#and all the bosses have actual strategies and combos and stuff

[stelladess]

I feel like using very powerful operators but your own strategy that you thought of takes more skill then copying exactly one to one a low rarity guide with the same exact timings and operators and everything does.

Ive mentioned before I have played a LOT of yugioh in my life and in trading card game circles there is a term called "netdecking". Where basically you copy another person´s deck (usually from the internet, thereby the "net" part).

There are a lot of reasons why people consider it bad, it being uncreative, stealing another person´s work but the one relevant to my point here is that it requires no understanding of *why* the deck is constructed like it is.

In my opinion the best way to build your deck is to decide on what kind of deck you want, build a cheap but solid enough version of that as you can (konami is making the "cheap" part harder and harder of course but still, on master duel it is still doable for many). And then you play with it. You see what works and what doesnt, you iterate over time, removing cards you end up not having use for and adding stuff that will help your strategy or counter things that gives you trouble. A lot of these things you add may also be engines or staples you can then put into a new deck once your old one has fallen behind from power creep or gotten everything banned, although certain themes are convenient in that they almost always work at least (shaddolls, branded, bystials, tearlaments and zombies are all some of my favorite deck types in part because they are very resistant to getting outdated, dragon combo is another one like that I just do not like using it).

This way you understand why every single card is there. You learn how to use them and WHY you use them instead of some other card. The adjustments you make you know the reasoning that went into. So a netdeck might not be terrible as the first version, but you should iterate on it based on your experience if you do that, and try to think about why the person who made this deck made the decisions they did (I also think this might be a risky starting point because it will likely be much more expensive then the approach I outlined since most really good decks will have a lot of cards that either were already pricy or just shot up in price after that).

If you do not understand your deck you cannot play it well no matter how good the deck is.

I have a similar issue with following guides completely. Watching them and trying to understand why the person who made the strategy does what they do is good, but if you just copy them without trying to get the actual thinking behind the strategy you are just gonna be stuck playing increasingly difficult parts of the game without having had to overcome the challenge to get there.

Chapter 7 is one of my favorite chapters of Arknights from a pure gameplay perspective because it really kicked my ass when I first got to it as a new player. It forced me to see weaknesses in my own roster (no levelled shifters, lacking vanguards, etc). And my favorite map is H12-4 because it presented so many little problems to solve and to beat it was this long process of having to isolate each problem and figure out a solution to it, one that didn't step on the toes of a previous solution for another problem. And sure some of those solutions ended up being "pull for Eyjaberry so I dont have to worry so much about elemental damage" but it still meant I was thinking about what the actual challenges of the map were and how to counter those. But a key thing of H12-4 is that it is a map that no matter how OP your roster gets you still have to use your head to beat. It is the the best boss battle in the entire game by a huge margin currently and I really hope we can get more as good as it in the future.

Anyway I think it is just more interesting to actually solve things by thinking about it yourself. Even if it requires you to use more powerful options then someone who does it with like only 3 and 4 stars and a single 6 star. The people coming up with those strategies are like, experts at the game. And it is far more valuable for a new player to actually learn to play on their own and make their own strategies, the basics, before they can work on gaining a deeper understanding and doing more challenging stuff. It takes time to get to the skill level where you can get the prestige of clearing the hardest maps in the game with no 6 stars or only welfare operators or stuff like that.

[crystalelemental]

Okay so I picked up another demo, now that I'm done with Unicorn Overlord demo. I am a wee bit late to the party on this, but decided to try Triangle Strategy. And this is. A very different experience.

I played for about an hour and a half. Approximately 10 minutes of that was the one (1) map. The entire rest of the game was scenes, and a bit of exploration. In comparison to Unicorn Overlord, which is incredibly fast-paced, this game is veeeeery slow.

The story itself isn't bad by any means. But it's also not that interesting? Like it's fine, but I'm not wowed by much. the protagonist is fairly bland, his friends are fairly bland, Frederica is cute but not particularly interesting, your dad having Old Man Disease at 40 is tragic I guess. The background cause of the war and the fact that all parties seem pretty on the level right now is the most interesting angle. But it hasn't exactly gripped me.

Which is really weird! I'm like an hour and a half in, with barely any gameplay, and despite all this story and character stuff, I have very little to say about them. I don't feel like they're any more developed than the Unicorn Overlord crew, which wasn't exactly a hugely developed group either. It's just an odd, slowly paced experience that doesn't have a whole lot to show for that.

As for the minor gameplay I did engage in, it's fine. Fire Emblem-esque grid movement, but you only attack on your turn (barring counter skills), and positioning matters. After each turn, you need to determine which way your character faces, and the direction you attack from matters, in as much as striking from the back is a sure-crit. There's elevation tactics as well, but that didn't seem to save the cav dude who got fucking annihilated when opponents got behind him and wombo comboed his ass to high hell. Was probably supposed to use healing items but it's map 1 and permadeath isn't a thing, your ass is grass dude. I admit that I think it's a little more involved than I think it needs to be, but I did at least recruit a girl whose stealth tactics are interestingly integrated by having two actions to facilitate getting behind the opponent to attack, and what I assume is the armor knight who moves less distance having the counter skill. Oh, and if you surround them, your ally that attacks from the other side will combo for bonus damage.

The...I forget what they're called. The 3 point stock things you can spend for skills. They're...odd. For characters like Frederica and butler-man, you need 2 for your special, and recover 1 every turn, so you can't do that every turn. But then you have the protagonist's delay attack, or Heal. And these are 1 point free actions. So I seem to be allowed to do this infinitely without any kind of issue. And...maybe it's just me, but nonstop infinite heal seems really fucking good, dude. it's also very...reminiscent of Octopath Traveler, in that it very, very feels like endgame is a matter of maximizing these points for a specific character to spam their big attack to deal with huge HP values on bosses.

I did take a peek at the forge system. Fun fact, I generally don't like forge systems. I dunno, man, just trade out the weapon. The system eats a lot of money, and takes consumable resources, which...okay. Depending on the availability of resources, I might hate this one. We'll see.

I still need to get more gameplay to feel like I have a sense of how the gameplay is. And hilariously, am still waiting for the story to actually ramp up. I'm guessing that will happen at exactly the moment the demo ends.

[a-song-of-flowers]

So long, and thanks for all the fish

...and gags. And laff points. And cogs I sent into the shadow realm with my wedding cakes.

So I haven't posted on this blog since 2022. Honestly, I almost forgot this blog existed! But I figured it's about time I posted something 'official' in case any of you have wondered where I've been.

I've quit Toontown Rewritten, to the point of uninstalling the game from my computer. I've honestly just grown bored with the game, as I've finished the main bulk of it and have been stagnant in the whole Field Office endgame of it all. We're all familiar with the whole grinding for gags, stuff for cog suits and promotions, and all the little side activities just to get laff point boosts (I've actually fully completed gardening and golf), and on top of devoting tons of time into fighting the cog bosses (FOs included), I've felt that was all just too much for me.

You probably have noticed all the little rants about other toons on this blog and how their bad play made me tired and frustrated, and honestly, just stepping away from the game altogether and avoiding all that trouble was better for my mental health. I've since graduated from university and started a full-time job, and that alone takes a lot of time from my day. I simply don't have the energy anymore to devote an hour or so into FOs and grinding and all that. I don't hate the game by any means, it still has a nostalgic place in my heart. I just don't want it to end up being the only thing I absolutely have to play every day like another full-time job, lol. I think I'm a little past the target demographic now, anyway.

This is just a fun, silly little game I enjoyed playing back when it was owned by Disney and I definitely don't need to devote so much energy into thinking about gag strategies and having to either deal with other toons who don't know better or being yelled at myself for not knowing gag combos and whatnot. I will still keep this blog up with all the memories and funny moments I've experienced on this game archived, but I will not be posting anything new.

My friend @thunder-and-lighting, who I've played TTR with and shouted out here many times, still continues to play this game and updates me in our little shared Discord server with things they accomplish. I'm not sure if they will continue the legacy we've started and will post their own funny moments in-game, but you're welcome to head over to their blog and give them a follow. Feel free to let them know I sent ya.

I have a sideblog dedicated to the Sims 4, my new big game I've been putting a bit of time into. You're welcome to follow that blog if you want to keep up with my other gaming ventures, or maybe you'd like my nostalgic media sideblog if you're interested in stuff like the original Toontown that was entertainment from back in the day. Or just come chill at my main blog, where I share anything I find cool. Sometimes, I talk about my own original characters and even share artwork. Feel free to drop me a line if you want to chat, too! Totally no pressure or anything.

~ Rose Flowersong, signing out for the last time. 🌸

[ben-talks-art]

Top 10 favorite Yu-Gi-Oh! Gx duels

I love Yugioh! Gx! I love Yugioh! Gx!I love Yugioh! Gx! God, I freaking love Yugioh! Gx!

Love its weird cast of characters, I love its weird idea of a school of duel monsters and secret cults, and evil space lights, I love its over-the-top boss monsters that all look like the coolest toys on the planet, and I just love, love, love its duels!

I suddenly got in the mood to talk about Gx so, why not talk about the duels I like the most?

10. Jaden vs. the Reaper hand

This is a duel that's interesting because of the themes around it. The game itself isn't really that memorable, the antagonist of the episode simply has an OTK deck that burns the opponent once the conditions of his spell are met but Jaden finds a way to interrupt him.

No, the actual cool thing about it is the message. The guy Jaden is facing has been winning all his latest duels, but he wasn't winning with his own efforts, nor was he winning in a particularly enjoyable way. He was basically being given an "I win" button, and after facing Jaden, who is a guy that enjoys his duels regardless of winning or losing, he makes the realization that "Oh, yeah... Yu-Gi-Oh! is meant to be fun while playing it, isn't it?"

I feel like this duel works as a nice commentary for the split from casual to meta players. Do you play because you just want to win, or because you wanna get the chance to use the cool cards from your deck and do cool combos with them?

Idk, I just find it interesting and kinda relevant.

9. Jaden vs. a deck-out deck

This is exactly what it sounds. Jaden is faced against a guy that has a deck-out deck and forces Jaden to be creative with his strategy in order to overcome this challenge.

This is similar to his duel with Bastion where he loses the ability to use fusion and the fun is in seeing how he will get out of the situation, and the way he does it is so freaking enjoyable.

He basically pulls a huge combo consisting of E. Hero Electrum of all things, alongside de-fusion and quick-fusion in order to make his opponent deck out instead. It's just glorious.

8. Jaden vs. Zane

This is basically Jaden vs. Cyber End Dragon. The entire duel Zane just keeps fusing, re-fusing, reviving, taking away and pulling back his big-ass robot hydra as if it was a yo-yo and Jaden needs to keep finding ways to trash it over, and over, and over again.

It's like fighting a boss in a video game with multiple phases and seeing how long you can last.

The duel ends with a pretty cool final clash of Shinning Flare Wingman duking it out with Mecha Ghidorah after pulling some quick spells that raise their attack to some absurd numbers. It's honestly such a cool moment that I'm shocked they haven't made a card out of it yet like they did with these.

Maybe one day...

7. Syrus vs. Zane

This one is interesting.

Syrus has always been recognized as one of the weakest duelists in Gx and one who was very insecure around his brother, so seeing him go at it against Zana was very cool to see.

You keep looking at who he was at that point and who he used to be early on, and you can't help but go "Sniff, sniff... That's my boy! They grow up so fast!"

Like, keep in mind, this dude wasn't even able to play a casual duel with Jaden without having self-doubt, and here he is, giving everything he has, all to save his brother.

It's just such a nice display of character development, and Gx is full of that stuff.

6. Jaden vs. Aster

This is the duel where Jaden got the absolute living sh*t beaten out of him.

Jaden had several duels where he lost to a stronger opponent before, but this was the first time where it felt like the dude was just ridiculously outmatched.

Everything he tried the opponent would just go "lol, nope!" as if this was... a game... Huh...

There is just something strangely enjoyable in seeing everything Jaden used ends up crashing and burning and makes you realize he still has a long way to go.

It's kinda of a Empire Strikes Back moment where the heroes get their asses kicked so hard that you just can't wait to see how they'll get their payback.

5. Jaden vs. Fake Yugi

Unpopular opinion time: I think the final duel of Jaden vs Yugi freaking sucks... I didn't find the combos they used that interesting, I felt Jaden was being a tad too one-sidedly crushed, and a lot of the old-school cards Yugi used just weren't that interesting to me.

The duel vs fake Yugi though? I loved that.

What I like about it is that they actually used Yugi's cards in a way that made sense for the game, and in a way that made them look strong and cool. Like, they make Kuriboh look like the coolest freaking thing cause that monster stopped Jaden's moves about 4 or 5 times.

And the whole duel was just that, just watching these old Yugi cards that you think didn't age well but because they are being used at the right time it makes them all look effective.

Not to mention they bring out Yugi's coolest monsters! Chimera, Black Luster Soldier, Balck Magician of Chaos, and they give them new updated effects to make them feel fresh.

It's just a fun duel that shows how nostalgic cards can still be awesome.

4. Bastion vs. Chazz

The one time Bastion was cool.

This is the duel where Chazz steals Bastion's deck only to find out he has six other decks, all focused on different playstyles and strategies.

The best way I can describe this is... This was the duel where they made being a nerd look fun and cool.

Building a bunch of decks with different themes sounded really fun, making a whole deck based on chemistry with a boss monster that's a giant dragon made of water sounded really fun, trying to create a deck that represents your personality sounds really fun, and having a deck specifically designed to counter your opponent... honestly sounds kinda douchy... but fun!

This duel makes you want to play the game, cause it makes it look like a fun time... At least it did to me.

3. Chazz vs. his brothers

This is one of the most cathartic duels ever.

Chazz is given a condition that he must face against his brothers for the sake of the academy in a duel where he's only allowed to use monsters with low attack points against them who have access to super big fat attack point dragons.

Keeping in mind, the show had established that Chazz has a sorta of abusive relationship with his family where they keep gaslighting him to feel like he's inferior for not having as many achievements as them.

This is the equivalent of watching a kid who used to be bullied by his older sibling having to fight against them in order to protect his new friends from them, all while having his hands tied behind his back, while the siblings all are equipped with massive bats...

And of course, Chazz completely destroys them, and of course, that felt absurdly satisfying.

Let's pick this apart a little, a victim of bullying facing his former bullies, in order to protect his new found family, forced to fight with an unfair disadvantages, and he still manages to come out on top, not just that but with an overwhelming victory.

How's that not awesome?

2. Zane vs. Yubel

I love this duel.

On one side, a demon possessing a student in order to get him into bdsm clothing, on the other, a guy with a heart disease that could kill him at any moment while carrying a giant leather jacket in the middle of the desert, both of them trying to tear each other apart with their big FU dragons with 4k attack.

This duel is awesome because you really feel like these two are legit trying to kill each other. Every attack feels relentless, every move feels like it's taking a lot of risk on its user, they both feel like they're putting everything on the line to win.

And the way it ends is just so perfect as we slowly realize who's going to win with "bewildering duel" playing in the back while Zane gives his final words right before his body finally fails him.

So good!

1. Jaden vs. Crowler (rematch)

Another duel that's just perfect.

A rematch that mirrors the first duel of the series to show how far both characters have come.

Jaden who used to play just for the heck of it now is playing in order to carry the hopes of everyone who puts their faith in him, while his teacher who at first played just to show his superiority and get rid of someone he used to see as worthless now duels with anticipation and curiosity to find out how his student will get out of his predicament.

I freaking love how midway through the duels all the students who were watching start getting so sucked into the game that they forget what was at stake and just start rooting for both sides. I always appreciate it when the anime makes playing the damn game look actually fun.

The way it ends is just brilliant, showing both sides using the same monsters and strategies from their first match, to show how far they've come but still being true to the dueling styles that feels right for them.

And then we top it all off with every single student doing the "Gotcha!" gesture that Jaden always uses, showing how much he influenced them into also learning to just enjoy the moment.

This duel captures everything that's great about Gx. The character growth, the great chemistry between the cast, the awesome monsters with awesome effects, the heart and emotion underneath it all, and of course, the fun factor.

I love Yu-Gi-Oh! Gx so much!

[kierancampire]

I beat Sonic Frontiers!

Being born in 1996, I grew up with Sonic, and I always really liked him, I just couldn't get into the games no matter how hard I tried. I mostly played Adventures 1 & 2, Heroes, 06, and Werehog, but I just never actually beat them, least I don't think I did. Anyway, I saw a heavily cut playthrough of Frontiers and really liked it, and seeing it got added to PS+ I decided to play it myself

On the first island I did everything except the chain challenges. For the rest of them I just did all the guardians, S ranked every stage, got all the fish, and saw all the side stories. I got the Platinum trophy for the game, which was pretty much all story stuff, only one I had to lightly work for was the 50 phantom rush combos. But after finishing and bearing the game, I knew there was the DLC which I was slightly dreading and didn't think I could do

After trying and failing to climb the first tower, I took a break, but then after a few more attempts I finally did it. I found the second towers challenges the hardest out of all of them, but the rest like climbing the tower/the challenge was fine. Then there was the final tower. Getting up there was arguably one of the easier towers, but the Master King Koco's challenge? It got to the point I'd reach Wyvern with 350+ rings, yet it killed runs over and over again. After looking at strategies and guides, I finally beat it, then beat Knight on my second go! I think in total I was trying for 40 minutes/an hour. I should say I played the whole game on normal

But then there was the Supreme/The End fight. I dunno what it was about this boss, the jank or what, but this boss. I think it ended up taking about the same time as the boss rush, Sonic just wouldn't do what he meant to, the boss would destroy the shields, everything went to shit. Annoyingly, my very first time I reached the part where you go down to 100 rings, I had no idea I was so close to the end my first go!

Finally though, I finally managed to beat it and got the true ending! I'll admit, I didn't do anything on the island, none of the stages, barely got any koco and such, I just basically got all the chaos emeralds and did the towers. Maybe one day I'll come back to do more, but after that DLC, I just was hitting the end of my tether haha, though I am happy, as to memory this is the first Sonic game I've ever beaten. I really enjoyed the experience and had a lot of fun with it

I will also say, I played the game on default settings the whole time, yet I believe it is the second or third tower, you have to spin around those metal rings then get a great jump into the air. No matter what I tried I just could not do it, in the end I messed around with some settings and finally could do it. If I had one critique, it's that. The game sorta expects you to know things without telling you, like I had no idea I had to change my settings to do that tower (and if you don't need to, I have no idea how), and yeah, the true final boss fight, again, no idea how you are meant to know to dodge and pray to god Sonic focuses on the chord and not the boss, and I still don't really get how I avoided it breaking the shield, that felt like total luck

[dravidious]

Yo you're pretty cool

Just beat the Pokemon Trading Card Game for the Nintendo Gameboy Color on my Nintendo 3DS and you'll never guess who carried me through the two final bosses:

[twsted-princess]

Helltaker Girls Headcanons!!! 

Tagging @dokiquents @angelprep and @lovely-selfships!

Pandemonica

* If you ever give her decaffeinated coffee and you’re not her s/o you might get stabbed. If you are her s/o then you’ll get off lighter but she will glare at you.

* She loves coffee flavored ice-cream and dark chocolate covered coffee beans and eats them a lot, she likes the crunch.

* When she’s in her sadistic mode she’s extremely flirty and loves making you squirm. You’re her arm candy and you’re gonna deal with it.

* Dates when she’s tired consisting watching shitty reality shows while eating takeout and occasionally ignoring the tv to make out. When she’s sadistic she’ll take you out to fancy high end places just to show you off and make you blush.

 * Sometimes she’ll make a cup of coffee for you and then expect a kiss for doing “hard work”.

Modeus

* All of her clothes are comfy and soft looking but underneath she’s absolutely wearing leather and lingerie. Her fashion sense is lovecore with a dash of e-girl.

* She likes doing makeup for the other girls and styling their hair, sleepovers with their s/o’s are a common date.

* While she’s not used to romance at first but once she does she's the most affectionate out of the demons. She always wants a hug or a kiss or both and she loves being close to you.

* Has thot energy but surprisingly is faithful to you and the other demons, she might try to bring more people/demons/angels into the harem but only if it’s ok with her partner.

* Loves desserts with plenty of whipped cream and chocolate covered strawberries, she let you feed her and she’ll pamper you back tenfold.

Cerberus

* Will eat pretty much anything and everything but they love raw meat. Chicken, pork, eagle, pufferfish (with the poison as “seasoning”), humans.

* Doesn’t know how humans kiss so they’ll just lick you and think that’s a kiss.

* They blep. That’s it, that’s the headcanon.

* The best cuddlers by far, if you wanna take a good nap they’re your girls.

* If you’re their s/o expect to get pounced on every day and pulled around to various places for dates. They love how exciting the human realm is so they wanna see everything even if they always get into trouble.

Malina

* The best at keeping her alcohol and will drink everyone under the table, loves vodka with all her heart but she’ll drink any liqueurs as long as it’s hard.

* While she does like turn based strategy games she’ll play any of game.....though don’t give her Dark Souls or you’ll end up with a broken tv.

* Zdrada and her may butt heads 99% of the time but on the occasion they do care about each other. They love getting drunk together and watch The Room as a way of bonding.

* She’s pretty tsundere when it comes to affection, she’ll tell you not to touch her but then will put her head on your shoulder while she’s fighting a boss. If you point it out she’ll call you a “fucking moron”. 

* Has a twitch channel and scam saps out of money while arguing with people in chat, sometimes she’ll let her s/o join her just to watch the shitshow.

Zdrada

* Loves alcohol just like Malina but she prefers shooters over straight up booze, her favorite is either a Fireball Cocktail with extra whiskey or a CS Cowboy.

* The type to wake up at 3am and go on a munchie raid. You wake up to see her eating hot pockets and drinking milk out of the jug. She’ll let you join her and might even hand feed you.

* She’s the older sister and she loves holding it over Malina’s head, even though she’ll get kicked in the kneecaps.

* Dates consist of getting into illegal shenanigans, get drunk and then fighting the entire bar, and watching the city lights from top of a skyscraper with some snacks just to talk about whatever.

* When she’s with you she can let herself go and talk about anything, knowing you won’t judge her. She can be herself and you’ll still be there. Honestly you’re the greatest thing that’s ever happened to her and she’ll love you endlessly.

Azazel

* Wrote angel/demon fanfics back in the day and she keeps it in a dairy under lock and key. She might show you but only if you swear to not laugh.

* She has the weirdest food combos like angel food cake with hot sauce and the demons respect her but they’re slightly scared.

* Bi but doesn’t know it yet. She just thinks that the demons are pretty without noticing it.

* Makes the cutest pet names for her s/o and will say them constantly. She’ll call you every single cute name and make you blush like crazy.

* Really wants to bring you to Heaven and show you to the other angels, she think you’ll make a good impression and just wants to show you off. 

Justice

* Definitely gets a motorcycle when she’s in the human realm and treats it with the upmost care. She’ll take you out on late night joyrides and just enjoy yourselves.

* Her and Lucifer used to be in a relationship and even after they broke up (they had other things and it wasn’t messy at all) they still get along well.

* She loves human food and will take you out for dates. Her favorites are barbecue, hamburgers and ice cream, oh and is you get sauce on your cheek she’ll causally swipe it off with her thumb and lick it cause she’s that smooth.

* While she is the smoothest out of the ladies she loves being cheesy too and will use to dumbest pick up lines just to make you laugh. She think you have the cutest smile in the whole universe.

* She's the most open to affection and loves being able to hold you close. She'll also be affectionate with the other demons just to make them flustered.

Lucifer

* Not the biggest fan of waffles but will eat them, she likes crepes too and practically lights up when she tried one for the first time.

* Owns a hydra for a pet and named it Satan. It’s spoiled rotten and will bite everyone including you unless you’re Luci’s s/o.

* She’s a lightweight when it comes to alcohol cause she only drink wine and the occasionally martinis. Wants to drink harder stuff but after one cup she’s out like a lightbulb.

* If you’re her s/o then you’re gonna be on her lap most of the time until the other demons want a turn. She loves keep you close and might kiss you occasionally.

* Might be a classic boss bitch but sometimes you’ll find her eating Nutella out of the container and playing video games with Malina. You get to see her soften up considerably and it’s honestly sweet.

Judgement

* She’s the most shy when it comes to affection, you could literally hold her hand and her face will turn to the brightest shade of red in existence.

* While her “judge” voice is booming and kind of deep her actual voice is light and soft, she’ll start using her real voice once she’s comfortable with her s/o.

* Has no indoor voice and while she’s trying to tame herself she can’t help it, she must yell.

* Dates with her are surprisingly chill, she likes going on late night walks and listening to music in your room while you talk. She likes being at peace and you make her feel more comfortable then she’s ever felt before.

* Extremely protective of you and would do anything to keep you safe. She might teach you how to defend yourself but really she wants to be your protector and wants to make sure you’re ok.

Beezebub

* Acts snooty and all-mighty but can be quite sweet to her s/o. She can also be a bit flirty but if you use a pick up line she’ll melt.

* Will actually write self insert fanfics when she’s bored (and she thinks no one’s watching). She has an entire bookshelf filled with self insert stories cause they’re her favorites.

* She spoils her s/o with jewelry and trinkets inspired by flies or your favorite bug. She’ll get you whatever you want with a snap of a finger.

* Goes by She/They pronouns and will not hesitate to drag some poor soul who tries being an asshole over gender. Has no toleration for misgendering people at all.  

* Absolutely adores spending time with you, loves being close to you and loves being with you. You make her so happy and she loves you with all of her undead heart.

[oh-boy-me]

:0 could I have a beel,asmo,belphie,lucifer,mammon, satan (not including levi) and diavolo playing videogames? I thought it would be kinda funny since they're all really old- except for levi of course haha

Ohhh this should be fun!

Decided to do individual HCs for this one instead of a group thing so they wouldn’t be limited to multiplayer games.

Most of them, save for a certain prince, have been exposed to games a fair amount by proximity to Levi.

---

Lucifer:

Lucifer has a Mononoke Land account so that he’ll get the email notifications for events and can therefore keep track of Levi’s whereabouts.  He’s never played the game, though, nor downloaded the app, and he has no intention of doing so.

In general, he’s not much of a gamer.  The most gaming he gets done is minesweeper on Windows XP.  He doesn’t have the time, and it was never something he could get into.

That isn’t to say that he owns zero games, though.  His favorite genre is turn-based strategy, because he can afford to look away from them, and they make him think and plan.

He doesn’t like the hyper-realistic ones, though.  Things like Civilization and Here Be Dragons are up his alley, Hearts of Iron not so much.

He doesn’t care too much about the story, but a good soundtrack is mandatory.

Also he’s an old man so the controls also have to be intuitive or he just won’t be able to play.  Why is he jumping when he presses A he thought that was the attack button.

The type of player who needs to get every achievement.  A completionist.

When the group gets together for the rare multiplayer night, he has no idea what he’s doing and yet still manages to do well.  It’s kind of infuriating.

He won’t make alliances with anyone, no, it’s every man for himself.  He also actively targets Mammon no matter what game they’re playing.

The fact that he doesn’t really get it protects his pride when Levi inevitably wipes the floor with him.

Mammon:

Mammon actually does game a little bit in his spare time, mostly with Levi.  He’s got a couple consoles and is more open to different genres than Lucifer is.

He thrives in any game where the main goal is to rack up as many points or as much profit as possible.  He’s undefeated in tycoons and pinball.  (Tetris is an exception; he’s terrible at Tetris.  Stupid spacial recognition.)

The RNG elements boil down to his insane luck, but he’s actually very smart when it comes to investments and stuff, so it’s not like he’s only using his luck to get by.

If the games have multiplayer, even better!  Nothing like kicking Levi, MC and Belphie’s asses in a game of Fortune Street!

He also tends to like the action-focused games that Levi plays.  Not so much into turn-based RPGs, but he enjoys stuff where the enemies spawn, like in Zelda or Rune Factory.  And he’s great at button mashing in fighting games, although Levi, who actually knows how to play them, always beats him.

Mammon uses items as soon as he gets them, and is too busy rushing a boss to care about learning its patterns and strategizing.

Skips cutscenes even on his first run.  Levi and Satan hate him for it.

Like mentioned before, he gets an unfair disadvantage in game nights because everyone targets him.  Especially in those games with RNG, because otherwise he WILL win.

He’s banned from PTW games because he will indeed PTW.

Satan:

Satan is another one who doesn’t play too many games, and that might be for the best because he’s a nightmare to play with.

The sorest loser, and a pretty nasty winner too.  He insists on the hardest difficulty and then rage quits at the slightest inconvenience.

He will play when prompted, though; he’s not above hanging out with his brothers.  His favorite sorts of games are ones with a good story and/or good puzzles.  His planning is more on the tactics side, as opposed to Lucifer’s strategy, so he would love Fire Emblem.

He WILL drop a game if the story isn’t holding his attention, and he’s done so in the past.

Overly cautious and hoards resources.  He takes the safe route every time.

Also another completionist.

Beel would often ask Satan to help him find out which art pieces were originals and safe to buy in Animal Crossing, and Satan got a little bit interested and ended up making a resident on Beel’s cartridge so the donations could be in his name.  He went on a mini-campaign to drive out the residents he didn’t like, but one of them turned out to be Beel's favorite and he felt terrible about it for weeks.

During family game nights, everyone is always torn between appeasing Satan and telling him to deal with it when he loses.

He also gets angry if he catches on to the fact that they’re letting him win, though.

Probably a genwunner.

Asmodeus:

Asmo enjoys video games.  They don’t fit into his aesthetic so he’s never really tried to understand them, but he doesn’t dislike them by any means.

Gaming is becoming more mainstream though, right?  That’s a whole new audience that could appreciate him.  Maybe, just maybe, he can let himself be a bit of a geek.

Unsurprisingly, he’s got a penchant for games with customization options.  Surprisingly, he also really enjoys FPS games.  If he and Levi ever played at the same time, it would be chaos in the House of Lamentation.

As opposed to his in-your-face attitude, he likes to play sniper units.

He said he wants to tap into the gaming community, but he’s not very good at most of the games he plays so he’s too embarrassed to actually do so.  He does, however, play the Sims on livestream.  He does his best to make the steamiest and most dramatic scenarios happen, and he’ll hold strawpolls to let his viewers make some choices.

Asmo also plays Animal Crossing like a few other brothers, but his island is so well groomed and with just the right residents, it feels like you’re touring an uncanny dystopia and Asmo is the dictator.

When the group gets together, he usually ends up doing the worst.  He’s more interested in executing perfect combos than actually dealing damage, so he’s not aggressive enough to get anything done against players like Levi and Satan.

He’s also not very good at teamwork; he starts yelling at his partner very quickly.

Beelzebub:

Beel doesn’t have a lot of “gamer” in him, but some of his brothers seem to like it so he decided to give it a go.  Turns out his hands are too big, but he makes do.  Kind of.

You’d expect a sports game to be the best for him, since he’s so athletic.  However, it’s BECAUSE he’s so athletic that this sort of game isn’t in his library.  He gets too antsy and bored tapping buttons instead of actually playing the sport.

Beel’s also not an aggressive player in any sense of the word.  He feels guilty even hurting the most basic of slimes.

No, no games are better for Beel than the stress-free, casual life simulators.  Animal Crossing is no surprise his favorite one right now.  Satan handles the museum for him while Beel gets to do whatever he feels like in a world where the biggest threat is a wasp.

He’ll also play other low stakes games where living your life is the main goal, like Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley.  His big heart can never choose who to marry in those games.

Horror is also ok for him, because while aggression is hard for him, self-defense is not.

He got the Cooking Mama app on his D.D.D. and bit the device in half, so he’s not allowed to touch that franchise anymore.

When the gang meets up, his non-aggressive side sticks around.  In fighting games, he’s more likely to dodge and steer clear of the others, and in other versus games he’s so open to compromise you’d think you were on the same team.

Satan did get him his favorite resident back.

Belphegor:

Belphie probably games the second most after Levi; it’s something that keeps him entertained but doesn’t require him to move very much at all.

I actually have no idea how to describe his preferred genres, but League of Legends and Dark Souls is basically all you need to know.

League lets him socialize a bit, and it’s the game that he and Levi play together most often.  As for Dark Souls, he loves the sort of game where learning your opponent’s every move and outsmarting/outmaneuvering them is the only path to victory.

I guess that would be described as “really hard action-adventure” games?  He’d also like Sekiro.

He also has his own copy of Animal Crossing to visit and play with Beel, but his island is so underdeveloped you’d think he started that same week.

Belphie is the true wild card of family game nights; sometimes he sleeps through the whole thing, while other times he can take down even Levi.

He has everyone’s habits down to a T--Mammon charges in, Asmo does too much setup, Levi’s overconfident--and he knows how to counter each and every one of them.

For someone who’s so much of a cunning player, though, he also misclicks a lot.

He’s the most likely out of his brothers to make alliances.  He’s also the most likely to break alliances.

If he doesn’t think he can win, he’ll choose a player and start sabotaging the game in their favor.

Diavolo:

Lord Diavolo had read about like, Mario?  The little blue hedgehog guy?  But he’d never owned a gaming console before.  He probably thought Neopets was peak gaming.

Levi swore to fix this grievous error, and this was also a mistake, because now Diavolo keeps trying to get Lucifer to play all these hack and slash games with him.

He has legitimately told Lucifer that “if you don’t play Devil May Cry with me THIS devil may cry!”

The games need to always have something happening in them or he’ll get bored, kind of like Satan’s need for a good story, except with action.

It’s also worth mentioning that “play a game with Diavolo” actually means “sit in the same room as Diavolo while he plays.”

And oh boy… is he terrible at these games.

He just button mashes until either he dies or all the enemies die.

Never uses any of the items he gets because he’s sure he’ll need them more later on.  When, Diavolo?  During the staff roll?

Will bomb a door before trying the knob.

Since he’s usually only around Lucifer, who doesn’t want to get sucked into this, and Barbatos, who honestly couldn’t care less about this, he’s been left alone and free to develop these terrible gaming habits.

It’s rare that he comes to family gaming night.  Legend has it that Lucifer’s piercing glare is somehow connected to the fact that his brothers always let Diavolo win.

Masterlist

[emmys-grimoire]

How to skate by: a guide for the weaker decks

I’ve seen no shortage of posts of people complaining about being behind in lessons and how everyone else is forging ahead. For some of you, I’m afraid I cannot help. For most of you, I suspect I can by offering a few helpful tips that have worked out for me.

This guide is for the standard battles only. The boss battles are far more complicated and difficult.

For context: I have only three URs and I’ve been playing since March. Two of them are UR+’s, but two of them are Belphie, so there’s never a situation where I can actually deploy all three. I’ve spent my time not maxing them out at the earliest opportunity but leveling up three SSRs for every sin to level 70, but two of my slots usually are the URS. You’re probably better off than I am team-wise if you have three maxed URs with three different brothers at your disposal. But, well, until I get that third one this is what I’m compelled to do.

First and foremost, you have to be comfortable with just getting one star until you can start knocking them out of the park. I have only one two star back in lesson 38. Since all you want to do is get to the story this shouldn’t be a problem, but unless you get particularly lucky you shouldn’t expect Special Guest to pop up very often. Sad! Though they actually did pop up for me half the time in this particular lesson, strangely enough. And of course I forgot how to poke the brothers when they don’t dance well and it all went to waste. (:

Furthermore, you will need glowsticks ready for the particularly nasty dance offs. You just won’t need as many as you may think, at a glance.

As you can see here in lesson 40-9, the enemy team has a 40k+ point advantage over my team. I don’t think they’re lying to you: the enemy team ai is just typically dumb and predictable, and you can use that to your advantage if you know how it’s dumb and predictable, to make this gap irrelevant. I don’t think they factor in the amount of heart points you can nab, either.

That Asmo card is also common/old af and has a useless skill, but it still consistently shows up in my recommended deck, so idgaf

As a general rule, I think enemy teams that are 30-40k points above you are still beatable. After 50k you usually will need to use a glowstick, but I always try without one first in case I get really lucky. I’ve managed to pull it off, but it’s a crapshoot most of the time.

Think of it this way: the goal is not to be stronger than the enemy team, it’s to reach the marker in time and foil their efforts to subtract points from your score. The stronger the enemies, the more points their attacks knock off from your score, so it counts in that particular regard.

To circumvent that, you need to get those sweet, sweet combo counters. 

Anyway, no glowsticks. Lets go, bitches. You don’t skurr me.

First, you always want to combo. Combos give you more points. But they’re not the only thing that gives you more points: countering enemy combos does as well. I almost always use all three cards in any combo ever, but I typically wait until after one sprite rotation/twirl to shoot it off in hope of trying to get the enemy to fire off first so I can counter... but it’s also beneficial when they try to counter your combo in the first pass -- because that means they won’t be throwing combos at me that I can’t counter before my meters refill. They’ll still be in cooldown, too.

In this particular fight, though, I managed to bait only one enemy into firing off right away. I couldn’t counter two attacks during my cooldown... but thankfully they didn’t combine into a combo and their skills are useless. Because the ai is dumb and doesn’t strategize. I got x1.25 more points for this nevertheless, even though I was countering just one wee enemy. If you notice, I was behind them until this point.

I haven’t figured out how all the enemy types function, sadly, but I do know gluttony enemies always fire off as soon as they can, so there’s no use in waiting to fire off your cards. The others seem capable of waiting, unfortunately, but it seems random. Perhaps I will one day deduce the rhyme or reason for when they do, if there is one.

I wait until the last second to fire off my next (and last) combo because, again, you get more points when you team fully counters an enemy combo. Sometimes it can put you right over the top.

This time, I didn’t really need to, but I did so for the sake of the demonstration. The enemies who chose to attack me while on cooldown couldn’t counter me at the very end because they were still on cooldown. And, again, they didn’t really have any skills that hindered my team.

KO, I win. 

This was actually an easy battle to win, despite... 

... this. BUT HEY, IT STILL COUNTS. I earned that one whole star.

It gets trickier when the enemies have skills like confuse and stun. They can easily make what seems to be a winnable battle (by my standards at least) practically a game of chance. If you’re up against enemies that have those skills, you should always make sure you’re capable of countering when they fire off -- and they seem to have a tendency to do it ALL AT ONCE, which is a good thing if their skills don’t activate and a terrible thing when they do.

Strategy tl;dr

Get them combo counters

1. Wait a second or two after your gauges fill up to fire off your combo in hope of getting the enemy team to fire theirs off first (I let the sprites twirl once before I fire it off). Gets you more points when you counter + prevents them from throwing an uncounterable combo at you. You don’t want to wait too long trying to bait them because you want to be capable of countering an enemy combo in the last stretch, and if you wait too long you’ll still be on cooldown.

2. Nab all your hearts and stuff because you’ll be in cooldown for most of the remainder of the battle after the first go.

3. Wait until the last second to fire off your last combo in hope of getting the enemy team to fire theirs off first so you can counter and get more points.

Happy dancing!

EDIT: Apparently you get the combo multiplier added to your score even if the enemies counter you, as long as you “win” the pass (your arrow triumphs over theirs). Get the biggest combo chain you can!

[eurofox]

Finally finished NEO:TWEWY. Just my thoughts and there’s loads of spoilers (pretty long too)

I was a massive fan of the first game, obsessed with it honestly, for a good while. I was around the same age as the characters and was finally getting into music. I was always hoping for a sequel and I pretty surprised to hear about this coming out, a long 14 fucking years later. I’m not as into gaming, my music taste has changed and I don’t care for 99% of anime or JRPGs. So I went into this knowing it wasn’t going to be the rush the first game was and was pretty wary about how it would translate onto a console. The controls were so perfectly tailored for the DS and I couldn’t see it either being a complete mess or very safe and generic.

Overall I think they handled the combat very well. I accidentally over-levelled for awhile because battling and trying different pins was so fun. It not as stand out as the first game but I was expecting that, easier on the wrists though. And a lot more welcoming for newbies I imagine. So many different combos and effects. Everything looks chaotic but in a controlled sort of way. You can button mash for a bit but eventually enemies will counter that so you need to develop some actual strategies. My worst issue was AI controlled team mates getting caught up in attacks and decimating my health. Sometimes the followed fine but in some cases, like the mr mew fight, they just get their asses kicked. Some clothes can help but this was annoying.

Each characters gimmicks were kind of interesting, but it could have been handled better. Nagi’s dive ability is far too overused, Fret’s remind ability is too fiddly and rindos time travelling could get annoying. That mission when you try to convince Shoka is annoying as fuck, to the point I just looked up the answers. 

I had issues though. There is less enemy variety in this game and a lot of brought over from the DS, not a lot is new. Which made fighting the more annoying enemies all the worse because you encounter them so much more often.(FUCK CHAMELEONS)

Some cool bosses, but fewer overall. Shiba was a disappointment as he didn't have a noise form, aside from some butterflies flitting about. Pretty lame, especially when you have to repeat them. I don’t remember bosses in DS game taking so fucking long to go down either. 

The Uber pin limits started to really piss me off in week 2 as good pins weren’t easy to get for the rising difficulty and the ones I did find were uberlocked. And a lot of them weren’t amazing..

The story had me invested. I’ve heard that this game was designed so newcomers could jump in but I feel you’d be missing out with playing the original. So many references, which I enjoyed as a long term fan, but I imagine newbies feeling lost. 

Rindo was fine, but I didn’t see him as indecisive as the game kept trying to make him about to be. He makes plenty of big decisions before they start bringing stuff up about his supposed indecisiveness so it seemed weird to focus on. Not as glarieng as neku’s issues anyway. Same with Fret, if it wasn’t for the convo with Kanon, I wouldn’t have thought he was being insincere. I thought he was annoying at first but I warmed to him. Nagi grew on me and so did Shoka, but again, the game says Nagi is great at reading people. The first thing she does in the game is attack a stranger over a pin, so is she really?. Cool to see old faces again and I’m glad they saved most of them for last days so they didn’t overshadow the new guys too much. 

The new reapers were disappointing. We didn’t get much time with them, aside from Shoka. Serious guy was introduced far too late in the game and Ayano got so little screen time that i really didn’t feel bothered when she was attacked by the noise. Her relationship with Shoka was kind of weird, I expected her to be revealed as her mother or something. Kariya and Uzuki got some nice development, and Sho too, although it was disappointing how little he was actually in it. I don’t get the deal with coco at all, I had to go and watch a compilation of A new day to understand what she was about and I’m still not sure. Why is she so powerful if she seems to be an ordinary reaper? Again, she appears too little, despite being a driving force behind the plot.

I found the other teams more interesting storywise, the gofundme boss fight with motoi was really funny. I felt so bad for Fuya, he just wanted to see some cool rivers :’( . Fighting the other players got old though, reptitive fights that weren’t hard, just long.

I think too many characters were introduced, and often quite briefly and it’s easy to lose track. 

The whole story was engaging. I saw people complain that the stakes didn’t feel as high this time but they did to me. Shibuya gets erased twice, seems pretty high stakes to me. 

The music was fantastic once again. Still prefer the DS soundtrack, but there’s some great stuff here too. The remixes were alright, but not quite as good. Only song I didn’t care for was one of the screamo ones. All of the voices were great, no issues there at all. 

The other game mechanics were fine. Eating has been improved (the ruined ken don and his irasshai tho), clothes work fine, although it’s a shame your character doesn’t really wear them. The social network thing was a cool new idea, a nice reward for doing dives all the time. Some of the menus were badly laid out though. I also miss seeing the sarky thoughts of the shopkeepers.

The graphics are mostly very good. I don’t mind the comicbook dialogue, but a few more proper cutscenes would have been nice. The ones we get are well done but few and far between.

I also didn’t like the lack of character models. You keep seeing the same faceless guys over and over again. Opposing teams have 3 guys in different skins (and it’s weird how there is no women, like not even a faceless one, just none at all aside from Kanon). In the 14 year old DS game every minor character got a proper model so it seems like a lack of effort.

The first game was always going to be a tough act to follow, it was a unique game that pushed the DS to it’s limit. NEO isn’t as groundbreaking, and parts of it feel lacking considering the far more powerful hardware it’s on and it’s whopping 60 euro price tag (I hear there were budget issues during the development however) . But I had a lot of fun with it, the most with an RPG in years tbh, and would definitely buy a third installment. 

Best things about it

-Better eating system -Story that kept me guessing -Cool new tracks and remixes -Looks great, for the most part. Very cool artstyle. -Fast paced but more accessible battle system with lots of different powers to play with. Handy adjustable level and difficulty system -Loads of nostalgic moments referencing the first game -getting bonuses for speed bopping to tunes -Social network gimmick is pretty cool and helps bring the game from 2007 to the present. -get to see shikis face -the game 14 year old me would have killed for

Not so Great

-Lack of cutscenes, a lot of just explaining through text when something exciting is supposed to be happening. -A lot of lazy and re-used character models -Lack of noise types can get reptitive -A lot of the new cast, especially the reapers, feel underdeveloped. -Limited uber pins can be annoying for quite awhile -No tin pin slammer :’( -Bonus chapter was a short let down, but I did hear it was rushed in development. -Feels like some stuff was being set up for another game we may never get... -Replaying chapters for extra content STILL DOESN’T LET YOU SKIP DIALOGUE WHY THE FUCK WASN’T THAT FIXED

[june2734]

The Short Lived Golden Age of Nerdy Web Shows

There was a time between the years of, let's say, 2007 to 2015 that I like to call the golden age of nerdy web shows. It consisted of a lot of small low to no budget productions that had a lot of heart, the kind you just don't see very often anymore for some reason. Many of these show have found a dedicated home on streaming services like The Fantasy Network, some have even gained enough steam to be featured on big name services like Netflix and Amazon like The Guild and LARPs The series respectively. I'm not exactly sure why the web show trend died out so hard, maybe the crowds just aren't there for them anymore like they use to be with some many pieces of high budget productions on streaming services vying for their attention. Every once and a while I'll jump onto Google to try and find new web shows that have that same heart and feel but rarely if ever do I come up with anything. As far as I can tell the only place new nerdy low to mid budget web shows or films gets any attention is at GenCon or small streaming services like The Fantasy Network. Who knows if there will ever be another nerdy heartfelt web show created that captures the spirit of those old series I hold so dear to my heart, but regardless if it happens or not I'd like to bring some attention to a few of my favorites. They may be old by the standards of the internet and maybe even cheesy by today's standards, but I really think they were something special and if you give them a shot maybe you'll think so too. If you have any others that you think would fit in with shows like this feel free to let me know.

The Gamers: Hands Of Fate

Zombie Orpheus Entertainment use to be one of my favorite channels for nerdy fantasy related content back in the day. You could always see the quality and passion that they put into every piece of content they out out on their channel. They're still around today but they've shifted their focus to other ventures such as the ever popular trend of live streaming table top games rather then making scripted content. That being said their old stuff is still well worth a watch and The Gamers series, particularly The Gamers: Hands of Fate, is some of their best work they’ve ever put out. The series centers around a group of table top gamers(the same that can be found in most of the other The Gamers creations by ZOE), particularly the character by the name of Cass, as he steps into the world of one extremely popular card game hopes of impressing a woman who's a huge fan of it. But this is seemingly simple premise is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this series. The show also features a secondary narrative that involves the characters that actually exist in the card game as as the players decisions in the real world effect their lives and leads one character, Buckstahue(not sure if I’m spelling that right), in particular to start questioning what mysterious forces are controlling their lives. The show is a real treat filled with twists and turns I never saw coming, it's fascinating seeing how the real world actions of this card game effects the card characters lives as well as question if and when Buckstahue will figure out what strings control her actions. The stories surrounding the other characters in the party might not be as engaging but they are by no means a weak point of the series either, many of their subplots are engaging in their own rights and pay off certain character moments established in proper The Gamers creations. If this peaks your interest then the series can still be found on Zombie Orpheus's Youtube channel or as a movie on The Fantasy Network. ZOE had pivoted more towards live streaming as opposed to the scripted content of their past but I'd love to see more content from The Gamers one day. Source

LARPs The Series

LARPs The Series first premiered at GenCon 2014 and took home the award for Best Independent Series. The year after it was picked up by Geek and Sundry as a part of a push for more scripted content on the channel which was where I and many others first got a chance to watch it. When the short trailer for popped up on the G&S channel everything about it screamed that I was absolutely going to love it, and I wasn’t wrong. The series centers around a 4 man party of larpers (AKA Live Action Role Players) by the names of Will, Brittany, Arthur and Sam and their DM (Dungeon Master) Evan as we follow their lives in and out of the game. The show is surprisingly heartfelt and sympathetic towards the characters involved in this often misunderstood and mocked hobby as it shows how larping enriches their often turbulent lives and connects them all as friends on a deep and meaningful level. These characters felt real and you really rooted for them as they deal with, work, relationships and the many other hurtles of adult life as they wait eagerly to gear up for whatever peril might befall them in their next campaign session. The show was also pretty hilarious, seeing them play out classic predicaments that any party, whether they be larpers or table top roleplayers, have experienced such as one player trying to roll to kill a tavern owner or romances between PCs were always a joy to watch unfold.  Another thing that most will notice right away is how the production value and direction are surprisingly astounding as well, especially in season 2. I was shocked by just how much quality was put into the show from the costumes and sets as well as from a writing standpoint. If you're interested in checking out the show then it can be found on Amazon Prime but they can also still be viewed for free on YouTube or in The Fantasy Network. Beanduck, the production company behind LARPs The series, is working towards a funding campaign in hopes of earning enough to produce a third season so if you have any spare change you might want to toss it their way in support. Regardless if you decide to help or not, LARPs The Series is a show that I think any nerdy individual will enjoy. Source

Glitch

Glitch was another show produced by the team over at Zombie Orpheus Entertainment, but it never seemed to get the same kind of love as many of their other productions. The concept was brilliant: What if one day you woke up and found out your life operated on the logic of video games? Well this is the predicament that a programing temp nicknamed Glitch finds himself in. Most episodes of the show centered around particular game mechanics causing problems in his and his friends lives and how he tries to figure out ways to work around or fix problems they've created. Glitch, Wyatt and Samus were all fantastic characters and it was always fun seeing Glitch trying to work through some real world problem with game logic like trying to flirt with a woman he likes using a conversation wheel like in Mass Effect or figuring out how to "defeat" his boss at work who he see's as an actual game boss. Another thing I liked about the show was how the characters really felt like real people I knew, they played games on the couch, debated about which Sci-Fi starship captains were the best, and they grilled each other in nerdy ways while working in slang from their favorite bits of nerd culture into their daily vocabulary. I always hoped that ZOE would eventually put out a second season but unfortunately for whatever reason that never became a reality. Now days the channel that originally hosted Glitch has changed their name to Burger Orchard and rarely if ever uploads anything, but luckily those original episodes of Glitch can still be found on their. Give it a watch, it's short but sweet and if you really enjoyed the show a lot there are little companion shorts that can also be found on the channel. Source

The Street Fighter

The Game Station was an early find for me back in my early college days, and I'm not ashamed to admit that I shaved away many hours watching all kinds of gaming related content on that channel instead of studying for exams. One production, created by one of the channels founders Layne Pavoggi, which came out in late 2011 and was a cut above much their already fantastic content was a short lived series was called The Street Fighter. The series centered around a single dad by the name of Phil who has just lost his job and decides to take up a short career as a professional Street Fighter player to provide for his son as well as keep his mind off of the stressful and highly competitive job market. This a real underdog story that’s extremely reminiscent of old sports 80s films where the protagonist has everything working against them, with that being said you might think that such a trope filled narrative would make things a little predictable and you wouldn’t be wrong but there’s still plenty to love since this concept has really never been explored with videogame to my knowledge. Phil is a guy you’d be hard pressed not to warm up to, especially when you see him interacting with his preteen son Ryan or his best friend/semi love interest Camile (played by former All That star and all around spectacular person Lisa Foiles). Seeing him trying to make his way into the job market, taking odd jobs here and there just to try and get by while also playing Street Fighter to destress and become better for the sake of winning a competition for money to support his son really makes to root for him through all of it. One aspect of the show that I really this is fantastic is how it feels truly authentic to the FGC (Fighting Game Community) when it comes to talking about all of the technical aspects of play Street Fighter on a competitive level. There are moments when Phil goes into detail about his “bread and butter” combos or talks about different strategies when it comes to taking on different characters compared to his main. The show was short lived but it can still be found on The Game Stations channel, if you’re looking for a heartfelt underdog story then I highly recommend giving The Street Fighter a shot. Source

Versus Valerie

Versus Valerie is a bit of series finale for a fictional character created by Hannah Spear for the character more commonly known as the Sexy Nerd Girl on her YouTube channel. Even if you didn't watch the characters vlogs over the years leading up to the web series I still think you'll find something to enjoy in this extremely charming show. It centers around Valerie Lapomme, the titular Sexy Nerd Girl, as she lives life hanging out with with her best friend Guy, shopping for comic books, going on dates, vlogging, and trying to make something of herself as a mid 20 something living in Toronto. The brilliant thing about this series is how each episode is structured like or makes homage to popular shows, films and games such as Star Wars, Doctor Who, Memento, and The Matrix just to name a few. On top of that the show is surprisingly well produced and written for something that spawned from a fictional vlog series, Valarie and Guy are much more fleshed out and all the characters including them have some really fantastic character arcs and moments in the show. Valerie’s awkwardness and extremely nerdy imagination felt embracingly relatable to me personally since I often imagine different situations in my life in relation to my own nerdy fandoms. What I was often taken aback by when I first watched the show years ago was just how enjoyable all of the episodes were in their own special way, and the pay off of it all really feels like a proper satisfying ending to the strange and imaginative journey we’ve been on with Valerie. If it peaks your interest at all then you can still find the full series on the Veruse Valerie YouTube channel as well as some of the vlogs prior to the series on the Sexy Nerd Girl channel as well. It’s well worth a viewing and aside from the fantastic lead characters of Guy and Valerie the show also managed to grab Mark Meer as a supporting character, aka the voice of COMMANDER MOTHER F^*$(^% SHEPARD BABY!!!  Source

[cynthiaandsamus]

Custom Toonami Block Week 73 Rundown

Code Geass: Lelouch and co. are still stuck in China and Xingke’s flipping out because the Chinese assholes are gonna kill the Empress and go with someone less problematic for their political marriage to Britannia’s creepily overaged prince. However Lelouch pulls out a Knightmare that’s basically the Twink version of the Gawain and busts everyone up as well as pulling a Father Cornello on them and letting the people know they’re all elitst 1% assholes that don’t care about them, which I suspect all countries probably know about their leaders but it sucks to hear it in a recording so riots show up all over China and CC Geass Flashes Anya to take her out so Britannia has to back out because the Chinese Hierarchy are now the least popular people in the world. So Xingke gets to be with his Empress and joins the Black Knights but Dietard wants the Empress to marry someone on their side so they can basically do the asshole move Britannia just tried to do but for them. All the girls are like ‘hey no’ and Lelouch is like “Oh hey Tamaki buddy, let’s go talk and get me the fuck out of here” so before Lelouch actually has to give Tamaki more lines and elevate him beyond the Black Knight’s Yamacha Shirley calls and Lelouch just straight up asks Shirley about love in a weirdly forced series of circumstance. But Shirley’s like “Yeah don’t fuck with love, don’t you love anyone?” and Lelouch is like “Yeah I do, Nunally!” and I don’t think that’s at all what Shirley meant but it does mean Lelouch sees that fighting for something beyond politics is powerful and agrees to not marry off the twelve year old girl, so that’s good. Lelouch decides to return home while they hunt down the Geass cult which is in China for some reason despite that being one of the like two places on earth Britannia doesn’t control and the Geass Cult largely being a Britannian affair. Meanwhile Sayoko is basically a Lelouch Vtuber at this point with her insanely accurate Lupin III mask of Lelouch and kisses Shirley so Shirley’s a little bit more gay than she was before and is not sure how to feel about that. When she’s about to tell the real Lelouch he kisses like a girl, Anya and Gino show up because we’re retreading the whole ‘sleeping with the enemy at school’ thing from the first season except with way less interesting enemies. Also the preview for the next episode is Lelouch dramatically talking about enemies finding out he’s Zero overtop footage of Shirley and Milly absolutely naked in a batthouse scene so I think we know what kind of episode that’ll be.

Inuyasha: The Panther Demon filler concludes with everyone meeting at the site where the Panther Master is being revived behind a strong barrier, if only someone just got a barrier upgrade to their sword, oh wait. But yeah everyone manages to free the hostages so even though Kagome’s jewel shards revives the Panther Master he’s still a zombie without a sacrifice which is weird since Naraku managed to completely revive the Band of Seven with one jewel shard each from skeletons and the Panther Lord has three shards so idk the rules here but yeah he steals the souls of his own men to revive and is Wind Scar Proof because he just is. It’s pretty cool to see him shooting his claws and lightning and shit but he’s too big and slow for it to be much of an interesting fight. Sesshomaru’s about to go full demon which would be interesting since we haven’t seen his full demon form since he lost his arm but in a neat bit of character development, Tenseiga calms his rage and tells him to use it instead. You get the feeling Sesshomaru only goes full demon when he flies off the handle and forgets about speed and strategy so him opting to not repeat the mistake he made against Inuyasha is pretty cool. Anyway Tenseiga heals the souls of the Panther Demons and drains their energy from the lord so he’s back to Zombie Cat Man which Inuyasha can Wind Scar because that’s what happens to villains on this show, all Wind Scars all the time. The Panthers don’t wanna fight anymore since their boss just killed them and tell Inuyasha to tell Sesshomaru the feud is over and they’re going back to the West. Honestly this is basically the same backstory they gave Kirinmaru in Yashahime so it’s funny for them to say they’re going back to the same place Kirinmaru is from, wonder if it’ll ever come up in Yashahime since most filler seems canon there.

Yu Yu Hakusho: Yusuke and Kuwabara continue the assault on Tarukane’s compound and basically plow through the lower demons easy since they’ve been fighting minor deities up to this point. It’s always pretty cool in Shonen to just have a few rounds to show how much power creep the heroes have had where certain things just don’t bother them anymore. Toguro murders a Chimera which has an oddly similar backstory to Nina from FMA and he seems really bummed about it but he’s like “Hey we’re both monsters made by humans telling us to do shit, so sorry for killing you bro”. And Tarukane basically sees Toguro is the next boss and is like “Yup time to scam some people off of this” and he sets up a betting ring for how far Yusuke and Co will get into his compound. This is kinda neat because it puts Tarukane in the weird position of betting against his own guards and hoping Yusuke will make it all the way to Toguro and then lose after everyone else has seen how awesome Yusuke is and bets on him. And funnily enough Sakyo’s in on the betting and he’s watched anime before so he knows to bet on the plucky teenagers with weird powers. So yeah Yusuke and Kuwabara finish plowing through the demons while Hiei kinda stalks them and remembers getting his eye surgery and wanting to help his sister but it’s kind of against spirit world rules for demons to just go plow through humans even if they’re scumbag humans so now Yusuke and Kuwabara have to go fight the Triad of boss demons Toguro has under him before Hiei busts in and just murders everyone for kidnapping his bird-loving jewel-crying little flower of a sister.

Fate Zero: So Kiritsugu can break Kayneth’s Terminator 2 Gaara defenses with rib bullets that just say ‘no’ to using magic and fucks his arrogant ass up. Saber and Lancer do some combo shenanigans to stab Caster right in the book and disrupt all his hentai tentacle demons but the book heals so idk why he can’t just make more. Kirei fucks up Maiya and Iris but didn’t double tap Maiya and DID double tap iris but she’s got Saber’s bullshit healing scabbard on her which no one knows about so Saber’s like “uhhh why are you healing” and Iris can’t tell her so she’s basically “Uhh internet?” Lancer comes in to save Kayneth’s worthless ass and tells Kiritsugu to stop being a dick to Saber because she’s pretty dope. But as usual for an early Fate encounter, no one dies and nothing of terrible consequence happens despite it being teased a couple times. I’ve noticed a trend with Fate that it really doesn’t like killing characters early so you’re basically guaranteed to have the first 2-3 major battles have a zero net gain/loss. Rider in UBW was probably the subversion to that since it happened crazy fast and anticlimactic but even that wasn’t till like ten episodes in.

Konosuba: So we finally meet Wiz the big booby Lich and Kazuma learns a new skill, both fun things. Also the gang gets a house to stay in after escapades with an army of haunted dolls and the most “I need to pee” in a horror setting since Corpse Party. But yeah, good progress this time honestly, the living in a stable gag was getting kind of old so Kazuma’s a bit stronger now and they have a home base so that’s pretty cool. Also Wiz is a Demon General or some shit but no one cares cause there ain’t no money in murdering busty zombie waifus.

Sailor Moon Crystal: So turns out Minako is Princess Serenity, except everyone who knows anything about Sailor Moon or indeed plot structure knows Sailor Moon is Princess Serenity, that’s like the Luke I Am Your Father of this series. But still turns out Minako has been guiding everyone with the power of video games but also thinks the power of friendship sucks and she’s gotta go do everything alone. This makes things super awkward because Mamoru’s pretty sure he was in love with the Princess but likes Usagi, now instead of running with this interesting thread of a reincarnation falling in love with someone new we’re gonna do the reveal that Usagi’s the princess and the whole ‘till death do us part’ part of marriage was just a metaphor and you’re stuck with one person no matter how many times you reincarnate. But yeah, Minako fights the bad guy on top of the tower but he has Naraku’s Barrier now and Minako doesn’t have the Red Tessaiga upgrade yet so she needs the power of friendship but this barrier is friendship-proof and this fight is basically a bunch of kids on the playground making up increasingly stupid powers that negate the other powers the other guy just made up. Anyway Tuxedo Mask shows up and is like “Holy shit Sailor Moon I love when you kiss me and kick ass, go get em sweetie I’ll hold your flower” and they kiss and Usagi has learned that if she just pretends she got this the power of her confidence will beat the bad guy. Unfortunately she does not got this and Tuxedo Mask has to pull a Piccolo and throw himself in front of the blast.

Durarara!!:  So now that we’ve had our climax for the arc we have a six month timeskip and everyone’s just kinda living life, Mika and Seiji are being clinically insane together, there’s cops harassing Celty to the point of mental breakdown (normal cop stuff) Shinra’s dad’s in town, Namie’s become Izaya’s secretary for blackmail shit, you know, normal stuff. Also there’s a katana-wielding maniac going around slashing people and Anri’s being bullied and sexually harassed to the point of mental collapse, normal stuff.

[chacusha]

Star Trek: Legends liveblogging (1/?)

I got a three-month trial of Apple Arcade, so I'm going to give Star Trek: Legends a try. Given how I have the bad habit of getting super deep into gacha games, this is probably Famous Last Words, but here we go!

I'm not sure how I feel about using Cardassians as these disposable mook baddies, but also Michael!! Worf!! Okay nevermind, they're using everyone as disposable mook baddies -- Federation, Romulans, Klingons, Borg, etc.

I am already very confused about which characters are real and which ones are just illusions created by the Nexus or whatever. Is anyone real?? (Are we real...?)

I love the way Worf rests his bat'leth on his elbow.

OKAY SO I got Odo(!!), so he's replaced Worf as my tank. Odo is like a super tank whereas Worf is more a mix of attacker and defense. I love Odo's taunt (he just gestures for people to come at him, basically). It's somehow suiting for him to just stand there with his arms crossed while people attempt to wail on him.

It's interesting that even though I replaced Worf with Odo, Worf still appears in the story scenes. Also strange is that the "starter party" is Michael, Worf, McCoy, and Riker, but only the first three actually participate in story scenes.

In general, the different classes are pretty interesting. Medics are healers (obviously); Security is a mix of attackers and tanks; Commanders are buffers with decent attack ability; Scientists are... debuffers (I guess that makes sense -- they analyze the enemy for weakpoints); and Engineers are just doing their own thing entirely with the Tech stat.

I love Quark as the store owner. 😊

I like the replayability of story missions. I currently have like an A Team (Burnham, Odo, McCoy, Riker) which is pretty high level and has good offensive/defensive/healing capabilities for the long story campaigns. Then I have a lower-level B Team (Sela, Phlox, B'Elanna, and either Burnham, Worf, or Riker depending on what stat I need) that cleans things up after the A Team, but tends to die more. B'Elanna isn't really useful but she's currently the character with the highest Engineering stat so I almost always need her.

Speaking of Sela and strategy, she's a really interesting glass cannon character -- good for taking out small mobs of enemies, but quite bad for extended marathon battles. I've made her a bit more hardy by boosting her HP a lot but she used to be so fragile. It took me a while to realize that she exclusively uses the Tech stat, so once I realized that, I started boosting her Tech stat as well. But yeah she loses steam pretty quickly. She is apparently the top choice to use in PVP, though, because she always moves first before you can apply any Tech debuffs, so if she has sufficiently high Tech and gets lucky, she can easily one-shot a couple of characters, and there's no strategy the other person can deploy in order to mitigate the amount of damage she dishes out here.

It took me a bit to figure out Phlox, but he's like a super healer, especially if he gets Morale combos and starts regenerating people at random. I was a bit surprised regeneration lasts so long (it says regenerate for 1 turn but it lasts for 3 turns, I think??).

It's also wild that the A Team battle strategy is for Bones to drug Riker up each battle and Riker just mows enemies down. This is Real.

It also took me a while to figure out how to use Burnham (the skill that only becomes available in turn 2 confused me for the longest time). But she's basically specialized in taking down bosses. Her Stand Down reduces the damage of enemies (good for anyone with a group attack and/or is behind cover) and possibly can force one enemy to retreat, and then in turn 2, she can do a high-power attack that reduces defense (good to use against high-HP bosses).

I love this concept of shuttlecraft missions. I told my partner I'm constantly sending my low-level C Team characters on constant shuttlecraft missions and he was like, "That is so cruel!" If this were a Star Trek show, they would 100% be dead or space wedgied.

I love how Geordi and Data both look at their padd/tricorder as their idle animation during battle. They look so checked out/bored of the battle! Like, "Oh? We're in the middle of a fight? Can't it wait? I'm trying to make sense of these anomalous sensor readings!" These nerds. <3

I also love how all of Sulu's skills are fencing themed. Hell yeah!

I briefly tried to create my own alliance (it was called Quark's Acquisition with the Ferengi flag because I am Predictable). It didn't really work out but I'm glad I did it because it was fun seeing the options for naming alliances. Some of them sound so suggestive because of the "[character name]'s [x]" format -- I feel like there should be a contest for the most suggestive combo. Like, "Quark's Acquisition" totally sounds like the title of a bodice-ripper, right? (Or am I just too much of a Quarkfucker...?)

Continuing to play the story and I am still confused about who's real. Janeway wasn't real but Seven of Nine joined my party afterward i.e. was real?!

I checked out the subreddit for this game and found some truly horrifying stuff about the development status of this game. Like, there are bugs that only exist in the German language version (for some reason). Why???

I want to experiment more with some other characters who I haven't really been able to use yet because they're too low-level at the moment. I'm especially curious about Janeway's buffing and Crusher's group heal. Also, all the Science characters because I haven't really been able to figure out how to use any of them other than Burnham.

[missmalice202]

Designing Your Melody: Chapter 06 - Cherry

Chapter 01 - Chapter 05

“DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!!!” Marinette screamed into her headset as she tapped the buttons on her controller as fast as her fingers would let her.

“Dang, girl. Leave some for the rest of us.” Alya’s chuckle filtered though her headphones over the sound of gunfire. Her orange mecha that had been built for speed and precision performed a deadly dance as she picked off the few stragglers that Ladybug’s mecha had left behind. “You’re out for blood tonight, aren’t ya? Tough week?”

‘Tough’ didn’t begin to cover how frenzied the last week had been for Marinette. After hemming and embroidering and sewing THOUSANDS OF FREAKING SEQUINS, Jagged Stone’s new ensemble was finally finished. Why she had agreed to undertake such a herculean task at the last minute, she had no idea. Well, that’s not entirely true. She knew exactly why she accepted the job: she loved Jagged Stone and she loved a challenge.

Still, the fact that she was stressed out and sleep deprived remained. However, she was still too jittery from the numerous cups of coffee she’d sucked down over the past few days to go to sleep yet, so she figured she’d meet up with her clanmates and play for a little while until she finally came down from her caffeine high.

“Rena, I haven’t slept in 36 hours, I’ve stabbed myself a dozens of times sewing on all those stupid sequins that I thought would be such a good idea to add to his design, and I’ve had enough coffee over the past week that Papa could probably use my blood to make some of his famous tiramisu, so even though I’m freaking exhausted, there’s no way I can fall asleep just yet. I need something to relax me, so here I am..”

“Seriously, dude,” Nino added, “When you told us what you were doing, I thought you’d finally fallen off the deep end. I mean, you’ve got to be crazy to try to design and sew a photoshoot ready outfit for one of the biggest rock and roll stars in the world in just a week!” His avatar, a bright green design with black goggles covering the cockpit, threw up a translucent energy shield over his clanmates that glowed with an ethereal green light, easily blocking the incoming attack of an enemy captain.

“Hey!” Marinette yelled at her friend as she rushed toward the mini-boss, swords flashing as her cherry red mecha closed the distance and she engaged with the enemy. “You make it sound like you didn’t think I could do it.”

“It’s not that, my lady,” soothed Adrien, aka Chat Noir. “We all had faith that you’d get the job done purrfectly.” His onyx mecha landed next to Ladybug, his staff whirling, performing a perfectly choreographed combo attack with his partner in battle. “Fur real, we were just concerned that purrhaps you had kitten off more than you could chew and ended up burning yourself out.”

She closed her eyes for a moment to collect herself. She could literally hear how smug Chat Noir was through her headphones. “For the sake of what little sanity I have left after this week, please don’t start with the cat puns, Chat.”

“Why, I’m feline a little offended here, bugaboo,” he teased. “I’m just saying that there’s no one else who clawed pull what you did off.”

“That last one was a bit of a stretch, kitty.” She should just ignore him, she knew that. You’d think she would have learned by now that when she responded to his bad jokes and ridiculous puns, he layed it on even thicker, just to annoy her. “Seriously though, I didn’t have much of a choice! You should have seen what the stylist wanted Jagged to wear. It was just,” she shuddered just thinking about it, “terrible.”

Rena asked, “How bad? Come on, girl, gimme some details!”

“Ugh, it makes me sick just thinking about it. Imagine Jagged Stone, wearing a powder blue, see-through lace romper..” Her three friends howled with laughter at the mental image she conjured, so she continued to describe the nightmare she had seen in full detail. “Just picture it: THE Jagged Stone, clad in skintight lace booty shorts, white fishnet stockings, and silver glitter loafers. They wanted to stuff him into a silver speedo underneath that ridiculous romper. That’s all! Nothing but a silver speedo and translucent baby blue lace!” she snorted with laughter as she remembered how utterly uncomfortable the poor singer had been when he showed her what the record label wanted him to wear for his promotional photo shoot. “Oh my god, it was awful! I wish I could unsee that sight, but it’s now burned into my memory to haunt me until the day I die. I couldn’t very well say no to his pleading after I saw that abomination.”

“Ladybug,” Chat Noir tried to calm down enough to talk, but he was obviously having a hard time since he had let his guard down and had been killed in the battle. He used his respawn time to finally compose himself enough to continue. “As a life long Jagged Stone fan, you have my eternal gratitude for sparing the public from that visual crime against humanity.” He dissolved into another fit of giggles, causing a chain reaction among their friends once again and distracting them from the battle currently underway.

“I know.” Marinette took a deep breath. “And here I thought that they couldn’t possibly come up with a worse marketing strategy after that whole “perfume ad album cover” debacle. Yeah, I was wrong. This was much, MUCH worse,” she scoffed.

They all laughed hysterically for a few more minutes before they were able to calm themselves enough to carry on their conversation.

“By the way, milady, are you going to be participating in Fashion Week next month?” Chat asked.

“Yes,” she replied. “I’ve finally garnered enough of a reputation as a legitimate designer for my collection to be allowed to participate in the newcomer designer showcase on the last day. I’ve got my collection finalized, so all I need to do is sit down at my machine and make the pieces.” Her fingers flew over the buttons of her controller, sowing a path of destruction in her avatar’s wake onscreen as a new wave of enemies arrived to back up their leader. “Now that I’m done with the Jagged Stone’s request, I’ve got the time to work on my showcase designs.” With a final flourish, she and Chat Noir defeated the enemy captain, leaving Rena Rouge and Carapace to deal with the reinforcements.

The gathered the mission rewards and traveled back to their base.

“Hey, Ladybug,” Rena began, “have you selected the models you’d like to walk in your show? I’m sure Kitty Noir over here would be more than happy to help you out if you need.”

While Alya understood that Adrien and Marinette would probably only be “just good friends”, once a shipper, always a shipper. Over the years, she still created opportunities for her two friends to be alone together in the hopes that something would spark between them and her OTP ship could set sail. Was it wrong to ship your friends? She didn’t think so. Nino disapproved of her antics at times, but she just couldn’t help it. She wanted her friends to be happy and in her mind, they were made for each other.

Marinette had tried convincing her friend that she was more than happy with the relationship she had with the handsome, blond model. She was more at ease with him now and he could be himself around her, even if that did include his utterly atrocious sense of humor. Seriously, the guy’s obsession with puns was borderline unhealthy.

“I’d love to wear your designs again, My Lady,” he purred.

“Won’t you be busy walking in your father’s show?”

“The Agreste show is on the first day. I’ll have plenty of free time after that. All you’ll have to do is get me some of your dad’s famous macaroons as payment.”

She was ecstatic. Having a famous model like Adrien Agreste would bring people flocking to her show, even if it was to see him, not her designs. But since he’d be the one wearing her clothes, it’d be like killing two birds with one stone. “You have a deal!” she squealed.

His chuckle echoed in her ears. “Honestly, I’m getting the better end of the deal. Don’t underestimate the power your family’s bakery has.”

“Awesome,” Alya cheered. “You’ve got your male model. Do you need a female model too or have you found one already?”

“Actually, I texted Juleka Couffaine and asked her if she’d be interested and she said that she’d do it,” she said. “I haven’t really spoken to her since high school since we kind of lost touch with each other, but I’ve seen some of the ads she’s sone and I think she’d be a good fit for the theme of my collection. She’s out of the country at the moment on a job, but she should be back sometime next week, so until then I can get started on what you’ll be wearing, Kitty.”

“Sounds good, Bugga-boo. I can’t wait to see what you’ve come up with. Your designs are always so pawsome. I can’t wait to wear them for you on the catwalk.”

She shook her head once more at his antics. “I’ll give you the last one, since that’s a legitimate pun.” Alya and Nino’s laughter rang in her ears as they laughed at their friends’ banter.

“You know, we were wondering if you’d be online tonight, Ladybug, since you’ve been MIA all week.” Alya said. “The others were asking about you since they hadn’t heard from you, but I told them you’d be on when you were done with your work.” There was a brief silence before she teased, “Viperion was especially worried about you. He said how you guys had done some grinding the other night wondered where you had disappeared to since you’re usually on every night..”

The idea of Viperion worrying about her caused warmth to blossom in her chest. To be honest, she had missed the calming effect his presence had on her. “Speaking of which, where is he? Did he say he was going to be playing tonight?”

Nino told her that he had spoken to him earlier in the day and that he would probably be on much later, if at all because he would be working late on a project that he had to completely redo.

A little disappointed that she wouldn’t get to play with her online friend, Marinette decided to call it a night and logged out, finally ready to get some much needed sleep.

 Chapter 07

*Sorry for the delay on posting. This chapter is just kind of a transition chapter, so unfortunately, not much is going on, but I really wanted cat puns and mental images of hard rockers in blue lace rompers hahaha. Next chapter will pick up and our sweet boi will get some screen time. I might even stop torturing him and throw him a bone ;D Until next time, Lovelies XOXO*

[laryna6]

Ring of Pain is very good but has no idea what forgiveness is. You fail to take one factor into consideration once and you are dead. And ofc it’s a roguelike. Runs are pretty quick, though I have yet to get the ‘win a run in under 18 min’ achievement because I do not do real time anything. Not a deckbuilder, you get equips instead. 

Deck Hunter is a deckbuilding roguelike that has been in EA for awhile but the creator swears is being worked on. The roulette wheel events are not worth it. There’s a problem with some of the boss drop cards being ‘places other card in your deck’ great but what does that other card do? Cards that are created by other cards don’t disappear from your deck when the battle ends, which can be very good but needs to be kept in mind - there are some great combos that you must not use bc they will end in deck bloat. 

Rise of the Slime is another deckbuilding roguelike in EA with a huge emphasis in DoT effects and it also has a positioning mechanic. Cheap and cute, so no reason not to pick it up if you like the genre.

Ellrland is one of the Chinese deckbuilding roguelikes and has a metacurrency earned on run completion that you can use to, among other things, come back from the dead. I used it when I died to the last normal combat before the final boss due to absolute bullshit. The translation didn’t give me trouble figuring out what cards did. I kind of skipped through the end boss’ on defeat dialogue, it was some kind of ‘you may have won but’ but I decided this was IC since I was playing as a dad who was here to rescue his kid, so he’d be ‘don’t care need to get child home before dark.’ But it’s cheap and there may be a bunch more content than I actually played in my single run, so good value for money.

Pirates Outlaws definitely had a bunch more content than I played, but it just kind of left me cold. The ammo mechanic seemed like ‘forces a certain percent of your deck to be bloat’ rather than adding actual strategy, and I ended up focusing on cards that didn’t have ammo cost - which actually got me an achievement in my first victory run. There’s an art style, I dislike it.

Dimension Reign: ++ good stuff. Novel mechanics, nails that ‘battles should be hard but quick’ and rewards for good play the way the press turn icon system does.

Astral Towers has a singleplayer campaign where you gradually unlock all the abilities rather than just a tutorial for the versus battles. It’s cheap, hard and enjoyable, so it’s good if you need to give your brain something to do, but not one of the greats.

[satoshi-mochida]

Some thoughts on my last Gamefly rental, Little Town Hero(PS4 version).

I heard this game was difficult...and I heard right. Once fights get serious with the first boss, you can’t just pick what moves to use willy nilly; you’ll need to start thinking of what moves to use, and when. The third boss is when you REALLY need to start to get good at strategizing, though sometimes luck will be what decides if you win or not.

All of the Boss Monsters look nice and unique from each other, and the strategies for each are different.

Some nice features to make things a bit easier are a Guts barrier that blocks damage to your Hearts up a certain amount(which can be increased with Eureka points), and refresh if you do take a hit to the Hearts. A direct hit on them will also refresh all spent Ideas to be used again(otherwise, you’ll need to spend BP, and the amount increases each time, or find and get Pasmina/Natz’s help). The Guts barrier is only for boss fights, though.

Though it may take some time, I think you can get a hang for the battle system if you keep at it. Try and be defensive at first while waiting for a chance to strike, but not too defensive, or the bosses will just wear you down.

This version of the game has an Easy Mode(which I think got added via an update to the Switch version), though amusingly, there is no Normal difficulty; only Hard(default) and Easy. I got through most of the game on Hard, but the last boss made me cave and switch over because of how annoying it was getting.

Some tips: 

Since you otherwise need to rely on getting lucky with the roulette after a turn, try to get Free Mobility whenever you can to move to where you want to on the map instead of just hoping you can.

The Chickens on the map are very helpful; they remove Special Effects from Enemy Dazzits, plus attack the Boss Monsters directly, either by hitting their Guts Barrier, or a direct hit if it’s down.

These Dazzits should be upgraded ASAP: Tough Out, Psych Up, Pelt, Firecracker and Improvise. After them, focus on Charge and Dash Guard.

Losing to a Boss Monster will actually get you some Eureka points for upgrades, which the game lets you apply if you hit Retry, but I think only once; you can’t grind for them by doing this(aside from the last boss, probably as a mercy, since it’s three phases).

A good combo is the ‘Pelt’ Dazzit(which does either 1 or 2 damage, depending on upgrades, to Enemy Dazzits) plus Granny Yarne’s skill, which breaks all damaged Enemy Dazzits.

Do all the sidequests; you’ll get more Eureka Points plus they’ll upgrade the Gimmicks and character’s help on the map during Boss fights.

Although you can fight them in Chapter 5, a guide I was using recommends waiting until at least Chapter 8 before fighting the Nightmare Doll subquest boss.

I’m glad I was able to play this; it’s pretty charming, and funny at times, too(”The boy’s pants are on fire...he must be telling the truth.”). Also, really good music, like this track(from Toby Fox). I think some story stuff could have been touched upon a bit more, though.

It’s too bad this got pretty little advertising(not even on it’s release day, for Pete's sake). I hope they revisit this game or make another one similar to it, but refine things more, like making it less luck-based.

Next game being sent is: Ys: Memories of Celceta.