#i liked this game a lot. very simple but i liked collecting specific stuff and the image of this cute bunny girl with a huge doll collectio

[flash-from-the-past]

Usuki Frenzy

[historicity-was-already-taken]

I am posting and responding to this ask anonymously as I don't want anyone harassing its sender. This has already been communicated with the person who sent the ask.

I just want to thank you for being a light in the darkness of anti-semitism, especially on this website. I have found I am on this site a lot less ever since it was made clear that other leftists here are more anti-semitic than we ever knew possible, using very specific wording of our own trauma against us (i.e. saying stuff like "colonialism", "genocide/ethnic cleansing", and calling JEWISH PEOPLE Nazis). It feels like, at best, they know Hamas ≠ All or even most Palestinians, but think that they think all JEWS = Bibi; and at worst, agree with Hamas and think of him as some sort of "freedom fighter". So, thank you from one leftist Jew to another, just trying to keep afloat here. ❤️

You are very welcome; it's certainly been overwhelming, and I'm glad this can be a safe space for you.

I do want to push back on some of this ask, though. Specifically in regard to terms such as "colonialism," "apartheid," "genocide," and "ethnic cleansing."

The use of these terms is not inherently anti-Semitic. For a lot of people, these terms are the best ones they have access to describe what they are seeing. I do think such terms as “colonialism” and “apartheid” are overly simple in regard to the last ~3000 years of Jewish history, and that they cast the situation into an alien historical context which dilutes and uncomplicates the all the historical realities at stake, but I truly do not think that all who use these terms do so to cause Jewish people pain.

Further complicating the picture is that terms like "colonialism" aren’t completely wrong. Modern Zionism arose in the context of mid-nineteenth century European large-scale movements towards nationalism (ie, the creation of nation-states) and away from the multi-national empire. Jews—a subject of anti-Semitism and fifth columnist suspicions within those emergent European nations—reacted to all this by joining the nationalism game.

What’s ironic, is that those European Jews who founded contemporary Zionism were reacting to the exclusion and racial hatred with which Gentile Europeans treated them, and then once they had some settlements in Palestine, they deployed similar variants of racial hatred at both the Palestinian Arab population, and Middle Eastern Jewry.

The existence of a distinct people and ethnic group in Palestine before the aliyot were not something the first generation of Zionists were concerned with. Because they were part of the same shitty, white supremacist, pro-imperialistic intellectual European tradition to which they were responding as victimized parties. As time went on and Zionist thought spread across Ashkenazic communities, we can see some variants. Some forms of far-left Zionism in twentieth century Poland, for example, actively built the presence and rights of Palestinian Arabs into their ideology, some of them actively stating that Zionism could not be a success if it necessitated transforming Palestinian Arabs into a group of secondhand citizens and a cheap source of labor in their own home.

Those leftist strands of Zionism tended to be Socialist/Communist in nature, and centered around the idea of life in Eretz Yisrael as one of a series of self-sufficient communes. Thus when the 1930s hit and things start to go bad, the Zionists we see fleeing to Palestine tended to be of the more centrist and far right variants. The left wing, socialist movements, already operating as a collective, had a membership uncomfortable with fleeing to safety while the rest remained behind.

And that same socialist/communal attitude, is why those variants of Zionist thought never made it into the Israeli political mainstream; most of their members and proponents were murdered in the Holocaust in part because they refused to leave their comrades behind. The General Zionists and Zionist Revisionists who rode out the years of the Holocaust in Palestine therefore already had access to the avenues of power which would become important in 1948, when the British Empire shrugged off its responsibilities towards the regions it colonized and destabilized.

Now, as for ethnic cleansing. I can’t sugar-coat this: that’s what the Naqba was. It was ethnic cleansing of Palestinian Arabs from their homes to make way for the Jewish State. The manipulative shit (but still somehow extremely prestigious) youth group I was in taught us that Arabs call it Naqba because they hate Jews and therefore existence of Jews in the Southern Levant was a tragedy, as was the fact that Hitler didn't finish the job.

That’s garbage: it’s called the Naqba because it was ethnic cleansing. And that's not the fault of the Holocaust survivors who made their way to Mandatory Palestine/Israel in the late 1940s--they lacked political power, and were often looked down upon by those who did; the Holocaust as part of Israeli National Mythology wasn't an immediate Thing.

If you spent your formative years around older Jewish folks of A Certain Generation, whose trauma has pretty much placed a permanent block on their ability to see some of what went down in 1948 for what it was, I can’t blame you for having that gut/cognitive dissonance reaction to the use of “ethnic cleansing” in the context of Israel and Palestine. I know those older folks. I loved them. They’re mostly gone now, and I miss them terribly. But their trauma-induced view of everything lives on in the ability of some younger Jews to properly name and understand what it is that happened in 1948.

It was ethnic cleansing.

Further, not only were Palestinian Arabs ethnically cleansed, but the Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) Jews who were forced by their governments to flee their homes of thousands of years and seek refuge in Israel throughout the second half of the twentieth century…the Western and Central European Jews in control of Israel and its institutions treated them like shit too. Hadassah actively stole the babies of Yemeni Jews, told the parents that their children were dead, and rehomed them to Ashkenazic couples. There were death certificates. Members of the Ethiopian Jewish community were forcibly sterilized, and their ongoing treatment by the State is racist and generally atrocious. And this analysis of the relationship between the Israel State, MENA Jewish populations, and different Ashkenazic groups in Israel is horribly short and overly simple.

As for genocide. I honestly don’t know. I do know many people, who are very much not Anti-Semites, who are calling what’s happening in Gaza right now genocide; many of these people are also Jewish. I know many others who refer to the experiences of Palestinians between 1948 and now as a slow genocide. Many of these people are also actively not anti-Semites, and many of them are Jewish.

So these terms, as uncomfortable as they may feel for people within the very specific Jewish generational background I believe we share, are not deployed as anti-Semitic weapons. Nazi comparisons? Yes. Swastikas superimposed over the Star of David? Yes. Very specific hook-nosed Jewish caricatures in relation to Israelis? Yes. Blood libel shit? Yes. These are all anti-Semitic, and are deployed to hurt and retraumatize Jewish people. But the rest are not nearly that simple.

And I didn’t learn this from like, Bad Evil Post-Modern Academics at Columbia University Who Hate Jews; I learned this from doing graduate-level work in the field of Modern Jewish History, and working in Jewish archives; this did not come from outside the building.

Now, as for Hamas as freedom fighters…that’s ignorant at best. Hamas’ charter clearly calls for the global destruction of the Jewish people [ETA: they edited this part out in 2017 for PR purposes], and their actions as rulers are horrifically, violently, homophobic, and seem to be more abut provoking Israel than they are about governing and protecting their people. But as you said, Hamas isn’t all Palestinians, and it’s also not all Palestinians who consider themselves freedom fighters. (A second reader of mine had the following commentary on this paragraph: "Might need a bit more complication around Hamas? I know that's not your area of expertise but it's worth mentioning that they were basically set up to undermine the PLO and what would become the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. You're right that they aren't representative of all Palestinian thought and resistance, and that they are on some fuck shit.")

So while I’m so glad that blog is a comfort to you, I encourage you to also take a step into some of your discomfort, and ask yourself where it comes from.

No one reading this post has my consent to use it to silence other Jewish people who are in different stages of their journey towards understanding how generational trauma has impacted their ability to grasp all of this. Further, if you choose to attack me for gently calling my people in, you're a piece of shit and I will be mean to you.

[cringywhitedragon]

Just saw manly play indigo park and oh my goodness this is turning out to be mascot horror done right or at least some good handling

Mascot horror’s been kinda a meh genre since people starting riding off the coattails of FNAF (which in itself I find good but the series works better as more of a “Sit and Survive” style game instead of a open world/roaming kinda game like everything trying to follow Security Breach.)

Poppy Playtime is ok. It’s not perfect but the devs do shine with their animation skills (Even if I feel they kinda waste it most of the time with Minecraft animations and some other controversies) and it’s not really something with a whole lot of replay value (Very linear and at least in FNAF there’s some incentive to replay a majority of the games with stuff such as secrets/alternative endings and the custom night mode.)

We have stuff we do not talk about like Garbage of Banban and the fifty million other games trying to copy it.

Anyways back to Indigo park.

Yes it’s your standard affair of mascot horror but this game has a lot of charm to it from what I’ve seen. It’s clear that this project’s being made with love and has a few things I haven’t seen Mascot Horror games do a whole lot of.

Namely in the form of this game’s voice with an internet connection and companion, a goofy little guy named Rambly the Raccoon.

While having a character to act as a guide for the protagonist is a pretty common thing in these sorts of games, they either are a faceless voice over a phone/intercom, don’t show up until much later, or a simple pre-recorded infodump. Rambly is not that.

He’s met almost right off the bat not long after you start the game. While a bit glitchy, he shows right off the bat that he has is own personality to add a bit of comic relief to what is a horror game.

I kinda like to think of Rambly as a mix between Navirou (Monster Hunter Stories) and Wheatley (Portal) since he does act as both a companion character and voice for the (silent) protagonist but also interacts and comments on the environment that he’s a part of as well.

Also while a minor one, a feature for collectibles which also add a bit of lore (and humor with some of Rambly’s comments) to the game, not something we’ve seen too often in your free roaming mascot horror titles save for Security Breach (Yes there’s going to be a lot of comparisons between the two).

Finally, onto the enemies.

They actually work pretty well in the setting they’re supposed to be set in. As in, not overly gross and elongated abstract shapes that look super out of place or filled to the brim with mutations and razor sharp teeth but actually look like the characters one might find in the setting they would be in, abet still retaining that obvious “monsters out to get you look”. Kinda like the animatronics from FNAF that would be “in service” would fit appropriately in their specific location unlike something out of Garten of Banban which is supposed to be a daycare.

In all seriousness, who the fuck would be bringing their kids to a place filled with weird blobby creatures that look something out of a Pamtri video.

In other words, go check out and support the people working on Indigo Park!

[kieran-granola]

Material Boy

(This one is available on AO3)

When he’s not busy being a vigilante, Tim likes to think that he’s a pretty simple guy. He has normal, civilian friends. He's awkward when he talks to people he wants to bang. He likes skateboarding and playing Warlocks & Warriors. He dropped out of high school.

He also, like many kids of his generation, grew up collecting superhero merchandise and memorabilia.

And yes, maybe he never got out of the habit of collecting super-trinkets even after joining the vigilante game — a fact he keeps between himself and God, he can only imagine how much shit Steph and the others would give him if they knew — but it's not like he steals stuff from the heroes he knows. He just... buys things. A lot of things.

Which brings him to his current problem: the amount of merchandise created depends a lot on a hero's popularity. This means that Superman has insane amounts of merch. Wonder Woman and Batman too, to a lesser extent. In Gotham, Robin does pretty well for kids' stuff, and Nightwing has inspired more than one, uh, adult line of toys.

…But Red Hood? As tacky as brands can get with their products, they know better than to create merch of mass murdering rogues and villains, and unfortunately people aren't sure whether Red Hood qualifies a good guy. This means that Tim's haul is Very Poor when it comes to Hood. Which is an issue on account of Tim's massive crush on Jason.

How is a man supposed to pine in dignity when he can't even find a decent body pillow to warm his lonely bed? How?!

Tim obviously has to fix this problem. He has to rehabilitate Red Hood and ensure a steady supply of bling for his display cases. And shelves. And furniture. And possibly wardrobe, he's not picky.

He has to.

Which is why he ends up raving about Red Hood, his crime-fighting exploits, and his charity work on social media. He uses all of his covers' accounts and even creates a few more, enthusing people and posting praise until, finally, his amateur PR campaign snowballs.

He knows his job is done when his hashtags start trending outside of the Gotham metro area, and the first Red Hood plushie comes out of Build-A-Bear.

___________________________

Jason is bemused when he first gets wind of his rising popularity. Sure, it's nice to be appreciated and the genuine testimonials from Gothamites warm the cockles of his dead, dead heart, but where did the hype come from? And why are people trying to ask him for autographs? He's a crime lord! He's dangerous and scary, and people should definitely not feel comfortable enough to ask him for selfies!

…Oh fuck, is that it? Is someone trying to sabotage his reputation?

Disturbed, Jason reaches out to Oracle for some help with finding the person behind this heinous plan. He's not entirely sure why Babs laughs for five minutes straight after hearing his question, but she eventually tells him that the original accounts extolling his virtues belong to Red Robin's covers.

Shrugging to himself, he suits up and heads to Tim's nest. He busts in, ready to deliver the wrath of the Hood on Tim for making him look like a hero when he's a Very Mean, Very Dangerous Badass… only to find Tim eating Froot Loops out of some violently lime liquid, while wearing what looks like chibi Red Hood pajamas, complete with little cat ears over the stylized helmet.

Suffice to say, that display takes the wind out of Jason's sails. He holsters his weapons back and takes off his helmet so Tim can properly appreciate how appalled he is before speaking.

"Okay, what the fuck, Timbo?"

Tim blinks. "You wanna be a bit more specific there?"

"I wouldn't even know where to start. Just. What the fuck."

"Well, I'm having dinner?" Tim tries, shoving a spoonful of cereal in his mouth.

"Froot Loops in, what is that, cucumber juice? That's dinner?" Jason stares harder.

Tim swallows his spoonful thickly. "It's Mountain Dew, actually."

"Okay but that's worse. You get how that's worse, right?"

"Did you seriously come here to talk about my meal plans?"

"I came here to ask why you decided to ruin my street cred, and to kick your ass—" Jason winces as Tim eats another mouthful, "—but apparently you're doing a great job at hurting yourself on your own."

Tim gives him a blank look. "I ruined your street cred? How?"

"You told people I'm a hero," Jason says accusingly.

"Ah, I see what the problem is. Look, Jason, this might come as a shock to you and I understand if you need to take a minute to process this very new piece of information but… you are a hero, dumbass."

Jason seriously considers throwing his helmet at Tim but, with the state Tim is in, he's pretty sure it would feel like pouring water on a drowning man.

"I'm not the kind of hero they make jammies of! I mean, what the fuck are you even wearing?"

Tim pulls on his shirt to show off the design, perking up. "These? They're Red Catting Hood limited edition PJs. They're cute, right?"

You're cute, Jason mutters under his breath, before taking a few menacing steps forward. "They're ridiculous. I'm not a cat. And I'm definitely not cute."

"We're going to have to agree to disagree there."

Jason stares at him. "You think I'm cute?"

"No, I think you're a cat," Tim deadpans, still eating his disgusting mixture.

"I… I tried to kill you, remember?!"

"Yeah, you did. And now I have little cartoon kitties of you on my jim-jams. Life's full of curveballs, isn't it?"

Jason is pretty sure he's having a minor breakdown in Tim's kitchen. He opens and closes his mouth silently several times, confusion robbing him of his words. Tim watches him for a couple of minutes, then he stands up and shuffles closer to pat him on the back.

Jason lets out a very unmanly squeak of horror when he spots matching Red Catting Hood slippers on Tim's feet.

Tim shushes him. "Hey, it's okay, dude. I understand that you don't know how to deal with people expressing positive emotions in your direction after getting the Bruce special growing up, but it's gonna be fine. Just breathe. You'll get used to it."

Jason stares at Tim with wide eyes. Then he gently takes him by the shoulders.

"Timmers. Tim. You crazy little birdie. Telling me I'm cute, talking about emotions... Are you okay? Is this a cry for help? Talk to me."

"You ask me that now?" Tim gives him a judgmental look. "I can't believe that's where you draw the line. I mean, where's your 'Be my Robin' enthusiasm?"

"It drowned in your bowl of Mountain Dew next to the Froot Loops. No, but seriously. If I'm your last resort, then you can tell me what's wrong. No need for tacky PJs, I'll listen."

Tim's eyes narrow. "Okay, then listen to this. First of all, my PJs aren't tacky. Second, I like you, dumbass, and yeah, I think you're cute. And third, I hyped you up on social media because I wanted Red Hood merch for my collection."

Jason takes a second to let that confession wash over him. He regrets removing his helmet. He's blushing, he knows he's blushing. In fact he must have been a redhead in another life, because he must be reminiscent of a tomato at this point, and oh no. He's a grown-ass man, why is he blushing like a nerd for this incredibly sleep-deprived, adorable maniac?

"You have a collection?" he squeaks.

"Uh, yeah. I started it when I was 4." Tim raises his eyebrows. "But nevermind that, are you seriously going to leave me hanging? I just told you I like you, man."

"I don't know what to say," Jason chokes out. "This... You're—I'm not good for you."

"Sorry but the entire internet would disagree. You're a hero, remember? And I can take care of myself, thank you very much. I don't need to be patronized."

Jason gestures at Tim's dinner. "That is demonstrably false."

Tim pouts. "Well. If you were my boyfriend, you could make sure I eat properly."

"Is that what you want? To be my b—" Jason's voice breaks. He swallows before trying again. "To be my boyfriend?"

"I mean, yeah?" Tim shrugs. "That's not why I hyped you up, I'm not kidding about the merch thing. But. Yeah. That would be… Good. Nice."

"Oh."

"Is that something you'd like too?"

Jason licks his lips. "Yeah, I—I think so. Yeah. There's just one thing though..."

Hope sparkles in Tim's eyes. "What?"

"It's just... I can't let people think you like me more than I like you."

"What does that mean?"

"It means—" Jason tugs on the fabric of Tim's PJs, "—that for every Red Hood item you own, you have to get me some matching Red Robin merch."

Tim grins a wide, bright, genuine smile that almost offsets the deep purple bruising under his tired eyes. "It's a deal."

___________________________

(They show up to the Manor together two months later to announce their relationship. They walk in hand-in-hand, Jason wearing a Red Robin hoodie, Tim in a Red Hood henley. Damian doesn't even have to pretend to gag at the sight.)

[yuri-is-online]

You Simple Vile Monstrosity: Rook and the Flowers of Evil

My other two dumb history posts have at least a semblance of fun fact to them, but this is mostly going to be literary analysis and some theory. There's some interesting stuff here sure, but I don't really think it adds much to the overall landscape of twst theories. But it does make Rook make more sense to me so I am making this post anyway.

So without further ado, if you are like me and enjoy reading twst theories, you might know that the beginning lines of Twisted Wonderland are something we have been debating the meaning of since the game came out really. While I think we have been closing in on their true meaning as Chapter 7 progresses along, the phrase "Flowers of Evil" can actually refer to something specific: a french poetry collection of the same name (Les Fleurs du mal in french) by a poet name Charles Baudelaire originally published in 1857. The collection was extremely controversial, but today it is highly lauded and has inspired several other literary works, including a manga series by Shūzō Oshimi of the same name. I found out about the poetry collection while working on this request and finally finished reading it... and another essay by Baudelaire for reasons we can talk about later on in the post. For now let's talk poetry.

Beauté! 100 Points!

I don't speak french, so I read an English translation done by Aaron Poochigian that does contain the original french text in the back half of the book. The Flowers of Evil is split into seven-ish parts: The Flowers of Evil (just containing "To the Reader"), Spleen and the Ideal, Parisian Scenes, Wine, Flowers of Evil (again but with 12 poems this time), Revolt, and then Death. The sections are more or less organized by the subject of the poems, Spleen and the Ideal is the largest with Baudelaire musing over what the ideal concept of beauty is while Wine deals with getting drunk (on wine mostly if you can believe it.) One of the things that jumps out very quickly about Baudelaire's work is that his concept of beauty is almost synonymous with his concept of evil. He writes a lot about maggots eating corpses, about decay, he has a few poems that talk about vampires appearing to be the highest form of beauty but really being husks of rotted flesh; it's all very much about this acceptance that evil is a part of life and human nature, so therefore there must be beauty in it. The concept of "ideal beauty" must by it's nature be divorced from the concept of "morality." When Rook talks about the potential for Leona or Malleus to kill him and how beautiful that would be, I think he means the act of destruction itself would be beautiful. The circumstances surrounding it and the consequences of it are irrelevant to the concept; this is also why while he initially says he cannot find the crimson lotuses in GloMas beautiful Deuce accuses him of doing just that after everything is said and done. He cannot find beauty in Rollo's actions, but the visual and the fight are beautiful because of the effort he and the other students put in to stop them. And perhaps most importantly, it's why he is willing to drink Vil's poison and look upon what is supposedly ultimate ugliness and say "In this moment you are the fairest of them all." Because how could an act born out of such raw and genuine emotion be anything but?

Le Chasseur D'Armour, The Hunter of Love

Baudelaire wasn't just a poet, he fancied himself a critic and wrote multiple essays, the one I read for this post is The Painter of Modern Life. Which is actually a collection of several but they are all related, and I was directed to them by this wordpress post. In it, Baudelaire muses over how things can be both beautiful and ugly, and why:

"Beauty is made up of an eternal, invariable element, whose quantity it is excessively difficult to determine, and of a relative, circumstantial element... which severally or all at once, the age, its fashions, its morals, its emotions."

He was talking about fashion plates that depicted outdated costumes, but his point was more or less that if you strictly look at the design of the costume they look ridiculous: ugly. But when you take into account their historical value (these particular plates were all from the around the time of the French revolution) they become exceedingly important: beautiful. He also mentions in this same essay the importance of not just taking into account the opinions of so called "masters" and sneers at people who think they understand what is beautiful just because they have seen a painting done by a professional:

"... to declare that Raphael, or Racine, does not contain the whole secret, and that minor poets too have something good, solid and delightful to offer... that we might love general beauty, as it is expressed by classical poets and artists, we are no less wrong to neglect particular beauty, the beauty of circumstance and the sketch of manners."

In chapter 5, while helping Vil judge the auditions for VDC, Rook gives every audition 100 points because, well, in his mind they are all an example of perfect beauty specifically because they are the work of amateurs, and that is no less valuable to him or less worthy of praise that the work of the master. Now granted he clearly does value professional quality (he did have reasons for voting for Neige other than being a massive simp. Valid ones even if loosing does sting) but that's only in the context of strict rules and guidelines. When Rook is asked for his opinion, while he certainly does believe there is an absolute, academic definition beauty, he doesn't place any value on where that beauty comes from. Baudelaire muses over how human life "accidentally" puts mysterious beauty into the world, and the true appreciator of beauty must make himself not strictly a poet but:

"...an observer of life, and only later set himself the task of acquiring the means of expressing it... For most of us... the fantastic reality of life has become singularly diluted. [But he] never ceases to drink it in; his eyes and memories are full of it."

I strongly dislike suggesting in these posts that xyz is "the definitive reason" for why a character acts the way that he does, but I do think it is very interesting how well this describes Rook's ethos. He thinks of himself as a hunter, but in order to do that he needs to observe. Sure he takes it to exceptionally extreme lengths, but it makes him one of the most lively members of the NRC cast. Baudelaire is right, there are a million things about life we miss on a day to day basis wherein true beauty lies, but Rook sees all of it. His eyes, memories, camera, and secret photo albums are fit to burst with it.

My Noble and Beautiful Flower of Evil

I mentioned the opening text at the beginning of this post, and I stand by my interpretation that the phrase "flower of evil" it uses likely is not a specific reference to any of the poems themselves... beyond the obvious note that it is a collection of poems about finding beauty in, well, evil and most of the characters are based off of villains.

But there was something that started gnawing at me when I read the introduction to my translation, which was written by a poet named Dana Gioia. It was a very well written summary of Baudelaire's life and the significance of his work, but it mentioned a connection that I have seen brought up in twst theorizing before: Edgar Allen Poe.

You see, Baudelaire was obsessed with Poe. To the point that (according to the introduction) "He considered Poe a sacred martyr for art and referred to him as 'Saint Edgar.' In his morning devotions, Baudelaire prayed first to God and then to Poe."

I have nothing to say on that (because really what could you) but the point that Gioia wanted to make in that introduction was that Poe had a massive influence on Baudelaire's writing style. He wrote multiple essays on his work and translated them into French because he felt like Poe deserved the recognition, so while Gioia used this to argue that Poe's influence on Baudelaire shouldn't be underestimated...

I can't find the post, but someone was talking about how Malleus's mother's name Meleanor is very similar to "Lenore" and I recall people sort of brushing that connection off. I don't that name is a coincidence. I think the poem "Lenore" might very well have been something thought about when constructing her character, and that the themes in Poe's work might be very relevant to the overall story of Twisted Wonderland.

Something about ravens and telltale hearts just feels like they fit; maybe we have got it all wrong and Yuu's visions aren't coming from the mirror in Ramshackle, but the floorboards.

Semi- Unrelated Fun Facts:

If you read the name Baudelaire and thought to yourself it sounded familiar, you might have be thinking of the Baudelaire children from A Series of Unfortunate Events. This isn't exactly a coincidence as the author of the series admits to his writing being heavily influenced by Charles Baudelaire to the point he actually wrote the afterword to the translation I own.

Dana Gioia is the former Poet Laureate of the state of California, something that deeply confused me. Apparently the Governor of California appoints someone to a 2 year term and they travel around the state to promote poetry and literacy which is apparently something that 46/50 U.S. states and D.C. does to????

My glorious motherland of Pennsylvania is not one of these states, apparently we only ever appointed one, then eliminated the position entirely after he retired, and then started just. Handing out ones to people in individual cities and counties. Which is so par for the course here I don't know why I am surprised.

One of the first things any college level literature course will try to drill into you is that you don't examine the life of an author when examining their work. It might sound silly, but I think Baudelaire is a great example of why that's important. The man was addicted to drugs and sex, refused to get a "real job", lived off his inheritance from his wealthy father and eventually whatever money he could convince his mother to send him his entire adult life, and had her use her political connections to bail him out of legal trouble multiple times.

If I thought too hard about that it would make his lines in "Skeleton Laborers" (Nothingness is treacherous.//Even Death is a deceiver.//Alas, forever and ever,//work may be awaiting us) fall terribly flat, which I think does them a disservice. The man was very talented and I am glad he wrote them because I felt very seen when I read them.

Baudelaire opened his publication with a note to the reader, but he made it a full poem entitled "To the Reader." I liked the ending stanza so much I used a version of it to title my blog, and eventually my current masterlist: (Boredom! Moist-eyed, he dreams, while pulling on//a hookah pipe, of guillotine-cleft necks.//You, reader, know this tender freak of freaks-//hypocrite reader-mirror-man-mytwin!)

Likewise the title of this post is also taken from part of a poem, "Hymn to Beauty" (Beauty, you simple, vile monstrosity,//I cannot care about your origin,//provided that your gaze, smile, feet show me//a sweet infinity I have never known.) I think that fits Rook's ideals rather well, don't you?

[simon-roy]

The idea of logging on a colonized alien planet brings my mind back to the planet Lalonde from Peter F. Hamilton's Night's Dawn books - a world that had very hard wood as its only meaningful export, and was also stuck developing its economy from agriculturalism (due to investment shortages, though).

All this is to say - Hey! What are some foundational inspirations for your sci fi verse? You gotta have some like recommendations of classic or older sci-fi for us, right? What are some of your suggestions of books and authors to read?

OK SO - My sci-fi tastes have sort of ended up in some very specific niches. Growing up, I was a Larry Niven +Jerry Pournelle man, in part because my dad amassed a huge collection of their books - then gave 90% of them away before i was old enough to read them. So one of my teenage missions was rebuilding that library, trash and all!

Stuff like Footfall, Ringworld, Gil "The Arm" Hamilton, Protector (yes i attempted to name a comic series similarly, and paid for it) "The Mote in God's Eye"... you name it, I read fuckloads of these books. And while they tend to land on a sort of human chauvinist "mankind will win based on his inherent adaptive human-ness, and the aliens will fail because of their rigid alien-ness", this shit was very foundational to me.

Their more collaborative series, The Man-Kzin Wars and War World, also loom large in my teenage mind. The Man-Kzin wars are super fun - humans meet a race of tiger-men, and go from being NWO peaceniks to roughneck cat-skinners in a generation! PEACE AND LOVE WONT DEFEAT TIGER MEN!

Similarly, war world (like lots of that 70s/80s military sci fi) was a sort of catch-all for western military nerds to play with their favorite factions - it was a planet where all the un-ruleable ethnic groups and nationalities had been deported by the authoritarian earth government, and left to rot... until a race of genetically engineered fascist super men land on the world, and start trying to rule the place. Pretty fun shit.

As I got older, I turned hard into William Gibson, and read the absolute shit out of both the Neuromancer trilogy and the Bridge trilogy, as well as his short stories. Bruce Sterling was part of that wave for me, too, and I religiously sought his old paperbacks out too. In terms of novels, "Distraction" is my favorite coherent Sterling Novel - though the short stories in the "Schismatrix" novel/collection of his remain my absolute favorite space opera pieces.

At this age, too, I found my top-top fave Sterling Stories - "Taklaman" and "Bicycle Repairman", both gritty pseudo-cyberpunk stories of the highest degree, in this collection:

This thousand-plus page collection of short stories and novellas was basically my bible for a few years - i put sticky notes on each story i loved and meant to return to, until the book was so festooned with sticky note bookmarks i abandoned the practice altogether. If you have the chance, just buy this book and chew on it for a few years.

As i got into my 20s, Charles Stross became my lode star - his books like Accelerando and Glasshouse were total game changers for me. They come with their own peculiarities, but I loved his transhuman/posthuman musings (or at least i was obsessed with his stuff for a good few years - the venn diagram of his obvious interests and my own overlapped enough that his books were great fodder for a growing sci-fi loving brain).

But since then, my main literary squeeze has been the great man, JACK VANCE. Working on Prophet, my friend @cmkosemen made a remark about how much the early issues of the series reminded him of a book series called "Planet of Adventure" or "the Tschai Cycle", by Jack Vance. The book has a beautifully simple setup - a man from an entirely undescribed spacefaring human civilization crash-lands onto a weird planet. But on that planet, he finds four separate civilizations, each who possess a population of enslaved humans, culturally and physically molded to the needs of their masters. And each book of this series covers our generic hero's interactions with each bizarre expoitative culture. I was extremely intrigued.

Soon thereafter, I found my current absolute favorite book - "THE DRAGON MASTERS". A book about an isolated medieval world... which gets visited, once every few generations, by a black pyramid starship, flown by a reptilian race known as the Greph. The greph capture humans to (surprise surprise) breed them into hyper specific slaves... who in turn become Greph-like in their thinking and demeanours. But the last time the BLACK PYRAMID landed, a bunch of angry medieval dudes stormed the thing, blew it up, and captured a bunch of greph... who became the breeding stock for a whole new human world of slave labour. By the time we meet this planet, the two rival lords of the human-populated regions have been breeding greph slave warriors, or "dragons", for generations, for combat against one another. But soon, the black pyramid will return...

I love this book I even spent a good few months during covid talking with the Vance Estate and several publishers about developing it into a graphic novel, but nobody could quite agree on how it could get made with old Simon getting a paycheque... so sadly it fell apart. There are concept drawings floating around my patreon and other corners of the internet. But one day I'll use 'em...

My other favorite books of his, to name a couple of the MANY books of his I love:

THE BLUE WORLD: A caste system of humans, descended from a crashed prison ship, live on floating settlements on an ocean planet, paying protection to a giant long-lived intelligent crustacean. But one man is tired of giving up all his crops to this tyrannical megafauna...

THE MIRACLE WORKERS: Rival lords on a planet descended to medieval tech (surprise surprise) fight using armies... and rival SORCERORS who employ the powers of suggestion to voodoo each others' warriors... but when facing non-human intelligences, these sorceror's skills fall short.

But there are heaps more, and I love most (thought not all) of the ones i've read. They're generally short, concise, and full of all sorts of bizarre bullshit.

THere are more books i've read and enjoyed in my life, of course, but these are the core ones that I think of when I think of my career as a sci-fi reader... let me know what your top recs are!

[unetherian]

Intro post

Last updated:Wednesday August 28, 2024

.·:*¨¨*≈☆≈*¨¨*:·..·:*¨¨*≈☆≈*¨¨*:·..·:*¨¨*≈☆≈*¨¨*:·.

First name: nickname: Lune (or unetherian)

age: yes

gender: nogender

pronoms: I don't have specific pronouns so . whatever you want

alterhuman/therian/quadrobist

theriotype(s): Not yet found TwT But I think . it's a feline

𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼𓋼𖤣𖥧𓋼𓍊𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼𓋼𖤣𖥧𓋼𓍊𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼𓋼𖤣𖥧𓋼𓍊𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼𓋼𖤣𖥧𓋼 ・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・

Hi! Welcome to my blog ! I created it to learn more about and connect with alterhuman, otherhuman, alterbeing and non-human communities.

Here is a safe place for:

alterhumans

nonhumans

otherhumans

alterbeing

furries

those who are questioning

queer peoples (or queer créatures)

quadrobists

otherpaws

those who have a plural system (coming from trauma or not)

those who support alterhumanity

those who support alterbeing

those who support nonhumans

those who support otherhumans

those who support queers

those who support plurals systems

乁⁠|⁠ ⁠･⁠ ⁠〰⁠ ⁠･⁠ ⁠|⁠ㄏidk who add

Here isn't a safe place for:

zo0philes/ped0philes/and other stuff like that.

antikin, antilink, antifur, queerphobe, and anyone who wants to physically or mentally harm those who are welcome.

I still don't know who to add ┐⁠(⁠ ⁠˘⁠_⁠˘⁠)⁠┌

⋇⊶⊰❣⊱⊷⋇ ⋇⊶⊰❣⊱⊷⋇⋇⊶⊰❣⊱⊷⋇ ⋇⊶⊰❣⊱⊷⋇

My hobbies : I love art, I draw a lot (on sheets of paper, digital is complicated) I might buy a graphics tablet one day but... it's expensive TvT. I also do quadrobics and climb trees. I take care of my pets, I observe animals outside, I look at the planets with my (small) telescope, I read, I collect vulture culture, I'm listening to music, any other activities in nature, and many other things.

My parents don't know that I have a Tumblr account so if I've been inactive for a while it means I must have deleted it or just abandoned it. I don't like lying to them, but without the alterhuman community on Tumblr, I think my mental health wouldn't be very good... (They don't know I'm alterhuman) I assure you that I am extremely careful on social networks, I know that you shouldn't joke about that. I prefer to warn <3

Later, when I can, I will try to educate the French alterhuman, alterbeing and nonhuman communities.

If you want to see my alterhuman journey, watch after the cut :3 nf

𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼𓋼𖤣𖥧𓋼𓍊𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼𓋼𖤣𖥧𓋼𓍊𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼𓋼𖤣𖥧𓋼𓍊𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼𓋼𖤣𖥧𓋼

I awakened in February 2024. That's when I noticed that I wasn't just a person with a lot of imagination.

But it's a long story ;⁠)

I've never felt completely human since I was born. I have always had needs, instincts, shifts etc. At first I thought it was a game and I thought that ✨ one day I would turn into a magical creature who will save the planet from pollution ✨(I really believed it 😅) In my head, it was simple: I was a magical creature capable of transforming into several different animals/creatures, I had to watch over the Earth but humans were starting to become too dangerous so I found a way to become the child of a family and start a life as a human to learn more about this species and find a solution to fix everything, and later transform into my true form to make everything better.(I shortened the lore I created around this).

Finally, I grew up, and I noticed that this story didn't hold water. I stopped believing in all that, because I had made it all up, right?

All ?

I had effortlessly let go of this crazy story (I didn't really believe in it anymore at the end so...) but I still didn't feel human, I continued to have animal experiences... I returned to the starting point. Why do I feel like this? This time I didn't want to make up a weird story like I did in the past (I wouldn't even believe it anyway)...So I thought I was crazy.

I felt bad, extremely bad about my identity.

This time it wasn't completely because of my gender and species dysphoria, (I didn't know what the word dysphoria meant at the time), I just felt crazy. Deep down, I knew that wasn't really the case. But I didn't listen to myself. Who wants to listen to a crazy person, anyway?

Later, I decided to create a clothing style more related to fantastic animals or creatures, to feel better. (unconsciously, I created gears for myself)

And even later, on YouTube shorts, I found a strange video where I saw a masked person running around with a mask, I was looking for something else, so I didn't really watch the video. If people like to pretend to be an animal, as long as they like it and it doesn't hurt anyone, why not?

And I found another video. Then two. Then three, four, five, six, etc.I finally gave in and watched these videos.

And there is the flash.

I admired the impressive jumps and the magnificent masks based on animals and nature. Before, I thought it was a hobby, looking for the animal that most resembles you, and doing quadrobics. I needed this "hobby" to escape my dysphoria and anxiety...Besides, I thought the members of the community were called furries. But I noticed that in a lot of these videos it said "you don't choose to be a therian" or "theriantropy isn't just gears and quads", so I did some research .

And I discovered the actual definition. I discovered MY definition! This part of myself, A WHOLE COMMUNITY HAS FEELINGS SIMILAR TO MINE?????????!!!!!!!!

I discovered the definition of therian. Then that of otherkin, otherhearted, nonhuman, plantkin, otherlink, ockin, fictionkith, ect.

I learned a lot about these communities, before deciding to learn about myself.

Am I therian psychological, spiritual or physical? Not physical, anyway. But I don't know what's causing all this... Not trauma or anything like that, because I didn't have any traumatic experiences in my early childhood, yet I've felt like this since the very beginning of my life... Could it be a past life? I never had any memories, even if certain sensations or smells of nature seem familiar to me even though I have never experienced that... A neuroatipy? I did a lot of research and I have not found anything that describes anything in my behavior or way of thinking... The multiverse theory? Idk...For now, I think I was just born that way. But I am determined to find out why I am like this.

For now I'm looking for my theriotype... We'll see what I'll do next

My introspection is unlikely to stop, anyway ;⁠)

𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼𓋼𖤣𖥧𓋼𓍊𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼𓋼𖤣𖥧𓋼𓍊𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼𓋼𖤣𖥧𓋼𓍊𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼𓋼𖤣𖥧𓋼

A big thanks for reading! It was a bit long I know but oh well I do what I want >:3

[nicohverse]

9/15/2024 Patch Notes and Merch!

First off- Merch is here! If you missed your chance to support development during the EF2 Kickstarter and you’ve already picked up the Beloved Ghost DLC, this is another great option. There are still some extras of the physical rewards from Kickstarter- Keychains, standees, pins, and plushies- but more pressingly, there’s new apparel!

Until now, the only Entropic Float apparel available was through Print-On-Demand. Redbubble and TeePublic can be very useful tools, but the print quality to cost ratio isn’t always the best, and this new collection has more than simple logo tees. You’ll be able to pick up…

Entropic Float Logo T-Shirt, available as a polyester-spandex blend comfort tee or cotton tee. This design simply features the logo on a black shirt, with a purple collar and sleeves in the comfort tee version.

Renfield Future Tour Comfort Tee, based on the fictional band appearing in Beloved Ghost and the upcoming Entropic Float 2. A light blue shirt with black sleeves, featuring the band’s logo on the front and an assortment of Entropic Float related tour locations on the back.

Shrimps Is Bugs Comfort Tee, the very same design that Touko Nozomi wears during The Tale Of The Secret Knowledge in the DLC. A gray shirt with pink sleeves and a cute shrimp graphic!

Kanatsun Pajama Pants- Black pants with large purple stars! Also a polyester-spandex blend. Wear at home for comfort. Wear out of the house to… Be judged for your fashion sense just like Kanatsun, probably. Has pockets and a drawstring!

Some fun stuff! Of course, I’m always open to suggestions for new items if there’s a specific piece of Entropic Float apparel your heart yearns for. The manufacturer I work with offers a lot of variety, so don’t be afraid to ask! I just get decision paralysis and end up designing for the same clothing types that I’ve had good experiences with before, rather than thinking of something to design for a new shape. I’d be happy to do so on your behalf!

Now, on to the actual update log:

Modified statement following the post-credits scene. The game now mentions the DLC, explaining how to access it if you already own it, and that you can purchase it if you don’t.

Not in-game, but the steam page now properly directs to the DLC as well.

Found and fixed a few more errors in the text.

Beloved Ghost DLC Changes:

Changed the colors of several name badges to improve legibility.

Added more responses to both ‘player conversation’ sections.

Found and fixed a few more errors in the text here as well.

[punsmaster69]

25/DEC/20XX

wooooooooooooooo.

that day.

the one.

the twenty fifth.

the holiday.

if i list what everyone got from everyone, i'll be here all night, so just the most notable stuff.

got some new books. and socks. and a giant blanket. and a sweater.

i'm feeling very cozy.

frisk shrieked when they got one of those rock excavation kits from my bro.

(little known fact: frisk has an innate fascination with rocks.)

asgore gifted them an art kit.

alphys got them a mini salt lamp. they immediately licked it.

i got 'em a tungsten cube.

"Why are you so excited over a hunk of metal?"

"It's not a 𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘬, it's a 𝘤𝘶𝘣𝘦."

"It's a hunk of metal."

"I'm gonna 'hunk' this at your face in a second."

"Do you WANT to kill me?!"

"No. But stop calling it a hunk of metal. It's a tungsten cube."

"Why do you care, anyway? It's MY cube, not yours."

"It's boring."

"Not to me."

"You underestimate my ability to find entertainment in shiny objects."

"Whatever. Suit yourself."

a lot of us had similar ideas, because flowey got a decent amount of (mostly dinosaur related) brick sets.

it's hard not to notice the pieces constantly strewn about flowey's half of their room.

walking over there's like a spike trap.

might be purposeful.

tori also got him some simulator game. he apparently already had the others in the series, so it makes sense.

papyrus has been using the same pots and pans for ages.

they're a bit charred and dented in places.

so, paps got gifted new cookware.

undyne got him utensils, and alphys got the pots.

tori gave him new oven mitts that don't have holes in them, unlike the previous pair.

i got him a giant puzzle cube. it's got so many rows.

it'll take him forever to solve.

he seems excited.

mettaton got him a robe, because apparently paps been admiring his. they match now.

got asgore some new teacups.

his current ones work fine, but didn't have many ideas outside of that. besides, when have extras hurt anyone?

undyne gifted him a book on slang and how to use it.

alphys' face dropped when she saw it.

"have fun with that."

(some kind of disgruntled lizard sound.)

alphys was ecstatic about receiving a manga she's wanted for ages from undyne.

tori got her some t-shirts. the one alphys liked the most is printed with a ramen brand.

undyne was gifted another giant foam sword.

that was the most exciting one for her.

they've been into collecting these specific stuffed animal things lately, so i got alphys and undyne matching ones.

mettaton had a similar gift, but luckily we didn't end up on the exact same stuffed animal.

something i'll probably regret was getting mtt a tub of glitter.

i know he likes the stuff, but i'm realizing now how this is probably ending.

already preparing to have glitter stuck to me every time he's in the vicinity.

...so not much will change, actually.

papyrus gave him a pillow custom-altered to have mettaton's branding on it.

giving mtt an mtt themed item...

he loved it. suggested that paps could help design products with him at some point.

alphys' gift was apparently done earlier, as it was an adjustment that enabled him to sign things without having to worry about carrying pens.

because his finger turns into the pen. kinda neat, honestly.

napstablook's headphone cord was looking a bit rough, so that's what i got them.

simple, but they smiled.

must not have been too bad a choice.

mettaton gifted tickets to a live band. they'll go together at some point.

me and tori, being old nerdy bookworms, exchanged exactly that: books.

frisk gave tori a cutesy handmade card, signed "by frisk and flowey but mostly frisk" on the back.

asgore gave her a necklace.

she stared at it and flatly thanked him before tucking it into her purse.

undyne gave a pie tin. self-explanatory.

probably exactly as expected, grillby was gotten a lot of various kitchenwares.

we have a lot of cooks in our friend group, i realize.

anyway, he was fond of the sturdy glass mugs i picked out for him.

that's the notable stuff gift-wise.

as for stockings, i went with chocolate bars for the other adults.

plain, simple, don't know anyone who doesn't like it.

safe bet, y'know?

got frisk a bag of those fake rock chocolates. the ones that look exactly like real rocks. they always talk about wanting to eat certain rocks; figured this would be a better alternative to shattering their teeth on real ones.

gave flowey a bag of fake coal.

"for being a butthead this year."

"Jokes on you, I'll gladly take this. And I'm STILL being the same next year!"

"didn't expect any different."

"besides, that's why you got coal last year too."

"Does it even count if it's chocolate coal? Not much of a punishment."

"it's the idea."

"The idea?"

"that you're eating rocks."

"Frisk is the one eating the rocks."

"you want real coal next year?"

"No!"

"Give that to Frisk instead."

"wouldn't be a punishment to them."

there's a lot of candy in each stocking, and most have forgotten who got what anyway.

the certain thing was everyone getting a bone in their stocking.

you know who from.

he gives 'em every year, this being no exception.

——

previous rock-paper-scissors decisions on who brings what dish collaborates now into a holiday feast aplenty.

or whatever jolly terminology i'm supposed to use to say: there was a lot of food. it was good. asgore overcooked the rolls a little. edible enough though.

——

somehow still full of energy, paps, mettaton and frisk are belting holiday songs.

napstablook's dj-ing for them.

undyne and alphys are chatting quietly beside the tree.

asgore is trying to help flowey put together that brick set.

his big hands aren't doing great with the small pieces.

grillby's trying to help him help better.

leaned against me, tori is chilling on the couch. i think she's convinced everyone else she's asleep, but under the blanket, her hand lightly tightens around mine every once in a while.

might be that she doesn't want to draw any attention to it.

...

i don't either, so i'll close my eyes too.

[juni-ravenhall]

sso vs the concept of good gameplay. yeah its another fucking book length post >:3

thoughts from someone with a brain full of what good game design means and tons of years of studying and analysing that topic etc, bc of game design being one of my main interests.

basically the major thing i want to say about the hollow woods update aside from "yay forest kinda pretty :)" is that most of it doesn't really consist of what i would call gameplay. this is ofc something u can argue back and forth that im also open to, bc respectful analytical discussion is healthy.

the firefly stuff id personally call something more like "satisfaction play" than gameplay (idk if there's a widespread term that anyone else made up already). there is zero challenge to gathering fireflies - it's on the level of poking a glitter slime simulation app. it might feel satisfying to collect them, but there is no practised skill needed, no thinking or planning or anything. so i don't consider this "gameplay", but "satisfaction play" in itself isn't a bad thing, either. it's not that "gameplay" would be inherently better than "satisfaction play" in every case.

the puzzles are gameplay, i think - not very challenging gameplay (the answers are right there as soon as the puzzle is presented), but it *is* arguably gameplay, since we do call puzzle-solving "gameplay" in general. there is some argument there to be made about what a "puzzle" really means, and what is a simple "request and task" rather than a "puzzle", or what "knowing a real life fact" (what is 180 degrees?) versus "having to figure something out using information available inside the game" might mean for how we view what is or isn't a puzzle. but that's not specific to sso at all (a question for tons of various "puzzles" as seen in tons of various games).

there's nothing wrong in itself with satisfaction play, or with easy puzzles. sometimes that's exactly what an audience wants. but sso has a bigger issue, in that the main gameplay until now has been races (or courses, tracks, but let's say races) and that those races are not especially well designed. that there is very little of really challenging, fun, satisfying, rewarding gameplay in sso - in the terms of what people usually expect from videogames (of the gameplay-based type, not satisfaction play-based).

don't jump to conclusions here, but: i often make a comparison to mariokart, a game with a primary race mechanic. i used to play mariokart a lot because it was just really fun. it was fun alone or with friends or strangers, and it was fun to try to beat my best score, and it was fun to explore different ways of beating the same track. when you design a game, you have to think really heavily about: is the core gameplay loop fun? what makes people want to play this? to *re*play this? does it feel satisfying and exciting? is it better or at the same level as its competitors? what kind of things appeal to the target audience? and so on.

somehow sso has never felt like mariokart (except that one rainbow race, obvs), and i don't mean that sso could just "copy mariokart", this isnt the point. what i do mean is that there has to be a way to make your racing mechanic (if it is a primary mechanic of your game!) actually fun, engaging and challenging in the right way - the good game design way, not the clunky, frustrating and broken way. (yes, i know the engine is spaghetti garbage. no, i don't think that's a get-out-of-jail-free card for every problem that sse has.)

they made some progress with this when they added a completely out-of-place, more challenging race in one of the more recent story quests (i forget exactly when that was, but the race was in hollow woods). the problem then was that within the context of sso and what they have taught the players about their game, this race was thrown at us with no preparation for its challenges, which is bad game design. you want to introduce your player to different challenges and allow them to practice and learn, which didn't happen when we jump from "races with basically no skill needed to pass" to "a race with new things happening everywhere you need to react to while also successfully following a new path" out of nowhere. the intent was good - more challenging and exciting, dramatic races - the execution wasn't great.

they also made some progress with this when they revamped a few of the champs. the revamps aren't perfect, but they're good, and it was a good step towards improving core gameplay mechanics, that not only are genuinely enjoyable to many players but also *fit into the theme of the game* (as in, beating others at horse sports is a common theme within the equestrian theme). (i'm personally in shock that we don't have more champs across the map since all of these years, and that they aren't better already, since it's one of the most "regular videogame quality" content this game has and it shouldve been relatively easy to add more as well as maintaining and improving what was there).

so, back to the new valedale stuff.... sort of. there have been some puzzles in sso before, and some random gameplay (the click timing of searching for gold). the stuff we've had before: it's usually very basic puzzles and random gameplay, partially on behalf of that - for a long time - there doesn't seem to have been that much resources put into fighting with the engine to create new things that weren't in the code before, and partially because of a view held by some people at the company that games for young girls don't need to have any actual well-designed challenging gameplay, and that it's better to make it ridiculously easy so that nobody ever really loses or gets stuck on anything. you don't have to practice to beat any of the races - you might have to practice to get a top score or win a champ, but none of those are required for progress. similarly, there wasn't any real challenge that i remember to the absolute majority of non-racing quests, either. you might have to hit a thing with the right timing once in a while, but it's always easy (other games do this too - see QTE in certain AAA games!), or you might have to remember a number or a word for a minute and answer a question or type in a code correctly.

more or less everytime that there were puzzles in sso, they held your hand through it - whether you wanted to or not. the same is true for the rune puzzles, which have their solution blatantly in front of you as soon as they load. there is no changing actual difficulty level to make it more fitting to the player (which doesn't necessarily have to be a literal level setting - it can come organically, such as giving extra explanations, or slowing a timer down, after a player has failed a task 3 times, etc). yes, you can make the rune puzzles more complex in some sense - a bigger grid, or choosing the type of moves you are worse at - but the solution is always right in front of you, regardless. they hold your hand whether you like it or not, by the type of puzzle that they introduced.

races in sso have a "gold, silver or bronze" system, but we don't actually see that the races have been correctly playtested to properly reflect what a time worthy of each medal should be, and we also don't really gain anything from reaching any medal. i never feel a thing about getting this or that medal, because they mean nothing. it might be a good thing that we're never asked in a quest to "complete this race with a gold medal" or "complete this race under a certain time" or "complete this jumping course with no faults", since that could lock some players out of completing quests (while this is the case for most other games, there is also an important discussion happening around accessibility in game completion).

there are ways to make the medals in races matter, feel accurate, and feel rewarding. there are ways to make races more challenging or more interesting without just being more clunky or frustrating. there are ways to do that while keeping them more or less grounded in reality, and ways to do that while incorporating non-realistic elements that are fun and feel fitting (remembering that this is a game with magic and fantasy from the start). they could have added faults to jumping courses forever ago, they could have added dressage forever ago, and improved on gameplay like pole bending and barrel racing, and so on, and all while allowing players at all skill levels to still complete tasks and complete races, but also allowing players to challenge themselves for rewards.

if the core gameplay - around races and championships, around horse care, horse bonding and horse training - or around magic and protecting what's dear, or around rescue missions with the rangers, or tons of other stuff i can think up that would fit this game - if that stuff felt like actually well designed gameplay, something fun, not frustrating and buggy, challenging in the right ways and rewarding. if all that was done well, then adding some "satisfaction play" with fireflies or some simple puzzles with blatant solutions wouldn't be as easy to criticise.

the closest thing we got to challenging gameplay that you can really clearly *lose* at - that there is a risk and a skill involved - were some of the druid training missions. they still suffered from some clunky frustrations and non-ideal design decisions, but it was an attempt at more regular gameplay (among the non-racing gameplay). comparing the new gameplay in valedale to the druid training, you can see that the risk of failure has gone down a lot or been removed completely, rather than being built upon any more. they also didn't continue to update druid training in any way afaik or to build upon that foundation for other gameplay. (i'm open to that druid training may have been too difficult for a small subset of players, and that's a valid discussion. but i also think it was optional?)

i don't have a really nice tidy thought to end this with, and im really sleepy rn and going to bed. but the overall point is that if sso had other, well-designed and well-functioning gameplay that felt satisfying and rewarding for players, the flaws of the new valedale stuff would be less glaring. as things are, the lack of challenge and the lack of fun gameplay are really glaring problems with it, as well as the lack of reasonable rewards. (it makes very little sense that you have to purchase the items you unlock, but this is the same company that charged whatever x starcoins it was for those recoloured balloon pets, so.)

[arkiwii]

for the ask game: 8 (a quote that means a lot to you), 1 (the moment you started shipping your otp), and 17 (a worldbuilding aspect you have the greatest admiration for)

Fandom (8)

I can't just not quote my favorite quote from NoriZC's scrappaper collection on Saria and Silence's arts; "Because grass and rocks always complement each other over time." It's just beautiful, simple, it's peak, I love it. But it's not in the game or canon so let's throw it away

I really like Frostnova's song, Lullaby - and my favorite quote in this song is "In your dream, in your dream, are you seeing formidable adventures? How will you grow up, little one? Who will protect you?" (Unofficial translation but I like the wording better) It just. Speaks to me to a level I can't imagine. The fear of growing up, to be alone, to have to face the world and life by yourself

And if we don't count songs, a quote I LOVE from Reed's module's story: "Ever since, the fire never truly went out. It burned within (their) eyes, inside (their) heart, in the night of every festivity. [...] Slowly, (they) became used to the heat, to the scorching that stabbed through (their) body with each breath. (They) believed this undying flame would be with (them) for life, even chasing (them) in death. Until (they) received this present. (They) realizes, and it startles (them). So there were people who'd still try to put water on these raging flames." (I they/them Reed, apologizes) It's just beautiful I think, the metaphor of the fire as their pain, and people who cares about them, trying to put it out. It's beautiful

Fandom (1)

OK THIS IS FUN BECAUSE. The answer is before I ever started the game. A friend of mine showed me some characters, specifically Liberi, because they know I love birds SO MUCH. And they showed me Silence, I immediately fell in love with her design. So they told me a bit more about her, mostly how she had a child and was incredibly divorced from Saria. The thing is. I thought it was canon. Like that they REALLY were divorced, canonically. I simply got a lot of affection for these characters and aimed to get them in game, all together.

But if we speak about when I really really started to get into it, my very first ship fanart of Sariasil was done in March 19th this year, so like a month or two after I started the game? And oh god I never stopped drawing them since then

If anyone wonders, this is the first art I drew of them, I never posted it as it was done before creating this blog. Notice how my artstyle changed AHAH

Fandom (17)

Everything. No seriously, how am I supposed to pick only one.

There's many aspects I love but it's just, how all of them just answer to each other, how this world lives, outside of the main story, how everything is linked together and how the world move. I admire this as someone who tries to build a world for a story.

But if I have to pick one, I'd say the political stuff behind each faction. I suck at politics, so I admire this a lot. Arknights has been a huge inspiration for my own project, and I started to think more about politics in my own universe. Just like what I said above, each has consequences, each has influence, and that's how this world lives.

And most of all, each artist behind have their own part, they work together and create this world together, and that's beautiful to me

[egg-emperor]

Maybe that question was somewhere already, but, how your selfinsert and eggman met? What was the first Impression on each other?

Btw i ship you two because i can name no one who would understand him better than you! :D and im always happy to see you on my dash.

Omg thank you so much, it really means a lot to me that you think so, that's a huge compliment with the effort I put into understanding his character and it makes me so happy that you ship us! I'm glad you enjoy my posts and I hope I can continue to deliver 😊💜

I have a lot of different first meeting scenarios that I like to daydream up and write, so I have multiple first encounter ideas of different times and ways it takes place (like depending around/during what game's events I imagine it taking place for example) so I don't set a single solid timeline or plot in stone overall. All the what ifs are endlessly fun to explore!

But there's always the same basis at least which I've talked about a bit throughout my blog but it's been a while and it could've been told better, so I'll happily share again. I like to make my s/i as accurate to me as possible, so I base it on how I came to love him in real life, biggest difference is I'm in the universe the beautiful man exists in for real!

So here we go:

I lived in a small place with a simple life that I found boring and eventful, I longed for adventure and to see more of the world but didn't have the means nor the confidence to get out there if I could. So instead I'd learn about the outside world, admire it from afar, dream of a more exciting life and just hope that it would somehow come one day.

When I was old enough to understand, I'd hear stories about Eggman and his past crimes and the latest news through my desire to learn about the world. But for as long as I'd been alive, he hadn't targeted the place I lived because it was small and insignificant, and it hadn't been caught in the crosshairs of him targeting anywhere nearby either.

But the things I heard from others with experiences before I was born and stuff he was still doing in the present and how common he was in the news caught my interest. I started keeping track and learning of his terrible crimes and atrocities in the past. I knew I should be horrified and disturbed but instead I was moreso curious and fascinated.

The way he'd seemed to have been everywhere and done everything and made such an impact on the world, as negative as it was, was impressive to me. He was the exact opposite of myself living in the middle of nowhere, never doing anything that interesting in my life, and nobody ever knowing who I was and being an outcast and it pulled me in.

I started collecting news coverage that existed and closely following all new stuff. My favorites were photos and footage, whether photos of him during his schemes or videos from when he'd broadcast himself onto devices while making threats or just to mess with people- which isn't something he'd done on a global scale since I'd been alive.

When exactly this took place and what it specifically entailed varies in my multiple concepts but at some point, I do finally get to see him on TV live when he hijacks it! I know I should be scared, it certainly is startling to see him suddenly pop up, make demands and threats, and talk about a world under his control. I know it's very bad and dangerous.

But I couldn't help but be excited to finally get to see him live and finally feel like a part of what's happening to the rest of the world too after years of just hearing about it! While I don't fully acknowledge and admit it to myself, my heart isn't just racing from fear, it's uncontrollable excitement too and I'm mesmerized watching him do his thing.

There are things I can't help but find fascinating and impressive, admirable even. Such as his theatrics, confidence, and crazy desires. Even though he was terrible, dangerous, egotistical, and greedy with it, he did it in such a unique and fun way. He was entertaining to watch and everything he was capable of was as impressive and exciting as scary.

His determination to keep trying and following his dreams and his enjoyment in his terrible crimes shows passionate devotion. The way he builds robots with awesome crazy designs and theme parks, carnivals, circuses, casinos, etc is so fun and cool despite how malicious it is. It's charming how he'll be himself and follow his dreams no matter what!

While I don't admit it to myself, I find him very handsome too. I subconsciously have a big crush on him and I'm admiring him more by the days. I know he's bad all along but he's so charming and entertaining about it, I can't help but be hooked and he makes me feel dizzy! He lives such a crazy, fun, eventful life and I wish I had that too.

Eventually after the broadcast hijacking, Eggman visits multiple locations and deploys his robots to scour areas for useful resources. I live in a place with lots of land and woodland in universe too and I go there a lot for walks and to just wander around and think and dream of traveling the world far beyond this, since I don't have much else to do.

When walking through the woods I hear the sound of a motor and mechanical noises. I peer through trees and bushes and see a Motobug driving along the grass! It's looking for animals and trying to round them up for Eggman to use because he needs a very big army for his new plan. I'm so delighted to finally see some of his tech in person!

Despite the danger, I get as close as I can for a better look and admire how well designed, creative, and fun it is, and how well made it is with such high quality. It's clear that he's very smart and imaginative and I see it for that instead of just "stupid silly toys" like others do. It's cute for a dangerous killing machine and that's part of the charm to me!

I enjoy it a lot for it being the closest I've ever gotten to him a sense, as it's something that he's created and I've finally been lucky enough to see it in person. And after getting to witness him on TV live too, dreams of mine are coming true. I'm finally a part of something he's doing and it's bringing so much more excitement to my life!

And knowing how unpredictable he is, one can never know what he might do next! And that's thrilling to me, though I should be afraid with the terrible things he's capable of, I'm instead always eager to find out because this is huge, finally being one of the locations on his radar for the first time since I've been alive. I finally get to experience it!

I'm very pleased with that encounter with a robot of his. I don't report it even though I should, I just let it go and do its thing. Nobody else finds out his robots were scouring the area to report on it and I like keeping the secret, knowing something about Eggman the rest of the public doesn't. And I didn't want them ruining it before it's truly began.

At a later date, news breaks that Eggman is attacking the city that I live just on the outskirts of and I'm in disbelief! Before I can even properly hear all the details of the report, for the first time I don't wait to hear every precious detail like I usually do and instead rush out because it could be a once in a lifetime thing and I can't miss this!

I don't even worry about the danger nor not having confidence to go out when there's probably a lot of people despite usually being uncomfortable, I just need to get there and see what's happening, that's all that matters to me. I manage to approach the scene as closely as possible while still keeping distance from the danger and heart of the chaos.

I climb a building and hide behind a tower on the roof and can see there's fire and shooting and explosions in the distance as robots are attacking, the action is gripping and gets my adrenaline up. But what makes my heart race faster is when I hear something in the sky and look up to see the man himself in his Egg Mobile watching it all!

I barely get to see much of his face as his back is to me watching it from a distance himself too, but closer than I am. But I can see enough of him to see that he has a big smile on his face, looking very smug and laughing. Just that and the fact that he's really here has my jaw drop in awe and then smile uncontrollably at his infectious joy!

After standing there watching, I don't expect him to look over his shoulder, he must've been looking for the best area of escape when he was done and he looked into my direction! He actually sees me and just as he notices and perks up in curiosity to why I'm there on my own, I run. He puts it down to me being scared and I didn't look to be enemy forces coming to stop him in my casual wear.

That moment was so small and brief but it stuck with me for weeks after. I keep replaying the sight of him admiring his robots wreaking havoc and the sound of his laughter. It was deeply precious to me to finally get to see him in person and be so close to him, albeit still many feet away but we were really there together in the same place!

I start to imagine how things could've gone differently if I'd stayed. Would he have questioned me? Would he have attacked thinking I was going to try to stop/report him or just for fun and to make sure nobody goes unscathed? I would've found all of those potential scenarios cool! But unfortunately I ran because I felt I had to. Still, I treasure it.

For a while I think that's the last of being lucky enough to get to catch. I mean getting witness a broadcast hijacking, then seeing a robot in person, then the man himself? That's way too much luck! I'm appreciative of what I got to see and will treasure it forever. Things seem quiet for a while after all the chaos and it looks like he's done with the place.

It's been a while since I last went to that certain woodland area for a walk and decide to go again and at night because it's been hot and because I'd like late night peace and privacy in my quiet place. Part of me hopes to see a robot or something even though it's unlikely they'd still be around when he's seemingly done with his work here.

I'm walking, listening to music, entertaining myself with my thoughts to avoid disappointing myself and- suddenly I bump into something and fall back. Never in million years would I ever expect to look up and see none other than Eggman! My glasses fell off when I fell and when I put them on and see him clearly, I still can't believe it!

We both didn't notice each other in the dark, with me looking down and Eggman's shaded glasses making it even harder to see in it. He squints and looks down at me through the darkness and teasingly says "What are you doing out here this late, little boy?" He has a playful approach and smirks because I look stunned and he's amused.

He thinks I might be scared but I'm actually just frozen in awe that he's really right there in the flesh in front of me. I finally pull myself up but still feel stuck in place, unsure of whether I should run or not. I also don't know how to answer his question and just manage to mumble that I was out walking and my breaths sound shaky.

He strokes his chin in wonder with a "hmm". Something about me is familiar. It quickly clicks with him as he connects the dots, not only did he catch me watching during his attack on the city, he also saw me in a Motobug camera when reviewing the footage to see if it saw good land to build on and that's how he knew this was a good place for it.

He points this out to me and says we finally meet at last, then asks if there's any reason he keeps seeing me around. I don't want him to get the wrong idea and think I was trying to spy on him and gather information to try to stop him so despite the shyness, blush in my cheeks, and small smile, I say I'm a big fan and have admired from afar for a while.

He's smart enough to still be wary in case it is a trick but at the same time he can't help but smile at that as he says "I'm pleased that you recognize my brilliance." His confidence and happiness from the ego boost he gets from that is precious to me. There's a funny warm feeling in my chest seeing the pleased grin that slightly tugs at his cheeks.

He's just as handsome in person as the videos and pictures. He has a gleaming white smile, cute big pink nose, and big magnificent fluffy mustache with soft round cheeks hidden behind it. He's so big and tall with his big round belly that looks soft and cuddly, big bear paw sized hands and feet, and long sleek legs. He looks like a big bear of these woods!

He looks stunning and I can't help but admire it. Eggman can certainly tell that my admiration is genuine by the way I look at him as I get lost in his beauty and don't realize how obviously I'm gawking. And there's no way I would've known of the hidden camera in the Motobug but I looked so happy and fascinated while trying to get close to it to admire it.

He can't let me roam around after all that I've seen in the past few encounters of him and his creations. Sure I didn't report it before but he'd rather assure the chances of it happening are zero. So he asks me to come back with him and says that if I enjoy his work so much then I should come serve him. I can't believe my ears and accept immediately!

He's surprised that it was that easy and is used to having to make demands and threats, so he's happy to see such enthusiasm. While I know I should be afraid to go away with such a dangerous infamous man, it would be a dream come true! I'm instantly ready to go away with him and don't need any prep. I get in his Egg Mobile and away we go.

The idea is that I stay with him while he works on the land by the woods that he took an interest in after seeing it in the Motobug footage. It's a good place to find animals for his robots and build a new base as it would be well hidden. I'm useful to keep around because I know when people are unlikely to be around to potentially stumble upon the site.

His first impression of me is that I'm a funny fan of his and that my admiration is pathetically cute and most importantly useful and ego stroking. He finds my eagerness to help him, keep him safe, and make sure he doesn't get caught very valuable for him, and how I become a servant in happily bringing him things he needs whenever he asks.

My feelings on him don't just remain the same as when when I first started to take an interest in him, they get stronger. Getting to know him for real and finding he really is as charming and admirable as I saw him is a delight. And it gets harder for me to escape the fact that I find him very attractive for his strong personality and beauty.

He still keeps a lot of secrets from me he can't have me knowing just in case but getting to learn anything and seeing around his base and his creations is a great joy. Especially when the man himself is proudly showing them off to me. He likes how I share multiple of his interests, love to listen to him talk, and gush over it and praise it all highly.

Eggman was ready to entertain any delusions that made me a fan but is pleased when he finds I know exactly who he is, what he wants, and how terrible he is but specifically admire and support it. I love him as he is, want him to succeed in his selfish goals, and get everything he wants. It feels good to be understood and loved for the real him.

My loyalty and enthusiasm making me useful to him and boosting his ego makes him consider keeping me around for longer, after he was initially planning on letting me go eventually. It would also be best to make sure I never have the chance to tell anyone else about him after going to know him on this level. And I don't want to leave anyway!

I have to keep proving my worth so he knows he made the right choice and that my admiration is real for sure and not just a really convincing agent, though there's no way it could be faked to this degree. Despite his caution we get along well and get closer and he's more certain and likes having me around to serve him and stroke his ego.

Things progress from there and I start faller for him harder and he enjoys having me as his assistant and servant more over time. It eventually leads to point where we first become intimate, when he takes the last step in assuring that I'm definitely not an agent and 100% real in my love for him- by asking for me to kiss him hehe 🥰💜

[alln64games]

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

JP release: 21th November 1998

NA release: 23rd November 1998

PAL release: 11th December 1998

Developer: Nintendo

Publisher: Nintendo

N64 Magazine Score: 98%

Often heralded as one of the greatest games of all time, I really don’t need to go into great detail as to what makes Ocarina of Time so amazing, as it provided one of the first epic adventures in 3D in a way that felt real. For this, I played a fan made PC port of the game that is a very faithful recreation. I used a few enhancements, such as camera control and the ability to assign items to the D-pad, plus a texture pack which added detail but still kept the feel of the N64 original.

The game starts out in Kokiri Forest, which serves as a tutorial hub that manages to not feel like a tutorial. This is a small playground that lets you play with aspects of the game’s control and targeting systems, the context sensitive A-button, but all the lessons are completely optional and are for the player to find. This kind of discovery was a great feeling as a kid, and the starting area is designed in such a way that if you know what you’re doing, you can very quickly grab your sword and shield and get on with the game.

I feel like Kokiri Forest is overlooked for how well it introduces Ocarina of Time, as a lot of the stuff is now just second nature in video games, but Ocarina had to teach everything from scratch. Even simple things like pots respawning to collect more rupees is taught by the rarity of rupees and the need to buy the Deku Shield, and the little pond areas introduce how jumping is done in the game.

Dungeons are a big part of Ocarina of Time, and the game eases you into them with the Deku Tree, while also showing off the verticality possible thanks to the N64’s power. There are a few little tricks like trapping you in the slingshot room until you use it. Unfortunately, Navi does decide to butt in by explaining specific actions like moving blocks and diving, running the freedom of the starting village, but as you the action for interacting with a block changes based on if you’re still and moving, I can see people missing one of the actions and getting stuck.

The game directs you upwards to perform a big jump to get to the lower areas of the tree, and uses deku sticks to activate torches and remove obstacles, showing the kind of ways that you can interact with in the game.

After the Deku Tree, we get a significant gap until the next dungeon as the game opens up to a large expansive world, a technique still used in games today. You’ll be directed towards the castle by a really annoying owl (with confusing did you not hear me or did you not not hear me? yes or no questions), but the size of Hyrule Field is specifically designed that (without knowing the way and rolling to move faster) night will fall, a way to introduce how time works in the game, and how it moves in certain areas.

Castle Town is filled with NPCs to talk to and side quests that are hinted at for you to start later on – although first is the obligatory stealth section, but with a fixed camera to make it easier (was Ocarina of Time the start of the forced stealth section trend?), where you’ll meet Zelda as you learn the quest of the game. Once the “main” quest starts, you need to start figuring out things yourself, with the first big hurdle figuring out what to actually do in Goron City, which is likely where a lot of kids got stuck for a while, as the solution lies in revisiting somewhere across the map.

Dodongo’s Cavern waits to introduce its name until you reach the main central room. Here you can see a lot of paths, both on the current level and upstairs, but this guides you far less than the deku tree as you have to figure out how to navigate the dungeon yourself. It also presents an added danger as your deku shield can be destroyed by fire enemies – you are no longer in a kid’s world, and this dungeon does a great job at portraying that.

After this, you have access to even more of the world, as you’re directed to Zora’s Domain. You also get introduced to magic beans, which let you plant in patches of soft dirt – they’ll take years to grow, so this is the first in-game hint as to what will happen later on. Zora’s Domain also teaches you about bottles (although if you do side missions, you can get some before here), which are used to collect certain items for later on, as well as letting you carry a fairy to revive Link. You also need to go to Lake Hylia, where you can find the wonderful fishing minigame.

After solving the puzzle to get inside Lord Jabu-Jabu, you enter the next dungeon with pulsating walls and dangerous electric jellyfish. This one is very difficult to navigate first time round, and you have to use Ruto to activate switches as she accompanies you for part of this dungeon – a concept revisited in Wind Waker. I like the style of this dungeon, but it’s definitely my least favourite.

With all three spiritual stones in hand, you head to the Temple of Time – grabbing the Ocarina of Time from the fleeing Princess Zelda along the way as Link gets hold of the Master Sword, only to wake up after 7 years in slumber. He’s now an adult, and the world outside is much darker, with a destroyed Hyrule Market overrun by Zombies. A mysterious new character, Shiek, is on hand to guide Link towards the temples he needs to visit to awaken the sages of the land.

You get directed to Kakariko Village, where you need to use clues given by NPCs to find one of the coolest objects in the game – the hookshot.

The Forest Temple is the first dungeon as an adult, and has some very unnerving music (the music is amazing across the entire game) and some really neat ideas of manipulating the dungeon itself – something else that would be revisited in more detail in future Zelda games. Here you get the adult equivalent of the slingshot, the bow and arrow. It’s a very unnerving dungeon, and ends with a practice for the final boss of the game.

You can do the temples in different orders, although some optional areas may be locked off – the map for the fire temple, for example, needs the bow. The fire temple also needs a special tunic that you need to get first (although people have completed the dungeon without it), here you get the Megaton Hammer, which is used to activate rusty switches and smash harder rocks, before fighting a fire-breathing dragon. I like to use the Giant’s Knife here, which is a powerful sword that can only last a few hits (a permanent one is a reward for one of the longer side quests of the game).

The Water Temple has a really bad reputation, and I can see why. It’s not as outrageously hard as its reputation, but it does a few things differently. The biggest difference is how it treats small keys. Usually they’re on the way to close to the locked door they’re needed for, but the Water Temple is a bit more open ended, with keys hidden all over the place. One in particular (under the central room) is very easy to miss. You also need to change the water level a lot, so exploring it can be a faff. Lastly, the iron boots needed to be constantly equipped and removed, and could only be done so from the pause menu (luckily the version I played, like the 3DS version, lets you assign it to an item button).

Eventually, you’ll be unable to progress as adult Link and will have to return to the past as child Link – something alluded to by the man in the Windmill complaining about someone playing a song on the ocarina in the past (and then teaching you the song, which you will then teach him in the past). The game ups the horror vibes a lot and, if you wait until this point to go back in time and head to the well, you’ll also feel much more vulnerable due to not having access to a lot of your items. This is to get the Lens of Truth, needed for the Shadow Temple (technically you can do it without, but you need to know the game extremely well).

With lots of creepy vibes and invisible enemies and objects, the Shadow Temple really freaked me out as a kid – to the point that I backed out after getting the hover boots and did the Spirit Temple, and I even stopped playing the game, only returning after completing Majora’s Mask years later. It seems really tame now as I know what to expect, but the unknown really was too much for me back then. This temple – and the next – are much more linear, although with really fun bosses.

The Spirit Temple is fascinating as it needs to be completed in two parts – one half as a kid and the other as an adult. You get a really nice shield which is used to reflect light and certain attacks and, like a few other items from the adult dungeons, it’s a shame it doesn’t have much use elsewhere in the game.

After this, you then have access to the final dungeon, which consists of mini challenges loosely based on the various temples, before you take on Ganondorf. Of course, there are still side quests to complete.

The hunt for heart pieces is the most significant kind of collectible, but the trading and mask side quests are also great. Hidden throughout the land are also 100 Gold Skulltulas, many of which only appear at night. The rewards for the first 50 are pretty good: bigger wallets, a heart piece and a special stone that rumbles when you’re near a secret. The final 50 only grants you 200 rupees which, while you can collect it multiple times, is completely pointless at that point in the game as you’ll spend most of the game with a full wallet anyway. A gold coloured tunic would have been a better option (perhaps it can have protection for fire and water so you don’t need to change tunics). 

The lack of things to use money for is probably one of the bigger weaknesses of the game. The dungeons and overworld have bonus puzzles, most leading to money or the Gold Skulltulas. It feels like a waste when the reward you get is completely pointless, but that’s only a minor issue.

Ocarina of Time is still a wonderful game. The world does feel a bit small by today’s standards, but for its time, it was phenomenal, and in many ways, Ocarina of Time showed how 3D adventures could and should be done. It’s an important piece of video game history that is still great to play today.

Remake or remaster?

Something similar to what the fan PC port offers would be lovely for Ocarina of Time, combined with some of the enhancements of the 3DS version.

Official Ways to get the game

There is no way to buy a new copy of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the only official way to play is to rent it via the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pak.

[stars-shiny-collection]

Star’s guide to Masuda Hunting in Scarlet and Violet

So. You want to masuda hunt in Scarlet and Violet. But you don’t know where to start or you’re confused about how it actually works. Well I made a little guide to hopefully help you get started!

Note that this guide is 100% beginner friendly so if you’re already familiar with some aspects feel free to skip some stuff!

What is a masuda hunt and how is it different from an egg hunt?

An egg hunt is when you breed two compatible Pokemon from the same region, this hunt does not have raised shiny odds.

A masuda hunt is when you breed two compatible Pokemon from different regions, which drastically raise the odds to 1 in 683 without the shiny charm and 1 in 512 with the shiny charm. The key to this hunting method is the parents of the Pokemon.

The regions in the game are tied to the languages. For example, if you put your game in French then all the Pokemon you catch are set to be French as well. So you can trade for a Pokemon from *any* other region to masuda hunt.

How do I breed?

To breed in Scarlet and Violet, you need to set up a picnic with the Pokemon you’re breeding in your team. Make sure you don’t accidentally have another Pokemon in your team that’s compatible with the Pokemon you’re breeding. You need a male and female Pokemon, and the child will be the female’s species. Except for breeding with a Ditto, which can breed with any Pokemon regardless of gender and whose eggs always are the non-Ditto species.

Once you set up it becomes a simple waiting game, just sit by the picnic basket next to the table and occasionally check.

How do I know if my Pokemon can breed?

You can check to see if Pokemon are compatible by looking up their egg groups, Pokemon need to be in the same egg group in order to breed. Unless like mentioned before it’s Ditto. There’s also the no eggs discovered egg group, which can’t breed. This includes baby pokemon, legendaries, (most) mythicals and special Pokemon like the paradoxes.

But this is really slow, can I make it quicker?

Yes you can! And I’d recommend you do because it is very slow to hunt, especially in Scarlet and Violet since half the hunt is simply sitting still collecting eggs.

The first way to speed things up is to use a sandwich with egg power. This increases the amount of eggs you get and decreases the steps needed to hatch them. 

I personally wouldn’t recommend wasting herba mystica on an egg power lvl 3 sandwich, but there’s a great lvl 2 one! #17, the great peanut butter sandwich. All it takes is banana, butter and peanut butter so it’s really low cost for the boost you get. Just make them before collecting eggs, and make them before hatching them. 

The second way to speed things up is with specific abilities. If you put a Pokemon with Flame Body, Steam Engine or Magma Armor in your party it halves the steps needed to hatch eggs.

Though do note that some Pokemon require more steps than others to hatch. It still isn’t a fast shiny hunt!

Some extra tips

-I’d highly recommend just getting a Ditto from a different region, it’s most common for these hunts! If you’re not sure how, the Pokemon Home app has a GTS. People often put Ditto’s from their own region in there to trade with ones from different regions.

-Don’t hatch them in a place with a lot of “aggressive” Pokemon. They can run up to you while you’re in the hatching animation and force you into a battle.

-You can make things more fun by hunting multiple Pokemon at once! We call this an egg roulette, and it wasn’t possible before SV. Personally I’m shiny hunting the starters by putting a few ones in my team with a Ditto. Just make sure the ones from your region are all the same gender so they don’t breed amongst eachother instead

-You don’t need to have a recipe unlocked to make it. If you have the ingredients, you can make the sandwich in creative mode. This is especially easy for the lvl 2 egg sandwich I mentioned earlier since it’s only 3 ingredients

-You can release multiple pokemon at once via Home! So you're not stuck to slowly releasing them individually

And that’s it! Go out there and hunt and have fun! Feel free to ask me any questions at all, I’m happy to answer them! 

Also this is my first time making a guide like this so please lmk how I can improve

[mooshs-crack-headcanons]

One personal critique of totk of mine is the Sage abilities

All of them - except Tulin, his is A+++++ I'm so proud of him - they all... kind of suck. They work for their respective dungeons yeah but once you finish them? 😬 The second best I'd have to say is Yunobo's his roll ability is really useful when it comes to cave exploration and depths voyages for rock breaking but then you have Mineru's who is handing for traversal in gloom and lava situations but not at all in combat, Riju's which I only use for when I need emergency extra damage in critical situations and Sidon's the actual fucking worse with his discount Wish dot com Daruks protection and the water slash ability that doesn't hit the opponent 80% of the time.

And then things get even worse when you're running around and the following you and either constantly in your way or constantly spawning and despawning and respawning every five fucking seconds it gets annoying where I only now have Tulin and one other sage to handle whatever situation I'm in and if there is none I'm only traveling with Tulin because he's the best and most reliable, important, all around useful to have and the only time I turn him off is rare situations where I specifically don't want him to kill certain enemies like the rock octarocks that can fully refurbish your weapons because he's THAT GOOD. He's like a little feathery death machine.

Honestly the Sages (except Tulin I CAN'T stress that enough) are such a downgrade game play wise in comparison to the champions in breath of the wild. The champions were all balanced, reliable, and each one important and tailored to each aspect of the overall the the entire time you played:

Revail - focused on vertical traversal, got you places quicker and convenient. Also could be such a life saver to be escape from dire combat situations like you don't know how many times this bird helped me survive guardian encounters. Tulin's ability is a lot like his in a way and serves the same purpose, only sending you horizontal instead of vertical and while I do miss the vertical wind I do get why they made it that way since we have asend now which sort of does the same thing but on a slower, situational scale but I do very much appreciate the horizontal wind and it's also just as helpful.

Daruk - focused on defense, gives you three free hits before enemies can damage you and can absolutely save you life in dire encounters there's not much left to say, it's a fairly simple ability but it's one of the most helpful that will you will use and probably never take off for the entire game the moment you get it. Sidon's is the equivalent of this. It sucks. A lot. Only has one use and you have to walk your way over to his tall lank ass to activate it instead of just pressing a button (we will come back to this point later)

Urbosa - focuses on offense, my God. This is the most overpowered combat focused ability like. Ever. No wonder its the second largest to take to charge. There's so much versatility when it comes to this move, it activates as you charge up an attack you you get that charge move you'd get anyway without it AND an enemy deleting area of effect in such a large radius???? Insane. Riju's is sort of the equivalent but you have to do it with arrows (again and the bullshit walking up to her to physical activating it which I've personally accidentally triggered her ability at least A THOUSAND times when I'm just mashing A to collect stuff) and it's a lot less powerful, which hey I get this one I'm not too mad at being less stronger than the original with just how insane stupid overpowered Urbosa's fury was.

Mipha - health/life, this is the one ability that statistically probably doesn't get used as much as the other three (depending on what kind of player you are 💀) but I'd argue it's literally the most helpful out of the four. It's quite literally you're free fairy in a bottle, your free escape death because your stubborn horse Romeo kicked you off the bridge of Hylia twelve separate times card (true story) If you're stupid plan fails and you get practically one shotted by a lynel it's Mipha whose saving your ass AND SHE EVEN GIVES YOU EXTRA YELLOW HEARTS!!! Mipha is amazing and it sucks totk didn't give an equivalent ability because it would've personally helped me during SO MANY frustrating moments in my first initial playthrough it's such a same.

My point here is the champions abilities were all as equally useful and balanced, as you unlock them you use them all playthrough and never really stop using them and they naturally become a part of the game play loop and it's nice. The Sages aren't like that besides Tulin and a occasionally Yunobo and Mineru they're just... meh. Forgettable. AND THE WAY YOU ACTIVATE THEM??? THE ACTUAL FUCKING WORST. In breath of the wild the champions abilities were so easy and each of them had a dedicated button to hold down (except Mipha's whose activates automatically the second you reach zero hearts) and it was all so convenient. There's no reason the Sages powers should work the way they do, having to run over to them mostly during battle to press a for the ability to come up only for them to run away from the the mere second you need them and just keep doing so again usually in battle when you NEED them (I'm looking directly at you Sidon) AND GOD FORBID YOU TRY AND PICK UP A GROUP OF ITEMS LYING ON THE GOUND. It's all so miserable. There's no reason Nintendo thought it'd be better than convenient dedicated button presses like the last game there was no reason!! But at least and not shockingly Tulin proves again to be the best sage and his ability has it easy to use and the prompt automatically pops up when you pull out the paraglider, when you're the most likely to use it anyway.

I hope but highly doubt in enviable story DLC that we get enhanced versions of the sage abilities like botw did and maybe, just maybe the option to toggle button use for them. I feel like that would help even just a little bit.

I don't know how to end this post but look at him. I'm proud of him:

Best Sage :)

[aquabuggy]

I’d say please don’t re-post these images but honestly why would you. This thing sucks. 🧡

Walmart Santa Ball Game Or Whatever

Alright look. Look okay, I’ve seen a lot of water games. A lot! I own a lot too. I’ve seen the very best these games can possibly be as a result of toy designers transforming the basic concept of a water game and going ham with it. There’s some wonderful stuff out there and I hope I’ve been able to enlighten some of you to it! But my point is, one could easily assume I’ve been spoiled by these fantastic toys, and have lost appreciation for the lesser quality ones.

But it’s just not true! I love cheap water games! I love bootlegs and knockoffs and questionable design choices and poorly thought through ideas that result in a hilarious yet admittedly charming end product. They’re the bulk of my collection for good reason. They’re silly, and I like silly.

This toy though? This particular one? Is not charming, nor is it silly enough to allow me to forgive it. Let me explain.

This piece of shit sucks! Oh my god! It looks so simple right? How could this simple festive ball catching game go wrong? Well! I’m glad you asked!

Whoever designed and produced this toy, did not care! At all. At any point in the process.

Let’s go over it. First things first, this is very clearly a reskinned baseball themed game the toy company already had on hand. The backdrop is a simplistic Santa clip art they probably bought off Getty during an end of November sale for 60 cents in a value pack. Lazy start sure, but not unforgivable yet. Hey, you could even say it earns some silly points, having the placement of the mitt look like it’s bursting out of Santa, clearly not attached to his hand, and the suggestion that his cap has grown a sudden taste for violence, having sprouted hands and a bat to swing. These choices were most certainly not intentional however, so I am hesitant to reward them. That bat by the way, serves 0 function. It’s also a molded piece that is a separate part from the tank that’s glued in after the backdrop is placed. They could have left it out entirely, and they chose not to.

So the actual game right? The objective is to catch those colorful balls in the mitt right? That’s what you, understandably, would assume. But no! You can’t! It is physically impossible! At most, you can catch ONE ball in the mitt. One. I have played this game endlessly, and there is no amount of patience that will allow you to fit or stack any more than a single ball. That’s it. That’s the whole game. It takes seconds to complete, a single button press. THAT’S IT. I began to theorize at some point that maybe the goal was to pick a specific colored ball and attempt to catch it, until I realized I was definitely putting more thought into it than they ever did.

I received this toy unopened. This thing, tricked parents that likely looked fondly upon their childhood playing with water games, and took advantage of their want to pass that nostalgia on, and thus took up valuable space in some poor kids stocking. And even the kid must’ve known this thing was junk, never played with it, and it likely sat in their basement for years before someone found it again, judging by the residual mildew smell the packaging had. I bought this off of eBay for a total less than $10 after shipping and tax, and I STILL feel ripped off.

I can say with certainty that this is the very worst water game I own. I hate this thing. And I can’t even destroy it because I need to keep it as a testament to just how lazy toy companies can get with their holiday cash grabs. MERRY CHRISTMAS