#each ship has its own sort of separate goal to contribute to the overall goal of Fucking Leave

[shortfeather]

And today's "deeply distracting au while i wait for my wrist to calm down from attempting to write for too long" iiiiiiiiiis Subnautica! an inevitability for every fandom i'm in after a certain point tbh i just LOVE Subnautica... would love to actually play it myself one day when i have a better computer

ANYWAYS I'm spicing it up this time by mashing both games together and also really mixing up the hermits.

The premise is that the Hermatrix Convoy (HC), a trio of spaceships that travels together in a group as a defense measure against outside dangers, is on its journey. When they have to reroute to slingshot 4546-B, they don't think it's going to be a problem. Knowing the planet is uninhabited and that no other ships are nearby, they all go for the slingshot at the same time, separated by mere seconds.

The gun, of course, gets them all.

Hermatrix-1 crashes in a shallow part of the flooded surface in the subtropics (the setting of the first game) and completely loses the ship, though a dozen survive. Hermatrix-2 crashes in the arctic (Subnautica: Below Zero); their ship remains habitable for survival, but barely, and eight survive.

Hermatrix-3, the smallest of the convoy, manages to switch to planetside navigation and mitigates the damage from the crash. If they want to get off-planet, they'll need some serious repairs, but in the meantime they can still move through the water like a particularly clumsy and slow submarine. The problem is figuring out where they are besides "deep, deep underwater," and what exactly the giant lifeforms the scanner insists are out there are...

Of course, there's groups within each ship as well. The friend groups of HC's staff and passengers does not necessarily correlate to ship assignment, which only adds to the stress of crashing on a supposedly-safe planet's anti-spacecraft gun.

Hermatrix-1's survivors: BDubs (architect, passenger), Zedaph (theoretical physicist), Pearl (janitor), Beef (psychologist), False (metallurgist, passenger), Etho (navigator), Scar (actor, passenger), Hypno (gov't agent, passenger), Iskall (athlete, passenger), xB (xenohistorian, passenger), Jevin (communicator specialist), Keralis (doctor)

Hermatrix-2's survivors: Ren (captain), Xisuma (cybersec specialist), Gem (ambassador, passenger), Impulse (chemist, passenger), Wels (bodyguard, passenger), Joe (teacher, passenger), Cub (CEO, pasenger), Grian (shipwright)

Hermatrix-3's survivors: Doc (spacecraft engineer), Mumbo (architect, passenger), Stress (pharmacologist), Tango (mechanical engineer, passenger), Cleo (acting captain)

If it doesn't clarify them as a passenger, then they are a member of the ship's crew. Loosely based on s9 roles, if that wasn't clear - though some of these are definitely going to change because I don't know some of these Hermits well enough yet.

[seddm]

Star vs. The Forces of Evil FAQs

With a new season around the corner, and with a fandom still full of doubts and confusion left from the previous one, @ngame989 and I decided to make some sort of FAQ post, compiling both specific answers (an extremely synthetic one, and a longer one in the post accessible by clicking on the questions themselves) to the most common doubts we have been seeing around the most over these months, and a list of links to posts we made in the past about more general (but still hot) topics.

Is Tom a monster? Would his union with Star send a message about tolerance to Mewni? Was his speech in Is Another Mystery an absolute truth about the state of things on Mewni?

No. Tom is not considered a “monster” as far as Mewni’s society goes, and a future union with Star wouldn’t send any message about equality, since past Butterfly queens married demons or non-Mewmans in the past: social standing, richness and power are what separate discriminated monsters and monsters seen as peers..

The speech in Is Another Mystery was well meaning, but stemmed from Tom’s limited and sheltered personal experience, and Buff Frog himself pointed out that things aren’t that simple.

What is considered ”a monster” on Mewni?

Tom’s speech and the fallibility of characters

Did Marco and Jackie break up over a cape? Why did Marco call Jackie “his best friend”? 

The cape was a symbol for Marco finally getting aware for the first time of the shift in priorities and goals that he had been experiencing since he met Star, and Jackie broke up with him because she could see how this would have come crashing down on both of them sooner than later, leading Marco to realize that he was forcing himself to live a kind of life he didn’t want anymore.  Marco called Jackie “best friend” in a last half-hearted attempt at lying to himself because facing the truth would have forced him to truly step outside his comfort zone and take a potentially life changing decision, something that he ultimately ended up doing thanks to Jackie’s push in the right direction.

Heart Vs Mind S3 Analysis - Sophomore Slump section (page 28)

The value of Marco’s “study year abroad”

Marco’s nightmare in Red Belt

Why did Marco have to leave Earth to be a squire on Mewni? Couldn’t he use the scissors to do both things?

Moving to Mewni wasn’t just about satisfying an itch for adventure to Marco, but a way for his character to acknowledge that what he wanted from life changed over the course of the previous seasons, and to find his place in life stepping out the comfort zone / shell he had build himself over the years. Marco didn’t turn down Earth forever (as evidenced by Marco Jr.), but he still needed a drastic change in his life to grow as a person. Keeping both things going on at the same time, Earth and Mewni, would have eventually failed, hurting him and Jackie even more, as she outright points out in the episode.

Is Marco 30/31? And does that make his relationships “problematic”?

Marco clearly retained memories and experiences from his time in Hekapoo dimension, but regardless of what one can think about these implication in the show’s universe he clearly hasn’t changed at all and still behaves and is written like his usual teen self, and one of the points of Running With Scissors was that he didn’t grow up at all, if not physically.

Adult Marco, manchild Marco 

Did Star forget Marco’s birthday in Lava Lake Beach?

The episode ends barely a minute into the new day, so Marco’s birthday had barely began. We can’t know for sure whether Star did wish him a happy birthday or not but she still had 23 hours and 59 more minutes to do it.

Is Star’s relationship with Tom a rebound one? Did she truly move on from Marco during S3?

Star initially reconnected with Tom as a way to silence the pain Marco left her with, but over Demoncism they bonded over genuine elements - even if going for the romance angle and not just for being friends proved to be the wrong decision. Star moved on from her crush on Marco, but never really stopped being attracted to the kind of role he had in her life, a trusted companion, and gravitated back to him because he encapsulates all she looks for in a partner.

Was the situation in Booth Buddies forced or did Ben Photino force Star and Marco to kiss? Did Marco force a kiss on Star?

No, the episode just needed some background plot to keep things fun and interesting, and they chose the “magic booth”, but all the feelings that emerged inside were there long before, and weren’t forced in any way (also Star was adamant on getting the picture she wanted from Marco even before Photino’s interference). Body language during the kiss tells us that it was evidently reciprocal, even if Marco might have been the one to initiate it.

An analysis of the kiss and the photo strip

Another analysis of the kiss

Differences between “forced development” and “narrative device”

Did the Blood Moon force Star and Marco's feelings?

No, the way their feelings for each other developed has clearly been organic (and slow). Even if the Blood Moon bond had to be related to fate or something like that it wouldn’t change that every step forward Star and Marco took came from their own experiences and efforts, and not from some magical imposition.

Does the Blood Moon have some kind of effect beyond pure symbolism?

Potential meaning of the Blood Moon

Old but still relevant post about the Blood Moon and forced feelings

Did Marco give up on fun and adventures with Hekapoo for Star in Night Life? Did Star’s demands limit Marco’s freedom?

No, at the end of the episode Marco doesn’t give up on having fun to help a nagging boss, he just manages to find, through immersing himself in the role of “squire”, a (temporarily) solution to the need for escapism generate by his feelings for Star, while at the same time being able to be close to her and part of her life, the thing that brings him the most fulfillment. 

Marco’s freedom of choice

Why did Star act so cold toward Marco when he came back on Mewni?

She was hurt by the way Marco ignored her confession and rushed away from her life, and had a negative (and completely understandable) reaction when he decided to come back as if nothing had ever happened, needing the duration of the episode to find her own way to adapt to the new situation, similarly to what happened to Marco some episodes later.

Did Star act like a jerk to Marco after his return to Mewni, and does she regret it?

Overall breakdown of Starco

What’s the most important thing in Star and Marco’s respective lives?

Possible future developments for Starco post canon dating

Point of no return for Starco

Star and Marco’s flaws

Starco flaws

Star and Marco’s first interactions

Platonic Starco, why it’s not viable

Why Starco couldn’t have happened immediately post S2 (1)

Why Starco couldn’t have happened immediately post S2 (2)

Why Starco couldn’t have happened immediately post S2 (3)

Opinions over romance in the show

Star and Marco’s mutual reliance

The importance of the hug in Divide

The current state of Starco and why things are going to change soon

Overall breakdown of Marco

Marco’s presence and screentime in S3

Marco’s role and importance in S3

Tunnel vision and “comfort zone” in S3

Some ideas about why would Marco love Star

Other ships, other characters, show’s handling of characters commentary

A comparison between Tomstar and Starco in the Book Of Spells

Star and Tom’s first relationship (as in the Book Of Spells)

The origin of Star’s horn headband

The show and failed relationships

Kelly and Marco’s relationship

Tom and Star’s flawed relationship and lack of trust over the season

Personal opinions about Tomstar

The fallibility of the characters in the show

Jackie’s use and lack of development

Show’s approach to developing relationships other than Star and Marco’s one

Are Tom and Star comfortable with each other in a romantic context?

Tom’s early appearances and negative behavior 

Season 4 predictions and themes

General considerations about Tom and Star’s break up

Speculations about the S4 promotional poster and what it might symbolize

Parallels between Star and Eclipsa

Star’s character arc and goals in S4

Fandom commentary

Interest in the show over time and effect of the airing schedule on the fandom’s activity

The circumstances of Booth Buddies’ release and its contribution to the fandom’s perception

The pacing in Tom’s development and its effect on the fandom’s perception 

[ciathyzareposts]

Game 340: Fantasyland 2041 (1981)

          Fantasyland 2041

United States

Crystalware (developer and original publisher); Epyx (later publisher)

Released in 1981 for Apple II and Atari 800

Date Started: 9 October 2019

               I had already passed through the 1980s at least twice before someone recorded Crystalware’s catalogue on MobyGames. The company was so prolific that it’s hard to believe that its absence on my blog went unremarked for so long. Between 1980 and 1982, the company–founded by John and Patty Bell–produced at least seven games with enough RPG elements to make my list, including the already-covered House of Usher (1980) and Beneath the Pyramids (1980). They may have produced the first Japanese RPG, with Dragon Lair (1982) appearing the same year as the better-known The Dragon & Princess.

Fantasyland 2041 (the manual tags the title with an A.D. but the title screen does not) is clearly meant to be the apogee of John Bell’s contributions to the genre as an author if not as a publisher. He even writes in the manual that, “This will probably be the last great Fantasy that I write.” The game combines themes from several mythologies and shipped on seven disks, which must have been some kind of record for 1981. It’s too bad that Bell wasn’t writing in a technological era that could better accommodate his ambitions.            

The game had epic ambitions, but these were not epic platforms.

       Thematically, Fantasyland combines elements from Disney World, the film Westworld (1973), and the television series Fantasy Island (1977-1984). It takes place in a giant live-action-role-playing theme park, presented as the natural future of Crystal Computing, although one which the owners (“John B.” and his “pretty young Swedish wife, Patty”) have been forced by “religious zealots” to set up in the Australian Outback. The entrance fee is $3 million.

The park consists of seven sections, each contained on its own diskette: the introductory Hall of Heroes, Congoland, Arabian Adventure, King Arthur, Olympus, Captain Nemo, and Dante’s Inferno. The ostensible goal is to rescue Guinevere (if you’re a male) or Lancelot (if you’re female), but beneath everything is a Great Mystery, and Crystalware offered $1,000 to the first people to solve it, with separate awards going to Apple and Atari victors.

The game begins with your little character standing at the entrance to the Hall of Heroes, although it tries to have things both ways by presenting what looks like a first-person view but then having the character walk “up” past the doorway, past the roof, and past the screen text to enter the opening that goes to the “real” hall. The background continuously scrolls rather than presenting as discrete screens.          

The game often suggests a first-person perspective even though the character walks around the screen from a top-down perspective.

          The rooms beyond the entrance are full of objects and companions that you can buy for various amounts of money. (You start with 5,000 gold pieces.) In the first room alone, I was offered a diving suit, a diver, a horse, a Zulu warrior, a zombie, rations, a submarine called the Tari, fuel, a blowgun, a samurai, a cabin boy, an archer, a knight, a crossbow, and a tunic.          

Maybe later.

          The items and positions are randomized for each new game. After a few false starts, I learned that you want to purchase as many resources as you can, and as many companions as you need to carry them, in the Hall of Heroes. You continue to find treasure and to get opportunities to spend it later in the game. You have to make sure you buy plenty of rations, or you and your companions will immediately starve to death.          

Some of my inventory after initial purchases.

          I had expected the other lands to branch off the Hall of Heroes like spokes, but instead you explore them in a linear order, starting with Congoland. The area consists of around 12 screens of various terrain features, offered in the manual as “jungles,” “mountains,” and “swamps.” As you explore, you can find treasure chests with gold or valuables (e.g., bone necklaces, emeralds, diamonds) that you can later sell. Mountainous areas feature crevices in which you can lose your equipment and companions, and swamps feature sinkholes that perform the same function. Occasionally, you have to have a particular item to progress; for instance, a plank or boat to cross a river or a lantern to see in a cavern.         

Losing a gem in the mountains of Congoland.

          Controls are even more basic than the previous Crystalware games. The joystick moves the party, and the only keyboard commands that you use often (at least in the starting area) are A)ttack and F)lee when encountered by enemy parties, P)ick up, D)rop, U)se, and T)rade.

You get attacked a lot as you explore, by area-appropriate enemies like tigers, gorillas, headhunters, and Zulu warriors. The character doesn’t really fight in these battles, instead trusting in his army of companions. (If they all die, the character dies soon afterwards.) Their numbers plus their weapons and armor make up the army’s combined strength, pitted each round against the enemies’, with round-by-round losses on both sides fairly formulaic depending on the variances in strength. Victories don’t really confer any benefit to the party except the opportunity to loot enemy equipment, so I think it’s a good idea to flee from most battles. Overall, the combat system is rather underdeveloped. Coupled with the inventory system and the way certain items are needed in certain places, the game feels not unlike Robert Clardy’s Wilderness Campaign (1979).             

My party squares off against some natives on the other side of a river.

          One repeated encounter is with a “witch doctor,” who will join you if you defeat him in the first round of battle. He comes with a shrunken head and earth magic, which you can use like an item of equipment. He can die in combat, but if he does, eventually another will approach you.

Eventually, you cross a river in the northeast (you may have to fight a pack of piranhas) and make your way to Kabunga Village. There, you can stop at the various huts to sell valuables and buy adventuring equipment and companions, including most of what you need in Congoland specifically. North of Kabunga Village is a “banana grove” where every tree offers some rations.           

Trading in Kabunga Village.

        In the far northeast corner is the entrance to King Solomon’s mines, a maze for which you need a lantern or else you lose an item every few steps.            

In case we catch malaria.

          It took me several abandoned characters and hours before I understood the game enough to make it to the mines. The manual recommends that you “conquer the sorcerer of Congoland” before you enter the mines. I wasted a lot of time looking for him before I realized that’s simply a fancy name for the witch doctor that you encounter repeatedly.

The mines contain the same sorts of treasure and encounters as the wilderness area. At the center, I found King Solomon’s Temple with the spirit of Solomon blocking a door and the number “666” on the floor. Using the witch doctor’s earth magic made the ghost disappear, allowing me to enter the chamber beyond and transition to Cathay, the opening village of Arabian Adventure.            

The final screen of Congoland.

         Before I continue, let’s talk about the manual and the so-called Great Mystery. I think I explored Congoland comprehensively, and I didn’t find anything with any text except for the “666,” although there might have been more to find in Solomon’s Mine. I suspect that solving the Great Mystery is going to have something to do with the manual and the stories it relates about six sample adventurers and their initial explorations of each land. The first section relates the story of “Tisha: Queen of the Jungle,” who gets this riddle as she enters Congoland:                

The treasures of Solomon, his Gods, his worth 10,000 wives and concubines to make a temple fair A young lad who he deeply loved with long and flowing hair Bagies burnt on hilltop fires, a nation plunges down A thousand temples to Pagan Gods the King has lost the crown A magic ring the demons shrink and on that ring a sign The eater of heads a mystery is hidden in the rhyme One two three four five six seven — 666 or 777 22 clues from here to there–from the bottom neath the squid To the Dragon’s Lair

            Other than the 666, which I found on the floor of Solomon’s Temple, none of the imagery in the poem seems to correspond to the features in Congoland. There’s a similar poem to go with “Thomas of Arabia’s” adventures in the game’s version of the middle east.

Arabian Adventure switches background and text color but otherwise plays much like Congoland. You can purchase goods and companions in Cathay and in the city of Baghdad to the far northwest. In between are treasure chests, sandstorms that make you lose inventory, oases where you can gather food, and a curiously large group of locked doors that you can unlock with keys found in the chests. Monsters include scorpions and “Turks.”          

Reaching Baghdad ends this level.

           A couple of chests refer you to the manual to look up, for instance, “Treasure #5.” This turns out to be a giant golden Buddha that I can’t even begin to carry. The use of treasure numbers with manual descriptions was earliest seen in the Dunjonquest series, and it’s possible that the Crystalware titles owe more to Dunjonquest than I have previously speculated.          

Six giant golden Buddhas on the outskirts of Cathay.

          You escape the Arabian Adventure via a door in Baghdad. It’s blocked by a genie who only moves when you use the air magic of your own genie. The door leads the player to King Arthur’s realm and the third adventure and game disk.           

I suspect the “sorcerer” will end up playing the same role as the witch doctor and the genie.

          I have a feeling it’s not going to be too hard to simply whisk through all the levels, find Guinevere, and “win” the game, but without figuring out the Great Mystery. So I’m going to slow down and repeat the first two levels and see if I can pick up any more clues.

Fantasyland isn’t really an RPG by my definitions. There’s no character development and no “personal” inventory. Nonetheless, it’s an intriguing quasi-RPG from the days before RPG standards, and I’m impressed by its ambitions even as I’m frustrated by its limitations.

Time so far: 3 hours

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/game-340-fantasyland-2041-1981/