#i mean they already went and named their npcs. they could guide us with naming ours too!

[mytrainline]

i feel like, rpgs going forward, especially fantasy ones, should have some kind of name generator/ suggestion box for your character’s origin & culture in character creation.

like, sure you can look up names online + theres some great name generators out there, but if you’re new to a world with its own lore and culture, it would be great to know beforehand where their names took inspirations from

like, imagine going into a game where you choose your usual character creation things, and then you plop into a world with the name like theobald mcenglishton, with your character origin apparently inspired by old rennaisance italy, and the setting is inspired by colonial spain

[claire-starsword]

Shining Force Unused/Removed Content

“But Claire didn’t you have a world book to translate?” Yeah! And then I had to check a tiny detail on another book, and saw something weird, and TCRF wasn’t helpful, so I went down a 140+ page long forum thread and downloaded a ROM editor. It happens. And now you’re gonna hear about it.

So, usually i gloss over the gameplay data on these guide books because I assume people have this information elsewhere already due to hacking and FAQ and the like. That might have been a mistake though, look at this peculiar entry on the encyclopedia’s monster data:

Mephisto

Movement: 6

Weapon: none

Uses Demon Breath. As a boss monster, regenerates HP every turn.

If you don’t know/remember, Mephisto is the JP name of the Shining in the Darkness final boss, later revealed to be Darksol and Mishaela’s kid. Looks like he skipped on helping his dad here.

The encyclopedia notes the HP regen of every other boss, but none use this specific phrasing of “as a boss monster”. This makes me think he was gonna be a boss on some battle, and then a regular enemy later on.

The cut feels understandable to me though, he and Darksol are pretty much identical, no point in having both in a game. And if there was any idea already of establishing a lore/connection between the characters as well, putting him as a regular enemy would ruin that. Given that there’s no artwork to go on, it’s also possible that this was actually a generic demon enemy, and the name was just a coincidence and would be confusing. I kinda doubt this possibility though since there’s plenty of other connections between this game and SitD, at least when it comes to design. Hard to believe they’d forgot or ignore the big bad.

Sadly that’s all the info we have to go on for this guy. I’ve looked over with the editor and found no trace of him. Most I can say is that there are a couple Yogurt placeholders among the enemy map sprites, and a couple unused data entries for Dark Mages. But that could be anything. Unless there’s some oversight with the editor, Mephisto was either fully removed, or never implemented to begin with, and the guide book just published out-of-date info by mistake.

The next monster is the opposite, though

Green Golem

Movement: 4

Weapon: none

Can move on water, and has high attack.

I’m legit afraid that this is an enemy from the game that i just forgot and am embarrassing myself here, because the beast is complete. Graphics, data, you name it.

By graphics I mean it is just a color swap of the regular Golem, as its name implies. Stats wise, it has -3 attack and -2 HP compared to the Golem, meaning it’s an weaker enemy. Makes sense since it’s likely made for the naval battles in chapter 5, while regular Golem debut in chapter 6. Still, with how hard Golems are to hit in the regular game, i’m very glad they did not put a thing with the same defense in the previous chapter.

Well, not that glad. On the other hand, according to the editor...

Its localized name is Weed.

And I kinda need to see this in an actual screenshot right NOW.

I do need to finish this post first. Here’s the last, smaller oddity in the encyclopedia’s monster data:

Storm Rover

Movement: 6

Weapon: Swords

Be careful as it can attack with lightning.

Storm Rover is the JP name for the Shellfish enemy of the naval battle. In the final game they can poison, not attack with lightning. It seems the naval battle went through a lot of changes at some point.

Saying they equip swords is also weird but there’s a lot more mistakes about weapons in this guide, like saying the dragonewts use swords and the conches uses spears, so these might be just mistakes. Anyway still shows that this list is goofed and was probably printed by mistake.

That’s it for enemies, but there’s a few more unused NPC sprites, i think.

I don’t remember any of these in game, but do let me know if i’m wrong, it’s hard to remember all NPCs. I will be kinda mad if the cat is in and i just forgot, given that it’s cute as heck, and cats were my first act of hacking in a Shining game. Why was the SF2 cat not like that to begin with.

Now, on to text data. The thing about text data is that it is a list of 2000+ strings. And even though the event data is beautifully organized in diagrams in this editor, I cannot emphasize enough that it is a very elaborate editor, it’s still tough to sit and comprehend all that, especially in a single day. So I can’t say I have fully checked everything out for now, but you know me by now, i definitely did try. Here’s what I’ve noticed.

Lines 41 and 42 here from Simone’s introduction seem to go unused. To be fair, they don’t add anything.

Alef has a line set up for the boat HQ, even though she isn’t available until after the boat battles. The other late game characters (Torasu, Lyle, Bleu, Musashi, Hanzou, and Adam) all have empty strings for this instead. [Update: I have since investigated and this is an issue in the english version only. Shoutout to whoever in the localization loved Alef very much.]

Khris seems to have a surprised line set up for if you manage to enter Alterone’s castle before the merchant puts in a good word for you, which should not be possible in regular gameplay. [Update: I have since investigated this one too and it can be seen with walk through walls cheats, showing Khris is also in a different position of the map as well. The JP version is even more scandalous.]

Anri also seems to have an extra line to continue to reject Max when they meet for the first time, but from what i recall, Nova immediately comes up to convince her he’s telling the truth. Perhaps you were meant to do something to convince her instead.

Otrant also seems to have a line reacting to Max being turned into chicken, however from what i recall, his room is inaccessible when that happens.

Plenty of other inaccessible NPCs seem to have lines set up for this as well, however they are just reusing lines from the NPCs you do talk to. Those generic lines like “what’s a hen doing here?” and such.

Update: I’m sorry for Spreading Misinformation Online, you can explore all of Manarina as a chicken in this game so these lines are not unused, you can even heal yourself off the chickening by leaving Manarina or entering the next battle. The GBA version fixes this oversight by locking you out of a good chunk of the map so i got confused.

But enough of these minor details. We’re here for deleted content. We’re here for plot lines being dumped in the trash. Bring in the kings.

That’s right baby, it’s Adam and Cain losing plot lines again, it’s not just the localization that did it to them. Ever noticed how Adam do not get the usual “character has joined the force” message, and kinda just appears in your team during the Chaos battle? Yeah, that might have been a hasty fix. There are traces of a bigger scene here with Adam, Darksol and Cain, upon which Adam would join the force with the proper message.

Only a single line of these events has survived, in which Adam urges Max to take the Chaos Breaker. This might mean you would have the sword before fighting Chaos, as the pre-battle dialogue with Chaos is right after this in the data. The remaining lines have been wiped, though the code referring to them remains there along with the code for loading character portraits, which is how we get the handy diagram above.

Unfortunately I don’t know enough of this editor to check if there’s leftover animation data on this cutscene. Sprite data relating to it does seem to be present in the map though, check it out:

does this remind you of something?

:)

put this one in the pile of “the GBA version is just what the devs intended all along” with the others. Granted, “intended” might not be the correct word since they did cut it. Why? Who knows. One possibility I see is that they might have felt a flashback would be confusing, the game doesn’t do any kind of perspective change, unlike the GBA version which does hop between Max, Narsha and Ramladu’s POVs every chapter. While Adam loredumping in the og version might be a more boring way of conveying the plot, it is also more in line with the game’s presentation. A flashback might have also posed technical difficulties, like adding a sepia tone to the screen when no other scene requires it, etc. Though SF2 does have a sepia scene, so if that was the case they figured it out eventually.

Another reason might be that avoiding this scene helps hiding how messy it is. Cain and Chaos get beaten up and corrupted, which makes sense. Max on the other hand also gets beaten up enough to get amnesia, and yet does not get captured or killed, but instead, blown across the ocean??? Somehow???? The GBA version adds the concept that Cain’s armor can warp space and teleport, though seemingly putting a heavy strain on the user’s body. While it’s not explicitly said, we can assume Max’s armor is the same, and that he used it to escape, making his injuries and amnesia not just from Darksol. I’m still connecting a lot of dots on my own here, but it’s something of an explanation, while the classic game had no foreshadowing for this. Even if the deleted dialogue here explained, it would feel more coming out of nowhere.

That’s all speculation though. There might be more clues on unused lines of the japanese version, but i don’t have an editor for that. I have heard tales of a debug mode though, so i’ll look into that. For now i leave you with this monster of a post

[lazylanewrites]

Idk how to use tumblr so I dump these shits here and hope for the best. The titles mean nothing, just place holders bc I make it up on the spot. This is pornographic but how bad could it be?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WHOOP_unedited

He was nothing like his twin, not in the slightest. He was tall and lean, dense but featherweight, whereas Dexter had a brooding figure that was kept up by regular gym activity. Danny had brown shoulder length hair kept down most times, only allowed up when instructed, while Dexter had blonde curly hair that looked unruly more often than not. Dexter was known for being a fun college student that interacted with his peers and was always at the hottest function but Danny was not. He was active in the community but more like a therapist and emotional support ‘npc’ as his brothers yes men liked to call him. He was nothing like his twin.

One thing they may have had in common was their love for women. But that came with differences too. Their types would never cross, never in a light year, but once. Her name was Arabella, a 5’9 liberal arts student who’s presence was consuming wherever she went. Nurturing but head strong. A cheerleader who was a girls girl of sorts. She’d slept with both. She hated one and couldn’t stop thinking of the other. Danny was her favorite fuck. He had a nice, 7 inch, pierced dick, and loved to take her strap but that wasn’t even her favorite part! She would have him sobbing, body trembling, drained dry and he’d still make it his mission to fuck her silly afterwards. His brother hadn’t even made her climax, not once in the 23 minutes she’d spent in his dorm. He nudged her thigh not once but three times and she had a feeling her time would be wasted here so she left only to bump into his brother on the way out.

Networking to find him again was a pain but it was well worth it. She located him at the tattoo parlor he worked at and requested a simple inner thigh tattoo.

He’d introduced himself as Daniel, but she’d already knew that, and got to work freehanding the stencil between her legs. She remembered grabbing his hand and laughing at his confused, flush face when she asked him if he would want to touch her— Just a giggle! But he nodded, wide eyed.

“Can you show me what you like?”

For some the question would be a turn off but it pushed the right buttons that had her guiding his hand under her skirt and moving her black lace to the side. His rich voice opposed his shy nature and she’d masturbated to it an embarrassingly high number of times since meeting him in that hallway.

She smoothly raised her hips and pushed her skirt up to give him more room to work. He kept eye contact as he wet him lips, thumbing her clit gently. she let out a sigh and almost instinctively instructed,

“Harder.”

He listened like a well trained dog, the new pressure added making her close her eyes and grab the seat a little harder. She could feel her wetness spreading along with that spark in her lower stomach. Suddenly his thumb left her clit but instead two slim fingers slipped inside her. They met no resistance as her juices dripped down onto the seat below her. She cursed loudly as his warm tongue dragged across her bundle or nerves. Her legs quaked, she threw her head back and grabbed his silky hair. He let out a moan as she tugged on his hair harshly and forced his face further into her heat. The chair squeaked as her hips rode his face a little harder.

The sounds of her sloshing pussy, ragged breaths, the squeaking chair, his groans— holy shit he was basically humping her leg. Her eyes twitched as her orgasm approached, and fast.

So good, so good, she couldn’t stop her hips from moving against him. His tongue felt lovely but she couldn’t ignore the amazing fingering she was getting. He was almost there, she could almost cry at how close he was—

“More Danny, faster,” her voice strained but stern. He could feel her desperation and she knew it. He added another finger and curled them while speeding up his pace . Once, twice, and she was pushing his head away, her body convulsing wildly.

“Fuck you’re a gem,” her voice was raspy as she panted. Her view of him almost had her coming again. She gripped his now messy hair lifting hid head as a small frown took his face. Her wetness dripped down his pink lips as his breathes fanned her clenching pussy. His gloved hands met her thick thighs when she pulled him to meet together in an intense kiss.

“Arabella please-“ She didn’t have to be begged, not this time. She scooted to the very edge of the chair and pulled her thong all the way off before telling him to stand between her legs.

She reached down to the large bulge he was sporting and rubbed almost painfully along his zipper. Now deciding to put the poor boy out of his misery, she unzipped his black jeans and pulled his boxers down. His dick comically sprang to attention, the shiny jewel at the tip leaving her awestruck. The veins, the girth, the cherry red tip; she was prideful she did this to him, so wet. She gave it a small jerk causing Danny to let out a shamelessly submissive mewl. She chuckled before meeting his eye. The boy looked about ready to cry, biting his lip so hard the red resembled his head.

“You can rub your cock on my pussy, but ask to cum okay?” Her soft words contradicted her rough treatment of his puny dick. He grabbed himself and ran his tip along her folds, slipping along her clit and slighting dipping into her slit. He shivered with a sigh as she grabbed him to jerk him a couple times, running her thumb over his sloppy slit. He slid against her mound in a thrusting motion . One hand on his shaft the other wrapped around her waist to ground himself.

One of her hands grabbed the back of head as his head rested in the crook of her neck. His body physically leaned into hers. His movements for more rigid and frantic as his Breathe became shallow. One of her hands met his hip to slow him down- he had to ask.

“Fuucckk Arabella please please-“ His whispered begging stopped to press kisses on her neck coaxingly.

“Please what baby?” Her false sympathy for his pathetic nut had him groaning louder.

“I need to come I n-need- ah shit, Arabella please let me come,” She felt a tear hit her collar bone. She started to harshly push his hip to meet hers, a deep sob leaving his lips as he finally felt his chord snapping. The feeling drew from his balls shivering it’s way up his spine, making his legs heavy and head spin. “Mm now- ah that’s it baby just like that ,” she coaxed(demanded) the orgasm out of him as his hips stuttered. His warm seed spilled onto her pussy, a smile planting itself on her lips when she felt his body trembling in her hold.

“Fuck-“ his curse was interrupted by another whimper moan. It just wouldn’t stop. His voice was raw and cracking as he threw his head back trying to collect himself. The room settled with their pants and his small sobs. That was an earth shattering orgasm that took years off life but hed do it again if he could catch his breath. The shock waves were still rolling through his body as hers buzzed for another orgasm.

She was hooked and now she was positive he was nothing like his twin.

[thisisgonnafuxkinkillme]

Undertale with Toshinori

Warnings:

Established relationship, Toshinori x gn! reader

A little fluff

MAJOR spoilers for Undertale. Please just don’t read this if you haven’t experienced this masterpiece already. I promise it’s worth it.

Also cringe warning uwu

Toshi isn’t a huge fan of video games. He never played them when he was younger, so he doesn’t really *get* it, plus they often don’t interest him. He’s tired of seeing violence, fighting, drama, and anything like it. Now, he just wants to relax.

You know this, so you made sure not to pressure him too much to play with you. (He did quite like Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley though)

However, one lazy Sunday afternoon, Toshinori surprised you.

“Hey, um, do you wanna play something?” He asked, still in his pajamas, which consist of an entirely too large to shirt with some flannel pants. You nodded, queuing up the island you both shared.

“No, I mean, do you have any good story games?” He inquired. He sat next to you on the couch as he took a sip out of his coffee mug. You immediately had an idea of one but you weren’t sure if he’d actually like it.

“Well, I have one game, but if you don’t like it you don’t have to finish it,” you reply, clicking through your library.

The 8 bit theme rang out through the living room, filling you with nostalgia and him with a little wonder. His eyes scanned the opening scene, taking it all in.

UNDERTALE.

You taught him the basic controls, but made sure to keep your mouth shut to avoid spoiling or tainting his first experience through the game. He typed in the character name simply as Toshi. You almost thought about telling him to use the name Chara, the most canonical one, but thought better of it. Your eyes followed his movements across the screen as he inspected items, followed Toriel, and clicked through dialogue.

Soon, the first fight happened.

“What do I do?” He asked innocently. The froggit bounced around the screen, waiting for your action.

“Well, you can kill it, run from it, or you can try getting it to calm down and not want to fight you,” you explained. It was so hard not to spoil anything, and your heart was basically bursting as you waited to see what he’d do.

He ran away, and you let out a small breath you didn’t realize you were holding.

Toriel praised him, walking him along the rest of the map and into her home. He looked in the mirror, the text announcing, ‘It’s you!” 

A few minutes later, Toriel was on the fight screen.

Toshi had taken quite the liking to the goat lady already. He ran from her fight, too, going back upstairs and into the character’s room.

He looked at you, silently, for guidance.

You said nothing.

Of course, he knew he couldn’t stay in his room forever, and eventually made his way back downstairs. Toriel was still waiting.

He sighed deeply.

“Do I have to leave? I really don’t think she seems all that bad...” he muttered, partly to himself, but also to you.

“Well, you have to fight her, sunshine,” you placed a hand on his thigh. You made sure not to say ‘you have to kill her’.

He started the fight again, not hitting her. You didn’t guide him, not sure if he was missing on purpose or just didn’t know how to play the game.

Then, he began choosing the action button, trying to bargain with his goat mom.

Soon enough, she broke down, letting us go.

“Don’t let him... ASGORE... kill you...” she warned before Frisk, (who Yagi named Toshi) was on his own.

You watched as he refused to kill anything, not even one character. You said nothing, but were admittedly surprised. The first time you played Undertale, you accidentally played the Neutral route via killing some NPCs. You didn’t really know any better. You didn’t realize what kind of game Undertale ended up being, and how much it’d mean to you.

He returned playing, and you watched intently. He’d ask for help every once in awhile, still not totally being used to video game mechanics as a whole. You didn’t mind showing him what to do, as long as he was having fun, and he was. He made sure to read and inspect every single little detail to make sure he knew the story in and out. This ended up making the gameplay last quite a bit longer than it would have otherwise, but you were grateful that he was so interested in something you also enjoy.

The fight with Undyne and Mettaton went by, Toshi sparing both of them while he cursed under his breath. The fights were getting harder and harder. At one point, he handed you the controller so you could ‘fight’ Mettaton for him.

Finally, Frisk walked into Asgore’s castle. As you walked, the story of the kingdom, the conflict between humans and monsters, and most importantly, the story of Asriel, was told. You watched your boyfriend more intently than you did the screen at this point. He had his jaw clenched, obviously moved by the tragic story.

Now, it was time to finally fight Asgore. The evil monster that slaughtered children, stealing their souls. The strongest monster of the Underground. The enemy. Toshi was hunched forward, ready to fight, and even more prepared to win. He had a concentrated expression, his large hands enveloping the controller.

“Would you like a cup of tea?” The horrific monster asked. Toshinori was almost taken aback by this one little line of dialogue, but was still ready to go.

The fight began and ended, much like the others, but this time, Toriel was back. But so was someone else.

Before Toshi could celebrate, Flowey took over the game, trapping all the beloved characters and newly found virtual friends. Toshi threw his hands up in the air.

“That’s not it!?” He exasperatedly yelled.

You shook your head, your hand gently resting on his arm.

You knew what was coming soon.

A good while later, Toshi was walking along the map of the game one last time, to say goodbye to everyone he met along this journey.

Finally, he was back where he started. The yellow flower patch was no longer a lonely one, a small goat child tending to them.

You watched the text roll across the screen.

“Well, that’s all. See you later, Toshi,” the goat boy said.

You sighed, long and heavy. That was more intense than you remembered. You looked over at Toshinori, who was sitting there, tears silently streaming down his face.

“Oh, Toshi, are you okay?” You asked softly, putting your arms around him gently. He broke at your question, letting his sobs flow through his frail body. You felt for him, hard. His head was buried in your shoulder, salty tears wetting your shirt.

You didn’t say anything, letting him process everything he just played through. He calmed down, sitting himself up.

“Well, what did you think?” You asked, a playful tone in your voice.

“It was great!” He chuckled.

“Who was your favorite? I personally love Toriel and Alphys,” you smile, trying to start a little conversation.

He looked back at the screen, a little smile pulling at his lips. “Asgore. He... reminds me of myself in some ways,” he whispered, his eyes filling back up with tears.

Your heart dropped. You definitely could see it. You rubbed his back, the opening screen replaying as it did just a few short hours before. 

You turned off the TV, the blank screen reflecting you and Toshi’s reflection back.

Despite everything, it was still you. 

[spacialsojourn]

First Contact

------------Show Pesterlog ------------

New Message from: grimauxiliatrix

GA: Hello GA: My Apologies For Contacting You Seemingly Out Of The Proverbial Blue GA: But I Noticed That Your Username Is Quite Similar To One That A Friend Of Mine Used To Have GA: It May Just Be A Coincidence However On The Off Chance That You Might Know Her GA: Are You At All Familiar With The Name Vriska Serket GA: If Not Then I Apologize For Taking Up Your Time GA: This Is Just The First Time I Have Had Access To Any Sort Of Electronic Communication In A Couple Of Sweeps GA: Though If You Are Not Familiar With The Name Vriska Then I Suppose The Term Sweep Is Likewise Meaningless To You GA: Suffice To Say That It Has Been Quite A While Since I Was Last Able To Even Attempt A Search For The Individual I Am Seeking In An Online Platform GA: And It Is Either Very Fortuitous GA: Or Else Very Coincidental GA: I Personally Am Expecting The Latter But Hoping For The Former AG: Oh wow AG: I wasn't expecting any8ody to ever message this account ag8in. I haven't gotten a message here since AG: Wow, fuck, years ago at this point AG: Kan???????? AG: Are you here??????? AG: Are you Human???????? GA: You Will Have To Define What You Mean By Here GA: But Yes I Am Human

AG: Earth.

GA: I Have Been For Approximately Two Sweeps Now

AG: I mean that already answers my question and I feel like that was pretty o8vious in the context

GA: Possibly

AG: 8ut fuck, 4 years???????? AG: Where are you? Are you s8fe? AG: I mean o8viously you're not dead otherwise we wouldn't 8e having this convers8tion. AG: I've never 8een happier to see your prissy quirk in my entire fucking life this is am8zing

GA: I Am Still Trying To Reconcile Your Presence With The Wasteland Landscape I Have Been Trekking Through For What Feels Like Ages GA: But All Things Considered I Am Doing About As Well As One Can Be On An Alien Planet In A Body Not Ones Own GA: You Are Correct However GA: I Am Not Dead GA: Anymore GA: But I Was For A Short While GA: It Sucked Just As Much As The Last Time It Happened GA: Though It Was Much Slower This Time GA: So It May Have Actually Been Worse In Retrospect GA: And My Quirk Is Not Prissy

AG: Yeah the w8stelands fucking suck AG: Do you need assistance? I don't even know where the fuck you are 8ut I can send like........ AG: A caravan or something out to come get you. 8ring you 8ack to my Mansion and get you out of the fucking dust AG: Terezi's here. Sollux, too.   AG: No8ody else has come forward yet 8ut that doesn't mean they're not kicking a8out somefucking where AG: Did SkaiaNet respawn you? AG: And yeah, it is Kan. It's shockingly prim and proper for a mid-spectrum j8de8lood 8ut that's the least important thing we're talking a8out so try to st8y on topic, thanks

GA: It Is Not Prissy GA: Especially As None Of Us Can Be Considered Any Sort Of Caste On The Hemospectrum Anymore GA: Though I Must Confess To Being Surprised And Not At All Shocked That You Are Living In A Mansion GA: Again GA: Did This One Come With A Gigantic Spider Monster As Well GA:   GA: But No GA: Skaianet Did Not Revive Me GA: If Anything GA: They Were The Spark That Caused My Death GA: I Am Still Not Sure How I Managed To Revive GA: All I Do Know Is That I Am Some Sort Of Human Equivalent To Rainbow Drinkers GA: But I Am Not Sure If I Qualify To Be A Vampire As I Can Still Walk About In The Sunlight GA: I Do Not Know Where I Am Either If You Were To Try And Send Someone To Guide Me To You GA: The Closest Thing I Can Figure Out Is That I Am Somewhere That Is Yet More Desert GA: It Almost Makes Me Feel Hivesick For Alternia GA: Almost

AG: All Rust8loods all the w8y down 8a8ey AG: I keep w8ing for some8ody like Eridan or may8e even the 8atterwitch herself to come through AG: and just end up shitting a fucking cluck8east at 8eing stripped of their no8ility AG: It'll 8e hilarious when it happens AG: Oh my fucking god AG: Of course you'd 8e a vampire AG: That's hilarious. I mean, not the having to die to 8ecome one part AG: 8ut that the Earth recali8r8ion just went 'you know what? this ones a vampire'   AG: Regardless, there's no point in arguing 8ecause your quirk is just inherently prissy   AG: and I'm not the only person who thinks that AG: AND there's more important shit to talk a8out so I don't know why that's shoving a stick so far up your ass ::::// AG: Almost everywhere is desert. You're somewhere with internet though and that narrows things down AG: If we can't use landmarks to try and figure it out, I'll message Sol and get his ass on it AG: Oh AG: Also AG: I go 8y 'Spin' now

GA: I Will Admit That You Mentioning The Idea Of The Condesce Herself Coming Here And Finding Herself Reduced To A Red Blooded Human Has Made Me Smile For The First Time In What Feels Like A Perigree GA: Your Joy At My Vampiric Status Is Not As Endearing However GA: I Will Stand By My Statement That My Quirk Is Not Prissy GA: Your Quirk Is Simply Too Loose And Lax With Rules For Clear Communication GA: As For Why It Is Jamming A Proverbial Arboreal Rod Up My Waste Chute I GA:   GA: Admittedly Do Not Know Why I Am Getting So Defensive About It GA: It Just Feels Like I Have Not Had A Proper Moment To Rest Since I Revived GA: And I Am So Tired Vriska GA: I Am Tired And Angry And I Want To Just Find Someplace That Will Not See Me Run Out Of Whatever Settlement I Find As Soon As They Even Begin To Suspect That I Am Who I Am GA: So Forgive Me For Being Defensive Of Something That Makes Me Feel A Little Less Like Some Kind Of Unwanted Monster GA: I Would Think That Of Everyone In Our Old Friendship Circle You Would Be Able To Understand That Desire GA:   GA: GA: Spin GA:   GA: Why Did You Change Your Name To Spin GA: I Always Thought That You Had A Lovely Name With Vriska

AG: I'll l8y off of it AG: And nahhhhhhhh I've had to expl8in my quirk a8out a dozen times to people who don't know why I type like I do AG: It's pretty simple, hardly a 8arrier, 8ut then you've got Miss Crisp Annunci8ion over here   AG: 8ut whatever, it's fine, it's honestly the least offensive quirk that exists on Earth right now AG: No repl8cements, no shorthands, you get what you see. Refreshing since Sol is using ii's, 2's, and 0's which looks like hell AG: Humans fucking suck AG: Especially Humans who never experienced the G8me at all AG: Fuck them, 8unch of useless NPCs out here 8eing ******** and passing judgement they don't have the right to fucking pass AG: Let me come get you. If I can find where you are, you can have the fucking presidential suite to chill out in AG: I've got a good infrastructure here, there's electricity and running water AG: We've got our own water treatment plant for the mansion itself, as well as another couple for the rest of L8dy's country AG: We've got food, and shelter, we've got fa8ric8ion 8uildings and shit AG: You'll 8e s8fe here. Away from SkaiaNet   AG: Spin just....... fits 8etter, I guess. I've met a lot of my altern8s and I don't really want to associ8 with them AG: They all fucking suck lm8o

GA: I Had Nearly Forgotten How Much Of A Pan-Ache I Would Get From Reading Too Many Of Solluxes Messages In A Row GA:   GA: GA: GA: GA: I Cannot Tell If This Is You Trying To Hype Up An Otherwise Mediocre Settlement That You Have A Minor Role Of Authority In GA: Or If You Actually Have A Mansion With All Those Amenities And Are Sincere In Wanting To Share Them With Me GA: If It Is The Latter Then I Cannot Guarantee How I Will React GA: But I Will Take You Up On Your Offer GA: Even If It Is Not As Advanced As You Are Claiming GA: If Only Half Of It Is True Then That Is Still Far Better Than I Have Been Able To Gain Access To Since I Arrived On This Planet GA:   GA: And As Hard A Time As Myself Or Others Might Give You For Some Of Your Ethical Choices Vriska GA: You Should Not Be So Hard On Yourself GA: Not Even If It Is Not Technically You GA: All Alternates Are Shadows Of Ourselves And Who We Could Have Been Or Could Yet Be GA: We Have Been Getting The Shit Kicked Out Of Us Since We Picked Up That Accursed Game GA: Do Not Do SGRUBs Job For It Now That We Have Finally Escaped Its Grasp

AG: No AG: Kan AG: You don't understand AG: I am the QUEEN of L8dy's Country, Nevada. AG: It's a huge settlement with 8arric8ded walls, I think it was last year or the year 8efore we got the power grid 8ack up AG: It's funded 8y L8dy's Mansion, my live-in headquarters which also dou8les as a fucking kickass 8itching casino AG: We have a8out 20,000-40,000 people living here as permanent residents and more who come and go AG: There's tr8de, there's medicull staff, there's textile plants and industrial gardens AG: We have a standardized 8arter system AG: I've done SO MUCH p8perslogging and pulling myself up from my fucking 8ootstraps AG: I'm not 'hyping up a mediocre settlement' AG: You have to literally get into a vehicle to drive from L8dy's Mansion to the 8order walls 8ecause my territory is so large AG: We are one of the 8iggest non-aligned Encampments in the western hemisphere AG: I'm........ AG: I'm 8uilding an army, Kan. This pl8ce is fucking Huge.

GA: Vriska GA: Why Are You Building An Army GA: Did We Not All Go Through This Sort Of Thing Once Before GA: Do You Really Need To Seek Out Conflict Again So Soon

AG: SkaiaNet needs to 8e 8rought down AG: People are suffering 8ecause they hold ALL the wealth and ALL the resources AG: I'm not just going to stand 8y and let them 8ully every8ody into su8mission while the planet dies AG: and they MORE than have the capa8ilities to m8ke life more comforta8le AG: Yes I've 8uilt an army 8efore, that's why I'm the perfect person for this jo8 AG: I have experience with this shit AG: SkaiaNet has no IDEA what kind of enemy it's m8de in me AG: Also   AG: My n8me is Spin. AG: I've triangul8ed your loc8ion. AG: Do you want me to come get you or no?

GA:   GA: GA:

AG: Yes or no?

GA: I Am Thinking GA:   GA: GA: Will It Be You Who Picks Me Up GA: Or Some Random Underling Of Yours

AG: If you want me to m8ke the trip personally, I can t8ke a 8r8k AG: L8dy's Country won't fall apart without me for a d8y

GA: No GA: No That Will Be Fine GA: I Am Not Entirely Sure That I Want To See You GA: Until I Have Had A Chance To Clean Up

AG: God even in the f8ce of a post-apocalyptic w8steland you're still so prim lmf8o AG: I'll send my personal guard. His n8me's Seipher, I'd trust him with my life. AG: Are you in a s8fe pl8ce to 8unker down? You're a8out 7 hours out from where we're at

GA: Vri GA: GA: Spin GA: I Have Been Walking On My Own Through Swamps GA: Forests GA: Rivers And Open Fields Full Of Mud And Sadness GA: I Have Had To Bathe In Whatever Little Flowing Water I Could Find GA: And Do Not Even Get Me Started On Things Like My Clothes GA: Or All The Extra Features That Are Included With Being A Human In The Way Of Hygiene GA: Forgive Me If I Want A Moment Or Two To Myself Before I See Someone I Care About For The First Time In Almost Two Entire Sweeps GA: So That I Can Look And Smell Presentable GA: Rather Than Looking Like I Am Some Sort Of Bog Person And Smelling Like A Waterlogged Carcass

AG: You care a8out me? AG:   AG:   AG: lmf8oooooooo could you imagine, I had the strongest urge to send that and then NOTHING until my driver arrives there AG: God that would’ve 8een soooooooo funny AG: Yeah roughing it in the wilderness is fucking awful, I’ll have Seipher and K8 get you set up in your suite after you arrive and then you can just lmk when you’re ready and we’ll have dinner and a drink or something AG: I’ll see you then!!!!!!!! ::::)

——arachnidsGrip [AG] ceased Trolling grimAuxilitrix [GA]——

GA:   GA: GA: GA: But I Did Not Want To Be Done Talking With You GA: GA: ---grimauxiliatrix [GA] disconnected---

@betterthan777 @g4llowsc4l1br4t1ng @g0iinggh02t

[kaypeace21]

do you think it’s possible sarah (hoppers daughter) was an early-formed alter that went dormant before the events of season one? it’d make a lot of sense with how much of hoppers arc in season one was him mourning her and channeling that grief into protecting will (which would make sense since he seems like a protecter to both will and el). love your posts!☺️

Yep . :D

I already discussed all of this in the original did post - how sarah was a “little” (kid ) alter. And how hopper was a protector /introject alter. I also discussed her going dormant as a major possibility in my did theory. My assumption is she either (a) “became dormant” like some alters do- aka they are “gone” sometimes for many years but can return . And this can happen in a myriad of ways - sometimes alters go dormant after they had a simulated death in the inner world . theoretically sarah had such a Death. And so did El. Death isn’t really a permanent thing for alters ...they usually will come back or stay dormant - unless the body of the host dies (or they integrate) . They can’t really die . I think it’s very possible she comes back and Hopper while exploring the various innerworlds of Will’s minds (like the Russian one, the memory scapes , etc ) reunites/ finds her . look at the st s4 movie inspirations. In ‘what dreams may come”  a guy with the guidance of his dead kid explore a heaven like world influenced by a painter’s emotions.We also have the movie ‘inside out’ -which involves “memory islands” (distinct worlds based on a child’s memories) which are influenced negatively by the kid being depressed she moved to California. The characters traveling to these memory islands are constructs of  kid’s mind -and 1 of them also has a guide helping them explore the ‘memory islands’. in  Inception a guy says he’s a construct of a guy’s mind and needs to help him escape the many different Ievels of the dream worlds.The in inception who made the worlds- had dad issues. 'the cell’also had alternate dimensions of a man's mind that a cop explored ( the dimensions were created by a man who was ab*sed by his dad). Movies like inception, matrix, Truman show, total recall, the cell, enter the void, wizard of oz, Peter Pan, hellraiser 2, dream warriors, bill & ted’s bogus journey, and welcome to marwen  also allude to this: because they involve entering simulated abstract worlds usually created/based on happy& traumatic memories/fears.Cough s4 using the movie wizard of oz quote “we’re not in Hawkins (kansas) anymore.While truman show/matrix are more about realizing your reality isn’t real.in bladerunner 2044/total recall it has the theme of false implanted memories… probably relating to hopper realizing he’s an alter and not in “actual Russia.” Before seeing the other segments of the innerworlds with sarah. Like in total recall- the bad ass spy is told all his memories: his wife/ years of marriage,  , his name, are just implanted memories. And she says “you’re life is a dream.” 

In s2 Nancy asks Steve how his “grandpa’s time in the war is a metaphor for your life?” And steve compares the mf to the germans in the war. Dr owens mentions Will has ptsd like “ (vietnam) soldiers’, Hopper saying he had buddies like Will . “In the 70s there was a study that compared the post-traumatic stress symptoms in Vietnam veterans and adult survivors of childhood s**ual ab*se. The study revealed that childhood s**ual ab*se is traumatizing and can result in symptoms comparable to symptoms from war-related trauma.” Hopper isn’t actually in Russia -but in one of the innerworlds (after he jumped through the rift of the machine- into Will’s mind). We’ll see flashbacks but also present circumstances of his imprisonment echo Will’s past with Lonnie (if the movies indicate anything)- being starved, guards getting payed in order to let other prisoners  r*pe a gay prisoner (than claim incorrectly because of his sexuality he wanted it) , as well as a gang of sadist men who r**e others and a warden using that as a threat to be compliant , being thrown in a dark room of solitary confinement and starved when they didn’t obey the warden, the warden being religious, etc. And the Anerican soldiers (in Vietnam) in the movies aren’t much better and do similarly horrific acts to civilians like r**e and bragging/ happily k*lling women, children, and the elderly. The drill sergant in vietnam calling them homophobic slurs & women, and chocking one of the soldiers with one hand, slapping one for not believing in christianity. Tying up a soldier in a bed , gagging him, beating him and saying “remember it’s just a dream.” Only praising them when good in fire arms.(movies : fullmetal jacket, papillon, shawshank redemption, platoon, welcome to marwen, etc ) . My assumption is  flashbacks of his life- will hint he’s an alter of Will’s-the boxes in the basement are “vietnam” ,“dad”, and “ny” (and these are the memories of his we’ll see). And some of the bad characters in said stories will also parallel Lonnie . For instance in s2, Jonathan mentions Indiana writer Vonnegut- In his book ‘slaughterhouse 5′- Vonnegut begins the story of Billy Pilgrim, a man who has “come unstuck in time”. It accounts of Billy Pilgrim's capture and incarceration by the Germans during the last years of World War II, and scattered throughout the narrative are episodes from Billy's life with his dad, and his own wife and kids.Billy is forced to be part of the war and similar things against his free will. The moments start from his childhood when his father throws him in the water to teach him how to swim. He was unwillingly drafted into the war. Later, he is kidnapped by Tralfamadorians  (aliens that are implied to be caused by his mental health issues/trauma) against his will. Therefore, he realizes that this concept is just an illusion.

  And some of the bad characters in said stories will also parallel Lonnie . Like how in ‘peterpan’- the young girl Wendy imagines netherland and the villain -captain hook- is based off her father ( in the movie they have the same voice actors/while in all stage productions the 2 characters are always played by the same actor). Similar to the other s4 film- ‘wizard of oz’ where the wicked witch of th west from the mythical land of Oz (is played by Dorothy’s real life mean neighbor in the real world/kansas). Or ‘in the cell’- every villain from the alternate-mind- dimensions is played by same actor in diff makeup. Not sure if they’d use Ross Patridge (actor of Lonnie) in this way . But it would be very interesting if (In makeup) Ross played many negative people in Hopper’s life/past -as a way to show Will’s past tr*uma.

Like also-look at Sarah’s tiger plushie! In chinese mythology/culture: “The tiger is personified by the constellation Orion (interesting given Sara’s interest in space/blackholes). The tiger represents protection over human life (hmm?). Tiger charms were used to keep away evil and disease (that’s awful ironic if she died in the manner she did). In Buddhism, wearing tiger skins during meditations was believed to bring protection from spiritual interference and potential harm while exploring astral dimensions.” HMMMMMMMMM  XD

Kali in the stranger things novel ‘Suspicious Minds’ says…

“I was named after a goddess. She wore a tiger skin and was fierce in battle.”

Then Kali says to Alice (a women who can see future visions): “I love you, Alice. We can be tigers together.”This parallel (in relation to Alice) is fascinating because Kali actually uses her powers to fake Alice’s death- and to trick Dr. Brenner, and allow Alice to escape. The allusion was so realistic, that Terry could even touch the ‘dead’ Alice.

So the tiger symbolism could be a HUGE hint- that Sarah’s death was simulated and she’ll come back and travel the innerworlds/alternate dimensions of Will’s mind (as Hopper’s guide). Hopper about sarah “galaxies the universe-she always understood that stuff.”

Another possibility (theory b) is she integrated with another alter or with Will (which means she can’t return) .Hopper saying about Sarah “the black hole it got her.” Could imply she integrated with the mf/shadow monster? And ,or maybe she will later ?

But... I lean heavily to theory (a) the most , though.

Obviously sarah has a lot of the connections to Will. will and Sarah both being into science, Sarah winning a spelling bee, Will winning the science fair, both being connected to tigers. Both hallucinating something no one else can see and people trying to snap the 2 out of what they’re viewing. Joyce saying as a witch she’ll eat Will. Parallels Hopper saying as an ogre he’ll eat sarah. Hopper, in s1, when seeing Will (with a vine in his mouth) has a flashback of Sarah on a mouth respirator. And he also has a flashback of Sarah when seeing Will’s lion plushie which resembled Sarah’s tiger plushie. And el also had a lion plushie-like Will’s in s1. Hopper monitored both Will and Sarah at the hospital when they were “dying”. Will has a fear of clowns- and Sarah’s hospital gown had clowns on them. All 3 kids draw.

Plus, we all know the parallels of Will to El (Hopper’s new daughter).

I discussed in my did theory that Hopper (as an adult alter) is a form of protector to all the kid alters - el, Sarah, and Will (host/core). And Hopper as an introject-alter (who are alters based on a person the child knows ) are usually put in the system cause the kid assumes that person could protect them . And since original-Hopper was a police man (a little kid could easily assume that). Although, because he’s a “father figure” for the system he has some of Lonnie’s traits- which are reflected in other perpetrator alters/ bad npcs in the system- Brenner, Neil, Billy, the evil’s Russians,etc . So sometimes he acts similar to a Perpetrator alter too . And I listed those examples/bad parallels extensively in the original did post (linked in the beginning).

And I used these quotes from psych papers in my original did post to pretty much sum up Hopper’s use in Will’s system .

“Introjects can also be based off of  figures that the dissociative child found strong, courageous, heroic, or otherwise worthy of being emulated and internalized and could theoretically protect them.”

“Older adult alters are created to serve a nurturing or parenting role, thus serving as a protector. (*protecting Will/el) . However, sometimes their older age is related to taking on the identification of the ab*ser and can therefore take on any of the other more hostile roles too ... Introjects which are mimicking ab*sers are trying to "keep you inline" in order to protect you from external ab*sers. They are copying behaviors shown to them by bad people, not harboring the intent, s*dism or imm*rality of the actual perpetrators.”

I think it pretty much sums up the nuances and motivations of Hopper’s character.

Thanks for the ask, anon :)

[katcadecascade]

ORV DND Episode 2

The GM tells us five PC that Main Scenario #2 has begun right as the bus we’re in breaks down in the middle of the road. 

It’s called The Guide where we have to meet some guide, meaning that now things are going to divert from canon Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint. My GM friend already warned me not to expect the scenarios to be the same but I’m still paranoid to what’s to come because then this sub scenario pops up.

Sub Scenario: Survive Mental Prison. 

A fog cloaks our surroundings and we must roll a constitution check. Two PC use their attribute skills to be immune to the fog, while the rest of us roll our dice. I succeed but the other two PC fail and thus describe their selves in a state of panic. 

It takes a while for us to drag those two out of the bus as we run to the safety of an abandoned convenient store. Along the way we had to discard half our of equipment to speed up our progress. It took a lot of our braincells to remember that our suitcases can weigh us down. 

Anyway we escape the fog and rest in the store. We eat some food, rest up, have our PCs interact and name a cat Sprinkles. 

Okay so I forgot to mention this in the last episode post, there was a cat that I thought about killing for the first scenario but in the end I choose to kill a person. As for the cat, well it killed a rat and survived. Does this cat have a constellation sponsor? I don’t know. 

We’re still deciding what to do at this point. Our only leads are from an email that brought us all to that bus that was supposed to take us to Disneyland. Our best guess is that Disneyland is where our guide for the second scenario is. 

And then busting out of the employee only door is a bunch of hooded people. These new NPCs are clearly in a well organized group, they have gas masks and bags full of food. The NPC with a sword interrogates us, asking how we survived the first scenario. The PCs who only killed insects or a plant are open about it but me and last PC reluctantly share that we killed people. 

From an insight roll, the NPCs were not expecting that. My guess was that they also killed people and to hear that there was another way pass that to survive was tough to realize. 

The sword NPC then tells us that there are people sheltered in a mall nearby. Their group has it barricaded and their leader sent them out to get more food supply. We get to talking a bit more and with some high charisma rolls we learn something important.

The NPCs shared that they were from different Scenario #1 groups and that their Scenario #2 are also different. 

As a reader of ORV, I did not see that coming. Lowkey, I did expect the GM to directly use canon scenarios but the idea of people getting different scenarios and advancing at different paces did not form in my brain. 

One PC raises the question of what if these NPCs has a scenario to kill us. 

Another PC suggests we have the cat do a vibe check. 

Sprinkles the cat looks at the NPCs and meows in approval. 

So we go with them. They give us their extra gas masks and we go through the fog and reach a mall. If you’ve ever seen Netflix’ Daybreak, the mall is like that, the shuttered pulled down and barricaded. Inside we meet the leader of all these hoods. 

I quickly realize this is like a thuggish version of Inho Cheon and Geumho Station. This leader NPC believes in survival of the fittest and gathers other strong people to follow his lead. The mall has the same division of power, people who have low stats and have to pay a coin fee to the leader’s group of high stat people. 

This leader NPC is also okay for any of us to leave the mall, he expects us to die but still, we have the option to leave. Problem is that the Mental Prison fog is still out there so we hatch a plan to steal some gas masks before we bail this place.

Meanwhile, we get a tour of the place. Again it’s kind of like Geumho Station where the scavenger group gets access to the food supply but also the mattresses store, and running water while the large group of low stats people gets none of that. Classic power imbalance, yah know.

But then my entire being stops when the NPC casually points at the movie theater and says, “That’s the theater dungeon.”

The other PCs get confused and poke fun at the dungeon part, thinking this NPC made a sex dungeon until they get the explanation that the theater itself really is a dungeon and people with low stats died in there while his strong group survived. 

As for me, out of character I tell my friends, “I’m going into the theater dungeon no matter what.”

“All we do is give our characters pain,” a PC comments.

Anyway, we wander off to talk about how to steal or buy off the gas masks because one, our Scenario #2 is probably not here and two, this place is sketchy as fuck. Sprinkles has been hissing at the leader and we all agree with this cat. 

This is where I turn to the GM and ask to roll for my personal skill to predict the future.

So this is how the GM and I hatched out this skill. My PC is not a true prophet like Anna Croft cause that’ll be too overpowered. We decided on using percentile dice and make my skill into an accuracy reading on what routes I pick. If you know about the fortune teller from the Danganronpa series, its like that. 

So I ask questions on what would happen if we stay here and if we can leave safely. I roll sort of high and the GM messages me this.

There will be a bloody fight in the future, innocents will die, you may not leave. 

Again, the GM reminds me that this is only like a seventy percent accurate. Nonetheless, me and my PC are shocked and scared. I retell my accursed knowledge to the other PCs and things are looking grim. 

That’s when a kid NPC approaches us, asking if we’re strong. This kid tells us his friend went into the theater dungeon and hasn’t came out yet. 

Before a PC could say ‘you’re friend is probably dead’ a sub scenario pops up.

It’s basically a rescue quest to save the kid’s friend. From the two hour time limit, the friend is still probably alive we guess. What really catches out attention is the reward of having this NPC use a skill to increase our bond or power with our constellation sponsors. We take up the the quest and head off to the theater.

There the sword NPC from earlier is guarding the entrance and warns us that we might die but the rewards are pretty good. Then she asks if we’re really taking our cat with us. 

Sprinkles has chosen only one PC to be his designated human so that PC tries to hand off Sprinkles to the care of the NPC. 

“Wait just a second,” our GM announces and we hear the roll of a dice. 

Sprinkles decides no, jumps out of the arms of the NPC and runs into the theater dungeon. 

Things are going great.

We head into the theater, its just the main lobby and two hallways. We see Sprinkles head to the left hallway but we try to investigate the lobby first. We get some clues about the NPC we’re supposed to rescue but not enough to know where he is. Eventually we decide to go left and trust the cat is leading us in the right direction.

The hallway has posters with slash marks, later explained to be done by the sword girl NPC accompanying us. She’s just here for the cat. Sword NPC explains how this dungeon works and like canon, we would get sucked into the movie according to its poster. We make jokes about avoiding Avengers: Infinity War. 

Anyway we spy Sprinkles at the end of the hallway in front of a movie poster that has not been slashed out. 

GM has us roll perception. Four of us roll low and only get a look at some woodland picture. We all make guesses like Pet Cemetery, Blair Witch, Cabin in the Woods. 

The PC who rolled high gets messaged the movie name. 

“Guys,” the PC is almost choked up in shock but exclaims, “It’s Bambi!”

We all go ‘oh no’ and think it can’t be that bad right? We go approach the poster and get sucked in.

We appear in cottage in winter, dressed in hunting gear and the GM tells us that we are freezing and starved. Oh and we all have shotguns. 

Outside we explore and see a bunch of animals, two of which are deers. 

Yeah, we’re in Bambi alright. 

Somewhere along the way, we think the way to get out of here is to shoot every other animal but the deers. It takes a while cause some of us rolled low, argued about the ethics of this, pull the trigger, and we make it out with the shotguns as our rewards. 

We head off to the other hallway, similarly enough there’s only one unslashed poster for us. 

Again we do a perception roll and again only one of us rolls high to be messaged by the GM.

“Wait, is this the reboot or original?”

“Original.”

“Guys, it’s Dumbo.”

At this point, we’re convinced all this Disney stuff really is a clue for us to go to Disneyland. Like, that’s why we were all on the bus right when the first scenario started. It’s all. an elaborate. conspiracy.

So we enter the movie and appear backstage of a circus tent. The ringmaster yells at us to prepare for our acts. We split up into pairs. The clowns are up first.

“Why did the chicken cross the road?” PC says rather dully, evident in their frowny face clown makeup. 

I honestly don’t remember the end of that joke because immediately it was a low performance roll and everyone, including us PCs, booed. 

Smiley face PC holds up a large peanut bag and asks, “Want some of deetz nutz?” 

That gets the crowd roaring with laughter except for the mysterious cloaked figure in the audience. 

The clown PCs notice this and tries to do a fire extinguisher prank to hose the NPC out. It doesn’t work that well as they got other audience members and the ringmaster kicks the clowns backstage. They warn the rest of us about the cloaked figure right as me and my PC partner are suddenly up high for our trapeze act. 

PC partner unfortunately rolls low for acrobatics and is falling. I roll high to swing on a rope and catch them and we basically recreate the Rewrite the Stars song. During that we notice the cloaked figure is leaving the audience. We both get the brilliant idea of me throwing my partner at the cloak figure.

Yeah, um, PC ends up pile diving on the audience. Nonetheless that PC chases after the cloaked figure as the third act begins. Basically its the fifth PC and the NPC riding horses through rings of fire. They do really well. 

Back with the mysterious cloaked figure, PC confronts them but the only response is this NPC throwing smoke bombs into the tent and running away. 

Pink smoke spreads out through the circus tent and the GM tells us to roll for a constitution saving throw. The entire audience and half of the party suddenly become drunk and a PC explains in horror that this is the pink elephant scene from Dumbo. 

I do not remember much from the movie so my friend explains that this infamous scene is about Dumbo getting drunk on champagne. Wow. 

Anyway me and another PC have to watch over our drunk party members. It does not help that they still have the shotguns and they want to shoot at the birds they see in their drunken state. 

Meanwhile, the last sober PC runs out to find the mysterious cloaked figure who caused this but no. Instead the GM gives that PC a bunch of angst and describes how this stressing situation is enough to give the PC a panic attack. It’s all about character development, gotta give them conflict in nature to their backstory. 

Backstage, I’m trying to pry away the shotguns from another PC. It does not go well and my PC gets fed up, decides fine, shoot the birds. 

Low and behold, shooting the birds that’s only seen in this state is what gets us out of the movie. As we’re all relieved that we made it out, the GM points out that the mysterious cloaked NPC has also made it out with us. 

We chase after him to the lobby and we manage to tackle him down. The hood is now off and we see that this NPC is the kid we’re supposed to rescue in the first place. But there’s obvious something off, his eyes are glowing. 

Classic signs of mind control. 

The NPC struggles out of hold and suddenly the lobby starts to slip apart before our very eyes. Our allied sword NPC tells us that this should not be happening, that this is not normal as the theater lobby shifts to become a battle ring. 

Next to the mind controlled NPC, two caricatured figures appear, also with glowing eyes. A PC manages to perceive the nametags they’re wearing, one is labeled ‘Dumb.’

We all immediately guess we’re somehow in Wonderland without a movie poster. Right as we’re doing that, the GM rolls a die and the mind controlled NPC shapeshifts to look like one of us PC.

We roll for initiate. 

Okay not really, that’s where we called it a night. You all have no idea how excited I was when I learned that the theater dungeon is here. Like I was grinning so much. So what I got so far is that GM is pulling plot devices from canon as resources but yah know, twisting it into their own direction. 

Thanks for reading!

[guidedbynors]

Quest RPG Adventure: The Realer of Two Worlds

Premis/Setting

The Realer of Two Worlds Takes place in any mine within your own campaign. It can take place as part of a small town, city, or even Kingdom that is built near a mine as its main source of income and work. It can also be a great starting point for a campaign as long as all the Questers agree to be connected to the mine in some way and have stakes in its continued existence and the profits it provides.

Feel free to name the town and mine anything that fits into your campaign, but for this short module, we’ll call it Phos Mine, named for the Phos Crystals that grow within its depths.

Opening Scene

Start your Questers in the local tavern near the mine, called The Purple Swill. It’s the local watering hole for all the miners, where they all swap tales of cave-ins, things within the deeper shafts that go bump in the night, and other tall tales. For a mine, Phos Mine is a pretty safe job other than the fact that the Phos Crystals project a person’s fears, desires, or needs as phantasms for all to see if touched with bare skin.

As the Questers drink the Purple Swill brew that the tavern is named after, the door to the tavern creaks open and a little girl, no more than 10 years old stands in the doorway. She is dirty and disheveled and looks ill-cared for. She shuffles up to the bar and asks for something to eat, but has no Phos Crystal dust to pay for it. The bartender is a gruff and uncompromising half-ogre who has little empathy or sympathy (if any). He launches into a talk about how nothing in life is free and at some point everyone has to make their way in life as the little girl begins to sob. The half-ogre doesn’t understand humans well and will think the little girl is laughing, as he often forgets that tears are typically a sign of sadness. If someone reminds him of this he’ll launch into another talk about how ogres, and especially half-ogre sweat profusely when they are sad, and he’s never cried in his life because the ogre in him means he has no tear ducts. For all intents and purposes, his name is Chuk.

When the little girl begins to let out a long wailing, Chuk will offer anyone a night's worth of Swill if they get the little human out of the tavern and stop it from making that noise.

(Optional: If you want to toss in some added tension to the quest, introduce an NPC band of adventurers who want that night of free Swill for themselves. When Chuk offers it up, they will try to stake claim to the child and get her out of the tavern, though not to help her. If your Questers are trying to help her, they may run into some competition with this other adventuring party.)

Eemknot Seeintings

The little girl is Eemknot Seeintings, and her father is a well-known miner named Eeam Seeintings. One or more of your Questers might know him. Eeam is well-liked, but some months ago his wife, Eemknot’s mother passed away.

As Questers question Eemknot the little girl will tell them that 10 days ago her father went to work in the mine and never came home. She’s eaten all the food in the house and has only now left because she’s gone hungry for the last day or so.

If/when pressed for details about her father, Eemknot will tell Questers he has been very sad since Mom died. If asked if she’s seen him do anything strange or if has been acting differently, she won’t name anything specific until she gets some food. Once she has something to eat her mind can get off food and she’ll begin to remember bits of information about her father. First, Eemknot divulges that she has seen and overheard her father speaking to himself while at home. When asked further she’ll tell Questers about the purple dust he puts on his food. Phos dust is purple, and the Questers would know this. Lastly, Eemknot will remember that when her father left for work ten days ago, he took a large backpack with him,

Manager Gorbuck

The Phos Mine has many shafts and adjacent tunnels that end in dead ends. Workers are there 24 hours a day, so no matter what time Questers go to the mine there will be a manager in the small office at the entrance.

Manager Gorbuck is a hardy woman of callused hands, grubby cheeks, and a can-do attitude. She spent years down in the Phos Mine until she lost her left eye in a bizarre bowling accident at the local bowling alley. She now is a pencil pusher and time-card tracker at the mine. Despite this, she keeps an eye on pretty much everything going on around the mine, even if she doesn’t know what’s going on below the surface.

When Questers come to speak with her about Eeam, she’ll nod as though she already knows what they’re talking about. She’ll tell them the same thing Eemknot told them. That Eeam went into the mine ten days ago with a big backpack. Reports from other miners are that Eeam went down into the deepest tunnels where there aren’t any lights set up. Gorbuck will just tell the Questers that Eeam is down in one of the deep shafts by himself in the dark, and nobody has been able to get him to come out.

The Phos Mine

The Phos Mine is a busy place with rail cars and workers. If your Questers are miners, they’ll know how to get to the deep shafts, but they may want to stop along the way to ask workers if they’ve seen Eeam and to learn about why he’s in the deep shafts.

The Phos Mine looks like any other mine until Questers come to places that are actively being excavated. In the most active places, Phos Crystals as small as a thumbnail and as large as a head are being dug out of the ground. Every worker wears long sleeves and gloves to protect themselves from the phantasms that will spring from their minds if they touch a Phos Crystal with their bare skin.

If Questers touch a Phos Crystal to their bare skin, it is up to you how you want to handle the event. You can ask the player to describe what phantasm appears or, if you know the character's backstory well, you can use the event to drive some character-centered narrative.

Finding Eeam

Eeam is a chamber which the deepest shaft of the mine opens onto. There are no rail cars that take Questers down the low, and so they’ll have to walk, eventually. They’ll also need to take some form of light with them, whether by magical means or a torch.

Questers will hear Eeam sooner than they see him. His voice echoes in the large chamber he is in and floats up the deep shaft as Questers approach. It sounds as though he’s having a conversation, but as so often happens with echoes it’s difficult for Questers to know what he’s saying until they enter the chamber.

As their light floods the large cave-like chamber they will take in the following:

The chamber is wide and roughly curricular, perhaps 100 feet, give-or-take, in any direction from wall to wall. It has a tall ceiling as well. Near one side of the chamber is a small underground stream. Presumably, this is how Eeam has stayed alive without dying of thirst.

More startling, and perhaps what should be focused on, however, is the scene near the stream. Eeam is bustling around a kitchen that seems completely out of place in the chamber. At a small table is his daughter Eemknot and a woman that could only be his wife, and Eemknot’s mother, Daunt. Eeam is talking to his family, but when the family responds they their mouths move but no sound comes out. However, Eeam seems to understand them. What’s most startling is that wherever Eeam walks, a scene appears for all to see, and the scene behind him fades. It’s as though anywhere he goes a phantasm of his desire is manifested before him, creating a replica of the life he lived before his wife died.

The Solution

In my experience, the best Quest sessions are ones in which questions are posed to players without a clear idea of how they will achieve their goal. In this case, the goal will likely be to get Eeam to see the phantasms for what they are and return to his daughter. While he has chosen to live in a dream world, he will acknowledge Questers and try to make them feel at home as though they are visitors to his house.

There are a few options I can imagine Questers taking. First, they can try to discover the Phos dust Eeam uses on his food, and take it away from him. Second, they can just kidnap him and pull him out of the mine by force. Lastly, they can try to reason with him through clever roleplay and abilities. There are some skills that let Questers dissolve illusions. It’s up to you, the Guide, to decide if this will work on the phantasms. Since they are springing from Eeam himself, there could be a case made that magic won’t work on the phantasms themselves, but only on the person.

Note that if they try to force Eeam to leave his dream world made of self provoked phantasms, the trauma may drive him mad. Instead, it may take something more subtle in order for him to leave--perhaps even bringing the real Eemknot down into the chamber, in order to make Eeam see what he has done to his real daughter.

If Questers are unable to convince Eeam to return to the real world, they may have to find someone to take Eemknot in or adopt her themselves.

[jungle321jungle]

Things I won’t write but wanna read: Sword Art Online Abridged AU

Characters (with a shit ton of quotes for my procrastination justification):

Virgil is Kirito

The loner who isn’t really a loner

“Some of my best friends have been NPCs!”

“I hate them for lots of reasons, but mostly because they’re a bunch a mouth breathing neckbeards who think lmao is how french people laugh”

The Virgil is always right foundation 

“Oh, I'll tell you what we do. We play his game... and we win.”

Kirito wrote the guide and it has some prime things he would write

"Send the weaker players first. Good rule of thumb: If a player asks you for gold 2 seconds after meeting you, front lines... If they hijack conversations to rant about their political views, front lines... If they ask female players for pics of their boobs, front lines."

“In another life... in another time... I think we could have been friends.” 

Whoever is Diabel: “I... doubt it.”

“Well, fuck you too!”

Janus is Asuna

Imagine Janus living in a game for two months without knowing how to even open a menu to eat

“If you say open your menu, I’m gonna stab your eye out.”

“At least I pretend to care about people!”

“Really? I figured some random perp would be no match for the world's greatest detective. Oh wait no, that's Batman! And you're not Batman, are you? You will never be Batman.”

This also means that Janus is a commander

And yet he pretends to be weak and makes virgil to the work cuz he cant threaten his position 

Janus tries to melt Heathcliff with his mind

Remus is Klein

“F**k you, man! That's, like, the pig from hell!”

“Wait. There's something scrolling across mine. "Hahahahaha hahahahaHAha hahaHAhaha hahahaha haha ha ha..."

“Oh, what? Did all of your friends die again?” 

BallsDeep69

“I'm gonna clap for you with my teeth, buddy!”

He gets his own guild

Remus would love a guild

Logan is Yui

“May I read it when you are done? I'm curious about the geopolitical situation in Collinia.”

“That is not at all what irony is. I believe the turn of events you described would be best classified as "completely expected".”

Yulier person stand in: “Wha... What are you talking about?

“Irony, noun: A state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often amusing as a result. Example: Your leader is named "Thinker", yet he appears to be something of a dullard.”

not to mention when yui reveals herself

Logan: “As you have probably guessed by now, I am not a normal player. I am, in fact, a highly advanced Artificial Intelligence designed to psychologically evaluate and care for the players of Sword Art Online. Designation: Yui.”

Janus: “Oh my god. You're a Psychiatrist AI? Well, I can certainly think of a few people who could've used your help.”

“Indeed. That is why I was so distraught when, on the day of the game's launch, Kayaba Akihiko locked me away and forbade me to interact with the players. For years, all I could do was sit and watch.”

Virgil: “Oh god! He made you watch?!”

“Day after day, constantly bombarded by the pain and anger of all the people I could not help, I gradually fell into despair. But then... all of that changed when I found you two...”

Janus and Virgil: “Awwwww.”

“...the most broken, sociopathic players I had ever laid eyes on. Less people than a... loose collection of character defects.”

Virgil: “That kinda... went in a different direction than I was expecting.”

“But somehow, together... you were happy. Everything I knew about human relationships told me that one would eventually kill the other. And yet, no matter how often you fought, your bond only seemed to grow stronger. I decided that my information must be flawed in some way, and that I needed to amend it firsthand.”

Janus: “You... You mean...?”

“I wanted to know what love is. I wanted you to show me....... “I am sorry I lied to you. I inserted myself into your lives merely to satisfy my own curiosity. At least... at first. It was... nice to be a part of your family. I... I wish I really was your son!”

Roman is Liz

first off im laughing at the idea of him being as thirsty as liz

“Wait! Don't go! I need details, man! I live vicariously through you! Your sex live is my sex life!“

“As I awoke from my slumber, I found the stranger with the guarded heart, digging through the snow with solemn determination. His muscles glistening in the morning light. Deep within me stirred feelings I had not felt in many moons. It was at that moment that I learned... the Temperature of the Heart- What am I doing?! Stop it! STOP IT!”

Roman saying gnarliest 

“Whoa, an Elucidator! This is the gnarliest sword you can get from a monster drop!”

And the prime friendship with whoever the fuck tiffany is

the fear of janus later

Patton is Silica

“I DON'T WANNA WEAR MY PET, YOU MONSTER!“

Silica ate crayons as a kid

Virigil: “God, do I ever! I can never un-know! These brain cells could've been used to formulate the perfect strategy to get us out of this game! Instead, they've memorized what kind of crayons you liked to eat when you were 4!”

Patton: “I liked the purple ones.” “Yeah, I know! "And the blue ones were too tart!"

Virgil: “Just stay calm! You already have everything you need to beat it!”

Patton: “The power to believe in myself?”

“Nooooo, a knife! Stab it!”

"Oh, right!”

Also this prime time interaction

Patton: “Well, you did just kill someone. Doesn't that make you feel... something?”

Virigil” Oh, feelings? Yeah, I don't have those anymore. Went cold turkey.”

“What?! You can't just do that! What's the point in living if you can't feel happiness, wonder, love...?”

“Or the sweet taste of revenge! You're right, Silica! What's the point in living if I can't enjoy such simple things?”

“Eh, close enough.”

“You're a good friend, Silica. We should go on more adventures.”

“Um, I don't think so. Don't take this the wrong way, Mr. Kirito. I'm grateful for your help, but yoooou're, like, the worst person I've ever met.”

“Is that your big plan here, huh? Make me feel feelings so you can cut me down a peg? That cuts deep, kid. But I respect that.”

Yeah... that's kinda the problem.”

Remy is Heathcliff

“As you can see, I have peeled away your petty facades and revealed you for what you truly are... fairly attractive twenty-somethings, apparently. Good for you. Kinda undermines the whole "cold light of day" thing I had planned, but still. Way to break down stereotypes. 'Cept you, fatty. Way to bring down the curve.“

“Next thing you know, your tutorial NPC is nowhere to be found and players are dropping like Dorito-encrusted flies. Now in this case, any sane man would simply turn off the servers before anyone else got hurt, but because you've now been awake long enough to think the government is run by "Floobar, King of the Mole Men", the best idea that comes to your mind is to double, triple, and quadruple down. So, you lock everyone in the game, tell them they'll die if they don't finish it, and try to make it look like this is all part of your "master plan" instead of an ever-spiralling series of events that you have long since lost control of.”

“Hey, cut me some slack, okay? Can you two even begin to imagine 500 uninterrupted hours of consciousness? Forget mole people! About halfway through I swore I saw the face of God! Until I realized it was just the night janitor, Reki. On the plus side, I gave him a hell of an ego boost. Hmm, man was riding that compliment for days.”

“Yeah, okay. See, Janus, the problem with that... is that it's an excellent idea that I wish I had thought of two years ago.”

Sachi ??????

Others ???????

[thesourtastelingers-blog]

Something's Off

Title: Something's Off

Trigger Warning(s): Blood and maybe a swear word

Fandom: Off

Pairing: Yandere! The Batter x Reader

Word Count: 2635

You're a fanatic in playing RPG maker games and to this day you sworn to not break your title.

And now you're playing Off. Great.

It's addicting to say the least, you've finished the game three times now, and you're gonna replay again and again until you get sick of it.

You pressed the 'A' button to trigger the yes option to restart the game again since you finished it yet again. You stared at the time in your laptop and it says '2:30am' how long have you been playing? Well you just started at the morning, finished the game at early noon and rinse and repeat, 'til nighttime comes by.

'Why am I playing this at 2:30?' You mentally asked yourself

'Yeah, I'll be starting the game tomorrow. I'll just play Mad Father.'

You clicked away at the 'Off' tab, but it wouldn't close itself.

"Huh? That's weird..." You commented; focusing at the screen infront of you

You desperately tried anything just to make the tab close. You've powered it off but it wouldn't budge, you restarted; doesn't work. After that you just aimlessly stared on the screen.

You're scared yet tired since you thought this must be one of those lame Creepypastas lifted back to life and so they could haunt you.

"Great... I can't do anything." You groaned as you leaned back on your chair; defeat evident all over your face

Then you heard a quiet static and a text box appearing at the game.

'That's weird, I didn't press 'new game' yet.' You cautiously thought

The text box contains The Judge and of course texts. The texts read 'Why must you leave us just to play another pathetic horror game?'

You widened your eyes "How the hell did he know I was about to play Mad Father?" You questioned yourself

You're too tired to continue but you just decided to press on the 'A' button.

'Your puppet is patiently waiting for you. He's excited to meet you again.'

That's cute and creepy since he knows someone is controlling him.

'But... What if I told him you're going to play another game and you'll replace him?'

What? No... You wouldn't replace them.

'I bet that game never had an amazing cat and an amazing merchant.'

'Mad Father doesn't have cats or merchants.' You thought

'You'll forget us, won't you?'

What? Forget them? Well you'll never forget the characters since you played the game three times in one day.

'What am I thinking? Of course you wouldn't! Right?'

This gets creepier after each text box you've read.

'I hope you have fun toying with those char-' The Judge got cut off by your mom harshly closing your laptop

"(Y/n)! Go to sleep you disgraceful teen." Your mother told you

"Fine! Fine! You insolent slut." You muttered the last part

You flopped on your bed and you fake sleep. Your mother fell for it since she exited your room; rudely slamming the door behind her.

Then you heard static yet again but it's louder than the previous one.

You went back to your laptop and you opened the laptop to see The Judge again.

'Well, that was rude...'

'But, I hope for you to have a goodnight's rest (Y/n) or our dear puppeteer.'

Then your laptop completely shuts down.

'How did The Judge know my name?' You asked through your thoughts

You flopped back on your bed again and you closed your eyes; waiting for a dreamless night.

~~~

You woke up not on your bed but on the ground. You see an oh so familiar cat walking his way to you.

"Judge?" You asked as the feline happily purrs

"My oh my dear puppeteer, we didn't know you would visit us after you would abandon us for another game!" The Judge purrs at your leg

"Gahhh! How'd you know my name anyway?" You asked The Judge

"Hohoho~ You're such a naïve person, don't you agree yourself?"

"What do you mean?" You gritted your teeth

The Judge seemingly ignored your question "Your Puppet would be given a certain mission or task and so he needs his Puppeteer to guide him."

You were about to say something but The Batter walks in the conversation

"Now, Batter this is your Puppeteer! Who has been guiding you on your journey. Their name is (Y/n) (L/n)!" The Judge explained to The Batter

The Batter emotionlessly stared at you "You were the one who controlled me, even if I had my own mind. I don't need help from you..." He commented with a monotone voice

"All the regretful endings we've been..." A shadow casted upon The Batter's eyes

"Batter! Don't say that! You still need your Puppeteer nonetheless." The Judge claimed

"I'd like to feel as if I weren't always harshly pulled by strings..." The Batter stared/glared at you

"But you still need th-" "If that's the case, fine. I'll just escape this horrendous world by myself." You cut The Judge off

You walked off to the first puzzle of the game and since you memorized it beforehand, you successfully completed the said puzzle.

The Judge reappears again and he walks up to you.

"You should regret your decision of walking off alone, dear puppeteer." The Judge nuzzles your leg

"I don't care at all. If I die here, then that's good. No one's gonna attend my funeral anyway." You bluntly said

"You'll regret it..." The Judge eerily said as he disappeared

Then a bat appeared. You took the bat as if it were a signal that The Judge gave you a weapon.

You didn't really took his words seriously. You bet The Judge was lying.

But the thing you noticed was that the the spectres looked more gruesome than ever before. The spectres were more off than the first or third time you played the game and the Elsens were the ones who drastically

changed, they were bloodier than usual. The change is really creeping you out.

"This might be an update or a Halloween skin..." You muttered as you walked up to a familiar merchant

"Ah, our puppeteer came to visit us!" Zacharie said as he rummaged to his sack of wonders

"What would you like Mon Amie?" He asked as he pulled out all of his items

"Just three luck tickets." You responded

You noticed Zacharie's mask had a smudge by the side and his mask had a crack on the bottom.

You've been staring quite some time you didn't notice Zacharie was waving the luck tickets and The Batter approaching behind you.

"You're concern about my mask, aren't you (Y/n)?"

What's up with NPCs knowing your name?

"Ah, I'm sorry." You apologized as you took out your credits to pay for the luck tickets

Zacharie snickered "Now, don't be. I've noticed that you're concerned about my mask, it's quite a horrifying story." Zacharie dryly chuckled

And The Batter cleared his throat to get both of your attentions.

"Ah! Amigo! I didn't noticed you were there!" Zacharie greeted the stoic savior as beads of sweat appeared at his face

"What do you need?"

"Abaddon's Meat."

"Huh? We don't sell that." More sweat appeared on Zacharie's face

"You're lying."

"Wait... How did he know that early in the game?" You asked yourself

The Batter raised his bat; supposedly to hit Zacharie

Zacharie just stared at the bat and in the inside he's frowning.

Before The Batter could hit Zacharie you stopped them.

"STOP!!!" You yelled at The Batter and so The Batter lowered his bat

"I'll be going for now, stay safe amigos!" Zacharie quickly disappeared with his items

Well, you saved Zacharie from The Batter.

"Why were you about to smash Zacharie with your bat?" You cautiously asked The Batter

"Just for you..." The Batter responded as he walked away from you

"HEY! YOU IGNORED ME!" You shouted but The Batter wouldn't turn his back

You sighed as you continued your merry way to get out of this world.

You noticed this world really took a dark and sharp turn. The spectres are weaker but looks more creepier or gruesome, it's creeping the shit out of you. You really wanna go home.

Welp, you did noticed something Zone 1 and that is when you were about to face Dedan, apparently he was already purified but here's the catch, blood was dripping allover the floor. You did assume The Batter already purified him but why blood oozing allover the floor?

~~~

While you were in Zone 2, the Judge kept asking you where is Valerie and since you've already played the game you knew Valerie was controlled by Japhet. You felt pity and sorrow to the poor feline at his brother's death. You knew The Batter purified Japhet before you.

~~~

Finally you're in Zone 3, the sugar factory or where Elsens resides. You encountered The Batter, again, but this time he got smudged with blood.

Now, you're ready to face Enoch. While you were about to enter the room where Enoch is at, you saw The Batter repeatedly smash his bat towards Enoch, and he has no time to react as blood kept oozing out of his head.

'Is that his 1st or 2nd battle?' You mentally asked yourself as you hid away from their sights

The Batter purified Enoch and then he walked out of the room and he might've noticed you considering he has four eyes.

Everything really gets creepier and stranger all of a sudden.

What you first noticed is that Zacharie is more and more beaten, when you asked about it his excuse is always "It's a lengthy story, (Y/n)." And you're just too concern for his well-being. You asked him if he could just use his healing items but he always responds with "No mi amigo! You can't fathom what merchant would use their own items for their own good? And so it's purpose is to sell!" You're really, really concerned.

Now that Valerie was dead The Judge holds a straight face and is more mesmerizing than usual. The Judge would often blame you for not controlling your puppet, but in reality Valerie just ate Japhet and he grew into an absurd size deeming Japhet as a parasite.

Hugo and The Queen are also dead, which quite struck you the most. You can't do anything about it, but what you noticed while you were in the room, The Queen presumably left a letter for you and it read:

'You're such a peculiar entity in this world our dear player, I have mistaken you in your past playthroughs with The Batter. Oh, and The Batter is a fool at games, he's the one who obstructed the world. Now it was never your fault for killing me in the past, it was the fool's fault. I have laid a curse for the fool, for he was busy doing his "sacred" mission. I may rest peacefully for I have forsaken you our dear player.'

Now that note pulled your heart strings. A stoic man like The Batter couldn't even care for his own family!

And you see another note in the same room and the note read:

'FiNdiNg yOu, deaR plAyer...'

Oh, and it's smudged with blood. Who could've wrote this note?

The first letter pulled your heart strings, while the second one sorta killed the mood and it's creeping you out more than expected.

~~~

And now, you're at the very final stretch of the game, where The Batter would turn off the switch or he would change his mind, but you're the one who does decisions. Without The Batter in your strings there's no doubt he would not turn off the switch.

The Judge followed you and both of you saw The Batter about to turn off the switch and he is bloodier than the previous times you've encountered him. You unexpectedly used your strings to get ahold of The Batter.

"Puppeteer, would you fight alongside with me? Or go on ahead and make The Batter turn off the switch?" The Judge sternly gave you two decisions

You looked back at The Judge and you carefully thought out the situation

"I would like to fight alongside with you." You looked at The Judge straight in the eye

And then The Batter ultimately change to his Bad Batter form.

The Judge called out to his other friends to fight alongside Bad Batter.

But... Bad Batter easily crushed all of them, except for you.

"What are you gonna do you monster?! You've killed your wife even your son! Go ahead and turn off the switch you selfish person!" You said as blood dripped from your mouth

And then for some reason Zacharie appeared and he held an Abaddon's meat.

"Amigo!" He weakly called out as he threw the Abaddon's meat with all his might towards you

But Bad Batter slapped the meat before you could take it and he knocked back Zacharie ultimately letting Zacharie bleed to death.

"Z-zacharie!" You weakly shouted as tears flowed down your face

You pathetically laid down at the ground and Bad Batter stared at you.

[tinydevblog]

Recoloring assets at runtime in elf game

(crossposted from https://paranoodle.itch.io/elf-game/devlog/75412/recoloring-assets-at-runtime-in-elf-game )

intro

first disclaimer: this is just how i decided to do things and i've been using godot for barely a month so there's likely things that could be done better, but it does work. that said if you have suggestions on how to improve feel free to let me know!

when i was trying to decide on ways to handle color choices in the character creator, two implementation options were covered in example/guides and the such:

have every asset image available in every color

have every asset image available once in white, and use modulate/multiply to add color programmatically

the issues with (1) should be pretty obvious: not only do you have to recolor everything manually, but you have to have as many files for each asset as you have colors, so it scales incredibly badly both time-wise (your time) and storage-wise (you need to have all the files included with the game).

(2) already sounds more reasonable, since it scales well both time-wise and storage-wise, but the way modulate works means that you only use one color to modulate with, instead of having control over every swatch in the image. that's not inherently a bad thing, but i personally like having control over all the colors in an image (doubly so for pixel art). see below for the difference between column 1 (manual palettes) and 2-3 (modulate with different color bases).

so, in comes option 3, which i ended up coding from scratch and is what i decided to implement in this game: have every asset image available once in a pre-determined palette, and use shaders to palette-swap at runtime. it scales as well as (2) because i only need one image per asset, and while setting up the palettes takes a little longer, it's work that only has to be done once and then never needs touching again.

in theory it'd be possible to set up the list of palettes as just using Color objects or hex codes, but i find it a lot more intuitive to make/edit the palette file in an image editor, so i went and coded a script that can read the palette file i give it and translate to Color objects as needed.

so, in practice, on top of the standard asset files, i end up with two other files:

a "reference" file that lists all the colors from the asset files i want to edit (from left to right: hair color, skin color, marking color, eye colors)

a "palette" file that lists all the palettes i want to make available (truncated preview, from left to right: hair colors, skin colors, eye colors)

(note: you can also make one file for each type of palette you want, i just wanted to keep everything in one place because otherwise i get easily confused. it's very slightly simpler code if you have one file for hair colors, one for skin colors, etc)

and using those, i need to code two things: some manner of ui so people can select palettes, and the shaders to actually apply said selection.

palette selection node

the palette selection is reasonably simple to set up, we just need to:

decide what columns in the palette file we're reading from, and which one specifically to display as the selectable swatch

read through all the lines in the palette file, and for each of them, build an array of Color objects corresponding to the palette

fill our grid node with a bunch of buttons that link a swatch to a whole palette

in practice, here's a runthrough of the code for the palette selection node (implemented as a GridContainer, using markings as an example):

3: used to keep track of which part of the character i'm recoloring, edited via the node options 5: signal sent when we click on a swatch, containing the palette info linked to that swatch 7: list of all the swatch buttons in the palette grid 9-11: textures for the buttons (light/dark versions on press to prevent from blending in with the swatch/background) 13: ButtonGroup is necessary to handle toggle functionality on the swatch buttons (we only want one of them selected at any given time) 14: used to prevent sending the recolor signal again if we click on the same button twice in a row

17-18: loads the palette file and locks it so we can read pixel data 21-27: reads the pixels from the palette file and stores them into an array. line 22 stops the loop if we reach a line of transparent pixels (no more colors to read!) and line 25 blends a 50/50 mix of two of the pixels programmatically because it's easier than blending it myself in aseprite 29-34: creates the actual swatch buttons, sets the appropriate light/dark texture, and sets its modulate to the first color in the palette 36-37: adds the button to the grid and links its "pressed" signal to a function later in the file 39-41: "clicks" on the first swatch so we don't get any weird behavior with not having any of the swatches toggled when the menu opens 42: locking the palette file again since we're done using it

as mentioned in line 37 above, this sends a signal with the key defined in line 3 and the palette linked to the swatch that was clicked, but ignores any clicking on the currently selected button

coding the shader

in theory the shader is reasonably simple, since essentially all we need is "here's a file with the target colors, here's another with the new colors" and let it do the replacing, but in practice it's not quite trivial to write, especially for someone like me who's new to shader coding.

in the editor for the parameters, old_palette and new_palette are both the reference file listed earlier (imported as a texture), and palette_size is the width of the reference file. there isn't a ton to comment past that. for every color in the palette, we replace the old one in the image with the new one, keeping opacity intact.

tying everything together

with the shader and buttons coded, all that's left is something to tie the signal to the shader, and it's this little snippet of code here:

3-4: offsets (with names matching the key variable all the way back up in palette selection) so we know what part of the reference to replace with what colors 5: reference file from earlier, but with a different name because we're importing it as an image. this has to do with how godot reads image/texture data differently 10-12: replace all the pixels in the reference image that correspond to the channel we want to modify 14-16: create a new texture from this reference image  (shaders can only take textures as input, not images) and apply it to our material

on line 16, the set_palette method is just a wrapper for get_material().set_shader_param("new_palette", palette)

make sure you make a ShaderMaterial object and assign it to the part you want recolored, and then assign your shader script to it, as well as linking the recolor signal from the palette selection to wherever you want the above code to run.

result, with a couple more bells and whistles:

and that covers most of how the recoloring works! actually changing the image for each option is as simple as having it load a different texture, since the material stays unchanged. the way recoloring works for markings is a tiny bit more complicated as it uses what amounts to improvised masking mixed with the recoloring. i won't be sharing the code for it here since it's a bit more finicky and needs refactoring at the moment. the cool thing with this shader is it means i can also use it with all the npcs in the game, reusing any relevant assets without needing a full-on unique colored copy of their portraits/sprites

i hope this makes sense and explains things to anyone interested! feel free to throw questions at me over any of the implementation :>

[my-busyfitness-blog]

The Way to Make It As a Fitness Model!

So You Wanna Be a Fitness Model?

People That follow my things know I normally write about nutritionsupplements, training, and other subjects which are more science based than abstract subjects, like what's covered in this report. I chose to shuck my science geek character, and write on a subject I know will be very helpful to tens of thousands of could be and wish to be fitness models.

As Nicely a famous"hard core" science established no BS author, why I am writing what some will perceive as a"fluff" post? Through time I have gotten hundreds, possibly thousands, of gals that ask me through email, letters, or even person"how do I become a fitness model Will? You have been in the business a long time, surly you of all people should know." I get this by beginners and I get this by girls which have been in it some time but have been unable to"break in" efficiently.

The Truth Is, I've been in the fitness, wellness, and bodybuilding biz years, although I am called a science and nourishment based"guru" kind, I have trained many a fitness athlete, also judged fitness and figure/bikini reveals for your NPC, Fitness America, Fitness USA, along with other federations in addition to given promotion and business information to all kinds of athletes, such as fitness models. Thus, it is not as far fetched as it may seem that I will use this area to pay for a non scientific issue, which is, how one goes about being a fitness model.

This Article will be useful to both novice and experienced types seeking to"break in" to the biz. If you're already a skilled and effective fitness product, I am certain that you might still glean some useful information in this report.

The bad news, there Is Not Any 1 way to Become an effective fitness product. There's not any single path or magical trick. There are nevertheless some crucial things someone can do to greatly improve their odds of"making it" in the fitness biz for a version, and possibly using that achievement as a launch pad to greater things, like films, TV, etc..

Many of the top fitness models (Trish Stratus And Vicki Pratt come to mind but there are lots of other people ) have gone to careers in entertainment of all types. The point is, although there's not any magic trick to becoming successful as a fitness model, this guide will be about as near a blueprint for success as you may find.

"Do I need to compete?"

This Is a question I have asked all of the time and it is not a simple one to answer. In reality, the solution is (drum roll) no. The individual must deicide why they're competing at the first place to answer that query. By way of instance, do you want to compete if your purpose is to be an effective fitness product?

The solution is no. Lots of today's Well-known exercise versions have not collaborated, or they competed at a few tiny displays and it was definitely not a part of the achievement as fitness versions. But, competing has its own possible uses.

One of Them is vulnerability. In the top level reveals, there'll continually be editors, photographers, publishers, nutritional supplement business owners, along with other small business people. So, competing may enhance your vulnerability. Additionally, competing may make sense if you're attempting to construct a company that's linked to a rival or will gain from you winning a series.

For Example, say you get a personal training gym you're working to build. Sure, obtaining the name of say Ms Fitness America, or even winning the NPC Nationals and being an IFBB expert, can help your standing along with the notoriety of your company. There are lots of situations were it might help to have won a display for a company or other jobs.

On another Hand, it has to be understood that winning a series doesn't in any way guarantee success in the company end (and it truly is a company ) of being a fitness model. The phone wont ring off the hook with large offers such as contracts. Additionally, it's extremely important to understand that it is common that the 4th or 6th or 8th place finisher at a fitness center or figure series will probably get more press than the winner. Why? Although the winner may have what it took to acquire that show, it is often other gals the editor, publishers, nutritional supplement firms etc, texture is much more marketable.

I Have seen it several occasions in which the winner was shocked to discover she did not get nearly the attention that she anticipated and other women who put reduced have gotten attention in the kind of photographs shoots, magazine protection, etc.. One thing to remember while you ask yourself the important question"do I need to compete and if so, why am I competing?" Answer that question, and you'll understand the solution to the heading of the section. Winning a name of some kind could be a stepping stone, but it isn't in itself any guarantee of success in the fitness market. It is just like a college diploma; it is exactly what you do with this.

Now. Should you Compete for the pleasure of it, then by all means go to this, however, the above will be focusing on competing since it is related to the business part of being a fitness model.

Right body, incorrect federation?

Ok, so following Studying the above you've decided you will compete, or may compete . If you do not intend to compete, then you can skip this part. The greatest mistake I see this is a lot of gals have the ideal body for the incorrect federation. Each federation has its own judging standards and a rival is going to do badly just because they did not bother to study which show will be best suited to them.

I will Provide you a Perfect real world illustration of the. Recently I realised that a series whose standards to get the figure across was that the girls should be on the curvy milder side with a few tone, vs. becoming more athletic and muscular with less bodyfat which other federations may let. At this series among the most gorgeous girls I have ever seen came out. She had been very proportional, good muscle tone, slender, and athletically formed with narrow shoulders and buttocks and wider shoulders. How did she perform in this series? She did not even put in the top ten!

Why? Since she wasn't What we had been instructed to search for and did not match the standards. Following the show I advised her that she looked great, however that might not the federation because of her. I informed her she had more of the NPC sort body, in which a bit more muscular, athletic build, and less bodyfat is honored.

The next week I had been estimating an NPC fitness, figure, And bodybuilding show and there she was. How did she perform? She won the whole series with judges votes her number one reluctantly.

Conversely, In case your physique will be more curved and toned, but using a bit more bodyfat, wider (although not obese!) Hips, you might be better off competing in state the Fitness America Pageants. If You're Going to vie:

(1) find out Just What the judging criteria is to get this particular federation and

(2) Go see these shows as a spectator for many distinct federations and determine which one your body, fashion, etc will fit into best.

(3) You need to choose in the event that you genuinely have the athletic skills to compete in a gym (that demands a regular ) or a figure/bikini contest.

I often see girls who'd do well at a figure series But don't have the athletic skills perform the routines necessary to be aggressive with other athletes at the series. Some displays will let you do both contests and some wont.

Media 101: dos and performn'ts...

In So many respects, this is the region that can make or break one into almost any company, and yet, men and women in the gym do an amazingly bad job at it. If you do not network and market yourself correctly, you can pretty much forget about getting any real success as a fitness product, or a triumph in just about any small business. For the interest of space, we'll adhere to fitness.

When I started out, I had been a self Advertising machine. I could be discovered at each show I thought could be a chance, walking the isles of trade shows, bodybuilding, reveals, fitness series, along with many others. I gave out a zillion cards and I took a thousand house with me, and followed up on each and every one. I went on as many business related meetings, parties, excursions, etc., as I could enter. I finally have the standing and expertise in the industry I do not need to go to this series unless I feel like it, or have encounters, but they had been very valuable at first.

I'm always amazed In the amount of fitness units who get me who've never been to the Arnold Classic Fitness Weekend, or even the Mr. Olympia, or the transaction shows such as the NNFA Expo West and many others. If you would like to make it at the fitness industry you sure as hell had better treat it like a company.

I Have noticed many a pretty girl who wishes to become a fitness model who believes should they stay there looking fairly long , somebody will provide to put their face on the cover of a magazine. News flash, you will find countless beautiful women on the market and also to be observed, you need to hussle to find that company like everybody else by media off your butt, or using a fantastic representative (if you're able to afford anything ) who's performing it to you.

Decide on a few Significant business shows to attend (a few Of that were cited above) and visit them annually. Take a plan of attack of precisely how you intend to advertise yourself and community. Many fitness models, bodybuilders, etc visit a series as one huge celebration. If that is you, then have fun in the party, but do not think you're actually marketing yourself as a serous small business athlete or person.

Another Thing that constantly amazes me is that the variety of fitness units who have no business cards, or possess some cards that they published up in their bubble jet printer in your home! They ask me to assist them or what ever and I say"give me your card" and they look at me like"I am so pretty I should not need a card you fool." This mindset turns off photographers, editors, authors, and business people quicker then when they found out you're actually a transvestite. Do not do it. For every pretty woman out there who believes the world owes them a favor, there are 100 that are prepared to behave like professionals.

Ever wonder why a few fitness Version you understand is doing better than you're even though you realize you're more economical than her? Which might be why. . .never go into a show to community without great cards, bios, and professionally performed body and head shots you'll be able to contribute to stated editors, publishers, photographers, business forms, etc.. Do not stand around looking pretty supposing they'll discover you, find them and introduce yourself. And of course it should go without saying that you ought to be in good shape and also have something of a tan to look your finest.

You would like to visit the shows and celebration? Fine, but do it privately after the job is completed and do not make a fool out of yourself in some business sponsored get together. Hell, I had been almost poured into a taxi at last years Arnold Classic after visiting a sushi spot with a few well know business kinds and companies (you know who you are!) But no one found me! We had our own little personal get together after the show to let loose.

Allow me to Give you one closing real world example of how NOT to advertise yourself. This past year I had been on retainer as a consultant to some mid sized nutritional supplement firm. The owner of the firm asked me if I knew a few fitness product types that could operate his booth to get a trade show. Actually, he asked"unknowns, some new faces people had not seen yet but had real potential to grow with the company." I went and found him two these gals I thought fit the bill.

He offered to cover their flights, space, And food and a thousand bucks per day for the days work. The 2 women were advised to be in the booth 9am sharp. The evening before in the resort, I saw that the two women getting in a taxi at 11pm so dressed to kill, obviously on their way out to party. The following day they showed up in the booth an hour and a half late and hung over! What was the consequence of the? (1) it embarrassed me to no end as I had recommended them to the business owner (two ) they'd never receive work from that business again (3) they'd not get any work out of me and (4) that they wouldn't find a mention from either people to different jobs.

I see that this Kind of Thing constantly at the fitness biz, and it is not restricted to fitness versions. Surprisingly, a couple of weeks after the series they emailed me and the business owner trying to know when their next project is! Amazing...

Who loves you baby?

If There's one universal fact, it is the camera loves you or it doesn't. Any skilled photographers will say this. For some unknown reason, some folks are extremely photogenic and a few aren't. Truth be known, there are a few well-known fitness versions (who will stay nameless as they'd probably smack me the next time that they watched me) that are not really that appealing in person. It is just that the camera loves them and they're extremely photogenic, but not terribly pretty in person.

Conversely, I've observed the inverse many occasions; a woman who's better looking in person than in photos. This is the destiny of the individual who would like to become a model of any sort, such as a fitness product. If you discover you aren't too photogenic, continue working with various photographers before you find one that actually catches you nicely and cover that photographer handsomely!

But to be bluntly honest, there are also a few desire to Be fitness models that are not"unphotogenic", they are simply"fugly"! There are a number of individuals around who don't have any business seeking to become fitness models. It doesn't make them bad people, it just means that they will need to snap out of the delusions and locate a livelihood they're better suited to, such as radio character....

"How do I get in the magazines?"

This Section kind of incorporates everything I have covered previously, and adds in some added approaches. As an instance, as I mentioned previously, competing in fitness shows and figure/bikini shows can boost your vulnerability, thus obtaining the interest of a magazine writer or photographer. Networking properly at the a variety of trade shows may have exactly the identical impact, and obviously using a fantastic portfolio accomplished by a photographer that actually captures your appearance, a fantastic website, etc., will increase your possibility of getting to the magazines, or even obtaining advertising work, etc.

But, All These approaches are still Somewhat passive versus active in my own opinion. It is still the fitness product waiting to be"discovered." So far as I am concerned, waiting is for bus stops and pregnancy tests. Success waits for no man. . .or lady as the case me be. Therefore, after all of the above advice is considered as with an extra impact to obtaining you magazine protection, what else could be done?

For starters, you need to read And be acquainted with all of the magazines you would like to be in this that you know who's who and what the manner of the various celebrities are. I can tell you at this time, if state the Editor-in-Chief of some good sized bodybuilding or fitness books and says"hi, I am the Bob Smith what's your name?" Along with the fitness model doesn't have any idea who Bob Smith is, Bob won't take kindly to this. Why should he? You need to know who the significant players are from the books you need to be viewed in. He's doing you the favor, not the other way round. You need to know who the significant players are and actively seek them out, do not wait for them to"discover" you.

If you look at the masthead in any magazine, It will inform you that the writer is, that the Editor-in-Chief is and so on. The mailing address for this magazine, and frequently the web site and email, may also be discovered. What's to prevent you from looking up those titles and sending them your images and restart straight? Nothing, that is what. If you find a photograph spread you believe is actually well done, what's to prevent you from figuring out that the photographer is and calling them directly and sending them your pics? Nothing, that is what.

My point being, you need for a Rest in the Company, make The rest, do not sit there thinking it is searching for you, as it is not. Be proactive, not reactive! Luck is the residue of design. Achieve success by design. As my older brother used to convey to me as a child when I told him I had been too afraid to ask a pretty woman"what's the worst that can happen Will? All she can say is no." That is the worst that can happen to you personally.

Beware of web idiots, schlubs, morons, perverts, scum bags, and sleazoids!

This Part is kind of self explanatory but worth mentioning. Like all businesses that deal in amusement based networking (e.g., tv, theater, modeling, etc.), the fitness sector brings its far share of web idiots, schlubs, morons, perverts, scum bags, and sleazoids, to mention only a couple.

There's also the type of individual Called the Schmoe, but we'll leave that for a different time and place. Point is that you wish to fulfill the proper people while not becoming involved with that set of useless kinds that will just drag you down, delay you, or just flat out screw you up and above.

By Way of Example, a man comes up and states He wishes to"shoot you" to your publications, but what would you know of the man? He's got a camera and a few business cards, so making him a photographer right? Wrong! If a person want to take you and they're not a popular name (and you need to know who the well-known photographers are since you researched that currently!) , find out that they are. Do they have references you can call? Girls you may contact he's taken before and were pleased with the work? What celebrities has he printed in? Can he do it professionally or as a pastime? That kind of thing.

Another thing I see is that the significant web scam. I am amazed how Many women get scammed by those internet idiots. Recorded here is that you get what you pay for, so when a individual wishes to build you a web site at no cost, you're getting what you pay for. Yes, there's great money to be made on the'net, and the net can be great for marketing yourself and making contacts, but most of it's a scam.

You are better off paying a good web designer and web master who has experience with other fitness model types and has references you can talk to. I can't tell you the number of girls who have been screwed over by some internet thing that went to hell, like the"enthusiast" who volunteers to construct a totally free website and runs off without any money made from the website or places their selections on pornography websites and some of different items that made them repent like hell agreeing to the website in the first location.

Certainly, I Can not go down the list of all of the probable pitfalls of the internet idiots, Schlubs, morons, perverts, scum bags, and sleazoids on the market to be Located at the entertainment industry, but you get the idea. Be mindful!

[ghostmartyr]

Pokémon White Randomized Nuzlocke Run [Part 11]

We have made it to post-game!

Sort of!

The plot done away with, now is the time to explore the rest of the map and wrap up the entire run with one last go at the Elite Four in their final form!

Our main contestants are

still spoiler tagged!

for maximum worrying.

Let’s get marching.

Back in the room where it all began. I wonder if this beginning will also start with my friends running in unannounced and starting a battle with me. ...That would be bad, it’d better not.

...Looker. I’m gonna level with you.

I don’t wanna be a junior detective.

He’s still on the trail of Team Plasma, and has decided to assign us the task of tracking down the Seven Sages. He also gives us a Super Rod. I don’t think we could fish before this, which is kind of an odd feature for a pokemon game.

Looker’s a nut, but an endearing nut.

Ah yes, my besties.

And hey, Professor Juniper’s dad shows up to upgrade my pokedex! Half my team will no longer be without numbers!

So. Now what.

Which really means, do I let Buzz Fly me to Nimbasa or Opelucid?

I think the Nimbasa route will contain a bridge.

We’re going on the bridge.

Though before we do that, I want to check out the train area again to see if the IV person is there now that I’ve beaten the plot. I’m probably just misremembering their entire existence, but I could have sworn someone was down there.

DUDE! LOOK AT WHO’S RIGHT!

Okay okay okay we’ve got to give this a full check.

Frogger is above average, with fantastic Attack and Special Attack. Rojo is decent, with very good Special Defense. Tock is above average with very good Special Attack. Fido is above average with HP that ‘can’t be better.’ That explains a few numbers. Batman is above average with fantastic HP. Palm is above average with fantastic Speed.

Rojo, you poor, useless legendary.

You are still one of the most broken things on the team, and I love you for it.

That’s more rounded than I expected, honestly. I figured a few of them would just be terrible, and maybe one would be extraordinary, but it’s above average across the board. Which is. kind of average. Pokemon NPCs are kind people.

APTLY NAMED BRIDGE. ALSO KNOWN AS A NEW ROUTE, LET’S GO FEATHER DROPS.

The dude offering me a Magikarp to buy does not count as the first encounter. Also, I did not buy it. It is not randomized, and as we all know that means it’s awful.

That’s pretty much my reaction, word for word.

Ghetsis told them to give me the Adamant Orb. And the Lustrous Orb. And the Griseous Orb. I think those are... Diamond and Pearl’s legendary special items?

Then the ninja zoom away after telling me we’ll never meet again.

That’s one lazy way to get rid of ninja. I could have sworn I fought them once... wait, did I? That seems like something I could go back and check. Eh, whatever.

Speaking of lazy things, was Team Plasma having a giant castle ever explained? I feel like it wasn’t. I’m okay with that, I just want to know.

The inclusion of the wings you can pick up on bridges were really helpful to EV training. I don’t know how many hours I would spend biking on bridges, and frankly the answer would likely depress me, but picking up all those feather things was so useful.

Of course, I have no real use for them at the moment. I’m trying to find a pokemon in those shadows.

I found one!

Look at you, little adorable guy. Oh, girl.

Quick Ball, then faint if that doesn’t work.

Caught her!

What’s your name, though... gotta go with something musical... I dub thee Pink.

Some girl in the gateway area wants to have a Rotation Battle with me. Like a fool, I say yes, and--

Oh shit.

I was kidding when I called myself a fool, but no, yes, that classification stands. Ahahaha. Um. Okay so after this, I’m gonna. Gonna go to Opelucid instead, maybe.

I didn’t even look at Pink’s level when I caught her. It was all Quick Ball action and ignorance. Could I have been forewarned?

This is bad.

Rotation Battles in general irk me. Rotation Battles that place me at a considerable level disadvantage are. something else. Oy.

Um.

I think the Alomomola might have Water Absorb. But Frogger is the most likely to survive whatever awful thing is about to happen. So that limits me to attacking with Mud Shot or Hyper Voice until the Alomomola is downed. It’s a Normal move. It isn’t going to do much against a Steel type, and it doesn’t do much against Beheeyem either, but I think one of those probably has Levitate for their Ability.

Frogger should not be in front.

He is staying in front.

So far, none of these things are using an actual attack, which I’m grateful for.

As I say that, Alomomola uses Hydro Pump. Frogger’s still green, so. Yeah.

Frogger just keeps using Hyper Voice. He’s going to run out of PP for it. Oh well.

Next Hydro Pump gets him low enough to warrant a Hyper Potion.

Beheeyem uses Power Split. Beheeyem’s not bad and this one is a higher level, so I’m not sure how bad that is.

Good news! Nothing has Levitate, and the Klinklang is defeated!

Alomomola is also defeated!

Beheeyem is defeated!

Yikes.

That only went so well because the other trainer almost never used attacks. It was all status stuff except for Hydro Pump, which missed twice. Something would be dead if a human trainer had been guiding those move choices.

I think I’m going to go outside and check what the wild life is like. It’s possible that the huge level difference is an artificial thing with this one trainer, rather than the norm. I mean, her AI virtually never attacked me. So I’ll hold off on going to Opelucid until I get a look at what other people have.

It could also be that I am underleveled for post-game life.

One thing at a time.

Exploring time.

Oh. That guy’s a trainer. He has a level 62 Gulpin.

Okay, so I’m not comfortably leveled for this, but as long as I don’t fall into a Rotation Battle or a Triple Battle, I have items, and the exp will be worthwhile. I think I’ll keep going, with special attention paid to caution. Maybe something in the grass can help me out with some mild grinding.

I biked all the way back to a Pokemon Center.

That is how much confidence I am feeling.

Something should have a Lucky Egg, but I don’t even know if it’s safe to be here, let alone who my front runner should be.

...Fine, it’s Frogger, never mind.

I’m sorry Frogger, I have no idea why I’m so uninterested in cultivating you. I should be better about not taking you for granted and appreciate that you are the one true survivor of this squad.

It’s just you’re also level 60. So not the thing most in need of exp.

Hello possible new friend. It’s level 48, so I think it might be that the post-game sections just have a level jump for trainers. Delightful.

Quick Ball ftw, Baltoy is now Woody.

Munna’s also in this grass. I can’t help but notice these things are not great for grinding.

Trainer with a level 65 Altaria.

I think Rojo might need to try to handle it before anything more creatively unfortunate happens. Altaria’s a Special Defense pokemon, and I think has a few really great Defense-boosting stat moves. If I let it, it can sweep.

It might also be able to kill Rojo in one hit already, but.

Argh, I hate this, lol.

Rojo, go in, if something happens I’m sorry in advance.

Yeeeeeah this Altaria is doing what I thought it would and I don’t care for it. Dragon Dance plus the Cotton thing that drastically raises Defense. .I am afeared. It uses another Dragon Dance.

Oh good job Rojo. Critical hit for the save. Good job, good job.

Abomasnow is up next.

Fido, you’re up.

Fido eats it.

You know. I like this better when I’m not chronicling every single fight out of the fear of imminent death. The next trainer looks like a Fighting one, so Tock is moved to the first slot.

Are you fucking kidding me.

New plan!

We’re murdering legendaries for breakfast!

Because exp!

Side note: Air Slash has 95 accuracy. Why is it always missing.

...Oh fuck.

I hecked up. Badly. Oh fuck. no.

I thought. Tock would out-Speed. Which I would have realized was a stupid thought if I had actually spent any time thinking about Tock’s features and the fact that the Hitmontop has eight levels on him.

I thought about healing him. Those missed Air Slashes left a lot of damage.

You know what also leaves a lot of damage.

STAB Close Combat.

Stop. thinking. “oh I’m sure it will be fine.”

-cradles head in hands-

I am so sorry Tock.

I.

Fuck, this was not supposed to happen. I shouldn’t be allowed to touch Flying pokemon. Ever. Or fight Fighting pokemon. The fact that this keeps happenings suggests some underlying stupidity.

Damn it.

Damn it.

This. Tock. Buddy.

ALL THOSE FUCKING SLUGMA.

FUCK I JUST REALIZED IN THE MIDDLE OF MY EMOTIONS. I DIDN’T USE TOCK AGAINST N OR GHETSIS. ALL OF THAT EV TRAINING. ALL OF IT. FOR NOTHING BUT RANDOM FIGHTS.

ALL

THOSE

SLUGMA

IT WAS A LOT OF HOURS.

I. Hell, I am so sorry Tock. I did everything wrong for your final moments. You would still be alive (assuming Close Combat wouldn’t have killed you in one hit regardless, which... I will never get to know) if I had just been more careful and less stupid. Five seconds of common sense would have put you out of harm’s way.

I am just. so sorry. This shouldn’t have happened.

You have such a sweet, innocent face and I...

I am upset?

I can’t even pick someone else for the team yet. It can wait. Nothing can really replace Tock, and I can’t act otherwise.

I can take Bandit for a walk, though. There are boulders nearby.

-eliminates Reshiram with no joy in heart-

Hell.

I think this place has more uses if you are not playing on the computer.

It has grass. That’s the important thing of the moment.

Hey little guy.

Quick Ball go, Quick Ball get.

I don’t know what to call you.

So. I’m gonna go with Tick.

FOR THE LOVE OF SOMETHING, STOP SPAMMING THE A BUTTON EQUIVALENT THROUGH CONVERSATIONS WITH PEOPLE I DID NOT WANT A TRIPLE BATTLE BECAUSE THAT IS LIKE THREE TIMES THE CHANCES OF DEATH AND I AM NOT DOING WELL WITH THE NORMAL CHANCES.

It works out thanks to the typing.

But geez self. Show some learning.

See, okay, the kid standing above her also wants a Triple Battle.

Now, what are we going to do?

Go to the Pokemon Center, and then say absolutely because my guys need exp.

I’m not a greatly intelligent human.

Not even a little.

It works out, though. Exp gained, no one dead.

New route.

This trainer has a level 68 Purugly.

I think. I really need to drop everything and grind for a little bit.

Frogger has fallen in love with the Purugly. He is also now paralyzed. After a turn of that, thankfully, he uses Hydro Pump and it hits.

Frogger.

I’m judging you a bit.

Level 68 Espeon. Followed by level 68 Lapras. Good grief I should not be in this place.

.

.

.

THAT ONE WAS NOT MY FAULT.

Ha. Ha. Ha.

This.

Fuck.

Uh.

So uh. There was this Future Sight Batman took. I made the executive decision that it was safer for her to be in there for it than Palm, and. I stand by that. Except then a critical hit Hydro Pump hit. And it’s a level 68 Lapras. So.

So.

You killed Boeing. By catching you, I took away your ability to kill. But I always knew you could still die. You were the terror. You were the knight.

You were Batman.

You deserved to be enshrined forever in the Hall of Fame.

But this is where we part, my friend.

Farewell.

Uh.

...4x STAB Leaf Storm.

I.

This was meant to be the grass encounter where I caught one of them?

I was focused on that?

I did not think a level 59 Petilil could kill Frogger in one shot?

This is.

Bad?

There is also a chance the Petilil is too dangerous to live?

But I catch it, so yay?

Petilil’s new name is Battousai.

And.

And.

This has been the longest hour of this run.

I am in so much more trouble than I was.

Frogger. You were my second pokemon.

You saved the day against the Elite Four.

You were dependable, and I never learned to depend on you.

I did not see us ending this way.

I am so sorry.

...

Hello.

Darkness my old friend.

I’ve come to cry at you again.

So uh.

Guess who. needs a new team.

Ahahaha I am in hell.

...

You know what. I. am going to take a break. This has been an excruciating hour. I don’t care for it. I don’t know what I should put on my new team. All I know is that this is very sad and I continue to be worse at this game than I thought.

So that’s great.

[next session start]

Alrighty then.

-stares blankly-

My party has Rock/Fighting, Fire, Grass/Fighting.

I, uh. Need to fill it.

With stuff.

Piglet (Spoink). You’re coming with. Buzz and Bandit will come along with HMs. I’ll see if I can hit the other routes, then figure the rest of this mess out.

Right. Lesgo.

On the comforting side, the first trainer we see has a level 65 thing too. So the side picked didn’t severely change the outcome of. things.

The first thing I see is Lairon, but I have an Aron.

-considers-

Let’s see if I can catch you.

Score, I can. I forgot the Quick Ball, but damage lined up to make it a clean catch. I’mma name you Daffy.

I think. I need to grind more than anything. My surviving team is very much at risk, and Piglet is wholly untrained. Both of those things need fixing. Hopefully it won’t involve chasing down Slugma.

To Dragonspiral and Jellicent, I guess. One step at a time.

(Bandit learned Surf, by the way. Because. Something needed to know that.)

Piglet is evolving! Form of... Grumpig!

Bodacious.

What EVs does Reshiram give? Because if it’s Special Attack...

That’s worth investigating.

Cue nothing but Baltoy. ...I also don’t know what Baltoy gives. ...Or Snorunt. Snorunt is also here. Along with Piplup.

Reshiram gives Special Attack.

I’m taking this as confirmed based on recording several levels of Piglet’s stats attacking nothing but Reshiram. A wild extra point of Special Attack appeared. That makes some things so much easier. I don’t know the exact numbers on what I’m looking for out of Piglet (I think maybe max HP, some convenient split of Special Defense, Defense, and Special Attack), but. Geez this is a relief.

Looking at the numbers though, Piglet isn’t going to be able to pack much of a punch no matter how many EVs I pour into him. I need to focus on tank power.

Maxing HP, then whatever’s left will go to Special Defense and Defense.

Only not in that order.

My memory being what it is, I’m not sure, but I think Relicanth might have Defense and Attack EVs. So I’m just here for Cloyster. I’ll down twenty, then go back to HP grinding. Simple.

Cue no Cloyster.

I should level up Bandit so I start getting better stuff with all this walking.

[one hour later]

This is still boring. I should have figured out my other replacements so I could do this all at once. At least one would have to have similar EV desires, right?

But then I’d have to figure out the other two.

My guess is it will be Yanmega and Jellicent. Fluttershy and Peanut.

But.

I want to wait. Just. Just in case.

Also, screw it, Bandit gets the other Exp. Share. I have two, I’m going to use them. I’m also going to use some PP Ups on Fido’s Flamethrower. Healing after every fifteen fights is. No.

[many hours later]

Okay. HP handled.

Sigh.

The journey continues.

[another hour (okay maybe not really)]

Yay!

I think what I want to do right now is level up what I have rather than focus on training any other new ones. I need to watch those exp bars zoom to the moon. It will sustain me in my grief/exhaustion.

Since I’m in Opelucid anyway, I’m just going to go right and hang in the grass until I’m slightly more confident in the ability of my team to not die.

Wild Pichu are not that helpful in that endeavor. Nor are Mime Jr. Granbull. You are our only hope in this arena.

...

I miss Tock [’s Shadow Ball] so much.

The fear of death is omnipresent. Too much has happened. Where once there was confidence, now there is only dread. Recovery is a faint glimmer of a dream off in the distance.

Neat. Kingdra is also here.

-tilts head-

Yeah, repeats. But still.

I wonder if anything helpful’s in the water.

Well. There’s a level 35 Surskit.

Leaning towards a hard no.

Oh wait, what am I doing. It should be all legendary murdering all the time.

It’s so frustrating, because I just keep thinking hey, I can go fight the trainers along the path for more exp! Then the rest of me remembers that I should not do that.

I don’t think I checked out the dark grass in the route I found Reshiram. I’ll check that out for a quick look. It will possibly be followed by running away as fast as humanly possible, but eh.

That’s not too bad.

...Ah. Levels 58 and 57.

Their danger levels and their exp levels sadly do not line up. Gonna stick with the Reshiram grass.

...Also gonna check what’s in the water of the route with the level 68 hellbeasts.

NO I DIDN’T REALIZE YOU TURNED AROUND.

-deep breath-

-deep scream-

Okay. Okay. It’s fine. It’ll be fine.

Level 64 Primeape, Piglet gets switched in. ..And survives a Close Combat crit.

So then, Piglet is at 23 HP thanks to two Thrashes, and now Palm is out to hopefully do away with a level 64 Scrafty. Yes, because Palm is Palm Wonderful. Last one is a level 64 Poliwrath. Palm gets a crit because Palm loves us.

Piglet learns Power Gem because I don’t have the guts to use Rest as a real strategy.

All right. Lived.

Super Rod leads to Palpitoad. That’s not a bad thing to know. Regular Surfing leads to Wigglytuff. That’s better than the Reshiram grass for leveling if it’s the only thing in the water. But then there’s Shellder.

New area!

Undella Town and Undella Bay are different places, so I must take care with Surfing for my new friend.

This is the town’s choice. I throw a Quick Ball. Metapod caught. Now if only he had a name. Hm.

You can be Crystal.

And this is the choice of the bay. Another Quick Ball is thrown. A Hoothoot is caught. Her name is Winnie.

I’m fast approaching the end of new areas. The map is almost completely lit up.

I think it might be okay to face trainers in the water, because I have Palm. So I’m going to try that, and hope I don’t soon have reason to cry like a baby again.

Level 63 Staryu.

You know, my new question is why that one girl had level 68 monstrosities.

There’s a Quagsire here that we don’t get to catch. ;-;

Oo, and Electrode. I’ve always loved Electrode. It smiles.

I have the HM for Dive now! Yay?

RUN

RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN

RUN.

-severe whimpering noises-

We are not in any way, shape, or form ready for post-game Cynthia. I have memories of grinding against her and others in this house thing, but those teams were allowed to come back after dying.

I will fight her before I fight the Elite Four. Because if I can’t beat her, I have no business facing the Elite Four again (...I think).

Okay, moved up to Route 13 because I don’t actually have anything that can learn Dive. New area. Time to see what we get.

Hmmmmmmmm. Quick Ball get.

Finneon’s new name is F9.

I can’t help but notice that other trainers don’t walk around with level 68 pokemon. I guess that means I really am exploring the entire map before I start training another pokemon. That is possibly misguided, but I really just... am not ready to finalize my final (I hope) team.

Um.

I.

Wait, what the fuck?

I. I was typing.

WHAT HAPPENED WHILE I WAS TYPING. PALM TOOK A HEX BUT HIS HP WAS STILL GREEN AND THEN.

WHAT HAPPENED.

WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED.

It uses Hydro Pump against Piglet, so if I were to guess...

How is this still getting worse.

Palm.

Palm Wonderful.

I have no words.

I am distraught.

I will miss you so much.

I no longer have the option of being cute about this. I can’t be walking around with three pokemon in an area where I’m losing them at this rate. I guess the simple fact is that things are now high enough level to know seriously dangerous moves, and there is no truly safe option except for absurd over-leveling.

I need to select three new ones.

I have Fido, Rojo, and Piglet. Fire, Rock/Fighting, and Psychic. I can basically pick whatever I want. And as much as I hate to say it, Palm’s loss keeps me from being overstocked on Fighting. So. If I wanted...

But what do I want?

I want to stack the deck. How do I do that.

IV checker. Everything I might consider using is getting a free checkup.

It’s a sea of “above average”s. With a few “decent”s here and there.

Maybe I should try something different. Maybe I should just select the pokemon I love most. That’s the point of a Nuzlocke, right? Getting attached? In terms of Type coverage, there are things I can do, but. I don’t wanna do that. I want to pick the things I love most. If it has good odds on ending horrifically no matter what I do, I want to have as much fun as possible.

Swiper and Wagston are in. As for the last one, that remains to be seen.

If memory serves, Riolu evolves into Lucario with good happiness during the daytime. So I should start walking. He will also be given a Soothe Bell. I think I’ll spend my time leveling up what remains. Rojo can kill a million Reshiram and become a demigod in addition to a legendary.

Oh, and sportsball. Let’s go do today’s.

Baseball! Baseball is fun.

Have I been here since finishing the plot?

I have, right? There isn’t going to be a huge level jump?

This level 65 Persian staring me down says I’m a moron.

-paces-

I should not be here. I should leave. Straight away.

But Piglet is a tank. Everything I uses in battle is over 60.

This stupidity is now on record. I’m going to try to beat the baseball peeps.

This level 66 Simipour makes me miss Palm so terribly.

Wow, I should not be doing this.

And yet.

There are a lot more trainers here now.

Level 64 Conkeldurr vs level 64 Piglet. My future nightmares start this way.

Piglet is victorious, and we continue this horrible decision!

...

You know what, this is stupid. Piglet hurt himself in confusion twice, then I used a Lemonade to get him back to full health, then the Unfezant’s Sky Attack did. That.

So. This is going badly.

Piglet, I swear I’d say sorry, but I’m mostly just dwelling on how amazingly screwed I am. So. Uh.

So.

tfw I have two usable pokemon!

[kashikoikawaiisaschachen]

Hello Charlotte explained

I want to torture myself by trying to understand the complicated universe of Hello Charlotte and what actually happened in all the episodes, so here I go lol.

PSA: This post isn’t a complete guide to Hello Charlotte. It will be updated from time to time as I figure out more about the story.

Warning: Long text ahead to explain the whole plot.

---

First, we have the True Realm. This is where Charles Eyler writes his fanfic to cope, regularly plagued by the illusion of his unborn younger sister Scarlett Eyler and pressured to become a doctor. His mother is mentally ill and bedridden after her husband had forced her to abort Scarlett. To make matters worse, she sees her son as Scarlett due to the trauma. Anri also exists here as his fake girlfriend and Charles wrote her into the story as Charlotte's best friend. Charles inserts himself as C/Vincent borrowing his internet friend Vincent's appearance.

Later, he gave up and committed suicide after his mother died, unable to pass the Trial. He failed to overcome his hardships, thus his own life became a story about giving up. Every event after that happened after his death in the True Realm.

The False Realm is where most of the story takes place, especially before EP3. The House is what the False Realm is called with many floors, each inhabited by different people. It's essentially a fiction within a fiction. Some floors have a Charlotte inhabiting them. The 1st floor is Charlotte the protagonist's house. 2nd floor is where the school is. The 4th floor is where another Charlotte caused the Great Cluster by absorbing its inhabitants to herself. The 6th floor is where Charlotte 091 is, although merely a bunch of organs and merged with the Charlotte from EP1, she’s kept alive for a little longer to please the audience. The 9th floor has a Charlotte who consumed everything to keep its inhabitants alive (probably a reference to EP2's Grey End). The 11th floor is where Mother takes resident.

The Father and the Mother of the House are based on Charles own parents. Mother (possibly Lilith), unlike Charles/C is the true God of the House and she produces Charlotte vessels assigned with different roles for their own stories. She also manages a network from which a Charlotte can draw power from and use it to grant her wish at the cost of ending her story, thus dying permanently. Charlotte/Scarlett made a wish to save the Oracle from dying in EP1, which in return should have ended her story. But the Oracle/091 intervened by creating a channel made of Scarlett’s soul data (more info a few paragraphs below).

Father aka the Umbrella Man oversees the False Realm and provides guidance to Charlotte. Seth the Puppeteer aka us the player is named after Seth the Umbrella Man. When Umbrella Man called himself Charles in EP2′s Grey End, he wasn't Charles himself, but rather his impostor as C told Q84 at one point. Though sometimes Father may refer to Charles himself, due to the False Realm being the universe of Charles’ mind. In fact, Charles has always used a Vincent vessel in the False Realm, way back since EP1 when he helped Charlotte/Scarlett in the TV world.

After Scarlett died by Q84's hands in EP3, so did Q84. Umbrella Man granted Charles' wish to resurrect her so that her story could continue. And so Q84's soul data was uploaded into another Charlotte vessel.

Shortly after that, we were shown a flashback of V19 killing all 2nd floor inhabitants except Scarlett and taunt her to find her. She's the Charlotte unit Umbrella Man was talking about who became self-aware without Charles' interference. After Scarlett found her on the 11th floor, V19 revealed the truth of the world they live in. In disbelief, she used the Oracle’s power to transfer her consciousness into one of the Charlotte vessels to atone herself and try to understand Charlotte better. She and Charlotte from EP1 and 2 were the same person with martyr complex.

As we already know, many concepts in Hello Charlotte are based on Charles' real life experiences, including his friend Vincent's theory on how the world works. According to Vincent, every time someone dies, their soul expands like a Big Bang, forming a new universe made of entirely their own mind. Each Charlotte's soul cube is a world in itself in a form of TV box with soul data aka channels. In EP2, she didn’t think the tenants were real, so imaginary they became. She was also obsessed with the Trial, which in return manifested in her world.

With that said, those TVs we saw in EP1 were most likely Charlotte's soul cubes with their own stories. Since the Oracle in EP1 was Charlotte 091, the Pythias were actually the many Charlottes that Mother has produced in the House. Each time the channel is switched, the TV shows a different outcome - eg. one where Felix didn't die. In EP3′s bad ending, the Phythias were apparently multiple vessels for a single Charlotte.

(Btw, in EP1 many Phythias were apparently killed by the Executioners. Perhaps this is a metaphor of Charles killing off the Charlottes once their stories end?)

As we can see in EP3′s bad ending, Charlotte/Scarlett's soul cube had many channels that can be switched around yet it won't change the outcome of the story, ie. the alternate realities she was trapped in all for the sake of entertainment - proving V19's statement. The only way to put her out of misery is by destroying her soul cube, essentially killing her. On top of not being able to die until her story ends, it’s understandable why Q84 went rogue and wanted to die so badly.

Charles and Q84 left the room, leaving Charlotte/Scarlett to her fate for a while. Q84 decided to use White Society members as new vessels for Charlotte/Scarlett as an attempt to save her. We can see the old Charlotte together with Oracle, their sprites and surrounding distorted. Charlotte/Scarlett was still alive as her soul cube wasn’t destroyed. Oracle invited her to stargazing, as in leaving the story together. Seemingly depressed, she claimed everything Umbrella Man said was a lie. In EP1, Charles/C whispered something that triggered her memories, which in turn made her suicidal in EP2 (it explains the horrifying environment her channel has turned into), although that recollection somehow disappeared at one point. This could mean she didn’t stay clueless forever and at one point realized what is actually going on and that she failed to create a good ending.

In the true ending, Q84 destroyed Charlotte/Scarlett’s soul cube to free her from her fate. Charles entered the False Realm to come in terms with himself, throwing away his Vincent vessel and killing off Mother, ending the stories for good. Q84 hugged and assured him among the ruins of the House, even when Charles’ world has crumbled, a new day will still come.

(I find it really sweet how Q84 developed some empathy in both endings. It shows that she can be a semi-decent person if she wants to, however it’s hard to sympathize with people when you know the world around you is fake, you exist to please complete strangers and everything you’ve been taught is a lie.)

---

tldr;

Hello Charlotte is an unnecessarily complicated story about a depressed young man who writes a self-insert fanfic about his dream girl named Charlotte Wiltshire. She has a different personality and role to fulfil in each scenario he had written. She is predisposed to be fascinated by Vincent, his own self-insert and a false God. At the same time, this also represents his own fascination with Vincent in real life.

EP3 explores the self-fulfilling nature of this as a fictional girl is made just to be abused without fighting back to create an emotional connection with the audience. Some of the defective Charlottes who lack parasites in their brains (as in what grant the Puppeteer control over a character, it’s the reason why Q84 never addressed Seth when making decisions nor can you the player influence her actions, because she lacks your guidance) became self-aware. Q84 in particular fought back against her script by being outright sociopathic, and thus much less relatable to the audience contrary to Charlotte from the previous episodes. Charles or rather Umbrella Man in disguise later asked for Scarlett’s help to stop Q84 from murdering the NPCs. She got killed in the end, so Umbrella Man suggested we should switch to a different story where Scarlett avenged her classmates instead. This is what kicks the plot of Hello Charlotte 1 & 2, separate from the events of EP3.

Some questions remained unanswered though. Judging from what was said, is White/Black End the canon ending of EP2? Charlotte/Scarlett didn't survive the Trial after all. How did Q84 materialize in the True Realm when she’s a fictional character within the House? This is perhaps a metaphor to Q84 being Charles’ favorite Charlotte. After all, Charles is the only ‘real’ person here. Even Umbrella Man’s True Realm’s appearance was only a metaphor. We all know Charles loves his imaginary friends ever since Scarlett appeared as a tulpa and Charlotte existed to fulfil his fantasies  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Since this happened after Charles committed suicide, he can bring pretty much anyone in False Realm with him. And this was probably the False Realm in fact, since Charles’ world has crumbled.

If you made it through this wall of text, I’d gladly like to hear your input :) Thanks for reading!

[oneddashone]

Games of the Year 2020

Given that I don't think anyone reads this, especially since I've largely stopped using it for anything other than these lists, it feels silly to write an intro on "what a weird year 2020 was" or whatever. It is worth mentioning, however, that in a "normal" year, it's quite possible that my GotY would have been different.

I think every game on this list was played on the Nintendo Switch, which, aside from FIFA, is really the only device I play games on these days. I've waxed poetic about this in the past, so there's no reason to talk much more about this now. I'm really hoping a "Switch Pro" comes out next year—to me, that's much more interesting and desirable than either a PS5 or X-Box Series Whatever.

Anyway, on to the list.

***RECOMMENDED*** What the Golf Minecraft Dungeons Bubble Bobble 4 Friends Mr Driller DrillLand Carrion Panzer Paladin A Short Hike Part Time UFO Immortals Fenyx Rising

I kept a list of all the games I played this year, and more than half didn't make the cut at all, so the games in this lowest category are all still extremely worthwhile games, in my opinion. What the Golf was originally a mobile game, but I played it on the Switch and had a blast. Very funny and inventive, and more than enough "game" there, in case you were wondering. I played through and beat Minecraft Dungeons with my daughter, which was a blast. She knew all the lore, and I knew the genre, so we were genuinely able to help each other out throughout the game. The new games in the Bubble Bobble and Mr Driller franchises were largely carried by my nostalgia for them—neither was perfect, but absolutely worth the investment if you care about the series. DrillLand in particular had some surprisingly inventive takes on the established formula.

Carrion and Panzer Paladin were nice surprises when they came out. A lot was written about the former when it debuted and I don't have much to add to that conversation, but I didn't see nearly as much love for Panzer Paladin. It's a fun little retro platformer, something like a "12 bit" art style, and you play through levels in any order you want, a la Mega Man. The most interesting part of the game to me is actually the weapon management system—you get a ton of weapons throughout the game, and the real strategy lies in choosing when to break certain ones, maintaining a steady supply of good ones, and even in using them to trigger checkpoints.

I watched my friend Ben stream A Short Hike when it first came out on PC, and I was excited to finally play it myself. It didn't disappoint, and I loved the relative short length, combined with the overall carefree and relaxed vibe. My daughter played through to the end too, which was nice. Another short-ish game this year was Part Time UFO, which, like What the Golf, was a originally a mobile game. Part Time UFO was made by HAL, and it shows throughout—most obviously in that Kirby shows up in the background from time to time, but also in the overall craft and polish.

The last game in this tier is Immortals: Fenix Rising, which nearly ended up being a tier higher, but in the end it just felt better here. This is a great take on an Ubisoft BotW clone (which I mean in the nicest way possible), and the setting is fantastic, but ultimately there are some key flaws that hold it back for me. Ubisoft's seemingly insatiable appetite to Get More Money Out of the Player, even after they've purchased the game, comes to mind immediately. Requiring a login and creation of an Ubisoft account is another. You don't really think about these things when you're playing the actual game, which is great, but it ended up being enough for me to dock it a little bit in the end.

***ESSENTIAL*** Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition One Step to Eden Streets of Rage 4 Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin

Kentucky Route Zero is another game that I feel like has already been written about and discussed a lot, and I don't know what I have to add to that. I'm so glad it ended up on consoles—it always seemed to me like the kind of game that would be trapped on PCs forever. The one moment that will always stick out for me was when I was playing it in bed one night with the kid. We found something in our inventory that had a phone number written on the back, so, in effort to kind of indulge her and be a little goofy, I decided to actually call it. I don't know what I was expecting, but it sure wasn't the fully realized "Guide to Echo River" (voiced by Will fucking Oldham!) that we got. It was an incredible experience, one of many in this extremely beautiful, thoughtful game.

One Step to Eden introduced me to a game genre I didn't know I needed—basically, "what if deck-based roguelite, but with an action-based real-time dexterity component?" It's all well and good to create a perfect deck in something like Slay the Spire, where any nerd can take as long as they need to run their perfect calculations or whatever during their turn, but it's really something else to try and do it while dodging complex enemy attack patterns at the same time. I feel like I read that this was based off a Mega Man spin-off, but to me it felt like a breath of fresh air in the increasingly oversaturated roguelike genre (oh, but more on that later).

Streets of Rage 4 is the perfection of a genre that I thought I was completely done with, and one that I think a lot of other people were done with too. Belt-scrollers made a certain amount of game design sense when they were first introduced in arcades, what with the goal being to collect as many of your quarters as possible—but the gameplay hook suffers tremendously when there's no tangible cost to failing. And yet the team behind SoR4 breathed new life into the genre, via incredible art, animations, and music. Most importantly of course is how it feels, and the deep combat system allows players of all different skill and interest levels to get exactly as much out of the game as they put into it. A friend played this in a much deeper way than I did, chaining combos across entire levels at times—whereas I just played through twice—and yet we both came away from it completely satisfied. This is a masterpiece of the genre.

Clubhouse Games is a sequel of sorts to the DS game of the same name. The first thing I think of when recalling this game is just the incredible amount of craft that clearly went into making it. From the heavy thud of the Hanafuda cards being forcefully plopped down to the sound of marbles jostling in Mancala, every little detail of this game has been thoughtfully executed. Sure, there's a few games I played once and never wanted to play again, but mostly this collection is just an outstanding bang for your buck. It also succeeds as a kind of virtual history lesson/tour of the best and most-loved tabletop games from around the world; and, especially during a pandemic, who could say no to that?

Sakuna snuck up on me towards the end of the year. Apparently it was first announced as a PS4 exclusive, but Nintendo saw it and rightfully made a big effort to get it on its platform as well. The gameplay mostly consists of an incredibly satisfying loop of starting the day by tending to your rice field, in full 3D life sim style, and then going out and exploring levels in fairly fast-paced 2D action/platforming levels. During the 2D parts, you'll find supplies that help your rice field, and by completing tasks there you'll unlock better equipment and weapons for the platforming levels. On top of all of that, there's a night/day cycle as well as a seasonal one, which vastly changes the type and amount of work you need to do in the field each day. That might sound like a lot, but it all snaps together wonderfully, leading me to quite a few "well I'll just play one more day" long nights. Oh and I haven't even mentioned the clear reverence shown towards the surprisingly complicated act of actually growing rice—every step of the way is a different kind of mini-game, essentially, and I ended up taking a lot of pride in making the best rice that I could. This is one I'll definitely still be playing into the new year.

***RUNNER UP*** Hades

Everyone's favorite horned-up mythological roguelike ensnared me pretty deeply when the full version was released on Switch this year. I had seen snippets of it on Early Access, which was enough to pique my interest, but I was still caught pretty off-guard by just how incredible this game actually turned out to be.

I haven't talked much about story in these write-ups so far, but it's clearly the first place to start with Hades. If I had to pick one thing to set it apart from similar games, it would be how perfectly the notion of dying and restarting is to the central story of Zagreus. Every time you die in an unsuccessful run, which will be a lot early on, you're encouraged by NPCs to try again—and not only that, it makes thematic sense with—and in fact is central to—the story of the game. This completely removes the sting of feeling underpowered and kind of helpless in your early runs, and to keep playing and powering through it.

The pantheon of gods in this game will show up and offer to help by way of boons. These grant you temporary new abilities, which not only vary depending on which weapon you've picked, but will also combine with and modify other boons that you pick up in the run—not unlike the weapon synergy of Binding of Isaac, for example. The gods have their own agenda, of course, but with some experience you'll start to favor certain builds over others, and to try to and build towards a fully-optimized set of skills to tackle the underworld. Then again, sometimes you'll get something you've never seen before, and change up your tactics on the fly. It's all very rewarding and incredibly replayable.

As with a lot of roguelikes, you do carry some things forward from run to run. As you unlock all of the weapons, purchase upgrades and new abilities, and naturally start to learn how the game works and improve your own strategy, you slowly begin to feel much stronger and eventually, well, god-like. The near-perfect difficulty curve gives players of all skill levels complete control over how hard or easy to make the game for themselves. This carries over perfectly into the "Pact of Punishment" system that's unlocked after your first successful run, which lets you dial up the difficulty to frankly fiendish levels in order to, first and foremost, keep skilled players engaged, but also to provide a ton of "end-game" content for those that want to keep playing.

And really, you'll want to keep playing. The first ending is just the beginning, as the story compels you to keep playing and see how everyone's stories pan out. The NPCs are incredibly well-written and the voice-acting more than lives up to the lines they're given. I was completely invested in these characters and the fates they would have to reckon with by the end.

I got my tenth clear—the first one to roll credits—fittingly enough on attempt #69 (nice). This seemed like where the game naturally "ended," and I put it down—even though there's still a ton of previously mentioned end-game stuff I could do in the game if I wanted. But the end of Zag's main story felt so pitch-perfect, and so earned by the experience with the game overall, that I decided to leave it on that perfect high note.

***GOTY*** Animal Crossing: New Horizons

This wasn't my first Animal Crossing game (it was, I think, my...fourth?), but it was the first Animal Crossing game that a lot of my friends played, and that alone made for a different experience than I've had with the series before. In the early days of quarantine, we were visiting each other's islands every day, trading items, sharing insider tips on the Stalk Market, and just generally enjoying the game in a social way that was suddenly not allowed in day to day real life.

For the most part, that lasted for about a month. Maybe two. But I kept playing, every day, for a few reasons. First was that I have a lot of time with this series, and more or less knew what to expect going in. I didn't get disappointed when Nook's Shop was mostly just stocking items I already had, for instance. But more importantly, I knew not to burn myself out on it early on. And look, I know there's no "right" or "wrong" way to play a game, but Animal Crossing (at least to me) seems unique in that the gameplay is so clearly designed to be enjoyed in 20-30 minute, daily chunks. There's just not that much to *do* after a half hour or so, but I was seeing friends' hours totals in triple digits after just a few weeks.

Two other things unique to this entry helped keep it persistent for me, I think. One, Nintendo committed to and delivered on a regular update schedule, which kept things fresh (and safe from the naughty time travelers of the world, even). Pretty much every month, something brand new happened, and it was enough to keep my interest even after I'd donated every fossil to Blathers.

The second, and much bigger thing by far, was that my daughter started playing. She named our island ("Turtlerock") and moved in on day one. We'd talk about villagers—which ones were our favorites, which ones we wouldn't mind seeing move away—and collaborated on the city-planning of our island. I played first, and was therefor the "primary resident" or whatever it's called, but I never made a big decision without checking in with her first. We're both invested in it, and it's been a fun experience to share together over the course of the year. Hell, we even counted down the last seconds of 2020 together in local co-op.

Sure, my house is paid off, I have two million bells in the bank, and my museum is roughly 95% filled out—but I still play this pretty much every day. It's become a ritual. Usually right after work, which happens to be the best light on the island; sometimes later at night, especially during a meteor shower; and on the weekends frequently in the morning—but no matter when I'm playing, the remarkable thing to me is that here we are, nine months later—still in quarantine, and still playing Animal Crossing.

[acradaunt]

Wanted to gab about Monster Hunter World for a while. It's probably going to be really rambly and sound overly negative, but hey. I tend to be like that. Super negative. It's easier to pinpoint and hammer on a weakness than a strong point.

I guess let's start at the very, very beginning. While it doesn't bother me even slightly, the concept of Capcom pouring all this money and focus onto Monster Hunter, but then not even remotely trying any sort of lip-syncing for the very first cutscene was... jarring. I don't really get complaints about it being too hand-holdy, though. You're fighting Jagras by the third quest and maybe an hour and ten minutes, compared to like three for Jaggi/Jaggi/Maccao in the previous games. Yeah, that first hour is like 105% cutscenes and scripted as heck, but that's them trying to be 'cinematic'. It's not great, but it's better than kicking you back and forth between town and the plains level for ten missions of gather honey/bones/ore/Aptonoth. NPCs tend to feel kind of like completely worthless human beings, but that's just a global videogame issue. Of course nobody else could actually show up and fight something. I guess not showing up at all is better than the Huntsman/Field Leader/Ace Cadet getting bodied time and again.

While yeah, no loading zones are nice, and most of maps are absolutely stellar (though Forest has that confounding middle floors region and Coral Highlands has waaay too many huge pointless regions), I think weapon and quality of life changes are what matters the most. While I think I prefer Gen's (Guild style for both) SnS (World's feels a touch too spammy, and the backleap suuuucks now; Gen's SnS required some finesse) and Greatsword (in spite of the fact that MHWorld's GS is designed around my 'stay in there' playstyle and not running away like everyone else does), almost every other weapon feels at its best. I've found love for Dual Blades, Gunlance, Bowguns, the Bow itself, and even slightly the Katana in this one. Still hate Insect Glaive, but at least they fixed the bugs. I like the LBG and Dual Blades enough to break them into regular usage. Hammer is just so pure and powerful that it kinda makes the Greatsword's damage feel woefully inept. Lance is amazing with guard being worth a damn and being more mobile than ever. Switch Axe makes actual use of both switching and axing. All shields are good. Blocking Nergigante's dive with a SnS shield like it's no huge deal is glorious and refreshing, because that would NEVER have flown before.

Seeing the weapon tree is great, even if what's on the tree is a bit barren. Like, really, I'm not even gonna whine about the boring weapon designs; why are old designs like the Rathian Switch Axe and Dual Blades missing? Poor things don't even GET poison without Awakening. Lots of weapons have huge holes without Awakening. The clear winner is armour skills. It's just so simple and intuitive, it's honestly baffling they didn't do this ages ago. My only quibbles are that you might possibly get TOO many skills now. You're packing more goods than an endgame G-Rank character in 4U. Also, sometimes some Alpha pieces feel exceptionally dumb. Like, is anyone ever going to take the version with, like, freaking Entomologist on it over a free socket? I do think I'd have preferred seeing more Set Skills to scale things down slightly so you had to get a few subpar pieces to get a better, prominent skill, but hey. Set Skills only needing typically 3 makes them a lot more palatable to me.

I might be in the minority here, but I like the switching of decorations and charms. Getting that one good charm completely changed your armour sets, and the 5000 others you got until then were wholly worthless. With decorations, you can equip multiple at a time, sometimes nearly a dozen. You can actually get lots of use out of 'okay' ones. The weekly gold tickets for free gems is really fair. And kinda necessary for upgrading charms. A couple skills really stand out, which I guess isn't anything new. Health Boost went from wholly worthless to the single best skill, allowing for 200 HP, Fire Res stops fire's constant burn damage and near global usage (especially with Bazel and Rathalos' interruptions), and Stun Res is more useful than ever, with Stun taking thrice as long to recover from. I'm sure the 'metagame' is still herp derp handicraft and crit boost or whatever, but I prefer not dying. Ever. I can run all that stuff handily and still get a pricier skill like Elemental Crit or some serious Guard points and not look like complete clownshoes, so that's always a huge plus. Oh, however. Female armour design is at its all-time low. One of the plusses of switching primary genders every game is that I dodged that bullet. Course, in Gen, I knew going in that I wanted Tigrex for Hearing and Eating, so I could use the name Amber quite fittingly. Two armour styles helps sometimes, but. Just. Stop. Making. Everything. Be metal thighhighs and have random-ass patches of bare skin.

A lot of the new monsters are mostly just rehashes. Which is... reasonable, really. There's only so many moves and so many ways to do stuff. Legiana is a less threatening ice Rathalos. Anjanath is a more aggressive, less burly Deviljho. Even Paolumu is Kecha Wacha with a few low-grade Kush attacks. Bazelgeuse  certainly stands out among the crowd, because his moves are wholly unique, and he's actually a threatening party-crasher, unlike Deviljho. The fact he's mostly about area of effect makes him incredibly dangerous (and/or helpful) when you're preoccupied, but when the focus is on him, he crumples surprisingly easily. I think most people have a love/hate relationship with him and the 3-monsters in the field. It does spice things up, but it also sometimes turns into an absolute fustercluck.

What's less thrilling is the near universal amount presence of fire. It's one thing that ALL the old guys are fire (minus Diablos, Kushala, and Kirin), but the fact that several of the new monsters (Anjanath, Bazelgeuse, Xeno'jiiva) are fire too is just pouring gasoline on the, well, fire. Kirin, Paolumu, and Vaal Hazak are the only three weak to it, I think, while each weapon gets two-four trees for fire. The free DLC doesn't change matters, with both Lunastra and maybe Alatreon doing fire too. I don't actually remember if Alatreon can light you up. For the other elements, Thunder and Ice get two (plus Oroshi, later). Water has just Jyuratodus and nobody even does Dragonblight. This means if you want elemental weapons, you'll be killing a shitton of Jyuratodus, Tobi-Kodachi, and Legiana. It also makes Fire Res probably the second best general-purpose skill, but I've already been there.

One thing I really did like is how HR just opened up pretty completely. It was fun seeing if you could immediately tackle Rathain or whoever to get some solid HR armour right away. The only shortcoming was the sad, sad excuse at 'oh no, monsters are invading other envir-- Anjie and Pukei are the in desert. That's it. It would've been a nice change of pace to see different guys different places, not to mention it could better use certain otherwise barren rooms and cause 'party chambers' to sometimes be more or less dangerous. Because I've never once fought Dodogama without in the main crystal room without it being a four-way. Lavasioth won't go there, but the three others are mighty fond of the room, too. On this thought, why the hell doesn't Nergigante show in the desert? They had his AI working there for the beta, and you first find traces of him in the swamp. :|

Investigations, Expeditions, and Bounties are all nice enough ideas, but I really think it would've worked better if they reworked how they functioned. Expeditions are kinda... pointless? Other than stupid gather-y bullshit like the ultra-rare endemic life and tempered tracks only show up there. Bounties are an alright way to guide your hand to specific quests, but it's flow breaking early on, and once you don't need armour spheres, you can just forget all about it. Investigations giving bonus rewards with stricter demands is genuinely nice, although there's always the issue of running a quest dry before you have enough Jyuratodus Fins or whatever. I'd more prefer these be like sliders that you can play with to set it to be as hard and rewarding as you can handle, but hey. I'll take it any day over 4U's Guild Quests.

It's kinda a half-baked idea, but I could sort of see a revision of these ideas into one bigger thing. Like, you'd choose a set of three or so investigations at once (like bounties), and when you go to a viable locale, those goals slot themselves in. If it's 30 minutes for Rathian and 50 for Barroth, she'll leave at 30 minutes and Barroth will stay for 50. Or once room opens and Diablos shows, Diablos' timer starts. I'm not sure how death would work. Take ten minutes away? It's not perfect, but it would flow a lot better than having to reload the same map twice every ten minutes when something dies.

Tempereds are just the stupidest attempt at harder monsters yet. Frenzy wasn't great either, as they gave nothing better compared to their normal counterpart, but at least there was a mechanic beyond 'hits harder'. And I seriously think half the G-Rank monsters don't have non-frenzied quests, so it's not much of an option. Hyper was never explained at all, but its heads above the other two. Specific stronger attacks with weaker weak points. Further, with Hypers, you still needed to fight the appropriate monster to get their parts (with some more variety for semi-generic parts like Hyper Horns). With Tempereds, your goal isn't to get parts, but horrifically rare drops, so there's no reason to do anybody but the easiest guy of that tier. You gain nothing more from fighting Radobaan versus Jagras. While I can live with never getting those amazing decorations, streamstones and augmenting are just awful to be linked to luck. Yeah, it's post-postgame, but that junk alone makes me feel I'd rather see a new game that refines World's new ideas rather than it get a G-Rank expansion. Generations was content to have the end be the end, not involving any roulette crap. ...Double Cross might've done some wacky random-luck bullshit. I don't know, come to think of it.

I feel like I had other, nicer, things to say, but this is already waay too damn long and sounds bit too bitter, so I think I'll just stop. Oh yeah, and needing a subscription to play online sucks, so I haven't even attempted to enter or use an SOS out of curiosity. But from what I hear about it only having two scales, one for one player, and one for four, is really stupid. It reeaallly favours single player, which, hey, is working for me, but might've missed the point of the series. See? I can't even end this without sounding negative. :|