#every post i see someone make about fallout 4 is better than the game itself

[gothamcityneedsme]

I saw this bouncing around my dash and decided to fill it out myself for fun :)  I decided to not double-list any games, and I tried to mix up the companies I used too so that the list would be more unique.

Long post, so I’m doing a readmore for my longwinded part lol.

(read more)

Favorite Game: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords - I could talk about this game forever.  How it tears apart the Star Wars universe from within, how it creates a compelling story while challenging the usual themes, etc.  I could talk for ages about the characters and how their motivations slot in place, and how this game lends itself to interpretation and analysis alongside roleplay.  It’s just a wonderful game, one I deeply love and will always love.  It’s a game that isn’t afraid to have you talk to other characters for twenty or thirty minutes at a time and honestly I’m always riveted at every line.  This game deserves the cult fanbase it has, but I think there’s a lot the fanbase misses in appreciating this game.  (Note...gameplay is a little janky and a community made mod restores a lot content that was cut before shipping-the game wasn’t properly finished).

Best Story:  Fallout New Vegas - It’s the setting that makes the story here, and all the moving pieces and factions alongside the main conflict really make this game stand out.  There’s so many little pieces to find along the way in the world and the way the main quest splits based on who you want in power feels important--and you are choosing a future for this whole region.

Favorite Art Style: The Witness - This game is peacefully wonderful with its visuals.  There are wonderful nature scenes and nests of wires and panels spreading in various parts of the island that are fascinating to look at.  The environment is half of the gameplay in most areas, so it’s important to look around even though exploration is not really the gameplay.  You find puzzles in the world, even in nature, and it’s fascinating.  The colors are bright and beautiful.  There is even a map in the middle of the island inside of a lake that helps you track your progress if you notice it (it isn’t like a normal ‘map’).

Favorite Soundtrack: Shin Megami Tensei IV - I love video game soundtracks, but SMTIV is something special.  The music booms in ways that make you really understand the atmosphere of the world, and there’s a great mix of different kinds of tracks for different places.  I love the tracks for the other worlds you enter, and the themes of the different routes are done so well.  Some of the music draws from past SMT games, but the remixes done for this game really are stunning to me, and there’s so many fantastic original tracks.

Hardest Game: I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream - I love this game but I literally never touch it without a walkthrough, which is why it gets to be the hardest game on the list, despite being a point and click adventure game lol.  Also just emotionally this game is challenging too, but I definitely mean this more in terms of getting a ‘perfect run’.

Funniest Game: The Stanley Parable - Trying to make this list has taught me that I don’t really play many ‘funny games’.  I don’t know if a game where multiple endings demand that you kill yourself should count as a ‘funniest game’, but it is also a game where the narrator tells you to stare at a fern and memorize its features, so....it counts.

Game I Like that is Hated: RWBY Grimm Eclipse - I’ve been playing this game since it was in early access and have loved it the whole time.  I find the gameplay soothing and fun, and I like playing the different characters.  It’s a game I play to chill out and just enjoy some fun battle mechanics.  It’s a fun game and I’ve spent over 100 hours in it, so I hope I like it, lol.

Game I Hate that is Liked:  Nier Automata - Neither this game’s gameplay or story impress me, and the fact that you have to replay basically the same stuff from a more boring-to-play-character’s pov in order to SEE all of the plot is a huge damper on the experience.  The story, to me, someone who engages with a lot of robot-focused fiction, is far from impressive or new, and it hardly engages with genre specifics at all, let alone in a new or interesting way.  I view this game as ‘a story with robots in it’ rather than ‘a story about robots’, which, to me, is a detriment.

Underrated: Nevermind - This game is amazing and very unheard of--and when it is heard of, it has been marketed incorrectly.  Nevermind seems like a horror game, and does market itself as one a bit, but it’s much more than that.  It’s more about trauma, recovery, therapy, etc.  This is a game that is so mindful about the topics it engages in that I am impressed by it every time.  It’s heavy with symbolism and character, despite lacking conversations or other similar game mechanics.  This is a lovely game that I really wish more people knew about-`p5-all of the patients are so interesting, and the focus on recovery and mental health is impressive.

Overrated:  Fire Emblem - I sort of mean this as the series as a whole really.  I have enjoyed the entries I have played somewhat, but I overall consider the series much less impressive than I was led to believe by others.  The gameplay especially is not impressive to me in any regard, even though I sometimes do find myself enjoying it.  The stories are alright, but many of them are weighed down by the gameplay and as a writer and person who likes to analyze writing, it’s very hard to do so when it isn’t able to fully exist under the chains the gameplay forces on it.  There are ways to mix gameplay and story well, Fire Emblem has not really done that in any of the entries I’ve played.  That being said, I don’t regret playing them, and I will occasionally replay, but I consider them mediocre games at best.

Best Voice Acting: Devil Survivor 2 - I love the voice acting in this game.  I feel like all the characters are really suited to their voices, and it’s really easy for me to visualize their voices.  They really bring the game to life and make both the dramatic and the funny scenes more enjoyable.

Worst Voice Acting: Jedi Knight Jedi Academy - I love this game, I really do, but some of the voice acting is janky.  Some of it is okay too--I think Kyle Katarn’s voice actor does fine, and some of the others I like NOW but hated when I was a kid, but the male protagonist voice in this game is just awful.  Which is bad when Jennifer Hale is the female voice actress lol.  His performance is passable though unless you’re playing darksided--the darksided ending to the game lacks all punch when you’re playing the male protagonist.

Favorite Male:  Battler Ushiromiya from Umineko no Naku Koro Ni - He’s the protagonist for most of the visual novels and I adore him utterly, especially once you move past episode 2.  He’s a wonderful character who I care about deeply.  I love his drive and how he fights--he’s someone who is easy to cheer for.  He matures well throughout the series and his character development is just wonderful.

Favorite Female:  Naoto Shirogane from Persona 4 - I really like how Naoto fits so well in the game, especially for being a final recruit--oftentimes the final recruit of Persona games (post 3) have a bit of a more difficult time feeling right with the group.  Naoto works really well though, and I love her struggles and story as well.  I think the difficulties she has concerning living as a woman in her field hit very deep to a problem that has existed for a very long time.

Favorite Protagonist: Connor of Daventry from King’s Quest 8 Mask of Eternity - I’m like, one of four fans of this character in the world, lol.  KQ8 is not a very well liked game and it does have a lot of issues, both with age and with how much of a departure it is from the series prior to it.  It’s strange to take a puzzle adventure game and make it a hybrid with what basically is a shooter, and it doesn’t really work.  Add to that the fact that you spend most of your time in the game without anyone around to talk to and it leads to this really polarizing and weird experience.  For me, Conner goes through what I would consider to be the ‘Ultimate Nightmare Scenario”.  Everyone in the world is turned to stone except him (and he survived out of mere chance) and so now it’s up to him, practically alone, to save the entire world.  There is no game lonelier than this.  I adore him for his bravery in the face of it, and how he just picks up to do what must be done because someone should do it, and if no one else can, then he will.  I also really love how he apologizes to people who are encased in stone while he takes money from their houses to help him on his journey.  I really do think he went back after the game was over and gave everyone heaps of gold to pay them back with interest lol.

Favorite Village:  Oakvale from Fable - The first Fable is the only one I really like, and it was one of the games I played when I was little, so the hometown in the game always meant a lot to me.  I like how you grow up there and how your tragic backstory is there--and then how you get to return to the town years later after you’ve come into your own, and you can see it completely rebuilt.  I like to spend a lot of my time in this town, just wandering around it and playing the minigames.  Even though I have a house in every town, Oakvale is where my hero calls home.

Most Hated Character:  Merril from Dragon Age 2 - I don’t really want to lay into how I feel about Merril, but what I will say is that it was suggested to me that I totally ignore her when playing, and I did so.  I only met her for her quest, dropped her off in town, and literally never spoke to her or interacted for the rest of the game.  I had a much better experience for it, honestly.  She appeared after I made my choice in the end of the game, which felt weird since I hadn’t spoken to her in several ingame years, but other than that, the game was totally fine without her.  I sort of just wish you could kill characters in DA2 the way you can in DAO, then I’d just do that, tbh.  It doesn’t suit very many (or any) of the characters I rp in DA2 to keep her around or support her in any way.

First Game I Played: Mixed up Mother Goose Deluxe - I’m not actually sure if this is the FIRST game I’ve ever played or not, but it’s one of the first I played alone as a kid.  I really loved it--this is probably what created my love for point and click adventures, and the game was very silly and fun.

Favorite Company: Bioware - I’ve always been a sucker for Bioware games, ever since Knights of the Old Republic 1 was my favorite childhood game.  I love how they do stories and party members, and while I’m not a fan of all of their games, I really love what they’ve made and their style of storytelling and character driven plot.  Even though sometimes their stories get cliche, I think the suit video games well and most of my early gaming was within their games.

Hated Company: EA - Bioware truly only started to go to shit after the EA acquisition, so I fucking hate EA.   I know Bioware had issues before EA too, but I definitely don’t think EA has helped the situation whatsoever.

Depressing Game: The Beginner’s Guide - I relate to this game as a creator and a writer, and it affects me deeply because of the story it tells and the questions it raises.  It makes me reflect on how I think of myself as a creator, and it reminds me of friendships I used to have.

Creepy Game:  The Path - God, I love this game.  It’s just aimlessly wandering around and finding symbolic scenery and watching your current character comment on it.  Then, you go off to find your girl’s wolf, and each one is different and unique to her, and you watch it ‘kill’ her--and facing her wolf is the only way each girl can truly mature.  Whenever you get to grandmother’s house, the camera switches to first person, and your eyes keep closing, so you can only see while clicking to move.  It forces you to keep moving so that you can see, but since you are moving, you only get to see things somewhat vaguely.  It’s got a great atmosphere, and I love the symbolic storytelling.

Happy Game: Eastshade - This game is so sweet.  There’s some drama around to with many of the quests, but I like this as an rpg without combat, and I think this would be a really good kids game.  There’s a lot to see and explore, and the game was made to be really pretty so that you want to paint several aspects of it.  It’s really lovely to just wander around in this game and bike around the area, painting anything that suits your fancy.  As long as you don’t finish the main quest, you’re free to wander, and materials do respawn, so you essentially can infinitely paint once you get far enough.

Favorite Ending: Virtue’s Last Reward - I love the questions this game asks and where the ending goes.  It thematically ties together--the whole reason the game itself exists is to get the attention of a ‘higher being’--the player, essentially.  I love how it plays with that concept, and even though the final game in the series doesn’t entirely pick this idea up where this game left it, standalone this game is stunning in how it comes together.

[lady-daydream]

Fallout New Vegas Companions Reactions/Thoughts on Classical Music

As requested this ones for you @winged-light-collectors-posts , I'm sorry it took so long, I hope this is okay, the reacts aren't as long as I would have liked however I found that got stumped by a few of the characters. If I missed anyone please let me know. And also you seem like a lovely person and your love of classical music was really refreshing :)

Once again I apologise for spelling error, I am horrible at spell checking. If anyone has any imaginations or reactions from fallout 3-4 or new Vegas just comment or send a request. Hope you all enjoy and have an amazing day -Love you all <3

Btw if anyone cares I listened to Tchaikovsky 1812 overture with cannons, Clair De lune Ethereal remix, and chop in Ballade No.4 in F minor ethereal remix while writing 

Arcade: It wasn't the first time he had heard Classical music, due to some of the enclave radios having classical music paired to their broadcasts. Surprisingly, despite the memory of the music being attached to his past he enjoys it. Even commenting to you once or twice when he would recall his mum listening to certain songs when she was alive. He also preferred the soothing factor to classical which he found made it easier to focus compared to some of the limited other choices available. So whenever you both are resting or are setting up camp the both of you may be found relax doing your respected activities such as repairing weapons and reading while Tchaikovsky or Rachmaninov plays in the background.

Boone: He didn't have a strong opinion on what music the courier listened to while traveling with him. While serving he learnt that music of all different genres helped soldiers relax, or reminded them of happier times or just of home. Though he did wander from time to time what the genre of music said about a person.However he normally didn't think too hard about it or just didn't want to go down that rabbit hole of a thought process. Through travelling with you over time he slowly learnt to warm up to some songs, with calmer songs such as those by Chopin being his favourites though he would never tell you. And on rare occasions when you both are travelling and he can see the night sky, the classical music helps him relax enough to close his eyes even for a moment without his own ghosts haunting him.

Cassidy: Similar to Boone, she was indifferent to classical music. Though every so often while travelling with you she may comment  that it reminded her of a few mornings she had woken up in bars across the wasteland, with a hangover stronger than an radscorpions sting. She did find it annoying whenever the courier seemed to stop and become engrossed in the music, moaning how they were burning daylight. However when the both of you are drunk, the both of you may try and make lyrics to classical tunes, curses and dirty lyrics included until the both of you are rolling on the floor laughing on the ground like idiots or somehow turn certain sounds in the songs into drinking games.

Ed-e: The both of you enjoy classical music, the robot bopping along with the courier whistling along side. It always made you smile when you would hear happy beeping noises whenever a certain song would comes on the radio. After travelling for a while, Ed-e starts to play certain tunes himself, some of which he must have recorded while Whitley was in the room, as sometimes a person humming or a small mutter or comment can be heard. You knew how important Whitley was, almost like a father to Ed-e as after a while the mans comments blend into the music itself . However you wandered if Ed-e recorded the two of you listening to music similar to Whitley as sometimes while stopping to set up camp for the night Ed-e seems oddly quiet while the two off you listen to your pip-boy. However even if he was recording you didn't mind, you were more happy that Ed-e saw you as important enough to him to want to remember your times together.

Follows-Chalk: Neither of you had really listened to classical before meeting, and Follows-Chalk hadn't heard it at all. However while searching for a certain radio station while travelling with him you stumbled across the classical music station. Follows-chalk instantly loves it. Whistling some of the tunes he had heard while you travel together. Sometimes commenting on the differences between the music he had heard from the travelling singer when he was younger as well as some of the songs his tribe would sing. He would sometimes even teach you some in return for playing some classical music. He always has questions about the artists and their meanings, which you would often reply that it was up to him and how the music made him feel. And so sometimes when the both of you are travelling you may share what the music makes you both feel and think of, helping you both understand each other better.

Joshua: Listening to it was a kick from the past, as memories of listening to it while he was living in New Canaan with his family long before Caesar come flooding back the first time he heard or listening to it. He tried to enjoy the music as much as possible,trying to hold on to the more positive memories of his family- of his father and mother listening to it while doing other activities, memories childhood friends and the misadventures of kids all while having classical music in the background as they all got up to mischief. These memories did leave a smile that hurt as it pulled at burnt calloused skin. However through listening he was also reminded of the absences.The new Cannans destruction, of his family's and friend death. How his love of the music had dissolved as he got closer to Caesar and further away from his childhood and home. You notice he gets slightly quieter when you play the music and If you ask him if he is okay he will comment on these memories, not going into too much detail unless questioned further, respecting your one associations of the music don't need to be shared with his. After travelling a while, slowly he would try and dissociate the music with his memories replacing them with more positive moments while travelling you or just letting the sound of the music flow through him. On very rare occasion he might even ask you if he may offer to dance, commenting that he learnt from a few dances and events the town had in his youth. Mostly however, he is just glad he was able to listen to the music with you, using the calming music to just focus on the two of you and the peace the music brought him.

The King: On first listening he didn't like it. He didn't mind you listening to it if he saw it made you happy; however, he would always recommend songs from ‘the king” on holotapes he had. Both of you at first choose to respect each other's opinions. After a while though both of you made a deal. For every song he listened to of your preferred genre of music, you would listen to one he wanted you to listen to. So it became a routine. Whenever he knew you had a long journey he would slip you holotapes with songs such as ‘suspicious minds’ and ‘stuck on you’ and in return when alone The king would listen to the radio station you recommended. After a while you both soften up to each others music and as the both of you got closer you both associate certain lyrics and songs to each other, with the songs ‘Can't Help Falling In Love’ and ‘Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.2′ holding a special place in both of your hearts. When things get more serious, he might even sing small medley of songs from either genres that you stated you like more, and would even nickname you his ‘symphony’ or his “song bird” if you try to sing any of the songs he likes. 

Raul: When you listened to classical music with him for the first time he laughed, sarcastically commenting on “isn't this music a little too old for you, boss?” or “Mi abuela would have loved you”. Plus if you enjoyed the music he didn't really mind. If the radio station had different regional classical music, Raul would happily translate any lyrics if need be if he recognised it, commenting of different memories of his family if the both of you were comfortable enough sharing.Unlike other companions he was able to educate you on some of the instruments used and just the basic knowledge he would have known before the bombs fell. Once or twice though if you are both relaxed (and if you have had a few to drink) you might ask him to dance to some of the more energetic classical songs. And though he will resort to comments about his knees can't handle dancing, and how “you are a few 100 years too late to be asking him to dance”. He still will dance anyway laughing at the joy you brought with you - as well as both of your dancing ability.

Veronica: ’”Didn't think classical music was your thing, but hey to each their own I guess- was told it helps focus, but idk.If I had someone playing a violin next to me I'm pretty sure I would have a difficult time focusing”. She had listened to music before meeting you, however much preferred learning pre-war information from long forgotten technology more than listening to it. As such whenever you are both listening she would randomly tell you small random facts about composers such as “.hey, did you know Edvard Grieg had a good-luck figurine. It was a little frog that he would pat before a concert- found that out on an old library achieve. wonder why he thought the frog was so lucky. - hey maybe I'm your lucky charm y/n”. However she wonders why classical music was associated with intelligence at the time since, anyone can listen to the music, so what made it so intellectual, or was it just that the skill it takes to play an instrument made it associated with knowledge.

Ulysses:He collects all pre-war music he can. He enjoys listening to just his surrounding and the silence that would sometimes bring. He also enjoys focusing on music and was surprised by how many classical music recordings he found while travelling. He enjoyed what each song means by its self but also how the music and the meaning behind it still remained even years after their creators and original audiences had died. He did sometimes wonder what message the listeners were supposed to take away however he knows that answer is one of many lost by time. At first he is rather hesitant about even bringing up the subject, due to you're association of destroying the traces of the old world, However through gaining his trust he slowly opens up about it and will let you sit and listen with him.He will sometimes ask you what you think the meaning is or what you think of the song and sometimes comment that he wonder if the creators would imagine someone like him listening to their music, a lone man sitting one the edge of a cliff, watching over the past while protecting the present from the threats of tunnelers and marked men or the significance their music would have on a person. When you join him, you normal listen in silence broken by occasional discussion. Allowing you both you be in your own thought. However even if it is just your presence next to him or you holding his hand or sometimes falling asleep resting against him, he is glad he isn't completely alone and that you understand, even if it is just a little bit, the importance the music is to him.

[fallout-fallen-knight]

Things Fallout 76 got right, actually

- The flexibility of the Reclaimer. Eugenics experiment aside, the fact that Fallout 76 made the Reclaimer a blank slate is really good in terms of roleplaying. You can choose to be either a pre-war person or someone born inside the vault (afaik there’s nothing saying babies weren’t born in the vaults), and their age can be anywhere from 0-25 or 45+ (assuming they youngest people they let into the vault were in their early 20s). The lack of a voiced protagonist and the expanded dialogue system (compared to 4, at least) is a breath of fresh air compared to Nate and Nora.

- The setting itself. We’ve never seen an area that wasn’t hit by the bombs and how they reacted, and so the process of different factions setting up and exerting control is really cool imo. Also WV is beautiful. 

- Weapon/armor degradation. It was a mechanic that I didn’t mind from 3 and NV, and it’s been reworked in a way that makes more sense than just taping two guns together to get a better gun. I only wish that 1) they degraded more slowly 2) there were mods you could add to weapons/armor to make them degrade more slowly and 3) adhesive wasn’t so damn hard to find early game. 

- Wooden walls that don’t look like they’re about to fall apart. Really, there’s no reason that every settlement in the Commonwealth should look like a shantytown held together by hope. You’d think that in 200 years someone would have developed nails. 

- Plans. It doesn’t make sense that the sole survivor can build an entire house with working plumbing and lighting and no construction knowledge. The Reclaimers, on the other hand, can build basic stuff because they’ve been training for this stuff for 25 years; any advanced or cosmetic stuff, though, they need to figure out on their own. My changes would be 1) less RNG-based plans and 2) more specific plans related to specific quests. 

- The ability to combine armor with outfits, so you can look fly while still being protected. Again: 1) I wish that it was attached to the outside of the outfit with certain outfits so you can see it and 2) I wish outfits still gave any kind of buffs/bonuses instead of being completely visual. 

- The Responders. They’re interesting as a faction because they don’t want to be a “faction” in the “conquer territory and incorporate towns” sense, they just want to help people. They’re very similar to the Followers of the Apocalypse in that sense. They shouldn’t have cops, though. 

- Mothman. I don’t care much for the cult itself, especially now that Wastelanders made them into faceless generic cannon fodder, but Mothman himself is cool. I can’t really speak for the rest of the cryptids, except the w*ndigo, which shouldn’t be in the game. 

- The Order of Mysteries. It’s such a cool, post-apoc take on the Bat Family and my only real criticism is that I wish they were still around and kicking. 

Feel free to add more!

[whoareyouandwhyshouldicare]

To all my fellow LoVe shippers who are feeling down I have one thing to say.

I can’t make the last 8 minute of season 4 disappear but I can recommend some really great LoVe fanfiction that will make you feel at least a little bit better. So without further ado here are a few of my favorite LoVe fics!

A Hard Habit to Break  by  mskatej   Nothing gets Veronica over her failed relationships better than Logan Echolls.    

...And Long For You  by  AbsolutelyIris It was moments like those Veronica wished she could be like Lilly- storm into his house and curse and yell and damn him to hell before demanding he fuck her...and like with Lilly, he would gladly, if reluctantly, do so.      

 “Any Love Is Good Love, Baby”  by wily_one24   Apparently, Hollywood was wrong, the devil did not wear Prada, the devil wore butch black boots and tiny little skirts.                                

The Best (and Only) Kept Secret in Neptune  by  vixleonard Even when they hated each other, Logan and Veronica just couldn't stay away from each other.                     

The Burdened Vessel  by  vixleonard   Veronica needs a favor only Logan can help her with.              

Every Belt That Ever Hit Someone (Is Still Made to Hold Something Up)  by igrockspock   Logan doesn't get any votes for Most Changed at the ten-year reunion, which is bullshit when you think about it.  In the past ten  years, everything in his life has changed.  He's joined the Navy, dated a pop star, and figured out that Dick Casablancas can occasionally behave like a real human being.  Only one thing hasn't changed: he's still in love with Veronica Mars.  Oh, and he's suspected of murdering his girlfriend.

"Fear and Loathing in Neptune"   by wily_one24 Veronica Mars was going to get herself laid. Series  Part 1 of Any Love  

A Fine and Endless Cycle  by kartography A freshman year at Hearst and the cyclical nature of love                                         

Fireworks by AliLamba Veronica is technically not a virgin, and awkward results ensue. An AU version of LoVe's first time.                

For the Sake of a Friend by jacedesbff   What if Logan and Veronica were involved in a secret relationship throughout the events of Season 1?     

The Game of Trust  by Kantayra of Yore (Kantayra)   This time Veronica really did trust him, and she knew how to prove it...    

Getcha, Getcha, Getcha, Getcha  by  Kantayra of Yore (Kantayra) Veronica and Logan prank each other. Really, it's shameless the way they flirt...  

Give Me The Ocean  by scandalpants   Post Season 3 AU.  Veronica decides what she really wants.  Spoiler: it's not Piz.                                              

Home Is Where The Heart Is by: lv63   AU preseries and forward, begins in season 1. this story is all about veronica and her friends. angst, mystery, humor and romance, LoVe and MaDi. summary in prologue. 

I Hate You Because by: SilverLining2k6   Mid 1X3 - Meet John Smith.    Logan, Veronica, a pool, snark, and a made up drinking game.

i knew you were trouble when you walked in  by youcallitwinter   And, it's just—  Logan had always been her intense high-school romance, sure. But she had, somewhere along the way, in some secret corner of her mind, convinced herself that was all he was; a high-school romance. Explosive, powerful, passionate, and bound to burn itself out eventually

(Im)Perfection  by  AbsolutelyIris The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.                

In a World by: my shangri-la   A/U! Exploring the 'what ifs' that could have happened if Lilly Kane hadn't been murdered, and her secrets – and others – had come out anyway. Pairings: Lilly/Logan, past Duncan/Veronica, eventual Logan/Veronica. (Story begins with Lilly as a senior, the rest are juniors.)

In the kind of world where we belong  by  Anonymous  There was always something missing.  A Lilly Kane sized hole in both their hearts.  Instead of going to see Aaron Echolls on October 3rd Lilly decides to comfort a friend and their lives change forever.A very smutty OT3 take on what might have happened if Lilly had lived.

Kid Things  by sowell   5 years after graduation, Logan comes back to Neptune to ask Veronica for help.                      

King of Mars  by: HGRising   AU. In which everyone has a story to tell but not everyone gets the chance. And, things make more sense from a different perspective. Ever wonder why Veronica Mars was Lilly Kane's best friend? There's redemption for some and condemnation for others when the secrets come out. And everyone's got a good one.

Landmine  by  AbsolutelyIris It needed to be forgotten, and quick.             

The Long Way Home  by  AbsolutelyIris   "We should take the long way home." 

Matching Pink Bikinis  by  Anonymous Veronica and Lilly wear matching pink bikinis to Logan's for a pool day.  This is pure threesome smut, folks.                

Pink Lemonade (Logan/Veronica/Lilly)  On a trip to Honolulu, Lilly manages to bring Veronica out of her pink, frosty shell. Spoilers/Warnings: This is a threesome fic and therefore includes some femslash.        

Playing Hide and Seek With the Truth by: jenwin23   Continuation of the Truth series. The kids go back to school. Old issues remain while more secrets will be revealed, relationships will change and lives will crumble.

The Real Thing by: Josielynn   AU. Logan and Lilly are off again/on again. Duncan is dating Meg. Veronica was never friends with Lilly. Logan sees Veronica in her soccer uniform and wants to date her.

Scotch on the Rocks (A FanFic Tribute)  by kmd0107   A long time ago...there was an incredibly hot LoVeLy trilogy fic (Pink Lemonade & Sex on the Beach) started over on Live Journal that never got its third part.  This is a tribute to what that might have been.   Logan POV of the evolving sexual and emotional relationship between himself, Veronica, and Lilly.              

Scourging Fire, Blazing Soul  by Nerdyesque   What if Veronica didn't grow up with the 09ers, but came into their lives prior to Lilly's death? How would her presence affect Duncan, Lilly, Logan, the Kanes, and the Echolls? Also, who is Veronica without Keith Mars' loving protection?      

Sex on the Beach (Logan/Veronica/Lilly) NC-17 Lilly's chapter in my Drinks Series. Nobody wants to talk about what happened in Hawaii, and it's driving Lilly crazy. How could she possibly make what happened less awkward? By making it happen again, of course!        

Some Truths Hurt by: jenwin23 Jumping off point: V gets Duncan's journal in Echolls' Family Xmas. AU from there but many canon events happen too. All characters in the VM-verse make an appearance, but it is a LoVe story. In script format-but give it a try, it's well written.

The Third Kane by: Mac-alicious   Lilly, Duncan and Veronica Kane rule the social scene in Neptune. The three are loyal and inseparable. They once believed there was nothing that could come between them. They didn't count on Logan Echolls.

Time, Make It Go Faster Or Just Rewind  by  kmd0107  Logan being ‘the real-Logan’ is so familiar that she almost can’t help but give in to it, even if it’s just a one night pass.   She’ll embrace this moment out of time and the walls and armor can go back up tomorrow.AU from 1x4 Wrath of Con              

Truths Too Big to be Told  by: jenwin23 Sequel to Some Truths Hurt. It's summer time and more than the weather is hot. Neptune is embroiled in class warfare, Veronica is looking into the mystery of another dead girl, the fallout from Lilly's case continues, and more secrets will be revealed.

I’m also throwing in some of my favorite MaDi (Mac and Dick) fics because Dick needs a hug too.

The ABCs of Mac and Dick by: jenwin23   The ABC challenge with Mac and Dick. Created for Madi lover at VM Santa 2010 at livejournal. Cross-posted. In letter order, not in chronological order.

Bodycount by: BIFF1   Cassidy and Mac meet a little earlier and a little blood-lust gives him an entirely different problem when it comes to forming a real relationship with Mac. AU with MAJOR season two SPOILERS! Mac/Cass, Mac/Dick, Mac/Cass/Dick

Casablancas Kryptonite By: BIFF1   "You just don't get it. She's like kryptonite or something." Dick looked at his brother and thought about those blue eyes that cut and the way her mouth twisted around insults. Yeah maybe she was kyptonite. Casablancas kyptonite because isn't he just as weak.

Casual? By: BIFF1   It's just sex. Casual sex. no attachments, just good hot sex. But that was the summer and now school is about to start up again and Veronica's back from Virginia and can tell that something is up. They can stop, no problem...

The Charm Bracelet by: DalWriter   Future Fic. Who Knew Prince Charming Would be Dick Casablancas? Mac reminisces as she looks at a charm bracelet Dick gave her.

Commitment Buffers by: BIFF1   Dick and Mac live with Logan and Veronica in their attempt to have some sort of commitment buffer between them. Only problem with the arrangement is that Mac and Dick tolerate each other at best which is a big improvement as far as their concerned. However living in such close quarters may prove difficult when it becomes obvious that they may actually sort of like each other.

Dark Day by: BIFF1   It's Cassidy Casablancas' birthday and the two people closest to him are falling apart. She just wants to hide away from the world for the rest of the week, just drink and cry and be with someone who gets it and no one gets it more than Dick. Not as angsty as it sounds, promise. Now complete with happy ending!

Electrify by: BIFF1   A guilt trip from Logan has landed Dick in a crowded tent with Mac. With a lightening storm raging outside he can't sleep and it appears neither can she.

Rendezvous by: BIFF1   A collection of one-shots. In which Dick and Mac are forced together by fate or friends and hook up. Because I apparently really like writing them hooking up.

Secret Santa By: BIFF1   Saw this homemade sweater from hell prompt from VMficRec. It's a November challenge but I couldn't help myself. Just some fun when Mac pulls Dick's name for Secret Santa. She figures a six pack and porn until he makes a big deal about not wanting anything handmade. She can't really help herself, she spends the month knitting Dick a sweater.

[kattaloop]

Lexa IS More Than A Symbol

I came to Tumblr for the Clexa GIFs and stayed for the very occasional long-form contribution. So I don’t know what’s being talked about and how, but a few friends asked me to comment on this. A week ago, @rivertalesien offered a lengthy reply to an anonymous question:

“Why is Lexa the one that people want to fight for but seems to be the only one kept dead? Not that ODAAT and WE had dead lesbians but they were cancelled and fan efforts brought them back like why is Lexa the only one who can't? She has to be more than a symbol though?“

I have my own thoughts on this issue, some of which I can’t publicly elaborate on. Let me just say that you’re right, Lexa absolutely is more than a symbol and should be treated as such. But what did River have to say about it all?

“First of all, the situations with ODAAT and WE are completely different: those involve complex negotiations with advertisers in order to cover the costs and where the show will be hosted. I know it’s fun to believe that fan campaigns had anything to do with it, but it is always, ultimately down to negotiations with advertisers and studios. It makes the producers and all look good to praise their audience for the “hard work” trying to save the series, but they all know better.“

It’s right to say that money is a driving force in any decisions the networks make. But you can’t isolate a show from the broader programing strategy, and, as far as I know, advertising deals are  bundled. As with any business, money isn’t the only deciding factor, either. Power and prestige have important roles in this game of film and television, and personal preference absolutely exists. As for fan campaigns, they add a voice, one that may have, and has, in the past, convinced executives to revisit the  issue in the first place. Would they have done the same thing without that little nudge from viewers? Maybe, but probably not.

“And Lexa is “kept dead” because, and this is only inference, but I think it’s a strong one: Jason Rothenberg lost a huge business/development deal as a result of the Lexa/Clexa fan drama.“

You did your research, I’ll give you that. But I’m unsure how well you understand the reality of this business. Considering that failed pilots are more common than green-lit ones. Considering that any pilot is a collaborative process with too many components in play than for an outsider to pinpoint exactly one reason as to why it failed. Considering that this industry, for all its rigid hierarchy and rules books, can also be one of the most unpredictable - one person leaves and the whole house of cards can crumble. Considering that you refuse to entertain the pros that would accompany Lexa’s return, pros that someone with Jason’s disposition might be equally interested in as in the more petty revenge fantasies.

“Jason Rothenberg spent the days, weeks and months after Lexa’s death cutting himself off from those fans who were hurt by his actions and no doubt working behind the scenes to make sure he didn’t lose his job over his unethical, unprofessional behavior. His supporters in the cast were openly derisive of Clexa fans who spoke out and a tone of trying to ignore or undermine the fan fallout was the given order. Showing real empathy and offering to work with the audience in order to heal the divide might have gone a long way for improving his image and the show’s. Rothenberg decided to hide instead.“

Yes to everything but the last sentence. You’re assuming - sorry, inferring. I happen to know that it was not his decision. Once again, isolating one aspect from its context and environment usually leads to wrong or, at least, incomplete conclusions.

“One very clear consequence of his queerbaiting is that Greg Berlanti, the very successful (and openly gay) producer of many DC shows including Supergirl, stepped out of a development deal for a new series tentatively titled The Searchers. The project was likely mostly Rothenberg’s, but without Berlanti’s backing, it was dropped. Story was that it was too “expensive” to produce, yet Berlanti went on to get a huge deal with the CW, producing Riverdale as well as the upcoming Batwoman. Would Berlanti want to be associated with Rothenberg after the Lexa debacle? Probably not and that’s probably closer to the real reason the deal went south.“

Except the queerbaiting isn’t even fully acknowledged, still. That’s a lot to base on “likely” and "probably.” Berlanti was already getting these deals. He also had his own issues to deal with. If the production was deemed too expensive, it doesn’t mean that there’s a conspiracy beyond the normal industry processes.

“Outside of The 100, he has no produced credits to his name and how he got the job of showrunner when he had no previous experience in any capacity in a writer’s room or on a production staff is certainly baffling. He very quickly proved he didn’t have the professionalism for the job and anyone else would have been dismissed.“

But he wasn’t dismissed, and that should tell you enough to not be baffled by the fact that they hired him, even without knowing the industry from within.

“The 100 went from 16 episodes to 13 because the order for renewal had already been given and the WB/CW put out feelers in the form of polls asking the audience directly: will Lexa’s death affect if you watch the show? Who does that unless they are seeking to reassure the advertisers that Lexa’s death wouldn’t be a big issue for long and spoil their investment?”

In conjunction with a noticeable drop in ratings and other measurable factors, this is probably a reasonable conclusion. They were hoping for a surge and were slammed, instead. There were a lot of whispers, but nothing I’d consider to be confirmed. What does this have to do with why they wouldn’t bring Lexa back? If anything, it suggests they know of her value.

“Fans are capable of all sorts of interpretations of a text (oh boy are we), but one thing that I think is generally considered across the board is that with season 4, the tone toward Lexa was more than a little OTT and a tad spiteful.”

I’m glad you acknowledge that much of this is based on interpretation. In summary, the praise Lexa received in S4 felt unauthentic, the Flame and Lexa were used as an emotional device, and Clarke’s actions were problematic. How’s that any different than post-307, when nobody seemed too bothered about losing their beloved Heda, when the Flame and Lexa were used as an emotional device, and when Clarke had sex as a coping mechanism and even questioned Lexa’s humanity? The latter were all written before the backlash. It mostly speaks to the show’s persistent issues with continuity, character development, and representation.

“This is just my interpretation, but with fans crying out for her return, pleading for a spin-off and so on, and generally being the most out-spoken fandom for LGBTQ rights and better representation in media (and a never-ending drag of Rothenberg’s name), is it likely that a production that never did anything to try and make amends ever going to give in to such pleas?”

As likely as any other production, to be honest. Allow me to go back to your earlier assessment. “They don’t care about fans’ pleas.” Would they bring Lexa back for the fans? Doubtful. “They care about their own benefit.” Would they bring Lexa back if it benefited them? Now we’re talking.

But they can’t just do it any odd way. As you also said previously, they know better. They may ignore us, but they watch us. They would’ve assessed the different scenarios. From a business point of view, they’d want to avoid another backlash. Then you have a diva showrunner to consider, and a guest star who is in work and, hopefully, wouldn’t return for a guest stint if it didn’t benefit her and Lexa. It’s a tricky balance, made even more difficult by a fandom that likes to tear itself apart over conflicting opinions every 3 months or so.

Considering all of those circumstances, I can’t think of a reasonable way to bring Lexa back other than at the very end. Which would benefit the production, but more importantly, a large number of fans, the tiny matter of representation, and ADC - if done right, which I give her enough credit to make sure before agreeing to anything. I’m not saying that it will happen or that it won’t happen. I’m saying that there’s a strong case for it happen, to balance out your rather one-dimensional approach.

“There is a cruelty to this because almost any other kind of story of this kind would involve a moment of catharsis, but that moment is constantly suspended, always dangled, but never in touch.”

Personally, I’d agree with that, but I can also think of writers who’d be into it. We’ve already established that Jason and his immediate team are lacking awareness and empathy. It makes little sense, therefore, to expect them to act differently, especially if they’re leading up to another shock twist. My guess is as good as yours on whether that’s something good or bad.

“They know what fans want and it’s arguable too that Rothenberg has twisted what the fans want for his own benefit: a spin-off of The 100, but one entirely about something decidedly unrelated to Lexa. Showing online fan interest might be one way of telling advertisers: see, there’s a demand for his work.”

No offense, but this makes no sense and it’s probably the most contradicting and subjective thing you’ve said thus far. If they know what fans want, then there’s nothing to twist. It’s actually part of the reason why the Lexa spinoff campaign started while the show’s still on air: to get the word out, to make sure they know exactly what and who we want, and what and who we don’t want. Jason started talking about a spinoff before 307, so there’s literally no ground for this argument, which also has no bearing on the question. So why bring it up?

“Unless advertisers demand it, is it likely that this unprofessional queerbaiting producer would do anything except the most spiteful of nods? That’s all he’s done at this point and the story this season looks more and more like they are going to finally close the book on any Lexa mentions ever again.”

Unless advertisers become involved in the creative process, this argument is also invalid. Thankfully, there are regulations in place to avoid that. And unless you know what motivates a person, you can’t speak to what they will or won’t do. Even if you did, you can’t be certain. Once again, this is a collaborative process even under the worst of circumstances. Things could go either way.

“Fight for Lexa, there is nothing wrong with her being a “symbol” of a fight for better representation.”

It feels wrong when you reduce her to a symbol, when you put her in the past, when you tell others to seek out other representation, when you dismiss her implied humanity. Our emotions in relation to Lexa are real, and that makes her real in all the ways that matter. What happened to “she’s more than just a character?” Well, she’s also more than a movement. Let’s not use their excuses when they kill of one LGBT character and put another on their place against ourselves.

“Keep using her light, but never forget where it really comes from, something Rothenberg will never understand: it comes from you.”

Now see, this is a great statement. I, too, believe that Lexa is a part of us. Her light guided me out of the complete darkness I had lost myself in, and it became part of my own light. I’ve never come across a character like that, or person, for that matter. A sentiment that still reverberates through the fandom and beyond. I believe that her light can help so many more people whom she wasn’t able to reach in the short time she was given. And so, part of my fight for better representation, better storytelling, will always be to let Lexa’s light shine again. She deserves to live. She deserves to have her story told!

[proteusspade]

On the debacle with Fallout 76

 I feel like the debacle with Fallout 76 has become a testing grounds for a lot of the dominating theories and myths about video games and video game consumers in general, as well as more specifically about Bethesda studios and Bethesda gamers. I apologize for the LONG post ahead, but there’s a lot to unpack here and I want to make sure everyone’s on the same page before I try and make any big points. For those not in the know, I will attempt to summarize: - Bethesda released Fallout 76, a multiplayer installment in the Fallout franchise, with a set release date of November 14, 2018.  - The game was announced with the marketing that it would be playable and enjoyable as singleplayer, that every person you ran into would be a real person, that it was a new Fallout experience, that its graphics would improve upon Fallout 4′s graphics by 16 times, and notably, one collector’s edition which cost $200 was marketed as coming with a wearable helmet and a canvas bag.

The beta was shaky and riddled with bugs, and upon release, the game itself was still pretty much broken -- far moreso than other Bethesda titles, and this coming from a company where the running joke since Oblivion has been that the bugs are so prevalent that they are a feature, not a flaw. An enormous patch was released shortly after launch, which was larger in size than the game itself, and which not only didn’t fix almost any of the bugs, but created hundreds *more* bugs, as if they didn’t playtest the patch at all.  For players like me who can go a surprisingly long time in a Bethesda game without seeing any bugs at all, I will note that these bugs include: - T-posing enemies which either spontaneously assume their correct animations only when you get close, or never do, or which teleport suddenly into you to try and display their attack animations - Horrendous enemy A.I. where a lot of them will just stand in one place looping an animation - Enemies spawning out of thin air directly in front of you due to slow loading - A bug where enemies spontaneously heal the exact amount of damage you deal to them, making them invincible - Falling through the ground out of nowhere - Clipping through and getting caught in the world - Frequent server crashes, often due to in-game happenings (the game eventually gives you access to nuclear bombs, but the same bombs can crash the server if you drop them) - Frequent disconnects - Frequent game crashes (with no ‘save game’ function) - Body horror bugs like the Wendigo Bug which have been present since Fallout 4 and haven’t been fixed by Bethesda yet, even though modders were able to fix them weeks after Fallout 4 came out. Three years ago.  Moreover, the game directly ported over most of its visual assets from Fallout 4. Most of the landscape elements come from Fallout 4, almost all of the weapons come from Fallout 4, almost all of the outfits and armors come from Fallout 4, most of the monsters come from Fallout 4, the physics and gunplay is directly ported over (minus the ability to pause the game to open your inventory, of course, and minus the time-slowing aspect of V.A.T.S, which makes V.A.T.S almost completely useless), the character creation is ported over, the loot is ported over, the base-building system and all of its assets (walls, floors, anything you’d use to build a base) are ported over. Basically, other than trees and certain monsters unique to West Virginia, you’ll have a hard time spotting content which isn’t directly ported over from Fallout 4, often without palette swaps. Is the promise of better graphics fulfilled?  Well, the lighting is significantly improved, and even very pretty and atmospheric -- though occasionally light will shine through solid far-away objects, like mountains. Modders had done this almost immediately with Fallout 4, too, though, so it’s not really a huge achievement. And the landscape is much more colourful than in any other Fallout game, which is admittedly a nice change of pace, even though it makes no goddamn sense why the trees would survive while everything else dies around them. But other than those two elements... yeah, it just looks like Fallout 4, but usually doesn’t render as well due to being on a multiplayer server and due to the graphical glitches. How about the promise that every person you run into is a real person? Well, that was true all right, but how anyone thought that was a good idea is beyond me. It’s one of those things that sounds really cool and innovative until you think about it for literally any length of time at all. Why would that be a good thing? Unless you have quite a lot of friends who you’ve somehow got onto the same server (which, by the way, I don’t think has much functionality in Fallout 76), you’re not going to be very interested in those people, and you have no reason to be. They’re just big lumps of immersion-breaking, as I seriously doubt many people are going onto the game to vocally roleplay their way through the game experience.  Moreover, this means no NPCs besides monsters and robots. No quests from anyone but robots and holotapes. Now, I like holotapes. I’m one of those unbearable players who listens to every holotape and reads every computer terminal. My favourite part of Fallout games is usually finding out the big stories behind Vaults or unusual locations. But when you are doing this quest for someone you will never meet, and have complete certainty of this fact, the reason to do quests in the first place starts to ebb away. You just get holotapes or robots telling you to go to a place, kill something there, rinse, repeat. That’s the entire game. Nothing is achieved; everyone who recorded those holotapes is dead, or a monster now. You’re not doing anyone any favours. There’s no one to help, there’s no one to hate, there’s just you (and whatever people you’re playing with, who, again, aren’t really part of the story as multiplayer gamers don’t typically roleplay). The main quest of the game revolves around trying to find the previous Overseer of the vault. There’s zero suspense, interest or urgency, because as a player, you know with complete certainty going in that if you find her, she’ll be dead or a monster. When you remove the NPCs, you remove all our reasons to care about quests. You also remove all interactions in the game besides “kill thing, loot thing, make stuff with loot”. And killing monsters with such laughable AI and glitches, AI designed for Fallout 4 where V.A.T.S could pause the game and dropped into a game where it doesn’t, isn’t nearly enjoyable enough to make that game loop anything but ghastly. How ANYONE thought this was a good idea is beyond me, and I’m pretty sure at this point that they didn’t do it because they thought it was a good idea, they did it because having NPCs function like they would in a singleplayer game, while in a multiplayer server, is an incredibly daunting task. When literally no one asked for the game to be multiplayer in the first place, but hey. Is the game fun to play alone? Not from literally anyone I know who has, no, and this is due to the above factors. Is the game, as the marketing said, more fun to play with your friends? Well, yes, but the same could be said of cleaning out a moldy garage alone versus with friends. Being with friends makes anything more enjoyable. The game does not cease to have all its serious underlying problems when you play with friends, you just have someone to commiserate with and witness this bullshit with you. Is this a new Fallout experience? Not really. It’s Fallout 4 with a prettier landscape, story constrained to holotapes and therefore constrained to the past (and not the present the player is actually playing in!), and it’s arguably not even a Fallout experience at all. It wears a Fallout skin but the core roleplaying, choice, and narrative features of the game are gone, and all that’s left is a world that’s much bigger, but where all the new space is pretty much empty anyhow.  Oh, and the canvas bags for the collector’s edition were cheap vinyl when people got them, Bethesda just went “yeah canvas was too expensive lol, u can have five dollars’ worth of the game’s microtransaction money for free tho if you want, just file a complaint”. The amount of the microtransaction digital money wouldn’t even buy a virtual canvas bag, mind. Then someone threatened a lawsuit, and it looks like people are going to get their actual canvas bags. But they still need to file a complaint, and WHOOPS! They accidentally doxxed everyone who filed a complaint, to some other people who filed a complaint! The absolute cherry on top. (Yes, it really was an accident, it’s even stupider than it sounds.) So what can we take away from all this? Well, I wouldn’t take away much hope for Fallout 76 as a game, for one. It’s a dumpster fire, and they keep pouring gasoline onto it. But the game has scored abysmally low basically everywhere. People have noticed, and they’re not pleased. The game’s price has dropped 30%, and that’s in the first couple weeks after launching, which is completely unheard of for a AAA game. Returns are going wild. Youtube is FULL of videos taking Fallout 76 to town. So clearly, gamers won’t lap up whatever you give them just because it’s a sequel to something they love. The sunk cost fallacy hasn’t run that deep, and people are suddenly extremely skeptical of whatever Bethesda releases next -- which at this rate, is going to be either The Elder Scrolls: Blades, or their new sci-fi game, followed by The Elder Scrolls VII (title as yet unannounced).  I would also suggest that studios may finally have been given a good indication that clumsily slapping multiplayer on something that had success as single-player isn’t the greatest idea. This is a lesson that probably should have been learned years ago, but better late than never.  I would also hope that game studios, Bethesda especially, develop a touch more respect for their fanbase and realize that player bases can be lost. Bethesda has relied upon their fanbase to mod away their bugs, laziness, and incomplete content hampered by release dates for many years now, but faced with a multiplayer game with no mod support, they are put in a position where they have to realize how heavily they’ve been leaning on those mods. But there’s another part of the story that isn’t being covered so much -- one which challenges the assumptions which has led Bethesda and the players to such a disaster in the first place. Red Dead Redemption 2 has been in the makings for a long time now, but was released something like a year late in comparison to its originally announced release date. The new Kingdom Hearts has been repeatedly delayed. I’d expect the fans would have reacted with nothing but outrage! But they ... haven’t, for the most part. There’s been some frustration and groaning, especially with people who have pre-ordered the games, but for the most part, the fans have been pretty understanding. It turns out they’d rather have a game come out finished than come out on time.  That seems simple, and even obvious, but for close to twenty years, it has been the prevailing logic that for a game to sell well, it has to come out at a pre-defined and specific date, and if it isn’t done, that’s just how the process of making games work, and we’ll fix it in bug patches, or wait for mods to fix it. This is such an assumed phenomenon that it shows up repeatedly in Extra Credits, a show which talks in great detail about the production of video games, and I’d be hard-pressed to name a game that I own or play which doesn’t have unfinished content, even if it’s fairly bug-free. But here we are, Red Dead 2 is out, and it’s a roaring success, despite considerable delays. The conventional wisdom is simply wrong. And it gets even better. This is the trailer for The Outer Worlds, a game made by Obsidian. I urge you to watch it. First of all, the game looks good. The graphics are good, the human characters are expressive and dynamic while still looking realistic. The backgrounds are great. The humour is great. The world-building, what we see of it, looks very promising. And oh my god, the shade they throw at Bethesda is gorgeous. Not only does Obsidian highlight themselves as the creators of Fallout and Fallout: New Vegas -- that is, the two most-loved Fallout games -- they play with the concept of a cryogenically frozen player character (possibly lampshading the use of the same concept in Fallout 4), and they point out that player choice isn’t just about a binary “who do you shoot” moment -- another moment from Fallout 4, and one of the few real choices you get to make in that game -- and implies that variety of choice, including non-combat choice, is going to be a Thing in this game. Look at the comments section for that video. You will see hundreds, nay, THOUSANDS of comments praising the trailer, talking about the shade it casts on Bethesda, making New Vegas meme jokes, praising the music, lauding the humour, wondering about the characters it shows us. You know what I didn’t see? Even one single, solitary comment complaining that there’s no definite release date shown anywhere in that trailer. Seriously, watch it again. It doesn’t say exactly when it’s coming out. Just 2019. No month. No date. Just sometime next year. You know... when it’s done. What you might not have known was that The Outer Worlds was originally estimated to come out this year. You didn’t know that because they didn’t release the trailer until just recently -- when they were far enough in production to produce such a great trailer, for one, but also once they were far enough to be certain they would be finished with production within a year.  No one cares when it’s coming. They care that it looks like a good game with so much original effort put into it. That’s what matters. And maybe if the game studios can realize this, we’ll finally see an end to the exploitative bullshit that happens -- exploitative of not just the gamers, but of the thousands of overworked employees it takes to make a AAA video game -- in the service of an absolute deadline above the game itself. God, now that’s a thought. So don’t be discouraged by the failure of Fallout 76. There’s way better on the horizon. The myths that studios need a firm deadline to put out a good game, the myths that players in some way demand a firm deadline, the myth that players will sit there and take any level of bullshit, they’re all being thoroughly, publicly debunked. Feels good, man. Feels good.

[fyrapartnersearch]

bloodsport

hello!

My name is Emmy! i'm going to make this fairly short (or at least try to haaA). I am looking for 1-2 new rp partners!

I am currently in uni full time and work 2 part time jobs so please understand this is a hobby for me. My posting speed ranges from once every few days to once every couple of weeks. I am almost always available ooc though, esp through google hangouts.

I am in my early twenties and prefer my partners to be 20+. I love detailed plots and stories; crafting good posts is a huge part of why I love rping. I match/mirror my partner's length and put a high amount of importance on compatibility as writers. Good grammar, punctuation, spelling is A Thing for me. I tend to switch capitalization OOC but as an English minor, when it comes down to posting, I put 110% in.

If you want a partner that's invested in writing together and all the joy that brings, I'm your person! 

what do I write?

I write a few fandoms, but not many. If I’ve got plots listed, they’re the ideas I have, but I’m totally open to yours as well. Stars denote how much I'm craving them. I'll also list the canon characters I write after I list the fandom!

Fallout: New Vegas & 4: Arcade Gannon & Elder Maxson, Paladin Danse - also got a ton of ocs for both ***plot for fallout 4 a: We explore the cut ending to the Brotherhood of Steel questline, wherein the Sole Survivor and Paladin Danse refuse Maxson’s final orders for Danse, and fight for Danse to become the leader of the Brotherhood of Steel. Would likely require you playing Maxson or Danse and me playing the other, with one of us playing the Sole Survivor.  ***plot for fallout 4 b: Your/my oc is a double agent for the Railroad, with the mission to infiltrate the Brotherhood of Steel and send intelligence back to the agents back at home base. Your/my oc becomes unexpectedly attached to elder Maxson through work and circumstance. Eventually, your/my oc must make a choice of where their allegiance lies: within the arms of Arthur or with the faction they are fighting for. (potentially, we could double and do plot a & b at the same time.) 

Mafia 2: Vito Scaletta  *plot for mafia 2: we explore the dynamics of a relationship between Vito and your oc. Your oc could be in a position of great risk- think outside of the mafia, possibly a police officer, prostitute. Some position where power dynamics could be played with. If the pairing is m/m we could also deal with the themes of internalized homophobia and coming to terms with one’s identity. 

Bioshock 1, 2 & Infinite: Brigid Tenbenbaum, Andrew Ryan, Frank Fontaine & Eleanor Lamb, Sofia Lamb & Booker Dewitt 

**Marvel Cinematic Universe: Tony Stark, Steve Rogers - get @ me with your Stony plots (do people still write that??)

***greater Marvel Universe: Logan Howlett, Carol Danvers, Jean Grey  ****random plot: We do a crossover and we ship Sharon Carter/Carol Danvers. I just. Uuugh I have a lot of feelings about them and I have hella muse for these babes. Lemme know if you’re down to give this a shot I will love you forever no word of a lie. 

But honestly where my heart lies is within oc rp. Here are a few plots i have of mine, stars denote how much i’m craving them:

****(m/m) power & politics: My oc is a prestigious state senator, who lives a double life. He is currently in the closet with no intent on leaving it anytime soon. However, a certain someone falls into his life, making him question what he thought he knew for certain. Your oc breaks down the walls my oc has put up and changes him into a softer, better man. However, with an upcoming presidential campaign on the horizon for my oc, the limits of the secret relationship will be pushed and pulled beyond what both parties have ‘signed up for.‘

****(m/m) the guardian: Your oc is a newcomer to the nhl but is quickly making waves- think Connor McDavid style. He’s young and impressive, but mostly, impressionable. He starts to get battered around by both his teammates and opposing teams. After a few hard hits and fowl play within the game that have cost your oc bench and recovery time, the team’s coach calls in reinforcements to boost the team’s morale and serve as a protector to your oc. My oc is a player who hasn’t got the talent part but has got a huge heart. Not to mention… huge hands. Good for makin’ fists. Good for fightin’.  My oc protects your oc during the games, coming to your oc’s aid, picking fights for your oc and protecting him on the ice. As such, the two players grow attached to one another.. perhaps too attached for the captain to be comfortable with. Possibilities for a love triangle and other complications, for sure

***(m/m) too good to be true: Our ocs start out in the whl, both as promising wingers. Their good chemistry is vital to bringing back their team’s success. However, one of our ocs starts to get too attached to the other, and when an nhl draft separates them, one of our ocs is all too eager to cut contact and try to forget. The two excel in their nhl careers without one another, and end up on nhl teams with a history of deep rivalry. Occasionally, the gloves hit the ice, fueled by the tension of unresolved feelings and the pressure of the respective teams to keep up the rivalry. The two are reunited when they are both chosen to play nationally for the same team, and are forced to reconcile what they have both buried so deeply within them. 

***(m/m) big money: These two ocs play for rival teams in the nhl. While their teams have a history of tension, our two ocs take it to the next level. Audiences are more excited to watch these two fight than they are to watch the game itself. There’s a market in the violence between these two, and a reputation to maintain on both ends. If the public found out that these two were secretly seeing one another, their careers would both be over. 

**** (m/m) sugar daddy: My oc is a law student studying in your oc’s country in order to get their degree abroad. They’re from eastern Europe and uh. broke af. They settle into an arrangement with your oc where your oc agrees to ~pay him for his company~ after they meet while my oc does camming online to make ends meet. We could take it anywhere- your oc could whisk mine off his feet and 'save’ him or. Be toxic & trashy and make my oc’s life hell.

Okay and, here are just some general prompts that could be intertwined with the plots above, or could be something we use to springboard into our own rp:

my oc has serious commitment issues. they often go around ‘ghosting’ individuals after 4-5 dates, with little to no explanation of why. your oc falls for mine, and is the first to confront my oc about their shitty habits. 

your oc and my oc were best friends, but they lost touch over a stupid fight they had when they were preteens. they can’t believe that they’re seeing one another in a bar, halfway across the world from where they met. 

your oc and my oc were flames. my oc proposed to yours, but yours turned them down. they never spoke again… until they were sharing a crammed elevator, with my oc being completely intoxicated, and still confessing their feelings for your oc. 

your oc is a huge fan of my oc’s nhl career/political career. your oc wins a contest to meet and have dinner with my oc. while my oc expects a boring night out, my oc is completely surprised by how well they hit it off with your oc. 

my oc, your first oc and your second oc all grew up together. your first oc has always been pining for my oc’s attention, and is thrilled when my oc and your first oc finally get together. they develop a long term relationship, but my oc knows it would devastate your first oc if they told them that they have been seeing your second oc for most of the relationship. 

I recognize that a lot of these focus on the nhl/the lives of professional hockey players- please don’t be worried about hockey knowledge/nhl jargon/whatever else goes through your head! I’m more interested in sport as a realm for drama than i am for following the rulebook and being 100% accurate to life when it comes to hockey. There’s a lot i don’t know and am still needing to learn, myself! If you know a lot, great!! If you don’t, let’s figure things out together! as for general oc ideas, here’s a list:

professor x student

veteran x civillian

cop x criminal 

** OC superheroes (I have a lot of muse for this one!)

street racing, fast-and-furious-esque setting

rival gangs 

** nhl/hockey based (lol obviously)

small town canadiana or americana 

fun, fluffy romance based modern settings

historical setting- preferably, the second world war/1940s-1960s 

light worldbuilding - new to this but wanting to learn

honestly whatever you can pitch to me that isn’t high fantasy :)

I can expand on and work with any of these ideas, these are just like, topics. Whatever i do with you, I promise it’ll be fleshed out, with tons of opportunity for drama. 

how do we get started?

pleaaase send me an email at ehmmywrites@gmail.com ! I will get back to you asap, but please give me some of your thoughts/an idea of why/what you'd like to write with me!

I am also almost always around on google hangouts.

We can sort out the brass tacks there and figure out if we're a good match. :) 

Thanks for your time and I hope I hear from you!

[aion-rsa]

The Most Intense Better Call Saul Moments

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At the beginning of the month, Better Call Saul star Bob Odenkirk picked up his fourth Golden Globe nomination for his lead role in the Breaking Bad spinoff series. In the midst of preparing for the sixth and final season of the AMC drama, Odenkirk found out about his nomination while walking his dog, and let slip to Deadline that filming for the new season will begin in March.

That’s not the only nugget of info that Odenkirk gave Deadline in regard to Better Call Saul season 6. In a phone interview, Odenkirk told fans to expect a combustible final batch of episodes. 

“I can’t wait for the fireworks, really,” Odenkirk said about the upcoming season, which is expected to feature more episodes than the usual 10. “Our show is a bit of a slow burn over the past few years, and [series creators Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould] build up. There’s certainly exciting moments throughout, but towards the end, it gets super supremely intense.”

“Slow burn” is a common phrase used to describe the prequel series that finds earnest lawyer and ex-con man Jimmy McGill slowly transform into the shameless criminal defense attorney and sleazeball Saul Goodman. In comparison to parent series Breaking Bad, which saw milquetoast chemistry teacher Walter White undergo a far more dramatic transformation into the drug kingpin Heisenberg, Better Call Saul is seen as a smaller stakes story far more focused on interpersonal relationships than thrilling set-pieces and explosive showdowns. 

However, that reputation betrays the fact that Better Call Saul also offers plenty of high-stakes thrills and hard-charged moments. Below we’ve compiled the five most intense moments of Better Call Saul so far. These scenes offer a different type of tension than Breaking Bad, but are nonetheless arresting in their own way.

Chuck’s Court Room Blow-Up 

Season 3 Episode 5 “Chicanery”

The relationship and struggle between the brothers McGill is the lifeblood of Better Call Saul. Even after Chuck’s death (which is itself quite the intense moment), the psychological impact of the jealousy experienced and their falling out still informs so many of Jimmy’s decisions. “Chicanery” features the moment that their relationship deteriorated beyond repair in a stunning courtroom sequence that found Chuck revealed to be the true villain in Jimmy’s story.

Without stunning scientific feats, shootouts, drug deals, or fiery explosions, Better Call Saul captivated audiences simply by showcasing two brothers destroying their relationship. No Machiavellian efforts necessary, just Jimmy’s accomplice Huell slipping a harmless battery in a pocket; no surprise hitman at the door, just an unannounced appearance by a concerned ex-wife. The stakes are significantly smaller than a Breaking Bad setpiece, but far more personal and more than capable of keeping viewers at the edge of their seats. 

Chuck’s unraveling takes place in one room, but director Daniel Sackheim keeps things interesting by utilizing the reflections in clocks or by keeping the background action in focus. Michael McKean stuns with an incredible, spiteful, and vulnerable performance, making Chuck utterly despicable yet somehow sympathetic at once. But only sympathetic to a point. 

Though Chuck’s mental condition is clearly something to worry about, his gross jealousy and resentment shown toward his brother, a brother who respected and selflessly helped Chuck time and time again, is unforgivable. In this tense courtroom blowup, the man that Jimmy looked up to as a monument is reduced to pitiful rubble.

Gene and the Cab Driver 

Season 4 Episode 1 “Smoke”

Prior to the beginning of season 4, co-creator Peter Gould said that Better Call Saul was envisioned as a “romp.” However, the first episode of the fourth season is most definitely not a romp. “Smoke” takes place in the immediate aftermath of Chuck’s death, with Jimmy seemingly trying to ignore his complicated feelings over his brother’s passing. But before we get to that, we spend a little time in the post-Breaking Bad timeline with Gene, Jimmy’s new alter ego living and working in Omaha, Nebraska, trying to exist under the radar and escape the fallout from his criminal past.

The time spent with Gene is the best part of the season premiere. Almost every season starts with a Gene check-in, but season 4 begins with a moment that almost scares Jimmy into abandoning his life in Omaha and starting over again. Jimmy has two close-calls, first at a hospital in the aftermath of a fainting spell. A nurse handling his registration says that his social security number is incorrect, causing the hair on the back of Gene’s neck to stand up. Before he starts hyperventilating, the nurse reveals she simply typed his information into the computer incorrectly, which gets a huge sigh of relief out of Gene. 

The second encounter isn’t as harmless. Gene is picked up at the hospital by a cab, and notices the cab driver staring at him uncomfortably. Finally, Gene notices that the cab driver has an Albuquerque air-freshener hanging from his rearview mirror. With just the thought of being recognized, we can see Gene’s blood run cold. It may not sound like a momentous moment, but director Minkie Spiro ratchets up the tension and makes us feel every bit of Jimmy’s intense fear of being discovered.

Mike Kills Werner 

Season 4 Episode 10 “Winner”

Most of Mike’s season 4 story revolves around him watching over the German team assembled to build Gus Fring’s super lab, the same lab that Walter White would use to perfect his meth cooks. It’s not the most exciting use of the hard-boiled hitman’s time, but it eventually leads to a moment that signifies Mike stepping over the morally grey line into full-blown villainy. This isn’t Mike’s only revealing moment of the series, as the sixth episode of Better Call Saul dives into Mike’s background and the revelation that he was directly responsible for his son’s death, but this is the moment of no return for Mike, the act that would solidify his involvement with Gus Fring’s operation and lead to his eventual demise. 

After Werner, the engineer lead, escapes the underground facility after specifically being forbidden to do so, Gus orders Mike to hunt Werner down and tie off the loose end. Mike must find Werner before Lalo does, as Gus doesn’t want the Salamanca heavy to learn of his plans. The search and capture of Werner harkens back to the hardboiled delights of Mike’s scenes in Breaking Bad.

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Also, the resolution of Mike’s search, ending with an expertly staged wideshot depicting Werner’s murder along with Mike’s wordless confirmation to Gus that the job had been done, shared some symmetry with Jimmy’s story. “Winner” finds Jimmy finally flashing the Saul Goodman seediness we’d come to know in Breaking Bad, so the episode depicts both characters seemingly shedding the last vestiges of their humanity.

Kim Faces Off Against Lalo

Season 5 Episode 9 “Bad Choice Road”

Lalo Salamanca was the big bad that Better Call Saul was missing. He’s the perfect villain and foil for Jimmy, someone that has as much swagger and charm as the slimy lawyer, but with a mean streak that rivals the best Breaking Bad villains. Lalo’s inclusion in the series has created nothing but chaos and danger, and the man has never felt more dangerous when showing up unexpectedly at Jimmy and Kim’s home.

 Jimmy’s near-death experience in the previous Season 5 episode “Bagman” may have been the most action-oriented episode of the series to date, but the follow-up features perhaps the most intense moment of Better Call Saul. In the middle of a fight after Kim abandons her position at Schweikart & Cokely, an argument that positions Jimmy as the selfish Chuck to Kim’s selfless Jimmy, the warring couple are interrupted by an urgent call from Mike; Lalo is at the door, and Mike demands that Jimmy keep his phone on so he can eavesdrop on the dangerous, impromptu visit. Lalo abandons his plans to return to Mexico after discovering Jimmy’s Esteem in the desert riddled with bullet holes and struts into their apartment to make himself comfortable. He’s ready to hear Jimmy’s story again, looking to catch him in a lie.

Throughout Lalo’s grilling, Jimmy gets noticeably more nervous and begs for Lalo to let Kim leave. During all of this, we watch Mike observing through a sniper scope on an adjacent building. Jimmy would typically have some sort of story ready to satiate Lalo, but he’s still in a fragile state and frankly appears shell shocked. His abilities as a bullshitter and impervious to Lalo. Fortunately, Kim steps up and speaks on his behalf, remaining tough with Lalo and poking holes in his concerns. 

The entire encounter is a nail-biter because Lalo is so unpredictable; if you come at him with the wrong tone, he won’t hesitate to display his disapproval. Fortunately, the bold strategy works, and Lalo promptly heads out. Still, this moment signifies that if Kim wasn’t already in the game before, she certainly is now, and that’s a terrifying prospect for the beloved character. We know that Jimmy won’t fall victim to Lalo’s violence, but the same can’t be said for Slippin’ Kimmy. 

Nacho’s Betrayal and Lalo’s Escape 

Season 5 Episode 10  “Something Unforgivable”

When creators Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould first floated the idea of a prequel series titled Better Call Saul, many fans salivated at the thought of getting to learn the backstories of two of the most popular characters from Breaking Bad, Saul Goodman and Mike Ehrmantraut. While Better Call Saul has certainly delivered on fleshing out the origins of the beloved antiheroes, it’s also been successful in creating its own memorable supporting cast. 

New to Gilligan’s New Mexico crime universe was a young Salamanca soldier and dealer, Nacho Varga, whose business frequently intersects with our familiar returning protagonists. Nacho’s story finds him struggling for survival as he’s caught between the warring Salamanca and Fring factions. Nacho is depicted as a smart character with a decent moral compass, but he’s gotten himself mixed up in a bad situation that frequently looks keen on making Nacho collateral damage in a cartel war.

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With his family threatened, Nacho is coerced into working as something of a double agent for Gus Fring, which has led to plenty of tense moments, but none more nerve-racking than the final episode of season 5, when Nacho attempts to aide Gus’ men in assassinating acting Salamanca boss, Lalo. After an uneasy meeting with Don Eladio, Nacho has to wait until 3 AM and unlock a gate located on Lalo’s ranch. When he walks outside in the middle of the night to complete the deed, Lalo is waiting in front of the gate, holding court around the fire. The tension erupts when Nacho uses a sneaky decoy to distract Lalo and open the gate. He walks out of the estate trusting that the trained killers will do their job, but Salamancas aren’t so easy to dispatch. 

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In a thrilling sequence, Lalo out-maneuvers and decimates every would-be assassin. Lalo’s genial spirit is erased while surveying the damage. A rage boils inside of him seeing the bodies of the innocent people that Nacho was hoping would be protected. Lalo hobbles off-screen Terminator-style, looking to enact his revenge. If Lalo was a frustrating presence before, now he’ll return to Albuquerque like a plague.

The post The Most Intense Better Call Saul Moments appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[retphienix]

I'm going to let out some of my feelings on New Vegas under the cut, but let's start with some more optimistic talk based on what's about to happen.

We're going to play through New Vegas (again for me) in an attempt to re-evaluate it since I harbor such strong negativity towards it despite recognizing all it's accomplishments and improvements over F3.

To start, I adore the intro cutscene. I just do.

I wish it didn't jump to the slideshow mid-way through, but I can understand it non-the-less.

It's fun to see the factions doing interesting things, or even just actions that add character to a faceless organization.

We get the NCR partying it up and drunk, giving off vibes of "modern" military personnel on leave or taking a moment of reprieve. We also get to see the Legion acting like a small raid force and clearly using some stealth tactics as they attack quietly in the night.

To end it off we get to see Benny and the Khans, and aside from showing how strange Fallout engine models look scaled up for a cutscene (because the Khans look like crap), this was good stuff. I especially love the Courier's view swinging towards the weapon as they acknowledge the danger they are in.

Okay, let me get some things out in the air on this one.

I'm starting this playthrough with some baggage.

I really don't like New Vegas. Like at all.

Fallout 3 is one of my favorite games, Fallout 1 was so fantastic a playthrough that it got me excited about Fallout again (I've yet to play Fallout 2 but you better believe that's coming up at some point) and Fallout 4 is unbearably disappointing but offered me plenty of fun for my trouble.

I'm in the minority on this and I completely understand why.

I see all the gameplay mechanics that add depth and I LOVE them.

I see all the differences in the writing and I LOVE them.

I see the improvements to the factions to add depth and I LOVE that.(mostly, I love the attempt)

I see Hardcore mode and, while some have switched to complaining that it's far too simplistic, I had a total BLAST playing through this game on the hardest difficulty with Hardcore turned on.

I see the companions and how they are objectively the best to the point where I'd do anything to reunite Veronica with her girlfriend from the DLC or to steal Arcade away to a new land altogether.

But I just get so hung up on this game.

I've completed it every which way, I've grinded the achievements that forced me to play the game differently than I usually do, I found out unarmed is the most broken weapon-type in the game because Ballistic fists are unbalanced as heck and I loved it.

But I get so hung up on the things I don't like, despite how few they are, they are important things to me.

For one, the factions. I like that they are more complex but I just hate every single one of them.

I get that that 'can' be realistic, and I love “shades of gray” morality options that let me choose who I agree with despite the drawbacks, BUT EVERY FACTION IS UNLIKABLE, EVIL WITH FALSE “Good” IDEALS, OR THEIR DRAWBACKS ARE UNBEARABLY LAZY AND DULL.

I really, really don't like how Fallout 4 handled factions and yet I can still go "Yeah, I'll side with the Minutemen despite their synth problems because they are the moral ideology I agree most with" or "-with the Railroad because despite their human life devaluation issues I most agree blah blah".

Fallout 4 had two "too problematic for me" factions in the form of the Neo Nazi Brotherhood that goes entirely against what Fallout 3's brotherhood were (yes F3 had a simplistic "too good" brotherhood, but they were limited to that chapter and THIS racist chapter IS that chapter so that's just inexcusable), and the Institute who fail due to poor writing and lack of explanation (oh you're the GOOD guys who will SAVE us with technology? You have hidden synths wandering around all over for intel? THEN WHY DO YOU BLATANTLY POISON AND KILL PEOPLE TO STEAL THEIR IDENTITY WHEN YOU LIVE IN AN AGE WHERE YOU CAN JUST THROW A SYNTH SOMEWHERE WITH A BS BACKSTORY AND YOU KNOW THAT WILL WORK OUT JUST FINE??? You're murderers, not the good guys, screw off.)

The thing is, I was able to find factions I agreed with despite their flaws in 4, and 3 made it easy by not doing a good job at all and just giving you a good and bad choice (fair enough).

NV? It tries so hard to have diverse and interesting factions but I honestly think they got too distracted with adding flaws that they forgot to make any of them likable.

NCR are bureaucratic idiots who overexert (Bureaucracy as a flaw, in itself, is utterly lame and dull), follow the flaws of the US government (at least that's interesting) and can best be "agreed" with based on the fact that they support farms. But they even abuse that from what I remember.

The Legion have an entire in-universe explanation for why they look like a bunch of stupid cosplayers and I remember it being summed up as "I read a book, I like military tactics from the Roman empire so here we are!".

If Legion's entire goal is unifying the world under one flag then they could have been literally ANYTHING, but no, they are cosplayers with no deeper meaning beyond "I want slaves, don't respect culture if it isn't my own, and read a military book about rome".

That reason is utterly ridiculous and uninteresting. Anyone who tried to organize something like this would have success in their area (remember something about uniting some tribes and tackling opposition weakest to strongest to divide and conquer) but then they'd just fall apart because you're trying to run a racist little slave army while killing farmers, a revolt or dude in power armor is going to stomp you out realistically.

House is fine. Like, yeah. He's fine. He's gray morality, isolation is his goal, I don't "agree" with him but he's someone I COULD agree with if I was playing that kind of character.

So NV leaves me with either playing NCR because "Well, they suck completely, but hey, maybe they can do some good?", House, or take control on my own and use my own imagination to decide what happens to the area once the credits are finished (since you can’t experience any of those changes you would have instated, afterall. Though that itself isn’t a complaint because I understand the actual cost that would entail to add to the game, but the fact that my best option is this means I would have liked the option to make my lack of “good” choices felt “acceptable” because I could at least instate change etc)

So there's one major complaint out of the way, the factions all being either completely incompetent, stupid, or unlikably bad morally.

The next major complaint I had was the world itself.

I HATE IT. I HATE THIS DESERT WASTELAND OF BOREDOM.

I know some of you have probably heard a variant of that complaint! Something along the lines of "It's just empty desert and there is nothing to see" and you scoffed and you said "This idiot isn't looking in the right places" but you know what!

THERE IS A REASON THIS COMES UP IN PEOPLE WHO DON'T LIKE NEW VEGAS.

It's because, yes, there is stuff to see! But the LAND and WORLD look so barren by design (despite the things that are there) and it all looks so boringly dead and bland that even once we find interesting places it's all desaturated in our heads to the point where we go "ah. cool. is there anything to do in this boring hellscape."

Everything looks the same and it is a huge drain on the eyes.

This world is the most boring thing to look at. I hate sandscapes, I loathe exploring literal desert land. You have to shove more variation in there.

Fallout 3 worked with its separation between "empty" wasteland, "colonized" wasteland, "empty" cityscape, and "populated" cityscape.

You could go to these different types of places and feel a different environment around you.

New Vegas has two places. Empty desert that you sometimes find a shanty town in, or Vegas which is just casinos so who cares beyond gamblers.

It's so monotonous and boring.

The most exciting areas are your starting area (at first, because it hints that you'll find tons of strange working towns to spice up the desert instead of the reality of emptiness), Vegas if you're into that sort of thing, the NCR outpost with the Ranger monument, and Artillery tribe.

Fallout 3 had a green filter over everything and some people complained, I didn't care in the slightest. But with this brown filter over a brown sandscape I felt like it emphasized the color palate too much and made what was already boring to look at even worse.

Off topic, but throwing that in.

All said, maybe I'm exaggerating. But my time with New Vegas left me feeling like the overall politics were either utterly stupid or painfully unlikable, and knowing that made every other questline or story point feel meaningless because I wasn't invested in any character or organization involved.

When every major player is unlikable, I stop caring. So I ended New Vegas feeling like, for all it's writing and smaller stories, they messed up the factions so badly that I couldn't care about any of it.

So when I stop caring I decide to explore the world, and while it DOES have things in it, they painted over that fact by making every area look the same with their brown desert crap. It needed more cities or towns, more "outer" Vegas, and just more variety in general.

And if they couldn't justify a reason that would lend variety to New Vegas, then guess what? Maybe VEGAS is a boring as heck place to put your post apocalyptic game.

*sigh*

Since that rambling, lacking substance as I'm typing from emotion and not diving far enough in for details, rant is done-

(I really did go off and cut some of this because of that. Sad when you consider I got this fired up and I only listed two reasons, poor factions [in terms of morality and not being annoyed with their designs/lore] and the world looking terrible to me because I hate deserts)

-I am going back in to  try it all again.

[williamsjoan]

DualShockers’ Game of the Year 2018 Staff Lists — Ben Walker’s Top 10

As 2018 comes to a close, DualShockers and our staff are reflecting on this year’s batch of games and what were their personal highlights within the last year. Unlike the official Game of the Year 2018 awards for DualShockers, there are little-to-no-rules on our individual Top 10 posts. For instance, any game — not just 2018 releases — can be considered.

2018. Seriously, what a year for gaming. I can’t remember the last time I actually had this many games to juggle into the top 3. When Sony blew their load at E3 2016, it was one of their best conferences and, incidentally, most of those games released this year, like God of War and Marvel’s Spider-Man. I didn’t jump on the Nintendo Switch hype until August of this year, and honestly, I’ve barely used it because of all the other titles shining instead.

I don’t usually compile lists in my head of ten games because only a select few titles really keep my enthusiasm by the end of the year. However, when thinking about my backlog and the games that did come out this year, it reignited a spark in me that felt these games needed recognizing. Here are my Top 10 games for 2018:

10. Far Cry 5

Far Cry 5 ranks at the beginning of my list for Game of the Year and it barely made it onto here. Let me tell you a story of how I even came to purchase this title. I’m a bad spender – give me money, it’s gone in a week or two. I had money around the time that Far Cry 5 was about to release and I thought “meh, why not” and pre-ordered the game. It’s a bad habit; help me. In doing so, I jumped blindly into a series which I had never really touched other than playing Far Cry 4 and Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon at a friend’s house in the previous years.

Needless to say, Far Cry 5 was a huge change from its predecessors – and I’m not sure I liked it. At the start of the game, it’s quite fun when you begin to learn about the cult and story of the world you’ve been dropped into. It had great potential from the get-go, with a cool concept. However, Ubisoft wasn’t the best at executing that later on down the line.

I’ll be honest – I didn’t finish the game because I lost motivation to do so. Either way, a game has its faults but can also be quite fun. I did have a bit of a blast in co-op free roam and running around this unique open world. As is with Far Cry games, I loved the times where wild animals would appear out of nowhere and help me attack NPCs. I adored Boomer and all of the other companions, but that’s about it.

Check out the DualShockers review of Far Cry 5.

9. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4

Okay, this was a huge change for Call of Duty, at least in the sense that they barely changed any features from previous games. Black Ops 4 removed single-player, one of the series’ best elements, and replaced it with Blackout – an awful attempt at battle royale. That said, the multiplayer is surprisingly fun with its new additions such as manually-regenerating health, specialist-based combat, improved mobility and controls, and the change in game-modes.

It’s nice to see a Call of Duty game be fun again, and actually feel somewhat balanced. Blackout is another story – that mode absolutely sucks. Zombies becomes more and more complicated every year, so much so that I don’t feel like it’s a “casual mode” anymore. All I want is for me and my friends to jump into zombies and see how long we last, but the maps are too convoluted and you have to do a crap ton of objectives just to unlock the better weapons. I want Zombies from the original Black Ops back.

Either way, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (or IIII if you want to be difficult) takes players on a good journey into the lands of playing online. In short, we don’t care if you want to play a story – fight these kids instead. At least they actually made it fun unlike Fallout 76.

Check out the DualShockers review of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.

8. Deltarune

This incredibly good spin-off to my personal Game of the Year from 2015, Undertale, is just part one of a possible series, and I’m super excited. We’re finally into that part of the list where I stop half-criticizing games and instead showcase how bloody good some of them are. Deltarune was a fantastic revisit to the world of Undertale with vital mechanic changes, a unique story, and an all-new cast of characters mixed with reused ones.

Lancer’s design is hilarious; I love the thought of a chubby spade who rides a bicycle. I won’t reveal any of the plot details, because if you’ve played Undertale but not Deltarune you have to go jump into it right now. It’s a blast, and you should be playing it. If not, go play Undertale then this game. I’ll be waiting. I’d put this game as number 1 if so many amazing AAA games didn’t exist. Let’s get into those now.

7. Fortnite

Image by @ikcatcher

Yes, Fortnite is on my Top 10 list. No, I have no regrets. I’m putting it on this list less because of it being a good game (it’s pretty good, to be honest) but more because of the game’s significance this year and the impact it made on my life. I played Fortnite on the day they released the Battle Royale mode last year, purely because consoles (at the time) didn’t have a battle royale game due to PUBG being on PC originally. I found that it was decent, but never would I have imagined the absolute influence it would gain.

Aside from becoming the most popular video game on the planet, Fortnite actually helped me expand on my career this year. I started off the year at various other outlets before eventually branching out into writing about Fortnite. Writing about this game actually allowed me to open up my experiences in games writing, and I actually ended up here at DualShockers because of it. I’m happy at the journey this game allowed me to take, and the memories I’ll have because of it. As much as it can suck sometimes waking up early in the morning to write about patch notes, it gives me the motivation to keep going and not just lay in bed all day. Thank you, Fortnite. You can suck it if you blindly hate this game. That’s my two cents.

6. Detroit: Become Human

“Oh no,” you say: we’re entering Sony territory – and with a bang, as one of the most gorgeous games of this year is Detroit: Become Human. Detroit was a huge step forward from the previous titles from Quantic Dream and David Cage, and a game where choices actually changed the story. From the days of Telltale Games and Life is Strange emerges a game where the choices you make surprisingly matter, and the game lets you view what could’ve happened instead. I loved when I checked the choice map at the end of a scene and realized everything that mattered. Except for saving that goldfish at the start – that made no difference whatsoever.

That’s also not to mention how absolutely mind-bogglingly gorgeous this game is. The photorealistic visuals are mind-blowing when accompanied by those motion-capture performances of a lifetime. The star-studded cast of Bryan Dechart, Clancy Brown, Valorie Curry, Jesse Williams, and more perfectly brings each and every character to life to tell an enriched story of a very possible near-future. It’s a visually-appealing masterpiece.

Check out the DualShockers review of Detroit: Become Human.

5. Tetris Effect

Tetris Effect is a gem of an experience. With incredible, entrancing visuals that make you feel like you’re in either the next Star Wars combined with a mixture of audio that flies around your brain and sucks you into the dreamscape, Tetris Effect is a masterpiece. Each movement subtly synchronizes itself with the music playing in the background, with the BPM adapting to your placements and rotations. For something as simple as Tetris, this game really puts an Effect on you.

It’s also extremely difficult. As someone who had never played video games would say, it’s the Dark Souls of puzzle games. I should probably change the difficulty, to be honest. Either way, I’m having a blast with this game; I wouldn’t even call it a game – but an auditory and visual experience. Go play it.

Check out the DualShockers review of Tetris Effect.

4. A Way Out

A Way Out was such a good game, and a refreshing take on the co-op genre. I absolutely adore co-operative games, especially those in which me and a single friend can complete a campaign. This game from Hazelight Studios was an absolute blast of a time, with minigames in-between story elements such as Connect Four or Baseball being such a nice way to take a break from the story and just have fun. Me and my co-operative partner beat the game in a single sitting with how much we adored it.

I think I’ll forever keep coming back to A Way Out with new friends just to see their reactions to each element of this short, but sweet experience. The fact that it is developed for couch co-op but also allows anyone with a copy to invite their friend to play for free is something I absolutely admire, and Josef Fares’ dream came together extremely well. The game sold well, which I love, and I hope to see more out of this genre of video games. What a title.

Check out the DualShockers review of A Way Out.

3. Marvel’s Spider-Man

Marvel’s Spider-Man is the best superhero video game of all time. Sorry to the Batman: Arkham games, I love you – but this game is just so good. I’m kinda sad that it got snubbed at this year’s The Game Awards ceremony, losing to the next two games on my list (spoiler alert)…and also got snubbed at our own Awards ceremony. Boy, oh boy, this game got pushed under the rug.

The combat is magnificent when combined with all of the different variations of movements that the player can create; it is an utterly satisfying experience, one in which I keep coming back to. It’s rare that an open world game can keep my attention for so long (I have the attention span of a fetus), and Marvel’s Spider-Man achieves that magnificently. Well played, Insomniac Games.

Check out the DualShockers review of Marvel’s Spider-Man.

2. God of War

God of War is a masterpiece; a project with the absolute intent of demolishing any of its competition Kratos-style. The game was my first foray into the God of War series, and playing the original remastered trilogy makes me just wanna go back to the new one. It’s such a damn good game that if I went into everything amazing about it, then this article would never be finished.

The gameplay, the story, the music, the tone, the setting, the atmosphere, and everything – just everything about God of War is an absolute delight. My issue is that the game ended way too early. I absolutely cannot wait for the next installment. Bring it, Sony Santa Monica.

Check out the DualShockers review of God of War.

1. Red Dead Redemption 2

Red Dead Redemption 2 brings something new to the table; not in the sense of just being a fresh take on the open-world genre, but being a revolutionary landmark in the history of video games. Ever since the release of the original Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar Games has worked tirelessly on this project – controversially so, after the senior writers stated that they worked 100-hour weeks.

If you’re reading through each and every staff member’s Game of the Year lists, it’s pretty likely that most, if not almost all of them will include both God of War and Red Dead Redemption 2 at the forefront (assuming they played them). I’m falling straight into that trend – but you have to admit that there is an astonishing reason behind it. Both of these games are absolute masterworks, built detail-by-detail in order to transcend the normal experience of an open world game.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is a thrill to play, and quite frankly is one of the greatest video games ever made.

Check out the DualShockers review of Red Dead Redemption 2.

Check out the other DualShockers’ staff Top 10 lists and our official Game of the Year Awards:

December 17: DualShockers Game of the Year Awards 2018 December 18: Lou Contaldi, Editor in Chief // Logan Moore, Reviews Editor December 19: Ryan Meitzler, Features Editor // Tomas Franzese, News Editor December 20: Scott Meaney, Community Director December 21: Reinhold Hoffmann, Community Manager // Ben Bayliss, Staff Writer December 22: Ben Walker, Staff Writer // Chris Compendio, Staff Writer December 23: Eoghan Murphy, Staff Writer // Grant Huff, Staff Writer December 26: Iyane Agossah, Staff Writer // Jordan Boyd, Staff Writer December 27: Max Roberts, Staff Writer // Michael Ruiz, Staff Writer  December 28: Noah Buttner, Staff Writer // Rachael Fiddis, Staff Writer  December 29: Steven Santana, Staff Writer // Tanner Pierce, Staff Writer December 30: Travis Verbil, Staff Writer // Zack Potter, Staff Writer

The post DualShockers’ Game of the Year 2018 Staff Lists — Ben Walker’s Top 10 by Ben Walker appeared first on DualShockers.

DualShockers’ Game of the Year 2018 Staff Lists — Ben Walker’s Top 10 published first on https://timloewe.tumblr.com/

[usaokay]

Rebooting a Series

Around March 2005, I began Servers on a whim in Concerned. I always wanted to create comics, but with my self-confidence in drawings, I decided to tackle Garry’s Mod. At the time, I loved anything Rooster Teeth and other webcomics such as Ctrl+Alt+Del (before the controversy) and MegaTokyo.

I thought, “Making webcomics. How hard could it be?”

When it took me several years to finally get up to Season 3, the answer was, “Very.”

I initially approached Servers with the intention of being short and comedic. Once I realized that the team needed to go out of de_dust and explore the world, I created the Game Helmet, a social gaming world where the user can interact with others. For the antagonists, I chose the internet’s most hated type of people: Trolls. To better fit them in gaming, they became hackers. After all, no one likes hackers.

Around Season 2, someone suggested I should make the comic longer as the plot got more serious with higher stakes. 

Even though I had the intention of the series going up to Season 4 with the plot beats involving a fallout of the team due the villain doing villainy, and the rise back into greatness as the team defeats the villain, as time went on, I changed a lot of the general plot, characters, and world.

A ton of factors could be attributed to why I haven’t really finished the series yet:

Perfectionism.

Growing up in a first generation Asian family, I’ve been taught to always strive to be the best compared to everyone else. Sometimes I think that my work is so good, I release it expecting another hit, but it ends up with people hating it without any constructive criticism. While I end up going over a lot of details, there are a lot of things I miss and I do like to see praises, but what I want more is criticism.

Laziness.

The more I felt that people have higher expectations of my work, the less interested I get because not only do I receive some sort of positive stigma, but also why break my back for perfectionism when I could just thrive on the positivity I just received? It’s ironic.

Finding the right idea.

As time went on for Servers, a lot of world events occurred in the gaming industry. Coincidentally, the PSN hack involved hackers breaking into Sony’s PS3 servers and obtaining customer information, which nearly mirrors the hackers’ goal in Servers.

Garry’s Mod is boring.

After sitting in front of a computer all day trying to get that stupid ragdoll in the right position, with the gnawing fear that the game might crash and you have to spend 5-10 minutes starting the game back up and another 5+ minutes setting up the scene (if I didn’t save). My patience and interest wears thin. With the growing standard for quality work, I have to focus intently on also providing such well-rounded settings in my comics. It’s tiring.

The long wait time caused several issues that I needed to address.

Other similar stories coming out and being popular.

Ready Player One and Sword Art Online both have similar worlds involving a VR MMO where there is way better interactivity. While Servers is very different as it tackles personal character issues, there is a gnawing in the back of my mind that readers will think that I was inspired by those properties rather than setting out to be original in some regard.

I get older and wise up about my stories and writing.

I consider this a self-improvement, but when you compare recent Servers works to the very first, it can cause some tonal and writing issues. If I was going to tackle character drama, I need to first get rid of Frank being a pervert all the time.

I can’t obtain all of my files.

Around the development of the first and second season, my computer’s hard drive went kaput. I lost everything, but thankfully I managed to go back to areas around the internet where I posted the comics. Of course I can’t get them all, but I managed to get some of the most important. I learned from this by using trusted image hosts (DeviantArt), a flash drive, and a portable hard drive to save past and future work almost every month or so.

New ideas = more story implementation = longer wait time.

Sometimes stuff occurs in my life that I want to address in Servers. It could be something that still bothers me to this day or something that I would like to praise. Sometimes I write myself into a corner and need to find a way around it.

During Season 3′s development, I realized that not only I want to end the story on a high note, but I also want to stop making Garry’s Mod comics altogether to pursue my dream as a writer. Thus, S3 became the final act, which oddly fits the entire story as some sort of trilogy.

This grew into another issue. As I was making Part 22, I wanted to give people a refresher on the story so far. I tried a small synopsis of the characters and story so far; and an actual comic that added way more to the plot than I intended. 

Looking back on it, I don’t consider it to be a good way to present the story as people would rather go back and read my earlier work; but it’s crude, immature, and just bad. Really bad.

I tried to do a small “remake” of Season 1 that somehow still fits into the narrative of Season 3′s plot, but I eventually became disinterested as I felt that the quality wasn’t up to par.

So, I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, I want to get Season 3 over with and be done. On the other hand, I want people to fully enjoy the story, and with something as crude as the earlier comics with some pages missing, it may put them off.

Time went on. I focused on other comics such as further developing Team Fortress 2 Originals and a non-canon Servers work. Eventually I met a fellow Garry’s Mod comic creator who was making his own site. We got to talking about implementing my work into his site, until he said that I should find a way to update my own work to better tell the story.

I agreed.

As I knew that I once attempted to remake the first season, it was high time to tell the story I initially wanted to tell while also keeping in line with the plot, world, and tone that was the culmination of almost a decade worth of work.

I turned the remake into a reboot and began implementing and polishing up story elements I felt needed fixing. 

I actually tried to fully do a remake of the old season, such as Frank buying a helicopter and crashing it, but it didn’t fit too well with the tone I wanted to set. However, I do and try to retain some element and important plot beats that may come into play in later parts.

While I called the rebooted series, “Servers Redone”, it’s still very much the original Servers as the previous version has been retconned in favor for the revamped tale. Think of it like Star Wars’ difference between Legends and Disney’s version. You can still enjoy the old story on its own merit and to experience the journey of my trial & error into getting where I am now. 

It does seem weird in itself to reboot something when I think that Season 3 is still in development. As I plan to also redo Season 2, I’m not sure if Season 3′s two parts (and Hartman’s Journal) will have to be retconned away or slightly remade to better fit with whatever story I want to include in the future.

With the rebooted story, I could have more freedom to implement whatever I wanted in order to help build up the world. This eventually lead to the inclusion of what I always wanted to do: Reveal that TF2O is set in the Servers world. The Servers world is continuing to grow thanks to its reboot and I hope that readers will find it enjoyable.

Up next: Servers: Part 6 - Of Monsters and Men.

[drawwithconfidence-blog1]

Bacon Gifts for Bacon Fans

Great Bacon Gifts and Bacon Gift Ideas for Bacon Fanatics. Bacon, it's the gift that keeps on giving. It may not be the healthiest food choice, but that doesn't make bacon any less delicious! Everyone knows someone who's love for bacon goes far above and beyond the normal affection one would show for food. These tried and true bacon fanatics proudly proclaim their love for bacon in all activities of their lives. This lens is dedicated to highlighting some of the best bacon gifts available. While the ultimate bacon gift is bacon itself, you can't just give people bacon all the time. At least not if you care about their health. You need to find affordable and unique bacon gifts to let bacon fans express their bacon love in other ways. Whether that is through bacon gifts such as bacon flavored candy, bacon clothing or some other crazy bacon gift idea is up to you. One thing is for sure: If you are looking for unique bacon gifts you've come to the right place. What's the real reason you don't send regular snail mail anymore? Sure email is faster and cheaper, but is that the real reason? Could the real underlying reason you snub the postal service be the whole licking nasty envelopes aspect? Let's face it. . . envelope glue tastes horrible. You either have to deal with the nasty taste, get a wet sponge, or try to convince your dog to do it for you. Those days are gone now that you have found this amazing bacon gift! Allow me to introduce you to the coolest envelopes EVER: "MMMMVelopes". These envelopes have a cool and subtle bacon look to them, but the best part is when you lick to seal they taste like bacony goodness!! Finally a real reason to use snail mail again! MMMMVelopes Bacon Flavored Envelopes even come packaged to look like a real pack of bacon. Around 9 bucks gets you 25 MMMMVelopes. These make the perfect bacon gift by themselves. Of course you can always use these to send other bacon gifts through the mail. Isn't life great? Want a new twist on boring old bubbles? How about bacon flavored bubbles? This bacon dream comes true with the Bacon Bubble Buddy! Simply pull the trigger on the Bacon Bubble Buddy and out comes a stream of bacon flavored bubbles. Gone are the days of eating those soapy tasting bubbles. Now you can get your bubble grub on with tasty bacon flavored bubbles. Want a new way to play with your dog? Man's best friend will love you forever when he pops a bacon flavored bubble! Don't worry, the bacon flavored bubbles are 100% safe and non toxic. However, I still wouldn't recommend chugging directly from the bacon bubble bottle! The Bubble Buddy gun requires no batteries and comes with one 4 oz. bottle of bacon flavored bubble solution. This makes an ideal bacon gift for any bacon enthusiast! I have to admit I may end up trying this bacon gift out for myself before I let my dog taste some bacon flavored bubble goodness! Why should HE have all the fun? Looking for a fun bacon gift the entire family can enjoy? Well Mr. Bacon's Big Adventure Board Game is the bacon gift you need. Think of this as the old popular board game Candy Land, only with meat! In this game you move your bacon character along the path through Meatland. Along the way you have to navigate your way through areas like the Mustard Marsh, the Wiener Wasteland, and the Sausage Sea. The first one to make it to the frying pan at the end of the trail wins! This is a fun and affordable bacon gift for the entire family. Click the image above for more information or to grab yours today! Every bacon fan needs a bacon action figure. Bendy Mr. Bacon to the rescue! Mr. Bacon measures approximately 5 and a half inches tall and features bendable arms and legs. Currently priced under $5.00 this makes for a fantastic bacon gift! No child should be deprived of bacon. The My First Bacon talking bacon plush is just what the name implies: a talking bacon plush toy. Measuring approximately 19 inches tall by 7 inches wide, my first bacon features a soft fleece bacon doppelgänger that talks! Squeeze him and make his mechanical mouth move and say his one and only catch phrase, "I'm bacon." This great bacon gift is a ThinkGeek exclusive and requires 3 AA batteries which are included. What makes a better bacon gift than a plush talking bacon puppet? "My First Bacon Video" on Youtube! - See "My First Bacon" in action on YouTube. "I'm bacon." Longing to see My First Bacon in action before you make a long term investment of $19.99 in the risky world of bacon gifts and novely baconalia and crisp bacon collectibles? We don't blame you. After all, $19.99 buys quite a bit of real bacon! Have no fear..you can see the My First Bacon toy in action on YouTube. After you've convinced yourself you can't live without My First Bacon...click the image above to go get yours! Bacon is nearly perfect. It looks good, smells good, sounds cool cooking and of course it tastes great. Bacon just makes everything better. Let's get this out of the way. Bacon isn't all that healthy. While I could never in good conscience suggest someone refrain from ever eating bacon, I do feel an obligation to remind everyone we need to enjoy its awesomeness in moderation. Now there is a way to have the great smell of cooking bacon without the health dangers of actually eating it: sizzling bacon candles! I know what you are thinking because I was thinking the same thing. This is some concoction of synthetic chemicals that is mixed together in some waxy lump that when burned doesn't smell remotely like bacon. Right? Wrong! These awesome bacon candles smell like the real thing because they are made from the real thing! According to the manufacturer, Sizzling Bacon Candles are made from actual rendered bacon fat using a secret process that preserves bacon's natural aromas and essential oils. Sweet! Sizzling Bacon bacon scented candles are hand poured and packaged. Each candle measures about 4 inches tall with a 3 inch diameter and is packaged in a bacon themed tin. Each candle offers about 70 hours of burn time! These bacon scented candles offer a great health friendly bacon gift. They are also offer great way to play a cruel cruel joke on your bacon loving friends or relatives. Imagine your bacon buddy, awakened by the awesome aroma of cooking bacon, running into the kitchen early in the morning expecting to see some crispy bacon on the table only to find nothing. Scratch that idea, that's just CRUEL! Need a way to spice up that bland and boring toast? Eggs and bacon not enough bacon for you? Have a hankering for a delicious peanut butter and bacon sandwich? Bacon Jam is here to save the day. This sweet and savory bacon jam is a perfect treat for breakfast or any time. Bacon jam is produced by a small business that specializes in homemade style goods. The ingredients consist of bacon, onion, garlic, honey, maple syrup, coffee, and spices. Each jar contains 4 ounces of bacon jam. This Bacon Pennant makes the perfect affordable and unique bacon gift for the TRUE bacon fan. This amazing bacon gift if a soft felt pennant measuring about 25" long. It features the word "BACON" in black lettering along with a strip of bacon. Priced at under $4.00 at the time of this posting, this makes the perfect affordable bacon gift. Click the image or link above for more information or to purchase this unique bacon gift today! Need to get clean? Who doesn't? Love bacon? Who doesn't? That's why bacon soap makes perfect sense! This cool bar of soap has a pink marbleized look giving it the appearance of real bacon. It comes in an awesome retro style tin. Want to know the best part? It smells like bacon! Bacon soap is a perfect unique and affordable bacon gift for the bacon fan on your shopping list. Keep in mind however that neither we, nor the manufacturer, can be held responsible for any damages you suffer due to all the dogs in the neighborhood following you around. After all you do smell like delicious bacon! If you need clean germ free hands what better way to achieve it than with bacon! This bacon scented hand sanitizer will leave your hands clean and germ free. They may not stay that way if the family dog is downwind however. Click the image above to make this great bacon gift yours. Yes you read that correctly. BACON Roses. What an awesome gift idea. I came across this fantastic idea and I just had to post it here because it just may be the perfect bacon related gift. I wish I could take credit for this but none of this is my idea, I just stumbled across it and thought it was pretty cool. You can find the easy step by step instructions for making bacon roses on the My Last Bite food blog. Click the link to the left or the photo above to learn more. If you are lucky enough to make or receive a bacon themed cake or other pastry you might need BACON FROSTING! Yes you read that correctly. Evil geniuses have now given us bacon flavored frosting. This beautiful red frosting easily squeezes and spreads and is bacon flavored! I used to panic when I ran all through all the possible doomsday pending apocolypse scenarios in my mind. No, the thought of surviving a nuclear attack, terrorism, or even the unlikely zombie apocalypse don't really scare me. What used to really scare me is the fact that getting bacon would be extremely difficult in these situations. Those worries are gone with Tac-Bac. (Tactical Canned Bacon for you civilians out there.) With Tactical Canned Bacon you can stock your panic room or fallout shelter with years worth of canned bacon goodness. Of course this would also make a great novelty bacon gift, but let's be serious here! Tactical canned bacon comes in a covert looking black can with a white silhouette of an M16 on the label and the awesome anonymous quotation: "I firmly believe bacon has the potential to bring about world peace." Each 9 oz. can of Tac-Ban contains about 18 three slice servings of bacon. Each sealed can has an expected shelf life of 10 years. In the unlikely event you would open a can and NOT devour the entire thing, you should refrigerate the unused portion should be refrigerated. I estimate this unused portion scenario is slightly less likely than the aforementioned zombie apocalypse. Tac-Bac makes the ideal bacon gift for your loved ones serving in the military overseas. Send them a few cans of Tac-Bac and say thanks for serving our country! What better way to serve bacon than on a bacon platter? This ultimate bacon gift allows you to give the gift of bacon and serve it on a plate that looks just like bacon. This ceramic bacon gift is a platter shaped like strips of bacon. It can holds mounds of bacony goodness. It even has raised edges to prevent any grease from dripping off of the platter. The bacon platter measures about 10-1/4" x 6". This amazing and affordable bacon gift is priced under $20.00. Click the image above for more information or to grab one of these beautiful bacon gifts today. Dry chapped lips are a bummer. They are even worse when the prevention and treatment involve smearing some nasty medicated lip ointment or fruity flavored girlie girl lip balm on your kissers. Why oh why can't we moisturize our lips AND taste bacon? Of course rubbing bacon strips or bacon grease directly on your monthly mens lips might work, but that's just tacky! The problem has been solved with bacon flavored lip balm! Now bacon lovers can cure their parched dry lips (probably injured from eating too much bacon) with the power of a delicious bacon flavored lip balm. The ability to plant bacon kisses on your significant other all day is just another bonus! These silk bacon scarves are a truly unique bacon gift. They aren't unique because they are. . .well bacon scarves...they are unique because they each hand painted by an artist in Virginia. True story! Each bacon scarf is made from 100% Habotai silk and is hand painted by an artist in Richmond, Virginia. Each delicious looking strip of bacon scarf starts out as an 8" x 54" piece of beautiful white silk. It is then painted like watercolor with dye. This results in every bacon scarf being a gorgeous and unique work of art, just like each and every strip of real bacon is a work of art! Don't keep your cash in a piggy bank, keep it in a bacon wallet! That's right bacon fans, now you can have a wallet that looks just like uncooked bacon. This unique bacon gift features billfold pockets, 6 card pockets, and 3 bonus pockets. This tasty looking wallet measures approximately 4.25" x 3.75". Priced at under $12.00 it makes an ideal affordable and unique bacon gift. The only way you could make this wallet better would be to stuff man box it with crispy cooked bacon. Click the image above to order your bacon wallet today! Talk about tasty...this tasty bacon t-shirt features the word "Bacon" in cursive script writing with a piece of bacon used as the "swoosh" underlining it. This simple 100% cotton black t-shirt is available in sizes Small through XXXL. This is a very cool and very affordable bacon gift. Click the image above for more information, or to order the "Bacon Swoosh" t-shirt today. Looking for unique Bacon themed t-shirts, clothing and tons of other great bacon themed gifts? Check out our friends at Bac'n.com! Just click the banner above to dive straight into the bacon goodness! Bacon T-shirts on Amazon What better bacon gift than a bacon themed T-shirt? Amazon has you covered...pun intended! Jim Gaffigan's Bacon Bit Here is part of comedian Jim Gaffigan's bacon bit (bad pun intended). When you are stepping out on the town you'll need a fashionable and practical necklace. I can't think of a better piece of jewelry than a bacon flavored necklace complete with a candy bacon pendant. Delicious and fancy! This candy necklace weighs about 1.3 ounces. It is a 16" necklace that is stretchy enough to fit over nearly anyone's head. Old Fashioned Bacon Candy Looking for a unique and delicious bacon gift? How about some sweet and smoky bacon flavored old fashioned style candy? Each piece of bacon candy is individually wrapped and looks like that old fashioned red and white hard penny candy. Except it's got a hip new modern bacon flavor! The collectible tin even shows you where bacon candy comes from. Each tin is filled by weight to hold 2.5 ounces of bacon flavored candy goodness. This is typically about 12 candies per tin. The tin measures about 3.25" x 2.5" x 2". Bacon Flavored Lollipop. There really just isn't much more I can say about this. It's a bacon flavored lollipop; what more do you need? This gorgeous red and white lollipop measures about 4" in diameter and it tastes like bacon. I'm sold! The best parts of breakfast are maple syrup, bacon, and coffee for that much needed shot of caffeine to start your day. Unfortunately having the time to fry up some bacon and pancakes isn't always possible. Have no fear! Grab one of these Caffeinated Maple Bacon Pops and start your day with your favorite breakfast on a stick! Each maple bacon pop contains about 80mg of caffeine. These bacon pops are made with bacon salt so they're kosher and vegetarian friendly. Most importantly though, they taste like delicious bacon. Here is another bacon gift that needs little explanation. It's just bacon flavored gum! Delicious red bacon flavored gumballs in a reusable tin. So you're tired of your bacon lollipops and you've lost interest in your bacon gumballs. What's left? How about some bacon flavored jelly beans packaged in their own bacon shaped collectible tin? Bacon flavored jellybeans are sure to make a perfect bacon gift! Want to freak someone out? Try tossing a strip of raw bacon in your mouth and chew it up. On second thought...DON'T! Consuming uncooked pork meat is very unwise. Now you can have the next best thing, gummy bacon! These gummy bacon pieces look just like raw bacon. They are completely safe candy treats however. These sweet bacon treats look great, but my only complaint is they are strawberry flavored and not tasty bacon flavored! Uncle Oinker's Savory Bacon Mints are mints flavored with a unique combination of mint and bacon. They contain a touch of cooling menthol box survival and come packaged in a nifty reusable tin that contains about 100 bacon mints. These delicious and refreshing mints make an ideal bacon gift or stocking stuffer for that bacon fan in your life. Brush away germs and plaque with delicious bacon flavored toothpaste. Each 2.5 oz tube of toothpaste is priced at about $4.99. Oh yeah..there's also cupcake flavored toothpaste..but why spend $4.99 on the cupcake flavor when you could buy two tubes of bacon flavored? Bacon flavored toothpaste tastes great, but it can't adequately clean between your teeth. You'll need floss for that. No self respecting bacon fan is going to use mint flavored floss....that's just gross. Why would you want that nasty mint taste in your mouth when you could use bacon flavored dental floss? Each box of bacon floss is a plastic bacon design with a flip top lid. Each box contains about 27.3 yards of bacon flavored waxed dental floss. All we need is bacon flavored mouth wash/fluoride rinse and your bacon dental hygiene needs will be complete! You've worked hard to find that perfect bacon gift. Don't drop the ball by using ordinary wrapping paper. Go the last extra mile and wrap that perfect bacon gift in this awesome bacon wrapping paper. Get two 20" x 30" pieces of quality wrapping paper for about $3.99. What bacon fan wouldn't love a cookbook dedicated to delicious bacon recipes? This bacon gift features over 50 recipes for a bunch of truly delicious bacon featured dishes. This bacon gift covers everything from bacon based brunch, soup, salads and side dishes. Of course there also numerous meat, pasta and even fish entrées. Bacon cocktails? You bet! Of course there are also lots of recipes for bacon dessert dishes to dive into! Click the image above to check out this awesome bacon gift or to make it yours today! Bacon Gifts on Amazon Amazon can be a great place to find bacon gifts. Check out some of the great bacon gift ideas below. They even have great bacon gifts I haven't mentioned here! Are YOU a bacon freak? Bacon Freak has a mind blowing amount of bacon related gifts and goodies. From actual bacon to bacon themed t-shirts and everything in between. Check out some of their quality bacon gifts below! The Bacon & Bacon Seasoning Gift Bundle - 4 Packages Price: 79.95 The Bacon & Bacon Seasoning Gift Bundle - 2 Packages Price: 69.95 Roccos Private Reserve No Nitrite Bacon - 2pk Price: 38.95 Smells Like Bacon (Pig Cop) Babydoll Shirt Price: 17.95 Smells Like Bacon (Pig Cop) Hooded Sweatshirt Price: 32.95 Smells Like Bacon (Pig Cop) Kid's Youth T-Shirt Price: 12.95 Smells Like Bacon (Pig Cop) Long Sleeve Shirt Price: 24.95 Smells Like Bacon (Pig Cop) Mens Tank Top - Black Price: 14.95 Smells Like Bacon (Pig Cop) T-Shirt Price: 15.95 Smells Like Bacon (Pig Cop) Womens Classic Fit Shirt Price: 19.95 Smells Like Bacon (Pig Cop) Womens Tank Top Price: 19.95 Scott's Bacon Sampler - Country Bacon & Country Peppered Combo Pack Price: 24.99 Vosges Milk & Dark Chocolate Bacon Bars Price: 27.95 Boss Hog Maple Bacon Coffee Price: 8.95 Smoked Bacon - Hooded Sweatshirt Price: 32.95 Want to leave me some lens love? Did I miss a great bacon related gift idea? Do you just want to proudly proclaim your love for bacon? Feel free to do so right here by leaving a comment. http://hubpages.com/food/bacon-gifts-for-bacon-fans