#at the beginning i hated the marker tool in sai and now its the only thing i ever draw with. its because i changed the brush setings that i

[soybeantree]

revenant

pairing: grimreaper!do kyungsoo x cemeteryworker!(reader) genre/warning: eventual fluff  word count: 2k+ description:  the surplus of spoopy ghost dramas as of late brought this little gem around. totally normal for a paranormal story in january, right?  a/n: january installment of our ‘trying to write a kyungsoo story for every month that he is gone’ series. hana promises that there will be a part 2 because b if there ain’t imma flip. she loves the angsty cliff-hangers. i HATE them. - em

Your mother always said the benefits to living in a rich city were innumerable. That’s a bit strong of an adjective, but you can agree that there are many benefits. You have access to great shops and great food, top rated schools, and the city is beautiful. Every building, street, and sign look like they were plucked from some children’s book. The city officials take great pride in the city’s appearance. Too much pride though, which is why you’re waking up at 9:30 in the evening for your 10:00 shift at the cemetery. The cemetery is one of the city’s top tourist attractions. The above ground mausoleums, the grand tombstones dating back centuries, they draw in countless visitors each day. As such, the city officials expend great effort and money to maintain the grounds and keep the stone gleaming. However, since appearance is everything, the cemetery’s caretakers, aka you, your father, and your grandmother before him, must only work at night. After all, what tourist wants to see a sweaty, mud-begrimed worker pushing a cart around the cemetery?

Despite the ridiculousness of the arrangement, you enjoy working at night. Grabbing a beanie, you pull it over your ears as you head out. A thin fog is your only companion as you walk the short distance to the cemetery’s back entrance. The lack of tourist makes your work easier and more bearable. If you had to do double duty as caretaker and tour guide, many tourists would find a new home in a mausoleum. Another benefit is the hefty paycheck. The extra money though is due less to working at night and more to the fact that the cemetery is haunted. Heading towards your tool shed, which is cleverly disguised as a mausoleum, you pass several spirits. The newer ones acknowledge you with a nod while the older ones wander by lost to themselves. During your school days, your classmates gave you a wide berth. They held the ignorant opinion that spirits followed you to school. However at that point, they would have had to follow your dad home then attached themselves to you then follow you to school. None of which made any sense. Ghosts rarely travel far from their resting place. Explaining that to your schoolmates though was a waste of breath, so you stopped. The caretaker position became yours by default. You went away for a few years after college, but real world jobs are too boring. When you came back, the city council all but kissed your feet. The slew of caretakers who came in after your father retired had lasted only days at a time. The cemetery was a mess. The city council was at its wits end. You could have asked for anything. In the end, you settled for the fat paycheck and complete autonomy. Pulling out your cart, you begin your work. The fog slips through the cemetery obscuring the paths and adding to the whole eerie haunted vibe. Your feet know the pathways, and you hum to yourself as you walk. On today’s “to do” list, you have polishing the mausoleums by the eastern entrance. Some city council dweeb had complained that they looked weathered and dingy. You wish he had said it to your face rather than hide behind an email, but he was probably too chicken-livered to step foot within the cemetery. “Good evening, caretaker.” The singsong voice grates against your ears. You stop in front of the first marble facade and pull a rag and polish out of your cart. “What has fouled your mood? Receive another rejection from a suitor?” “I’d have to have a suitor to be rejected by one.” You grunt as you crouch down to start on the base of the first column. “True.” She giggles. The ghost hovers beside you, the hem of her ethereal gown brushing against your cheek. You sneeze. “What has soured your mood then?” Sighing, you stand and move to the top of the column. With a huff, she floats to your other side and folds her hands in front of her. She glances over her shoulder then back at you. “The cemetery is awful quiet tonight.” You skirt around her as you move onto the next column. Beside the few specters you passed when you arrived, you have yet to meet another of the cemetery’s occupants since beginning your work. “Have you no curiosity for the cemetery’s silence?” “I assume it’s because Mrs. King started on about her grandkids again.” “Indeed not.” She simpers, peering at you from the columns other side. You divert your attention to your task, scrubbing an obstinate stain. Clearing her throat, she continues. “Mr. Long in plot 112 has gone malevolent.” Your hand stills. In addition to the high pay and freedom from human interaction, there is a third benefit to working nights at the cemetery. Arguably the best benefit, and one of the main reasons you returned. Of all the days to roll out of bed and throw on clothes, it had to be today. Yesterday, you had showered and worn decent clothing, not the stained cargo pants and t-shirt which you pulled from your laundry basket. You groan and toss your rag into the cart, fighting the urge to kick one of the wheels. Your work boots would easily protect your toes, but you’d rather not give your companion the satisfaction of seeing how deeply her news affects you. She smiles smugly at you. “I’m sure a reaper will take care of Mr. Long. You might want to make yourself scarce. I’d hate for the reaper to see you and take you with Mr. Long.” “Surely, you know which reaper has come.” She floats through the column to hover beside you. Often during your life, you have wished for the ability to slap a ghost. Today, the wish twitches your fingers, but you keep your hand by your side. Only reapers can touch ghosts. Of course, you know which reaper has come. The cemetery has a single reaper assigned to maintain order. He was in charge even before your grandmother’s time. His name is or was Kyungsoo. All your grandmother and father would say about him was that he was the cemetery’s Reaper, and it was best to leave him to work in peace. Which would be easy, if you hadn’t developed a crush on him when you were four. “Mr. Long is the first malevolent spirit since you started, correct? Which would mean this is the first time Reaper Kyungsoo has made his appearance?” Her smile widens. “How many years have passed since last you saw him? Surely, you wish to renew your acquaintance.” “Surely, you wish to mind your own damn business.” You hiss. Of all the damn ghosts to witness the first time you met Kyungsoo, it would have to be this bitch. She chuckles, and you shake your head. Stupid. However, now there’s no point in pretending you don’t care. Leaving the cart and your responsibilities behind, you race across the cemetery to plot 112.

-

A malevolent spirit is frightening to anyone who hasn’t grown up around ghosts. The normally human-appearing spirit transforms into a towering demon. There’s a lot of ear-splitting screeching and gusts of wind which dig into the ground spraying rocks and dirt into the air, and an overwhelming sense of dread fills your chest and tugs at fear. However, growing up around ghosts, you learn when you should be afraid and when the malevolent spirit is just a pissy, windbag. Mr. Long is the later. Sitting on the tombstone of a spirit who long ago passed into the beyond, you watch the skirmish between spirit and reaper. Kyungsoo rushes forward scythe in hand. His black robes billow out behind him as he leaps forward. The scythe slices through Mr. Long as he passes him. A final screech peters to a whimper as Mr. Long returns to himself. Kyungsoo lands, spinning the moment his feet touch ground. He faces his opponent, his scythe posed behind him, ready for the next swing. Mr. Long stares forlornly at the reaper then at the mess he has made of his burial site. He whimpers again. The sound tugs at your heart strings. While you are the one who will have to put the area to rights, you sympathize for the spirit. He’s new to the cemetery, two years in the grave. You didn’t know him when he was alive, and you haven’t spent much time around him since he arrived. However, you know his grave marker cost less than two hundred and that he never has flowers placed on it. He stands beside it during the day, staring at the cemetery’s entrance. Kyungsoo relaxes his stance. His scythe disappears as he steps forward. From this distance, you fail to hear the exchange between reaper and spirit, but you can see the relief in Mr. Long’s shoulders. A reaper’s duty is to ferry the dead to their final resting place and protect the living from the dead. Kyungsoo will allow Mr. Long to remain in the world of the living and will not resort to drastic measures to protect the living. You’ve heard of reapers who decimate a malevolent spirit without a thought. Kyungsoo has never been like that. Even that first time you met him, he brought the spirit back to sanity. Back then, you had thought he was some kind of superhero. He appeared from nowhere and rescued you and the monster. The conversation ends, and Mr. Long disappears to wherever ghost go. You asked both you grandmother and father where ghosts go when they disappear from the living world. Both blustered without giving a satisfactory explanation. You assume they go rest in their graves. “You’ve returned.” The voice is soft like the footsteps which brought it near you. Glancing up, you find Kyungsoo standing a few feet from you. Your heart quickens and rises through your throat, blocking all words. So you nod. “I am happy to know your family will continue to oversee the cemetery. The caretakers after your father had no place here.” Your head bobs along as you force your heart back into your chest. “I guess not everyone is cut out to work with the dead.” He smiles, and your heart rises once again. You cough and look away. “Your father is well?” You nod, keeping your eyes on the rows of tombstones. “He retired to a beach somewhere.” In a whisper, you ask, “My grandmother?” “She passed beyond when she died. I saw her off well.” As you had thought, your grandmother wasn’t one to linger in the living world. She had done her work and been satisfied with her life. “I look forward to working with you.” His words nearly force your heart from your body. You choke on it, falling off your perch from the violence of your hacking. “Are you unwell?” He crouches before you ensuring you meet his gaze. “Fine.” You croak as you push yourself off the ground and put distance between you two. “I also look forward to working with you. Not that I hope you come a lot because malevolent spirits are bad, but also when you do come I won’t be mad.” Your words peter out, and you wish you could have choked again. Kyungsoo maintains the distance you set, his lips curving down into a pout as you rambled. “Thank you for helping Mr. Long. I’ll take extra care to check on him.” You swerve the conversation. His lips turn up into a soft smile. He glances behind him at plot 112. “He is a good man and will find peace if he allows himself.” When his attention returns to you, you can feel the charge in his eyes. A caretaker’s job is more than maintaining the cemetery’s appearance. The truest duty is held within the title. You must take care of the spirits and help them on their way. You nod. “Thank you.” He bows his head. “I must be going.” In the next instant, the space before you is empty. You remain staring at that space, a forgotten smile on your lips. “I am beginning to understand your lack of suitors.” Your smile sours. You really wish you could slap a ghost.

[biscuitreviews]

Biscuit Reviews Ghost of Tsushima

I’ll be honest, Ghost of Tsushima was a game that wasn’t even on my radar until the entire internet wouldn’t shut up about it. All the screenshots and all of the gushing had me quite curious and having recently finished Yakuza 3, I think I can extend my stay in the game world of the land of the rising sun by going back to its past during the Mongol Invasion.

One interesting tidbit is that the developer for this game is the same developer of the InFamous series, Sucker Punch Productions. If you’re a longtime reader of Biscuit Reviews, you might recall that I reviewed the first InFamous game in the very early days of my time and introduction to Tumblr. For those that might not recall I gave InFamous a 7/10 with my old scoring system, which now I’d probably rate it more along the lines of a 3 out of 5. I will say that playing through Ghost of Tsushima does have me wanting to go back and check out the other two games in the series.

It’s time to give what many gamers are considering, “the swan song of the Playstation 4”, the Biscuit Review.

You play as Jin Sakai, a samurai lord on the island of Tsushima who answers the call of his uncle, Lord Shimura, to fight the Mongols who are invading the island. After Lord Shimura is captured, the samurai forces defeated, Jin is left for dead on the battlefield and is found by a woman named Yuna. Yuna agrees to help Jin on his quest to rescue his uncle and drive away the Mongol invaders. In exchange, she asks Jin for help in rescuing her brother and securing a boat to the Japanese mainland.

Throughout this journey, Jin will turn into the legendary Ghost, a samurai that uses brutal attacks, stealth, and poison to defeat his enemies. It’s this personal journey that causes Jin to question the samurai way which will find him at odds with his uncle.

Despite the game being open-world, it follows the old style of open world games. You have three districts and you only advance to the next district if you advance to a certain point within the campaign. These districts are also designed to reflect Jin’s transformation into the Ghost. The first district encourages fighting head on as Jin is still upholding the samurai ideals. The second district is a mix between head on fighting and stealth. The final district strongly encourages stealth approaches as Jin accepts his title of the Ghost.

As far as open fighting goes, I do love and hate it. I love that you can initiate Standoffs. Jin will call out the enemy to  where they will approach him in a duel to where you wait to release the Triangle button at the perfect moment to instantly kill the opponent. Releasing the button too soon will cause the enemy to land a fatal blow that will drain Jin’s health bar to where one more hit will kill him. There are also various forms to learn and each form is better suited for different opponents which I loved as if I didn’t have the proper form, guarding and parrying an opponent was more difficult. However, learning these forms do require you to seek out Mongol leaders in camps and outposts and defeat them in battle. This makes the first area more important as you will need to take time to do these side objectives to acquire these forms to survive the rest of the game.

However, what I do hate about open fighting is that there isn’t a proper lock-on mechanic. Although Jin will focus on an enemy he is facing, he could easily lose that lock which in turn can turn you around during a fight, leaving you open for an attack. Guarding and parrying was also a bit of a hit and miss for me. Sometimes it would succeed, other times it didn’t register.

As for the stealth mechanics, it was serviceable. You have a bow and arrow that can take down enemies from afar, poison darts, and distraction tools. You can hide behind objects and use tall grass for an up close stealth kill.

There are other tools at your disposable as well such as smoke bombs that will help with a quick getaway or simply stun enemies. Sticky bombs that have an unnatural way of getting stuck to enemies. Throwable kunai that are great with stunning and damaging enemies. Finally, you have powder bombs which act as grenades essentially.

There is also a Resolve meter which allows you to perform special moves and acts as your health reserve pool to where you press down on the D pad to recover some health. This does add a small layer of strategy for combat. Do you use your Resolve to do some heavy damage, special attacks and fight finishers, or do you keep in plentiful supply to heal during an intense battle? Recharging the Resolve is also rather simple as it ranges from defeating enemies, performing successful standoffs, and ending the suffering of your enemies who are gravely wounded in battle.

As for the cosmetics, wow, so many cosmetics. In a time where something like this is nickel and dimed in many games today, the amount of cosmetics in Ghost of Tsushima is insane and all of it is earned or found through quests or simply exploring Tsushima. There are various hats, masks, outfits, and sword sheaths that you pick and customize. The only cosmetic that gives bonuses is the outfit itself. Other stat boosts come from charms that are also found by exploring and through quests.

Now I made a comment earlier about what got me curious about the game was the many screenshots players were taking and I can see why. The island of Tsushima is beautiful. There are so many vistas to just sit back and just take it all in and just marvel at the beauty. Now I understand why there are so many screenshots being shared throughout various social medias.

As far as exploration of the Tsushima, I love how Sucker Punch handled navigation. You have the wind to guide you to your objective. No marker on the screen, no minimap to focus on, just the wind that you can summon by swiping up on the touchpad. This allows you the player to focus more on the world and actually enjoy the sights. You can pull up the map in the menu and place markers, and when you do, the wind will change to guide you to that placed marker. There are also yellow birds that fly and guide you to activities as you travel through Tsushima, which I thought was another great way of the environment keeping you engaged in its world.

Now something that I mentioned in my InFamous review regarding how some edges have their own magnetic field if you don’t jump far enough away from it, said object will jump pull you back to it. It’s still prevalent in this game which now I’m starting to wonder if this might be a staple with Sucker Punch games if this is still present even after playing the first InFamous.

There are also various glitches within the game, some are extremely hilarious such as enemies getting launched from existence after a heavy attack, funny camera glitches when entering or exiting standoffs, and enemies walking into a fire when you initiate a standoff and then dying before it begins. Then you have annoying glitches such as getting stuck on edges you jump off of, enemies getting stuck behind something, or enemies not registering that a standoff occurs.

I know a lot of people compare this game to Assassin’s Creed and I can see it. However, I feel it’s more comparable to Batman as it’s a man that is taking on a mantle of something and instilling fear in his enemies.

If the game was being judged by visuals alone, Ghost of Tsushima would win hands down. This will be looked back as the best looking game of the PS4 generation. Despite quite a few technical hiccups and questionable mechanic choices, it’s still a solid game and definitely worth checking out as a way to say goodbye to the Xbox One/PS4 generation and prepare for the new one.

Ghost of Tsushima receives a really solid 4 out of 5

[sleepymarmot]

ESO: MW - Main quest + Ald’ruhn

*starts the Ald'ruhn part of the main quest* *hurriedly tries to remember anything about Chodala except I had his axe and it gave me some stat bonus. unless it's a different Chodala, which isn't likely*

Sorry, how did you pronounce "Nerevarine"? "Nere-VE-ryn"?? Where's the "e" coming from? Excuse me while I ignore this and continue to say "Nere-va-REEN" in my head

please don't say "Make Morrowind great again"

Uhh so what I can put together at this point is that Chodala was the Ashlander thief and this staff belongs to the Clavicus Vile worshippers. Funny how this Prince's area is similar to the actual Moon-and-Star ring, which gives bonuses to persuasion. Before I remembered the previous section's plot, I thought he got the ring!

Oh right, I have Chodala's letter to the Red Exiles in my inventory as a quest item. The thief wasn't Chodala himself but a random Red Exile he gave this task. Strange, he employs Red Exiles to retrieve the staff and then tries to impress other Red Exiles with it?

I can't believe an Ashlander guard just charged me the bounty from trespassing on Redoran territory to fetch an item this same group of Ashlanders asked for!

"The Urshilaku salute you, n'wah" the use of this word sure has changed huh

"Vehk, Sotha Sil and the Mad Wife" excuse me what kind of sexism is this????

The introductions to the tribes were appreciated, but I still can't decide which one Issurani is from. I didn't want to go with Urshilaku, but the book said most Ashlander mages are from there, and she's definitely interested in lore etc - but from what the tribe representative said, they mostly care about the Nerevarine prophecies specifically, and this character isn't about that. Zainab are completely out. Erabenimsun might be the best fit...

Oh, I didn't realize that the "Investigate Ald'ruhn" quest was already over, and was confused why there were no main quest markers in the camp lol

Uhhh so let me get this fucking straight, the Ashlanders believed that it was their combined effort that defeated Skar, except it was the achievement of some proto-House Dunmer, who was then killed by the ~dishonorable~ Ashlanders and forgotten, and so it is good and just that the Vestige now has to prompt House Redoran to "re"claim Ald'ruhn??? Excuse me, how much Hating Natives And Justifying Imperialism juice have the writers been drinking??

I just realized what felt wrong... Where are these Ashlanders' slaves? There wasn't a single one in sight. Is ZOS pretending that Ashlanders do not practice slavery and just blame it on Telvanni and Dres?

--

"[Sotha Sil] desperately sought to understand the power he and his companions attained" Uh, isn't this supposed to be top secret? Why does Barilzar a) know this is an arcane matter and not divine and transcendent, b) casually mention it to someone he just met?

"[Sotha Sil] had a tool that he used to drain away minute bits of his divine energy to store and study. He could extract it and return it as he saw fit." And how does this differ from the Blessing Stones that seemed to be pretty common?

Oh let me guess, was this tool stolen from the Clockwork City by an agent of Nocturnal?

I thought the Shrine of Azura near Barilzar's tower was the humble beginning of the Holamayan Monastery, but I missed that it already exists further north along the coast. Can never tell with ESO's tendency to downsize things... Apparently the shrine existed in Morrowind too and was the base for the Azura’s Star quests, which I never knew because I hate exploration and daedric quests lol

I totally misinterpreted what the staff was and didn't even realize it until the archcanon put it together for me, haha

Lol did he put the couch here just in case someone magically drains his divine power and he has to sit down?

It's a good thing I've unlocked the Walley of the Wind wayshrine already. From there it was just retracing my steps... I remember how in Morrowind I wandered forever and came upon the Cavern when I was about to give up. Shouldn't only the Nerevarine be able to enter, though?

Ok, but nothing that the other Incarnates told me actually helped... All that proves is that he's more likely to become another Failed Incarnate instead of a successful one. And here we return to the problem I had with TESIII: this Shrodinger's Nerevarine thing makes no sense, either you are someone's reincarnation or not, case closed!

Honestly, this self-plagiarism becomes more and more grating. What, you couldn't come up with an original story set on Vvardenfell?

Well, at least I can buy Morrowind furniture from Rolis now...

Oh, I didn't realize that characters from various Morrowind location quests would appear at the end of the main quest. I guess I missed out on some dialogue, but it's not a big loss.

me @ Barilzar at the beginning of the questline: “Aw sweetie :(” by the end: “Yeah, I get how his hirelings felt”

About the main quest: "I expected nothing and I'm still disappointed". Well, a bit. It’s lacking in scope, depth and originality. 

Geographically, the structure of the quest is weak: instead of taking you across the zone, it keeps sending you to the same few places. 

ESO's tendency to make everything mundane reaches its peak: divinity is just glowing juice you can put in a jar! 

Vivec is a completely flat character with no character arc or glimpse of interiority, and even the surface personality is not here not there: pompous enough to make him look like a fraud and a buffoon who doesn't deserve the worship, but not enough to be comical in either endearing or satirical way. When I met Vivec in Morrowind, I thought "Did he actually write that esoteric stuff himself, or was it just attributed to him?" When I met him in ESO, it was more like "Yeah, he wrote it himself but he just bullshitted it all for the likes".

I’ve already complained about this, but why did they feel the need to make this quest about the Nerevarine and Vivec’s loss of powers... It wasn’t going to be more deep or interesting than the story of TESIII, it didn’t give any particular insight on these topics - it’s just some very weird kind of fanservice. 

[apexarrow]

How to screenshot Part 1.

I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I've been told on more than one occassion "I wish I could take screenshots like you" and "oh my god youre so good at screens." and I always tell people the same thing - "Practice practice practice."

Case in point:

(Yes - thats my archive where I store my ffxiv screenshots. Yes, the folder for 2018 has 5,756 files. Yes. that means 5,756 screenshots.)

But that doesn't mean that there aren't certain things to bear in mind when taking eye-catching screenshots. Yes, there are tools out there that will help you along the way - multiple mods exist, as well as Reshade, but an artist is more than the tools at their disposal. There are certain things to look out for that no addon or reshade setting will fix for you.

Of course, by no means is this the ONLY way or the BEST way to take screenshots. I am just here to walk you through a part of my process. 

PART 1. Camera Angles, Distractions, Color Filters and Body Language.

Lets start with an amateur screenshot. 

This is a picture I have seen a million times - a male miqo’te in the quicksand. ORIGINAL. Of course, this is my own character @rgael looking rather unfortunately BORING in this shot. I see this exact shot SO often when people are making a new character and wanting to make RP connections. It physically pains me when I see this picture.

So whats wrong here.  1. The composition is boring  2. Distractions  3. He’s blending in  4. No expression, a basic bitch pose.  These 4 issues are what I’m going to tackle in this tutorial - how to overcome each of them. So lets start at the beginning. The composition. Dull. Boring. There is a time and a place for having a character placed in the direct center of a screen, with a head-on camera angle like this - but cool screenshots is NOT IT! Distractions.  - I hate those lamps. They offer nothing to the overall image. They’re not aesthetically pleasing - theyre not even symmetrical. Theyre brighter than he is, leading your eye away from him. He’s blending in. There is nothing eyecatching about this, the picture has very little contrast. No expression. A Basic bitch pose. Look, lets not kid ourselves. This is a stock miqote pose. Everyone can do it. and many do. Body language is so important, and there’s nothing about this that portrays R’gael the way I want to. From this view, there appears to be NOTHING unique about him - and why would that capture ANYONE’S attention? It wouldn’t. And it shouldn’t. this is a bad screen. Now, lets take that EXACT same pose and location and see what we can improve on.

Just zooming in, we’re already looking a bit better. At least we can see his face clearly. The lamps are cut out, but I’m not crazy about that railing to the right. Still, the colors are kind of washed out, and Gael’s most striking feature is his eyes - I want to draw attention to his eyes whenever I can. So lets discuss color filters for a second.

THEY ARE MOSTLY TRASH.

I only use a few of gpose’s color filters - ever.

There is no official rule when some will be better than others. It depends on your subject matter, the time of day, etc. These are the only effects I use, ever. Anything thats crossed out is either never used, or used by me so little that its not even worth including on the list.  I like Colored Marker 2, Pastel 1, and Pastel 2 the most. Lets try Colored Marker 2 in this picture.

Nice. It’s a subtle effect, but his eyes are brighter, the contrast is a bit higher. we’re getting closer to a more acceptable screenshot. Lets mess with the angle.

By just adjusting our camera angle a few degrees, we’ve eliminated the annoying distractions. Also note how the lines in the background are literally guiding the eye to the focal point of the image - his face. This is already looking a lot better as a portrait, but its still kind of boring to me.

This is looking better. As a portrait, this is much more expressive. His body is turned one way, but his face is looking another. The expression is unchanged technically, but there is a billion times more emotion shown here.

PROTIP: You can use the spacebar in gpose to make your character look at the “camera” in many poses - try making them look one way, then adjust the camera angle after. They dont always have to look at the camera, that gets boring.

Just look at the comparison tho.

for emphasis - I didn’t change anything the character is doing - its the same pose, in the same location, with the same expression.  Lets do it again - this time I’m picking another location. Gael wears a lot of black, and I want him to stand out. I’m going to go somewhere bright - I have an apartment in the mists, so I’m going down to the beach.

Cool its raining.  So since its raining. I’m gonna go for something angsty. Lets try crossing our arms and being sad.  the /sad emote is a little too bitch-ish for gael - so lets try /disturbed instead. Basic standing pose, /disturbed emote, and Bright 3 for that blue and moody atmosphere.

awful. Again, dull composition.  the emotion..it just doesn’t make sense. His face says sad but his body language is confident. And a bad background. Play with combining emotes and expressions. The male miqo’te /doze is my go-to for R’gael. Look at what a different this makes if you combined it with /disturbed and pause it at the beginning.

This is a MUCH more interesting pose! His head is tilted to the side, his weight is shifted to the side, his ears are tilted BACK. This body language portrays emotion much better. Its way more natural. Lets play with this.

Okay, we’re head-on now. Its still not great. I can do better.

Shifting the composition to the side. by moving the camera around him - its a crisp, clean background (Though the mountain to the right is a little annoying. I would be torn about using this in a post, I feel like the mountain would bother me too much.)

Now this one I’m digging - we’re zoomed in close, its an intimate picture. It has excellent contrast against the background - we can sort of see the emotion on his face - but its concealed. We’re cropped in so close that we dont even see the top of his head - its very personal. We’re up in his shit. I like this one. I would use this.

Again, these two images are the same pose, the same face, the same filter. All thats different between them is the position and angle of the camera.

I hope this has provided a little insight into some of my process. If there is enough interest, I’ll make more “guides” like this in the future. Touching on the Rule of Thirds, Tumblr Image post composition, reshade filters, Gpose lighting/screen effects, couples, color composition, choosing locations...basically whatever people want to see lolol.

[emmikamikatze]

Extensive Guide for Making Gifs

(On Mac and with Photoshop, but the process is basically the same on other platforms.)

Let’s make this gif together (I know it’s not the pretties, but it serves the purpose):

Prerequisites for this tutorial:

gif capture software, e.g. Giphy Capture

Photoshop

Let’s start with the basic. Capturing that gif from your screen.

(If you already know how to do that scroll down until you see a screenshot of photoshop.)

Open Giphy Capture and your video. (I’m grabbing from Netflix, so I’m using chrome to avoid the Netflix Blackscreen)

No need for fullscreen, a fullscreen gif will be too big anyway! Be aware that GC only records 30 seconds at a time. So move a few seconds before your scene - to allow leeway for moving your cursor and for any unwanted details to disappear from the screen (e.g. timeline bars etc.) Adjust the record frame to the size of the video. Start to record one or two seconds before your desired scene.

Stop video and recording when you’re done. Might take two or three tries to get there. don’t worry if it isn’t exact, record too much if you’re unsure. We’re gonna cut this down later.

Now, open your recorded gif by clicking on its icon. Adjust the section you want to export as a gif. 

Don’t worry about being exact here either. Better be on the safe side and have a frame or two too many. We can delete frames later in Photoshop. You can also change here if you want it to be a normal loop, ping-pong (back and forth) or reverse, and adjust framerate and size. Don’t worry about the size, we can change that in PS later.

Export your gif. Ignore the file size warning if necessary and save as gif anyway.

Now, open your saved gif in Photoshop.

Look through the gif and delete frames in the beginning or end if you want. Do that in the frame section (timeline), NOT in the layer section. You’ll see why in a bit.

Play the gif every time you change something to make sure it’s what you want, and change things back if needed. (cmd + Z/alt+cmd+Z if more than one step back/shift+cmd+Z if step forward again)

Let’s say I want to remove the first 5 frames. Click on frame 1 and then hold shift and click frame 5. Voila, you selected the first 5 frames. Now delete. Play gif. Not good? Cmd + Z and try again.

Let’s say we’re happy with your frames, but it’s playing too fast/slow. Select the frames you want slowed down. Let’s say all of them. Click the first frame, then hold shift and click the last frame. Now click on the little number under the frames, on any frame - it doesn’t matter as long as it’s one of those you selected (in case you didn’t select all of them) Don’t slow down too much or it will look like a slideshow rather than a gif. You want it to still be smooth. Check and revert if necessary, just as before. Let’s slow ours down to 0.1 seconds instead of 0.07s.

Now that looks fine. Let’s move on and improve the images.

For the sake of this tutorial I’m gonna delete some frames.

Now we convert the frames to a timeline.

We move over to the layers section now.

You’ll see that not all of them are visible. The invisible ones are those we deleted, so we can go ahead and delete those layers as well.

Now we selected all the layers and convert them into a smart object (Right click --> Convert into Smart Object)

Let’s sharpen our gif and see if that makes it look better. (Undo if you hate it, obviously.)

Since our gif is really dark I want to brighten it up. Right click on layer and Duplicate Layer... (Or use cmd + J)

Set that layer to screen. You can repeat this step as often as you want, but beware, it’ll make your gif look awful at some point.

We can go one forever adding more screened layers, but it’s gonna look bad at some point.

Instead of adding another screen layer, let’s add an adjustment layer instead.

Go to Layer —> New Adjustment Layer —> Curves…

Adjust darkness and light until you’re satisfied. If you’re not happy later on, you can always go back into the layer and adjust it if needed. This goes for every adjustment layer.

From this point on you can basically add as many layers for as many effects as you need/want.

Let’s play a little with saturation.

Layer —> New Adjustment Layer —> Hue/Saturation I’m lowering the saturation a bit because I want to add an orange glow…you know, create some sunlight streaming in…

I’m adding an empty layer now where I can add the orange glow effect.

Now, if you’ve moved in your timeline, the new layer will appear at your marker. You may have to move it back and adjust the length to the rest of your timeline.

Now let’s get some glow. Got to the gradient tool in your toolbar (or just press G on your keyboard). This may be set to bucket fill tool, so you’ll have to right click to switch from bucket to gradient.

Then go to the gradient picker and click on that field at the top to choose your colour and variation.

Pick the Foreground colour to transparent and change the foreground colour to what you want (orange here).

Now back to your image and drag that gradient. Make sure you’re in your empty layer! Start dragging from where you want the light to shine to the lower part of the image/gif. Don’t worry about being exact. We’ll adjust this anyway.

Now this looks horrible, so let’s adjust it. Press cmd + T, that allows you to change the size and angle.

Let’s make it a lot bigger to diffuse the transition, and let’s also change the angle to where we want it. (move your cursor along the sides to any of the middle points until you get a curved cursor - that lets you rotate the layer.)

Then move it up a bit so the orange isn’t fully visible, but only a transparent glow over the image. Play a little with the position, angle and size until you’re satisfied. Press enter or the accept button on top.

Now, I actually do not want such a blatant orange, so I’m setting my layer to “soft light”…it’s still too much for my taste so I’m going to lower the layer’s opacity a little.

Now that looks fine,  let’s check if we like the gif so far.

The quality of mine is terrible, obviously, it’s gonna look much better if the source video has better quality (and maybe other gif capture software can do this better. I think Giphy Capture lowers the image quality drastically.)

Anyway, let’s check the size of this gif. Go to File —> Export —> Save for Web (Legacy)

Now, mine is over 5M…that’s not gonna let you play it on tumblr, so we need to scale it down. We have an image of 750x650 pixels. A nice size, but tumblr won’t display that anyway. Close that tab.

Let’s scale the image down to what tumblr can display. Tumblr display pics with only 540 pixels in width anyway, so let’s scale it down to that (make sure the aspect ratio is locked or it’ll distort.) Set it to pixels and change the width to 540.

Checking size again —> Still 3.8M, so we need scale down or cut something. We don’t want to give up image quality just yet. (Make sure transparency is clicked, or the file will be bigger.)

We could crop the image to where we want the focus (obviously, that’ll make the image smaller again) Select part of your image and crop down to that.

Check file size again —> mine is still over 3M —> I’m going in for the presets. File —> Export —> Save for Web (Legacy) Then find the field for presets and choose “Gif 128 no Dither”, that drops our colours from 256 to 128…it’s barely noticeable in our case, but it may be in other cases, see if you like it. What it does do here is drop the file size from over 3.8M down to 2.6M —> file size restriction for moving gifs on tumblr is 3MB, so it should be fine.

Now make sure that the Looping option is set on forever instead of the default “Once” —> go to Save… and save wherever you want.

Voilà, have fun with your gif.

PS: If you want to watermark your gif do that in a new layer. I watermark mine as follows:

Dependent on whether it’s a dark or bright gif I choose text in black or white. Choose a spot where it doesn’t ruin the gif but is still visible if necessary. I usually go for a corner and type with a small font.

Lower transparency of the layer until it’s barely visible, but still readable. Remember to adjust the length of the clip in your timeline.

If you still have questions about the process don’t hesitate to reply to this post. I can always edit it to add certain info/screenshots of specific steps if necessary.

[thatsthepan]

Houseplants, Fairy Lights and You

Summary: Dan's a bored Sociology professor. His life gets a lot more interesting when a new Botany professor moves into the classroom next door. Plus, it's Valentine's Day, and the students sense love in the air.

Word Count: 1950

Warnings: None

Notes:  I wrote this for @phangerous in honor of Valentine's Day, and it’s been up on ao3 for weeks but I’m just now getting around to uploading it on here-I hope you liked your teacher AU, Elina, and I hope the rest of you enjoy it as well:)

Dan

The bell rang, my head pounded, and feet stomped past one another in a rush to escape my last AdSoc class before lunch. I didn’t blame any of them-lately the world had been so bleak that my lessons had all been drifting towards the inevitably of the human race to destroy itself, much as it had attempted to do in the past, time and time again.

I really did enjoy my job. My colleagues were nice enough, and the kids were great. Reading the students’ papers, seeing their insight on the world and its inhabitants, made my weekends a lot less boring. A lot less lonely.

But nevertheless, I was lonely. My parents were in Manchester, and London was a very different city. Bigger, louder, meaner, it seemed. I felt small despite standing nearly 6’4”, and although I had a few friends and had been on a few dates, I never felt a true, deep connection with anyone or anything but my work.

That is, until the day I met him.

The students knew first, of course. They always knew when there was something “going on”, and so when I saw their bright eyes and heard their whispers floating down the halls, I knew something was happening. I didn’t know what, and since it was only eight in the morning, I didn’t frankly care all too much.

“Alright, class. Hello, good morning, so on and so forth. I hope your weekend was good, and I also hope you remembered your response papers over the short stories we’ve been reading these past few weeks?”

The following mumbles, shuffling of papers, and scattered groans spread through the room, and as they passed their papers to the front, I caught a whiff of coffee. Strange, I thought. I didn’t allow drinks in my room.

I was kneeling behind my desk when he spoke, and my first thought was I don’t know him. My second was I’d like to.

“Anyone know where room 207 is? Or if would your teacher be willing to trade me this one, as I rather like the decorations.”

Whispers. A wolf-whistle. Chuckles. A student called, “Ask him yourself!” And I stood up, facing the door, and the angel standing in it’s threshold.

Okay, maybe that’s a bit dramatic, but the man truly was stunning. High cheekbones, gorgeous eyes, a huge grin lighting up his entire face. I had to steady myself before speaking, firstly because I was about to choke on my own tongue and secondly because my students knew me as the intimidating, suave professor who didn’t take late assignments or bullshit.

“Why thank you, decorated it myself. And no, you can’t have it, but I’d be up for selling it to you for a price.”

My students laughed, and the man smirked a bit. “I’ll consider it, if you’ll consider a trade, once I decorate mine. 207?”

Oh, so he was a new professor. Interesting. I hadn’t heard anything about a new course starting up, but then again, I hadn’t been of peak focus lately. “Around the corner, in that weird sort of crevice thing. Sorry about that, there’s lots of windows in there. Students get distracted.”

The man only smiled wider. “I love windows,” he stuck out his hand. “Phillip Lester. I teach Botany.”

“Daniel Howell. Advanced Sociology.”

Phillip-Professor Lester-waved to the students on his way out, and for some reason, they gave him a round of applause. His wave turned into waving them off, and as they watched him leave, I realized with amazement and horror that I was beginning to blush.

I hurried to distract the class before they noticed, although I knew it was too late. We’d had a moment, the new professor and I, and if it wasn’t flirting then I didn’t know what was.

“Alright, let’s turn to chapter three in your-”

“Professor Lester seems cool, right Professor Howell?”

I sighed, smiling patiently. “Yes, Amanda, he does. Now on page-”

“Did you think he was cute?”

I huffed out a laugh, feeling my face go redder and my cool facade dissolve faster and faster. “Sal, that is highly inappropriate! Now can we all focus less on a random professor and more on societal progress throughout the 1900s, please?”

There were still whispers, but the interrogation ceased. For now.

“Thank you. Now if you’ll look in your books…”

Phil

I thought to myself as I left that classroom, “I think I’m going to like this job”. Which was good, considering I had hated my last one. They hadn’t even had a botanical program of any sort, so I was stuck teaching regular biology. And there’s nothing wrong with biology-if you have an interest in it. Which I very much did not.

I found my new classroom, which, as the handsome Professor Howell had warned me, was very airy with windows, and spent the remaining portion of the day moving my many microscopes, various lab tools, and to any other person, too-many plants into the room. By the time I was done, the sun was setting-as it was only February, after all-and my classroom appeared more as a greenhouse now. I grinned.

“Wow.”

I turned around to see the wide eyes of none other than Professor Howell traveling the length of the room, in awe of what he was seeing.

“It doesn’t look like a dingy box with a fuckton of windows anymore. I’m impressed.”

I was beyond proud of that fact, but I tried not to let it show, instead playing cool by leaning on one of the lab tables near me. “So? Down for a trade?”

He held my gaze steadily, a slow smile spreading over his face. He had adorable dimples.

“No. But I think I may be in here quite a lot.”

My demeanor broke, and I giggled. “I think I may be okay with that.”

My first class loved the room. They were all as equally shocked as Professor Howell had been, and told me stories of how they had thought this room had been haunted since they’d never seen anyone use it. They thought I was funny, and that my way of teaching, my anecdotes and stories and many, many colors of markers that I used for writing out the lessons on the board, made me the best teacher in the school. They told me all this, writing it in their introductory papers or whispering it to their friends, and among all the compliments I also caught rumors of a “ship” developing of me and the professor in room 205 around the corner.

Interesting.

Speaking of the professor in 205, he showed up around lunchtime, holding two Starbucks cups in his hands.

“Coffee for you, Professor Lester. How’s the first day going?”

I motioned for him to pull up a stool to my desk, and took a sip of the coffee. I wasn’t sure what he had flavored it with, but it was delicious. “Call me Phil, please. And it’s going great; the students love the room, so I think I may be winning this competition we started.”

Raising an eyebrow, he took a sip of his own drink. “Oh, a competition now? Well fairy lights win that with teens any day. And you can call me Dan then, Phil.”

We chatted for the rest of the lunch period, and I knew students kept poking their heads in, but we ignored them. I don’t really think either one of us minded them “shipping” us together, because honestly, I think we really did like each other.

“Well,” Dan finally announced, standing up and stretching. “I guess I better go ponder the human condition with the kids for the rest of the day. I wouldn’t want to get fired now, of all times.”

I felt a flush go over my face, but only smiled at Dan. “I’ll be here amongst my plant children. Have fun with the fairy lights.”

He smirked before leaving, and I wondered if I’d ever fell in love so easily before.

Whoa, I thought to myself. Slow down there. You’re letting Valentine’s Day get to your head.

That was likely. After all, it was in a week.

Dan

I brought Phil a different flavored coffee every day that week. We exchanged numbers, learned that we had an almost identical taste in music and TV shows, and had the entire senior class of our school rioting to get us to kiss in front of them. We thought it was hilarious, but the students were smart, and kept thinking up way to get each of us to either talk or think about the other. One student bought me a small plant to put on my desk, and frequently I would trail off to stare at it, remembering Phil’s room and our lunch dates. Another student hung fairy lights in Phil’s room, since he didn’t have a lamp yet.

Teenagers are evil. And smart.

When the day before Valentine’s Day rolled around, a student asked me if I had plans.

“I’m chaperoning the dance, Cassidy. Also, that’s frankly none of any of your business.”

The class snickered, but luckily that was the only question that was asked.

Phil, however, informed me that the same question was asked to him, and we began to get suspicious. Although, there wasn’t much we could do, as that had been our last class of the day and the dance was at 6:30.

I arrived early, looking for Phil, of course. The students were probably all occupied with their friends and dates to pay any attention to us tonight, anyway.

I spotted Phil, who looked stunning in a suit, and casually walked over. But he spoke first.

“You look great, especially in this lighting.”

I was taken aback, and I thanked the universe the lights were tinted pink, so Phil wouldn’t notice my blush as much. “I was about to say the same to you.”

Phil looked down, embarrassed, but then met my eyes with a mischievous look in his. “Have you noticed anything odd about the decor of this dance yet?”

I hadn’t, since I only had eyes for Phil at the moment, but when I looked around I began to laugh. “They did not.”

The dance was themed around us. There were flowers, as per any Valentine’s dance, but there were also plants, identical to the ones in Phil’s room, all over the room. And the amount of fairy lights was absurd, with most of them twinkling amongst the leaves of the plants.

“Are we that obvious?” I asked, and Phil held out a hand, asking me to dance. I blinked in surprise.

“If we are, what more can we do?”

He made a great point. We began to dance to the song that was playing, which we didn’t know, but it didn’t matter. We fit together perfectly, as did the decor that was themed around us and our personalities. Maybe it was the fact that it was the “day of love” or maybe it was the lighting that made Phil look particularly beautiful, but I leaned in and kissed him, meaning for it to just be a peck.

But he held it, leaned into it, and after no more than a second a round of applause went up around us. Even some of our colleagues joined in, and we blushed redder than the lights that made everything glow.

“Whoops,” Phil whispered, but I just grinned, waving the students applause off. “They’re sneaky.”

“At least they decorate good, though.”

“True,” I responded. “I love the houseplants. And the fairy lights. And you.”

Phil kissed me again, whispering it back, and I decided Valentine’s Day wasn’t so bad after all.

[the-house-of-the-nine]

The Void Forge: Fortune Part 3

Days after the meeting of the Council. . .

“Planning is everything Rayne.”  Lazarius whispered calmly as his soothing voice echoed from the rafters of the war room.

A large drafting table had been pushed against a duplicate; with several charts and maps strewn across its face.  Constructed from what appeared to be a makeshift paper mache’ model was the entrance to Grim Batol.  Several chess pawns were placed in various locations at the base of the mountain, with larger pieces there to no doubt represent the commanding generals.

“And this?” exclaimed the young girl as she moved her hand over to the area with several bishops that had been painted red in a crude, yet effective manner.

Lazarius turned his attention to where she was indicating, and swiftly drew the extension pole from the side of the table.  It had a flat end looking like a gardening rake, but wooden and smooth.  He would use it to push the pieces across the battlefield.  The dow would bump into the red markers and group them into a cluster as he pushed.

“Red Dragons you fool!” hissed the young lord who popped his head up over the edge of the war table pointing with an eager smile; Raith was being honest. “Right Papa? We should capture them and bend them to our will!” 

“Papa already attempted this; let us just leave it at that.  Results were. . .”  Asphodel was not far behind the prince.  Her watchful hand would sweep across his shoulder; edged nails gently curling around the bone as she moved to pull him away from the table so as not to ruin her Inquisitors ‘toys’. “Less than satisfactory to say the least, would you not agree Inquisitor?”

Lazarius remained silent, but to much dismay; Rayne had other thoughts on the matter.  Her eyes widened as she looked toward the man who’d been questioned. “You attempted to corrupt a red dragon?”

“To-be-completely-fair. . .” Lazarius replied almost instantaneously with a beat by beat response. “I was only trying to gain a sample of his blood.”

“You were ‘trying’ to infuse his genetics with void energy to see if you could correct the Twilight imperfections. . .Don’t avoid the truth Lazarius, own what you accomplished.” Asphodel said without missing a beat of her own.  Raith still stood in front of her, both of her hands now resting on his shoulders so as to keep him close. 

“I take it things did not work out to your favor then, Inquisitor?” Rayne was swift to the point, after learning a bit about their past.

Lazarius was less than pleased, and would in turn nod his head to her. “Nearly complete but the complications resulting from the attack on the Bastille separated the Nine.  Everything was lost in the rubble, the drake fled.  Most who survived returned, but he did not. . . thus the experiment was abandoned.”

“Postponed. . .”  Asphodel added, smiling to the man.

Lazarius pushed his gaze upward.  Two glowing black orbs locking on the woman as he in turn would welcome her clever remark and reciprocate with a smile of his own.

It was about this time that the young lord would stand on his tip-toes trying to glance over the map once more.  His fingers edging across the ruffled lip of the maps border while his lips curled over into a smile.

“Papa. . .”  he would hiss, glancing up to the Inquisitor with the fanged smile. “When I can hunt with you. . . will you let me plan like this?  I want to learn how to control the battle like you. . .”

Asphodel instinctively brought a hand upward to her lips, covering the open mouth she’d made at the question.  How oddly curious that both adoptive parents found it to be adorable when the hell spawn was showing interest in their dark ways.  Fostering the ideas that popped into his head, when most would be truly frightened.  How was it that both she and Lazarius were enamored by thoughts of their son coordinating battles and laying waste to their enemies.  It had brought a boisterous chuckle to the Inquisitor, who was nodding his head.

“I would expect nothing less from you Raith . . . and I look forward to the day that I am following your battle plan.” Lazarius may not have been the ideal candidate to foster a child.  In fact, anyone within their right mind would have known not to give him the opportunity to see to the well being and care for another life form.  But, Raith was actually thriving here.   Not only was he becoming more intelligent by the day, but his abilities were coming out.  He was functioning and producing.  It was as if he’d finally found his home all along, it had just taken a while to get there. 

The boy on the other hand, nearly squealed with delight at the comment made by his adoptive father.  He whirled around with a glance trying to find Asphodel in his sights, and when he had, the smile on his face could have even melted the Frozen Throne itself.  He was hopping like a tiny rabbit, looking at her with that childish grin; despite it all, he was still a youth.  Things like his fathers admiration and respect were one thing, but acknowledging that one day they could be doing this together; Gods that may have been the push that turned him into a tiny Lazarius. 

Regardless, it seemed to be a comment that even lightened the tone enough that the group had forgotten what they were doing.  The genocide of two factions standing in their way?  It was clearly evident that the only person here still focused on the task at hand was the menacing demon standing in the doorway of the war room.

“Inquisitor. . . “ Koltun snarled, roughly ten or so meters from the drafting tables.  His shoulder leaning in against the frame of the large double door.  One leg was crooked against the other, as if just lounging against it while he waited.  His arms were crossed over his chest, pulled in tightly against the bare scaled flesh he so openly exposed.  And on his belt, dangling in the flickering torchlight entering in behind him was a large brown burlap sack, moist around the bulk of its contents and dripping onto the stone floor.  “If you’ve a minute.”

The four inhabitants of the war room would turn to notice the demon standing there.  But it was Lazarius who would usher him in.  Lofting his hand upward and beckoning him over.

“Koltun!”  he exclaimed with a bit of enthusiasm. “I knew you were swift but, quite the time you’ve made.”

Rayne had met Koltun, but still seemed a bit concerned of his abilities and appearance.  After all, he was a demon.  She would move not an inch though, choosing to stand to her convictions and hold her position at the drafting table.  But it would be Aconite who would approach the child and take him from the care of the Speaker.  Asphodel was thankful, and gave the prince a gentle kiss on his forehead as he was no doubt moved to go find Sylas to torment.

Koltun stood there for just a moment more, his nostrils flared as he snorted just a little scoff at the comment.  He was still leaning there.  His persona was rock solid, unflappable.  There was something about him that Lazarius did find appealing, perhaps it was that ego they shared.  But just as he pushed off the frame of the door to enter, the ghostly steward suddenly appeared beside him in a cloud of smoke breaking the tension.

“You’ve left a trail from the window you entered in the Lady Kash’ebahls bed chamber, down my granite walkway, across my Uldum embersilk rugs, through my saronite tile kitchen. . . and now here. . . clean up your messes, Master Ancientveil.”  Kross, the master of timing snarled, wiping up the stained red liquid from the ground, flipping the rag each time he did so.

“Gods be scorned!”  Koltun yelped nearly letting out a laugh, but choosing to growl instead. “I hate it when he does that!”  He shouted as he thumbed in the direction of the steward, calling into the group and then turning back toward Kross with a calmer voice after letting out a ‘phew’. “I hate it when you do that.“

Kross slowly rose once more, flipping the red stained rag several times over. “That is not the first time I have been told that, Master Ancientveil.”   And with that, the steward tossed the dirty rag against the demons chest, thrust him into the war room and gently shut the doors behind them.

Koltun found a laugh in this, it was nice to actually be in a place so elegant and yet the morbidity pulsating throughout, just felt so fitting; he smiled.  His cloven hooves clicked against the hard stone as he walked toward the table and its denizens.  That echo once more, caving in around them as he made his way right up to the Inquisitor.

“What have you found.” Lazarius questioned as Koltun moved to stand before him.

“Well. . .” the demon began.  “Wheres your stick. . . “  He said noticing it and reaching across the table to grab the rod with the push end.  He would begin to aggressively shove the pieces around.

“That drastic?”  Lazarius spoke softly, watching him.

“For starters, wild hammers aren’t occupying the foothold at the base of the mountain.”  The tool would move several of the pieces around to the first cliffface up from the lower portion. “As of now, three camps on the western edge.  Two on the eastern face, and one occupying the northern ridge.”

“They’ve doubled their numbers since we were last there.” Asphodel remarked, watching him shift the battle plan.

Lazarius nodded, at both but mainly to agree with the Speaker. “I don’t suppose you got a count on ho. . “

“Five hundred and eleven, not counting commanders or any of the reserves still holding the line against the Dragonmaw Orcs bolstering the fields below.  The advantage is still ours.”  Koltun moved several pieces that were colored blue to the open pass leading out into the fields of the Highlands. “If we block off this entrance.”

“But t-those are actually the ah. . .Twilight Hammer.”  Lazarius quickly added correcting the mistake. “We are purple. . .ones.”

Koltun reacted as such, fumbling and moving the pieces back but faltering as he did a double take and questioned . “Wait W-Why aren’t they purple?”

“Raith was doing the coloring and felt too much purple would be confusing; it angered him, and Lazarius wouldn’t concede on giving up his color, so they became blue.” Asphodel groaned, rolling her eyes at the comment.

“The Nine have always been purple.  I wasn’t about the just give that up for the sake of demonstration.” Lazarius chimed in, defending his case.

“You could have done gold or silver.”  The speaker retorted.

“You’re right, maybe purple for them and purple with a gold trim for us.”  he added again.

“Yeah but now that is just confusing, I look at purple and think Twilight Hammer. . . why didn’t you just avoid all of this and use hammers to represent the twili. . . .gods why am I even bothering with this!”  He got wrapped up in the discussion and shouted, then forced the right pieces into position and giving the war room table a good slap with the rod. “If -we -hold -this- pass. . . we can cut off their reinforcements from aiding them and catch them in the pincer.”

“So you’re saying that the plan will stand as it is.” Rayne added, trying to get them all back on track.

Koltun was all to happy to oblige, and swirled the end of the rod around the portion he just moved. “If we can cut off this pass, then yes.”

Lazarius had refocused himself, and looked at the maps where he was indicating. “Well then that is where we’ll have the Confessor hold the line.  Once the assault begins and we’re certain they will flee.  They can hold that position and prevent their escape.  While simultaneously keeping their runners at bay.”

“Precisely my thoughts Inquisitor.” Koltun added.

“And what of the Hammer?” Asphodel reminded him, pointing to the area where the blue pieces were.

Koltun whirled around, nearly forgetting but grabbing them and placing them at the base of the entrance.

“They’re surrounded and securing the main gate.  One large frontal force, they’re taking heavy losses from the Wildhammer every so often, but it seems for the moment the battles are being waged away from their encampment.” the demon would respond, finally seeing the field as it was while he was there.

“And you thoughts Koltun?” Lazarius said as he finished.  Choosing to allow him this opportunity to voice his own opinion.

“My thoughts?” Koltun almost seemed amazed by the action,so much so he needed a moment to collect them. “The linchpin is as you said in the initial plan.  The disruption of the cultists.  If we can cause this distraction it will allow us the time and ability to set up our own forces.”

“So that will be the key to victory then.” Lazarius motioned toward the blue pawns sitting at the gate of the crude model. “We’ll shatter them from within to draw the attention of the dwarves, and take possession of their camps during the commotion.  While also simultaneously positioning the Confessor at the entrance to the pass to keep them contained.  Raise the corpses of the dead to do the majority of the work, and allow you and the Harbinger to cut a swath through the ones that remain standing.”

“Did you happen to locate a position the Inquisitor can set up to begin sowing whispers into their ranks.” Asphodel poised, clearly probing to see how thorough a job the hunter had done scouting.

“Yes.  On the southern cropping just over this ridge here there is a cavern tunnel that lets out just below the fjord in the valley.  We’ll position several guards to keep anyone from disturbing them.  But they can get a clear view of the camp and whisper all they want. . .”  Koltun stated aggressively, knowing he’d done his job to the letter.

“No that is quite alright.  Sennaris and I are used to working alone.  I’ll have Rash’jahla nearby.  Should anything alert her, I will know about it.  Keep our forces together.” Lazarius waved his hand at the thought.  And Koltun would nod to him.

“I will inform your sister then.” Koltun had responded. “Dismissed?”

Lazarius gave a hearty chuckle at the comment, nodding his head. “You are dismissed Ancientveil.”  He grinned.

As he turned to leave, Koltun suddenly was reminded of the dripping bag on his belt loop, and it prompted him to pluck it from its place and draw back the tie. “I almost forgot, a gift I brought back for you, Inquisitor.”

“A gift. . .for me?” Lazarius said with a confusing, yet almost cheerful squeal.

As he began to unravel the looped ties holding it shut, he moved his fingers to open the bag wide enough for the dark male to look inside.  When he did, there in the bottom of the bag was the face of a dwarf peering back up at him.  A face of pure confusion mixed with absolute terror.  Painful. 

“Well doesn’t he look cheerful. . .” Lazarius quipped while letting out a chuckle as he waved to the head in the back. “Koltun you shouldn’t have. . . “

The demon swirled the bag in a clockwise manner, tying it back off and dropping it at the Inquisitors feet.  His eyeless gaze peered back at the man. “Wildhammer general, on guard duty. . . figured one less in our way.  Don’t worry, the other six in his battalion were taken down as well.  Needed two hammer cultists also. . . looked like a battle, well enough. . . took the head.” 

“A thoughtful gift, and a wise plan.” Asphodel added listening to the infiltrator go over his attack. “Good to cover your tracks while hunting. . . that will only galvanize our assault, they’re already suspicious of Hammer cultists taking down their scouts.”

“I always cover my tracks.” Koltun added as he started toward the exit of the room,  he’d been standing in the pool of blood this entire time.  Each step he took would be accompanied by a squishing, squashing sound.  To his dismay, it seemed his previous statement clashed against his current action of quite literally ‘leaving tracks”.  He reached the door, and as his lengthy nails curled around the latch he sighed. “Except these tracks. . . you know, most of my tracks, but these ones happen to j.. . .” 

He just groaned, silently opening the door only to find Kross standing there with a frown on his grizzled face.  This caused him to yell again, caught completely off guard by the specter.

“Dammit Kross stop doing that!”  He snarled, shoving past him and growling down the hallway toward the lair of the Harbinger.

“Clean up your messes Master Ancientveil!” exclaimed the steward as he too, followed in suit fading into the shadows in a cloud of white vaporous smoke.

Asphodel, Lazarius and Rayne would share a laugh at the expense of the demon and the spirit accosting him.  All three seemed to find a smile shortly after.  Times like these were scarce.  And soon, given the circumstances; it was clearly evident that some or all of them, may not come back alive.  So to find humor in something so innocent was rather peaceful. 

This would not last though.  The facade that all was not what it seemed would be broken when Lazarius shattered the veil and motioned to the map once more.

“I have a few more things I need to finalize.  If you would both leave me to it. Oh, and have Abbigael send for Sennaris and The Confessor. I’d like to go over the plan once more with them.”

To be continued in Part 4. . . 

@lyvraynefloralis

@pyravari

@corrupted-priestess

@thebladeitself

@profound-amateur

[queen-of-deans-booty]

Roadkill- Part 2

Pairing: Dean x Reader

Word Count: 2,082

Warnings: Typical Supernatural violence, language, angst, minor character death, blood, you know the usual

Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Supernatural. All credit goes to their respective owners. If you’re a junkie for this sort of thing, then a tag list is the right thing for you! If you want to be a Queen, I’ll add you to that list too! Any and all comments on these are appreciated. I really want to hear what you guys think about this one!

Feedback is the glue that holds my writing together.

Tags at the bottom

As Molly lead the way to the Cabin, Sam was talking to her to keep her busy and you were trailing behind with Dean, looking up at him.

“How are we going to break it to her? If she acted this way when she found out we were hunters, how do you think she’ll react to the fact that she’s dead?” You whispered.

“I know but right now, one problem at a time. Here,” Dean said, reaching into the bag and handing you a shotgun with rocksalt bullets. You smiled and took the gun, checking it over, before bringing it to your side.

“This is it. This is where I saw him.” Molly said, stopping as she pointed to a cabin that didn’t look too friendly. You walked up to the door and peered inside, seeing vicious tools hanging from the ceiling and a bloodstained table.

“Must have been his hunting cabin.” You stated.

“Huh. Seemed like a real sweet guy.” Dean said from behind you, looking inside.

“No markers or headstones outside.” Sam said after he finished a quick look around the place.

“You’re looking for Greeley’s grave? Why?” Molly asked.

“So we can dig up his bones and salt and burn them.” You said, not sugarcoating it at all.

“Oh. Sure, naturally.” Molly said with a small scoff.

“It's a way to get rid of a spirit.” Sam said.

“And that will save David?”

“Well, this is what will help the both of you, provided there is a corpse to be found.” You said, walking closer to her.

“So, how do we find it?” Molly asked determined.

“I'm not sure. After Greeley died, his wife claimed the body and that was the last anyone saw of her. So, good guess she brought him back here. But they had a thousand acres. He could be buried anywhere on them.” Sam said with a sigh.

“So, this is really what you guys do? You're like Ghostbusters?”

“That’s one way of putting it but we’re the real deal. We’re not Ed and Harry if you know what I mean.” You chuckled at the memory of the Ghostfacers. You kind of missed those two gentlemen.

“No, I don’t.” She said, shuffling.

“This is a fascinating conversation and all, but this highway is only haunted once a year, and we got till sun-up to wrap this thing up. What do you say we move it along, okay? Great.” Dean said, patting your shoulder and walked ahead of you, leading the way around the property.

“Ed and Harry were these two amateur ghost hunters that didn’t know what they were doing.” You said to Molly, following the brothers.

“I wonder what happened to those two.” Sam said, looking at you but you shrugged.

“So, what are we looking for?” Molly asked.

“Greeley’s house. We think he might be buried there. Why don’t you look for paths or something that’s close by. You don’t want to go too far from us.” You said with a smile.

“Yeah, okay.” She said with a sigh. She started walking and all was silent and before you knew it, she was calling out her husband’s name in a panic, running away from the group.

“Molly!” You exclaimed, looking at the brothers. You heard her scream and you didn’t wait for them to follow you. You rushed over to her and saw Greeley who had a hold of her. You raised your shotgun and shot the taller spirit, making him go away.

“Hey are you alright?” You asked, rushing to her.

“What has that son of a bitch done with my husband?” Molly demanded, getting more tears.

“Just take it easy, alright? You're gonna see David again. You will.” You promised her. She nodded and you looked up when you saw Sam rushing to you with a look of concern on his face.

“Is she okay?”

“Yeah, I took care of it. Come on, Molly.” You took her back to Dean who looked back at the group.

“Hey, follow the creepy brick road.” Dean stated, pointing out a path in front of him. You let go of Molly and walked to Dean, letting her be with Sam.

“What’s that gun loaded with anyway?” Molly asked you as she caught up. Sam was behind her to make sure nothing snuck up behind them.

“Rocksalt. It keeps the spirits away. In most cultures, salt's a symbol of purity, so it repels impure and unnatural things. Same reason you throw it over your shoulder.” You informed. You rounded a corner and came upon a creepy ass house.

“You know, just once I'd like to round the corner and see a nice house.” Dean said with a sigh.

“Come on, you scared?” You grinned, teasing him. You walked ahead of them and entered the house, looking around the place. Sam entered with Molly but Dean stayed outside, looking around for what you assumed was a headstone. When he came back in, you looked at him.

“Any headstones outside?”

“Yeah, right. Is it ever that easy?” Dean asked. You sighed and shrugged, looking away from him.

“I wish it were sometimes.”

“How about you take Molly upstairs to see if you can find anything and Sam and I will check down here and see if we can find some sign of a headstone.” Dean said. You nodded and took Molly upstairs, walking into a room that was filled with scattered papers.

“Awesome.” You said with a sigh, walking inside and started to look through the mess.

“Hey, look at this,” Molly said. You turned around to see her with a scrapbook. You walked to the bed in the room and sat down with her, looking at the pictures and its contents. “It's Greeley and his wife. Look, this one had a love letter that he wrote her. My god, it's beautiful. I don't understand how a guy like this can turn into that monster.”

“Listen, Greeley may not have been all that bad. See, spirits are like wounded animals, for example. They get lost and they are in so much pain that they lash out.” You said, looking at her.

“Why? Why are they here?”

“Well, some part of them thinks they have unfinished business which keeps them here. 9 out of 10 times, it’s their bones but sometimes they latch onto an object or a memory that can keep them here if their bones are gone.” You said, hoping she might understand about herself.

“What do you mean, unfinished business?”

“It could be revenge or love or hate. But, whatever it may be, they just hold onto that so tight that they fear of letting go of the thing that they know. They get caught in time loops, replaying the same tragedies over and over again.” You hoped she would open her eyes for just a minute to see her situation.

“You sound almost sorry for them.” She observed. You stood up and sighed, continuing looking for something else.

“Can’t help it sometimes. I read about these people’s lives before they died and most of them were good people. But then they die and it’s sad to see them change into something they aren’t. My mom died when I was a kid and now I wonder where she is and if she’s okay or if she’s living out some tragedy that she can’t control.”

Your mind went back to what Meg said about your mom being in Hell but that can’t be. Your mom was a good person. She should be in Heaven where she would be happy all the time, maybe hanging out with grandma and grandpa. You hoped that Meg was lying.

“Y/N and I are very different people because I don’t like them and I am sure as hell not making apologies for them,” Dean said from the doorway with Sam behind him. You looked at him with sad eyes and you sighed, looking away from him. “There was nothing downstairs. You find anything up here?”

“We found a photo album but nothing about a grave.” You said, turning your body around and leaning on the desk. Dean nodded and started searching the walls as if he saw something the rest didn’t.

“I’m sorry about your mom.” Molly said, looking at you.

“I’m sorry about you.” You said, not realizing what you said.

“What?”

“I mean, I’m sorry that you’re in this situation. I can’t imagine if I ever lost Dean. I love him so much.” You said quietly to her, looking at Dean who kept looking at the same wall with a frown.

“What is it?” Sam asked, seeing the same frown as you.

“There is something behind this wall,” Dean stated. He tossed Sam his flashlight to make both of his hands available. Sam provided the light as Dean moved a cabinet aside, revealing a small hidden door. He pushed on it but it wouldn’t budge.

“It’s locked from the inside.” Dean observed, turning to face you and leaning against the wall, bracing himself to kick it down. He swiftly kicked it once but it wouldn’t budge. He frowned, shocked that this didn’t work on the first try. Dean tried it again and the door fell inward.

“Wow, must be the secret attic,” You joked, following the brothers inside the room. You coughed at the smell, it being very potent. “It smells like old lady in here.” You looked around with your flashlight and gasped, seeing a corpse hanging by the neck from the ceiling.

“And that would explain why. Well, now we know why nobody ever saw her again.” Sam said, grimacing.

“Whoa, I guess she didn’t want to live without him.” Molly said once she crawled inside the room. Sam looked around and grabbed a chair as if he wanted to take her down.

“Dean, give me a hand.”

“Really?” Dean asked, looking at Sam as he climbed the chair.

“What are you doing?” Molly asked.

“We can't leave her like this.” Sam said, as if this was the right thing to do.

“Why not?” Dean asked.

“Dean, don’t be insensitive.” You said, hitting him lightly in the arm.

“She needs to be put to rest, Dean.” Sam said, beginning to cut through the ropes as Dean reluctantly held the corpse to steady it.

“Son of a bitch.” Dean muttered, grimacing.

“Don’t be a baby, Dean. She won’t hurt you.” You said, an amused smile on your face. He glared at you but didn’t say a thing. Once Sam got her down, Dean let Sam take her and you four managed to get her out of the tiny room and outside where Sam and Dean started to dig a grave for her.

“So... So, if you manage to put Greeley to rest, too... What happens to them?” Molly asked. You bit your lip, not having an answer for her. You never knew where they went after they died.

“Lady, that answer is way beyond our pay grade.” Dean said, grunting as he dug.

“You hunt these things, but you don't know what happens to them?”

“Well, they never come back. That's all that matters.” Dean shrugged. You looked at her and you knew that answer didn’t satisfy her.

“After they let go of whatever's keeping them here, they just go. I hope someplace better, but we don't know. No one does.” You said, looking at Sam who agreed with you.

“What happens when you burn their bones?” Molly asked.

“Umm... Well, my dad used to say that was like death for ghosts, you know? But, the truth is, we still don't know. Not for sure. Guess that's why we all hold on to life so hard. Even the dead. We're all just scared of the unknown.” Sam said, giving the digging a rest.

Him and Dean laid Greeley’s wife inside and buried her where she should belong.

“The only thing I'm scared of is losing David. I have to see him again. I have to.” Molly said with a sad sigh.

“Look, when I make a promise, I keep them and I promise you that you will see him. But we have to deal with Greeley first.” You said, looking at Sam and Dean.

“Come on, there has to be more in that house that we’re missing.” Dean said, leading the group back into the house and back into the room with the photo album. Speaking of, Molly was holding it, looking through it as she paced the room.

The Queens:

@maddieburcham1 @ginamsmith  @mogaruke @whit85-blog @inlovewithbja @spn67-sister @kdfrqqg @jarpadandjensenaremyheroes @roxyspearing @supercalifragilistic26 @mishamigose @cobrakai1967 @essie1876 @wishedworld @crispychrissy @laqueus-ludovicus @nostalgic-uncertainty @jerk-bitch-and-an-angel @potterhead1265 @starswirlblitz @untitled39887 @ta-n-ja @deans-fallen-angel-boy @scarletluvscas @notnaturalanahi @tahbehonest @stay-in--place​ @dreaminofdean @posiemax​ @donnaintx​ @mikey1822​ @alexandriajanae4​ @li-ssu​ @just-another-winchester​ @obsessivecompulsivespn​ @emoryhemsworth​ @newtospnfandom​ @mizzezm​ @goldenolaf25​ @jessikared97​

The Dean Beans:

@akshi8278​ @mega-mrs-dean-winchester​ @winchesterandpie​ @spn-dean-and-sam-winchester​ @carribear31​ @tacklesackles​ @oreosatmidnight​ @not-naturalfangirl​ @missselinakitty​ @iam-a-cutiepie​  @kristendansmith​ @milo-winchester-4ever​ @jensenackesl​ @codyshany316​ @pheonyxstorm​ @helllonearth​ @juniorhuntersam​ @pouterpufftrain​ @ruprecht0420​ @shut-ur-face-and-get-in-the-car @carriemichelle2012​ @aubreystilinski​

Series Rewrite Junkies:

@helllonearth​ @amyisabellal​ @deanwnchstr​ @caseykitten6​ @quixoticcat​ @supernaturalblogging​ @notmoose45​  @crowleysminion​ @mina22​ @tahbehonest​ @hadleymcallister2177 @destielsangels​ @spnhybrid @oreosatmidnight​ @valerieshubin​ @seninjakitey​ @flyonlittlewinchester​  @aubreystilinski​ @rocketqueeens​ @emilygracespellins​

[terryblount]

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey – Review

I never understood why people would say that a game “won them over”, or that they hated a game when they started playing, but then they grew to love it. I am more much more binary when it comes to my opinion of what I play. Either I like something or I don’t, and it has never taken more than twenty minutes to make up my mind. That is, until I reviewed Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey.

After playing for about an hour, I had originally vowed to write an utterly scathing opinion piece on this trash. I hated it, and such a poorly-made game deserved to be thrown to the wolves. Still, in the back of my mind I knew I was missing something which made me pick it up one more time just for the sake of being objective. To my absolute surprise, I now find myself… a little obsessed, really.

Monkey see, monkey do.  The green orb at the bottom is a general indication of your current character’s overall vitality, including thirst, hunger and sleep.

I still don’t think Ancestors is a masterpiece, and I will mention some of the lamentable (but inexcusable) booby-traps that Panache Digital Games have stumbled into. However despite the cryptic nature of the gameplay, I eventually found an interesting and refreshingly original rendition of the survival genre here once I was willing to dig deep enough.

A monkey’s tale

Be honest, we all bolted upright like a dog hearing its food bowl at the mention of Patrice Désilets’s name. He’s the guy who left Ubisoft from the Assassin’s Creed and Prince of Persia franchises and founded Panache Digital Games to make Ancestors.

Unlike Patrice’s previous undertakings though, Ancestors is not an action RPG. This is a purebred survival and crafting game set in prehistoric Africa where our forefathers first walked the jungle.

The game opens with an exhilarating cut scene of fearsome animals like crocodiles, razor-beaked birds and sabre-toothed cats ravaging one another as just another day in prehistoric Africa. The message is clear; this is a hostile and dangerous world for the early humanoids. Yes, the word is ‘humanoid’ and not a monkey or a gorilla as people who don’t know their evolution keep saying on YouTube!

As someone who lives in Africa, I can attest this happens every day… when you go on safari

I took on the role of an alpha female as part of a clan that have settled at the foot of the waterfall, and I was instantly impressed with the world that the developers have set their game in. The vast, lush jungle (complete with day/night cycle) was enormous filled with gigantic trees, lakes and rocky cliffs probably rendered to scale. It is all yours to explore, to look for food and for gathering resources.

Unfortunately, the camera handles like it was being held by a an ADD 5-year-old chugging Red Bull. If it’s not bobbing like a cork or veering off, the player is constantly staring up our early ancestors’ arses. Throughout my entire playthrough, I felt like I always had to fight a bit with the game to aim the camera where I needed it to go. It felt like Ancestors was training me to be a primate proctologist.

I started following the first and only objective that the game will ever give you: Find and rescue the clan’s lost baby. These early humans possessed a heightened sense of smell, hearing and vision which the player can use to identify most of their surroundings. After locating the baby, I slid down a tree with all the dexterity of a seasoned primate and proceeded towards the objective marker.

Son, please don’t run off again while your mother and I mate in front of you, okay?

Mistakes were made

The little guy was hiding underneath a rock and I gave him a piggyback ride back to the nest just like the monkeys I saw on BBC the other day. It was then, once I returned to the nest, that I experienced exactly what about 95% of all day one players ran into: Absolutely no indication of what to do next. No further objective markers, no tutorials and no stats meters. Bugger-all.

Suddenly I appreciated the true gravity of these words in the opening scene

I get that this experience of the unknown was meant to replicate the situation of our actual ancestors, but it is all just too much too soon and the game punishes you severely for getting it wrong. Every now and then I like a game that doesn’t hold your hand, but it needs to happen more organically and logically through the gameplay. I cannot say that is the case here.

This is even more bizarre when you consider Ancestors actually lets you adjust how much on-screen info you want before starting your new lineage (or clan). Why even bother if players who stipulate they prefer some help are not going to be assisted anyway? No wonder so many people were put off.

I would be equally happy for discovering this egg if I knew what it was for. Also, notice how dark this game is? I wish they had gone for a more vibrant colour scheme.

Okay, I thought, my overgrown chimpanzee must want food, right? There is a green orb at the bottom of the screen that was beginning to fill with red, which means it has to eat or drink I’m guessing. Either that or it is preparing to fling poop at something. I spotted some berries hanging from a bush and followed the prompt to gorge myself on the red fruit.

Big mistake. Turns out the berries give you an upset stomach, meaning the humanoid looked like it was REALLY about to fling poop everywhere. Here Ancestors also committed one of the Seven Deadly Sins of gaming: It makes the screen go all wobbly and wonky to simulate the ape’s churning gut.

In fact, whenever you get poisoned, high off mushrooms, cold, frightened, or for no particular reason, Ancestors simply loves to make your screen go bonkers. I HATE it when games do this since this is a hopelessly outdated way of simulating a characters experiencing trauma. Too many other games have found better ways of conveying these situations to the player.

The only thing I could see around the nest was more berries, so I broadened my search to find some primordial antacid. It was then with my poor visibility that I missed a jump, causing my already suffering alpha female to plummet off a high branch and break a bone when she hit the ground. So now my clan leader is both sick and limping. The human race is really off to a rocky start.

I finally figured out that water helps with the stomach problems at least, so I waded deeper into the river to settle in for some drinking… which is when a green mamba locked its venomous fangs on the ape’s arm from behind a tree. Now I can add poisoning to my list of woes, and the screen looked like vomit at this point making it really hard to see anything.

“No,” I said as I hit exit, “no, no, no. Screw this. Maybe the human race was meant to go extinct. You’ll thank me later mother earth.” I left the game, and didn’t play again for a day as I plotted my review vendetta.

Let’s do the monkey

Before I munched on those deadly dingleberries, I did some exploring around the settlement and noticed a variety of interactions and crafting options that I did not quite understand (because the stupid game failed to explain them). Perhaps the answer lay here. Perhaps there was something more beneath this horrid first impression and the developers’ pathetic attempts to help you in their game.

It was at this point that I stumbled upon a streamer by the name of TagBackTV on YouTube. If my attempt at playing Ancestors was a patient in the head injury ward doing a cowbell solo, he played like a symphonic orchestra conducted by Hans Zimmer. This guy had evolved the hunched little clan of simians into a bipedal army holding hunting expeditions through the Savannah wielding stone tools and weapons.

According to my friends, this is still pretty much how I cook today. Seriously though, bashing the leaves with a rock makes a medicinal paste.

Confident that it could be done I spent hours on Reddit, watched instructional videos and finally summoned the courage to try again. This time, Ancestors felt like a completely different game. Now I was watching my clan grow and survive because I was teaching them to adapt and become smarter. Suddenly, it was 2:30 in the morning and JUST ONE MORE GENERATION AND I PROMISE I WILL GO TO BED.

Like all good survival games, Ancestors has this internal rhythm and momentum for the player to fall into. Once you learn a set of basic gameplay mechanics, you gain the confidence and knowhow to apply them in more complex tasks. In other words, once you understand the law of the jungle, it becomes a place of exploration and opportunity rather than one big death trap.

See, the aim of the game in Ancestors is to help your little clan of humanoids survive the harsh landscape of prehistoric Africa by building up their neuron cells. In other words, the player must give the early humans bigger brains, which in turn makes each successive generation (the babies) smarter and more capable in their environment.

Ancestor’s version of a ‘tech tree’. The white orb in the middle is how much neuronal energy you have to make links to other neurons. More babies makes you gather neuronal energy much faster.

In the opening sections, players will mostly learn the ABCs of just getting around the jungle, what to eat and avoid, and how to keep a keen eye out for predators. While the latter becomes annoying at times, the developers have programmed their AI really well since they can sneak up on you completely silently. I needed to change my underwear a few times after a crocodile lunged at me out of the water, or a sabre-toothed cat suddenly jumped out of the undergrowth.

Example of an upgrade as you develop the brain of the apes

After those neurons have been developed and you have passed through a few generations, you find that you can eat even the most poisonous foods and kill even the most intimidating predators with a self-made spear. Players will learn how to use stone tools not just to make weapons, but also to grind plants into paste for making medicinal products.

After every major evolution the distant descendants of the clan you started off with will find themselves in a new environment. From the jungle the player will eventually move to grass planes, the arid savannah, and even the sea shore. Again, these environments are HUGE and each one presents a unique set of challenges which is a great way to keep the repetitive gameplay fresh and engaging.

Staying in touch with your roots

The survival genre is an exciting area to explore for gamers these days. Games like Subnautica, the comeback of No Man’s Sky, and now Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey show that studios have a unique confidence here to turn some interesting concepts into games. As a community we should consider supporting these flawed but ambitious projects so that they can evolve into bigger and more refined products, and Ancestors is no exception.

That’s what you get for attacking my clan. Oh crap… did I just cause cats to go extinct!?

Do try this game if you have the means or the time, but make sure you do a substantial amount of background research before you click that icon. While the developers were morons for not easing the players into this complex experience, all gamers should try their hand at witnessing the very birth of our species.

Big world to explore

Vast and engaging skill tree

Rewarding exploration

Interesting concept

Decisions matter

Needs more player guidance

Frustrating camera

Screen distortion effects

Mediocre graphics

Can be repetitive at times

        Play time: About 27 hours total. Most players should reach the final stage of evolution between 35 – 40 hours

Computer Specs: Windows 10 64-bit computer using Nvidia GTX 1070, i5 4690K CPU, 16GB RAM – Played using an Xbox One Controller

The post Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey – Review appeared first on DSOGaming.

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey – Review published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

[minblush]

andromeda +/-

pls ignore this is a place i’ll put my complaints etc as i play, i need to vent lol don’t read

character creator is so limited :/ i managed to make an ok looking ryder but i was so sad? why won’t they let us cycle between eyes/noses etc from the presets for each head or something? make up options suck again, but i do like some of the hair quite a bit, like the diversity of the creator as well

the beginning of the game was so boring i couldn’t believe it, i only started to have fun like 8 hours in...also the plot hole at the start really bothered me... ryder’s helmet breaks like glass but she manages to fix it with her omni-tool, but then -spoiler- when it happens again a few hours later her dad rather than trying to fix it just gives her his own helmet and sacrifices himself? ?? ?? it makes zero sense. if they ran out of omni-gel or it was too broken they should’ve thrown in a line about it there, it was so jarring like this, instead of being sad or touched i kept screaming like WHY WON’T YOU JUST FIX IT LIKE SHE DID A FEW HOURS AGO

the ship is so empty and quiet it makes me sad going around? there is a whole floor that is empty, the crew quarters are empty, could’ve been easily solved by putting some npcs standing around or working on computers like the previous games, there’s like what... 10 people on the WHOLE ship? 

checkpoint system during main missions SUCKS... i was exploring the remnant vault, scanning stuff, picking up resources, and then when i wanted to move on with the main marker i got killed and i had to... start from the start of the floor, re-doing all of that, i lost almost over an hour of gameplay (maybe more idek) since i like taking my time and taking the environments in etc :/ i was so frustrated i almost cried, i don’t understand why they won’t let us save during main missions

WHY DID THEY MAKE MOST TURIANS SO UGLY? my fav race! why! the weird green textures my heart is bleeding

the writing of the characters is so weird and corny when you get introduced, i didn’t know how exactly to explain it and then i thought of like... imagine if the characters from previous games introduced like this.  "hi, I'm joker, the pilot! i'm cocky but i have a reason to be you won't find a better pilot anywhere. i like to make jokes, so be warned. actually i have a very rare disease so don't ask me to walk around much. to be honest it's why i make so many jokes, it's a self-defense mechanism to hide how broken i am on the inside. anyway, i hope we can work well together" 

i’ve suffered through several cringe attacks because of the writing so far (”it’s killing everything in its way” “yeah! like us!”)

everything is so spelled out, let me think for myself for 5 seconds game please :x 

i don’t need the companions constantly saying something i already know or have seen “wow the door opened” “wow this is so alien” like omg say something interesting or don’t say anything at all, I ALREADY KNEW, i’m still waiting to hear any interesting or fun banter :/ it’s all very expository so far

the space itself is beautiful though, i awed so much when i got to fly the ship ;-; i love planets and the stars ah, and while the transitions from planet to planet are slow and i wish they were skip-able, they are still so beautiful looking so i don’t mind

the animations are bad but i don’t really mind, it’s not what i play the games for, just kinda creepy when their eyes keep flying all over the place? also very little transitory animations, characters disappear and reappear, it’s the worst when you get out of the nomad, it looks exactly like when you were exiting the mako in mass effect 1... AND THAT GAME IS LIKE 10 YEARS OLD, speaking of which though, the nomad is loads of fun, i love driving it

i wonder how can it be though, that mass effect 2 and 3 look better on ps3 than andromeda on ps4? the textures on characters are so low res?

the kett are dumb looking, they look like a more bulky version of batarians, their colour scheme is ugly and clashing; why is there so little creativity in the whole of the galaxy so far anyway? i just saw some floating rocks so far, other than the milky way seemed more interesting (so far)

idk why but -_- frickin liam keeps getting stuck in combat and getting me killed it’s like skyrim and lydia all over again

i love the combat so much though, i love the jet pack and the dashing it’s so much fun to be able to fly around and jump and explore ah! i’m just really disappointed i can’t manage what the companions do like in previous games? i loved combining their attacks and such, like having someone do a concussive shot while someone else would blast with overload or something, it was so cool... 

they promised there wouldn’t be fetch-quests and pointless stuff like in inquisition but it’s full of it

i wanna marry vetra ;-; ♥ 

i really like kesh and also drack, they’re very endearing and their writing is a whole lot better than most of the others, also i like that you can bump into the characters outside of the ship

my biggest complaint so far is the setting in general though, because the arks left before shepard did much, no one really knows anything, race relations between salarians and krogans etc are the same, krogans aren’t cured from the genophage :/, it feels like nothing i did in the previous games matters now? the sense of detachment makes me so sad, the previous games might as well not have happened at all :(

ryder feels like she came from a whole different galaxy other than the milky way tbh, “why would anyone hate artificial intelligence” “why do the turians and krogans hate each other” etc, i get these are expository a questions for new players, but as a writer, isn’t it your job to know how to integrate that without making your character seem like a total idiot? did ryder get zero education or was living in a bunker her whole life?