#it added so much immersion imo

[the-punforgiven]

Yknow I'm glad they made the armor sfx a bit louder for Elden Ring but I still miss how fucking loud your armor was in Dark Souls 1

[goingbuggy]

Miscellaneous Notes About OPLA Buggy Because I Adored Episode 2:

The "knows-nose" homophone joke?? So good (not really important i just loved it ok)

I love how OPLA played into Buggy's crew being more circus than crew; the manga has them just.... hanging out on a rooftop LOL. The new theming added so much immersion!!!

Jeff Ward has the standout performance of this season imo. It feels different than Buggy from the source material, but in very good ways; Buggy usually gets upstaged in a very goofy manner, but here, it's clear that Buggy's failure stems from insecurity leading to incorrect assumptions.

Buggy never believed Zoro and Nami would come back to help Luffy because of his own trust/abandonment issues. (His logic reads borderline delusional: "Shanks abandoned me, and he was my friend.. so why would they come back for you?")

Buggy offering Luffy a place on his crew?? YES. Yet again, Jeff Ward really sells this version of the character -- he is so incredibly frustrated by rejection. Why would a "freak" like him choose to be hurt by others who let them down? (As viewers, we know Nami and Zoro are fighting to get back, but Buggy truly believes they'll leave Luffy behind.)

"You can't make people love you." AAHHHHH!!! Luffy's emotional intelligence strikes again!!!!!!!! It hits the nail on the head. Buggy so desperately craves acceptance/love that it makes him illogical and causes him to have a short fuse.

AND LOOK. OH MY GOD HIS SUBTLE REACTION...... my heart breaks for him

tldr; Buggy's big mistake in Orange Town is his overwhelming greed, which causes him to underestimate and undervalue others. In OPLA, it is his paranoia and insecurity getting in the way of logic. Both are major aspects of his character, but I love that the live action went a different route, while still staying true to his nature!

[momo-shut-the-fuck-up]

Long post discussing/critiquing the unicorn/nightmare hell event story. Spoilers ahead of course

I dont mean to be a hater here. I love shining nikki and the story its tryin to tell, and i dont know if this is a new development or not- i can t remember anythin about the last lore relevant event but i do remember i had a LOT of fun with desire/leonid- however.

I feel like unicorn/nightmare was poorly written. The structure for a great event story is there, there s no issues in that regard, but it s just- how can i describe it.. the writing feels amateurish? I didnt quite get the emotion in everyone's nightmares. I didnt get the feel that this nightmare was as bad as the narration tried to make it seem it is. I didnt even know the entire world was plunged in a nightmare and i feel like thats kinda critical info (and if they did tell and i forgot, disregard this whole sentence)

We kinda jumped through unconnected nightmares and thats ok, i guess, but it felt like nikki and player kinda just. Decided to fix everyone and immediately had the correct answer because of course they do, its nikki and player. I think dodora s nightmare was the best out of the bunch, but even with her, i didnt feel that emotion that i shouldve felt.

I was thinking while reading that in comarison to life makeover, sn's story isnt presented that well visually. They sure got better! Aloysius' vines, all the different lights that appear due to whatever crystal the current story is about, yknow, all those vfx they added. Thats super good and they should do more. But that s the thing, they need more. At the moment i feel like the story suffers a bit because not only is it not voiced, it feels quite static and inexpressive.

Ima use dodora s nightmare again as an example, but she was havin a whole breakdown over here, and her sprite looked just like the usual dodora... not even a pose change. And with how short it (and every other one) was, it really felt like the importance of the whole shebang was diminished.

I do appreciate that they seem to be makin an effort though. As far as i know sn makes way more money than life makeover, and their story presentation was fuckin great. I aint even askin for the same gameplay element that lm has (for context, you can investigate rooms for clues. They re 3d, linear, and can be skipped, but they re nice for immersion) or for live2d models, but i Am kinda asking for more sprites and more animations of the sprites. Make em bounce a bit! Or shake! And i wish we saw the old god.... maybe an abstract representation of them in the bg... just. Something... we were fighting a blank arena while the narration was trying to convince me some epic shit was happening.

Oh and also write the story better. I feel like i didnt explain that great but i think its the biggest downfall atm even though i didnt focus on it much on this post.... narration is very flowery and detailed, dialogue does the job, yet there s something missing from it all imo. U can have the blandest visuals ever but if ur writing is good it doesnt matter... thats why vooks exist yknow. At the same time, you re a visual novel sn, so u should be usin the visual part better... anyway this is long enough. Post

[goombasinastack]

splatoon 3 hot take turned impromptu essay

was stuck offline in splatoon 3 because internet was actin up and i realized how pretty the photomode splatoon 3 filters are compared to the actual game

i was taking photos on brinewater and thought. damn. this game looks fine but i miss how VIBRANT splatoon 1 was! i wish i could play sploon 3 with this photomode filter on all the time. and brinewater is the best map for this because of the sunset lighting! so i went to one of the worst offenders mapwise for general color—undertow spillway. it is a warm gray mess:

for someplace underground, it’s WAY too warm of a tone—even if there are skylights, they aren’t very well defined, as they’re off in the background—they’d be better with some light shafts to pop out more, imo.

so here’s undertow with photomode filter #6 (this would’ve been a video but tumblr limits to 1 video per post):

and i think this looks a lot nicer, colorwise! the icky warm gray is shifted to a soft pink—and while that’s still not in keeping with the lack of obvious skylights, it works better than warm gray.

so then i opened ibis x paint and got to work on a filter that would hopefully help elevate the entire game’s look:

on top is photomode filter #6, in the middle is the original screenshot, and on the bottom is my proposed filter.

i upped the contrast, brightness, and saturation a bit, then added a 5% pure magenta (#FF00FF) overlay layer on top of that. then i added a slight gaussian blur to emulate antialiasing, which nintendo refuses to do for some reason!

and i wanna play splatoon like that! i miss the vibrancy and intricacy of splatoon 1…

incoming splatoon 1 essay‼️

not only were the colors eye-bleachingly bright, but the overall game feel was much more immersive—especially in ink physics. you could paint trees, and the ink would drip down through leaves as if it were rain… ink splatter would respond to the movements of platforms, keeping its intertia as it dripped! you could see the textures of surfaces through the ink, as if it were an actual liquid instead of a layer of thick oil. 3 doesn’t have any of those special touches.

there’s also the music… 1’s ost feels so much more WEIRD and experimental than the later games, and that really helps cement that this is not human society—this is a new thing—which tracks for splatoon 1, as it was so zany nobody had ever seen anything quite like it before! splatoon 2 follows this sheer melting-pot of brashness and creativity with evolving and varied styles—where once was punk and weird samples in Squid Squad is now groovy rock in Wet Floor, jazz in Ink Theory, and also whatever Sashi-Mori was. also i <3 chirpy chips. splatoon 3’s music goes back to that punk, but i feel that it loses some of the charm and creativity of the first two games. C-side is pure metal, and hardly uses any weird instruments. there have sparsely been other splatbands involved with regular battle music—Yoko&tgb call back to the jazz of Ink Theory which i love! Off the Hook’s new tracks delve into a new style in piano rock. but the main band kind of falls flat to me. :(

let’s talk stages. in splatoon 1, stages were wildly different from each other, including skateparks, construction sites, underpasses, malls, sewage plants, and other locals that are culturally underground. the rest of the trilogy moves away from this in a story standpoint, as ink battles evolve from punky, diy competitions into full-fledged championships in 2 and 3, with advancing battle infrastructure as time progresses. that’s fine, and honestly it’s cool to see that kind of worldbuilding! but in 1, each stage was designed about and influenced by the area it represented. Arowana Mall is a straight line with high vantage points on the second/third story because it’s a mall. Pirahna Pit features convenyor belts that shuffle refuse around because it’s a trash plant. Blackbelly Skatepark has so many hills and valleys because it’s a skatepark, for goodness sake. splatoon 3’s original stages have some of this charm, but it feels lost in ambiguity. why doesn’t Mincemeat Metalworks have small moving platforms on cranes or other heavy machinery? Idk, have some grates and one-way drops, and a car on a post. why isn’t there any water incorporated into the stage design of Brinewater Springs? Idk, have 2 paintable walls and a tetris piece. 3’s original stages have little to no connection between their locals and the geometry, which make it feel same-y compared to previous games.

maybe this is because of the inflexible philosophy of the designers—or their corporate oversight, maybe. for stages, you need to make a straight line or tetris piece with few routes to push, in an effort to promote the game’s main premise of Chaos. for music, you need to make punk songs that aren’t too weird so they don’t drive away the parents. maybe the little ink touches could have been missing because development was rushed?

i honestly dont know why it happened out this way—perhaps the splatoon team just needed more time to cook, in order to squeeze out that extra 20% of game feel? or maybe it was that speculated corporate oversight, i dunno. things WERE missing on launch—notable exceptions being X rank, online tableturf lobbies, and no more than three salmon run maps. i know we’ve yet to even get the DLC but for being about 75% of the way through the game’s content lifespan, but splatoon 3 feels incomplete. there have been improvements, yeah! i just wish there could’ve been more. i would rather have waited another year for splatoon 3 if it were polished that much better, y’know?

i honestly feel like splatoon 1 captured that creative, no-holds-barred mantle of Chaos better than 3 does. 3 feels… flanderized, in a way. the curse of trilogies, perhaps? writing about it more, it feels like not only have the in-game sports of turf war been ripped out of its seedy home and thrust into the spotlight, and gone “mainstream” (see: massive squidsport companies investing in multimillion battle lobbies with holograms and lockers [sunken scroll about that!], flying coffee machines that grant you brief invincibility, new rules and techniques that allow squid surges and rolls, etc.), but also the Real Life Physical Video Game Cartridge of Splatoon has been popularized massively with the sequels on the Switch. maybe i’m not missing the “vibrancy” of splatoon 1 when i look at the colors and photomode filters of splatoon 3, but instead the inherent punkiness and counterculture inspiration that i see in the original.

fuck capitalism, i guess!

[gimyung]

besides being a government name activist, i wish they left out some things in korean and just added an author's note or translator's note (smth like *keikaku means plan). imo it adds to getting immersed (?) in the manhwa and just gives depth to some scenes.

my main gripe is how the ' 형 hyung' is translated to 'bro'. just the honorifics in general, like it gives you a sense of who's close to whom or how they look at their peers. 'bro' just so unserious to me at this point cus it's tied to 'bruh' which connotes something else?

Many Koreans choose to blur the boundary when they interact with older friends they met socially by calling them “hyung”, “unnie”, “oppa” or “noona”. By using these terms, you show your willingness to be informal as if they were your own brothers or sisters. [as said here] [also source: trust me bro bc i used to be a bg stan]

more talking (and detailed complaining under the cut)

these panels without the hyung context kinda loses its meaning too (ch297 sammy vs big danny). cus someone who doesn't have a strong understanding on how age/hierarchy/formalities work might not be able to grasp it?

kr fans also made a nickname for jake (김기띵 'gitting'), and yeah it's kr fandom but the thing is, jerry called him that nickname in ch411 and all the english readers got was 'boss'.

just adding also that jason, brad, & jerry call jake 'hyungnim' rather than 'hyung', a politer word. it's still different from samuel's 'chairman' towards yoojin tho. (not much sure at this part but hyungnim's also common for mob boss or some other informal organization [idk bruh this is literally a rant post]) (lua is exempt from calling big deal members honorifics tho, shes above them shes a girlboss) (jake also have moments of calling sinu 'hyungnim' back when sinu was still big deal boss)

also gun praising big deal's intelligence team (lua<3) is more apparent in the kr ver of ch89

also ranted about the same thing before about this gangseo-olly scene

i feel like there are more nuances that we're missing out on (of course i chose big deal scenes lmfaoooo these are the ones i view the most anyways). like ignorance is bliss but AHHHHHHHHHHHH plz just . let us in the lookism world completely

[otakween]

Digimon Adventure 02: Revenge of Diaboromon

Wow...somehow this one just completely fell off my radar, otherwise I would have watched it a long time ago lol. I seriously thought I was all caught up with pre-Tamers anime until I saw this on the 02 TV Tropes and was like "oop..." It was a good surprise though, I can never get enough of these Mamoru Hosoda style shorts! (Looks like he didn't actually work on this one though).

I watched this dubbed first to take screenshots and then subbed. It's hard to find a non-crunchy version of the subbed short. The OG Japanese was a lot stronger imo because, as usual, the dub ruined some stuff with it's jokey tone and music choices. Still decently faithful though. Full thoughts below.

Notes:

So this is like a midquel, I guess. I don't know if there's an exact place within 02 I was supposed to watch this, but I didn't feel like my immersion was wrecked or anything haha.

While the aesthetic of the short was great, I felt the story was pretty redundant and eye-roll worthy. "Oh Omegamon/Omnimon is back for some contrived reason and the OG chosen children's digimon can't defeat him like they did last time...for some contrived reason. This looks like a job for the 02 protagonists!" Whatever, it doesn't have to be deep to be fun.

The early 2000s CG looked pretty good actually. I thought it added a fun otherworldliness to the Kuramon.

Kuramon look a lot like Takodachi (Hololive fans know what's up). I wonder if there was some inspiration there on a subliminal level.

I wonder if Daisuke's character designer intended him to be from a southern part of Japan. His tan skin sticks out more in this art style.

I feel like Diaboromon got uglier somehow compared to Our War Game lol. Armagemon's design was deliciously creepy though. He looked like something out of an Alien movie. His entrance was epic and probably would have freaked me out a lot as a kid. Weirdly, they never actually said Armagemon's name so I just assumed it was Diaboromon until I googled it just now lol

Sora and Mimi were like two sides of the same coin in this. Mimi was useless, but in a delightful way. Sora was useless, but in a boring way lol. Seriously, she didn't need to come all the way home from her tennis club trip to just go "I'm here!" and then do nothing. I'm not saying there was much she could do anyway, but I get really pissed that they never gave her character a real point aside from "bland love interest" in any Digimon show/movie.

Loved Mimi's interactions with Koushiro. Their awkward "we're in the same friend group but have nothing in common" chemistry is so fun.

Yamato seemed extra cool with his rings and stoicism. I do kind of wish he and Taichi got a little more dialogue though.

Really didn't like the direction of the fights inside the internet. They were either animated too up close or too distant so I felt like I couldn't really follow what was going on half the time. Also, the choreography wasn't that inspired. The IRL fight at least had a cool Evangelion vibe going for it. The harbor was a really aesthetic setting for a final fight.

I've started shipping DaiKen for funsies (there's some really cute fanart) so it was nice seeing them together in the elevated art style hehe.

Daisuke has a Yamato phone strap! So cute and supportive

It's funny how the digimon sizing suddenly changes when we're in movie-mode. Angemon and Angewomon were huge in this! I was excited to see the 02 digimon, but they mostly looked the same as they looked in the show tbh.

The Shibuya vibes, complete with Hachiko statue, were fun. Was 02 set in Tokyo? I honestly don't remember...

Seeing all those children running around at night without any worries about safety...must be nice, Japan.

When Omegamon "ran out of energy," I had the thought of like "can a jogress digimon die in the real world or would they always just de-digivolve??" I guess they'd never go that far for plot reasons anyways

Imperialdramon gets a new mode! Paladin mode, according to Google. Were these names in the credits or did they just decide things later for the TCG or something...?

We got the 02 theme inserted towards the end and even the OG show's theme as a ring tone. Really cute touch. (I was a little triggered to hear Bolero again for the millionth time though).

All in all I'm glad the 02 kids got their due in this style. Was it groundbreaking? No. Was it worth 30 minutes of my time? Absolutely!

[merrilark]

Forgot to write up my thoughts on the last DW episode, "The Devil's Chord"!

TLDR: Liked it! Surprisingly did not like it as much as "Space Babies" even though everything '60s is right up my street. But it was fun and campy and I'm glad to have fun with DW again.

Soooooo let's talk about the things I didn't like first, before the things I did.

Did not care for:

All the 4th wall breaking. It was charming at first but now it's getting a bit hammy in a way I'm not digging.

The musical number at the end was extremely immersion-breaking. It would have been fine anywhere else in the episode, I think, but to have it after the big bad is gone and the world is back to normal seemed really weird. Like, why does a normal studio suddenly work like a big musical stage? Why is everyone dancing and singing? The song was also disappointingly un-'60s and I just???? Don't... think it added anything to the episode. Also unsure how I feel about the statement that "there's always a twist at the end". I really do not want there to always be a twist. I kinda. I just want to have fun sometimes, you know? Choreography was fun, though.

I got kneejerk discomfort from "The One Who Waits" lmaooo this is totally on me, but, oh, RTD, please do not pull something convoluted on us.

Same with Ruby. I adore her and I think she could still be good, but I am holding my breath. I don't want her to be convoluted either. I really miss when companions were very average and normal people doing extraordinary things because of who they are, not because of the Doctor.

Dunno. Just a bit soft for me. A little too much made-for-little-kids? But that could be because we had two goofy episodes back-to-back, one of which was about literal babies. It was fun! But I dddddo feel? a bit babied? I'm not sure. I think it will get better once we have less lighthearted episodes because I know RTD is capable of writing some soul-crushing, serious stuff.

Really loved!:

THE CLOTHES. Oh I am living for how much Fifteen throws himself into having fun with Ruby. The last two episodes were nice nods back to Nine and Rose, and it's fun to see the similarities and differences there. I like that Fifteen jumps at the opportunity to dress up with Ruby. It's so sweet.

Fifteen in general. Ugh. He's like a warm hug and I missed that. I'll admit the casual petnames from the Doctor were a little strange at first, but it grew on me and I enjoy how the Doctor is so much louder about his love. He captures an overall sense of wonder and excitement and I think he's pretty well written.

The Saxon Theme!!!!!! The Master is definitely coming back and I think RTD writes their dynamic better than the last two writers.

I enjoyed the Rani getting name-dropped and I got out of the loop with Gallifrey and the Time War, but I'm pleased that we're back to being a bit angsty about it. IMO that's how it should be. Please do not bring Gallifrey or the Time Lords back. They need to stay dead.

The new sonic is growing on me. Kinda didn't like it at first, kinda looks like a "cool" gadget from the '90s and it's not screw driver-y at all but??? It's neat.

Ugh, the TARDIS interior. LOVE her. Missed her. She looks so good and big and lovely and pretty.

LOVE how much the Doctor loves her. The TARDIS is to him what the Enterprise is to Captain Kirk and I'm always squishy for it.

On that same note, we should have whumped the TARDIS more. I would like to see the Doctor get very distressed over her.

Anyway, Maestro was loads of fun and I liked the Ursula vibes.

The writing was pretty solid! The anticipation was good, it was just the right amount of scary, just the correct amount of touching, just the correct amount of mysterious, etc. etc. etc. I don't think either "Space Babies" or "The Devil's Chord" will be a favorite episode, but I'm satisfied with them. They were good.

[thatonebirdwrites]

World building and commitment to detail. You stay accurate to the world and your characters while adding new and exciting takes on things. You take the time to make sure your additions make sense for the world you’re creating. Your commitment to detail is unrivaled imo too. I don’t lose interest in the detail, which means something because when things are too wordy my add usually just makes me zone out and skip over it lol

Aw, thank you so, so much! This is so wonderful to hear. I appreciate it so much. Fun side note: As someone who also has ADHD, I will often read through a chapter to see if my brain starts skipping. Then I adjust to find a more succinct way. Or I'll incorporate the details in a more organic way to immerse readers better. Gotta work with my brain. :)

[florwal]

hi there!! i wanted to say how in love i am with your dead end save file and i haven't even gotten the chance to play with it yet! lol. i'm so curious on how you went about making the file with all of the amazing scenery, notes, journals, and such. i was wondering if you had any tips for someone who is looking to make their own save file?

thank u so much :’) i’m gathering up all my tips so i can upload an in depth youtube video on how i go about making my save files and all the mods i use that make creating them easier/enhance gameplay but here’s what i do (in order)

- chose a ~vibe~ i want the save to have, i made an ideas/mood board on pinterest for dead end and it helped a lot (didn’t have to w portsim cuz it’s literally just places from where i live so the image was already in my head)

- start building (i fully furnish community lots but i don’t furnish the interiors of residential lots until i create the households so i can personalize how i think they’d decorate their homes) obviously u can just download things off the gallery if u don’t like building

- once the exteriors of all the builds are done i start adding details to the world with tool mod, i just kinda look around at debug items and stuff and start randomly adding things. cars, overgrown grass, outdoor activities etc.

- plan out the households, i usually create “people” in my head (personalities, backstories, all that) then i actually make them in cas. sometimes i don’t plan what i want them to look like, i just play around and adjust things to randomized or base sims until it feels right.

- move them into their houses/furnish + decorate them in a personalized way like i said above then i start developing their relationships w other townies i think they’d be friends with

- last i add holidays, clubs, all the little extra things that make things more fun

side notes:

- making all the neighborhoods look cohesive is one of the most important things imo. the builds looking like they belong together but still have their own unique vibe + detailing them as much as possible is gonna make the overall immersion better.

- giving the sims backstories, personal struggles, drama/conflict between other townies, jobs + skills that fit their personalities will make them feel more “real” - it’s personally preference but if ur going for realism anyway. like nobody’s life is perfect and happy all the time ya know?

- creating ur own save file can be A LOT OF WORK and will take more time than u probably want it to if u go all in, but it’s very much worth it and makes the game so much more enjoyable when it’s set up exactly how u want it to be

[whyeverr]

Thanks for your response! Having builds already made is a smart idea.

From the traditional rules, I don’t particularly like or strive for legacy gameplay or waiting for lots to be unlocked until after so much gameplay has happened. In my mind it makes more sense that a lot is unlocked to facilitate gameplay. For example: needing an art center or gallery or museum to open the Artist career. Whereas the traditional rules have it the other way around. I think because there’s so much I haven’t played with in the game yet and I don’t like sims staying home to do everything so in order to explore gameplay (skills and careers and activities), they need to have community lots to do them on. Idk if this makes sense haha but yeah I am trying to rethink the rules because I would rather have more community lots than households in my game and typically BACC rules and variations I’ve seen focusing on adding more households

Definitely get where you're coming from, anon! The beginning is super grind-y, and there's almost no reason to ever really leave your lot unless you're super intentional about getting creative with it—which, speaking from experience, only extends the duration of the grind!

(And honestly, while we're on the subject of bending BACC rules... Controversial take, but if you're starting in a neighborhood or world with streets and stoplights and shell houses and things imo it doesn't make sense to have to start anything off-grid in TS4... 🤷🏼‍♀️ Use max handiness to unlock building additions or new lots or something instead, idk! But I digress.)

One thing it took me way too long to realize (because it isn't in the spreadsheet for some reason) is that the Community Space lot type is unlocked by default when you start the challenge. So if you mostly want to stick to the rules but want to jump in with more spaces available right away for your sims to use for skill-building, you could set up a Community Space (or more?) and just have your sims vote to make them a Maker Space for handiness and painting, Community Garden for gardening, etc. I don't think you'd be gaining any unfair advantage doing it this way, and if it helps you for storytelling or immersion purposes... Why not? 😌 That Community Space building could even be renovated the Arts Center or whatever when you get to the point of unlocking that.

[stormyoceans]

We all know p*nd and ph*win can kiss but why are they afraid to touch each other during it? One of them could put his arms around other's neck or touch other's cheek, SOMETHING. The distance between them makes the good kiss look award imo. This is why i like js kisses, because even in greylery when they needed five takes to make it right they didn't afraid to express characters' feelings through other touches too, not just touches of their mouths. And i don't even need to mention kiss from episode 12 which is so passionate but so realistic too. They did a good job if we're talking about body language 👍

OKAY SO HERE'S THE THING. i don't often talk about kisses because im always afraid to pass off as an old creep, but i LOVE kisses in media and i love how kisses can help telling something about the characters and the relationship between them in that specific moment. the reason why dead fish kisses are bad is because they're hardly ever functional to what the story itself is trying to say, so the viewers get immediately pulled out by the immersive feeling every good show or movie aims to create. kisses that go on for too long can also have this same result, and another very important element is, like you said, physicality

physicality is something that doesn't get talked about a lot, but i think it's actually a big part of kissing because when we do that, we hardly ever keep our bodies apart or our hands for ourselves, and when it comes to visual medias, that added connection is essential to make it believable, to immerse the viewers in the moment

i personally think jimmysea and pondphuwin are more or less on a similar level when it comes to physicality: in both cases i feel like you have someone who is very comfortable with all the grabbing and holding and touching (jimmy and pond) and someone who is a little bit more shy with it (sea and phuwin). it's hard to understand how much of it is a directing choice and how much is just.. the actor's performance, but i do think you can see this slight difference in jimmysea as well (since you mentioned the greyllery kiss, look how jimmy is just enveloping sea completely with both arms, while sea is a bit more hesitant with his touch)

that being said, i do think the pondphuwin kisses in the our skyy episodes weren't as good as the ones in the series, because if in the series the difference in their physicality isn't that evident, i think it was really obvious in our skyy where like you said there is a ton of space between their bodies and it kinda throws off the tone of the moment

ANYWAY SHUTTING UP NOW BECAUSE AS I SAID. FEELING LIKE AN OLD CREEP

[ev-moved]

ok i finished Five Survive this morning and umm. it was really bad. im sorry all u holly jackson fans & agggtm was amazing but this book i STRUGGLED to finish. putting my thoughts under a cut cuz its kinda long

my biggest issue w this book was the dialogue. the dialogue was SO wonky and it just felt like, thats not how people talk to each other at all. like the beginning literally had dialogue that was like M: "my big brother is here on my vacation. at my mothers insistence. this is an anooying situation for me."

O: "it is ok. i will not be around as i have my own cabin."

M: "which our mother does not know about. which i am saying out loud even though she is not here"

^this conversation felt so fucking weird to me. are these not things that have been established LONG before the roadtrip started? why would you say that to each other. who talks to their brother like this. its very clear this dialogue is meant as exposition for the reader and not the characters just having conversation. idk couldve been more fluid imo. there were a lot of conversations like this that just completely took me out of the immersion. also the nonstop pop culture references had me cringing.

also there was SO. MUCH. FILLER. it felt like this couldve been a 100 page short story but she added SO much unnecessary filler trying to make it a full novel. there were TWO PARAGRAPHS just describing a character scrolling through the ringtones section of a phone. which couldve been a single line. it read like me trying to hit the word count on my blackboard discussion questions.

honestly theres a lot more i can say but none of it is nice so ill end it here

[doubleddenden]

Okay so I've been playing Star Rail and I'm gonna do a lil amateur review because I do that sometimes

Here's my take

1. I like it. I got it for pc and it's fun when I can play it.

More under the cut

2. It is free to play with micro transactions, however I've not spent any money on it and I find it quite playable and easy to get into. That being said, I started with a lot of free stuff from starting so early and codes, so my experience may have differed if I started later.

3. It's a turned based RPG akin to JRPGs like Digimon Cyber Sleuth, Persona 5, etc, but a little easier to comprehend combat wise

4. Story and setting so far is something sort of like a mix of Star Ocean- specifically 4 with the planet hopping- or Rogue Galaxy, with... well, a LOT of mystic, techno, scifi, and religious babble. Enjoyable tho. I love space trains so much. It's dumb but classy. There's also a LOT of optional lore you can collect and read to really help you get immersed if that's your thing, and characters will have a lot of dialogue to give you more world building lore too. That being said, they do kinda just toss you into the ocean with really complex shit right out the gate with no vuild up- I've been told that having SOME knowledge of the Honkai Impact series can build upon what's given, but it's not entirely necessary.

5. Graphics are great, I like the art style and how polished everything looks. Art style works for the game and it looks gorgeous. I do think the NPCs kinda look plain, but that's about expected.

6. Music is passable. Not really finding any ear worms just yet, though. The summoning music and the train music are great though.

7. It might be me and my somewhat shit connection, but I experience lag and disconnection sometimes. This can get pretty frustrating

8. Characters are fun and have fun dynamics with each other. I already dig The Trailblazer, Dan Hung, and March 7th's dynamic- I will say, wtf is this name? Like I know why, but still, not just March, March 7th specifically is her name. Is her full name Saturday, March 7th, 5023 AD?

9. Voice acting is... decent enough. I play English dub because I have reading difficulties due to unmedicated ADHD, before anyone starts screaming at me to change languages. There's some strange takes or line reads sometimes, sometimes the voice will read something different from the text, and there's a couple of voices I wish would just sound... different. But the majority is passable to really good. I've also heard some unexpected voices- you could say they are TRASH, but I find them TASTEful.

10. Character design is pretty fun imo- definitely a bit of Genshin style, but it is by the same people so you kind of expect that. But they're fun to look at, have fun weapons and moves, and have great art. My one complaint would be similar builds and designs for some characters, but that's minor and also expected. But I will say, I do prefer a good anime style over indie cartoon or realistic style, so to me I think it's great.

11. The menus are... very complex. Easy to lose track and get lost in. I swear the pause menu rearranges every time I open it.

12. It shouldn't need saying, but: It's not Genshin Impact- that's fine actually. In fact it's great, turn based rpgs are really fun, especially JRPG styled, which i like to play (Dragon Quest 11, Digimon Cyber Sleuth, Persona 5, Pokémon, etc). While I do like exploring open worlds and having a lot of freedom and real time fighting, sometimes it's nice to have a simpler point A to point B system with smaller maps, and especially nice to have auto battle. There's a bit of carry over from Genshin, but i think it works for what's given. I do miss my emergency fo- I mean, my adorable best friend Paimon, but she and all my other Genshins are Impacting in the other game while I Rail some Sta- wait I'm not finishing that sentence.

13. It is gacha. You kind of expect it- some people won't like it, I kinda like it to some degree, but I do got issues. Basically watch your spending- again, I haven't felt the need to, unlike some games that feel like you have to to get anything done. But it definitely would help to speed things along if i were. When you get a good character, it's a nice feeling for me, personally. That being said they do give you 3 pretty good ones right out the gate, and you do gather in game materials to help you summon at a fair pace anyway, so you're rolling decently enough to get something out of it.

Overall an 8/10 so far. I wanna keep playing, but unfortunately this damn meat mech that is my wretched bodily prison of my soul requires sleep, and I have things I have to do.

[tuiyla]

"idk if anyone watched that “Ryan Murphy is problematic” video on youtube but tell me I’m not the only one who found it an unfair and lacking in nuance take" can you expand on your problems with that video? 🤔

Okay so it's a half an hour video, available here, so I won't touch on every single point they bring up. From the get-go, my problem is that the vast majority of the talking points are based on nothing but conjecture and what Ryan Murphy is supposedly like as a producer but also more so as a person. I get that producers work with and are in charge of people but I find it inherently, hmm, well, let's repurpose the word "problematic" to try and draw conclusions about people based on their work, rather than just examining their work. I'm all for criticizing Ryan Murphy's work, and yeah sometimes we speculate what personal agendas or even vendettas could have been influencing said work, but this whole video simply doesn't justify its existence to me. There's simultaneously an aversion to drawing any sort of conclusion, since it is just a summary of rumours and allegations, but also a clear judgement in the way these rumours are presented.

Like I said I don't wanna touch on everything but just a few moments in particular to get a sense of what I mean:

The two sections on RM "hating" Chris Colfer and Dianna Agron. Sometimes I think the Glee fandom gets so immersed in its own mythology it forgets that so many of these universally agreed-upon truths are just rumours perpetuated by tabloids and tiktok teenagers. I've had an ask about that Rolling Stone interview sit in my inbox for a while so maybe one day I'll dissect the Dianna of it all, but the way this video uses pure conjecture to speculate even further just creates more and more unsubstantiated claims. The dots connected between Ryan's tweet about "Quinn" filming in Europe and the New Normal stuff is like, come on, where do we draw the conspiracy theory lines. And as another example of trying to substantiate conjecture with more conjecture, the Ashley Fink rumours coupled with the Lea Michele ones. I won't get into it here, it's in the video presented in such a bizarre way, imo. "Here's this malicious rumour, I know we have to take it with a grain of salt so here's another rumour to back it up." That's not how it works. But it is the nature of videos like this that they can't bring anything new because we don't have the facts, so they just regurgitate decade-old rumours and try to pass judgement on people we do not and never will know. Adding "...allegedly!" at the end of claims does not make the framing of this any better.

The biphobia section, which is so emblematic of Gleeks being ultra ready to blame everything wrong with Glee on Ryan Muprhy - and sometimes give him all the credit, too, which just does not work on any TV show, let alone one with three showrunners. Now, we won't get into the actual biphobia of it all because I'm sure I've spoken about it somewhere and I don't think whether Ryan Murphy is biphobic is the point. The point is that you can look at the text, Glee, and criticise its approach towards bisexuality and you'd be right to do so. But you can't just imply or outright say that this one writer out of three main ones, or later one of many, is responsible for it all, much less say that it reflects his personal beliefs. It's also wild to speculate on whether Brittana would have happened if it was only up to Ryan; credit Brad Falchuk (and Naya) by all means but it's just really running with conjecture to imply that Ryan himself never would have made Brittany bi. We just don't know "what if" and what's the point in trying to say stuff like "Ryan agreed, but WHAT IF Brad wasn't there" like come on, how is that a valid claim against Ryan Murphy. I certainly don't think it is in the way it's presented. Again, Glee's biphobia is fucked up. Again, I actually do have beef with RM regarding biphobia in particular. But this is all presented in such a tabloidy gotcha way and that doesn't sit well with me.

In general it's a lot of "maybe this doesn't mean, a grain of salt, BUT have you considered this other rumour and how it all adds up?" And no, I don't think it does and I don't like the way all of this is framed, where you're encouraged to make of it what you will but there's a very clear direction in which you're being steered. Which makes sentences like "I do normally try not to bring up things that are purely speculation" w i l d because, to me, so many of these are. Based on a kernel of truth or twisted from something factual, sure, but twisted nonetheless and the conclusions drawn can in no way be definitive. Just because these are all widespread rumours that doesn't make them not rumours.

There are other things like trying to use Naya's dad's tweets as a source and a, idk, gotcha moment against Ryan Murphy. "Still heavily questioned whether or not that's true," they say about Ryan's statement, but that short section becomes emblematic of the whole approach. Take Ryan's statements and defense with a heavy dose of skepticism but imply that claims against him are somehow more substantial. I just don't like the bias, the lack of true nuance, the lack of a point, really. And again blaming everything that happened on Glee, even stuff he didn't actually write on Ryan Murphy is just grasping at every possible straw to round out this video on him being "problematic". Still hate that word.

To be perfectly clear, this is not me coming at the person who made this video, I'm sure they're lovely and are just doing their thing on youtube. I just don't find it any more substantial than a buzzfeed article listing all the Glee bts rumours relating to Ryan Murphy. (I didn't touch on Dahmer simply because I can't and don't care to, plus most of the video is Glee-related anyway.)

[go-go-devil]

what is your favorite classic sonic game and favorite modern sonic game? also if you like, mania can be grouped with the classic games :]

I already gave an answer to my favorite classic game, so I'll answer this portion with my second favorite classic Sonic game: Sonic CD!

Or more specifically the 2011 remaster made by Christian Whitehead. I never got to play the original Sega CD release nor the Sonic Gems Collection version, but honestly I don't need to because this remains the best version of the game to play and may very well be the best remaster of any video game ever! It not only enhances the visuals and gameplay speed, but also lets you pick between the Japanese and American soundtracks + giving you the option to play as Tails!

The only aspect of the game that puts it slightly (and I mean VERY slightly) below Sonic 3K for me is because I need to be in a certain mood to get fully immersed in this game's level design. It's more vertical and chaotic than the smoothly paced greatness that is 3K's zones, but when I'm in the mood to explore and embrace the zaniness of it all it truly is one of the best and most unique platforming experiences out there ✨

(Also the Japanese OST is the best Sonic soundtrack ever made and one of the best in all of gaming imo)

Now as for my favorite modern Sonic game...

Oh yeah, I'm so predictable and I don't care 😎

I consider SA2 to be the last of the "Classic Era" of Sonic games, but by the franchise's technical definitions of what differentiates classic from modern Sonic this would technically be a "Modern Sonic" game due to Sonic's gameplay and design here. Honestly I hate what Sega did by separating the 2D and 3D games into different universes since I think it's kinda lame and takes away the connected storyline the series once had (something even Sonic Generations didn't tamper with for its crossover).

But anyway, my love for SA2 goes beyond mere nostalgia. For me this game will always be the series's flawed masterpiece; a game that put so much effort into every single component of its level design and story that, while not always hitting the landing, still provided us with a truly unforgettable experience.

To me this game not only remains the best controlling and most consistently entertaining 3D Sonic game, but also the last Sonic game that truly put the effort into EVOLVING the mechanics from the previous game.

This point might piss some people off, but really think about it. When was the last time a mainline Sonic game, not counting the handhelds, which both fixed the fundamental flaws of its predecessor and added onto them in new and meaningful ways?

Sonic Heroes's team-based mechanics were dropped immediately for Shadow the Hedgehog's morality system and gun gameplay, which too was quickly dropped by the next game. Sonic 06 tried and failed spectacularly to continue the Adventure formula. The Storybook games aren't mainline games but there are many who are divisive on whether Black Knight truly fixed most of the issues of Secret Rings.

Even the boost games didn't do this. Colors only removed the added gameplay mode of Unleashed's werehog levels without actually changing the automation of boosting, and Generations only separated the 2.5D and 3D gameplay without changing the boost formula either. Lost World created a brand new parkour system that was never touched by any future games ever again. Rise of Lyric's puzzle and beat-em-up elements were never attempted again. Sonic Forces went back to the boost formula with zero tweeks to the gameplay, and Frontiers made everything open world and seemed to reinvent the formula AGAIN.

I don't care if I sound old school at this point, this series has developed a major identity problem. For me SA2 will always be the true sendoff for the Golden Age of the blue hedgehog because it was the last game that was allowed to grow and take chances before Sega put Sonic Team and its future games in a capitalistic stranglehold. Even the boost trilogy will never compare to this one for me because, as polished as those games are, their gameplay and stories just don't appeal to me nearly as much as this amazing game 💙🖤

[dragyouthroughthewhump]

Apparently I've had episode 2 in my drafts and never posted it? Welp, I guess you'll get a few of these from me today as I listened to episode 3 on my walk and will write that one next.

The Grey Rooms : Season 1 Episode 2 - I Loved My Human

Production - Good quality like the first. There are some dialogue sections that are hard to hear. They're meant to simulate characters behind doors and in other rooms, which is cool, but I had to be in a quiet room with the volume up to make out those lines clearly.

This one is gory and damn those sound effects hit the squishy sound just right. If you're sensitive to wet/squishy sounds this one might be a bit much. But, if you like visceral gore, this is good immersion for it.

CW - I won't be going over/telling the main story or one off, but these are in there. Child abuse, minor whumpee, multiple whumpers, parent whumpers, alcohol, comfort item abuse, anthropomorphic teddy bear, gore, dismemberment, knives, beatings, multiple character death, whumper turned whumpee. Also, prisoner whump, mild torture, fear of rats, illusion of choice.

Okay. Even several seasons in, this episode is likely my favorite, definitely top 3.

Main story

Raymond. A wet dog of a man, don't expect him to get any comfort. Given a rat as a "souvenir" from the last room. I wish the whumper saw how funny it actually is. Though I love that he just doesn't understand why Raymond is so scared of it lop.

Side note, what's with the voice behind one of the doors? Is this someone trying to help Raymond? Interfere with the test? Personally, my initial thoughts are that Raymond is so terrified of the door but that will be the one for Salvation.

One shot

I thought having audio of child whump would be too much. But I'm glad it's more narration than full whump scenes. I think people would either like or dislike the voice actor because I feel like I can tell it's an adult making a child voice, but it's still a good voice for the character. It pulled me out of the story just enough so that I wasn't squicked out.

The story, very well written, satisfying ending for sure. There was no holding punches and if you've been around child abuse or heard first-hand accounts, I'm sure some of this was really close.

In this podcast there is always death of main characters. But sometimes one of them lives lol. The revenge also, the punishment absolutely fit the crime(imo of course, open to discuss if you'd like). It felt so satisfying to get back for the hurt.

The gore, omg the gore. It was written well, plus the added audio, and voice actor. It was so amazing to listen to the first time and each time after; it still hits just right. I love me some gore and bloody violence. This one delivered it. That teddy sure loved its human.