#fio rambles

[moonsrain]

Now that 'Too Sweet' has hit #1 in multiple countries including the US, I just want to say that I think it's absolutely criminal that not a single track from 'Wasteland, Baby!' charted in America. What happened there? Why was my boy cheated?

[itsfioart]

hi guys i haven’t posted in a while but i’m gonna post a backlog of stuff i posted on twitter

i’m pretty occupied with vtuber stuff rn so i don’t think i’ll post often but yeah, thanks for being here anyway

[olivewormz]

ELLO!!!! GUESS WHO REDID HIS METAL SLUG DESIGNS!!!! i guess you could call it that uuhm

but YEA!! i've been thinking a lot about metal slug lately and i just... couldnt resist redrawing my versions, hopefully i do more in the future for more characters n all, i really want to post more metal slug stuff, i love LOVE these silly guys

im not writing anything at the moment cause i really didnt change my headcanons and im kind of tired to write proper paragraphs (i should stop staying up until 3 am to finish drawings? maybe).

[ashendalia]

I uh

Bought my precious daughter from my beloved EoSed mobile game last night

[sapphic-haymaker]

Fio Media Log #1: Gen 1 Armored Core Trilogy

Armored! Core!

I'm a mecha gal. I love my robots. but I especially love me some clunky "real robot" style mechs. I only got into Armored Core with 6, and i've decided to take a plunge into the first generation games with, admittedly, not too high of expectations.

And lemme tell ya. I was pretty blown away at how fun these are!

Visuals

Let me start off with the visuals, holy shit do I LOVE the visuals of these games. I grew up with the PS1 as my first console, playing Twisted Metal (Darkside main btw) is one of my earliest memories. I really adore the games that have come out recently emulating the PSX style (Psuedoregalia, Signalis, Ultrakill, etc.)

The blocky aesthetic lends itself well to mecha. A lot of the genre likes to build it's robots in simple, blocky shapes so Bandai can easily make model kits of them, and there's no shortage of obvious design inspiration among ACs

The first mission, which subtly informs you of a theme of the series, has you being paid to go murder some workers striking for better pay and benefits and some other stuff that probably could've been bought with the money they used to hire a 5 meter tall death robot but hey. not our department.

The pitch black background and illuminated bridge makes for some lovely moody atmosphere. A LOT of 1st gen is going to be same-y hallways and tunnels but when they go through the extra effort to make a place look like a place it ends up very nice.

The Controls

Hooooo boy. This was a STRUGGLE for me at first. See this lil game was released a month after Sony's dualshock controllers, the ones with actual analogue sticks and not just a d-pad, hit the market. Which means this highly technical game is going to make you control deliberately hard-to-pilot machines without any sticks! (and they wouldn't add support for them until 7 years later!!!)

I found the stock control scheme where Up/Down was moving forward back, Left/Right was Turn, L1/R1 was strafe, and L2/R2 was aim up/down COMPLETELY unhandlable. Brain could not parse it. But to my shock there was an option in the game settings to rebind the controls! Making all the d-pad buttons be movement and all the shoulder buttons camera controls made things click right away. But that's just for basics. As for advanced movement…. welllll.

Meet [13th Toll], the build I did most of the game on after spending a lot of time experimenting and testing.

You'll notice she's a quad leg type AC! that's because the quad leg type trades the ability to boost on the ground for the ability to have consistent fast movement, meaning you can move fast without actually being good at the game's movement. It was absolutely a crutch but the game never threw anything hard enough at me to stop using said crutch. The gatling gun arms just felt better than any gun in the game having a huge amount of damage and ammo… at the cost of absolutely financially ruining me. @ @

See. Every mission in Armored Core has a base pay, occasionally bonus pay or penalties, and then that pay is deducted by how many resources you used in the mission. Repair Cost is how much damage you took, and Ammo cost is how many bullets/shells/rockets/etc you chewed through. And let me tell you the Gatling Arms are strong but they cost so much money to fire that i ended up LOSING money on several missions due to operating costs.

Scrounging for cash is definitely part of the AC experience, it's not shy about it's anti-capitalist messages, going into enough debt due to failing missions or not performing well enough actually resets the game, having your character undergo experimental augmentation to make them better at paying off the debt presumably (this is kind of an easy mode. I never triggered it as I wanted to do all three games without it. Felt like it was the authentic experience)

The control scheme as noted is incredibly clunky, but in a way that feels befitting of a mech. In AC6 the combat and controls are incredibly streamlined and feel as good as it gets for the most part. But AC1 takes a real-robot approach and imposes some serious limits to how you can move and aim. It genuinely feels like you're fighting the controls trying to aim at a fast moving plane or an AC boosting past you. It's a unique feeling that leaves the player feeling less like an ultra powerful death robot and more a poor pilot desperately wishing something could turn faster than it physically can. I'm a big fan.

I blew through AC 1 all things considered, aside from that horrifically frustrating final mission. (platforming in a game with the worst camera controls ever took years off my life.)

It wasn't a cakewalk per say, but i never felt incredibly pressed to improve my skill or optimize my build all that much in the game. I pretty much did whatever. Very enjoyable experience all in all. Where I think things get interesting is the first expansion…

Project Phantasma

Released a few months after AC1, Project Phantasma is when the game REALLY made me focus in on what i wanted to do and made me sweat. For the most part it's missions are about on par with it's predecessor, with one exception: The Arena.

The Arena is as straightforward as it gets, 49 Enemy ACs, one on one, no distractions. Best Pilot wins. The first chunk of the arena is a joke, but then, out of nowhere, comes

RANK: 30 PILOT: Brutus A.C.: Back Stab

You see this fucker? This was my wall. This is where the real pain train starts and Gen 1 starts to stop pulling it's punches IMHO.

Brutus is an aerial ace. You'll find that MOST of the ACs in the Arena absolutely LOVE to be in the air. this particular asshole has a sniper rifle that will literally stunlock you for long periods of time, is incredibly accurate, and generally just makes your life hell.

Quad legs could not carry me to victory here, they genuinely just do not have the maneuverability to dodge the incoming hailstorm of sniper shots. I tried heavyweight ACs, thinking i could simply outlast him, Dead Wrong. Heavyweights were even more of failure. All that armor did was prolong the inevitable.

This is where I had to bite the bullet and start using regular legs. You move absolutely pitifully slow when not boosting, but boosting takes energy, energy conservation takes practice and skill. I used these next 30 Arena fights to learn how to move and shoot in these games and the experience was so satisfying and rewarding. I felt like I was just as quick as the AI and soaring through the sky right along with them by the end of it.

Meet [Phantom Lambda], she is as fast as I could make her, she is as light as i could make her, she carries a new weapon in the Phantasma expansion, the WG-RFM118 Rifle. Along with a magazine on the back slot, a "weapon" that does nothing but increase the ammo count of your other weapons. 300 shots was consistently enough to take out most Arena opponents aside from the thick armored heavyweight powerhouses.

My weapon choice was simple. It has an absolutely MASSIVE lock on reticle. So I could focus all of my brainpower on movement and avoiding enemy fire. I still had to do a fair amount of aiming, the enemy ACs in the Arena get blazing fast. but this strategy ended up getting me all the way through the game. And suddenly I only had one Gen 1 game left.

Story Tangent

Project Phantasma tried a lot harder to have a consistent storyline which was fine, if a bit clunky. There's a big bad rival mech named Stinger who ends up being pretty pathetic as you thrash him again and again. You get all your jobs from a woman named Sumika who is also a AC pilot, and let me say, I was pleasantly surprised to see a woman in old mecha media that isn't evil and/or dead.

Master of Arena

Master of Arena had a lot more time in the oven than Project Phantasma, releasing in 1999 while AC1 and PP were both 97', and let me tell ya. It feels like a FromSoft employee was watching my Phantasma run over my shoulder when I first booted up the game.

So first things first. My strategy is in goddamn shambles. Not only is my FCS (part that determines lock-on reticle) significantly nerfed, my entire loadout has been nerfed to the floor in the ammo department. Magazines would give 50% more ammo per magazine in PP, and my rifle had 200 shots base. Now Mags give 20% each, and the rifle now only has 160 shots. Meaning I've went from a maximum of 400 shots to a measly 224. Considering how many shots end up missing and enemy AC HP, this means the rifle that carried me is absolutely not an option anymore.

Meet [The Rook], my intent was to find a middle ground where I wasn't totally made of paper like I was in piloting [Lambda Phantom]. Focusing purely on optimized utility in her design, I wanted something mobile, durable, and I needed to fit a weapon that had decent range and some nice damage, I used the WG-AR1000,a mid-range machine gun and doubled up on mags. This gave me a whopping 1400 bullets to bullet hose the competition down.

While the story missions weren't any harder than AC1 and Phantasma, the Arena didn't have a slow ramp up like it did in last one. Right away i was thrown into a fight with a lightweight aerial AC raining pain down on me.

I ended up playing a lot more aggressively this time around due to the machine gun's much shorter range, meeting opponents up-close in mid-air as abusing the RFM118's long range to plink away at opponents wasn't an option anymore. This lead to a lot of problems against enemies with similar weapons like gatling arms, where we mostly just ended up DPS racing eachother, but i only have to win once, after all.

Overall I really enjoyed these games. I think the first one is a fun lil time and onboards you to the systems well enough, and if you're hungry for more the two expansions offer a nice challenge. I'm currently debating if i wanna do the EX Arena in Master of Arena or if i wanna jump straight into Armored Core 2.

I highly recommend you try these out if you've played AC6, it's systems and clunky control schemes are very neat lil relics of game design that feel completely lost in the modern era.

[aqqleshiqqing-archive]

pokeani is the reason why i am actually able to remember some of the pokemon names. that "who's that pokemon" sequence jogs my memory + the pokemon constantly yelling their name as a sfx.... is... annoyingly helpful

[honks-n-stonks]

the people of elgado outpost watching the flame of kamura/the fierce having yet another photo shoot at the top of the unfinished spire (they keep falling down) (they always come out unscathed somehow) (nobody feels like stopping them from climbing/wirebugging back up at this point)

[fortheturnstiles]

tagged by @cronenbussy ^_^

put all of your music on shuffle and list the first ten songs that pop up. tag however many people you want, to keep it going, if you want to

dark is the night - ry cooder

ein jahr (es geht voran) - fehlfarben

just like heaven - dinosaur jr.

myself to myself - romeo void

love songs on the radio - mojave 3

can i stay with you - nick garrie

we don't need the english - bags

this love is fucking right! - the pains of being pure at heart

falling - julee cruise

look on up at the bottom - beyond the valley of the dolls original soundtrack album

not tagging anyone specific but if you see this and would like to continue pls do!! i love seeing people's music :) share your music with tha world it would bring me joy :)

[gg-is-a-loser]

porco rosso is such a banger movie

[chucapybara]

HUZZAH. finally graduated from baby fio icon WAHOO

capybara maker teehee

[wachi-delectrico]

Mi toxic trait es que quiero con toda mi alma aprender a tocar el bandoneón pero los usados están a mínimo 3 lucas verdes

[moonsrain]

My CR3 hot take: everyone's real ready to call Imogen and Laudna girlfriends and draw them making out and everything, and while that may well end up being the ultimate state of affairs there, I don't actually care if they ever make it an 'official' romance or not. As a femme person in an almost decade old queerplatonic hard-to-explain-to-other-people relationship with another AFAB person, I feel really seen by the portrayal of two young women with an intimacy and intensity to their relationship that may fall outside the bounds of conventional romance.

[olivewormz]

hi!! here’s my renditions of the metal slug characters :DD, meant to post this some time ago but the boys were giving me trouble with their body types and all jdasf

some notes about them just because (tw(?): mentions of death):

-Marco: I think he’s incredibly tired of everything honestly, probably overworks himself. I have this really dumb headcanon thats about him mostly sleeping in an office chair. The sad headcanon is that he is ‘hero’ on metal slug 1st mission and Gimlet, Red Eye and Tequila are his dead friends who he subconsciously “replaced” (not really the word I’d like to use but I can’t think of any other right now) with Tarma, Fio and Eri respectively. Him having no shine in his eyes is intentional

-Tarma: Absolute himbo, that’s it. No but I feel he’s like a comedy relief of some sort just so the rest of the group doesn’t get that tense, however, he can be serious when needed. I made him the biggest in the group since I think it fits him!! oh and also he listens to Oingo Boingo ndhgasdg

-Eri: My beloved. I’m not sure when I started drawing her with a big nose but I think it suits her!! I feel as if she would cover herself up more than the rest thanks to her personality and all, that’s why she’s wearing stockings (I think that’s what they’re called??). I gave her a shirt since that was the ony thing I liked from the code j desings so I just stole it sndjgn, the sleeves are ripped since she used them as replacement for bandages

-Fio: I don’t think I have much to say about her, but I’ve never liked how her droopy eyelids were never drawn in official and was just a stereotypical anime girl, I always thought she looked so pretty with them :-(. I think she’s the clumsiest one in the group if we talk about aim, but she’s incredibly intelligent and the only one in the group who could treat really serious injuries, she’s probably the reason none of them died yet

[ashendalia]

Me: hm maybe i can find some fan merch of my nier reincarnation f/o

Etsy: WHATS THAT YOU WANT REPLICANT AND AUTOMATA MERCH?!

Me: :')

[hueblees]

still havent renewed my sub but wanted to draw fiora again, so here's her in her definitely crimed a realm reborn fit (+ timelapse before i added my 100 overlay layers)

below the cut is some rambles abt her if anyone is interested (`･ω･´)ゞ

her family was doman but fled/deserted to eorzea early in the garlean occupation, when she was very young. she spent most of her youth travelling, and only settled in ul'dah post-calamity.

her birth name is tsubaki. she mainly goes by "fiora" as like,,, a name that's easier for eorzeans to remember

(out of universe its just bc i did not know any raen lore prior to playing and got attached to the name by the time i got to stb and started developing her as an oc)

ik its just because au ra didnt exist until heavensward but my personal hc is that they're a fairly uncommon sight throughout eorzea? i imagine ul'dahns, since the city is a trading hub, are the most used to seeing them, but they're still decently rare. fio never hid the fact that she was an au ra but wore the hood & cloak for most of arr just to downplay the features at first glance. for the coerthas sections she covered most of her face until she stopped caring post-banquet.

at the start of arr i imagine she's a decently well-established adventurer in ul'dah. definitely not famous to any degree but like,,, a common face at the guild

personality-wise she's kind of detached? not cynical but uh, untethered. she has a difficult time understanding people and causes, and spends most of arr with the scions just bc it gives her some. structure and smth to do. during arr at least she masks this with a generally sweet and unassuming but kind of closed-off demeanour

tends to come off as an airhead. she's not necessarily dumb, its just that she's competent at very specific things and doesn't usually register much besides that.

[yserina-starweaver]

February 18, 2024 Day 1 | Casualty/Flirt

Acrid smoke curled in lazy plumes from the bowl of her long stemmed Kaldorei pipe. Nine years later and the smell of it still reminded her of each refugee camp she’d visited. Teldrassil’s ashes had clung to the bodies of the people for weeks, sticking to their hair, clothes and haunting them all like a ghastly, looming specter. 

Her daughters and their families all remained physically unaccounted for, even after all this time. Elora’s wisp sometimes bobbed through the branches that crowned Yserina’s dwelling in Amirdrassil’s young wilds, which meant Ilalia’s was likely not far — she’d always followed in her older sister’s wake, even though she’d been centuries younger. 

Fiore, the Sin’dorei stray she’d found in the Dream, stumbled loudly out the door as she struggled with the heavy wash bucket. It was always hard to tell with the younger broods how old they actually were, but the girl’s aptitude with nature magic and ability to balance it with the arcane magic she’d been raised with reminded her of Elora’s youngest, Solarin. 

Yserina’s eyes narrowed as she considered her ward; it was clear that she’d only been raised with the necessary skills to catch a rich husband. There was a certain world where charm and flirtation were necessary for survival — she’d seen it herself in Zin-Azshari, and it had seemed as corrosive then as it did now. 

She’d originally only meant to give the girl a crash course on minding one’s own business and boundaries within the dreaming’s rambles, but days of being unable to cast the pathetic creature out turned into weeks, and then a month. The girl’s soft hands had blisters and calluses that had started to build up from daily labor. Part of her had started to get attached the way some people did with favorite baubles, and it had been nice to have someone else around again, as much as she hated to admit it.

If she wasn’t careful, she’d lose her reputation as a heartless hag. 

The thought made her laugh quietly to herself as she took another long drag off her ornate pipe before setting it down on its carved jade rest. Exhaling the poison out slowly, Yserina stood and let the smoke cascade behind her as she went to follow her little flower out to the pond. 

The amount of scented soap that had carried back on the wind was a portent of impending disaster for their skin and silks, and there had been more than enough casualties lately.

@daily-writing-challenge @fio-renze