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andoqin · 3 years

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Sisyphus: The Myth Ep 1- A Dissection

Okay, so I’ve had some time to process what I subjected myself to today, so I’ve decided to list everything in episode 1 that is just completely insane and an example of how Not To Do it.

I’m not an expert on Film Theory, but i’ve watched a shitton of media, plus I watch a lot of Youtube Video essays, so clearly I’m half

The episode starts off okay enough even if we get a weird exposition dump and “tense” parting scene between a father and daughter.

We start in what presumably is the time travel terminal where people stand around in pyjamas waiting to get through.

Okay, fairly interesting if unspectacular but I’m guessing that’s the point, this is now an industry. We zoom in and get this line that made me laugh, because well...

a) humans are living creatures and b) the amount of microbial organisms on human skin is estimated to be at hundreds of billions, or more. And this kind of time travel/teleportation is always hinky because well if you think about it, how does that even work without getting into The Fly territory. I’m willing to cut this drama some slack here and maybe it’s an awkward translation besides.

This gets... exceedingly long, but if you want a (too) in-depth summary of what happens in ep 1 and why it doesn’t work (for me) read on :D.

But then the real trouble starts, because PSH’s dad (I’m not bothering to learn the character names) says he’s not going with her and this is apparently very sudden. He then makes her repeat some lines that are supposed to create tension? Be exposition? Idk.

“Don’t trust anyone.”

“Don’t get involved with [CSW]’s character.”

PSH get’s teary eyed, because her dad is not coming with her, but the problem with scenes like these is: I don’t know either of them and do not have an emotional connection to their parting. Sure, it tells us something about PSH (she likes her dad and is worried about him) but I also don’t know how important her dad is going to be down the line. So when PSH asks about her mom and what if her mom dies and her dad just replies everyone dies at some point I’m a bit weirded out, but not to the point where I necessarily want to know more.

We then smashcut to PSH waking up in a world that’s more similar to ours and she does what her dad told her to do. She grabs her (very inconvenient) suitcase and runs along the tracks she woke up next to. We see that she is somewhat surprised by the running trains and also hardy enough to track on despite bleeding feet.

Alas, creepy people in gas-masks with guns and drones are waiting for her, so she runs even harder and after some near misses (they are able to track her by some sort of radiation meter) makes it to safety.

On top of a train car that the TWO DOZEN PEOPLE WITH GUNS AND DRONES are too stupid to check apparently. Clearly if she’s not under the train car, the detecting devices must be mistaken. So she just chills on top of the train car, sitting on her suitcase and those goons trundle off after 5 minutes presumably like they’re Assassin’s Creed Enemy NPCs.

Now we get introduced to CSW in the most insane scene i’ve ever witnessed. Honestly.

He is just ~chilling in 1st class in an airplane, filming a douche who is rude to the plane staff and epically owning him because he’s So Smart.

First of all, I don’t know what that has to do with soggy noodles(which the other asshole complained about), since by that measure the noodles should be *undercooked* (lower boiling point means longer cooking time after all) and secondly good lord I already hate this guy. He then proceeds to Epically Own (tm) with a convenient Forbes (sorry “Eorbes”) Magazine that he is on the cover of and flirts with the plane hostess.

So right off the bat, our impressions of CSW are supposed to be: He’s Cool (look at his hoodie and general bearing), he’s Smart (debatable), he’s nice to The Help (I guess???) stands up to bullies, and most importantly he’s fucking rich. I guess we’re also supposed to get the impression that he’s arrogant, maybe a bit of an asshole, but still cool and everything.

If this had been where the scene had stopped I would have rolled my eyes and then just continued on watching. But no, the writers thought: “Schooling some sexist rich asshole isn’t enough to show off how Cool and Smart and Cocky our main character is. Also he likes the ladies.” Look at him, he’s Tony Stark only from South Korea!!!

So shortly after he sits down, and we have the first moment with CSW where he connected with me emotionally (he sees the ghost of his dead brother and the way he says “because ... you’re dead.” and I thought OOOH this I can work with), the cockpit windshield is hit by what looks to be a suitcase (DUN DUN DUUUN) and something crashes into one of the engines, causing it to explode and catch fire.

The pilot is knocked out and unconscious and even the co-pilot loses consciousness (after conveniently unlocking the cockpit lock). CSW is the only one who goes to check on the pilots, having grabbed a fanny pack from his onboard luggage and quickly assessing the situation he revives the copilot and welds the hole in the windshield shut with some ducttape out of his fannypack and a plastic notepad. IT’S VERY EFFECTIVE! They did it in WW2, or so CSW tells us so you know it’s true.

I’m not sure that ‘s how plane windshields and duct tape and plastic notepad thingies work, but well the plane is still in freefall we have more important things to worry about :).

The electrics are all on the fritz, the copilot cannot get control of the plane and so CSW takes a seat in the captains chair (having foisted the captain out of it, not even he is so crass to sit on some unconscious dude’s lap i guess) and quickly calculates that they have 3 min and 30 secs for CSW to restart the electronics before the plane crashes. So he hands the co-pilot HIS PHONE with a timer on it for 3.5 minutes so the co-pilot can tell him when 30 seconds have passed. Instead of idk, contacting Air Traffic Control or ANYONE he just sits there and lets his big boy brain work.

After 30 seconds he has an idea, because he’s Tony Stark-ing it up like crazy now and can just figure out the electronics of a plane cockpit in 30 seconds, but guess what. HIS PHONE RINGS. AND HE ANSWERS IT, because he’s devil-may-care and “haha look at this, friend, i’m in the cockpit of a crashing plane we have 2 minutes before i’m dead.”

Said friend is calling him from the board meeting of CSWs company, bc of course the board is ~unhappy with CSWs antics (I gotta say I can’t blame them) and the friend doesn’t believe it at first, when he says he’s in a crashing plane, but checks on the news to see it’s true.

I ... I don’t think news work like that, we’ve gone 5 minutes from the initial troubles till now, there won’t be news reports all over the media yet. THEY’RE NOT EVEN TALKING TO AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL YET. Hell he even tells his friend to call 119 or the airport for help. I just... I’m very forgiving of a lot of things in a drama when it comes to writing. I’m willing to ignore obvious blindspots in a narrative, if I think the narrative is strong enough to support whatever it’s trying to say. At this point what could calling the police or the airport do, they have like 90 seconds left...

I don’t know what the writers are trying to tell me with this scene though? It’s so stupid, so unrealistic and CSW is so unpleasant and weird in it, because he tells his friend that he has to confess to taking out the friend’s college girlfriend on a date while they were still together.

Well since the drama is longer than one ep, they do make it out alive, but the fact that the co-pilot managed to safely LAND the plane (which is insane to me) gets skipped over and we just get news snippets that herald CSW as a hero who singlehandedly saved the planes passengers.

We then get to see him in his natural habitat “convalescing” in his giant apartment where he is being showered with gifts by worshippers basically. He continues to be an asshole, but his friend tells him, one more stunt and the board will kick him.

The board will kick the guy who just saved a plane full of lives????? Yeah right, I’m sorry but that’s just fucking stupid from the writers. Why would anyone do that, even if the board hates him, kicking him now, when he’s literally a national hero would be the worst thing they could do for the stock prices. It’s only here so the writers can shoehorn in that CSW is close to OD-ing on pharmaceuticals and that the board wants to monitor his therapy and they have a way of “forcing” him to comply.

Also he has what looks to be a dental x-ray machine next to his bed. Someone correct me if I’m wrong but lol what’s up with these set design choices.

His friend tells him to go to fucking therapy or else and the next scene he is actually at a therapist.

Who’s his ex-girlfriend (they have a whole tangent about that).

Who writes a report about his therapy to the board.

But hey at least the therapy gets us a flashback of the last time he saw his brother. Big surprise he was an asshole to him as well, so no wonder he’s traumatised by that.

After therapy he *conveniently* runs into the co-pilot who’s incoherent and beaten up and hands CSW a usb-drive. It contains video of the cockpit on the day of the crash and it’s obvious what struck the plane was a suitcase and what crashed into the engine was a human being (DUN DUN DUUUUUUN maybe someone forgot to convert feet to meters when setting up the time travel thingamabob).

As he looks at the (very pixelated) figure of the person about to crash into the engine, he suddenly sees his brother’s face and honestly this scene just made me laugh? I know it’s supposed to be haunting and more evidence of CSW’s deep trauma, but I guess at this point my brain was just completely checked out.

And that’s what we end our introductory phase of CSW. What the fuck was that plane thing even for. To show us he’s callous in the face of danger? He’s an asshole even when he’s about to die, so he’s got a long way to go? He’s haunted by the spectre of his dead brother and the guilt he feels for not being there when he died? I got a lot of that before we had the insane Plane Adventure!!! There are literally millions of ways they could have gotten this information to the viewers and not made an absurd spectacle of the plot that means that everything afterwards just feels lame, because you already had the insanity that was this plane ride, so it can only go down tension wise.

Now we’re back to PSH, but honestly her parts are kinda boring and bog-standard “UwU I’m unfamiliar with this way of life, I don’t even know how to eat a banana (that looks *nothing* like a banana btw), so I just eat it peel and root and all. Also I’m from the Future, that means I obviously know todays LOTTERY NUMBERS.”

I know kdramas like clichés and tropes, I like them too, that’s why I watch kdramas, but you gotta give me a bit more if you want me to at least invest in PSH, because I’m sure as hell not invested in CSW.

She gets taken in by some guy, because we can’t have her homeless all the time, and she needs someone to explain this world to her and also how to eat bananas properly and she opens her suitcase. It’s got both future-tech-y looking stuff and a pink notepad that seems to hold specific information on what needs to happen on certain days.

She also makes this expression and I don’t know if we’re supposed to laugh because she’s not threatening or if we’re supposed to laugh because she’s not threatening, but we know she’s gonna kick ass later, haha you just thought she was harmless. I gotta say it’s the former for me.

Rarrr fierce Elite Warrior PSH coming to get you.

She tries to get in touch with CSW, already breaking one of her dad’s three commandments. Oh, I guess staying with this guy breaks the other two. Welp, so much for that then. What even was the point of that first scene...

Anyway she tries to get in touch with CSW but ofc you cant just call the richest person ever (Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos would get very angry voicemails from me if that were the case), but she manages to get his voicemail. Or a voicemail he spoke for. But oh no, she is just Not Familiar with this world and keeps having a conversation with the voicemail as if it’s CSW himself.

CSW who has scienced his way to finding the suitcase that crashed the plane and as she begs his voicemail not to open the suitcase, of course he opens it and gasp the combination for the suitcase lock is his birthday!!! Something his brother used to do!!!

MAYBE THAT MAN WAS HIS BROTHER AFTER ALL!!!! OH NO!!

But thank fuck the episode is over now.

VERDICT:

Just no. Don’t do this. The latter half of the show is more standard fare, but the first 25 minutes destroy any capability of this show making sense. I can see what the writers are trying to do, but it’s so hamfisted and badly written I’m just not willing to go along.

If you want a show that also has a fantasy action aspect (and this show is all fantasy no matter how much it tries to science it up), watch LUCA instead. That show at least knows how to set a tone, how to get us invested in the characters and does exposition in a way that doesn’t feel obtrusive.

#sisyphus: the myth #sisyphus #I RANT #FOR WAY TOO LONG #kdrama

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quazartranslates · 3 years

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Welcome to the Nightmare Game - CH46

**This is an edited machine translation. For more information, please [click here]**

[<<< Previous Chapter | Table of Contents | Next Chapter >>>]

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Chapter 46: Witchcraft Sacrifice (XV)

After meeting Lu Youxin, Qi Leren's luck seemed to be a little better. At least they didn't meet the dead again the whole way. Although Aisha was very bothered about Lu Youxin's enthusiasm, she also knew that she couldn't offend her and had to endure this harassment from the same sex.

This underground palace was very large. After walking for a long time, Qi Leren finally felt that the terrain was a bit familiar. Recalling the map, he turned to Lu Youxin and said: "There should be a big palace in the center of the underground palace. Want to see it?"

Lu Youxin was busy courting Aisha and bragging about her adventures of fighting ghouls in the sewers of abandoned cities. When she heard Qi Leren’s words, she casually said, "OK, then let’s go and have a look."

After that, she suddenly remembered something and gave him a suspicious look: "There seems to be no place in the map I showed you? You later unsealed a sealed tower?"

It turned out that she was quite perceptive, and Qi Leren explained: "Well, I was lucky and later found another one."

"Heh, you really knew the location of the sealed tower. You dare to lie to me. It seems you ‘re tired of living." Liu Youxin gave a fake smile, tone eerie.

“……”

"But it doesn't matter, the main highlight is still here. Ah, I feel a little excited when I think of being in the same room as so many girls." Lu Youxin laughed, as if she hadn’t just been threatening him.

Lu Youxin's excitement turned into horror after entering the palace. The huge underground house was surrounded by underground rivers, with grotesque humanoid statues and coffins, and several people had arrived above the layers of stone steps.

Qi Leren saw a familiar figure from a distance and excitedly went forward: "Godd ... Ning Zhou!"

His goddess was leaning against a giant statue with crossed arms. She nodded at Qi Leren, but when she saw Lu Youxin, she frowned involuntarily.

Lu Youxin suddenly ran all the way to Ning Zhou and looked at her for a while. She asked like a ghost: "Ning Zhou?"

Qi Leren suddenly swore internally, it’s here, it’s here. This crazy girl won't have a crush on his goddess, will she?! His goddess's chastity is in danger! No, no, no, he will defend his goddess's chastity to the death! Keep his goddess away from abnormal harassment!

Before Qi Leren could make a sound, Lu Youxin suddenly burst into laughter: "Hahahahaha Ning Zhou, you..."

"Get out." Cold-faced, Ning Zhou suddenly opened her mouth, the deep but gentle and lovely feminine voice full of murderous intent.

Qi Leren was dumbfounded: the goddess spoke, but the goddess could speak! Goddess, you have a beautiful voice! Eh, why did Lu Youxin really scram?!

Liu Youxin, who rolled down the stairs with all her heart, stabilized her body in a terrible posture and climbed up from the ground while holding her waist, teeth gritted: "Okay, I'll shut up. Can we not use that trick? Otherwise, if you shout to get naked, won't I walk around naked? Hey, this is a good move. Can you sell me this card?”

Lu Youxin suddenly thought of a wonderful usage and cheerfully asked.

Ning Zhou coldly swept her one eye over her and didn't speak again.

Qi Leren was still shocked that the goddess could speak, until the little girl Ellie excitedly ran down the steps and threw herself into the arms of her sister Aisha: "Sister! It's great that you are all right! "

The two sisters met again in this dangerous place, and both shed tears.

[Players Qi Leren has completed the side task: find Aisha.]

[Reward: increase the survival days by 10 days, and draw a random lottery once.]

Qi Leren draws the lottery decisively. In this dangerous place, everything that can be drawn is good.

[This tooth is poisonous] This is a magical false tooth. If you bite it casually with it equipped, you can kill yourself immediately. You say it doesn’t have any fucking use? You can equip it into the enemy's mouth! You said you couldn't do it? Ha ha, you still blame me for not being able to do it yourself? Remaining use: 1/1.

"..." Qi Leren only felt that his throat was sweet, and now he finally knows why Dr. Lu can pick up cards anywhere. Some cards are truly useless! Taking great pains to think about it, at least this false tooth was still useful to him, as it could allow him to commit suicide when his body is bound. He can't think about what kind of breakdown others would have when they obtained this item…

Anyway, it doesn't occupy a card slot. Qi Leren simply stepped aside and put this thing on, and the denture stuck to his gums quite firmly. After loading, he couldn't help licking the denture deep in the alveolus with his tongue. He had the urge to take a bite... No, he had to hold back. If he didn't hold back, he would have to ascend to heaven.

When Qi Leren secretly installed the false tooth, he looked back and saw the goddess watching him silently.

This..... This scene is so embarrassing! Did the goddess see it?! Just now, he pushed his false tooth into his mouth. Does the goddess think he was picking his teeth secretly? Qi Leren was too shy to return to the goddess as if nothing had happened, so he went quietly to Ye Xia, who stood in front of the rock wall between the two statues and meditated quietly.

"When did you get here?" Qi Leren asked.

Ye Xia studied the totem on the stone wall. After hearing the question from Qi Leren, she said faintly: "One step ahead of you. Ning Zhou and Ellie had already arrived when I came."

"Do you also know Ning Zhou?" Qi Leren asked curiously.

Ye Xia shook her head. Qi Leren was disappointed. He thought he could inquire about the deeds of the goddess from her.

The topic couldn’t go any further. Qi Leren quietly observed for a while. Now there were six people who had arrived at this stone hall, including the Ellie-Aisha sisters, Lu Youxin, Ye Xia, Ning Zhou, and him. He doesn't know if anyone else will arrive here alive.

Just thinking that, a figure appeared outside the stone hall, with light steps and an enchanting figure. There was a rare beauty in her blood-stained sacrificial clothing. At the moment when she appeared, Ye Xia entered the ready-to-go state from her original careless pose of standing with a hand behind her, and looked coldly at the person who was getting closer and closer.

The new person smiled charmingly: "I’m late."

There is a delicate girl behind her, who seems to be an NPC, who has been standing far away and seems to be very afraid of them.

Ye Xia looked cold and called out her name: "Xie Wanwan, you’ve gotten a lot braver."

Xie Wanwan smiled: "Why? If you want to die with me now, it's not the time."

Qi Leren looked at the two girls who were at odds, and didn't know if he should interrupt. Instead, Lu Youxin made a bold mistake: "I said you don't have to be so aggressive now, do you? Hey, the new task conditions have come out, let's solve the immediate problems first. "

Qi Leren looked down the direction of Lu Youxin's finger, and the bloody words appeared on the stone walls filled with totems.

[The living witches gather together, and the dead witches are ready to go. ]

This string of bloody words appears at the top and center of the stone wall, and under the eyes of all, another bloody word slowly emerges on the left side of the stone wall: [Sleeping in rusty iron, burning my body with fire, nourishing the vegetation of hell with my blood; people who wake me up will be executed by hanging.]

It’s coming. Qi Leren's heart is still in the air, thinking about the meaning of these two hints.

The first sentence probably appeared after all of them arrived. There are eight of them now. Which means at the tower where the seal was unlocked in the previous step, only five people died there, four were sacrificed, and the other one should be a NPC eaten by giants. Everyone else survived, which is slightly different from what Qi Leren expected, because as far as his experience is concerned, the difficulty of the previous step is already very great.

It seems that there is something wrong with his luck value, Qi Leren thought sullenly.

Now that all eight survivors have arrived, according to the stone wall’s tip, the dead witch candidate can be triggered, and the second tip right now should be the location of one of the witches.

Sleeping in rusty iron? Is it an iron coffin? The flame burns her body, which may mean her death. The vegetation in hell should say that she can manipulate plants to kill the players who went to hunt her, or simply hang them with vegetation.

This should be a tough one.

"How about we go and find it together?" Qi Leren suggested.

Lu Youxin curled her lips and turned her eyes at him. Xie Wanwan sneered and asked: "Then, because of who sent themselves to death and the uneven distribution of stolen goods, we’ll immediately have a fallout?" You can't trust even your teammates completely, let alone a group of malicious opponents. Those who are confident will go by themselves. At least they won’t turn hostile for rewards afterwards.”

Then, she shrugged her shoulders and walked out of the stone hall along the stairs.

"So hot, I like it!" Lu Youxin touched her chin and looked at Xie Wanwan's back sternly.

Being interrupted by Lu Youxin, Qi Leren didn’t feel embarrassed. He coughed and whispered to Ning Zhou: "What are your plans?"

Ning Zhou looked at him quietly, then took his hand and led him to the gate of the temple.

Qi Leren, who was caught off guard by the goddess' initiative, only felt a burst of burning heat on his face, and was shocked for a while, and didn't wake up until he was pulled a few steps. Does the goddess mean to take him to fight the monsters together? Okay, okay, make a date!

But what about the rest? Qi Leren looked back, Ye Xia smiled and nodded to him, and Lu Youxin's expression was like seeing a ghost in broad daylight. She looked straight at the two people who left hand in hand for a while, looking like the sky was about to collapse and the end of the world was coming.

Why is she so surprised? Qi Leren just thought about it, and the sense of crisis suddenly surged up -- Lu Youxin doesn’t have a crush on his goddess, does she!

No, he won't give Goddess Ning Zhou to a lesbian when he dies! Especially a fickle and crazy lesbian!

The Goddess must be his!

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The author has something to say:

PS: However, Lu Juju has seen through everything... Terrified Lu Youxin: Oh my god. There are two gays acting like lesbians here! (What a great amount of information)

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Editor’s Notes: As with the previous, this chapter was co-edited by Miko!

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[<<< Previous Chapter | Table of Contents | Next Chapter >>>]

#Welcome to the Nightmare Game #欢迎来到噩梦游戏 #danmei

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dearyams · 5 years

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a long day

@dazedbyeler: headcanon ; Will screaming into his pillow after Mike does something cute [x]

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It was going to be a long day.

Not long as in the number of hours Will was up—no, he woke up pretty late for even a Saturday—or the fact that as the summer solstice approached, daylight technically lasted longer. It was going to be long as in mental exhaustion, though it wasn’t even really exhaustion for him. Was he stressed? No more than usual in most aspects. A lot more than usual for one in particular.

See, Will woke up late on a Saturday that had long been planned to be the day the Party started up Mike’s newest campaign. Mike even promised he wouldn’t be over too long at Hopper’s cabin to ensure that the four could spend the entire day in the basement tossing saving throws and laughing at Mike’s hilariously in-character role-played monsters and NPCs. Max was even going to stop by and watch—“Watch? You mean critique my voices as if I haven’t spent years crafting my creepy goblin voice,” Mike had whined the night before as he laid on the couch and tossed a grape into his mouth, only to choke on it and give Will a mild heart attack in the process. The point being: this Saturday was important for everyone and was planned to be the best Saturday in the entire year so far.

Despite his joy and overwhelming excitement at starting a new campaign with his friends, Will overslept. That got his friends worried, worried enough that Will woke up to Mike frantically knocking on his window and yelling for Will. “Don’t be dead, Byers, or I’ll bring you back to life and strangle you for it!” It was only testimony to the room’s thin walls that Will managed to hear Mike. The boy was obviously teasing—he couldn’t fight for his life and after Will beat his ass during an impromptu wrestling match five years back, he didn’t bother and left the rough housing to Dustin and Lucas—but even through sleep’s last languorous dregs, Will could hear the underlying concern that bleed in every word. That pure, unadulterated concern and the annoying rap of knuckles on glass that crept through his dream—a dream that left him red-faced and glaring at his wall in hopes that the lingering phantom touch from Mike’s hand in his would soon disappear—was enough disturbance to wake him.

Will turned over to face his window and stared. Mike was glaring at him. He was petulant as always with a pout on his lips and Will couldn’t help himself if his eyes found focus on those curved lips. He tried not to think about what that meant and let his gaze wander upwards. Mike’s freckled cheeks were pink and flushed from exertion. His eyes were bright as usual, carrying the stars night left behind when melting into day. His hair was messy in a wind-blow way since he was fresh off his bike ride to the Byers’ residence. Will let the guise of sleep allow him a few more seconds to stare and take in the beautiful sight before him. He had been dreaming about holding hands with Mike just a few minutes ago, being blushy and pressing his lips to those very same pink cheeks—oh.

Mike seemed to notice Will was actually staring at him and his hard glare loosened into a soft smile. He waved excitedly before pressing his palms up against the window. Will was mentally tossed back in time to a point before Mike was tall enough to even press against the window as he did. Back when the boy would press his nose to the cold plane and all Will could see was his bright brown eyes as he watched and waited for Will. In a melancholy way, Will missed those days, but he didn’t think about it for long as he also questioned why Mike hadn’t simply gone to the front door and barged into his room as he usually did.

Will slowly sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes before he yawned. He stretched his arms and then padded to the window to open it. Fresh air filtered through his room. Mike pulled back and then leaned on the window sill with an infectious grin. “Thought you’d never wake up, Sleeping Beauty,” he drawled, blinking when Will shoved a hand in his face to push him back. “Hey!”

“Don’t call me that unless you want me to call you Prince Charming.”

The implications in that statement went unsaid but surprisingly, instead of sneering and retching like Dustin might do, Mike flushed a bright red. Red was a good color on him, especially with late spring’s sun casting warm rays over his pale skin. “What?” he exclaimed before shaking his head so fast Will was worried he might injure his neck. “No. No, don’t do that. I’m teasing you, Will.” He looked at his watch and then tapped the screen in a poor attempt to change the subject. “It’s already, 1:30! What were you doing last night? I thought I went home pretty early so you could wake up on time today.”

Will frowned and tried to recall what he had done but he mostly remembered listening to a few songs with Jonathan after Mike left and then called it a night. His mind wandered back to the dream and he coughed into his fist in hopes to let that action cover up his blush. “I didn’t do much after you left.” he sent Mike a smirk. “I guess hanging out with you is draining me these days.”

It was gentle teasing just as much as Mike had done earlier, but Mike...he was really acting weird today. He stiffened and then pulled back from the window sill as he rubbed at his neck. “Oh. I, uh, I can come over less if you’d like. I don’t mean to be a bother.”

Will balked. “You’re not a bother.” He felt the insane urge to reach out and grab Mike’s hands but he was never brave enough for that. Sure, he could survive living in another dimension on his own for a week and he could beat an interdimensional shadow monster from taking over his mind for almost a year, but acting on whatever these romantic urges were? Hard pass. He couldn’t risk ruining what good he had with Mike, not after everything they’d been through together.

“Eh,” Mike shrugged and scuffed his shoes against the dirt. “If you say so.”

“I mean it, really,” Will leaned on his side of the window sill and looked up into wandering brown eyes. “You know you’re always welcome; Mom loves having you over anyway.”

“Mrs. Byers is great,” laughed Mike and his cheerful attitude came back with a quickness. Will wasn’t even sure if seeing Mike so sad had really happened. “And I guess you’re pretty great, too.”

Will rolled his eyes but when he focused back on Mike, he felt his next words lodge in his throat much like the grape Mike had almost died eating last night. Mike was...he was so handsome. Messy black hair curling at the edges, bright brown eyes echoing emotions that would never leave his mouth, pink cheeks, gentle smile on his curved lips and oh, oh, his voice—how it’d gotten deeper in the past few months and how just then, when he called Will great, it got a little deeper still and so gentle. Will didn’t know how to describe what it felt like to hear that voice directed at him. It was a warm blanket fresh out the dryer or maybe a toasty fire in the fireplace after spending hours in the cold. It was the loud cheers from the Party when they defeated the boss level monster in the campaign or the giggled whispers from his sleeping bag buddy when the Party gathered together for a weekend sleepover.

And then Will knew how to describe it because there was only ever going to be one way to describe the way Mike talked to him, the way Mike looked at him, the way Mike existed with him. That way was Mike being, well, Mike Wheeler. This boy here, with the crooked grin and the shy eyes and the pink cheeks and the stupid blue polo shirt stretched over his broadening shoulders and Will’s palpitating heart in his unknowing soft hands, was simply Mike Wheeler and that was enough to explain it all. He was so infuriatingly cute and Will didn’t know him to be any way but, even when he was in a cantankerous mood.

“I’ll come around front and say hi to your mom,” the boy declared firmly enough to snap Will from his dopey trance. Will leaned away from the window and nodded silently. “You can eat over at my place if you want. You know, so you don’t have to worry about stuffing your face in a rush now.”

“Okay,” was all Will could muster from his throat. He hoped he didn’t sound like a croaking sick man.

Mike cocked his head to the side with a puppy-like frown. So stupidly cute. “Are you okay? If you’re sick, you don’t have to worry about it. We can reschedule.”

“I’m fine; I’ll shower, get dressed, and meet you inside.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Mike grinned even wider and waved Will off with his fingers, an oddly shy but equally adorable little wave that had Will blinking as Mike grabbed his bike and strode away.

Will closed his window with a heavy sigh and then bit his bottom lip until he was sure the skin under his teeth turned white. He turned to his bed, plopped down onto it back first, and closed his eyes to calm his rapidly beating heart. Will’s brain kept replaying Mike’s little wave and his soft voice and his flushed cheeks and his cute head tilt and—

The brunette clenched his fists and turned to scream into his pillow, unable to keep his bubbling emotions inside any longer. He was going to die, positively and absolutely die, from Mike being this goddamn adorable without even trying. Did he know what he was doing to Will’s heart? Did he know Will turned to Halloween in ‘84 as means to appease himself when the nightmares got so bad? Did he know Will was weak to his stupid gangly charms in a manner no different from a moth always attracted to the light even if the light killed it? Did he know, did he know, did he know, should he know, should he know, should he—

No.

Will pulled his face from the pillow and then gripped it in his arms as his throat started to burn. Stupid. He tried to make this stop so many times. He screamed into his pillow as the days went by in hopes that once his throat got sore enough his body would stop associating Mike with this...this futile thing Will refused to put a name to even though he knew what he felt. And yet it had been months filled with muffled screams and harrowed sighs, lingering glances and internal yearning, and Mike was still cute and dorky and everything Will wanted in a...more-than-friend.

You mean boyfriend, his mind tratoriously provided.

Will blushed furiously and pulled the pillow back to his face for another muffled groan as he thought about Mike being his boyfriend. His dream would become reality and that was so far-fetched yet his foolish heart found it still attainable. When he heard Mike’s voice as he chatted with his mom, Will sat up and scrambled toward his dresser to grab clothes to hop into before sprinting down the hall toward the bathroom before he could get a glimpse at Mike. If he spotted Mike talking with his mom so easily like he usually did, like he belonged in this house conversing with Will’s mom as if she was his own mom, Will would either combust on the spot or immediately ask Mike to make it official and date him already.

When Will strode back to his room to toss his dirty clothes in the hamper, he spotted Mike laying on his stomach on the bed. The boy had his chin in his hands as he watched Will and then jumped to his feet with a sigh. “You ready to go?”

Will shoved at his shoulder. “Always, Wheeler.”

Mike shot him a bashful grin and right then and there, Will knew it was going to be a long day. A long day filled with the mental gymnastics he was going to have to pull to keep this secret under lock and key. A long day filled with stress brought by caring about Mike the way he did. A long day but a fun day because as Mike biked down a hill and whooped as the wind blew back his messy locks, Will couldn’t help but smile and cheer along with his best friend. Sure, once he biked back home, he’d probably think back on Mike’s soft nudges even though he wasn’t supposed to be giving special hints as DM, and equally soft smiles when Will got the hint and Dustin and Lucas playfully whined about Mike playing favorites, and when thinking about that Will would find himself face first in his pillow muffling his frustrated noises, but...it was worth it. His heart said that said the dream was attainable and Will wouldn’t let that fire die out.

Eventually, he’d be able to grab that same pillow, shove it in Mike’s face, and listen to Mike laugh before he pulled him in for a kiss.

#byler #byeler #mike wheeler #will byers #fluff #misc #drabble

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themarissaharrison · 4 years

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Never Alone | Discord

DISCORD THREAD #006

Who?: Marissa Harrison, Nicola Sloane @nicolaeisms When?: Sunday August 9th 2020 - Immediately after the ‘Always You’ Self Paragraph Where?: Delilah’s Apartment - Manhattan

Mentions: @cmlopezofficial | Cordelia Lopez (NPC) | Delilah Daniels (NPC) Triggers: death mentions, suicidal thoughts, suicide mentions

PLOT DEVELOPMENT?: YES. Marissa talks about the video from the SP, they discuss some other key parts of how they are feeling.

Nicola

i need you. nicola already knew that it was serious. it's been hours already since marissa left, and she should've been home by now. they were just getting things ready for their trip in pennsylvania where the vineyard was located, it has been a sitting offer for the bar owner for the past year ever since she started her research on distilleries, now realizing how this one would be better. this is also the first property she is going to share with her family. ever since that night at the parking lot, she had been trying to bury those thoughts in her head and instead focused on taking care of cleo and marissa. she was already dressed up for the day when she received the message from the gallery owner. she quickly said goodbye to cleo, telling her that she'll explain things later. her chauffeur wasn't there yet. she didn't have any choice but head to the garage and hopped in her lexus. she hasn't driven in a while ever since she returned to kingsboro, though she could remember it very well, still. she quickly drove to the location the younger brunette has sent her, followed by the security detail that was assigned to her. the fucking traffic isn't agreeing to her, which made the woman frustrated, she wanted to be there already, like she promised her. finally after making shortcuts around the city, she was finally there. this is some place nicola hasn't been to before, and she was greeted by a mess, everything around the place was a mess. she began looking for her. "riss?" she called out, slipping her hand inside her hoodie's pocket.

Marissa

She dropped her phone on the floor in front of her once she had finishing texting Nicola. She could barely breath, every time she gasped for breath she just cried harder. She felt so desperate, so alone, so frustrated that she was still here. It was selfish, and she knew that and it just made her feel worse. She hadn't wanted this to happen today, she had purposefully not touched a drop of alcohol since Friday night because she was trying avoid this breakdown. But, seeing what she just saw on the cameras, everything started flooding back in, all the pain that she had felt back then and obviously buried so deeply that she'd forgotten it all until now. By the time Nicola arrived, she hadn't calmed down much, her body was still shaking, she was still crying, still tucked into the corner of the room like she was hiding from a monster. She heard Nic call out, and she took as big a breath as she could. "I'm in here..." She called back, knowing Nic was the type of person who could easily just follow the sound of her broken voice.

Nicola

the moment she's heard marissa's voice, she rushed to the room where she heard it from, immediately falling down to her knee when she's seen her. she looked around the room, realizing that was somehow like a study, with a computer which looked like it just finished playing something, something that made marissa into this right now. she carefully draws the woman close to her arm while she takes her place on the floor, sitting down. she immediately rubs the woman's back in attempts to comfort her, kissing the side of her head. "i'm here, baby. i'm here...." she whispers, taking her hand with her own to hold, intertwining their fingers. she then lets it go and slips it under hear hoodie, knowing that it was one of those things that comforts her. nicola whispers "you have me, my love. you have us.....you're not alone. not anymore."

Marissa

Looking up as the door opened again, she saw Nicola and instantly she just burst into tears again. But, these weren't the same as before, they weren't tears of pain or anger or sorrow... She was just relieved... Relieved that she had asked, that she had needed someone and they came, that Nic came... That she wasn't alone. Riss grabbed hold of her the moment she dropped down beside her, the feeling of Nic's hand rubbing on her back bringing a level of comfort she had no idea was possible. I'm here. Two words she longed to hear, now given freely... How did she deserve anything of this? How did she deserve her? Cleo? When Nicola took her hand and slid it up her hoodie, and she could feel her skin on hers, she could feel her warmth... "I'm sorry..." She cried quietly as she pushed into the older woman. "I didn't-- didn't mean-- for this to happen..."

Nicola

nicola was aware of what day it is today, and she understood the pain behind it. it somehow reminded her of the day lauren died, it was supposed to be her last day as part of the force and finally leaving to spend the rest of their lives together, starting a business and just settling down at kingsboro. she takes a deep breath, she was about to space out once again. she had to remind herself that she should be focused on marissa right now. she shakes her head at her apologizing. "ma chère, no...no. there's nothing to be sorry about, okay?" she whispers, kissing the top of her head as she held her in her arms. "you're not alone....not anymore. i've got you, my love....i promise with my life."

Marissa

Riss knew that Nicola understood what she was going through. She understood what it was like to lose a loved one, even though there were such stark differences in how Delilah and Lauren passed away. Marissa was almost... Jealous of how Lauren died, of how Nicola was able to hold onto revenge, able to somehow get some closure, even if Jackson was still alive and it wasn't quite complete yet. With Delilah... She wasn't able to blame anyone. She wasn't able to get revenge, wasn't able to focus on anything other than the fact that she hadn't been enough to stop her from dying. All she was left with was a never ending list of questions. "I-- I just wanted... I just want t-to know why... I wasn't-- I'm not enough," she cried. "Why..."

Nicola

"hey...hey....baby..."nicola cups marissa's face to look at her in the eyes. "you are enough, more than enough. you're worth more than any amount of money or any expensive thing in the world." she plants loving kisses all over her face. "delilah....lauren.....hayden....they've brought us all together for a reason, to look after each other. they've made our paths cross together once more because they know we needed each other. they've brought cleo and cordelia in our lives.....because together, we're....we're stronger. even in the most painful times in our lives. delilah she.....she made sure that you're not alone, like lauren did. i just know.....that they're still looking over us."

Marissa

Marissa looked into Nicola's eyes as the other cupped her face and tried to reassure her of her doubts. She didn't feel like enough, not back then, not now. All she wanted was to be able to love Delilah... She didn't feel like that was too much to ask. Everything went wrong. Everything. She just-- she was just waiting for this to go wrong too. Marissa tried to believe what Nicola was saying, she tried to push that self doubt down. She tried to stop fucking crying. "I don't feel stronger," Marissa gasped a little air. "I don't feel like she's still here... She feels lost-- I-- I feel so lost... Nic..." She closed her eyes tightly, her head collapsing into Nicola's hands. "I don't even know who I am anymore..."

Nicola

"i know.....i know, baby....." nicola herself doesn't feel that much stronger as of late, she has been hurting and trying to shake off that night in her head. now isn't the time. she keeps on telling herself. all she needed to do right now is to be here for marissa and cleo, her girlfriends, just as she promised them. "we have those moments, my love.....where we--we feel lost, we don't feel the stronger version of ourselves. when we don't even feel like ourselves at all. but....don't ever forget that you have me and cleo now...you're not alone in this anymore....that you have me, cleo and cordelia. we go through this and we heal together. you are marissa harrison, and you may not believe it, but you are one of the strongest people i have ever met. you've been through so much, my love. but you're still here, and you've just gotten stronger."

Marissa

Marissa curled up into her arms, her hand gripping onto Nic's side and her other one holding onto the fabric at the bottom of her shirt. She listened, or at least, she tried to listen... She could only really pick out little things of what she was saying, her own head running at a thousand miles and hour, the sounds of her own yelling from the recording playing over and over again. You are Marissa Harrison. That name used to carry a lot more weight than it did now. "I-- I don't... think I am..." She said quietly. "I couldn't-- I didn't even remember doing this... Last year-- I-- I don't remember coming here... I'm scared..."

Nicola

she knew that look on marissa's face, she knew her mind was somewhere else, even though she was trying her hardest to be where she is right now. it broke nicola's heart to finer pieces, seeing her like this. "it's okay to be scared sometimes, my love.....but you're not alone anymore.....whatever you need right now, cleo and i are here to support you." she kisses her forehead, letting her lips linger there for a while. it all makes sense now, the mess of a place she's arrived to, the video that looks like what the gallery owner was talking about. "i've got you, baby....you have me and cleo.....whatever you need...."

Marissa

You're not alone. Nicola kept saying that, and every time she said it, Riss could hear it a little more. This was the first year where that was really true... Before, sure, she had had Laurel around, Megan-- Aaron... But, this was different. Nic understood. Cleo's embrace actually helped. But, right now, after watching that, after being so starkly reminded of how sick she had become... There's just this one thing that keeps running riot in her brain. "It should have been me... It-- it would have been so much easier if it... if it was me..." If she had gone first, would Delilah have imploded like she did? If she had gone first, would Delilah finally feel free in life? Would she have stayed alive? For her sister? Marissa didn't have any family, at least not back then... None that would have missed her. If she had gone first... It's all she can think about.

Nicola

"marissa.....no....no....sshhh...." she shuts her eyes for a moment, taking a couple of deep breaths, not letting the thought of the younger woman dying stay in mind. nicola could already feel a part of her die just by the thought of it. she shouldn't think about it now, she's got to be here for the other, make sure she knows that she's not alone with this anymore, that she's got her family with her in every step of the way. "marissa....delilah.....delilah, lauren and hayden brought us together for a reason. you know i used to not believe in it, but this isn't just some coincidence. i believe this isn't just something that randomly happened. they....they knew that we need each other, you, me and cleo. we're all still here for a reason." she knew it's not just the other that she was convincing, but also herself. "they would've hated it if we both threw our lives away. we still have....we still have so much to do. and we...we have cleo and cordelia now. i know those three up there did this. we have to....we have to continue living....not just for them, but also for our family. we're not alone anymore, my love."

Marissa

"I'm-- sorry--" She breathed out through the tears. Marissa couldn't say anything else, she couldn't find any other words, she didn't want to hurt Nicola by saying the things that went around her head out loud. About how she was scared of herself, how she hated herself, hated what she had become. How she had no idea how either of them could possibly love her, especially now-- after seeing the destruction that laid in her wake. How she still, in the late hours of most nights, thought about following Delilah down that rabbit hole. Instead, she just clung to Nicola, she tried to believe what she was saying, tried to make it replay in her mind to drown everything else out. She withdrew into herself, becoming quiet, just holding onto Nicola.

Nicola

"you have nothing to be sorry about, my love. i'm here....you can tell me and cleo anything....you have us now." nicola didn't care if she sounded like a broken record, but if she had to do this, to remind marissa that she isn't alone anymore, that she's got her and cleo until the end of the universe's existence, she will. she would do anything for them, for the people who saved her from such misery, who brought life back in her life when it was unwillingly taken away from her. she reaches for her hand the was underneath her hoodie and slides it up even further just beneath where her heart is placed. there's still a lot of work to do between the three of them, to live past the pain, but she's willing to risk it all for her family. "i got you....my love....you're not alone anymore.....i won't--i'm not going anywhere...." she whispers, burrowing her face into her hair and taking in her scent.

Marissa

Marissa went quiet for a long while, just staying in Nicola's arms, focusing on feeling her heartbeat. Listening to her breathing, feeling her heart beating, eventually... She calmed down, she stopped crying. A wave of numbness came over her, just for a short time and then she just felt... Tired... Empty. Her sigh broke the silence that had drawn in on them, she swallowed thickly and sniffed up a little. "Can we go home?" She barely whispered.

Nicola

the older woman lingers in the quiet for some time while she continue to hold the other, just playing with her hair. nicola knows they need a long time to rest, because there's going to be a lot to work on between the three of them while they stay at the vineyard. they're all exhausted, and they need to be away from the city for a while. she snapped out of her thoughts when marissa spoke. "of course, my love. let's go home."

#discord #c; nic #c; cleo #never alone

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thebibliomancer · 4 years

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Dark Crystal Age of Resistance Tactics liveblog pt 15

As loath as I am to admit it, I probably need to do some encounter leveling. Looking ahead, the Stonewood unite the clan missions are for level 37. I don't even have anyone level 30 yet!

I'm slightly agitated because up until this point the game has been decent at keeping the level progression tied to the difficulty curve. I hadn't needed to grind a lot. But there's a sudden spike in difficulty at this part of the game. Which I suppose is fair in one sense since this is endgame but on the other hand, boo.

Gobbles: Hup and Boggi leveled. Kylan learned Blinding Light. Naia learned Cleave 2.

Swamp: Rian learned Aughra's Ire, Kylan UNLOCKED SONG TELLER! Gurjin and Boggi leveled. And Hup learned Bad Broth which lets you detonate a cauldron.

Back to the tavern, oh god: Actually I executed this one flawlessly and killed all the enemies before they ever had a chance to attack. I don't love having to grind but I do love feeling how far I've come. Anyway, Naia, Rian, Brea, and Boggi all leveled but didn't learn anything. But I did find Shimmering Scale and a Sharpened Dirk.

Place where Chamberlain abandoned his car: Gurjin leveled, Deet leveled and learned Overthink 2, Rek'yr leveled and learned Opening Act, Hup leveled and unlocked Musician. TIME FOR A CAREER CHANGE.

I'm giving Hup a Custom Bass. He deserves it.

Place where Chamberlain abandoned his car, again: Rian leveled and learned Thorns. Naia leveled. Found a Heavy Cleaver, by the side of the road. Weird what people leave laying around.

Cave: I love when my entire party is beserked so I get to watch the game play itself. Its the best. But Wukki leveled. Rek'yr leveled and learned Spot Weakness. Brea leveled and learned Firemoss Bundle 2. And Kylan leveled and learned Scathe.

Swamp: Hup died. Boggi leveled. Naia leveled and learned Smite 2. Gurjin leveled and learned Tangle Up 2. And I found a spoon. Naia and Gurjin also hit max lvl in Paladin and Stone Warden respectively so I'm switching them to Soldier and Paladin respectively so they can learn more stuff.

Desert: Hup leveled and learned Perform, which I should hope so since he's a musician. But its a self cast ability that makes adjacent allies take their turns faster. Deet and Kylan leveled. Found a Student Thesis, just abandoned in the desert. Isn't it sad?

Bar again: Rian leveled and learned Cascade AND CAN BECOME A STRATEGIST NOW! Ivo leveled and learned Fleet Shot 2. Wukki leveled.

Bar again again: Rek'yr leveled and learned Poisoned Blades. And got Arathim Shell Plating! This is going right on Rian!

Swamp again: Geeze, I hate Threaders. Anyway. Boggi, Brea, and Hup leveled. Deet leveled and learned Earthen Roots 2.

Desert: Kylan leveled and learned Thrum of Power, which is an awesome name for a move. It heals and grants haste for one turn.

Road to Ha'rar area: Oh fun another encounter where my whole party gets beserked so I get to watch the game play itself. Why not, not being interactive sure saves me some time. Wow, look at it go. Hooray, I won. Naia, Gurjin, and Breg leveled. And I found a Warforged Battleaxe.

A different swamp: Alyadon leveled and learned Convalesce 2. Nobody else leveled. I think I'm getting to the point where this level of encounter is becoming less cost effective. This is leaving poor Rian the only member of the party who isn't level 30. Isn't it embarrassing, Rian? Also I found a Custom Bass just sunk into the swamp.

That road to Ha'rar place again: Ivo and Wukki leveled. Rian leveled and learned Flow of Battle. Also I found an Exquisite Poignard.

And that gets everyone at least level 30. Hopefully that'll do for now the next stretch of the game.

---

Mission: Podling Rush - Spriton Village

"A Spriton village is in trouble. Something has driven the neighboring Podlings mad! Help hold off their attacks."

Finally back to this! Where hopefully the podlings aren't revolting for their right to be dirty!

Oh, looks like I have some friendly Spriton villagers on this map.

... Oh. Oh, shit! Darkened Podlings! This possible global warming allegory has gotten serious!

Party: Hup because he is a Podling, Brea and Boggi because heals, Rek'yr because he was there, and Deet because this is her subplot. The Darkening, I mean.

Rek'yr: "This village is in terrible shape. What happened here?"

Spriton Villagers: "The Podlings are back! Run!"

... THE NPCS JUST RAN AWAY! Were they on the map just to ditch me? Rude!

Rek'yr: "Why are the villagers so afraid of a few Podlings?"

You've been in a party with Hup for so long and you can still ask that?

Rek'yr: "Wait... Somethign isn't right with them. We have to defend this village!"

Only three podlings on the map. I FEEL as if that will change.

Geez, these Podlings pack a wallop. One of them walloped half of Brea's health off with one wallop.

Deet has avenged her with a good book. That shoots death.

Rek'yr and Hup team up to knock down another one of the Darkened Podlings and whoops, that was the event trigger for more spawn-ins. And they brought darkened armaligs! Hate those guys! They're way too beefy!

Theres three new podlings and two armaligs. Grumble grumble.

-peer up at the top right- Why does that mission objective box say "Defeat the Podling Raids 1/3"? Are there going to be three waves of this?

Two of the podlings that spawned in for the second wave don't have ranged attacks so whenever they get close I just have Deet use Gust 2 to blow them further away. And Rek'yr is situated on a raised area potshotting them with bolas. I almost feel bad.

Hup lays out another podling with his instrument because that podling kept hitting Hup's good pal Brea.

ARMALIG ATTACKED MY DOGGO and the other armalig attacked my Brea. RUDE.

Brea avenges herself on the armalig with FIRE

Annnnd oops, triggered the third wave. Four more podlings, two more armaligs from the left and bottom of the map.

Note to podling potion master: Just because you silence Deet doesn't mean she can't use her rad spellbook to explode you. Sincerely, me.

Alas Hup. You were my first casualty. RIP you brave Podling.

The result of the three waves of enemies around about roughly my level is that I'm running out of MP on my peeps. But I did win with only poor, brave Hup falling (unconscious) for the cause.

Rian: "What would cause Podlings to go berserk like that?"

Brea: "We need to investigate the Podling village."

We'll probably find a lot of pissed off podlings. Although, hey, they made a bunch of podling assets for Hup so might as well find a way to use them, right? Good thinking, game!

So Boggi and Deet leveled. Brea leveled and learned Soothe 2. Rek'yr leveled and learned Death's Instinct, which is just an amazing name for an ability. And Hup learned Ad-Lib.

Also, I haven't talked about pearl rewards for a while but they have been increasing as the game went on. I got 4000 thousand some for this mission. Nice.

---

Mission: Interrupted Journey - The Long Road

"Your party journeys to the Podling village and meets an unexpected ally."

Ooo! Another new character for the game? I'm quite interested.

Iiiiiits.... POMBO! He's a Podling Musician. I'm filled with sudden dread that he's going to fill the last slot in my party instead of Tavra or Seladon. Which. I guess I'd be okay with. I don't know what I could do with Tavra or Seladon at this point. It'd be cool to have them but I've got a lot of Gelflings doing various things. Naia is a bombass paladin, Tavra would just have to play catch-up. And I got two fizzgigs so why not two Podlings?

Anyway, there's more Darkened Podlings to contend with.

Party: Gurjin, Naia, Breg, Kylan. Team Naia's Posse and Breg.

Pombo: "Gelflin tonpee apida. Bo nai! BAD WATER!"

Gurjin: "That Podling is asking for our help. What do you mean by, 'bad water?'"

Pombo: "Tonpo Gelfli-da, pyata Gelflin dzuchocho apyama-da!"

Gurjin: "Pombo says he will help us if we promise to save his village."

Don't have to ask me twice.

Rian: "Pombo is a Podling Musician. If we support him with Positive Status Effects, his music can change the tide of battle!"

I don't... remember if I have any positive status effect abilities equipped to my guys?

Oh cool, he's not controlled by me. He's just doing his thing. And he did

ULTIMATE SOLO! -thrashes on lute-

Which hurts every enemy and heals every ally. Nice.

Luckily, Kylan is a Song-Teller and is very motivating.

Having watched ULTIMATE SOLO a couple times. The animation for it is delightful.

Alas, Breg and Naia killed by Darkened Podlings.

I just noticed, right after a Podling hit him with an attack that took off half his health, that a win condition is that Pombo can't die. Whoops.

But good ol' Kylan Scathe'd the last Darkened Podling.

Rian: "Pombo, what is happening? Why are the Podlings attacking?"

Pombo: "Skeksisa lolemilod nai-da. Yotsa uchapapodche ada shopo-pida dze ulendzi Gelflin-da ya!"

Hmm, I'm not sure if Pombo is going to join the party if he doesn't speak... Gelflish? Its going to be hard for him to get random lines to remind us that he's still in the party.

Rian: "The Skeksis poisoned your water? This sounds like one of the Scientist's schemes!"

He rarely has schemes really. He mostly has other people yelling at him until he does stuff.

Don't know how I feel about the Scientist actively darkening podlings instead of the Skeksis just not giving a shit.

HOLY SHIT I DID JUST UNLOCK POMBO

MY LAST PARTY MEMBER IS POMBO I CANNOT BELIEVE

Anyway, everyone level up! Everyone learn a thing!

Kylan learned Enchanting Tune (stuns enemy at two paces)! Naia learned Sharpen Blade 2 (attack up and crit chance up), nice! Gurjin learned Edged Slice (high damage and recoil) and Vindicate (defense down on enemy on crit) because he leveled twice! So did Kylan, actually. Breg learned Daring Strike 2! Which I probably won't use! Its so much setup!

Oops Breg has hit the end of the thief tree. Guess I'm switching him over to Tracker!

Hm, now that I have Pombo who has just so many levels in Musician and Potion Master already, I think I'm going to switch Hup back away from Musician. Don't need two musicians but I am missing out on some high level abilities in other jobs.

WHY HECK HUP I GUESS YOU CAN BE A PALADIN AFTER ALL! Its a feel good character arc for him. He gets to live his dream after all.

AND I'M BUYING HIM A GRAND LADLE!

---

Mission: Dark Poison - Podling Hollow

"The heroes reach the Podling village. They must stop The Scientist's wicked experiment and save the Podlings."

Holy crap, do I get to beat up the Scientist? Heck ye!

... I don't see him on the map. Alas.

Party: Alyadon, Rian the smart hero guy, Ivo the guy, Brea, and Wukki!

Lets finish off the Spriton missions!

I'VE BEEN TRICKED! THE SCIENTIST SPAWNS IN AS SOON AS THE LEVEL STARTS! I GET TO BEAT UP THE SCIENTIST!

The Scientist: "Cursed Podlings! The latest formula increases aggression, but the effects are too temporary. I'll never create a new army at this rate!"

I can imagine the movie Scientist's voice saying this.

But ah ha! I understand how it fits in now! The spiders betrayed the Skeksis, probably, so this is Scientist's first attempt. An army of angry Podlings. Good try, SkekTek.

Ok so the Scientist is the weeniest of Skeksis according to letting the Ornamentalist fight in battle but not Scientist. So he only has 1500 HP compared to the General who had 2000.

He's also got a cool electricity glowy steampunk esque spear. Pretty neat.

He's got Scalpel Slice which is what his attack is called. He's got Explosive Cask, where he throws an explosive cask. He's got Salt the Earth where he poisons an area. WITH A RANGE OF 8?? GOD! And he's got Chain Lightning which chains lightning to two additional targets.

This is going to hurt.

All we have to do is defeat the Scientist. This is going to hurt.

This is hurting. I'm getting my asses kicked. But I hit Scientist twice and he ran off to the other side of the stage to unleash his latest invention.

Lightning Aura - increases his magic, magic defense and defense by 100%. Rude.

aww he shot lightning at the doggo...

Welp. Everyone dead except Brea and Alyadon...

On the plus side, I've almost killed all of the minions. On the negative side, everyone dead except Alyadon.

On the other negative side, Scientist just killed Alyadon.

On the other other negative side, Salt the Earth really does Salt the Earth. The poison lingers forever.

---

TIME FOR SOME LEVELING HA HA dangit.

That place with the car: Another one of those where everyone gets taunted so the game plays itself =\

Alyadon and Wukki didn't level because they died. Ivo leveled and learned nothing. Rian leveled and learned Unfailing Blow (100% hit chance attack, its going right on Rian).

The Gobbles: Brea, Boggi, Hup, Alyadon, and Wukki leveled and didn't learn a darn thing!

That tavern again!: Naia, Breg, and Deet leveled! Alyadon leveled and learned Thorns! I found some random Fang-Studded Armor!

That road to Ha'rar place: Rian, Brea, Wukki levelled and learned nothing! Found a random Sharpened Longsword!

Sinking Isle: It occurs to me that although the tides mechanic is interesting and anxiety inducing, it can also lead to a boring level if, for instance, the enemies are localized to one side of the map so most of the level is spent moving around the map not fighting anyone because the level has some chokepoints.

Boggi leveled. Hup leveled and learned Thwack! 2! Ivo leveled and learned Eye Shot 2!

Desert: Something else I've noticed is that encounter levels have the same level elements that they did in the story mode. Including the glowy exit square. They don't do anything. They just obviously didn't make a version of the level without it.

Deet leveled and learned Life Exchange 2 (can use Life Exchange on enemies)! And has learned all the things in Adept! Rek'yr leveled and learned Finish the Job (100% crit chance against non-boss enemy with less than 30% health)!

Citadel balcony: another one where everyone was beserked so the level played itself. Ho hum.

Naia leveled. Breg leveled and learned Aimed Shot. Gurjin leveled and learned Flurry of Steel. Kylan leveled and learned Stick and Stones (deal damage and inflict wounded may break your bones).

Hidden Grotto: Only Ivo leveled. BUT I found a Master's Opus. Its a magic book.

Drifting Dunes: Rek'yr, Pombo and Wukki level! Rian levels and learns Inspiring Presence (adjacent allies get critical chance up)! Alyadon levels and learns Cascade!

Sinking Isle again: Deet drowned =(

Boggi leveled. Gurjin leveled and learned Retribution.

Swamp: Deet leveled and learned nothing. Brea leveled and learned Awaken 2. Naia leveled and learned Bash 2.

And now that I've got a few levels under my belt, back to the mission.

Mission: Dark Poison - Podling Hollow

"The heroes reach the Podling village. They must stop The Scientist's wicked experiment and save the Podlings."

Bought a bunch of Nebrie Milk to make me immune to poison. That's just strategery that is.

No but seriously. Most of what Scientist does is lob poison. All of my party is either equipped with Nebrie Milk or Drenchen. Hopefully, I've hit this challenge in the knee.

And dang with Smite 2, Naia did six hundred damage! That's a third of his hpees!

But blah blah blah lightning aura and chain lightning time. It hurts. A lot. BUT: he can't target you from a distance if you're in the tall grass, with the velociraptors.

And boom, Scientist ass kicked. Mostly by Rek'yr who goes so often.

The Scientist: "This experiment is a complete failure! I must return to the Castle."

Rian: "The Scientist is dealt with, but what about the poor Podlings?"

Pombo: "A hup milasazabo pyata uchaahipu apyama-da!"

Deet: "A song? To put them all to sleep?"

... So. Are we just going to put the problem to sleep and hope it sorts itself out?

Gurjin leveled and learned Smite. Naia, Brea, and Boggi leveled. Rek'yr leveled and learned Silent Lunge (jump to an empty tile, Get Attack Up, rooted, and silence to self, does not end turn. So I guess you can jump somewhere and then attack? Worth a look)!

I also pick up the Leaf-Bladed Chopper, the Spriton Clan Axe! And the Scientist's Manual!

Oh, there's a cutscene of the zombie/darkened podlings surrounding our party on a hill and then Pombo does his music and puts them all to sleep.

Deet: "Tomorrow this will all seem a distant dream"

BUT HOW

Wait wait wait, shit. Scientist as much as said it. The formula is temporary so if we put them all to sleep they’ll wake up restored. You win this round, game writing.

The Leaf-Bladed Chopper has a higher attack bonus than the General's Hand Axe but the General's Axe has more assorted stat gains to defense, magic defense, and HP. So I'm sticking with that.

Scientist's Manual is a spellbook. It does even more damage than the Master's Opus so this is going right on Deet.

#dark crystal #the dark crystal #dark crystal age of resistance #dark crystal age of resistance tactics #THE GAME #liveblog #i have to level grind twice in the same session #what is happening to the difficulty curve?

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nemossubmarine · 4 years

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7, 22, 37, 41, 45, 46! :D

7. How do you go about making a character or NPC?Well, I have only made 2 characters for longer games. Here’s how Cahair came to be: “Okay we have a dwarf, a human and two mages, we need an elf” - “I can be a Dalish elf.” - “Ok, cool.”

Enna, my ADnD character, is me taking parts of the life story and music of one of my favorite artists, Patti Smith, and combining it with the pun of being a literal blacksmith (becoming one through marriage). :D (she would have been a bard had we not played ADnD, which is a mess of a system, so I went with Fighter, because she is a former soldier)

As for NPCs, I just usually toss anything in that the plot requires and don’t think too much about them (it’s like, ok I need someone who would know this information, who could that be and where could they be found), and if they become heavily plot involved or if PCs happen to like someone I might do a bit more work in establishing them. (this doesn’t take into account some W&G NPCs who had already existed for a while)

22. Write a brief scene centered around one of your characters!(I hope this scene including our favorite(?) AdMech brothers is enjoyable!)

Afactory riot in sector 7B, six instigators apprehended, and a snapjudgment; last chance to serve the Imperium, for as long as theirbodies would last. Nothing too unusual if one happened to be thetech-priest in charge of making servitors on Triplex Phall. Z47r’sservo skull read the report out loud to him as he made his way tomeet his new prisoners. The voice of the servo skull droned on,listing names of the prisoners; Maxima Salamanca, age 35, factoryworker, one count of murder, one count of destruction of property,one count of civil disobedience, punishment servitude; Agda Maris,age 40, factory worker, one count of murder, one count… Thewords reached his ears, but he hardly paid them any mind. Until afamiliar name caught his ear.

Hestopped, and turned towards the servo-skull, ”Go back fifteenseconds,” he ordered.

Theservo-skull didn’t skip a beat going back; …count of civil disobedience, punishment; servitude.Vivek Baak, age 40, unknown occupation, thirteen counts of arson,seven counts of burglary, six counts of vandalism, one count of civil disobedience, punishment; servitude. The servo-skull came to theend of its report, leaving the tech-priest alone with the silence.

Hedidn’t stay in it for long, squaring his shoulders and entering theroom where the six prisoners were watched over by his skitarii, in arow on their knees, their hands cuffed behind their backs. At the endof the row was a black-haired man, and it could be no one else. Z47rwalked in front of the row, inspecting the prisoners.

Whenhe came upon the black-haired man, the man looked up and spoke:

”Heybrother, almost didn’t recognize you there.”

Z47ralmost replied, with ”neither did I”, but held his tongue. Howlong had it been? Over 15 years. Vivek looked like shit, dressed in a dirtyleather jacket over old factory overalls, so full of burnmarks andstains of grime and machine oil that one could not be sure what color they had been onceupon a time. The hair and ear on the left side of his face had beenburned. There was fresh blood clotting on the wound on his temple,and he was sporting a black eye so bad he could barely see throughit. He was grinning up at Z47r, like no time had passed between them,like nothing had passed between them.

Z47rsaid nothing. He was about to turn away, when Vivek suddenly spokeagain:

”Momand dad have died, y’know,” he said quietly. His gaze didn’tfalter as he searched for a reaction in Z47r’s eyes. Z47r liftedhis gaze and motioned towards his skitarii.

”I’lltake this one first,” he said. The skitarii grabbed Vivek by theelbows and lifted him to his unsteady feet. They began to drag himaway, towards the surgery.

37. What is the most recent PC or NPC you’ve created?Well, if by created you mean rolled some names, then it would be the Ultramarine Chaplain and Apothecary from last session of W&G. The NPC I’ve spent some actual time on most recently has been Vivek’s brother (as evidenced above).

41. Give an out of context quote from one of your games!I don’t keep a lot of straight up quotes at hand (maybe I should), since I have to take notes and that doesn’t really lend into looking for exact quotes. But here’s one I found in my notebook from Dragon Age game:NPC: En ole turhaan saanut lempinimeä [Nukkemestari]Humbert: Oot leikkinyt nukeilla pitkään.

45. What is the longest session you’ve ever had?I’m pretty sure it was the finale of my DnD 5e campaign I ran in 2017, which lasted 6 hours.

46. What is the longest battle you’ve fought or run?Probably either the battle with Knut on W&G (that was the whole session, which would make it approx 2½ hours) or the Tevene Festival of Hunt mini-game in DA which was a mix of a combat and a board game so it might not count, or the last session of DA (that was also approx 2½ hours). If I have a decent idea and everything set up, I don’t mind running big battles. Would prefer to do them live since maps are such a hassle in Roll20, but what can ya do.

#nemo replies #xxyumeganxx #some not-too spoilery w&g fiction #wag rp

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cruddyborderlandstheories · 5 years

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athenas or the new ign videos... hmmm

im gonna go for the ign videos (moze gameplay and sanctuary-iii, no guns yet, i have a reason for that) because athenas hasn’t gotten its sweet instagram video yet. once that’s released i’ll do a full post on it. by the time i got around to finishing this post, they had released the video. oh boy... gonna do the gun post then the athenas post, i think. alright, off we go.

tl;dr: we read the entire end user agreement DAHL thrusts upon us for using the ECHO device, talk about some stuff like how (spoilers) it seems like Lilith will be getting her powers back at the end of the game, and a voice line Lily says that sounds like “Tyreen took my powers. it’s like Tannis said: [inaudible] Siren” (altho im not 100% sure on the [inaudible] part because 1) it sounds weird and 2) there’s a drum beat and also the devs are talking over her, the Siren part seems fairly accurate because of the way her mouth moves). so you know. im gonna be agonizing over that until i can hear what she says. ive already spent an hour just repeating it over and over. i nearly fell asleep lol

we’re gonna start with the moze gameplay (the first 14 minutes of bl3) because chronologically it’s first in both timeline and release date

i love the license plates on the right there

also it looks like they added in claptrap’s old welcome sign from windshear waste! time to stand in front of it for 30 minutes to see if any messages pop up like bl2

fast travel station as well, definitely going to see if/where i can teleport and going there immediately. i imagine this is more for DLC stuff and grinding tho.

also! i do believe we saw Covenant Pass previously. good to know this is actually where it is!

Marcus saying “And Welcome to Pandora!” in the beginning confirms that, yes, they’re going to be on a bus!! i wonder if there will be a fight scene before that though. it’s interesting Clappy mentions that “those jerks who tried to murder you are the children of the vault!” so i mean... there’s gotta be... right?

im also convinced this intro is going to be a mirror of Borderlands 1. i stg if it starts out with the first few notes of Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked and then swaps songs I’m going to lose my mind

also also, the order is totally going to mimic the bl1 one. Fl4k = Mordecai, Amara = Lilith, Moze = Roland, Zane = Brick. We even have Lilith taking Angel’s spot as the mysterious voice in our heads, and probably Marcus driving, AND being dropped off at a bus stop.

bet the reason they changed it from ‘Moze as the Bot Jock’ to ‘Moze as the Gunner’ is because it fits under ‘Roland as the Soldier’ better. Also, ‘Zane Flynt as Himselfs’ would be a play off ‘Brick as Himself’. Amara as the Siren is obvious, and ‘Mordecai as the Hunter’ vs ‘Fl4k as the Beastmaster’ is pretty similar as well, given Fl4k has all those Hunter skills.

the 4 basic emotes im guessing. im so glad we have the option to boop our friends in the face with emotes.

also moze’s little bunny skin is adorable

the ECHOnet used to be called “Riftspace”, “the Spline”, and... “MercTel: A Cyber-Dahl Joint” lmfao

specifically calls out Pandora. also, “artificial megastructures”??? THAT’S SO COOL

AND FUCKING

SENTIENT MEGASTRUCTURES????

gearbox. please. i have never ever wanted anything more in my life. please. it’s probably my birthday. PLEASE GEARBOX

also interesting that the user agreement specifically notes ‘Respawns’. I assume this is a joke because New-U stations have been confirmed not canon

“Core law”. Core law? Core... daddy? ... ????

core as in like a core government somewhere that’s not the border worlds? that’s interesting...

“The Legion”, okay, acknowledging TPS, that’s dope

“Project Blackrakk” ... im interested

“Thresher Company” lmao

im curious if Axton was apart of any of the mentioned ones. i don’t think it’s been stated, but i could be wrong

“Chieftain Oort”. also ‘Recently Legless Gary’, lmfao poor dude.

oh yeah im sure this is fine. also holy shit did they google the synonyms for ‘change’ and just start listing them? lmfao

“implicit subscription to the Digby Vermouth ‘Dig’s Gigs’ secret concert subscription service”

sorry, what?

if this doesn’t come up again in the future- if we don’t get a spam letter or 3 in our mailbox about this concert subscription thing i'm gonna be so disappointed

Dahl hates you if you’re not a fan of hyper-jazz, “you snob” lmfao

my brain hurts, they’re good at writing these

damn phones exist? i thought everything was ECHO. aight, that’s good to know. i guess there just aren’t any phone networks around the border worlds

also “shared dreamspaces” sound really cool

hm. that’s no good lmfao. also i love that the buttons are ‘Agree’ and ‘OK’. there is no escape, once you agree, you can’t even leave because you’re agreeing that you’re trapped with these rules even if you cancel.

that’s fucked up, DAHL. can’t believe you treat your user base the same way you treat your employees. i guess i shouldn’t be surprised.

anyway, shoutout to literally the only TOA I’ve ever fully read in my life.

also, clicking through this TOA too fast WILL end claptrap’s voice line early. so be careful if you want to hear what he has to say!!

oh shit lmao I gotta go edit that Fl4k post

ok im back ~time magic of being able to save things in drafts and post them at a later date~

sliding preserves momentum, so you can actually slide (nearly) the entire way down! i love this.

small, but claptrap bends his antennae when trying to be stealthy. i thought that was a pretty cool detail

“and some guns include an alternate shooting mode~! try it out!”

player: `immediately shoots claptrap in the face`

i died lol

a very nice look at this sign.

good to know that the twins really are tempting people to join with promises of food. i mean it makes sense, i imagine most of the cultists are desperate for stability and a reasonable life on pandora.

also, Shiv calls himself “holy influencer of the children of the vault” lol. i love that. gearbox really is going for the internet’s throat, isn’t it?

i do like that hovering over an NPC will give you their name only and not name/healthbar.

a better look at one of the signs referencing the Mother!!! i was waiting for this, the only real look we got at one was in that one scene with Moze and IB

“Behold the Mother strength surrender to the truth”

yeah that’s not ominous...

i assume the mother and father are intended to be tyreen and troy? but idk how i feel about that implication...

i like the new little gear/spring effect for the magnet lol

new lilith! i know a lot of people don’t like it, but i do. she looks better than the bl2 vers. altho i think it’s weird they swapped both bl1 and bl2′s ‘AI’ effect to those dots and then didn’t bring it to BL3. the dots effect felt cleaner. curious why they’re not applying it to bl3 when they went thru all that effort in 1 and 2.

... back up please.

i like that there is a changing icon for long pressing now

“time to check out our slay of the day!” sounds like Tyreen but tbh i legit thought this was moze’s reaction to opening the chest at first lol

you can hear someone start screaming in agony while she’s walking up the stairs, so i know it’s not moze, but im so used to the VHs talking when they see a new piece of loot my brain just assumed.

also THE MUSIC IN THE BACKGROUND IS A REMIX OF BANDIT SLAUGHTER!!! IM SO HAPPY ABOUT THIS I WAS FREAKING OUT THE FIRST TIME I HEARD IT

also, claptrap when dropping health yells “this could save your life! then, you’ll owe me a life debt!” bullshit im pretty sure you already decided we owed you a life debt the moment we stepped off that bus

“i see it... the great vault” - a line from a cultist you kill

i know i mentioned in this post that the Great Vault may be already opened, but it could also just be a Vault they’re planning on opening and using the propaganda to convince the cultists to help them find it.

“if you help us get this vault open, you’ll be handsomely rewarded! you’ll get superpowers! you’ll get regular meals! you’ll get money and guns and dates!” you know, the usual stuff.

either way, elevating the Vault to a higher state (god/heaven/whatever) makes sense if you’re running a cult.

btw there is a hidden chest in the scaffolding to the left of the door, if you’re interested in grabbing some better guns before shiv. personally, i’ll be using the toy guns.

also the TVs are actually playing propaganda now!!

this one is asking questions that i cant understand due to the sound effects of the chest and claptrap talking, but it says something about “... the dust? ... join the Children of the Vault!”

“hey shiiiiiv all your dumb friends are dead!!”

shiv be like

“all my friends are dead”

some cool level-up art! I notice these are the same pictures as used on the japanese site. i wonder if they change depending on which VH you’ve picked (If you’re playing Amara/Fl4k, do you get pics of Amara and Fl4k? the player is playing moze, afterall).

also also “it’s a KIA on the knife wielding maniac. suuuper dead.”

it’s cool that the VHs have specific lines for the deaths of bosses. i hope that continues and it’s not just a ‘15 min of intro gameplay’ thing. you know, where everything is super detailed in the beginning and then slowly gets less and less as the game progresses? anyway, moze’s little chuckle is fuckin adorable lol

ah. the door closes now so you can’t even explore Shiv’s room before Lilith shows up. gearbox plS you know me too well, i was looking for a g l i m p s e

claptrap’s voice line for getting released is SUPER off time, he hits the ground before going “you did it! i’m sa-ahhhhhhhh!” it’s weird, wondering if that’s just a glitch.

also also we get a nice listen to the revive ally sound. i could’ve sworn it wasn’t in the first look at this mission we got, because i heard it for the first time during the coop Zane/Amara gameplay on Promethea. i might be wrong, tho.

im very curious what these symbols are claptrap is beaming up

i mean you know what im gonna say

they look eridian

and they do

so wtf clappy why u beaming up eridian letters to Lilith

i assume maybe Tannis gave clappy some weird upgrade or something so he could communicate with the crimson raiders without the CoV listening in? it could be that Tannis or someone is decoding this message since Tannis does know how to translate Eridian (as shown in her bl1 ECHOs)

... or at the very least she gave Lilith a translator

the darkening makes it so that you can see the crackening. also this COULD just be a beam that lilith can see from wherever she is, but i want to believe there’s more eridian stuff. bc eridian stuff is fun.

this is so fu cking crisp im dying i love it

lilith’s tattoos spreading down her fingers

same symbol as her chest tattoo. maybe the symbol denotes new powers? like how lily has one on her chest for phasewalking, and a new one on her hand for teleportation

i love how her wings look like actual fire. i fucking love this

lilith is looking so fucking good in the new engine

im glad they got rid of her super red eyes, tbh it looked a bit weird

i think they are really pushing her fire affinity, im sure we’ll see Maya has an elemental affinity as well (im calling corrosive) and im sure Tyreen will too (slag). Amara looks to be Shock because that’s her ‘default’, but who knows until (if) bl4 comes out. but corrosive wings on maya would look SOOO fucking cool. please. please please please.

god she looks so good compared to bl2. i love how the tattoos softly glow in the dark, too. i gotta play this mission late in the day...

“you’re... the voice in my head, right?” i love this so much, i really hope my shitpost comes true.

lilith gives you a grenade mod for completing her mission! im really glad they are PUSHING through the tutorial/intro so you can get right into the game. bl2′s ‘intro’ of all these tutorials was brutal. especially waiting to unlock your action skill.

in 3 you get your action skill automatically at level 2!!! which is insane, i love it! they’re jumping right into it, it’s great. and they seem to be pushing for you to get all the stuff you need right away.

it’s curious to note that in bl3 we get our class mods at the end of the Promethea demo (after Gigamind), since in bl2 you get your first (usually?) after the hunting the firehawk mission and both seem to take place immediately after we get to the ‘base of operations’ of the game (Sanctuary vs Sanctuary-III).

yep that quest is 100% in line with the quest marker.

i imagine From the Ground Up may be discovering where the Vault Map/Key actually is? maybe bringing people to the Recruitment Center (notably Tannis)

for this scene. i hope this takes place after the HBC, because i seriously... can’t imagine the twins showing up, taking the Vault Map, bringing it to the HBC, and then NOT taking Lilith’s powers/trying to kill Lily and accidentally taking her powers. it just doesn’t make sense, Vault Hunters be damned, we are level 2 they could melt us easy peasy.

If anything, it feels like we COULD find the Vault Map in the Recruitment Center, Tannis tries to activate it/fix it, we find out it’s mega broke, and then the Sun Smashers show up and take it. but i seriously can’t imagine Lilith nor the new VHs allowing that to happen while they’re still there. maybe if Tannis sends us to do something while Lilith is gathering other CR members? then it could make sense if they attack while Tannis is alone with the Key...

we end up finding something in Shiv’s room that shows/helps us realize the Sun Smashers bringing the Vault Map to the Calypsos. tho this would mean the quest From the Ground Up is SUPER short and I imagine it’s not. Maybe we raid a camp of theirs like the one in front of Sanc-III with the bridge/ramp? We need to be about level 6 before we go and we start From the Ground Up at 2 so there’s obviously something DEEP we’re missing here. maybe this is a mission where we go gather the other Crimson Raiders? HMMMMMMMM...

.... oh.

nevermind lmfao

she opens her ECHO immediately after this LOL i feel kinda dumb now

raiding their camp it is! the Droughts sounds like a fun location. Very much like the dust. you guys think there’s a Shade situation going on there? i’m excited to see it. Still think we’re going to use Shiv’s room to get that lead, though. i just really wanna watch tv lmfao. i hope this means the bandits run from the camp to the HBC, or we find info that the bandit warchief sent a party to the HBC with the Vault Map. either way, i just don’t want the twins showing up until after the HBC or i will have so many questions. “why didn’t you kill lilith?” being the first. “the god queen wants her head!” ur goddamn right she does, so why doesn’t she (try to) kill lilith???

85% already?! hot damn

also

that’s one badass description there, Moze

also also

while having gun slots locked is pretty normal, im surprised they’re locking class mods and relics, too! i wonder when we’ll be able to equip relics. maybe when we first go to eden-6 or smth. or maybe after we meet up with Rhys. shit maybe he’s just handing us an artifact (im gonna interchange these a lot, sorry!) in that Promethea video lmfao

“ready to chuck some boom and frag some maniacs” lol moze i love you

if you’re playing Zane... `equips grenade mod for checkmark` `immediately equips second action skill and never actually uses grenade mod`

“it’s the firehawk! the god queen wants her head!”

like i alluded to before, i would not be surprised if Tyreen doesn’t know she can absorb Siren powers... when she goes to succ lilith in front of Sanctuary-III, it’s totally possible she actually was trying to kill her. That could explain why she looks so intrigued at her hand like “oh shit okay lets see what this can do”

might be why she was okay with sending her cultists after her instead of showing up herself.

“alright, we got a foothold. maybe things are turning our way. come on killer, you’re with me” we are going to explore the SHIT out of shiv’s room.

alright alright alright

let’s move on to the Sanctuary-III stuff

yessss

i love the quest objective thing, it looks like we will be able to swap through our quests with the push of a button! also im curious why exactly we’re going to promethea right away. i wonder if the twins say something about moving there after getting the vault map/lilith’s powers, or if we hear from rhys. im expecting something about the vault map, since our vh will admit they don’t know rhys at all when talking to lorelei. but for some reason we need to be within the city limits? since lily says ellie got us within the city limits.

hmmmmmm. okay, okay, maybe the map was trying to lead us to promethea for vault reasons during that short amount of time that we had it and it was working. maybe promethea is what we see when tannis is activating the key during that one cutscene? ohhh shit how dope would it be if we got that fucking easter egg message? omg “Children of the Vault. Come to Promethea. We are not on Pandora anymore. Tannis is not what she seems. Do not open the Vaults.” and everyone is like ‘uh did that thing just mention Tannis by name??’ and now it’s REALLY important to get the map back just so we can figure out wtf it’s trying to tell us.

i will question how ‘Tannis is not what she seems’ would affect character relationships, especially if it’s said so early in the game. so perhaps we only hear the first part of the message. maybe it’s corrupted because it was recently broken. iunno. just playing around with ideas. the canon of this game is like flarp putty until sept. 13th

anyway moving on because this is literally the first f r a m e of the video

i like that you can see pandora’s eridian scar. if the destroyer is speaking through eridium to people, it’s gonna bust outta the side of this planet like you wouldn’t fucking believe lmao. eridium is a window to the soul and if you stare long enough into its glossy, shining sides, the destroyer stares back

that or it’s just like a beacon, slowly spreading its influence across the universe. but i like the idea that the destroyer can waltz out of a big enough hunk of eridium. so it will bust out of pandora’s eridium scar. F in chat for pandora but also lmfao the amount of tentacles and rage would be unparalleled.

reality is that the twins are probably farming this scar for eridium to turn into slag for multiple purposes. like brainwashing their cultists, giving them powers, and ensuring their guns have their manufacturer’s quirk (im getting to this in my next post bc im just gonna compile all the ign gun videos into one big post)

the floor art is different from the actual sanc-iii demo. i mention this first in my behind closed doors panel analysis, but im gonna mention it again because this is ~official~. the floor list on the first walkthru of sanc-iii we got had the names of all the crimson raiders and lines leading to their shops. so we had the infirmary/tannis, marcus, moxxi, etc listed on the floor. i imagine this new sanc-iii will change as we get more people on board or if we do a sort of re-decoration of the ship.

also also, it’s cool to see that we have 4 rooms on the minimap, likely one for each of the VHs (and your coop buddies). ive seen speculation that the other, non-played VHs will hang out in their rooms when you’re not playing them, and tbh i really hope this is the case.

we also know this version of sanctuary-iii is after pandora, so there are no promethea citizens aboard yet. which makes me double certain the first sanc-iii video we got takes place either after endgame (explaining why Lily has her tattoos back) or right after Athenas (explaining why Maya is there). which... i mean... spoilers, guys.

that’s one good lookin fast travel station, holy shit

im in tears over here because “Caution: no steppy”. this is so fucking funny to me

no steppy on me

okay moving on because i will cry laugh over this for forever im allowed

moze’s room is so much different than amara’s

also i notice she’s on the left of the two on the top, which makes me hope the other 4 are reserved for the other VHs (or your coop buddy).

compared to the official sanc-iii demo video

and amara’s room

moze’s is so barren oh my god

someone get this girl like... a colorful throw pillow or something

baaank. also doubles as the secret stash. kinda upsetting, because that is infinitely less loot i can store when i make a lot of characters. also if i upgrade the bank once, is it upgraded across all my other characters too? or are the guns i put in storage slot 11 locked up until i buy the upgrade?

either way, i am saddened because no more mule characters. and way less space the more characters you make and more gear you find, because all gear you put in here is there across all characters. i hope this means our backpacks will be a lot bigger this time around!

supamax mfg shows up again

ppm/04-02 matches up with the number behind the fast travel station. i wonder if this will come into play. if the number changes later in-game im going to freak the fuck out bc that means wherever we are isn’t actually sanctuary-iii

ppm/04-02. remember that 👀

also, the wall behind the golden chest changed from red to steel/greenish. can’t tell the actual color. same as the floor

you know. that color.

“golden keys are popular. you can get some in-game and also get them online”

in-game you say??? im interested! i wonder if there will be some sort of arena (like moxxi’s) where if you complete it you get a key as a reward. i saw people speculating about some sort of randomized boss rush, that could definitely be a way to get gold keys, as well.

oooo engine room! im excited to explore here.

original size is 16. so, we have 40 backpack slots! still... you know... only 1 above the max of bl2, but hey. at least that’s an upgrade. as small as it may be

on the bright side: bank upgrades increase capacity by 5. with a base of 10, and 8 upgrades, we have 50 slots to fill. which is a big leap from the original 24. it is still a shame we have to share these across characters, tho

offline cultist stream? makes me think the CoV really was trying to steal/take over sanc-iii from the crimson raiders and we went to go take it (back?) in Taking Flight. either the CoV found/ordered Sanc-III, or the crimson raiders were building it/fixing it up, their stronghold got taken over, and the CoV were prepping it for takeover.

the shooting range. and if you notice that little CoV symbol in the bottom left there? yeah pretty much backs up my previous theory

all those red bits are tied to ellie’s crew challenge. so we’ll be collecting things for her!

an altar for scooter 😢

“we’re gonna get those cultism sumbitches, believe you me”

where you get yeeted out of Sanc-III. im definitely going to try jumping in it to see if it kills me. doesn’t look like the drop pods are available yet

that’s not clappy, pretty sure he’s hanging out on the bridge right now

schematics for veronica

the thing i was most excited about in this video!

loooots of customizations! which excites me because i know eridium used to get useless late game when you’ve grinded all the raid bosses. it looks like eridum is going to be in ultra high demand. but u can bet ur ass im gonna be unlocking all those fucking customizations asap.

veteran rewards is also super super interesting

hgggggg i wanna know what the shields do!!!

i like the vault symbol at the top of the item card as well, shows you its a special type of weapon/item. im honestly surprised we’re able to buy ‘veteran rewards’ so early in the game? i mean obvi we won’t have enough eridium (look at the costs!) but it’s wild it’s even accessible. im personally a fan of the first bonus ‘anointed: gain life steal on action skill end’

looks like these guns have been chosen

to give them those special bonuses

i do see that just anointed is not class specific, but the ones that say anointed gunner or maybe anointed siren will be (confirmed by the devs in video).

you pay with eridium, so maybe the vending machine has some way to confer the power of eridium to the guns. or some shit. iunno. it’s possible this won’t be available until the end of the game, hence veteran rewards, and is only being shown to us right now since this is a showcasing video.

pandoran civilian. no promethea civilians today folks! i am CONVINCED that the old sanc-iii demo takes place after the end of the game. at least after athenas.

it’s weird seeing moxxi hanging outside her bar.

is also cool to know that the 4 slot machines are actually available. seems like npcs can play them, but we can use all 4 if we want to. which is really nice

the one on the far left is called the ‘loot boxxer’ and it gives mostly guns lol. i see they are taking jabs. good for them

better pic of the leftmost machines

Zer0 seems to have a bounty board? not sure if this is like a physical bounty board or if they will contact you when they want something dead, but it is cool to note. this isn’t shown in video, just the devs speaking about it.

similarly hammerlock has ‘big game hunts’ where you find “rare, challenging creatures” and kill them for him

apparently we’ll be killing something known as a manvark

this book

i fucking recognize this book

HAMMERLOCK NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

in all seriousness tho

hammerlock probably isn’t in his room because we haven’t rescued him from eden-6 yet.

a cool thing about the crew challenges: as you progress through the game and do these challenges, sanc-iii will ‘grow and change to reflect the things you’ve accomplished’. altho another dev says “sometimes these are optional things, like challenges”

so now im like oh shit we’re gonna change sanc-iii as we play the game. i wonder if that means we’ll be changing the hull, too. because you know. the blue paint job. we gotta go STEALTH. sneaky beaky into the calypsos fleety

tannis doesn’t have the saurian on her table. also, interesting note, she DOES have the eridian log in the corner. meaning she must have had that before eden-6. interesting... maybe we’ll find more on Pandora.

she is still covered in blood tho. idk i don’t have an explanation for that. don’t think i want to think of one, to be quite honest.

oh no. (those are skulls next to all the gurneys)

“tannis plays a much bigger role in bl3 than she has in past games”. bigger than borderlands 1? that is... impressive. she’ll be running the health vending machines (which is weird bc i could’ve sworn in the promethea demo, zed was still running them... hm.)

another angle of sanc-iii

clappy? you good there?

the devs said they’re using him to plug a hole. i assume the calypsos shot at the ship as we’re leaving or smth.

lily with no tattoos, who also looks significantly more pissed than her other sanc-iii demo counterpart

you know. because she got her tattoos.

also

fucking

lilith says something right here. all i can make out is “Tyreen took my powers. it’s like tannis said. ..... [inaudible] Siren.” maybe some weird word i haven’t heard before? i swear she’s saying ‘like tannis said: a ‘m...’ Siren” but i am not 100% sure. if someone could help me out, that’d be rad.

so its sounding like lilith rushed in with explicit warning from tannis about tyreen stealing her powers, and tannis knew tyreen was some sort of Siren and warned lily, but lily didn’t listen. it could also be that lily is saying something like “im not a siren” but i can’t really hear it if she is. it sounds like she saying a word that starts with m to me. if someone could help me with this i’d owe you my life

whew. i am. fucking TIRED.

im gonna sleep for like 3 hours and then wake up and make food before the fl4k streams start.

#borderlands #bl3 #borderlands 3

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pinkpuffballdude · 5 years

Note

Who is Celestia sparrow and what happened with the wizard :0

OKAY. SO. I am HONESTLY not in the mindset to write this rn because some SHIT just went DOWN in our campaign but ALSO this is a great way to destress. Anyway if this comes off as uhhh real weird that’s why. Let’s go.

So to start: me and my friend, @clericjester, have been playing Pathfinder together with my brother and two of his friends for about eight years. Celestia is my character, and has been that entire time, and Thela is Sage’s character. Both of us are rouges, but I multiclassed as... multiple things now, but mostly a bard, so I’m the charismatic one of the party. We’re also the two hardcore RPers of the group, so we’ll go off and do side adventures sometimes, when they come over and were like “hey dad*. Pathfinder.”

*my dad is our DM. It’s very convenient.

This was one of those times.

It started with an already canon event, where the party split up in a city to go off and find... something, it doesn’t really matter now, but Celestia and Thela went off together and ended up in a bar. Thela got approached by some random thug and offered a TON of money to go and rob a house. We, being a pair of greedy bastards, of course accepted, and hashed out a plan in which Thela would go do the actual breaking in, being the sneakier one, while Celestia stood outside and distracted the guards so they wouldn’t bother her. And that’s what happened!

Except Mr Thug Man neglected to mention that it was a fucking powerful magic users house that we were stealing from, and so after we got away unscathed (okay that’s a lie, Thela broke into his writing desk and got some cool shit, but also set off some kind of alarm? maybe? and nearly got caught by a pair of GOLEMS) he CHASED US DOWN and has been sending us to this crazy bullshit dimension occasionally where everything explodes.

But first! We thought we’d gotten away! We ran away from the building, the guards didn’t catch us, we met back up with the group, it was all good! Until my DAD was like “okay so you’re on the road to where ever, here’s a map, arrange yourselves in this square” and we’re all like OH GOOD COMBAT and two GLASS GOLEMS you know, the two from the wizards house, came up the road and made a beeline for Thela (and Celestia got on her riding dog and RAN away because FUCK that, but they didn’t care about her cause she had no loot!) and Thela climbed straight in the air and the party almost left her to die, but defeated the golems instead and then turned to both of us and were like WHAT DID YOU DO and ever since we’ve been denying our wizard crimes.

Note: we don’t actually know if he’s a wizard! we don’t even know if he hates us! we just call him a wizard for ease of discussion.

Later, we were all in a tower in a mad scientists castle, and us two were trying to figure out what the hell the stuff we stole actually did, by trial and error. We already knew that the rods we’d gotten were Immovable Rods, hence the climbing into mid air, and a couple other things, and had moved on to the fountain pen we’d stolen. We scribbled all over the walls of that tower, writing whatever we wanted to, trying to figure out what the hell it’s purpose was. “It’s just ink you can see with Detect Magic!” we said. “It doesn’t even do anything cool!” Okay, said my dad. So you can see it with Detect Magic. “Yeah!” So you can see any of it with Detect Magic. “Right!” From anywhere, he said, with great patience. We looked at each other. We looked at the walls, now absolutely covered in whatever random shit we could think of, in magical ink, visible from anywhere, written by a pen we stole from a wizard who was actively after us. “oh no,” we said, in unison, and immediately jumped into bed and pretended it never happened. Continue lying about our wizard crimes.

I think... after that he met us on a road somewhere, just. literally in the middle of the road, as we were travelling, whole parties there, and the BASTARD teleports us to aNOTHER DIMENSION, and LEAVES US THERE, and tells us that we should “hurry up, wink wink nudge nudge”, and gives us a timer, thing. We are in the middle of a jungle. long story short we make it to the check in point with minutes to spare, and as we leave the ENTIRE FUCKING PLANET EXPLODES. ALL THE OF THE TREES ARE EXPLODING, THERE’S A GIANT DUST CLOUD OF ALL THE DIRT GETTING KICKED UP, IF WE’D MISSED THE CHECK IN WE WOULD HAVE FOR CERTAIN DIED. Thankfully we get teleported out, and the Bastard confiscates all the cool samples we took from there and lets us go. And we go on our merry way! We’re miles from where we started! Stop being such a trickster god!

Later on we were staying at a hunting lodge, right, and there was some stuff that we still hadn’t figured out, like a silver bracelet that as far as we could tell didn’t do anything when you put it on. So we’re at this lodge, it specialises in werewolf hunters, right, so this lodge is FULL of werewolf hunting fanatics. This is important. There’s been a string of murders within the lodge, and no one can figure out who’s doing the killings and we’re going all detective on this shit, which means the party is split up. It’s fine, were safe, whatever, but this does mean that Thela and Celestia are alone and outside under what turns out to be a full moon (I bet you can see where this is going). We’re at a dead end, we can’t find anything, so THELA thinks it’s a GREAT IDEA to pull out the bracelet and just. put it on. We hadn’t actually put any of the items on, or used them that much, until we knew what they did, but no! she just. Pulled it out. And put it on.

And immediately turned into a fucking black wolf, bit Celestia, and jumped over the twenty foot high wall (that’s about six meters for all you metric heathens out there). Sage was not in control. Thela woke up the next morning in their shared room! and they had one of the hunters track her trail from the yard all the way around to their room, which as soon as he got there they regretted because a fucking werewolf had gone into their room and Thela was now a werewolf who became an npc when she was a wolf oh my god what are we gonna do. The answer to that, of course, was keep it hidden until she fucking JUMPED UP INTO THE BOYS ROOM AND RAN THROUGH THE HALLS, AS A WOLF, TEARING SHIT UP, THROUGH THE WEREWOLF HUNTING LODGE, WOLF THELA NO. Anyway that’s one of the proudest moments of my life because Celestia was able to convince the most bloodthirsty of all the hunters that the boys were simply playing some sort of game, that for some reason involved running through the halls screaming WEREWOLF, THERE’S A WEREWOLF IN THE BUILDING. I peaked. So Thela ended up hiding in the shadows (and Celesia’s room) for the next three days until the full moon ended, by witch time we were able to talk the boys down and get on with our lives, and the adventure. Also the murderer was the soft drunk boy, as possessed by an angry murder werewolf ghost. That was a trip.

Fun fact about Thela’s lycanthropy: I don’t think it’s true lycanthropy, because 1) shes got a silvery tattoo that 2) tells her which animal she’s gonna become that 3) changes, depending on what turns out to be multiple factors. One of them is location, but right now she can always be a tiger because she’s wearing a tiger belt.

The latest and greatest wizard shenanigans were when he showed up and teleported us and a monk named Balance (who was aptly balanced on a fucking chain when we met them), and who he for some reason wanted to stop guarding a randomass bridge, BACK to the exploding planet. This time, pre exploded! There was actually stuff to find there, and we got four exploding snails out of it*. AND a bunch of samples. The check point this time was a moving platform because this man only finds joy in our suffering, but he didn’t meet us when we got out, AND we’d gotten to our destination in three days instead of three weeks, so...

And Thela’s tattoo didn’t show anything while we were there? Like, either she couldn’t shift or if she did it would have been into the Void? We didn’t test this.

*so they actually rapidly compress into spheres when threatened, creating a shockwave similar to a bomb. Reusable slug bombs!

And today after our Lovecraftian Experiance (which I can also talk about, if you’d like) the tattoo looks. Twisted. But only to Thela. I think hallucinations are in order. Also I want to peel off my skin, but that has nothing to do with Bastard Wizard.

So that’s the story of our wizard shenanigans, thanks for asking!

#whoops this got long #Dnd #celestia sparrow #bastard wizard shenanigans #for tagging of course #true story #asked

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fallout4reactsblog · 5 years

Note

That death scenes one has awakened a thirst for blood by which I mean a thirst for angst. How about whatever other named NPC(s) each companion primarily associates with (so nat for piper, ellie for nick, ect. some companions left out because not all of them have any particular associated characters) finding out that they died as described in the previous feels-puncher of a react?

Deacon: Glory is the first to know.

She’s about to leave when sole comes in, Deacon in their arms, and then suddenly the whole church knows, because Glory is yelling loud enough to be heard over the roar of a Deathclaw.

“What the fuck do you mean he’s dead? How the fuck is he dead? You were supposed to have his goddamn back, so you better start answering some fucking questions.”

“Glory.” Dez’s voice has the heavy stopping in her tracks. “Enough.” She turns to sole, level-headed as always. “What happened?”

“There was a courser. We couldn’t get out.”

“A courser?” Glory is back to yelling. “How many of those have you killed, huh?”

“My cover with-”

“Damn your cover!” She’s inches from their nose. “Your cover doesn’t mean shit in the face of Deacon’s life. He’s fucking dead for that sake of your cover? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Glory.” Dez’s voice is harder this time. “That’s enough.”

She sneers, but turns away, stalking further into HQ. Her boots are loud and echo in the catacombs. Dez turns back to the person in front of her.

“I’m sure you did all you could,” she says. “Deacon always believed in you. He’d have been happy to give his life for this cause.”

They nod. “I’m gonna just… leave him. I don’t think I should stick around.”

“Probably not,” she agrees. “I’ll send for you when it’s okay to come back.”

They set the body on one of the empty coffins and leave, and Desdemona turns to her spy.

“Oh, Deacon.” She sighs heavily and lights a cigarette. “I should have known better. I really should have.”

HQ feels too quiet, suddenly. She wishes he would laugh or say something rude about Carrington or joke with Tom about conspiracy theories. But Tom is sobbing in the corner, Carrington is searching for a place to put the body, and Deacon is dead.

She closes her eyes a moment.

Deacon is dead.

For the first time in years, she lets herself cry.

Hancock: The smell of acid and something else that’s strongly unpleasant hits her as soon as she opens the door, and she flinches, trying not to gag. It’s heavy like it’s been sitting for a while, and she feels irritation begin to coil in her stomach.

“Christ, John. Did you throw up or what?”

She can’t see him sitting on the couch, so she steps a little further into the room. A glimpse of red peeks out from the floor, and she glances down only to turn away just as quickly. Because there he is, face down in his own vomit. His eyes are open. His lips are smiling.

She knows without checking that he’s gone.

When she thinks she can bear it, she looks back again, hoping that she’ll find something different. She doesn’t. It’s still him, and he’s still dead.

“You just couldn’t help it, could you?” The room reeks of stomach acid and Jet and rotting flesh, glazed over with the smell of his cologne. “You just had to push it too far.”

He doesn’t answer, of course. She looks at him a moment longer, feeling the emotions starting to bubble up in her chest. She tries to hold back, tries to stop them, but that’s John Hancock on the floor. The mayor of Goodneighbor, a hero in his own right. The man that gave her a purpose in this nightmare of a world.

She bursts in a scream, knuckles slamming against the wooden wall. She screams and punches and screams and punches until there’s blood running down her knuckles, and then she sinks to her knees on the floor and screams some more, fingers digging into her scalp. She can’t stop, doesn’t want to stop, just shuts her eyes and screams, because all she can smell is his cologne and all she can see are those dead eyes, and all she can hear is the voice in her head that’s telling her she could have saved him, could have done more. She screams until she can’t hear it anymore, and then until she runs out of breath.

She slumps against the wall, panting, breaths broken by the sobs that wrench themselves free. The voice is back, reminding her of everything John ever did for her, chastising her for repaying him like this.

“Dammit,” she whimpers, and it sounds broken in the empty room. “Dammit, John, don’t do this to me. Don’t do this.”

It’s already done, so she leans against the wall and cries.

MacCready: “Did Robert send you?”

The woman behind the door has eyes that regard sole with suspicion, but they nod anyway. They’ve made promises. Promises that need keeping.

“I’m here to take him home.”

She nods. “I’ll have him gather his things.”

The door shuts on them, and they stand in the cold. Waiting. Who knew D.C. was going to be an icebox, huh?

When the door opens again, it’s like getting sucker punched, because they’ll be damned if those aren’t Mac’s eyes staring right back at them. Today, though, they belong to a little boy, one that looks far too much like his dad to make this easy.

“Duncan, this is the lady I was telling you about. She’s gonna take you home, okay?”

They smile down at the child in front of them. “Hey, buddy.”

His eyes are suspicious. “How do I know you know my dad?”

They laugh a little, and it sounds forced, even to them. “Let’s talk, okay? I’ll tell you on the way.”

He follows them, and they lead him to a park bench. His legs swing, and his hands adjust the straps on his bag, which they assume contains everything he owns. It’s small, and it hurts to know he has so little because they’re about to take away one of the few things he has left.

“Here,” they say, digging around in their bag. “Your dad wanted you to have this.”

The toy looks far bigger in Duncan’s hands, and he turns over the little soldier. “This is Dad’s.”

“You asked how you could be sure I knew your father, and there it is. It’s yours, now.”

He puts it in his tiny pack. “Who are you?”

“I’m a friend. You can call me Sole. I’m gonna be taking care of you from now on.”

“Until we get home to Dad,” he corrects, and all they can do is give him a sad smile.

“I’m so sorry, kiddo.”

His face twists into one of fear and uncertainty, the face of someone who knows the answer but is afraid to say it. “Where’s Dad?”

They thought the words over for hours on the walk to D.C., but now, at the moment, they find they catch on their teeth. It’s hard to spit them out, but they tell themselves they have to. They owe it to Mac. “Your dad’s in a better place, now.”

“No,” he whispers, and they wrap him in a hug.

“I’m so sorry.”

“Dad can’t be- can’t be dead.” His voice is broken and stained with tears. “He’s gonna come get me when I get better, and we’re gonna play catch like we used to, and he’s gonna take me home. We’re-” He chokes on a sob. “We’re gonna be happy.”

“He wanted to be here,” they whisper as their own tears slide down their cheeks. “I promise you. He really did.”

“Dad-” the words break into a wail, and all they can do is hold him. He’s too young to go through this, too young to grieve, but life is cruel and unkind, and so they clutch him tighter as he cries.

His body shudders with the weight of his sadness. They scoop him up, trying to hold their own grief at bay as they walk. It’s a long way back to Sanctuary. People stare as they pass, but they focus on the child in their arms, clutching onto their shoulders.

“Your dad loved you, Duncan. He wanted to be here for you. He wanted to see you again.”

Duncan sobs again, shoulders trembling, and they bite back tears.

“I’ll do what I can for you. I promised that to your father, and I’ll promise it to you, too.”

Nothing will lift the weight from his shoulders, and they know it. There is nothing that heals grief. Nothing that can fill the void death leaves in a soul.

“Dad loved you, Duncan.”

Nick: The agency never smells like alcohol, and that’s the first sign that something is amiss. It’s not one of Nick’s vices, or hers, and the only one that ever drinks in the agency is sole. But that’s a rare occasion.

Nonetheless, there they are, slumped in Nick’s chair. A bottle of vodka dangles loosely from their fingers as they stare at the metal grasshopper on the table in front of them.

“Where’s Nick?” she asks.

They don’t respond, and that’s red flag number two. She can practically hear the alarm bells going off as sole takes another drink. She knows she shouldn’t, but she asks again, more forcefully.

“Where is Nick?”

“I heard you the first time.” Their words are a drunken, slurred mess. “He’s dead, Ellie.”

It hits her like a Behemoth punch to the gut, and she collapses onto her desk. They don’t even look over at her.

“How?” She manages to just barely choke the word out.

“Super Mutants. They were protecting this piece of shit.” They gesture with their bottle to the grasshopper.

Every breath aches as she tries to understand and tries to process how Nick Valentine, the hero of Diamond City, dies. He was one of the few constants in her life. Nick. Now dead.

“The agency’s yours,” they say, standing. “Everything’s yours. He was very insistent on that. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” They wave the presumably empty bottle. “I’m off to pay the Bobrovs more of my caps.”

She’s not sure whether to scream or cry, but as the door shuts behind them, she gets a bit of both. A loud, angry sob escapes her, and she shoves herself off the desk. There’s no time to waste.

Tears drip down her face as she pulls out one of the drawers in Nick’s filing cabinet. This needs to be organized. It needs to be cleared up, people need to be informed that their cases aren’t going to be solved.

The drawer is full of ties.

She whimpers to see them, hands trembling with the pressure of holding back the sobs. She picks one up, black with a white paisley pattern. She’d bought it for him as a joke last Christmas, but he’d worn it diligently, mixing it into his tie rotation. She pulls it from the box, sinking to the floor, clutching it as her grief slowly makes itself known.

Nick Valentine was dead. The man who’d given her a purpose here, who’d made her feel at home, who’d held her up when she was low, was dead. It seemed impossible. Nick was too good to die.

She sinks against the cabinets, sobbing as she stares at the tie in her hands.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers. “I wasn’t there. I couldn’t- I didn’t-”

On the floor of the agency, she grieves alone.

Piper: They’re waiting for her when she gets home from school. They’re on the couch, shoulders slumped, elbows on their knees. They straighten when she walks in the door, and she shoots them a strange look.

“If you’re looking for Piper, she’s not home. She went out a few days ago, looking for some lead.”

“I know.” Their voice is barely a whisper. “Have a seat, Nat.”

She takes a chair, apprehension curling in her stomach. Their face is serious, and they can’t look her in the eyes. Everything in her body and mind is telling her that something’s wrong. She tries to figure out what it is.

“Your sister, she-” They let out a long breath, and Nat’s fingers dig into the chair’s cushion. “I’m sorry, Nat. She’s gone.”

Nat’s stunned into silence for a moment. It feels like there’s no air in her lungs like there’s no air in the room. She can’t breathe, she can’t move, she can’t do anything but listen.

“She asked me to stay and take care of you, and I- I promised her I would. I’m here for you, okay? It’s gonna be weird for a while, but I’m sure we can-”

“No!” She suddenly finds her voice and springs to her feet, tears pooling in her eyes. “No, Piper’s not dead. She can’t be. She was with you and you said you’d protect her.”

“Nat-” They stand, too, reaching for her arm, but she slaps them away. Hard enough to hurt.

“Don’t touch me!” Tears streak down her face as she yells. “This is your fault! You were supposed to keep her safe. You were supposed to save my sister. How could you let her die?”

“I know what you’re going through, Nat. I’m here for you.”

“I don’t want you here! I want my sister!”

She runs, slamming the door behind her. She doesn’t know where she’s going, but she knows she can’t stay there. Not in that moment, with their soft, helpful eyes and the memories of her sister surrounding her. She sprints through the market, wiping angrily at her eyes. She needs to get away. She needs someone who cares.

She bursts into the Valentine Detective Agency, its neon sign like a beacon of hope. Nick can’t even manage a greeting before she’s launched herself at him. No explanation, not even a word is managed before she breaks into sobs. Her sister is dead. The only family she had left, the girl who made her laugh after she got detention, who brought her power noodles when she was sick, who called them a team when it came to the paper, even if she did most of the work. Her sister is gone, gone forever, and will never smile or laugh or make a funny voice during a story ever again.

Her world shatters in Nick Valentine’s arms.

Preston: The first thing Sturges notices is that Preston isn’t with them. Dogmeat is, trailing at their heels, oddly quiet. His mouth sets into a hard line, but he wipes off his hands and goes to greet them at the bridge.

The second thing he notices is the coat in their arms, the way it’s draped, the hat that’s resting at the top of it. When he looks into sole’s eyes, sees the tears, he puts two and two together and knows. They say nothing, but nod.

“Here.” He reaches out despite the spike that’s been driven into his sternum. “Let me take him.”

They relinquish the body, and it’s lighter than Sturges expected. Something coils in his chest, tight and painful, but he sets his jaw and heads for the only yellow house in Sanctuary Hills. The closest thing to a meeting place there is.

Mama Murphy is sitting outside, and as soon as she sees sole following Sturges up the road she closes her eyes. The Sight is murky sometimes, and she knew it would be either them or Preston and by the fact they’re still alive she knows everything. She tells herself she’s seen enough death that it doesn’t bother her anymore, tells herself that there’s no more room for grief in her heart.

She reaches for him as he passes, fingers brushing his arm. She can’t look. If she looks, her lie comes crashing down, and she’ll be forced to admit that she’s not as comfortable with death as she’d like to pretend. She comforts herself by thinking she’ll see Preston again soon.

Jun and Marcy are inside when they come in. Jun is the first to notice, and he whimpers, “Oh, God,” before he turns away. He doesn’t stand, but Marcy does, coming to inspect the body. When they pull the hat back to reveal Preston’s face, serene as ever, she steps back a half-step. The room is still a moment.

Then, there’s a crack as her palm makes contact with sole’s face. Their head snaps sideways, and then she’s screaming, filling the room with every word she can think, hurled straight at them.

“You let him die! He trusted you. How could you just let him die? Didn’t you care about him? About any of us? How are we supposed to live now? How dare you come back here without-”

“Marcy,” Sturges snaps, and sole flinches to hear the real anger in his tone. “That’s enough.”

She glowers at them again, opening her mouth, but Sturges catches her wrist and forces her to look him in the eyes.

“Why don’t you take your husband and try to comfort him?” It’s not a question.

“Fine.” Marcy stalks to the back of the room toward her husband, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. The glower she shoots sole tells them that she’s not done with them, but they focus on trying to breathe.

“Sole.” Sturges’s voice draws their attention. “Do you think I could…?”

“Yeah, of course.”

They step out, and Sturges turns to the man in front of him. The spike in his chest is ice-cold. His fingers curl against his thighs.

“Well, Preston.” He laughs a little. “I guess it’s almost funny. After everything we went through, you died where we couldn’t- where we weren’t-”

He stops, tries to breathe around the tears.

“All those times I thought I’d have to watch you die, all in vain.”

Softly, he takes the other man’s hand. The skin is cold.

“I hope you find some peace.”

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lunarmoonflowyr · 4 years

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Because I’m bored I’m going to write down a bunch of my passive thoughts on a new game I started playing and because once I start making streaming/youtube content related to viddy game I might make a video on this

Vambrace: Cold Soul Initial Impressions

Vambrace: Cold Soul is a game by Devespresso Games, an independent game developer based out of Seoul, South Korea who’s other notable titles seem to be a series of horror adventure games titled “The Coma”.

Vambrace however, is a game far more akin to something like Darkest Dungeon in visual style and gameplay design however the Steam store page description has it claiming to be inspired by “the gothic fantasy of Castlevania, the deep lore of a series like The Elder Scrolls, the replayability of roguelites like FTL: Faster Than Light, and the sweeping, character-driven epics of our favorite JRPGs.”

This is going to be a small writeup of my initial impressions after 2 hours of the game.

THE STORY SO FAR

We are a woman named Evelia Lyric, although she just goes by Lyric most of the time so that’s what I’ll be referring to her as throughout the rest of this writeup. Lyric immediately begins showing tell-tale signs of “JRPG Protagonist Syndrome”, as she:

1. Survives being passed out in a freezing arctic-like environment while wearing what could maybe be called clothing for a slightly harsh winter in New England, and comes out of it with barely any complications to speak of

2. Has an (allegedly) famous father who leaves her a Mysterious Book That No One Can Read, and the titular Vambrace, which is now apparently fused to her arm, that lets her pass through what the game refers to as the “Frostfell”, a massive magical ice barrier surrounding the city of “Icenaire” that apparently kills anyone who touches it. Apparently she can also one-shot evil ghosts with it, but only in the narrative. She did it in a cutscene once, and so far that hasn’t translated to gameplay.

3. Has so-far-unmentioned heterochromia

4. Gets a high-ranking soldier to trust her almost immediately when only one brief conversation ago he had a suspicion that she was a spy for “The Green Flame”, apparently some rival faction that’s very, very Not Good.

Getting confused by all the random names yet? Trust me, it doesn’t really get much better. This game’s story shows a lot of the very painful signs of an over-written, over-developed fantasy world that someone very obviously put a lot of time and love into, but didn’t really know where to stop.

Names, places, and concepts are thrown at you non-stop with a new one being introduced almost every dialogue sequence if you spend time talking to the locals of Icenaire once you convince the guard captain to let you go wandering the streets. You can also find random lore pages strewn around the place that add even more lore on top of everything else.

It all gets to be so dense and confusing you almost completely lose track of what the actual, present-day story is. The game has no trouble throwing random scraps of lore at you, full of names that mean nothing, but when it comes to actually explaining what the hell is going on right now, it falls a bit short. Here’s my understanding so far.

Lyric’s father has either died or mysteriously disappeared, I can’t remember which, and she’s been left a letter, a book, and the titular Vambrace. The book is referred to in the game mechanics as “The Codex” and is referred to by NPCs as a “book that nobody can read”, because apparently foreign languages don’t exist in this world, yet so far I’ve counted 6 or 7 distinct fantasy races that apparently all speak the exact same language all the time.

The vambrace has fused itself to Lyrics arm, and her fathers letter tells her to go to Icenaire (I have no fucking clue what that name is supposed to mean by the way, and it sounds really fucking awkward to say so it has to mean -something-. The “ice” part is pretty self-explanatory if a little on the nose, the entire game takes place in what appears to be an apocalypse along the lines of if you took the events of “Frozen” and turned it up to 11, but the only insight I could get on the “naire” part is that it’s from the Irish Gaelic word “náire” which means something along the lines of “ashamed” or “to have shame”. So this city is basically named “ice-ashamed”, which I have no clue what that’s supposed to mean, and it’s bothering me enough that I’ve gone on an entire run-on paragraph to rant about it because it sounds stupid to say and exactly like a city name I would’ve come up with for my crappy fantasy stories that I wrote when I was fourteen.)

Where was I again?

Right, okay, so Lyrics father instructs her to go to Icenaire (blech) and find some dude named “Zaquard Ventrue”. That name also means nothing, except as far as I can tell, “Zaquard” is the pseudonym of one of the people at Devespresso, and the first thing that comes to mind for Ventrue is Vampire: The Masquerade, and I’m not sure it really means anything there either.

The naming system in this game seems really off, it has no consistency and a lot of it is really self-indulgent, because you find out that this Zaquard fellow (in the game) is the big head honcho of what apparently is some kind of resistance movement of the oppressive organization called “The Green Flame”.

So Lyric goes through the “Frostfell” (the magical ice barrier thing around the city that allegedly is the cause of this whole Frozenpocalypse deal) by using the power of the mysterious Vambrace, and...passes out because of it, only to be found by a scavenging party in a tutorial section where the game teaches you how to play it using said scavenging party.

More on that later.

Lyrics unconscious body is dragged back to the city, she somehow hasn’t contracted hypothermia, and the next scene we’re given is an interrogation from some guy who’s last name is Esquire.

I don’t think the writers of this game knew what the word “Esquire” meant, because despite traditionally appearing after a person’s name, it is not a surname, it is a title. So the strange and unconventional naming choices continue.

Anyway, Captain Generic Man, Esq., interrogates Lyric for all of five minutes before believing her at face value that she has a magical super-gauntlet that lets her pass through this extremely lethal magical barrier, when he has all the reason in the world to believe that she’s some kind of spy sent by the people his resistance faction is supposedly fighting against.

And instead of keeping her under close watch until she’s at least somewhat established some trust that she’s not a mole or a spy or an assassin, he just...lets her roam free, around the city. Completely by herself. With no supervision, whatsoever.

As you can probably tell, I already have several problems with this games pacing and general overall writing quality, and we’re not even past the prologue section yet.

Oh, yeah, and Captain Generic gives Lyric some free money for her troubles, because the player needs to know how the market system works and how to buy healing items, and we can’t be assed to have them come across money in a non-contrived manner.

And the currency is really weirdly specific? Its this stuff called “Hellion”, which in real-person-language is a word for a malicious troublemaker or nuisance. But in the same setting where a city is named “Ice Shame”, “Hellion” is apparently some kind of magical incense that the fox people burn to appease their gods.

Oh yeah there’s a race of fox people in this game. They run the markets. They’re less full on furries and more like regular humanoids, but with fox ears, a tail, and pointy teeth, so like that weird halfway “haha guys look I’m totally not a furry” deal thats basically just “catgirls but with a different animal”.

Anyway.

You’re given a fat stack of cash and told to go buy yourself some food from the market, because we need to give you a tutorial on how to buy shit.

So you go to the market and are taught by a smooth-talking fox-man-person-thing how to buy things at a market, after which you are immediately spotted by the only guard in the city with an ounce of sense who instantly goes “Hey holy shit isn’t that the person that literally nobody recognizes in this city that’s been cut off from the outside world for presumably several years at this point and the only other known faction that has the resources to keep a human alive is one we’re actively at war with?” and throws your ass right back in jail.

By the way, the things you can choose to buy at the market are all pretty typical JRPG items that heal stat debuffs, or are basically different flavors of health potion that restore different amounts of health, and for any seasoned JRPG veteran it’s pretty easy to guess what items do what and how they function (sort of) but there’s plenty of unique-to-this-game stat conditions and the way the health mechanic works is kinda wonky, and the game asks you to buy your healing items before it even explains to you how the hell that part of the game actually works.

I’ll go more in-depth to the gameplay once I finish this story synopsis but I just felt like pointing out that at this point you’ve been walked through some of the basic mechanics of the game and some of the combat, but the part of the game that deals with debuffs and HP and how you deal with those things hasn’t been explained yet.

This game is very weird.

Anyway, during the attempt to throw your ass back in jail, some shit is going down in the room that has the elevator to the surface (yeah apparently this city is like, underground. They don’t actually explain why, or how, or if it was like that before the Frozenpocalypse or if the Frozenpocalypse buried it, and if it was buried, how the hell did it get excavated so cleanly like this and why are all the buildings intact? Whatever, apparently the game doesn’t consider this important, which is weird considering all the random lore tidbits it does deem important, so we’re moving on now.)

OH hold on let me backtrack a bit. While you’re being let out of your jail cell because Captain Generic just felt like it apparently, you walk up to this other jail cell with a goth chick inside it and you’re told she’s an Extremely Powerful Bad Guy, Do Not Fuck With Her.

So, as you arrive at the elevator to the surface, guess who just made an escape and caused a spooky ghost person to invade the city and injure two people! That’s right, Spooky Not-So-Jailed-Anymore Goth Chick! Who’s name is Isabel Salazar, and it’s really saying something that that’s the most normal name we’ve encountered so far in this god forsaken game.

So you’re now face-to-face with a spooky ghost. You think you’re about to get into a combat section, you’ve been taught how to do combat, but nope! Lyric just waltzes up to the fucker and smacks him in the face with her Vambrace hand and it...melts...him? Just, with absolutely zero fanfare?

Uh. Sure. Alright. Weird, do we get some kind of special attack that hurts ghosts? Guess we’ll find out.

So the guard who was trying to arrest you, a redhead with pointy ears who’s very obviously an elf but hasn’t directly been called an elf in-game yet so I’m not sure if we’re using that word but fuck it she’s an elf, who’s name is Celest. That’s all, I don’t remember if she’s given a last name.

Celest is reprimanded by Captain Generic, Esq. for trying to re-arrest the possible spy who was let go with literally no actual forethought put into it, and she’s understandably miffed, and Captain Generic tells you to come meet him in the war room because “someone is very interested in meeting you.”

This leads nicely into the scene where our protagonist meets the leader of this massive underground (literally) resistance movement, who, upon hearing our surname and being told we’re the daughter of Some Random Guy, immediately trusts us to go after Isabel and lead an expedition all on our lonesome with a party of random soldiers we get to pick from a “help wanted” board instead of, I dunno, maybe sending some actual soldiers with us.

This leader is the previously mentioned Zaquard Vampire Clan Man, who looks exactly how you’d expect a self-insert resistance leader to look, a young white-haired anime boy looking dude who’s bangs cover his eyes and we can’t see them. And he has earrings.

Farquaad here apparently knew about our dad, and our dad was apparently the lead researcher about Archons (?) and the Vambrace is an Archonian (???) artifact (also they spell it “artefact” in the game and I hate it, they also say “magick” and it makes me want to find whoever was in charge of writing this and punch them) so that’s why he trusts us now, apparently.

We are then tasked with a mission to go retrieve Evil Goth Chick, who apparently is going to go tell these Green Flame fellows the location of our massive underground city secret base, which is somehow super duper secret despite being huge.

Keep in mind that this entire game’s setting is allegedly one massive city, it’s not like Eragon where the big inside-the-mountain Dwarf city was kept secret from Galbatorix, because that at least had the justification of being halfway across the entire fucking continent from the Empire as well as being on the other side of a massive fucking desert.

This is all apparently one huge city! And the “secret underground base” is kinda big itself! It doesn’t make sense that its some big secret!

Ugh, whatever, if I keep harping on about every bit of the narrative that doesn’t make any fucking sense when you think about it for more than ten seconds I’m going to give myself a stroke so now that I’ve caught you up to where I am in the story, let’s move onto the gameplay.

THE GAMEPLAY

If you’re at all familiar with Darkest Dungeon (a much better game) the gameplay is most similar in style to that. You have a party of 4 adventurers, you walk through room after room of a connected “dungeon” except in this case its neighborhood streets and buildings, find treasure, manage the balance of treasure in your inventory vs healing and utility items, and you have combat.

Let’s talk about the combat first, because its the part I like most about this game and the reason I’m probably going to keep playing it.

Vambrace takes a similar approach to Darkest Dungeon in that each character has a certain number of skills at their disposal, being limited in use by where the character is standing in the party order and what position slots in the opposing party they can target.

When you get into combat, the party orders will look like this, with your party on the left and the opposing party on the right.

4-3-2-1-1-2-3-4

The skills are divided into three range categories.

- Short or melee range skills can only be used in position 1 and 2 and can only target positions 1 and 2 on the opposing side unless those two positions are empty, in which case they can target 3 and 4.

- Medium range skills can be used from any position, but can only target positions 1 and 2.

- Long range skills can be used from any position and can target any position.

Some skills also take flourish points to use, and characters build up flourish points throughout encounters by using their basic skill.

Different characters have different classes, which determine different skills they’re able to use.

This is a basically solid combat system, as proven by Darkest Dungeon, however Vambrace falls short of DD in two ways:

The first is Darkest Dungeon’s position system, and its supplementary corpse system, work slightly differently. Position order is the same, however, there can be no empty spaces breaking the line. If the line would be broken, units that are furthest back move forward to close the line.

So say you encounter 4 enemies, so positions 1-2-3-4 are all fully occupied. If you kill the enemy in position 2, the enemies in positions 3 and 4 will move forward to fill in the blank space, so now only positions 1-2-3 are occupied.

This is mitigated in Darkest Dungeon by the corpse system, when you kill an enemy it leaves a corpse behind, which fills up the space and prevents the backline from moving forward. However there are several skills in DD that remove corpses as part of the effect.

This opens up different paths to take in terms of strategy. In both Vambrace and Darkest Dungeon, the 3 and 4 positions are usually filled by the more deadly foes, the enemies that take those positions usually cause debuffs to your party or have a higher damage output.

However, in Darkest Dungeon, you can either run a strong backline of your own and try to eliminate the opposing backline quickly, or you can run a strong frontline and a more supportive backline to try and take out the frontline, and then wipe out the corpses, pushing the backline units to the front and making all their skills basically useless, since most enemies that stick to the back in DD have maybe one attack that they can use in position 1 or 2, and it’s usually not a very good attack.

There are also attacks in DD that you can use to force the enemy to shuffle positions, bringing the backline to the front and crippling them without even touching the tanky frontline.

However, in Vambrace, positions are static on the enemy side. When you kill enemies in front, the backline enemies stay in the backline. This leads to a much more limited strategy, where you pretty much only want to focus the backline first, and the frontline afterwards.

There’s also the matter of turn order. Characters with a higher Awareness stat (more on stats in a second) get a bonus on their initiative and can go higher in the turn order, beyond that I’m not actually sure what factors are involved in determining this. However, the turn order itself is transparently displayed in the bottom center of the screen during combat, telling you very clearly which position on which side gets the next move, which helps out a lot with planning out your encounters.

Once you get the hang of it though, Vambrace’s combat is still enjoyable, and I’d say the aesthetic and environment around it makes it different enough from Darkest Dungeon that I can enjoy playing both for different reasons. Vambrace far more embraces certain JRPG aspects, for instance.

Speaking of which, lets talk stats.

Before I do though I want to talk about one of my biggest gripes with the game so far, and that’s the fact that its interface is terrible. This game doesn’t have a menu for keybinds, it doesn’t let you re-bind things, and its control scheme is a little awkward to say the least.

It also hides a lot of information to be only accessible in the tutorial pages, which you can access at any time in the pause menu, but it makes things tedious because this game has a lot of smaller things to keep track of.

Each character has 5 stats. Combat, Sleight, Merchantry, Awareness, and Overwatch, and each one has a different impact on the game.

Combat is fairly self explanatory, it determines how good your character is at fighting.

Sleight determines how good the character is at scavenging, and it affects the quality of loot you find in containers.

Merchantry affects buying and selling, the higher the merchantry, the cheaper stuff is to buy and the more people pay for your junk.

Awareness determines how well you can avoid traps

And Overwatch determines how good your character is at managing the party during camping.

Your stats can also affect the outcomes of certain random events that can trigger throughout the dungeons, although I’ve only encountered a handful of them so far.

Speaking of camping, one of the most under-explained mechanics in this game is the camping mechanic, and my first and only death so far has been because of a failure to properly explain said mechanic, causing me to fuck it up 3 times before I did it right, and because camping is actually extremely vital to success in this game, it caused me to die and fail the mission.

Any healing items in your inventory cannot be used on the fly, they are only usable during a camping session. You can initiate a camping session upon finding a suitable spot for one, which you can either randomly find in the generated rooms of a “dungeon”, or in between the “dungeons” on a mission in shelters where you get sort of a mini-camp session.

A full camping session involves you selecting the character with the highest Overwatch skill to manage said session. You need to do three specific things to maximize your sessions effectiveness, and these things are not properly tutorialized and are easy to misunderstand or miss out altogether. When the camping session starts, the character you’ve chosen to manage the whole thing starts out by standing in front of the campfire, with an “interact” icon hovering above it.

Do not interact with the campfire. It will end the camping session immediately and you cannot redo it, you will have to find a new campsite.

Instead, you need to find the interact icon for sleep and the icon for music. The first one will restore the HP of your whole party equal to your session leader’s Overwatch skill provided it goes without incident, and the second one will restore the Vigor of your whole party equal to the session leader’s Overwatch skill.

Oh. Right, Vigor.

Vambrace has 2 health bars essentially. There’s your Hit Points (HP), and then there’s Vigor. HP works how you think it does, you take damage in combat or from poison or traps and if you hit 0 you die.

Vigor is basically a worse version of the Stress mechanic from Darkest Dungeon, but instead of ticking up as your characters get more and more stressed out, their Vigor essentially goes down as you walk through the various dungeon rooms, and certain debuffs and traps can reduce it as well.

Once you’ve done both a sleep and a music session, you then need to open up your inventory and use the appropriate healing items to cover up whatever those two things didn’t get. If one character was particularly badly hurt and needs extra patching up after a nap, do it with healing items now. You cannot use healing items outside of a camping session, so do it now.

You can also only use status healing items here too, and status ailments don’t go away with a nap.

Only once you have done those three things should you interact with the campfire again, ending the camping session and continuing on with the dungeon.

The Other Stuff

The other reason besides the gameplay being interesting enough that I plan on continuing to play this game is that the art direction and the sound design are actually very, very well done, with a feeeeew small exceptions.

Let’s start with the art direction.

Visually, the game looks fantastic. It’s as if you took the visual style of Darkest Dungeon but made it more anime-esque and less horrifying, more pleasant to look at. It’s really pretty and well stylized, and is a style that will hold up visually even when graphical advancements outpace it.

The character designs are also all fairly unique, if a little over-designed sometimes. You can pick out all the named characters on sight alone, they’re all visually distinct from each other and are easily recognizable.

The sound design is also, for the most part, really really good. The ambient noise is a good quality, the audio is well balanced and none of it really grates on my ears, and some of it is actually pretty nice to listen to.

The music in the game so far is also good, and while I haven’t come across any tracks that made me want to just sit there and listen to it on loop for a few minutes, I also haven’t found any tracks that made me go “oh god oh god make it stop”

The only part of the audio I have a problem with is...the voice acting. It’s only shown up in a few very small cutscene bits so far, mostly the initial opening scene, but I can’t really put my finger on what’s wrong with it. The only character who’s spoken so far is Lyric, and I really am finding it hard to say exactly why her voice-acted dialogue bothers me, but it really grated on my ears and I was glad when the cutscene ended.

I think it was a mixture of the quality of the audio, it didn’t sound professionally recorded although I’ll grant it that it wasn’t “Skyrim mod voice acted by the modder” level of terrible, but it still left a lot to be desired. The other part that got to me was just the style with which the actress was talking, however I can’t really pinpoint if it was just the stilted dialogue she was stuck with, if the direction was bad, or if she just didn’t really have much of an idea what she was doing.

She had a very monotonous voice throughout, and while she wasn’t speaking flatly or like she was bored, it was moreso that kind of voice people give characters like Sasuke in fandubs, where they’re overly mopey and Serious™ which kinda takes the oomph out of lines that should have had the more somber tone.

Overall Thoughts and Opinions

Keep in mind this is all based on the first 2 hours of gameplay, and that I’ll probably post a more detailed version of this (or make a video) once I’m either a lot further into the game or I beat it.

I don’t hate the game. I think the writing is completely overdone and obnoxious, and has way, way too much lore and way too many things going on without focusing on the more narrow plotline, and I have a huge problem with the very very inconsistent naming scheme, but aside from those two specific criticisms, I’ve definitely seen worse writing.

And it’s not like the characters aren’t endearing in that “this character 1000% slots into a very specific JRPG trope but I’m here for it” sort of way. I did enjoy what I got to see of Lyric and the other named characters, even though they were completely stereotypical and Lyric comes off as a bit of a Mary Sue.

So far the writing is very flawed, but in a tolerable way. I’d much more rather play a game written with love and care and have the flaws come from human error rather than a game that was written by committee to be as bland and appealing to as wide an audience as possible without offending anyone.

The gameplay definitely isn’t as deep as it could be, but the out-of-combat mechanics actually do require a lot of forethought and planning once you actually understand them.

That’s probably my biggest criticism of the game outside of the writing, the game has a pretty decent tutorial that tries to explain everything, but the UI design and how the game presents its information outside of the tutorial works against that and forces you to memorize things and constantly refer back to the tutorial pages.

There’s a lot of quality-of-life things that are missing that shouldn’t be. The ability to rebind keys, the ability to even check a simple menu solely dedicated to the keybinds instead of sifting back through the tutorials trying to figure out what fucking key you need to press for things is.

There’s no hover-over information, on anything. The mouse does literally nothing, you could control the whole game with the keyboard. This is especially problematic when dealing with stat buffs and debuffs, because while you can open up your character stat menu in combat to check exactly what their debuffs do, you can’t open up an enemy stat page and are completely reliant on having memorized what icon corresponds to what debuff and what that debuff actually does.

But if you can look past the cripplingly bad UI and inability to rebind keys, along with the weird writing, the game is actually fairly charming and does have a lot to offer, so I’d definitely recommend checking it out! I bought it on sale for about $16 USD, and if the game keeps up the current quality for a decent chunk of playtime, I’d say it’s worth it around that price. Probably not at full price though.

#moonspeak #Alyss plays games #idk #i was bored

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commentaryvorg · 5 years

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Danganronpa V3 Commentary: Part 4.10

Be aware that this is not a blind playthrough! This will contain spoilers for the entire game, regardless of the part of the game I’m commenting on. A major focus of this commentary is to talk about all of the hints and foreshadowing of events that are going to happen and facts that are going to be revealed in the future of the story. It is emphatically not intended for someone experiencing the game for their first time.

Last time in the second half of chapter 4’s investigation, Shuichi had Kaito “help” him out by doing absolutely nothing, which Kaito totally wasn’t having a big sulk about afterwards, Maki warned Shuichi not to get too caught up in being the Ultimate Detective over being himself (which may have been why he was accidentally kind of a dick to Kaito), Kokichi was still very deliberately being a dick to Kaito about his inability to help Shuichi, not that Kaito was letting it get to him or anything, and Kaito reminded Shuichi yet again that he was there for him if he ever needed help, because this whole investigation has definitely not made Kaito even more terrified that Shuichi simply doesn’t need him at all.

Now, we start the trial! I hope you’re ready to be here a while, because this is going to take several more posts to cover than any trial up until now.

Kokichi: “Before we start, I just wanna ask something since there’s not a lot of us left… What happens if the votes result in two first places?”

It’s odd that Kokichi is asking this here. Going by the principle of Chekhov’s Gun, you’d expect this to be because it’s going to come up later somehow (like the fact that they keep mentioning not voting equals death will), but… it doesn’t. So instead, the only point of this is to hint at what’s going on in Kokichi’s head right now. I guess he’s worried that people might be so determined to believe in Gonta that he’ll only be able to convince half of them Gonta did it when the time comes?

Monokuma: “It means they’re both the blackened. As long as one of them is correct, it’s fine.”

No, Monokuma! You of all people should not be misunderstanding what the word “blackened” means! The “blackened” is not the person who was voted for! There cannot be more than one blackened at a time! What he presumably means by this is that both people who tied in the vote count as the person who was voted for, and as long as one of them is the blackened, that still counts as the spotless winning, such that only the blackened (and not the other person voted for) gets executed.

Kokichi: “Kaito’s the culprit!”

Kaito: “What!? Say that to my face!”

He… he just did, Kaito? Don’t get so riled up already; we’ve got a long way to go here.

(Still, it’s so very like Kaito to have a thing about how people should say stuff like that to someone’s face and not only behind their back. If you think something about someone, even if it’s bad, then you shouldn’t hide it from them. Stick to your convictions! Be open about your intentions towards others!)

Gonta: “Kaito couldn’t have killed Miu!”

Aww, look at Gonta believing in Kaito, just like Kaito believes in him. I wish they’d had a chance to become better friends instead of just distantly respecting each other like this. (I mean, that’d make this whole ordeal even more painful for Kaito than it’s already going to be, but. (…but that’d be a good thing.))

Kokichi: “How long are you gonna keep saying that? Trusted people can still kill, y’know. We already saw that a buncha times! So many times… since Kaede.”

And how many times are you going to keep saying this same tired line and trying to get everyone to believe that even seemingly trustworthy people are nothing but horrible backstabbers, Kokichi? The trusted people who have killed so far had good reasons for doing so that didn’t mean they weren’t still the people everyone believed in. He’s trying to get everyone to think that Kaito could totally have been a horrible person all along despite appearances, but that notion has not remotely been backed up by anything that’s happened so far.

Shuichi: (The fact that Kaito was the only one logged out is suspicious… But he’s not the culprit! He can’t be!)

Even though by this point Shuichi has definitive proof that Kaito literally can’t be the culprit, I still like to think that his certainty here is coming not from his Ultimate Detective side but from Shuichi Saihara believing in his friend.

Himiko: “Well, Kaito? Any last words?”

Himiko, geez! I thought you were happy that Kaito supported you last trial! Why are you so ready to throw him under the bus and assume he killed someone!?

(I guess this is maybe lingering hints of her “laziness”, in that while she’s doing her best to act positive now, she still kind of just wants to take the easy way out of things.)

Gonta: “Ummm… Gonta has question… Where is this ‘Ver-chew-ul World’ place? What floor is it on?”

Oh, poor Gonta. He wants to understand! He wants to be able to follow everyone else’s conversation so that he can help! They’re all talking about having gone to this place that he’s never even been to!

This does work well enough on a first time through as just making one assume that he’s only wondering how they physically got there from the computer room and still remembers that the place exists. Which, fair enough, if that really were what he’s asking then it’s not the most relevant question right now, so it makes sense that everyone would brush it off.

Maki: “If you don’t understand, then don’t say anything.”

Still, Maki’s bluntness is not helping in this instance. It’s just letting everyone write this off as Gonta being his usual naïve, “stupid” self (he’s not stupid) and not realise how much of a serious deal it is that he apparently doesn’t even properly know about the Virtual World.

Kaito: “So her cause of death in the Virtual World is the one that matters.”

Gonta: “U-Ummm…”

Aaagh, Gonta is still being too polite and awkward to just speak up about not even having been to this world. This is the problem with him being so unsure of himself! He’s assuming that he should understand whatever they’re talking about and is simply being stupid, rather than having the confidence to stand up for himself and say “okay, no, really, I’m pretty sure I haven’t been there, what is everyone talking about?”

Tsumugi: “Oh, it seems like Gonta is confused, so why don’t we review things a bit? Umm… So we split into two groups to find the secret of the outside world.”

Not helping. She’s still completely skipping over the bit Gonta needs an explanation about, namely the bit where they entered the Virtual World in the first place. By assuming that Gonta already knows about that, she’s just making him think that that part is something he should know and if he doesn’t then he’s just stupid. Which leads to him trying his best to catch up by simply imagining all these things and not questioning the fact that they really didn’t happen to him.

Kokichi: “…that NPC Kaito!”

I’ve mentioned this before, but Kokichi’s insults are very carefully and deliberately geared towards people’s vulnerabilities. He just called Kaito an unimportant background character, irrelevant next to the hero of the story who can actually affect things and make a difference, which is exactly what Kaito is currently terrified that he might be.

(Ironically, from an out-universe perspective, while Kaito is literally an NPC, he is currently anything but a background character, precisely because of these issues he’s having. Tsumugi, Himiko, Keebo and even Maki are mostly irrelevant to this trial’s narrative, but Kaito is one of the central players in it.)

Kaito: “Hey! Who you callin’ NPC, you A-S-S!?”

…I don’t have any comments on Kaito’s issues to make here. I just like this comeback.

Himiko: “Whatever did that to Miu… was dropped right next to her avatar.”

“What was on ground?”

It’s convenient that Gonta’s speech pattern makes his white noise easy to identify. Look at him trying to piece together a mental picture of what was going on even though he has no idea about any of this!

Kokichi: “Or Gonta beat her with his bare hands.”

…

“Gonta NEVER hit lady!”

Aww, Gonta. I’d agree that of course you never would, but…

(Also look at Kokichi dropping that here and making it seem like an obviously-just-being-a-dick suggestion even though he knows. He’s got his sly grin for that line.)

Shuichi: “During the investigation, we found toilet paper outside the mansion.”

He’s not saying precisely where outside the mansion it was located. So Shuichi is still the only one who knows both of the pieces of information that can prove Gonta did it. He and Keebo found the toilet paper; he and Tsumugi saw where Gonta was standing. Everyone else just knows they were “outside”.

Shuichi: “I’m guessing that the toilet paper was used to strangle her.”

Gonta: “Gonta no can ignore that!” … … “What you mean, Shuichi?”

Shuichi: “Huh? What’s wrong…?”

Gonta: “What wrong!? Shuichi goofing off! Not gentlemanly at all!”

Oh, Gonta. He’s helping! He can’t just stand there and let Shuichi say something that obviously doesn’t make any sense!

This Rebuttal Showdown is absolutely great. It’s not difficult in the slightest – in fact, it’s the only one in the whole game where the correct weak spot is in the first section and not the second, and that’s the only weak spot it even has – but that’s the point. It’s here as a big hint towards how little Gonta understands about everything that’s going on here.

Gonta: “Even Gonta know that, and Gonta not smart!”

And it’s also here for the character-writing purpose of showing that Gonta is still desperate to be useful. All of this stuff everyone’s been talking about is so confusing and he has no idea how to contribute, but this is something that even Gonta can tell isn’t right and can therefore help with!

Gonta: “Miu died such an awful death… So why you not take this seriously!? You call yourself Ultimate Detective!? Use your head! Figure out real murder weapon!”

This is the entire second section of the debate, which doesn’t have any weak spots because it’s not a logical argument – it’s just Gonta getting overly emotional. He hates that so many people have died, and now here’s Shuichi messing around when everyone’s lives are at stake? That’s not like him! If nobody else is going to make Shuichi get his head on straight, Gonta will!

Gonta: “…Unbreakable?”

Kokichi: “Nee-heehee! You’re so dumb, Gonta! You didn’t even know that?”

Everyone else is assuming that Gonta is confused because he doesn’t understand the Virtual World. But Kokichi knows Gonta should at least understand the unbreakable toilet paper because he strangled Miu with it, so Kokichi thinks that Gonta just lied and pretended to be stupider than he is. This is him helping back up that supposed lie by going “look, guys, Gonta really is this dumb!”.

In reality, even if he remembered, Gonta would never tell a lie like this. This wouldn’t be a direct lie about something he did, but a lie about his nature to mislead them very indirectly, which is a kind of lie Gonta isn’t even really capable of telling, no matter how much he wanted to hide his crime to save everyone. Kokichi should realise here that something’s up because Gonta wouldn’t lie in this way – but that doesn’t occur to him, because he projects his manipulative two-faced nature onto everyone, apparently even including Gonta, so Gonta lying like this makes perfect sense to him.

Gonta: “Gonta… not really understand, but… Sorry, Shuichi! Gonta was wrong!”

Poor Gonta. He still doesn’t actually understand how on earth the toilet paper wouldn’t break, but if Shuichi’s saying so and everyone else is agreeing then Shuichi must know what he’s talking about and not be goofing off after all, and Gonta is just somehow being stupid again.

Shuichi: (If the culprit meant to get rid of the evidence, they did a poor job of it. There was a much better place where they could have destroyed it.)

Shuichi’s talking about the river, of course – but this line of logic doesn’t get pursued for now. The question of why the culprit didn’t dispose of the toilet paper properly and left it where they did is the reason we can be sure that Gonta did it, and that’s not something the writing wants to get to for quite some time.

Gonta: “Uses for a hammer… Gonta know! Miu gonna build stuff with hammer!”

Aww, Gonta, look at him trying to contribute ideas even though he doesn’t understand what everyone’s talking about! I am sad that the debate doesn’t even dignify this with an agree spot to imply that he could be right.

Kokichi: “By the way, *Miu* asked to meet up with me before we went into the Virtual World… I totally forgot where we were supposed to meet, so good thing Kee-boy spied on us.”

Yeah, no, his tone of voice here makes it clear that’s a lie. He only pretended to forget precisely so that someone could overhear and Shuichi could figure it out.

Ugggghhh and now more taxi shenanigans. I bought a skill to upgrade my car to a faster one now, which is usually counterproductive because it makes it hard to avoid crashing into other cars and that massively slows you down, but now that I also have Kaito’s FTE skill which prevents any slowdown from crashes, things can go by even quicker! (You still take damage from crashes, but hey; it’s not like I’m taking damage for any other reason in this trial.) It is disappointing to me that Kaito’s skill is only useful in the stupidest minigame, but I’m still going to make the best use of it that I can, dammit.

(I have Gonta’s FTE skill now too, but I didn’t equip that one because it makes the Argument Armaments go by faster, and ha ha, no way I want to do that right now. I’ll use it later, though.)

The questions asked in this taxi segment are still frustratingly obvious and two steps behind. You’d think the answer to “where was Miu trying to kill Kokichi?” should be “on the mansion’s rooftop” and then this is about how she could have got there, but no, we’re not remotely at that point yet, we’re apparently supposed to be just now figuring out that she was trying to kill him in the Virtual World in general.

Kaito: “What? Miu was the one who put that poison bottle there? No, that ain’t right! Something’s definitely weird about that!”

Kaito is not usually one to have a particularly strong opinion either way about the arguments being made – he normally just summarises points and tries to move the discussion along rather than objecting to anything. But look at him here, actually contributing an argument of his own. He’s totally being useful, right?

Kaito: “When could Miu have put the poison there?”

“Maybe while Gonta sleep?”

Gonta is still trying to understand. At least this bit doesn’t involve the Virtual World and so he can grasp it a little better – this guess of his is technically correct, after all!

Tsumugi: “Did you see her log in or log out at all?”

“Gonta see nothing!”

Tsumugi is asking Kokichi, since he was in the salon. Gonta didn’t need to contribute, but look at him contributing.

Kaito: “…then Miu couldn’t have placed the poison!”

Whoops, my hand slipped and I totally accidentally fired the wrong Truth Bullet at Kaito’s statement here. It definitely wasn’t that I want to talk about the dialogue that happens if you get this wrong:

Kaito: “If she didn’t log in or out, then there’s no way she coulda placed the poison!” [looking evasively off to the side] “But… if my sidekick says so, then maybe there was a way…”

Kaito knows that if Shuichi is questioning him on this point, it’s got to be because it’s wrong, but even though he believes in Shuichi being more right than him, he’s so reluctant to admit it. Usually he’d be proud of his sidekick and happy to encourage him to try again to get it right even though that’d mean proving Kaito wrong, but not this time. His jealousy is starting to have an effect on him.

Himiko: “The only person who logged out early was Kaito…”

Kokichi: “Kaito, your grave just got ten feet deeper!”

“Total self-destruction…”

Also, while Kaito’s argument is wrong, if it had been right then it would have just served to make himself look more suspicious, so, uh, good job, Kaito? Like someone comments, he kinda shot himself in the foot there, especially since he kept saying he wanted to clear his own name.

(Kaito’s grave is going to be so deep it’s going to come out the other side of the Earth and be in SPACE.)

(Well, not technically his grave, but you know what I mean.)

Kaito: “Is this… a record of who went in and out of the Virtual World?”

See, Kaito was wrong simply because he didn’t see the login/logout record, because someone wasn’t letting him investigate properly (and by “properly” I mean, “with Shuichi”, since Shuichi’s the only one who gets shown all the relevant information because everyone thinks he’s the only one who’ll need it). Kaito is not being stupid – but he is being reckless to assume he’s right and jump in to make arguments when he knows his understanding of the case is going to be incomplete. Kaito’s attempt to “help” here has only ended up drawing attention to him being worse at this than Shuichi.

Shuichi: “It says that Miu was the last of us to log in.”

Kaito: “Yeah. What about it?”

Kaito’s got that evasive face again here. He’s not stupid enough to not know what that means – he just doesn’t want to admit that he was wrong and Shuichi had it all figured out while he didn’t.

(When I say “evasive face”, I mean this face. He’s going to be making that face a lot during this trial, so I might as well show you which one I’m talking about when I refer to it.)

This debate we just had is the beginning of what’s going to be a long string of Shuichi refuting Kaito’s arguments over and over again during this trial, which is (yet another!) clearly deliberate thing the writers are doing for the sake of pushing Kaito’s jealousy issues to breaking point and I love it.

Gonta: “That right! She coulda placed poison bottle on Kokichi’s seat!”

See, even Gonta gets it! Because this part isn’t about what happened in the Virtual World, so he can at least grasp that she “went to sleep” last and therefore had time to do that.

Kokichi: “She tried to kill me in the Virtual World, make us think it happened in the real world… then pin the crime on Kaito.”

Kaito: “W-Well that’s not my fault!”

I love Kaito’s exasperated reaction here. Kokichi was being such a dick to him during the investigation, supposedly due to the fact that he looked like the most likely to have done it, as if he’d done something wrong. Now that Kaito knows that all of that was Miu’s doing, he’s mad that she caused Kokichi to treat him that way when he hadn’t done anything to deserve it, dammit!

Kokichi: “Which is why she manually logged you out, just for that purpose.”

Kaito: “So she did that to me?”

Come on, Kaito, keep up. I know you were in a sulk about the cell phone thing, but surely not so much that you couldn’t at least realise what that meant? No? Apparently it really was that big of a sulk.

I guess now’s the time to properly talk about the fact that Miu was trying to frame Kaito. Presumably the reason she chose him is that she was thinking of the time Kaito punched Kokichi a couple of breakfasts ago and figured it would make a plausible argument that Kaito would be angry enough at him to flat-out kill him. Because, of course, Miu doesn’t understand Kaito at all, so it doesn’t remotely occur to her that that punch wasn’t about him wanting to hurt Kokichi and was in fact about trying to get through to him. Or that, simply based on Kaito’s character, the idea of him killing someone just because he doesn’t like them is inconceivable. She also completely failed to realise that framing the closest friend of our resident Ultimate Detective was an incredibly stupid idea, because that would just make Shuichi all the more sure that it wasn’t the truth and determined to prove it wrong, even if he might need to lie for Kaito in order to move the debate onto the real truth.

But there’s an out-universe reason for Miu framing Kaito too – because that led to Kokichi using it to be a dick and stop him from investigating, and that has all kinds of relevance to Kaito’s arc about his jealousy of Shuichi that the out-universe writers are crafting here. It meant Shuichi proved he can investigate just fine yet again without Kaito’s help, and Kaito not investigating properly means he’s missing a lot of information, which is partially why he’s going to be refuted by Shuichi so many times in this trial.

Kokichi: “Well, I knew that from the start.”

Kaito: “Then why did you say I was the culprit!?”

Kokichi: “Because I wanted to get it through your thick skull… People you trust and defend will ultimately betray you. This is a game of suspicion.”

Aaaaand now Kokichi is just straight-up admitting that this is what he’s doing! I really don’t know why I don’t see more people talking about this part of Kokichi’s character – he does it so often that it’s so far from subtle, and then here he goes and makes his intention to do so absolutely explicit.

That said, on this occasion, it’s actually quite stupid of him to have been trying to do so by insisting Kaito’s the culprit when he knows he isn’t. All that’s going to achieve, once that theory gets proven impossible, is make people realise that they were right to trust Kaito all along and should never have listened to Kokichi’s words. Which is incredibly counterproductive to Kokichi’s goal of getting this point across to people. So… apparently he’s so irrationally fixated on convincing everyone of his worldview that he’s going about doing so without even really consciously thinking about it, because if he were thinking about how to do so the most effectively then he should have known this would shoot himself in the foot. That’s… actually kind of interesting. God, it sure would be nice if we ever understood why Kokichi is so convinced that people can only ever betray each other so I could get behind this more.

(Although it seems from his wording here that he’s specifically talking about getting his point through to Kaito, which makes some sense in terms of his character because he’s always been the most bothered about Kaito believing the opposite to him – but that’s just even more obviously illogical, how on earth would accusing Kaito of something Kokichi knows he didn’t do ever make Kaito start to doubt people more???)

Kaito: “…”

Kaito is angry here. No doubt he’s not happy about Kokichi’s philosophy and the fact that he’s been trying to force it onto everyone. But he’s also probably angry that Kokichi claiming to believe Kaito did it wasn’t what Kokichi really thought of him at all (remember “say that to my face!”?) and was just him lying about that to try and manipulate people’s feelings.

Kokichi: “Welp, I think your ideals should stay the same.”

Haha, no, Kokichi, if you really didn’t mind Kaito’s ideals staying the same then you wouldn’t have just tried so counterproductively hard to change them. Not to mention Kokichi’s whole thing in the middle of trial 2 with turning Kaito and Maki against each other, which was also one giant attempt to convince Kaito that suspecting and sacrificing others in order to protect himself was necessary. He has wanted Kaito’s ideals to change this whole time.

What I think this line could be, though, is the moment Kokichi finally gives up on doing so and accepts that it was always impossible to change Kaito’s mind on this. Which in Kokichi-speak comes out as the idea that of course he totally never even wanted to do it in the first place, because Kokichi can’t possibly ever have been wrong about anything.

Kokichi: “Because phonies like you are what make the game more interesting!”

And instead it seems Kokichi’s decided that even though Kaito’s never going to change his mind, he can still have fun with that by watching Kaito flounder in his inability to accept that Gonta did it. At least this trial will totally prove that Kokichi’s right and not Kaito, even if Kaito’s too much of an idiot and a “phony” to ever admit it, right? (Because Kaito actually being right to believe in people definitely couldn’t be the reason it’s impossible to change his mind, nope, no way.)

Kokichi: “Anywhoooo, it’s a blessing in disguise that Miu died and not me.”

It really isn’t. Miu succeeding in her murder would mean that this case got rid of the two people everyone cared the least about – which is still objectively bad, but nowhere near as painful as the reality is going to be.

(But of course the fact that it makes the trial easier than if she’d killed him totally justifies Kokichi killing Miu, right?)

Kokichi: “You guys would’ve had a way harder time finding the culprit, y’know. She would’ve been able to lie about the Virtual World’s settings as much as she wanted…”

Yeah, no, we wouldn’t. Her murder plan was horrendously unsubtle and Shuichi would definitely have figured out something was up. Plus Monokuma would have made sure everyone got the necessary information about the Virtual World anyway, to make the trial fair.

Kokichi: “And you’d never know that the murder actually took place in the Virtual World.”

We would, because of the poison. And even if Miu had picked a more sensible poison to use, Shuichi would have lied about the poison to protect Kaito because he’d know Kaito would never have done it and would therefore suspect that the real murder took place in the Virtual World anyway.

Tsumugi: “I was sad that she was gone, but now I don’t know what to think…”

Kokichi: “Nee-heeheehee! Niiiiice! Backstabbed by a trusted friend! See? That’s an ideal fun situation!”

Yeah, except for the fact that this doesn’t remotely prove you right at all, Kokichi, because literally nobody ever trusted Miu. (Except Gonta, who blindly trusts everyone.) Everybody was super suspicious of her invitation to the Virtual World and only ended up going because of Monokuma’s bait, not because they trusted her one bit.

Also look at him calling being betrayed by a trusted person “fun”, when actually in his worldview that’s the most terrifying thing ever to the point that his entire character revolves around protecting himself from it. But so long as it’s not happening to him and is only happening to others, then it’s allowed to be “fun”. Kokichi often uses “fun” as basically just a synonym for “good”, and this is good, because look, it proves him right!!! (even though it doesn’t.)

Kokichi: “Now we can start a *real* class trial!”

Gonta: “Hey, Kokichi sorta sound like… Monokuma.”

Heh. Gonta knows what’s up. He’s so confused by the actual arguments and deductions about the Virtual World, but he’s still paying as much attention as he can and picking up on the things he can understand.

Kaito: “No… You’re just like Monokuma. Both of you are cowards. You never speak the truth or show your true face.”

Kokichi: “Wait, coward? You say some interesting things sometimes, Kaito.”

Haven’t I been saying this whole time that Kokichi is basically just a gigantic coward? Kaito knows it, too. Kokichi’s entire shtick of insisting to everyone that distrusting others is the only sensible thing to do because people will always betray you is just one big elaborate attempt to hide from the fact that he’s terrified of being betrayed and therefore being a coward to not try and take that risk and believe in people regardless. Which means that he’s convinced himself that he’s not a coward, just logical, and so naturally he’s confused by Kaito calling him out here.

And of course, this is another example of Kaito’s intuition at work. He’s still having a hard time figuring out Kokichi completely, but he can tell that what Kokichi’s showing on the surface right now isn’t quite him and there’s something else beneath that that he’s hiding out of cowardice.

It’s also notable that Kokichi calls Kaito’s opinion interesting and doesn’t precisely suggest that he’s wrong. The way Kokichi words that sounds like he might have picked up on the fact that Kaito has him partially figured out. …Alternatively, Kokichi thinks that Kaito is being a coward by hiding his illness (something else Kokichi has picked up on) and that phrasing is him implying that Kaito is being a hypocrite here.

Kaito: “Smiling, putting on a mask, never saying what you really think… That kind of cowardice is just like Monokuma!”

This whole speech could be read as incredibly hypocritical coming from Kaito, who’s spent this whole chapter smiling and putting a mask over his illness and how that’s really making him feel. But it’s not as hypocritical as it might seem, because that’s not the kind of lying that Kaito’s getting at. When Kaito says Kokichi never shows his “true face”, he’s talking about the part of him that’s terrified of betrayal and hates everything about this killing game, which is the real core of Kokichi’s character and something he’s constantly pretending to be the complete opposite of. But the real core of Kaito’s character is someone who always wants to help out everyone around him and believe in the people he wants to believe in, and he would never try and make people think that that isn’t him. He’s hiding some of his true feelings, about the fact that he’s dying and scared and helpless, but those feelings don’t change who he truly is, and he’s never hiding that.

Kaito doesn’t actually mention his concept of manliness here, because now really isn’t the time to make himself sound ridiculous, but this is what the main bulk of that is and why that concept is so important to him. Stick to your convictions, take responsibility, be open and honest about your intentions regarding others. That kind of sincerity and integrity, or an utter lack thereof, is the biggest way in which Kaito and Kokichi are polar opposites.

It is, however, kind of wrong of Kaito to be comparing this to Monokuma. Kaito is clearly assuming that Monokuma is just a puppet for the real mastermind. He’s saying the mastermind is being too much of a coward to show everyone who they really are and take responsibility for all the suffering they’re causing, instead hiding behind Monokuma’s character and blaming it all on him. In fairness, that is actually what the mastermind’s doing – but that’s not what Monokuma is doing. Monokuma is a separate person, an autonomous AI who really does just enjoy making an exciting killing game and causing despair and isn’t hiding anything behind that. He was created to genuinely be that character that Junko only used as a façade in the original games.

Kaito: “Listen up, Kokichi! To hell with this ‘game of suspicion’ crap! I will never be okay with it!”

Kokichi was twisted by this game right from the beginning into pretending he’s more than just okay with it in order to cope, which spiralled into him doing the awful things he’s doing here – and Kaito absolutely refuses to let the same thing happen to him. But what’s really interesting is that he’s saying “listen up”, which is something Kaito usually only says when he’s giving people advice. Which means that on some level, Kaito is still trying to get through to Kokichi! He knows that Kokichi doesn’t genuinely enjoy this game of suspicion either and is still hoping to get him to drop the act!

Kaito: “I’m just gonna believe in everyone! Instead of suspecting my friends, I’m gonna find the truth by believing in them!”

Kaito should understand by now how unfortunately not appropriate it is to believe in literally everyone in this situation – so what he’s most likely saying here is that he believes in everyone except Kokichi, meaning he thinks Kokichi did it and is just waiting for everyone else’s efforts to figure out a way to prove it.

Which makes it quite something that he’s still trying to get through to him just a tiny bit anyway even though he believes Kokichi’s going to die today. Maybe his belief still also applies to Kokichi in a way, in that while he thinks Kokichi most likely did it, he still believes that somewhere deep down Kokichi is a decent person who didn’t truly want to do it and only did so because he was twisted by the killing game. If that’s what Kaito believes, then… he’s actually completely right.

And sure, maybe it’s a bit foolhardy of Kaito to refuse to suspect anyone when doing so at least a little bit really would help to find the truth, but he is so determined to stick to his convictions and not let this awful game twist him into something he isn’t! This game is designed to foster suspicion and distrust, and it takes courage to defy that and keep believing anyway, even if it’s also kind of reckless. Kaito is so good.

Kokichi: “Well, if you think you can win this game like that… then sure, be my guest.”

What definition of “winning” are you even talking about here, Kokichi? I thought you’d redefined it to mean “getting one over on Monokuma and ruining his game”, and that can certainly happen while continuing to believe in everyone. That would be more likely to happen while believing in everyone, actually, because then you could all work together on it.

The only way in which Kokichi can be arguing that “winning” requires suspicion is if he means “surviving this trial as a spotless”. And sure, that requires suspicion – but not from everyone. Kaito can still keep believing in everybody all he likes and it won’t get him killed, so long as other spotless, meaning mostly Shuichi, have just the right amount of suspicion in others to reach the truth.

And I think Kaito knows this; he’s always believed in Shuichi’s ability to save everyone even if it means suspecting people and facing painful truths. Kaito just might be a little less sure about his own ability to face such truths (and right now he’s definitely not expecting he’s going to have to because he’s assuming Kokichi did it) – but ultimately, he won’t need to in order to survive so long as Shuichi is there.

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ghostmartyr · 5 years

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Pokémon FireRed Nuzlocke [Part 13]

Once again back at the Bill Gaiden, we continue our quest to beat the game without any grinding.

The current take on this problem is to focus on only three members of the team in the final chapter. Plus prayer and possibly lots of X items I haven’t bought yet.

I believe in you, my precious team.

...Sort of.

On whatever route I’m on, a Persian shows up. I guess I will try to catch it.

I did catch it.

Its name is Oak.

Rock Smash get, and Oak is gonna learn it for us. As our last real run taught us, Krabby is the best for HMs. Nom nom.

Sap is handling all of the Fighting trainers on this first island here. Seems prudent, given the choices involved. Plus my expectations of Sap. Sap has, by far, the largest role in my eventual plans. My child. You must take your amazing moves. Use them. And sweep all the things.

My Mt. Ember option is a Fearow, and I just can’t. I have two things that aren’t a Master Ball, I think. Sorry, Fearow. We were not meant to be.

Except Trunk can’t run from you. So I might be considering catching you.

Aha, flee accepted.

These are still dopey names.

-sigh- I tried to skip into Three Island, but it looks like you have to talk to NPCs to hit off the Biker Gang part of the Bill Gaiden. This run, having been a shrine to defeatism, didn’t bother with talking with most everyone. The cost is island hopping. Much sad. Very annoy.

“I am a video game character and my child is missing. Her name

is Lostelle.”

Video games are good.

Okay, Biker Gang subplot. Give me my exp.

GIVE ME MY EXP IN A LESS TRAUMATIZING FASHION POR FAVOR.

Later on the island, we are in the berry forest and encounter a Psyduck. With luck, it will be our box friend in the very near future.

Caught! Its name is Oak.

Don’t worry, little girl. I am the protagonist. I will save you.

By running away from the wild Hypno. Because that’s what heroes do.

Kid returned, and I think that means. I think I get to go fight Giovanni’s Gym.

Delightful.

Oak is level 50, Trunk and Sap are both 49. Bark, should she be required, is level 47.

Not a bad place to be in. Not close enough to feeling safe, but I think this has the potential to go better than Heero’s term.

Final badge. Let’s go. For added fun, I won’t even follow my map of the trainers inside the Gym. I’ll just go by guessing based on the trainer type.

Oak is level 52, Sap and Trunk are level 50. Good show, guys.

Aaaaaaand final badge! Magnificent.

Rival, Victory Road, then Elite Four, right?

That sounds doable?

Please?

I’m going to miss not having an Electric type available for the Pidgeot. And for the Gyarados. Acorn, Zaft. Your presence would be so valuable here.

I think I’m going to put Oak in front for that. Rival has enough to respond to Oak that any Sand Attacks can be swapped out. Wanting Oak for two fights in a row probably won’t happen. Hopefully.

My amusement is slowly being replaced by existential dread.

Oh, neat. The Pidgeot goes for Wing Attack instead of the awful sand. Thank you, Rival-san’s Pidgeot. I hate you and everything, but you’re a class act.

Trunk goes in for the Venusaur. It of level 53.

We get through.

I’ll actually send Sap out to (hopefully) handle the Gyarados.

Oak back in for the Alakazam. Stays in for the Growlithe.

Bloodless victory.

Hell, though. That is not a confidence boost. The levels keep reminding me how tight this really is, and I’m very short on Type variety. I know my main strategy, which I didn’t use here, is going to be massively setting up before anything else, but aaaaaaaaa.

I don’t want to go through all of this again. I’m not good enough at the game to reliably improve.

On the side of things I can do, I’m going to teach Trunk Earthquake.

And it looks very much like it makes sense for Oak to learn Ice Beam. He still has Tackle, for crying out loud. There’s room for improvement. The only problem is that hey, I still want Shadow Ball for Trunk, and guess what other TM is also a Game Corner thing?

In the spirit of bad things not happening maybe, I’m going to grab those TMs before Victory Road. No point limiting myself. I am also going to look up if I can get the Amulet coin and make some extra money, because the money situation ended up making me sad by the end of Heero and friends.

...

To. the slots.

I need 8500 coins.

Sigh.

SIGH.

170,000, is it?

Actual depiction of life’s traumas.

If I want to mess with their moves some more, I’ll do it after Victory Road. For now, this works.

Welp, no Amulet Coin for me.

There isn’t going to be much typing from here on out. Just picture a lot of screaming and crying. Because that’s pretty much what’s going on behind the scenes.

...Also I’m going to use Max Repels and the Master Ball on anything I come across. For maximum chance.

The Repel strat didn’t work out.

So I throw my Master Ball at a Machop.

Its name is Oak.

And every single time I leave the cave to heal, the switches require me to repeat their process. They fill me with hate. The smaller my team gets, the more often I have to head back to a Pokemon Center for PP aid.

BUT WE MAKE IT.

...

Fuck.

What do ya think?

I’m about to spend all my cash, so this is my last chance for move decisions.

I usually like something to know Toxic. Oak’s the best candidate for that in terms of an incomplete moveset, but I have a Dragon Claw TM that has similar value and can’t be wasted on Trunk or Sap.

I think this works, honestly. Oak for all things turtle, Sap for all things stall, and Trunk for miscellaneous everything. I can adjust after each one I beat. I have some interesting TMs I can play with, but for now, I think this is good.

What I need to think through is what X items I want. Then the rest goes into Full Restores. ...Oh. The X items are cheap, so I just buy a bunch without thinking it through.

Yep.

Elite Four.

Grindlocke, Take 2.

Okay, looking back over my records, I think I’m going to teach Trunk Brick Break over Yawn, use an X Attack, and go for the sweep.

Last chance to back out.

I hate this.

Two X Attacks, because I’m greedy. Dewgong down. It’s now Hailing. Have fun countering, Leftovers.

The Cloyster gets to the red with one Brick Break. Lorelei uses a Full Restore. Many stall tactics later, the Cloyster is downed with not much more of a mark on Trunk.

Slowbro next, but Shadow Ball should make that work. The hail stops, too, which is nice.

Yeesh, these things have high Defense. Slowbro’s in the red, uses Surf. Trunk is still green, but nearing half steadily. One more Shadow Ball, and the Slowbro’s gone. No Full Restore for it.

Lapras.

Brick Break puts it in the red, but it has a Sitrus Berry. I probably knew that from last time, but we’re really all about living in the moment, this run.

Lapras leaves Trunk in the high orange, but it’s out. Just the Jynx left. Going to spend a turn on a Potion just to keep things stable, then a Shadow Ball should mark the end of this.

And now Trunk is in love with it. In between being put to sleep.

...Okay, fuck you, game. What is Lovely Kiss’ accuracy?

75????

AND THEN TRUNK WAS FROZEN.

I knew these fights would be a bit of a stall game.

It wasn’t supposed to be in this direction.

LOVELY KISS CAN’T KEEP FUCKING HITTING YOU FUCKING AAAAAGH.

This Jynx is going to run out of Ice Punch PP before I get a hit in.

Oh thank fuck.

Would you look at that. It’s dead.

Oak’s going to be first for Bruno’s Onix, so Oak gets a Sitrus Berry for luck. Trunk’s healed back to full HP, and. Round two, get ready.

I gotta say, after everything I just went to, the sight of that Onix is a damn relief.

Only with that dealt with, the Hitmonchan’s prepped to come out.

Sap’s up. Because this is going to take a bunch of switching, I think I’ll try to stick with straight Sludge Bombing for as long as I can. Sap’s got a better Attack stat than Trunk at the moment (I think), so it shouldn’t be too rough.

Yeah, one Sludge Bomb puts Hitmonchan practically in the red, and Sky Uppercut doesn’t move Sap anywhere near orange.

Hello.

Bruno took out Hitmonchan to put in Onix.

Yeah. Switching. Oak, you’re up again.

Bye, Onix. And I’m going to leave Oak in to mop up the Hitmonchan to conserve PP. Bruno Full Restores it, but Surf puts it in the orange, so... eh, good enough. Oak takes an extra hit, but Oak’s time in this room is up anyway.

Hitmonlee.

Uh oh.

Also, bullshit, I had just used Minimize and Mega Kick’s accuracy sucks starting out, but. primarily. uh oh.

Ummmmmm.

Bad news, Oak.

I am so sorry.

Yeah, so Oak died, and now Oak is out at full health.

X Defend time.

OH SO NOW MEGA KICK CAN MISS, HUH.

Throw an X Special on the pile.

Oak uses up his Sitrus Berry, Bruno uses another Full Restore.

Hitmonlee goes down after far too long, and the Machamp comes out to play.

Surf gets it to deep orange. I’m going to use a Full Restore to be careful.

That there is a partially happy sight.

This, on the other hand...

Sap, I can give you a proper sendoff later, when my brain is doing something besides screaming. Suffice to say, you did nothing wrong, and this game hates me. Thanks for the fun, sorry you didn’t get to live longer or for your entire purpose.

I’m also looting your corpse for your Leftovers for Oak.

So Agatha’s next, right?

I finally get to see what a Snorlax with Shadow Ball can do about that.

I’m very much hoping the answer is, “something.”

Let’s dance, grandma.

First out is a level 54 Gengar. It knows Double Team, because this game really doesn’t actually want me to be happy. But Shadow Ball hits and gets it into the red. Agatha uses a Full Restore, and the next Shadow Ball actually hits too.

And now Trunk is confused.

Trunk.

Buddy.

Stop hitting yourself.

Fantastic, he does.

...Agatha has a Golbat? Ew. It’s level 54 too. It faints semi-easily, and then there was a level 56 Arbok. I’m just gonna spend a second on an X Attack, don’t mind me... Then a Full Restore so Trunk doesn’t fucking die...

Problems. We have them.

The level 58 Gengar coming out does not solve enough of them. Or any. It’s pretty much universally bad, actually.

That sound you hear is the snap of my fragile, innocent, sanity. I use a couple of X Defends instead of waking Trunk up. Then health becomes a slight issue, so you know what, Full Restore time!

Okay, great! Second Gengar dead! All that’s left is a level 53 Haunter. For. Reasons of who knows.

Okay.

I have never used the Poke Flute this much in my life.

And then it uses Hypnosis again, and it hits, again, and we do the whole dance over again, as you do.

IN A STUNNING TURN OF EVENTS, HAUNTER CURSING ME PUTS AN END TO ITS FUCKING CURSE, AND EVERYTHING IS IMMEDIATELY BETTER.

NO ONE ASKED YOU, YOU DAMN OLD LADY. YOU AREN’T A GENKAI. YOU’RE NOT EVEN CLOSE TO A GENKAI. FUCK YOU.

Hell, let me think.

Lance.

Dragons.

He has... two Dragonites, one Dragonair, a Charizard, and an Aerodactyl? Maybe?

I’m not banned from looking things up, but it hasn’t felt sporting to check up ahead of time. And no matter what, I think the best strategy I have here is to throw Oak in, toss on a ton of X Defends, and pray. So it doesn’t really matter what he has.

But Oak’s learning Toxic.

As a kid, I always thought Lance was just the coolest. Lance is a bitching name, and he has a dragon theme, and then he has a fucking cape. Top ten video game heroes.

As an adult, I hate Lance so much. Even the dope cape can’t spare him.

Oh hey, it’s a level 56 Gyarados. With my favorite move. Dragon Rage. That’s actually great, and it should feel free to keep using it. Dragon Rage doesn’t get critical hits. Yeah, actually, this is perfect. I’m just going to stack Oak with everything and not switch.

All of Dragon Rage’s PP later, Toxic can’t hit anything apparently, and it’s a contest of Biting. Cute.

THEN IT USES HYPER BEAM AND THE HYPER BEAM, NATURALLY, GETS A CRITICAL HIT, AND OAK HAS 15 HP AS HE LANDS THE FINAL BITE TO KILL THE FUCKER.

...Well. The poison kills it. But the feeling is there.

Look, there’s the Dragonair.

Look, it’s using Outrage.

Look, Outrage got a critical hit.

Look, it’s me crying from sheer stress.

Look, it’s the miracle of me getting a critical hit for once. It dies.

...Then out comes a second Dragonair.

Level 54s, btw. I forgot. Too many other horrible things were going on.

Oak takes that one out too, then it’s the Dragonite.

I think you just need to not die, Oak.

That works.

Aerodactyl last. Level 58.

Surf gets it.

Hate you so much, Lance.

I think the main problem here is that if I open with Oak, the Venusaur pops out, and any preparation I do during the Pidgeot round will vanish. That makes Trunk that more appealing option for an opener.

Pidgeot, Gyarados, Arcanine, Alakazam, Rhydon (?), Venusaur.

If it wouldn’t mean the Venusaur coming out, I’d just let Oak handle everything. Maybe I ought to do that anyway, and just accept that I’ll be bleeding more X Defends than I want in this fight.

Actually, wait.

Okay, no... I don’t think that’s a good move. I was thinking I could teach Oak Calm Mind for some extra boosting, and it’s not a bad thought, but.

...Actually, yeah?

Gyarados and Arcanine both have Intimidate, but Oak has Special Attack as its primaries. If I use up some X Defends on the Pidgeot to leave room for Calm Mind... the only problem would be if the Pidgeot has Whirlwind. But if it did, that would be a separate issue anyway. I can’t smash through without setup.

Max Calm Minding should make it possible for Oak to survive long enough to nail the Venusaur with Ice Beam. Barring critical hit problems. That limits the pain of removing Bite, too. If Oak’s Special is all maxed, the particular move matters less.

Done, do it.

Oh.

NEVER MIND. Blastoise doesn’t learn it. Damn.

I think I’m thinking too hard. I’ll let Oak take the Pidgeot, then Trunk can set up against the Venusaur, then I’ll just let the nightmare of switching back and for be what it will. I guess. ...

How fast is Venusaur?

Faster than Blastoise, and my Blastoise has a nature impairing Speed.

Well, I can already feel how badly this is about to go.

Sorry in advance, Oak.

Hey.

So the Pidgeot is level 59.

And it still knows Sand-Attack.

AND WHIRLWIND, OKAY.

Sorry, little gal. This one wasn’t wholly my fault.

Trunk’s going out. If I can’t have Oak kill all the things, we’ll just. Yeah.

Featherdance. Featherdance, Whirlwind, Sand-Attack, and Aerial Ace. Fuck this thing, tbqh.

Alakazam’s next.

Featherdance really can’t stand, and the Sand-Attack severely impacts Trunk’s effectiveness as well.

Ooooooh I’m not going to like myself for what I do next.

Dig like your life depends on it, girl, because it does because I am awful.

Level 57 Alakazam v level 47 Dugtrio.

But my kid’s faster. All those EVs were good for something. Bark dodges a Psychic, and since Alakazam chose Future Sight, hopefully her next Dig will spare her that as well. Too stressed. Can’t count.

Okay, how bad...

She lived.

Bark, I do not deserve you.

You did so good, Bark. Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Oak out to hopefully bait the Venusaur into showing up.

Alakazam’s Psychic packs a punch, but still a green one, and Oak’s Bite settles the matter.

Yes, the Venusaur is coming out.

The. Level 63 Venusaur. Hell.

And Earthquake isn’t super effective like I thought/hoped.

Two Growths, and Sunny Day. Oh fuck this can’t end well.

But Body Slam paralyzed it? So maybe?

Trunk outspeeds it.

It’s dead.

Oak swaps in on Rhydon because Trunk is going to be done the second he’s up against the Intimidate friends, so I need some time to set Oak up for the sweep.

It’s level 59.

This should be okay.

Sunlight faded. Want to use a Full Restore to heal up Oak in case of critical hits.

A couple of X Specials.

Should be good to go.

Rhydon down. Gyarados coming out. It’s level 59. It uses Hydro Pump, thankfully it doesn’t do much. Oak uses Toxic, and it actually hits.

Gyarados fainted.

Arcanine is up. Level 61. Need to Full Restore for caution. It uses Flamethrower. Doesn’t move Oak out of the green. Uses Flamethrower again, since it’s faster.

Oak uses Surf.

Oh.

This. This was what this was all for, in the end.

I win.

Holy heck I win.

Pidgey-Oak, Krabby-Oak... you guys did great. Thanks. ...Many, many apologies.

Sap, we never got to see you shine the way I meant you to, but you were a valued member of the team, and made a lot of things so much simpler. If nothing else, you were an inspiration to try things a little more cerebrally, and that was the only approach that was going to make a dent.

Bark...

Bark. You were the linchpin. I brought you back into a fight you had to rely on luck for, and you brought in so much of that and just... I wish it made sense to use you more.

Oak.

Trunk.

You did it.

You really did it.

I’M DONE.

MANY FAILURES, MANY SADNESSES LATER. IT’S DONE. IT IS FINISHED. IT IS WON.

HEERO. PO. SPRINKLE. ZAFT. ALLENBY.

OAK AND TRUNK STAND ON THE BONES OF YOUR PROGRESS. THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR HARD WORK.

I AM NEVER DOING THIS TO MYSELF AGAIN.

Though I might come back to another Nuzlocke, in a while. Not now. Definitely not now. But except for this being horrific, it was a lot of taxing fun. So I’m sure I’ll come up with something else to do. Maybe not in this format. I’ve been trying to learn how to make Twitch do stuff, and playing and talking takes less time than playing and typing.

Who knows.

For now, though, it’s over. Thank you to anyone who’s read these.

#Pokemon #Nuzlocke #Nuzlocke Challenge #playthrough

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cynthiaandsamus · 5 years

Text

Game Blondes Crystal Clear Nuzlocke Part 2: A Shining Chance!

“Hey I’m blonde!”

“…I’m also blonde.”

“AND WE’RE THE GAME BLONDES!!”

(Game Blondes Logo by @game-overture)

“Welcome back! So last time on Game Blondes we started our freeroam Crystal Clear Nuzlocke, our rat died in our first battle but we got a lot of other pokemon to replace it, fought a dude with a Shiny Ponyta and made our way halfway across Johto to fuck around. Now we’re gonna go check out Goldenrod since the dude with the Ponyta mentioned it and see if we can start nailing down some badges.”

“Okay so just a note about this game, seems like the trainer battles scale to your badges but the wild pokemon stay around the level they would be… considering the Hoothoot and Psyduck you caught last episode were in the early teens and you still have zero badges.” Cynthia pondered.

“So technically I could just run into a field way down the line and catch something super powerful and ram through the whole game?”

“Well theoretically, as long as you could manage to catch it and manage to live with yourself for cheesing the game that represents my life’s work and career.”

“…fine, fine. Spoilsport…” Samus huffed. “Anyway, I’m making my way down from Ecruteak to Goldenrod, getting a few levels on Danny that Gastly from this guy with four Voltorbs that can’t even touch him. Gonna see if we can find that restaurant the DOOM guy mentioned and if not I’ll see if I can get a gym badge or something. Got a few levels on everyone from all the trainers on this route and got the TM for Rollout, that’s a fun move.”

“You won’t think so later…” Cynthia snickered.

“Well we’re in Goldenrod… shit this is Whitney’s town!?”

“Yup, welcome to Rolloutville, population you.”

“Should we save this gym for last for the memes? I mean that’d be an epic final battle.”

“I’m game, anything to put off going against that crazy cow lady…” Samus grumbled as she searched the town. “Well the train’s here so I can get to Saffron and Kanto, it’d be funny if I got Sabrina for my first badge, bet it’d piss her off to get beaten by a level 10 Gastly.” She chuckled.

“I wouldn’t tease Sabrina too much, she can beat you up without touching you…”

“I’ll hold off on it for now if only because I already have a lot to explore that I’m skipping over and Saffron is ridiculously big. At least I got a bike to travel it a bit faster. Oh and an Eevee sitting on a table, lemme take that…”

“Hang on, lemme see that Eevee real quick…” Cynthia took the controls with a grin.

-10 Minutes Later-

“HOLY SHIT IT’S SHINY! How’d you do that!?” Samus gasped.

“Weren’t you paying attention to the tutorial? Shockslayer said Gift pokemon have a higher shiny rate and the game saves before you pick them up for soft resetting, so if you get a good rhymn down you can reset a lot real quick and get a shiny.”

“That is so cool! I love you Cynthia! I got a White Eevee!”

“This counts as part of your birthday present, I’m not helping you any further.”

“Fine fine.” Samus grinned, absolutely giddy with the white fluffball. “I’m gonna name you… Norman. Cause you’re Normal-type and a smart little white fluffball and we’ve been watching The Promised Neverland lately.”

“Hopefully that’s not an omen for this Nuzlocke…”

“Ah shit is this accidentally in bad taste?” Samus winced. “Well time to go Underground and explore some more of the shops and punch some of these trainers in the throat.”

“…no wonder the Pokemon League denied your application to become a trainer.”

“Well I got a coin case and it looks like this guy is blocking the path to the other hallway so I’ll leave him alone for now, I’ve been warned that some of these guys have huge teams that can wipe me out…”

“Yeah, I read there’s a level 100 Magikarp somewhere in Kanto’s early game, so be on the lookout for steamrollers…”

“Well since I got the Coin Case might as well check out the game corner…”

“Holy crap you can just buy a Master Ball if you have enough coins! And a Lucky Egg too! I definitely don’t have enough time for that but that’s really cool!”

“And you can get some pretty cool pokemon too… too bad you already have Eevee so you can’t get any more pokemon for this town…”

“That’s fine, I’m very content with my Shiny Eevee, lemme get some coins though…”

(Mun Note: Due to Standards and Practices we are not allowed to show Samus gambling in case you’re in a country that hates it)

-One Gambling Montage Later-

“Well I doubled my coins and officially hate gambling, so let’s go check out the Department store, I’m sure there’s some cool stuff there, only got that, the Radio Tower and the gym left so almost time to be on our way.”

“Yay! Shopping spree!”

“Oh sweet, here’s the Tradeback NPC, he can evolve my guys, I’ll have to keep that in mind when I get an Upgrade for Porygon.”

“Well there it is, you just need more money…”

“Well I’ll save up and come back, I’ll let Polly stay as she is for now, can’t have my baby growing up too fast. We don’t even have a single badge yet.”

“Damn that’s right, we’ve just been derping around for an episode and a half…”

“Well we found a bunch of TMs at the shop here, keep those in mind, damn I really am broke… Just gonna stock up on balls, check the radio tower and get out of here before Whitney crushes me for dawdling in her town…”

“Oh wow, an Event Move Tutor, you can learn all those weird moves they give out at events, give it a try and get your pokemon some broken moves~” Cynthia giggled.

“Well Polly learned Barrier, Norman learned Growth and Hooters learned Night Shade, so that’s all cool.” Samus grinned. “Got me some custom pokemon~ Making my way up the tower got a point for the Password radio game thing, got a Sunny Day TM and a Pink Bow, that’s perfect for Polly, now she can feel even more like a girl and power up her Normal-type moves.”

“Your Trans Porygon is really cute.”

“Give the Amulet Coin Polly was holding to Norman now and at the top of the tower is this CHAOS guy who says he’s the new director of the station and wants to battle… here goes nothing I guess.”

“He… just has a level four Delibird… that’s not very intimidating for a custom trainer for this mod.”

“You have literally no badges and have been picking up pokemon left and right, feel like you’re a bit OP for this early in the game…” Cynthia sighed.

“Well he has a Cleffa too and I got some good money from it, guess that was worth it. And I got a Nugget, so guess that was just a money pitstop. Well that’s it for Goldenrod, couldn’t find the restaurant but time to go to the next route and catch a new pokemon…”

-A bunch of pokemon Samus has already caught later-

“Oh wow a Ditto! And right next to the Daycare too! Guess I know what this guy was there for…” Cynthia chuckled.

“FUCK it took like all my balls but I got it… why did I want this thing again?”

“Breeding?”

“Breeding!? This is a children’s game I’m not gonna make my monsters have sex, what kind of sick fucks are you trainers?”

“Well you have it now so that’s good.”

“I’ll name it “Brothel” …for obvious reasons. I really need to get some badges so these trainers stop having level like six pokemon.”

“Then pick a gym already.”

“Fine, next town we go to I’ll fight the gym there. Just getting through this forest and catching this Oddish (nicknamed Oddball). Got the Headbutt TM so I can punch trees like this is Minecraft.”

“Ahhh a Dark Souls reference last time and Minecraft now, soon we’ll be a regular mainstream Let’s Play streamer.”

“Awww man, Bulbasaur pops up here! We could’ve caught the mun if they showed up first!”

(Sad Bulbamun noises)

“This girl says Kurt knows about the Forest Guardian, so better head into town to see what that’s about… oh neat, I don’t have to wait to get Apricorn balls, this guy in Kurt’s house sells them for money.”

“And Kurt passed you off onto Professor Oak about the Forest Guardian thing… sounds like a fetch quest to me…” Cynthia sighed.

“Might as well squash some bugs for my first gym, I mean Bugs seem like a fitting start to me.”

“I mean Bug-types aren’t the most powerful but Bugsy does the best with what he can…”

“Alright Hooters, you’re a bird, you’re in charge of the bug squishing duty.”

“Well he’s got a Scyther at least, that’s cool, but he’s still no match for Hooters!”

“Wow that was quick, you and your boob-themed owl are unstoppable.”

“Well he did poison Hooters and get her down a bit, so if I’m not careful she could faint on the way back to the gym, but I did get my first badge so hopefully stuff gets more challenging from here~ One badge down, seven to go.”

“Fifteen.”

“…what?”

“Crystal Clear has both Kanto and Johto gyms in it, there are sixteen badges, you have fifteen left.”

“…well shit, I better get cracking…”

“Looks like you got a call from the Pokemon League too, they say if you’re in Johto to visit Sprout Tower to get something cool, a “FLASHy” reward… subtle and to go pay your respects in Ilex Forest, that’s probably to do with the sidequest we stumbled on earlier.”

“Well I’m starting to move up in the world, they gotta start recognizing me! Well might as well go down to this Slowpoke Well and catch something. Ooooh there’s breakable rocks here, I’ll teach Dudette Rock Smash and break one to see if I find something cool~

“OH FUCKLE, A SHUCKLE!”

“CRAP! I killed it, it gave me an Encore so I couldn’t get out of the loop… ugh, oh well, guess there’s no use crying over spilled Shuckle. Guess that’s all I can do in the Well without Strength for now… Might as well work my way back up to Violet Town and go to Sprout Tower like the League said, even if I don’t want to go in order, getting that reward would probably be good and get me some more pokemon along the way.”

“Well you killed that Zubat too, so no new pokemon on this route either.”

“WHY DOES EVERYTHING I TOUCH DIE!?”

“At least you caught that Whooper (named Whoop) in Union Cave.”

“Well Whoop de doo. A few battles later and I’m back in Violet City. I didn’t wanna do these gyms in order but I guess doing Flying-types second would be fine since I’m here anyway and have the pokemon for it…I need to get more badges to increase trainer levels so I’m not too OP right away.”

“Dudette, you’re in charge, kill these birds with one stone.”

“Well you’re the same level so I guess you’re not too overleveled, you just have a serious type advantage.” Cynthia sighed.

“Well took down his Pidgey but damn, wasn’t expecting Pidgeotto to have Mud Slap, Dudette’s in the red and her accuracy has gone to shit, better switch out. Do your best Poly! Alright! Two Psybeams and Pidgeotto is down~”

“Another badge and another call from the Pokemon League.”

“This time a warning about not watering wiggling trees, so you can probably get the watering can from that girl we saw in Goldenrod, plus a message about getting Cut from the Charcoal guy in Azalea Town and a note that Professor Elm is very generous so we should probably go back to him too.”

“Okay so we’re doing pretty good for this little neck of Johto, lemme make a list real quick of our goals.

1. Go up Sprout Tower and get the reward

2. Go back to Professor Elm and get a reward

3. Get Cut from the Charcoal dude

4. Squirt Trees

5. Talk to Professor Oak about Ilex Forest shit

6. ???

7. Profit

“Sounds about right to me, looks like we have a lot to do… NEXT TIME ON GAME BLONDES!”

Samus’s Journey So Far:

(Color-coding the path by episode for now, may or may not continue to do this depending on if it’s a pain in the ass when it starts getting bigger)

Samus’s Current Team:

#Game Blondes #Pokemon #Crystal Clear #Let's Play #Pokemon Crystal Clear

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