#customization options were weak for this game

[bronzefuryfic]

Made my babygirl Rhae

edited the coloring a bit, gave Rhae her scar and added a dragon!

Goddess Freya Dress Up

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

The Man 14

Warnings: non/dubcon, and other dark elements. My username actually says you never asked for any of this.

My warnings are not exhaustive but be aware this is a dark fic and may include potentially triggering topics. Please use your common sense when consuming content. I am not responsible for your decisions.

Character: mob!Lloyd Hansen

Summary: a demanding customer complicates more than your work life.

As usual, I would appreciate any and all feedback. I’m happy to once more go on this adventure with all of you! Thank you in advance for your comments and for reblogging ❤️

Lloyd wheezes and rubs his chest. You look down at him from the other side of chaise. You have to fight to keep the grin from your face. Your eyes slowly drift to the door. 

“Don’t even fucking think—of it,” he huffs as he kicks the chaise into your leg. You wince and let out an ow, “you’re in big fucking trouble now, baby face.” He rolls onto his shoulder and presses his hand to the floor, “fuck.” 

“Sir, I didn’t do anything--” 

“You know what the fuck you did,” he snarls as he sits up. 

“I did nothing. I’m sorry I’m weak,” you pout, “I couldn’t hold on--” 

“Oh my piss!” He pushes himself up to his feet, standing straight with effort, “you don’t stop. You’re going to drive me fucking nuts.” 

You’re quiet as you watch him. Is he not already there? He kidnapped you pretty much and hates you but won’t let you leave. It really seems insane to you. 

“Sir, with all due respect, I have offered to leave you alone.” 

“You just need to learn to shut your mouth,” he stomps around the chaise.  

You scramble into action and back away from him, making a circle around the piece of furniture as he advances, “now, sir,” you put your hands up, “I thought we were having fun. Playing a little game and you know when you play games, you can get hurt.” 

“Stop, come here,” he snarls as he gets closer and you hop backwards to evade his reach. 

“That seems like a bad idea.” 

“I said stop!” 

“You say stop but your eyes say run,” you babble. 

“This is your problem. You just don’t get who’s in charge. Me. I am!” His voice rises to a roar.  

Your eyes round, “I get it, F—Lloyd, I truly understand it. My dad too was a strict man.” 

“Dad? What the fuck are you talking about?” 

You continue your circles around the chaise, dizzy as you stagger on your heels. 

“I’m saying that I have known men like you--” 

“You’re comparing me to your dad?” 

“Well, I’m no fan of Freud by any means--” 

“Jesus!” 

He lunges and you dodge out of his way. He hits the square side table and you yipe. You don’t think you just go. You spin on your feet and race for the door. You let your adrenaline do the thinking as you rip it open and stumble into the hall. 

You won’t get far. You’re not stupid. You’re naked as sin and if you leave the house, you see a quick trip in a cruiser for indecent exposure. Still, you might find somewhere to wait out his rage. Just like with your dad. 

Alright, let’s cool it on the daddy issues here. 

You pump your arms as your feet slap on the floor. He’s following you. You can hear him. Like a charging bull. You can’t look back. You won’t.  

You veer around the corner and don’t have time to think. You don’t know where the heck you’re going. Far away from him is the only option you have. You barrel down the next hall, chest burning, head spinning. You keep going as your puffing fills your head and smothers out his pursuit. 

You can’t go any further. You have to stop. You have to hide! 

You open a door. Shit. It’s a closet but hey, there’s blankets. No time to think, just get in. You climb in an pulled down one of the folded waffle blankets. You shut the door, closing yourself into darkness and wrap yourself in the coveted warmth of the cotton. 

You hear him catch up. He’s just on the other side of the door. He growls and his heel squeaks on the floor. He paces back and forth, opening this door and that. He might think you’re smart enough not to choose the linen closet but that means he’s learned nothing. 

You wait until he’s gone. You shake your head. Having a big house is such a hassle. You can’t imagine cleaning a place like this, although he is the type to hire a cleaner so he probably doesn’t either. Still, what if you lost your phone in here? 

You let the tension flow out and lean back against the wall, keeping your neck bent under the shelf. You sit, folded up in the cramped space, and resign yourself to the tight purgatory. He just needs a minute. He’ll exhaust himself with his tantrum and then you’ll be okay. 

Besides, it seems pretty easy to distract. A few strokes and he’s compliant. Just like a cat. Not to mention he has the whiskers too. 

👄

Despite the uncomfortable circumstance you’ve stuffed yourself into, you fall asleep. There’s something about a traumatic experience that really takes it out of you. You don’t realise you’ve dozed off until the world falls out from under you and you sprawl out on the floor outside the closet. 

Your shoulder hits the cold wood and a woman lets out an exclamation, “Mr. Hansen! Mr. Hansen! There’s--” She sputters as she stares down at your dopey eyes, blinking up at her as reality slowly seeps back in, “there’s a woman!” 

She flutters off and you watch after her. That must be the cleaner. How’d you call it? 

As you sit up, you hear the echoing footsteps. It’s too late. You’re a goner. You clear your throat and cling to the blanket as you stand to face the music, rather, the mustache. 

Lloyd charges down the hall with long strides. You peer around, realising the windows are rather bright, also noting his change of clothes. Either you slept through the night or that closet has time traveling capabilities. 

“There the fuck you are,” he sneers. 

“Hello, sir, fine morning--” 

“Don’t,” he stops in front of you and points in your face, “here’s the deal, alright? We start over.” 

“So if we’re going back to the beginning, can I go home--” 

“Zip. It.” He chops the air with his hand. “You’re not leaving, let’s get that clear. Now, you are not here to talk or do whatever it is you do. You are here to serve me. You are here because you need to learn a thing or two about authority. About who the fuck I am.” 

“Lloyd Jansen,” you mumble and his face pales as the vein in his forehead throbs. “Hansen!” You say louder, “understood, sir.” 

“Why are you like this?” He asks. 

You stare at him. You’re going to try. The olive branch he extends is brittle and thin but it’s something. 

“I will be good, sir,” you put your chin, “I’ll try. I accept. Start again.” You keep yourself from saluting and instead, extend your hand to him, “deal?” 

He stares you in the face then looks down at your hand. He exhales and his cheek twitches. He reaches to shake your hand firmly. He grips tightly until your bones ache. You whimper and wilt. 

“Please, for the love of god,” he begs as he holds onto you, “stop talking for five minutes.” 

You can’t agree. Not aloud. So, you seal your lips emphatically and nod. He lets you go and you look at your wrist but there’s no watch there. You glance at him and shrug, holding up five fingers. He sighs and pinches his nose. 

“Just don’t talk unless I tell you too.” 

[pokemon-card-of-the-day]

Pokemon Card of the Day #3192: Dragonite (Team Up)

Dragonite was one of those Pokemon with an obvious purpose. It was there to get a Supporter from the deck to your hand each turn. It wasn't doing any more than that, as it wasn't a very efficient attacker, and there was soon big competition for the Supporter fetching role. Getting the right Supporter each turn could be game changing if you found a way to get this into play without too much trouble, so it was still hard not to consider this as an interesting Pokemon.

160 HP was what you'd probably expect from a Stage 2. It wasn't just going to be a free KO except against the strongest attackers, though if playing with Guzma or Boss's Orders it made for an obvious target sometimes. This was especially true for something like Reshiram & Charizard-GX or Zacian V which had the huge attack available. The Fairy Weakness mattered mostly against Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX, though that card was generally at its peak when the most common option for this was Custom Catcher. The Retreat Cost here was 3, meaning you really didn't want this to be Active at any point even if it wasn't going to be taken down right away.

Fast Call was an impressive Ability. It let you search your deck for a Supporter card and put it into your hand once per turn. This was held back by being on a Stage 2 that completely lacked a good counterpart in the same evolution line. The typical way to use this was to get it out after a KO by using Lance Prism Star, skipping that whole process and saving space by trading it for only working in very specific scenarios. This was, however, sometimes worth it, as it was hard for someone to deal with a deck that always had the right Supporter.

Dragon Claw did 120 damage, but the cost was a Water, a Lightning, and a Colorless Energy. You probably did not want to use this over one of the better attackers around, and said attackers were numerous.

Dragonite got a bit of use for the Supporter fetching Ability, and it really could help make games smoother if you could get your Lance Prism Star in relatively early. It had extreme competition with Mewtwo once that was released in Unbroken Bonds. Yes, Mewtwo only worked one time total, but it was also a Basic Pokemon and was therefore far easier to use. Dragonite was there for those who really needed to have the right Supporter on specific turns quite often. The number of decks that were that desperate were pretty low, but high enough to make this card somewhat notable.

[sim-carelle]

Sims 4 Eternal Bloodline

Rules

The heir must always be a vampire, either biological, adopted or turned.

If the vampire has a career, they must always be a night shift or work from home.

You must start on an empty lot with absolutely nothing to your name, you may build a small shack. But no bigger than 32 tiles

You may opt to have additional challenges with lot challenges, use any that you feel would apply.

You may use any custom careers or mods that allow you to choose a night shift.

Requirements

Vampires game pack

Mod/DLC Recommendations

RPO - Lumpinou

LGBTQIA+ - Lumpinou

Road to Romance - Lumpinou

Character Value Overhaul – Tyjokr

Home Region - Kuttoe

Tiny Living

Sims Legacy Hub so you can track your family tree.

Gen 1: The master of the house

Whether you have just been turned into a vampire or where always one, you are now left alone on an empty lot, with nothing to your name, for now at least.

Aspiration: Vampire Family

Skills: Pipe Organ

Vampire Powers: Vampire Creation, Bat Form and Command

Vampire Weakness: Day Phobia, Sleep of the Undead

Goal: fully train your heir to be a master, marry another vampire, only date other vampires, vampires can be your only friend, any human, spellcaster or mermaid sim are food.

Gen 2: The Charmer

You have always looked out the window wishing to be able to be with all the other kids, but unfortunately you are stuck here, being taught how to lead the next generation of vampires. But it won’t hurt to test some waters.

Aspiration: Soulmate, Serial Romance, or Villainous Valentine

Skill: Charisma, Romance (road to romance mod, optional), and Dancing

Vampire Powers: Occult Disciple (level 2), Vampiric Fascination (Level 3), Perfect Sun Resistance, Odorless, Detect Personality

Vampire Weaknesses: Withered Stomach, Insatiable Thirst

Goal: Have dated at least 3 other sims, vampire or not. Have a forbidden love (optional requires werewolves)

Gen 3: The Librarian

While your parent has been going around bringing home all different types of people, you have spent most of your time locked away reading, as you got older you started to get more curious about your vampiric heritage and what means. You started collecting books on the history of vampires, and even started writing your own stories.

Aspiration: Master Vampire

Skill: Logic, Vampire Lore, Writing

Vampire Powers: Occult Master, Master of Darkness, Suppressed Emotions, Mist Form

Vampire Weaknesses: Nightmarish Sleep, Flammable Skin

Goal: Marry your high school sweetheart, make all your money off the books you have written only

Gen 4: The Gardener

You have always hated just sitting still and nature has always called to you. However, you can’t really go outside, so you pretty much dedicated yourself to your own greenhouse, practically live in it.

Aspiration: Freelance Botanist

Skill: Gardening, Mixology, Cooking

Vampire Powers: Cast Hallucination, Garlic Immunity, Manipulate Life force.

Vampire Weaknesses: Sloppy Drinker, Guilty Drinker

Goals: Grow Wolfbane and plasma fruit, be a single parent but only take care of the bare minimum.

Gen 5: The Reclusive

You have been isolated from not just the rest of the world, but your family as well, living in the dark never to see the light of day. At first you were making friends, but you can no longer seem to stay in contact or able to keep them. You wonder if they were even your friends at all.

Aspiration: Painter Extraordinaire, or Musical Genius

Skill: Painting (or any instrument)

Vampire Powers: Cast Hallucination, Beyond the Herd, Deadened Emotions (or child of the moon)

Vampire Weaknesses: Undead Aura, Uncontrollable hissing, Eternal Sadness (only if you don’t have deadened emotions)

Goal: Completely isolate yourself, Once the sim becomes a young adult you may not make any more friends. If you wish to continue the legacy, you may have one child, but you must not socialize with the child.

[shuckinbeanz]

So based on my hero, can you write a oneshot featuring All Might and a gn reader practicing hypnosis and gags please? In the fic, All Might wants to practice a new kink and the reader suggests that they use hypnosis on him to have a love for gags. All Might accepts and after hearing a trigger word, he gets the drive to gag his mouth while being horny. What do you think?

warnings/notes: omg this is perfect im sorry this took so long NSFW, multiple orgasms, discreet use of toys in public(specifically mouth gag), hypnosis, praise kink, anal m receiving, reader wears a toy could be a custom cocksleeve or dildo(some of us don't have a dick).

MINORS 👏 DNI! 👏 AGE 👏 IN 👏 BIO 👏 OR 👏 DNI! 👏 Head on over to @candybowbeansies please for my SFW pieces, or be blocked if you interact here! 😇

Tags: @dynamightsdaydream

The power of suggestion during hypnosis was formidable. Toshinori wanted to try a new kink and when he approached you about hypnosis, you suggested a few things of your own.

You were excited to finally break out a few new toys you had stashed away-little fantasies of yours. 

One of them, an unseemly black face mask with an attachment modification inside it; out of the options you had, you figured the ball would be the best first time. All made of top tier durable material, it would be perfect for a little game secret to the public.

Somewhat adventurous, you had a set of couples’ vibes that you could set to activate at random intervals for both you and him, along with a custom toy that fit you just right that you'd fuck him with later.

The game? There were errands that had to be done after having been piled up for some time; it'd take a few hours, at least. 

Discreet public play was agreed upon between you and him; a splash of adventurous, kinky color on the otherwise blank surface of the mundane.

The couple's vibes would bring that erotic edge, building up tensions between the two of you; a double edged sword, so to speak.

It was a fun competition of sorts. Who'd crumble before the return home? You were feeling competitive; the thought of what you were going to do to him later in the privacy of the bedroom keeping you from going weak in the knees too many times to count. 

You were dead-set on winning with endurance, engaging in conversations with people you knew, trying to keep each one as long as possible.

He picked up on what you were trying to do-thus, a war of attrition began. The man you were head over heels for was a cheeky bastard, so playful discreet touches and short texts just to tease the hell out of you weren't above him.

And you sure as hell weren't above it, either. Especially if it meant you could earn those deep, handsome chuckles of his.

By the time you both arrived home, you were so overwhelmed you didn't know if you wanted him to fold you over the table or if you wanted to fuck his brains out.

You and him couldn't keep your hands off each other once the cue was given, and when you saw him put himself on the bed so prettily after saying that phrase, you decided on the latter.

“Hmmgh mh.”

Even though you've long since short circuited, it doesn't take much brain power to know he told you to fuck him.

You were a tease. As you prepped his ass to take what you'd prepared for him, you'd tease him relentlessly. It was a surefire way to make him teeter on that fine edge. 

He was undeniably pro, as contrary to what some people think, he had endurance for days, while with age and the repercussions of his job inevitably decreased his stamina. He could go quite a few rounds with breaks in between. 

And each one, you'd pound his sweet spots, bringing him to orgasm after orgasm while filthy praise fell from your lips and you couldn't help but relish in his gagged moans. 

So handsome. So pretty. So strong. Gorgeous. 

Pretty tight ass, just for you. Throbbing, aching manhood leaking so desperately. 

Lost in the haze of dizzying lust, you fuck him senseless, only allowing him time to breathe with your ass-drunk pace.

After the final round and catering to his every need, you and him bask in the afterglow with warm cuddles. 

As the sun rose the next morning and you both had showered and returned to the comfort of the bed, you expertly noticed what he'd tried to hide, coming out of the bathroom; telltale signs of soreness.

“Toshi, was I too rough?” you ask, a worried frown gracing your lips. A soft, handsome chuckle escapes him. “Too good.” he says, smiling his handsome smile as he approaches, leaning over you. Before you could speak again, he's littering your face with sweet kisses. 

“I should return the favor.” his voice drops, sexy. Any worry you have fades completely as you smile coyly. “Really? How?” you return, your smile making his grow as he leans to whisper in your ear. “Like this…” he rumbles, his large hand traveling down your tummy, his fingertips barely touching your skin, leaving a trail of hot pleasant tingles.

Soft laughter escapes you as you pull him close, cut off by an eager deep kiss, happy to indulge with the man you loved.

[splashink-games]

A Note On... Making The Coziest Street

Minami Lane is a cozy management game by Doot and Blibloop! Build new shops, pet cats and make your villagers happy!

One of the few times I get a game on release without backing it! Unfortunately very short, but a worthwhile experience.

I really like everything about this game. From the music that kinda goes too hard for a cozy game, to the very soft art style, to the insanity of playing on 4x (four times) speed.

The gameplay is rather simple, but it's more of a strength than a weakness for a game of this variety. Especially if you want to relax, you don't want to be worried about money or optimizations. It's more about catering to the people on your street and making it the way you want.

Each shop has recipe options. You can make a bowl full of noodles at the ramen shop, or have no tapioca at the bubble tea shop. The customers do have a preferred combination of items and prices, so of course there's a little bit of intent behind the decisions.

Something I found really fun were naming the shops however I wanted. The karaoke bars were of course Survive and Revolve Bar, especially if they're playing Maka Bitai.

Because there's a lot of sit and watch involved with sim games, there are also a variety of small mechanics to keep you involved. The really cute one is petting the cats that show up (when you have enough beauty on your street. They give you money while also being adorable.

The more gameplay-oriented mechanic is the customer feedback, telling you how to adjust your shop's recipes for their perfect experience.

As a management sim, there are of course ways to optimize things—picking up the trash and gathering customer feedback automatically. I only ended up using the feedback upgrade because at some point, you won't be able to manually pay attention to 5+ shops at the same time.

One criticism I heard while playing the game was that it looks like a mobile game, which I can see. It's not so much a negative, rather just a style you don't normally see working well on PC games. It works alright here, though.

Personally, I think the game is too small. I wouldn't know what the devs could do to make the game longer without hurting/disrupting what they have in place (that, by the way, already works really well). The missions were enjoyable and I think more of those might be worth it.

If you love cozy games, Minami Lane is one to play with its great art style and chill gameplay!

As always,

Enjoy gaming!

[coolseabird]

BG3 Tav Backstory Bash by Kelandrin

This is a challenge to help people flesh out their Tav’s backstory by exploring their past. It is organized into four sections with seven prompts. You can treat this as a monthly challenge or a general project. You can write headcanons, fics, or share art based on the prompts! You can interpret the prompts however you want. If you want to share use the tag #bg3backstorybash

I was tagged by @grenanigans <3

I tag @upturninginkpots and @quantum-dragon No pressure at all though!

I actually finally made a Tav with a backstory recently so this is good timing. Forgive me for getting any Githyanki lore wrong. I'm very new to the Forgotten Realms.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is Ga'rak (though who knows what his actual name is)

Yes I just stole his name from Garak. XD I initially took to calling him this half-jokingly since he reminded me of the DS9 character and it sorta just stuck. (Tbh though he is almost more similar to Odo)

Age: 45-50 years old

Gender: Male

Childhood: Born into a typical Githyanki creche, his childhood was far from typical. Early on, he was singled out for his psionic potential, leading to his separation from the other Githyanki children so he never had any friends his age. His training emphasized not just physical combat but also the mental manipulation of others. High-ranking Githyanki, part of a coalition of commanders open to unconventional strategies, decided to use him as a spy to learn about Faerunian society in an effort to learn their weaknesses.

Teenager/Pre-Game: During his teenage years, he embraced the role of an Arcane Trickster and Lore Bard, atypical classes for a Githyanki. He was dispatched to the Sword Coast under the guise of a socialite, With the aid of spells like Disguise Self (to not appear Githyanki), etiquette lessons from a human teacher his Creche had kidnapped, and a generous flow of gold from Githyanki raids, he seamlessly infiltrated the upper echelons of Neverwinter's society. (I imagine his cover persona was a lot like Jay Gatsby) He's never been in love and I don't know if he will ever fall in love in the future to be honest. (At least none of the romance options in this game really make sense to me for him. Maybe Minthara? But eh.)

Here is his half-elf disguise. He used it to trick the Tieflings holding Lae'zel captive. His name when he used this form as a spy was Garret or something like that XD.

His primary objective was espionage, identifying weaknesses for a future invasion and subtly undermining the government. As he immersed himself in the local culture, he encountered lifestyles that were very different from his oppressive upbringing. This exposure "corrupted him" and made him realize over the decades how unhappy he was in this role thrust upon him and how he didn't at all believe in the mission. He is also very cynical about the Githyanki government and doubts that Vlaakith is actually a god worth worshipping but he is too complacent to do anything about it. He is jaded and has resigned himself to this life. After all, revealing his doubts would only get him killed and he had no other paths available to him. That is, until he was tadpoled...

Meeting Shadowheart

Adulthood:

The tadpole's effect caused his Disguise Self spell to be inactive when initially meeting the others, preventing him from concealing his species from this group. As he thought his mission being revealed could endanger him, even to other Githyanki, he concocted a half-truth, telling his companions he was in Faerun as a Githyanki scout, masking his true goals. (Lae'zel doubts his story due to his rustiness and unfamiliarity with Githyanki culture and customs)

Freeing Gale

Having been isolated from other Githyanki for most of his life with his only contacts being his Githyanki handlers, he feels doubly estranged from both his own culture and the broader society of Faerun. (I was very inspired by stories of undercover agents having trouble re-integrating back into their home countries.)

He views others primarily as sources of information. While his main goal is to get rid of the tadpole, he also sees this time as an opportunity to gather more "sources." The tadpole gang becomes his targets, valued only as potential assets (particularly Wyll), yet he ultimately regards them as expendable.

Making Conversation

Even though he can come off as affable and charming, his true personality is almost frighteningly calm and detached, traits that initially put him at odds with Astarion and Karlach, who he views as a loose cannons.

Since he is Gith he is skilled with a blade but he prefers not to get blood on his hands. He is a huge germaphobe. (This makes the tadpole even worse for him. Not to mention camping in the woods every night.)

I think he'll likely get along well with Wyll and the Emperor. He can relate to the Emperor's longing for freedom and level headedness, he also appreciates Wyll's impeccable manners and potential high value as a tool. He and Shadowheart would have a mutual respect despite his being a Githyanki, he and Minthara would be cordial, and he and Gale would enjoy discussing illusion magic together. I also think he has a bit of a soft spot for my friend @upturninginkpots's Tav and will eventually come to see her as something of a little sister, he'll give her advice on questioning her own beliefs.

Here he is with @upturninginkpots's Tav, I'll allow her to introduce her. :)

Lae'zel's aggressive demeanor initially repels him, not least because of his own complicated relationship with Githyanki culture, and due to what he perceives as her "bull in a china shop" personality. She initially thinks he is a puny example of a Githyanki and she finds his cynical attitude to be blasphemous. He sees her as naive and foolish. They may eventually start to realize they have more in common than they think though and he will hopefully become something of a mentor to her in the future.

Githyanki Reunion

Upon discovering more about Vlaakith's plans, I think he will fully commit to defection. I think at this point he would also tell the other companions his true mission. (I know I can't actually do this in the game but it will happen in my head haha) The challenging thing is whether he is willing to put aside his complacency to help free other Githyanki from her grip, potentially betraying the Emperor and risking his own life in the process. Another consideration is whether a certain headstrong Githyanki warrior will start to question her beliefs and defect as well.

Thank you for reading and thanks for the tag @grenanigans ! If anyone sees this post and you end up making your own Tav post please tag me! I'd love to see it. :)

[neechees]

is GOW good? Ive never played any of them tbh lol

Me, personally, I think it's excellent. But the definition of "good" can change from person to person & your tastes! The Games are kinda divided up into what are called "The Classics" (specifically usually the first three games, GOW 1, 2 & 3, sometimes Chains of Olympus & Ghost of Sparta are also included), "The spinoffs" (Chains of Olympus, Ghost of Sparta, GOW Ascension) & "reboots" (GOW 4 & GOW Ragnarok, GOW Valhalla, & any future games). The Classics & Spinoffs pre-2013 are put together as the Greek Era Vs. The post 2018 games are The Norse Era games.

Overall, I'd say literally ALL of the games visually are stunning. There's always beautiful scenery view, always some nice detail to appreciate, level designs to gawk at, and art styles to praise. The older games of course are dated in graphics now, but even then I still find them impressive. I'd also say all the games also have interesting characters & a full roster of unique enemies.

Some people might find the story elements in one game to be very strong, while dislike them and find it weak in another (GOW Ascension for example gets some heat for this, but I still think it's a pretty good game and REALLY enjoy the characterizations). The newer, Norse Era games are still very story based, but they also take more of an open world RPG angle where there's more sidequests as well & you can explore a bit, but imo the quests & size of the map is just big enough so that the world still feels vibrant & exciting to feel immersed & that you want to look around without strangling you with things to do or make exploration feel like a chore. If youve ever played Assassin's Creed Odyssey or Breath of the Wild & wish it wasnt so big with so many side quests but still kept things like loot to find, armor & outfit customization & leveling up, the Norse Era games are really good for this.

The Classics are much more story based and don't leave much room for exploration, but they also provide camera angles that zoom out & let you take in a lot of the gorgeous set design & backgrounds instead. The older games for this reason also makes the world & a lot of the enemies feel so fucking MASSIVE while you play and immerses you into the story & world that way. However, personally for me, I prefer the Norse Era camera because you can more freely move it, while the Classics are similar to like Hades or Resident Evil & Silent Hill.

Overall I think I'd recommend the Norse Era games as a starting point, but honestly it kinda just depends what you want out of a game and what you like. Theres also a few pros to the Norse Era games like the MASSIVE amount of accessibility options that you can edit & personalize to your needs, a welcome update for the more socially aware & conscious gamer (the older games were a product of their time, but still lots to appreciate in them), of course the graphics, a photo mode for taking pics of your gameplay, and you can probably play the Norse Era games in front of your parents LOL

[kaiwewi]

First Impressions

Part one of a prequel miniseries to [Favours Among Frenemies] (Snippet #2). Belongs to a larger series featuring the same Hero and Villain characters: [Masterlist: Fame and Flourish]

Synopsis: the city has a new superhero. Villain is intrigued and plans to take a closer look, much to their best friend's dismay.

For the fifth time, Villain rewatched the video of the city’s new superhero.

The figure on the screen casually handed over two wannabe villains to a young police officer and nodded at the camera in passing, a polite smile curving their lips. They made fighting look effortless, like exchanging blows with two enemies simultaneously could dishevel neither their hair nor their clean-cut black-and-white costume.

The new hero was so damn cool. Strong too. Really fucking strong. 

“This Hero person,” they said and shook their head. “They’re so different from Vigilante.”

Friend laughed. “Yeah, no shit. I think the word you’re looking for is heroic.”

Exactly! With this one, there’d be no lazy, opportunistic approach to combatting villainy. No shady little side hustles. No deals.

“I know.” Groaning, they rubbed both hands down their face. This was going to give them a horrible headache.

“What?” Friend scoffed. “Would you rather have another Vigilante?”

Urgh, no. Well… maybe?

Vigilante sucked. There was no denying that. But Vigilante was also so conveniently corrupt. They didn’t even possess the decency to make a secret of the fact they’d gladly turn two blind eyes if offered a satisfactory incentive. And if one could tolerate the additional terms of the deals, it came down to a simple transaction: plaster on your sweetest smile, hand over some pocket change, avoid a trip to the local authorities… then suffer through whatever custom-tailored humiliation power-fantasy mind-game bullshit Vigilante had in store for you.

Whether that creepy penchant for demeaning others was a kink or merely Vigilante being an arsehole, the subsequent bargains sure as hell were mutually beneficial arrangements too.

In the end, one would come out of an agreement with Vigilante relatively unscathed; merely clutching an emptied purse and nursing a bruised ego. The worst of it was the embarrassment of having added another picture to Vigilante’s beloved ‘photo album of shame’.

“For the record,” they said and paused the video on a close-up of the hero’s face. Unfortunately, making out the hero’s eye colour was impossible in so grainy a picture. “I’d still rather be as far away from Vigilante as possible. But they are the safer option here.”

So far, the city’s Supers had been operating with mutual connivance. The occasional thwarted scheme was a minor nuisance factor in a villain’s life, but that hardly mattered when even a total defeat seldom led to an arrest. Yes, Vigilante was unpleasant to do business with, but ultimately quite harmless – reliable even. And their conveniently poor morals and the vast collection of compromising material from all major villains in the region had thus far discouraged the villains from attempting to take them down.

Now, the arrival of the new superhero was bound to ruin this well-established system.

They sighed. “Hero is just so… so black-and-white, so good-and-evil, so moral-high-ground. Do you know what I mean? – They don’t seem the type who’d accept bribes from their villains or extort personal favours. They’re the real deal: an actual hero.”

So admirable, so genuinely inspiring. No wonder the civilians loved their new hero. No wonder the villains despised them.

“Villain.” Friend stopped them from hitting the replay button again and gently closed the lid of the laptop. She crossed her arms. “You look like you’re about to do something rash. Please tell me I’m wrong.”

“It’s not rash. I’ve got a plan.” Well, half a plan…

If bribes weren’t going to work, they had to figure out other ways to secure the hero’s cooperation. Invulnerable or not, the hero had to have some weakness, something to take advantage of.

“I’m going to take a closer look,” they said, as nonchalant as they could manage, and reached for their most recent sketch of the hero’s face. Something about the shape of the eyes and the mask surrounding them wasn’t quite right yet, or maybe it was the bridge of the nose that was too narrow or not high enough…

“Are you sure this is the smart move?” Friend asked.

She was shuffling through the sheets of paper scattered on the table between them – the few currently available newspaper clippings featuring the city’s new protector; a bunch of printouts of screenshots Villain had taken while watching and rewatching all the videos they’d found of the new superhero; and a handful of drawings, none of which had thus far succeeded in capturing the hero’s radiance.

They tsked. “I just can’t seem to get the face right…”

“Villain, I’m being serious here.” Friend bundled together the loose paper, flipped the entire stack over, and brought it down on top of the sketch. “Do you honestly think it’s a good idea to actively seek out a superhero and draw attention to yourself when they aren’t even after you specifically, yet? What if they arrest you? What if you get hurt?”

Of course it wasn’t a good idea...

“I’m taking a calculated risk.” They got to their feet, snatched their favourite vintage coat from where they’d draped it over the backrest of their couch and went to the soil-filled flower tub in the corner. They scooped up a few handfuls of soil and stuffed those into the coat’s bigger pockets. “I’m only going to introduce myself, strike up a conversation, and be all charming and friendly.”

Friend scowled, but went to the cabinet of her own accord and fetched all the bottles with tissue samples and cell culture solutions that they might need in case things did go sideways. “Don’t get too close. They’ve got super-strength or something. You can’t beat them in a fair fight, if they attack you—”

“If they attack, I run. There will be no fighting, so there’s no need to worry.”

“No need to worry!?” She slammed one of the bigger bottles down on the table. “Well, let me remind you of this life-sized, superhero-shaped, crime-fighting need-to-worry that you’re entirely too smitten with to see reason.”

“I’m not smitten. This is a recon mission. I need information.”

“Uh-huh. You mean you want to go check out Hero’s face.”

She wasn’t wrong exactly. Seeing the hero’s face up close might help in figuring out their civilian identity, which could then be used as leverage. That the hero’s facial structure also happened to appeal to them aesthetically wasn’t the point here.

“My interest in their face is strictly professional.”

Friend sneered. Passive-aggressively humming some catchy tune, she started to refill the seed containers. With a practised eye and the air of a professional henchman, she sorted all the bottles, boxes, and utensils into their proper pockets. She’d helped them prepare so many times she barely had to glimpse at the labels anymore.

They couldn’t help the fond smile that sprang to their lips. “Thank you for helping me out. You’re the best.”

“I know.” She sucked in a deep breath, then sighed. “I need you to promise me that, if they do attack you and running isn’t possible, you’ll fight with all you’ve got. You do have options.” She made a gesture encompassing the entirety of Villain’s equipment. “We didn’t prepare all of this stuff for nothing. If you need it, use it. Don’t hesitate. And don’t play fair.”

They locked eyes. Hers burnt, fuelled by an endearing mix of scorn and concern. This might just be the most worried she’d been for them in years.

“If necessary,” they said, “I’m prepared to do anything short of killing.”

“Good.” She folded the vintage coat and put it into Villain’s ‘work’ backpack, followed by their belt, their mask, and their gloves.

Their costume was too flashy to leave the house in – the neighbours might recognise them, and Kate from next door wouldn’t be able to keep a secret if her life depended on it – so they’d have to change later when they were out of the suburbs. For now, a simple black jacket would do. As for shoes…

They frowned down at the shoe rack, at their beloved pair of dark red boots. Gorgeous, vibrant and velvet, and most importantly: an absolutely perfect accessory to the rest of their outfit. Strutting up the street in those shoes would grant them the confidence of the devil.

They’d make one hell of a first impression.

On the other hand, wearing heels wasn’t practical when confronted with the very real possibility of walking right into a fight. Therefore, they should probably go with the flat black boots this time. It would be the reasonable choice. Better for running too. But…

They shrugged and grabbed the heeled boots.

Friend snorted and rolled her eyes. “Honestly, you’re beyond hope.” Somewhat reluctantly, she handed them the backpack. “I swear, if you get yourself killed, I’m so going to desecrate your grave.”

Chuckling, they wrapped their arms around her. She returned the hug.

“It’s going to be okay,” they promised. “I’ll see you later.”

Then they set out to find the hero.

[Part 2]

[antylope]

How I became a top 0.1%, made money from it and then started hating it

Hi everyone, this will be a story about how transforming your hobby into a "dream job" does not turn out so good in reality. About 3 years ago, I got insanely good at an infamous game - League of Legends. I managed to earn a living from it but I eventually quit.

Before I start, I just want to state that this is NOT some form of bragging that I managed to do what many teenagers consider their dream. The truth to the story is there were many disadvantages that noone really hears about.

I got introduced to this game at the age of about 10 or 11 by my older brother. It looked fun to me, even though I was horrendous at it. I played it on and off since the age of 11 to the age of 15, not thinking much about it and often taking months, or even years off, when I got bored of it. Totally understandable, normal stuff.

I was 16 when COVID hit. I was stuck in my house, not having to go physically to school, with lots of time on my hands, so I thought to myself I'd give this game one more chance. I still was awful at it, but slowly I became a bit better. I started really liking it. I started thinking what I did wrong in the games I've played, what can I improve, what are my weaknesses. I started looking at guides on the internet, I watched countless hours of coaches talking how to play better. After a few months I hit Diamond (for those who do not know anything about this game - it is about top 5-10% of playerbase).

I knew I still had much room for improvement so I kept going. The better I got at the game the more drawn I was to it. Eventually, it became something I would consider my passion. It was not mindless playing to kill the time, I did EVERYTHING I could to be better at this game. I did not play when I was tired, I made sure to get quality sleep to perform better. I avoided foods that made my brainfog worse. I recorded all of my matches I have had played and reviewed them every day for one hour before going to sleep. I even set my alarm clock and woke up at 6 am, 2 full hours to play a few matches before having to listen to online classes.

I had one thing in mind - to become the best. I was very ambitious, I lived for this game and I LOVED IT. Eventually, at the age of 17 achieved Master rank, which was top 1-0.5%. This still was not enough to make money from it, so I kept going. I knew I could achieve more. I was very emotional about every match I played, I knew I had to put 100% of my effort to perform as best as I could.

Getting to the plot, at the point of my 18th birthday I became so good I was in the top 2000 players in the whole Europe. Out of millions of people who play it everyday, I was one of the best. I was so proud of myself. This was the point in which I thought to myself, "I am ready to make a carrier out of it".

To explain how you can earn money from this game, there are 3 options: 1) Become a professional player, play for a team and conquer the world 2) Be a coach and sell your services to help other people get better 3) Boosting, which in simple terms can be explained by: logging onto someone's account (or playing with them) and winning a lot of games to boost their rank and get paid for it.

I chose the third option, since it paid the most for an average person who tried to earn money from playing this game. I applied to many sites which offered such services, not as a customer but as an "employee". After a few weeks I finally got in. The procedure was complicated and it was insanely difficult to get in, but somehow I have made it.

At first, I loved it. Playing my favourite game and get paid for it? That's amazing! I broke the code to becoming rich! 3 months have passed and this is when the realisation started to hit me. This "job" (if I can even call it such) had many downsides, which were obviousely not talked about. I will try to name as many as I can:

1) You most often had to """work""" (play) a minimum of 12 hours a day to earn any significant money - being on the top of the game and keeping focus and energy throughout all this time is IMMENSELY difficult. Near impossible I'd argue. 2) You often had to wait hours to be able to start playing, because there simple were no customers that wanted the service. 3) The sites that offered such service took a minimum of 40% cut from the work you did, meaning if you'd earn 100€, you would have to give 40€ to the site. 4) Some customers were awful people - they paid as little as it was possible, while simultaneously demanding the highest quality and the quickest service to be provided. Many of them also had weird specific requirements, such as playing only during certain hours, playing certain role, champions, configuration, etc, which was extremely annyoing since you couldn't just do your "job", but instead you'd have to deal with their oddities. 5) You have to play even if you don't want to. You don't like certain changes in the game on the newest update? That's a shame, you still have to perform at your best. You wanted to take a break? Nope, you are obligated to finish your order. There was no such thing as weekend. You wanted to go on holidays? One month of not being active and you'd get kicked from the site. 6) The competition was cutthroat. New orders from customers were picked up by boosters (people doing the "job") in a matter of SECONDS, making you sit in front of the screen sitting there with impatience. 7) Absolutely no time for any other hobbies, cooking healthy, nutritious meals or even school. I would do the bare minimum to pass all the exams just to have more time to grind this game.

As you can see, there was a lot that could, and went wrong with playing this game as a source of income. But most of the time I just clenched my teeth and pushed through it. If you dealth with all of the unconformities your income was pretty nice. In my opinion you could easily make a living out of it, especially in my country. The salary was paid in Euro, which is much more valuable than our local currency, and 500€ of income a month would be enough to keep you going without a real job. Add to that the fact that I lived with my parents, went to school, so this money was amazing for me, especially when I did my "dream job".

This allowed me to live like a king compared to my peers this age. Can you even imagine, still being in highschool and making as much money as an adult with a real job, while you're just sitting in front of a computer and play games? This was something which many of my friends were jealous of, hah, even my parents were. My dad was very supportive of it and my mother said it is "unfair for me to earn as much as she does when she is more than 20 years older than me and she works a REAL JOB". Noone knew the reality, the dark side of it, how it drained you from all of your energy. It was extremely stressful, it drained you emotionally aswell, which caused me to perform worse each month.

Deep down inside of me I knew I needed a break, but I always said to myself: "Come on, THIS is what you wanted all your life! You are playing games for a living! Stop being an entitled, ungrateful kid and appreciate where you got in life!".

Slowly, I started despising this game. I hated every bit of it, I hated the changes, I hated the stress, I hated how much time I have to put in, I hated the customers, my "coworkers", I hated the whole atmosphere. I wanted to escape from it. I wanted to break away from the chains that I have put myself in. This was also about the time where I started to change my life for the better. I lost a bit of weight, I took mental health seriousely. I started going for walks. You have no idea how amazing they felt - I just felt at peace. I felt like I could take a deep breath and finally take some rest.

This made me understand one thing - I don't like this game and it is restraining me from becoming a better person, from improving my life. All of the people who play it are losers like I was, they hate their pathetic lifes and they live without any real social connections. This realisation helped me decide to cut this game out of my life once for good.

When I uninstalled this game, I felt a void in my heart. Previousely, it was all my life. I was what I was thinking about while waking up, when going to sleep, while in school, while on the toilet. I LIVED FOR IT. I just did not know what to do with myself. All of a sudden I had so much free time on my hands. You can compare it to an animal which spent all its' life in a cage. Then people decided to release it to the wild. The animal just sits there, stares at the trees, not knowing he is finally free. It's because he never experienced other life than the one it had in the cage. I felt very similar to this animal. On one hand, I finally did not have to stress. On the other hand, all that I worked for? Destroyed. My passion? Gone.

Right now, about 2 years later, I still am confused what to exactly do with my life. This might sound depressing, but I have no reason to get out of my bed. I have nothing I can put my best efforts in. I don't know what path to choose. I am wasting countless hours doing things which I don't care about, like scrolling social media. Even though I know I made the right choice, my life got better in almost every aspect, I still am lost. My life now is constantly seeking such another thing which will make me trully live again.

The conclusion of this story is that the world on other side of the bridge might look completely different that you'd imagined. You might reconsider seriousely if you really want to transform your hobby into your work, since this is when you start to most often hate it. That is why I also believe your job should not be something you love. It will suck the life out of you.

Thank you for taking your time to read it. As always, if you have any questions, if you want me to explain anything, or even if you want to throw a hate comment out there, go for it. I will be more than happy to read it and respond to you.

[poupeesdecirque]

Travel Blog - Dokomi 2024 - Saturday

Or: "That Park is huge"

Up to the second day of Dokomi, I have to say I was maybe quite tired (sleep is for the weak) but overall felt better than expected.

I was really looking forward to the next day as I was about to meet up with Laquaza, a friend from the doll hobby, I know for long but we never met as we live in different countries. Also I hoped to finish the artist alley and just ... have a nice day.

I was up super early after a short night. After breakfast I got myself some cinnamon rolls from the bakery to snack on them while I wait for the halls to open as I wanted to be at the con earlier to have as much time as possible.

It was still pretty early so I got make up on in the hotel and ... walked through the football team from Belgium in full cosplay.

This time I put the freshly made prisoner outfit under crown clown as it was forecasted to be awfully hot and I wanted an option to ... have a cooler outfit (spoiler: I did take the coat off for like 5 photos and only took off the glove 1 hour before I left so... I simmered a bit in that coat for the day).

Depite the heat I was pretty much looking forward to the whole day, I even decided to put the curse on again and tiny Tim was with me again. Sometimes in my cloth but mostly curled around the claws to be carried.

Inside I decided to have second breakfast ... for the sake of the joke "Cinnamon roll eats cinnamon roll", fun fact: this was my second ever cinnamon roll as they aren't a thing where I live, you get other patries but no cinnamon rolls.

But it was delicious I have to say. I saved up the other one for the ride home the day after.

As the halls opened my first mission was to continue to explore the artist alley to at least finish that and then see what would be nice to see next. My arranged meet up time with Laquaza was later that day so I had time.

Aside the artist alley I also went to the commercial sellers again and took a peak at the Matsuri. The commercial seller even had the Customs there ... which is kind of a ironic thing as customs here have to deal so much with collectors. The Matsuri was games you could play, very different from the Matsuri I knew from other conventions in which it was games and food vendors.

After I finished the artist alley and aquiring some more DGM Prints and this utterly cute Clown Cat (LOOK AT HIM HE'S TRYING) I got my daily bubble tea and then decided to head towards the park to check out the location and a lot of my cosplay mutuals were in the park the day before.

On the way outside I was found by xbloolii, whom was in the DGM Anniversary Project as well and was surprised to meet a Cosplayer of the Earl :O still amazed by that. (pics a bit later here)

Then .... a tiny shock which almost got me hard was that I took pics of the other entrance and then noticed one of my claws was gone q_q

I searched for it by walking all the way back and had to get pass the security again but luckily found it T_T I checked it a million times after that and made sure to hold my hand differently to not lose it again. (I now have added a bit to avoid any slipping, lesson learned).

Then I entered the ... park.

And photos don't even show a glimpse of how BIG that place is, I'm not gonna lie but the whole park is bigger than the village I live in. What a beautiful location I really really love it. The convention area itself is okay, nothing special, but that park, wow.

As I roamed the park I luckily came across a few cosplayers I already knew and met some new faces. Ya'll got my card I hope to find you again T_T Lavi is Ryhm (IG), I already met her at the Bookfair. I even found a Komui and we had a super nice talk.

As I spotted a Kanda & Allen I found Hiwari who luckily let me have a place on their blanket and I had some time to snack. We somehow always forget to take a selfie :'D but Hiwari is such a darling. Seriously. Met her first time last year at the Nicon.

After that I decided to slowly walk towards my meeting location with Laquaza aaand I was recognized by two very sweet Ladies from France. They asked me for photos and were so glad to find D.Gray-man cosplayer, we agreed that Cosplays from older fandoms have that very special vibe and bring so many positive emotions with them. I'm still in awe I am able to easily hold conversations in english T_T

Theeeen I finally met Laquaza, it was such a pleasure to meet her, we talked a lot and walked around in the park and took photos before we parted again (about 1,5 hours later). Thank you again for your time I enjoyed every second <3

Back in I decided to ..

Finally free my arm. As much as I love the look this was the worst part the artificial leather glove. Oof. Of course I was found by another DGM cosplayer and asked for photos (last Allen in the collage) just after taking it off :'D

Followed by dinner time and it was a rice bowl that day followed by another soft serve ice cream and a huge serving of churros. I kinda traveled the world in food regards that weekend.

Then i checked the gaming hall for a few minutes to find a booth with blind boxes but I felt I was truly done for the day and decided to check that out the day after. Same for the J-Fashion area as Laquaza told me there was one with doll eyes and you never have enough eyes, right?

But it was time to leave the con, around that time I was on tour for more than 10 hours and the heat did the rest. But hey look at that cool bus.

You can imagine how good it felt to finally get the coat off. Oof. The only thing I wanted then was to shower.

... and yes that's how I carried Tim around for a part of the Con when he wasn't curled onto the claws.

[magmacannon]

9, 14, 17, 20, 29, 34 🫵 Roman

yipee!!!!

9. favorite food? least favorite? are they a picky eater? do they have any dietary restrictions?

Roman grew up Really Far North and his food preferences were shaped as such - though he loves a well-cooked or roasted green veggie, his favorite food is a red meat roast cooked in a stock+beer or ale for tenderness/flavor with alliums and tubers/carrots that are served with the meat and maybe a side of bread+butter (hearty stuff). Least favorite food that he's tried was a spiced tomato-heavy salad thing, least favorite food based on concept alone is the fermented bulette meat that his party member tried to make for them ala fermented shark meat.

Roman doesn't consider himself a picky eater - he'll try most things once or twice! - but he also is cursed with Weak Spice Tolerance that bars him from a good amount of food. Rolling a dice here for this last one but he's not allergic to anything BUT.... despite his love for milk, he's sitting as just above having lactose intolerance apparently.

14. are they any good with numbers?

Roman's solid at guessing distances and geometry through practice - you don't want to be a spellcaster, especially an evocation wizard, to have bad aim - and is pretty decent at keeping track of number patterns and budgeting income vs expenses. Higher level or theoretical math is hard for him to grasp but he tries his best!

17. how did they spend their summers/free time as a child?

As a YOUNG child Roman spent his free time either playing at an uncle's lumberyard/hobby farm outside of the walls of Tzeraz or would spend it traveling with his parents within the Northern Kingdom (mostly) while they performed. He has a few friends he'd invite to his house to play (super dramatic war games) besides that.

As he got older and began going to school for magic, his summers were taken up by classes while winter was the big break time where he'd be able to go home for a few months. When with his family and now less-close friends he'd show off what he was learning to anyone who would listen and watch him cast cantrips at snowmen (this annoyed his brother because he'd do it so often). He spent a lot more time daydreaming in his early teens than continuing running around.

20. if applicable, can they drive? if they have their own, what color is their vehicle? is the inside neat and tidy, or a mess?

IN Dorna, Roman's never seen a 'car' in person but he can decently manage to steer a carriage on a well-paved road if needed. He prefers to ride in the back and read/sleep though!

In a world where cars are common he has a minivan that's a little busted up but runs well. He's considering trying to get a Cool Wizard painted on the side. The inside smells decently clean if a little dusty and while the floor's clean, the dashboard compartment and the back have mild piles of stuff (papers/blankets and bags respectively). He travels with ice removal tools Constantly and maybe a portable air pump just in case.

29. are they associated with any particular element (air, earth, fire, water)?

This is ALWAYS a fun one to think of for Roman bc it's changed over time... he's been associated with light/fire for forever if I think about it, but initially I would have def said he was more of a Water Guy. His oldest 'custom' spell was earth-aligned and he casts spells in a very grounded way - I think he wants to be more 'earth' aligned than he actually is in-setting. I think he's probably most associated with fire through how he acts and the magic he casts out of those four options though he wants to be Anything Else atm.

34. how would your character describe themselves? it doesn’t have to line up with how they really are.

Roman would describe himself as a friendly, optimistic guy with a good bit of determination and practice seeing things through (sort of true, he's stubborn). He'd probably say he's 'pretty good' at his job, which is true in that he has a lot of technical skill BUT he lacks focus historically, meaning that he's just Okay at it in truth. He'd say he has a big heart with a lot of love in it, and that's entirely true <3 (he just also has a lot of opinions and some unforseen pettiness, too)

[pokemon-card-of-the-day]

Pokemon Card of the Day #3197: Eevee & Snorlax-GX (Team Up)

Eevee and Snorlax-GX, while a somewhat odd combination of Pokemon that would become rather typical of the era, had some interesting attacks. It was good at punishing anything that evolved and had a GX attack that could get a huge hand refreshment. These attacks required a ton of Energy, so you had to accelerate to it. The nature of this meant that you had to pair this with something that was going to have said acceleration quickly, had a Pokemon that could attack well on its own but would like the backup, and something that could sometimes run lower on cards to maximize a potential draw at the right time. This typically meant running this in a Fire deck, and only in SUM-On because that was where a good amount of Evolved Pokemon at under 240 HP were still common.

270 HP was where you'd want a Tag Team to be at, and that was a lot of bulk to get through. Its main job was to be a huge pain to things like Zoroark-GX, which couldn't even KO it in 2 hits without some help. The Fighting Weakness could potentially come into play a little, as while the type had fallen off quite a bit, Lycanroc-GX was a Stage 1 that could actually hit really hard. The Retreat Cost here was 4, meaning you did have to be careful here. Getting ahead on Prizes meant an unprepared Eevee & Snorlax-GX was easy bait for anything like a Counter Catcher, or at any point a Custom Catcher.

Cheer Up was an attack that did no damage for a Colorless Energy, but it did let you attach an Energy card from your hand to 1 of your Pokemon. You could use this if you didn't have anything better to do, but you'd normally want something else up front if you didn't get stuck starting with this. It was, at least, better than nothing on turn 1 if you were going second.

Dump Truck Press started at 120 damage, but it cost 4 Energy. The price was too steep unless you had the second effect. That effect involved doing 120 more damage if the opponent's Active Pokemon was an Evolution Pokemon. This meant a KO on the top choices out of those in the SUM-On format, including Zoroark-GX and Persian-GX. The issue was that any Basic Pokemon, including Tag Teams, were taking a lot less, so it was a huge match-up play. In the right match-up, it was great, but it was kind of stuck in one format.

Megaton Friends GX had some good moments. It was costly, as 4 Colorless Energy meant you were still leaning on Welder a lot here, and it was your one GX attack. That being said, you did 210 damage which was usually enough for the role being played here, and you also drew cards until you had 10 in your hand. This set you up nicely for your next turn as well as long as you didn't immediately get hit by a Judge. Usually you'd be okay though, and even if not it tended to force that play instead of a different Supporter.

Eevee & Snorlax-GX was a backup option in Reshiram & Charizard decks for the most part. Reshiram & Charizard-GX performed rather well against a lot of things, but Eevee & Snorlax-GX cleaned up Stage 1 Pokemon so well that it was often brought along too. Having a copy or two was reasonably common until the game shifted almost entirely to Tag Teams, and while a few Evolved Pokemon came back later in the Sword & Shield era it never found a great home partly due to higher HP numbers. It sure had a few good months, though, at least in that one deck.

[sirpawsies]

A review of Dragon's Dogma 2

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is one of the first major game releases in 2024. With some of the most fun gameplay an action RPG could have and a sense of exploration contrasting with a messy storyline. The game’s world design is more concerned with feeling like a place than being a playground for you to make a mess in.

In Dragon’s Dogma 2 you play as the Arisen, a chosen one of sorts whose heart was stolen and devoured by a dragon. Alongside your main character, you also have a Pawn; a sort of dimension-hopping helper that acts as your main companion in your party. The game fully allows you to customize both characters, including picking a Vocation (think classes), appearance, and in the case of your Pawn, a personality that determines how it will play alongside you. You can also recruit Pawns made by other players to make a party of 4, where they will contribute to your group using whatever personality they were assigned by their creators.

The game’s open world is one of the game’s strongest features, with two major countries to explore with different environments, caves, ruins and other unique landmarks. Exploration in and of itself is the core of how to interact with this game, as traveling around leads to discoveries of treasure, new monster encounters in unusual places, and in some cases new villages or quests of interest.

The combat is relatively simple, with every Vocation having a basic attack, two special attacks that are fixed to the vocation itself and four slots for you to pick special attacks that your vocation offers. With different spells for mages and wizards, uniquely strong physical strikes for fighters and warriors, special tricks for thieves, and similar fitting special attacks for other vocations. The game also features options like grabbing smaller, stunned enemies or grabbing onto larger enemies to climb on them and hit their weak spots.

In spite of its simplicity, or perhaps because of it, the combat in Dragon’s Dogma 2 is addictive. Every encounter with an enemy plays out differently depending on what approach you chose, with every option being simple enough in execution for it to be tempting. If you feel like fighting an ogre straight on or chose to run away, both are viable choices. If you want to throw a goblin at it because they happen to be around, it's a viable strategy (In fact, throwing things at enemies has really high knockdown values.) If you want to goad it into attacking you and falling off a cliff, just be sure not to join him on his way down.

The story of the game is admittedly a bit messy, with an introduction that sets up a plot of political intrigue and a race for the throne that gets lost somewhere on its way alongside the path to fight the dragon and reclaim your heart. There’s traces of good ideas very clearly visible through the plot, but unfortunately doesn’t utilize the setups it makes to their fullest potential. Without getting into spoilers, the endgame in particular throws a lot of things in the story off the rails in favor of something that doesn’t feel connected to most of the main story.

The characters you interact with are also simple. With key characters having relatively simple writing and, with a few exceptions, mostly serving as a means to give you quests and develop the story further. With that said, the characters are written well enough. Additionally, all NPCs exist under schedules, basic behaviors and dispositions that make the world feel like it is inhabited by a few different civilizations.

Which leads to the game’s secret, the strongest card it has to play. The world itself. Some quests are timed by in-game days, so they will end whether you interact with them or not. Larger roaming monsters like griffins and lesser drakes will go wherever they want, independently of you. The capital city of Vermund can be assailed by monsters while you’re strolling around it, NPCs can die from monster attacks. And yet, the game goes on. This world exists even when you’re not interacting with it directly.

This extends to NPCs interacting with the main story, too. For instance, Brant, the soldier who gives you most of the initial quests, can die in a monster attack. Restoring the thread of fate is not impossible, and can, in and of itself, be a source of adventure outside of the story and exploration itself. Whether this is a positive or a negative thing, however, depends on the player and their willingness to interact with the game on its own terms.

With its unique game world design, Dragon’s Dogma 2 overcomes most of its flaws by using design choices that make the world feel so alive that the experience of playing the game overwhelms its shortcomings. The sense of exploration, the thrill of combat and the ever-present feeling of being a part of a living world have captivated my attention thoroughly. And I can confidently give this game a highly positive endorsement.

9/10

*Note: PC version released with performance issues. While I did not account for them in this review. It’s a very important factor to mention. As of writing (28/3/2024), Capcom has expressed their intent on patching the game to address this. I wrote this under the assumption that they will go through with it and the game will have no performance hitches.

[ot3]

so i see you tweet sometimes about gw2 and im just curious about your thoughts on it like, plot wise.

i think the story of early guild wars is pretty par for the course mmo storytelling where im paying mostly superficial attention to the plot and mainly enjoying how fun the game is. but around the time you get to heart of thorns they start introducing enough interesting concepts that you decide its worth paying slightly more attention to.

there was a huge problem in the way guild wars 2's narrative flowed because of the way they handled the living world stuff. i love the living world in concept when it was unreplayable because its just neat to me to be able to take such large story beats in an mmo. where you literally nuke your entire main city and change its appearance. but i appreciate the fact they decided to retroactively let you play that stuff in the end! however making it, in the case of living world season 2, optional to buy, but then not also doing lws1 in the same way? it just meant that you got the story non completely and non sequentially. if you just go straight to core from HoT you have to do soooo much Inferring Shit About This Plot from it. It's like your character blacked out and lost several years of their life. 'hello? commander? its us. the guys who are totally already your best friends'

anyway once i got through HoT then i found myself going back to lws2 specifically to unlock the luminescent armor and the respective ascended trinkets since back pre-lws3 the only stat selectable ascended trinkets were from raids, i believe. and then once again it was really interesting to get the map meta-events recontexualized to me from going through the story. and then after that i was invested enough in these characters to go watch the howeverlong supercut lws1 movie someone had on youtube for anyone who hadnt been there to play through it.

all this to say i think there was a lot of interesting story stuff here that would have helped hook more people earlier on if it had been freely available to play in its intended order. anyway

hot: i feel like it benefitted a TON from playing through this on a sylvari pc the first time because the custom dialogue they give that taints it like all of the npcs are suspicious you are going to fucking turn evil. like the sort of 'youre the coolest strongest character in the world!' stuff never really does it for me. i'm way more into 'youre a very powerful person in an extremely fraught and complex political situation' and HoT really felt a lot more like that, with i think it doing a good job of setting the mood for being In An Active Warzone. i like dragons stand meta a lot in terms of things where gameplay really makes the story hit in a certain way. the challenging, large-scale metas make a better multiplayer use of a high fantasy war shining than a lot of them do. getting events that genuinely do take several dozen real human beings coordinating in real time to accomplish makes there be a sense of difficulty and scale that would be rather punishing and frustrating as instanced single player combat.

i know i kind of talked more a bout the combat than the story. oops. but to me the sort of positive feedback loop between getting more invested in playing the actual game and then getting more invested in learning about the characters to continue to future expansions.

I wish I could speak more about lws3 and PoF but i will be real with you right now. those years of my life are kind of a blur and i do not remember a lot of the story beats right now. lws4 felt pretty weak to me in a lot of ways, pretty disparate from itself. PoF though i had a hell of a fun time with. joko was a fun villain he was serving necromantic cunt.

lws4 was ok. definitely more cohesive overall and had some cool stuff. lws5 i think on the other hand really suffered from a bit of covid slump in its content which i will absolutely not blame them for. I would much rather they put out slightly subpar content during a massive health crisis than they overwork people.

CANTHA, ON THE OTHER HAND. WAS EXCELLENT. DEFINITELY THEIR BEST STORY WRITING YET. i had a blast of a time with it and i was specifically fond of what they did with mai trin, a character i was well acquainted with via getting my ass kicked in her fractal back when she was scale 100. they gave her some INSANE dyke drama. it was catnip to me. she fucked that asura they had toxic yuri i knowww they did. kelly hu did her voice for EoD, who i immediately clocked as stacy from phineas and ferb and was as such predisposed to be endeared to her. also who doesnt love an ex supervillain pirate captain. mai trin you will always be famous.

anyway. that is my extnesive opinion on the plot of guild wars 2. great game everyone play it i have over 3000 hours in guild wars 2.

[actualaster]

Playing HZD and HFW back to back now for my series replay, I’ve got a few Mechanics Wishlist items for if we do get a 3rd game in Aloy’s story.

Currently 8 12 of them.

The climbing system was refined massively in HFW, like amazing job there to the devs!  I'd like to see them continue to improve on it, tighten some things up a bit, etc.  There's still some oddities once in a while and all, getting stuck, etc.

Hybridize the fishing mechanics.  I like being able to just grab a fish in the water, but it's a huge annoyance to keep swimming after a fish that keeps dodging you XD  If possible, it'd be nice to have the option to both catch them by hand or snipe 'em.

Return the datapoint indicator to the HUD at the up alongside the waypoints, machine sites, campfires, etc.  In HFW I found that I was missing them a lot more often because the overworld indicator was just not as notable.  I'd like to see it return and expand the range.

Extend the time machine weak points remain highlighted!  Or maybe have a "remain highlighted indefinitely within X range" option?  They never seem to remain highlighted long enough for me, I have a hard time making them out sometimes...

Return the "discovered campfire" icon to green, especially on the HUD navigation at the top.  Or another color.  Anything but "brighter white vs slightly darker grayed out for undiscovered one".  Maybe settings to change the colors of icons?

Amazing job on the accessibility options, by the way, did great work on those!  Be nice to see those continue to expand!  Maybe the above 3 points (3-5) could be folded in under customizable options in the future?

Retain some form of the gliding mechanic--if Aloy has to lose all her gear again or something, I get it but it'd be nice to have something to replace it return early on because that was invaluable to navigation once you unlock it.

Hybridize the crafting systems, maybe?  I liked the ability to craft upgrades on the fly from HZD rather than needing a workbench...  Maybe some sort of portable workbench you can craft or buy for a decent cost, or for limited uses?

Keep the "people will tell you about stuff at shelters and camps in the wild allowing you to get sidequest and other location markers before you get close to them yourself" feature! Especially if they expand the number of extra missions and quests and errands you can pick up.

PLEASE do not bring back "tie some of the skill points to fully max the tree to a board game" feature. By all means, keep that as a way to get skill points, but also let there be ways to obtain them all through other means such as leveling and the other sorts of quests. It's a huge pain if you just suck at it no matter how hard you try. (Yes yes, NG+ but it'd be nice to get them all first play lol)

Maybe less underwater stealth segments. They are. Hard and also so very different from tbe rest of the game because you CANNOT fight anything. Or at least offer some limited underwater combat options? Special weapons for underwater combat?

A way to mark custom locations on the map besides our single waypoint! It would be great to be able to put a stamp on the map to mark favored hunting locations for certain machines so its easy to tell at a glance (for those of us Bad at maps and remembering where we were)