#i use this account for game announcements once every million years and it feels weird every time

[godkillerbrigade]

GAME ANNOUNCEMENT: THE LAST DAYS OF FRIENDSHIP VALLEY

(Title art by https://twitter.com/zero_perks)

The Last Days of Friendship Valley is a deckbuilding narrative RPG about conflict negotiation, goats, and impending doom.

🐐 Make a cute lil goat 💢 Navigate arguments with cards 💔 Uncover an ancient mystery ⚡ Try to save the world

In The Last Days of Friendship Valley, you play as the Patcher, a goat whose job is to settle arguments and keep communities together. Your new home plans on putting your negotiation skills to the test: a deep schism lurks beneath the surface of Friendship Valley, and there are mere days before everything breaks. Make friends with the town's inhabitants, evolve your conversational approach, and try to heal the broken heart of Friendship Valley before it destroys the world.

TLDoFV's unique card-based tactical Friendship Encounter system lets you decide EVERYTHING about your Patcher, from their conversational quirks, to their emotional strengths and weaknesses, to the ways they break when the strain becomes too much. Flexible or firm, steadfast or melancholy, patient or explosive; you decide who they become and how they interact with the world.

The Last Days of Friendship Valley is a very personal work of art, and the largest thing I've tried to make by an order of magnitude. I've been working on it for a year and it still has over a year to go -- maybe several years -- before I'm willing to call it done. I've been building my own game engine just to make its development possible.

Demo later this year. More information coming soon.

[lightsandlostbells]

wtFOCK season 3, episode 1 reaction

So! It’s a million years too late, but I decided to talk about wtFOCK season 3. 

I had fairly positive feelings about S1 of wtFOCK. It was the scrappy underdog of the Skam remakes, in a way, and what it lacked in polish, it made up for authenticity. I was very willing to overlook its flaws because of what I perceived as genuine attempts to connect with teenagers. I was really, really holding out hope that future seasons would improve on its flaws. And ... well. (Disclaimer: I still haven’t seen S2. Sorry! I just failed to keep up with all the remakes and S2 is my least fave so I didn’t feel that motivated to make it a priority, even though I did like Zoë a lot in S1.)

Heads up - I didn’t care for this season. A lot of people did, and I would never, ever want to ruin someone’s enjoyment of something, even if I personally didn’t like it. So please take this as a warning that I have a lot of negative things to say, and don’t read if it’s going to harsh your buzz for a pairing or a story that you deeply love. However, I didn’t want to just be grumpy and angry the whole time, so I tried to think of constructive ways to fix certain problems I had with this season. No guarantees that they’re satisfying solutions, but it was an interesting exercise.

Also, I didn’t watch this in real time, and I paid barely any attention to fandom reactions and/or drama, so it’s very possible that I am missing context, or that pacing issues didn’t register with me quite as strongly, etc. If one of the actors ate a live dolphin on Instagram, and then got into a fight with fans on Twitter about their right to eat live dolphins, and now fandom has canceled the problematic dolphin-eating actor, I legit do not know, do not come at me if I’m like “This actor is doing a good job” with “Wow, didn’t know you stanned dolphin-eaters??? YIKES.” Honestly, for the purposes of just grading this season on a storytelling level, I would prefer not to know anything about the cast or crew unless it directly has an impact on the show itself.

Clip 1 - House party

OK, I did like this flashy intro shot, immersing us in the Wild ‘n’ Crazy Teen Party of Wild ‘n’ Crazy Youths.

Amber rejecting every dude in site … When Will Gay Vilde Rise. (I know there have been some f/f storylines in the remakes, but if there’s one involving an actual Vilde, please let me know.)

Luca saying “We’re not walking around in a high school drama” - you can hear the rimshot.

I do like the transition from the party up to the bathroom, that’s a cool shot. wtFOCK’s directing so far is more ambitious than it was in S1.

Robbe is clearly a mess and they acknowledge his problems at home right off the bat.

We go back downstairs. wtFOCK’s version of Magnus knocks his drink on Amber and she gets pissed. She gives him the finger and he falls in love. Still a better love story than S3 Daphne/Basile.

It’s a small point, but I don’t get why we didn’t get this moment before jumping up to the bathroom with Robbe and the others? It would be a far smoother transition, just on a practical level and also in the sense of fully immersing us in Robbe’s POV after a quick update with the other characters.

Belgian Magnus joins the guys in the bathtub and announces he’s in love. They roast him when they find out it’s Amber and start talking about hot chicks. Moyo starts grilling Robbe about his type of girl, in a crass, sexual way.

This is honestly not a bad start to Robbe’s story at all. Robbe is clearly more reluctant to get into his interest in girls than Isak was - Isak was more fuckboyish from the start, Robbe seems like he’s about to start squirming and doesn’t really give an answer to Moyo’s questioning. Which is fine! I think it’s fine to start off the POV character at different stages of performing heterosexuality, as long as it’s taken into account in the writing of the character’s whole arc. The fact that the boy talk is so crude and sexual just ramps up Robbe’s alienation.

I swear, I will never understand how the girls in this scene just go into the bathroom and pee in front of strange boys … like maybe I am just a ~prude but that seems like a recipe for disaster and I would not trust those little fuckers to not be secretly recording me on the toilet.

Her peeing is kind of a power move, like marking her territory.

Also L M A O at Robbe starting to flirt with the girl while she is pissing … like now this comes off as a kink thing. OK, Robbe. Jokes aside, this gets across the same meaning as the scene with Isak: he starts to flirt with her because he was encouraged by the other guys.

Uh, flush the toilet, lady. And use some TP.

Now this version of Emma seriously radiates some Natalie Portman in The Professional vibes.

She orders him to stand up and then starts kissing him. I get way less of a vibe of Robbe’s mad game with women (like how Isak negged Emma into kissing him) and more like this girl is the love interest out of an indie romcom, all mysterious and spunky. She kisses him like once after taking his jay and then leaves. The boys all crack up. Moyo tells Robbe it’s his responsibility to get the weed back which lmao, no it’s not, all you assholes were there and could have intervened.

This scene is perfectly fine and even effective! Not entirely the same vibes as OG, but it still has a purpose and some obvious cause-and-effect, and there are some nice stylistic choices.

Clip 2 - Party pt. 2

Robbe is now making out with mystery girl. We already have a divergence in characterization from OG. Isak was being performative about making out with Emma and shut it down once the guys left. Robbe is making out with this girl because he wants to be straight, I guess? If it’s not to appeal to his friends, it’s likely that this is for himself. Again, I have no real problem with this change if it’s incorporated into Robbe’s overall arc and characterization. My thing is, if you’re writing this scene, do you realize the differences in characterization? Or do you think this is interchangeable from what happened with Isak? The latter is where you run into problems, because then the writing shows lack of nuance. I bring this up here because, well, you can guess how I feel about later events. 

Luca seems rather aggro about the mystery woman, which I assume is because she still has the hots for Robbe?

It makes me laugh that we got this first-person POV as Robbe leaves through the garage, because of the “Smack My Bitch Up” song being played in the last clip (the song had an infamous music video, banned from MTV in the ‘90s, that was from a first-person POV). But again, WTFock is trying harder with the cinematography and direction, good for them.

Robbe ditches the cops by jumping on the bike with Belgian Emma. OK, I get it, Belgian Emma is too cool for school. 

I have kinda mixed feelings on that, actually. I mean, I’ll be honest - I don’t see why any Emma has to be made into someone more palatable. Definitely don’t demonize her or present her in a misogynistic way! She deserves sympathy and dignity as much as any character on a Skam. But … it’s fine if she and the Isak aren’t like, amazingly compatible except for his sexuality. The Even character is supposed to be the one who really shakes up the Isak’s world! The Isak is supposed to be lost and confused and drifting and then Even comes in and is someone he can really open up to. Not just because he’s another guy who’s into guys, but because Even’s personality meshes with Isak’s so easily while still challenging him and introducing him to new things. In a way, it does kinda diminish the effect of the Even if the Isak meets ANOTHER mysterious stranger who’s an awesome person. Or at the very least, it lessens the feeling of the Isak’s detachment from everything.

And again, this could work if the writing realizes it. You can totally craft a subtly different arc from the pieces of Isak’s season. It’s just that (speaking from the future) I do not feel this is what happened.

Clip 3 - Tagging time

I don’t think it’s necessary to break up all the parts of a longer scene/set piece into a bunch of different clips. If you start a scene at 16:00, it’s OK to have the clip take place over several hours. You don’t need to chop it up unless there’s a reason why this pacing might benefit the story. Honestly, if you’re watching in real time, I think this method is often less effective at building tension/emotion/etc. But wtFOCK is not the first remake to try this tactic.

... this part where Robbe and Noor put on masks sure hits differently in 2020.

Belgian Emma’s name is Noor and she takes him to a warehouse, or something? It’s very secret and Cool Kid. And IDK, it’s fun, but again… I think making the Emma that much of a fun mysterious cool exciting person is very much diminishing the effect of Robbe’s isolation. We had a good start with establishing that alienation while he was in the tub, but now his reactions to her rad hipness feel way too sincere and act against the major character conflict of his season. He seems nervous to go with her, but not because he’s with a girl, just because it’s a risky scenario.

Noor hands Robbe a spray paint can and leads him to tag a wall. There’s  a guy taking pictures. So I’m assuming one of the guys in masks is the Even? The POV seems to shift to the photo guy briefly, like we’re seeing Robbe through his eyes. And even though I’m not a fan of POV breakage, I do think this is a cool way to introduce the Even without really introducing him, you know? If that’s him. (EDIT from the future: Ummm, so that wasn’t Sander, right? I’m rewatching and it doesn’t look like him. Soooo that part has even less relevance than I originally thought. Got it.) (EDIT from the future beyond the future: @hellswolfie tells me that this actually was Sander, so I am just bad at recognizing people, lol.)

Robbe and Noor take off their masks briefly to kiss. Uhhhh, did the scene really just … cut off there? Because L M A O what a weird choice. We don’t get to see what Robbe creates on the wall, which could be a great way to establish his character, AND we end with him on a smiley, contented note which does not boost his POV at all. It legit just makes him seem like a guy who’s into this girl, and sorry, even if that’s his public persona at this point in time … that’s not what we, the audience should be getting at all. 

Clip 4 - Boy squad morning after

Robbe skateboards to meet up with the guy squad. Again, the directing is far better IMO than in S1.

Robbe got the weed back so that conflict is over, I guess.

He gets a call from his mom and stops laughing with the guys and gets serious. He walks away to take the call. Then he starts to open up to Jens about his mom freaking out, and then Moyo spots some girls so they all ditch Robbe to go chase girls, and WOW, Jens, please turn in your Jonas card. 

Don’t love that we didn’t hear his mom on the phone. There’s no reason not to let us hear what she’s saying since it would be in Robbe’s POV AND as it turns out, they just tell us about the situation with his mom right off the bat, anyway, so it’s not like there’s much point in hiding it. 

This was effective in a sense to establish how girl-crazy his friends are, as well as setting up Robbe’s isolation, which I was worried wouldn’t come across as strongly after meeting Noor. But I think they could have NOT mingled in his mom issues to make this part more effective. Like if the goal was to show more of Robbe being alienated because he’s gay, then that’s not entirely successful, because there are non-gay reasons why Robbe wouldn’t join his pals on the girl chase. I mean, even a horny hetero Robbe might not want to chase girls with his bros because talking to his mom is a downer, so it’s not necessarily because of his sexuality. Plus he just found a girl he liked in Noor, so apparently, he’s not on the prowl. What this part IS communicating that the Belgian guy squad doesn’t have much interest in their friend’s family struggles, which ... ehhhh, maybe not great in the grand scheme of the storyline? These guys can be flawed, for sure, but we do need them to care about Robbe’s well-being. And Robbe tried to open up here, so the flaw is not in him, it’s in his friends. I’m going to let it slide because Jens was offering to help Robbe in the first clip, so it’s not like he’s been a totally insensitive friend this whole time. 

Clip 5 - Phone call from Robbe’s dad

Noor jumps on Robbe and they make out. She shows him the garage and they talk about the tagging world or w/e. Again, not sure why they are portraying Noor as like … a legit love interest. I don’t get much of a sense of discomfort from Robbe. Isak was just not into Emma and was uncomfortable when his bathroom flirting came back to haunt him. And I don’t think it’s TERRIBLE not to follow that route, but you can’t just make this huge change if you don’t account for it in future episodes and Robbe’s overall arc. (EDIT from the future: Which I don’t think they do, otherwise I wouldn’t care.) Every scene should count in furthering Robbe’s character, especially this early in the season where we’re just getting to know his particular struggles. If Robbe is trying to convince himself to like girls, then I want to see definite vulnerability in how that’s portrayed.

I blame the directing/writing more than the acting for the lack of discomfort, since I sensed Robbe’s lack of comfort just fine in the bathtub scene.

Makeouts get interrupted when Robbe’s dad calls. Again, not sure why we aren’t hearing both sides of the conversation? Because we’re in Robbe’s POV. Why wouldn’t we hear them? This seems like they just want to create some suspense or mystery over the situation with his parents. But it’s perfectly possible to do so while still letting us in on the phone calls. In fact, it’s arguably more intriguing to let us listen to some phone calls where we get some vague details but nowhere close to the whole story. It’s not like Robbe’s dad is going to explain the whole situation to his son in an exposition dump. We can get some crumbs to tease us, while still keeping us in Robbe’s POV and not feeling like the show is cutting corners.

Robbe gets mad at his dad and tells Noor he needs to be alone. Closeup on Noor as Robbe walks away. OK … why? Why on her and not Robbe when it’s his POV? Why the focus on Noor’s feelings when we really need to be establishing our protagonist’s mindset in the beginning of this season? I’m not saying her feelings don’t matter, I’m saying that well, this isn’t her story. It would be better to see Robbe’s pained reaction as he leaves.

Clip 6 - Robbe’s dad drama

Jens comes running up while Robbe is being sad. Robbe says that it may be necessary for him to stay with Jens because Robbe’s mom has been committed to a mental health institution and Robbe doesn’t want to stay with his dad. Ah, so I guess we’re hearing that right away. Which honestly makes not hearing his phone calls to his parents even funnier - like you lock us out of his POV arguably for the suspense, but then you end the suspense anyway by just telling us what happened a scene or two later? All right. I guess there’s suspense in that we don’t know exactly what’s up with the mom, mental health-wise, or the root of Robbe’s problems with his dad.

It occurs to me that maybe they just didn’t want to hire people to voice Robbe’s parents? Or put in the time to film both sides of the conversation? I have a hard time believing either of those because it’s so lazy, but. 

I mean, just turn the phone conversations into text conversations if you’re not going to let us listen to Robbe’s parents on the other end.

They go and play football without really resolving the situation. Sad music plays while Robbe joins in. Also, someone was calling Robbe, and I assume it was his dad, but it’s not shown.

These clips are VERY short and choppy so far. You could easily combine the last two, so Robbe is with Jens instead of Noor when he gets the other phone call from his dad, leading into this conversation.

We know immediately about Robbe’s mom’s situation instead of it being a mystery, like with Isak. Which, again, isn’t inherently wrong, but then I want them to DO SOMETHING with it. 

Clip 7 - Jens and Jana

Oh hey, Jana got her braces off! IDK if that happened last season or this one, but it was something I liked, seeing a teenage girl with braces on a teen drama. That rarely happens unless it’s a joke or a plot point.

OK, they really need to film Robbe’s phone so I can actually see who’s calling…

Jens tells Jana about Robbe’s parental situation. I’ll note that first she asks if something’s up with Noor, so news of the Robbe/Noor relationship must have traveled really fast since they’ve only just gotten together. Like Robbe and Noor are clearly dating, going off Jana’s comment, and not just hooking up. Then Belgian Magnus wants to know about hooking up with Amber. Meanwhile Robbe is having a conversation off screen with his dad? Guess it wasn’t important!

And that’s the problem, obviously. It’s his POV season, anything you decide to show SHOULD be important to his storyline. 

Also … it’s fine that we’re focusing on Robbe’s shit home life since that’s relevant to his story, but almost nothing in these clips has set up Robbe’s attraction to men, and only slightly his lack of interest in girls, which was negated by him seeming very interested in a girl afterwards. And knowing how long this season takes to get going with the Even character, it’s a pretty glaring omission.

So we don’t see Robbe’s phone call with his dad, but he gets snappy about it when Jens asks. One of the boys (I can’t tell who) says that Robbe’s on his period.  Gonna be real, I don’t care for this squad so far. 

What was the point of this clip? We already know Robbe is having problems with his dad, which is the most relevant part to the plot here. We shouldn’t be wandering from Robbe’s POV so much, but even taking that into account … we already know Belgian Magnus likes Amber, so that’s not necessary to establish. And we didn’t need to see Jens tell Jana something we already know. I assume he tells her so Zoë can find out and offer a room, but there’s no reason to see Jens tell Jana this, so. Filler clip. 

Clip 8 - Zoë and Robbe at the lockers

Yeah, Zoë offers Robbe a place to stay here, but again, we didn’t need to see the news travel down the Jens-Jana pipeline. It could have been condensed more efficiently.

Robbe doesn’t want to because he says his dad wouldn’t approve. Zoë says she hopes things get better with his mom and Robbe at first snaps and tells her to leave it, then says thanks. This is an actual good interaction, writing-wise, kudos.

I liked Zoë a lot in S1 and I like her here again. I really should watch her season despite my Noorhelm allergy. The scene of them kinda smiling at each other across the hallways reminds me that this is probably the strongest relationship in the whole season, tbh.

Why was this clip so short? So many of these clips could have been combined into one. I mean, Zoë could have said, “I heard from Jana who heard from Jens...” without us needing the previous clip. Although, did Robbe really want anyone else to know about his home life? Lol @ Jens just blabbing Robbe’s private business.

So I guess they didn’t set up the Eskild situation in S2 that would lead to Eskild offering Robbe a place to stay? 

Clip 9 - Robbe gets roommates

Robbe is in Zoë’s room. He sees her “everyone you know is fighting a battle” quote next to the mirror, which is a detail I actually quite like in context with the rest of this storyline and Even’s condition. It’s a good Skam thesis overall.

I guess Zoë met with Robbe’s dad. Zoë calls him a tough cookie. Robbe doesn’t want to speak to him. They bond a little over their parental problems. Again, a nice detail.

Belgian Eskild appears and teases Robbe a little before announcing that Robbe’s dad has agreed to let him stay in the flat. Yay!

Oh, so Senne is staying there, too? At least they didn’t do a pointless Noorhelm breakup in this version.

Milan (the Eskild) tries to go in for a hug and Robbe isn’t cool with it, so at least that’s something with Robbe’s issues with men. (I think? The thing is, Robbe also does not really know Milan, so it’s not as weird that he’s not ready to be affectionate with a near-stranger.)  (EDIT from the future: Keeping the S2 almost-kiss that’s referenced in the next clip in mind, I can rationalize this moment as a continuation of that awkwardness from Robbe’s POV.) 

They chat with Lisa (Linn) who wants to direct Robbe on what he is and isn’t allowed to touch in her room, heh.  Milan and Zoë have cute interaction, and Robbe looks happy. I do like the flatmate vibe so far, they seem fun.

Clip 10 - Robbe and Milan

Senne and Zoë get cute. I haven’t seen S2 so I can’t give my opinion on their version of Noorhelm, but I did think a few things about them were less creepy in wtFOCK’s S1 than in OG. Milan talks about how they’re a Disneylike couple and Robbe laughs.

Then Robbe apologizes for something that evidently happened in S2, where Milan tried to kiss Robbe at a party? Again, I didn’t see the scene. Milan says he’d never try to do that. He offers Robbe a hug, which he accepts - tbh I don’t know if Robbe SHOULD accept based on where he is in his character arc, maybe he should have more skittishness? But it’s a nice character moment, at least. They really have to make up for lost time with the Robbe-Milan relationship, so I can get that they need to establish some closeness fast.

Not being in the wtFOCK fandom, I kinda wonder if there was backlash to that scene from before and this is damage control, LMAO.

I feel like you could’ve tweaked this to be more representative of Robbe’s issues, like have him stress here that he’s not gay, because it’s a sweet scene but again, I don’t feel like this episode built up Robbe’s internal dilemma very well. You could make this not just about smoothing over whatever bump there was in this relationship, but also about setting up some internal tension with Robbe’s sexuality issues. Multi-tasking - it’s great!

EDIT from the future: OK, I tracked down the S2 scene, and yeah, while it illustrates some of Robbe’s internalized homophobia, I really think you needed to carry this through to this clip. Because that was a very public situation, and they made a point of emphasizing onlookers’ reactions. I feel like you need to show that Robbe’s internalized homophobia isn’t just about external reactions, but internal struggles, because ... so far, that’s what it is? Like what is he doing with Noor otherwise? 

Clip 11 - Housewarming party

Party is underway. Yasmina is there and is friendly with Robbe. It sounds like they’re working on a school project together. Aaron (Magnus) and Moyo are talking about hot chicks again.

Noor arrives and the boys tease Robbe about how far he’s gone, Robbe looks pretty chill and happy until Moyo says Robbe’s getting laid tonight and you can see the nerves and reluctance take over. Okay! A character detail that actually works for his arc! Yes!

Partying, makeouts with Noor … sorry but they are wasting a lot of time with this relationship. ROBBE ISN’T INTO HER. Here’s the thing: I don’t want to demonize any of Evak’s female “love interests,” right? It’s pointless anyway because Evak is the endgame pairing, Sonja and Emma aren’t “threats” in the end, but also because they’re not bad people just for wanting to date these two guys who happens to want each other instead. And I think you can do interesting things with Sonja and Emma as characters. I’ve read Sonja fanfic that’s really good!

But when it comes down to it … this is not the story of Robbe/Noor, and there’s a point where it feels like there’s too much development for something that is really intended to be a speed bump in Robbe’s journey. 

I guess it’s a pet peeve of mine when gay stories devote a ton of time to het relationships, to the point where it begins to overshadow the main gay relationship. Love, Victor did this to an absolutely ridiculous degree. (I actually made notes for Love, Victor reactions, but hesitated to post them because 60% consisted of me typing I DON’T CARE ABOUT THESE STRAIGHT ROMANCES.) And I GET it, this is an experience many gay kids go through in their coming out journey, but also, less charitably… you don’t need het romance to dominate everything. You don’t need to make this about how a gay person being gay hurts a straight person. I genuinely appreciate that once Isak kisses Even, it’s fucking over with him and Emma, that plot thread is done. 

Anyway, Noor tells Robbe he’s so fucking hot and Robbe looks more uncomfortable, moreso when she wants to see his room and he goes off like he’s headed to Mordor.

Aaron checking out Amber … okay, again with all the het. I don’t care!!! This is not important right now!! 

Noor pushes Robbe onto the bed, ugh please don’t have them Go There.

She takes off her top and Robbe touches her boob like he’s sticking his hand into a porta-potty. We see his discomfort so at least this part is effective and relevant to Robbe’s arc. Noor is taking off her bra when the boys come into the room, wanting the weed. Okay, you dumb fucks, you’re teasing your bro about getting laid and yet you think it’s cool to enter his room when he’s with a girl? I mean, that’s a lucky break for Robbe, but his friends are extra stupid.

The mood is killed, Robbe goes hunting for weed. Episode ends.

HOW I WOULD REWRITE THIS EPISODE:

Lmao, some of my changes sounded a lot like “be like OG Skam S3.” Because Skam S3 was well-written and made sense. But I tried to think of edits that worked with what wtFOCK was presenting, not just repeating OG.

(I’m also repeating a few things in this section that I said above, btw)

While this episode doesn’t make me angry or anything, it’s got a serious problem with dithering. The first clip is a solid start to the season, but afterwards, so many of these clips feel like filler. There’s a lack of substance to them. It was hard to write about them because they ended up feeling like two minutes of nothing. 

Did we need to see repetitive mentions of Robbe’s troubled relationship with his dad? No, it’s an important plot detail but we could have established that more concisely in fewer clips. Did we need to see the process of how Robbe comes to stay with Zoë, Senne, and Milan? No, not really. Or at least not dragged out over at least three clips. 

I don’t feel like I’m in Robbe’s head to the extent that I should be  so far. Some of this is because the show just flat-out locks us out of his POV, like not showing the phone call in the Jens-Jana clip. But a lot of it is also because of the narrative dawdling. There’s just not as much to analyze unless I bring in Skam season 3 and project what we know about Isak onto Robbe. And that’s not a good way to adapt a story.

The framing of Robbe/Noor needs to change. Combine the bathroom intro with the aborted sex scene - the boys are sitting in the tub, teasing Robbe about getting laid, so he makes out with Noor and they go into a bedroom where he’s clearly not into this, and then Moyo and Aaron come in asking for weed because Robbe still actually has the weed from the bathtub at this point. Or do what Skam France did (can’t believe I’m referring to Skam France) and have the arrival of the cops interrupt the makeout/sex session and Robbe takes his cue to exit.

But frankly, it’s not great to have Robbe acting or looking too cozy with Noor, like this is a legitimate romantic arc except when it gets to the sex. The point is that this isn’t a romance. Even if you want to show some cuddly, non-sexual scenes with Noor, you have to show more of Robbe’s reluctance and fear throughout. 

Show Robbe’s fucking phone conversations with his parents!!!! Good Lord. He’s not ordering a pizza. These are important aspects of his story. Capitalize on that family tension, show us what a bad place Robbe is in at the start of this season. 

Now, about the lack of Even in this episode. Not introducing Even is a bold move, but not necessarily a smart one. Even’s introduction in Skam is not just the intro of “the love interest” - he’s the catalyst for almost everything in Isak’s story. Consider that in episode 1, Isak is seen mostly unhappy and bored - he’s distraught after kissing Emma, he’s checked out of his friends’ lunchtime girl talk, he zones out staring at his teacher’s boobs, he doesn’t want to be at kosegruppa. Isak is actually very passive and just going through the motions, doing what people tell him to do. But once Isak meets Even at kosegruppa - well, that’s when Isak wakes up. In the next few clips, we see Isak taking action. And sure, they’re small actions, searching for Even online, watching the Even video over and over, asking Vilde if there will be more kosegruppa meetings. But we can see that Isak now cares about something, he’s paying attention. Of course, Robbe’s story doesn’t have to follow the same arc. However, it does the season a huge benefit to get him intrigued by something at this point, so we the audience are not just sleepwalking along with him for a few episodes.

There’s also just the simple fact that we have only 10 episodes to establish a love story and make us care about the Even character, and it’s a very risky move to waste too much time. If you are really killing it with the rest of Robbe’s arc, this could still work, but ... well, that’s not what’s happening here.

If they didn’t want to full on introduce the Even directly, one thing they could do is subtly and indirectly find ways to include him in the narrative and create some mystery. Let’s say Robbe sees the Even’s artwork somewhere and is like whoa, that’s cool, and we can tell that it resonates with him. Or he admires Even’s graffiti, or it makes him laugh, whatever. Basically Robbe has some kind of emotional reaction to a thing the Even has created or done, which helps to set up that relationship even before we officially meet the Even.

If we want to add a little more, perhaps Robbe sees a mysterious dude in a mask tagging a wall, but they get interrupted by the cops or something and have some kind of brief but intriguing interaction with each other, and Robbe’s like, who was that guy in the mask? Or Noor takes Robbe to the tagging place, the police/security bust them, Robbe and Noor get separated, and Robbe gets helped out by the Even so he can escape. So it’s an important moment, lots of adrenaline, we can frame it like there’s a sudden ~charge~ between them (ooOOOooo the Even helped Robbe stand up and their hands touched like this was a fanfic, etc.), but he doesn’t learn Even’s name, maybe he doesn’t even see his face because Even has a mask on, so Robbe spends part of the next few episodes trying to figure out who that guy is, casually asking Noor if she knows a guy like that, keeping his eyes open. Maybe we have some fakeouts where Robbe thinks he sees the Even again but it’s just a false alarm. He’s on edge, eager to know more about that mystery guy, and so are we. Bam, we have “awakened” Robbe from his deep sleep. 

If you’ve seen Netflix’s The Get Down, there’s even a scene like this where Jaden Smith’s character gets caught tagging by the cops, he runs and flees with another young dude, and they have a moment where they recognize each other as graffiti artists they admire. While watching that scene for the first time, without any context or spoilers, without even knowing if there would be LGBT content in that show, I immediately thought, “This guy is his love interest.” Not even because it was overtly romantic. Because the way it was written and shot told us that this meeting was important. Because they had an instant connection. Something similar could have worked for Robbe and his Even. But in any case: it would have been best to establish something between those characters, even if it wasn’t an “official” introduction.

Stop focusing on Aaron/Amber when it’s not in Robbe’s POV. Reverse the scene at the beginning with Aaron videotaping and Amber getting spilled on. She gets pissed, he falls in love, and then we follow him upstairs and we meet the boy squad. That is a very obvious, very clean transition that doesn’t interrupt Robbe’s POV as it technically hasn’t started yet. So IDK why they didn’t do that, lmao.

Some changes with the Milan relationship:

Tweak the apology scene to be more representative of Robbe’s issues. Have Robbe apologize while still stressing that he’s not gay. Have Milan be chill and not question that statement, but maybe Robbe is so defensive that it comes across as unconvincing. 

Then have Milan be the one instead of the boys to interrupt the Noor almost-sex scene. Milan wanders in acting drunk, haha Milan, he’s wacky. Robbe doesn’t realize it (though the viewers do if they’re paying attention) but Milan is only pretending and is “subtly” rescuing Robbe because he realizes, based on the earlier scene, that Robbe might be struggling with his sexuality and he wants to give him an escape option. (Although I still think it’s best to combine the not-sex scene into the opening clip, but this could work, too.)

Basic questions we need to be asking, clip to clip: what is the conflict? Where is Robbe’s head right now? Why is this scene necessary? How did this scene come to be - what’s the cause and effect here? How does it advance Robbe’s story? Is it redundant? How do we tell this story in a narratively economical manner? 

[startofamoment]

to all the WIPs i’ve loved before

rules: post your favorite parts of 3-5 fics that have been sitting abandoned in your drafts for ages. (for extra shame, throw in when you last worked on each thing.) tag 5 other writers to reflect on their life choices. 

a pen pals au of sorts in which jake and amy share a desk and communicate via post-it notes (last edited: december 2017)

Amy is going to murder her deskmate.

The literal trash heap that greeted her last Monday was one thing, the sticky orange soda stain from last month was another thing, but this – this blatant disregard of property and boundaries and the sanctity of office supplies – is the Last Straw.

Spread out across her entire desk is a good fourth of the Post-it notes from the brand new assorted set she got from her brother Tony. They’re all arranged to look like various Star Wars icons, and a few of them are filled in with marker for apparent color correction. It’s horrifying.

Grumbling, she begins taking apart Post-It Yoda, keeping the salvageable pieces in a stack and throwing out the rest. When she’s cleared her entire table, she grabs her favorite pen and a fresh sheet then writes:

Hi, Please refrain from wasting my Post-its in the future. Thank you. - Det. Amy Santiago

She stares at it for a moment and decides, since this is probably the only passive aggressive note she’s going to write her deskmate, she might as well add:

PS: I would appreciate it if you would leave our desk clean at the end of your weekend shifts.

After checking it over once more, she places it in the center of her desk, ready to be read the following Saturday.

a dianetti cake shop au in which rosa owns and runs a store called arlo’s (last edited: june 2017)

Gina takes a moment to look over some of the cakes on display before clearing her throat and leaning over the counter. “’Scuse me, can you help me get a custom cake order started?”

“Sure.” The baker wipes her hands on a dish towel before grabbing a small notebook and pen from one of her pockets. “What’s the occasion?”

“Some old geezer’s leaving our precinct to enjoy retired life, or something like that.”

“Retirement party? Cool. Tell me about this guy.”

“Oh, sweetie, I don’t know or care about him. I’m just here cause my boss told me to order a cake.”

A smirk forms on the baker’s lips. “Ha. Do you wanna just do a standard cake order then? I usually do the custom cakes for more personalized, special events.”

“That’s probably smart. Which one of your standard cakes say: ‘Congrats on being old and rich enough to never work another day in your life, but sorry you’re almost dead’?”

She snickers. “I don’t know about that first part, but how ‘bout an angel food cake as a ‘hope you go to heaven when you die’ sort of thing?”

Gina grins and fishes through her purse for her wallet. “Oh, you should know my expectations on this cake are out of this world high. I’m only here because Yelp told me you’re the Beyonce of baking.” (Actually, she’s here because at least three reviews claimed the baker-slash-owner was “terrifying” and “gorgeous.” – They were right, on both accounts.)

a sequel to i could listen to you all day // the “after ever after” story in which jake and amy navigate their first year together as soulmates (last edited: march 2017)

Jake’s phone buzzed on his desk, breaking him out of his happy daydream. He picked it up and opened a new message from Gina.

“god, quit making heart eyes at the new girl!! your conscience would be v disappointed, kiddo.”

Gina, who had been watching him like a hawk from her desk, expected him to get all flustered and to text or yell back something overly defensive. She raised a single eyebrow when his face instead broke into a goofy grin and he straight up giggled.

Across from him, Amy looked up from her case files. “What’s so funny?”

He shook his head and mumbled something about memes and the internet.

She rolled her eyes, but the corners of her lips curled up into a smile. After he redirected his attention to his computer screen, her expression morphed into the same openly adoring look he had on his face the entire morning.

And then it all clicked.

If Gina had stopped to think about it, she would have recognized the new disappointment she felt in both herself (for taking this long to put two and two together) and her childhood best friend (for not keeping her in the loop). As she had not stopped to process anything, she instead yelled across the bullpen: “OH MY GOD. JAKE AND AMY ARE SOULMATES!”

All work stopped, and everyone fell silent. For a good minute, all that could be heard was the faint snoring from Captain McGintley’s office.

“Gina,” Rosa half-snarled, half-whispered. “You can’t just say that.”

“Oops, my b. Y’all know I have no conscience now so…” She giggled, winked at the leather-clad detective, and went back to her game of Kwazy Cupcakes.

Jake let out an awkward laugh. “Well, uh, that was -”

Out of nowhere, Charles appeared right in front of their desks. “Is it true, Jakey? Was Amy the voice in your head all this time?”

“I -” He glanced at Amy for help.

She bit her lip and shrugged.

This wasn’t at all how he envisioned making the announcement, but there was no use denying it. Still looking straight at her, his face softened into a smile. “Yeah… We’re soulmates.”

Charles squealed loudly. “You said the S word! Does that mean it’s official?” He gasped. “Have you said ‘I love you’? Have you met each other’s parents? When’s the wedding? What are you naming your first child?”

pretty much a crack fic inspired by the media’s post-olympics obsession with tessa and scott // my spin on a vm au bc i still refuse to write jake and amy as ice dancers (last edited: may 2018)

Like many of the other bizarre situations he’s found himself in, this all started with Gina. Over the last year or so, she’d been posting random photos and videos of all of them at the precinct. (“I’m devoting my energy to my new project, Ginazon,” she’d declared to the entire bullpen. “It’s a one-stop online portal for my legions of followers. I’m just giving the people what they want!”) Given that this was Gina of all people, Jake wasn’t at all surprised to find out that each post garnered hundreds of likes, but he’d never bothered to venture into the comments section. He’d never known about the apparent niche following that had formed, the group of fans – for lack of a better word – waiting with bated breath for him and Amy to get together.

Charles had only spurred them on, what with all the various Easter eggs on his culinary blog. (“This place has everything,” he’d written once. “My co-workers Jake and Amy even gave it their stamp of approval after they’d shared a quick lunch there before a long stakeout. Make sure to ask for the winter salsa; it’s wonderful!”) He’d sworn that none of it was intentional and that he would never do anything to sell them out, but everything he’d written had still been catalogued and analyzed by the pseudo-experts of the fandom. At this point, Jake’s main regret is not reading Charles’ weekly email blasts.

Their downfall – or rise to viral glory – came when someone from the so-called G-Hive happened to be in just the right place at just the right time, catching their (second) completely-platonic, spur-of-the-moment, done-in-the-name-of-justice kiss on camera. By the next morning, “Undercover Cops Lock Lips Before Locking Up Wanted Criminal” had been viewed on YouTube over a million times.

With everything about the entire situation already being so weird, they’d decided to just ignore their newfound fame in the same way they’d pretended the kisses never happened. (“We’re a great team. We work great together. Nothing should mess that up,” he’d said, repeating nearly his exact words from the night before.)

Evidently, there was no escaping this though. A formal press conference was set up, which wasn’t too out of the ordinary for cases that caught the general public’s attention, except they’d ended up having to say more about their dating lives than the investigation or arrest. He can still feel his heart lurching in his chest at the first relationship-related question, still hear Amy loudly stammering out some vague answer about being “very professional.”

a smutty soulmate au in which jake and amy unknowingly share dreams every now and then (last edited: november 2017)

At this moment in time, Amy Santiago is undeniably, incomparably, drop dead gorgeous.

More specifically: she’s in the hot red dress Kylie convinced her to buy on their last post-trivia night celebratory shopping spree; she’s wearing a matching killer shade of lipstick picked out by her fashion-forward, shockingly sexual 13-year-old niece; and she’s got her hair swept into that one elegant yet fun side ponytail that caught her eye in a magazine a few weeks back.

Normally, she’d be proud of herself for managing to pull off such a look, except–

It’s been a good several hours since she tossed her dress into the hamper, wiped the makeup off her face, and tugged the elastic tie from her hair. She’d buried her head into her pillow and wheeze-cried herself to sleep shortly after changing into her pajamas, so overwhelmed with shame and disappointment over the night’s party-gone-wrong.

The thick haze shrouding her current surroundings tells her she’s in another one of her soulmate’s dreams, which helps a tiny bit in explaining her current appearance but really opens up more questions than answers.

tagging: @santiagoswagger​ @three-drink-amy​ @do-me-decimalsystem​ @arnie-santiago​ @sergeant-santiago

for the record, this was inspired by @disruptedvice​ and @elsaclack​’s responses [x,x] to the writing meme!! i thought it was super clever of them to feature little snippets from various works and felt this would be a good way to give unfinished/abandoned fics some love! 

[embracesadness]

Bluepulse Week 2017 - Day 1 - Stargazing

(Hello. So, it’s probably been over a year since I’ve used this account or wrote anything that I actually put online. I’ve had a bit of a rough year in terms of writing, but I won’t try to make up excuses because I did leave for a really long time and it probably sucked for the people who read my stories. Anyways, this will also be posted on my fanfiction.net account and AO3 account, so if anybody who reads any of my other stories is reading this, I am hoping to get back into writing with this process. It helped me get back into it last year.

ANYWAYS! :D On a brighter note, I wanted to do something other than the classic “looking at the stars, they’re so bright, but they’re nothing compared to you, kisses” scene. Not to say that it’s not excellent, but it seems as though a lot of other people have already done it and it gets repetitive.

Also, YES, I AM aware that  I broke most of the rules of science during this, but to be fair, it’s an AU, so aliens can live on distant stars because it’s not too hot for them and telescopes have SUPER ZOOM and nobody can tell me otherwise. ;P

Anyhow, this one is a little less bluepulsey. Just a warm up. Hoping tomorrow gets even better! Enjoy to anyone who us reading. And sorry for the long ass author note. O.o)

Day 1 - Stargazing

When Grandpa Barry buys him a telescope, Bart is disappointed. Well…not completely. It’s just that he was expecting the latest Call Of Duty video game and when he doesn’t receive it he feels that wave of disappointment he is so familiar with wash over him.

They’re all sitting in the living room; Grandma Iris, Grandpa Barry and himself, all staring silently at this simplistic piece of technology. Grandpa Barry then turns to  him. Bart attempts to wince subtly. He isn’t sure whether or not he succeeds at it.

“So, kid. How do you like it?”

Bart forces a smile. Grandma Iris smiles  as well, though Bart’s pretty sure he can see traces of sympathy hidden within her eyes.

“I love it.”

Except he doesn’t. At least, not right away.

Bart pays it no mind at first.

The stupid piece of junk sits in the corner of his room for weeks on end. Bart is really good at ignoring things, but even cobwebs in the corner are easy to get stuck in.

Every so often, he’ll turn over in bed and see the damned out of the corner of his eye. He’ll cover his face with a pillow and groan.

“Dumbass telescope.”

Of course it really wasn’t. Telescopes can’t be dumbasses. They’re inanimate objects. Everybody knows this. Even Bart himself. However, that doesn’t stop the feelings of resentment from bubbling up.

He should be used to it by now, though.

It’s never been easy having a Forensic Scientist for a grandfather.

When he’s eight his father dies in the freak show accident to end all freak show accidents. A governmental study gone wrong. It seems to Bart that all Allen men fall victim to the charm and power of science.

He tries not to think about it too much.

Not long after can his mother can no longer handle the pressure. She runs off with another man who gets her pregnant shortly after the death of his father. She forges a new life and forces herself to forget everything about her old one; including her own son.

Again, he tries not to think about it.

Barry and Iris are nice enough anyways. Young, but nice. It reminds him of how young his parents were when they had him. How young he is.

When he’s ten he impresses his entire fifth grade class by successfully completing an individual frog dissection lab without any help from any of the teachers present. He doesn't even show the slightest signs of being sick.

He tells his teacher that his grandfather’s been teaching him about dissections since he was nine.

Four of the bigger boys give him a black eye in the hallway after class.

Barry finally teaches him how to use the telescope.

Bart understands the concept after the first fifteen minutes, but spends the next forty-five listening to the older man go on and on and on about the wonders of astronomy and how every constellation has a story behind it and how there are about a billion galaxies in the universe and blah blah blah blah blah.

They’re just big balls of gas in the sky. Who fucking cares?

When he finally leaves (with the announcement that  dinner will be ready in the next half hour), Bart pushes the telescope away from the window. He blinks twice and swallows once.

One foot then the other, he climbs up onto the ledge. He stares down more than up, because to him the ground is more interesting than the sky. And how fucking cool are rocks? Except nobody but geologists ever wants to talk about them.

No. Everybody always talks about how great and big the entire galaxy or the entire universe is compared to our world. Our planet. It doesn’t change the fact that life isn’t up in the clouds, but down here on earth.

But if life is so down to earth, then why concern yourself with things out of this world?

It’s seven past midnight on a Tuesday night when Bart finds himself staring blatantly at the motherfucking telescope of all things.

He blames it on lack of sleep. He blames it on the scary shadows objects manage to cast.

He blames it on the entire fucking galaxy.

Bart sits up and cries a bit in bed. He then curses his rotten luck for having ended up with a Forensic Scientist for a grandfather.

Then he gets up out of bed and sets up his telescope.

Millions of stars patter across the universe, some named, most not. A constellation of galaxies all connected like pieces in a puzzle that somehow all manage to fit in perfectly together. Look in closer and it's easy to see these galaxies in more detail. The planets that fill the Milky Way to the brim. The billions of stars that that light up the vast darkness of space. Each and every one manage to shine; to twinkle.

Who cares, Bart tells himself, they’re just big balls of gas in the sky.

One of the exploding balls of gas fizzles out and shoots across the sky like a bullet. One star in particular catches Bart’s eye. There almost seems to be a smudged, shadowy figure on it. Bart narrows his eyes.

And what the hell is that?

He switches the lens on the telescope so he can enlarge the image and focus it on more minute details. Grandpa Barry got him one of those super-detailed telescopes that cost a thousand dollars to order plus three dollars for shipping.

A thousand and three dollars for a cobweb holder. Who cares?

He grows more and more frantic as he attempts to focus the damned image. Things are still extremely blurry, but he’s pretty sure he’s blowing up the picture the way he wants it to be blown up.

His fingers begin to cramp up. And this is definitely a waste of time, he chastises himself.

He keeps adjusting the knob until he finally finds what he’s looking for.

He doesn’t believe his eyes at first.

Right in front of him is another living being.

No, he attempts to reason. No, that’s not possible. It is literally impossible for life outside of earth to exist. Extraterrestrials don’t exist. Aliens don’t exist. They don’t. Hell, was it even possible for a telescope to focus that much? Could this image be any clearer? Now way, he thinks. None of this is real. It’s just some crazy dream. REM sleep is fucking weird sometimes, right?

Yet, there’s the proof, staring him right back in the face. Sitting up on a star that is most probably light years away, a boy not much older than himself is stirring. He stares back at Bart through his own telescope. He clearly sees Bart as he grins, steps back from his scope and does this adorably, stupid little dance. He waves.

No no no. There’s no way.

Bart waves softly and unsurely. He takes in the other boy’s physical status. A well toned chest and muscle build, though lanky and long arms that almost don’t even fit him. Dark, chocolate skin with blue and black patterns running up and down his arms, legs and torso. Dark, blackish hair cut way too short along with these big, beautiful brown eyes. He’s completely naked, covered with bumps and different swirls and patterns. Like something out of a fucking Science Fiction movie.

The boy looks back through his telescope and smiles at Bart with the flashiest, whitest teeth he’s ever seen.

...A real life alien.

Who cares, Bart tells himself, but realizes with a growing horror that he does.

But for some reason when Bart looks at this alien, all he sees is a person. And for some reason, this person interests him in a way that none other has.

Bart steps up onto the window ledge, one foot then the other. Looking up for the first time in a long time. And he thinks he’s finally found something to keep him on the edge.

Because how fucking cool are aliens, right? And this one is so pretty that Bart can feel his face flush and is almost afraid the boy can see it too from light years away.

He smiles back even though his teeth aren’t as white. Even though his smile is not on the stand all that often.

He stands up on his tiptoes and reaches his hands towards the sky.

Because, he guesses, even the stars are pretty from light years away.

And sometimes you really do manage find something that’s out of this world.

[extraquarterblog]

Looking Back, was OnLive terrible or just too soon?

While news like Metal Gear Solid V and Final Fantasy XV over shadowed much of Tokyo Game Show, one announcement caught my eye that fell through the cracks was Square-Enix revealing their own Cloud Gaming Service, titled Shinra Technologies. I give SE credit on the clever name, I think anything FF7 related instantly hooks me, but that's beside the point. Any announcement of a Cloud Gaming Service should be grabbing more attention, as almost every major player in the Industry is now investing in this, and for good reasons. 

Sony clearly see’s the potential in Gaming Cloud service years ago and with the multi-million purchasing of Gaikai gave birth to PlayStation Now service. Sony answer to cloud/streaming gaming feature. Microsoft has also been investing in their own Cloud services. The often repeated "Infinite Power of the Cloud" that helps Developers off-load select services on games for better performance. It’s like a Hardware/Cloud hybrid feature but there's been rumors running for years that Microsoft is going to release their own pure Cloud gaming service of their own.

So what’s up with the Cloud? Wasn’t it just purely buzz words to grab attention? Is there any actual reason for it? I mean, just look at OnLive, the once promised Hero of cloud gaming, that couldn't stand up to reviews and quickly fell apart. How could Cloud gaming be all the rage, with multi-million dollar investment from Sony, Microsoft, and Square-Enix, when OnLive tried years ago and achieved little traction?

Everyone, step on my magical Limo. We going back in time!

*time warp* 

(This is where we all pretend were back in time)

Ok, it’s now the December, 2010. Snow covers the ground, Christmas music can be heard playing from every store and it’s the joyous time for gamers. A new little guy, the underdog of gaming enters the market. It’s OnLive, a system promising to deliver something so ridiculous and unheard of. A tiny, low cost console, that always performs the very top graphics of a PC at the highest settings that you never have to upgrade, or update. The only thing required was a decent Internet connection.  Many are skeptical if it’s more smoke & mirrors than an actual product. Others prophesy that this would signal the end of home consoles and the OnLive will dominate the market. 

So, like so many others, I picked up an OnLive console. I mean how could I not? It was only $99 and there was nothing insight coming from Sony, Nintendo or Microsoft on any new hardware. The temptation was too great. Buying that and Boxee Box, the ultimate solution to cutting cable service! It was a holiday of the underdogs I was so eager to try. 

Right from the start I was impressed with the packaging, the quality of the controller and the micro sized game console. It felt weird, to place this tiny box next to my larger game systems and think how this little guy, could outperform them. I remember feeling I must have bought some snake oil, there's no way this could be true. 

But Demo's don't lie. Prior the release, OnLive was demoing Crysis on the highest settings being played on the tiny system, and even demoed playing on a Cell phone. Remember, this is 2010, Crysis ate many PC's alive. To see Crysis even remotely running on a Cell phone was mind blowing. 

So I directly hook up to my router, set-up an account, and jumped in to the world of OnLive. The first time stepping in, there was this kind of awe effect. Seeing a screen filled with different gamers, playing various games, live, all at the same time. It was kind of stunning. It was like Whoa! This is what Cloud gaming could be? Naturally, the very first title I wanted to play was Crysis, after seeing it demonstrated so many times. I had to try it, to see Crysis running on its highest settings. I look for it, continuing looking through the catalogue, opening every window, desperately trying to find Crysis to play. But I couldn't? Was the biggest show case of Cloud gaming not even available?

To my horror, it wasn't. OnLive, did not have any EA titles. Right then, I felt a cold sweat roll down my neck. There were also several other titles missing. All of the sudden, Cloud gaming that looked so grand. Felt a bit less. And I really wished the experience could have gone better. By the winters end, I had already put OnLive back in the box. I could go in to far more detail, but this is 2010, you want to hear about now! So let’s move on, to the present.

*time warp*

Ok, it’s now back 2014 and we are seeing and hearing the words "Cloud Gaming" at almost every gaming expo. Internet connections have improved and I now currently have Verizon FIOS. So for me, I feel I can handle Cloud gaming, I’m actually excited for it, despite its draw backs, the pros in my opinion heavily out way the cons. And you should be excited too. I mean thinking about it; you never have to update, you never have to load, install, and you can access your library on any device. Not to mention you never have to buy a new system. It really gives so many answers for some of gaming larger issues. But yes, having a strong internet connection is one thing, and what if you lose your connection? Which sadly happens a lot across America? Is one, huge, massive Con. No Internet = No gaming. It’s a massive gamble in that respect.

There’s also the glaring issues on ownership as well. What happens to the all the titles you purchased and you no longer want to continue the service? Do you forfeit your entire gaming library? Theres still a lot of issues to be worked out, but sadly many of these issues are already appearing today. You would be amazed how many games today, you don’t actually own, you just paid $60 dollars for the right to Play the game. Not actually own it.

Which leads us to our big question, Is OnLive really bad? Was it snake oil? Well the best way, is to put it to the test. I somehow manage to find my old system, covered in dust. I removed it from the packaging, plugged it in, prayed for a few seconds and saw that orange light turn red. Success. There was something a bit odd, to play a system I haven't touched in almost 4 years, not to mention never really played it at all. And here I was giving it another go. 

OnLive changed a bit, they now offer some new services like Playpack and Cloudlift features.

WAIT!

Hold up, you thought OnLive was dead? No, not at all, despite popular belief, you can access OnLive on your desktop right now, or if you’re like me, you can still rock out your old micro system.

*ahem* So yes, OnLive has changed a bit and improved some of its features, I saw several new titles and was glad to see I could still watch other players playing live. There's always something novel about that. But what I found enjoyable was for the most part, it’s pretty seamless, you kind of just drift from one part to another; want to try out a demo? Takes only a few seconds, tired of it and want to watch someone playing? It literary only took a moment or two to so quickly jump from one thing to the next. 

Naturally I checked out a couple of titles to play and found the latency pretty responsive. I'm only rocking a 15mb line and found that the response was pretty decent. I never felt that there was this strong sense of lag during my game play. 

Though, it wasn't all rainbows. Sadly, despite my FIOS and years later trying out the service, it still wasn't the grandest in the visual side. The best way to describe it, it’s like watching a Netflix film. Sure it’s convenient, but the blacks are never right, there's always this slight visual wash to the image quality. When compared to watching the same film on blu-ray, there's a noticeable difference in visual and sound. Same applies to OnLive. There were plenty of times the visuals looked choppy, like I was still buffering a YouTube video. It was distracting at times, while I yearned for this streamed service, that's rock solid. But just couldn't get that. I never once felt it was completely buttery smooth, that my eyes constantly detected the image quality issues. 

I did take moment to pause however and thought just how cool it was. To open something considered very dated, plug it back in, and play some of today's latest titles. It seemed more as a novel at the time. The only console you would have to buy, never upgrade. 4 Years later, I got to test that out. Not gonna lie, pretty cool.

OnLive, the premise that its built on, isn’t a novel idea. It’s the future. It really is. I would not be surprised in the least if the systems of tomorrow are smaller, internet required micro consoles. I think for all gamers, the thought of that is in the back of our minds. True, much of this is dependent on the Internet service provided, and just getting 1080p streaming to look good has caused so many issues, I can’t imagine what 4k would require. Though in the end, OnLive isn't for me. It never gives me the full satisfaction that I hoped it could. Not to say others can’t enjoy its service, it is an answer for several gamers out there. OnLive was never terrible, nor was it great. It just gave us all a glimpse of what gaming tomorrow could be. 

That was its only problem. We didn't want a glimpse, we wanted the full dish, the entire buffet. From Steak to Lobster tails. OnLive just couldn’t give us it. So we'll see if Sony PlayStation Now can deliver and re-open the door for cloud gaming.