 so much (literally spent hours on it and on making a mc for it lmao) and that I'm super excited for both what is being added to ol 1 and also ol 2. like more exited than I think I've ever been for a game release lmao. 

💖

I love Cove squeaks thank you 😭😭😭

💖

just read the answers/questions from july10 and first of all, all the love to the person who found out they were ace thanks to this game, as a fellow asexual the options and representations in game really made me happy!! also wanna add that the game helped me get closer to finding a label for my gender as it offered explanations i didnt have words for myself and by that finding my way to an identity, big thank you for that

💖

Thank you for making Our Life. I have really bad gender dysphoria at times and it made me extremely happy to get to "experience" growing up as my preferred gender. It was like getting to live a life I didn't have, even briefly. I've never had a game give me nostalgia for things I've never personally experienced before and relationships I didn't actually have. I look forward to your future works! Thanks again.❤

💖

❀ Hello! I'm absolutely smitten with both Our Life games, and I'm really excited for the development of the second version! I'm very happy with how inclusive you all are in regards of different cultures and body types / appearances, as someone who is plus-sized myself it feels really nice seeing Tamarack being the same. I hope you have a nice day! <3 ❀

💖

Hey! Just found out there’s an official tumblr and just wanted to say, the game is super awesome! The first time I played it it mostly out of boredom (and because it was free) and I was kind of planning to clown on it for being A Dating Sim, but as I played I figured out there’s a was a lot there, and I Quickly figured out that this was one of the first times in anything like this that it let me pick options that were… well, not “normal”, I guess?

When I realized you could chose to be nonverbal, or upset at fire works, or upset about plans changing, or even just choosing not wanting to be touched! everytime it happened I got so genuinely happy, especially with how the others react to you. Even if you can’t put a name to it, I’ve not found a game like this that’s let’s you act this nurodivergent. And It means a whole lot, like a Whole lot. I could probably go on forever, but I just wanted you to know that I absolutely love playing and getting to choose options like that, it’s made OL real important to me, and the few friends I’ve dragged into it too, so, thanks! Keep up the awesome work! I’m really excited to play the new one as soon as I can!

💖

I don't have a question :) I just want to say that Our Life is one of the best things to ever happen to me and I am so, SO excited for Now and Forever, as it takes place in a much more 'me' setting (beautiful forest, lots of rainy weather). I really hope the series just continues to grow, with Our Life 3, 4 and beyond. There's so much potential for different settings, scenarios, and relationships and I look forward to all you do in the future :) Thank you so much for the best escape from reality

💖

Bro this game has made me so unexpectedly emotional and question who I choose as my friends. I absolutely love Cove. So thank you for killing my taste in real men and for making such an impactful game. I am definitely buying the DLC. 💜

💖

So like I had to erase Our Life a while ago since I needed more space for other game and of course I did it after finish it, and when I tell you I did it crying is by no way an exaggeration. I love your game so much and it make me so happy to the point I felt incomplete when I finally reached the end so now seen how you guys are giving us bonus “playrounds” (and one of this is even the long waited wedding!!) I be honest with you.... it sorta makes me wanna cry again because I’ll be able to see not only my boy again but the entire family and- yisus- it just makes me so happy.

I guess I’m resume what i meant to say is, thank you. For creating this game and for still coming back to give us more content 🤲🏼🌹 (and also I beg you don’t make me incredibly nostalgic at the en because I swear I don’t know if I could emotionally and mentally take it, sound like a joke but it’s a cry for mercy)

💖

Thank you for having positive fat representation ❤️ fat bodies are beautiful and if they were more normalised in media I think there wouldn't be so much fat phobia. You guys always amaze me 🥰

💖

uhh this may sound weird or something but i just wanna show some appreciation to yall, our life helped me through some really bad times   and even helped me find out my identity, so, thanks a lot, i love you all <3

💖

So I just finished Step 3, I recently discovered this game and binged it for these past 3 days, and I really enjoyed it. Irl I've haven't had a close relationship with anyone romantically. But playing Our Life and sticking by Cove's side has made me feel more loved than I ever had in my life, and I bawled my eyes out while the credits were rolling. I know this is probably a weird ask for you to receive, but I wanted to let you know how much your story that you created has positively impacted my life. Thank you for making me feel loved, and I cannot wait for the next and final chapter to Cove's story!

💖

hi! i just wanted to thank you so much for creating the world of our life: beginning and always!!! it's brought me so much joy and it's made me so happy, it's officially one of my comfort games and i genuinely cannot thank you enough for making it

💖

I wanted to tell you for a while, but never thought it was important enough - this game changed my life. It made me realize my sexuality, it helped me see the things I want in life and it - just brought so much comfort for me. To see it end gives me such a bittersweet feeling, but it'll always hold a special place in my heart. Thank you for all your hard work - thank you for giving me something to go back to when life becomes too much! Step 4 was beyond great!

💖

I really love how Cove’s feelings are portrayed about his parents’ divorce, it hit very close to home for me since I was in a similar position to Cove in Step 1. His feelings evolved and changed over time in a realistic way in each Step, and I really admired how the writing nailed it. Also, I loved how the story and art created the feeling of the perfect childhood summer of a lifetime, one that you hold close to your heart and think of fondly for the rest of your life. Thank you & the Our Life team for the incredible game, I can’t wait for the wedding DLC!

💖

[0poole]

I LOVE No Straight Roads

Honestly it’s hard to keep me away from a game with great visuals and even greater character design. I knew from the INSTANT I saw these characters that I was going to love it. I just finished it because it’s (unfortunately) pretty short, and even though I cheesed the final boss through it’s very lenient death mechanics (Instant respawn at the cost of a good rank) I actually appreciated that it wasn’t a pure cake walk. I’ve yet to rematch all of the bosses, but since I had genuine trouble with the later ones I’ll hold off on that.

But who cares about gameplay, am I right? I sure as hell don’t. I would’ve bought the game no matter what the hell it was. I wanted the characters (and the music, although I realized that second) and that was it. 

First of all, I love any world that is super fantastical but cheesy in its concept, ala a city powered by music, and battles between artists using music. Ideas like this only spawn from a mind that wants to create a fun atmosphere, if nothing else, and it was sure as hell fun. I genuinely love when someone goes so far into a crazy idea and doesn’t waste your time explaining it with real world logic. Wanna know how a city can be powered by music? Shut up and look at the cute virtual mermaid. Lord knows I did. Every once in a while, it does you good to just let the player/reader/viewer just revel in the idea without having to go out of your way to make things seem realistic. It’s not about “turning your brain off” or whatever, it’s picking your battles.

Also, I can seriously love a world with great background characters to it. Any game with the right situation to insert the random nobodies you find onto the streets into the art in the credits really played into the greatness of the world’s less important characters, and that’s always a good thing. It’s technically world building. But, since I always love to pick favorites, I’d have to say my favorite background character is easily Mia, the NSR infodesk assistant. It’s funny, because you can literally search “nsr characters” into Google and she’s the third image result. I love how jumpy she is when you first interact with her, since NSR probably spread the word about B2J suggesting they’re rock thugs who’d beat up anyone, so for all she knows she could die right then and there with a guitar lodged in her skull. She’s probably just some intern trying to pay for college. She don’t want trouble.

Also, I just realized that 90% of the characters in this game have the same body structure that I always love, that being having arms/legs that sort of fan out in width into relatively large hands/feet. It’s a kind of limb structure I fall into so much because it just really hits me right for some reason. I really can’t explain why.

Anyways, I gotta talk about the big boys individually:

Mayday and Zuke are an amazing duo. I’m always a sucker for a cute and crazy girl, but honestly Zuke hit so many of the right notes too. I will say it’s weird to pair the martian Zuke with the humanly-skinned Mayday, but honestly it doesn’t even matter because he looks so cool on his own. I love his weird blocky blue dreadlocks, and his weirdly shaped shirt which bares his chest in the weirdest way... And, oh my god, Mayday’s weird Spongebob background flower eyes? It’s little tidbits like that that really make me jealous. How could I have ever thought of that? It looks so perfect, and I don’t know why. And her little booty jig she does in her idle animation? Adorable. I played as her as much as was reasonable not only because I’m a filthy button masher with little strategy but also because she’s so damn cute. I can also appreciate how she has a tough-as-nails persona while still keeping a semi-girly attitude, like with her falling for 1010 and Sayu. Characters are so much better when they’re a perfect blend of characteristics, instead of being all one-note, like how Zuke is the quiet one but gets heated against DK West, and all. 

Honestly the voice acting for every character is great, but I love when Mayday’s VA’s accent shows through. It’s a perfect twang to accent (consider this the only acknowledgement of a pun in this post) her snarkiness. 

DJ Subatomic Supernova was going to be an easy favorite since he’s all space-themed. Also, I don’t know why I always end up liking the egotistic characters. Not in the sense that I like their egotistic-ness, but in the sense that I like everything else about them and they just so happen to also be egotistic. The same applied with Empoleon (maybe like my 2nd favorite Pokemon) and Rarity from MLP, probably among others. Either way, I’ll never not love space themes. Not to mention he’s got a funky disco theme, and I’m slowly starting to realize that I am in extreme love with techno-funk styles of music. The instant I heard his music he cemented his place into my playlists. 

As for design, I still have no idea what the fuck he is. Clearly AI is at human levels in this world, but if he’s a robot why does he still have hairy legs? But, if he’s a human, is that weird orb his head? Is it just some sort of puppet which he controls from inside his giant jacket? I know I dissed explaining things realistically but I actually want to know with this guy. Even the wiki doesn’t say. Either way, he’s clearly the logical extreme of “being at the center of your own universe.” Even his jacket depicts a solar system, with his hood being the sun. Didn’t see that until I tried to draw him. I really wish this guy wasn’t so tied to his DJ stand so I could reasonably draw him without it. I don’t want to draw his hairy ass legs. It is a great touch for his design though (although I prefer his beta look with pants and long boots, another design trait I tend to gravitate to) since DJs could reasonably not wear pants, since they’re always behind a table.

Sayu is my favorite. It’s so plainly obvious. It’s weird to say that sometimes, because some characters like Sayu are so clearly engineered to be as adorable as possible, to the point where they’re basically a parody of whatever they’re supposed to be emulating, but then they do that so well that they are still likable for what they’re trying to parody. Also, even though I’ve never looked into any vocaloid superstars myself, the fact that they exist and are loved in real life is absolutely perfect to be used as a character design in a world like this. It’s so weird conceptually, but we all know it’s normal and realistic. But yeah, she’s a giga-cutie whom I’ve already drawn and I’ve listened to her theme on loop on many different occasions. Favorite character, favorite track, favorite weapon of choice (What did I say about Empoleon?), which, and I wouldn’t have noticed this myself, looks like the USB symbol you see above USB ports on computers. How crazy perfect is that?

Even apart from my unbridled love for cute monster robot(?) girls, her boss fight is probably the 2nd greatest of them all, at least conceptually. She’s just a hologram, so you can’t touch her, but you CAN disconnect the artists which control her in order to defeat her. It’s the kind of concept for a boss fight that could only work for this type of character. I’m a sucker for the cute girl that provides her voice, but I love how the animator (video editor? the yellow one) actually attacks you with a mouse and lowers the brightness of the setting once he appears. Also, the mocap guy being the deeply-voiced type but still providing the adorable movements of her body. It’s such a great combo of characters, and their little extra art in the credits makes me like them even more. I just wish we could interact with them individually.

DK West was probably one of the most interesting characters visually, especially since I knew of every other NSR member long before the game came out, but I only just heard of him closer to the release. I wasn’t sure where he was placed, but I definitely assumed his gig was the weird shadow demon we saw in the trailers. When I finally saw him in game, I was shocked to hear him speak an entirely different language most of the time, which was really cool. Also, finding out he was tied to Zuke and wasn’t strictly an NSR artist really made him more interesting. You know, if his fucking shadow clone magic didn’t make him crazy cool enough. Even though I suck at his game and am not especially fond of his raps, the visual of him rapping with this giant monster behind him and dozens of weird shadow wingmen by his side hyping him up was probably one of the coolest in the entire game. The dark way they were hyping him up too gave such a bizarre atmosphere, especially since it parallels his seemingly chill and smiley demeanor. 

I definitely hope they’ll introduce new bosses as DLC in the future, and make them sort of in the same vein as DK West, where they aren’t the biggest artists ever, but they want to pick a fight with B2J. I’d kill for any extra content this game can provide.

Yinu is obviously special since she was the subject of the demo they put out for the game. Even though I knew all her bells and whistles, she and her mom still beat me a few times in the full game. Considering she’s semi-tied to story-ish spoilers I kinda want to go more into her in a separate section. It is worth considering playing the game first since it’s not hard (with the easy going deaths) and it’s short length.

1010 seriously grew on me as I learned more about them and interacted with them. I got their shtick when I first looked at them, but after seeing that animation of them touring the city on Youtube I was kinda falling for them. Then, I learned that they’re apparently repurposed navy war robots? I mean, maybe not them specifically, but it seems to heavily point in that direction, with the warship cars and “attention!”s and all. It took me a bit to get into their music too, but once I actually fought them and put their actions to the music I fell in love with it. I swear, Neon J’s weird dancing can has some of the smoothest moves in all of gaming. I don’t know whether they mocapped out those movements or got one of the greatest animators ever, but it looks so impossibly clean his part of the song gets me like 30x more hype than it would normally. 

Also, their little art piece of them looking at fan mail in the credits is probably one of the most adorable things ever. Even if they’re just Neon J’s puppets, that piece of art really makes it seem like they love every one of their fans. I’m not gonna lie, I might swoon a bit too if they picked me out and gave me some special attention.

Oh yeah, and the fact that Mayday was super sad in her showstopper against them was adorable and hilarious at the same time. The little tweaks they made to the showstopper for each fight were great.

Eve just has to be Lady Gaga, right? Like, an even crazier Lady Gaga. DJSS is Daft Punk (or any artist with a helmet persona, you know what I’m talking about), Sayu is Hatsune Miku, DK West is Kanye West, Yinu is a generic child protege, 1010 is a KPop boyband (just pick one) and Eve is Lady Gaga. That’s just how things are. But, again, this is the kind of boss fight that only this type of character could provide. It’s not just surreal imagery, it’s ARTISTIC surreal imagery. The fight is so mesmerizing in every way, especially by how it starts off so slow and calm and progresses to insanity, as well as the increased emotional investment in the fight making you feel so much more into it than just “That’s the boy band. Let’s fight.” Not only does it get you more invested, but it makes her artistic persona go deeper than just “she looks weird.” She is genuinely conflicted about her relationship with Zuke, and naturally that leads her to literally split him and Mayday apart. That mechanic specifically was the coolest, although I do wish they made it more obvious when you needed to switch over to a different side. I was getting pulverized by her fight too, since there were so many things to pay attention to. Her fight was definitely the best one. 

Tatiana and Spoilers:

Let’s be real with ourselves, the twist was so obvious. I do also think, though, that obvious twists aren’t bad if they’re just good reveals. At some point, a person just has experienced so many stories that “only pretty good” twists are easy to spot. It doesn’t mean that the twists are bad, it just means you yourself experienced.

I feel like her transition from rock to EDM was pretty understandable, even as a non-musician. She was so caught up in what she assumed was popular that it basically consumed her. It’s easy as an artist to want to forgo what you truly want to make in favor of what makes you popular, and clearly since her transition to EDM made her the CEO of the biggest company in the city (world?) that probably made her think she truly needed to change her outlook. Then, when she saw B2J try to bring it back, she sort of coined them as being as misguided as she was and knocked them down a peg. Plus, they were kinda being jerks about it.

It’s kinda like the Trolls sequel, where everyone pegs rock music fanatics as being too stuck up in their own heads to appreciate other types of music, which honestly seems more like the case than the alternative. When I first heard of the story of the game, I was seriously hoping they did put an asterisk on B2J’s ambitions because they were a bit sketchy from the start. 

That’s kinda where I want to talk about Yinu, because she was the true turning point in what they were doing. She’s literally 9 and yet she’s getting dragged into all this BS. When she said “I hate you all” at the end of her fight, and played a somber tune on her broken piano after the fight destroyed it, you kinda got a kick in the face to realize you’re kinda being an asshole to some of them. Sure, they fight back, but they wouldn’t fight in the first place if they didn’t have to. They are just people who play music under a joint name that B2J just so happened to get in hot water with. 

Then, of course, there’s Kliff, who also reeked of surprise villain, and who’s basically the embodiment of the bad side of B2J, where he just wanted to destroy for his own sake and not for the actual greater good. Once B2J realized their mistake, they backed off, but Kliff was so hard pressed to do what he planned on in the first place he wouldn’t stop. I kinda wish he got a bigger fight to his own since he’s clearly a big enough tech genius to divert a whole satellite into one specific building. Maybe the Elliecopter chase bit was his thing, but I do kind of wish he was there to fight against them too.

Even though Tatiana did kind of reform a bit quick, It’s still not too crazy to assume she could see that B2J was just misguided and the fact that they worked to revert their wrongdoings for her sake would make a pretty strong impressions. They clearly can hold their own, so it’s not like she wouldn’t want them to join NSR too. 

Oh yeah, and her boss fight was clock/time themed. If there’s a theme under space that I love, it’s clocks/time. 

And If I am to be respected by the internet, I must provide a negative opinion to balance out my positive one. I will say that the character model physics (like Mayday’s braids, DK West’s vest thing, Neon J’s fluffy neck thing, etc) got kinda funky at times. Especially DK West’s vest, which was completely messed up for every scene he was in... Also, even though the voices are mostly great, some lines felt a bit off. Just a bit. That good enough? Good.

But yeah anyway that’s another favorite game to add to the pile. Eventually I’m gonna have to compile a true list of my all-time favorite games/movies because I do kind of want to have a solid idea of what my all-time favorites are.

[itsclydebitches]

:)))) So I've started playing the witcher again AND AHA i Have more complaints, doing some main quests cause there's nothing else rly to do now, and yen has just comfirmed that she also has amnesia for a short time, ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? This whole time, including literally the line before she said that, she's been belittling and mocking and just acting like she didn't believe Geralt about his amnesia/ THAT HIS ACTIONS WERE DUE TO HIS AMNESIA???? so.,,, she's rly just such a bitch lfmao I can't with this woman, She is a grown ass adult and she's being petty and cruel over something this man can't be entirely blamed for. Also asked why she didn't come look for geralt, as she only had her memory loss for a short time due to the mages helping her, she just assumed that geralt would look for her... she just assumed he was fine and- I can't stand her. I AM GONNA SPEED PAST HER SHIT AND GO FUCK AROUND SOME MORE HOLY SHIT shes insufferable

YOU'RE BACK, ANON, HI :D

All of this though. My knowledge of the Witcher story was so spotty when I first played that it took me a while to really piece everything together. (Helped immensely by playing through the first two games. Imagine that lol.) So when it fully hit home that 1. Yennefer also had amnesia, 2. She had been ignorantly pursuing another witcher just like Geralt pursued another sorceress (if we ignore the fact that Triss was actively going after him), 3. She recovered her memory way faster and did nothing to find/help Geralt, 4. She only sought him out after she'd tried to find Ciri herself and failed, AKA I'll look for you now that I need you for something, and finally 5. All of this came about because the Wild Hunt kidnapped Yennefer and Geralt TRADED HIMSELF FOR HER... I'm just, like, livid on his behalf lol. I mean damn, Geralt has his own list of flaws and you can absolutely play him as a dick, but in terms of the events we have no control over—their "real" characterization in the games—it really is a night and day difference between them. At least for me. Yeah, Yennefer is a grown-ass woman who spends the majority of the time being petty, hypocritical, or downright cruel. Does she have moments of compassion, wit, humor, etc.? Of course! Are they enough to outweigh everything else and make me like her though? Still nope...

I'm deep into my second playthrough and I'm like you, anon: I've been avoiding her parts as much as possible lol. I actually just went to Skellige because I need Yen for a secondary quest and I became frustrated by how heavy-handed their supposed chemistry is. You don't get a choice about whether Geralt greets her with a "You look beautiful" during a funeral, it just happens. The majority of the options from then on are some version of innuendo and when you pick the neutral route (that's thankfully there) Yen still turns it into a 'Remember the last time we were at a ball and had sex ;)' conversation, more innuendo about reading minds with the "I don't like that" option becoming more flirting about secrets... Even back before you've even found her it's all about her unique scent, the unicorn, how everyone recognizes you from the love ballads... it doesn't feel like they have a relationship to me. It's all just sex and how hot they both are. Compare that to literally anyone else in the game—yes, including Triss—and it just highlights how unnatural it feels. I mean, it's not going to feel unnatural to a player who already adores the relationship, but if you haven't bought into it yet... the game does incredibly little to sell them liking each other outside of the booty calls. I have no desire to romance Triss either, but at least with her I get conversations about the world, her interests, and our relationship outside of the physical. Yen seems to have three modes: we're having sex now, I hate you now, or we're looking for Ciri. It really doesn't make for an engaging romance imo. Especially in a game as choice-based as Witcher, you really can't get by on just "Well, they're canonical, so..."

In other news, I'm on the Blood and Broken Bones difficulty because I have every intention of platinuming this thing. I also added a couple of mods to even out aspects of the gameplay that previously bugged me. This included an "always full exp" mod because it sucked putting off a quest for a while, going back when you were a higher level, and getting literally 2exp for the same work. Except... then I leveled too quickly and all the mobs were super easy and I didn't want to "cheat" lol. So I got rid of the exp mod, added the AMAZING random encounters mod, cranked that difficulty up, and am now constantly besieged by mobs of my level or higher whenever I try to do... anything. It's great fun. Makes the world feel far more dangerous and you can earn a little extra coin by taking on bounties. I hope to make all the grandmaster witcher gear this time, so I'm gonna need all the coin I can get...

Do you plan to get the DLCs when you're done? I'm so eager to replay Blood and Wine again!