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dzpenumbra · 1 year

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5/10/23

I was woken up again. At 9AM again. It's been like 4 consecutive weeks in a row now, I'm afraid it's becoming a ritual for these people. I did the whole go downstairs, get a bowl of cereal and then pass out in the chair thing again. It just really puts a damper on the whole day when I do that. I never feel fully rested, I never get right to sleep... so I end up finally starting my day way later. It's very frustrating.

I finished the ink drawing. Here, I'll post it.

I like it. I've been kinda... letting these improvised pieces inspire the next one, so it becomes... almost like a flip book. Each one taking the last one and iterating on it. This one brought in a lot more of these blobby shapes that have dominated a lot of my abstract work over the past 20+ years.

There was a big gamechanger that came into the day today. A YouTuber that I've been following since... probably 2015? The one who introduced me to RimWorld. The one who really inspired me to get into streaming at a serious level. Whose VoDs I have used to help me sleep for several years because of his thoughtful and comprehensive narration. He released a video today that... I have never seen any work of his at nearly this level. It was over 3.5 hours long. It was a deep-dive video essay on the incorporation of story in survival games, done through the lens of the game The Forest. It was... spectacular. I couldn't walk away, I couldn't even pause it. It pained me to pause it to even go pee, I was sitting squirming in my chair trying to watch and draw for at least 20 minutes before I caved. It's a really good video essay. Well researched, extremely well edited, fair and generous to the developers, yet... he stands his ground on his point and his perspective.

What kinda shook my foundation with it? He took the end of the essay as an opportunity to do a face reveal. And... it was a strange experience. He... looked like he could be a relative of mine. Like... he looked like a version my dad's younger brother... but my age. (I look more like my mom.) It... was a strange experience. To finally have a face to match the voice that has been setting the background when I went to sleep for years, that I've had on in the background while gaming since... at least 2017. Whose Project Zomboid streams I watched on the last night I spent with my terminally ill dog, and watched in bed while grieving her passing when I couldn't sleep. I have his Banished playthrough that I've been listening to fall asleep to this week, last week it was Planet Zoo. I can't even do the math on how many of these streams I have absorbed. Every Stellaris playthrough he's done, every Space Engineers stream I could find, X3, Kerbal Space Program, Rimworld (of course), good lord his playthrough of Subnautica was one of the most compelling playthroughs I've ever watched. Years and years of material to drift off to sleep to. It had been my routine for pretty much the whole pandemic... to play his streams when going to sleep, and somewhere along the way I started putting music on too so that once the stream ended, there was some sound on so it wasn't just silence.

Needless to say, it's very odd to finally get a face to match the voice. Like finally seeing the person who voices a cartoon character for the first time. It's just... my brain didn't really want to process it. But like... the most unsettling and weird part... is how... familiar he looked. And he, of course, is the one I gravitated towards because we have a ton in common. Though, over the past few years, we have split ways on stuff - lifestyle, entertainment preference, etc. It's just... odd. And it's still sitting with me.

What scares me a bit... I'm afraid it might be a sign he's getting ready to step away from YouTube. He might not, I might be reading into it. I mean, it's been his entire life for a decade. I dunno. Maybe he's just... transitioning? It felt like a big moment. He was always very against the premise of doing face reveals, always felt they were tacky. It validated me a lot, because I never really saw the point of taking up what we called in video and graphic design class "screen real estate" with a static box that just has your blank stare at a computer screen. I feel like it doesn't... contribute anything, it always felt really... vain. And he always echoed the same sentiment, and it gave me a lot of validation in an ocean of carbon copy streamers. And yet... here he is. So, idk. I've gotta get back into his livestreams soon. He's just... he's in UK, so... it's hard to get my schedule to overlap well.

I was so enthralled by the video that I skipped a shower. I ordered a pizza. I ate a bunch of it and then started working on the skull. The skull is in pretty rough shape. A lot of the bone is... nature got to it. It's not bad, it's just... porous and discolored in places. I did my best to get the debris out of the cavities, got most of it. I started to sand it, and it actually helps the look a lot. I might leave it on the windowsill to sun bleach it a bit, in addition to the sanding and polishing I'm doing. I have no clue what to do with it. There aren't really a lot of flat spaces. So... I'm probably going to treat the design work like... like face tattoos or something. I honestly don't know. But I think sanding and polishing it first is a good idea, it'll be an easier surface to work on. Then I can choose whether I even want to carve it, or if I want to just go ahead and ink/paint right on it. Now that it's out and sitting in my workspace, it freaks me out a lot less.

I tried polishing some stones too, some of the ones from the National Park. I just... wasn't really feeling it. That used to be go-to work for me in the past, and now? Now it just felt forced. So... I kinda took it easy today. I guess. I mean, if you want to call working on 3 separate projects "taking it easy".

I'm a bit depressed tonight. Probably the sleep deprivation affecting me. And the whole... not having a big super inspiring "super excited to work on it" project. Despite my anxiety about design elements and the permanence, I was always really excited about working on the hoodie. And the desire path project, I loved it. This skull? I'm just not there yet. I'm sure once I get the surface prepped and start sketching it will get much more comfortable and enticing. I guess it's just the sanding and polishing that I'm just... not really into right now, just in general.

I think I'm going to take this opportunity to head to bed a bit earlier than I usually do. Fingers crossed I don't hear another vacuum or whatever at 9AM, because if I go to bed right this second? I'm only getting 6 hours of sleep.

#diary #journal #stream of thoughts #online journal #stream of consciousness

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sgt-dignam · 2 years

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my family...we didn’t mean to hurt anybody. we’re just trying to survive like everybody else.

#the quarry #thequarryedit #the quarry spoilers #laura kearney #travis hackett #travislaura #did a deep dive into youtube playthroughs #apparently this sequence was patched out #but you know what it's canon to me that laura sees this version of travis #for my own peace of mind

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dipperdogrpg · 3 years

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Cloud and Aerith theories/facts and not canon pairing essay

Ended up writing way more then intended lol and thought to share what’s happening in the FF7 story between Cloud and Aerith. This is a response text I did on my youtube channel where I do commentary as a Cloti supporter. Instead I decided to move it here.

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Wahh lol I got carried away! I enjoyed but also felt bad for Cloud having to dance at the Honey Bee thanks to Aerith and her plans. Gosh darn it though Cloud dancing was great and I squealed along with Aerith, but a tinge of guilt hits when I see his troubled face haha. The thing people confuses here is that Cloud pushes himself to do it for Tifa because he was ready to walk away. Instead of busting through the mansion he sucked it up to ensure Tifa’s safety and chose to sneak inside as a woman.

Yes, I’m also very curious how Sephiroth's schemes will develop and how Aerith will try to stop him in Remake. She's much more focused on Sephiroth and stopping him compared in OG. In the other game Aerith originally joined to understand her Cetra abilities, but it feels pretty evident she has new mysterious powers as a Cetra in Remake and her relationship with Sephiroth is more personal. Also, I think Sephiroth and Aerith’s ancestry will have a bigger role and focus on Jenova and the Cetra's relationship/History. I plan to do an Aerith Theory and a character analysis in the future because she is, as the developers describe her, mysterious.

It's obvious Sephiroth is harassing Cloud mentally then later physically through his clones. He is scheming something big and I look forward how Aerith will try to counter it because she is probably the only one capable to do it as a Cetra. One of the big schemes was removing the Arbiters of fate, but I think they both wanted that. Both Sephiroth and Aerith want to change something that doesn’t fit with the planet’s “destined” agenda.

In Max's commentary he mentioned Sephiroth was intentional with stalling Cloud running into Aerith, which caused a butterfly effect to ruin the events the planet has planned. While it tries to fix itself, the party are becoming aware of the Arbiters of Fate existence and sees it as a problem. At the end the team removes it when Sephiroth had some control in manipulating it. Its been mentioned the three figures you fight are a representation of the three sephiroth remnants from AC, Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo. So maybe we are getting hints of Sephiroth's abilities with the clones and the lifestream which could lead to some complicated trouble. We also get evidence Aerith is already more powerful than her Og counterpart by creating the portal to fight the Arbitors. When the heck did she learn that?

My theory about removing the arbitors of fate are so the creators can have wiggle room for slight variation in scenes they've considered fixing in the past to improve a more consistent story and of course a new way for Sephiroth to exercise his goal along with Aerith because definitely getting hints those two know more then they should. My theory, they are from the future and traveled to the past using the Life stream and I’m using the OTWTS Novel as evidence when Aerith and Sephiroth talk about their time in the Life Stream. In there they gained new powers. Evidence- Sephiroth talks about it at the temple of ancients and that he gained new knowledge from there, so why not Aerith too. Either way the party will stop him at the end with Aerith's help because her role in the story is to save the world while Tifa's role is to save Cloud. That is a canon statement by one of the developers btw. Aerith and Tifa have their roles to play in FF7 that lead to its success.

Fun fact, but Cloud is not himself with Aerith. The developers did say Cloud truly is himself with Tifa. Why? because love. Now, the cool thing in Remake we are witnessing is Cloud learning how to make friends. A poor social skill set that may have contributed with his insecurity when he was a child. Wanting to join tifa and her friends but instead stayed away. To make himself feel better he makes up a story that he chose not to play with the other kids because he is special. In FF7 we get to witness Cloud learning these relationship skills, which helps develop his character to grow up until we get to the Lifestream sequence. It's after that he can stop pretending to be what he think is the ideal cool grown up version of himself and instead work on his real self with the new bonds of friendship he made who stuck around Cloud regardless of him pretending to act as someone else during their adventure. Cloud is still Cloud. Even with the messed up memories he had. He is not Zack. He is like a little boy picking up traits he likes from other people and mimic them. Very confused why people think he is Zack. He’s not. He is Cloud trying to be cool and does it poorly. That’s a canon thing.

Soldier Cloud is a facade, an illusion of himself he truly believed in until he sorted out his memories and realized "oh I'm not being myself and just mimicking what would Zack do. A friend I look up to" It's been pointed out Cloud isn't actually grown up mentally and is still a child with insecurity about himself along with 5 years of trauma thanks to Hojo. Poor BABY! This whole copy/mimic theme gets reflected with the kids in sector 8 that mimic Cloud in remake over time during the side quests. Cloud is doing the same thing with Zack. Even Biggs hints that Cloud and the kids have a lot in common. I'm not crazy about Sector 8 but it shows best what Biggs told Cloud before the plate falls. And one more thing I want to add lol. When Cloud gets his red drink from Tifa there's a pause of him looking up and down at the drink and Tifa, before he says beautiful. That moment of pause he thinks to himself what he should do here and then came up with what he believes a confident person/Zack would do. Zack doesn't hesitate when giving a compliment. Confident people don't normally hesitate when they talk. It's why we get moments of Cloud saying some awkward lines when he doesn't give himself time to think and its one of the best moments to watch lol cuz I think that's when real cloud slips out trying to act cool or is at a lost for words. It's canon by the developers that Cloud isn't cool but tries to act it.

Another Fun fact. Most party members and NPCs in Remake mention and hint in game they see past the facade Cloud puts up. Tifa, Barret, Wedge, Biggs, Marle, Jessie and Aerith are some of the characters that see past it and either go along with it, poke fun at his attempt or tell him to his face they know he's pretending to be someone he's not. Basically seeing past the character he pretends to be and can see he has a good heart over the course they spend time with him. Even though Cloud tries to convince others and himself he could care less about them and is only in it for the money.

Now OG is really awkward with the romance honestly from my playthroughs so far. (Follow me on Youtube Dipperdog15 if you want to catch my FF7 commentary when I go live playing OG and Intergrade.) But with Remake it's very clear they are building up Aerith's love story with Zack so we can cry hard later. All of Zack scenes so far is related to Aerith. In Remake and OG Aerith display some of Zack's mannerisms too because people copy/mimic what they do to feel closer to them when in love. She continues to wear the bow Zack gave her and the pink dress in memory of Zack. She's said "gotta move forward not back" in remake and/or that Zack probably moved on with another girl in Og but what if what she said is a lie. We have Cloud as the unreliable narrator so why can't it also happen with Aerith who is likely lying to convince herself to move on to protect her heart. In fact a lot of characters in FF7 lie to themselves and we get character development when they stop and face the truth. It's one of the many themes in FF7 which I think I’ll deep dive into on my podcast channel in the future.

Another thing to keep in mind is that Zack is risking it all to make it to Midgar to see Aerith while risking Cloud's life on this mission, because he promised her. Promise is a big important theme in FF7. Cloud and Tifa are the canon couple and Zack and Aerith are the canon couple in FF7 because these pairings promised each other. I won't disagree about Cloud not caring about Aerith, but he cares for all his friends as said in AC. Also why make it possible the idea to bring Zack back? To create a love square? No. It’s have us the players focus instead the reunion of Aerith and Zack. That’s more attention grabbing because we never got to see it before and I’ll cry when they cry finally getting to be together. If they don’t I’ll cry some more. The developers are pushing for Zerith and their development in Remake/Intergrade.

Another thing to notice, there are a lot of similarities between Jessie and Aerith's relationship when they are around Cloud. This directive choice, I believe, isn't a coincidence in order to water down scenes that are suppose to be special. It is instead not a “one of kind’ scene. They both get carried bridal style. They both tell cloud My Hero. They both invited Cloud over for dinner. They both ask about who Tifa is. They both got a pikachu face from Cloud when jessie optionally kissed Cloud on the cheek and Aerith wearing the optional red dress. They both have strong personalities that overwhelms Cloud and that is a developer canon statement. They both worked hard to befriend Cloud so he can open up and be nicer to them. Cloud treats them both the same.

Aerith’s relationship with Cloud in Remake is directing us to friendship. In the novel it mentioned she loves Cloud, in what way we don’t know. But we can say for a fact Cloud was living a lie in OG and his real self loves Tifa. In fact his other self loved Tifa too, you just have to catch the moment. Example, Barret teasing Cloud if he is eager to see his baby when you first see Tifa in OG. It happens when you run to the bar, but only if you catch Tifa on the porch before she goes inside. That’s means in both remake and OG, Barret knew something was up with those two. Another moment is the interest Cloud has with what Tifa almost said in the gondola. It was obviously sounding like some kind of confession from Tifa at Gold Saucer. When you get this date the story is more fluid when you arrive at the northern crater and Cloud says “only your opinion matters” to Tifa. Huge RED FLAG Cloud considers Tifa important to him. Meanwhile Aerith and Cloud’s relationship was open for interpretation that it may have been love in OG, but the scenes that helped implied it were removed in Remake. The point system was just for fun because it was a popular thing in the 90s. Plus the points for Tifa, Aerith, Barret and Yuffie’s are their feelings for Cloud not Cloud’s feelings towards them. Then you get rewarded learning a little about the character, but that’s it. FF7 remake/intergrade is not an otome game. Cloud ends with Tifa no matter what. Even if Aerith was to stay alive the Life Stream sequence will always be Cloud and Tifa’s moment to learn about their feelings for each other. The developers have said it is one of their favorite scenes, so they won’t change it. ok now back to Remake.

Aerith in her resolution tells him not to love her and it’s not real. A deliberate choice of words I think she picked to shoo away the thought they could be a thing for both their sakes and us the players lol. Doing that made it weird now because Cloud doesn’t want to ruin what ever progress he has with Tifa in Remake. Plus Cloud only known her for a few days and if his actions are making her think there’s this growing romance between them he’s not going to encourage it. Those lines raised his awareness to watch himself I bet, so Tifa doesn’t get the wrong idea and you can see the distance he put between himself and Aerith later in game. Meanwhile in Intermission we see Cloud continues to make quick glances at Tifa whenever he can. We get it Cloud. You can’t keep your eyes off her. Ok getting off track. So Cloud and Aerith are instead just friends. Doing this allows Tifa to pick up the role to be there for Aerith. Which will help develop their friendship to be stronger as the two girls encourage each other. because I didn’t pick up on the two being best friends in OG but in Remake it’s very clear. He already looked uncomfortable when Aerith grabbed his arm back at the ghost station in front of Tifa. To include Cloud with this idea of him falling in love with another woman in front of Tifa would leave a poor taste in our mouths after spending several hours watching him develop several intimate moments with Tifa. That freaking hug scene and train roll you guys screamed sexual tension and love. Cloud is not that kind of guy who easily falls in love. His whole hero’s journey is because of Tifa and he makes sure to be nice to her while trying to get her attention. With anyone else he is quite hostile with new people and slowly learns to tolerate them before liking them. Cloud treats Tifa differently in a special way. He’s been pinning for Tifa since they were kids and even imagined scenarios of Tifa noticing him. That’s right, not all of Cloud’s visions may be accurate. We may see more scenes of kid Cloud imagining moments with Tifa to confuse our perspective they are childhood friends. Again, Cloud is the unreliable narrator thanks to Jenova and 5 years of trauma. Now back to Aerith. Their relationship definitely felt different when Cloud, Tifa and Barret rescued Aerith. In fact Aerith’s relationship with everyone is different in a better way. The relationship between Tifa and Barret are better fleshed out compared to OG Aerith and I’m for it. Very happy they removed the jail scene. It was upsetting watching Aerith flirt with Cloud while Tifa was stuck in the cell forced to listen and Aerith owing Cloud a date. Which changed also in Remake. Taking Aerith home and spending time her was the date as mentioned in game by Aerith herself.

When I play through Chapter 8 and 9 I get this feeling Meta Aerith looks uncomfortable sticking to the OG lines of herself but does it anyways so the Arbiters of fate won’t come for her because she wants to hold on to her memories. Something she believes can help her friends I’m guessing. This is if my theory is right lol. What we have now is an Aerith that’s more mysterious than she was in OG. If this is OG Aerith making a return in Remake then I believe she was acting a lot, but then we see hiccups of her mentioning Cloud being a mercenary when he never mentioned it or acting like she knows Tifa for like forever before she actually met her in Remake. And then there was her knowing the plate would fall in sector 7. I’m betting the burden of knowing it was so hard to hide that Tifa picked up that she might be hiding something.

We are near the end!

Aerith’s resolution explored further. The resolution helps proves my theory this is OG Aerith that travel back to the past using the Lifestream to help her comrades in the fight against Sephiroth in Remake who also returned to the past. What’s also interesting about her resolution are the things she said are something you want to tell someone before you disappear. It was so sudden in OG that it sounds like Aerith wants to make up for it and also doesn’t want Cloud to suffer in guilt as he did in AC. Cherish the moment. Every one dies.

Aerith knows the truth with Cloud and Tifa’s relationship hence her stopping herself interfering. Now maybe Aerith did fall in love with Cloud, and maybe while Cloud pretended to be someone else was loving the idea, which is a stretch cuz there are plenty debunking the idea which I can go over later. They both may have been using each other to fill the hurt in their heart not having their true loves instead. Zack and Tifa. In her resolution, Aerith has declared she will not pursue Cloud as she did in OG and we have evidence of that when they rescue her. there were so many opportunities for Cloud to be Aerith’s hero. Instead those moments were replaced with Tifa consoling her and rescuing her.

The Arbitors of Fate are gone, so I believe Aerith’s normal clips of her flirting with Cloud will get removed or changed as many have already. This allows the directors to remove lines that painted Aerith poorly some moments and better her relationship with the team too. Aerith will still have flaws like everyone does. No one is perfect and I’m perfectly fine with that.

Crap if I keep going this will turn into a podcast in writing I think lol. Anywho, yes the arbiters of fate were eliminated, who knows if it's permanent, but as the developers have repeated, FF7 story will remain the same at heart. Iconic moments will remain. If it is not then that's a risky move to say to fans. Aerith will die to protect her loved ones and the planet and will reunite at the church in spirit with Zack perhaps. She can’t escape her role as the last living Cetra. That is her truth which she denied when she was little as shown in a flashback with kid Aerith. The other theme in FF7 is trying to move forward after a loss. Which extends to Advent Children which some of the team members has to deal with survival guilt. Some fans are getting their hopes up that Aerith will live. The developers are using Biggs and Jessie’s possible surviving scenes to prove lives lost can live in Remake. I think they may die later though if that is their fate, but we never actually saw them die in OG either. It was just implied. This is a set up so Aerith’s death scene can be impactful again in Remake, so we can cry again.

This was a lot and little bit everywhere, but I hope you enjoyed it. You can follow me on youtube in the link below where I invite other FF7 fans to talk about the story and Cloud and Tifa’s relationship Or me doing my own Cloud and Tifa commentary and Remake talk while I play the game. Thanks for reading! Hope you check out my channel and sub to check out my videos when convenient for you. Thank you!

https://www.youtube.com/c/Dipperdog15/featured

#cloti #FF7 Remake #ff7 #cloud strife #final fantasy vii #Final Fantasy 7

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bearpillowmonster · 3 years

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FF6 Review (Overall)

I'm going to rate similar to the way I did FF7 Remake, but in only 2 parts, so there will be an overall review then a separate deep dive into the characters.

I played this game using an emulator and I'm not ashamed of it because I used the FF6 Relocalization project which I'll link

Basically nerd talk and explanation of what that means: It's basically a retranslation of the original SNES script using the GBA port as a base and mixing and matching some of the best parts so there you go. They have a way to mod the PC version to have the OG sprite work because sheesh is that thing ugly and they also have a way to resprite and resound the GBA version but this is the easiest and logical solution to get the best of all worlds. There's also "Anthology" which is the PS1 port that adds some CG custscenes which I just watched off of YouTube because it's only a few of the major scenes.

Anyways, yeah, I'm glad I emulated it especially because of the fast forward function. That first chunk would've been rough without it because you're left just waiting for one of your party's commands to be ready but it eases up as the game goes on because you get pretty busy with the combat.

I'm not a fan of turn-based RPGs which was the main reason I haven't touched a 2D FF game until now so this is my first and oh boy, what a first!

Could you just watch a playthrough or read the story then? I wouldn't recommend it. There are certain things that I feel are better experienced.

Gameplay actually wasn't all that gruesome, as I mentioned, it got better thoughout but I know for a fact that I didn't do everything it had to offer because I see other people doing it online and I just had no idea how. That's not to say it's not newcomer friendly though, I mean I beat the game, didn't I? I think it would've just gotten complicated and made me confused if I learned how to do everything in the game anyway.

I found myself liking some of the mechanics and recognizing some of the systems from games as late as today (I'm not sure if this is where they started but I wouldn't be surprised). The random encounters weren't all bad because of the emulator's speed up function but there were definitely times where it felt a little out of hand with the amount I was getting. (I'm looking at you Cave to the Sealed Gate!) So it's all pretty familiar, though there are "Relics" which are kind of like Materia but each member has 2 each where it gives you an ability, f.e. Reflect, every attack hits, extra power, auto cast protect, heal with every step, etc.

One of the drawbacks of using BSNES though was that there was no toggle for a L or R shoulder button, just turbo and while that's not a big problem, that is the button to Flee a battle, so I just never fled. There is an item that lets you escape any dungeon or battle but I didn't really use it, same with the permanent item that Mog has in the cave (pretty late in the game). I'd rather there be a repel than the warp stone, but I figured that if I just fought whenever the opp arrived then I wouldn't have to grind, which is another thing I hate about RPGs! Luckily, I didn't really feel the need to grind other than for the ending.

Difficulty wasn't really a grind but make sure once you get to the floating island, that you know what you're doing because that level was annoying and I felt a very stong spike in difficulty as soon as I landed on it. Another thing is that sometimes it'd glitch and an enemy would have infinite health so I'd just sit there on fast forward, watching and watching then finally use Libra and no damage was made, might be an emulator thing, might be a game thing and although rare, it still happened.

There are these sections called scenarios where the game branches off into multiple different paths and you can choose which order to follow the specific sets of characters. I really like that aspect and makes it seem less linear and interactive because it's letting you choose how to tell the story. I have a thing for games that let me interact with it (That opera scene is pretty interactive too).

For a 2D sprite game, it has quite a personality with its cutscenes. They can be very cinematic and defintely makes the characters just that more engaging with some of their mannerisms.

Ok, I get it now. The music is bomb. If anything, that would be worth doing a remake for, to get orchestral and updated versions of some of the themes. (I'd probably cry at that opera scene) But Celes' theme is probably my favorite. The PC port has pretty good remixes for the most part though.

Could this use a remake? It's a trivial matter because I think a good majority of fans want it to be remade and I understand why but at the same time I understand the other side of the argument as well. This was the last 2D FF game and that's special, in a way, the story kind of reflects that. And I think with all the personality comes a bit of caution because you might see something in these characters or scenes that may be misinterpreted or done differently in a remake, similar to how you read a book and just imagine how it's playing out. I think it lays enough ground so that you don't "have to interpret" like with most NES games (how the Super Mario Movie was born) from an outsider's point of view, it may first seem that way though. (myself included (yes, I know this was SNES era. Shut up!))

What would I want out of a remake? I would want the airship to return and be able to move around freely but keep the towns pretty faithful (which makes for more linear opportunities). I could see Edgar's tools being used similar to Barrett's but we have "First Soldier" now which is a 3PS Battle Royale, why not have his tools play similar to that? Then actually give him story opportunities to pick up his tools rather than "just because you bought them" It would be a nice natural progression. I would suggest the same with Sabin and Cyan, have them learn their Blitz and Bushido moves by being taught by Duncan, you do learn one move from Duncan in the vanilla game but I'd see it as more opportunity to build your characters and make it feel rewarded. So, in those aspects, I would like to see FF6 remade or improved but as for everything else, they should keep it a lot similar to the original than FF7R did. I think that's where a lot of the criticism with FF7R came from (as well as what I mentioned in the previous paragraph) While I'd prefer a gameplay overhaul similar to what they did with R, I'd rather keep the essence. There aren't sequels or spinoffs or anything of this game so this is all it has (unless you count the ports but that's minimal).

In the CHARACTERS section, I compliment the side-quest system but I would like there to be a better indication as to "what" you're doing, rather than just looking up the next steps or be left to travel around until the goal is clear. They have the quest completion menu as well as waypoints in FF7R, I could see that being put to good use in a game like this. It would also be cool to actually "visibly" wear the gear that you equip to your character but I understand why that isn't utilized in most of the games (probably makes for better character models) especially considering most of these characters' costumes could use an update. You didn't get to use the Magitek suits nearly as much as I thought you would from the marketing and even the dang cover and logo, so a remake could improve on that as well. Another small complaint is that it doesn't tell you what the items do WHILE you're in battle, only when you're in the menu, sorting them and while some are staples like Phoenix Down, I still don't remember what the heck a 'Gold Needle' does.

Overall I'd probably rate the FF games that I've played (but maybe not finished all of) as such: FF7 > FF13 > FF6 > CRISIS CORE > FF15 > FF12 but I think 6 and 13 are kind of interchangeable because if you said one over the other, I wouldn't really argue.

#ff6 #final fantasy #review #ffvi #final fantasy 6 #final fantasy vi #game review #game #it's also considered ff3 but nah

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ranger-report · 4 years

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Thoughts On: Heretic

Earlier this year, just before the beginning of quarantine, I played a little game called AMID EVIL, something I would not have done were it not for the enchanting video skills of YouTuber Civvie 11. In his video, Civvie demonstrated the awesomeness of the retro shooter, both in graphics and gameplay, and since I was jonesing for something a little more dark fantasy than I was used to, I decided to give it a try. The game is a thrilling rush, and worthy of its own post here, but that game was a segue into me finally picking up and playing a game series that I had been intrigued by for nearly twenty some odd years: the Heretic and Hexen games.

AMID EVIL owes a lot to these games; in fact, it's not much of a leap to say that it owes everything to these games. It's even less of a leap to say that most first person shooters, whether dark fantasy or no, owe a lot to these games. Raven Software introduced a monster of a franchise when they dropped Heretic in December of 1994, working in collaboration with id Software as Raven was creating their games using the DOOM engine (or, as I think we're calling it now, “id tech 1”). John Romero helped in-house, giving advice on how to work with the engine, which was instrumental for Raven to push id tech 1 to its limits. They made changes to the engine which eventually became staples in other FPS games: an inventory system, translucent objects, pushable objects, the ability to look up and down, and the ability to fly. While the game itself was objectively a reskinned version of DOOM, it was stylish and engaging and reworked the most popular game engine at the time. In short, it won accolades in no small amount, and sealed itself in history as a high watermark for boomer shooters, hell, for PC gaming in general. So when we're looking backwards into the foggy past of our ancestors, is Heretic a game that we, in the Year of Our Lord Gaben 2020, should consider playing, either for the first time or as a throwback? Roll up your sleeves, party people, we've got a deep one to dive into today. Because we can't simply look at Heretic alone; oh, no. We're going to have to look at the whole franchise.

Heretic is not a complicated game per se, but it has a lot of tricks up its sleeve. We have the standard issue Run-Gun-Have-Some-Fun gameplay that Wolfenstein and DOOM brought to the table. There's three keys of different colors – yellow, green, and blue – there's a variety of weapons that almost line up point-for-point with DOOM's stack of damage inducers, and there's a horde of enemies that are around every corner waiting for you to come out magic blazing. But where DOOM has a mostly straightforward path from point A to point B, Heretic is a trickster which can and will give cause to tear one's hair out. Secret doors, invisible walls, fake walls, and hidden switches are everywhere, which means that nine times out of ten you'll either be consulting your map to figure out where the fake walls are, or you'll be pressing the space bar on every surface to see if it will open or activate something useful. Raven did a bit of a whammy on the game, setting up the simplistic stuff to lure you in, as though promising a hot night out with the kind of experience you think that you're used to, but then they strap you in for the kinky stuff that you always imagined you'd be into, but now that we're here you're not so sure. Make no mistake, I did consult a walkthrough at least once, maybe twice if I'm remembering right, during my playthrough. And the game is punishing the deeper you get: enemies lie in wait immediately behind doors, around corners, hidden out of sight or just above you since some of them can fly, and as your limited ammunition dwindles down into the red, you'll be forced into running risk-and-reward of melee weapons and inventory items to keep moving. Fortunately, each weapon has its own ammo stock, and some enemies are more susceptible to different weapon types. Adding to the bonus in the player's favor are inventory items that boost weapon damage, specifically the Tome of Power which magnifies the current weapon's attack power into a secondary fire that more often than not is absolutely brutal. But, unlike future entries in this series, the motto of the day is: Keep Moving, Keep Shooting, Don't Stop Moving, Don't Stop Shooting. It's Fun, Fast, and Furious in an entertaining way that only occasionally leaves you pondering why you even booted up the game this morning.

However you may feel about the gameplay itself, it can't be denied that the visual aesthetics and gamefeel are dripping with atmosphere. Everything from top to bottom feels like the best of cheesy 80's style fantasy art, from the front cover to final screen. Gloomy castles, underwater domes, craggy hellscapes. Weapons impress with over-the-top magical properties. The default staff acts like the DOOM pistol, lobbing nearly harmless yellow energy, while the Etheral Crossbow shoots multiple energy arrows at once, like a magic shotgun, easily the most versatile weapon in the game. Besides that one, my other favorite weapons are the Hellstaff (which blasts rapid-fire red energy, and causes acid rain to fall when Tomed up) and the Phoenix Rod (basically a magic rocket launcher that belches fire when overpowered). Depending on what you're facing, proper usage of these weapons (all finely drawn sprites, natch) can either chew through a mob with ease or leave you scrambling to get back. Stun lock Disciples with the Dragon Claw while obliterating Golems with the Crossbow; save the Phoenix Rod for big bads. And enemy creatures run the gamut from the simplistically annoying Gargoyles (red bat-winged creatures who also shoot fireballs) to the sturdy Golems (which come in a secondary variety which throw flaming skulls at you) to the Disciples of D'Sparil (faceless hooded monks who fly, chant, and shoot fireballs at you, on theme). Usually these damage sponges come at you in packs, rarely doing so in solo numbers because otherwise the game wouldn't be a DOOM clone. What really gets challenging is when boss creatures start popping up like regular enemies – in packs. Take the Iron Lich for example, a massive floating skull wearing a spiked helmet that throws walls of fire and tornadoes that do continual damage, they appear as a boss at the end of the final level of the first episode, then appear later on in groups. They take incredible amounts of damage and return fire constantly, which leads to a tense game of bobbing and weaving and staying as far away from them as possible. But the absolute worst is the Maulotaur. Basically, a minotaur that stands head and shoulders taller than the Iron Lich, carries a huge mace, and shoots waves of fire at you which can one-shot you if you're not paying attention. Staying away from them is key, but they can charge forward fast in order to close distance and take a few swings at you with the mace. These assholes also start as a final bosses, then appear as regular enemies surrounded by waves of other mobs. Maulotaurs are the dealbreakers of the game; they require ridiculous amounts of ammo to kill, and will force you through most of your inventory items if you're not already powered up. Thankfully, your inventory can hold quite a few helpful items, such as quartz flasks for health, the aforementioned Tomes of Power to boost weapon damage, invisibility spheres and wings of flight, and even motherfucking time bombs. But amongst all these, the most ridiculous and yet satisfying item is the Morph Ovum. Shaped like an egg, when used it gets thrown outward and whatever it hits is transformed into an easily killable chicken. Got a wave of monsters crowding too close and you need to thin the herd fast? Turn them into chickens, then turn them into fried chickens.

What gets me is that this game doesn't feel nearly as highly regarded as its indirect sequel, Hexen, and that's probably because for the most part this is a full-on DOOM clone. There were a lot of them back in the day, too many to count, and I think that if wasn't for the legacy of Raven and Hexen, this might have fallen through the cracks of history. Is it uninspired? No, not in the slightest. The quality of the spritework and animations are top notch, the production values are stellar, putting it just above the quality of the average obvious Doom clone. The amount of innovation, with the aforementioned inventory system and modifications to the engine, mesh well with the ambitious world/story crafted in the background of a single warrior trudging across worlds to defeat an evil tyrant who has taken over his people's lands. The current version on Steam is actually the second version released; initially, the game launched in 1994 with three episodes, the first one being the shareware version, and then later on in 1996 had a second physical release which added on two new episodes. It was like an expansion pack folded into the main game, and considering that Hexen was released in 1995, it makes sense that the two new episodes of Heretic feel so much more brutal in difficulty by comparison. And thematically it makes sense for them to have a higher base difficulty, since it’s about escaping the dark world you had to break into, and now you're crawling your way back out of it. Kind of a neat trick, having the hero beat the bad guy halfway through the story, then showing his journey to get back home. Hell, even the name of the main character is awesome. A later game in the series will reveal that his name is Corvus, but originally the character was simply referred to as The Heretic, and in a gaming landscape featuring such characters as Doomguy, the Quake Ranger, and the Doomslayer, the Heretic ought to stand right up there with the rest of them.

So is the game worth playing today? Absolutely. Any fan of boomer shooters or retro gaming in general should absolutely play this game. Utilizing DOSBOX (which the Steam release uses) is fine, but doesn't allow for the best playing experience currently. A quick download of GZDOOM to launch the game will give better controls, easier mouse compatibility, and smoother graphics. There's a method to tie GZDOOM into your Steam page so you can even track how long you've been playing it (for those who this is important for). And it's super cheap, meaning there's little to no excuse to not play it. So why then is this game sitting in the background, kind of like the little engine that could? You know, I'm doing my best to get into the meat and potatoes of this game, to be more descriptive of it and really entice you, the reader, into wanting to play this game. The powerups are fun, there are segments where you absolutely get to go apeshit on monsters and laugh hysterically while you do so, there are moments where the “AHA” is so enlighting that the relief is palpable. Some of the bosses are so memorable that to find them around the corner later in the game as minibosses – in multiple! – is downright frightening and adds to the risk/reward, since they're usually guarding something good that you want to pick up. Long story short, if you like DOOM, you'll like Heretic, which feels like selling the experience short. But the real reason I think Heretic is overlooked is because it is overshadowed by the more complex, more engaging, and more brutal Hexen.

If it hasn't become obvious yet, this is going to be a multi-part Thoughts On post. You've read Heretic, which is a fine game that does what it does and is memorable and fun and fine. But next, we're going to dive into the second course of this delicious fantasy meal, Hexen, and talk about how the second game in this series is the one that got everyone to sit up and take notice of what Raven Software was doing.

#heretic #hexen #ck burch #rubyranger #thoughts on #boomer shooters #doom #quake #raven software #id software #amid evil #new blood #ranger report

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jaygrl22 · 4 years

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Thank you @strongsong117 for the tag 💕🥰💕

Three ships: I tend to like canon characters x OCs but in terms of “real” pairings I like timkon (dc comics), Robin x Starfire (Teen Titans, 2000s version), and f!cousland x Alistair (Dragon Age; which is basically a million OCs x Alistair but I don’t caaaaaare. It’s what I did on my first playthrough and I loooove it)

Last song I listened to: a mash up of Toxic by Britney Spears, Love Shack by the B-52’s, and Dragula by Rob Zombie called Shaxiula. Judge me if you want but I LOVED IT

Currently watching: I’m bad at watching things actually 😅 If I watch anything it’s youtube videos. I love funny “deep dives” like Game Theory, Film Theory, and Polygon’s Unraveled series and full on silliness like Brandon Farris and more serious-ish ones that dissect story tropes, the human psyche, and society, like The Take.

Currently Reading: so many…. The Giver (with students), The Island Stallion (because a student wanted to share the experience with me), Beyond the Bright Sea (because a student wanted to share the experience with me (different kiddo from the other book)), Pride & Prejudice (because I love it), and Midnight Sun (because I love-hate it). It terms of fics I’m mostly just rereading my own stuff to help get me in the Zone™ but usually it just makes me reach the end and go “tf is this??? Where’s rest of it??? What do you mean I have to write it?? Excuse????”

How’s it going? I’m low-key dyyyyying but it’s okay because I have music and my kiddos are remote for at least half of next week which I enjoy cuz then I just get to be ALONE and have actual ENERGY when I get home. If my bosses could just stop being asshats and just let everybody work from home as well that would be great.

In more personal news, I’m trying to write the next chapter of my Jason Todd fic while also trying to chug through the next chapter of my Twilight fic – which is so long overdue it isn’t even funny – but also play all my nifty new Assassin’s Creed games (origins, odyssey AND valhalla) and ALSO figure out if I really have ADHD or if I’m actually autistic (or both?? Cuz that’s a thing) without having the resources to get an official diagnosis for any of it 😬 yay (sarcastic)

Anyway, I tag @velvetghoul23 @ct-42069 @the-sad-little-fallen-angel @whether-morning-whether-night @millenniumfalcn my friend who has a private account that I CANNOT TAG (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE) and openly tag anyone who would like to participate 🥰

#tag game #open tag #play if you like #you don't have to #i need a nap

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fyrapartnersearch · 4 years

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Stories with Fandoms

bocajinsurgenc1

Hello there’ I decided to post a new post, given all the extra time I have!

Let’s stay with quick things about myself! -I am 23 years old and live in EST time-zone. -Usually, I have a part time job. Which is really part-time right now considering everything. -I ask that my partner and I write in 3rd Person, Past tense. -Reply/Post length can be set. As a bare minimum, I write a paragraph. More than happy to write more.

-I am looking more than just having a ship together in a Roleplay. I want a plot. If that makes sense? Not just romance. Now onto the Fandoms. Anything mentioned under, is a suggestion of thought I may Have on said Fandom. Of course, nothing here is needed to be used to build upon. We can build from the ground up.

Open to all sorts of genre themes like:

-Canon divergent,

-Canon-Rewrite/Rework,

-AU’s. What-If’s.

-Timey-Whimey problems. Groundhog Day,

and so much more. Also, any Fandom with a *, is higher up on the list right now! All are open! *Star Wars: Considering (as time of writing this, May the Fourth two days ago), this is very fresh on my mind! I have seen all Nine-Saga Films, the Side Stories, and all the animated series of date. Not too caught on comics, thought. And my Knowledge, of the ‘Legends’ is very limited. So, ideally, I would want to stick to Disney’s Canon. Open for all eras, to write with. Or, taking some of the Scrapped Battlefront IV art work of the What-If stuff and basing a story around them. Like Sith Luke and Leia, Redeemed Vader, etc. Or! I really liked the idea of a Imperial Navy Six like team, of Inferno Squad (Dice’s BFII). But, not have them jumps hip. Have them be Empire, ya know? *Final Fantas VII/Remake/Crisis Core: I have finished the Remake and rather love it! I kinda hate seeing and hearing people on Youtube and online saying: Oh, its just Noruma adding his Kingdom Hearts logic to FF. First, I don’t think KH is that hard to follow, and second. A HD remake of a story people already know, might not be so well received. Why not just play the original than? However! I love it! So, if we want anything to deal with the Remake, or the Crisis Core characters, I am so game. My good-boy Zack~ Kingdom Hearts: ‘None of this, makes any sense to me’ -Sora, Yozora. Ahh, Kingdom Hearts. A series I love. Its precious to me. But, despite my love of all the games, and the story, I am more than happy to Re-work or Rewrite anything. Personally, I’d change up KHII alittle. Maybe go in a slightly more somber/dark route. Or, we can have our favorite characters in some AU, or Non-Canon adventure! Xion is my precious favorite character. Who is yours? DC: First, I would mention I am a big fan of the CW shows. And, part of me (while I did enjoy Crisis on Infinite Earths, wanted a little more.) So, my first thought, would be to Re-write Crisis. One thing that really disappointed me, was the lack of Reverse Flash. He claimed, last Cross-over we would see him. And then just doesn't show up. I would also, like more work in the fights and such. There wasn't much. Maybe more time with the Seven, who are stuck after they fail the first time around. Another bit I wouldn't mind working with, would be the forgotten Synder Verse. I rather liked Batman V Superman, despite everything. It is one of those guilty pleasure type things. So, why not expand further where that universe was left off on? Power Rangers: For this series, I have two major wants. (Of course, we can go in completely different route, too.) First, being a continuation of the 2017 Movie universe. I loved everything about that movie, and am heartbroken it will never go on. (Officially). Do what the cast suggested, and have a Female T.Oliver join the gang. Adapt more from MMPR. The Second, would be a reWrite of Super Mega-Force (first by workshopping that name,) I am a fan of the Super Sentai Source of the season, and felt PR dropped the ball. We could create a new team for the pirate suits, have more Legendary Cameos and stories, and what not! *Dragon Ball: From DB, to Z, Super, GT and Xeno-verse, I love most things Dragon Ball. I quite fancy the SSJ4 look, and Xeno style of Goku and Vegeta. Though, in terms of plot ideas, I saw this Fan art of the Goku Black stuff from Super. However, Future Gohan was with Trunks, rather than Vegeta or Goku. I thought that could be a fun story! Or, we can play around with the Universe Six Saiynas. I rather enjoy them, so why not dive deep with Cabba, Caulifla and Kale? Persona 5/Royal: The only Persona I have properly played; though, I am not fully done with Royal. (Aware of some spoilers, so no worries there). I love the world and characters quite a bit, so I felt the need to put this on the list, as the next entry as well. Fire Emblem: Three Houses: I won’t lie, I haven’t finished all playthroughs yet. I was failing hard when the game came out, but given all the time I have had, I’ve been playing more! Another case of loving the characters and wouldn’t be against working out an idea! *Pokemon: I know the games more, than anything else. Though, I have liked the concept of Re-Working Colosseum’s story. Give Wes a personality, actually. Not just the Silent-Protag trait. Maybe adapt some of the newer Pokemon into the region, as well. Explore what caused Wes to betray the Organization he worked for, what was the line they pushed that caused him to say, ‘I’m done, I can’t do this anymore,’ Perhaps we can even given him a reluctant attitude towards it. Not trying to stop Snag’Em, rather trying to keep his head down low at first. Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Quick note, I am not fully caught up with Part-8. Thank you. That’s it for now! Again, anything here is not needed. We can build from the ground up! My contact stuff, as I do like using Email first, before maybe moving to a different platform, is: [email protected]. If interested in anything, let’s get in touch! Thanks for reading!

#multiple paragraph #para #semipara #long term #email #fire emblem rp #pokemon rp #dc rp #submission

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clumsyclifford · 4 years

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It’s your ATL convert again. I’m just going to jump right in. I’m going to listen to the podcast you mentioned with Jack, I’m curious to hear what he said about not being pop punk. Has he listened to his band’s music? They are very much a pop punk band, especially the early stuff. WUS could be classified as more alt but there is still a very identifiable pop punk flair to the music. 🤔 This has me baffled and curious.

You mentioned a Basement Noise performance, where might I find this? Are there more? Pardon the pun but you have created a monster.

I’ve read your Oh, Calamity fics and to be honest they are some of my favorites. I agree wholeheartedly that there is an air hopefulness to the song. I will always choose to believe there is hope.

Getaway Green is a bop in my humble opinion. I have been bopping my head thinking of the song. It has me wanting to get in the car and go for a drive. True story, I used to live near Costa Mesa (I’m not sure if it’s the one referenced in the song?) but it had me thinking of the times I would be stopped at the lights and how thoughts and feelings differ between now and then. I guess you could say this song became nostalgic for me and I feel that is what the song is about. The nostalgia if finding someone that fits you so well, knowing it isn’t going to be long term but being hopeful that maybe it could be at some point.

I’ve been listening to SW, IR as I type this message out. Remembering Sunday is on now and it had me thinking of Luke. When I think of early 5SOS, the phrasing Alex uses in this song is very similar to what Luke used at the time. I would be very interested to hear Luke sing some if their earlier catalogue to hear the difference. I’ll work on a more complete opinion piece of this album and make a second post.

So does Alex do all the singing or do the others sing as well?

It’s your new ATL fan again. I forgot to mention about Getaway Green that I’m very surprised you haven’t written anything to go along with it. Or have you and I missed it?

okay read more again Many Words below

gfkljkmsfj LITERALLY sorry jack but your opinion is not valid. your band is pop punk whether you like it or not

oh it was these livestream shows that atl did last year in like.......fall?? ish?? maybe??? this series of shows where each member of the band got to choose a set list. they also did a show that was a full playthrough of wake up sunshine but point being that they performed monsters twice (once in the wus show and once in alex’s set list show) and.........providing it to you may involve.......turning a blind eye to certain laws. i think that @gutsmp3 may be a better person to ask (melia i hope it’s ok ive dragged you in here). however there IS, to segue smoothly, a video for getaway green live, which they debuted at....some festival ???? like a year or something before wake up sunshine was released or even announced. like they just. played it live. for shits n giggles i guess??? and they did do a verse of monsters on good morning america. and. i don’t know. i think that a nice youtube deep dive will take you where you need to go

!!! that’s very kind thank you :)

anyway getaway green !!! yeah !!!! also that’s sick that you live near costa mesa i do not know where it is (cali i’m assuming...? wait i’m gonna google this so i don’t look like an idiot. okay yes california yeah anon you can safely assume that’s the costa mesa they mean) but it’s very cute that you have a lil connection to the song i love that for you

also i’m gonna jump ahead to your second ask real quick to say: no i have not written a getaway green fic and the reason for that is that @kaleidoscopeminds (meg) beat me to it! but like in the most wonderful way possible. wow this is so exciting, second time in like three days that i get to plug meg’s fantastic fic in a world of black and white, which was written for me and integrates getaway green so fucking delightfully that i sincerely doubt anything could ever beat it. so i don’t THINK i’m ever gonna write a getaway fic. but then again you really never know. (but probably not because how tf do i compete with this bella-fic written by meg right)

omg i’m so excited to hear your takes on swir YEAH that’s !!!! yeah!!!!!! well you know all time low was one of the bands that heavily influenced 5sos, so that makes sense. and i don’t know if you’ve listened to the unplugged EP, but they do cover an all time low song (jasey rae) in that. (the cover.......it’s not like. it’s not very good. but they sure do cover it). that being said i AGREE i would LOVE to hear some current-5sos covers of atl songs. literally any of them. i can’t believe how much they’ve abandoned their ROOTS. anyway i am not bitter or anything blah blah 5sos can take whatever musical directions their hearts desire blah blah blah

alex does all the singing! he is the lead singer. backing vocals (at least live) are done by zack, the bassist. i am not actually sure how many of the studio backing vocals are zack because i know for sure that some of them are alex, but i don’t really know what zack’s singing voice sounds like (he’s rather quiet) so all i can tell is when it’s alex, not when it’s zack hdfhgdfksghgj anyway that was a long answer to a short question

#also i feel like i should inform you that you sent the second ask off anon #but i promise not to reveal your identity #and i will also probably forget it very soon dfhkjdfkhgmgj #atl anon #is that how you wanna be known? sure why not #i feel you've earned that #anonymous #ask #answered

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flowing-paint · 7 years

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Board games updates

I have to admit I struggled a little bit to find today’s post title. I was thinking along the lines “what am I up to lately” but then I realized it was not a good catchy title. Not that the one I chose really is. Anyway, without any further ado, let me show you some new board games I bought.

As some of you may know, I am trying to convert my wife to board games: It’s a difficult task because of structural Japan limits where houses are small and you usually get together with friends at bars or the likes. So she is intrigued by the concept but not completely into it. Below you can find some small fast board games I bought to play with her.

Dairyman

I start from the left with this fairly famous game from Tasty Minstrel Games, Dairyman. In this push your luck dice game you are a farmer competing with other farmers to see who generates the highest revenues. I mean, who produces more milk! The setup is trivial: you look for the three barn tiles and place them in front of the players. Then you draw three milk tiles and you’re done. This is why I chose this game for my wife: 2 minutes setup, cute visuals and the “90% luck” factor. In addition, this little marvel plays super-fast: even our introductory game didn’t take more than 30 minutes to play while going through the rules. My wife like it so much that she forced me to look for a cute looking cow to give to each player to add an additional touch of cuteness to the whole game experience. Here you can see the standard setup and the two cows I already prepared. Just another couple to go!

I may cover the rules in a dedicated post if there are requests but meanwhile, you can take a look at this video playthrough on Youtube.

Dumpster Diver

This is a family card game from Megacon Games, the creators of Mercs and Myth. However, there are no fights or fancy miniatures in this game as you impersonate some improbable hobos diving in the trash to complete their trash collections or the appliances for their cardboard shelter “rooms”. This is another super-fast game for the busy family as the setup only requires you to deal a hand of cards to each player and to start diving! Despite the random element introduced by drawing cards, there are elements like buying and selling cards that probably make this game best fit for 3+ players so I guess that to fully enjoy this I will have to wait for my kid to grow up or maybe just bring it with me to my game days!

A note about this game: it was not a huge success if compared with the other games from the same produces so it’s really hard to find on sale. I think I may have got one of the last viable copies on the eBay.

Deep sea adventure (海底探検)

The last of the three games is called Deep sea adventure and is a small Japanese game where you represent a crew of treasure hunters diving into the ocean to look for treasures. My board games friend showed me how to play and I felt it could be a perfect casual game for my needy wife. The setup takes slightly longer than the previous two ‘cause you have to prepare the treasure trail but it plays fast and is a push your luck kind of game so it’s cool. I got mine on Amazon but I know for sure that it sells all over the world as it comes with multi-language rule booklets. It comes with little wooden minis so my wife loved it! Give it a shot if you have a chance.

Here they are, three slick and simple board games for the busy family with short set-up time and fast game pace that you will probably end up loving like me and my wife did. But this is not all folks! I have just backed a super simple paper and dice game on Kickstarter called Honeycomb cave that should be done in just 10 hours (when I am writing). I am also seriously trying to decide if I should pull the trigger with Ravine, a coop card game telling the tale of a bunch of people surviving a plane crash, stranded on a dangerous island.

Just a bottom line totally unrelated to the post: I think I will start writing some short posts to showcase painted miniatures on a non-scheduled base. I have been doing something like this on Twitter so I think that also the blog may benefit for them instead of waiting a week for a long update on something with no actual picture of what I am painting. This will inevitably force me to pull out my good camera an do some serious photography... and throw away my iPhone, you know.

Game on!

#board game #family fun #kickstarter

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