#i thought there would be a bigger variety of players lol

[lover-of-mine]

Also why does my "nhl memes" search has, like, the first 10 memes being Matt Barzal or Quinn Hughes?

[avatarthelastairgender]

🔥

but specifically regarding ttrpgs in general or d&d in specific (your choice which)

i went dnd with my answers because i have dnd on the brain at the moment

i wouldn't call this broadly unpopular but in relation to the social circles we tend to walk in online: i think dnd 5e is broadly a good game!! the issues i have with it are mostly ideological ones, and there's some vestigial crud i don't think works, but i don't agree with the idea that anyone who is having fun with it is either 1) warping the game via homebrewing to such a frankensteinish extent that they're basically playing another game or 2) trapped in the matrix tricking themselves into thinking they're having fun.

in relation to broader dnd fan circles, i have a few random thoughts on the game

i fucking love playing a monk. people in dnd circles hate on the monk's mechanics so much, call it the worst class constantly, etc. maybe i'm just nuts but i've played every class and monk is in my top two easily. monk also has, outside of warlock, some of the most interesting narrative level-up mechanics. i really like the story beats that the last leveling tier of monk can tease out.

outside of ideological issues (the way monks, barbarians, orcs, etc are written really fucking sucks) my two biggest issues with dnd as a system are 1) the system doesn't do a good job laying out what it means to fail a check (or even really clearly establish when a check should be made), and 2) the responsibility of onboarding new players is foisted onto dms without a lot of support. i've read and played a lot of systems that incorporate some aspect of randomness and failure, and i think dnd is one of the weakest when it comes to articulating what it means to fail a roll. failed rolls often don't do much to move the story forward as the game is written, even stuff surrounding partial successes. and i just don't think 'nothing happens' should ever really be a consequence of rolling poorly; if it is, you should probably just not call for a roll. some of this is down to DM discretion but i don't think it should be! 'even a failed roll should lead to something interesting happening' shouldn't be optional IMO.

a lot of dnd players who complain about the classes being poorly balanced just don't like dnd i think and should probably play another system that either isn't combat-heavy or that just does combat differently? i don't think the classes being optimally balanced for ~5 encounters per long rest is actually that out of pocket personally. '5 encounters' =/= '5 combats' (even if wizards thinks this is the same thing LOL), there are a wide variety of ways to interestingly solve problems and expend resources outside of combat, and even then what constitutes a 'dungeon' does not have to literally mean going into a cave and fighting basilisks. a casino is a dungeon. a train is a dungeon. etc etc. even if you do want to run a lot of combat... this is only a problem if you don't like dnd combat! if you like dnd combat and are playing good dnd combat, this ceases to be an issue IMO. i think the bigger problem is just that dnd is painted as a catchall system and a lot of people playing dnd should be playing something else. dnd is balanced fine for what dnd is designed to do

i think a lot of broad-scale critiques of dnd culture (not all!) and how it's played are less so critiques of dnd than they are critiques of people. at least 50 million people play dnd. if 50 million people played uhhhh i dunno, dungeon world, or vampire the masquerade, or anything really, we would be hearing the same stuff about how dungeon world players are unbearable, because that's kinda just what happens when any subculture is that large.

"minmaxers" are unfairly demonized in some dnd circles. minmaxing rules

[frascospecimen]

god, it's been half a decade since I've even *thought* about ARMS

frankly I wasn't the biggest fan of the gameplay, but everything else was incredibly polished and charming

the character designs were awesome (mained Springtron), stages were pretty and diverse, and the music was straight flames. props to Helix' theme especially

i always said I'd try the sequel if they made one, but history has not been kind to this game unfortunately

I only got into it very very recently..I’m so happy I got it I’m a huge fan. The online feels a little dead and I’m not saying it’s a perfect game or anything but WOWWW it is good. Personally I love the gameplay it reminds me of the wii sports boxing but with like. A little extra polish.. it’s very good I like it

THE CHARACTER DESIGNS ARE SO. GOOODDDDDDDD the whole cast is so visually unique they all feel so different yet so tied together. The colors are very very fun.. My favorites are min min and mechanica (both to play and design wise ), I also like twintelle dr coyle and spring man a lot. Very hard to pick because THEYRE ALL SO GOOODDDDDDDDDD

THE SOUNDTRACK. THE SOUNDTRACK. HELLOa little biased because I watched the scruffy video BUT WOOWWWWWWWW of course it’s good Nintendo EXCELS at music but the arms soundtrack is something else. Everyone reading this you HAVE to go listen to the main theme and buster beach and ninja college AT LEAST. go listen to the whole soundtrack it’s such a treat. I love the use of the berimbau and the Brazilian influence throughout it’s gorgeous. Especially the chorus vocals in all the songs they’re so so good.. I am CRAZYYYabout music I could go on but I’m tired rn lol.

I would love a sequel so bad the game apparently sold very very well so I can dream….unfortunately nobody ever talks about it so idk how much popularity it actually has LOL even though it sold and rated very well. I would love an arms 2… I think this game would greatly benefit from a bigger cast and maybe a bit more gameplay variety? I’m not sure what exactly it feels like it’s missing maybe just bigger movement?? Or something?????idk. More mechanics maybe? I’m not a game designer…. I think the game would definitely do really good with a proper story mode too. The grand prix mode is fun but I would love a proper story mode. Also a sequel would probably pull in more players which I think it also needs LOLLL there needs to be more people online. I would love to see more people play and talk about this game…

I love this game so so so much and I’ve only had it for a few days I have quickly fallen deeply in love with it and I feel so sad that it didn’t get the popularity it deserved. There is something insanely special about this game and I wish more people saw it..

[ellynneversweet]

Curious English person here. Is republicanism common in Australia? I'm wondering as it sure doesn't feel common where I live. Especially with Labour desperately trying to prove it can do patriotism in order to make its self electable.

‘Lol what’s a political opinion, sounds wanky’ — old Australian proverb.

This gets long, because I can’t leave well enough alone. Short summary of what you probably wanted to know first, and then some history.

Theoretically, a republic of Australia (especially post-Elizabeth II) is generally understood to have the support of the majority of the population. Our last Prime Minister was and is a vocal supporter of a Republic who led the pro-republic campaign in the 1999 referendum, but didn’t bring it up again in the course of his term, and the Prime Minister before him (same party) re-established knighthoods so he could give Prince Phillip an extra title, so there’s a spectrum. In practice a republic of Australia is unlikely to happen in the foreseeable future, because it would take a lot of money and work to bring about, and would be largely a symbolic gesture rather than a practical one. Actually getting rid of the royals would require a referendum and constitutional amendment, and that’s not on the political table for a variety of reasons.

The general Australian opinion of the Windsor family can be summed up as follows: the Queen is a nice old grandma (depends how recently she’s been seen with Andrew), and it would be cruel to fire her in her twilight years; Charles is a useless tosser whom no one likes, although his wife is funny (depends on whether there’s a Diana retrospective trending on Netflix); the Cambridges seem stylish and wholesomely functional and are about as interesting as pro tennis players; ten years ago it was a quasi-serious joke that Harry would make a good Governor General, because he knows How To Drink Beer And Talk Shit Like An Australian, but then someone realised we’d have to pay him a bigger salary than the usual parade of retired lawyers and army officers and now it’s not funny. They get crowds when they do a tour, and the unofficial tourism advertising of having some pint-sized royal maul a wallaby at a petting zoo is considered a fair return on the cost of security when they travel here, which is the only time they cost Australia anything.

To give you some more detail:

The first thing that needs to be clarified is that that Parliament and Monarch of the United Kingdom have no official legislative power over the Commonwealth of Australia, and haven’t since 1986. The Monarch of Australia is, technically, legally seperate from the Monarch of Canada, the Monarch of New Zealand, and the Monarch of that other place off the coast of France, although by some weird coincidence all those seperate executive persons reside in the body of some old English woman. That’s bullshit, I hear you say, and, yeah that’s true, but consider this: she doesn’t actually do all those jobs. Functionally, the Head of State of Australia is an entirely different unelected executive, the Govenor General, and the office of the Governor General is careful to preserve their public position of political neutrality and independence.

There’s a bit of history here. The federation do Australia as a country happened in 1901, but between then and roughly 1930 the Colonial Office of the British government had considerable legal sway if they chose to use it, and the GG was appointed on their advice. The Australian National identity of the pre-WWII period was very much that of proud (white) sons of empire etc etc, but in 1930 the Australian Prime Minister insists on ‘advising’ the king on the next GG, and the next year the Statute of Westminster 1931 is passed, which establishes the legislative independence of, among other countries, Australia (but, because Australia is a federation of states, there is still some doubt about who has the power to do what exactly at which level of government).

Onward to 1975 and The Dismissal. Gough Whitlam of the Labor Party is the Prime Minister, and, the left having been out of power for some time, is moving quickly to institute a bunch of social reforms (RIP, sir, thanks for introducing public health care and treating the aboriginal population with a modicum of decency). The right-leaning Liberal party is seething over this, and, because they control the Senate, block supply for expenditure in an attempt to force an election in the House Of Reps. Whitlam counters with an election for the Senate and goes to the Governor General for his approval, because elections are called by the PM with the authorisation of the GG. The GG informs Whitlam that he has been dismissed as the PM, and the GG has invited the leader of the opposition to be acting PM instead. This is TECHNICALLY something the GG can do as the queen’s representative, but it’s against the spirit of democracy. It becomes a huge scandal the periodically bubbles along for years, and the reason this is relevent to the question of republicanism in Australia is the Palace Letters — correspondence between the GG and the Queen/their various offices and staff. The Queen claimed that these letters were private or personal correspondence, and thus not able to be released as a matter of public record, which caused a lot of speculation as to whether Whitlam had been dismissed on the orders of the Queen. This went on for years, and last year they were released. Long story short, the Queen did not explicitly know or authorise the dismissal, but there’s a lot of ‘theoretically, if’ in the letters, and it certainly seems like the Queen and her office were keeping closer tabs on Australian politics than was thought at the time. There’s also a conspiracy theory that the CIA staged the dismissal because Whitlam was making overtures to China, buuuuut if that’s the case then no evidence has come to light. In any case, no one wants that sort of scandal, and there are efforts made to distance the role of the GG from that of the monarch, and both from any practical power.

Onward again to 1986, the Australia Act 1986 is passed in both Australia and the UK, confirming that Australia is legislatively independent from the UK, and that the Queen of Australia is a legally distinct position from the Queen of the UK (see: James VI and I, etc). This is very similar to the 1931 Statute, but clarified that this independence exists on a state level as well as a federal level, in order to prevent states from appealing to the UK to overrule the federal government (as with Western Australia’s attempted succession in 1933).

Onward again and most recently: the 1999 Republic Referendum, aka my earliest political opinion. Labor proposed a referendum in honour of the centenary of federation. The Prime Minister in power was a Liberal (you may remember them as the party who stole the government in the dismissal). There was A LOT of debate over how, in the event of Australia becoming a republic, we would resolve the issue of the powers of the executive. Would we have an American style presidency (the Clinton impeachment was happening around this this time, FYI) or something more like the supposedly-detached monarchy represented by the GG? The proposal that eventually went to the people was a president appointed by the Prime Minister + 2/3rds of both the Senate and the House of Reps, who could be dismissed by the PM. This was a fairly unpopular take for a bunch of different reasons, not least because it managed to give the Head of State an implied mandate without actually being elected, and it was defeated by 54.4%. So, no Republic, and unfortunately, for those of us who do favour revisiting the question, it’s mostly seen as either unimportant or settled, or both. Whomp-whomp.

For my part, if we’re getting a referendum any time soon, I’d prefer it to be on section 44 of the constitution, which bars people with (potential) foreign allegiances from standing for election, which is frankly ridiculous in a country where nearly 30% of the population was born overseas and something like half the population potentially has at least dual citizenship.

[bean-n-shroob]

The Origami King Review/Opinion

(I sorta hate that it has the word The in it cause when I did impressions or this review, it sounds strangely official)

I’m gonna review but if people don’t want spoilers here’s some Pros and Cons that I felt

Pros:

+ Music is fantastic! I love how the battle theme changes with every area/sub-area you go to.

+ Writing is good, it gets you invested in enough to sorta care. Humor is top notch as expected!

+ Olivia is a sweetheart! I love her so much and how she’s so marveled by everything.

+ Boss Battles are fun to figure and deal with.

+ Finding Toads is actually kinda fun, I enjoy figuring out where they’re hidden

+ Badge system is intriguing if not a bit clunkly put together (sorry, this is suppose to be Pros)

Cons:

- Regular Battles get old quick if puzzles aren’t really your thing and its a bit too easy to just not depend on the coins, thus making them pointless.

- Story sorta flops, it starts strong but then just sorta fizzles and all we got left is... fun experiences (I know this sounds like a Con, but while the experiences are fun, it is disappointing the story sorta flops hard)

- Character Design is very meh. The most well written character can’t save it from its extremely generic design

- But also Olly is not... that well written... so...

- Partners and Vellumentals are kinda under utilized to a disappointing degree (baby steps, baby steps ugh)

Anywho, that’s all my feelings (that I can remember and feel I can say without spoilers)

6.5/10 (I’ll explain the scoring under the cut)

Spoilers Under Cut

Hello and welcome to the Spoiler Bits of this Review/Opinion

Buckle in, this is a long one

Now y’all may be a bit curious as to why, with so much big things (music/writing/bosses/Olivia) being good and so little being bad, why a 6.5/10?

Well, I felt a 7 was too generous and would make people think “Oh, its good!” but a 6 is like “Eh... its mediocre” and a 6.5 is more like a “Its Good, But” and I feel that But is important! I know how this may sound, but TOK could’ve been WAY better and Chapter 2 was an example of how good this game could’ve been!

You know how people always bring up Huey, or the “Morton Leston” joke, or the “I would do things that would raise this game’s rating” line as examples as why Color Splash is actually really good and we’re all in denial?

I feel Chapter 2 will be that for TOK and its all because of Bobby! I like Bobby, I like Bobby a lot! I wish he stuck around! I loved how he and Olivia interacted together and how they formed a bond!

But

I sorta hated how overall useless he was to the action and adventuring. He’s the most useless partner that somehow leaves a deep impression on the player!

He leaves such a deep impression that I don’t think anyone noticed how badly written Professor Toad was! He was such a let down as a follow up to Bobby! And worst of all, he was like way more useful than Bobby! He can dig holes, he can wipe out a whole role of enemies, he has a function outside of battle and story.

Seeing how useful Professor Toad was, sorta put into perspective Bobby and his eventual sacrifice to save Olivia (I told ya this was spoilers). He just dies, in a shockingly emotional moment, giving a speech about how Bomb-Ombs live relatively short lives and are always trying to make the most of it.

Wow... I really wish Chapter 6 didn’t have a segment where you were half hazardly shooting bomb-ombs out of a cannon, cause otherwise, this could’ve been way more impactful!

But it also made it seem like "we can't make Bobby too useful, he's gonna die. So just keep him extremely simple and useless in every other aspect of the adventure, besides story."

I don’t get how TOK started out so strong! The intro and Chapter 1 introduced us to the basic loop how what we’d have to do and how stuff will play out and Chapter 2 took that and showed us how far we could go with this loop and how involved the world will be with this loop!

Only for Chapter 3 to just give up on everything and give us 1 expansive dessert to explore, a very one note partner who doesn’t leave a lasting impression, a boring quest of solving an ancient riddle and a very annoying boss dungeon segment that went on longer than it should’ve! And above all else, a very half-assed excuse for why he won’t be joining your journey! Especially since Chapter 4 doesn’t have a partner!

Chapter 4 feels like an overly-long intermission of Mario n Olivia’s adventure to Chapter 5. Legit the purple streamer of 4 could’ve been the green streamer of 5 and it would only flow just a little bit less smoothly. Chapter 4 has this weird send off to the Vellumentals, with the boss dungeon being a mixture of the last 4 Vellumental chambers you’ve explored. Which feels out of place especially since there’s like 2 more chapters of stuff happening afterwards! And like a thunder elemental like boss fight in 5 but I guess they just couldn’t be bothered to create a Thunder Vellumental fight to tack onto the story and just gave it to this Origami Sumo Bro! Okay!

And then the Bowser Castle segment is right when they decide to get creative with enemy encounters, but only 2 enemy encounters (you can fight these two multiple time if you’re neither a chicken nor annoyed with the battle ring system) but then just stop right after cause Scissor makes cut out soldiers was the only excuse why that happened.

Again... I like TOK, I do. If I didn't, I'd rate it a 4 or 5 outta 10. I'll talk about the good, I will, but lemme just rant about 1 thing first! Its actually 2 rants but its gonna be about 1 topic I'm rather passionate about.

Character Design

I hate how generic the Legion of Stationery are! Once again, Chapter 2 wins by giving Rubber Band a very unique design, but everyone else is so generic looking! Remember how I said the personalities couldn't save them from their generic design? The Legion have such fun personalities, its so tacky and fun! But I cannot get over how it contrasts with the fact I'm staring at an object hoping in place or wiggling or jiggling as they talk! It kinda sucks, honestly!

I wish these guys had more creativity behind them, and truth be told it wouldn't have bothered me had Rubber Band not been an outlier! Why them and not everyone else! Its baffling!

But above all else, the worst offender, is the Origami Craftsman! The dude who folded Olly! Is a TOAD! That's it! A toad in an apron! WHY

And I get it, there's story reason behind it! Olly wants all Toads gone cause they all look alike and thus everyone reminds him of the Craftsman who wrote (a very touching message) on him!

And that SUCKS!

(uh oh, i forgot about Olly and his terrible terrible motive to be evil)

Speaking of Olly! Remember when I said he wasn't well written? Well besides being an evil prick who enjoys messing with the heroes (i dont mind that, evil just to be evil is fine), it sorta randomly just comes up that he hates Toads near the end! It just comes up!

And I THINK it was suppose to be hinted at by the fact all the Toads gets attacked and folded by Paper Macho and Folded Soldiers. But my problem with this is:

1. Would they have been daring as making Folded Toads as enemies? Thus the lack of Folded Toad enemies should've hinted at this

2. The enemies were origami version of Mario enemies! So enemies still being enemies but folded would've just strengthen the fact we'd be fighting bowser minions again, making the previous Toad hint moot.

3. Toads have always been in peril in previous PM games so the fact they're in peril again wouldn't have been a point of interest!

I GUESS the fact Folded Peach specifically asks whether Toads should be silenced could've hinted at this, but people just took it as "hah lol Toads annoying" and not "oh, this villain has a thing against toads~". Its just, who else would the villain have pointed out? There's only Toads here! Maybe if there was a bigger variety of npcs and we saw other npcs either becomes folded soldiers or be spared from the folded attack, we could've wondered "hey, why are only the toads getting stuck in places?"

But we don't!

Anyways, huff! Lemme count all the good, spoilery things in the game (that's not in Chapter 2) to end on a good note

I love how Olivia is so sweet, no one could bring themselves to be mean to her (except Olly), even Kamek has a hard time being mean cause she's so bubbly and caring (except for that weird bit in the forest where Kamek had to be all rivalry about it but I digress)

Bowser backtalking Olly was very funny, I loved it a lot!

The fact Olivia asks Olly to come to his senses before Mario smashed his face with the Olivia hammer (i need to specify this cause otherwise it'll look like Mario interrupted this scene with a hammer smash but no, Olivia fully knew her hammer weight was gonna fall on Olly's face and just gave some last words of pleas before not even letting him respond) I loved that.

I liked how sweet Olivia was to Luigi despite how much he kept screwing up (i forgot to rant about that but tl;dr, he's a bit of a buffoon and its a bit annoying) i thought it was very touching how Olivia kept rooting for him regardless.

The Tape talking like a Gangster was actually really funny, I liked that a lot.

Bowser's pep talk to Olivia was very funny, it was basically "dont be sad, look at me, my muscles are massive and I can punch through walls!"

As jarring as they were, I actually liked a lot of the singing and dancing that occurred through the game.

Olly having his own color scheme for his Vellumental forms was super cool!

The ending was really touching. Olivia wished for all of Olly's creations to be undone, and because you find out in Chapter 4 that she's also a creation of Olly, she is undone too. And they don't spell that out! You just find out she's not around and connect the dots. I think that was very well done.

And these are some of several reasons I liked TOK and why I couldn't rate it lower than 6. It has a lot of things that just doesn't live up to Chapter 2 and its disappointing to realize halfway through that the game peaked in Chapter 2. Its so weird, they showed us how good it can be and then never lives up to the expectationd set by Chapter 2. I wish it did

Thats why I rate it a 6.5/10

[sigurdjarlson]

You know one thing getting into mods and just gaming all my life in general has taught me?

Players will notice the smallest things

Plants blowing in the wind, droplets of water falling off you after getting out of water, seeing breath in cold areas, a variation in size and color of the creatures, variety of faces in humanoid, the slightest bits of added dialogue, and god knows people will notice that low quality thing the developers probably thought no one would notice so they didn’t bother touching 😂

Video game developing requires too much artistic talent and general technological know how for me to ever do as a career but it’s still fascinating to me okay. In particular I’m fascinated by the NPC and AI aspects. That’s always been the funnest part of games for me.

But here let me give examples of the smallest things I’ve personally found endearing (and all those small things add up to creating a fun, “immersive” world)

The way deathclaws will pause and flick out their tongues to scent the air (it’s adorable)

Dogmeat’s little trick animations

The way night elves ears droop when you do sad emotes or perk up/move forward with happy ones

And just how adding even the slightest bit of variety and detail in models, animation, dialogue can truly add to a game. Adding alternate routes for quests, different choices..

Personally I’d say to developers the best thing you can do is look at mods for other games and see what kinds keep coming up. What is it people are bothered by, feel needs fixing in games, what are the most popular ones?

The fact that Bethesda games need unofficial patches that fix 1000’s of bugs they never bother to fix always makes me cringe like come on now

Or the fact that some of the most popular mods add variety to NPC and/or player appearance, dialogue, and add animations. That they fix bugs

It’s a look into what people want from their games and what they feel needs fixing (or removing lol) You can learn something from that. Truly.

God just listen to fans in general. I adore creators that actively interact with fans, do polls, ask what people want and implement it, etc. that’s how you make a good game, (Minecraft is a good example tbh)

But unfortunately bigger companies tend to not give a shit besides churning out new games ASAP and not caring about quality (looking at you Bethesda) or what people want and that’s a damn shame.

I understand there are limitations to some degree but..in my experience people are more than willing to wait for a quality game rather than get a low quality game quicker

[eggoreviews]

20 Dream Games for the Playstation Classic!

The PS1 Classic came out last year. Everyone got excited for a minute, but then we found out it was missing almost everything! Here’s my personal list of the 20 games I reckon should’ve been included. I’ll stick to one per franchise to keep it fair, but I might have to break that rule once. Hope you enjoy/agree!

Note: This is just my opinion. There might be some ones you don’t agree with, and I might have cut some ones from the original lineup you liked. Sorry in advance lol

Before I kick off the list, thought I’d briefly list off the games I cut from the Classic’s actual lineup:

Battle Arena Toshinden

Cool Boarders 2

Destruction Derby

Intelligent Qube

Jumping Flash

Mr. Driller

Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee

Resident Evil (you’ll see why)

Ridge Racer Type 4

Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo

Syphon Filter

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six

Twisted Metal

Wild Arms

Aight, let’s go.

1. Final Fantasy VII

The quintessential PS1 JRPG, of course FF7 had to stick around from the original lineup. Like it or loathe it, FF7 defined its console and is still highly regarded as one of the best JRPGs of all time. Playstation wouldn’t really be Playstation without this game. This was the game that pushed Final Fantasy into 3D, and firmly into the hearts and minds of players everywhere. There’s little else to say, other than that you kind of already know how iconic this one is.

2. Grand Theft Auto

The humble beginnings of a now mammoth franchise, the first entry in the now legendary GTA series was a top down weird thing that let you explore three separate cities in whatever cars you can find. While this doesn’t hold up especially well today admittedly, GTA was an important milestone, not just for its series but for its console generation and has certainly earned its iconic status to belong on the PS Classic. This one was a good choice.

3. Metal Gear Solid

Another obvious choice, MGS is where Metal Gear really became Metal Gear. Brilliantly cheesy voice acting, awesome stealth gameplay, suitably weird story and the birth of the now iconic codex screen, MGS is like the archetypal cold war film wrapped in a supremely fun package on the PS1. If this wasn’t here, there is no PS Classic and that’s just the tea.

4. Revelations: Persona

This was one I wasn’t expecting an appearance from on the PS Classic, but I’m glad it did. In my head, the beginnings of this extremely weird spin-off JRPG series is an essential piece of kit on a classic compilation. Everyone hoping to experience the best of what PS1 had to offer should probably try this one out and while it certainly isn’t for everyone, it’s certainly unforgettable and deserves its place among the rest of this lot. But hey, maybe I’m biased because I’m obsessed with Persona 5.

5. Rayman

The first in the franchise that spawned my favourite 2D platformer of all time, Rayman made his glorious start on the PS1. While some may argue that the second entry in this colourful, creative platformer series deserves the spot, I’m with Sony in giving the spot to the first instead. Despite the cringey, cliche villain name they went for, this game was innovative for its time and had its own unique art style that still holds up remarkably well today. This limbless boy has earned his place.

6. Tekken 3

The final game from the original 20 I’m carrying over into my list, my thoughts are that this compilation was in need of a traditional fighting game and Tekken 3 perfectly fits the bill. This acts as one of the most iconic fighters on the PS1, and is pretty much superior in every way to the previous two entries, bringing with it more characters, more moves to pull off and a better, smoother combat system in general. This is the perfect fighter for fans of retro and takes its place rather nicely on the classic console.

7. Oddworld: Abe’s Exoddus

Here’s the reason why I cut Abe’s Oddysee, to replace it with what is arguably its vastly superior sequel! Oddysee is still good, but for newcomers to this extremely odd platformer, the larger variety of power-ups and potential strategies is a much better pick for those unfamiliar with the franchise. To put it simply, Exoddus just holds up better today than its predecessor. Get ready for what is kind of nightmare fuel though, as the slightly unsettling imagery and character designs are bound to make you feel a little uneasy as you traverse dystopian, industrial environments as a weird amphibian thing.

8. Resident Evil 2

And, predictably, here’s why I cut the first RE, because there was no way I was leaving this franchise off my list. It was a tough one, but the second just won out. In my mind, RE2 just improved upon the first one in so many ways. While the first was a horrifying, strategic blast through an infested mansion that became one of the PS1′s defining games, RE2 took what the first one did well and built on it immeasurably. More developed characters, a fleshed out story, more unique environments to explore. Even though the map got exponentially bigger, that feeling of claustrophobia never went away and it was awesome the level of horror they could achieve with 90s graphics. As a legendary horror game, RE2′s the one I would go with.

9. Bishi Bashi Special

I know what you’re probably thinking, ‘this arsehole cut Ridge Racer but they’re making room for Uncle Bean?’ Well, hear me out. A lot of you may not have heard of Bishi Bashi Special. It’s a little known Japanese party game that is the maddest thing you will ever play. And in a classic compilation filled with iconic RPGs and the like, I felt that injecting a little chaotic madness into the mix was never gonna be a bad thing. There’s nothing on the PS1 that even comes close to the level of chaotic fun this gives you and shows the pure variety of the console’s back catalog. I’m very firm on this game’s place. Fight me about it.

10. Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver

A hack-and-slash game with fully rendered 3D open environments, starring a kickarse silent vampire with glowy eyes. It’s a real wonder they didn’t put this on the starting lineup. For real though, Soul Reaver was ahead of its time in a lot of ways, really testing the PS1 to the limit with its graphics and control scheme. An awesome tech demo for the time that still holds up well today, but is also a solid game in general. Very worthy of this list.

11. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

As pretty much any PS fan will tell you, this game kind of has to be here. And everyone won’t shut up about it for good reason. While Castlevania made its start on Nintendo systems with the original trilogy, it really made its mark on the industry when Symphony of the Night dropped onto the PS1 in 1997. It took what made the other games so great and built on it all, providing a sprawling platforming epic filled with collectible power-ups, hidden places to explore and a story that, at the time, defined the franchise. Many would argue that the series still hasn’t topped this entry, and as such is an essential addition that is sorely missing from the real thing.

12. Tomb Raider II

Tomb Raider is, well, iconic. I’ve used that word a lot but it’s true. Lara Croft and the franchise she belongs to are iconic, especially to the Playstation. And like Castlevania, the lack of any Tomb Raider on the Classic is almost criminal. This title encompassed everything that makes the original Tomb Raider trilogy so great, interesting puzzles and areas that require a lot of strategic thought to traverse, a decent selection of weapons and vehicles and a sense of genuine fun and adventure that runs through the whole thing. Tomb Raider is cool, and it doesn’t need much introduction. And for me, this was the most glaring omission of them all.

13. Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back

While we’re on the subject of glaring omissions, here’s what was basically the PS1′s answer to Mario and Sonic, Crash Bandicoot. In particular, I’ve chosen Crash 2 because I feel it’s the best experience for new players. Crash 1, while it’s the original, is full of a load of fuckery that may put newcomers off altogether if they can’t master the jolty controls and the slightly unfair life system. Not a bad game, just not great for those new to the franchise. Crash 2 just sort of lends itself better to the classic, challenging but not too much 2D platforming the series is known for. Well-designed, aesthetically pleasing levels, consistently fun mechanics and even a story you can sort of follow. This was Crash at his best, and it needed to be here.

14. Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon

Yet another PS Classic omission that made people sad, Spyro acted as the lesser known, but still suitably iconic second mascot for the PS1. Unlike his orange counterpart, Spyro’s levels felt much less linear and were more of an explorative collectathon rather than a straight platformer. And of the original trilogy, it’s pretty safe to say that number 3 consolidated everything the first two nailed and made it as perfect as it could be. Year of the Dragon defined the series at the time, and it needed to be onboard as much as Crash.

15. Crash Team Racing

Look at me go, I’ve finally broken my franchise rule. But in this one instance, considering how wildly different the 2 Crash games are, I think we can let it slide. CTR was never really meant to happen, it was mostly just a side project for the guys at Naughty Dog to do while they still had the rights. And the result was an awesome, fast-paced and crazy experience to rival Mario Kart. Unlike Nintendo’s equivalent at the time, CTR had much heavier, clunkier feels to the karts you drove, which really made you feel like you were driving this hunk of metal. You had power-ups that kept everything interesting, shortcuts to learn and even a full-on Diddy Kong Racing style adventure mode. Guess we’ll just have to wait for the remaster to relive this one.

16. MediEvil

I’ll be honest, this was the one I was most disappointed to have missing from the Classic. I absolutely adore this game. I love the story, the concept of Sir Dan as a character, the combat and the lovely gothic areas you encounter from a mausoleum to ghost pirate ship. But most of all, the cheeky, totally stupid British humour running through the whole thing, particularly through the game’s archetypal villain Zarok, makes the whole game as funny as it is epic, with a suitably rousing soundtrack following you on your journey to prove you’re not the zero everyone thinks you are. Classic game, desperately needed a place on the lineup.

17. Gran Turismo 2

I’m going to preface this by saying that I don’t care much for realistic racing games, I don’t derive a lot of joy out of them and they aren’t really my cup of tea. But in my efforts to keep this lineup as diverse as possible, I thought I’d include the game that really pushed the PS1′s graphical capabilities to its limits and almost created a game that surpassed its console generation in its looks. There’s a whole wealth of content here; a whole bunch of cars to unlock and a beefy career mode to keep you busy for a fair while. And this game differs from other racing games on the system by rewarding strategic thought and encouraging players to think through every action they take on the race track, which for me makes this the most immersive racer on the system.

18. PaRappa the Rapper

Okay, I know. I really did just put this here. But come on, PaRappa ended up in PS All Stars, so he’s gotta mean something to someone, right? It doesn’t matter how you slice it, this paper dog properly revolutionised rhythm games at the time, creating a fun and responsive, if a little short, experience that was certainly unique for the time. This is another that would definitely fall under the weird category, but it’s a bit of Playstation that doesn’t get mentioned nearly enough and it’s worth a spot on pure fun factor alone.

19. Ape Escape

As one of the first games to rely entirely on the Dualshock analog sticks, Ape Escape is another that falls into the ‘must mean something to someone’ category, as Ape Escape also ended up with a character in PS All Stars. This one is a fairly simple foray, but it was met with a lot of love from fans, as you play as a tiny, chibi version of the dude from Yu Gi Oh (tell me I’m wrong) and round up a bunch of escaped apes in varying platforming levels with a cool selection of gadgets. It’s here because it’s here, let it be.

20. Silent Hill

Silent Hill is pretty much as iconic as horror games get, and yet I somehow managed to forget about it until I got the 20th and final game on my list. It was claustrophobic, gory, full of metaphors you really don’t want to dig into and, most of all, it was terrifying. The constant fog, while it was mostly implemented to account for lack of draw distance, worked in the game’s favour and became a staple in the series. For the PS1 era, this game and the series it belongs to properly nailed the scare factor and left everyone who went near it feeling at least a bit uneasy. Saying this belongs here is an understatement.

Cool, there’s my list. My probably quite badly justified list clouded by pure fan-ness. But anyway, hope you agreed with some of my picks and let me know what games you would’ve liked to see on the otherwise questionable PS Classic lineup below. Thank for reading !

[tumblunni]

A random game idea I had! It could be really cool to have like a survival RPG where you play as a wild animal trying to survive in the world. Seriously there are barely any games about the coolness of nature from the perspective of the nature, and the only one I found was just a platformer/walking simulator type thing with not much appeal to it. Still worth wasting my money on it just so the universe can see there's a market for this genre, tho! So yeah anyway, random thoughts for this game idea!! * I was thinking it could be a bit more fun if you're exploring an entirely new world of magical creatures instead of a super realistic documentary on any real animal. Plus that's just more flexible for me to do whatever I want with how things work for this species. * My first thought was maybe like a very unusual 'dragon' that's more insectile in design. Like a long Asian dragon crossed with a fluffy caterpillar. Lotsa legs, and a sweet lil face! There's even that one species of Japanese caterpillar that has the big head with horns and an EVEN MORE sweet lil face, that would work perfectly!! And I was thinking maybe it can charge up and shoot electrical blasts from those back horns? Its still very much a small underdog creature in this ecosystem tho, usually all it can do is issue weak zaps to scare predators away but not really fight back all that well. And your lil babies can't zap at all until their horns grow in, so you need to be very strategic to choose your battles carefully and keep your family safe. * also I was thinking maybe the babies could kinda be your lives system? It'd be hard to finish the game while keeping them all alive, and if you lose them all its a game over from despair. And also they follow you around and are cute and helpful and love u lots! And ypu can see them grow up if you keep them safe for the whole game, you can watch them leave the nest in the end and be so proud! I want them all to have their own lil personality, I want the player to get goddamn attached to their lil monster fam!! * alternatively maybe you start off with just one baby and then gain more as the game progresses? Cos I'm picturing this as you playing as a single animal, you're a solo mama lookin after the babs. Maybe your previous mate died tragically in the prologue? Or maybe you just don't have one and you're just a sweet lil dragon who adopts abandoned eggs you find along your journey. You could go on quests to find all the hidden unlockable children around the world map! And maybe they could be a big ol variety of patterns, and different special powers. Multi talented bebs! * another idea for adding variety to game is 'what about customization?' Let's defy all laws of logic and have the player be able to choose the course of evolution for these critters! Your skill tree could be growing extra legs or fangs or becoming an omnivore all of a sudden. Who cares if it makes no sense! Tho that would kinda lend itself better to a plotless game with intimate amounts of generations, so we could at least make the evolution semi realistic. Inheriting traits instead of just abruptly mutating a million things within the same generation. But I kinda wanted this to be a more emotional journey of a single family surviving a small lifetime together. Just a lil warm and soft snippet of life in this world. Just a lil family that you can keep safe. * a random idea I had for a helpful NPC was a big giant scary monster of another species that you end up forming an unlikely friendship with. Big scary is only scary cos they're protecting their sick child, you can find out about this and help find the rare herbs they need to get better. And now you have won a very large friend's undying gratitude! Maybe they could remove an obstacle in your path by fighting off a giant unwinnable boss fight for you, so you can get to the next area. Or maybe you can ride on their back so they can carry you further away from your nest than you can usually reach. I'm imagining the player character being like the size of one of their eyebrows, lol! Oh, and maybe they could even help dig stuff so you can do bigger renovations on your nest? I was thinking it'd slowly upgrade as you gather more skills and materials throughout the game, and you could have a super complex luxury lil meadow grove by the end. * oh and a random other optional side quest idea! One of the various biomes you explore could be a wintery area, and you could find a prime spot where you can store your supplies and have like rudimentary refrigeration. Storing up food supplies in prime cache locations around the world would be a big gameplay element if you're playing as a herbivore, and this would be a gamechanger cos now meat can be cached away too. And I was thinking the Large Friend could also be a useful way to make the game equally playable whether you picked herbivore or carnivore. Herbivore players can trade meat to the Large Friend and thus still gain some benefit from defeating enemies. Large Friend can probably bring you cool exotic fruits from high up in trees you can't reach. Yay! * oh and I've kinda been calling those characters The Bigman and Bigman Larva. Cos I thought it'd be funny if this is some large mammal and the protagonist doesn't really understand the difference. Their babies totally come from eggs too, right? When's the lil guy gonna spin his cocoon? * ...it'd be even funnier if they actually did spin cocoons. I mean, its a magical world! I can make anything I want! Mice hatch into bats in the spring~ * also I had a neat idea of how to maybe handle 'dialogue' in this game. Cos it'd be a bit lame to just translate all this animal talk into English, and it'd be hard to have an RPG if its completely 100% silent. I don't have enough confidence in my abilities to say I could pull off the awesome nonverbal storytelling of Journey! So the idea I had was that maybe it could be.. A nonverbal language? You see your protagonist's thoughts as lil dialogue bubbles of images. Lil semi-complex rune type icons that the player slowly learns as they play through the game. Starting just with very basic representations of the actual gameplay commands like 'run' and 'hunt' and 'small larva whom I love and protect', and then by the end you're able to hold entire simple conversations with friendly NPCs. * also I thought it could be hella neat if you could acrually name your babies using this system! Pick two or three runes to combine into a lil squeak you shall squeak towards this particular ball of fluff. "I love you [FIRE] [FRIGHTENED] and [BRISTLE BUSH] [ACORN] [TAIL]" * also I was thinking a cool way to organically teach this language to players would be to kinda compartmentalize it? Youd start off with a library of basic words and then everything would be introduced using those basic words. Like 'predator' is [RUN]-[EAT], displayed with those two symbols when you first encounter this problem. But then after its become more of a common part of your life it'd be smooshed down into a new rune symbol that combines those two, and that's added to your dictionary. And now you're able to say things about that predator, and use the word predator as a modifier to other stuff. Like 'coyote' might be introduced as 'fast predator' and then if you spend a lot of time scavenging in the coyote territory and fighting them, 'coyote' would become an actual word too. And it could be kinda oddly satisfying to name your newest child after a word you didn't have the last time, symbolising how you've mastered evading that particular predator. Hold your head high, [COYOTE] [FEET], my new and prosperous son! * Also, hmm, it could probably symbolise 'this shit is wrong and terrifying' when something breaks the naming conventions and reminds you of the components that first made that word. Like every other predator is just [adjective] [RUN]-[EAT] but then a griffon is [SKY]-[EAT] and a snake is [LUNGE]-[EAT]. Hell, to someone who's literally never seen a flying creature before, they might just be classified as like.. 'Jump' creatures. It'd be a giant shaking up of the whole world for our poor protagonist who only sees things as a collection of running or not running! And humans would be even more terrifying cos they're the only predator that isn't 'eat'. Why on earth does this thing kill us and just leave the body there?? Thats TERRIFYING! Protagonist might even have nightmares of their poor kid's soul being unable to rest cos their empty shell was never returned to nature after they died. They don't have the capacity to understand that humans hunt for sport or exterminate things they see as pests... And man, I can imagine that scraps of human materials could be super useful rare objects along your journey and like.. HOO BOY its a good thing protagonist will never know how exactly humans make those things. 'Wow this weird human thing called a clothes is useful nest lining material!' she says, as she sits on a dragon skin coat. 'Odd how it reminds me of my grandma!' * anyway lol I have a bunch of ideas but they're not very organized so I apologise for this rambley post

[dramallamadingdang]

Replies! Mostly not about Sims! Again!

For @elfpuddle, @simper-fi, @eulaliasims, @didilysims, @getmygameon, @scibirg, @celebkiriedhel, and @strangetomato this time...

elfpuddle replied to your post “Music Meme, Redux.”

I completely approve of 80s music.

simper-fi replied to your post “Music Meme, Redux.”

Woooooo 80s music! :D

What’s not to love, right? So long as you like cheese, of course. Back at the time, I thought I was soooooooo cool with my Duranie/Madonna-Wannabe hybrid thing going on, and now I look back and say, “God, what was I thinking?!” But I guess pretty much everyone does that when they look back on their life 25 years or so down the line. Well, if you’re old enough to do that, anyway... :)

eulaliasims replied to your photoset “I put Radiance lighting back into my game. I used to have it years ago...”

All the plants here look awesome, inside and out. *_* Have I mentioned lately how much I like the way you blend landscaping using hood deco? It's super inspiring.

Thanks! I do like to have things blend. It’s why I insist on landscaping stuff that shows neighborhood view (and generally only use stuff that looks good in neighborhood view) and why I love higher-res neighborhood deco. (So, basically, I love everything that @criquette-was-here has ever made. :) ) If one or the other “side” doesn’t look so good, it breaks the illusion. Yeah, sure, it makes my neighborhoods eat more resources and will sometimes make my game crash when it tries to use more than 2GB of RAM (Never got that CFF Explorer trick to work on this machine. :( ), but I don’t care. It’s worth it. :)

eulaliasims replied to your post “Replies! (Almost) All of the non-sims sort! So I cut it!”

Ha, the only things *I* don't listen at least occasionally to are bluegrass and metal. :P Everything else is fair game at least once and a while, though it tends to get crowded out by the indie pop. I should use my youtube music playlist for the next meme, it's more varied. And I'd love to see what that even bigger playlist would come up with. :D

Bluegrass is awful. I can’t figure out how anyone likes it. Yet, people do. There’s a whole festival devoted to it in my hometown. :p As for metal...It’s certainly not something I listen to often, at least not the newer, screamier stuff. Mostly, I listen to 80s/90s metal (i.e. Metallica’s hey-day) when I’m in the mood for it, which isn’t all that often. I do like so-called “symphonic” metal, like Within Temptation and Nightwish and the like, though. It’s like opera to me. (Because Wagner was TOTALLY the original metalhead.) The death metal only comes out when I’m really pissed off about something. I scream along with it rather than do far more destructive things. It’s very therapeutic. Of course, half the time I have no idea what I’m screaming or even if I’m screaming the right words because, really, you can’t understand what these people are saying, if they’re actually saying words at all. :) But I don’t care. It’s therapeutic anyway. 

But yeah, I should probably expand the playlist I use for music shuffle memes. Maybe expose the kids to...I dunno...Mel Tormé. Oooooh, or Billie Holiday. Or Ella Fitzgerald. Or Glenn Miller. *goes off to listen to Billie Holiday*

didilysims replied to your photoset “I put Radiance lighting back into my game. I used to have it years ago...”

Can you use just the sea water mod and then Moi's for lots? Or is that not possible?

Nah, they conflict. It’s a “one or the other” thing, since they both affect water shaders. I tried putting in just the sea version of the new one with Moi’s and it didn’t work.

didilysims replied to your post “holleyberry replied to your post “Movie Meme!” ...”

Funny, I was just having a chat the other day with someone about how movies doing cool things with real animals are an unfortunately thing of the past thanks to this Hollywood CGI obsession. And probably more than a few animal rights...people--tempted to add some more negative adjectives, but I'll behave. ;) Sure it's cool what we can do with technology these days, but you can never beat the real deal. I'll have to give this movie a try!

You should, when you’re in a mood to bawl. Seriously, if you’re alive and breathing and possess even a small scrap of empathy, that movie will make you cry and hate white people, especially toward the end. It reduces me to blubbering. You also have to set aside some time. The theatrical release was three hours long and I think the Director’s Cut is close to 5. But it’s worth it, if only just to hear the Lakota language. (It’s spoken in a large chunk of the movie, subtitled in English.) The only real criticism I have is that I think Costner should’ve stuck to directing and not acting in it...but he does well enough.

But yeah, CGI has its place. I love Pixar movies, for instance. I like it used in sci-fi, where it makes sense because the stuff being depicted doesn’t actually exist or at least can’t be filmed. If it’s a movie about dinosaurs or giant robots or spaceships or all of the above or whatever, sure, bring on the CGI. But otherwise? Can we stop with it, please? Especially for physically-impossible stunts? I mean, I can kind of stretch it for superheroes, but for regular people? They don’t get to do that stuff without major physical trauma. Also, non-extinct real-life animals exist. Sure, they can be a pain to work with, but it used to be done all the time and, IMO, it’s still way more convincing than any CGI. Or maybe I’m just a curmudgeon. But still!

didilysims replied to your post “Movie Meme!”

Emperor's New Groove: *grossly* underrated movie. And now I want to watch it again... :D

So do I! But then, I never NOT want to watch that movie, so that’s not surprising. I need regular doses of Kronk or else I go through withdrawal. 

getmygameon replied to your post “strangetomato replied to your photo “LET’S HAVE A VOTE! Is it: A) His...”

....wtf did I just read? XD

A cherished piece of my adolescence, darling. And you wonder why I’m so weird... ;)

scibirg replied to your photoset “I put Radiance lighting back into my game. I used to have it years ago...”

Why is the cactus sitting in the easy chair???

HAH! It does kinda look like that, doesn’t it? :) But it’s really a big potted one, sitting on the floor between the fireplace and the sliding door. Bad camera angle, in hindsight. :)

celebkiriedhel replied to your post “Music Meme, Redux.”

LOL - I tried the shuffle thing - and I got my talking books instead. :)

Yeah, that’s why I have a specific playlist for those memes. No spoken stuff, only music, mostly of the rock/pop variety, but now I’m thinking I’ll put some other stuff on it, too. See if I can choke VLC Player with the sheer size of a playlist. As it is, it’d take about two weeks to play the whole thing straight through...

strangetomato replied to your post “strangetomato replied to your photo “LET’S HAVE A VOTE! Is it: A) His...”

My Aunt and her boyfriend used to do it with their own farts, haha. And yes, really my actual aunt and not just me saying "and friend of mine". :P I'd be afraid I'd end up like your sim there, personally.

Oh, I’ve totally done that, too. My dad, my brothers (I had two until the younger one died in an accident when he was 6), and I would go camping. I’d be the only girl because my mother refused to go anywhere where she couldn’t take a bubble bath (seriously, that was her hard limit), and we always roughed it, no bathrooms at all. My dad was always willing to indulge his inner 10-year-old, so it was essentially four (or three) boys, at least in mindset, camping. And there’d always be a big stockpot of chili brought along. And Aim ‘n Flames. Yup, some families do ghost stories around the campfire; we did fart-lighting. With judging and ratings, even.

[survivorjunk]

Survivor: Game Changers | Episode 4 | Post-Episode Discussion

Xerop681Malcolm • 13h Did anybody else find this exchange kind of sad: Michaela: “Tell Malcolm you sent him home too.” JT: “I will.”

You can hear the guilt in his voice. RIP My winner pick. At least Hali and Varner are still alive.

388 pistachiopaulPeih-Gee • 11h I thought this was a really effective moment to include. Really gives you the sense that as JT is leaving he’s thinking about just how badly he screwed everything up AGAIN, and now he’s gonna have to go up to his buddy and admit he’s the one who fucked them both over. JT deserved to go for making too many big fuckups, but I feel for him.

49 billcosbyinspaceAubry • 13h The contrast between jt in tocantins and jt in his other 2 seasons is actually astounding

205 HabefietIgor’s Corgi Choir • 13h The value they got off casting this guy is just absurd, he’s given them so much variety

103 marquesasrobAdam • 13h JT in is first season was someone who is naturally gifted at Survivor dominating and playing the best game the show has ever seen.

JT in HvV was him knowing he had a massive target on his back and playing balls to the fucking wall. People point out the merge idol play as being big, but JT was crazy the entire premerge too. Him cutting Cirie the way he did was someting Tocantins JT wouldn’t have gone for.

This season though, I think JT was doing fine until the swap. Once he was swapped into a 5-1 minority, he turned into HvV JT and started going balls to the wall again.

In addition according to Malcolm’s interviews, JT had somehow made himself not the obvious boot and was likely in a good position with Malcolm and Aubry, but the bullshit twist + Brad likely not realizing how important Malcolm was to his game totally fucked his position in the game

Regardless though he’s a treat to watch and he brings the entertainment every time.

68 sh1reQueen Sandra • 13h I’m convinced that JT needed Stephen to get to the finals in Tocantins. They worked so well as a duo and now he has no one to 100% truly trust for bouncing his crazy ideas off of and get a reality check to prevent him from making errors. 110

megagoomy41 • 10h After watching Fishbach solo in Cambodia I think they needed each other in Tocantins

9 endaayer92Michele • 12h It also helped that young buck JT was so naturally charming that everyone on Tocantins loved him and wanted him to succeed.

Playing again, that wasn’t the case. No one on HvV or GC wanted JT to succeed just for being a very charming southern guy.

Added to that, JT has the ego boost from winning in a shutout to think he is that good.

So while Stephen may be needed to rein JT in, there are a lot of factors as to why successive JT games suck in comparison to the golden boy’s perfect game.

17 PNDLivewire • 9h If there’s one thing Cambodia, HvV, and GC has shown me, it’s that together JT and Stephen are almost unstoppable. Have one without the other? They crash and burn and wind up going crazy at some point.

2 t0mserv0Jesse Katsopolis • 6h JT-Fishbach in Blood v Water 3, pls!!!

2 poodleloverMTLZeke • 1h I didn’t know I needed this until right now.

2 lemmylimeSandra • 13h CERTIFIABLE NEAT LADY MONICA COMING BACK TO LEAD BRAD TO VICTORY

156 nsloth • 13h The Neat Lady Cometh

43 hazierCirie • 14h That sugar scene was amazing - right up until Sandra looking to the camera like a scene right out of The Office.

It was all so classic Sandra I almost felt nostalgic - she’s always played a little dirty like that and I have a feeling it’s going to be harder and harder for Sandra naysayers to claim she just floats to the end the longer she stays and the longer she goes without getting votes despite all she’s saying and doing out there.

403 newmanius • 13h This season there is no debating that Sandra is playing. She has controlled her tribe the whole time.

161 ConksterCirie • 13h It’s almost as if this is the first time Sandra even had to TRY.

4 hazierCirie • 13h Yeah, when she says she finds Survivor easy - I believe it. She has no votes against her and is running her tribe, as a two time winner. I really can’t even believe it.

5 ILOVEBOPITSandra • 14h I actually really love the Sandra-Varner alliance. It’s so old school and so cute.

258 Creepthan_FromeVarner • 13h Take the two greatest out-of-shape assholes with shit-eating-grins and pair them off. So glorious that a choir of angels appeared.

183 FastEddieMcGMalcolm • 13h Its the best possible alliance member for Jeff. if the tribe wants to go for strength, she’s weak. If they go for bigger threat to win, she’s the bigger threat. He will always stay longer than her.

74 KorgDTR2000Sandra • 11h And since Sandra knows it’s in Jeff’s best interest for her to be there she can be more trusting with him.

It’s a great symbiotic relationship. She’s a needed shield, he’s a needed ally.

16 catch_these_handsOzzy • 14h Survivor 34: No Strong Alpha Males Allowed

165 TATER_SALAD_HOOVER" • 13h Um… Brad’s still there though.

4 bigbrothercanMalcolm • 14h This boot order is killing me.

Tony, Malcolm AND JT premerge? Rough.

170 SurvivorGuy101J.T. • 14h I know At least Brad is turning into a new favorite for me

64 BBQ_HaX0rTyson • 13h I loved his response to Debbie’s delusional outbursts with a perplexed "I love you!”

59 king_ghostMalcolm • 12h He was handling all her craziness pretty well. I am very impressed with Brad this season.

31 colemetzlerOzzy • 12h Ultimately will make it into a boring end game but thats just my opinion. Seen too many seasons with the better players being voted out early because they are better lol but its survivor whatchya gonna do

1 megagoomy41 • 10h I wouldn’t call Tony and JT “better players” this season. They were both a mess. For all the talk about their supposed huge target, they would both still be in the game if they had actually played smart.

Other than Malcolm, no complaints about the boot order so far. The people playing bad are getting voted out.

3 Xerop681Malcolm • 14h Wait who’s coming back next episode?

49 VictorClark • 13h Maybe it’s the Outcasts Tribe 0_0

22 MyNameisMyName_Zeke • 12h 4 tribes of 5 with one of those tribes (a tribe consisting of Ciera, Tony, Caleb, Malcolm, and JT) fighting for a chance to get one of theirs back in the game? That would be sick.

29 vulture_coutureVarner • 11h Yeah if there was ever a time for Outcasts 2.0 it’s now.

21 everlong016J.T. • 14h No one can ever take JTs perfect game in Tocantins away. But good Lord what a mess his past two appearances have been.

Still, what a fucking great character. Sad to see him go, but he gave us some great stuff in just four episodes.

74 Deitaphobia • 13h He’s playing the long con, so no one thinks he’s a threat in Tournament of Champions.

59 weavvesAubry • 14h Sandra with the sugar is so reminiscent of Sandra with the fish.

I was hating her this season. Absolutely could not stand her attitude, her cockiness. But as she gets into the game, making her plays, like, damn. She’s masterful. I’m still not enjoying her character but her gameplay is out of this world.

21 edwsdavidTroyzan • 14h Stephen Fishbach must be feeling quite conflicted right now. His good friend JT going down in flames while simultaneously validating Stephens impact in Tocantins.

19

[nothingman]

The next generation of Marvel heroes has arrived. Rising 2018. https://t.co/jiyJd7wVMe @MarvelRisingSW #MarvelRising http://pic.twitter.com/kFOTzmgrmw

— Marvel Entertainment (@Marvel) December 7, 2017

Marvel answered many fans’ prayers when they announced Marvel Rising, an animated franchise that will feature some of our most beloved female and diverse superheroes. Shockingly (not shocked), the blowback was swift, harsh and mean from the subset of comics fans that reacts to anything like change with attacks and the sound of a distant fit being thrown.

“The next generation of Marvel heroes is here,” Marvel titled their Marvel Rising post on Facebook, showing off a teaser for the first animated film, Secret Warriors, which is comprised of some of the comics’ most popular and breakout characters: Captain Marvel, America Chavez, Squirrel Girl, Patriot, Spider-Gwen (as Ghost Spider), Quake, Inferno, and Exile.

There will be digital shorts featuring Spider-Gwen rocking this “Ghost Spider” moniker prior to Secret Warriors‘ release, and as a whole Marvel Rising comprises, according to Buzzfeed, “a new multi-platform animated franchise set to launch in 2018.”

For many of us, the Marvel Rising roster reads like a mad fever dream of our favorite heroes that we never imagined would get so much attention and a high-profile opportunity, let alone together. And incredibly, it seems like Marvel listened to the rallying cries for better representation, extending this care into the voice actors’ casting. As Slashfilm notes, “in an even greater bid for diversity, the vast majority of the actors voicing them are also people of color — including some familiar Marvel TV faces.”

But as our commenter Timothy Renzi pointed out, almost immediately, the backlash began on Marvel’s social media announcements. While there was a huge outpouring of enthusiasm about the project, with many excited to see their favorite characters and thrilled about the casting choices (especially Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Ming-Na Wen as the villain Hala, Chloe Bennet voicing Daisy Johnson/Quake, and Teen Wolf‘s Tyler Posey as Inferno), some of the top-voted and debated comments proceed as follows. Because we can never have nice things.

This is an impressive start out the gate, as this comment manages to hit “SJW,” “diversity,” and “virtue-signaling,” with the player clearly trying to score a BINGO on their angry white male privilege card:

Sometimes these comments are so exceptionally composed I could almost believe them to be satire:

I, too, am shaking my damn head:

They’re onto us!!! What will become now of our dastardly plans for feminist domination? I printed all these propaganda flyers …

Moving right along:

Have you … have you ever actually read a Marvel comic, bro?

Girl superheroes are only for girls and they mostly concern rainbows and lollypops. You know, girl things.

It intrigues me how often “anti-PC” Internet comments include the phrase “shoving it down our throats” on a whole variety of subjects. It’s become a shorthand: see something you don’t immediately agree with and suddenly it’s being forcibly rammed down your gullet. Weird.

Stop FAILING, Marvel! At this rate, you’re never going to be a contender.

Over on Marvel’s twitter, the deeply nuanced and thoughtful dialogue on the nature of inclusion and representation continued:

What worked, exactly? My all-time favorite heroes are Black Panther & Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan) & Squirrel Girl & Young Avengers. Why is the fact that there *happen* to be more female heroes than male heroes and some of the heroes aren’t white make them “bad diversity heroes”?

— Anthony Jackson (@AToTheJacks) December 7, 2017

Cool plan for definitely giving something an unbiased chance:

I’ll definitely watch an episode of marvel rising and then hate it after that episode and go back to good ol comics some reliable that won’t or at least hasn’t yet destroyed itself.

— Darick Fair (@UltimateSpiderX) December 8, 2017

I also hate politically correct characters, preferring characters that have never been politically correct, like CAPTAIN AMERICA:

“Politically correct marvel characters the animation” should be the title

— Catelli (@gabrielncatelli) December 7, 2017

I don’t like this thing that doesn’t appear to be about me, so it’s bad!

This looks like total unadulterated crap!!! bye bye Marvel hope you end the avengers universe well because after that this just looks bad!

— ShadyKillas69 (@shadykillas69) December 7, 2017

And now for something completely different:

I’m very excited for this! Can’t relate to those who only wanna see the same titles again and again. Must be boring lol. Only brain dead people can’t deal with change. The world is always changing, and this is a change for the better.

— July (@ZhangJuly) December 8, 2017

My guy … you do not get to drag Spider Jerusalem into this.

Not interested.

— Weaponized Nerd Rage (@WeaponizedRage) December 7, 2017

Be more like chillmarvelite:

Absolutely love it. Socially relevant and creative moves like this is exactly why I still read/watch superhero stories and want to join in () on the fun. Keep at it!

— Christopher (@chillmarvelite) December 7, 2017

I mean, part of me totally understands some of these fans’ knee-jerk, fearful reaction: it’s quite scary not to see yourself reflected in popular media. But I wish they would imagine what it’s like for that to be your default state, as it is for so many of us.

What’s refreshing to witness is how many people, of many different backgrounds, were quick to rush in and fight the naysayers on the Marvel Rising threads. But it’s dispiriting how we have to go through this every single time that Marvel or DC does something that’s not specifically aimed at a certain demographic that thinks they are single-handedly keeping the comics industry afloat and feel threatened to see changes in their titles and other media. I have to admit that of all mediums, it always confuses me to see comics fans go into an SJW-attacking, yelling about diversity virtue-signaling rage.

Comics have, from their inception, been about mercurial, often ostracized characters who die, come back, change their identities, change their minds, pass on their mantles. And superhero comics have, from their inception, been about fighting authoritarianism, challenging the status quo, shining a blinding light on racism, antisemitism, sexism—and allowing our heroes to literally punch avatars of these evils in the face.

Superheroes exist to make the world a better place for everyone. Maybe before you start a rant about feminist agendas or companies capitulating to demands for social justice and greater diversity, you should stop and ask yourself what your favorite hero whose legacy you think you’re defending would have to say to you on the subject.

Ultimately, however, Marvel Rising is much bigger than the current culture wars adults are mired in. It’s intended for the next generation. These are the superheroes they’re going to see and love on-screen as they grow up, and that’s so important that it cancels out all of the rest of our noise.

My 11-yr-old daughter just read Squirrel Girl, and I’m so excited that we’ll be able to share this! Thank you, @Marvel!

— Joshua C Carroll (@JoshTellsAStory) December 8, 2017

(image: Marvel Comics)

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  via The Mary Sue