#also jokes on you i have EVERY character in bloodborne in mind

[katyspersonal]

Bloodborne WLW ships stuff

Me and @brainhyperfixed touched the topic of how there aren't enough wlw ships around (there are like, 2-3) and then I mentioned I see many of them (because my two braincells somehow contain every single loreless gremlin at once).. They wanted to hear out my ideas but since it is A List I wanted to put them in a separate post 🤔

Just some ships besides the "obvious" ones; Mariadeline (self-explanatory), female hunter x female character (it can be very individual!), Ariadella (heavily controvercial classic, same as Aflred x Crow) and Yurimposter (that's what I call... well, Yurie x Imposter Iosefka, since we don't know imposter's real name...)

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Eileen x Doll (Dolleen??): Eileen is the only character in 'outside' world that mentions the Doll, seems like she left an impact on her! Hard to tell whether Doll felt anything back since she seems to care about all dreaming hunters equally and it is implied Doll feels her first (1st) genuine emotion after holding Small Hair Ornament, but it is all speculation that is not THAT restricting... Like I love to say:

Adeline x Doll (Adolline): I guess it is more AU/speculation stuff, imagine them meeting however you like! I am particular on Adeline being able to reach Doll and dream after ascending, personally xd They could just vibe on higher plane of thinking. But it also feels like both Maria and Adeline having sort of a chance on happier fate in afterlife? It is broad in interpretation, really!

Eileen x Viola (I am NOT calling it Violeen xd ..okay maybe I do haha): That's just good old idea about Gacoigne and Viola having open relationship or a polycule! Usually little daughter referring to "grandfather" is interpreted as Henryk, but it is not binding, and in many cultures words like 'grandfather', 'auntie' or 'uncle' can be used towards like, just a close friend of family lol. So yeah, Gascoigne x Henryk whereas Viola x Eileen. Or you can make it a cheating if you want dsjfdhs

Adella x Imposter: Not sure about a creative name for this one, but IT CAME TO ME IN A VISION fsjdjdfs Not a joke, actually! I saw it in a dream! Adella is another person that can be sent into the clinic, so I guess it is an alternative turn of events lol. Adella is acknowledged as someone of 'lower' rank in Church:

Me and @val-of-the-north love joking that Adella simps for strong/smart fellow Church members regardless of gender fdjhfds In my dream, Adella basically kept distracting Fauxsefka from her work by switching between coy and clingy, until they were really affectionate. Adella also really liked her hair 🤔 The mental image seriously got stuck in my mind fdhfdhs But what I am saying is, it feels not as random as what I first thought!

Adella x Iosefka (Iosella): See previous ship, but this time there is no need to twist events to have Adella be safe xd They could just be sitting on operation table and K-I-S-S-I-N-G

Adella x Henriett (Henriella?): Henriett is implied to have been a Church hunter previously, since she has Church weapons yet a drip of a common hunter and is a summon against Church-related bosses! These two could be bitter EXes but were a thing before, or they might be in the love/hate strain after Henriett's "betrayal"!

Henriett x Iosefka (Henriosefka??): See previous ship, but I'd imagine Iosefka being far less bitter, if at all. She is a white Doctor, she sure knows that Healing Church's is very shady and full of dirty secrets! Not to mention her research to free the healing blood from... well, blood:

I like to think they're both redpilled, but Iosefka sees herself more useful staying in Healing Church and doing what she can "against" it in secrecy.

Henriett x Amelia: I am not sure what this ship is called, because actually I've seen it enough times? But I don't know the name! I assume Ameliett? Usual context is the two being close even if Henriett walks her own Hunter way from now on, and Henriett having agreement with Emilia to slay her if/when she becomes a beast! A promice, even.

Yurie x Rom (Yurom, or Vacurie xd): Since Julie is known as 'the last scholar', she could've been one of the original ones! Why she hasn't aged a single day is up to interpretation. But her purpose as a hostile NPC boils down to not letting us reach Willem... and/or Rom. Willem encourages us to hunt Rom, so seems like Julie does NOT want us to hurt her, ritual or not. She really could simply care about her and protect her even after ascension!

Rom x Ebrietas (Spiderietas): The petrified spider Ebrietas is weeping could be Rom's mortal body, especially considered it's 12 large legs and Rom having 12 large holes above her smaller legs... And Ebrietas' lyrics mention Mensis Ritual:

( x )

(If you never angered anyone to the point of them mentioning you in a song, what WERE you even doing with your life? xd)

Their bond is speculative, and considering running theme of Great One yearning for a surrogate child Rom could've been exactly that! But we also don't know! Besides, Ebby is a 'special' Great One who is a half human (is adult version of celestial larvae)... It could be love!

Maria x Rom (Romaria): I wrote Adeline and Rom being very similar, so in my headcanons Rom is Maria's type of a girl! But also, Maria and Rom have many parallels (elaborated in this ( x ) post)! They protect fucked up secrets even after death and their teacher is now some guy in a chair fsdhfhsd It can be a ship similar to Mariadeline, but without the same touch of guilt from Maria's side.

Black Church hunter x White Church hunter (nightmaresearch): Did you guys know that.... both of the ladies that kick your ass when you enter cathedral that leads you in Research Hall do not have names ;-; I feel like this seriously robbed the fandom off more ships involving them since they can't even be referred to properly! But they are a perfect dynamic of a smart, arcane-attuned woman and her bodyguard. Take Forgotten Madman and his escort but make it lesbian instead, you see?

Maria x White Church hunter (Knightmare? lol): They could've been close since Maria used to be a caretaker in the Research Hall! The white church lady is not as simple as just another 'nun', since she is praying at the secret Surgery altair and not at the facade 'normal' altair, as well as shoots Blacksky Eye projectiles! And, well:

She was one of the doctors! If not THE doctor (maybe Laurence was REALLY busy with blood instead of eyes!). Depending on how aligned you make Maria with the Healing Church, maybe she was close with this "coworker". We know that Maria dreaded the hunt, but maybe she had faith in the research, rather than feeling like a trapped person there. She did give Adeline a key to go play with other arcane-attuned patients at Lumenweed garden after all!

Maria x Annalise (Mariannalise): Another controvercial classic! It is not very popular for obvious reasons and I am not fond of the ship myself, but some people enjoy it for the potential of exploring really fucked up dynamics. (Some people also think being just collateral relatives is not a big deal in this historical context..)

Maria x Gratia (idk... Maratia? how do you mix these...?): Gratia is wearing Old Hunters set, but with a cap instead of their wide cap and without a glove on her left arm! They were old hunters together! This ship is doomed, of course, since Gratia is found dead in underground jail of the Healing Church. But maybe they were close for some time. And maybe Gratia lost her sanity rather than was caught as "heretic" of the Church. There is a room for this ship, even if not a huge one! I like how they are both very tall and strong women, but Gratia is a brute and Maria is soooo elegant x) They're similar but also not!

Eileen x Henriett (Henrileen): I largely base it on the headcanon that 1) Eileen survives after the night, just retires from the hunt and 2) Henriett was familiar with Gascoigne's family same as Eileen, since both and Gascoine detracted from the Church! They could get together afterwards. Maybe even adopt the little girls (they survive in the scenario where Hunter doesn't try to "help" them because I said so </3).

Viola x Henriett (Henriola): Similar explanation for Eileen x Viola, just different character!

Fauxsefka x Iosefka: I don't know what it is called, but I see it sometimes? It is very vague because based on their identical face data, they could be twins... so, that'd be incest :т But they can also be interpreted as just similarly looking people and "devs were lazy", and I've seen a few artists drawing them somewhat different! It is controvercial in either case since Iosefka tries to help the patients and Fauxsefka just """solves""" the beasthood problem by making them Kin (included Iosefka herself), I'd say it is AT LEAST straining.

Yurie x Amelia or Fauxsefka x Amelia: Since School of Mensis yeeted itself into Nightmare and Choir kinda fell apart, these two are the last people from high rank Church echelons left. I've never actually thought much about them, but as (presumably) next most important people in the Healing Church after the vicar themselves, they could be close!

Fauxsefka x Arianna, Maria x Arianna or Fauxsefka x Maria: Again, I didn't give much thought to these (at least not yet lol), but Fauxsefka is strongly implied to descend from Cainhurst herself! (I only mention justification for that headcanon in every second post, I think you all remember the 'moonlight scent', the Cainhurst summon and the trademark Cainhurst potions prepared by Fauxsefka! I headcanon that Arianna was already born in Yharnam, but we can't know ages of these characters or timeline for sure. These characters are not necessarily related, either! I personally think that Maria x Fauxsefka has the most fundament because they both seem to abandon blood antics of their castle and side with the Church's research instead!

Yurie x Arianna (Yurianna): I will just leave this here:

I doodled it so fast that I forgot to de-colorize Arianna's hair, but that ship happened after a doodle request ask for them both! (featuring my former variant of Julie before I finally accepted her canon hair color data :pensive: ) Julie would be actually helpful to Arianna with caring for her eldrich baby, and maybe help to be less terrified of it, haha. They could get close as a result!

Yurie x White church doctor: Haven't come up with a creative or funny name for this ship, but I enjoy it a lot! My headcanons go so far down as that one White Doctor being one of the original Byrgenwerth people!

In my headcanons, her and Julie are sole most 'responcible' and serious scholars in the whole institution! They'd spend a lot of time together as a result. In Research Hall, too.

Fauxsefka x White church doctor: See above, but with different vibe! In my headcanons, Julie is way more interested in experimenting on creatures and chemicals than actual people... But these two absolutely were super passionate doctors :')

Yurie x Adeline (Yurine?): Came to me in a random idea that Micolash kept getting a little too weird towards Adeline (who was too eager and not at all afraid of Deep Sea horrors unlike others), so Julie felt protective and elbowed him, becoming her doctor instead. I mean, not much things can stop Adeline from her eagerness, but they could've formed a similar bond to Mariadeline!

Yurie x Maria: I don't know how to name this ship in such a way that it doesn't simply form a third real name dshfdh But they both are close with very smart but slightly unhinged girls all too fixated on transcending their humanity. Who also don't understand their worth. Who are also fixated on a guy who is a bad influence (Laurence and Micolash). They have so much to talk about! Though Maria ships are all very sad, since no matter who she had proximity with, apparently it never was enough to prevent her from self-isolation and death...

Honorable mentions:

1) Izzy and Caryll have masculine names according to Japanese original script (イジー/Jiří and カレル/Karel), but some people say 'fuck it, regional variant 🙏', and also he/him or they/them lesbians, or GNC women easily could pick masculine names! So, Karel could have good ship with Rom, especially under assumption that they both were way more in touch with Willem's ideas and were nerds together. Or maybe Karel x Yurie! At the same time, consider Jiří x Maria or Jiří x Gratia!

2) I've listed pairings, but these characters can always make poly ships, remember that!

3) I haven't found a sapphic ship personally for Dores, but Dores is a feminine name, and in original script Dores is not a 'he'! There is no gender, actually:

Error appeared from translators referring to Dores and not their mask! But yes, this can be female character, who can also be shipped with any woman from Byrgenwerth, or from Old Hunters!

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Okay that's all..... for now fsdhdfs I tried to focus on the context and explanation, and not dive into my vision of characters' personalities or else I'd be here all day. That was interesting to revisit! Again, obviously I do not ship all of these, and some even really contradict my headcanons; this is the post of IDEAS!

[ask-runaan-anything]

Runaan@NYCC 2021 AU headcanons

If Runaan actually attended in person with the characters voiced by the VA's who will attend: gosh the muns got self-indulgent, this is long

Runaan leaves home for NYCC 2021 and sends Ethari a single Pleading Face emoji every time he thinks of him

Ethari gets 2472496 Pleading Face emojis while Runaan is away

Runaan brings his favourite book(s) with him to keep him company and also for Serotonin

Rayla mentions this to Callum

Runaan is all WHy did you Tell the HUMAN

but Callum did the exact same thing

Runaan is unexpectedly supported and he's not sure he likes it

they also make a plan for what he (and Rayla) can do if he ever gets very overwhelmed

Ethari@Rayla: Rule #1 is, do not let him shoot anyone

Rayla; *very serious nod*

he rehearses what he'll say at the panel beforehand, using flash cards

and some of the cards say things like "Thank you" bc Ethari worries he'll forget

Ethari color coding the flash cards for "Social" and "Informational" so Runaan can flip through them if he's put on the spot

he also asks Ethari what he can mention about him+what's off limits bc he doesn’t want to make Ethari feel exposed or anything

Runaan: please don't have a Q&A section please don't have a Q&A section please don't have a

host: so let's open it up for a little Q&A now-

Runaan, internally: *bleep*

Under the table he starts flicking through his flash cards

he doesn't realize there's no tablecloth and everyone can see him do it

he watches the recording of it later to find all his faults but Rayla sits right next to him and she's all, "Yes yes they saw you and guess what, no one assassinated you over it, it's okay!"

Runaan goes Soft™

it's like he can feel Ethari there with him through Rayla's words

he has to thank her but words aren't his style so he offers to let her drag him out of the hotel for the first time that trip

ten steps outside and he has regretti

but he promised and his honor is at stake now so he keeps going

Rayla takes him to a bookstore

its slightly outside his comfort zone but it's quiet, and the city streets are so noisy

Ethari texted her a list of recharge spots, and one was a bookstore, with a reading nook, so she takes him there and they curl up on pillows and hammocks for a while

Another time they go out to a coffee shop at 3am

Runaan sends Ethari a Pleading Face emoji

Ethari replies with “!!” and “IT’S 3AM GO TO SLEEP YOU HAVE A PANEL IN THE MORNING”

Runaan just sends him another Pleading Face

Runaan has noise cancelling earshrooms if he needs them

Ethari wears them while he hammers

Ethari sends Runaan jokes to distract him just before his panels start

And Runaan lies down at night to talk to Ethari with his phone near his ear so it feels like back home when Ethari cuddles him

Ethari sending his own homemade "good luck" memes just before Runaan’s panel, so Runaan can fall back on showing them to the audience if he gets nervous, which he does, and they LOVE it, and Runaan is like, “I can see my husband has some support in the human lands, I'll be sure to tell him,” and the room cheers and Runaan is like "Aaaaa this is making me feel so seen but also yes, my husband deserves all the support"

Runaan sleeps surrounded by like 8 extra pillows in the bed so he can feel as snuggled as when Ethari's actually there

and one is Ethari's

Ethari lending Runaan his scarf bc it smells like him

and Runaan not only sleeps with it right near his nose but he wears it during the panel

Runaan wearing his serious face at the panel and answering hard or angsty questions, and the whole time he has earshrooms in and their lil stems are pokin out of his ears

If Runaan is here then all the other characters with VAs at NYCC are also here, so it’s a panel of actual characters

Viren using chopsticks to try and steal one of Runaan's earshrooms out of unbridled curiosity, and Runaan just. takes them away from him. without looking over. and slaps them on the table like. no, bad human, do not steal my earshrooms while I'm talking.

Claudia's flipping through a book but it's a recipe book and she's looking up mushroom soup

Ethari made Runaan an anti-dark magic charm so he's safe and no one can use it on him, so he feels safe attending the panel at all

someone asking about Lachir and Runaan just brightening

also pspsps that person is @hoothalcyon

Runaan goes off for ten minutes unprompted and uninterrupted about his moonstrider, it's about as animated and excited as anyone has ever seen him

Clauds over on the side making big heart eyes

she asks if he has a picture and he says yes and she bounces over to him and squeals loudly

Rayla texts Ethari just then and Ethari gets a FaceTime call going so everyone can see Lachir in person back home, because ofc she is fine and alive

and Lachir looks derpily at the camera like "wat dis"

She do the blep, sniffs camera, makes it smudgy

Ethari laughing and protesting off screen

the entire panel and audience is all "awwwwww"

Viren loudly demanding a cute pet so people will like him too

Runaan does a discreet lil happy stim and it's so discreet that barely anyone catches it except one or two ND's who are like aaaaa

Rayla slipping behind Viren and putting an adoraburr on his ear tho

"One cute pet, courtesy of Xadia! You've had your Adorapox vaccinations, right?" she chirps sassily

yes the pox look like adoraburrs

you are very contagious and very adorable

Janai, someone asks her about Amaya and she gets flustered and Runaan feels seen

audience question during the Q&A: Runaan, who would win in a fight between you and Janai?

Janai, immediately: Me.

Runaan: Her.

Janai flexes, literally

Runaan is happy to give her the spotlight, which is why he lied, bc ofc he thinks he could take her, he'd do it at night and he'd steal her sword first, obviously

nowhere in the question did it say "fair" fight

Amaya is in the audience and she keeps signing flirty things at Janai no matter how loud the room gets or who's asking who what, and Janai keeps getting more and more flustered and distracted

Runaan has one (1) moment where he's actually relieved his husband isn't there

Ethari would want to tease him so badly

Q: Runaan, are you a good dancer?

Runaan: I'm passable, with the right partner.

Q: So can you show us some moves?

Runaan, blushing: Distinctly not.

whistling and clapping ensue

Rayla jumps up and grabs Callum's hand and says, "I can show you some moves!"

and they dance very sweetly and cutely with some basic Moonshadow moves

and Runaan is like "I can't tell if this is worse"

Q: Runaan, how did your marriage proposal go?

Runaan, after a long flustered moment: ...Successfully. *taps his horn cuffs*

Q from someone wanting to know how to follow Runaan on social media: Runaan, you're amazing, where can we find you?

Runaan: The Silvergrove, but you can't actually-

Q: No I mean, what if we want to follow you?

Runaan: You'd need to know the key dance, and that's protected information. Also, stalking isn't nice.

Q: But you stalk people.

Runaan: *dramatic eyebrows* And it isn't nice.

Next Q: Has Ethari ever gotten hurt, and what did you do?

Runaan: *crushes water bottle*

Host: Okay another question then!

his answers would be really short if he did not feel comfy interacting, which is probably most of the time

Rayla took away Runaan's bowblade before the panel started

Runaan: but that's my emotional comfort trick weapon

Rayla: No. Ethari's Panel Rule #1. No stabbing or shooting people.

they pass a weapons display in the artist alley and someone made a replica of the Bloodborne bowblade and Runaan’s like, hm that looks familiar

Runaan wandering the con and talking to all the cosplayers with cool looking weaponry tho

he takes pics for Ethari

Runaan wandering the con and asking Runaan cosplayers, "So who are you supposed to be?" bc he genuinely doesn't know

he doesn't think he should be in the pictures for security reasons but he takes pix of Rayla posing with everyone dressed as Runaan

social media gets flooded with pix of his hair from the back though

#itssosoft trends on Twitter

Rayla sets up a pic where half a dozen happy fans get to brush Runaan's hair at the same time, and he's stuffing his face with moonberry surprise so he doesn't get nervous

it actually makes him look happy and social and Ethari is like HOW, HOW DID YOU MANAGE THIS, MAGIC

people shyly approach him and ask if he and Ethari can adopt them and he says yes

he ends up in a coffee shop zone with a couple dozen people gathered around and tells them the importance of found family in Moonshadow culture and he doesn't understand why they're all crying

Rayla teasing Runaan and telling him to tell a pirate story

Runaan is like, "Spoilers for Season 5"

some superfan nerd like mun tries to get him to admit how much he knows about Xadia and history and the show's plot, and he does that one line that all stabby people say. "I could tell you. But then I'd have to kill you."

he gets half a dozen volunteers and he is so concerned

Runaan, Protector of Secrets

Soren starts to spill about 14% of a secret and from across the entire con hall a green fletched arrow just zips by

Soren is like "You know what, never mind"

Cracky: Viren runs through the room looking for protection, and Runaan is like ugh fine who's after you this time, and Viren's all, "No one, my children are just being so silly and I just need a break for five minutes, can we please have a grownup conversation about something serious and angsty, please I’m actually begging you"

Runaan spots the adoraburr on Viren's ear and he's like, "Adoraburrs get lonely if they're alone," and he puts another one on Viren's other ear

and then a bunch more so they stack like a hairband and they're happier

Runaan just smirks and walks away

the adoraburrs start squeaking to each other and Viren is like, "Ugh, I preferred my children's terrible puns" and the adoraburrs get huffy and all hop down and abandon him

he does not in fact get adorapox because Viren believes in inoculation

some attendees would try to convince Runaan to "seek asylum" in NY and not return to Xadia or something, and he'd be like "But. Ethari."

they remind him that if he goes back he has to wait in a coin, and he doesn't get it

"Wdym. Ethari is there. Not here. I have to be there."

"BUT. COIN."

"BUT. ETHARI."

Rayla's like, I ain't Naruto running all the way back

She clicks a car fob and there's a *boop boop* noise

and this hovering coin like Tenser's Floating Disk shows up and they hop onto it and surf into the distance

Rayla shouts "SPOILERS FOR SEASON FOUR I KNOW WHO DIES AND IT’S-"

and Runaan is like "RAYLA DON'T MAKE ME HAVE TO SHOOT YOU, I COULDN'T DO IT LAST TIME AND I CAN'T DO IT NOW, DON'T GET ME IN TROUBLE I SWEAR TO THE M-"

talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, everyone hopes they come back next year too

[legionofpotatoes]

we decided to watch all story cutscenes from the new resident evil village videogame on a whim, since it’s not really our cup of tea gameplay-wise but seems to be this massive zeitgeist moment that made us morbidly curious. And I know how much everyone cares about my thoughts on things I know very little about, so. let’s get into it huh gamers. and yeah spoilers?

for context, I’ve only played resident evil 4 and a small portion of 5. I also read the wikipedia entry for 7’s plot recently. all this to say I was only vaguely aware of how tonally wacky the series was going in

I also completely gave up following the plot of the mutagens’ soap opera, so that paid off in spades here as you might imagine

anyway so that baby in the intro. that baby’s head is just massive. humongous toddlerdome. when ethan finds the baby’s head in a jar later on. there is no way that head would fit into that jar. bad game design. no not even game design. basic stuff. one hundred years in prison for jar modeler

if I see a single functional hetero marriage in video games I will cry tears of joy. I understand their misery is kind of The Point irt them badly working through the hillbilly romp trauma but like. sheesh. at least set that up as an emotional story goal the plot will help resolve. but nope they start off miserable and it goes nowhere

I know I know the mia thing has a huge wrinkle in it but like. not really in terms of dramatic function?? set up a happy end to the re7 nightmare (miranda can keep up appearances for all she cares) and then take that all away from angry griffin mcelroy for manpain. it will still absolutely work to set up the dramatic forward momentum. why throw in this cliche Hollywood Tension in their marriage if you’re not going to address it oh maybe because it’s normalized as automatically interesting because nuclear families are a self-propagating pit of a very narrow chance at emotional happiness relying on social stigma to preserve their empty function oops my baggage slipped in yikes abort mission

I called him griffin mcelroy because I saw his face on twitter and. yeah. I will continue to do this occasionally. my house my rules

... fuck the reason I’m hung up on this is specifically because the rest of the game is so tonally dexterous (which is a shining point to me! more on that later!), and yet they felt weirdly compelled to create the aesthetic trapping of a family-at-odds trope without following it through too well. a sign of both the good and the bad stuff to come

but listen the real reason why I wanted to talk about any of this is to nitpick the fascinating backwards-engineered nucleus of the entire thing; in that this game essentially creates a melting pot of just SO many disparate horror tropes and then makes a no-holds-barred unhinged effort at weaving thick lore to piece them all together. it is truly a sight to behold. like straight up you got your backwoods fright night situation, your gothic castle vampires, your rural-industrial werewolves, and don’t forget your bloated swamp monsters over there, with then a hard left turn into robotic body horror, and the entire ass subgenre of Creepy Doll writ large, and the bloodborne tentacle monsters, and a hellboy angel bossfight, which rides on the coattails of a mech-on-mech pacific rim bonanza, and just jesus henry christ slow down

almost all of these are textural hijack jobs that don’t really get into the metaphor plain of any of those settings but the game sort-of makes an argument that the texture IS the point and revels in it. It is kind of admirable almost. The same reason why the intro felt boxed in and unmotivated is also why the rest of the game just blasts off of its hinges to the point of complete and self-indulgent tonal abandon. I kinda loved that about it. lady dimitrescu made sure to hold her hat down as she bent forward in mahogany doorways and then suddenly she’s a giant gore dragon and you settle in your temp role as dark souls man with Gun to take her ass down. Excellent??

this rhino rampage impulse to gobble up every horror aesthetic known to man comes to head when the game wrestles with its FPS trappings in what is the most hilarious solution in creating visceral player damage moments. Since most cinematics and the entire game is in first person, that leaves precious little real estate for the devs to work with if they really want to sell griffin’s physical crucible. To wit. This dude’s forearms. Specifically just the forearms. They are MASSACRED throughout the story. The poor man lives out the silent hill dimension of a hand model. by the end cutscene he looks like a neatly dressed desk clerk who had decided to stick both his grabbers into garbage disposal grinders just a few hours prior. like in addition to everything else it manages to rope in that tinge of slapstick violence into its general grievous genre collection except this time it IS for a lack of trying! truly incredible

but wait his miracle clawbacks from everything his poor paws go through are retroactively explained away, yes, but far too vaguely and far too late to console me as I sat and watched everyone’s favorite baby brother reattach an entirely severed hand to his wrist stump by just. placing it on there. and giving it a lil twist ‘n pop terminator-style. and then willing his fingers back into motion right in front of my bulging eyes. this game just does not care. it does not give a shit. and boy howdy will it work to make that into one of its strongest suits

cause generally speaking resident evil was THE premiere vanilla zombie content destinaysh for like a decade, right? and as the rest of the world and mainstream media started encroaching and bloodying its blue ocean it went and just exploded in every single conceivable horror trope direction like a smilodon on catnip. truly, genuinely fascinating franchise moves

yeah the big vampire milf is hot. other news; grass... green. although I do love the implication that her closet is just identical white dresses on a rack. cartoon network-level queen shit

apropos of nothing I’ve said there’s also this hobo dante-devimaycry-magneto man, and I can’t believe this sentence makes sense. anyway he made that “boulder-punching asshole” joke referring to chris redfield and it was probably the only easter egg that really landed for me and boy did it land hard. I have not seen him punch the boulder in re5, mind. I had only heard about how funny it is from friends. and here this dude was, probably in the same exact mindset as me, trying to grapple with that insane mental image. with you on that ian mckellen, loud and clear

I advocate vehemently against the shallow pursuit of hyper photorealism in art direction but I gotta admit it works really in favor of immersive horror like this. the european village shacks especially gave me super unchill flashbacks to my rural countryside retreat in western georgia. I could smell the linoleum dude. not cool

faces are weird in this game. can’t place it. nice textures, good animation, but the modeling template is... uuh strange? and the hair. it has that clustered-flat-clumpy look that harkens to something very specific and unpleasant but I just don’t know what. sue me

griffin’s mental aptitude to take all this shit in stride and end every seemingly traumatizing bossfight involving some fucking eldritch being yet unseen through mortal eyes by essentially throwing out an MCU quip is just. What the fuck dude? I mean that was funny how you casually yelled the f-word at a god damn werewolf that you considered a fairy tale an hour ago but are you like, all right?? it was swinging a sledgehammer the size of a bus at you, ethan

oh oh the vampires are afraid of cold and your last name is winters. I get it haha

Pro Gamer Nitpick: boss fights seemed a bit unnecessarily long?? idk why the youtuber we picked decided the ENTIRE propeller man fight counted towards the vital story scenes he was stitching together, but man mr big daddy lite there really had some get up and go huh??

why are they saying dimitrescu.. like that. is it really how you say that word or is the english language relapsing into its fetish for ending every single word with a consonant at all costs

I’m not saying it’s a dramatic miss of a twist in context of all that’s going on, but the “you died in the last game actually and have been DC’s clayface ever since” revelation is low-key. it’s. it’s just funny to me, I dont know what to say. century-old god-witch fails her evil plan after she mistakenly removes heart from what was definitely NOT just some white guy with eight fingers after all

chris realizing he’s about to become the player character and immediately swapping out his tsundere trenchcoat for the muscletight sex haver sweater

the little bluetooth speaker-sized pipe bomb he taped to his knife was nuclear?? really??? I must have missed something because that is just too good. I buy it though I totally buy it. chris just got them fun-sized nukes in his car trunk for, you guessed it, Situations

anyway this is all for now just wanted to briefly touch on how unexpectedly funny and tonally irreverent this seemingly serious game turned out to be. did not articulate any cathartic story beats whatsoever but my god it had fun connecting those plot points. he just fucking put his severed hand back on his stump and it Just Worked todd howard get in here

[system-of-a-feather]

That ask game you rbed, how bout 3 lol

“3. Rant. Just do it.“ - The Other Anon

(tw; positive cursing, bloodborne images so moderate gore)

OKAY HERE WE GO. I GOT ANOTHER THING TO RANT ABOUT. It took me time to get the topic and info dumping / rambling urges for something that I was comfortable posting here. So anyways

Our system has a bit of a thing with gaming and between our system, we have a pretty wide taste that includes a lot of things other than MMORPGs and those multiplayer stuff (Battlefield and COD); so we have like everything from Stardew and Harvest Moon, to Souls-borne, to Management Simulators, to Stealth Games, to Casual Garden / Plant / Animal Sims to Visual Novels to RPGs to some Horror to Minecraft and all that.

Me, Ray, and another part we don’t talk about here really take an affinity to gaming. I typically prefer more story-driven, management games, and more casual farming games. Ray on prefers a lot more AAA action titles. You know those games you bank hours and hours into and BARELY finish the main story - yeah those, I can’t play those for the life of me XD

But anyways, I usually REALLY love me some Bugsnax (lowkey a slight obsession lately), Stardew Valley, Pokemon, Harvest Moon, Hakuoki, Amnesia: Memories (even though they have a problematic “DID character”, its a guilty nostalgic like), and all that but like....

My absolute favorite is probably Bloodborne. A lot of the other ones have a nostalgic pull and/or I REALLY like them, but I think at this point Bloodborne and similar games have become my genuine favorite genre even though it stands out because firstly, they tend to have legit music, secondly, they tend to have legit aesthetic, and thirdly, they are so frustrating and well managed in combat that it is so much fun to just analyze it all and try to figure out the best way to go about doing things.

So like, lets start with Bloodborne in this - because believe it or not the original intent of this rant was not it, but I really do have to establish this. 

Reason Bloodborne is Awesome, lets go

One, the story - if you can follow it - is really interesting and well scattered, but I very very much particularly love the theme / question / moral of “Would you rather return to a world blissfully unaware of all the horrors you have seen and learned and live innocently unaware” or “Live in the horrors and be aware of the rest of eternity but at least you know the truth” cause honest to god, if that aint a fucking mood I don’t know what is. 

Secondly, GOD do they have the aesthetic down on point. Theres another ask below this asking about my aesthetic, and part of that answer is just fucking Bloodborne now. Like at one point I went “Man I would look cool in Bloodborne aesthetic clothing and shit” and I guess I accidentally ended up with bloodborne armor in the inner world and at first I didn’t know how to revert back to whatever I was wearing (I don’t even remember at this point) and I was like “Uhhh” but HONESTLY I don’t want to change it? I have not found something that is such a solid aesthetic that I love that makes me feel cooler when I’m running around in the inner world so why drop it? And also lowkey now I want to actually adopt that into my IRL life if I ever get the time and money so..??? I mean I’ll go more into that on the aesthetics post but dude look

Are you really going to tell me that isn’t a solid dark aesthetic? And then the bosses are legit af?

And then the clothing and Lady Maria???

Okay and then say all of that is just average or not selling you. Okay okay thats fine.

Like there is also how absolutely frustrating, meticulous and well planned the game is yeah yeah we all know that its Souls-borne genre, but sure - give that number three as a reason.

But number four, oh god NUMBER FOUR. I don’t know how much this has been made apparent on our blog, but our system is VERY in love with music as an art. We were raised with musical instruments (both older siblings played instruments from elementary to highschool, we still continue into college), growing up we were exposed to a lot of instrumental music, and we developed an EXTREME reliance on music to deal with both our abusive family / trauma, to help regulate our own mind, emotions and all, and to also deal with how uncomfortable silence is for us. 

So music has been a HUGE developmental factor in our life and we REALLY love and appreciate it and its sometimes painful. But the composition of Bloodborne music - it is BEYOND words for me. I could probably write pages and pages of appreciation for how masterly crafted, perfect and well put together almost EVERY SINGLE piece of the game is and how - after years of listening to them on repeat - I can still find new aspects of it and a new technique or aspect I hadn’t noticed or thought much about to still adore.

I legitamently have screamed over how certain parts just click together perfectly. I can get so much positive overflowing joy and excitement from how well the parts interact and how perfectly dramatic the music flows and how active and physical the experience is that I feel the need to SCREAM internally and sometimes externally. 

I obsess over orchestral music and OSTS and film music and trailer music and video game music and all of that and I have to say with almost complete confidence that I’m pretty sure Bloodborne is - in my opinion - one of the best crafted orchestrated units.

Even from my own source, one that I love, have they only recently been able to produce a SINGLE track that echoes similarly in the intensity and amazement that I would consider it around par.

I will DIE internally everytime I hear it and sometimes I have actually had to turn it off because it was TOO overstimulating to listen to because of how much UGH it brings me. 

More than it is fun to play, Bloodborne is AMAZING to listen to and I can’t state that enough ugh XD

But anyways, before I go on THAT too much, I love Bloodborne. Joke is that as a fictive it is my “second source” even though it makes no sense. I have adopted it, I have claimed it. I love it and I will die for Bloodborne

So LATELY I’ve started a new game I just bought called Code: Vein and its apparently Anime Bloodborne or something like that and so far its really legit and while the music will never compare to Bloodborne - at least from what I’ve seen - I’ve REALLY been enjoying it and its music isn’t half bad itself

It also hilariously talks about “hearts” and loosing them and also memory issues and I’m dying cause they legitamently took Bloodborne’s Aesthetic, put anime on it, gave it a dark story with memories and indepth characters and served it on a platter for me?

And like dude I love games that comment on memory and emotions and stuff like that and I love the aesthetic and that I can kind of look like myself AND wear cool clothes like? 

Man I’m enjoying it and I’m realizing that Souls-borne is probably my favorite genre officially and I’m embracing it. Good game play, good aesthetics, good fighting, and good stories. I love it.

Anyways to finish this rant, here is the first photo I took of my avatar.

-Riku (Host)

[zombiequincy]

THE MEGA RP PLOTTING SHEET / MEME.

First and foremost, recall that no one is perfect, we all had witnessed some plotting once which did not went too well, be it because of us or our partner. So here have this, which may help for future plotting. It’s a lot! Yes, but perhaps give your partners some insight? Anyway BOLD what fully applies, italicize if only somewhat.

MUN NAME: Hela     AGE: 21       CONTACT: IM

CHARACTER(S): Giselle Gewelle, Yumichika Ayasegawa (inactive)

CURRENT FANDOM(S): Bleach

BLEACH FANDOM(S) YOU HAVE AN AU FOR:  I have gory Bloodborne au but that one just exists in my head on my lonesome.

MY LANGUAGE(S): English and one very specific Middle Eastern dialect.

THEMES I’M INTERESTED IN FOR RP: FANTASY / Science fiction / Horror / WESTERN / ROMANCE / Thriller / MYSTERY / DYSTOPIA / ADVENTURE / MODERN / Erotic / Crime / MYTHOLOGY / Classic / HISTORY / RENAISSANCE / MEDIEVAL / Ancient / WAR / FAMILY / POLITICS / RELIGION / SCHOOL / ADULTHOOD / CHILDHOOD / APOCALYPTIC / GODS / Sport / MUSIC / Science / FIGHTS / ANGST / Smut / DRAMA / etc. 

PREFERRED THREAD LENGTH: one-liner / 1 para / 2 PARA / 3+ / NOVELLA.

ASKS CAN BE SEND BY: MUTUALS / NON-MUTUALS / PERSONALS / ANONS.

CAN ASKS BE CONTINUED?:   YES / NO    only by Mutuals?:  YES / NO.

PREFERRED THREAD TYPE: CRACK / casual nothing too deep / SERIOUS / DEEP AS HECK. (i love it all sorry I am quite the mixed bag lmao)

IS REALISM / RESEARCH IMPORTANT FOR YOU IN CERTAIN THEMES?:   YES / NO. i gotta know what certain human body parts taste like u know

ARE YOU ATM OPEN FOR NEW PLOTS?:  YES / NO / DEPENDS.

DO YOU HANDLE YOUR DRAFT / ASK - COUNT WELL?: ��YES / NO / SOMEWHAT. it’s SO BAD FOR ME RN ASGLDKJDJKA i’m very inconsistent i’m so sorry.

HOW LONG DO YOU USUALLY TAKE TO REPLY?: 24H / 1 WEEK / 2 WEEKS / 3+ / months / years. / a lot of it has more to do w my general writing mood and if the thread im writing catches my interest, and rn im writing a TON of really wonderful and fascinating threads so they’re all super captivating for me and i try to reply asap

I’M OKAY WITH INTERACTING: ORIGINAL CHARACTERS / a relative of my character (an oc) / duplicates / MY FANDOM / CROSSOVERS / MULTI-MUSES / self-inserts / people with no AU verse for my fandom / CANON-DIVERGENT PORTRAYALS / AU-VERSIONS.

DO YOU POST MORE IC OR OOC?: IC / OOC. (i have a lot of stupid shit sorry) 

ARE YOU SELECTIVE WITH FOLLOWING OTHERS?: YES / NO / DEPENDS.  

BEST WAYS TO APPROACH YOU FOR RP/PLOTTING: just send me a tumblr instant message, i know it sucks shit but im not comfy releasing my discord w everyone just yet cause i use it for personal use as well. i check tumblr on the daily so if you send me a message chances are i’ll see it and respond!

WHAT EXPECTATIONS DO YOU HOLD TOWARDS YOUR PLOTTING PARTNER:  i guess just be able to put up with my rambling and stopping and starting, a lot of characterisation choices i do go through various stages and its pretty messy so when i communicate that with others it usually ends up equally messy. just be patient with me please.

WHEN YOU NOTICE THE PLOTTING IS RATHER ONE-SIDED, WHAT DO YOU DO?:  i don’t mind! sometimes ppl have more ideas that they want to share first and i’m always super happy to listen to those ideas !! sometimes its nice to have someone with a clear guide or structure and be able to work around that rather than trying to fumble through a plot together.

HOW DO YOU USUALLY PLOT WITH OTHERS, DO YOU GIVE INPUT OR LEAVE MOST WORK TOWARDS YOUR PARTNER?:  i try to map out some basic info abt their characters that i otherwise don’t know from their bio or verses and try to pick out points of confrontation or similarities to expand on with giselle that can be used as points for like a starter to happen. its either that or sometimes i have really stupid ideas i just toss out there like ‘LMAO THEYRE BREAKING SHIT AT DISNEYLAND’ and go buck wild from there if the other person is down. i also always try to warn people or get a gauge for what subjects to avoid and steer clear of considering that giselle is a bit of a Freak(tm) and will say and do bad things.

WHEN A PARTNER DROPS THE THREAD, DO YOU WISH TO KNOW?:   YES / NO / DEPENDS. - And why?: if there’s something giselle did or said that upset you, i would love to know not to repeat it again (since i do still feel pretty new to the rp game, theres still plenty of time for me to make stupid mistakes). if its just a general lack of interest or uncertainty of where the plot should go, then you dont have to tell me i wont take it personally i promise ! 

WHAT COULD POSSIBLY LEAD YOU TO DROP A THREAD?: sometimes i can be made uncomfortable by certain things mentioned... it happens but its rare 

- WILL YOU TELL YOUR PARTNER?:   YES / NO / DEPENDS. i don’t want to upset anyone personally and sometimes explaining the ins and outs of my discomfort make things ten times worse so i just. would rather not.

IS COMMUNICATION IN THE RPC IMPORTANT TO YOU? YES / NO.

- AND WHY?: i am the most nervous person you can meet and my brain is always giving me misinfo abt paranoia and random shit so i having clear concrete communication between two parties abt if something is going wrong or is being received poorly means the world to me.

ARE YOU OKAY WITH ABSOLUTE HONESTY, EVEN IF IT MAY MEANS HEARING SOMETHING NEGA1TIVE ABOUT YOU AND/OR PORTRAYAL?: i need it !! i still feel relatively new to all this and i need to know whats going wrong to improve !! 

DO YOU THINK YOU CAN HANDLE SUCH SITUATION IN A MATURE WAY? YES / NO.

WHY DO YOU RP AGAIN, IS THERE A GOAL?: to help with my confidence in writing! i have v bad anxiety when it comes to sharing my works and i write a lot of other pieces alongside this blog on ao3 and i want to develop my writing skills just in general. when it comes to like the nuts and bolts of why i rp giselle specifically, its mainly to just have fun and have a laugh w my friends who are really awesome quincy writers

WISHLIST, BE IT PLOTS OR SCENARIOS:  OH SO MANY! ive managed to fulfil a lot of my wishlist threads with like, giselle talking to characters she’s already zombified and i love all that angst but i want to do more stupid shit. i want to make it my personal goal to bully every quincy man and woman on sight. although a REAL dream would be if i got to write a thread zombifying a character who managed to escape giselle’s clutches. and more fighting! i want to get better at describing action and fights and i love to write giselle getting beat up and beating people up! more more more!! 

THEMES I WON’T EVER RP / EXPLORE:   hohoho theres a LOT... uh r*pe/dubcon threads for one, even if yeah i know writing it doesnt condone it, it makes me intensely uncomfortable to put my muse in that scenario, i feel like i have an obligation to like, protect her from that shit you know? racism is one i don’t want to transgress, even though i’m a poc, its not really cathartic or groundbreaking to write abt racism in threads its just... really fucking upsetting. also i know the quincy’s have this very close parallel to the whole n*zi imagery and ideology thing going on and i am not about to start even daring to thread that into my writing or bring those allusions and references of real life tragedies into giselle’s threads. i’ve already talked at length abt exploring giselles trans identity in rp and why im not comfortable doing so, so.... yeah! all those i guess.

WHAT TYPE OF STARTERS DO YOU PREFER / DISLIKE, CAN’T WORK WITH?: i like starters where giselle can just immediately get right into being a piece of shit. mise en scene and all that! cut out the build up and just get to the intense horror !! i don’t like starters where its not immediately clear where the characters are standing and what they’re doing and what’s happening around them. those really disorientate me and leave me kinda floundering because i always need some allusion or mention of a setting to ground giselle in a time and place other wise i cant tell what her response should be

WHAT TYPE OF CHARACTERS CATCH YOUR INTEREST THE MOST?:  EVIL WOMEN EVIL WOMEN EVIL WOMEN. also just characters i can wholeheartedly clown on, or also characters who have hidden depths to them and have a single panel of screentime. honestly it’s just all over the place!

WHAT TYPE OF CHARACTERS CATCH YOUR INTEREST THE LEAST?:  angry old men GSADJDKSJA i could never rp yhwach for example or yamamoto because idk. theyre just so crummy and boring to me. i also couldnt rp characters who always have an upper hand in battle like aizen. i like my dumbasses and i like them stupid and adaptive not just, ‘yes i know this because i Know this.’

WHAT ARE YOUR STRONG ASPECTS AS RP PARTNER?: i think im nice...? FKSJDKDJSA idk i hate trying to toot my own horn. sometimes i also think i make funny jokes and im pretty chill and laid back

WHAT ARE YOUR WEAK ASPECTS AS RP PARTNER?: my writing style is inconsistent and adapts to whatever i’m reading so sometimes it’ll be really good and i love it and other times it reads like really bad fanfic and i get carried away far too easily and write novella lengths for threads which should be much shorter. i also get shy a lot and dont think i communicate very effectively but HEYO we’re working on it!

DO YOU RP SMUT?:  YES / NO/ DEPENDS. haven’t had anybody brave enough to try yet lol

DO YOU PREFER TO GO INTO DETAIL?: YES / NO / DEPENDS.

ARE YOU OKAY WITH BLACK CURTAIN?: YES / NO.

- WHEN DO YOU RP SMUT? MORE OUT OF FUN OR CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT?: more for fun i’d imagine because that’s just giselles own attitude to sex and relationships where she doesnt want anything deep. it might show character development in one way of just showing how she regards others in a romantic sense to be used rather than actually appreciated as their own person and show how selfish she is but yeah, more out of fun

- ANYTHING YOU WOULD NOT WANT TO RP THERE?:  theres a few kinks and such but i dont think they’d ever really come up. again, just mainly no r*pe/dubcon.

ARE SHIPS IMPORTANT TO YOU?:   YES / NO lets hope this doesn’t make me sound like an asshole, but its more like a fun little side thing than anything important to giselle’s actual development and characterisation. 

WOULD YOU SAY YOUR BLOG IS SHIP-FOCUSED?: YES / NO. again, hardly anyone is brave enough to try to romance this evil cannibal.

DO YOU USE READ MORE?:  YES / NO / SOMETIMES WHEN I WRITE LONG STUFF.

ARE YOU:  MULTI-SHIP / Single-Ship / Dual-Ship  —  MULTIVERSE / Singleverse.

- WHAT DO YOU LOVE TO EXPLORE THE MOST IN YOUR SHIPS?: more how giselle likes to give over her power or dominate in different circumstances depending on who she’s with and what’s being done. BUT AGAIN, not a whole lot to explore yet.

ARE YOU OKAY WITH PRE-ESTABLISHED RELATIONSHIPS?: YES / NO. - i mean im down for p much anything if it vibes w giselle.

► SECTION ABOUT YOUR MUSE.

- WHAT COULD POSSIBLY MAKE YOUR MUSE INTERESTING TOWARDS OTHERS, WHY SHOULD THEY RP WITH THIS PARTICULAR CHARACTER OF YOURS NOW, WHAT POSSIBLE PLOTS DO THEY OFFER?: if you want an evil woman to taunt and mock and hurt your muse, she’s your gal. you want her to zombify and ruin your muse, shes also your gal. you want her to insult and maim and injure, she’s also YOUR GAL. basically, if you want to do anything fucked up or sad or scary, she can help with that.

- WITH WHAT TYPE OF MUSES DO YOU USUALLY STRUGGLE TO RP WITH?:  uh muses who get really angry quickly or don’t rise or respond to her jabs and are just kinda like a flatline. theres only so much pestering and annoying she can do until realises its not working and just wanders off

- WHAT DO THEY DESIRE, IS THEIR GOAL?:  to find a goal worth living for.

- WHAT CATCHES THEIR INTEREST FIRST WHEN MEETING SOMEONE NEW?:  appearance she always takes an interest in girls almost right away. age as well because she judges old people. 

- WHAT DO THEY VALUE IN A PERSON?:  a good set of guts to ruin and strong muscles.

- WHAT THEMES DO THEY LIKE TALKING ABOUT?:  women, gore, murder, herself, music, stupid memes, gossip.

- WHICH THEMES BORE THEM?:  politics, history, quincy ideology, soul reaper ideology, hollow physiology.

- DID THEY EVER WENT THROUGH SOMETHING TRAUMATIC?:  her family tried to force the burden of upholding the quincy lineage onto her shoulders, she was thrown into the wrong prison and held in isolation, then pressured to become an undying monster in service of a god and then was nearly killed by that same man and left wandering without guidance or purpose. so, yeah?

- WHAT COULD LEAD TO AN INSTANT KILL?:  transphobia. even a whiff of it in her direction and she’ll gut you like a fish.

- IS THERE SOMEONE /-THING THEY HATE?:  the twink soul reaper who outted her.

IS YOUR MUSE EASY TO APPROACH?: YES / NO. - Best ways to approach them?:  if you’re smart, you’ll bring a big bone for her to chew on and distract her while you ask whatever you want.

SOMETHING YOU MAY STILL WANT TO POINT OUT ABOUT YOUR MUSE?: i love my evil queen!

CONGRATS!!! You managed it, now tag your mutuals! ♥

Tagged by:  @bazzardburner​ cheers chicken boy !!

Tagging: @hyouketsu​ @blooming5th​ @viciousvizard​ @glacies-tempestatem​ and whoever else wishes to do this!!

[aboleth-eye]

DM Learning Moment: I F***ed Up Grappling

So...  Last night I hosted my friends again for D&D night.  They’ve been playing my campaign setting for the last two and a half years, and even with some new players we’ve always had an amazing time. It’s a heavy roleplaying campaign (originally inspired by Dark Souls and Bloodborne) with a respawn mechanic I homebrewed.

Last night, I made a HUGE error.  None of my players say I’m to blame and it was a simple mistake, but if it wasn’t this specific campaign setting I might have killed the entire party.

It’s about the Improved Grab ability from D&D 3.5.  I’ve been playing 3.5 from the start of my D&D experience.  It’s the edition I first learned and the one I love the most.  I enjoy more strategic play, customization of characters’ development, etc.

The campaign is set to a massive castle overrun with evil drow and spiders.  The rest of the setting is on an isolated island that was shoved out of time and space by the Deceivers (aka Mind Flayers).  The group is trapped in the lands surrounding the castle unless they find some relic within to free themselves and allow them to pass through.  The group enters the castle, lured by the mimicry ability of Chelicera, giant spiders that mimic voices perfectly.

So, these spiders have Improved Grab every time they successfully claw attack.  Did the group not prepare best they could beforehand?  Maybe.  But the problem is that these creatures were grappling them first round and it was incredibly hard for the players to get out.  

Then, as two characters are down and bleeding out, barely any spiders are dead; one of my players asked me about Improved Grab.  It’s a special ability that lets a monster grapple on a successful attack roll without provoking an attack of opportunity.

The group is all Medium-sized humanoids (and one half-dragon), and the spiders are also Medium.  Improved Grab, according to the SRD, only triggers on creatures one size category lower than the grappler...  It should have only triggered if anyone was Small or smaller.  I messed up big time.

My players were so kind when we all realized it.  I couldn’t speak for ten minutes, I was so shocked at how ill-prepared I was.  If this campaign didn’t have a respawn mechanic, I could have killed characters I love and adore.  My players did their best to reassure me that running a campaign is really complicated and full of details that can be easily overlooked.  We paused the combat and my players spent the rest of the session sharing D&D war stories and jokes.  I really appreciate how kind they were, but it still eats away at me.

Dungeon Masters: the lesson I impart to you is when you prepare a campaign session do a quick refresher of anything you’ve planned.  Just a brief check on what your monsters and NPCs can do would have nipped my experience in the bud and proved I was a better DM.  I love this game and how I’m constantly re-learning and getting introduced to mechanics that don’t crop up every session; but this brought me low.

I want to thank my players for being so understanding and kind.  This experience has only made me want to better myself and my skills as a storyteller and Dungeon Master.  Thanks for reading.

-- Aboleth-Eye

[kapanbenernya]

Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide 2 -- Extreme Rat Extermination Service

So not long ago, my friend told me about another game on steam that he wanted me to check out. The game in question was Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide 2. He said it’s some kind of four player co-op game like Left 4 Dead 2. Actually he needn’t explain the game to me because I actually owned Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide, the game that came before this one. I remembered buying it years ago and unable to actually play it until years later because my PC and my internet could not support the game. Actually now that I think about it, I still never get to really play it because nobody is still interested in the game. You know what? Let’s forget everything I said about it and refocus on Vermin 2.

Yeah, I’m just gonna call it Vermin 2, the full game’s name is too fucking long

In Vermin 2, you are some guy/elf/dwarf living in some Victorian Era London type of world fighting giant rats and buff white dudes. This very basic and very unrepresentative description of the world and the lore of the game might just net me an invitation to the chopping block by the Warhammer fanboys, but I don’t care. Look, it’s a Warhammer lore okay, so cheat-sheet's probably there’s a god or some gods with their respective cults and war happens, hopefully involving hammers. Here’s what I can gather from the prologue: a rat guy and some lovechild between a viking and an orc wants to open a portal to somewhere not good, and our heroes must stop them. 

Warriors from the northern region with horned helmets? Wonder where the inspiration came from

Our heroes are a ragtag band of five people which includes a soldier with kickass facial hair, a religious nutter, a fire witch, a scottish elf-woman, and discount Gimli. The gang was formed in the events of the first game which I have absolutely no idea how it happened because I didn’t play it, and I have no intention of checking the lore. I mean have you SEEN the lore? If you can be bothered to check, it’s actually rich and ornate, with multiple race and languages. That’s why I will never touch it without a 10-foot barge pole; I still aspire to have a decent sex life someday. 

But I’m getting sidetracked, so here’s how the number of heroes will affect the gameplay

The hero you choose will define your play-style. Or to be more exact, the play-style you prefer will mostly dictate which hero you will find enjoyable. You wanna be a quick whoosh whoosh DPS? Go for the elf. You wanna be a stone-wall tank? Go check out the shield-bearing duo: the soldier and the dwarf. You wanna be kinda useful and kinda useless at the same time? Go for the character that looks like he’s from Bloodborne. Interested in being the prick that fills everyone’s screen with bullshit? The fire witch’s your lady, matey. But that’s not all the depth that comes from choosing a hero. You got 3 class for each hero, each offers different passive buffs and hero skill. Don’t think you can try them all instantly though, the game’s gonna make you work for it. You will have to unlock the classes by leveling up with the first class already unlocked from the get-go. 

I mean if they didn’t do that, I’d be able to make a joke about being in a classless society etc etc.

After you’ve chosen how highly you are ranked above the local commoner, in comes the weapons. Your main bread and butter is the melee weapon. Of course there’s the good old stereotype on the weapon variety: fast but weak, strong but slow, and medium but medium. The only ones that are a bit different than the rest are the weapons that’s paired with shields, which allows you to block more incoming attacks from enemies before getting your guard broken. Okay, let’s see the variety of shield weapons available: fast but weak, strong but-oh bother, it’s just the fucking same. Mind you, these weapons are not shared among heroes, for each weapon are exclusive to one hero and one hero only. So don’t think you can cheat the game by giving the whoosh whoosh elf a goddamn mace and shield. 

But as the old adage goes: “man cannot survive on bread, rats, and buff dudes alone”, so here comes some tasty peanut butter spread to save us from blandness in the form of ranged weapons. As with the melee weapons there are also varieties of different types of ranged weapon for each hero and class, and also like melee weapons, exclusive to each hero. Now, don’t expect to me explain the uniqueness of each weapon type and/or combinations, because that shit’s up to you to try and decide which one’s up your alley. 

With those weapons explained, care for a little test drive on rats and buff dudes?

Believe me when I say there are a lot of enemy variations in this game. First off, there’s two factions of enemies going hand in hand to knock the living shit out of your party: the Skaven and the Chaos Army. Although for simplicity matters, I preferred calling them rats and buff dudes respectively, simply because that’s what they are. To start, you’ve got the mob enemies. They’re weak, plentiful, bland, and makes up for 90% of the enemy. And then there’s the elite enemies. They are enemies that have different behavior and approach towards your party. There are ones that disables a player, the ones that punishes loners and drags them away from the party, area denial, the big tanky mini-boss, and so on. These elite enemies are unique in design and therefore can be easily distinguished from the mob by audio cues and vision, especially after the in-game characters shouted callouts before the enemy can even be seen anywhere in this plane of existence. But the one thing I find curious is that design-wise and gameplay-wise, I find that the elite rat enemies are more interesting than the elite buff dudes. I mean you got the sneaky rat and the hooker rat that makes you stick together, the gas rat and fire rat that pushes you away from a beloved choke point, and gatling rat that’s 100% bullshit. But the elite buff dudes are just variations of even buffer dudes that charge in blindly with the mob with roughly the same results or fat dudes with magic hurricanes that’s just here to fuck your shit up, fam.

I gotta admit, still hilarious when it happens to everyone except you

Well, what else can I say about the game?

It’s your standard co-op four player PvE combat goddammit, what else do you wanna know? You grab your friends, choose your weapons, pick a map, and slay some rats. Simple, true and tried ever since the old age of beat em’ up games to the crowned exemplar of the 4 player co-op FPS genre: the Left 4 Dead series. But as of writing the previous sentence, why do I suddenly think that If I was given a choice to play Left 4 Dead or Vermin 2, I'd prefer Left 4 Dead? I mean they were basically the same: traverse map towards the objective, enemy mobs spawning at the worst possible timing, and stupid stupid teammates that just gotta fuck shit up right before the level exit.  After taking my time to reflect on both games, I think I kinda know why. I think it’s because some of Vermin 2′s elements is pretty fucking shit.

You see, the enjoyment of the game doesn’t stem from the gameplay alone.It’s also affected by the amount of bullshit you gotta go through to actually experience the gameplay. And with vermin 2, the bullshit comes from having to struggle with the bad netcode. My playtime was 23 hours, and I’m quite sure the amount of time I spent waiting for my friend to be able to connect to my lobby is about a third of that. No joke, you know the worst record? 30 minutes. And even after the four of us can connect, it’s everybody’s guess whether or not we’re still gonna be a four man party after the level or someone’s gonna get dropped from the lobby for no particular reason. And what happens when someone or everyone got dropped? That’s right! Restart the fucking lobby! 

And by restart the fucking lobby, I mean more gambling whether or not the fucking thing’s gonna connect again.

Another lesser complaint I got is the weapon power system. Unlike L4D which just plops you the same weapon on every campaign, in Vermin 2 you gotta find your own weapons via lootbox that you get by completing campaigns or challenges. Thing is, the weapon power you can get from the lootbox is capped based on the difficulty that you play. So get this, you start out with bad default weapons which will result in you getting beaten to mulch which motivates you to get better and better weapons until you hit the cap. What’s next? You have to move on to the harder difficulty with your capped weapons, which will result in you getting mulched again. So there you go, trapped in a cycle of mulch-ification towards better weapons. The small number of maps available didn’t help either. Only 13 maps in total, compared to 12 maps in L4D and L4D2.

13 is less than 12? This guy’s off his rockers

Yeah, yeah, dodgy mathematics aside, do remember that every map from L4D is divided into 4/5 segments each. That adds up into around 48/60 maps total, and I needn’t elaborate further to show you that 48 is bigger than 13. That’s not taking into account the numbers of custom maps readily available. Yeah, who’s the brainlet now, bozo? And I swear, the quick play is deliberately messing with my party. Somehow we always end up on the map where we gotta pop some pimples in a cave. If not that, the one where we gotta connect the lines on some temple. I swear to God, small map pool or not, this is ridiculous. It’s like this map tosses off the map RNG every once in a while so it gets chosen.

Now, if you’re a smarter person, you’d have followed the dotted lines all by yourself and successfully deducted the 20 car pile-up all these problems caused. But since unlike me and my big smarty brain, you didn’t know that 13 is less than 12, I fucking doubt it. Here let me explain to you and your slowy slowy boo boo brain.

visual pun, ladies and gentlemen

That’s right, 13 maps, 4 difficulty, and there you go on the mulch-ification cycle.  Hope you don’t get bored of running the same levels again and again before reaching the higher difficulty. I know I sure did.

In Brief

After all the spanking I gave the game in the last paragraphs, it’s still fun, and it’s still a good alternative for L4D. Especially more so if you like L4D, but you’d like it more if it was melee-focused, class-based, grindy, and all-around dodgier. It’s kind of a shame really, because I can see that this game had potential to be better, but in the end it just got tossed aside with the remark “like L4D, but made by somewhat incompetent spods”. All because while the core gameplay is very much fun and functional, the elements that support it ends up being a hindrance, not unlike a brake on a car that could go off randomly. This game kinda proves that you can make a gold bar shaped like the world’s sexiest pair of titties, but bury it in deep enough bullshit and people are going to stop giving a shit, mainly because you already had shit deep enough to fertilize the Sahara desert.

P.S.

I am very much aware that the connection problem might stem from me and my friends’ own internet connection, but I did rule it out because L4D works like magic in comparison, and this proves that SOMETHING had to be wrong with the game to cause all the connectivity problems.

27/8/2018

[kirain]

Top Ten Favourite Anime Games

For this list, I will only be including games that are specifically considered part of the anime genre, NOT games that were created by Japan Studio or other Japanese companies/creators. So games like shadow of the colossus,  Bloodborne, Metal Gear, Resident Evil, etc., won’t be mentioned. While it is arguable that such games could fit the anime genre, it’s never been clarified. So here’s a list of my top 10 anime games.

1. Gravity Rush

There’s no real order for this list EXCEPT for Gravity Rush. It is easily my number one favourite pick. I bought it for next to nothing thinking it would be a cute little experience, but it ended up gripping my interest for four days straight; which is rare for me. While at work, all I could think about was getting back to it, and it’s one of the few games with trophies that didn’t annoy me. Seriously-- not one trophy pissed me off. In every game there’s at least two or three that really grind my gears, but Gravity Rush had nada.

There are several challenges in the game that are tough but fair, and they never become boring because they’re designed in such a way that the more you play them, the better you get. You begin to learn the controls, the landscape, the shortcuts, etc., which makes for some excellent gameplay. At no point in the game do you feel like a failure, which is nice once in a while. On top of that the story is fun, the characters are lovable, and the art is breathtaking. During each new chapter, we’re given information in the form of a hand-drawn manga, which only adds to the uniqueness. The language in the game is also made up, so anyone can relate to it. And the music? Oh, don’t even get me started:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxIC6Vu1ee0&t=43s

And just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, they went ahead and created a sequel, Gravity Rush 2! It’s pretty rare, in my opinion anyway, that video games have sequels that measure up to their predecessor, but Gravity Rush 2 might be even better! It lets us revisit old friends, make new friends, explore more areas, it gives us grater challenges and a newly implemented difficulty setting, and additional online adventures that have nothing to do with achievements! What really hits me about these games, though, is the freedom. You get to fly wherever you want, anytime you want, at ridiculous speeds. The world is vast, beautiful, and so fun to navigate.

After playing and falling in love with these games, I can only assume they’re called “Gravity Rush” because they’re an absolute rush to play.

2. Devil May Cry

Specifically the first game, Devil May Cry will always have a special place in my heart. I played the game a lot when I was in grade school and kept replaying it well into my high school years. All the way up until my PS2 broke. :’)

Now, I do know that this game was created by Capcom and that it was supposed to be related to the Resident Evil franchise, but director Hideki Kamiya openly stated that the game is an anime-style hack and slash action-adventure game, and even gave the anime T.V. show, Devil May Cry: The Animated Series by Shin Itagaki, his professional seal of approval.

That said, Devil May Cry is addictive with its brutal but charming character Dante, and its dark and twisted plot/gameplay. If you’re into cool characters, blood and guts, and kick-ass combat, this is the game for you!

3. Catherine

Another nostalgic game for me, Catherine was something I played constantly when I was in high school. The animation is enticing, the story is a giant mind f*ck, and the English voice acting is stupendous. Like many story-related anime games, it has multiple endings, as well as a karma metre that wraps into your choices. The story revolves around a man named Vincent  Brooks, who is beset by supernatural nightmares while torn between his feelings for longtime girlfriend Katherine and the similarly-named beauty Catherine.

While the game is mostly a platformer, the challenges are unreal, especially in Babel (an extra area not related to the story) and the arcade game, Rapunzel. If you want your brain to turn to mush, I’d suggest setting this baby to the hardest difficulty. Naturally there’s a trophy for beating everything with a gold time, so if you get that you’ll be able to gloat to all your friends about how smart you are. XD

Jokes aside, though, there are other aspects to the game that keep you going. You won’t get bored of the platforming because between each level is the story, given to us in two distinct anime styles, and a trip to the bar, where you can get drunk and interact with other characters. Depending on the dialogue you choose, you could be responsible for their dreams coming true ... or their untimely death. A remake of the game will be coming out for PS4 next year and I can’t wait to play it!

4. No More Heroes

No More Heroes is another action-adventure hack and slash video game that follows a man named Travis Touchdown ... who is a hardcore otaku. Literally all he cares about is killing and anime, which makes for a hilarious story. Travis is also a top-class assassin in a world where assassins constantly compete. Think John Wick: The Anime. This game is full of comedy and combat, as well as cool characters, crude challenges, and a cuddly kitty cat. I played this game religiously when I was in high school, and enjoyed it even up to it’s weird mind f*ck of an ending. The only downside being that it’s only available on Wii, which made for an interesting and unique experience, but a sad realisation that it will never be available for any other platform.

5. Trauma Center: Second Opinion

Just like No More Heroes, Trauma Center: Second Opinion is only available on Wii; but that in no way affected my love for it. Second Opinion is the second game in a long line of Trauma Centers, but for some reason it’s the only one I enjoy. Perhaps it’s because playing it on the Wii gave it a sense of realism. The game is a surgery simulator, and like an actual surgeon, you have to concentrate and keep your hands steady to succeed. If you move too quickly or throw yourself off balance, the patient will die. The art and music are also incredible and, believe it or not, there’s actually a pretty interesting story that goes along with each chapter. As you work your way to more advanced operations, you really take a liking to the characters and feel a strong sense of duty to your patients. To anyone who owns a Wii, this is definitely a game I’d recommend.

6. Chibi-Robo!

Chibi-Robo! This game takes me back! I spent hours upon hours playing this game, and I still would today if my copy hadn’t been stolen. This little treat is only available on the Wii and GameCube, and was created by Nintendo. It’s one of the most adorable platform-adventure games I’ve ever played to date. The Wiki explains the plot perfectly, so I’ll just post it here:

“Chibi-Robo! takes place in a 1960s-style American home and revolves around a tiny, highly advanced robot of the same name. He is given as a birthday gift to a socially withdrawn eight-year-old named Jenny Sanderson by her father. This is much to the dismay of Jenny's mother, a homemaker who is constantly stressed over how much money her husband spends on toys despite his unemployment.”

For a game that seems so basic, there are a plethora of areas to explore and they are huge. Ironically so, I’m sure, but it makes for some amazing gameplay nonetheless. As you wander, you help other creatures around the house, including the family, solve their problems and complete challenging and often comedic tasks; such as flipping burgers, cleaning up puddles, and-- you know-- helping the egg general save his fellow egg soldiers from the household dog. Yeah, stuff like that. XD

Honestly, it’s super fun and I recommend it to anyone, no matter what their age. It’s clearly geared towards children, but I can’t think of a single reason why an adult wouldn’t enjoy it just as much. It’s relaxing, freeing, and puts a genuine smile on your face. :)

7. Pokemon X and Y

Okay, I know I probably shouldn’t add Pokemon to this list, but I can’t help it! I’ve always loved the Pokemon games, but they just get better and better every time! Pokemon X and Y quickly became favourites of mine, and they consumed my life for a good two months as I captured every single Pokemon, bred the perfect IVs, and worked my ass off to get every shiny I desired. On top of that, I loved the story and, for once, how my character design turned out. What’s more, I fell absolutely in love with the Looker side quest, which is possibly the best and most emotional side quest I’ve ever played in a Pokemon game. X and Y will always be special to me, because in was with these two games that I caught ‘em all!

8. Pokemon Sun and Moon

Visually, Pokemon Sun and Moon are the best of the Pokemon games, in my opinion. They were also the first to really shake things up and give fans new and improved methods of breeding, capture, travel, communication, and more. We were also introduced to a new type of pokemon called “ultra beasts”, along with a fun and alluring story with several new characters and legendaries. Throughout the game, I found myself laughing hard at some of the experiences, and I spent countless hours capturing, trading, breeding, spoiling, and loving all of the new pokemon the games had to offer. I even transferred my pokemon from X and Y over so I could give them the same love and affection. ^_^

I have to thank @cassafra5 and @george-nordington, because they’re the ones who bought me this masterpiece! Thanks, guys! <3

9. .hack//OUTBREAK

This is a game that will always be near and dear to my heart. Back before guides were widely available, I was playing a game called .Hack//OUTBREAK. It came out in 2002, when I was only 12 years old. Back then, my dad was still alive. He never really understood my taste in anime, but he wanted to try and relate, so he bought this game for me on a whim. Little did he know I knew absolutely nothing about the .Hack series, and little did either of us know that OUTBREAK was actually the third part to two other .Hack games. Still, I didn’t want to hurt his feelings, so I played the game-- and I fell in love.

Visually, OUTBREAK was one of the best games I owned on PS2, and although parts of the story were difficult to follow, I was hooked. I dedicated entire days to this game, and because there weren’t any guides, I had to write down every code and location so I wouldn’t get lost/forget them. Today, I still have pages folded safely in the case. The amount of exploration and character interaction opened me up to a whole new genre of video games. In fact, it basically introduced me to anime-style games. I could actually buy gifts for my friends and build relationships. That seems common now, but back then it wasn’t for a typical PS2 game.

Unfortunately, tragedy struck when the save cartridge was accidentally kicked by my brother and all of my data was lost. I wasn’t too concerned, since I figured I could just replay the game and get everything back ... but the disk was also severely, irreparably scratched. It no longer plays. As such, it is now merely a keepsake from my father. I miss you, dad.

But 16 years later and my sister and I are still quoting this game! XD @alannahkiwi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0I-7hwgwqa4

10. Persona 5

I only recently started playing Persona 5, but it’s quickly made its way to my top ten. I can’t say too much about it just yet, aside from the fact that the animation is crisp, the story is gripping, and I’m ready to sink hours of my life into platinuming this gorgeous feet of human achievement! So much heart and sole was poured into this game and it shows with every in-game step I take. This is the only game on this list that I haven’t yet finished, but I have a sense that I don’t really need to. Thus far, every mission has been a gem and I don’t want the party to end!

[diamondarmored-blog1]

Just some stuff from yesterday’s post nothin’ special particularly--

@corditeheart  Idek, it's so small that people think one comment speaks for the entire fandom

INCOHERENT HOWLING NOISES. I can’t even comprehend this mindset. Clearly I am still a summer child who knows not the struggle of fandom veterans. I was relatively late to the party and it’s still my firm opinion that people can do what they want as long as it’s not in an attempt to overwrite someone else. I sort of assume everyone else feels like that as well, so it’s never occurred to me to take one comment as law.

@ahmyhotdog I can only speak from where I've been. Most people in this fandom are nice. This is true. I've met way more nicer people than not nice. But I think part of the issue is if you don't want to people with certain people for whatever reason then a lot of others just don't seem to play with you as well? Or it could just simply be once you find people you enjoy playing with you just end up not looking for new muns to play with.

That’s true, actually! So it could be partly down to misreading peoples’ motivations for doing that? I would usually assume it’s because our headcanons don’t mesh, though I will say that’s happened to me elsewhere. I don’t think it’s the fault of the collective though, I think there are just arseholes wherever you go. Idk, I hear “x is a bad fandom” and I think of Bloodborne (INB4 SOMEONE IS A BLOODBORNE PART TIMER AND TAKES OFFENCE... @ them, come on, man, you know exactly what I mean here. BB is a mushroom cloud on the horizon for everyone else). 

@eruditorem I’ve heard things but honestly ive never seen anything and everyone has been so welcoming??? so idk either. also i dont pick my nose, i pick my butt. i  mean... wait-- dont reply to that

Mostly adding this so everyone knows Bri picks her butt

@legendaryturk Hmm.  Well I'm kind of newish to the fandom at least for RP, and I think...things just go in cycles?  I've seen ups and downs in various fandoms - not just 8, but also ffvii, doctor who, mgs, and tons of other fandoms I've RPed in.  overall I'd say ff8 has been mostly welcoming to me? it's small, and tumblr being the animal it is, people may just flock toward others who share similar writing styles or fanon. Idk, if I find I have something in common with another mun, be it writing style or fanon ideas, I'll kind of squee with them over it, but I *never* do so with the intent of excluding others, kwim? that said, there are times where I feel like muns talk around me and there's a joke I'm not in on, but, I think that's just the beast that is tumblr, and not fandom related tbh.

You were in MGS tho//// / ?!?!?/q/1/

That part about not doing it with the intent to exclude is so important tbh. So far, I’m getting the impression that most of it is misunderstanding. I can’t imagine anyone I’ve come across so far being deliberately dickish in that way. Eg, there’s one person I can think of who doesn’t really want to acknowledge me, but that’s okay, cos I know they’re a heavy Seiferx[redacted] shipper and I’ve already said I’m not, so I’d not be much use to them. We still follow each other, though, and I can’t think that they’d be all like YOU CAN’T SIT WITH ME if I spoke to them.

@diosleighrp  There's douchenozzles in every fandom who try to dictate what other fans can and can't do. It's quite unfortunate, but there are just entitled brats everywhere.

I can’t say much about this, I haven’t had it! Idk why. Maybe I’m too babbymode for the haters to have found. I have had it elsewhere though so I know what you mean and you’re right, they are definitely lurking somewhere. They’re lurking everywhere. 

@lionseed Just like American politics, it's the small angry voices that get the most attention for some reason. Sometimes there's a bad experience, and people take that as proof the fandom is shit.

MMMM and there’s always people with a bad experience to talk about because nowhere’s perfect, so I guess it’s partly on the reader to be on it enough to realise that. I would like if people within the fandom wouldn’t say that about all currently participating members though :( Obviously people can talk about their experience, good or bad, but their experience is with a person, not all of us. 

@underplater Okay, so. I will say that what I've personally experienced with the ff8 fandom is a lot of, "oh wow, I really like your blog and your take on the character you're doing. That's wonderful!" "Oh awesome, do you maybe want to do something with her/him/me?" "Uh... Maybe." Which... Means no. And then people are always all, "You just keep doing you, dear, it's wonderful," but no one sends in memes or replies to stuff? And it just.. I always feel like I'm pressed up against the glass, looking in.So I'd say my experience with the ff8 comm has definitely been that it's very insular and hard to for me, personally speaking, to break in on. ... Sorry, I'm fairly sure this was about my comment earlier? I think I was the one who used insular.... Unless, of course, I guess the problem could be me? But if it is, I wish someone would tell me so that I could drop the muses and just stop cluttering up people's dashes.

JJKASHDJASHFGGHFJDSJJHH this hurt me to read and is the main reason I’ve made time to do this reply post rn. I couldn’t remember who said what, to be honest with you and it surprises me that it was you, purely because you’re always one of the first people to come to mind when I think of “the FFVIII community”, you seem like a valued part of it to me, even if you’re not one of the most active. YOU ARE DEFINITELY NOT THE PROBLEM. I can’t really say with 100% certainty what *is*. With the meme thing, I think it depends what it is. If someone reblogs one of those “send me x and I’ll tell you about y”, I try to send it, but if it’s a starter or something that feels thready, I won’t unless I have an idea to back it with, cos it doesn’t feel any different to writing an actual starter for me. I’d rather do that, but I won’t do it uninvited/randomly because that’s putting pressure on someone who didn’t ask for it. If a lot of people do the same as me and don’t mention it, then that could be a big factor because people can well end up waiting for each other to approach without realising it. It might also be something to do with you having multiple blogs (particularly Reno) and that altering your perception. The reason I say that is because I had the exact same thing myself, I had a male muse in a fandom and everyone loved him - mostly everyone wanted to lowkey do him tbh - and I had a female one who got comparatively zero attention because she wasn’t as accessible to such a wide audience. Ellone in particular is a complex character and it’s a sad fact that people tumblr-wide aren’t always into the idea of paying attention to something before they interact with it. Reno is much more easy to interact with in a casual way, since he’s had more exposure in source material and is widely regarded as being a fun, not-serious character (though I acknowledge he very likely IS, and I know from experience that you will have put a lot of thought into him - I love Reno and anything that gives him some substance). He attracts people from further afield, people who might have only seen Advent Children or only know him through fan works. Ellone doesn’t have a movie or much fanfic, and she’s not really subject of the most popular speculation (lbr - by that I mean “who she’s sleeping with”), so she doesn’t have that far a reach. Your Ellone is so valuable to the whole community, you have a hell of a lot to share in your headcanons and your ideas. I haven’t seen you use Julia too much yet, but I’m sure she’ll be that way too. I think you should pick one of those ideas, pick someone who seems like they could pull it off and tell them about it, because I’m so sure 90% if not 100% of us would thread them with you. That’s all I do tbh!! I’m always prepared for someone to say no, but mostly they’re happy to have been approached with an idea to use as a starting point. PLEASE DON’T DROP THEM. You’re not cluttering up anything. I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s sad to see you inactive on her whenever you are, tbh. I don’t think you realise how essential she is. I know it’s a small, slow fandom, but anything you post raises the overall standard for the sheer fact you did it, and it had your characteristic level of consideration put in. Course, I’m probably biased, cos I think I can tell when people work more behind the scenes than out front on their muse and the related background and I appreciate that, always have.

@misplacedxheroics .... I'm hoping this is permitted that I comment, as it was my blog where you read this post. I'm only addressing what I've experienced in the community, not trying to speak for everyone here. In my personal experience with VIII, more often than not, I see a lot of the insular behavior mentioned. Several blogs that start up are made to feel so unwelcomed that they leave or close up shop. Then there are the pass/agg anons, the ones who attack strong female characters (OC or otherwise) and 'correct' headcanons for canon characters. Whoever the person is, I have to believe it's just one single person. But anons have begun to reach out and outright tell people who they can or can't write with, which is baffling. And lastly, I'm guilty of this, and I'll own it -- We also become so comfortable and so familiar with who we write with we don't try out other players. There's also the overlap of muns playing with 'private' blogs. To me, the word 'private' tells me I don't have access to them. So what's the bother in following or engaging if everyone who writes muses that are in the fandom closed off to the rest of us? I can't say how the fandom should be run, I know I'm the least liked person in this fandom but this is my experience. A very polarizing, cold and unwelcoming experience.  We need to communicate more among one another, set clear boundaries and maintain community and unity, imo.

I think private is just a word people slap on a blog to make it look legit these days, or as a get-out clause if they find themselves followed by some kind of My Immortal Eldritch horror. Least, that’s what I’ve seen in my travels. Private blogs seem to favour their existing friends, but be open to others who will bring them ideas. I had one blog I called private and that’s because I kept getting people saying “wanna rp?” and I’d be like “yeah okay” and they’d literally say “alright you come up with an idea then”. ? / / //???? Also... I’m trying to word this in the least mean-sounding way possible because I’m not one to shit on anyone’s parade, but if I’m really honest with you, I had to unfollow you on an older blog because you were posting vagues about people so often. I don’t mind when people vent, but it got to the point where it was almost every day someone was on blast and I felt like I’d walked in on a family argument. You can do what you want with your blog, it’s on me to unfollow if I don’t like it, so I did. But. Any oversensitive person seeing it probably assumed you meant them and that might have something to do with you finding it difficult to connect with people. You follow that up by slating the entire fandom when it’s not exactly a fandom problem, which makes people less likely to approach you as you’ve already indirectly blasted them. I’ve had people tell me more than once that you’ve posted something about me without naming me; notably when you made a point of reblogging that one anti-Xu post from an inactive account after saying you hate people who disagree with you “on purpose”. I had just posted a silly Xu support one liner that got a few reblogs. I don’t really have a fig to give whether it was about me or not, but it’s a good example of how a vaguepost causes negative ripples. If one person assumed that was about me, another ten probably guessed it was someone else. I was welcomed to the fandom with a couple of how-do-you-dos and an anon telling me to stay away from you or you’d bully me into deleting. That was the first of several. Then you got that anon telling you to stop sending me hate when you hadn’t (what basis did that have?), and one of your friends for some reason assumed I was the one who had sent it and demanded that “anon” show IP proof, which gives the impression that they’d been led to believe it was me for some reason. I know you said you didn’t understand the logic behind me saying that, but we’re both running Statcounter, you know as well as I do how it works and what the implications are of saying that. It’s also how I know the anons I’ve had that I’ve mentioned are not all one person. Maybe it really was a totally out-of-nowhere thing that person said, but when you combine it with the vagues and the assertions that there’s a split in the fandom that no one else (so far) has detected, it causes bigger problems than it would on its own. I’m not trying to put you on blast, this ain’t a callout post and I haven’t taken any of it to heart - it’s no big deal to me - I’m just trying to offer an outsiders’ perspective because I read this as you being honestly oblivious to it, and if I didn’t I’d either have to ignore your comment or lie to you, neither of which I think you’d appreciate - and I assume since you made the effort to drop in despite not following me that you would want a response.

[katyspersonal]

8, 12 & 14 for the Soulsborne asks !

sdjdfs Noooo don't worry you are fine! xD But yeah, number 14 is about what game got me into series. Bloodborne not only got me into series though, but also was my first experience with PS4. And my REASON to finally buy PS4.

(Asks from this ( x ) meme)

8. Do you have any fond coop memories? Does a specific moment stand out to you?

I do not know if helper NPCs summons count as co-op, because I never played a Soulsborne game online, and probably never will. Online just doesn't work and I gave up trying to fix it. :s

IF summons of NPCs count though, I will say, my fondest memory was the only, and I mean the ONLY time when Damian actually arrived BEFORE I got killed by Rom! fsdjfhs There is a glitch that makes him appear all TOO late every time, I love to joke that that time he finally overcame his arachnophobia fjhfhds xD

12. Are there any ships you enjoy? 

In perspective, I am able to enjoy any ship, given I find the right angle to look from, right interpretation, etc. Even if ship is random. Or cursed. I mean I disliked Bradmon at first, and now look!

I will, HOWEVER, use this ask to mention the 🅱️loodborne ships that I like but apparently that "do not exist", hahaha!

Maria x Ludwig (hey, they unintentionally side with the same deity, too!)

Henriett x Iosefka (wow that went WELL...)

Edgar x Rom (Mico's enablers unite!)

Archibald x Micolash (mad scientists that never shut up!)

Valtr x Djura (thing of the past, I feel like Djura was the one to take Valtr under his wing after his... interesting arrival)

Patches x Rom (mfw it actually makes sense)

Simon x Yamamura (Gratia keeps helping them, because without her they will die from fueling each other's depression)

Damian x Yurie (people that didn't fit in with their respective factions)

Izzy x Ludwig (more cursed than Bradmon by large margin)

Rom x Adeline (is this even a ship? more like besties, and reserved for an AU where both lived longer)

Rom x Maria (Maria's type of a woman but one she doesn't feel so guilty with? that might help)

Patches x Chester (whatever happened with Chester that threw him into DS verse was something they discovered with Patches together and I will DIE on this hill)

Damian x Rom (short-lasted but happy)

Laurence x Logarius (cleric and swordsman but EVIL version!)

Okay this list was longer in my mind. I will stop having such a strong Rom brainrot and focus on other characters, I promise :'(

[oneddashone]

Games of the Year 2019

GOOD

Wargroove

Yoshi's Crafted World

Nintendo Labo Toy-Con 04: VR Kit

Boxboy + Boxgirl

Puyo Puyo Champions

Dragon Quest Builders 2

Daemon X Machina

Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

Killer Queen Black

Luigi's Mansion 3

Pokemon: Sword & Shield

The games in this part of the list are in a weird kind of neutral zone—way too good to be left off the overall list, but not wholeheartedly recommended without at least one caveat. All are good, and most are probably worth your time, but each is missing a certain something to justifiably slot them into the upper echelons.

The one standout here is Link's Awakening—I couldn't justify moving it to the next tier up, as it's really just a straight remake of a decades-old Game Boy game—but good lord, what a remake it is. The original was my all-time favorite game until Breath of the Wild came out two years ago, and I played and beat this remake in less than a week. Seeing map areas and locales that I knew like the back of my hand remade in gorgeous tilt-shift HD was a real highlight this year.

RECOMMENDED

Tetris 99

Ape Out

Baba is You

Gato Roboto

Slay the Spire

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Wilmot's Warehouse

Untitled Goose Game

Sayonara Wild Hearts

These are all fantastic games that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to anyone. Tetris 99 came out of nowhere and sounded like a joke at first—Tetris but...battle royale?—but it just completely works, and the special events on various weekends this year always drew me back in.

None of the rest of the list was developed or published by Nintendo, but all appeared on the Switch—so much for the idea that Nintendo doesn't know how to work with third parties. Ape Out's core gameplay, visual aesthetic, and killer interactive soundtrack made for a great experience the first time, and an even better one on NG+. Baba is You took a very simple genre, made one slight tweak, and nourished that idea into 200+ levels of mind-bending puzzles. Wilmot's Warehouse used a similar push-block mechanic, but instead used it to create a game about organizing things—and for the right kind of weird person, of which I am one, this is an incredible game experience. Gato Roboto and Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night each successfully riffed on the Metroidvania genre in different ways, but with similarly fantastic results (although to be fair, the latter needed a late patch to justify its inclusion on this list).

Slay the Spire was a hands-down favorite. Deck-building games are a genre I've wanted to get into but never quite have—until now. Spire checked the same boxes in my brain that last year's Into the Breach did—your enemies show their intentions ahead of time, giving you as much time as you need to plot your strategy; and yet, one slightly undercooked move later and it all falls apart. I've been coming back to this one all year and, as someone who regularly undercooks their own moves, will likely continue to do into next year.

Untitled Goose Game was arguably more popular as a meme than as a game, but the relatively simple gameplay was buoyed by some of the most genuinely hilarious interactions I've ever experienced in a game. My 8 year old is still hiding behind corners, waiting to spring an unexpected HONK on her poor old dad.

Another game that succeeded almost despite its gameplay was Sayonara Wild Hearts. It's hard to describe this game—it's almost a rhythm game, but not really; it has a story, but it's ambiguous and none of the characters are even named; there's not much gameplay, but I wouldn't want to watch it passively as a movie—needless to say it's unlike anything I've ever played before. I finished it in two sessions back to back, and was completely enthralled by the colors, environments, the aforementioned ambiguous narrative—but mostly it was the music. Because make no mistake, this game has a goddamned tremendous soundtrack, and it carries through the whole experience. Actually, maybe I do know what kind of game this is—a video game LP.

ESSENTIAL

Mario Maker 2

Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Dragon Quest XI S: Definitive Edition

A big update, released a few months after it came out, single-handedly moved Mario Maker 2 up a tier. The game was already great—proving that even though the Wii U gamepad was the impetus for Mario Maker’s creation, it was not required for it to be fun—but the addition of online multiplayer firmly established that this was a must-have for the platform. Yes, building courses is still great, playing a seemingly infinite amount of user-made courses is great, and yeah, Nintendo even included about 100 of their own courses in a single player "story" mode this time—but it all pales in comparison to competitive, multiplayer Mario. I've referred to the mechanics of 2D Mario as a language one might learn to speak, and it's one that I'm personally fluent in; but now, for the first time, it's a language that I can converse in online with my friends.

We devoted an entire podcast episode to Fire Emblem: Three Houses for a good reason—for the first time, at least in the US, this entry in the Fire Emblem series can comfortably stand toe-to-toe with any other major first-party Nintendo release. Having been largely relegated to handhelds in the past, this entry finally matches the scope, production value, and polish of any other "big budget" Nintendo game on the Switch. Combat remains mostly unchanged, which is fine, but there are two main things that set this entry apart compared to its past. First, the setting of the school, with your character as the teacher, sets up a monthly calendar-based schedule of training students and then taking them onto the battlefield. This loop is addictive and lends itself to the second major change—the cast, namely your students, are some of the most fully fleshed out (and therefore the most agonizing to protect from permadeath) characters the series has ever seen—and this is a series with a tremendous backlog of great characters. I cared about every student in my class and was deeply invested in getting the best out of each and every one of them. That there are four story paths amongst the titular three houses adds a ton of replay value, and when all was said and done this missed out on GOTY by a hair.

Vanilla Dragon Quest XI came out on PS4 last year, but true heads knew that this was the version to wait for. The story goes that Satoru Iwata, before the Switch was even named the Switch, personally reached out to Square Enix and made one final request before passing away—release this game on our new console. For me, Dragon Quest (Dragon Warrior) and Nintendo go hand in hand, and this "S: Definitive Edition" was well worth the wait. The story is typical Dragon Quest—all charm and polish, not a ton of surprise or deep substance—but this Switch edition added to the base story, introduced a new mode where you visit each of the ten locales from previous games in the series, updated the much-maligned music from the original to a new fully-orchestrated score, and imported the Japanese-only 3DS's "2D Mode." It's a lot of game in one package, and I'm still working my way through the back-half of the game, but every hour I continue to spend with this game is a treat. You won’t play a more charming game all year.

Any of these, in a different year, could have been my GOTY.

GOTY

Super Smash Bros Ultimate

Alright let's get this out of the way first—technically this game came out in December of last year. It even made my "Essential" list last year. Here's what I said about it: "SSB Ultimate came on late but hit hard—I played it with friends every night for weeks after release. This one is gonna last well into next year and beyond."

Well that was an understatement. Well over 250 in-game hours later, no other game defined my 2019 like Super Smash Bros Ultimate. I continued playing this game online with friends nearly every night for roughly the first half of the year, and it's still not really out of the rotation. Part of that is due to just how much *game* is here—we mostly played it competitively, which is to say, no items, 1v1, etc. But there's also a robust single player mode, in-game events, balancing options that allow me to play it relatively competitively with my 8 year old, and of course we always have the option to turn everything on and go full-on party mode. Then throw in a new character roughly every other month (s/o to Hero and Terry, two of my favorites to play currently) plus a robust online community generating dialogue, gifs, and highlight videos on a nearly daily basis (s/o YEET Smash), and you have the recipe for a game that's going to hold my attention for the foreseeable future.

I could go on and on about the fan service, or about the impossibly good job Sakurai and co are doing balancing 80ish characters (plus item interactions), or about Nintendo finally starting to get serious about supporting a tournament community, but ultimately the decision to rank this one first comes down to this—2019 was a difficult year for me personally, but when I look back on it, the absolute fondest memories I have of playing games this year were playing Smash with my friends. It was true of Bloodborne in 2015, and it's true of Smash now.

[invokingbees]

Dark Souls

Just beat the remaster and I have feelings. I know I am very very late to this game, but fuck you! I’m talking about it.

tl;dr at the very bottom.

My general, overall impression, fresh off beating the game + DLC is, well, frank astonishment at how underwhelmed I was. Yeah, sorry to be like this but I didn't really enjoy myself. I didn't completely hate it, but I'm not feeling a particular pull to play it again, NG+ or new build. There are no parts, sections, events, areas, fights which make me go 'I wanna experience that again'. Nothing stood out to me as 'wow that was really cool'. Some clarification: I played this series in absolute ass backwards order. Bloodborne, to DaS3, to DaS2, to DaS3 again, to Demon's, to DaS1R. Of course I have also been spoiled beyond imagination, but then again, I was spoiled on every game, more or less. Maybe the problem is with that order, I dunno. But after having gone back, with all my knowledge on how those games work and play, knowing how to get into it, man, I just really didn't like it and I feel a little sad.

I played, or at least tried to play, a pure caster, but found that to be pretty much impossible. Magic charges, while I appreciate being able to stack them and not having a shared ammo pool, are badly hindered by the lack of any replenishment beyond sitting at a bonfire. Miss a soul spear? Too bad, it's gone unless bone home or sit down. A fresh/old spice equivalent would have been appreciated, but after how powerful magic was in Demon's Souls, I guess From wanted to tone it down, but they ended up nerfing it into near uselessness. Being a caster and having to rely primarily on a melee weapon, with magic either a desperate back up or to be saved for a boss, felt wrong. I used spears throughout the game for range, but their narrow hitboxes got me in trouble a bunch of times. Not to mention to sheer lack of variety, I ended up using three spear weapons only for their damage types rather than to try something new and fun. Armour was heavily restricted due to low stamina, as points needed to go elsewhere for me to have any chance in combat. All of this combined created a pretty painful experience.

And the ring problem. I had the ring of favour equipped as it boosted my otherwise low stats and allowed me a smidgen of freedom in what to wear. That left me with one ring slot which, although it got swapped out at intervals for some specific situations, sat on the Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring. And there's the problem of the Dusk Crown not only be necessary for a damage boost, but looking absolutely horrendous. It's not like Demon's Souls didn't have stuff like this – the ring of magical sharpness was required for powerful spells and the Old Monk's Headwrap further empowered your magic and was ugly to look at. But Demon's Souls also had replenishable magic from a variety of sources, so nerfing yourself wasn't too much of a blow. In Dark Souls, though, you gotta wear that ring, wear that awful crown. Your options for how you look become even more limited on top of low stamina. And of course that prohibits how much damage you can take, too. Many deaths were had very quickly. That's to say nothing of just how slow and clunky absolutely everything felt. I load up Demon's every so often and am surprised how well such an older game holds up, and especially compared to Dark Souls. Demon's was faster, more fluid, more responsive, whereas Dark Souls, when I should be the equivalent of a god, still felt weak as hell. High levels in Demon's feel truly powerful.

The world. Looking at it as objective as I can, it's very well crafted. The shortcuts, the way everything layers is all very nicely done, opening places up was interesting, seeing where things went, where they led back to, clearly a ton of thought was put into physical make up of Lordran. I just wish I had actually enjoyed these places. Every area I beat, every boss that died, I thought to myself, that goodness that's done with. And it just kept happening. Most of the locations, visually, were fine. I have to say, nothing much stood out to me as pretty, or awe-inspiring, or cool, etc. The two places which had any impact beyond 'oh jeez what now' were Ash Lake (even though it looks...bad, graphics-wise) and Kiln of the First Flame (which is in reality just a really big Below The Nexus). That's about it. Places that stand out to me as absolutely detestable, though, numero uno on that list is Blighttown. What an absolute pile of unfun shit, irritating on every level, somehow actually managing to be worse than Demon's Souls’ Valley of the Defilement and buddy, let me tell you something, that's an achievement. It's mercifully shorter than the Valley, I guess. Demon Ruins and Lost Izalith were just as bad as everyone says they are – blatantly unfinished, slapped together jokes. Sour the experience badly. Anor Londo was quite vexing with the archers, of course, the *coughcough*Latria demons*coughcough*  were quite the pain for a spear-user. Everything else I'm struggling to remember even now because, honestly, nothing stuck. The DLC was short and okay. The Abyss was kind of annoying but didn't particularly bother me once I had cleared it out of items. I liked the Humanity sprites floating around.

I want to say that it was later games that spoiled my experience of this, I want to say that the refinement of combat, graphics and music spoiled my enjoyment of an older product, but I can't say that because I played Demon's Souls before this and I can honestly say, 100%, without a suggestion of a mere hint of contrarianism or nostalgia, that I think Demon's Souls was a better game. I think a big problem that’s always in the back of my head, is down to simple taste on the themes and tone. Dark Souls is a game set long, long after a golden age, where the world is winding down, the heroes are long gone, the gods are dead, everywhere is deserted and curse besets the planet. It's a melancholy, tragic, sad, tired atmosphere, full of colossi that are shadows of themselves and we're all running on fumes, ready to go hollow at the drop of a hat. And that, frankly, doesn't interest me. It's just not my thing. Demon's Souls presented a world FALLING apart, at the tail end of a collapse that's still kinda-sorta-happening. We're in the midst of a bad shit as we explore the remains of the world. And Bloodborne presents to us a world in the very midst of an apocalypse, on the night of a hunt. More importantly, Demon's Souls and Bloodborne have very overt tinges of horror to them. Bloodborne, especially, of course, but take one look around the Tower of Latria in Demon's and you'd be hard pressed to believe you weren't in the middle of a survival horror. Demon's Souls atmosphere is unparalleled and I think Bloodborne meets it. There's an oppressive feeling to everything in Demon's, Boletaria feels terribly hostile, Latria is a hellscape designed by alien-minded madmen, the Shrine of Storms wants you dead and Valley of Defilement want you out. Stonefang...doesn't seem to care, and in my opinion is the weakest part of Demon's Soul. Valley sucks, sure, but it gets Maiden Astraea. It's the more horror-bent to DeS and BB that make them shine to me, that draw me in. Dark Souls doesn't have that anywhere. It comes closest in the Duke's Archives, but never quite gets there and is absent everywhere else.

Can I admire and respect Dark Souls? Absolutely. It was a big, bold project in an era of gaming that shouldn't have welcomed it and it took much work and was clearly handled with passion. It put From Software on the map and paved the way for an entire new subgenre. It was a trendsetter. It has already gone down in history as a classic and massive meme game. It'll affect us for years to come. But did I actually like it? No, not really. I think Demon's Souls was a more memorable experience with a mix of tone, theme, character and atmosphere we won't ever see the likes of again. I think Bloodborne is a fucken masterpiece of goddamn everything that won't be easily be beaten in its masterful handling of gothic, cosmic and pretty much ever flavour of horror in a fast-paced action game. So yeah, it's a let down for me. I wish it wasn't this way, but alas, I'll have to wait til Shadows Die Twice for more From Software goodness, and hopefully, a more horror-tinged take on the historical Japanese setting.

tl;dr I didn't really like it and although I understand its importance, I think other games did it better

[katyspersonal]

Hey hey! Real quick, what's your dynamic for Queen Annalise and King Cain? You are one of the only two people with a king in mind lol. Also, Anna is underrated she deserves some interest

Thems!!!!!!!!!!!

Well first things first, 'Cain' is a nickname I do use so far as I don't know what his real name could be yet. Naming characters is THE hardest part don't @ me! It is lost in translation but it is said that name of Queen Yharnam has been inherited for generations, so I came up with this headcanon that upon unholy marriage by Pthumerian ritual (with ring of betrothal you can propose to Annalise with, in order to start conception of a blood child) they do assume these names. A Queen assumes name Yharnam, and a King assumes name Cain. Something that ended up not happening because Executioners bursted in before the ritual was complete.

Annalise and Cain have been friends since childhood as Cain, and current Crow of Cainhurst, were children of the staff (the guy executing the wrongdoers that deserved (?) it, never pictured on the portraits because that's not a worker anyone needs to know the face of). Cain seemed to have been keeping somewhat of a respectful 'distance' since age like, 6, when he started to understand his and others' feelings more but it was not because of her status as a princess. Rather, he just admired her as a person - smart, talented, already acting regal in moreso serious than spoiled way. He early learned that lying to her or arguing with her was a bad idea so they formed a bond where he would be genuine with her and give her advices in such a way that it'd feel as if she came up with a good decision instead. Annalise, on the other hand, learned to appreciate the rare person not trying to benefit from her status, nor attempting serious influence on her. It is a kind of friend royalties gotta learn to treasure as they're so rare.

Around teen years, like 15, Cain would develop a habit to bring her various gifts he'd make himself passing them as 'just gestures for his friend' but Annalise wasn't stupid, and it was the first time since childhood they had a bad fight again because... well, he forgot that lying to her was a bad idea now? xD She wasn't stupid and realised his crush and was upset he'd try to be elusive about it. But he had a reason to, because they did not even have a hope to marry when they're older - as a princess she did have to think about "continuing the bloodline" and all that nonsense, right? Needed to marry someone efficient for the purpose.

She also had a say on his gifts being cute but 'pointless' since she could have bought everything she wanted anyways, however he'd continue gifting them anyway, and she'd continue to secretly stash them all in a secret room. One of them was a ribbon thing that you see wrapped around the helmet she is wearing in game though that he gifted her when he no longer wanted to wear it - it is now used as a (working) lucky charm to not lose herself completely since her mind transcends physical realm now.

Around time they grew up, thanks to Byrgenwerth, Cainhurst was finally able to get in touch with their lost heritage that they kept failing to retract from the dungeons (just look at all the armours of fallen Cainhurst warriors scattered down there!). Things sort of changed, a lot. Cain became a captain of the Knights (that Maria inspired) and his brother became a guardian tasked with seeking blood dregs for her, but more importantly? They now could marry! Officially!

However that "marriage" would mean a terrible fate for Cain as the 'king' figure is a final sacrifice when the child of blood is born, but at this rate both Annalise and Cain were going almost insane for the prospect of what new future their whole clan could have. If Cain was scared - she'd convince him it was worth it, if Annalise waw scared - he'd convince her he's ready to take fate worse than death for her ambitions and dreams, basically they entered a loop none could escape thanks to the effort of another. His feelings for her only grew stronger though and he was feeling happy - they liked to sit at the two thrones near each other as kids to play and as teens to pretend they could be the royal couple, but now they finally were doing it for REAL!

So yeah as you can see, they still had somewhat imbalanced relationship but funny enough it was not because of their (previously) varying statuses - it was a combination of Cain being a simp malleable and Annalise being assertive. By the time they proceeded with the ritual, both were so insane for their pursuit that they compared with Byrgenwerth scholars themselves and did not realise they were sacrificing the future they did want for the future they had no even clear idea what would bring, for a child they would not even get to raise together! They were desensitised for something more important but by now Annalise came to her senses and regrets having lost the sight of simple things that made her human... err, vampire? Well you get the point!

She won't say it though, but even if now Executioners are not here to abort a second attempt at a blood child, she won't try again even with as much as a stranger she has no big backstory with, so she refuses our proposing. Not much because of feeling too lonely to give a company already - she used to it over many years, plus she can transcend dimensions while asleep as someone with immortal mind even if her body is dead. But mostly because that'd be an admission Cain was just a 'pawn', a 'failed attempt' and be a disgrace to his fate; it is too late but it doesn't mean she should proceed after such a horrible mistake. I'd say it is a rare courage to stop with the wrong way even if it is too late to redeem and repent and mistakes can't be fixed, something all the mad clerics + scientists in the settings did NOT have, so maybe I hurried to compare her with an average Byrgenwerth student?..

(Needless to mention that for this sort of "marriage" gender of the 'king' figure doesn't matter (we can propose no matter what gender our Hunter is!). If the person is by default infertile of just isn't packed with what they need to impregnate the 'queen' with a child of blood - they undergo a painful physical change as part of a ritual, though.)

Also slight notice, he is shorter than her!