#do not tell me to 'git gud' i just want to have fun my dudes

[madmaryholiday]

i've tried multiple pacifist runs on sons of the forest, including one where i didn't touch any trees, stayed away from the cannibal camps, and didn't even hold any weapons when they raided (instead brandishing a skull, which i was told would spook them).

every time, by day 5 or 6, they'd be showing up in groups of like 6 and attacking me anyway. the first couple times they hit me, i tried to just brandish the skull at them and dodge, but then one of the big guys with a club showed up, and i gave up.

the frustrating thing for me is that even if you set the enemy aggression/armor/health/raid frequency to low, it still increases over time until aggression and enemy types are the same as if you're playing on normal. i mean the reason i'm setting these levels to low is because i am stupid bad at real-time combat, but i don't want to completely forego enemy encounters. sure that big guy with the club will go down in fewer hits, but he still swings as fast and hits as hard and shows up in every goddamn raid after the first few days.

anyway, i saw someone made a mod to customize raid sizes/aggression/etc., so i'll be trying that out later. maybe it will FINALLY let me turn off infinite health lmao.

[hangryporo]

I can't believe I finished this TWST rarepair xD phew!

I always prefer drawing and painting in a messy way. I did this with the last day of his ship - really, give Vililia a chance :^C-

To the brave adventurers on crack ships, thank you so much for your likes, and if you're one of the few poros of culture who enjoy this, feel free to comment or talk <3

I hope you like this o/!

...

-What’s up, dudes? Welcome to Lil’ Daddy’s stream! Today, we’re going to play a bit of the game “Ancient Circle”. Let’s git gud, boys!

Lilia never thought that 500 years with a partner would be so different from his almost 2000 years in loneliness. Indeed, Malleus and his family were an important support in his life, as well as Sebek, Silver, and his countless “children” he liked taking care of.

However, he had to admit that his life with Vil was a constant roller coaster – “is that the correct expression in these times?” -, and he loved it.

Now, as a retired warlord and General, he spent most of his time playing in those strange machines humans made to have fun. Computer was the name, he remembered.

-Lilia.

-Malleus! How are you? – He muted his headphone to avoid being heard by the subscribers watching his… livestream? Really, why are these names so far from the actual meaning?

-Are you busy? I’ll speak later then…

-No! Don’t worry, I'm just playing. Tell me.

-Vil is coming.

The vampire felt his blood boil in temperature. He stopped the broadcast immediately and paid his whole attention to his fae dragon “child”.

-Did he call you?

-… He wanted to talk to you, but he knew about your activities, and didn’t want to interrupt…

-I’ll reeducate him once he’s here.

-Oh no.

-Oh yes.

-Lilia no. Every time you do that, I have to buy you a new bed.

-… Well, then tell him to call me more often!

-He said you haven’t called him either.

-How could I? He’s always busy with those photo sessions and actor stuff…

-Lilia…

-Besides, he's got angry for 10 years.

-You didn’t apologize.

-I wasn’t wrong!

-I fulfilled my duty. See you tomorrow.

-Malleus.

-Yes?

-Thank you for the information. I’ll surprise him now.

-… I regret telling you about this now.

As soon as Malleus ended the call, Lilia got up from his chair and put everything into work.

…

Lilia thought he was the impatient one when meeting his partner was about. He was wrong.

Once his Chosen one entered his home, there was only time left to close the door and go straight to their bed. The magenta-eyed vampire was eager to make his dominance clear and used the mark on Vil’s wrist to limit his actions, causing him to hiss. Bless that vampire bite and its power over Chosen ones.

-Master…

-No. You know my name.

-… - The blonde groaned in pain and pleasure. He was feeling his lover in every part of his body and soul, as well as the burning sensation in his scarred wrist. That damned mark…

-Vil.

-… Li- Lilia…

-Good. It seems we can talk later.

-I’m still angry…! – The younger couldn’t continue his complaints. When his Master is angrier than him, his wrist will hurt for the rest of the week.

-Later, I said.

Thinking briefly about apologizing to Malleus for the new bed he’d have to get, the vampire continued with his reeducation session.

…

-You ripped my shirt and pants off. You bloody wild idiot.

-And you left me without knowing about your life for 10 years. Fair enough.

Vil sighed at his partner’s words. When he became into a vampire, both agreed on having an open relationship. Lilia liked having parties with other vampires, and him, on the other hand, had affairs with actors and actresses around the world. As political conflicts ended, and the world evolved, both found solace in other activities. In Vil’s case, he started a career as actor and model, being one of the best in his type.

He laughed at how ephemeral the “open relationship” agreement was. Both started realizing about their everlasting feelings towards each other and stopped any type of encounters. However, as both were so dense in emotional terms, they celebrated their union every ten years. Something about "remarking only the main events in their long non-lives" was the reason.

-Well, I’m here. I hope you didn’t forget the reason why– commented the amethyst-eyed actor, looking at Lilia with a pout.

-Probably to apologize for not learning how to use a mobile phone and writing me an email sooner?

-Very funny. You know I’ve learned faster than you…

-Then I don’t know.

-How is it possible to be so hot-headed, when being almost 2500 years old?!

The actor wanted to get out of the broken bed, but he was stopped by the older vampire’s hug. He cursed his weakness towards those displays of affection before reciprocating the gesture.

-Happy Anniversary, Vil.

-… I’m still angry at you. I told you…

-… that the Rose Queendom was a better option than the Shaftlands. I know, I know.

-People might recognize me!

-The humans from your time already died, my dearest Vil. And if that were the case, we can tell a story about your ancestor, who had strong features in a genetic level. Who knows?

-Idiot.

-Are you happy calling me like that?

-No.

Lilia laughed at Vil’s childish behavior and gently kissed him on his lips. Gods, he did miss him so much…

-Now what, Lilia? What are your plans for tonight?

-I’ve booked a table in Schwartz und Golden. Their dancing room is amazing. And…

The blonde looked at his husband curious-he never liked calling him that way. Too sappy-, while putting on Lilia’s oversized hoodie and got surprised when the vampire gifted him a little blue silk box. Inside it was a beautiful pair of earrings and a gold necklace with little stones that seemed to be amethysts.

-This is my way of apologizing for misunderstanding your wish.

-… You didn’t need to.

-It’s okay. Now we have to get ready for later…

If Lilia had been a human, he would’ve felt his heart stop at his partner’s embrace. Most of his friends and members of the Court told him that choosing Vil was a mistake. Now he could laugh at the world for proving them wrong.

He is the best choice he'd ever taken in his existence.

-Thank you, Lilia. We’ll be ready for dinner once you try the clothes I brought for you.

-Oh no.

-Oh yes. You won’t go to that restaurant in hoodie and jeans.

-… The things I must do for my Chosen one.

-Don’t whine and come on. If you behave properly, I’ll reward you.

-Oh? And how? You don’t have anything I’d like…

-I took a break from acting and modeling. I’d like to spend that time here, with you.

-… Bring those clothes now.

Listening to Vil’s soft laughter before going to his luggage, Lilia thought he might as well take a break from streaming.

After all, he needs to git gud against his Shaftlands boy’s tough love.

[rabbitmagic]

I saw someone post concerns about the game being punishingly difficult... FEAR NOT FRIENDS!

I have my final session in the network test tonight, so let me give you some of my insights.

It's actually way easier than any other Souls game, I have one more session left tonight in my network test and I've already beaten all the bosses and explored all the dungeons, the whole time I was playing I was thinking... I wonder if they're going to rebalance this? But this is just one tiny sliver of the tutorial area, so no need to rebalance in a game like this. It felt good to be able to play a swordsman without dying every 5 seconds like I usually do, till I can brute force my way to enough experience, grind for enough gear, and upgrade the right sword to be a badass. I could just be a badass!

Now, any fight you're having a problem with is no longer mandatory. Walk away! Go around! Check a different dungeon, they're really different from each other and there's going to be a billion.

It looks like there's no longer, a true, OP class you MUST BE if you are "Bad at Game"(TM). Usually to walk around feeling like an unstoppable God in a souls game with the least amount of experience, skill, and time investment required pyromancer. A low-level pyromancer could pretty much walk through their games going... And I'm going to put fire on you, and now you're going to be on fire, and some fire over here! * Insert mad laughter here* Which is why I'm delighted to tell you with this game...

I was just some dude! I was the bloody wolf because it reminded me of the abyss walkers / artorias style and I hope it would play like that, and did not disappoint. I didn't have any magic, just a big sword, a pack of wolves that acted as a summon (You can purchase and find summons! They help you in battle and if you have a hard time, the three wolves is great for distracting your enemy so you can WHAIL on them unnoticed.)

Is that enemy on the open world map giving you a hard time and even though you could avoid him, you just need to kill him to deal with some of your repressed anger? Equip your lance, get on your horse, and then barrel spin around them. Congratulations! You just figured out how to destroy even big intimidating enemies without having to "git gud" and it's so much fun. You can even kill the big dragon this way, it takes longer, but it's much safer as your horse has its own separate HP pool and you can keep feeding it restorative items that you make in your crafting area in your menu from common berries that you can just tap triangle to pick up as you rush through the world.

I really don't foresee at this point them doing any major rebalancing? I play tested for Nintendo for a while and I feel like at this stage that is definitely not what they're focusing on, since it was a network test. we're stressing the servers, is basically our job, and we had a few really bad slowdowns which was the only time a group of high level enemies destroyed me like eight times and that was just me helping test the issue. But this was the exception, and it was also caused specifically by slowdown, the crabs would have a super lag, and then six of them would all of a sudden be surrounding me bashing me with their claws. I repeated this till the slowdown was over and then I destroyed them like usual, with no issue.

I never had to take on a boss over and over and over and make myself miserable, I did try to kill the dragon too many times in a row but I knew I was way underleveled for it and it was just me, my horse and my sword. There are special statues that are so small you don't even notice them, and they will automatically respawn you somewhere close if you want, instead of back at your bonfire, so you can get right back into the action if you're killed! I was having so much fun with the mechanic, not having to slog my way back to an enemy to challenge it, that I thought the dragon over and over but not in a grindy, or exhausting way. I was doing it because I was having fun! I came back later with a better understanding of how the wolf summoned worked as a distraction, I absolutely destroyed him.

I feel like with all of these changes from software has finally put an easy mode in their game, Because you never have to be frustrated, you never have to beat your head against a wall, you can do something else, you can do whatever you enjoy doing while leveling up and getting more skills, more experience, and casually strolling your way to being OP, while you take your own path in the game.

I've been playing Dark Souls Remastered between network sessions for comparison and I was just so stunned finding all these bottlenecks even as a level 95 character where it just wasn't able to go without difficulty. A lot of difficulty. I had to throw myself at the painting guardians over and over because I couldn't spawn anywhere else because of a bonfire issue, and I couldn't run through them, and it was just such this big frustrating thing to try and get back to a bonfire so I could just get back to playing my game. My game. I realized I didn't experience that once in Elden Ring, this feeling of unfair frustration.

To close this out, please enjoy a picture of me and my best friend my cow horse!

[demonicintegrity]

Make them swoon! Timbercats edition! aka the most valid mute gang we’ve met. 10/10 best cats, can do no wrong, I love them with all my life. I’d die for any of them in a heartbeat. they deserve all the l o v e

First up is Yumyan Hammerpaw! The legendary big softie himself.

I cannot stress enough how literally anything can be used to swoon and fluster him.

Don’t me wrong, he’s tough and all, he is the legend himself, but he’s also a big ol softie. There’s a reason he got so attached to Kipo and her friends so quickly.

The Timbercats as a whole are quite affectionate with each other, since they are the most familial bound of all the mute gangs. So getting close to him means hugs is a must.

They’re aware most other mutes/humans won’t do much more than that though. So to fluster him you’ll have to go above and beyond in some ways.

That being said, plz give him scratches and pets. It’s the one thing cats dont normally do for each other. His fav spot is behind the ears. Yes he will purr for you and yes this will make him curl up in your lap no matter how small you are. He loves scratches.

Anyone loves having another spend time with them, he’s no different. If he can find someone to chill with while he plays his axe guitar, he’ll be happy.

He’s got a soft spot for song writing, so if anyone writes him a song, he will cry and he will not be sorry about it. You will hear his love for the song for weeks on end and no, nothing will stop it.

I’m dead serious, he will not shut up about it and he will find a to bring it up two months later just to gush about it again.

Same sentiment goes for gifts. Give him something and his lip will quiver as he brings you in for the biggest bear cat-hug he can offer. He will be touched and he will voice it.

Yumyan single-handedly destroys toxic masculinity 2k20

He has his own tree house and yes he will keep each and every thing gifted to him no matter the reason. His house is full of gifts and little knick-knacks he’s found/made. He wouldn’t have it any other way.

The way to this cat’s heart is through the soul. Whether it be songs, gifts, kind actions, or just simply telling him you care about him, he’ll fall for it.

I wasn’t kidding when I said he’s a real softie. He values hardwork, his fellow cats, and companionship. So if someone cares about the other cats, he cares about them, no questions asked.

Next is Molly Yarnchopper! The functional braincell of the group and farm lesbian representation.

The thing about caring about other cats with Yumyan goes here as well. Care about the cares and she’ll care about you.

She’s not as much of a hugger as the other two, but she’ll still hug. Tho she appreciates receiving hugs more than she does giving them.

While she’s sitting off on her own, just hug her. Hold her long enough and she might just finally let all the tension in her body melt away.

Hug the cat woman already. she deserves it damnnit

She’s also a work-first kind of gal, so it’s a little hard to get her to slow down and appreciate the moment/whats happening around her.

That being said, anyone who’s able to slow her down and get her to take a break is special in her eyes. It’s not just anyone that can do that with her yknow?

That means she’s a bit stubborn. She doesn’t easily stop her current task so if someone is willing to be stubborn with her she’s all ears. Seriously, put your foot down and insist she take a break. She’ll listen to you but probably not stop. Physically grab her hand and pull her away to force her to take a break, and she’ll pay attention.

She’s a strong independent cat, so she definitely admires those qualities in others. Anyone who can take charge and handle the heat earns her respect and admiration.

She’ll say she doesn’t care for scratches but she does. Her fav spot is under the chin. Yes, she will purr and yes that will embarrass her and cause her to blush but stopping will only cause her to subtly pout because scratches are reeeaaaallllyyy nice.

Tbh it probably wouldn’t take much pda to get her flustered, even purely platonically. She’s just not that super affectionate of a gal in public because she’s used to the working most of the time.

That being said, she is more open to be affectionate and soft in private. Softly singing and reading a book with someone is the perfect evening she could ever hope for.

Plz hug her

The way to this cat’s heart is through her mind. Be rational, be someone she can count on, and be someone ready to take on a challenge and she’ll adore you.

Last but not least is our fav cinnamon roll, Shoelace McCutty! They’re nonbinary and use she/they pronouns and no you cannot change my mind on that.

No thoughts, head empty, but that does not stop them from being an absolute sweetheart and caring for everyone around them. They will dive headfirst into danger if it meant helping someone they love and god help you if you get in-between them and someone she’s trying to help.

Like Yumyan, she can be easily swooned.

Care for cats and she’ll care for you applies here too. If she catches you comforting a sad cat or helping them in their time of need she instantly promotes you to the “Precious person, must protect” list.

The way to this cat’s heart is through the stomach. Make them a plate of something yummy and they’ll be your new best friends. 

Pancakes.

The only thing they love more than food being made for them is food being made with them. I’m serious, this cat is always in the kitchen trying to make some delicious. It’s not always successful but its the process they savor most. Cook with them, make crappy food puns, and put batter on their nose and it’ll be the best day ever for them.

Jokes in general are fun for her. Make her laugh and she’s yours.

Pun wars pun wars pun wars pun wars pun wars.

If your puns aren’t going to make nearby cats groan in pain youre not on their level. Git gud.

She’s very playful. Hang out with her with the intent to play and have fun and you’ll both have a blast.

Pancakes.

Play catch, play fight, tickle fight, board games, you name it, they’ll play it. Play with this cat, they just want friendship and fun in their life.

Be careful though, once it turns competitive there is no turning back. This cat does not play to loose my dude, you better have the energy to keep up.

That being said, if they do lose they’ll pout and demand a rematch. I told you there was no turning back.

Give them pets and scratches and they’ll purr like crazy. Seriously, she’s the cat to twist around and lay on her belly and be super happy to get the affection. Her fav spot is behind the neck and giving her scratches and pets will turn her day around if she was feeling sad.

Cuddle them and they’ll be the best pillow you’ll ever have.

Once you befriend them they will be 100% affectionate with you in public so if you’re not prepared, be prepared.

Giving this cat a gift or a kiss on the cheek will break them and no you will not be able to snap them out of their trance.

Give them a meaningful gift and they’ll swear you’ll never go hungry again. They also keep and display all gifts like Yumyan.

p a n - m a d e c a k e s.

[cloudbatcave]

Cloud Plays White: Finale

This is a long one, folks, since I realized I had a bit in my notes I had forgotten about and only found after I posted this, lol, so I have now edited it in.

when we last left off I was criticizing Alder for being useless in apprehending Ghetsis and Iris for not just taking me to Drayden’s house herself when it is Right Fucking There. 

So I’m still futzing around Opelucid here.

“No way, without pokemon, I’ll be lonely and sad! …but am I just using my pokemon, then?”

wow, seems there’s some brain cells there after all. you keep exercising those, brah.

I run into a guy who thinks that it’s okay for team plasma to take pokemon from weak trainers, even though he considers himself one and feels bad for the people they rob.

There’s another dude in the same room who used to be part of team plasma but left because it was weird for him that everyone thought the same way.

See, I appreciate this part of the game’s writing - I wish there was more stuff like this, people who are conflicted and their viewpoints being front and center instead of the simplistic garbage we’re fed by Iris and Alder and company.

Though there’s an absolute nut job who says that despite the years he’s trained with his pokemon he’ll let it go if it makes it a perfect being and I am just not even gonna unpack all the lunacy there.

There’s a kid who thinks that just because N has the legendary pokemon, he must be the hero.

I am very concerned about everyone in Unova being so gullible.

“Your Scrafty looks like it can try a little harder.”

WELL FUCK YOU TOO RANDOM LADY??? LAD DOES HIS BEST AND I WILL NOT HAVE HIM SLANDERED THIS WAY

I finally go to Drayden’s and get told how the original dragon performed mitosis and now we have two dragons and also they once destroyed the region with fire and lightning but it’s chill.

“People may hurt pokemon even more by imposing their selfish thoughts on them. But no matter what, Pokemon and people believe in each other, need each other, and will continue to live together…”

Drayden is smarter and more nuanced than like, anyone else, why is he not a main character.

Iris chips in about how much she can’t forgive Plasma and Drayden mentions they don’t know how to wake up Zekrom.

Well, to be fair, I’d be very surprised if they did.

Off to the gym, this’ll be interesting since I have no ice or dragon moves on my team.

I get through the trainers okay, now time to fight Daffodil.

Her Haxorus was a bit tricky but nothing I couldn’t handle, and when I walk out Juniper shows up.

And somehow she knows how to resurrect Zekrom. Cool!

She blahs about how it’ll wake up when it deems someone worthy and talks about how much I’ve changed and shows me to the gate where the route to the pokemon league is.

“Chirae? Do you regret setting out on your pokemon journey?”

UH.

MAYBE?

mmm, that’s not fair to my pokemon though - nigh everyone around me may be looney tunes or incompetent, but they’ve been good pals.

So I hit “no” after all.

and she gives me a master ball. dope.

I make it to the gates of victory road and I honestly really like the bit where each section of them is themed after the badges! That’s a nice touch, I think that was only also done in the FRLG remakes if I recall correctly. It makes it feel a lot more ceremonious and important.

Ah here come my two idiots.

Bianca asks Cheren to smile and he’d probably implode if he did. He finally isn’t an asshole though, good for him.

The bug badge guard tells me to “fight valiantly like an insect” which is funny but I guess does make sense. Ants can fuck some stuff up, man.

Honestly I want to be a badge gate guard, seems like a fun job.

Also, I caught an excadrill in a raid the day I wrote this, and caught an excadrill in this game. Their pokedex entry includes this gem:

“Their tunnels can be destructive to subway systems”

Given the battle subway exists in this game, their insurance payments must be obscene. Imagine getting your match interrupted by a giant mole with metal fists that doesn’t give a fuck.

I named her Beans. She looks like a Beans.

I also caught a Deino. The Irate Pokémon that can’t see and tackles people to learn about its surroundings. I feel a kinship with this creature.

I named him Mezzo for laughs.

And I managed to get myself back to the beginning of victory road. Good job, cloud.

Okay I think I’ve found the right path, found a new dude to beat up which is a good sign. Apparently he’s lost too.

Love when a trainer switches out to a Pokémon mine doesn’t have a type advantage against and it gets wiped in two hits anyway. Death is inevitable.

“I’ve thought about what I can do to help my Pokémon win and I finally figured out the answer!”

Is it git gud?

Flame charge raises my speed, opponent’s klang uses automotize to prove it can do that too, dies because it’s too busy trying to go fast.

Then I get nailed by a flare blitz. Darmanitan is toxic to gen 5 nuzlocke runs, I swear. Especially since I have no one on my hodgepodge team resistant to fire. At least my unfezant is faster.

“Read what your opponent wants to do. Your opponent is human and may change plans from moment to moment. Be careful!”

There’s some meta joke to be made there but I’m not thinking of anything witty. Something something AI having a point even if not in this context.

Back to the beginning again but I think I know what I need to do now.

I looked at a walkthrough to check, tho, lmfao. Was tired of climbing up there only to fall down the wrong spot.

“There’s an item at the bottom! Do you want to slide all the way down?”

You’re the devil talking and you tempt me but I will ignore your silver tongue for now.

So I’m at the league and I thought Cheran would pop out of the bushes before I got here. That’s weird. I could swear he fights me one last time before I challenge the elite four.

NO CHERAN. OKAY. WHAT. IS MY GAME GLITCHED??

I guess not! Huh.

All right then. Time to try and see if I can win with my very unbalanced team.

Lmfao yeah my first attempt against the ghost trainer crashed and burned. Literally, thanks to her Chandelure. Very glad I saved on the outside. TIME TO GO TRAIN MORE.

No Marty, you may not learn wild charge, this is a no recoil moves household, self harm is bad.

Some grinding later, I am ready to try again.

Shauntal gave me a little trouble but was much more manageable. Grimsley was easy, only his Krookodile gave me issues.

I really like the elite four battle areas in this gen, I do admit. Very aesthetic.

Ah shit I know that Musharna is coming.

Never mind, that pink and purple snoozeball went down easy. I didn’t have a single Pokémon faint.

Unless Marshal breaks the trend the fights have actually gotten easier as I went.

He actually was a bit tricky, gave me a good show.

Hello endless stairs, hello N and Alder, hello giant random castle that just explodes out of the ground somehow.

“What has just appeared is team plasma’s castle”

Thanks mate, never would’ve figured that out without you. Why do you need a castle. 

Oh wow, the gym leaders finally decided to be useful and fight the sages for me instead of letting extremists wander around unchecked.

Thanks y’all! Trying not being pointless more often!

“Ignoring team plasma...that would be a terrible thing for us gym leaders to do.”

You all already did that, Elena. I watched as Clay and Iris let these assholes go. We could have avoided this whole plot if literally any of you had done more earlier.

So the game says the castle was built by the Pokémon team plasma took but how the fuck did they like...work underground...you know what I’m not gonna even think about it too hard because it makes no sense and I know that. I must make my peace.

I also like how the castle is nonsensical and yet there’s a line of dialogue about how they’ll liberate the Pokémon in PCs too for their Master Plan(TM), which is surprisingly thoughtful. This game is so inconsistent with how much sense its lore makes. It’ll come up with something clever and then wear its underwear on its head the next minute.

“Will you go the Pokémon league?”

Hey what - WHY DID YOU TELEPORT ME HOW CAN YOU DO THAT. DO YOU HAVE AN ABRA OR WHAT

THAT WAS RANDOM

Well at least there’s someone there to randomly teleport me back too.

WHEEEEEE

Hi Reshiram, convenient how that mini fire tornado you made didn’t burn me or N.

Hi Zekrom, convenient how your lightning didn’t hurt us either, you’re a considerate chap

Aight, let’s see if I can catch this bastard

...I did and it only took me like five balls. Okay then.

N gave me a good fight, so there’s that.

Love how Ghetsis’s bouffalant kills itself via recoil from its own move and my scrafty’s rocky helmet.

He gave me a good fight too though.

I do like the ending, despite my issues with how the game presents its message. N is a great character and I appreciate what Nintendo was trying to do with the game’s plot, they just...didn’t really delve into it like they should have.

I’m glad I replayed it. I still have my issues with gen 5 but I see a lot more of its positives now.

We’ll see if I do any post-game content, I have gotten kind of attached to my grump-ass trainersona and his weird team.

[thessalian]

Thess vs Death Mechanics

‘Death systems’ in video games.

Particularly in MMO.

Basically, ‘making death meaningful’ by penalising you for it.

Okay, I get what people are trying to do with this concept - at least on an intellectual level. But it’s a fucking horrible concept on a number of levels and here, in my admittedly somewhat biased and ranty opinion, is why:

Built-In Gatekeeping

Yeah, so, maybe you’re not so great at video games. You have hand-eye coordination issues. You don’t have a raid group so you don’t have the best gear. You get lost a lot when exploring and end up running into areas several levels too high for you and get flattened by something because aggro range expands with level discrepancy ... or you fall off cliffs sometimes. So you die. A lot.

If you have a system that penalises you on death, what do you get? People getting penalised for not being god-tier right out of the gate ... or never being able to be god-tier for one reason or another. And the hardcore gamer types will simply say “GIT GUD”.

You want to know what I hear when I read ‘GIT GUD’? I hear, “Get your ass out of my hobby; it’s not for you!” When people have issues with a game’s difficulty curve, those people whose primary senses of pride and accomplishment* are being better at killing pixellated beasties than everyone else immediately rise up and bitch about how making it easier would just let EVERYONE play it.

YES. THAT IS WHAT VIDEO GAME COMPANIES WANT. FOR EVERYONE TO PLAY IT.

But no, the industry listens to the squeaky wheels of ‘god-tier’ assholes ... or they go way too far the other way. Which we’ll get to in a minute. But all I will say is that any system that penalises death in a multiplayer game is only going to lead to ‘haves vs have-nots’ social strata for e-peen measuring dickwaffles to masturbate over and we as a society don’t need more of that shit. Particularly if we end up getting the “GIT GUD” thing yelled at us when all we want is help to NOT DIE.

Microtransact Away The Pain

So say you did have a system that reduced your stats whenever you died (hopefully at least until you got to an inn or something). You’re not seriously telling me that in this age of live service microtransaction bullshit that someone wouldn’t find a way to make a profit? Yeah, loot boxes are slowly getting phased out because the controversy’s too great, but dude, seriously, they’ll find other ways. Penalising death in MMOs is just handing them a way to do that; just make items that mitigate or cleanse the penalty you incurred by dying and only sell them with in-game currency ... or, to call it what it is, real money.

Do we want that? The industry does. I sure as fuck don’t.

In the end, just let me pay my money to repair my gear - more if I die a lot, less if I don’t. I mean, particularly in raids / dungeons / ops / whatever ... when the death’s not my fault? I don’t want to incur a penalty because the tank couldn’t hold hate, or the healer was too busy dealing damage to heal people. What the fuck kind of system is that.

Gameplay Restrictions

Okay, maybe the ‘play it your way’ thing has gone a bit too far in some games. Mostly the single-player ones. But even then, it’s not hurting anyone and you can seek out a challenge when and if you want to, so I’ll let that one go. But at the end of the day, anything that restricts your ability to go out and try things is a no-no in a game that wants you to stay playing as long as possible. But if you’re afraid to go exploring instead of following the storyline like a good little sheep, that’s a lost opportunity. Devs, don’t limit a player’s opportunities for fun by plonking in arbitrary bullshit that only serves as a potential cattle grid for ‘git gud’ assholes and/or cash cow.

At the end of the day, I get why people might want death in a video game to have some weight and meaning. On the other hand, I think they underestimate the personal investment that people who aren’t just in it for the numbers put into their characters in games like this. We don’t want them to die because we love them and we don’t want them to die. Plus at least half of us suffer from anxiety and imposter syndrome and we freak out enough when we die in a video game anyway, just because failure is THE END OF THE WORLD as far as we’re concerned. We don’t need the game rubbing our noses in it.

This is all speculative and things that devs might want to consider, all this ‘PENALISE DEATH’ crap. I just hope that game devs also take into account that:

We sometimes like to explore to alleviate the grind and we can’t do that if we’re worried about losing stats if we die

We are wary as shit of anything that someone could pin a microtransaction to

We do not want people yelling at us to ‘git gud’ when we’re just trying to unwind after a long and stressful day

We already feel invested in whether our character lives or dies without adding a mechanic to our pain

I want this whole line of conversation to just die. Give me my gear repair bill and STFU.

* Sidebar - I cannot hear these words without thinking about EA’s fuckery. I wince. Really.

[vio1315]

1-13 and 17-20 for your oc bbies

Omg, thank you

1. Which OC is the most likely to break the 4th wall?

Cusick, because his story is the most comedy oriented out of them all. And he’s a rebel unlike Romana (also from that story)

2. One OC will protect you, and the others will try to kill you. Which OC would you pick to be your defender?

HEIWA! I’ve confirmed that she’s my most powerful OC in IRP, but she’s also a pacifist. So she could protect me the best, but not hurt my other children. Also who would want to fight her? Not half of my OCs -and if any of them did try to hurt her, you’d get the most OCs turning over to protect /her/ even if they still wanted to kill me-

3. Would you rather live in your OCs’ universe or this one?

I have a computer in this one so…

-having magic would be rad, but alas, like I have time to study it enough to be good-

4. Your OC finds out that you are their creator. How do they react?

Depends which one. Lucky me, most of my OCs are pretty calm about the whole ‘why did you do this to me’ topic, but they’d be less calm about the whole ‘I am fictitious’ thing. Oh dude, James would actually be really mad at me though…

Like he wouldn’t kill me, but he would yell a lot, and I’d probably cry, and then we’d have a very awkward time for a bit there.

Ariella would not believe it no matter the evidence

Marth would be lowkey angry, and I think he’d just kind of ignore me and pretend not to care. 

Skye and Gill would have lots of questions, and be a little hurt

Kydin would be very hurt but also pretty understanding 

Heiwa would be entirely understanding and ask lots of questions

5. What is your noncanon nickname for your OC?

Elizabeth is trash mom, Marth is king dad. Kiba is the garbage man. I think those are all the nicknames I use~

6. What is/would be the fandom nickname for your story?

I don’t know exactly what this means. I’ve never encountered this for any of my fandoms, so I don’t know…

I guess for IRP it might be like ‘And then we walked 500 miles, and then we walked 500 more’ and naturally that’d be ‘we walked’ for short.

7. What is/would be the nickname for a fan of your OC?

Oh gosh, that’s hard. 

I guess anyone who liked Elizabeth or Kiba would have to be Oscar (after the grouch of course) Just a bunch of Oscars. You terrible people. 

Anyone who liked Marth would probably just be called ‘adopted’ lol

8. Which OC is most likely to be called “son”/ “daughter” / “child” by fans?

By fans…? Hn, hard to say, my mind is not so on par with fandom in these things. Because they are all children. All of them. But my guess would be Skye and Gill because they’re the earliest MCs, and probably James because heck, have you seen him? Precious child. 

9. Which OC is most likely to be called “husband” / “wife” / “spouse” by fans?

Hm. James is also a contender here, lol. And Marth for any of the people who are into adultier characters. 

And honestly Ariella should not be a contender for this because she is Angry™ but I know for a fact that there would be a dedicated fanbase for her like this

/Maybe/ Skye when it’s later in the story and she’s really chill, but I feel it’d be much more rare because people tend not to like the really maternal, chill types that much. Her being a dork-nerd might give her a niche following though

10. If you could tell your OC one thing, what would it be?

Something like “You are going to make such a difference. You might not see it now, but you’ll find happiness that you can’t even imagine now, and you’ll accomplish things you never thought possible” Because most my OCs this applies to. However to my trash bag OCs it’d be more like “You don’t deserve any of the joys you experience, and you’re lucky I haven’t decided to give anyone a revenge arc because it goes against some of the theming. So you better feel real lucky” and then I’d make squinty eyes at them

11. What kind of advice would your OC give you?

Oh heck. I can’t paint with a broad brush with this one. James and Kydin’s advice would boil down to ‘Honey, get some friends’ but they’d both say it nicer than that, lol. Gill would tell me to plan for the future. Skye would tell me to spend more time with friends/family, as would Marth. Though I think Marth would have a 2 hour sit down with me about the varying things I could work on if I didn’t seem to grow tired from it. He’d be like ‘focus on your goals a bit more, stop hiding away from people’ and stuff. 

Cusick would give a long winded speech that’d basically be ‘git gud, like me’ 

Ariella would be content with my approach to life actually, which is not a good sign lol. We both be obsessive 

12. Which OC is/would be “woobified” by the fandom?

Gill, probably. Which is very sad considering his arc. And then, absolutely James, and possibly Ariella. I’m actually kind of afraid of what their woobified versions would look like. Because while angst is A+, I would not enjoy seeing them portrayed as entirely helpless. Even when it’s limited, they have enough agency you know

And that is usually used with villains, I know, but… do you get what I mean? For villains I think it would be….. a very spoiler ridden character. Crap. 

13. What song would you sing to audition for the role of your OC?

You think I listen to music??? I don’t know songs, particularly not ironic ones. 

Though ‘I’ll be auditioning for the role of Skye, and I’ll be singing SHOTS’ strikes me as funny. 

For Ariella it’d be ‘I’ll make a man out of you’ for the humor, but also because that’s more accurate than I want to admit. Though I like Guren no Yumiya for her haaa

Marth’s dad would have ‘Heirloom’ by sleeping at last in all honesty. And I say that because it still gives me feelings.

Elizabeth would get Delusion Tax because she’s terrible and deserves it

The Nights by Avicii is for James, absolutely

It’s Time (Imagine Dragons) for Kydin

Little Talks for Skye and Gill. I’m not sure if my interpretation of that song is right, but it makes me sad heh 

Those are too accurate and not funny, I know, whoops

If you know any cute songs about parenthood, tell me, and I might attribute them to Marth.

Oh also, I usually think of Kiba whenever I hear ‘you are a useless child’

17. If you could choose to meet one of your OCs in person, who would you pick?

Agh, heck. While I love them a lot, I must admit that most combos wouldn’t work because I am not their type of friend. No matter how polite they are. I might actually pick Skye, because I think of them all, she would like me the most aha. Kydin would also be a good pick because he’s slightly the sort who latches onto people and then just doesn’t leave no matter what. So he’d make the effort to be cool friends.

18. Which OC would you absolutely NOT want to be a real person?

All the main villains of course, but also Elizabeth, Kiba, Kreig, and probably Ariella -sorry my wonderful daughter, but we have enough people asking for the supervisors in this world already-

19. What is your dream medium for your story (book series, video game, comic, movie, cartoon/anime, etc)?

Comic for IRP, Kingdoms, and HS Project. For TCotLM it’s a book. -I didn’t even mention any characters from that, lol-

20. Which OC is the most likely to become a “mascot” for your story?

Skye, because she’s the first MC and has strong presence for all of that story. It’d be Ariella for kingdoms because her design is pretty unique, honestly. Or rather, I draw her in a very unique way. James could easily be the mascot, but he has a weaker presence in that story. Though his emotional range is very wide too…

Likely “Rookie” -need to give him a name- for HS Project because…. energetic and kind of annoying? Sounds like a mascot to me

TCotLM can only ever be Geno

Many thanks for these questions! It was fun!~

[sunbroofomegle]

uumm i guess i’ll tag @vkm11 and @sunbroofomegle since they’re my cool friends! (edit: totally didnt add these later cause i forgot their urls @daftbutts @aliendoc) Alright, ladies and gents, more specifically @enkyostar, @jakerdoodle, and @allosauroid, we in this.

Five Things You’ll Find In My Bag:

Assuming this is for a bag I currently have and use for class...

1. Small sketchbook of just a bunch of doodles. Nothing really out of the ordinary

2. Tiny sketchbook used as notes for the various cryptids of the realm of one Savannah art school. It’s still being worked on, but it’s a personal project I think will be fun to just have. It’s sortof like a journal and informative book of the friends and scares of this realm. Maybe when I work on it more, I’ll share it with you all~ 

3. A bunch of pencils of various types. Got some prismacolors in there, some mechanical pencils of varying lead sizes, a lot of graphite pencils, it’s a mess. I need a new one, it has a giant hole in the side, but I’ve had this one since around the start of high school. I have sentimental attachment, y’know? It’s been there since I decided to become an artist. I can’t just throw that away.

4. Binders filled with notes. Lots of stuff on art history, game design, and game tech. I also have a bunch of other notes from classes that I get too lazy to put into a separate box that I have of all my old stuff, all organized and safe at home back in Jersey.

5. If I need it, my laptop. I usually don’t bring it around everywhere because I don’t usually need it outside of my dorm, but if there would be a 5th object in there, that would be it. I really don’t carry much...

Five Things You’ll Find In My Bedroom: (the most important place to me)

1. My laptop. I need it to do work, my dude.

2. My tablet. I need it to do work, my dude

3. The various silly little memorabilia in my room. I can’t just name one, they’re all too important to me

4. Video games of all kinds. Like before, I cannot just name one. It’s too much.

5. MY HELMET WHEN IT’S NOT ON MY HEAD HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Five Things I Want To Do With My Life: (I hate this question...)

1. Well, I want to be a game designer, preferably a texture artist, possibly environment artist. 

2. I guess just be able to do art for a living. It’s a hobby I want to make my lifestyle and it’s something I both enjoy and feel I can consider myself good at.

3. Sortof settle down in a nice, cold suburban area. Nice, quiet, peaceful. Y’know, the quiet life.

4. I can’t name much else. Maybe just have a relaxed life. A wife and kids in the distant future sounds nice, too...

5. I guess try to find a way to be happy consistently, especially nowadays. I can’t think of much else that wouldn’t be said in one of the future questions. I’m also not good with these, honestly.

Five Things That Make Me Happy:

1. DARK SOULS, BABYYYYY

2. Video games as a whole, really. They also make me sad, but that’s because I love them.

3. The closer friends I have here. They’re assholes, but they make me feel wanted. This blog also applies. You’re all so wonderful and I cannot thank you all enough. You make me actually feel like myself, and I really appreciate that.

4. Getting compliments on my work. I’ll shit on it, but hearing someone talk about your work in a positive light is always a wonderful feeling. I remember in one class I made a short animation in After Effects that took me a long-ass time to make. It’s pretty mediocre, but at the time I loved it. Apparently the professor showed it off to his other classes and it made me REALLY giddy. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py0kgMg9Fec

If you wanna see it, here it is. Like I said, it’s pretty mediocre, but this was my first time using after effects. I loved this project a lot!

5. All the pets I’ve had in my life. My followers know the ones, those silly little kids of mine~

Five Things On My To-Do List:

1. Git gud at art

2. Have a portfolio design that is both unique while also simple and not gaudy.

3. Play through a lot of video games that I currently have on my backlog.

4. Improve myself personality wise. I’m way too bitter and I feel that I’m unpleasant to be around, so I’m trying to fix the way I say things. Not the best with words...

5. Get back on track emotionally. I’ve been really out of it as of late and really, feeling like myself again is top priority. I just made it 5 because I’m a dumbo who thinks of other things first.

Five Things People May Not Know About Me:

1. Okay, I know some of you are gonna get a kick out of this. I have had a youtube channel for several years now, but on it I have a series of videos that spawned from a joke. It is called The Life of Dr. Frankington. It is 5 episodes and has 1 trailer for Episode 4 because I delayed it for over a year and 3 for Episode 5 because hype. They’re REALLY stupid, but were incredibly fun to make. I put more time and effort into them than I think I did anything else before college. 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7E7BA85282F76555 Legit, this is my magnum opus. It’s so dumb and possibly cringey, but I love the fact that it exists. The first 4 episodes were made in movie maker and 5 and 2 of the trailers were made in Sony Vegas. It also has my face and I know you kids go nuts about that for some reason.

2. I used to be a part of an FRC robotics group in high school. What a wild time that was...so many stories I could tell about that one group alone. Years of nonsense and bullshit. I’m glad I did it, though. Met some great people and have some funny stories~

3. It sounds mundane, but I can do a front flip. I remember doing it while one of my friends was attacking other friends with a blanket on his head and then jumping onto cardboard. I took the blanket, screamed “I AM THE NEGA CULTIST”, ran off, did a front flip, and landed on my knees to lay down while the blanket was still partially floating. I peered out, and my friends were screaming in both amazement and fear. They legitimately thought their friend, good ol’ Solaire, just went to a new realm. They also learned how strong my legs are. Seriously, I have REALLY strong legs!

4. As mentioned before, I have REALLY strong legs. Not sure why, but I’ve had people question if I’m a frog or something. My younger brother, who’s a gym rat who works out 75% of the day, every day of the week, constantly brings up how huge my legs are. It’s an anomaly that my entire family debates over, actually. Pretty funny.

5. I know it was mentioned before, but I have a small sketchbook of things I see around where I live, which include things I’m told about or things I have seen in person. The little baby doll you may have seen in some of my snaps? That is Yubble: a demon who is the product of my roommate. He is a part of this small sketchbook. You see it in my snapchat? It’s likely in it or going to be in it. This really took my mind off of a lot of bad things, so really, thanks @aigislovesrobots . You’re a top tier friend. It helped out a lot.

[littlenimart]

tell me abt daevalur :3c

aksdaksdlssdlglkf anon…  just remember…  i’m an embarrassing…nerd…. and… u asked… for it… 

okey

Daevalur is a lvl 4, 224 year old, neutral good wood elf life cleric. you’ve already seen enough pics of him, he’s a sweet tiny healer boy. he’s like 5′4. lotsa dark hair, olive skin, androgynous in that way that elves are. because i’m a girl and RPing a dude elf our party constantly flip flop between “she” and “he” when referring to him and it’s just kind of become part of the character that some of the party have trouble remembering and some of the non-elf NPCs just don’t know.

he’d been holed up in a monastery before this whole adventure started, working on illuminating manuscripts and performing minor healings and stuff. he’s an empathetic dude, so it makes him happy to be useful to others and to heal the suffering. healing is also kind of a power trip, which he won’t admit he likes but it’s there. more selfishly, he feels like the only way he can truly “earn” people’s love is by being useful to them, so when he was shoved together with the rest of the party members, he saw it as a chance to do some good in the big wide world and also make some friends. even better that the potential new friends are big and strong and could beat up anyone who tries to hurt him, because, as wise as he is (18), his strength (11) and HP are kind of ass.

he’s been enjoying his adventures. his ultimate goal is to perform some legendary good that’ll really benefit some society somewhere, and to git so gud as a healer that he can fix anything  (and, if he ever goes home, really impress someone who blew him off in a way that hurt).

Dae’s kind of a mother hen, too? he feels important, being responsible for the wellbeing of his group. but he also worries a lot because while he’s not much for starting fights, some of his party are, and they’re prone to getting fucked up. the most prone (and his #1 source of heart attacks) is the soul stitched paladin, Garbage, because in his crusade for lawful good he’s always getting himself into fights, and due to his undead-ness, he can’t be healed by traditional healing magic or potions. he literally just has to sleep it off. so Daevaulr paradoxically feels extra responsible for him, knowing there’s nothing he can do. they share that “good” alignment too, so he often has to agree with Garbage’s goals, even if he doesn’t approve of the methods.

(case in point abt Dae’s personality in action: in our last session Garbage started a 1 on 1 fight with an ogre in a shady tavern, and Dae went from 0-worried in like .5 seconds and cast bless on Garbage without consulting the group. entire bar went into an uproar that the cleric was helping Garbage cheat, and were ready to put the beatdown on all of us. because Daevalur has 11 charisma and is bad at talking, Garbage, with his superior charisma, had to smooth the whole thing over like “he’s a cleric, he doesn’t understand warrior honor etc, i’ll tell him to stop casting and then we can start.” so one spell slot was wasted, Daevalur almost brought certain ass-beating upon the whole group, and Garbage saved the day and proceeded to spill some ogre blood while Daevalur watched through his fingers.

he’s usually not as useless as he was there. if he’s gotta fight he can cast spiritual weapon and run around healing while simultaneously getting decent hits in from a distance.

his two big ol’ vices are that he’s not good at forgiving and forgetting, and he likes keeping secrets and will avoid sharing them unless someone’s wellbeing is in immediate danger.

at this point in our adventure he’s kind of a nervous wreck- he, as well as the paladin and monk, have been afflicted by this sucky and extra painful blight, which he has no way of healing. he mostly just wants it gone. now. last session, he resorted to drinking spider blood after being told it “might fix it” and ended up in a frothing, murderous rage, compelled to attack his own friends. luckily because of his shit strength and a bad attack roll, the rogue was able to tie him up and sit on him after the first attack and they just waited it out. he’s having a bad time in the underdark.

entire backstory under the cut because while i’m talking about this i might as well write it out for my own and the DM’s future reference (very little space on the character sheet means only the vaguest description is written there)

Dae was a hermit before he joined up with the party-  he grew up in regular elf society (wood elves in our game’s universe aren’t really tribal or nomadic as in some canons, they’re more like a the Lothlorien elves from LotR) bookbinders, and he liked to bind the books but also had a talent for illustrating them. he liked other elves, but the elf he liked the most was a childhood friend of his from a high class elven family. he really loved this friend and it wasn’t much of a secret, he wanted to husband him up and spend the rest of his trophy spouse life making art and not involving himself in the greater world.

sadly, while his friend cared for him too, he was under a lot of pressure to marry well for political and money reasons and Daevalur wasn’t rich or anything, so his friend, with some regret, told him it wasn’t gonna happen and that he should stop coming around.

daevalur is a sensitive and somewhat dramatic soul, so in his despondence, he left society to join a monastery, as you do.

in the monastery he was a quiet little elf who spent most of his time sitting around in the forest working on illuminating manuscripts and learning to perform minor healing. he liked the peace and enjoyed making artwork, it was pretty ideal for him for a while. he still got sad about the way things turned out with his friend when he thought too much about it, but he convinced himself on some level he was better off not being around anyone with the power to hurt him. better to be alone and totally unfuckable and invulnerable.

at the time our adventure started back in the fall, Daevalur was stuck in a jail with the rest of our party members, who he didn’t know, for tresspassing. they got released on the condition they fulfill this “minor” quest, and here we are! 

i love him a lot.. there’s a little of me in there but he’s the first OC i’ve had whose really grown a life of his own (mostly because D&D necessitates this and it’s excellent) and also RPing a priest is fantastic.

i’m so embarrassing… if you’ve read all this you know how embarrassing i am… im so….. im…. it’s so fun don’t judge me…